MY I)IARY NORTH AND SOUTH.  
MY DIARY
NO~Tll AND SOUTH.
~
BY
WIwAM HOWARD R~ S, SELL.
BOSTON:
T. 0. H. P. BURNHAM.
NEW YORK: 0. S. FELT 36 WALKER ST.
TORONTO, 0. W: ROLLO AND ADAM.
1863. 
1IVflRSI~I, CAMBRIDGi:
WtZRZOTyPzD AND PaWTND flT H. 0. NOUGHT 
To
RICHARD Q~AIN, M. D.,
~~n`Tolume fff ~ebkateb
IN TESTIMONY Ol? TIlS REGARD AND GRATITUD~
THE AUTHOR.  
INTRODUCTORY.
A BOOK which needs apologies ought never to
have been written.  Whis is a canon of criticism so
universally accepted, that authors have abstained of
late days from attempting to disarm hostility by con
fessions of weakness, and are almost afraid to say a
prefatory word to the gentle reader.
It is not to plead in mitigation of punishment or
make an appeal ad misericordiam, I break through
the ordinary practice, but by way of introduction        ~
and explanation to those who may read these vol
umes, I may remark that they consist for the most
part of extracts from the diaries and note~ooks
which I assiduously kept whilst I was in the
United States, as records of the events and impressions of the hour.  I have been obliged to omit
many passages which might cause pain - or injury
to individuals still living in the midst of a civil
war, but the spirit of the original is preserved as
far as possible, and I would entreat my readers to
attribute the frequent use of the personal pronoun 
viii           INTRODUCTORY.
and personal references to the nature of the sources
from which the work is derived, rather than to the
vanity of the author.
Had the pages been literally transcribed, without
omitting a word, the fate of one whose task it was
to sift the true from the false and to avoid error
in statements of fact, in a country remarkable for
the extraordinary fertility with which the unreal is
produced, would have excited some commiseration;
but though there is much extenuated in these
pages, there is not, I believe, aught set doWn in
malice.  My aim has been to retain so much re
lating to events passing under my eyes, or to
persons who have' become famous in this great
struggle, as may prove interesting at present, though
they did not at the time always appear in their
just proportions of littleness or magnitude.
During my sojourn in the States, many stars of
the first order have risen out of space or fallen into
the outer darkness.  The watching, trustful, millions
have hailed with delight or witnessed with terror
the advent of a shining pla~et or a splendid comet,
which a little observation has resolved into watery
nebul~. In the Southern hemisphere, Bragg and
Beauregard have given place to Lee and Jackson.
In the N6rth, McDowell has faded away before 
INTRODUCTORY.             ii
McClellan, who having been put for a short season
in eclipse by Pope, only to culminate with in ~e ased effulgence, has finally paled away before
Burnside.  The heroes of yesterday are the martyrs
or outcasts of to-day, and no American general
needs a slave behind him in the triumphal chariot
to remind him that he is a rn~ortaL  Had I foreseen
such rapid whirls in the wheel of fortune -I might
have taken more note of the men who were be -low, but my business was not to speculate but to
describe.
The- day I landed at Norfolk, a tall lean man,
ill-dressed, in a slouching hat and wrinkled clothes,
stood, with his arms folded and legs wide apart,
against the wall of the hotel looking on the ground.
One of the waiters told me it was " Professor
Jackson," and I have been plagued by suspicions
that in refusing an introduction which was offered
to me, I missed an opportunity of making the ac quaintance of the man of the stonewalls of Win chester.  But, on the whole, I have been fortunate
in meeting many of the soldiers and statesmen who
have distiuguished themselves in this unhappy war.
Although I have never for one moment seen rca
~son to change the opinion I expressed in the first
letter I wrote from the States, that the Uni6n as
 
x              INTRODUCTORY.
it was could never be restored, I am satisfied th~
Free States of the North will retain and gain - great
advantages by the struggle, if they will only set
themselves at work to accomplish their destiny, nor
lose their time in sighing over vanished empire
or indulging in abortive dreams of conquest and
- schemes of vengeance; but my readers need not
expect from me any dissertations on the present or
future of the great republics, which have been so
loosely united by the Federal band, nor any de  scription of the political system, social life, manners
~ customs of the people, beyond those which may
be incidentally gathered from these pages.
It has been my fate to see Americans under
their most unfavorable aspect; with all their na  tional feelings, as well as the vices of our common
humanity, exaggerated and developed by the terri  ble agonies of a civil war, and the throes of po  litical revolution.  Instead of the hum of industry,
I heard the noise of cannon through the land.  So  ciety convulsed by cruel passions and apprehension's~
and shattered by violence, presented its broken an  gles to the stranger, and I can readily conceive
that the America I saw, was no more like the
country of which her people boast so loudly, than
the St. Lawrence when the ice breaks. up, hurrying
 
INTRODUCTORY.           xi
onwards the rugged drift and its snowy crust of
crags, with hoarse roar, and crashing with irresistible force and frry to the sea, resembles the calm
flow of the stately river on a summer's day.
The swarming communities and happy homes of
the New England States - the most complete exhibition of the best results of the American system
- it was denied me to witness; but if I was deprived of the gratification of worshipping the frigid
intellectualism of Boston, I saw the effects in the
field, among the men I met, ~f the teachings and
`theories of the political, moral, and religious professors, who are the chiefs of that universal Yankee
nation, as they delight to call themselves, and there
recognized the radical differences which must sever
them forever from a frue union with the Southern
States.
The contest, of which no man can predict the
end or result, still rages, but notwithstanding the
darkness and clouds which rest upon the scene, I
place so much reliance on the innate good qualities
of the great nations which are settled on the Continent of North America, as to believe they will be
all the better for the sweet uses of adversity; learning to live in peace with their neighbors, adapting
their institutions to their`necessities, and working 
~11`iNTRODUCTORY.
out, not in their old arrogance and insolence
mistaking material prosperity for good government
but in fear and trembling, the experiment on
which they have cast so much discredit, and the
glorious  career which misfortune and folly can
arrest but for a time.
W.  H. RUSSE~
London, December 8, 1862. 
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER 1.
P~u
J)eparture from Cork - The Atlantic in March - Fellow passen gers - American politics and parties - The Irish in New
York - Approach to New York                           1
CHAPTER U.
Arrival at New York - Custom house - General impressions
as to North and South - Street in New York - Hotel -
Breakfast - American women and men - Visit to Mr. Ban croft - Street railways                          7
CHAPTER III.
St Patrick's day" in New York - Publi~ dinner - American
Constitution - General topics of conversation - Public estimate
of the Government - Evening party at Mons. B`5. 15
CHAPTER IV.
Streets and shops in New York - Literature - A funeral - Din ner at Mr. H`a - Dinner at Mr. Bancroft's - Political
and social features - Literary breakfast; Heenan and Sayers. 24
CHAPTER V.
Off to the railway station - Railway carriages - Philadelphia -
Washington - Willard's Hotel - Mr. Seward - North and
South - The "State Dep~tment" at Washington - President
Lincoln - Dinner at Mr. Seward's.....  30
CHAPTER VL
A state dinner at Mr. Abraham Lincoln's - Mrs. Lincoln - The
Cabinet Ministers - A newspaper correspondent- Good Friday
at Washington. 41 
xiv                    CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VIL
PAGI
Barbers' shops - Place-hunting - The Navy Yard - Dinner at
Lord Lyons' -Estimate of Washington among his country men - Washington's house and tomb - The Southern Com missioners - Dinner with the Southern Commissioners -
Feeling towards England among the Southerners- Animos ity between North and South...  50
CHAPTER VIII.
New York Press - Rumors as to the Southerners - Visit to the
Smithsonian Institute - Pythons - Evening at Mr. Seward's
- Rough draft of official despatch to Lord J. Russell - Esti mate of its ~ffect in Europe - The attitude of Virginia  -.  68
CHAPTER Ix.
Dinner at General Scott's - Anecdotes of General Scott's early
life - The startling despatch - Insecurity of the capital..  72
CHAPTER X.
Preparations for war at Charleston - My own departure for the
Southern States - Arrival at Baltimore - Commencement of
hostilities at Fort Sumter - Bombardment of the fort - Gen eral feeling as to North and South - Slavery - First Impres sions of the city of Baltimore - Departure by steamer..  76
oCHAPTER XL
Scenes on board an American steamer - The "Merrimac" -
Irish sailors in America - Norfolk - A telegram on Sunday;
news from the seat of war - American "chaff" and our Jack
Tars..`....  80
CHAPTER xIL
Portsmouth - Railway journey through the forest - The great
Dismal Swamp - American newspapers - Cattle on the line
- Negro labor - On through the Pine Forest - The Confede rate flag - Golds borough; pop~iar excitement - Weldon -
Wilmington - The Vigilance Committee...  87
CHAPTER XIU.
Sketches round Wilmington - Public ()~~inion - Approach to
Charleston and Fort Sumter - Introduction to General Beaure
gard- Ex-Governor Manning - Conversation on the chances
of the war - "King Cotton" and England - Visit to Fort
SWnter - Market-place at Charleston....  95 
CONTUTS.                    IV
CHAPTER flV.
P~Gn
Southern volunteers - Unpopularity of the Press - Charleston
- Fort Sumter-Morris' Island-Anti-union enthusiasm Anecdote of Colonel WigfalI - Interior view of the fort - ~orth
versus South                                   101
CHAPTER XV.
Slaves, their Masters and Mistresses - Hotels - Attempted boat
journey to Fort Moultrie - Excitement at Charleston against
New York - Preparations for war - General Beauregard -
Southern opinion as to the policy of the North, and estimate of
the efiect of the war on England, through the cotton market -
Aristocratic feeling in the South              112
CHAPTER XVL
Charleston: the Market-place - Irishmen at Charleston - Gov ernor Pickens: his political economy and theories -News- -
paper offices and counting-houses - Rumors as to the war
policy of the South                            120
CHAPTER XYIL
Visit to a plantation; hospitable reception - By steamer to
Georgetown - Description of the town - A country mansion
- Masters and slaves - Slave diet - Humming-birds - Land
irrigatIon - Negro quarters - Back to Georgetown...125
CHAPTER xvm.
Climate of the Southern States - General Beauregard - Risks of
the postoffice - Hatred of New England - By railway to Sea
Island plantation - Sporting in South Carolina - An hour on
board a canoe in the dark                      185
CHAPTER XIX.
Domestic negroes - Negro oarsmen - Off to the fishing-grounds
- The devil-fish - Bad sport - The drum-fish - Negro quar ters - Want of drainage - Thievish propensities of the blacks
- A Southern estimate of Southerners           141
CHAPTER XX.
-By railway to Savannah - Description of the city - Rum ors of
the last few days - State of affairs at Washington - Prepara.
tions for war - Cemetery of Bonaventure - Road made of
oyster-shells - Appropriate features of the cemetery - The
Tatnall ~mily - Dinner-party at Mr. Green's - Feeling in
Georgia against the North                      149 
xvi                     CONTE~S.
CHAPTER xx'.
PAGM
The river at Savannah - Commodore Tatnall - Fort Pulaski -
Want of a fleet to the Southerners - Strong feeling of the
women - Slavery considered in its results - Cotton and Geor gia - Off for Montgomery - The Bishop of Georgia - The
Bible and Slavery - Macon - Dislike of United States gold 15~
CHAPTER XXII.
Slave-pens; Negroes on sale or hire - Popular feeling as to Se cession - Beauregard and speech-making - Arrival at Mon~
gomery - Bad hotel accommodation - i~~~~hts of the Golden
Cirs~~~~ - Reflections on Slavery - Slave auction  The t~is
lative Assembly - A "live chattel" knocked down - Rumors
~om the North (true and false) and prospects of war.. 162
CHAPTER XXIII.
Proclamation of war - Jefferson Davis - Thterview with the
President of the Confederacy - Passport and safe-conduct -
Messrs. Wigfall, Walker, and Benjamin - Privateering and
letters of marque - A reception at Jefferson Davis's - Dinner
at Mr. Benjamin's                                     172
CHAPTER XXIV.
Mr. Wigfall on the Confederacy - Intended departure from the
South - Northern apathy and Southern activity - Future
prospects of the Union - South Carolina and cotton - The
theory of slavery - Indifference at New York - Departure
from Montgomery                                       179
CHAPTER XXV.
The River Alabama - Voyage by steamer - Selma - Our ca~
tain and his slaves - "Running" slaves - Negro views of hap~
piness - Mobile - Hotel - The city - Mr. Forsyth    -. 184
CHAPTER XXVI.
Visit to Forts Gaines and Morgan - War to the knife the cry of
the South - The "State" and the "States "-Bay of Mobile
- The forts and their inmates~- Opinions as to an attack on
Washington - Rumors of actual war                     192
CHAPTER XXVIL
Pensacola and Fort Pickens - Neutrals and their friends - Coas~
ing - Sharks - The blockading fleet - The stars and stripes,
and stars and bars - Domestic feuds caused by the war
Captain Adams and General Bragg - Interior of Fort Pickens ~7 
CONTENTS.                         ~vu
CHAPTER XXVIIL
PAG~
13itters before breakfast - An old Crimean acquaintance - Earth works and batteries -Estimate ofeannons - Magazines - Hos pitality - English and American introductions and leave-tak ings - Fort Pickens: its interior - Return towards Mobile -
Pursued by a strange sail - Running the blockade - Landing
at Mobile                                                210
CHAPTER XXIX.
Judge Campbell - Dr. Nott - Slavery - Departure for New Or leans - Down the river - Fear of cruisers - Approach to
New Orleans - Duelling - Streets of New Orleans - Un healthiness of the city - Public opinion as to the war - Happy
and contented negroes                                     225
CHAPTER XXX.
The first blow struck - The St. Charles Hotel - Invasion of Vir ginia by the Federals - Death of Col. Ellsworth - Evening
at Mr. Slidell's - Public comments on the war - Richmond
the capital of the Confederacy - Military preparations - Gen eral society - Jewish element -Visit to a battle-field of 1815. 284
CHAPTER XXXI.
Carrying arms - New Orleans jall - Desperate characters -
Executions - Female maniacs and prisoners - The river and
levee - Climate of New Orleans - Population -General dis tress - Pressure of the blockade - Money - Philosophy of
abstract rights - The doctrine of State Rights - Theoretical
defect in the Constitution                                  244
CHAPTER XXXIL
Up the Mississippi - Free negroes and English policy - Mo notony of the river scenery - Visit to M. Roman - Slave
quarters - A slave~ance - Slave~hildren - Negro hospital -
General opinion - Confidence in Jefferson Davis -. - 258
CHAPTER XXXIIL
Ride through the maize-fields - Sugar plantation: negroes at
work - Use of the lash - Feeling towards France - Silence of
the country - Negroes and dogs - Theory of slavery - Phys ical formation of the negro - The defence of slavery - The
masses for negro souls - Convent of the Sacre' C~ur - Ferry
house -~ large land-owner                                261
CHAPTER XXXIV.
Negroes - Sugar~ne plantations - The negro and cheap labor
- Mortality of blacks and whites - Irish labor in Louisiana -
A sugar-house - Negro children - Want~f education - Negro
diet - Negro hospital - Spirits in the morning - Breakfast -
More slaves - Creole planters                              270 
`xviii                  CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXXV.
PAGI
War-rumors, and military inovements - Governor Manning's
slave plantations - Fortunes made by slave-labor - Frogs fbr
the table - The forest - Cotton and sugar - A thunder-storm 280
CHAPTER XXXVI.
Visit to Mr. M'Call's plantation - Irish and Spaniards - The
planter - A Southern sporting man - The creoles - Leave
Houmas - Donaldsonville - Description of the City - Baton
Rouge - Steamer to Natchez - Southern feeling; faith in Jef ferson Davis - Rise and progress of prosperity for the plant ers - Ultimate issue of the war to both North and South.. 284
CHAPTER XXXVII.
Down the Mississippi - Hotel at Vicksburg - Dinner - Public
meeting - News of the progress of the war - Slavery and
England - Jackson - Governor Pettus - Insecurity of life -
Strong Southern enthusiasm - Troops bound for the North -
Approach to Memphis - Slaves for sale - Memphis - General
Pillow                                                 295
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
Camp Randolph - Cannon practice - Volunteers - "Dixie " Forced return from the South - Apathy of the North - Gen eral retrospect of politics - Energy and earnestness of the
South - Fire-arms - Position of Great Britain towards the bel ligerents-Feeling towards the Old Country  -    -    -.809
CHAPTER XXXIX.
Heavy Bill - Railway travelling - Introductions - Assassina tions - Tenne~ee - "Corinth "-" Tory "- "Humbolt" -
"The Confederate Camp" - Return Northwards - Columbus
- Cairo - The Slavery Question - Prospects of the War -
Coarse journalism                                      322
CHAPTER XL.
Camp at Cairo - The North and the South in respect to Eu rope - Political  reflections - Mr. Colonel  Oglesby - My
speech - Northern and Southern soldiers compared - Amer ican country-walks - Recklessness of life - Want of cavafry
~meute in the camp - Defects of army medical department
Horrors of war - Bad discipline                        337
CHAPTER XLI.
Impending battle - By railway to Chicago - Northern enlighten ment - Mound City - "Cotton is King" - Land in the
States - Dead level of American society - Return into the
Union - American homes - Across the Prairie - White labor en - New pillager - Lake Michigan                      346 
C()NTENTS.                    xix
CHAPTER XLII.
P~eI
Progress of events - Policy of Great Britain as regarded by the
North - The American press and its comments - Privacy a
luxury - Chicago - Senator Douglas and his widow - Amer ican ingratitude - Apathy in volunteering -` Colonel Tur chin's camp                                         854
C~HAPTER xLIIL
Niagara - Impression of the Falls - Battle scenes in the neigh borhood - A village of Indians - General Scott - Hostile
movements on both sides - The Hudson - Military school
at West Point - Return to New York - Altered appearance
of the city - Misery and suffering- Altered state of public
opinion, as to the Union and towards Great Britain -..860
CHAPTER XLIV.
Departure for Washington - A "servant" - The American
Press on the War - Military aspect of the States - Phlladel phia - Baltimore - Washington - Lord Lyons - Mr. Sumner
- Thritation against Great Britain - ~` Independence" day -
Meeting of Congress - General state of affairs.... 878
CHAPTER XLV.
Interview with Mr. Seward - My passport - Mr. Seward's views
as to the war - Thumination at Washington - My "servant"
absents himself- New York journalism - The Capitol - Inte rior of Congress - The President's Message - Speeches in,
Congress - Lord Lyons - General McDowell - Low standard
in the army - Accident to the "S~rs and Stripes" - A street
row-Mr. Bigelow-Mr. N. P. Willis                    880
CHAPTER XLVL
Arlington Heights and the Potomac - Washington - The Fed eral camp - General McDowell - Flying rumors - Newspaper
correspondents - General Fremont - Silencing the Press and
Telegraph - A Loan Bill - Interview with Mr. Cameron -
Newspaper criticism on Lord Lyons - Rumors about McClel lan - The Northern army as reported and as it is - General
McClellan                                           898
CHAPTER XLVIL
Fortress ~nroe - General Butler - Hospital accommodation -
Wounded soldiers - Aristocratic pedigrees - A great gun -
Newport News - Fraudulent contractors - General Butler
Artillery practice - Contraband negroes - Confederate lines -
Tombs of American loyalists - Troops and contractors - Du ryea's New York Zonaves - Military calcalations - A voyage
by steamer to Annapolis                             405 
xx                     CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XLVIII.
PAe~
The "State House" at Annapolis -Washington - General Scott's
quarters - Want of a staff- Rival camps - Demand for horses
- Popular excitement - Lord Lyons - General McDowell's
movements - Retreat from Fairfax Court House - General
Scott's quarters - General Mansfield - Battle of Bull Run. 423
CHAPTER XLIX.
Skirmish at Bull's Run - The Crisis in Congress -Dearth of
horses - War Prices at Washington - Estimate of the effects
of Bull Run -Password and Countersign - Transatlantic View
of "The Times "- Difficulties of a Newspaper Correspond.
ent in the Field                                         434
CHAPTER L.
To the scene of action - Tlie Confederate camp - Centreville -
Action at Bull Run - Defeat of the Federals - Disorderly re  treat to Centreville - My ride back to Washington..   - 442
CHAPTER LL
A runaway crowd at Washington - The army of the Potomac
in retreat - Mail-day - Want of order and authority - News.
paper lies - Alarm at Washington - Confederate prisoners -
General McClellan - M. Mercier - Effects of the defeat on
Mr. Seward and ti~e President - McD6well - General Patter son                                                      467
CHAPTER LII.
Attack of illness - General McClella~- Reception at the white
House - Drunkenness among the Volunteers - Visit from Mr.
Olmsted - Georgetown - Intense heat - McClellan and the
Newspapers - Reception at Mr. Seward's - Alexandria - A
Storm - Sudden Death of an English Officer -The Maryland
Club - A Prayer and Fast Day - Financial Difficulties.. 479
CHAPTER LIlL
Return to Baltimore - Colonel Carroll - A Priest's view of the
Abolition of Slavery - Slavery in Maryland - Harper's Ferry
-John Brown - Back by train to Washington - Further ac  counts of Bull Run - American Vanity - My own unpopu  larity for speaking the truth - Killing a "Nigger" no i~~~rder
- Navy Department                                        491
CHAPTER LIV.
A tour of inspection round the camp - A troublesome horse
- McDowell anQ the President - My opinion of Bull Run
 
CONTENTS.                     xxi
PAGli
indorsed by American officers - Influence of the Press -
Newspaper correspondents - Dr. Bray - My letters   Captain
Meagher - Military adventures - Probable duration of the
war - Lord A. Vane Tempest - The American journalist -
Threats of assassination                            505
CHAPTER LV.
Personal unpopularity-American naval officers -A gun levelled
at me in fun - Increase of odium against me - Success of the
Hatteras expedition - General Scott and McClellan - McClel lan on his camphed - General Scott's pass refused - Prospect
of an attack on Washington - Skirmishing - Anonymous kt ters - General Halleck - General McClellan and the Sabbath
- Rumored death of Jefferson Davis - Spread of my unpop ularity - An offer for my horse - Dinner at the Legation -
Discussion on Slavery                               516
CHAPTER LVI.
A Crimean acquaintance - Personal abuse of myself- Close fir ing - A reconnoissance - Major-General Bell - The Prince de
Joinville and his nephews - American estimate of Louis Napo leon - Arrest of members of the Maryland Legislature - Life
at Washington - War cries - News from the Far West -
Journey to the Western States - Along the Susquehannah and
Juniata - Chicago- Sport in the prairie - Arrested for shoot ing on Sunday - The town of Dwight - Return to Washing ton - Mr. Seward and myself                         581
CHAPTER LVII.
Another Crimean acquaintance - Summary dismissal of a news paper correspondent - Dinner at Lord Lyons' - Review of
artillery - Habeas Corpus "- The President's duties - Mc Clellan's policy - The Union army - Soldiers and the patrol
- Public men in America - Mr. Seward and Lord Lyons -
A judge placed under arrest - Death and funeral of Senator
Baker - Disovderiy troops and officers - Official fibs - Duck shooting at Baltimore                                MS
CHAPTER LVIII.
~eneral Scott's resignation - Mrs. A. Lincoln - Unofficial mis sion to Europe - Uneasy feeling with regard to France - Ball
given by the United States cavalry - The United States army
- Success at Beaufort - Arrests - Dinner at Mr. Seward's -
News of Captain Wilkes and the Trent - Messrs. Mason and
Slidell - Discussion as to Wilkes - Prince de Joinville - The
American press on the Trent affair - Absence of thieves in
Washington - "Thanksgiving Day "- Success thus far in fa vor of the North                                  - 560 
xxii                  CONTE~TS.
CHAPTER LIX.
PA~M
Acaptain under arrest - Opening of Congress - Colonel D'Utas sy - An ex-pugilist turned senator - Mr. Cameron - Ball in
the officers' huts - Presentation of standards at Arlington -
Dinner at Lord Lyons' - Paper Currency -A polyglot dinner
- Visit to Washington's tomb - Mr. Chase's report - Colonel
Seaton - Unanimity of the South - The Potomac blockade -
A Dutch-American Crimean acquaintance - The Amencan
lawyers on the Trent affair - Mr. Sumner - McClellan's army
- Impressions produced in America by the English press on
the affair of the Treat - Mr. Sumner on the crisis - Mutual
feelings between the two nations - Rumors of war with Great
Britain                                           579
CHAPTER LX.
News of the death of the Prince Consort - Mr. Sumner and the
Trent affair - Despatch to Lord Russell - The Southern Com missioners given up - Effects on the friends of the South
- My own unpopularity at New York - Attack of fever -
My tour in Canada - My return to New York in February -
Successes of the Western States -- Mr. Stanton succeeds Mr.
Cameron as Secretary of War - Reverse and retreat of Mc Clellan - My free pass - The Merrimac and Monitor - My
arrangement to accompany McClellan's head-quarters - Mr.
Stanton refuses his sanction - National vanity wounded by my
truthfulness - My retirement and my return to Europe.. 591 
MY DIARY NORTll AND SOt}Tll.
CllAPTER L
Departure from Cork - The Atlantic in March - Fellow passengers -
American politics and parties - The Irish in New York - Ap  proacli to New York.
ON the evening of 3d J\Iarch, 1861, 1 was transferred from
il~e little steam-tender, which plies between Cork and the anchorage of the Cunard steamers at the entrance of the harbor,
to the deck of the good steamship Arabia, Captain Stone; and
at nightfall we were breasting the long rolling waves of the
Atlantic.
The voyage across the Atlantic has been done by so many
a~jle hands, that it would be superfluous to descr~be mine,
tlioi~gh it is certain no one passage ever resembled another,
ai~d no crew or set of passengers in one ship were ever identical with those in any other.  For thirteen days the Atlantic
fbllowed its usual course in the monfl~ of ~Iard~, and was true
to the traditions whi4~ affix to it in that month the character
of violence and moody changes, rrom bad to worse and back
aga in.  ~`he wind was sometimes dead against us, and then
tlie infelix Arabia with iron energy set to work, stofluing
gi'e~tt ~Ialakhof~ of water, which rose above her like the side0
ol ~me ward-coated hill crested with snow-drifts; and haviii ain{d the                an
summit, and settled for   instant nmon~~ the
hissing sea4~orses, ran plunging headlong down to the encounter of another wave, and thus went battling on with heart
ol fire and breath of flame - igneus est ollis vigor - hour
ailer hour.
Tiie traveller for pleasure had better avoid the Atlantic in
tlie month of ~Iarch.  The wind was sometimes with us, and
the ii the sensations of the passengers and the conduct of the
ship were pretty much as they had been during the adverse 
2           MY DIARY NORTll AND SOUTIl.
breezes before, varied by the performance of a very violent
"yawing" from side to side, and certain squashings of the
paddle-boxes into the yeasty waters, which flow ran a race
with us and each other, as if bent on chasing us down, nnd
rolling their boarding parties with foaming crests down on our
decks.  The boss, which we represented in the stormy shield
around us, still moved on; day by day our microcosm shifted
its position in the ever-advancing circle of which it was the
centre, with all around and within it ever undergoing a sea
~hange.
The Americans on board were, of course, the most interesting passengers to one like myself, who was going out to visit
the great Republic under very peculiar circumstances.  There
was, first, ~1njor Garnett, a Virginian, who was going back
to his State to follow her fortunes.  He was an officer of the
regular army of the United States, who had served with distinction in ~1exico; an accomplished, well-read man; reserved,
and rather gloomy; full of the doctrine of States' Rights, and
animated with a considerable feeling of contempt for the New
Englanders, and with the strongest prejudices in favor of the
institution of slavery.  He laughed to scorn the doctrine that
all men are born equal in the sense of all men having equal
rights.  Some were born to be slaves - some to be laborers
in the lower strata above the slaves - others to follow useful
mechanical arts - the rest were born to rule and to own their
fellow-men.  There was next a young Carolinian, who had
left his post as attache' at St. Petersburgh to return to his
State: thus, in all probability, avoiding the inevitable supersession which awaited him at the haad~ of the new Governmeat at Washington.  He r~resented, in an intensified forim,
all the Virginian's opinions, and held that ~Ir. Calhoun's interpretation of the Constitution was incontrovertibly right.
There were difficulties in the way of State sovereignty, he
~confbsse~ but they were only in detail - the principle was
unassailable.
To i~Ir. ~1itchell, South Carolina represented a power quite
sufficient to meet all the Northern States in arms.  "The
North will attempt to blockade our coast," said he; "and in
that case, the South must march to the attack by land, and
will probably act in Virginia."  "But if the North attempts
to do more than institute a blockade? - for instance, if their
fleet attack your seaport towns, and land men to occupy
them?"  "Oh, in that case we are quite certain of beating 
PASSENGRRS. - AMERICAN FOLITICS.     3
them."  ~Ir. Julian ~btchell was indignant at the idea of
submitting to the rule of a "rail~plitter," and of sud~ men
as Seward and Cameron. "No gentleman could tolerate such
a Government."
An American family from Nashville, consisting of a lady
and her son and daughter, were warm advocates of a "gentlemanly" government, and derided the Yankees with great
bitterness.  But they were by no means as ready to encounter the evils of war, or to break up fl~e UaI6n, as the SouthCarolinian or the Virginian; and 1ff that respect they represcnted, I was told, the negative feelings of the Border States,
which are disposed to a temporizing, moderate course of action, most distasteful to the passionate seceders.
There were also two Louisiana sugar-planters on board -
one owning 500 slaves, the other rich in some thousands of
acres; they seemed to care very little for the political aspects
of the question of Secession, and regarded it merely in reference to its bearing oa the sugar crop, and the security of slave
property.  Secession was regarded by them as a very extreme
and violent measure, to which the State had resorted with reluctance; but it was obvious, at tlie same time, that, in event
of a general secession of the Slave States from the North,
Louisiana could neither have maintained her connectioii with
the North, nor have stood in isolation from lier sister States.
All these, and some others who were fi~llow-passengers,
might be termed Americans -pur sang.  Garaett belonged
to a very old family in Virginia. ]\Iitchell came from a stock
of several generations' residence in South Carolina.  The
Tennessee family were, in speech and thought, types of what
Europeans consider true Americans to be.  Now take the
other side.  First there was an exceedingly intelligent, wellinformed young merchant of New York - nephew of an Eng1ish county ~Iember, known for his wealth, liberality, and munificence.  Educated at a university in the Northern States,
lie had lived a good deal in England, and was returniiig to
his father from a course of book-keeping in the house of his
uncle's firm in Liverpool.  His father and uncle were born
near Coleraine, and he had just been to see the humble dwelling, close to the Giant's Causeway, which sheltered their
youth, and where their race was cradled. In tlie war of 1812,
the brothers were about sailing in a privateer fitted out to
prey against the British, when accident fixed one of them i~
Liverpool, where he founded the house which has grown so 
4          MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
g~'~~nfly with the development of trade between New York
and Lancashire, whilst the other settled in the States.  Without being vio'ent in tone, the young Northerner was very resolute in temper, and determined to do all which lay in his
power to prevent the "glorious Union" being broken lip.
The "Union" has thus founded on two continents a family
of princely wealth, whose originals had probably fought with
bitterness in th~ir enAy youth against the union of Great
Britain and Ir~land. But did ~Ir. Brown, or the other Americans wlio shared his views, unreservedly approve of American institutions, and consider them faultless?  By no means.
The New Yorkers especially were eloquent on the evils of the
suffrage, and of the license of the Press in their own city;
and displayed mud~ irritation on the subject of naturalization.
The Irish were useful, in their way, making roads and working hard, for there were few Americans who condescended to
manual labor, or who could not make far more money in
higher kinds of work; but it was absurd to give the lAsh
votes which they used to destroy the influence of native-horn
citizens, and to sustain a corporation aiid local bodies of Unsurpassable turpitude, corruption, and inefficiency.
Another young merchent, a college friend of the former,
was just returning from a tour in Europe with his amiable
sister.  llis father was the son of an lAsh immigrant, but he
did not at all differ from the other gentlemen of his city in
tlie estimate i~ whiA~ he held the Irish element; and though
he had no stron_ bias one way or other, lie was quite resolved
to support the abstraction called the Union, and its representative fact - the Federal Government.  Thus the agriculturist and the trader - the grower of raw produce and the merchant who dealt in it - were at opposite sides of the question
- wide apart as the Northern and Southern Poles.  They
sat apart, ate apart, talked apart - two distinct nations, with
iiitense antipathies on the part of the South, which was active
and aggressive in all its demonstrations.
The Southerners have got a strange charge Je plus against
il~e Irish.  It appears that the regular army of the United
States is mainly composed of Irish and Germans; very few
Americans indeed being low enough, or martially disposed
enough, to "take the shilbug."  In case of a conflict, which
these gentlemen think inevitable, "low Irish mercenaries
would," they say, "b~ pitted against the gentlemen of the
South, and the best blood in the States would be spilled by 
NORTilERNERS.              5
fellows whose lives are worth nothing whatever."  Poor
Paddy is regarded as a mere working mael~ine, fit, at best, to
serve against Choctaws and Semfuoles.  flis facility of reproduction l~as to compensate for the waste which is caused
by the development in his unhappy head of tl~e organs of
combativeness and destructiveness.  Certainly, if the war is
to be carried on by the United States' regulars, the Southern
States will soon dispose of them, for flicy do not number
20,000 men, and their officers are not much in love with tlie
new Government.  But can it come to N\Tar?  ]\Ir. ~Iitchell
assures me I shall see some  pretty tall fighting."
The most vehement Northerners in the steamer are Germans who are going to the States for tlie first time, or returning there.  They have become satisfied, no doubt, by long
process of reasoning, that there is some anomaly in the con dition of a country wl~ich calls itself the land of liberty, and is
at the same time the potent palladium of serfdom and human
chattelry.  ~Yhen they are not sea-sick, whid~ is seldom, the
Teutons rise up in all the might of their misery and dirt, and,
m~~king spasmodic efforts to smoke, blurt out between the
puffs, or in moody intervals, sn~~dry remarks on American
politics.   These ai~e the swine,~' quotli Garnett, "who are
swept out of German gutters <`~s too foul for them, and who
come over to the States and presume to control the fate and
tlie wishes of our people.  In their own country they proved
they were incapable of either eariiing a liviiig, or exercising
the duties of citizenship; and they seek in our country a
license denied them in their own, and the means of living
which they could not acquire anywhere else."
And for myself~~ may truly say this, that no man ever set
foot on the soil of tlie United States with a stronger and sincerer desire to ascertain and to tell tlie ft~nth, as it appeared to
him.  I h~d no theories to uphold, no prejudices to subserve,
no interests to advance, no instructions to fulfil; I was a free
agent, bound to communicate to the powerful organ of public
opinion I represented, my own daily impressions of the mcii,
scenes, and actions ai~ound me, without fear, favor, or affection of or for anything hut that which seemed to me to be the
truth.  As to tlie questions which were distracting tlie States,
my mind was a lobula rosa, or, rather, labula non scripta.  I
felt indisposed to view with favor a rebellion agaiiist one of the
established and recognized governments of the world, which,
though not fi4endly to Great Britain, nor opposed to slavery, 
6          MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
was without, so far as 1 could see, any legitimate cause of revolt, or any injury or grievance, perpetrated or imminent, assailed l~y States still less fl'ien~lly to us, which the Slave States,
pure and simple, certainly were and probably are.  At tlie
same time, 1 knew that these were grounds wl~icli I could just.
ly take, whilst they would not be tenable by an American, who
is by the theory on which h~ revolted from us and created his
own system of government, bound to recognize the principle
that the discontent of the popular majority with its rulers, is
ample ground and justification for revolution.
It was on the morning of the fourteenth day that the shores
of New York loomed through the drift of a cold wintry sea,
leaden-gray and comfortless, and in a little time more tl~e
coast, covered with snow, rose in sight.  Towards the afternoon the sun came out and brightened the waters and the sails
of the pretty trim schooners and coastens which were dancing
around us.  llow different tlie graceflil, tautly~'igged, clean,
white-sailed vessels, from the round-sterned, lumpish billyboys
and nondcscripts of the eastern coast of our isle!  Presently
there came bowling down towards us a lively little schooneryacht, very like the once famed "Americ~" brightly painted
in gi~een, sails dazzling white, lofty ponderous masts, no tops.
As she came nearer, we saw she was crowded with nen in
chimney-pot black hats, and coats, and the like - perhaps a
party of citizens on pleasure, cold as the day was.  Nothing
of the kind.  The craft was our pilot-boat, and the hats and
coats belonged to the hardy mariners who act as guides to the
port of New York.  Their boat was low~ered, and was soon
under our mainchains; and a chimney-pot hat having duly
come over the side, delivered a mass of newspapers to the captain, which were distributed among the eager passengers, when
each at once became the centre of a spell-bound circle. 
CHAPTER II.
Arrival at New York - Custom house - General impressions as to
North and South - Street in New York - llotel - Breakfast -
American women and men - Visit to Mr. Bancroft - Street rail  ways.
TllF entrnnce to New York, as it was seen by us on
16th ~Iarch, is not remarkable for beauty or picturesque
scenery, and I incurred the ire of several passengers, because
I could not consistently say it was very pretty.  It was
difficult to distinguish through the snow the villas and country
houses, which are said to be so charming in summer.  But
beyond these rose a forest of masts close by a low shore of
brick houses and blue roofs, above the level of which again
spires of churches and domes and cupolas announced a great
city.  On our left, at the narrowest part of the entrance,
there was a very powefful casemated work of fine close stone,
in three tiers, something like Fort Paul at Sebastopol, built
close to the wate?s edge, and armed on all the faces, - apparently a tetragon with bastions.  Extensive works were
going on at the ground above it, which rises rapidly from the
water to a height of more than a hundred feet, and the rudiments of an extensive work and heavily armed earthen parapets could be seen from the channel.  On the right hand,
crossing its fire with that of the batteries and works on our
left, there was another regular stone fort with fortified enceinte; and higher up the channel, as it widens to the city
oii the same side, I could make out a smaller fort on the
water's edge.  The situation of the city renders it susceptible
of powerful defence from the seaside; and even now it would
be hazardous to run the gauntlet of the batteries, unless in
powefful iron-clad ships favored by wind and tide, which
could hold the place at their mercy.  Against a wooden fleet
New York is now all but secure, save under exceptional circumstances in favor of the assailants.
It was dark as the steamer hauled up alongside the wharf
on the New Jersey side of the river; but ere the sun set, I 
8          MY DIARY NORTll AND SOUTil.
could form some idea of the activity and industry of the people from the enormous ferry~bo~ts moving backwards and forwards like arks on ti~e water, impelled by tlie great walking~
beam engilles, tl~e crowded sticam full of merchantmen,
steamers, and small craft, the smoke of the factories, the tall
chimneys, - the net-work of boats and n~fts - all tl~e cvidences of commercial life in f\~Il development.  What a
swarming, eager crowd on the quay-wall!  What a wonderful
ragged regiment of laborers and porters, hailing us in brokeii
~r Llibernianized English!` These are all L4sh and Germans," anxiously explain~d a New Yorker.  "I'll bet fifly
dollars there's not a native-born American among them."
With Anglo-Saxon disregard of official insign~a, American
Custom Ilouse officers dress very much like their British
brethren, without any sign of authority as faint as even the
brass button and crown, so that the stranger is somewhat uneasy when he sees unauthorized4ooking people taking liberties with his plun~er, especially after the admonitions he has
received on board ship to look sharp about his things as soon
as he lands.  I was provided with an introduction to one of
the principal officers, and he facilitated my egress, and at last
I was bundled out through a gate into a dark alley, ankle
deep in melted snow and mud, ~vhere I was at once engaged
in a brisk encounter with my Irish porterhood, and, after a
long struggle, succeeded in stowing my effects in and about a
remarkable specimen of the hackney~coaeh of the last century, very high in the axle, and weak in the springs, which
plashed down towards the river through a crowd of men
shouting out, "You haven't paid me yet, yer honor.  You
haven't given anything to your own man that's been waiting
here the last six months for your honor!" "~im the man
that put the lugidge up, sir," &c., &c.  The coach darted on
board a great steam ferry-boat, which had on deck a number
of similar vehicles and omnibuses; and the gliding, shifting
ligl~ts, and the deep, strong breathing of the engine, told me
I was moving and afloat betore I was otherwise awai'e of it.
A fbw minutes'brought us over to the lights on the New York
side, - a jerk or two up a steep incline, - and we were rattling over a most abominable pavement, plunging into mudholes, squashing through snow-heaps in ill-lighted, narrow
streets of low, mean-looking, wooden houses, of which an unusual proportion appeared to be lager-bier saloons, whiskeyshops, oyster-houses, aud billiard and smoking establishments.
The crowd on the pavement were very much what a straa 
STREETS.                    9
ger would be likely to see in a very bad part of London,
Antwerp, or llamburg, with a dash of the noisy exuberance
which proceeds from the high animal spirits that defy police.
regulations and are superior to police force, called "rowdyism."  The drive was long aiid tortuous; but by degrees the
character of the thoroughfares and streets improved.  At
last we turued into a wide street with very tall houses, alternating with far humbler erections, blazing with lights, gay
with shop-windows, tl~ronge d in spite of tlie mud with welldressed people, and pervaded by strings of omnibuses, - Oxford Street was nothing to it for length.  At intervals there
towered up a block of brickwork and stucco, with long rows
of windows lighted up tier above tier, and a swarming crowd
passiiig in and out of the portals, which were recognized as
the barrack4ike glory of American civilization, - a Broadway monster hotel.  ~Iore oyster-shops, lager-bier saloons,
~oncert - rooms of astounding denominations, with external
decorations very much in the style of the booths at Bartholomew  Fair, - churches, restaurants, confectioners, private
houses! again another series, - they cannot go on expanding
forever.  The coach at last drives into a large square, and
lands me at the Clarendon llotel.
Whilst I was crossing the sea, the President's Inaugural
~Iessage the composition of which is generally attributed to
~Ir. Seward, had been delivered, and had reached Europe,
and the causes which were at woA~ in destroying the cohesion
of the Union had acquired greater strength and violence.
Whatever force "the declaration of causes which induced
the Secession of South Carolina" might have for Carolinians,
it could not inAnence a foreigner who knew nothing at all of
the rights, sovereignty, and individual independence of a state,
which, however, had no right to make war or peace, to coin
money, or enter into treaty obligations with any other country.  The South Carolinian was nothing to us, quoad South
Carolina - he was merely a citizen of the United States, and
we knew no more of him in any other capacity d~an a French
authority would know of a British subject as a Yorkshireman
or a ~1unsterman.
But the moving force of revolution is neither reason nor
justice - it is most frequently passion - it is often interest.
The American, when he seeks to prove that the Southern
States have no right to revolt from a confederacy of states
rented by revolt, has by the principles on which he justifies
1* 
10         MY DIARY NORTlI AND SOUTll.
his own revolution, placed between l~imself and the European
a great gulf in the level of argument. According to the deeds
and words of Amencans, it is difficult to see why South Caro1ina should not use tlie rights claimed for each of the thirteen
colonies, "to alter and abolish a form of government when it
becomes destructive of the ends for which it is established,
and to institute a new one."  And the people must be left to
decide the question as regards their own goven~ment for themselves, or the principle is worthless.  The arguments, however, which are now going on are fast tendin~ towards the
ultima ratio regum.  At present I ~nd public attention is concentrated on the two Federal forts, Pick ens and Sumter, called
afler two officers of the revolutionary armies in the old war.
As Alabama and South Carolina have gone out, they now demand the possession of these forts, as of the soil of their several states and attached to their sovereignty.  On the other
hand, the Government of ~Ir. Lincoln coi~siders it has no right
to give up anything belonging to the Federal Government,
hut evidently desires to temporize and evade any decision
which might precipitate an attack on the forts by the batteries
and forces prepared to act against them.  There is not sufficient garrison in either for an adequate defence, and the difficulty of procuring supplies is very great.  Under the circumstances every one is asking what the Government is going to
do?  The Southern people have declared they will resist any
attempt to supply or reinforce the garrisons, and in Charleston, at least, have shown tl~ey mean to keep their word.  It
is a strange situation.  The Federal Government, afraid to
speak, and unable to act, is leaving its soldiers to do as they
please.  In some instances, officers of rank, such as General
Twiggs, have surrendered everything to the State authorities,
and the treachery and secession of many officers in the nrn~y
and navy no doubt paralyze and intimidate the civilians at the
head of affairs.
SunJq11, 17th IlIarcit. -The first thing I saw this morning,
after a vision of a waiter pretending to brush my clothes with
a feeble twitch composed of fine fibre had vanished, was a procession of men, forty or fifly perhaps, preceded by a small
band (by no excess of compliment can I say, of music), trudging through the cold and slush two and two: they woi~~ shamrocks, or the best resemblance thereto which the American
bOil can produce, in their hats, and green silk sashes emblazoned with crownless harp upon their coats, but it needed not 
COSTUME. - HOUSES.            11
these insignia to tell they were Inshmen, and their solemi~ mien
indicated that they were going to mass.  It was agrecoble to
see them so well clad and respeetable looking, thon gil occasional hats seemed as if they h~ jost recovered froin severe
contusions, and others had the pictnresque irregniarity of outline now and then observable in the old country.  The aspect
of the street was irregular, and its abnormal look was increased
b~ the air of the passers-by, who at that hour were domestics
- very finely dressed negroes, Insh, or German.  The c~dored ladies made most ~tttt~~~~~~ t0ilet5~ and as they held up
their broad crinolines oyer the mud looked not unlike d~~ublestemmed mushrooms.  "They're concayted poor crnytl~u res
them niggirs, male and faymale," was the remark of the waiter as he saw me watching them.  "There seem to be no spal'rows in the streets," said I.  " Sparras!" he exdaimed "ai~d
then how did you think a little baste of a sparra could fly
across the ochean?"  I felt rather ashamed of mysel~
And so down-stairs where there was a table d'Ito~e room,
with great long tables covered with cloths, plates, and breakfast apparatus, and a smaller room inside, to which I was directed by one of the white-jacketed waiters.  Breakfast over,
visitors began to drop in.  At the "office" of the hotel, as it
is styled, there is a tray of blank cards and a big pencil, whereby the cardless man who is visiting is enabled to send you l~is
name and title.  There is a comfortable "reception room;' in
which he can remain and read the papers, if you are engaged,
so that there is little chance of your ultimately escaping him -
And, indeed, not one of those who came had any but most hospitable intents.
Out of doors the weather was not tempting.  The snow lay
in irregular layers and discolored mounds along ti~e streets,
and the gutters gorged with "snow-bree" flooded the broken
pavement.  But after a time the crowds began to issue fro!~l
the churcl~es, an~l it was announced as the necessity of the
day, that we were to walk up and down the Fitth Avenue and
look at each other.  This is the west-end of London - its
Belgravia and Grosvenoria represented in one long street, with
offshoots of inferior dignity at right angles to it.  Some of the
houses are handsome, but tl~e greater number have a coinpressed, squeezed-up aspect, which arises from the compulsory nari'owiiess of frontage in proportion to the height of' the
building, and all of them are bright and new, as if they were
Just finished to order, - a most astonishing proof of the rapid 
12         MY DL4'RY ~ORTI1 AND SOUTIT.
de~elopm cut of the city.  As the hall-door is made an impor
tant fe'~tiire in the residence, the front parlor is general~y a
narrow, lanky Op'~rtrflCnt, struggling for existence between the
hall and tlie partition of tIfe next house.  Tl~e outer door,
which is always provided with fine carved panels und mouldings, is of some rich varnished wood, and looks niucl~ better
than our painted doors.  It is generously thrown opeii so as
to show an inner door with curtains and plate plass.  The
windows, which are double on account of the climate, are frequently of plate gla~s also.  Some of the doors are on the
same level as the street, with a basement story beneath
others are approached by flights of steps, the basement for
servants having the entrai~ce below il~e steps, and this, I believe, is tlie old Dutch fashion, and the name of "stoop" is
still retained for it.
No liveried servants are to be seen about the streets, tlie
door-ways, or the area-steps.  Black faces in gaudy caps, or
an unmistakable "Biddy" in crinoline are their substitutes.
The chief charm of the street was the living ornature which
moved up and down the troltoirs.  The costumes of Paris,
adapted to the severity of this wintry weather, were draped
round pretty, graceful flg~res which, if wanting somewhat in
tl~at rounded falness of the ]\Iedicean Venus, or in height,
were sceke and well poised.  The French boot has been
driven off tl0e field by the Balmoral, better suited to the snow;
and one must at once admit - all prejudices notwithstanding
- that the American woman is not only well shod and well
gloved, but that she has no reason to fear comparisons, ii~
foot or hand with any daughter of Eve, except, perhaps,
tlie llindoo.
The great and most frequent fault of the stranger in
any land is that of generalizing from a few facts.  Every
one must feel there are "pretty days" and "ugly days" in
the world, and that his experience on the one would lead l~im
to conclusions very different from that to which he would
arrive on the other.  To-day I am quite satisfied that if
the American women are deficient in stature and in that
which makes us say, "There 5 a fine woman," they are easy,
well formed, and full of grace and prettiness.  Admitting a
certain pallor - which the Russians, by the by, were wont
to admire so much that th% took vinegar to produce it - the
face is not only pretty, but sometimes of extraordinary
beauty,~the features fine, delicate, well defined.  Ruby lips, 
MR. BANCROFT.               13
indeed are seldom to be seen, but now and then the ~a4~ing
of snowy-white evenly-set ivory teeth dispels the delusion
that tl~e Americans are - though the excellence of their dentists i)C granted - naturally ill provided with what they take
so much pains, by eating bon-bons and conf~ctionery, to deprive of their purity and color.
My friend R, with whom I was walking, knew e~'ery
one in the Fiflh Avenue, and we worked our way through`(L
succession of small talk nearly as flir as the end of the street
which runs out among divers places in the State of New
York, through a debris of unfinished conceptions in masonry
The abrupt transition of the city into the country is not unflivorable to an idea that the Fifth Avenue might have been
tran~ported from some great workshop, where it had been built
to order by a despot, and dropped among the Red men: indeed, tlie immense growth of New York in this direction,
although far inferior to that of many parts of London, is remarkable as the work of eighteen or twenty years, and is
rendered more conspicuous by being developed in this elongated street, and its contingents.  I was inti-oduced to many
persons to-day, and was only once or twice asked how I lik(~d
New York; perhaps I anticipated the question by expressing
my high opinion of tlie Fiflh Avenue.  Those to whom I
spoke had generally something to say in reference to tlie
troubled condition of the country, but it was principally of a
self-complacent nature.  "I suppose, sir, you are rather surprised, coming from Lurope, to find us so quiet here in New
York: we arc a peculiar people, and you don't understand us
in Europe:'
In the afternoon I called on Mr. Bancroft, formerly minister to England, whose work on America must he rather rudely
interrupted by this crisis. ~Anythiiig with an "ex " to it in
America is of little weight - ex-presidents are nobodies,
though they have had the advniitage, during their four years
tei~ure of office, of being prayed for as long as they live.  So
it is of ex-ininisters, whom nobody prays for at all.  Mr.
Bancroft conversed for some time on the aspect of affairs, but
he appeared to be unable to arrive at any settled conclusion,
except that tlie republic, though in danger, was the most
stable and beneficial form of government in the woAd, and
that a a Govermcnt~it had iio power to coerce the people of
the Sooth or to save itself from the danger.  I was indeed
astonished to hear from him and others so much philosophical 
14         MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
absfract reasoning as to the rigl~t of seceding, or, what is next
to it, the want of a~y power in the GoverAment to prevent
it.
Returning home in order to dress for dinner, I got into a
street-railway~car, a long low omnibus drawn by horses over a
straJa frrrata in the middle of the street.  It was filled with
people of all classes, and at every crossing some one or otl~er
rang the bell, and the driver stopped to let out or to take in
passengers, whereby the unoffending traveller became possessed of much snow~droppings and mud on hoots and clothing.  I found that by far a greater inconvenience caused by
these street~railways was the destruction of all comfbrt or
rapidity in ordinary carriages.
I diiied with a New York banker, who gave such a dinner
as bankers generally give all over the world.  He is a man
still young, very kindly, hospitable, well-informed, with a most
charming household - an Amen can by theory, an Englishman ~n instincts and tastes   educated in Europe, and sprung
from British stock.  Considering il~e enormous interests he
lias at stake, I was astonished to perceive how calmly lie
spoke of the impending troubles.  His friends, all men of position in New York society, liad the same dilettante tone, and
were as little anxious for the future, or excited by the present,
as a party of savans chronidincr th
nett(}~ storm." back     n  e movements of a "mag     going     to the hotel, I heard that Judge Daly and
some gentle men had called to request that I would dine with
the Friendly Society of St. Patrick to-morrow at Astor
House.  In what is called "the bar," I met several gentlemen, one of whom said, "the majority of the people of New
York, and all the respectable people, were disgusted at the
election of such a fellow as Lirteola to he President, and
would back the Southern States, if it came to a split." 
CliAPTER IIL
`St. Pafrick's day" in New York - Public dinner - American Con   stitution - General topics of conversation  Public estimate of tiie
Government - Evening party at Moos. B      5.
Ji~~nday, 18t~.     St. Patrick's day in the morning" being
311 the 17th, was kept by the Irish to-day.  In the early
morning the sounds of drumming, fifing, and bugling came
with the hot water and my Irish attendant into the room.
lie told me: "~Ye'll have a pretty nice day for it.  The
weather's often agin us on St. Patrick's day."  At the angle
of the square outside I saw a company of volunteers assembling.  They wore bear-skin caps, some turned brown, nod
rusty green coatees, with white facings and crossbdts, a good
deal of gold-lace and heavy worsted epaulettes, and were
armed with ordinary muskets, some of them with fliot4ocks.
Over their heads floated a green and gold flag with mystic
emblems, and a harp and sunbeams.  A gentleman, with an
imperfbct seat on horseback, which justified a suspicion that
lie was not to the manor born of Squire or S~uireen, with
much difficulty was getting them into line, and endangering
liis personal safety by a large infantry-sword, the hilt of which
was complicated with the bridle of his charger in some inexplicable manner.  This gentleman was the officer in coiriinaod
of the martial body, who were gatieriog to do honor to tlie
festival of the old country; and the din and clamor in the
streets, the strains of music, and the tramp of feet outside
announced that similar associations were on their way to tl~e
rendezvous.  The waiters in the hotel, all of whom were Irisl~,
had on their best, and wore an air of pleased importance.
~Iaoy of their countrymeli outside oa the pavement exhibited
very large decorations, plates of' metal, and badges attached
to broad ribbons over their left breasts.
After breakfast I struggled with a friend through the crowd
which thronged Union Square.  Bless them!  They were all
Irish, judging from speec~ and gesture and look; for th~ 
16         MY DIARY NORTll AND SOUT~
most part decently dressed, and comfortable, evidently bent
on enjoying the day in spite of the cold, and proud of the
privilege of interrupting all the trade of the principal streets,
in which the Yankees most do congregate, for the day.  They
were on the door-steps, and on the pavement men, women,
and children, adminug tl~e big policemen - many of them
compatriots - and they swarmed at the corners, cheering
popular town-councillors or local celebrities.  Broadway was
equally full.  i?lags were flying fi~om the windows and steeples - aiid on the cold breeze came the hammering of drums
and the blasts of many wind instruments.  Tlie display, suci
as it was, partook of a military diameter, though not much
more formidable in that sense than the march of the Trades
Unions, or of Temperance Societies.  Imagine Broadway
lined for the long miles of its course by spectators mostly
Ilibernian, and the great gaudy stars and stripes, or as one
of the Secession jouri~als I see styles it, the " Sanguinary
United States Gi~idiron " - waving in all directions, whilst up
its centre in the mud march the children of Erin.
First came the acting Brigadier-General and his staff~ escorted by 40 lancers, very ill-dressed, and worse mounted:
horses dirty, accoutrements in the same condition, bits, bridles,
and buttons rusty and tarnished; uniforms ill-fitting, and badly
put on.  But the red flags and the show pleased the crowd,
and they cheered "bould Nugent" right loudly.  A band followed, some members of which had been evidently "smiling"
with each other; and next marched a body of drummers in
military uniform, rattUng away in the French fashion.  Here
comes the 69th N. Y. State ~Iilitia Recriment - the battalion
which would not turn out when the Prince of ~Yales was in
New York, and whose Colonel, Corcoran, is still under court
martial for his refusal.  ~Yell, the Prince had no loss, and the
Colonel may have had other besides political reasons for his
dislike to parade his men.
The regiment turned out, I should think, only 200 or 220
men, finn tellows enough, but not in the least like soldiers or
militia.  The United States uniform which most of the military bodies wore, consists of a blue tunic and trousers, and a
kepi-like cap, with "U. S." in front for undress.  In full dress
the officers wear large gold epaulettes, and officers and men a
bandit-sort of felt hat looped up at one side, and decorated
with a plume of black-ostrich feathers and silk cords.  Tlie
absence of facings, and the want gf something to finish off the 
FRIThNDLY SOCIETII~S.          17
collar and cuffs, render the tunic very bald and unsightly.
Another band closed the rear of the G9tl~, and to eke out {l~e
~ilitary show,`vl~ich in all`ias less than 1200 iiieii, some coiiipailies ~vere borro~ved from another reg;'meiit of State i~Iil~tia,
and a troop 0~ very poor cavalry cleared tlie way for the
Napper-Tandy Artillery, which actually liad three ~vhole guns
`vith them!  It was strange to dwell on some of tlie names of
tlie societies which followed.  For instance, there were the
Dungannon Volttnteers of`S 2," prepared of course to via dicate tlie fiimous declaration flint none should make laws for
Ireland, but the Queen, Lords, and Commons of Ireland
1~very honest Catholic among them ignorant of the fact that
the Volunteers of`82 were all Protestants.  Then there was
the "Sarsfield Guard!"  One cannot conceive anything more
hateful to tlie fiery high-spirited cavalier, than the republican
foim of Government, whidi these poor Irishmen are, they
fl-iink~ so fond of.  A good deal of what passes for national
sentiment, is in reality dislike to Lugland and religious animosity.
It was much more interesting to see the long string of
Benevolent, Friendly, and Provident Societies, with bands,
numbering many thousands, all decently clad, and marching
in order with bannen, insignia, badges, and ribbons, and the
Irish flag flying along-side the "stais and stripes."  I cannot
congratulate them on the taste or good effect of their accessories - on their symbolical standards, and ridiculous old harpers, carried on stages in "bardic c~stume," very like artificial
white wigs and white cotton dressiiig-go was, but the actual
good done by these societies, is, I ain told, very great, and
their charity would cover far greater sins than incorrectness
of dress, and a proneness to "piper's playiiig on tlie iiational
bagpipes." Tlie vanous societies mustered upwards of 10,000
mcii, sonic 0~ them uaiformed and armed, others dressed in
quaint garments, and all as noisy as music and talking could
niake them.  Tlie Americans appeared to regai'd the whole
thing very mudi as an aacieiit Roman might have looked on
the Saturiialia; but Paddy was in the asceiidant, and could
not be openly trifled with.
The crowds reniained in tlie streets long after the procession had passed, and I saw various pid~pockets captured by
the big policemen, and conveyed to appropriate receptacles.
"~Vas there any man of eminence in that procession," I
asked.`No; a few small local politicians, sonie wealthy 
18         MY DfARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
store-keepers, and beer-saloon owners perhaps; but the mass
were of the small bourgeoisie.  Such a man as ~Ir. O'Conor,
who may be considered at the head of the New York bar
for instance, would not take part in it."
In the evening I went, according to invitation, to the Astor
Ilouse - a large hotel, with a front like a railway terminus,
in the Americo-Classical style, with great Doric columns and
portico, and fbund, to my surprise, that the friendly party
was to be a great public dinner.  The halls were filled with
the company, few or none in evening dress; and in a
minutes I was presented to at least twenty-four gentlemen
whose names I did not even ben   The use of badges, medals, and ribbons, m~ght, at first, lead a stranger to believe he
was in very distinguished militaty society; but he would soon
learn that these insignia were the decorations of benevolent
or convivial associations.  There is a latent taste for these
things in spite of pure republicanism.  At the dinner`there
were Americans of Dutch and English descent, some "Yankees," one or two Englishmen, Scotchmen, and Welshmen.
The chairman, Judge Daly, was indeed a true son of the
soil, and his speeches were full of good humor, fluency, and
wit; but his greatest effect was produced by the exhibition of
a tuft of shainrocks in a flower-pot, which liad been sent
from Ireland for the occasion.  This is done annually, but,
like the miracle of St. Januarius, it never loses its effect, and
always touches the heart.
I confi~ss it was to some extent curiosity to observe the
sentiment of the meeting, and a desire to see how Irishmen
were affected by the change in their climate, which led me to
the room.   I came away regretting deeply that so many
natives of th~ British Isles should be animated with a hostile
feeling towards England, and that no statesman has yet arisen
who can devise a panacea for the evils of these passionate
and unmeaning differences between races and religions. Their
strong antipathy is not diminished by the impossibility of gratifying it.  They live in hope, and certainly the existence of
these feelings is not only troublesome to American statesmen,
but mischievous to the Irish themselves, inasmuch as they are
rendered with unusual readiness the victims of agitators or
political intriguers.  The Irish element, as it is called, is much
regarded in voting times, by suffragiug`)ishops and others; at
other times, it is left to its work and its toil - ~Ir. Seward and
Bishop fluglies are supposed to be its present masters.  Un 
OFF~~S OF S~R~CF.             19
doubtedly the mass of those I saw to-day were better clad than
they would have been if they remained at home.  As I said
in tlie speech which I was forced to make much against my
will, by the gentle violence of my companions, never had I
seen so many good hats and coats in an assemblage of~Ashmen
in any other part of the woAd.
i~iarch 19.  The morning newspapers contain reports of
last night's speeches which are amusing in one respect, at all
events, as affording specimens of the different versions which
may be given of the same matter.  A "citizen" who was kind
enough to come in to shave me, paid m0e some easy compliments, in the manner of the " Barber of Seville," on what lie
termed the "oration" of the night before, and then proceeded
to give his notions of the merits and defects of the American
Constitution.   He did not care much about the Franchise -
it was given to too many he thought.  A man must be five
years~rcsident in New York before he is admitted to the privileges of voting.  ~Then an emi~rant arrived, a paper was delivered to him to certify il~e tact, which he produced after
lapse of five years, when he might be registered as a voter; if
he omitted the process of registration, he could however vote
if identified by two householders, and a low lot," observed the
barber, "they are - Insh and such like.  I don't want any
of their votes."
In tlie afternoon a number of gentlemen called, and made
il~e kindest offers of service   letters of introduction to all
parts of the States; facilities of every description - all tendered with frankness.
I was astonished to find little sympathy and no respect for
the newly installed Government.   They were regarded as
obscure or undistinguished men. I alluded to the drcumstance
that one of the journals continued to speak of " The President"
in the most contemptuous manner, and to designate him as th~
great " Rail-Splitter~'  " Oh yes," said the gentleman with
whom I was conversing, "that must strike you as a strange
way of mentioning the Chief i~Iagistrate of our great Republic,
but the fact is, no one minds what the man writes of any one,
his game is to abuse every respectable man in tlie country in
order to take his revenge on them for his social exclusion, and
at tlie same time to please the ignorant masses who delight in
vituperation and scandal."
In the evening, dining again with my friend the baa~er, I
had a favorable opportunity~f hearing more of the special 
20        MY flARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
pleading which is brought to bear on the solution of the grav
est political questions.  It would seem as if a council of physicians were wrangling with each other over abstract do~nias
respecting life and health, whilst their patient was struggling
ia the agonies of death before them!  In the comfortable and
well~appointed house wherein I met several men of position,
acquirements, and natural sagaci~~, there was not the smallest
evidence of uneasiness on account of circumstances which, to
the eye of a stranger, betokened an awful crisis, if not the
irnpeiiding dissolution of society itself.  Stranger still, the
acts which are briffging about such a calamity are not regarded with disfavor, or, at least, are not considered unjustifiable.
-Among the guests Were the Hon. Horatio Seymour, a former Governor of the State of New York; 1~Ii~. Tylden, an
acute lawyer; and ~Ir. Ban croft. The result left on my mind
by their conversation and arguments was that, according to
the Constitution, the Government could not employ force to
pr~vent secession, or to compel States which had seceded by
the will of the people to acknowledge the Federal power.  In
fact, according to them, the Federal Government was the
mere machine put fbrward by a Society of Sovereign States,
as a commqn instrument for certain ministerial acts, more
particularly those which affected the external relations of the
Confederafloiji.  I do not think that any of the guests sought
to turn the channel of talk upon politics, but the occasion offered itself to ~Ir. Horatio Seymour to give me his views of
the Constitution of the United States, and by degrees the
theme spread over the table.  I had bought the   Constitut~on" for three cents in Broadway in tl~e forenoon, and had
read it carefully, but I could not find that it was self-expound
ing; it referred itself to the Supreme Court, but what was to
support the Supreme Court in a contest with armed power,
either of Government or people?  There was not a man wlio
maintained the Government had any power to coerce the
people of a State, or to force a State to remain in the Uiiion,
or under the action of the Federal Government; in other
words, the symbol of power at ~Yashington is not at all analogous to that whicl~ represents an established Government in
other countries.  Quid prosunt ~ges sine arims?  Although
they admitted the Southern leaders had meditated  the treason against the Uni&n" years ago, they could not bi-ing themselves to allow their old opponents, the Republicans now in 
MR. SEYMOUR.               21
power, to dispose of the armed force of the Union against
tii~ir brother democrats in the Southern States.
~Ir. Seymour is a man of compromise, but his views go
fartl~er than those which were entertained by his party tea
years ago.  Although secession would produce revolution, it
was, nevertheless, " a right," founded ori abstract principles,
whi('h could scarcely be abrogated consistently with due regard to tlie original compact.  One of the company made a
remark which was true enough, I dare say.  ~Ye were talking of the difficulty of relieving Fort Sumter - an infi~Iliblo
topic just now.  "If the British or any foreign power were
threatening the fort," said he, "our Government would find
means of relieving it fast enough." In fact, the Federal Government is groping in the dark  and whilst its friends are
telliiig it to advance boldly, there are myriad voices shriekiiig
out in its ears,` If you put out a foot you are lost."  There
is neither army nor navy available, and the ministers have no
machinery of rewards, and means of intrigue, or modes of
gaining adherents known to European administrations.  The
democrats behold with silent satisfaction the troubles int@
which the Republican triumph has plunged the country, and
are not at all disposed to extricate them.  The most notable
way of impeding their efforts is to knock them dowii with the
"Constitution" every time they rise to the surface arid begin
to swim out.
New York society, however, is easy in its mind just now,
and the upper world of millionnaire merchants, bankers, contractors, and great traders are glad that the vulgar Republicans
are suffering tbr their success.  Not a man there but resented
tlie influence given by universal suffrage to the mob of the
city, and complained of the intolerable effects of their ascendency - of the corruption of the municipal bodies, the venality
of electors and elected, and the abuse, waste, and proffigate
outlay of the public funds.  Of these there were many ill ustrations given to me, garnished with historietts of some of the
civic dignitaries, and of' their coadjutors in the press  but it
did not' require proof that universal suffrage in a city of which
perhaps three fourths of the voters were born abroad or of
foreign parents, and of whom many were the scum swept off
the seething of European populations, must work most injuriously on property and capital.  I confess it is to be much
wondered at that tiie consequences are not more evil; but no
doubt the time is coming when the mischief can no longer 
22        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
he born~. and a social reform and revolution must be inc~
itable.
Within only a very few hundreds of yards from the house
nnd picture-gallery of ~Ions. B~~~t, the representative of
Furopean millions, are the hovels and lodgings of liis equals
in political power.  This evening I visited the house of ]\Ions.
B, where his wife had a reception, to which nearly the
whole of the party went.  When a man looks at a suit of
armor made to order by the first blacksmith in Lurope, he
observes that the finish of the joints and hinges is much higher
than in the old iron cloil~es of the former time.  Possibly the
metal is better, and the chasings and garniture as good as the
work of J\Iilan, but the observer is not for a moment led to
imagine that the fabric has stood proof of blows, or that it
smacks of ancient watch-fire.  If he were asked why it is so,
he could not tell; any more perhaps than he could define exactly the difference between the lustrous, highly-jewelled, wellgreaved Achnian of New York and the very less effective and
showy creature who will in every society over the world pass
muster as a gentleman.  Ilere was an elegant house - I use
the word in its real meaning - with pretty statues, rich carpets, handsome furniture and a gallery of charming ~Ieissoniers and genre pieces; the saloons admirably lighted - a fair
fine large suite, filled with the prettiest women in the most
delightful toilets, with a proper fringe of young men, orderly, neat, and well turned-out, fretting against the usual
advanced posts of turbaned and jewelled dowagers, and provided with every accessory to make the whole good society;
for there was wit, sense, intelligence, vivacity; and yet there
was something wanting - not in host or l~ostess, or compar\y,
or house - where was it? - which was conspicuous by its
absence.  1~Ir. Bancroft was kind enough to introduce me to
the most lovely faces and figures, and so far enable me to
judge that nothing could be more beautiful, easy, or natural
than the womanhood or girlhood of New York.  It is prettiness rather than fineness; regular, intelligent, wax-like faces,
graceful little figures; none of the grandiose Roman type
which Von Raumer recognized in London, as in the Holy
City, a quarter of a century ago.  Natheless, the young men
of New York ought to be thankful and grateful, and try to be
worthy of it.  Late in the evening I saw these same young
men, Novi Eboracenses, at their club, dicing for drinks and
oathing for nothing, and all very friendly and hospitable. 
TilL CLUn-HOUSE.          23
The dub4~ouse is remarkable as the mansion of a happy
man who invented or patented a waterproof hat4iaing, whereby he built a sort of Sallustian villa, with a central courtyard, a' l'Alhambra, with fountains and flowers, now passed
away to the New York Club.  llere was Pratt's, or the defunct Fielding, or the old Ct C. C.'s in disregard of time and
regard of drinks - and nothing more. 
CllAPTER IV.
Streets and shops in New York - Literature - A funeral - Dinner at
~Ir. II`s - J)inner at NIr. Bancroft's - Political and social
features - Literary breakfast Heenan and Sayers.
iliarcA 20t~. - The papers are still full of Sumter and
Pickens.  The reports that they are or are not to be relieved
are stated and contradicted in eabh paper without any regard
to individual consistency.  The "Tribune" has an article on
my speech at the St. Patrick's dinner, to which it is pleased
fo as~igo reasons and motives which the speaker, at all events,
never had in making it.
Received several begging letters, some of them apparently
with only too much of the stamp of reality about their tales
of disa~~pointment, distress, and suffering.  In the aflernoon
`vent down Broodway, which was crowded, notwithstanding
the piles of l~lackened snow by the curbstones, and the slouglis
of mud, and half-frozen pools at the crossings.  Visited 5everal large  tores or shops - some rival the best establishmeats in Paris or London in richness and in value, and far
exceed them in size and splendor of exterior.  Some on
Broadway, built of mnrble, or of fine cut stone, cost from
~6,000 to ~S,000 a year in mere rent.  Rere, from the base
to the fourth or flfih story, are piled collections of all the
world can produce, ofien in excess of all possible requ~rements
of the country  indeed I was told that the United States have
always impoi~ted more goods than they cotild pay for.  Jewellers' shops are not n~~utnerous, but there are two in Broadway
which have splendid collections of jewels, and of workmanship
in gold and silver, displayed to the greatest advantage in fine
decorated with black marble, statuary, and plate
New York lias certainly all the air of a "nouveau riche."
There is about it an utter absence of any appearance of a' -
grandfather - one does not see even such evidences of eccen 
NORTli AND SO~TH.             25
tric taste as are afforded in Paris and London, by the existence of shops where the old families of a Country cast off
th~ir "exuvi~" which are sought by~the new, that they may
persuade the world they are old; there is no curiosity shop,
not to speak of a ~Yaidour Street, and such cffbrts as are made
to supply the deficiency reveal an enormous amount of ignorance or of bad taste.  The new arts, however, flourish; the
plague of ~~hotogi'aphy has spread through all the corners of
the city, and tlie shop-windows glare with flagrant displays of
the niost tawdry art.  In some of the lai'ge booksellei~s' shops
- Ap~~leton's for example - are striking proofs of the activity of tlie American pi~ess, if not of the vigor and oliginality
of tlie American intellect.  I passed down long rows of shelves
inden with the woiks of European autlions, for the most part,
ol~ shime! stolen and translated into American type without
the smallest compunction or scruple, and without the least intention of ever yielding the most pitiful deodand to the autl)ofl~.  ~In Appleton sells no less than one million and a half
of ~Vebster's spelling-books a year; his tables are covered
witl~ a flood of pamphlets, some for, others against coercion
some for, othens op~~osed to slavery, - but when I asked for
a s~nle solid, substantial work on the present difficulty, I was
-told there was not one published worth a cent.  With such
men as Audubon and Wilson in natural history, Prescott and
IMotley in history, Washington Irving and Cooper in fiction,
Longfellow and Edgar Poe ill poetry, even Bryant and the
respeciabilities in rhyme, and Emerson as essayi~t, there is no
reason why New York should be a paltry imitation of Leipsig, without the good faith of Tauchnitz.
J dined with a litterateur well known in England to many
people a year or two ago   spnghtly, loquacious, and well infoi~iiied, if neither witty nor profou~d - now a Southern man
with Southern proclivities, - as Americans say; once a Southeri0 iiian with sueli strong anti-slavery convictions, that his Cxpi~es~ion of them in all English quarterly had seen red him the
hi~stility of his own people - one of the emanations of American literary life for which their own country finds no fitting
reeeiven  As the best proof of his sincerity, he l~as just now
abnndoned his connection with one of the New York papers
on tlie republican side, because be believed that the course of
- tlie journal was dictated by anti-Southern fanaticism.  lIe is,
in fact, persuaded that there will be a civil war, and that the
South will have much of the right on its side in the contest.
2 
26         MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
At bis room~ were ~fon~. B -~ Dr. Gwin a Californian ex
senator, ThIr. Barlo"~. aad sev~ral of tlie leadi~~g in~~n of a certain clique in New York.  fl~e Amei~icaiis coa~l~lain, Ol' assert, that we do not undcrsMnd them and I coi~fess the r~proacli, or statemeiit, was felt to be well fi~unded by myself at
all events, when 1 heard it declared and adn~itted th('~t "if
~1ons. Belmont had not gone to the Charleston Coaventio~~,
tite present crisis would nevcr l~ave occui~i~ed."
Jif~~ck 22d. - A si~ow-storm worthy of Moscow or Riga
flr~w through New York all day, depositii~g more food for tl~e
mjd.  1 paid a visit to Mr. Ilorac Grecley, at~d had a long
conversation with l~im.  I-Ic exjtressed great pleasui~e at the
intelligence that I was going t6 visit the Southern States.
" Be sure you examine the slave-pens.  T/~ey will be afi~id
to refuse yoi~, and you can tell tlie trutl~."  As tlie capital
and the South torm the chief attractions at present, I am
prepaflag to escape from "tl~e divine calm" and snows of
New Yoi~k.  I was recommended to vi~it many p!aces before ~
left New York, pr;ncipaily hos1titals and l)risons. S:ng-Sing, the
state peltitentiary, is "claimed," as tite Atnencans say, to be
the first " institution  of its kind in the wot~ld.`1'ime presses,
however, and Sing-Si ii  is a long way offi  I am told`i systern of torture prevails thei~e tor hardened or obdurate offendders - torture by dro~~ping ct~ltl water on them, torture l'y
thumbscrews, and tl~e like - rat lie opposed to Ihe views of
prison pliiiaiitliropists in modern tlays.
Alarck 23d. - It is announced positively that the authorities in Pensicola and Cliai~leston have refused to allow any
further supplies to be sent to Fort Pickens, the United States
fleet in tlie Gulf, and to Fort Stimter.  Everywhere the
Southern leaders are ibi-cing on a solution with decision aiid
eliergy, whilst the Goveriiiuent appeals to be helplessly drifting with the curretit of events, having neither bow nor stern,
neither keel nor deck, icither i~utlder, compass, ~ails, or steam.
Mr. Sewaid lias declined to receive or hold any intercourse
wit  tiie three gentlemen calleil Sontlieni Commissioners, wlio
repaii~ed to ~Vasiiington accredited by tlte G~iveriimetit atid
Cotigress ~r tlie Seceding States now sitting at Montg~~mei~y,
so that there is no channel of mediation or means of adjustmeat left open.  I hear, indeed, that Government is secretly
pl~eparing what force it can to strengthen tlie garrison at
Pickens, and to reiiitbrce Sumter at any hazard; bitt that its
want of men, ~hips, and money compels it to temporize, ie~ 
A~IERICAN JOURNALS.           27
tlie So~ith~rn authorities should forestall their designs by a
`rigo rotis attacl on the en&ebled forts.
There is, iii reality, very little done by New York to support or en~ourage th~ Government in any decided policy, and
the journals are more enga~ed now in al)using each other, and
in small party aggressive warfare, than in the pei~fbrmance of
tlie duties of a p)~triotic press, whose mission at such a time is
beyoii(l all question the resignation of little differences for the
sake of tlie whole coulitry, and an entire devotion to its safety,
lioiior, and integi'ity.  But the New York people must have
their intelle~,tu~il dram  evely morning, and it matters little
what the course of Government may be, so long as tl0e aristo~~ratic democrat can be amu~ed by ndici~le of the Gi'eat Rail
Splitter or a vivid poi'traiture of ~Ii. I~orace Greeley's old
co;it, liat, breeches, and umbrella. ~Tlie coarsest personalities
are iead wit Ii gusto and attacks of a kii0d which`voul~~ not
have been admitted in to the "Age" or~' Satirist " in their
worst days. fUrm tlie staple leading arti~~les of one or two of
the most lar~ely circulated journals in the &ity~ " Slang  in
its woi~st Americanized foi~m is fi~eely uset(l in sensation liea~ltn~s aiid leaden~, aiid a class of advertisements which are not
alloweil t() appear in respectable ~~nglisli pa pens, have po~sesSiOli of coIunii~s of the principal newspapers, few, indeed. excluding them.  It is stiange, too, to see in journals which
pio!ess to represent tlie civilization and intelligence t)f tl~e
most enlightened an~l highly educ~ited peoI)le on the fice of
tlie earth, advertisements of sorcei~en~, wizards, and fortunetellers by tlie score -" wonderful clairvoyants," " tIe s4veiitli
chil~l of a seventh child," " niesmeristic aecrornancei~s," aiid
the like, who can tell your thoughts as soon as you enter tlie
room, can secure the atfections you prize, give lucky numbeis
in lotteries, and make everybody's foi~tunes but their own.
~`lien tli~~re are tlie niost iml)udent quack piogrammes - very
diitibtful` liersonals " atldressed to` the young lady with black
liaii aiiil hlue eyes,`vlio got out of tlie omiiibus at tlie cofl~er
of 7tli Street" - appeals by "a lady about to be coiitiiied"
to "any respectable person wlio is desirous of adopting a cliild:~'
all ntther curious reading for a stranger, or for a fai~ily.
It is not to be expected, of course, that New Yoik is a very
pure city, for more than London or Paris it is the sewer of
nations.  It is a city of luxury also - Fiencli and Italian
cooks and milliners, German and Italian inu~icians, high pi'ices,
extravagant tastes and dressing, money readily made, a life in 
28         MY DIARY NORTlI AND SOUTH.
l~otel~, bar-rooms, beavy gambling, sporting, and prize-figl~t
in  fl~~urish lier~~, and combine to lo~ver the stan~lanl of tlie
bourgeoisie at all events.  ~Yl~ere wealth is the sol~ aristocracy, thei~e is great danger of mistaking excess and proFt~sioa
foi' elegan~e and good taste.  To~day as I Wa goiilg dowi~
Broadway, some dozen or more of the ino~t over-di~essed men
I ever saw wei'e pointed out to me as "sports;" that is, men
who lived by gambliiig-l~ou~es and betting on races  and the
class is so numerous that it has its own influence, parti(~nl~rly
at election~,`vl~en the power of a bard-hitting pi~ize-figl~ter
with  a following makes itself unmistakably f~1t.  ~~oung
Ameica essays to 1)0k like martial ~`iance in mutti. but the
lI?Lt aiid tlie coat sni ted to ihe Co1oiiel of Car;~biniers e~~ ret~((itC do not at all become tl)e thin, tall, rather long-E'iced
~~iitleiiien one sees lounging about Broa~lway.  It is true, indeed, tlie ty~ie, though not i~rencl~, is not L'iiglisli.  The characteristics (~f lie A~nerican ai~e straight li;~ir, keen, bright,
~C1i~tr~ting eyes, aiid want of color in tlie cheeks.
AJarch 25t~. - I liad an invitation to meet several members of tlie ~Ne'v Yoi~ press a~sociation at breakf.a~t.  Anio;ig
tie company were - ~Ir. Ba~aid Taylor, with whose extensive notes of travel lii countrymen ai'e familiar-a kind of
enlarged Iiigli~, full of the geiiial spirit which makes ti'avelling iii com~i;iny so agreeible, but lie lias come bai~k as tiaveller genei'ally do, satistied there is no country like liis own
- Pi'ince Lee 1)00 loved liis own isle the best afte~ all - ~1r.
Raymond, of tlie` New ~~)1'k Times " (formerly LientenaiitGiiveriior of tlie State)  ~Ii~. Olnisted, tlie inilefatigalile, able,
anil earnest writer, whom to ilescribe siia~ily as ni Abolitiotiist would be to confound with ignorant if zealotis, unpliilosopliical, and iinpiacticable meli; ~Ir. Dana, of tlie "~`~ribune; " ~1r. 11,iirtbut, of the " Times; " the Lilitor of tlie
Ciiuri~r des Etats Unis; " ]\Ir. Young, of the " Albion,"
which is the only English Journal liublislied in tlie States
aiid ~ithers.  There was a good dtal of pleasant convelsation,
though evely one differed wit Ii liis neighbor, as a matter of
course, as soon as lie touched on politics.  Tiiei~e was talk Je
ontaibus rebus ci quibusdam aliis, such as Ileenan aiid S'iyen~,
Secessi~}n and Sumter, tlie press, politicians, New York life,
aiid so on.  flie first tol)ic oc~~upied a laiger place ttian it
was entitled to, because iji all likelihood tlie s~ioi~ting editor of
one of the papers wlio was present expressed, ~Ci~hi1)5, some
justifiable feeling in reference to the refusal of the belt to the 
LITERARY BREAKFAST.           29
American.  All admitted the courage and great endurance of
his antagonist, but seemed convinced that Heenan, if not the
better man, was at least the victor in that particulttr contest.
It would be strange to see the great tendency of Americans
to iiistitute comparisons with anci~nt and recognized stand'~rds,
if it were not that they are adopting the natural mode of
judging of their own capabilities.  The nation is like a rowin  lad wlio is constantly testing his powers in comj~~tition
~vitl~. lii  elders.  He is in l~is youth aiid nonage, and he is
calling down the lanes and afleys to all comens to look at his
muscle, to run against or to fight hiin.  It is a sign of youtl~,
not a proof of weakness, thougli it does offend the old ltands
and vex the veterans.
Then one finds that Great Britain is often treated very
mnA~ as an old Peninsula man may be by a set of young
soldiers at a club.  He is no doubt a very gaIltat fellow, and
has done very fine things in his day, and he is li;tened to with
respectful endurance, but there is a secret belief that l~e will
never do anything very gl~eat ag;tln.
Oiie of tlie gei~ tlem~n present said that Lngland might dispute the rigl~t of tlie United States Government to bl~~ckade
tl)e ports of lier own States, to wljieli  he was entitled to
aece~s under treaty, and might urge that such a blockade was
not justifiable  but then, it was argued, that tlie Piesideiit
could Ol)Cfl aiid shut ports as lie pleased  and that he might
close ilie Southern ports by a pioclamation in the nature of.
an Oi'der of Council.  It was tnken for granted that Great
Bi~itnin`voiihl only act on sordid moti~~es, hut that tlie well
known affection of France for the Unite~l States is to check
tlie selfishness of her rival, and prevent a speedy recognition. 
CHAPTER V.
Off to the railway station - Railway carriages - Philadelphia -
~VasI~iiigton - ~Vi!tartl's Ilotet - Mr. Seward - North aii~l Sonth
- The  State I)epartment" at \Vashington - P~e~ident Lincolii
-Dinner at Mr. ScwaA's.
AFT FR our pleasant breakfast came that necessity for
activity which makes such meals disguised as mere light
morning repasts take their revenge.  I had to pack ul), and
1 am boun~l to say tlie moi~al aid afforded me by tlie waitei',
wlio stood with a sympathizing expression of face, an~l looked
on as I wrestled with hoots, books, and great coats, was of
a most comprehensive cl~aracter.  At last I coiiquered, and
at six o'dock P. M. I left the Ciaren~lon, an~l wws coiiveyed
over tlie rougl~est and most execrable pavements tlir~~ugh
sever'Ll miles of unsympatheti~, gloomy, dirty streets, and
crowded thorou~hf;tres, over jaw-wrenching street-railway
track~, to a large wooden shed covered with inscriptions respecting routes and destinations on the barik of the river,
whi&.h as far as tl)e eye could see, was bordered by similar
e.~tablisliments, where my baggage was deposited in the mud.
There were no porters none ot tlie recognized and established
aids to locomotion to which we are accustomed in Europe,
but a number of amateul:s divided the spoil, and carried it
into the offices, whilst I was directed to struggle for my ticket
in another little wooden box, from which I presently received
the necessary document, full of the dreadful warnings and conditions, which railway companies inflict on the public in nIl
free countries.
The whole of my luggage, except a large bag, was taken
chai~ge ot hy a man at the New York side of the ferry, who
"checked it through" to the capital - giving me a slip of
brass wit Ii a number corresponding with a brass ticket for each
piece.  ~~hen the boat arrived at the stage at the other side
of the Hudson, in my innocence I called for a porter to take
iny bag.  The passengers were moving out of the capacious 
RAILWAY CARRIAGES.- PrnLADEL?IIIA.   31
ferry-boat in a steady stream, and tbe steam tbroat and bell of
th~ engille were going whilst I was looking for my pol'ter;
but at {ast a gentleman passing, said, "I gL~ess y'ill remain
here a con~idei~abie time beFore y~ill get m~y one to comc for
tl~at bag of yours   and takit~g lie hint, 1 just got off in time
to stunilile into a long box on wheels, wit Ii a double row of
most uncomfortable seats, and a passage dow ii tlie middle,
where I ibiind a place beside Mr. Sanfbrd, the newly-appointed United States Minister to Belgium, who was kiiid
enough to take me under Ijis charge to ~Va~hington.
The night was closii~g ii~ very fast as the train started, but
such  glimpses as I hnd of the continuous line of prettylooking villages of wooden houses, two stories higb, l)ainted
whit(', each with its Corinthian porticQ gave a most fitvorable
impi~es~ion of the comfort and prosperity ot the people.  The
rail passed through the main street of most of these hamlets
and villages, and the bell of the engine was tolled to warii the
inliabiLu~s, wlio diew up on the sidewalks, and let us go by.
Soon the white houses faded away into faint blurred maiks
on tlie black ground of tlie landscape, or twinkled with starlike lights, and there was nothing more to see.  Tlie passengers were crowded as close as they could pack, and as there
was an immense iron stove in the centre of the car, the heat
aiid stuffiness became most trying, although I had been
undergoing the ordeal of the stove-heated New York houses
for nearly a week.  Once a minute, at least, the door at
eiiher end of the carri~ge was opened, and then closed with
a sharp, crashing noise, that jarred the nerves, and effbctually
prevented sleep.  It generally was done by a man whose sole
ol~ject seemed to be to walk up the centre of the carriage in
order to go out of the opposite door - occasionally it was
the woi~k of a newspaper boy, with a sheaf of journals and
trashy illustrated papers under his arm.  Now and then it
was the conductor; but the periodical visitor was a young
gentleman with chain and rings, who bore a tray before him,
and solicited orders for "gum drops," and "lemon drops,"
which, with tobacco, apples, and cakes, were consumed in
great quantities by the passengers
At ten o'clock, P. M., we crossed the river by a ferry-boat to
Philadelphia, and drove through~the streets, stopping for supper a few moments at the La Pierre llotel.  To judge from
the vast extent of the streets, of small, low, yet snug-looking
houses, through which we passed, Philadelphia must contain 
32         MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
in comfort fl~e largest number of small householders of any
city in the woAd.  At the other terminus of the rail, to which
we drove in a carriage, we procured for a small sum, a dollar
1 think, berths in a sleeping-car, an American institution of
considerable merit.  Unfbrtunately a party of prize-fighters
bad a mind to make themselves eom(brtlble, and the result
was anything but con~lucive to sleep.  They had plenty of
whiskey, and were fi~ll of song and fight, nor was it possible
to escape their urgeI~t solicitations "to take a dli'10k," by
f~igning the soundest sleep.  One of these, a big man, with
a broken nose, a mellow eye, and a very large display of
i~ngs, jewels, chains, and pins, was in very higl~ sj)irits, aiid informed us he was "Going to ~Yasl~ington to get a to reign mis
sion f'om Bill Seward.  Ue wouldn't take Paris, as he didii't
care much about Frenc'h or Frenchmen; but l~e'd just like to
show John Bull how to do it; or he'd take Japan if they were
very pressing."  Anotl~er told us l~e was " Going to the bosoni
of Uncle ~~be " (meaning the President) - "that he kiiew
him well in Kentucky years ago, and a high-toned gentleman
he was."  Any attempts to`persuade them to retire to i~est
made by the conductoi's were treated with sovereign contempt;
but at last whiskey asserted its supl'eniaey, aiid having established the point that they " would not sleep unless they -
pleased," they slept and snored.
At six, A. M., we were roused up by tl~e arrival of the train
at ~Yas!iington, having crossed great rivers and traversed cities
without knowing it during the night.  1 looked out and saw a
vast mass of white marble towering above us on the left,
stretcliiiig out in colonnaded porticoes, and long flanks of windo wed m'is5nry, and stiriiiounted by an uiiflnis!ied cupola, from
which scaffold and cranes raised their black arms.  Ttiis was
the Capitol.  To the right was a cleared space of mud, sand,
and fields, studded with wooden sheds and huts, beyoiid which,
ngain, could be seen rudimentary streets of small red bi'ick
houses, and some cl~urch-spires above them.
Emerging from the station, we found a vociferous crowd
of blacks, who were the hackney.coachmen of the place; but
~Ir. Sanford liad his carriage in waiting, and drove me straight
to ~Yillard's hotel where he consigned me to tlie landlord at
the bar.  Our route lay through Pennsylvania Avenue - a
street of much breadth and length, lined with ~hnthus trees,
each in a white-washed wooden sentry-box, and by most irregularly-built houses in all kinds of' material, from deal plank 
WILLARD'S HOTEL.              33
to marble - of all heights, and every sort of trade.  Few
shop-windows were open, and the principal population consisted of black~, who were moving about on domestic affairs.
At one end of the long vista there is the Capitol; and at the
other, the Treasury buildings - a tine block in marble, with
the usual American classical colonnades.
Close to these rises the great pile of Willard's Hotel, now
occupied by applicants for office, and by the members of the
newly-assembled Congress.  It is a quadrangular mass of
rooms, six stories high, and some hundred yards square; and
it probably contains at this moment more scheming, plotting,
planning heads, more aching and joyful hearts, than any
building of the same size ever held ia the world.  I was
ushered into a bedroom which had just been vacated by
some candidate - whether he succeeded or not I cannot tell,
but if his ~testimonials spoke truth, he ought to have been
selected at once for the highest office.  The room was littered
with printed copies of letters testifying that J. Smith, of Hartford, Conn., was about the ablest, honestest, cleyerest, ~nd
best man the writers ever knew.  Up and down the long
passages doors were opening and shutting for men with papers bulging out of their pockets, who hurried as if for their
life in and out, and the building almost shook with the tread
of the candidature, which did not always in its present aspect
justify the correctness of the original appellation.
It was a remarkable sight, and difficult to understand unless seen. From Califi~~nia, Texas, from the Indian ~eserves,
and the Mormon Territory, from Nebraska, as from the remotest borders of ~Iinnesota, from every portion of the vast
territories of the Union, except from the Seceded States, the
triumphant Republicans had winged their way to the prey.
There were crowds in the hall through which one could
scarce make his way - the writing-room was crowded, and
the rustle of pens rose to a little breeze - the smoking-room,
the bar, the barber's, the reception-room, the ladies' drawingroom - all were crowded.  At present not less than 2,600
people dine in the public room every day.  On the kitchen
floor there is a vast apartment, a hall without carpets or any
furniture but plain chairs and tables, which are ranged in
elose rows, at which flocks of people are feeding, or discoursLag, or from which they are flying away. The servants never
cease shoving the chairs to and fro with a harsh screeching
noise over the floor, so that one can scarce hear his ne'~ighbor
2* 
84         MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
speak.  If he did, he would probably hear as I did, at this
very hotel, a man order breakfast, "Black tea and toast,
scrambled eggs, fresh spring shad, wild pigeol), pigs' feet, two
robins on toast, oysters," and a quantity of bn~ads and cakes
of various denominations.  The waste conseq~ent on such
orders is enoi~mous   and the ability required to conduct
these enormous establishments successfully is expressed by
tlie common phrase in the States, "Brown is a clever man,
but he can't manage an hotel."  The tumult, the miscella  neous nature of the company - my friends the prize-fighters
nre already in possession of the doorway - the heated, muggy
rooms, not to speak of the great abominableness of tlie pas  sages and halls, despite a most liberal provision of spittoons,
conduce to render these institutions by no means n~reeable to
a European.  Late in the day I succeeded in obtaining a
sitting-room with a small bedroom attached, which made me
somewhat more independent and comfbrtable - but you must
pay highly for any departure from the routine life of the
natives.  Ladies enjoy a handsome drawing-room, with piano,
sofas, and easy chairs, all to themselves.
-I dined at Mr. Sanford's, where I was introduced to ~1r.
Seward, Secretary of State; Mr. Truman Smith, an ex-sena  tor, much respe~ted among thc Republican party; Mr. An~ thony, a senator of the United States, a journalist, a very
intelligent-looking man, with an Israelitish cast of face; Col  onel Foster of the Illinois railway, of reputation in the States
as a geologist; and one or two more gentlemen.  Mr. Seward
is a slight, middle-sized man, of feeble build, with the stoop
conti~acted from sedentary habits and application to the desk,
and has a peculiar attitude when seated, which immediately
attracts attention.  A well4ormed and large head is placed on
a long slender neck, and project over the chest in an argu  mentative kind of way, as if the keen eyes were seeking for
an adversary; tlie mouth is remarkably flexible, large but
well-tormed, tlie nose prominent and aquiline, the eyes secret,
but penetrating, and lively with humor of some kind twin  kling about them; the brow bold and broad, but not remarka  bly elevated; the white hair silvery and fine ~ a subtle, quick
man, rej()icing in power, given to perorate and to oracular utter  ances, fond of badinage, bursting with the importance of state
mysteries, and with the dignity of directing the foreign policy
of the greatest country - as all Americans tl~ink - in the
world.) After dinner he told some stories of the pressure on
 
THE SECRETARY OF STATE.          35
the President for place, which very much amused ilieguests
who knew the men, and talked freely and pleasantly of`unny
things - st~ting, however, few fi~ets positively.  In ref~reiiee
to an assertion in a New Yoi~k l)aper, tb'it orders l~ad l~een
given to evacuate Sumter,  That," lie said,  is a plain lie -
no such orders liave been given.  ~Ye will give up nothing
we have - abandon nothing that has been intru~ted to us.  If
people would only i'ead these statements by the light of the
President%s inaugural, they would not l~e deceived."  I~e
wanted no extra session of Congress.    History tells us that
kings who call extra parlinnients lose tl~eir heads," and l~e
informed the company he liad impressed the President ~\~itli
his historical parallels.
~ll througl~ this conversation his tone was that of a man
very sm~guine, and with a supreme contempt for tho~e who
thought there was anything serious in secession.  " ~Vliy,"
said he,  I mysel?, my brothers, and sisters, ii ave been all
secessionists - we seceded from home when we were young,
but we all went hack to it sooner or later.  These States will
all come back in tlie same way." I doubt if he was ever in the
South  but lie affirmed that the state of living and of society
there was something like tiiat in the State of New York sixty
or seventy years ago.  In the North all was life, enterpl~ise,
industry, mechanical skill.  In tl~e South there was dependence on black labor, and an idle extravagance which was mistaken for elegant luxury - tumble-down old hackney-coaches,
such as had not been seen north of the Potomac for h'tlf a
century, harness never cleaned, ungronin ed hoi~es, worke~l at
the mill one day and sent to town the next, badly furiiislied
houses, bad cookery, imperfect education.  No parallel could
be drawn between them and tlie Northern States at all. " You
are all very nngi~y," lie said,  al~out tlie ~Iorrill tai~iff.  You
must, however, let us be best judges of our own affairs.  If
we judge lightly, you have no right to complain  if we judge
wrongly, we shall soon be taught by tlie results, aiid shall
correct our error.  It is evident that if the ~Ioriill tni'iil fullils expectations, and raises a revenue, British inanuficturers
suffer nothing, and we suffer nothii~g, for tlie revenue is raised
here, and trade is not injured.  If tlie tariff fails to create
~ revenue, we shall be driven to modify or ret)eal it."
The company addi~essed him  as  Govei~noi~" which led to
~Ir. Seward's mentioning that when he was in England he
was induced to put his name down with that prefix in a hotel 
36         MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
bool~, and caused a discussion among the waiters as to whether
he was tlie  Gov~rnor" of a prison or of a public company.
I lio~~e tlie great people of Fogland treated ]\Ir. Sew~~rd wiih
the attention due to his position, as lie woukl assuredly feel
and resent very much any slight on the part of those in high
plices.  From what he said, however, I infer that lie was
satisfied with the reception he had inet in London.  Like
most Americans who can afford it, he has been up the Nile.
The weird old stream has great fascinations for tlie people of
the ~Iississippi - as far at least as the first cataract.
Marck 27th. - This morning, after breakfast, ~Ir. Santord
called, according to promise, and took me to the State department.  It is a very humble - in fact, dingy - mansion, two
stories high, and situated at the end of the magnificent line of
colonnade in white marble, called the Treasury, which is hereafter to do duty as the head-quarters of nearly all tlie pub~ic
departments.  People fiiiniliar with Downing Street, however, cannot object to the dinginess of the bureaux in which
the foreign ~nd state affairs of the American Republic are
transacted.  A flight of steps leads to the hall-door, on which
an announcement in wflting is affixed, to indicate the days of
reception for the various classes of persons who have business
with the Secretary of State  in tl)e hall, on tlie right and left,
are small rooms with tlie names of the different officers on the
doors - most of them persons of importance; half.way in the
hall a fl~glit of stairs conducts us to a similar corridor, rather
dark, with doors on each side opening into tlie bureaux of the
chief clerks.  All the appointments were very quiet, and one
would see much more bustle in the passages of a Poor Law
Board or a parish vestry.
In a moderately sized, but very comfortable, apartment,
surrounded with book-shelves and ornamented with a &w engravings, we found the Secretary of State seated at his table,
and enjoying a cigar; he received me with great courtesy and
kindness, aiid after a time said lie would take occasion to present me to the President, who was to give audience that day
to the minister of the new kingdom of Italy, who had hitherto
only represented the kingdom of Sardinia.
I have already described ~Ir. Seward's personal appearance; his son, to whom he introduced me, is the AssistantSecretary of State, arid is editor or proprietor of a journal in
the State of New York, which has a reputation for ability and
fairness.  ~Ir. Frederick Seward is a slight delicate-looking 
PRESIDENT LINCOLN.           37
man, with a high foj~head, thoughtfbl brow, dark eyes, and
amialile expression; liis manner is very placid and modest,
and, if not reserved, lie is by no means loquacious.  A we
were speaking, a carri'~ge drove up to the door, and Mr. Seward exclaimed to his fat ii er, with something like dismay in his
voice,  Here comes the Chevalier in full uniform! "- and in
a fi~w seconds in effect the Chevalier Bertinatti made his appearance, in cocked hat, white gloves, diplomatic suit of blue
an~l silver lace, sword, sash, and ribbon of the cross of Savoy.
I thought there was a quiet smile on Mr. Seward's face as he
saw his brilliant companion, who contrasted so strongly with
the more than republican simplicity of his own attire.  " l'red.,
do you take Mr. Russell round to the President's, whilst I go
with the Chevalier.  We will meet at the ~Yhite House."
We accordingly set out through a private door leading to the
grounds, and within a few seconds entered the hall of the
mo~lerate mansion, White House, which has very much the
air of a portion of a0bank or public office, being provided with
glass doors and plain heavy chairs and forms.  The domestic
wlio was in attendance was dressed like any ordinary dtizen,
and seemed perfectly indifferent to the high position of the
great persoilage with whom he conversed, when Mr. Seward
asked him, "Where is tlie President?"  Passing through one
of the doors on the left, we entered a handsome spacious room,
richly and rather gorgeously furnished, and rejoicing in a kiiid
of "demijour," which gave increased effect to the gilt chairs
and ormolu ornaments.  Mr. Seward and the Chevalier stood
in the centre of the room, whilst his son and I remained a
little on one side: "For~' said Mr. Seward, <`you are not to
be supposed to be here."
Soon afterwards there entered, with a shambling, loose,
irregular, almost unsteady gait, a tall, lank, lean man, considerably over six feet in height, with stooping shoulders, long
pendulous arms, terminating i~ hands of extraordinary dimensions, which, however, were far exceeded in proportion by his
feet.  He was dressed in an ill-fitting, wrinkled suit of black,
wliid~ put one in mind of an undertaker's uniform at a funeril;
round his neck a rope of black silk was knotted in a large
bulb, with flying eiids projecting beyond the collar of his coat;
his turned-down shi~t-collar disclosed a sinewy muscular yel
low ne~k, and above that, nestling in a great black mass of
hair, bristling and compact like a ruff of mourning pins, rose
the strange quaint face and head, covered with its thatch of 
38        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
wild republican hair, of Presidcnt Lincoln.  The impressio~
produced by the size of his extremities, and by his flappin~
and wide projecting ears, may be removed by tlie appearance
of kindliness, sagacity, and the awkwai~d bonhommie of hiS
face  the mouth is absolutely prodigious  tl~e lips, straggling
and extei~ding almost froni one line of black beard to the
other, are only kept in order by two deep furrows from the
nostril to tlie chin; the nose itself- a prominent organ -
stands out from the face, with an inquiring, an~ious air, as
tliou'~h it were sniffing for some good thing in the wind; tlie
eyes dark, full, and deeply set, are penetrating, but flill of an
expression which almost amounts to tenderness; and al~ove
them projects the shaggy brow} running into the small hard
frontal space, the development of which can scarcely be estimated accurately, owing to the irregular flocks of thick hair
carelessly brushed across it.  One would say that, although
the mouth was made to enjoy a joke, it could also utter the
severest sentence which the head could~ictate, but that~~1r.
Lincoln would be ever more willing to temper justice with
mercy, and to enjoy what he considers the amenities of life,
than to take a harsh view of men's nature and of tlie world,
and to estimate things in an ascetic or puritan spirit. ~ A pcr-son who met JYIr. Lincoln in the strect would not take him to
be what - according to the usages of European society - is
called a "gentleman;" and, indeed, since I came to the~United
States, I have heard more disparaging allusions made by
Americans to him on that account than I could have expected
among simple republicans, where all should be equals; but, at
the same time, it would not be possible for the most iii different
observer to pass him in tlie street witl~out notice.
As he advanced through tl~e room, he evidently controlled
a desire to shake hands all round with everybody, and smiled
good-humoredly till he was suddenly brought up by the staid
deportment of ~In Seward, aiid by the profound diplomatic
bows of the Chevalier Bertinatti.  Then, indeed, he suddenly
jerked himself back, and stood in front of the two ministers,
with his body slightly drooped forward, and liis l~nds behind
his back, his knees touching, and his feet apart.  i~Ir. Seward formally presented the minister, whereupon the President made a prodigiously violent demonstration of his body in
a bow which liad almost the effect of a smack in its rapidity
and abruptnes~, and, recovering himself, proceeded to give his
utmost attention, whilst the Chevalier, with another bow, read 
TllE "TIMES." - DINNER AT MR. SEWARD'S. 39
from a paper a long address in presenting the royal letter
accrediting him as "minister resident;" and when lie:iid that
lie kii~g desired to give, under your enlightened a~liniiiisti~ation, nil possible strength and extent to those sentiiiieiits of
frank sympathy which do not cease to be exhibited every
moment between the two peoples, and whose origin dates
back as far as the exertions which have presided over their
commo~ destiny as self~~overaing and free nations," the
President gave another bow still more violent, as mud~ as to
accept the allusion.
The minister forthwith handed his letter to tlie President,
~vho gave it into the custody of ~1r. Seward, and then, dipping
his hand into his coat-pocket, ~1r. Lincoln drew out a sheet
of paper, from which he read his reply, the most remarkable
Ipart of which was his doctrine "that the United States were
bound by duty not to interfere with the differences of foreign
governments and countries."  After some words of compliment, the President shook hands with the minister, who soon
afterwards retired.  ~Ir. Seward then took me by the hand
and said -" ]\1r. President, allow me to present to you ~ir.
Rnss'ell, of the London`Times.'" On which i~1r. Li n cola put
out his hand in a`very friendly manner, and s:~id, "~1r. Russell, I am very glad to make your acquaintance, and to see
you in this country.  The London`Times' is one of the
greatest powers in the world, - in fact, I don't know anything
which has much more power, - except perhaps the ~Iississippi.  I am glad to know you as its minister."  Conversation
ensued for some minutes, which the President enlivened by
two or three peculiar. little sallies, and I left agree    im
pressed with his shrewdness, humor, and natural sagacity.
In the evening I dined with ~Ir. Seward, in company with
l~is son, ~Lr. Seward, junior, ~Ir. Sauft~rd, and a quaint, natural
specimen of an American rustic lawyer, who was going to
Brussels as Secretary of Legation.  His chief, ~~Ir. Sanford,
did not appear altogether happy when introduced to his
secretary, for he found that he had a very limited knowledge
(if any) of French, and of other things which it is generally
considered desirable that secretaries should know.
Very naturally, conversation turned on politics.  Although
no man can foresee the nature of the crisis which is coming, nor
the mode in which it is to be encountei'ed, the faith of men like
~Ir. Sanford and ~Ir. Seward in the ultimate success of their
principles, and ~n the integrity of the Republic, is very re 
40        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
markable; and the boldness of their language in reference to
foreign powers almost amounts to arrogance and menace, if
not to temerity.  Mr. Seward assert~d that fl~e Ministers of
England or of France had no right to make any allusion to the
civil war which appeared imminent; and that the Southern
Commissioners who had been sent abroad could not be received by the Government of any foreign power, officially or
otherwise, even to hand in a document or to make a representation, without incurring the risk of breaking off relations
with the Government of the United States.  As regards th(
great object of public curiosity, the relief of Fort Sumter, Mr
Seward  maintains a profb~nd silence, beyond the mere
declaration, made with a pleasant twinkle of the eye, that
"the whole policy of the Government, on that and other
questions, is put forth ia the President's inaugural, from which
there will be no deviation. Turning to the inaugural message,
however, there is no such very certain indication, as Mr. Seward pretends to discover, of the course to be pursued by Mr.
Lincoln and the cabinet.  To an outside observer, like myself, it seems as if they were waiting for events to develop
themselves, and rested their policy rather upon acts th~ had
occurred, than upon any definite principle`lesigned to control
or direct the future.
I should here add that Mr. Seward spoke in high terms of
the ability, dexterity, and personal qualities of Mr. Jefferson
Davis, and declared his belief that but for him the Secession
movement never could have succeeded as far as it has gone,
and would, in all probability, indeed, have never taken place
at all.  After dinner cigars were introduced, and a quiet little
rubber of whist followed.  The Secretary is given to expatiate
at large, and told us many anecdotes of foreign travel; - it
I am not doing him injustice, I would say further, that he
remembers his visit to England, and the attention he received
there, with peculiar satisfaction.  He cannot be found fault
with because he has formed a most exalted notion of the
superior intelligence, virtue, happiness, and prosperity of his
own people.  lie said that it would not be proper for him
to hold any communication with the Southern Commissioners
then in ~Vashington; which rather surprised me, after what I
had heard from their friend, Mr. Banks.  On returning to my
hotel, I found a card from the President, inviting me to dinner
the following day. 
CllAPTER YL
A state dinner at the ~Vhite llouse - Mrs. Lincoln - The Cabinet
Miiiisters - A newspaper correspondent - Good Friday at Wash
ington.
ffarc/~ ~th. - I was honored to-day by visits from a great
number of ~Iembers of Congress, journalists, and others.
Judgiiig from the expressions of most of the ~~ashington
people, they would gladly see a Southern Cabinet installed in
their city.  The cold shoulder is given to ~Ir. Lincoln, and
all kinds of stoi~ies ai~d jokes are cii~culated at liis exl)ense.
People take particular pleasure in telling how he came towards the seat of his Government disguised in a Scotch cap
aiid clo:tk, whatever that may mean.
In the evening I repaired to the ~Vhite llouse.  The servant ~vlio took ray hat and coat ~as particularly inquisitive as
to my name and con(lition in lifb; and wl~en lie heard I was
not a minister, lie seemed inclined to question my right to be
there at all: "for," said he, " there are none but members of
the cabinet, and their ~vives and daughters, dining liei'e today."  Lventually he relaxed, - instructed me how to place
my hat so th~~t it would be exposed to no indignity, and informed me that I was about to participate in a prandial e~0jnymeiit of no ordinary charactei~.  There was no parade or display, no announcement, - no gilded staircase, with its liveried
heralds, transmitting and translating one's name from lauding
to landing.  From tlie unpretending an te-chamber, a walk
across the lofty hall led us to the reception-room, which was
the same as that in which the President held his interview
yesterday.
~Ii~s. Lincoln was already seated to receive her guests.
Slie is of the middle age and height, of a plumpness degencrating to the emboapoint natural to her years; lier fi~atures
are plain, her nose and mouth of an ordinary type, and lier
manners and appearance homely, stiffened, however, by the
consciousn(,ss that her posiflon requires her to be something
more than plain j~1rs. Lincoln, the wife of the Illinois lawyer; 
42         MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
she is proflise in the introduction of the word "sir" in every
sei~tence, which is now almost an Americanism confin~d to
cel~tain cla~~e although it was once as common in Eiigland.
Her dress I shall not attempt to describe, though it was very
go~~ous and highly colored.  Slie handled a f\'n with mu cli
enei~, di~playiiig a iound, well.proportioned arm, and was
adoined with  ome simple jewelry.  ~Irs. Lincoln struck ine
as being dtsirous of making herself agreeable; and I owii I
was agi'e~~ably disappointed, as the Secessionist ladies at
~Va~hington Jiad been amusing themselves by anecdotes whiel
c~~nl~l scarcely itave been founded on fact.
Several of the Alinisters had already arrived; by and by
all hatl come, and the party only waited for General Scott,
wlio seemeil to be tlie representative man in Washington of
tlie m~}narcl~ical idea, and to absorb some of the feeling which
is lavished on tlie picture and memory, if not on the inonunient, of ~Yasliington.  Whilst we were waiting, ~Ir. Seward
to{ik me round, and introduced me to the ~Iinisters, and to
tl~eir wives and daughtei~s, among the latter, ~Iiss Chase, who
is very atti~active, agreeable, and sprightly.  Her father, the
Finance Alinister, struck me as one of tlie most intelligent
and distinguished persons in the whole assemblage, - tall, of
a goo(l presence, with a well-tormed head, fine forehead, and
a taie iiidicating energy and powen  There is a peculiar
dioop and motion of the lid of one eye, which seems to have
suffered from some injury, that detracts from the agreeable
effect of his face; but, on the whole, lie is one who would not
pass quite unnoticed in a European crowd of th~ same description.
In the whole assemblage there was not a scrap of lace or
a piece of ribbon, except the gorgeous epaulettes of an old
naval orncer who had served against us in the last war, and
who represented some branch of the naval department.  Nor
were the ~Iinisters by any means remarkable for their personal appearance.
~Ir. Cameron, the Secretary of War, a slight man, above
the middle height, with gray hair, deep-set keen gray eyes,
and a thin mouth, gave me the idea of a person of ability and
adroitness.  His colleague, the Secretary of the Navy, a
small inan, with a great long gray beard and spectac}es, did
not look like one of much originality or ability; but people
who know ~ir. Welles declare that he is possessed of administrative power, although they admit that h~'. does not know 
AMERICAN MINISTERS.          43
the stem from il~e stern of a ship, and are in doubt whether
he ever saw tl~e sea in his life.  ~Ir. Smith1 tlie ~Iinister of
il~e Intei~ior, is a brigI~t-eyed, smart (I use the woj'd ii~ the
Li~gli~h sense) gentleman, with the reputation of beino' one
of tl~e most conservative members of the cabinet.  ~in Blair,
the Postmaster- General, is a person of much greater influence than his position would indicate.  I~e has tl~e rel~utatioii of beii~g one of il~e mo~t determined Republicans in the
i~fiiiisti~  but he held peculiar notions witl reference to tlie
bla~k a~id the white ra(~es, whi(~h, if carried out, would not by
any?neans conduce to tlie comfoit or hap~~iness of fi'ee ne~rocs
in tlie United States.  I~e is a tail, lean inan, wit 1 a hard,
Scotch, practical-lookino' head -~aa anvil for ideas to be
h;immered on.  IJis eyes are small' and deeply set, and have
a rat-like expression  and he speaks with caution, as though
he weighed every word beFore he uttered it.  The last of the
Ministers is Mr. Bates, a stout, thick-set, common-looking
m;tn, with a large beard, who fills the office of AttorneyGeneral.  Some of tlie gentlemen were in evening dress;
o'liei's wore black (`rock-coats, which it seems, as in Turkey,
are considered to be en regle at a Republican Ministerial
dinn~r.
Ia the conversation wliicl~ occurred before dinner, 1 was
amused to observe tlie manner in which Mr. Lincoln used
the anecdotes for which he is famous.  Where inen bred in
courts, accustomed to the world, or versed in diplomacy, would
use some subterfuge, or would make a polite speech, oi' give a
shrug of tlieshoi~lden as the means of getting out of an etnbarr'~ssiiig position, ~Ir. Lincoln raises a laugh by some bold
west-couiiti'y anecdote, and moves off in the cloud of mern'ment
produced by his joke.  Thus, when Mi'. Bates was remonstrating apparently against the an,pointment of some indiffereiit lawyer to a place of judicial importance, the President
interposed with,  Come now, Bates, he's not half as bad as
you think.  Besides that, 1 must tell you, he did me a good
turn long ago.  When 1 took to the law, 1 was going to court
-one morning, with some tea or twelve miles of bad road
before me, and 1 had no hot'se.  The judge overtook me in
his wagon.`Hollo, Lincoln!  Are you not going to the
court-house?  Come in, and I'll give you a seat.'  Well, 1
got in, and the judge went on reading his papers.  Presently
the wagon struck a stump on one side of tlie road; then it
hop~ed off to the other.  1 looked out, and 1 saw the driver 
44         MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
was jerking from side to side in bis seat; so says I,`Judge, I
think your conch man l~as been taking a little drop too much this
morning.`~Yeii I declare, Lincoln,' said he,` I should not
wonder if you are right, for he has nearly up~et rae half a
dozen of times since startiii~'  So, putting his head out of
the window, he sl~outed,`~Vhy, you iiifernal scoundrel, you
are drunk!'  Upon which, pulli~g up his horses, and turning
round with grcat gravity, the coachman said,`By g()rra
that's the first ri~htful decision you have given fbr tlie last
twelvemontli."' ~Yhilst the company were laughing, the President beat a quiet retreat from the neigl~borhood of the Attorney-General.
It was at last announced that General Scott was unable to
be present, and that, altliough actrial)y in the house, he had
been compelled to retire from indisposition, and we moved
ia to tlie banqueting~hall.  The first " state dinner," as it is
c;illed, of tlie President, was not remarkable for ostentation.
No liveried servants, no Persic splendor of ancient plate, or
c1ej~ J'ceut're of art, glittered round the boai'd.  Vases of
flowers decorated the table, combined with dishes in what
may be called the  Gallo-Americai~ " style, with wines which
owed tl~eir palentage to I~rance,~and their rearing ai~d education to the I~~ited States, which abounds in cunning nun~es
~br such productions.  The conversation was suited to tlie
state dinner of a cabinet at which women and strangers were
present.  I was seated next ~Ir. Bates, and the very agreeable and lively Secretary of the President, ~Ir. Hay, and
ekeept when there was an attentive silence caused by one of
tl~e President's stories, there was a Babel of small talk round
the table, in which I was surprised to find a diversity of
accent almost as great as if a number of foreigners had been
speaking English.  I omitted tlie name of ~Ir. Hamlin, the
Vice-President, as well as those of less remarkable people
who were present; but it would not be becoming to pass over
a man distinguished for nothing so much as liis persistent and
unvarying adhesion to one political doctrine, which has made
hi in, in c4mbination with the belief in his honesty, the occupant of a post which leads to the Presidency, in event of any
occuri~ence which may remove ~Ir. Lincoln.
After dinner the ladies and gearlemen retired to the drawingroom, and the circle was increased by the addition of several
politicians.  I had an opportunity of conversing with some of
the ~Iinisters, if not with all, from time to time, and I. was 
1)T\7NER AT TilE WIlITE ilOUSE.     45
struck by the uniform tendency o~ their remarks in reference
to tiie policy of Great Brit'jin.  ~`hey seemed to think that
Engltn~l was bouiid by her anti-slavery an~ecedents to liscourage to the utmost any attempts of the South to estal~lish its
independence~on a basis of slavery, and to assume that they
were the representatives of an active war of emancipation)
As the veteian Commodore Stewart passed the chair of the
young lady to whom I was speaking, she said, "I suppose,
~Ii~. i?ussell, you do not admire that offleer?"  "On the contraTy," I said, " 1 think lie is a very fine-looking old man.
I don't mean that," she replied  "tut you know he can't lie
very much liked by you, because he ibught so gallantly agaiust
you in the last war, as you must know."  I had not the courage to confess ignorance of the captain's antecedents.  There
is a delusion among more than tlie fiiir American who spoke
to me, that we entertain in England the sort of feeling, morI)id
or wlioleso'~e as it may be, in reference to our revenses at
New Orleins and elsewhere, that is attributed to Frenchmen
re~pecting ~Vaterlon.
Oii returning to ~Yillard's llotel, I was accosted by a gentleman wlio canie out from tlie crowd in front of the office.
Sir," he saiti, "you have been dining with our President tonight."  I bowed.  "~Yas it an agi'eeabl e ~iarty?" said lie.
"~Vliat do you think of AIr. Lincoln?"  " ~Iay I ask to wlio'n
I have tiie pleasure of speaking?"  "Aly name is Air. -,
and I am the correspondent of tlie New York."  "Then,
Si i~," I i~e1ilied,` it gives n~e satisfaction to tell you that I think
a great deal of ~ir. Lincoln, and that I am equally plea~ed
with my dinner.  I have tlte honor to bid you good evening.
`flie same gentlenian informed me afterwanls that he liad
created the office of ~Vashington Correspondent to the New
Yoi~k pa peP.  "At first," said he,` I merely wrote news, and
no one cai~ed much; then I spiced it up, squil~lied a little, anti
lct off stories of my own.  Congress me ii contradicted m'~, -
issued cards, - said they were atit facts.  The public aitentioti was attracted, anil I was told to go on  and so tlie ~Ya~hington correspondence became a feature in all the New Yoi'k
pa1iers by degrees." Tlie hum and bustle in the hotel to.niglit
were woiiderful.  All the othee-seekers wei~e in tlie pas~ages,
hungering afler senitors ai~d repi~esentatives, and tlte latlies in
aiiy way relateil to influential people, liad an entourage of courtiers sediiloii~ly paying their respects.  ~Iiss Chase, indeed,
laughitigly told me that she was pestered by applicants for her 
46         MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
flither's good offices, and by persons seeking intro~nct:on to
her as a m(~ans ot m1kiiig d~tiiands on  Un~le Sam."
As I was visiting a book-sho~) to-day, a pert, smiling youn~
fellow, of slight figure atid boyish appeariince c;ime tip and
intniduced himself to me as ~~ aitist who had coiitributed to
an illustrated London ~`ipCr dii ring the Piiiice of ~Yales's tour,
and wl~o liail become acquainted with some of my friends;
aiid he requested permis~ion to call on me, which I gave without diffl~tilty or hesitation.  lie visited me this evening, l-oor
1(111! and told me a sad story of liis struggles, and ot the d~peiideiice of his family on liis efforts, as a prelutie to a request
that I would allow him to go South when I was making the
tour there, of which lie had heard.  He was under an ei0gagement wit Ii tlie London paper, and had no doubt that if lie was
with me lils sket~lies would all be received as illustrations of
tlie places to which my letters were attracting public interest
in i~iigland at tlie tiiiie. fhere was no reason why I should be
averse to liis travelling with me in the same trairi.  lli coulil
cerisinly go if lie pleased.  At tlie same time I intimated that
I was in no way to be conneited with or responsible for him.
M(Lrck 29t1t, Coocl Friaa~ - The religious observance
of tlie day was not quite as strict as it would be in England.
Tl~e Puritan aversion to ceremonials and %rmul~iry obseivaiices l~as apparently affected tlie Amencan worlil, eveii as
flir sotitli 15 this.  T!ie people of color were in tlie streets
dressed in their best.  The first impression produced by fine
bonnets, gay shawls, briglitly~colored dresses, and silk brodeq!iins, on black faces, fiat figures, and feet to match, is singul~ir;
biit, in justice to tlie backs of many of tlie gaudily-dressed
woineii, wlio, in little groups, were going to church or chapel, it
must be admitted that this surprise oi0ly canie upon one "`hen
lie got a front view.  Tlie men generally affected black coats,
silk or satin waistcoats, and parti-colored pantaloons.  They
carried &~I issal or Pi'ayer-book, liocket-handkerchiet, cane, or
pai;t~ol, with infiiiite affectation of correctness.
As I was loiikiiig out of tlie window, a very fine, tall young
(`egrQ dressed ii'reproachably, save as to hat atid boots, passed
by.  "I wonder what he is?" 1 exclaimed inquiringly to a
gentleman wlio stood beside me. ~~N\Tell,~ he said, "that fe!low
is not a free nigger; he looks too respectable.  I dare say you
could get lijin for 150t) dollars, without his clothes.  You
kiiow," contiiiued he, iwhat our 1~Iinister &iid when lie saw a
fligger at soine Court in Europe, and was asked what lie 
STAT~ RIGHTS.               47
tl~oug~t of bim:`Well, I guess,' said lie,`if you lake off lji~
fixi~igs, be m;0y be wortl~ 1OO() doll~rs down.'  In tb~ course
of ilie d~y. 1~Ir. I3011k~, a ~~oi~ptilent ei~~Jge tic young ~~ii)ttinian,
of trong Southern vie~vs, aga~n called on me.  As tlie fl~iend
of the Southern Commissioners he compliined vehemently
of the refu~ai of ~1r. Seward to hold intercourse with hini.
These fellows mean treachery, but we will bilk them."  In
answer to a remark of mine, thtt tlie ~~iiglisli ~Iinister would
certaiiily reftise to receive Coi~missioners ffl)m any pai't ot tlie
Qiieen% dominions which liad seized upon the ft~rts and arsenals of tlie empii'e and menaced war, lie replied: "The case is
quite different. The Crown claims a right to govern tlie whole
of your empire; but tlie Austrian Government could not i~efu~e
to receive a deputation from Hungary for an adjustment of
grievances; nor could any State belonging to the German
Diet attempt to claim sovereignty over another, becau~e they
were members of the ame Confederation." I remai'ke~l  that
his views of the obligations of each State of the Uiiion tvei~e
perfectly new to me, as a stranger ignorant of the controversies
which distracted them.  An Luglishman had nothing to do
~vith a ~Tii.ginian and New Yorkist, or a Soutli Caroliiiian - lie
scarcely knew anythiiig of a Texaii, oi' of an Ai~kansian; we
only were conver~ant with the Uiiited States a an entity; and
all oiir dealings were wit Ii citizens of the United Siates of
North America."  This, howevei~, only provoked logically
d~ffuse dissertations on the Articles of the Constitution, and on
the spirit of tlie Federal Compact.
Ltttei. in tlie day, I had tlie advantage of a conversation
~vitli ~Ir.`I'i~uman Smith, an old and re~pected representative
in former days, who gave me a very different account of tlie
matter; and who maiiitained that by the Federal Com~~act
each State liad delegated irrevocal~ly the essence of its overeignty to a Government to be estal,lished in perpetuity ftii tlie
beiiefit of the whole body.  The Slave States, seeing that tlie
progress of free ideas, and tlie material po\ver of tlie North,
were obtaining an influence which mii~t be subversive of tlie
su~~remacy they had so long exercised in tlie Federal Government for their own advantage, liad developed this doctriiie of
States' Rights as a cloak to treason, preferi~ing tlie niatei~ial
advantages to be gained by the extension of their system to
the grand moral position which they wouH occupy as a portioii of tlie United States in the face of all the woi~ld.
it is on such radical differences of ideas as these, that the 
48         MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
~vhole of tt~e quarrel, wbich is widening every day, is founded.
Tlie Fede al Comi~act, at tlie very outset,`was wi~itten on a
torn sheet of paper, and time has worn away tlie artificial
cement by which it was kept togetl~er.  The corner-stone of
tlie Constitution liad a crack in it which the heat and fury of
fiction have widened into a fissure from top to bottom, never
to be clo~ed again.
In tlie evening I had the pleasure of dining with an American gentleman who lias seen niuch of the woi~lil, tiavelled fi~r
arid wide, "`ho has read much and bel~eld more, a scliol'ir, a
politician, after his way, a poet, and an ologist - ()ne of tlio~e
~odern Grceculi, wlio is unlike lii prototype in Jiivenal only
in this, that lie is not hungry, and that he will not go to heaven
if you order hi!u.
Such men never do or can succeed in the United States;
they are far tOO refined, philosophical, and cosmopolitan.
From  what I see, success here may be obtained by refii~ed
men., if they are dishonest never by philosophical men, uiiless
they be corrupt - not by cosmopolitan men under any circumstances whatever; for to have sympathies with any people,
or with any nation in the world, except his own, is to doom a
statesman with the American public, unless it be in the form
of an affectation of pity or good will, intended really as an
offeiice to some allied people.  At dinner there was tlie very
largest naval officer I have ever seen in company, although I
must own that our own service is not destitute of some good
specimens, arid I have seen an Austrian adi~iral at Pola, and
the su~~eriiitendent of the Arsenal at Tophanch, who were not
uiifit to be marshals of France.  This Lieutenant, named
Nelson, was certainly greater in one sense than his British
name~ake, for he weiglie~l 260 pounds.
It may be here remarked, passim and obiter, that the Americans are much more precise than ourselves in tlie cnumeiati~)n of wei~ht  and matters of this kind.  They speak of
piec(~s of artillery, for example, as being of so many pounds
weight, and of so inaiiy inches long, where we would use cwts.
and feet.  ~Vith a people addicted to vertical rather than
lateral extension in everything but politics and motals, precision is a matter of importance.  I was amused by a descriptioti of some popular personage I stiw in one of tlie papers the
other day which afier an enumeration of many high mental
arid ~iliysical attributes, ended tItus, "In fa~t he is a i~etnarkably flue high4oaed gentleman, and weighs 210 pounds.' 
AN AMERICAN NELSON.         49
Tlie Lieutenant was a strong Union man, and he invjeighed
fiercely, and even coarsely, against the members of his professioa who had thrown up their commissions.  The superintendent of the Washington Navy Yard is supposed to be very
little disposed in favor of this present Government; in fact,
Capt. Buchanan may be called a Secessionist, nevertheless, I
am invited to the wedding of his daughter, in order to see the
President give away the bride.  Mr. Nelson says, Sumter
and Pickens are to be reinforced. Charleston is to be reduced
to order, and all traitors hanged, or he will know the reason
why; and, says he, "I have some weight in tlie country." In
the evening, as we were going home, notwithstnnding the
cold, we saw a number of ladies sitting out on the doorsteps,
in white dresses.  The streets were remarkably quiet and
deserted; all the colored population had been sent to bed long
ago.  The flr~bell, as usual, made an alarm or two about
midnigh~
S 
CllAPTER VII.
~arhers' shops - Place-hunting - The Navy Yard - i)inner at Lord
Lyons' -Estimate of Washington among his countrymen -
Washington's house and tomb - The Soutl~ern Commi~sioaers -
Dinner with the Southern Commissioners - Feeling towards
~nglaud among the Southerners - Animosity between North
and South.
i'farch 3Ot~. - Descended into the barber's shop off the
hail of the hotel; all the operators, men of color, mostly mulattoes, or yellow lads, good-looking, dressed in clean white
jackets and aprons, were smart, quick, and attentive.  Some
seven or eight shaving chairs were occupied by gentlemen intent on early morning calls.  Shaving is carried in all its accessories to a high degree of publicity, if not of perfection, in
America; and as the poorest, or as I may call them without
offence, the lowest orders in Lngland have their easy shaving
for a penny, so the highest, if there be any in America, submit
themselves in public to the inexpensive operations of the negro
barber.  It must be admitted that the chairs are easy and wellarranged, the fingers nimble, sure, and light; but the affectation of French names, and the corruption of foreign languages,
in which the hairdressers and barbers delight, are exceedingly
amusing.  On my way down a small street near the Capitol,
I observed in a shop window, "Rowland's make easier paste,"
which I attribute to an imperfect view of the etymology of
the great "~Iacassar;" on another occasion I was asked to
try Somebody's " Curious Elison," which I am afraid was an
attempt to adapt to a shaving paste, an address not at all suited
to profane uses.  It appears that the trade of barber is almost
the birthright of the free negro or colored man in the United
States.  There is a striking exemplification of natural equality
in the use of brushes, and the senator flops down in the seat,
and has his noble nose seized by the same fingers which the
moment before were occupied by the person and d~in of an
unmistakable rowdy.
In the midst of the divine calm produced by hard hand 
PLACES WANTED.               51
rubbing of my head, I was aroused by a stout gentleman who
sat in a chair directly opposite.  Through the door which
opened into the hall of the hotel, one could see the great
crowd passing to and fro, thronging the passage as though it
had been the entrance to the Forum, or the "Salle de pas
perdus."  I had observed my fliend's eye gazing fixedly
throiigh the opening on the outer world.  Suddenly, with his
face half-covered with lather, and a bib tucked under his chin,
he got up from his seat exclaiming, "Senator! Senator!
hallo!" and made a dive into the passage - whether he received a stern rebuke, or became aware of his impropriety, I
know not, but in an instant he came back again, and submitted
quietly, till the work of the barber was completed.
The gneat employment of four fifths of the people at Willard's at present seems to be to hunt senators and congressmen
through the lobbies.  Every man is heavy with documents -
those which he cannot carry in his pockets and hat, occupy
his hands, or are thrust under his arms.  In the hall are advertisements announcing that certificates, and letters of testimonial, and such documents, are printed with expedition and
neatness.  From paper collars, and cards of address to carriages, and new suits of dothes, and long hotel bills, nothing
is left untried or uniavigorated.  The whole city is placarded
with announcements of facilities for assaulting tlie powers fliat
be, among ~hich must not be forgotten the claims of the "excelsior card-writer~' at ~Yillard's, who prepares names, addresses, styles, and titles, in superior penmanship.  The men
who have got places, having been elected by the people, must
submit to the people, who think they have established a dairn
on them by their fi~vor~.  The majority confer power, but they
seem to forget that it is only the minority who can enjoy the
first fruits of success.  It is as if the whole constituency of
~Iarylebone insisted on getting some office under the Crown
the moment a member was returned to Parliament.  There
are men at Willard's who have come literally thousands of
miles to seek for places which can only be theirs for four
years, and who with true American facility have abandoned
the calling and pursuits of a lifetime for this doubtfbl canvass;
and I was told of one gentleman, who having b~n informed
tl~at he could not get a jndgeship, condescended to seek a place
in the Post-Office, and finally applied to j~Ir. Chase to be appointed keeper of a "lighthouse," he was not particular where.
In the forenoon I drove to the Washington Navy Yard, in 
52        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
company with Lieutenant Nelson and two friends.  it i~
about two miles outside the city, situated on a fork of land
projecting between a creek and the Potomac River, which is
here three quarters of a mile broad.  if the French had a
Navy Yard at Paris it could scarcely be contended that English, Russians, or Austnans wouU not have been justified in
destroying it in case they got possession of the city by force
of arms, after a pitched battle fought outside its gates.  1 confess 1 would not give much for Deptford and Woolwich if
an American fleet succee~ed in forcing its way up the
Thames; but our American cousins, - a little more than kia
and less than kind, who speak with pride of Paul Jones and
of their exploits on the Lakes, - affect to regard the burning
of the ~Yashington Navy Yard by us, in the last war, as aa
unpardonable outrage on the law of nations, and an atrocious
exercise of power.  For all the good it did, for my own part,
1 fl~ink it were as well had it never happened, but no jurisconsult will for a moment deny that it was a legitimate, even
if extreme, exercise of a belligerent right in the case of an
enemy who did not seek terms from the conqueror; and who,
after battle lost, fled and abandoned the property of their state,
which might be useful to them in war, to the power of the
victor. Notwithstanding all the unreasonableness of the American people in reference to their relations with foreign powers,
it is deplorable such scenes should ever have be~n enacted
between members of the human family so closely allied by all
that shall make them of the same household.
The Navy Yard is surrounded by high brick walls; in the
gateway stood two sentries in dark blue tunics, yellow facings,
with eagl~ buttons, brightly polished arms, and white Berlin
gloves, wearing a cap something like a French kepi, all very
clean and creditable.  inside are some few trophies of guns
taken from us at Yorktown, and from the Mexicans ii' the
land of Cortez.  The interior inclosure is surrounded by red
brick houses, and stores and magazines, picked out with white
stone; and two or three green glass-plots, fenced in by pillars
and chains and bordered by trees, give an air of agreeable
freshness to the place.  Close to the river are the workshops: of c~urse there is smoke and noise of steam and
machinery.  in a modest office, surrounded by books, papers,
drawings, and models, as well as by shell and shot and racks
of arms of different descriptions, we found Capt. Dahlgren,
the acting superintendent of the yard, and the inventor of the 
TIlE NAVY YARD.               63
famous gun which bears his name, and is the favorite armament of the American navy.  By our own sailors they are
irreverently termed "soda-water bottles," owing to their
shape.  Capt. Dahigren contends that guns capable of throwing il~e heaviest shot may be constructed of cast-iron, carefully
prepared and moulded so that the greatest thickness of metal
may be placed at the points of resistance, at the base of the
gun, the muzzle and forward portions being of very moderate
thickness.
All inventors, or even adapters of systems, must be earnest
self-reliant persons, full of confidence, and, above all, impressive, or they will make little way in the conservative, statusquo4oving world.  Captain Dahigren has certainly most of
these characteristics, but he has to fight with his navy department, with the army, with boards and with commissioners, -
in fact, with all sorts of obstructors.  When I was going over
the yard, he deplored the parsimony of the department, which
refused to yield to his urgent entreaties for additional furnaces
to cast guns.
No large guns a~ cast at Washington.  The foundries are
only capable of turning out brass field-pieces and boat-guns.
Capt. Daiilgren obligingly got one of the latter out to practise
for us - a 12-pounder howitzer, which can be carried in a
boat, run on land on its carriage, which is provided with
wheels, and is so light that the gun can J)e drawn readily
about by the crew.  lle made some good practice with shrapnel at a target 1200 yards distant, firing so rapidly as to keep
three shells in the air at the same time.  Compared with our
establishments, this dockyard is a mere toy, and but few
hands are employed in it.  One steam sloop, the "Pawnee,"
was under the shears, nearly ready for sea: the frame of
another was under the building-shed.  There are no facilities
for making iron ships, or putting on plate-armor here.  Every
thing was shown to us with tlie utmost frankness.  The fuse
of the Dahlgren shell is constructed on the vis inerti~ prin
ciple, and is not unlike that of the Armstrong.
On returning to the hotel, I found a magnificent bouquet of
flowers, with a card attached to them, with Mrs. Lincoln's com
pliments, and another card announcing that she had a "reception" at three o'clock.  It was rather late before I could get to
the White House, and there were only two or three ladies
in the drawing-room when I arrived.  I was informed afterwards that the attendance was very scanty.  The Washington 
MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
ladies have not yet made up their minds that Mrs. Lincoln i~
the fashion.  ThQy miss their Southern friends, nnd eons~lu(ly
draw compnrisons l~etween tl~em and the vulgir Yai~kee
women and men`vi;0 are now in power.  I do not know
enough to say whether the affectation of superioi~ity be ju~ti       fled; but assuredly if New York be Yankee, there is nothing
in which it does not far surpass this preposterous capital.
Tlie impression of homeliness produced by j~Irs. Lincoln oa
first sight, is not diminished by closer acquaintance.  Few
women not to the manner born there are, whose beads would
not be disordered, and circulation disturbed, by a rapid transi       tion, almost instantaneous, from a condition of obscurity in a
country town to be mistress of the ~Yhite liouse.  Iler smiles
and her frowns become a matter of consequence to the whole
American world.  As the wife of the country lawyer, or even
of the congressman, lier movements were of nQ consequence.
The journals of Springfield would not have wasted a line upon
them.  Now, if she but drive down Pennsylvania Avenue,
the electric wire thrills the news to every hamlet in the Union
which has a newspaper; and fortunate i~ the correspondent
who, in a special des patch, can give authentic particulars of
her destination and of her dress.  The lady is surrounded by
flatterers and intriguei~s, seeking for influence or such places
as she can give.  As Selden says, "Those who wish to set a
house on fire begi~ with the thatch."
~        Marck 31st, B5 aster Sunda~. - I dined with Lord Lyons
and the members of the Legation; the only stranger present
being Senator Sumner.  Politics were of course eschewed,
for Mr. Sumner is Chairman of the Committee on Foreign
Relations of the Sei~ate, ~nd Lord Lyons is a very discrcet
~Iinister; but still there crept in a word of Pickens and Sum       ter, and that was all.  Mr. Fox, lormeAy of the United States
Navy, and since that a master of a steamer in the commercial
marine, who is related to Mr. Blair, has been sent on some
mission to Fort Sumter-, and has been allowed to visit Major
Anderson by the authorities at Charleston; but it is not
known what was the object of his mission.  Everywhere there
is Secession reAgnatio n, in a military sense of the word.  The
Southern Commissioners declare they will soon retire to
Montgomery, and that any attempt to reinforce or supply the
forts will be a casus belli.  There is the utmost anxiety to
know what Virginia will do.  General Scott belongs to the
State, and it is feared he may be shaken, if the State goes ouL
 
THE SHRINE OF WASHINGTON.        55
Already the authorities of Richmond have intimated they will
not allow the foundry to furnish guns to the seaboard forts,
sud~ as Monroe and Norfotk in Virginia.  This concession
of an autonomy is really a recognition of States' Rights.
For if a State can vote itself in or out of il~c Union, why can
it not make war or peace, and accept or refuse the Federal
Government?  In fact, the Federal system is radically defective against internal convulsion, however excellent it is or
may be for purposes of external polity.  I walked home with
~Ir. Sumner to his rooms, and heard some of his views, which
were not so sanguine as those of Mr. Seward, and I thought
I detected a desire to let the Southern States go out with
their slavery, if they so desired it.  Mr. Chase, by the way,
expressed sentiments of the same kind more decidedly the
other day.
April 1st.- On Baster Monday, after breakfast with Mr.
Olmsted, I drove over to visit Senator Douglas.  Originally
engaged in some mechanical avocation, by his ability and eloquence he has raised himself to the highest position in the
State short of the~Presidency, whiJ~ might have been his but
for the extraordinary success of his opponent in a lortuitous
suffrage scramble.  He is called the Little Giant, being modo
bipedali statura, but his head. entitles him to some reco~nition
of intellectual height.  His sketch of the causes which have
led to the present disruption of parties, and the hazard of
civil war, was most vivid and able; and for more than an hour
he spoke with a vigor of thought and terseness of phrase
which, even on such dreary and uninviting themes as squatter
sovereignty and the Kansas-Nebraska question, interested a
foreigner in the man and the subject.  Although his sympathies seemed to go with the South on the question of slavery
and territorial extension, he condemned altogether the attempt
to destroy tlie Union.
April 2d. - The following day I started early, and performed ~ pilgrimage to "the shrine of St. ~~ashington~' at
Mount Vernon, as a foreigner on board called the~place.  Mr.
Bancroft has in his possession a letter of tlie General's motl~er,
in which she expresses her gratification at his leaving the
British army in a m~nner which implies that he had been
either extravagant in his expenses or wild in his manner of
living.  But if he had any human frailties in after life, they
neither offended the morality of his age, nor shocked the sus~~ptibility of his countrymen; and from the time that the 
5(3       MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
niuch maligned and unfortunate Braddock gave scope to his
ability, down to his retirement into private life, after a career
of singular trials and extraordinary successes, his character
acquired each day greater altitude, strength, and lustre.  Had
his work failed, had the Republic broken up into small anarchical states, we should hear now little of Washington.  But
the principles of liberty founded in the original Constitution
of the colonies themselves, and in no degree derived from or
dependent on the Revolution, con~bined with the sufferings of
he Old and the bounty of nature in the New World to carry
o an unprecedented degree the material prosperity, which
Americans have mistaken for good government, and the physical comforts which have made some States in the Union the
nearest npproach to Utopia.  The Federal Government hitherto "let the people alone," and they went on their way singing and praising their Washington as the author of so much
greatness and happiness.  To doubt his superiority to any
man of woman horn, is to insult the American people.  They
are not content with his being great  or even greater than
the great: lie must be greatest of all -" first in peace, and
first in war."  The rest of the world cannot find fault with
the assertion, that he is "first in the hearts of his countrymen."  But he was not posses~ed of the highest military
qualities, if we are to judge from most of the regular actions,
in which~the British had the best of it; and the final blow,
when Corawallis surrendered at York to wn, was struck by the
arm of France, by Rochambeau and the French fleet, rather
than by Washington and his Americans.  He had all the
qualities for the work for which he was designed, and is fairly
entitled to the position his countrymen have given him as the
immortal czar of the United States.  His pictures are visible
everywhere - in the humblest inn, in the ~Iinister's bureau,
n the millionnaire's gallery.  There are far more engravings
?f Washington in America than there are of Napoleon in
France, and that is saying a good deal.
What have we here?  The steamer which has been paddling down the gentle current of the Potomac, here a mile
and more in breadth, banked in by forest, through which can
be seen homesteads and white farm-houses, in the midst of
large clearings and com-fields - has moved in towards a
high bluff~ covered with trees, on the summit o~f which is visible the trace of some sort of building  a ruined summerho use, rustic temple - whatever it may be; and the bell on 
WASHINGTON'S HOUS~.            57
deck begins to toll solemnly, and some of the pilgrims uncover
their heads for a moment. The boat stops at a rotten, tumbledown little pier, ~vh~ch leads to a waste of mud, and a path
rudely cut through the wilderness of briers on the hill-side.
The pilgrims, of whom there are some thirty or forty, of both
sexes, mostly belonging to the lower classes of citizen~, and
comprising a ft~w foreigners like myself, proceed to climb this
steep, which seemed in a state of nature covered with primeval forest, and tangled weeds and briers, till the plateau, on
which stands the house of Washington and the domestic offices around it, is reached.  It is an oblong wooden house, of
two stories in height, with a colonnade towards the river face,
and a small balcony on the top and on the level of the root,
over which rises a little paltry gazebo.  There are two windows, a glass door at one end of the oblong, and a wooden alcove extending towards the slave quarters, which are very
small sentry-box huts, il~at have been recently painted, and
stand at right angles to the end of the house, with dog-houses
and poultry-hutches attached to them.  There is no attempt
at neatness or order about tlie place; though the exterior of
the house is undergoing repair, the grass is unkempt, the
shrubs untrimmed, - neglect, squalor, arid chicken fi~athers
have marked the lawn for their own.  The house is in keeping, and threatens to fail to ruin.  I entered the door, and
found myself in a small hall, stained with tobacco juice.  An
iron railing ran across the entrance to the stairs.  Here stood
a man at a gate, who presented a book tQ the visitors, and
pointed out the notice therein, that "no person is permitted
to inscribe his name in this book who does not contribute to
the Washington Fund, and that any name put down without
money would be erased." Notwithstanding the warning, some
patriots succeeded in recording their names without any pecuniary mulct, and others did so at a most reasonable rate.
When I had contributed in a manner which must have represeated an immense amount of Washingtoniolatry, estimated
by the standard of the day, I was informed I could not go
up-stairs as the rooms above were closed to the public, and
thus the most interesting portion of the house was shut from
the strangers.  T he lower rooms presented nothing wortl~y of
notice - some lumbering, dusty, decayed furniture; a broken
harpsichord, dust, cobwebs -.no remnant of the man himself.
But over ilie door of one room hung the key of the B&LstillC.*
*Since borrowed, it is supposed, by Mr. Seward, and handed over
3* 
58         MY DIAF~ NORTH AND SOUTH.
The gardens, too, were tabooed; but through the gate I could
see a wilderiiess of neglected trees and shrubs, not unmiugled
with a suspicion of a present kitchen-ground.  Let us pass to
the~~tomb, which is some distance from' ti~e house, beneath the
sha~e of some fine tree~.  It is a plain bn'ck mausoleum, with
a pointed arch, barred by an iron grating, through which the
light penetrates a chamber or small room containing two sarcophagi of' stone.  Over the arch, on a slab let into the brick,
are the words: " Within this enclosure rest the remains of
Gen. George Washington."  The fallen leaves which had
drif'ted into the chamber rested thickly on the floor, and were
piled up on the sarcophagi, and it was difficult to determine
whid~ was the hero's grave witl~out the aid of an expert, but
there "`as neither guide nor guardian on the spot.  Some four
or five gravestones, of vanous members of the fan~ily, stand in
the ground outside the little mausoleum.  The place was most
depressing.  One felt angry with a people whose lip service
was accompanied by so little of actual respect.  The owner
of this property, inherited from the "`Pater Patr'i~," has been
abused in good set terms because he asked its value from the
country which has been so very mindful of the services of his
ancestor, and which is now erecting by slow stages the overgrown Cleopatra's needle that is to be a N\~shington ~Ionumeat when it is finished.  ~Ir. Everett has been lecturing,
the Ladies' i~Ioui~t Vernon Association has been working, and
every one has been adjuring everybody else to give liberally;
but the result so lately achieved is by no means worthy of
the object.  Perhaps the Americans think it is enough to say
Si monurnenlum qu~ris, circurnspice." But, at all events,
there is a St. Paul's round those words.
On the return of the steamer I visited Fort Washington,
which is situated on the left bank of the Potomac.  I found
everything in a state of neglect - gun-carriages rotten, shot
piles rusty, furnaces tumbling to pieces.  Tl~e place might be
made strong enough on the riyer front, but the rear is weak,
though there is low man~hy land at the back.  A company of
regulars were on duty.  The sentries took no precautions
against surprise.  Twenty determined men, armed with revolvers, could have taken the whole`work; and, for all the
by him to Mr. Stanton. Lafayette gave it to Washington; he also
gave his name to tbe Fort which bus played so conspicuous a part in
tiie war for liberty - "La liherte des deux mondes," might well sigh
if he could see his work, and what it has led to. 
THE SOUTllEP~ COMMISSIONERS.      59
authorities knew, we might have had that number of Virgininns and the famous Ben ~IcCullough himself on hoard.  Afterwards, when I ventured to make a remark to General
Scott as to the carelessness of the`~rrison, he said: "A few
weeks n~o it might have been taken by a bottle of whiskey.,
The whole garrison consisted of an old Irish pensioner." Now
at this very moment Washington is full of rumors of desperate descents on the capital, and an attack on the President
and his Cabinet.  The long bridge across the Potomac into
Virginia is guarded, and the militia and volunteers of the Disti'ict of Columbia are to be called out to resist McCullough
and his Richmond desperadoes.
April 3d. - I had an interview with the Southern Commissioners t~day, at their hotel. For more than an hour I heard,
from men of position and of different sections in the South,
expressions which satisfied me the Union could never be restored, if they truly represented the feelings and opinions of
their fellow-citizens.  They have the idea they are ministers
of a foreign power treating with Yankeedom, and their indignation is moved by the refusal of Government to neg9tiate
with them, armed as they are with full authority to arrange
all questions arising out of an amicable separation - such as
the adjustment of Federal claims for property, forts, stores,
public works, debts, land purchases, and the like. One of the
Judges of the Supreme Court of the United States, Mr.
Campbell, is their intermediary, and of course it is not known
what hopes Mr. Seward has held out to him; but there is
some imputation of Punic faith against the Government on
account of recent acts, and there is no doubt the Commissioners
hear, as I do, that there are preparations at the Navy Yard
and at New York to relieve Sumter, at any rate, with provisions, and that Pickens has actually been reinforced by sea.
In the evening I dined at the British Legation, and went over
to the house of the Russian Minister, M. de Stoecki, in the
evening.  The diplomatic body in Washington constitute a
small and very agreeable society of their own, in which few
Americans mingle except at the receptions and large evening
assemblies.  As the people now in power are novi komines,
the wives and daughters of ministers and attach~s are deprived
of their friends who belonged to the old society in Washington, and who have either gone off to Secession, or sympathize
~o deeply with the Southern States that it is scarcely becoming to hold very intimate relations with them in the face of 
60        MY DL~RY NORTH AND SOUTH.
Government.  From d~e house of M. de Stoecki I went to a
party at the residence of M. Tassara, the Spanish Minist~r,
where there was a crowd of diplomats, young and old.
Diplomatists seldom or never talk polities, and so Pickens
and Sumter were unheard of; but it is stated nevertheless
that Virginia is on the eve of secession, and will certainly go
if the President attempts to use force in relieving and strengthening the Federal forts.
April 4t~. - I had a long inter view with Mr. Seward today at the State Department.  He set forth at great length
the helpless condition in which the President and the Cabinet
found themselves when they began the conduct of public affairs at Washington.  The last cabinet had tampered with
treason, and had contained traitors; a miserable imbecility
had encouraged the leaders of the South to mature their plans,
and had furnished them with the means of carrying out their
design.  One Minister had purposely sent away the navy of
the United States to distant and scattered stations; another
had purposely placed the arms, ordnance, and munitions of
war in undue proportions in the Southern States, and had
weakened the Federal Government so that they might easily
fall into the hands of the traitors and enable them to secure the
war ma~e4cl of the Union; a Minister had stolen the public
funds for traitorous purposes - in every port, in every department of the State, at home and abroad, on sea and by
land, men were placed who were engaged in this deep consi)ii~acy -- and when the voice of the people declared Mr. Lincoln
President of the United States, they set to work as one man to
destroy the Union under the most flimsy pretexts.  The President's duty was clearly defined by the Constitution.  He had
to guard what he had, and to regain, if possible, what he had
lost.  He would not consent to any dismemberment of the
Union n9r to the abandonment of one iota of Federal property
- nor could he do so if he desired.
These and many more topics were presented to me to show
that the Cabinet was not accountable for the temporizing policy of inaction, which was forced upon them by circumstances,
and that they would deal vigorously with the Secession movement - as vigorously as Jackson did with nullification in South
Carolina, if they had the means.  But what could they do
when such a man as Twiggs surrendered his trust and sacrificed
the troops to a crowd of Texans; or when naval and military
officers resigned en masse, that they might accept service in the 
MR. SEWARD'S VIEWS.          61
rebel forces?  All this excitement would come right in a very
short time - it was ~ bnef mndness, which would ~(`i55 nway
when the people had opportunity for reflection.  ~Ieantime
the danger ~vas t hat fbreign powers ~vonld he lcd to ima~ine
tlie Federal Government was too weak to defend its rights,
and that the attempt to destroy the Union and to set up a
Southern Conledera~v was su ccessfu].  In other words, again,
~Ir. Seward fears that, in this transition state betwe~n their
forced inaction and the coup by whieh they intend to strike
down Secession, Great Britain may recognize the GoverameuC
established at ~Iontgomery, and is ready, if needs be, t
threaten Great Britain with war as the consequence of such
recognition.  But he certainly assumed the existence of strong
Unioa sentiments in many of the seceded States, as a basis for
his remarks, and admitted that it would not become the spirit
of the American Government, or of the Federal system, to use
armed force in subjugating the Southern States against the
will of the majority of the people.  Therefore if the majority
desire Secession, ~Ir. Seward would let them have it - btit he
annot believe in anything so monstrous, for to him the Federal
Government and Constitution, as interpreted by his party, are
divine, heaven-born.  IJe is fond of repeating that the Federal Government never yet sacrificed any nina's life on account
of his political opinions; but if this struggle goes on, it will
sacrifice thousands - tens of thousands, to the idea of a Federal Union.  "Any attempt against us7' he said, "would revolt
the good men of the South, and arm alJ men in the North to
defend their Government."
But I had seen that day an assemblage of men doing a
goose-step ~narch forth dressed in blue tunics and gray
trousers, shakoes and cross-belts, armed with musket and
bayonet, cheering and hurrahing in the square before the War
Department, who were, I am told, tlie District of Columbia
volunteers and militia.  They had indced been visible in v~rioiis forms parading, marching, and trumpeting about the tow ii
with a poor imitation of French pas and elan, but they did
not, to the eye of a soldier, give any appearance of military
efficiency, or to the eye of the anxious statesman any indication of the anirnus ~ugnanJi.  Star\~ed, washed-out creatures
most of them, interpolated with Irish and flat-footed, stumpy
Germans.  It was matter for wonderment that the Foreign
~Iinister of a nation which was in such imminent dan~er in
its very capital, and which, with its chief and his cabinet, was 
62        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTfI.
almost at the mercy of the enemy, should hold the language
I was aware he had transmitted to the most powerful nations
of Europe.  ~Yas it consciousness of the strength of a great
people, who would be united by the first apprehension of
foreign interference, or was it the peculiar emptiness of a
bombast which is called Buncombe?  In all sincerity I think
~Ir. Seward meant it as it was written.
When I arrived at the hotel, I found our young artist waiting for me, to entreat I would permit him to accompany me
to the South.  I had been annoyed by a paragraph which had
appeared in several papers~ to the effect that "The talented
young artist, our gifted countryman, ~Ir. Deodore F. ~Ioses,
was about to accompany ~Ir. &c. &c., in his tour through the
South."  I had informed the young gentleman that I could
not sanction such an announcement, whereupon he assured me
he had not in any way authorized it, but having mentioned incidentally to a person connected with the press that he was
going to travel southwards with me, the injudicious zeal of his
friend had led him to think he would do a service to the youth
by~making the most of the very trifling circumstance.
I dined with Senator Douglas, where there was a large
party, among whom were ~Ir. Chase, Secretary of the Treas`iry; ~Ir. Smith, Secretary of the Interior; ~Ir. Forsyth,
Southern Commissioner; and several members of the Senate
and Congress.  ~Irs. Douglas did the honors of her house
with grace and charming good-nature.  I observe a great tendency to abstract speculation and theorizing among Americans,
and their after-dinner conversation is apt to become didactic
and sententious.  Few men speak better than Senator Douglas; his words are well chosen, the flow of his ideas even and
constant, his intellect vigorous, and thoughts well cut, precise,
and vigorous - he seems a man of great ambition, and he told
me he is engaged in preparing a sort of Zollverein scheme for
the North American continent, including Canada, which will
fix public attention everywhere, and may lead to a settlement
of the Northern and Southern controversies.  For his mind,
as for that of in any Americans, the aristocratic idea embodied
in Russia is very seductiye; and he dwelt with pleasure on
the courtesies he had received at the court of the Czar, implying that he had been treated differently in England, arid perhaps France.  And yet, had ~1r. Douglas become President
of the United States, his good-will towards Great Britain might
have been invaluable, and surely it had been cheaply pur 
THE SOUTHERN COMMISSIONERS.       63
chased by a little civility and attention to a distinguished citizen and statesman of the Republic.  Our Galleos Very often
care for none of these things.
Apmt 5t/~.-Dined with the Southern Commissioners an~
a small party at Gautier's, a French restaurateur in Pennsylvania Avenue.  The gentlemen present were, I need not say,
all of one way of thinking; but as these leaves will see the
light before the civil war is at an end, it is advisable not to
give their names, for it would expose persons resident in
~~ashington, who may not be suspected by the Government,
to those marks of attention which they have not yet ceased to
pay t~ their political enemies.  Although I confess that in my
judgment too much stress has been laid in England on the severity with which the Federal authorities have acted towards
il~eir political enemies, who were seeking their destruction, it may be candidly admitted, that they have forfeited iill
claim to the lofty position they once occupied as a Government
existing by moral force, and by the cdnsent of the governed,
to which Bastilles and lettre's Je cacke~, arbitrary arrests, and
doubtful, illegal, if not altogether unconstitutional, suspension
of ~abeas corpus and of trial by jury were unk'~own.
As Col. Pickett and ~Ir. Banks are notorious Secessionists,
and j~Ir. Phillips has since gone South, after the arrest of his
wife on account of her anti-jederal tendencies, it may be permitted~to mention that they were among the guests. I had pleasure
in making the acquaintance of Governor Romnn.  ~Ir. Crawford, his brother commissioner, is a much younger in an, of
conAderably greater energy and determination, but ~obably of less judgment.  T he third commissioner, i\Ir. Fonsyth,
is fanatical in his opposition to any suggestions of compromise
or reconstruction; but, indeed, upon that point, there is little
difference of opinion amongst any of the real adherents of the
~outh.  ~Ir. Lincoln they spoke of with contempt; ~Ir. Sewird they evidently regarded as the ablest and most unscrupuions of their enemies; but the tone in which they alluded to
the whole nf the Northern people indicated the clear con vietion that trade, commerce, the pursuit of gain, manufacture,
and the base mechanical arts, had so degraded the whole race,
they would never attempt to strike a blow in fair fight for
what they pAzed so highly in theory and in words.  Whether
it be in consequence of some secret influence which slavery
lias upon the minds of men, or that the aggression of the North
Jpon their institutions has been of a nature to excite the deep 
64         MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
est animosity and most vindictive hate, certain it is il~ere is a
degree of something like ferocity in tl~e Southern mind towards New England which exceeds belief.  I am persuaded
that these feelings of cont~nipt are extended towards England.
They believe that we, too, have had the cank~r of peace~upon
us.  One evidence of this, according to Soutl~ern men, is the
abolition of duelling.  This practice, accordincr to them, is
highly wholesome and meritonous; and, indeed, it may be
admitted that in the state of society which is reported to exist
ii the Southern States, it is a useful check on such men as ii
restrained in our own islands in the last century.  In tht
course of conversation, one gentleman remarked that h~ con
sidered it disgraceful for any man to take money for the dishonor of his wite or his daughter.  "With us," he said, "there
is but one mode of dealing known.  The man who dares tamper with tlie~honor of a white woman, knows what he has to
expect.  We shoot l~im down like a dog, and no jury in the
South will ever find any man guilty of murder for punishing
such a scoundrel."  An argument which can scarcely be alluded to was used by them, to show that these offences in Slave
States had not the excuse which might be adduced to diminish
their gravity when they occurred in States where all the population were white.  Indeed, in this, as in som@ other matters
of a similar character, slavery is their s~tmrnum bonurn of norality, physical excellence, and social purity.  I was inclined
to question the correctness of tlie standard which they had set
up, and to inquire whether the virtue which needed this murderous use of the pistol and the dagger to defend it, was not
open to some doubt; but I found there was very little sympathy with my views among the company.
The gentlemen at table asserted that tlje white men in
the Slave States are physically superior to the men of tlie
Free State~; and indulged in curious theories in morals aiid
physics' to which I was a stranger.  Disbelief of anything a
Northern man - that is, a I?epublican - can say, is a fixed
principle in their minds.  I could not help remarking, when
the conversation turned on the duplicity of AIi~. Seward, and
the wickedioess of the Federal Government in refusing to give
the assurance Sumter would not be relieved by force of arms,
that it muft be of very little consequence what promises ~Ir.
Seward made, as, according to them, not tlie least reliance was
to be placed 010 his word.  The notion that tl~e Northern men
are cowards is justified by instances in which congressmen 
THE SOUTHERN COMMISSIONERS.         65
have been insulted by Southern men without calling them out,
and Mr. Sumner's case was quoted as the type of the affairs
of the kind between the two sides.
I happened to say that I always understood Mr. Sumner
had been attacked suddenly and unexpectedly, and struck
down before he could rise from his desk to defend himself;
whereupon a warm refutation of that version of the story
was given, and I was assured that Mr. Brooks, who was a
very slight man, and much interior in height to Mr. Sumner,
struck him a slight blow nt first, nnd only inflicted the heavier
strokes when irritated by the Senator's cowardly demeanor
In reference to some remark made' about the cavaliers and
their connection with the South, I reminded the gentleman
that, after all, the descendants of the Puritans were not to be
despised in battle: and that the best gentry in England were
worsted at last by the train-bands of London, and the "rabbledom" of Cromwell's Independents.
Mr., or Colonel, Pickett, is a tall good4ooking man, of
pleasant manners, and well-educated.  But this gendeman
was a professed buccaneer, a friend of Walker, the gray-eyed
rnan of destiny - his comrade in his most dangerous razzie.
lie was a newspaper writer, a soldier, a filibuster; and he
now threw himself into the cause of the South with vehemence; it was not difficult to imagine he saw in that cause
the realization of the dreams of empire in the south of the
Gult, and of conquest in the islands of the sea, which have
such a fascinating influence o~'er the imagination of a large
portion of the American people.  lie referred to Walker's
fitte with much bitterness, and insinuated he was betrayed by
the British officer who ought to have protected him.
The acts of ~Ir. Floyd and Mr. liowell Cobb, which must
be esteemed of doubtful morality, are here justified by the
States' Rights doctrine.  If the States had a right to go out,
hey were quite right in obtaining their quota of the national
property which would not have been given to tbem by the
Lincolnites.  Therefore, their friends were not to be censured
because they had sent arms and money to the South.
Altogether the evening, notwithstanding the occasional
warmth of the controversy, was exceedingly instructive; one
could understand from the vehemence and force of the speakers the full meaning of the phrase of "firing the Southern
heart," so often quoted as an illustration of the peculiar force
of political passion to be brought to bear against the Repub 
66         MY DIARY NORTIl AND SOUTIl.
licans in the Secession contest.  ~1r. Forsyth, struck me as
being tlie most a~tute, and perhaps most capable, of the gen
tlcmen who~e mi~sion to Washington seems likely to be so
abortive.  His name is historical in America - liis flither
flllcd high offlee, and his son has also exercised diplomatic
function.  Despotisms and Republics of the American model
approach each other closely.  In Tud~ey the Pasha unemployed sinks into insignificance, and the son of the Pasha
deceased is literally nobody.  ~Ir. Forsyth was not selected
as Southern Commissioner on account of the political status
acquired by his father; but the position gained by his owr
ability, as editor of "The ~Iobile Register," induced the
Confederate authorities to select him for the post.  It is quite
possible to have made a mistake in such matters, but I am
almost certain that the colored waiters who attended us at
table looked as sour and discontented as could be, and seemed
to give their service with a sort of protest.  I am told that
the tradespeople o~ ~Yashington are strongly inclined to favor
the Southern side.
April 611t. - To-day I paid a second visit to General Scott,
who received me very kindly, and made many inquiries
respecting the events in the Cnmea and the Indian mutirry
and rebellion.  He professed to have no apprehension for the
safety of tlie capital; but in reality there are only some 700
or 800 regulars to protect it and the Navy Yard, and two field-batteries, commanded by an officer of very doubtful attachment to the Union.  The head of the Navy Yard is openly
accused of treasonable sympathies.
~Ir. $eward has definitively refused to hold any interconrse
whatever with the Southern Commissioners, and they will retire almost immediately from the capital.  As matters look
very threatening, I must go South and see with my own eyes
how affairs stand there, before the two sections come to open
rupture.  ~Ir. Seward, the other day, in talking of the South,
described them as being in every respect behind the age, with
fashions, habits, level of thought, and modes of life, belonging
to the worst part of the last century.  But still he never has
been there himsel~!   The Southern men come up to the
Northern cities and springs, but the Northerner rarely travels
southwards.   Indeed, I am informed, that if he were a wellknown Abolitionist, it would not be safe for him to appear in a
Southern city.  I quite agree with my thoughtful and - earnest
friend, Olmsted, that the United States can never he con 
OFFIG~-S~F~~RS.              67
sidered as a free country till a man can speak as freely in
Charleston a  be can in New York or Bo<ton.
1 dined with ~Ir. I?ig~s, tl0e h;ii~ker,`vl)O l~a~l an agre~able
paity' to niee~ Inc.   i~Ir. Corcoran, lii  f'~rn~~~r p:I1.t1{~r who
was present, ereete~i at his own tost, and presented to tlie ci~y,
a fine building, to be used as an art-gallei'y aiid museum  but
as yet the arts which are to be found in ~asliington are political and feminine only.  ~Ir. Corcoran has a private gallery of
pictures, and a collection, in which is the mucl~-praised Greek
Slave of Hiram Powers.   The  gentry of Columbia are
thoroughly Virginian in sentiment, and look rather south than
north of the Potomac for political results.  The President, 1
hear this evening, is alarmed lest Virginia should become hostile, and his policy, if he has any, is tempoflzing and timid.  1t
is perfectly wonderful to hear people using the word "Government" at all, as applied to the President and his cabinet -
a body which has no power "according to the constitut~on" to
save the country governed or itself from destruction.  in fact,
from the circumstances under which the constitution was
framed, it was natural that tlie principal point ki~pt in view
should be the exhibition of a strong front to foreign powers,
combined with the least possible amount of constriction on the
internal relations of the different States.
in the hotel the roar of office-seekers is unabated.  Train
after train adds to their numbers.  They cumber the passages.
The hall is crowded to such a degree that suffocation might
describe the degree to which the pressure reaches, were it not
that tobacco-smoke invigorates and sustains the constitution.
As to the condition of the floor it is beyond description. 
CHAPTER VIII.
New York Press - Rumors as to the Southerners - Visit to the Smith   sonian Institute - Pythons - Evening at Mr. Seward's - Rough
draft of official despatch to Lord I. Russell - Estimate of its effect
in Europe - The attitude of Virgiuia.
April 7th. - Raining all day, cold and wet.  I am tired
and weary of this perpetual jabber about Fort Sumter.
Men here who know nothing at all of what is passing send
letters to the New York papers, which are eagerly read by
the people in Washington as soon as the journals reach the
City, and then all these vague surmises are taken as gospel,
and argued upon as if they were facts.  The "llerald" keeps
up the courage and spirit of its Southern friends by giving
the most florid accounts of their prospects, and making continual attacks on Mr. Lincoln and his government; but the
majority of the New York papers are inclined to resist Secession and aid the Government.  I dined with Lord Lyons in
the evening, and met Mr. Sumner, Mr. Blackwell, the manager of the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada, his wife, and
the members of the Legation.  After dinner I visited M. de
Stoecki, the Russian Minister, and M. Tassara, the Minister
of Spain, who had small receptions.  There were few Americans present.  As a rule, the diplomatic circle, which has, by.
the-by, no particular centre, radii, or circumference, keeps its
members pretty much within itself.  The great people here
are mostly the representatives of the South American powers,
who are on more intimate relations with the native families
in Washington than are the transatlantic ministers.
April 8th. - How it does rain!  Last night there were
torrents of water in the streets literally a foot deep.  It still
runs in muddy whiHing streams through the channels, and the
rain is falling incessantly from a dull leaden sky.  The air is
warm and clammy.  There are all kind of rumors abroad,
and the barbers' shops shook with "shaves" this morning.
Sumter, of course, was the main topic.  Some reported that
the President had promised the Southern Commissioners, 
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTE.       G()
through their friend ~fr. Campbell, Judge of the Supreme
Court, not to use force in respect to Pickens or Sumter.  I
wrote to ~Ir. Seward, to ask him if he could enable me to
make any 4efinite statement on these important matters.
The Southerners are alarmed at the accounts they have received of great activity and preparations in the Brooklyn and
Boston navy yards, and declare that "treachery" is meant.
I find myself quite incapable of comprehending their position.
How can the United States Government be guiky of" trenchcry` toward subjects of States which are preparing to assert
their independence, unless that Government has been guilty
of falsehood or admitted the justice of the decision to which
the States had arrived?
As soon as I had finished my letters, I drove over to the
Smithsonian Institute and was most kindly received by Professor Henry, who took me through the library and museum,
and introduced me to Professor Baird, who is great in natural
history, and more particularly in ornitholog~.  I promised
the professors some skins of Himalayan pheasants, as an addition to the collection.  In the library we were presented to
two very fine and lively rock snakes, or pythons, I believe,
some six feet long or more, which moved about with much
grace and agility, putting out their forked tongues and hissing
sharply when seized by the hand or menaced with a stick.  I
was told that some persons doubted if serpents hissed; I can
answer for it that rock snakes do most audibly.  They are
not venomous, but their teeth are sharp and needle like.
The eye is bright and glistening; the red forked tongue, when
protruded, has a rapid vibratory motion, as if it were moved
by the muscles which produce the quivering hissing noise.  I
was much interested ~by Professor Henry's remarks on the
large map of the continent of North America in his study:
he pointed out the climatic conditions which determined the
use, profits, and necessity oT slave labor, and argued that the
vast increase of population anticipated in the valley of the
~Iississippi, and the prophecies of imperial greatness attached
to it, were fallacious.  He seems to be of opinion that most
of the good land of America is already cultivated, and that
the crops which it produces tend to exhaust it, so as to compel
the cultivators eventually to let it go f~llow or to use manure.
The fact is, that the influence of the great mountain-chain in
the west, which intercepts all the rain on the Pacific side,
causes an immense extent of country between the eastern 
70         MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
slope of the chain and the Mississippi, as well as the district
west of Minnesota, to be perfectly dry and uninhabitable;
and, as far as we know, it is as worthless as a moor, except
for the pasturage of wild cattle and the like.
On returning to my hotel, 1 found a note from Mr. Seward,
a~kiug me to visit kim at nine o'clock.  On going to his house,
1 was shown to the drawing-room, and found there only the
Secretary of State, his son, and Mrs. Seward.  1 made a
parti carrj for a friendly rubber of whist, and Mr. Seward,
who was my partner, talked as he played, so that the score of
the game was not favorable.  But his talk was very interesting.  "All the preparations of whiA~ you hear mean this only.
The Government, finding the property of the State and Federal forts neglected and left without protection, are determined to take steps to relieve them from that neglect, and to
protect them.  But we are determined in doing so to make no
aggression.  The President's inaugural clearly shadows out
our policy.  ~~e will not go beyond it - we have no intention of doing so - nor will we withdraw from it."  Afier a
time Mr. Seward put down his cards, and told his son to go
for a~portfUlio which he would find in a drawer of his table.
Mrs. Seward lighted the drop light of the gas, and on her
husband's return with the paper left the room.  The Secretary then lit his dgar, gave one to me, and proceeded to read
slowly and with marked emphasis, a very long, strong, and
able despatch, which he told me was to be read by Mr. Adams,
the American Minister in London, to Lord John Russell.  1t
struck me that the tone of the paper was hostile, that there
was an undercurrent of menace through it, and that it contained insinuations that Great Britain would interfere to split
up the Republic, if she could, and was pleased at the prospect
of the dangers which threatened it.
At all the stronger passages Mr. Seward raised his voice,
and made a pause at their conclusion as if to challenge remark
or approval.  At length 1 couJd not help saying, that the despatch would, no doubt, have an excellent effect when it came
to light in Congress, and that the Americans would think
highly of the writer; but 1 ventured to express an opinion
that it would not be quite so acceptable to the Government
and people of Great Britain.  This Mr. Seward, as an American statesman, had a right to make but a secondary consideration.  By affecting to regard Secession as a mere political
lieresy which can be ea~ily confuted, and by forbidding foreign 
MR. SEWARD AND SECESSION.       71
countries alluding to it, ~fr. Seward thinks he can establish
the supremacy of his own Government, and at the same time
gratify the vanity of the people.  Lven war with us may not
be out of the list of those means which would be available for
re-fusing the broken union into a mass once more.  However,
the Secretary is quite confident in what he calls "reaction."
"~Yheu the Southern States," he says, "see that we mean
them no wrong - that we intend no violence to persons, rights,
or things - that the Federal Governmen~ seeks only to fuffil
obligations imposed on it in respect to the national property,
they will see their mistake, and one after another they will
c~~rne back into the union."  ~1r. Seward anticipates this process will at once begin, and that Secession will all be done
and over in three months - at least, so he says.  It was after
midnight ere our conversation was over, much of which of
course I cannot mention in these pages.
Aprn7 9tk. - A storm of rain, thunder, and lightning. The
streets are converted into watercourses.  From the country
we hear of bridges washed away by inundations, and roads
rendered impassable.  Accounts from the South are gloomy,
but the turba llerni in ~Villard's are as happy as ever, at least
as noisy and as greedy of place.  By-the-by, I observe that
my prize-fighting friend of the battered nose has been rewarded for his exertions at last.  lie has been standing drinks
all round till he is not able to stand himself, and he has expressed his determination never to forget all the people in the
passage.  I dined at the Legation in the evening, where there
was a small party, and returaed to the hotel in torrents of
rain. 
CliAPTER I~
Dinner at General Scott's - Anecdotes of General Scott's Early Life
The Startling Despatch-Insecunty of the Capital.
Aprit 10th. - To-day I devoted to packing up such things
as I did not require, and sending them to New York.  I received a characteristic note from General Scott, asking me to
dine with him to-morrow, and apologizing for the shortness
of his invitation, which arose from his only having just heard
that I was about to leave so soon for the South.  The General is much admired by his countrymen, though they do not
spare some "amiable weaknesses;" but, in my mind, he can
only be accused oE a little vanity, which is often found in
characters of the highest standard.  lie likes to display his
reading, and is troubled with a desire to indulge in fine writing.  Some time ago lie wrote a long letter to the "National
Intelligencer," in which he quoted Shakespeare and Paley to
prove that President Buchanan ought to have garrisoned the
forts at Charleston and Pensacola, as he advised him to do;
and he has been the victim of poetic aspirations.  The General's dinner hour was early; and when I arrived at his m~dest lodgings, which, however, were in the house of a famous
French cook, I found a troop of mounted volunteers of the
district, parading up and down the street.  They were not
bad of their class, and the horses, though light, were active,
hardy, and spirited; but the men put on their uniforms badly, wore long hair, their coats and buttons and boots were
unbrushed, and the horses' coats and accoutrements bore evidence of neglect.  The General, who wore an undress blue
frock-coat, with eagle-covered brass buttons, and velvet collar
and cuffs, was with Mr. Seward and Mr. Bates, the AttorneyGeneral, and received me very courteously.  lie was interrupted by cheering from the soldiers in the street, and by
clamors for "General Scott."  He moves with difficulty,
owing to a fall from his horse, and from the pressure of increasing years; and he evidently would not have gone out 
DINNEr AT GENERAL SCOTT'S.          73
if he could have avoided it.  But there is no privacy for public men in America.
But the General went to them, and addressed a few words~
to his audience in the usual style about "rallying round," and
"dying gloriously," and "old flag of our country," and all
that kind of thing; after which, the band struck up "Yankee
Doodle." Mr. Seward calle~ out, "General, make them play
the`Star-Spangled Banner,' and`llail Columbia."'  And so
I was treated to the strains of the old bacchanalian chant,
"~Vht~n Bibo," &c., which the Americans have impressed to
do duty as a national air.  Then caine an attempt to play
"God save the Queen," which I duly appreciated as a complinient; and then fbllowed diiiner, which did credit to the
cook, and wine, whid~ was most excellent, from France,
Spain, and Made ira.  The only addition to our party was
~1ajor Cullum, aide-dc-camp to General Scott, an United
States' engineer, educated at West Point.  The General underwent a little badinage about the phrase "a hasty plate of
soup," which he used in one of his despatches during the
Mexican ~Var, and he appealed to me to decide whether it
was so erroneous or ridiculous as Mr. Seward insisted.  I
said I was not a judge, but certainly similar liberal usage of
a well-known figure of prosody might be found to justify the
phrase.  The only attendants at table were the General's
English valet and a colored servant; and the table apparatus
which bore such good things was simple and unpretending.
Of course the conversation was of a general character, and
the General, evidently picking out his words with great precision, took the lead in it, telling anecdotes of great length,
griced now and then with episodes, and fortified by such
episo~les as -" Bear with me, dear sir, for a while, that I
may here diverge from the main current of my story, and
pr~iceed to mention a curious ____ " &c., and so on.
To me his conversation was very interesting, particularly
that liortion which referred to his part in the last war, where
he was wounded and taken prisoner.  lle gave an account of
the Battle of Chippewa, which was, he said, fought on true
scientific principles; and in the ignorance common to most
Englishmen of reverses to their arms, I was injudicious
enou~h, when the battle was at its height, and whole masses
of men were moving in battalions and columns over the table,
to ask how many were engaged.  The General made the
most of his side: "We had, sir, twenty-one hundred and sev                     4 
74        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
enty-five men in the field."  lie told us how. when the British menof-war provoked general indignation in Virginia by
searching American vessels for deserters in the Chesapeake,
the State of Virginia organized a volunteer force to guard the
shores, and, above all things, to prevent the country people
sending down supplies to the vessels, in pursuance of the
orders of the Legislature and Governor.  Young Scott, then
i'eading for the bar, became corporal of a troop of these patrols.  One night, as they were on duty by the banks of the
Potomac, they heard a boat with muffled oars coming rapidly
down the river, and soon saw her approaching quite clo~e to
the shore under cover of the trees.  ~Vhen she was abreast
of the troopers, Scott challenged "What boat is that?"
"It's His ~Iajesty's ship`Leopard,' and what the d     is
il~at to you?  Give way, my lads!"  "I at once called on
him to surrender," said the General, "and giving the word to
charge, we dashed into the water.  Fortunately, it was not
deep, and the mid~hipman in charge, taken by surprise b~ a
superior force, did not attempt to resist us.  We found the
boat manned by four sailors, and filled with vegetables and
other supplies, and took possession of it; and I believe it is
tlie tlrst instance of a man-of-war's boat being captured by
cavalry.  The Legislature of Virginia, however, did not approve of the capture, and the officer was given up accordingly.
"~Iany years afterwards, when I visited Europe, I happened to be dining at the hospitable mansion of Lord Holland,
and observed during tlie banquet that a gentleman at table
was scrutinizing my countenance iii a manner indicative of
some special cur~osity.  Several times, as my eye wandered
in his direction, I perceived that he had been continuing his
invest gati on~, and at length I rebuked him by a continuous
glance.  Afler dinner this gentleman came round to me and
sai~l,`General Scott, I hope you wifl pardon my rudeness in
staring at you, but the fact is that you bear a most remarkable
resemblance to a great overgrown, dumsy country fellow of
the same name, who took me prisoner in my boat when I was
a midshipman in the "Chesapeake," at the head of a body of
mounted men.  He was, I remember quite well, Corporal
Scott.'`That Corporal Scott, sir, and the individual who
addresses you, are identical one with the other.'  The officer
whose acquaintance I thus so auspidously rene\ved, was
Captain Fox, a relation of Lord Holland, and a post-captain
in the Bntish navy." 
CONYERSATION AND ANECDOTES.      7;)
Whilst he was speaking, a telegraphic despatch was brought
in, which the General perused with evident unea~iness.  He
apologized to me for reading it by saying the despatch was
from the President on Cabinet business, and then handed it
across the table to ~1r. Seward.  The Secretary read it, and
became a little agitated, and raised his eyes inquiringly to the
General's face, who only shook his head. Then the paper was
given to ~Ir. Bates, who read it, and gave a grunt, as it were,
of surprise.  The General took back the paper, read it twice
over, and then folded it up and put it in his poc~ket.  "You
ll(~d better not put it there, General," interposed i~ir. S( w'~rd;
it will be getting lost, or iu some other hands."  And so the
Genen~ seemed to think, for he immediately threw it into the
fire, before which certain bottles of claret were gently mellowing.
The communication was evidently of a very unpleasant
character.  In order to give the ~finisters opportunity for a
conference, I asked ~1ajor Cullum to accompany me into the
garden, and lighted a cigar.  As I was walking about in the
twilight, I observed two figures at the end of tlie little enclosure, standing as if in coa~ealment close to the wall.  ~1ajor
Cullum said, "The men you see are sentries 1 have thought it
expedient to place there for the protection of the General.
The villains might assassinate him, and would do it in a mon~ent if they could.  He would not hear of a guard, nor any
thing of the sort, so, without his knowing it, I have sentries
posted all round the house all night.  This was a curious
state of things for tlie commander of tlie Ameri~an army, in
the midst of a ci~owded city, the capital of the free and enlightcued Republic, to he placed in!  On our return to the sitting.
room, the conversation was continued some hour or so longer.
I retired with ~Ir. Seward in his carriage.  As we were
going up Pennsylvania Avenue - almost lifeless at that time
- I asked ~In Seward whether he felt quite secure against
ai~y irruption from Virginia, as it was reported that one Ben
i'\IcCullougl~, the fitmous Texan desperado, had assembled
500 men at Richmond for some daring enterprise: some said
to carry off the President, cabinet, and all.  He replied that,
although the capital was almost defenceless, it must be remembered that the bold bad men who were their enemies were
equally unprepared for active measures of aggression. 
CHAPTER X.
Preparation for war at Charlestown - My own departure for the South  ern States - Arrival at Baltimore - Commencement of hostilities
at Fort Sumter - Bombardment of the Fort - General feeling ~s
to North and Soud~ - Slavery - First impressions of the City of
Baltimore - I)eparture by steamer.
April l2tk. - This morning I received an intimation that
the Government had resolved on taking decisive steps which
w~~uld lead to a development of events in the South and test
tl~e sincerity of Secession.  The Confederate general at
Charleston, Beauregard, has sent to the Federal officer in
command at Si~mter, ~Iajor Anderson, to say, that all communication between his garrison and the city must cease; and,
at the same time, or probably before it the Government at
~Yashin~ton informed the Confederate authorities that they
intendetl to forward supplies to M~or Anderson, peaceably if
permitted, but at all hazards to send them.  The Charleston
people are manning tl~e batteries they have ereeted against
Sumter, l~ave fired on a vessel under the United States flag,
endeavoring to communicate with the fort, and have called out
and organized a large force in the islands opposite the place
and in the tity of Charleston.
I resolved, therefore, to start for the Southern States to-day,
proceeding by Baltimore to Norfolk instead of going by Richmond, which was cut off by the floods.  Before leaving, I
visited Lord Lyons, Mr. Seward, the French and Russiai~
Ministers; left cards on the President, Mrs. Lincoln, Gencial
Scott, Mr. Douglas, Mr. Sumner, and otliens.  There was no
appearance of aisy excitement in ~Yashington, but Lord Lyoiis
mentioned, as nit unusual circumstance, that he liad received
no telegraphic communication from Mr. Bunch, the Briti~h
Consul at Charleston.  Some ladies said to me that when I
caine back I would find some nice people at Washington, aitd
-that the rail-splitter, his wife, the Se wards, and all the rest of
them, would be driven to the place where they ought to be:
"Yarina Davis is a lady, at all events, not like tlie other. 
AR~VAL AT BALTIMOR~              77
We can't put up with such people as these!"  A naval officer
whom I met, told me, "if the Government are really going
to try fbree at ChaHeston, you'll see they'll be beaten, aj~~l
we'll have a war between the gentlemen and the Yankee rowdies  if they attempt violence, you know how that will eiid."
The Government are so uneasy tl~at they have put soldiers
into the Capitol, and are preparing it for defence.
At 6 p. M. I drove to the Baltimore station in a storm of
rain, accompanied by 1~Ir. ~Yarre, of tl~e British Legation.
In the train there was a crowd of people, many of them disappointed place-hunters, and much discussion took place respecting the propriety of giving supplies to Sumter by force,
the weight of opinion being against the propriety of such a
step.  The tone in which tbe Presidei~t and l)is cabinet wert'
spoken of was very disrespectful.  One big man, in a fur coat,
who was sitting near me, said, " ~Vell, darn me if I wouldn't
draw a bead on Old Abe, Seward - aye, or General Scott
himsel~, though I've got a perty good thing out of them, if
they due try to use their soldiers and sailors to beat down
States' Rights.  If they want to go ti~ey've a right to go."
To which many said` That's so! That's true!"
~Vlien we arrived at Baltiniore, at 8 i?. M., tlie streets were
deep in water.  A coacl~man, seeing I was  stranger asked
me two dollars, or 8s. 4d., to drive to the Eutaw House, a
quarter of a mile distance; hut I was not surprised, as I liad
paid three-and-a-half and four dollars to go to dinner and return to the hotel in N\rashingt on.  On my arrival, the landlord, no less a person than a major or colonel, took me aside,
and asked me if I had heard the news.  "No, what is it?"
"The President of the Telegraph Company tells me he has
received a message from his clerk at Charleston that the batteries have opened fire on Sumter because the Govern meat
has sent down a fleet to force in supplies."  The news l~ad,
however, spread.  The l~all and bar of the hotel were
and I was asked by many people whom I had never seen in
my life, what my opinions were as to the authenticity 5f tlie
r~imo~~.  There was nothing surprising in the fact that the
Cliarleston people had resented any attempt to reinforce tlie
forts, as I was aware, from the language of the Southern
Commissioners that they would resist any such attempt to the
last, and make it a casus and causa be lii.
April 14th. - The Eutaw House is not a very good spednien of an American hotel, but the landlord does his best to 
78         MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
make his  guests comfortable, when he likes them.  The
American landlord is a despot who regulates his dominions by
ukases affixed to the walls, by certain state depnrtments called
"offices" and "bars," and who generally is represented, whilst
he is away on some military, political, or commercial undertaking, by a lieutcnant; the deputy being, if possible, a
greater man than the chief.  It requires so much capital to
establish a large hotel, that there is little fear of external cornpetition in the towns.  And Americans are so gregarious that
they will not patronize small establishments.
I was the more complimented by the landlord's attention
this morning when he came to the room, and in much excitement informed me the news of Fort Sumter being bombarded
by the Charleston batteries was confirmed, "And now," said
lie, "there's no saying where it will all end."
After breakfast I was visited by some gentlemen of Baltimore, who were highly delighted with the news, and I learned
from them there was a probability of their State joining those
which had seceded.  The whole feeling of the landed and
respectable classes is with the South.  The dislike to the
Federal Government at Washington is largely spiced with  -
personal ridicule and contempt of ~Ir. Lincoln.  Your ~1ary
lander is very tenacious about being a gentleman, and what he
does not consider gentlemanly is simply unfit for any thing, far
less for place and authority.
The young draftsman, of whom I spoke, turned up fl~is
morning, having pursued me from Washington.  He asked
me whether I would still let him iccompany me.  I observed
that I had no objection, but that I could not permit such paragraphs in ilie papers again, and suggested there would be no
difficulty in his travelling by hims~lf, if he pleased.  lie replied that his former connection with a Black Republican
paper might fend to his detention or molestation in the South,
but that if he was allowed to come with me, no one would
doubt that he was employed by an illustrated London paper.
The young gentleman will certainly never lose any thing for
the want of asking.
At the black barber's I was meekly interrogated by my
attendant as to my belief in the story of the bombardment.
He was astonished to find a stranger could thijik the event
was probable.  "De gen'lemen of Baltimore will be quite
glad ov it..  But maybe it'll come bad after all." I discovered
my barber had strong ideas that the days of slavery were 
DESCRIPTION OF BALTIMORE.       79
drawing to an end.  "And what will take place then, do you
think?"  "Wall, sare,`spose colored men will be good as
white men."  That is it.  They do not understand what a
vast gi~lf flows between them and the equality of position with
the white race which most of those who have aspirations
imagine to be meant by emancipation.  lle said the town
slave-owners were very severe and harsh in demanding
larger sums than the slaves could earn.  The slaves are sent
out to do jobs, to stand for hire, to work on the quays and
docks.  Their earnings go to the master, wlio punishes them
if they do not~ bring home enough.  Sometimes the master is
content with a fixed sum, and all over that amount which thL
slave can get may be retained for his private purposes.
Baltimore looks more ancient and respectable than the
towns 1 have passed through, and the site on which it stands
is undulating, so that the houses have n& that flatness and -
uniformity of height which make the streets of New York
and Philadelphia resemble those of a toy city magnified.
Why Baltimore should be called the "Monumental City"
could not be divined by a stranger.  lle would never think
that a great town of 250,000 inhabitants could derive its
name from an obelisk cased in white marble to George
Washington, even though it be more than 200 feet high, nor
from the grotesque column called "Battle Monument7'
erected to the memory of those who fell in the skirmish outside the city in which the British were repulsed in 1814.  1
could not procure any guide to the city worth reading, and
strolled about at discretion, after a visit to the Maryland
Club, of which 1 was made an honorary member.  At dark 1
started for Norfolk in the steamer "Georgiana." 
CllAPTER XL
~cenes on board an American steamer - The "Merrimac "- Irish
sailors in America- Norfolk - A telegr~m on Sunday; news
from the seat of war - American "chaff" and our Jack Tars.
Sunda~ Aprn1 14. - A night of disturbed sleep, owing to
the ponderous thumping of the walking beam close to my
head, the whizzing of steam, and the roaring of the steamtrumpet to warn vessels out of the way - mosquitoes, too,
had a good deal to say to me in spite of my dirty gauze
curtains.  Soon after dawn the vessel ran alongside the jetty
at Fortress ~Ionroe, and I saw indistinctly Ilie wateiTace
of the work which is in some danger of being attacked, it is
said, by the Virginians.  There was no flag on the staff
above the walls, and the place looked dreary and desolate.
It has a fine bastioned profile, with moat and armed lunettes
- the casemates were bricked up or occupied by glass
windows, and all the guns I could make out were on the
parapets.  A few soldiers were lounging on the jetty, and
after we had discharged a tipsy old officer, a few negroes,
and some parcels, the stenin-pipe brayed - it does not whistle - again, and we proceeded across the mouth of tiie
channel and James River towards Elizabeth River, on which
stand Portsmouth and Gosport.
Just as I was dressing, the door opened, and a tall, neatly
dressed negress came in and asked me for my ticket.  She
told me slie was ticket-collector for the boat, and that she was
a slave.  The latter intelligence was given without any reluctance or hesitation.  On my way to the upper deck I observed the bar was crowded by gentlemen engaged in consuming, or waiting for, cocktails or mintjuleps.  The latter,
however, could not be had just now in such perfection as
usual, owilig to the inferior condition of the mint.  In the
matter of drinks, how hospitable the Americans are!  I was
asked to take as many as would have rendered me incapable
of drinking again; my excuse on the plea of inability to 
NORFOLK NAVY YARD.             SI
grapple with cocktails and the like before breakfast, was
heard with surprise, and I was urgently entreated to abandoa
so bad a habit.
A clear, fine sun rose from the waters 9f the bay up into
the purest of pure blue skies.  On our right lay a low coast
fringed with trees, and wooded densely with stunted forest,
through which creeks could be seen glinting far through the
foliage.  Anxious looking little wooden lighthouses, hard set
to preserve their equilibrium in the muddy waters, and bent
at various angles, marked the narrow channels to the towns
and hamlets on the banks, the principal trade and occupation
of which are oyster selling and oyster eating.  We are
sailing over wondrous deposits and submarine crops of the
much4oved bivalve.  Wooden, houses painted white appear
on the shores, and one large building with wings and a central portico surmounted by a belvedere, destined for the
reception of the United States sailors in sickness, is a striking object in the landscape.
The steamer in a few minutes came along-side a dirty,
broken-down, wooden quay, lined with open booth~, on which,
a small crowd, mostly of negroes, had gathered.  Behind, the
shed there rose tiled and shingled roofs of mean dingy houses;
and we could catch glimpses of the line of poor streets, narrow, crooked, ill-paved, surmounted by a few church-steeples,
and the large sprawling advertisement-boards of the tobaccostores and oyster-sellers, which was all we could see of Portsmouth or Gosport.  Our vessel was in a narrow creek; at
one side was the town   in the centre of the stream the old
"Pennsylvania7' intended to be of 120 guns, but never commissioned, and used as receiving ship, was anchored - alongside the wall of the ~avy Yard below us, lay the "Merrimac,' apparently in ordinary.  The only man-of-war fit for
sea was a curiosity - a stumpy bluff-bowed, Dutch-built looking sloop, called the "Cumberland."  Two or three smaller
vessels, dismasted, were below the "Merrimac," and we could
just see the building-sheds in which were one or two others,
I believe, on the stocks.  A fleet of oyster-boats anchored, or
in sailless observance of the Sunday, dotted the waters.
There was an ancient and fishlike smell about the town worthy
of its appearance and of its functions as a seaport.  As the
vessel came close along-side, there was the usual greeting between friends, and many a cry, "Well, you've heard the news?
The Yankees out of Sumter!  Isn't it fine!"  There were
4* 
82         MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
few who did not participate in fl~at sentiment, but there were
some who looked black as night and said nothing.
WhiL~t we were waiting for the steam ferry-boat, which
plies to Norfolk at the other side of the creek, to take us over,
a man-of-war boat pulled along-side, and the coxswain, a Landsome, fine4ooking sailor, came on deck, and, as I happened to
be next him, asked me if Captain Blank had come down with
us?  1 replied, that 1 did not know, but that the captain
could tell him no doubt.  "He?" said the sailor, pointing
with great disgust to the skipper of the steamer. "Why he
knows nothin' of his passengers, except how many dollars
they come to," and started off to prosecute his inquiries among
the other passengers.  The boat along-side was clean, and
was manned by six as stout`fellows as ever handled an oar.
Two I made sure of were Englishmen, and when the coxswain was retiring from his fruitless search, 1 asked him
where he hailed from.  "The Cove of Cork.  I was in the
navy nine years, but when I got on the West Ingy Station, I
heerd how Uncle Sam treated his fellows, and 50 I joined
him."  "Cut and run, 1 suppose?"  "Well, not exactly.  I
got away, sir.  Emigrated, you know!" "Are there any other
Irishmen or Englishmen on board?"  "I should think there
was.  That man iii the bow there is a mate of mine, from the
sweet Cove of Cork; Driscoll by name, and there's a Belfast
man pulls. number two; and the stroke, and the chap that
pulls next to him is Englishmen, and fine sailors they
are, Bates and Rookey.  They were in men-of-war too."
"What! five out of seven, British subjects!"  "Oh, ny,
that is - we onst was - most of us now are`Mericans, I
think.  There's plenty more of us aboard the ship."
The steam ferry was a rickety affair, and combined with
the tumble-down sheds and quays to give a poor idea of
Norfolk.  The infliction of tobacco-jiiice on board was reinarkable.  Although it was but seven o'clock every one had
his quid in working order, and the air was filled with yellowish-brown rainbows arid liquid parabolas, which tumbled in
spray or in little fiocks of the weed on the foul decks.  As it
was Sunday, some of ~he numerous fiagstaffs which adorn the
houses in both cities displayed the United States bunting;
but nothing could relieve the decayed air of Norfolk.  The
omnibus which was waiting to receive us must have been the
earliest specimen of carriage building in that style on the
continent; and as it lunged and fiopped over the prodigious 
THE ATLANTIC HOTEL.           83
bad pavement, the severe nature of which was aggravated by
a street railway, it opened the seams as if it were going to
fall into firewood.  The shops were all closed, of c6unse  but
the houses, wooden and brick, were covered with signs and
placards ii~dicative of large trade in tobacco and oysters.
Poor G. P. R. James, who spent many years here, could~
have scarce caught a novel from such a place, spite of great
oysters, famous wild fowl, and tl~e lauded poultry and vegetables which are produced in the surrounding districts. There
is not a hill for the traveller to ascend towards the close of a
summer's day, nor a moated castle for a thousand miles around.
An execrable, tooth-cracking drive ended at last in front of the
Atlantic llotel, where 1 was doomed to take up my quarters.
It is a dilapidated, undeanly place, with tobacco-stained floor,
full of flies and strong. odors.  The waiters were all slaves:
untidy, slipshod, and careless creatures.  I was shut up in a
small room, with the usual notice on the door, that the proprietor would not he responsible for anything, and that you were
to lock your doors for fear of robbers, and that ~ou must take
your meals at certain hours, and other matters of the kind.
~Iy umbra went over to Gosport to take some sketches, he
said; and after a poor meal, in a long room filled with "citizens," all of them discussing Sumter, I went out into the
street.
The people, I observe, are of a new and marked type, -
Very tall, loosely yet powerfully made, with dark complexions, strongly-marked features, prominent noses, large angular
mouths in square jaws, deep-seated bright eyes, low, narrow
foreheads, - and are all of them much given to ruminate
tobacco.  The bells of the cliurcl~es were tolling, and I turned
into one; but the heat, great enough outside, 500fl became
nearl~ intolerable; nor was it rendered more bearable by my
proximity to some blacks, who were, I presume, servants or
slaves of the gre at people in the fi~rward pews.  The clergy.
man or minister had got to the Psalms, when a bustle arose
near the door which attracted his attention, and caused all to
turn round.  Several persons were standing up and whispering,
whilst others were stealing on tiptoe out of the d~urch.  The
influence extended itself gradually and all the men near the
door were leaving rapidly. The minister, obviously interested,
continued to read, raising his eyes towards the door.  At last
the persons near him rose up and walked boldly ft~rtlj, and I
at length followed the example, and getting into the street, 
84         MY DIARY NORTIl AND SOUTll.
saw men running towards the hotel. "What is it?" exclaimed
I to one.  "Come alona, the telegraph's in at the`Day Book.'
The Yai~kees are whipped!" and so continued.  I came at
last to a crowd of men, struggling, with their faces toward the
wall of a shabby house, increased by fresh arrivals, and diminished by those who~, having satisfied their curiosity, came
elbowing forth in a state of mud~ excitement, exultation, and
perspiration.  "It's all right enough!"  "Didn't I tell you
so?"  "Bully for Beauregard and the Palmetto State!"  I
shoved on, and read at last the programme of the cannonade
and bombardment, and of the effects upon the fort, on a dirty
piece of yellowish paper on the wall.  It was a terrible wflting.
At all the street corners men were discussing the news with
every symptom of joy and gratification.  Now I confess I
could not share in the excitement at all.  The act seemed to
me the prelude to certain war.
I walked up the main street, and turned up some of the alleys to have a look at the town, coming out on patches of water
and bridges over the creeks, or sandy lanes shaded by trees,
and lined here and there by pretty wooden villas, painted in
bnght colors.  Everywhere negroes, male and female, gaudily
dressed or in rags  the door-steps of the narrow lanes swarming with infant niggerdom - big-stomached, curve4egged,
rugged-headed, and happy - tumbling about dim~eyed toothless hags, or thick-lipped mothers.  Not a word were they
talking about Sumter.  "Any news to-day?" said I to a respectable-looking negro in a blue coat and brass buttons,
wonderful hat, and vest of amber silk, check trousers, and
very broken-down shoes.  "Well, sare, I tink nothin' much
occur.  Der hem a fire at Squire Nichol's house last night;
least way so I hear, sare."  Squire, let me say parenthetically,
is used to designate justices of the peace.  Was it a very
stupid poco-curante, or a very cunning, subtle Sambo?
In my walk I arrived at a small pier, covered with oyster
sl~clls, which projected into the sea.  Around it, on both sides,
were hosts of schooners and pungys, smaller half-decked boa~s,
waiting for their load of the mueh4oved fish for Washington,
Baltimore, and Richmond.  Some brigs and large vessels lay
along-side the wharves and large warehouses higher up the
creek.  Observing a small group at the end of the pier, I
walked on, and found that they consisted of fifteen or twenty
well-dressed mechanical kind of men, busily engaged in "chaffing," as Cockneys would call it, the crew of the man-of-war 
AN INCIPIENT ROW.            85
boat I had seen in the morning.  The sailors ~ere stretd~ed
on the thwarts, some rather amused, others sull~n at the ordeal.  "You better just pull down that cussed old rag of
yours, and bring your old ship over to the Southern Confederacy.  I guess we can take your` Cumberland' whenever
we like!  Why don't you go, and touch off your guns at
Charleston?"  Presently the coxswain came down with a
parcel under his arm, and stepped into the boat.  " Give way,
my lads;" and the oars dipped in the water.  When the boat
had gone a few yards from the shore, the crowd cried out:
"Down with the Yank~es!  Hurrah for the Southern Confederacy!" and some among them threw oyster shells at the
boat, one of which struck the coxswain on the head.  "Back
water!  Back water all.  Hard!" he shouted; and as the
boat's stern neared tlie land, he stood up and made a leap in
among the crowd like a tiger.  "You cowardly d    d set.
Who threw the shells?"  No one answered at first, but a
little wizened man at last squeaked out: "I guess you'll have
shells of another kind if you remain here much longer."  The
sailor howled with rage: "Why, you poor devils, I'd whip
any half-dozen of you, - teeth, knives, and all - in five minutes; and my boys there in the boat would clear your whole
town.  What do you mean by barking at the Stars and
Stripes?  Do you see that ship?" he shouted, pointing towards the "Cumberland."  " Why the lads aboard of her
would knock every darned seceder in your State into a
cocked hat in a brace of shakes!  And now who's coming
on?"  The invitation was not accepted, and the sailor withdrew, with his angry eyes fixed on the people, who gave him
a kind of groan; but there were no oyster shells this time.
"In spite of his blowing, I tell yer," said one of fl~em," there's
some good men from old Virginny abo'rd 0' that ship that will
never fire a shot agin us."  "Oh, we'll fix her right enough,"
remarked another, "when the time comes."  I returned to
my room, sat down, and wrote for some hours.  The dinner
iii the Atlantic Hotel was of a description to make one wish
the desire for food had never been invented.  ~Iy neighbor
said he was not "quite content about this Sumter business.
There's nary one killed nor wownded."
Sunday is a very dull day in Norfolk, - no mails, no post,
no steamers; and, at the best, Nortolk must be dull exceedingly. The superintendent of the Seaboard and Roanoke Railway, having heard that I was about proceeding to ChaAeston, 
8(3       MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
called upon me to offer every faeility in his power.  Sent
~Ioses with letters to post~fflee.  At night the mosquitoes
were very aggressive and successful.  This is the first place
in which the hedroorns are unpi~ovid~~d with
dip alniost made me regret the fact. 0as.  A mutton 
CHAPTER XII.
Portsmouth - Railway journey through the forest- The great Dis  mal Swamp - Amen can newspapers - Cattle on the line - Ne  gro labor - On through the Pine Forest - The Confederate flag
- Goldsborough; popular excitement - Weldon - Wilmington
- The Vigilance Committee.
Monday, April 15. - Up at dawn.  Crossed by ferry to
Portsmouth, and arrived at railway station, which was at no
place in particular, in a street down which the rails were laid.
Mr. Robinson, the superintendent, gave me permission to take
a seat ia the engine car, to which I mounted accordingly, was
duly introduced to, and shook hands with the engineer and
the stoker, and took my seat next the boiler.  Ca~any solid
reason be given why we should not have those engine sheds
or cars in England?  They consist of a light frame placed on
the connection of the engine with the tender, and projecting
so as to include the end of the boiler and the stoke-hole.
They protect the engineer from rain, storm, sun, or dust.
Windows at each side afford a clear view in all directions,
and the engineer can step out on the engine itself by the
doors on the front part of the shed.  There is just room for
four persons to sit uncomfortably, the persons next the boiler
being continually in dread of roasting their legs at the furnace, and those next the tender being in danger of getting
ogs of wood from it shaken down on their feet.  ~everth~
less I rarely enjoyed anything more than that trip.  It is true
one a enjoyment was marred by want of breakfast, for I could
not manage the cake of dough and the cup of bitter, sour,
greasy nastiness, called coffee, which were presented to me in
lieu of that meal this morning.
But the novelty of the scene through which I passed atoned
for the small privation.  I do not speak of the ragged streets
and lines of sheds through which the train passed, with the
great bell of the engine tolling as if it were threatening death
to the early pigs, cocks, hens, and negroes and dogs which 
88         MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
walked between the rails - the latter, by the by, were always
the first to leave   the negroes generally divided with the
pigs the honor of making the nearest stand to the train - nor
do I speak ~r the miserable suburbs of wooden shanties, nor
of the expanse of inundated lands outside the town.  Passing
all these, we settled down at last to our woA~: the stoker fired
up, the engine rattled along over the rugged lane between the
trees which now began to sweep around us from the horizon,
where they rose like the bank of a river or the shores of a
sea, and presently we plunged into the gloom of the primeval
fbrest, struggling as it were, with the last wave of the deluge.
The railroad, leaving the land, boldly leaped into the air,
and was carried on frailest cobweb-seeming tracery of wood
far above black waters, from which ro~ a thick growth and
upshooting of black stems of dead trees, mingled with the
trunks and branches of others still living, throwing out a most
luxuriant vegetation.  The trestle-work over which the train
was borne, judged by the eye, was of the slightest possible
construction.  Sometimes one series of trestles was placed
above another, so that the cars ran on a level with the tops
of the trees; and, looking down, we could see before the train
passed the inky surface of the waters, broken into rings and
agitated, round the beams of wood.  The trees were draped
with long creepers and shrouds of Spanish moss, which fell
from branch to branch, smothering the leaves in their clammy
embrace, or waving in pendulous folds in the air.  Cypress,
live-oak, the dogwood, and pine struggled for life with the
water, and about their stems floated balks of timber, waifs and
strays carried from the rafts by flood, or the forgotten spoils of
the lumberer.  On these lay tortoises, turtles, and enormous
frogs, which lifted their heads with a lazy curiosity when the
trai rushed by, or flopped into the water as if the sight and
noi~ were too much for their nerves.  Once a dark body of
greater size plashed into the current which marked the course
of a river. "There's many allygaitors come up here at times,"
said the engineer, in reyly to my question; "but I don't take
much account of them.'
When the trestle-work ceased, the line was continued
through the same description of scenery, generally in the
midst of water, on high embankments which were continually
cut by black rapid streams, crossed by bridges on trestles of
great span.  The strange tract we are passing through is the
"Dismal Swamp," a name which must have but imperfectly 
AN AMERICAN ENGINEER.           89
expressed its horrors before the railway had traversed its outskirts, and the canal, which is constructed in its midst, left
traces of tbe presence of man in that remnant of the world's
exit from the flood. In the centre of this vast desolation there
is a large loch, called "Lake Drummond," in the juiigle and
brakes around which the runaway slaves of the plantations
long harbored, and once or twice assembled bands of depredators, which were hunted down, broken up, and destroyed like
wild beasts.
~Ir. Robinson, a young man some twenty-seven years of
age, was an excellent representative of the young American
- full of intelligence, well-read, a little romantic in spite of
his practical habits and dealing with matters of fact, much attached to the literature, if not to the people, of the old country; and so far satisfied that Ln~lish engineers knew soriiething of their business, as to l)C anxious to show that American
engineers were not behind them.  He asked me about ~Yashington politics with as much interest n~ if he had never read a
newspaper.  I made a remark to that effect.  "Oh, sir, we
can't believe," exclaimed he, ~ a word we read in our papers.
They tell a story one day, to contradict it the next. ~Ve never
know when to trust them, and that's one reason, I believe,
you find us all so anxious to ask questions and get information from gentlemen we meet travelling~'  Of the future he
spoke with apprehension; "but," said he, "I am here representing the interests of a large number of Northern shareholders, and I will do my best for them.  If it comes to blows
after this, they will lose all, and I must stand by my own
friends down South, though I don't belong to it."
So we rattle on, till the scene, at first so attractive, becomes
dreary and monotonous, and I tire of looking out for larger
turtles or more alligators.  The silence of these woods is oppressive.  There is no sign of life ~vhere the train passes
through the water, except among the amphibious creatures.
Af~er a time, however, when we draw out of the swamp and
get into a dry patch, wild, ragged4ooking cattle may be seen
staring at us through the trees, or tearing across the rail, and
henls of porkers, nearly in the wild-boar stage, scuttle over
the open.  Then the engineer opens the valve; the sonorous
roar of the engine echoes though the woods, and now and then
there is a little excitement caused by a race between a pig
and the engine, and piggy is occasionally whipped off his legs
by the cow-lifter, and hoisted volatile into the ditch at one 
90         MY DIARY NORTH AND SO~Tll.
side.  When a herd?~ cattle, however, get on the line nnd
show flght, the matter is serious.  The steam horn is sounded,
the bell rung, and steam is eased off; and every means used to
escape collision; for the railway company is obliged to pn,y
tlie owner for whatever animals the trains kill, and a cow S
body on one of these poor rails is an impediment sufficient to
throw the engine off; and "send us to immortal smash."
It was long before we saw any workmen or guards on tlie
line; but at one place I got out to look at a shanty of one of
tlie road watchmen. It was a building of logs, SOluC twenty fee
long by twelve feet broad, made in the rudest manner, with at
carthen roo?, and mud stuffed and plastered between the logs
to keep out the rain.  Although the day was exceedingly hot,
there were two logs blazing on the hearth, over which was
suspended a pot of potatoes.  The air inside was stifling, and
the black beams of the roof glistened with a clammy sweat
from smoke and unwholesome vapors.  There was not an article of fbrniture, except a big deal chest and a small stool, in
the place; a mug and a teacup stood on a rude shelf nailed to
the wall. The owner of this establishment, a stout negro, was
busily engaged with others in "wooding up" tlie engine from
the pile of cut timber by the roadside.  The necessity of stopping caused by the rapid consumption is one of the desayremens
of wood fuel.  The wood is cut down and stacked on platfor~s, at certain intervals along the line; and the quantity
used is checked off against the company at the rate of so much
per cord.  The negro was one of many slaves let out to the
company.  White men would not do the work, or were too
expensive; but the overseers and gangsmen were whites.
"How can they bear that fire in the hut?   " Well.  If you
went into it in the very hottest day in summer, you would find
the niggers sitting close up to blazing pine4ogs; and they sleep
at night, or by day when they've fed to the full, in the same
way."  ~Iy friend, nevertheless, did not seem to~understand
that any country could get on without negro laborers.
By de~ees we got beyond the swamps, and came upon
patches of cleared land - that is, the forest had been cut
down, and the only traces left of it were the stumps, some four
or five feet high, "snagging" up above the ground; or the
trees had been girdled round, so as to kill them, and the black
trunks and stiff arms gave an air of meagre melancholy and
desertion to the place, which was quite opposite to its real
condition.  Here it was that the normal forest and swamp had 
THE STARS AND BARS.             91
been subjugated by man.  Presently we came in sight of a
tIag fluttering from a lofty pine, which had been stripped of
its branches, throwing broad bars of red and white to the air,
with a blue square in tiie upper quarter containing seven stars.
`~That's our flag," - said the engineer, who was a quiet man,
much given to turning steam-cocks, examining gangcs, wip
ing his hands in fluffy impromptu handkerchiefs, and smoking
tobacco    That's our flag!  And long may it wave-oer
the land of the free and the borne of the ber-rave!"  As we
passed, a small crowd of men, women, and cl~ildren, of all
colors, in front of a group of poor broken-down shanties or
log-huts, dieered - to speak more correctly - whooped and
yelled vehemently.  The cry was returned by the passengers
in the train.  ~N\Te~re all the right sort hereabouts," said the
engineer.  "Hurrah for Jeff Davis!"  The right sort were
not particularly flourishing in outward aspect, at all events.
The women, pale-fi~ced, were tawdry and ragged; the men,
yellow, seedy looking.  For the first time in the States, I
noticed barefooted people.
Now began another phase of scenery - an interminable
pine-forest, far as the eye could reach, shutting out the light
on each side by a wooden wall.  From this ibrest came the
strongest odor of turpentine; presently black streaks of
smoke floated out of the wood and here and there we passed
cleared spaces, where in rude-boding furnaces and factories
people more squalid and miserable looking tha~ before were
prepLflng pitch, tar, turpentine, i~sin, and other naval stores,
for which this part of North Carolina is famous.  The stems
of the trees around are marked by white scars, where the tappings for the turpentine take place, and many dead trunks
testitied bow the process ended.
Again, over another log village, a Confederate flag floated
in the air; and the people ran out, negroes and all, and cheer
ed as before.  The new flag is not so glanng and gaudy a
tlie Stars and Stripes; but, at a distance, when the folds hang
together, there is a considerable resemblance in the general
effect of the two.  If ever there is a real sentiment du d~~apeau
got up in the South, it will be difficult indeed ibr the North
to re~tore the Union.  These pieces of colored bunting seem
to twine themselves through heart and brain.
The stations along the roadside now gradually grew in pro.
portion, and instead of a small sentry-box beside a wood pile,
there were three or four wooden houses, a platform, a booking 
92         ~iY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
office, an "exchange" or drinking room, and general stores,
like the shops of assorted articles in an Irish town.  Around
these still grew the eternal forest, or patches of cleared land
dotted with black stumps.  These stations ii ave very grand
names, and the stores are di~~ified by high-sounding titles
nor are`~billiard saloons" and "restaurants" wanting.  N\re
generally found a group of people waiting at each; and it
really was most astonishing to see well-dressed, respectablelooking men and women emerge out of the "dismal swamp,"
and out of the depths of the forest, with silk parasols and
crinoline, band boxes and portmanteaux, in the most civilized
style.  There were always some negroes, male and female, in
attendance on the voyagers, handling the baggage or the babies, and looking comfortable enough, but not happy.  The
only evidence of the good spirits and happiness of these people which I saw was on the part of a number of men who
were going off from a plantation for the fishing on the coast.
They and their wives and sisters, arrayed in tl~cir best - which
means their brightest, colors - were grinning from ear to
ear as they bade good-by.  The negro likes the mild exciteinent of sea fishing, and in pursuit of it he feels for the moment free.
At Goldsborough, which is the first place of importance on
the line, tlie wave of the Secession tide struck us in full career.
Tlie station, the hotels, the street through which the rail ran
was filled with an excited n~b, all carryil)g arms, with signs
here aiid there of a desire to get up some kind of uniform -
flusl~ed faces, wild eyes, screamil0g mouths, hurrahing for
"Jeff Davis" and "the Southern Confederacy," so that the
yells overpowered the discordant bands whicl~ were busy with
"Dixie's Land."  Here was the true revolutionary fliror in
~ull sway.  The men hectored, swore, cheered, and slapped
each other on the backs; the women, in their best, waved
handkerchiefs and flung down garlands from the windows.
All was noise, dust, and patnotism.
It was a strange sight and a wonderful event at which we
were assisting.  These men were a levy of the people of
North Carolina called out by the Governor of the State for
tlie purpose of seizing upon forts Casweli and ~Iacon, beloi~g
ing to the Federal Government, and left unprotected and undefended.  The enthusiasm of the "citizens" was unbounded,
nor was it quite free from a taint of alcohol.  Many of the
~olunteers had flint firelocks, only a few had rifles.  All 
WAR FEVER.                93
kinds of headdress were visible, an~ caps, I)elts, anQ pouches
of infinite variety.  A man in a large wideawake, with a
cock's feather in it, a blue frock-coat, with a red sash and a
pail' of cotton trouSers thi'ust into his boots, came o~t of
Griswold's Hotel with a swoni under his arm, and an artide
which might have been a napkin of long service, in one hand.
He waved the article enthusia~tically, swaying to and fi'o on
his legs, and ejaculating  ll'i'a for Jeff Dav's - II'ra for
S'thern ~~`r'rights!" and tottered over to the carriage through
the crowd amid the violent vibration of all the ladies' l~ai~dkerchief~ in the balcony.  Just as he got into the train, a ma'i
in unitorm dashed after him, and caught him by the elbow,
exclain~ing, " Them's not the cars, General!  The cars this
way, General!"  I'he military dignitary, however, felt that if
he permitted such liberties in the hour of victory he was degraded forever, so, screwing up his lips and looking grave
aiid grand, he proceeded as follows: "Sergeant, you go be
-.  I say these are my cars!  They're a/i my cars!  I'll
send tl~em where I please - to - if I like, sir.  They
shall go where I pi ease - to New York, sir, or New Orleans,
sir!  And - sir, I'll arrest you."  This famous idea distracted the General's attention from his pr(~ect of entering the
train, and mJttering, "I'll arrest you," lie tacked back wards
and forwards to the hotel again.
As the train started on its journey, there was renewed
yelling, which split tlie ear-a savage cry many notes higher
than the most ringing cheer.  At the wayside inn, where we
dined -piece Je rjsistance being pig - the attendai~ts, comely,
well-dressed, clean negresses were slaves-" worth a thousaiid
dollars each."  I am not favorably i~npressed by eiti~er the
food or tl~e mode of living, or the manners of the company.
O~ie man made very coarse jokes about "Abe Lincoln" and
negro wenclies7' which nothing but extreme party passion
and bad taste could tolerate.  Several of the passengers had
been clerks in Government offices at ~Yashington, and had
been dismi~ed because they would not take the oath of allegiance.  They were hurrying off full of zeal and patriotism
to tender their services to the Montgomery Government.
*      *     *       *      *      *
I had been the object of many attentions and civilities from
gentlemen in the train dunug ray journey. Oae of them, who
told me he was a municipal dignitary of ~YeMon, having ~xhausted all the inducements that he could think of to induce 
94         MY DIARY NORTIl AND SOUTTh
me to spend som~ time there, at last, in desperation, said be
would be happy to show me "the a~~tiquities of the place."
N\7eldon is a recent uprising in wood and log-houses from the
swamps, and it would puz~le the archieologists of the world
to find anything antique about it.
At nightfa~ll the train stopped at ~~ilmington, and I w~s
shot out on a platform under a shed, to do the best I could.
In a bug, lofty. a~id comfortless room, like a barn, which
aliutted on tlie platform, tl~ere was a table covered witl a
dirty (~loth, on which lay little dishes of pickles, fisli, meat, aiid
jiotatoes, at which were seated some of our fellow-passengei 5.
The equality of all men is painfully illustrated when your
neighbor at table eats with hiS knife, dips the end of it into
the salt, and disi~egards the object and end of napkins.  But
it is cari~ied to a more disagreeable extent when it is held to
mean that any man who comes to an inn has a i'igli~ to share
yoi~r bed.  I asked for a room, but I'was told that there were
so many people movilig about just now that it was not possi
ble to give me one to myself; but at last I made a bargain
for exclusive possession.  ~Vlien tlie next train caine in, liowever, tlie woman very coolly inquired whether I had any
objection to allow a passenger to divide my bed, and seemed
very much dis1}leased at my refusal; and I perceived three
big-bearded men snoring asleep in one bed in the next room
to me as I passed through the passage to the dininu-room.
The "artist" ~Ioses, who had gone with my letter to the
pO~t, returned, after a long absence, pale and a~itated.  He
said he had been pounced opon by the Vigilance Committee,
who were raiher drunk, and vely inquisitive.  They were
haunting the precincts of tlie post-office and the railway station, to detect Liiicolnites and 4boiitionists, and were obliged
to keep themselves wide awake by frequent  visits to the
adjacent bars, and he had with difficulty dissuaded them from
paying me a visit.  They cross-examined him respecting my
ollinion of Secession, and desired to have an audience with me
in oi~der to give me any intormation which might be required.
I cannot say what reply was given to their questioning; but
I certainly refused to have any interview with the Vigilance
Committee of Wilmington, and was glad they did not disturb
me.  Rest, however, there was little or none.  I might have
as well slept on the platform of the railway station outside.
Tniiiis coming in ai~d going out shook the room and the bed
on which I lay, and engines snorte~l, puffed, roared, whistled,
and rang bells close to my key-hole. 
CllApTER" XIIL
Sketches round Wii~ington - Public opinion - Approach to Charles.
ton and Fort Sumter - Introduction to General J~eauregard
Ex-Governor Ma~~ning - Conversation on tlie chances of the war
- "King Cotton" and England - Visit to Fort Sumter - Mar  ket-place at Charleston.
FARLY next morning, soon after dawn, 1 crossed the Cape
Fear River, on which Wilmington is situated, by a steam
ferry-boat.  On the quay lay quantities of 5I)0t an~l shell.
" How came these here?" 1 inquired.  "Th~v're anti-abolition pills," said my neighbor; "they've been waiting hei~e for
two months back, but now that Sumter's taken, 1 guess th~y
woi~'t be wanted."  To my mind, the conclusion was hy 1)0
means legitimate.  From the small glance I l~a~l of Wilmington, with its fleet of schooners and brigs crowding the
broad and rapid river, 1 shoul~l tl~ink it was a thriving place.
Confederate flags waved over the public buildings, a~~d I was
informed that the forts had been seized witl~out opposition or
difficulty.  I can see no si~n here of the "affection to the
Union," which, according to"~~Ir. Seward, underlies all "secession proclivities."
As we tj~aversed the flat and uninteresting country, through
which the rail passes, Confederate flags and sentiments greeted
us everywhere; men and women repeated the natioi~al cry;
at every station militia-men and volunteers were waitiJ~g for
the train, and the everlasting word "Sumter" ran through
all tlie conversation in the cars.
The Carolinians are capable of turning out a fair force of
cavalry.  At each stopping-place I observed saddle-horses
tethered under the trees, and light driving vehicles, drawn
by wiry muscular animals, not remarkable for size, but st1~ong
looking and active.  Some f~rmers in blue jackets, and yellow
braid and facings, handed round tl~eir swords to be admired
by the compai)y.  A few blades had flashed in obscure ~Iexican skirmishe~ - one, however, had been borne against "the 
MY DIARY NOWTII AND SOUTH.
Bi~itisbers."  1 inquired of a fine, tall, fair-haired young fel
low whom they expected to fight.  "That's more than 1 can
tell," quoth he.  "The Yankees ain't such cussed fools as to
thiijk they can come here and whip us, let alone the British."
\Vhy, what have the British got to do with it? "  " They
are bound to take our part: if they d~n't, we'll just give tl~em
a hint about cotton, and that will set matters right."  This
was said very much with the air of a man who knows what
he is talking about, and who was quite satisfied "he had you
there."  1 found it was still displeasing to most people, purticularly one or two of the fair sex, that more Yankees were
not killed at Sumter.  All the people who addressed me
prefixed my name, which thQY soon found out, by "~1ajor"
or " Colonel " -" Captain" is very low, almost indicative of
contempt.  The conductor who took our tickets was called
"Captain."
At the Pedee River the rail is carried over marsh and
stream on trestle work for two miles.  " T his is the kind of
country we'll catcl~ tlie Yankees in, if they come to invade us.
They'll have some pretty tall swimming, and get knocked on
the head, if ever they gets to land.  1 wish there was ten
thousand of the cusses in it this minute."  At Nicl~ol's station
on tl~e frontiers of South Carolina, our baggage was regulai~ly
examined at the Custom House, but 1 did not see any oI)e
pay duties.  As the train approached the level and marshy
land near Charleston, tl~e square block of Fort Sumter was
seen rising above the water with the "stars and bars" ~ying
over it, and the spectacle created great enthusiasm among the
was             an angle of the
passengers.  The smoke    still ri~in from
walls.  Outside tlie village-like suburbs of the city a regiment
was march~ng for old Yii~ginny amid the cheers of the people
- cavalry were picketed in the fields and gardens - teat~
and men were visible in tlie by-ways.
It`vas nearly dark wlien we reached the station.  I was
recommended to go to tlie Thlills House, and on ai~riving thei~e
found ~Ii~. Ward, whom I had already met in New York aiid
~Yasliington, and who gave me an account of the bombardinent and surrender of the fort.  Tlie hotel was full of notabilities.  I was introduced to ex-Governor iManning, Senator
Chestnut, Lion. Porcher ~Iiles, on the staff of General Beauregard, and to Colonel Lucas, aideMe-camp to Governor
Pickens.  I was taken after dinner and introduced to General Beauregard, who was engaged, late as it was, in his rooni 
JOlIN MANNING.               97
at the Head-Quarters writing despatches.  The General is a
small, compact man, about thirty-six years of age, with a
quick, and intelligent eye and action, and a good deal of the
Frend~man in his manner and look.  He received me n the
most cordial manner, and introduced me to his engineer officer,
Major Whiting, w horn he assigned to lead me over the works
next day.
After some general conversation I took my leave; but before I went, the General said, "You shall go everywhere and
see everything; we rely on your discretion, and knowledge
of what is fair in dealing with what you see.  Of course you
don't expect to find regular soldiers in our camps or very scientific works."  I answered the General, that he might rely
on my making no improper use of what I saw in this country,
but,` unless you tell me to the contrary, I shall write an account of all I see to the other side of the water, and if; when
it comes back, there are things you would rather not have
known, you must not blame m~"  He smiled, and said, "I
dare say we'll have great changes by that time.
That night I sat in the Charleston Club with John Manning.
Who that lias ever met him can be indifferent to the charms
of manner and of personal appearance, which render the exGovernor of the State so attractive?  There were others
present, senators or congressmen, like Mr. Chestnut and Mr.
Porcher Miles.  We talked long, and at last angrily, as
might be between friends, of political affairs.
I own it was a little irritating to me to hear men indulge in
extravagant broad menace and rodomontade, such as came
from their lips.  "They would welcome the world in arms
with hospitable hands to bloody graves."  "They never could
be conquered." "Creation could not do it," and so on. I was
obliged to handle the question quietly at first - to ask them
"it they admitted the French were a brave and waAike
pe~iple!"  "Yes, certainly."  "Do you think you could better defeiid yourselves against invasion than the people of
France?"  "Well, no; but we'd make it pretty hard business for the Yankees."  "Suppose the Yankees, as you call
them, come with such preponderance of men and maternet,
that they are three to your one, will you not be forced to submit?"  "Never."  "Then either you are braver, better disciplined, more warlike than the people and soldiers of France,
or you alone, of all the nations in the world, possess the means
of resisting physical laws which prevail in war, as in other 
98          ~IY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
affairs of life."  "No.  The Yankees are cowardly rascals.
We have proved it by kicking and cuffing them till we are
tired of it; besides, we know John Bull very well.  He will
inake a gre~t fuss about non-interference at first, bi~t when lie
begins to want cotton he'll come off his perch."  I found this
was tl~e fixed idea everywhere.  Tlie doctrine of` cotton is
king~' - to us who have not much considered the question a
gflevous delusion or an unmeaning babble - to them is a
lively all-powerful faith without distracting heresies or schisms
They have in it enunciated their full belie?, and indeed there
is some truth in it, in so far as we year afier year by the stimulants of coal, capital, and machinery have been workiiig up
a manufacture on which four or five millions of our population
depend for bread and life, which cannot be carried on without
the assistance of a nation, that may at any time refuse us an
adequate supply, or be cut off from giving it by war.
Political economy, we are wdl aware, is a fine science, but
its followers are capable of tremendous absurdities in practice.
The dependence of such a large proportion of tlie English peo~
ple on this sole article of American cottoii is fraught with the
utmost danger to our honor and to our prosperity. Here were
these Soutliern gentlemen exulting in their power to control the
policy of Great Britain, and it was small consolition to me to
assure them they were mistaken; in case we did not act as
they anticipated, it could not be denied Great Britain would
plunge an immense proportion of her people - a nation of
- manufacturers - into paupeflsni, which must leave them dependent on tlie national funds, or more properly on tlie property and accumulated capital of tlie district.
About 8'3O, P. M., a deep bell began to toll.  "What is
that?"  " It's for all the colored people to clear out of tlie
streets and go home.  The guards will arrest any who are
found out without passes in half an hour."  There was much
noise in the streets, drums beating, men cheering, and marchin~r. and the hotel is crammed full with soldiers.
Aj;41 l7tA. - Tlie streets of Charleston piesent some such
aspect as those of Paris in the last revolution.  Crowds of
armed men siliging and promenading the streets.  The battle bloo(l running thiough their veins - that hot oxygen which is
called "the fiu~h of victory" on tlie cheek; restaurants full,
revelling in nar-rooms, club-rooms crowded, orgies and ca rousings in tavern or private house, in tap-room, from cabaret
down narrow alleys, in tlie broad highway.  Sumter has 
VISIT TO FORT SUMTER.            99
set them distraught; nevc~ was such a victory; never such
brave lad~ never such a fight.  There are pamphlets already full of the incident.  It is a bloodless Waterloo or Solferino.
After breakfast I went down to the quay, with a party of
tbe General's staff, to visit Fort Sumter.  The senators and
governors turned soldiers wore blue military caps, with "palmetto" trees embroidered thereon; blue frock-coats, with upright collars, and shoulder-straps edged with lace, and marked
with two silver bars, to designate their rank of captain; gilt
buttons, with the palmetto in relief; blue trousers, with a
gold-lace cord, and brass spurs - no straps. - The day w<'~s
sweltering, but a strong breeze blew in the harbor, and puff~d
the dust of Charleston, coating our dothes, and filling our eyes
with powder.  The streets were crowded with lanky lads,
danking spurs, and sabres, with awkward squads marching to
and fro, with drummers beating calls, and ruffles, and points
of war; around them groups of grinning negroes delighted
with the glare and glitter, a holiday, and a new idea for tl~em
- Secession flags waving out of all the windows - little Iri~h
boys shouting out, "Battle of Fort Sumter!  New edishun!"
- As we walked down towards the quay, where the steam('r
was lying, numerous traces of the unsettled state of men's
minds broke out in the hurried conversations of the various
friends who~stopped to speak for a few moments.  "Well,
governor, tl~e old Union is gone at last!"  "Have you heard
what Abe is going to do?"  "I don't think Beauregard will.
have much more fighting for it. ~Vhat do you think?"  And
so on.  Our little Creole friend, by the by, is popular heyo~~d
description.  There are all kinds of doggerel rhymes in his
honor - one with a refrain -
With cannon and musket, with shell and petard,
We salute the North with our Beau-regard " -
is mucl~ in favor.
~Te passed through the market, where the stalls are kept
by fat negresses and old "unkeys."  There is a sort of vulture or buzzard here, much encouraged as scavengers, and -
but all the world has heard of the Chadeston vultures - so
we will leave them to their garbage.  Near tl~e qi~ay, where
tlie steamer was lying, there is a very fine buildi'~g in wl~ite
marble, which attracted our notice.  It was ui~finished, and
imniense blocks of the glistening stone destined for its coin 
100       MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
pletion, lay on the ground.  "What is that?" I inquired
~V1iy, it's a cu~tom-liou~e Uncle Sam was buildi~g for our
benefit, but I don~t think he'll ever i~ai~e a ~ent for his trea~ury out of it."  "~Vill you complete it?"  "I should think
not.  We'll lay on few duties; and what we want is fi ee~
trade, aiid no duties at all, except for pulilic purposes.  Tl~e
Yaiikees l~ave l)lundered us with their custom-houses and duties bing enough." An old gentleman here stopped us. "You
will do ije tlie greatest favor," he said to one ol our party who
knew ijim, "if you will get me something to do for our gloi~i
ous cause.  Old as I am, I can carry a musket - not far, to
be sure, but I can kill a Yaiikee if he comes near."  ~`lien
lie had gone, my friend told me the speaker was a man of tortime, two of whose sons were in camp at ~Iorris' Island, but
that he was suspected of Union sentiments, as he h~d a Northera wife, and hence his extreme vehemence and devotion. 
CllAPTER XIV.
South ern volunteers - Unpopularity of the press - Charleston
Fort Sumter -Morris' Island- Anti-union enthusiasm - Anec  dote of Colonel Wigfail- Interior view of the fort - ~orth versus
South.
Tll~RE was a large crowd around the pier staring at the
men in uniform on the boat, which was filled with bales of
goods, commissanat stores, tru&es of hay, and hampers, supplies for the volunteer army on ~Ion~s' Islatid  I was amused
by the names ot the various corps, "Tigers," "Lions," "Scorpions," "Palmetto Eagles," "Guards~' of Pickens, Sumter,
~Ianon, and of various other denominations, painted on the
boxes.  The original formation of these volunteers is in companies, and they know nothing of battalions or regiments.
The tendency iii volunteer outbursts is sometimes to gratify
the greatest vanity of the greatest number.  These companies
do not muster more than fifty or sixty strong.  Some were
"dandies," and "swells," and affected to look down on their
neighbors and comrades.  Major Whiting told me there was
difficulty ia getting them to qbey orders at first, as each man
had an idea that he was as good an engineer as anybody else,
"and a good deal better, if it came to that."  It was easy to
perceive it was the old story of volunteer and regular in this
little army.
As we got on deck, the Major saw a number of rough, longhaired-looking fellows in coarse gray tunics, with pewter buttons and worsted braid lying on the hay-bales smoking their
dgars.  " Gentlemen," quoth lie, very coni-teously, "you'll
oblige me by not smoking over the hay.  Ther&s po~der beiow.`  " I don't believe we're going to burn tlie hay this time
kernel," was the reply, "and anyway, we'll put it out afore it
reaches the`bustibles," and they went on smoking.  The Major grumbled, and worse, and drew off.
Among the passengers were some brethren of mine belong 
102        M? DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
ing to the New York and local papers.  I saw a short time
afierwards a description of the trip by one of these gentlemen,
in which he described it as an affair got up specially for himself, probably in order to avenge himself oa his military persecutors, for lie had complained to me the evening befoi~e, that
the chief of General Beauregard's staff told him to go to
when he applied at head-quarters for some information.  I
found from the tone and looks of my friends, that these literary
gentlemen were received with great disfavor, and ~Iajor ~VIiiting, wl~o is a bibliomaniac', and has a very gi'eat likiiig for tl~e
best English writers, could not conceal his repugnance and
antipathy to my unfbrtunate confreres.  "If I had my way,
I wouM fling them into the water; but the General lias given
them orders to come on hoard.  It is these fellows who have
brought all this trouble on our country."
The traces of dislike of the freedom of the press, which I,
to my astonishmei~t, discovered in the North, are broader and
deeper in tlie St~uth, and they are not accompanied by tite
signs of dread of its power which exist in New York, where
meil speak of the chiefs of tlie most notorious journals very
much as people in Italian cities of past time might have talked
of tlie most iii famous bravo or tlte chief of some baud of assassins. ~Vhiting comforted himself by the reflection that they
wouM soon have their fingers in a vice, and then pulling?ut
a ragged little sheet, turned suddenly on the representative
thereof, and proceeded to give the most unqualified contradiction to most of the statements contained in "the full and accurate particulars of the Bombardment and Fall of Fort Sumter," in the said journal, which the person in question listened
to with becoming meekness and contrition.  "If I knew who
wrote it," said the ~Iajor, "I'd make him eat it."
I was presented to many judges, colonels, and others of the
mass of society o~ board, and, "after compliments," as the
Orientals say, I was generally asked, in the fir~t place, what
I thought of the capture of Sumter, and in the second, what
En~laiid would do when the news reached the other side.
Already the Carolinians regard the Northern States as an
alien and detested enemy, and entertain, or profess, an immeiise affectioi~ for Great Bntain.
~Vhen we had shipped all our passengers, nine tenths of
them in uniform, and a larger proportion engaged iii chewing,
the whistle blew, and the steamer sidled off from the quay
tato the yellowish muddy water of the Ashley River, which 
FORT SUMTER.                103
is a creek from the sea, with a streamlet running into the
head waters some distance up.
The shore opposite Charleston is more than a mile distant
and is low and sandy, covered here and there with patches of
brilliant vegetation, and long lines of trees.  It is cut up with
creeks, which divide it into islands, so that passages out to sea
exist between some of them for light craft, though the navigation is perplexed and difficult.  The city lies on a spur or
promontory between the Ashley and the Cooper rivers, and
the land behind it is divided in the same manner by similar
creeks, and is sandy and light, bearing, nevertheless, very fine
crops, and trees of magnificent vegetation.  The steeples, the
domes of public buildings, the rows of massive warehouses
and cotton stores on the wharves, and the bright colors of the
houses, render the appearance of Charleston, as seen from the
river front, rather imposing.  From the masil~eads of the few
large vessels in harbor floated the Confederate flag.  Looking to our right, the same standard was visible, waving on the
low, white parapets of the earthworks which had been engaged
in reducing Sumter.
That much-talked-of fortress lay some two miles ahead of
us now, rising up out of the water near the middle of the
passage out to sea between James' Island and Sullivan's Island.  It struck me at first as being like one of the smaller
forts off Cronstadt, but a closer inspection very much diminished its importance; the material is brick, not stone, and the
size of the place is exaggerated by the low background, and
by contrast with the sea4ine.  The land contracts on %oth
sides opposite the fort, a projection of Morris' Island, called
"Cumming's Point," running out on the left.  There is a similar promontory from Sullivan's Island, on which is erected
Fort Aloultrie, on the right from the sea entrance.  Castle
Piackney, which stands on a small island at the exit of the
Cooper River, is a place of no importance, and it was too far
from Sumter to take any share in the bombardment: the same
remarks apply to Fort Johnson on James' Island, on the right
hank of the Ashley River below Charleston.  The works
which did the mischief were the batteries of sand on Morris'
Island, at Cumming's Point, and Fort Moultrie.  The floating
battery, covered with railroad-iron, lay a long way off; and
eould not have contributed much to the result.
As we approached Morris' Island, which is an accumulation
of sand covered with mounds of the same material, on which 
1O~4       MY DIARY ~ORTH A~D SOUTH.
there is a scanty Vegetation alternating with salt-water marshes,
we could perceive a few tents in the distance among the sandhills.  The sand-bag battenes, and an ugly black parpapet,
with guns peering through port-holes as if from a ship's side,
lay betore us.  Around them men were swar~ning like ants,
and a crowd in unitorm were gathered on the beach to receive
Us as we landed from the boat of tlie steamer, all eager for
news and l)rovisions and newspapers, of which an immense
flight immediately fell upon them.  A guard with bayonets
crossed in a very odd sort of manner, prevented any unauthorized persons from landing. They wore the universal coai~se
gray jacket and trousers, with worsted braid and yellow facings, uncouth caps, lead buttons stamped with the palmettotree.  Their unbronzed firelocks were covered with rust.  The
soldiers lounging about were mostly tall, well-grown men, young
and old, some with the air of gentlemen; others coarse, longhaired fellows, without any semblance of military bearing, but
full of fight, and burning with enthusiasni, not unaided, ia
some instances, by coarser stimulus.
The day was exceedingly warm and unpleasant, the hot
wind blew the fine white sand into our faces, and wafted it in
Ininute clouds inside eyelids, nostrils, and clothing; but it was
necessary to visit the battenes, so on we trudged into one and
out of another, walked up parapets, examined profiles, looked
al9ng guns, and did everything that could be required of us.
Whe result of the examination was to establish in my mind the
conviction, that if the commander of Sumter had been allowed
to o~a his guns on the island, the first time he saw an indication of throwing up a battery against him, he could have saved
his fort.  ~1oultrie, in its original state, on the opposite side,
could have been readily demolished by Sumter.  Tiie design
of the works was better than their execution - the sand~bags
were rotten, the sand not properly revetted or banked up, and
the traverses imperfectly constructed.  The barbette guns of
the fort looked into many of the embrasures, and commanded
fl~em.
The whole of the island was full of life and excitement.
Oflicers were galloping about as if on a fieH-day or in action.
Commissariat carts were toiling to and flo between the beach
and the camps, and sounds of laughter and revelling came
from the tents.  These were pitched without order, and were
of all shapes, hues, and sizes, many being disfigured by rude
charcoal drawings outside, and inscrlptlons such as " The 
C~IF SCENES.               105
Live Tigers," "Rattlesnake's-hole," "Yankee Smashers," &c.
The vicinity of the camps was in an intolerable state, and on
calling the attention of the medical officer who was with me,
to the danger arising from such a condition of things, he said
with a sigh, "I know it all. But we can do nothing. Rememher they're all volunteers, and do just as they please."
In every tent was hospitality, and a hearty welcome to all
comers.  Cases of champagne and claret, French pate's, and
the like, were piled outside the canvas walls, when there was
no room for them inside.   In the middle of these excited
gatherings I felt like a man in the full possession of his senses
coming in late to a wine party.  ~~~Ton~t you drink with me,
sir, to the - (something awful) - of Lincoln and all Yankees?"  "No! if you'll be good enough to excuse me."
"~Vell, I think you're the only Englishman who won't."
Our Carolinians are very fine &llows, but a little given to the
Bobadil style - hectoring after a cavalier fashion, which they
fondly believe to be theirs by hereditary right.  They assume
that the British crown rests on a cotton bale, as the Lord
Chancellor sits on a pack of wool.
In one long tent there was a party of roystering young men,
opening claret, and mixing "cup" in large buckets; whilst
others were helping the servants to set out a table for a banquet to one of their generals.   Such heat, tobacco-smoke,
clamor, toasts, drinking, ha nd-shaking, vows of friendship!
Many were the excuses made for the more demonstrative of the
Edonian youths by their friends.  "Tom is a little cut, sir;
but he's a splendid fellow - he's worth half-a-million of dollars."  This reference to a money standard of value was not
unusual or perhaps unnatural, but it was made repeatedly;
and I was told wondefful tales of the riches of men who were
lounging round, dressed as privates, some of whom at that
season, in years gone by, were looked for at the watering
places as the great lions of American fashion.  But Secession
is the fashion here.  Young ladies sing for it; old ladies pray
for it; young men are dying to fight for it; old men are ready
to demonstrate it. The founder of the school was St. Calhoun.
Here his pupils carry out their teaching in thunder and fire.
States' Rights are displayed after its legitimate teaching, and
the Palmetto flag and the red bars of the Confederacy are its
exposition.  The utter contempt and loathing for the venerated Stars and Stripes, the abhorrence of the very words Unitea
States, the intense hatred of the Yankee on the part of these
5* 
1O~        MY DIARY NORTIl AND SOUTH.
people, cannot be conceived by any one who has not seen them.
1 am more satisfled than ever that the Union can never be restored as it was, and that it has gone to pieces, never to be put
together again, in the old shape, at all events, by any power
on earth.
After a long and tiresome promenade in the dust, heat, and
fine sand, through the tents, our party returned to the beach,
where we took boat, and pushed off for Fort Sumter.  The
Confederate flag rose above the walls.  On near approach the
marks of the shot against the pain coupe', and the embrasures
ear the salient were visible enough; but the damage done to
he hard brickwork was trifling, except at the angles: the edges
of the parapets were ragged and pock-marked, and the quay
wall was rifted here and there by shot; but no injury of a
kii'.d to render the work untenable could be made out.  The
greatest damage inflicted was, no doubt, the burning of the
barracks, which were culpably erected inside the fort, close
to the flank wall facing Cumming's Point.
As the boat touched the quay of the fort, a tall, powerfullooking man came through the shattered gateway, and with
un6ven steps strode over the rubbish towards a skiff which
was waiting to receive him, and into which he jumped and
rowed off:  Recognizing one of my companions as he passed
our boat lie suddenly stood up, and with a leap and a scramble
tumbled in among us, to the imminent danger of upsetting
the party.  Our new friend was dressed in the blue frock-coat
of a civilian, round which he had tied a red silk sash - his
waistbelt supported a straight sword, something like those
worn with Court dress.  His muscular neck was surrounded
wit ii a loosely-fastened silk handkerchief; and wild masses of
black hair, tinged with gray, fell from under a civilian's hat
over his collar; his unstrapped trousers were gathered up
high on his legs, displaying ample boots, garnished with formidable brass spurs.  But his face was one not to be forgotten
- a straight, broad brow, from which the hair rose up like the
vegetation on a river bank, beetling black eyebrows - a mouth
coarse and grim, yet full of power, a square jaw - a thick argumentative nose - a new growth of scrubby beard and mustache - these were relieved by eyes of wonderfi~l depth ~nd
light, such as 1 never saw before but in the head of a wild
beast.  If you look some day when the sun is not too bright
into the eye of the Bengal tiger, in the Regent's Park, as the
keeper is coming round, you will form some notion of the cx 
COLONEL WIG~ALL.            107
pression I mean.  It was flashing fierce, yet calm - with a
well of fire burning behind and spouting through it, an eye
pitiless in anger, which now and then sought to conceal its
expression beneath half-closed lids, aiid then burst out with an
angry glare, as if disdaining concealment.
This was none other than Louis T. Wigfitll, Colonel (then
of his own creation) in the Confederate army, and Senator
from Texas in the United States - a good type of the men
whom the institutions of the country produce or throw offa remarkable man, noted for his ready, natural eloquence; his
exceeding ability as a quick, bitter debater; the acerbity of his
taunts; and his readiness for personal encounter.  To the last
lie stood in his place in the Senate at Washington, when
nearly every other Southern man had seceded, lashing with a
venomous and instant tongue, and covering with insults,
ridicule, and abuse, such men as ~Ir. Chandler, of ~1ichigan,
and other Republicans: never missing a sitting of the House,
and seeking out adversaries in the bar-rooms or at gambling tables.  The other day, when the fire against Sumter
was at its height, and the fort, in ~ames, was reduced almost
to silence, a small boat put off from the sl~ore, and steered
through the shot and the splashing waters right for the walls.
It bore the Colonel and a negro oarsman. Holding up a white
handkerchief on the end of his sword, Wiglall landed on the
quay, clambered through an embrasure, and presented himself
before the astonished Federals with a proposal to surrender,
quite unauthorized, and "on his own hook," which led to the
final capitulation of ~Iajor Anderson.
I am sorry to say, our distinguished friend had just been
paying his respects sans homes to Bacchus or Bourbon, for lie
was decidedly unsteady in his gait and thick in speech; but his
head was quite clear, and he was determined I should know
all about his exploit.  Major Whiting desired to show me
round the work, but lie had no chance. "Here is where I got
in," quoth Colonel Wigfall. "I found a Yankee standing here
by the traverse, out of the way of our shot.  He was pretty
well scared when he saw me, but I told him not to be alarmed,
but to take me to the officers.  There they were, huddled up
in that corner behind the brickwork, for our shells were
tumbling into the yard, and bursting like -" &c. (The Colonel
used strong illustrations and strange expletives in narr~~tive.)
Major Whiting shook his military head, and said something uncivil to me, in private, in reference to volunteer colonels and the 
108        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
like, which gave him relief; whilst the martial Senator- I forgot
to say that he has the name, particularly in the North, of having
killed more than half a dozen men in duels   (I had an escape
of being another) - conducted me through the casemates with
uneven steps, stopping at every traverse to expatiate on some
phase of his personal experiences, with his sword dangling
between his legs, and spurs involved in rubbish and soldiers'
blankets.
Ia my letter 1 described the real extent of the damage inflicted, and the state of the fort as I found it.  At first the batteries thrown up by the Carolinians were so poor, that the United States officers in the fort were mightily amused at them,
and anticipated easy work in enfilading, neocheting, and battering them to pieces, if they ever dared to open fire.  One
niorning, however, Capt. Foster, to whom really belongs the
credit of putting Sumter into a tolerable condition of defence
with the most limited means, was unpleasantly surprised by
seeing through his glass a new work in the best possible situ ation fi~r attacking tlie place, growing up under the strenuous
labors of a hand of negroes.  "I knew at once," he said, "the
rascals had got an engineer at last."  In fact, the Carolinians
were actually talking of an escalade when the officers of the
regular army, who had "seceded," came down and took the
direction of affairs, which otherwise might have had very
different re~ults.
There wLs a working party of volunteers clearing away
the rubbish in the place. It was evident they were not accustomed to labor.  And on asking why negroes were not employed, I was informed: "The nigge rs would blow us all up,
they're so stupid; and the State would have to pay the owneis
for any of them who were killed and injured."  "In one respect, then, white men are not so valuable as negroes?"
"Yes, sir, - that's a fact."
Very few shell craters were visible in the terreplein; the
military mischief, such as it was, showed most conspicuously
on the parapet platforms, over which shells had been burst as
heavily as could be, to prevent the manning of the barbette
guns.  A very small affair, indeed, that shelling of Fort
Sumter.  And yet who can tell what may arise from it?
~Yell, sir," exclaimed one of my companions, "I thank God
for it, if it's only because we are beginning to have a history
for Europe.  The universal Yankee nation swallowed us up."
Never did men plunge into unknown depth of peril and 
COLONEL WIGFALL.            1o~
trouble more recklessly than these Carolinians.  They fling
themselves against the grim, black future, as the Cavaliers
under Rupert may have rushed against the grim, black Ironsides.  Will they carry the image farther?  Well!  TIje
exploration of Sumter was finished at last, not till we had visited the officers of the garrison, who lived in a windowless,
shattered room, readied by a crumbling staircase, and who
produced whiskey and crackers, many pleasant stories and
boundless welcome.  One young fellow g~~umbled about pny.
lie said: "I have not received a cent since I came to Charleston for this business."  But Major Whiting, some days after
wards, told me he had not got a dollar on account of his pay,
diough on leaving the United States army he had abandoned
nearly all his means of subsistence.  These gentlemen were
quite satisfied it would all be right eventually; and no one
questioned the power or inclination of the Government, which
had just been ~~~~~g~~~~~~ under such strange auspices, to
perpetuate its principles and reward its servants.
After a time our party went down to the boats, in whirh we
were rowed to the steamer that lay waiting for us at Morris'
Island.  Tlie original intention of ilie officers was to carry us
over to Fort Moultrie, on the opposite side of the Channel,
-and to examine it and the ~oating iron battery; but it was too
late to do so when we got ow, aiM the steamer only ran across
and swept around homewards hy the other shore.  Below, in
the cabin, there was spread a lunch or quasi dinner; and the
party ot Senators, past and present, aides-de-camp, journalists,
and flaneurs, were not indisposed to join it.  For me there
was only one circumstance which marred the pleasure of that
agree able reunion.  Colonel and Senator Wigfall, who had not
sol~ered himself by drinking deeply, in the plenitude of his
exultation alluded to tlie assault on Senator Sumner as a type
of the manner in which the Southerners would deal with the
Northerners generally, and cited it as a good exemplification
of the fashioii in which they would bear their "whipping."
Thence, by a natural digression, he adverted to the inevitable
consequences of tiie magnificent outburst of Southern indignatioii against the Yankees on all the nations of the world, and
to the immediate action of England in the matter as soon as
Ihe news came  Suddenly revertiiig to Mr. Sumner, whose
name he loaded with obloquy, he spoke of Lord Lyons in terms
bO coarse, that, forgetting the condition of the speaker, I reseated the language applied to the English Minister, in a very 
110         MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
unmistakable manner; and then rose and left the cabin.  In
a moment I was followed on deck by Senator Wigfall: his
manner much calm ci', his hair brushed back, his eye sparkling.
There was nothing left to l~e desired in his apologies, wh~ch
were repeated and energetic.  We were joined by Mr. AL'tnfling, ~Iajor ~Y'iiiting, and Senator Chestnut, and others, to
whom I expressed my complete contentment with ~1r. Wigfall's explanations.  And so we returned to Charleston.  The
Colonel and Senator, however, did not desist from his attentions to the good-or bad- things below.  It was a strange
scene - these men, hot and red-handed in rebellion, with their
lives on the cast, trifling and jesting, and carousing as if they
had no care on earth - all excepting the gentlemen of tlie
local press, who were assiduous in note and food-taking.  It
was near nightfall before we set foot on the quay of Charleston.  The city was indicated by the blaze of lights, and by the
continual roll of drums, and the noisy mu~c, and the yelling
cheers which rose above its streets.  As I walked towards the
hotel, the evening drove of negroes, male and female, shuffling
through the streets in all haste, in order to escape the patrol
and the last peal of the curfew bell, swept by me; and as I
passed the guard-house of the police, one of my friends pointed
out the armed sentries pacing up and down before the porch,
and the gleam of arms in the room inside.  Further on, a
squad of mounted horsemen, heavily armed, turned up a bystreet, and with jingling spurs ai~d sabres disappeared in the
dust and darkness. That is the horse patrol.  They scour the
country around the city, and meet at certain places during the
night to see if the niggers are all quiet.  A4i, Fuscus! these
are signs of trouble.
"Integer vitis, scelerisque purus
Non eget Mauri jaculis neque aren,
Nec venenatis gravida sagittis,
Fusce, phareti's."
But Fuscus is going to his club; a kindly, pleasant, chatty,
card-playing, cocktail-consuming place.  He nods proudly to
an old whit~woolled negro steward or head-waiter - a slave
as a proof which 1 cannot accept, with the curfew tolling
in my ears, of the excellencies of the domestic institution.
The club was filled with officers; one of them, Mr. Ransome
Calhoun,* asked me what was the object which most struck in~
*Since killed in a duel by Mr. Rhett. 
MENACING THE NORTH.          111
at ~Iorris' Island; I tell him - as was indeed tbe case - that it
was a letter-ecipying machine a case of official stationery, and
a box of Red Tape, lying on the beach, just landed and ready
to g!~ow with the strength of the young independence.
But listen! There is a great tumult, as of many voices
coming up the street, heralded by blasts of music.  It is a
speech~making from the front of the hotel.  Such an agitated,
lively multitude! llow they cheer the pale, frantic man, limber and dark-haired, with uplifled arms and clinched fists, who
is perorating on the balcony!  "What did he say?"  "Who
is he?"  "Why it's he again!"  "That's Roger Pryor -he
says that if them Yankee trash don't listen to reason, and
stand from under, we'll march to the North and dictate the
terms of peace in Faneuil llall!  Yes, sir - and so we will
certa4-n su-re!"  "No matter, for all that; we have shown
we can whip the Yankees whenever we meet them - at
Washington or down here."  How much I heard of all this
to-day - how much more this evening!  The hotel as noisy
as ever - more men in uniform arriving every few minutes,
and the hall and passage~crowded with tall, good-looking
Carolinians. 
CHAPTER xv.
laves, their Masters and Mistresses - Hotels - Attempted boat  journey to Fort Moultrie - Excitement at Charleston against
New York - Preparations for war - General Beauregard -
Southern opinion as to the policy of the North, and estimate of
the effect of the war on England, through the cotton market -
Aristocratic feeling in the South.
April lStk. - It is as though we woke up in a barrack.
No!  There is the distinction, that in the passages slaves are
moving up and down with cups of iced milk or water for their
mistresses in the early mOrning~deanly dressed, neatly clad,
with the conceptions of Parisian millinery adumbrated to their
condition, and transmitted by the white race, hovering round
their heads and bodies.  They sit outside the doors, and chatter
in the passages; and as the Irish waiter brings in my hot
water for shaving, there is that odd, round, oily, half-strangled,
chuckling, gobble of a laugh peculiar to the female Ethiop,
coming in through the doorw~y.
Later in the day, their mistresses sail out from the inner
harbors, and launch all their sails along the passages, down
the stairs, and into the long, hot, fluffy salle-a-manger, where,
blackened with flies which dispute the viands, they take their
tre~endous meals.  They are p~le, pretty, svelte -just as I
was about to say they were rather small, there rises before me
the recollection of one Titanic dame - a Carolinian Juno,
with two lovely peacock daughter~  and I refrain from generalizing.  Exceedingly proud these ladies are said to be - for
a generation or two of family suffice in this new country, it
properly supported by the possession of negroes and acres, to
give pride of birth, and all the grandeur which is derived from
raising raw produce, cereals, and cotton - ~~a terra.  Their
enemies say that the grandfathers of some of these noble
people were mere pirates and smugglers, who dealt in a cavalier fashion with the laws and with the flotsam and jetsam of
fortune on the ~eas and reefs hereabouts.  Cotton suddenly 
MAJOR WHITING.              1 ~3
almost unnaturally, as far as the ordinary laws of commerce
are concerned, grew up whilst land was cheap, and slaves were
of iioderate price - the pirates, and pi~~tesses had control of
both, ai~d in a night the gourd swelled and grew to a prodigious size.  These are Northern stories.  What tlie Southerners
say of their countrymea and women in the upper pai~t of this
"blessed Union" I have written for the edification of peopl~
at home.
Tlic tables in the eating-room are disposed in long rows, or
detached so as to suit private parties.  When I was coming
down to Charleston, one of my fellow.passengers told me he
was quite shocked tlie first time lie saw white eople acting as
servants; but no such scruples existed in tlie  ~ls House, for
il~e waiters were all Irish, except one or two Germans.  The
carte is much the same at all American hotels, the vanations
depending on local luxuries or tastes.  Marvellous exceedingly
is it to see the quantities of butter, treacle, and lannaceous
matters prepared in the heaviest form - of fish, of many
meats, of eggs scrambled or scarred or otherwise prepared,
of iced milk and water, which an American will consume in a
few minutes in the mornings.  There is, positively, no rest at
these meals - no repose.  The guests are ever passing in and
out of tlie room, chairs are forever pushed to and fro with a
harsh grating noise that sets tlie teeth on edge, and thei~e is a
continual clatter of plates and metal.  i~very man is reading
his paper, or discussing the news with his neighbor.  I was
introduced to a vast number of people and was asked many
questions respecting my views of Sumter, or what I thought
"old Abe and Seward would do?"  The proclamation calling
out 75,000 men issued by said old Abe, they tr~at with tlie
most pz'ofound contempt or unsparing ridicule, as the case may
be.  Five out of six of the men at table wore uniforms this
morning.
Having made the acquaintance of several warriors, as well
as that of a Russian gentleman, Baron Sternberg, who was
engaged in looking about him in Charleston, and was, like most
foreigners, impressed with the conviction that acturn est de 1?epubhca% I went out with Major Whiting * and Mr. Ward, the
former of whom was anxious to show me Fort Moultrie and
the left side of the Channel, in continuation of my trip yesterday.  It was arranged that we should go off as quietly as pos
sible, "so as to prevent the newspapers knowing anything
* Now Confederate General. 
~I4        ~IY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
about it."  The Major has a great dislike to the gentlemen of
the press, and General Beauregard had sent orders for the
staff-boat. to be pi~epared, so as to be quiet and private, but the
fates were again.~t us.  On going down to the quay, we learn
ed that a gentleman had come down with an officer and had
gone off in our skiff, the boat-keepers believing they were the
persons for whom it was intended.  In fact, our Russian friejid,
Baron Stern be y had stolen a march upon us.
Afler a time, tlic i~Iajor succeeded in securing the services
of the very smallest, most untrustworthy, ai~d ridiculous-look
ing craft ever seen by mortal eyes.  If Charon had put a two
horse power engine in to liis skiW, it might have borne some
resemblance ~o this egi'egious cymbal us, which had once been
a flat-bottomed, opened-decked cutter or galley, into the midst
of which the owner had forced a small engine and paddlewheels, and at the stern had erected a roofed caboose, or
oblong pantry, sacred to oil-can~ and cockroaches.  The crew
consisted of tlie fln~t cal)tain and tlie second captain, a lad of
tender years, and that was all.  Into the pantry we scrambled,
and sat down knee to knee, whilst the engine was getting uy
its steam: a very obstinate and anti-caloric little engine it
was - puffii~g and squeaking, leaking, and distilling drops of
water, and dnving out blasts of steam in unexpected places.
As long as we lay at the quay all was nght.`fhe Major
was supremely happy, for he could talk about Thackeray and
his writings - a theme of which he never tired - nay, on
which his enthusiasm reached the height of devotional fervor.
Did I ever know any one like Major Pendennis?  Was it
known who Becky Sharp was?  ~Yho was the O'Mulligan?
These questions were mere hooks on which to hang rhapsodies
and delighted dissertation.  He might have got down as far as
Pendennis himself, when a lively swash of water flying over
the preposterous little gunwales, and dashing over our boots
into the cabin, announced that our bark was uiider way.
There is, we were told, for several months in tlie year, a brisk
breeze from the southward and eastward in and off Charleston Harbor, and there was to-daya small joggle in the water
which would not have affected anything floating except our
steamer; but as we proceeded down the narrow channel by
Ci <tie Pinckney, the little boat rolled as if ~he would cnnsize every moment, and made no pretence at doing more than
a mile an hour at her best; and it became evident that our
voyage would be neither pleasant, prosperous, nor speedy. 
4
AN ABORTIVE EXCURSION.          115
Still the Major went on between the lurches, and drew his
feet up out of the water, in order to have "a quiet chat," as
he said, "about my favorite author."  ~Iy companion and myself could not condense ourselves or foreshor[en our nether
limbs quite so deftly.
Standing out from the shelter towards Sumter, the sea
came rolling on our beam, making the!i~iserable craft oscillate as if some great hand had caught he r by the funnelYankeeice', smokestack - and was rolling her backwards and
forwards, as a preliminary to a final keel over.  The water
came in plentifully, and the cabin was flooded with a small
sea: the latter partook of the lively character of the external
fluid, and made violent efforts to get overboard to join it, which
generally were counteracted by the better sustained and
directed attempts of the external to get inside.  The captain
seemed very unhappy; the rest of the crew - our steerer -
had discovered that the steamer would not steer at all, and
that we were rolling like a log on the water.  Certainly
neitl~er Pinckney~ nor Sumter, nor ~Ioultrie altered their
relative bearings and distances towards us for half an l~our or
so, though they bobbed up and down continuously.  " But it
is," said the Major, "in the character of Colonel Newcome
that Thackeray has, in my opinion, exhibited the greates~
amount of power; the tenderness, simplicity, love, manliness,
ai~d -"  Here a walloping muddy-green wave came "all
aboard," and the cymbalus gave decided indications of turning
turtle.  We were wet and miserable, and two hours or more
had now passed in making a couple of miles.  The tide was
setting more strongly against us, and just off Moultne, in the
tideway between its walls and Sumter, could be seen the~heads
of tl~e sea-horses unpleasantly crested.  I know not what ot
eloquent disquisition I lost, for the Major was evidently in
his finest moment and on his best subject, but I ventured to
suggest that we should bout ship and return - and thus aroused liim to a sense of his situation.  And so we wore round -
a very delicate operation, which, by judicious management in
getting side bumps of the sea at favorable movements, we
wei'e enabled to effect in some fi~teen or twenty minutes;
and tl~en we became so parboiled by the heat from the engine,
that conversation was impossible.                 -
How glad we were to land once more I need not say.  As
I gave the captain a small votive tablet of metal, he said,
"I'm thinkin' it's very well yes turned back.  Av we'd gone 
116        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
any further, devil aback ever we'd have come."  "Why didn't
you say so before~?"  "Sure 1 didn't like to spoil the trip."
~iy gified countryman and 1 parted to meet no more.
*       *      *       *      *       *
Second and third editions and extras!  News of Secession
meetings and of Union meetings!  Every one is filled with
indignatioa against the city of New York, on account of the
way in which the n&ws of the reduction of Fort Sumter has
been received there.  New England has acted just as was expected, but better things were anticipated on the part of the
Empire City.  There is no sign of shnnking from a contest:
on the contrary, the Carolinians are full of eagerness to test
their force ia the field.  "Let them come!" is th~r boastful
mot J'ordre.
The anger which is reported to exist in the North only adds
to tiie fury and animosity of the Carolinians.  They are determined now to act on tbeir sovereign rights as a State, cost
what it may, and uphold the ordinance of secession.  The
answers of several State Governors to President Lincoln's deman~l for troops, have delighted our fi~iends.  Beriali ~1agoffin,
of Kentucky, declares he won't give any mea for such a
wicked purpose; and another guben~atonal dignitary laconically replied to the demand for so many thousand soldiers,
"Nary one."  Letcher, Governor of Virginia, has also sent a
ret~sal.  From the North conies news of mass-meetings, 9f
hauling down Secession colors, mobbing Secession papers, of
military bodies turning out, banks subscribing and lending.
Jefferson Davis has met President Lincoln's proclamation
by a counter mani&sto issuing letters of marque and reprisal
on all sides preparations for war.  The Southern agents are
buying steamers, but they fear the Northern States will use
their navy to enforce a blockade, which is much dreaded, as it
will cut off supplies and injure the commerce, on which they
so much depend.  Assuredly ~1r. Seward cannot know anything of the feeling of the South, or he would not be so confident as lie was that all would blow over, and that the States,
deprived of the care and fostering influences of the general
Government, would get0tired of their Secession ordinances,
aiid of their experimeat to maintain a national life, so that the
Ui'ited States will be ree~stablished before long.
1 went over and saw General Beauregard at his quarters.
He was busy with papers, orderlies, and despatches, and the
outer room was crowded with officers.  His present task, he 
GENERAL BEAUREGARD.         117
told me, was to put Sumter in a state of defence, and to disarm the works bearing on it, so as to get their fire directed on
the l~arboi~-approaclies, as " the North in its madness " might
attempt a naval attack on Charleston.  I-I is manner of transa~ting business is clear and rapid.  Two vases filled with
flowers on his table, flanking his maps and plans; aiid a little
haiid bouquet of roses, geraniums, and scented flowers lIy on
a letter which he was writing as I came iii, by way of paper
weight.  He offered me every assistance and facility, relying,
of course, on my strict observance of' a neutral's duty.  I
reminded him once more, that as the representative of an English journal, it would be my duty to write freely to Fi~glaiid
respecting what I saw; and that I must not be held accountable if on the return of my letters to America, a mbnth after
they were written, it was found they contained information to
which circumstances might attach an objectionable character.
The General said, "I quite understand you.  We must take
our chance of that, and leav~ you to exercise your discretion.
In 4he evening I dined with our excellent Consul, Mr.
Bunch, who liad a small and very agreeable party to meet
me.  One very venerable old gentleman, named Huger (pro
nounced as Hugee), was particularly interesting in appearance
and conversation. He formerly held some official appointment
under the Federal Government, but had gone out with his
State, and had been confirmed in his appointment by the Confederate Government.  Still he was not happy at the prospect before him or his country.  "I have lived too long," he -
exclaimed; "I should have died ere these evil days arrived."
What thoughts, indeed, must have troubled his mind when he
reflected that his country was but little older than himself;
for he was one who had shaken hands with the framers of the
Declaration of Independence.  But though the tears rolled
down his cheeks when he spoke of the prospect of civil war,
there was no symptom of apprehension for the result, or indeed of any regret for the contest, which he regarded as the
natural consequence of the insults, injustice, and aggression
of the North against Southern rights.
- Only one of the company, a most lively, quaint, witty old
lawyer named Petigru, dissented from the doctrines of Secession; but he seems to be treated as an ainiable, harmless person, who has a weakness of intellect or a "bee in his bonnet"
on this particular matter. 
118        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
~It was scarcely very agreeable to my host or myself to find
that no considerations were believed to be of consequence in
reference to England except her material interests, and that
tl~ese worthy gentlemen regarded her as a sort of appanage of
their cotton kii~gdom.  "Why, sir, we have only to shut off
your supply of cotton for a few weeks, and we can create a
revolution in Great Britain.  There are four millions of your
people depending on us for their bread, not to speak of the
many millio~ns of dollars.  No, sir, we know that England
mu~t recognize us," &c.
Liverpool and ~Ianchester have obscured all Great Britain
to the Southci~n eye.  I confess the tone of my friends irritated me.  I said so to ~Ir. Bunch, wlio laughed ai~d remarked,` You'll not mind it when you get as much accustomed to this sort of thing as I am."  I could not help saying,
that if Great Britain were such a sham as they supposed, the
sooner a hole was drilled in her, and the whole empire sunk
under water, the better for the world, the cause of truth, and
of liberty.
These tall, thin, fine-faced Carolinians are gre at materialists.
Slavery perhaps has aggravated the tendency to look at all the
world through parapets of cotton bales and rice bags, and thougli
more stately and less vulgar, the worshippers here ai~e not less
prostrate betbre the "almighty dollar" than the Northerners.
Again cropping out ot the dead level of hate to the Yankee,
grows its climax in tl~e profession from nearly every one of
the guests, that he would prefer a return to British rule to any
reunion with New England.  "The names in South Carolina
show our origin - Charleston, and Ashley, and Cooper, &c.
Our Gadsden, Sumter and Piockney were true cavaliers," &c.
They did not say anything about Pedee, or Tombigbee, or Sullivan's Island, or the like.  We all have our little or big weakn esses.
I see no trace of cavalier descent in the names of lluger,
Rose, ~Ianning, Chestnut, Pickens; but there is a profession
of faith in the cavaliers and their cause among them because
it is fitsl~ionable in Carolina.  They affect the agricultural
faith and the belief of a landed gentry.  It is not only over
the wineglass - why call it cup? - that they ask for a Prince
to reign over them; I have heard the wish repeatedly expressed within the last two days that we could spare them one
of our young Princes, but never in jest or in any frivolous
manner. 
CARE OF SLAVES.         110
On my way home again, I saw the sentnes on il~eir m~rcb,
the mounted patrols starting on their ride, and other evidences
that though tl)e slaves are "the happiest and most contented
race in the world7' they require to be taken care of like less
favored mortals.  TIje city watch-house is filled every night
with slaves, who are confined there till reclaimed by tl~eir
owners, whenever they are found out after nine o'clock, P. M.,
without special passes or permits.  Guns are firing for the
Ordinance of Secessioa of Virginia. 
CHAPTER XVI.
Charleston; the ~~arket-place - Irishmen at Cl~arleston - Governor
Pickens: his political economy and theories -Newspaper offices
and counting-houses - Rumors as to the war policy of tlie South.
April 19th. - An exceeding hot day.  The sun pours on
the broad sandy street of Charleston with immense power, and
when the wind blows down the thoroughfare it sends before
it vast masses of hot dust.  The houses are generally detached,
surrounded by small gardens, well provided with verandas to
protect the windows from the glare, and are sheltered with
creepers and shrubs and flowering plants, through which flit
humming-birds and fly-catchers.  In some places the streets
and roadways are covered with planking, and as long as the
wood is sound they are pleasant to walk or drive upon.
1 paid a visit to the mai~kets; tlie stalls are presided over by
negroes, male and female; the colored people engaged in selling and buying are well clad; the butchers' meat by no means
tempting to the eye, but the fruit and vegetable stalls well
filled.  Fish is scarce at present, as the boats are not permitted to proceed to sea lest they should be whipped up by the expected Yankee cruisers, or carry malecontents to communicate
with the enemy.  Around the flesh-market there is a skirling
crowd of a kind of turkey-buzzard; these are useful as scavengers and are protected by law.  They do their nasty work
very zealously, descending on the offal thrown out to them
wilh the peculiar crawling, puffy, soft sort of flight which is
the badge of all their tribe, and contending with wing and beak
against the dogs which dispute the viands with the harpies.
It is curious to watch the expression of their eyes as with outstretched necks they peer down from the ledge of the market
roof on the stalls and scrutinize the operations of the butchers
below. They do not prevent a disagreeable odor in the
vicinity of the markets, nor are they deadly to a fine and
active breed of rats.
Much drumming and marching through the streets to-day 
GOVERNOR PICKENS.             121
One very ragged regiment which had been some time at MorI'is' Island halted in the shade near me, and I was soon made
aware they consisted, for the great majority, of Irishmen.
The Emerald Isle, indeed, has contributed largely to the population of Charleston.  In the principal street there is a
large and fine red-sandstone building with the usual GreekYankee-composite portico, over which is emblazoned the
crownless harp and the shamrock wreath proper to a St.
Patrick's Hall, and several Roman Catholic churches also
attest the Hibernian presence.
I again called on General Beauregard, and had a few moments' conversation with him.  He told me that an immense
deal depended on Virginia, and that as yet the action of the
people in that State had not been as prompt as might have
been hoped, for the President's proclamation was a deciaratioii
of war against the South, in which all would be ultimately involved.  He is going to Montgomery to confer with Mr. Jefferson Davis.  I have no doubt there is to be some movement
made in Virginia.  Whiting is under orders to repair there,
and he hinted that he had a task of no common nicety and difficulty to perform.  He is to visit the forts which had been seized
on tlie coast of North Carolina, and probai~ly will have a look
at Portsmouth.  It is incredible that the Federal authorities
~shouId have neglected to secure this place.
Later I visited the Governor of the State, Mr. Pickens, to
whom I was1 conducted by Colonel Lucas, his aide-de-camp.
His palace was a very humble shed-like edifice with large
rooms, on the doors of which were pasted pieces of paper
with sundry high - reading inscriptions, such as "Adjutant
General's Dept.," "Quartermaster-General's Dept.," "AttoraQy General of State," &c.; and through the doorways could
be seen men in uniform, ai~d grave, earnest people busy at
their desks with pen, ink, paper, tobacco, and spittoons.  The
governor, a stout man, of a big head, and a large, importantlooking face, with watery eyes and ~abby features, was seated
in a barrack4ike room, furnished in the plainest way, and
decorated by the inevitable portrait of George Washington,
close to which was tlie "Ordinance of Secession of the State
of South Carolina" of last year.
Governor Pick ens is considerably laughed at by his sub jects; and I was amused by a little middy, who described with
much unction the Governor's alarm on his visit to Fort Pick ens, when he was told that there were a number of live shells
U 
122        MY DIARY RORTIl AND SOUTH.
and a quantity of powder still in the place.  He is said t<'
have commenced one of his speeches with "Born insensil~lt
to fear.," &c.  To me the Governor was very courteous; but I
confess the heat of the day did not dispose me to listen with
diie attention to a lecture on political economy with which he
favored me.  I was told, however, that he l~ad practised with
success on the late Czar when he was United States Minister
to St. Petersbur  and that he does not suffer his immediate
staff to escape from having their minds improved on the relations of capital to labor, and on the vicious condition of capital
and jtbor in the North.
"In the North, then, you will perceive, Mr. Russell, they
have maxim'zed the hostile condition of opposed interests in
the accumulation of capital and in the employment of labor,
whilst we in the South, by the peculiar excellence of our do.
mestic institution, have minimized their opposition and maximized tlie identity of interest by the investment of' capital in
il~e laborer himself," and so on, or something like it.  I could
not help remarking it struck me there was  another difference
betwixt the North and the South which he had overlooked, -
the capital of the North is represented by gold, silver, notes,
and other exponents, which are good all the world over and
are recognized as sucli; your capital has power of locomotion,
and ceases to exist tlie moment it crosses a geographical line."
"That remaik, sir," said tl~e Governor,   lequiles that I,'
sl~ould call your attention to the fundamental principles on
which the abstract idea of capital should be formed.  In order
to clear the ground, let us first inquire into the soundi~ess of
th~ ideas put forward by your Adam Smith."     I liad to
look at my watch and to promise I would come back to be
illuminated on some other occasion, and hui'n'ed off to keep
an engagement with myseff to wt'ite letters by the next mail.
`flie Governor writes very good proclamations, nevertlicless, and liis confidence in South Cai'olina is utibounded.  "If
we stand alone, sir, we must win.  They caii't whip us."  A
g~'iitleinan named Pringle, tor whom I had lettei's of introduction, lias come to Cliai'le~toa to a~k me to his plantation, but
thei'e "`ill be no boat from the port till ~Ionday, and it is uncertain then whether tl~e blockading vessels, of which we hear
so mu~'li may iiot be down by that time.
April 2Ot~.- I~visited tlie editors of' the" Charleston Merenry" and the" Ch'trleston Courier" to-day at their offices.  Tlie
i~hett fa"tnily have been active agitators for secession, and it is 
AMO~G THE CH~E~ESTONIA~S.         ~ 23
~aid they are not over well pleased with J~fferson Davis for
neglecting their claims to office.  The elder, a pompous, hard,
aml~itious man, possesses ability.  lle is fond of alluding to
his English connections and predilections, and is intolerant of
New England to the last degree.  I received from him, ere I
left, a pamphlet on liis life, career and services.  In the newspaper offices there was nothing worthy of remark  they were
possessed of that obscurity which is such a cl~aracteristic ()f
tl~e haunts of journalism - the clouds in which the lightning
is hiding  Thence to haunts more dingy still where Plut~~s
lives - to the counting-houses of the cotton brokers, up many
pairs of stairs into large roon~s furnished with hard seats, engravings of celebrated clippers, advertisements of emigrant
agencies and of lines of steamers, little flocks of cotton, specimens of rice, grain, and seed in wooden bowls, and clerks
living inside railings, with secluded spittoons, and ledgers, and
tumblers of water.
I called on several of the lending merchants and bankers-,
such as ~Ir. Rose, ~Ir. ~Iuir, ~Ir. Tre nholm, and others.
With all it was the same story.  Their young men were off
to the wars - no business doing.  In one office I saw an announcement of a company for a direct communication by
steamers between a southern port and Europe.  "~Vhen do
you expect that line to be opened?" I asked.  "The United
States cruisers will surely interfere with it."  "Why, I expect, sir," replied the merchant, "that if those miserable
Yankees try to blockade us, and keep you from  our cotton,
you'll j ust send their ships to the bottom and acknowledge us.
That will be before autumn, I think."  It was in vain I
assured him he would be disappointed.  "Look out there," he
said, pointing to the whaff, on which were piled some cotton
bales; "there's the key will open all our ports, and put us into
John Bull's strong box as well."
I dined to-day at the hotel, notwithstanding many hospita
ble, invitations, with ~Iessrs. ~Ianuing, Porcher ~Iiles, Reed,
and Pringle.  1\Ir. Trescot, who was Under Secretary of State
in ~Ir. Buchanan's Cabinet, joined us, and I promised to visit
lii plantation as soon as I have returned from ~Ir. Pringle's.
~Ve heard much the same conversation as usual, relieved by
~Ir. Trescot's sound sense and philosophy.  lIe sees clearly
tl~e evils of slavery, but is, like all of us, unable to disc~ver
the solution and means of averting them.
The Secessionists are in great delight with Governor Letch 
124       MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
~r's proclamation, calling out troops and volunteers, and it is
hinted that ~Yashington will be attacked, and the nest of
Black Republican vermin which haunt the capital, driven out.
Agents are to be at once despatched to get up a navy, and
every effort made to carry out the policy indicated in Jeff
Davis's issue of letters of murque and reprisal.  Norfblk harbor is blocked up to prevent the United Stntes ships getting
away; and at the same time we hear that the Unites States
officer commanding at the arsenal of Harper's Ferry has retired into Pennsylvania, after destroying the place by fire.
Ilow "old John Brown" would have wondered and rejoiced,
had he lived a few months longer! 
CHAPTER XVIL
Visit to a plantation; hospitable reception - By steamer to George
town - Description of the town - A country ~~~5~O~ - Masters
and slaves - Slave diet - Humming-birds - Land irrigation -
Negro quarters - Back to Georgetown.
Aprn1 21st. - In the afiernoon I went with ~Ir. Porcher
~1iles to visit a small farm and plantation, some miles from
the city, belonging to ~1r. Crafis.  Our ari4val was unexpected, but the planter's welcome was warm.  AIrs. Crafts
showed us round tlie place, of which the beauties were due to
nature rather than to art, and so far the lady was the fitting
mistress of the fitrm.
~Ve wandered through tangled brakes and thick Indian-like
jungle, filled witis disagreeable insects, down to the edge 6f a
small lagoon.  The beach was perforated with small holes, in
which ~Irs. Crafts said little crabs, called "fiddlers" from their
resemblance in pelto to a performer on the fiddle make their
abode; but neither them nor "spotted snakes" did we see.
And so to dinner, for which our hostess made needless excuses.  "I am afraid I shall have to ask yon to eke out your
dinner with potted meats, but I can answer for ~Ir. Crafts
giviilg you a bottle of good old wine."  "And what better,
madam," quoth ~Ir. Aliles, "wl~at better can you offer a soldier?  ~Vhat do we expect but grape and canister?"
~Ir. ~Iiles, who was form cAy member of the United States
Congress, and who lias now migrated to the Confederate
States of America, rendered himself conspicuous a few years
wl~en a dreadful visitation of yellow feve~ came upon
a~o
Norfolk and destroyed one half of the inhabitants.  At that
terrible time, when ~l who could move were flying from the
plague-stricken spot, ~Ir. Porcher ~Iiles ~ew to it, visited ti~e
hospitals, tended the sick; and although a weakly, delicate~
man, gave an example of such energy and courage as materially tended to save those who were left.  I never heard him
say a word to indicate that he had been at Norfolk at all. 
I2~        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
At tJ~e rear of the cottnge4ike residence (to fl~e best of my
belief built of wood), in which the planter's family lived, was
a small e'jclosure, surrounded by a palisade, containing a
number of wooden sheds, which were the negro quarters; and
after dinner, as we sat on tlie steps, the children were sent for
to sing for us.  They came very shyly, and by degrees; first
peep~ng round the corners and from behind trees, oftentimes
running a way in spite of the orders of their haggard mammies,
till they were chased, captured, and brought back by their
elder brethren.  They were ragged, dirty, shoeless ui~chins of
both sexes; the youn~er ones abdominous as infant Hindoos,
and wild as if just caught.  ~Vith much difficulty the elder
children were dressed into line; then they began to shuffle
their flat feet, to clap their hands, and to drawl out in a monotonous sort of chant something about the "River Jawdam,"
after which Mrs. Ci~afrs rewarded them with lumps of sugar,
which were as fruitful of disputes as the apple ot discord.  A
few f~thers and mothers gazed at the scene from a distance.
As we sat listening to the wonderfil song of the mockingbirds, when tl~ese young Sybarites had retired, a great, big,
burly red-faced gentleman, as like a Yorkshire farmer in high
perfection as any man I ever saw in the old country, rode up
to tlie door, and, after the usual ceremony of introduction and
tlie collating of news, and the customary assurance "They
can't whip us, sir!" invited me then and there to attend a
fite ckampe~re at liis residence, whei~e there is a lawn tamous
for trees dating from the first settlement of the colony, and
planted by this gentleman's ancestor.
Trees are objects of great veneration in America if they
are of aiiy size.  There are perhaps two reasons for this.  In
the first place, the indigenous forest trees are rarely of any
great magnitude.  In the second place, it is natural to Americans to admire dimension and antiquity; and a big tree gratifies both organs - size and veneration.
I must record an astonishing feat of this noble Carolinian.
The heat of the evening was indubitably thirst-compelling,
and we went in to "have a drink."  Among other things on
the table were a decanter of' cognac and6~ flask of wlii~e cui'a~oa. The planter filled a tumbler half full of brandy. "~Yhat's
in that flat bottle, Crafls? "  "That's white cura9oa."  Tlie
planter tasted a little, and having smacked his lips and exclaimed "first-rate stuW," proceeded to water his brandy with
~t, and tossed off a full brimmer of the mixture without any 
~OURSION TO GE ORG' ETOWN.        12t
rema"r~ab1e ulterior results.  They are a hard-heade~d race'I doubt if cavalier or puritan ever drank a more potent burnper than our friend the big planter.
Apn1 22J. - To-day was fixed for the ~1 sit to Mr Pringle's plantation, wl~ich lies above Georgetown near the Pedee
River.  Our party, which consisted of Mr. Mitchell, an eminent lawyer of Chadeston, Golonel Reed, a neighboring planter, Mr. Ward, of New York, our host, and mysel?, were on
board the Georgetown steamer at seven o'clock, A. M., and
started with a quantity of commissariat stores, ammunition,
and the like, for the use of the troops quartei~ed along the
coast.  There was, of course, a large supply of newspapers
also.  At that early hour invitations to the "bar" were not
uncommon, where the news was discussed by long-legged,
grave, sallow men.  There was a good deal 9f joking about
"old Abe Lincoln's paper blockade," and the report that the
Government had ordered their cruisers to treat the crews of
Confederate privateers as "pirates" provoked derisive and
menacing comments.  The full impulses of national life are
breathing through the whole of this people.  There is their
flag flying over Sumter, and the Con&derate banner is waving
on all the sand-forts and headlands which guard the approaches
to Charleston.
A civil war and persecution have already commenced.
"Suspected Abolitionists" are ill-treated in the South, and
"Suspected Secessionists" are mobbed and beaten in the
North.  The news of the attack on the 6th Massachusetts, and
tlie Pennsylvania regiment, by the mob in Baltimore, has
b~en received with great delight; but some long-headed people see that it will only expose Baltimore and Maryland to
tlie full force of the Northern States.  The rio,t took place on
the anniversary of Lexington.
The "Nina" was soon in open sea, steering northwards
and keeping four miles fi-om shore in order to clear the shoals
and banks which fringe the low sandy coasts, and effectually
prevent even light gunboats covering a descent by their ordnance.  This was one of the reasons why the Federal fleet
did not make any attempt to relieve Fort Sumter during tI~e
engagement.  On our way out we could see the holes made
in the large hotel and other buildings on Sullivan's Island behind Fort Moultne, by the shot from the foi-t, which caused
terror among the negroes "miles away."  There was no sign
of any blockading vessel, but look-out parties were posted 
128        MY DiARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
-along the beach, and as the skipper said we might have to
make our return-journey by land, every sail on the horizon
was anxiously scanned through our glasses.
Having passed the broad mouth of the San tee, the steamer
in three hours and a half ran up an estuary, into which the
Maccamaw River and the Pedee River pour their united
waters.
Our vessel proceeded along-shore to a small jetty, at the
end of whid~ was a group of an~ed men, some of them being
art of a military post, to defend the coast and river, estab`shed under cover of an earU~work and palisades constructed
with trunks of trees, and mounting three 32-pounders.  Several posts of a similar character lay 011 the river banks, and
from some of these we were boarded by men in boats hungry
for news and newspapers.  Most of the men at the pier were
cavalry troopers, belonging to a volunteer association of the
-gentry for coast defence, and they had been out night and day
patrolling the shores, and doing the work of common soldiei~s
- very precious material for such work.  They wore gray
tunics, slashed and faced with yellow, buff belts, slouched felt
hats, on~amented with drooping cocks' plumes, and long jackboots, which well became their fine persons and bold bearing,
and were evidently due to " Cavalier" associations.  They
were all equals.  Our friends on board the boat hailed them
by their Christian names, gave and heard the news.  Among
the cases landed at the pier were certain of champagne and
pa~Js, on which Captain Blank was wont to regale his company daily at his own expense, or that of his cotton broker.
Their horses picketed in the shade of trees close to the beach,
the parties of women riding up and down the sands, or driving
in light tax-carts, suggested images of a large picnic, and a
state of society quite indifferent to Uncle Abe's cruisers and
`Hessians."  After a short delay here, the steamer proceeded
~n her way to Georgetown, an ancient and once important settlement and port, which was marked in tlie distance by tlie
little forest of masts rising above the level larfd, and the tops
of the trees beyond, and by a solitary church-spire.
As the "Nina" approaches the tumble-down wharf of the
old town, two or three citizens advance fi'om tlie shade of
slinky sheds to welcome us, and a ft~w country vehicles ai~d
light phaetons are drawn lorth from the same shelter to receive the passengers, while the negro boys and girls who have
been playing upon the bales of cotton and barrels of rice, 
TRt PL'ANTtR's H6UsE.            1~9
which represent the trade of the place on the wharf, take up
commanding positions for the better observation of our proceedi n gs.
There is about Georgetown an air of quaint simplicity and
old4'a~hioned quiet, which contrasts refreshingly with the bustie and tumult of Amen can cities.  While waitif~g for our
vehicle we enjoyed the hospitality of Colonel Reed, who took
us into an old-fashioned, angular, wooden mansion, more than
a century old, still sound in every timber, and testifying, in
its quaint wainscotings, and the rigid framework of door and
wind@w, to the durability of its cypress timbers and the preservative character of the atmosphere.  In early days it was
the grand house of the old settlement, and the residence of
the founder of the fi~male branch of the family of our host,
wlio n~w only makes it his halting-place when passing to and
fro between Charleston and his plantation, leaving it the year
round in charge of an old servant and her grandchild.  Rosetrees and flowering shrubs clustered before the porch and filled
the garden in front, and the establish meat gave one a good
idea of a London merchant's retreat about Chelsea a hundred
and fifty years ago.
At length we were ready for our journey, and, in two light
covered gigs, proceeded along the sandy track which, after a
while, led us to a road cut deep in the bosom of the wood~,
where silence was only broken by the cry of a woodpecker,
the scream of a crane, or the sharp challenge of the jay.  For
miles we passed through the shades of this forest, meeting
only two or three vehicles containing female planterdom on
little excursions of pleasure or business, who smiled their welcome as we passed.  Arrived at a deep chocolate-colored
stream, called Black River, full of fish and alligators, we find
a flat large enough to accommodate vehicles and passengers,
and propelled by two negroes pulling upon a stretched rope,
in the manner usual in the ferry-boats in Switzerland.
Another drive through a more open country, and we reach
a fine grove of pine and live-oak, which melts away into a
shrubbery guarded by a rustic gateway: passing through this,
we are brought by a sudden turn to the plante?s house, buried
in tree~ which dispute with the green sward and with wild
flower-beds the space between the hall-door and the waters of
the Pedee; and in a few minutes, as we gaze over the expanse of fields marked by the deep water-cuts, and bounded
by a fringe of unceasing forest, just tinged with green by the
6* 
130        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
first life of the early rice-crops, the chimneys of the steamer
we had left at Georgetown, gliding as it were through the
fields, indicate the existence of another navigable river still
beyond.
Leaving the veranda which commanded this agi'eeable
foreground, we enter the mansion, and are reminded by its
low-browed, old-fashioned rooms, of the country houses yet to
be found in parts of Ireland or on the Scottish border, with
additions, made by the luxury and love of foreign travel, of
more than one generation of educated Southern planters.
Paintings from Italy illustrate the walls, in juxtaposition
with interesting portraits of early colonial governors and
their lovely womankind, Jim ned with no uncertain hand, and
full of the vigor of touch and naturalness of drapery, of
which Copley has left us too few exemplars; and one portrait of Benjamin West claims for itself such honor as his
own pencil can give.  An excellent library - filled with collections of French and Lnglish classics, and with those ponderous editions of Voltaire, Rousseau, the "Memoires pour
Servir," books of travel and history which delighted our forefathers in the last century, and many works of American and
general hi story - affords ample occupation tor a rainy day.
It was five o'clock befbre we reached our planter's house -
White House Plantation.  My small luggage was carried into
my room by an old negro in livery, who took great pail~s to
assure me of my perfect welcome, and who turned out to be a
most excellent valet.  A low room hung with colored mezzotints, windows covered with creepers, and an old-fi~shioned
bedstead and quaint cha~rs, lodged me sumptuously; and after
such toilet as was considered necessary by our host for a
bachelor's party, we sat down to an excellent dinner, cooked
by negroes and served by negroes, and aided by claret mellowed in Carolinian suns, and by Madeira brought down stairs
cautiously, as in the days of Horace and M~cenas, from the
cellar between the attic and the thatched roof.
Our party was increased by a neighboring planter, and
after dinner the conversation returned to the old d~annel -
all the frogs praying for a king - anyhow a prince - to rule
over them.  Our good host is anxious to get away to ~urope,
where his wite and children are, and all he fears is being
mobbed at New York, where Southerners are exposed to in~ult, though they may get off better in that respect than Black
Republicans would down South.  Some of our guests talked 
s
UNHEALTHY SEASON.            131
of the duello, and of famous hands with the pistol in these
parts.  The conversation had altogether very niuch the tone
which would have probably characterized the talk of a group
of Tory Irish gentlemen over their wine some sixty years
ago, and very pleasant it was.  Not a mnn - no, not one -
will ever join the Union again~!  "Thank God!" they say,
"we are freed from that tyranny at last."  And yet ~Ir. Seward calls it the most beneficent government in the world, which
iiever hurt a human being yet!
But alas! all the good things which the house affords, can
be enjoyed but for a brief season.  Just as nature has Cxpanded every charm, developed every grace, and clothed ilie
scene with all the beauty of opened flower, of ripening grain,
and of mature vegetation, on the wings of the wind tlie poisoned breath comes borne to the home 6f the wl~ite man, and
he must fly before it or ~erish.  The books lie unopened on
the shelves, the fiower blooms and dies unheeded, and, pity
`tis,`tis true, the old ~Iadeira garnered`neath the roof, settles
down for a fresh lease of life, and sets about its solitary task
of acquiring a finer flavor for the infrequent lips of. its banished master and his welcome visitors.  This is the story, at
least, that we hear on all sides, and such is the tale repeated to
us beneath the porch, when the moon while softening enhances
the loveliness of the scene, and the rich melody of mockingbirds fills the grove.
~Yithin these hospitable doors Horace might banquet better
than he did with Nasidienus, and drink such wine as can be
only found among the descendants of the ancestry who, improvident enough in all else, learnt the wisdom of bottling up
choice old Bual and Sercial, ere the demon of oidium had dried
up their generous sources forever.  To these must be added
excellent bread, ingenious vai'ieties of the galette, coin pounded
now of rice and now of Indian meal, delicious butter aud
fruits, all good of their kind.  And is there anything better
rising up from the bot to in of the social bowl?  ~Iy black
friends who attend on me are grave as ~Iussulman Kliiiinnyars.  They are attired in liveries and wear white cravats
and Berlin gloves.  At night when we retire, off they go io
their outer dad~ne~s in the small settlement of negro-lioo~l,
which is separated trom our house by a wooden palisa~le.
Their fidelity is undoubted.  The house breathes aii air of
security.  The doors and windows are unlocked.  There is
but one gun, a fowling-piece, on the premises.  No planter 
132        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
hereabouts has any dread of his slaves.  But I have seen,
~vitliin tlie short time I have been in this part of the world,
sev~q'al dreadful accounts of murder and violence, in which
mastei~s suffered at the hands of their slaves.  There is soii~e  thing suspicious in the constant never-ending statement that
we are iiot afraid ot' our slaves."  The cuffew and the night
patrol in tlie streets, the prisons and watch-houses, and the
-police regulations, prove tl.~t strict supervision, at all evei~ts,
is needed and necessary.  My host is a kind man ai~d a good
master.  If slaves are happy anywhere, they should be so
with him.
These people are fed by their master.  They have half a
pound per diem of fat pork, and corn in abundance.  They
rear poultry and sell their chickens and eggs to the house.
- They are clothed by their master.  He keeps them in sick  ness as in health.  Now and then there are gifts of tobacco
-and molasses for the deserving.  There was little labor going
on in the fields, for the rice has been just exerting itself to get
its head above water.  These fields yield plentifully  the wa  ters of the river are fat, and they are let in whenever the
planter requires it ty means of floodgates and sniall canals,
through which the flats can carry their loads of grain to the
river for loading the steamers.
Aprit 23d.   A lovely morning grew into a hot day.
After breakfast, I sat in the shade watching the vagaries of
some little tortoises, or terrapins, in a vessel of water close at
hand, or trying to follow the bee4ike flight of the humming~
birds.  Ah me! one wee brownie, with a purple head and red
facings, managed to dash into a small grape or flower conserv  atory close at hand, and, innocent of the ways of the glassy
wall, he or she - I am much puzzled as to the genders of
humming-birds, and Mr. Gould, with his wonderful mastery
of Greek prefixes and Latin terminations, has not aided me
much - dashed up and down from pane, to pane, seeking to
perfbrnte each with its bill, and carrying death and destruction
among the big spiders and their cobweb-castles which for the
time barred the way.
The humming~bird had as the Yankees say, a bad time of
it, for its efforts to escape were incessant, and our host said
tenderly, through his mustaches, "Pooty little thing, don't
frighten it!" as if lie was quite sure of getting off to Saxony
by the next steamer.  Encumbered by cobwebs and ex  hausted, now and then our little friend toppled down among
 
RUMMING ~I~~S.   TH~E rLA~TATioN.    133
the green shrubs, and lay panting like:~~ living nugget 6f ore.
Again he, she, or it took wing and resumed that mad career;
but at last on some happy turn the bright l~ead saw an opening through tlie door, and out wings, body, and legs dashed,
and sought shelter in a creeper, where the little flutterer lay,
all but dead, so inanimate, indeed, that I c6uld have taken the
lovely thing and put it in the hollow of my hand.  What'
would po~ts of Greece and Rome have said of the hummingbird?  What would flafiz, or Wailer, or Spenser have sung,
had they but seen that offspring of the sun and flowers 2
Later in the day, when the sun was a little less fierce, we
walked out from the belt of trees round the house on the
pl~ntatio~ itself.  At this time of year there is nothing to
recommend to the eye the great breadth of flat fields, surrounded by small canals, which look like the bottoms of driedup ponds, for the green rice has barely succeeded in forcing its
way ab~~ve the level of the rich dark earth.  The river bounds
the estate, and when it rises after the rains, its waters, loaded
with loam and fertilizing mud, are let in upon the land~
through the small canals, which are provided with sluices and
banks and floodgates to control and regulate the supply.
The negroes had but little to occupy them now.  The children of' both sexes, scantily clad, were fishing in the canals and
stagnant waters, pulling out horrible4ooking little catfish.
They were so shy that they generally fled at our approach.
The men and women were apathetic, neither seeking nor shunning us, and I found that their master knew nothing about
them.  It is only the servants engaged in household duties
who are at all on familiar terms with their masters.
The bailiff or steward was not to be seen.  One big slouching negro, who seemed to be a gangsman or something of the
kind, followed us in our walk, and answered any qucstions we
put to him very readily.  It was a picture to see his face
when one of our party, on returning to tlie house, gave him a
larger sum of money than he had probably ever possessed
befbre in a lump.` What will he do with it?"  Buy sweet
things, - sugar, tobacco, a penknife, and such things.  "They
have iew luxuries, and all their wants are provided for."
Took a cursory glance at the negro quarters, which are not
very enticing or cleanly.  They are surrounded by high palings, and the entourage is alive with their poliltry.
Very much I doubt whether Mr. Mitchell is satisfied the
Southerners are right in their present course, but he and Mr. 
134       MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
Petigrn are lawyers, and do not take a popular view of tije
question.  After dinner the conversation again turned on the
resources and power of the South, and on the determinatioa
of the people never to go back into the Union. Then cropped
out again the expression of regret for the rebellion of 1776,
and the desire that if it came to the worst, England would
receive back her erring children, or give them a prince under
whom they could secure a monarchical form of government.
There is no doubt about the earnestness`with which these
things are said.
As the "Nina" starts down the river on her return voyage
from Georgetown to-night, and Charleston harbor may be
blockaded at any time, thus compelling us to ma~e a long
detour by land, 1 resolve to leave by her, in spite of many
invitations and pressure from neighboring planters.  At midnight our carriage came round, and we started in a lovely
moonlight to Georgetown, crossing the ferry after some del~y,
in consequence of the profound sleep of the boatmen in their
cabins.  One of them said to me, "~1us'a't go too near de
edge ob de boat, massa."  "~Vl~y not?"  "Becas if massa
fall ober, he not come up agin likely, - a bad ribber for
drowned,'massa."  He informed me it was full of alligators,
which are always on the look.out for the planters' and negroes' dogs, and are hated and hunted accordingly.
The "Nina" was blowing the signal for departure, tlie
only sound we heard all through the night, as we drove
through the deserted streets of Georgetown, and soon after
three o'clock, A. M., we were on board and in our berths. 
OllAPTER XVIIL
Climate of the Southern States - General Beauregard - Risks of the
pos~office - Ratred of New England - By railway to Sea Island
plantation - Sporting in South Carolina - An hour on board a
canoe in the dark.
April 24tk. - In the morning we found ourselves in d~opping little sea-way fi~r which the "Nina" was particularly
unsuited, laden as she was with provisions and produce.
Eyes and glasses anxiously stI~aining seawards for any trace
of the blockading vessels.  Every s~til scrutinized, but no
"stars and stripes" visible.
~ Our captain - a good specimen of one of the inland-water
navigators, shrewd, intelligent, and active, - told me a good
deal about the country. He laughed at the fears of the whites
as regards the climate.  "Why, here am I,"~aid he, "going
up the river, and down the river all times of the year, and
at times of day and night when they reckon the air is most
deadly, and I've done so for years without any bad effects.
The planters whose houses I pass all run away in ~Iay, and
go off to Europe, or to the piney wood, or to the springs, or
they think they'd all die.  There's Captain Buck, who lives
above here, - lie comes from the State of Alaine.  He had
only a thousand dollars to begin with, but he sets to work and
gets land on the ~Iaccamaw River at twenty cents an acre. It
was death to go nigh it, but it was first-rate rice land, and
Captain Buck is now worth a million of dollars.  He lives
on his estate all the year i~ound, and is as healthy a man as
ever you seen."
To such historiettes my planting friends turn a deaf ear.
"I tell you what" said Pnn~e, "just to show you what kind
our climate is.  I had an excellent overseer once, who would
insist on staying near the i~iver, and wouldn't go away.  He
fought against it for more than flve-aud~twenty years, but he
went down with fever at last."  As tlie overseer was more
than thirty years of age when he came to the estate, he had 
136        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
not been cut off so very suddenly.  I thought of the quack's
advertisement of the "bad leg of sixty years' standing." The
captain says the negroes on the river plantations are very
well oW  lle can buy enough of pork from the sl~ves on one
plantation to last his ship's crew for the whole winter.  The
money goes to them, as the hogs are their own.  Oiie of the
stewards on board had bought himself and his family out of
bondage with his earnings.  The State in general, however,
does not approve 9f such practices.
At three o'clock, P. M., ran into Charleston harbor, ant
l~nded soon afterwards.
I saw General Beauregard in the evening: he was very
lively and in good spirits, though he admitted lie was rather
surprised by the spirit displayed in the North.  "A good
deal of it is got up, however," lie said, "and belongs to that
washy sort of enthusiasm which is promoted by their lecturing and spouting."  Beauregard is very proud of his personal strength, which f~r his slight frame is said to be very
extraordinary, and he seemed to insist on it that the Southern
men had more physical strength, owing to their mode of life
and their education, than their Northern "brethren."  In the
evening held a sort of tabaks consiliurn in the hotel, where a
number of offic~~ - Manning, Lucas, Chestnut, Calhoun, &c.,
- discoursed of the affairs of the nation.  All my friends,
except Trescot, I think were elated at the prospect of hostilities with the North, and overjoyed that a South Carolina regiment had already set out for the frontiers of Virginia.
April 25tk. - Sent off my letters by an English gentleman,
who was taking despatches from Mr. Bunch to Lord Lyons, as
the postoffice is becoming a dangerous institutioi~  We hear
of letters being tampered with on both sides.  Adams's Express Company, which acts as a sort of express post under
certain conditions, is more trustworthy; but it is doubtful how
long communications will be permitted to exist between the
two hostile nations, as they may now be considered.
Dined with Mr. Petigru, who had most kindly postponed
his dinner party till my return from the plantations, and met
there General Beauregard, Judge King, and others, among
whom, distinguished for their esprit and accomplishments, wei~e
Mrs. King and Mrs. Carson, daughters of my host.  The dislike, which seems innate, to New England is universal, and
varies only in the form of its expression.  It is quite true Mr
Petigru is a decided Unionist, but he is the sole specimen of 
BETWEEN CIlARLESTON AND SAVA~NAH.      137
the genus in Charleston, and he is tolerated on account of his
rarity.  As the witty, pleasant old man trots down the street,
utterly unconscious of the woi~ld around him, he is pointed out
proudly by the Carolinians as an ifl~t~i)ce of forbeai'ance on
their part, and as a proo?, at the same time, of popular unanimity of sentiment.
There are also people who regret the dissolutioa of the
Union - such as Mr. Huger, who shed tears in talking of it
the other night; but they regard the fact very much as they
would the demolition of some article which never can be restored and reunited, which was valued for the uses it rendered
and its antiquity.
General Beauregard is apprehensive of an attack by the
Northern "fanatics" before the South is prepared, and he considers they will cairry out coercive measures most rigorously.
He dreads the cutting of the levees, or high artificial works,
raised along the whole course of the Mississippi, for many
hundreds of miles above New Orleans, wb-ich tl'e i?e~
may resort to in order to drown the plantations and ruin the
planters.
We had a good-humored argument in the evening about the
ethics of buriiing the Norfolk navy yard.  The Soutl~erners
consider the appropriation of the arms, mone)~, and stores of
the United States as rightft~l acts, inasmuch as they represent,
according to them, their contribution, or a portion of it, to the
national stock in trade.  When a State goes out of the Union
slic should be permitted to carry her forts, armaments, arsenals, &c., along with her, and it was a burning shame fbr the
Yankees to destroy tiic property of Virginia at Norfolk. These
ideas, and many like them, have the merit of novelty to Buglish people, who were accustomed to think there were such
things as the Union and the people of the United States.
Aprn1 26U~. - Bade good-by to Charleston at 9.45 A. M., this
day, and proceeded by railway, in company with Mr. Ward,
to visit Mr. Trescot's Sea Island Plantation.  Crossed the
river to the terminus in a ferry steamer.  No blockadina vessels in sight yet.  The water alive with small silvery fish, like
mullet, which sprang up and leaped along the surface incessantly.  An old gentleman, who was fishing on the pier, con'bined the pursuit of sport with instruction very ingeniously by
means of a fork of bamboo in his rod, just above the reel, into
which he stuck his inevitable newspaper, and read gravely in
his cane-bottomed chair till he had a bite, when the fork wa~ 
138        M? DrAfly NORT~ AND SOUTH.
unhitd~ed and the fish was landed.  The negro~s are Very
much addicted to the contemplative man's recreation, and they
were fishing in all directions.
Oi~ the move again.  Took our places in the Charleston
and Savannah Railway for Pocotaligo, which is the station
for Barn well Island.  Our ft~llow-p~ssengers were all full of
politics - the pretty women being the fiercest of all - no!
the least good-looking were the most bitterly patriotic, as if
they hoped to talk themselves into husbands by the most Unfe~n inine expressions towards the Yankees.
The coui)try is a dead tIat, perforated by rivers and water
courses, over which the rail is carried on long and lofty trestle-work.  But for the fine trees, the magnolias and live-oak,
tl~e landscape would be unbearably hideous,~~r there are~none
of the quaint, cleanly, delightful villages of Holland to relieve
the monotonous level of rice swamps and wastes of land and
water and mud.  At the humble little stations there were invai~iably groups of horsemen waiting under tl~e trees, and ladies
with their black nurses and servants who had driven over in
the odd-looking old-fashioned vehicles, which were drawn up
iii the shade.  Those who were going on a long journey,
aware of the utter barrenness of the land, took with them a
viaticum and bottles of milk. The nurses and slaves squatted
down by their side in the train, on perfectly well-understood
terms.  No one objected to their presence- on tlie contrary,
the passengers treated them with a certain sort of special consideration, and they were on the happiest terms with their
charges, some of which were in the absorbent condition of life,
and dived their little white faces against the tawny bosom of
their nurses with anything but reluctance.
Tl~e train stopped, at 12~2O, at Pocotaligo; and there we
found Mr. Trescot and a couple of neighboring planters, faJfl0U5 as fishers for "drum," of which more by and by.  I
had met old ~ir. Elliot in Charleston, and his account of this
sport, and of the pursuit of an enormous sea monster called
the devil-fish, which he was one of the first to kill in these
waters, excited my curiosity very much.  Mr. Elliot has written a most agreeable account of the sports of South Carolina,
and I had hoped he would have been well enough to have
been my guide, philosopher, and friend in drum-fisl~iug in
Port Royal; but he sent over his son to~say that he was too
iii' well to come, and had therefore despatched most excellent
representatives in two members of his family.  It was ar 
RAIN ~~OW S AND SNAKt-IIAW~S.
~ncred that they should row down fr~m their plac~ and meet
US to-morrow morning at Trescot's Island, which lies above
Beaufort, in Port Royal Sound and River.
Got into Trescot's gig, and plunged into a shady lane with
wood on each side, through which we drove for some distance.
The country, on each side and beyond, perfectly flat - nll
rice lands - few houses visible - scarcely a human being on
the road - drove six or seven miles without meeting a soul
After a couple of hours or so, I should think, the gig turned
up by an open gateway on a path or road made through a
waste of rich black mud, "glorious for rice," and landed us at
the door of a planter, ~li. Heyward, who came out and gave
us a most hearty welcome, in the true Southern style.  His
house is charming, surrounded with trees, and covered with
roses and creepers, through which birds and butterflies are
flying.  Mr. Hey ward took it as a matter of course that we~
stopped to dinner, which we were by no means disinclined to
do, as the day was hot, the road was dusty, and his reception
frank and kindly.  A fine specimen of the planter man; and,
minus his broad-brimmed straw hat ~nd loose clothing, not a
bad representative of an English squire at home.
~Yiulst we were sitting in the porch, a strange sort of booming noise attracted my attention in one of the trees.  "It is a
rain-crow;' said Mr. Heyward; "a bird whidi we believe to
fbreteil rain.  I'll shoot it for you."  And, going into the hall,
lie took down a double-barrelled fowling-piece, walked out, and
fired into the tree; whence the rain-crow, poor creature, fell
fluttering to the ground and died.  It seemed to me a kind of
cuckoo - the same size, but of darker plumage.  I could
gather no facts to account for the impression that its call is a
token of rain.
My attenti9n was also called to a curious kind of snnkekilliiig hawk, or falcon, which makes an extraordinary noise
by pufting its wings point upwards, close together, above its
back, so as to offer no resistance to the air, and then, beginning to descend from a great height, with fast-increasing rapidity, makes, by its rushing through the air, a strange loud lium,
till it is near the ground, when the bird stops its downward
swoop and flies in a curve over the meadow.  This I saw two
of these birds doing repeatedly to-night.
After dinner, at which Mr. Hey ward expressed some alarm
1~st Secession would deprive the Southern States of "ice," we
~ontinued our journey towards the river.  There is still a re 
140        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
markable absence of population or life along the road, and
even the houses are either hidden or lie too far off to be seen.
The trees are much admired by the people, though they would
not be thought much of ia England.
At length, towards sundowi~, having taken to a track by a
forest, part of which was burning, we came to a broad muddy
river, with steep clay banks.  A canoe was lying ia a little
harbor formed by a slope in the bank, and four stout negroes,
who were seated round a burning log, engaged in smoking and
eating oysters, rose as we approached, and helped the party
into the "dug-out," or canoe, a narrow, long, and heavy boat,
with wall sides and a flat floor. A row of one hour, the latter
part of it in darkness, took us to the verge of Mr. Trescot's
estate, Barawell Island; and the oarsmen, as they bent to
their task, beguiled tlie way by'singing in unison a real negro
melody, which was as unlike the woA~s of the Ethiopian Serenaders as anything in song could be unlike another.  It was
a birbaric sort of madrigal, in which one singer beginning
was followed by the others in unison, repeating the refrain in
chorus, and full of quaint expression and melancholy: -
"Oh, your soul! oh, my soul! I'm going to the churchyard to lay
this body down;
Oh,my soul! oh, your soul! we're going to the churchyard
to lay this nigger down."
And then some appeal to the difficulty of passing "the Jawdam," constituted tl~e whole of the song, which continued with
unabated energy tl~rough the whole of the little voyage.  To
me it was a ~trange scene.  The stream, dark as Lethe, flowing between the silent, houseless, rugged banks, lighted up
near the landing by the fire in il~e woods, which reddened the
sky - the wild strain, and tlie unearthly adjurations to the
singers' souls, as though tl~ey were, palpable, pu{ me in mind
()f the fancied voyage across the Styx.
"llere we are at last."  All I could see was a dark shadow
of trees and the tops of rushes by the river side.  "Mind
where you step, and follow me close."  And so, groping along
through a thick shrubbery for a short space, I came out on a
gai~den and enclosure, in the midst of whiel~ tlie white outlines
of a l~ouse were visible.  Lights in the drawing-room - a
lady to receive and welcome us - a snug library - tea, and
to bed: but not without more talk about the Southern Confederacy, in which Mrs. Trescot explained how easily she
could feed an army, from her experience in feeding her ne
groes. 
CllAPTER XIX.
Domestic negroes - Negro oarsmen - Off to il~e fishing grounds -
The devil-fish - Bad sport - The drum-fish - Negro quarters
Want of drainage - Thievish propensities of the blacks - A
Southern estimate of Southerners.
April 27th. - ~Irs. Trescot, it seems, spent part of her
night in attendance on a young genfleman of color, who was
introduced into the world in a state of servitude by his poor
chattel of a mother.  Such kindly acts as these are more
common than we may suppose; and it would be unfair to put
a strict or unfair construction on the motives of slave owners
in paying such attention to their property.  Indeed, as j~Irs.
Trescot says, "~Yhen people talk of my having so many
slaves, I always tell them it is il~e slaves w!~o own me.  ]\Iorning, noon, and night, I'm obliged to look after them, to doctor
them, and attend to them in every way.   Property has its
duties, you see, madam, as well as its rights.
The planter's house is quite new, and was built by himself;
the principal material being wood, and most of the work being
done by his own negroes.  Such work as window-sashes and
panellings, however, was executed in Charleston.  A pretty
garden runs at the back, and from il~e windows there are
wide stretcl~es of cotton-fields visible, and glimpses of the
river to be seen.
After breakfast our little party repaired to the river side,
and sat under the shade of some noble trees waiting for the
boat which was to bear us to the fishing grounds.  The wind
blew up stream, running with the tide, and we strained our
eyes in vain for the boat.  The river is here nearly a mile
neross, - a noble estuary rather, - with low banks lined with
forests, into which the axe has made deep forays and clearings
for cotton-fields.
It would have astonished a stray English traveller, if; penetrating the shade, he heard in such an out-of-the-way place
~millar names and things spoken of by the three lazy persons 
142        MY DIARY NORTIl A~D SOUTH.
who were stretched out - cigar in mouth - on the a~nt-haunt
ed trunks which lay pr0~trate by the seashore.  ~Ir. Trescbt
spent some time in London as allache' to the United States
Legation, was a club man, and had a large circle of acquaintance among the young men about town, of whom he remembered many anecdotes and peculiarities, and little adventures.
Since that time he was Under.Secretary of State in ~Ir.
Buchanan's administration, and went out with Secession.  He
is the author of a very agreeable book on a dry subject, "The
History of American Diplomacy," which is cunous enough as
an unconscious exposition of the anti-Bi~itish jealousies, an~l
even antipathies, which have animated American statesmeii
since they were created.  In fact, much of American diplomacy means hostility to England, and the skilful employment
of the anti-British sentiment at their disposal in their owa
country and elsewhere.  Now he was talking pleasantly of
people lie had met - many of them mutual friends.
"Here is the boat at last!"  I had been sweeping tke
broad river with my glass occasionally, and at length detected
a speck on its broad surface moving down towards us with a
white dot marking the foam at its bows.  Spite of wind and
tide way, it came rapidly, and soon approached us, pulled by
six powerfiil negroes, attired in red-flannel jackets and white
straw hats with broad ribbons.  The craft itself- a kind ot
monster canoe, some forty-five feet long narrow, wall-sided,
with high bow and raised stern - lay deep in tlie water, for
there were extra negroes for the fishing, servants, baskets ot
provisions, water buckets, stone jars of less innocent drinking,
and abaft there was a knot of great strong planters, - Elliots
all - cousins, uncles, and brothers.  A iriendly hail as they
swept up along-side, - an exchange of salutations.
~Vell, Trescot, have you got plenty of Crabs?"
A groan burst forth at his insouciant reply.  He bad been
cli;irgt.d to find bait, and lie had told the negroes to do so, atid
tlie iiegJ'oes liad not done so.  The ffshermen looked grievously at each other, and fiercely at Trescot, who assumed an air
of re~~klessness, and threw doubts on tlie existence of fish in
tlie river, an~l resorted to similar miserable subterfuges; indeed, it was subseqi~ently discovered that he was an utter
infidel in regai.d to tl~e delights of piscical)ture.
"Now, all aboard!  Over, you fellows, and take these
gentlemen in!"  Tlie negroes were over in a moment, waist
deep, and, each taking Qite on his back, deposited us dry i~ 
D~~IL-~Sfl.                143
-the- boat.  I only- mention this to record the fact, that I was
-much impressed by a practical demonstration from my bearer
- respecting the strong odor of the skin of a heated African.  I
have~been wedged up in a column of inf~antr~ on a hot day,
and have marched to leeward of Ghoorkhas in India, but the
overpowering pungent mell of the negro exceeds eveiything
of the kind I have been unfortunate enough to experiei0ce.
The vessel was soon moving again, against a ripple, cau~ed
by the wind, which blew dead against us; and, notWitlistind
iii  the praises bestowed on tlie boat, it wa easy to pei~ceive
liat the labor of pulling such a dead-log-like thug through
tlie water told severely on the rowers, who had alicady come
some twelve miles, I think.  Nevertheless, they were told to
sing, and they began accordingly one of those wild Baptist
d~ants about the Jordan in which they delight,-not destitute
of music, but utterly unlike what is called an Ethiopian mel ody.
The banks of the river on both sides are low; on the left
covered with wood, th rough which, here and there, at inter vals, one could see a planter's or overseer's cottage.  The
course of this great combination of salt and fresh water some times changes, so that houses are swept away and plantations
submerged; but the land is much valued nevertheless, on
account of the fineness of the cotton grown among the islands.
"Cotton at twelve cents a pound, and we don't fear the
world."
As the boat was going- to the fishing ground, which lay
towards the mouth of the river at Hilton Reid, our frieiids
talked politics and sporting combined, - the first of the usual
character, the second quite new.
I heard much of the mighty devil-fish which frequents
fl~se waters.  One of our party, ~Ir. Elliot, sen., a tall,
~notty, gnarled sort of man, with a mellow eye and a hearty
~~oiee, was a famous hand at the sport, and liad had some
hair-breadth escapes in pursuit of it.  The fish is desciibed
as of enormous size and strength, a monster ray, which pos sesses formidable antent,~-like hoi~ns, and a pair of huge fin~,
or flappers, one of which rises above the water as ~lie creature
moves below the suijace.  The hunters, as they may be call ed, go out in parties, - three or four boats, or more, wit I-i
good store of sharp harpoons and tow-lines, and lances. ~Vhen
they perceive the creature, one boat takes the lead, and
moves dowa towards it, the others following, each with~ a
 
144        MY DIARY NORTIl AND SOUTH.
harpooner standing in the bow.  The devil-fish sometimes is
wary, nnd dives, when it sees a boat, taking such a long spell
below that it is never seen again.  At other times, however,
it backs, and lets the boat come so near as to allow of the
harpooner striking it, or it dives for a short way and comes
up near the boats again.  The moment the harpoon is fixed,
the line is paid out by the rush of the creature, which is
made with tremendous force, and all the boats at once hurry
up, so that one after another they are made fi~~t to that in
which the lucky sportsman is seated.  At length, when tlie
line is ruii out, checked from time to time as much as can be
done with safety, the crew take their oars and tollow the
course of the ray, which swims so fast, however, that it keeps
the line taut, and drags the whole flotilla seawards.  It depends on its size and strength to determine how soon it rises
to the surface; by degrees the line is warped in and hove
short till the boats are brought near, and when the ray comes
up it is attacked with a shower of lances and harpoons, and
dragged off into shoal water to die.
On one occasion, our Nimrod told us, he was standing in
the bows of the boat, harpoon in hand, ~vhen a devil-fish came
up close to him; he threw the harpoon, struck it, but at the
same time the boat ran against the creature with a shock
which threw him right forward on its back, and in an instant
it caught him in its horrid arms and plunged down with him
to the depths.  Imagine the horror of the moment!  Imagine
the joy of the terr~tied drowning, dying man, when, for some
inscrutable reason, the devil-fish relaxed its grip, and enabled
him to strike for the surface, where he was dragged into
the boat more dead than alive by his terror-smitten companions, - tlie only man who ever got out of the embraces of
the thing alive.  "Tom is so tough that even a devil~fish
~ould make nottiing out of him."
&t last we came to our fishing ground.  There was a substitute found for the favorite crab, and it was fondly hoped our
toils might be rewarded with success.  And these were toils,
for the water is deep and the lines heavy.  But to alleviate
them, some hampers were produced fl~om the stern, and wonderful pies from j~Irs. Trescot's hands, and from those of fair
ladies up the river whom we shall never see, were spread out,
and bottles which represented distant cellars iii friendly n~~oks
far away.  "No drum here!  Up anchor, and pull away a
few miles lower down."  Trescot shook his head, and again 
DRUM-FISH.               145
asserted his disbelief in fishing, or rather ip catching, and indeed made a sort of pretence at arguing that it was wiser to
remain quiet and talk philosophical politics; but, as judge of
appeal, I ~ave it against him, and the negroes bent to, their
oars, and we went thumping through the spray, till, rounding
a point of land, we saw pitched on the sandy shore ahead of
us, on the right bank, a lent, and close by two boats.  "There
is a party at it!"  A fire was burning on the beach, and as we
came near, Tom and Jack and llarry were successfully identifled.  "There's no take on, or they would not be on shore.
This is very unfortunate."
All the regret of my friends was on my account, so to ease
their minds I assured them I did not mind the disappointment
much.  "liallo Dick!  Caught any drum?"  "A few this
morning; bad sport now, and will be till tide turns again.
I was introduced to all the party from a distance, and presently I saw one of them raising from a boat something in look
and shape and color like a sack of flour, which he gave to a
negro, who proceeded to carry it towards us in a little skiff.
"Thank you, Charley.  I just want to let Mr. Russell see a
drum-fish."  And a very odd fish it was, - a thick lumpish
form, about four and a half feet long, with enormous head and
scales, and teeth like the grinders of a ruminant animal, acting
on a great pad of bone in the roof of the mouth, - a very unlovely thing, swollen  with roe, which is the great delicacy.
"No chance till the tide turned," - but that would be too
late for our return, and so unwillingly we were compelled to
steer towards home, hearing now and then the singular noise
like Ilie tap on a large unbraced drum, from which the fish
takes its name.  At first, when I heard it, I was inclined to
think it was made by some one in the boat, so near and close
did it sound; but soon it came from all sides of us, and evidently from the depths of the water beneath us,   not a sharp
rat-tat-tap, but a full muffled blow with a heavy thud on flie
sheepskin.  Mr. Trescot told me that on a still evening by the
river side the effect sometimes is most curious, - the rolling
and pattering is audible at a great distance.  Our friends were
in excellent humor with everything and everybody, except the
Yankees, though they had caught no fish, and kept the negroes
at singing and rowing till at nightfall we landed at the island,
and so to bed after supper and a little conversation, in <which
Mrs. Trescot again explained how easily she could maintain
a battalion on the island by her simple commissariat, already
7 
146        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
adapted to the niggers, and that it would therefore be very
easy for the South to feed an army, if the people were
friendly.
Armi 28t1t. - The church is a long way off; only available
by a boat and then a drive in a caH~age.  Tn the morning a
child brings in my water and boots - an intelligent, curlyheaded creature, dressed in a sort of sack, without any particular waist, barefooted.  I imagined it was a boy till it told
me it was a girl.  I asked if she was going to church, which
seemed to puzzle her exceedingly; but she told me finally she
would hear prayers from "uncle  in one of the cottnges.
This use of the words "uncle" and "aunt" for old~ people
is very general.  Is it because they have no fathers and
mothers?  In the course of the day, the child, who was fourteen or fifteen years of age, asked me "whether I would not
buy her.  She could wash and sew very well, and she thought
missus wouldn't want much for her."  The object she had in
view leaked out at last.   It was a desire to see the glories
of Beaufort, of which she had heard from the fishermen; and
she seemed quite wonderstruck when she was informed I did
not live there, and had never seen it.  She had never been
outside the plantation in her life.
After breakfast we loitered about the grounds, strolling
through the cotton-fields, whi~~ had as yet put forth no bloom
or flower, and coming down others to the thick fringes of
wood and sedge bordering the marshy banks of the island.
The silence was profound, broken only by the husky mid-day
crowing of the cocks in the negro quarters.
In the afternoon I took a short drive "to see a tree," which
was not very remarkable, and looked in at the negro quarters
and the cotton-milL  The old negroes were mostly indoors,
and came shambling out to the doors of their wooden cottages,
making dum~y bows at our approach, but not expressing any
interest or pleasure at the sight of their master and the stran gers.  They were shabbily clad; in tattered clothes, bad straw
hats and felt bonnets, and broken shoes. The latter are cxpen
sive articles, and negroes cannot dig without them.  Trescot
sighed as he spoke of the increase of price since the troubles
broke out.
The huts stand in a row, like a street, each detached, with
a po~try-house of rude planks behind it.  The mutilations
which the poultry undergo for the sake of distinction are
striking.  Some are deprived of a claw, others have the wa~ 
-    A SEA-ISLAND PLANTATION.        147
ties cut, and tails and wings suffer in all ways.  No attempt
at any drainage or any convenience existed near them, and
the same remark applies to very good houses of white people
in the south.  lleaps of oyster shells, broken crockery, old
shoes, rags, and feathers were found near each hut. The huts
were all alike windowless, and the apertures, intended to be
glazed some fine day, were ge~erally filled up with a deal
board.  The roofs were shingle, and the whitewash whi~4i
had once given the settlement an air of cleanliness, was now
only to be traced by patches which had escaped the action of
tlie rain.  1 observed that many of the doors were f~stened
by a padlock and chain outside.  "~Vhy is that?"  "The
owners have gone out, and honesty is not a`virtue they have
towards each other.  They would find their things stolen if
they did not lock their doors."  AIrs. Trescot, however, insisted on it that nothing could exceed tlie probity of the slaves
in the house, except in regard to sweet things, sugar, and the
like  but money and jewels were quite safe.  It is obvious
that some reason must exist for this regard to the distinctions
twixt meum and tuum in the case of masters and mistresses,
when it does not guide their conduct towards each other, and
I think it might easily be found in the fact that the negroes
could scarcely take money without detection.  Jewels and
jewelry wouH be of little value to them  they could not
wear them, could not part with them.  The system has made
the white population a police against the black race, and the
punishment is not only sure but grievous.  Such thin~~ as
they can steal froni each other are not to be so readily
traced.
One particularly dirty looking little hut was described to
me as "the church."  It was about fifteen feet square, bcgrimed with dirt and smoke, and windowless.  A few benches
were placed across it, and "the preacher," a slave from
another plantation, was expected ne~t week.  These preachings are not encouraged in many plantations.  They "do tlie
niggers no good "-"they talk about things tl~at are going ()I1
elsewhere, and get their minds unsettled," and so on.
On our return- to the house, I found that AIr. Edmund
Rhett, one of the active and influential political fi~mily of that
name, had called - a very intelligent and agreeable gentleman, but one of the most ultra and violent speakers against
the Yankees I have yet heard.  He declared there were few
persons in South Carolina who would not sooner ask Great 
148       MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
Pritain to take back the State than submit to the triumph
of the Yankees.  "We are an agricultural people, pursuing
our own system, and working out our own destiny, breeding
up women and men with some other purpose than to make
them vulgar, fanatical, cheating Yankees - hypocritical, if as
women they pretend to real virtue; and lying, if as men they
pretend to be honest.  We have gentlemen and gentlewomen
in your sense of it.  We have a system which enables us to
re~p the fruits of the earth by a race which we save from
barbansm in restoring them to their real place in the world as
laborers, whilst we are enabled to cultivate the arts, the
graces, and accomplishments of life, to develop science, to
apply ourselves to the duties of government, and to understand the affairs of the country."
This is a very common line of remark here.  The Southerners also take pride to themselves, and not unjustly, for
their wisdom in keeping in Congress those men who have
proved themselves useful and capable.  "We do not," they
say, "cast able men aside at the caprices of a mob, or in obedience to some low party intrigue, and hence we are sure of
the best men, and are served by gentlemen conversant with
public affairs, far superior in every way to the ignorant clowns
who are sent to Congress by the North.  Look at the fellows
who are sent out by Lincoln to insult foreign courts by their
presence.'  I said that I understood i~ir. Adams and ~Ir.
Dayton were very respectable gentlemen, but I did not receive ~ny sympathy; in fact, a neutral who attempts to moderate the violence of either side, is very like an ice between
two hot plates.  ~Ir. Rhett is also persuaded that the Lord
Chancellor sits on a cotton bale.  "You must recognize us,
sir, before the end of October."  In the evening a distant
thunder-storm attracted me to the garden, and I remained out
watching the broad flashes and sheets of fire worthy of the
tropics till it was bedtim~ 
CllAPTER XX.
Byrailway to Savannah - Description of the city - Rumors of the
last few days - State of affairs at ~Yashh~gton - Preparations for
war - Cemetery of Bonaventure - Road made of oyster-shells -
Appropriate features of the Cemetery - The Tatnall family
Dinner-party at Mr. Green's - Feeling in Georgia against the
North.
A~rn1 29 tIt. - This morning up at six, A. M., bade farewell
to our hostess and Barnwe~l Island, and proceeded with Trescot back to the Pocotaligo station, which we read~ed at 12~2O.
On our way ~Ir. lleyward and his son rode out of a field,
looking very like a couple of English country squires in all but
hats and saddles.  The young gentleman was good enough
to bring over a snake-hawk lie had shot for me.  At the
station, to which the lleywards accompanied us, were the
Elliotts and others, who had come over with invitations and
adieux; and I beguiled the time to Savannah reading the
very interesting book by 1~Ir. Elliott, senior, on the Wild
Sports of Carolina, which was taken up by some one when
I left the clirriage for a moment and not returned to me. Tlie
country through which we passed was flat and flooded as
usual, and the rail passed over dark deep rivers on lofly
trestle-work, by pine wood and dogwood-tree, by the green
plantation clearing, with mud bank, dike, and tiny caiial mile
by mile, the train stopping for the usual freight of ladies, and
negro nurses, and young plantei-s, all very much of the same
class, till at three o'clock, p. M., the cars rattled up along-side
a large shed, and we were told we had arrived at Savannah.
llere was waiting for me Mr. Charles Green, who had al.
ready elainied me and my friend as liis guests, and I found in
his carriage the young American designer, who had preceded
me from Charleston, and had informed Mr. Green of my
coming.
The drive through such portion of Savannah as lay between the terminus and Mr. Green's house, soon satisfied my
eyes that it had two peculiarities.  In the first place, it had 
150       MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
the deepest sand in the streets I have ever seen; and next,
the streets were composed of the most odd, quaint, green-windo wed, many-colored little house~ I ever beheld, with an odd
-population of lean, sallow, ill-dressed u n wholesom e4ookin g
whites, lounging about the exchanges and corners, and a busy,
well-clad, gayly-attired race of negroes, working their way
through piles of children, under the shade of the trees which
bordered all the streets.  The fi'inge of green, and the height
attained by the live-oak, Pride of India, and magnolia, give
a delicious freshness and novelty to the streets of Savannah,
which is increased by the great number of squares and openings covered with something like sward, lenced round by
white rail, and embellished with noble trees to be seen at
every few hundred yards.  It is difficult to believe you are
in the midst of a city, and I was repeatedly reminded of the
environs of a large Indian cantonment - the same kind of
churches and detached houses, with their plantations and gardens not unlike.  The wealthier classes, however, have houses
of the New York Fifth Avenue character: one of the best of
these, a handsome mansion of rid~ red-sandstone, belonged to
my host, who coining out from England many years ago,
raised himself by industry and intelligence to the position
of one of the first merchants in Savannah.  Italian statuary
graced the hail; finely carved tables and frirniture, stained
glass, and pictures from Europe set forth the sitting-rooms;
and the luxury of bath-rooms and a supply of cold fresh water,
rendered it an exception to the general run of Southern edifices.  ~Ir. Green drove me through the town, which impressed me more than ever with its peculiar character.  ~Ve
visited Brigadier~General Lawton, who is charged with the
defences of the place against the expected Yankees, and toui~d
him just setting out to inspect a band of volunteers, whose
drums we heard in the distance, and whose bayonets were
gleaming through the clouds of Savannah dust, close to the
statue erected to the memory of one Pulaski, a Pole, who
was mortally wounded in the unsuccessful defence of the city
against the British in the ~Yar of Independence.  1Ie turned
back and led us into his house.   The hall was filled with
little round rolls of flannel.  "These," said he, "are cartridges for cannon of various calibres, made by the ladies
of ~Irs. Law ton's`cartridge class."'  There were more
cartridges in the back parlor, so that the house was not
quite a safe place to smoke a cigar in.  The General has 
NEWS FROM THE NORTH.            151
been in the United States' army, and has now come forward
to head the people of this State in their resistance to the
Yankees.
We took a stroll in the park, and I learned the news of the
last tew days.  The people of the South, I find, are delighted
at a snubbing which Mr. Seward has given to Governor
Hicks of Maryland, for recommending the arbitration of
Lord Lyons, and he is stated to have informed Governor
Hicks that "our troubles could not be referred to foreign arbitration, lenst of all to that of the representative of a European monarchy."  The most terrible accounts are given of
the state of things in Washington.  Mr. Lincoln consoles
himself for his miseries by drinking.  Mr. Seward follows
suit.  The White House and capital are full of drunken border ruffians, headed by one Jim Lane, of Kansas.  But, on
the other hand, the Yankees, under one Butler, a Massachusetts lawyer, have arrived at Annapolis, in Maryland, secured
the "Constitution" man-of-war, and are raising masses of
men for the invasion of the South all over the States.  The
most important thing, as it strikes me, is the proclamation of
the Governor of Georgia, forbidding citizens to pay any
money on account of debts due to Northerners, till the end of the
war.  General Robert E. Lee has been named Commanderin-Chief of the Forces of the Commonwealth of Yirginia,
and troops are flocking to that State from Alabama and other
States.  Governor Ellis has called out 30,000 volunteers in
North Carolina, and Governor Rector of Arkansas has seized
the United States' military stores at Napoleon.  There is a
rumor that Fort Pickens has been taken also, but it is very
probably untrue.  In Texas and Arkansas the United States
regulars have not made an attempt to defend any of the forts.
In the midst of all this warlike work, volunteers drilling,
bands playing, it was pleasant to walk in the shady park, with
its cool fountains, and to see the children playing about
many of them, alas ~ "playing at soldiers" - in charge of
their nurses.  Returning, sat in the veranda and smoked a
cigar; but the mosquitoes were very keen and numerous.
My host did not mind them, but my cuticle will never be
sting-proof
April 30th. - At 1~30 p. M. a small party started from Mr.
Green's to visit the cemetery of Bonaventure, to which every
visitor to Savannah must pay his pilgrimage; difliciles aditus
primos babel - a deep sandy road which strains the horses 
:152      MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
and the carriages; but at last "the shell road is reached - a
highway several miles long, consisting of oyster shells - the
pi'i~le of Savannah, wl~ich eats as many oysters as it can to
add to the length of this wondeiiul road.  There is no stone
in the whole of the vast alluvial ranges of South Carolina and
~Iantime Georgia, and the only substance available fbr making a road is the oyster-shell. There is a toll-gate at each end
to aid the oyster-shells.  Remember they are three times the
size of any European crustacean of the sort.
A pleasant drive through the shady hedgerows and borderng trees lead to a dilapidated porter's lodge and gateway,
within which rose in a towering mass of green one of the finest pieces of forest architecture possible; nothing to be sure
like Burnham Beeches, or some of the forest glades of Windsor, but possessed, nevertheless, of a character quite its own.
What we gazed upon was, in fact, the ruin of grand avenues
of Jive-oak, so well-disposed that their peculiar mode of
growth afforded an unusual development of the " Gothic idea,"
worked out and elaborated by a superabundant fall from the
overlacing arms and intertwined branches of the tillandsia, or
Spanish moss, a weeping, drooping, plumaceous parasite, which
does to the tree what its animal type, the yellow fever -
vomitopricto - does to man - clings to it everlastingly, drying
Up sap, poisoning blood, killing the pnnc~ple of life till it dies.
The only differ, as they say in Ireland, is, that the tillandsia
all the time looks very pretty, and that the process lasts very
long.  Some there are who praise this tillandsia, hanging like
the tresses of a witch's hair over an invisible face, but to me it
is a paltry parasite, destroying the grace and beauty of that
it preys upon, and letting ia'll its dull tendrils over the fresh
lovely green, as clouds drop over the face of some beautiful
landscape.  Despite all this, Bonaventure is a scene of remarkable interest; it seems to have been intended for a place
of tombs.  The Turks would have filled it with turbaned
white pillars, and with warm ghosts a? night.  The French
would have decorated it with interlaced hands of stone, with
tears of red and black on white ground, with wreaths of immortelles.  I am not sure that we would have done much
more than have got up a cemetery company, interested ShilJiber, hired a beadle, and erected an iron paling.  The Savannah people not following any of these fashions, all of which
are adopted in Northern cities, have lefi everything to nature
and the gatekeeper, and to the owner of one of the hotels, who 
THE TATNALLS.              153
has got,up a grave-yard in the ground.  And there, scattered
up and down under the grand old trees, which drop tears of
Spanish moss,  and weave wreaths of Spanish moss, and
shake plumes of Spanish moss over them, are a few monumental stones to certain citizens of Savannah.  There is a
melancholy air about the place independently of these emblems
of our mortality, which might recommend it specially for picnics.  There never was before a cemetery where nature
seemed to aid the effect intended by man so thoroughly.
Every one knows a weeping willow will cry over a wedding
party if they sit under it, as well as over a grave.  But here
the Spanish moss looks like weepers wreathed by some fantastic hand out of the crape of dreamland.  Lucian's Ghostlander, the son of Skeleton of the Tribe of the Juiceless, could
tell us something of such weird trappings.  They are knowa
indeed as the best bunting for yellow fever to fight under.
~Yherever their flickering horsehair tresses wave in the breeze,
taper end downwards, Squire Black Jack is bearing lance and
sword.  One great green oak says to the other, "This fellow
is killing me.  Take his deadly robes off my limbs~" "Alas!
see how he is ruining me!  I hav~ no life to help you."  It
is, indeed, a strange and very ghastly place.  llere are so
many querci virentes, old enough to be strong, and big, and
great, sapful, lusty, wide-armed, green-honored - all dying
out slowly beneath tillandsia, as if they were so many monarchies perishing of decay   or so maiiy youthful republics
dying of buncombe brag, richness of blood, and other diseases
fatal to overgrown bodies politic.
The void left in the midst of all these designed walks and
stately avenues, by the absence of any suitable centre, increases
the seclusion and solitude.  A house ought to be there somewhere you feel - in fact there was once the mansion of the Tatnails, a good old English family, whose ancestors came from the
old country, ere the rights of man were talked of; and lived
among tlie Oglethorpes, and such men of the pigtail school,
who would have been greatly astonished at finding themselves
in company with Ber~amin Franklin or his kind.  I don't
know anything of old Tatnall.  Indeed who does?  But he
had a fine idea of planting trees, which he never got in America, where he would have received scant praise for anything
but his power to plant cotton or sugar-cane just now.  In his
knee breeches, and top boots, I can fancy the old gentleman
reproducing some home scene, and boasting to himself; "I will
7* 
154        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
inake it as fine as Lord Nihilo's park."  Could he see it flow
- A decaying army of the dead.  The mansion was burned
down during a Christmas me~~making, and was never built
again, and the young trees have grown up despite the Spanish
moss, and now they stand, as it were in cathedral aisles, aroun{l
the ruins of the departed house, shading the ground, and enshrining its memories in an antiquity which seems of the
remotest, although it is not as ancient as that of the youngest
oak in the Squire's park at home.
I have before oftentimes in my short voyages here, won.dered greatly at the reverence bestowed on a tree.  In fitct,
it is because a tree of any decent growth is sure to be older
than anything else around it; and although young America
revels in her future, she is becoming old enough to think
about her past.
In the evening Mr. Green gave a dinner to some very
agreeable people, Mr. Ward, the Cl~inese Minister - (who
tried, by the by, to make it appear that his wooden box was
the Pekia State carriage for distinguished foreigners) - Mr.
Locke, the clever and intelligent editor of the princi pal journal in Savannah, Bnga~ier Lawton, one of the Judges, a
Britisher, owner of the once renowned America which, under
the name of Camilla, was now lying in the river (not perhaps
without reference to a little speculation in running the blockade, hourly expected), Mr. Ward and Commodore Tatnall, so
well known to us in England for his gallant conduct in the
Peiho affair, when he offered and gave our vessels aid, though
a neutral, and uttered the exclamation in doing so, - in his
despatch at all events, - "that blood was thicker than water."
Of our party was also Mr. llodgson, well known to most of
our Mediterranean travellers some years back, when he was
United States Consul in the East.  He amuses his leisure
~till by inditing and reading monographs ow the languages of
divers barbarous tribes in Numidia and Mauritania.
The Georgians are not quite so vehement as the South
Carolinians in their hate of the Northerners; but they are
scarcely less determined to fight President Lincoln and nil liis
men.  And that is the test of this rebellion's strength.  I did
not hear any profession of a desire to become subject to England, or to borrow a prince of u~ but I have nowhere seen
stronger determination to resist any reunion with tlie New
England States.  "Tl,e,y can't conquer us, sir?"  "If they
~ry it, we'll whip them. 
CHAPTER XXL
river at Savannah - Commodore Tatnall - Fort Pulaski - Want
of a fleet to the Southerners - Strong feeling of the women -
Slavery considered in its result - Cotton and Georgia - Off for
Montgomery - The Bishop of Georgia - The Bible and Slavery
- Macon - Dislike of United States gold.
May Bay. - Not unworthy of the best effort of English
fine weather before the change in the calendar robbed the
poets of twelve days, but still a little warm for choice.  The
young American artist Moses, wbo was to have called our
party to meet the officers who wer~ going to Fort Pulaski,
for some reason known to hims~lf remained on board the
Camilla, and when at last we got down to the river side I
found Commodore Tatnall and Brigadier Lawton in full uniform waiting for me.
The river is about the width of the Thames below Gravesend, very muddy, with a strong current, and rather fetid.
That effect might have been produced from the rice-swamps
at the other side of it, where the land is quite low, and stretches
away as far as the sea in one level green, smooth as a billiardcloth.  The bank at the city side is higher, so that the houses
stand on a little eminence over the stream, afibrding convenient wharfage and slips ft~r merchant vessels.
Of these there were few indeed visible - nearly all had
cleared out for fear of the blockade; some coasting vessels
were lying idle at the quay side, and in the middle of tl~e
stream near a floating dock the Camilla was moored, witl~ l~~~r
club ensigil flying.  These are fhe times for bold ventures,
~~d if Uncle Sam i~ not very quick with his blockades, thei'e
will be plenty of pi~ivateers and the like under C. S. A. colors,
looking out for his fat merchautmen all over the world.
I have been trying to persuade my friends here they will
find very few Englishmen willing to take letters of marque
and reprisal.
The steamer which was waiting to rece~ve us had the Con 
15(3       MY DIARY NORTll AND SOUTll.
federate flag flying, and Commodore Tatnali, pointing to a
young officer in a naval unitorm, told me he had just "come
over from the other side," and that he had pressed hard to be
allowed to hoist a Commodore or flag-officer's ensign in honor
of the visit and of the occasion.  I was much interested in tlie
fine white-headed, blue-eyed, ruddy-cl~eeked old man - who
suddenly found himself blown nto the air by a great political
explosion, and in doubt and wonderment was floating to shore,
under a strange flag in unknown waters.  He was full of
anecdote too, as to strange flags in distant waters and well known names.  The gentry of Savannah had a sort of Celtic
feeling towards him in regard of liis old name, and seemed de termined to support him.
He has served the Stars and Stripes for three fourths of a
long life - his friends are in the North, his wife's kindred are
there, and so are all his best associations - but his State has
gone out.  How could he fight against the country that gave
~him birth! (The United States is no country, in the sense
we understand the words.  It is a corporation or a body cor porate for certain purposes, and a man might as well call him self a native 9f the common council of the city of London, or
a native of tlie Swiss Diet, in tlie estima~on of our Americans,
as say lie is a citizen of the United States; though it answers
very well to say so when he is abroad, or for purposes of a
legal character.
Of Foi't Pulaski itself I wrote on my return a long account
to the "Times."
~Yhen I was venturing to point out to General Lawton the
weakness of Fort Pulaski, placed as it is in low land, accessi ble to boats, and quite open enough for approaches from the city
side, lie said, " Oh, that is true etiough.  All our seacoast
works are liable to that re in ark, but tlie Commodore will take
care of the Ya~kees at sea, and we shall manage them on
land."  These people all make a mistake in referring to the
events of the old war.  "We beat off the British fleet at
Charleston by the militia - ergo, we'll sink the Yankees now."
They do not understand the nature of the~ new shell and
heavy vertical fire, or the effect of prcjectile~ from great dis' tances falling  into works.  The Commodore afterwards,
smiling, remarked. "I have no fleet.  Long before the South ern Confederacy lias a fleet that can cope with the Stars and
Stripes, my bones will be white in the grave."
We got back by eight o'clock, P. M., after a pleasant day. 
CIVILIZING EFFECT OF SLAVERY.    157
What I saw did not satisfy me that Pulaski was strong, or
Savannah very safe.  At Bonaventure, yesterday, I saw a
poor fort, culled "Thunderbolt," on an inlet fi~om which the
city was quite accessible.  It could be easily menaced from
il~at point, while attempts at landino' were made elsewhere, as
soon as Pulaski is reduced.  At dinner met a very strong
and very well-intormed Southerner - there are some who are
neither - or either - whose name was spelled Gourdin, and
pronounced Go-dine -just as fluger is called Hugee - and
Tnuliaterro, Telfer, in these parts.
3$fa~ 2d. - Breakfasted with Mr. llodgson, where I met
Mr. Locke, Mr. N\rard, Mr. Green, and Mrs. Hodoson and
her sister.  There were in attendance some good-looking
little ne~ro boys and men dressed in liveries, which smacked
of our host's Onentalism; and they must have heard our discussion, or rather allusion, to the question which would decide
whetl~er we thought they are human beings or black twolegged cuttle, with some interest, unless indeed the boast of
their masters, that slavery elevates the character and civilizes
the mind of a negro, is another of the false. pretences on
which the institution is rested by its advocates.  The native
African, poor wretch, avoids being carried into slavery totis
viribus, and it would argue ill for the effect on his mind of
becoming a slave, if he prefers a piece of gaudy calico even
to his loin-cloth and feather head-dress.  This question of
civilizing the African in slavery, is answered in the assertion
of the slave owners themselves, that if the negroes were left
to their own devices by emancipation, they would become the
worst sort of barbarians - a veritable Quasheedom, the like
of which was never thought of by Mr. Thomas Carlyle.  I
doubt if the aboriginal is not as civilized, in the true sense of
the word, as any negro, after three ~grees of descent in
servitude, whom I have seen on any of the plantations -
even though the latter have leather shoes and fustian or dot It
raiment and felt liat, and sings about the Jordan.  He is exempted from any bloody raid indeed, but he is liable to be
cari~ied froni his village and borne from one captivity to an
oU~er, and his family are exposed to the same exile in America
as in Africa.  The extreme anger with whidi any unfavorable
comment is met publicly, shows the sensitiveness of the slave
owners.  Privately, they affect philosophy; and tlie blue
books, and reports of Lducation Commissions and Mining
Committees, furnish them with an inexhaustible source of ar 
158        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
gument, if you once admit that the summum bonum lies in a
certain rotundity of person, and a regular supply of coarse
food.  A long conversation on the old topics - old to me, but
6f only a tew weeks' birth.  People are swimming with the
tide.  liere are many men, who would willingly stand aside
if they could, and see the battle between the Yankees, whom
they hate, and the Secessionists.  But there are no women in
this party.  Wo betide the Northern Pyrrhiis, whose head is
within reach of a Southern tile and a Southern woman's
arm
I revisited some of the big houses afterwards, and found
the merchants not cheerful, but fierce and resolute.  There is
a considerable population of Irish and Germans in Savannah,
who to a man are in favor of the Confederacy, and will fight
to support it.  Indeed, it is expected they will do so, and there
is a pressure brought to bear on them by tlreir employers
which they cannot well resist.  The negroes will be forced
into the place the whites hitherto occupied as laborers   only
a few useful mechanics will be kept, and the white population
will be obliged by a moral force drafting to g'~ to the wars.
Tbe kingdom of cotton is most esseutial~y of this world, and it
will be fought for vigorously.  On the quays of Savannah,
and in the warehouses, there is not a man who doubts that lie
ought to strike his hardest for it, or apprehends failure.  And
then, what a c~reer is before them!  All the world asking
for cotton, and England dependent on it.  What a change since
Whitney first set his cotton-gin to work in this state close by
us!  Georgia, as a vast country only partially reclaimed, yet
looks to a magnificent future.  In her past history the Florida
wars, and the treatment of the unrortunate Cherokee Indians,
who were expelled from their lands as late as 1838, show the
people who descende~ from old Oglethorpe's band were fierce
and tyrannical, and apt at aggression, nor will slavery improve H~em.  I dU not speak of the cultivated and hospitable
citizens of the large towns, but 6f the bulk of the slaveless
whites.
`Jft~3J.-I bade good-by to Mr. Green, who with several
of his friends came down to see me off, at tiie terminus or
"dep~t" of the Central Railway, on my way to Montgomery
- and looked my last on Savannah, its squares and lea{~
-streets, its churches, and institutes, with a feeling of regret
that I could not see more of them, and that I was forced to be
content with the outer aspect of the public buildings.  I had 
EPISCOPAL SANCTION OF SLAVERY.      15.9
been serenaded and invited out in all directions, asked to visit
plantations and big trees, to make excursions to famous or
beautifi~l spots, and especially warned not to leave tl0e Stnte
without visitb~g the mountain district in the northern and`vestera portion; but the march of events called ine to Montgomery.
From Savannah to Macon, 191 miles, the road passes
il~rough level country only partially cleared.  That is, there
are patches of forest still intruding on the green fields, where
the jagged black teeth of the destroyed trees rise from above
the maize and cotton.  There were but few negroes visible at
work, nor did the land appear rich, but I was told the rail was
laid along the most harren part of the country.  The Indians
had roamed in these woods little more than twenty years ago
- now the wooden huts of the planters' slaves, and the larger
edifice with its veranda and timber colonnade stood in the
place of their wio'wam.
Among the passengers to whom I was introduced was the
Bishop of Georgia, the Rev. Mr. Elliott, a man of exceeding
fine presence, of great stature, and handsome face, with a
manner easy and graceful, but we got on the unfortunate
subject of slavery, and I rather revolted at hearing a Christian
prelate advocating the institution on scriptural grounds.
This affectation of Biblical sanction and ordii~ance as the
basis of slavery was not new to me, though it is not much
known at the other side of the Atlantic.  I had read in a work
on slavery, that it was permitted by both the Scriptures and the
Constitution of the United States, and that it must, therefore,
be doubly right.  A nation that could approve of such interpretations of the Scriptures and at the same time read the
"New York llerald." seemed ripe fi~r destruction as a corporate existence.  The malum pro~ibitum was the only evil its
~ass senses could detect, and the malurn per se was its good,
if it only came covered with cotton or gold. (The miserable
sophists who expose themselves to the contempt of the world
by their paltry thesieles on the divine origin and uses of
slavery,) are infinitely more contemptible than the wretched
bigots who published themes long ago on the propriety of
burning witches, or on the necessity for the offices of the In-;
quisition.
Whenever tli~Southern Confederacy shall achieve its independence - no matter what its resources, its allies, or its aim~
it will have to stand face to face with civilized Europe on 
160        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
this question of slavery, and the strength which it derived from
the ~gis of the Constitution   "the league with the devil and
covenant with Ilell " - will be withered and gone.
I am well aware of the danger of drawing summary conclusious off-hand from the windows of a railway, but there is
also a i~iglit of sight which exists under all circumstances, and
so one can determine if a man's face be dirty as well from a
glance as if he inspected it for half an hour.  For instance,
no one can doubt the evidence of his senses, when he sees
from the windows of the carriages that the children are bare
footed, shoeless, stockingless - that the people who congregat~
at the wooden huts and grog-shops of the stations are rude, unkempt, but great fighting material, too - that'the villages are
miserable places, compared with the trim, snug settlements
one saw in New Jersey from the carriage windows.~  Slaves
in the fields looked happy enough - but their masters~ertainly
were rough looking and uncivilized - and the land was but
badly cleared.  But then we were traversincr the least fertile
portions of the State - a recent acquirement - gained only
one generation since.
The train halted at a snug little wood-embowered restaurant,
surrounded by trellis and lattice-work, and in the midst of a
pretty garden, which presented a marked contrast to the "surroundings" we had seen.  The dinner, served by slaves, was
good of its kind, and the charge not high.  On tendering the
landlord a piece of gold for payment, he looked at it with disgust, and asked, "Have you no Charleston money?  No Con- -
federate notes?"  "Well, no! Why do you object to gold?"
"Well, do you see, I'd rather have our own paper!  I don't
care to take any of the United States gold.  I don't want their
stars and their eagles; I hate the sight of them."  The man
was quite sincere - my companion gave him notes of some
South Carolina bank.
It was dark when the train reached Macon, one of the principal cities of the State.  We drove to the best hotel, but the
regular time for dinner hour was over, and that for supper not
yet come.  The landlord directed us to a subterranean restaurant, in which were a ser~es of crypts closed in by dirty curtains, where we made a very extraordinary repast, served by
a half-clad little negress, who watched us at the meal with
great interest throucrh the curtains - the service was of the
coarsest description; thick French earthenware, the spoons
of pewter, the knives and forks steel or iron, with scarce a 
MACON HOTEL.            161
pretext of being cleaned.  On the doors were the usual warn
ings against pickpockets, and the customary internal police
regi~latio~is and ukases.  Pickpockets an~~ gamhlei~s ai~oiind
in American cities, and thrive grea~Iy at tlie large hotels and
the lines of railways. 
CllAPTER XXIL
Slave-pens; Negroes on sale or hire - Popular feeling as to Secession
- Beauregard and speech-making - Arrival at Montgomery -
Bad hotel accommodation - Kmgl~ts of the Golden Circle - Re   flections on Slavery - Slave auction - The Legislative Assembly
- A "live chattel" knocked down - Rumors from the North
(true and false) and prospects of war.
May 41k. - In the morning I took a drive about the city,
which is loosely built in detached houses over a very pretty
undulating country covered with wood and fruit-trees.  Many
good houses of dazzling white, with bright green blinds, verandas, and doors, stand in their own grounds or gardens.  In
the course of the drive I saw two or three signboards and
placards announcing that "Smith & Co. advanced money on
slaves, and had constant supplies of Yirginian ne~roes on sale
or hire."  These establishments were suritoiinded by high
walls enclosing the slave-pens or large rooms, in which the
slaves are kept for inspection.  The train for Montgomery
started at 9.45 A. M., but I had no time to stop and visit them.
It is evident we are approaching the Confederate capital,
for the candidates for office begin to show, and I detected a
printed testimonial in my room in the hotel.  The country,
from ~Thcon, in Georgia, to Montgomery, in Alabama, offers no
features to interest the traveller which are not common to the
di~tncts already described.  It is, indeed, more undulating,
and somewhat more picturesque, ow less unattractive, but, on
the whole, there is little to recommend it, except the natural
fertility of the soil.  The people are rawer, ruder, bigger -
there is the same amount of tobacco chewing and its consequences - and as much swearing or use of expletives.  The
men are tall, lean, uncouth, but they are not peasants. There
are, so far as I have seen, no rustics, no peasantry in America;
men dress after the same type, differing only in finer or coarser
material; every man would wear, if he could, a black satin
Waistcoat and a large diamond pin stuck in the front of his 
POPULAR FEELING.            163
shirt, as he certainly has a watch and a gilt or gold chain of
some sort or other.  The Irish laborer, or il~e German l~usbaud man is the nearest approach to our Giles Jolter or the
Jacques Bonhomme to be found in the States.  The mean
white affects the style of the large proprietor of slaves or capital as closely as he can; he reads his papers - and, by the
by, they are becoming smaller and more whitey-brown as we
pi~oceed - and takes his drink with the same air - takes up
as much room, and speaks a good deal in the same fashion.
The people are all hearty Secessionists here - the Bars and
Stars are flying at the road-stations and from tiie pine-tops,
and there are lusty cheers for Jeff Davis and the Southern
Confederacy.  Troops are flocking towards Virginia from the
Southern States in reply to the march of Volunteers from
Northern States to Washington; but it is felt that the steps
taken by the i?ederal Government to secure Baltimore have
obviated any chance of successfully opposing the "Lincolnites"
goilig through that city.  There is a strong disposition on the
part of the Southerners to believe they have many friends in
tiie North, and they endeavor to attac0h a factious character
to tlie actions of the Government by calling the Volunteers
and the war party ia the North "Lincolnites," "Lincoln's
~1ercenanes," "Black Republicans," "Abolitionists," and the
like.  The report of an armistice, now denied by ~1r. Seward
officially, was for some time current, but it is plain that the South
must make good its words, and justify its acts by the sword.
General Scott would, it was fondly believed, retire from the
United S~ates army, and either remain neutral or take command under the Confederate flag, but now that it is certain he
will not fUllow any of these courses, he is assailed in the foulest
inanner by the press and in private conversation.  lleaven
help the idol of a democracy!
At one of the junctions General Beauregard, attended by
~Ir. ~Ianning, and others of his staW, got into the car, and
tried to elude observation, but the conductors take great pleasure in unearthing distinguished passengers for the public, and
tlie General was called on for a speech by the crowd of idlers.
The General bates speech-making, he told me, and he had
besides been bored to death at every station by similar demands.  But a man must be popular or he is nothing.  So,
as next best thing, Governor ~Ianning made a speech in the
General's name, in which he dwelt on Southern Rights, Sumter,
Victory, and abolitiondom, and was carried off from the cheers 
164        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
of his auditors by the train in the midst 9f an unfinishe~
sei~tence.  There were a number of blacks listening to the
Governor, who were appreciative.
Towai~s evening, having thrown oiit some slight outworks,
ngainst accidental sallies of my fellow-passengers' saliva, I
went to sleep, and woke up at eleven P. M., to hear we were in
~Iontgomery.  A very rickety omnibus took the party to tlie
hotel, which was crowded to excess.  The General and his
friends had one room to themselves.  Three gentlemen and -
myself were crammed into a filthy room which already con tained two strangers, and as there were only three beds in the
apartment it was apparent that we were intended to "double
up considerably;" but afier strenuous efforts, a little bribery
and cajoling, we succeeded in procuring mattresses to put on
the floor, which was regarded by our~neighbors as a proof of
miserable aristocratic fastidiousness.  Had it not been for the
flies, the fleas would have been 5ntolerable, but one nuisance
neutralized the other.  Then, as to food - nothing could be
had in the hotel - but one of the waiters led us to a restau rant, where we selccte~d from a choice bill of fare, which con tained, I think, as many odd dishes as ever I saw, some un known fishes, oyster-plants,`possums, raccoons, frogs, and other
delicacies and, eschewing toads and the like, really made a
good meal off dirty plates on a vile table-cloth, our appetites
bein~ sharpened by the best of condiments.
Colonel Pickett has turned up here, having made his escape
from ~Vashingtoa just in time to escape arrest - travdling
in disguise on foot through out-of-the-way places till he got
among friends.
I was glad when bedtime approached, that I was not among
the mattress men.  One of the gentlemen in fhe bed next
the door was a tremendous projector in the tobacco juice line:
-- his final rumination ere lie sank to repose was a masterpiece
of art - a perfect liquid pyrotechny, Roman candles and
flilling stars.  A horrid thought occurred as I gazed and won dered.  In case he should in a supreme moment turn his
attention my way - I was only seven or eight yards off;
and that migl~t be nothing to him! - I hauled down my mos quito curtain at once, and watched him till, completely satia ted, he slept.
Ma~ 5th. - Very warm, and no cold water, unless one went
to the river.  The hotel baths were not promising.  This
hotel is worse than the ~1ills House or Willard's.  The feeding
 
INNER VIEW Ol? SLAVERY.         16.5
and the flies are intolerable.  One of our party comes in to
say that he could scarce get down to the hall on account of
the crowd, and that all the people who passed him had very
hard, sharp bones.  He remarks thereupon to the clerk at the
bar, who tells him that the particular projections he alludes to
are iiulilements of defence or offence, as the case may be, and
adds, "I suppose you and your friends are the only people
iii the house who haven't a bowie4~nife, or a six-shooter, or
Derringer about them."  The house is full of Confederate
congressmen, politicians, colonels, and place-men with or
without places, and a vast number of speculators, contractors,
and the like, attracted by tlie embryo goverumelit.  Among
the visitors are many filibusters, such as llenningsen, Pickett, Tochman, Wheat.*  I hear a good deal about the association called the Knights of the Golden Circle, a Protestant
association for securing the Gulf provinces and States, includlag - which has been largely developed by recent events
them in the Southern Confederacy, and creating them into an
independent governinent.
i~Iontgomery has little claims to be called a capital.  The
streets are ~ery hot, unpleasant, and uninterestin~  I have
t rarely seen a more dull, lifeless place; it looks like a small
Russian town in the interior.  The names of the shopkeepers
indicate German and French origin.  I looked in at one or
two of the slave magazines, which are not unlike similar establishments in Cairo and Smyrna.  A certain degree of freedom is enjoyed by some of the men, wlio lounge about the
doors, and are careless of escape or liberty, knowing too well
the difficulties of either.
Jt is not in its external aspects generally that slavery is so
pniiitul.  The observer must go with Sterne, and gaze in on
the captives' dungeons through the bars.  The condition of a
pig in a sty is not, in an animal sense, anything but good.
Well fed, over fed, covered from the winds and storms of
heaven, with dothing, food, medicine, provided, children taken
care of aged relatives and old age itsdf succored and guarded
- is not this -?  Get thee behind us, slave philosopher!
The hour comes when the butcher steals to the sty, and the
knife leaps from the sheath.
Now there is this one thing in being an a~a~ a'v~(ov, that
be the race of men bad as it may, a kind of grandiose character is given to their leader.  The stag which sweeps his rivals
* Since killed in action. 
IC~6       MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
from his course is the largest of the herd; but a man who
drives the largest drove of sheep is no better than he who
drives the smallest.  The ~ock he compels, must consist of
human beings to develop the property of which I speak, and
so the very superiority of the slave master in the ways and
liabits of command proves that the negro is a man.  But, n(
the same time the law which regulates all these relations be
tween man and his fellows, asserts itself here.  The dominant
race becomes dependent on some other body of men, less martial, arrogant, and wealthy, for its elegances, luxuries, and
necessaries.  The poor villeins round the Norman castle forge
the armor, make the furniture, and exercise the mechanical
arts which the baron and his followers are too ignorant and
too proud to pursue; if there is no population to serve this
purpose, some energetic race comes in their place, and the
Yankee does the part of the little liungry Greek to the
Roman patrician.
The South lias at present little or no manufactures, takes
everything fi~om the Yankee outside or tlle mean white within
her gates, and despises both.  Both are reconciled by interest.
The one gets a good price for his manufacture and the fruit
of his ingenuity from a careless, spendthrift proprietor; the
other llopes to be as good as his master some day, and sees
the beginning of his ft~rtune in the possession of a negro.  It
is fortunate for our great British Catherine-wheel, which is
continually throwing off light and heat to the remotest parts
of the wodd - I hope not burning down to a dull red cinder
in the centre at last - il~at it had not to send its emigrants to
the Southern States, as assuredly the emigration would soon
have been checked.  The United States has been represented
to the British and Irish emigrants by the Free States - the
Northern States and the great West - and the British and
German emigrant who finds himself in the South, has drifted
there through the Northern States, and either is a migratory
laborer, or hopes to return with a little money to the North
and West, if lie does~not see his way to the possession of land
and negroes.
After dinner at the hotel table, which was crowded with
ofliters, and where I met Mr. Howell Cobb and several senators of the new Congress, I spent the evening with Colonel
Deas, Quartermaster-General, and a number of his stafi, in
their quarters.  As I was walking over to the house, one of
the detached villa4ike residences so common in Southern cities, 
COTTON, LAND, AND NEGRO~S.         167
I perceived a crowd of very well-dressed negroes, men and
women, in front of a plain brick building which I was inform
ed was their Baptist meeting~house, into which white people
rarely or never intrude.  These were domestic servants, or
persons employed in stores, and their general appearance indicated much comfbrt and even luxury.  I doubted if they all
were slaves.  One of my companions went up to a young
woman in a straw-hat, with bright red-and~green ribbon trimming and artificial flowers, a gaudy Paisley shawl, and a rainbow-like gown, blown out over lier yellow boots by a prodigious crinoline, aud asked her "~Yhom do yc~ belong to?" She
replied, "I b'long to Alassa Smith, sar."  ~Yell, we have men
who "belong" to horses in England.  I am not sure if
Americans, North and South, do not consider their superiority
to all Luglishmen so thoroughly established, that they can
speak of them as if they were talking of inferior animals.
To-night, for example, a gallant young South Carolinian,
one Ransome Calhoun,* was good enough to say that "Great
Britain was in mortal fear of France, and was abjectly subdued
by her great rival."  Hence came conti~versy, short and acrimonious.
Ha~ 6tJt. - I forgot to say that yesterday before dinner I
drove out with some gentlemen and the ladies of the f~'mily of
~Ir. George N. Sanders, once United States consul at Liverpool, now a doubtful man here, seeking some office fiom the
Government, and accused by a portion of the press of being
a Confederate spy - Porcus de gre ye epicurt - but a learned
pig withal, and weatherwise, and mindful of the signs of the
times, catching straws and whisking them upwards to detect
the currents.  ~Yell, in this great moment I am bound to say
there was much talk of ice.  The North owns the frozen climates; but~it was hoped that Great Britain, to whom belongs
the North Pole, might force the blockade and send aid.
The environs of ~Iontgomery are agreeable - well-wooded,
undulating, villas abounding, public gardens, and a large negro
and mulatto suburb.  It is not usual, as far as I can judge, to
see women riding on horseback in the South, but on the road
here we encountered several.
After breakfast I walked down with Senator ~Yigfall to the
capitol of i~Iontgomery -- one of the true Athenian Yankeeized structures of this novo-classic land, erected on a site
Worthy of a better fate and edifice.  By an open cistern, on
* Since killed. 
16S         MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
our way, I came on a gentleman engaged in disposing of some
living ebony carvings to a small circle, who had more curiosi{y
than cash, for they did not at all respond to the energetic
appenls of tI~e auctioneer.
Tiie si~ht was a bad preparation for an introduction to the
legi~1~tive as~embly of a Confederacy which rests on the In   stitution as the coracr-stone of the social and political arch
~vhich maintains it.  But there they were, the legislators or
conspirators, in a large room provided with benches and seats,
arid listeiiing to such a sermon as a Balfour of Buricy might have
preached to liis Covenanters - resolute and massive heads,
and large frames - such men as must have a fitith to inspire
them.  And that is so.  Assaulted by reason, by logic, argu   ment, philanthropy, progress directed against his peculiar in   stitutions, the Southerner at last is driven to a fanaticism -a
sacred faith which is above all reason or logical attack in the
propriety, righteousness, and divinity of slavery.
~`     The chaplain, a venerable old man, loudly invoked curses
on the heads of the enemy, and blessings on the arms and
councils of the New State.  ~Yhen he was done, ~Ir. llowell
Cobb, a fat, double-chinned, mellow-eyed man, rapped with
his hammer on the desk before the chair on which he sat
as speaker of tiie assembly, and the house proceeded to bus   iness.  I could fancy that, in all but garments, they were
like the men who first conceived the great rebellion whid~ led
to tlie indep~ndence of this wondefful country - so earnest,
so grave, so sober, and so vindictive - at least; so embittered
against tlie power which they consider tyrannical and insulting.
The word "libe'rty" was used repeatedly in the short time
allotted to the public transaction of business and the reading
of documents; the Congress was anxious to get to its work,
and i~Ir. Howell Cobb again thumped his desk and~nnounced
that the house was going into "secret session," which inti   mated that all persons who were not members should leave. I
was introduced to what is called the floor of the house, and had
a delegate's chair, and of course I moved away with the others,
and with the disappointed ladies and men from the galleries;
but one of the members, Mr. Rhett, I believe, said jokingly:
"I think you ought to retain your seat.  If the`Times' will
Support the South, w&ll accept you as a delegate."  I replied
that I was afraid I could not net as a delegate to a Congress
of Slave States.  And, indeed, I had been much affected at
the slave auction i~H just outside the hotel, on the steps of
 
NEGRO AUCTIO~N.               169
the public fountain, which I had witnessed on my way to the
capitol.  The auctioneer, who was an ill-favored, dissipatedlooking rascal, had his "article" beside him, on, not in, a deal
packing-case - a stout young negro badly dressed and ill-shod,
who stood with all his goods fastened in a small bundle in his
hand, looking out at the small and listless gathenag of men,
who, whittling and chewing, had moved out from the shady side
of the street as they saw tl~e man put up. The chattel character of slavery in the States renders it most repulsive. What a
pity the ni gger is not polypoid - so that he could be cut up
in junks, and each junk should reproduce itself.
A man in a cart, some volunteers in coarse uniforms, a few
Irish laborers in a long van, and four or five men in the usual
black coat, satin waistcoat, and black hat, constituted the audience, whom the auctioneer addressed volubly: "A prime field
hand!  Just look at him - good-natered, well-tempered; no
marks, nary sign of bad about him!  En-i-ne hunthered -
only nine hun-ther-ed and fifty dol'rs for`em!  Why, it's quite
rad-aklous!  Nine hundred and fifty dol'rs!  I can't raly
That's good.  Thank you, sir.  Twenty-five bid - nine huntherd and seventy-five dol'rs for this most useful hand.  The
price rose to one thousand dollars, at which the  useful
hand was knocked down to one of the black hats near me.
The auctioneer and the negro and his~huyer all walked off together to settle the transaction, and the crowd moved away.
"That nigger went cheap," said one of them to a companion, as he walked towa~ds the shade.  "Yes, Sirr!  Niggers
is cheap now - that's a fact."  I must admit that I felt myself indulging in a sort of reflection whether it would not be
nice to own a man as absolutely as one might possess a horse
- to hold him subject to my will and pleasure, as if he were
a brute beast without il~e power of kicking or biting - to
make him work for me - to hold his fate in my hands: but
tlic thought was for a moment.  It was followed by disgust.
I have seen slave markets in the East, where the traditions
of the race, the condition of family and social relations divest
slavery of the most odious characteristics whidi pertain to it
in the States;(but the use of the English tongue in such a
Cransaction, and the idea of its taking place among a civilized
Christian people, produced in me a feeling of inexpressible
loathing and indignation.~ Yesterday I was much struck by~
the intelligence, activity, and desire to please of a good-looking colored waiter, who seemed so light-hearted and light                   8 
170        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
colored I could not imagine he was a slave.  So one of our
party, who was an American, asked him: "~Yhat are you,
boy-a free nigger?"  Of course he knew that in Alabama
it was most unlikely he could reply in the affirmative.  The
young man's smile died away from liis lips, a flush of blood
embrowned the face for a moment, and he answered in a sad,
low tone: "No, sir!  I b'long to Massa Jackson," and left the
room at once.  As I stood at an upper window of the capitol,
and looked on the wide expanse of richly-wooded, well-cultivated land which sweeps round the hill-side away to the horizon, I could not help thinking of the misery and cruelty which
must have been borne in tilling the land and raising the
-houses and streets of the dominant race before whom one nationality of colored people has perished within the memory of
man.  The misery and cruelty of the system are established
by the advertisements for runaway negroes, and by the description of the stigmata on their persons - whippings and
brandings, scars and cuts - though these, indeed, are less
frequent here than in the border States.
On my return, the Hon. W. M. Browne, Assistant-Secretary of State, came to visit me - a cadet of an Irish fi~mily,
who came to America some years ago, and having lost his
money in land speculations, turned his pen to good account
as a journalist, and gained Mr. Buchanan's patronage and
support as a newspaper editor in~Washington.  There he became intimate with the Southern gentlemen, with whom he
naturally associated in preference to the Northern members;
and when they went out, he walked over along -with them.
He told me the Government had already received numerous
- I think he said 400 - letters from ship-owners applying
for letters of marque and reprisal.  Many of these applications were from merchants in Boston, and other maritime
cities in the New England States.  He further stated that
the President was determined to take the whole control of the
army, and the appointments to command in all ranks of officers into his own hands.
There is now no possible chance of preserving the peace or
of averting the horrors of war from these great aud prosper.
ous communities.  The~~uthern people, right or wrong, ar~
bent on independence and on separation, and they will fight
to the last for their object.
The press is fanning the flame on both sides: it would be
difficult to say whether it or the telegraphs circulate lies most 
NOW AND EIGHTY-SIX YEARS SINCE.  171
largely; but that as the papers print the telegrams tJ~ey must
have the palm. The Southerners are told there is a reign of terror in New York - that the 7th New York Regiment has been
captured by the Baltimore people - that Abe Lincoln is
always drunk - that General Lee has seized Arlington Heights,
and is bombarding Washington.  The New York people are
regaled with similar stories from the South.  Tlie coincidence
between the date of the skirmish at Lexington and of the attack on the 6th ~Iassachusetts Regiment at Baltimore is not
so remarkable as the fact, that the first man who was killed at
the latter place, 86 years ago, was a direct descendant of the
first of the colonists who was killed by the royal soldiery.
Baltimore may do the same for the South which Lexington
did for all the Colonies.  Head-shaving, forcible deportations,
tarring affd feathering are recommended and adopted as specifies to produce conversion from erroneous opinions.  The
President of the United States has called into service of the
Federal Government 42,000 volunteers, and increased the regular army by 22,000 men, and the navy by 18,000 men.  If
the South secede, they ought certainly to take over with them
some Yankee hotel keepers.  This "Exchange" is in a frightful state - nothing but noise, dirt, drinking, wrangling. 
OllAPTER XXIIL
I'rodamaflon of war - Jefferson Davis - Interview with the Presi  dent of- the Confederacy - Passport and safe-conduct - Messrs.
Wigfall, ~Yalker, and Benjamin - Privateering and letters ot
marque - A reception at Jefferson Davis's - Dinner at Mr. Ben  jamin's.
May 9tk. - To-day the papers contain a proAa~atiou by
the President of the Confederate States of America, declaring a state of war between the Confederacy and the United
States, and notifying the issue of letters of marque and repri
saL  I went out with Mr. Wigfall in the forenoon to pay my
respects to Mr. Jefferson Davis at the State Department.
Mr. Seward told me that but for Jefferson Davis the Secession plot could never have been carried out.  No other man
of the party had the brain, or the courage and -dexterity, to
bring it to a successful issue.  All the persons in the Southern
States spoke of.him with admiration, though their forms of
speech and thought generally forbid them to be respectful to
any one.
There before rue was" Jeff Davis's State Department "- a
large brick building, at the corner of a street, with a Confederate flag floating above it.  The door stood open, and "gave"
on a large hall whitewaslied, with doors plainly painted belonging to small rooms, in which was transacted most important business, judging by the names written on sheets of paper
ai~d applied outside, denoting bureaux of the highest functions.
A few clerks were passing in and out, and one or two gentlemen
were on the stairs, but there was no appearance of any bustle
in the building.
We walked straight up-stairs to the first floor, which was
surrounded by doors opening from a quadrangular platform.
On one of these was written simply, "The President."  Mr.
Wigfall went in, and after a moment returned and said, "The
President will be glad to see you; walk in, sir."  When I
entered, the President was engaged with four gentlemen, who 
MR. JEFFERSON DAVIS.          17~
were making some offer of aid to him.  He was thanking
them "in the name of th~ Government!'  Shaking hands
with eaeh, he saw them to the door, howed them and ~Ir.
Wigf<ill out, and turning to me, said, "~Ir. Russell, I am glad
to welcome you here, though I fear your appearance is a
sym~)tom that our ~ffains are not quite prosperous," or words
to that effect.  lie then requested me to sit down close to his
own chair at his office-table, and proceeded to speak on general ma~ters, adverting to the Crimean War and the Indian
1~Iutiny, and asking questions about Sebastopol, the Redan,
and the Siege of Lucknow.
I liad an opportunity of observing the President very
closely: he did not impress me as favorably as I had cxpected, il~ough he is certainly a very different looking man
from ~ir. Lincoln.  He is like a gentleman - has a slight,
light figure, little exceeding middle height, and holds himself
erect and str~ight.  He was dressed in a rustic suit of slatecolored stuW, with a black silk handkerchief round his neck;
his manner is plain, and rather reserved and drastic; 1~is
head is well fi~rmed, with a fine full forehead, square and
high, covered with innumerable fine lines and wrinkles, features regular, though the cheek-bones are too high, and the
jaws too hollow to be handsome; the lips are thin, flexible, and
curved, the chin square, well defined; the nose very regular,
with wide nostrils; and the eyes deep-set, large and full -
one seems nearly blind, and is partly covered with a film,
owing to excruciating attacks of neuralgia and tic.  Wonderful to relate, he does not chew, and is neat and clean-looking,
with hair trimmed, and boots brushed.  The expression of his
fi~~e is anxious, he has a very haggard, care-worn, and paindrawn look, though no trace of anything but the utmost confidence and the greatest decision could be detected in his conversation.  He asked me some general questions respecting
the route I had taken in the States.
I mentioned that I had seen great military preparations
through the South, and was astonished at the alacrity with
which the people sprang to arms.  "Yes, sir," he remarked,
a~d his tone of voice and manner of speech are rather remarkable for what are considered Yankee peculiarities, "In
Eu-rope" (Mr. Seward also indulges in that pronunciation)
"they laugh at us because of our fondness for military titles
and displays.  All your travellers in this country have commented on the number of generals and colonels and majors 
174        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
all over the States.  But the fact is, we are a military peopie, and these signs of the fact were ignored.  We are not
less military because we have had no great standing armies.
But perhaps we are the only people in the world where gentlemen go to a military, academy who do not intend to follow
the profession of arms.
In the course of our conversation, I asked him to have the
goodness to direct that a sort of passport or protection should
be given to me, as I might possibly fall in with some guerrilla
leader on my way northwards, in whose eyes I might not be
entitled to safe condueL  1~Ir. Davis said, "I shall give such
instructions to the Secretary of War as shall be necessary.
But, sir, you are among civilized, intelligent people who understand your position, and appreciate your character.  We do
not seek the sympathy of England by unworthy means, for
we respect ourselves, and we are glad to invite the scrutiny
of men into our acts; as for our motives, we meet the eye of
Heaven."  I thought I could judge from his words that he
had the highest idea of the French as soldiers, but that his
feelings and associations were more identified with England,
although he was quite aware of the difficulty of conquering
the repugnance which exists to slavery.
~Ir. Davis made no allusion to the authorities at Washington, but he asked me if I thought it was supposed in England
there would be war between the two States?  I answered,
that I was under the impression the public thought there
would be no actual hostilities.  " And yet you see we are
driven to take up arms for the defence of our rights and liberties."
As I saw an immense mass of papers on his table, I rose
and made my bow, and ~ir. Davis, seeing me to the door,
gave me his hand and said, "As long as you may stay among
us you shall receive every facility it is in our power to afford
to you, and I shall always be glad to see you."  Colonel Wigfall was outside, and took me to the room of the Secretary of
War, ~Ir. Walker, whom we found closeted with General
Beauregard and two other officers in a room full of maps and
plans.  He is the kind of man generally represented in our
types of a "Yankee" - tall, lean, straight-h aired, angular,
with fiery, impulsive eyes and manner - a ruminator of tobacco and a profuse spitter - a lawyer, I believe, certainly
not a soldier; ardent, devoted to the cause, and confident to
the last degree of its speedy success. 
MR. BENJAMIN.              175
The news that two more States had joined the Confederacy,
mak~en in all, wns enough to put them in good humor.
"Ls it not too bad these Yankees will not let us go our own
way, and keep their cursed Union to themselves?  If they
force us to it, we may be obliged to drive them beyond the
Susquebanna."  Beauregard was in excellent spirits, busy
measuring off miles of country with his compasses, as if he
were dividing empires.
Fron~ this room I proceeded to the office of Mr. Benjamin,
the Attorney-General of the Confederate States, the most
brilliant perhaps of the whole of the famous Southern orators.
He is a short, stout man, with a full face, (Aive-colored, and
most decidedly Jewish features, with the brightest large black
eyes, one of which is somewhat diverse from the other, and a
brisk, lively, agreeable manner, combined with much vivacity
of speech and quickness of utterance.  He is one of the first
lawyers or advocates in the United States, and had a large
practice at Washington, where his annual receIpts from his
profession were not less than ~8,000 to ~10,000 a year.  But
his love of the card-table rendered him a prey to older and
ejoler hands, who waited till the sponge was full at the end
of the session, and then squeezed it to the last drop.
Mr. Benjamin is the most open, frank, and cordial of the
Confederates whom I have yet met.  In a few seconds he was
telling me all about the course of Government with respect to
privateers and letters of marque and reprisal, in order probably to ascertain what were our views in England on the subject.  I observed it was likely the North would not respect
their flag, and would treat their privateers as pirates.  "We
have an easy remedy for that.  For any man under our flag
whom the authorities of the United States dare to execute, we
shall hang two of their people."  "Suppose, Mr. AttorneyGeneral, England, or any of the great powers which decreed
tl~e abolition of privateering, refuses to recognize your flag?"
"We intend to claim, and do claim, the exercise of all the
rights and privileges of an independent sovereign St ate, and
any attempt to refuse us the full measure of those rights would
be an act of hostility to our country."  "But if England, for
example, declared your privateers were pirates?"  "As the
United States never admitted the principle laid down at the
Congress of Paris, neither have the Confederate States.  If
England thinks fit to declare privateers under our flag pirates,
t would be nothing more or less than a declaration of war 
176        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
n~ainst us, and we m~ust meet it as best we can."  Tn f~ct
Mr. Benjamin did not appear afraid of anything; but his coafidence respecting Great Bntain was based a good deal, no
doubt, on his firm fiiith in cotton, and in England's utter subjection to her cotton interest and mnnufiict~~re~.  "All this
coyness about acknowledging a slave power will come right at
last.  We hear our commissioners have gone on to Paris,
which looks as if they had met with no encouragement at
London  but we are quite easy in our minds on this point at
~resent."
So Great Britain is in a pleasant condition.  Mr. Seward
is threatening us with war if we recognize the South, and the
South declares that if we don't recognize their flag, they will
take it as an act of ho~tility.  Lord Lyons is pressed to give
an assurance to the Government at Washington, that under
no circumstances will Great Britain recognize the Southern
rebels; but, at the same time, Mr. Seward refuses to give any
assurance wflatever, that the right of neutrals will be respected
in the impending struggle.
As 1 was going down stairs, Mr. Browne called me into ~is
room.  lle said that the Attorney-General and himself were
in a state of perplexity as to the form in which letters of
marque and reprisal should be made out.  They had consulted all the books they could get, but found no examples to
suit their case, and he wished to know, as 1 was a barrister,
whether 1 could aid him.  1 told him it was not so much
regard to my own position as a neutral, as the vafri inscit~a
juris which prevented me throwing any light on the subject.
There are not only Yankee ship-owners but English firms
ready with sailors and steamers for the Confederate Governmeat, and the owner of the Camilla might be tempted to part
with his yacht by the offers made to him.
Being invited to attend a levee or reception held by Mrs.
Davi)~, the President's wife, 1 returned to the hotel to prepare
for the occasion.  On my way 1 passed a company of volunteers, one hundred and twenty artillerymen, and three fieldpieces, on their way to the station for Virginia, followed by a
crowd of "citizens" and negroes of both sexes, cheering vociferously.  The band was playing that excellent quick-step
"Dixie."  The men were stout, fine fellows, dressed in coarse
gray tunics with yellow facings, and French caps.  They
were armed with smooth-bore muskets, and their knapsacks
were unfit for marching, being water-proof bags slung from 
MR. JEFFEESON DAVIS AT HOME.        177
the shoulders.  The guns had no caissons, and the shoeing
of the troops was certainly deficient in soling.  The Zonave
mania is quite as rampant here as it is in New York, and the
smallest children are thrust into baggy red breeches, which
the learned Lipsius might have appreciated, and are sent out
with flags and tin swords to impede the highways.
The modest villa in which the President lives is painted
white, - another "White liouse," - and stands in a small
garden.  The door was open.  A colored servant took in our
names, and Mr. Browne presented me to Mrs. Davis, whom I
could just make out in the demi-jour, of a moderately-sized
parlor, surmunded by a few ladies and gentlemen, the former
in bonnets the latter in morning dress a' la midi.  There
was no affectation of state or ceremony in the reception.
Mrs. Davis, whom some of her friends call "Queen Yarina,"
is a comely, sprightly woman, verging on matron hood, of good
figure and manners, wdl-dressed, ladylike, and clever, and she
seemed a great favorite with those around her, though I
did hear one of them say, "It must be very nice to be the
President's wife, and be the first lady in the Confederate
States."  Mrs. Davis, whom the President C. S. married en
secondes noces, exercised considerable social influence in Washington, where I met many of her friends.  She was just now
inclined to be angry, because the papers contained a report
that a reward was offered in the North for the head of the
arch rebel Jeff Davis.  "They are quite capable, I believe,"
she said, "of such acts.~? There were not more than eighteen
or twenty persons present, as each party came in and staid
only for a few moments, and, after a time, I made my bow
and retired, receiving from Mrs. Davis an invitation to come
in the evening, when I would find the President at home.
At sundown, amid great cheering, the guns in front of the
State Department, fired ten rounds to announce that Tennessee
and Arkansas had joined the Confederacy.
~  In the evening I dined with Mr. Benjamin and his brothei~in4aw, a gentleman of New Orleans, Colonel Wigf~ll c0min~~
in at the end of dinner.  The New Orleans people of French
descent, or "Creoles," as they call themselves, speak French
in preference to English, and Mr. Benjamin's brnther-in-law
labored considerably in trying to make himself understood in
~ur vernacular.   The  conversation, Franco-English, very
pleasant, for Mr. Benjamin is agreeable and lively.  He is
certain that the English law authorities must advise the Gov              8* 
178       MY DIARY NORTH AND SOWiL~
ernment that the blockade of the Southern ports is illegal so
long as the President claims them to be ports of the United
States.  "At present," he said, "their paper blockade does no
harm; the season for shipping cotton is over; but in October
next, when Ibe ~1ississippi is floating cotton by the thousands
of bales, and all our wharves are fufl, it is inevitable that the
Yankees must come to trot~ble with this attempt to coerce us."
Mr. Benjamin walked back to the hotel with mc, and we found
our room full of tobacco-smoke, filibusters, and conversation, in
which~ as sleep was impossible, we were obliged to join.  I
resisted a vigorous attempt of Mr. G. N. Sanders and a friend
of his to take me to visit a planter who had a beaver-dam
some miles outside Montgomery.  They succeeded in capturing
Mr. Deasy. 
CllAPTER XXIV.
Mr.Wigfall on the Confederacy - Intended departure from the South
- Northern apathy and Southern activity - Future prospects of
the Union - South Carolina and cotton - The theory of slavery
- Indifference at New York - Departure from Montgomery.
~1!a~ 8tk. - I tried to write, as I have taken my place in the
steamer to Mobile to-morrow, and I was obliged to do my best
in a room full of people, constantly disturbed by visitors.
Early this morning, as usual, my faithful Wigfall comes in
and sits by my bedside, and passing his hands through his
locks, pours out his ideas with wonderful lucidity and odd
affectation of logic all his own.  "We are a peculiar people,
sir!  You don't understand us, and you can't understand us,
because we are known to you only by Northern writers and
Northern papers, who know nothing of us themselves, or misrepresent what they do know.  We are an agricultural people;
we are a primitive but a civilized people. We have no cities -
we don't want them.  We have no literature - we don't need
any yet.  We have no press - we ~re glad of it.  We do not
require a press, because we go out and discuss all public questions from the stump with our people.  We have no commercial marine - no navy - we don't want them.  We are
better without them.  Your ships carry our produce, and you
can protect your own vessels.  We want no manufactures:
we desire no trading, no mechanical or manufacturing classes.
As long as we have our rice, our sugar, our tobacco, and our
cotton, we can command wealth to purchase all we want from
those nations with which we are in amity, and to lay up
money besides.  But with the Yankees we will never trade -
never.  Not one pound of cotton shall ever go from the South
to their accursed cities; not one ounce of their steel or their
manufactures shall ever cross our border." And so on. What
the Senator who is preparing a bill for drafting the people
into the army fears is, that the North will begin active operations before the South is ready for resistance,  "Give us till
0 
180         MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
November to drill our men, and we sball be irresistible."
lle deprecates any offensive movement, and is opposed to
an attack on Washington, which many journals here advocate.
Mr. Walker sent me over a letter recommending me to all
officers of the Confederate States, and 1 received an invitation
from the President to dine with him to-morrow, which 1 was
much chagnued to be obliged to refuse.  la fact, it is most important to complete my Southern tour speedily, as all mail
communication will soon be suspended from the South, and
the blockade effectually cuts off any communication by sea.
Ralls torn  up, bridges  broken, telegraphs  down - trains
searched - il~e war is begun.  The North is pouring its hosts
to the battle, and it has met the p~ans of the conquering
Charlestonians with a universal yell of indignation and an
oath of vengeance.
1 expressed a belief in a letter, written a few days after my
arrival (March 27th), that the South would never go back
into the Union.  The North think that they can coerce tlie
South, and 1 am not prepared to say they are right or wrong;
but 1 am convinced that the South can only be forced back by
such a conquest as that which laid Poland prostrate at the
feet of Russia.  It may be that such a conquest can be made
by the North, but success must destroy the Union as it has
been constituted in times past.  A strong Government must
be the logical consequence of vict~ry, and the triumph of
the South will be attended by a si~ilar result, for which,
indeed, many Southerners are very well disposed.  To the
people of the Confederate States there would be no terror in
such an issue, for it appears to me they are pining for a
strong Government exceedingly.  The North must accept it,
whether they like it or not.
Neither party - if such a term can be applied to the rest
of the United States, and to those States which disclaim the
authority of the Federal Government - was prepared for
the aggressive or resisting power of the other.  Already
the Confederate States perceive that they cannot carry all
before them with a rush, while the North have  learned
that they must put forth all their strength to make good a
tithe of their lately uttered threats.   But the Montgomery
Government are anxious  to gain time, and  to prepare a
regular army.  The North, distracted by apprehensions of
vast disturbance in their complicated relations, are clamoring
for instant action and speedy consummation.  The counsels 
THE FAITH OF SOUTH CAROLINA.       181
of moderate men, as they were called, have been utterly
overruled.
The whole foundation on which South Carolina rests is
cott9n and a certain amount of rice; or rather she bases
her whole fabric on the necessity which exists in Europe for
il~ose products of her soil, believing and assertin~ as sl~e
does, that England and France cani~ot and will not do without
them.  Cotton, without a market, is so much flocculent matter
encumbering the ground.  Rice, without demand for it, is unsalable grain in store and on the field.  Cotton at ten cents
a pound is boundless prosperity, empire, and superiority, and
rice or grain need no longer be regarded.
In the matter of slave4abor, South Carolina argues pretty
much in the following manner: Enuland and France (she
says) require our products.  In order t~ meet their wants, we
must cultivate our soil.  There is only one way of doing so.
The white man cannot live on our land at certain seasons of
the year; he cannot work in the manner required by the crops.
lie must, therefore, employ a race suited to the labor, and that
is a race ~yhich will only work when it is obliged to do so.
That race was imported from Africa, under the sanction of the
law, by our ancestors, when we were a British colony, and it
has been fostered by us, so that its increase here has been as
great as that of the most flourishing people in the world.  In
other places, where its labor was not productive or imperatively essential that race has been made free, sometimes with disastrous consequences to itself and to industry.  But we will
not make it free.  We cannot do so.  We hold that slavery is
essential to our existence as producers of what Europe requires; nay more, we maintain it is in the abstract right in
principle; and son~e of us go so far as to maintain that the
only proper form of society, according to the law of God and
the exigencies of man, is that which has slavery as its basis.
As to the slave, he is happier fi~r in his state of servitude,
more civilized and religious, than he is or could be if free or ia
his native Africa.  For this system we will. fight to the end.
In the evening I paid farewell visits, and spent an hour with
~Ir. Toombs, who is unquestionably one of the most original,
quaint, and earnest of the Southern leaders, and whose eloquence and power as a debater are greatly esteemed by his
countrymen.  He is something of an Anglo-maniac, and an
Anglo-phobist - a combination not unusual in America -
that is, he is proud of being connected with and descended 
182        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
from respectable English families, and admires our mixed constitution, whilst he is an enemy to what is called English pol
icy, and is a strong pro-slavery champion.  Wigfall and he are
very uneasy about the scant supply of gunpowder in the
Southern States, and the difficulty of obtaining it.
1n the evening had a little reunion in the bedroom as before. - Mr. Wigfall, Mr. Keitt, an eminent Southern politician, Col. Pickett, Mr. Browne, Mr. Benjamin, Mr. George
Sanders, and others. The last-named gentleman was dismissed
or recalled from his post at Liverpool, because he fraternized
with Mazzini and other Red Republicans a' ce qu' on dit.
Here he is a slavery man, and a friend of an oligarchy.  Your
"Rights of Man" man is often most inconsistent with himself,
and is generally found associated with the men of force and
violence.
May 9t/z. - My faithful Wigfall was good enough to come
in early, in order to show me some comments on my letters in
the "New York Times."  It appears the papers are angry
because I said that New York was apathetic when I landed,
and they try to prove I was wrong by showing there was a
"glorious outburst of Union feeling," after the news of the
fall of Sumter.  But I now know fl~at the very apathy of
which I spoke was felt by the Government of Washington,
and was most weakening and embarrassing to them.  What
would not the value of "the glorious outburst" have been, had
it taken place before the Charleston batteries had opened on
Sumter - when the Federal flag, for example, was fired on,
flying from the "Star of the West," or when Beauregard cut
off supplies, or Bragg threatened Pickens, or the first shovel
of earth was thrown up in hostile battery?  But no!  New
York was then engaged in discussing State rights, and in
reading articles to prove the new Government would be traitors
if they endeavored to reinforce the Federal forts, or were
perusing lenders in favor of the Southern Government.
Haply, they may remember one, not so many weeks old, in
which the "New. York Herald" compared Jeff Davis and his
Cabinet to the "Great Rail Splitter," and Seward, and Chase,
and came to the conclusion that the former "were gentlemen"
- (a matter of which it is quite incompetent to judge) -
"and would, and ought to succeed."  The glorious outburst of
"Union feeling" which threatened to demolish the "Herald"
office, has created a most wonderful change in the views of the
proprietor, whose diverse-eyed vision is now directed solely to 
FAREWELL LEV~E.             183
the beauties of the Union, and whose faith is expressed in "a
hearty adhesion to the Government of our country:'  New
York must pay the penalty of its indifference, and bear the
consequences of listening to such counsellors.
Mr. Deasy, much dilapidated, returned about twelve o'clock
from his planter, who was drunk whea lie went over, and
would not let him go to the beaver-dam.  To console him, the
planter stayed up all night drinking, and waking him up at
intervals, that he might refresh him with a glass of whiskey.
This man was well ow, owned land, and a good~stock of slaves,
but he must have been a "mean white," who had raised himself in tlie woAd.  lle lived in a three-roomed wooden cabin,
and in one of the rooms he kept his wife shut up from the
stranger 5 gaze.  One of his negroes was unwell, and he took
Deasy to see him.  The result of his examination was, "Nigger! I guess you won't live more than an hour."  llis diagnosis
was quite correct.
Before my departure I had a little farewdl levee - Mr.
Toombs, Mr. Browne, Mr. Benjamin, Mr. Walker, Major
Deas, Col. Pickett, Major Calhoun, Captain Ripley, and
others - who were exceedingly kind with letters of introduction and offers of service.  Dined as usual on a composite
dinner - Southern meat and poultry bad - at three o'clock,
and at four, P. M., drove down to the steep banks of the Alabama
River, where th1e castle4ike hulk of the " Southern Republic"
was waiting to receive us.  I bade good-by to Montgomery
without regret.  flie native people were not very attractive,
and the city has nothing to make up for their deficiency, but
of my friends there I must always retain pleasant memories,
and, indeed, I hope some day I shall be able to keep my
promise to return and see more of the Confederate ministers
and their chief. 
OllAPTER XXV.
The River Alabama - Voyage by steamer - Selma - Our captain
and his slaves - "Running" slaves - Negro views of happiness
Mobile - Hotel - The city - Mr. Forsyth.
TH~ vessel was nothing more than a vast wooden house, of
three separate stories, floating on a pontoon which upheld the
engine, with a dining-hall or saloon on the second story surrounded by sleeping-berths, and a nest of smaller rooms upstairs; on the metal roof was a "musical" instrument called
a "calliope," played like a piano by keys, which acted on
levers and valves, admitting steam into metal cups, where it
produced the requisite notes, - high, resonant, and not unpleasing at a moderate distance.  It is 417 miles to Mobile;
but at this season the steamer can maintain a good rate of
speed, as there is very little cotton or cargo to be taken on
board at the landings, and the stream is full.
The river is about 200 yards broad, and of the color of
chocolate and milk, with high, steep, wooded banks, rising so
much above the surface of the stream that a person on the
upper deck of the towering "Southern Republic" cannot get a
glimpse of the fields and country beyond.  lligh banks and
bluffs spring up to the height of 150 or even 200 feet above
the river, the breadth of which is so uniform as give the
Alabama the appearance of a canal, only relieved by sudden
bends and rapid curves.  The surface is covered with masses
of drift - wood, whole trees, and small islands of branches.
~ow and then a sharp, black, fang-like projection standing
stiffly in the current gives warning of a snag, but the helmsman, who commands the whole course of the river, from an
elevated house amidships on the upper deck, can see these in
time; and at night pine-boughs are lighted in iron cressets at
the bows t6 illuminate the water.
The captain, who was not particular whether his name was
spelt Maher, or Meaher, or Meagher (tes trois se disent), was
evidently a character, -perhaps a good one.  One with a 
THE "SOUTHERN REPU13LIC."
gray eye full of cunning and of some humor, strongly marked
features, and a very Celtic mouth of the Kerry type.  lle
soon attached l~imself to me, and fi~vored me with some wonderf\~l yarns, which I hope he was not foolish enough to think
I believed.  One relating to a wholesale desti'uction and massacre of Indians, he narrated with evident gusto.  Pointing
to one of the bluffs, he said that, some thirty years ago, the
whole of the Indians in the district being surrounded by the
wl~ites, betook themselves to that spot, and remained there
without any means of escape, till they were quite starved out.
So they sent down to know if the whites would let them go,
and it was agreed that they should be permitted to move down
tl~e river in boats.  When the day came, and they were all
afloat, the whites anticipated the boat-massacre of Nana Sahib
at Cawupore, and destroyed the helpless red skins.  Many
hundreds thus perished, and the whole affair was very much
approved of.
The value of land on the sides of fl)is river is great, as it
yields nine to eleven bales of cotton to the acre, - worth ~10
a bale at present prices.  The only evidences of this wealth
to be seen by us consisted of the cotton sheds on the top of
the banks, and slides of timber, with steps at each side down
to the landings, so constructed that the cotton bales could be
shot down on board the vessel.  These shoots and staircases
are generally protected by a roof of planks, and lead to unknown regions inhabited by niggers and their masters, the
latter all talking politics.  They never will, never can be conquered, - nothing on earth could induce them to go back
into the Union.  They will burn every bale of cotton, and
fire every house, and lay waste every field and homestead,
before they will yield to the Yankees.  And so they talk
through the glimmenng of bad cigars for hours.
The management of the boat is dexterous,- as she approaches a landing-place, the helm is put hard over, to the
screaming of the steam-pipe and the wild strains of "Dixie"
fioating out of the throats of the calliope, and as the engines
are detached, one wheel is worked forward, and the other
backs water, so she soon turns head up stream, and is then
gently paddled up to the river bank, to which she is just kept
up by steam - the plank is ruit ashore, and the Tew passengers who are coming in or out are lighted on their way by tlie
flames of pine in an iron basket, swinging above the bow by a
long pole.  Then we see them vanishing into black darkness 
18(3       MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTIL
up the steps, or coming down clearer and clearer till they
stand in the full i)laze of the beacon which casts dark shadows
on the yellow water.  The air is glistening with fire-flies,
which dot the darkness with specks and points of flame, just
as sparks fly through the embers of tinder or half-burnt paper.
Some of the landings were by far more important than
others.  There Were some, for example, where an iron railroad was worked down the bank by windlasses for hoisting
up goods; others where the negroes half-naked leaped ashore,
and ru~hing at piles of firewood, tossed them on board to fee~
tI~e engine, which, all uncovered and open to the lower deck
lighted up the darkness by the glare from the stoke-holes,
which cried forever, " Give, ~give!" as the negroes ceaselessly thrust the pine-beams into their hungry maws.  I could
understand how easily a steamer can "burn up," and how
hopeless escape would be under such circumstances.  The
whole framework of the vessel is of the lightest resinous pine,
so raw that the turpentine oozes out through tlie paint; the
hull is a mere shell.  If the vessel once caught fire, all that
could be done would be to turn her round, and run her to the
bank, in the hope of holding there long enough to enable the
people to escape into the trees; but if she were not near a
landing, m any must be lost; as the bank is steep down, the
vessel cannot be run aground; and in sonie places the trees
are in eight and ten feet of water.  A few minutes would suffice to set the vessel in a blaze from stem to stern; and if there
were cotton on board, the bales would burn almost like powder.  The scene at each landing was repeated, with few variations, ten tinies till we reached Selnia, 110 miles distance, at
11.30 at night.
Selma, which is connected with the Tennessee and Mississippi rivers by railroad, is built upon a steep, lofly bluff, and
the lights in the`~~indows, and the lofty hotels above us, put
me in mind of tlie old town of Edinburgh, seen from Prince's
Street.  Beside us there was a huge storied whaff, so that our
passengers could step on shore from any deck they pleased.
Here Mr. Deasy, being attacked by illness, became alarmed
at the idea of continuing his journey without any opportunity
of medical assistance, and went on shore.
AIa~ 10~. - The cabin of one of these steamers, in the
month of May, is not favorable to sleep.  The wooden beams
of the engines creak and scream "consumedly," and the great
engines themselves throb as if they would break through their 
-  ON BOARD TllE STEAMER.         187
thin, pulse covers of pine, - and the whistle sounds, and the
calliope shrieks out "Dixie" incessantly.  So, ~hen I was up
and dressed, breakf~~'st was over, and I had an opportunity of
seeing the slaves on board, male and female, acting as stew~ards and stewardesses, at their morning meal, which they took
with much good spirits and decorum.  They were nicely
dressed - clean and neat.  I was forced to admit to myself
that their Asliantee grandsires and grandmothers, or their
Kroo and Dahomey progenitors were certainly less comfortable and well clad, and that these slaves had other social advantages, though I could not recognize the force of the Bishop
of Georgia's assertion, that fi-om slavery must come the sole
hope of, and machinery for, the evangelization of Africa.  I
confess I would not' give much for the influence of the stewards and stewardesses in Christianizing the blacks.
The river, the scenery, and the scenes were just the same
as yesterday's - high banks, cotton-slides, wooding stations,
cane brakes   and a very miserable negro population, if the
specimens of women and children at the landings fairly represen ted the mass of the slaves.  They were in strong contrast
to the comfortable, well-dressed domestic slaves on hoard, and
it can well be imagined there is a wide difference between the
classes, and that those condemned to work in the open fields
must suffer exceedingly.
A passenger told us the captain's story.  A number of
planters, the narrator among them, subscribed a thousand dollars each to get up a vessel for the purpose of running a cargo
of slaves, with the understanding they were to pay so much
for the vessel, and so much per head if she succeeded, and so
much if she was taken or lost.  The vessel made her voyage
to the coast, was laden with native Africans, and in due time
made her ~pearance off Mobile.  The collector heard of her,
but, oddly enough, the sheriff was not' abunt at the time, the
United States Marshal was away, and as the vessel could no
be seen next morning, it was fair to suppose she had gone up
the river, or somewhere or another.  But it so happened that
Captain Maher, then commanding a river steamer called the
Czar (a name once very appropriate for the work, but since the
seff emancipation rather out of place), found himself in the
neighborhood of the brig about nightfall; next tnorning, indeed, the Czar was at her moorings in the river; but Captain
Maher began to grow rich, he had fine negroes fresh run on
his land, and bought fresh acres, and finally built the "South 
188         MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH..
ern Republic."  The planters asked him for their share of the
slaves.  Capt~n Maher laughed pleasant)y; he did not under
stand what they meant.  If he had done,anything wrong, they
had their legal remedy.  They were completely beaten; for
they cotiH not have recourse to the tribunals in a ease which
rendered them liable to capital punishment.  And so Captain
Maher, as an act of grace, gave them a few old niggers, and
kept the rest of the cargo.
It was worth while to see the leer with which he listened to
this story about himself. "Wall now! You think them niggers
I've abord came from Africa!  I'll show you.  Jist come up
here, Bully!"  A boy of some twelve years of age, stout, fat,
nearly naked, came up to us; his color was jet black, his wool
close as felt, his cheeks were marked with regular p~rallel
scars, and his teeth very white, looked as if they had been
filed to a point, his belly was slightly protuberant, and his
chest was marked with tracings of tattoo marks.
"Wha~s your name, sir?"
"My name Bully."
"Where were you born?"
"Me born Sout Karliner, sar!'
"There, you see he wasn't taken from Africa," exclaimed
the Captain, knowingly.  "I've a lot of these black South
Caroliny niggers abord, haven't I, Bully?"
"Yas, sar."
"Are you happy, Bully?"
"Yas, sar."
"Show how you're happy."
Here the boy rubbed his stomach, and grinning with delight,
said, "Yummy! yumm~! plenty belly full."
"That's what I call a real happy feelosophical c~ap7' quoth
the Captain.  "I'guess you've got a lot in your country can't
at tkeir stomachs and say,`yummy, yummy, plenty belly
full!'"
"Where did he get those marks on his face?"
"Oh, them?  Wall, it's a way them nigger women has of
marking their children to know them; isn't it, Bully?"
"Yas, sar! me`spose so!"
"And on his chest?"
"Wall, r'ally I do b'l'eve them's marks agin the smallpox."
"Why are his teeth filed?"
"Ah, there now!  You'd never have guessed it; Bully
~one that himself, for the greater ease of biting his vittels." 
MOBILE.                  189
In fact, the lad, and a good many of the hands, were the
results of Captain Mahe?s little sail in the Czar.
~Ye're obleeged to let`em in some times to keep up the
balance agin the niggers you run into Canaydy."
From 1848 to 1852 there were no slaves run; but since
the migrations to Canada and the personal liberty laws, it has
been found profitable to run them.  There is a bucolic ferocity
about these Southern people which will stand them good stead
in the shock of battle.  llow the Spartans would have fought
against any barbarians who came to emancipate their slaves,
or the Romans have smitten those who would manumit slave
and creditor together!
To-night, on the lower deck, amid wood fagots, and barrels,
a dance of negroes was arranged by an enthusiast, who desired
to show how "happy they were."  That is the favorite theme
of the Southerners; the gallant Captain Maher becomes quite
eloquent when he points to Bully's prominent "yummy," and
descants on ~he misery of his condition if he had been left to
the precarious chances of obtaining such developments in his
native land; then turns a quid, and, as if uttering some sacred
refrain to the universal hymn of the South, says, "Yes, sir,
they're the happiest people on the face of the airth!"
There was a fiddler, and also a banjo-player, who played
uncouth music to the clumsiest of dances, which it would be
insulting to compare to the worst Irish jig; and the men with
immense gravity and great effusion of sudor, shu~ed and cut
and heeled and buckled to each other with an overwhelming
solemnity, till the rum-bottle warmed them up to the lighter
graces of the dance, when they became quite overpowerin~.
"Yes, sir, jist look at them, how they're enjoying it; they're
the happiest people on the~face of the airth."  When "woodJug  and firing up, they don't seem to be in the possession of
the same exquisite felicity.
Alay 1 ltk. - At early dawn the steamer went its way
through a broad bay of snags, bordered with dnft-wood, and
with steam-trumpet and calliope announced its arrival at the
quay of Mobile, which presented a fringe of tall warehouses,
and shops along-side, over whidi were names indicating Scotch,
Irish, English, many Spanish, German, Italian, and French
owners.  Captain Maher at once set off to his plantation,
and we des~ended the stories of the walled castle to the beach,
and walked on towards the "Battle llouse," so ~alled from
the name of its propnetor, for Mobile has not yet had its 
190        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
fight, like New Odeans.  The quays, wjiich usually, as we
were told, are lined with stately hulls and a forest of masts,
were deserted; although the port was not actually blockaded,
there were squadrons of the United States ships at Pensacola,
on the east, and at New Orleans, on the west.
The hotel,~a fine building of the American stamp, was the
seat of a Vigilance Committee, and as we put down our names
in the book, they were minutely inspected by some gentlemen
who came out of the parlor.  it was fortunate they did not
find traces of Lincolnism about us, as it appeared by the papers
that they were busy deporting "Abolitionists" after certain
preliminary processes supposed to -
"Give them a rise, and open their eyes
To a sense of their situation."
The citizens were busy in drilling, marching, and drum-beating, and the Confederate flag flew from every spire and
steeple.  The day was so hot, that it was little more inviting
to go out in the sun than it would be in the dogdays at
~Ialaga, to which, by the by, Mobile bears some "kindersorter" resemblance; but, nevertheless, I sallied forth, and
had a drive on a shell road by the head of the bay, where
there were pretty villarettes in charming groves of magnolia,
orange-trees, and lime-oaks.  Wide streets of similar houses
spring out to meet the country through sandy roads; some
worthy of Streatham or Belham, and all surrounded in such
vegetation as Kew might envy.
Many Mobilians called, and among them the mayor, Mr.
Forsyth, in whom I recognized the most remarkable of the
Southern Commissioners I had met at Washington.  Mr.
Magee, the acting British Consul, was also good enough to
wait upon me, with offers of any assistance in his power.  I
hear he has ibost difficult questions to deal with, arising out
of the claims of distressed British subjects, and disputed
nationality.  In the evening, the Consul and Dr. Nott, a
savant, and physician of Mobile, well known to the ethnolo
gists for his work on the "Types of Mankind," written conjointly with the late Mr. Gliddon, dined with me, and I
learned from them that, notwithstanding the intimate commercial relations between Mobile and the great Northern cities1
the people here are of the most ultra-secessionist doctrines
The wealth and manhood of the city will be devoted to repel
the "Lincolnite mercenaries" to the last. 
MOBILE.           1!) 1
After dinner we walked through the city, which abounds in
oyster saloons, drinking.houses, lager-bier and wine shops, and
gambling and dancing places.  The market was well worthy
of a visit - something like St. John's at Liverpool on a Saturday night, crowded with negroes, mulattoes, quadroons, and
mestizos of all sorts, Spanish, Italian, and French, speaking
their own tongues, or a quaint lingua franca, and dressed in
very striking and pretty costumes.  The fruit and vegetable
stalls displayed very fine produce, and some staples, remarkable for novelty, ugliness, and goodness.  After our stroll
we went into one of the great oyster saloons, and in a rooni
up-stairs had opportunity of tasting those great bivalvians
in the form of natural fish puddings, fried in batter, roasted,
stewed, devilled, broiled, and in many other ways, plus raw.
I am bound to observe that the Mobile people ate them as if
there was no blockade, and as though oysters were a specific
for political indigestions and civil wars; a fierce Marseillais
are they - living in the most foreign4ooking city I have yet
seen in the States.  My private room in the hotel was large,
well-lighted with gas, and exceedingly well fun~ished in the
German fashion, with French pendule and mirrors.  The
charge for a private room varies from ~1 to ~1 58. a day; the
bedroom and board are charged separately, from lOs. 6d. to
1 2s. 6d. a day, but meals served in the private room are all
charged extra, and heavily too.  Exclusiveness is an aristocratic taste which must be paid for. 
CllAPTER XXYL
Visit to Forts Gaines and Morgan - War to the knife the cry of the
South - The "State" and the "States "-Bay of Mobile - The
forts and their inmates - Opinions as to an attack on Washington
- Rumors of actual war.
~Ia~ 12th. - Mr. Forsyth had been good enough to invite me
to an excursion down the Bay of Mobile, to the forts built by
Uncle Sam and his French engineers to sink his Bri~shersnow turiied by "C. S. A." against the hated Stars and Stripes.
The mayor and the principal merd~ants and many politicians
- and are not all men politicians in America? - formed the
party.  If any judgment of men's nets can be formed from
their words, the ~Iobilites, who are the representatives of the
third greatest part of the United States, will perish ere they
submit to the Yankees and people of New York.  I have
now been in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and in none of these great States have I found the
least indicati~u of the Union sentiment, or of the attachment
for the Union which Mr. Seward always assumes to exist in
t~e South. If there were any considerable amount of it, I
was in a position as a neutral to have been aware of its existence.
Those who might have at one time opposed secession, have
now bowed their heads to the majesty of the majority; and
with the cowardice, which is the result of the irresponsible
aiid cruel tyranny of the multitude, hasten to swell the cry of
revolution. But the niultitude are the law in the United States.
"There's a divinity doth hedge" the mob here, which is omnipotent and all good. The majority in each State determines its
political status according to Southern views. The Northerners
are endeavoring to maintain that the majority of the people in
the mass of the States generally shall regulate the point for
each State individually and collectively. If there be any party
in the Southern States which thinks such an attempt justifiable,
..` 
FORT GAINES, FORT MORGAN.          193
it sits silent and fearful and hopeless in darkness and sorrow
hid from the light of day. General Scott, who was a short time
ago written of in the usual inflated style, to which respectable
military mediocrity and success are entitled in the States, is
now reviled by the Southern papers as an infamous hoary traitor and the like.  If an officer prefers liis allegiance to the
United States flag, and remains ia the Federal service after
his State has gone out, his property is liable to confiscation by
the State authorities, and his family and kindred are exposed
to the gravest suspicion, and must prove their loyalty by extra zeal in the cause of Secession.
Our merry company comprised naval and military officers
in the service of the Confederate States, journalists, politicians, professional men, merchants, and not one of them had
a word but of hate and execration for the North.  The British and German settlers are quite as vehement as the natives
in upholding States' rights, and among the most ardent upholders of slavery are the Irish proprietors and mercantile
classes.
The Bay of Mobile, which is about thirty miles long, with
a breadth varying from three to seven miles, is formed by the
outfall of tlie Alabama and of the Tombigbee Rivers, and is
shallow and dangerous, ful! of banks and trees, embedded in
the sands; but all large vessels lie at the entrance between
Fort Morgan ai~d Fort Gaines, to the satisfaction of the masters, who are thus spared the trouble with their crews wl~ich
occurs in the low haunts of a maritime town.  The cotton is
sent down in lighters, which employ many hands at high
wages.  Tlie shores ai~e low wooded, and are dotted here and
there with pretty villas; but present no attractive scenery.
The sea-breeze somewhat alleviated the fierceness of the
sun, which was however too hot to be quite agreeable.  Our
stiatner crowded to tlie sponsons, made little way against the
ti~le; but at length, after nearky four hours' sail, we l~auled up
alot~g-side a jetty at Fort Gaines, whicit is on tlie right hand or
western exit of the harbor, and would command, were it finislied, the light-draft channel; it is now merely a shell of
masonry, but Colonel Hat-dee, who has chat-ge of the defences
of ~Iobile, told me that they would flnish it speedily.
The Colonel is an agreeable, delicate4ooking man, scarcely
of middle age, and is well known in the States as the author
of "The Tactics," which is, however, merely a translation of
flie French manual of arms.  He does not appear to be pos                  9 
19~        M? DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
sessed of any great energy or capacity, but is, no doubt, a
respectable officer.
Upon landing we found a small body of men on guard in
the fort.  A few cannon of moderate calibre were mounted on
the sand-hills and on the beach.  N\Te entered the unfinished
work, and were received with a salute.  The men felt difficulty
in combining discipline wid~ citizenship. They were`bored
with their sand-hill, and one of them asked me when I "thought
them damned Yankees were coming.  IJe wanted to touch off
a few pills he knew would be good for their complaint.'  I
must say I could sympathize with the feelings of the young
officer who said he would sooner have a day with the Lincolnites, than a week with the mosquitoes for which this locality is
fitmous.
From Fort Gaines the steamer ran across to Fort ~Iorgan,
about three miles distant, passing in its way seven vessels,
mostly Bi~itish, at anchor, where hundreds may be seen, I am
told, dunug the cotton season.  This work has a formidable
sea face, and may give great trouble to Uncle Sam, when he
wants to visit his loving subjects in ~Iobile in his gunboats. It
is the work of Bernard, I presume, and like most of his designs
has a weak long base towards the land; but it is provided with
a wet ditch and drawbridge, with de mi lunes covering the curtains, and has a regular bastioned trace.  It has one row of
casemates,`armed with thirty-two and forty-two pounders. The
barbette guns are eight-inch and ten-inch guns; the external
works at the salients, are armed with howitzers and field-pieces,
and as we crossed the drawbridge, a salute was fired from a
field battery, on a flanking bastion, in our honor.
Inside the work was crammed with men, some of whoni
slept in the case mates - others in tents in the parade ground~
and enceinte of the fort.  They were Alabama Volunteers,
and as sturdy a lot of fellows as ever shouldered musket;
dressed in homespun coarse gray suits, with blue and yellow
worsted facings and stripes   to European eyes not very respectful to the~r officers, but very obedient, I am told, and very
peremptorily ordered about, as I heard.
There were 700 or 800 men in the work, and an undue
proportion of officers, all of whom were introduced to the
strangers in turn.  The officers were a very gentlemanly,
nice-looking set of young fellows, and several of them had
just come over from Europe to take up arms for their State.
I forget the name of the officer in command, though I cannot 
~WS FflOM THE NORTH.            195
forget his courtesy, nor an excellent lunch he gave us in his
casemate after a 100t walk round the parapets, and some practice with solid shot from the barbette guns, which did not tend
to make me think much of the greatly-be-ptaised Columbiads.
One of the officers named ~Iaury, a relative of "deep-sea
~Iaury," struck me as an ingenious and clever officer; the
utmost harmony, kindliness, and devotion to the cause prevailed
among the garrison, from the chief down to the youngest ensign.  In its present state the Fort would suffer exceedingly
from a heavy bombardment - the magazines would be in
danger, and the traverses are inadequate.  All the barracks
and wooden buildings should be destroyed if t~iey wish to
avoid the fate of Sumter.
On our cruise homewards, in the enjoyment of a cold dinner, we had the inevitable discussion of the Northern and
Southern contest.  ~1r. Forsyth, the editor and proprietor of
the "~Iobile Register," is impassioned for the cause, though
he was not at one time considered a pure Southerner.  There
is difference of opinion relative to an attack on Washington.
General St. George Cooke, commanding tlie army of Yir~4nia
on the Potomac, declares there is no intention of attacking it,
or any place outside the limits of that free and sovereign State.
But then the conduct of the Federal Government in ~Iaryland is considered by the more fiery Southerners to justify the
expul~ion of "Lincoln and his IMyrmidons," "the Border
Ruffians and Cassius ~. Clay," from the capital.  Butler has
seized on the Relay House, on the junction of the Baltimore
and Ohio Railroad, with the rail from Washington, and lias
displayed a good deal of vigor since his arrival at Annapolis.
He is a Democrat, and a celebrated criminal lawyer in j~Iassachusetts.  Troops are pouring into New York, and are preparing to attack Alexandria, on the Virginia side, below
Washington and the Navy Yard, where a large Confederate
flag is flying, which can be seen from the President's windows
in tlie N\rhite House.
There is a secret soreness even here at the s~nall effect
produced in England compared with what they anticipated by
the attack on Sumter; but hopes are excited that ~Ij~. Gregory, who was travelling tl~rough the States some time ago,
will have a strong party to support his forthcoming motion
for a recognition of the South.  The next conflict which takes
place will be more bloody than that at Sumter.  The gladia
tors are approaching - Washington, Annapolis, Pennsylvania 
19(3      MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
are military departments, each with a chief and Staff, to which
is now added that of Ohio, under ~Thjor G. B. McClellan,
Major-General of Ohio Volunteers at Cincinnati.  The autl~orities on each side are busy administering oaths of alle n ce.
The harbor of Charleston is reported to be under blockade
by the Niagara steam frigate; and a fbrce of United States
troops at St. Louis, Missouri, under Captain Lyon, has attacked and dispersed a body of State Militia under one Brigadie i-General Frost, to the intense indignation of all Mobile.
Tlie argument is, that Missouri gave up the St. Louis Arsenal
to the United States Government, and could take it back if
she pleased, and was certainly competent to prevent the
United States troops stirring beyond the Arsenal. 
CllAPTER XXVIL
rensacola and Fort Fickens - Neutrals and their friends - Coasting
- Sharks - The blockading fleet - The stars and stripes, and
stars aiid bars - Domestic feuds caused by the war - Captain
Adams and General Bragg - Interior of Fort Pickens.
~~a~ I3di. - 1 was busy making arrangements to get to
Pensacola, and Fort Pickens, all day.  Tiie land journey was
represented as being most tedious and excee4ingly comfortless
in all respects, through a waste of sand, in which we ran tlie
chance of being smothered or lost.  And then I had set my
mind on seeing Fort Pickens as well as Pensacola, and it
would be difficult, to say the least of it, to get across from an
-enemy's camp to the Federal fortress, and then return again.
The United States squadron blockaded the port of Pensacola,
but I thought it likely they would permit me to run in to visit
Fort Pickens, and that the Federals would allow me to sail
thence across to General Bragg, as il~ey niight be assured I
wouM not communicate any information of what I had seen iii
my character as neutral to any but the journal in Lurope,
which I represented, and in the interests of which I was
bound to see arid report all that I could as to the state of both
parties.  It was, at all events, worth while to make the attem~)t, and afier a long search I heard of a schooner which
was ready for the voyage at a reasonable rate, all things considered.
~Ir. Forsyth asked if I had any objection to take with me
three gentlemen of ~Iobile, who were anxious to be of the
party, as they wanted to see their friends at Pensacola, where
it was believed a "fight" was to come off immediately.  Since
I came South I have seen the daily announcement that' Bnixton
Bragg is ready," and his present state of preparation ~nust be
beyond all conception.  But here was a difficutty.  I told ~fr.
Forsyth that I could not possibly assent to any persons coming
with me who were not neutrals, or prepared to adhe,re to tlie
obligations of neutrals.  There was a suggestion that I should
say these gentlemen were my friends, but as I had only seen 
198        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
two of them on board the steamer yesterday, I could not accede to tl~at idea.  "Thea if you are asked if Mr. Ravesies
is your friend, you will say he is not."  " Certainly."  "But
surely you don't wish to have Mr. Ravesies hanged?"  "No,
I do not, and I shall do nothing to cause him to be hanged;
but if he meets that fate by his own act, I can't help it.  I
will not allow him to accompany me under false pretences."
At last it was agreed tbat Mr. Ravesies and his friends, Mr.
Bartre' and Mr. Lynes, being in no way employed by or connected with the Confederate Government, should have a place
in the little Scl)ooner which we had picked out at the quayside
and hired for the occasion, and go on the voyage with the plaia
understanding that they were to accept all the consequences of
bein~ citizens of Mobile.
Mr. Forsyth, Mr. Ravesies, and a couple of gentlemei~
dined with me ia the evening.  After dinner., Mr. Forsyth,
who, as mayor of the town, is the Executive of the Vigilance
Committee, took a copy of "Harper's Illustrated Paper,"
which is a very poor imitation of the "London Illustrated
News," and called my attention to the announcement that Mr.
Moses, their special artist, was travelling with me ia the
South, as well as to an engraving, which purported to be by
Moses aforesaid.  I could only say that I knew nothing of the
young designer, except what he told me, and that he led me
to believe he was furnishing sketches to the "London News."
As he was in the hotel, though he did not live with me, I sent
for him, and the young gentleman, who was very pale and
agitated on being shown the advertisement and sketch, declared
that he had renounced all connection with Harper, that he
was sketching for the "Illustrated London News," and that
the advertisement was contrary to fact, and utterly unknowa
to him; and so he was let go forth, and retired uneasily.
Afier dinner I went to the Bienville Club.  "Rule No. 1 "is,
"No gentleman shall be admitted ia a state of intoxication."
The club very social, very small, and very hospitable.
Later paid my respects to Mrs. Forsyth, whom I found
anxiously waiting for news of her young son, who had gone
off to join tl~e Confederate Army.  She told me that nearly
all the ladies ia ~Iobile are engaged in making cartridges,
and in prepaflag lint or clothing for the army.  Not the
~mallest fear is entertained for the swarming black population.
May l4tk.   Dowa to our yacht, the Diana, which is to be
ready this afternoon, and saw her cleared out a little  a 
TIlE NIGHT CRUISE.            190
broad-beamed, flat-floored schooner, some fifty tons burden,
with a centre-board, badly calked, and dirty enough - unfamiliar with paint.  The skipper was a long.legged, ungainly
young fellow, wit h long hair and an inexpressive face, just relieved by the twinkle of a very "Yankee" eye; but that was
all of the hated creature about him, for a more earnest seceder
I never heard.
His crew consisted of three rough, mechanical sort of men
and a negro cook.  Having freighted the vessel with a small
stock of stores, a British flag, kindly lent by the acting Consul, Mr. Magee, and a tablec]oth to serve as a flag of truce,
our party, consisting of the gentlemen previously named, Mr.
~Yard, and the young artist, weighed from the quay of Mobile
at five o'clock in the evening, with the manifest approbation
of the small crowd who had assembled to see us off; the rumor
having spread through the town that we were bound to see
the great fight.  The breeze was favorable and steady; at
nine o'clock, P. M., the lights of Fort Morgan were on our
port beam, and for some time we were expecting to see the
flash of a gun, as the skipper confidently declared they would
never allow us to pass unchallenged.
The darkness of the night might possibly have favored us,
or the sentries were remiss; at all events, we were soon creeping through the "S wash," which is a narrow channel over
the bar, through wliich our skipper worked us by means of a
sounding pole.  The air was delightful, and blew directly off
the low shore, in a line parallel to which we were moving.
~Vhen the evening vapors passed away, the stars shone out
brilliantly, and though the wind was strong, and sent us at a
good eight knots through the water, there was scarcely a ripple on the sea.  Our course lay within a quarter of a mile of
th~ shore, which looked like a white ribbon fringed with fire,
from the ceaseless play of the phosphorescent surf.  Above thi~
belt of sand rose the black, jagged outlines of a pine forest,
through which steal immense lagoons and marshy creeks.
Driftwood and trees strew the beach, and from Fort Morgan, for forty miles, to the entrance of Pensacola, not a human
habitation disturbs the domain sacred to alligators, serpents,
pelicans, and ~Yild-fowl.  Some of the lagoons, like the Perdida, swell into inland seas, deep buried in pine woods, and
known only to the wild creatures swarming along its brink
and in its waters; once, if report says true, frequented, however, by the filibusters and by the pirates of the Spanish
Main. 
200        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
If the mosquitoes were as numerous and as persecuting in
those days as they are at present, the most adventurous youth
would have soon repented the infatuation which led l~im to
joia the brethren of the ~Jain.  The mosquito is a great
enemy to romance, and our skipper tells us that there is no
such place known in the world for th~m as this coast.
As the Diana ~ew along tl~e gi~im sl~ore, we l~y listlessly
on the deck admiring tlie excessive brightness of the stars, or
watching the trailing fire of her wake.  Now and then great
lish tIew off from the shallows, cleaving their path in flame;
and one shining gleam came up from leeward like a watery
comet, till its horrible outline was revealed close to us -- a
monster shark - which accompanied us with an easy play of
the fin, distinctly visible in the wonderfi~l phosphorescence,
now shooting on ahead, now dropping astern, till suddenly it
dashed off seaward with tremendous rapidity and strength
on some errand of destruction, and vanished in the waste of
waters.  Despite the multitudes of fish on the coast, the
Spaniards who colonize this ill-named Florida must have had
a trying life of it between the Indians, now hunted to death -
or exiled by rigorous Uncle Sam, the mosquitoes, and the
numberless plagues which abound along these shores.
1lour after hour.passed watching the play of large fish and
the surf on the beach; one by one the cigar-ligl~ts died out;
and muffling ourselves up on deck, or creeping into the little
cabin, the party slumbered.  I was awoke by the Captain
talking to one of his hands close to me, and on looking up saw
that`he was staring through a wonderful black tube, which he
denominated his "tallowscope,' at the shore.
Looking in the direction, I observed the glare of a fire in
the wood, which on examination through an opera-glass re- -
solved iLself into a steady central light, with some smaller
specks around it.  "Wa'll," said the Captain, "I guess it is
just some of them d-d Yankees as is landed from their
tarnation boats, and is`conoitering' for a road to ~Iobile."
There was an old iron carronade on board, and it struck me
as a curious exemplification of the recklessness of our American cousins, when the skipper said, "Let us put a bag of
bullets in the ould gun, and touch it off at them;" which he
no doubt would have done, seco~ded by one of our party, who
drew his revolver to contribute to the broadside, but that I
represented to them it was just as likely to be a party out from
the camp at Pensacola, and that, anyhow, I strongly objected 
FORT M~RAE AND FORT PICKENS.       201
-to any belligerent act whilst I was on board.  It was very
probably, indeed, the watehfire of a Confederate patrol, for
the gentry of the country have formed themselves into a body
of regular cavalry for such service; but the skipper declared
that our chaps knew better than to be showing their lights in
that way, when we were within ten miles of the entrance to
Pensacola.
The skipper lay4o, as he, very wisely, did not like to run
into the centre of the United States squadron at night; but
Just at the first glimpse of dawn the Diana resumed her
course, and bowled along merrily till, with the first rays of
the sun, Fort M'Rae, Fort Pick ens, and the masts of the
squadron were visible ahead, rising above the blended horizon of land and sea.  We drew upon them rapidly, and soon
could make out the nval flags - the Stars and Bars and Stars
and Sti~ipes - flouting defiance at each other.
On the land side on our left is Fort M'Rne, and on the end
of the' sand-bank, called Santa Rosa Island, directly opposite,
rises the outline of the much-talked-of Fort Pickens, which is
not unlike Fort Paul on a small scale.  Through the glass
the blockading squadron is seen to consist of a sailing frigate,
a sloop, and three steamers; and as we are scrutinizing them,
a small schooner glides from under the sli~lter of the guardship, and makes towards us like a hawk on a sparrow.  lland
over hand she comes, a great swaggering ensign at her peak,
and a gun all ready at her bow; and rounding up along-side
us a boat manned by four men is lowered, an officer jumps in,
and is soon under our counter. The officer, a bluff, sailor-like
looking fellow, in a uniform a little the worse for wear, and
wearing his beard as officers of the United States navy generally do, fixed his eye upon the skipper - who did not seem
quite at his ease, and had, indeed, confessed to us that he had
been warned off by the Oriental, as the tender was named,
only a short time before - and said, "Hallo, sir, I think I
have seen you before: what schooner is this?"  "The Diana
of Mobile."  "I thought so."  Stepping on deck, he said,
"Genflemen, I am Mr. Brown, Master in the United States
navy, in charge of the boarding schooner Oriental~' We each
gave our names; whereupon Mn Brown says, "I have no
doubt it will be all right, be good enough to let me have your
papers. And now, sir, make sail, and lie-to under the quarter
of that steamer there, the Powbattan."  The Captain did not
look at all happy when the officer called his attention to the
9* 
202        MY`DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
indorsement on his papers; nor did tbe Mobile party seem
very comfortable when he remarked, "I suppose, gentlemen,
you are quite well aware there is a strict blockade of this
port?"
In half an hour the s4~oone'r lay under the guns of the
Powhattan, which is a stumpy, thick-set, powerful steamer of
the old paddle-wheel kind, something like the Leopard.  We
proceeded along-side in the cutter's boat, and were ushered
into the. cabin, where the officer commanding, Lieutenant
David Porter, received us, begged us to be seated, and then
inquired into il~e object of our visit, which he communicated
to the flag-ship by signal, in order to get instructions as to
our disposal.  Nothing could exceed his courtesy; and I was
most favorably impressed by himself~~ his officers, and crew.
lie took me over the ship, which is armed with ten4nch DahIgrens and eleven-inch pivot guns, with rifled field-pieces and
howitzers on the sponsons.  Her boarding nettings were triced
up, bows and weak portions padded with dead wood and old
sails, and everything ready for action.
Lieutenant Porter has been in and out of the harbor examining the enemy's works at all hours of the night, and he
has marked off ona the chart, as he showed me, the bearings
of the various spots where he can sweep or enfilade their
works.  The crew, all things considered, were very clean,
and their rersonnel exceedingly fine.
We were not the only prize that was made by the Oriental
this morning.  A ragged little schooner lay at the other side
of the Powhattan, the master of which stood rubbing his
knuckles into his eyes, and uttering dolorous expressions in
broken ~nglish and Italian, for he was a noble Roman of
Civita Veechia.  Lieutenant Porter let me into the secret.
These small traders at Mobile, pretending great zeal for the
Confederate cause, load their vessels with fruit, vegetables,
and things of whid~ they know the squadron is much in want,
as well as the garrison of the Confederate fort~  Tl~ey set
out with tlie most valiant intention of runnin~ the blockade,
and are duly captured by tiie squadron, the officers of which
are only too glad to pay fair prices for the cargoes.  They
return to Mobile, keep their money in their pockets, and declare they have been plundered by the Yankees.  If they
get in, they demand still higher prices from the Confederates,
and lay claim to the most exalted patriotism.
By signal from the flag-ship, Sabine, we were ordered to 
TllE FLA~SHIP.            203
repair on board to see the senior officer, Captain Adams; and
for the first time since I trod il~e deck of the old Leander in
Balakiava harbor, I stood on board a fify-gun sailin~ fri~te.
Ca1~ain Adams, a gray-haired veteran of very gentle manners and great urbanity received us in his cabin, and listened
to my explanation of the cause of my visit witlj interest.
About myself there was ilo difficulty; but he very justly observed he di(t not think it would be right to let the gentle
men from ThIobile examine Fort PiA~ens, and then go amon~
the Confederate camps.  I am bound to say these gentlemen
carcely seemed to desire or anticipate sud~ a favor.
Major Vogdes, an engineer officer from the fort, who happened to be on board, volunteered to take a letter from me to
Colonel Harvey Browne, requesting permission to visit it;
and I finally arranged with Captain Adams that the Diana
was to be permitted to pass the blockade into Pensacola barbor, and thence to return to Mobile, my visit to Pickens depending on the pleasure of tlie Commandant of the place.
"I fear, Mn Russell," said Captain Adams, "in giving you
this permission, I expose myself to misrepresentation and unfounded attacks.  Gentlemen of the press in our country care
little about private character, and are, I fear, rather unscrupulous in what they say; but I rely upon your character that no
improper use shall be made of this permission.  You must
hoist a flag of truce, as General Bragg, who commands over
there, has sent me word he considers our blockade a declaration of war, and will fire upon any vessel which approaches him
from our fleet.
In tl~e course of conversation, whilst treating me to such
man-of-war luxuries as the friendly officer had at ijis disposal,
he gave me an illustration of the miseries of this cruel conflict - of the unspeakable desolation of. homes, of the bitterness of feeling engendered in fi~milies.  A Pennsylvanian by
birth, he married long ago a lady of Louisiana, where he resided on his plantation till his Ship was commissioned.  He
was absent on foreign service when the feud first began, and
received orders at sea, on the South American statio~~, to repair direct to blockade Pensacola.  He has just heard that
one of his sons is enlisted in the Confederate army, and that
two others have joined the forces in Virginia; and as he said
sadly, " God knows, when I open my broadside, but that I
may be killing my own children."   But that was not all.
One of the Mobile gentlemen brought him a letter from his 
204        MY DIARY NORTIl AND SOUTll.
daughter, in which she informs him that she has been elected
vivandiere to a New Orleans regiment, with which slie intends
to push on to ~Yishington, and get a lock ot old Abe Lincoln's
hair; and the letter concluded with the charitable wish that
h~r father might starve to death if he persisted in his wicked
blockade.  But not the less determined was the gallant old
sailor to do his duty.
~Ir. ~Tard, one of my companions, had sailed in the Sabine
in the Paraguay expedition, and I availed myself of his acquaintai)ce with his old comrades to take a glance round the
ship.  Whei~ver they came from,(fi~ur hundred more sailorlike, strong handy young fellows could not be seen than the
crew) and tlie officers were as hospitable as their limited resources in whiskey grog, cheese, and junk allowed them to be.
~Yith thanks for his kindness`and courtesy, I parted from
Captain Adams, feeling more than ever the terrible and earnest nature of the impending conflict.  ~Iay the kindly good
old man be shielded on the day of battle!
A ten-oared barge conveyed us to the Oriental, which, with
flowing sheet, ran down to the Powbattan.  There I saw Captain Porter, and told him that Captain Adams had given me
permission to visit the Confederate camp, and that I had written for leave to go on shore at Fort Pick ens.  An officer was
in his cabin, to whom I was introduced as Captain Poore, of
the Brooklyn.  "You don't mean to say, ~Ir. Russell," said
lie, "that these editors of Southern newspapers who are with
you have leave to go on shore?"  This was rather a fishiiig
question.  "I assure you, Captain Poore, that there is no
editor of a Southern newspaper in my company."
The boat which took us from the Powhattan to the Diana
was in charge of a young officer related to Captain Porter,
who amused me by ~lie spirit with which he bandied remarks
about the war with the 1~Iobile men, who had now recovered
their equanimity, and were indulging in what is called chaff
about the blockade.  "~Yell," he said, "you were the first to
begin it; let us see whether you won't be the first to leave it
off.  L guess our Northern ice will pretty soon put out your
Southern fire."
When we came on board, the sk~pper heard our orders to
up stick and away with an air o~f pity and incredulity; nor
was it till I had repeated it, he kicked up his crew from their
sleep on deck, and with a "`Ya'll, really, I never did see sicli
a thing!" made sail towards the entrance to the harbor. 
THE FLAG OF TRUCE.           205
As we got abreast of Fort Piekens, I ordered tablecloth
No. 1 to be hoisted to the peak; and through the glass I saw
that our appearance atti~acted no ordinary attention from tlie
garrison of Pickens clo~e at hand on our right, and the more
distant Confederates on Fort AI'Rae and the sand-hills on our
left.  The latter work is weak and badly built, quite under the
command of Pickens, but it is supported by tlie old Spanish
fort of Barrancas U ~)0n high ground further inland, and by numeroiis batteries at the water-line and partly conceMed amidst
the woods which fi~inge the shore as flir as tlie navy yard of
~Yarrington, near Pensacola.  The wind was light, but the
tide bore us onwards towards the Confederate woi~ks.  Arias
glanced in the blazing sun where regiments were engaged at
drill, clouds of~~ist rose from the sandy roads, horsemen riding
along the beach, groups of men in uniform, gave a   martial appearance to the place in unison with the black muzzles of the
guns which peeped from the white sand batteries from the entrance of the l~arbor to the navy yard now close at hand.  As
at Sumter ~1ajor Anderson permitted the Carolinians to erect
the batteries he might have so readily destroyed in the commencement, so the Federal officers here have allowed General
Bragg to work away at his leisure, mounting cannon' afier
cannon, throwing up earthworks, and strengthening his batteries, till he has assumed so formidable an attitude, that I doubt
very much whether the fort and the fleet combined can silence
his fire.
On the low shore close to us were numerous wooden houses
and detached villas, surrounded by orange groves. At last the
captain let go liis anchor off the end of a wooden jetty, which
was crowded with ammunition, shot, shell, casks of provisions,
and commissariat stores. A small steamer was engaged in adding to the collection, and numerous light craft gave evidence
that all trade liad not ceased.  Indeed, inside Santa Rosa Island, which runs for forty-five miles from Pickens eastward
parallel to the shore, there is a considerable coasting traffic
carried on for the benefit of the Confederates.
The skipper went ashore with my letters to General Bragg,
and speedily returned with an orderly, who brought permis
s~on for tlie Diana to come along.side the wharf.  The ~Iobile
gentlenien were soon on shore, eager to seek their friends
and in a few seconds the officer of the quartermaster-general's
department on duty came on board to conduct me to the
officers' quarters, whilst waiting for my reply from General
Bragg. 
206        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
The navy yard is surrounded by a high wall, floe gates
closely guarded by sentries; the houses, gardens, workshops,
factories, forges slips, and building sheds are complete of
their kind, and cover upwards of three hundred acres; and
with the forts which protect the entrance, cost the United
States Government not less than six millions sterling.  Iu side
these was the greatest activity and life, - Zouave, Chasseuns,
and all kind of military eccenfricities - were drilling, parading, exercising, sitting ia the shade, loading tumbnls, playing
eards, or sleeping on the grass. Tents were pitched under tlie
trees and on the little lawns and grass-covered quadrangles.
The houses, each numbered and marked with the name of the
flinctionary to whose use it was assigned, were models of neatness, with gardens in front, filled with glonous tropical flowers.
They were painted green and white, provided with porticoes,
Venetian blinds, verandas, and colonnades, to protect the inmates as much as possible from the blazing sun, which in the
dog-days is worthy of Calcutta.  The old Fulton is the only
ship oa the stocks.  From the naval arsenal quantities of shot
and shell are constantly pouring to the batteries.  Piles of
cannon-balls dot the grounds, but the only ordnance I saw
were two old mortars placed as ornaments in the main avenue,
one dated 1776.
The quartermaster conducted me through shady walks into
one of the houses, then into a long room, and presented me
en masse to a body of officers, mostly belonging to a Zouave
regiment from New Orleans, who were seated at a very cornfortable dinner, with abundance of champagne, claret, beer,
and ice.  They were all young, full of life and spirits, except
three or four graver and older men, who were Europeans.
One, a Dane, had fought against the Prussians and SchleswigIlolsteiners at Idstedt and Friederichstadt; another, an Italian, seemed to have been engaged indifferently in fighting all
over the South American continent; a third, a Pole, had been -
at Comorn, and l~ad participated in the revolutionary guerrilla
of 1848.  From these officers I lean~ed that Mr. Jefferson
Davis, his wife, Mr. Wigfall, and Mr. Mallory, Secretary of
the Navy, hid come down from Montgomery, and had been
visiting the works all day.
Every one here believes the attack so long threatened is to
come off at last and at once.
After dinner an aide-de-camp from General Bragg entered
with a request that I would accompany him to the command 
GENERAL BRAGG ON SLAVERY.         207
ing officer's quarters.  As the sand outside the navy yard was
deep, and rendered walking very disagreeable, the young
officer stopped a cart, into which we got, and were proceeding
on our way, when a tall, elderly man, in a blue fr6ck-coat with
a ~old star on the shoulder, trousers with a gold stripe and
girt buttons rode past, followed by an orderly, wlio looked
more like a dragoon than anything I have yet seen in the
States.  "There's General Bragg," quoth the aide, and I was
duly presented to the General, who reined up by the wagon.
He sent his orderly off at once for a light cart drawn by a
pair of mules, in which I completed my journey, and was
safely decarted at the door of a substantial house surrounded
by trees of lime, oak, and sycamore.
Led horses and orderlies thronged the front of the portico,
and gave it the usual head-quarters4ike aspect. General Bragg
received me at the steps, and took me to his private room,
where we remained for a long time in conversation.  He had
retired from the United States army after the Mexican war
in which, by the way, he played a distinguished part, his name
being generally coupled with the phrase "a little more grape,
Captain Bragg," used in one of tlie hottest encounters of that
campaign - to his plantation in Louisiana; but suddenly the
Northern States declared their intention of using force to free
and sovereign States, which were exercising their constitutional rights to secede from the Federal Union.
Neither he nor liis family were responsible for the system
of slavery.  His ancestors found it established by law and
flourishing, and had left him property, consisting of slaves,
which was granted to him by the laws and constitution of the
United States.  Slaves were necessary for the actual cultivation of tlie soil in the South; Europeans and Yankees who
settled there speedily became convinced of- that; and if a
Northern population were settled in Louisiana to-morrow, they
would discover that they must till the land by the labor of the
black race, and that the only mode of making the black race
work, was to hold them in a condition of involu~~tary servitude.
"Only the other day, Colonel Harvey Browne, at Pickens,
over the way, carried off a number of negroes from Tortugas,
and put them to work at Santa Rosa.  Why?  Because his
white soldiers were not able for it.  No.  The North was
bent on subjugating the South, and as long as he had a drop
of blood in his body, he would resist such an infamous attempt." 
208        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
Before supper General Bragg opened his maps, and pointed
out to me in detail the position of all his works, the line of fire
of each gun, and the particular object to be expected from its
effects.  "I know every inch of Pickens," he said, "for I hap
pened to be stationed there as soon as I left N\~est Point, and I
don't think there is a stone in it that I am not as well acquainted with as Harvey Browne."
His staff~ consisting of. four intelligent young men, two of
them lately belonging to the United States army, supped with
us, and after a very agreeable evening, horses were ordered
round to the door, and I returned to the navy yard attende~
by the General's orderly, and provided with a pass and countersign.  As a mark of complete confidence, General Bragg
told i~e, for my private ear, that he had no present intention
whatever of opening fire, and that his batteries were far from
being in a state, either as regards armnment or ammunition,
which would justify him in meeting the fire of the forts and
the ships.
And so we bade good-by.  "To-morrow," said the General,
"I will send down one of my best horses and Mr. Ellis, my
aide-de-camp, to take you over all the works and batteries."
As I rode home with my honest orderly beside instead of behind me, for he was of a conversational turn, I was much perplexed in my mind, endeavoring to determine which was right
and which was wrong in this quarrel, and at last, as at Montgomery, I was forced to ask myselt if right and wrong were
geographical expressions depending for extension or limitation
on certain conditions of climate and lines of latitude and longitude.  Here was the General's orderly beside me, an intelligent middle-aged man, who had come to do battle with as
much sincerity - ay, and religious confidence - as ever actuated old John~Brown or any New England puritan to make
war against slavery.  "I have left my old woman and the
d~ildren to the care of the niggers  I have turned up all my
cotton land and planted it with corn, and I don't intend to go
back alive till I've seen the back of tl~e last Yankee in our
Southern States."  "And are wife and children alone with the
negroes?"  "Yes, sir.  There's only one white man on the
plantation, an overseer sort of chap." "Are not you afraid of
the slaves rising?"  "Tl~ey're ignorant poor creati~res, to be
sure, but as yet they're faithful.  Any way, I put my trust in
God, and I know he'll watch over the house while I'm away
fighting for this good cause!"  This man came from Missis 
ON 3OARD THE~SCHOONRR.         20~
sippi, and had twenty.five slaves, which represented a money
value of at least ~5000.  He was beyond the age of enthusiasm, and was actuated, no doubt, by strong principles, to him
unquestion~ble and sacred.
~Iy pass and countersign, which were only once demanded,
took fl)C tiii'ough the sentries, and I got on board the schooner
shortly beibre midnight, and found nearly all the party on
de~k, ei~chanted with their reception.  ~1ore tl~an oi~ce we
were awoke by the vigilant sentries, who would not let what
Americans call "the balance" of our friends on board till
they had seen my authority to receive them. 
CllAPTER XXVIII.
J3itters before breakfast - An old Crimean acquaintance - Eartbworks
and batteries - Estimate of cannons - Magazines - Hospitality -
English and American introductions and leave-takings - For
Pickens; its interior - Return toward Mobile - Pursued by ~
strange sail - Running tbe blockade - Landing at Mobile.
May 16th. - The reveille' of the Zouaves, note for note the
same as that which, in the Crimea, so often woke up poor
fellows ~vho slept the long sleep ere nightfall, roused us this
morning early, and then the clang of trumpets and the roll of
drums beating French calls summoned the volunteers to early
parade.  As il~ere was a heavy dew, and many winged things
about last night, I turned in to my berth below, where four
human beings were supposed to lie in layers, like mummies
beneath a pyramid, ai?d there, after contention with cockroaches, sank to rest. No wonder I was rather puzzled to kn~w
where I was now; for in addition to the music and the familiar sounds outside, I was somewhat perturbed in my mental
calculations by bringing my head sharply in contact with a
beam of the deck which had the best of it; but, at last,
facts accomplished themselves and got into place, much aided
by the appearance of the negro cook with a cup of coffee in
his hand, who asked, "Mosien! Capitaine vant to ax vedder
you take some bitter, sar! Lisbon bitter, sar."  I saw the
captain on deck busily engaged in the manufacture of a liquid
which I was adjured by all the party on deck to take, if I
wished to make a Redan or a Malakoff of my stomach, and
accordingly I swallowed a retit verre of a very strong, and
intensely bitter preparation of brandy and tonic roots, sweetened with sugar, for which Mobile is famous.
The noise of our arrival had gone abroad; haply the
report of the good things with which the men of Mobile had
laden the craft, for a few officers came aboard even at that
early hour, and we asked two who were known to our friends
to stay for breakfast.  That meal, to which the negro cook
applied hi~ whole mind and all the galley, consisted of an 
A FRIEND FROM THE CRIMEA.          211
ugly looking but well-~avored fish from the waters outside us,
fried barn and onions, biscuit, coffee, iced water and Bordeaux,
served with charming simplicity, and no way calculated to
move the ire of Horace by a display of Persic apparatus.
A more greasy, oniony meal was never better enjoyed.
One of our guests was a jolly Yorkshire farmer4ooking man,
up to about 16 stone weight, with any hounds, dressed in a
tunic of green baize or frieze, with scarlet worsted braid
down the front, gold lace on the cuffs and collar, and a felt
wide-awake, with a bunch of feathers in it.  He wiped the
sweat off his brow, and swore that he would never give in,
and that the whole of the company of riflemen whom he
commanded, if not as heavy, were quite as patriotic.  He was
evidently a kindly affectionate man, without a trace of malice
in his composition, but his sentiments were quite ferocious
when lie came to speak of the Yankees.  He was a large
slave-owner, and therefore a man of fortune, and he spoke
with all the fervor of a capitalist menaced by a set of Red
Republicans.
His companion, who wore a plain blue uniform, spoke sensibly about a matter with which sense has rarely any thing to
do - namely uniform.  ~Iany of the United States volunteers
adopt the same gray colors so much in vogue among the Co~fe<lerates.  The officers of both armies wear similar distin
-guishing marks of rank, and he was quite right in supposing
that in night marches, or in serious actions on a large scale,
much confusion and loss would be caused by men of the same
army firing on each other, or mistaking enemies for friends.
Whilst we were talking, large shoals of mullet and other
fish were flying before the porpoises, red fish, and other enemies, in the tide-way astern of the schooner.  Once, as a
large white fish came leaping up to the surface, a gleam of
something still whiter shot through the waves, and a boiling
whid, tinged with crimson, which gradually melted off in the
tide, marked where the fish had been.
"There's a ground sheark as has got his breakfast," quoth
the Skipper.  "There's quite a many of them about here."
Now and then a turtle showed his head, exciting desidernwm
tam cari captis, above the envied flood which he honored with
his presence.
Far away toward Pensacola, floated three British ensigns,
from as many merchantmen, which as yet had fifteen days to
clear out from the blockaded port.  Fort Pickens had hoisted 
212        MY DIAR? NORTH AND SOUTH.
the stars and stripes to the wind, and Fort M'Rae, as if to
irritate its neighbor, displayed a flag almost identical, but for
the "lone star," which the glass detected instead of the ordinary galaxy - the star of Florida.
Lieutenant Ellis, General Bragg's aide-dc-camp, came on
board at an early hour in order to take me round the works,
and I was soon on the back of the General's charger, safely
ensconced between the raised pummel and cantle of a great
brass-bound saddle, with emblazoned saddle-cloth and mighty
stirrups of brass, fit for the fattest marshal that ever led an
army of France to victory; but General Bragg is longer in
the leg than the Duke of ~Ialakoff or ~Iarshal Can robert,
and all my efforts to touch with my toe the wondefful supports which, in consonance with the American idea, dangled
far beneath, were ineffectual.
As our road lay by head-quarters, the aide-dc-camp took
me into the court and called out "Orderly;" and at the summons a smart soldier4ike young fellow came to the front, took
me three holes up, and as I was riding away touched his cap
and said, "I beg your pardon, sir, but I often saw you in the
Crimea."  lle had been in the 11th Russars, and on the day
of Balaklava he was following close to Lord Cardigan and
Captain Nolan, when his horse was killed by a round shot.
As he was endeavoring to escape on foot the Cossacks took
him prisoner, and he remained for eleven months in captivity
in Russia, till he was exchanged at Odessa, toward the close
of the war; then, being one of two sergeants who were permitted to get their discharge, he left the service.  "But here
you are again," said I, "soldiering once more, and merely
acting as an orderly!"  "Well, that's true enough, but I
came over here, thinking to better myself as some of our
fellows did, and then the war broke out, and I entered one of
what they called their cavalry regiments - Lord bless you,
sir, it would just break your heart to see them - and here I am
now, and the general has made me an orderly.  lie is a kind
man, sir, and the pay is good, but they are ~ot like the old
lot; I do not know what my lord would think of them."`.~he
man 5 flame was Montague, and he told me his father lived
"at a place called Windsor, twenty-one miles from London.
Lieutenant Ellis said he was a very clean, smart, well-conducted soldier.
From head-quarters we started on our little tour of inspection of the batteries.  Certainly, any thing more calculated 
FORTS AROUND FORT FICKENS.         213
to shake confidence in American journalism could not be
seen; for I had been led to believe that the works were of
the most formidable description, mounting hundreds of guns.
Where hundreds was wntten, tens would have been nearei
the truth.
I visited ten out of the thirteen batteries which General
Bragg has erected against Fort Pickens.  I saw but five
heavy siege guns in the whole of the works among the fifty or
fifty-five pieces with which they were armed.  There may
be about eighty altogether on the lines, which describe a~
arc of 135 degrees for about three miles round Pickens, at
an average distance of a mile and one third.  I was rather
interested with Fort Barrancas, built by the Spaniards long
ago - an old work on the old plan, weakly armed, but possessing a tolerable command from the face of fire.
In all the batteries there were covered galleries in the rear,
connected with the magazines, and called "rat-holes," in tended by the constructors as a reflige for the men whenever a
shell from Pickens dropped in.  The rush to tlie rat-bole does
not impress one as being very conducive to a sustained and
heavy fire, or at all likely to improve the morale of the gunners.  T lie working parties, as they were called - volunteers
from ~Iississippi and Alabama, great long-bearded fellows in
flannel shirts and slouched hats, uniformless in all save brightly burnished arms and resolute purpose - were lying about
among the works, or contributing languidly to their completion.
Considerable improvements were in the course of execution; but the officers were not always agreed as to the work
to be done.  Captain A., at the wheelbarrows:` Now then,
you men, wheel up these sand-bags, and range them just at
this oorner."  ~Iajor B.: "~Iy good Captain A., what do
you want the bags there for?  Did I not tell you, these merlons were not to be finished till we had completed tlie parapet
on the front?"  Captain A.: "Well, ~Iajor, so you did, and
your order made me think you knew darned little about your
business; and so I am going to do a little engineering of my
own."
Altogether, I was quite satisfied General Bragg was per~~~y c&rrect in re~using ~ open Wis ~r~ on  o~?\~k~ns ~nl~
on the fleet, which ought certainly to have knocked his works
about his ears, in spite of his advantages of position, and of
some well-placed mortar batteries among the brushwood, at 
214       MY DIARY N0RTfl AND SOUTH.
distances from Pickens of 2500 and 2800 yards.  The maga
zines of the batteries I visited did not contain ammunition for
more than one day's ordinary firing.  The shot were badly
cast, with projecting flanges from the mould, which would be
very injurious to soft metal guns in firing.  As to men, as in
guns, the Southern papers had lied consumedly.  I could not
say how many were iii Pensacola itsel?, for I did not visit the
camp: at the outside guess of the numbers there was 2000.
I saw, however, all the camps here, and I doubt exceedingly
if General Bragg - who at this time is represented to have
any number from 30,000 to 50,000 men under his command
- has 8000 troops to support his batteries, or 10,000, including Pensacola, all told.
If hospital~ty consists in the most liberal participation of
all the owner has with his visitors, here, indeed, Philemon
has his type in every tent.  As we rode along through every
battery, by every officer's quarters some great Mississippian
or Alabamian came forward with "Captain Ellis, I am glad
to see you."  "Colonel," to me, "won't you get down and
have a drink?" Mr. Ellis duly introduces me.  The Colonel
with effusion grasps my hand and says, as if he had just gained
the particular object of his existence, "Sir, I am very glad
indeed to know you.  I hope you have been pretty well since
you have been in our country, sir.  liere, Pompey, take the
colonel's horse.  Step in, sir, and have a drink." Then comes
out the great big whiskey bottle, and an immense amount of
adhesion to the first law of nature is required to get you off
with less than half-a-pint of "Bourbon;" but the most trying
thing to a stranger is the fact that when he is going away, the
officer, who has been so delighted to see him, does not seem
to care a farthing for liis guest or his health.
The truth is, these introductions are ceremonial observances,
and compliances with the universal curiosity of Americans to
know people they meet.  The Englishman bows frigidly to
his acquaintance on the first introduction, and if he likes liim
shakes hands with him on leaving - a much more sensible
and justiiiable proceeding.  The American's warmth at the
first interview must be artificial, and the indifference at parting is ill-b~d and in bad taste.  I had already observed this
on many occasions, especially at Montgomery, where I noticed
it to Colonel ~Yig~all, but the custom is not incompatible with
the most profuse hospitality, nor with the desire to rende'
service. 
VISIT TO FORT PIC~EXS.         ~l 5
On my return to head-quarters 1 found General Bragg in
his room, engaged in writing an official letter in reply to my
request to be permitted to visit Fort Pickens, in which he
gave me full permission to do as 1 pleased.  Not only this,
but he had prepared a number of letters of introduction to the
military authorities, and to his personal friends at New
Orleans, requesting them to give me every facility and
friendly assistance in their power.  He asked me my opinion
about the batteries and their armament, which 1 freely gave
him quantum valeat.  "~Yell~' he said, "I think your conclusions are pretty just; but, nevertheless, so me fine day 1 shall
be forced to try the mettle of our friends on the opposite
side."  All 1 could say was, "May God defend the right."
"A good saying, to which 1 say, Amen.  And drink with you
to it."
There was a room outside, full of generals and colonels,
to whom 1 was duly introduced, but the time for departure
had come, and 1 bade good-by to the general and rode down
to the wiiaff.  1 had always heard, during my brief sojoufli
in the North, that the Southern people were exceedingly
illiterate and ignorant.  It may be so, but I am bound to say
that I observed a large proportion of il~e soldiers, on their
way to the navy yard, engaged in reading newspapers, though
they did not neglect the various drinking bars and exchanges, which were only too numerous in the vicinity of the
camps.
The schooner was all ready for sea, but the Moblle genile
man had gone off to Pensacola, and as I did not desire to
invite them to visit Fort Pickens - where, indeed, they would
have most likely met with a refusal - I resolved to sail without them and to return to the navy yard in the evening, in
order to take them back on our homeward voyage.  "Now
then, captain, cast loose; we are going to Fort Pickens." The
worthy seaman had by this time become utterly at sea, and
did not appear to know whether he belonged to the Confederate States, Abraham Lincoln, or the British navy.  B~t
this order roused him a little, and looking at me with all his
eyes, he exclaimed, "~Yhy, you don't mean to say you are
going to make me bring the Diana alongside that darned
Yankee Fort!"  Our table-cloth, somewhat maculated with
gravy, was hoisted once more to the pea~, and, after some
formalities between fl~e guardians of the jetty and ourselves,
the schooner canted round in the tideway, and with a fine
light breeze ran down toward the stars and stripes. 
216        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
What magical power there is in tbe colors of a piece of
bunting!  I~Iy companions, 1 dare say, felt as proud of their
flag as if their ancestors had fought und~r it at Acre or Jerusalem.  And yet how fictitious its influence! Death, and dishonor worse than death, to desert it one day! Patriotism and
glory to leave it in the dust, and fight under its rival, the next!
How indignant would George Washington have been, if the
Frenchman at Fort du Quesne had asked him to abundon the
old rag which Braddock held aloft in the wilderness, and to
serve under the very~eur-o'e-ij~s which the same great George
bailed with so much joy but a few years afterwards, when it
was advanced to the front at Yorktown, to win one of its few
victories over the Lions and the Harp.  And in this Con federate flag there is a meaning which cannot die - it marks the
birthplace of a new nationality, and its place must know it
forever.  Even the flag of a rebellion leaves indelible colors
in the political atmospl~ere.  The hopes iliat sustained it
may vaiiisli ill the gloom of night, but the national ~aith still
believes that its sun will rise on some glorious morrow. Hard
must it be for this race, so arrogant, so great, to see stripe and
star torn from the fair standard with which they would fain
have shadowed all the kingdoms of the world; but their great
continent is large enou gil for many nations.
"And now," said the skipper, "I think we'd best lie to -
them cussed Yankees on the beach is shouting to us."  And
so they were.  A sentry on the end of a wooden jetty sung
out, "rIallo you there!  Stand off or I'll fire," and "drew
a bead-line on us.   At the sanie time the skipper hailed,
"Please to send a boat off to go ashore." "No, sir! Come in
your own boat!" cried the officer of the guard.  Our own
boat! A very skiff of Charon! Leaky, rotten, lop-sided. We
were a hundred yards from the beach, and it was to be hoped
that with all its burden, it could not go down in such a sl~ort
row.  As 1 stepped in, however, followed by my two coinpanions, the water flew in as if forced by a pump, anil when
the sailors came after us the skipper said, through a moutliftil
of juice, "Deevid! pull your hardest, for there an't a more
terrible place for shearks along the whole coast." Deevid and
his friend pulled like men, and our hopes rose with the water
in the boat and the decreasing distance to shore.  They
worked like Doggett's badgers, and in five minutes we were
out of "sheark" depth and alongside the jetty, where ~Iajor
Vogdes, Mr. Brown, of the Oriental, and an officer, introduced 
FORT PIcK~NS.               217
as Captain Barry of the United States artillery, were waiting
to receive us.  Major Vogdes said that Colonel Brown would
most gladly permit me to go over the fort, but that he could
not receive any of the other gentlemen of the party; they
were permitted to wander about at their discretion.. Some
friends whom they picked up amongst the officers took them
on a ride along the island, which is merely a sand-hank covered with coarse vegetation, a few trees, and pools of brackish water.
If I were selecting a, summer habitation I should certainly
not d~oose Fort Pickens. It is, like all other American works
I have seen, strong on the sea faces and weak toward the
land.  The outer gate was closed, but at a talismanic knock
from Captain Barry, the wicket was thrown open by the
guard, and we passed through a vaulted gallery into the
parad& ground, which was full of men engaged in strengthening the place, and digging deep pits in the centre as shell traps.
The men were United States regulars, not comparable in physique to the Southern volunteers, but infinitely superior in
cleanliness and soldierly smartness.  The officer on duty led
me to one of the angles of the fort and turned in to a covered
way, which had been ingeniously contrived by tilting up gun
platforms and beams of wood at an angle against the wall, and
piling earth and sand banks against them for several feet in
thickness.  The casemates, which otherwise would have been
exposed to a plunging fire in the rear, were thus effectually
protected.
Emerging from this dark passage I entered one of the
bomb-proofs, fitted up as a bed-room, and thence proceeded
to the casemate, in which Colonel llarvey Browne has his
head-quarters.  Afier some conversation, lie took me out upon
the parapet and went all over the defences.
Fort Pickens is an oblique, and somewhat narrow parallelogram, with one obtuse angle facing the sea and the other
toward the land.  The bastion at the acute angle toward Barrancas is the weakest part of the work, and men were engaged
in throwing up an extempore glacis to cover the wall and the
casemates from fire.  The guns were of what is considered
small calibre in these days, 32 and 42 pounders, with four or
five heavy columbiads.  An immense amount of work has
been, done within the last three weeks, but as yet the preparations are by no means complete.  From the walls, which are
made of a hard baked brick, nine feet in thickness, there is a
10 
218        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
good view of the enemy's position.  There is a broad ditch
round the work, now dry, and probably not intended for water.
The cuvette has lately been cleared out, and in proof of the
agreeable nature of the locaflty, the officers told me that sixty
very fine rattle-snakes were killed by the woA~men during the
operation.
As I was looking at the works from the wall, Captain Yog
des made a sly remark now and then, blinking his eyes and
looking closely at my face to see if he could extract any information.  "There are the quarters of your friend General
Bragg; he pretends, we hear, that it is an hospital, but we
will soon have him out when we open fire."  "Oh, indeed."
"That's their best battery beside the light-house; we can't
well make out whether there are ten, eleven, or twelve guns
in it."  Then Captain Vogdes became quite meditative, and
thought aloud, "Well, I'm sure, Colonel, they've got a strong
entrenched camp in that wood behind their morter batteries.
I'm quite sure of it - we must look to that with our long
range guns."  What the engineer saw, must have been certain
absurd little furrows in the sand, which the Confederates have
thrown up about three feet in front of their tents, but whether
to carry off or to hold rain water, or as cover for rattle-snakes,
the best judge cannot determine.
The Confederates have been greatly delighted with the idea
that Pickens will be almost untenable during the summer for
the United States troops, on account of the heat and mosquitos,
not to speak of yellow fever; but in fi~ct they are far better
off than the troops on shore - the casemates are exceedingly
well ventilated, light and airy.   ~Iosquitos, yellow fever,
and dysentery, will make no distinction between Trojan and
Tyrian.  On the whole, I should prefer being inside, to being
outside Pickens, in case of a bombardment; and there can be
:fl0 doubt the entire destruction of the navy yard and station by the Federals can be accomplished whenever they please.
Colonel Browne pointed out the tail chimney at Warren ton
smoking away, and said, "There, sir, is the whole reason of
Bragg's forbearance, as it is called.  Do you see - they are
casting shot and shell there as fast as they ca~  They know
well if they opened a gun on us I could lay that yard and
all their works there in ruin;" and Colonel Harvey Browne
seems quite the man for the work - a resolute, energetic
veteran, animated by the utmost dislike to secession ~nd its
leaders, and full of what are called "Union Principles," 
OFF MOBILE.               219
which are rapidly becoming the mere expression of a desire
to destroy lifi~, liberty, property, any thing in fact which opposes itsclf to the consolidation of the Federal govern In eat.
Probably no person has ever been permitted to visit two
hostile camps within sight of each other save myself.  I was
neither spy, herald, nor nmbassador; and both sides trusted
to me fully on the understanding that I would not make use
of any infbrmation here, but tl~at it might be communicated
to the world at the other side of the Atlantic.
Apro~os of this, Colonel Browne told me an amusing story,
which shows tl~at`cuteness is not altogether confined to the
Yankees.  Some days ngo a gentleman was found wandering about the island, who stated he was a correspondent of
a New York paper.  Colonel Browne was not satisfied with
the account he gave of himself, and sent him on board one
of the ships of the fleet, to be confined as a prisoner.  Soon
afterwards a flng of truce cam~ over from the Confederates,
carrying a letter from General Bragg, requesting Colonel
Browne to give up il~e prisoner, as he had escaped to the
island after committing a felony, and enclosing a warrant
signed by a justice of the peace for his arrest.  Colonel
Browne laughed at the~use, and keeps his prisoner.
As it was approaching evening and I had seen every
thing in the fort, the hospital, casemates, magazines, bakehouses, tasted the rations, and drank the whi~key, I set out
for the schooner, accompanied by Colonel Browne and Captain Barry and other officers, and picking up my friends at
the bakehouse outside.
Having bidden our acquaintances good-by, we got on board
the Diana, which steered~toward the Warrington navy yard,
to take the rest of the party on hoard.  The sentries along
the beach and on the batteries grounded arms, and stare4
with surprise as the Diana, with her tablecloth flying, crossed
over from Fort Pickens, and ran slowly along the Confederate works.  Whilst we were spying for the ~Iobile gentlemen,
the mate took it into his head to take up the Confederate
bunting, nnd wave it over the quarter.  "Hollo, wha~s that
you're doing?"  "It's only a signal to the gentlemen on
shore."  "Wave some otl~er flag, if you please, when we are
in these waters, with a flag of truce flying."
After standing off and on for some time, the ]\Iobilians at
last boarded us in a boat.  They were full of excitement,
quite eager to stay and see the bombardment which must 
220        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
come off in twenty-four hourr.  Before we left Mobile harbor
I had made a bet for a small sum that neither side would
attack within the next few days; but now I could not even
shake my head one way or the other, and it required the
utmost self-possession and artifice of which I was master to
evade the acute inquiries and suggestions of my good friends.
I was determined to go - they were equally bent upon remaining; and so we parted after a short bat very pleasant
cruise together.
We bad arranged with Mr. Brown that we would look out
for him on leaving the harbor, and a bottle of wine was put
in the remnants of our ice to drink farewell; but it was almost
dark as the Diana sbot out seawards between Pickens and
M'Rae; and for some anxious minutes we were doubtful
which would be the first to take a shot at us.  Our tablecloth
still fluttered; but the color might be invisible.  A lantern was
hoisted astern by my order as soon as the schooner was clear of
the forts; and with a cool sea-breeze we glided out into the
night, the black form of the Powhattan being just visible, the
rest of the squadron lost in the darkness.  We strained our
eyes for the Oriental, but in vain; and it occurred to us that
it would scarcely be a very safe proceeding to stand from the
Confederate forts down toward the guard-ship, unless under
the convoy of the Onental.  It seemed quite certain she
must be cruising some way to the westward, waiting for us.
The wind was from the north, on the best point for our return; and the Diana, heeling over in the smooth water, proceeded on her way toward Mobile, running so close to the
shore that I could shy a biscuit on the sand.  She seemed to
breathe the wind dirough her sails, and flew with a crest of
flame at her bow, and a bubbling wake of meteor4ike streams
flowing astern, as though liquid metal were flowing from a
furnace.
The night was exceedingly lovely, but after the heat of the
day the horizon was somewhat hazy.  "No sign of the Oriental on our lee-bow?"` Nofl~ing at all in sight, sir, ahead
or astern."  Sharks and large fish ran off from the shallows
as we passed, and rushed out seawards-in runs of bMlliant light.
The Perdida was left far astern.
On sped tlie Diana, but no Oriental came in view.  I felt
exceedingly tired, heated, and fagged; had been up early,
ridden in a broiling sun, gone through batteries, examined
forts, sailed backwards and forwards, so I was glad to turn in 
AN EXCITING CHASE.            221
out of the night dew, and, leaving injunctions to the captain
to keep a bright look out for the Federal boardin~ schooner,
I went to sleep without the smallest notion that I had seen
my last of Mr. Brown.
I.had been two or three hours asleep when I was awoke by
the negro cook, who was leaning over the berth, and, with
teeth chattering, said, "Monsieur! nous sommes perdus! un
batiment de guerre nous poursuit - ii va tirer bientot. Nous
serons coule'!  Oh, Mon Dieu! Oh, Mon Dieu!"  I started
up and popped my head through the hatchway. The skipper
himself was at the helm, glancing from the compass to the
quiveflnU reef points of the mainsail.  "What's the matter,
captain?" "Waal, sir," said the captain, speaking very slowly,
"There has been a something a running after us for nigh the
last two hours, but he ain't a gaining on us.  I don't think
he'll kitch us up nobow this time; if the wind holds this pint
a leetle, Diana will beat him."
The confidence of coasting captains in their own craft is an
hallucination which no risk or danger will ever prevent them
from cherishing most tenderly.  There's not a skipper from
llartlepool to Whitstable who does not believe his Maryanne
Smith or the Two Grandmothers is able, "on certain pints,"
to bump her fat bows, and drag her coal-scuttle shaped stern
faster through the sea than any clipper afloat.  I was once
told by the captain of a Margate Billy Boy he believed he
could run to windward of any frigate in ller Majesty's service.
"But, good heavens, man, it may be the Oriental - no
doubt it is Mr. Brown who is looking after us." "Ah! Waal,
may be.  Whoever it is, he creeped quite close up on me in
the dark.  It give me quite a sterk when I seen him.`May
be,' says I,`he is a privateering - pirating - chap.'  So I
runs in shore as close as I could; gets my centre board in, and,
says I,`I'll see what you're made of, my boy.'  And so we
goes on.  lle ain't a-gaining on us, I can tell you."
I looked through the glass, and could just make out, half or
three quarters of a mile astern, and to leeward, a vessel looking quite black, which seemed to be standing on in pursuit of
us.  The shore was so close, we could almost have leaped
into the sur?, for when the centre board was up the Diana
did not draw much more than four feet of water.  The skipper held grimly on.  "You had better shake your wind, and
see who it is; it may be Mr. Brown."  "No, sir, Mr. Brown
or no, I can't help carrying on now; there's a bank~runs all 
222        MY DIARY NORTll AND SOUTH.
along outside of us, and if I don't hold my course I'll be on it
in one minute."  I confess I was rather annoyed, but the captain was master of the situation.  lie said, that if it had been
the Oriental she would have fired a blank gun to brii~g us to
as soon as she saw us.  To my inquiries wliy he did not
awaken me`vhen she was first made out, he innocently replied, "You was in such a beautiful sleep, I thought it would
be regular cruelty to disturb you."
By creeping close in shore the Diana was enabled to keep
to windward of the stranger, who was seen once or twice to
bump or strike, for her sails shivered.  "There, she's struck
again."  "She's off once more," and the chase is renewed.
Every moment I expected to have my eyes blinded by the
flash of her bow gun, but for some reason or another, possibly
because she did not wish to check her way, the Oriental -
privateer, or whatever it was - saved her powder.
A stern chase is a bug chase.  It is two o'clock in the
morning - the skipper grinned with delight.  "I'll lead him
into a pretty mess if lie follows me through the` Swash,'
whoever he is."  We were but ten miles from Fort Morgan.
Nearer and nearer to the shore creeps the Diana.
"Take a cast of the lead, John~" "Nine feet." " Good.
Again." " Seven feet."  " Again." " Five feet."  " Charlie,
bring the lantern."  We were now in the "Swash," with a
boiling tideway.
Just at the moment that the negro uncovered the lantern
out it went, a fact which elicited the most remarkable amount
of imprecations ear ever heard.  The captai~ went dancing
mad in intervals of deadly calmness, and gave his commands to the crew, and strange oaths to the cook alternately,
as the mate sung out, "Five feet and a half."  "About she
goes!  Confound you, you black scoundrel, I'll teach you,"
&c., &c.  "Six feet! Eight feet and a half!" "About she
comes again."  "Five feet!  Four feet and a half."  (Oh,
Lord! Six inches under our keel!)  And so we went, with
a measurement between us and death of inches, not by any
means agreeable, in which the captain showed remarkable
coolness and skill in the management of his craft, combined
with a most unseemly animosity toward his unfortunate cook.
It was very little short of a miracle that we got past the
"Elbow," as the most narrow part of the channel is called,
for it was just at the critical moment the binnacle light was
extinguished, and went out with a splutter, and there we 
TIlL DIANA RUNS TItE BLOCKADE.     223
were left in darkness in a channel not one hundred yards
-wide and only six feet deep.  The centre board also got jammed oi~ce or twice when it was most important to lie as close
to the wind as possible; but at last the captain shouted out,
"It's all right, we're in deep water," and calling il~e mate
to the helm proceeded to relieve his mind by chasing Charlie
into a corner and belaboring him with a dead shark or dogfish about four feet long. which he picked up from the deck
as the handiest weapon he could find.  For the whole morning, henceforth, the captain found great comfort in making'
constant charges on the hapless cook, who at last slyly thre~r
the shark overboard at a favorable opportunity, and forced
liis master to resort to other varieties of Rhadamantine implemeats.  But where was the Onental all this time?  No one
could say; but Charlie, who seemed an authority as to her
movements, averred she put her helm round as soon as we
entered the "S wash," and disappeared in black night.
The Diana had thus distinguished herself by running the
blockade of Pensacola, but a new triumph awaited her. As
we approached Fort Morgan a gray streak in the East just
offered light enough to distinguisa the outlines of the fort and
of the Confederate flag which waved above it.  A fair breeze
carried us abreast of the signal station, ohe solitary light
gleamed from the walls, but neither guard boat put off to
board us, nor did sentry hail, nor was gun fired - still we
stood on.  "Captain, had you not better lie to?  They'll be
sending a round shot after us presently." "No, sir. They are
all asleep in that fort," replied the indomitable skipper.
Down went lii helm and away ran the Diana int~Moblle
Bay, and was soon safe in the haze beyond shot or shell, running toward the opposite shore.  This was glory enough, for
the Diana of Mobile. The wind blew straight from the North
into our teeth, and at bright sunrise she was only a few miles
iiiside the bay.
All the livelong day was spent in tacking from one low
shore to another low shore, through water which looked like
pea soup.  ~Ve liad to be sure the pleasure of seeing Mobile
from every point of view, east and west, with all the varieties
between northing and southing, and numerous changes in the
position of steeples, sandhills, and villas, the sun roasting us
all the time and boiling the pitch out of the seams.
The greatest excitement of the day was an encounter with
a young alligator, making an involuntary voyage out to sea 
224        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
in the tide-way.  The crew said he was drowning, having
lost his way or being exhausted by struggling with the cur
rent.  He was about ten feet long, and appeared to be so
utterly done up that be would willingly have come aboard as
he passed within two yards of us; but desponding as lie was,
it would have been positive cruelty to have added him to the
number of our party.
The next event of the day was dinner, in which Charlie
outrivalled himself by a tremendous fry of onions and sliced
Bologna sausage, and a piece of pig, which had not decided
wliether it was to be pork or bacon.
Having been fourteen hours beating some twenty-seven
miles, 1 was landed at last at a wharf in the suburbs of the
town about five o'clock in the evening.  Oa my way to the
Battle House 1 met seven distinct companies marching through
the streets to drill, and the air was filled with sounds of bugling and drumming.  1n the evening a number of gentlemen
called upon me to inquire what 1 thought of Fort Pickens
and Pensacola, and 1 had some difficulty in parrying their
very home questions, but at last adopted a formula which appeared to please them -1 assured my friends 1 thought it
would be an exceedingly tough business whenever the bom
bardment took place.
One of the most important steps which 1 have yet heard of
has excited little attention, namely, the refusal of the officer
commanding Fort ~1acHenry, at Baltimore, to obey a writ of
kabeas corpus issued by a judge of that city for the person of
a soldier of his garrison.  This military officer takes upon
himself to aver there is a state of civil war in Baltimore,
which he considers sufficient legal cause for the suspension of
the writ. 
CllAPTER XXIX.
Ju~lge Campbell - Dr. Nott - Slavery - Departure for New Orleans
- Down the river - Fear of Cruisers - Approach to New Or   leans - Duelling - Streets of New Orleans - Unhealihiness of
the city - Public opinion as to the war - Happy and contented
negroes.
~~ay 18th. - An exceedingly hot day, which gives bad
promise of comfort for the Federal soldiers, who are coming,
as the Washington Government asserts, to put ~own rebellien
in these quarters.  The mosquitoes are advancing in numbers
and force.  Tl~e day I first came I asked the waiter if they
were numerous. "I wish they were a hundred times as many,"
said he. On my inquiring if he had any possible reason for such
an extraordinary aspiration, he said, "because we would get
rid of these darned black republicans out of Fort Pickens all
the sooner."  The man seemed to infer that they would not
bite fl~e Confederate soldiers.
I dined at Dr. Nott's, and met Judge Campbell, who has
resigned his high p(?st as one of the Judges of the Supreme
Court of the United States, and explained his reasons for doing so in a letter, charging Mr. Seward with treachery, dissimulation, and fi~lsehood.  lie seemed to me a great casuist
rather than a profound lawyer, and to delight in subtle distinctions and technical abstractions; but I had the advantage
of hearing from him at great length the whole history of the
Dred Scott case, and a recapitulation of the arguments used
on both sides, the force of which, in his opinion, was irresistibly in favor of the decision of the Court.  Mr. Forsyth, Colonel Hardee, and others were of the company.
To me it was very painful to hear a sweet ringing silvery
voice, issuing from a very pretty mouth, "I'm so delighted to
hear that the Yankees in Fortress Monroe have got typhus
fever.  I hope it may kill them all."  This was said by one
of the most charming young persons possible, and uttered with
10*     - 
226        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
unmistakable sincerity, just as if she had said, "I hear all the
snakes in Virginia are dying of poison."  1 fear the young
lady did not think very highly of me for refusing to sympathize with her wishes in that particular form.  But all the
ladies in ~1obile belong to "The Yankee Emancipation Society." They spend their days sewing cartridges, carding lint,
preparing bandages, and I'm not quite sure that they don't
fill shells and fuses as well.  Their zeal and energy"`will go
far to sustain the South in the fbrthcoming struggle, and no
where is the influence of women greater than in America.
As to Dr. Nott, his studies have induced him to take a
purely materialist view of the question of slavery, and, according to him, questions of morals and ethics, pertaining to its
consideration, ought to be referred to the cubic capacity of the
human cranium - the head that c~n tak~the largest charge
of snipe shot will eventually dominate in some form or other
over the head of inrerior capacity.  Dr. Nott detests slavery,
but he does not see what is to be done with the slaves, and
how the four millions of negroes are to be prevented from becoming Six, eight, or ten millions, if their growth is stimulated
by high prices for Southern"pr@d~ce.
There is a good deal of force in the observation which I
~ave heard more than once down here, that Great Britain
could not have emancipated her negroes had they been dwelling within her border, say in Lancashire or Yorkshire.  No
inconvenience was experienced by the English people rer se
in consequence of the emancipation, which for the tirne destroyed industry and shook society to pieces in Jamaica.
Whilst the States were colonies, Great Britain viewed the
introduction of slaves to such remote dependencies with sat-'
isfaction, and when the United States had established their
sovereignty they found the institution of slavery established
within their own borders, and an important, if not essential,
stratum in their social system.  The work of emancipation
would have then been comparatively easy; it now is a stupendous problem which no human being has offered to solve.
May I9tA. - The heat out of doors was so great that I felt
little tempted to stir out, but at two o'clock ~Ir. Magee drove
me to a pretty place, call Spring Hill, where Mr. Stein, a
German merchant of the city, has his country residence. The
houses of Mobile merchants are scattered around the rising
ground in that vicinity; they look like marble at a distance,
but a nearer approach resolves them into painted wood. 
MOBILE TO NEW ORLEANS.           221
Stone is almost unknown on all this seaboard region.  The
worthy German was very hospitable, and I enjoyed a cool
walk before dinner under the shade of his grapes, which
fon~ed pleasant walks in his garden.  The Scuppernung
grape, which grew in profusion - a native qf North Carolina
has a remarkable appearance.  The stalk, which is smooth,
and covered with a close-grained gray bark, has not the character of a vine, but grows straight and stiff like the branch of
a tree, and is crowded with delicious grapes.  Ci~erokee plum
and rose-trees, and magnificent magnolias, clustered round his
house, and beneath their sha~ow I listened to the worthy German comparing the Fatherland to his adopted country, and
now and then letting out the secret love of his heart for the
old place.  He, like all of the better classes in the South, has
the utmost dread of universal suffrage, and would restrict the
fianchise largely to-morrow if be could.
Ma~ 20. - I left Mobile in the steamer Florida for New
Orleans this morning at eight o'clock.  She was crowded with
passengers, in uniform.  In my cabin was a notice of the rules
and regulations of il~e steamer.  No. 6 was as follows: "All
slave servants must be cleared at the Custom House.  Passengers having slaves will please report as soon as they come
on board."
A few miles from Mobile the steamer, turning to the right,
entered one of the narrow channels which perforate the whole
of the coast, called " Grant's Pass."  An ingenious person
has rendered it navigable by an artificial cut; but as he was
not an universal philanti~ropist, and possibly may have come
from north of the Tweed, he further erected a series of barriers, which can only be cleared by means of a little peppercastor iron lighthouse; and he charges toll on all passing vessels.  A small island at the pass, just above waterAevel, about
twenty yards broad and one hundred and fifty yards long, was
being fortified. Some of our military friends landed here; and
it required a good deal of patriotism to look cheerfully at the
prospect of remaining cooped up among the mosquitoes in a
box, on this miserable sand-bank, which a shell would suffice
to blow into atoms.
Having passed this channel, our steamer proceeded up a kind
of internal sea, formed by the shore, on the right hand and on
the left, by a chain almost uninterrupted of reefs covered with
~nd, and exceedingly narrow, so that the surf of the ocean
rollers at the other side could be seen through the foliage of the 
228         MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
pine-trees which line them.  On our right the endless pines
closed up the land view of the horizon; the beach was pierced
by creeks without number, called bayous; and it was curious
to watch the white sails of the little schooners gliding in and
out among the t~es along the green meadows that seemed to
stretch as an impassable barrier to their exit.  Immense troops
of pelicans flapped over the sea, dropping incessantly on the
fish which abounded in the inner water; and long rows of tlie
same birds stood digesting their ple~tifi~l meals on the white
beach by the ocean foam.
There was some anxiety in th~ passengers' minds, as it was
reported that the United States cruisers had been seen inside, and
that they had even burned the batteries on Ship Island.  We
saw nothing of a character more formidable than coasting
craft and a return steamer from New Orleans till we approached the entrance to Pontchartrain, when a large schooner,
which sailed like a witch and was crammed with men, attracted
our attention.  Through the glass I could make out two guns
on her deck, and quite reason enough for any well-filled mer
chantman sailing under the Stars and Stripes to avoid her dose
companionship.
The approach to New Orleans is indicated by large hamlets
and scattered towns along the seashore, hid in the pilley woods,
which offer a retreat to the merchants and their families from
~he fervid heat of the unwholesome city in summer time.
As seen from the sea, these sanitary settlements have a pieturesque effect, and an air of charming freshness and lightness.
There are detached villas of every variety of architecture in
which timber can be constructed, painted in the brightest hues
- greens, and blues, and rose tints - each embowered in
magnolias and rhododendrons.  From every garden a very long
and slender pier, terminated by a bathing-box, stretches into
the shallow sea; and the general aspect of these l~ouses, with
the light domes and spires of churches rising above the lines
of white railings set in il~e dark green of the pines, is light and
noveL  To each of these cities there is a jetty, at two of
which we touched, and landed newspapers, received or discharged a few bales of goods, and were off again.
Of the little crowd assembled on each, the majority were
blacks - the whites, almost without exception, in uniform, and
armed.  A near approach did not induce me to think that any
agencies less powerful than epidemics and summer-heats could
render Pascagoula, Pnsschristian, Mississippi City, and the 
AN AMERICAN DIFFICULTY.                  229
rest of these settlements very eligible residences for people of
an active turn of mind.
The livelong day my fellow-passengers never ceased talking  politics,  except  when  they  were  eating and drinking,
because the horrible d~ewing and spitting are not at all in.
compatil~le with the maintenance of active discussion.   The
fiercest of them all was a thin, fiery-eyed little woman, who at
dinner expressed a fervid desire for bits of "Old Abe "- his
ear, his hair; but whether for the purpose of eating or as
curious relics, she did not enlighten the company.
After dinner there was some slight difficulty among the military gentlemen, though  whether of a political or personal
character, 1 could not determine; but it was much aggravated
by the appearance of a six-shooter on the scene, which, to my
no small perturbation, was presented in a right line with my
berth, out of the window of which I was looking at the combatants.  I am happy to say the immediate delivery of the
fire was averted by an amicable arrangement that the disputants
should meet at the St. Charles Hotel at twelve o'clock on the
second day afier their arrival, in order to fix time, place, and
conditions of a more orthodox and regular encounter.
At night the steamer entered a dismal canal, through a
swamp which is infamous as the most mosquito haunted place
along the infested shore; the mouths of the Mississippi themselves being quite innocent, compared to the entrance of Lake
Pontchartrain.   When I woke  up at daylight, I found the
vessel lying alongside a whaii with a railway train alongside,
which is to take us to the city of New Orleans, six miles distant.
A village of restaurants or "restaurats;' as they are called
hei'e and of bathing boxes has grown up around the terminus;
all the names of the owners, the notices and sign-boards being
French.   Outside the settlement the railroad passes through a
swamp, like an Indian jungle, through which the overfiowings
of the Mississippi creep in black currents.   The spires of New
Orleans rise above the underwood and semi-tropical vegetation of this swamp.   Nearer to the city lies a marshy plain,
in which flocks of cattle, up to the belly in the soft earth are
floundering among  tlie clumps of vegefation.  The  nearer
approach to New Orleans by rail lies through a suburb of
exceedingly broad lanes, lined on each side by rows of miserable mean one-storied houses, inhabited, if I am to judge from
the specimens I saw, by a miserable and sickly population. 
230        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
A great number of the inen and women had evident traces
of negro blood in their veins, and of the purer blooded whites
many had the peculiar look of the fishy-fleshy population of
the Levantine towns, and all were pale and lean.  The railway terminus is marked by a dirty, barrack4ike shed in the
city.  Selecting one of the numerous tumble-down hackney
carriages which crowded the street outside the station, I
directed the man to drive me to the house of Mr. Mure, the
British consul, who had been kind enough to invite me as his
guest for the period of my stay in New Orleans.
Tlie streets are badly paved, as those of most of the American cities, if not all that I have ever been in, but in other respects they are more worthy of a great city than are those of
New York  There is an air thoroughly French about the
people - cc~Js, restaurants, billiard-rooms abound, with oyster
and lager-bier saloons interspersed.  The shops are all mayazins; the people in the streets are speaking French, particularly il~e negroes, who are going out shopping with their masters and mistresses, exceedingly well dressed, noisy, and not
unhappy looking.  The extent of the drive gave an imposing
idea of the size of New Orleans - the nd~ness of some of the
shops, the vehicles i~) the streets, and the multitude of welldressed people on the pavements, an impression of its wealth
and the comfort of the inhabitants  The Confederate flag was
flying from the public buildings and from many private houses.
Military companies paraded through the streets, and a large
~roportion of men were in uniform.
Ja the day I drove through the city, delivered letters of introduction, paid visits, and examined the shops and the public
~laces; but there is such a whirl of secession and politics surrounding one it is impossible to discern much of the outer
world.
Whatever may be the number of the Unionists or of the
non-secessionists, a pressure too potent to be resisted has been
directed by the popular party against the friends of the
Federal government.  The agent of Brown Brothers, of
Liverpool and New York, has closed their office and is going away in consequence of the intimidation of the mob, or as
the phrase is here, the "excitement of the citizens," on hearing of the subscription made by the firm to the New York
fund, after Sumter had been fired upol).  Their agent in
Mobile has been compelled to adopt the same course.  Other
houses follow their example, but as most business transaction~ 
OPINIONS ON THE WAR.           231
are over for tlie season, the mercantile community hope the
contest will be ended before the next season, by the recognition of Southern Independence.
Tiie streets are full of Turcos, Zouaves, Chasseurs; walls
are covered with placards of volunteer companies; there are
Pickwick rifles, La Fayette,-Beauregard Mac~Thhon guards,
Irish, German, Italian and Spanish and native volunteers,
among whom the Meagher rifles, indignant with the gentleman from whom they took their name, because of his adhesion to the North, are going to rebaptize themselves and to
eeek glory under one more auspicious.  In fact, New Orleans
looks like a suburb of the camp at ChAlons. Tailors are busy
night and day making uniforms.  I went into a shop with the
consul for some shirts - the mistress and all her seamstresses
were busy prepaflug flags as hard as the sewing-machine
could stitch them, and could attend to no business for the
present.  The Irish population, finding themselves unable to
migrate northwards, and being without work, have rushed to
arms with enthusiasm to support Southern institutions, and
Mr. John Mitchdl and Mr. Meagher stand opposed to each
other in hostile camps.
Ma~ 22J. - The thermometer to-day marked 950 in the
shade.  It is not to be wondered at that New Orleans suffers
from terrible epidemics.  At the side of each street a filthy
open sewer flows to and fro with the tide in the blazing sun,
and j~Ir. Mure tells me the city lies so low that lie has been
obliged to go to his office in a boat along the streets.
I sat for some time listening to the opinions of the vanous
merchants who came in to talk over the news and politics in
general.  They were all persuaded that Great Britain would
speedily recognize tlie South, but I cannot find that any of
them had examined into the effects of such a recognition. One
entleman seemed to think to-day that recognition meant forcing
he blockade; whereas it must, as I endeavored to show him,
merely lead to the recognition of the rights of the United States
to establish a blockade of ports belonging to an independent
and hostile nation. There are some who maintain there will be
no war afler all; t ~nt the North will not fight, and that the
friends of the Southern cause will recover their courage when
this tyranny is over.  No one imagines tlie South will ever
go back to the Union voluntarily, or that the North has power
to thrust it back at the point of the bayonet.
The South has commenced preparations or the contest by 
232        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
sowing grain instead of planting cotton, to compensate for the
loss of supplies from the North.  The payment of debts to
Nord~ern creditors is declared to be illegal, and "stay hws"
have been adopted in most of the seceding Stafes, by which the
ordinary laws for the recovery of debts in the States themselves are for the time suspended, which may lead one into
the belief that the legislators themselves belong to the debtor
instead of the creditor class.
i0Ta~ 23J. - As the mail communication has been suspended between North and South, and the Express Companies ar
ordered not to carry letters, I sent off my packet of despatch S
to-day, b~ Mr. Ewell, of the house of Dennistoun & Co.,
and resumed my excursions through New Orleans.
The young artist, who is stopping at the St. Charles Hotel,
came to me in great agitation to say his life was in danger, in
consequence of his former connection with an abolition paper
of New York, and that he had been threatened with death by
a man with whom lie had had a quarrel in Washington.  ~fr.
Mure, to calm his apprehensions, offered to take him to the
authorities of the town, who would, no doubt, protect him, as
he was merely engaged in making sketches for an English
periodical, but the young man declared he was in danger of
assassination.  He entreated Mr. Mure to give him despatehes
which would serve to protect him, on his way northward; and
the Consul, moved by his mental distress, promised that if he
had any letters of an official character for Washington he
would send them by him, in default of other opportunities.
I dined with Major Ranney, the president of one of the
railways, with whom Mr. Ward was stopping.  Among the
company were Mr. Eustis, son4n-law of Mr. Slidell; Mr.
Morse, the Attorney-General of the State; Mr. Moise, a Jew,
supposed to have considerable influence with the Governor,
and a vehement politician; Messrs. Hunt, and others.  The
table was excellent, and the wines were worthy ~f the reputation
which our host enjoys, in a city where Sallusts and Luculli are
said to abound.  One of the slave servants who waited at
table, an intelligent yellow "boy," was pointed out to me as a
son of General Andrew Jackson.
We had a full account of the attack of the British troops
on the city, and their repulse.  Mr. Morse denied emphatically that there was any cotton bag fortification in front of the
lines, where our troops were defeated; he asserted that there
were only a few bales, I think seventy-five, used in the con 
FEARS OF NEGRO REYOLT.         233
struction of one battery, and that they and some sugar hogsheads, constituted the sole defences of the American trench.
Only one citizen applied to the State for compensation, on
account of the cotton used by Jackson's troops, and he owned
the whole of the bales so appropriated.
None of the Southern gentlemen have the smallest apprehension of a servile insurrection.  They use il~e univeral formula "our negroes are the happiest, most eontented, and most
comfortable people on the face of the earth."  I admit I have
been struck by well-clad anQ go~d~humored negroes in the
streets, but they are in the minority  many look inorose, illclad, and discontented. The patrols I know have been strengthened, and I heard a young lady the other night, say, "I shall
not be a bit afraid to go back to the planfation, though mamma
says the negroes are after mischief." 
CHAPTER XXX.
Thefirst blow struck - Tlie St. Charles Hotel - Invasion of Virgini.
by the Federals - Death of Cot. Ellswortli - Evening at Mr
Slidell's - Public comments on the war - Richmond the capita
of the Confederacy - Military preparations - General society -
Jewish element - Yisit to a battle-field of 1816.
Ma~ 24tk. - A great budget of news to-day, which, with
the events of the week, may be brie~y enumerated.  The
fighting has actually commenced between the United States
steamers off Fortress Monroe, and the Confederate battery
erected at Sewall's Point - both sides claim a certain success.
The Confederates declare they riddled the steamer, and that
they killed and wounded a number of the sailors.  The captain of the vessel says he desisted from want of ammunition,
but believes he killed a number of the rebels, and knows he
had no loss himself.  Berinh Magoflin, Governor of the sovereign State of Kentucky, has warned off both Federal and
Confederate soldiers from his territory.  The Confederate
congress has passed an act authorizing persons indebted to the
United States, except Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri, and the District of Columbia, to pay the amount of their
debts to the Confederate treasury.  The State convention of
North Carolina has passed an ordinance of secession.  Arkansas has sent its delegates to the Southern congress.  Sevei~al Southern vessels have been made prizes by the blockading squadron; but the event which causes the greatest
exeitemei~t and indignation here, was the seizure, on Monday,
by the United States marshals, in every large city throughout the Union, of the telegraphic despatches of the last twelve
months.
In the course of the day, I went to the St. Charles Hotel,
which is an enormous establishment, of the American type,
with a Southern character about it.  A number df gentlemen
were seated in the hall, and front of tlie office, with their legs
up against the wall, and on the backs of chairs, smoking, spit 
~LLSWORTH SHOT.              235
ting, and reading the papers.  Officers crowded the bar.  The
bustle and noise of the place would make it anything but an
agree able residence for one fond of quiet; but this hotel is
famous for its difficulties.  Not the least disgraceful amonu
them, was the assault committed by some of ~Yalke?s filibusters, upon CaI)tain Aidham of the Royal Navy.
The young artist, who has been living in great seclusion,
was fastened up in his room; and when I informed him that
Mr. Mure had despatches which he might take, if he liked,
that night, he was overjoyed to excess.  lle s~arted off north
in the evening, and I saw him no more.
At half-past four, I went down by train to the terminus on
the lake, where I had landed, which is the New Orleans Richmond, or rather, Greenwich, and dined with Mr. Eustis, Mr.
Johnson, an English merchant, Mr. Josephs, a New Orleans
lawyer, and Mr. Hunt.  The dinner was worthy pf the reputation of the French cook.  The terrapin soup excellent,
though not comparable, as Americans assert, to the best turtIe  The creature from which it derives its name, is a small
tortoise; the flesh is boiled somewhat in the manner of turtle,
but the soup abounds ia small bones, and the black paws with
the white nail4ike stumps projecting from them, found amongst
the disjecta membra, are not agreeable to look upon.  The
bouillabaisse wa~ unexceptionable, the soft crab worthy of
every commendation; but the best dish was, unquestionably,
the pompinoe, an odd fish, something like an unusually ugly
John Dory, but possessing admirable qualities in all that
makes fish good.  The pleasures of the evening were enhanced by a most glorious sunset, which cast its last rays
through a wilderness of laurel roses in full bloom, which
thronged the garden.  At dusk, the air was perfectly alive
with fire-flies and strange beetles.   Flies and coleopters
buzzed in through the open windows, and flopped among the
glasses.  At half-past nine we returned home, in cars drawn
by horses along the raiL
Ma~ 25th. - Virginia has indeed been invaded by the Federals.  Alexandria has been seized.  It is impossible to describe the' excitement and rage of the people; they take, however, some consolation in the fact that Colonel Ellsworth, in
command of a regiment of New York Zouaves, was shot by
J. T. Ja~kson, the landlord of an inn in the city, called the
Marshall House.  Ellsworth, on the arrival of his regiment in
Alexandria, proceeded to take down the Secession flag, which 
236         MY DIARY NORTIl AND SOUTIl.
had been long seen from the President's windows.  He went out
upon the roof, cut it from the staff~ and was proceeding with it
down-stairs, when a man rushed out ~r a room, levelled a~doublebarrelled gun, shot Colonel Ell~worth d~ad, and fired the other
barrel at one of his men, who had struck at the piece, when
the murderer presented it at the Colonel.  Almost instantaneously, the Zouave shot Jackson in the head, and as he was
falling dead thrust his sabre bayonet through his body. Strange
to say, the people of New Orleans, consider Jackson was completely right, in shooting the Federal Colonel, and maint~ia
that the Zouave, who shot Jackson, was guilty of murder.
Their theory is that Ellsworth had come over with a horde
of rufflanly abolitionists, or, as the "Richmond Examiner" has
it, "the band of thieves, robbers, and assassins, in the pay of
Abraham Lincoln, commonly known as the United States
Army," to violate the territory of a sovereign State, in order
to execute t~eir bloody and brutal purposes, and that he was
in the act of committing a robbery, by taking a flag which did
not belong to him, when he met his righteous fate.
It is curious to observe how passion blinds man's reason, in
this quarrel.  More curious still to see, by the light of this
event, how differently the same occurrence is viewed by
Northerners and Southerners respectively.  Jackson is~depicted in the Northern papers as a fiend and an assassin; even
his face in death is declared to have worn a revolting expression of rage and hate.  The Confederate flag which was the
cause of the fatal affray, is described by one writer, as having
been purified of its baseness, by contact with Ellsworth's blood.
The invasion of Virginia is hailed on all sides of the North
with the utmost eatbusiasm.  "Ellsworth is a martyr hero,
whose name is to be held sacred forever."
On the other hand, the Southern papers declare that the infvasion?~ Virginia, is "an act of the Washington tyrants,
which indicates their bloody and brutal purpose to exterminate
the Southern people.  The Virginians will give the world
another proot, like that of Moscow, that a free people, flghting
on a free soil, are invincible when contending for all that is
dear to man."  Again - "A band of execrable cut-throats and
jail-birds, known as the Zouaves of New York, under that
chief of all scoundrels, Ellsworth, broke open the door of a
citizen, to tear down the flag of the house - the courageous
owner met the favorite hero of the Yankees in his own hall,
alone, against thousands, and shot him through the heart - he 
MR. SLIDELL.               237
died a death which emperors might envy, and his memory will
live through endless generations."  Desperate, indeed, must
- have been the passion and anger of the man who, in the fullest
certainty that immediate death must be its penalty, committed
such a deed.  As it seems to me, Colonel Elisworth, however
injudicious he may have been, was actually in the performance
of liis duty when taking down the flag of an enemy.
In the evening I visited Mr. Slidell, whom I found at home,
with his family, Mrs. Slidell and her sister Madame Beaure  gard, wife of the general, two very charming young ladies,
daughters of the house, and a parlor full of fair companions,
engaged, as hard as they could, in carding lint with their fair
hands.  Among the company was Mr. Slidell's son, who had
just travelled from school at the North, under a feigned name,
in order to escape violence at the hands of the Union mobs
which are said to be insultincr and outraging every Southern
man.  The conversation, as F5 the case in most Creole domestic
circles, was carried on in French.  I rarely met a man whose
features have a greater ftnesse and firmness of purpose than
Mr. Slidell's; his keen gray eye is full of life; his thin, firmly  set lips indicate resolution and passion.  Mr. Slidell, though
born in a Northern State, is perhaps one of the most deter  mined disunionists in the Southern Confederacy; he is not a
speaker of note, nor a ready stump orator, nor an able writer;
but he i~ an excellent judge of mankind, adroit, persevering,
and subtle, full of device, and fond of intrigue; one of those
men, who, unknown almost to the outer world, organizes and
sustains a faction, and exalts it into the position of a party
what is called here a "wire-puller."  Mr. Slidell is to the
South something greater than Mi-. Thurlow Weed has been to
his party in the North.  He, like every one else, is convinced
that recognition must come soon; but, under any circumstances,
he is quite satisfied, the government and independence of the
Southern Confederacy are as completely established as those
of any power in the world.  Mr. Slidell and the members of
his family possess naivete', good sense, and agreeable man  ners; and the regrets I heard expressed in Washington
society, at their absence, had every justification.
I supped at the club, which I visited every day since I was
made an honorary member, as all the journals are there, and
a great number of planters and merchants, well acquainted
with the state of affairs in the South.  There were two Eng`ishmen present, Mr. Lingam and another, the most deter   
238        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
mined secessionists and the most devoted advocates of slavery
1 have yet met in the course of my travels.
M4~ 26tA. - The heat to-day was so great, that 1 felt a
return of my old Indian expeflences, and was unable to go,
as I intended, to bear a very eminent preacher discourse on
the war at one of the principal chapels.
All disposable regiments are on the march to Virginia.  It
was bad policy for Th[r. Jefferson Davis to menace Washington
before he could seriously carry out his threats, because the
North was excited by the speech of his Secretary at War to
take extraordinary measures for tlie defbnce of their capital;
and General Scott was enabled by their enthusiasm not only
to provide for its defence, but to effect a lodgment at Alexandria, as a base of operations again st the enemy.
When the Congress at Montgomery adjourned, the other
day, they resolved to meet on the 20th of July at Richmond,
which thus becomes the capital of the Confederacy.  The
city is not much more than one hundred miles south of Washington, with which it was in communication by rail and river;
and the selection must cause a collision between the two armies in front of the rival capitals.  The seizure of the Norfolk navy yard by the Confederates rendered it necessary to
reinforce Fortress Monroe; and for the present the Potomac
and the Chesapeake are out of danger.
The military precautions taken by General Scott, and the
movements attributed to him to hold Baltimore and to maintain his communications between Washington and the North,
afford evidence of judgment and military skill.  The Northern papers are clamoring for an immediate advance of their
raw levies to Richmond, which General Scott resists.
In one respect the South has shown greater sagacity tha~
the North.  Mr. Jefferson Davis having seen service in the
field, and having been Secretary of War, perceived the dangers and inefficiency of irregular levies, and therefbre induced
the Montgomery congress to pass a bill which binds volunteers to serve during the war, unless sooner discharged, and
reserves to the President of the Southern Confederacy the
appointment of staff and field officers, the right of veto to
battalion officers elected by each company, and the power of
organizing companies of volunteers into squadrons, battalions,
and regiments. Wnting to il~e "Times," at this date, I observed:
"Although immense levies of men may be got together for
purposes of local defence or aggressive operations, it will be 
"CHARGES OF ABOLITIONISM."        239
very difficult to move these masses like regular armies.  There
is an utter want of field-trains, equipage, aiid commissariat,
which cannot be made good in a day, a week, or a inonth.
Tlie absence of cavalry, ai~d the utter deficiency of artillery,
may prevent eithe  side obtaining any decisive result in one
engagement; but there can be no doubt large losses will be
incurred whe~ever these masses of men are fairly opposed to
each other in the open field."
May 27tb. - 1 visited several of the local companies, their
tlnll-grounds and parades; but tew of the men were present,
~s nearly all are under orders to proceed to tlie camp at Tangipao or to march to Richmond.  Privates and officers are
busy in the sweltering streets purchasing necessanes for their
journey.  As one looks at the resolute, quick, angry faces
around him, and hears but the single theme, lie must feel the
South will never yield to the North, unless as a nation which
is beaten beneath the feet of a victorious enemy.
In every State there is only one voice audible.  Hereafter, -
indeed, state jealousies may work their own way; but if
words means anything, all the Southern people are determined
to resist ~ir. Lincoln's invasion as long as they have a man
or a dollar.  Still, there are certain hard facts which militate
against the truth of their own assertions, "that they are united
to a man, and prepared to fight to a man."  Only 45,000 are
under arms out of the 50,000 men in the State of Louisiana
liable to military service.
"Charges of abolitionism" appear in the reports of police
cases in the papers every morning; and persons found guilty,
not of expressing opinions against slavery, but of stating their
belief that the Northerners will be successful, are sent to
prison for six months.  The accused are generajily~oreigners,
or belong to the lower orders, who have got no interest in the
upport of slavery.  The moral suasion of the lasso, of taring and feathering, head-shaving, ducking, and horseponds,
(leporiation on rails, and similar ethical processes are highly
in favor.  As yet the North have not arrived at such an elevated view of the necessities of their position.
The New Orleans papers are facetious over their new mode
of securing unanimity, and highly laud what they call "the
course of instruction in the humane institution for the ameliora~tion of th~ condition of Northern barbarians and abolition
fanatics, presided over by Professor Henry ~Iitchell," who, in
other words, is the jailer of the work-house reformatory. 
240        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
I dined at the Lake with Mr. Mure, General Lewis, Major Ranney, Mr. Duncan Kenner, a Mississippi planter, Mr.
Claiborne, &c., and visited the club in the evening.  Every
night since I have been in New Orleans there have been one
or two fires; to-night there were three - one a tremendous
conflagration.  When I inquired to what they were attributable, a gentleman who sat near me, bent over, and looking me
straight in the face, said, in a low voice, "The slaves."  The
flues, perhaps, and the system of stoves, may also bear some
of the blame.  There is great enthusiasm among the town'speople in consequence of the Washington artillery, a crack
corps, furnished by the first people in New Orleans, being ordered off for Virginia.
May 28th. - On dropping in at the Consulate to-day, I
found the skippers of several English vessels who are anxious
to clear out, lest they be detained by the Federal cruisers.
The United States steam frigates Brooklyn and Niagara have
been for some days past blockading Pass a' l'ou?re.  One
citizen made a remarkable proposition to Mr. Mure.  He
came in to borrnw an ensign of the Royal Yacht Squadron for
the purpose, he said, of hoisting it on board his yacht, and
running down to have a look at the Yankee ships.  Mr. Mure
had no flag to lend; whereupon he asked for a description
by which he could get one made.  On being applied to, I asked
"whether il~e gentleman was a member of the Squadron?"
"Oh, no," said he, "but my yacht was built in England, and I
wrote over some time ago to say I would join the squadron."
I ventured to tell him that it by no means followed he was a
member, and that if he went out with the flag and could not
show by his papers he had a right to carry it, the yacht would
be     seized~ However, he was quite satisfied that he had an
English yacht, and a right to hoist an English flag, and went off
to an outfltte?s to order a fac-sirnile of the squadron ensign,
and subsequently cruised among the blockading vessels.
We hear Mr. Ewell was attacked by an Union n~iob in
Tennessee, his luggage was broken open and plundered, and
he narrowly escaped personal injury.  Per contra, "charges
of abolitionism," continue to multiply here, and are almost as
numerous as the coroner's inquests, not to speak of the
difficulties which sometimes attain the magnitude of murder.
I dined with a large party at the Lake, who had invited me
as their guest, among whom were Mr. Slidell, Governor Hebert,
Mr. Hunt, Mr. Norton, Mr. Fellows, and others.  I observed 
A NEW ORLEANS OFHCIAL.           2~I
in New York that every man had his own solution of the cause
of the present difficulty, and contradicted plumply his neighbor
the moment he attempted to propound his own theory.  Here
I found every one agreed as to the righteousness of the quarrel, but all differed as to the best mode of action for the South
to pursue.  Nor was there any approach to unanimity as the
evening waxed older.   Incidentally we had wild tales of
Southern life, some good songs curiously intermingled with
political discussions, and what the Northerners call hyphileutin
talk.
When I was in the Consulate to-day, a tall and well-dressed,
but not very prepossessing-looking man, entered to speak to
~Th. Mure on business, and was introduced to me at his own
request.  His name was mentioned incidentally to-night, and
I heard a passage in his life not of an agreeable character, to
say the least of it.  A good many years ago there was a ball
at New Orleans, at which this gentleman was present; he paid
particular attention to a lady, who, however, preferred the
society of one of the company, and in the course of the evening an altercation occurred respecting an engagement to
dance, in which violent language was exchanged, and a push
or blow given by the favored partner to his rival, who left
the room, and, as it is stated, proceeded to a cutler's shop,
where he procured a powerful dagger-knife.  Armed with
this, be returned, and sent in a message to the gentleman
with whom he had quarrelled.  Suspecting nothing, the latter
came into the antechamber, the assassin rushed upon him,
stabbed him to the heart, and left him weltering in his blood.
Another version of the story was, that he waited for his victim till he came into the cloak-room, and struck him as he
was in the act of putting on his overcoat.  After a long delay, the criminal was tried.  The defence put forward on his
behalf was that he had seized a knife in the heat of the moment when the quarrel took place, and had slain his adversary
in a moment of passion; but evidence, as I understand, went
s~ongly to prove that a considerable interval elapsed between
the time of the dispute and the commission of the murder.
The prisoner had the assistance of able and ingenious counsel; he was acquitted.  His acquittal was mainly due to the
judicious disposition of a large sum of money; each juro~
when he retired to dinner previous to consulting over the ver
diet, was enabled to find the sum of 1000 dollars under hi~
plate; nor was it clear that the judge and sheriff had not par               I' 
242        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
ticipated in the bounty; in fact, 1 heard a dispute as to tlie
exact amount which it is supposed the murderer had to pay.
He now occupies, under the Confederate Government, the
post at New Orleans which he lately held as representative
of the Government of the United States.
After dinner 1 went in company of some of my hosts to
the Boston Club, whidi has, 1 need not say, no connection
with the city of that name.  More fires, the tocsin sounding,
and so to bed.
Ma~ 29th.- Dined in the evening with M. Aristide Miltenberger, where 1 met His Excellency Mr. Moore, the Governor of Louisiana, his military secretary, and a small party.
It is a strange country, indeed; one of the evils which
afflicts the Louisianians, they say, is the preponderance and
jufluence of South Carolinian Jews, and Jews generally, such
as Moise, Mordecai, Josephs, and Judah Benjamin, and others.
The subtlety and keenness of the Caucasian intellect give
men a high place among a people who admire ability and
dexterity, and are at the same time reckless of means and
averse to labor.  The Governor is supposed to be somewhat
under the influence of the Hebrews, but he is a man quite
competent to think and to act for himsel?, - a plain, sincere
ruler of a Slave State, and an upholder of the patriarchal institute.  A!~r dinner we accompanied Madam Milten-berger
(who affords in her own person a very complete refutation of
the dogma that Amencan women furnish no examples of the
charms which surround their English sisters in the transit
from the prime of life towards middle age), in a drive along
the shell road to the lake and canal; the most remarkable
object being a long wall lined with a glorious growth of orange
trees: clouds of mosquitoes effectually interfered with an enjoyment of the drive.
M~ 3Otk. - Wrote in the heat of the day, enlivened by
~y neighbor, a wonderful mocking-bird, whose songs and
lmitations would make his fortune in any society capable of
appreciating native - born genius.  His restlessness, courage,
activity, and talent, ought not to be confined to Mr. Mure's
cage, but he seems contented and happy.  I dined with Madame and M. Milten-herger, and drove out with them to visit
the scene of our defeat in 1815, which lies at the distance of
some miles down the river.
A dilapidated farm-house surrounded by trees and negro
huts, marks the spot where Pakenham was buried, but l~is 
THE REPULSE AT NEW ORLEANS.         243
body was subsequently exhumed and sent home to England.
Close to the point of the canal which constitutes a portion of
the American defences, a negro guide came forth to conduct
us round the place, but he knew as little as most guides of il~e
incidents of ilie fight.  The most remaA~able testimony to the
severity of the fire to which the British were exposed, is
afforded by the trees in the neighborhood of the tomb.  In
one live-oak there are no less than eight round shot embedded;
others contain two or three, and many are lopped, rent, and
scarred by the flight of cannon-ball.   The American lines
extended nearly three miles, and were covered in the front by
swamps, marshes, and water cuts, their batteries and the vessels in the river enfiladed the British as they advanced to the
attack.
Among the prominent defenders of the cotton bales was a
notorious pirate and murderer named Lafitte, who with his
band was released from prison on c6ndition that he enlisted in
the defence, and did substantial service to his friends and
deliverers.
Without knowing all the circumstances of the ease, it would
be rash now to condemn the officers who directed the assault;
but so far as one could judge from the present condition of
the ground, the position must have been very formidable, and
should not have been assaulted till the enfilading fire was subdued, and a very heavy covering fire directed to silence the
guns in front.  The Americans are naturally very proud of
their victory, which was gained at a most trifiing loss to themselves, which they erroneously conceive to be a proof of their
gall an try in resisting the assault.  It is one of the events
which have created a fixed idea in their minds that they`are
able to "whip the world."
On returning from my visit I went to the club, where I had
a long conversation with Di'. Rushton, who is strongly convinced of the impossibility of carrying on government, or c9nducting municipal affairs, until universal suffrage is put down.
lie gave many instances of the terrorism, violence, and assassinations which prevail during election times in New Orleans.
M. 1~Iilten-berger, on tl~e contrary, thinks matters are very
well as they are, and declares all these stories are fanciful.
Incendiarism rife again.  All the club windows crowded with
men looking at a tremendous fire, which burned down three or
four stores and houses. 
CHAPTER XXXL
Canying arms - New Orleans jail - Desperate characters - Execu
tions -Female maniacs and prisoners - Tlie river and levee -
Climate of New Orleans- Population-General distress - Pres  sure of fl~e blockade - Money - Philosophy of abstract rights -
The doctrine of state rights - Theoretical defect in the constitu  tion.
Ya~ 31st. — I went with Mn Mure to visit the jail.  We
met the sheriW, according to appointment, at the police court.
Something like a sheriff- a great, big, burly, six-foot man,
with revolvei-s stuck in his belt, and strength and arms quite
sufficient to enable him to execute his office in its highest
degree.  Speaking of the numerous enmes committed in New
Orleans, he declared it was a perfect bell upon earth, and that
nothing would~ever put an end to murders, manslaughters, and
deadly assaults, till it was made penal to carry arms; but by
law every American citizen may walk with an armory round
his waist, if he likes.  Bar-rooms, cock-tails, mint-juleps,
gambling-houses, political discussions, and imperfect civilization do the rest.
The jail is a square whitewashed buiHing, with cracked
wafls and barred windows.  In front of the open door were
seated foar men on chairs, with their legs cocked against the
wall, smoking and reading newspapers.  "Well, what do you
want?" said one of them, without rising. "To visit the
prison."  "Have you got friends inside, or do you carry an
order?"  The necessary document from our friend the
sheriW, was produced.  We entered through the d?orwa~,
into a small hall, at the end of which was an iron grating and
door. A slightly-built young man, who was lolling in his
shirt-sleeves on a chair, rose and examined the order, and,
taking down a bunch of keys from a hook, and introducing
himself to us as one of the warders, opened the iron door,
and preceded us through a small passage into a square court.
yard, formed on one side by a high wall, and on the othei 
JAIL AT NEW ORLEANS.         245
three by windowed walls and cells, with doors opening on the
court.  It was filled with a crowd of men and boys; some
walking up aad down, others sitting, and groups oa the pavement; some moodily apart, smoking or chewing; one or
two cleaning their clothes, or washing at a small tank.  We
walked into the midst of them, and the warder, smoking his
cigar aad looking coolly about him, poiated out the most
desperate crimiaals.
This crowded aad most noisome place was filled with felons
of every description, as well as with poor wretches merely
guilty of larceny.  Hardened murderei~s, thieves, aad assassins, were here associated with boys in their teens, who were
undergoing imprisonment for some trifling robbery.  It was
not pleasant to rnb elbows with miscreants who lounged past,
almost smiling defiance, whilst the slim warder, in his straw
hat, shirt-sleeves, and drawers, told you how such a fellow
had murdered his mother, how another. had killed a policeman, or a third had destroyed no less than three persons in a
few moments.  Here were seventy murderers, pirates, bur-.
glars, violaters, and thieves, circulating among men who had
been proved guilty of no offence, but were merely waiting for
their trial.
A veranda ran along one side of the wall, above a fow of
small cells, containing truckle beds for the inmates.  "That's
a desperate chap, I can tell you," said the warder, pointing to
a man who, naked to his shirt, was sitting on the floor, with
heavy irons on his legs, which they chafed notwithstanding the
bloody rags around them, engaged in playing cards with a fellow prisoner, and smoking with an air of supreme contentment.
The prisoner turned at the words, and gave a kind of grunt
and chuckle, and then played his next card.  "That," said the
warder, in the proud tone of a menagerie keeper exhibiting
his fiercest wild beast, "is a real desperate character; his
name is Gordon; I guess he comes from your country; he
made a most miraculous attempt to escape, and all but succeeded; and you would never believe me if I told you that
he hooked on to that little spout, climbed up the angle of.that
wall there, and managed to get across to the ledge of that window over the outside wall before he was discovered."  And
indeed it did require the corroborative twinkle in the fellow's
eye, as he heard of his own exploit, to make me believe
that the feat thus indicated could be performed by mortal
man. 
246.    MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
"There's where we hang tl~em," continued he, pointing to a
small black door, let into the wall, abont eighteen feet from the
ground, with some iron hooks above it.  "They wail~ out on
the door, which is shot on a bolt, and when the rope is round
their necks from the hook, the door's let flop, and they swing
over the court-yard."  The prisoners are shut up in their cells
during the execution, but they can see what is passing, at least
those who get good places at the windows.  "Some of them,"
added the ~`varder, "do die very brave indeed.  Some of tfiem
abuse ~s you never heard.  But most of them don't seem to
like it,
Passing from the yard, we proceeded up-stairs to the fin';t
floor, where were the debtors' rooms.  These were tolerably
comfbrtable, in comparison to the wretched cells we had seen;
but the poorer debtors were crowded together, three or four in
a room.  As far as I could ascertain, there is no insolvency
law, but the debtor is free, after ninety days' imprisonment, if
his board and lodging be paid for.  "And what if they are
not?"  "Oh, well, in Cnat case we keep them till all is paid,
adding of course for every day they are kept."
In one of these rooms, sitting on his bed, looking wicked
and gloomy, and with a glare like that of a wild beast in his
eyes, was a Doct~~r Withers, who, a few d;tys ago, murdered
his son4n4aw and his wife, in a house close to Mr. Mu re's.
He was able to pay for this privilege, and "as he is a respectable man," said the warder,` perhaps he may escape the
worst."
Turning from this department' into another gallery, the
warder went to an iron door, above which was painted a
death's head and cross-bones; beneath were the words "co1ndemned cell."
He opened the door, which led to a short narrow covered
gallery, one side of which looked into a court-yard, admitting
light into two small chambers, in which were pallets of straw
covered with clean counterpanes.
Six men were walking up and down in the passage.  In the
firs& room there was a table, on which were placed missals,
neatly bound, and very clean religious books, a crucifix, and
Agnus Bei.  The whitewashed wall of this chamber was covered with most curious drawings in charcoal or black chalk,
divided into compartments, and representing scenes in the life
of the unhappy artist, a Frenchman, executed some years ago
for murdering his mistress, depicting his temptations, - his 
FEMALE MANIACS.               247
gradual fall from innocence, - his society with abandoned
men and women, - intermin~led with Scriptural subjects,
Christ walking on the waters, and holding out his hand to the
culprit, - the murderer's corpse in the grave, - angels visiting and lamenting over it - finally, the resurrection, in which
he is seen ascending to heaven!
~Iy attention was attracted from this extraordinary room to
an open gallery at the other side of the court-yard, in which
were a number of women wiil~ dishevelled hair and torn
clothes, some walking up and down restlessly, others screaming loudly, while some with indecent gestures were yelling to
the wretched men opposite to them, as they were engaged in
their miserable promenade.
Shame and l~orror to a Christian land!  These women
were maniacs! They are kept here until there is room for
them at the State Lunatic Asylum.  Night and day their
terrible cries and ravings echo through the dreary, waking
hours and the fitful ~lumbers of the wretched men so soon
to die.
Two of those who walked in that gallery are to die tomorrow.
What a mockery - the crucifix! - the Agnus 1)ei! - the
holy books!  I turned with sickness and loathing from the
dreadful place.   "But," said the keeper, apolo,g,~etically,
"there's not one of them believes he'll be hanged.
*      *       *      *       *       *
We next visited the women's gallery, where female criminals of all classes are huddled together indiscriminately.  On
opening the door, the stench from ~he open veranda, in which
the prisoners were sitting, was so vile that I could not proceed
further; but I saw enough to convince me that the poor, erring woman who was put in there for some trifling offence, and
placed in contact with the beings who were uttering such language as we heard, might indeed leave hope behind her.
The prisoners have no beds to sleep upon, not even a blanket,
and are thrust in to lie as they please, five in each small cell.
It may be imagined what the tropical heat produces under
s(~ch conditions as these; but as the surgeon was out, I could
obtain no information respecting the rates of sickness or
mortality.
I next proceeded to a yard somewhat smaller than that appropriated to serious offenders, in which were confined prisoners condemned for short sentences, for such offences as 
248        MY DIARY NuRTll AND SOUTll.
drunkenness, assault, anQ the like. Among the prisoners were
some English sailors, confined for assaults on their officers, or
breach of articles; all of whom liad complaints to make to the
Consul, as to arbitrary arrests and untounded charges.  ~Ir.
~Iure told me that when the port is full he is constantly engaged inquiring into such cases; and I am sorry to learn that
the men of our commercial marine occasion a good deal of
trouble to the authorities.
I left the prison in no very charitable mood towards the
~eople who sanctioned such a disgraceful institution, and pro.
e~eded to complete my tour of the city.
The "Levee," whid~ is an enormous embankment to prevent the inundation of the river, is now nearly deserted except by the river steamers, and those which have been unable
to run ~e blockade.  As New Orleans is on an average tlii~ee
feet below the level of the riyer at high water, this work requires constant supervision; it is not less than ~fteen feet
broad, and rises five or six feet above the level of the adjacent street, and it is continued in an almost unbroken line for
several hundreds of miles up the course of the ~Iississippi.
When the bank gives way, or a "crevasse," as it is technically called, occurs, the damage done to the plantations has
sometimes to be calculated by millions of dollars; when the
river is very low there is a new form of danger, in what is
called the "caving in" of the bank, which, left without the
support of the water pressure, slides into the bed of the giant
river.
New Orleans is called the "Crescent City" in consequence
of its being built on a curve of the river, which is here about
the breadth of the Thames at Gravesend, and of great depth.
Enormous cotton presses are erected near the banks, where
the bales are compressed by machinery before stowage on ship~oard, at a heavy cost to the planter.
The custom-house, the city-hall, and the United States mint,
are fine buildings, of rat her pretentious architecture; the former is the largest building in the States, next to the capital.
I was informed that on the levee, now almost deserted, there
is during the cotton and sugar season a scene of activity, life,
and noise, the like of which is not in the world.  Even Canton does not show so many boats on the nver, not to speak of
steamers, tug~, flat-boats, and the like; and it may be easily
imagined that such is the case, when we know that the value
of the cotton sent in the year from this port alone exceeds 
MR BIBB AND SELF-DEFENCE.          249
twenty millions steding, and that the other exports are of the
value of at least fifteen millions sterling, whilst the imports
amount to nearly four millions.
As the city of New Orleans is nearly 1700 miles south of
New York, it is not surprising that it rejoices in a semi-tropical climate.  The squares are surrounded with lemon-trees,
orange-groves, myrtle, and magnificent magnolias.  Palmettoes and peach-trees are found in all the gardens, and in the
neighborhood are eiiormous cypresses, hung round with the
e~erlasting Spanish moss.
Tlie streets of the extended city are different in character
from the narrow c~ausse'es of the old town, and the general
rectangular arrangement common in il~e United States, Russia,
and British Indian cantonments is followed as much as possible.  T he markets are excellent, each municipality, or grand
division, being provided with its own.  They swarm with
specimens of the composite races which inhabit the city, from
the thorough-bred, woolly-headed negro, who is suspiciously
like a native-born African, to the Creole who boasts that every
drop of blood in his veins is purely French.
I was struck by the absence of any whites of the laboring
classes, and when I inquired what had become of the men
who work on the levee and at the cotton presses in competition with the negroes, I was told they had been enlisted for
the war.
I forgot to mention that nmong the criminals in the prison
there was one ~Ir. Bibb, a~respectable citizen, who lind a little
affair of his own on Sunday mornin~
~Ir. Bibb was coming from market, and bad secured an
early copy of a morning paper.  Three citizens, anxious for
news, or, as Bibb avows, for his watch and purse, came up
and insisted that he should read the paper for them. Bibb declined, whereuyon the three citizens, in the full exercise of their
rights as a majority, proceeded to coerce him; but Bibb had a
casual revolver in his pocket, and in a moment he shot one of
his literary assailants dead, and wounded the two others
severely, if not mortally.  T he paper which narrates the circumstances, in stating that the successful combatant had been
committed to prison, adds, "great sympathy is felt for Mr.
Bibb."  If the Southern minority is equally successful in its
resistance to force majeure as this eminent citizen, the fate of
the Confederacy cannot long be doubtful.
J~ne 1st.  The respectable people of the city are menaced
11* 
250        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
with two internal evils in consequence of the destitution
caused by the stoppage of trade with the North and with
Europe.   The municipal authorities, for want of funds,
threaten to close the city schools, and to disband the police;
at the same time emp~oyers refuse to pay their workmen on
the ground of inability.  The British Consulate was thronged
to-day by Irish, English, and Scotch, entreating to be sent
North or to Europe.  The stories told by some of these poor
fellows were most pitiable, and were vouched for by facts and
papers; but Mr. Mure has no funds at his disposal to enable
hin~ to comply with their prayers.  Nothing remains for il~em
but to enlist.  For the third or fourth time I heard cases of
British subjects being forcibly cari-ied off to fill the ranks of
~o-called volunteer companies and regiments.  In some in stan-~
ces they have been knocked down, bound, and confined in barracks, till ia despair they consented to serve.  Those who
have friends aware of their condition were relieved by the interference of the Consul; but there are many, no doubt,
thus coerced and placed in involuntary servitude without his
knowledge.  Mr. Mure has acted with energy, judgment, and
success on these occasions; but I much wish he could have,
from national sources, assisted the many distressed English
subjects who thronged his office.
The great commercial community of New Orleans, which
now feels the pressure of the blockade, depends on the interference of the European Powers next October.  They have
among them men who refuse to pay their debts to Northern
houses, but thQy deny that they intend to repudiate, and
promise to pay all who are not Black Republicans when the
war is over.  Repudiation is a word out of favor, as they feel
the character of the Southen~ States and of Mr. Jefferson
Davis himself has been much injured in Europe by the breach
of honesty and honor of which they have been guilty; but I
am assured on all sides that every State will eventually redeem all its obligations.  Meantime, money here is fast van
ishing.  Bills on New York are worth nothing, and bills on
England are at 18 per cent. discount from the par value of
gold; but the people of this city will endure all this and much
more to escape from the hated rule of the Yankees.
Through the present gloom come the rays of a glorious future, which shall see a grand slave confederacy enclosing the
Gulf in its arms, and swelling to tlie shores of the Potomac
and Chesapeake, with the entire control of the Mississippi and 
SLAYERY AND COTTON.            251
a monopoly of the great stapies on which so much of the man
ufactui'es nnd commerce of England and France depend.
They believe themselves, in fact, to be masters of the destiny
of the woAd.  Cotton is king - not alone king but czar; and
coupled with the gratification and piofit to be derived from
this mighty ngency, they look forward with intense satisfaction to the complete humiliation of their hated enemies in the
New England States, to the destruction of their usurious rival
New York, and to the impoverishment and r~n o~ the States
whi~h have excited their enmity by personal liberty bills, and
have outraged and insulted them by harboring abolitionists
and an anti-slavery press.
The abolitionists have said, "We will never rest till every
slave is free in the United States."  Men of larger views
than those have declared, "They will never rest from agitation until a man may as fi~eely express his opinions, be they
what they may, on slavery, or anything else, in the streets of
Charleston or of New Orleans as in th~e of Boston or
New York." ~" Our rights are guaran teed by the Con~titution," exclaim the South.  "The Constitution," retorts Wendell Phillips, "is a league with fl~e devil, - a covenant with
hell."
The doctrine of State Rights has been consistently advocated not only by Southern statesmen, but by the great party
who have ever maintained there was danger to liberty in the
establishment of a strong central Government; but the contending interests and opinions on both sides had hitherto been
kept from open collision by artful compromises and by ingenious contrivances, which ceased with the election of Mr. Lincoln.
There was in the very corner-stone of the republican edifice a small fissure, which has been widening as the grand
structure increased in height and weight.  The early statesmen and authors of the Republic knew of its existence, but
left to posterity the duty of dealing with it and guarding
against its consequences.  Washington himself was perfectly
aware of the danger; and he looked forward to a duration
of some sixty or seventy years only for the great fabric he
contributed to erect.  Re was satisfied a crisis must come,
when the States whom in his farewell address he warned
against rivalry abd faction would be unable to overcome the
animosities excited by different interests, and the passions
arising out of adverse institutions; and now that the separa 
252       MY DIARY NORTH AND SOflTll.
tion has come~, there is not, in the Constitution, or out of it,
power to cement the broken fragments together.
It is remarkable that in New Orleans, as in New York, the
opinion of the most wealthy and intelligent men in the cornmunity, so far as I can judge, regards universal suffrage as
organized confiscation, legalized violence and corruption, a
mortal disease in the body politic.  The other night, as I sat
ja the club-house, I heard a discussion in reference to the
operation~ of the Thugs in this city, a band of native-born
Americans, who at election times were wont deliberately to
shoot down Irish and German voters occupying positions as
leaders of their mobs  These Thugs were only suppressed
by an armed vigilance committee, of which a physician who
sat at table was one of the members.
Having made some purchases, and paid all my visits, I
returned to prepare for my voyage up the Mississippi and
visits to several planters on its banks-my first being to Governor Roman. 
CIIAPTER XXXII.
Uptlie Mississippi - Free negroes and English policy - Monotony
of the river scenery - Visit to M. Roman - Slave quarters - A
slave-dance - Slave-children - Negro hospital - General opin   ion - Confidence in Jefferson Davis.
June 2J. My good friend the Consul was lip early to see
me off; and we drove together to the steamer J. L. Cotten.
The people were going to mass as we passed through the
streets; and it was pitiable to see the children dressed out as
Zouaves, with tin swords and all sorts of pseudo-military
tomfoolery; streets crowded with military companies; bands
playing on all sides.
Before we left the door a poor black sailor came up to
entreat Mr. Mu re's interference.  He had been sent by Mr.
Magee, the Consul at Mobile, by land to New Orleans, in the
hope that Mr. Mure would be able to procure him a free
passage to some British port.  He had served in the Royal
Navy, and had received a wound in the Russian war.  The
moment he arrived in New Orleans he had been seized by the
police.  On his stating that he was a free-born British subject,
the authorities ordered him to be taken to Mr. Mure; he could
not be allowed to go at liberty on account of his color; the
laws of the State forbade such dangerous experiments on the
feelings of the slaVe population; and if the Consul did not
provide for him, he would be arrested and kept in prison, if
- no worse fate befell him.  He was suffering from the effect
of his wound, and was evidently in ill health.  Mr. Mure
gave him a letter to the Sailors' Hospital, and some relief out
-of his own pocket.  The police came as far as the door with
him, and remah~ed outside to arrest him if the Consul did not
afford him protection and provide for him, so that he should not
be seen at large in the streets of the city.  The other day a
New Orleans privateer captured three northern brigs, on board
which were ten free negroes.  The captain handed them over
to the Recorder, who applied to the Confederate States Mar 
254        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
shal to take charge of them. The Marshal refused to receive
them, whereupon the Recorder, as a magistrate and a good
citizen, decided on keeping them in jail, as it would be a bad
and dangerous policy to let them loose upon the community.
I cannot help feeling that the position taken by England in
reference to the question of her colored subjects is humiliating
and degrading.  People who live in London may esteem this
question a light matter; but it has not only been inconsistent
with the national honor; it has so degrade~ us in the opinion
of Americans themselves, that they are encouraged to indulge
in an insolent tone and in violent acts towards us, which will
some day leave Great Britain no alternative but an appeal to
arms.  Free colored persons are liable to seizure by the police,
and to imprisonment, and may be sold into servitude under
certain circumstances.
On arriving at the steamer, I found a considerable party of
citizens assembled to see off their friends.  Governor Roman's
son apologized to me for his inability to accompany me up the
river, as he was going to the drill of his company of volunteers.  Several other gentlemen were in uniform; and when
we had passed the houses of the city, I observed companies
and troops of horse exercising on both sides of the banks.
On board were Mr. Burnside, a very extensive proprietor,
and Mr. Forstall, agent to Messrs. Baring, who claims descent
from an Irish family near Rochestown, though he speaks our
vernacular with difficulty, and is much more French than
British.  lie is considered one of the ablest financiers and
economists in the United States, and is certainly very ingenious, and well crammed with facts and figures.
The aspect of New Orleans from the river is marred by the
very poor houses lining the qunys on the levee.  Wide streets
open on long vistas bordered by the most paltry little domiciles; and the great conceptions of those who planned them,
notwithstanding the prosperity of the city, have not been
realised.
As we were now floating nine feet higher than the level of
the streets, we could look down upon a sea of flat roofs, and
low wooden houses, painted white, pierced by the domes and
spires of churches and public buildings.  Grass was growing
in many of these streets.  At the other side of the river there
is a smaller city of shingle-roofed houses, with a background
of low timber.
The steamer stopped continually at various points along the 
RIYI~R AT NEW ORLEANS.         255
levee, discharging commissariat stores, parcels, and passengers;
and after a time glided up into the open country, which spread
beneath us for several miles at each side of the banks, with a
continuous background of forest.  All this part of the river is
called the Coast, and the country adjacent is remarkable for
its fertility.  The sugar plantations are bounded by lines
drawn at right angles to the banks of the river, and extending
through the forest.  The villas of the proprietors are thickly
planted in the midst of il~e green fields, -with the usual porti
coes, pillars, verandas,  d green blinds  and in the vicinity
of each are rows of w itewashe4 huts, which are the slave
quarters.  These fields, level as a billiard table, are of the
b~ghtest green with crops of maize and su~ar.
But few persons were visible; not a boat was to be seen;
and in the course of sixty-two miles we met only two steamers.
No shelving banks, no pebbly shoals, no rocky margins mark
the course or diversify the outline of the Mississippi.  The
dead, uniform line of the levee compresses it at each side, and
the turbid waters flow without let in a current of uniform
breadth between the monotonous banks.  The gables and
summit of one house resemble those of another; and but for
il~e enormous scale of river and banks, and the black faces of
the few negroes visible, a passenger might think he was on
board a Dutch "treckshuyt."  In fact, the Mississippi is a
huge trench-like canal draining a continent.
At half past three p. M. the steamer ran along-side the
levee at the right bank, and discharged me at" Cahabanooze,"
in the Indian tongue, or "The ducks' sleeping-place," together
with an English merchant of New Orleans, M. La Ville
Beaufevre, son-in-law of Governor Roman, and his wife. The
Governor was waiting to receive us in the levee, and led the
way through a gate in the paling which separated liis ground
from the roadside, towards the house, a substantial, square,
two-stoAed mansion, with a veranda all round it, embosomed
a~nid venerable trees, and surrounded by magnolias.  By way
ot explaini~g the proximity of his house to the river, M.
Roman told me that a considerable portion of the garden. in
front had a short time ago been carried off by the Mississippi;
nor is he at all sure the house itself will not share the same
fate; I hope sincerely it may not.  My quarters were in a
detached house, complete in itsel?, containing four bedrooms,
library, and sitting-room, close to the mansion, and surrounded,
like it, by fine trees. 
256        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
After we had sat for some time in the shade of the fixiest
group, ~I. Roman, or, as lie is called, the Governor - once a
captain always a captain - asked me whether 1 would like to
vi~it the slave quarters. 1 assented, and the Governor led the
way ~o a high paling at the back of the house, inside which the
scraping of fiddles was audible.  As we passed the back of
the mansion some young women flitted past in snow-white
dresses, crinolines, pink sashes, and gaudily colored handkerdiiefs on their heads, who were, the Goveriior told me, the
domestic servants going off to a dan~ at the sugar-house; he
lets his slaves dance every Sunday.  The American plaritei~
who are not Catholics, although they do not make the slaves
woi~ on Sunday except there is something to do, rarely grant
them the indulo ence of a dance, but a few permit them some
hours of relaxation on each Saturday aftenioon.
We entered, by a wicket-gate, a square enclosure, lined with
negro huts, built of wood, something like those which came
from Malta to the Crimea in the early part of the campaign.
They are not flirnished with windows - a wooden slide or -
grating admits all the air a negro desires.  There is a partition dividing the hut into two departments, one of which is
used as the sleeping-room, arid contains a truckle bedstead and
a mattress stuffed with cotton wool, or the hair-like fibres of
dried Spanish moss. The wardrobes of the inmates hang from
nails or pegs driven into the walL  The other room is furnished with a dresser, on which are arranged a few articles of
crockery and kitchen utensils.  Sometimes there is a table in
addition to the plain wooden chairs, more o~ less dilapidated,
constituting the furniture - a hearth, in connection with a
brick chimney outside the cottage, in which, hot as the day
may be, some embers are sure to be found burning  The
ground round the huts was covered with litter and dust, heaps
(`f old shoes, fragments of clothing and feathers, amidst which
pigs and poultry were recreating.   Curs of low degree
~campered in and out of the shade, or around two huge dogs,
chiens Je ~arJe, which are let loose at night to guard the pre
ci~cts; belly deep, in a pool of stagnant water, thirty or forty
mules were swinking in the sun and enjoying their day of rest.
The huts of the negroes engaged in the house are separated
from those of the slaves devoted to field labor out of doors by
a wooden paling.  1 looked into several of the houses, but
somehow or other felt a repugnance, 1 dare say unjustifiable,
to examine the penetralia, although invited - indeed, urged, 
SLA~ QUARTERS.                 257
to do so by the Governor.  It was not that l expected to com6
upon anything dreadful, but I cotild not divest myself of some
regard for the feelings of the poor creatures, slaves though
they were, who stood by, shy, courte~ying, and silent, as I broke
in upon their family circle, felt their beds, and turned over
their clothing.  What right had I to do so?
Swarms of flies, tin cooking utensils attracting them by
remnants of molasses, crockery, broken and old, on the dressers,
more or less old clothes on the wall, these varied over and over
again, were found in all the huts, not a sign of ornament or
decoration was visible; not the most tawdry print, image of
*    Virgin or Saviour; not a prayer-book or printed volume.  The
slaves are not ei~couraged, or indeed permitted to read, and
some communities of slave-owners puaish heavily those at     tempting to instrueL them.
All the slaves seemed respectful to their master; dressed in
their best, they courtesied, and came up to shake hands with
him and with me.  Among them were some very old men and
women, the canker-worms of the estate, who were dozing
away into eternity, mindful only of hominy, and pig, and
molasses.  Two negro fiddlers were working their bows with
energy in front of one of the huts, and a crowd of little children
were listening to the music, together with a few grown-up
persons of color, some of them from the adjoining plantations.
The children are generally dressed in a little sack of coarse
calico, which answers all reasonable purposes, even if it be not
very clean.
It might be an interesting subject of inquiry to the natural
philosophers who fbHow crinology to determine why it is that
the hair of the infant negro, or child, up to six or seven
years of age, is generally a fine red russet, or even gamboge
color, and gradually darkens into dull ebon.  These little bod     ies were mostly large-stomached, well fed, and not less hap     py than free born-children, although much more valuable
- for if once they get over juvenile dangers, and advance
toward nine or ten years of age, they rise in value to ~100 or
more, even in times when the market is low and money is
scarce.
The women were not very well-favored; one yellow girl,
with fair hair and light eyes, whose child was quite white, ex     cepted; the men were disguised in such strangely-cut clothes,
their hats and shoes and coats so wonderfully made, that one
could not tell what their figures were like.  On all faces there
 
258        MY DIARY NORTlI AND SOUTll.
was a gravity which must be the index to serene conteiitment
and perfect comfort; for those who ou~ht to know best declare
they are the happiest race in the world.
It struck me more and more, however, as I examined the
expression of the faces of the slaves, that deep dejection is
the prevailing, if not universal, characteristic of the race.
llere there were abundant evidences that they were well
treated; they had good clothing of its kind, food, and a master wl~o wittingly could do them no injustice, as he is, I am
~t~rc incapable of it.  Still, they all looked sad', and ever
the old woman who boasted that she had held her old ownel
in h~r an~s when he was an infant, did not smile cheerfully,
as the nurse at home would have done, at the sight of her ancient charge.
Tl0e negroes rear domestic birds of all kinds, and sell eggs
nnd poultry to their masters.  The money is spent in purchasing tobacco, molasses, clothes, and flour; whiskey, their
great delight, they must not have.  Some seventy or eighty
hands were quartered in this part of the estate.
Before leaving the enclosure I was taken to the hospital,
which was in charge of an old negress.  The naked rooms
contained several flock beds on rough stands, and five patients,
three of whom were women.  They sat listlessly on the beds,
looking out into space; no books to amuse them, no conversation - nothing but their own dull d~oughts, if they had any.
They were suffering from pneumonia and swellings of the
glands of the neck; one man had fever.  Their medical attendant visits them regularly, and each plantation has a practitioner, who is engaged by the term for his services.  If the
growth?~ sugar-cane, cotton, and corn, be the great end of
man 5 m~ssion on earth, and if all masters were like Governor
Roman, slavery might be defended as a natural and innocuous
institution.  Sugar and cotton are, assuredly, two great agencies in this latter world.  The older one got on well enough
without them.
The scraping of the fiddles attracted us to the sugar-house,
where the juice of the cane is expressed, boiled, granulated,
and prepared for the refinery, a large brick building, with a
factory4ooking chimney.  In a space of the floor unoccupied
by machinery some fifteen women and as many men were assembled, and four couples were dancing a kind of Irish jig
to the music of the negro musicians - a double shuffle in ~
thumping ecstasy, with loose elbows, pendulous paws, angu 
CREOLE PLANTERS.              259
lated knees, beads thrown back, and backs arched inwards
a glazed eye, intense solemnity of mien.
At this time of year there is no work done in the sugar.
house, but when the crushing and boiling are going on, the
labor is intensely trying, and the hands work in gangs night
and day; and, if the heat of the fires be superadded to the
temperature in September, it may be conceded that nothing
but "involuntary servitude" could go through the toil and
suffering required to produce sugar.
Ia the afternoon the Governor S son came in from the com
pany which he commands: his men are of the best families ir
tlie country- planters and the like.  We sauntered about the
gardens, diminished, as I have said, by a freak of the river.
The French creoles love gardens; the Anglo-Saxons hereabout do not much affect them, and cultivate their crops up to
the very doorway.
It was curious to observe so far away from France so many
traces of the life of the old seigneur - the early meals, in
which supper took the place of dinner - frugal simplicity -
and yet a refinement of manner, kindliness and courtesy not
to be exceeded.
In the evening several officers of M. Alfred Roman's company and neighboring planters dropped in, and we sat ou& in
the twilight, under the trees in the veranda, illuminated by
the flashing fireflies, and talking politics.  I was struck by the
profound silence which reigned all around us, except a low
rushing sound, like that made by the wind blowing over cornfields, which came fiom the mighty river before us.  Nothing
else was audible but the sound of our own voices and the distant bark of a dog.  After the steamer which bore us had
passed on, I do not believe a single boat -floated up or down
the sffeam, and but one solitary planter, in his gig or bu~gy
traversed the road, which lay between the garden palings aii~l
the bank of the great river.
Our friends were all creoles - that is, natives of Louisiana
- of French or Spanish descent.  They are kinder and better masters, according to universal repute, fl~an native~Americans or Scotch; but the New England Yankee is reputed to
be the severest of all slave owners.  All these gentlemen to a
man are resolute that England must get their cotton or perish.  She will take it, therefore, by force; but as the South is
determined never to let a Yankee vessel carry any of its produce, a question has been raised by Monsieur Baroche, who is 
260        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
at present looking around him in New Orleans, which causeq
some difficulty to ti~e astute and statistical ~Ir. Forstall.  The
French economist has calculated that if the Yankee vessels be
excluded fiom the carrying trade, the commercial marine of
France and England together will be quite inadequate to carry
Southern produce to Europe.
But Southern faith is indomitable.  With their faithfiil negroes to raise their corn, sugar, and cotton, whilst their young
men are at the wars; with France and England to pour gold
into their lap with which to purchase all they need in the contest, they belieye they can beat all the powers of the Northern
world in arms.  Illimitable fields, tilled by multitudinous negroes, open on their sight, and they behold the empires of
Europe, with their manufactures, their industry, and their
wealth, prostrate at the base of their throne, crying out, "Cotton!  More cotton!  That is all we ask!"
Mr. Forstall maintains the South can raise an enormous
revenue by a small direct taxation; whilst the North, deprived
of Southern resources, will refuse to pay taxes at all, and will
accumulate enormous debts, inevitably leading to its financial
ruin.  He, like every Southern man I have as yet met,~expresses unbounded confidence in Mr. Jefferson Davis.  I am
asked invariably, as the second question from a stranger,
"Have you seen our President, sir? don't you think him a
very able man?"  This unanimity in the estimate of his character, and universal confidence in the head of the State, will
prove of incalculable value in a civil war. 
CllAPTER XXXIIL
Ride through the maize-fields - Sugar plantation; negroes at work -
Use of the lash - Feeling towards ~~ance - Silence of the coun   fry - Negroes and dogs - The~ry of slavery - Physical forma   tion of the negro - The defence of slavery - The masses for ne   gro soil's - Convent of the Sacre C~ur - Ferry house - A large
land-owner.
June 3J.-At five o'clock this morning, having been awakened an hour earlier by a wonderful chorus of riotous mocking-birds, my old negro attendant brought in my bath of Mississippi water, which, Nile4ike, casts down a Strong deposit,
and becomes as clear, if not so sweet, after standing.  "Le
seigneur vous attend;" and already I saw, outside my window,
the Governor mounted on a stout cob, and a nice chestnut
horse waiting, led by a slave.  Early as it was, the sun felt
excessively hot, and I envied the Governor his slouched hat
as we rode through the fields, crisp with dew.  In a few minutes our horses were traversing narrow alleys between the tall
fields of maize, which rose far above our heads.  This corn,
as it is called, is the principal food of the negroes; and every
planter lays down a sufficient quantity to afford him, on an
average, a supply all the year round.  Outside this spread vast
fields, hedgeless, wall-less, and unfenced, where the green cane
was just learning to wave its long shoots in the wind - a lake
of bright green sugar-sprouts, along the margin of which, in
the distance, rose an unbroken boundary of forest, two miles
in depth, up to the swampy morass, all to be cleared and turned
into arable land in process of time.  From the river front to
this forest, the fields of nch loam, unfathomable, and yielding
from one to one and a half hogsheads of sugar per acre under
cultivation, extend for a mile and a half in depth.  In the
midst of this expanse white dots were visible like Sowers seen
on the early march in Indian fields, many a time and oft.
Those are the gangs of hands at work - we will see what
they are at presently.  This little reminiscence of Indian life
was further heightened by the negroes who ran beside us to 
262        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
whisk flies from the horses, and to open the gates in the plantation boundary.  When the indian corn is not good, peas are
sowed, alternately, between the stalks, and are considered to
be of much benefit; and when the cane is bad, corn is sowed
with it, for the same object.  Before we came up to the gangs
we passed a cart on the road containing a large cask, a bucket
full of molasses, a pail of hominy, or boiled Indian corn, and
a quantity of tin pannikins.  The cask contained water for
the negroes, and the other vessels held the materials for their
breakfast; in addition to which, they generally have each a dried
fish.  The food was ample, and looked wholesome; such as
any laboring man would be well content with.  Passing along
through maize on one side, and cane at another, we arrived at
last at a patch of ground where thirty-six men and women
were hoeing.
Three gangs of negroes were at work: one gang of men,
with twenty mules and ploughs, was engaged in running through
the furrows between the canes, cutting up the weeds, and clearing away the grass, which is the enemy of the growing shoot.
The mules are of a fine, large, good-tempered kind, and understand their work almost as well as the drivers, who are usually
the more intelligent hands on the plantation.  T he overseer, a
sharp-looking creole, on a lanky pony, whip in hand, superintended their labors, and, after a salutation to the Governor, to
whom he made some remarks on the condition of the crops,
rode off to another part of the farm.  With the exception of
crying to their mules, the negroes kept silence at their work.
Another gang consisted of forty men, who were hoeing out
the grass in Indian corn.  The third gang, of thirty-six women, were engaged in hoeing out cane. Their clothing seemed
heavy for the climate; their shoes, ponderous and ill-made, had
worn away the feet of their thick stockings, which hung in
fringes over the upper leathers.  Coarse straw hats and bright
cotton handkerchiefs protected their heads from the sun.  The
silence which I have already alluded to, prevailed among
these gangs also - not a sound could be heard but the blows
of the hoe on the heavy clods.  In the rear of each gang
stood a black overseer, with a heavy-thonged whip over his
shoulder.  If "Alcibiade" or "Pompee" were called out, he
came with outstretched hand to ask "How do you do," and
then returned to his labor; but the ladies were coy, and scarcely looked up from under their flapping chapeaux de paille at
their visitors. 
llEAT AND COLD.            263
Those who are mothers leave their children in the A~arge
of certain old women, unfit for anything else, and "suckers,"
as they are called, are permitted to go home, at appointed periods in the day, to give the infants the breast.  The overseers
have power to give ten lashes; but heavier punishment ought
to be reported to the Governor; however, it is not likely a
good overseer would be checked, in any way, by his master.
The anxieties attending the cultivation of sugar are great, and
so much depends upon the judicious employment of labor, it
is scarcely possible to exaggerate the importance of experience in directing it, and of power to insist on its application.
When the frost comes, the cane is rendered worthless - one
touch destroys the sugar.  But if frost is the enemy of the
white planter, the sun is scarcely the friend of the black man.
The sun condemns him to slavery, because it is the beat which
is the barrier to the white man'~ labor.  The Governor told
me that, in August, when the crops are close, thick-set, and
high, and the vertical sun beats down on the laborers, nothing
but a black skin and head covered with wool can enable a man
to walk out in the open field and live.
We returned to the house in time for breakfast, for which
our early cup of coffee and biscuit and the ride had been good
preparation.   Here was old France again.  One might
imagine a lord of the seventeenth century in his hall, but for
the black faces of the servi'~rs and the strange dishes of
tropical origin.  There was the old French abundance, the
numerous dishes and efflorescence of napkins, and the longnecked bottles of Bordeaux, with a steady current of pleasant
small talk.   I saw some numbers of a paper called "La
i1fisachibe'e~' which was the primitive Indian name of the grand
river, not improved by the addition of sibilant Anglo-Saxon
syllables.
Tlie Americans, not unmindful of the aid to which, at the
end of the War of Independence, their efforts were merely
auxiliary, delight, even in the North, to exalt France above
her ancient rival: but, as if to show the innate dissimilarity of
the two races, the French creoles exhibit towards the New
Englanders and the North an animosity, mingled with contempt, which argues badly for a future amalgamation or
reunion.  As the South Carolinians declar~, they would rather
return to their allegiance under the English monarchy, so the
Louisianians, although they have no sentiment in common
with the people of republican and imperial France, assert 
264        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
they would far sooner seek a connection with the old country
than submit to the yoke of the Yankees.
After breakfast, the Governor drove out by the ever-silent
levee for some miles, passing estate after estate, where grove
nodded to grove, each alley saw its brother.  One could form
no idea, from the small limited frontage of these plantations,
that the proprietors were men of many thousands a year,
because the estates extend on an average for three or four
miles back to the forest.  The absence of human beings on the
road was a feature which impressed one more and more.  But
for the tail chimneys of the factories and the sugar-houses, one
might believe that these villas had been erected by some
pleasu~eAoving people who had all fled from the river banks
for fear of pestilence.  The gangs of negroes at work were
hidden in the deep corn, and their quarters were silent and
deserted. We met but one planter, in his gig, until we an~iV~ed
at the estate of Monsieur Potier, the Governor's brother4n4aw.
The proprietor was at home, and received us very kindly,
though suffering from the effects of a recent domestic calamity.
He is a grave, earnest man with a face like Jerome Bonaparte,
and a most devout Catholic; and any man more unfit to live in
any sort of community with New England Puritans one cannot
well conceive; for equal intensity of purpose and sincerity o~
conviction on their part could only lead them to mortal strife.
His house was like a French chateau erected under tropical
influences, and he led us through a handsome garden laid out
with hot-houses, conservatories, orange-trees, and date-palms,
and ponds full of the magnificent Victoria Regia in flower.
We visited his refining factories and mills, but the heat fi'om the
boilers, which seemed too much even for the all-but-naked negroes who were at work, did not tempt us to make a very long
sojourn inside.  The ebony faces and polished black backs of
the slaves were streaming with perspiration as they toiled over
boilers, vat, and centrifugal driers.  The good refiner was not
gaining much money at present, for sugar has been rapidly falling in New Orleans, and the 30O,00() barrels produced annually in the South will fall short in the yield of profits, which on
an average may be taken at ~11 a hogshead, without counting
the molasses for the planter.  With a most perfect faith in
States' Rights, he seemed to combine either indifference or ignorance in respect to the power and determination of the North
to resist secession to the ~ast.  All the planters hereabouts
have sowed an unusual quantity of Indian corn, to have food for 
THE NEGRO QUESTIO~              265
the negroes if the war lasts, without any distress from inland
or sea blockade.  The absurdity of supposing that a blockade
can injure them in the way of supply is a favorite theme to
descant upon.  They may find out, however, that it is no contemptible means of waffare.
At night, there are regular patrols and watd~men, who look
after the levee and the negroes.  A number of dogs are also
loosed, but I am assured that the creatures do not tear the negroes; they are taught "merely" to catch and mumble them,
to treat them as a well-broken retriever uses a wounded wild
duck.
At Six, A. M., M6ise came to ask me if I should like a glass
of absinthe, or anything stomachic.  At breakfast was Doctor
La porte, formerly a member of the Legislative Assembly of
France, who was exiled by Louis Napoleon; in other words, he
~as ordered to give in his adhesion to the new regime, or to take
a passport for abroad. He preferred the latter course, and now,
true Frenchman, finding the Emperor has aggrandized France
and added to her military reputation, he admires the man on
whom but a few years ago he lavished the bitterest hate.
The carriage is ready, and the word farewell is spoken at
last.  M. Alfred Roman, my companion, has travelled in Europe, and learned philosophy; is not so orthodox as many of
the gentlemen I have met who indulge in ingenious hypotheses
to comfort the consciences of the anthropo-proprietors. The negro skull won't hold as many ounces of shot as the white man 5.
Potent proof that the white man has a right to sell and to own
the creature!  He is plantigrade, and curved as to the tibia!
Cogent demonstration that he was made expressly to work for
the arch-footed, straight-tibiaed Caucasian.   He has a rete
mucosum and a colored pigment!  Surely he cannot have a
soul of the same color as that of an Italian or a Spaniard, far
less of a flaxen-haired Saxon!  See these peculiarities in the
frontal sinus - in sinciput or occiput!  Can you doubt that the
being with a head of that shape was made only to till, hoe, and
dig for another race? Besides, the Bible says that he is a son
of Ham, and prophecy must be carried out in the rice-swamps,
sugar-canes, and maize-fields of the Southern Confederation.
It is flat blasphemy to set yourself against it.  Our Saviour
sanctions slavery because he does not say a word against it, and
it is very likely that St. Paul was a slave-owner.  Had cotton
and sugar been known, the apostle might have been a planter!
Furthermore, the negro is civilized by being carried away from
12 
2~6        My DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
Africa and set to work, instead of idling in native inutility.
What hope is there of Christianizing the African races, except
by the agency of the apostles frbm New Orleans, Mobile, or
Charleston, who sing the sweet songs of Zion with such vel~emence, and clamor so fervently for baptism in the waters of
the "Jawdam"?
If these high physical, metaphysical, moral and religious
reasonin gs do not satisfy you, and you are bold enough to
venture still to be unconvinced and to say so, then I advise
you not to come within reach of a mass meeting of our citizens, who may be able to find a rope and a tree in the neighborhood.
As we jog along in an easy rolling carriage drawn by a
pair of stout horses, a number of white people meet us coming from the Catholic chapel of the parish, where they had
been attending the service for the repose of the soul of a lady
much beloved in the neighborhood.  The black people must
be supposed to have very happy souls, or to be as utterly lost
as Mr. Shandy's homunculus was under certain circumstances,
for I have failed to find that any such services are ever considered necessary in their case, although they may have been
very good - or, where the service would be most desirable -
very bad Catholics.  The dead, leaden uniformity of the
scenery forced one to converse, in order to escape profound
melancholy: the lev~e on the right hand, above which nothing
was visible but the sky; on the left plantations with cypress
fences, whitewashed and pointed wooden gates leading to the
planters' houses, and rugged gardens surrounded with shrubs,
through which could be seen the slave quarters.  Men making
eighty or ninety hogsheads of sugar in a year lived in most
wretched tumble-down wooden houses not much larger than
ox sheds.
As we drove on, the storm gathered overhead, and the rain
fAl in torrents - the Mississippi flowed lifelessly by - not
a boat on its broad surface.
At last we reached Governor Manning's place, and went to
the house of the overseer, a large heavy-eyed old man.
"This rain will do good to the corn," said the overseer.
"The niggers has had sceerce nothin' to do leetly, as they
`eve clearied out the fields pretty well."
At the ferry-house I was attended by pne stout young slave,
who was to row me over.  Two flat-bottomed skiffs lay on the
bank.  The negro groped under the shed, and pulled out a 
THE NEGRO FERRYMAN.         267
piece of wood like a large spatula, some four feet long, and a
small round pole a little longer.  "What are those?" quoth I.
"Dem's oars, Massa," was my sable ferryman's brisk reply.
"I'm very sure they are not; if they were spliced il~ey might
make an oar between them."  " Golly, and dat's the trute,
Massa."  "Then go and get oars, will you?"  ~~hile he was
hunting about we entered the shed at the ferry for shelter
from the rain.  We found "a solitary woman sitting" smoking a pipe by the ashes on the hearth, blear-eyed, low-browed
and morose - young as she was.  She never said a word nor
moved as we came in, sat and smoked, and looked through her
gummy eyes at chicke~ about ti~e size of sparrows, and at a
cat not larger than a rat which ran about on the dirty ~oor.
A little girl, some four years of age, not overdressed - indeed, hal~naked, "not to put too fine a point upon it
crawled out from under the bed, where she had hid on our
approad~.  As she seemed incapable of appreciating the use
of a small piece of silver presented to her - having no precise ideas in coinage or toffy - her parent took the obolus in
charge, with unmistakable decision; but still the lady would
not stir a step to aid our guide, who now insisted on the "key
ov de oar-house."  The little thing sidled off and hunted it out
from the top of the bedstead, and when it was found, and the
boat was ready, I was not sorry to quit the company of the
silent woman in black.  The boatman pushed his skiW, in shape
a snufferAish, some ten feet long and a foot deep, into the
water - there was a good deal of rain in it.  I got in too,
and the conscious waters immediately began vigorously spurting through the cotton wadding wherewith the craft was
calked.  llad we gone out into the stream we should have
had a swim for it, and they do say that the Mississippi is the
most dangerous river in the known world, for that healthful
exercise.  " Why! deuce take you" (I said at least that, in
my wrath), "don't you see the boat is leaky?"  "See it now
for true, Massa.  Nobody able to tell dat till Massa get in
though."  Another skiff proved to be more stanch.  I bade
good-by to my friend Roman, and sat down in my boat, which
was forced by the negro against the stream close to the bank,
in order to get a good start across to the other side.  The view
from my lonely position was curious, but not at all picturesque.
The world was bounded on both sides by a high bank, which
coastncted the broad river, just as if one were sailing down
an open sewer of enor~us length and breadth.  Above the 
268         MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
bank rose the tops of tall trees and the chimneys of sugar
houses, and that was all to be seen save the sky.
A quarter of an hour brought us to the levee on the other
side.  I ascended the bank, and across the road, directly in
front appeared a carriage gateway and wickets of wood, painted white, in? line of park palings of the same material, which
extended up ad down the road far as the eye could see, and
guarded wide-spread fields of maize and sugar-cane.  An
avenue lined with trees, with branches close set, drooping and
overarching a walk paved with red bnck, led to the house, the
porch of which was visible at the extremity of the lawn, w5th
clustering flowers, rose, jasmine, and %reepers, clinging to the
pillars supporting the veranda.  The view fi~om the belvedere
on the roof was one of the most striking of its kind in the
world.
If an English agriculturist could see six thousand acres of
the finest land in one field, unbroken by hedge or boundary,
and covered with the most magnificent crops of tasselling Indian
corn and sprouting sugar-cane, as level as a billiard-table, he
would~surely doubt his senses. But here is literally such a sight
- six thousand acres, better tilled than the finest patch in all the
Lothians, green as ~ieath pastures, which can be turned up for a
hundred years to come without requiring manure, of depth pJ~actically unlimited, and yielding an average profit on what is sold
off it of at lcast ~20 an acre, at the old prices and usual yield of
sugar.  Rising up in the midst of the verdure are the white
lines of the negro cottages and the plantation offices and sugarhouses, which look like large public edifices in the distance.
~Iy host was not ostentatiously proud in telling me that, in the
year 1857, he had purchased this estate for ~300,000 and an
adjacent property, of 8000 acres, for ~150,000, ai~d that he
had left Belfast in early youth, poor and unfriended, to seek
his fortune, and indeed scarcely knowing what fortune meant,
in the New Woild.  In fact, he ~ad invested in these purchases
the geater part, but not all, of the profits arising from the
business in New Orleans, which he inherited from his master;
of which there still remained a solid nucleus in the shape of a
great woollen magazine and country house.  He is not yet
fifty years of age, and his confidence in the great future of
sugar induced him to embark this enormous fortune in an
estate which tlie blockade has stricken ~ith paralysis.
I cannot doubt, however, that he regrets he did not invest
his money in a certain great estate in the North of Ireland; 
A COAST PLANTATION.          269
which he had nearly decided on buying; and, had he done
so, he would now be in the position to which his unaffected
good sense, modesty, kindliness, and benevolence, always adding the rental, entitle him.  Six thousand acres on this one
estate all covered with sugar-cane, and 16,000 acres more of
Indian corn, to feed the slaves; - these were great possessions, but not less than 18,000 acres still remained, covered
with brake and forest and swampy, to be reclaimed and turned
into gold.  As easy to persuade the owner of such wealth
that slavery is indefensible as to have convinced the Norman
baron that the Saxon churl who tilled his lands ought to be
his equal.
I found Mr. ~Yard and a few merchants from New Orleans
in possession of the bachelor's house.  The service was performed by slaves, and the order and regularity of the attendants were worthy of a well-regulated English mansion.  Ia
Southern houses along the coast, as the Mississippi above
New Orleans is termed, beef and mutton are rarely met with,
and the more seldom the better.  Fish, also, is scarce, but
turkeys, geese, poultry, and preparations of pig, excellent
vegetables, and wine of the best quality, render the absence
of the accustomed dishes little to be regretted.
The silence which struck me at Governor Roman's is not
broken at Mr. Burn side's; and when the last thrill of the
mocking-bird's song has died out through the grove, a stillness
of Avernian profundity settles on hut, field, and river. 
CllAPTER XXXIV.
Negroes - Sugar-cane plantations - The negro and cheap labor
Mortality of blacks and whites - Irish labor in Louisiana - A
sugar-house - Ne~ro children - Want of education - Negro diet
- Negro hospital - Spirits in the morning - Breakfast - More
slaves - Creole planters.
June StA. - The smart negro who waited on me this morning spoke English.  I asked him if he knew how to read and
write. -" We must not do that, sir."  "Where were you
born? "-"I were raised on the plantation, Massa, but I have
been to New Orleens;" and then he added, with an air of
pride, "I s'pose, sir, ~Iassa Buruside not take less than 1500
dollars for me."  Down-stairs to breakfast, the luxuries of
which are fish, prawns, and red meat which has been sent for
to Donaldsonville by boat rowed by an old negro.  Breakfast
over, I walked down to the yard, where the horses were waiting, and proceeded to visit the saccharine principality.  Mr.
Seal, the overseer of this portion of the estate, was my guide,
if not philosopher and friend.  Our road lay through a lane
formed by a cart track, between fields of Indian corn just beginning to flower - as it is called technically, to "tassel" -
and sugar-cane.  There were stalks of the former twelve or
fifteen feet in height, with three or four ears each, round which
the pea twined in leafy masses.  The maize affords food to
the negro, and the husks are eaten by the horses and mules,
which also fatten on the peas in folling time.
The wealth of the land is inexhaustible: all the soil requires
is an alternation of maize and cane; and the latter, when cut
in the stalk, called "ratoons," at the end of the year, produces
a fresh crop, yielding excellent sugar.  The cane is grown
from stalks which are laid in pits during the winter till the
ground has been ploughed, when`each piece of cane is laid
longitudinally on the ridge and covered with earth~ and from
each joint of the stalk springs forth a separate sprout when
the crop begins to grow.  At present the sugar-cane is waiting 
SLAVERY AND FIELD LABOR.      271
for its full development, but the negro labor around its stem
hns ceased.  It is planted in long continuous furrows, and
although the palm4ike tops have not yet united in a uniform
arch over the six feet which separates row from row, the stalk~
are higher than a man.  T he plantation is pierced with wagon
roads, for the purpose of conveying the cane to the sugarmills, and these again are intersec[ed by and run parallel with
drains and ditches, portions of the great system of irrigation
and drainage, in connection with a canal t9 carry off the surplus water to a bayou.  The extent of these works may be
estimated by the fact that there are thirty miles of road and
twenty miles of open deep drainage through ilie estate, and
that the main canal is fifleen feet wide, and at present four
feet deep; but in the midst of this waste of plenty and wealth,
where are the human beings who produce both?  One must
go far to discover them; they are buried in sugar and in
maize, or hidden in negro quarters. In truth, there is no trace
of them, over all this expanse of land, unless one knows where
to seek; no "ploughhoy whistles o'er the lea;" no ~flc stands
to do his own work; but the gang is moved off in silence from
point to point, like a corps d'arrne'e of some despotic emperor
manceuvring in the battle-field.
Admitting everything that can be said, I am the more persuaded from what I see, that the real foundation of slavery in
the Southern States lies in the power of obtaining labor at will
at a rate which cannot be controlled by any combination of
the laborers.  Granting the heat and the malaria, it is not for
a moment to be argued that planters could not find white men
to do their work if they would pay them for the risk.  A
negro, it is true, bears heat well, and can toil under the blazing sun of Louisiana, in the stifling air between the thick-set
sugar-canes; but the Irishman who is employed in the stokehole of a steamer is exposed to a higher temperature and
physical exertion even more arduous.  The Irish laborer can,
however, set a value on his work; the African slave can only
determine the amount of work to be got from bim by the exh~ustion of his powers.  Again, the indigo planter in India,
out from morn till night amidst his ryots, or the sportsman
toiling under the midday sun il~rough swamp and jungle,
proves that the white man can endure the utmost power of the
hottest sun in the world as well as the native.  More than
that, the white man seems to be exempt from the inflammatory
disease, pneumonia, and attacks of the mucous membrane and 
272        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
respiratory organs to which the blacks are subject; and if the
statistics of negro mortality were rigidly examined, I doubt
that they would exhibit as large a proportion of mortality and
sickness as would be found amongst gangs of white men under
similnr circumstances.  But the slave is subjected to rigid control; he is deprived of stimulating drinks in which the free
white laborer would indulge; and he is obliged to support life
upon an an ti phlogistic diet, which gives him, however, silfficient strength to execute his daily task.
It is in the supposed cheapness of slave labor and its profit.
~ble adaptation ia the production of Southern crops, that the
whole gist and essence of the question really lie.  The planter
caa get from the labor of a slave for whom he has paid ~200,
a sum of money which will enable him to use up that slave in
comparatively a few years of his life, whilst lie would have to
pay to the white laborer a sum that would be a great apparent
diminution of his profits, for the same amount of work.  It is
calculated that each field-hand, as an able-bodied negro is
called, yie~ seven hogsheads of sugar a year, which, at the
rate of fourpence a pound, at an average of a hogshead an
acre, would produce to the planter ~140 for every slave.
This is wonderful interest on the planter's money; but he
sometimes gets two hogsheads an acre, and even as many as
three hogsheads have been produced in good years on the best
lands; in other words, two and a quarter tons of sugar and
refuse stuW, called "bagasse," have been obtained from an
acre of cane.  Not one planter of the many I have asked
has ever given an estimate of the annual cost of a slave's
maintenance; the idea~f calculating it never comes into their
heads.
Much depends upon the period at which frost sets in; and
if the planters can escape till January without any cold to nip
`the juices and the cane, their crop is increased in value each
day; but it is not till October they can begin to send cane to
the mill, in average seasons; and if the frost does not come
till December, they may count upon the fair average of a hogs.
head of 1200 pounds of sugar to every acre.
The labor of ditching, trenching, cleaning the waste lands,
and hewing down the forests, is generally done by Irish
laborers, who travel about the country under contractors, or
are engaged by resident gangsmen for the task.  Mr. Seal
lamented the high prices of this work; but then, as he said,
"It was much better to have Irish to do it, who cost nothing 
PERQUiSITES OF SLAVES.          273
to the planter, if they died, than to use up good field-hands in
such severe employment."  There is a wonderful mine of
truth in this observation.  Heaven knows how many poor Hib~rnians have been consumed and buried in these Louisianian
swamps, leaving their earnings to the dramshop-keeper and
the contractor, and the results of their toil to the planter.
Thi~ ~state derives its name from an Indian tribe called
Houmas; and when Mr. Burnside purchased it for ~300,000,
lie received in the first year ~63,000 as the clear value of the
crops on his investment.
The first place I visited with the overseer was a new sugarhouse, which negro carpenters and masons were engaged in
erecting.  lE would have been amusing, had not the subject
been so grave, to hear the overseer's praises of the intelligence
and skill of these workmen, and his boast that they did all the
work of skilled laborers on the estate, and then to listen to
him, in a few minutes, expatiating on the utter helplessness
and ignorance of the black race, their incapacity to do any
good, or even to take care of themselves.
There are four sugar-houses on this portion of Mr. Burnside's estate, consisting of grinding-mills, boiling-houses, and
crystallizing sheds.
The sugar-house is the capital of the negro quarters, and
to each of them is attached an enclosure, in which there is a
double row of single-storied wooden cottages, divided into two
or four rooms.  An avenue of trees runs down the centre of
the negro street, and behind each hut are rude poultryhutches, which, with geese and turkeys, and a few pigs, form
the  perquisites of the slaves, and the sole source from
which they derive their acquaintance with currency.  Their
terms are strictly cash.  An old negro brought up some ducks
to Mr. Buraside last night, and offered the lot of six for three
dollars.  "Very well, Louis; if you come to-morrow, I'll pay
you.   "No, massa;- me want de money now."  "But won't
you give me credit, Louis?  Don't you think I'll pay the
three dollars?"  "Oh, pay some day, massa, sure enough.
Massa good to pay de tree dollar; but this nigger want money
now to buy food and things for him leetle famly.  They will
trust massa at Donaldsville, but they won't trust this nigger."
I was told that a thrifty negro will sometimes make ten or
twelve pounds a year from his cor~ and poultry; but he can
have no inducement to hoard; for whatever is his, as well as
himself; belongs to his master.
12 * 
274        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
Mr. Seal conducted me to a kind of forcing-house, where
the young negroes are kept in charge of certain old crones
too old for work, whilst their parents are away in the cane
and Indian corn.  A host of children of b~th sexes were
seated in the veranda of a large wooden shed, or playing
around it, very happily and noisily.  I was glad to see the
boys and girls of nine, ten, and eleven years of age were at
this season, at all events, exempted from the cruel fate which
befalls poor children of their age in the mining and mann
facturing districts of England.  At the sight of the overseer,
the little ones came forward in tumultuous glee, babbling out,
"Massa Seal," and evidently pleased to see him.
As a jolly agriculturist looks at his yearlings or young
beeves, il~e kindly overseer, lolling in his saddle, pointed with
his whip to the glistening fat ribs and corpulent paunches of
his woolly-headed flock.  "There's not a plantation in the
State," quoth he, "can show such a lot of young niggers.
The way to get them right is not to work the mothers too
hard when they are near their time; to give them plenty to
eat, and not to send them to the fields too soon."  lie told me
the increase was about five per cent. per annum.  The chil
dren were quite sufficiently clad, ran about round us, patted the
horses, felt our legs, tried to climb up on the stirrup, and
twinkled their black and ochrey eyes at Massa Seal.  Some
were exceedingly fair; and Mr. Seal, observing that my eye
followed these, murmured something about the overseers before Mr. Burnside's time being rather a bad lot.  lie talked
about their color and complexion quite openly; nor did it
seem to strike him that there was any particular turpitude
in the white man who had left his offspring as slaves on ths
plantation.
A tall, well-built lad of some nine or ten years stood by
me, looking curiously into my face.  "What is your name?"
said I.  "George," he replied.  "Do you know how to read
or write?"  He evidently did not understand the question.
"Do you go to church or chapel?"  A dubious shake of the
head.  "Did you ever hear of our Saviour?"  At this point
Mr. Seal interposed, and said, "I think we had better go on,
as the sun is getting hot," and so we rode gently through the
little ones; and when we had got some distance he said, rather
apologetically, "We don't think it right to put these things
into their heads so young, it only disturbs their minds, and
leads them astray." 
NEGRO HOSPITALS.             27~
Now, in this one quarter there were no less than eighty
ehildr&'i~, some twelve and some even fourteen years of age.
No education - no God - their whole life - food and play,
to strengthen their musdes and fit them for the work of a
slave.  "And when they die?"  "~Yell," said Mr. Seil,
"they are buried in that field there by their own people, and
some of them have a sort of prayers over them, I believe."
The overseer, it is certain, had no fastidious notions about
slavery; it was to him the right thing in the right place, and
hi~ summum bonum was a high price for sugar, a good crop,
and a healthy plantation.  Nay, I am sure I would not
wrong him if I said he could see no impropriety in running a
good cargo of regular black slaves, who might clear the greaf
backwood and s~~~ampy undergrowth, which was now exhausting the energies of his field-hands, in the absence of Irish
navvies.
Each negro gets five pounds of pork a week, and as much
Indian corn bread as he can eat, with a portion of molasses,
and occasionally they have fish for breakfast.  All the carpenters' and smiths' work, the erection of sheds, repairing of
carts and ploughs, and the baking of bricks for the farm
buildings, are done on the estate by the slaves.  The machinery comes from the manufi~cturing cities of the North;
but great efforts are made to procure it from New Orleans,
where factories have been already established.  On the borders of the forest the negroes are allowed to plant corn for
their own use, and sometimes they have an overplus, which
they sell to their masters.  Except when there is any harvest
pressure on their hands, they have from noon on Saturday till
dawn on Monday morning to do as they please, but they must
not stir off the plantation on the road, unless with special
permit, which is rarely granted.
There is an hospital on the estate, and even shrewd ML
Seal did not perceive the conclusion that was to be drawn
from his testimony to its excellent arrangements.  "Once a
nigger gets in there, he'd like to live there for the rest of his
life."  But are they not the happiest, most contented people
in the world - at any rate, when they are in hospital?  I
declare that to me the more orderly, methodical, and perfect
the arrangements for economizing slave labor - regulating
slaves - are, the more hateful and odious does slavery become.  I would much rather be the animated human chattel
of a Turk, Egyptian, Spaniard, or French creole, than the 
276        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOflTH.
laboring beast of a Yankee or of a New England capitM1st.
When I returned back to the house I found my friends enjoying a quiet siesta, and the rest of the afternoon was devoted to idleness, not at all disagreeable with a thermometer
worthy of Agra.  Even the mocking-birds were roasted into
silence, and the bird which answers to our rook or crow sat
~n the under branches of the trees, gaping for air with his bill
wide open.  It must be hot indeed when the mocking-bird
loses his activity.  There is one, with its nest in a rose-bush
trailed along the veranda under my window. which now sits over
its young ones with outspread wings, as if to protect them from
being baked; and it is so courageous and affectionate, that
when I approach quite close, it merely turns round its head,
dilates its beautiful dark eye, and opens its beak, withih which
the tiny sharp tongue is saying, I am sure, "Don't for goodness' sake disturb me, for if you force me to leave, the children
will be burned to death."
June 6th. - My chattel Joe, "adscriptus miki domino,"
awoke me to a bath of Mississippi water with huge lumps of
ice in it, to which he recommended a mint-julep as an adjunct.  It was not here that I was first exposed to an ordeal
of mint-julep, for in the early morning a stranger in a Southern planter's house may expect the offer of a glassful of
brandy, sugar, and peppermint beneath an island of ice - an
obligatory panacea for all the evils of climate.  After it has
been disposed of, Pompey may come up again with glass
number two: "Massa say fever very bad this morning -
much dew."  It is possible that the degenerate Anglo-Saxon
stomach has not the fine tone and temper of that of an Hibernian friend of mine, who considered the finest thing to counteract the effects of a little excess was a tumbler of hot whiskey
and water the moment the sufferer opened his eyes in the
morning.  Therefore, the kindly offering may be rejected.
But on one occasion before breakfast the negro brought up
mint-julep number three, the acceptance of which he enforced
by the emphatic declaration, "Massa says, sir, you had better
take this, because it'll be the last he make before breakfast."
Breakfast is served: there is on the table a profusion of
dishes - grilled fowl, prawns, eggs and ham, fish from New
Orleans, potted salmon from England, preserved meats from
France, claret, iced water, coffee and tea, varieties of hominy,
mush, and African vegetable preparations.  Thea come th~ 
A NEGRO'S EARLY REMINISCENCES.     277
newspapers, which are perused eagerly with ejaculations, "Do
you hear what they are doing now - infernal villains! that
Lincoln must be mad!" and the like.  At one o'clock, in
spite of the sun, I rode out with Mr. Lee, along the road by
the Mississippi, to Mr. Burn side's plantation, called Orange
Grove, from a few trees which still remain in front of the
overseer's house.  We visited an old negro, called "Boatswain," who lives with his old wife in a wooden hut close by
tlie margiii of the Mississippi.  His business is to go to Donaldsonville for letters, or meat, or ice for the house - a tough
row for the withered old man.  He is an African born, and
he just remembers being carried on board ship and taken to
some big city before he came upon the plantation.
"Do you remember nothing of the country you came from,
Boatswain?"  "Yes, sir.  Jist remember trees and sweet
things my mother gave me, and much hot sand I put my
feet in, and big leaves that we play with - all us little children - and plenty to eat, and big birds and shells." "Would
you like to go back, Boatswain?"  "What for, sir? no one
know old Boatswain there.  My old missus Sally inside."
"Are you quite happy, Boatswain?"  "I'm getting very old,
massa.  Massa Burnside very good to Boatswain, but who
care for such dam old ~igger?  Golla Mighty gave me fourteen children, but he took them all away again from Sally
and me.  No budy care much for darn old nigger like me."
Further on Mr. Seal salutes us from the veranda of his
house, but we are bound for overseer Gibbs, who meets us,
mounted, by the roadside - a man grim in beard and eye,
and silent withal, with a big whip in his hand and a large
knife stuck in his belt.  He leads us thi~~ugh a magnificent
area of cane and maize, the latter toweflag far above our
heads; but I was most anxious to see the forest primeval
which borders the clear land at the back of the estate, and
spreads away over alligator-haunted  swamps into distant
bayous.  It was not, however, possihle to gratify one 5 curiosity very extensively beyond the borders of the cleared
land, for rising round the roots of the cypress, swamp-pine,
and live-oak, there was a barrier of undergrowth and bush
twined round the cane-brake which stands some sixteen feet
high, so stiff that the united force of man and horse could
not make way against the rigid fibres; and indeed, as Mr.
Gibbs told us, "When the niggers take to the cane-brake they
can beat man or dog, and n~thing beats them but snakes and
~tarvation." 
278        ~IY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
He pointed out some sheds around which were broken hotties where the last Irish gang had been working, under one
"John Loghlin," of Donaldson vi lie, a great contractor, who,
he says, made plenty of money out of his countrymen, whose
hones are lying up and down the ~~IiSsissippi.  "They du~
work like fire," he said.  "Loghlia does not give them half
the rations we give our negroes, but he can always manage
them with whiskey; and when he wants them to do a job he
gives them plenty of`forty-rod,' and they have their fight
out - reglar free tight, I can tell you, while it lasts.  Next
morning they will sign anything and go anywhere with him."
On the Orange Grove Plantation, although the crops were
so fine, the negroes unquestionably seemed less comfortable
than those in the quarters of Houmas, separated from them
by a mere nominal division.  Then, again, there were more
children with fair complexions to be seen peeping out of the
huts; some of these were attributed to the former overseer,
one Johnson by name, but ~Ir. Gibbs, as if to vindicate his
memory, told me confidentially he had paid a large sum of
money to the former proprietor of the estate for one of his
children, and had carried it away with him when he left.
"You could not expect him, you know," said Gibbs, "to buy
them all at the prices that were then going in`56.  All the
children on the estate," added he, "are healthy, and I can
show my lot against Seal's over there, though I hear tell he
had a great show of them out to you yesterday."
The bank of the river below the large plantation was occupied by a set of small creole planters, whose poor houses were
close together, indicating very limited farms, which had been
subdivided from time to time, according to the French fashion;
so that the owners have at last approached pauperism; but
they are tenacious of their rights, and will not yield to the
t~mpting price offered by the large planters.  They cling to
tlie soil without enterprise and without care.  The Spanish
settlers along the river are open to the same reproach, and
pi-efer their own ease to the extension of their race in other
lands, or to the aggrandizement of their posterity; and an
Epicurean would- aver, they were truer philosophers than the
restless creatures who wear out their lives in toil and labor to
found empires for the future.
It is among these men that, at times, slavery assumes its
harshest aspect, and that the negroes are exposed to the
severest labor; but it is also true that the slaves have closer 
FRENCH CREOLES.            279
relations with the families of their owners, and live in more
intimate connection with them than they do under the strict
police of the large plantations.  These people sornetimes get
forty bushels of corn to the acre, and a hogshead and a half
of sugar.  We saw their children going to school, whilst the
heads of the houses sat in the veranda smoking, and their
mothers were busy with household duties; and the signs of
life, the voices of women and children, and the activity vis
ible on the little farms, contrasted not unpleasantly with the
desert4ike stillness of the larger settlements.  Rode hack in
a thunder-storm.
At dinner in the evening Mr. Buraside entertained a number of planters in the neighborhood, - M. Bringier, A'.
Coulon (i?rench creoles), Mr. Duncan Kenner, a medical
gentleman named Cotmann, and others; the last - named
gentleman is an Unionist, and does not hesitate to defend his
opinions; but he has, during a visit to Russia, formed high
ideas of the necessity and virtues of an absolute and centralized government. 
CllAPTER XXXV.
~~rar~rumors, and military movements - Governor Mam~ing's slav~
plantations - Fortunes made by slave-labor - Frogs for the tabl~
- The forest - Cotton and sugar - A thunder-storm.
June 7ttt. - Tlie Confederate issue of ten millions sterling,
in bonds payable in twenty years is not sufficient to meet the
demands of Government; and the four millions of small Treas    ury notes, without interest, issued by Congress, are being rap    idly absorbed.  Whilst the  Richmond papers demand an
immediate movement on Washington, the journals of New
York are clamoring for an advance upon Richmond.  The
planters are called upon to accept the Confederate bonds in
-   payment of the cotton to be contributed by the States.
Extraordinary delusions prevail on both sides.  The North
believe that battnlions of scalping Indian savages are actually
stationed at llarper's Ferry.  One of the most important
movements hus been made by Major-General McClellan, who
has marched a force into Western Virginia from Cincinnuti,
has occupied a portion of the line of the Baltimore and Ohio
railway, which was threatened with destruction by the Seces    sionists; and has already advanced as far as Grafton.  Gen.
McDowell has been appointed to the command of the Federal
forces in Virginia.  Every day regiments are pouring down
from the North to Washington.  General Butler, who is in
command at Fortress Monroe, has determined to employ ne    gro fugitives, whom he' has called" Contrabands," in the works
about the fort, feeding them, and charging the cost of their
keep against the worth of their services; and Mr. Cameron,
the Secretary bf War, has ordered him to refrain from sur    rendering such slaves to their masters, whilst he is to permit
no interference by his soldiers with the relations of persons
held to service under the laws of the States in which they
are in.
Mr. Jefferson Davis has arrived at Richmond.  At sea the
-Federal steamers have captured a number of Southern ves     
MONSIEUR CRAPAUD.               281
eels; and some small retaliations have been made by the
Confederate privateers.  The largest mass of the Confederate
troops have assembled at a place called Manassas Junction,
on the railway from Western Virginia to Alexandria.
The Northern papers are filled with an account of a battle
at Philippi, and a great victory, in which no less than two of
their men were wounded and two were reported missiuc' as
the whole casualties; but Napoleon scarcely expended so
much ink over Austerlitz as is absorbed on tliis glory in the
sensation headings of the New York papers.
After breakfast I accompanied a party of Mr. Buraside's
friends to visit the plantations of Governor Manning, close at
hand.  One plantation is as like another as two peas.  We
had the same paths through tasselling corn, high above our
heads, or through wastes of rising sugar-cane; but the slave
quarters on Governor Manning 5 were larger, better built,
and more comfortable4ooking than any I have seen.
Mr. Bateman, the overseer, a dour strong man, with spectacles oa nose, and a quid in his cheek, led us over the ground.
As he saw my eye resting on a large knife in a leather case
stuck in his belt, he thought it necessary to say, "I keep this
to cut my way thr~ugh the cane-brakes about; they are so
plaguey thick."
All the surface water upon the estate is carried into a large
open drain, with a~reservoir in which the fans of a large wheel,
dnven by steam-power, are worked so as to throw the water
oves to a cut below the level of the plantation, which c~rnes it
into a bayou connected wid~ the lower Mississippi.
Ja this drain one of my companions saw a prodigious frog,
about the size of a tortoise, on which he pounced with alacrity;
and on carrying his prize to land he was much congratulated
by his friend.  "What on earth will you do with the horrid
reptile?"  "Do with it! why, eat it to be sure."  And it is
actually true, that on our return the monster "crapaud" was
handed over to the old cook, and presently appeared on the
breakfast-table, looking very like an uncommonly fiae spatchcock, and was partaken of with enthusiasm by all the company.
From the draining-wheel we proceeded to visit the forest,
where negroes wer~ engaged in clearing the trees, turning u~
the soil between the stumps, which marked where the mighty
sycamore, live oak, gum-trees, and pines had lately shaded the
rich earth.  In some places the Indian corn was already wav 
282         MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
ing its head and tassels above the black gnarled roots; in other
spots the trees, girdled by the axe, but not yet down, rose up
from fl~ick crops of maize; and still deeper in the wood
negrocs were guiding the ploughs, dragged with pain and difficulty by mules, three abreast, through the tangled roots and
rigid earth, which will next year be fit for sowing.  There
were one hundred and twenty negroes at work; and these,
with an adequate number of mules, will dear four hundred
and fifty acres of land this year.  " But it's death on niggers
and mules," said Air. Bateman.  "We generally do it witl
Irish, as well as the hedging and ditching; but we can't ge'
them now, as they are all off to the wars."
Although the profits of sugar are la~ge, the cost of erecting
the machinery, the consumption of wood in the boiler, and the
scientific apparatus, demand a far larger capital than is re quired by the cott~n planter, who, when he has got land, may
procure negroes on credit, and only requires food and dothing
till he can realize the proceeds of their labor, and make a cer tain fortune.  Cotton will keep where sugar spoils.  The
prices are far more variable in the latter, although it has a
protective tariff of twenty per cent.
The whole of the half million of hogsheads of the sugar
grown in the South is consumed in the United States, whereas
most of the cotton is sent abroad; but in the event of a block ade the South can use its sugar act nauseam, whilst the cotton
is all but useless in consequence of the want of manufacturers
ir. the South.
When I got back, Mr. Burn side was seated in his veranda,
gazing with anxiety, but not with apprehension, on the march ing columns of black clouds, which were lighted up from time
to time by heavy ~ashes, and shaken by rolls of thunder.
Day after day the planters have been looking for rain, tapping
glasses, scrutinizing an croids, consulting negro weather proph ets, and now and then their expectations were excited by
clouds moving down the river, only to be disappointed by their
dcp~rture into space, or, worse than all, their favoring more
distant plantations with a shower that brought gold to many a
coffer.  "Did you ever see such luck?  Kenner has got it
again!  That's the third shower Bringier has had in the last
~wo days."
But it was now the turn of all our friends to envy us a
tremendous thunder-storm, with a heavy, even downfall of
rain, which was sucked up by the thirsty earth almost as fast
 
PRAYING FOR RAIN.          283
as it fell, and filled the lusty young corn with growing pains,
imparting such vigor to the cane that we literally saw it
sprouting up, and could mark the increase in height of the
stems from hour to hour.
~iy good host is rather uneasy about his prospects this
year, owing to the War; and no wonder.  He reckoned on an
income of ~100,000 for his sugar alone; but if he cannot
send it North it is impossible to estimate the diminution of
his profits.  I fancy, indeed, he more and more regrets that
he embarked his capital in these great sugar.swamps, and that
he would gladly now invest it at a loss in the old country, of
which he is yet a subject; for he has never been naturalized
in the United States. tNevertheless, he rejoices in the finest
clarets, and in wines of fabulous price, which are tended by
an old white-headed negro, who takes as much care of the
fluid as if he was accustomed to drink it every day. 
CllAPTER XXXVL
Visit to Mr. M'Call's plantation - Thish and Spaniards - The planter
- A Southern sporting man - The creoles - Leave Houmas -
Donaldsonvilie - Description of the City - Baton Rouge -
Steamer to Natchez  Southern feeling; faith in Jefferson Davis
- Rise and progress of prosperity for the planters - Ultimate
issue of the war to both North and South.
June 8tk. - According to promise, the inmates of Mr.
Burn side's house proceeded to pay a visit to-day to the plantation of Mr. M'Call, who lives at the other side of the river
some ten or twelve miles away.  Still the same noiseless plantations, the same oppressive stillness, broken only by the tolling of the bell which summons the slaves to labor, or marks
the brief periods of its respite! Whilst waiting for the ferryboat, we visited Dr. Cotmann, who lives in a snug house near
the levee, for, hurried as we were,`twould nevertheless have
been a gross breach of etiquette to have passed his doors,
and I was not sorry for the opportunity of making the ac
qunintance of a lady so amiable as his wife, and of seeing a
face with tender, pensive eyes, serene brow, and lovely contour, such as Guido or Greuse would have immortalized, and
which Miss Cotmann, in the seclusion of that little villa on
the banks of the Mississippi, scarcely seemed to know, would
have made her a beauty in any capital in Europe.
The Doctor is allowed to rave on about his Union propensities and political power, as Mr. Petigru is permitted to indulge in similar vagaries in Charleston, simply because he is
supposed to be helpless.  There is, however, at the bottom of
the Doctor's opposition to the prevailing political opinion ()f
the neighborhood, a jeal~usy of acres and slaves, and a sentiment of animosity to the great seigneurs and slave-owners,
which actuate him without his being aware of their influence.
After a halt of an hour in his house, we crossed in the ferry
to Donaldsonville, where, whilst we were waiting for the carriages, we heard a dialogue between some drunken Irishmen 
SPANISH AND IRISH VOLUNTEERS.      285
and some still more inebriated ~paniards in front of the publichouse at hand.  The Irishmen were going off to the wars, and
were endeavoring in vain to arouse the foreign gentlemen to
similar enthusiasm; but, as the latter were resolutely sitting
in the gutter, it became necessary to exert eloquence and force
to get them on their legs to march to the head-quarters of ilie
Donaldsonville Chasseurs.  "For the love of the Virgin and
your own sowi's sake, Fernandey, get up and cum along wid
us to fight the Yankees."  "Josey, are you going to let us be
murdered by a set of damned Protestins and rascally nig.
gers?" "Gomey, my darling, get up; it's eleven dollars a
month, and food and everything found.  The boys will mind
the fishing for you, and we'll come back as rich as Jews."
What success attended their appeals I cannot tell, for the
carriages came round, and, having crossed a great bayou
which runs down into an arm of the Mississippi near the sea,
we proceeded on our way to Mr. M'Call's plantation, which
we reached just as the sun was sinking into the clouds of another thunder-storm.
The more one sees of a planter's life the greater is the conviction that its charms come fiom a particular turn of mind,
which is separated by a wide interval from modern ideas in
Europe. The planter is a denomadized Arab; - he has fixed
himself with horses and slaves in a fertile spot, where he
guards his women with Oriental care, exercises patriarchal
sway, and is at once fierce, tender, and hospitable. The inner
life of his household is exceedingly charming, because one is
astonished to find the graces and accomplishments of womanhood displayed in a scene which has a certain sort of savage
rudeness about it after all, and where all kinds of incongruous
accidents are visible in the service of the table, in the flirniture of the house, in its decorations menials, and surrounding
scenery.
It was late in il~e evening when the party returned to
Donaldsonviile; and when we arrived at the other side of the
bayou there were no carriages, so that we had to walk on foot
to the wharf where Mr. Burnside's boats were si~pposed to be
waiting - the negro ferry-man having long since retired to
rest.  Under any circumstances a march on foot through an
unknown track covered with blocks of timber and other impedimenta which represented the road to the ferry, could not
be agreeable; but the recent rains had converted the ground
into a sea of mud filled with holes, with islands of planks and 
286        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
beams of timber lio~hted only ~y the stars - and then this in
dress trousers and light boots!
We plunged, struggled, and splashed till we reached the
levee, where boats there were none; and so Mr. Burnside
shouted up and down the river, so did Mr. Lee, and so did
Mr. Ward and all the others, whilst I sat on a log affecting
philosophy and indifibrence, in spite of tortures from mosquitoes innumerable, and severe bites from insects unknown.
The city and river were buried in darkness; the rush of the
stream which is sixty feet deep near the banks, was all that
struck upon the ear in the intervals of the cries, " Boat ahoy!"
"llo! Batelier!" and sundry ejaculations of a less regular
and decent form.  At length a boat did glide out of the darkness, arid the man who rowed it stated he had been waiting all
the time up the bayou, till by mere accident he came down to
the jetty, having given us up for the night.  In about half an
hour we were across the river, and had per force another interview with Dr. Cotmann, who regaled us with his best in
story and in wine till the carriages were ready, and we drove
back to Mr. Burnside's, only meeting on the way two mounted horsemen with jingling arms, who were, we were told, the
night patrol; - of their duties 1 could, however, obtain no
very definite account.
June 9th. - A thunder-storm, which lasted all the morning
and afternoon till three o'clock.  When it cleared I drove, in
company with Mr. Burnside and his friends, to dinner with
Mr. Duncan Kenner, who lives some ten or twelve miles
above Houmas.  lle is one of the sporting men of the South,
well known on the Charleston race-course, and keeps a large
stable of racehorses and brood mares, under the management
of an Englishman.  The jocks were negro lads; and when
we arrived, about half a dozen of them were giving the colts
a run in the paddock.  The calveless legs and hollow thighs
of the negro adapt him admirably for the pigskin; and these
little fellows sat their horses so well, one might have thought,
till the turn in the course displayed their black faces and grinning mouths, he was looking at a set of John Scott's young
gentlemen out training.
The Carolinians are true sportsmen, and in the South the
Charleston races create almost as much sensation as our Derby
at home.  One of the guests at`\jlr. Kenner's knew all about
the winners of Epsom Oaks, and Ascot, and took delight in
showing his knowledge of the "Racing Calendar." 
DO~ALDSONVILLE.              287
It is observable, however, that the creoles do not exhibit
any great enthusiasm for horse-racing, but that iliey apply
themselves rather to cultivate their plantations and to domestic
duties; and it is even remarkable that they do not stand prominently forward in the State Legislature, or aspire to high
political influence and position, although fl~eir numbers and
wealth would fairly entitle them to both.  The population of
small settlers, scarcely r~moved from pauperism, along die river
banks, is courted by men who obtain larger political influence
than the great land-owners, as the latter consider it beneath
them to have recourse to the arts of the demagogue.
June 1 Otk. - At last venit summa ~ies et ~ze1uctabi1e temp us.
I had seen as much as might be of the best phase of the great
institution - less than I could desire of a most exemplary,
kind-hearted, clear-headed, honest man.  In die calm of a
glorious summer evening we crossed the Father of Waters,
waving an adieu to the good friend who stood on the shore,
and turning our backs to the home we had left behind us.  It
was dark when the boat reached Donaldsonville on the opposite "coast."
I should not be surprised to hear that the founder of this
remarkable city, which once contained the archives of the
State, now transferred to Baton Rouge, was a North Briton.
There is a simplicity and economy in the plan of the place
not unfavorable to that view, but the motives which induced
Donaldson to found his Rome on the west of Bayou La
Fourche from the ~Iississippi must be a secret to all time.
~Iuch must the worthy Scot have been perplexed by his
neighbors, a long-readiing colony of Spanish creoles, who toil
not and spin nothing but fishing-nets, and who live better than
Solomon, and are probably as well-dressed, minus the barbaric pearl and gold of the Hebrew potentate.  Take the
odd, little, retiring, modest houses which grow in the hollows
of Scarborough, add to them the least imposing mansions in
the town of Folkstone, cast these broadsown over the surface
of il~e Essex marshes, plant a few trees in front of them, then
open a few cafe's biliirrcl of the camp sort along the main
street, and you have done a very good Donaldsonvilie.
A policeman welcomes us on tlie landing, and does the
honors of the market, which has a beggarly account of
empty benches, a Texan bull done into beet, and a coffeeshop.  The policeman is a tall, lean, west-countryman; his
story is simple, and he has it to tell.  He was one of Dan 
288        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
~Ric&s company - a travelling Astley.  He came to Donaldsonville, saw, and was conquered by one of the Spanish
beauties, married her, became tavern-keeper, failed, learned
French, and is now constable of the parish.  There was,
however, a weight on his mind. He had studied the matter
profoundly, but he was not near the bottom.  How did the
friends, relatives, and tribe of his wife live?  No one could
say. They reared chickens, and they caught fish; when there
was a pressure on the planters, they turned out to work for
6s. 6J. a-day, but those were rare occasions.  The policeman
had become quite gray with excogitating the matter, and he
had "nary notion how they did it."
Donaldsonville has done one fine thing. It has furnished
two companies of soldiers - all Irishmen - to the wars, and
the third is in the course of formation.  Not much hedging,
ditching, or hard work these times for Paddy!  The blacksmith, a huge tower of muscle, claims exemption on the
ground that "the divil a bit of him comes from Oireland:
he nivir hird af it, barria' from the buks he rid," and is
doing his best to remain behind, but popular opinion is
against him.
As the steamer could not be up from New Orleans till
dawn, it was a relief to saunter through Donaldsonville to see
society, which consisted of several gentlemen and various Jews
playing games unknown to Hoyle, in oaken bar-rooms flanked
by billiard tables.  Dr. Cotmann, who had crossed the river
to see patients suffering from an attack of euchre, took us
round to a little club, where I was introduced to a number
of gentlemen, who expressed great pleasure at seeing me,
shook hands violently, and walked away; and, finally, melted
off into a cloud of mosquitoes by the river-bank, into a box
prepared for them, which was called a bedroom.
These rooms were built of timber on the stage close by the
river.  "Why can't I have one of these rooms?" asked I,
pointing to a larger mosquito box.  "It is engaged by ladies."
"How do you know?" "Parceque efles ont envo~e' leur butin."
It was delicious to meet the French "plunder" for baggage -
the old phrase, so nicely rendered - in the mouth of the Mississippi boatman.
Having passed a night of discomfiture with the winged
demons of my box, I was aroused by the booming of the
steam drum of the boat, dipped my head in water among
drowned mosquitoes, and went forth upon the landing.  The 
WllISKRY IN DANGER.            289
policeman had just arnved.  His eagle eye lighted upon a
large flat moored alongside, on the stera of which was inscribed ia chalk, "Pork, corn, butter, be~?," &c.  Several
"spry" citizens were also on the platform.  After salutations
and compliments, policeman speaks -" When did site come
in?" (meaning flat.)  First citizen -"In the night, I
guess."  Second citizen -" There's a lot of whiskey aboord,
too.    Policeman (with pleased surprise) - "Yeu never
mean it?"  First citizen - "Yes, sir; one hundred and
twenty gallons!"   Policeman (inspired by patriotism) -
"It's a west-country boat; why don't the citizens seize it?
And whiskey rising from 17c. to 35c. a gallon!"  Citizens
murmur approval, and I feel the whiskey part of the cargo
is not safe.  "Yes, sir," says citizen three, "they seize all our
property at Cairey (Cairo), and I'm making an example of
this cargo."
Further reasons for the seizure were adduced, and it is
probable they were as strong as the whiskey, which has, no
no doubt, been drunk long ago on the very purest principles.
In course of conversation with the committee of taste which
had assembled, it was revealed to me that there was a strict
watch kept over those boats which are freighted with whiskey
forbidden to the slaves, and with principles, when they come
fi~om the west country, equally objectionable.  "Did you hear,
sir, of the chap over at Duncan Kenner's, as was caught the
other day?"  "No, sir; what was it?"  "Well, sir, he was
a man that came here and went over among the niggers at
Kenner's to buy their chickens from them.  He was took up,
and tl~ey found he'd a lot of money about him."  "Well, of
course, he had money to buy the chickens."  "Yes, sir, but
it looked suspeec-ious.  He was a west-country fellow, tew,
and l~e might have been tamperin' with`em.  Lucky for him
he was not taken in the arternoon."  "Why so?"  "Because, if the citizens had been drunk, they'd have hung him
on the spot."
The Acadia was now along-side, and in the early morning
Donaldsonville receded rapidly into trees and clouds. To bed,
and make amends for mosquito visits, and after a long sleep
look out again on the scene.  It is difficult to believe that we
have been going eleven miles an hour against the turbid river,
which is of the same appearance as it was below - the same
banks, bends, driftwood, and trees.  Large timber rafts, navigate d by a couple of men, who stood in the shade of a few
13 
290        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
upright boards, were encountered at long intervals. Wbit~
egrets and blue herons rose from the marshes.  At everjy
landing the whites who came down were in some sort of uniform.  There were two blacks placed on board at one of the
landings in irons - captured runaways - and very miserable
they looked at the thought of being restored to the bosom of
the patriarchal family from which they had, no doubt, so
prodigally eloped.  I fear the fatted calf-skin would be applied to their backs.
June 1 ltk. - Before noon the steamer hauled along-side n
stationary hulk at Baton Rouge, which once "walked tho
waters" by the aid of machinery, but which was now used as
a floating hotel, dep5t, and storehouse - 315 feet long, and
fully thirty feet on the upper deck above the level of the
river.  The Acadia stopped, and I disembarked.  Here were
my qua~ers till the boat for Natchez should arrive.  The
proprietor of the floating hotel was somewhat excited because one of his servants was away.  The man presently
came in sight. "Where have you been you?" "Away
to buy de newspaper, ~Iassa." "For who, you -?" "Me
buy`em for no one, Massa; me sell`um agin, Massa." "See
now, you, if ever you goes aboard them steamers to
meddle with newspapers, I'm      but I'll kill you, mind
that!"
Baton Rouge is~the capital of the State of Louisiana, and
the State House thereof is a very quaint and very new example of bad taste.  The Deaf and Dumb Asylum near it is in
a much better style.  It was my intention to have visited the
State Prison and Penitentiary, but the day was too hot, and
the distance too great, and so I dined at ilTe oddest little creole restaurant, with the funAiest old hostess, and the strangest
company in the world.
On returning to the boat hotel, Mr. Conrad, one of the citizens of the place, and Mr. W. Avery, a judge of the district
court, were good enough to call and to invite me to remain
some time, but I was obliged to decline.  These gentlemen
were members of the h~me guard, and drilled assiduously
every evening.  Of the 1300 voters at Baton Rouge, more
than 750 are already off to the wars, and another company
is being formed to follow them.  Mr. Conrad h~s three sons
in the field, and another is anxious to follow, and he and his
friend, Mr. Avery, are quite ready to die for the disunion,
The waiter who served out drinks in the bar wore a uniform, 
NATCIIEZ PLANTERS.            291
and his musket lay in the corner among the brandy bottles.
At night a patriotic meeting of citizen soldiery took place in
the bow, with which song and whiskey had much to do, so
that sleep was difficult.
Precisely at seven o'clock on Wednesday morning the Mary
T. came alongside, and soon afterward bore me on to Natchez,
through scenery which became wilder and less cultivated as
she got upwards.  Of the 1500 steamers on the river, not a
tithe are now in employment, and the owners of these profitable flotillas are "in a bad way."  It was late at night when
the steamer arrived at Natchez, and next morning early I
took shel~r in another engineless steamer beside the bank of
the river at Natchez-under-the-hill, which was thought to be
a hotel by its owners.
In the morning I asked for breakfast.  "There is nothing
for breakfast; go to Curry's on shore."  Walk up hill to
Curry's - a bar-room occupied by a waiter and flies.  "Can
I have any breakfast?"  "No, sir-ree; it's over half-an-hour
ago.'  "Nothing to eat at all?"  "No, sir."  "Can I get
some anywhere else?"  "I guess not."  It had been my belief that a man with money in his pocket could not starve
in any country soi-Jisant civilized.  I chewed the cud of
fancy faute (Ic micux, and became the centre of attraction to
citizens, from whose conversation I learned that this ~as
"Jeff. Davis's fast-day."  Observed one, "It quite puts me in
mind of Sunday   all the stores closed."  Said another,
"We'll soon have Sunday every day, then, for I`spect it
won t be worth while for most shops to keep open any
longer."  Natchez, a place of much trade and cotton export
in the season, is now as dull - let us say, as Harwich without
a regatta.  But it is ultra-secessionist, nil obstante.
My hunger was assunged by Mr. Marshall, who drove me
to his comfortable mansion through a country like the wooded
parts of Sussex, abounding in fine trees, and in the only lawns
and parkAike fields I have yet seen in America.
After dinner, my host took me out to visit a wealthy planter, who has raised and armed a cavalry corps at his own
expense.  We were obliged to get out of the carriage at
a narrow lane and walk toward the encampment on foot in the
dark; a sentry stopped us, and we observed that there was a
semblance of military method in the cain p.  The captain was
walking up and down in the veranda of the poor hut, for
which he had abandoned his home.  A book of ~ctics - Har 
292        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
dee's - lay on the table of his little room.  Our friend was
full of fight, and said he would give all he had in the world to
the cause.  But the day before, and a party of horse, cornposed of sixty gentlemen in the district, worth from ~20,000
to ~50,000 each, had started for the war in Virginia.  Everything to be seen or heard testifies to the great zeal and resolution with which the South have entered upon the quarrel.
But they hold the power of the United States, and the loyalty
of the North to the Union at far too cheap a rate.
Next day was passed in a delightful drive through cotton
fields, Indian corn, and undulating woodlands, amid which were
some charming residences.  I crossed the river at Natchez,
and saw one fine plantation, in which the corn, however, was
by no means so good as the crops I have seen on the coast.
The cotton looks well, and some had already burst into flower
- bloom, as it is called - which has turned to a flagrant pink,
and seems saucily conscious that its boll will play an important
part in the wodd.
The inhabitants of the tracts on the banks of the Mississippi, and on the inland regions hereabout, ought to be, in the
natural order of things, a people almost nomadic, living by
the chase, and by a sparse agriculture, in the freedom which
tempted their ancestors to leave Europe.  But the Old World
has been working for them.  All its trials have been theirs;
the fruits of its experience, its labors, its research, its discoveries, are theirs.  Steam has enabled them to turn their rivers
into highways, to open pnmeval forests to the light of day and
to man.  All these, however, would have availed them little
had not the demands of manutacture abioad, and the increasing luxury and population of the North and West at home,
enabled them to find in these swamps and uplands sources of
wealth richer and more certain than all the gold mines of the
world.
There must be gnomes to work those mines.  Slavery was
an institution ready to their hands.  In its development there
lay every material means for securing the prosperity which
Manchester opened to them, and in supplying their own countrymen with sugar.  The small, struggling, deeply-mortgaged
proprietors of swamp and forest set their negroes to work to
raise levees, to cut down trees, to plant and sow.  Cotton at
ten cents a pound gave a nugget in every bolL  Land could
be had for a few dollars an acre.  Negroes were cheap in proportion.  Men who made a few thousand dollars invested them 
DANGERS OF THE FUTURE.          293
in more negroes, and more land, and borrowed as much again
for the same purpose.  They waxed fat and rich - there
seemed no bounds to their fortune.
But threatening voices came from the North - the echoes
of the sentiments of the civilized world repenting of its evil
pierced their ears, and they found their feet were of clay, and
that they were nodding to their fall in the midst of their
power.  Ruin inevitable awaited them if they did not shut out
these sounds and stop tlie fatal utterances.
The issue is to them one of life and death.  Whoever raises
it hereafter, if it be not decided now, must expect to meet the
deadly animosity which i& now displayed towards the North.
The success of the South - if they can succeed - must lead
to complications and results in other parts of the world, for
which neither they nor Lu rope are prepared.  Of one thing
there can be no doubt - a slave state cannot long exist without
a slave trade.  The poor whites who have won the fight will
-demand their share of the spoils.  The land for tilth is abundant, and all that is wanted to give them fortunes is a supply of
slaves.  They will have that in spite of their masters, unless
a stronger power than the Slave States prevents the accomplishment of their wishes.
The gentleman in whose house I was stopping was not insensible to the dangers of the future, and would, I think, like
many others, not at all regret to find himself and property safe
in England.  His father, the very day of our arrival, had proceeded to Canada with his daughters, but the Confederate
authorities are now determined to confiscate all property belonging to persons who endeavor to evade the responsibilities
of patriotism.  In such matters the pressure of the majority is
irresistible, and a sort of mob law supplants any remissness on
the part of the authorities.  In the South, where the deeds of
the land of cypress and myrtle are exaggerated by passion,
this power will be exercised very rigorously.  The very language of the people is full o~ the excesses generally accepted
as types of Americanism.  Turning over a newspaper this
mornincr I came upon a "card" as it is called, signed by one
"~Ir. Bonner," relating to a dispute between himself and an
Assistant-Quader-~Iaster-General, about the carriage of some
wood at ~1obile, which concludes with the sentence that I
transcribe, as an evidence of the style which is tolerated, if
not admired, down South: - 
294       MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
"If such a Shylock-hearted, caitiff scoundrel does exist,
give me the evidence, and I will drag him before the bar of
public opinion, and consign him to an infamy so deep and
damnable that the hand of the Resurrection will never reach
him." 
CHAPTER XXXVIL
Down the Mississippi - Hotel at Yicksburg - Dinner - Public mee~
ing - News of the progress of the war - Slavery and EngimA
- Jackson - Governor Pettus - Insecurity of life - Strong
Southern enthusiasm - Troops bound for the North - Approach
to Memphis - Slaves for sale - ~Iemphis - General Pillow.
Friday, June I4U~. - Last night with my good host from
his plantation to the great two-storied steamer General Quitman, at Natchez.  She was crowded with planters, soldiers
and their families, and as the lights shone out of her windows,
looked like a walled castle blazing from double lines of embrasures.
The ~Iississippi is assuredly the most uninteresting river in
the world, and I can only describe it hereabout by referring
to the account of its appearance which I have already given
- not a particle of romance, in spite of oratorical patriots and
prophets, can ever shine from its depths, sacred to cat and
buffalo fish, or vivify its turbid waters.
Before noon we were in sight of Vicksburg, which is situated on a high bank or bluff on the left bank of the river,
about 400 miles above New Orleans and some 120 miles from
N atchez.
~1r. ~Iac~Ieekan, the proprietor of the "Washington," declares himself to have been the pioneer of hotels in the far
west; but he has now built himself this huge caravansary,
and rests from his wanderings. We entered the dining saloon,
and found the tables closely packed with a numerous company
of every condition in life, from generals and planters down to
soldiers in the uniform of privates.  At the end of the room
there was a long table on which the joints and dishes were
brought hot from the kitchen to be carved by the negro
waiters, male and female, and as each was brought in the
proprietor, standing in the centre of the room, shouted out
with a loud voice, "Now, then, here is a splendid goose!
ladies and gentlemen, don't neglect the goose and apple-sauce! 
296        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
Here's a piece of beef that 1can recommend! upon my honor
you will never regret taking a slice of the beef.  Oyster-pie!
oyster-pie! never was better oyster-pie seen in Vicksburg.
Run about, boys, nnd take orders.  Ladies and genflemen,
just look at that turkey! who's for turkey? " - and so
wiping the perspiratiop from his forehead and combating with
the flies.
Altogether it was a semi-barbarous scene, but the host was
active and attentive; and after all, his recommendations were
very much like those which it was the habit of the taverners
in old London to call out in the streets to the passers-by when
the joints were ready.  The little negroes who ran about to
take orders were smart, but now and then came into violent
collision, and were cuffed incontinently.   One mild4ooking
little fellow stood by my chair and appeared so sad that I
asked him "Are you happy, my boy?"  lie looked quite
frightened.  "Why don't you answer me?"  "I'se afeered,
sir; I can't tell that to Massa."  "Is not your master kind to
you?"  "~Thssa very kind man, sir; very good man when
he is not angry with me," and his eyes filled with tears to the
brim.
The war fever is rife in Vicksburg, and the Irish and Gerinan laborers, to the extent of several hundreds, have all gone
off to the war.
When dinner was over, the mayor and several gentlemen
of the city were good enough to request that I would attend
a meeting at a room in the railway-station, where some of the
inhabitants of the town had assembled.  Accordingly I went
to the terminus and found a room filled with gentlemen.
Large china howls, blocks of ice, bottles of wine and spirits,
and boxes of cigars were on the table, and all the materials
for a symposium.
The cbmpany discussed recent events, some of which I
learned for the first time.  Dislike was expressed to the
course of the authorities in demanding negro labor for the
fortifications along the river, and uneasiness was expressed
respecting a negro pJot in Arkansas; but the most interesting
matter was Judge Taney's protest against the legality of the
President's course in suspending the writ of Itabeas co~pus in
tlie case of Afernman.  The lawyers who were present at this
meeting were delighted with his argument, which insists that
Congress alone can suspend the writ, and that the President
cannot legally do so. 
TllE CAPITAL OF MISSISSIPH.       297
The flQW5 of the defeat of an expedition from Fortress
Monroe against a Confederate post at Great Bethel, has
caused great rejoicing.  The accounts show that there was the
grossest mismanagement on the part of the Federal officers.
The Northern papers particularly regret the loss of Major
Winthrop, aide-dc-camp to General Butler, a writer of promise.  At four o'clock, p. II., I bade theacompafly farewell, and
the train started for Jackson.  The line runs through a poor
clay country, cut up with gulleys and watercourses made by
violent rain.
There were a number of volunteer soldiers in the train;
and their presence no doubt attracted the girls and women
wiio waved flags and cheered for JefF Davis and States' Rights.
Well, as I travel on through such scenes, with a fine critical
nose in the air, I ask myseW, "Is any Englishman better than
these publicans and sinners in regard to this questiou of
slavery?"  It was not on moral or religious grounds that our
ancestors- abolished serfdom.  And if to-morrow our good
farmers, deprived of mowers, reapers, ploughmen, hedgers
and ditchers, were to find substitutes in certain people of a
dark skin assigned to their use by Act of Parliament, I fear
they would be almost as ingenious as the Rev. Dr. Seabury in
discovering arguments physiological, ethnological, and biblical,
for the retention of their property.  And an evil day would it
be for them if they were so tempted; for assuredly, without
any derogation to the intellect of the Southern men, it may
be said that a large proportion of the population is in a state
of very great moral deg~dation compared with civilized Anglo-Saxon communities.
The man is more natural, and more reckless; he has more
of the qualities of the Arab than are to be reconciled with
civilization; and it is only among the upper classes that the
influences of the aristocratic condition which is generated by
the subjection of masses of men to their fellow-man are to be
found.
At six o'clock, the train stopped in the country at a railway
crossing by the side of a large platform.  On the right was a
common, bounded by a few detached wooden houses, separated
by palings from each other, and surrounded by rows of trees.
In front of the station were two long wooden sheds, which, as
the signboard indicates, were exchanges or drinking sal6ons;
and b~yond these again were visible some rudimentary streets
of straggling ho uses, above which rose three pretentious spires
13* 
298         MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
and domes, resolved into insignificance by nearer approach.
This was Jackson.
Our host was at the station in his carriage, and drove us to
his residence, which consisted of some detached houses shaded
by trees in a small enclosure, and bounded by a kitchen garden.  He was one of the men who bad been filled with the
afflatus of 1848, and jtined the Young Ireland party before it
had seriously committed itself to an unfortunate outbreak;
and when all hope of success had vanished, he sought, like
many others of his countrymen, a shelter under the stars and
stripes, which, like most of the Irish settled in the Southern
States, lie was now bent on tearing asunder.   He has the
honor of being mayor of Jackson, and of enjoying a competi
tive examination with his medical rivals for the honor of at
tending the citizens.
In the evening I walked out with him to the adjacent city,
which has no title to the name, except as being the State capital.  The mushroom growth of these States, using that phrase
merely as to their rapid development, raises hamlets in a
small space to the dignity of cities.  It is in such outlying expansion of the great republic that tlie influence of the foreign
emigration is most forcibly displayed.  It would be curious to
inquire, for example, how many men there are in the city of
Jackson exercising mechanical arts or engaged in small commerce, in skilled or manual labor, who are really Americans
in the proper sense of the word.  I was struck by the names
over the doors of the shops, which were German, Irish, Italian,
French, and by foreign tongues and accents in the streets; but,
on the other hand, it is the native-born American who obtains
the highest political stations and arrogates to himself the largest~share of governmental emoluments.
Jackson proper consists of strings of wooden houses, with
white porticoes and pillars a world too wide for their shrunk
rooms, and various religious and other public edifices, of tho
bydrocephalic order of architecture, where vulgar cupola and
exaggerated steeple tower above little bodies far too feeble to
support them.  There are of course a monster hotel and blazing bar-rooms   the former celebrated as the scene of many a
serious difficulty, out of some of which the participators never
escaped alive.  The streets consist of rows of houses such as
I have seen at ~Iacon, ~Iontgomery, and Baton Rouge; and as
we walked towards the capital or State-house there were many
mor~ invitations "to take a drink" addressed to my friend and
`p 
GOVERNOR PETTUS.            299
me than we were able to comply with.  Our steps were bent
to the State-house, which is a pile of stone, with open colonnades, and an air of importance at a distance which a nearer
examination of its dilapidated condition does not confirm.  Mr.
Pettus, the Governor of the State of Mississippi, was in the
Capitol; and on sending in our cards, we were introduced to his
room, which certainly was of more than republican simplicity.
The apartment was surrounded with some common glass cases,
containing papers and old volumes of books; the furniture, a
table or desk, and a few chairs and a ragged carpet; the glass
in the windows cracked and broken; the walls and ceiling discolored by mildew.
The Governor is a silent man, of abrupt speech, but easy of
access; and, indeed, whilst we were speaking, strangers and
soldiers walked in and out of his room, looked around them,
and acted in all respects as if they were in a public-house, except in ordering drinks.  This grim, tall, angular man seemed
to me such a development of public institutions in the South as
Mr. Seward was in a higher phase in the North.  For years
he hunted deer and trapped in the forest of the far west, and
lived in a Natty Bumpo or David Crocket state of life; and he
was not ashamed of the fact when taunted with it during his
election contest, but very rightly made the most of his independence and his hard work.
The pecuniary honors of his position are not very great as
Governor of the enormous State of Mississippi.  lle has simply an income of ~800 a year and a house provided for his
use; he is not only quite contented with what he has but believes that the society in which he lives is the highest development of civilized li!~, notwithstanding the fact that there are
more outrages on the person in his State, nay, more murders
perpetrated in the very capital, than were known in the worst
days of medi~vaI Venice or Florence; - indeed, as a citizen
said to me, "Well, I think our average in Jackson is a murder
a month;" but he used a milder na~e for the crime.
The Governor conversed on the aspect of affairs, and evinced
that wonderful confidence in his own people which, whether it
arises from ignorance of the power of the North, or a conviction of greater resources, is to me so remarkable. "Well, sir,"
~id he, dropping a portentous plug of tobacco just outside the
spittoon, wit h the air of a man who wished to show he could
have hit the centre if he liked, "England is no doubt a great
country, and has got fleets and the like of that, and may have 
300        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
a good deal to do in Eu-rope; but the sovereign State of Mississippi can do a great deal better without England than England can do without her."  llaving some slight recollection of
Mississippi repudiation, in which Mr. Jefferson Davis was so
actively engaged, I thought it possible that the Governor might
be right; and after a time his Excellency shook me by the
band, and I left, much wondering within myself what manner
of men they must be in the State of Mississippi when Mr.
Pettus is their chosen Governor; nnd yet, after all, he is honest and fierce; and perhaps he is so far qualified as well as
any other man to be Governor of the State.  Thcre ar~ newspapers, electric telegraphs, and railways; there are many educated families, even much good society, I am told, in the State;
but the larger masses of the people struck me as being in a
condition not much elevated from that of the original backwoodsman.  Oa my return to the Doctor's house I found some
letters which had been forwarded to me from New Orleans
had gone astray, and I was obliged, therefore, to make arrangements for my departure on the following evening.
June 1 6tA. - I was compelled to send my excuses to Governor Pettus, and remained quietly within the house of my
host, entreating him to protect me from visitors and especially
my own confreres, that I might secure a few hours even in
that ardent heat to write letters to home.  Now, there is some
self-denial required, if one be at all solicitous of the popularis
aura, to offend fhe susceptibilities of the irritable genus in
America.  It may make all the difference between millions of
people hearing and believing you are a high-toned, whole
souled gentleman or a wretched, ignorant and prejudiced John
Bull; but, nevertheless, the solid pudding of self-content and
the satisfaction of doing one's work are preferable to the praise
even of a New York newspaper editor.
When my work was over I walked out and sat in the shade
with a gentleman whose talk turned upon the practices of the
Mississippi duello.  Without the smallest animus, and in the
most natural way in the world, he told us tale after tale of
blood, and recounted terrible tra~edies enacted outside bars of
hotels and in the public streets close beside us.  The very air
seemed to become purple as he spoke, the land around a veritable "Aceldama."  There may, indeed, be security for property, but there is none for the life of its owner in difficulties,
who may be shot by a stray bullet from a pistol as he walks
up the street. 
TO GENTLEMEN IN DIFFICULTIES.
I learned many valuable facts. I was warned, for e~ample
against the impolicy of trusting to small-bored pistols or to
pocket six-shootei~s in case of a close fight, because suppose
you hit your man mortally he may still run in upon you and
rip you up with a bowie-knife before he falls dead; whereas
if you drive a good heavy bullet into him, or make a hole in
him with a "Derringer" ball, he gets faintish and drops at
once.
~1any illustrations, too, were given of the value of practical
lessons of this sort.  One particularly struck me.  Jf a gentleman with whom you are engaged in altercation moves his
hand towards his breeche~ pocket, or behind his back, you
must smash him or shoot him at once, for lie is either going to
draw his six-shooter, to pull out a bowie-knife, or to shoot you
through the lining of his pocket.  The latter practice is considered rather ungentlemanly, but it has somewhat been more
honored lately in the observance than in the breach.  In fact,
the savage practice of walking about with pistols, knives, and
poniards, in bar-rooms and gambling-saloons, with passions ungoverned, because there is no law to punish the deeds to
which they lead, affords facilities for crime which an uncivilized condition of society leaves too often without punishment,
but which must be put down or the country in which it is tolerated will become as barbarous as a jungle inhabited by wild
beasts.
Our host gave me an early dinner, at which I met some of
the citizens of Jackson, and at six o'clock I proceeded by the
train for ~1emphis.  The carriages were, of course, full of
soldiers or volunteers, bound for a large camp at a place called
Corinth, who made night hideous by their song and cries, stimulated by enormous draughts of whiskey and a proportionate
consumption of tobacco, by teeth and by fire.  The heat in
the carriages added to the discomforts arising from these
causes, and from great quantities of biting insects in the sleepil~g places.  The people have all the air and manners of settlers.  Altogether the impression produced on my mind was
by no means agreeable, and I felt as if I was indeed in the
land of Lynch4aw and bowie-knives, where the passions of
men have not yet been subordinated to the influence of the
tribunals of justice.  3\1uch of this feeling has no doubt been
produced by the tales to which I have been listening around
me - most of which have a smack of manslaughter about
them. 
302        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
June 1 7t~. - If it was any consolation to me that the very
noisy and very turbulent warriors of last night were exceedingly sick, dejected, and crestfallen this morning, I had it to
the full.  Their cries for water were ince~snnt to allay the internal fires caused by "forty-rod" and "sixty-rod," as whiskey
is called, which is supposed to kill people at those distances.
Their officers had no control over them - nnd the only authority they seemed to respect was that of the "gentlemanly"
conductor, whom they were accustomed to fear individually,
as he is a great man in America and has much authority and
power to make himself disagreeable if he likes.
The victory at Big or Little Bethel has greatly elated these
men, and they think they can walk all over the Northern
States.  It was a relief to get out of the train for a few minutes at a station called Holly Springs, where the passengers
breakfasted at a dirty table on most execrable coffee, corn
bread, rancid butter, and very dubious meats, and the wild
soldiers outside made the most of their time, as they had
recovered from their temporary depression by this time, and
got out on the tops of the carriages, over which they performed
tumultuous dances to the music of their band, and the great
admiration of the surrounding negrodom.  Their demeanor is
very unlike that of the unexcitable staid people of the North.
There were in the train some Texans who were going to
Richmond to offer their services to I~Ir. Davis.   ~hey denounced Sam Houston as a traitor, but admitted there were
some Unionists, or as they termed them, Lincolnite skunks, in
the State.  The real object of their journey was, in my mind,
to get assistance from the Southern Confederacy, to put down
their enemies in Texas.
In order to conceal from the minds of the people that the
government at ~Yashington claims to be that of the United
States, the press politicians and speakers divert their attention
to the names of Lincoln, Seward, and other black republicans,
and class the whole of the North together ~s the Abolitionists.
They call the Federal levies "Lincoln's mercenaries" and
"abolition hordes," though their own troops are paid at the
same rate as those of the United States,  This is a common
mode of procedure in revolutions and rebellions, and is not
unfrequent in wars.
The enthusiasm for the Southern cause among all the people
is most remarkable, - the sight of the flag waving from the
~rriage window~ drew all the pop~lation of the hamlets and 
WAYSIDE PARADE.                303
the workers in the field, black and white, to the side of the
carriages to cheer for Jeff Davis and the Southern Confederacy, and to wnve whatever they could lay hold of in the air.  ~
The country seems very poorly cultivated, the fields full of
stumps of trees, and the plantation houses very indifferent.
At every station more "soldiers," as they are called, got in,
till the smell and heat were suffocating.
These men were as fanciful in their names and dress as
could be.  in the train which preceded us there was a band
of volunteers armed with rifled pistols and enormous bowieknifbs, who called themselves "The Toothpick Company."
They carried along with them a coffin, with a plate insenbed,
"Abe Lincoln, died," and declared they were "bound"
to bring his body back in it, and that they did not intend to
use muskets or rifles, but just go in with knife and six-shooter,
and whip the Yankees straight away.  How astonished they
will be when the first round shot flies into them, or a cap-full
of grape rattles about their bowie-knives.
At the station of Grand Junction, north of Holly Springs,
which latter is 210 miles north of Jackson, several hundreds
of our warrior friends were turned out in order to take the
train north-westward for Richmond, Virginia.  The 1st Con~
pany, seventy rank and file, consisted of Irishmen, armed with
sporting rifles without bayonets.  Five sixths of the 2d
Company, who were armed with muskets, were of the same
nationality.  The 3d Company were all Americans.  The
4th Company were almost all Irish.  Some were in green,
others were in gray, - the Americans who were in blue had not
yet received their arms.  When the word fix bayonets was
given by the officer, a smart keen4ooking man, there was an
astonishishing hurry and tumult in the ranks.
"Now then, Sweeny, whar ure yes dhriven me too?  Is it
out of the redjmint amongst the officers yer shovin' me?"
Sullivan, don't ye hear w&re to fix beenits~?"
Sarjent, jewel, wud yes ayse the shtrap of me baynit?"
"If ye prod me wid that agin, I'll let dayloite into ye."
The officer, reading, "No. 23.  James Phelan."
No reply.
Officer again, "No. 23.  James Phelan."
Voice from the rank, "Shure, captain, and faix Phelan's
gone; he wint at the last dep5L"
"No. 40.  1~Iiles Corrigan."
Voice furtner on, "He's the worse for dhrink in the car~ 
304        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
yer honor, and says he~ shoot us if we touch him;" and
so on.
~    But these fellows were, nevertheless, the material for
fighting and for marching after proper drill and with good
officers, even though there was too large a proportion of old
men and young lads in the ranks.  To judge from their dress
these recruits came from the laboring and poorest classes of
whites.  The officers affected a French cut and bearing with
indifferent success, and in the luggage vans there were three
foolish young women with slop-dress imitation clothes of tlie
Vivandiere type, who, with dishevelled hair, dirty faces, and
dusty hats and jackets, looked sad, sorry, and absurd.  Their
notions of propriety did not justify them in adopting straps,
boots, and trousers, and the rest of the tawdry ill-made costume
looked very bad indeed.
The train which still boTh a large number of soldiers for the
camp of Corinth, proceeded through dreary swamps, stunted for   ests, and clearings of the rudest kind at very long intervals. We
had got out of the cotton district and were entering poorer soil,
or land which, when cleared, was devoted to wheat and corn,
and I was told that the crops ran from forty to sixty bushels
to the acre.  A more uninteresting country than this portion
of the State of Mississippi I have never witnessed.  There
was some variety of scenery about llolly Springs where
undulating ground covered with wood, diversified the aspect of
the fiat, but since that we have been travelling through mile
after mile of insignificantly grown timber and swamps.
On approaching Memphis the line ascends towards the
bluff of the Mississippi, and farms of a better appearance
come in sight on the side of the rail; but after all I do not
envy the fate of the man who, surrounded by slaves and shut
out from the world, has to pass his life in this dismal reg~pn,
be the crops never so good.
At a station where a stone pillar marks the limit between
the sovereign State of Mississippi and that of Tennessee,
there was a house two stories high, from the windows of
which a number of negro girls and young men were staring
on the passengers.  Some of them smiled, laughed, and chat   ted, but the majority of them looked gloomy and sad enough.
They were packed as close as they could, and I observed that
at the door a very ruffianly looking fellow in a straw hat, long
straight hair, flannel shirt, and slippers, was standing with his
legs across and a heavy whip in his hand.  One of the pas    
MEMPHIS.                305
sengers walked over and chatted to him.  They looked in
and up at the negroes and laughed, and when the man came
near the carriage in which I sat, a friend called out, "Whose
are they, Sam?"  "He's a dealer at Jackson, Mr. Smith.
They're a prime lot of fine Vii~inny niggers as I've seen this
long time, and he wants to realize, for the news looks so
bad."
It was l~40 P. M. when the train arrived at Memphis.  I
was s~eedily on my way to the Gayoso House, so called after
an old Spanish ruler of the district, which is situated in the
street on the bluff~ which runs parallel with the course of the
Mississippi.  This resuscitated Egyptian city is a place of importance, and extends for several miles along the high bank
of the river, though it does not run very far back.  The
streets are at right angles to the principal thoroughfares,
which are parallel to the stream; and I by no means cxpected to see the lofty stores, warehouses, ~ows of shops, and
handsome buildings on the broad esplanade along the river,
and the extent and size of the edifices public and private in
this city, which is one of the developments of trade and commerce cr~ated by the ~Iississippi.  Memphis contains nearly
30,000 inhabitants, but many of them are foreigners, and
there is a nomad draft into and out of the place, which
abounds in haunts for Bohemians, drinking and dancingsaloons, and gaming-rooms.  And this strange kaleidoscope
of negroes and whites of the extremes of civilization in its
American development, and of the semi-savage degraded by
his contact with the white; of enormous steamers on the
river, which bears equally the dug-out or canoe of the black
fisherman; the rail, penetrating the inmost recesses of swamps,
which on either side of it remain no doubt in the same state
as~il~ey were centuries ago; the roll of heaviJy-laden wagons
through the streets; the rattle of omnibuses and all the phenomena of active commercial life before our eyes, included in
il~e same scop~ of vision which takes in at the other side of
the Mississippi lands scarcely yet settled, though the march
of empire has gone- thousands of miles beyond them, amuses
but perplexes the traveller in this new land.
The evening was so exceedingly warm that I was glad to
remain within the walls of my darkened bedroom.  All the
six hundred and odd guests whom the Gayoso House is said
to accommodate were apparently in the passage at one time.
At present it is the bead-quarters of General Gideon J. Pil 
~O6        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
low, who is charged with the defences of the Tennessee side
of the river, and commands a considerable body of troops
around the city and in the works above.  The house is consequently filled with men in uniform, belonging to the General's staff or the various reo~iments of Tennessee troops.
The Governors and the Legislatures of the States view with
dislike every action on the part of Mr. Davis which tends to
form the State troops into a national army.  At first, indeed,
the doctrine prevailed that troops could not be sent beyo~d the
limits of the State in' which they were raised - then it was
argued that they ought not to be called upon to move outside
their borders; and 1 have heard people in the South inveighing against the sloth and want of spirit of the Virginians, who
allowed their State to be invaded without resisting the enemy.
Such complaints were met by the remark that all the Northern States had combined to pour their troops into Virginia,
and that her sister States ought in honor to protect her.
Finally, the martial enthusiasm of the Southern regiments
impelled them to press forward to the frontier, and by delicate
management, and the perfect knowledge of his countrymen
which Mr. Jefferson Davis possesses, he is now enabled to
amalgamate in some sort the diverse individualities of his
regiments into something like a national army.
On hearing of my arrival, General Pillow sent his aide-decamp to inform me that he was about starting in a steamer up
the river, to make an inspection of the works and garrison
at Fort Randolph and at other points where batteries had
been erected to command the stream, supported by large levies
of Tennesseans.  The aide-de-camp conducted me to the
General, whom 1 found in his bedroom, fitted up as an office,
littered with plans and papers.  Before the Mexican War
General Pillow was a flourishing solicitor, connected in business with Presi~ent Polk, and co~manding so niuch influence
that when the expedition was formed he received the nomination of brigadier-general of volunteers.  He served with distin~ion and was severely wounded at the battle of Chapultepec
and at the conclusion of the campaign he retired into civil
life, and was engaged directing the work of his plantation till
this great rebellion summoned him once more to the field.
Of course there is, and must be, always an inclination to de~ide these volunteer officers on the part of re~u]ar soldiers;
and 1 was infbrmed by one of the officers in attendance on the
General that he had made himself ludicrously celebrated in 
DEFENCES OF MEMPrnS.          307
Mexico for having undertaken to throw up a battery which;
when completed, was found to face the wrong way, so that the
guns were exposed to the enemy.  General Pillow is a small,
compact, clear-complexioned man, with short gray whiskers,
cut in the English fashion, a quick eye, and a pompous manner of speech; and I had not been long in his company before I heard of Chapultepec and his wound, which causes him
to limp a little in his walk, and gives him inconvenience in
the saddle.  He wore a round black hat, plain blue frock-coat,
dark trousers, and brass spurs on his boots; but no sign of
military rank.  The General ordered carriages to the door,
and we went to see the batteries on the bluff or front of the
esplanade, which are intended to check any ship attempting
to pass down the nver from Cairo, where the Federals under
General Prentiss have entrenched themselves, and are understood to meditate an expedition against the city.  A parapet of
cotton bales, covered with tarpaulin, has been erected close to
the edge of the bank of earth, which rises to heights varying
from 60 to 150 feet almost perpendicularly from the waters of the
Alississippi, with zigzag roads running down through it to the
landing-places.  This parapet could offer no cover against
vertical fire, and is so`placed that well-directed shell into the
bank below it would tumble it all into the water.  The zigzag
roads are barricaded with weak planks, which would be shivered to pieces by boat-guns; and the assaulting parties could
easily mount through these covered ways to the rear of the
parapet, and up to the very centre of the esplanade.
The blockade of the river at this point is complete; not a
boat is permitted to pass either up or down.  At the extremity of the esplanade, on an angle of the bank, an earthen
battery, mounted with six h~avy guns, has been tl~own up,
which has a fine command of the river; and fl~e General in- -
formed me he intends to mount sixteen guns in addiQon, on
a prolongation of the face of the same work.
The inspection over, we drove down a steep road to the
water beneath, where the Ingomar, a large river steamer,
now chartered for the service of the State of Tennessee, was
lying to receive us.  The vessel was crowded with troops -
nit volunteers, of course- about to join those in camp. Great
as were their numbers, the proportion of the officers was inordinately large, and the rank of the greater number preposterously high.  It seemed to me as if I was introduced to
a battalion of colonels, and that I was not permitted to pierce 
308       MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
to any lower strata of military rank.  I counte~ seventeen
colonels, and believe the number was not then exhausted.
General Clarke, of Mississippi, who had come over from
the camp at Corinth, was on board, and I had the pleasure of
making his acquaintance.  lle spoke with sense and firmness
of the present troubles, and dealt with the political difficulties
in a tone of moderation which bespoke a gentleman and a
man of education and thought.  lle also had served in the
Mexican war, and had the air and manner of a soldier. With
all his quietness of tone, there was not the smallest disposition
to be traced in his words to retire from the present contest, or
to consent to a reunion with the United States under any circumstances whatever.  Another general, of a very different
type, was among our passengers, - a dirty-faced, frightenedlooking young man, of some twenty-three or twenty-four
years of age, redolent of tobacco, his chin and shirt slavered
by it~ foul Juices, dressed in a green cutaway coat, white Jean
trousers, strapped under a pair of prunelia slippers, in which
he promenaded the deck in an Agag-like manner, which gave
rise to a suspicion of bunions or corns.  This strange figure
was topped by a tremendous black felt sombrero, looped up at
one side by a gilt eagle, in which was stuck a plume of ostrich
feathers, and from the other side dangled a heavy gold tassel.
This decrepit young warrior 5 name was Ruggles or Struggles, who came from Arkansas, whe,,re he passed, I was informed, for "quite a leading citizen.
Our voyage as we steamed up the river afforded no novelty,
nor any physical difference ~yorthy of remark, to contrast it
with the lower portions of the stream, except that upon our
right-hand side, which is, in effect, tlie left bank, there are
ranges of exceedingly high blnffi~, some parallel with and
others at right angles to the c~urse of the stream.  The river
is of the same pea-soup color with the same masses of leaves,
decaying vegetation, stumps of trees, forming small floating
islands, or giant cotton-tree, pines, and balks of timber whirling
down the current.  Our progress was slow; nor did I regret
the captain's caution, as there must have been fully nine hundred persons on board; and although there is but little danger
of being snagged in the present condition of the river, we encountered now and then a trunk of a tree, wh~ch struck against
the bows with force enough to make the vessel quiver from
stem to stern.  I was furnished with a small berth, to which
I retired at midnight, just as the Ingomar was brought to at
the Chickasaw Bluffs, above which lies Camp Randolph. 
CllAPTER XXXVIII.
C~tmp Randolph - Cannon practice - Volunteers - "Dixie "- Forc  ed return from the South - Apathy of the North - General re  trospect of polities - Energy and eamestness of the South -
Fire-arms - Position of Great Britain towards the belligerents -
Feeling towards the Old Country.
June l8tk.-On looking out of my cabin window this morning
I found the steamer fast along-side a small whaff, above which
rose, to the height of 150 feet, at an angle of forty-five degrees,
the rugged bluff afready mentioned.  The wharf wns covered
with commissariat stores and ammunition.  Three heavy guns,
which some men were endeavoring to sling to rude bulfockcarts, in a manner defiant of all the laws of gravitation, seemed
likely to go slap into the water at every moment; but of the
many great strapping fellows who were lounging about, not one
gave a hand to the working party.  A dusty track wound up
the hill to the brow, and there disappeared; and at the heigl~t
of fifty feet or so above the level of the river two earth works
had been rudely erected in an ineffective position.  The volunteers who were lounging about the edge of the stream were
dressed in different ways, and had no uniform.
Already the heat of the sun compelled me to seek the sliade;
and a number of the soldiers, laboring under the same infatuation as that which induces little boys to disport themselves
in the Thames at Waterloo Bridge, under the notion that they
are washing themselves, were swimming about in a backwater of the great river, regardless of cat-fish, mud, and
fever.
General Pillow proceeded on shore after breakf~ast, and we
mounted the coarse cart-horse chargers Which were in waiting at the jetty to receive us.  It is scarcely worth while to
transcribe from my diary a description of the works which I
sent over at the time to I~ngland.  Certainly, a more extraordinary maze could not be conceived, even in the dreams of a 
310        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
sick engineer - a number of mad beavers might possibly construct such dams.  They were so ingeniously made as to prevent the troops engaged in their defence from resisting the
enemy's attacks, or getting away from them when the assailants had got inside - most difficult and troublesome to defend, and still more difficult for the defenders td leave, the
latter perhaps being their chief merit.
The General ordered some' practice to be made with round
shot down the river. An old forty-two pound carronade was
loaded with some difficulty, and pointed at a tree about 1700
yards - which I was told, however, was not less than 2500
yards - distant.  The General and his staff took their posts
on the parapet to leeward, and I ventured to say, "I think,
General, the smoke will prevent your seeing the shot."  To
which the General replied, "NQ sir," in a tone which indicated, "I beg you to understand I have been wounded in
~Iexico, and know all about this kind of thing." "Fire!" The
string was pulled, and out of the touch-hole popped a piece of
metal with a little chirrup.  "Darn these friction tubes! I
prefer the linstock and match," quoth one of the staff, sotto
voce,- "but General Pillow will have us use friction tubes
made at ~Thmphis, that ar'n't worth a cuss."  Tube No. 2,
however, did explode, but where the ball went no one could
say, as the smoke drifted right into our eyes.
The General then moved to the other side of the gun,
which was fired a third time, tlie shot falling short in good
line, but without any ricochet.  Gun No. 3 was next fired.
Off went the ball down the river but off went the gun, too,
and with a frantic leap it jumped, carriage and all, clean off
the platform.  Nor was it at all wonderful, for the poor old.
fashioned chamber carronade had been loaded with a charge
and a solid shot heavy enough to make it burst with indigna
tion.  ~Iost of us felt relieved when the firing was over, and,
for my own part, I would much rather have been close to the
target than to the battery.
Slowly winding for some distance up the steep road in a
blazing sun, we proceeded through the tents which are scattered in small groups, for health'~ sake, fifteen and twenty together, on the wooded plateau above the river.  The tents
are of the small ridge-pole pattern, six men to each, many of
whom, from their exposure to the sun, whi!st working in these
trenches, and from the badness of the water, had already been
laid up with illness.  As a proof of General Pillow's energy, 
RATIONS AND EQUIPMENT.          311
it is only fair to say he is constructing, on the very summit of
the plateau, large cisterns, which will be filled with water
from the river by steam power.
The volunteers were mostly engaged at drill in distinct
companies, but by order of the General some 700 or 800 of
them were formed into line for inspection.  Many of these
men were in their shirt sleeves, and the awkwardness with
which they handled their arms showed that, however good
they might be as shots, they were bad hands at manual platoon exercise; but such great strapping fellows, that, as I
walked down the ranks there were few whose shoulders were
not above the level of my head, excepting here and there a
weedy old man or a growing lad:  They were armed with old
pattern percussion muskets, no two clad alike, many very
badly shod, few with knapsacks, but all provided with a tin
water-flask and a blanket.  These men have been only five
weeks enrolled, and were called out by th~ State of Tennessee, in anticipation of the vote of secession.
I could get no exact details as to the supply of food, but
from the Quartermaster-General I heard that each man had
from ~lb. to 1~ Ib. of meat, and a sufficiency of bread, sugar,
coffee, and rice daily; however, these military Olivers "asked
for more."  Neither whiskey nor tobacco was served out to
them, which to such heavy consumers of both, must prove one
source of dissatisfaction.  The officers were plain, farmerly
planters, merchants, lawyers, and the like - energetic, determined men, but utterly ignorant of the most rudimentary
parts of ~nilitary science.  It is this want of knowledge on the
part of the officer which renders it so difficult to arrive at a
tolerable condition of discipline among volunteers, - as the
privates are quite well aware they know as much of soldiering
as the great majority of their officers.
llaving gone down the lines of these motley companies,
the General addressed them in a harangue in which he
expatiated on their patriotism, on their courage, and the
atrocity of the enemy, in an odd farrago of military and
political subjects.   But the only matter which appeared to
interest them much was the announcement that they would be
released from work in another day or so, and that negroes would
be sent to perform all that was required.  This announcement
was received with the words, "Bully for us!" and "That's
good." And when General Pillow wound up a florid peroration
by assuring them, "~Yhen ~he hour of danger comes I will be 
312        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
with you," the effect was by no means equal to his expectations.  The men did not seem to care much whether General
Pillow was with them or not at that eventful moment; and,
indeed, all dusty as he was in his plain clothes he did not look
very imposing, or give one an idea that he would contribute
much to the means of resistance.  However, one of the officers
called out, "Boys, three cheers for General Pillow."
What they may do in the North I know not, but certainly
the Southern soldiers cannot cheer, and what passes muster for
that jubilant sound is a shrill ringing scream wiil~ a touch of
the Indian war-whoop in it.  As these cries ended, a steatorian
voice shouted out, "Who cares for General Pillow?" No one
answered  whence I inferred the General would not be very
popular until the niggers were  actually  at work in the
trenches.
We returned to the steamer, headed up stream, and proceeded onwards for more than an hour, to another landing,
protected by a battery, where we disembarked, the General
being received by a guard dressed in uniform, who turned out
with some appearance of soldierly smartness.  On my remarking the difference to the General, he told me the corps
encamped at this point was composed of gentlemen planters,
and farmers.  They had all clad themselves, and consisted
of some of the best families in the State of Tennessee.
As we walked down the gangway to the shore, the band on
the upper deck struck up, out of compliment to the English
element in the party the unaccustomed strains of "God save
the Queen!" and I am not quite sure that the loyalty which
induced me to stand in the sun, with uncovered head, till the
musicians were gona enough to desist, was appreciated.  Certainly a gentleman, who asked me why I did so, looked very
incredulous, and said "That he could understand it if it had
been in a church; but that he would not broil his skull in the
sun, not if General Washington was standing just before him."
The General gave orders to exercise the battery at this point,
and a working party was told off to firing drill.`Twas fully
six minutes between the giving of the orders and the first gun
being ready.
On the word "fire" being given, the gunner pulled the lanyard, but the tube did not explode; a second tube was inserted, but a strong jerk pulled it out without exploding; a
third time one of the General's fuses was applied, which gave
way to the pull, and was broken in two; a fburLh time was 
"DIXIE."                 813
more successful - the gun e&ploded, and the shot fell short
and under il~e mark - in fact, nothing could he worse than
the artillery practice which I saw here, and a fleet of vessels
coming down the river might, in the present state of the garrisons, escape unhuitt.
There are no disparts, tangents, or elevating screws to the
gun, which are laid by eye and wooden chocks.  I could see
no shells in the battery, but was told there were some in the
magazine.
Altogether, though Randolph's Point and Fort Pillow afford
strong positions, in the present state of the service, and equipment of guns and works, gunboats could run past them without serious loss, and, as the river falls, the fire of the batteries
will be even less effective
On returning to tl~e boats the hand struck up "The Marseillaise" and "Dixie's Land.    here are two explanations
of the word Dixie - one is that it is the general term for the
Slave States, which are, of course, south of Mason and Dixon's line; another, that a planter named Dixie, died long ago,
to the intense grief of his animated property.  Whether they
were ill-treated afler he died, and thus had reason to regret
his loss, or that they had merely a longing in the abstract
after Heaven, no fact known t9 me can determine; hut certain it is that they long much afler Dixie, in the land to which
his spirit was supposed by them to have departed, and console
themselves in their sorrow by clamorous wishes to follow their
master, where probably the revered spirit would be much surprised to find himself in their company.  The song is the work
of the negro melodists of New York.
In the aflernoon we returned to Memphis.  Here I was
obliged to cut short my Southern tour, though I would willingly have stayed, to have seen the most remarkable social
and political changes the world has probably ever witnessed.
The necessity of my position obliged me to return northwards
- unless I could write, there was no use in my being on the
spot at all.  By this time the Federal fleets have succeeded in
closing the ports, if not effectually, so far as to render the carriage of letters precarious, and the route must be at best devious and uncertain.
Mn Jefferson Davis was, I was assured, prepared to give
me every facility at Richmond to enable me to know and to
see all that was most interesting in the ihilitary and political
action of the New Confederacy; but of what use could this
14 
314        MY HARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
knowledge be if I could not communicate it to the journal I
served?
I had left the North when it was suffering from a political
paralysis, and was in a state of coma in which it appeared
conscious of the coming convulsion but unable to avert it.
The sole si~n of lifb in the body corporate was some feeble
twitching of the limbs at Washington, when the district miiitin were called out, whilst Mr. Seward descanted on the merits of the Inaugural, and believed that fl~e anger of the South
was a short madness, which would be cured by a mild application of phi]osophical essays.
The politicians, who were urging in the most forcible manncr the complete vindication of the ~ights of the Union, were
engaged, when I left them arguing, that the Union had no
rights at all as opposed to those of the States.  Men who bad
heard with nods of approval of the ordinance of secession
passed by State after State were now shrieking out, " Slay the
traitors 1"
The printed rags which had been deriding the President as
the great "rail-splitter," and his Cabinet as a collection of ignoble fanatics, were now heading the popular rush, and calling out to the country to support Mr. Lincoln and his Ministry, and were menacing with war the foreign States which
dared to stand neutral in the quarrel.  The declaration of
Lord John Russell that the Southern Confederacy should
have limited belligerent rights had at first created a thrill of
exultation in the South, because the politicians believed that
in this concession was contained the principle of recognition;
while it had stung to fury the people of the North, to whom
it seemed the first warning of the coming disunion.
Much, therefore, as I desired to go to Richmond, where I
was urged to repair by many considerations, and by the earnest appeals of those around me, I felt it would be impossible,
notwithstanding the interest attached to the proceedings there,
to perform my duties in a place cut off from all communication with the outer world; and so I decided to proceed to
Chicago, and thence to Washington, where the Federals had
assembled a large army, with the purpose of marching upon
Richmond, in obedience to the cry of nearly every journal of
influence in the Northern cities.
My resolution was mainly formed in consequence of the intelligence which was communicated to me at Memphis, and I
told General Pillow that I would continue my journey to 
SOUTHERN UNANIMITY.           815
Cairo, in order to get within the Federal lines.  As the river
was blockaded, the only means of doing so was to proceed by
rail to Columbus, and thence to take a steamer to the Federal
position; and so, whilst the General was continuing his inspection, I rode to the telegraph office, in one of the camps, to order
my luggage to be prepared for departure as soon as I arrived,
and thence went on board the steamer, where I sat down in
the cabin to write my last despatch from Dixie.
So far I had certainly no reason to agree with Mr. Seward
in thinking this rebellion was the result of a localized energetic action on the part of a fierce minority in the seceding
States, and that there was in each a large, if inert, mass opposed to secession, which would rally round the Stars and
Stripes the instant they were displayed in their sight.  On the
contrary, I met everywhere with but one feeling, with exceptions which proved its unanimity and its force. To a man the
people went with their States, and had but one battle cry,
"States' rights, and death to those who make war against
them!"
Day after day I had seen this feeling intensified by tlie
accounts which came from the North of a fixed determination
to maintain the war; and~day after day~ I am bound to add,
~he impression on my mind was strengthened that "States'
rights" meant protection to slavery, extension of slave territory, and free-trade in slave produce with the outer world;
nor was it any argument against tlie conclusion that the
popular passion gave vent to the most vehement outcries
against Yankees, abolitionists, German mercenaries, and modern invasion.  I was fully satisfied in my mind also that the
population of the South, who had taken up arms, were so
convinced of the righteousness of their cause, and so competent to vindicate it, that they would fight with the utmost
energy and valor in its defence and successful establishment.
The saloon in which I was sitting afforded abundant evidence of the vigor with which the South are entering upon
the contest.  Men of every variety and condition of life had
taken up arms against the cursed Yankee and the Black Republican - there was not a man there who would not have given
his life for the rare pleasure of striking Mr. Lincoln's head
off his shoulders, ~nd yet to a cold I~uropean the scene was
almost ludicrous.
Along the covered deck lay tall Tennesseans, asleep, whose
plumed felt hats were generally the only indications of their 
316        MY DIARY NORTIl AND SOUTH.
martial calling, for few indeed liad any other signs of uniform,
~xcept the rare volunteers, who wore stripes of red and
yellow cloth on their trousers, or leaden buttons, and discolored
worsted braid and facings on their jackets.  The afterpaft
of the saloon deck was appropriated to General Pillow, his
staW, and officers.  The approach to it was guarded by a
sentry, a tall, go~d4ooking young fellow in a gray flannel
shirt, gray trousers, fi~steaed with a belt and a brass buckle,
inscribed U. S., which came from some plundered Federal
nrsenaI, and a black wide-awake lint, decorated with a green
plume.  His Enficld rifle lay beside him on the deck, and,
with great interest expressed on his face, he leant forward in
his rocking-chair to watch the varying features of a party
squatted on the floor, who were employed in the national
game of "Euchre."  As he raised his eyes to examine the
condition of the cigar he was smoking, he caught sight of mc,
and by the simple expedient of holding his leg across my
chest, and calling out, "Hallo! where are you going to?"
brought me to a standstill - whilst his captain who was one
of the happy euchreists, exclaimed, "Now, Sam, you let
nobody go in there."
I was obliged to explain who I was, whereupon the sentry
started to his feet, and said, "Oh! indeed, you are Russell
that's been in that war with the Rooshians.  Well, I'm very
much pleased to know you.  I shall be off sentry in a few
minutes; I'll just ask you to tell me something about that
fighting."  He held out his hand, and shook mine warmly as
he spoke.  There was not the smallest intention to offend in
his manner; but, sitting down again, he nodded to the captain, and said, "It's all right; it's Pillow's friend - that0s
Russell of the London`Times."'  The game of euchre was
continued - and indeed it had been perhaps all night - for
my last recollection on looking out of my cabin was of a number
of people playing cards on the floor and on the tables all
down the saloon, and of shouts of "En-kerr!" "Ten dollars,
you don't!" "I'll lay twenty on this!" and so on; and with
breakfast the sport seemed to be fully revived.
There would have been much more animation in the ~ame,
no doubt, had the bar on board the Ingomar been opened;
but the intelligent gentleman who presided inside had been
restricted by General Pillow in his avocations; nnd when
numerous thirsty souls fl~om the camps came on board, with
~ry tongues and husky voices, and asked for "mint-juleps,"
a 
"THE INGOMAR."              317
`Lbrandy smashes," or "whiskey cocktails~' he seemed to take
a saturnine pleasure by saying, "The General won't allow no
spirit on board, but I can give you a nice drink of Pillow's
own iced Mississippi water," an announcement which generally
caused infinite disgust and some unhandsome wishes respecting the General's future happiness.
By and by, a number of sick men were brought down on
litters, and placed here and there along the deck.  As there
was a considerable misunderstanding between the civilian and
military doctors, it appeared to be understood that the best
way of arranging it was not to attend to the sick at all, and
unfortunate men suffering from fever and dysentery were lefl
to roll and groan, and lie on their stretchers, without a soul to
help them.  I had a medicine chest on board, and I ventured
to use the lessons of my experience in such matter~, administered my quinine, James's Powder, calomel, and opium,
secundum meanz arlem, and nothing could be more grateful than
the poor fellows were for the sn~allest mark of attention.
"Stranger, remember, if I die," gasped one great fellow,
attenuated to a skeleton by dysentery, "That I am Robert
Tallon, of Tishimingo county, and that I died for States'
rights; see, now, they put that in the papers, won t you?
Robert Tallon died for States' rights," and so he turned round
on his blanket.
Presently the General came on board, and the Ingomar
proceeded on her way back to Memphis.  General Clarke, to
whom I mentioned the great neglect from which the soldiers
were suffering, told me he was afraid the men had no medical
attendance in camp.  All the doctors, in fact, wanted to fight,
and as they were educated men, and generally connected with
respectable families, or had political influence in the State,
they aspired to be colonels at the very least, and to wield the
~word instead of the scalpel.
Next to the medical department, the cdi~imissanat and trans
port were most deficient; but by constant courts-martial,
stoppages of. pay, and severe sentences, he hoped these evils
would be eventually somewhat mitigated.  As one wlio had
received a regular military education, General Clarke was
probably shocked by volunteer irregulari{ies; and in such
matters as guard-mounting, reliefs, patrols, and picket duties,
be declared they were enough to break one's heart; but I was
astonished to hear from him that the Germans were by far the
worst of the five thousand troops under his command, of whom
they formed more than a fifth. 
318        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
Whilst we were conversing, the captain of the steamer in
vited us to come up into his cabin on the upper deck; and as
railway conductors, steamboat captains, bar-keepers, hotel
clerks, and telegraph officers are among the natural aristocracy
of the land, we could not disobey the invitation, which led to
the consumption of some of the captain's private stores, and
many warm professions of political faith.
The captain told me it was rough work aboard sometimes,
with "sports" and chaps of that kind; but "God bless you!"
said he, "the river now is not what it \1sed to be a few years
ago, when we'd have three or four difficulties of an afternoon,
and maybe now and then a regular free fight all up and down
the decks, that would last a couple of hours, so that when we
came to a town we would have to send for all the doctors
twenty miles round, and maybe some of them would die in
spite of that.  It was the rowdies used to get these fights up;
but we've put them pretty well down.  The citizens have
hunted thorn out, and they's gone away west."  "Well, then,
captain, one's life was not very safe on board sometimes."
"Safe! Lord bless you!" said the captain; "if you did not
meddle, just as safe as you are now, if the boiler don't collapse.
You must, in course, know how to handle your weepins, and
be pretty spry in taking your own part."  "llo, you Bill!"
to his colored servant, "open that clothes-press."  "Now,
here," he continued, "is how I travel; so that I am Mways
easy in my mind in case of trouble on board."  Putting his
hand under the pillow of the bed close beside him, he pulled
out a formidable looking double-barrelled pistol at half-cock,
with the caps upon it.  "That's as purty a pistol as Derringer
ever made.  I've got the brace of thern - here's the other;"
and with that he whipped out pistol No.2, in ~n equal state
of ~rwardness, from a little shelf over his bed; and then going over to the clothes-press, he said, "llere's a real old Kentuck, one of the old sort, as light on the trigger as gossamer,
and sure as deeth.  Why, law bless me, a child would cut a
turkey's head off with it at a hundred yai~ds."  This was a
huge lump of iron, about five feet long with a small hole bored
down the centre, fitted in a coarse German-fashioned stock.
"But," continued he, "this is my main dependence; here is a
~gular beauty, a first-rate, with ball or buckshot, or whatever
you like - made in London.  I gave two hundred dollar~ for
it; and it is so short and handy, and straight shooting, I'd just
as soon part with my life as let it go to anybody;" and, with a 
GREAT BRITAIN AND AMERICA.        319
glow of pride in his face, the captain handed round again a
very short double-barrelled gun, of some eleven or twelve
bore, with back-action locks, and an audacious "Joseph Manton, London," stamped on the plate.  The manner of the man
was perfectly simple and bona ftde; very much as if Inspector Podger were revealing to a simpleton the mode by which
the London pollce m~naged refractory characters in the station-house.
From such matters as these 1 was diverted by the more
senous subject of the attitude taken by England in this quarrel.
The concession of belligerent rights was, I found, misunderstood, and was considered as an admission that the Southern
States had established their independence before they had
done more than declare their intention to fight for it.
It is not within my power to determine whether the North ~
is as unfair to Great Britain as the South; but I fear the
history of the people, and the tendency of their institutions,
are adverse to any hope of fair-play and justice to the old
country.  And yet it is the only power in Europe for the good
opinion of which they really seem to care.  Let any French,
Austrian, or Russian journal write what it pleases of the
United States, it is received with indifferent criticism or callous
head-shaking.  But let a London paper speak, and the whole
American press is delighted or furious.
The political sentiment quite overrides all other feelings;
and it is the only symptom statesmen should care about, as it
guides the policy of the country.  If a man can put faith in
the influence for peace of common interests, of common origin,
common intentions, with the spectacle of this incipient war
before his eyes, he must be incapable of appreciating the consequences which follow from man being an animal.  A war
between England and the United States would be unnatural;
but it would not be nearly so unnatural now as it was when it
was actually waged in 1776 between people who were barely
separated from each other by a single generation; or in 181214, when the foreign immigration had done comparatively little
to dilute the Anglo-Saxon blood.  The Norman of Hampshire
and Sussex did not care much for the ties of consanguinity
and race when lie followed his lord in fee to ravage Guienne
or Brittany.
The general result of my intercourse with Americans is to
produce the notion that they consider Great Britain in a state
of corruption and decay, and eagerly seek to exalt France at 
320         MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
her expense.  Their language is the sole link between Eng
land and the United States, and it only binds the England of
1770 to the American of 1860.
There is scarcely an American on either side of Mason and
Dixon's line who does not religiously believe that the colonies,
alone and single-handed, encountered the whole undivided
force of Great Britain in the Revolutio~, and defeated it.  1
mean, of course, the vast mass of the people; and 1 do not
think there is an orator or a writer who would venture to tell
them the truth on the subject.  Again, they firmly believe that
their petty frigate engagements established as complete a naval
ascendency over Great Britain as the latter obtaiaed by her
great encounters with the fleets of France and Spain.  Their
reverses, defeats and  headlong routs in the first war, their
reverses in the second, are covered over by a huge Buncomhe
plaster, made up of Bunker's Hill, Plattsburg, Baltimore, and
New Orleans.
Their delusions are increased and solidified by the extraordinary text-books of so-called history, and by the feasts and
festivals and celebrations of their every-day political life, in
all of which we pass through imaginary Caudine Forks; and
they entertain towards the old country at best very much the
feeling which a high-spirited young man would feel towards
the guardian who, when he had come of age, and was free
from all control, sought to restrain the passions of his early
life.
Now I could no~ refuse to believe that in New Orleans,
Montgomery, Mobile, Jackson, and Memphis there is a reckless and violent condition of society, unfavorable to civilization,
and but little hopeful for the future.  The most absolute and
despotic rule, under which a man's life and property are safe,
is better than the largest measure of democratic freedom,
which deprives the fleeman of any security for either.  The
state of legal protection for the most serious interests of man,
considered as a civilized and social creature, which prevails in
America, could not be tolerated for an instant, and would ge~~erate a revolution in the worst governed country in Europe.
I would much sooner, as the accidental victim of a generally
disorganized police, be plundered by a chance~diligence robber
in Mexico, or have a fair fight with a Gi~eek Klepht, suffer
from Italian banditti, or be garrotted by a London ticket-ofleave man, than be bowie-knived or revolvered in consequence
of a political or personal difference with a man, who is certain 
KENTUCKY NEUTRAL.               32~
not in the least degree to suffer from an accidental success in
his argument.
On our return to the hotel I dined with the General an~
iiis staff at the public table, where there was a large assemblage of military men, Southern ladies, their families, and
contractors.  This latter race has risen up as if by magic, to
meet the wants of the new Confederacy; and it is significant
to measure the amount of the dependence on Northern mannfacturer~ by the advertisements in tlie Southern journals, in
dicating the creation of new branches of workmanship, mechanical science, and manufacturing skill.
Hitherto they have been dependent on the North fqr the
very necessaries of their industrial life.  These States were
so intent on gathering in money for their produce, expending
it luxuriously, and paying it out for Northern labor, that they
found themselves suddenly in the condition of a child brought
up by hand whose nurse and mother have left it on the steps
of the poor-house.  But they have certainly essayed to remedy the evil and are endeavoring to make steam-engines, gunpowder, lamps, clothes, boots, railway carriages, steel springs,
glass, and all the smaller articles for which even Southern
households find a necessity.
The peculiar character of this contest develops itself in a
manner almost incomprehensible to a stranger who has beeii
accustomed to regard the United States as a nation.  flere
is General Pillow, for example, in the State of Tennessee,
commanding the forces of the State, which, in effect, belongs
to the Southern Confederacy; but he tells me that he cannot
venture to move across a certain geographical lin~, dividing
Tennessee from Kentucky, because the State of Kentucky,
in the exercise of its sovereign powers and rights, which the
Southern States are bound specially to respect, in virtue of
their championship of States' nglits, has, like tlie United King.
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, declared it will be neutral
in tlie struggle; and Beriah Magoffin, Governor of the aforesaid State, has warned off Federal and Confederate troops
from his territory.
General Pillow is particularly indignant with the cowardice
of the well-known Secessionists of Kentucky; but I think lie
is rather more annoyed by the accumulation of Federal troops
at Cairo, and their recent expedition to Columbus on the Kentucky shore, a little below them, where they seized a Confed
erate flag.
14* 
CHAPTER XXXIX.
Heavy Bill - Railway fravelling - Introductions - Assassinations
Tennessee -"Corinth"-" Troy" - "Rumbolt "-" The Con  federate Camp "- Return Njorthwards - Columbus - Cairo - The
Slavery Question - Prospects of the ~Yar - Coarse Journalism.
June 19th.- It is probable the landlord of the Gayoso
House was a strong Secessionist, and resolved, therefore, to
make the most out of a neutral customer like myself- certainly Herodotus would have been astonished if he were
called upon to pay the little bill which was presented to me in
the modern Memphis; and had the old Egyptian hostelries
been conducted on the same principles as those of the Tennessean Memphis, the "Father of History" would have had
to sell off a good many editions in order to pay his way.  I
bad to rise at three o'clock A. M., to reach the train, which
started before five.  The omnibus which took us to the station
was literally nave deep in the dust; and of all the bad roads and
dusty streets I have yet seen in the New WoAd, where both
prevail, North and South, those of Memphis are the worst.
Indeed, as the citizen, of Hibernian birth, who presided over
the luggage of the passengers on the roo?, declared, "The
streets are paved with waves of mud, only the mud is all dust
when it's fine weather."
By the time I had arrived at the station my clothes were
covered with a fine alluvial deposit in a state of powder; the
platform was crowded with volunteers moving off for the wars,
and I was obliged to take my place in a carriage full of Confederate officers and soldiers who hnd a large supply of
whiskey, which at that early hour they were consuming as a
prophylactic against the influence of the morning dews,
which hereabouts are of such a deadly character that, to be
quite safe from their influence, it appears to be necessary,
judging fi-om the examples of my companions, to get us
nearly drunk as possible.  Whiskey, by-the-by, is also a sovereiga specific against the bites of rattle-snakes.  All the 
FRIENDS ON TllE PLATFORM.        323
dews of the Mississippi and the rattle-snakes of the prairie
might have spent their force or venom in vain on my corn panions before we had got as far as Union City.
I was evidently regarded with considernble suspicion by my
fellow passengers, when they heard I was going to Cairo,
until the conductor obligingly informed them who I was,
whereupon I was mu cli entreated to fortify myself against the
dews and rattle-snakes, and received many offers of service
and kindness.
Whatever may be the normal corntorts of Amen-can railway cars, they are certainly most unpleasant conveyances
when the war spirit is abroad, and the heat of the day, w]'ich
was excessive, did not contribute to diminish the annoyance
of foul air - the odor of whiskey, tobacco, and the like, combined with innumerable flies.  At Humbolt, which is eightytwo miles away, there was a change of cars, and an opportunity of obtaining some refreshment, - the station was
crowded by great numbers of men and women dressed in their
best, who were making holiday in order to visit Union City,
forty-six miles distant, where a force of Tennesseun and Mississippi regiments are encamped.  The ladies boldly advanced
into carriages which were quite full, and as thcy looked quite
prepared to sit down on the occupants of the seats if they did
not move, and to destroy them with all-absorbing articles of
feminine warfare, either defensive or aggressive, and crush
them with iron~ound crinolines, they soon drove us out into
the broiling sun.
Whilst I was on the platform I underwent the usual process of American introduction, not, I fear, very good humoredly-  A gentleman whom you never saw before in your life,
walks up to you and says, "I am happy to see you among us,
sir," and if he finds a hand wandering about, he shakes it
cordially.  "My name is Jones, sir, Judge Jones of Pumpkin
County.  Any information about this place or State that I
can give is quite at your service."  This is all very civil and
well meant of Jones, but before you have made up your mind
what to say, or on what matter to test the worth of l~is proffered information, he darts off and seizes one of the group
who have been watching Jones's advance, and com~s forward
with a t~l man, like himsel?, busily engaged with a piece of
tobacco.  "Colonel, let me introduce you to my frieifd, Mr.
Russell.  This, sir, is one of our leading citizens, Colonel
Knags."  Whereupon the Colonel shakes hands, uses 
324        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
the same formula as Judge Jones, immediately returns to his
friends, and cuts in before Jones is back with other friends,
whom he is hurrying up the platform, introduces General
Cassius Mudd and Dr. Ordlando Bellows, who go through
the same ceremony, and as each man has a circle of his own,
my acquaintance becomes prodigiously extended, and my
hand considerably tortured in the space of a few minutes;
finally I am introduced to the driver of the engine and the
stoker, but they proved to be acquaintances not at all to be
despised, for they gave me a seat on the engine, which was
really a boon, considering that the train was crowded beyond
endurance, and in a state of internal nastiness scarcely conceivable.
When I had got up on the engine a gentleman clambered
after me in order to have a little conversation; and he turned
out to be an intelligent and clever man well acquainted with
the people and the country.  I had been much impressed by
the account in the Memphis papers of the lawlessness and
erime which seemed to prevail in the State of Mississippi,
and of the brutal shootings and stabbings which disgraced it
and other Southern States.  lle admitted it was true, but
could not see any remedy.  "Why not?"  "Well, sir, the
rowdies have rushed in on us, and we can't master them;
they are too strong for the respectable people."  "Then you ~
admit the law is nearly powerless?"  "Well, you see, sir,
these men have got hold of the people who ought to administer the law, and when they fail to do so they are so powerful
hy reason of their numbers, and so reckless, they have things
their own way.''
"In effect, then, you are living under a reign of terror,
and the rule of a ruffian mob?"  "It's not quite so bad as
that, perhaps, for the respectable people are not much affected
by it, and most of the crimes of which you speak are committed by these bad classes in their own section; but it is
disgraceful to have such a state of things, and when this war
is over, and we have started the confederacy all fair, we'll
put the whole thing down.  We are quite determined to take
the law into our own hands, and the first remedy for the condition of affairs which, we all lament, will be to confine the
suffrage to native-born Americans, aiid to get rid of the infamous, scoundrelly fbreigners, who now overrule us in our
country."  "But are not many regiments of Irish and Germans now fighting for you?  And will these foreigners who 
TENNESSEE.                326
have takeii up arms in your cause be content to receive as
the result of their success an inferior position, politically, to
that which they now hold?"  "Well, sir, they must; we
are bound to go through with this thing if we would save
society."  I had so often heard a similar determinati~~n expressed by men belonging to the thinking classes in the
South, that I am bound to believe the project is entertained
by many of tho~e engaged in this great revolt - one principle of which indeed, may be considered hostility to universal
suffrage, combining.with it, of course, the limitation of the
immigrant vote.
The portion of Tennessee through which the rail runs is
exceedingly uninteresting, and looks unhealthy, the clearings occur at long intervals in the forest, and the uhwholesome population, who came out of their low shanties, situated
amidst blackened stumps of trees or fields of Indian corn,
did not seem pro~perous or comfortable.  The twists and
curves of the rail, through cane brakes and swamps exceeded in that respect any line I have ever travelled on; but the
vertical irregularities of the rail were still greater, and the
engine bounded as if it were at sea.
The names of the stations show that a savant has been
rambling about the district.  Here is Corinth, which consists
of a wooden grog-shop,and three log shanties; the acropolis
is represented by a grocery store, of which the proprietors,
no doubt, have gone to the wars, as their names were suspiciously Milesian, and the doors and windows were fastened;
but occasionally the names of the stations on the railway
boards represented towns and yillages, hidden in the wood
some distance away, and Mummius might have something
to ruin if he marched off the track, but no~ otherwise.
The city of Troy was still simpler in architecture than the
Grecian capitol.  The Dardanian towers were represented
by a timber-house, in the veranda of which the American
Helen was seated, in the shape of an old woman smoking
a pipe, and she certainly could have set the Palace of Priam
on fire much more readily than her prototype.  Four sheds,
three log huts, a saw-mill, about twenty negroes sitting on
a wood-pile, and looking at the train, constituted the rest of
the place, which was certainly too new for one to say, Troja
fuit, whilst the general "fixins" would scarcely authorize us
to say with any confidence, Trojafucrit.
The train from Troy passed through a cypress swamp, over 
326        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
which the engine rattled, and hopped at a perilous rate along
high trestle work, till forty-six miles from llumbolt we came
to Union City, which was apparently formed by aggregate
meetings of discontented shavings that had travelled out of tije
forest hard by.  But a little beyond it was the Confederate
camp, which so many citizens and citizenesses had come out
into the wilderness to see; and a general descent was made
upon the place whilst the volunteers came swarming out of
their tents to meet their friends.  It was interesting to observe
the affectionate greetings between fl~e young soldiers, mothers,
wives, and sweethearts, and as a display of the force and earnestness of ti7e Southern people - the camp itself containing
thousands of men, many of whom were members of the first
families in the State - was specially significant.
There is no appearance of military order or discipline
about the camps, though they were guarded by sentries and
cannon, and implements of war and soldiers' accoutrements
were abundant.  Some of the sentinels carried their firelocks
under their arms like umbrellas, others carried the but over
the shoulder and the muzzle downwards, and one for his
greater ease had stuck the bayonet of his firelock into the
ground, and was leaning his elbow on the stock with his chin
on his hand, whilst sybarites less ingenious, had simply deposited their muskets against the trees, and were lying down
reading newspapers.  Their arms and unifon~s were of different descriptions - sporting rifles, fowling pieces, flint muskets,
smooth bores, long and short barrels, new ~nfields, and the like;
hut the men, nevertheless, were undoubtedly material for excellent soldiers.  There were some few boys, too youug to carry
arms, although the zeal and ardor of such lads cannot but
have a good effect, if they behave well in action.
Tlie great attraction of this train lay in a vast supply of
stores, with which several large vans were closely packed,
and for fully two hours the train was delayed, whilst hampers
of wine, spirits, vegetables, fruit, meat, groceries, and all the
various articles acceptable to soldiers living under canvas
were disgorged on the platform, and carried away by the expectant military.
I was pleased to observe the perfect confidence that was
felt in the honesty of the men.  The railway servant~ simply
deposited each article as it came out on the platform - the
men came up, read the addre~s, and carried it away, or left it,
as the case might be; and only in one instance did I see a 
A FILIBUST~RO.            32?
scramble, which was certainly quite justifiable, for, in handing
out a lnr~e basket the bottom gave way, and out tumbled
onions, apples, and potatoes among the soldiery, who stuffed
their pockets and haversacks with the unexpected bounty.
One young fellow, who was handed a large wicker-covered
jar from the van, hav1n~ shaken it, and gratified his ear by
the pleasant jingle inside, retired to the roadside, drew tlie
cork, and, raising it slowly to his mouth, proceeded to take a
good pull at the contents, to the envy of his comrades; but
tlie pleasant expression upon his face rapidly vanished, and
spurting out the fluid with a hideous grimace, he exclaimed,
"D-; why, if the old woman has not gone and sent me a
gallon of syrup."  The matter was, evidently considered too
serious to joke about, for not a soul in the crowd even smiled;
but they walked away from the man, who, putting down
the jar, seemed in doubt as to whether lie would take it away
or not.
Numerous were the invitations to stop, which I received
from the officers.  "~Vhy not stay`with us, sir; what can a
gentleman want to go among black Republicans and Yankees
for?"  It is quite obvious that my return to the Northern
States is regarded with some suspicion; but I am hound to
say that my explanaflon of the necessity of the step was
always well received, and satisfied my Southern friends that I
had no alternative.  A special correspondent, whose letters
cannot get out of the country in which he is engaged, can
scarcely fulfil the purpose of his mission; and I used to point
out, goodThumoredly, to these gentlemen that until they had
either opened the communication with the North, or had
broken the blockade, and established steam communication
with Europe, I must seek my base of operations elsewhere.
At last we started from Union City; and there came into the
car, among other soldiers who were going out to Columbus, a fine
specimen of the wild filibustering population of the South which
firnish many recruits to the ranks of the Confederate army
- a tall, brawny-shouldered, brown-faced, black-bearded, b airy -
ijanded man, with a hunter's eye, and rather a Jewish face,
fbll of life, energy, and daring. I easily got into conversation
with him, as my companion happened to be a freemason, and
he told us he had been a planter in ~Iississippi, and onc~.'
owned 110 negroes, worth at least some 20,0001.; but, as he said
bimseff,," I was always patrioting it about;" and so he went
off; first with Lopez to Cuba, was wounded and taken prisoner 
328        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
by the Spaniards, but had the good fortune to be saved from the
execution which was inflicted on the ringleaders of the expedition.  When he came back he found his plantation all the
worse, and a decrease amongst his negroes; but his love of
adventure and filibustering was stronger than his prudence
or desire of gain.  lie took up with Walker, the "gray-eyed
man of destiny," and accompanieJ him in his strange career
till his leader received the coup de g~ace in the final raid upon
Nicaragua.
Again he was taken prisoner, and would have been put to
death by the Nicaraguans, but for the intervention of Captain
Aldham.  "I don't bear any love to the Britishers," said he,
"but I'm bound to say, as so mnny charges`have been made
against Captain Aldham, that he behaved like a gentleman,
and if I had been at New Orleans when them cussed cowardly
blackguards ill-used him, I'd have left my mark so deep on a
few of them, that their clothes would not cover them long."
lie told us that at present he had only five negroes left, "but
I'm not going to let the black Republicans lay hold of them,
and I'm just going to stand up for States' rights as long as I
can draw a trigger - so snakes and abolitionists look out."
lie was so reduced by starvation, ill-treatment, and sickness
in Nicaragua, when Captain Aldham procured his release,
that he weighed only 110 pounds, but at present he was over
200 pounds, a splendid be~efauve, and without wishing so fine
a looking fellow any harm, I could not but help thinking that
it must be a benefit to American society to get rid of a considerable number of these class of which he is a representative
man.  And there is every probability that they will have a
full opportm)ity of doing so.
On the arrival of the train at Columbus, twenty-five miles
from Union City, my friend got out, and a good number of
men in uniform joined him, which led me to conclude that
they had some more serious object than a mere pleasure trip
to the very uninteresting looking city on the banks of the Mississippi, which is asserted to be neutral territory, as it belongs to the sovereign State of Kentucky.  I heard, accidentally, as I came in the train, that a party of Federal soldiers
from the camp at Cairo,. up the river, had recently descended
to Columbus and torn down a secession flag which had been
hoisted on the river's bank, to the great indignation of many
of its inhabitants.
In those border States the coming war promises to produce 
COLUMBUS. KENTUCKY.
the greatest misery; they will be the scenes of hostile operations;
the population is divided in sentiment; the greatest efforts
will be made by each side to gain the ascendency in the Stat~~,
and to crush the opposite faction, and it is not possible to believe that Kentucky can maintain a neutral position, or fl~at
either Federal or Confederates will pay the smallest rcgai'd
to the proclamation of Governor Magoffin, and to his empty
menaces.
At Columbus the steamer was waiting to convey us up to
Cairo, and I congratulated myself on the good fbrtune of arriving in time for the last opportunity that will be afforded of
proceeding northward by this route.  General Pillow on the
one hand, and General Prentiss on the~other, have resolved
to blockade the Mississippi, and as the facilities for Confederates going up to Columbus and obtaining infbrmation of
what is happening in the Federal camps cannot readily be
checked, the general in command of the port to which I am
bound has intimated that the steamers must cease ~.~nning
It was late in the day when we entered once more on the
father of waters, which is here just as broad, as muddy, as
deep, and as wooded as it is at Baton Rouge, or Vicksburg.
Columbus is situated on an elevated spur or elbow of land
projecting into the river, and has, in commercial ft~ith, one of
those futures which have so many rallying points down the
centre of the great river.  The steamer which lay at the
whaff, or rather the wooden piles in the bank which afforded
a resting place for the gangway, carried no flag, and on board
presented traces of' better days, a list of refreshments no longer
attainable, and of bill of fare utterly fanciful.  About twenty
passengers came on board, most of whom had a distracted air,
as if they were doubtful of their journey.  The captain was
surly, the office keeper petulant, the crew morose, and, perhaps, only one man on board, a stout Englishman, who was
purser or chief of the victualling department, seemed at all inclined to be communicative. At dinner he asked me whether I
thought there would be a fight, but as I was oscillating between one extreme and the other, I considered it right to conceal my opinion even from the steward of the Mississippi
boat; and, as it happened, the expression of it would not have
been of much consequence one way or the other, for it turned
out that our friend w~ of very stern stuff~ "This war," he
said, "is all about niggers; I've been sixteen years in the
ountry, and I never met one of them yet was fit to ~ any 
330        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
thing but a slave; I know the two sections well, and I tell
you, sir, the North can't whip the South, let them do their
best; they may ruin the country, but they'll do no good."
There were men on board who had expressed the strongest
Secession sentiments in the train, but who now sat and listened
and acquiesced in the opinions of Northern men, and by the
time Cairo was in sight, they, no doubt, would have taken
the oath of allegiance which every doubtful person is required
to utter before he is allowed to go beyond the military post..
In about two hours or so the captain pointed out to me a
tall building and some sheds, which seemed to arise out of a
wfde reach in the river, "that's Cairey," said he, "where the
Unionists have their camp," and very soon stars and stripes
were visible, waving from a lofty staW, at the angle of low
land formed by the junction of the Mississippi and Ohio.
For two months I had seen only the rival stars and bars,
with the exception of the rival banner floating from the ships
and the fort at Pickeas.   One of the passengers told me
that the place was supposed to be described by Mr. Dickens,
in "Martin Chuzzlewit," and as the steamer approached the
desolate embankment, which seemed the only barrier between
the low land on which the so-called city was built, and the
waters of the great river rising above it, it certainly became
impossible to believe that sane men, even as speculators,
could have fixed upon such a spot as the possible site of a
great city, - an emporium of trade and commerce.  A more
desolate woe-begone looking place, now that all trade and
commerce had ceased, cannot be conceived; but as the southern terminus of the Central Illinois Railway, it displayed a very
different scene before the war broke out.
With the exception of the large hotel, which rises far
above the levee of the river, the public edifices are represented by a church and spire, and the rest of the town by a
line of shanties and small houses, the rooms and upper stories
of which are just visible above the embankment.  The general impression effected by the place was decidedly like that
which the Isle of Dogs produces on a despondent foreigner as
he approaches London by the river on a drizzly day in November.  The stream, formed by the united efforts of the Mississippi and the Ohio, did not appear to gain much breadth, and
each of the confluents looked as large as its product with the
other.  Three steamers lay alongside the wooden wharves
prc~ecting from the embankment, which was also lined by 
CAIRO MOSQUITOES.            331
some flat-boats.  Sentries paraded the gangways as th~
steamer made fast along the shore, but no inquiry was directed to any of the passengers, and I walked up the levee
and proceeded straight to the hotel, which put me very much
in mind of an effort made by speculating proprietors to create
a watering-place on some lifeless beach.  In the ha~ there
were a number of officers in United States uniforms, and the
lower part of the hotel was, apparently, occupied as a military bureau; finally, I was shoved into a small dungeon, with
a window opening out on the angle formed by the two rivers,
which was lined with sheds and huts and terminated by a
battery.
These camps are such novelties in the country, and there
is such romance in the mere fact of a man living in a tent,
that people come far and wide to see their friends under
such extraordinary circumstances, and the hotel at Cairo was
crowded by men and women who had come from all parts
of Illmois to visit their acquaintances and relations belonging to the State troops encamped at this important point. The
salle a' manger, a long and lofty room on the ground floor,
which I visited at supper time, was almost untenable by reason of heat and flies; nor did I find that the free negroes,
who acted as attendants, possessed any advantages over their
enslaved brethren a few miIe~ lower down the river; though
their freedom was obvious enough in their demeanor and
manners.
I was introduced to General Prentiss, an agreeable person, without any thing about him to indicate the soldier. lle
gave me a number of newspapers, the articles in which were
principally occupied with a discussion of Lord John Russell's
speech on American affairs: ~Iuch as the South found fault
with the British minister for the views he had expressed, th~
North appears much more indignant, and denounces in the
press what the journalists are pleased to call "the hostility of
the Foreign ~Iiaister to the United States."  It is admitted,
however, that the extreme irritation caused by admitting the
Southern States to exercise limited belligerent rights was not
quite justifiable.  Soon after n~ghtfa1l I retired to my room
and battled with mosquitoes till I sank into sleep and exhaustion, and abandoned myself to ~heir mercies; perhaps, afier
all, there were not more than a hundred or so, and their united
efforts could not absorb as much blood as would be taken out
by one leech, but then their horrible acrimony, which leaves 
~32        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
a wreck behind in the place where they have banqueted, inspires the utmost indignation and appears to be an indefensible
prolongation of the outrage of the original bite.
June 2Otit. - When I awoke this morning and, gazing out
of my little window on the regiments parading on the level
below me, after an arduous struggle to obtain cold water for a
bath, sat down to consider what I had seen within the last
two montbs, and to arrive at some general result~ from the
retrospect, T own that after much thought my mind was
reduced to a hazy analysis of the abstract principles of right
and wrong, in which it failed to come to any very definite conelusion: the space of a very few miles has completely altered
the phases of thought and the forms of language.
I am living among "abolitionists, cut-throats, Lincolnite
mercenaries, foreign invaders, assassins, and plundcring Dutchmen   Such, at least, the men of Columbus tell me the garrison at Cairo consists of.  Down below me are "rebels, con
spirators, robbers, slave breeders, wretches beat upon destroying the most perfect government on the face of the earth, in
order to perpetuate an accursed system, by which, however,
beings are held in bondage and immortal souLs consigned to
perdition."
On the whole, the impression left upon my mind by what
I had seen in slave states is unfavorable to the institution of
sJavery, both as regards its effect on the slave and its influence on the master.  But my examination was necessarily
superficial and hasty.  I have reason to believe that the more
deeply the institution is probed, the more clearly will its unsoundness and its radical evils be discerned.  The constant
appeals made to the physical comforts of the slaves, and their
supposed contentment, have little or no effect on any person
who acts up to a higher standard of human happiness than
that which is applied to swine or the beasts of the fields "See
how fat my pigs are."
The arguments founded on a comparison of the condition
of the slave population with the pauperized inhabitants of
European states are utterly fallacious, inasmuch as in one
point, which is the most important by far, there can be no comparison at alL  In effect slavery can only be justified in the
abstract on the grounds whi~ slavery advocates decline to
take boldly, though they insinuate it now and then, that is,
the inferiority of the negro in respect to white men, which
removes them from the upper class of human beings and 
THE WRATH TO COME.              333
places them in a condition which is as much below the Can
casian standard as the quadrumanous creatures are beneath the
negro.  Slavery is a curse, with its time of accomplishment
not quite. at hand - it is a cancer, the ravages of which are
covered by fair outward show, and by the apparent health of
the sufferer.
The Slave States, of course, would not support the No~hern
for a year, if cotton, sugar, and tobacco became suddenly
worthless.  But, nevertheless, the slave-owners would have
strong grounds to stand upon if they were content to p?int to
the difficulties in the way of emancipation, and the circumstances under which they received their damnosa ~eredilas
from England, which fostered, nay forced, slavery in legislative hotbeds throughout the colonies.  The Englishman mtiy
say, "We abolished slavery when we saw its evils."  The
slave-owner replies, "Yes, with you it was possible to decree
the extinction - not With us."
Never did a people enter on a war so utterly destitute of
any reason for waging it, or of the means of bringing it to a
successful termination against internal enemies.  The thirteen
colonies had a large population of sea~aAng and soldiering
men, constantly engaged in military expeditions.  There was
a large infusion, compared with the numbers of men capable
of commanding in the field, and their great enemy was separated by a space far greater than the whole circumference of
the globe would be in the present time from the scene of
operations.  ~Iost American officers who took part in the war
of 1812-14 are now too old for service, or retired into private
life soon after the campaign.  The same remark applies to
the senior officers who served in ~Iexico, and the experiences
of that campaign could not be of much use to those now in
the service, of whom the majority were subalterns, or at most,
officers in command of volunteers.
A love of military display is very different indeed from a
true soldierly spirit, and at the base of the volunteer system
there lies a radical difficulty, which must be overcome before
real military efficiency can be expected.  In the South the)
f6reign element has contributed largely to swell the ranks with
many docile and a few experienced soldiers, the number of
the latter predominating in the ~erman levies, and the same
remark is, I hear, true of the Northern armies.
The most active member of the staff here is a young
Englishman named Binmore, who was a stenographic writer 
334        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
in London, but has now sharpened his pencil into a sword,
and when I went into the guard-room this morning I found
that three fourths of the officers, including all who had seen
actual service, were foreigners.  One, Milotzky, was an Hungarian; another, Waagner, was of the same nationality; a
third, Schuttner, was a German; another, Mac something, was
a Scotchman; another was an Englishman.  One only (Colonel Morgan), who had served in Mexico, was an Amencan.
The foreigners, of course, serve in this war as mercenaries;
that is, they enter into the conflict to gain something by it,
either in pay, in position, or in securing a status for themselves.
The utter absence of any fixed principle determining the
side which the foreign nationalities adopt is proved by their
going North or South with the state in which they live.  On
the other hand, the effects of discipline and of the principles
of military life on rank and file are shown by the fact that
the soldiers of the regular regiments of the United States and
the sailors in the navy have to a man adhered to their colors,
notwithstanding the examples and inducements of their
officers.
After breakfast I went down about the works, which fortify
the bank of mud, in the shape of a Y, fortued by the two
rivers - a fieche with a ditch, scarp, and counter-scarp.
Some heavy pieces cover the end of the spit at the other side
of the ~Iississippi, at Bird's Point.  On the side of ~Iissouri
there is a field intrenchment, held by a regiment of Germans,
Poles, and Hungarians, about 1000 strong, with two field batteries.  The sacred soil of Kentucky, on the other side of the
Ohio, is tabooed by Beriah Magoffin, but it is not possible for
the belligerents to stand so close face to face without occupying either Columbus or Hickman.  The thermometer was at
1000 soon after breakfast, and it was not wonderful to find
that the men in Camp Defiance, which is the name of the cantonment on the mud between the levees of the Ohio and ~bssissippi, were suffering from diarrhcea and fever.
In the evening there was a review of three regiments, forming a brigade of some 2800 men, who went through their drill,
advancing in columns of company, moving en ec~eThn, changing
front, deploying into line on the centre company, very credi- -
tably.  It was curious to see what a start ran through the
men during the parade when a gun was fired from the battery
close at hand, and how their heads turned toward tiie river;
but the steamer which had appeared round the bend hoisted 
ELEGA~T EXT~ACTS.             385
the private signs, by which she was known as a friend, and
tranquillity was restored.
I am not sure that most of these troops desire anything but
a long residence at a tolerably comfortable station, with plenty
of pay and no marching.  Cairo, indeed, is not comfortable;
the worst barrack that ever asp~yxiated the British soldier
would be better than the best shed here, and the flies and the
mosquitoes are beyond all conception virulent and pestiferous.
I would not give much to see Cairo in its normal state, but it
is my fate to witness the most interesting scenes in the world
through a glaze of gunpowder. It would be unfair to say that
any marked superiority in dwelling, ~othing, or comfort was
visible between the mean white ~f Cairo or the black chattel
a few miles down the river.  Brawling, rioting, and a good
deal of drunkenness prevailed in the miserable sheds which
line the stream, although there was nothing to justify the
libels on the garrison of the Columbus Crescent, edited by one
Colonel L. G. Faxon, of the Tennessee Tigers, with whose
writings I was made acquainted by General Prentiss, to whom
they appeared to give more annoyance than he was quite wise
in showing.
This is a style of journ~ism which may have its merits,
and which certainly is peculiar; I give a few small pieces.
"The Irish are for us, and they will knock Bologna sausages
out of the Dutch, and we will knoek wooden nutmegs out of
the Yankees."  "The mosquitoes of Cairo have been sucking
the lager-bier out of the dirty soldiers there, so long, they are
bloated and swelled up as large as spring possums.  An assortment of Columbus mosquitoes went up there the other day
to suck some, but as they have not returned, the probability
is they went off with delirium tremens; in fact, the blood of
these Hessians would poison the most degraded tumble bug in
creation."
Our editor is particularly angry about the recent seizure of
Confederate flag at Columbus by Coi~nel Oglesby and a
party of Federals from Cairo.  Speaking of a flag intended
for himsel?, he says, "~YouH that its folds had contained
1 O()O asps to sting 1()OO Dutchmen to eternity unshriven."
Our friend is certainly a genius.  His paper of June the 19th
opens with an apology for the non-appearance of the journal
for several weeks.  "Before leaving," he says, "we engaged
the services of a competent editor, and left a printer here to
issue the paper regularly.  We were detained several weeks 
~36       MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
beyond our time, the aforesaid printer promised faithfully to
peffor~ his duties, but he left the same day we did, nnd consequently there was no one to get out the paper.  We have
the charity to suppose that fear and bad whiskey had nothing
to do with liis evacuation of Columbus."  Another elegant
extract about the flag conimences, "WhenAhe bow-legged
wooden-shoed, sour craut stinking, Bologna sausage &ating,
hen roost robbing Dutch sons of - had accomplished the
brilliant feat of taking down the Secession fla~ on the river
bank, they were pointed to another flag of the same sort
which their guns did not cover, flying gloriously and defiantly,
and dared yea! double big black dog - dared, as we used to
say at school, to take that flag down - the cowardkv pups, the
thieving sheep dogs, ~he sneaking skunks dare not do so,
because their twelve pieces of artillery were not bearing on
it."  As to the Federal commander at Cairo, Colonel Faxon's
sentiments are unambiguous.  "The qualifications of this
man, Prentiss," he says, "for the command of such a squad of
villains and cut-throats are, that he is a miserable hound, a
dirty dog, a sociable fellow, a treacherous villain, a notorious
thie?, a lying blackguard, who has served his regular five
years in the Penitentiary and k~ps his hide continually full
of Cincinnati whiskey, which he buys by the barrel in order
to save his money - in him are embodied the leprous rascalities of the world, and in this living score, the gallows is
cheated of its own.  Prentiss wants our scalp; we propose a
plan by which he may get that valuable article.  Let him
select 150 of his best fighting men, or 250 of his lager-bier
Dutchmen, we will select 100, then let both parties meet
where there will be no interruption at the scalping business,
and the longest pole will knock the persimmon.  If he does
not accept this proposal, he is a coward.  We think this a
gentlemanly proposition and quite fair and equal to both
parties." 
CHAPTER XL.
Camp at Cairo - The North and the South in respect to Europe
- Political reflections - Mr. Colonel Oglesby - My speech -
Northern and Southern soldiers compared - American country   walks - Recklessness of life - Want of cavalry - Emeute in the
camp - Defects of army medical department - Horrors of war
- Bad discipline.
June 21st. - Yeriiy I would be sooner in the Coptic Cairo,
narrow streeted, dark bazaared, many flied, much vexed by
donkeys and by overland route passengers, than the horrid
tongue of land which licks the muddy margin of the Ohio
and the ~Iississippi.  The thermometer at 1000 in the shad~
before noon indicates nowhere else such an amount of heat
and suffering, and yet prostrate as I was, it was my fate to
argue that E~giand was justified in conceding belligerent.
nghts to the South, and that the attitude of neutrality we had
assumed in this terrible quarrel is not in effect an aggression
on the United States; and here is a difference to be perceived
between the North and the South.
The people of the seceding States, aware in their consciences that they have been most active in their hostility to
Great Britain, and whilst they were in power were mainly
responsible for the defiant, irritating, and insulting tone commonly used to us by American statesmen, are anxious at the
present moment when so much depends on the action of foreign countries, to remove all unfavorable impressions from
our minds by declarations of good will, respect, and admiration, not quite compatible with the language of their leaders
in times not long gone by.  The North, as yet unconscious of
the loss of power, and reared in a school of menace and violent assertion of their rights, regarding themselves as the whole
of the United States, and animated by their own feeling of
commercial and political opposition to Great Britain, maintain the high tone of a people who have never known let or
hindrance in their passions, and consider it an outrage that
15 
338         MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
the whole world does not join in active sympathy for a government which in its brief career has contrived to affront
every nation in Europe with which it had any dealings.
If the United States have astonished Fj~ance by their ingratitude, they have certainly accustomed England to their
petulance, and one can fancy the satisfaction with which the
Austrian Statesmen who remember Mr. Webster's despatch
to Mr. llulsemann, contemplate the present condition of the
United States in the face of an insurrection of these sovereign and independent States which the Cabinet at Washington stigmatizes as an outbreak of rebels and traitors to the
royalty of the Union.
During my short sojourn in this country I have never yet
met any person who could show me where the sovereignty of
the Union resides.  General Prentiss, however, and his Illinois volunteers, are quite ready to fight for it.
In the aflernoon the General drove me round the camps in
company with Mr. Washburne, Member of Congress, from
Illinois, his staff and a party of officers, among whom was Mr.
Oglesby, colonel of a regiment of State Volunteers, who struck
me by his shrewdness, simple honesty, and zeal.*  He told
me that he had begun life in the utmost obscurity, but that
somehow or other he got into a lawyer's office~and there, by
hard drudgery, by mother wit, and industry, notwithstanding
a defective education, he had raised himself not only to independence, but to such a position that 1000 men had gathered
at his call and selected one who had never led a company in
his life to be their colonel; in fact, he is an excellent orator
of the western school, and made good homely, telling speeches
to his men.
"I'm not as good as your Frenchmen of the schools of
Paris, nor am I equal to the Russian colonels I met at St.
Petersburg, ~o sketched me out how they had beaten you
Britishers at Sebastopol," said he; "but I know I can do
good straight fighting with my boys when I get a chance.
There is a good deal in training, to be sure, but nature tells
too.  Why I believe I would make a good artillery officer if
I was put to it.  General, you heard how I laid one of them
guns the other day and touched her off with my own band
and sent the ball right into a tree half-a-mile away."  The
Colonel evidently thought he had by that feat proved his&fitness for the command of a field battery.  One of the German
* Since died of wounds received in action. 
CAMP ORATOR~               339
officers who was listening to the lively old man's talk, whispered to me, "Dere is a good many of i~se colonels in dis
camp."
At each station the officers came out of their tents, shook
hands all round, and gave an unfailing invitation to get down
and take a drink, and the guns on the General's approach
fired salutes, as though it was a time of profi~undest peace.
Powder was certainly more plentiful than in the Confederate
camps, where salutes are not permitted unless by special order
on great occasions.
The General remained for some time in the camp of the
Chicago light artillery, which was commanded by a fine young
Scotchman of the Saxon genus Smith, who told me that the
privates of his company represented a million and a half of
dollars in property.  Their guns, horses, carriages,' and accoutrements were all in the most creditable order, and there
was an air about the men and about their camp which showed
they did not belong to the same class as the better disciplined
Hungarians of ~Iilotzky close at hand.
Whilst we were seated in Captain Smith's tent, a number
of the privates came forward, and sang the "Star-spangled
banner," and a patriotic song, to the air of "God save the
Queen!" and the rest of the artillery-men, and a number of
stragglers from the other camps, assembled and then formed
line behind the singers.  When the chorus was over there
arose a great shout for Washburne, and the honorable congressman was fain to come forward and make a speech, in
which he assured his hearers of a very speedy victory and the
advent of liberty all over the lan~ Then" General Prentiss"
was called for; and as citizen soldiers command their Generals
on such occasions, he too was obliged to speak, and to tell his
audience "the world had never seen any men more devoted,
gallant, or patriotic than themselves."  "Oglesby" was next
summoned, and the tall, portly, good-humored old man stepped
to the front, and with excellent tact and good sense, dished up
in the Buncombe style, told ti~em the time for making speeches
had passed, indeed it had lasted too long; and although it was
said there was very little fighting when there was much talking, he believed too much talking ~as likely to lead to a great
deal more fighting than any one desired to see between citiZen of the United States of Amenca, except their enemies,
who, TIO &)ubt, were much better pleased to see Americans
(ighting each other than to find them engaged in any other 
~4O         MY DIARY ~0RTH AND SOUTH.
employment.  Great as the mischief of too much talking had
been~ too much writing had far more of the mischief to answer for.  The pen was keener than the tongue, hit harder,
and left a more incurable wound; hut the pen was better than
the tongue, because it was able.to cure the mischief it had inflicted." And so by a series of sentences the Colonel got round
to me, and to my consternation, rememberin~ how I had fared
with my speech at the little private dinner on St. Patrick's
Day in New York, I was called upon by stentorian lungs, and
hustled to the stump by a friendly circle, till I escaped by uttering a few sentences as to "mighty struggle," "Europe gazing," "the world anxious," "the virtues of discipline," "the
admirable lessons of a soldier's life," and the "aspiration that
in a quarrel wherein a British subject was ordered, by an authority he was bound to respect, to remain neutral, God might
preserve the right."
Colonel, General, and all addressed the soldiers as "gentlemen," and their auditory did not on their part refrain from
expressing their sentiments in the most unmistakable manner.
"Bully for you, General!" "Bravo, Washburne!" "That's
so, Colonel!" and the like, interrupted the harangues; and
when the o~aton.cal exercises were over the men crowded
round the staW, cheered and hurrahed, and tossed up their
caps in the greatest delight.
With the exception of the foreign officers, and some of the
StaW, there are very few of the colonels, majors, captains, or
lieutenants who know anything of their business.  The men
do not care for them, and never think of saluting them.  A
regiment of Germans was sent across from Bird's Point this
evening for plundering and robbing the houses in the district
in which they were quartered.
It may be readily imagined that the scoundrels who had to
fly from every city in Europe before the face of tlie police
will not stay tbeir hands when they find themselves masters
of the situation in the so-called country of an enemy.  In
such matters the officers have little or no control, and discipline is exceedingly lax, and p~nishments but sparingly inIlicted, the use of the lash being forbidden altogether.  Fine
as the men are, inoomparaffly better armed, clad - and doubtless better fed - than the Southern troops, they will scarcely
meet them man to man in the field with any chance of success.  Among the officers are bar-room keepers, persons little
above the positioil of potmen in England, grocers' apprentices, 
A WAL~ IN TUE gOUNTRY.          341
and such like - often inferior socially, and in every other ~
spect, to the men whom they are supposed to command.
General Prentiss has seen service, I believe, in Mexico; but
he appears to me to be rather an ardent politician, embittered
against slaveholders and the South, than a judicious or skilful
military leader.
The principles on which these isolated commanders carry
on the war are eminently defective.  They apply their whole
minds to petty expeditions, which go out from the camps, attack some Secessionist gathering, and then return, plundering,
as they go and eome, exasperating enemies, converting neutrals into opponents, disgusting friends, and leaving it to the
Secessionists to boast that they have repulsed them.  Instead
of encouraging the men and improving their discipline these
ill-conducted expeditions have an opposite result.
Juize 22~t. - An active man would soon go mad if lie were
confined in Cair~  A mudbank stretching along the course of
a muddy river is not attractive to a pedestrian; and, as is the
case in most of the Southern cities, there is no place round
Cairo where a man can stretch his legs, or take an honest walk
in the country.  A walk in the country!  The Americans
have not an idea of what the thing means.  I speak now only
of the inhabitants of the towns of the States through which I
have passed, as far as I have seen of them.  The roads are
either impassable in mud or knee-deep in dust.  There are no
green shady lanes, no sheltering groves, no quiet paths through
green %1eadows beneath umbrageous trees.  Off the rail there
is a morass - or, at best, a clearing  full of stumps.  No
temptations to take a strolL  Down away South the planters
ride or drive; indeed in many places the saunterer by the
wayside would probably encounter an alligator, or disturb a
society of rattlesnakes.
To-day I managed to struggle along the levee in a kind of
sirocco, and visited the works at the extremity, which were
constructed by an Hungarian named Waagner, one of the
emigre's who came with Kossuth to the United States.  I found
him in a hut full of flies, suffering from camp diarrhoea, and
waited on by Mr. O'Leary, who was formerly petty officer in
our navy, served in the Furious in the Black Sea, ~nd in the
Shannon Brigade in India, now a lieutenant in the United
States' army, where I should say he feels himself very much
out of place.  The Hungarian and the Milesian were, how~ver, quite agreed about the utter incompetence of their mili 
~42        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
tary friends around them, and the great merits of heavy artil
lery.  "When I tell them here the way poor Sir William
made us rattle about them sixty.eight.pounder guns, the poor
ignorant creatures laugh at me - not one of them believes it,"
"It is most astonishing," says the colonel, "how ignorant they
are; there Js not one of these men who can trace a regular
work. Of West Point men I speak not, but of the people about
here, and they will not learn of me - from me who know."
Ho~vever, t e works were well enough, strongly covered, commanded bot rivers, and not to be re'luce(f without trouble.
The heat drove me in among the flies of the crowded hotel,
where Brigadier Prentiss is planning one of those absurd expeditious against a Secessionist camp at Commerce, in the
State of Missouri, about two hours steaming up the river, and
some twelve or fourteen miles inland.  Cairo abounds in Secessionists and spies, and it is needful to take great precautions
lest the expedition be known; but, after all, stores must be got
ready, and put on board the steamers, and preparations must
be made which cannot be concealed from the world.  At dusk
700 men, supported by a six-pounder field-piece, were put on
board the "City of Alton," on which they clustered like bees
in a swarm, and as the huge engine labored up and down
against the stream, and the boat swayed from side to side, I
felt a considerable desire to see General Prentiss chucked into
the stream for his utter recklessness in cramming on board one
huge tinder-box, all fire and touch wood, so many human~eings,
who, in event of an explosion, or a shot in the boiler, or of a
heavy musketry fire on the banks, would have been converted
into a great slaughter~house.  One small boat hung from her
stern, and although there were plenty of river flats and numerous steamers, even the horses belonging to the field-piece
were crammed in among the men along the deck.
In my letter to Europe I made, at the time, some remarks
by which the belligerents might have profited, and which at
the time these pages are reproduced may strike them as possessing some value, illustrated as they have been by many
events in the war.  "A handful of horsemen would have been
admirable to move in advance, feel the covers, and make prisoners for political or other purposes in case of flight; but the
Americans persist in ignoring the use of horsemen, or at least
in depreciating it, though they will at last find that they may
shed much blood, and lose much more, before they can gain a
victory without the aid of artillery and charges after the retreat 
A CAMP ~MEUTE.              343
ing enemy.  From the want of cavalry, I suppose it is, the
unmilitary practice of' scouting,' as it is called here, has arisen.
It is all very well in the days of Iiidian wars for footmen to
reep about in the bushes, and shoot or be shot by sentries and
pickets; but no civilized war recognizes such means of annoyii10~~ as firing upon sentinels, unless in case of an actual ad~~ance or feigned attack on the line.  No camp can be safe
without cavalry videttes and pickets; for the enemy can pour
in impetuously after the alarm has been given, as fast as the
outlying footmen can run in.  In feeling the way for a column,
cavalry are invaluable, and there can be little chance of ambuscades or surprises where they are judiciously employed;
but`scouting' on foot, or adventurous private expeditions on
horseback, to have a look at the enemy, can do, and will do,
nothing but harm.  Every day the papers contain accounts of
scouts' being killed, and sentries being picked off.  The latter
is a very barbarous and savage practice; and the Russian, in
his most angry moments, abstained from it.  If any officer
wishes to obtain information as to his enemy, he has two ways
of doing it.  He can employ spies, who carry their lives in
their hands, or he can beat up their quarters by a proper reconnoissance on his own responsibility, in which, however, it
would be advisable not to trust his force to a railway train.
At night there was a kind of emeute in camp.  The day, as
I have said, was excessively hot, and on returning to their
tents and huts fiom evening parade the men found the contractor who supplies them with water had not filled the barrels;
so they forced the sentries, broke barracks after hours, mobbed
their officers, and streamed up to the hotel, which they surrounded, calling out, "Water, water," in chorus.  The General came out, and got up on a rail: "Gentlemen," said he,
"it is not my fault you are without water.  It's your officers
who are to blame; not me."  ("Groans for the Quartermaster, from the men.)  "If it is the fault of the contractor, I'll
see that he is punished.  I'll take steps at once to see that the
matter is remedied.  And now, gentlemen, I hope you'll go
back to your quarters;" and the gentlemen took it into their
heads very good-humoredly to obey the suggestion, fell in, and
marched back two deep to their huts.
As the General was smoking his cigar before going to bed
I asked him why tlie officers had not more control ~ver the
men.  "Well~' said he, "the officers are to blame for all this.
~he truth is, tlie term for which these volunteers enlisted is
drawing to a close; and they have not as yet enrolled them 
MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
selves in the United States army.  They are merely volunteer regiments of the State of Illinois.  If they were displeased with anything, therefore, they might refuse to enter the
service or to take fresh engagements; and the officers would
find themselves suddenly left without any men; they therefore
curry favor with the privates, many of them, too, having an eye
to the votes of the men when the elections of officers in the new
regiments are to take place."
The contractors have commenced plunder on a gigantic
scale; and their in~uence with the authorities of the State is
so powerful, there is little chance of punishing them.  Besides,
it is not considered expedient to deter contractors, by too scrupulous an exactitude, in coming forward at such a trying -
period; and the Quartermaster's department, which ought ~o
be the most perfect, considering the number of persons connected with transport and carriage, is in a most disgraceful and
inefficient condition.  I told the General that one of the
Southern leaders proposed t9 hang any contractor who was
found out in cheating the men, and that the press cordially approved of the suggestion.  "I am afraid," said he, if any such
proposal was carried out here, there would scarcely be a contractor left throughout fl~e States."  Equal ignorance is shown
by the medical authorities of the requirements of an army.
There is not an ambulance or cacolet of any kind attached to
this camp; and, as far as I could see, not even a litter was
sent on board the steamer which has started with the Cxpedi tion.
Although there has scarcely been a fought field or anything
more serious than the miserable skirmishes of Sheuck and
Butler, the pressure of war has already told upon the people.
The Cairo paper makes an urgent appeal to the authorities to
relieve the distress and pauperism which the sudden interruption of trade has brought upon so many respectable citizens.
And when I was at Memphis the other day, I observed a public notice in the journals, that the magistrates of the city would
issue orders for money to families left in distress by the enrolment of the male members for military service.   When
General Scott, sorely against his will, was urged to make
preparations for an armed invasion of the seceded States in
~ase it became necessary, he said it would need some hundreds
of thousands of men and many millions of money to effect that
object.  Mr. Seward, ~fr. Chase, and Mr. ~incoln laughed
pleasantly at this exaggeration, but they have begun to find by
this time the old general was not quite so much in the wrong. 
SENTRY DUTY.              345
In reference to the discipline maintained in the camp, I must
admit that proper precautions are used to prevent spies enterin~
the lines.  The sentries ai~ posted closely and permit no one
to go in without a pass in the day and a countersign at night.
A conversation with General Prentiss in the front of the hotel
was interrupted this evening by an Irishman, who ran past us
towards the camp, hotly pursued by two policemen.  The sentry on duty at the point of the lines close to us brought him up
by the point of the bayonet.  "~Vho goes tere?"  "A friend,
shure your honor; I'm a fi'iend."  "Advance three paces and
give the countersign."  "I don't know it, I tell you.  Let me
in, let me in."  But the German was resolute, and the policemen now coming up in hot pursuit, seized the culprit, who
resisted violently, till General Prentiss rose from his chair and
ordered the guard, who had turned out, to make a prisoner of
the soldier and hand him over to the civil power, for which the
man seemed to be most deeply grateful.  As the policemen
were walking him off~ he exclaimed,- "Be quiet wid ye, till I
spake a word to the Giniral," and then bowing and chuckling
with drunken gravity, he said, "an' indeed, Giniral, I'm much
obleeged to ye altogither for this kindness.  Long life to ye.
~Ve've got the better of that dirty German. Hoora' for Giniral
Prentiss." He preferred a chance of more whiskey in the police
office and a light punishment to the work in camp and a heavy
drill in the morning.  An officer who was challenged by a sentry the other evening, asked him, "Do you know the countersign yourself?"  "No, sir, it's not nine o'clock, and they have
not given it out yet."  Another sentry stopp&d a man because he did not know the countersign.  The fellow said, "I
dare say you don't know it yourself."  " That's a lie," he exclaimed;`it's Plaftsburgh." "~Plattsburgh it is, sure enough,"
said the other, and walked on without further parley.
The Americans, Irish, and Germans, do not always coincide in the phonetic value of each letter in the passwords, and
several difficulties have occurred in consequence.  An incautious approach towards the posts at night is attended with
risk; fUr the raw sentries are very quick oii the trigger.
i~1ore fatal and serious injuries have been inflicted on the
Federals by themselves than by the enemy.  "I declare to
you, sir, the way the boys touched off their irons at me going
home to my camp last night, was just like a running fight
with the Ingins.  I was a little`tight,' and didn't mind it a
-uss."
16* 
CHAPTER XLL
Impending batfie - By railway to Chicago - Northern enlightenment
- Mound City -" Cotton is King" - Land in the States -
Dead level of American society - Return into the Union - Amer  ican homes - Across the Prairie - White laborers - New p11  lager - Lake Michigan.
June 23J. - The latest information which I received today is of a nature to hasten my departure for Washington;
it can no longer be doubted that a battle between the two
armies assembled in the neighborhood of the capital is imminent.  The vague hope which from time to time I have entertained of being able to visit Richmond before I finally take up
my quarters with the only army from which I can communicate
regularly with Europe has now vanished.
At four o'clock in the evening I started by the train on the
famous Central Illinois line from Cairo to Chicago.
The carriages were tolerably well filled with soldiers, and
in addition to them there were a few unfortunate women,
undergoing deportation to some less moral neighborhood.
Neither the lQok, language, nor manners of my fellow-passengers inspired me with an exalted notion of the intelligence,
comfort, and respectability of the people which are so much
vaunted by Mr. Seward and American journals, and which,
though truly attributed, no doubt, to the people of the New
England States, cannot be affirmed with equal justice to belong
to all the other components of the Union.
As the Southerners say, their negroes are the happiest
people on the earth, so the Northerners boast, "We are the
most enlightened nation in the world."  The soldiers in the
train were intelligent enough to think they ought not to be
kept without pay, and free enough to say so.  The soldiers
abused Cairo roundly, and indeed it is wonderful if the peoplc can live on any food but quinine.  However, speculators,
looking to its natural advantages as the point where the two
great rivers join, bespeak for Cairo a magnificent and prosperous future.  The present is not promising. 
MOUND CITY. - COTTON IS KING.       347
Leaving the shanties, which face the levees, and some poor
wooden houses with a short vista of cross streets partially
flooded at right angles to them, the rail suddenly plunges into
an unmistakable swamp, where a forest of dead trees wave
their ghastly, leafless arms over their buried trunks, like
plumes over a hearse - a cheerless, miserable place, sacred to
the ague and fever.  This occurs close to the cleared space
on which the city is to stand, - when it is finished - and the
rail, which runs on the top of the embankment or levee, here
takes to the trestle, and is borne over the water on the usual
timber fram&work.
"Mound City," which is the first station, is composed of a
mere heap of earth, like a ruined brickkiln, which rises to
some height and is covered with fine white oaks, beneath
whid~ are a few log huts and hovels, giving the place its
proud name.  Tents were pitched on the mound side, from
which wild-looking banditti sort of men, with arms, emerged
as the train stopped.  "I've been pretty well over Europe~'
said a meditative voice beside me, "and I've seen the despotic
armies of the old world, but I don't think they equal that set
of boys."  The question was not worth arguing - the boys
were in fact very "weedy~' "splinter-shinned chaps," as another critic insisted.
There were some settlers in the woods around Mound City,
and a jolly-looking, corpulent man, who introduced himself
as one of the officers of the land department of the Central
Illinois railroad, described them as awful warnings to the
emigrants not to stick in the south part of Illinois.  It was
suggestive to find that a very genuine John Bull, "located,"
as they say in the States for many years, had as much aversion to the principles of the abolitionists as if he had been
horn a Southern planter.  Another countryman of his and
mine, steward on board the steamer to Cairo, eagerly asked
me what I thought of the quarrel, and which side I would
hack.  I declined to say more than I thought the North possessed very great superiority of means if the conflict were to
be fought on the same terms.  Whereupon my Saxon friend
exclaimed, "ali the Northern States and all the power of the
world can't beat the South; and why? - because the South
has got cotton, and cotton is king."
The Central Illinois officer did not suggest the propriety of
purchasing lots, but he did intimate I would be doing service
~ I informed the world at large, they could get excellent land, 
348        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
at sums varying from ten to twenty-five dollars an acre.  In
America a man's income is represented by capitalizing all that
he is worth, and whereas in England we say a man has so
much a year, the Americans, in representing his value, observe that he is worth so many dollars, by which they mean
that all he has in the world would realize the amount.
It sounds very well to an Irish tenant farmer, an English
cottier, or a cultivator in the Lothians, to hear that he can get
land at the rate of from ~2 to ~5 per acre, to be his forever,
liable only to state taxes; but when he comes to see a parallelogram marked upon the map as "good soil, of unfathomable richness," and finds in effect that he must cut down trees,
eradicate stumps, drain off water, build a house, struggle for
high-priced labor, and contend with imperfect roads, the want
of many things to which he has been accustomed in the old
country, the land may not appear to him such a bargain.  In
the wooded districts he has, indeed a sufficiency of fuel as long
as trees and stumps last, but they are, of course, great impediments to tillage.  If he goes to the prairie he finds that fuel
is scarce and water by no means wholesome.
When we left this swamp and forest, and came out after a
run of many miles on the clear lands which abut upon the
prairie, largb fields of corn lay around us, which bore a peculiarly blighted and harassed look.  These fields were suffering
from the ravages of an insect called the "army worm," almost
as destructive to corn and crops as the locust-like hordes of
North and South, which are vying with each other in laying
waste the fields of Virginia.  Night was falling as the traia
rattled out into the wild, flat sea of waving grass, dotted by
patch4ike Indian corn enclosures; but halts at such places as
Jonesburgh and Cobden, enabled us to see that these settlements in Illinois were neither very fiounshin& nor very civilized.
There is a level modicum of comfort, which may be consistent with the greatest good of the greatest number, but
which makes the standard of the highest in point of well-being
very low indeed.  I own, that to me, it would be more agreeable to see a flourishing community placed on a high level in
all that relates to the comfort and social status of all its members than to recognize the old types of European civilization,
which place the castle on the hill, surround its outer walls
with the mansion of doctor and lawyer, and drive the people
into obscure hovels outside.  But then one must confess that 
WESTERN TOWNS.             349
there are in the castle some elevating tendencies which cannot
be found in the uniform level of citizen equality.  There are
traditions of nobility and noble deeds in the family; there are
paintings on the walls; the library is stored with valuable
knowledge, and from its precincts are derived the lessons not
yet unlearned in Europe, that though man may be equal, the
condition of men must vary as the accidents of life or the
effects of individual character, called fortune, may determine.
The towns of Jonesburgh and Cobden have their little teapot-looking churches and meeting-houses, their lager-bier saloons, their restaurants, their small libraries, institutes, and
reading rooms, and no doubt they have also their political
cliques, social distinctions and favoritisms; but it requires,
nevertheless, little sagacity to perceive that the highest of the
bourgeois who leads the mass at meeting and prayer, has but
little to distinguish him fi'om the very lowest member of the
same body politic. Cobden, for example, has no less than four
drinking saloons, all on the line of rail, and no doubt the highest citizen in the place frequents some one or other of them,
and meets there the worst rowdy in the place.  Even though
they do carry a vote for each adult man, "locations" here
would not appear very enviable in the eyes of the most miserable Dorsetshire small farmer ever ferreted out by "S.
G. 0."
A considerable number of towns, formed by accretions of
small stores and drinking places, called magazines, round the
original shed wherein live the station master and his assistants,
mark the course of the railway.  Some are important enough
to possess a bank, which is generally represented by a wooden
hut, with a large board nailed in front, bearing the names of
the president and cashier, and announcing the success and
liberality of the management.  The stores are also decorated
with large signs, recommending the names of the owners to
the attention of the public, and over all of them is to be seen
the significant announcement, "Cash for produce."
At Carbondale there was no coal at all to be found, but
several miles farther to the north, at a place called Dugoine,
a field of bituminous deposit crops out, which is sold at th~
pit's mouth for one dollar twenty-five cents, or about 5s. 2J.
a ton.  Darkness and night fell as I was noting such meagre
particulars of the new district as could be learned out of the
window of a railway carriage; and finally with a ddiciou~
~asation of cool night air creeping in through the windows, 
3~5O       MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
the first I had experienced for many a long day, we made
ourselves up for repose, and were borne steadily, if not rap idly, through the great prairie, having halted for tea at the
comfortable refreshment rooms of Centralia.
There were no physical signs to mark the transition from
the land of the Secessionist to Union4oving soil.  Until the
troops were quartered there, Cairo was for Secession, and
Southern Illinois is supposed to be deeply tainted with disaffection to Mr. Lincoln.  Placards on which were printed the
words, "Vote for Lincoln and Hamlin, for Union and Freedom," and the old battle-cry of the last election, still cling to
the wooden walls of the groceries, ofien accompanied by bitter
words or offensive additions.
One of my friends argues that as slavery is at the base of
Secession, it follows that States or portions of States will be
disposed to join the Confederates or the Federalists, just as
the climate may be favorable or adverse to the growth of
slave produce.  Thus in the mountainous parts of the Border
States of Kentucky and Tennessee, in the north-western part
of Virginia, vulgarly called the pan-handle, and in the pine
woods of North Carolina, where white men can work at the
rosin and naval store manufactories, there is a decided feeling
in favor of the Union; in fact, it becomes a matter of isoiliermal lines.  It would be very wrong to judge of the condition of a people from the windows of a railway carriage,
but the external aspect of the settlements along the line, far
superior to that of slave hamlets, does not equal my expectations.  We all know the aspect of a wood in a gentleman's park; which is submitting to the axe, and has been partially cleared, how raw and bleak the stumps look, and how
dreary is the naked land not yet turned into arable.  Take
such a patch, and fancy four or five houses made of pine
p]anks, sometimes not painted, lighted by windows in which
there is, or has been, glass, each guarded by a paling around
a piece of vegetable garden, a pig house, and poultry box;
let one be a grocery, which means a whiskey shop, another
the post-office, and a third the store where "cash is given for
produce."  Multiply these groups, if you desire a larger settlement, and place a wooden church with a Brobdignag spire
and Lilliputian body out in a waste, to be approached only by
a causeway of planks; before each grocery let there be a
gathering of tall men in sombre clothing, of whom the majority have small newspapers, and all of whom are chewing 
PRAIRIE SCENES.             351
tobacco; near the stores let there be some light-wheeled carts
and ragged horses, around which are knots of unmistakably
German women; then see the deep tracks which lead off to
similar settlements in the forest or prairie, and you have a
notion, if your imagination is strong enough, of one of these
civilizing centres which the Americans assert to be the homes
of the most cultivated`and intelligent communities in the
world.
Next morning, just at dawn, I woke up and got out on the
platform of the carriage, which is il~e favorite resort of
smokers and their antithetics, those who love pure fresh air,
notwithstanding the printed caution, "It is dangerous to stand
on the platform;" and under the eye of early morn saw
spread around a flat sealike expanse, not yet warmed into
color and life by the sun.  The line was no longer guarded
from daring Secessionists by soldiers' outposts, and small
camps had disapp~red.  The train sped through the centre
of the great verdant circle as a ship through the sea, leaving
the rigid iron wake behind it tapering to a point at the horizon and as the light spread over it, the surface of the crisping corn waved in broad undulations beneath the breeze from
east to west.  This is the prairie indeed.  Hereabouts it i~
covered with the finest crops, some already cut and stacked.
Looking around one could see church spires rising in the
distance from the white patches of houses, and by degrees
the tracks across the fertile waste became apparent, and the~
carts and horses were seen tolling through the rich soil.
A large species of partridge or grouse appeared very abundant, and rose in flocks from the long grass at the side of the
rail or from the rich carpet of flowers on the margin of the
corn-fields.  They sat on the fence almost unmoved by the
rushing engine, and literally swarmed along the line.  These
are called "prairie chickens" by the people, and afford excellent sport.  Another bird about the size of a thrush, with
~ yellow breast and a harsh cry, I learned was "the sky-lark;"
(Li~d apropos of the unmusical creature, I was very briskly
ittaeked by a young lady patriot for finding fault with the
~harp noise it made.  "Oh, my!  And you not to know that
your Shelley loved it above all things!  Didn't he write some
verses - quite beautiful, too, they are - to the sky-lark?"
And so "the Britisher was dried up," as I read in a paper
afterwards of a similar occurrence.
At the little stations which occur at every few miles 
352        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
there are some forty of them, at each of which the train stops,
in 365 miles between Cairo and Chicago - the Union flag
floated in the air; A)ut we had left all the circumstance of this
inglorious war behind us, and the train rattled boldly over the
bridges across the rare streams, no longer in danger from Secession hatchets.  The swamp had given place to the cornfield.  No black faces were turned i4) from the mowing and
free white labor was at work, and the type of the laborers
was German and Irish.
The Yorkshireman expatiated on the fertility of the land,
and on the advantages it held out to the emigrant.  But I observed all the lots by the side of the rail, and apparently as
far as the eye could reach, were occupied.  "Some of the
very best land lies beyond on each side," said he.  "Out over
there in the fat places is where we put our Englishmen."  By
digging deep enough good water is always to be had, and coal
can be carried from the rail, where it costs only 7s. or 8s. a
ton.  Wood there is little or none in the prairies, and it was
rarely indeed a clump of trees could be detected, or anything
higher than some scrub brushwood.  Those little communities
which we passed were but the growth of a few years, and as we
approached the northern portion of the line we could see, as it
were, the village swelling into the town, and the town spreading out to the dimensions of the city.  "I dare say, Major,"
says one of the passengers, "this gentleman never saw anything like these cities before.  I'm told they've nothing like
the~ in Europe?"  "Bless you," rejoined the Major, with a
wink, "just leaving out London, Edinbro', Paris, and Manchester, there's nothing on earth to ekal them."  My friend,
who is a shrewd fellow, j)y way of explanation of his military
title, says, "I was a major once, a major in the Queen's Bays,
but they would put troop.sergeant before it them days." Like
many Englishmen he complains that the jealousy of nativeborn Americans effectually bars the way to political position
of any naturalized citizen, and all the places are kept by the
natives.
The scene now began to change gradually as we approached
Chicag~ the prairie subsided into swampy land, and thick
belts of trees fringed the horizon; on our right glimpses of
the sea could be caught through openings in the wood - the
inland sea on wl~ich stands the Queen of the Lakes.  Michi-gan looks broad and blue as the Mediterranean.  Large farmhouses stud the country, and houses which must be the retreat 
APPROACH TO CHICAGO.       353
of merchants and citizens of means; and when the train,
leaving the land altogether, dashes out on a pier and causeway
built along the borders of the lake, we see lines of noble
houses, a fine boulevard, a forest of masts, huge isolated piles
of masonry, the famed grain elevators by which so many have
been hoisted to fortune, churches and public edifices, and the
apparatus of a great city; and just at nine o'clock the train
gives its last steam shout and comes to a standstill in the spacious station of the Central Illinois Company, and in half-anhour more I am in comfortable quarters at the Richmond
House, where I find letters waiting for me, by which it appears that the necessity for my being in Washington in all
haste, no longer exists.  The wary General who commands
the army is aware that the advance to Richmond, for which
so many journals are damoring, would be attended with seriotis risk at present, and the politicians must be content to wait
a little longer. 
CHAPTER XLII.
Progress of events - Policy of Great Britain as regarded by the North
- The American press and its comments - Privacy a luxury -
Chicago - Senator Douglas and his widow - American ingrati  tude - Apathy in volunteering - Colonel Turchin's camp.
I SHALL here briefly recapitulate what has occurred since
the last mention of political events.
In the first place the South has been developing every day
greater energy in widening the breach between it and the
North, and preparing to fill it with dead; and the North, so
far as I can judge, has been busy in raising up the Union as
a nationality, and making out the crime oF treason from the
act of Secession.  The South has been using conscription in
Virginia, and is entering upon the conflict with unsurpassable
determination.  The North is availing itself of its greater resources and its foreign vagabondage and destitution to swell
the ranks of its volunteers, and boasts of its enormous armies,
as if it supposed conscripts well led do not fight better than
volunteers badly officered.  Virginia has been invaded on
three points, one below and two above Washington, and pass-ports are now issued on both sides.
The career open to the Southern privateers is effectually
closed by the Duke of Newcastle's notification that the British
Government will not permit the cruisers of either side to bring
their prizes into or condemn them in English ports; but,
strange to say, the Northerners feel indignant against Great
Britain for an act which deprives their enemy of an enormous
advantage, and which must reduce their privateering to the
mere work of plunder and destruotion on the high seas.  In
the same way the North affects to consider the declaration of
neutrality, and the concession of limited bellige rent rights to
the seceding States, as deeply injurious and insulting; whereas
our course has, in fact, removed the greatest difficulty from
the path of the Washington Cabinet, and saved us from inconsistencies and serious risks in our course of action. 
THE QUEEN'S PROCLAMATION.        355
It is commonly said, "What would Great Britain bave done
if we had declared ourselves neutral during the Canadian rehellion, or had conceded limited belligerent rights to the Sepoys?" as if Canada and llindostan have the same relation
to the British Crown that the seceding States had to the
Northern States.  But if Canada, with its parliament, judg~s,
courts of law, and its people, declared it was independent of
Great Britain; and if the Government of Great Britain,
months after that declaration was made and acted upon, permitted the new State to go free, whilst a large number of her
Statesmen agreed that Canada was perfectly right, we could
find little fault with the United States Government for issuing
a proclamation of neutrality the same as our own, when after
a long interval of quiescence a war broke out between the
two countries.
Secession was an accomplished fact months before Mr. Lincoln came into office, but we heard no talk of rebels and pirates
till Sumter had fallen, and the North was perfectly quiescent
- not only that - the people of wealth in New York were
calmly considering the results of Secession as an accomplished
fact, and seeking to make the best of it; nay, more, when I
arrived in Washington some members of the Cabinet were
perfectly ready to let the South go.
One of the first questions put to me by Mr. Chase in my
first interview with him, was whether I thought a very injurious effect would be produced to the prestige of the Federal
Government in Europe if the Northern States let the South
have its own way, and told them to go in peace.  "For my
own part," said he, "I should not be averse to let them try it,
for I believe they would soon find out their mistake."  Mr.
Chase may be finding out his mistake just now. ~When I left
England the prevalent opinion, as far as I could judge, was,
that a family quarrel, in which the South was in the wrong,
had taken place, and that it would be better to stand by and
let the Government put forth its strengh to chastise rebellio&;s
children.  But now we see the house is divided against itself,
and that the family are determined to set up two separate,)
establishments.  These remarks occur to me with the more
force because I see the New York papers are attacking me
because I described a calm in a sea which was afterwards
agitated by a storm.  "What a false witness is this," they
cry; "see how angry and how vexed is our Bermoothes, and
yet the fellow says it was quite placid." 
IT DIA~Y NORTH AND SOUTH.
I have already seen so many statements respecting my sayings, my doings, and my opinions, in the American papers,
that I have resolved to follow a general rule, with few exceptions indeed, which prescribes as the best course to pursue,
not so much an indifference to these remarks as a fixed purpose to abstain from the hopeless task of correcting them.
The "Quicklys" of the press are incorrigible.  Commerce
may well be proud of Chicago.  I am not going to reiterate
what every Crispinus from the old country has said again and
again concerning this wonderful place - not one word of statistics, of corn elevators, of shipping, or of ti~e piles of buildings raised~rom the foundation by ingenious applications of
screws.  Nor am I going to enlarge on the splendid future of
that which has so much present prosperity, or on the benefits
to mankind opened up by the Illinois Central Railway.  It
is enough to say that by the borders of this lake there has
sprung up in thirty years a wonderful city of fine streets, luxurious hotels, handsome shops, magnificent stores, great warehouses, extensive quays, capacious docks; and that as long
as corn holds its own, and the mouths of Europe are open,
and her hands full, Chicago will acquire greater importance,
size, and wealth with every year.  The only drawback,~per
haps, to the comfort of the money-making inhabitants, and of
the stranger within the gates, is to be found in the clouds of
dust and in the unpaved streets and thoroughfares, which give
anguish to horse and man.
I spent three days here writing my letters and repairing the
wear and tear of my Southern expedition; and although it was
hot enough, the breeze from the lake carried health and vigor
to the frame, enervated by the sun of Louisiana and Mississippi.  No need now to wipe the large drops of moisture from
the languid brow lest they blind the eyes, nor to sit in a state
of semi-clothing, worn out and exhausted, and tracing with
moist hand imperfect characters on the paper.
I could not satisfy myself whether there was, as I have been
told, a peculiar state of feeling in Chicago, which induced many
people to support the Government of Mr. Lincoln because they
believed it necessary for their own interest to obtain decided
advantages over the South in the field, whilst they were opposed
totis viribus to the genius of emancipation and to the views of
the Black Republicans.  But the genius and eloquence of the
Little Giant have left their impress on the facile mould of democratic thought; and he who argued with such acuteness and 
REPUBLICAN INGRATITUDE.          357
ability last March in Washington, in his own study, against
the possibility, or at least the constitutional legality, of using
the national forces, and the militia and volunteers of the Northern States, to subjugate the Southern people, carried away by
the great bore which rushed through the placid North when
Sumter fell, or perceiving his inability to resist its force, sprung
to the crest of the wave, and carried to e~cess the violence of
the Union reaction.
Whilst I was in the South I had seen his name in Northern
papers with sensation headings and descriptions of his magnificent crusade for the Union in the West.  I had heard his name
revi!ed by those who had once been his warm political allies,
and his untimely death did not seem to satisfy their hatred.
His old fpes in the North admired and applauded the su~den
apostasy of their eloquent opponent, and were loud in lamentations over his loss.  Imagine, then, how I felt when visiting
his grave at Chicago, seeing his bust in many houses, or his
portrait in all the shop-windows, I was told that the enormously wealthy community of which he was the idol were
permitting his widow to live in a state not far removed from
penury.
"Senator Douglas, sir," observed one of his friends to me,
"died of bad whiskey.  He killed himself with it while he was
stumping for the Union all over the country." "Well," I said,
"I suppose, sir, the abstraction called the Union, for which by
your own account he killed himself, will give a pension to his
widow~"  Yirtue is its own reward, and so is patriotism, unless it takes the form of contracts.
As far as all considerations of wife, children, or family are
concerned, let a man serve a decent despot, or even a constitutional country with an economizing House of Commons, if he
wants anything more substantial than lip-service. The history
of the great men of America is flill of instances of national ingratitude.   They give more praise and less pence to their
benefactors than any nation on the face of the earth.  ~Yashington got little, though the plundering scouts who captured
Andre' were well rewarded; and the men who fought during
the War of Independence were long left in neglect and poverty,
sitting in sackdoth and ashes at the doorsteps of the temple of
liberty, whilst the crowd rushed inside to worship Plutus.
If a native of the British Isles, of the natural ignorance of
his own imperfections which should characterize him, desires
to be subjected to a series of moral shower-baths, douches, and 
358        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
shampooing with a rough glove, let him come to the United
States.  In Chicago he will be told that the English people
are fl~d by the beneficence of the United States, and that all
the trade and commerce of England are simply directed to the
one end of obtaining gold enough to pay the Western States
for the breadstuffs exported for our population.  We know
what the South think of our dependence on cotton.  The people of the East think th.y are striking a great blow at their
enemy by the Morrill tariff and I was told by a patriot in
North Carolina, "Why, creation! if you let the Yankees shut
up our ports, the whole of your darned ships will go to rot.
Where will you get your naval stores from?  Why, I guess
in a year you could not scrape up enough of tarpentine in the
whole of your country for Queen Victoria to paint her nursery.
~oor with."
Nearly one half of the various companies enrolled in this
district are Germans, or are the descendants of German par.
eats, and speak only the language of the old country; twothirds of the remainder are Irish, or of immediate Irish descent;
but it is said that a grand reserve of Americans born lies be-,hiad this avant ~arde, who wiji come into the battle should
there ever be need for their services.
Indeed so long as the Northern people furnish the means of
paying and equipping armies perfectly competent to do their
work, and equal in numbers to any demands made for men,
they may rest satisfied with the accomplishment of that duty,
and with contributing from their ranks the great majority of
the superior and even of the subaltern officers; but with the
South it is far different.  Their institutions have repelled immigration; the black slave has barred the door to the white
free settler.  Only on the seaboard and in the large cities are
German and Irish to be found, and they to a man have come
forward to fight for the South; but the proportion they bear to
the native-born Americans who have rushed to arms in defence of their menaced borders, is of course far less than it is
as yet to the number of Americans in the Northern States who
have volunteered to fight for the Union.
I was invited before I left to visit the camp of a Colonel
Turchin, who was described to me as a Russian officer of
great ability and experience in European waffa~, in command of a regiment consisting of Poles, Hungarians, and
Germans, who were about to start for the seat of war; but I
was only able to walk through his tents, where I was aston 
UNION COSSACKS.         359
shed at the amalgam of nations tbat constituted his battalion;
t1~ough, on inspection, I am bound to say there proved to be an
American element in the ranks which did not appear to have
coalesced with the bulk of the rude, and, I fear, predatory Cossacks of the Union.  Many young men of good position have
gone to the wars, although there was no complaint, as in South.
~rn cities, that merchants' offices have been deserted, and great
establishments left destitute of clerks and' working hands.  In
warlike operations, however, Chicago, with its communication
open to th&sea, its access to the head waters of the Mississip
pi, its intercourse with the marts of commerce and of manufacture, may be considered to possess greater belligerent power
and strength than the great city of New Orleans; and there
is much greater probability of Chicago sending its contingent
to attack the Crescent City than there is of the latter being
able to despatch a soldier within five hundred miles of its
streets. 
CHAPTER XLIIL
Niagara  Impression of the Falls - Battle scenes in tbe neighbor  hood - A village of Indians - General Scott - Hostile niove  ments on both sides - The Hudson - Military school at ~Vest
Point - Return to New York - Altered appearance of the city
- Misery and suffering- Altered state of public opinion, as to
the Union and towards Great Britain.
AT eight o'clock on the morning of the 27th 1 left Chicago
for Niagara, which was so temptingly near that I resolved to
make a detour by that route to New York.  Thb line from the
city which I took skirts the southern extremity of Lake Michigan for many miles, and leaving its borders at New Buffalo,
traverses the southern portion of the state of Michigan by Albion and Jackson to the town of Detroit, or the outflow of Lake
St. Clair into Lake Erie, a distance of 284 miles, which was
accomplished in about twelve hour-'.  The most enthusiastic
patriot could not affirm the country was interesting.  The
names of the stations were certainly novel to a Britisher.
Thus we had Kalumet, Pokagon, Dowugiac, Kalamazoo, Ypsilanti, among the more familiar titles of Chelsea, Marengo, Albion, and Parma.
It was dusk when we reached the steam ferry-boat at Detroit, which took us across to Windsor; but through the dusk I
could perceive the Union Jack waving above the unimpressive
little town which bears a name so respected by British ears.
_The customs' inspections seemed very mild; and I was not
much impressed by the representative of the British crown,
who, with a brass button on his coat and a very husky voice,
exercised his powers on behalf of Her Majesty at the landingplace of Windsor.  The officers of the railway company received me as if I had been an old friend, and welcomed me
as if I had just got out of a battle-field.  "Well, I do wonder
them Yankees have ever let you come out alive.~'  "May I
ask why?" "Oh, because you have not been praising them all
round, sir.  Why even the Northern chaps get angry with a 
-    NIAGARA FALLS.              361
Britisher, as they call us, if he attempts to say a word against
those cursed niggers."
It did not appear the Americans are quite so thin-skinned,
for whilst crossing in the steamer a passage of arms between
the Captain, who was a genuine John Bull, and a ~bchigan
der, in the style which is called chaff or slang, diverted most
of the auditors, although it was very much to the disadvantage of the Union champion.  The Michigan man had threatened the Captain that Canada would be annexed as the consequence of our infamous conduct.  "Why, I tell you," said
the Captain, " we'd just draw up the negro chaps from our
barbers' shops, and tell them we'd send them to Illinois if
they did not lick you  and I believe every creature in Michigan, pigs and all, would run before them into Pennsylvania.
We know what you are up to, you and them Maine chnps;
but Lor' bless you, sooner than take such a lot, we'd give you
ten dollars a head to make you stay in your own country;
and we know you would go to the next worst place before
your time for half the money.  The very Bluenoses would
secede if you were permitted to come under the old flag."
All night we travelled.  A long day through a dreary, illsettled, pine-wooded, haff-deared country, swarming with mosquitoes and biting flies, and famous for fevers.  Just about
daybreak the train stopped.
"Now, then," said an English voice;`<now, then, who's for
Clifton Hotel?  All passengers leave cars for this side of the
Falls."  Consigning our baggage to the commissioner of the
Clifton, my companion, Mr. Ward, and myself resolved to
walk along the banks of the river to the hotel, which is some
two miles and a half distant, and set out whilst it was still so
obscure that the outline of the beautiful bridge which springs
so lightly across the chasm, filled with furious hurrying waters,
hundreds of feet below, was visible only as is the tracery of
some cathedral arch through the dim light of the cloister.
The road f&'lows the course of the stream, which whirls
and gurgles in an Alpine torrent, many times magnified, in a
deep gorge like that of the Tete Noire.  As the rude bellow
of the steam-engine and the rattle of the train proceeding on
its journey were dying away, the echoes seemed to swell into
a sustained, reverberating, hollow sound from the perpendicular banks of tlie St. Lawrence.  We listened.  "It is the
noise of the Falls," said my companion; and as we walked
on the sound became louder, filling the air with a strange
16 
362        MY DIARY NORTIT AND SOUTH.
quavering note, which played about a tremendous uniform
bass note, and silencing every other. Trees closed in the ro~d
on the river side; but when we had walked a mile or so, the
lovely light of morning spreading with our steps, suddenly
through an opening in the branches there appeared, dosing up
the vista - white, flickering, indistinct, and shroud4ike - the
Fails, rushing into a grave of black waters, and uttering that
tremendous cry which can never be forgotten.
I have heard many people say they were disappointed with
tl)~ first impression of Niagara.  Let those who desire to see
the water-leap in all its grandeur, approach it as I did, and I
cannot conceive what their expectations are if they do not
confess the sight exceeded their highest ideal.  I do not pretend to describe the sensations or to endeavor to give the effect
produced on me by the scene or by the Falls, then or subsequently; but I must say words can do no more than confuse
the writer's own ideas of the grandeur of the sight, and mislead altogether those who read them.  It is of no avail to do
laborious statistics, and tell us how many gallons rush over in
that down-flung ocean every second, or how wide it is, how
high it is, how deep the earth-piercing caverns beneath.  For
my own part, I always feel the distance of the sun to be insignificant, when I read it is so many hundreds of thousands of
miles away, compared with the feeling of utter inaccessibility
to anything human which is caused by it when its setting rays
illuminate some purple ocean studded with golden islands in
dreamland.
Niagara is rolling its waters over the barrier.  Larger and
louder it grows upon us.
"I hope the hotel is not full," quoth my friend.  I confess,
for the time, I forgot all about Niagara, and was perturbed
concerning a breakfastless ramble and a hunt after lodgings
by the borders of the great river.
But although Clifton Hotel was full enough, there was room
for us, too; and for two days a strange, weird kind of life I
led, alternating between the roar of the cataract outside and
the din of politics within; for, be it known, that at the Can adian side of the Falls many Americans of the Southern State~,
who would not pollute their footsteps by contact with the soil
of Yankee-land, Y~er%(?      and               and
it as their summer retreat, and, indeed, with reason; for after
excursions on both sides of the Falls, the comparative seclu 
HARPIES OF THE FALLS.           368
sion of the settlements on the left bank appears to me to ren
der it infinitely preferable to the Rosherville gentism and
semi-rowdyism of the large American hotels and settlements
on the other side.
It was distressing to find that Niagara was surrounded by
the paraphernalia of a fixed fair.  I had looked forward to a
certain degree of solitude.  It appeared impossible that man
could cockneyfy such a magnificent display of force and grandeur in nature.  But, alas! it is haunted by what poor Albert
Smith used to denominate "harpies."  The hateful race of
guides infest the precincts of the hotels, waylay you in the
lanes, and prowl about the unguarded moments of reverie.
There are miserable little peep-shows and photographers, birdstuffers, shell-polishers, collectors of crystals, and proprietors
of natural curiosity shops.
There is, besides, a large village population.  There is a
watering-side air about the people who walk along the road
worse than all their mills and factories working their waterprivileges at both sides of the stream.  At the American
side there is a lanky, pretentious town, with big hotels, shops
of Indian curiosities, and all the meagre forms of the bazaar
life reduced to a minimum of attractiveness which destroy the
comfort of a traveller in Switzerland.  I had scarcely been
an hour in the hotel before I was asked to look at the Falls
through a little piece of colored glass.  Next I was solicited
to purchase a collection of muddy photographs, representing
what I could look at with my own eyes for nothing.  Not finally by any means, I was assailed by a gentleman who was
particularly desirous of selling me an enormous pair of cow 5horns and a stuffed hawk.  Small booths and peep-shows corrupt the very margin of the bank, and close by the remnant
of the "Table Rock," a Jew (who, by the by, deserves infinite
credit for the zeal and energy he has thrown into the collections for his museum), exhibits bottled rattlesnakes, stuffed
monkeys, Egyptian mummies, series of coins, with a small
living menagerie attached to the shop, in which articles of
Indian manufacture are exposed for sale.  It was too bad to
be asked to admire s~h tusus natur~ as double-headed calves
and dogs with three necks by the banks of Niagara.
As I said before, I am not going to essay the impossible or
to describe the Falls.  On the English side there are, independently of other attractions, some scenes of recent historic
interest, for close to Niagara are Lundy's Lane and Chippewa. 
8S4        MY DIARY )~OIt~~ AND SOUTH.
There are few persons in Eagla~ aware of the exeeedingly
severe fighting which ct~aracterized the contests between the~
Americans and the English and Canadian troops d~ring th~
campaign of 1814.  At Chippewn, for example, Major-General Riall, who, with 2000 men, one howitzer; and two twentyfour-pounders, attacked a force of Americans of a similar
strength, was repulsed with a loss of 500 killed and wounded;
and on the morning of the 25th of July the action of Lundy's
Lane, between four brigades of Americans and seven fieldpieces, and 3100 men of the British and seven field-pieces,
took plate, in which the Americans were worsted, and retired
with a loss of 854 men and two guns, whilst the British lost
878.  On the 14th of August following, Sir Gordon Drummond was repulsed with a loss of 905 men out of his small
force in an attack on Fort Erie; and on the 17th of September an American sortie from the place was defeated with a
loss of 510 killed and wounded, the British having lost 609
In effect the American campaign was unsuccessful; but their
failures were redeemed hy their successes on Lake Champlain,
and in the affair of Plattsburg.
There was more hard fightin~ than strategy in these battles,
and their results were not, on the whole, creditable to the
military skill of either party.  They were sanguinary in proportion to the number of troops engaged, but they were very
petty skirmishes considered in the light of contest~ between
two great nations for the purpose of obtaining specific results.
As England was engaged in a great war in Europe, was far
removed from the scene of operations, was d~stitute of steampower, whilst America was fighting, as it were, on her own
soil, close at hand, with a full opportunity of putting forfh all
her strength, the complete defeat of the American invasion of
Canada was more honorable to our arms than the successes
which the Americans achieved in resisting aggressive demonstration 5.
In the great hotel of Clifton we had every day a little war
of our own, for there were - but why should I mention
names?  Has not government its bastiles?  There were in
effect men, and women too, who regarded the peopl~ of the
~orthern States and the government t~ey had selected very
much as the men of`98 looked upon the government and
people of England; but withal these strong Southerners were
not very favorable to a country which they regarded as the
natural ally of the abohtionists, simply be~ause it had resolve~
to be neutraL 
LIFE AT ~IAGkRA.
On the Canadian side these rebels`were secure.  BriiSsh
authority was embodied in a respectable old Scottish gentleman, whose duty it was to prevent smuggling across the boiling waters of the St. Lawrence, and who performed it with
zeal and diligence worthy of a higher post.  There was indeed a withered triumphal arch which stood over the spot
where the young Prince of our royal house had passed on his
way to the Table Rock, but beyoi~ these signs and tokens
there was nothing to distinguish the Arn~ricari fiom' the ~ritish side, except the greater size and activity of the settlements
upon the right bank.  There is no power in nature, according
to great engineers, w~hich cannot be forced to suceumb to the
influence of money. The American papers actually anno,unc~
that "Niagara is to be sold;  the proprietors of the`land
upon their side of the water have resolved to sell their water
~n.vileges!  A capitalist could render the islands the most
~uti~1ly attractive places in the woAd.
Life at Niagara is like that at most watering-places, though
it is a desecration 4) apply such a`term to the Falls; and
there is no bathing there, except that which is confined to the
preci~ncts of the hotels and to the ingenious establishment on
the American side, which permits one to enjoy the full rush
of the current in covered rooms with sides pierced, to let it
come through with unduninished force and with per~t ~ecurity
to the bather.`There are drives and pic-nics, and mild excursions to obscure places in the neighborhood, where only
the roar of the Falls gives an idea of their presence.  The
rambles about the islands, and the views of the boiling rapids
above them, are delightful; hut I am glad to hear from one
of the guides that the great excitement of seeing a man ~nd
boat carried over occurs but rarely.  Every year, however,
hapless creatures crossing from one shore to the other, by
some error of judgment or miscalculation of strength, or
malign influence, are swept away into the rapids, and then,
notwithstanding the wonderful reseues effected by the American blacksmith and unwonted kindnesses of fortune, there is
little chance of saving body corporate or incorporate from the
headlong swoop to destruction.
Next to the purveyors of curiosities and`hotel-keepers, the
Indians, who live in a village at some distance from Ningara,
reap the largest profit from the crowds of visitors who repa'ir
annually to the Falls. They are a harmless and by no means
~evated race of semi-civilized savages, whose energies are 
366        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
expended on whiskey, feather fans, bark canoes, ornamental
moccasons, and carved pipe-stems.  I had arranged for an excursion to see them in their wigwarns one morning, when the
news was brought to me that General Scott had ordered, or
been forced to order the advance of the Federal troops encamped in front of Washington, under the command of McDowell, against the Confederates, commanded by Beauregard,
who was described as occupying a most formidable position,
covered with entrenchments and batteries in front of a ridge
of hills, through which the railway passes to Richmond.
The New York papers represent the Federal army to be of
some grand indefinite strength, varying from 60,000 to 120,000
men, full of fight, admirably equipped, well disciplined, and
provided with an overwhelming force of artillery.  General
Scott, I am very well assured, did not feel such confidence in
the result of an invasion of Virginia, that he would hurry raw
levies and a rabble of regiments to undertake a most arduous
military operation.
The day I was introduced to the General he was seated at
a table in the unpretending room which served as his boudoir
in the still humbler house where he held his head~uartere.
On the table before him were some plans and maps of the harbor defences of the Southern ports.  I inferred he was about
to organize a force for the occupation of positions along the
coast.  But when I mentioned my impression to one of his
officers, he said, "Oh, no, the General advised that long ago;
but he is now convinced we are too late.  All he can hope,
now, is to be allowed time to prepare a force for the field, but
there are hopes that some compromise will yet take place."
The probabilities of this compromise have ~anished; few
entertain them now.  They have been hanging Secessionists
in Iliiniois, and th~ court-house itself has been made the scene
of Lynch law murder in Ogle county.  Petitions, prepared by
citizens of New York to the President, f9r a general convention to consider a compromise, have been seized.  The Confederates have raised batteries along the Virginian shore of
the Potomac.  General Banks, at Baltimore, has deposed the
police authorities "propr~o motu," in spite of the protest of
the board.  Engagements have occurred between the Federal
steamers and the Confederate batteries on the Potomac.  On
all points, wherever the Federal pickets have advanced in Virginia, they have encountered opposition and have been obliged
to halt or to retire.
*      *     *      *      *      * 
WEST POINT.              36?
As I stood on the veranda this morning, looking for the
last time on the Falls, which were covered with a gray mist,
that rose from the nver and towered unto the sky in columns
which were lost in the clouds, a voice beside me said, "~Ir.
Russell, that is something like the present condition of our
country, mists and darkness obscure it now, but we know the
gl~eat waters are rushing behind, and will flow till eternity."
The speaker was an earnest, thoughtful man, but the country
of which he spoke was the land of the South.  "And do you
think," said I, " when the mists dear away the Falls will be as
full and as grand as before?"  "Well," he replied, "they are
great as it is, though a rock divides them  we have merely
thi~~wn our rock into the waters, - they will meet all the same
in the pool below."  A colored. boy, who has waited on me at
the hotel, hearing I was going away, entreated me to take him
on any terms, which were, I found, an advance of nine dollars,
and twenty dollars a month, and, as I heard a good ac"ount of
him from the landlord, I installed the young man into my
service.  In the evening I left Niagai~a on my way to New
York.
Ju1~ 2J. - At early dawn this morning, looking out of
the sleeping car, I saw through the mist a broad, placid river
on the right, and on the left high wooded banks running
sharply into the stream, against the base of which the rails
were laid.  West Point, which is celebrated for its picturesque
scenery, as much as for its military school, could not be seen
through the fog, and I regretted time did not allow me to stop
and pay a visit to the academy.  I was obliged to content myself with the handiwoA of some of the ex.pup~ls.  The only
~amaraderie I have witnessed in America exists among the
West Point men.  It is to Americans what our great public
schools are to young Englishmen.  To take a high place at
West Point is to be a first-class man, or wrangler.  The
academy turns out a kind of military aristocracy, and I have
heard complaints that the Irish and Germans are almost completely excluded, because the nominations to West Point
are obtained by political influence; and the foreign element,
though powerful at the ballot-box, has no enduring strength.
The Murphies and Schmidts seldom succeed in shoving their
sons into the American institution.  North and South, I have
observed, the old pupils refer everything military to West
Poin~  "I was with Beauregard at West Point.  He was
`~iree above me."  Or, " McDowell and I were in the same 
~6S        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
class.'  An officer is measured by what he did there, and if
professional jealousies date from the state of common pupilage,
so do lasting friendships.   I heard Beauregard, Lawton
Ha~dee, Bragg, and others, spe~k of McDowell, Lyon,
McClellan, and other men of the academy, as their names
turned up in the Northern papers, evidently judging of them
by the old school standard.  The number of men who have
been educated there greatly exceeds the modest requirements
of the army.  But there is likelihood of their being all in full
work very soon.
At about nine, A. M., the train reached New York, and in
driving to the house of Mr. Duncan, who accompanied me
from Niagara, the first thing which struck me was the changed
aspect of the streets.  Instead of peaceful citizens, men in
military uniforms thronged the pathways, and such multitudes
of United States flags floated from the windows and roofs of
the houses as to convey the impression that it was a great
holiday festival.  The appearance of New York when I first
saw it was very different.  For one day, indeed, after my
arrival, there were men in uniform to he seen in the streets,
but they disappeared after St. Patrick had been duly honored,
and it was very rarely I ever saw a man in soldier's clothes
during the rest of my stay.  Now, fully a third of the people
carried arms, and were dressed in some kind of martial garb.
The walls are covered with placards from military companics offering inducements to recruits.  An outburst of military tailors has taken place in the streets; shops are devoted
to militia equipments; rifles, pistols, swords, plumes, long
boots, saddle, hi~idle, camp belts, can teens, tents, knapsacks,
have usurped the place of the ordinary articles of traffic.
Pictures and engravings - bad, and very bad - of the "battles" of Big Bethel and Vienna, full of furious charges, smoke
~nd dismembered bodies, have driven the French prints out
?f the windows.  Innumerable " General Scotts" glower at
you from every turn, making tlie General look wise~ than he
or any man ever was.  Ellsworths in almost equal proportion,
Grebles and ~Yinthrops - the Union martyrs - and Tompkins,
the temporary hero of Fairfax court-house.
The "flag of our country" i~ represented in a colored engraving, the original of which was not destitute of p~etieal
feeling, as an angry blue sky through which meteors fly
streaked by the winds, whilst between the red stripes the
stars just shine out from the heavens, the flag-staff being ty~pi 
- NEW YORK AROUSED.             36c
fled by a forest tree bending to the force of the blast.  The
Americans like this idea - to my mind it is significant of
bloodshed and disaster.  And why not!  What would become
of all these pseudo-Zouaves who have come out like an eruption over the States, and are in no respect, not even in their
baggy breeches, like their great originals, if this war were not
to go on?  I thoucrht I had had enough of Zouaves {n New
Orleans, but dt~ aliter visum.
They are overrunning society, and the streets here, and the
dress which becomes the broad-chested, stumpy, short4egged
Celt, who seems specially intended for it-, is singularly unbecorning to the tall and slightly-built American. - Songs "On
to glory," "Our country," new versions of "Ilail Columbi~"
which certainly cannot be considered by even American complacency a "happy land" when its inhabitants are preparing
to cut each other's throats; of the "star-spangled banner," are
displayed in booksellers' and music-shop windows, and patriotic sentences emblazoned on flags float from many houses.
The ridiculous habit of dressing up children and young people
up to ten and twelve years of age as Zounves and vivandieres
has been caught up by the old people, and ~Iars would die
with laughter if he saw some of the abdominous, be-spectacled light infantry men who are hobbling along the pavement.
There has been indeed a change in New York; externally
it is most remarkable, but I cannot t all admit that the abuse
with which I was assailed for descriing the indifference which
prevailed on my arrival was in the least degree justified.  I
was desirous of learning how far the tone of conversation "in
the city" had altered, and soon after breakfast I went down
Broadway to Pine Street and Wall Street.  The street in all
its length was almost draped with flags - the warlike character of the shops was intensified.  In front Qf one shop window
there was a large crowd gazing with interest at some object
which I at last succeeded in feasting my eyes upon.  A gray
cap with a tinsel badge in front, and the cloth stained with
blood was displayed, with the words, "Cap of Secession officer killed in action."  On my way I observed another crowd
of women, some with children in their arms standing in front
of a large house and gazing up earnestly and angrily at the
windows.  I found they were wives, mothers, and sisters, and
daughters of volunteers wlio had gone off and left them des
titute.
The misery thus caused has been - so great that the citizens
16* 
MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
of New York have raised a fund to provide food, clothes, and
a little money - a poor relie?, in fact, for them, and it ~was
plain they were much needed, though some of the applicants
did not seem to belong to a class accustomed to seek aid from
the public.  This already!  But Wall Street and Pine Street
are bent on battle.  And so this day, hot from the South and
impressed with the firm resolve of the people, and finding that
the North has been lashing itself into fury, 1 sit down and
write to England, on my return from the city.  "At present
dismiss entirely the idea, no matter how it may originate, that
there will be, or can be, peace, compromise, union, or seces  sion, till war has determined the issue."
As long as there was a chance that the struggle might not
take place, the merd~ants of New York were silent, fearful of
offending their Southern friends and connections, but inllicilug
infinite damage on their own government and misleading both
~des.  Their sentiments, sympathies, and business bound them
with the South; and, indeed, till "the glorious uprising" the
South bebeved New York was with them, as might be cred  ited from the tone of some organs in the press, and 1 remem  ber hearing it said by Southerners in Washington, that' it was
very likely New York would go out of the Union!  When
the merchants, however, saw the South was determined to quit
the Union, they resolved to avert the permanent loss of the
great profits derived fron~ their connection with the South by
some present sacrifices. They rushed to the platforms - the
battle-cry was sounded from almost every pulpit - flag-rais  ings took place in every square, like the planting of the tree
of liberty in France in 1848, and the oath was taken to tram  ple Secession under foot, and to quench the fire of the South  ern heart forever.
The change in manner, in tqne, in ~`gument, is most re  markable.  1 met men to-day who last March argued coolly
and philosophically about the right of Secession.  They are
now furious at the idea of such wickedness - furious with
~ England, because she does not deny their own famous doctrine
of the sacred right of insurrection.  "We must maintain our
glorious Union, sir."  "We must have a country."  "We
cannot allow two nations to grow up on this Continent, sir."
"We must possess the entire control of the Mississippi."
These "musts," and "can~ts," and "won'ts," are the angry ut  terances of a spirited people who have had their will so long
that they at last believe it is omnipotent.  Assuredly, they
 
1RRITATiO~ AGilNST ~NGLA~D.              ~71
will not have it over the South withoflt a fremendous wnd
long-sustained contest, in which they must put forth every exertion, and use all the resources and superior ~eans they so
abundantly possess.
It is absurd to assert, as do the New York people, to give
~ome semblance of reason to their sudden outburst, that it was
caused by the insult to the flag at Sumter.  Why, the flag bad
been fired on long before Sumter was attacked by the Charleston
batteries!  It had been torn down from United States ursenals
and forts all over the South; and but for the accident which
placed Major Anderson in a position from which he could not
retire, there would have beea no bombardment ~ the fort,
and it would, when evacuated, have shared the fate of all the
other Federal works on the Southern coast.  Some of the gentlemen who are now so patriotic and Unionistic, were last March
prepared to maintain that if the President attempted to ree~nforce Sumter or Pickens, he would be responsible for the destruction of the Union.  Many journals in New York and out
of it held the same doctrine.
One word to these gentlemen.  I am pretty well sutisfied
that if they had always spoken, written, and acted as they do
now, the people of Charleston would not have attacked Sumter so readily.  The abrupt outburst of the North and the
demonstration at New York filled the South, first with astonishment, and then with something like fear, which was rapidly
fanned into anger by the press and the politicians, as well as
by the pride inherent in slaveholders.
I wonder what Mr. Seward will say when I get back to
Washington.  Before I left, he was of opinion - at all events,
he stated - that all the States would come back, at the rate
of one a month.  The nature of the process was not stated;
but ~e are told there are 250,000 Federal troops now under
arms, prepared to try a new one.
Combined with the feeling of animosity to the rebels, there
is, I perceive, a good deal of ill-feeling towards Great Britain.
-The Southern papers are so angry with us for the Order ia
Council closing British ports against privateers and their
prizes, that they advise Mr. Rust and Mr. Yancey to leave
Europe.  We are in evil case between North and South.  I
met a reverend doctor, who is most bitter in his expressions
towards us; and I dare say, Bishop and General Leonidas
Polk, down South, would not be much better disposed.  The
clergy are active on both sides; and their flocks approve of 
~72        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
their holy violence.  One journal tells, with much gusto, of a
blasphemous chaplain, a remarkably good nfie shot, who went
into one of the skirmishes lately, and killed a number of rebels-the joke being, in fact, that each time he# fired and
brought down his man, he exclaimed, piously, "May Heaven
have mercy on your soul!"  One Father Mooney, who performed the novel act, for a clergyman, of "christening" a big
gun at Washington the other day, wound up the speech he
made on the occasion, by declaring "the echo of its voice
would be sweet music, inviting the children of Columbia to
share the comforts of his father's home."  Can impiety and
folly and bad taste go further? 
CHAPTER XLIV.
Departure for Washington - A "servant "- The American Press
on the War -Military aspect of the States - Philadelphia -
Baltimore - Washington - Lord Lyons - ~1r. Sumner - Irrita  tion against Great Britain -" Independence" day - Meeting of
Congress - General state of affairs.
Ju1~ 3J. - Up early, breakfasted at five, A. M., and left my
hospitable host's roof, on my way to Washington.  The ferryboat, which is a long way off; starts for the train at seven
o'dock~ and so bad are the roads, I nearly missed it.  On
hurrying to secure my place in the train, I said to one of the
railway officers: "If you see a colored man in a cloth cap
and dark coat with metal buttons, will you be good ej~ough, sir,
to tell him I'm in this carriage."  "Why so, sir?"  "He is
my servant."  "Servant," he repeated; "your servant! I
presume you're a Bfltisher; and if he's your servant, I think
you may as well let him find you."  And so he walked away,
delighted with his cleverness, his civility, and his rebuke of
an aristocrat.
Nearly four months since I went by this road to Washington.  The change which has since occurred is beyond belief.
Men were then speaking of place under Government, of
compromises between North and South, and of peace; now
they only talk of war and battle.  Ever since I came out of
the South, and could see the newspapers, I have been struck
by the easiness of the American people, by their excessive
credulity.  Whether they wish it or not, they are certainly
deceived.  Not a day has passed without the announcement
that the Federal troops were moving, and that "a great battle
was expected` by somebody unknown, at some place or other.
I could not help observing the arrogant tone with which
writers of stupendous ignorance on military matters write of
the operations which they think the Generals should undertake.
They demand that an army, which has neither~adequate transport, artillery, nor cavalry, shall be pushed forward to Richmond 
374        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
to crush out Secession, and at the same time their columns
teem with accounts from the army, which pro~'e that it is not
only ill~isciplined, but that it is ill-provided.  A general outcry
has been raised against the war department and the contractors,
and it is openly stated that Mr. Cameron, the Secretary, has
not clean hands.  One journal denounces~the "swindling and
plunder" which prevail under his eyes.  A minister who is
disposed to be corrup~ can be so with facility under the system
of the United States, because he has absolute control over the
contracts, which are rising to an enormous magnitude, a~ the
war preparations assume more formidable dimensions.  The
greater part of the military stores of the Siatcs are in the South
- arms, ordnance, dothing, ammunition, ships, machinery, and
all kinds of materiel must be prepared in a hurry.
The condition in which the States present themselves, particularly at sea, is a curious commentary on the offensive and
warlike tone of their statesmen in their dealings with the first
maritime power of the world.  They cannot blockade a single
port effectually.  The Confederate steamer Sumter has escaped
to sea from New Orleans, and ships run in and out of Charleston
almost ~ they please.  Cowing so recently from the South, I
can see the great difference which exists between the two
races, as they may be called, exemplified in - the men I have
seen, and those who are in the train going towards Washington.
These volunteers have none of the swash-buckler bravado,
gallant~swaggering air of the Southern men.  They a~e staid,
quiet men, and the Pennsylvanians, who are on their way to
join their regiment in Baltimore, are very infer~or in sl~ and
strength to the Tennesseans and Carolinians.
The train is full of men in uniform.  When I last went over
the line, I do not believe there was a sign of soldiering, beyond
perliaps th~ "conductor," ~ho is always decribed in the papers
as bein~r
badges, ~  gentlemanly," wore his badge  And, a' propos of
I see that civilians have taken to wearing shields of
metal on their coats, enamelled with the stars and stripes, and
that men who are not in the army try to make it seem they
are soldiers by aff~cting military caps and d~aks.
The country between Washington and Philadelphia is
destitute of natural beauties, but it affords abundant evidence
that it is inhabited by a prosperous, comfortable, middle-class
~mmunity. From every village church and from many houses,
the Union flag was displaye~  Four months ~go not one was
to be seen.  Wi~ we were crossing in the steam ferry-boa~ 
OCCUPATION OF MARYLAND.          375
at?hi~a~~pTha I saw so~g vo~unte~s ~oo'k~ng up ~n~
at a hatchet which was over the cabin door, and it was not till
I saw it had the words "States' Rights Fire Axe" painted
along the handle - I could account for the attraction.  It would
fare ill with any vessel in Southern waters which displayed an
axe to the citizens inscribed with "Down wiU~ States' Rights"
on it.  There is certainly less vehemence and bitterness among
the Northerners; hut it might be erroneous to suppose there
was less determination.
Below Philadelphia, from llavreAe-Grace all the way to
Baltimore, and thence on to Washington, the stations on the
rail were guarded by soldiers, as though an enemy were expected to destroy fhe bridges and to tear up the rail~~ Wooden
bridges and causeways, earned over piles and embankments,
are necessary, in consequence of the nature ~f the country;
and at each of these a small camp was formed for the soldiers
who have to guard the approaches.  Sentinels are posted, pickets thrown out, nnd in the open field by the wayside troops are
to be seen moving, as though a battle was close at hand.  In
one word, we are in the State of Maryland.  By these means
alone are communications maintained between the North and
the capital.  As we approach Baltimore the number of sentinels and camps increase, and eartliworks have been thrown
up on the high grounds commanding the city.  The display of
Federal flags from the public buildings and some shipping in
the river was so limited as to coi~trast strongly with those symbols of Ui~on seiitiments in the Northern cities.
Since I last passed through this city the streets have been
a scene of bloodshed.  The conductor of the car on which we
travelled from one terminus to the other, along the street railway, pointed out the marks of the bullets on the walls and in
the window frames.  "Tha~s the way to deal with the Plug
Uglies," exclaimed lie; a name given popularly to the lower
classes called Rowdies in New York.  "Yes," said a ~llowpassenger quiefly to me, "these are the sentiments which are
iiow uttered in the country which we call the land of freedom,
and men like that desire nothing better than brute force. There
is no city in Europe - Venice, Warsaw, or Rome - subject
to such tyranny as Baltimore at this moment.  In this Pratt
Street there have been murders as foul as ever soldiery coinmitted in the streets of Paris."  Here was cvidently the judicial blindness of a States' Rights fanatic, who considers the
3espatch of Federal soldiers through the State of Mnrylau~ 
376        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
without the permission of'the authorities an outrage so flagrant
as to justify the people in shooting them down, whilst the soldiers become murderers if they resist.  At the corners of the
streets strong guards of soldiers were posted, and patrols moved
up and down the thoroughfares. The inhabitants looked sullen
and sad.  A small war is waged by the police recently appointed by the Federal authorities against the women, who
exhibit much ingenuity in expressing fh~ir animosity to the
stars and stripes - dressing the children, and even dolls, in the
Confederate colors, and wearing the same in ribbons and bows.
The negro population alone seemed just the same as before.
The Secession newspapers of Baltimore have been suppressed, but the editors contrive nevertheless to show their
sympathies in the selection of their extracts.  In to-day's paper there is an account of a skirmish in the West, given by
one of the Confederates who took part in it, in which it is
stated tiiat the officer commanding the party "scalped twentythree Federals.  For the first time since I left the South I see
those advertisements headed by the figure of a negro running
with a bundle, and containing descriptions of the fugitive, and
the reward offered for imprisoning him or her, so that the owner
may receive his property.  Among the insignia enumerated
are scars on the back and over the loins.  The whip is not
only used by the masters and drivers, but by the police; and
in every report of petty police cases sentences of so many
lashes, and severe fioggings of women of color are recorded.
It is about forty miles from Baltimore to ~Ta5hington, and
at every quarter of a mile for the whole distance a picket of
soldiers guarded the' rails.  Camps appeared on both sides,
larger and more closely packed together; and the rays of the
setting sun fell on countless lines of tents as we approached
the unfinished dome of the Capitol.  On the Virginian side
of the river, columns of smoke rising from the forest marked
the site of Federal encampments across the stream. The fields
around Washington resounded with the words of command'
and tramp of men, and flashed with wheeling arms.  Parks
of artillery studded the waste ground, and }ong train~ of whitecovered wagons filled up the open spaces in the suburbs of
Washington.
To me all this was a wonderful sight.  As I drove up Pennsylvania Avenue I could scarce credit that the busy thoroughfare - all red, white, and blue with flags, filled with dust from
galloping chargers and commissariat carts; the side-walks 
~ANGEROiJS DESPATaHES.           377
thronged with people, of whom a large proportion carried
sword or bayonet; shops full of life and activity - was
the same as that through which I had driven the first morning
of my arrivaL  Washington now, indeed, is the capital of the
United States; but it is no longer the scene of beneficent le~slatlon and of peaceful government.  It is the representative
of armed force engaged in war - menaced whilst in the very
act of raising' its artn by the enemy it seeks to strike.
To avoid the tumult of Willard's, I requested a friend to
hire apartments, and drove to a house in Pennsylvania Avenue,
close to the War Department, where he had succeeded in engaging a sitting-room about twelve feet square, and a bedroom to correspond, in a very small mansion, next door to a
spirit merchant's.  At the Legation I ~aw Lord Lyons, and
gave him a brief account of what I had seen in the South. I
was sorry to observe he looked rather careworn and pale.
The relations of the United States Government with Great
Britain have probably been considerably affected by Mr. Seward's failure in his prophecies.  As the Southern Confederacy
develops its power, the Foreign Secretary assumes higher
ground, and becomes more exacting, and defiant.  In these
hot summer days, Lord Lyons and the members of the Legation dine early, and enjoy the cool of the evening in the garden; so after a while I took my leave, and proceeded to Gautier's.  On my way I met Mr. Sumner, who asked me
Southern news very anxiously, and in the course of con versation with him I was confirmed in my impressions that the
feeling between the two countries was not as friendly as could
be desired.  Lord Lyons had better means of knowing what
is going on in the South, by communications from the British
Consuls; but even he seemed unaware of facts which had
oceurr~d whilst I was there, and Mr. Sumner appeared to be
as igeorant of the w~ole condition of things below Mason and
Dixon's line as he was of the politics of Timbuotoo.
The importance of maintaining a friendly feeling with England appeared to me very strongly impr&ssed on the Senator's
mind. Mr. Seward has been fretful; irritable, and acrimonious;
and it is not too much to suppose Mr. Sumner has been usefal
in allaying irritation.  A certain despatch was wriften last
June, which amounted to little less than a declaration of war
against Great Britain.  Most fortunately the President was
induced to exercise his power.  The despatch was modified,
though not without opposition, and was forwarded to the En~ 
378        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
lish Minister with its teeil~ drawn.  Lord Lyons, who is one
of the suavest and quietest of diplomatists, has found it difficult,
1 fear, to maintain personal relations with Mr. Seward at
times.  Two despatches have been prepared for Lord John
Russell, which could have had no result but to lead to a breach
of the peace, had not some friendly interpositor succeeded in
averting the wrath of the Foreign~Minister.
Mr. Sumner is more sanguine of immediate ~uccess than 1
am, from the military operations which are to commence when
General Scott considers the army fit to take the field.  A
Gautier's 1 met a number of officers, who expressed a great
diversity of views in reference to those operations.  General
McDowell is popular with them, but they admit the great deficiencies of the subaltern and company officers.   General
Scott is too infirm to take the field, and the burdens of administration press the veteran to the earth.
Ju1~ 4tlt. -"Independence Day." Fortunate to escape this
great national festival in the large cities of the Union where it
is celebrated with many days before and after of surplus rejoicing, by fireworks and an incessant fusillade in the streets,
1 was, nevertheless, subjected to the small ebullition of the
Washington juveniles, to bell-ringing and discharges of cannon
and musketry.  On this day Congress meets.  Never before
has any legislative body assembled under circumstances so
grave.  By their action they will decide whether the Union
can ever be restored, and will determine whether the States
of the North are to commence an invasion for the purpose of
sflbjecting by force of arms, and depriving of their freedom the
States of the South                        -
Congress met to-day merely for the purpose of forming itself
into a regular body, and there was no debate or business of
public importance introduced.  Mr. Wilson gave me to un
derstand, however, that some military ~ovements of the utmost importance might be expected in a few days, and that
General McDowell would positively attack the rebels in front
of Washington.   The Confederates occupy the whole of
Northern Virginia, commencing from the peninsula above
Fortress Monroe on the right or east, and extending along the
Potomac, to the extreme verge of the State, by the Baltimore
and Ohio Railway.  This immense line, however, is broken by
great intervals, and the army with which McDowell will have
to deal may be considered as detached, covering the approaches to Richmond, whilst its left flank is protected by a corps of 
THE MILITARY SITUATIOi~     379
observation, stationed near Winchester, under General Jack
son.  A Federal corps is being prepared to watch the corps
and engage it, whilst McDowell advances on the main body,
To the right of this again, or further west, another body of
Federals, under General McClellan, is operating in the valleys
of the Shenandoah and in Western Yirginia; but I did not
hear of any of these things from Mr. Wilson, who was, I am
sure, in perfect ignorance of the plans, in a military sense, of
the General.  I sat at Mr. Sumner's desk, and wrote the final
paragraphs of a letter describing my impressions of the South
in a place but little disposed to give a favorable color to them. 
CHAPTER XLV.
Interview with Mr. Seward - My passport - Mr. Seward's views as
to the war - Illumination at Washington - My " servant" ab~
sents himself- New York journalism - T~e Capitol  I~terior
of Congress - The President's Message - Speeches in Congress
-Lord Lyons - General McDowell -Low standard in the army
- Accident to the "Stars and Stnpes" - A street row - Mr.
Bigelow - Mr. N. P. Willis.
WREN the Senate had adjourned, I drove to the State
Department and saw Mr. Seward, who looked much more worn
and haggard than when I saw him last, three months ago. He
congratulated me on my safe return from the South rn time to
witness some stirring events.  "Well, Mr. Secretary, I am
quite sure that, if all the South are of the same mind as those
I met in my travels, there will be many battles before they
submit to the Federal Government:'
"It is not submission to the Government we want; it is to
assent to th~ principles of the Constitution.  When you left
Washington we had a few hundred regulars and some hastilylevied militia to defend the national capital, ~nd a battery and
a~ half of artillery under the command of a traitor.  The
Navy Yard was in the hands of a disloyal officer.  We were
surrounded by treason.  Now we are supported by the loyal
States which have come forward in defence of the best Government on the face of the earth, and the unfortunate and
desperate men who have commenced this struggle will have to
yield or experience th&~punishment due to their crimes:'
"But, Mr. Seward, has not this great exhibition of strength
been attended by some circumstances calculated to inspire apprehension that liberty in the Free States may be impaired;
for instance, I hear that I mnst procure a passport in order to
travel through the Sta
Washington."     tes and go into the camps in front of
"Yes, sir; you must send your passport here from Lord
Lyons, with his signature.  It will be no good till I have
signed it, and then it must be sent to General Scott, as Corn 
PASSPORTS.
mande~~Chief of the United States army, who will sub~ribu
it, after which it will be available for all legitimate purposes.
You are not in any way impaired in your li~rty by the
process."
"Neither is, one may say, the man who is under surveillance of the police in despooic eountries of Europe; he ha~
only to submit to a certain formality, and he is all right; in
fact, it is said by some people, that the proteetion affbrded by
a passport is worth all the trouble connected with having i~ in
order."
Mr. Seward seemed to think it was quite likely.  There
were corresponding measures taken in the Southern States by
the rebels, and it was neeessary to have some control over
traitors and disloyal persons.  "In this contest," said he, "the
Government will not shrink from using all the means which
they eonsider necessary to restore the Union."  It was not my
place to remark that such docti~ines were exactly identical
with all that despotic governments in Europe have advanced
as the ground of action in cases of revolt, or with a view to
the maintenance of their strong Governments.  "The Executive," said he, "has declared in the inaugural that the rights
of the Federal Government shall be fully vindicated.  We
are dealing ~vith an insurrection within our own country, of our
own people, and the Government of Great Britain have
thought fit to recognize that insurrection before we were able
to bring the strength of the Union to hear against it, by conceding to it the status of belligerent.  Although we might
justly complain of such an unfriendly act in a manner that
might injure the friendly relations between the two countries,
we do not desire to give any excuse f~ foreign interference;
although we do not hesitate, in case of necessity, to resist it to
the uttermost, we have less to fear from a foreign war than
any country in the world.  If any European Power provokes
a war, we shall not shrink fiom it.  A contest between Great
Britain and the United States would wrap the world in fire,
and at the end it would not be the United States which would
have to la"eat the results of the eonfiict."
I could not but admire the confidence   may I say the coolness - of the statesman who sat in his modest little roosa
within the sound of the evening's guns, in a capital menaced
by their forces who spoke so fearlessly of war with a Power
which could have blotted out the paper blockade of the Soath'
ern forts and coast in a few hours, and, in conjunction wit4~ the~ 
~82        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
Southern armies, have repeated the occupation and destruction
of the capital.
The President sent for ~1r. Seward whilst 1 was in the
State Department, and 1 walked up Pennsylvania Avenue to
my lodgings, through a crowd of men in uniform who were
celebrating Thdependence Day in their own fashion - some
by the large internal use of fire-water, others by an externa]
display of fire-works.
Directly opposite my lodgings are the head-quarters of Gen eral ~1ansfldd, commanding the district, which are marked by
a guard at the door and a couple of six-pounder guns pointing
down the street.  1 called upon the General, but he was busy
examining certain inhabitants of Alexandria and of Washington
itsel?, who had been brought before him on the charge of being
Secessionists, and 1 left my card, and proceeded to General
Scott's head-quarters, which 1 found packed with officers.
The General received me in a small room, and expressed his
gratification at my return, but 1 saw he was so busy with re ports, despatches, and maps, that 1 did not trespass on his
time.  1 dined with Lord Lyons, and afterwards went with
some members of the Legation to visit the camps, situated in
the public square.
All the population of Washington had turned out in their
best to listen to the military bands, the music of which was
rendered nearly inaudible by the constant discharge of fire works.  The camp of the 12th New York presented a very
pretty and animated scene.  The men liberated from duty
were enjoying themselves out and inside their tents, and the
sutlers' booths were driving a roaring trade.  1 was intro duced to Colonel Butterfield, commanding the regiment, who
was a merchant of New York; but notwithstanding the train ing of the counting-house, he looked very much like a soldier,
and had got his regiment very fairly in hand.  In compliance
with a desire of Professor Henry, the Colonel had prepared a
number of statistical tables in which the nationality, height,
weight, breadth of chest, age, and other particulars respecting
the men under his command were entered.  1 looked over the
book, and as far as I could judge, but two out of twelve of
the soldiers were native-born Americans, the rest being Irish,
-German, English, and European-born generally.  According
to the commanding officer they were in the highest state of
discipline and obedience.  He had given them leave to go out
as they pleased for the day,tut at tatt~ only fourteen men
 
WANTED A HORSE.              383
out of one thousand were absent, and some of those had been
accounted for by reports that they were incapable of locomotion owing to the hospitality of the citizens.
When I returned to my lodgings, the colored boy whom I
had hired at ~iagara was absent, and I was told he had not
come in since the night before.  " These free colored boys~~
said my landlord, "are a bad set; now they are worse than
ever; the officers of the army are taking them all away from
us; it's just the life they like; they get little work, have good
pay; but what they like most is robbing and plundering the
farmers' houses over in Virginia; what with Germans, Insh,
and free niggers, Lord help the poor Virginians, I say; but
they'll give them a turn yet."
The sounds in Washington to-night might have led one to
believe the city was carried by storm.  Constant explosion of
fire-arms, fireworks, shouting, and cries in the streets, which
combined, with the heat and the abominable odors of the undrained houses and mosquitoes, to drive sleep far away.
Jut~ 5th. - As the young gentleman of color, to whom I
had given egregious ransom as well as an advance of wages,
did not appear this morning, I was, after an abortive attempt
to boil water for coffee and to get a piece of toast, compelled
to go m next door, and avail myself of the hospitality of Captain Cecil Johnson, who was installed in the drawing-room of
Madame Jost.  In the forenoon, Mr. John Bigelow, whose
acquaintance I made, much to my gratification in time gone
by, on the margin of the Lake of Thun, found me out, and
proffered his services; which, as the whilom editor of the
"Evening Post" and as a leading Republican, he was in a position to render vaiuable and most effective; but he could not
make a Bucephalus to order, and I have been running through
the stables of Washington in vain, hoping to find something
up to my weight - such flankless, screwy, shoulderless, catlike creatures were never seen - four of them would scarcely
furnish ribs and legs enough to carry a man, but the owners,
thought that each of them was fit for Baron Rothschild; and
then there was saddlery and equipments of all sorts to be got,
which the influx of officers and the badness and dearness of
the material put quite beyond one's reach.  Mr. Bigelow was
of opinion that the army would move at once; "But," said I,
where is the transport - where the cavalry and guns?"
Oh," replied he, "I suppose we have got everything that is
~quired.  I know nothing of these things, but I am told cav 
884        MY DIART NORTlI ~D SOUTH.
airy are no use in the wooded country towards Richmond."
I have not yet been able to go through the camps, but I doubt
very much whether the material or commissariat of the grand
army of the North is at all adequate to a campaign.
The presumption and ignoranc~ of the New York journals
would be ridiculous wer~ they not so mischievous.  They
describe "this horde 0~ battalion companies - unofficered,
clad in all kinds of different uniform, diversely equipped, per   fecily ignorant of the principles of military obedience and
concerted action," - for so I hear it described by United States
offleers themselves - as being "the greatest army the world
ever saw; perfect in officers and discipline; unsurpassed in
devotion and courage; flirnished with every requisite; and
destined on its first march to sweep into Richmond, and to
obliterate from the Potomac to New Orleans every trace of
rebellion."
The Congress met to-day to hear the President's Message
read.  Somehow or other there is not such anxiety and eager   ness to hear what Mr. Lincoln has to say as one could expect
on such a momentous occasion.  It would seem as if the
forthcoming appeal to arms had overshadowed every other
sentiment in the minds of the people.  They are waiting for
deeds, and care not for words.  The confidence of the New
York papers, and of the citizens, soldiers, and public speakers,
contrast with the dubious and gloomy views of the military
men; hut of this Message itself there are some incidents
independent of the occasion to render it curious, if not intera  e~ting.  The President has, it is said, written much of it in his
own fashion, which has been revised and altered by his Min   isters; hut he has written it again and repeated hiiusel?, and
after many struggles a good deal of pure Lincolnism goes
down to Congress.
At a little after half-past eleven I went down to the Capitol.
Pennsylvania Avenue was thronged as before, but on
proaching Capitol Hill, the crowd rather thinned away, as
though they shunned, or had no curiosity to hear, the Presi   dea~s Message.  One would have thought that, where every
one who could get in was'at liberty to attend the galleries in both
Houses, there would have been an immense pressure from the
inhabitants and strangers in the city, as well as from the
citizen soldiers, of which such multitudes were in the street;
but wheii I looked up from the floor of the Senate, I was
astonished to see that the galleries were not more than three
 
THE CAPITOL.             385
parts filled.  There is always a ruinous look about an unfinish.
ed building when it is occupied and devoted to business.  The
Capitol is situated on a hill, one face of which is scarped by
the road, and has the appearance of being formed of heaps
of rubbish.  Towards Pennsylvania Avenue the long frontage
abuts on a lawn shaded by trees, through which walks and
avenues lead to the many entrances under the porticoes and
colonnades; the face which corresponds on the other side
looks out on heaps of brick iind mortar, cut stone, and a waste
of marble blocks lying half buried in the earth and cumbenng
the ground, which, in the magnificent ideas of the founders and
planners of the city, was to be occupied by stately streets.
The cleverness of certain speculators in land prevented the
execution of the original idea, which was to radiate all the
main avenues of the city fi'om the Capitol as a centre, the
intermediate streets being formed by drdes drawn at regularlyincreasing intervals from the Capitol, and intersected by the
radii.  The speculators purchased up the land on the side
between the Navy Yard and the site of the Capitol; the
result - the land is unoccupied, except by paltry houses, and
the capitalists are ruined.
The Capitol would be best described by a series of photographs.  Like the Great Republic itself, it is unfinished.  It
resembles it in another respect: it looks best at a distanc~
and, again, it is incongruous in its parts.  The passages are so
dark that artificial light is often required to enable one to find
his way.  The offices and bureaux of the committees are
better than the chambers of the Senate and the House of Representatives.  All the encaustics and the white marble ~nd
stone staircases suffer from tobacco juice, though there is a
liberal display of spittoons at every corner.  The official
messengers, doorkeepers, and porters wear no distinctive
badge or dress.  No policemen are on duty, as in our Houses
of Parliament; no soldiery, gendarmerie, or sergens-de-ville
in the precincts; the crowd wanders about the passages as it
pleases, and shows the utmost propriety, never going where it
ought not to intrude.  There is a special gallery set apart for
women; the reporters are commodiously placed in an ample
gallery, above the Speaker's chair; the diplomatic circle have
their gallery facing the reporters, and they are placed so low
down in the somewhat depressed chamber, that every word
can be heard from speakers in the remotest parts of the house
very distinctly.
17 
386       MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
The seats of the members are disposed in a manner ~omewhat like those in the French Chambers.  Instead of being
in parallel rows to the walls, and at right angles to the Chairman's seat, the separate chairs and desks of %he senators are
arranged in semicircular rows.  The space between the walls
and the outer semicircle is called the floor of the house, and it
is a high compliment to a stranger to introduce him within
this privileged place.  There are leather-cushioned seats and
lounges put for the accommodation of those who may be introduced by senators, or to whom, as distinguished members
of congress in former days, the permission is given to take
their seats.  Senators Sumner and Wilsoa introduced me to a
chair, and made me acquainted with a number of senators
before the business of the day began.
Mr. Sumner, as the Chairman of the Committee on Foreign
Relations, is supposed to be viewed with some jealousy by
Mr. Seward, on account of the disposition attributed to him to
interfere in diplomatic questions; but if he does so, we shall
have no reason to complain, as the Senator is most desirous
of keeping the peace between the two countries, and of mollifying any little acerbities and irritations which may at
present exist between them.  Senator Wilson is a man who
has risen from what would be considered in any country but
a republic the lowest ranks of the people.  He apprenticed
himself to a poor shoemaker when he was twenty-two years
of age, and when he was twenty-four years old he began to
go to school, and devoted all his earnings to the improvement
of education.  He got on by degrees, till he set up as a master
shoemaker and manufacturer, became a "major-general" of
State militia; finally was made Senator of the United States,
and is now "Chairman of the Committee of the Senate on
Military Affairs~'  He is a bluff man, of about fifty years of
age, with a peculiar eye and complexion, and seems honest and
vigorous.  But is he not going ultra crepidam in such a post?
At present he is much perplexed by the drunkenness which
prevails among the troops, or rather by the desire of the men
for spirits, as he has a New England mania on that point. One
of the most remarknble4ooking men in the House is Mr. Sumner.  Mr. Breckinridge and he would probably be the first
persons to excite the curiosity of a stranger, so far as to induce him to ask for their names.  Save in height - and both
are a good deal over six feet - there ~s no resemblance between the champion of States' Rights and the orator of the 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.        387
13lack Republicans.  The massive bead, the great chin ~nd
jaw, and the penetrating eyes of Mr. Breckinridge convey
the idea of a man of immense determination, courage, and
sagacity. Mr. Sumner's features are indicative of a philosophical and poetical turn of thought, and one might easily conceive
that he would be a greaJ advocate, but an indifferent leader
of a party.
It was a liot day; but there was no excuse for the slopcoats and light-colored clothing and felt wide-awakes worn by
so many senators in such a place.  They gave the meeting
the aspect of a gathering of bakers or millers; nor did the
constant use of the spittoons beside their desks, their reading
of newspapers and writin~g letters during the dispatch of business, or the hurrying to aA~ fro of the pages of the House
between the seats, do anything but d~rogate from the dignity
of the assemblage, and, according to European notions, violate
the respect due to a Senate Chamber.  The pages alluded to
are smart boys, from twelve to fifteen years of age, who stand
below the President's table, and are employed to go on errands and carry official messages by the members.  They
wear no particular uniform, and are dressed as the taste or
means of their parents dictate.
The House of Representatives exaggerates all the peculiarities I have observed in the Senate, but the debates are not
regarded with so much interest as those of the Upper House;
indeed, they are of far less importance. Strong-minded statesmen and officers - Presidents or Ministers - do not care
much for the House of Representatives, so long as they are
sure of the Senate; and, for the matter of that, a President
like Jackson does not care much for Senate and House together.  There are privileges attached to a seat in either
branch of the Legislature, independent of the great fact that
they receive mileage and are paid for their services, which
may add some incentive to ambition.  Thus the members can
order whole tons of stationery for their use, not only when
they are in session, but durin~g the recess. Their frank covers
parcels by mail, and it is said that Senators without a conscience have sent sewing-machines to their wives and pianos
to their daughters as little parcels by post.  I had almost forgotten that much the same abuses were in vogue in England
some century ago.
The galleries were by no means full, and in that reserved
for the diplomatic body the most notable person was M. Mer 
388       MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
cier, the Minister of France, who, fixing his intelligent and
eager face between both hands, watched with keen scrutiny
the attitude and conduct of the Senate.  None of the members
of the English Legation were present.  After the lapse of an
hour, Mr. Hay, the President's Secretary, made his appearance on the floor, and sent in the Message to the Clerk of the
Senate, Mr. Forney, who proceeded to read it to the House.
It was listened to in silence, scarcely broken except when
some senator murmured "Good, that is so;" but in fact the
general purport of it was already known to the supporters of
the Ministry, and not a sound came from the galleries.  Soon
after Mr. Forney had finished, the galleries were cleared, and
I returned up Pennsylvania Avenue, in which the crowds of
soldiers around bar-rooms, oyster-shops, and restaurants, the
groups of men in officers' uniform, and the dattering of disorderly mounted cavaliers in the dust, increased my apprehension that discipline was very little regarded, and that the army
over the Potomac had not a very strong hand to keep it within bounds.
As I was walking over with Capt. Johnson to dine with
Lord Lyons, I met General Scott leaving his office and walking with great difficulty between two aides-de-camp.  He was
dressed in a blue frock with gold lace shoulder straps, fastened
round the waist by a yellow sash, and with large yellow lapels
turned back over the chest in the old style, and moved with
great difficulty along the pavement.  "You see I am trying
to hobble along, but it is hard for me to overcome my many
infirmities.  I regret I coul~ not have the pleasure of granting
you an interview to-day, but I shall cause it to be intimated to
you when I may have the pleasure of seeing you; meantime
I shall provide you with a pass and the necessary introductions
to afford you all facilities with the army."
After dinner I made a round of visits, and heard the diplo
matists speaking of the Message; few, if any of them, in its
favor.  With the exception perhaps of Baron Gerolt, the
Prussian Minister, there is not one member of the Legations
who justifies the attempt of the Northern States to assert the
supremacy of the Federal Government by the force of arms.
`Lord Lyons, indeed, in maintaining a judicious reticence, whenever he does speak gives utterance to sentiments becoming
the representative of Great Britain at the court of a friendly
Power, and the Minister of a people who have been protago~ists to slavery for many a long year. 
GENERAL M'DOWELL.            389
Ju1~ 6th. - I breakfasted with Mr. Bigelow this morning
to meet General McDowell, who commands the army of the
Potomac, now so soon tb move.  He came in without an aidede-camp, and on foot, from his quarters in the city.  He is a
man about forty years of age, square and powerfiilly built, but
with rather a stout and clumsy figure and limbs, a good head
covered with close-cut thick dark hair, small light-blue eyes,
short nose, large cheeks and jaw, relieved by an iron-gray tuft
somewhat of the French type, and affecting in dress the style
of our gallant allies.  His manner is frank, simple, and agreeable, and he did not hesitate to speak with great openness of
the difficulties he had to contend with, and the imperfection of
all the arrangements of the army.
As an officer of the regular army he has a thorough contempt for what he calls "political generals" - the men who
use their influence with President and Congress to obtain
military rank, which in time of war places them before the
public in the front of events, and gives the~ an appearance
of leading in the greatest of all political movements.  Nor is
General McDowell enamored of volunteers, for he served in
Mexico, and has from what he saw there formed rather an unfavorable opinion of their capabilities in the tield.  He is inclined, however, to hold the Southern troops in too little respect; and he told me that the volunteers from the Slave States,
who entered the field full of exultation and boastings, did not
make good their words, and that they suffered especially from
sickness and disease, in consequence of their disorderly habits
and dissipation.  His regard for old associations was evinced
in many questions he asked me about Beauregard, with whom
he had been a student at West Point, where the Confederate
commander was noted for his studious and reserved habits, and
his excellence in feats of strength and athletic exercises.
As proof of the low standard established in his army, he
mentioned that some officers of considerable rank were more
than suspected of selling rations, and of illicit connections
with sutlers for purposes of pecupiary advantage.  The Gen
eral walked back with me as far as my lodgings, and I observ
ed that not one of the many soldiers he passed in the streets
saluted him, though his rank was indicated by his velvet collar
and cuffs, and a gold star on the shoulder strap.
Having written some letters, I walked out with Captain
Johnson and one of the attache's of the British Legation, tc
the lawn at the back of the White House, and listened to the 
3~O       My DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
excellent band of the United States Marines, playing on a
kind of dais under the large flag recently hoisted by the President himsel?, in the garden.  The occasion was marked by
rather an ominous event.  As the President pulled the halyards and the flag floated aloft, a branch of a tree caught the
bunting and tore it, so that a number of the stars and stripes
were detached and hung dangling beneath the rest of the flag,
half detached from the staff.
I dined ~t Captain Johnson's lodgings next door to mine.
Beneath us was a wine and spirit store, and crowds of officers
and men flocked indiscriminately to make their purchases, with
a good deal of tumult, which increased as the night came on.
Later still, there was a great disturbance in the city.  A body
of New York Zouaves wrecked some houses of bad repute,
in one of which a private of the regiment was murdered early
this morning.  The cavalry patrols were called out and
charged the rioters, who were dispersed with difficulty after
resistance in which men on both sides were wounded.  There
is no police, no provost guard.  Soldiers wander about the
streets, and beg in the fashion of the mendicant in" Gil Bias"
for money to get whiskey.  My colored gentleman has been
led away by the Saturnalia and has taken to gambling in the
camps, which are surrounded by hordes of rascally followers
and sutlers' servants, and I find myself on the eve of a campaign, without servant, horse, equipment, or means of transport.
Ju1~ 7tk.   Mr. Bigelow invited me to breakfast, to meet
Mr. Senator King, Mr. Olmsted, Mr. Thurlow Weed, a Senator from Missouri, a West Point professor, and others. It was
indicative of the serious difficulties which embarrass the action of the Government to hear Mr. Wilson, the Chairman
of the Military Committee of the Senate, inveigh against the
officers of the regular army, and attack West Point itself.
Whilst the New York papers were lauding General Scott
and his plans to the skies, the Washington politicians were
speaking of him as obstruct~ve, obstinate, and prejudiced -
unfit for the times and the occasion.
General Scott refl~sed to accept cavalry and artillery at
the beginning of the levy, and said that they were not required; now he was calling for both arms most urgently. The
officers of the regular army had followed suit.  Although
they were urgently pressed by the politicians to occupy Harper's Ferry and Manassas, they refused to do either, and the 
MR. OLMSTED.              391
result is that the enemy have obtained invaluable supplies from
the first place, and nre now assembled in force in a most formidable position at the second.  Everything as yet accomplished has been done by political generals - not by the
officers of the regular army.  Butler and Banks saved Baltimore in spite of General Scott.  There was an attempt made
to cry up Lyon in Missouri; but in fact it was Frank Blair,
the brother of the Postmaster-General, who had been the
soul and body of all the actions in that State.  The first step
taken by McClellan in Western Virginia was atrocious - he
talked~ of slaves in a public document as property.  Butler,
at Monroe, had dealt with them in a very different spirit, and
had used them for State purposes under the name of contraband.  One man alone displayed powers of administrative
ability, and that was Quartermaster Meigs; and unquestionably from all I heard, the praise was well bestowed.  It is
plain enough that the political leaders fear the consequences
of delay, and that they are urging the military authorities to
action, which the latter have too much professional knowledge
to take with their present means. These Northern men know
nothing of the South, and with them it is omne ignotum pro
ininimo.  The West Point professor listened to them with a
quiet smile, and exchanged glances with me now and then,
as much as to say," Did you ever hear such fools in your
litb?"
But the conviction of ultimate success is not less strong
here than it is in the South.  The difference b~tween these
gentlemen and the Southerners is, that in the South the leaders of the people, soldiers and civilians, are all actually under
arms, and are ready to make good their words by exposing
their bodies in battle.
I walked home with Mr. N. P. Willis, who is at Washington for the purpose of writing sketches to the little family
journal of which he is editor, and giving war "anecdotes;"
and with Mr. Olmsted, who is acting as a member of the New
York Sanitary Commission, here authorized by the Government to take measures against the reign of dirt and disease in
the Federal camp.  The Republicans are very much afraid
that there is, even at the preserrt moment, a conspiracy against
the Union in Washington - nay, in Congress itself; and regard Mr. Breckinridge, Mr. Bayard, Mr. Vallandigham, and
others as most dangerous enemies, who should not be permitted to remain in the capital.  I attended the Episcopal 
392       MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
church and heard a very excellent discourse, free from any
political allusion.  The service differs little from our own,
except that certain euphemisms are introduced in the Litany
and elsewhere, and the prayers for Queen and Parliament
are offered up nomine mutato for President and Congress.
`I 
CHAPTER XLVL
Arlington Heights and the Potomac - Washington - The Federal
camp - General McDowell - Flying rumors - Newspaper corre  spondents - General Fremont - Silencing the Press and Tele  graph - A Loan Bill - Interview with Mr. Cameron - Newspa  per criticism on Lord Lyons - Rumors about McClellan - The
Northern army as reported and as it is - General McClellan.
Ju1~ 8th. - I hired a horse at a livery stable, and rode out
to Arlington Heights, at the other side of the Potomac, where
the Federal army is encamped, if not on the sacred soil of
Virginia, certainly on the soil of the District of Columbia,
ceded by that State to Congress for the purposes of the Federal Government.  The Long Bridge which spans the river,
here more than a mile broad, is an andent wooden and brick
structure, partly of causeway, and partly of platform, laid oa
piles and uprights, with drawbridges for vessels to pass.  The
Potomac, which in peaceful times is covered with small craft,
now glides in a gentle current over the shallows unbroken by
a solitary sail.  The "rebels" have established batteries below Mount Vernon, which par~ially command the river, and
place the city in a state of blockade.
As a consequence of the magnificent conceptions which
were entertained by the founders regarding the future dimensions of their future city, Washington is all suburb and no
city.  The only difference between the denser streets and the
remoter village-like environs, is that the houses are better and
more frequent, and the roads not quite so bad in the former.
The road to the Long Bridge passes by a four-sided shaft of
blocks of white marble, contributed, with appropriate mottoes,
by the various States, as a fitting ~nonument to Washington.
It is not yet completed, and the materials lie in the field
around, just as the Capitol and the Treasury are surroundcd
by the materials for their future and final development.
Further on is the red, and rather fantastic, pile of the Smithsonian Institute, and then the road makes a dip to the bridge,
past some squalid little cottages, and the eye reposes on the
17 * 
394        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
shore of Virginia, rising in successive folds, and richly wooded,
up to a moderate height from the water.  Through the green
forest leaves gleams the white canvas of the tents, and on the
highest ridge westward rises an imposing structure, with a
portico and colonnade in front, facing the river, which is called
Arlington House, and belongs, by descent, through ~Ir. Custis,
from the wife of George Washington, to General Lee, Commander-in-Chief of the Confederate army.  It is nQw occupied by General McDowell as his head-quarters, and a large
United States`lag floats from the roo?, which shames even
the ample proportions of the many stars and stripes rising up
from the camps in the trees.
At the bridge there was a post of volunteer soldiers.  The
sentry on duty was sitting on a stump, with his firelock across
his knees, reading a newspaper.  He held out his band for
my pass, which was in the form of a letter, written  by General
Scott, and ordering all officers and soldiers of the army of the
Potomac to permit me to pass freely widiout let or hindrance,
and recommending me to the attention of Brigadier-General
McDowell and all officers under his orders.  "That'll do; you
may go," said the sentry.  " What pass is that, Abe?" inquired a non-commissioned officer.  "It's from General Scott,
and says he's to go wherever he likes."  "I hope you'll go
right away to Richmond, then, and get Jeff Davis's scalp for
us," said the patriotic sergeant.
At the other end of the bridge a weak te~e de ront, commanded by a road-work farther on, covered the approach, and
turning to the right I passe~ through a maze of camps, in
front of which the various regiments, much better than I expected to find them, broken up into small detachments, were
learning elementary drill.  A considerable number of the men
were Germans, and the officers were for the most part in a
state of profound ignorance of company drill, as might be seen
by their confusion and inability to take their places when the
companies faced about, or moved from one flank to the other.
They were by no means equal in size or age, and, with some
splendid exceptions, were inferior to the Southern soldiersThe camps were dirty, no latrines - the tents of various pat.
terns - but on the whole they were well castrametated.
The road to Arlington House passed through some of the
finest woods I have yet seen in America, but the axe wa
already busy amongst them, and the trunks of giant oaks were
prostrate on the ground  The tents of the General and his 
AN AMERICAN GENERAL'S STAFF.      395
small staff were pitched on the little plateau in which stood
the house, and from it a very striking and picturesque view
of the city, with the White House, the Treasury, the PostOffice, Patent-Office and Capitol, was visible, and a wide
spread of country, studded with tents also as far as the eye
could reach, towards ~1aryland.  There were only four small
tents for the whole of the head-quarters of the grand army of
the Potomac, and in front of one we found General McDowell,
eated in a chair, examining some plans and maps.  His peronal staff, as far as 1 could judge, consisted 9f Mr. Clarence
Brown, who came over with me, and three other officers, but
there were a few connected with the departments at work in the
rooms of Arlington House. 1 made some remark on the subject
to the General, who replied that there was great jealousy on
the part of the civilians respecting the least appearance of display, and that as he was only a brigadier, though he was in
com in and of such a large army, he was obliged to be content
with a brigadier's staff.  Two untidy-looking orderlies, with
ill-groomed horses, near the house, were poor substitutes for
the force of troopers one would see in attendance on a General
in Europe, but the use of the telegraph obviates the necessity
of employing couriers.  1 went over some of the camps with
the General.  The artillery is the most efficient4ooking arm
of the service, but the horses are too light, and the number of
the different calibres quite destructive to continuous efficiency
in action.  Al~~gether 1 was not favorably impressed with
what 1 saw, for 1 had been led by reiterated statements to
believe to some extent the extravagant stories of the papers,
and expected to find upwards of 100,000 men in the highest
state of efficiency, whereas there were not more fl~an a third
of the number, and those in a very incomplete, ill-disciplined
state.  Some of these regiments were called out under the
President's proclamation for three months only, and will soon
have served their full time, and as it is very likely they will
go home, now the bubbles of national enthusiasm have all
escaped, General Scott is urged not to lose their services, but
to get into Richmond before they are disbanded.
It would scarcely be credited, were 1 not told it by General
j~1cDowdl, that there is no such thing procurable as a decent
map of Virginia.  He knows little or nothing of the country
before him, more than the general direction of the main roads,
which are bad at the best; and he can obtain no information,
inasmuch as the enemy are in full force all along his front, 
396        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
and he has tiot a cavalry officer capable of conducting a reconnoissance, which would be difficult enough in the best hands,
owing to the dense woods which rise up in front of his lines,
screening the enemy completely.  The Confederates have
thrown up very heavy batteries at ~1anassas, about thirty
miles away, where the railway from the West crosses the line
to Richmond, and I do not think General McDowell much
likes the look of them, but the cry for action is so strong the
President cannot resist it.
On my way back I rode through the woods of Arlington, and
came out on a quadrangular earthwork, called Fort Corcoran,
which is garrisoned by the Sixty-ninth Irish, and commands
the road leading to an aqueduct and horse-bridge over the
Potomac.  The regiment is encamped inside the fort, which
would be a slaughter-pen if exposed to shell-fire.  The streets
were neat, the tents protected from the sun by shades of evergreens and pine boughs.  One little door, like that of an icehouse, half buried in the ground, was opened by one of the
soldiers, who was showing it to a friend, when my attention
was more particularly attracted by a sergeant, who ran forward in great dudgeon, exdaiming "Dempsey!  Is that you
going into the`magazine,' wid yer pipe lighted?"  I rode
away with alacrity.
In the course of my ride I heard occasional dropping shots
in camp.  To my looks of inquiry, an engineer officer said
quietly, "They are volunteers shooting themselves."  The
number of accidents from the carelessness of the men is astonishing; in every day's paper there is an account of deaths and
wounds caused by the discharge of firearms in the tents.
Whilst I was at Arlington House, walking through the camp
attached to head-quarters, I observed a tall, red-bearded officer
seated on a chair in front of one of the tents, who bowed as I
passed him, and as I turned to salute him, my eye was caught
by the apparition of a row of Palmetto buttons down his coat.
One of the officers standing by said, "Let me introduce you to
Captain Taylor, from the other side."  It appears that he came
in with a flag of truce, bearing a~despatch from Jefferson Davis
to President Lincoln, countersigned by General Beauregard at
Manassas.  Just as I left Adington, a telegraph was sent from
General Scott to send Captain Taylor, who rejoices in the
name of Tom, over to his quarters.
The most absurd rumors were flying about the staff, one of
whom declared very positively that there was going to be a 
GENERAL ~R~MONt              397
compromise, and that Jeff Davis had made an overture for
peace.  The papers are filled with accounts of an action ir
~Iissouri, at a place called Carthage, between the Federals
commanded by Colonel Sigel consisting for the most part of
Germans, and the Confederates under General Parsons, in
which tlie former were obliged to retreat, although it is admitted the State troops were miserably armed, and had most ineffective artillery, whilst their opponents had every advantage
in both respects, and were commanded by officers of European
experience.  Captain Taylor had alluded to the news in a
jocular way to me, and said, "I hope you will tell the people
in England we intend to whip the Lincolnites in the same
fashion wherever we meet them 7' a remark which did not lead
me to believe there was any intention on the part of the Confederates to surrender so easily.
Ju1~ 9th. - Late last night the President told General Scott
to send Captain Taylor back to the Confi~derate lines, and he
was accordingly escorted to Arlington in a carriage, and thence
returned without any answer to ~Ir. Davis's letter, the nature
of which has not transpired.
A swarm of newspaper correspondents has settled down
upon ~Vashington, and great are the glorifications of the hightoned paymasters, gallant doctors, and subalterns accomplished
in the art of war, who furnish minute items to my American
brethren, and provide the yeast which overflows in many columns; but the Government experience the inconvenience of
the smallest movements being chronicled for the use of the
enemy, who, by putting one thing and another together, are no
doubt enabled to collect much valuable information.  Every
preparation is being made to put the army on a war footing, to provide them with shoes, ammunition wagons, and
horses.
I had the honor of dining with General Scott, who has
moved to new quarters, near the War Department, and met
General Fremont, who is designated, according to rumor, to
take command of an important district in the West, and to
cleir the right bank of the ~Iississippi and the course of the
Missouri.  "The Pathfinder" is a strong Republican and Abolitionist, whom the Germans delight to honor, - a man with a
dreamy, deep blue eye, a gentlemanly address, pleasant features,
and an active frame, but without the smallest external indication of extraordinary vigor, intelligence, or ability; if he has
military genius, it must come by intuition, for assuredly he ha~ 
398        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
no professional acquirements or experience.  Two or three
members of Congress, and the General's staW, and Mr. Bige  low, completed the company.  The General has become Vi Si  bly weaker since I first saw him.  He walks down to his
- office, close at hand, with difficulty; returns a short time be  fore dinner, and reposes; and when he has dismissed his
guests at an early hour, or even before he does so, stretches
himself on his bed, and then before midnight rouses himself
to look at despatches or to transact any nccessary husiness.
Ja case of an action it is his intention to proceed to the field
in a light carriage, which is always ready for the purpose, with
horses and driver; nor is he unprepared with precedents of
great military commanders who have successfully conducted
engagements under similar circumstances.
Although the discussion ofn~ilitary questions and of poli  tics was eschewed, incidental allusions were made to matters
going on around us, and I thought I could perceive that the
General regarded the situation with much more apprehension
than the politicians, and that his influence extended itself to
the views of his staffi  General Fremongs tone was much
more confident.. Nothing ha~ become known respecting the
nature of Mr. Davis's communication to President Lincoln,
but the fact of his sending it at all is looked upon as a piece
of monstrous impertinence.  The General is annoyed and dis  tressed by the plundering propensities of the Federal troops,
who have been committing terrible depredations on the people
of Virginia.  It is not to be supposed, however, that the Ger  mans, who have entered upon this campaign as mercenaries,
will desist fi~m so profitable and interesting a pursuit as the
detection of Secesh sentiments, chickens, watches, horses, and
dollars.  I mentioned that I had seen some farm-houses com  pletely sacked close to the aqueduct.  The General merely
said, "It is deplorable!" and raised up his hands as if in dis  gust.  General Fremont, however, said, "I suppose you are
familiar with similar scenes in Europe.  I hear the allies were
not very particular with respect to private property in Russia"
- a remark which unfortunately could not be gainsaid.  As I
was leaving the General's quarters, 1~r. Blair, accompanied
by the President, who was looking more anxious than I had
yet seen him, drove up, and passed through a crowd of s()l  diers, who had evidently been enjoying themselves.  One of
them called out, "Three cheers for General Scott!" and I am
not quite sure the President did not join him. 
TllE LOAN BILL.            399
Jul11 10th. - To-day was spent in a lengthy excursion along
the front of the camp in Virginia, round by the chain bridge
which crosses the Potomac about four miles from Washington.
The Government have been coerced, ns they say, by the
safety of the Republic, to destroy the liberty of the press,
which is guaranteed by the Constitution, and this is not the
first instance in which il~e Constitution of the United States
will be made nominis ~~rnbra.  The telegraph, accordin~ to
General Scott's order, confirmed by tl~e ~1inister of War,
Simon Cameron, is to convey no dispatches respecting military
movements not permitted by the General; and to-day tlie
newspaper correspondents have agreed to yield obedience to
the order, reserving to themselves a certain freedom of detail
in wrnting their despatches, and relying on the Government to
publish the official accounts of all battles very speedily.
They will break this agreement if they can, and the Government will not observe their part of the bargain.  Tlie freedom
of the press, as I take it, does not include the right to publish
news h~stile to the cause of the country in which it is published; neither can it involve any obligation on tlie part of
Government to publish despatches which may be injurious to
the party they represent.  There is a wide distinction between the publication of news which is known to the enemy
as soon as to the friends of the transmitters, and the utmost
freedom of expression concerning the acts of the Government
or the conduct of past events; but it will be difficult to establish any rule to limit or extend the boundaries to whieh discussion can go without misd~ief, and in effect the only solution of
the difficulty in a free country seems to be to gfl~nt the press
free license, in consideration of the enormous aid it affords in
warning the people of their danger, in animating them with
the news of their successes, and in sustaining the Goven~meat
in their efforts to conduct the war.
The most important event to-day is the passage of the Loan
ISill, which authorizes ~Ir. Chase to borrow, in the next year,
<~ ~um of ~50,000,000, on coupons, with interest at seven 1)er
cent., and irredeemable for twenty years - the interest bci~ig
guaranteed on a pledge of tlie Customs duties.  I just got
into the llouse in time to bear ~Ir. Vallandigham, who is an ultra Democrat, and very nearly a Secessionist, conclude a welldelivered argumentative address.  He is a tall, slight man, of
a bilious temperament, with light flashing eyes, dark hair and 
400        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
complexion, and considerable oratorical power.  "Deem me
ef 1 wonldii't just ride that Vall~~diggaim on a reay.al," quoth
a citizen to his friend, as the speaker sat down, amid a few feeble expressions of assent.  Mr. Chase has also obtained the
consent of the Lower flouse to his bill for closing the Southern
ports by the decree of the President, but I hear some more
substantial measures are in contemplatioii for that purpose.
Whilst the llouse is finding the money the Government are
preparing to spend it, and they have obtained the approval of
the Senate to the enrolment of half a million of men, and the
expenditure of one hundred millions of dollars to carry on the
war.
I called on Mr. Cameron, the Secretary of War.  The
small brick house of two stories, with long passages, in which
the American Mars prepares his bolts, was, no doubt, large
enough for the 20,000 men who constituted the armed force on
land of the great Republic, but it is not sufficient to contain a
tithe of the contractors who haunt its precincts, fill all the
lobbies, and crowd into every room.  With some risk to coattails, I squeezed through iron-masters, gun-makers, c~thiers,
shoemakers, inventors, bakers, and all that genus which fattens
on the desolation caused by an army in the field, and was introduced to Mr. Cameron's room, where he was seated at a
desk surrounded by people, who were also grouped round two
genflemen as clerks in the same small room.  "I tell you,
General Cameron, that the way in which the loyal men of
Missoun have been treated is a disgrace to this Government,"
shouted out a big, black, burly man - "I tell you so, sir."
Well, General," responded Mr. Cameron, quietly, "so you
have several times. Will you, once for all, condescend to particulars?"  "Yes, sir; you and the Government have disregarded our appeals. You have left us to fight our own battles.
You have not sent us a cent _____ "  "There, General, I interrupt you.  You say we have sent you no money," said Mr.
Cameron, very quietly.  "Mr. Jones will be good enough to
ask Mr. Smith to step in here."  Before Mr. Smith came in,
however, the General, possibly thinking some member of the
press was present, rolled his eyes in a Nicotian frenzy, and
perorated: "The people of the State of Missoun, sir, will
power-out every drop of the blood which only flows to warm
patriotic hearts in defence of the great Union, which offers
freedom to the enslaved of mankind, and a home to persecuted
~)rogress, and a few-ture to civil-zation. We demand, General 
MR. SECRI~TARY CAMERON.        401
Cameron, in the neame of the great We~tera State -,,
llere Mr. Smith came in, and Mr. Cameron said, "I want
you to tell me what disbursements, if any, have been sent
by this depnrtment to the State of ]~Iissouri~' ~Ir. Smith was
quick at figures, and up in his accounts, for he drew out a
little memorandum book,~nd replied (of course, I can't tell
the exact sum)," General, there has been sent, as by vouchers,
to Missouri, since the beginning of the levies, six hundred
and seventy thousand dollars and twenty-three cents."  "The
General looked crestfallen, but he was equal to the occasion,
"These sums may have been sent, sir, but they have not been
received.  I declare in the face of-"  "Mr. Smith will
show you the vouchers, General, and you can then take any
steps needful against the parties who have misappropriated
them."
"That is only a small specimen of what we have to go
through with our people," said the Minister, as the General
went off with a lofty toss of his head, and then gave me a
pleasant sketch of the nature of the applications and interviews which take up the time and clog the movemcnts of an
American statesman.  "These State organizations give us a
great deal of trouble." I could fully understand that they did
so.  The immediate business that I had with Mr. Cameron -
he is rarely called General now that he is Minister of War -
was to ask him to give me authority to draw rations at cost
price, in case the army took the field before I could make
arrangements, and he seemed very well disposed to accede;
"but I must think ab~ut it, for I shall have all our papers
down upon me if I grant you any facility which they do not
get themselves."  After I left the War Department, I took a
walk to Mr. Seward's, who was out.  In passing by President's Square, I saw a respectably-dressed man up in one of
the trees, cutting off pieces of the bark, which his friends beneath caught up eagerly.  I could not help stopping to ask
what was the object of the proceeding.  "~Vhy, sir, this is
the tree Dan Sickles shot Mr. - under.  I think it's quite
a remarkable spot."
Ju1~ I ltb. - The diplomatic circle is so totus teres atque
rotundus, that few particles of dirt stick on its periphery from
the road over which it travels.  The radii are worked from
different centres, often far apart, and the tires and naves often
fly out in wide divergence; but for all social purposes is a
ircle, and a very pleasant one.  When one sees M. de 
402        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
Stoeckle speaking to M. Mercier, or joining in with Baron
Gerolt and ~L de Lisboa, it is safer to infer that a little social
reunion is at hand for a pleasant civilized discussion of ordinary topics, some music, a rubber, and a dinner, than to resolve with the New York ~orresponJent, "that there is reason
to believe that a diplomatic movem~ent of no ordinary significance is on foot, and that the Ministers of Russia, France, and
Prussia have concerted a plan of action with the representative of Brazil, which must lead to extraordinary complications,
in view of the temporary embarrassments which distract our
beloved country.  The Minister of England has held aloof
from these reunions for a sinister purpose no doubt, and we
have not failed to discover that the emissary of Austria, and
the representative of Guatemala have abstained from taking
part in these significant demonstrations.  We tell the haughty
nobleman who represents Queen Victoria, on whose son we so
lately lavished the most liberal manitestations of our good
will, to beware.  The motives of the Court of Vienna, and
of the Republic of Guatemala, in ordering their representatives not to join in the reunion which we observed at three
o'clock to-day, at the corner of Seventeenth Street and One,
are perfectly transparent; but we call on Mr. Seward instantly to demand of Lord Lyons a full and ample explanation of his conduct on the occasion, or the transmission of ljis
papers.  There is no harm in adding, that we have every
reason to think our good ally of Russia, and the minister of
the astute monarch, who is only watching an opportunity of
leading a Franco-American army to t~he Tower of London
and Dublin Castle, have already moved their respective Governments to act in the premises."
That paragraph, with a good heading, wouM sell several
thousands of the "New York Stabber" to-morrow.
July 1 2tb. - There are rumors that the Federals, under
Brigadier McClellan, who have advanced into Western Virginia, have gained some successes; but so far it seems to have
100 larger dimensions than the onward raid of one clan against
another in the Highlands.  And whence do rumors come?
From Government departments, which, like so many Danaes
in the clerks' rooms, receive the visits of the auriferous
Jupiters of the press, who condense themselves into purveyors of smashes, slings, baskets of champagne, and dinners.
McClellan is, however, considered a very steady and respectable professional soldier.  A friend of his told me to-day one 
THE NORTHERN ARMY.          403
of the most serious complaints the Central Illinois Company
had against him was that, during the Italian war, he seemed
to forget their business; and that he was busied with maps
stretched out on the floor, whereupon he, superincumbent,
penned out the points of battle and strategy, when he ought
to have been attending to passenger trains and traffic.  That
which was flat blasphemy in a railway office, may be amazingly approved in the field.
July 13th. - I have had a long day's ride through the
camps of the various regiments across the Potomac, and at
this side of it, which the weather did not render very agreeable to mysel?, or the poor hack that I had hired for the day,
till my ArneAcan Quartermaine gets me a decent mount.  I
wished to see with my own eyes what is the real condition
of the army which the North have sent down to the Potomac,
to undertake such a vast task as the conquest of the South.
The Northern papers describe it as a magnificent force, complete in all respects, well-disciplined, wellelad, provided with
fine artillery, and with every requirement to make it effective
for all military operations in the field.
In one word, then, they are grossly and utterly ignorant of
what an army is or should be. In the first place, there are not, I
should think, 30,000 men of all sorts available for the campaign.
The papers estimate it at any number from 50,000 to 100,000,
giving the preference to 75,000.  In the next place their artillery is miserably deficient; they have not, I should think,
more than five complete batteries, or six batteries, including
scratch guns, and these are of different calibres, badly horsed,
miserably equipped, and provided with the worst set of gunriers arid drivers which I, who have seen the Turkish field-guns,
ever beheld.  They have no cavalry, only a few scarecrow
i~en, who would dissolve partnership with their steeds at the
fln~t serious combined movement, mounted in high saddles, on
wretched mouthless screws, and some few regulars from the
frontiers, who may be good for Indians, but who would g()
over like ninepins at a charge fi~om Punjaubee irregulai~s.
Their transport is tolerably good, but inadequate; they have
no carriage for reserve ammunition; the commissariat drivers
are civilians, under little or no control; the officers are unsoldierly~looking men; the camps are' dirty to excess; the
inen are dressed in all sorts of uniforms; and from what I
hear, I doubt if any of these regiments have ever performed
a brigade evolution together, or if any of the officers know 
404         MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
what it is to deploy a brigade from column into line.  They
are mostly three months' men, whose time is nearly up.
They were rejoicing to-day over the fact that it was so, and
that they had kept the enemy from Washington "without a
fi~t"
And it is with this rabblement, that the North proposes not only to subdue the South, but according to some of
their papers, to humiliate Great Britain, and conquer Canada
afterwards.
I am opposed to national boasting, but I do firmly believe
that 10,000 British regulars, or 12,000 French, with a proper
establishment of artillery and cavalry, would not only entirely
repulse this army with the greatest ease, under competent
commanders, but that they could attack them and march into
Washington, over them or with them, whenever they pleased.
Not that Frenchman or Englishman is perfection, but that the
American of this army knows nothing of discipline, and what
is more, cares less for it.
Major-General McClellan - I beg his pardon for styling him
Bi'igadier - has really been successful.  By a very well-conducted and rather rapid march, he was enabled to bring
supenor forces to bear on some raw levies under General
Garnett (who came over with me in the steamer), which`fled
after a few shots, and were utterly routed, when their gallant
commander fell, in an abortive attempt to rally them by the
banks of the Cheat River.  In this "great battle" McClellan's
loss is less than thirty killed and wounded, and the Confederate
loss is less than one hundred.  But the dispersion of such
guerrilla bands has the most useful effect among the people of
the district; and McClellan has done good service, especially
as his little victory will lead to the discomfiture of all the
Secessionists in the valley of the Kanawha, and in the valley of Western Virginia.    I left Washington this afternoon,
with the Sanitary Commissioners, for Baltimore, in order to
visit the Federal camps at Fortress Monroe, to which we proceeded down the Chesapeake the same night. 
CHAPTER XLVIL
Fortress Monroe - General Butler - Hospital accommodation -
Wounded soldiers - Aristocratic pedigrees - A great gun -
Newport N~ws - Fraudulent contractors - General Butler -
Artillery practice - Contraband negroes - Confederate lines -
Tombs of American loyalists - Troops and contractors - Dur  yea's New York Zouaves - Military calculations - A voyage by
steamer to Annapolis.
July I4tk. - At six o'clock this morning il~e steamer arrived
at the wharf under the wails of Fortress Monroe, which presented a very different appearance from the quiet of its aspect
when first I saw it, some months ago.  Camps spread around
it, the parapets lined with sentries, guns looking out towards
the land, lighters and steamers alongside the wharf, a strong
guard at the end of the pier, passes to be scrutinized and permits to be given.  I landed with the members of the Sanitary
Commission, and repaired to a very large pile of buildings,
called "The Hygeia Hotel," for once on a time Fortress Monroe was looked upon as the resort of the sickly, who required
bracing air and an abundance of oysters; it is now occupied
by the wounded in the several actions and skirmishes which
have taken place, particularly at Bethel; and it is so densely
crowded that we had difficulty in procuring the use of some
small dirty rooms to dress in.  As the business of the Commission was principally directed to ascertain the state of the
hospitals, they considered it Aecessary in the first instance to
visit General Butler, the commander of the post, who has been
recommending himself to the Federal Government by his activity ever since he came down to Baltimore, and the whole
body marched to the fort, crossing the drawbridge after some
parley with the guard, and received permission, on the production of passes, to enter the court.
The interior of the work covers a space of about seven or
eight acres, as far as I could judge, and is laid out with some
degree of taste: rows of fine trees border the walks through
the grass plots; the officers' quarters, neat and snug, are sur 
406       ~IY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
rounded with little patches of flowers, and covered with creepers.  All order and neatness, however, were fast disappearing
beneath the tramp of mailed feet, for at least 1200 men had
pitched their tents inside the place.  We sent ill our na~nes to
the General, who lives in a detached house close to the sea
face of the fort, and sat down on a bench under the shade of
some trees, to avoid the excessive heat of the sun until the
commander of the place could receive the Commissioners.
He was evidently in no great hurry to do so.  In about haff
an hour an aide-de-camp came out to say that the General
was getting up, and that he wouH see us ~fler breakf'~sL
Some of the Commissioners, from purely sanitary considerations, would have been much better pleased to have seen him
at breakfast, as they had only partaken of a very light meal
on board the steamer at five o'clock in the morning; but we
were interested meantime by the morning parade of a portion
of the garrison, consisting of 300 regulars, a Massachusetts
volunteer battalion, and the 2d New York Regiment.
It was quite refreshing to the eye to see the cleanliness of
the regulars - their white gloves and belts, and polished buttons, contrasted with the slovenly aspect of the volunteers;
but, as far as the material went, the volunteers had by far the
best of the comparison.  Tl~e civilians who were with me did
not pay much attention to the regulars, and evidently preferred the volunteers, although they could not be insensible to
the magnificent drum-m~jor who led the band of the regulars.
Presently General Butler came out of his quarters, and walked down the lines, followed by a few officers.  He is a stout,
middle-aged man, strongly built, with coarse limbs, his features indicative of great shrewdness and craft, his forehead
high, the elevation being in some degree due perhaps to the
want of hair; with a strong obliquity of vision, which may
perhaps have been caused by an injury, as the eyelid hangs
with a peculiar droop over the organ.
The General, whose manner is quick, decided, and abrupt,
but not at all rude or unpleasant, at once acceded to the
wishes of the Sanitary Commissioners, and expressed his de
sire to make my stay at the fort as agreeable and useful as
he could.  "You can first visit the hospitals in company with
tl~ese gentlemen, and then come over with me to our camp,
where I will show you everything that is to be seen.  I have
ordered a steamer to be in readiness to take you to Newport
News."  He speaks rapidly, and either affects or possess~ 
A NATIONAL DIFFERENCE.          4O7~
great decision.  The Commissioners accordingly proceeded to
make the most of their time in visiting the Hygeia Hotel,
being accompanied by the medical officers of the garrison.
The rooms, but a short time ago occupied by the fair ladies
of Virginia, when they came down to enjoy the sea-breezes,
were now crowded with Federal soldiers, many of them suffering from the loss of limb or serious wounds, others from the
worst form of camp disease.  I enjoyed a small national
triumph over Dr. Bellows, the chief of the Commissioners, who is of the "sangre azul" of Yankeeism, by which
I mean that he is a believer, not in the perfectibility, but
in the absolute perfection, of New England nature which
is the only human nature that is not utterly lost and abandoned - Old England nature, perhaps, being the worst of
all.  We had been speaking to the wounded men in several
rooms, and found most of them either in the listless condition
consequent upon exhaustion, or with that anxious air whid~ is
often ofr~er~'able on the faces of the wounded when strangers
approach.  At last we came into a room in which two soldiers
were sitting up, the first we had seen, reading the newspapers.
Dr. Bellows asked where they came from; one was from Concord, the other from New Haven.  "You see, Mr. Russell,"
said Dr. Bellows, "how our Yankee soldiers spend their time.
I knew at once they were Americans when I saw them reading newspapers.   One of them had his hand shattered by a
bullet, the other was suffering from a gun-shot wound through
the body.  "Where were you hit?" 1 inquired of the first.
"Well," he said, "I guess my rifle went off when I was
cleaning it in camp."  "Were you wounded at Bethel?" I
asked of the second.  "No, sir"' he replied; "I got this
wound from a comrade, who discharged his piece by accident
in one of the tents as I was standing outside."  "So," said I,
to Dr. Bellows, "whilst the Britishers and Germans are engaged with the enemy, you Americans employ your time
shooting each other!"
These men were true mercenaries, for they were fighting
for money - I mean the strangers.  One poor fellow from
Devonshire said, as he pointed to his stump, "I wish I had
lost it for the sake of the old island, sir," paraphrasing Sarsfield's exclamation as he lay dying on the field.  The Americans were fighting for the combined excellences and strength
of the States of New England, and 6f the rest of the Federal power over the Confederates, for they could not in their 
408        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
heart of hearts believe the Old Union could be restored by
force of arins.  Lovers may quarrel and may reunite, but if
a blow is struck there is no redinte~ratio amoris possible again.
The newspapers and illustrated periodicals which they read
were the pabulum that fed the flames of patriotism incessantly.
Such capacity for enormous lying, both in creation and absorption, the world never heard.  Sufficient for the hour is
the falsehood.
There were lady nurses in attendance on the patients; who
followed - let us believe, as I do, out of some higher motive
than the mere desire of human praise - the example of ~Iiss
Nightingale.  I loitered behind in the rooms, asking many
questions respecting the nationality of the men, in which the
members of the Sanitary Commission took no interest, and I
was just turning into one near the corner of the passage when
I was stopped by a loud smack.  A young Seotebman was
dividing his attention between a basin of soup and a demure
young lady from Philadelphia, who was feeding him with a
spoon, his only arm being engaged in holding her round the
waist, in order to prevent her being tired, I presume.  Miss
Rachel, or Deborah, had a pair of very pretty blue eyes, but
they flashed very angrily from under her trim little cap at the
unwitting intruder, and then she said, in severest tones, "Will
you take your medicine, or not?"  Sandy smiled, and pretended to be very penitent.
When we returned with the doctors from our inspection we
walked around the parapets of the fortress, why so called I
know not, because it is merely a fort.  The guns and mortars
are old-fashioned and heavy, with the exception of some newfashioned and very heavy Columbiads, which are cast-iron
eight, ten, and twelveAnch guns, in which I have 110 ftitli whatever. The armament is not sufficiently powerful to ii~event its
interior being searched out by the long-~~ange fir~ of shi1)s with
rifle guns, or mortar boats; but it would require closer iiud
harder work to breach the masses of brick and masonry which
constitute the parapets and casemates.  The guns, carriages,
rammers, shot, were dirty, rusty, and neglected; but General
Butler told me he was busy polishing up things about the
fortress as fast as he could.
~Vhilst we were parading these hot walls in the sunshine,
my companions were discussing the question of ancestry.  It
appears your New Englander is very proud of his English de~ent from good blood, and it is one of their is msin the Yaa 
THE` UiNION" GUN.            4O~
kee States that they are the salt of the British people and the
true aristocracy of blood and family, whereas we in the isles
retain but a paltry share of the blue blood defiled by incessant
infiltrations of the muddy fluid of the outer world.  This may
be new to us Britishers, but is a Q. E. D.  If a gentleman
left Europe 200 years ago, and settled with his kin and kith,
intermarrying his children with their equals, and thus perpetuatin an ancient family, it is evident he may be regarded
as the founder of a much more honorable dynasty than the
relative who remained behind him, and lost the old family
place, and sunk into obscurity.  A singular illustration of the
tendency to make much of themselves may be found in the
fact, that New England swarms with genealogical societies and
bodies of antiquaries, who delight in reading papers about
each other's ancestors, and tracing their descent from Norman
or Saxon barons and earls.  The Virginians opposite, who
are flouting us with their Confederate flag from Se wall's Point,
are equally given to the "genus et proavos."
At the end of our promenade round the ramparts, Lieutenant Butler, the General's nephew and aide-dc-camp, came to
tell us the boat was ready, and we met His Excellency in the
court-yard, whence we walked down to the wharf.  On our
way, General Bu~ler called my attention to an enormous heap
of hollow iron lying on the sand, which was the Union gun
that is intended to throw a shot of some 350 lbs. weight or
more, to astonish the Confederates at Sewall's Point opposite,
when it is mounted.  This gun, if I mistake not, was made
after the designs of Captain Rodman, of the United States
artillery, who in a series of remarkable papers, the pnbiica
tion of which has cost the country a l~rge sum of money, has
given us the results of long-continued investigations and experiments on the best method of cooling masses of iron for
ordnance purposes, and of making powder for heavy shot.
The piece must weigh about 20 tons, hut a similar gun, mounted on an artificial island called the Rip Raps, in the channel
opposite the fortress, is said to be worked with facility.  The
Confederates have raised some of the vessels sunk by the
United States officers when the Navy Yard at Gosport was
destroyed, and as some of these are to be converted into rams,
the Federals are preparing their heaviest ordiiance, to try the
effect of crushing weights at low velocities against their sides,
should they attempt to play any pranks among the transport
vessel&  The General said: "It is not by these great masses
18 
410        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
of iron this contest is to be decided; we must bring sharp
points of steel, directed by superior intelligence."  Hitherto
General Butler's attempts at Big Bethel have not been crowned with success in employing such means, but it must be admitted that, according to hiS own stat~ment, his lieutenants
were guilty of carelessness and neglect of ordinary military
precautions in the conduct of the expedition he ordered.  The
march of different columns of troops by night concentrating
on a given point is always liable to serious interruptions, ai~d
frequently gives rise to hostile encounters between friends, in
more disciplined armies than the raw levies of United States
volunteers.
When the General, Commissioners, and Staff had ernba~ked,
the steamer moved across the broad estuary to Newport News.
Among our passengers were several medical officers in attendance 01) the Sanitary Commissioners, some belonging to the army,
others who had volunteered from civil li?e.  Their discussion
of professional questions and of relative rank assumed such a
personal character, that General Butler had to interfere to
quiet the disputants, but the exertion of his authority was
not altogether successful, and one of the angry gentlemen
said in my hearing," I'm d-d if I submit to such treatment if
all the lawyers in ~1assachusetts with stars on their colors
were to order me to-morrow."
On arriving at the low shore of Newport News we landed
at a wooded jetty, and proceeded to visit the camp of the
Federals, which was surrounded by a strong entrenchment,
mounted with guns on the water face; and on the angles
inland, a broad tract of cultivated country, bounded by a belt
of trees, extended from the river away from the encampment;
hIlt the Confederates are so close at hand that frequent
skirmishes have occurred between the foraging parties of the
garrison and the enemy, who have on more than one occasion
pursued the Federals to the very verge of the woods.
Whilst the Sanitary Commissioners were groaning over
the heaps of filth which abound in all camps where discipline
is not most strictly observed, 1 walked round amongst the
tents, which, taken altogether, were in good order.  The day
was excessively hot, and many of the soldiers were  ing
down in the shade of arbors formed of branches from the
neighboring pine wood, but most of them got up when they
heard the General was coming round.  A sentry walked up
and down at the end of the street, and as the General came 
COtONEL PHELPS AND THE CHIVALRY.     411
up to him he called out "Halt."  The man stood still.  "I
just want to show you, sir, what scoundrels our Government
has to deal with.  This man belongs to a regiment which has
had new clothing recently served out to it.  Look what it is
made of."  So saying the General stuck his fore-finger into
the breast of the man's coat, and with a rapid scratch of his
nail tore open the cloth as if it was of blotting paper.
"Shoddy sir.  Nothing but shoddy.  I wish I had these contractors in the trenches here, and if hard work would not
make honest men of them, they'd have enough of it to be
examples for the rest of their fellows."
A vivacious prying man, this Butler, full of bustling life,
self-~teem, revelling in the exercise of power.  In the course
of our rounds we were joined by Colonel Phelps, who was formerly in the United States army, and saw service in Mexico,
but retired because he did not approve of the manner in
which promotions were made, and who only took command of
a Massachusetts regiment because he believed he might be instrumental in striking a shrewd blow or t'vo in this great battle
of Armageddon~a tall, saturnine, gloomy, angry-eyed snllow
man, soldier-like, too, and one who places old John Brown on
a level with the great martyrs of the Christian world.  Indeed
one, not so fierce as he, is blasphemous enough to place images
of our Saviour and the hero of Harper's Ferry on the mantelpiece, as the two greatest beings the world has ever seen.
"Yes, I know them well.  I've seen them in the field.  I've
sat with them at meals.  I've travelled through their country.
These Southern slave-holders are a false, licentious, godless
people.  Either we who obey the laws and fear God, or they
who know no God except their own will and pleasure, and
know no law except their passions, must rule on this continent,
and I believe that Heaven will help its own in the conflict they
have provoked.  I grant you they are brave enough, and desperate too, but surely justice, truth, and religion, will strengthen a man's arm to strike down those who have only brute force
and a bad cause to support them."  But Colonel Phelps was
not quite indifferent to material aid, and he made a pressing
appeal to General Butler to send him some more guns and
harjiess for the field-pieces he hnd in position, because, said
he, "in case of attack, please God I'll follow them up sharp,
and cover these fields with their bones."  The General had a
dif~iculty about the harness, which made Colonel Pheips very
grim, but General Butler had reason in saying he could not 
412        XY ~ARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
make harness, and so the Colonel must be content with the
results of a good rattling fire of round, shell, grape and canister, if the Confederates are foolish enough to attack his batteries.
There was nothing to complain of in the camp, except the
swarms of flies, the very bad smells, and perhaps the shabby
clothing of the men.  The tents were good enough.  The rations were ample, but nevertheless, there was a want of order,
discipline, and quiet in the lines which did not augur well for
tl~e internal economy of the regiments.  When we returned
to the river face, General Butler ordered some practice to be
made with a Sawyer rifle gun, which appeared to be an ordinary cast-iron piece, bored with grooves on the shunt
principle, the shot being covered with a composition of a metallic amalgam like zinc and tin, and provided with flanges of the
same material to fit the grooves.  The practice was irregular
and unsatisfactory.  At an elevation of 24 degrees, the first
shot struck the water at a point about 2000 yards distant.
The piece was thea further elevated, and the shot struck quite
out of land, close to the opposite bank, at a distance of nearly
three miles.  The third shot rushed with a peculiar hurtling noise out of the piece, and flew up in the air, falling
with a splash into il~e water about 1500 yards away.  The
next shot may have gone half across the continent, for assuredly it never struck the water, and most probably ploughed
its Way into the soft ground at the other side of the river.
The shell practice was still worse, and on the whole I wish
our enemies may always fight us with Sawyer guns, particularly as the shells cost between ~6 and ~7 apiece.
From the fort the General proceeded to the house of one of
the officers, near the jetty, formerly the residence of a Virgin
ian farmer, who has now gone to Secessia, where we were
most hospitably treated at an excellent lunch, served by the
slaves of the former proprietor.  Although we boast with
some reason of the easy level of our mess-rooms, the Americans certainly excel us in the art of annihilating all military
distinctions on such occasions as these; and I am not sure the
General would not have liked to place a young doctor in close
arrest, who suddenly made a dash at the liver wing of a fowl
on which the General was bent with eye and fork, and carried
it off to his plate. But on the whole there was a good deal of
friendly feeling amongst all ranks of the volunteers, the regulars being a little stiff and adherent to etiquette. 
A RIDE TO llAMPTON.         41o
In the afternoon the hoat returned to Fortress Monroe, and
the General invited me to dinner, where I had the pleasure of
meeting Mrs. Butler, his staff~ and a couple of regimental officers from the neighboring camp.  As it was still early, General Butler proposed a ride to visit the interesting village of
Hampton, which lies some six or seven miles outside the fort,
and forms his advance post.  A powerful charger, with a tre
mendous Mexican saddle, fine housings, blue and gold embroidered saddle-cloth, was brought to the door for you r humble servant, and the General mounted another, whid~ did
equal credit to his taste in horseflesh; but I own I felt rather
uneasy on seeing that he wore a pair of large brass spurs,
strapped over white Jean brodequins.  He took with him his
aide-de-camp and a couple of orderlies.  In the precincts of
the fort outside, a population of contraband negroes has been
collected, whom the General employs in various works about
the place, military and civil; but I failed to ascertain that the
original scheme of a debit and credit account between the
value of their labor and the cost of their maintenance had
been successfully carried out.  The General was proud of
them, and they seemed proud of themselves, saluting him
with a ludicrous mixture of awe and familiarity as he rode
past.  "How do, Massa Butler?  How do, General?" no
companied by absurd bows and scrapes.  "Just to think,"
said the General, "that every one of these fellows represents
some one thousand dollars at least out of the pockets of the
chivalry yonder." "Nasty, idle, dirty beasts," says one of the
staW, sotto voce-; "I wish to Heaven they were all at the bottom of the Chesapeake.  The General insists on it that they
do work, but they are far more trouble than they are worth."
The road towards Hampton traverses a sandy spit, which,
however, is more fertile than would be supposed from the soil
under the horses' hoofs, though it is not in the least degree interesting.  A broad creek or river interposed between us and
the town, the bridge over which had been destroyed.  Workmen were busy repairing it, but all the planks had not yet
been laid down or nailed, and in some places the open space
between the upright rafters allowed us to see the dark waters
flowing beneath.  The Aide said, "I don't think, General, it
is safe to cross;" but the chief did not mind him until his
horse very nearly crashed through a plank, and only regained
its footing with unbroken legs by marvellous dexterity; whereLipon we dismounted, and, leaving the horses to be carried over 
414        MY i TARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
in the ferry-boat, completed the rest of the transit, not with.
out difficulty.  At the other end of the bridge a street lined -
with comfortable houses, and bordered with trees, led us into
the pleasant town or village of Hampton - pleasant once, but
now deserted by all the inhabitants except some pauperized
whites and a colony of negroes.  It was in full occupation of
the Federal soldiers, and I observed that most of the men
were Germans, the garrison at Newport News being principally composed of Americans.  The old red brick houses,
with cornices of white stone; the narrow windows and high
gables; gave an aspect of antiquity and European comfort to
the place, the like of which I have not yet seen in the States.
Most of the shops were closed; in some the shutters were still
down, and the goods remained displayed in the windows.  "I
have allowed no plundering," said the General; "and if I find
a fellow trying to do it, I will hang him as sure as my name
is Butler.  See here," and as he spoke he walked into a large
woollen-drape?s shop, where bales of cloth were still lying on
the shelves, and many articles such as are found in a large
general store in a country town were disposed on the floor or
counters; "they shall not accuse the men under my command
of being robbers."  The boast, however, was not so well justified in a visit to another house occupied by some soldiers.
"Well," said the General, with a smile, "I dare say you know
enough of camps to have found out that chairs and tables are
irresistible; the men will take them off to their tents, though
they may have to leave them next morning."
The principal object of our visit was the fortified trench
which has been raised outside the town towards the Confederate lines.  The path lay through a church-yard filled with
most interesting monuments. The sacred edifice of red brick,
with a square clock-tower rent by lightning, is rendered interesting by the fact that it is almost the first church built by the
English colonists of Virginia. On the tombstones are recorded
the names of many subjects of His Majesty George III., and
familiar names of persons born in the early part of last century in English villages, who passed to their rest before the
great rebellion of the Colonies had disturbed their notions of
loyalty and respect to the crown.  Many a British subject,
too, lies there, whose latter days must have been troubled by
the strange scenes of the war of independence.  With what
doubt and distrust must that one at whose tomb I stand have
heard that George Washington was making head against the 
GENERAL BUTLER.             41~
troops of His Mnjesty King George IlL!  How the hearts
of the old men who had passed the best years of their existence, as these stones tell us, fighting for His Majesty against
the French, must have beaten when once more they heard the
roar of Frenchman's ordnance uniting with the voices of the
rel~ellious guns of the colonists from the plains of Yorktown
against the entrenchments in which Cornwallis and his deserted band stood at hopeless bay!  But could these old eyes
open again, and see General Buder standing on the eastern
rampart which bounds their resting-place, and pointing to the
spot whence the rebel cavalry of Virginia issue night and day
to charge the loyal pickets of His Majesty The Union, they
might take some comfort in the fulfilment of the vaticinations
which no doubt they uttered," It cannot, and it will not, come,
to good."
Having inspected the works - as far as I could judge, too
extended, and badly traced - which I say with all deference
to the able young engineer who accompanied us to point out
the various objects of interest - the General returned to the
bridge, where we remounted, and made a tour of the camps
of the force intended to defend Hampton, falling back on
Fortress Monroe in case of necessity.  Whilst he was riding
ventre 6 terre, which seems to be his favorite pace, his horse
stumbled in the dusty road, and in his effort to keep his seat
the General broke his stirrup leather, and the ponderous brass
stirrup fell to the ground; but, albeit a lawyer, he neither lost
his seat nor his sangfroid, and calling out to his orderly "to
pick up his toe plate," the jean slippers were closely pressed,
spurs and all, to the sides of his steed, and away we went once
more through dust and heat so great I was by no means sorry
when he pulled up outside a pretty villa, standing in a garden,
which was occupied by Colonel Max Weber, of the German
Turner Regiment, once the property of General Tyler.  The
camp of the Turners, who are members of various gymnastic
societies, was situated close at hand; but I had no opportunity
of seeing them at work, as the Colonel insisted on our partaking of the hospitalities of his little mess, and produced some
bottles of sparkling hock and a block of ice, by no means unwelcome after our fatiguing ride.  His Major, whose name I
have unfortunately forgotten, and who spoke English better
than his chief, had served in some capacity or other in the
Crimea, and made many inquiries after the officers of the
Guards whom he had known there.  I took an opportunity of 
416        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
askin~ him in what state the troops were.  "The whole thing
is a robbery," he exclaimed; "this war is for the contractors;
the men do not get a third of what the Government pay for
them; as for discipline, my God! it exists not.  We Germans
are well enough, of course; we know our affair; hut as for
the Americans, what would you?  They make colonels out of
doctors and lawyers, and captains out of fellows who are not
fit to brush a soldier's shoe."  "But the men get their pay?"
"Yes that is so.  At the end of two months, they get it, and
by that time it is due to sutlers, who charge them 100 per
cent."
It is easy to believe these old soldiers do not put much confidence in General Butler, though they admit his energy.
"Look you; one good officer with 5,000 steady troops, such
as we have in Europe, shall come down any night and walk
over us all into Fortress ~Ionroe whenever he pleased, if he
knew how these troops were placed."
On leaving the German Turners, the General visited the
camp of Duryea's New York Zouaves, who were turned out
at evening parade, or more properly speaking, drill.  But for
the ridiculous effect of their costume the regiment would have
looked well enough; but riding down on the rear of the ranks
the discolored napkins tied round their heads, without any fez
cap beneath, so that the hair sometimes stuck up through the
folds, the ill-made jackets, the loose bags of red calico hanging
from their loins, the long gaiters of white cotton - instead of
the real Zonave yellow and black greave, and smart white
gaiter - made them appear such military scarecrows, I could
scarcely refrain from laughing outright.  Nevertheless the
men were respectably drilled, marched steadily in columns of
company, wheeled into line, and went past at quarter distance
at the double much better than could be expected from the
short time they had been in the field, and I could with all
sincerity say to Colonel Duryea, a smart and not unpretentious
gentleman, who asked my opinion so pointedly that I could
not reibse to give it, that I considered the appearance of the
regiment very creditable.  The shades of evening were now
falling, and as I had been up before 5 o'clock in the morning,
I was not sorry when General Butler said, "Now we will go
home to ten, or you will detain the steamer."  He had arranged before I started that the vessel, which in ordinary course
would have returned to Baltimore at eight o'clock, should remain till he sent down word to the Captain to go. 
IMPORTANCE OF SUFFOLK.          417
We scampered back to the fort, and judging from the challenges and vigilance of the sentries, and inlying pickets, I am
not quite so satisfied as the Major that the enemy could have
surprised the place.  At the tea-table there were no additions
to the General's family; he therefore spoke without any reserve.  Going over the map, he explained his views in reference to future operations, and showed cause, with more military acumen than I could have expected from a gentleman of
the long robe, why he believed Fortress Monroe was the true
base of operations against Richmond.
I have been convinced for some time, that if a sufficient
force could be left to cover Washington, the Federals should
move against Richmond from the Peninsula, where they could
form their depots at leisure, and advance, protected by their
gunboats, on a very short line which offers far greater facilities
and advantages than the inland route from Alexandria ~o Richmond, which, difficult in itself from the nature of the country,
is exposed to the action of a hostile population, and, above all,
to the danger of constant attacks by the enemies cava~ry,
tending more or less to destroy all communication with the
base of the Federal operations.
The threat of seizing Washington led to a concentration of
the Union troops in front of it, which caused in turn the collection of the Confederates on the lines below to defend Richmond.  It is plain that if the Federals can cover Washington,
and at the same time assemble a force at Monroe strong
enough to march on Richmond, as they desire, the Confederates will be placed in an exceedingly hazardous position,
scarcely possible to escape from; and there is no reason why
the North, with theip overwhdming preponderance, should not
do so, unless they be carried away by the fatal spirit of brag
and bluster which~comes from their press to overrate their
own strength and to despise their enemy's.  The occupation of
Suffolk will be seen, by any one who studies the map, to afford
a most powefful leverage to the Federal forces from Moni~oe
in their attempts to turn the enemy out of their camps of communication, and to enable them to menace Richmond as well
as the Southern States most seriously.
But whilst the General and I are engaged over our maps
and mint juleps, time flies, and at last I perceive by the clock
it is time to go.  An aide is sent to stop the boat, but he returns ere I feave with the news that "She is gone."  Whereupon the General sends for the Quartermaster Talmadge, who
18* 
418        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
is out in the camps, and only arrives in time to receive a severe" wigging."  It so happened that I had important papers
to send off by the next mail from New York, and the only
chance of being able to do so depended on my being in Baltimore next day.  General Butler acted with kindness and
promptitude in the matter.  "I promised you should go by the
steamer, but the captain has gone off without orders or leave,
for which he shall answer when I see him.  Meantime it is
my business to keep my promise.  Captain Talmadge, you
will at once go down and give orders to the most suitable transport steamer or chartered vessel available, to get up steam at
once and come up to the wharf for Mr. Russell."
Whilst I was sitting in the parlor which served as the General's office, there came in a pale, bright-eyed, slim young man
in a subaltern's uniform, who sought a private audience, and
unfolded a plan he had formed, on certain data gained by nocturnal expeditions, to surpi'ise a body of the enemy's cavalry
which was in the habit of coming down every night and disturbing the pickets at Hampton.  His manner was so eager,
his information so precise, that the General could not refuse
his sanction, but he gave it in a characteristic manner. "Well,
sir, I understand your proposition.  You intend to go out as a
volunteer to effect this service.  You ask my permission to
get men for it.  I cannot grant you an order to any of the
officers in command of regiments to provide you with these;
but if the Colonel of your regiment wishes to give leave to his
men to volunteer, and they like to go with you, I give you
leave to take them.  I wash my hands of all responsibility in
the affair."  The officer bowed and retired, saying, "That is
quite enough, General." *
At ten o'clock the Quartermaster came back to say that a
screw steamer called The Elizabeth was getting up steam for
my reception, and I bade good-by to the General, and walked
down with his aide and nephew, Lieutenant Butler, to the
Hygein Hotel to get my light knapsack.  It was a lovely
moonlight night, and as I was passing down an avenue of
trees an officer stopped me, and exclaimed, "General Butler,
I hear you have given leave to Lieutenant Blank to take ii
* it may be stated here, that this expedition inet with a disastrous
result. if 1 mistake not, the officer, and with him the correspondent
of a paper who accompanied him, were killed by the cavalry whom
he meant to surprise, and several of the volunteers were also killed or
~ounded. 
THE SAD SEA WAVE.          419
party of my regiment and go off scouting to-night after fl~e
enemy.  It is too hard that -"  What more he was going to
say I know not, for I corrected the mistake, and the officer
walked hastily on towards the General's quarters.  On reaching the llygeia Hotel I was met by the correspondent of a
New York paper, who as commissary-general, or, as they are
styled in the States, officer of subsistence, had been charged to
get the boat ready, nnd who explained to me it would be at
least an hour before the steam was up; and whilst I was waiting in the porch I heard many Virgin inn, nnd old-world stories
as well, the general upshot of which was that all the rest of the
world could be "done" at cards, in love, in drink, in horseflesh, and in fighting, by the true-born American.  General
Butler came down after a time, and joined our little society, nor
was he by any means the least shrewd and humorous raconteur of the party.  ~t eleven o'clock The Elizabeth uttered
some piercing cries, which indicated she had her steam up;
and so I walked down to the jetty, accompanied by my host
and his friends, and wishing them good-by, stepped on board
the little vessel, and with the aid of the negro cook, steward,
butler, boots, and servant, roused out the captain from a small
wooden trench which he claimed as his berth, turned into it,
and fell asleep just as the first diffleult convulsions of the screw
aroused the steamer from her coma, and forced her languidly
against the tide in the direction of Baltimore.
July 15th. - I need not speak much of the events of last
night, which were not unimportant, perhaps to some of the insects which ~~ayed a leading part in them.  The heat was
literally overpowering; for in addition to the hot night there
was the full power of most irritable boilers close at hand to
aggravate the natural de'sayrJmens of the situation.  About an
hour after dawn, when I turned out on deck, there was nothing
visible but a warm gray mist; but a knotty old pilot on deck
told me we were only going six knots an hour against tide and
wind, and that we were likely to make less way as the day
wore on.  In fact, instead of being near Baltimore, we were
much nearer Fortress ~Ionroe.  Need I repeat the horrors of
this day?  Stewed, boiled, baked, and grilled on board this
miserable Elizabeth, I wished M. Montalembert could have
experienced with me what such an impassive unture could inflict in misery on those around it.  The captain was a shy,
silent man, much given to short naps in my temporary berth,
a~id the m~e was ~o wild, he might have swam off with per. 
420        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
fect propriety to the woods on either side of us, and taken to a
tree as an abongine or chimpanzee.  Two men of most retiring
habits, the negro, a black boy, and a very fat negress who
officiated as cook, filled up the "balance" of the crew.
I could not write, for the vibration of the deck of the little
craft gave a St. Vitus dance to pen and pencil; reading was
out of the question from the heat and flies; and below stairs
the fat cook banished repose by vapors from her dreadful
caldroiis, where, Medea4ike, she was boiling some death broth.
Our breakfast was of the simplest and - may I add? - the least
enticing; and if the dinner could have been worse it was so;
though it was rendered attractive by hunger, and by the kindness of the sailors who shared it with me.  The old pilot had a
most wholesome hatred of the J3ritishers, and not having the
least idea till late in the day that I belonged to the old country,
favored me with some very remarkable views respecting their
general mischievousness and inutility.  As soon as he found
out my secret he became more reserved, and explained to me
that he had some reason for not liking us, because all he had in
the world, as pretty a SChooner as ever floated and a fine cargo;
had been taken and burnt by the English when they sailed up
the Potomac at Washington.  He served`igniust us at Bladensburg.  I did not ask him how fast he ran; but he had a
good rejoinder ready if I had done so, inasmuch as he was
up West under Commodore Perry on the lakes when we suffered our most serious reverses.  Six knots an hour! hour
after hour   And nothing to do but to listen to the pilot.
On both sides a line of forest just visible ~bove the low
shores.  Small coasting craft, schooners, pungies, boats laden
with wood creeping along in the shallow water, or plying
down empty before wind and tide.
"I doubt if we'll be able to catch up them forts afore night,"
said the skipper.  The pilot grunted, "I rather think yu'll
not."  "H     and thunder!  Then we'll have to lie off till
daylight?"  "They may let you pass, Captain Squires, as
you've this Europe.an on board, but anyhow we can't fetch
Baltimore till late at night or early in the morning."
I heard the dialogue, and decided very quickly that as Annapolis lay somewhere ahead oil our left, and was much nearer
than Baltimore, it would be best to run for it while there was
daylight.  The captain demurred.  He had been ordered to
take his vessel to Baltimore, anil Genei~al Butler might come
down on him for not doing so; but I proposed to sign a letter 
A CHESAPEAKE PILOT.          42~
stating he bad gone to Annapolis at my request, and the
steamer was put a point or two to westward, much to the
pleasure of the Palinurus, whose "`old woman" lived in the
town.  I had an aff~ction for this weather-beaten, wateryeyed, honest old fellow, who hated us as cordially as Jack
detested his Frenchman in the old days before ententes cordiales were known to the world.  lie was thoroughly English
in his belief that he belonged to the only sailor race in the
world, and that they could beat all mankind in seamanship;
and he spoke in the most unaffected way of the Britishers as a
survivor of the old war might do of Johnny Crapaud -" They
were brave enough no doubt, but, Lord bless you, see them
in a gale of wind! or look at them sending down top-gallant
masts, or anything sailor4ike in a breeze.   You'd soon see
the differ.  And, besides, they never can stand again us at
close quarters."  By and by the houses of a considerable
town, crowned by steeples, and a large Corinthian4ooking
building, came in view.  "That's the State llouse.  That's
where George Washington - first in peace, first in war, and
first in the hearts of his countrymen - laid down his victorious sword without any one asking him, and retired amid the
applause of the civilized world."  This flight I am sure was
the old man's treasured relic of school-boy days, and I'm not
sure he did not give it to me three times over.  Annapolis
looks very well fi'om the river side.  The approach is guarded
by some very poor earthworks and one small fort.  A dismantled sloop of war lay off a sea wall, banking up a green
lawn covered with trees, in front of an old-fashioned pile of
buildings, which formerly, I think, and very recently indeed,
was occupied by the cadets of the United States Naval School.
"There was a lot of them Seceders.  Lord bless you! these
young ones is all took by these States Rights' doctrines -
just as the ladies is caught by a new fashion."
About seven o'clock the steamer hove along-side a wooden
pier whid~ was quite deserted.  Only some ten or twelve sailing boats, yachts, and schooners lay at anchor in the placid
waters of the port which was once the capital of ~Iaryland,
nnd for which the early Republicans prophesied a great
future.  But Baltimore has eclipse~~ Annapolis into utter ob
scurity.  I walked to the only hotel in the place, and fbund
that the train for the junction with Washington had started,
and that the next train left at some impossible hour in the
morning.  It is an odd Rip Yan Winkle sort of a place. 
422       MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
Quaint-looking boarders came down to the tea-table and talked
Secession, and when I was detected, as must ever soon be the
case, owing to the hotel-book, I was treated to some ill-favored
glances, as my recent letters have been denounced in the
strongest way for their supposed hostility to States Rights and
the Domestic Institution.  The spirit of the people has, however, been broken by the Federal occupation, and by the dt~cision with which Butler acted when he came down here with
the troops to open communications with Washington after the
Baltimoreans had attacked the soldiery on their way through
the city from the north. 
CHAPTER XLVIII.
~he"State House" at Annapolis - Washington - General Scott's
quarters - Want of a staff- Rival camps - Demand for horses
- Popular excitement - Lord Lyons - General McDowell's
movements - Retreat from Fairfax Court-House -General Scott's
quarters - General Mansfield - Battle of Bull's Run.
July 16th. - I baffled many curious and civil citizens by
breakfasting in my room, where I remained writing till late
in the day.  In the afternoon I walked to the State House.
The hall door was open, but the rooms were closed; and I
remained in the hall, which is graced by two indifferent huge
statues of Law and Justice holding gas lamps, and by an old
rusty cannon, dug out of the river, and supposed to have belonged to the original British colonists, whilst an officer whon
I met in the portico went to look for the porter and the keys.
Whether he succeeded I cannot say, for after waiting some
half hour I was warned by my watch that it was time to get
ready for the train, which started at 4.15 P. M.  The country
through which the single line of rail passes is very hilly, much
wooded, little cultivated, cut up by water-courses and ravines.
At the junction with the Washington line from Baltimore
there is a strong guard thrown out from the camp near at
hand.  The officers, who had a mess in a little wayside inn
on the line, invited me to rest till the train came up, and from
them I heard that an advance had been actually ordered, and
that if the "rebels" stood there would soon be a tall fight
close to Washington.  They were very cheery, hospitable fellows, and enjoyed their new mode of life amazingly.  The
men of the regiment to which they belonged were Germans,
almost to a man.  When the train came in I found it was full
of soldiers, and I learned that three more heavy trains were
to follow, in addition to four which had already passed laden
with troops.
On arriving at the Washington platform, the first person I
saw was General McDowell alone, looking anxiously into the 
424       MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
carriages.  He asked where I came from, and when he heard
from Annapolis, inquired eagerly if I had seen two batteries
of artillery - Barry's and another - which he had ordered
up, and was waiting for, but which had "gone astray."  I was
surprised to find the General engaged on such duty, and took
leave to say so.  "Well, it is quite true, Mr. Russell; but I
am obliged to look after them n~ysel?, as I have so small a
staff; and they are all engaged out with my head-quarters.
You are aware I have advanced?  No! Well, you have just
come in time, and I shall be happy, indeed, to take you with
me.  I have made arrangements for the correspondents of
our papers to take the field under certain regulations, and I
have suggested to them they should wear a white uniform, to
indicate the purity of their character."  Ilie General could
hear nothing of his guns; his carriage was waiting, and I accepted his offer of a seat to my lodgings.  Although he spoke
confi~ently, he did not seem in good spirits.  There was the
greatest difficulty in finding out anything about the enemy.
Beauregard was said to have advanced to Fairfax Court House,
but he could not get any certain knowledge of the fact. "Can
you not order a reconnoissance?"  "Wait till you see the
country.  But even if it were as flat as Flanders, I have not
an officer on whom I could depend for the work. They would
fall into some trap, or bring on a general engagement when I
did not seek it or desire it. I have no cavalry such as you work
with in Europe."  I think he was not so much disposed to
undervalue the Confederates as befbre for he said they had
selected a very strong p6sition, and had made a regular levee
en masse of the people of Virginia, as a proof of the energy
and determination with which they were entering on the campaign.
As we parted the General gave me his photograph, and
told me he expected to see me in a few days at his ~uarters,
but that I would have plenty of time to get horses and servants, and sud~ light equipage as I wanted, as there would be
no engagement for several days.  On arriving at my lodgings
I sent to the livery-stables to inquire afier horses.  None fit
for the saddle to be had at any price.  The sutlers, the cavalry, the mounteff officers, had been purchasing up all the
droves of horses which came to the markets.  McDowell had
barely extra mounts for his own use. And yet horses must be
had; and, even provided with them, I must take tlie field without tent or servant, canteen or food - a waif to fortune. 
TilE ADVANCE.             42u~
Ju~ 17th. - I went up to G~neral Scott's quarters, and
saw some of his staff- young men, some of whom knew
nothing of soldiers, not eveff the enforcing of drill - and found
them reflecting, doubtless, the shades which cross the mind
of the old chiet, who was ao'v seeking repose.  McDowell is
to advance to-morrow from Fairfax Court House, and will
march some eight or ten miles to Centr~yille, directly in front
of which, at a place called Manassas, stands the army of the
Southern enemy.  I look around me for a staW, and look in
vain.  There are a few plodding old pedants, with map and
rules and compasses, who sit in small rooms and write memoranda; and there are some ignorant and not very active young
men, who loiter about the head-quarters' halls, and strut up
the street with brass spurs on their heels and kepis raked over
their eyes as though th~ were soldiers, but I see no system,
no order, no knowledge, no dash!
The worst-served English General has always a young fellow or two about him who caa fly across country, draw a
rough sketch map, ride like a fox-hunter, and find something
out about the enemy and their position, understand and convey
orders, and obey them.  I look about for the types of these in
vain.  ~cDowell can find out nothing about the enemy; he
has not a trustworthy map of the country; no knowledge of
their position, force, or numbers.  All the people, he says, are
against the Government.  Fairfax Court House was abandoned as he approached, the enemy in their retreat being followed by the inhabitants.  "Where were the Confederate entrenchments?" "Only in the imagination of those New York
newspapers; when they want to fill lip a column they wnte a
full account of the enemy's fortifications.  No one can contradict them at the time, and it's a good joke when it's found out
to be a lie."  Colonel Cullum went over the maps with me at
General Scott's, and spoke with some greater confidence of
McDowell's prospects of success.  There is a considerable
force of Confederates at a place called Winchester, which is
connected with Manassas by rail, and this force could be
thrown on the right of the Federals as they advanced, biit
that another corps, under Patterson, is in observation, with
orders to engage them if they attempt to move eastwards.
The batteries for which General McDowell was looking last
night have arrived, and were sent on this morning.  One is
under Barry, of the United States regular artillery, whom I
met a Fort Pickeas.  The other is a volunteer battery. The 
426        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
onward movement of the army has been productive of a great
improvement in the streets of Washington, which are no longer
crowded with turbulent and disordei~ly volunteers, or by
soldiers disgracing the name, who accost you in the by-ways
for money. There are comparatively few to-day; small shoals,
which have escaped the meshes of the net, are endeavoring to
inake the most of their time before they cross the river to face
the enemy.
Still horse-hunting, but in vain - Gregson, Wroe - et hoc
genus omne.  Nothing to sell except at unheard-of rates;
tripeds, and the like, much the worse for wear, and yel possessed of some occult virtues, in right of which the owners
demanded egregious sums. Everywhere I am offered a gig or
a vehicle of some kind or another, as if the example of General Scott had rendered such a modetf campaigning the correct thing.  I saw many officers driving over the Long Bridge
with large stores of provisions, either unable to procure horses
or satisfied that a wagon was the chariot of Mars.  It is not
fair to ridicule either officers or men of this army, and if they
were not so inflated by a pestilent vanity, no one would dream
of doing so; but the excessive bragging and boasting in which
the volunteers and the press indulge really provoke ~riticism
and tax patience and forbearance overmuch.  Even the regular officers, who have some idea of military efficiency, rather
derived from education and foreign travels than from act~ial
experience, bristle up and talk proudly of the patriotism of the
army, and challenge the world to show such another, although
in their hearts, and more, with their lips, they own they do not
depend on them.  The white heat of patriotism has cooled
down to a dull black; and I am told that the gallant volunteers,
who are to conquer the world when they "have got through
with their present little job," are counting up the days to the
end of their service, and openly declare they will not stay a
day longer.  This is pleasant, inasmuch as the end of the term
of many of McDowell's, and most of Patterson's, three months'
men, is near at hand.  They have been faring luxuriously at
the expense of the Government - they have had nothing to do
- they have had enormous pay - they knew nothing, and were
worthless as to soldiering when they were enrolled.  Now,
having gained all these advantages, and being likely to be ot
use for the first time, they very quietly declare they are going
to sit under their fig-trees, crowned with civic laurels and
myrtles, and all that sort of thing.  But who dare say they are 
THE FIRST SKIRMISH.            427
not splendid fellows - full-blooded heroes, patriots, and warriors
- men before whose majestic presence all Europe pales and
faints away?
1n the evening 1 received a message to say that the advance of the army would take place to-morrow as soon as
General McDowell had satisfied himself by a reconnoissance
that hc could carry out his plan of turning the right of the
enemy by passing Occaguna Creek.  Along Pennsylvania
Avenue, along the various shops, hotels, and drinking-bars,
groups of people were collected, listening to the most exaggerated accounts of desperate fighting and of the utter demoralization of the rebels.  1 was rather amused by hearing
the florid accounts which were given in the hall of Willard's
by various inebriated officers, who were drawing upon their
imagination for their fact~, knowing, as 1 did, that the entrenchments at Fairfax had been abandoned without a shot on
the advance of the Federal troops.  The New York papers
came in with glowing descriptions of the magnificent march
of the grand army of the Potomac, which was stated to consist of upwards of 70,000 men; whereas 1 knew not half
that number were actually on the field.  Multitudes of people
believe General Winfield Scott, who was now fast asleep in
his modest bed in Pennsylva~ia Avenue, is about to take the
fieM in person.  I'he horse-dealers are still utterly impracti
cable.  A citizen who owned a dark bay, spavined and ringboned, asked me one thousand dollars for the right of possession.  1 ventured to suggest that it was not worth the money.
"Well," said he, "take it or leave it.  1f you want to see
this fight, a thousand dollars is cheap.  1 guess there were
chaps paid more than that to see Jenny Lind on her first
night; and this battle is not going to be repeated, 1 can tell
you.  The price of horses will rise when the chaps out there
have had themselves pretty well used up with bowie-knives
and six-shooters."
July 18th. - After breakfast.  Leaving head-quarters, 1
went across to General. Mansfield's, and was going up-stairs,
when the General * himself, a white-headed, gray-bearded,
and rather soldierly~looking man, dashed out of his room in
~me excitement, and exclaimed, "Mr. Russell, 1 fear there
is bad news from the front."  "Are they fighting, General?"
"Yes, sir.  That fellow Tyler has been engaged, and we are
whipped."  Again 1 went off to the horse-dealer; but this
* Since killed in action. 
428        MY DIARY N0~H AND SOUTH.
time the price of the steed had been raised to ~220; "for,"
says he, "I don't want my animals to be npped up by them
cannon and them musketry, and those who wish to be guilty
of such cruelty must pay for it."  At the War-Office, at the
Dep:~~~tn~ent of State, at the Senate, and at the White House,
~e5~t~  ers and orderlies running in and out, military aides,
and ~ivilians with anxious faces, betokened the activity and
perturbation which reigned within  I met Senator Sumner
radiant with joy.  "We have obtained a great success; the
rebels are falling back in all directions.  General Scott says
we ought to be in Rlchmond by Saturday night." Soon afterwards a United States officer, who had visited me in company
with General Meigs, riding rapidly past, called out, "You
have heard we are whipped; these confounded volunteers
have run away."  I drove to the Capitol, where people said
one could actually see the smoke of the cannon; but, on arriving there, it was evident that the fire from some burning
houses, and from wood cut down for cooking purposes, had
been mistaken for tokens of the fight.
It was strange to stand outside the walls of the Senate
whilst legislators were debating inside respecting the best
means of punishing the rebels and traitors; and to think
that, amidst the dim horizon 5f woods which bounded the
west towards the plains of Manassas, the army of the United
States was then contending, at least with doubtful fortune,
against the forces of the desperate and hopeless outlaws
whose fate these United States senators pretended to hold ia
the hollow of their hands.  Nor was it unworthy of note that
many of the tradespeople along Pennsylvania Avenue, and
the ladies whom on~ saw sauntering in the streets, were exchanging significant nods and smiles, and rubbing their hands
with satisfaction.  I entered one shop, where the pflprietor
and his wife ran forward to meet me.  " Have you heard the
news?  Beauregard has knocked them into a cooked hat."
"Believe me," said the good lady, "it is the finger of the
Almighty is in it.  Didn't he curse the niggers, and why
should he take their part now with these Yankee Abolitionists,
against true white men?"  "But how do you know this?
said I.  "Why, it's all true enough, depend upon it, no matter how we know it.  We've got our underground railway as
well as the Abolitionists."
On my way to dinner at the Legation I met the President
crossing Pennsylvania Avenue, stndi~g like a crane in a bul 
THE FEELING OF MIN1ST~~RS.~     429
rush swamp among the great blocks of marble, dressed in an
oddly cut suit of gray, with a felt hat on the back of his head,
wiping his face with a red pocket-handkerchief.  He was evidently in a hurry, on his way to the White House, where I
believe a telegraph has been established in communication
with McDowell's head-quarters.  I may mention, by the by
in illustration of the extreme ignorance and arrogance which
characterize the low Yankee, that a man in the uniform of a
colonel said to me to-day, as I was leaving the War Department, "They have just got a telegraph from McDowell.
Would it not astonish you Britishers to hear that, as our
General moves on towards the enemy, he trails a telegraph
wire behind him, just to let them know in Washington which
foot he is putting first?"  I was imprudent enough to say," I
assure you the use of the telegraph is not such a novelty in
Europe or even in India.  When Lord Clyde made his campaign, the telegraph was laid in his track as fast as he advanced."  "Oh, well, come now," quoth the Colonel, "that's
pretty good, that is; I believe you'll say next, your General
Clyde and our Benjamin Franklin discovered lightning simultaneously."
The calm of a Legation contrasts wondeffully in troubled
times with the excitement and storm of the world outside.
M. Mercier perhaps is moved to a vivacious interest in events.
M. Stoeckl becomes more animated as the time approaches
when he sees the fulfilment of his prophecies at hand.  M.
Tassara cannot be indifferent to occurrences which bear so directly on the future of Spain in Western seas; but all these
diplomatists can discuss the most engrossing and portentous
incidents of political and military life, with a sense of ealm
and indifference which was felt by the gentleman who resented
being called out of his sleep to get up out of a burning house
because he was only a lodger.
There is no Minister of the European Powers in Washington who watches with so much interest the march of events
as Lord Lyons, or who feels as much sympathy perhaps in
the Federal Government as the constituted Executive of the
country to which lie is accredited; but in virtue of his position he knows little or nothing officially of what passes around
him, and may be regaided as a medium for the communication
of despatches to Mr. Seward, and for the dischai~ge of a great
deal of most causeless and unmeaning vituperation from the
conductors of the New York- press against England. 
430        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
On my return to Captain Johnson's lodgings I received a
note from the head-quarters of the Federals, stating that the
serious action between the two armies would probably be
postponed for some days.  McDowell's original idea was to
avoid forcing the enemy's position directly in front, which was
defended by movable batteries commanding the fords over a
stream called "Bull's Run."  He therefore proposed to make
a demonstration on some point near the centre of their line,
and at the same time throw the mass of his force below their
extreme right, so as?o turn it and get possession of the ~ia
nassas Railway in their rear; a movement which would separate him, by the by, from his own communications, and enable any General worth his salt to make a magnificent counter
by marching on Washington, only 27 miles away, which he
could take with the greatest ease, and leave the enemy in the
rear to march 120 miles to Richmond, if they dared, or to
make a hasty retreat upon the higher Potomac, and to cross
into the hostile country of Maryland.
McDowell, however, has found the country on his left
densely wooded and difficult.  It is as new to him as it was
to Braddock, when he cut his weary way through forest and
swamp in this very district to reach, hundreds of miles away,
the scene of his fatal repulse at Fort Du Quesne.  And so,
having moved his whole army, McDowell finds himself obliged
to form a new plan of attack, and, prudently fearful of pushing
his underdone and over-praised levies into a river in face of
an enemy, is endeavoring to ascertain with what chance of
success he can attack and turn their left.
Whilst he was engaged in a reconnoissance to-day, General
Tyler did one of those things which must be expected from
ambitious officers, without any fear of punishment, in countries
where military discipline is scarcely known.  Ordered to reconnoitre the position of the enemy on the left front, when the
army moved from Fairfax to Ce~treville this morning, General Tyler thrust forward some 3000 or 4000 men of his division down to the very banks of "Bull's Run," which was
said to be thickly wooded, and there brought up his men under
a heavy fire of artillery and musketry, from which they retired in confusion.
The papers from New York to-night are more than usually
impudent and amusing.  The retreat of the Confederate outposts from Fairfax Court House is represented as a most extraordinary success; at best it was an affair of outposts; but 
EXAGGERATIONS.              431
one would really think that it was a victory of no small magnitude.  I learn that the Federal troops behaved in a most
ruffianly and lawless manner at Fairfax Court House.  It is
but a bad beginning of a campaign for the restoration of the
Union, to rob, burn, and destroy the property and houses of
the people in the State of Virginia. The enemy are described
as running in all directions, but it is evident they did not intend to defend the advanced works, which were merely constructed to prevent surprise or cavalry inroads.
I went to Willard's, where the news of the battle, as it was
called, was eagerly discussed.  One little man in fi'ont of the
cigar-stand declared it was all an affair of cavalry.  "But
how could that be among the piney woods and with a river in
front, major?"  "Our boys, sir, left their horses, crossed the
water at a run, and went right away through them with their
swords and six-shooters." "I tell you what it is, Mr. Russell,"
said a man who followed me out of the crowd and placed his
hand on my shoulder, "they were whipped like curs, and they
ran like curs, and I know it."  "How?"  "Well, I'd rather
be excused telling you."
Jul11 19th. - I rose early this morning in order to prepare
for contingencies and to see off Captain Johnson, who was
about to start with despatches for New York, containing, no
doubt, the intelligence that the Federal troops had advanced
against the enemy.  Yesterday was so hot that officers and
men on the field suffered from something like sun-stroke.  To
unaccustomed frames to-day the heat felt unsupportable.  A
troop of regular cavalry, riding through the street at an early
hour, were so exhausted, horse and man, that a runaway cab
could have bowled them over like ninepins.
I hastened to General Scott's quarters, which were besieged
by civilians outside and full of orderlies and officers within.
Mr. Cobden would be delighted with.~the republican simplicity
of the Commander-in-Chief's establishment, though it did not
strike me as being very cheap at the money on such an occasion.  It consists, in fact, of a small three-storied brick house,
the parlors on the ground floor being occupied by subordinates, the small front room on the first floor being appropriated to General Scott himself, the smaller back-room being
devoted to his stafi, and two rooms up-stairs most probably
being in possession of waste papers and the guardians of the
mansion.  The walls are covered with maps of the coarsest
description, and with rough plans and drawings, which afford 
0
432       MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
information and amusement to the orderlies and the stray
aide-de-camps. "Did you ever hear anything so disgraceful
in your life as the stories which are going about of the affair.
yesterday?" said Colonel Cullum.  "I assure you it was the
smallest affair possible, although the story goes that we have
lost thousands of men.  Our total loss is under ninety -
killed, wounded, and missing; and I regret to say nearly one
tliird of the whole are under the latter head."  "However
that may be, Colonel," said I, it will be difficult to believe
your statement after the columns of type which appear in the
papers here."  "Oh!  ~Yho minds what they say?"  "You
will admit, at any rate, that the retreat of these undisciplined
troops from an encounter with the enemy will have a bad effect."  " Well, I suppose that's likely enough, but it will soon
be swept away in the excitement of a general advance.  General Scott, having determin~d to attack the enemy, will not
halt now, and I am going over to Brigadier McDowell to examine the ground and see what is best to be done."  On
leaving the room two officers came out of General Scott's
apartment; one of them said, "Why, Colonel, he's not half
the man I thought him.  Well, any way he'll be better there
than McDowell.  If old Scott had legs he's good for a big
thing yet."
For hours I went horse-hunting; but Rothschild himself,
even the hunting Baron, could not have got a steed.  In
Pennsylvania Avenue the people were standing in the shade
under the telanthus trees, speculating on the news brought by
dusty orderlies, or on the ideas of passing congressmen.  A
party of captured Confederates, on their march to General
Mansfield's quarters, created intense interest, and I followed
them to the house, and we tit up to see the General, whilst the
prisoners sat down on the pavement and steps outside.  Notwithstanding his affectati~~ of calm, and self-possession, General Mansfield, who was charged with the defence of the town,
was visibly perturbed.  "These things, sir," said he, "happen
in Europe, too.  If the capital should fall into the hands of
the rebels, the United States will be no more destroyed than
they were when you bunted it."  From an expression he let
fall, I inferred he did not very well know what to do with his
prisoners.  "Rebels taken in arms in Europe are generally
hung or blown away from guns, I believe; but we are more
-merciful."  General Mansfield evidently wished to be spared
ttLe embarrassment of dealing with prisoners. - 
STEVENS'S RAM.             433
I dined at a restaurant kept by one Boulanger, a Frenchman, who utilized the swarms of flies infesting his premises by
combining masses of them with his soup and made dishes.
At an adjoining table were a lanky boy in a lieutenant's unifi~rm, a pflvate soldier, and a man in plain clothes; and for the
edification of the two latter the warrior youth was detailing
tiie most remarkable stories in the Munchausen style, ear ever
heard.  "Well, sir, I tell you, when his head fell off on the
ground, his eyes shut and opened twice, and his tongue came
out with an expression as if he wanted to say something."
There were seven balls through my coat, and it was all so
spiled with blood and powder, I took it off and threw it in tlie
road.  When the boys were burying the dead, I saw this coat
on a chap who had been just smoH~ered by the weight of the
killed and wounded on the top of him, and I says,`Boys, give
me tijat coat; it will just do for me wifl~ the same rank; and
there is no use in putting good cloth on a dead body."' "And
how many do you suppose was killed, Lieutenant?"  "Well,
sir, it's my honest belief, I tell you, that il~ere was not less
than 5000 of our boys, and it may be twice as many of the
enemy, or more; they were all shot down just like pigeons;
you might walk for five rods by tlie side of the Run, and not
be able to put your foot on the ground."  "The dead was tl~at
thick?"  "No, but the dead and the wounded together."  No
incredulity in the hearers - all swallowed: possibly disgorged
into the note-book of a Washington contributor.
After dinner I walked over with Lieutenant II. Wise, inspected a model of Stevens's ram, which appears to me an
utter impossibility ~n face of the iron-clad. embrasured fleet
now coming up to view, though it is spok~n of highly by
some naval officers and by many politicians.  For years their
papers!~ave been indulging in mysterious volcanic puffs from
the great centre of nothingness as to this secret and treniendous war-engine, which was surrounded by walls of all kinds,
and only to be let out on the world when the Great Republic
in its might had resolved to sweep everything off the seas.
And lo! it is an abortive ram! Los Gringos went home, and
I paid a visit to a family whose daughters - bright-eyed,
pretty, and clever - were seated out on the door-steps amid
the lightning flashes, one of them, at least, dreaming with
open eyes of a young artillery-offleer then sleeping among his
guns, probably, in front of Fairfax Court House.
19 
CllAPTER XLIX.
Skirmish at Bull's Run - The Crisis in Congress -Dearth of horses
- War Prices at Washington - Estimate of the effects of Bull's
Run - Password and Countersign - Transatlantic View of The
Times "- Difficulties of a Newspaper Correspondent in the Field.
JuI~ 20th. - The great battle which is to arrest rebellion,
or to make it a power in the land, is no longer distant or
doubtful.  AleDowell has completed his reconnoissance of the
country in front of the enemy, and General Scott anticipates
that he will be in possession of Alnnassas to-morrow night.
All the statements of officers concur in describing the Confederates as strongly intrenched along the line of Bull Ruu
covering the railroad.  The New York papers, indeed, audaciously declare that the enemy have fallen back in disorder.
In the main thoroughfares of the city there is still a scattered
army of idle soldiers moving through the civil crowd, though
how they come here no one knows.  The officers clustering
round the h~wels, and running in and out of the bar-rooms
and eating-houses, are still more numerous.  When I inquired at the head-quarters who these were, the answer was
that il~e majoflty were skulkers, but that there was no power
at such a moment to send them back to their regiments or
pi~nish them. In fact, deducting the reserves, the rear-guards,
and the scanty garrisons at the earth-works, McDowell will
not have 25,000 men to undertake his seven days' march
through a hostile country to the Confederate capital; and
yet, strange to say, in the pride and passion of the politicians,
no doubt is permitted to rise for a moment respecting his complete success.
I was desirous of seeing what impression was produced
upon the Congress of the United States by the crisis which
was approaching, and drove down to the Senate at noon.
There was no appearance of popular enthusiasm, excitement,
or emotion among the people in the passages.  They drank
their iced water, ate cakes or lozenges, chewed and cl~atted,
or dashed at their acquaantances amongst the members, as 
THE EVE OF THE 3ATTLE.          435
though nothing more important than a railway bill or a postal
concession was being debated inside.  I entered the Senate,
and found the House engaged in not listening to Mr. Latham,
the Senator for California, who was delivering an elaborate
lecture on the aspect of political affairs from a Republican
point of view.  The senators were, as usual, engaged in
reading newspapers, writing letters, or in whispered conversation, whilst the Senator received his applause from the people in the galleries, who were scarcely restrained from stamping their feet at the most highly-flown passages.  Whilst I
was listening to what is by courtesy called the debate, a messenger from Centreville, sent in a letter to me, stating that
General McDowell would advance early in the morning, and
expected to engage the enemy before noon.  At the same
moment a Senator who had received a despatch left his seat
and read it to a brother legislator, and the news it contaifled
was speedily diffused from one seat to another, and groups
formed on the edge of the floor eagerly discussing the welcome intelligence
The President's hammer again and again called them to
order; and from out of this knot, Senator Sumner, his face
lighted with pleasure, came to tell me the good news. "Mc
Dowell has carried Bull Run without firing a shot.  Seven
regiments attacked it at the point of the bayonet, and the
enemy immediately fled.  General Scott only gives McDowell till mid-day to-morrow to be in possession of Manassas."
Soon atterwards, Mr. Hay, the President's Secretary, appeared
on the floor to communicate a message to the Senate  I asked
him if the news was true.  "All I can tell you," said he, "is
that the President has heard nothing at all about it, and that
General Scott, from whom we have just received a communication, is equally ignorant of the reported success."
Some senators and many congressmen have already gone
to join McDowell's army, or to follow in its wake, in the hope
of seeing the Lord deliver the Philistines into his hands  As
I was leaving the Chamber with Mr. Sumner, a dust-stained,
toil-worn man, caught the Senator by the arm, and said, "Senator, I am one of your constituents.  I come from -town,
in Massachusetts, and here are letters from people you know,
to certify who I am.  My poor brother was killed yesterday,
and I want to go out and get his body to send back to the
old people; but they won't let me pass without an order."
And so Mr. Sumner wrote a note to General Scott, and an 
436        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
other to General Mansfield, recommending that poor Gordon
Frazer should be permitted to go through the Federal lines
on his labor of love; and the honest Scotchman seemed as
grateful as if he had already found his brother's body.
Every carriage, gig, wagon, and hack has been engaged by
people going out to see the fight.  The price is enhanced by
mysterious communications respecting the horrible slaughter
in the skirmishes at Bull's Run.  Tlie French eooks and hotelkeepers, by some occult process of reasoning, have arrived at
the conclusion that they must treble the prices of their wines
and of the hampers of provisions which the Washington people
are ordering to comfort themselves at their bloody Derby.
"There was not less than 18,000 men, sir, killed and destroyed.  I don't care what General Scott says to the contrary,
he was not there.  I saw a reliable gentleman, ten minutes
ag6, as cum straight from the place, and lie swore there was
a string of wagons three miles long with tlie wounded.
While these Yankees lie so, I should not be surprised to hear
they said they did not lose 1000 men in that big fight the day
before yesterday."
When the newspapers came in from New York, I read
flaming accounts of the ill-conducted reconnoissance against
orders, which was terminated by a most dastardly. and ignominious retreat, "due," say the New York papers, "to the
inefficiency and cowardice of some of the officers."  Far different was the behavior of the modest chroniclers of these
scenes, who, as they tell us,  stood their ground as well as
any of them, in spite of the shot, shell, and rifle-balls that
whizzed past them for many hours."  General Tyler alone,
perhaps, did more, for "he was exposed to the enemy's fire
for nearly four hours;" and when we consider that this fire
came from masked batteries, arid that the wind of round shot
is unusually destructive (in America), we can better appreciate the danger to which he was so gallantly indifferent.  it is
obvious that in this first encounter the Federal troops gained
no advantage; and as they were tlie assailants, their repulse,
which cannot be kept secret from the rest of the army, will
have a very damaging effect on their morale.
General Johnston, who has been for some days with a considerable force in an entrenched position at Winchester, in the
valley of the Shenandoah, had occupied General Scott's attention, in consequence of the facility which he possessed to move
into Maryland by llarper's Ferry, or to fall on tlie Federals 
PREPARATIO~S.              437
by the Manassas Gap Railway, which was available by a long
march from the town he occupied.  General Patterson, with
a Federal corps of equal strength, had accordingly been despatched to attack him, or, at all events, to prevent his leaving
Winchester without an action; but the news to-night is that
Patterson, who was an officer of some reputation, has allowed
Johnston to evacuate Winchester, and has not pursued him;
so that it is impossible to predict where the latter will appear.
Having failed utterly in my attempts to get a horse, I was
obliged to negotiate with a livery stable-keeper, who had a
hooded gig, or tilbury, left on his hands, to which he proposed
to add a splinter-bar and pole, so as to make it available foi
two horses, on condition that I paid him the assessed value of
the vehicle and horses, in case they were destroyed by the
enemy.  Of what particular value my executors might have
regarded the guarantee iii question, the worthy man did not
inquire, nor did he stipulate for any value to be put upon the
driver; but it struck me that, if these were in any way seriously damaged, the occupants of the vehicle were not likely
to escape.  The driver, indeed, seemed by no means willing
to undertake the job; and again and ngain it was proposed to
me that I should drive, but I persistently refused.
On completing my bargain with the stable~eeper, in which
it was arranged with Mr. Wroe that I was to start on the
following morning early, and return at night before twelve
o'clock, or pay a double day, I went over to the Legation, and
found Lord Lyons in the garden.  I went to request that he
would permit Mr. Warre, one of the attack es, to accompany
me, as he had expressed a desire to that effect.  His Lordship hesitated at first, thinking perhaps that the American
papers would turn the circumstance to some b~se uses, if they
were made aware of it; but finally he consented, on the distinct assurance that I was to be back the following night, and
would not, under any event, proceed onwards with General
McDowell's army till after I had returned to Washington.
On talking the matter over with M~ Warre, I resolved that
the best plan would be to start that night if possible, and proceed over the Long Bridge, so as to overtak~ the army before
it advanced in the early morning.
It was a lovely moonlight night.  As we walked through
the street to General Scott's quarters, for the purpose of procuring a pass, there was scarcely a soul abroad; and the
~lence which reigned contrasted strongly with the tumult 
438        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
prevailing in the daytime  A light glimmered in the General's parlor; his aides were seated in the veranda outside
smoking in silence, and one of them handed us the passes
which he had promised to procure; but when 1 told them
that we intended to cross the Long Bridge that night, an
unforeseen obstacle arose.  The guards had been specially
ordered to permit no person to cross between tattoo and daybreak who was not provided with the countersign; and without the express order of the General, no subordinate officer
can communicate that Countersign to a stranger.  "Can you
not ask the General?"  "lle is lying down asleep, and 1 dare
not venture to disturb him.
As I had all along intended to start before daybreak, this
contretemps promised to be very embarrassing, and I ventured
to suggest that General Scott would authorize the countersign
to be given when he awoke.  But the nide.decamp shook his
head, and I began to suspect from his manner and from that
of his comrades that my visit to the army was i~t regarded
with much favor - a view which was confirmed by one of
them, who, by the way, was a civilian, for in a few minutes
he said, "In fact, I would not advise Warre and you to go
out there at all; they are a lot of volunteers and recruits, and
we can't say how they will behave.  They may probably have
to retreat.  If I were you I would not be near them."  Of
the five or six officers who sat in the veranda, not one spoke
confidently or with the briskness which is usual when there is
a chance of a brush with an enemy.
As it was impossible to force the point, we had to retire,
and I went once more to the horse dealer's where I inspected
the vehicle and the qundrupeds destined to draw it.  I had
spied in a st~~ a likely-looking Kentuckian nag, nearly
black, light, but strong, and full of fire, with an undertaker a
tail and something of a mane to match, which the groon
assured me I could not even look at, as it was bespoke by an
officer; but after a little strategy I prevailed on the-propnetor
to hire it to me for the d~y, as well as a boy, who was to ride
it after the gig till we came to Centreville.  My little experience in such scenes decided me to secure a saddle horse.  I
knew it would be impossible to see anything of the action from
a gig; that the roads would be blocked up by commissariat
wagons, ammunition reserves, and that in case of anything serious taking place, I should be deprived of the chance of participating after the manner of my vocation in the engagement, 
PREPARING FOR ACTION.         439
and of witnessing its incidents.  As it was not incumbent on
my companion to approach so closely to the scene of action,
be could proceed in the vehicle to the most convenient point,
and then walk as far as he liked, and return when he pleased;
but from the injuries I had sustained in the Indian campaign,
I could not walk very far.  It was finally settled that the gig;
with two horses and the saddle horse ridden by a negro boy,
should be at my door as soon after daybreak as We could pass
the Long Bridge.
I returned to my lodgings, laid out an old pair of Indian
boots, cords, a Himalayan suit, an old felt hat, a flask, revolver, and belt.  It was very late when I got in, and I relied
on my German landlady to procure some commissariat stores;
but she dedared the whole extent of her means would only
furnish some slices of bread, with intercostal Jayers of stale
ham and mouldy Bologna sausage.  I was forced to be content, and got to bed after midnight, and slept, having first arranged that in case of my being very late next night a trustworthy Englishman should be sent for, who would carry my
letters from Washington to Boston in time for the mail which
leaves on Wednesday.  My mind had been so much occupied
with the coining event that I slept uneasily, and once or twice
I started up, fancying I was called.  The moon shone in
through the mosquito curtains of my bed, and just ere daybreak I was aroused by some noise in the adjoining room, and
looking out, in a half dreamy state, imagined I saw General
McDowell standing at the table, on which a candle was burning low, so distinctly that I woke up with the words, " General, is that you?"  Nor did I convince myself it was a dream
till I had walked into the room.
Ju1~ 21 s~ - The calmness and silence of the streets of
Washington this lovely morning suggested thoughts of the
very different scenes which, in all probability, were taking
place at a few miles' distance.  One could fancy the hum and
stir round the Federal bivouacs, as the troops woke up and
were formed into column of march towards the enemy.  I
much regretted that I was not enabled to take the field with
General McDowell's army, but my position was surreunded
with such difficulties that I could not pursue the course open
to the correspondents of the American newspapers.  On my
arrival in Washington I addressed an application to Mr. Cameron, Secretary at War, requesting him to sanction the issue
~f rations and forage from the Commissariat to mysel?, a ser~ 
440        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
vant, and a`couple of horses, at the contract pflces, or on
whatever other terms he might think fit, and I had several interviews with Mr. Leslie, the obliging and indefatigable chief
clerk of the War Department, in reference to the matter; but
as there was a want of precedents for sud~ a course, which
`was not all to be wondered at, seeing that no representative
of an English newspaper had ever been sent to chronicle the
progress of an American army in the field, no satisfactory result could be arrived at, though I had many fair words and
promises.
A great outcry had arisen in the North again~~t the course
and policy of Lu gland, and the journal I represented was assailed on all sides as a Secession organ, favorable to the rebels
and exceedingly hostile to the Federal government and tlie
cause of the 1}nion.  Public men in America are alive to tlie
inconveniences of attacks by il~eir own press; and ns it was
quite impossible to grant to the swarms of correspondents from
all parts of the Union the permission to draw supplies from the
public stores, it would have afforded a handle to turn the screw
upon the War Department, already roundly abused in the most
influential papers, if Mr. Cameron acceded to me, not merely
a foreigner, but the correspondent of a foreign journal which
was considered fl~e most powefful enemy of the policy of l)is
government, privileges which he denied to American citizens,
representing newspapers which were enthusiastically supporting the cau~e for which the armies of the North were now in
the field.
To these gentlemen indeed, I must here remark, such privileges were of little consequence.  In every camp they had
fri ends who were willing to receive them in their quarters,
and who earned a word of praise in the local papers for the
gratification of either their vanity or their laudable ambition
in their own neighborhood, by the ready service which they
afforded to the correspondents.  They rode Government
horses, had the use of Government wagons, and through fear,
favor, or affection, enjoyed facilities to which I had no access.
I could not expect persons with whom I was unacquainted to
be equally generous, least of all when by doing so they would
have incurred popular obloquy and censure; though many
officers in the army had expressed in very civil terms the
pleasure it would give them to see me at their qua~ters in the
field.  Some days ago I had an interview with Mr. Cameron
himselt, who was profuse enough in promising that he would 
DIFFICULTIES.            441
do all in his power to further my wishes; but he had, nevertheless, neglected sending me the aut~orization for which I
had applied.  I could scarcely stand a bag~a~ train and cornmissariat upon my own account, nor could I well participate
in the system of plunder and appropriation which has marked
the course of the Federal arniy so far, devastating and laying
waste all the country behind it.
IIence, all I coulJ do was to make a journey to see the
army on the field, and to return to Washington to write my
report of its first operation, knowing there would be plenty
of time to overtake it before it could reach Richmond, when,
as I hoped, ~Ir. Cameron would be prepared to accede to
my request, or some plan had been devised by myself to
obviate the difficulties which lay in my path.  There was no
entente cordiale exhibited towards me by the members of the
American press; nor did they, any more thaa the generals,
evince any disposition to help the alien correspondent of the
"Times," and my only connection with one of their body, the
young designer, had not, indeed, inspired me with any great
desire to extend my acquaintance.  General McDowell, on
giving me the most hospitable invitation to his quarters, refrained from offering the assistance which, perhaps, it was not
in his power to afford; and I confess, looking at the matter
calmly, I could scarcely expect that he would, particularly as
he said, half in jest, half seriously, "I declare I am not quite
easy at the idea of having your eye on me, for you have seen
so much of European armies, you will, very naturally, think
little of us, generals and all."
19~ 
CHAPTER L
To the scene of action - Tl~e Confederate camp - Centreville - Ac   tion at Bull ~un - Defeat of the Federals - Disorderly retreat to
Centreville - My ride back to Washington.
PUNCTUAL to time, our carriage appeared at the door, with
a spare horse, followed by the black quadruped on which the
negro boy sat with difficulty, in conseq'~ence of its high spirits
and excessively hard mouth.  I swallowed a cup of tea and
a morsel of bread, put the remainder of the tea into a bottle
got a flask of light Bordeaux, a bottle of water, a paper of'
sandwiches, and having replenished m~ small flask with
brandy, stowed them all away in the bottom of the gig; but
my friend, who is not accustomed to rise very early in the
morning, did not make his appearance, and I was obliged to
send several times to the Legation to quicken his movements.
-Each time I was assured he would be over presently; but it
was not till two hours had elapsed, and when I had just resolved to leave him behind, that he appeared in person, quite
unprovided with viaticum, so that my slender store had now
to meet demands of two instead of one.  We are off at last.
The amicus and self find contracted space behind the Ji-iver.
The negro boy, grinning half with pain and "the balance"
with pleasure, as the Americans say, held on his rampant
charger, which made continual efforts to leap into the gig, and
thu~ through the deserted city we proceeded towards the
Long Bridge, where a sentry examined our papers, and said
with a grin, "You'll find plenty of congressmen on before
you."  And then our driver whipped his horses through the
embankment of Fort Runyon, and dashed off along a country
road, much cut up with gun and cart-wheels, towards the
main turnpike.
The promise of a lovely day, given by il~e early dawn, was
likely to be realized to the fullest, and the placid beauty of the
scenery as we drove through the woods below Arlington, and
beheld the white buildings shining in the early sunlight, and 
OUT IN VIRGINIA.           443
the Potomac, like a broad silver ribbon dividing the picture
breathed of peace.  The silence close to the city was un~
broken.  From the time we passed the guard beyond the
Long Bridge, for several miles, we did not meet a human
being, except a few soldiers in the neighborhood of the deserted camps, and when we passed beyond the range of
tents we drove for nearly two hours through a denselywooded, undulating country; the houses, close to the roadside, shut up and deserted, window-high in the crops of Indian
corn, fast ripening for il~e sickle; alternate field and forest,
the latter generally still holding possession of the hollows,
and, except when the road, deep and filled with loose stones,
passed over the sum~~ of the ridges, the eye caught on either
side little but fir-trees and maize, and the deserted wooden
houses, standing amidst the slave-quarters.
The residences close to the lines gave signs and tokens that
the Federals had recently visited them.  But at the best of
times the inhabitants could not be very well offi  Some of the
farms were small, the houses tumbling to decay, with. unpainted roofs and sidewalls, and windows where the want
of glass was supplemented by panes of wood.  As we get
farther into the country the traces of the debatable land
between the two armies vanished, and negroes looked out
from their quarters, or sickly4ooking women and children
were summoned forth by the rattle of the wheels to see who
was hurrying to the war.  Now and then a white man looked
out, with an ugly scowl on his face, but the country seemed
drained of the adult male population, and such of the inhabitants as we saw were neither as comfortably dressed nor as
healthy-looking as the shambling slaves who shuffled about
the plantations.  The road was so cut up by gun-wheels,
ammunition and commissariat wagons, that our horses made
but slow way against the continual draft upon the collar; but
at last the driver, who had known the country in happier
times, announced that we had entered the high-road for Fairfax Court House.  Unfortunately my watch had gone down,
but I guessed it was then a little before nine o'clock.  In a
few minutes aflcrwards I thought I heard, through the eternal
clatter and jingle of the old gig, a sound which made me call
tlie driver to stop.  He pulled up, and we listened.  In a
Ininute or so, the well-known boom of a gun, followed by two
or three in rapid succession, but at a considerable distance,
reached my ear.  "Did you hear that?"  Th~ driver hea~ 
444        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
nothing, nor did my companion, but the black boy on the ledhorse, with eyes starting out of his head, cried, "I bear them,
ruassa; I hear them, sure enough, like de gun in de navy
yard;" and as he spoke tlie thudding noise, like taps with
a gentle hand upon a muffled drum, were repeated, which
were heard both by ~1r. Warre and the driver.  "They are
at it!  We shall be late~!  Drive on as fast as you can!',
We rattled on still faster, and presently came up to a farmhouse, where a man and woman, with some negroes beside
them, were standing out by the hedgerow above us, looking
up the road in the direction of a cloud of dust, which we
could see rising above the tops of the trees.  We halted
for a moment. "llow long have the ~uns been going, sir?"
"Well, ever since early this morning," said he; "they've
been having a figh~  And I do really believe some of our
poor Union chaps have had enough of it already.  For here's
some of them darned Secessionists marching dowa to go into
Alexandry." The driver dki not seem altogether content with
this explanation of the dust in front of us, and presently, when
a turn of the road brought to view a body of armed men,
stretching to an interminable distance, with bayonets glittering
in the sunlight through the clouds of dust, seemed inclined to
halt or turn back again. A nearer approach satisfied me they
were friends, and as soon as we came up with the head of the
column I saw that they could not be engaged in the performance of any military duty.  The men were marching without
any resemblance of order, in twos and threes or larger troops.
Some without arms, carrying great bundles on their backs;
others with their coats hung from their firelocks; many footsore.  They were all talking, and in haste; many plodding
along laughing, so I concluded that they could not belong to
a defeated army, and imagined McDowell was effecting some
flank movement.  "Where are you going to, may I ask?"
"If this is the road to Alexandna, we are going there."
"There is an action going on in front, is there not?"
"Well, so we believe, but we have not been fighting."
Although they were in such good spirits, they were not
communicative, and we resumed our journey, impeded by the
straggling troops and by the country cars containing their
baggage and chairs, ai~d tables and domestic furniture, which
had never belonged to a regiment in the field.  Still they
came pouring on.  I ordered the driver to stop at a rivulet,
where a number of men were seated in the shade, drinking 
FAIRFAX COURT HOUSE.            445
the water and bathing their hands and feet.  On getting out
1 asked an officer, "May 1 beg to know, sir, where your regiment is going to?"  "Well, 1 reckon, sir, we are going home
to Pennsylvania."  "This is the 4th Pennsylvania Regiment,
is it not, sir?"  "It is so, sir; that's the fact."  " I should
think there is severe fighting going on behind you, judging
from the firing?" (for every moment the sound of the cannon
had been growing more distinct and more heavy).  "Well,
I reckon, sir, there is."  I paused for a moment, not knowing
what to say, and yet anxious for an explanation; and the
epauletted gentleman, after a few seconds' awkward hesitation,
added, "We are going home because, as you see, the men 5
t~me s up, sir. We have had three months of this sort of work,
and that's quite enough of it."  The men who were listening
to the conversation expressed their assent to the noble and
patriotic utterances of the centurion, and, making him a low
bow, we resumed our journey.
It was fully three and a half miles before the last of the
regiment passed, and then the road presented a more animated
scene, for white-covered commissariat wagons were visible,
wending towards the front, and one or two hack carriages,
laden with civilians, were hastening in the same direction.
Before fl~e doors of the wooden fnrm-houses the colored people
were assembled, listening with outstretched necks to the repeated reports of the guns.  At one time, as we were descending the wooded road, a huge blue dome, agitated by some internal convulsion, appeared to bar our progress, and it was
only after infinite persuasion of rein and whip that the horses
approached the terrific object, which was an inflated balloon,
attached to a wngon, and defying the efforts of the men in
charge to jockey it safely through the trees.
It must have been about eleven o'clock when we came to
the first traces of the Confederate camp, in front of Fairfax
Court llouse, where they had cut a few trenches and levelled
the trees across the road, so as to form a rude abattis; but the
wo~ks were of a most superficial character, and would scarcely
have given cover either to the guns, for which embrasures were
left at the flanks to sweep the road, or to the infantry intended
to defend them.
The Confederate force stationed here must have consisted,
to a considerable extent, of cavalry. The bowers of branches,
which they had made to shelter their tents, camp-tables, empty
boxes, and packing-cases, in the dJHs one usually sees around 
446        MY. DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
an encampment, showed they had not been destitute ~r creature
comforts.
Some time before noon the driver, urged \con tinually by adjurations to get on, whipped his horses into Fairfax Court
liouse, a village which derives its name from a large brick
building, in which the sessions of the county are held.  Some
thirty or forty houses, for the most part detached, with gardens or small strips of land about them, form the main street.
The inhabitants who remained had by no means an agreeable
expression of countenance, and did not seem on very good
terms with the Federal soldiers, who were lounging up and
down the streets, or standing in the shade of tl~e trees and
doorways.  1 asked the sergeant of a picket in the street how
long the firing had been going on.  lle replied that it had commenced at half-past seven or eight, and had been increasing
ever since.  "Some of them will lose their eyes and back
teeth," he added, "before it is over."  The driver, pulliilg up
at a roadside inn in the town, here made the startling announcement, that both he and his horses must have something to cat,
and although we would have been happy to join him, seeing
that we had no breakfast, we could not afford the time, and
were not displeased when a thin-faced, shrewish woman, in
black, came out into the veranda, and said she could not let us
have anything unless we liked to wait till the regular dinner
hour of the house, which was at one o'clock.  The horses got
a bucket of water, which they needed in that broiling sun;
and tlie cannonade, which by this time had increased into a respectable tumult that gave evidence of a well-sustained action,
added vigor to the driver's arm, and in a mile or two more we
dashed in to a village of burnt houses, the charred brick chimney stacks standing amidst the blackened embers being all that
remained of what once was Germantown.  The firing of
this village was severely censured by General McDowell, who
probably does not appreciate the value of such agendes employed "by our glorious Union army, to develop loyal sentiments among the people of Virginia.
The driver, passing through the town, drove straight on,
but after some time 1 fancied the sound of the guns seemed
dying away towards our left.  A big negro came shambling
along the roadside - the driver stopped and asked him, "is
this the road to Centreville?" "Yes, sir; right on, sir; good
road to Centreville, massa," and so we proceeded, till 1 became satisfied from the appearance of the road that we had 
A MISTAKE ON TllE I~OAD.        447
altogether left the track of the army.  At the first cottage we
halted, and inquired of a Virginian, who came out to look at
us, whether the road led to Centreville.  "You're going tG
Centreville, are you?"`"Yes, by the shortest road we can."
"~Yell, then -you're going wrong~right away! Some people
say there's a bend of road leading through the wood a mile
ft~i~ther on, but those who have tried it lately have come back
to Germantown and don~t think it leads to Centreville at
all."  This was very provoking, as the horses were much fatigued and we had driven several miles out of our way.  The
driver, who was an Englishman, said, "I think it would be
best for us to go on and try the road anyhow.  There's not
likely to be any Seceshers about there, are there, sir?"
"~~hat did you say, sir;' inquired the Virginian, with a vacant stare upon his face.
"I merely asked whether you think we are likely to meet
with any Secessionists if we go along that road?"
"Secessionists!" repeated the Virginian, slowly pronouncing
each' syllable as if pondering on the meaning of the word -
"Secessionists! Oh no, sir; I don't believe there's such a
thing as a Secessionist in the whole of this country.'
The boldness of this assertion, in the very hearing of Beauregal~d's cannon, completely shook the faith of our Jehu in any
information from that source, and we retraced our steps to
Germantown, and were directed into the proper road by
some negroes, who were engaged exchanging Confederate
money at very low rates for Federal copper with a few straggling soldiers.  The faithful Muley Moloch, who had beea
capering in our rear so long, now complained that he was very
much burned, but on further inquiry it was ascertained lie
was merely suffering from the abrading of his skin against
an English saddle.
In an hour more we had gained the high road to Centreville, on which were many buggies, commissariat carts, and
Wagons full of civilians, and a brisk canter brought us in
sgi~t of a rising ground, over which the road led directly
tbrough a few houses on each side, and dipped out of sight,
the slopes of the hill being covered with men, carts, and horses,
and the summit crested with spectators, with their back turne~l
to wards us, and gazing on the valley beyond.  "There's Cciitreville," says the driver, and on our poor panting horses were
forced, passing directly through the Confederate bivouacs,
commissariat parks, folds of oxen, and two German regiments, 
448        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
with a battery of artillery, halting on the rising-ground by thc
road-side.  ~he heat was intense.  Our driver complained
of hunger and thirst, to which neither 1 nor my companiot
were insensible; and so pulling up on the top of the hill, 1 sent
the boy down to the villaae which we had passed, to see if he
could find shelter for the horses, and a morsel for our breakfastless selves.
It was a strange scene before us.  From the hill a densely
wooded country, dotted at intervals with green fields and
cleared lands, spread five or six miles in front, bounded by a lin~
of blue and purple ridges, terminating abruptly in escarpment
towards the left front, and swelling gradually towards the right
into the lower spines of an offshoot fiom the Blue Ridge
Mountains.  On our left the view was circumscribed by a
forest which clothed the side of the ridge on which we stood,
and covered its shoulder far down into the plain.  A gap in
the nearest chain of the hills in our front was pointed out by
the by-standers as the Pass of ~1anassas, by which the railway
from the West is carried into the plain, and still nearer at
hand, before us, is the junction of that rail with the line from
Alexandria, and with the railway leading southwards to Richmond.  The intervening space was not a deal level; undulating lines of forest. marked the course of the streams which intersected it, and gave, by their variety of color and shading
an additional charm to the landscape which, enclosed in a
framework of blue and purple hills, sofiened into violet in the
extreme distance, presented one of the most agreeable displays
of simple pastoral woodland scenery that could be conceived.
But the sounds which came upon the breeze, and the sights
which met our eyes, were in terrible variance with the tranquil character of the landscape.  The woods far and near
echoed to the roar of cannon, and thin frayed lines of blue
smoke marked the spots whence came the muttering sound of
rolling musketry; the white puffs of smoke burst high above
the tree-tops, and the gunners' rings from shell and howitzer
marked the fire of the artillery.
Clouds of dust shifted and moved through the forest; and
through the waveflng mists of light-blue. smoke, and the thicker
masses which rose commingling from the feet of men and the
mouths of cannon, 1 could see the gleam of arms and the
twinkling of bayonets.
On the hill beside me there was a crowd of civilians on
horseback, and in all sorts of vehicles, with a few of the 
SEEiNG A BATTLE.             449
fairer, if not gentler sex.  A few offlcers and some soldiers,
who had straggled from the regiments in reserve, moved about
among the spectators, and pretended to explain the movements
of the troops below, of which they were profoundly ignorant.
The cannonade and musketry had been exaggerated by the
distance and by the rolling echoes of the hills; and sweeping
the position narrowly with my glass from point to point, I
failed to discover any traces of close encounter or vevy severe
fighting.  The spectators were all excited, and a lady with an
opera-glass who was near me, was quite beside herself when
an unusually heavy discharge roused the current of her blood
That is splendid.  Oh, my! Is not that first-rate? I guess
we will be in Richmond this time to-morrow."  These, mingled with coarser exclamations, burst from the politicians who
had come out to see the triumph of the Union arms.  I was
particularly irritated by constant applications for the loan of
my glass.  One broken-down looking soldier observing my
flask, asked me for a drink, and took a startling pull, which
lefi but little between the bottom and utter vacuity.
"Stranger, that's good stuff and no mistake.  I have not
had such a drink since I come South.  I feel now as if I'd
like to whip ten Seceshers."
From the line of the smoke it appeared to me that the
action was in an oblique line from our left, extending farther
outwards towards the right, bisected by a road from Centreville, which descended the hill close at hand and ran right
across the undulating plain, its course being marked by the
white covers of the baggage and commissariat wagons as far
as a turn of the road, where the trees closed in upon them.
Beyond the right of the curling smoke clouds of dust appeared
from time to time in the distance, as if bodies of cavalry were
moving over a sandy plain.
Notwithstanding all the exultation and boastings of the
people at Centreville, I was well convinced no advance of any
importance or any great success had been achieved, because
the ammunition and baggage wagons had never moved, nor
had the reserves received any orders to follow in the line of
the army.
The clouds of dust on the right were quite inexplicable. As
we were looking, my philosophic companion asked me in perfect seriousness, "Are we really seeing a battle now?  Are
they supposed to be fighting where all that smoke is going on?
Ihis is rather interesting, you know." 
*0         MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
Up came our black boy.  "Not find a bit to eat, sir, in all
the place."  We had, however, my little paper of sandwiches,
and descended the hill to a by-lane off the village, where,
seated in the shade of the gig, Mr. Warre and myself, dividing our provision with the driver, wound up a very scanty, but
much relished, repast with a bottle of tea and half the bottle
of Bordeaux and water, the remainder being prudently reserved at my request for contingent remainders.  Leaving
orders for the saddle-horse, which was eating his first meal, to
be brought up the moment lie was ready - I went with Mr
Warre to the hill once more and observed that the line had
not sensibly altered whilst we were away.
An English gentleman, who came up flushed and heated
from the plain, told us that the Federals had been advancing
steadily, in spite of a stubborn resistance, and had behaved
most gallantly.
Loud cheers suddenly burst from the spectators, as a man
dressed ia the uniform of an officer, whom I had seen riding
violently across the plain in an open spaee below, galloped
along the front, waving his cap and shouting at the top of his
voice.  He was brought up by the press of people round his
horse close to where I stood.  "We've whipped them on all
points," he cried.  "We have taken all their batteries.  They,,
are retreating as fast as they can, and we are after them.
Such cheers as rent the welkin!   The congressmen shook
hands with each other, and cried out, "Bully for us.  Bravo!
didn't I tell you so." The Germans uttered their martial cheers
and the Irish hurrahed wildly.  At this moment my horse was
brought up the hill, and I mounted and turned towards the
road to the front, whilst Mr. Warre and his companion proceeded straight down the hilL
By the time I reached the lan~ already mentioned, which
was in a few minutes, the string of commissariat wagons was
moving on wards pretty briskly, and I was detained until my
friends appeared at the roadside.  I told Mr. Warre I was
going forward to the front as fast as I could, but that I would
come back, under any circumstances, about an hour before
dusk, and would go straight to the spot where we had put up
the gig by the road-side, in order to return to Washington.
Then getting into the fields, I pressed my horse, which was
quite recovered from his twenty-seven miles' ride and full of
spirit and mettle, as fast as I could, making detours here and
there to get through the ox fences, and by the small streams 
THE RETUR~ CUERE~T.             451
which cut up the country.  The firing did not increase but
rather diminished in volume, though it now sounded close at
hand.
I had ridden between three and a half and four miles, as
well as I could judge, when I was obliged to turn for the third
and fourth time into the road by a considerable' stream, which
was ~panned by a bridge, towards which I was threading my
way, when my attention was attracted by loud shouts in ad  vance, and I perceived several wagons coming from the
direction of the battle-field, the drivers of which were
endeavoring to force their horses past the ammunition carts
going in the contrary direction near the bridge; a thick cloud
of dust rose behind them, and running by the side of the wag  ons, were a number of men in uniform whom I supposed to
be the guard.  My first impression was that the wagons were
returning for fresh supplies of ammunition.  But every mo  ment the crowd increased, drivers and men cried out with the
most vehement gestures, "Turn back!  Turn back!  We are
whipped."  They seized the heads of the horses and swore at
the opposing drivers.  Emerging from the crowd a breathless
man in the uniform of an officer with an empty scabbard
dangling by his side, was cut off by getting between my horse
and a cart for a moment.  "What is the matter, sir?  What
is all this about?"  "Why it means we are pretty badly
whipped, that's the truth," and continued.
By this time the confusion had been communicating itself
through the line of wagons towards the rear, and the drivers
endeavored to turn round their vehicles in the narrow road,
which caused the usual amount of imprecations from the men
and plunging and kicking from the horses.
The crowd from the front continually increased, the heat,
the uproar, and the dust were beyond description, and these
were augmented when some cavalry soldiers, flourishing their
sabres and preceded by an officer who cried out, "Make way
there - make way there for the General," attempted to force a
covered wagon in which was seated a man with a bloody
handkerchief round his head through the press.
I had succeeded in getting across the bridge with great dif  ficulty before the wagon came up, and I saw the crowd on
the road was still gathering thicker and thicker.  Again I
asked an officer, who was on foot, with his sword under his
~ arm, "What is all this for?"  "We are whipped, sir.  We
~re all in retreat.  You are all to go back."  "Can you toll
 
452        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
me where I can find General ~1cDowell?" "No! nor caa
any one else."
A few shells could be heard bursting not very far off; but
there was nothing to account for such an extraordinary scene.
A tl~~id officer, however, confirmed the report that the whole
army V:~s in tetreat, and that the Federals were beaten on all
point~, but there was nothing in this disorder to indicate a
general rout.  All these things took plaee in a few seconds. 1
got up out of the road into a corn-field, through which men
were hastily walking or running, their faces streaming with
perspiration, and generally without arms, and worked my way
for about half a mile or so, as well as 1 could judge, against
an increasing stream of fugitives, the ground being strewed
with coats, blankets, firelocks, cooking tins, caps, belts, bayonets - asking in vain where General ~1cDowell was.
Again 1 was compelled by the condition of the fields to
come into the road  and having passed a piece of wood and a
regiment which seemed to be moving back in column of march
in tolerably good order, 1 turned once more into an opening
close to a white house, not far from the lane, beyond which
there was a belt of forest.  Two field-pieces unlimbered near
the house, with panting horses in the rear, were pointed
towards the front, and along the road beside them there swept
a tolerably steady column of men mingled with field nmbu
lances and light baggage carts, back to Centreville.  1 had just
stretched out my hand to get a cigar4ight from a German gunner, when the dropping shots which had been sounding through
the woods in front of us, suddenly swelled into an animated
fire.  In a few seconds a crowd of men rushed out of the
wood down toward the guns, and the artillerymen near me
seized the trail of a piece, and we~e wheeling it round to fire,
when an officer or sergeant called out, "Stop! stop!  They
are our own men;" and in two or three minutes the whole
battalion came sweeping past the guns at the double, and in
the utmost disorder.  Some of the artillerymen dragged the
horses out of the tumbrils; and for a moment the confusion
was so great I could not understand what had taken place;
but a soldier whom I stopped, said," W,,e are pursued by their
cavalry; they have cut us all to pieces.
Murat himself would not have dared to move a squadron on
such ground.  llowever, it could not be doubted that something serious was taking place; and at that moment a shell
burst in front of the house, scattering the soldiers near it, 
RETURN TO CENTREViLLE.         453
which was followed by another that bounded along the road;
and in a few minutes more out came another regiment from
the wood, almost as broken as the first.  The scene on the
road had now assumed an aspect which has not a parallel in
any description I have ever read.  Infantry soldiers on mules
and draught horses, with the harness clinging to their heels,
as much frightened as their nders~ negro servants on their
masters' chargers; ambulances crowded with unwounded soldiers; wagons swarming with men who threw out the contents in the road to make room, grinding through a shouting,
screaming mass of men on foot, who were literally yelling
with rage at every halt, and shrieking out, "Here are the
cavalry!  Will you get on?"  This portion of the force was
evidently in discord.
There was nothing left for it but to go with the current one
could not stem.  I turned round my horse from the deserted
guns, and endeavored to find out what had occurred as I rode
quietly back on the skirts of the crowd.  I talked with those
on all sides of me.  Some uttered prodigious nonsense, describing batteries tier over tier, and ambuscades, nnd blood
running knee-deep.  Others described how their boys had
carried whole lines of intrenchments, but were beaten back
for want of reinforcements.  The names of many regiments
were mentioned as being utterly destroyed.  Cavalry and
bayonet charges and masked batteries played prominent parts
in all the narrations.  Some of the officers seemed to feel the
disgrace of defeat; but the sf~angest thing was the general
indifference with which the event seemed to be regarded by
those who collected their senses as soon as they got out of fire,
and who said they were just going as far as Centreville, and
would have a big fight to-morrow.
By this time I was unwillingly approaching Centreville in
the midst of heat, dust, confusions, imprecations inconceivable.
On arriving at the place`vhere a small rivulet crossed the
road, the throng increased still more.  The ground over which
I had passed going out was now covered with arms, clothing
of all kinds, accoutrements thrown off and left to be trampled
in the dust under the hooQ of men and horses.  The runaways ran along-side the wagons, striving to force themselves
in among the occupants, who resisted tooth and nail.  The
drivers spurred and whipped and urged the horses to the
utmost of their bent.  I telt an inclination to laugh, which
was overcome by disgust, and by that vague sense of some 
My DIARY NORTH AND SOtITH.
thing extraordinary taking place which is experienced when ~
man sees a number of people acting as if driven by some Unknown terror.  As I rode in the crowd with men clinging to
the stirrup4eathers, or holding on by anything they could lay
hands on, so that I had some apprehension of being pulled off,
I spoke to the men, and asked them over and over again not
to be in such a hurry.  "There's no enemy to pursue you.
All the cavalry in the world could not get at you."  But I
might as well have talked to the stones.
For my own part, I wanted to get out of the ruck as fast as
I could, for the heat and dust were very distressing, particularly to a half-starved man.  Many of the fugitives were in
the last stages of exhaustion, and some actually sank down by
the fences, at the risk of being trampled to death.  Above the
roar of the flight, which was like the rush of a great river, the
guns burst forth from time to time.
The road at last became somewhat clearer; for I had got
ahead of some of the ammunition train and wagons, and the
others were dashing up the hill towards Centreville.  The
men's great-coats and blankets had beca stowed in the trains;
but the fugitives had apparently thrown them out on the road,
to make room for themselves.  Just beyond the stream I saw
a heap of dothing tumble out of a large covered cart, and cried
out after the driver, "Stop! stop!  All the things are tumbling out of the cart."  But my zeal was checked by a scoundrel putting his head out, and shouting with a curse, "If you
try to stop the team, I'll blow your - brains out."  My
brains advised me to adopt the principle of non-intervention.
It never occurred to me that this was a grand debacle. All
along I believed the mass of the army was not broken, an~
that all I saw around was the result of confusion created in a
crude organization by a forced retreat; and knowing the reserves were at Centreville and beyond, I said to myseff, "Let
us see how this will be when we get to the hill."  I indulged
in a quiet chuckle, too, at the idea of my philosophical fi'iend
and his stout companion finding themselves suddenly enveloped in the crowd of fugitives; but knew they could easily have
regained their original position on the hill.  Trotting along
briskly through the fields, I arrived at the foot of the slope on
which Centreville stands, and met a German regiment just
deploying into line very well and steadily - the men in the
rear companies laughing, smoking, singing, and je3ting with
the fugitives, who were filing past; but no thought of stopping 
THE RESERVES FORMING.            45~
the wagons, as the orders repeated from mouth to mouth
were that they were to fall back beyond Centreville.
The air of the men was good.  The officers were cheerful,
and one big German with a great pipe in his bearded mouth,
with spectacles on nose, amused himself by pricking the
horses with his sabre point, as he passed, to the sore discomfiture of the riders.  Behind the regiment came a battery of
brass field-pieces, and another regiment in colum~ of march
`vas following the guns.  They were going to form line at the
t~.~d of the slope, and no fairer position could well be offered
~ defensive attitude, although it might be turned.  But it
w (IS getting too late for the enemy wherever ~hey were to atteIflpt such an extensive operation.  Several times I had been
<~~kcd by officers and men, "Where do you think we will halt?
~Yhere are the rest of the army?"  I always replied " Centreville," and I had heard hundreds of the fugitives say they
were going to Centreville.
I rode up the road, turned into the little street which carries the road on the right-hand side to Fairfax Court House
and the hill, and went straight to the place where I had left
the buggy in a lane on the left of the road beside a small
l~ouse and shed, expecting to find ~Ir. Warre ready for a start,
as I had faithfully promised Lord Lyons he should be back
that night in Washington.  The buggy was not there.  I
pulled open the door of the shed in which the horses had
been sheltered out of the sun.  They were gone.  "Oh,"
said I, to myseff, "of course!  What a stupid fellow I am.
Warre has had the horses put in and taken the gig to the top
of the hill, in order to see the last of it before we go."  And
so I rode over to the ridge; but arriving there, could see no
sign of our vehicle far or near.  There were two carriages of
some kind or other still remaining on the hill, and a few spectators, civilians and military, gazing on the scene below, which
was softened in the golden rays af the declining sun.  The
smoke wreaths had ceased to curl over the green sheets of
billowy forest as sea-foam crisping in a gentle breeze breaks
the lines of the ocean.  But far and near yellow and duncol~red piles of dust seamed the landscape, leaving behind
them long trailing clouds of lighter vapors which were dotted
now and then by white puff-balls from the bursting of shell
On the right these clouds were very heavy and seemed to approach rapidly, and it occurred to me they might be caused
by an advance of the much spoken-of and little seen cavalry; 
456        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH
and remembering the cross road from Germantown, it seemed
a very fine and very feasible operation for the Confederates to
cut right in on the line of retreat and communication, in which
case the fate o~ the army and of Washington could not be
dubious.  There were now few civilians on the hi 11, and these
were thinning away.  Some were gesticulating and explaining to one another the causes of the retreat, looking very hot
and red.  The confusion among the last portion of the carriages and fugitives on the road, which I had outstripped, had
been renewed again, and the crowd there presented a rem arkable and ludicrous aspect through the glass; but there were
two stron~ battalions in good order near the fbot of the hill, a
battery on the slope, another on the top, and a portion of a
regiment in and about the houses of the village.
A farewell look at the scene presented no new features.
Still the clouds of dust moved onwards denser and higher;
flashes of arms lighted them up at times; the fields were dotted
by fugitives, among whom many mounted men were marked
by their greater speed, and the little flocks of dust rising from
the horses' feet
I put up my glass, and turning from the hill, with difflcul(y
forced my way through the crowd of vehicles which were making their way towards the main road in the direction of the
lane, hoping that by some lucky accident I might find the gig
in waiting for me.  l3ut I sought in vain; a sick soldier who
was on a stretcher in front of the house near the corner of
the lan~,, leaning on his elbow and looking at the stream of
men and carriages, asked me if I could tell him what they
were in such a hurry for, and I said they were merely getting
back to their bivouacs.  A nran dressed in civilian's dothes
grinned as I spoke.  "I think they'll go farther than that,"
said he; and then added, "If you're looking for the wagcn
you came in, it's pretty well back to Washington by this time.
I think I saw you down theere with a nigger and two men."
"Yes."  "They're all off; gone more than an hour and a half
ago, I think, and a stout man - I thought was you at first -
along with them."
Nothing was left for it but to brace up the girths for a ride
to the Capitol, for which, hungry and fagged as I was, I felt
very little inclination.  I was trotting quietly down the hill
road beyond Centreville, when suddenly the guns on the other
side, or from a battery very near, ~pened fire, and a fresh outburst of artillery sounded through the woods.  In an instant 
THE PANIC ON THE ROAD.         457
the mass of vehicles and retreating soldiers, teamsters, and
civilians, as if agonized by an electric shock, quivered through
out the tortuous line.  With dreadful shouts and cursings, the
drivers lashed their maddened horses, and leaping from the
carts, left them to their fate, and ran on foot.  Artillerymen
and foot soldiers, and negroes mounted on gun horses, with
the chain traces and loose trappings trailing in the dust, spurred and flogged their steeds down the road or by the side
paths.  The firing continued aad seemed to approach the hill,
and at every report the agitated body of horsemen and wagons was seized, as it were, with a fresh convulsion.
Once more the dreaded cry, "The cavalry! cavalry are
coming!" rang through the crowd, and lookii~g back to Centreville I perceived coming down the hill, betweeii me and the
sky, a number of mounted men, who might at a hasty glance
be taken for horsemen in tlie act of sabreing the fugitives.
In reality they were soldiers and civilians, with, I regret to
say, some officers among them, who were whipping and striking their horses with sticks or whatever else they could lay
hands oa.  I called out to the men who were frantic with terror beside me, "They are not cavalry at all; they're your
own men"   but they did not heed me.  A fellow who was
shouting out, "Run! run!" as loud as he could beside me,
seemed to take delight in creating alarm; and as he was perfectly collected as far as I could judge, I`said, "What on
earth are you running for?  What are you afraid of?"  He
was in the roadside below me, and at once turning on me, and
exclaiming, "I'm not afraid of you," presented liis piece and
pulled the trigger so instantaneously, that had it gone off I
could not have swerved from the ball.  As the scoundrel deliberately drew up to examine the nipple, I judged it best
not to give him another chance, and spurred on il~rough the
crowd, where any man could have shot as many as he pleased
without interruption.  The only conclusion I came to was,
that he was mad or drunken.  When I was passing by the
line of the bivouacs a battalion of men came tumbling down
the bank from the field into the road, with fixed bayonets, and
as some fell in the road and others tumbled on top of them,
there must have been a few ingloriously wounded.
I galloped on for a short distance to head the ruck, for I
could not tell whether this body of infantry intended moving
back towards Centreville or were coming down the road; but
the mounted men galloping furiously past me, with a cry of
20 
MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
`C Ca~airy! cavalry!" on their lips, swept on faster than I did,
augmenting the alarm and excitement.  I came up with tWo
officers who were riding more leisurely; and touching my hat,
said, "I venture to suggest that these men should be stopped,
sir.  If not, they will alarm the whole of the post and pickets
on to Washington.  They will fly next, and the consequences
will be most disastrous."  One of the two, looking at me for
a moment, nodded his head without saying a word, spurred his
horse to full speed, and dashed on in front along the road.
Following more leisurely I observed the fugitives in front were
suddenly checked in their speed; and as I turned my horse
into the wood by the road side to get on so as to prevent the
chance of another block-up, I passed several private vehicles,
in one of which Mr. Raymond, of the "New York Times," was
seated with some friends, looking by no means happy.  He
says in his report`to his paper, "About a mile this side of
Centreville a stampede took place amongst the teamsters and
others, which threw everything into the utmost confusion, and
inflicted very serious injuries.  Mr. Eaton, of Michigan, in
trying to arrest the flight of some of these men, was shot by
one of the~ the ball taking effect in his hand."  He asked
me, in some anxiety, what I thought would happen.  I replied,
"No doubt McDowell will stand fast at Centreville to-night.
These are mere runaways, and unless the enemy's cavalry
succeed in gettin~ through at this' road, there is nothing to
apprehend."
And I continued through the wood till I got a clear space
in front on the road, along which a regiment of infantry was
advancing towards me.  They halted ere I came up, and with
levelled firelocks arrested the men on horses and the carts and
wagons galloping towards them, and blocked up the road to
stop their progress.  As I tried to edge by on the right of the
column by the left of the road, a soldier presented his firelock
at my head from the higher ground on which he stood, for t[~e
road had a deep trench cut on the side by which I was endeavoring to pass, and sang out, "Halt! Stop - or I fire!"
The officers in front were waving their swords and shouting
out, "D~n't let a soul pass! Keep back! keep back!"  Bow -
ing to the officer who was near me, I said, "I beg to assur~
you, sir, I am not running away.  I am a civilian and a British subject.  I have done my best as I came along to stop this
disgraceful rout.  I am in no hurry; I merely want to get
back to Washington to-night.  I have been telling them all 
~PASS TIlAT MA~"                459
along there are no cavalry near us."  The officer to whom I
was speaking, young and somewhat excited, kept repeating,
"Keep back, sir! keep back! you must keep back."  Again I
said to him, "I assure you I am not with this crowd; my pulse
is as cool as your own."  But as he paid no attention to what
I said, I suddenl~bethought me of General Scott's letter, and
addressing another officer, said, "I am a civilian going to
Washington; will you be kind enough to look nt this pass,
specially given to me by General Scott."  The officer looked
at it, and handed it to a mounted man, either adjutant or
colonel, who, having examined it, returned it to me, saying,
" Oh, yes! certainly.  Pass that man!"  And with a cry of
"Pass that man!" along the line, I rode down the trench very
leisurely, and got out on the road, which was now clear, though
some fugitives had stolen through the woods on the flanks of
the column and were in front of me.
A little fudher on there was a cart on the right-hand side
of the road, surrounded by a group of soldiers.  I was trotting
past when a respectable. looking man in a semi-military garb,
coming out from the group, said, in a tone of much doubt and
distress -" Can you tell me, sir, for God's sake, where the
69th New York are?  These men tell me they are all cut to
pieces."  "And so they ~re," exclaimed one of the fellows,
who had the number of the regiment on his cap.
"You hear what they say, sir?" exclaimed the man.
"I do, but I really cannot tell you where the 69th are."
"I'm in charge of these mails, and I'll deliver them if I die
for it; but is it safe for me to go on?  You are a gentleman,
and I can depend on your word."
llis assistant and himself were in the greatest perplexity of
mind, but all I could say was, "I really can't tell you; I believe the army will halt at Centreville tonight, and I think
you may go on there with the greatest safety, if you can get
through the crowd."  "Faith, then, he can't," exclaimed on~
of the soldiers.
"Why not?"  "Shure, arn't we cut to pieces.  Didn't I
hear the kurnel himsilf saying we was all of us to cut and
run, every man on his own hook, as well as he could.  Stop
at Cinthreville, indeed!"
I bade the mail agent * good evening and rode on, but even
* I have since met the person referred to, an Englishman living in
Washington, and well known at the Legation and elsewhere. Mr.
Dawson came to tell me that he had seen a letter in an American 
460         MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
in this short colloquy stragglers on foot and on horseback, who
had turned the flanks of the regiment by side-paths or through
the woods, came pouring along the road once more.
Somewhere about this 1 was accosted by a stout, elderly
man, with the air and appearance of a respectable mechanic,
or~small tavern-keeper, who introduced him~lf as having met
me at Cairo.  He poured out a flood of woes on me, how he
had lost his friend and companion, nearly lost his seat several
times, was unaccustomed to riding, was suffering much pain
from the unusual position and exercise, did not know the road,
feared he would never be able to get on, dreaded lie might be
captured and ill-treated if he was known, and such topics as
a selfish man in a good deal of pain or fear is likely to indulge
ii).  1 calmed his apprehensions as well as 1 could, by saying,
"I had no doubt ~IcDowell would halt and show fight at Centreville, and be able to advance from it in a day or two to
renew the fight again; that he couldn't miss the road; whiskey
and tallow were good for abrasions;" and as 1 was riding very
slowly, he jogged along, for he was a bur, and would stick,
with many "Oh dears!  Oh! dear me!" for most part of
the way joining me at intervals till 1 reached Fairfax Court
House.  A body of infantry were under arms in a grove near
journal, which was copied extensively all over the Union, in which the
writer stated he accompanied me on my return to Fairfax Court House,
and that the incident I related in my account of Bull Run did not
occur, but that he was the individual referred to, and could swear
with his assistant that every word I wrote was true.  I did not need
any such corroboration for the satisfaction of any who know me; and
I was quite well aware that if one came from the dead to bear testimony iii my favor before the American journals and public, the evidence would not countervail the slander of any characterless scribe
who sought to gain a moment's notoriety by a flat contradiction of my
narrative.  I may add, that i)awson begged of me not to bring him
before the public, "because I am now sutler to the -th, over in
Virginia, and they would dismiss me."  "What! For certifying to
the truth?"  "You know, sir, it might do me harm."  ~Vhilst on
this subject, let me remark that some time afterwards I was in Mr.
Brady's photographic studio in Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington,
when the very intelligent and obliging manager introduced him?eff to
me, and said that he wished to have an opportunity of repeating to
me personally what he had frequen~y told persons in the place, that
he could bear the fullest testimony to the complete accuracy of my account of the panic from Centreville down the road at the time I left,
and that he and his assistants, who were on the spot trying to get away
their photographic van and apparatus, could certify that my description fell far short of the disgraceful spectacle and of the excesses of
the ffight. 
THE VI~GINIANS.               461
the Court llouse, on the right-hand side of the road.  The
door and windows of the houses presented crowds of faces
black and white; and men and women stood out upon the
porch, who asked me as I passed, "Have you been at the
fight?"  "What are they all running for?"  "Are the rest
of them comincr
before.     ~ on?" to which I gave the same replies as
Arrived at the little inn where I had halted in the morning, I perceived the sharp-faced woman in black standing in
the veranda with an elderly man, a taller and younger one
dressed in black, a little girl, and a woman who stood in the
passage of the door.  I asked if I could get anything to eat.
"Not a morsel; there's not a bit left in the house, but you can
get something, perhaps, if you like to stay till supper-time.
"Would you oblige me by telling me where I can get some
water for my horse?"  "Oh, certainly," said the elder man,
and calling to a negro he directed him to bring a bucket from
the well or pump, into which the thirsty brute buried its head
to the eyes.   Whilst the horse was dnnking, the taller or
younger man, leaning over the veranda, asked me quietly
"What are all the people coming back for?   what's set them
a-running towards Alexandria?"
"Oh, it's only a fright the drivers of the commissariat
wagons have had; they are afraid Qf the enemy's cavalry."
"Ah!" said the man, and looking at me narrowly he inquired, after a pause, "Are you an American?"
"No, I am not, thank God; I'm an Englishman."
"Well then," said he, nodding his head and speaking slowly
through his teeth; "there will be cavalry after them soon
enough; there is 20,000 of the best horsemen in the wofid in
old Yirgin~y."
Having received full directions froni il~e people at the inn
for the road to the Long Bridge, which I was most anxious to
reach instead of going to Alexandria or to Georgetown, I bade
the Virginian good-evening; and seeing that my stout friend,
who had also watered his horse by my advice at the inn, was
still clinging along-side, I excused myself by saying I must
press on to Washington, and galloped on for a mile, until I got
into the cover of a wood, where I dismounted to examine the
horse's hoofs and shift the saddle for a moment, wipe the sweat
off his back, and make him and myself as comfortable as could
be for our ride into Washington, which was still seventeen or
eighteen miles before iae.  I passed groups of men, some on 
462        MY HARY NORTH A~D SOUTH.
horseback, others on foot, going at a more leisurely rate tow
ards the capital; and as I was smoking my last cigar by the
side of the wood, I observed the number had rather increased,
and that among the retreating stragglers were some men who
appeared to be wounded.
The sun had set, but the rising moon was adding every mo
meat to the lightness of the road as I mounted once more
and set out at a long trot for the capital.  Presently I was
overtaken by a wagon with a small escort of cavalry and an
officer riding in front.  I had seen the same vehicle once or
twice along the road, and observed an officer seated in it witij
his head bound up with a handkerchief looking very pale and
ghastly.  The mounted officer leading the escort asked me if I
was going into Washington and knew the road.  I told him
I had never been on it before, but thought I could find my
way, "at any rate we'll find plenty to tell us." That's Colonel
Hunter inside the carriage, he's shot through the throat and
jaw, and I want to get him to the doctor's in Washington as
soon as I can.  Have you been to the fight?"
"No, sir."
A member of Congress, I suppose, sir?"
"No sir; I'm an Englishman."
"Oh, indeed, sir, then I'm glad you did not see it; so mean a
fight, sir, I never saw; we ~l0ipped the cusses and drove them
before us, and took their batteries and spiked their guns, and got
right up in among all their dirt work~ and great batteries and
forts, driving them before us like sheep, when up more of the in
would get, as if out of the ground, then our boys would drive
them again till we were fairly worn out; they had nothing to
eat since last night and nothing to drink.  I myself have not
tasted a morsel since two o'clock last night.  Well, there we
were waiting for reinforcements and expecting McDowell and
the rest of the army, when whish! they threw open a whole
lot of masked batteries on us, and then came down ~uch
swarms of horsemen on black horses, all black as you never
saw, and slashed our boys over finely.  The colonel was hit,
and I thought it best to get him off as well as I could, before
it was too late.  And, my God! when they did take to running they did it first-rate, I can tell you;" and so, the officer,
who had evidently taken enough to affl~ct his empty stomach
and head, chattering about the fight, we trotted on in the moonlight: dipping down into the valleys on the road, which seemed like inky lakes in the shadows of the black trees, then 
A NIGHT RIDE.              46o
~ounflng up again along the white road, which shone like a
river in the moonlight - the country silent as death, though
once as we crossed a small watercourse and the noise of the
carriage-wheels ceased, I called the attention of my companions
to a distant sound, as of a great multitude of people mingled
with a faint report of cannon.  "Do you hear that?"  "No,
I don't.  But it's our chaps, no doubt.  They're coming along
fine, I can promise you."  At last some miles further on we
came to a picket, or main guard, on the roadside, who ran forward, crying out, "Wha~s the news - anything fresh - are
we whipped? - is it a fact?"  "Well, gentlemen," exclaimed the ~Iajor, reining up for a moment, "we are knocked into a cocked hat - licked to h-i."  "Oh, pray, don't say
that," I exdaimed, "it's not quite so bad; it's only a drawn
battle, and the troops will occupy Centreville to-night, and the
posts they startcd from this morning.
A little further on we met a line of commissariat carts, and
my,excited and rather injudicious military friend appeared to
take the greatest pleasure in replying to their anxious queries
for news, "We are whipped!  Whipped like h-i."
At tl~e cross-roads flow and then we were perplexed, for no
one knew the bearings of Washington, though the stars were
bright enough; but good fortune favored us and kept us
straight, and at a deserted little village, with a solitary church
on the roadside, I increased my pace, bade good-night and
good speed to the officer, and having kept company with two
men in a gig for some time, got at length on the guarded road
leading towards the capital, and was stopped by the pickets,
patrols, and grand rounds, making repeated demands for the
last accounts from the field. The houses by the roadside were
all closed up and in darkness, I knocked in vain at several for
a drink of water, but was answered only by the angry barkings of the watch-dogs from the slave quarters.  It was a peculiarity of the road that the people, and soldiers I met, at
points several miles apart, always insisted that I was twelve
miles from Washington.  Up hills, down valleys, with the
silent grim woods forever by my side, the white roads and
tlie black shadows of men, stilt I was twelve miles from the
Long Bridge, but suddenly I came upon a grand guard under
arms, who had quite different ideas, and who said I was only
about four miles from the river; they crowded round me.
"Well, man, and how is the fight going?"  I repeated my
tale. " What doe~ he say?" "Oh, begorra, he says we're nc~ 
464        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
bet at all; it's all lies they have been telling us; we're only
going hack to the ould lines for the gr~ater convaniency of
fighting to-morrow again; that's illigant, hooro!"
All by the sides of the old camps the men were standing,
lining the road, and I was obliged to evade many a grasp at
my bridle by shouting out "Don't stop me; I've important
news; it's all well!" and still the good horse, refreshed by the
cool night air, went clattering on, till from the top of the road
beyond Arlington I caught a sight of the lights of Washington
and the white buildings of the Capitol, and of the Executive
~Iansion, glittering like snow in the moonlight.  At the entrance to the Long Bridge the sentry challeiiged and asked for
the countersign.  "I have not got it, but I've a pass from
General Scott."  An officer advanced from the guard, and on
reading the pass permitted me to go on without difficulty.  He
said, "I have been obliged to let a good many go over to-night
before you, congressmen and others.  I suppose you did not
expect to be coining back so soon.  I fear it's a bad business."
"Oh, not so bad atter all; I expected to have been back tonight before nine o'clock, and crossed over this morning without the countersign."  "Well, I guess," said he, "we don't do
such quick fighting as that in this country."
As I ci'ossed tlie Long Bridge there was scarce a sound to
dispute tlie possession of its ecl~oes with my horse's hoofs. The
poor beast had carried me nobly and well, and I made up my
mind to buy him, as I l~ad no doubt he would answer perfectly
to carry me back in a day or two to ~IcDowell's army by the
time he had organized it for a new attack upon the enemy's
position. Little did I conceive the greatness of the defeat, the
magnitude of the disasters which it had entailed upon the United States or the interval that would elapse before another army
set out from the banks of the Potomac onward to Richmond.
Had I sat down d~at night to write my letter, quite ignorant at
the time of the great calamity which had befallen his army, in
all probability I would have stated that ~IcDowell had received
a severe repulse, and had fallen back upon Centreyille, that a
disgraceful panic and confusion had attended the retreat of a
portion of his army, but that the appearance of the reserves
would probably prevent the enemy taking any advantage of the
disorder; and as I would have merely been able to describe
such incidents as came under my own observation, and would
have left the American journals to narrate the actual details,
and the despatches of the Ame~ican Generals the strategical 
OVER THE LONG BRIDGE.             466
events of the day, I should have led the world at home to believe, as, in fact, I believed myself that McDowell's retrograde
movement would be arrested at some point between Centreville and Fairfax Court House.
The letter that I was to write occupied my mind whilst I
was crossing the Long Bridge, gazing at the lights reflected
in the Potomac fro:~ the city.  The night had become oyercast,
and heavy clouds rising up rapidly obscured the moon, forming a most fantastic mass of shapes in the sky.
At the Washington end of the bridge I was challenged
again by the men of a whole regiment, who, with piled arms,
were halted on the ckausse'e, smoking, laughing, and singing
"Stranger, have you been to the fight?"  "I have been only
a little beyond Centreville."  But that was quite enough.
Soldiers, civilians, and women, who seemed to be out unusually
late, crowded round the horse, and again I told my stereotyped
story of the unsuccessful attempt to carry the Confederate
position, and the retreat to Centreville to await better luck
next time.  The soldiers along-side me cheered, and those
next them took it up till it ran through the whole line, and
must have awoke the night owls.
As I passed ~~illard's Hotel a little further on, a clock - I
think the only public clock which strikes the hours in Washington - tolled out the hour; and I supposed, from what the sentry
told me, though I did not count the strokes, that it was eleven'
o'clock.  All the rooms in il~e hotel were a blaze of light.
The pavement before the door was crowded, and some mounted men and the clattering of sabres on the pavement led me to
infer that the escort of the wounded officer had arrived before
me.  I passed on t? the livery-stables, where every one was
alive and stirring.
"I'm sure," said the man, "I thought I'd never see you nor
the horse back again.  The gig and the other genfleman has
been back a long time.  How did he carry you?"
"Oh, pretty well; what's his price?"
"Well, now that I look at him, and to you, it will be 100
dollars less than I said,  I'm in good heart to-night."
"Why so?  A number of your horses and carriages have
not come back yet, you tell me."
"Oh, well, I'll get paid for them some time or another.
Oh, such news! such news!" said he, rubbing his hands.
"Twenty thousand of them killed and wounded!  Maybe
they're not having fits in the White House to-ni'-hL I"
20* 
466       MY DIARY NORTll AND SOUTH.
I walked to my lodgings, and just as I turned the key in the
door a flash of light made me pause for a moment, in expectation of the report of a gun; for I. could not help thinking
it quite possible that, somehow or anotl~er, the Confederate
cavalry would try to beat up the lines, but no souud followed.
It must have been lightning.  I walked up-stairs, and saw a
most welcome supper ready on the table - an ei)ormous piece
of cheese, a sausage of unknown components, a knuckle-bone
of ham, and a bottle of a very light wine ~r France; but I
would not have exchanged that repast and have waited half
an hour for any banquet that Soyer or Careme could have
prepared at their best.  Then, having pulled off my boots,
bathed my head, trimmed candles, and lighted a pipe, I sat
down to write.  I made some feeble sentences, but the pen
went flying about the paper as if the spirits were playing tricks
with it.  When I screwed up my utmost resolution, the ~~y~sfl
would still run into long streaks, and the letters combine most
curiously, and my eyes closed, and my pen slipped, and just as
I was aroused from a nap, and settled into a stern determination to hold my pen straight, I was interrupted by a messenger
from Lord Lyons, to inquire whether I had returned, and if
so, to ask me to go up to the Legation and get something to eat.
I explained, with my thanks, that I was quite safe, and had
eaten supper, and learned from the servant that ~Ir. Warre
and his companion had arrived about two hours previously.
I resumed my seat once more, haunted by the memory of the
Boston mail, which would be closed in a few hours, and I had
much to tell, although I had not seen the battle.  Again and
again I woke up, but at last the greatest conqueror but death
overcame me, and with my head on the blotted paper, I fell
fast asleep. 
CHAPTER LL
A runaway rowd at Washington - The army of the Potomac in re  treat - Mail-day - Want of order and authority - Newspaper
lies - Alarm at Washington - Confederate prisoners - General 6
McCleflan - M. Mercier - Effects of the defeat on Mr. Seward
and the President - McDowell - Gener~d Pa~~terson.
July' 22J. - I awoke from a deep sleep this morning, about
six o'clock.' The rain was falling in torrents and beat with a
dull, thudding sound on the leads outside my window; but,
louder than all, came a strange sound, as if of the tread of
men, a confused tramp and splashing, and a murmuring of
voices.  I got up and ran to tlie front room, the windows of
which looked on the street, and there, to my intense surprise,
I saw a steady stream of men covered with mud, soaked
through with rain, who were pouring irregularly, without any
semblance of 6rder, up Pennsylvania Avenue towards the
Capitol.  A dense stream of vapor rose from the multitude
but looking closely at the men, I perceived il~ey belonged to
different regiments, New Yorkers, Miehiganders, Rhode Islanders, Massachusetters, Minnesotians, mingled pellmell together.  Many of them were without knapsacks, crossbelts,
and firelocks.  Some had neither great-coats nor shoes, others
were covered with blankets.  Hastily putting on my clothes,
I ran down-stairs and asked an "officer," who was passing by,
a pale young man, who looked exhausted to death, and who
had lost his sword, for the empty sheath dangled ~t his side,
where the men were coming from.  "Where from?  Well,
sir, I guess we're all coming out of Verginny as fast as we can,
and pretty well whipped too."  "What! the whole army,
sir?"  "That's more than I know.  They may stay that like.
I know I'm going home.  I've had enough of fighting to last
my lifetime.''
The news seemed incredible. But there, before my eyes, were
the jaded, dispirited, broken remnants of regiments passing onwards where and for what I knew not, and it was evident enough 
468        ~IY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
that the mass of the grand army of the Potomac was placing
that n'~er between it and the enemy as rapidly as possible.
"Is there any pursuit?" I asked of several men. Some were
too surly to reply; others said, "They're coming as fast as
they can after us."  Others, "I guess they've stopped it now
the rain is too much for them."  A few said they did not
know, and looked as if they did not care.  And here came
one of these small crises in which a special correspondent
would give a good deal for the least portion of duality in mind
or body.  A few sheets of blotted paper and writing materials
lying on the table beside the burnt-out candles, reminded me
that the imperious post-day was running on.  "The mail for
-Europe, via Boston, closes at one o'clock, Monday, July 22d,"
stuck up in large characters, warned me I had not a moment
to lose.  I knew the event would be of the utmost interest in
England, and that it would be important to tell the truth as
far as I knew it, leaving the American papers to state their
own case, that the public might form their own conclusions.
But then, I felt, how interesting it would be to ride out and
watch the evacuation of the sacred soil of Virginia, to see
what the enemy were doing, to examine the situation of affairs,
to hear what the men said, and, above all, find out the cause
of this retreat and headlong confusion, investigate the extent
of the Federal losses and the condition of the wounded; in
fac~ to find materials for a dozen of letters.  I would fain,
too, have seen General Scott, and heard his opinions, and
have visited the leading senators, to get a notion of the way
in which they looked on this catastrophe. -"I do per~ive
here a divided duty."  But the more I reflected on the matter the more strongly I became convinced that it would not
be advisable to postpone tlle letter, and that the eventa of the
21st ought to have precedence of those of the 22d, and so I
stuck up my usual notice on the door outside of "Mr Russell
is out," and resumed my letter.
Whilst the rain fell, the tramp of feet went steadily on.
As I lifted my eyes now and then from the paper, I saw the
beaten, foot-sore, spongy4ooking soldiers, officers, and all the
debris of the army filing through mud and rain, and forming
i~ crowds in front of the spirit store&  Underneath my room
is the mag!~)ii)e of Jost, negociant en vins, and he drives a
roaring ti~t l(i this morning, interrupted occasionally by loud
disputes as to the score.  When the lad came in with my
breakfast he seewed a degree or two lighter in c~r tha~ 
THE STREETS OF WASHINGTON.         46~
usual.  4' What's the matter with you?"  "I`spects, Massa,
the Seceshers soon be in here.  I'm a free nigger; I must go,
sar, afore de come cotch me."  It is rather pleasant to be
neutra~ under such circumstances.
I speedily satisfied myself I could not finish my letter in
time for post, and I therefbre sent for my respectable Englishman to go direct to Boston by the train which leaves this at
four o'clock, to-morrow morning, so as to catch the mail steamer
on Wednesday, and telegraphed to the agents there to inform
them of my intention of doing so.  Visitors came knocking
at the door, and insisted on getting in   military friends who
wanted to give me their versions of the battle - the attache's
of legations and others who desired to hear the news and have
a little gossip; but I turned a deaf ear doorwards, and they
went off into the outer rain again.
More draggled, more muddy, and downhearted, and footweary and vapid, the grea~ army of the Potomac still straggl~d by.  Towards evening I seized my hat and made off to
the stable to inquire how the poor horse was.  There he stood,
nearly as fresh as ever, a little tucked up in the ribs, but
eating heartily, and perfectly sound.  A change had come
over Mr Wroe's dream of horseflesh.  "They'll be going         *
cheap now," thought he and so he said aloud, "If you'd like
to buy that horse, I'd let you have him a little under what I
said. Dear! dear! it must`a' been a sight sure-ly to see them
Yankees running; you can scarce get through the Avenue
with them."
And what Mr. W. says is quite true.  The rain has abated
a little, and the pavements are densely packed with men in
uniform, some with, others without arms, on whom the shop
keepers are looking with evident alarm.  They seem to be in
possession of all the spirit-houses.  Now and then shots are
heard down the street or in the distance, and cries and shouting, as if a scuffle or a difficulty were occurring.  Willard's is
turned into a barrack for officers, and presents such a scene
in the hall as could only be witnessed in a city occupied by a
demoralized army.  There is no provost guard, no patrol, no
authority visibl~ in the streets.  General Scott is quite overwhelmed by the affair, and is unable to stir. General McDoweli has not yet arrived.  The Secretary of War knows not
what to do, ~r. Lincoln is equally helpless, and Mr. Seward,
who retains some calmness, is, notwithstanding his military
rank and military ex~rience, without resource or expedi~t 
470         MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTTh
There are a good many troops hanging ~n about the camps
and forts on the other side of the river, it is said  but they
are thoroughly disorganized, and will run away if the enemy
comes ia sight without a shot, and then the capital must fail
at once.  Why Beauregard does not come 1 know not, nor
can 1 well guess.  1 have been expecting every hour since
noon to hear his cannon.  Here is a golden opportunity.  If
the Confederates do riot grasp that which will never come
again oa such terms, it stamps them with mediocrity.
The morning papers are quite ignorant of the defeat, or
affect to be uiiaware of it, arid declare yesterday's battle to
have been in favor of the Federals generally, the least arrogant stating that McDowell will resume his march from Centreville immediately.  The evening papers, however, seem to
be more sensible of the real nature of the crisis: it is scarcely
within the reach of any amount of impertinence or audacious
assertion to deny what is passing before their very eyes. Th~
grand army of the Potomac is in the streets of Washington,
instead of being on its way to Richmond. One paper contains
a statement which would make me uneasy about myself if I
had any confidence in these stories, for it is asserted "that
Mr. Russell was last seen in the thick of the fight, and has
not yet returned.  Fears are entertained for his safety."
Towards dark the rain moderated and the noise in the
streets waxed louder; all kinds of rumors respecting the advance of the enemy, the annihilation of Federal regiments,
the tremendous losses on both sides, charges of cavalry, stormings of great intrenchments and stupendous masked battenes,
and elaborate reports of unparalleled feats of personal valor,
were circulated under the genial influence of excitement, and
by the quantities of alcohol necessary to keep out the influence
of the external moisture.  I did not hear one expression of
confidence, or see one cheerful face in all that vast crowd
which but a few days before constituted an army, and was
now nothing better than a semi-armed mob.  I could see no
cannon returning, and to my inquiries after them, I got generally the answer, "I suppose the Seceshers have got hold of
them."
Whilst I was at table several gentlemen who l~ave entree
called on me, who confirmed my impressions respecting the
magnitude of the disaster that is so rapidly developing its proportions.  They agree in descri'bing the army as disorganized.
Washington is rendered almost untenable, in consequence of 
WRITING AT NIGhT.            471
the conduct of the army, which was not only to have defended
it, but to have captured the rival capital. Some of my visitors
declared it was dangerous to move abroad in the streets.
~Iany fl~ink the contest is now over; but the gentlemen of
Washington have Southern sympathies, and I, on the contrary, am persuaded il)is prick in the great Northern balloon
will let out a quantity of poisonous gas, and fluseTh the people
to a sense of the nature of the conflict on which they have
entered.  The inmates of the White House are in a state of
the utmost trepidation, and ~Ir. Lincoln, who sat in the telegraph operator's room- with General Scott and ~In Seward,
listening to the despatches as they arrived from the scene of
action, left it in despair when the fatal words tripped from the
needle and the defeat was already revealed to him.
Having finally cleared my room of visitors and locked the
door, I sat down once more to my desk, and continued my
narrative.  The night wore on, and the tumult still reigned in
the city. Once, indeed, if not twice, my attention was aroused
by sounds like distant cannon and outbursts of musketry, but
on reflection I was satisfied the Confederate General would
never be rash enough to attack the place by night, and that,
after all il~e rain which had fallen, he in all probability would
give horses and men a day's rest, marching them through the
night, so as to appear before the city in the course of to-morrow.  Again and again I was interrupted by soldiers clamoring for drink and for money, attracted by the light in my
windows; one or two irrepressible and irresistible friends
actually succeeded in making their way into my room-just
as oa the night when I was engaged in writing an account of
the last attack on the Redan my hut was stormed by visitors,
and much of my letter was penned uader the apprehension of
a sharp pair of spurs fixed in the heels of a jolly little adjutant, who, overcome by fatigue and rum-and-water, fell asleep
in my chair, with his legs cocked up on my writing-table -
but I saw the last of them about midnight, and so continued
writing till the morning light began to steal through the casement.  Then came the trusty messenger, and, at three, A. M.,
when I had handed him the parcel and looked round to see
all my things were in readiness, lest a rapid toilet might be
necessary in the morning, with a sigh of relief I plunged into
bed, and slept.
Ju~ 23d. - The morning was far advanced when I awoke,
and hearing the roll of wagons in the street, 1 at first imag 
472        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
ined the Federals were actually about to abandon Washington
itself; but on going to the window, I perceived it arose from
an irregular train of commissariat carts, country wagons, ambulances, and sutlers' vans, in the centre of the street, the
paths being crowded as before with soldiers, or rather with
men in uniform, many of whom seemed as if they had been
rolling in the mud.  Poor General Mansfield was running
back and forwards between his quarters and the War Department, and in the afternoon some efforts were made to restore
order, by appointing rendezvous to which the fragments of
regiments should repair, and by organizing mounted patrols
to clear the streets.   In the middle of the day I went out
through the streets, and walked down to the Long Bridge with
the intention of crossing, but it was literally blocked up from
end to end with a mass of wagons and ambulances full of
wounded men, whose cries of pain echoed above the shouts of
the drivers, so that I abandoned the attempt to get across,
which, indeed, would not have been easy with any comfort,
owing to the depth of mud in the roads.  To-day the aspect
of Washington is more unseemly and disgraceful, if that were
possible, than yesterday afternoon.
As I returned towards my lodgings a scene of greater disorder and violence than usual attracted my attention.  A
hody of Confederate prisoners, m~rching two and two, were
with difficulty saved by their guard from the murderous as
saults of a hooting rabble, composed of civilians and men
dressed like soldiers, who huded all kinds of missiles they
could lay their hands upon over the heads of the guard at
their victims, spattering them with mud and filthy language
It was very gratifying to see the way in which the dastardly
mob dispersed at the appearance of a squad of mounted men,
who charged them boldly, and escorted the prisoners to General Mansfield  They consisted of a picket or grand guard,
which, unaware of the retreat of their regiment from Fairfax,
mard~ed into the Federal lines before the battle.  Their just
indignation was audible enough.  One of them, afterwards,
told General McDowell, who hurried over as soon as he was
made aware of the disgraceful outrages to which they had
been exposed, "I would have died a hundred deaths before I
fell into these wretches' hands, if I had known this.  Set me
free for five minutes, and let any two, or four, of them insult
me when my hands are loose.
Soon afterwards a report flew about that a crowd of soldiers' 
GENERAL M'CLELLAN.            473
were hanging a Secessionist.  A senator rushed to General
McDowell, and told him that he had seen the man swinging
with his own eyes.  Off went the General, ventre a' terre, and
was considerably relieved by finding that they were hanging
merely a dummy or effigy of Jeff Davis, not having succeeded
in getting at the original yesterday.
Poor McDowell has been swiftly punished for his defeat, or
rather for the unhappy termination to his advance.  As soon
as the disaster was ascertained beyond doubt, the President
telegraphed to General McClellan to come and take command
of his army.  It is a commentary full of instruction on the
military system of the Americans, that they have not a soldier
who has ever handled a brigade in the field fit for service in
the North.
The new commander.in-chief is a brevet-major who has
been in civil employ on a railway for several years.  lle
went once, with two other West Point officers, commissioned
by Mr. Jefferson Davis, then Secretary of War, to examine
and report on the operations in the Crimea, who were judic~ously despatched when the war was over, and I used to see
him and his companions poking about the ruins of the deserted trenches and batteries, mounted on horses furnished by
the courtesy of British officers, just as they lived in ~nglish
quarters, when they were sn~bbed and refused an audience
by the Duke of Malakhoff in the French camp.  Major
McClellan forgot the affi~~, did not even mention it, and
showed his Christian spirit by praising the allies, and damning John Bull with very faint applause, seasoned with lofty
censure.  He was very young, however, at the time, and is so
well spoken of that his appointment will be popular; but all
that he has done to gain such reputation and to earn the confidence of the government, is to have had some skirmishes
with bands of Confederates in Western Virginia, in which the
leader, Garnett, was killed, his "forces" routed, and finally, to
the number of a thousand, obliged to surrender as prisoners of
war.  That success, however, at such a time is quite enough
to elevate any man to the highest command.  McClellan is
about thirty-six years of age, was educated at West Point,
where he was junior to McDowell, and a class-fellow of Beauregard.
I dined with M. Mercier, the French Minister, who has a
prettily situated house on the heights of Georgetown, about a
mile and a half from the city.  Lord Lyons, Mr. Mon son, his 
474        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
private secretary, M. Baroche, son of the French Minister,
who has been exploiting the Southern States, were the only
additions to the family circle.  The minister is a man in the
prime of life, of more than moderate ability, with a rapid
manner and quickness of apprehension.  Ever since I first
met ~L Mercier he has expressed his conviction that the North
never can succeed in conquering the South, or even restoring
the Union, and that an attempt to do either by armed force
must end in disaster.  He is the more confirmed in his opinions by tlie result of Sunday's battle, but the inactivity of the
Confederates gives rise to the belief that they suff~red seriously
in the affair.  M. Baroche has arrived at the conviction, without reference to the fi~te of the Federals in their march to
Richmond, that the Union is utterly gone - as dead as the
Achaian League.
Whilst Madame Mercier and her fi'iends are conversing on
much more agreeable subjects, the men hold a tobacco council
under the shade of the magnificent trees, and France, Russia,
and minor powers talk politics, Lord Lyons alone not joining
in the nicotian controversy.  Beneath us flowed the Potomac,
and on the wooded heights at the other side, the Federal flag
rose over Fort &rcoran and Arlington House, from which the
grand army had set forth a few days ago to crush rebellion and
destroy its chiefs.  There, sad, anxious, and despairing, Mr.
Lincoln and Mr. Seward were at that very moment passing
through the wreck of the army~ which, silent as ruin itself,
took no notice of their presence.
It had been rumored that the Confederates were advancing, and the President and the Foreign Minister set out in a
carriage to see with their own eyes the state of the troops.
What they beheld filled them with despair  The plateau was
covered with the men of different regiments, driven by the
patrols out of the city, or arrested in their flight at the bridges.
In Fort Corcoran the men were in utter disorder, threatening
to murder the officer of regulars who was essaying to get them
into some state of efficiency to meet the advancing enemy.
He had menaced one of the officers of the 69th with death for
flat disobedience to orders; the men had taken the part of
their captain; and the President drove into the work just in
time to witness the confusion. The soldiers with loud cries
demanded that the officer sh~uld be punished, and the President asked him why he had used such violent language towards his subordinate.  "I told him, Mr. President, that if he 
110W BULL Rt~ W~AS LOSt           475
refused to obey my orders I would shoot him on the spot; and
I here repeat it, sir, that if I remain in command here, and
he or any ot,,her man refuses to obey my orders, I'll shoot him
on th ~ spot.
The firmness of Sherman's language and demeanor in presence of the chief of the State overawed the mutineers, and
they proceeded to put the work in some kind of order to resist
the enemy.
Mr. Seward was deeply impressed by the scene, and retired
with the President to consult as to the best course to pursue,
in some dejection, but they were rather comforted by the telegrams from all parts of the North, which proved that, though
disappointed and surprised, the people were not disheartened
or ready to relinquish the contest.
The accounts of the battle in the principal journals are curiously inaccurate and absurd. The writers have now recovered
themselves.  At first they yielded to the pressure of facts and
to the accounts of their correspondents.  They admitted the
repulse, the losses, the disastrous retreat, the loss of guns, in
strange contrast to their prophecies and wondrous hyperboles
about the hyperbolic grand army.  Now they set themselves
to st~n the current they have made.  Let any one read the
New York journals for the last week, if he wishes to frame an
indictment against such j<>urnalism as the people delight to
honor in America.
July 24th.   I rode out before breakfast in company with
Mr. ~Ionson across the Long Bndge over to the Arlington
House. General McDowell was seated at a table under a tree
in front of his tent, and got out his plans and maps to explain
the scheme of battle.
Cast down from his high estate, placed as a subordinate to
his Junior, covered with obloquy and abuse, the American
General displayed a calm self-possession and perfect amiability
which could only proceed from a philosophic temperament and
a consciousness that he would outlive the calumnies of his
countrymen.  He accused nobod~ but it was not difficult to
perceive he had been sacrificed to the vanity, self.seeking, and
disobedience of some of his officers, and to radical vices in the
composition of his army.
When McDowell found he could not turn the enemy's
right as he intended, because the country by the Occoquan
was unfit for the movements of artillery, or even infantry, he
reconnoitred the ground towards their left, and formed the 
476       ~Y DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
-project of turning it by a movement which would bring tho
weight of his columns on their extreme left, and at the same
time overlap it, whilst a strong demonstration was made on
the ford at Bull Run, where General Tyler brought on the
5~~()~l ~kirmish of the 18th.  In order to carry out this plan,
he ii: l to debouch his columns from a narrow point at Centreville, (`hid march them round by various roads to points on the
upper part of the Run, where it was fordable in all directions,
intending to turn the enemy's batteries on the lower roads and
bridges.  But although he started them at an early hour, the
troops moved so slowly the Confederates became aware of
their design, and were enabled to concentrate considerable
masses of troops on their left.
The Federals were not only slow, but disorderly.  The regiments in advance stopped at streams to drink and fill their
can teens, delaying the regiments in the rear.  They wasted
their provisions, so that many of them were without food at
noon, when they were exhausted by the heat of the sun, and
by the stifling vapors of their own dense columns.  When
they at last came into action some divisions were not in their
places, so that the line of battle was broken; and those which
were in their proper position were exposed, without su~port,
to the enemy's fire.  A delusion of m~~ked batteries pressed
on their brain.  To this was soon added a hallucination about
cavalry, which might have been cured, had the Federals possessed a few steady squadrons to manceuvre on their flanks
and in the intervals of their line. Nevertheless, they advanced
and encountered the enemy's fire with some spirit; but the
Confederates were enabled to move up fresh battalions, and to
a certain extent to establish an equality between the numbers
of their own troops and the assailants, whilst they had the advantages of better cover and ground.  An apparition of a disorderly crowd of horsemen in f\~ont of the much-boasting Fire
Zouaves of New York threw them into confusion and flight,
and a battery which they ought to have protected was taken.
Another battery was captured by the mistake of an officer,
who allowed a Confederate regiment to approach the guns,
thinking they were Federal troops, till their first volley destroyed both horses and gunners.  At the critical moment,
General Johnston, who had escaped from the feeble observation and untenacious grip of General Patterson and his timeexpired volunteers, and had been hurrying down his troops
from Winchester by train, threw his fresh battalions on the 
WASHINGTON SAFER.            477
liank and rear of the Federal right.  When the General ordered a retreat, rendered necessary by the failure of the
attack - disorder spread, which increased - the retreat became a flight, which degenerated - if a flight can degenerate
- into a panic, the moment the Confederates pressed them
with a few cavalry and horse artillery.  The efforts of the
Generals to restore order and confidence were futile.  Fortunately a weak reserve was posted at Centreville, and these
were formed in line on the slope of the hill, whilst McDowell
and his officers exerted themselves with indifferent success to
arrest the mass of the army, and make them draw up behind
the reserve, telling the men a bold fiont was their sole chance
of safety.  At midnight it became evident the morale of the
army was destroyed, and nothing was le~t but a speedy retrograde movement, with the few regiments and guns which were
in a condition approaching to efficiency, upon the defensive
works of Washington.
Notwithstanding the reverse of fortune, McDowell did not
appear willing to admit his estimate of the Southern troops
wa~ erroneous, or to say "Change armies, and I'll fight the
battle over again.   He still held Mississippians, Alabamians,
Louisianians, very cheap, and did not see, or would not confess, the full extent of the calamity which had fallen so heavily
on him personally.  The fact of the evening's inactivity~was
conclusive in his mind that they had a dearly bought success,
and he looked forward, though in a sub9rdinate capacity, to a
speedy and glorious reven~.
J~~ly 25th. - The unfortunate General Patterson, who could
not keep Johnston from getting away from Winchester, is to
be dismissed the service - honorably, of course - that is,
he is to be punished because his men would insist on going home in face of the enemy, as soon as their three months
were up, and that time happened to arrive just as it would be
desirable to operate against the Confederates.  The latter have
lost their chance.  The Senate, the House of Representatives,
the Cabinet, the President, are all at their ease once more,
and feel secure in Washington.  Up to this moment the Confederates could have taken it with very little trouble.  Maryland could have been roused to arms, and Baltimore would
have declared for them.  The triumph of the non-aggressionists, at the head of whom is Mr. Davis, in resist~ng the demands of the party which urges an actual invasion of the
North as the best way of obtaining peace, may prove to ho 
473        MY DIARY NORTIl AND SOUTH.
very disastrous.  Final material results must have justified
the occupation of Washington.
~I dined at the Legation, where were Mr. Sumner and some
English visitors desirous of going South.  Lord Lyons gives
no encouragement to these adventurous persons.
July 26tk.   Whether it is from curiosity to hear what I
have to say or not, the number of my visitors is augmenting
Among them was a man in soldier's uniform, who sauntered
into my room to borrow "five or ten dollars," on the ground
that he was a waiter at the Clarendon Hotel when I was stop
ping there, and wanted to go North, as his time was up.  His
anecdotes were stupendous  General Meigs and Captain Macomb, of the United States Engineers, paid me a visit, and
talked of the disaster very sensibly.  The former is an able
officer, and an aceomplished man   the latter, son, I believe,
of the American general of that name, distinguished in the
war with Great Britain.  I had a long conversation with
General McDowell, who bears his supersession with admirable
fortitude, and complains of nothing, except the failure of his
officers to obey orders, nnd the hard fate which eondemned
him to lead an army of volunteers - Captain Wright, aide-decamp to General Scott, Lieutenant Wise, of the Navy, and
many others.  The communications received from the Northern States have restored the spirits of all Union men, and not
a few declare they are glad of the reverse, as the North will
now he obliged to put forth all its strength. 
CHAPT~R tTI.
&ttack of illness - General McClellan - Reception at the White
House - Drunkenness among the Volunteers - Visit from Mr.
Olaisted - Georgetown - Intense Heat - McClellan and the
Newspapers - Reception at Mr. Seward's - Alexandria - A
Storm - Sudden Death of an English Officer -The Maryland
Club - A Prayer and Fast Day - Financial Difficulties.
Ju1~ 27th. - So ill to-day from heat, bad sniells in the
house, and fatigue, that 1 sent for Dr. Miller, a great, fine
Virginian practitioner, who ordered me powders to be taken
in "mint-juleps."  Now mint-juleps are made of whiskey,
sugar, ice, very little water, and sprigs of fresh raint, t~ be
sucked up after the manner of sherry-cobblers, if ~o it be
pleased, with a straw.
"A powder every two hours, with a mint-julep.  Why,
that's six a day, Doctor.  Won't that be - eh? - won't that
be rather intoxicating?"
"Well, sir, that depends ~n the constitution.  You'll find
they will do you no harm, even if the worst takes place."
Day after day, till the month was over and August had
come, 1 passed in a state of, powder and julep, which the Virginian doctor declared saved my life.  The first time 1 stirred
out the change which had taken place in the streets was at
once apparent: no drunken rabblement of armed men, no begging soldiers - instead of these were patrols in the streets,
guards at the corners, and a rigid system of passes.  The
North begin to perceive their magnificent armies are mythical, but knowing they have the elements of making one, they
are setting about the manufacture.  Numbers of tapsters and
serving men, and canaille from the cities, who now disgrace
swords and shoulder-straps, are to be dismissed.  Round the
corner, with a kind of staff at his heels and an escort, comes
~1ajor-General George B. McClellan, the young Napoleon
(of Western Virginia), the eonque~or of Garnett, the captol
of Peagrim, the commander4n-chief, under the President, of
the army of the United States.  He is a ~ery sqnarely-b~lt, 
480        MY DIARY NORTll AND SOUTlI.
thick-throated, broad-chested man, under the middle height,
with slightly bowed legs, a tendency to embonpoint.  His head,
covered with a closely cut crop of dark auburn hair, is well
set oa his shoulders.  His features are regular and prepossessing - the brow small, contracted, and furrowed; the eyes
deep and anxious-looking.  A short, thick, reddish mustache
conceals his mouth; the rest of his face is clean shaven.  He
has made his father4n-law, ~1ajor ]YIarcy, chief of his staW,
and is a good deal influenced by his opinions, which are entitled to some weight~ as ~1ajor Marcy is a soldier, and has seen
frontier wars, and is a great traveller.  The task of licking
this army into shape is of Herculean magnitude.  Every one,
however, is willing to do as he bids: the President confides
in him, and "Georges" him; the press fawn upon him, the
people trust him; he is "the little corporal" of unfought fields
- omnis ignotus pro mir~co, here.  He looks like~ a stout
little captain of dragoons, but for his American seat and saddle.  The latter is adapted to a man who cannot ride: if a
squadron so mounted were to attempt a fence or &itch half of
them would be ruptured or spilled.  The seat is a marvel to
any European.  But McClellan is nevertheless "the man on
horseback" just now, and the Americans must ride in his
saddle, or in anything he likes.
In the evening of my first day's release from juleps the
President held a reception or levee, and I went to thc White
House about nine o'clock, when the rooms were at their fullest.
The company were arriving on foot, or crammed in hackney
coaches, and did not affect any neatness of attire or evening
dress.  The doors were open: any one could walk in who
chose.  Private soldiers, in hodden gray and hobnailed shoes,
stood timorously d~ewing on the threshold of the state apartments, alarmed at the lights and gilding, or, haply, by the
marabout feathers and finery of a few ladies wlio were in ball
costume, till, assured by fellow-citizens there was nothing to
fear, they plunged into the dread~ul revelry.  Faces familiar to
me in the magazines of the town were visible in the crowd
which filled the reception rooms and the ball-room, in a small
room off which a military band was stationed.
The President, in a suit of black, stood near the door of one
of the rooms near the hall, and shook hands with every one of
the crowd, who was then "passed" on by his secretary, if the
President didn't wish to speak to him. Mr. Lincoln has recovered his spirits, and seemed in good humor.  Mrs. Lincoln, 
OVATIONS FOR BULL RUN.          481
who did the honors in another room, surrounded by a few ladies, did not appear to be quite so contented.  All the Ministers
are present except Mn Seward, who has gone to his own State
to ascertain the frame of mind of the people, and to judge for
himself of the sentiments they entertain respecting the war.
After walking up and down the hot and crowded rooms for an
hour, and seeing and speaking to all the celebrities. I withdrew.
Colonel Richardson in his official report states Colonel Miles
lost the battle of Bull Run by being drunk and disorderly at a
critical moment.  Colonel Miles, who commanded a division of
three brigades, writes to say he was not in any such state, and
has demanded a court of inquiry.  In a Philadelphia paper it
is stated McDowell was helplessly drunk during the action, and
sat up all the night before drinking, smoking, and playing
cards.  McDowell never drinks, and never lias drunk, wine,
spirits, malt, tea, or coffee, or smoked or used tobacco in any
form, nor does he play cards; and that remark does not apply
to many other Federal officers.
Drunkenness is only too commoa among the American volunteers, and General Butler has put it officially in orde~, that
"the use of intoxicating liquors prevails to an alarming extent
among the officers of his command," and has ordered the seizure of their grog, which will only be allowed on medical certificate.  lle announces, too, that he will not use wine or spirits,
or give any to his friends, or allow any in his own quarters in
future - a quaint, vigorous creature, this Massachusetts lawyer.
The outcry against Patterson has not yet subsided, though
he states that, out of twenty-three regiments composing his
force, nineteen refused to stay an hour over their time, which
would have been up in a week, so that he would have been left
in an enemy's country with four regiments.  ll~ wisely led his
patriot band back, and let them disband themselves in their
own borders.  Verily, these are not the men to conquer the
South.
Fresh volunteers are pouring in by tens of thousand 5 to
take their places from all parts of the Union, and in three days
after the battle, 80,000 men were accepted.  Strange people!
The regiments which have returned to New York aft er disgraceful conduct at Bull Run, with the stigmata of cowardice
impressed by their commanding officers on the colors and souls
of their corps, are actually welcomed with the utmost enthusiasm, and receive popular ovations!  It becomes obvious
21 
482        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
every day that McClellan does not intend to advance till he has
got some semblance of an army: that will be a long time to
come; but he can get a good deal of fighting out of them la a
few months.  Meantime the whole of the Northern States are
waiting anxiously for the advance which is to take place at
once, according to promises from New York.  As Washington
is the principal scene of interest, the South being tabooed to
me, 1 have resolved to stay here till the army is fit to move,
making little excursions to points of interest.  The details in
niy diary are not very interesting, and 1 shill make but brief
extracts.
August 2d. - Mr. Olmsted visited me, in company with a
young gentleman named Ritcliie, son-in-law of James Wadsworth, who has been serving as honorary aide-de-camp on
McDowell's staff, but is now called to higher functions.  They
dined at my lodgings, and we talked over Bull Run again.
Mr. Ritchie did not leave Centreville till late in the evening,
and slept at Fairfax Court House, where he remained till 8'3(),
A. M., on the morning of July 22d, Wadsworth not stirring for
two hours later.  He said the panic was "horrible, disgusting,
sickening," and spoke in the harshest terms of the officers, to
whom he applied a variety of epithets.  Prince Napoleon has
arrived.
-August 3d - McClellan orders regular parades and drills
in every regiment, and insists on all orders being givea by
bugle note.  1 had a long ride th rough the camps, and saw
some improvement in the look of the men.  Coming home by
Georgetown, met the Prince driving with M. Mercier, to pay
a visit to the President.  1 am sure that the politicians are
not quite well pleased with this arrival, because they do not
understand it, and cannot imagine a man would come so far
without a purpQse.  The drunken soldiers now resort to quie(
lanes and courts in the suburbs.  Georgetown was full of them.
-it is a much more respectable and old-world looking place
than its vtilgar, empty, overgrown, mushroom neighbor, Washington.  An officer who had fallen in his men to go on duty
was walking down the line this evening when his eye rested
on the neck of a botAe sticking out of a man's coat.  "Thunder," quoth he, "James, what have you got there?"  "Well,
1 guess, Captain, it's a drop of real good Bourbon."  "Then
let us have a drink," said the captain; and thereupon pro
ceeded to take a long pull and a strong pull, till the man cried
out, "That is not fair, Captain.  You won't leave me a drop" 
MrLITARY AD~NTUR~S.            483
a remonstrance which had a proper effect, and the captain
marched down his company to the bridge..
It was extremely hot when I returned, late in the evening.
I asked the boy for a glass of iced water.  "Dere is no ice,
Massa," he said.  "No ice?  What's the reason of that?"
"De Sechessers, Massa, block up de river, and touch off dei~
guns at de ice-boats."  The Confederates on the right bank of
the Potomac have now established a close blockade of the river.
Lieutenant Wise, of the Navy Department, admitted tlie fact,
but said that the United States gunboats would soon sweep the
rebels from the shore.
Aa~ust 4tk. - I had no idea that the sun could be powerful
in Washington; even in India the heat is not much more oppressive than it was here to.day.  There is this extenuating
circumstance, however, that after some hours of such very high
temperature, thunder-storms and tornadoes cool the air.  I received a message from General McClellan, that he was about
to ride along the lines of the anny across the river, and would
be happy if I accompanied him; but as I had many letters to
write for the next mail, I was unwillingly obliged to abandon
the chance of seeing the army under such favorable circumstances.  There are daily arrivals at Washington of military
adventurers from all parts of the world, some of them with
many extraordinary certificates and qualifications; but, as Mr.
Seward says, "It is best to detain them with the hope of employment on the Northern side, lest some legally good man
should get among the rebels."  Garibaldians, Hungarians,
Poles, officers of Turkish and other contingents, the executory
devises and remainders of European revolutions and wars, surround the State Department, and infest unsuspecting politicians
with illegible testimonials in unknown tongues.
4u~tst 5th. - The roads from the station are crowded with
troops, coming from the Noi~th as fast as the railway can carry them.  It is evident, as the war fever spreads, that such
politicia~s, as Mr. Crittenden, who resist the extreme violence
of the Republican party, will be stricken down.  The Confis
cation Bill, for the emancipation of slaves and the absorption
of property belonging to rebels, has, indeed, been boldly re
sisted in the House of Representatives; but it passed with
some trifling amendments.  The journals are still busy with
the affair of Bull Run, and each seems anxious to eclipse the
other in the absurdity of its statements.  A Philadelphia jour
nal, for instance, states to-day that the real cause of the disas 
484        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
ter was not a desire to retreat, but a mania to advance.  In
its own words,`~`the only drawback was the impetuous feeling
to go ahead and fight   Because one officer is accused of
drunkenness a great movement is on foot to prevent the army
getting any drink at all.
General McClellan invited the newspaper correspondents in
Washington to meet hiin to-day, nnd with their assent drew up
a treaty of peace and amity, which is a curiosity in its way.
In the first place, the editors are to abstain from printing any
thing which can give aid or comfort to the enemy, and their
correspondents are to observe equal caution  in return for
which complaisance, Government is to be asked to give the
press opportunities for obtaining and transmitting intelligence
suitable for puNication, particularly touching engagements
with the enemy.  The Confederate privateer Sumter has
forced the blockade at New Orleans, and has already been
heard of destroying a number of Union vessels.
August 6th. - Prince Napoleon, anxious to visit the battlefield at Bull Run, has, to Mr. Sewar&s discomfiture, applied
for passes, and arrangements are being made to escort him as
far as the Confederate lines.  This is a recognition of the
Confederates, as a belligerent power, which is by no means
agreeable to the authorities.  I drove down to the Senate,
where the pro~eedings were very uninteresting, although Congress was on the eve of adjournment, and returning visited
Mr. Seward, Mr. Bates, Mr. Cameron, Mr. Blair, and left
cards for Mr. Breckinridge.  The old woman who opened the
door at the house where the latter lodged said, "Massa Breckinridge pack up all his boxes; I s'pose he not cum back here
again.
August 7th. - In the evening I went to Mr. Seward's, who
gave a reception in honor of Prince Napoleon.  The Minister's rooms were crowded and intensely hot.  Lord Lyons
and most of the diplomatic circle were present.  The Prince
wore his Order of the Bath, and bore the onslaughts of politicians, male and female, with much good-humor.  The contrast between the uniforms of the officers of the United States
army and navy and those of the French in the Prince's suit,
by 110 means redounded to the credit of the military tailoring
of the Americans.  The Prince, to whom I was presented by
Mr. Seward, asked me particularly about' the roads from Alexandria to Fairfax Court House, and from there to Centreville
and Manassas.  I told him I had not got quite as far as the 
VISIT TO THE HOSPITALS.       485
latter place, at which he laughed.  He inquired with much
interest about General Beauregard, whether he spoke good
French, if he seemed a man of capacity, or was the creation
of an accident and of circumstances.  He has been to Mount
Vernon, and is struck with the air of neglect around the
place.  Two of his horses dropped dead from the ii eat on the
journey, and the Prince, who was perspiring profusely in the
crowded room, asked me whether the climate was not as bad
as midsummer in India.  His manner was perfectly easy, but
he gave no encouragement to bores, nor di~ he court popularity by unusual affability, and lie moved off long before the
guests were tired of looking at him.  On returning to my
rooms a German gentleman named Bing - who went out
with the Federal army from Washington, was taken prisoner
at Bull Run, and carried to Richmond - came to visit me,
but his account of what he saw in the dark and mysterious
South was not lucid or interesting.
A~~gust 8tk. - I had arranged to go with Mr. Olmsted and
Mr. Ritchie to visit the hospitals, but the heat was so intolerable, we abandoned the idea till afternoon, when we drove
across the Long Bridge and proceeded to Alexandria.  The
town, which is now fully occupied by military, and is abandoned by the respectable inhabitants, has an air, owing to tlie
absence of women and children, which tells the tale of a hostile occupation.  In a large building which had once been a
school, the wounded of Bull Run were lying, not uncomfortably packed, nor unskilfully cared for, and the arrangements
were, taken altogether, creditable to the skill and humanity of
the surgeons.  Close at hand was the church in which George
Washington was wont in latter days to pray, when he drove
over from Mount Vernon - further on, Marshall House, where
Ellsworth was shot by the Virginian landlord, and was so
speedily avenged.  A strange strain of thought was suggested,
by the rapid grouping of incongruous ideas, ansing out of the
proximity of these scenes.  As one of my friends said, "I
wonder what Washington would do if he were here now -
and how he would act if he were summoned from that church
to Marshall House or to this hospital?"  The man who uttered these words was not either of my companions, but wore
the shoulder-straps of a Union officer.  "Stranger still," said
I, "would it be to speculate on the thoughts and actions of
Napoleon in this crisis, if he were to wake up and see a Prince
of his blood escorted by Federal soldiers to the spot where 
486        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
the troops of the Southern States had inflicted on them a sig
nal defeat, in a land where the nephew who now sits on the
throne of France has been an exile."  It is not quite certain
that many Americans understand who Prince Napoleon is, for
one of the troopers belonging to the escort which took him
out from Alexandria declared positively he had ridden with
the Emp~ror.  The excursion is swallowed, but not well-digested. In Washington the only news to-night is, that a small
privateer from Charleston, mistaking the St. Lawrence for a
merchant vessel, fired into her, and was at once sent to Mr.
Davy Jones by a rattling broadside.  Congress having adjourned, there is but little to render Washington less uninteresting than it must he in its normal state.
The truculent and overbearing spirit which arises from the
uncontroverted action of democratic majorities develops itself
in the North, where they have taken to burning newspaper
offices and destroying all the property belonging to the proprietors and editors.  T{iese actions are a strange oommentary on Mr. Seward's declaration "that no volunteers are to
be refused because they do not speak English, inasmuch as
the contest for the Union is a battle of the freemen of the
world for the institutions of self-government."
August 1 ItA. - On the old Indian principle, I rode out this
morning very early, and was rewarded by a breath of cold,
fresh air, and by the sight of some very disorderly regiments
just turning out to parade in the camps; but I was not particularly gratified by being mistaken for Prince Napoleon by,,
some Irish i~cruits, who shouted out, " Bonaparte forever,
and gradually subsided into requests for "something to drink
your Royal Highness's health with."  As I returned I saw
on the steps of General Mansfield's quarters, a tall, soldierlylooking young man, whose breast was covered with Crimean
ribbons and medals, and I recognized him as one who had
called upon me a few days before, renewing our slight acquaintance before Sebastopol, where his courage was conspicuous, to ask me for information respecting the mode of
obtaining a commission in the Federal army.
Towards mid-day an ebony sheet of clouds swept over the
city.  I went out, regardless of the threatening storm, to avail
myself of the coolness to make a few visits; but soon a violent wind arose bearing clouds like those of~an Indian duststorm down the streets.  The black sheet overhead became
agitated like the sea, and tossed about gray clouds, which 
DEATH OF A CErMEAN.           487
~reered against each other and burst into lightning~ ffler
uddenly, without other warning, down came the rain - a
perfect tornado; sheets of water flooding the streets in a moment, turning the bed into watercourses and the channels into
deep rivers.  I waded up the centre of Pennsylvania Avenue,
past the President's house, in a current which would have
made a respectable trout-stream; and on getting opposite my
own door, n~'ade a rush for the porch, but forgetting the deep
chai~nel at the side, stepped into a rivulet which was literally
above my hips, and I was carried off my legs, till I succeeded
in catching the curbstone, and escaped into the hall as if I
had just swam across the Potomac.
On returning from my ride next morning, I took up the Baltimore paper and saw a paragraph announcing the death of
an English offl~er at the station; it was the poor fi~llow whom
I saw sitting at General ~IansfieU's steps yesterday.  The
consul was absent on a short tour rendered necessary by the
failure of his health consequent on the discharge of his duties.
Finding the Legation were anxious to see due care taken of
the poor fellow's remains, I left for Baltimore at a quarter to
three o'dock, and proceeded to inquire into the circumstances
connected with his death.  lle had been struck down at the
station by some cerebral attack, brought on by the heat and
excitement; had been carried to the police station and placed
upon a bench, from which he had fallen with his head downwards, and was found in that position, with life quite extinct,
by a casuil visitor.  ~Iy astonishment may be conceived when
I learned that not only had the Coroner's inquest sat and returned its verdict, but that the man had absolutely been buried
the same morning, and so my mission was over, and I could
only report what had occurred to Washington.  Little value
indeed has human life in this new world, to which the old
gives vital power so lavishly, that it is regarded as almost
worthles~.  I have seen more "fuss" made over an old woman killed by a cab in London than`there is over half a dozen
deaths with suspicion of murder attached in New Orleans or
New York.
I remained in Baltimore a few days, and had an opportuUity of knowing the feelings of some of the leading men in
the place.  It may be described in one word - intense hatred
of New England and Black Republicans, which has been increased to mania by the stringent measures of the military
dictator of the American Warsaw, the searches of private 
488        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
houses, domiciliary visits, arbitrary arrests, the suppression of
adverse journals, the overthrow of the corporate body - all
the acts, in fact, which constitute the machinery and the grievances of a tyranny.  When I spoke of the brutal indifference
of the police to the poor officer previously mentioned, the Baltimoreans told me the constables appointed by the Federal
general were scoundrels who led the Plug Uglies in former
days, - the worst characters in a city not sweet or savory in
repute, - but that the old police were men of very different
description.  The Maryland Club, where I had spent some
~leasant hours, was now like a secret tribunal or the haunt of
conspirators.  The police entered it a few days ago, seard~ed
every room, took up the ~ooring, and even tun~ed up the coals
in the kitchen and the wine in the cellar.  Such indignities
fired the blood of the members, who are, with one exception,
opposed to the attempt to coerce the South by the sword.
Not one of them but could tell of some outrage perpetrated
on himself or on some members of his family b~ the police
and Federal authority.  Many a Jelator amici was suspected
but not convicted.  Men sat moodily reading the papers with
knitted brows, or whispering in corners, taking each other
apart, and glancing suspiciously at their fellows.
There is a peculiar stamp about the Baltimore men which
distinguishes them from most Americans - a style of dress,
frankness of manner, and a general appenrance assimilating
them closely to the upper classes of Englishmen.  They are
fond of sport and travel, exclusive and high-spirited, and the
iron rule of the Yankee is the more intolerable because they
dare not resent it, and are unable to shake it off.
I returned to Washington on 15th August.  Nothing
changed; skirmishes along the front; McClellan reviewing.
The loss of General Lyon, who wrts killed in an action with
the Confederates under Ben McCullough, at Wilson's Creek,
Springfield, Missouri, in which the Unionists were with difficulty extricated by General Sigel from a very dangerous position, after the death of their leader, is severely felt.  lle was
one of the very few officers who combined military skill and
personal bravery with political sagacity and moral firmness.
The President has issued his proclamation for a day of fast
and prayer, which, say the Baltimoreans, is a sign that the
Yankees are in a bad way, as they would never think of praying or fasting if their cause was prospering.  The stories
which have been so sedulously spread, and which never will 
MR. SEWARD ON TilE WAR.
be quite discredited, of the barbarity and cruelty of the Confederates to all the wounded, ~ught to be set at rest by the
printed statement of the eleven Unioa surgeons just released,
who have come back from RiA~mond, where they were sent
after their capture oa the field of Bull Run, with the most
distinct testimony that the Confederates treated their prisoners
with humanity.  Who are the miscreants who tried to make
the evil feeling, quite strong enough as it is, perfecfly fiendish,
by asserting the rebels burned tlie wounded in hospitals, and
bayoneted them as they lay helpless on the field?
The pecuniary difficulties of the Government have been
alleviated by the f)ankers of New York, Philadelphia, and
Boston, who have a~reed to lend them fifty millions of dollars,
on condition that they receive the Treasury notes which Mr.
Chase is about to issue.  As we read the papers and hear the
i~ws, it is difficult to believe that the foundations of society
are not melting away in the heat of this conflict.  Thus, a
Federal judge, named Garrison, who has issued his writ of
ka~eas co~us for certain pflsoners in Fort Lafayette, being
quietly snuffed out by the commandant, Colonel Burke, desires
to lead an army against the fort, and have a little civil war of
his own in New York.  lie applies to the commander of the
county militia, who informs Garrison he can't get into the fort
as there was no artillery strong enough to breach the walls,
and that it would require 10,000 men to invest it, whereas
only 1400 militiamen were available.  What a farceur Judge
Garrison niust be!  In addition to the gutting and burning of
newspaper offices, and the exercitation of the editors on rails,
the Republican grand juries have taken to indicting the Democratic journals, and Fremont's provost marshal in St. Louis
has, proprno motu suppressed those which he considers disaffected.  A mutiny which broke out in the Scotch Regiment,
Seventy-Ninth N. Y., has been followed by another in the
Second ~Iaine Regiment, and a display of cannon and of cavalry was required to induce il~em to allow the ringleaders to
l~e arrested.  The President was greatly alarmed, but ~IcClellan acted with some vigor, and the refractory volunteers are to
be sent off to a pleasant station called the "Dry Tortugas" to
work on the fortifications.
Mr. Seward, with whom I dined and spent the evening on
the 16th August, has been much reassured and comtorted
by the demonstrations of readiness on the pa~t of the people
to continue the contest, and of confidence in the cause among
21 * 
490       MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
the moneyed men of the great cities.  "All we want is time to
develop our strength.  ~Ye have been blamed for not making greater use of our navy and extending it at once.  It was
our first duty to provide for the safety of our capital.  Besides, a man will generally pay little attention to agencies he
does not understand.  None of us knew anything about a
navy.  I doubt if the President ever saw anything more
fbnnidable than a river steamboat, and I don't think Mr.
Welles, the Secretary of the Navy, knew the stem from the
stern of a ship.  Of the whole Cabinet, I am the only mcmber who ever was fa~~1~ at sea, or crossed the Atlantic.
Some of us never even saw it.  No wonder we did not understand the necessity for creating a navy at once.  Soon,
however, our Government will be able to dispose of a respectable marine, and when our army is ready to move,
eoo~perating with the fleet, the days of the rebellion are numbered."
"When will that be, Mr. Secretary?"
"Soon; very soon, I hope.  We can, however, bear delays.
The rebels will be ruined by it-" 
CllAPTER LIII.
Return to Baltimore - Colonel Carroll - A Priest's view of the Abo  lltion of Slavery - Slavery in Maryland - llarper's Ferry -
John Brown - Back by train to Washington - Furtl'er accounts
of Bull Run - American Yanity - My own unpopularity for
speaking the truth - Killing a "Nigger" no murder - Navy De  partment.
ON the 17th August 1 returned to Baltimore on my way to
Drohoregan Manor, the seat of Colonel Carroll, in Maryland,
where I had been invited to spend a few days by his sonin4aw, an English gentleman of my acquaintance.  Leaving
Baltimore at 5-40, P. M., in company with Mr. Tucker Carroll,
I proceeded by train to Ellicott's Mills, a station fourteen
miles on the Ohio and Baltimore Railroad, from which our
host's residence is distant more tban an hour's drive.  The
country through which the line passes is picturesque and undulating, with hills and valleys and brawling sti~eams, spreading in woodland and glade, ravine, and high uplands on either
side, haunted by cotton factories, poisoning air aii d water;
but it has been a formidable district for the engineers to get
through, and the line abounds in those triumphs of engineering which are generally the ruin of shareholders.
All these lines are now in the hands of the military.  At
the Washington terminus there is a guard placed to see
that no unauthorized person or unwilling volunteer is going
north; the line is watched by patrols and sentries; troops are
encamped along its course.  The factory chimi~eys are smokeless; half the pleasant villas which cover the hills or dot the
openings in the forest have a deserted look and closed windows.
And so these great works, the Carrollton Viaduct, the Thomas
Viaduct, and the high embankments and great cuttings in
the ravine by the riverside, over which the line passes, have
almost a depressing effect, as if the people fbr whose use they
were intended had all become extinct.  At Ellicott's MilL~,
which i~ a considerable manufacturing town, more soldiers and 
492        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
Union flags.  The people are Unionists, but the neighboring
gentry and country people are Seceshers.
This is the case wherever there is a manufacturing popula tion in ~Iaryland, because the workmen are generally foreign ers, or have come from the Northern States, and feel little
sympathy with States Rights' doctrines, and the tendencies of
the landed gentry to a conservative action on the slave ques tion.  There was no good-will in the eyes of the mechanicals
as they stared at our vehicle; for the political bias of Colonel
Carroll was well known, as well as the general sentiments of
his family.  It was dark when we reached the manor, which
is approached by an avenue of fine trees.  The house is old fashioned, and has received additions from time to time.  But
~f~r the black faces of the domestics, one might easily fancy
lie was in some old country house in Ireland.  The family
have adhered to their ancient faith.  The founder ~r the Car rolls in ~Iaryland came over with the Catholic colonists led
by Lord Baltimore, or by his brother, Leonard Calvert; and
the Colonel possesses some interesting deeds of gran~ and con veyance of the vast estates, which have been diminished by
large sales year afler year, but still spread over a considerable
part of several counties in the State.
Colonel Carroll is an immediate descendant of one of the
leaders in the Revolution of 1776; and he pointed out to me
the room in which Carroll, of Carrolltoa, and George Wash
ington, were wont to meet when they were concocting their
splendid treason.  One of his connections married the late
~Iarquis Wellesley; and the Colonel takes pleasure in setting
forth how tlie daughter of the Irish recusant, who fled from
his native country all but an outlaw, sat on the throne of tlie
Queen of Ireland, or, in other words, held court in Dublin
Castle as wife of the Viceroy.  Drohoregan is supposed to
mean "Hall of the Kings," and is called after an old place
belonging, some time or other, to the family, the early history
of which, as set forth in the Celtic authorities and Irish anti q~arian works, possesses great attractions for the kindly,
genial old in an, - kindly and genial to all but the Aholition ists and Black Republicans; nor is he indifferent to the reputa tion of the State in the Revolutionary War, where the "~Iary land line" seems to have differed from many of the con tin gents of the other States, in not running away so often at
cntical moments in the serious actions.  Colonel Carroll has
~ound ai'guments to prove the sovereign independence and
 
ROMAN CATIIOHC NEGROES.        493
right of every State in the Union, derived from family teaching
and the lessons of those who founded the Constitution itself.
On the day after my arrival the rain fell in torrents.  The
weather is as uncertain as that of our own isle.  The torrid
heats at Washington, the other day, were succeeded by bitter
cold days; now there is a dense mist, c~illy and cheerless,
seeming as a sort of strainer for the even down-pour that
falls through it continuously.  The family after breakfast
slipped round to the little chapel, which forms the extremity
of one wing of the house.  The colored people on the estate
were already trooping across the lawn and up the avenue
from the slave quarters, deeently dressed for the most part,
having due allowance for the extraordinary choice of colors
in their gowns, bonnets, and ribbons, and for the unhappy imitations, on the part of the men, of the attire of their masters.  They walked demurely and quietly past the house;
and presently the priest, dressed like a French cure', trotted
up, and service began.  The negro houses were of a much
better and more substantial character than those one sees in
the South, though not remarkable for cleanliness and good
order.  Truth to say, they were palaces compared to the huts
of Irish laborers, such as ~m ight be found, perhaps, on the
estates of the colonel's kinsmen at home.  The negroes are
far more independent than they are in the South.  They are
less civil, less obliging, and, although they do come cring
ing to shake hands as the field hands on a Lonisianian plantation, lcss servile.  They inhabit a small village of brick and
wood houses, across the road at the end of the avenue, and in
sight of the house.  The usual swarms of little children,
poultry, pigs, enlivened by goats~ embarrassed the steps of
the visitor; and the old people, or those who were not finely
dressed enough for mass, peered out at the strangers from the
glassless windows.
When chapel was over, the boys and girls came up for
catechism, and passed in review before the ladies of the house,
with whom they were on very good terms.  The priest Joined
us in the veranda when his labors were over, and talk~d with
intelligence of the terrible war which has burst over the land.
lie has just returned from a tour in the Northern States; and
it is his belief the native Americans there will not enlist, but
that they will get foreigners to fight their battles.  lie adinifted that slavery was in itself an evil, nay, more, that it
wL~ not profitable in Marylan~  But what are the landed 
494        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
proprietors to do?  The slaves have been bequeathed to them
as property by their fathers, with certain obligations to be respected, and duties to be fulfilled.  It is impossible to free
them, because, at the moment of emancipation, nothing short
of the confiscation of all the labor and property of the whites
would be required to maintain the negroes, who would certaii~ly refuse to work, unless they had their masters' land as
their own.  Where is white labor to be found?  Its introduction must be the work of years; and meantime many thousands of slaves, who have a right to protection, would canker
the land.
In Maryland they do not breed slaves for the purpose of
selling them as they do in Virginia, and yet Colonel Carroll
and other gentlemen who regarded the slaves they inherited
almost as members of their families, have been stigmatized
by Abolition orators as slave-breeders and slave-dealers.  It
was these insults which stung the gentlemen of Maryland and
of the other Slave States to the quick, and made them resolve
never to yield to the domination of a party which had never
ceased to wage war against their institutions and~heir reputation and honor.
A little knot of friends and rel~tions joined Colonel Carroll
at dinner.  There are few families in this part of Maryland
which have not representatives in the other army across the
Potomac; and if Beauregard could but make his appearance,
the women alone would give him welcome such as no conqueror ever received in liberated city.
Next day the rain fell incessantly.  The mail was brought
in by a little negro boy on horseback, and I was warned by
my letters that an immediate advance of McClellan's troops
was probable. This is an old story.  "Battle expected tomorrow" has been a heading in the papers for the last fortnight.  In the afternoon T was driven over a part of the
estate in a close carriage, through the windows of which, however, I caught glimpses of a beautiful country, wooded gloriously, and soft, sylvan, and well-cultivated as the best parts of
Hampshire and Gloucestershire, the rolling lands of which
latter county, indeed, it much resembled in its large fields,
heavy with crops of tobacco and corn.  The weather was too
unfavorable to admit of a close inspection of the fields; but I
visited one or two tobacco houses, where the fragrant Mary.
land was lying in masses on the ground, or haaging from the
rafters, or filled the heavy hogsheads with compressed ~moke. 
HARPER'S FERRY.            495
Next day I took the train, at Ellicott's Mills, and went to
Harper's Ferry.  There is no one spot, in the his(ory of this
extraordinary war, which can be. well more conspicuous.
Had it nothing more to recommend it than the scenery, it
might well command a visit from the tourist; but as the scene
of old John Brown's raid upon the Federal arsenal, of that
first passage of arms betweeen the Abolitionists and the Slave
Conservatives, which has developed this great contest; above
all, as the spot where important military demonstrations have
been made on both sides, and will necessarily occur hereafter,
this place, which probably denves its name ti~m some
~retched old boatman, will be renowned forever in the annals
of the Civil ~Yar of 1861.  The Patapsco, by the bank of
which the rail is carried for some miles, has all the character
of a mountain torrent, rushing through gorges or carving out
its way at the base of granite hills, or boldly cutting a path for
itself through the softer slate.  Bridges, viaducts, remarkable arch ways, and great spans of timber trestle-work leaping
from hill to hill, enable the rail to creep onwards and upwards
by the mountain side to the Potomac at Point of Rocks,
whence it winds its way over undulating ground, by stations
with eccentric names to the river's bank once more.  We
were carried on to the station next to Harper's Ferry on a
ledge of the precipitous mountain range which almost overhangs the stream.  But few civilians were in the train.  The
greater number of passengers consisted of soldiers and sutlers,
proceeding to their encampments along the river.  A strict
watch was kept over the passengers, whose passes were examined by officers at the various stations.  At one place an
officer who really looked like a soldier entered the train, and
on seeing my pass told me in broken English that he had
served in the Crimea, and was acquainted with me and many
of my friends. The gentleman who accompanied me observed,
`I do not know whether h~ was in the Crimea or not, but I do.
kn~w that till very lately your friend the Major was a dancing-master in New York."  A person of a very different type
made his offers of service, Colonel Gordon of the 2d Massachusetts Regiment, who caused the train to run on as far as
Harper's Ferry, in order to give me a sight of the place,
although in consequence of the evil habit of firing on the
carriages in which the Confederates across the' river have
been indulging, the locomotive generally halts at some distance
below the bend of the river. 
49~        MY DIAW NORTH AND SOUTH.
Harper's Ferry lies in a gorge formed by a rush of the
Potomac through il~e mountain ridges, which it cuts at.right
angles to its course at its junction with the river Shenandoah.
So trenchant and abrupt is the division that little land is on
the divided ridge to build upon. The precipitous hills on both
sides are covered with forest, which has been cleared in
patches here and there on the Maryland shore, to permit of
the erection of batteries.   On the Virginian side there lies a
mass of blackened and niined buildings, from which a street
lined with good houses stretches up the hill.  Just above the
junction of the Shenandoah with the Potomac, an elevated
bridge or viaduct 300 yards long leaps from hill-side to hillside.  The arches had been broken - the rails which ran
along the top torn up, and there is now a deep gulf fixed between the shores  of' Maryland and Virginia.  The rail to
Winchester from this point has been destroyed, and the line
along the Potomac has also been ruined.
But for the batteries which cover the shoal water at the
junction of the two rivers below the bridge, there would be no
difficulty in crossing to the Maryland shore, and from that side
the whole of the ground around Harper's Ferry is completely
commanded.  The gorge is almost as deep as the pass of
Killiecranekie, which it resembles in most respects except in
breadth and the size of the river between, and if ever a railroad finds its way to Blair Athol, the passengers will find
something to look at very like the scenery on the route to
Harper's Ferry.  The vigilance required to guard the pass
of the river above and below this point is incessant, but the
Federals possess the advantage on their side of a deep canal
parallel to the railway and running above the level of the
river, which would be a more formidable obstacle than the
Potomac to infantry or guns.  There is reason to believe that
the Secessionists in Maryland cross backwards and forwards
whenever they please, and the Virginians coming down at
their leisure to the opposite shore, inflict serious annoyance on
the Federal troops by constant rifle practice.
Looking up and down the river the scenery is picturesque,
though it is by no means entitled td the extraordinary praises
which American tourists lavish upon it.  Probably old John
Brown cared little for the wild magic of streamlet or rill, or
for the blended charm of vale and woodland. When he made
his attack on the arsenal now in ruins, he probably thought a
valley was as high as a hill, and that there was no neceseity 
BACK TO WASIIINGTO~            497
for water running downwards - assuredly he saw as little of
the actual heights and depths around him when he ran across
the Potomac to revolutionize Virginia.  He has left behind
him millions either as clear-sighted or as blind as himself. In
New England parlors a statuette of John Brown may be found
as a pendant to the likeness of our Saviour.  In Virginia his
name is the synonyme of all that is base, bloody, and cruel.
Harper's Ferry at present, for all practical purposes, may
be considered as Confederate property.  The few Union inhabitants remain in their houses, but many of the Government workmen and most of the inhabitants have gone off
South.  For strategical purposes its possession would be most
important to a fbi~ce desiring to operate on Maryland from
Vii~ginia.  The Blue Ridge range running up to the Slienandoah divides the country so as to permit a force debouching
from Ilarper's Ferry to advance down the valley of the
Shenandoah on the right, or to move to the left between the
Blue Ridge and the Katoctin mountains towards the Manassas Railway at its discretion.  After a false alarm that some
Secesh cavalry were coming down to renew the skirmishing
of the day before, I returned, and travelling to Relay H~nse
just saved the train to Washington, where I arrived after
sunset.  A large number of Federal troops are employed
along these lines, which they occupy as if they were in a
hostile country.  An imperfectly formed regiment broken up
into these detachments and placed in isolated posts, under ignorant officers, may be regarded as almost worthless for military operations.  Hence the constant night alarms - the
mistakes - the skirmishes and instances of misbehavior which
arise along these extended lines.
On the journey from Harper's Ferry, the concentration of
masses of troops along the road, and the march of heavy artillery trains, caused me to think a renewal of the offensive
movement against Richmond was immediate, but at Washington I heard that all McClellan wanted or hoped for at present,
was to make Maryland safe and to gain time for the formation
of his army. The Confederates appear to be moving towards
their left, and McClellan is very uneasy lest they should make
a vigorous attack before he is prepared to receive them.
In the ev~ning the New York papers came in with the extracts from the London papers containing my account of the
battle of Bull Run.  Utterly forgetting their own versions
of the engagement, the New Y6rk editors now find it conven 
MY DIARY NORTIl AND SOUTll.
jent to divert attention from the bitter truth that was iii them,
to the letter of the foreign newspaper correspondent, who, because he is a British subject, will prove not only useful as a
conductor to carry off the popular wrath from the American
journalists themselves, but as a means by induction of charging the vials afresh against the British people, inasmuch ~s
they have not condoled with the North on the defeat of arinies which they were assured would, if successful, he immediately led to effect the disruption of the British empire  At il~e
outset I had foreseen this would be the case, and deliberately
accepted the issue; but when I found the Northeri~ journal
far exceeding in severity anything I could have said, and indulging in ~eneral invective against whole classes of American
soldiery, officers, and statesmen, I was foolish enough to expect a little justice, not to say a word of the smallest generosity.
A'Lg%Lst`21st. - The echoes of Bull Run are coming back
with a vei0geance.  This day month the miserable fragments
of a beaten, washed out, demoralized army, were flooding in
disorder and dismay the streets of the capital from which they
had issued forth to repel the tide of invasion. This day month
and all the editors and journalists in the States, weeping, wailing, and gnashing their teeth, infused extra gall into their ink,
and poured out invective, abuse, and obloquy on their defeated
general and their broken hosts.  The President and his Ministers, stunned by the tremendous calamity, sat listening in fear
and trembling for the sound of the enemy's cannon.  The
veteran soldier, on whom the boasted hopes of the nation
rested, heart-sick and beaten down, had neither counsel to give
nor action to offer.  At any moment the Confederate columns
might be expected in Pennsylvania Avenue to receive the
welcome of their friends and the submission of their helpless
and disheartened enemies.
All this is forgotten - and much more, which need not
now be repeated.  Saved from a great peril, even the bitterness of death, they forget the danger that has passed, deny
that they uttered cries of distress and appeals for help, and
swagger in all the insolence of recovered strength.  Not only
that, but they turn and rend those whose writing has been
dug up after thirty days, and comes back as a r~buke to their
pride.
Conscious that they have insulted and irritated their own
army, that they have earned the bitter hostility of men in 
A MONTH AGO.                499
pow~r, and have for once inflicted a wound on the vanity to
which they have given such offensive dimensions, if not life
iLelf, they now seek to run a drng scent between the public
nose and their own unpopularity, and to create such an
amount of indignation and to cast so much odium upon one
who has had greater facilities to know, and is more willing to
tell the truth, than any of their organs, that he will be unable
henceforth to perform his duties in a country where unpopularity means ~imply a political and moral atrophy or death.
In the telegraphic summary some days ago a few phrases
were picked out of my letters, which were but very faint
paraphrases of some of the sentences which might be culled
from Northern newspapers, but the storm has been gathering
ever since, and I am no doubt to experience the truth of Do
Tocqueville's remark, "that a stranger who injures American
vanity, no matter how justly, may make up his mind to be a
martyr."
*,`~ztst22d.               The little dogs and all,
Tray, Blanche, and Sweetheart,
See they bark at me."
The North have recovered their wind, and their pipers are
blowing with might and main.  The time given them to
breathe after Bull Run has certainly been accompanied with
a greater development of lung and power of blowing than
could have been expected.  The volunteer army which dispersed and returned home to receive the lo Pceans of the
North, has been~~eplaced by better and more numerous levies,
which have the strong finger and thumb of General McClelIan on their windpipe, and find it is not quite 5Q easy as it was
to do as they pleased.  The North, besides, has received supplies of money, and is using its great resources, by land and
sea, to some purpose, and as they wax fat they kick.
A general officer said to me, "Of course you will never
remain, when once all the press are down upon you. I would
not take a million dollars and be in your place."  "But is
what I've written untrue?"  "God bless you! do you know
in this country if you can get enough of people to start a lie
about any man, he would be ruined, if the Evangelists came
forward to swear the story was false.  There ~re thousands
of people who this moment believe that McDowell, who never
tasted anything stronger than a water-melon in all his life, 
~OO       MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
was~helplessly drunk at Bull Run. Mind what 1 say; they'll
run you into a mud-hole as sure as you live."  1 was not
much impressed with the danger of my position further than
that 1 knew there would be a certain amount of risk from
the ~~" dyism and vanity of what even the Americans admit
to b  Jie lower orders, for which 1 had been prepared from
the nIoment 1 had despatched my letter; but 1 confess 1 was
not by any means disposed to think that the leaders of public
opinion would seek the small gratification of revenge, and the
petty popularity of pandering to the passions of the mob, by
creating a popular cry against me.  1 am not aware that any
foreigner ever visited the United States who was injudicious
enough to write one single word derogatory to their claims to
be the first of created beings, who was not assailed with the
most Viperous malignity and rancor.  The man who says he
has detected a single spot on the face of their sun should pre.
pare his winding sheet.
-The "New York Times," 1 find, states "that the te~~~e
epistle has been read with quite as much avidity as an average President's Message.  We scarcely exaggerate the fact
when we say, the first and foremost thought on the minds of
a very large portion of our people after the repulse at Bull
Run was, what will Russell say?" and then they repeat some
of the absurd sayings attributed to me, who declared openly
from the very first that 1 had not seen the battle at all, to the
effect "that 1 had never seen such fighting in all my life, and
that nothing at Alma or Inkerman was equal to it." An analysis of the letter follows, in which it is admitted that "with
perfect candor 1 purported to give an account of what 1 saw,
and not of the action which 1 did not see," and the writer,
who is, if 1 mi~ake not, the Hon. Mr. Raymond, of the "New
York Times," like myself a witness of the facts 1 describe,
quotes a passage in which 1 say, "There was no flight of
troops, no retreat of an army, no reason for all this precipita
tion," and then declares "that my letter gives a very spirited
and perfectly just description of the panic which impelled and
accompanied the troops from Centreville to Washington.  He
does not, for he cannot, in the least exaggerate its horrible
disorder, or the disgraceful behavior of the incompetent officers by whom it was aided, instead of being checked.  He
saw nothing w~atever of the fighting, and therefore says noth
ing whatever of its quality.  He gives a clear, fair, perfectly
just and accurate, as it is a spirited and graphic account of 
BLACK AND WHITE.              501
the extraordinary scenes which passed under his observation.
Discreditable`as those scenes were to our army, we have
nothing in connection with them whereof to accuse the reporter; he has done justice alike to himsel?, his subject, and
the country."
Ke no~s biandiar, I may add, that at least I desired to do
so, and I can prove from Northern papers that if their accounts were true, I c,,ertainly much "extenuated and nought
set down in m~lice  - nevertheless, Philip drunk is very
different from Philip sober, frightened, and running away,
and the man who attempts to justify his version to the inebriated polycephalous monarch is sure to meet such treatment as
inebriated despots generally award to their censors.
August 23d.- The torrent is swollen to-day by anonymous
letters threatening me with bowie-knife and revolver, or simply abusive, frantic with hate, and fill of obscure warnings.
Some bear the Washington postmark, others cnme from New
York, the greater number - for I have had nine -are from
Philadelphia.  Perhaps they may come from the members of
that "gallant" 4th Pennsylvania Regiment.
August 24th.- My servant came in this morning, to announce a trifling accident - he was exercising my horse, and
at the corner of one of those charming street crossings, the
animal fell and broke its leg.  A "vet" was sent for.  I was
sure that such a portent had never been born in those Daunian
woods.  A man about twenty-seven or twenty-eight stone
weight, middle-aged and active, with a fine professional feeling
for distressed horse-flesh; and I was right in my conjectures
that he was a Briton, though the vet had become Americanized,
and was full of enthusiasm about "our war for the Union,"
which was yielding him a fine harvest.  He complained there
were a good many bad characters about N\~ashington  The
matter is proved beyond doubt by what we see, hear, and read.
To-day there is an account in the papers of a brute shooting
a negro boy dead, because he asked him for a chew of tobacco.
Will he be hanged?  Not the smallest chance of it.  The
idea of hanging a white man for killing a nigger!  It is more
preposterous here than it is in India, where our authorities
have actually executed whites for the murder of natives.
Before dinner I walked down to the Washington Navy Yard.
Captain Dahigren was sorely perplexed with an intoxicated
senator, whose name it is not necessary to mention, and who
seemed to think he paid me a great compliment by expressing 
My DIARY XORTR AND ~()UTII.
his repeated desire "to have a good look at" me.  "I guess
you're quite noton.ou~ now.  You'll excuse me because I've
dined, now - and So you are the Mr. &c., &c., &c."  The
senator informed me that he was "none of your d    d
blackfaced Republicans.  lle didn't care a d     about nig
gers - his business was to do good to his fellow white men, to
hold our glorious Union together, and let the niggers take
care of themselves."
I was glad when a diversion was effected by the arrival of
Mr. Fox, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and i~Ir. Blair, Postmaster-General, to consult with the Captain, who is greatly looked
up to by all th~ members of the C'~binet - in fact he is rather
inconvenienced by the perpetual visits of the President, who
is animated by a most extraordinary curiosity about naval matters and machinery, and is attracted by the novelty of the
whole department, so that he is continually running down "to
have a talk with Dahigren" when he is not engaged in "a
ebat with George."  The senator opened such a smart fire on
the minister that the latte~ retired, and I mounted and rode
back to town.  In the evening Major Clarence Brown, Lieutenant Wise a lively, pleasant, and amusing little sailor, wellknown in the States as the author of "Los Gringos," who is
now employed in the Navy Department, and a few of the gen
tlemen connected with the Foreign -Legations came in, and
we had a great international reunion and discussion till a late
hour.  There is a good deal of agreeable banter reserved for
mysel~ as to the exact form of death which I am ~ost likely
to meet.  I was seriously advised by a fi~iend not to stir out
unarmed.  The great use o~ a revolver is that it will prevent
the indignity of tarring and feathering, now pretty rife, by
provoking greater violence.  I also received a letter from
London, advising me to apply to Lord Lyons for protection,
but that could only be extended to me within the walls of the
Legation.
August 25tk. - I visited the Navy Department, which is a
small red-brick building two stories high, very plain and even
humble. The subordinate departments are conducted in rooms
below stairs.  The executive are lodged in the rooms which
line both sides of the corridor above. The walls of the passage
are lined with paintings in oil and water colors, engravings and
paintings in the worst style of art.  To the latter considerable
interest attaches, as they are authentic likenesses of naval
officers who gained eelebrity in the wars with Great Britain - 
THE NAYY DEPARTMENT.          ~o3
men like Perry, MeDonough, Decatur, and llall, who, as tho
Americans boast, was "the first man who compelled a British
frigate of greater force than his own to strike her colors in fair
fight." Paul Jones was not to be seen, hut a drawing is proudly
pointed to of the attack of the American fleet on Algiers as ~
proof of hatred to piracy, and of the prominent part taken by
the young States in putting an end to it in Europe.  In one
room are several swords, surrendered by English officers in
tl~e single frigate engagements, and fl~e duplicates of medals,
in gold and silver, voted by Congress to the victors.  Ii
Lieu tenant Wise's room, there are models of the projectil~~,
and a series of shot and shell used in fl~e navy, or deposited by
inventors.  Among other relics was the flag of Captain Ward's
boat just brought in which was completely riddled by the bullet
marks received in the ambuscade in which that officer was
killed, with nearly all of his boat's crew, as they incautiously
approached the shore of the Potomac, to take off a small craft
placed there to decoy them by the Confederates.  My business
was to pave the way for a passage on board a steamer, in case
of any naval expedition starting before the army was ready to
move, but all difficulties were at once removed by the promptitude and courtesy of Mr. Fox, the Assistant Secretary, who
promised to give me an order for a passage whenever I required
it.  The extreme civility and readiness to oblige of all American officials, high and low, from the gate-keepers and door-porters up to the heads of departments, cannot be too highly
praised, and it is ungenerous to accept the explanation offered
by an English officer to whom I remarked the circumstance,
that it is due to the fact that each man is liable to be tun~ed
out at the end of four years, and therefore makes all the
friends he can.
In the afternoon I rode out with Captain J~~nson, through
some charming woodland scenery on the outskirts of Washington, by a brawling stream, in a shady little ravine, that put me
in mind of the Dargle.  Our ride led us into the camps,
tbrmed on the west of Georgetown to cover the city from the
attacks of antenemy advancing along the left bank of the
Potomac, and in support of several strong forts and earth works
placed on the heights.  One regiment consists altogether of
Frenchmen - another is of Germans - in a third I saw an
officer with a Crimean and Indian medal on his breast, and
several privates with similar decorations.  Some of the regiments were on parade, and crowds of civilians from Washing 
504        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
ton were enjoying the novel scene, and partnking of the hospitality of their friends.  One old lady whom I have always
seen about the camps, and who is a sort of ancient heroine of
Saragossa, had an opportunity of being useful.  The 15th
Massachusetts, a fln~4ooking body of men, had broken up
camp, and were marching off to the sound of their own voices
chanting "Old John Brown," when one of the enormous trains
of baggage wagons attached to them was carried off by the
frightened mules which probably had belonged to Virginian farmers, and one of the soldiers, in trying to stop it, was
dashed to the ground and severely injured.  The old lady
was by his side in a moment, and out came her flask of strong
waters, bandages, and medical comforts and apparatus.  " It's
wdl I'm here for this poor Union soldier  I'm sure I always
have something to do in these camps."  On my return late,
there was a letter on my table requesting me to visit General
McClellan, but it was then too far advanced to avail myself of
the invitation, which was only delivered after I left my lodgings.
r 
CIlAPTER LIV.
A tour of inspection round the camp - A troublesome horse -
McDowelt and the President - My description of Hull Run in  dorsed by American officers - Influence of the Press - Newspa  per correspondents - I)r. Bray - My letters - Capt. Meaglier -
Military adventurers - Probable duration of the war - Lord A.
Vane Tempest- The American journalist - Threats of assassi  nation.
Au~ast 26th. - General Van Vijet called from General
~IcCl~llan to say that the Commandei~-in-~hief would be liappy
to go round tlie camps with nie when he next made an inspection, aiid would en~l round an orderly and charger in time to
get ri~ady before he started.  The~e little excursions are not
tlie mo-I agi~eeible affairs in the woi~ld; for ~1cC!ellan delights
in woi~kiiig down staff and escort, dashing from the Chain
Bi~idge to Alexandi~ia, and visiting all the posts, riding as hard
as lie can. arid not returning till past midnight, so that if one
ha.- a regard (br his cuticle, or liis mail-days lie will not rashly
venture on such excursions.  To-day lie is to inspect ~IcDoweli's divisioii.
I set out accordingly with Captain Johnson over the Long
Bridge, which is now very strictly guarded.  On exhibiting
my ~ia-s to tlie sentry at the entr~nce, lie called across to the
sergeant and spoke (0 liim aside, showing him the pass at the
sime time.  "Are you Russell, df tlie Londoii`Times'?" said
tlii- sei~einl.  I replied, "If you lo~k at the pass, you will see
wh~i I am."  lie turned it over, examined it most narrowly$
aiid at last, w~h an expression of injinite dissatisfaction and
anger upon his face, liaiided it back, saying to the sentry, "I
suppose you must let him go."
~1eantime Captain Johnson was witching the world with
feats of noble horsemanship, for I lind lent him my celebrated
horse ~Valker, so called because no earthly equestrian can induce him to do anything but trot violently, gallop at flill speed,
or stand on his hind legs.  Captain Johnson laid the whole
22 
oO(3       MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
fault of the animal's conduct to my mismanngement, affirming
that all it required was a light hand and gentleness, and so, as
he could display both, 1 promised to let him have a trial to-day.
~Valker, on starting, however, insisted on having a dance to
himself, which my fi-iend attributed to the excitement produced
by the presence of the other horse, and 1 rode quietly alo~g
whilst the captain proceeded to establish an acquaintance with
his steed in some quiet by-street.   As 1 was crossing the
Long Bridge, the forbidden clatter of a horse's l~oofs on the
planks caused me to look round, and on, in a cloud of dust,
through the midst of shouting sentries, came my friend of the
gentle band and unruffled temper, with his hat thumped down
on the back of his bead, his eyes gleaming, his teeth clinched,
his fine features slightly flushed, to say the least of it, sawing
violently at ~~alker's head, and exdaiming, "You brute, I'll
teach you to walk," till he brought up by the barrier midway
on the bridge.  The guard, en masse, called the Captain's attention to the order, "all horses to walk over the bridge."
"N\7hy, that's what I want him to do.  I'll give any man
among you one hundred dollars who can make him walk along
this bridge or anywhere else."  The redoubtable steed, being
permitted to proceed upon its way, dashed swiftly through the
te&e de pont, or stood on his hind legs when imperatively arrested by a barrier or abattis, and on these occasions my excellent fi~iend, as he displayed his pass in one hand and restrained Bucephalus with the other, reminded me of nothing
so much as the statue of Peter the Great, in the square on
the banks of the Neva, or the noble equestrian monument of
General Jackson, which decorates the city of Washington.
The troops of ~IcDowell's division were already drawn up on
a rugged plain, close to the river's margin, in happier days the
scene of the city races.  A pestilential odor rose from the
slauahter-houses close at hand, but regardless of odor or
marsh, Walker continued his violent exercise, evidently under
~the idea that he was assisting at a retreat of the grand army
as before.
Presently General i~1cDowell and one of hi~ aides cantered
over, and whilst waiting for General ~1cClel1an, he talked of
the fierce outburst directed against me in the press.  "I must
confess," he said laughingly, "I am much rejoiced to find you
are as much abused as 1 have been.  1 hope you miiid it as
little as 1 did.  Bull Run was an unfortunate affair for both
of us, for had 1 won it, you would have had to describe the
 
& REVIEW.                507
pursuit of the flying enemy, and then you would have heer
tlie most popular writer in America, and I would bave been
lauded as the greatest of generals.  See what measure has
been meted to us now.   I'm accused of di~unkenness and
gambling, and you ~Ir. Russell - well! - I really do hope
you nre not so black as you are pai~ted."  Presently a cloud
of dust on the road announced tlie arrival of the Pj~esident,
who came upon the ground in an open carriage, with ~Ir.
Se ward by bis side, accompanied by General ~IcClellan and
his staff in undress uniform, and an escort of the very diitiest
and most unsoldierly dragoons, witl filthy accoutrements nn~l
ungroo med horses, I ever saw.  The troops dressed into line
and presented arms, whilst the band struck up the "StarSpangled Banner," as the Amencans have got no air which
corresponds with our National Anthem, or is in any way complimentary to the quadrennial despot who fills tlie President's
chair.
General ~1cDowell seems on most excellent terms with the
present Commander4n-Chief; as be is with tl~e President.
Immediately after Bull Run, when tl~e President first saw
~IcDowell, he said to him, "I have not lost a particle of confidence in you," to which the General replied, "I don't see
wliy you should, ~Ir. President."  But there was a curious
commentary, either on the sincerity of ~Ir. Lincoln, or in his
Utter subserviency to mob opinion, ia the fact that he who can
overrule congress and act pretty much as he pleases in time
of war, bad, w~thout opportunity for Cxplan~tion or demand
for it, at once displaced the man in whom be still retained tl~e
fullest confidence, degraded him to command of a'division of
the army of which he bad been General-in-Chief, and placed
a junior officer over his head.
After some ordinary movements, the march past took place,
which satisfied me that the new levies were very superior to
the three months' men, though far, indeed, from being soldiers.
Finer material could not be tound in physique.  ~Yith the exception of an assemblage of miserable scarecrows in rags and
tatters, swept up in New York and commanded by a i~lr. Kerrigan, no division of the ordinary line, in any army, could sl~ow
a great er number of tall, robust men in the prime of life.  A
soldier stai~dii~g near me, pointiT)g out Kerrigai~'s corps, said,
The boy wh~ commands tl~at pretty lot recruited them first
for tl~e ~eceshes in New York, but findiiig be could not get
them away lie handed them over to Uncle Sam."  The men 
508        MY DIARY ~ORTH A~D SOUTIT.
~vere silent as they marched past, and did not cheer for Presi
d~nt or Uiiion.
I i'~~tiii~ned fiom the field to Arlington House, l~aving been
invited with my ti'end to  h;ire tlie Genei~aFs cain p dinn~r.
()n our way along the road I asked ~1~or Brown why lie rode
ov~~r to us he%i~e tlie r&view commenced.  " ~Yell~' sai~l lie,
"my attention was calleti to you by one of our staff saying
`there are two Englishmen,' and the General sent me over to
invite them, and followed when lie saw`vl)o it was."  " l~ut
liow could you tell we were Engli~h? "` I don't know," sai'l
lie, " there were other civilians alioiit, l)ut there was somethiiig
aliotit tlie look ot you two wlii~h marked you immediately as
John Bull."
At tlie General's tent we found General Sherman, Generals
Keyes, ~Vadswoi~th, and some others.  Dinner was spread on
a table covered by tlie flap of the tent, aiid consisted of good
plain fire, an~l a dessert of prodigious water-meloii~.  I was
exceedingly gratified to hear evei~y offi~~er pi~csent declare in
the liresenee of the general who liad cotumanded the army,
and who himself said no words could exaggerate the disorder
of the roi~te, that my narrative of Bull Run was not only
true but moderate.
General Sliern~an, whom I met for the first time, said, "~Ir.
Russell, I can indorse every word that you wrote  your statemei~ts about the battle which you say you did not witness, are
equally correct.  All tlie stories about chargitig batteries and
attacks with the bayonet are simply falsehoods, so far as my
command is concei~ned, thou~h some of tlie troops did fight
~vell.  As to cavalry charges, I wish we liad had a few cavalry
to have tried one; tl~ose Black Horse fbllows seemed as if
their horses ran away with them."  General Keyes said,
"I don't think you made it half biid enough.  I could not get
th men to stand afier they had received the first severe check.
The enemy swept ilie open with a tremendous musketry fire.
Some ~r our men and portions of regiments behaved admirably
- we drove them easily at first; the cavalry did vei~y little
indeed; but when they did come on I could not get the infantry to stand, and after a harmless volley they broke."
These officers were brigadiens of Tyler's division.
T lie conversation turned upon tlie influence of the press in
America, and I observed that every soldier at table spoke
with the utmost dislike and antipathy of the New York journals, to which they gave a metropolitan position, although each 
DR. flRAY.                509
inan bad some favorite paper of liis own which he excepted
from the charge made against the whole body.  The principal
accusations made against the pres were tl~at the conductors
~entlemen
are not, that they are calumnious and coi'rupt, regardless of truth honor, anything but circulation and advertisements.  "It is the first time we have had a chance of
dealing with these fellows, and "`C shall not lose it."
I returned to ~V'ashington at dusk over the Aqueduct Bridge.
A gent~eman, who inti'oduced himself to me as correspondent
of one of the cheap London papers, sent out specially on
account of liis great experience to write from tlie States, under
the auspices of the leaders of the advanced liberal party came
to ask if I had seen an article in the "Chicago Tribune," purporting to be written by a gentleman wl~o says he was in my
company during the retreat, contradicting what I report.  I
was advised by several otlicers - whose opinion I took - that
it would be derogatory to me if I noticed tl)e writer.  I read
it over carefully, and must say I am suiprised-if anythiiig
could surpi'ise me in American joui'nali~m - at tlie impudence
and mendicity of the man.  I~aving first stated that lie rode
along with me from poiiit to point at a certain portioli of the
road, lie states that he did not hear or see cei'tain things which
I say that I saw an~l heard, or deliberately falsifies what passed,
for tlie sake of a little ephemeral applause, qnotatioiis in tlie
papers, increased importance to him~elf, and some more abuse
of the English correspondent.
This statement inade me recall the circumstance alluded to
more particularly.  I remember well the flurried, pletlioric,
elderly man, mounted on a broken-down horse, who rode up
to me in great trepidation, with sweat streaming ovei' his face,
and asked me if I was going into ~Yashington.  "You may
not recollect me, sir; I was inti'oduced to you at Cay-roe, in
the hall of the hotel.  I'm Di'. Bray, of the' Chicago Tribuiie.'"
I certainly did not remember him, but I did recollect that a
despatch fi'om Cairo appeared in the papei', announcing my
arrival irom tlie South, and stating I complained ol' laniliiig
that iiiy letters had been opened in the States, which was quite
untrue and which I felt called,on to deny, and supposing Di'.
Bi'ay to be the author I was not at all inclined to cement our
acquaintance, aiid contiiiued my course with a bow.
But the doctor whipped liis steed up aloiig-side mine, and
went oa to tell me that he was in the most terrible bodily pain
and mental anxiety.  The fimt on account of desuetude of 
510        MY DIARY NORTH A~D SOUTH.
equestrian exercise; the other 6n account of the defeat of the
Federals and the probable pursuit of the Confcderates.  "Oh!
it's dreadful to think of!  They know me`veil, ai~d would sitow
me no mercy.  Every step the lio'~se takes I'm in agony.  I'll
never get to Washington.  Could you stay with me, sir? as
you know the road.~  1 was moved to internal chuckling, ~t
any rate, by the very prostrate condition - for he bent well over
tlie saddle - of poor Dr. Bray, and so 1 said to hitn, ~ Don't
be uneasy, sir.  There is no fear of your being taken.  Tlie
army is not defeated, in spite of what you see; for there will
be always runaways and skulkers when a retreat is ordered
1 have not the least doubt ~IcDowell will stand fast at Centreville, and rally ijis troops to-night on the reserve, so as to
be in a goo~i po~ition to resist the enemy to-morrow.  I'll have
to push on to ~Yashington, as I must write my letters, and I
fear they will stop me on the bridge without the countersign,
particul<'~rly if these runaways should outstrip us.  As to your
skin, pour a little whiskey on some melted tallow and rub it
well in, and you'll be all right to~morrow or next day as far as
that is concerned."
I actually, out ofcompassion to his sufferings - for he uttered
cries now and then as though Lu ci ia were in request - reined
up, and walked my horse, though most anxious to get out of
the dust and confusion of the runaways, and comforted him
about a friend whom he missed, and for whose fate he was as
uneasy as the concern he felt for his own woes permitted hini
to be; suggested various modes to him of easing the jolt and
of quickeuing the pace of his steed, and at last really bored
excessively by an uninteresting and self-absorbed companion,
who was besides detaining me needlessly on the road, I turned
on sotne pretence into a wood by tl~e side and continued my
way as well as I could, till I got off the track, and being guided
to the road by tlie dust and shouting, I came out on it somewhere near Fairf~x Court, and there, to my surprise, dropped
on the Doctor, who, animated by some agency more powerful than the pangs of an abraded cuticle and taking a~lvantage
of tlie road, had got thus far ahead.  We entered the place
to~~eth~r halted at the same int~ to water our
10
seeii)g that it was getting on towards dusk and that the wave
of tl~e retreat was rolling onward in increased volume, I
pushed on and saw no more of him.  Ungrateful Bray!  Perfidious Bray!  Some day, when I have time, I must tell the
people of Chicago how Bray got into Washington, and how he 
-   ~F. MEAGHE~               -511
left his horse and what he did with it, and how Bray behaved
on the road.  I dare say they who know him can guess.
The most significant article I have seen for some time as a
test of the taste, tone, and temper of the New York public,
judging by their most widely read journal, is contained in it
to-night.  It appears that a gentleman named Muir, who is
described as a relative of Mr. Mure the consul at New.
Orleans, was seized on the point of starting for Europe, and
that among his papers, many of which were of a "disloyal
character," which is not astonishing seeing that he came from
Chadeston, was a letter written by a foreign resident in that
city, in which he stated he had seen a letter from me to Mr.
Bunch describing the flight at Bull Run, and adding that
Lord Lyons remarked, when he heard of it, he would ask Mr.
Seward whether he would not now admit the Confederates
were a belligerent power, whereupon Maudit calls on Mr.
Seward to demand explanations from Lord Lyons and to turn
me out of the country, because in my letter to the "Times" I
made the remark that the United States would probably now
admit the South were a belligerent power.
Such an original observaton could never have occurred to
two people - genius concerting with genius could alone have
hammered it out.  But Maudit is not satisfied with the humiliation of Lord Lyons and the expulsion of myself - he
absolutely insists upon a miracle, and his moral vision being
as perverted as his physical, he declares that I must have sent
to the British Consul at Charleston a duplicate copy of the
letter which I furnished with so much labor and difficulty just
in time to catch the mail by special messenger from Boston.
"These be thy gods, 0 Israel!"
My attention was also directed to a letter from certain offi
cers of the disbanded 69th Regiment, who had permitted their
Colonel to be dragged away a prisoner from the field of Bull
Run.  Without having read my letter, these gentlemen assumed that I had stigmatized Captain T. F. Meagher as one
who had misconducted himself during. the battle, whereas all
I had said on the evidence of eye-witnesses was, "that in the
rout he appeared at Centreville running across country and
uttering exclamations in the hearing of my informant, which
~ndicated that he at least was perfectly satisfied that the Con
federates had established their claims to be considered a belligerent power."  These officers state that Captain ~1eagher
behaved extremely well up to a certain point in the engage 
~12        MY DIARY NORTIl AND SOUTIl.
inent when th~y lost sight of him, and from whidi period they
could say nothing about him.  It was subsequent to that very
time he appeared at Centreville, and long before my letter
returned to America giving credit to Cnptain M~agher for
natural gallantry in the field  I remarked that lie would?)O
doubt feel as much pained as any of liis friends, at tlie ridicule
cast upon him by the statenient that he, the Captain of a cornpany, "Went into action mounted on a magnificent charger
and waving a green silk flag embroidered with a golden harp
n the face of the enemy."
A young man wearing the Indian war medal with two
clasps, who said his name was Maclvor Rilstock, came in
to inquire after some unknown fi'iend of his.  He told me he
had been in Tomb's troop of Artillery during the Indian mutiny, and had afterwards served with the French vol~inteers
during the siege of Caprera.  The news of tlie Civil War has
produced such an imniigration of military adventurers fi~oni
Europe that tile streets of Washington are quite filled with
medals and ribbons.  The regular officers of the American
army regard them with considerable dislike, the greater in
asmuch as Mr. Seward and tlie politicians encourage them.
In alluding to tlie circumstance to General ~IcDowell, who
came in to see~me at a late dinner, I said, "A great many
Garibaldians are in Washington just now."  " Oh," said lie
in his quiet way, "it will be quite enough for a man to p1~ove
that lie once saw Garibaldi to satisfy us in Washington that
he is quite fit for the command of a regiment.  I have re(ommended a man because he sailed in the ship which Garibaldi
came in over here, and I'm sure it will be attended to."
August 27Ut. - Fever and ague, which Gen. McDowell
attributes to water-melons, of which he, however, had eaten
three times as niuch as I liad.  Swallowed many grains of
luinine, and lay panting in the heat in-doors.  Two English
visitors, Mr. Lamy and a Captain of tlie 17th, called on me;
and, afterwards, I had a conversation with M. Mercier aiid
M. Stoecki on tlie aspect of affiiirs.  They are inclined to
look forward to a more speedy solution than I think the N~irth
is weak enough to accept.  I believe that peace is possible in
two years or so, but only by the concession to the South of a
qualitied independenec.  The naval operations of tlie Federals will test the Southern mettle to the utmost.  having a
~incere regard and liking for many of the Southerners whom
I have met, I cannot say their cause, or jts origin, or its aim, 
T~ RESULT OF FEDERAL SUCCESS.
recommends itself to my sympathies; and yet I am accused of
aiding it by every means in my power, because I do not re     echo the arrogant and empty bonsting and insolent outbursts
of the people in the North, who threaten, as the first-fruits of
their success, to invade the territories subject to the British
crown, and to outrage and humiliate our fia~.
ri~ is melancholy enough to see this great? republic tumbling
to pieces; one would regret it all the more but for the fact
that it ree~choed the voices of the obscene and filthy creatures
which have been driven before the lash of the lictor f~tom all
the cities of Europe.  Assuredly it was a great work, but all
its greatness and the idea of its life was of man, not of God.
The principle of veneration, of obedience, of subordination,
and self-control did not exist within.  Washington-worship
could not save it.  The elements of destruction lay equally
sized, smooth, and black at its foundations, and a spark suffi     ces to blow the structure into the air.
August 28th. - Raining.  Sundry officers turned in to in     quire of me, who was quietly in bed at Washington, concern     ing certain skirmishes reported to have taken place last night.
Sold one horse and bought another; that is, I paid ready
money in the latter transaction, and in the former, received an
order from an officer on the paymaster of his regiment, on a
certain day not yet arrived.
To-day, Lord A. V. Tempest is added to the number of
English arrivals; he amused me by narrating his reception at
Willard's oa the night of his arrival.  When he came in with
the usual ruck of passengers, he took his turn at the book, and
wrote dowa Lord Adolphus Vane Tempest, with possibly
M. P. after it.  The clerk, who was busily engaged in show     ing that he was perfectly indifferent to the claims of the
crowd who were waiting at the counter for their rooms, when
the book was finished, commenced looking over the names of
the various persons, such as Leonidas Buggs, Rome, N. Y.;
1)octor Onesiphorous Bowells, D. D., Syracuse; Olynthus
Craggs, Palmyra, Mo.; Washington Whilkes, Indianopolis,
writing down the numbers of the rooms, and handing over the
~    keys to the waiters at the same time.  When he came to the
name of the English nobleman, he said, "Vane Tempest, No.
125."  "But stop," cried Lord Adolphus.  "Lycurgus Sic     des," continued the clerk, " No. 23."  "1 insist upon it, sir,"
- broke in Lord Adolphus, - "you really must hear me.
I proteb't against being put in 125.  1 can't go up so high."
22* 
~14       ~fY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
"Why," said the clerk, with infinite contempt.  "I can put
you at twice as high - I'll give you No. 250 if I like."  This
was rather too much, and Lord Adolphus put his things into
a cab, and drove about Washington until he got to eirth in
tl~e two-pair hack of a dentist's, for which no doubt, tout vu,
be paid as much as for an apartment at the llotel Bristol.
A gathering of American officers and others, amon~t whom
was ~Ir. Olmsted, enabled him to form some idea of tl)e young
men 5 socIety of Washington, which is a strange mixture of
politics and fighting, gossip, gayety, and a certain apprehension
of a wrath to come for their dear republic.  Here is Olmsted
prepared to lay down his life for free speech over a united republic, in one part of which his fi'eedom of speech would lead
to irretrievable confusion and ruin; whilst Wise, on the other
hand, seeks only to establish a union which shall have a large
fleet, be powerful at sea, and be able to smash up Abolitionists,
newspaper people, and political agitators at home.
August 29th. - It is hard to bear such a fate as befalls an
unpopular man in the United States, because in no other country, as De Tocqueville * remarks, is the press so powerful
when it is unanimous.  And yet he says, too, "The journalist of the United States is usually placed in a very humble
position, with a scanty education and a vulgar turn of mind.
His characteristics consist of an open and coarse appeal to
the passions of the populace, and he habitually abandons the
principles of political science to assail the characters of individuals, to track them into private life, and disclose all tl~eir
weaknesses and errors.  The individuals who are already ia
possession of a high station in the esteem of their ~ellow-citizens are afraid to w~~ite in the newspapers, and they are thus
deprived of the most powerful instrument whi~h they can use
to excite the passions of the multitude to their ad~ntage.
The personal opinions of the editors have no kiud of wei~
in the eyes of the public.  The only use of a 3ourna~ j~~fhat
it ilaparts the knowledge of certain facts; and it i~ only
altering and distorting tl~ose facts that a journalist can cont~
ute to the support of his own views."  When the w!iole of    ~
the press, without any exception in so far as I am aware, set~    -~
dclibcrately to woi'k, in order to calumniate, vilify, insult, and
abuse a man wlio is at once a stranger, a rival, and an Englishman, he may expect but one result, according to De Tocque ville.
* P. 200, Spencer's American edition, New York, 1858. 
THE 18TH MASSACHUSETTS.        515
The teeming anonymous letters I receive are filled with
threats of assassination, tarring, feathenag, and the like; and
one of the most conspicuous of liternry sbirri i in perf~ct r~pture at tlie notion of a new "sensation  heading, for whi(~h 100
is working as haj'd as he can.  I have no intention to add to
the number of his castigations.
In the afternoon I drove to the waste grounds beyond the
Capitol, in company with ~Ir. Ol~sted and Captain Haworth,
to see the 18th ~1assachusetts Regiment, who had just ma~~ched
in, and were pitching their tents very prol~ably ft~r the first
time.  They arrived from tloeir State wid~ camp equipments,
wagons, horses, harness, commissariat stores complete, and
were clad in the blue uniform of the United States; for the
volunteer fancies in grays and greens are dying out. The men
were uncommonly stout young fellows, with an odd, slouching,
lounging air about some of them, however, which I could not
quite understand till I heard one sing out, "Hallo, sergeant,
where am I to sling my hammock in tl)is tent?"  ~Iany of
them, in fact, are fishermen and sailors from Cape Cod, New
lIaven, and similar maritime places.
e 
CllAPTER LV.
Personal unpopularity - American naval officers - A gun levelled at
me in fun - Increase of odium against me - Success of the lla~
teras expedition - General Scott and McClellan  NicCiellan on
his camp-bed - General Scott's pass refused - Prospect of an at   tack on Washington - Skirmishing - Anonymous letters - Gen   eral Halleck - General McClellan and the Sabbath - Run~ored
death of Jefferson Davis - Spread of my unpopularity - An offer
for my horse - Dinner at the Legation - Discussion on Slavery.
August 3lst.-A month during which I have been exposed
to more calumny, falsehood, not to speak of danger, than I
ever passed through, has been brought to a close.  I have all
the pains and penalties attached to the Ji~ito monstrari et
dicier hic est, in the most hostile sense.  On going into ~Yillard~s the other day, I said to the clerk behind the bar, "Why
I heard, ~Ir. So-and-so, you were gone?"  "Well,~r, I'm
not.  If I was, you would have lost the last man who is ready
to say a word ~or you in this house, I can tell you."  Scowling faces on every side - women turning up their pretty little
noses-people turning round in the streets, or sto  ing t
stare in front of me - the proprietors of the 5         e I a
known pointing me out to others; the wor
ous tones, "So, that's Bull-Run Russell!"
tlie Americans seem to think that a disgr
comes diminished by fixing the name oft~
on one who described it - these, with
falsehoods, rumors of duels, and the
little de'sagre'mens of one who was so unfortunate
at the retreat, the first he had ever seen, of an al
would in all respects have suited him much be~
seen victorious.
I dined with Lieutenant Wise, and met Captain Dahlgren,
Captain Davis, U. S. N., Captain Foote, U. S. N., and Colonel
Fletcher Webster,* son of the great American statesman, now
commanding a regiment of volunteers.  The lber has a fine
* Since killed in actIon. 
AMERICAN NAVAL OFFICERS          517
head and face; a full, deep eye; is quaint and dry in his con`rersation, and a poet, 1 should think, in heart and toni, if out    ward and visible signs may he relied on.  The naval captains
were excellent specimens of the accomplished and able men
wljo belong to the United States Navy.  Foote, who is desig    nated to the command of the flotilla which is to clear the ~1is    sissippi downwards, will, 1 am certain, do good service - a
cairn, ei)ergetic, skilful officer.  Dahlgren, who, like all men
with a system, very properly watches everything which bears
upon it, took occasion to call for Captain Foote's testimony to
the fact, that he battered down a six-fl~ot granite wall in China
with Dahigren shells.  It will run hard agailist the Confeder    ate wl~en they get such men at work on the rivers aiid coasts,
for tl~ey seem  to unders{and their business thoroughly, and all
they are not quite sure of is the readiness of the land forces
to coo~perate with their expeditionary movements.  Incident    ally I learned from the conversation - and it is a curious
illustration of the power of the President - that it was he
who ordered the attack on Charleston harbor, or, to speak
with more accuracy, the movement of the armed squadron to
relieve Sumter by fbrce, if necessary; and that he came to
the conclusion it was feasible principally from reading the ac    count *~he attack on Kinburn by the allied fleets.  There
was certainly an immense disproportion between the relative
means of attack and defence in the two cases; but, at all
events, the action of the Confederates prevented the attempt.
-Took a ride early ~his morning over the
ng B        5 I was passing out of the earthwork called
dirty German soldier called out from the
)r.               ussell! you shall~never write Pull's Runs
-`e time cocked his piece and levelled it
y rode round into the fort, the fellow still
k, and asked him what he meant, at the
-~    1~br the sergeant of the guard, who came at
my request, arrested the man, who recovered
1, "It was a choake -I vant to freeken Pull              -"  llowever, as his rifle was capped and loaded,
and wkock, with his finger on the trigger, I did not quite
-   see the fun of it, and I accordingly had the man marched to
the tent of the officer, who promised to investigate the case,
and~make a formal repo~ of it to the brigadier, on'my return
to lay the cir~stances before him.  On reflection I resolved
that it was best to let the matter drop; the joke might spread,
 
518        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
and it was quite unpleasant enough as it was to bear the insolent looks arid scowliiig faces of the guards at the posts, to
whom I was obliged to exhibit my pass whenever I went out
to ride.
On my return I heard of the complete success of the Hatteras expedition which shelled out and destroyed some sand
batteries guarding the entrance to the great inland sea and
navigation called Pamlico Sound, in North Carolina, furnishii0g access to coasters for many miles into the Confederate
8tates, and most uselul to them in forwarding supplies rind
keeping up communications throughout.  The foice was cornmanded by General Bu~ler, wlio has come to ~Yashington with
the news, and has already made his speech to the mob outside
~Villard's.  I called down to see him, but he had gone over to
call on the President.  The peopl& were jubilant, and one
might have supposed Hatteras was the key to Richmond or
Charles ton, from the way they spoke of this unparalleled exploit.
There is a little French gentleman here against whom the
fates bear heavily.  I have given him employment as an
amanuensis and secretary for some time back, an~l he tells me
many things concerafrig the talk in the city which I do not
hear mysel?, frota which it would seem that there ~ an increase of ill-feeling towards me every day, and that I am a
convenient channel for concentrating all the abuse and hatred
so long cherished against England.  I was a little tickled by
an account he g~ve me of a distinguished lady, who sent f
him to give French lessons, in order that she iuig~ beco
equal to her l~igh position in mastering the d~~n-ef
~courtly tongue.  I may mention the fact, as~~
the press through all the land, that ~Ir~~~~~~~~~
on a time "been proficient in the language, l~ _ -
the lapse of years, but has resolved to renew
she may better discharge the duties of her eJ~  __
The master went to the house and stated his te~~~ __
whom he saw there; but as she marcltanded
over small matters of cents, he never supposed _________
ing with the great lady, and therefore made a sma  ction~
-in his terms, which encouraged the enemy to renew the assault
till he stood firmly on three shillings a lesson, at which point
the lady left him with the intimation that she would consider
the matter and let him know.  And now, th~~Iicentiate tells
i~ie, it has become known he is my private secretary, he is ~ot 
THE TWO GEN~RALS.               519
considered eligible to do avoir and etre for the satisfaction of
the good lady, who really is far better than her friends describe lier to be.
September 2J. - It would seem as if the North were perfectly destitute of common sense.  Here they are as rampant
because they have succeeded with an overwhelming fleet in
~helling out the defbnden~ of some poor unfinished earthwoi~ks,
on a spit of sand on the coast of North Carolina, as if they
had already crushed the Southern rebellion.  They affect to
consider this achievement a couiiterpoise to Bull Run.
Surely the press cannot represent the fi~eling of the staid
~nd thinking masses of the Northei~n States!  The success is
unquestionably useful to t~e Federalists, but it no more adds
to their chances of crushing the Confederacy, than shooting
off the end of an elephant's tail contributes to the hunter's
capture of the animal.
An officious little person, who was buzzing about here as
correspondent of a London newspaper, made himself agreeable by coming with a caricature of my humble self at the
battle of Bull Run, in a laborious and most unsuccessful imi-~
tation of "Punch," in which I am represented with rather a
flattei~ing face and figure, seated before a huge telescope, surrounded by bottles of London stout, and looking at the fight.
This is supposed to be very humorous and amusing, and my
good-natured friend was rather astonished when I cut it out
and inserted it carefully in a scrap~book, opposite a sketch
from fancy of the New York Fire Zouaves charging a battery
and routing a regiment of cavalry, which appeared last week
a- much more imaginative and amusing periodical, which
aspires. to describe with pen and pencil the actual current
.~yent~ of fhe war.
~, Going out for my usual ride to-day, I saw General Scott,
between two aide-de-camps, slowly pacing homewards from
-~he ~Yar Office.  He is still Commander-in-Chief of the army,
and affects to direct movements and to control the disposition
_of the troops, but a power greater than his increases steadily
:~~~eneral A1cClellan's head-quarters.  For my own part I
confess that General ~IcCleUan does not appear to me a man
of action, or, at least, a man who intends to act as speedily as
the crisis demands.  He should be out with his army across
the Potomac, living among his generals, studying the composition of his army, investigating its defects, and, above all,
~howing himself to the men as soon afterwards as possible, if 
520        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
he cannot be widi them at the time, in the small affairs which
constantly occur along the front, and never permitting them to
receive a blow without taking care that they give at least two
in return.  General Scott, jam fracta membra labore, would
do all the work of departments and supenutendence admirably well; but, as Alontesquien taught long ago, fliction and
intrigue are the cancers whieh peculiarly eat into tiie body
politic of republics, and ~IcCleilan fears, no doubt, that his
absence from the capital, even though he went but across the
river, would animate his enemies to undermine and supplant
liim.
I have heard several people say lately, "I wish old Scott
would go away," by which they -mean that they would be
happy to strike hini down when his back was turned, but
feared his personal influence with the President and his Cabinet.  Two months ago and his was the most honored name in
the States: one was sickened by the co~tnnt repetition of
elaborate plans, in which the General was represented playing
the part of an Indian juggler, and holding an enormous boa
constrictor of a Federal army in his hands, which he was
preparing to let go as soon as he had coiled it completely
round the-frightened Secessionist rabbit; "now none so poor
to do him reverence.   Hard is the fate of those who serve
republics.  The officers who met the old man in the street
to-day passed hiin by without a salute or mark of recognition,
although he wore his uniform coat, with yellow lapels and
yellow sash; and one of a group which came out of a restaurant close to the General's house, exclaimed, almost in his
hearing, "Old fuss-and-feathers don't look first-rate to-day."
In the evening I went with a Scotch gentleman, who was
formerly acquainted with General ~IcClellan when he wa~
superintendent of the Central Illinois Railway, to his hea~~
quarters, which are in the house of Captain Wilkes at tlie
corner of President Square, near ~Ir. Seward's and not far.
from the spot where General Sickles shot down the nnhnppy
man who had temporarily disturbed the peace of liis domestic
relations.  The parlors were full of officers, smoking, reading
the papers, and writing, and after a short conversation with
General ~Iarcy, Chief of the Staff, Van Vliet, aide-de-camp
of tlie Commander-in-Chie?, led the way up-stairs to the top
of the house, where we found General McClellan, just returned
from a long ride, and seated in his shirt-sleeves on the side of
his camp-bed.  He looked better than I have yet seen him, 
GENERAL M'CLELLAN AT HOME.        521
for his dress showed to advantage the powerful, compact for    mat ion of his figu~e, massive throat, well-set head, and muscu    lar energy of l~is fame.  Nothing could be more agree'tble or
easy than Ijis manner.  In his clear, dark-blue eye was no
tiace of uneasiness or hiddeii purpose  but liis mouth, ~overed
by a short, thick mustache, rarely joins in the smile that
overspreads liis face when lie is animated by telling or hear    in  some matter of interest.  Telegraph wires ran all about
tlie house, and as we sat round tli~ General's table, despatclies
were repeatedly brought in from tiie genei'als iii the front.
Sometimes ~IcClellaa laid down his cigar and went off to
study a large map of the position, which was fixed to tlie wall
close to the head of his bed; but more frequently tlie contents
of the despatches caused him to smile or to utter some excla    mation, which gave one an idea that he did not attach much
importance to the news, and had not great faith in the reports
received from liis subordinate officen~, who are always under
il~e impression that tlie enemy are coming on in Jorce.
-It is plain the General has got no high opinion of volunteer
officers and soldiers.  In addition to unsteadiness in action,
which arises froni want of confidence in tlie officei~s as mu cli
as from any other cause, il~e men labor under the great defect
of exceeding rashness, a contempt for the most ordinary pre    cautions aiid a liability to unaccountable alarms and credulous    ness of fitlse report; but, admitting all these circumstances,
~1cClellan has a soldier's faith in gros bataillons, and sees no
doubt of ultimate success in a military point of view, provided
tlie politicians keep quiet, and, charniing men as they are,
cease to meddle with things they don't untlerstand.  Although
some very good officers have deserted tlie United States army
and are no'v with the Confederates, a very considerable niat    jority of West Point officers have adl~ei~ed to the Federals.
-I am sati~fied, by an actual inspection of the lists, that tlie
Northerners retain the same preponderance in officers wlio
lia"e received a military education, as they possess in wealth
and other means, and resources for carrying on the war.
Tlie General cousuines tobacco largely, and not only smokes
cigars, but indulges in the more naked beauties of a quid. From
tobacco we wandered to the Crimea, and thence wetit half
round tlie world, till we halted before the Virginian watch    fires, which these good volunteers will insist on liglitiiig under
the very noses of the enemy's picket; nor was it till late we
retired, leaving the General to his well-earned repose. 
522        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
General McClellan took the situation of affairs in a very
easy and philosophical spirit.  According to his own map and
showii~ g tlie enemy not only overlapped his lines from the
batteries by which they blockaded the Potomac on the right,
to their extreme le~t on the river above Washington, but have
established themselves in a kind of salient angle on his front,
at a place called Munson's Hill where their flag waved from
intrenchinents within sight of the Capitol.  However, from an
observation he made, I ima~ined that the General would make
an effort to recover his lost ground; at any rate, beat up th(
enemy~s quarteJ~s, in order to see what they were doing; and
he promised to send an orderly round and let me know; so,
befbre I retired, I gave orders to my groom to have "Walker"
in readiness.
September 3J. - Notwithstanding the extreme heat, I went
out early this morning to the Chain Bridge, from which the
re"onnoissance hinted at last night would necessarily start.
This bridge is about four and a half or five miles above Washington, and crosses the river at a picturesque spot almost deserving the name of a gorge, with high banks on both sides.
it is a light aerial structure, and spans the river by broad
arches, from which the view reminds one of Highland or
Tyrolean scenery.  The road from the city passes through a
squalid settlement of European squatters, who in habitation,
dress, appearance, and possibly civilization, are quite as bad
as any negroes on any Southern plantation I have visited.
The camps of a division lie just beyond, and a gawky sentry
from New England, with whom I had some conversation,
amused me by saying that the Colonel "was a darned deal
more affeered of the Irish squatters taking off his poultry at
night than he was of the Secessioners; any ways, he puts out
more sentries to guard theni than he has to look after the
others."
From the Chain Bridge I went some distance towards
Falls Church, until I was stopped by a picket, the officer of
which refused to recognize General Scott' 5 pass.  "I guess
the General's a dead man, sir."  "Is he not Commander4nChief of the United States army?"  "Well, I believe that's
a fact, sir; but you had better argue that point with McClellan.  He is our boy, and I do believe he'd like to let the London`Times' know how we Green Mountain boys can fight, if
they don't know already.  But all passes are stopped anyhow,
and I had to turn back a congressman this very morning, and 
FOREIGN MINISTERS ON THE WAR.      ~23
lucky for him it was, because the Sechessers are just half a
mile in front of us."  On my way back by the upper road I
passed a farmer's house, which was occupied by some Federal
officers. and thei'e, seated in the veranda, with his legs cocked
over tlie railings, was ~Ir. Lincoln, in a felt hat, and a loose
gray shooting-cont and loj~g vest, "letting off;" as tlie papers
say one of his jokes, to judge by his attitude and die laughter
of the officers around him, utterly indifferent to the Confeder
ate flag floating from Munson's Hill.
Just before midnight a considerable movement of troops
took place through the streets, and I was about starting off to
ascerttin the cause, when I received information that General
McClellan was only sending off two bn~'ades and four batteries
to the Chain Bridge to strengthen his right, which was menaced
by the enemy.  I retired to bed, in order to be ready for any
hattle which might take place to-morrow, but was roused up
by voices beneath my window, and going out on the veranda,
could not help chuckling at the appearance of three foreign
miiiisters and a b~nker, in the street below, who had come
round to inquire, in some perturbation, the cause of the nocturnal movement of men and guns, and seemed little inclined
to credit my assurances that nothing more serious than a reconnoissance was contemplated.  The ministers were in high
spirits at the prospect of an attack on Washington -  Such
agree able people are the governing party of the United States
at present, that there is only one representative o~f a foreign
power here who would not like to see them flying before
Southern bayonets.  The banker, perhaps, would have liked
a little time to set his affairs in order.  "When will the sacking begin?" cried the ministers.  "We must hoist our flags."
`~The Confederates respect private property, I suppose?"  As
to flags, be it remarked that Lord Lyons has none to display,
having lent his to Mr. Seward, who~required it for some festive
demonstration.
September 4th. - I rode over to the Chain Bridge again
with Captain Haworth this morning at seven o'clock, on the
d~ance of there being'a big fight, as the Americans say; but
there was only some slight skirmishing going on; dropping
shots now and then.  Walker, excited by the reminiscences
of Bull Run noises, performed most remarkable feats, one of
the most frequent of whidi was turning right round when at
full trot or canter aiid then kicking violently.  He also galloped in a most lively way down a road which, in winter, is 
~24        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
the bed of a torrent, and jumped along among the boulders
and stones in an agile, cat-like i~anner, to the great delectation of my corn pan ion.
Tlie mornilig was intensely hot, so I was by no means indisposed to get back to cover again.  Nothing would persuade
people there was not serious fighting somewhere or other.  I
wei~t down to the Lon~ Bridge, and \was stopped by il~e sentry,
so I produced General Scott's pass, which I kept always as a
Jernier ressort, but the officer on duty here also refused it,
as passes were suspended.  I returned and referred the matter to Colonel Cullum who consulted General Scott, and informed me that the pass must be considered as peiTectly valid,
not having been revoked by the General, wh~ as LieutenantGeneral commanding the United States army, was senior to
every other officer, and could only have his pass revoked by
the President himself.  Now it was quite plain that it would
do me no good to have an altercation with the senti'ies at
every post in order to have the satisfaction of reporting the
matter to General Scott.  I, thereibre, pr~cured a letter from
Colonel Cullum stating, in wflting, what he said in words, and
with that and the pass went to General j~IcClellan's headquarters, where I was told by l~is aides the General was engaged in a kind of council of war.  I sent up my papers, and
~1ajor Hudson, of his staff, came down after a short time and
said, that "General ~IcClelh~n thought it would be much better if Gen~ral Scott had given me a iiew special pass, but as
General Scott had thought fit to take the present course on
his own responsibility, General McClellan could not interfere
in tlie matter," whence it may be inferred there is no very
pleasant feeling between head-quarters of tlie army of the Potomac and head-quarters of the army of the United State~.
I went on to tlie ~avy Yard, where a look-out nian, who can
command the whole of tl~e country to Munson's Hill, is stationed, and I heard from Captain Dalilgren that there was no
fighting whatever.  There were columns of smoke visible from
Capitol Hill, which the excited spectators declared were caused
by artillery and musketry, but my glass resolved them into
emanations from a vast extent of hanging wood and brush
which the Federals were burning in order to clear their front.
However, peo~ile were so po~itive as to hearing caniionades
and volleys of musketry that we went out to the reservoir hill
at George town, and gazing over the debatable land of Virginia - which, by the way, is very beautiful these summer 
GEN~flAL llALL~C~              ~25
snnsets - hecame thoroughly satisfied of the delu~ion.  ~Iet
Van Vliet as I was r~turning, who had just seen the repol~ts
at head-quarters and averr~d there was no fighting whatever.
~iy landlord ha'l a very different story.  His friend, an hospital steward, "had seen ninety woui~ded men carried into one
wari from over the river, and believed the Federals had lost
1000 killed and wounded and twenty-five guns:'
Se~t. 5th. - Raining all day.  McClellan abandoned his
intei~ti~~n of inspecting the lines, and I remained in, writing.
The anonymous letters still continue.  Received one from
an unmistakable Thug to-day, ~~ith the death's-l~ead, ciossbones. and coffin, iii the most orthodox style of national-school
drawina.
TIte event of the day was the appearance of the President
in the Avenue in a suit of black, and a parcel iii his hand,
walking umbrella4ess in the rain. Mrs. Lincoln has returned,
and the worthy "Executive" will no longer be obliged to go
"browsing round," as he says, among his f~iends at dinnertime.  He is working away at money matters with energy,
but l~as been much disturbed in his course of studies by Genenil Freinont's sud~len outburst in tlie West, which pi~ocliiims
eniancipation, and draws out tlie arrow which tlie President
intende~l to discharge from his own bow.
Sept. 6th. - At 3~30, P. M., General McClellan sent over
an ordei~ly to say lie was going across the river, and would be
glad 0f my company  hut I was just finishing my letters for
Englatid, and had to excu~e myself for the ii~oment; and when
I wa  ready, the General and staff had gone ventre & terre
into Virginia.  After post, paid my respects to General S(Ott,
who is al~out to retire from the commaiid on his fi~ll-pay of
about ~3500 per annum, which is awarded to him on ~ccount
of lii long services.
A new Major-General - Halleck - has been picked up in
California. and is highly praised by General Scott and by
C~ilonel Cullum, with whom I had a long tilk about tlie generals on both sides.  Halleck is a West Point officer, and hiS
published some works on military science which are highly
esteemed in the States.  Before Calitornia became a State, lie
was secretary to the governor or officer commanding the territory, and eventually left the service and became a lawyer in
the district, where he has amas~ed a large fortune.  He is a
man of great ability, very calm, practical, earnest, and cold,
~evoted to the Union - a soldier, and something more.  Lee 
528       MY DIARY NORTH ANi} ~OUTH.
is considered the ablest man on the Federal sidc, but he is
slow and timid. "Joe "Johnson is their best strategist. Beau.
regard is nobody and nothing - so think they at l)ej(d.quarters
All of them together are not equal to lialleck, who is to be
employed in tlie ~Vest.
I dined at the Legation, where were the Russian Minister,
the Secretary of the French Legation, the representative of
New Granada, and others.  As I was anxious to explain to
Genei~al McClellan tl~e reason of my inability to go out with
him, I called at iiis quarters about eleven 9'clock, and found he
had just returned from his ride.  lie received me in his shirt,
in his bed-room at the top of the house, introduced me to
General Bui~nside - a soldierly, intelligent4ooking man, with
a very lofty forehead, a~id uncommonly bright dark eyes; and
we had some conversation about matters of ordinary interest
for some time, till General McClellan called me into an antechamber, where an officer was writing a despatch, which he
handed to the General.  "I wish to ask your opinion as to
the wording of this order.  It is a matter of importance.  I
see that tlie men of this army, Mr. Russell, disregard the Sabbath, and neglect the worship of God; and I am resolved~to
put an end to such neglect, as far as I can.  I have, therefbre,
dii~ected the fbllowing order to be drawn up, which will be
promulgated to-morrow."  The General spoke with much earnestness, and wit Ii an air which satisfied me of his sincerity.
Tl~e officer in waiting read the order, in which, at the Genei'al's request, I suggested a few alterations.  The General
told me he had received "sure information that Beauregard
has packed up all his baggage, struck liis tents, and is evid&ntly
prepal'ing for a movement, so you may be wanted at a moment's notice."  General Buraside returned to my rooms, in
company with ~In Lamy, and we sat up discoursing of Bull's
Run, in which his brigade was the first enga~ed in front.  lie
spoke like a man of sense and a soldier of the action, and
stood up for the conduct of some regiments, though he could
not i'~lliate the final disorder.  The papers circulate rumors
of "Jeff Davis's death;" nay, accounts of his buriaL  The
l~ublic does not believe, t~ut buys all the same.
Sept. 7th. - Yes;`~Jeff Davis must be dead."  There are
Some touching lamentations in the obituary notices over his
fate in the other world.  ~Ieanwhile, however, his spirit see~ns
quite alive; for there is an absolute certainty that the Coafed.
er&tes are coming to attack the Capitol.  Lieut. Wise and 
UNPOPU~ARITY AND THE PRESS.        ~27
I~ord A Van Tempest argued the question whether the a~sault
would be made by a flank movement above or direct in fi~nt;
and ~Vise maintained the latter thesis with vigor not dspro~
portioned to the energy with which his opponent demonstn~ted
that the Confederates could not be sud~ madmen as to marcl~
up to the Federal batteries.  There is actually "a battle"
raging (in the front of the Philadelphia newspaper offices)
this instant - Populus vuit decipi - decipiatur.
Sept. 8th. - Rode over to Arlington House.  Went round
l~ Aqueduct Bridge, Georgetown, and out across Chain Bri{lge
to Brigadier Smith's head-quarters, which are e~tablished in a
comfortable house belonging to a Secessionist farmer.  The
General belongs to the regular army, and, if one can judge
from externals, is a good officer.  A libation of Boud~n and
water was poured out to friendship, and we rode out with
Captain Poe, of the Topographical Engineers, a hard-working,
eager fellow, to examine the trench which the men were engaged
in throwing up to defend the position they have just~oeeupied OF'
some high knolls, now cleared of wood, and overlooking ravines
which stretch towards Falls Church and Vienna. Everything
about the camp looked like fighting: Napoleon guns planted
on the road; Griffin's battery in a field near at hand; mountain howitzers unlimbered; strong pickets and main-guards;
the five thousand men all kept close to their camps, and two
regiments, in spite of McClellan's order, engaged on the
trenches, which were already mounted with field-guns.  Gen
eral Smith, like most officers, is a Democrat and strong, antiAbolitionist, and it is not too much to suppose he would figl~t
any rather than Virginians.  As we were riding about, it got
out among the men that I was present, and I was regarded
with no small curiosity, staring, and some angry looks.  The
men do not know what to make of it when they see their
officers in the company of one whom they are reading about
in tl~e papers as the most &c., &c., the world ever saw.  And,
indeed, I know well enough, so great is their passion and so
easily are they misled, that without such safeguard the men
would in all probability carry out the suggestions of one of
their particular guides, who has undergone so many eiiffings
that he rather likes them.  Am I not the cause of the disaster
at Bull Run?
Going home, I met Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln in the~r new open
carriage.  The President was not so good-humored, nor Mrs.
Lincoln so affable, in their return to my salutation as usuaL 
~28        ~~ DIARY NORTIl AND SOUTH.
~~y unpopularity is certainly spreading upwards and down.
wards at the same time, and all because I could not turn the
battle of Bull's Ri~n i1~to a Fedeial victory, because I w~i~ld
not pander to the vanity of the people, and, lea~t of all, because I will not bow m~ knee to the degraded creatures who
have made the very name of ~ free press odious to honorable
men.  ~Iany of the most foul-mouthed and rabid of the men
who revile me because I have said the Union as it was never
can be restored, are as fully satisfied of the truth of that statement as I am.  They have wntten far severer things of fl~eir
army than I have ever done.  They l~ave slandered their soldiers and their OffiLCfl5 as I have never done.`Fl~ey have fed
tl~e worst pa~sions of a moi~bid democracy, till it can neither
see nor hear; but they shall never have the satisfaction of
either di~iving me from my post or inducing me to deviate a
hair's-breadth from the course I have resolved to pursue, as I
I)ave done l~efore in other cases - greater and graver, as far
as I "`as concerned, tl~an this.
Sept. 9tk. - This morning, as I was making the most of my
toilet after a nde, a gentleman in the uniform of a United
States officer came up-stairs, and marched into my sitting.
room, saying he wished to see me on business.  I thought it
wa one of my ntimeroiis fi~iends coming with a message fiom
some one who was going to avenge Bull's Run on me.  So,
goitig out as speedily as I could, I bowed to tlie officer, and
a~ked his business.  "I've come here because I'd like to trade
with you about that chestnut horse of yours."  1 replied that
I could only state what price I had given for him, and say
that I wouM take the same, and no less.  "~Yhat may you
have given for him?"  I discovered that my friend had been
already to the stable and ascertained the price from tli~ groom,
wlio ct~nsi~lered himself bound in duty to name a few dollars
beyontl tlie actual sum I had given, for when I mentioned the
price, the countenance of the man of war relaxed into a grim
smile.  "~Yell, I reckon that help of yours is a pretty sm~rt
chap, thouglt he does come from your side of the world."
~Yhen tlie preliminaries had been arranged, the officer announced that he had come on behalf of another officer to offer
me an order on his paymaster, payable at some future date,
for the animal, which he desired, however, to take away upon
the spot.  ~~he transaction was rather amusing, but I consented to let the horse go, much to tlie indignation and uneasiness of the Scotch servant, who regarded it as contrary to all
the principles of morality in horse-flesh. 
PASS~S SOUTll REFtS~D.          52~
Lord A. V. T~mpest and another British subject, who applied to ~Ir. Sewanl to-day for leave to go South, were curtly
refused.  Tl~e Foreign Secretary is not very well pleased
with us all just no'v, and there has been sonie little unea~iness
between l~im and Lord Lyoi~s, i:~ consequence of represel~tations respecting an impioper ~cess in the Ui~ited S:ates
inarine on the lakes, contrary to treaty.   The real ci use,
perhaps of ~Ir. Seward's annoyance is to b~ found in the
exa~~~rated statements of the Amen can papers respecting
British reinforcements for Canada, wl~ich, in truth, are tlie
ordinary reliefs.  These small questions in the present coiidition of affairs cause irritation; but if the United States were
not distracted by civil war, they would be seized ea~erly as
pretexts to excite the popular mind again~t Great Britain.
Tlie gr~at difficulty of all, which must be setiled some day,
relates to San Juan; and every American I have met is persuaded Great Britain is in the wrong, and must consent to a
compromise or incur the risk of war.  The few English in
~Yashington, I think, were all present at dinner at the Legation to-day.
Sept. lOtk. - A party of American officers passed the
evening where I dined - all, of course, Federals, but l~oidii~g
very different views.  A ~L~ssachusetts Colonel, named Gordon, asserted that slavery was at the root of every evil which
afflicted the Republic; that it was not necessary in the South
or anywhere else, and that the South maintained tl~e institution for political as well as private ends.  A Virginian Captain, on tlie contrary, declared that slavery was in itself good
that it could not be dangerous, as it was essentially conservativc, and desired nothing better than to be left alone; but
that the Northern fanatics, jealous of the superior political influence and al~ility of Soutl~ern statesman, aiid soi'did Pi~otectioiiists who wisl~e~l to biiid the South to take their goo(ls exclu~ively, pei~petrated all tl~e mischief.  An officer of the
District~of Columbia assigned all tlie misfortunes of tl~e counry to universal suffrage, to foi~eign immigration. and to tli~se
alone.  ~Iob4aw revolts well-educated men, and people wlio
pride tliems~lves because their fathers lived in tlie country
befbre them, will not be content to see a foi~eigner wlio lias
been but a slioi't time on the soil exercising as great influence
over tlie fate of the country a~ himself. A contest will, therefoi'e, tlways l~e going on between those representing tlie oligarchical principle ai~d the pollarchy; and the re~ult must be 
5~O        M? ~AflY NORTlI AND SOUTIl.
disruption sooner or later, because tbere is no power in a
republic to restrain the struggling factions which the weight
of the crown compr~sses in monarchical countt~ies.
I dined wiih a namesake — a major in the United States
~Iar~i~es   with.wliorn I had hecome accidentally acquainted,
in consequence of our letter~frequently changing lian~ls, and
spent an agreeable evening in company with naval and mi Iitazy officers; not the less so because our host l~ad some marv~llous Madeira, dating back from the Conquest - I mean
~~~asliington.  Several of the officers spoke in tlie liigl~e~t
terms of General Banks, whom they call a rnost remarkat~le
but so jealous are the politicians that l~e will never l~e
perrnitted, they think, to get a fair chaace of distinguishing
hitnself. 
CHAPTER LVI.
A Crimean acquaintance - Personal abuse of myself-Close firing
A reconnoissance - Major-General Bell - The Prince de Joinville
and his nephews - American estimate of Louis Napoleon - Arrest
of members of the Maryland Legislature -Life at Washington -
~Var cries - News from the Far West ~ourney to the Western
Stat~s - Along the Susquehannab and Juniata - Chicago - Sport
in the prairie - Arrested for shooting on Sunday - The town of
Dwight - Return to Washington - Mr. Seward and myself.
Septem~r 1 lUt. - A soft-voiced, round-faced, rather good
looking young man, with downy moustache, came to my room,
and introduced himself this morning as ~Ir. H. H. Scott, tbrmerly of Her ~Thjesty's 57th Regiment.  "Don't you remember me?  I often met you at Cathcart's Hill.  I had a big
dog, if you remember, which used to be about the store belonging to our camp."  And so he rattled on, talking of old
Street and young Jones with immense volubility, and telling
me h~w he had gone out to India with his regiment, had marn~d, lost his wife, and was now travelling for the benefit of
his health and to see the country.  All the time I w~s trying
to remember his face, but in vain.  At last came the purport
of his visit.  He had been taken ill at Baltimore, and was
obliged to stop at an hotel, which had cost him more than he
had anticipated; he had just received a letter from his father,
which required his immediate return, and lie had telegraphed
to New York to secure his place in the next steamer. ~Ieantime, lie was out of money, and required a stuall loan to enable
liim to go back and prepare for his journey, and of course he
would send me the money the moment he arrived in New
York.  I wrote a check for the amount he named, with
which Lieutenant or Captain Scott departed; and my suspicions were rather aroused by seeing him beckon a remarkably ill-favored person at the other side of the way, who
crossed over and inspected the little slip of paper held out for
his approbation, and then, taking his friend under the arm,
walked off rapidly toward the bank. 
532        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
The papers still ~ontinue to abuse me faute de mieux,
tl~ere are essays written about me; I am tl~rea'tened with
several farcc~ I have been lectured upon at ~Villnrd's by a
prorcssor of rhetoric; and I am a stock subject with the
leaden penny funny joun~als, for articles and cari(~atules.
Yesterday I was abused on tl~e ground that I spoke badly of
those who treated me hospitably.  Tlie man wlio wrote the
words knew they were fal~e, because I have been most care
fi)l in my correspondence to avoid any tl~ing of the kind.  A
fa voiite accusation, indeed, which Americans make against
foreigners is," that they have abused our hospitality," which oftent~mes consi'sLs in permitting them to live in the country at all
at their own expet)se, paying their way at hotels and elsewhere, without t1~e smallest suspicion that they were receiving
any hospitality whatever.
To-day, for instance, there comes a lively corporal of artillery, John Robinson, who quotes Sismondi, Guizot, and others,
to prove that I am the worst man in the world; but his
fiercest invectives are directed against me on the ground that I
speak well of those people who give me dii~ners; th~ fact
being, since I came to America, that I have given at least as
many dinners to Americans as I l~ave received from them.
Just as I was sitting down to my desk f0r tl~e remainder of
the day, a sound caught my ear whicl~, repeated again and
again, couM not be mistaken by accustomed o1'gans, ai~d placing my face close to the windows, I perceived the glass
vibrate to the distant discharge of cannon, which, evidently,
did not proceed from a review or a salute.  Uz~liappy man
that I am! here is ~Valker lame, ai~d my other horse carried
off by tlte ~Ve~t-country captain.  However, tlte sounds were
so close tl~at in a few moments I was driving off toward the
Chain Bridge, t~king the upper road, as that by the canal has
b~~ome a sea of mud filled with deep l~oles.
In the windows, on the l~otise-tops, eyen to tl~e ridges partially overlooking Virginia, people were star~ding i~i high excitement wa;cl~i~~g the fait~t pt~tl.s of sittoke which rose at
intervals above tlte t1~ee-tol)s, and at every report a murmur
- exclamations of`~There, do you hear that? - ian
throigh the crowd.  The driver, as excited as any one else,
nrgcd 10i5 horses at full specd, and we ari~ived at tlie Chain
Bridge ju~t as Genetal ~IcCatl - a white haired, rather milit~'~-y-looking o1~l ni~tii - alipeared at lie head of ltis column,
hurr~~ing down to the Cbaui Bridge from the ~Iaryland side, 
`~OTflI~R F~DERAL VICTORt',~33
to reinforce Smith, who was said to be heavily engaged with
the enemy.  But by this time the firing had ceased, and just
as the artillery of the General's column commenced defiling
through the mud, into which the guns sank to the naves of
the wheds, the head of another column appeared, enteflng the
bridge from the Virginia side with loud cheers, wl0ich were
takei~ up again and again.  The carriage was halted to jllow
the 2nd N\risconsin to pass; and a more broken-down, whitefa~ed, sick, and weakly set of poor wretches I never beheld.
The heavy rains had washed the very life out of tl~em  their
clothing was in rags, their shoes were broken, and multitudes
were footsore.  They cheered, nevertheless, or whooped, and
there was a tremendous clatter of tongues in the ranks concerning their victory; but as the men's faces and hands were
not blackened by powder, they could have seen little of the
engagement.  Captain Poe came along with despatches for
General ~IcClellan', and gave me a correct account of the
affair.
All this noise and firing and excitement, I found simply
arose, out of a rceonnoissance made toward Lewinsville, by -
Smith and a part of his bngade, to beat up the enemy's position, and errable the topographical engineers to procure some
information respecting the co~untry. The Confi~derates worked
down upon th~r left flank with artillery, whidi they got into
position at an easy range without being observed, intending,
no doubt, to cut off their retreat and capture or destroy the
whole force; but, fortunately for the reconnoitring party, the
impatience of their enemies led them to open fire too soon.
The Federals got their guns into position also, and covered
their retreat, whilst reinforcements poured out of camp to
their assistance, "and I doubt not," said Poe, "but that they
will have an encounter of a tremendous scalping match in all
the papers to-morrow, although we have only six or seven
men killed, and`twelve wounded."  As we approached Washington the citizens, as they are called, were waving Federal
banners out of the windows and rejoicing in a great victory;
at least, fhe inhabitants of the inferior sort of houses.  Re~"pectability in Washington means Secession.
j~Ir. ~Ionson told me that my distressed young British subject, Captain Scott, had called on him at the Legation early
this morning for the little pecuniary help which had been I
fear, wisely refused there, and which was granted by me.
The States have become, indeed, more than ever the cloacina 
MY~~ARY ~O~~ ~I?~~Q~fl.
ffentium, and Great Britain contributes its full quota to the
stream.
Thus time passes away in e~pectation of some onward
movem~nt, or desperate attack, or important strategical movemeats; and night comes to reassemble a few t~~iends, Americans and Engli~h, at my rooms or elsewhere, to tilk over the
disappointed hopes of the day, to speculate on tlie i\'ture, to
chide each dull delay, and to part with a hope that to-moriow
~vould be more lively than to-day.  ~IaJor. Genenil Bell, who
commanded the Royals in tl~e Crimea, and who has passed
some half century in active service, turned up in N\Tashiijg~on,
and has been courteously received by the American authorities.  lie joined to-night one of our small reunions, and was
infinitely puzzled to detect the lines which separated one iuaa\~
country and opinions from those of the ~lier.
September 1 ltk. - Captain Johnson, Queen's messenger,
started with despatches for England from tlie Legation to-day,
to the regret of our little party.  I observe by the papers
certain wiseacres in Philadelphia have got up a petition
against me to ~Ir. Seward, on the ground that I have been
guilty of treasonable practices and misrepresentations ~n my
letter dated August 10th.  There is also to be a lecture on
the 17th at ~Yillard's by the Professor of Rhetoric, to a volunteer regiment, which tl~e President is invit%d to attend -
the subject being myself.
There is an absolute nullity of events, out of which the
New York papers endeavor, in vain, to extract a Ca put martuum of sensation headings.  The Prince of Joinville and his
two nephews, the Count of Paris and the Duke of Chartres,
have been here for some days, and have been received with
marked attention by the President, Cabinet, politicians and
inilitary.  The Prince has come with the intention of placing
his son at the United States Naval Academy, and liis nephews
with the head-quarters of the Federal army.  The empressement exhibited at the ~Yhite Ilouse toward the French princes
is attributed by ill-natured rumors and per~ons to a little pique
on the part of AIrs. Lincoln, because the Princess Clotl~ilde
did not receive her at New York, but considerable doubts are
entertained of the Emperor's "loyalty" toward the Union.
Under the wiH extravagance of professions of attachment to
ran cc are hidden suspicions that Louis Napoleon may be
capable of treasonable practices and misrepresentations, which,
in time, may lead the Philadelphians to get up a petitioti
against AL Alercier. 
-  Mc-CLtLLAN'S FUTt~Rt. - -
The ~ews that twenty4wo rnemhers of the Maryland Legislature have been seized by the Federal authorities has not
produced the smallest effect here; so easily do nien in the
midst of' political troubles bend to arbitrai~y power, aiid so -
rapidly do all guarantees disappeai' in a revolution.  I was
speaking to one of Genei~al M~Clelian's aides-de-camp this
-evening respecting these things, when he said - " If I tliou~lit
lie would use his power a day longer than was necessary, I
wouM resign this moment.  I believe him incapable of any
selfish or unconstitutional views, or unlawful ambition, and
you will see that he will not disappoint our expectations."
It is now quite plain McClellan has no intention of making
a general defensive movement against Richmond.  He is
aware his army is not equal to the task   commissanat deficient, artillery wanting, no cavalry; above all, ill~offlcered,
incoi~erent battalions.     He~ hopes, no doubt, by constant
reviewing and inspection1 and by weeding out the preposterous f~llows wiio render epaulettes ridiculous, to create an
intantry which shall be nble fbr a short campaign in the fine
autumn weather; but I am quite satisfied he does not intend
to move now, and possibly will not do so till next year.  I
have arranged therefore to pay a short visit to tlie ~Yest, penetrating as far as I can, without leaving telegraphs and railways behind, so that if an ad~'ance takes place, I shall be back
in time at ~Yashington to assist at the earliest battle.  These
Federal armies do not move like the corps of the French republic, or Crawford's Light Division.
In truth, ~~ashingtou life is becoming exceedingly nionot-onous and uninteresting.  The pleasant little evening parties
or tertulias which once relieved the dulness of this dullest
of capitals, take place no longer.  Very wrong indeed
would it be that rejoicings and festivities should occur in the
capital of a country menaced with destruction, where many
anxious hearts are grieving over the lost, or tortured with
fears for the living.
But for the hospitality of Lord Lyons to the English residents, the place wouM be nearly insufferable, for at his house
one met other friendly ministers who extended tlie circle of
invitations, and two or three American families completed tlie
list which one could reckon on his fingers.  Thea at night,
there were assemblages of -the same men, who tittered the
same opinions, told the s~me stories, sang the same songs,
~aried seldom by strange faces or novel accomplishments, b~t 
536        WY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
always friendly and social enough - not conducive perhaps to
very early rising, but innocent of gambling, or other exces~
A flask of Bordeaux, a wicker-covered demijohn of' Bot~rbon,
a jug of iced water, and a bundle of' cigars, with the latest
arrival of newspapers, furnished the materiel of these small
symposiums, in which Americans and Englishmen and a few
of the members of foreign Legations, mingled in a friendly
cosmopolitan manner.  Now and then a star of greater magnitude came down upon us: a senator or an "earnest man"
or a "live man," or a constitutional lawyer, or a remarkable
~tatesman, coruscated, and rushing off into the outer world
left us befogged, with our glimmenug lights half extinguished
witl~ tobacco-smoke.
Out of doors excessive beat alternating with thunder-storms
and tropical showers - dust beaten into mud, or mud sublimated into dust - eternal revi'ews, each like the other -
visits to camp, where we saw tlie same men and heard the
same stories of per~~etual abortive skirmishes - rides conflt~ed
to the same roads and paths by lines of sentries, offei'ed no
grtater attraction than tlie city where one's bones were
racked with fever and ague, and where every eveiiing the
pestilential vapors of tlie Potomac rose higher and spread
fi~rtlier.  No wonder that I was glad to get away to the Far
~~est, particularly as I entertained hopes of witnessing some
of tlie operations down the ~Iississippi, before I was summoned back to ~Yashington, by the news that the grand army
had actually broken up camp, and was about once more to
march against I?ichmond.
September 1 2t~. - The day passed quietly, in spite of
rumors of another battle; the band played in the President's
garden, and citizens and citizenesses strolled about the grounds
as if Secession had been annihilated.  The President made a
fitful appearance, in a gray shooting suit, with a number of
despatches in l~is hand, and walked off toward the State Department quite unnoticed by the crowd.  I am sure not half' a
dozen persons saluted him - not one of the men I saw even
touched his hat.  General Bell went round the works with
~IcClellan, and expressed his opinion that it would be impossible to fight a great battle in the country which lay between
the two armies - in fact, as he said, "a general could no more
handle his troops among the w~ods, than he could regulate
the movements of rabbits in a cover. You ought just ~o make
a proposition to Beauregard to come out on some plain and
fight the battle fairly out where you can see each other." 
LEAVE 13ALTflIO~.            537
September 1 Gdz. - It is most agreeable to be removed from
all tlie circumstance without any of the pomp and glory of
war.  Although there is a tendency in the North, and, for
aught I know, in the South, to consider the contest in the same
light as one with a foreign enemy, the very batfle-cnes on
both sides indicate a civil war.  "The Union forever -
"States' rights" - and " Down with the Abolitionists," cannot
be considered national. McClellan tnkes no note of time even
by its loss, which is all tile more strange because he sets great
store upon it in his report on the conduct of the war in the
Crimea.  However, he knows an army cannot be made in two
months, tind that the larger it is, the more time there is required to harmonize its components.  The news from the Far
~Yest indicated a probability of some important operations
taking place, although my first love - the array of the Potomac - must be returned to.  Any way, there was the great
~~~stern Prairie to be seen, and the people who have been
pouring fronrtheir plains so many thousands upon the Southern States to assert the liberties of those colored races whorn~
they will not permit to cross their borders as freemen.  Mr.
Lincoln, Mr. Blair, and other Abolitionists, are actuated by
similar sentiments, and seek to emancipate the slave, and remove fi'om him the protection of his master, in order that
they may drive him from the continent altogether, or force
him to seek refuge in emigration.
On the 18th of September, I left Baltimore in company
with Major-General Bell, C. B., and Mr. Lamy, who was well
acquainted with the ~Vestern States: stopping one night at
Altoofla, in order that we might cross by daylight the fine
passes of the Alleganies, which are traversed by bold gradients, and remarkable cuttings, second only in difficulty and
extent to those of the railroad across the So~mmering.
So far as my observation extends, no route in the United
States can give a stranger a better notion of the variety of
scenery and of resources, the vast extent of territory, the difference in races, the prosperity of the present, and the probable greatness of the future, than the line from Baltimore by
Harrisburg and Pittsburg to Chicago, traversing the great
States of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana.  Plain and moun
tain, hill and valley, river and meadow, forest and rock, wild
tracts through which the Indian roamed but a few years ago,
lands covered with the richest crops; rugged passes, which
SaI~vatcr would have peopled with ~adowy groups of ban~~
23* 
~Y DIARY ~ORTH A~~ SOUTIl
gentle sylvan glades, such as Gainsborough would have covered with waving corn; the hum ~~f mills, the silence of the
desert and waste, sea-like lakes whitened by ii~numerable sails,
mighty rivers carving their way tlirongh continents, sparkling
rivulets that lose their lives amongst giant wheels: seams and
lodes of coal, iron, an~l mineral wealth, cropping out of desolate
mountain sides; busy, restleSs manufitcturers and traders alternating with stolid rustics, hedges clustering with grapes,
mountains;whitening with snow; and beyond, the great Prairie stretching awQY to the backbone of inhospitable rock,
which, rising from the foundations of tl)e world, bar tlie access
of the white man and civilization to the bleak inhospItable regions beyond, which both are fain as yet to leave to the savage
and wild beast.
Travelling along the banks of the Susquehannah, the visitor, however, is neither permitted to admire the works of nature in silence, or to express his admiration of the energy of
man in his own way.  The tyranny of public opinion is upon
him.  He must admit that he never saw any thing so wonderful in his life; that there is nothing so beautiful anywhere
else; no fields so green, no rivers so wide and deep, no
bridges so lofty and long; and at last he is inclined to shut
himself up, either in absolute grumpy negation, or to indulge
in hopeless controversy.  An American genflen~an is as little
likely as any other well-bred man to force the opinions or interrupt the reveries of a stranger; but if third-class Esquimaux are allowed to travel in first-class carriages, the hospitable creatures will be quite likely to insist on your swallowing train oil, eating blubber, or adminng snow-drifts, as the
finest things in the world.  It is infinitely to the credit of theAmerican people that actual offence is so seldom given and is
still more rarely intended -always save and except in the
one particular, of chewing tobacco.  Having seen most things
tl~at can irritate one's stomach, and being in company with an
old soldier, I little expected that any excess of the sort could
produce disagreeable effects; but on returning from this excursion, ~Ir. Lamy and myself were fairly driven out of a
carriage, on the Pittsburg line, in utter loathing and disgust,
by tlie condition of the floor. The conductor, passing through,
said, "~~ou must not stand out there, it is against the rules;
you can go in and smoke," pointing to the carriage  "Ia
there!" exclaimed my friend, "why, it is too filthy to put a
-wild beast into." The conductor looked in~fo~ a monient, 
PITTSBURG.
nodded his bead, and said, "Well, I concede it is right bad;
the citizens are going it pretty strong," and so left us.
TIie scenery along the Juniata is still more picturesque
than that of the valley of the Susquehnnnah.  The borders of
the route across the Alleghanies have been described by
many a writer; but notwithstanding the good fortune which
favored us, and swept away the dense vale of vapors on the
lower ranges of the hills, the landscape scarcely produced the
effect of scenery on a less extended scale, just as the scenery
of the Ilimalayas is not so striking as that of the Alps, because it is on too vast a sc~le to be readily grasped.
Pittsbtirg, where we halted next night, on the Ohio, is certainly, with the exception of Birmingham, the most intensely
sooty, busy, squalid, foul-housed, and vile-suburbed city I
have ever seen.  Under its perpetual canopy of smoke,
pierced by a forest of blackened chimneys, the ill-paved
streets, swarm with a streaky population whose white faces
are smutched with soot streaks - the noise of vans and drays
which shake the houses as they pass, the turbulent life in the
thoroughfares, the wretched brick tenements, - built in waste
places on squalid mounds, surrounded by heaps of slag and
broken brick - all these gave the stranger the idea of soma
vast manufacturing city of the Inferno; and yet a few miles
beyond, the country is studded with beautiful villas, and the
great river, bearing innumerable barges and steamers on its
broad bosom, rolls its turbid waters between banks rich with
cultivated crops.
The policeman at Pittsburg station - a burly Englishman
- told me that the war had been of the greatest service to
the city.  He spoke not only from a policeman's point of
view, when he said that all the rowdies, Irish, Germans, and
others had gone off to the war, but from the manufacturing
~tand-point, as he added that wages were high, and that the
orders from contractors were keeping all the manufacturers
going.  "It is wondefful," said he, "what a number of tho
citizens come back from the South, by rail, in these new metallic coffins."
A long, long day, traversing the State of Indiana by the
Fort Wayne route, followed by a longer night, just sufficed
to carry us to Chicago.  The railway passes through a most
uninteresting country, which in part is scarcely rescued from
a state of nature by the hand of man; but it is wonderful to
~o so much d~ne, when one hears that the Miami Indians 
MY DIARY N~R~H, AND SOUTH.
a~d other tribes were driven out, or, as the phrase is,`~
moved," only twenty years ago -" conveyed, the wise called
it"-to the reserves.
From Chicago, where we descended ~t a hotel which fairly
deserves to be styled magnificent, for comfort and complete
ness, ~Ir. Lamy and myself proceeded to Racine, on the
shores of Lake ~Iichigan, and th~nce toek the rail for Freeport, where I remained for some diiys, going out in the surrounding prairie to shoot in the morning, and returning at
nigiitfi~ll.  The prairie chickens were rather wild.  The delight of these days, notwithstanding bad sport, cannot be described, nor was it tne least ingredient in it to mix with the
fresh and vigorous race who are raising up cities on these
fertile wastes.  Fortunately for the patience of my readers,
perhaps, I did not fill my diary with the records of each day's
events, or of the contents of our bags; and the note-book in
which I jotted down some little matters which struck me to
be of interest has been misinid; but in my letters to England
I gave a description of the general aspect of' the country, and~
of the feelings of the people, and arrived at the conclusion
that the tax-gatherer will have little chance of returning with
full note-books from his tour in these districts.  The dogs
which were lent to us were generally abominable; but every
evening we returned in company with great leather~reave~
and jerkined-men, hung round with belts and~ hooks, from
which were suspended strings of defunct praine chickens.
The farmers were hospitable, but were suffering from a morbid longing for a failure of crops in Europe, in order to give
some value to their corn and wheat, which literally cumberel
the earth.
Freeport!  Who ever heard of it?  And yet it has its
newspapers, more than I dare mention, and its big hotel
lighted with gas, its billiard-rooms and saloons, magazines1
rail way stations, and all the proper paraphernalia of local
*~lf-government, with all their fierce intrigues and giddy
factions.
Frorn Freeport our party returned to Chicago, taking leave
of our excellent friend and companion ~Ir. George Thompson,
of Racine.  The authorities of the Central Illinois 1?ailway,
to whose courtesy and consideration I was infiiiitely indebted,
placed at our disposal a magnificent sleeping carriage; and
on the morning ~f~er our arrival, having laid in a good stoc~
Qfaup~lies, and~ engaged aa~exeellent sporting guid~ and dogs, 
A NQVEL $HOOTIN~BQX.
~e started, attached to the regular train from Chicago, until
the train stopped at a shunting place near the stition of
Dwight, in il~e very centre of the prairie.  ~Ye reached our
halting-place, were detiched, and were shot up a siding in
il~e solitude, with no habitation in view, except tl~e wood
shanty, in which lived the family of the Irish overseer of this
portion of the road   a man happy in the possession of a
piece of gold which he received from the Prince of N\Tales
and for which he declared he would not take the amount of
the National Debt.
The sleeping carriage proved most comfortable quarters.
After breakfi~st in the morning, ~Ir. Lainy, Col. Foster, ~Ir.
of the Central Jllinois rail, the keeper, and mysel?,
descending the steps of our movable house, walked in a few
strides to the shooting grounds, which abounded with quail,
but were not so well peopled by the chickens. The quail wer~
weak on the wing, owing to the lateness of the season, and
my companions grumbled at their hard luck, though I was
well content with fresh air, my small share of birds, and a
few American hares.  Night and morning the train rushed
by, and when darkness settled down upon the prairie, our
lamps were lighted, dinner was served ia the carriage, set
fortlj with inimitable potatoes cooked by the old Irish woman.
From the dinner-table it was but a step to go to bed.  When
storm or rain rushed over the sea4ike plain, I remained in tlie
carriage wflting, and after a long spell of work, it was inexpressibly pleasant to take a ramble through the ~owerincr
gI~ass and the sweet-scented broom, and to go beating through
the stunted under-clover, careless of rattle-snakes, whose tiny
prattling music I heard often enough without a sight of the
tails that made it.
One rainy morning, the 29th September, I think, as the sun
began to break through dnfting rain clouds, I saw my coinpanions preparing their guns, tlie sporting chaperon ~~alker
filling the shot flasks, and making all the usual arrangements
for a day's shooting.  "You don't mean to say you are going
out shooting on a Sunday!" I said. "~Vhnt, on the prairies!"
exclaimed Colonel Foster.  "~Yhy, of course we are; there's
nothing wrong in it here.  ~Vhat nobler temple can we find
to worship in than lies around us?  It is the custom  of the
people hereabouts to shoot on Sundays, and it is a work of
~ecessity with us, for our larder is very low."
And so, after breakfast1 we set out, but the rain came ~QW~ 
~42       MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
so densely that we were driven to the house of a farmer, and   ~
finally we returned to our sleeping carriage for the day.  I
never fired a shot nor put a gun to my shoulder, nor am I
sure that any of my companions killed a bird.
The rain fell with violence all day, and at night the gusts
of wind shook the carriage like a ship at sea.  ~~e were sitting at table after dinner, when the d6or at the end of the
carriage opened, and a man in a mackintosh dripping wet,
advanced with unsteady steps along the centre of the carriage,
between the beds, and taking off his ~at, in the top of which
l~e searched diligently, stood staring with lack-lustre eyes
from one to the other of the party, till Colonel Foster exclaimed, "~Vell, sir, what do you want?"
~~~rhat do I want," he replied, with a slight thickness of
speech, "which of you is the Honorable Lord William Russell, correspondent of the London Times?  That's what I
want."
I certified to my identity; whereupon, drawing a piece of
paper out of his hat, he continued, "Then I arrest you, Honorable Lord ~Yilliam Russell, in the name of the people of the
commonwealth of Illinois," and thereupon handed me a
document, declaring that one Morgan, of Dwight, having
come before him that day and swora that I, with a company
of men and dogs, had unlawfully assembled, and by firing
shots, and by barking and noise, had disturbed the peace of
the State of Illinois, he, the subscriber or justice of the peace,
as named and described, commande4 the constable Podge rs,
or whatever his name was, to bring my body before him to
answer to the charge.
Now this town of Dwight was a godd many miles away,
the road was declared by those who knew it to be very bad,
the nigl~t was pitch dark, the rain falling in torrents, and as
th9 constable, drawing out of his hat paper afier paper with
the names of impossible persons upon them, served subp~nas
on all the rest of the party to appear next morning, the anger
of Colonel Foster could scarcely be restrained, by kicks under
the table and nods and becks and wreathed smiles from the
rest of the party.  "This is infamous!  It is a political persecution!" he exclaimed, whilst the keeper joined in chorus,
declaring he never heard of such a proceeding before in all
his long experience of the prairie, and never knew there was
such an act in existence.  The Irishmen in the hut added
that the informer himself generally went out shooting every 
Tffl~ MA~ OF DwrGIIT.         543
Sunday.  llowever, I could not but regret I had given the
fi~IIow an opportunity of striking at me, and though I was the
only one of tlie party who raised an objection to our going
out at all, I wis deservedly suffering for tile impropriety -
to call it here by no harsher liame.
The constable, a man with a liquid eye and a cheerful
countenance, paid particular attention meantime to a large
bottle upon tlie table, and as I professed my readiness to go
the moment he had some refreshment that very wet night,
the stern severity becoming a minister of justice, which
marked liis first utterances, was sensibly mollified: and when
~In     proposed that he should di~ive ba~~ with him and
see the prosec~itor, he was good enough to accept my written
aclnowledgmeiit of the service of tlie writ, and promise to
appear the following morning, as an adequate discharge of
his duty - combined with tlie absorption of some Bourbon
whiskey - and so retired.
Mr. - returned late at night, and very angry.  It appears that the prosecutor - who is not a man of very good
reputation, and whom his neighbors were as much astonished
to find the champion of religious observances as they would
have been if he was to come forward to insist on the respect
due to the seventh commandment - with the insatiable passion for notoflety, which is one of the worst results of American institutions, thought he wouH gain himself some little
reputation by causing annoyance to a man so.unpopular as
myself.  lIe and a companion having come from Dwight for
the purpose, and hiding in the neighborhood, had, therefore,
devoted ~heir day to lying in wait and watching our party;
and as they were aware in the railway carriage I was with
Colonel Foster, they had no' difficulty in finding out the names
of the rest of the party.  The magistrate being his relative,
gi~anted the warrant at once; and the prosecutor, who was in
waiting for il~e constable, was exceedingly disappointed whea
he found that I had not been dra~~ed through the rain.
~ext morning, ~ special engine which had been ordered up
by telegraph appeared alongside the car; and a short run
through a beautiful country brought us to the prairie town of
Dwight.  The citizens were astir - it was a great day - and
as I walked with Colonel Foster, all the good people seemed
to be enjoying an unexampled treat in gazing at the stupendous criminal.  The court-house, or magistrate's office, was
suital)19 to the republican simplicity of the people of Dwight; 
544       MY DIARY NORT~ A~D SOUTH.
for the chamber of justice was on the first floor of a house
over a store, nod access was obtained to it by a ladder from
the street to a platform at the top of which I was ushered into
the presence of tlie court, a plain wliite-~ashed room.  I am
not sure there was even an engraving of George Washington
on the walls., The magistrate in a full suit of black, with his
hat on, was seated at a small table; behind hita a few books,
on plain deal shelves, provided his fund of legal learning.
Tlie constable, with a severer visage than that of la~t night,
stood upon the n~ht hand; three sides of the room were surrounded by a wall of stout honest Dwightians, among whom
I produced a profound sensation, by the simple ceremony of
taking off my hat, which they no doubt considered a token of
the degraded nature of the Britislier, but which moved the
magistrate to take off liis head-covering; whereupon some of
the nearest removed theirs, some putting them on again, and
some remaining uncovered; and then tlie informations were
read, and on being asked what I had to say, I merely bowed,
and said I had no remarks to offer.  But my friend, Colonel
Foster, who had been churning up his wrath and forensic
lore for some time, putting one hand under his coat tail, and
elevating the other in the air, with modulated cadences,
poured out a fine oratorical flow which completely astonished
me, and whipped the audience morally off their legs completely.  In touching terms he described the mission of an
illustrious stranger, who had wandered over thousands of
miles of lan~ and sea to gaze upon the beauties of those
prairies which the Great Maker of the Universe had expanded
as the banqueting tables for the famishing millions of pauperized and despotic Europe.  As the representative of an influence which the people of tlie great State of Illinois should
wish to see developed instead of contracted, honored instead
of being insulted, he had come among them to admire the
grandeur of nature, and to behold with wonder the magnif~
cent progress of human happiness and free institutions
(Soti~e thumping of sticks, and cries of "Bravo, that's so,"
which warmed the Colonel into still higher flights).  I began
to feel if he was as great in invective as he was in eulogy, it
was well he had not lived to throw a smooth pebble from jiis
sling at Warren Hastings.  As great indeed!  Why, when
tlie Colonel had drawn a beautiful picture of me examining
coal deposits - investigating strata -, breath~g autumnal
airs~ and ~lling fiowers in unsuspecting innocence, and,, then, 
TITE COLOiNEL'S ORATION.        545
suddenly denounced the serpent who hnd dogged Tny steps
in order to strike me down with a justice's warrant, I protest
it is doubtful, if lie did not reach to tlie most elevated stage of
vituperative oratory, tlie progression of which was marked by
ii)creasing thumps of sticks, and louder murmurs of applause,
to tlie discomfiture ~r the wretched prosecutor.  But the
magistrate was not a man of imagination; he felt lie was but
elective after all; and so, with his eye fixed upon his book,
lie pronounced his decision, which was that I be amerced in
something more than half the maximum fine fixed by tlie
statute, some five-and-twenty shillings or so, the greater part
to be spent in the educatioh of the people by transfer to the
school fuiid of the State.
As I was handing the notes to the magistrate, several respectable men coming forward exclaimed, "Pray oblige us,
i~1r. Russell, by letting us pay the amount for you; this is a
shameful proceeding."  But thanking them heartily for their
proffered kindness, I completed the little pecuniary transaction
and wished the magisti~ate good morning, with the remark
that I hoped tlie people of the State of Illjnois would always
find so cli worthy defenders of the statutes as the prosecutor,
and never have offenders against their peace aiid morals more
culpable than myself.  Having undergone a severe scolding
fi'om an old woman at the top of the ladder, I walked to the
tr~~in, followed by a number of the audience, who repeatedly
expressed their extreme regret at the little persecution to
which I had been subjected.  The prosecutor had already
made arrangements to send the news over tlie whole breadth
of the Union, which was his only reward; as I must do tlie
American papers the justice to say that, with a few natural
exceptions, those which noticed the occurrence unequivocally
condemned his conduct.:
That evening, as we were planning an extension of our
sporting tour, the mail rattling by. deposited our letters and
papers, and we saw at the top of many columns the startling
words, "Grand Advance of the Union Army." " AleClellan
~Iarching on Richmond." "Capture of ~1uiison's Hill." "Retreat of the Enemy - 30,000 ~Ien seize their Fortifications."
Not a moment wa to be lost; it I was too late, I never would
forgive myself.  Our carriiige was hooked on to the return
train, and at 8 o'clock P. M. I start~d on my return to ~Vashinton, by way of Cleveland.
At half-past 3 on the 1st October the train reached Pitts 
546         MY ~ARY NORTlI A~D SOUTIl.
burg, just too late to catch the train for Baltimore; but I con
tinued my journey at night, arriving at i3altimore after noon,
and reacloing ~Vasl~ington at 6 p. ~ 010 the 2d of October.
October 3d. - Iii ~Va~hington once more - all the wodd
laughing at the pump and the wooden guns at ~Iunson's I-I ill, but
angry witloal because ~IcClelh~~ sl~oul~ be so betooled as they
considered it, by tlie Conlederates. The fact is AleClellait was
not prepared to move, and therefbre not disposed to hazard a
genen~l engagement, which he might have brought on had the
enemy been in force; perhaps he knew they were not, but
found it convenient nevertheless to act as though he believed
they had established themselves strongly in his front, as half
tlje world will give him credit for knowing more than tlte
civilian strategists who have already got into disgrace for urgin ~1cDowell on to Richmond.  The Federal armoes are not
handled easily.  They are ljixurious in tlie matter ()f baggage,
- and canteens, and private stores; and this is just the sort of
war in which the general who moves lightly and rapidly,
striking blows unexpectedly and deranging communications,
- will obtain great results.
Although Beauregard's name is constantly inentioned, I
fancy that, crafty and reticent as he is, the operations in
front of los have been directed by an officer of larger capacity.
As yet ]\IcClellan has certainly done nothing in the field to
show he is like Napoleon.  The value-of his labors in camp
has yet to be tested.  I dined at the Legation, and afterwards
there was a meeting at my rooms, where I heard of all that
had passed during my absence.
October 4th. - The new expedition of which I have been
hearing for some time past, is about to sail to Port Royal,
under the command of General Burnside, in order to reduce
the works erected at the entrance of the Sound, to secure a
base of operations against Charleston, and to cut in upon the
communication between that place and Savannah.  Alas, for
poor Trescott! his plantations, his secluded home!  ~That
will the good lady think of the Yankee invasion, which surely
must succeed, as the naval force will be overwhelming?  I
visited the division of General Eghert Viele, encamped near
tlie Navy-yard, which is bound to Annapolis, as a part of
General Burnside's expedition.  ~Yloen fin~t I saw him, the
general was an emeritus captain, attached to the 7th New
York ~Iilitia; now he is a Brigadier-General, if not some thing more, tommanding a corps of nearly 5000 men, with
 
THE PHILADELPHIA PETITIO~.547
pay and allowances to match.  His goo~ lady wife, who
accompanied him in tl~e Mexican campaign, - wl~ereof cAme
a book, lively and light. as a lady's book should be, - was
about to accompany her ~usband in ijis assault on tlie C~jiolij~ians, and prepared for actioll by opening a small broadside on my unha~~y seW, whom she regarded as an eiiemy
of our glorious Union; and therefore an ally of the Evil
Powei~s on both sides of the grave.  The women, North and
South are equally pitiless to their enemies; and it was but tlie
other day a man with whom I am on very good terms ir'
~Yashington made an apology for not asking me to his house,
because his wife was a strong Unioa woman.
A gentleman who had been dining with Mr. Seward to-night
told me the Minister had complained that I had not been near
him for nearly two months; the fact was, however, that I had
called twice immediately after the appearance in America
of my letter dated July 22d, and had met Mr. Seward afierwanL~, when his manner was, or appeared to me to be, cold
and distant, and I had th~refore abstained from intruding myself upon his notice; nor did his answer to the Philadelphian
petition - in which Mr. Seward appeared to admit tlie allegations made against me were true, and to consider I l~ad violated the 1~ospitality accorded me - induce me to think that
he did not entertain the opinion which these journals which
set themselves up to be his organs had so repeatedly expressed. 
CllAPTL'R LYIL
Another Crimean acquaintance - Summary dismissal of a news~~ap~r
correspondent - I)inner at Lord Lyons'- Review of artillery -
"habeas Corpus " - The President's duties - McClellan's policy
- The Union Army - Soldiers and the patrol - Public men in
America - Mr. ~eward and Lord Lyons - A Judge placed under
arrest - [)eath and funeral of Senator Baker - Disorderly troops
and officers - Official fibs - Duck-shooting at Baltimore.
October 5tk. - A day of heat extreme.  Tumbled in upon
ine an old familiar face and voice, once Forst~r qf a lio.~pitable
Crimean hut behind ~Iother Seacole'~co%~anding a batfalion
of Land Transport Corps, to which he had descended or sublimated from his position a~ ex-Austrian dragoon and beau
sabreur under old Radetzsky in Italian wars; now a colonel
of distant volunteers, and a member of the Parliament of Brit
ish Columbia.  He was on his way home to Europe, and had
travelled thus far out of his way to see his friend.
After him came in a gentleman, heated, wild-eyed, and
excited, wlio had been in the South, where he was acting as
correspondent to a London newspaper, and on his return to
~~ashington had obtained a pass from General Scott.  According to his own story, he had been indulging in a habit
which free-born Engi ishmen may occasionally find to be inconvenient in foreign countries in times of high excitement,
a~d had been expressing his opinion pretty freely in favor
~~f tlie Southern cause in the bar-rooms of Pennsylvania Avenue.  Imagine a Frenchman going about the taverns of Dublin during an Irish rebellion, expressing his sympathy with
the reb~ls, and you may suppose he would meet with treatment at least as peremptory as that which the Federal authorities gave ~Ir. D.  In fine, that morning early, he had
been`vaited upon by an officer, who requested his attendance
at tlte Provost-~Iarslial's office; arrived there, a functionary,
after a few queries, asked him tb give up General Scott's pass,
and when ~Ir. D- refused to do so, proceeded to e~ecute 
~~VJFW OF TH~ ARTILL~Rt            549
a ternble sort of proces verbal on a large sheet of foolscap,
tli~ initiatory floiirislie  and ~trol~~g~~meiia of ~vliich o intilni
datt~d I~Ir. I), that lie give Ul) lii l)a~ anti w;is 1~~rniittt~d
to del~ai~t, in order tliat lie might s~art for Englaiid by tlie iiext
steamer.
A wonderful Frenchman, who lives up a back stre~t, prepared a curious binquet, a~ which ~Ir. Irvine, ~Ir. Warre,
~Ir. Aiider~on, ~Ir. Lariiy, and Colonel Fo~ter as~isted  aii~l
in tlie evenilig ~Ir. Liiieoln's pi~ivate Secretily a witty slirc~v~l,
aiid pleasant young fellow, wlio looks little more than eiglit~~eii
eai~s of age, canie in witlj a I'i~iend, whose name I foi'get; an~l
by degrees the circle expanded, till the walls seemed to lia~~e
become ela~tic, so great was tlie concourse of gue~ts.
October 6t1t.-A day of wandenug around, and visiting, and
listeniii< to rumors all unfounded.  I have applied for pei~mission to aecompany the Burnside expedition biit I am advised
not to leave Washington, as 1~IcClellan will certainly advance
as soon as tlie diversion has been made down South.
October 7th. - The heat to-day was literally intolerable, and
wound up at last in a tremendous tliutider-storm with violent
gusts of rain.  At the Legation, where Lord Lyoiis entertaiiied
the Lnglish visitors at dinner, tlie rooms were sl~aken by tliunder-claps, and the blinding lightning seemed at times to turn
the well-illuminated rooms into caves of darkiiess.
October 8th. - A review of tlie artillei~ at this side of fl~e
river took lilace to-day, which has been desci~ibed iii very i~i
flated language by the Ameriean pal)ers, the writers on which
- never having seen a decently-equipped force of the kind -
pronounce the sight to have been of unequalled splendor;
whereas the appearance of horses and men was very far fiom
respectaUe iii all matters relating to grooming, cleanliness, aiid
neatiiess.  General ISari?? has done wonders in sim~ilifying tlie
foi~ce aiid reduciiig tlie nuiiiher of cal~bres, ".hieli vaiied ac
cordiiig to tlie faiicy of each State, or men of each ofl~~er wlio
raised a battery  but tl~ere are still field-guns of tliiee iiiclies
and of three ijiches an~i a half, Napoleon guns, rifled ten-pou~id
Pai~i~ot ts, oi'diiiary nine-pounders, a variety of howit~ers, twenty.
pouiid Pai~iott r~fled gulis, and a variety of different pr(Uect~les
i~i tlie caissons. As the mei~`ode past, tlie eye was di~tressed by
discrepancies`in dress.  ~Iany woi'e red or white w~}i'sted cornfo~iers round their necks few liad straps to their trou.~ers
soiue l~ad new coats, others old; some wore boots, others
shoes; not one had elena spurs, bits, curb-chains, or bntton& 
~5()        M? bIARY ~O~fl ANt) SoU~H.
The officers cannot get the men to do what the latter regard
as works of supererogation.
There were 72 guns ii~ all; and if the horses were not so
light, there would be quite enough to do for the Confederates
to redi~ce tl~eir fire, as the pieces are easily handled, and the
men like ai~tillery and take to it naturally, being in that respect
som~tliing like the natives of In&ia.
Whilst I was standing in tl~e crowd, I heard a woman say,
I doubt if that Russell is riding about here.  I shoud ju~t
like to ~ee l~im to give him a piece of my mind.  They say
he's honest, but I call him a poor prejewdiced I3ritislier.
`J'liis sight`11 give him fits."  I was qt~ite delighted at my
incognito.  Jf tlie caricatures were at all like me, I shoulJ
have what tl~e Americans call a bad time of it.
On the return of the batteries a shell exploded in a caisson
just in front of the President's house, and, miraculous to state,
did not fii'e the other projectiles. Had it done so, the destruc
ti~'n of life in the crowded street - blocked up with a~~tillery,
men, and horses, and crowds of men, women, and children -
would have been truly frightful.  Such aeddents are n~~t uncommon - a wagon blew up the other day "out West," and
killed and woi~nded several people; and though the accidents
in camp from fire-arms are not so numerous as they were, there
are still enough to present a heavy casualty list.
Whilst tlie artillery were delighting the citizens, a much
more important matter was taking place in an obscure little
court-house - much more destructive to their freedom, happiness, and greatness than all the Confederate guns which can
ever be ranged against them.  A brave, uprigl~t, and honest
judge, as in duty bound, issued a wflt of habeas corpus, sued
out by the friends of a minor, who, contrary to the laws of the
United States, had been enlisted by an American general, and
was detained by him in the ranks of his regiment.  The officer retu~ed to obey the writ, whereupon the judge issued an
attachment against him, and the Federal Brigadier came into
court and pleaded that be took that course by order of the
President.  The court adjourned, to consider the steps it
should take.
I have juSt seen a paragraph in the local paper, copiod
from a west country journal, headed "Good foL' Russell~'
which may explain the uni~sually favorable impression e~pressed by the women this morning.  It is an account of the
wterview~I had with the officer who came "to trade" for my 
~~WSPAFER STORfl~S.            551
borse, written by the latter to a Green Bay newsm~pen in
which, having duly censured my "JoI~n Builism" in not re
ceiving with the utmost courtesy a strang~r wi~o walked into
his room be[~re breaktitst on business uj~known, he relates as
a proot of honesty (in such a rare flel(l as tradii~g in horse-flesh)
that, though my groom had sougl~t to put ten dollars in my
pocket by a mild exaggeration of the amount paid for the
animal. which was the price I said I wouH take, I would not
l~ave it.
October ~tk.-A colil gloomy day.  I am laid up with tie
f~ver and ague`vhici~ visit tlie bai~ks of tlie Potomac in autt~mn.  it anno~ed me the more because G~neral McClellan
is making a reconnoissance to-day towards Lewinsville, with
1O,()O() men.  A gentleman from  the War Depart~~ient vi~ited
me today, and gave me scanty hopes ol proci~ring atiy assistai~ce fron the authorities in takii:g tlie field.  Civility costs
aotliin~ and certainly if it did United States officials would
require high salunes, but they often content themselves with
fair words.
There are some things nboi~t our neighbors which we tnay
never hope to understand.  To-day, for instance, a respectable
person, high in office, having been good enough to invite me
to liis house, added "You shall see j~Irs. A., sir.  She is a
very pi~etty and agreeable young lady, and will prove nice
society for you," meaning liis wire.
~Ir. N. P. ~Villis was good enough to call on me, and in the
eourse of conversation said, "I hear i~icClellan tells you everything.  When you went away ~Vest I was very near going
after you, as I suspected you heard somethiiig."  ~Ir. Willis
could have had no grounds for this remark, for very cert~jnly
it has no foundation in tact. Truth to tell, General ~IcClellnn
seemed, the last time I saw him, a little alarmed by a paragraph in a New York paper, from the Washington correspondent, in which it was invidiously stated, "General ~IcClellan, attended l~y ~Ir. Russell, correspondent of tlie Lon~lon
Times,' visited the camps to-day. All passes to civilians and
others were revoked." There was not the smallest ground for
the statement on tlie day in question, but I am resolved not to
contradict anything which is said about me, but the General
could not well do so; and one of the favorite devices of the
`va~hington correspondent to fill up his columns, is to write
something about me, to state I have been refused passes, or
have ~ot them, or whatever else he likes to say. 
552        MY D~RY NORTH AND SOUTH.
Callng on the G~neral the other night at his usual time of
ret~ii~i~, I was t0l(l by the ordt.rly, who`vi closing the door,
The Geneial~s gone to bed tirt~d, and can see no one.  lie
sent tlie same message to tlie President, wlio cirne inquiring
aft~r him ten minutes ago."
Tl~is poor Pi~esident!  He is to be pitied; surrounded by
such scenes, and trying with all his might to understand
strategy, naval warfare, big guns, tl~ movements of ti'oops,
military maps, reconnoissances, occupations, interior and Cxterior lines, and all the technical details of the art of slaying.
He runs trom one house to another, armed with plans, papers,
reports, recommend tions, sometimes good-h umored, never angry, occasionally d~~jccted, and always a lit~lte fussy  The
other night, as I was sitting in the parlor at bead-quarters,
with an Engtish friend who had come to see his old acquaintance the General, walked in a tall man with a navvy's cap,
and an ill-made shooting-suit, from the pockets of wl~ich protriided paper and bundles.  "Well," said he to Brigadier Van
Vliet, wl~o rose to receive him, "is George in?"
"Yes, sir.  He's come back, biit is lying down, very much
fatigued.  I'll send up, sir, and iafbrm him you wish to see
him."
"Oli, no; I can wait.  I think I'll take supper with him.
Well, and what are you now, - I forget your name - are you
a major, or a colonel, or a general?"  "Whatever you like to
make me, sir.
Seeing that General ~IcClellan would be oc~upied, I walked
out wit ii my friend, who asked me when I got into the street
why I stood up when that tall fellow came into tlie room.
"Be~iuse it was tlie President." "The President of what?"
"()f the United States."  "01i! come, now you're liumbu~
gi?ig me.  Let me have another look at him."  He ca'ne
back more incredulous than ever, but when I assured liim
I "`as quite serious, lie exclaimed, "I give up the United
States afler this."
But for all that, there have been many more courtly presidents wh~ in a similar crisis, would have dis~~layed less capac.
ity, h'~nesty, a~id plain dealing than Abraham Lincoln.
October 10th. - I got hold of ~IcClell'tn's report on the
Crimean war, an~l made a few candid remarks on tlie per
io'rmaiice, wJiicl~ does not evince any capacity beyond the
reports of our itinei'aiit artillery officers wlio are sent from
`tVoolwicll abroad for theii" country's good.  I like the man, 
M'~ELLAN AND THE ARMY.            653
but -I do not think he is equal to his occasion or his place.
There is one little piece of policy which shows he is looking
ahead - either to gain the good-will of the army, or for some
larger obje~~t.  All his present purpose is to make himself
known to the men personally, to familiarize them with liis
appearance, to gaia the acquaintance of the officers; and with
this object he spends nearly every day in the camps, riding
out at nine o'clock, and not returiiing till long after nightf~ll,
examining the various regiments as he goes along, and hav~ng
incessant inspectious and reviews.  Lie is tlie first Republicaii
gener.tl who could attempt to do all this witho~t incurrin~
censure and suspicion.  Unfbrtuniite J\IcDowell could not inspect liis small army without receiving a hint that he must not
assume suck airs, as they were more becoming a military
despot than a simple lieutenant of tlie great democracy.
Odober lltk. -~in i~Iure, who has arrived here ia wretched
health from New Orleans, after a protracted and very Unpleasant journey through country swarniing with troops mixed
with guerrillas, tells me that I am more detested in New Orleans than I am in New York.  This is ever the fate of the
neutral, if the belligerents can get him between them.  The
Girondins and men of the juste rniUeu are ever fated to be
ground to powdcr.  The charges against me were disposed of
by ~Ir. ~Iure, who says that what I wrote of in New Orleans
was true, and has shown it to be so in liis correspondence with
the Governor, but, over and beyond that, I am disliked, because I do riot praise the peculiar institution.  He amused me
by adding that the mayor of Jackson, wit ii whom I sojourned,
had published "a card," denying point~hlank that he liad ever
breathed a word to indicate that the good citizens around him
were not famous for the love of law, order, and life, and a
sciupulous regard to personal liberty.  I can easily fancy
J;tchson is not a place where a mayor suspected by the citizi~ns would be exempted flom difficulties now and {hcn; and
if this disclaimer does my friend any good, lie is very heartily
welcome to it and more. I have received several letters lately
from tlie parents of minors, asking me to assist them in getting
b~ick their sons, wlio have enlisted illegally in tlie Federal
arfliy.   ~Iy writ does not run any further than a Federal
j uQe's.
October 1 2t~. - The good people of New York and of the
other Northern cities, excited by the constant reports in tlie
papers of magnificent reviews and unsurpassed military spec                24 
554        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
tacles, begin to flock towards Washington in hundreds, wher~
formerly they came in tens. The woman-kind are particularly
anxious to feast their eyes on our glorious Union army.  It is
natural enough that Americans should feel pride and take
pleasure in tlie spectacle; but the love of economy, tlie hatred
of military despotism, and the fruaal virtues of republican government, long since placed aside by the exigencies of the Administration, promise to vanish forever.
The feeling is well expressed in the remark of a gentleman
to whom 1 was lamenting tiie civil war:  Well, for my part,
1 am glad of it.  Why should you in Europe have all the
fighting to yourself?  Why should we not have our bloody
battles, and our big generals, and nil the rest of it?  This will
stir up the spirits of our people, do us all a power of good, and
end by proving to all of you in Europe, that we are just as
good and first-rate in fighting as we are in ships, manufactures,'
and commerce."
But the wealthy classes are beginning to feel rather anxious
about the disposal of their money: they are paying a large
insurance on t~e Union, and they do not see that anything has
been done to stop the leak or to prevent it fbundeAng.  Mr.
Duncan has arrived; to-day 1 drove with him to Alexandria,
and 1 think he has been made happy by what he saw, and has
no doubt " the Union is all right."  Nothing looks so irresistible as your bayonet till another is seen opposed to it.
October 13tI~. - Mn Duncan, attended by myself and other
Britisbers, made an extensive excursion through the camps
on horseback, and 1 led him fiom Arlington to Upton's House,
up by Munson's Hill, to General Wadsworth's quarters, where
we lunched on camp fare and, from the observatory erected at
the rear of the house in which he lives, had a fine view this
bi4ght, cold, clear autumn day, of the wonderful expanse of
undulating forest lands, streaked by rows of tents, which at
last concentrated into vast white patches in il~e distance, towards Alexandria.  The country is desolate, hut the camps are
flourishing, and that is enough to satisfy most patriots bent
upon the subjugation of their enemies.
October 14th. - I was somewhat distraught, like a small
Hercules twixt Vice and ~~rtue, or Garrici between Comedy
and Tragedy, by my desire to tell Duncan 4~e truth, and at
the same time respect the feelings of a friend.  There was a
rabbledom of drunken men in uniforms under our windows,
who resisted the patrol clearing the streets, and one fellow 
DEFUNCT CELEBRITIES.         555
drew his bayonet, and, with the support of some of the citizens, said tloat he would not allow any regular to put a finger
on him. D    said loe had witnessed scenes just as bad, and
talked of lanes in garrison to was in En~land, and street rows
between soldiers and civilians; ai~d I did not venture to tell
l~im the scene we witnessed was the sign of a i~adical vice in
tlie system of the American army,`viii(b is, I believe, incurable in these large masses.  Few soldiers would venture to
draw their bayonets on a patrol.  If they did, their punishmeat would be tolerably sure and swift, but for all I knew
(lois man would be permitted to go on his way rejoicing.
There is news of two Federal revei'ses to-day. A descent was
made 010 Santa Rosa Island, and ~b- Billy ~Vilson's Zouaves
were driven under the guns of Pickens, losing in the scurry
of the night attack   as prisoner only I am glad to say -
poor 1~Iajor~Vogdes, of inquiring memory.  Rosecrans, who
utterly ignores the advantages of Shakspearian spelling, has
been defeated in the ~Yest; but D    is quite happy, and
goes off to New York contented.
October 15U~. - Sir James Fe~~uson and ]\Ir. R. Bourke,
who have been travelling in tlie South and have seen~something of tloe Confederate government and armes, visited us
this evening after dinner.  They do not seem at all desirous
of testing by comparison the relative efficiency of the two
armies, which Sir James, at all events, is competent to do.
They are impressed by the energy and animosity of tlie South,
which no doubt will have their effect on England also; but it
will be difficult to popularize a Slave Republic as a new allied
power in England. Two of General ]\IcClellaa's aides dropped
in, and the meeting abstained from general politics.
October 1 Otk.-Day toilows day and resembles its predecessor.  ~IcClellan is still reviewing, and t~e North are still
waiting for victories and paying money, and the orators are
still wrangling over the best way of cooking tlie hares which
they have not yet caught. I visited General i~IcDowell to-day
t his tent in Arlington, and fbund him in a state of divine
calm with his wite and parvus IU1?~S.  A public man in the
United States is very much like a great fire work - loe commences with some small scintillations which attract the eye of
the public, and then he blazes up and flares out in blue,
purple, and orange fires, to the intense admiration of the multitude, and dying out suddenly is thought of no more, his place
being taken by a fresh roman candle or catherine wheel which 
55(3       MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
is thought to be far finer than those which have just dazzled
the eyes of the fickle spectators.  lluman nature is thus severely taxed.  The Cabinet of State is like the museum of
some cruel naturalist, who seizes his specimens whilst they
are alive, bottles them up, forbids them to make as much as a
coitortion, labelling them "~iy last President7' " ]\Iy latest
Commander-in-chief," or "My deFeated General," regarding
tlie smallest signs of life very much as did the French petit
moitre who rebuked the contortions and screams of the poor
wretch who was broken on the wl~eel, as contrary to biensJence.  I am glad that Sir James Ferguson and ~Ir. Bourke
did not leave without making a tour of inspection through the
Federal camp which they did to-day.
October 17U~. - Bies non.
October 1 80t. - To-day Lord Lyons drove out with Mr.
Seward to inspect the Federal camps, which are' now in such
order as to be worthy of a visit. It is reported in all the papers
that I am going to Bngland but I have not the smallest in
tention of giving my enemies here such a treat at present.
As ~Ionsieur de Beaumont of the French Legation said, "I
presu'me you are going to remain in Washington for the rest
of your life, because I see it stated in the New York journals
tl~at you are leaving us in a day or two."
October 19t~. - Lord Lyons and Mr. Seward were driving
and dining together yesterday en ami.  To-day, Mr. Se~ard
is engaged demolishing Lord'Lyons, or at all events the Bi4tish Government, in a despatch, wherein he vindicates the
proceedings of the United States Government in certain arrests of British subjects wlik'h had been complained of; and
repudiates the doctrine that the United States Government
can be bound by the opinion of the law officers of the Crown
respecting the spirit and letter of the American Constitution.
This is published as a set-off to Mr. Seward's circular on the
seacoast defences which created so much depression and alarm
in tlie Northern States, where it was at the time considered 1
a warning tl~at a foreign war was imminent, and which lias
since been generally coiidemned as feeble and injudicious.
October 20tI~. - I saw General McClellan to-day, who gave
me to understand that some small movement might take place
on tlie right.  I rode up to the Chain Bridge and across it for
some miles into Virginia, hut all was quiet.  The sergeant at
the post on the south side of the bridge had some doubts of the
genuineness of my pass, or rather of its bearer. 
Tiii~ OLD FIFTI~TII.           557
C' I beard you were gone back to London, where I am com
ing to see you some fine day with the boys here."
"No, sergeant, I am not gone yet, but when will your visit
take place?"
"Oh, as soo~ as we have finished with the gentlemen across
there."
"llave you any notion when that will be?"
"Just as soon as they tell us to go and prevent the blackguard Germans running away.
"But the Germans did not run away at Bull Run?"
Faith, because they did not get a chance - sure they put
them in the rear, away out of the fighting."
"And wliy do you not go on now?"
"~Vell, that's the question we are asking every day."
"And can any one answer it?"
"Not one of us can tell; but my belief is if we had one of
the old Fiftieth among us at the head of affairs we would soon
be at them.  I belonged to the old regiment once, but I got
off and took up with shoe-making aga~n, and faith if I sted in
it I might have been sergeant~major by this time, on~y they
hated fli~ poor Rom~an Catholics."
"And do you tliiuk, sergeant, you would get many of your
countrymen who had served iu the old army to fight the old
familiar red jackets?"  "~Yell, sir, I tell you I hope my
arm would rot before I would pull a trigger against the old
fiflietli; but we would wear the red jacket too - we have as
good a right to it as the othens, and then it would be man
a~ainst man, you know; but if I saw any of them cursed
Germans interiering, I'd soon let daylight into them."`fhe
hazy dreams of this poor man's mind would form an excellent
artiele for a New York newspaper, which on matters relating
to Lugland are rarely so lucid and logical.  Next day was
devoted to writing and heavy rain, through both of which,
notwithstanding, I was assailed by many visitors and some
scurrilous letters, and in the evening there was a Washington
gathering of Lnglishry, Irishry, Scotcliry, Yankees, and Canadians
October 22J. - Rain falling in torrents.  As I write, in
come reports of a battle last night, some forty miles up tlie
river, which by signs ai~d tokens I ~m led to believe was
uni\&'vorable to tlie Federals.  They crossed tlie river inteiiding to move upon Leesburg - were attacked by overwhelming
forces and repulsed, but maintained themselves on the right 
~58        MY DIARY NORTll AND SOUTH.
bank till General Banks reinforced them and enabled them to
LoU their own.  McClellan has gone or is going at once to
the scene of action.  It was three o'clock betore I heard tl~e
news, tlie road and country were alike unknown, nor had I
fricnd or acquaintance in tl~e army of tlie Upper Potomac.
My horse was brought round however, and in company with
Mr Anderson, I rode out of Washington along the river till
the falling evening warned us to retrace our steps, and we returned in pelting rain as we set out, and in pitchy darkness,
without meeting any messenger or l)erson with news from the
battle-field.  Late at night the White llouse was placed in
deep grief by the intelligence that, in addition to other losses,
Brigadier and Senator Baker of California was killed.  The
President was inconsolable, and walked up and down his room
for hours lamenting the loss of his friend.  Mrs. Lincoln's
grief was equally poignant.  Before bed-time I told the German landlord to tell my servant I wanted my horse round at
seven o'clock.
October 23J. - Up at six, waiting for horse and man.  At
eight wThked down to stables. No one there. At nine became
very angry - sent messengers in all dire~ions.  A~ ten was
nearly furious, when, at the last stroke of the clock, James,
with his inexpressive countenance, perfectly calm nevertheless,
and betraying no symptom of solicitude, appeared at the door
leading my charger.  "And may I ask you where you have
been till this time?"  " Wasn't I dressing the horse, taking
him out to wnter, and exercising him."  "Good heavens! did
I not tell you to be here at seven o'clock?"  "No, sir; Carl
told me you wanted me at ten o'clock, and here I am." " Carl,
did I not tell you to n~k James to be round here at seven
o'clock."  "Not zeven clock, sere, but zebu clock.  I tell
him, you come at zehn clock."  Thus at one blow was I
stricken down by Gaul and Teuton, each of whom retired
with the air of a man who had baffled an intended indignity,
and had achieved a t~umph over a wrong-doer.
The roads were in a frightful state outside Washington -
literally nothing but canals, in which earth and water were
mixed together for depths varying from six inches to three
feet above the surtace; but late as it was I pushed on, and had
got as far as the tur~~i of the road to Rockville, near the great
falls, some twelve miles beyond Washington, when I met an
officer with a couple of orderlies, hurrying back from General
~anks's head-quarters, who told me the whole affair was over, 
-    A PUBLIC FUNERAL.             65~
and that 1 could not possibly get to the scene of action on one
horse till next morning, even supposing that I pressed on all
through the night, the roads being utterly villanous, and the
country at night as black as ink; and o I returned to Washington. and was stopped by citizens, who, seeing the streaming horse and splashed rider, imagined he was reeking from
the fray.  "As you were not there," says one, "I'll tell you
what I know to be the case.  Stone and Baker are killed;
Banks and all the other generals are prisoners; the Rhode
Island and two other batteries are -taken, and 5000 Yankees
have been sent to II- to help old John Brown to roast aiggers."
Ociober 24U~. - The heaviest blow which has yet been inflicted on the administration of justice in the United States,
and that is saying a good deal at present, has been given to it
in Washington. The judge of whom I wrote a few days ago in
the ~abeas cor~us case, has been placed under military arrest
and surveillance by the Provost-~Iarshal of the city, a very
fit man for such wo4~, one Colonel Andrew Porter.  The
Provost-~Iarshal imprisoned the attorney who served the writ,
and then sent a guard to ~Ir. ~Ierrick's house, who thereupon
sent a minute to his brother judges the day before yesterday
stating the circumstances, in order to show why he did not appear in his place on the bench. The Chief Judge, Dunlop, and
Judge ~Iorsell thereupon issued their writ to Andrew Porter
greeting, to show cause why an attachment for contempt should
not be issued against him for his treatment of Judge Merrick.
As the sharp tongues of won~en are very troublesome, the
United States officers have quite little harems of captives, and
Mrs. Mer~ck has just been added to the number.  She is a
~Vickliffe of Kentucky, and has a right to martyrdom.  The
inconsistencies of the Northern people multiply act inftnitum
as they go on.  Thus at llatteras they enter into terms of
capitulation with officers signing themselves of the Confederate
States Army and Confederate States Navy; elsewhere they
exchange prisoners; at New York they are going through the
farce of trying the crew of a C. S. privateer, as pirates engaged
in robbing on the high seas, on "the authority of a pretended
letter of marque from one Jefferson Davis."  One Jeff Davis
~ certainly quite enough for them at present.
Colonel and Senator Baker was honored by a ceremonial
which was intended to be a public funeral, rather out of compliment to Mr. Lincoln's feelings, perhaps, than to any great 
560        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
attachment for the man himself, WhO fell gallantly fighting near
Leesburg.  There is need for a republic to contain some elements of an aristocracy if it would make tl~at display of' pomp
and ceremony whicl~ a public flii~eral sl~ould have to pi'oduce
effect.  At all events there sl~oald be some pi'inciple of reverence in the heads and hearts of the people, to make up for
other deficiencies in it as a show, or a ceremony.  The proces~ion down Pennsylvania Avenue was a tawdry, shabby
string of hack carriages, men in light coats and white hats folowing the hearse, and three regiments of foot-soldiers, of
which one was simply an uncleanly, unwholesome looking rabnle.  The President, in his carriage, and many of the ministers and senators, attended also, and passed through unsympathetic lines of people on the curbstones, not one of whom
raised his hat to the bier as it passed, or to the President, ex
cept a couple of Englishmen and myself who stood in the
crowd, and that proceeding on our part gave rise to a variety
of remarks among the by-4anders.  But as the band turned
into Pennsylvania Avenue, playing something like the rni~~uet
Je Ia cour in Don Giovanni, two officers in uniform came riding up in the contrary direction; they were smoking cigars;
one of them let his fall on the ground, tlie other smoked lustily
as the hearse passed, and reining up his horse, continued to
puff his weed under the nose of President, ministers, and senators, with the air of a man who was doing a very soldierly
correct sort of a thing.
~Yhether the President is angry as well as grieved at the
loss of his favorite or not, I cannot affirm, but he is assuredly
doing that terrible thing which is called putting l)is foot dowa
on the jadges; and l~e has instructed Andrew Porter not to
mind tl~e writ issued yesterday, an~ has further instructed the
United States Thlarshal, wl~o has the writ in his hands to serve
~n the said Andrew, to return it to the court with the infornation that Abraham Lincoln has suspended the writ of l~abeas
cor~us in cases relating to the military.
October 26th. - ~1ore reviews.  To-day rather a pretty
sight - twelve regiments, sixteen guns, and a few squads of
men with swords and pistols 011 horseback, called cavalry,
comprising Fitz-Joha Porter's division.  ~Ic Clellan seeme~l
to my eyes crestfallen and moody to-day.  Bright eyes looked
on him; he is getting up something like a staW, among which
~re the young French princes, under tlie tutelage of their uncle,
the Prince of Joinville.  ~Yhilst ~IcClellan is reviewing, our 
STREET POLICE.              D61
Romans in Washington are shivering; for the blockade of the
Potomac by the Confederate batteries stops the fuel boats.
Little care these enthusiastic young American patriots in crinolne, who have come to see ]\IcCleilan and the soldiers, what
a cord of wood costs.  The lower orders are very angry
about it however.  The nuisance and disorder arising from
soldiers, drunk and sober, riding full gallop down the streets,
and as fast as they can round the corners, has been stopped,
by placing mounted sentries at the principal points in all the
thoroughfares.  The "officers" were worse than the men
the papers this week contain the account of two accidents, in
one of which a colonel, in another a major, was killed by falls
from ljorsebaek, in furious riding in the city.
Forgetting all about this fact, and spurring home pretty fast
along an unfrequented road, leading from the ferry at Georgetown into the city, I was nearly spitted by a "dragoon," who
rode at me from under cover of a house, and shouted "stop,"
just as his sabre was within a foot of my head.  Fortunately
his horse, being aware that if it ran against mine it might be
injured, shied, and over went dragoon, sabre and all, and off
went his horse, but as the trooper was able to run after it, I
presume he was not d~e worse; and I went on my way rejoicing.
~IcClellan has fallen very much in my opinion since the
Leesburg disaster.  lie went to the spot, and with a little -
nay, the least - promptitude and ability could have turned the
check into a successful advance, in the blaze of which the
earlier repulse would have been forgotten.  It is whispered
that General Stone, who ordered the movement, is guilty of
treason - a common crime of unlucky generals - at all events
he is to be displaced, and will be put under surveillance.  The
orders he gave are certainly very strange.
The official right to fib, I presume, is very much the same
all over the world, but still there is more dash about it in the
States, I think, than elsewhere.  "Blockade of the Potomac!"
exclaims an official of the Navy Department.  "What are
you talking of?  The Department has just heard that a few
Confederates have been practising with a few light field-pieces
from the banks, and has issued orders to prevent it in future."
"Defeat at Leeshurg!" cries little K, of ~IcClellan's
taff, "nothing of the kind.  We drove the Confederates at
all points, retained our position on the right bank, and only
(eft it when we pleased, having whipped the enemy so severely
24* 
562        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
they never showed since."  "Any news, Mr. Cash, in tl~e
Treasury to-day?"  " Nothing, sir, except that Mr. Chase is
highly pleased with everything; he's only afraid of having too
much money, and being troubled with his balances."  "The
State Department all right, Mr. Protocol?"  "My dear sir!
delightful! with everybody, best terms.  Mr. Seward and the
Count are managing d elightiblly; most friendly assurances;
Guatemala particularly; yes, and France too.  Yes, I may
say France too; not the smallest difficulty at Honduras; altogether, with the assurances of support we are getting, the
Minister thinks the whole affair will be settled in thirty days;
no joking, I assure you; thirty days this time positively.  Say
for exactness on or about December 5th."  The canvas-backs
are coming in, and I am off for a day or two to escape reviews
and abuse, and to see something of the famous wild-fowl shootiug on the Chesapeake.
October 27U~. - After church, I took a long walk round by
the commissariat wagons, where there is, I ti)ink, as much
dirt, bad language, era ely to animals, arid waste of public
money, as can be conceived.  Let me at once declare my
opinion that the Amencans, generally, are exceedingly kind
to their cattle; but thei~c is a hybrid race of rufflanly wagon
ers here, subject to no law or discipline, and tlie barbarous
treatment inflicted on the transport animals is too bad even
for the most unruly of mules.  I mentioned the circumstance
to General McDowell, who told me that by the laws of the
United States there was no power to enlist a man for commissariat or transport duty.
October 2St~. - Telegraphed to my friend at Baltimore
il~at I was,ready f?r the ducks.  The Legation going to Mr.
I~ortwnght S marnage at Philadelphia.  Started with Lamy
at six o'clock for Baltimore; to Gil more House; thence to
club.  Every person present said that in my letter on Mary -
land I liad understated the question, as far as Southern sentimeats were concerned.  In the club, for example, there are
not six Union men at the outside.  General Dix lias fUrtifled
Federal Hill very efficiently, and the heights over Fort McHenry are bnstling with cannons, and display fbrmidable
earth works; it seems to be admitted that, but for the action
of the ~Yashington Government, the Legislature would pass
an ordinance of Secession.  Gilmore House - old$ishioned,
good bedrooms.  Scarcely had I arrived in the passage, than
a man ran off with a paragraph to the papers that Dr. Russell 
CANVAS-BACK BUCKS.             563
had come tor the purpose of duck-shooting; and, hcaring that
I was going with Taylor, put in that I was going to Taylor's
Duckin~ Shore.  It appears that there are considerable`~um hers of these duck-clubs in the nei~bborhood of Baltimore.
The canvas-back ducks have come in, but they will not be in
perfection until il~e 10th of November; their peculiar f]avor
is derived fiom a water-plant called wild celery.  This lies at
the depth of several feet, sometimes nine or ten, and the birds
dive for it.
October 29tA. - At ten stnrted for the shooting ground,
Carroll's Island; my companion, ~Ir. Pennington, drove me
~n a light trap, and ]\Ir. Taylor and Lamy came with ]\Ir.
Tucker Carroll,* along with guns, &c.  Passed out towards
the sea, a long height commanding a fine view of the river;
near this was fought the battle with the English, at which the
"Baltimore de~nders" admit they ran away.  ~Ir. Penning ton's father says he cnn answer for the speed of himself an~
his companions, but still the battle was thought to be glorious.
Along the posting road.to Philadelphia, passed the Blue Ball
- Tavern; on all sides except the left, great wooded lagoons
visible, ~warming with ducks; boats are forbidden to fire upon
the birds, which are allured by wooden decoys.  Crossed tl~e
Philadelphia Railway three times; laud poor, covered with
undergrowth  and small trees, given up to Dutch and Irish
and free niggers.  Reached the duck-club-house in two hours
and a half; substantial fi~rm-house, with out-offices, on a strip
of land surrounded by water; Gunpowder River, Saltpetre
River, facing Chesapeake; on either side lakes and tidal
water; the owner, Slater, an Irishman, reputed very ricl~,
selti~ade.  Dinner at one o'clock;  any number of canvas back ducks, plentitol joints; drink whiskey; company, Swai~,
Howard, Duval, ~Iorris, and others, also extraordinary speci men named Smith, believed never to wash except in rain or
by accidental sousing in the river.  ~Vent out for afternooii
shooting; birds wide and high; killed seventeen; back to
supper at dusk.  j~IcDoiiaId and a guitar came over; had a
negro dance; and so to bed about twelve.  Lamy got single
bed; I turned in with Taylor, as single beds are not permitted
when tlie house is full.
October BOth. - A light, a grim man, and a voice in the
room at four, A. ~., awaken me; I am up first; breukfast; more
~uck, eggs, meat, mi~hty cakes, milk; to the gun-house, already
* Since killed in action, fighting for the South at Antietam. 
564         MY DL4RY NORTH AND SOUTH.
hung with ducks, and then tramp to the "blinds" with Smith,
who talked of the Ingines and wild sports in far Minnesota.
As morning breaks, very red and lovely, dark visions and long
streaky clouds appear, skimming along from bay or river. Tlie
meo~ in the blinds. which are 5~~'ir~ enclosures of rec~ls about
~2" feet high, call out  Bay," " River," according to the direr
tion from which the ducks are coining. Down we go in blinds;
they come; puffs of smoke, a bang, a volley; one bird falls
with flop; another by degrees drops, and at last smites tlie
sea; there are five down  in go the dogs. "~Vbo shot that?"
"I did."  " ~Vho killed this?" "That's Tucker's!" "A good
shot." "I don't know how I missed mine." Same thia~ a~in.
The ducks fly prodigious hei<4~ts - out of all range one would
think.  It is exciting when the cloud does rise at first.  Day
voted very bad.  Thence I move homeward; talk with Mr.
Slater till the trap is ready; and at twelve or so, drive over
to Mn MeDonaM; find Lamy and S'van there; miserable
shed of two-roomed shanty in a marsh; rough deal presses;
whitewashed walls; fiddler in attendance; dinner of ducks
and steak; whiskey, and thence proceed to a blind or marsh,
amid wooden decoys; but there is 100 use; no birds; high tide
flooding everything; examined McDonald's stud; knocked to
pieces trotting on hard ground.  Rowed back to house with
Mr. Peaaingtoa, and returned to the mansion; all the party
had but poor sport; but every one had killed something.
Drew lots for bed, and won this time; Lamy, however, would
not sleep double, and reposed on a hard sofa in the parlor; indications favorable for ducks.  It was curious, in the early
morning, to hear the incessant booming of duck-guns, along all
the creeks and coves of the indented hays and )~alt-water
- marshes; and one could tell when they were fired at decoys,
or were directed against birds in the air; heard a salute fired
at Baltimore very distinctly.  Lamy and Mr. McDonald met
in their voyage up the Nile, to kill ennui and spend money.
October 31st. - No, no, Mr. Smith  it a'n't of no use.  At
four, A. M., we were invited, as usual, to rise, but Taylor and I
reasoned from under our respective quilts, that it would be
quite as good shooting if we got up at six, and I acted in accordance with that view.  Breakfasted as the sun was shining
above ilie tree-tops, and to my blind - found there was no
shooting at all - got one shot only, and killed a splendid canvas-back - on returning to home, found nearly all the party
on the move - 140 ducks hanging round the house, the re 
CANVAS-BACKS AM) RED-HI~ADS.   665
ward of our toils, and of these`I received egregious share.
Drove back with Penning ton, very sleepy, followed by Mr.
Taylor and Lamy.  I would have stayed longer if sport were
better.  Birds don't fly when the wind is in certain points, but
lie out in great "ricks," as they are called, blackening the
~vatcrs, drifting in the wind, or with wings covering their
heads - poor defenceless things!  The red-head waits alongside the canvas-back till he comes up from the depths with
mouth or bill f\ill of parsley and wlld eclery, when he makes
at him and forces him to disgorge.  At Baltimore at 130 -
dined - Lamy resolved to stay - bade good-by to Swan and
Morris.  The man at first would not take my ducks and boots
to register or check them - twenty-five cents did it.  I arrived at N\tasliington late, because of detention of tn~in by
enormous transport; labelled and sent out game to tlie houses
till James's fingers ached again.  Nothing doing, except that
General Scott has at last sent in resignation.  McClellan is
now indeed master of the situation.  And so to bed, rather
tirej 
CllAPTER LVIIL
General Scott's resignation - ~frs. A. Lincoln - Unofficial mission to
Europe - Uneasy feeling with regard to France - Ball given by
the United States cavalry - The United States army - Success
at Beaufort - Arrests - Dinner at Mr. Seward's - News of Cap   tain ~Yllkes and fl~e Treat - Messrs. Mason and Slidell - Dis   cussion as to ~Vilkes - Prince do Joinville - The American press
on the Treat affair - Absence of thieves in Washington -
"Thaiiksgiving Day" - Success thus far in favor of the North.
NUvember isI. - Again stagnation; not the smallest intention of moving; General Scott's re~ignation, of which I was
aware long ago, is publicly known, and he is about to go to
Lurope, and end his days probably in France.  ~IcClellan
takes his place, minus the large salary.  Riding hack from
camp, where I had some trouble with a drunken soldier, my
horse came down in a dark hole, and threw me heavily, so
that my hat was crushed in on my head, and my right thumb
sprained, but I managed to get up and ride home; for the
b~rute had fallen right on his own head, cut a piece out of his
forehead between the eyes, and was stunned too much to run
away.  I found letters waiting from ~Ir. Seward and others,
thanking me for the game, if canvas-backs come under the
title.
Wovember 2J. - A tremendous gale of wind and rain blew
all day, and caused much uneasiness, at the Navy Department and elsewhere, for the safety of the Burn side expeditioii.
fhe Secessionists are delighted, and those who can, say`~~fflavit Deus et hostes dissipantur."  There is a project to send
secret non-official commissioners to Europe, to counteract the
machinations of the Confederates.  ]\Ir. Everett, ~Ir. R. ~~eunedy, B~shop hughes, aiid Bishop ~IcIlwaine are designated
for the office; much is expected from the expedition, not only
at l~ome but abroa~
~Tovember 3d. - For some reason or another, a certain set
-of papers have lately taken to flatter ~Irs. Lincoln in the
most iioisome manner, whilst others deal in dark insinuations
against her loyalty, Union principles, and honesty.  The poor 
WASHINGTON GOSSIP.           567
lady is loyal as steel to her family and to Lincoln the First;
but she is accesssible to the influence of flattery, and his permitted her society to be infested by men who woukl not be
received in any respectable private house in New York.
The gentleman wlio furnishes fashionable paragraphs for the
~Vasliiiigton pnper lias some charming little pieces of gossip
about "the finst Lady in the Land" this week; he is doubtless the same who, some weeks back, chronicled the details of
a raid on the pigs in the streets by the- police, and who concluded thus: "~Ve cannot but congratula~e Officer Smith on
~he very gentlemanly manner in which he pertormed his disagree able but arduous duties'; nor did it escape our notice,
that Officer Washington Jones was likewise active and energetic in tlie discharge of his functions."
The ladies in Washington delight to hear or to invent
small scandals connected with the White House; thus it is
reported that the Scotch gardener left by Mr. Buchanan has
been made a lieutenant in the United States Army, and has
been specially detached to do duty at the White House, where
he superintends the cooking.  Another person connected with
the establishment was made Commissioner of Public Buildings, but was dismissed because he would not put down the
expense of a certain state dinner to the public account, and
charge it under the head of "Improvement to the Grounds."
But many more better tales than these go round, and it is not
surprising if a woman is now and then put under close arrest,
or sent off to Fort Mellenry for too much esfrit and inventiveness.
Xovemter 4tk. - General Fremont will certainly be recalled.  There is not the smallest incident to note.
Xovernber 5i/~. - Small banquets, very simple and tolerably social, are the order of tbe day as winter closes around
us; the country has become too deep in mud for pleasant cxcursions, and at times the weather is raw and cold.  General
McDowell, who dined with us to-day, maintains there will be
no difficulty in advandn~ during bad weather, because tlie
men are so expert in felling trees, they can make corduroy
roads wherever they like.  I owi the arguments surprised
but did not convince me, and I think the General will find
out his mistake when the time comes.  Mr. Lve~rett, whom I
had expected, was summoned away by the unexpected iiitelligence of his son's death, so I missed the opportunity of seemg one whom I much desired to have met, as the great 
568          MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
Apostle of Washington worship, in nddition to his da0.ms to
higher distinetion.  He has admitted that the only bond which
can hold the Union together is the common belief in the
greatness of the departed general.
Norember 6th. - Instead of ]\Ir. Everett and ~1r. Johnson,
~Ir. Thurlow N\'Thed and Bishop Hughes will pay a visit to
Europe in the Federal interests.  Notwithstanding the adulation of everything French, from il~e Emperor down to a
Zouave's gaiter, in the New York press, there is an uneasy
feeling respecting tbe intentions of France, founded on th(
noti~~~ that the Emperor is not very friendly to the Federalists
and would be little disposed to expose his subjects to privation
and suffering from the scarcity of cotton and tobacco if; by intervention, he could avert such misfortunes.  The inactivity
of ~IcClellan, which is not understood by the people, has
created an under-current of unpopularity, to which his enemies
are giving every possible strength, and some people are beginfling to think the youthful Napoleon is only a Brummagem
Bonaparte.
November 711t. - After such bad weather, the 1ndian summer, 1' etc' Je St. Martin, is coming gradually, lighting up the
ruins of the autumn's fbliage still clinging to the trees, giving
us pure, bright, warm days, and sunsets of extraordinary loveliness.  Drove out to Bladensburgh with Captain Haworth, and
discovered that my wagon was intended to go on to Richmond
and never to turn back or round, for no roads in this part of
the country are wide enough for the purpose.  Dined at the
Legation, and in the evening went to a grand ball, given by
the Sixth United States Cavalry in the Poor flouse near their
camp, about two miles outside the city.
The ball took place in a series of small whitewashed rooms
off long passages and corridors; many supper tables were
spread; whiskey, champagne, hot terrapin soup, and many luxuries graced the board, and although but two or three couple
could dance in each room at a time, by judicious arrangement
of the music several rooms were served at once.  The Duke
of Chartres, in the uniform of a United States Captain of'
Staff, was among the guests, and had to share the ordeal to
which strangers were exposed by the hospitable entertainers,
of drinking with them all.  Some called him "Chatters"
others, "Captain Chatters;" but these were of the outside pol
toi, who cannot be kept out on such occasions, and who shake
hands and are familiar with everybody. 
CAVALRY BALL.
The Duke took it all exceedingly well, and laughed with
the loudest in tl~e company.  Altogether the ball wus a great
succe~s - son~e'vhat mai~red indecd iO my owil cuse by the
bad taste of one of tlie offleers of the regiment which l~ad
invited me, in adopting an offensive manner when ~bout to be
introduced to me by`one of his brother officers.  Colonel
Emory, the officer in command of the regiment, interfered,
ai~d, finding that Captain A     was not sober, ordered him
to retire.  Another small contreiemns was caused by the master of the ~~oM liouse, who had been indulging at least as
freely as the captain, and at last begaa to fancy that the pan..
pers had broken loose and were dancing about after hours below stairs.  In vain he was led away and incarcerated in one
room afler another  his intimate knowledge of the architectitral difficulties of the building enabled him to set all precautions at defiance, and he migl~t be seen at intervals flying along
the passages towards the' music, pursued by the officers, until
he was finally secured in a dungeon without a window, and'
witl~ a bolted and locked door between him and the ballrooms.
Novem7jer 8th. - Colonel Fmory inade us laugh this morning by an account of our Ampl~itryoa of the night before, who
came to him with a very red eye and curious expression of
face to congratulate the regiment on the success of the ball.
"The most beautiful tl~ing of all was," said he, " Colonel, I
did not see one gentleman or lady wlio had taken too much
liquor  there was not a drunken man in the whole company."
I consulted my friends at the Legation with respect to our inebriated otll~er, on whose behalf Colonel Emory tendered his
own apologie~ but they were of opinion I had done all that
was right and becoming in the matter. and that I must take no
more notice of it.
No comber 9t~. - Colonel ~Yilmot, R. A., who lias come down
fro~~ Canada to see the army, spent the day with Captnia
Dahlgren at the Navy Yard. ai~d returned with impressions
favorable to the system.  lie agrees with Dahlgren, who is
dead agai~st breach-loa~'ling. but admits Armstrong lias done
the most that cai~ be effected with the system.  Colonel ~~ilmot avers the English press are responsible for the Armstrong
guns.  lie has been much struck by the excellence of tlie
great iron-works he has visited in the States, particularly that
of i~Ir. Sellers, in Philadelphia.
Xove,mber lOtit. - Visiting ~Ir. ~Iure the other day, who 
~ 570         MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
was still an invalid at W~sbington, I met a gentleman named
~1aury, who bad come to ~Vasliington to see after a portmanteau which bad been taken from liim on the Canadian frontier
by tl~e police.  tie was told to go to the State Department and
claim liis property, and on arriving there was arrested and confined with a number of prisoners, my liorse.dealing friend,
Sammy ~Yroe, among il~em.  N\~ walked down to inquire
how he was; the soldier who was on duty gave a iloui4shing
account of him - he had plenty of whiskey and food, "and,'
said the man, "I quite feel for ]\Iaury, because he does business in my State."  These State influences must be overcome,
or no Union will ever hold together.
Sir James Per~uson and ]\Ir. Bourke were rather shocked
when ~Ir. Seward opened the letters from persons in the South
to friends in Europe, of which they had taken charge, and cut
some passages out with a scissors; but a ~1inister who combines the functions of Chief-of-Police with those of Secretary
of State must do such things now and then.
Xov&mbe~ 11th. - The United States have now, according
to the returns, 600,O0() infantry, 600 pieces of artillery, 61,000
cavalry in the field, and yet they are not only unable to crush
the Confederates, but they cannot conquer the Secession ladies
in their capital.  The Southern people here trust in a breakdown in the North before the screw can be ~urned to the utmost; and assert that the South does not want corn, wheat,
leather, or food.  Georgia makes cloth enough for all - the
only deficiency will be in metal and materiel of war.  When
the North comes to discuss the question whether the war is to
be against slavery or for the Union leaving slavery to take
care of itself, they think a split will be inevitable.  Then the
pressure of taxes will force on a solution, for the State taxes
already amount to two to three per cent., and the people will
not bear the addition.  The North has set out with the principle of paying for everything, the South with the principle
-~ of paying for nothing; but this will be reversed in time.  All
the diplomatists, with one exception, are of opinion the Union
is broken for ever, and the independence of the South virtually established.
November 12th. - An irruption of dirty little boys in il~e
streets shouting out, " Glorious Union victory!  Charleston
taken!"  The story is d~at Burnside has landed and reduced
the forts defending Port Royal.  I met ~Ir. Pox, Assistant
Secretary to the Navy, and ~Ir. Hay, Secretary to Air. Lin 
~EWS OF MR. CHASE.            571
eoln, in the Avenue.  The former showed me Burnsid&s despatches f~om Beaufort, announcing reduction of the Confederate batteries by the ships and the establishment of the Federals
on the skirts of Port Royal.  Dined at Lord Lyons', where
were Mr. Chase, Mujor Palmer, U. S. E. and his wife, Colonel
and Mrs. Emory, Professor Henry' and his daughter, Mr. I~eanedy and his daughter, Colonel Wilmot and the Englishry of
~ Washington.  I had a long conversation with Mn Chase, who
is still sanguine that the war must speedily terminate.  The
success at Beaufort has made him radiant, and he told me that
the Federal General Nelson * - who is no other than the
enormous blustering, boasting lieutenant in the navy whom I met
at Washington on my first arrival -has gained an immense
victory in Kentucky~, killing and capturing a whole army and
its generals.
A strong Government will be the end of the struggle, but
-before they come to it there must be a complete change of administration and internal economy.  Indeed, the Secretary of
the Treasury candidly admitted that the expenses of the war
were enormous, and could not go on at the present rate very
long.  The men are paid too highly; every one is paid too
much.  The scale is adapted to a small army not very popular, in a country where labor is very well paid, and competition
is necessary to obtain recruits at all.  He has never disguised
his belief the South might have been left to go at first, wid~ a
certainty of their return to the Union.
~ovember l3t~. - Mr. Charles Green, who was my host at
Savannah, and Mr. Low, of the same city, have been arrested
and sent to Fort Warren.  Dining with Mr. Seward, I heard
accidentally that Mrs. Low had also been arrested, but was now
liberated.  The sentiment of dislike towards England is increasing, because English subjects have assisted the South by
smuggling and running the blockade. "It is strange," said
Mr. Seward the other day, "that this great free anJ civilized
Union should be supported by Germans, coming here semi-civilized or half-savage, who plunder and destroy as if they were
living in the days of Agricola, whilst the English are the great
smugglers who support our enemies in their rebellion."  I remindcd him 4~at the United States flag had covered the smugglers who carried guns and maternel ot war to Russia, although
they wei'e at peace with France and England.  "Yes, but
* Since shot dead by the Federal General Jeff. C. Davis in a quarrel at Nashville. 
572        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
then," said he, "that was a legitimate contest between great
established powers, and I admit, though I lament the fact, that
the public sympathy in this country ran with  Russia during
that war."  The British public have a right to their sympathies
too, and the Government can scarcely help it if private individuals aid the South on their own responsibility.  In future, British subjects will be indicted instead of sent to Fort La Fayette.
Mr. Seward feels keenly the attacks in the "New York Tribune" on him for arbitrary arrests, and representations have
been made to Mr. Greeley privately on the subject; nor is he
indifferent to similar English criticisms.
/General McDowell asserts there is no nation in the world
whose censure or praise the people of the United States care
about except England, and with respect to her there is a morbid sensitiveness which can neither be exp*lained nor justified.
It is admitted, indeed, by Americans whose opinions are
valuable, that the popular feeling was in favor of Russia
during the Crimean war.  Mr. Raymond attributes the circumstance to the influence of the large Irish element; but I
am inclined to believe it is partly due at least to the feeling
of rivalry and dislike to Great Britain, in which the mass of
the American people are trained by their early education, and
also in some measure to the notion that Russia was unequally
matched in the contest.
ATocember 14i1~. - Rode to cavalry camp, and sat in front
of Colonel Emory's tent with General Stoneman, who is chief
of tlye cavalry, and Captain Pleasanton; heard interesting
anecdotes of the wild life on the frontiers, and oE bushranging
in California, of lassoing bulls and wild horses and buffaloes,
and encouiiters with grizzly bears - interrupted by a onearmed man, who came to the Colonel for "leave to take away
George."  lie spoke of his brother who had died in camp,
and for whose l~ody he had come, metallic coffin and all, to
carry it back to hiS parents in Pennsylvania.
I dined with Mr. Seward - Mr. Raymond, of New York,
and two or three gentlemen, being the only guests.  Mr.
Lincoln came in whilst we were playing a rubber, and told
some excellent ~Yest-country stories.  " liere, Mr. President,
we have got the two`Times`- of New York and of London - if they would only do what is right and what we want,
all will go well."  "Yes," said Mr. Lincoln, "if the bad
Times would go where we want them, good Times would be
sure to follow."  Talking over Bull Run, Mr. Seward re 
THE MASON AND SLIDELL AFFAIR.      573
~arked "that civilians sometimes displayed more couraae
tl~an soldiers, but perhaps tlie courage was unproft~ssional.
~Yhea we were cut off from Baltimore, and the United States
troops at Annapo~is were separated by a country swarming
with malecoutents, not a soldier could be found to undertake
the journey and commuiiicate with them.  At last a civilian"
- (I think he mentioned the name of ~Ir. Cassius Clay) -
"volunteered and exec~ted the business.  So, after Bull Run,
there was only one officer, General Sherman, who was doing
anything to get th ~ troops into order when tlie President and
myself drove over to see what we could do on that terrible
Ttiesday evening."  j~Ir. Teakle ~Yallis and others, after the
Balti~nore busii~ess, told him the people would carry liis head
on their pikes  and so he went to Aul~urn to see how matters
stood, and a fbw words from his old friends there made him
feel his head was quite right on his shoulders.
iV6vember 1 5t~. - Ilorse-dealers are the same all the world
over.  To-day comes one with a beast for which he asked
~50.  " There was a Government agent loCking af~er this
horse for one of them French princes, I believe, just as I was
talking to the Kentuck chap that had him.`John,' says he,
`that's tlie best-looking horse I've seen in ~Yasliingtoa this
many a day.'`Yes,' says I, ~ and you need not look at liirn
any more.'` \Vhy?` says he.`Because,' says I,`it's one
that I want for Lord John Ru~sell, of tlie London` Times,"'
says I, and it ever there was a man suited for a horse, or a
horse that was suited for a man, they're the pair, and I'll give
eve~~y cent I can raise to buy my friend, Lord Russell, that
horse.'"  I could not do less than purchase, at a small reduction, a very good animal thus recommended.
November 16ttt. -A cold, raw day.  As I was writing, a
small friend of mine, wlio appears like a stormy peti~el in
nionients of great storm, fluttered into my room, and having
chirped out something about a "Jolly row;' -" Seizure of
~Ia~oa and Slidell," -" British flag insulted," and the like,
vanished.  Somewhat later, going down 17th Street, I met
tiie French ~Iinister, ]\I. ~Iercier, wrapped in his cloak, coming from tlie British Legation.  "Vous avez entendu quelque
chose de nouveau?"  "i~Iais non, excellence." And then, indeed, I learned there was no doubt nbout the fact that Captain
~Yilkes, of the U. S. steamer` San Jacinto," liad forcibly
boarded the "Trent~' British mail steamer, off the Bahamas,
and had taken ~Iessrs. Mason, Slidell, Eustis, and McCler 
574         MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
nand from on board, by armed force, in defiance of the pro
tests of the captain and naval officer in charge of the mails.
This was indeed grave intelligence; and the E'rench Mii~ister
coi0sidered tiie act a ~agrant outrage, which could not for a
moment be justified.
1`vent to tlie Legation, and found the young diplomatists in
the "Chancellerie" as demure and innocent as if nothing had
happened, though perhaps they were`a trifle more lively than
usual.  An hour later, and the whole affair was published in
full in the evening papers.  Extraordinary exultation prevailed in the hotels and bar-rooms.  The State Department
lias made of course no communication respecting the matter.
All the English are satisfied that Mason and his friends must
be put on board an English mail packet from the "San Jacinto" under a salute.
An officer of the United States navy - whose name 1 shall
not mention here-came in to see the buccaneers, as the knot
of English bachelors of Washington are termed, and talk over
the matter.  "Of course," he said, "we shall apologize, and
give up poor Wilkes to vengeance, by dismissing him; but
under no circumstances shall we ever give up Mason and
Slidell.  No, sir; not a man dare propose such a humiliation
to our flag."  lie says that Wilkes acted on his own responsi
bility, and that the` San Jacinto" was coming home from the
African station when she encountered the "Trent."  Wilkes
knew the rebel emissaries were on board, and thought he
would cut a dash and get up a little sensation, being a bold
and daring sort of a fellow, with a quarrelsome disposition and
a great love of notoriety, but an excellent officer.
November l7tk. - For my sins 1 went to see a dress parade
of tlie 6th Regular Cavalry early this morning, and underwent a small purgatory from the cold, on a bare plain, whilst
th men and officers, with red cheeks and blue noses, mounted
on horses with staring coats, marched, trotted, and cantered
past.  The papers contain joyous articles on the "Trent"
affair, and some have got up an immense amount of learning
at a short notice; but I am glad to say we l~ad no discussion
in camp.  There is scarcely more than one opinion among
thinking people in Washington respecting the legality of the
act, and the course Great Britain must pursue.  All the Foreign 1\Iinisters, without exception, have called on Lord Lyons,
- Russia, France, Italy, Prussia, Denmark.  All are of
accord.  I am not sure whether the important diplomatist 
CAPTAIN DALGREN.             575
who repr~sents the mighty interests of the llanse Towns has
not conde~cended to admit England has right on her side.
November 18t~. - There is a storm of exultation sweeping
over tI~e land.  ~~~ilkes is the hero of the hour.  I saw ~Ir.
F. Sew~rd at the State Department at tea o'clock; but, as at
the Bi'itish Le~ation the orders are not to speak of the transaction, so at the State Department a judicious reticence is
equally observed.  The lawyers are busy furnishing arau~
ments to tiie newspapers. The officers who held their tongues
at first, astonished at the audacity of the act, are delighted to
find any arguments in its favor.
I called at General ~IcClellan's new head-quarters to get
a pass, and on my way met the Duke of Chartres, who shook
his young head very gravely, and regarded the occurrence
with sorrow and apprehension.  ~IcClellan, I understand,
advised the immediate surrender of the prisoners; but the
authorities, supported by the sudden outburst of public ap
proval, refused to take that step.  I saw Lord Lyons, who
appeared very much impressed by the magnitude of the crisis.
Thence I visited the Navy Department, where`Captain Dahlgren and Lieutenant ~Vise discussed the affair.  The former,
usually so calm, has too much sense not to perceive the course
England must take, and, as an American officer, naturally
feels regret at what appears to be the humiliation of his flag;
but he speaks with passion, and vows that if England avails
herself of the temporary weakness of the United States to
get back thj rebel commissioners by threats of force, every
American should make his sons swear eternal l~ostility to
Great Britain.  liaving done wrong, stick to it! Thus men 5
anger blinds them, and thus come wars.
It is obvious that no Power could permit political offenders
sailing as passengers in a mail-boat under its flag, from one
i~eutn~l port to another, to be taken by a belligerent, though
the recognition of such a right wo~ild be, perhaps, more advantageous to England than to any other Power.  But, notwithstanding these discussions, our naval friends dined and
spent the evening with us, in company with some other officers.
I paid my respects to the Prince of Joinville, with whom I
had a long and interesting conversation, in the course of
which he gave me to naderstand lie thought the seizure an
untoward and unhappy event, which could not be justified on
any grounds whatever, and that he had so expressed himself
in the highest quarters.  There are, comparatively, many 
576        MY DIARY NOPTH AND SOUTH.
Fngli~li here at present,- ~Ir. Chaplin, Sir F. Johnstone,
~~r. ~Teldon, ~Ir. Biowne, and others, - and it may be rea~ily imagined this affairs creates deep feeling and much discussion.
ATovember 1911t. - I rarely sat down to write under a sense
of _renter responsibility, for it is just possible my letter inay
coiitain the first aceount of tlie seizure of the Southern Corninissioners which will reach England  and, having heard all
opiiiions and looked at authomties, as flir as I coiild, it appears
to me that tlie conduct of the American officer, now sustained
by his Government, is witl~out excuse.  I dined at ]\Ir. Corcoma's, where the ~Iinisters of Prussia, Brazil, and Chili,
and the Secretary of the FrenclY Legation, were present;
and, although we did not talk politics, enough was said to
show there was no dissent froin the opinion expressed by intelligent and uninterested foreigners.
No rem ber 20th. - To-day a grand review, the most remarkable feature of which was tlie able disposition made by
General ~IcD9well to march seventy infantry regiments, seventeen batteries, and seven cavalry regiments, into a very contracted space, from the adjoining camps.  Of the display itself
I wrote a long account, which is not worth repeating here.
Amoii( the 55~000 men present there were at least 20,000
Germnus and 12,0()0 Irish.
November 22nd. - All the American papers have agreed
that tlie`i?reiit business is quite according to law custom
and
international comity, and that England can do nothing.  They
cry out so loudly in this one key there is reason to suspect
they have some inward doubts.  General ]\IcClellan invited
all tlie woild, including myself, to see a performance given by
IIerinniin, tlie conjurer, at his quarters, which will be aggravating news to the bloody-minded, serious people in New England.
Day after day passes on, and finds our ~Iicawbers in ~Yash~ngton waitiiig for something to turn up. The Trent a%iir, havin bee ii proved to be legal and right beyond yea or nay, has
dropped out of the minds of all save those who are waiting ibr
news froin England; aiid on looking over my diary I can see
nothing but memoranda i~elating to quiet rides, visits to camps,
coiiversations with this one or tlie other, a fresh outbunst of
anonymoti threatening letters, as if I liad anything to do with
the Treat affitir and notes of small social reunions at our owa
rooms and the Washington houses which were open to us. 
THE PRESIDENT CALCULATES.          577
J\Tovember 25t~. - I remnrked the other evening that, with
the disorder in Washington, there are no thieves.  Next
iight, as we were sitting in our little symposium, a thirsty soldier knocked at the door for a glass of water. He was brought
in and civilly treated. Under the date of the 27th, accordingly,
I find it duly entered that "the vagabond who came in for
water must have had a confederate, who got into the hall
whilst we were attending to his comrade, for yesterday there
was a great lamentation over cloaks and great-coats missing
from the hall, and as the day wore on the area of plunder was
extended.  Carl discovers he lias been robbed of his best
clothes, and Caroline has lost her watch and many petticoats."
Thanksgiving Day on the 28th was celebrated by enormous
drunkenness in the army.  The weather varicd between days
of delicious summer - soft, bright, balmy and beautiful beyond expression - and days of wintry storm, with torrents of
rain.
Some excitement was caused at the end of the month by the
report I had received information from England that the law
officers of the Crown had given it as their opinion that a
United States nian-of-war would be justified by Lord Stowell's
decisions in taking i~Iason and Slidell even in tlie British ~hannel, if the Nashville transferred them to a British mail steamer.
This opinion was called for in consequence of the Tuscarora appearing in Southampton Water; and, having heard of it, I repeated it in strict confidence to some one else, till at last Baron
de Stoeckl came to ask me if it was true.  Receiving passengers from the Nashville, however, would have been an act of
direct intercourse with an enemy's ship.  In the case of the
Trent the persons seized had come on board as lawful passengers at a neutral port.
The tide of success runs strongly in favor of the North at
present, although they ~eneraliy get the worst of it in the small
airairs in the front of ~Vashington. The entrance to Savannah
has bcen occupied, and by degrees the fleets are biting into the
Confederate lines along the coast, and establishing positions
which will afford bases of operations to the Federals hereaften
The President and Cabinet seem in better spirits, and the former indulges in quaint speculations, which he transfers even
to~State papers.  He calculates, for instai~ce, there are humna
beings now alive who inay ere they die behold the United
States peopled by 250 millions of souls.  Talking of a high
25 
578       MY DIARY NORTll AND SOUTll.
prairie, in Illinois, he rer~arked, "that if all the nations of the
earth were assembled there, a man standing on its top would
see them all, for that the whole human race would fit on a
space twelve miles square, which was about the extent of the
plain." 
OllAPTER LIX.
A Captain under arrest - Opening of Congress - Colonel D'Utassy -
An ex-pugilist turned Senator - Mr. Cameron - Ball in the offi   cers' huts - Presentation of standards at Arlington - Dinner at
Lord Lyons' - Paper currency - A polyglot dinner - Visit to
~Yashington's Tomb - Mr. Chase's Report - Colonel Seaton -
Unanimity of the South - The Potomac blockade - A Dutch   American Crimean acquaintance - The American Lawyers on
the Trent affair - Mr. Sumner - McClellan's Army - Impres   sions produced in America by the English Press on the affair of
the Trent - Mr. Sumner on the crisis - Mutual feelings of the
two nations - Rumors of war with Great Britain.
Decem6cr 1st. - A mixed party of American officers and
English went to-day to the post at Great Falls, about sixteen
or seventeen miles up the Potomac, and were well repaid by
the charming scenery, and by a visit to an American military
station in a state of nature.  The captain in comn~and told us
over a drink that he was under arrest because he had refused
to do duty as lieutenant of the guard, he being a captain.
"But I have written to McClellan about it," said he, "and
I'm d    d if I stay under arrest more than three days longer."
lie was not aware that the General's brother, who is a captain
on his staff, was sitting beside him at the time.  This worthy
centurion further informed us he had shot a man dead a short
time before for disobeying his orders.  "That lie (lid," said
his sympathizing and enthusiastic orderly, "and there's the
weapon that done it."  The captain was a boot and shoe
maker by trade, and had travelled across the isthmus before
the railway was made to get orders for his boots.  A hard,
determined, fierce "sutor," as near a savage as might be.
"And what will you do, captain," asked I, "if they keep
you in arrest?"
"Fight for it, sir.  I'll go straight away into Pennsylvania
with my company, and we'll whip any two companies they can
send to stop u~."
Mr. Sumner paid me a visit on my return from our excur 
580        MY DIARY NORTIl AND SOUTH.
sion, and seems to think everything is in the best possible
state.
December 2J. - Congress opened to-day.  The Senate did
nothing.  In the llouse of Representatives some Buncombe
resolutions were passed about Captain ~Yilkes, who has become
a hero - "a great interpreter of international law," and also
recommending that Messrs. Mason and Slidell be confined in
felons' cells, in retaliation for Colonel Corcoran's treatment by
the Con~derates.  ~L Blondel, the Belgian minister, who was
at the court of Greece during the Russian war, told me that
when the French and English fleets lay in the Pir~us, a
United States vessel, commanded, he thinks, by  Captain
Stringham, publicly received M. Persani, the Russian ambassador, on board, hoisted and saluted the Russian fla~ in the
harbor, whereupon the French Admiral, Barbier de Tinan,
proposed to the English Admiral to go on board the United
States vessel and seize the Ambassador, which the British
officer refused to do.
December 3J. - Drove down to the Capitol, and was introduced td the floor of the Senate by Senator Wilson, and arrived just as Mr. Forney commenced reading the President's
message, which was listened to with considerable interest.
At dinner, Colonel D'Utassy, of the Garibaldi legion, who
gives a curious account of his career.  A llungarian by birth,
he went over from the Austrian service, and served under
Bern; was wounded and taken prisoner at Temesvar, and
escaped from Spielberg, through the kindness of Count Bennigsen, making his way to Semlin, in the disguise of a servant,
where Mr. Fonbianque, the Britisli consul, protected him.
Thence lie went to Kossuth at Shunila, finally proceeded to
Constantinople where he was engaged to instruct the Turkish
cavalry; turned up in the Ion inn Islands, where lie was engaged by the late Sir II. Ward, as a sort of secretary and
iliterpreter, in which capacity he also served Sir C. LeMarchant.  In the United States he was earning his livelihood as
a fencing, dancing, and language master; and when the war
broke out he exerted himself to raise a regiment, and succeded
in completing his number. in seventeen days, being all the time
obliged to support himself by his lessons.  I tell his tale as lie
told it to me.
One of our friends, of a sporting turn, dropped in to-night,
f~~llowed by a gentleman dressed in immaculate black, and of
staid deportment, whose name I did not exactly catch, but 
THE PRESS RULES AMERICA.          581
f~tncied it was that of a senator of some reputation.  As the
stranger sat next me, and was rubbing his knees nervously, I
thought I would commence conversation.
"It appears, sir, that affairs in the south-west are not so
promising.  May I ask you what is your opinion of the present prospects of the Federals in Missouri?"
I was somewhat disconcerted by his reply, for rubbing his
knees harder than ever, and imprecating his organs of vision
in a very sanguinary manner, he said -
"Well, d     if I know what to think of them.  They're
a d     rum lot, and they're going on in a d    rum way.
That's what I think."
The supposed legislator, in fact, was distinguished in another arena, and was no other than a celebrated pugilist, who
served his apprenticeship in the English ring, and has since
graduated in honors in America.
I dined with Mr. Cameron, Secretary of War, where I met
Mr. Forney, Secretary of the Senate, Mr. House, Mr. Wilkeson, and others, and was exceedingly interested by the shrewd
conversation and candid manner of our host.  He told me he
once worked as a printer in the city of Washington, at tea
dollars a week, and twenty cents an hour for extra work at
the cases on Sunday.  Since that time he has worked onwards
and upward~, and amassed a large fortune by contracts for
railways and similar great under0takings.  He says the press
rules America, and that no one can face it and live; which is
about the worst account of the chances of an honest longevity I
can well conceive.  His memory is exact, and his anecdotes,
albeit he has never seen any but Americans, or stirred out of
the States, very agreeable.  Once there lived at Washington
a publican's daughter, named Mary O'Neii, beautiful, bold, and
witty.  She captivated a member of congress, who failed to
make her less than his wife; and by degrees Mrs. Eaton -
who may now be seen in the streets of Washington, an old
woman, still bright-eyed and, alas! bright-cheeked, retaining
traces of her great beauty - became a leading personage in          -
the State, and  ruled the imperious, rugged old Andrew
Jackson so completely, that he broke up his Cabinet and dismissed his ministers on her account.  In the days of her
power she had done some trifling service to Mr. Cameron,
and he has just repaired it by conferring some military appointment on her grandchild.
The dinner which was preceded by deputations, was flnish~ 
582        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
by one which came from the Far West, and was introduced
by Mr. Hannibal flamlin, the Yice-P~~&sident  ~Ir. Owen
Lovejoy, Mr. Bingham, and other ultra-Abolitionist membei~s
of Congress; and then speeches were made, and healths were
drunk, and toasts were pledged, till it was time for me to drive
to a hall given by the officers of the 5th United States
Cavalry, which was exceedingly pretty, and admirably arranged in wooden huts, specially erected and decorated for
the occasion.  A huge bonfire in the centre of the camp, surrounded by soldiers, by the carriage drivers, and by negro
servants, afforded the most striking play of color and variety
of light and shade I ever beheld.
Be cern ber 4tlt. - To Arlington, where Senator Ira Harris
presented flags - that is, standards - to a cavalry regiment
called after his name; the President, Mrs. Lincoln, ministers,
generals, and a large gathering present.   Mr. Harris made a
very long and a very fierce speech; it could not be said lia
furor 6revis est; and Colonel Davis, in taking the standard,
was earnest and lengthy in reply.  Ti~ea a barrister presented color No. 2 in a speech full of poetical quotations,
to ~hich Major Kilpatrick made an excellent answer. Though
it was strange enough to hear a political disquisition on the
causes of the rebellion from a soldier in full unitorm, the pro-ceedings were highly theatrical and very effective.  "Take,
then, this flag," &c. - "Defe~nd it with your," &c - "Yes, sir,
we will guard this sacred emblem with -," &c.  The regiinent then went through some evolutions, which were brought
to an untimely end by afeu Ju joie from tlie infantry in the
rear, which instantly broke up the squadrons, and sent them
kicking, plunging, and falling over the field, to the great
amusement of the crowd.
Dined with Lord Lyons, where was Mr. Galt, Financial
Minister of Canada; Mr. Stewart, who has arrived to replace
Mr. Irvine, and others.  In our rooms, a gn~nd financial discussion took place in honor of Mr. Galt, between Mr. Butler
Duncan and others, the former maintaining that a general issue
of national paper was inevitable.  A very clever American
maintained that the North will be split into two great partles
by the result of the victory which they are certain to gain over
the South - that the Democrats will offer the South conces —
sions more liberal than they could ever dream ot, and that
both will unite against the Abolitionists and Black Repub~ans. 
VISIT TO TllE GARIBALDI GUARD.       583
Becember 6th. - Mr. Riggs s~l~per currency ~cheme
will produce money, and make every man richer.  He is a
banker, and ought to know; but to my ignorant eye it seems
likely to prove most destructive, and I confess, that whatever
be the result of this war, I have no desire for the ruin of so
many happy communities as have sprung up in the United
States.  Had it been possible for human beings to employ
popular institutions without intrigue and miserable self-seeking,
and to be superior to faction and party passion, the condition
of parts of the United States must cause regret that an exemption from the usual laws which regulate human nature was not
made in America; but the strength of the United States -
directed by violent passions, by party interest, and by selfish
intrigues-was becoming dangerous to the peace of other
nations, and therefore there is an utter want of sympathy with
them in their time of trouble.
I dined with Mr. Gait, 6~t Willard's, where we had a very
pleasant party, in spite of financial dangers.
December 7th. - A visit to the Garibaldi Guard with some
of the Fngli4~y, and an excellent dinner at the mess, which
presented a curious scene, and was graced by sketches from a
wonderfhl polyglot chaplain.  What a company! - the officers present were composed as follows: - Five Spaniards,
six Poles and Hungarians, two Frenchmen - the most soldierly4ooking men at table - one American, four Italians,
and nine Teutons of various States in Germany.
December 8th. - A certain excellent Colonel who commands a French regiment visited us to-day.  When he came
to Washington, one of tlie Foreign Ministers who liad been
well acquainted widi him said, "My dear Colonel, what a pity
we caii he no longer friends."  " ~Yhy so, Baron?"  "Ah,
we can never dine together again."  "Why not? Do you forbid me your table?"  "No, Colonel, but how can I in~'ite a
man who can command the services of at least 200 cooks in
his own regiment?"  " Well then, Baron, you can come and
dine with me."  What! how do you think I could show myself in your camp - how could I get my hair dressed to sit at
the table of a man who commands 300 coiffeurs?  I rode out
to overtake a party who had started in carriages for Mount
Yernon to visit Washington's tomb but missed them in the
wonderfiilly wooded country which borders the Potomac,
~ud returned alone.
December 9th. - Spent the day over Mr. Chase's report, a 
584        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
4
copy of which he w~s g6t~enough to send me with a kind
note, and went out in the evening with my h~ad ii~ a state of
wild financial confbsion, and a general impi'ession that the
financial system of' England is very unsound.
Becember lOilt. - Paid a visit to Colonel Seaton, of the
"National Intelligencer," a man deservedly respected and esteemed for his private character, which has given its impress to the journal he has so long conducted.  The New
York papers ridicule the Washington organ, because it does
iot spread false reports daily in the fbn~ of telegraphic "sen~tion" news, and indeed one may be pretty snie that a fact
is a fact when it is found in the "Intelligencer;" but the man,
nevertheless, who is conteiit with the information he g~ts from
it, will have no reason to regret, in the accuracy of his knowledge or the soundness of his views, that he has not gone to
its noisy and mendacious rivals.  In the m~nds of all the
very old men in the States, there i~ a feeling of great sadness
and despondency respecting the present troubles, and though
they cling to the idea of a restoration of the glorious Union
of their youth, it is hoping against hope. "Our game is played
out.  It was the most wonderful and magnificent career of
success the world ever saw, but rogues and gamblers took up
the cards at last; they quarrelled, and are found out."
In the evening, supped at i~b-. F'orney's, where there was
a very large gathering of gentlemen connected with the press;
~Ir. Cameron, Secretary of War; Colonel Alulligan, a tall
young man, with dark hair falling on his shoulders, round a
Celtic impulsive face, and a hazy enthusiastic~looking eye;
and other celebrities.   Terrapin son p and canvas-backs,
speeches, orations, music, and song, carried the company onwards among the small hours.
December hIlt.- The unanimity of the people in the South
is forced on the conviction of the statesmen and people of the
North, by the very success of their expeditions in Secession.
They find the planters at Beaufort and elsewhere burning
their cotton and crops, villages and towns deserted at their
approach, hatred in every eye, and curses on women's tongues.
They meet this by a corresponding change in their own programme.  The war which was made to develop and maintain
Union sentiment in the South, and to enable the people to
rise against a desperate ft~etion which had enthralled them, is
now to be made a crusade against slaveholders, and a war of
subjugation - if need be, of extermination - against the whole 
BRIGADIER BOHLEN.              585
of d~e Southern States.  The Democrats will, of course, resist
this barbarous and hopeless policy.  There is a deputation of
Irish Dcmocrats here now to effect a general exchange of
prisoners, which is an operation calculated to give a legitimate character to the war, and is rro tanto a rec~gnition of
the Confederacy as a belligerent power.
Becember 12d~. - The navy are writhing under the disgrace of the Potomac blockade, and deny it exists.  The
price of articles in Washington which used to come by the
river affords disagreeable proof to the contrary.  And yet
there is not a true Yankee in Pennsylvania Avenue who does
not believe, what he reads every day, that his glorious navy
could sweep the fleets of France and England off the seas tomorrow, though the Potomac be closed, and the Confederate
batteries throw their shot and shell into the Federal camps on
the other side.  I dined with General Butterfield, whose camp
is pitched in Virginia, on a knoll and ridge from which a
splendid view can be had over the wooded vales and hills extending fi-om Alexandria towards ~Ianassas, whitened with
Federal tents and huts.  General Fitz4ohn Porter and
General ~IcDowell were among tlie officers present.
Becember 12tk. - A big-bearded, spectacled, mustached,
spurred, and booted officer threw himself on my bed this
morning ere I was awake.  "Russell, my dear friend, here
you are at last; what ages have passed since we met!"  I
sat up and gazed at my friend.  "Bohien! don't you rememher Bob len, and our rides in Turkey, our visit to Shumla and
Pravady, and all the rest of it?"  Of course I did.  I remembered an enthusiastic soldier, with a fine guttural voice,
and a splendid war-saddle and saddle-cloth, and brass stirrups
and holsters, worked with eagles all over, and a uniform coat
and cap with more eagles flying amidst laurel leaves and
U. S.'s in gold, who came out to see the fighting in the East,
and made up his mind that there would be none, when he
arrived at Varna, and so started off incontinent up the Danube, and returned to the Crimea when it was too late; and a
very good, kindly, warm-hearted fellow was the Dutch-American, who - once more in his war paint, this time acting Brigadier- General * - renewed the memories of son~e pleasant
~ays far away; and our talk was of canvasses and khans, and
* Since killed in action In Pope's retreat from the north of Richmond.
25 * 
586        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
tchibouques, and pashas, till his time was up to return to his
fighting Germans of Blenker's division.
He was not the good-natured officer who said the other day,
"The next day you come down, sir, if my regiment happens
to be on picket duty, we'll have a little skirmish with the
enemy, just to show you how our fellows are improved."
"Perhaps you might bring on a general action, Colonel."
"Well, sir, we're not afraid of that, either!  Let`em come
on."  1t did so happen tI~at some young friends of mine, of
II. ~L's 30th, who had come down from Canada to see the
`i~~~ here, went out a day or two ago with an officer on General Smith's staff~ formerly in our a1'my, who yet suffers from
a wound received at the Alma, to have a look at the enemy
with a detachmei~t of men.  The enemy caine to have a look
at them, whereby it happened that sl~ots were exchanged, and
the bold Britons had to ride back as hard as they con hI, for
their men skedaddled, and the Secession cavalry slipping after
them, had a very pretty diase for some miles; so the 30th
men saw more than they bargained for.
Dined at Baron Geroit's, where I had the pleasure of meeting Judge Daly, who is perfectly satisfied the English lawyers
have not a leg to stand upon in the Trent case.  On the faith
of old and very doubtful, and some purely supposititious, cases,
the American lawyers have made up their minds that the seizure of the "rebel" ambassadors was perfectly legitimate and
normal.  The Judge expressed his belief that if there was a
rebellion in Ireland, and that Messrs. Smith O'Brien and
0'Gorman ran the hlockade to France, and were going on
their passage from Havre to New York in a United States
steamer, they would be seized by the first British vessel that
knew the fact.  "Granted; and what would the United
States do?"  "I am afraid we should be obliged to demand
that they be given up; and if you were strong enough at the
time, I dare say you wouM fight sooner than do so."  Mr.
Sumner, with whom I had some conversation this afternoon,
affects to consider the question emii~ently suitable for reference and arbitration.
In spite of drills and parades, McClellan has not got' an
army yet., A good officer, who served as brigade-major in
~ur service, told me the men were little short of mutinous,
with all their fine talk, though they could fight weW  Sometimes they refuse to mount guard, or to go on duty not to their
tastes; officers refuse to serve under others to whom they hav~ 
DINNER AT MR. SEWARD'S.          587
a dislike; men off~r similar personal objections to officers.
McClellan is enforcing discipline, and really intends to execute
a most villanous deserter this time.
Becember iSilt. - The first echo of the San Jacinto's guns
in England reverberated to the United States, and produced
a profound sensation.  The people had made up their minds
John Bull would acquiesce in the seizure, and not say a word
about it; or they affected to think so; and the cry of anger
which has resounded through the land, and the unmistakable
tone of the British press, at once surprise and irritate and
disappoint them.  The American journals, nevertheless, pretend to think it is a mere vulgar excitement, and that the press
is "only indulging in its habitual bluster."
December 1 6t1t. - I met Mr. Seward at a ball and cotillon
party, given by M. de Lisbon; and as he was in very good
humor, and was in~ined to talk, he pointed out to the Prince
of Joinville, and all who were inclined to listen, and myself,
how terrible the effects of a war would be if Great Britain
forced it on the United States.  "We will wrap the whole
world in flames!" he exclaimed.  "No power so remote that
she will not feel the fire of our battle and be burned by our
conflagation."  It is inferred that Mr. Seward means to show
fight.  One of the guests, however, said to me, "That's all
bugaboo talk.  When Seward talks that way he means to
break down.  He is most dangerous and obstinate when he
pretends to agree a good deal with you."  The young French
Princes, and the young and pretty Brazilian and American
ladies, danced and were happy, notwithstanding the storms
without.
Next day I dined at Mr. Seward's, as the Minister had
given carte blanche to a very lively and agreeable lady, who
has to lament over an absent husband in this terrible war, to
ask two gentlemen to dine with him, and she had been pleasc.~l
to select myself and M. de Geoffroy, Secretary of the French
Legation, as her thick and her thin umbr~ and the company
went off in the evening to the White House, where there was a
reception, whereat I imagined I might be Je trop, and so home.
Mr. Seward was in the best spirits, and told one or two
rather long, but very pleasant, stories.  Now it is evident he
must by this time know Great Britain has resolved on the
course to be pursued, and his good humor, contrasted with the
irritation lie displayed in May and June, is not intelligible.
The Russian Mimster, at whose house I dined next day, is 
588       MY DIARY NORTll AND SOUTIL
better able than any man to appreciate the use made of the
Czar's professions of regret for the evils which distract the
States by the Americans; hut it is the fashion to approve of
everything that France does, and to a~sume a violent iffi~ction
for Russia. The Americans are irritated by war preparations
on the part of England, in ease the Government of ~Vashington
do not accede to their demands; and, at the same time, much
annoyed that all European nations join in`an outcry against
the fi~mous project of destroying the Southern harbors by the
means of the stone fleet.
Becember 2Ot~. - 1 went down to fl~e Senate, as it was expected at the Legation and elsewhere the President would
send a special message to the Senate on the Trent affair; but
instead, there was merely a bug speech from a senator, to
show the South did not like democratic institutions.  Lord
Lyons called on Mr. Seward yesterday to ~ead Lord Russell's
despatch to him, and to give time for a reply; but Mr. Sewai~d
was out, and Mr. Sumner told me the Minister was down wi!h
the Committee of Foreign Relations, where there is a serious
business in reference to the State of Mexico and certain European Powers under discussion, when the British Minister went
to the State Department.
Next day Lord Lyons had two interviews with Mr. Seward,
read the des patch, which simply asks for surrender of Ma~on
and Slidell and reparation, without any spcciflc act named, but
he received no indication from Mr. Seward of the cour~e he
would pursue.  Mr. Lincoln has "put down his foot" on no
surrender.  "Sir!" exclaimed the President, to an old Treasury official the other day, "I would sooner die than give them
up." "Mr. President," was the reply, "your death would be a
great loss, but the destruction of the United States would be a
still more deplorable event."
Mr. Seward will, however, control the situation as the ~ahinet will very probably support his views; and Americans will
comfort themselves, in case the captives are surrendered, with
a promise of future revenge, and with the reflection that they
have avoided a very disagreeable intervention between their
march of conquest and the Southern Confederacy.  The general belief of the diploma~sts is, that the prisoners will not be
given up, and in that case Lord Lyons and the Legation will
retire from Washington for?i'~e time, probably to Halifax,
leaving Mr. Monson to wind up affairs and clear out the archives.  But it is understood that there is no ultimatum, 
LORD LYONS AND MR. SEWARD.         589
and that Lord Lyons is not to ind~cate any course of action,
should Mr. Seward inform him the United States Government
refuses to comply with tlie demands of Great Britain.
Any humiliation which may be attached to concession will
be caused by the language of the Americai~s themselves, who
have given in their press, in public meeting~, in the Lower
llouse, in the Cabinet, and in the conduct of the President, a
complete ratification of the act of Captain Wilkes, not to
speak of the opinions of the Lawyers, and the speeches of
their orators, who declare "they will face any alternative, but
that they will never surrender."  The friendly relations which
existed between ourselves and many excellent Amen cans are
now rendered somewhat constrained by the prospect of a great
national difference.
Becem~r (Sunday) 22J. - Lord Lyons saw Mr. Seward
again, but it does not appear that any answer can be expected
before Wednesday.  All kinds of rumors circulate through
the city, and a~ repeated in an authoritative manner in the
New York papers.
Becember 23J. - There was a h~emendous storm, which
drove over the city and shook the houses to the foundatioii.
Constant interviews took place between the President and
members of the Cabinet, and so certain are the people that
war is inevitable, that an officer connected with the executive
of the Navy Department came in to tell me General Scott
was coming over from Europe to conduct the Canadian campaign, as he had thoroughly studied the geography of the
country, and that in a very short time he would be in possession of every strategetic position on the frontier, and chaw up
our reii~torcements.  Late in the evening, Mr. Olmsted called
to say he had been credibly informed Lord Lyons had quarrelled violently with Mr. Seward, had flown into a great passion with him, and so departed. The idea of Lord Lyons being
quarrelsome, passionate, or violent, was preposterous enough to
those who knew him; but the American papers, by repeated
statements of the sort, have succeeded in persuading their
i7ublic that the British Minister is a plethoric, red4~ced,largestomached man in top-boots, knee-breeches, yellow waistcoat,
blue cut-away, brass buttons, and broad-brimmed hat, who is
continually walking to the State Department in company with
a large bulldog, hurling defiance at Mr. Seward at one moment, and the next rushing home to receive despatches from
Mr. Jeffarson Davis, or to give secret instructions to the Brit 
590       MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
ish Consuls to run cargoes of quinine and gunpowder through
tlie Federal blockade.  I was enabled to assure ~1r. Olmsted
that there was not the smallest foundation for the story; but
he seemed impressed with a sense of some great calamity,
and told me there was a general belief that England only
wanted a pretext for a quarrel with the United States; nor
could I comfort him by the assurance that there were good
reasons for thinking General Scott would very soon annex
Canada, in case of war. 
CHAPTER LX.
News of the death of the Prince Consort - Mr. Sumner and the Trent
affair - Despatch to Lord Russell - The Southern Commission  ers given up - Effects on the friends of the South - My own un  popularity at New York - Attack of fever - My tour in Canada
- My return to New York in February - Successes of the West  em States - Mr. Stanton succeeds Mr. Cameron as Secretary of
War- Reverse and retreat of McClellan - My free pass - The
Merrimac and Monitor - My arrangement to accompany McClel  lan's head.quarters - Mr. Stanton refuses his sanction - National
-`-anity wounded by my truthfulness - My retirement and return
to Europe.
December 24t}t. - This evening came in a telegram from
Europe with news which cast the deepest gloom over all our
little English cirde.  Prince Albert dead!  At first no one
believed it; then it was remembered fliat private letters by
the last mail had spoken despondingly of his state of health,
and that the "little cold" of which we had heard was described in graver terms.  Prince Albert dead!  "Oh, it may
be Prince Alfred," said some; and sad as it would be for the
Queen and the public to lose the Sailor Prince, the loss could
not be so great as0 that which we all felt to be next to the
greatest.  The preparations which we had made for a little
festivity to welcome in Christmas morning were chilled by the
news, and the eve wa  not of the joyous character which
-Englishmen delight to give it, for the sorrow which fell on all
hearts in England had spanned the Atlantic, and bade us
mourn in common with the country at home.
December 25th. - Lord Lyons, who had invited the English
in Washington to dinner, gave a small quiet entertainment,
from which he retired early.
December 26th. - No ans~~er yet.  There can be but one.
Press, people, soldiers, sailors, ministers, senators, congressmen, people in the street, the voices of the bar-room - all are
agreed.  "Give them up?  Never!  We'll die`irst!"  Senator Sumner, M. 1)e Beaumont, ~I. De Geoffroy, of the
French Legation, dined with me, in company With General 
692        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
Van YIiet, Mr. Anderson, and Mr. Lamy, &c.; and in the
evening AInjor Anson, M. P., Mr. Johnson, Captain 1rwin,
U. S. A., Lt. Wise, U. S. N., joined our party, and after much
~vasion of the subject, the English despatch and Mr. Seward's
decision turned up and caused some discussion.  Mr. Sumner,
who is Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations in
the Senate, and in that capacity is in intimate ra~port with
the President, either is, or affects to be, incredulous respecting
the nature of Lord Russell's despatch this evening, and argues
that, at the very utmost, the Trent affair can only be a matter
for mediation, and not for any peremptory demand, as the law
of nations has no exact precedent to bear upon the case, and
that there are so many instances in which Sir W. Scott's
(l~ord Stowell's) decisions in principle appear to justify C('~p
tain Wilkes.  All along he has held this language, and has
maintained that at the very worst there is plenty of time for
protocols, despatches, and references, and more than once he
has said to me, "I hope you will keep the peace; help us to
do so," - the peace having been already broken by Captain
Wilkes and the Government.
December 27t~. - This morning Mn Seward sent in his reply to Lord Russell's despatch - "grandis et verbosa epistola."
The result destroys my prophecies, for, after all, the Southern
Commissioners or Ambassadors are to be given up.  Yesterday, indeed, in an under-current of whispers among the desponding friends of the South, there went a rumor that the
Government had resolved to yield.  What a collapse! What
a bitter mortification!  1 had scarcely fi~shed the perusal of
an article in a Washington paper, - which, let it be understood,
is an organ of Mr. Lincoln, - stating that "Mason and Slidell wouU not be surrendered, and assuring the people they
need entertain no apprehension of such a dishonorable concession," when 1 leai'ned beyond all possibility of doubt, that
Mr. Seward had handed in his despatch, placing the Comm issioners at the disposal of the British Minister.  A copy of the
despatch will be published in the "National latelligencer" tomorrow morning at an early hour, in time to go to Europe by
the steamer which lenves New York.
After dinner, those who were in the secret were amused by
hearing the arguments which were started between one or
two Americans and some English in the company, in consequence of a positive statement from a gentleman who came
in, that Mason and Slidell had been surrendered.  1 have re 
SURRENDER OF MASON AND SLIDELL.       593
solved to go to Boston, being satisfied that a great popular
excitement and upflsing will, in all probability, take place on
il~e discharge of the Commissioners from Fort  Warren.
What will my friend, the general, say,~who told me yesterday
"he would snap his sword, and throw the pieces into the
White House, if they were given up?"
December 28th. - The "National Intelligencer" of this
morning contains the despatches of Lord Russell, M. Thouvenel,
and Mr. Seward.  The bubble has burst.  The rage of the
friends of compromise, and of the South, who saw in a war with
Great Britain the complete success of the Confederacy, is deep
and burning, if not loud; but they all say they never expected
anything better from the cowardly and braggart statesmen who
now rule in Washington.
Lord Lyons has evinced the most moderate and conciliatory
spirit, and has done everything in his power to break Mr.
Seward's fall on the softest of eider down.  Some time ago we
were all prepared to hear nothing less would be accepted than
Captain Wilkes taking Messrs. Mason and Slidell on board the
San Jacinto, and transferring them to the Trent, under a salute to the flag, near the scene of the outrage; at all events,
it was expected that a British man-of-war would have steamed
into Boston, and received the prisoners under a salute from
Fort Warren; but Mr. Seward, apprehensive that some outrage would be offered by the populace to the prisoners and the
British Flag, has asked Lord Lyons that the Southern Cornmissioners may be placed, as it were, surreptitiously, in a
United States boat, and carried to a small~seaport in the State
of Maine, where they are to b placed on board a British vessel as quietly as possible; and this exigent, imperious, tyrannical, insulting British Minister has cheerfully acceded to the
request.  Mr. Conway Seymour, the Queen's messenger, who
brought Lord Russell's despatch, was sent back with instructions for the British Admiral, to send a vessel to Province
town for the purpose; and as Mr. Johnson, who is nearly
connected with Mr. Eustis, one of the prisoners, proposed
going to Boston to see his brother4n-law, if possible, eye he
started, and as there was not the smallest prospect of any
military movement taking place, I resolved to go northwards
with him; and we left Washington accordingly on the morning of the 31st of December, and arrived at the New York
Hotel the same night.
To my great regret and surprise, however, I learned it 
594        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
would be im practicable to get to Fort Warren and see the
prisoners before their surrender.  My unpopularity, which
had lost somewhat of its intensity, was revived by the exasperation against everythi~g English, occasioned by the firmness
of Great Britain in demanding the Commissioners; and on
New Year's Night, as I heard subsequently, Mr. Grinnel and
other members of the New York Club were exposed to annoyance and insult, by some of their brother members, in consequence of inviting me to be their guest at the club.
The illness which had prostrated some of the strongest mei
in Washington, including General McClellan himself, develope~
itself as soon as I ceased to be sustained by the excitemeijt,
such as it was, of daily events at the -capital, and by expectations of a move; and for some time an attack of typhoid fever
confined me to my room, and left me so weak that I was advised not to return to Washingtoa till I had tried change of air.
I remained in New York till the end of January, when I proceeded to make a tour in Canada, as it was quite impossible
for any operation to take place on the Potomac, where deep
mud, alternating with snow and frost, bound the contending
armies in winter-quarters.
On my return to New York, at the end of February, the
North was cheered by some signal successes achieved in tlie
West, principally by gunboats, operating on the lines of the
great rivers.  The greatest results have been obtained in
the capture of Fort Donaldson and Fort Henry, by Commodore Foote's flotilla coo~perating with the land forces.  The
possession of an absolute naval supremacy, of course, gives
the North United States powerful means of annoyance and
inflicting injury and destruction on the enemy; it also secures
for them the means of seizing upon bases of operations whereever they please, of breaking up the enemy's lines, and maintaining communications; but the example of Great Britain in
the Revolutionary War should prove to the United States that
such advantages do not, by any means, enable a belligerent to
subjugate a determined people resolved on resistance to the
last.  The long-threatened encounter between Bragg and
Browne has taken place at Pensacola, without effect, and the
attempts of the Federals to advance from Port Royal have
been successfully resisted.  Sporadic skirmishes have sprung
up over every Border State; but, on the whole, success has
inclined to the Federals in Kentucky and Tennessee.
-On the 1st March, I arrived in Washington once more, 
INTERYILW WITH MR. STANTON.       595
and found things very much as I had left them: the army
recovering the effect of the winter's sickness and losses, animated by the victories of their comrades in Western fields,
and by the hope that the ever-coming to-morrow would see
them ia the field at last.  In place of Mr. Cameron, an Ohio
lawyer named Stanton, has heen appointed Secretary of War.
lle came to Washington, a few years ago, to conduct some
legal proceedings for Mr. Daniel Sickles, and by his energy,
activity, and a rapid conversion from Democratic to Republican principles, as well as by his Union sentiments, recoin
mended himself to the President ahd his Cabinet.
The month of March passed over without any remarkabl~
event in the field.  ~Vhen the army started at last to attack
the enemy - a movement which was precipitated by hea~ iiig
that they were moving away - they went out only to find die
Confederates had fallen back by interior lines towards Richmond, and General McClellan was obliged to transport his
army from Alexandria to the peninsula of Yorktown, where
his reverses, his sufferings, and his disastrous retreat, are so
well known and so recent, il~at I need only mention them as
among the most remarkable events which have yet occurred
in this war.
I had looked forward for many weary months to participating in the movement and describing its results.  Immediately
on my arrival in Washington, I was introduced to Mr. Stanton by Mr. Ashman, formerly member of Congress and Secretary to Mr. Daniel Webster, and the Secretary, without
making any positive pledge, used words, in Mr. Ashman's
presence, which led me to believe he would give me permission to draw ratioiis, and undoubtedly promised to afford me
every facility in his powen  Subsequently he sent me a private pass to the War Department to enable me to get through
the crowd of contractors and jobbers; but on going there to
keep my appointment, the Assistant Secretary of ~Yar told
me Mr. Stanton had been summoned to a Cabinet Council by
the President.
We had some conversation respecting the subject-matter
of my application, which the Assistant Secretary seemed to
think would be attended with many difficulties, in consequence
of the number of correspondents to the American papers who
might demand the same privileges, and he intimated to me
that Mr. Stanton was little disposed to encourage then~ in any
way whatever.  Now this is undoubtedly honest on Mr. Stan 
~96         MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
ton's part, for he knows he might render himself popular by
granting what they ask; but he is excessively vain, and aspires to be considered a rude, rough, vigorous Oliver Cromwell sort of man, mistaking some of the disagreeable attributes
and the accidents of the externa ~usk of the Great Protector
for the brain and head of a statesman and a soldier.
The American officers with whom I was intimate gave me
to understand that I could accompany them, in case I received
permission from the Government; but they were obviously
unwilling to encounter the abuse and calumny which would be
heaped upon their heads by American papers, unless they
could show the authorities did not disapprove of my presence
in their camp.  Several invitatioas sent to mc were ac~ompanied by the phrase, "You will of course get a written permission from the War Department, and then there will be no
difficulty."  On the evening of the private theatricals by which
Lord Lyons enlivened the ineffable dulness of ~Vashington, I
saw Mr. Stanton at the Legation, and he conversed with me
for some time.  I mentioned the difficulty connected with
passes.  He asked me what I wanted.  I said, "An order to
go with the army to Manassas.   At his request I procured a
sheet of paper, and he wrote me a pass, took a copy of it, which
he put in his pocket, and then handed the other to me.  On
looking at it, I perceived diat it was a permission for me to
go to Manassas and back, and that all officers, soldiers, and
others, in the United States service, were to give me every
assistance and show me every courtesy; but the hasty return
of the army to Alexandria rendered it useless.
The Mer~mac and Monitor encounter produced the profoundest impression in Washington, and unusual strictness was
observed respecting passes to Fortress Monroe.
March 19th. - I applied at the Navy Department for a
passage down to Fortress Monroe, as it was expected the
~1ernmac was coming out again, but I could not obtain leave
to go in any of the vessels.  Captain llardman showed me a
curious sketch of what he called the Turtle Thor, an ironcased machine with a huge claw or grapnel, with which to
secure the enemy whilst a steam hammer or a high iron fist,
worked by the engine, cracks and smashes her iron armor.
"For," says he, "the days of gunpowder are over."
As soon as General McClellan commenced his movement,
he sent a message to me by one of the French princes, that he
would have great pleasure in allowing me to accompany his 
ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE CAMPA~GN.       ~97
head-quarters in the field.  I find the following, under the
head of March 22d: -
"Received a letter from General Marcy, chief of the staW,
asking me to call at his office.  He told me General MeClellan directed him to say he had no objection whatever to
my accompanying the army,`but,' continued General Marcy,
`you know we are a sensitive people, and that our press is
exceedingly jealous.  General McClellan lias many enemies
who seek to pull him down, and scruple at no means of doing
so.  He and I would be glad to do anything in our power to
help you, if you come with us, but we must not expose ourselves needlessly to attaek.  The army is to move to the York
and James Rivers at once.'"
All my arrangements were made that day with Ge~eral
Van Yliet, the quartermaster-general of head-quarters.  I
was quite satisfied, from Mr. Stanton's promise and General
Marcy's conversation, that I should have no further diffleulty.
Our party was made up, consisting of Colonel Neville; Lieutenant-Colonel Fletcher, Scotch Fusilier Guards; ~fr. Lamy,
and myself.; and our passage was to be provided in the quartermaster-general's boat.  On the 26th of March, I went to
Baltimore in company with Colonel Rowan, of the Royal Artillery, who had come down for a few days to visit Washington, intending to go on by the steamer to Fortress Monroe, as
lie was desirous of seeing his friends on board the Rinaldo,
and I Wished to describe the great flotilla assembled there and
to see Captain Hewett once more.
On arriving at Baltimore, we learned it would be necessary
to get a special pass from General Dix, and on going to the
General's head-quarters his aide-de-camp informed us that he
liad received special instructions recently fi'om the War Department to grant no passes to Fortress Monroe, unless to officers and soldiers going on duty, or to persons in the serviec
of the United States.  The aide-dc-camp advised me to telegraph to Mr. Stanton for permission, which I did, but 100
answer was received, and Colonel Rowan and I returned to
Washington, thinking there would be a better chance of securing the necessary order there.
Next day we went to the Department of War, and were
shown into Mr. Stanton's room - his secretary informing us
that he was engaged in the next room with the President aiid
other Ministers in a council of war, but that he would no
doubt receive a letter from me and send me out a reply.  I 
698        MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
accordingly addressed a note to Mr. Stanton, requesting he
would be good enough to give an order to Colonel Rowan, of
the British army, and myself, to go by the mail boat from
Baltimore to Monroe.  In a short time Mr. Stanton sent out
a note in the following words: -" Mr. Stanton informs Mr.
Russell no passes to Fortress Monroe can be given at present,
unless to officers in the United States service."  We tried the
Navy Department, but no vessels were going down, they said;
and one of the officers suggested that we should ask for passes
to go down and visit II. M. S. Rinaldo exclusively, which
could not well be refused, he thought, to British subjects, and
promised to take charge of the letter for Mr. Stanton and to
telegraph the permission down to Baltimore.  There we returned by the afternoon train and waited, but neither reply
nor pass came for us.
Next day we were disappointed also, and an officer of the
Rinaldo, who had come up on duty from the ship, was refbsed
permission to take us down on his return.  I regretted these
obstructions principally on Colonel Rowan's account, because
he would have no opportunity of seeing the flotilla.  He returned next day to New York, whilst I completed my preparations for the expedition and went back to Washington,
where I received my pass, signed by General McClellan's
chief of the statf~ authorizing me to accompany the headquarters of the army under his command.  So far as I know,
Mr. Stanton sent no reply to my last letter, and calling with
General Van Vliet at his house on his reception night, the
door was opened by his brother-in-law, who said, "The Secretary was attending a sick child and could not see any person that evening," so I never met Mr. Stanton again.
Stories had long been current concerning his exceeding
animosity to General McClellan, founded perhaps on his expressed want of confidence in the General's abilities, as mudi
as on the dislike he felt towards a man who persisted in disregarding his opinions on matters connected with military
operations.  His infirmities of health and tendency to cerebral excitement had been increased by the pressure of business, by the novelty of power, and by the angry passions to
which individual antipathies and personal rancor give rise.
one who ever saw Mr. Stanton would expect from him
courtesy of manner or delicacy of feeling; but his affectation
of bluntness and straightforwardness of purpose might have
led one to suppose he was honest and direct in purpose, as the 
A PASSAGE REFUSED.             59~
qualties I have mentioned are not always put forward by
hypocrites to cloak finesse and sinister action.
T he rest of the story may be told in a few words.  It was
perfectly well known in Washington that I was going with the
army, and I presume Mr. Stanton, if he had any curiosity
about sud~ a trifling matter, must have heard it also.  I am
told he was informed of it at~the ]ast moment, and then flew
out into a coarse passion against General McClellan be can se
l~e had dared to invite or to take any one without l~is pern0is  ~ion.  What did a Republican General want with foi~eign
princes on his staff; or with foreign newspaper correspondents
to puff him up abroad?
Judging from the stealthy, secret way in which Mr. Stanton
struck at General McClellan the instant he had turned his
back upon Washington, and crippled him in the field by sud  denly withdrawing his best division without a word of notice,
I am inclined to fear lie gratifled whatever small passion dic  tated his course on this occasion also, by Waiting till he knew
I was fairly on board the steamer with my friends and bag  gage, just ready to move off; before he sent down a despatch
to Van Vliet and summoned him at once to the War Office.
When Van Vliet returned in a couple of hours, he made the
communication to me that Mr. Stanton had given him written
orders to prevent my passage, though even here he acted with
~ all the cunning and indirection of the village attorney, not
with the straightforwardness of Oliver Cromwell, whom it is
laughable to name in the same breath with his imitator.  He
did not write, " Mr. Russell is not to go," or " The` Times
correspondent is forbidden a passage," but he composed two
orders, with all the official formula of the War Office, drawn
up by the Quartermaster General of the army, by the direc  tion and order of the Se~etary of War.  No. 1 ordered "that
no person should be permitted to embark on board any vessel
in the United States service without an order from the War
Department."  No. 2 ordei~d "that Colonel Neville, Colonel
Fletcher, and Captain Lamy, of the British army, having
been invited by General McClellan to accompany the expedi  tion, were authorized tG embark on board the vessel."
General Van Yliet assured me that he and General
McDowell had urged every argument they could think of
in my favor, particulady the fact that I was the specially
invited guest of General McClellan, and that I was actually
provided with a pass by his order from the chief of his staff.
 
600        MY DIARY NORTll AND SOUTH.
With these orders before me, I had no alternative.
General McClellan was far away.  Mr. Stanton had waited
again until he was gone.  General Marcy was away.  I laid
the statement of what had occurred before the President, who
at first gave me hopes, fiom the wording of his letter, that he
would overrule Mr. Stanton's order, but who next day informed me he could not take it upon himself to do so.
It was plain I had now but one course left.  My mission in
the United States was to describe military events and operations, or, in defect of them, to deal with such subjects as might
be interesting to people at home.  In the dischar~e of my
duty, I had visited the South, remaining there uiitil the npproach of actual operations and the establishment of the
blockade, which cut off all communication from the Southern
States except by routes which would deprive my correspondence of any value, compelled me to return to the North, where I
could keep up regular communication with Europe.  Soon after
my return, as unfortunately for myself as the United States,
the Federal troops were repulsed in an attempt to march upon
Richmond, and terminated a disorderly retreat by a disgraceful panic.  The whole in ci dents of what I saw were fairly
stated by an impartial witness, who, if anything, was inclined
to favor a nation endeavoring to suppress a rebellion, and who
was by no means impressed, as the results of his recent tour,
with the admiration and respect for the people of the Confed- ~
erate States which their enormous sacrifices, extraordinary
gallantry, and almost unparalleled devotion, have long since
extorted from him in common with all the woad~ The letter
in which that account was given came back to America after
the first bitterness and humiliation of defeat had passed, and
disappointment and alarm had been succeeded by sud~ a formidable outburst of popular resolve, that the North forgot
everything in the instant anticipations of a glorious and triumphant revenge.
Every feeling of the Amencan was hurt   above all, his
v.~aity and his pride, by the manner in which the account of
the reverse had been received in Europe; and men whom I
scorned too deeply to reply to, dexterously took occasion to direct on my head the full storm of popular indignation.  Not,
indeed, that I had escaped before.  Ere a line from my pea
reached America at all - ere my first letter had crossed tlie
Atlantic to England - the jealousy and hatred felt for all
things British - for press or principle, or representative of 
MY MISSION ENDED.             601
either - had found expression in Northern journals; but that
I was prepared for.  I knew well no foreigner had ever
penned a line - least of all, no Englishman - concerning the
United States of North America, their people, manners, and
institutions, who had not been treated to the abuse which is
supposed by their journalists to mean enticism, no matter
what the justness or moderation of tlie views expressed, the
sincerity of purpose, and the truthfulness of the writer.  In'
the SouH~, the press threatened me with tar'and feathers, because I did not see die beauties of their domestic institution,
and wrote of it in my letters to England exactly as I spoke
of it to every one who conversed with me on the subject when
I was amongst them; and now the Northern papers recommended expulsion, ducking, riding rails, and other cognate
modes of insuring a moral conviction of error; endeavored to
intimidate me by threats of duels or personal castigation s:
gratified their malignity by ludicrous stories of imaginary
affronts or annoyances to which I never was exposed; and
sought to prevent the authorities extending any protection towards me, and to intimidate officers from showing me any civilities.
In pursuance of my firm resolution I allowed the slanders
and misrepresentations which poured from their facile sources
for months to pass by unheeded, aad trusted to the calmer
sense of the people, and to the discrimination of those who
thought over the sentiments expressed in my letters, to do me
justice.
I need not enlarge on the dangers to which I was exposed.
Those who are acquainted with America, and know the life
of the great cities, will best appreciate the position of a man
who went forth daily in the camps and streets holding his life
in his hand.  This expression of egotism is all I shall ask indulgence for. Nothing could have induced me to abandon my
post or to recoil before my assailants; but at last a power 1
could not resist struck me down. ~Yhen to il~e press and populace of the United States, the President and the Government
of Washington added their power, resistance would be unwise
and impractieable.  In no camp could I have been received
- ra no place useful.  I went to America to witness and describe the operations of the great army before N\Tashington in
the field, and when I was forbidden by the proper authorities
to do so, my mission terminated at once.
On the evening of April 4th, as soon as I was in receipt
26 
602       MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
of the President's last communication, I telegraphed to New
York to enga~e a passage by the steamer which left on the
following N\Tednesday.  Next day was devoted to packing up
and to taking leave of my friends - English and American -
~vhose kindnesses I shall remember in my heart of hearts, and
the following Monday I left ~Yashington, of which, after all,
I shall retain many pleasant memories and keep so~venirs
green forever. I arrived in New York late on Tuesday evening, and next day I saw the shores receding into a dim gray
fog, and ere the night fell was tossing about once more on
the stormy Atlantic, with the head of our good ship pointing,
thank Heaven, towards Europe.
TIlE END.