AMERICA
BEFORE EUROPE.
PRINCIPLES AND INTERESTS.
BY
COUNT AGENOR DE GASPARIN.
TRANSLATED FROM ADVANCE SIIEETS, BY
AMARY L. BOOTH.
THIRD EDITION.
NEW YORK:
CHARLES SCRIBNER, 124 GRAND STREET.
1862.




Entered, according to act of Congress, in the year 1862, by
CIIARLES SCRIIBNER,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern
District of New York.
JOHN F. TROW,
PRINTER, STEREOTYPER, AND ELECTROTYPER,
48 & 50 Greene Str
New York.




PREFACE.
MY first work on the United States awaited its comple.
tion; what I had affirmed before events, it was important
to establish afterward; the demonstration a posteriori
was to finish what had been begun by the argument 4
priori.
Few books have passed through such an ordeal as
has been endured by my Uprising of a Great People.
Whether it has stood the test well or ill, is not for me to
say.  Has the crisis which we are witnessing the character of an uprising? The reader will judge.
The encouragement which has come to me from
America, and for which I can never show myself sufficiently grateful, has had something to do with my resolution to write this new volume.* It seems to me, as to
those who have addressed me so many kind invitations,
* I owe thanks to those persons from whom I have been continually
in the receipt of information of all kinds. I have been particularly gratified with the collection of official documents which the Secretary of
State, Mr. Seward, has had the kindness to send me.




iv,                   PREFACE.
that the time has come to treat the question in the European point of view. It is at the moment when the issue
of the conflict is still uncertain that it is important to set
forth the principles which it involves; later, whether successful or disastrous, the fact alone will appear, the right
will be forgotten.
Thank God! the truth of the study which I publish does
not depend on events; it does not place me under the necessity of being right in case of success, and wrong in case
of disaster. Through changing things, I seek that which
will endure.  MIy theories will subsist, whatever may be
the result ofthe campaign in Virginia and Tennessee.
Woe to us when we make up our mind to suit the
calculation of probabilities, when we ask, "1 Which will
prevail? " instead of asking, "Which is right? " It does
not depend on us to succeed, but to obey.  "Do what
thou ought," is the true maxim; I know none more
luminous, either in politics or elsewhere.  And mark
that obedience to duty is the highway to success; our
principles, in fine, are the best guardians of our interests.
I have always liked the method which, in the entangled affairs of earth, puts aside what is accidental to cling
to what is substantial and. durable, which evolves nothing but what is true in itself, and must remain true,
whatever may be said, may be done, or may happen.
When, to.day, after a long and suffering year,* I cast
* To-day, the 4th of 3farch, as I finish this volume and put it to
press, a year has just been completed since Mr. Lincoln took possession
of the Presidency.




PREFACE.                     V
my eyes'backward, I see the soil strewn with prophecies; those foretelling easy triumphs have fallen by the
side of those foretelling irreparable defeats. Able men
have not ceased to tell us, "All is lost," until the precise
moment when with the same assurance (and the same
infallibility) they have begun to say to us, " All is saved!"
I wrote my first pages to the sound of death warrants
pronounced universally against the United States; I have
just written the last to the sound of the acclamations of
those who think that the United States will soon be out
of the affair, and that there will be nothing difficult left
for them to accomplish.
Convinced that the troubled sea is not calmed in an
hour; knowing, too, that external triumph is of no value if
it be not also triumphant in the region of ideas, I have
not hesitated to continue my work. For ourselves, as
well as for America, it is important to dissipate certain
errors which have too long prevailed in Europe, and
which, we may say, still prevail there. Let no one deceive
himself; the thought of meddling in the American quarrel is by no means so fully abandoned as it seems; if decisive successes be long in coming, if the sufferings of our
manufactures become aggravated, if the Mexican expedition produce irritation, the peril will be grave anew.'There are more men in Europe than are imagined who
at heart desire the weakening and parcelling out of the
United States, and who would not fear, should opportunity offer, to encourage the resistance of the South, and
contribute to the prolongation of the civil war by mani



Vi                   PREFACE.
festing the conviction that the separation (that is, the
Southern programme) must necessarily prevail. How
combat these always persistent and menacing errors?
By.enlightening minds, by treating of questions little understood, by recalling imperfectly known facts. Public
opinion is our force; it has sufficed, it will suffice.
We have vast interests in America; the American
crisis has aspects which have not been sufficiently remarked; it affects us everywhere, through the United
States and through MIexico, through present and future
complications. The question is not only to sound there
those destinies of democracy which have fixed the attention of our political philosophers since De Tocqueville;
other problems no less grave are implicated in the discussion. I have endeavored to examine them on the way.
Whether the United States prevail decidedly, or su-fer
new reverses, whether Europe repudiate irrevocably the
tendencies which had so nearly won her over, or again
experience in a few months the temptation to intervene,
it will be by no means useless for us to take account of
the faults of the past, which may be, let us beware! the
dangers of the future.
I have twice undertaken this work. On learning of
the Trent affair, I threw my MIS. in the fire; I have since
recommenced it with firmer assurance. Have we not seen
with our own eyes the power that is at our disposal? At
the first cry of alarm uttered by the public conscience,
have not evil passions and lying interests recoiled? Courage! they will again recoil. In proportion as the char



PREFACE.                    Vii
acter of the American struggle is better manifested, the
sympathies of the Old World will be better called forth.
I think with Seneca that " it is not the storm but the
nausea that wearies us."  What wearied us in America
was the spectacle of ignoble discussions, the progressive
debasement of a people tossing about without advancing.
But since it has advanced, even in the midst of the hurricane, our moral lassitude has ceased.
America will escape the storms which have assailed it.
It has been granted me to encourage it at the dark hour
of peril and abandonment; should it be granted me now
to win its welcome to counsels offered by a sincere friend,
I should consider this second privilege still more precious
than the first.
Au RIAcGE, March 4, 1862.








CONTENTS.
PART FIRST.
EUROPE AND THE AMERICAN CRISIS-A CONSCIENTIOUS
EXAMINATION.
PAGE
CHAP..I. The Attitude of Europe,.....   1
II. What should have been the Attitude of Europe,.  19
III. How the Attitude of Europe is to be explained,.  26
IV. Belligerents and Neutrality,....  42
V. Blockades,.                                   63
VI. Conclusion of the First Part,....  82
PART SECOND.
ENGLAND.
CIIAP.  I. Two Nations in England,...  90
II. Conduct of England,.... 101
III. True Motives of the Conduct of England,.. 122
IV. The Trent,..     -... 129




X                           CONTENTS.
PART THIRD.
ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
PAGE
CHAP.  I. Slavery is not really in question,.... 159
II. We are, before all, to avoid Civil War,... 205
III. The South had a right to secede,... 211
IV. The South, though conquered, will not be brought back
to the Union,...... 235
V. The South will not be conquered,... 261
PART FOURTH.
THE INTERESTS OF EUROPE IN AMERICA.
CHAP.  I. Europe in America,..... 299
II. Return to the old Colonial Policy,... 306
III. Influence of Spain,..... 310
IV. St. Domingo and Mexico,..... 314
PART FIFTH.
TO   AMERICANS.
CHAP.  I. Crisis of the Uprising,..... 323
II. Maintenance of Free Institutions,... 337
III. Abolition of Slavery,..... 347
IV. Greatness of the Future,..... 367
PART SIXTH.
TO CHRISTIANS.
CHAP.  I. Attitude of Christians in America,. 381
II. Attitude of Christians in England,... 394
III. Social Mission of Christians,... 399




CONTENTS.                             xi
PAGE
GENERAL CONCLUSION,... 405
I)OCUMENTARY EVIDENCE.
I. Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams,...... 411
II. Mr. Seward to Mir. Dayton,.... 413
III. Mir. Seward to Mr. Adams,.....        416
IV. IMr. Black's Circular,.....        416
"V. On the Mexican Expedition,.... 419








AMERICA IN THE SIGHT OF EUROPE.
PART FIRST.
EUROPE AND THE AMERICAN  CRISIS.
CHAPTER  I.
THE ATTITUDE OF EUROPE.
WHEN, last 5March, I pointed out without hesitation to
the sympathies of men of heart, the uprising of a great
people, I was not yielding to the absurd fancy of propounding a paradox, but obeying the need of proclaim.
ing a great and serious truth; of proclaiming it at the
very hour when it was about to be almost universally
misunderstood.  The lovers of paradoxes seldom seek
after negro emancipation; to maintain that slavery has
its good sides, to take in hand the cause of the South,
to chafe at the common places of philanthropists and
Christians, makes a fine show-all the piquant theories
are found on this side.
When, later, I published the second edition of my
book, the time seemed ill-chosen to persevere in my optimism.  There had ceased to be but one opinion on the
desperate condition of the United States. Their armies
had been defeated, their capital was menaced; we heard
of nothing but the lack of discipline of the troops, the in



2        EUROPE AND THE AMIERICAN CRISIS.
capacity of the Government, and the waste of the public
funds; riots were predicted in the large cities; the ques.
tion of slavery seemed ready to shatter in a thousand
pieces the momentary unanimity of the North; lastly,
winter was approaching, we were about to enter upon
those terrible six months, from December to June, which
had always been designated as destined to bring some
sort of a European intervention in favor of the South.
I had then to ask myself whether my first thought had
not been an illusion, and whether events had not given
me the lie. It was the time to beat a prudent retreat, or
at least to confess that the unexpected turn of the crisis
had weakened my hopes. But the fact was that my hopes
were not weakened; aside from Europe, where the manufacturing interest was beginning to clamor loudly, and a
storm was visibly forming, no legitimate cause of discouragement presented itself to my mind. I have the
weakness to believe in the final success of good causes, in
spite of their passing decay. I know of something here
below that is stronger than armies. I know of Some One
on high whose blessing signifies more than the sympathies
of great powers. Such was the reason of my obstinacy,
which was inscribed in most unequivocal terms in the preface to the new edition. After proving that Europe had
become the only serious danger to America, I concluded
in this wise: "For the present, I have only sought to repeat with a strengthened conviction, what I said a few
months ago; then I believed in the uprising of a great
people, now I am sure of it."
If I refer to these precedents, it is not because I take
delight in speaking of myself; on the contrary, I abhor it,
and hope never to revert to the subject; neither is it
because I pretend to set myself up as a prophet, but because of the imptarce o.f.establishing the fundamental




TIHE ATTITUDE OF EUROPE.              3
theory which I advocate as a deliberate opinion, adopted after mature reflection, and maintained before and
after the occurrence of events.
Of the two great crises which the uprising of the
United States had to encounter in the beginning,
one, the American crisis, is already left behind; its
greatest difficulties are surmounted, as I shall have no
trouble to prove., The other, the European crisis, is
not yet at an end; far from it, although the incidents of
the Trent, which was near destroying every thing, may
have furnished the means of safety by casting a sudden
and beneficent light upon the dangerous complicated
positions caused by misunderstandings.
It is, therefore, most of all in Europe, and for Europe,
that the American question should be studied to-day.
Europe has just made a sad campaign. We had thought
ourselves justified in saying, without exaggerating its
chivalrous sentiments, that the cause of the South would
excite in it a hearty indignation; that this rebellion
in favor of slavery would meet naught but anathemas
among us; that the nineteenth century would not suffer
this single occasion to be lost of seconding otherwise than
by words the most glorious work of modern times. We
were mistaken; the narrow policy too often prevails over
the broad. Instead of entering frankly into the path of
large sympathies, instead of encouraging, instead of believing in good, which is one of the surest means of doing
it, Europe has chosen rather to be suspicious, to find
fault, to recall old grievances, to gather up new complaints, to treat, in fine, as an enemy or a suspected power,
this youthful Government, s'prung from a generous reaction against injustice, and charged with pursuing its redressal. It was first necessary to love it, in order to




4         EUROPE AND THE AMERICAN CRISIS.
counsel it, and to aid it to become better. Supported by
us, it would have proceeded without hindrance to its end;
not to immediate abolition, as has been pretended, but to
certain abolition, through the growing preponderance of
the North, through the abrogation of odious laws,
through the inevitable and progressive suppression of
slavery, confined within a continually narrowing circle.
On the day that it was decided that it should no longer
increase, slavery would have begun to die, yet it would
not have died a death of violence —gently, tranquilly,
by pacific and Christian means, the redoubtable problem
would have been resolved, for the common safety of the
North and the South, the whites and the blacks.
We did not desire this. To desire it would have
been to quit the beaten track and depart from the precepts of false policy. A most impolitic policy in any
case; for, to speak only of our material interests, it has
endowed us with the civil war which is desolating America, ruining the cotton production, and calling forth
sufferings in our Old World which will go on increasing.
If the South had known in advance that it could not
count on us, it is not probable that it would have attempted an insurrection. At all events, this would not have
been of long duration. It deludes itself less than people
imagine; it knows the strength of the national Government, and is not ignorant that resources will ere long be
lacking to the insurrectional government at Richmond.
Even its victories have never given it the audacity to
take a single step in advance-its plan is to secure time
for Europe to intervene.  Europe needs its cotton,
Europe is at its mercy, Europe is about to aid and recognize it, Europe will seize on the first pretext that offers;
she will break the blockade and impose peace. Take away
these convictions from the South and you will cause the




TIlE ATTITUDE OF IEUROPE.            5
weapons to fall from their hands. Suppose Europe, for a
moment, not to exist, and America to be a duelling ground
in which no one can interfere, and you can no longer
imagine possible a continuance of the struggle.
Four months will suffice for the reduction of the
South, from the day that it shall have ceased to count on
Europe. It is said that MIr. Seward has more than once
expressed this conviction. I believe it to be well founded, as well founded as that noble complaint in the last
message of Mr. Lincoln: "Every nation distracted by
civil war must expect to be treated without consideration
by foreign powers."
What is it, then, that has gone wrong among us?
Simply that we have been lacking in youth of heart. Instead of asking on which side were justice and liberty,
we have hastened to ask on which side were our interests, then too on which side were the best chances of
success. It seemed to us that this rebellion without a
pretext was not without a future. From this we had not
to go far to find in it some appearance of right. And
thus it is that, after having protested for the acquittal of
our conscience against the " crime of slavery," after having declared (the thing is granted) that slavery is de.
tested by those who, moroever, never fail to serve it, we
have refused to the generous impulse of the North that
spontaneous, cordial, and, as it were, naive support which
would have decided all questions on the spot.
I have long beei acquainted with those declamations
against slavery which never end in any manly action, and
I know them for what they are worth. The orators who
labored to maintain slavery in our colonies, all commenced by an almost abolition profession of faith; and
later still, at the time of the importation of free negroes




6        EUROPE AND THE AMERICAN CRISIS.
from the coast of Africa, which was finally ended by the
letter of the emperor, the writers who advocated the
measure scarcely ever failed to begin by stigmatizing the
slave trade. Was this hypocrisy'?  No.  The absence
of strong convictions suffices for its explanation. Men
would be glad for slavery to disappear; they hope that
it will disappear; it will do so by itself if no one meddles
with it. It is by such reasoning that interests constantly
gain the victory over principles.
Now, interests always stand in the way of principles;
the question is to override them. God wishes progress
to cost us something.  It is true that it will some
day bring back much more than it has cost; but in the
mean time it has its costs, and we are forced to begin
with the sacrifice. Were it otherwise, duty would be too
easy.
Here, the sacrifice to be made is more apparent than
real. No matter, the appearance is enough, as the movements of our manufacturing towns have proved for some
months past. In France, as in England, have there not
been moments when they have taken the rebellion of the
South under their protection? Have they not urged the
recognition of the South? Have they not demanded the
suppression off the blockade?
In France, as in England, public opinion has bent more
or less to the same side. There have been noble exceptions, I know, and they are becoming less rare; nevertheless, taking facts as a whole, we are forced to admit
that the government of Mr. Lincoln has not met the
sympathetic support among us on which it seemed to have
a right to count.
I must seek with care for the causes of this coldness.
By the side of interests imperfectly understood, we find
errors systematically propagated, which have succeeded




THE ATTITUDE OF EUROPE.            4
in gaining acceptance in Europe, and which it is high time
to refute. Have we not been persuaded, or very nearly
so, that slavery had nothing to do with the quarrel of the
North and South? Have we not been made to believe
that the South, in seceding, availed itself of its right?
Has not the impossibility of conquering the South been
raised to the rank of an axiom? Has not that been determined on the spot in the name of Europe, which America alone is in the position to decide; namely, that the
South, even though conquered, cannot be brought back td
the Union?
I do not misunderstand, as will be presently seen, the
complex character of this last question. Neither do I
misunderstand the importance of the interests which rest
upon the policy of governments. Do those who speak in
ironical terms of calico and cotton forget that behind cotton are men, women, and children-miseries already great,
and which will go on increasing? Do they comprehend
the significance of the words-deficiency of raw material,
restriction of markets, stoppage of manufactories, discharge of workmen, diminution of wages? As for me,
I hope that the feeling of the rights of the negro will
never make me close my eyes to the sufferings of the
white man. These sufferings, I may say, have not ceased
to weigh for a year past upon my saddened imagination,
and not the least evil, in my eyes, of the attitude adopted
by Europe, is that of having prolonged the manufacturing
and commercial crisis by avoiding to discourage the rebellion.
One would have said that Europe leaped with joy at
the thought of rending the United States in twain. From
the first moment, she seemed to cling to this idea and to
be unwilling to renounce it. That the scheme may per



8        EUROPE AND THE AMERICAN CRISIS.
haps be realized, I have no wish to deny. MIen who fear a
republic of a hundred million men may be tranquil; whatever is too large must necessarily fall apart. Those who
fear that a portion of the country may be maintained in the
Union by force alone may reassure themselves; a territory
representing in surface one-half of the United States will
not be kept garrisoned; if the Southern people really wish
to separate, their wishes, expressed in a legitimate manner, will not fail to prevail, and this for the excellent reasdn that no person in the world would succeed in oppos.
ing them. But these are not the questions which the
present crisis has put to us Europeans. When a fiiendly
government, attacked against all right, attacked in the
name of an odious principle, fulfils the simplest of its duties in suppressing the revolt, the only question raised is
this: "' Shall right prevail over injustice, and liberty over
slavery? " Later, I repeat, after the suppression of the
reign of terror which rules in a portion of the South, it
will be time for free America to examine whether the
tendencies which prevail in some of the States do not
constitute, in default of a right, a sort of political necessity to which political wisdom should know how to submit.
For my part, I have no opinion to give; although
I have followed the progress of ideas and facts, in the
South as in the North, with all the attention of which I
am capable, I cannot say in what measure the wish to set
itself apart will subsist in the future, when the South shall
have laid down its arms; when it shall know that Europe
detests its flag; when it shall have learned to comprehend
that the ruin of its cultures, begun by war, will be completed by isolation; when it shall have likewise learned to
comprehend that its slavery cannot long survive in any
case; when it shall have again beheld the ancient nation



THE AlTTITUDE OF EUROPE.              9
al colors, the Stars and Stripes; when it shall have found
itself again in contact with brothers in country, religion,
and blood; when it shall have been called to resume its
place and part in those institutions which are an instrument of union because they are an instrument of equality,
in those institutions which neither recognize nor create
any but citizens, and which know no subjects, so that the
vanquished of yesterday finds himself the equal of his
victor.
As things stand now, to settle the question of separation as has been done, needs either a clairvoyance which
I do not possess, a rare indifference with respect to slavery, or a hatred of America which seizes on the first occasion to satisfy its longings. There are some minds, enlightened in all else, upon which America produces the
effect of a nightmare; they ask to be rid of it at any
price; what wounds them  in it is not only the real and
serious evil which appears therein under various forms,
but also, and perhaps chiefly, the good, the brilliant, the
superior sides of the United States-that energetic Christianity, those self-sustaining churches, that absence of administrative tutelage and centralization, that individual
liberty, those small armies and small expenditures (I
speak of the American ideal, changed for the moment,
but which will, I hope, soon return) which are the astonishment and sometimes the scandal of the Old World.
The fact is that from the first instant we decided mstinctively, and in some sort authoritatively, that the separation was definitive, that the South would attain its end,
and that there must be henceforth two rival republics.
This decree rendered in Europe, can alone explain the
constant misunderstanding which has existed during a
whole year between us and America. On taking it into
account, every thing becomes clear-our obstinate refusal
1*




1 9       EUROPE AND THE AMERICAN CRISIS.
to believe in the moral character of the struggle, our
haste to admit the superiority of the South, our incredulity with respect to the success or the resources of the
North, our impatience at a war which we deemed useless,
our injustice toward 31r. Lincoln's government, our disposition to see belligerents where there were only rebels,
to transform our position as friendly into that of neutral
powers, and to seek occasion in an incident like that of
the Trent, or in the practical difficulties of the blockade,
to end the crisis and officially recognize the new Confederacy. In the face of such a tendency, (and on looking at
the general outlines of our conduct in America I do not
see how it can be contested,) no one can be surprised
either at the claims or complaints with which the diplomatic correspondence of the cabinet at Washington is
filled, or at what is called thle spleen of IMr. Seward.
One might be sad for less cause. To meet in its path
a decision of this kind at the very moment when it
counted on the warmest sympathies, when it was putting its hand to one of the most difficult and most glorious works that it was possible for a people to undertake, the reaction against the democratic party and the
extension of slavery, to see its friends transformed at
once into neutrals, and the rebellion of a day pass at a
bound into the rank of governments defacto —we must
admit that this was sufficient to sadden a nation.
Europe commenced by discouraging Mr. Lincoln when,
after the attack on Fort Sumter, he took the resolution
to suppress the rebellion. One might have said that he
was almost wanting in his duty in replying with bullets
to the bullets fired at the national flag.
Then, the war once begun, we predicted the rapid
and decisive success of the insurrection. The ministers




THE ATTITUDE OF EUROPE.            11
of Mr. Buchanan had arranged matters so well that the
national government had neither army nor money, whilst
the government at Montgomery lacked for nothing. The
capital was exposed, Baltimore was in insurrection, Virginia and Maryland were ready to facilitate the progress
of the rebels. It was foretold that the affair would be
ended in a few days. The master of Washington, Jefferson Davis would be in a position to dictate terms,
which would be no other than the final separation of the
North and South. Proposed in this wise, it would be
accepted by Mr. Lincoln, and ratified by Europe-happy
to recognize the new Confederacy and prevent a crisis
direful to the whole world.
Nevertheless, affairs changed face. In spite of our
prophecies, Jefferson Davis did not take possession of the
capital. The patriotism of the North silenced its divisions; unanimous, energetic, it recoiled before no sacrifice; in a few days it improvised its first volunteer regiments; each family gave a child; astonished Maryland saw
herself invaded by the North instead of the South; Baltimore endeavored vainly to block up the way; the capital was saved, and the champions of slavery lost one of
their chances of success-that given it by the surprise of
the beginning, the momentary superiority of the South,
and the extreme embarrassment of a government which
combined treasons in advance had delivered disarmed into the hands of its enemies. Since then, the South has
lost other chances, but this was assuredly the best of all.
It was an hour for victory which will never again be
found; it seemed to re-appear after the battle of Bull
Run, but was turned to no better account; it is improbable that it will ever return.
The question was to maintain the confidence of the
rebels. Daring no longer to affirm their approaching




12       EUROPE AND TiIE AMERICAN CRISIS.
triumph, they confined themselves to affirming their invincibility. They renounced the pretension of dictating
terms to the North, but defied the North to dictate
terms to them. It was to be, as it were, an endless game
of chess, without either winners or losers. Now, as such
games cannot be played without injury to the whole
world, why should not Europe determine to put an end
to it, both for its own interest and for that of America?
Thenceforth, the idea of European intervention gained
credit, and gave certainty to the ringleaders at 3Iontgomery that, sooner or later, provided they succeeded
in maintaining themselves, they would see decisive aid
come to them from  across the seas.  3ediation was
talked of, recognition was talked of, indignation was excited against Mr. Lincoln's government for rabidly attempting impossibilities.
How often has it been demonstrated to us that the
South could never be conquered, much less subjugated
and brought back into the Union! The South was unanimous, the North was divided! The South was ruled by
men of genius, the destinies of the North were confided
to incapable hands! The slave labor was secure, riots of
workmen thrown out of employment were about to break
out in New York and Philadelphia! The army of Beauregard was admirable; on the other side of the Potomac,
there was nothing but lack of discipline, cowardice, and
impotence, and enlistments would soon become impracticable! And the constant conclusion of this veracious information was this: The inaction of Europe is about to
cease, France and England will accomplish the duty imposed on them by the necessities of their manufactures
and commerce, and will break the blockade, while awaiting the fitting time to proclaim recognition.
I do not accuse European governments of having held




THE ATTITUDE OF EUROPE.            13
or authorized this language; many projects are doubtless
attributed to them of which they are innocent. I accuse
ourselves, the people of the Old World, who, for lack of
enthusiasm, have failed to impose silence on evil designs.
In the face of the unanimous manifestation of our sympathies for the North, the tendencies which I point out
would not have dared show themselves, or at all events
would not have acquired the extended influence which
they now possess; there would not have been so many
voices to say to the champions of slavery: "Stand firm,
we are about to come to your aid. Stand firm, give us
time to triumph over a few old prejudices by whieh
we are still hampered. Stand firm, i. will elude the
blockade. Stand firm, we will demand cotton. Stand
firm, we will impose our mediation. Stand firm, we will
not let you be crushed; we will not suffer you to be
brought back into the Union; if any favorable incident
offers, we will avail ourselves of it to interfere in your
affairs, to recognize your independence, and to impose
peace on your enemies."
This is not the language of a few men, a few intriguers
in the pay of the South; it is, I confess with grief and humiliation, a sort' of public opinion that has taken form
among us, if not in favor of the South, (I do not wish to
exaggerate,) at least in favor of the success of its plans.
There are many honorable men who second the movement without measuring its scope; the question with
them is only to put an end in one way or another to a
bloody and ruinous war. Perhaps they have arrived at
the conviction, which may seem indeed tenable, that the
separation is at present a fact to be accepted by wisdom
and political moderation, after having shown that it is by
no means admitted as a right. They do not see that such
questions should be resolved in America and nowhere




14       EUROPE AND THE AMERICAN CRISIS.
else; that to impose the separation in the name of Europe
is to sanction it on the score of right, to cast aside principles, to say to interests, "' Reign alone!"  This rebellion
has not even the merit of being a successful one, since it
has won no decisive victory, and the real struggle has
scarcely commenced. This rebellion has no other claim
to favor, than the audacity with which, in the midst of
the nineteenth century, it has inscribed the motto of slavery upon its banner. This rebellion has boasted that it
would force us to an adjustment, and compel us, willing
or unwilling, to range ourselves on the side of the cotton
merchants and slave dealers. Now, what it proposed, it
executes, and what it hoped for, it obtains. Docile Europe
comes to its aid at the proper time; we demonstrate to
ourselves that it is right, and not content with believing
so ourselves, find it quite natural to ask Mr. Lincoln to
think so likewise. Is not this, step by step, what is passing before our eyes?
I hope that we shall not continue to the end. I hope
this above all, let me repeat again, since the affair of the
Trent, which, in bringing us to the brink of the abyss,
forced us to measure its depth. On seeing herself so near
to drawing the sword for slavery, Europe could not help
shrinking back in consternation. She comprehended that
terrible wars might lurk behind this great love of peace,
and that, in attempting to put an end to the quarrels
of the United States, we run the risk of kindling in the
present, or laying up for the future, unnatural quarrels between the United States and ourselves. Slumbering sympathies began finally to awaken, Christians and Abolitionists saw the path into which they were to be forced without their knowledge. It may be, therefore, that after
having had victory almost within reach on the day of
the arrest of Mason and Slidell, the partisans of South.




THE ATTITUDE OF EUIROPE.            15
ern recognition will henceforth find themselves thrown far
back from the end which they are seeking to attain.
Let us beware, notwithstanding; they still have great
influence, of which I ask no other proof than the astonishment, I might say scandal, excited among us, on hearing the Southerners called rebels. WVe, Frenchmen and
Englishmen, who have never hesitated to qualify an insurrection in Ireland or La Vendee, much more in Algeria
or India, as a rebellion, suddenly change our principles
when Americans are in question.
We have invented for their use a complete political
theory, the first article of which is liberty of dismemberment. At the very moment when this friendly people, in
the plenitude of its right, declared that it would admit
of no separation, we almost decided that it was at once
legitimate in itself, necessary to Europe, and beyond the
possibility of suppression. To foresee events, is in part to
create them; and nothing has better aided the South, than
the prediction of its final triumph.
In other terms, we have until recently conceded every
thing to the South-fact and right. This is what we
have called taking sides with no one! If I belonged to
the South, I should ask nothing more, well knowing recognition and intervention to be the inevitable conclusion
of these premises, which we must necessarily soon reach,
if we go on in the same way. Who would have believed,
on the day when the banner of Charleston was unfurled
for slavery, and when the indignation of the Old World
burst forth on every side —who would have said, that at
the end of a few months we would come to admit all the
theses of the South, without excepting a single one-the
legality of its secession, its immediate transformation from
a rebel into a belligerent, our moral neutrality between
the United States and the insurgents, the forgetfulness




16       EUROPE AND THE AMERICAN CRISIS.
of the infamous cause defended by the latter, the conviction of their final success, the condemnation of the repressive measures directed against them, beginning with the
blockade intended for their reduction? From the moment
that we began to wish for the separation, we aided it-that is
certain. Shall our assistance become effective and direct?
Shall we leap over the interval which still separates us
from official recognition and intervention? This depends
on the movement of public opinion which the affair of the
Trent has just called forth. If it acquire the proportions
of a true moral awakening, if the opposition which Lord
Palmerston and the Morning Post have just encountered
in their path spread more and more, if the party in sympathy with the United States and liberty complete its
uprising, the old traditionsof hatred inherited firom George
III. and Chatham, must resign themselves to return to
the shades.
However this may be, it is evident that the real centre
of the American question is to be found now in Europe:
it is at Paris and London, not at Washington and Richmond, that the essential resolutions are taken on which depend the future of the United States. This is a serious
reason that we should watch over ourselves, for our
responsibility here is immense. I shudder when I think
with what lightness we amuse ourselves by carving up
America. There will be two Confederacies, or rather
three —that of the North, the South, and the West!
Such are the speeches that we carelessly throw out! How
do we know that our witticisms may not become weapons
in the hands of the champions of slavery-in the hands of
the enemies of all the causes that we hold most dear!
It will be found at a given time that, to discourage
good and encourage evil, a great political crime will be
attempted; the idea of an impious war with the United




THE ATTITUDE OF EUROPE.           17
States, a war made to add to their generous sufferings, a
war in which Europe risks, appearing supported by the
fiiends of slavery, will gain acceptance. The first energetic act of the Old World, its first message to the New,
will be an ultimatum. Such is the support which we
will lend it at the darkest, the most glorious hour of its
history, and Europe will be the sender of this message.
Europe. My readers will understand why I have
adopted this collective term. There has been a European
policy in opposition to that of' America. Despite the differences which have sometimes succeeded in gaining
ground between our policy, for instance, and that of
England, unity has always triumphed, and the two governments have continued to go on together. As to the
other powers, if we except Russia, which has adopted an
independent and sympathetic course toward the United
States, they have hitherto appeared to consider England
and France as their natural representatives in this crisis.
England, upon the whole, has had the chief part and the
chief responsibility; through the ties of every kind which
unite her to America, through the importance of her navy,
through her enormous consumption of American cotton,
and still more, perhaps, through the special competency
conferred upon her by the services which she has rendered
to the emancipation of the negroes, she was evidently
more deeply interested and implicated in the conflict of thel
North and South than any other nation. Her resolutions
should have and have had a preponderating influence.
It will be proper, consequently, to examine them more
closely, and to this duty I devote the second part of my
work.
Meanwhile, I take a more general standpoint, which
is also true. In speaking of Europe, without particular



18        EUROPE AND) TIIIE  MERICAN CRISIS.
izing France and England, I gain the advantage of warding off many complicated and actually insoluble questions.
I need no longer ask whether it has been England or
France that has sought to ensure the triumph of a system
having the recognition of the South for its end, and the
inefficiency of the blockade for its means. We accuse the
English, the English accuse us in turn. In default of official documents, it is impossible to decide with certainty
which is right. I prefer to believe, till proofs are furnished to the contrary, that neither is right. It seems to me
more probable that public opinion has had a great share
in the evil with which governments are unjustly charged.
The real criminals, once again, are ourselves, the whole
world, European ideas, which, instead of openly taking the
part of the North, have let themselves be persuaded to
adopt the theories of Charleston, and to proclaim the secession of the Slave States as lawful, beneficial, and final.




CHAPTER II.
WVHAT OUGHT TO HAVE BEEN TIIE ATTITUDE OF EUROPE.
" IT is well to distrust first impulses." This motto of
Prince Talleyrand seems to have been our watchword
during the past year. The first impulse of Europe was
warmly in favor of the North; its right, at least, was
doubted by no one. We could not comprehend the new
greatness which was promised it, but thought rather of
the sufferings of the crisis in which the uprising must
end; but that the cause of the North was just, that the
election of Mlr. Lincoln was a great national act, that the
human conscience was relieved of a weight that had oppressed it, that iniquity was struck with death, we did
not then dream of contesting. Since that time, we have
distrusted ourselves; able men have taken it upon themselves to instruct us; our convictions have become modified by degrees, and we have repented of our first innonence.
I have retained my first impressions, I admit, during
the past year. When efforts have been made to move
my feelings toward the South, the so-called weak engaged
in a struggle with the strong, I have remembered other
weaker beings, its slaves, and my compassion has refused




20       EUROPE AND THE AMiEnICAN CRISIS.
to change place. It has seemed to me that a free country,
which, by the mere energy of its institutions, opposes insuperable barriers to the extension of slavery, and boldly
undertakes the solution of a problem before which so
many others have recoiled, is a country deserving some
esteem and respect. These men of the dollar who unhesitatingly provoke a foretold and certain crisis which
may swallow up their fortunes, who accept without a
murmur the immediate loss of debts to the value of a
million of dollars in the South-these men, these merchants if you will, do not appear to me altogether destitute of nobility.
Let us now see, the study is worth the pains, whether
the frank policy dictated by our first impulse would not
have been as good as the would-be able policy of which
the world is beginning to reap the fruits.
Europe would have simply manifested its sympathies.
The American Union, a friendly power, would have become still more friendly at the instant of its courageous
reaction against the crime which has sullied its history
and debased its institutions. Far from seeking a quarrel
with it or treating it with coldness, we would have encouraged it by all means. We would not have invented
in behalf of the champions of slavery, a theory which in
some sort from the beginning elevated the rebels to the
character of belligerents. Without interfering effectively
in the struggle, we would not have gone out of our way
to seek for ourselves the false, strange, and complicated
position of neutrals when we had naturally that of allies.
As to the questions which might present themselves in
the future, supposing that, by a series of decisive victories,
the South should succeed in conquering a place among
the governments de facto, we should have experienced




WHIIAT OUGHIT TO HAVE BEEN HER ATTITUDE.   21
no need of providing for such an hypothesis in advance,
but would have contented ourselves with declaring that a
republic officially founded on " the corner-stone of slavery,"
was sure at all events of obtaining no favor.
How would Europe have offended against international laws if her governments had expressed themselves in
the following manner?
-" We know no president but the one regularly elected. There is to us but a single rightful government in
America, that which has its seat at Washington. As to
the South, we await the final issue of its armed struggle,
and the consolidation of its government de facto."
Certainly, by holding such language, the insurrection
would have been weakened and many misfortunes prevented, without in any wise lessening the significance of
the internal impulse of the United States. To meet important questions face to face is at once loyal, sympathetic,
and generous, and best fitted to resolve them. What
would Jefferson Davis and his friends have done, had
they known, known beyond the possibility of mistake,
that they could not count on Europe? Would they not
have renounced their designs? Would they have long pursued them? No war at all, or a very short one-such is
the result that would have been at once obtained by simply abstaining from granting the South an exceptional favor which seemed to promise it many others.
At the same time, the North would have been strengthened in the noble cause which it had just entered; a current of warm sympathy would have been established between it and us; the combat against slavery would have
preserved the character of a pacific and Christian struggle, instead of assuming perhaps in the end, that of a
warlike act and violent proceeding; slowly, doubtless,
but surely, the progress marked by the election of Mr.




2 2      EUROPE AND TIlE AMERICAN CRISIS.
Lincoln would have been completed by legal ways: today, the non-extension of slavery; to-morrow, its abolition, with indemnity, in those States best prepared for
freedom; by-and-by, complete measures, rendered constitutionally possible by the increasing majority of the adversaries of the " institution."
Those who have taken into account the nameless calamities which negro insurrections may comprise, will not
hesitate to prefer the less rapid method which would have
prevailed, according to all appearances, if Europe had
not encouraged the South. There would have been calamities of another kind, proposed compoundings, attempts at compromise; but the power of principles is
great, and the impulse which produced the election of
Mr. Lincoln is not of those that move backward. The
death of slavery is written therein in shining characters
which deceive no one, either in the South or the North,
America or Europe. Suppose that Mr. Lincoln had shown
himself weak, and that the compromises had been shameful, it is none the less certain, that, before the end of his
four years of administration, the question would have
made decisive progress. No more territories abandoned
to slavery, no more conquests for slavery, no more new
States affiliated with the party of slavery; by the force
of events, by the action of public opinion, the good
cause would have marched onward, sweeping before it
all the impotent barriers which had been placed in its
path.
Instead of this, we have had a civil war which will become a war of emancipation, (there are moments when
certain causes rule so absolutely that every thing serves
them, war as well as peace, defeats as well as victories,
obstacles as well as means,) a civil war which is in danger
of precipitating the progress of the reformatory move



WVHAT OUGHT TO HAVE BEEN HER ATTITUDE.   23
ment beyond measure, of affranchising more speedily and
more harmfully those slaves whose definitive affranchisement was no longer in question, This civil war, in being
prolonged, runs the risk of ruining both South and North,
and Europe into the bargain; perhaps it will substitute
servile insurrection for the transformation prudently
effected by legislative means; perhaps it will substitute
the remediless destruction of the cotton culture for the
pacific introduction of free labor.  In any case, when
ended, it will leave behind it a sad inheritance of bitter
and hostile memories, arising between America and Europe, and unceasingly threatening to engender foreign
wars in the sequel of intestinal conflicts. May God preserve us from such a misfortune! The shudder which
ran through the whole world, but the other day, when a
messenger of Queen Victoria crossed the ocean bearing a
despatch for Lord Lyons, will not soon be forgotten. WVe
had taken the wrong road; will we have energy enough
now to adopt a better course? WFill we form a public
opinion in Europe capable of enforcing its commands?
The answer to this question does not alone include the
future of America, it also contains our own; according
as we shall have aided or disserved the great American
people in the dark hour of its distress, we shall have in it
a firiend or an adversary when it shall have accomplished,
either with us or despite us, the work of its uprising.
It is now, it is during this decisive year, which will
never mere return, that it is necessary to give the United
States pledges of our affection for them, and our warm
adhesion to the cause which they defend. There are
services reindered at certain  moments which are never
etffaced from the memory of nations; what France did
for the fouriiation of the United States in the eighteenth
eentury, Europe may do, for their second foundation, in




24       EUROPE AND TIIE AMERICAN CRISIS.
the nineteenth. She may cast into the soil of both worlds
imperishable seeds of peace and amity.
How many mistakes would have been spared us if we
had sooner adopted this resolution! It will suffice for
me to recall a single one. When Mr. Lincoln offered to
sign the great international agreement of 1848, and consequently to proclaim with us and like us those laws for
the protection of the rights of neutrals, of the importance
of which we have been just reminded by the Trent affair,
we imposed one condition on him which very rightly
changed his determination. And why did we do this?
Because we had invented the position of belligerents for
the benefit of the South, because we ourselves had assumed the position of neutrals, officially proclaimed as
such, because we had departed from truth and simplicity,
because we found ourselves thenceforth charged with
watching over the threatened legitimacy of the privateers of Jefferson Davis. If we had remained in our
natural position, if, in conformity with our sympathies
and the right of nations, we had seen in America only a
friendly nation struggling with rebels, we would not have
had in some sort to refuse its signature. Our ports would
have been closed of course to the armed vessels of the
South; it does not seem to me that this would have subjected us to great inconvenience. And as to the Southern
privateers, supposing them to have been also called in question, nothing would have prevented us from announcing
that, in the interest of humanity, we had decided not to
treat them as pirates. The government at Washington
would have comprehended-I say more, imitated us.
To sum up the whole, our counsels would have had
more weight if we had remained friendly powers, having
no relations (save the local necessity of consulships) with
any except the single government whose ministers were




TWHAT OUGHT TO HAI-IVE BEEN IIEP ATTITUDE.   25
regularly accredited to us. As friendly allies, we would
have obtained a hearing. I even affirm that, in case it
might be some day advisable for the American Government to resign itself to the separation of a few States, the
influence of a firiendly Europe would give more chances
for the acceptance of such a sacrifice than all the mediation offered by our official neutrality.
2




CIHAPTER III.
HOW TO EXPLAIN THE ATTITUDE OF'EUROPE.
IT is not enough to describe and deplore our attitude;
the most important thing of all is to explain it. By going
back to causes, we may chance to fall in with remedies.
Whence comes the fact, so strange at first sight, that, so
long as the United States were governed by slavery and
for slavery, they were let alone; as soon as they begun
to react against slavery, and against the whole system of
violence, conquests, and attempts on humanity or the
rights of nations therein involved, the hitherto unknown
theory of belligerent insurgents was forged for their
use?
The explanation is not difficult. From the first moment, Europe arrogated to herself a sort of benevolent
patronage over divided America; she saw in it minors,
infants I should say, whom it was the duty of reasonable
men to direct. Toward this republic, toward this imperilled confederacy, we did not feel ourselves bound to
obey the laws applicable between States on a footing of
equality. We never once thought of saying, "Whatever
may be our opinion of the future chances of the rebellion,




H10W TO EXPLAIN THE ATTITUDE OF EUROPE.   27
it belongs to the American Government alone to determine the course of conduct which it deems proper to follow; if it be wrong in opposing the separation, this concerns only itself, and we know of no other American
Government." Far from this, we have taken it for granted, without premeditation, and as if by instinct, under the
impulse, doubtless, of the interest that we bear America,
as well as of the European interests involved in it, that
this affair is our own, and that we have the right to interfere in it.
This principle once admitted, (and every one remembers that if it were not so in formal terms, its influence
made itself no less promptly felt among us,) the consequences could not be long in coming. An immense
country demanded separation; the republic thus broken
was nothing but a simple confederacy, in which the sovereignty of the individual States seemed at first sight to
authorize the pretensions of the secessionists; the North
was disunited, disarmed, unmilitary, and appeared incapable of reducing the rebellion; in a prolonged struggle,
the prosperity of America might perish, and that of
Europe also be exposed to serious dangers. Why then
should not the patronage of the Old World come to aid
the inexperience of the New?  Why not indicate by a
decisive act that the rupture was held to be final?
This established, the conduct of Europe is no longer
obscure. The struggle had scarcely commenced when we
proclaimed, by an act the signification of which deceived
no one, the impotence of the Government at Washington-it could not reduce the South, the South was certain
to make itself recognized by-and-by; in the mean time
we treated the latter almost as a government de facto,
and conferred upon it the quality of belligerent. Between belligerents, England declared herself neutral, then




28       EUROPE AND TIlE AlIERICAN CRISIS.
awaited events. To see the eagerness with which the
incident of the Trent was at first seized upon by England,
justified us in believing that Lord Palmerston saw in
it, beyond the violation of neutral rights, the pretext for
an American intervention. To recognize the South, to
sanction the definitive separation, to reestablish peace,
and thus to transact the business of the whole world, by
force of arms, if need were-such was the programme.
And a proof in the minds of many that our mediation
is only postponed, is, that the arrangement of the incident of the Trent was near ending in nothing. Messrs.
Mason and Slidell had not yet reembarked when new
difficulties came under discussion. Europe censured the
measure taken to close the harbor of Charleston; Europe
was disposed to contest the efficiency of the blockade.
In other words, Europe, which had decided for the good
of young America that it should not be suffered to carry
the folly too far which it had taken into its head, seemed
determined to arrive sooner or later to its end, the recognition of the Southern Confederacy.
I like to look at things as they are. There are fewer
accidents in the life of peoples and the relations of States
than is supposed; almost always, on going back a little
way, we meet a directing principle which gives the key
to all the rest. It is necessary to ascend from secondary
to ruling questions; thus only will light break forth.
If Europe had not believed herself called to lord over
America, she would have remained faithful to her natural
r6le. Whatever might have been her theoretical previsions concerning the issue of the crisis, she would have
known no government but that of the United States.
She would have seen nothing in this civil war but a struggle between the regular government and rebels, a struggle
between the adversaries and champions of the extension




HOW TO EXPLAIN TIHE ATTITUDE OF EUROPE.   29
of slavery. The sympathies of European opinion would
have been then displayed in their full truth, instead of
being hampered and perverted, as they have not ceased
to be during the past year. Had it not been for this
gross falsehood of a question decided in advance, we
should have held our true convictions, and not those impersonal and involuntary ones which are accepted from
the hand of necessity. We should have wished success
with all our hearts to the great people of the United
States, which is destined to so noble a mission on earth.
We should have execrated as it deserves this rebellion,
unique in history, which seems a challenge hurled at the
gospel and civilization. In our journals, our books, our
meetings, at the tribunals of our deliberative assemblies,
we would have made the avowed champions of slavery
understand clearly the kind of welcome that awaited
them among us. We would not have distrusted our best
sentiments, we would not have taken counsel of prudence,
policy, the foresight of things which might or might not
happen; we would have admitted at the outset that
justice is a power, and that by this sign do men conquer.
At the sight of the ringleaders of the South, who, for the
sole reason that they have been defeated in an election,
call their fellow-citizens to arms, fire on the flag of their
country, attack the free government to which they had
sworn allegiance, and hasten to supplicate in Europe assistance from foreign powers, we would not have restrained our repugnance, but would have told them what
we thought of the twofold crime-the attempt to destroy
the United States, and to found a new State on the
corner-stone of slavery. The reprobation of Europe, thus
signified to the Southerners, might have facilitated the
accomplishment of what we have delighted in calling impossible, and have caused the monstrous edifice, whose




30       EUROPE AND THE AMERICAN CRISIS.
completion we have so coldly demonstrated as certain, to
totter from the very first day upon its base. To deny
things is sometimes to prevent them; to affirm them, is
sometimes to render them sure.
Shrewd men find no better way to encourage evil than
by prophesying its success and thus summoning upon earth
by subtlety of reasoning, calamities which frankness of
moral sentiment would have conjured down. But the
time soon comes when moral sentiment, baffled for an
instant, regains its sway. It becomes necessary then to
act in accordance with it, and to prove that, by supporting the evil cause, the triumph of the good one has been
but the better ensured. Such is the manceuvre which
has been attempted among us during two or three months
past. Not only is it more than ever affirmed that slavery
has nothing to do with the insurrection of the South, (we
will presently see the value of this incomparable paradox,)
but it is said that the triumph of the North would
strengthen slavery, and that the South, on obtaining the
recognition of Europe, would pledge itself to emancipation.
What are we to think of this double assertion?
There was a moment, as I have always admitted, when
the reentrance of the South into the Union might have
been purchased by lamentable concessions. In the beginning of the war, and even for some time after, the fears
which were expressed were not destitute of foundation.
Doubtless, such compromises would not have ensured
long life to the patriarchal institution which had received
its death-blow in the election of Mr. Lincoln. Neverthe,
less, there would have been fearful struggles, the public
conscience would have had to suffer anew, our brows
would have blushed at the news of numerous acts designed to conciliate the South, even though vanquished,




HOW TO EXPLAIN TIIE ATTITUDE OF EUROPE.   31
and to heap up constitutional guarantees about an expiring iniquity.
The error here does not consist in supposing that such
a policy might have been possible, but that it may still
be so. Whoever has closely studied the Northern States,
knows that an important change has been wrought there
by the very fact of the prolongation and aggravation of
the civil war. By degrees, a true and simple idea has
broken loose from the clouds of prejudice by which it
had been surrounded-the great enemy is slavery; the
great conspirator is slavery; the great rebel is slavery;
the great enemy of peace and Union is slavery! Since
the entire North has comprehended this, it has taken
an immovable resolution not to end the war without
also ending the cause of the war. The conviction on this
point has become so general, that at the present time,
neither a President nor Secretary of State could be
found, willing to take it upon himself to propose, whatever might be its immediate advantages, a measure designed to perpetuate slavery.  Supposing, contrary to
all appearances, such a measure to be proposed and passed by Congress, it would encounter so violent an opposition in the nation, and even the army would oppose it so
strongly, that there would be no means of securing its
execution; then, at the next presidential elections, the
measure and its authors would be voted down by a burst
of wrath which would sweep away all compromises, and
bow beneath its violence all servile institutions from the
banks of the Potomac to the distant shores of Texas.
It is a marvellous fact, and one which, as far as I am
concerned, I admit without regret, that, in case the South
should return to the Union before the Federal army shall
have broken down all its opposition and passed in triumph
through its entire territory, slavery will subsist there in




32       EUROPE AND THE AMERICAN CRISIS.
the position of an accursed institution, condemned to
perish, abolished definitively in principle, but tolerated
for a given time in order to smooth the way of transition
and prepare for a peaceful emancipation. Such a slavery
would possess neither influence nor future; hemmed in
on all sides by victorious liberty, despoiled of the prejudices and prestige which lately surrounded it, having
no longer power either to demand fugitive slaves or to
acquire new territory, it would tranquilly but surely
vanish.
Such an abolition, I admit, seems to me preferable to
that wrought by a servile war. It is no less sure, and is
better for the blacks as well as the whites.
As to the abolition which is promised us on condition
of Southern recognition, I have this to say:
I am glad, in the first place, that the awakening of
public opinion caused by the affair of the Trent, has
brought the advocates of the South to the necessity of
thus amending their programme. Hitherto, they had
not taken this trouble, but had contented themselves with
declaring in general terms that separation would result
more favorably than union to that great humanitarian
cause, the triumph of which, as all knew, was ardently
desired by the whole world. Now, they have taken a
great step in advance; they have the semblance of announcing in the name of Jefferson Davis that he is ready
to accord a promise of affranchisement in exchange for
recognition.
Jefferson Davis, I am convinced, will never haggle
for the conditions of recognition. To be recognized is
the essential point. After that, we will see.
Moreover, is it not certain that henceforth every thing,
without exception, must end in abolition? Has any man
of sense doubted it since the election of Mr. Lincoln?




o110  TO EXPLAIN THE AvrflTUD)E OF EUROPE.   33
Mr. Davis has intellect enough to comprehend with us
what the South in general does not yet comprehend, that
the battle for slavery is lost —lost if the South return to
the Union, lost if the South be recognized as an independent Confederacy.
If this point only be accorded, we have no need of his
concession. A power superior to his, the force of circumstances, guarantees to us that, whatever may be done,
slavery will finally disappear. What the balloting of 1860
decided, neither victories nor defeats, neither Europe nor
Amlerica, will succeed in setting aside.
But, it is said, Jefferson Davis makes more definite
promises.   Vell, let us examine these promises. I-Ie will
pledge himself not to reclaim slaves who have taken
refuge in the North! I can easily believe it; such a
demand would not meet a very hearty welcome. He
will pledge himself to admit the competition of fiee labor! I am likewise convinced of it; in the first place,
because this competition exists already in some measure;
next, because it is the only means of furnishing a substitute for expiring slavery, of infusing fresh life into
Southern cultures, and of drawing European emigration
into the new Confederacy.
TIe will pledge himself to procure the passage of a
decree of progressive emancipation, in consideration of
certain delays justified by the difficulties of the position!
Here, my doubts begin. What will this progressive
emancipation be? May it not consist in the suppression
of a few abominable practices, sanctioned at present by
the laws of the South, and which too deeply offend the
conscience of the Old WVorld?  "No," is the exclamation.  "Jefferson Davis promises to procure the freedom  of all children born from this time!"  I must see
this before believing it. However rapid may be the pro2*




3 4      EUROPE AND THE AIMERICAN CRISIS.
gress of providential retribution in some cases, I do not
imagine that the South, after rebelling in the name of
slavery, is already reduced to bow its head to the dust,
to disavow the principles laid down so lately in its name,
to undertake humbly the task of destroying the holy
institution, to the support of which it had devoted itself
with so much ardor and eclat. To revolt in 1861 because
the extension of slavery was menaced, and to promise
in 1862 to destroy slavery with its own hands, would be
to show itself too eager to arrive at the forced disavowal
of its dearest principles.
It is true that to make promises and keep them are
two different things. If the question were only that of
obtaining, by an apparently important concession, this
recognition, without which its ruin must be accomplished,
the South would perhaps consent to the diplomatic abolition of slavery; this depends on the degree of distress
which it may have reached, and its powerlessness to maintain its rebellion without that moral support from Europe
which must necessarily bring material support in its train.
Suppose, in consequence, that Jefferson Davis promises
to obtain abolition. What is this promise to obtain abolition, in reality?  A promise to present to the Congress
at Richmond a bill overthrowing, the social constitution
of the South fiom  its very foundation.  The bill will
be then discussed by the Senate and Representatives.
Will they not find good reasons to maintain that such a
change cannot be improvised in this wise, that the people
are not prepared for it, that they cannot brave their colossal displeasure, that they cannot destroy the Southern
Confederacy on the morrow of its foundation?
Those cwho retail among us the nonsensical tale of
abolition promised in exchange for recognition, must
suppose that we have short memories. It is not long




HOW TO EXPLAIN THE ATTITUDE OF EUROPE.   85
since the Constitution of the South was adopted, and the
two essential articles which distinguished it from the ancient Constitution were, on the one hand, the sanctioning
of slavery, and on the other, the sanctioning of the sovereignty of each State. These two articles, closely allied together, as the whole history of the United States proves,
are designed for each other's protection. Let slavery be
menaced by the negotiations of the President or the provisions of Congress, and directly the local sovereignty
rises in its might. Each State demands by what right you
have decided in its name what it alone had power to decide. In fact, it will be impossible to stop short of this
reasoning. So long as Jefferson Davis does not bring us
laws decreeing the freedom  of unborn children, passed
by each of the Southern States and ratified if need be by
State conventions, his promise to obtacin them means ab.
solutely nothing.
It means nothing, it is true, but it effects something,
nevertheless. It is producing a great effect upon that
portion of the European public who would ask nothing
better than to intervene with honor, to ensure the existence of the South, to put an end to the crisis, to raise the
blockade, and to obtain the transmission of cotton. This
part of the public, as I have seen with my own eyes, is
delighted to learn that all this can be done without too
strongly opposing the question of emancipation; it may
be, while serving it. It believes you. on your word, without caring to scrutinize it very closely. The rumor is
already becoming widely diffused; it has crept into all
the journals; we hear it argued in every discussion; " If
we recognize the South, it is understood that it will emancipate all children unborn."
If we recognize the South, it will find full recognition, even though it should afterward inform us that the




36       EUROPE AND THE AM1ERICAN CRISIS.
liberation of unborn children was met by unforeseen difficulties which could not be surmounted on the spot; that
time was needed, but the end would be pursued and,
doubtless, finally attained. A recognition is not as easily
recalled as a promise. Once accomplished, the recognition will produce its effects: the strengthening of the
administration at Richmond, the exasperation of the administration at Washington, a probable war between the
latter and Europe. In a word, the position of affairs will
become changed in a day; the South will henceforth
have all it desires, and no one will think, in the midst of
these conflicts, of asking about the fulfilment given to its
promises; no one except, perhaps, a few European abolitionists, whose tardy anxiety will excite but little interest. We will have something else to do when the rupture
has taken place between the United States and ourselves,
when our journals are filled with their misdeeds, when
angry passions are stirred up, and when the national honor
is at stake. Our whole attention will then be given to
the unrecognized virtues of the South, and perhaps, for
we are sure of nothing, to the felicity of its slaves.
One does not need to be a prophet to predict all this;
a very little study of history and the human heart will
suffice. Note, moreover, that in causing the emancipation
of unborn children to be talked of among us, the agents
of Jefferson Davis attain an important result, supposing even that they do not succeed in gaining this wouldbe conditional recognition. They have made it seem possible, they have mirrored it before the eyes of the coInmunity, they have restored some consistency to the great
hope on which the South built its chances, and the absolute loss of which would destroy all its energy.
But I refrain from discussion. It seems to me that I
have sufficiently demonstrated the vanity of the pledges




IIOW TO EXPLAIN THE ATTITUDE OF ~EUROPE.   37
and conditions held forth; for serious inquirers I have already said enough; for men whose minds are made up,
who are determined to believe in whatever they are determined to do, I should never say enough. I wish only,
before closing this chapter, to dwell upon the moral aspect of the projects extolled among us during the past
year-projects which have been unceasingly embellished,
ameliorated, and arranged to suit our taste, and the uniform conclusion as also the sole end of which has been
the recognition of the Southern Confederacy.
Their common characteristic, although they talk much
of peace, is a war in the background. It is true that this
is not a war of the North against the South, but of the
United States against Europe. I do not inquire whether
this new war will be less ruinous than the old, whether it
will not at once stamp the present struggle with a character of atrocity and devastation, whether it will not be the
beginning of general conflicts before which the mind re.
coils with horror. We will set aside considerations of
this sort, however important they may be in themselves.
I speak of another kind of destruction-the destruction
of the friendly feelings which exist between America and
ourselves.
According to some, this would be but a trifling loss.
I think differently. The day will be a fearful one, in my
opinion, when, by sowing injustice, we shall prepare for
ourselves and our children after us a harvest of long-lived
and inextinguishable enmities, always ready to embroil
the New World and the Old.
The United States will not be destroyed; thank God!
it is given to no one to strike from the list of great nations this people, now passing through a crisis as grievous
as salutary, and which will emerge from it stronger because it will be better. The point in question is not sim



38       EUROPE AND TIHE AMERICAN CRISIS.
ply that of irritating this people by a measure which will
wound them in the most sensitive part, but of introducing
a measure which will produce a state of perpetual antagonism.
The policy recommended by the friends of the South
is nothing less, let us not forget, than the rule of Eulrope
in America, by which I do not mean any mingling of Europe in American discussions. No, I am not one of those
who believe that the Monroe doctrine should remain intact amidst the conflicts of the nineteenth century. I believe in the frequent intervention of Europe in America
and of America in Europe; I believe in the future entrance of the United States into the concert of great
powers; I believe, in fine, that electricity and steam have
overthrown many artificial distinctions, and that it will
daily become more difficult to live in isolation. But I believe at the same time-and this question will be discussed
with all the care it deserves in another part of my work
-I believe that there should be neither European supremacy in America nor American supremacy in Europe.
Nations are no longer in a state of pupilage, and pretensions of preponderance will soon cease to be tolerated
anywhere.
It is certain, as we have seen, that such pretensions lie
at the bottom of the policy which we are urged to practise. "The separation ought to prevail! We have decided that you are not in a condition to terminate it!
You shall fight no longer! At least you shall only fight
in such or such a manner!" Such is the language which
is dictated for our use; and as men are laboring to secure,
by artificial means, the foundation of a State which could
not live of itself, and which will always stand in need of
the protection without which it would not have been
born, it thence follows that European influence, and al



HOW TO EXPLAIN THE ATTITUDE OF EUIOPE.   39
most domination, will gain footing in the very heart of
the Southern States,'at the gates of Washington.
Friends of peace, ye who are so eager to arrest the
present conflict, who at need would draw the Popilian
circle around President Lincoln by forbidding him to
maintain the blockade and pursue its advantages; have
you reflected on the endless wars which you are laying up
for the future; have you caught a glimpse of the consequences of your enterprise; do you imagine, by chance,
that you will kill the United States; and if you do not
kill them, do you suppose that they will live in peace,
having you some day on both sides of their empire in
Virginia and Canada, and feeling you at Quebec and New
Orleans, the mouths of their two great rivers?
But we will leave this point also; we will go directly
to " the " true question, that of morality, and look the theory in the face which covers the future recognition of the
South.
This may be summed up in a sentence: the true way
to emancipate the slaves is to ensure the triumph of the
partisans of slavery. I have little faith, I confess, in the
good results of injustice, nor do I forget how the Apostle
Paul branded the maxim, " Do evil that good may come."
We always have excellent reasons for favoring the triumph
of bad causes. And what happens next? The human
conscience becomes troubled and perverted, as it were,
by this double spectacle of our complaisance toward
both evil and the good which appear t6o result from
it.
Ah! if evil gave birth to nothing but evil, evident
evil, immediate destruction, the recoil of civilization, if
the consequence always followed directly after the principle, like the child after the mother, the danger would
be less. But the logic of history, true and pitiless as it is




40       EUROPE AND THE AMERICAN CRISIS.
at the bottom, does not present this incontestable sequence
upon the surface; it often happens, and the American
crisis offers an example, that certain progressive events
make their way in spite of every thing, and that the agents
of Jefferson Davis end by obeying, in spite of themselves,
the impulse commenced by the election of MIr. Lincoln.
Emancipation will take place, as I have said, through war
or peace, under favorable or adverse influences, with union
or separation.  If, therefore, the separation should be
consolidated through our mediation, we will say at some
future day: "' Since the separation did not prevent affranchisement, it effected it."
a Is it nothing, I ask, to weaken the few moral ideas
which subsist among us in the midst of triumphant materialism? Indignation against slavery was one of these
ideas; but on the day that we shall be seen to strike
hands with the South, to propound theories in favor of
its rebellion, and to demonstrate that it has beer of
service in its way to the cause of liberty, the human soul
will pass through a fearful crisis, and the light of conscience will wax dim.
Occasions to show the importance of a principle are
rare. What a valuable lesson would it have been to our
whole generation, to have seen Europe, in spite of the
temptations of policy and the demands of interest, determined not to compound either intimately or remotely
with those who had dared adopt as the motto of their
flag, "the sanctity and perpetuity of slavery!"  By this
single act, we should have elevated the standard of morality. Such a victory is not without its value.
This, I know, is not shrewd policy; but to us weak
minds, who think that man does not live by bread alone,
and that communities also die of hunger when we forget
to satisfy their highest needs, to us, the success of Europe




HOW TO EXPLAIN THE ATTITUDE OF EUROPE   41
in America would have been complete if it had manifested
there its natural sympathy'for good and its natural antipathy to evil. The rebellion, proclaimed in the name of
slavery, would have known on what to rely; it would
have had to examine by itself whether it could by its own
strength conquer that independence in fact, which should
precede and not follow its official recognition. It is probable that, reduced to these terms, the question would have
been ere long resolved, and that the civil war would have
been of short duration. In any case, the South would
have had no right to say: "I hold Europe through
cotton; she must walk straight. I predicted that I would
conquer her repugnance, and I have done so; I said that
I would force her to take my part, and I have succeeded."
In other words, there is neither good nor evil, but interest alone: rest your claims on your interests, and you
will succeed; and it will be even demonstrated, through
the refinement of modern times, that in immolating principles, you have rendered them good service. May God
preserve us from receiving such a lesson! TWe should
profit by it but too well. Believe me, there are moral
defeats which tell on the destiny of nations.




CHAPTER IV.
BELLIGERENTS AND NEUTRALITY.
IF I enter unembarrassed on the examination of our
American policy, if my criticism bear with equal freedom
upon the propositions which are made to us, and the
resolves that we have already taken, it is not only because the chief initiative has belonged to England, or
because the collective responsibility, the European responsibility, covers every thing, so that I have much less
to blame in the faults of a government than in the low
state of public opinion and the moral languor of the
whole world; but also because I love my country, and
because it is a real duty in my sight to warn it when it
seems to me in danger of straying from the right path.
That this duty is a right, no one will certainly think of
doubting.
I shall therefore proceed, sure of my sincerity and respect for good intentions, sure of mingling no hidden
thought of any nature whatsoever in the loyal study of
our relations with the United States. Let us go back at
once to the measure which contains the germ of all the
rest. In the quality of belligerents, granted so speedily
to the insurgents of the South, is found comprised, as we




BELLIGERIENTS AND NEUTItALITY.          43
may say, the entire series of acts which, commencing with
official neutrality, has recognition for its extreme term.
Would you refute a sophism? Examine the major proposition-the snare is there. Would you study a political
tendency which disquiets you? Examine its earliest manifestation.
To confer on the insurgents of the South the title of'
belligerents, and to claim for ourselves the position of
neutrals, seems quite in conformity with that circumspect
and unchivalrous wisdom which is sure of obtaining general approbation.  What is better to be done, in the
presence of such a crisis, than to stand aloof, to wait a
little, to entertain neither opinions nor preferences?
This is the first view of things, at which it is usual to
stop. It is only by scrutinizing more closely that we discover that the neutrality thus proclaimed is as little neutral as can be imagined; it settles the constitutional
question discussed in the United States, and decides that
the United States are a league, not a nation; it grants to
the South all that it demands; it bears so slight a resemblance to non-interference that not one of the first-class
European powers would for an hour endure the application to its own affairs of the theory which they apply to
the government at Washington.
The latter government, too, has unceasingly protested
against it. It may be said that it protested in advance,
for the despatches of Mr. Seward to MIr. Dayton foresaw
the possibility that Europe might entertain the thought
of treating the Southern rebels as belligerents. The fears
of Mir. Seward being speedily realized, he has never wearied, as all will remember, of demonstrating in his diplomatic correspondence that the character of belligerents
belongs to independent powers, to established governments struggling with each other; that it cannot belong,




44       EUROPE AND THE AIMERICAN CRISIS.
that it has never belonged in fact, to a self-styled State,
founded by a rebellion not yet victorious and out of
danger.
The importance of the principle is such that the resistance upon this point has never staggered for a single
moment. The United States have maintained-and why
should it astonish us?-that they are still the United
States; that a sovereignty attacked is not a sovereignty
destroyed; that the pretensions of the South do not constitute a right; that no one is authorized to hold them as
conquered before they are so, before the war has even
commenced in good earnest. They have maintained their
principle, that is, their right, with an energy full of sadness and dignity; adding moreover that, so long as
Europe shall not join positively hostile acts to an insulting doctrine, they will content themselves with expressing
their sorrow, and will continue to count on the friendly
sentiments of the powers.
Let us be just toward all! The attitude of the cabinet at Washington in the presence of so grave a difficulty,
has been of a nature to conciliate universal esteem.
Grieved, without being violent; energetic, without being
aggressive; refusing to listen to despatches wherein the
rebels were styled belligerents, yet not hesitating to acknowledge the amicable proceedings by which Europe
has more than once redeemed the harshness of her official
language, it has understood how to preserve its position
on a great question of principle, and at the same time to
avoid exaggerating it so far as to compromise the practical interests of the day.
Europe, in fact-I recall it to her honor-after having
taken the enormous stride of declaring the South belligerent and herself neutral, felt the need of proving that
she by no means intended to carry out her theories to




BELLIGERENTS AND NEUTRALITY.         45
the end, and that her declarations did not comprise all
that men fancied they saw in them. In closing her ports
and those of her colonies to vessels with prizes, she struck
a death-blow to the privateers of the South; which, moreover, have made more noise than they have done harm,
and which have never been able to exert an appreciable
influence on the issue of the conflict. But this, on the
part of Europe, was simply the regular accomplishment
of the duties imposed by the blockade; she did more,
she did not treat the blockade of the South by the Federal fleet with rigor. If this is now effective, it has not
been always so, and nothing would have then been easier
than to have given a fatal blow to the North; it would
have only been necessary to make a rigorous application
thereto of the rules of international law. France and
England have been unwilling to do this; it has been repugnant to them thus to lend an avowed support to the
champions of slavery. This mark of good feeling, for
which the cabinet at Washington has shown itself grateful, has established an important difference between the
real conduct of the European governments and the policy
attributed to them by plotting intriguers.
That this policy has been hesitating, I am convinced;
that it committed a great fault in the beginning by proclaiming the insurgents to be belligerents, I have just
said, and am about to demonstrate; but that it acted
in this manner deliberately, with the fixed design of proceeding thence to recognition, cost what it might; that it
had in clear view the attainment of an end, and not an
unavowed tendency or temptation, I deny: a Europe
determined to cut the United States in twain, would not
have hesitated to contest last year's blockade. I have
therefore great hopes. Provided that public opinion be
fully aroused, all will go well; we have already crossed




46       EUROPE AND TIlE AMERICAN CRISIS.
over more than one dangerous defile, we will pass safely
through others. Between the rumors which the patrons
of the South have an interest in propagating, and facts as
they really happen, the difference is greats God be
praised! Under favor of this remark, I resume the examination which I have undertaken.
You remember the shudder that ran through our
veins —ours, the declared fiiends of the United Stateswhen the English journals brought us the speech of Lord
John Russell, in which the word belligerent was uttered
for the first time. Mr. Seward had no need to teach us
the scope of such a word; we understood it on the spot,
and were struck with consternation. It seemed to us that
a tongue so liberal as that of Lord John Russell was not
framed to give such encouragement to the South.  It
seemed to us that England, which had not shown herself
really prepared in the Crimea until ten or twelve months
had elapsed, was ill placed to proclaim at the end of a few
weeks the military powerlessness of the United States.
Their ministers had not yet reached the shores of Europe
when this powerlessness was already admitted to the rank
of proven facts; whence it followed that the insurrectional government, sure of existence, deserved to be considered as belligerent.  When we remember that the
despatch in which Mr. Seward announces his refusal to
receive correspondence containing this term is dated on
the 17th of June, we are brought to acknowledge that
the resolution of Europe was taken from the beginning of
the civil war. The South had a chance of success unique
in history; its first gun passed for a victory; its rebellion
was immediately transformed into a revolution; it had no
childhood, but was born full-grown. The rebellion of a
day, behold it a government in fact, while waiting till it




BELLIGERENTS AND NEUTRALITY.               47
should make itself acknowledged  as a government by
right! *
It is not usually thus; before perceiving two States
where there was lately but a single one, before placing on
a footing of equality a regular government and those who
are attacking it, we ordinarily wait until the latter have
been victorious, have maintained their existence, and have
shown some other sign of vitality than a first success, secured by treason!
To judge the value of the favor thus accorded to the
South, we have only to ask ourselves what we should have
thought of the United States if they had consented to
concede to it this belligerent character? Would there have
been hisses enough found for them in all Europe? What
iwould not have been said of a country which did not even
know enough to respect itself and to fall with dignity?'What! to strike its flag at the first summons; to admit
with a good grace that its existence as a great nation had
ceased, that every rebellion against-it was invincible, that
every rupture founded a government within its borders,
that its sovereignty had fallen on the south of the Potomac, that it might make war there, but only such war as
takes place between States, the war of belligerents!
What America could not honorably accept, could Eu.
rope legitimately establish? History will reply.
When Ireland, a distinct kingdom  notwithstanding,
rose in insurrection against England in 1796, who among
friendly powers thought of conferring on the Irish the
* If the question were only that of constituting a government and
securing the working of a partially regular administration, every fraction
of a country in revolt against the nation of which it formed a part, could,
without delay, procure this title to the position of belligerent. To constitute a regular government!-but this has now become the first letter
of the alphabet: every rebellion begins in this wise.




48        EUROPE AND TIHE AMERICAN CRISIS.
title of belligerents? It would not have been a very safe
proceeding, I think, to have declared by official means
that they were any thing else than insurgents.
When, at the time of our religious wars, (I take the
epoch when the present centralization was not in existence,) a few of our French provinces were in arms against
the Valois, what answer would have been given to the
ambassador of an allied country sent to say that the south
of France would be henceforth held as belligerent, and
that neutrality would be observed between this belligerent power and the king?
Let us take more modern examples. Look at Hungary. She is a kingdom apart, having her own constituw
tion and her local sovereignty.   In her insurrection
against Austria, she certainly gained more battles and
kept the field longer than the men of Charleston had
done when it was deemed proper to transform their civil
war into a foreign one. Hungary had given itself a government as well as Montgomery. This government even
could not be destroyed until Russia came to aid in its
suppression. Yet notwithstanding, did the thought ever
occur to us to speak of it as a belligerent?
Neither did we talk of belligerents when Poland, a
distinct kingdom also, and guaranteed by treaties, fought
against Nicholas in 1830. During this heroic and several
times successful war of the Chlopicki, the Czartoryski, and
the Skrzynecki, I am not aware that the theory of belligerents made its appearance anywhere; the Russians would
have seen in it a mortal insult.
Let us ask ourselves, for I will end where I began,
how we should have welcomed the title of belligerent
bestowed on Abd-el.Kader? Our neighbors across the
Channel would have also protested, I imagine, and in a
somewhat haughty tone, if, during the revolt in India,




BELLIGERENTS ANID NEUUTRALITY.         49
any power had bethought of proclaiming its neutrality,
by recognizing in this great people, risen in behalf of its
nationality, the quality of belligerent.
I need not go out of America, moreover, to demonstrate that the theory which recognizes belligerents at the
end of a few weeks, was never invented and put in application before the Southern insurrection. The insurrection
of the colonies in the last century, which was about to
create the United States, was no slight thing, I fancy;
it was truly a national, energetic, sustained movement.
Nevertheless, even the enemies of Great Britain would
have thought themselves setting at naught the most ele.
mentary principles of the right of nations, if they had
hastened beyond measure to treat the Americans as belligerents.
This time, our haste is explained by arguing the importance of the movement-it is the half of the United
States that has seceded!
A figure is often thrown in to support this summary
assertion-twelve millions, fifteen millions of inhabitants.
Does the separation become more lawful, when those
who decree it are more numerous? I will dispense with
investigating this question, for the importance of the seceding States has been strangely exaggerated. We forget, in the first place, to strike out the Border States that
remain faithful to the Union. We forget next to strike
out the slaves, who have not voted for separation, that I
am aware. The truth is, that, supposing even the white
population to be unanimous, (and we have many reasons
to doubt this,) scarcely six millions are in question, six
millions out of twenty-eight. And mark that these six
millions of whites are charged with guarding three million three hundred thousand slaves.
3




5 0       EUROPE AND THIE AMERICAN CRISIS.
The insurgent South comprises vast territories, almost
destitute of inhabitants; beautiful countries rendered sterile by slavery. The States most numerously populated
are elsewhere-New  York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania,
known as the Keystone State. Manifest destiny, too, is
elsewhere; the West seems fated, ere long, to govern the
United States.
But I am careful not to stop at such considerations;
there must be a rule, a principle in the matter, and it is
this principle that I wish to discover. So long as we
have not reached it, we are treading on unstable
ground.
I hear a great deal said about modern law-the law of
nationalities. We are asked why we refuse to the Southern Confederacy, organized, armed, supplied with a constitution and a president, the benefit of a doctrine which
has been practised elsewhere. Is not this also a government de facto?
I am willing that every successful rebellion should be
metamorphosed into a government; I add, even, that I
think it just, although I am no lover of rebellions. There
is no other way, in fact, of averting the interference of
foreign powers; and if foreign powers are not to interfere, it is clear that governments must be founded by
success.
But this success is indispensable. In the nineteenth
century as in those preceding, in modern as in ancient
law, a rebellion remains a rebellion so long as it be not
victorious. Here is an armed conflict, whose first successes, which it was easy to foresee, have not been followed by any serious result; it is less triumphant than
on the first day, for the national armies have gained a
footing everywhere on its soil, whilst it has not taken a
step in advance; the struggle, moreover, has not com



BELLIGERENTTS AND NEUTRALITY.         51
menced in earnest. I see here neither a government de
facto, nor a belligerent; modern, no more than ancient
law, commands me to see any thing else than insurgents.
Modern law is something less absurd and less arbitrary
than those who extol it on every occasion, but who seem
to understand but little of it, would make us believe.
Laying aside high-sounding words, modern law is simply
justice, for it is non-intervention; nothing more, nothing
less. Let each people settle its own affairs and determine
its own destinies; we outsiders are at liberty to approve
or blame its acts, but not to meddle with them. This
theory is not without nobleness; the point in question is
not to worship power or success, but to respect the independence of nations. A nation is independent only on
condition of being free to commit follies within itself, if it
please without fear of punishment from any.
This admitted, if the South had rendered evident the
powerlessness of the North for its reduction, if its independence had ceased to be contested by arms, at least, in
a serious manner, if, in fine, it had surmounted the chief
difficulties in its- way, we might be authorized in saying,
"The South is not insurgent, but belligerent; it has
acquired the consistency of a new State, which by and by
will receive recognition, and which contends with the
Washington Government meanwhile on a footing of
veritable equality." But the position of the South is that
of a rebellion which is weaker to-day than it was a year
ago, and which will succumb the moment that it is left
alone to face the United States. To invoke modern law,
the right of nationalities in its behalf, is out of the
question.
The first right of nationalities is that of subsisting, of
suppressing anarchical movements, and of maintaining the
action of the laws. The theory of the right of rebellion




5 2       EUROPE AnD TuE AMIERICAN CRISI,
is a new one, that we would do well to scrutinize closely.
" We have the cdetermined will to overthrow the established government! WVe are resolved to separate!" WVill
this henceforth suffice? Is every portion of a territory
that chooses to detach itself from the whole, to be transformed at once into a sort of new, semi-recognized State,
whose defenders will be soldiers instead of insurgents,
and whose flag will take rank among national banners?
Lot us beware! It seems to me that rebellions stand
in no need of encouragement, as times go. Nothing can
be better than to let them run their course, to recognize
those which are victorious, to admit as belligerent a new
State detached from an old one as soon as it has decidedly made a place for itself on earth; I go thus far, for it
is impossible to stop short of it without desiring foreign
intervention.  But to invent a special category of rebellions which, without being victorious, may some day become so, and to which shall be accorded before trial the
benefit of possible success, would be to establish foreign intervention under another form, the most dangerous of all.
Imagine a foreign power weighing from a distance the
obscure chances of an intestine conflict, and judging in
its wisdom (that is, according to its caprice, preference,
or interest) that this insurrection is hopeless, while the
other will succeed; that this separation is ephemeral,
while the other will be perpetual! Before every serious
struggle, before the separatists shall have shown their
strength or weakness, they are either to be discouraged
by the verdict of the great powers which leaves them
confounded among the vulgar class of insurgents, or encouraged, on the contrary, by the title of belligerents.
This is not a trifle; such a moral support very nearly
promises a material support, and takes the place of it at
need.




BELLIGERENTS AND NEUTI''ALTY.       53
It must not be concealed, in fact, that there is already
in the title of belligerent a beginning of recognition. It
is the proclamation of an intermediate, equivocal position,
unknown to us hitherto, and which we shall do well to
renounce after the unhappy trial that we have just made
of it. Formerly, there were insurrectional and regular
governments. The moment that an insurrectional government had gained its cause, it was recognized; and from
that day forward, if it made war, it was in the capacity of
belligerent. The idea had not yet been conceived of
belligerents without recognition; that is, imperfect and in
some sort probational States, having the right to raise
an army and display a flag, without having the right to
demand admission into the family of nations.
That Europe should have invented this theory on the
occasion and for the benefit of the Southern rebellion, cannot sufficiently astonish me. Of all rebellions, this one
seems least deserving of advances and favors. " You have
had the misfortune to rend asunder a free country, and,
not having been able quite to destroy it, have dared unfurl
a banner sacred to the perpetuity and sanctity of slavery!
We will make a strict application in your case of the
rules established by the law of nations; ask us for nothing
more. When you are conquerors, if you ever become
such, when your independence can be no longer seriously
contested, we will see in you a government de facto;
and as we have no choice, as the principle of non-intervention exacts that all shall be admitted, the evil and the
good, those which shock the human conscience and those
which embody social progress, we will recognize you
then, and not an hour before."
Such language I would have understood. I am well
aware that the moment of official recognition is rarely




54        EUROPE AND T'HE AMERICAN CRISIS.
marked by signs so striking that it can be by no means
mistaken.  The application of the principle by virtue
of which governments in fact become governments by
right, is almost always somewhat discretionary, I will not
say arbitrary. The recognition may be to some extent
hastened or retarded; whence it comes that all powers
do not proclaim it on the same day.
This is quite explicable; all do not sympathize alike
with the cause that has just triumphed; some adopt,
others detest it. It is natural that they should not acquire
the conviction at the same moment that victory is won
beyond recall.
For my part, I like this slight share left to moral preferences in the interpretation of modern law; it proves
that the doctrine of governments de facto is more spiritual than has been pretended; it takes causes into account.
To take account of causes is important, be sure, in
order that certain enormities may meet with chastisement
on their way, and that success may not stand for every
thing. Yes; whatever may happen, in virtue of a superior
law, we shall always feel authorized to keep such or such a
victor waiting. If an insurrectional government should
be anywhere created, announcing its intention of trafficking in men and women, selling families at retail, and virtually suppressing marriage, I do not think that we
should show ourselves eager to recognize it, or to confer
on it, meanwhile, the character of a belligerent.
Alas! what I have just presented as a hypothesis is a
reality; the South has revolted and seceded, announcing
to the whole world that, without this act, she would have
been in danger of being hampered in the sale of men and
women, in the retailing of families, in the virtual suppression of marriage. And her rebellion has seemed worthy




BELL1GERIENTS AND NEUTRALIlY.             55
of special favor! We have not been contented to treat
it as a plebeian rebellion, but have invented for its pleasure this probationary position of unrecognized belligerents!
To encourage rebellion when it is only rebellion, when
it does not even put forward an honorable pretext, and has
nothing in its favor but its fair face, is certainly very imprudent; to encourage it when it hurls defiance at our
sentiments of humanity, sure that the material advantages which it has at its disposal will gain pardon for every
thing, is more than imprudent, it is sad.
And as the fault comes from us, from our moral torpor,
from the lethargy of our public opinion, I hope that the
remedy will come from us also; public opinion, awakened,
will undertake to teach the South that it need hope for
no more favors, and that it must return to the domain of
the common law. There are causes which may conquer
the official admission of the governments which represent
them to the rank of recognized powers before the precise
moment; that a king of Italy, who has become such in
order to shut out foreign troops from the Italian frontier,* and to constitute a great nation, may be eagerly
welcomed, we can readily conceive; but that a Southern Confederacy, which proposes to break up a great,
free nation, and to compensate the human race by presenting to it an ideal State based on slavery-that this
Confederacy, whose sole hope is in foreign powers, shall
be recognized when it has not yet been victorious, is a
I*  ought not to treat of the Italian question here, in passing. I
belong to those who love the independence of Italy, and are not alarmed
by its unity, but who do not think that such a work gains any thing by
being accomplished in a few days. By giving it more time and good
conduct, liberal Piedmont might have given a liberal meaning to the
too much decried adage: Italia fara da se.




56        EUROPE AND THE AMERICAN CRISIS.
pretension which Europe owes it to herself to repulse with
indignation.
It was, it is said, for the interest of the United States
themselves, that the character of belligerent was attributed to the insurgent South.   How, otherwise, could
they have regularly exercised all the rights of war?
How, otherwise, for instance, could they have maintained
the blockade, and instituted a search for contraband of
war on board foreign vessels? Can you conceive of a
blockade, can you conceive of a right of search, where
there are no belligerents?
We can easily conceive of them, and the writers who
are authorities in respect to the right of nations have
always conceived of them, likewise. Grotius speaks at
length of wars which he calls "mixed;" that is, of those
which take place between a legitimate government and a
considerable party in insurrection against it. WVheaton
remarks, and no one that I know of has contradicted him,
that civil war gives to the two contending parties all the
rights of war with respect to each other, and with respect
to neutral nations.*
Of what use is it, moreover, to consult heavy books,
when simple good sense suffices to settle the question?
Who ever dreamed of a state deprived of the right of
employing against attacks from within, the means of
war that it would employ against enemies from without?
What! are we not at liberty to blockade an insurgent
port? What! are we not at liberty regularly to maintain
this blockade, except on condition of first according to the
insurgent government, the position of a government de
facto, independent and distinct from our own?  At the
* Elements due droit international, tom. I., Part I., Chap. ii., g
7-10, and Part IV., ~ 7.




BELLIGERENTS AND N EUTRALITY.         57
time of the insurrection of the American colonies in the
last century, England did not think for a moment of seeing belligerents in them; yet, notwithstanding, she showed
little hesitation in exercising the right of search, and
would have showed no more in establishing a blockade,
had it been necessary to aid her military operations. I
add that she would have been right.
Here -is a new scruple, no less wonderful than the first
-if Europe had not transformed the Southern rebels into
belligerents, she would have been forced to hang their
privateersmen, who would have simply been pirates!  I
do not see that we are ever forced to hang men when we
do not wish to. Would it have been so difficult then to
declare that, through motives of humanity, the vessels
armed as privateers by the South should not be treated
as pirates; that even, in case of distress, an asylum should
be granted them in our ports? In acting thus, in welcoming and protecting their refugees, Europe would have
been only fulfilling a duty and conforming her conduct to
the prevailing sentiments of our times. No one would
have opposed  it, and MIr. Lincoln's government has
proved by deeds that it would not have hesitated to imitate our example. Do we not already see this government, which refused to recognize the South in the character of a belligerent, rejecting the soi-disant logical
doctrine, by virtue of which its prisoners of war should
be punished as traitors? Does it apply the penal law
to them? Does it not negotiate exchanges of prisoners?
Has it itself hung any privateersmen?
It is not so difficult as some pretend to avoid excess
sive rigor while maintaining the truth of positions. We
have seen, it seems to me, revolutions and civil -wars
enough to know how to escape from embarrassment. If
rebels remain rebels, purely and simply, it does not thence
3*




58        EUROPE AND TIHE AMERICAN CRISIS.
follow that foreign powers are bound to trample under
foot the commonest principles of humanity. If we had
not created belligerents in America, we should have renounced but two rights: the right of permitting arms
and ammunition to be sold among us to the Southerners;
and the right of limiting the sojourn of United States
men-of-war in our ports. I cannot think this particularly
vexatious.
Is it true that, by acting in this manner, we should
have taken sides? This is another very simple question,
which has been studiously rendered intricate. We will
attempt its disentanglement.
It appears strange, at first sight, that to maintain
things as they are, to see a regular government where
there is a regular government, to see a rebellion where
there is a rebellion, is to take sides. Without declaring
one's self neutral toward a friendly power, neutral between
it and the insurgents, it is certainly justifiable to refrain
from interference in the conflict. This kind of neutrality,
known as non-intervention, will not of course be contested
by us. France and England would have failed in their
first duty if they had not been thus far neutral; if they
had brought any aid whatever to the Federal Government.
Two very different things have been confounded here:
the neutrality in fact, which every one desires in this, as in
all other civil wars; the neutrality founded on that act
of veritable intervention which transforms insurgents into
belligerents. We might be neutral, and perfectly neutral,
without recognizing belligerents; we might interfere ill
nothing and give no support to any one, without beginning by a forced modification of accustomed positions.
When I hear it said that, if there had been no belligerents,




BELLIGERENTS AND NEUTRALITY.         59
there would have been no neutrality, I seem to be dreaming. The contrary is true; in order that the neutrality
should remain real, it was important that the prodigious
moral and social advantage should not have been accorded to the South which was conferred on it from the
first.
We excel in being satisfied with words. Is not recognizing belligerents, maintaining equality?  Is not
maintaining equality, giving proof of impartiality and
absolute neutrality? No; to establish equality where it
does not exist, is to serve the one and to injure the
other; to place a belligerent where there was a rebel, is
to show one's self as far from neutral as is possible to
imagine.
Let us be neutral, let us hold aloof, let us leave to
Americans the care of regulating the affairs of America,
let neither side have any thing to fear or to hope from us,
let them have before them a loyal struggle, fair play, as
they say in England-the friends of the United States
have never demanded any thing more.
I am mistaken-they have also demanded what harmonizes marvellously with official neutrality; namely, the
partiality of sympathies. Sympathies neither know nor
should know neutrality. And here again I encounter one
of those audacious sophisms raised up within the past
year to hinder us from doing our duty. We have been
almost persuaded that political neutrality involved moral
neutrality in its train!
What is this? because I am neutral, am I bound to be
indifferent? Because I abstain from every act which
might nearly or remotely contribute to the success of
either, am I bound to repress within myself my most
cherished sentiments, to manifest no preference between




(to       EUROPE AND THE AMERICAN CRISIS.
rebels exclaiming, " Long live slavery!" and a government representing right, justice, and humanity? The day
that the neutrality of Europe shall be indifferent in the
face of such conflicts, that day Europe will have committed a crime, and signed an abdication.
Thank God! nothing of the sort is yet true; and everywhere else than in America, the great powers have no
fear of compromising the reality of their non-interference through the expression of their sympathies. Italy,
with regard to which the policy of non-intervention is
expressly proclaimed, has oftentimes received encour.
aging communications. In any case, if cabinets believe
it their duty to be silent, nothing prevents parliaments
from making their voice heard. When they keep silence,
I no longer call it neutrality; a different word must be
found, for a different thing is in question.
Nothing has been so grievous as the silence observed
by the English parliaments. These parliaments, usually
so noisy, and which are so fully conscious that they have
not only to cast votes, but also to diffuse ideas, to propagate sympathies, to approve and to blame, have seemed
to measure their most trifling speeches as if each of these
speeches were a diplomatic note. And the meetings have
been no less prudent: it was necessary to be neutral, or
in other words indifferent!
We shall hear no more, I hope, of a neutrality understood in this wise. It has had its time, it is dying
out; meetings are re-appearing, addresses are being
signed, members of parliament are speaking out, liberal
and Christian England is returning to life. This is well.
This is the right way to be neutral in point of justice and
charity. It will not prevent governments from maintaining their attitude of effective impartiality.




BELLIGERENTS AND N EUTRALITY.        61
What is done is done; there are, thanks to us, belligerents in the South. It now remains to know how to set
to work to avoid aggravating this fault, committed perhaps in the inconsiderateness of the first moment. Neither
France nor England has aggravated it hitherto; their
neutrality has been sincere. Is there nothing to do besides?
The word " belligerent" will not be withdrawn. May
it not be interpreted by the conduct and language of Europe? We have been unwilling to say that the South is
not in rebellion. We have been unwilling to say that the
South has become a government in fact, an independent
State. We have been unwilling to say that the South has
obtained our moral support, andis entitled to count on it
in the future. This granted, the scope of the term will
become narrowed more and more, until it finally remains
a word almost void of meaning. A word is something,
but it is no great thing. Once informed that the point
in question is only to forbear hanging privateersmen, and
to give a salient form to the principle of neutrality approved by all, the United States will disregard an expression, untoward, it is true, but become well-nigh inoffensive.
It has done harm, it will do no more. It has encouraged the South, which has taken it in earnest, and fancied
it a promise; it has irritated the cabinet at Washington,
which has likewise taken it in earnest, and thought it a
negation of its right. It was mistaken. Well, so much
the better! If we must suffer yet for some time from
the consequences of such an error; if the war be prolonged; if the manufacturing distress be increased by
reason of the hopes conceived by Jefferson Davis; if
Europe have the vexation of seeing a Southern privateer
burn merchant vessels in the very waters of England




62       EUROPE AND THE AMERICAN CRISIS.
and Spain, and then enter laden with prisoners into those
ports which would have been closed to the flag of a rebel,
but which are open to the flag of a belligerent, it is a misfortune for which we shall soon find consolation provided
that Europe, comprehending that she has taken the wrong
road, henceforth adopts, resolutely and publicly, the principles of true neutrality.




CHAPTER V.
BLOCKADES.
THE good side, hitherto, of the course held by Europe,
is that she has given proof of real kindness to the United
States in forbearing to elude the blockade. The cabinet
at Washington has never ceased to acknowledge this,
especially in the celebrated despatch addressed by MIr.
Seward to Mr. Adams, on the 21st of last July.
The value of this friendly conduct cannot be denied;
for the blockade is the principal weapon of the United
States; it is the most humane and in some respects the
surest means of reducing the rebellion. Can it be true
that, since the pacific conclusion of the Trent affair, there
has been serious question of modifying the attitude of the
great powers upon this point? A great deal has been
said on the subject, and this one and that one accused.
In England, the Tory journals, and also those reputed to
represent the ideas of Lord Palmerston, have demanded
for some time that the Southern ports should be opened,
if necessary, by force. Several French sheets have appeared to sustain the same theory, perseveringly urging
the suppression of the blockade and the recognition of
the South.




64       EUROPE AND THE AMERICAN CRISIS.
I refuse to believe, so far as it concerns me, that the
governments will ever suffer themselves to be drawn into
such a policy. As times go, we should suspect the reports which are constantly circulated among us by the
champions of the South. The most amicable movements
are transformed into menaces, the most inoffensive observations are to lead to a rupture, while the violation
of the blockade and the recognition of the South are
always found at the bottom of every thing.
Let us wait for official acts, nor lightly admit that
Europe, scarcely delivered from the visions of war which
the incident of the Trent had conjured up before her, can
be persuaded to seize upon, we may say, to seek a new
subject of quarrel. There are those in England, I am
well aware, who urge extreme measures, who were little
rejoiced at the liberation of the commissioners, and who
are in quest of pretexts to intervene by force of arms to
impose peace on the combatants, to obtain a fresh supply
of cotton, and to reestablish commercial relations. But
without going out of England, these men will find listeners, and I do not know why we should afford them pleasure by taking their hopes for realities.
Nothing is so long-lived as certain hopes. Although
Lord Russell, by his despatch dated February 15, has
officially recognized the American blockade as regular,
they have not lost courage. In my opinion, we should
remain on our guard; the serious study of the question is
far from having become useless. I will therefore say a
few words concerning it.
The blockade is more effective now than it has ever
yet been; it would be consequently at least strange if
any power should think of attacking to-day what it did
not attack some months ago. The fixed purpose of




BLOCKADES.                  65
arriving at an end marked out in advance, would thus be
clearly manifested.
I repeat that I believe nothing of the sort; but if, by
any possibility, I am mistaken, if Europe should come to
contest the American blockade, would she, by strict right,
be authorized to act in this wise? Let us examine.
The first argument of the adversaries of the blockade
consists in saying that, the United States not having recognized the South in the capacity of belligerent, it thence
follows that the Southern ports are their own; and, they
add, no one can blockade his own harbors.
And why not, if you please? Where have you discovered this interdiction, so favorable to the rebellion?
What! here is an insurgent town; we can blockade it by
land and besiege it according to rule, (I do not suppose
that this too will be forbidden us,) and we cannot blockade it by sea? To do this, must we first make the
amende honorable, declaring thaf the rebellion is not a
rebellion, and that our insurgents have become belligerents?
I do not care to dwell on the point. Let us pass on
speedily to the true problem: is the blockade, legitimate in
itself, sustained by sufficient force-is it effective? Effective! This is a word which is in every one's mouth, but of
which no one can give the definition. A few treaties have
determined the number of vessels and guns which must be
stationed before a port in order that it may be effectively
blockaded; but this minimum figure (which, let me say in
passing, has been constantly exceeded by the American
cruisers) has not been reproduced in the most general
conventions which establish the right of nations. There
is here again an important matter to be regulated, as in
the navigation of mail packets-the precise determination




66       EUROPE AND] THIE AMERICAN CRISIS.
of despatches which are contraband of war, and the circumscriptions beyond which neutrals shall not be visited.
The phrases, effective blockades and neutral rights, are
so many words behind which must be put tangible, precise things that will leave no more room for controversy.
It remains to know whether, while waiting till this shall
be regulated, we are at liberty to settle the question
which meanwhile arises; whether it be just to apply retroactively to America the probable decisions of a future
Congress.
On consulting the principal treaties and comparing
their terms, we arrive at the conclusion that an effective
blockade is that of ports which there is evident danger in
entering. No one has ever dreamed of saying that, in
order to be effective, the blockade must render the entrance impossible.
The expression which I have just employed is precisely that which we read in the famous declaration published in 1780, by Catherine II., to guarantee the right
of neutrals. Article 4 is couched as follows: "To determine what characterizes a blockaded port, this denomination shall be accorded to those only which, through
the disposition by the assailing power of stationary vessels,
placed sufficiently near each other, there is evident danger
in entering."
The second armed neutrality holds the same language
as the first. I cite article 3: "A port can be regarded
as blockaded only if its entrance be evidently dangerous
in consequence of the dispositions made by one of the
belligerent powers, by means of vessels placed in its proximity."
Let us leap over that long interval of violence when
the rights of neutrals and the freedom of the seas were
immolated without ceasing, when paper blockades were




BLOCKADES.                   6 7
established, when England declared the whole coast of
the Continent blockaded, while the decrees of MIilan
and Turin proclaimed all the shores of the British Isles
in a state of blockade; let us arrive at the epoch when
true principles were proclaimed anew by France and
England. What do we find in the concerted instructions
given by both governments to their navies at the breaking out of the Crimean war? I open those emanating
from MI. Duclos. Article 7 reads: "Every blockade to
be respected must be effective, that is, maintained by
sufficient force that there may be imminent danger in
penetrating into the ports invested."
The " evident" danger has become " imminent" danger. I cannot perceive any great difference between the
two epithets. At the same moment, moreover, the neutral powers themselves also publish instructions in which
the word " evident" again appears. Those of Sweden
are thus expressed: "By a blockaded port, is understood
one so far closed by hostile men-of-war, sufficiently near
together, that no one can enter it without evident danger."
The treaty of Paris, concluded at the end of the war,
contents itself with a vague expression, the scope of which
it would be impossible to determine. "Blockades," it
says, " to be obligatory, must be effective; that is, maintained by sufficient force really to forbid the enemy access
to the coast." As force sufficient really to interdict ac.
cess to the coast would be insufficient to stop all attempts
without exception, it always becomes necessary to return
to evident or imminent danger; which was done last year
by M. Rouher, in an admirable circular, in which he
asked our chambers of commerce to respect the Southern
blockade. "An effective blockade," he writes, "is that
of places which cannot be approached without exposure
to evident danger."




68       EUROPE AND THE ALMELtICAN CRISIS.
The most credited writers, Klhiber, for instance,
(Droit (des Gens Jioderne, ~ 297,) holds exactly the same
language. It will be difficult to tgo beyond these generalities, so long as the number of vessels shall not be determined which must be stationed before each port.
This was attempted in the commercial treaty concluded
in 1742, by France and Denmark; its Article 20 exacts
that, for a port to be considered blockaded, its entrance
must be closed by at least two vessels. This condition is
found stated again, in identical terms, in the treaty of
1818, between Denmark and Prussia.
Let us now see whether the United States have conformed to the rules which I have just repeated. What
Southern port is there before which they have not stationed at least two vessels? These vessels are stationary;
they are sufficiently near together; lastly, there is everywhere evident or imminent danger in entering. The ac.
cess, therefore, is really intercepted, at least in the measure which has seemed to result hitherto from national
conventions.
It is easy to exclaim before a Lancashire meeting,
" The blockade is not effective!"  It would be more difficult, perhaps, to demonstrate it. I sigh to see a man like
Mr. Massey exciting the passions of his voters by making
these poor workmen believe that between them and the
cotton which is to give them support, there is only an
American falsehood; and that in treading this falsehood
under foot, and opening the Southern ports, they would
not be committing a reprehensible act, but exercising a
right, and even rendering a service to the United States.
The blockade does not cease to be effective solely because a number of vessels have succeeded in running it.
The American cruisers are forced to contend with a ter



BLOCKADES,                     6 9
rible enemy-English commerce.  Night and day, in the
hundred openings of a coast pierced in every direction by
natural inlets, behind innumerable islands formed from
the alluvion of rivers, lie a whole army of small craft,
ready to profit by darkness or foul weather. Never had
cruisers such a task; and, far from finding cause for blame,
there may be, perhaps, good reason to praise this blockading navy, improvised and without doubt insufficient in
the beginning, but which has become inured to war, increased, and strengthened in every respect, and which today places in " evident'" danger all that seek to escape it.
If' the special formation of the coast (which can be
seen by every one who possesses a good map of America)
cannot furnish a valid excuse; if it belong to the blockading government to take into consideration the exceptional difficulties of a blockade, it is certain, at all events,
that the accidents of the sea, which render the surveillance powerless at times, do not permit us to conclude
therefrom the inefficacy of the blockade. During a storm.
which prevents the action of the cruisers, small vessels can
easily dart through the narrow passages for which their
draught of water is sufficient.  Sir William Scott, whom
the English do not challenge, while recognizing that the
blockade ceases to be valid when not constantly maintained by a proper force, admits the restriction nevertheless: " As far as the weather will permit."'
Let us add, that the intervention of steam has modified the conditions of the struggle, and tended to render
the action of the cruisers less efficacious. It is extremely
difficult, even with a cruiser of considerable size, to arrest
the sure and rapid progress of a vessel hastening forward
under full steam in a dark night, at the risk of two or
three bullets that have small chance of reaching her.
It may be that, during the past year, on an extent of




70       EUROPE AND THE AMERICAN CRISIS.
coast exceeding three thousand miles, a considerable number of vessels have succeeded in evading the blockade;
but there are hundreds also that have been captured.
AIuch fewer have escaped than have not escaped, and the
blockading squadron, which was composed at first of fifteen vessels, is to-day not far from numbering two hundred and fifty.
The fact is, English commerce must know that there
is evident danger in running the blockade, for the list of
its vessels seized and confiscated is not small. The ports
into which vessels of heavy draught can enter are all
sufficiently guarded; which does not mean, I repeat, that
one will ever be sure of preventing a steamboat like the
Bermuda or Nashville from piercing the line of cruisers.
It seems to me, on the whole, that the blockade is effective enough which results ill interrupting communication and almost entirely suppressing the import and export trade. It would not occasion so much complaint if
it were not effective. Consult those interested; interrogate, for instance, a witness beyond suspicion, the New
Orleans Crescent. I quote from a number of last November:
" We hear a great deal said about what is called rmnning the blockade. Reports, and it iwill be found that
they are nothing but reports, pretend that five hundred
and sixteen vessels have run the blockade since the 16th
of May. This estimate is open to much dispute, even
though it may be supported by official documents in the
ministerial departments at Richmond. The blockade was
established at the mouth of the Mississippi on the 25th
of MIay, when forty vessels were found freighted for
foreign ports, and were allowed to depalt. The blockade was commenced almost at the same moment at Mobile and Pensacola; vessels were at liberty to quit these




BLOCKADES.                   71
ports until the 6th of June. As far as New Orleans is
concerned, the last arrivals through the Balize took place
the 29th of May. There have been a few arrivals and
departures of schooners in the lower inlets of the gulf. A
small number of coasting vessels have run the blockade
on the Carolina coasts, but all of these together do
not amount to five hundred and sixteen. On the other
hand, the steamer South Carolina has taken seventy
schooners attempting to run the blockade between New
Orleans and the Texan ports. There have been but three
or four European vessels, among which was the Bermuda,
that have succeeded in running the blockade. A few
West India vessels have also reached the Carolina coast.
But it is deceiving the European governments to maintain that it is easy to escape the blockade, when not a vessel has entered the harbor of New Orleans by the river for
the last five months, and when but a single foreign ship
has arrived by the way of the Lakes."
Such is the truth taken from facts in a moment of
frankness. This number of the Crescent, published at a
time when the blockade was far from being as complete
as it has since become, permits us to estimate at their
true value, those lists of five or six hundred vessels which
have made so much noise in Europe. We know now
that nine-tenths of them are mere barks, accustomed
to threading the inlets of the coast. We know that
real commerce is most effectively suppressed. If necessary, the grass growing in the streets of Nlew Orleans will
testify to this. No more vessels in the harbor, no more
bustle on the piers, no more business, no more life; the
descriptions contained in the very journals of the country
put us in a position to admire the effects produced in
America by " the paper blockade."
This does not signify that the United States Govern



72       EUROPE AND THE AMERICAN CRI'IS.
ment should not take all necessary measures that its
cruisers may be still more efficient, and that the spirit of
cavilling may find nothing in them to blame. But, meanwhile, we will do well to measure our words in Europe.
The orators who gain popularity in the industrial centres
by declaiming against the blockade, should inform themselves beforehand of the sufferings caused by this blockade in jest. To violate it, moreover, would be to declare
war against the United States. Now, aside from the
higher considerations which may be pleaded against an impious war, this war would have the bad effect of reducing
the wages of operatives far below the rate to which it has
now fallen. The security of the production so indispensable to England, depends on the success of the North.
To endanger this success would be to call in the use of
revolutionary measures, which would be to ensure the
ruin of the South and the prolonged distress of Lancashire.
The United States thought for a moment of joining
to the blockade a measure which, in their opinion, would
have finally rendered this blockade perfect in the eyes of
foreign powers —to close the Southern ports by an act of
the legislature. I am rejoiced that they did not persevere; we have already subjects enough of controversy,
without going in quest of another. If, on one side, every
nation be free to close its own ports, (and the Southern
ports belong to the United States,) if it be a question of
municipal regulation to determine what places shall serve
as ports of entry, it has been maintained, on.the other
hand, that this right ceases to exist in the event of civil
war. The legal counsellors of the crown, when consulted
in England concerning a similar act of the government of
New Granada, replied that it was impossible thus to close,
by a single act, ports which were de facto in the hands




BLOCKADES.                 73
of insurgents; in which case, international law exacted
that there should be an efficient blockade.
MIr. Lincoln has acted wisely, therefore, in taking into
account the objections of England, and leaving the bill
authorizing him to close the Southern ports to slumber
among the state parchments.
Another idea seemed to make its way: in the lively
desire of harmonizing the necessities of the war as nearly
as possible with the satisfaction of the industrial needs of
Europe, America might have substituted for the blockade, the collection of duties effected on board her crui.
sers; in this manner, cotton could have gone out and
European merchandise have come in. This project proved
abortive, both on account of the determination of the insurgents, who would not export their cotton, but clung to
the idea of subduing-such was the word-the hesitation
of Europe, and also and most of all because, in organizing
this new service, (supposing the thing practicable,) it
would have been necessary to relinquish the powerful
action of the blockade in suppressing the rebellion.
The blockade will be maintained, therefore, purely
and simply. To theoretical objections, the United States
will continue to reply by facts. Doubtless, the enterprise
is gigantic, and we might have doubted, with some reason,
at the first moment, that it could be conducted in good
faith. I can comprehend the surprise, akin to incredulity,
which was manifested by Lord Lyons in Mlay when Mr.
Seward made the bold declaration, "The government
intends to blockade the whole coast, from Chesapeake Bay
to the mouth of the Rio Grande."  Lord Lyons observed
to him that this coast measured about three thousand
miles in length, and that the United States would not
probably have sufficient force to establish an efficient
blockade of such an extent, "The whole coast will be
4




74       EUROPE AND THE AMERICAN CRiSIS.
blockaded, and efficiently blockaded," was Mr. Seward's
reply. He has kept his word.
A few days after, the same question was debated in
the Upper House; and if Lord Derby, always hostile to
the United States, hastened to maintain the impossibility
of an effective blockade the whole length of the South,
Lord Brougham did not hesitate to support the contrary
opinion. "It is not necessary," said he, with reason,
"that the blockade should be established in such a manner that ingress or egress shall be actually impossible."
Do what we may, we will be forced to persist in this.
Wherever the ports are guarded by a number of vessels,
wherever there is " evident danger," in entering or going
out, the efficiency of the blockade cannot be contested.
Other pretexts have been also sought. The obstruction of Charleston harbor has just furnished an admirable
one; and the 2Morning Post has not delayed to denounce
this measure, " in conformity with the barbarous policy
of a government which fills Europe with indignation."
I am very glad that there is still indignation among us;
those who see no cause to be indignant at a treason plotted and a rebellion proclaimed in the name of slavery,
those who forget to be indignant on learning that the
first act of the insurgent people of Charleston was to set
at liberty the captain of a slaver, will be at least indignant at the thought of the vessels laden with stone which
close the harbor of this city. A city which has so far
signalized itself by its passion for slavery really deserves
better than any other to excite our feelings of humanity.
Let me be understood rightly; neither do I myself approve the measure employed against Charleston; but as
to this noisy and pharisaical compassion, as to these tears
at command, as to this virtuous indignation which has




BLOCKADES.                    75
but one end-that of arriving at European intervention
and the recognition of the South —I take the liberty of
esteewming them fobr what they are worth; I reserve my
pity for other woes, which nmay be found without seeking
very far, within the very walls of Charleston.
An act, moreover, may give cause for regret, without
opening the way to the mediation of strangers. It is pitiable to see what arguments are used as a basis to demonstrate that Europe is right in opposing its veto, and employing force at need. Nature creates a porit, and man steps in
to suppress its use; he suppresses it even for generations
to come; he deprives vessels in distress of a needful
refuge: this is contrary to international relations; the
preservation of commercial ports, like the free navigation
of rivers, interests all nations; therefore, the people that
takes it upon itself to change the primitive configuration
of a coast to the detriment of the rest, deserves to be
punished by the entire world.
There is but one misfortune; this new, revised, and
considerably corrected edition of the rights of nations, has
been published expressly for the sake of America, and, I
suspect, for its exclusive use. We heard of the " stone
fleet " a full month at least before it put to sea; who at
that time experienced this lively emotion? There was
no effort to display it until the Trent affair had been
arranged, and it was necessary to seek elsewhere for a
means of intervention. Great crimes do not permit the
human conscience thus to waver. Now, with the exception of the English cabinet, which took its precautions,
and presented its observations to Mr. Seward, not a person in Europe, not even a single editor of the )liorning
Post, exclaimed against this scandalous proceeding, this
criminal attempt, this violation of the rights of humanity.
If we had been seeking a quarrel with the United States,




7 6      EUJROPE AND THIE AMERICAN CRISIS.
we would not have acted differently. It would indeed
have been a shorter, and, above all, a franker way, to
have declared once for all that it is their pretension to
bring back the South into the Union which constitutes
the violation of international law. Its barriers close the
harbors! Yes, but bombardments destroy them; will
we also argue the illegality of bombardments? It would
be somewhat difficult, provided we still held our own
wars in remembrance.
War, alas! is always more or less destructive to the
works of God, and dangerous to the use of the good
things which HIe has placed at our disposal. It is easy for
one to reason thereupon with his feet on the fender; it is
somewhat less easy, perhaps, when he feels himself struggling with that double peril —a formidable insurrection,
and a continually threatened foreign intervention. At
such a time, between the ruin of a city and the ruin of a
nation, one may choose the first without therefore being
barbarous.
I do not pretend to maintain that the somewhat unfriendly policy of Europe has been the sole cause of the
measure taken against Charleston; I affirm, notwithstanding, that if America had had a greater feeling of security, if
she had not trembled for her blockade, if she had not seen
herself under the formidable obligation of triumphing in
some sort within a given time, she would not have sent
stone ships to the South.  Let those who judge her
place themselves for a moment in her place. No one
destroys his own cities for mere pleasure.
But, it is exclaimed, the question concerns'a commercial city and not a fortified town; fortified towns alone
can be bombarded and destroyed! This distinctionwho would believe it?-has been borrowed by the English journals from the celebrated Berlin decree. Eager




-BLOCKADES.                  77
to discover grievances against England, the Emperor accused it of extending to unfortified commercial harbors
"the right of blockade which, in accordance with reason
and the usages of polished peoples, is applicable only to
fortified places."
This distinction has been long rejected by all authors,
the French with the rest. War may render the blockade
of a commercial harbor as indispensable as that of a harbor of men-of-war; and not only its blockade, but its
siege. No means of attack is excluded.
If when, at the time of the Crimean campaign, the allies
bombarded Sevastopol and spared Odessa, they did perfectly right, not because Odessa was a commercial harbor,
but because the destruction of Odessa was not of the
least importance to the success of their operations. Was
the destruction of Charleston harbor essential to the military success of the operations of the United States?  I
will not decide the question, disposed though I should
be to determine it against them; I say that the question
concerns them alone. Having the right to decide, they
have the right to act. I was astounded, I acknowledge,
to see the note presented by Lord Lyons regard the
obstruction of Charleston harbor as a proof of the discouragement of the United States; they despaired of reestablishing the Union, otherwise they would have never
thought of destroying a city which rightfully belonged to
them.
When they fire upon a Southern fortress, they are
destroying a fortress which rightfully belongs to them.
When they attack a Southern privateer, they are endeavoring to sink a vessel which rightfully belongs to them.
The first and inevitable condition of war is the unceasing
destruction by the national government of things that
rightfully belong to it.  "Since you make war on the




8  EURO'E AND THE AMERICAN CRISIS.
South, since you injure the South, it is a proof that you
despair of reducing the South and reestablishing the
Union."  Such would be the natural conclusion of the
English note.
I hope that in writing this note, despite the ill feeling
which prevailed at that time, there was no design of making it mean all this; I hope that it was dictated chiefly by
the desire of giving friendly counsel to the Americans,
and persuading them from objectionable measures; I
hope it, because I read at the bottom the name of Lord
Russell. The truly liberal statesman who signed this
document was the same who has just recognized officially
the regularity of the blockade.  He certainly is not
among those who have espoused the cause of the South,
and are watching for an occasion to intervene in order to
secure its independence.
We see that, even though a real obstruction were in
question, it would fall within the rights of war, and that
Charleston, a peaceful commercial harbor (with its two
fortresses, its population in arms, and its batteries pointed
a year ago at the Federal flag)-that Charleston would
have only been subjected to the existing laws of warfare,
which permit bombardments and the closing of harbors.
But the real obstruction of its port has been neither effected nor attempted; the National navy has only sought
to close a few of the channels which connect its harbor
with the ocean. In fact, since the sinking of the stone
ships, vessels have succeeded in entering and going out
of the harbor. If it has been entered, there is an entrance, and the partisans of the South will do well to set
about seeking some other pretext of complaint. Mr.
Seward has taken the liberty of making the same remark




B3LOCKADES.                     7 9
to Lord Lyons,* in terms which, though strictly diplomatic, are none the less clear and pointed.
I pause at this unhappy quarrel, precisely because it
seems ended, and because it offers us a most instructive
subject of study. If we had taken the trouble to read
the New York journals, we should have spared ourselves
so vexatious a misunderstanding. As early as November,
these journals, in announcing the departure of the stone
fleet, declared in explicit terms that it was not designed
to obstruct channels of use to commerce. The harbor,
they said, will remain open, and after the rebellion has
been suppressed, all nations can visit it as before.
The English journals, which, for a moment, flung themselves with so much eagerness on this subject of quarrel,
and which, in default of a better, endeavored to discover
in the obstruction a casus belli, not only forgot to gain
some information about it before complaining, but never
gave a thought to the numerous examples which, in case
of need, might have justified the extreme measures which
the United States did not take.
And here I do not mean to speak of the Russians
burning Moscow (their own city), or obstructing the pass
of Sevastopol (their own city) in order to repulse the
enemy from  a territory which they certainly did not renounce on this account; neither do I mean to speak of the
advice given by these same journals,. so compassionate today, who wished to destroy Delhi "so that one stone
should not be left upon another," which would seem to
* He adds that the obstructions will be removed after the submission
of the South. On the demand of England, a vessel which had been sunk
in the harbor of Savannah, was raised in 1815 by the Americans, after
peace had been signed at Ghent. The English Admiral Sartorius himself
acknowledges, in a letter published in the London papers, that the obstruction of harbors is among the rights of war, and that this obstruction
may be removed on making peace.




80      mEUROlPE AND THE AMERICAN CRISIS.
indicate, according to the reasoning of Lord Russell, that
they despaired of India, and had no longer any thought of
preserving it! No; I will simply recall the acts of war
and plans of operations which history has mentioned hitherto without the least indignation. Anvers, a commercial harbor, and more important, I think, than Charleston,
was destroyed by the closure of its channels. The project of filling in the entrance to the harbor of Boulogne
will be doubtless found on the minutes of the Admiralty,
and that this was not pursued was by no means on account of scruples founded on the fact that Boulogne was
not a fortified town.
It has been said again and again that none but Yankees could be capable of conceiving the abominable idea
of sinking ships in the entrance to a harbor; but Lord
Dundonald was not a Yankee, yet notwithstanding, a letter, written by him on board the imperious, April 3, 1809
-a letter of which he is by no means ashamed, since he
quotes it literally in his memoirs, contains the following
passage: " Vessels laden with stone would forever destroy
the anchorage of Aix; and a few old ships of the line,
deeply laden, would be excellent for the purpose."
This was addressed to Lord Mulgrave, the first lord
of the Admiralty, who forgot to address to his correspondent " remonstrances" similar to those which Lord
Lyons addressed to 3Ir. Seward. But here is what is
still better-the South Carolinians themselves, in January, 1861, wishing to deprive the United States of the
means of revictualling the Federal forts situated on the
waters of Charleston, sunk five schooners in the principal
channel of their harbor. The rebels of Georgia, on their
side, have endeavored to render Savannah inaccessible by
water; and have obstructed the channel by old vessels.*
* They have just extinguished nearly all the lights on the Southern




BLOCKADES.                    81
These acts of the South were recounted at the time,
and Europe was not moved by them-it is true that it
was the South! As to the North, let it beware! Its
movements are watched; its conduct must be irreproachable; we shall excuse nothing.
I am of those, I repeat, who would have preferred
that no ships should have been sunk; but between a regret and a grievance, the distance is great. Alas! it is
but too true that by heaping up unsound grievances, we'
end by exciting hostile passions. To-day, we denounce
" the barbarity " of the Federal Government, which closes
harbors, changes the configuration of coasts, and forever
destroys the advantages which God had assured to commnerce. To-morrow, we will complain of " the sufferings
inflicted on manufacturers by a pitiless blockade," as if
the Federal Government itself did not take care to open
harbors by the side of those which it had closed, Beaufort
by the side of Charleston; and as if it depended on the
North to force the South into no longer systematically
holding back its cotton in order to conquer the lingering
repugnance of Europe. The other day, on the contrary,
we cried out against the " paper blockade," and deplored
the lists of' six or seven hundred vessels which had escaped the cruisers, confounding time as well as tonnage; we did not say that the greater part of these vessels had run the blockade while it was still incomplete,
neither did we say that most of them were mere barks,
and that large vessels, with the exception of steamers,
encountered, in entering Southern harbors, the " evident
peril'" which constitutes effective blockades.
coasts, numbering one hundred and twenty-seven. This is rather more
troublesome to navigation than the obstruction of one or two passes at
Charleston.
4*




CHAPTER  VI.
CONCLUSION OF THE FIRST PART.
I SHOULD be wanting in frankness were I to conclude
this first part without briefly expressing the thought that
has weighed on me while writing. In studying what the
attitude of Europe has been for nearly a year, I have
been forced more than once to ask myself what it may
become.
Yes, Europe, under certain given circumstances, may
resume her policy and carry it through to the end, instead
of stopping half way; a decisive resolution may be taken;
some disaster to the North may give the signal for extreme resolutions; some unforeseen incident may furnish
the pretext which was vainly demanded for a moment
from the blockade or the obstruction of Charleston harbor; the distress of the manufacturing districts may increase to such a degree as to force the powers, as it were,
to action; the first blast, the precursor of a storm, which
came to us the other day from Salford, and which was
afterward appeased, may be followed by a fearful tempest;
the debates in Parliament may bring forth later manifestations of a nature to precipitate events.
All this is possible, possible, though far from probable,
to my mind. Already, I admit, leading men have taken




CONCLUSION OF THE FIRST PART.        83
sides in favor of intervention, and have signalled out the
"paper blockade" to the indignation of the working
classes. The idea of "opening a road for cotton" has
been recommended to those who live by cotton, and who
have hitherto so honorably withheld these scruples which
have just been so lavishly displayed. They were afraid
of becoming allies of slavery-but slavery is not in question! They were afraid of violating the rights of the
United States-but the United States have no rights, and
their blockade is not a blockade! They were afraid of
kindling war-but there will be war only to secure peace!
Thus the cause of the South —who would have believed it?-may become almost popular. Did not journals
important through their ministerial relations, the Observer
and the liorning Post, issue to the people, before the
recent awakening of public opinion, news designed to
maintain the chances and the hopes of the South? They
announced from time to time that European mediation
was resolved upon, and was about to be imposed on the
people of the United States.
That this was a falsehood, I know. The Emperor, on
opening the Assembly, has declared formally in the name
of France, that so long as the rights of neutrals are respected, we will not meddle with the quarrels of the
United States. The Queen's address and the speeches of
the ministers have announced the maintenance of a neutral policy. Notwithstanding, there exists a current of
opinions, or rather interests, which still threatens to draw
in Europe some day, if we do not succeed in mastering
its power.
That we will master it, I have confidence; but it is
necessary for this that we all do our best; it is necessary
for this that, without hesitation, without miserable calculations of prudence, we expose the worthlessness of false




84       EUROPE AND THE AMIERICAN CRISIS.
theories and erroneous assertions. Never was more important mission confided to men of heart. Already, the
glorious reaction which is appearing in England, has
come to prove that we are not mistaken in defending
principles and counting upon them.
Let us give our attention to principles, nor be anxious
about events. Be events what they may, they will work
no change in principles. If Europe should ever throw
her sword into the balance and recognize the South, the
act will become none the better by reason of its accomplishment. We will not have, therefore, in any case, to
repent of our resistance.
To recognize the South! I cannot comprehend how
such a measure can be recommended, even in the point
of view of material interests. When the conflict shall have
been thus exasperated, when war to the death shall have
commenced, when revolutionary measures shall have been
employed, nothing will be left but to bow the head and
yield to ruin.
I hope that we may succeed in avoiding this extremity;
nevertheless, the fact remains that the right will have
been violated, and that violated right is always avenged.
On the day when Europe shall say to America, "I intervene, because it is of importance that my commerce be
reestablished, because I cannot indefinitely endure your
dissensions, because the delay fixed by me has expired;'
on that day, an act of injustice will have been done. No
one is ignorant of the condition of regular recognition.
We recognize governments de facto, who have secured
their independence. Even when the destruction of an
enemy has been in question, France has never consented
to proclaim a premature recognition. Without going
out of America, as I have already said, we find a decisive
proof of this. The insurrection of the English colonies




CONCLUSION OF THE I'IRST PART.       85
took place in 1773; the battle of Bunker Hill was won in
1775; 1777 saw the victory at Saratoga and the surrender of Burgoyne; yet, notwithstanding, the French government waited till the following year to recognize the
United States. Six years of war and of decisive advantages, with the acquired certainty that the independence
could be no longer seriously menaced, were necessary at
that time to legitimatize recognition. Why is less necessary to-day? Why would our century, so justly in favor
of non-intervention, admit this form of intervention in a
struggle which is not ended?
We have been told again and again that we can recognize the South, and yet remain neutral! As we could
not recognize it to-day and suffer it to be invaded to-morrow, it is certain that the recognition would lead to an
armed intervention. This would be, therefore, a rupture
with the United States. That it might not be followed
by immediate war, I willingly admit, for the Union would
doubtless give way before a hopeless struggle. But what
a peace would this be! What a fund of hatred reserved
for the future! And what a crisis for our manufactures!
I doubt whether France will then congratulate herself
for having destroyed her work of the last century, and
whether England will be greatly proud of having struck
hands with the champions of slavery.
This is the chance which I have been obliged to force
myself to look in the face. I have pointed it out; I will
not wrong Europe by dwelling on it. A word only, addressed to the Americans.
They know now on what to rely. It is generally believed among us that they are not making war in earnest,
that they will end by drowning themselves in preparations,
that their expenses of two million dollars a day will ex



86        EUROPE AND THE AMERICAN CRISIS.
haust their last remaining resources, that their war will
soon be brought to an end by the force of circumstances.
It is for them to demonstrate by facts that these are
so many calumnies. Their armies are ready, their fleets
are built, the season favorable to operations in the South
has arrived; the question is to go forward with energy,
and inaugurate an era of brilliant successes. At the
price which their war is unfortunately costing them, it is
necessary that it be short, under pain of becoming impossible. Their paper currency disquiets their best friends.
They have a few months of real security before them
-a few months, no more. Let there be no illusion on
this point! If, in a few months, the superiority of the
North be not established, if the issue of the conflict remain in the least doubtful, seditious interests will perhaps
intervene in favor of the South.
To act to-day, therefore, to act quickly, to act energetically-such is the first article of their programme.
And this is now the second:
In case that, contrary to all appearances, the campaign
which is about to open should not result in the brilliant
triumph of the North; in case that, contrary once more
to all appearances, the decisive successes of the North
and the measures taken by it for the progressive abolition
of slavery in the conquered South should not bring forth
the manifestation of the Union sentiments now suppressed, it would then be necessary to take one of those
difficult resolutions which a great people should know
how to adopt at need. To take necessities into account,
to see things as they are, to be resigned to what cannot
be helped, is also to serve one's country.
HIe who is resigned too soon, is cowardly; he who is
resigned too late, is in danger of entering into conflict
with the very designs of God. Perhaps God has willed




CONCLUSION OF THE FIRST PART.         87
precisely the course that grieves us most; perhaps, according to his sovereign plans, emancipation must be
wrought by separation; perhaps the South must be chastised by its victory; perhaps the uprising must be accomplished through great sorrows.
If this should be unhappily true, it would be wisdom
to recognize and become openly resigned to it. After an
unfortunate or inefficient campaign, when the mediation
of Europe should be offered, (and it would be in this case,
without doubt,) when the question should be to order
new Treasury bonds, to brave ruin, to hasten to bankruptcy, to defy the great allied powers, to undertake a
new war, a colossal war, a hopeless war, good citizens
would be those who should counsel peace.
It costs me an effort to write this; but I should fail
in my duty if I did not say all that I think. I love
America too well not to prefer the danger of displeasing
to that of disserving it. I hope for its success; I count
on it; for I know that it is fighting for justice, and there
is victory in the word. It may be, however, that we are
mistaken; the victories which God has in store for the
North may be of a nature which we have not foreseen;
they will consist, perhaps, in the first place, of completing
the work of emancipating the slaves and rehabilitating
the free negroes within its own borders; then in effecting
the same work, by its example, in the States which have
seceded from it; then, it may be, in bringing them back
some day, when isolation shall have borne its bitter
fruits, and when the great cause of discord shall have disappeared.
However this may be, if we have the unexpected pain
of witnessing the unsuccessfulness of the Federal arms
and the combined mediation of the European powers, we
will offer up ardent prayers that the United States may




88        EUROPE AND THE AMERICAN CRISIS.
resolutely accept all the consequences of such a position.
There is no glory to be lost, but a great deal to be
gained in simply accepting what cannot be prevented.
We must foresee every thing, even what is improbable. It would be no trifling thing, moreover, to reduce
the army and expenditures, to bring back the former
prosperity, to recall European immigration, to withdraw
the paper currency, to pay debts, to reestablish liberties
a moment suspended, to strengthen institutions. The
present war has its perils; all the friends of America are
troubled at seeing it forced to repudiate for a time some
of its glorious traditions; its six hundred thousand soldiers please them but little, any more than their expenditure of two or three millions per day. They cannot
help fearing that, the war ended, the free America of
former times will not again be found. If any thing could
console them for a peace favorable to the independence
of the South, it would be the thought that this wculd
also seal the independence of the North. Delivered at
length from the yoke which had weighed on its institutions and policy, it would recover the liberty of becoming
again itself. The difficulties of a partial separation —difficulties, doubtless, most real, and which the makers'of
projects do not take sufficiently into account, are not to
be compared, considerable as they may be, with the difficulties of another nature which the least plan of conquest and armed occupation would involve in its train.
To tell the truth, the North would be itself for the
first time, for hitherto the baleful influences of the South
have corrupted every thing. The South, with its slavery,
with its unsound and illiberal democracy, with its spirit
of conquest and strife, with its contempt for the right of
nations, with its hatred of Europe, with its break-neck
policy, with its repudiations of debts, with its laws for




CoNCLUSION OF' TH'r FIRnST PART.       89
fugitive slaves, with its pretensions and violence, unceas.
ingly lowered the moral and social level of the United
States. Every thing was going, beginning with selfrespect. A few years more of this rude prosperity, and
all would have been over with the United States.
Now, the United States have reappeared. Whether
they triumph over the rebellion, as I count upon their
doing, or are forced to accept manfully the consequences
of a reverse and European mediation, they are about to
know the greatness of liberty and justice, while awaiting
what the future has in store for them.




ENGLAND.
PART SECOND.
CHAPTER I.
TWO NATIONS IN ENGLAND.
OUR work would be of no value, if, confining ourselves
to estimating the general attitude of Europe, we neglected
to study more closely the conduct of Englishmen. It is
among them that the true, the vital, and practical questions are propounded; it is among them that we are to
seek their solutions. With respect to the United States
and the crisis through which they are passing, England
has the chief authority.
This is not due only to the ties of blood which unite
her to America, to the importance of her commercial re,
lations with it, to the solidarity established between her
manufactures and American cotton, of which she alone
absorbs two-thirds; a nobler motive imposes on her a
special responsibility —as slavery is in question, all Europe
has instinctively recognized the competence of the nation
which has been honored by its great act of emancipation.




TWO NATIONSS IN ENGLAND.           91
Nowhere else, moreover, not even in France, as we
must modestly acknowledge, could the events in America
alarm so many interests, and nowhere else, it seems to
me, should they attract so many sympathies. The English opposition to the cause of the North would naturally
be violent; the English adhesion to the cause of the
North would naturally be enthusiastic.
If the first of these previsions alone has been realized
during many months, this proceeds from causes which it is
important to examine with care in order to find a remedy.
Whatever may be done, indeed, it is probable that the
chief initiative in all that concerns the United States will
continue to belong to England. Faithful to an alliance, the
maintenance of which is of importance to the whole world,
France, without abdicating her free will, will nevertheless
as far as possible avoid separating her action from that of
England. I have no hesitation, therefore, in turning to
the latter, and calling her to account for an attitude which
has disappointed so many hopes. Why has England been
so cold? Why has England had so long for Mr. Lincoln's
government neither encouragement nor equity?
England, I am happy to say, is beginning to question
herself upon this point; the land of Wilberforce is awakening and becoming itself again. Would that, in recalling what it has done or suffered to be done during the
past year, I might second its generous return to good!
A first reflection strikes me-the same which presented
itself when I examined the attitude of Europe, the same
which has besieged me from one end to the other of this
work-how much evil might have been avoided by simply
maintaining the action of principles! And here I do not
speak only of the sympathy due to those who have risen
to prevent, by means of great personal sacrifices, the extension of slavery; I speak also of the respect due to the




9'2                  ENGLAND.
right. Suppose for a moment that England, without
even giving way to her abolition sympathies, had taken
the side of the right, her conduct would have no longer
encountered either difficulties or embarrassments.- Here
is justice and there injustice; here is a president regularly elected, and there are men in insurrection against the
free constitution of their country, their flag, and their
oaths; well, we are on the side of justice, which is also
that of liberty. Without intervening, without meddling
with that which does not concern us, we will maintain our
natural relations with the Government of the United
States; and as to the Southerners, we owe them nothing,
we are determined to see in them only what they are,
rebels against the law, rebels in favor of slavery.
It has been a source of pleasure to me, in pursuing
this work, to discover everywhere the confirmation of one
of my oldest and most cherished convictions-the immense value of principles. There is no right against right
-to practise justice, such is the only simple, luminous,
effective, and truly useful policy.
Suppose for a moment that England had had no other
policy than this, what would have happened? Civil war
would have been prevented or abridged; a painful misunderstanding would not have weighed upon the relations
of two great peoples; grievances and chances of war
would not have been infinitely multiplied; there would
have been much less suffering; cordial relations would
have been strengthened in the Old World as in the New.
There are hours of struggle and peril when the least
encouragement, the slightest grasp of a friendly hand,
leaves ineffaceable memories. They are seeds of love and
friendship, sown in ready prepared soil. What we sow
to-day, we shall reap hereafter.




TWO NATIONS IN ENGLAND.             93
In sketching this picture, I have described in advance
and by way of contrast, the sad effects of a policy in
which principles are treatbd as follies-a policy which,
fearing before every thing to appear sentimental, seems
to take pleasure in doing the opposite on all points to
what the instinct of justice would prescribe. To establish no difference between right and rebellion, to take delight in displaying an impartiality little in conformity
with the rights of nations, to abound in suspicions and
scruples with respect to those who are defending the
cause of law and liberty, to invent favorable interpretations and privileged positions in behalf of those who are
treading under foot the national constitution at the same
time with humanity, to discover that the separation might
be useful before asking whether it be just, to impose silence on indignation and sympathy, not even to be disquieted about the balefulness and immorality that must at
all events arise from the triumph of iniquity, to refuse the
glorious role which offers itself to England, to let go the
occasion of proving once more to the world that she sets
something above her interests, and that the Bible can
beat back cotton in case of need, to turn her back upon
the only chance of conciliating at once the friendship of
America and the esteem of Europe without entering,
moreover, in any manner into the quarrel of the North
and South-such are the advantages which have been
procured by force of distrusting the candid application
of principles. It would have been too malignant, indeed,
to have admitted with the first comer that slavery was
at the bottom of the difference, that the adversaries of
slavery should be preferred before its partisans, that, in
any case, the result of an election should be respected,
that right was right, that the national Government was




94                   ENGLAND.
the national Government, and that the insurrection was
an insurrection.
What, therefore, has occurred? The American people, which expected much of England, has experienced
with respect to it a disappointment full of bitterness.
Friendship has been wounded and confidence mistakengreat evil has been wrought. It counted on the relationship, the natural alliance of free peoples; it counted, before all, on the cordial support of the nation which had
expended a million of dollars and overcome the resistance
of interests to emancipate the slaves of its colonies. They
beheld meetings in advance, they fancied that they already heard the pleadings of orators; parliament was
about to resound with encouragement and friendly exhortation to America; the churches were about to rise in
turn; the Christian public, the living bond of the two
countries, was about to learn the meaning of the glorious
mission in store for it; Americans were about to hear the
cry from all sides: " We are with you; we entreat you
not to fall back or stagger in your enterprise. It is a difficult one —to arrest the growth of slavery and then ensure its gradual suppression, is to accomplish the greatest
social revolution'which a people has ever been permitted
to pursue on earth. Courage! You will set a noble example, you will do more than we ourselves have done for
the cause of abolition. You will devote to it more efforts, more sacrifices, more money, and more blood; but
you will succeed, and your success will ensure the final
triumph of emancipation in the whole world."
This is what was hoped of England.  It was hoped
with the more confidence, that the Prince of Wales had
scarcely quitted the American soil, where an enthusiastic
welcome had appeared to seal the lasting forgetfulness of
old quarrels. This confidence was such that, deceived at




TWO NATIONS IN ENGLAND.            95
the first moment, it was nevertheless persevered in with
touching obstinacy. Alen could not resign themselves to
hearing no word of affection from beyond the seas. The
day of peril had come, it was impossible that fiiends,
kindred, and brothers should not take their part in this
honorable distress, accepted for the service of humanity.
They waited long; they long repeated to themselves that
there was some mistake, that the nature of the conflict
was not yet comprehended by England. At length it
was necessary to yield to evidence-the evil, a mysterious
evil, had done more harm than had been.believed. With
icy sang-froid, the English nation signified to America,
that its struggle was of interest to no one, that the flarr
of slavery displayed by the South was revolting to no one,
that the success of the South dismayed no one, that the
dismemberment of the United States saddened no one.
No one! I go too far in saying this, and honorable
exceptions should be signalled out; but these exceptions
have been so rare, expressions of sympathy have been so
nearly lacking, the leading organs of public opinion have
treated America with so much rudeness, that indifference
has been the incontestable attitude of the nation.
I say these things without circumspection, because I
say them without hatred. AMy affection has also suffered
decline —a decline resembling the grief which we experience when a friend disappoints, by some action, the
esteem in which we have held him. And where is the
friend of liberty that would not be a friend of England?
Far from wishing it harm, we consider its good as much
as that of America itself, when we deplore the culpable
coldness of which it has just given proof. We feel that
impartiality has its penalties; one suffers on both sides.
At no price would I wish to join in the mad declama



96                   ENGLAND.
tions which are hurled against "perfidious Albion."  I
will not say, for I do not think that her policy is always
unscrupulous, that she never yields to a generous impulse.
When she arms her volunteers, when she increases a
navy whose superiority is the very condition of its existence, I am neither astonished nor irritated thereby.
Petty jealousies with respect to it have never touched my
heart, and if the punishment of its conduct toward America should rebound on its head, I would be the first to be
grieved by it.
It is precisely for this reason that my remarks may be
of use. An accusation would be wounding; the expression of the grief of a friend, the organ of many others,
may find its way to the conscience.
There are two nations in England. Whoever does
not begin by admitting this, must renounce all hope of
understanding the history of this strange country.
There are two nations, I say it to the glory of England. How many peoples are there, among whom energetic reactions toward good are unknown! How many
countries are there, whose rivers flow smoothly down an
even slope, where no block of granite ever falls to turn
aside the current! Blocks of granite have fallen into the
current of England.
Oftenest, doubtless, the river turns aside, then descends tranquilly to the sea, while nothing announces
that an obstacle has disturbed, the flow of the waters.
These are the epochs of inertia, languor, and forgetfulness
of principles; a policy then prevails, not more selfish,
perhaps, than the policy of other governments, but less
attached to forms, and more offensive, by reason of
unceremoniousness and bad taste. But suddenly a reaction is wrought; a great moral truth comes to light,




TWO NATIONS IN ENGLAND.            97
agitation becomes diffused, a superior force arises in
opposition to the power of habits and interests. Humanity then wins one of its victories.  To-day, it is the
abolishment of the slave trade; to-morrow, it will be the
abolition of slavery; the day after, Catholic emancipation;
then, the reform of Parliament; then, the protective system. There will be extended investigations, there will
be persevering efforts to obtain religious liberty everywhere, there will be powerful sympathies in favor of the
independence of peoples.  When Christian and liberal
England rises, when its journals and meetings begin
to protest against a great social iniquity, we feel that
this will not be a passing and feeble desire, a wellmeaning caprice, such as we have witnessed too often,
but a fixed design which will be pursued to the end with
that manly energy which delays discourage no more than
reverses.
Before the reactions of which I speak, the common
traditions of the British administration always yield in
the end. We know in what manner the crimes of the
Indian government were openly denounced in Parliament.
WVe know what voices were raised, even during the
American war to obtain the independence of the United
States. If, some day, the opium trade should succumb,
upon which I count, it will fall, be sure, beneath the blows
of a moral reaction aroused in England.
This is how it happens that English history contains
so many contrasts, so much good, and so much evil. He
who sees nothing but the evil, is in the wrong; he who
sees nothing but the good, is likewise in the wrong. There
are two nations, I repeat. WVhen unprincipled England
grieves us, let us turn with confidence toward liberal and
Christian England! Thank God! the latter is constantly
gaining ground. For fifty years, it has not ceased, as it




98                   ENGLAND.
were, to give battle. For a moment in torpor, it was not
long in awaking. It is at hand, it is advancing; a little
late, doubtless, but nevertheless in time; it is about to
reform with its generous hand the policy pursued with
respect to the United States.
We must be patient; English reactions are always
somewhat slow. This proceeds, it is just to remark, from
a sentiment of patriotism. Befobre openly attacking the
conduct of their country, especially outside itself, the
English usually begin by associating themselves with it.
Their instinct urges them to form one body, to see nothing at first but the British flag. Independence of opinion
is lacking them at the first moment, and their ministers
of foreign affairs are almost sure to be followed. But,
by degrees, they reflect, they become enlightened, they
discuss, they redeem by great noise and energy the docility of the beginning.
How could it be otherwise, among a people reared for
so many years in the school of free discussion? For six
or seven centuries, England has possessed her.Iagna
Charta, her hiabeas Corpus, her Parliament, and her
jury; for more than two centuries, these institutions,
mere forms under the Tudors, have been the sovereign
and indestructible law of the land. England had her
freemen when we had only courtiers; she had her great
parliamentary struggles at the epoch of our petits abbes.
Brilliant on other sides, and needing to envy no one in
point of glory, it would ill become us to despise the
country of- Russell, Sydney, and Defoe, the nation which
escaped by force of vigor fiom the fearful peril of the
Stuarts pensioned by Louis XIV., and charged with disciplining England according to the French method of the
time. If we resemble it too little to fully comprehend it,




TW\O NATIONS IN ENGLAND.            99
it seems to me that nothing hinders us from rendering it
justice.
It is a strange spectacle, which certainly has its greatness-a people which now suffers itself to be dragged
down almost to. degradation by those who govern it, and
which then rises up with incomparable energy, confessing
its faults, attacking the wrong, its own crimes, beginning
and pursuing one of those searching investigations which
end in reform; a people in Which the moral sense speaks
loudly; a people among whom uprisings against injustice
are something else than the caprice or fashion of a moment. How many generous voices have been raised since
that of Burke! How many liberties have been laboriously won, by speech, by perseverance, without shedding
blood or overthrowing the Constitution-the liberty of
slaves, religious liberty, political liberty, commercial liberty, colonial liberty! This powerful England, where designs endure and are carried into action, where the reclamations, I should say, the outbursts of the human
conscience redeem the sometimes odious acts of an unscrupulous policy-this England, which makes itself hated
by good right, and which makes itself loved by better
right still-are we justified in judging it by the evil
which it was near doing, without remembering the good
which it has accomplished?
It is the most liberal, yet least revolutionary of all peoples. A loyal nation, loving its Queen, plunged entire
into mourning by the death of Prince Albert, it has never
confounded progress with levelling, it has never believed
that respect for the law could be contrary to the passion
for liberty. Faithfill to its ancient traditions, conservative without being stagnant, it looks in the face its three
mortal enemies-the spirit of absolutism, the spirit of
conquest, and the spirit of revolution.




100                   ENGLAND.
A heroic nation, our equal on the battle field, England
has escaped from the mania of uniforms and plumes; by
her instincts, by her interests, by the influence of the Gospel, she loves peace.
I have spoken of the Gospel; therein —why shall it
not be said?-therein is found the source of those great
moral reactions which, becoming more and more frequent
since the religious awakening has strengthened its empire, will end, ere long, by transforming English policy.
Formerly, English policy was in bad repute, and, frankly
speaking, it deserved to be. More cynical than Machiavellian, placarding, exaggerating its selfishness as if designedly, little pharisaical, but very gross, it seemed to
have taken upon itself the task of provoking and defying
hatred.
To-day, all this has changed. If a few antiquated
spirits still repeat the civis sum  Romanus of British
pride, if the cry of war against America has been repeated for a moment by the crowd, if the disposition rudely
to break down all resistance is still manifested here and
there, a better disposition is also making its appearance,
another people is rising.
This other people is that which gives its gold to
spread through the world the word of God, which courageously undertakes the mission at home and the healing
of the gaping wounds of pauperism, which believes, which
prays, which consecrates itself, which endows its country
(a strange fact, which we cannot enough admire) with a
literature decidedly moral, which accosts Christianity
on the side of holiness and duty, which links together
with jealous care the chain of faith and of good works.
This is the people whose persevering sympathies for all
that is generous has forced policy to bow before justice.




CHAPTER II.
CONDUCT OF ENGLAND.
THERE was need of writing the preceding pages; they
will explain and corroborate those which are about to
follow. IH it be our duty to resist evil, it is also our duty
to believe in good.
This duty, we rarely fulfil; for want of not fulfilling
it, our criticism resembles hatred.
Hatred never served a good cause. I know neither
men here below who are all of a piece, nor nations who
are wholly devoted to perverse designs. The South
itself; I have taken care to say, contains many more sincere men and noble hearts than we should suppose if we
judged it by its institutions or passions, forgetting to take
into account the influence of surroundings.
I will remain an optimist with respect to England as
I have been, it is said, with respect to the United States.
To be an optimist is usually to be right. Our grumbling
age, which willingly fastens on the dark side of things,
would fall into misanthropy and discouragement if no one
showed it the bright side.
I wish to define in a few words, without either enlarging or extenuating, the grave fault with which I have
to reproach England.




102  ENGLAND.
To pretend that she has taken part with the South, or
even that she has deliberately wished for the separation
of the South, would be to go beyond the truth. Her
crime is that of having been indifferent. Her moral neutrality is what has dismayed and grieved to the soul all
those who remember her true claims to glory.
On the 1st of August, 1834, when eight hundred
thousand human beings passed from slavery to liberty,
England contracted a solemn engagement, for which the
public opinion of the whole world should hold her to account. Since that day, there has not been an enemy of
slavery who has not looked toward her shores, there has
not been a poor negro whose heart has not beat at her
name, there has not been a slave trader who has not dreaded, before every thing, the appearance of the British flag.
If Portugal and Brazil have renounced the slave trade, it
has been through the urgent demands of England; if
Spain feels her odious practices in Cuba menaced, it is
because there is an England to reproach her with them
publicly. Let her seize upon Whydah and Lagos, and
all will applaud; even those whose jealousy is most alarmed by her aggrandizements, know that Lagos would be
an advanced post from which she would watch over, and
ere long put down the infamous King of Dahomey.
The greatness of England is in the principle which she
represents. Even though she should lose Gibraltar and
Corfu, and I believe that she will lose them some day,
even though she should lose Canada itself and her Indian
empire, she will suffer no diminution, provided she remain the land of political liberty, of religious liberty, and
of negro liberty.
Ah, well! we who do not wish the decline of England,
we who do not talk of its " corrupt institutions" have




C'UNDUC'r'  o  ENGLA:NJD.        10a
suffered fior  its attitude during the past year beyond
what I can express.
For a year, its leading journals have had little else
than mockeries or insults for America striving to uprise.
The fall of the Southern supremacy, which had debased
and was on the point of destroying every thing, has been
applauded by no one. The English government has accorded the title of belligerents at the outset to the Southern rebels. As to the American nation, the only one
which it should have known officially, it has not given it
the moral support of a word of sympathy.
I need not go further to become indignant. Violated
right has not moved these champions of right; liberty at
stake has not moved these champions of liberty. Their
impartiality in such a matter has been one of the scandals
of our times.
Let no one mistake my thought! England had to
intervene in nothing; even though she had not elevated
the insurgents to the rank of belligerents, she would have
been bound not to act. Woe to the country whose civil
wars witness the unfurling of a foreign flag! It was necessary therefore to be impartial, but not in the manner
that has been seen. We shall have fallen very low on
the day when, under the pretext of remaining neutral,
great nations shall affect to distinguish no longer between
good and evil. I strive to be moderate, in order to
remain just. To the crime of indifference, I will not join
that of complicity with the South. All sorts of rumors
have been spread abroad, which I refrain from accepting,
The early recognition of the South was nearly fixed upon
several times! The separation of the South and North
was considered as an advantage to be preserved by all
means! The incident of the Trent furnished a pretext to
the policy of the cabinet!  In default of this pretext,




104                  EN GLAN D.
others would have been sought, if public opinion had not
been at length aroused!
That this may have been true of some members of the
cabinet, it seems to me difficult to doubt; but that Earl
Russell, Mr. Gladstone and still others would have accepted such a programme, who could believe?  Many things
are said as times go, and the evil desires that flash at
moments across the imagination of statesmen are easily
transformed into systems.
I adhere, for my part, to the public acts of the English
Government. It has addressed serious warnings to the
shipowners who have announced their design of trafficking with Southern ports; it has refused to inquire into
the efficiency of the blockade at a time when the blockade
was not as efficient as it is to-day; it has repulsed, in fine,
the overtures which have been certainly made to it by
the agents of Jefferson Davis, commissioned to promise
every thing-every thing, even to the liberty of unborn
children, in exchange for recognition. It is evident that,
in concert with France, it insures some months of security
to the military operations of the North.
This is little; it cannot be said that it is nothing. If
the English Government has made a show of a lamentable indifference, if it has encouraged the rebellion by
avoiding to say from the beginning what would have discouraged it, it has given proof of some merit, notwithstanding, in restraining the impatience of the manufacturing population. In other times and among other peoples,
an interest as colossal as that of the cotton manufacture
would not have been long in dictating the law. It is
honorable to the age in which we live, that such a victory
of matter over mind has been hitherto impossible, and
that, in the presence of a country which has not permitted




CONDUCT OF ENGLAND.              105
it, we have a right to censure more than praise. It ought
to do still better. We esteem it too much to judge its
conduct to have been worthy of it.
I maintain this judgment, although I regret moreover
the accusations of different kinds which have been directed
against the English government. If it suffered the Nashville, which had just burned an American merchant ship,
to enter the harbor of Southampton, it only conformed in
this to the rules of neutrality; the Sumter has also been
able to take shelter successively at MIartinique, Cadiz, and
Gibraltar, without authority having been given by the
law of nations to the French, Spanish, or English governments, to give her up to the American ships in pursuit
of her.
Even with respect to the export of arms and ammunition to the rebellious South, the English government may
maintain that it has strictly fulfilled its international obligation.  I say " strictly," for it is certain that with a
little good will, and by the terms of the Queen's proclamation, which forbade exportations of this nature, it might
have succeeded in preventing whole fleets, under its eyes,
in the midst of the Thames, and in sight of Downing
street, from being loaded with arms, addressed to Charleston. In Canada, shipments of this sort have not ceased
to take place. Would nothing have been obtained by
repeated warnings, by the energetic manifestation of the
blame that would be incurred by such operations? In
any case, patience has been carried somewhat far.
This has also been true in other circumstances. When
the outbreak of the rebellion took place in the South,
impolitic men were found there who were not afraid of
showing the horror inspired in them by abolition England.
An English captain of a merchant vessel was tarred and
feathered.  Usually, the English government is most




106                  ENGLAND.
prompt, for which I praise it, in avenging such insults;
it must have a public, striking reparation. What happened this time? The affair was brought by Mr. Duncombe before the House of Commons, which found the
thing amusing, since it burst into laughter. The ministry
talked of inquiry; and the whole was doubtless ended by
some trifling indemnity, accorded under the rose to the
tarred and feathered captain.
In the same manner, English subjects were enrolled
by force in the Southern army, and English property was
confiscated. Was reclamation made? I know not. One
thing is certain; noise was avoided. Impartiality, as it
was then understood, exacted this caution.
But when the point in question is to estimate rightly
the conduct of a country like England, we are not to rely
upon considering the acts of government, but to read
journals, to hear speeches, and to interrogate parties.
The policy of the nation is formed there much more than
in the council chamber of the ministry.
The importance and influence of the Times are well
known. The Times has given the tone, we may say, to
English opinion with respect to America, and this from
the beginning. From the first moment, it maintained,
with that capricious abruptness for which it is distinguished, that slavery had nothing to do with the separation of the North and South, that the disruption was final,
that it was desirable and right, that the Washington cabinet was at once insane and criminal in fighting against
the Richmond government, that abolition would speedily
find its account in Southern independence, that the insurgents had been raised by good right to the character of
belligerents.
Since opinion in England has shaken off its torpor, and




CONDUCT OF ENGLAND.              107
the prospect of an alliance with Jefferson Davis has
aroused the public conscience, the Times has modified
its bearing. We have seen it, now recommending a sort
of relative moderation in the Trent affair; then returning to its former violence, and exploiting, with passionate
injustice, the stone blockade of Charleston. Nevertheless, upon the whole, it has become marvellously calm;
it does not recommend the violation of the blockade, it
has even published strong and noble words to demonstrate to the English that to cease now to recognize the
blockade would be to degrade the national policy. Its
theory, until further orders, is absolute neutrality.
It has even had a few satirical strokes here and there
for the slave States; and no one has forgotten the article
in which, recommending that no ovation should be pre.
pared for Messrs. MIason and Slidell, it signified to them
in fitting terms that England esteemed neither their cause
nor their person, and that she would have done for " two
negroes " precisely what she had done for them.
The Times is impartial in its way, for it spares no one.
It is also impartial in a more honorable manner, inasmuch
as it admits full liberty to its correspondents, who repair,
in some degree, the harm produced by the leading editorship.
This is essential; for the Times correspondents are
often men of the greatest merit, and through them are
pursued investigations full of energy, perseverance, and
clearsightedness. Important services were thus rendered
by the Times in the Crimean campaign, and even those
who were angered by its articles were forced to admit
that, without it, the reform of the military administration
would not have taken place.
Mr. Russell, the Times correspondent in America, has
followed and recounted the march of events with little




108                  ENGLAND.
goodwill, doubtless, but with a sincerity and talent which
cannot be denied. His letters, nearly all of which have
been copied by the American journals, have not been useless to MIr. Lincoln's government. The admonitions
therein are sometimes severe, but often salutary. Without rendering-far from  it-full justice to the Northl
Mir. Russell is not at least among those who are mistaken in the true causes of the war or the chances of success. He has the merit of cordially detesting the South
and saying so.
I have been anxious to signalize this spirit of serious
inquiry, this search into facts which characterizes the organ of the city, even at the times when it wanders most
astray. It would be impossible for me to pay the same
compliment to the journal which passes for expressing the
ideas of Lord Palmerston. The Jiorning Post has not
extenuated, by the impartiality of its correspondence, the
violence of its leading articles. To deny the successes of
the North, to exaggerate with enthusiasm those of the
South, to be irritated at every thing that could increase
the chances of the Washington Government, to be indignant when the Orleans princes generously placed their
swords at the service of the United States, frequently to
announce recognition as almost certain, if not immediate,
to deny the legality of the blockade, to discover in the
obstruction of Charleston harbor a veritable cause of war,
to renounce as tardily as possible the occasion furnished
by the Trent, and to seek directly for another to take its
place, to give out the impression, in fine, that the patience
of England is well-nigh exhausted; such are the principal
features of a line of argument which has profoundly
alarmed the friends of America, and no less profoundly
grieved the friends of England. At times, it is true, the
Morning Post has seemed to change tactics; we have




CONDUCT OF ENGLAND.              109
seen it once offer resistance to those in too much haste, and
the recent progress of public opinion has wrought a transformation in its editorship. Nevertheless, it has done
immense harm, through the sole fact that men have
thought that they saw in this editorship the more or less
faithful reflection of the prime minister's ideas.  This,
perhaps, will be now denied; I had rather, I confess, it
had been denied a little sooner.
As to the journals of the Tory party, their opinions
cannot be doubtful-England must procure cotton, "by
fair means or foul;" such has been the profession of faith,
brief and clear, of the Morning Herald. Toward the end
of January, moreover, it demanded that ships-of-war
should be stationed before all the Southern ports to
insure freedom of trade to neutral merchant vessels!
Has there been, then, no journal in England which has
defended the right cause, and been faithful to the liberal
traditions of the country? Let us forbear to believe it.
The -Daily ATews, which is regarded as the habitual organ
of Earl Russell, the Star, the Globe, the Scotsman, the
London Quarterly Review, and several others have opposed the Times, the Mforning Post, and the JMorning
Herald. The cheap press, whose importance cannot be
mistaken, has also declared itself, since the Trent affair, in
favor of a less provoking and more courteous course of
conduct. Decidedly, a reaction is becoming wrought, and
principles are being arrayed in battle against interests,
while waiting till men shall have learned fully to comprehend that interests have no better allies than principles.
It is a remarkable fact that the distinction of Whig
and Tory, which tends to become effaced in the home
policy of England, seems to preserve its full value with
respect to America. The Tories on this point have learned




110                 ENGLAND.
nothing, and forgotten nothing; they are still with Lord
Chatham, ordering himself carried to the House of Lords,
and protesting with his dying voice against the proposition to recognize the United States. The United States
always represent in their sight a rebellion which must be
punished, a republic which must be humiliated, a rival navy
which must be weakened. One would call it an article of
faith of the Quarterly Review, Blackwood's Magazine, and
their readers, that there is nothing good in the United
States, that every American is a bankrupt, that the mob
governs, that Lynch law is applied at the corner of every
street, that the ridiculous and the odious jostle each
other unceasingly in American society. The Tories once
reproached Earl Russell for having abandoned " moral
neutrality" by uttering a few words in Parliament on the
abominations of slavery. On the occasion of the annual
dinner of the Conservative Colchester Association, they
attempted a great demonstration in favor of the South;
Captain Jervis openly proposed there to break the
blockade, to support the slave States, and thus to put an
end to the sufferings of the cotton manufacture. Despite
the lesson which had been given them by public opinion,
in which, it must be admitted, so emphatic a policy had
found no support, a number of the leading members of
the party, Sir John Packington, General Peel, Major
Beresford, Lord Derby himself; and Mr. D'Israeli have,
some, encouraged the tendencies of Lord Palmerston,
others, given out the impression that a Tory cabinet, not
content with placing the South among belligerents, will
manage ere long to give it a place among recognized
governments.
We know what passed at the dinner of the Fishmongers' Corporation. This important body had invited Mr.
Yancey, the Commissioner sent to London by Jefferson




CONDUCT OF EINGLAND.            111
Davis. There, in the presence of a sympathizing assembly,
amidst unanimous applause, this representative of the
slave States could not forbear exclaiming: "The word
America no longer represents a united people; there now
exist two American nationalities."  Then, alluding to the
name of rebels which the North pretended to apply to
Southern men, he continued:'"Thanks to this great
English movement, promptly followed by France and
Spain, justice and the sentiment of right have quickly
effaced such a stigma from our brows, and here, at least,
my fellow-countrymen are recognized as belligerents."
He concluded by expressing the gratitude of the South
for this prompt proclamation of its right: Bis dat qui cito
dat-" Who gives quickly gives twice." And the assembly, which was not ignorant that the proclamation had
been prompt indeed, responded by prolonged huzzas.
At the other extremity of the political world, two
radicals, Messrs. Roebuck and Lindsay, have shown no
more good will for the North. Mr. Roebuck has applied
himself to recalling the insolence, the presumption, the
recent insults whereby America has alienated all the
sympathies of England. As to Mr. Lindsay, the former
guest of the United States, where he held a mission, he
appears to be one of those champions of free trade who
inspire us with a horror of it by sacrificing thereto every
other principle and every other liberty. IIe does not
wish the blockade to be respected; he applauds the
separation; he admits that the South can arm a million
men; he demands, in fine, that England shall proceed to
official recognition. We will add that the Sunderland
electors, until then, most lavish of applause, had the good
sense to become indignant on hearing this conclusion, and
courageously hissed their representative.
My task would be too great were I to make the com



112                  ENGLAND.
plete round of these electoral banquets, where so many
members of Parliament met before its opening to give
their profession of faith respecting American affairs.
These professions of faith bear a general resemblance to
each other, in that the fact of separation is admitted as
definitive, and that sympathy for a generous cause is
entirely lacking; but ordinarily the orators have taken
care to predict the success of the South without counselling England to aid it. Among the prophecies of which
I speak, I shall cite that addressed at the end of last September, by Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton to the Agricultural Society of Hertford County: " My young hearers of
to-day will live long enough to see not two, but at least
four independent republics, sprung from the United
States." There is no feeling of hatred, moreover, among
those who express themselves in this wise; their motives
are in some sort geographical-nations too large never
fail to become shattered. " I am far from thinking," he
takes care to say, " that these separations must be prejudicial to the destinies of America, or to that principle
of self-government in which consists the essence of
liberty."
I need now, and also the reader, to hear some more
generous accents. There have been men, thank God!
who have raised their voices to recall the true cause and
the greatness of the American conflict, men who have
not waited to declare themselves until the sudden change
of public opinion which we have witnessed should be first
produced. Without speaking of lMessrs. Cobden and
Bright, to whom we shall presently return in connection
with the Trent affair, I may cite Messrs. Latham and Gilpin, who have encouraged the North to show more and
more that it is struggling against slavery, and have promised it the increasing sympathies of England. Mr. Fors



")JNDUCT OF ENGLAND,             113
ter exclaimed at Bradford: "It would be an eternal
shame to England, were we to intervene for the South
and for slavery. It must not be forgotten that we shall
act in this manner if we violate a legitimate blockade, or
prematurely recognize the Southern Confederacy, contrary to the law of nations."
I like the speech made by Lord Stanley a few months
since, at the court-house at Lynn. It is not the first
time that the son of Lord Derby has acted, not only as a
superior but a truly liberal man. Although admitting
the probability of a final separation, his language breathes
a lofty and cordial sympathy. We feel that he esteems
this great people of the United States, and believes in its
future. Hle brands the spiteful and petty passions which
are indulged in with respect to it, and would abhor the
idea of profiting by its embarrassment.
If we listen now, at the same epoch, that is, before
the opening of Parliament, to the members of the cabinet
and the personages whose influence makes itself felt in the
direction of public affairs, we shall remark anew this mixture of good and evil, this proclaimed indifference, this
policy of provisory neutrality to which they seem to cling
while awaiting better; then other men here and there represent the better feelings of the nation.
Lord Palnerston clearly showed his icy coldness with
respect to the North when, in his speech at Dover, he
spoke of the " fast running which signalized the battle of
Bull Run." Later, at the Lord Mayor's dinner, the
prime minister expressed himself more becomingly —he
pledged his country to patience, mourned over " this difference of the mostl deplorable character between those
whom we call our cousins and allies," and offered up the
most ardent wishes for peace, refusing, however, to pass
any judgment on the quarrel.




11 4-                ES GLAN D.
Lord John Russell was less prudent, because his mind
was more liberal. He did not fear to pass judgment in
the House of Commons on the quarrel, openly accusing
and anathematizing slavery, while adding that, in his
opinion, other reasons, those of supremacy, had played
the chief part. At Newcastle he manifested real interest
in the United States. "It would be a great misfortune,"
he exclaimed, " if this free government were to crumble
away."
Mr. Gladstone has also spoken; his address at Leith
will remain as a shining condemnation of the passions
which so nearly gave birth to war. IIe recognizes the
noble conduct of M1r. Lincoln's government, to which he
wishes justice to be rendered, and considers it a duty to
labor to maintain or reestablish the relations, not of peace
only, but of reciprocal affection between the United
States and England.
I conclude on this point by citing a few excellent
words, addressed by the Duke of Argyle to his tenants:
"'Fears have been recently expressed on the subject
of the inconveniences which must result to our country
from the struggle which has broken out in America, and
these inconveniences are deemed so grave that there is
talk of asking the government to intervene....   I
have too high an opinion of the good sense of the people
of this country to believe that it will wish to exercise
such a pressure on the government, and I should add that
I have too great confidence in the firmness and intelligence of the government and parliament, to believe that
they will ever consent to such a pressure.... We
will not look at the question of what is called the right
of secession. No country has ever existed, to my knowledge, admitting that a part of it had a right to secede and
abstract itself from its domination.... If the South



CUNDUCT' OF ENGLAND.             115
ern States, as they loudly proclaim, believe that slavery
is by no means an evil which should be tolerated only
and made to cease as speedily as possible, but a divine institution, a benefaction to humanity, which should be maintained and extended, and defended till death, then it is
natural that the South should rise for its protection. But
in this, as in all other revolutions, those who take part in
it should be finally judged by the verdict of humanity.. We certainly wish most ardently that the struggle
may promptly cease; but there is, I must acknowledge,
another wish which should stand before this in our hearts
-that the end of this war, at whatever moment it may
come, whether sooner or later, may be worthy of the
sacrifices which it has exacted, that it may cooperate in
the civilization of the world and advance the cause of
human liberty."
If every one wishes neutrality, if every one continues
to wish for peace, I affirm at least that every one has not
wished neutrality and peace in the same manner. One
wishes them  in the manner of the ]lJorning Post, and
another in that of the -Daily News; one in the manner
of Lord Palmerston, and another in that of Lord Stanley,
Mir. Gladstone, and the Duke of Argyle.
The fact is, that of the two nations which coexist in England, the less good is the one which, for the past year, has
directed or inspired the relations with the United States.
Distrust, refusal of sympathy, the theory of belligerents,
neutrality coupled with indifference, the unceasing discovery of new grievances, the perpetual threat of Southern recognition, the passionate, and in some sort eager
exploitation of incidents which might lead to a rupture,
the far from touching resignation to the horrible consequences which this rupture would entail-such is what




116                  ENGLAND.
has been seen among Englishmen under the guidance of
this first nation.
What a change since the other nation has appeared!
The victory, we have a right to affirm from this time,
will belong to the England of the Bible, to that which
the Southern journals have dreaded and anathematized
from the beginning of the conflict. "We should be sure
of winning it," they said then, " through cotton and free
trade, were it not for the fanaticism  against slavery
which may put a check on the friendly disposition of the
British government." They were not mistaken; to those
who have examined it without prejudice, Christian and
liberal England has never so far hidden itself that they
have not felt its presence and foreseen its speedy awaking.
This will be one of the strangest and at the same time
noblest struggles of our times. The cotton crisis on one
side, the Gospel and liberty on the other. Which will
win? The answer at first seems doubtful, but it will not
long seem so. The true sympathies go to the North;
no one can longer contest it. Before every thing, justice,
before every thing, humanity, before every thing, duty!
England will not be made an ally of Jefferson Davis;
decidedly, this will not be done. The South, which has
diverted itself greatly on the score of philanthropists, is in
the way to learn at its expense, that their power surpasses
that of the Times and of Lord Palmerston.
Through the sorrow which the attitude of England
has caused us during the past year, we experience a secret
consolation in verifying that Christian and liberal opinion,
even when torpid, has nevertheless commanded respect.
Despite cotton, despite free trade, despite the annoyances
of a blockade which daily clashed with the interests and
pride of the English, a blockade insufficient in the beginning, and which.confiscated a considerable number of the




CONDUCT OF ENGLAND.             117
ships of Manchester and Liverpool, there has been in the
heart of this energetic community, a sentiment which nc
one, let him have wished it as he may, has dared offend
too strongly. Every thing has been attempted; but
whenever there has been question of exceeding certain
limits and really sustaining the South, an obstacle has
always been raised, a veto has always made itself heard.
England, in fine, has remained neutral, in spite of all the
motives which urged her to be otherwise; the moral
sentiment, upon the whole, has won a victory.
I wish no proof of this from what has passed in those
manufacturing centres on which reposed the hopes of the
South. By their advances, they had long relieved the
slaveholders; the election of Mr. Lincoln had been welcomed by them with a sort of stupor; they trembled for
slavery, the programme of secession was not perhaps unknown to them. Yet such is the power of abolition
opinion in England, that even here retrograde tendencies
have not succeeded in taking form. On the arrival of
the new Minister of the United States, Mr. Adams, the
Liverpool Chamber of Commerce received him with congratulations. When the incident of the Trent threatened
to bring about war, a numerous gathering assembled at
Birmingham, with the mayor at its head, and adopted a
memorial in favor of arbitration. Again, the other day, the
annual meeting of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce
furnished to the " cotton princes " the natural occasion for
supporting the policy of intervention. What did they
do, on the contrary? They were unanimous in disavowing it. Not a person was found among them who deemed it proper to declaim against the blockade.  Yes,
at Manchester, at Liverpool, at Birmingham, at Southampton, the generous impulse of minds is also going
forth; the true English opinion is reappearing; the




118                    ENGLAND.
public conscience feels itself wounded by the system of
chicanery which has lately endeavored to turn to account, now the blockade, then the stone fleet, then something else.
I do not mean to say that, in a few months, when the
sufferings of manufacturers shall have still further increased,' formidable impatience may not be manifested.
It will be then, perhaps, exclaimed: " We detest the
cause of the South, and we have proved it; but necessity
has no law. Although we may have no right to interfere
against those whose principles are our own, nevertheless
the patience of our workmen is at an end. They are
dying of hunger; the war in America must end; cotton
must be restored to us; with peace, prosperity must
spring up anew, and the consumers of the New World
resume their place in the markets."
Such is the language which, doubtless, will some day
be held, if the United States do not make haste to win
decisive advantages; but, in the mean time, a very different language is held, and we should applaud it. England
is becoming herself again.
I have spoken of Birmingham, Manchester, and Liverpool, I might have likewise cited London. Without designing, indeed, to mention here all the English meetings, how can I forbear recalling the first that took place
in the most populous quarters of the capital? The one
held at Lambeth, early in December, voted an address
by acclamation, demanding that the difference of the
1 Although great, they are not yet what they threaten to become in
future. Cotton has not failed hitherto; Havre and Liverpool have even
exported it to America. But the dearth will show itself ere long in all
its horror, unless the maritime positions, of which the North have just
taken possession, give an outlet to cotton, and the discouraged South
cease to prohibit its exportation.




CONDUCT OF ENGLAND.              ].] 9
Trent should be submitted to an arbitration; the other,
held at Mary-le-Bone more recently, adopted the following resolution:
".. It is incumbent on this meeting to express the
sympathies of the working men for the United States in
the gigantic struggle which they are sustaining for the
maintenance of the Union; to denounce to the world the
disgraceful arguments of the Times and its contemporaries,
organs of the aristocracy in favor of slavery; and to commend to the energetic expounders of public opinion the
scrupulous interpretation of the doctrine of non-intervention in the affairs of the United States, and, also, the
measure which, by means of commissioners especially appointed for each State, submits to arbitration all differences that may arise."
If I do not approve all the tendencies expressed or
supposed in this resolution, "addressed to the cabinet at
Washington as being the expression of the sentiments
and opinions of the working classes in England," I find
it none the less remarkable that the working men thus
rebel with energy against the policy of intervention
which pretends to serve their interests. There is here a
symptom of moral resurrection, the weight of which cannot be mistaken.
It was also among the working population that the
meeting was held at Rochdale, where the speech of Mr.
Bright and the letter of Mr. Cobden protested against a
warlike policy, impatient of all delay and all arbitration,
and accepting without a frown the chance of striking
hands in the South with slavery.
Other protests are beginning to rise up on all sides.
We know what was the Guy Fawkes of 1862: upon the
effigy was read in large letters: Jefferson -Davis, dealer
in slavery.




120                  ENGLAND.
Scotland has naturally distinguished herself. There,
too, the great manufacturing cities have held to the honor
of repudiating the tendencies which had been attributed
to them. Glasgow, one of the first, has voted an address
in favor of peace with the United States.
In blaming England, (and we are to blame her, though
she has been better than her policy during the past year,)
in blaming England, it is important not to forget that, despite her faults, she has always contained within herself
an element of resistance to evil, the influence of which
has made itself felt. The Anglophobic declaimers forget
this, and the consequence is that they are not in a condition to offer any explanation of it.
Why, for example, has Mr. Gregory, the champion
of the South in the House of Commons, himself recoiled
during the last session, nor dared make his famous speech,
so much talked of in advance?  Why have the splendid
offers of Jefferson Davis-freedom of trade, freedom of
unborn children, and all that thenceforth ensues —not succeeded in making themselves welcomed in any measure or
in any form? Why has the system of non-intervention
definitively supplanted the militant feeble desires which
preceded, accompanied, and followed the Trent affair?
WVhy has the chicanery against the blockade given place
to the most inoffensive measure which closes English
ports to armed vessels, and is about to deprive maritime
cities of the chance spectacle of a naval battle?  Why
would any one be sure, or very nearly so, of being foiled
in parliament, who should say there: "The South must
be recognized; at least an end must be put to this war;
our manufactories are standing still; we have therefore
a right to regulate the affairs of America."  Why did
the speech of MIr. Massey receive without delay, and
in Manchester itself this crushing response: "I believe




CONDUCT OF ENGLAND.             121
that I speak in the name of nineteen out of twenty of our
manufacturers when I declare that we do not wish the aid
which MIr. Massey would like to give us"?  Why the
indignation at the idea of a war with the United States
through commiseration for the sufferings of the cotton
manufacture? Because the true sentiments of England
mav have been veiled for a moment, but have not been
destroyed.
Upon the whole, were it necessary to state in a few
words the inference to be drawn from this chapter, I
should say that the English have been guilty above all
of indifference. And this crime is not small! They, the
standard-bearers of negro liberty, they who, in such a matter, had charge of souls, have for long months disappointed
the hopes of the entire world; they have suffered much
harm to be done in their name; little was wanting-and
only the goodness of God has preserved us from such a
misfortune-for them to have drawn the sword against
Lincoln for Jefferson Davis; they have inflicted upon us,
their friends, one of the bitterest deceptions that we have
ever encountered in our career. What matters it therefore to us whether they have or have not had to combat
designs conceived by other powers in favor of the viola.
tion of the blockade or Southern recognition? If they
have opposed them, it was because it was their nature to
do it. It was so truly their mission that we should hardly know how to give themn credit for having fulfilled it.
So long as they have not done something better, so long
as their warm sympathies have not come to the encouragement of those struggling for a good cause, we shall not
offer them the insult of praising them.
6




CHAPTER III.
TRUE MOTIVES OF THE CONDUCT OF ENGLAND.
IT is the characteristic of legitimate conclusions that
they deduce themselves, it being necessary only to point
them out. Thus, everywhere in this study, as I need not
weary the reader by repeating, the marvellous power of
principles breaks forth to the sight. If Europe had obeyed
them, if England had listened to them, what a transformation would there have been in the policy followed!  As
soon as the positions again become simple, difficult questions are resolved, the chances of war recede, crises lose
their violence, the standard of morality becomes elevated.
At the same time, let us not forget, interests recover the
satisfaction to which they have a right.  Nothing is so
beneficent as justice, nothing is so useful (I underline the
word) as integrity; between principles and interests, the
opposition is never real.
Therein is the fundamental idea which I should like to
see evolved from my work, although I do not dream
indeed of establishing it doctorally.  HIow many times
already have we been led to its verification; men have
thought to serve commerce, by trampling upon principles,
and they have disserved it; they have thought to gain
money, and they have lost it; they have sought to




ENGLAND'S TRUE MOTIVES.           123
bring about peace, and they have gone on toward war.
"The more we avoid interference, the shorter will be the
struggle," this saying was not invented by cabinet theorists, it has come to us from practical men, from great
English manufacturers. They have perceived by degrees
that a war for cotton would give but little cotton, and
would not aid in the establishment of American consumption.  Of the two causes of commercial suffering in
Europe, the failure of cotton, and the failure of the
markets, it would do little toward relieving the first, and
would surely aggravate the second.
This leads me to examine more closely whether it be
true, as is pretended, that the interests of commerce and
manufactures have been almost the only motive power
of England in the policy pursued by her during the past
year with respect to the United States. A great deal has
been said about cotton and calico! calico has been concerned in the matter, I doubt not; but there has been
something else beside; reasons, if not more important, at
least more elevated, have contributed their full part in
determining the attitude of the English people. It is
only just to show this-it is both just and salutary; for
the better it is known, the better will it be comprehended,
and the better also will reciprocal animosities be calmed.
As to cotton, I am far from believing that a wise government ought not to take considerations of this nature
into account. In a country where the working of cotton
turns thirty million spindles, and gives the means of existence to nearly four million laborers, it would be a strange
magnanimity that should take high ground above the sufferings of these men, women, and children. Material interests as much as you please! They translate themselves into physical and moral miseries. Cotton become




124                  ENGLAND.
scarce ends by being regarded in the same light as other
provisions in a famished garrison. Here are workmen laboring but three days, two days, one day, perhaps, in a
week; others who are without any work at all, and have
no other resources than the gifts of charity.
Let us hasten to say that this charity is admirable,
and that the resignation of the workmen is no less so.
They themselves have recognized the necessity of introducing reduced days' work, short time, into the manufactories; they have murmured neither against their masters
nor the United States, and we have seen in what terms
they have addressed the Americans.
Government has only to follow their example. While
neglecting nothing, as is its duty, to alleviate and abridge
the crisis, it should comprehend that to endure such a
crisis for such a cause would be to effect immense progress. There is here wherewith to tempt the best ambition of England. It is unceasingly repeated that this age
is an age of cotton, that cotton rules, that cotton is king;
the question is to prove these assertions to be untrue. Exposed to the most formidable temptation that a manufacturing nation can encounter, it would be glorious to look
it in the face, and go straight forward on its way.
The United States, in this respect, set a great example
to Europe. Their factories at Lowell are suffering no less
than those at Manchester and Mulhouse. No matter;
duty has spoken, a noble cause must be sustained; they
will accept the suffering, all classes will submit to extended privations, and we shall see the uprising of a great
people.
England, it may be believed, would have more easily
consented to take part in the sacrifice; she would have




tER l TRUE MOTIVES.             1 25
admitted with a better grace the excellence of the end
toward which the Americans were proceeding, if the unlucky adoption of a new tariff had not occurred to bring
into discredit, as it were, in the nick of time, the incipient
administration of Mr. Lincoln.
It was just at the very moment of the triumph of freetrade-a free-tradist myself and a free-tradist of yesterday, I have the right to speak —and to many the economical dogma which, after having prevailed in England,
had just dictated the commercial treaty with France, took
the lead of every other truth.
Although the Morrill tariff was not much more protective, in fact, than the new French-English tariff; nevertheless, its appearance, just at the rising in arms of the
South, did incalculable harm in England. Even friends,
I cite the -Daily Newvs, seemed also transformed into enemies.
Men accused Mr. Lincoln, forgetting how these events
had transpired. While 3Mr. Lincoln was on his way from
Springfield to Washington, he was asked, at a great meeting at Pittsburgh, what he thought of the MIorrill tariff.
HIe replied that it ought to be postponed till the next
session of Congress.  Eight days afterward, Congress
adopted the bill without waiting for the ensuing session,
and Mr. Buchanan signed it without waiting for his successor. One would have said that he was in haste to bequeath him one difficulty more.
The South, which men are seeking to make the repre.
sentative of free-trade, need have said but one word to
its docile servant, Mr. Buchanan, to prevent him from
giving his signature. It must be remembered besides,
that the tariff of 1842, one of the most protective ever
passed in the United States, was supported by the vote
of the South. It must be also remembered that the free



126                  ENGLAND.
trade of the South has hitherto figured only in its plans,
and in European negotiations. The tariff of 185a7, adopted by the Montgomery Congress, does not pass for a
model of commercial freedom, and Jefferson Davis has
taken care to join to it exportation duties which are
truly enormous.
I do not impute this to it as a crime. WVhen we have
great expenses on our hands, we must make money of
every thing. This explains, let us say in passing, the conduct which has been maintained at Washington. Under
the presence of financial embarrassments, the government
has suffered itself to believe (how many enlightened countries commit the same error!) that by increasing the
duties, the receipts would increase, whence arose the
new  bill passed during the war.  It did not remember that, in custom-house matters, two and two never
make four. But patience! adversaries of the prohibitory
system are not lacking in the United States; it will not be
long before the aggravation of the Morrill tariff, subjected
to the test of trial, will be attacked on different sides. I
would not be astonished if the Morrill tariff itself, a
suicidal tariff; to use the expression of Mr. Motley, should
speedily give way to a decidedly liberal measure.
But neither cotton nor the tariff can explain the unkindly, almost malevolent feeling which has repressed for
long months the true sentiments of England. Whence
comes this icy coldness? Whence came, at the first news
of the seizure of the commissioners, these bursts of vehement indignation?
It must be admitted that it was the overflowing of a
full cup. The point in question was to chastise Yankee
insolence once for all.
The Americans, we admit, have often been very arro



HIIE'T11UEW MOTIV'V ES.        12 7
gant toward the English. They have shown themselves
provoking and unjust. But what Americans? those of
the North or the South?  It would be rather strange to
make friends atone for the wrongs of enemies. Now,
whoever has penetrated beneath appearances sees that
the North has never ceased to be attached to England at
heart; it was the South that detested it. It was the
South that, resting upon its cotton, believed itself able to
brave every thing against it. It was under the rule of
Southern men that those acts of violence were committed
— the bombardment of Greytown, placed under English
protection, the dismissal of the English ambassador during
the Pussian war, the occupation of the island of San Juan.
All this may be traced to Southern policy, a policy
founded on the violation of international right, on the
contempt for foreign nations, on the necessity of making
conquests for slavery, an odious policy, of which the fillibusters of Wtalker were the worthy agents, and the Ostend
manifesto the glorious formula. MSark that this policy
had as its fundamental article, the hatred of Enland,
abolition England, liberal England, conservative England.
By what strange mistake have our neighbors beyond
the channel placed to the account of the North what
belonged essentially to the South? Doubtless, the North
too had been more than once implicated; it had moreover its democratic party in close alliance with the South.
But under the surface, often rough, attentive observers
discover something else. A moment's reflection will be
sufficient to see that, once in conflict with the South, the
North would seek in England its natural outside support.
To sustain the South in order the better to revenge the
humiliations inflicted by the South, to grant the prayers
of M3r. Davis and!Mr. 3Mason in order the better to punish
the system of which Iessrs. Davis and MIason had been




1'28                ENGLAND.
the most ardent representatives, surprises me, I acknowledge. It is a new example of the power of words. The
word " United States," is enough with many; it was the
United States by whom they were offended; it is the
United States that must pay for the offence.
I shall not enter upon the examination of these real or
feigned offences. I believe that England has self-respect
enough not to show herself less patient toward America
weak, than she did toward America strong. I think that
she knows how to rank in their proper place, many pretended wrongs, veritable commercial gossip, words attributed to such or such a statesman, speeches made in the
heat of an election, the passing and unimportant excesses
of a noisy and democratic recime.
As to the concessions which she has made, far from
considering them humiliating, I regard them as among
her brightest claims to honor.  Face to face to a quarrelsome government which, under the constantly dominant
influence of the South, conducted the affairs of the Union,
England has known how to show herself moderate. So
much the better! She has given way, she says, eight
times in twenty-five years.  What does it matter?  I
ask for real reasons of regret.  Would it have been
better to break with America than to settle the questions
of Oregon, Maine, and San Juan as she has done?
The fact remains unhappily certain, that the proceedings of the American government have been often of a
nature to irritate England.  We, Frenchmen, will not
refuse to comprehend national susceptibilities. They have
played a much greater part than has been imagined in
the misunderstanding of the last year. They have rendered in some measure plausible the suppositions of those
who say, " The act of Captain Wilkes is grave in our eyes,
only because we see in it the inevitable and long foreseen




HER TRUE MOTIVES.             129*
conclusion of a policy hostile to England. Has not Mr.
Seward himself made speeches in his time worthy of
the most palmy days of American arrogance? Has he
not designated Canada as the possible compensation for
the loss of the South?  The plan was fixed or nearly so.
Knowing that we should be attacked, could we scruple
much in becoming ourselves the assailants?
I understand the sentiment that is thus expressed; it
may have existed, but is about to disappear. The Trent
affair has rent asunder many veils, and laid bare many
positions; the two peoples have seen each other, perhaps
for the first time, in their true colors.  Behind the blind
transports of the moment, America has perceived the
lasting affection of liberal Englishmen for the cause which
she is maintaining; behind the declamations of the occasion, England has perceived the attachment of a friendly
and sister nation. Henceforth, I hope, the monopoly will
be left to Southern statesmen, 3Ir. Toombs, for example,
of those malignant attacks in which he formerly excelled,
when he declared on the floor of Congress that it was his
ambition to cover the Atlantic with armed steamers in
order to humble Great Britain.
I would go too far, doubtless, were I to affirm that
many Englishmen, on their side, were moved by the desire
of humbling the United States. It is notwithstanding
incontestable that English policy has inherited the maxim
from the last century, which clear-sighted men reject, but
which has its effect upon the crowd, that the maritime
preponderance of England exacts the abasement of the
United States.
There are men in England who detest Americans as
cordially as their ancestors did at the close of the Revolutionary war. There are some who regard as a great
6*




1; 0~              ]iENGLAND.
advantage the coexistence of two rival races, constantly
engaged in strife, and annulling each other. There are
some who have a vision of a protectorate in the South, or
even a monarchical establishment under an English prince,
with a national church and all its appendages; yes, the
united kingdom of England, Ireland, and America appears to have mirrored itself before some imaginations.
All this must enter into the computation when we
would explain the impulses of the public mind. I take
care, moreover, not to stop at considerations of this kind.
Although future danger of interference from the American navy may be taken in earnest by the majority of
English statesmen, I do not think that such a motive had
a marked influence on their attitude. It is more probable
that, in the recent complications called forth by the war,
they have found a natural occasion to put Canada in a
state of defence, or to display the immense maritime resources of their country.
I cannot help believing that they have also found occasion therein to obtain another kind of success. The
cabinet lived by expedients, the majority was reduced to
the most alarming proportions. Lord Palmerston saw
the session approaching without having yet discovered
means to strengthen his position. Suddenly, an overwhelming majority presented itself; the Tories promised
their support; the.Morning Herald pledged it solemnly
in their name, provided Lord Palmerston showed no
weakness toward the United States; it was a party stroke,
and the long parliaments of the American war seemed
about to begin anew. With the war, all serious opposition, for the moment at least, would cease; the national
excitement would give birth to a sort of unanimity; all




HER TRUE MOTIVES.             1 31 2
reforms and all questions difficult of solution would fall to
the second place.
If we add to this, that, unfortunately for Englishmen,
they are far from examining their foreign with as much
independence as their home affairs, that they are accustomed on this point to follow their government at first
with almost blind docility, and to criticize later, too late,
when the nation is at strife, and you will comprehend that
the right of the parliamentary session and the triumphant
majority may have contributed, unknown to the English
people and the ministers themselves, to the rigidity that
has been introduced into American relations.
But let us come to a more justifiable and also, I am
convinced, more real motive. If there had been nothing
but cotton, or the tariff, or the fear excited by a hostile
navy, or the remembrance of a vexatious quarrel or unfriendly measures, or the desire of settling old accounts
and preventing hostile designs, or the tempting chance of
securing an election, neither the English nor their government would have acted as they have done.
Their great motive, their great excuse, shall I say, has
been that, for many years past and with increasing violence, English institutions have been attacked in the name
of those of America. The United States have become an
engine of war, a battering-ram hurled unceasingly against
their ramparts.
One might be irritated for less cause. What thence
ensued?  In the embarrassment of the United States,
England saw at first only the embarrassment of a republic;
in the failure of the American cause, she saw the failure
of Mr. Bright and the radical party. The controversy has
been continued in this manner through events and by
events. The more the embarrassment increased on the




132'*                 ENGLAND
other side the Atlantic, the more was the rejoicing, on
this side, for having a throne and a House of Lords.
I, certainly, would not be the one to regret that the
English republicans should receive such a lesson; I know
of few enemies more dangerous to liberty. Let the constitutional monarchy be defended against them to extremity,
let the levelling tendencies of the Manchester school be
repelled afar; nothing is better or more lawful. I can
even understand how the Times, somewhat exaggerating
the natural instruction furnished by the American crisis,
exclaims by way of conclusion: "' If royalty did not exist,
we would be forced to create it."
But, this concession once made to an enthusiasm which
is far from surprising me, are we not justified in regretting that we could not have deemed it possible to be at
once strongly attached to English institutions and strongly
sympathetic with the American cause?
I seek in vain to discover the incompatibility of the
two sentiments. What! are the friends of constitutional
monarchy reduced to living by the failures of the republican system? What! if there should be somewhere a
prosperous republic, would constitutional monarchy no
longer have a right to subsist?
The men who have just entered their protest in England, thank God! against the fleeting errors of public
opinion, are somewhat prouder and surer of their convictions. As much attached as any one to the institutions
of their country, they know how to admit that other
countries may have other institutions. If republicans
succeed in resolving the true problem of liberty in Switzerland or America, they will be rejoiced instead of grieved
thereby, and will be only the more devoted to their monarchy and parliament. To them, English institutions are
not at the mercy of events, depending on the failure or




HER TRUE MOTIVES.             133 3
success of some other form of government. With an
assurance that is not devoid of pride, they contemplate
their liberal loyalty, their aristocracy always ready to
sacrifice its prejudices or interests at need, to decree
Catholic emancipation or the abolition of the protective
system, their powerful nation, in fine, securing the triumph
of public opinion through elections, the press, and the jury,
and they challenge the whole world to inspire them with
the desire of political revolution.
Such has been the great motive of the English people.
Let us add, to render it complete justice, that upon two
essential points, sincere prejudices, as unconquerable as
sincere, have formed an obstacle hitherto to the sympathies upon which America seemed able to count. These
prejudices, the value of which I shall have to weigh carefully in the third part of my work, must be mentioned in
this place, in order to take into account the sum total of
the motive powers which have determined the attitude
of England.
In the first place, the separation of the South was held
at once to be definitive and irremediable. This admitted,
a practical nation, which makes few theories and has
great respect for facts, was naturally led to hold in contempt or even hatred, so many efforts essayed to attain a
chimerical end. The war was nothing longer but a criminal and costly folly, in which it was impossible to be
interested.' The Union is gone."  Such was the oracle
uttered by the Times, that political Bible of so many
Englishmen. Thenceforth, all remained convinced that
there were two nations in America instead of a single one;
the great question was decided in advance in favor of the
South; its quality of belligerent appeared reasonable,
while waiting till it should be recognized.




134*                 ENGLAND.
When we set out with a conviction like this, we are
usually little disposed to accept any thing which would
call our axioms in question, and force us to recommence
our calculations. Here is a fact accomplished; let no one
make any change therein, or we shall be disappointed.
A second oracle, no less infallible, was uttered, and its
influence has been immense.-The North, it was said, is
as indifferent to slavery as the South; the point in question between them is supremacy, political domination.
This once granted, the consequences unfolded of
themselves. The great liberal and Christian party remained immovable, the men most known for their abolition sentiments openly refused to call or preside over
meetings against the South. This forbearance was carried so far that prayers began to be offered for the success
of the most iniquitous compromises, the peace conference,
and the Crittenden measure. Through misapprehension
of America, England had ceased to be England.




CHAPTER  IV.
THE TRENT.
OuR study would remain incomplete if we did not
glance at the incident which lately had nearly produced
a rupture between England and the United States. It is
precisely because the Trent affair is ended that it is important to treat of it; we are sure of doing so now dispassionately. And what instruction it has to furnish us!
Nothing could replace it in this respect. Here alone we
have before us facts and not conjectures; here alone we
see unfolded with freedom, and in some sort with sincerity, the policy adopted at the beginning of the crisis.
Thanks to the Trent affair, we know where it leads, what
consequences it accepts, and to what sentiments it appeals.
The Trent affair casts a brilliant light upon the value
of principles and importance of interests which are sacrificed by mistaking them. As truly as justice begets peace,
so truly does it lead to war-the expression is not strong
enough-to the state of war, to lasting and long-lived hatreds, where right is trodden under foot and violence is
done to sympathies.
I shall take care, therefore, not to neglect a subject
of such prime importance. If the question concerned the




130                   ENGLAND.
past alone, it might be, perhaps, neglected, although the
lessons of the past have their value; but the future is also
in question. The Trent affair, which had nearly been
the means of universal destruction, may be the providential means of universal safety. It has been, as it were, a
great liquidation of the English policy in America. Matters have been explained, men have seen where they were
going, practical conclusions have been abruptly brought
into comparison with theories. The two countries, at the
same time, have learned to know each other better; instead of the loose government which had been depicted
to us, we have encountered at Washington an enlightened, prudent administration, very far from receiving its
orders from the mob. In learning to distrust the descriptions presented to it, English opinion has reconquered its
full liberty of judgment. Who knows whether the suppression of' the rebellion be really impossible?  Who
knows whether slavery be not really in question? All
sorts of interrogations are made, the awakening is effected, the true England has appeared.
It was time to awake. After having believed for a
year that it would be called upon only to pout at America,
it suddenly perceived that the question was to declare
war against it; an ultimatum  had just set out for
VVasllington.
-Between great, between sister nations, this was a
strange beginning. It is scarcely the usage, as the word
itself implies, to begin with an ultimatum; that is, to begin with the end. Usually, when there has been a misunderstanding, an act to be regretted, especially when this
act involves a part of the right of nations which is still
obscure, the natural beginning is a demand for explanation of intentions, and of reparation of wrong, without
coupling it with an immediate menace of rupture.




THE TRENT.                 181
I am not ignorant that Lord Russell by his recommendations, and Lord Lyons by his measures, softened, as
much as possible, the odious character of the ultimatufm.
Public opinion, moreover, was aroused in Europe with
unforeseen rapidity; the precipitation of the measures
adopted at London was judged severely; the clause concerning apology was also abandoned in fact. But it is no
less incredible that it figured in the original programme.
Little children are made to ask pardon, the humiliation
of apology is inflicted on countries without regular government, on Turks and savages; between nations which
respect each other mutually, it is always deemed sufficient
satisfaction to repair the wrong and deny the hostile
intention.
Certain English journals have maintained that Europe
approved of these summary proceedings! Just the contrary
is true. On seeing such haste and so haughty a proclamation of indisputable exigence, on seeing the idea of an
impious war accepted with so much readiness by some,
and so much ill-dissembled joy by others, Europe declared
without circumlocution or reserve, that if England were not
miraculously rescued from her own enterprise, if she drew
the sword against the North in the capacity of an ally of
the South, she would destroy with her own hands her
chief claim to the respect of the civilized world.
The language on this point was the same at Paris,
Berlin, St. Petersburg, Vienna, and Turin. As they were
unanimous in deciding the technical question of right
against America, so were they unanimous in deciding the
moral question against England. To recognize the technical right in favor of England, was to recognize the
right of neutrals against her. Who is simple enough to
be astonished at the eagerness displayed here by the




13                  EL N GLAN D.
other powers?  But English demands gained little in
general opinion by taking the wounding form of an ultimatum, even though the most courteous of ultimatums.
This form would be justifiable only in a single casethat of a premeditated insult to the English flag. The
WIorning Post is so conscious of this that it has endeavored to propagate, in England and elsewhere, absurd
tales which for a moment almost passed for realities:
The United States are seeking a pretext to declare war
against England! This is evident from the policy of Mr.
Seward! Being unable to succeed with the South, he
has resolved to stretch a helping hand to it, and to seal
the new friendship by a common invasion of Canada.
Thus, the question of right, insufficient to explain the
despatch of an ultimatum, disappears behind another
grave question. The act of Captain Wilkes ceases to be
any thing else than the last of a series of hostile measures,
designed to bring about a war. A little sooner or a little
later-what mattered it thenceforth? Was it not better to foil American MIachiavelism? Was it not wise
to choose one's own time, instead of awaiting inevitable
aggression?
To support these fine fancies, people were not content with accumulating a host of grievances and signs;
they affirmed that the seizure of the commissioners on
board the English packet had been deliberated in council,
and thus, as it were, erected into a system. "See the
James Adger," they exclaimed, " despatched to do in the
very waters of Europe what the San Jacinto has done in
the waters of Cuba!"
Now, it is found, not only that it had never occurred
to any one to seize the commissioners on board an English packet, but that the San Jacinto had acted thus simply
because, returning from Africa, she was totally without




THE TRENT.                  133
instructions, and furthermore, that the James Adger had
been ordered to arrest the commissioners in European
waters solely on the supposition that they had embarked
in the cNashville, a vessel belonging to the rebels.
The question of right remains stripped of its covering,
without the least aggravating circumstance of a nature to
excuse the immediate despatch of an ultimatum. But
the question was so important! the act of Captain Wilkes
was of such enormity! Upon an ordinary infraction of
international rules, we might have entered into negotiations, listened to explanations, if necessary, admitted an
arbitrament, in fine, awaited the failure of the first measures before having recourse to extremities; but after an
infraction so extraordinary, it was proper that the first
message addressed to Lord Lyons should contain the conditional order to demand his passports!
Men must hold us in derision to use such language to
us; they must suppose that we have forgotten our modern history, and particularly the history of Great Britain.
Since they speak of enormities, I will recall the acts which
merit this name, and, compared with which, the real but
excusable error of Captain Wilkes bears the proportion
of a peccadillo.
"' AVe are no more immaculate than others," wrote the
Times; and, having once made this confession, it thought
itself entitled to reject musty old books and to repudiate
expedients. It would be rather too convenient thus to
throw off one's own deeds by beating his breast at the
memory of his great sins of the past, while resolving by
no means to pardon his neighbor the least of his sins of
the present! There was once, according to the parable
of the Gospel, a servant who owed his master ten thousand talents; the master had pity on him, and forgave
him the debt. The same servant went out and found one




184                  E GLAtND.
of his fellow-servants which owed him a hundred pence,
and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat,
saying, " Pay me that thou owest."
I am sorry for England, but its enormities resemble
those of Captain Wilkes as the ten thousand talents resemble the hundred pence. No one has ever thought of
quoting English enormities as precedents; they are too
disproportionate to the case in question. Such acts run
no risk of becoming precedents, and there is not the
least reason to fear that any one will dream of invoking
their authority. Violence is violence, and right is right.
It is upon the ground of right that we maintain that the
Trent affair was a case of amicable complaint, and not of
immediate recourse to an ultimatum; our arguments are
not borrowed from the old doctrines of the English admiralty. By the side of our doubts, at least plausible, by
the side of the honorable hesitation of Captain Wilkes,
the true enormities would figure somewhat strangely.
Since the subject has been broached, I will cite a few of
them.
England has officially maintained the doctrine of closed
seas, (mare clausurm:) she has claimed that, as mistress
of certain very considerable portions of the sea, she has
the sovereign right to fix the conditions of neutral navigation therein in time of war.
England has fixed the ceremonial of salutation in these
seas, in such a manner as to imply an acknowledgment of
the inferiority of other navies.
She has seized sailors when it suited her on board
American ships, hesitating neither to arrest individuals
nor to render her naval officers supreme judges in the
matter. At one time, by virtue of an exchange of orders
in council and imperial decrees, the blockade (on paper)
of the coasts of Europe, and the blockade (no less fic



THE TRENT.                    135
titious) of the coasts of England and all her colonies,. were
proclaimed at London, Berlin, and MIilan. England exacted that every neutral vessel, before repairing to the
Continent, should touch at her ports; while Napoleon,
on his side, declared all vessels denationalized which had
entered English harbors. It was then the United States,
in consequent despair, passed the Act of Embargo and the
Non-Intercourse Bill.
These are deserving the name of enormities. And it
would be easy to swell the number; the story is long.*
When America, weary at last of her system of embargo,
commenced her war of 1812, more than nine hundred of
her vessels had been seized. I add that at the peace of
Ghent, Great Britain refused to withdraw her pretensions
and disavow her doctrines.
Let us cease therefore to pretend that the act of Captain Wilkes is an enormity without equal. We know
now how the matter stands.
There is in it simply a fact to be regretted, opening
the way to a legitimate demand for reparation. Captain Wilkes, who erred, erred in sincerity, and nothing
in his conduct justifies the excessive indignation which we
have witnessed.  The Trent, moreover, was really in the
wrong; and, if opinions are divided on this point, it is no
less certain that the evidence is not complete, since there
is a division of opinions.
Behold, on one hand, an English packet whose fidelity
to neutral obligations may be at least contested; on the
* See Ortolon, Diplomatie de la mer, tome II., pp. 95, 111, 121,
122, 128, 131, 133, 136, 137, 172, 173, 300, 326-331.
See also in the Blue Books of this year, the details of the Canstadt
affair. This is quite another thing from the affair of the Trent.




136                   ENGLAN'D.
other, an American vessel that has exceeded its rights.
In such a case, the path is ready traced, and, to begin by
a rupture, one cannot be wholly averse to war.
Do not fear-I shall cite neither Grotius, nor Puffendorf, nor Vattel, nor Burlamaqui. I am not a jurisconsuit, although I have studied legal points like others,
and the debates of the Council of State have familiarized me with this sort of discussions. Let us lay aside
the rubbish of schools and use the language of common
sense.
I begin by establishing one point-men are not contraband of war. With the exception of military menand MIessrs. Mason and Slidell did not act in this capacityno person could have been lawfully seized, even supposing
the packet to have been brought, according to rule, before
a prize court.  The doctrine of Jian-despatches is the
weak side of the American argument. In such a matter,
it is not permissible to extend by force of reasoning, or
even a fortiori, the categories fixed by the law of nations.
"Despatches are contraband of war; therefore, and for
the strongest reason, ambassadors, which are living despatches, are so likewise." This argument cannot be admitted. If Sir William Scott has declared lawful the
seizure of ambassadors, it is not under the neutral flag,
but under the flag or on the soil of the enemy. In fine,
the principle involved here is of real importance; the
question, in fact, is nothing less than the right of asylum,
which would be endangered if the arrest of persons could
be effected under the neutral flag. Here, let it be loudly
proclaimed, all are secure, common criminals and political criminals, assassins and rebels. This is true, and it is
important that it should be so.
Another point, too, should be conceded without hesitation: no one is authorized to execute justice with his




TIE TRENT.                 137
own hands. The formality of a judgment is no trifling
thing-it is the common guarantee of all civilized nations,
I am far, indeed, from arraigning Captain Wilkes, who is
among the most distinguished and most scholarly officers
of the United States, and was the commander of one of
the finest scientific expeditions ever made; I comprehend
how he fell into the error-he has paid for our instruction.
I comprehend also how strong was the temptation to
arrest these commissioners as they passed before his eyes,
announcing that they were bound for Europe to seek
every possible means of destroying the common country.
But the error of MIr. Wilkes was of importance. In his
desire as'little as possible to aggravate the inconvenience
to the Trent and her passengers, with a disinterestedness for
which he should receive credit, he took it upon himself to
decide alone a question that belonged to the courts. It
was something as if a policeman, on arresting a suspicious
person, should say: "My friend, the magistrate lives a
great way off; to take you before him will detain you,
and put you to great inconvenience. Rather than subject
you to all this trouble, I will give up the reward I should
obtain for apprehending you, and proceed at once to
chastise you myself upon the spot."  It is essential that
we should be inconvenienced for the sake of a regular
judgment. The business of policemen and sea captains
-pardon me the comparison-is confined to taking suspicious persons before a competent magistrate. I am not
surprised that England and America should have been
found agreed upon this point at the end of the reckoning.
In England, the legal advisers of the Crown declared from
the first that the vessel should have been stopped and
carried before a court. In America, Mr. Seward acknowledged that this complaint was at once well founded and
important. The English press and the American press —




138                  ENGLAND.
the London Times and the New York Times-have had
but one opinion in this respect, and Mr. Sumner, in his
remarkable speech in the Senate, repeated in his turn,
"The packet should have been seized and brought to
trial."
Such have been the errors of Captain Wilkes. I have
not sought to disguise them; they doubtless justified a de,
mand for reparation: England owed it to herself to claim
and obtain the liberation of the commissioners. But does
this signify that all the wrongs were on one side, and that
the conduct of the Tient was not blamable?
That despatches are contraband of war, we may dispense with demonstrating, for no author has denied it.
Moreover, the Queen's proclamation is at hand, which
interdicts, not the "'fraudulent" transportation of despatches, but purely and simply their transportation.
Doubtless, if the despatches of the insurgent government had been confounded with the rest of the mail matter, no one would have thought of blaming the commander of the Trent, or of approving the cruiser who should
pretend to open the mail bags and search for contraband
of war. But matters had gone differently: Messrs. Mason and Slidell, with their families and despatches, had
arrived with great display at Havana, and thousands of
enthusiastic spectators had greeted the entrance of the
Theodora, which bore them thither, with the Confederate
flag at its mast. The commissioners knew so well that
what they were about to do would give cause of comnplaint to the United States, that they had taken great
care to assure themselves of the disabled condition of the
Columbia, and of the departure of another American
vessel, the Keystone State; they did not count on the
San Jacinto, then returning from Africa. As to any
doubts of the commander of the Trent as to the nature




THE TRENT.                  139
of the despatches which he was about to admit on board
his vessel, he knew, with all Havana, that the commissioners had been presented to the Captain-General, (presented, it is said, by the English consul;) and he had seen
with his own eyes the manner in which they were escorted
on board the packet.
In the presence of such facts, had he not reason to call
to mind the proclamation of the Queen, forbidding the
transportation of despatches? Could he have reassured
himself by the argument presented by a number of journals: " The Queen's proclamation is not a treaty, but a
municipal regulation; it is binding only on us."
"By no means!" it is replied, " his reasons were far
better. In the first place, a packet was in question;
secondly, this packet was repairing from one neutral port
to another; what would become of us if all mail packets
were exposed to the visits of cruisers, even on the coasts
of Europe, or between Dover and Calais?"
The answer is easy.
In the first place, packets, for the very reason that
they have privileges, among others that of continuing
their service in time of war, are bound to use especial
care not to violate in any respect the rules of the most
conscientious neutrality. Let special agreements, moreover, be concluded, to protect their sailing and exempt it
from all restrictions.-I am willing; but such agreements
are not concluded, and an agreement to be concluded
cannot at present be binding on America.
The exception in favor of ships repairing " from one
neutral port to another," will likewise figure in agreements
to be concluded; in agreements already concluded, not
the slightest trace of such reservation is to be found. The
Queen's proclamation ought really to have mentioned this
exception, if it exist; it would have then been known
7




140                   ENGLAND.
that the most hostile despatches, those best known and
pointed out to the attention of the whole world, might
be lawfully transported, provided they were taken firom
Havana. Why not enunciate in formal terms, these selfstyled simple and self-evident facts? The evidence of
the latter leaves it to be desired, since it has not been suspected by the legal advisers of the Crown, and since the
English Governmrent has not said a word of it in its demand for reparation. Mr. Seward was surely right in
stating that, while all the powers desire neutral rights,
they are still far from all desiring them in the same manner, and by virtue of the same reasons.
Let us come to an understanding-nothing can be better; let us inscribe the exception of neutral ports in a
general agreement-no one will find fault with it. But,
once more, let us not make of a plausible and probable,
yet disputable and disputed opinion, an axiom in the law
of nations, and let us not apply retroactively to the
United States a rule which may be established with advantage in some future agreement.
I wish to say a word here of the speech so often repeated: "Intercourse will be no longer possible; navigation must be interrupted; there will be nothing to hinder
the search of mail packets in the Straits of Calais or the
Mediterranean!"
Affirmations like these will be best refuted by their
absurdity.  I know  of no right which might not be
easily converted into an enormity, if we amused ourselves
by carrying it to extremes. Take the right of search, for
instance. This right, you will admit, does not take the
trouble to ask whether the contraband of war comes from
a neutral port, for neutral ports are almost always those
from which it is despatched. So long as the regions of
search be not limited, so long as mail packets be not ex



THE TRENT.                  141
pressly excepted, so long, in a word, as the general treaty
which we all demand be not negotiated. American cruisers will, strictly, have the right to search our merchant
vessels on the very coasts of Europe.
They have this right, but they will not exercise it.
Why not?  Because there is still something in the world,
thank God, called common sense, and because it is the
special mission of common sense to set bounds between
the exercise of right and its abuse. By virtue of common
sense, the American cruisers, which make no search in the
Mediterranean, will trouble themselves no more about
despatches passing between Dover and Calais.
In fact, observe that packet navigation has never been
obstructed, even in American waters; an extreme case,
an embassy despatched with eclat, despatches of exceptional importance, a hostile act particularly dangerous,
were needed for a single American cruiser (and this without instructions) to institute a search for a single time on
board neutral vessels. I think, therefore, that we may let
hypotheses rest, and feel secure concerning postal relations.
If the question were still of practical importance, it
would be proper to examine here, from the stand-point
of the existing war, the character of the ports of departure
and arrival. The TIrent was bearing despatches to a neutral port! Yes, but the American struggle has this peculiarity, that all the chances of the South are in Europe,
and that its despatches sent to a neutral country are, of
all others, the most important to stop on the way. The
TI'ent had taken its despatches from a neutral port! Yes,
but they did not originate there; they had come in the
sight and with the knowledge of the whole world, fiom
the very capital of the insurgents! Besides, what is Havana? Open a map, and you will see that Havana is near
the lower end of Florida, at the point of intersection of




14 2                 F.SEN'GLAND.
the routes to New Orleans and Charleston. It is the
rendezvous of all the small craft which have escaped the
blockade, or are intending to run it. It is the admitted
place of transshipment, the great harbor of the South.
Vessels of light draught, gliding through the thousand inlets which riddle the Southern coast, arrive daily at Havana, or other points of the island of Cuba. They dare
not go further. There, the vessels are fitted up anew, and
what was begun by night under the Southern flag is continued in broad daylight under European colors. Read
the story of Messrs. Mason and Slidell's adventures in the
Charleston Miiercury. They set out from Charleston in a
dark, rainy night, on a small steamer, the T]heodora; by
favor of steam and the darkness, they escaped the blockade and landed at Havana; when, suddenly, the scene
changed, the escapade became a triumphal march, commissioners and despatches were installed on board the
English packet, regarding themselves safe from all danger!
I have written the preceding with the last despatch of
Lord Russell under my eyes. Coming late, on the 23d
of January, after long reflection, it seems to me of all
things best fitted to confirm my principal observation;
namely, the obscurity of the question at the moment of
Captain Wilkes' action; and consequently, the relative
innocence of this act.
The English Government has since studied the subject
like the rest of us. Researches and experiences have
been made between the first and the last note of the
Foreign Office. If it had been as wise in the month of
November as it is now, nothing would have been easier
than to have enunciated the proposition on the spot,
"There can be no contraband of war between neutral




TIHE TRENT.                143
ports." AM. Thouvenel alone has had the credit of adopt.
ing this position.
This axiom in itself is reasonable. I beg that it may
enter ere long, in clear and formal terms, into international agreements. Only, I maintain that it has not been
found in them hitherto, and that doubt was permissible in
America, since error was possible in England. Do you
remember the fairy tales, in which a frightful giant gives
the hero an obscure riddle to guess on the spot under
pain of death? Were the United States to divine at the
first glance the diplomatic riddle of contraband of war,
under penalty of entering into immediate war with England?
But the despatch of the 23d of January, while involving the argument of MI. Thouvenel, develops before all
another, which shows to what subtleties the discussion of
a point of law may give rise, though declared, moreover, to be as clear as the light of day.
Lord Russell begins by laying down the principle that
the South is a belligerent, and that the United States
cannot regard it in any other point of view. This axiom
established, demonstrates that both the two contending
powers have the right to preserve relations with neutral
countries. It thence follows that neutral countries are
authorized to send them ambassadors and despatches, and
that the contending parties are likewise authorized to
send ambassadors and despatches to neutral countries.
By what right can despatches addressed to neutrals be
considered hostile?
This is admirable logic, but the United States have
never admitted the South to be a belligerent, and I do
not think that Europe, which adopts for herself this way
of seeing, pretends to impose it on them. The South,
therefore, is simply a rebel in the sight of Mr. Lincoln.




144                  LEON xLAND.
What become thenceforth of all the reasonings of the
despatch of January 23d?  Can an insurgent fraction of
a country maintain lawful diplomatic relations with neutrals?  What can these despatches contain which will
not be treason? As it is true that the ambassadors and
despatches of a belligerent have a legitimate end in a
neutral country, so is it clear that the ambassadors and
despatches of rebels cannot have a legitimate end therein.
If you doubt this, interrogate your own heart, ask what
were your sensations at this mission of }Messrs. Mason
and Slidell, sent to seek in Europe the ruin of their country.
What is my conclusion?  That Captain Wilkes was
right? I have said the contrary. MIy conclusion is that
the question of right is not so clear as has been pictured,
and that the wrong has been in some measure divided.
It comprises, according to the expression of Mr. Seward,
" rules imperfectly known and imperfectly understood."
The liberty and lives of Messrs. Mason and Slidell
run no risk in any case. Supposing an arbitration to have
been admitted, it is certain that the first condition would
have been the transferral of the commissioners into the
hands of the arbiter, and it is no less certain, (the commendable passion of Europe for the rights of neutrals is
-well enough known,) that the first act of the arbiter, whoever it were, would have been to command their liberation. The only means of exposing 3Messrs. Mason and
Slidell to real danger, would have been to break with
the United States. Transported into the interior, and
remaining in the power of a people exasperated by its
extreme danger, they would have been guarded, and well
guarded, without doubt, by the honor of the Americans;
nevertheless, it would not have been easy to banish all
anxiety.
I have spoken of arbitration, not because I believe in




THE TRENT.                  145
the necessity of recurring to it-a firm and amicable
negotiation has always seemed to me sufficient for the
arrangement of differences; but I have seen, like all
others, in the pains that have been taken in advance to
discard arbitration, the manifestation of a thought that
the arrangement of the difference would give indifferent
satisfaction.
This thought did not last; nevertheless it existed,
and constituted one of the most deplorable facts of our
time.
"' Before all, no arbiters! A blow admits of no arbitration; we have received a blow! Arbitration is designed
to resolve difficulties, only when the litigious question has
not been prejudged by hostile acts; there has been aggression, war is begun, our territory is in some sort invaded! Where, moreover, are arbiters to be found? All
Europe has declared its sentiments! Z"
Thus because a naval officer had been honestly mistaken, an insult, a blow had been offered; because the
arbiters were too favorable to England, and England was
too sure that they would decide in her favor, England
hastened to except to them.
It is useless to recall the fact that many powers had
not yet declared themselves, and might have played the
part of arbiters: Sweden, Denmark, Portugal, Holland,
Switzerland. To discuss these objections would be to do
them too much honor. I have only wished to state them.
A part of England seemed then to say-" Leave us our
war; you would decide in our favor, but that matters
little; you would set the commissioners at liberty, but
that is the least of our cares; we want war and nothing
else."
Mark that, five years before, in the Paris Congress,
Lord Clarendon proposed the rule of arbitration as "a




146                  ENGLAND.
barrier to those conflicts which not unfrequently break
out only because of the impossibility of offering explanations or of coming to an understanding."  The question,
thus introduced by the English Government, was earnestly
debated, and so much importance was attached to it that
the vote was postponed for two days, until Count Orloff
could obtain by telegraph the definitive adhesion of Russia. Behold the unanimous declaration, to which the
United States assented on the spot:
"The plenipotentiaries do not hesitate to express the
wish, in the name of their governments, that States between which serious dissensions may arise, shall have recourse to the good offices of a friendly power, as far as
circumstances permit, before appealing to arms."
On what occasion, I ask, will this salutary rule find application, if inapplicable here? The conflict was on the
point of breaking out because it had' been impossible to
qoffer explanations or to come to an understanding; the
dissension was serious; the circumstances permitted recourse to a friendly power. Was Europe derided in
1856? Was there fear of losing an occasion of war in
1861? I express myself with the more freedom, that the
England of 1862 is not that of 1861. Of these two Englands, the better, thank God, has just taken the lead.
That this sudden change is held for naught in London,
and that men reason now, in the best possible faith, as if
they had not been so lately disposed to fall upon the
United States, to strike hands with the South, and to give
the signal for an unnatural war which would have brought
forth many others, I care not; but we who cling to
peace and love the cause of liberty, are forced to have a
longer memory, were it only to prevent the return of one
of these experiences, so cavalierly glided over, in which
civilization itself would be in danger of perishing.




TIHE TRENT.                 14 7
To-day, thanks to the great change which has been
wrought in Europe, and to which the public opinion of
Eulrope has not been a stranger, a pacific course is established; the passions of yesterday have died out; the true
English nation has greeted with enthusiasm the peaceful
news from WVashington; Lord Russell has hastened to accept the liberation without insisting on apologies, he has
congratulated Lord Lyons for having so closely followed
his private instructions and surrounded a discourteous
proceeding with so much friendly courtesy, he has congratulated the American Government for having so nobly
surmounted the difficulties of its part.
We, too, may congratulate the English nation and
its ministers. That people is great in which faults committed are repaired in this wise, and in which the public
sense of right thus makes itself obeyed.
Already, before the incident of the Trent, Lord Stanley had uttered this almost prophetic warning: " It is the
duty of our government not to suffer itself to be irritated
on account of accidental molestations, such as it must expect to receive in the course of such a struggle."  At the
very height of the irritation caused by the Trent affair,
another voice was raised. A simple society appeared;
and we felt at once that evil passions were about to recede before a superior power. For my part, I admire the
victories of the mind far more than thOse of the bayonet
or bullet. A few almost unknown men present an address to the prime minister, and the terrified world
breathes again; although it is not yet known what will
be the decision of America, it is thenceforth known that
the cause is judged, for England has regained her path
and will never more wander friom it. How true were the
words of the Anti-Slavery Society: " Such an undertaking
on the part of England would not only be most humili



148                   ENGLAND.
ating, but would lamentably contradict her past efforts
and former sacrifices for the liberty of slaves; it would
expose her protests to the reproach of hypocrisy from the
rest of the world; it would destroy her clain and close
her lips henceforth to every appeal addressed to the intelligence and conscience of other nations. *    *    *
The members of the Society experience inexpressible horror and repugnance at the thought of seeing their country
engaged in a war, the virtual end of which would be the
defence of slavery!"
What Lord Stanley said in the political point of view,
what the Anti-Slavery Society said in the moral point of
view, all repeat to-day. Truth spreads quickly, and those
who lately combated it with the greatest violence and
disdain, are none the less eager to proclaim it from the
house-tops. It is one of the traits of the English character that it is not long embarrassed by inconsistencies.
AMen stray from the right path, and return to it, perhaps
only to wander from it again, and all this is accomplished
with perfect assurance.
When you read an article from a journal, recommending patience toward America, rebuking those inclined to
contest the blockade, and demonstrating that the manufacturing crisis proceeds from a previous excess of production more than from a scarcity of cotton, do not be greatly
astonished to discover that this journal is the Times, or
even the Miorning Post!
So goes the world. If less care be taken in England
than elsewhere to cover over changes of opinion, it is not
because there is less change elsewhere. I like this lack
of caution; it is to me a sign of strength and proof of
frankness. At heart, the English, in expressing their
present convictions, are fully conscious, and they are not
wrong, that these convictions are their own. They have




. THE TRENT.                149
returned to them as one returns home, without needing to
account to any one. The absence is forgotten, the journey
to the land of illiberal policy goes for nothing: we are
at home, what more would you have? Through accidental variations like these, is maintained the genuine and
glorious consistency of the English people.
I wish to be just toward it, and I see that its return
home has not been effected with giant strides. Some
weeks before the session, there was reason to fear that
both houses would witness the triumph of the friends of
the South; Mr. Gregory was about to propose his motion;
the Tories had their hands full of arguments against the
blockade; the working population was at hand to bear
upon the Government. The session opens, and what
occurs?  Lord Palmerston announces his intention of
maintaining the neutrality, the Tories themselves do not
venture to combat it openly; as to Lord Russell, he holds
a language worthy of himself, contesting the proofs of
the inefficacy of the blockade,* and insisting on the duty
of making no movement that may seem hostile to the
United States; the definitive separation, if it is to take
place, must not look as if proceeding from the action of
foreign powers.
Behold us far from the day when the duel was to
commence between the two fractions of the Anglo-Saxon
race, when two free nations, two kindred peoples, were
about to destroy each other, to the great joy of their
common enemies! We will not soon forget that fearful
December! The vessel then crossing the ocean was far
different from the peaceful Mayflower which, in the same
month of December, two centuries and a half before, had
* It is known that one of his despatches officially recognizes the regularity of the blockade, and that the French Government has just held
the same language.




150                  ENOGLAND.
anchored on the shores of America with its Puritans fleeing firom English persccution-it was a vessel bearing the
ultimatum of England!
And while it was on its way, while our hearts were
wrung, and our minds terrified, by the prospect of the
greatest political and moral disaster that could overtake
our generation, the influential London journals took care
to instruct us upon the character of the war, which they
regarded as almost inevitable. "It will be terrible! It
will begin by the recognition of the South, by the alliance
of the South, by the assured triumph of the South!"
And when a rumor was spread that a despatch of Mr.
Seward —the one written on the 30th of November, at
the precise moment when the British cabinet signed its
own-was of a nature to give hopes of a favorable solution, the Morning Post hastened to publish, in large type,
the official contradiction of this news, which, nevertheless,
was true. The spontaneous disavowal of all thought of
insult, the declaration announcing that Captain Wilkes
had acted without instructions, the express wish that the
question might be treated on both sides in a spirit of conciliation, were considered of no importance.
At this moment, do not deny it, there was among
many in England something of the eagerness which is displayed in seizing on an occasion. England, usually so
slow, acted with unheard-of haste. Never have I seen a
more striking commentary on the words of the Apostle,
"Their feet are swift to shed blood."
America has just saved the peace of the world.
A government has been found at Washington, little
resemblingthe picture that had been drawn for us, and a
people, for the whole must be confessed, much more sensible and more fully master of itself than had been pre



THE TRENT.                 151
tended. If certain Englishmen consider that the United
States have not yielded enough, the vast majority in
England and France think differently. We all knew that
the Americans were not lacking in audacity; but we did
not know that they were possessed of moderation; that,
in a terrible position, and one calculated to call forth the
passions of the mob, they could display the high wisdom
and political bearing which has just won for them so much
sympathy.
It would be difficult to exaggerate the progress which
they have thus made in public opinion. For some time,
at least, the public sense of right has set itself in opposition to the assistance destined to the South; the South
feels the day of the commissioners' liberation to have been
a day of mourning; it would have preferred the loss of
a battle.
Independently of the advantages which they have
reaped from it in successfully carrying on their present
struggle, the United States have found in the upright and
able solution of the incident of the Trent another kind of
success. The true American policy-that which has always
maintained the cause of neutrals and the liberty of the
seas against England-has gained a brilliant triumph.
This, General Scott announced from the first day: "I am
sure," wrote he, "that the president and people of the
United States would be only too happy to set these prisoners at liberty, unpardonable and unnatural as have
been their offences, if by this they could encourage the
commerce of the world."  The note of Mr. Seward held
the same language: "If I should decide this question in
favor of my government, I would be obliged to disavow
its dearest principles. Our country cannot make this
sacrifice. * * * I express my satisfaction at seeing
this question regulated in accordance with exclusively




152                  ENGLANhD.
American principles." This is the pure truth, and all the
European publicists declared it at the same time with
Messrs. Scott and Seward. It now remains to translate
into immutable articles in the law of nations what has
passed between England and the United States. The
latter, we may believe, will not be the less eager to instigate the convocation of a congress commissioned to define contraband of war, to declare innocent all transportation from one neutral port to another, to accord to mail
packets all the privileges which they require, to determine
the bounds beyond which the right of search shall cease,
and to examine the conditions of effective-blockade.
Shall I justify, in conclusion, my elaboration of the
subject? Those who, perhaps, are surprised at its extent,
have not made the reflection-in many respects, we are
right in saying that the American question must be
decided in England. If the determinations of Europe
have to play a great part in the conflicts of the North
and South, the determinations of England will rule, or
very nearly, those of Europe.
It was impossible, therefore, to treat the American
question thoroughly without going to England and closely
examining her sentiments and attitude. The Trent affair,
which has brought every thing to light, has furnished us
a means of inquiry which nothing could replace.
Shall I express my whole thought? I wished these
pages to bear some small part in the attainment of an end
which many lofty minds are now pursuing. The peace
will be real only when it shall have sunk into the hearts
of men; to be at peace, we must not only not be at
swords' points, but must esteem and love each other; and
to love each other, it is necessary to know each other.
There is between the Old World and the New, especially
between England and the United States, a mountain of




THE TRENT.                 153
prejudices and errors to be overthrown. Truth has one
great power-reconciliation.
This is why I have attached importance to presenting
in a book which will, I know, be translated and read in
America, an impartial estimate of the character of the
English people. I have admitted into it neither flattery
nor hostility. It seems to me that it offers the picture
of a generous nation that may for a moment have gone
astray, have set itself against a cause that was not its
own, and have been drawn into anger, passion, almost
into war, but whose return to good has the energy and
surety of the acts of the human conscience. The day that
America shall see England in this light, namely, as she
is, a vast improvement will be effected in the relations of
the two continents.
To make them understand each other, there is no need
to pile up phrases. Lying declamations can do nothing but
harm; I have -faith in truth.
I have also taken care not to adopt the truly strange
explanation by which England is now endeavoring to set
her late conduct in a favorable licht. She lavishes eulogies on Lord Palmerston; she repeats in every key that
no one really desired war; that the ultimatum, the demand for apologies, the precautions taken in advance
against possible arbitration, the preparations for immediate war, the announced recognition of the South, were
simply the surest proceedings to obtain peace.
MIay God preserve us from this sort of peace-makers!
They pretend that they have ensured peace by their firmness! Let them tell this to those who have not followed
their policy for the past year, and who have not foreseen,
foreseen with absolute certainty, the occurrence of a
Trent affair under some form or other, before spring. If
this policy be left behind, if it have given way before a




154                  IENGLAND.
better influence, it is not fully enough proved that it may
not some day reappear, to permit us to treat it with complaisance, and to glorify what we should curse.
No! you did not desire peace, for you believed for a
moment in war, and this horrible chance was accepted by
you with calmness. In the hour of distress of a kindred
people, and for a difference easily arranged by pacific
means, you left nothing undone to excite acute susceptibilities, and render the conflict inevitable.
Such is the real truth, on which it is useful to reflect
in order that no one may take a fancy to plunge us again
with cruel heedlessness into similar perils. That peace
has been preserved, is due, next to God who had pity on
you and us, to the good sense and patriotism of the American people. A distinction must be made here between
although and because. Peace has been maintained, although England threatened it; it would have been maintained a hundred times more surely if' the remarks addressed by England to Washington had been as amicable
as firm in their tone, if she had entertained the same
spirit with Mr. Seward's despatch of the 30th of November, if, at need, she had nobly condescended to admit
the transfer of the commissioners into the hands of a
third power. In any case, the liberation was certain; in
any case, the interpretation of the right of nations in favor
of England was certain; in any case, peace was certain.
It is true that this last point would have disappointed
some in England.
I agree entirely with those who believe in the excellence of firmness, and that tergiversations often bring
about ruptures instead of averting them.  It was fitting,
moreover, of course, that England should admit of no
other basis of negotiations than the immediate freedom
of the commissioners or their remission into the hands of




THE TRENT.                     155
an arbiter; but this it had the certainty of obtaining, and
of the two solutions, the first appeared more probable.
The position of the United States was such that to avoid
a serious quarrel without, especially with Great Britain,
was an evident necessity. Far fiom yielding to fear,
Mr. Lincoln took his resolution on the spot, even before it was suspected at Washington that a menace of
war would be addressed to America.  At this epoch of
absolute security, which is derided, but which nevertheless arose from an honorable confidence in the sentiments
of the English people, there was something else in the
United States than those few popular demonstrations,
which must have been necessarily called forth by the
daring act of Captain Wilkes; in the face of these demonstrations, few in number withal, in the face of the
thanks voted by one of the Houses of Congress, the true
American opinion had its organs.  The New  York Times
took care to declare at once that the vote of the House
of Representatives left full liberty of action to the President, and that the question of right would be examined
in itself. Other important journals also demonstrated,
with the full approbation of the public, that if Captain
Wilkes were in the wrong, the commissioners would be
set at liberty. At that time, too, before there was the
slightest suspicion of an ultimatum, the message of Mr.
Lincoln preserved a significant silence on the Trent affair,
and Mr. Seward voluntarily disavowed all instructions
given to the cruisers.*
* It is said: "The American government might have acted still
better; if it had spontaneously resolved to give up the commissioners,
it would have done so before the arrival of the English note I " I would
that it had done so, as I wrote to Mr. Lincoln at the first moment. But
is it so difficult then to comprehend a hesitation on the form of doing so?
Might not an arbitration have been preferred and hoped for, for in



156                      ]ENGLAND.
In truth, to attribute the maintenance of peace to the
bellicose measures of England, we must have forgotten
all that took place in December, at London and Washington.
America, we may affirm, has just rendered England
the most brilliant service that ever one people rendered
another. If war had broken out, it is certain that great
calamities would have fallen upon the United States; but
calamities no less great might have fallen upon England.
I seem to hear Job's messengers, following each other in
succession, each announcing a disaster.
America would have resisted; those who doubt it do
not know her.  The power which dared commence, with
five frigates, the war of 1812, and which was by no means
worsted in the end, would have accepted the struggle
with all its chances. And who knows whether, commencing this time again with a few frigates, she would not
have ended with a fleet?
The distress of the English manufactures would have
reached its height. The civil war, proceeding thenceforth
through the medium  of slave insurrections, would have
completed the destruction of cotton, and as to the American markets, they would have disappeared for a long
time to come.
Even in case of success, what a calamity for England
is this fratricidal war! It is their own blood that they
stance? The essential point is that the idea of making war, in order to retain Messrs. Mason and Slidell, did not for a moment enter the thought of
the cabinet at Washington. Its despatch of the 30th of November, the
reserve of the President's Message, the language of influential journals,
all that passed, in a word, before there was the slightest suspicion of the
threatening attitude of England, demonstrates conclusively that this
attitude in no wise contributed to the maintenance of peace.




THE TRENT.                   157
are shedding; it is their race that they are destroying;
it is their influence in the world that they are sacrificing
-the Old England assails the New.
And, by the same blow, she assails the liberty of the
world; that is, her own cause, her reason for existing,
her moral power on earth. From that moment, she ceases
to be any thing more than the ally of slave-traders; she
has abdicated her power.
Who will guarantee, moreover, that while she crosses
the seas to make war, questions, capital questions, will
not spring up behind her, for the solution of which there
are those who will gladly profit by her absence? She is
not altogether without enemies and envy in the Old World.
Now, there is an Eastern crisis always ready to be revived, and which will be revived whenever there is need
of it. There is also an English India, which revolted but
the other day, and which already became restless, we are
told, at the first news of the dispute with America.
Lastly, war gives birth to war. The war with America would have commenced as a duel, and ended, perhaps,
as a melee. Those general conflagrations, which are our
great peril, and which English policy studies with so
much wisdom to avert, would thus burst, through its own
act, upon terrified Europe.
Happily, all this is but a troubled dream. The friends
of liberty and peace may be reassured; but are they to
render thanks for this to England?
See how the truth of our formula is verified everywhere and always: as is the value of principles, so is the
accordance of principles and interests.
It is the power of principles that has arrested the evil
policy, the tendencies of which I have just recalled. In
spite of the indifference of a noble people, in spite of ac



158                   E'NGLAND.
cumulated prejudices, a sovereign and irresistible impulse
has sprung up at the wished-for hour, and compelled a
change of system. Let any one tell me what hinders, at
bottom, the breaking of the blockade, the recognition of
the South, the obtaining of cotton, cost what it may, if
not the impossibility, I underline the word, the impossibility of giving the hand to the defenders of slavery.
And it will be some day found that principles have
been the only intelligent guardians of interests. Justice
procures peace, and peace engenders prosperity. Where
was England drifting, so long as she disdained principles,
and did violence to her best inspirations? She was drifting to ruin; the Trent affair, the ultimatum, the precipitate arming of a warlike fleet, with all the calamities
which, hand in hand, were about to hasten after the rupl
ture-such was the prospect a few months ago. What a
change to-day! England has regained possession of herself, of her claims to honor, of her moral influence; the
chances of conflict have disappeared, civil war in America
is proceeding toward its solution, and as a recompense
for the true neutrality, to the support of which she will
henceforth rally, England may obtain a glimpse, at no
distant future, of the reestablishment of her commerce
with the United States, while her Indian possessions will
inherit a great part of the cultures destroyed by the folly
ofthe South.




PART THIRD.
THE ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
CHAPTER I.
SLAVERY NOT REALLY IN QUESTION.
How will Europe, which professes to detest slavery, set
to work consistently to treat with indifference the brave
men who are struggling against slavery in England? How
especially will England set to work to do this? There is
but one resource in such a case —to endeavor to persuade
both oneself and others that slavery has no part in the
American struggle.
The friends of the South have not failed to do this.
They have even attempted something better; they have
sought to persuade us that to ensure the triumph of the
South was to serve the cause of abolition! But this point,
our credulity hesitated to accept, which is saying not a
little. At most, it would only admit that this was serving abolition as Jeffreys served political liberty, as Louis
XIV. and the Inquisition served religious freedom. Some
crimes bring about reactions, some victories provoke
vengeance: that this is true does not suffice to recon



160        ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
cile the human conscience to these victories and these
crimes.
"Slavery is not in question;" such has been for a year
the burden of letters from the South, the text of articles
dictated and paid for among us by the South, the subjects
of pamphlets and bound volumes printed in favor of the,
South. How often must an error be repeated for it to
become truth? I know not. However it may be, this
one has made its way, and we are to-day condemned to
undertake its serious refutation. Well-informedmen smile
at our innocence; they know the Americans, they do not
suffer themselves to be deceived by appearances, they
are not dazzled by high-sounding words, they go to the
bottom of things —and at the bottom of things, what do
they find? The North, fighting for supremacy; the South,
fighting for State sovereignty and commercial freedom,
or perhaps, also, to satisfy the hatred inspired in it by the
Puritans and Yankees: as to slavery, it is the pretext and
nothing more-the shadow which a breath would disperse.
This is what they tell us with a shrug of the shoulders; then adding, for it is well to be cautious: " It by
degrees the struggle against slavery gain place in the
American war, it will be from the impulse of a bad feeling
-a feeling of hatred and vengeance. It will not probably
be claimed that abolition by way of reprisal has much
right to our sympathies."
Admire here the power of principles! Men dare not
attack them openly, they commit no infidelity to them
which is not coupled with homage. They seek to keep
up appearances on this point. " We, not encourage with
our good wishes those who really oppose slavery! We,
accord the shadow of a support, directly or indirectly, to
those who really wish to maintain and extend slavery!
Ah! you know us but little!"




SLAVERY NOT RE ALLY IN QUESTION.       161
There is no means, therefore, of escaping the pitiable
comedy which we have witnessed. Some have lied;
others more numerous, have admitted, in the best possible faith, that slavery is not the cause of the American
conflict; others in fine, without denying daylight at midday, have reassured their conscience by saying (and no
one will contest it) that the North sought the non-extension of slavery, but did not seek its immediate abolition;
that there is a great distance between the Republican
party and the abolitionists, properly called; and that
consequently the ZNorth, not being abolitionist, is pursuing
a political end and deserves no especial interest.
Before replying, which will not be difficult, let me
express a thought which weighs on me. For thirty years,
we have not ceased to reproach the North for its complicity with the South; yet, on the day when it repudiates
it, on the day when, at the price of prodigious sacrifices,
it utters the decisive speech, " Slavery shall go no
further," on the day when it rejects that violent and
gross policy which may be defined in a single sentence,
thepolicy qf slavery-on that day, we have for it only
disdain, coldness, and distrust-on that day, we seem to
have but one thought, to discover the weak sides of its
conduct, to demonstrate that it does a generous deed
without generosity, that its cause is not its cause, and
that the election of Mr. Lincoln was wrought by men not
in the least affected by the question of slavery.
Our time excels, I know, in thus blighting our rare
occasions for enthusiasm; but such a course to me is revolting. I believe that by always suspecting, we become
as blind and blinder than by always confiding. Of all dupes,
the most miserable, to my mind, are those of scepticism.
I do not like to put on spectacles to discover the faults of
my friends; and if here and there something good be




162         ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
done on earth, it is repugnant to me to concentrate my
attention on the less noble motives which must assuredly
have mingled in it.
Having said this without dwelling on it, for my
creed is well known, I enter upon the subject. These
are the reasons for not admitting that slavery is concerned:
MIr. Lincoln, or his friends, have not been head to
utter a single time the word Abolition. They are fighting for the Constitution and the Union, and not against
slavery. No important measure has been taken, no principle has been laid down; nothing has been done of a nature to move sympathies in Europe. A number of generals have refused to receive fugitive slaves, and have even
returned them to their masters; but when General Fremont ventured to proclaim their emancipation, haste was
made to annul his proclamation first, and to remove him
afterward.
I feel myself the freer to reply, that I have felt myself
sometimes very free to censure. Yes; every thing has
not been perfect in the management of American affairs;
in the presence of a colossal problem, the Washington
Government has had its moments of wavering and error.
But what is there extraordinary in this? Shall we cease
to support men whom we cannot always approve?
To the service of great causes, it is necessary to bring,
besides resolution and firmness, an abundant supply of
patience, and, consequently, indulgence.  I have not
lulled myself with chimeras respecting the spirit which
animated the North and determined the election of Mr.
Lincoln. What did I say last year in my first volume?
That this was by no means the work of the abolitionists,
that it was by no means in question to destroy slavery,
root and branch; but to begin at the beginning, to place




SLAVERY NOT REALLY IN QUESTION.           163
before the progress of slavery an insuperable barrier, to
limit the evil before destroying it.
I thought then that to limit it was something, that
even in one sense it was every thing; I still-think so today. Were there people ignorant enough of the position
of parties in America, strangers enough to the march of
social problems and the ways of the human heart, to
dream it possible to destroy slavery at the first stroke?
If there have been deceptions, there were also illusions!
It is vexatious; but I do not see why the United States
should be held accountable for the day dreams, to say the
least, strange, which appear to  have been current in
Europe.
Their idea, which  surely has greatness, is this:
Slavery is a prodigious evil, morally and politically; if
we remain chained to its cause, we shall perish; another
step and we shall lose, with the esteem of the world, our
last chances for uprising; it is necessary to break with the
conquests of slavery, with filibusterism, with proceedings
contrary to the law  of nations, with ultra-democratic
despotism; it is necessary to save our free institutions
before they shall have been completely trailed in the
mire.
All this is not abolitionism, I admit; all this may,
perhaps, be said by men in whom still lives the detestable
prejudice of skin, and who are affected much less by moral
than political considerations.  But what must be thence
concluded? To make a prodigious effort in order to prevent one's country from falling into the pit digged by
slavery-is not this to declare war on slavery?  Do you
doubt it?  Consult the abolitionists themselves on this
point; they will answer you. Although Sir. Lincoln may
not be the representative of all their ideas, they know that
their ideas will triumph through him. And the South




164         ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
knows it likewise. It was not mistaken; this election,
though not an abolition one, bore abolition within its
bosom; from the moment that the North refused to serve
the cause of slavery on its knees, slavery was condemned
to perish; it was no longer but a question of time.
For great revolutions, we must seek great causes, if
we would attain the truth. I know of but one cause proportionate to the revolution which is being accomplished
in America; the struggle against slavery is at the bottom; without being abolitionist, the Republican party
of 1860 accepted, much more boldly than it imagined, the
principle in virtue of which abolition will one day take
place. It knew, better than it said, the way in which it
was entering, and it entered it without hesitation. I
pity those who do not know how to admire such an act;
it seems to me that the history of Europe contains few
that can be compared with it.
Alas! it is rather Europe which in this circumstance
has deserted the cause of liberty! Supposing it to have
been abandoned by the North; this would be no reason, it
seems to me, for us to turn our backs on it. A fine conclusion, indeed, of the Pharisaical argument under which
we have screened our selfishness-the North is not abolitionist enough, therefore we will not be so at all! The
North is disposed to compromise, therefore we will advise
her to make terms at any cost with the South! The adversaries of slavery lack enthusiasm, therefore we will
favor its partisans! I do not exaggerate; to applaud
decisions which confer on the South the position of belligerent; to admit its separation, that is, its triumph; to
accept the chance of a war against the North and for the
South without frowning-such have been, if I am not
mistaken, the practical consequences of our scruples.




SLAVERY NOT REALLY IN QUESTION.        165
The passion for slavery is of recent growth in most of
the Southern States. In the discussions which accompanied the foundation of the Union during the last century, Virginia and Maryland showed themselves no less
convinced than Pennsylvania or 3Massachusetts, of the necessity of speedily putting an end to the slave trade, of
preventing the introduction of slaves into new territories,
and even of paving the way for emancipation. The leading
men of the South, Washington, Jefferson, Patrick Henry,
Wythe, George Mason, and many others, then held a
language for which, at the present time, they would be
tarred and feathered or hung by their fellow-citizens.
But if the disease be of recent date, it has nevertheless developed with unheard-of violence, and has now
reached its crisis. Without going back to causes, among
which figure in the first rank the growing demand for
cotton and the invention of machinery to facilitate its
cleaning, it suffices to establish the fact of its appalling
progress.
The annexation of Texas was, as it were, the startingpoint of the South, since which, it has not ceased to go
forward-slavery, the progress of slavery, the dangers
which may threaten slavery; these are its only anxieties.
It had taken care to stipulate that Texas should be,
if necessary, divided into five States; wishing in this manner always to have the means of increasing its vote in
Congress and protecting the " institution."
The admission of California as a free State was combated with ardor, and combated a long time; it seemed
an injustice toward slavery.
The South indemnified itself for the loss by forcing the
adoption of the forever odious Fugitive Slave Law. Next,
it procured the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, wish



I66 asERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
ing to open the North itself to the introduction of slavery.
Next, with arms in its hands, and with the audacious support of President Buchanan, it opposed the free constitution of Kansas. Lastly, the Dred Scott decision came to
signify to the whole Union that the day had arrived when
it had to choose between a constitutional resistance to the
crimes of the South and a general complicity with respect
to them. It was then that the generous party was formed, which inscribed on its banner, " the non-extension of
slavery."
Note, moreover, that in 1850, when California was
admitted as a free State, a plan of separation was seriously
discussed in South Carolina. It was the rebellion which
we are now witnessing, ten years in advance; and I do
not think that any one will take it upon himself to deny
that its sole motive was the interest of slavery. But, in
1850, there was found in the Charleston Convention a
prudent majority which, while also admitting the idea of
a separation on account of slavery, was unwilling to attempt the adventure until South Carolina was certain
that the rest of the slave States would follow in her train.
The enterprise was therefore postponed.
Again, when 3Ir. Fremont was near attaining the
presidency, South Carolina talked of seceding. To see a
man hostile to the conquests of the " institution" at the
head of the United States, was what she was determined
never to endure. Fremont being defeated, (by very little,)
the South Carolinians had not to put their designs into execution. They confined themselves to two things: on the
one hand, to profiting by MIr. Buchanan and his cabinet
to strengthen by every means the position of slavery, to
invade the territories with the support of the administration, to endanger the Union, to corrupt institutions, to
create in haste a condition of affairs from which escape




SLAVERY NOT REALLY IN QUESTION.         167
would be impossible; on the other, to profit again by MIr.
Buchanan and his cabinet to pave the way for the rebellion, to make provision for it in advance, to render in
advance its suppression impossible, and, mloreover, to announce loudlv that if the voters of 1860 should dare to
elect a president hostile to slavery, the dissolution of
the Union would be proclaimed on the spot.
I have named the South Carolinians, because we must
really regard them as the chief authors of the insurrection.
There is in South Carolina and Georgia, as well as in the
States formed from their original territory, Alabama and
Mississippi, a passionate violence on the subject of slavery,
which is not discovered in the rest of the South. Here is
truly found the centre of the conspiracy. I could not
have said of South Carolina and Georgia what I said just
now of Virginia and Maryland; that, in the last century,
the opposition to slavery and the slave trade was almost
as lively there as in the North. The States who have
been the first to give the signal for separation, were the
last to accept the Union, and the motives of their hesitation at that time give but too clearly the key to their
resolutions to-day-South Carolina demanded that the
Constitution should recognize, in express terms, the legality of the slave trade. Mr. Pinckney himself declared
without blushing that South Carolina would never accept
the plan (of the Constitution) if it prohibited the commerce in slaves.  Terms were made-and here commenced the sad series of compromises-the slave trade
was sanctioned for twenty years. Such was the entrance
of the South Carolinians; whoever recalls it to mind will
have no difficulty in explaining their exit.
What has since passed explains it as well. I wish that
those who dare affirm that slavery is not the cause of the
present conflict, would be kind enough to interpret, apart




168        EERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
from this cause, the discussions of the last few years.
Not only has slavery always taken a constantly increasing
part therein, but it has ended by remaining alone in debate-alone, I do not fear to go thus far. It would be
necessary not to have read a line upon American discussions for the last ten years, to preserve a doubt on this
point. The journals spoke only of slavery; Congress was
divided only on the subject of slavery; elections, great
and small, were made only with a view to slavery; internal and even external policy was preoccupied only about
slavery; parties took form and opposed each other only
by reason of views concerning slavery; the declarations
and scarcely dissembled threats of the South articulated
only grievances connected with slavery.
These threats have been heard during forty years,
but constantly assuming a more precise character. The
members of the South Carolira Convention recalled this
to mind themselves not long ago. "L Secession," said one
of the members, MIr. Parker, "is no spasmodic and sudden
effort. It has long been brewing among us."  And Mr.
Inglis added: "Most of us have had this subject for forty
years under consideration." M3r. Keitt exclaimed, in his
turn: "I have been engaged in this movement ever since
I entered political life."
Animated by such a spirit, the ringleaders of the
So.uth, it will be comprehended, would make no scruples
in proposing to break off the bargain with their Northern
fellow-citizens, provided that slavery were menaced by
them.  On the presentation to Congress of petitions
praying that the District of Columbia, the seat of government, might be fiee soil, the explosion took place; and
directly, obedient to the angry commands of the South,
Congress passed a series of ignoble laws, limiting its own
action in every thing affecting slavery. On the adoption




SLAVERY N~OT REALLY IN Q4UESTIoIQ'N.    169
of liberty-bills in the Northern States, came a new explosion and new threats; the South would suffer no State
to refuse its magistrates and prisons to the execution of
the infamous law exacting the return of fugitive slaves.
We remember, in fine, the struggle which took place before Mr. Lincoln's election, for the choice of the Speaker
of the House of Representatives; for several weeks
neither party would yield; and when finally the Republican candidate triumphed, the organs of the South were
not slow in announcing the deep discontent of the slaveholders, as well as the terrible results which would ere
long ensue from it.
So truly was slavery, and slavery alone' concerned, that
the question par excellence was that involving the fate of
slavery-the question of the territories. According as
this should be resolved in one direction or the other, the
future of the "' institution," every one felt, would be guaranteed or endangered. Thence, the bloody expeditions
against free Kansas; thence, the sacking of Lawrence, in
1856, by the Border Ruffians, led by a former acting vicepresident of the United States, Mr. Atchison; thence, all
those scenes of barbarity, the sombre prelude to 1861;
thence, all those solemn resolutions passed by the legislatures of the South. I quote that adopted by Alabama in
January, 1860:
"The territories belonging to the United States are
the common property of the people of the States. The
people of the Slave States have a right to enjoy their
property in slaves within the said territories, so long as
they preserve this character, and no lazo adopted by the
territories can deprive them of such a right."
This lofty declaration, which is already well-nigh a
declaration of secession, is found again in the platforms of
the candidates for the presidency supported by the South.




170         ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
Survey all these platforms, of the South and the North,
of the ultra and the moderate parties, and you will find
therein only the single, abso'rbing question of slaveryKansas, the territories, fugitive slaves, and nothing else.
Yet fr'om these has been made the brilliant discovery:
slavery is not the true cause of the American conflict!
What do we read in the platforms of the Republicans
who supported MIr. Lincoln, and in the votes of their conventions?  No extension of slavery beyond its present
limits; no more admission of new slave States into the
Union; the adoption of efficient measures against the
slave trade; the important modification of the Fugitive
Slave Law; the denunciation of the Dred Scott decision,
which denied all righlts to negroes and transformed all
the free States into slave territory!
What do we read in tile platform of the South which
supported MSr. Breckienridge, and in the votes of its conventions? Slavery shall be national, and shall be recognized by the Constitution; it shall extend with the Union;
no State can prevent the transit of slaves; the Fugitive
Slave Law shall be made more stringent.
What do we see in tile platform of the Douglas party?
The right of the people of the territories to adopt or prohibit slavery; and, in compensation, donbtless, the acquisition of Cuba.
In fine, there is not a single party, even to that of MIr.
Bell, which pretended to preserve an impartial balance between the South and the North, the Republicans and the
Democrats, that has not taken care to immure itself within the question of slavery. The platform of the latter
may be sumnmed up in this wise: " The maintenance of the
Union by important concessions to the slave States."
And observe, the threat of separation has always
figured in the contest; so that it cannot be said that a




SLAVERY NOT PREALLY IN QUESTION.        171
new question has been substituted for that agitated at
the time of the two last presidential elections. The
question has remained and still remains the same: there
are not two, there is but a single one. The South has
demanded the extension of slavery, announcing that, if it
were refused her, she would withdraw from the Union;
the North has demanded the non-extension of slavery,
and has valiantly accepted the chance, terrible though
it we"fe, of a disruption.
Do you wish for proof? Listen.
AIr. Butler, a leading member of the Senate, where he
represented South Carolina, expressed himself in this
wise in 1856: " If Fremont be elected, each of the Southern States will convoke its legislature, and take the necessary measures."
Mlr. Brooks, the Member of Congress who caned Mr.
Sumner, said in his turn to those who complimented him:
" Trample under foot the Constitution of the United
States, and form a Southern Confederacy, composed entirely of slave States....  If Fremont be elected, I am
of the opinion that the people of the South should rise in
their might above magistrates and laws, take the power in
their own hands, and lay the strong grasp of free Southern
men on the treasury and archives of the Government."
At the same time, the Charleston Xiercury, an influential journal, declared that in case Mr. Fremont were
elected, "there was not a public man in South Carolina,
not one of' its representatives or members of Congress,
that would not be decided on a separation."
The Governor of Virginia held exactly the same language. MIr. Faulkner, of this State, the minister to
France under Mr. Buchanan, exclaimed, a little later:
"When that noble and brave child of Virginia, Henry
VWise, declared a' s he did in October, 1856, that if Fre83 *N




172         E0RRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
mont were elected, he would seize the Federal arsenal at
Harper's Ferry, how few at that time would have approved so bold a measure! It is the privilege of great
minds to be in advance of their fellows."
The question was then no longer of Mr. Fremont, but
of Air. Lincoln. I have my hands full of extracts from
the journals and. official speeches of the time. Their
uniform conclusion is, " If Lincoln be elected, the Union
must not endure another hour."
Jefferson Davis, whose testimony will not be without
value, said, in his address in 1859, to the people of
Miississippi: " In case they elect as president a partisan of
the doctrines professed by Seward at Rochester, dissolve
the Union! "
- On the 24th of January, 1860, 3Ir. Toombs, now a
member of the cabinet at Richmond, made this speech in
the Senate: "M Iy State (Georgia) has made known its
opinion. Nine years ago, it assembled a convention, and
declared that its connection with the government depended on the faithful execution of the Fugitive Slave Law,
and the full enjoyment of equal rights in the territories....Free men of Georgia, keep your word, I am ready
to keep mine!... Never permit the Federal Government to pass into the traitorous hands of the Black Republican party! "
Such was the attitude of the Southern senators and
representatives. If a president opposed to the progress
of slavery were elected, the disruption would take place.
" You may elect a Northern president," exclaimed one,
"but Virginia will resist his authority."  And these
furious declarations were applauded with enthusiasm, not
only by Southern men, but by many members of the
democratic party, by all who were in favor of slavery.
Slavery must be saved at any price-they would sacrifice




SLAVERY NOT REALLY IN QUESTION.          173
to it, if necessary, the Union, the Constitution, the greatness of the Republic! So true was it that the only anxiety was for slavery.
Once more, I cannot transcribe every thing for fear of
wearying the reader; it seems to me, moreover, that my
demonstration is complete. Let me be permitted only to
give a few lines of the speech delivered in December,
1856, by MIr. AVise, the Governor of Virginia; I recommend them to the attention of Englishmen:
" If pacific means do not suffice, a little blood-letting,
gentlemen, will reduce the fever..... The true seat of
American dissensions, the true cause, the true root of our
evil, is the influence of Great Britain..... I fear sometimes that the constant intercourse between New and Old
England has rendered the sympathy of the former for the
latter more lively than her affection for us."
This is called speaking frankly. The love of slavery
and the hatred of England, which everywhere attacks
slavery-this is really the basis of Southern feeling.
The Republican party was therefore forewarned. It
knew beyond the possibility of mistake what would be
the immediate results of a liberal election. It must be
granted, that if these men were not sustained by a moral
principle, if they were not obedient to the law of duty,
their conduct becomes inexplicable. One does not sacrifice, without sufficient reason, his tranquillity, his fortune,
and the fortune of his country. How am I to comprehend the election of MIr. Lincoln, if opposition to slavery
were not its cause? I go further; how am I to comprehend the existence of a Republican party? In what does
it differ from that of the Democrats, which maintains the
system of concession to slavery?
Slavery or liberty!  The question was put in these
terms. All the citizens of the United States, all without




174          ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
exception, understood it in this wise, before and after the
election. All in the South who were in favor of liberty,
voted bfor Mr. Lincoln; (when, by chance, in some parts,
they were at liberty to express such tendencies;) all in
the North who were in favor of slavery, or disposed to
make concessions to it, voted against Mr. Lincoln. The
election was so far from  sectional, as Americans term
it, that a Northern man in favor of slavery would have
been accepted with enthusiasm by the South, and a
Southern man opposed to slavery would have been welcomed with no less enthusiasm by the North.
Never, surely, was a grander problem  set before a
people.  Mr. Seward reduced it to an admirable formula,
when he spoke of the " irrepressible conflict." *
The conflict remains to-day in the civil war what it
vas in the constitutional struggle of the political meetings.
If it were otherwise, why is there not a single free State
on the side of the South?  Why is there not a single
cotton State on the side of the North?  Why are the
Border States themselves divided in proportion to their
attachment to slavery?  XWhy have Western Virginia
and Eastern Tennessee, for the sole reason that they have
fewer slaves, detached themselves from their States in
order to separate from the rebellion?
And let not this rebellion be called insane; in view
of slavery, in the sight of men who consider nothing
but slavery, and who, to save it, are ready to immolate every thing, even their country and their oaths,
the separation had become a necessity. There is an infallible instinct which warns social iniquities that the
* This is his phrase, which deserves to be preserved, since it was the
almost constant text of the debates which preceded the election: The
collision between the two systems of labor in the United States is an
irrepressible conflict between two opposing forces.




SLAVERY NOT REALLY IN QUESTION.         175
moment their power is circumscribed, their death-warrant
is signed. They are condemned to go on increasing under
pain of perishing. Can you conceive of stationary slavery,
stationary in the country of incessant progress?  Every
thing around it is growing, while it has ceased to increase.
How long will it be before it will have ceased to exist?
See free States springing up at the North and West;
what will become of it, imprisoned in insuperable limits,
shut out from the territories, the list of States which
belong to it definitively closed?
Ir. Sumner has said with great reason, " Such is the
nature of slavery, that it can only exist where it rules."
A vital question was therefore at stake, and nothing had
power of changing its nature-promise what you like,
pile up guarantees, interdict yourselves the right of interfering in any manner with the internal institutions of
States-it matters little; slavery ceasing to reign, will
cease to live; forbidden to go forward, it will go backward rapidly.
It remains for me to examine what has passed since
the election of Mr. Lincoln; I find it the exact confirmation, and counter-verification, as it were, of all that happened before. Slavery remains the sole question. The
cotton States continue their threats, the partisans of compromise endeavor to effect negotiations.
And what do wve find in these schemes? Did the
peace conference, which sat at Washington under the
presidency of Mr. Tyler and the influence of Virginia,
have any other thought than slavery? Did it propose to
proclaim free trade? No one dreamed of it there for a
moment; no one thought of it until after the attempt to
deceive Europe by substituting pretexts for reasons.
The minutes of the Peace Conference may be consulted;
nothing will be found in them which does not relate to




176         ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
slavery in the territories, to fugitive slaves, to amendments
calculated to render the Constituuton more favorable to
slaveholders, to the maintenance of slavery in the District of Columbia, to the transit of slaves through free
States, to the sojourn in free States of planters with
their slaves, to the suppression of incendiary attacks
against the doctrine of slavery, to the abrogation of liberty-bills.
These were the the things then debated at Washington;
and if a few stipulations were proposed besides, designed
to recognize the right of separation, I need not say that
circumstances rendered such manifestations inevitable.
At the same time, a respectable man, Mr. Crittenden, with
whom compromises are somewhat of a specialty, offered
motions in Congress, designed -to reestablish peace, the
sole object of which was slavery.
I have turned over with some care a large volume
containing the debates of the Missouri Convention in
1861. I was curious to see what the representatives of
one of the largest of thhe Border States had to say among
themselves, under the impulse of events. I have examined it thoroughly; and, apart from a few dissertations
on the right of separation, and, consequently, on State
sovereignty, I have discovered nothing but discussions,
often very interesting, and arguing a remarkable devel.
opment of local life, but relating solely to slavery.
There was another document to be consulted; namely,
the act whereby the insurgent South appropriated to
its use the ancient Constitution of the United States.
What changes have been introduced in this? Two, only.
The first, the necessary consequence of the political principle proclaimed by the revolution, ensures State sovereignty; the second, the expression of the fundamental
idea of the South, recognizes and protects slavery in




SLAVERY NOT REALLY IN QUESTION.         17 7
all the States, as well as in the territories which may be
acquired by their confederacy.
The South has been praised for having put aside all
" false delicacy," and called things by " their right names."
It is certain that it has fully deserved this praise. Although restrained by the necessity of not too greatly exasperating public opinion in Europe, although sacrificing
to this necessity the slave-trade, warmly defended at
MIontgomery by the South Carolinians, it has unfurled its
banner, and if we do not read thereon its true device, it
is our fault and net its own.
Not only does it summon to itself all the slave States,
which are still missing, while it would not accept a free
State at any price, but it defines in the clearest terms that
article of its constitution which ought to have aroused
the conscience of the nineteenth century.
Hear the Richmond Jnqztirer: " Hitherto the defence
of slavery has encountered great difficulties, because its
apologists (for they were merely apologists) stopped half
way.  They confined the defence of slavery to negro
slavery alone, abandoning the principle of slavery, and
admitting that every other form of slavery was wrong.
Now, the line of defence is changed; the South maintains
that slavery is just, natural, and necessary, and that it
does not depend on the difference of complexions."
Hear Mr. Stephens, the Vice-President of the Southern Confederacy, and the most eloquent of its orators.
His Atlanta speech, which I am about to quote, is a manifesto, and a manifesto accepted by his fellow-citizens; for
it was after this speech that he was reelected to the eminent position which he fills: " Though last, not least, the
new constitution has put to rest forever all the agitating
questions relating to our peculiar institutions.... Slavery
was the immediate cause of the late rupture and present




178         ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
revolution. Jefferson, in his forecast, had anticipated this
as' the rock upon which the old Union would split.' He
was right. The prevailing ideas entertained by him and
most of the leading statesmen of his time were, that the
enslavement of the African race was in violation of the
laws of nature....Those ideas, however, were fundamentally false. They rested upon the assumption of the equality of races. This was an error. It was a sandy foundation....Our new government is founded upon exactly the
opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its corner-stone
rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to
the white man; that slavery, subordination to the superior race, is his natural and normal condition. This, our
new government, is the first in the history of the world
based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral
truth....The negro, by nature or by the curse against
Canaan, is fitted for that condition which he occupies in
our system. This stone, which was rejected by the builders,' is become the chief stone of the corner' in our new
edifice."
XWe see that there are two schools in the South, and
that Mr. Stephens, not going so far as the Richmond Enquirer, confines himself to negro slavery! But with what
enthusiasm he speaks of it! How we feel that to him and
his Southern compatriots it is a duty to be accomplished!
By the side of this official manifesto, all else grows
dim. I will therefore suppress the numerous quotations which I have at hand, and content myself with
recalling the fact-the remembrance contains a lessonthat Mr. Calhoun, the most important politician, perhaps,
that the South has ever produced, did not fear to affirm
already in his time, that " slavery was the surest and most
stable basis on which to establish free institutions." Mr.
Hunter, of Virginia, expressed the same idea in a figura



SLAVERY NOT REALLY IN QUESTION.         179
tive shape: " The keystone which caps and sustains the
powerfult arch on which our social system reposes, is made
of that blocki of black; ncr6le called the Aftrican slave."
Is doubt still possible?  Suppose even, which is false,
that the North has not risen against slavery, we are forced
to admit at least that the South has really risen for slavery. It is the first time, they have taken care to tell usit is the first time in the history of the world that a great
movement has been made in the sole end of proclaiming
and securing the sacred rights of slavery. This is a rebellion without grievances or pretexts; it has but one
thought-slavery is menaced, slavery may perish, the new
President will not give slavery the protection which it
needs, majorities will be formed constantly more hostile
to slavery.
Yet European opinion has wavered!
We are told of other questions which give the key, it
is said, of the present crisis. Let us examine them.
"At the bottom  of the electoral struggle which resulted in the presidency of Mir. Lincoln, there was not
slavery, but supremacy!" This is often repeated in Europe, and has an air of profundity. I seek for things behind the words, and find nothing.
WVhat means the supremacy of the South?-the extension of slavery. The South, moreover, willingly accepted Northern men, and Mr. Buchanan, the Pennsylvanian, suited it admirably, because he served the purposes
of slavery; because, with him, it could organize expedi.
tions against Central America and Cuba; because, with
him, it could continue the slave trade; because, with him,
it could impose slavery in Kansas on a people that rejected it.
Discover, if you can, any distinction whatever between




1850        ER11tuRS CREDITED IN EUtROPE.
the question of slavery and the question of supremacy!
You will not succeed. If it were otherwise, the electoral
platforms, I think, would have accorded some place to
this question of supremacy. If it were otherwise, would
there have been an important party in the North-the
Democratic party-voting for Southern candidates? Who
can make you believe that the supremacy of the South
was desired by Northern democrats? Their policy was
more natural-they accepted the candidates of the South
because they accepted the extension of slavery.
" Well, be it so," it is said; " the question is not of
supremacy, but State sovereignty."
What does this mean?  Was the South to be oppressed?  Was any one about to meddle with her peculiar institutions?  Was se7f-yovernment to be infringed
upon in any wise? Had Mr. Lincoln announced his desigrn of attacking that portion of sovereignty constitutionally devolving on individual States? The attempt is
vain; it will not be easy to transform Mr. Lincoln into a
despot, rending, with his own hands, the constitution of
his country; or to move our compassion for the servitude with which the South was bowed down or threatened. It possessed, by virtue of its constitution, the
privilege of electing more representatives than its white
population would have permitted; it had, in fact, since
the foundation of the Union, made twelve presidents out
of nineteen; twenty-one speakers out of thirty-three;
and sixty-one presidents of the Senate out of seventyseven, including presidents pro tem. The minority, it
had made the law.
Ah! if by the words, " State sovereignty," you mean
the right of the South forever to rule the North, and its
right to withdraw when this government escapes its
hands, into the bargain, I have nothing to say; in this
respect, the questions of supremacy and State sovereignty




SLAVEIRY NOT REALLY IN QUESTION.       181
were both involsved. But who does not see that the claim
to rule was confounded here with the cause of slavery,
which perishes, as we have said, as soon as its interests
cease to rule? The supremacy and independence of the
South again was only slavery. If this had not been so,
every one would not have said and felt it. There is a
popular instinct in great crises which is never mistaken.
In our eagerness to put ourselves on the wrong scent
and reassure our conscience, we have carefully gathered
up the small reasons and let the great ones go. The
small reasons are real ones; the error does not consist in
pointing them out, but in assigning them a place which
does not belong to them.
I will apply this remark to the most general, most
popular explanation of the Southern insurrection.
"There is in it," it is said, "an antipathy of race.
The incompatibility of temper between the North and
South already troubled the patriotic soul of Washington,
who trusted to time to resolve the problem. Time, however, has wrought no solution, the problem remains entire,
the mutual hatred of the Cavalier and the Puritan, the
man of leisure who leads the life of a gentleman, and the
man who works for his livelihood in the fields, the factory,
and the warehouse-this long-lived hatred must some day
have brought about a rupture. It has done so; why
should we cast the blame on slavery?"
Why?  Because, so long as the question of slavery
was not raised in its present form, the differences of the
North and South, which, doubtless, were not less, brought
about no secession. The threats of secession commenced
on the day when slavery had reason to believe itself in
peril; the threats of secession were realized on the day
when this peril became certain.
It is convenient to forget this, and to expatiate on the




1 8 2)      ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
definition of the distinct types found north and south of
the Susquehalnna. If you say that the cotton planter detests the Yankee, you are right in some measure. The
Times correspondent, in his journey through the South,
gathered manifestations of feelings not precisely amiable:
"Would that the accursed vessel that brought those
d    d Yankees to America had foundered on the way!
We could get along with these fanatics, if they were only
Christians and gentlemen. Give us whatever government
you like, even tyranny or despotism, but nothing shall
compel us to remain united with the brutal and vulgar
rabble of New England!"  Such is indeed the expression
of hatred as it is felt now in Charleston. In the eyes of
the South Carolinians in arms for slavery, New England,
I say it to its honor, can be naught but the incarnation
of evil. Freedom of speech, freedom of the press, habits
of labor, every thing that wounds the susceptibilities of
slaveholders, is found in these primitive States, peopled
by Roundheads. The attack comes from there, the enemy
is there.
But the enemy-let not the English deceive thetnselves!-is also in England. Among Americans, I perceive much less antagonism of races than of principles.
Take away slavery, and the motives for union will a
thousand times prevail (South Carolina and Georgia excepted, perhaps) over those for separation. In the South
and North, I see the same religious faiths, the same charitable institutions, the same national glory, the same great
men adopted by all, the same historic memories, the same
language, the same literature, the same interests, the same
parties. Let us add that the same institutions have been
practised and loved in both North and South; they still
exercise such an influence over the Southern people, that
after having seceded to protect their slavery, they have




SLAVERY NOT REALLY IN QUESTION.       183
deemed it impossible for them to imagine forms of government other than those of the United States.
I am not ignorant that, under the influence of overexcited passions, and to flatter the English, of whom they
had need, the South Carolinians may have uttered the cry
which, according to 3Ir. Russell, must have caused the
shades of George III., North, and Johnson, to leap for
joy: " If we could but be governed by a member of the
royal family of England!"  But let them not trust too
much to this. If the planters cast a look of envy on the
landed aristocracy and gentry of their cousins, if they love
English customs, if they pride themselves on their descent
from old English families, England, notwvithstanding, will
do wisely not to dream of the establishment of a constitutional monarchy under a prince of the house of Hanover.
Republican manners have struck root deeper than is imagined, even on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico; the opposition of the South and North is less absolute than is
said. Apart from slavery, no question would have sepa.
rated those united by so many ties. The honorable correspondent of the i_77mes was much nearer the truth
when, forgetfiul for a moment of the compliments paid to
England, and remembering, as a man of heart, the great
cause of humanity which England patronizes, he exclaimed, of the conversation held around him by Southerners:
" My ears were shocked at hearing this subject discussed
in the Engrlish tongue."
Such are the principal explanations of the insurrection; the rest are not worth the trouble of naming. Has
not the attempt been made, after all, to attribute considerable importance to the tariff? I do not believe that,
even in the South, a single man could be found willing to
maintain that this question had any share in the last election, or that it was thought of when secession was pro



184         ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
claimed. It is easy to arrange antitheses in Europe:
"Here the agricultural interest, there the manufacturing
interest; here protection, there free trade."  Without
denying the opposition of interests, I believe much more
in their unison; and as to the chimerical part attributed
to the tariff, the planters think like me, for, by the confession of MIr. Stephens, their mouth-piece, the tariff
which was in force when they seceded was the result of
their own votes.
There was, then, but one question in 1860-that of
slavery.
"But," it is objected, "the republican party, by its
own admission, does not pursue abolition, properly called;
it thinks only of non-extension."
Yes, certainly; and what do you conclude from it?
Non-extension contains abolition; it leads to it necessarily. For many years, the problem has been put in
these terms; some demanding extension, others rejecting it, all knowing that this first point once resolved,
the rest must follow. Two roads start from the same
point; the question is to know whether we will take the
first or second; the whole journey is comprised in the
choice. Will it be said that the travellers who thus proceed in contrary directions, are only separated at first by
the distance of a few steps, and that this signifies nothing?
But the separation will go on increasing; directions alone
are important on earth.
Now, the electors of Mr. Lincoln have done a great
thing-they have changed the direction hitherto adopted
by their country. That they may not have had, with
respect to slavery, the profound hatred and energetic
determination which might have been desired, I do not
dispute. I believe that the greater number were im



SLAVERY NOT REALLY IN QUESTION.        185
pelled less by the need of protesting against a moral evil
than by the desire of combating a political one. This is
true; yet, notwithstanding, without having the design to
exterminate slavery, they had a design whose greatness
cannot be contested, since they thought to limit it, since
they cast their suffrages for the man who had expressed
himself thus: "' If I were in Congress, and the proposition
to prohibit slayvery in the new territories were under
discussion, in spite of the Dred Scott decree, I would
vote for its prohibition..... We must endeavor
to overthrow this Dred Scott decision."
The Republican party in general was not abolitionist;
it was anti-slavery-propagandist-pardon me, for once, so
barbarous an expression-without abolishing, it wished to
check it. And where is the abolitionist in Europe who
would not have leaped for joy if any one had foretold to
him, three or four years ago, that the extension of slavery
was about to be checked in America?  For myself, I confess that I have long desired this, and nothing else. And
I have never thought myself modest in making such a
wish.
Behold us at the heart of the argument; let us endeavor to form a just idea of the present sentiments of
the North, the intentions of Mr. Lincoln and his cabinet,
and the movement of public opinion with respect to
slavery.
I begin with the abolitionists. They did not make
the last election, although they contributed their share to
it; they do not direct the policy of the North, although
their influence may make itself felt there. We would
wrong the United States, were we to attribute to the
abolitionist party the monopoly of generous sentiments on
the subject of slavery. Yet, in the presence of this great




186         ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
cause, so long misunderstood, but which is now advancing
fwith giant strides, it is impossible not to think with
respect of those valiant men who have stemmed the current of interests and accepted the hatred of the multitude;
who, without even speaking of their martyrs, have sacrificed their repose, their influence, their political prospects,
to devote themselves to the defence of the oppressed.
Woe to the country where the name of Garrison, of Tappan, of Wendell Phillips, shall not be honored!
I know what reproaches a considerable number of
American abolitionists have deserved. There are some
who, like Parker, rebel against the Gospel in which,
strange to say, they fancy that they discover the sanction
of' slavery. There are others who seem not to be fastidious with respect to means-to trample the Constitution
under foot, to emancipate the blacks after the manner
of John Brown, to accept if necessary the horrible chance
of negro insurrections-there is reason to suppose them
ready for these.
I shall not dwell on the point. As a system, abolitionism is dead. It has died the death of noble causes,
by the very effect of its own triumph. What is the use
of an abolition party, when the whole North is about to
become abolitionized?
This does not mean that the North has already become so. Let us beware of that feverish impatience
which refuses men time enough to be sure of their own
minds! When we do an honorable action, we never
know how far it will carry us.
The election of Mr. Lincoln will carry the North a
great way, as Europe must comprehend. But time again
is needed. On the morrow of the election, or, if we will,
on the morrow of the fall of Sumter, whatever might have




SLAVERY NOT REALLY IN QUESTION.         187
been the patriotic unanimity of the North, it nevertheless
included, side by side, the victors and the vanquished,
the friends and the opponents of 31r. Lincoln, the Republicans and the Democrats. Thence arose a complicated
position, the difficulties of which were evident.
If the Republicans themselves were then far from
measuring the full scope of their triumph, the Democrats
mingled with the indignation caused by the revolt of the
South, a persistent tendency to compromises. The party
of Mri. Douglas certainly cared little to enter into direct
conflict with slavery, and the party of Mr. Crittenden in
the Border States cared still less to do so-A-r. Crittenden, who published descriptions of fugitive slaves in the
newspapers, with the promise of "two hundred dollars
reward."
Composed of such elements, the public opinion of the
North could not be impelled at the first onset to decisive
measures; a considerable party was necessarily found,
obstinate in dreaming as long as possible of the return
of the South and negotiations with the South, and determined not to give umbrage to the staggering fidelity of
the Border States.
Sentiments of this sort were several times manifested
with extreme violence. Abolition presses were destroyed,
and abolition meetings dispersed or hissed down in Ohio,
Illinois and MIassachusetts.  The watchword was "Union,
not abolition." For the Union, for the Constitution, lives
by thousands, and dollars by millions were promised and
given; for the destruction of slavery, was promised neither
a dollar nor a drop of blood.
This is the fact; I do not seek to paint it in ideal
colors. If I do not greatly admire it, neither does it
succeed in rousing my indignation. Is it not in accordance with the necessary progress of human events? Does
9




188         ERRORS CREDITED IN [EUROPE.
it ever happen on earth, that a nation engaged in a laudable work maintains itself on the level of its principle?
Our works are always greater than we.
The North, moreover, is more conscious than is supposed of the goal toward which it is advancing. This
intelligent and reflective people is not ignorant that
abolition is at the end, only it wishes to do one thing
after another. To-day, war; to-morrow,... For
the war, all are needed; we will therefore put aside
every thilng that can divide us. The question of slavery
makes its way naturally, necessarily, as a carriage glides
down the inclined plane on which it is placed. The
American people, let us not forget, placed it upon this
inclined plane, when, in spite of threats, and in the face
of an appalling crisis, it resolutely, to resist the excess of
evil, adopted the nomination of Mr. Lincoln.
In setting forth the moral position of the North, I
defined Mr. Lincoln's position in advance; he represents
with marvellous fidelity, the country by which he was
elected.
A Kentuckian by birth, and the fast friend of two able
Kentuckians-Messrs. Holt and Crittenden-who urge
him to circumspection, Mr. Lincoln is evidently not a
stranger to that fever of compromises which seems to
run in the American blood. He will go on to the end,
but he will proceed thither step by step. A slow gait is
most in conformity with his nature. The declared enemy
of the progress of slavery, he would fear too hastily to
approach the problem of abolition.
I do not impute this to him as a crime, for I feel as
much as any one with what prudence the strongest conviction should be armed. A special prudence, moreover,
is almost always imposed on men by high position and
grave responsibility; considered from high or low, by the




SLAVE1RY NOT REALLY IN QUESTION.      189
head of a State or by the first corner, questions do not, and
should not, present the same aspect. But, aside from this
legitimate prudence, there is, it seems to me, a natural,
and in some sort innate, tendency in 3Ir. Lincoln to seek
the middle course. In his great electoral campaign, he
made no absolute pledges either for the abrogation of the
Fugitive Slave Law orfor the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia; while manifesting the desire to remedy
the wrong, he did not for a moment lose sight of the difficulties and inconveniences of the remedy. No one was
more anxious than he to respect State sovereignty and
avoid whatever might give the government a " sectional"
appearance.
Although, as far as 1 am concerned, I prefer the most
decided characters and entire convictions, I am not blind,
notwithstanding, to the advantage, in the present circumstances, of so moderate a President.  I experienced a
feeling of respect-I, who so ardently desire the abolition
of slavery-when I saw 3ir. Lincoln, taking his oaths and
the Constitution in earnest, hesitate for several hours to
sign the law of Congress which declared friee all slaves of
rebels employed in arms against the North. He finally
signed it, and he did right; the condition of war confers
certain exceptional rights on the head of the State, who
is also the head of the army. To fetter the movement
would have been a great mistake, but to precipitate it
would have been a still greater one. It belonged to the
President, above all, to strive to maintain intact the unanimity of the North by avoiding to wound the Border
States, which will be henceforth faithful, by too abrupt
measures, and also by regarding the feelings of the Democratic party, which is daily becoming more favorable to
the cause of emancipation, but which cannot in a moment
leap over the space which separates it from the Repub



190          ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
licans. Enough for the day is the evil thereof; in proportion as we advance, in proportion as the public opinion
of the North shapes itself in the direction of progressive
emancipation, Mr. Lincoln can take measures impossible
at the outset.
Mr. Lincoln has acted with reason and humanity in
refusing the negro regiments offered him by the refugees
of Canada, as well as in averting as long as possible measures calculated to stir up slave insurrections in the South.
Mr. Lincoln has endeavored to strengthen his cabinet
in its resistance to the ultra abolitionists.  Has he never
gone too far in this direction? I will not deny it. The
removal of 3Mr. Fremont, though we may not be in a
position to judge fully of it in Europe, has grieved the
friends of liberty among us.
But how many redeeming measures have there been!
Mr. Lincoln, let us not forget, has abolished the Fugitive
Slave Law, in fact;* has given the most liberal orders concerning negroes to his generals; has announced, in fineand this is prodigious progress-that diplomatic relations
will be opened with the two black republics, Liberia and
Hayti. These first acts give hopes of others; I await
them with full confidence.
It was not useless to give instructions to the generals.
Several among them, seeming to mistake the high end
of the American movement, and carrying to extremes
the desire of taking away all abolitionist character from
the war, had well-nigh transformed their soldiers into
slave catchers, and their camps into prisons. Slaves, alas!
had been put in irons, whipped, and restored to their
masters! One hardly dares think of the consequences
* The recent execution of the Fugitive Slave Law in the District of
Columbia and elsewhere, proves that Count de Gasparin was unfortunatelv mistslrn in Qupposing it a dead letter. —TR




SLAVERY NOT REALLY IN QUESTION.        191
of such deeds. Thank God! they have become henceforth impossible; the August circular has regulated the
matter in the most liberal manner-to receive fugitive
slaves, to employ them in the quality of free men in exchangce for wages, to reserve the regulation of the indemnity due the master, if the latter be not a rebel —such
are the principles laid down by the minister of war.
General Fremnont went further.  His proclamation,
which Mr. Lincoln has modified, went beyond the limits
set by Congress, and constituted, consequently, an excess
of power which the President was right in repressing,
notwithstanding the generous feeling which Mr. Fremont
had inspired. HIe had other faults besides; an ostentatious
body-guard, extravagant expenses, lack of administrative
capacity —such are the reproaches which have been
brought against him. It is added, but this is a question
which it does not belong to us to examine, that, despite
his eminent skill as an engineer and explorer, he was a
bad general; that he had failed to send timely aid, either
to the heroic Lyon, the defenders of Lexington, or the
main body of the army overwhelmed at Springfield; that,
in fine, the principal expedition of the war, that of the
Mississippi, was imperilled in his hands.
Once more, we are not the judges. Mr. Fremont has
energetically protested against the report of AdjutantGeneral Thomas, which served as the basis of his recall,
and which events have taken pleasure ever since in contradicting on all points. Perhaps MIr. Fremont has been
unjustly sacrificed; however this may be, it is difficult
not to regret that the most rigorous act of Mr. Lincoln
should have happened to fall upon so excellent a man.
The Pat)/inder enjoys an immense popularity in the
United States, in which is associated Mrs. Fremont, familiarly called " Our Jessie," whom the army of Missouri




192        ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
has seen marching by the side of her husband. ~Mr. Fremont represented, in the eyes of Europe, a liberal and
generous tendency, which has been believed, doubtless
without reason, to be involved in his disgrace.
It added to the prestige of MIr. Fremont that his recall reached him at the moment when he was in pursuit
of the enemy, and almost on the eve of a battle. His
Springfield proclamation is stamped with a patriotic sadness, with which it is impossible not to be touched. In
taking leave of his enthusiastic and exasperated soldiers,
the sole thought of the general was how to appease their
wrath, to maintain discipline, and to transmit intact to
his happier successor, this army, sure of obtaining the
victory.
There are words here that quicken the pulses of the
soul, words such as we have heard too seldom from
America during the past year. It has therefore been incumbent on me to pause at this incident, and briefly to
narrate the feelings of Europe on seeing this general removed in the very face of the enemy. If there be error,
as I am inclined to believe, it will be repaired; if Mr.
Fremont, despite his eminent qualities in other respects, be
scarcely capable of commanding an army, he will none the
less remain one of the loftiest characters in America, as his
conduct at the moment of his disgrace will remain one of
the glorious facts of our time.
In any case, I am happy to say that his removal cannot be explained by the motive that some have affected
to suspect in it. It was not in the capacity of abolitionist
that he was set aside; for, on the one hand, he had accepted the modification introduced by the President into
his proclamation, and, on the other, the minister of war
who proposed his recall was a more pronounced abolitionist
than himself.




SLAVERY NOT REAI,LY IN QUESTION.       193
One would say, indeed, to hear some persons, that Mr.
Lincoln's government had been signalized by no progress,
with regard to the liberty of the negroes. I recalled a
few facts of this sort, just now; but there are others
which must be mentioned.
On the 4th of December, a letter of instructions
was addressed by the Secretary of State to General
McClellan, which leaves room for no misunderstanding
with respect to fugitive slaves: " Instead of imprisoning
them," says Mr. Seward, " we should imprison those who
pursue them."
A fugitive slave was arrested in Washington, conformably to the celebrated Fugitive Slave Law. The
government ordered his immediate liberation.
The instructions given to the naval expeditions destined for the South, contain these explicit commands:
" You are at liberty to accept all services, whether of
fugitives or others, that may be offered to the National
Government. You are to assure loyal owners that Congress will secure them a just compensation."
Congress, on its side, has not remained inactive. It
has ordered an inquiry concerning certain slaves still imprisoned in the jails at Washington. It has several plans
before it, the openly abolitionist character of which cannot be contested. Called by the last message of Mr. Lincoln to the discussion of grave questions, all relating to
emancipation, it does not appear far fiom entering upon
more decisive measures than were announced in its Confiscation Bill.
One fact among others permits us to measure the
distance already passed over since the election of Mr.
Lincoln. It will be remembered that, under his predecessors, the slave trade was in full prosperity. In the
space of a year, more than a hundred vessels had been




194         ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
fitted out from the ports of the United States, and if
there had been a few prosecutions here and there, they
had never been followed by any severe sentence. This
was the time when IMr. Slidell, one of the commissioners
seized the other day on board the Trent, offered resolutions in the Senate, requesting the President to signify to
the other powers that America would no longer furnish
her quota of cruisers on the African coast. To-day, things
have greatly changed: for the first time for many years,
the captain of a slaver has been sentenced to death for
the crime of piracy. Still more, despite the repugnance
inspired in Mr. Lincoln by the penalty of death, despite
the unheard-of efforts of the firiends of the condemned for
his life, his execution has taken place. We may judge by
this that the epoch of acts of violence against English
cruisers, of enterprises against Cuba, of Ostend conferences, and of programmes signed by 1Messrs. Buchanan,
Mason, and Slidell, in favor of an unlimited extension of
slavery, are left behind.
The progress of public opinion is rapid, and the description which I just gave of the position of parties
in the North, will soon cease to be correct. A work is
being silently accomplished in the heart of American
society, the results of which will not be long in appearing. The conviction that slavery is the great criminal,
that slavery must perish, and that without this there is
nothing really done, is continually gaining ground.
"There is a moral principle in our war. Whence came
our debasement? Why is the uprising of our people now
necessary?  Slavery has done it. Slavery is the arch
rebel, the great traitor, the sole traitor, in reality; the
whole rebellion is contained in slavery." Such are the
ideas and words, unpopular or distrusted at first, which




SLAVERY NOT REALLY IN QUESTION.           195
are now in every one's mouth. The Democrats themselves are inclining to this side. It seems absurd to all
to contend purely and simply to restore the condition
which gave rise to the civil war. If nothing else were
wished, of what use has it been to elect Mr. Lincoln,
brave a destructive crisis, sacrifice thousands of lives, and
add millions to the public debt?
The good sense of the Americans thus acts its part by
coming to the aid of their conscience. The moral nature
of the conflict, confused at first in the eyes of many,
constantly reveals itself more and more in its majesty.
It is with this as with all generous causes-it grows and
strengthens as it goes on, vires acquirit evndo.
The influence of the war has been decisive in this
respect.  The balls that pierced Ellsworth and Lyon
slew the prejudices among thousands of men which still
beset their minds and hindered them from clearly discerning the scope of the last presidential election. It is
henceforth impossible for the war to end without giving
to slavery the blow that must destroy it, sooner or later.
Charles Sumner eloquently expressed this thought in the
late Republican convention at Worcester: " Contemplate
the war, study it on all sides; you will always see slavery
as the sole cause of its evils."  Never were the words of
the Roman orator more applicable: Nulhamfacinus extitit nisi perte, mallum flagitiumn sine te. Slavery is the
cause of the war: it is its power, its end, its aim, its all.
It is often said that the war will put an end to slavery;
this is probable, but what is still more probable is that
the abolition of slavery will put an end to the war!
The popular excitement is such that there is reason
sometimes to fear too hasty movements. The warmest
abolition feeling is propagated in the immense army of
9*




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the North, and whole regiments have been seen marching through Northern cities to the John Brown song:
" John Brown's body lies mouldering in the ground;
His soul's marching on."
We remember the strange speech of Colonel Cochrane,
and the still stranger approbation which was so openly
given to the Secretary of War, MlIr. Cameron, when the
question was nothing less than that of urging the arming
of the slaves. It is possible, doubtless, that the power of
events may carry America thus far; social revolutions
often carry a blind force within themselves, to which the
wisest can offer but a weak resistance; but the friends
of the negroes will be the first in this event to deplore
such impetuosity.
I readily comprehend why MIr. Lincoln exposes himself to the reproach of ultra moderation, rather than
endure the yoke of the Jacobins of abolition. When
General Phelps, in his address to the people of Louisiana
and iMississippi, proclaimed in strong terms the hatred of
Anglo-Saxons to slavery, he nmight be accused of going a
little too fast; nevertheless, there was nothing in this
directly to instigate negro insurrections. Any thing that
should go further would be strongly opposed.
There is a party in Congress which would not recoil
before extreme measures, and which would gladly ensure
its success in the beginning by obtaining the remoVal of
General MIcClellan. Mir. Lincoln acts like himself, in resisting this party, in striking out a part of Mr. Cameron's
leport, in replacing him by a more conservative minister,
in giving his support to the young commander-in-chief, in
declaring himself ready to adopt measures conducive to
emancipation, without accepting those which would engender civil war.




SLAVERY NOT REALLY IN QUESTION.        197
Do you remember that admirable speech of Mrs.
Stowe: "Great pity makes us pause."  Yes, at the
thought of servile war (she said this to England, which
did not yet comprehend prudent progress, but confounded it with inaction)-at the thought of servile war, great
pity should malke us pause; pity for the Mwhites and pity
for the blacks. Picture to yourself three or four millions
of negroes, roaming over the plantations with fire and
sword in hand! It is the only calamity, perhaps, that
may be compared with slavery. Ah! let us not ensanguine the cause we love; let us not dishonor the flag of
abolition; let us remember' that such is not the method
of the Gospel!
If any thing were capable of justifying the Southern
rebellion, it would be these negro insurrections. "You
see for yourselves," they say; " we are fighting for our lives,
and the honor of our wives and daughters; emancipation
among us would be necessarily a second St. Domingo."
Those who cling to the honor of the North and of
abolition, should strive before every thing not to authorize such language. If a few negro insurrections take
place, it is, perhaps, inevitable; the responsibility of them
at least must not rest on the friends of liberty. Their
work-and I praise Mr. Lincoln for having so well comprehended it-is a work of love and peace. They know
that to organize negro insurrections would be to condemn
this unhappy race to a remediless degradation. Emancipations effected in this wise never lead to true liberty;
look at Hayti, and compare it with the English West
Indies!
Who knows, besides, whether slave insurrections would
not bring about a violent reaction in the North itself?
Perchance the Federal armies would with their own
hands suppress these criminal attempts on the lives of




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fellow citizens, friends and relatives. In any case, the
public opinion of the whole world would turn aside with
horror; at the story of the massacres, we should begin to
curse freedom. Do we not know that liberty suffers more
from the errors of its partisans than fiom the attacks of
its adversaries?
Then a crime is a crime; we must always come. back
to this. By the side of this conscientious reason, all
arguments of utility grow dim. No crime, at any price,
for a holy cause! Such is our cry; America will hear it.
Let it not be maintained, moreover, that slave insurrections are impossible. I am not ignorant that the South,
with the boasting imprudence which characterizes it,
lately argued against the North the tranquillity of its
negroes, thus making a weapon of the very peace ensured
it by the moderation of lMr. Lincoln. The Southern journals have talked loudly of negro battalions, full of ardor,
and anxious to give a good lesson to the abolitionists.
And how could the negroes of the South help showing
enthusiasm? A slave has the feelings which he is commanded to have, until the moment when his true sentiments are at liberty to break out. Will they never break
out?  God only knows. I suppose at all events that the
people of Virginia have not forgotten the insurrection of
1831, Nat Turner, and the two days' massacre. Denmark
Vesey and his accomplices are doubtless still remembered
at Charleston. They were numbered by thousands; their
heroic silence wearied the executioners; the whole State
was a prey to terror. Yet madmen now exclaim that
slave insurrections are impossible.
I have pointed out the danger of going too fast; I
shall no more deny the danger of going too slowly.
As it is honorable to resist radical measures and repu



SLAVERY NOT REALLY IN QUESTION.         199
diate the aid of slave insurrections, so it would be shameful still to retain in the heart any lurking thought of compromise. That there may be such thoughts in the North
it would be absurd to deny; to obtain the restoration of
the Union as it was is the ideal of a few. Happily, their
projects are outgrown and forever repudiated by the
public conscience, and their success, were it for an instant
possible, would call forth an irresistible reaction.
Inquiry should long since have been made concerning the slaves imprisoned at Washington. The cautious language which is still used at times toward the
shorn majesty of slavery, the twisted language which is
used sometimes as if to steer clear of the great issues of
the American movement, are not of a nature to call
forth sympathies.
Sympathies are the first of all powers in such a conflict. Simple ideas, clearly expressed, alone make converts. The United States now have soldiers, vessels, and
munitions in abundance; what they lack most of all is
the energetic manifestation of the idea for which they are
struggling. Their regiments need to be reenforced by
ideas. No one must be longer deceived therein, either
in the North or the South, in America or Europe. Justice must be made manifest. The war must be in the eyes
of all a holy war, " a war which we can pray for."
The United States will triumph only when they shall
be right with God —forgive me the expression. Their
cause is good; it will be better when they shall have
thoroughly comprehended it themselves, and presented it
in its true light. God awaits this moment. There are
infamous laws to be revoked and acts of ignominy to be
effaced. This can be done without adopting plans of
radical abolition, and without instigating slave insurrections. It can and should be done; else God, I fear, will




200         ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
use the South as an avenging rod, and, in one form or
another, the chastisement will endure until all traces of
the old complicity shall be blotted out, and until the
North shall have written her motto upon her banner.
Sufferings and reverses play the part of Providence
on earth. The plagues of Egypt continued so long as
Pharaoh refused consent to the deliverance of the children
of Israel. The first important act of emancipation was
not passed at NVashington until after the battle of Bull
Run. The liberation of slaves was not proposed at Athens
until after the Cheronea battle-field, and the orator who
made the motion had the right to say, "It is not that I
propose it, but ChTeronea."
I am not among those who pretended that the North
is "advancing backward"  toward the abolition of
slavery. I have maintained, on the contrary, and believe
myself to have proved that it willed its non-extension,
that it accepted the terrible chances of the crisis, in order
to effect this step, prodigious in itself and the guarantee
of all the rest. But these new steps would have cost it
too much; it was not prepared for them. The parties
which are coexistent in its bosom, and many of which
would not even accept the first measure, since they rejected Mr. Lincoln, still embarrass his progress. This is
quite natural, and gives no reason for either astonishment
or indignation. As, however, all progress must be accomplished, the last as well as the first, God sends trials which
may be needed to overcome resistance. Who knows
whether this appalling war may not work a mysterious
and profound change in the South itself?  Who knows
whether, forced to be regardful of their slaves, forced
sometimes to entrust arms to their hands, the planters
may not learn unwittingly that slaves are men, and that
the doctrine of Mr. Stephens is blasphemy?




SLAVERY NOT REALLY IN QUESTION.         201
As to the North, what proves but too well that its
prejudices are not all destroyed, is, that we see no marked
change in its conduct with regard to free persons of color.
Where are the States that have ever really admitted
them to the exercise of political rights?  Where are the
churches, I am ashamed to say, that have taken energetic
and public measures to reestablish in their bosom equality
according to the Gospel?  WVhere are the manifestations
of public opinion in this direction?  Where are the
meetings, the pamphlets, the editorials, the sermons?
Herein-let no one mistake it-lies the special crime of
the North, the persistent, and in some sort legitimate
motive of European distrust. To reform our own conduct is the first condition to be fulfilled in seeking to correct the vices of others. I do not say that nothing has
been done, and I shall take occasion hereafter to show
that some advancement has been made in the right way;
I will say at present that, in admitting the diplomatic
envoys of Liberia and Hayti, in introducing two negroes
as ambassadors into the White House, Mr. Lincoln will do
something. Nevertheless, there is better to be doneother negroes in great numbers are waiting for generous
hands-patriotic and Christian hands-to introduce them
at last into the churches, the schools, the electoral colleges, the public vehicles. A great reform must be accomplished.
It is Aifficult to conquer one's self; but America is
now called upon to attempt difficult things. I prefer
pointing out the great, the true reform, without circumlocution, to losing myself in the examination of the twenty
projects which she has to-day under consideration.
There are petitions addressed to Congress; there are




202         ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
plans drawn up by military committees; there are individual propositions.
The common feature of all these projects is abolition
by means of the war. The exceptional rights to which
the war gives birth furnish, indeed, a natural occasion to
surmount certain constitutional difficulties. The slaves
are one of the resources of the South (until they become
one of its most cruel embarrassments); their presence in
the field confers on the South a liberty of action which
the North does not possess-those levies of men effected
without injury to agriculture. Why not strike the enemy
where he is most vulnerable?
As soon as the Federal armies advance toward the
rebels, the inevitable question is put: "What shall we
do with the slaves?"  They flock into the camps and
offer their services. It becomes impossible to postpone
the solution of all these unfinished problems until the
close of the struggle.
Now, the solution has been furnished by one of the
loftiest and most generous of American minds-John
Quincy Adams. "From  the moment," said he in Congress, May 25, 1836; "from the moment that your slave
States become the theatre of war, the war power becomes
extended, and Congress may, in particular, fix an indemnity for slaves."
On June 7th, 1841, Adams, after several years of reflection, maintained that an universal emancipation of the
slaves might be accomplished by means of the exceptional
powers engendered by a state of war. Finally, April 14,
1842, he exclaimed in the House of Representatives: "The
law of nations is this: In time of war, military authority
takes the place of all municipal institutions, including
slavery. Then, not only the President of the United
States, but the Commander-in-Chief of the army has




SLAVERY NOT REALLY IN QUESTION.        203
power to order the universal emancipation of the
slaves."
I comprehend, certainly, why men hesitate, and think
this universal immolation of rights at the feet of army
generals, too radical. Exceptional measures are usually
as dangerous as convenient. The definitions of Adams,
taken as a whole, may be contested. Nevertheless, it
remains evident that certain powers are indispensable to
military commanders; they should be authorized to deprive the enemy of his advantages, and whatever serves
their operations almost always becomes lawful by this
reason alone. Besides, the experiment has several times
been made; General Gaines and a number of others,
twenty or thirty years ago, employed slaves, emancipated
them in virtue of the right of war, maintained that no
one had a right to find fault with it, and were sustained,
even when the South ruled the Union.
This, moreover, is only a means of resolving local difficulties. As to the general question of abolition, I am
at rest. Whatever may be the measure adopted, the
social transformation will run its course. I have always
found it impossible to feel any anxiety on the subject of
slavery. Since the election of Mr. Lincoln, I know that
it has received its death-blow, and I am not of those who
believe the cause lost because men hesitate or postpone
it overmuch. One thing is evident-the word Union
formerly signified "slavery," it now means " liberty."
Every thing is comprised therein. That among those
who voted for this change and are laboring to accomplish
it, there may be some, many perhaps, who have not comprehended the import of their action, cannot surprise me;
the most glorious revolutions of humanity are wrought
in this wise. It is rarelv that the workers have full knowl



204         ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
edge of their work.  And what matters it?  Is their
work therefore less great-? If many men have wished
but half that they have done, have they done it the less
for this?
This is the beginning of the end. I desire no other
proof of it than what is passing in the Border States. I
have spoken already of the remarkable deliberations of
the Missouri Legislature, and have said that the interests of
slavery were still its ruling anxiety; but what was true
in 1861 will be no longer as true in 1862; the progress of
minds is rapid. Kentucky is advancing still faster; a bill
is talked of there, confiscating the property of rebels,' including slaves." The convention of Western Virginia,
which has created the new State of Kanawha, is discussing
plans of gradual emancipation.
Thus everything is going forward. Those abolitionists
are very tiinid who tremble for their cause! Are they
then unconscious of the power of truth? If Mr. Lincoln
experiences some hesitation, honorable in principle, and
which, moreover, will not last, why should it alarm us?
Things are here more powerful than men, positions of
more importance than programmes.
I feel myself endowed with an abundant stock of patience, because I have great confidence. I cannot succeed
in imagining any hypothesis, union or separation, victory
of the North or the South, intervention or non-intervention of Europe, resolute or timid policy of Mr. Lincoln
in the matter of Slavery-no, I cannot fancy a single one
which must not end in liberty. There are impulses which
are irresistible. Do not pause at appearances, nor yet at
intentions; look higher than man. Justice is there; she
will make herself served by those who love and by those
who mistake her, by those who comprehend her and by
those who shut their eyes to her light.




CHAPTER II.
WE ARE, BEFORE EVERYTHING, TO AVERT CIVIL WAR.
I DETEST war as much as it is possible for any one to
do, but I am accustomed to lay the blame on those who
make it, and not on those upon whom it is made. When I
see a party in America, devoid of all scruples, long engaged
in making ready for an armed struggle, which not only is
treasonable, but, as all admit, has little to recommend it in
its cause, it is not for its opponents that I reserve my indignation. It is useless to exclaim: "No blood! no civil
war! cease this slaughter among brothers!" WVe must say
this to Charleston before saying it to Boston or Cincinnati.
This government, this nation infamously attacked, which is
striiving to preserve its flag, its institutions and its greatness, and which, by admirable good fortune, is at the same
time preserving the interests of liberty and justice, does
not seem to me committing an act of monstrous ferocity.
For seventy years, it has lived united under the same
laws and the same oaths; the Congress which assembled
at Washington on the 2d of last December, was the thirtyseventh of the United States; to the thirteen original
Stars, twenty-one others have been successively addedyet you wish a great people to consent to a mutilation




206         ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
effected by rebellion.  France and England had not
consulted themselves when they appeared to recommend
to Mr. Lincoln that political and moral abdication styled
"a peaceful separation."
If the United States had not picked up the gauntlet,
Mr. Lincoln would have had to devote his whole time to the
signing of orders of evacuation-the order to evacuate
Fort Sumter; the order to evacuate Fort Pickens; the
order to evacuate Key West and the Tortugas. Then,
doubtless, for one need not fear to show himself somewhat exacting toward people so accommodating, the South
would have claimed Maryland as a Slave State, as well as
Kentucky, Missouri, and above all Washington, the capital
of the Union.  The surrender of Washington was the
logical conclusion of the noble principle of non-resistance
which we extol in Europe when Americans are in
question.
Mr. Lincoln has not certainly been lacking in patience.
Every one remembers his inaugural address. He announced his resolution to make no aggression, but simply to act
the defensive. Well, aggressions took place. The people
of Charleston knew full well that the garrison of Fort
Sumter could commit no aggression on them; they had
been even expressly forewarned of it. The national government, carrying the spirit of conciliation a great way,
claimed to do nothing more than furnish bread to a
handful of famished soldiers; yet the insurgents assailed
Fort Sumter, and deliberately destroyed all chances of
peace.
Gentleness, I repeat, had been carried a little too far.
Action! action! such was the unanimous cry of the
North. It demanded, and with reason, some proofs of
energy, after so many of forbearance. A month of apparent




CIVIL WAR TO BE AVERTED.          207
inertia was a longr time, especially in the face of the military preparations which were being multiplied on the
south of the Potomac.
I add that Europe, which had not yet invented its
theories of support, was beginning to manifest its disdain.
The North had therefbore a foretaste of the disgrace that
awaited a people incapable of resistance, which should
suffer itself to be insulted and dismembered without a
word. The correspondence of the English journals were
filled with prophecies of this sort: " The North has lost
all its vigor; luxury, and the worship of the almighty
dollar have rendered it incapable of the least sacrifice.
There will be no war; the republican party will drop
its candidate."
This was the beginning of a series of predictions, all
contradicted by the event; which does not hinder the
oracle from remaining as sure of itself as before, and from
deciding again to-day, with unparalleled assurance, what
ought to happen four months hence. I say this in passing, for my quotation had another purpose; I wished to
call to mind the tone in which the words were then
spoken:'" War will not take place! "  Those very persons
who have since unceasingly reproached the North for the
mad cruelty of its resistance to the South, were preparing
last year, in nMarch, to demonstrate, by the absence of
war, that the North had no blood in her veins and was
deserving of nothing but contempt.
I prefer, for the government of MIr. Lincoln, the reproaches of this year to those of the last. This year,
esteem has reappeared; we have resumed the habit of
treating the United States as a great people; the idea of
recognizing the South is no longer so lightly entertained.
Ah! if there had been negotiations at the time when the
unarmed North found herself face to face with the armed




208         ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
South they would have been conducted in a strange
manner! The very facility with which the title of belligerents was then conferred on the insurgents, testifies to
the disposition of Europe when she believed in the resolution of the South and the benevolent resignation of the
North. All this has greatly changed, believe me; and
has changed because of the drawing of the sword. If
now the day should ever come when overtures shall be
made, either by Jefferson Davis or by the European governments, they will be honorable overtures; rendering
homage to the great movement which proceeded from the
election of 3Mr. Lincoln; manifesting the value of principles; establishing, in fine, or at least pretending to establish, the bases of a progressive emancipation.
Energy and self-respect are therefore of some use.
Their first result was to call forth a burst of patriotism
in all the free States, and to give courage in the Border
States to majorities in favor of the Union.
It is injurious to listen to so many cold railleries against
a people which is struggling and suffering to maintain its
threatened unity. The idea of unity, the idea of country
is great —it is worth the blood it costs. To suppress rebellions, to resist the diminution of territory is to fulfil
a duty. Woe to us, if we ever cease to see in it an interest of the highest order. For my part, while deploring civil war, I should have put on mourning for the
United States, had they refused to fight, bowing the head
to the threats of the South, and asking its pardon in some
sort for having dared to make, despite its prohibition, a
constitutional election.  After wars courageously sustained, there may be a glorious peace; after disgraceful
submission, there is nothing but shame and death.
Other governments, I know, have yielded to the force
of circumstances; none have yielded to mere threats.




CIVIL WAR TO BE AVERTED.            209
Were Scotland to secede and take possession of the
national property, forts and arsenals; were she to send
ambassadors to the continental powers; were she to revive letters of marque, and cruise the seas, burning English merchant vessels; were she to proclaim her design of
raising the rebel flag over Buckingham  Palace, all England would rise, without fearing for an instant that this
war would be deemed perverse or fratricidal. When
shall we cease to have two weights and two measures.
That a war like that of America should be pursued in
a peaceful spirit; that all thought of conquest, subjugation, or reprisals should be put aside; that Mfr. Lincoln
should never lose sight of his maxim: " We are fighting
to establish order, and, with order, liberty-the liberty of
the conquered will remain as intact as that of the conquerors," I am profoundly convinced, and I shall return
to the subject. I applaud, in this connection, the humanity which, despite the inflexible logic of principles, has
prevented prisoners of war from being treated as traitors,
and the shedding of blood outside the battle-field. But
the necessity, the duty of fighting are none the less evident to me for this.
Instead of betraying his solemn oaths, and precipitatinc the United States into final dissolution and the contempt of the whole world, Mr. Lincoln has fulfilled, sorrowfully, slowly, too slowly perhaps, the high obligations
imposed on him by circumstances; suffering has appeared to him preferable to death; he has refused to
humble the stars and stripes before the arrogant banner
of slavery, unfurled in the face of the nineteenth century;
he has deemed war, civil war, fratricidal war, better than
this abasement. What right have we to cast the stone at
him?




210         ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
I fear sometimes lest we become hypocrites. We
veil our faces at the mere thought of a country depraved
enough to oppose an insurrection, to enlist troops, to increase taxes, to impose on itself and others a commercial
crisis; one would say that we had never seen the like!
WVell! I will make a full confession. Would you know
what wars appear to me impious?  Those of ambition,
and love of power.  Wars of conquest are quite as criminal, though in a different manner, in the sight of my
conscience, as are some civil wars.




CHAPTER III.
THE SOUTH HAD A RIGHT TO SECEDE.
I SHOULD have blushed to dwell upon the subject
treated of in the preceding chapter; the crime of armed
defence does not appear to me one for which it is fitting
to justify the United States too much at length. The new
subject which I broach here exacts more elaboration. The
right of secession has given rise to so many misunderstandings, it involves political questions of such importance that
vwe cannot legitimately refuse it attention.
It is to the honor of our times that questions of principle never become entirely blotted out. Whatever may
happen, by the side of, or rather, above transient contentions, the immutable problems of morality and right make
their appearance in the end.
We are sometimes astonished at the place which the
American government reserves to the question of abstract
right!
Nevertheless, in this it only renders justice to the importance of the argument, and singles out the features of
general interest to all nations. There is more here than
a matter for judicial dissertations or even for curious reI0




212         ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
searches into the nature of the Constitution of the United
States; there is resistance to a subversive doctrine, incompatible with order, and, above all, with liberty.
This has been imperfectly understood in Europe. The
cabinet at Washington has seemed to us to devote its attention to a petty side of the difference of which South
Carolina has given the signal.-What is the use of these
judicial and almost pedantic dissertations?   Yield or
fight, but do not amuse yourselves in demonstrating that
to us for which we care but little; namely, that the right
of secession does not exist. Secessions are great facts,
violent in their nature, which may be readily assumed
to be illegal in the beginning; you waste your time in
proving it!
This is a mistake; the South is troubled concerning
its legitimacy; the right of secession is discussed with
lively interest everywhere, and particularly in the Border
States.  There must be some reason for this state of
things. For my part, on seeing a whole people attentive
to this constitutional and moral problem, I hesitate to decide from afar that it has gone astray. It seems to me
unjust, or at least unfriendly, to reproach the federal
government for the importance which it places on questions of this kind. It is a remarkable fact that they have
been always regarded with great attention by the statesmen of the United States; there is, as it were, an American tradition which ensures them respect.
3Mr. Seward remained faithful to this tradition, when
he addressed his first instructions to Mr. Dayton. "You
cannot be too decided in making known the fact that
there never has been, nor ever will be, the least idea of
permitting a separation of the Union to take place in any
manner whatsoever..... The thought of a dissolution
of the Union, peaceably or by force, has never entered the




SECESSION A RIGHT.              213
mind of any impartial statesman here, and it is full time
that European statesmen also renounced such an idea."
I applaud the American government for having given
to the qLuestion of right the place which belongs to it. A
sentiment of which we know little in Europe, the AngloSaxon respect for law, thus manifests its power.  Yes,
at the very moment when force alone seemed at stake,
principles were not forgotten.
This may pass for folly in the eyes of many. To contend in the name of the right, to defend a constitution, a
national flag, the past and future of a great country —
this is nonsense, they say! The true way is to count the
chances and see where they lie, who can longest keep
the field, who will receive in the end the support of Europe
-as to compacts and pledged oaths, what intelligent
nation cares to-day for things like these!
Thank God! there is a nation, and an intelligent nation, which cares for them infinitely. I say it to the honor
of the United States; they are giving us a lesson which
we scarcely expected to receive from this direction. Even
though slavery did not form the basis of the contest, we
should be interested in the North, since it defends the
right, since it rejects the anarchical doctrine which pre:
tends to protest by secession against a constitutional
election.
Lord Stanley not long since nobly called this to mind:
"Let us not blame that in America which we have always
done and are still doing ourselves-making war to retain
a portion of our territory."
The question thus presented, aside from any principle,
will be better understood among us. Why should we
wish the United States to show themselves more indifferent than we to the territorial greatness of their country?




214          ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
Of course, I do not believe that no separations will ever
prevail.  "Never!" says Mr. Seward, but there is no such
thing as never in human affairs. To carry the denial of
the right of separation so far as to affirm the eternity of
institutions, would be madness. It would give cause to
say that extreme right is extreme injustice, summnuzm jzts
summa ctinjztria.  As it is true that in strict justice, individuals have no right to secede nor countries to fall asunder through caprice, so it is certain that a persevering
determination, which firmly sustains a struggle and survives it, will end by conquering for itself a place on earth.
By the side of the right of secession which the United
States contest, and which they are right in contesting,
there is the rigat of revolution; pardon me this comparison of terms ill fitted to exist together.
As, in the end, modern governments rest on the consent of the governed; as it is impossible to hold garrison
eternally in disaffected countries, it thence follows that
when the separation has become a revolution, violated
right (for it is none the less violated, and it is of importance that this should be understood) submits to the
presence of triumphant fact. It will be certainly necessary to let those go who can be no longer retained except
by the lasting use of force. Free institutions would perish in the effort, through enemies or despots, were they
carried on in these conditions of persistent struggle. By
this course, a republican government would speedily become transformed into a military despotism.
This is a reservation which I am anxious to state in
explicit terms.  Although I have little respect for the
right of revolution, I perceive that, under penalty of admitting two other rights still more odious, the right of
fbreign intervention and the right of permanent domestic




SECESSION A RIGHT.              215
oppression, a disruption becomes inevitable in the end,
when it is desired with real earnestness by whole populations.
But this exception once admitted, (and the repudiation
of the common country will rarely appear among great
peoples, nothing less than an exceptional cause like slavery
can render possible a fact so monstrous,) we will lay down
the general rule, the importance of which seems too
often forgotten in our times, that there is no such thing as
the right of secession.
I hear it affirmed in an oracular tone that the new
jurisprudence of nations does not permit the use of coercive measures! Every rebellion constitutes a government
de facto, and every government de facto is a legitimate
government! To tell the truth, even, we are no longer
justified in speaking of rebels! The contract which holds
the divers parts of a people united, deriving its validity
only from the consent of each one, as soon as this consent
is wanting, the contract ceases to exist!
I have a great mind to offer no other refutation of
these heresies than a striking comparison borrowed
from a recent speech of the Duke  of Argyle.   "We
will not regard the question," said he, " of what is called
the right of secession: no government has ever existed,
to my knowledge, admitting the right of separation
within itself. There is a curious kind of star fish in the
waters of Loch Fine, which I myself have caught several
times, and which effects the most extraordinary and adroit species of suicide.  On drawing it from the water
and attempting to remove it from the hook, the fins immediately drop off, the body falls in pieces, and of one of
the most beautiful forms of nature, nothing remains but
a few fiagments. Such would have been-the fate of the
American Union, had its government accepted what is




21 6        ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
called the right of secession. Gentlemen, we must admit
in all justice, with respect to Americans, that they are
fighting for things that are worth the pains, and that the
national existence is one of these things."
Yes, the national existence. This idea alone contains
the unanswerable refutation of what is called the right of
secession.-But is a confederation a nation? is it not
rather an assemblage of nations? We are reminded of the
celebrated definition of Miontesquieu: "A community of
communities."
We touch here upon one of the most important mistakes made by European opinion with respect to the
United States. M. de Toccqueville himself seems to have
but imperfectly understood that, under this somewhat ill
chosen name of Confederation, the American Union presents the remarkable phenomenon of a state sui generis.
Judging it from its title, and starting from the true principle that the bond of simple confederations is unstable,
he decides that if ever any portions of the whole should
secede, the separation could be in no wise opposed.
Now, no name like that which is here in question, can
cover things so dissimilar.
There are in the first place, and it was of this fact
that 3Montesquieu was evidently thinking, confederations
which are nothing else than leagues. Antiquity had its
Amphictyonic Council and Achean League; the middle
ages had their Heptarchy, and Lombardic, Suabian and
Hanseatic confederations: the modern world has seen the
ancient Low Countries, and now sees the Germanic confederation. These are truly "communities of communities." The general government is well nigh null and
void; the centre of political life resides in the members.
Each of them is a complete State, possessing the totality
of political rights, and often the right of maintaining di



SECESSION A RIGHT.               217
plomatic relations with foreign countries in an extended
measure.  Confederations, understood in this wise, the
only coniederations, to tell the truth, which deserve the
name,:t e almost always models of political impotence.
Good to attain certain particular ends, such as defence
for a limited time and the development of commercial
interests-good, in a word, as leagues, they are incapable
of strong resistance and of duration. It is difficult for
them to cope with great centralized states; and, as to
arresting by force the separation of their members, it is
evident that they could not think of it, provided the
design of separation were resolutely adopted.
Switzerland, under its ancient compact, presented already another kind of confederation. The idea of a league
began to give way before the idea of a nation. The
centralpower was invested with realauthority; the cantons,
although preserving an extended sovereignty, nevertheless abandoned to the diet some of their essential attributes. Moreover, the mere fact of a popular representation
gave to the collective whole, a cohesion which the confederation of princes could never have succeeded in attainin g.
Let us take another step. The present compact of
Switzerland furnishes us the remarkable realization of a
third form of confederation, much more centralized than
the last. The referendum, that ancient guardian of cantonal sovereignties, has entirely disappeared. WSTe see,
moreover, assemblies sitting at Berne, whose decisions
have the force of law; a federal council which governs in
the full meaning of the word the interests of all the cantons.
The latter remain, notwithstanding, and their individual
existence is not impaired; only they have divested themselves of authority in behalf of the centre. Duties, political treaties, foreign affairs, general legislation, supreme




218        iERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
jurisdiction, currencies, weights and measures, all these
belong to the central power. Let a canton take it upon
itself to pass a law ignoring the principles laid down in
the compact, and this law will be annulled; let it attempt
to throw off its federal obligations, and it will be occupied on the spot.
This is an entirely new fact in politics, which I am not
surprised that Montesquieu did not foresee; it did not
suffice for this to have read Thucydides, and to have studied the democracies of Greece, the republics of Italy, or
the States General of Holland. Yet there is as great a
distance between the confederation of the United States
and the present confederation of Switzerland, as between
the latter and the rude outline of an alliance which serves
as a basis to the Germanic body.
We have a light and easy manner of solving questions
while dispensing with their study. In the first place, the
word confederation is enough. Next, the United States
were born of rebellion, and cannot pretend to put down
rebellions; they sprung from secession, and secessions are
legitimate on their soil!
As to the last argument, we will find few states in the
Old or New World which would be authorized to defend
themselves, were the right of defence reserved solely to
countries innocent of revolutions. The secessionists of
1860 have only to follow the example of the secessionists
of 1776, to conquer their independence step by step and
then force a recognition from the whole world; until this
time, we demand in the name of justice that the United
States be not interdicted the use of force against a rebellion, which is doubtless more momentous than that of the
last century, solely because it is in support of an odious
cause and cannot put forward the shadow of a grievance.




SECESSION A RIGHT.              219
The word confederation remains. We have already
perceived that it is far from corresponding always to the
same system, for modern Switzerland escapes the definition of Montesquieu. What are we to think of the United
States? Are they a confederation according to the old
formula, or a confederation according to the new formula?
Are they perhaps something different-a nation in which
the central preponderance is still more strongly implied?
There have been two republics of the United States;
that which preceded 1787, and that which followed the
great constitutional reform which then took place. This
momentous change appears, in truth, to be held for nothing, and considered null and void. Yes, before 1787,
the United States were a simple confederacy. In 1774,
the thirteen colonies represented in the Congress at Philadelphia, adopted certain "Articles of Association."  In
1778, they made "a firm league of friendship.')  This was
really a confederation, with its powerlessness and anarchy.
You will seek in vain at this epoch for an American nation.
Each state acted for itself alone; there were refusals to go
forward, refusals to levy taxes, refusals of the soldiers to
obey their generals. It was impossible to execute the decisions of Congress, impossible either to raise men, or to
improve a highvway or canal, or to pay the state officials,
or to discharge the interest of debts, or to resist civil or
military insurrections. The negotiation of the most insignificant treaty encountered barriers of interests on its way;
wars of tariff appeared in the horizon. Under this system
of sovereign States, in which Congress voted by States,
under a pure confederation, in a word America had nearly
died shamefully, miserably, beneath the cold hand of local
selfishness.
At this crisis, illustrious patriots raised their voice.
An Assembly was convoked in 1786 at Philadelphia.
10'I




220         ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
Washington, John Adams, Monroe, Madison and Jefferson were present. A plan of confederation was fixed
upon which profoundly modified the political organization. By the side of the S3nate, to which each State,
whether great or small, was to send two members, was
placed a House of Representatives, elected in proportion
to the population of each State. And this important
change was not the only one; a President was appointed
to direct the general polity; his attributes and those of
Congress were made extensive; lastly, under the name
of the Federal Suprcme Court, a centralized judiciary
power was commissioned to decide the differences which
might arise either between the States themselves, or between a State and Congress, concerning the interpretation
of the Constitution. To Congress alone was henceforth
to belong the right of peace and war, the negotiation of
treaties, and the regulation of tariffs. It was also authorized to levy taxes and contract loans.
In this manner was accomplished a most important
revolution, of which we make too little account when we
apply to the United States the vague term, confederation.
The federal organization anterior to 1787, that unique
assembly in which all the States had an equal representation, that simple committee, charged with the execution
of decrees stamped in advance with impotence, all these
gave place to an organic Congress of the nation, to a
President, to a central power, in fine, whose attributes
equal, and in some respects excel those of our European
governments.
This was a novelty on earth. The most original feature, perhaps, in the rdle of the United States was that of
having propounded and resolved the problem of founding
a perfectly strong, perfectly united, perfectly national




SECESSION A RIGHT.              221
power, without sacrificing the independence of either
States, commons or individuals. Among us, centralization
is a Moloch to which new victims are offered up without
ceasing; our modern governments have been hitherto
created only at the expense of the provinces, commons,
andt private consciences. The American solution is more
liberal-it begins by ensuring the liberty of the individual,
by absolutely denying any religious jurisdiction to the
State; it next provides for the liberty of the commons,
by abandoning to them the complete administration of
their interests; it maintains, in fine, the entire freedom of
the States, by refusing to interfere in any wise with their
private institutions. But, at the same time, it positively
remits to the President, the Supreme Court, and Congress, all that concerns the general affairs of the nation.
Never was religious or administrative centralization more
invalid, never was political centralization more complete.
This distinction, which appears so simple, and which
Europe has hitherto so little understood, has never been
objected to in the United States. When Jefferson, in
1786, proposed his amendment, designed to reserve the
local sovereignty of the States in the most express terms,
and to declare that what they had not delegated to the
central power, they preserved themselves, the acceptance
was ready and cordial.
No one, in fact, ever thought of lowering the States to
the rank of provinces or departments. To compare an
American State with a French department is one of the
greatest political solecisms that it is possible to commit.
There is no analogy therein of any kind; I see naught
but difference. But to conclude from this difference that
the United States do not exist as a nation, that they are
a confederation according to the formula of Montesquieu,
is to be still more grossly in error.  Self-government




222        ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
exists in the United States, the commons, the churches,
we will add, the individuals; but centralization exists
in Congress. WVe have gone beyond the Articles of
Confderae) ati on.
Is America an agglomeration of States, or is it a
people? This is a question of supreme importance, which
iwe are not justified in deciding, as we do, with the negligence of disdain. It is easy, moreover, to become infbrimed on the matter. We have not here before us a remote origin, in which there is full scope for hypotheses;
the foundation of the United States is recent, almost contemporaneous; it has been effected in broad daylight,
and the commentary is found by the side of the text-a
commentary written by the founders themselves.
Now, on the question which I am investigating, there
is not the slightest disagreement among them. Consult,
for instance, Patrick Henry, one of the adversaries of the
Constitution of 1787; hear what he will tell you: "That
this government is a consolidated government, is evident.
The Constitution says, VeM, the people, instead of saying,
We, the States."
The constitutional revolution of 1787 is contained entire in these few words. Formerly, they were the States;
the Continental Congress was simply a representation of
the States; it could act only on their recommendations;
its functions, as has been said, were essentially diplomatic;
it was therefore reduced to the necessity of negotiating
with the States for obedience to its decisions; it was unsuccessful in treating with foreign powers, and England,
on making peace, disdainfully refused to conclude an
agreement with this league of rival sovereignties which
did not form a people. Now, the American nation governs its general affairs.




SECESSION A RIGfJT.            22 3
Let us, for a moment, consider the sphere of the central power.
It acts directly, observe, on the citizens of individual
States, having over them even the power of life and
death. The individual States have neither army nor
navy; they are authorized to levy troops to repel invasion only in case of urgency, or when the national army
cannot intervene. They have not the right, like the Swiss
cantons, to sign certain treaties with foreign powers.
They do not coin money. There are national customs,
national imposts, a national debt, a national army and
navy, a national Supreme Court. The nation has its laws,
its ambassadors, its fortifications and garrisons on the territory of indivildual States. The new territories are
placed under the guardianship and authority of the nation.
Despite the States, among the States, the nation accomplishes its work, the political work which devolves on it
exclusively.
As to laws which are merely local, the States alone
decide them; they regulate their own institutions, on condition, of course, of respecting the principles laid down by
the general Constitution. They have their senators, their
legislators, their governors, their courts; in a word, they
manage important interests with admirable liberty. Observe, once more, that the United States have invented a
form of government, hitherto unknown in the annals of
mankind; it is neither impotent, like ordinary confederations, nor despotic, like our centralization; it proclaims at
once the administrative sovereignty of the States and
the political sovereignty of the State.
The State and the States —such is the great formula
which America has brought for her share to the great
political work of our race. They have little comprehen



224          ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
sion of the originality of this discovery who gravely
inform us that Virginia or Alabama retain their sovereignty in presence of Congress, like Prussia or'Wurtemberg, in presence of the Germanic diet, and who persist
in seeing nothing in the Federal Government but a simple agent of the States, whose commission may be withdriawn when it ceases to inspire confidence. The Supreme
Court, that unappealable authority on the subject of
constitutional interpretations, arrived at very different
conclusions when it held this language after the adoption
of the compact of 17877: "These allied sovereignties
have transformed their league into a government, and
their congress of ambassadors into a legislature."
Such is the truth. If the States subsist, the State has
taken a consistency which it lacked under the deplorable
system of weakness, disorder, and bankruptcy, which
was that of the Confederation, properly called. As things
stand, it is this which protects an individual State against
another individual State, which in certain circumstances
protects the citizens against their own individual States,
which interdicts this individual State to  establish a
monarchical constitution, which forbids it to pass laws
violating the obligation of contracts, bills of attainder,
export or import duties. It is this alone which accords
naturalization to emigrants.  It is this alone which receives oaths of allegiance. It is this alone which is recognized by foreign powers. Peace, war, commerce, finances,
the navy, the army, the mails, the legislative, executive,
and judicial functions-it is to this alone that all these
are remitted. It possesses Federal property on the territory of individual States. The President is not limited to
the command of the national army; he also commands
the militia of the individual States, when he summons
them to the service of the Confederation. In a word,




SECESSION A RIGHT.             225
provincialism is foreign to the organization of the United
States; the United States are a nation.
This was doubted by no one for a whole generation.
But, later, the doctrine of State sovereignty began to take
form in the South. It was a gross political heresy; but
no matter, it was a convenient weapon to use, if necessary, for the defence of the " peculiar institution."
Nothing is more striking than this offensive and defensive alliance between slavery and the doctrine of State
sovereignty. The leaders of the South, as we have seen,
were not long in catching a glimpse in the future of the
possibility of a separation. They could not longr conceal that, face to face with the gigantic progress of the
North, in contact with free discussion and liberty, the
countries petrified by slavery could not forever escape
the liberal contagion.  Their only chance, and they
exhausted it to the utmost, was to impose their yoke by
force of threats and violence, to transform by main
strength their minority into a majority, to force upon
the Union an ultra policy, to win at any cost new territories for slavery. But they were not ignorant that
there would be perhaps a limit to this kind of success,
that resistance to slavery might be some day awakened
in the North, and that on this day they would need a
theory ready-made. Americans, as we have remarked,
have derived from their Anglo-Saxon origin an instinctive
veneration for law, which forbids them ever to neglect
demonstrating to themselves that they respect it, even
while treading it under foot.
Thence arises the mother-doctrine of State sovereignty,
and its legitimate offspring, the right of secession. It is
easy to follow them in their growth, from the moment
when Mr. Calhoun proclaimed his doctrine of the right




226        ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
of secession; that is, the faculty reserved to each State
to annul certain acts of Congress; from the moment when
the South, irritated by the admission of California without slaves, reserved to itself in formal terms the right of
secession, to the moment when Jefferson Davis, accomplishing what Mr. Calhoun had announced, based the
secession of the slave States upon their sovereignty.
That the South should have invented such theories,
may be conceived; that Europe should have admitted
them, it is more difficult to comprehend. We must
acknowledge, notwithstanding, that we have, in general,
admitted to the rank of axioms, the sovereignty of States
and their right of separation.
In other terms, we have drawn up, for the use of
America, the theory of inevitable and contemptible death;
the theory of forced powerlessness. We have gravely
printed in our journals that the American Constitution
does not authorize the Federal Government to employ
coercive measures.
We must conclude from this that General Jackson
held unconstitutional language when he threatened to
make the South Carolinians return to their duty at the
point of the bayonet. The United States would possess
this privilege, that they alone of all known governments,
would have no right to defend themselves; rebellions
might take place among them with safety; amicable dismemberment (an admirable expression!) would be the su.
preme law of the country.
I had rather hear it said, without oratorical pretension:
"The American Government is a government outside of
the law." Has Europe, which has sought for the last year
to apply to it a system which she would desire at no price
for herself - has Europe, which has thus endeavored to




SECESSION A RIGHT.              227
bring it back to the state of shameful anarchy, suppressed
in 1787, really measured the extent of this principle, which
at least deserves the credit of orginality-the principle of
pacific separations? If she has not measured it herself,
she has placed Americans in a position to form a just idea
of its significance; they must have seen for some time how
far a nation falls which is bound to accept division and, in
some sort, dissolution at the first summons. It has been
shown to them, it seems to me, that, the principle of
separation once at work, they need hope for little consideration.
I like better this letter from an English merchant, settled in Philadelphia: "If it be an acknowledged fact that
there is here neither State nor government, and that a fraction of the United States can secede whenever it chooses,
it is time to pack our trunks and go where there is a
State and government." I would advise all the people of
America to pack their trunks at the same time, were so
monstrous a theory admitted. Thank God! it will not be
admitted; the government at Washington has entered its
protest, despite our counsels. This pointed and necessary
protest will remain inscribed by the side of the pretensions of the South and the explanations of its friends. We
will consent at length, perhaps, to place America in the
domain of the common law, and not recommend to her a
moderation contrary to nature-we, who would be so
greatly surprised if, in the event of an Irish insurrection,
Mr. Lincoln should pledge the Queen not to oppose the
right of separation.
It is sometimes asked why the Constitution of the
United States did not explicitly declare itself against this
right of separation! I think that such a clause would
be vainly sought in ancient and modern constitutions,
in those of Europe and those of America. There are




228         ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
some things so evident that they are never laid down. It
is never laid down that the infringement of sworn oaths is
forbidden. Neither is it laid down that the National Government is permitted to employ force against those who
attack it by force. The authority of the highest law would
be in no wise increased by adding thereto: "We also
decree that this law shall not be violated."
Under what pretext can the United States be reproached for not having taken a ridiculous precaution,
without precedent in history? Those who wish to modify
the American Constitution have a way provided to do it;
they have only to obtain a majority of two-thirds of both
Houses of Congress, and a ratification by three-fourths
of the whole number. of States. Apart from this means,
I know of none but bullets. But as bullets constitute force,
right is no longer in question.
Let men cease to couple two words which mourn
to see themselves united; right and secession; the discussion will be more honest for it. So long as secession
pretends to be nothing more than it is-an act of rebellion
and violence, an attempt at revolution-we avoid inoculating the social body with a principle of dissolution; as
soon as it becomes a right, on the contrary, dissolution
begins.
The South already perceives this itself; at the beginning, in spite of excited passions, it sees its principal State,
Virginia, divided into two hostile portions. II, to its
misfortune, it should succeed: if its confederacy should
be finally established, I will not give it ten years to become reduced to dust and ashes. In virtue of what principle will it prevent first one State from going off, and then
another? What reply will it make to the county which
wishes to constitute itself an independent State, or to the




SECESSION A RIGHT.             2 2 9
discontented township which is no longer willing to live
with the county?
Our time, fertile in anarchical theories, had not hitherto discovered this one. Had the United States accepted
it, they would have sunk to the rank of the ]Mexican
States, distracted on all sides, and condemned to civil
war in perpetuity.
For long years, the adversaries of the United States in
Europe have prophesied this state of permanent revolution
and anarchy; they take delight in believing that North
America will be ere long a fit peer for South America.
It is doubtless to facilitate the fulfilment of their predictions that they are attempting to introduce into the heart
of the Union a system which would effectively produce
an armed struggle after every presidential election, a secession after the adoption of every bill.
It is time to admit that, if the North cannot consent to
the peaceful withdrawal of the South, it is not only, nor
above all, because it needs the South or needs the cotton
of the South, but because it needs to live. To admit the
right of secession is to renounce being a people; and to
renounce being a people is to sign its own death-warrant.
It cannot " let the South go," for every thing (I do not
use the word by chance) - every thing would go with it.
Every thing would go with it, not only because each
fragment would become isolated in turn: to day, California; to-morrow, the West; the day after, New York or
Pennsylvania; not only because war would become
endemic —war for the boundaries, war for the territories,
war with the fellow-citizens of yesterday, war with friends
and enemies —but because the right of secession is anarchy,
and anarchy marks the end of nations.
To the support of what I have just said, it would be




230         ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
easy to multiply qnotations; all the American statesmen,
VlTashington, Jay, Hamilton, Marshall, Madison, Kent,
Story, Webster, and many others, have rejected the doctrine which ends in the right of secession.  Jefferson
alone, the enthusiastic founder of that bad school of democracy which had nearly drawn on the United States to
their ruin, and the decline of which has been proclaimed
by the election of Mr. Lincoln-Jefferson alone used now
and then a different language. In 1803, he wrote on the
occasion of the acquisition of Louisiana: " If these people
should come to find it greatly to their interest to separate
from us, if their happiness should so far depend on it as
to resolve them to brave the inconveniences of such a
crisis, why should the Atlantic States dread this event?
Why should we, in particular, their present inhabitants,
concern ourselves with such a question?.... We think
that their union is necessary to their happiness, and desire
that it shall be maintained; events may determine otherwise..."
We recognize in this letter, on one side, the diplomatic
adroitness of the leader of the State seeking to anticipate
objections and facilitate a vast increase of territory; and,
on the other, the political tendency of the leader of a
party, instinctively preparing for the South and the ultra
democracy the means of subversive action which they
would yet need.
Washington expresses himself differently. WTho does
not know his celebrated Farewell Address? —" Be, before
all, children of the same confederation, American citizens
rather than the citizens of such or such a State. Let the
Federal Constitution be your ark of safety.... Remember that it cannot subsist without authority strong enough
to protect it against factions."
Moreover, he elaborates this idea, which was constant



SECESSION A RIGHT.             231
ly present to his mind: "The unity of government is a
main pillar in the edifice of your real independence.. 
As this is the point in your political fortress against which
the batteries of internal and external enemies will be most
constantly and actively directed, it is of infinite moment
that you should properly estimate the immense value of
your national Union to your collective and individual
happiness; that you should cherish a cordial, habitual, and
immovable attachment to it, accustoming yourselves to
think and speak of it as the palladium of your political
safety and prosperity; watching for its preservation with
jealous anxiety; discountenancing whatever may suggest
even a suspicion that it can be in any event abandoned;
and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of every
attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the
rest......
The ]Aessage of 1833, of President Jackson, contains
the following words: "The right of the inhabitants of a
State, at their own good pleasure and without the consent
of the other States, to throw off their most solemn obligations and imperil the liberties and happiness of the millions of men who compose the Union, cannot be recognized. To say that a State can separate at will from
the Union, is to say that the United States are not a
nation."
The illustrious Henry Clay, of Kentucky, held no less
decided language; here are a few sentences from a speech
delivered by him in the Senate in 1850: "If Kentucky
were to-morrow to unfurl the banner of resistance, I
would not fight under her flag. The submission which I
owe the Union is absolute; that which I owe my native
State is only relative."
To all these witnesses which have arisen at the different
epochs of the crises, but a single man of importance can be




232         ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
opposed-the theorist of secession, Mr. Calhoun. Behold
with what vigor he is attacked! Here are a few words
from Mr. Webster, respecting his doctrines: "I maintain,
1st, that the Constitution of the United States is not a
league, a confederation, or a contract between the people
of different States acting in their sovereign character; but
a government properly called, based on the adoption of
the people, and creating direct relations between itself
and individuals; 2d, that no State has the power to dissolve these relations, that nothing can break them except
a revolution; that, consequently, there can be no separation
without revolution.....'" The apologists of the South
have attempted to lengthen the too short list of the partisans of secession by inserting therein the respected name
of Madison, under the pretext that this statesman took
the responsibility in Virginia of the resolutions of 1798;
but without entering into the history of this incident, it
will suffice to recall the fact that, wheninterrogated in
1830, Mr. Madison made the most solemn and explicit
declarations to the contrary-declarations which he never
ceased henceforth to reaffirm. The resolutions of which
he was the author were designed, he said, to amend the
Constitution by addressing themselves to the American
nation, and by no means to individual States. No one has
expressed himself more openly than he on the score of
the right of secession.
I am unwilling to quit this great subject without recalling the fact that the question is not only Americanit is huzman, pardon me the expression. We too are concerned in it; the old contest between right and anarchy
has just taken a form appropriate to the events of the day.
Under the vague labels of consenting governments, popular sovereignty, and the principle of nationalities, all




SECESSION A RIGHT.             233
sorts of doctrines glide in; we shall do well to pay close
attention to them-we liberals, who are unwilling to become revolutionists.
Let us remember that the triumph of injustice is an
unhealthy spectacle. The seed falls to the ground and
disappears, and we think no more of it; but the day will
come when it will bring forth fruit.
Thus it is with violence done to right. The human
soul receives the germ of anarchy, and becomes accustomed to the evil. That definitive success, indeed, should
win itself acceptance, is well; under pain of having recourse to intervention and the holy alliance, internal revolutions must prevail; but that revolutions should be
respectfully greeted through principle, and in advance,
terrifies and saddens me.
To hear some men, there are no longer rebels here
below; on the sole condition of being somewhat numerous, whatever may be their cause, they always deserve
another name. Thus, right becomes absolutely effaced
before force.
There would above all be no longer any rights for republican governments.  Could there be a rebellion
against a republic?  Would a republic be authorized in
maintaining its own existence? Would it not be acting
against its principle in using constraint?  Should not the
will of the people prevail?
Every one will doubtless comprehend, without need of
my explanation, the full scope of such a maxim. All free
governments would be more or less accused and convicted
of irremediable weakness, of powerlessness to retain seceders and to punish rebels. To yield and to yield again
in virtue of a constitutional vice-such would be their
destiny here below. Instead of yielding to majorities,
and submitting to laws which they had combated, and acts




234        ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
which displeased them, minorities would have two resources always ready —the right of revolution and the
right of secession.
Such a theory would leave nothing further to be done;
the code of anarchy would be complete.




CHAPTER  IV.
THE SOUTH, THOUGH CONQUERED, WVILL NEVER BE BROUGHIT
BACK INTO THE UNION.
WE will lay theories aside; the partisans of the South
are themselves beginning to renounce them. They are
much less anxious at present to sustain secession as a
right than to demonstrate secession as a fict. Think of it as
you will in the point of view of principles and philosophic
speculation, it is done, and it will stand; to reestablish
the Union is henceforth impossible; the North, in continuing the struggle, is yielding to the demoniac suggestions of wounded pride; it is ruining itself without a
justifiable end; it is committing suicide without a real
chance of success.
Such is the opinion which the friends of the South are
laboring to propagate in Europe, and in which they succeed but too well. I meet men everywhere who ask in
dismay: "How will this end?"  Without any hostility
with respect to the United States, they nevertheless
accept with incredible facility the idea of Southern recognition.  Is not this a necessity?  What can we do in
opposition to a deed accomplished? Do you wish the
North to set about subjugating and occupying the cotton
11




236         ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
States? Do you wish to make of them a Poland or a
Venice?
~No, a thousand times no. But, as I have said, my
knowledge of the subject is less extensive than that of
those who speak in this wise. They settle questions
which to me are still obscure.  They fbresee, with a certainty which astonishes me, the future attitude of the
Southern States. As to me, I nrait; it seems to me a
surer method to cling to what is just than to seek for
what is probable.  Political clear-sightedness is subject
to error; integrity hever goes astray. What do we risk
in pursuing the right cause? When it shall have failed,
it will be quite time to turn the back on it. Here, on the
same side-a rare fact!-behold positive right and natural
right, legality and humanity —why are we in such haste
to declare that their triumph is impossible, and that the
only rebellion that ever dared write the word "' slavery "
on its banner, is certain to attain its end? Instead of
adapting our opinions to suit chances, would it not be
better to maintain our opinions in spite of chances? It
is so pleasant to live under the shelter of principles! Our
course will become so simple when we have no longer
to ask ourselves with anguish which must succeed-when
the only question put is, " Which is right?"
I have followed this rule from the beginning of the
American conflict, and I have found it right.  Afore than
once have I regretted that Europe had not done the same,
preserving and expressing her sympathies, calling that
which is right, right, and that which is iniquitous, iniquitous.  What will happen now that our too able policy
has swelled the proportions of the insurrection? I know
not. It is not my design, therefore, to prove here that
the reestablishment of the Union will take place; it is
enough for me to prove that it is not impossible.




THE SOUTH WILL NEVER BE RECLAIMED.    237
Without going very far back in history, or quitting
our own country, we see that mlany itnlossibilities have
been done. When the first coalitions were formed, prudent men doubtless ranked among impossibilities a victory of divided and exhausted France over all Europe
united against her. 5When the revolutionary anarchy
was at its height, it was declared with some show of rea.
son that a regular administration, and peaceable relations
between the different classes, would never be seen in
France. The hatreds which separated them seemed indeed more difficult to conquer than are those of the North
and South.
Let us study, then, impartially, the chances of reestabiishing the Union; if the difficulties are great, justice
and liberty are accustomed to overcome difficulties; the
force that dwells in them is never taken sufficiently into
account. They level mountains of prejudice, they blot
out animosities, they harmonize interests, their soothing
resources are miraculous.
There is, I admit, a form of union which has become
well-nigh impossible; I mean the ancient form. And this is
great progress. Thank God! there are no longer means
of reestablishing awshat then existed-that complicated
and unnatural condition, that guarantee of slavery by free
countries, that incessant uneasiness of the public conscience, that unstable equilibrium maintained by force of
acts of cowardice and compromises, that debased policy in
which America was straitened for want of room, in which
she was stifled for lack of air, in which she would have perished, had she not, by a bold effort, freed herself in time.
This, the founders of the United States might have
established in the last century; struggling with a disastrous war, with anarchy, with bankruptcy, seeking in




238         ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
vain around them for forces proportioned to their design,
they thought it their duty to alienate no one, and to submit to the conditions of the slaveholders rather than lay
down their arms before Englishrmen. But to-day, after
the experiences of the last administrations and the present
rebellion, to restore what has just crumbled away, in fine,
would be a criminal folly, the spectacle of which, it is my
firm conviction, will be spared us.
Whatever may be the temptations of the future-and
they may be great at some moments-the time for compromises is assuredly past; supposing, which I by no
means admit, that there should ever be found a government at Washington to accept them, there would be no
longer found a people in the United States to regard them;
useless paper rags, they would fall into the mire, and no
one would think in future of stooping to pick them up.
Lord Russell said at the Newcastle dinner: "If the
South were to return voluntarily to the Union, the quarrel would be renewed, for slavery would remain."  I cannot admit the hypothesis; I much rather believe that in
case overtures of peace should be made and received, they
would be based on progressive emancipation, and the
stipulation of an indemnity in favor of the masters. Despite the support which a portion of the Democrats and
politicians would doubtless give to plans of negotiation, it
is indubitable that the reestablishment of the Union will
not take place by this means.
If the reestablishment of the Union take place, it will
be simply because, the war once ended and the South
conquered, there will be found more Union sentiment and
interests in the South than is generally supposed. There
will be union because there is unity.
During the war, hatreds become exaggerated and




THE SOUTH WILL NEVER BE RECLAIMED.    239
passions excited; it seems then as though the blood spilt
would never permit reconciliation, as though there were
really two peoples contending, two peoples strangers to
each other, who have had and can have nothing in common. This is not only the language of the leaders, it is the
truth of the moment. It is certain, and the government
at Washington ought not to conceal it, that the separation
is more real to-day than at the hour of the disruption; the
separation is consolidated-I find no other term-by the
habit of living apart and hostile; the difficulties of reestablishing the Union have gone on increasing. It was
justifiable to maintain in the beginning that the rising
of the South was nothing but a rebellion, fomented by the
ambition of a handful of agitators; this is no longer true
to-day. The South, a part of the South, at least, has
come by degrees to desire what it, perhaps, forced upon
itself at first; the South desires the separation-it desires
it with fierce and passionate energy.
I do not seek, it will be seen, to disguise perils and
favor illusions. The reestablishment of the Union is difficult; it remains to be known whether it is impossible.
Upon this point, I still have doubts, and for these reasons:
If we set aside the transient excitement which belongs to the struggle, and which will give place after the
struggle to sentiments of a different nature, we will see
that all of the Southern States contain a Union party.
What is its importance? Those more able than I will
tell you; for my part, I do not feel that I have the right
to be so positive. I confess my ignorance, but at the
same time I insist on recalling the manner in which the
disruption was proclaimed. Nothing could less resemble
an unanimous conviction, a popular impulse. We do not
need, in studying this miserable spectacle of a rebellion
in behalf of slavery, to have present to our minds the




240         ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
calm  resolve displayed by the founders of the United
States.
Last yevar, the violent courise adopted by South Carolina at first encountered naught but blame. Numerous
Southern joturnals declared themselves opposed to this
excessive precipitation.  I read in an influential sheet of
Georgia, The Augutsta Clronoicie and Sentinel: "' We are
quite sure that every movement designed for secession
and the forlmation of a new government proceeds, so far
at least as Georgia is concerned, only fiom the quasi-consent of its people. It is time that this usurpation of
power had an end, and that the people were consulted.... Before the Convention takes it upon itself to ratify
a permanent constitution, let it submit it to the vote of
the people... 
The vote of' the people is what the ringleaders of this
insurrection, self-styled pjopular, avoided with significant
care. Everywhere, despite the principles of democracy,
the ratification by the people was set aside. An able and
unscrupulous minority had seized the reins; the majority
submitted to the yoke; nearly all the men who would
have been naturally called by their social position or
character to exercise an important influence, remained in
the shade: we seek in vain for their names at the foot of
the Charleston proclamations.
The people were still more hesitating. It will be remembered that but just before, in most of the States,
they had rejected, with a nobleness of feeling of which it
is just to take note, the infamous laws passed by the legislatures for reducing to slavery the fiee blacks who should
not immediately quit the South. It is a striking fact that
the governors were everywhere more violent than the
legislatures, and the legislatures everywhere, in turn, more
violent than the people. When the Alabama Convention




THE SOUTIH WILL NEVER BE RECLAIMED.    241
was elected, the number of voters was minimum, and out
of this small number, two-fiftllhs supported the candidates
opposed to secession; had the ordinance of secession been
submitted to the people, it would have been rejected. In
Virginia and in Texas, the opposition was still stronger.
Observe that the cities played a great part in this
movement; the country, much more Union in feeling,
was set aside. Let not too much, therefore, be said about
the nzational insurrection of the South!  It certainly
had not this character in the beginning; if it has assumed
it since, under the influence of the passions excited by the
struggle, it may easily lose it again under the influence of
opposite sentiments. The discontent caused by ruin and
reverses, the irritation against a government which has
taken it upon itself to act without consulting the people,
and has precipitated events and accumulated deceptions
-all this will suffice to subdue a factitious ill-feeling, and
to restore life and speech to veritable majorities.
I by no means affirm that this will be so; it will be at
least granted me that it has some chance. Who will dare
affirm, moreover, that the struggle of classes will not
ilaen intervene to complicate the position of the South,
and that it will not give strength to the partisans of the
Union? According to the last census, there are not
found in America more than four hundred thousand slaveholders, large and small; the number of large slaveholders is under a hundred thousand. There exists, therefore, a considerable number of whites who are strangers
to the interests of slavery.
WVe have a right, I think, to doubt the unanimity of
the South.  Without even taking into account, vhich is
wrong, the four millions of blacks who should have, and
some day will have a voice in the matter, we are justified
in believing that, should unexpected defeat once occur,




242         ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
should its illusions be rent asunder, should the rude
hand of reverses replace each by reality, there will not
be found in the Gulf States a population animated by the
same desire, ruled by the same passion, and pursuing the
same end.
It will, perhaps, be objected that hypotheses are not
facts. I grant it; but hypotheses are not alone in question; certain facts have already appeared. Wherever
the national army has regained its footing, sentiments in
favor of the Union have been manifested on the spot.
Scarcely had the fleet touched at Hatteras, when numerous delegates from the neighboring counties assembled
there in convention, and disavowed, in incredibly forcible
terms, the secession sentiments attributed to North Carolina. Scarcely had General Dix set foot in Eastern Virginia, when Accomac and Northampton counties enthusiastically declared themselves in favor of the Union.
Scarcely had the Federal power become somewhat strengthened in Missouri, when numerous Unionists from Arkansas
took refige there. Scarcely had the success of the North
ern troops permitted Western Virginia to express her
true thought, when she constituted herself apart, and
joined the United States.
An analogous movement has been called forth in
Eastern Tennessee; the return to the Union numbers
partisans there who declare themselves with daily increasing boldness. Wherever it is possible to declare one's self a
Unionist without danger of the gallows, I do not see men
lacking to do it. Even in Alabama, even in Georgia,
even in South Carolina, even in Richmond, under the eyes
of the insurrectional government, unequivocal symptoms
betray the presence of a party in favor of the Union.
The Border States are interesting subjects of study in
this respect. We know how little hesitation was shown




TIHE SOUTr WILL NETEVER BE lRECLAIMED.    243
by Kentucky in rejecting the idea of a separation. As to
MIaryland, if you consult her outside the streets of Baltimore, you will find in her a strong general tendency in
favor of the Union; nowhere have so decisive majorities
been seen as those which declared themselves this year in
Maryland for the Union candidates.
I am not ignorant of the objection that may be raised,
that majorities called forth under the pressure of an army
of occupation are always suspicious. Are we forbidden,
however, to draw any inferences from these facts? Are
we not authorized to suppose that the material defeat of
the secessionists will involve a moral defeat, that faith in
their cause will then die out, that the former dream of an
independent South, prospering through the conquests of
slavery, will at length fall in ruins? Our dreams never
fall alone, they draw down with them many convictions,
many passions which we deemed immortal.
Those who extol the impulse of the South, and wish
to make us believe in its unanimity, should explain to us
the indifference of which proof was given when the ratification of the new Constitution was in question.  In
Georgia, for instance, the journals of the country pointed
out several counties in which scarcely a hundred voters
presented themselves at the polls, and others, where the
votes in favor of secession scarcely prevailed over those
against it.
If the North succeed, and it will succeed, perhaps, in
suppressing the factitious and transient state of exaltation
in which the South is now found, a much more real attachment for the common country will be discovered at the
bottom than men are now disposed to admit. For nearly
a century, the sum told, they have lived together, under
the same constitution, with the same destinies, by no
means devoid of greatness.
11*




244         ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
Such a history is a bond. More than one glorious
memory, more than one illustrious name, causes the hearts
of men to beat alike in the North and South. Far fiom
discovering there two peoples naturally hostile, I cannot
help seeing a single people, and a people whose unity
seems founded on indestructible bases. Not only is there
unity of language, unity of origin, unity of race, and unity
of religion, but it would be difficult to find, apart fiom
slavery, any serious cause of antagonism.  The solidarity
of interests is evident-there is no rivalry, the agricultural South completes the manufacturing North, the rich
cultures of the South have need to prosper of the capital
of the North, the entrep6ts of the North, the vast commerce of the North.
It is puerile to raise up a few dfferences of character
and manners, and transform them into causes of disruption. There is no great people which does not comprise
such contrasts within itself; they do not endanger unity,
they strengthen it, on the contrary, by introducing therein the element of diversity.  Then the people of the
North and South, with their emigrating habits, are much
more closely intermingled than is confessed. How many
families number members at the present time in both contending sections?
The geographical unity will strike every one who looks
at a map of America. Seek natural limits, possible limits
-you will not find them. A great arterial communication, the Mississippi, passes through the central valley
where beats the heart of the people; numerous branches,
canals, and railroads, establish a momentary contact between the most distant portions of the territory.
The necessities of defence are to America a supreme
law of unity. If the South, which talks about independence, wishes to remain independent, I advise it not to set




THE SOUTH WILL NEVER BE RECLAIIED.    245
itself apart; it will soon be obliged to place itself, in consequence, under the protection of some European power.
As to the North, once separated from the States which
make it a whole, it is in danger of being like a dismantled
fortress, which may be entered henceforth by the breach.
Nothing less than the blind passions of slavery could
close one's eyes to truths like these. Who will dare say
that these eyes will not be opened? If the leaders at
Richmond be overthrown, will not the day come when
reasonable and patriotic Southern men (and these are not
lacking) will perceive in what sort of a path they have
been forced? Seeing on one side that the golden dream
of Southern greatness is but a dream, recognizing on the
other that the Yankees are not so ferocious, so thirsty for
oppression and vengeance as had been said, feeling both
the final ruin of their country and the greater or lesser
domination of Europe approaching with rapid strides, will
they not become reconciled to those who will restore to
them greatness, independence, and prosperity?
Two sentiments sublist in the South —the American
sentiment and the republican sentiment. Its monarchical
tendencies exist only in the imaginations of our newspaper
correspondents. As to the affection for Europe, see with
what painful earnestness the South and the North, united
at least in this, lately witnessed the progress of the plans
of Spain, first in St. Domingo and then on the very continent of the Nrew  WVorld?   The shudder which runs
through America to-day fiom  one end to the other, reveals its unity to itself.
This unity appears to me so deeply seated that I persist in believing in it for the filture, even though it should
be necessary to renounce it for the present. I can scarcely
admit that the patriotism of Southern men will always consent to betray and deliver up America.  Weary of the




246         ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
yoke of wretchedness and violence which is now weighing
upon them, will they never turn their eyes toward those
free institutions wvhichhave given them so many years of
prosperity and greatness? When they know, beyond the
possibility of doubt, that, in destroying the United States,
they have not done the least thing toward founding the
glorious Southern empire, that their slavery has none the
less received its death-blow, that a permanent war is ravaging their firontiers, that a foreign power is entering and
ruling among them, that their ruin is becoming definitive,
that their downfall is about to be accomplished without
remedy, will not an irresistible reaction take place?
Either the destinies of America will suffer shipwreck,
or the union of the South and the North will be reconstructed; sooner or later, more or less completely, this
reconstruction will arrive. Great nations are not formed
by chance, nor is their destruction so easy, thank God! as
is imagined by cabinet politicians. Artificial unions may
be broken, two countries brought together despite themselves-a Belgium and a Holland-may be separated; but
under the name, United States, I discover a real, vital,
natural fact, which has a great chance of becoming reestablished sooner or later, and the final ruin of which,
should it take place, would make itself long felt on
earth.
There exist, it seems to me, three great means of reestablishing it speedily-negotiation, the abolition of
slavery, and political liberty.
I use the word negotiation for the sake of brevity,
although the dignity of the United States will not permit
them to treat officially with rebels. But, outside official
action, overtures may be made. It is not absolutely impossible that the war, instead of terminating by the victory
of one and the defeat of the other, may end by an ar



THE SOUTH WILL NEVER BE RECLAIMED       247
rangement. Suppose that the South, discontented with
its present government, alarmed at the progress of the
North, ceasing to count on the support of Europe, knowing, moreover, that this support would by no means consolidate the "peculiar institution," remits the power to
more moderate and less compromised hands. After the
fall of the Richmond cabinet and.the influences which
have hitherto prevailed in the South, it is conceivable
that, under some form or other, proposals of peace may
be communicated to Washington.
We have the right to look them in the face to-day
without disquietude. Doubtless there are still those who,
if it were said, "Re6stablish the action of the Fugitive
Slave Law, and pass anew the Missouri Compromise, according to slavery all the territory below 33~ 301, and
you will obtain the restoration of the Union," would accept the offer with enthusiasm. I have read writings
published in the North since the rebellion, in which the
moral pressure of citizens who give refuge to fuigitive
slaves was denounced almost with anger. Nevethertheless, we are advancing, and provided the war lasts longer
than men in haste imagine, it will be at length universally
recognized, even in the bosom of the Border States, even
in the bosom of the Democratic party, that, to reestablish
the Union and maintain slavery, is not to reestablish the
Union; that to end the war and leave the great enemy
standing, is not to end the war.
This is the opinion which is gaining ground, and which
it will be difficult to brave. If peace become re6stablished
before the annihilation of the Southern armies, the arrangement will probably rest on this double basis; the
complete reestablishment of the Union, and the progressive abolition of slavery. Why should not the United
States, in this case, offer to indemnify the slaveholders




248          ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
of the States which shall decree emancipation?  Why
should not a general amnesty, without exception, prevent
reprisals? Credit, for a moment abolished, would resume
its value on both sides; confiscations would be revoked;
the costs of the war would rest equally on all, since they
would form a part of the national debt; in fine, the disbanding of the troops, the reestablishment of the regular
working of institutions, the resurrection of Southern cultures, the encouragement given to the introduction of firee
labor into the Cotton States, the proclamation and practice of commercial freedom, would give equal satisfaction
to interests too long hostile.
This is an Utopian vision, I fear. It seems to me,
however, that I should have failed in a duty, if, among
the chances of reestablishing the Union, I had omitted
this one.
I adopt a less contestable hypothesis, supposing the
complete victory of the North, and the submission of the
South. How can this forced submission give place to a
cordial union?
The abolition of slavery presents itself anew to the
mind. Since slavery has been the essential and almost the
only cause of separation, the Union will be reestablished
only on condition of retrenching slavery. To use the
American expression, liberty must be declared national,
and slavery sectional. Slavery leads to isolation; the instinct of preservation counsels this; in contact with free
discussion and liberty, it could not but perish.
It will, therefore, be requisite to take at once, in the
interest of the Union, a decisive measure that shall deliver the future firom the horrible evil which has entailed
so much suffering on the past and present of America.
This is absolutely necessary; whether the war be termi



THE SOUTH WILL NEVER BE RECLAIMED.    249
nated by decisive victories or by an amicable arrangement,
the destruction of the great enemy cannot, under any
pretext, be questioned.
I do not pretend that the immediate freedom of the
blacks must be proclaimed; I admit circumspection,
transitionary measures, whatever may serve to soften a
formidable crisis for the South. But it is essential that
the principle of emancipation be laid down with firmness.
The principle once laid down, every thing becomes
modified among the Southern people-passions, ambitions, and interests. Great social revolutions have this
peculiarity, that it is only necessary for them to become
certain, to bring forth at once excellent fruits. They will
not be completed, perhaps, for twenty or thirty years;
nevertheless, from the beginning, they influence minds
and transform positions.
Slavery about to end is no longer wholly slavery, and
its monstrous legislation falls to the ground by piecemeal.
The indispensable appeal to free labor introduces a new
element among the Southern people. The course of parties is no longer the same, political chances present themselves under a different aspect.
WVe have pointed out the influence of surroundings;
in changing the surroundings of Southern men, their sentiments by degrees will be changed. They lack nothing,
in order again to become leading members of the Union,
in order again to win perhaps new titles to the rank of
which they so long preserved the monopoly-they lack
nothing, except to be themselves delivered from the
crushing yoke of slavery. Their cause, which seemed to
serve them for a moment, had ended by destroying them;
they were in danger of perishing in its ruin. But let a
liberating hand restore to them their instincts as citizens
of a free country, and noble men will rise up among them,




250          ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
the world will cease to hate them, their success will again
become the success of the human race; far from fearing
their conquests, we shall begin to desire them. What a
future will then open to the South! These States, with
such fertile soil and so magnificent a climate, will go
onward at last toward their true destinies.  European
emigration, which turns aside with horror from an accursed land, will flow into it from every side; liberty will
beckon to its companions; prosperity and peace will hasten thither; the South-I borrow the expression from a
Northern orator-the South will become like a terrestrial
paradise.
Among the methods which lead to unity, I know of
none of equal value to this-to resolve all questions.
Questions unresolved divide men; questions resolved
draw them together. So long as it is possible to struggle
against a social progress, evil passions will rise and coalesce against it; as soon as all chances of success have
disappeared, a sudden calm succeeds the storm. The aspect of things becomes at once transformed; other interests, other habits, other alliances, other hopes arise;
books, journals, pulpits hold a different language.
When a great question is resolved, a host of small
ones are found resolved at the same time; these can be
decided in no other manner: the French revolution was
needed t6 abolish seignorial rights.
Study history, and you will see the value of the
method which I point out. Here is a divided country
rent by the war of hostile classes-how shall unity be
established in it?  By giving it the civil code.  Here
is another country where creeds are at strife-how shall
unity be established in it? By separating the Church
from the State.
We can never know how many fruitful results are




THE SOUTH WILL NEVER BE RECLAIMED.    251
comprised in the bold solution of a single question.
Yesterday, the Emperor of Russia emancipated his serfs;
to-morrow, Russia will have political liberties, universities, schools, and journals; to-morrow, the spirit of reform will attack its administration and police.
I have spoken of political liberty; a powerful means
will also be found therein for a return to the Union.
After the defeat of the South, there must be neither
victors nor vanquished. It is the admirable privilege of
fiee countries that the words subjugation and conquest
are to them terms destitute of meaning.  A  conquest
would leave deep wounds, which it would be very diffi
cult to heal; the suppression of a rebellion leaves no such
traces. After as before it, I see equal States, equal citizens,
a government resting equally on all. After as before it,
the independence of the States is maintained, their representatives sit in Congress, parties contend for their
votes, their influence is exercised over the general direction of affairs.
To have been brought back to duty dishonors no one,
especially when former rights have not perished in the
struggle.  Let us not always be too forgetful of the
power of reconciliation possessed by liberty. Who is definitively the conqueror?   Neither a man nor a party.
The constitution is the conqueror; and it prescribes the
law that the conquered shall resume possession of their
rights as citizens. Come, vote, your right has not perished; we know neither subject peoples, nor subordinate
republics; you have no other master than the supreme
compact by which we are all bound; after having cut
down the chief criminal, which is slavery, we invite you to
enjoy with us the blessings in store for free nations; come,




252         ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
aid us; come, oppose us; come, take your broad and glorious place among a people which is your own!
It seems to me that such language must find its way
to many hearts. By the side of compromised and hardened
men, the South contains a far greater number of others
who have yielded to impulse.  If their present hatreds
are ardent, the history of civil wars shows us that hatreds
no less ardent have become assuaged after peace. Civil
and political equality closes many wounds.
Let no one reproach me for preserving such hopes. I
am sure of nothing, but I am obstinate in hoping. In the
interest of the North as in that of the South, I do not
despair of seeing them ere long place their different
genius at the service of the same institutions.  The principle of abolition once laid down, the North and South once
delivered from the burden which is crushing them, I see
them united both by their resemblances and differences,
completing and finally appreciating each other. Certainly
the place of Southern men will not be small in the country which they have sought to disrupt; the sympathetic
qualities which distinguish them have indeed their value.
They have spirit and ambition —they are the Gascons of
America. Now, the Gascons have never ceased to take
a powerful part in the government of France, although
France has massacred the Albigenses, although the langtue
d'&il has many a time trodden the languze d'oc under foot.
Northern men were then hard; at this time things
are different.  It is necessary that they should be
different.
The first condition of the reestablishment of the
Union is that the North, victorious, (I suppose this hypothesis,) give proof of generosity. No refusals, no recriminations, no inequalities, even temporary! Think no more




TrE SOUTH WILL NEVER BE RECLAIM[ED.    253
of the past, make haste to blot out those measures of confiscation which grieve your friends, do not say to yourselves that the rebellious South has done the same; to
reestablish the Union is more difficult than to destroy
it; it needs more forgetfulness of injuries, more magnanimity and more virtue.
I hold this languace with confidence, for I know that
the North is far fiom being exasperated, as is supposed.
At the present time, there is already talk of amnfesty.
It is true that there is also talk of excepting the principal leaders; their exemplary punishment is demanded as
the necessary sanction of the law which they have violated,
of the blood which has been spilt on their account. This
is the first impulse; which will give place, I am sure, to a
better thought. The glory of the United States will be
precisely that of not having shed a drop of blood on the
scaffold after having poured out so much on the battlefield.  There is herein a greatness, a guarantee of the
future, a moral recompense, in a word, far superior to that
which would be obtained by the vaunted measures of political justice. The leaders will be far more thoroughly annihilated by pardon than by punishment. The magnanimous
conduct of the North will thus manifest. a feeling of confidence which must make proselytes.  Behold it! it is
master of itself; and, although determined to suppress the
rebellion, it is far, very far from hating the rebels. Who
does not see thit it even experiences a touching pity on
their behalf, choosing rather to prolong the war and endanger its triumph, than to let loose slave insurrections?
There should be calmness in justice; the cause of right
should be defended in a spirit of peace. The other day,
Dn the announcement of the conflagration at Charleston,: subscription for the sufferers was opened at the New
York Exchange. Those who took the lead in such a




254         ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
patriotic act of charity did much, whether they knew it
or not, for the future reestablishment of the Union.
Lastly, I will not leave this important subject without
recalling two measures which I have mentioned before,
and which must contribute a great part toward bringing
back the South. The first is the abrogation of the ultra
protective tariff, the broad application of the principle
of commercial freedom. The second, the principal one,
I should say, is the offer of an indemnity designed to
second progressive emancipation. Apportioned over a
term of twenty years, that is to say, he time necessary
to complete the emancipation, this indemnity will not exceed the resources of a powerful people. Two hundred
millions of dollars thus appropriated for twenty years to
this work of peace would assure to the masters a compensation at least equal to that accorded by England and
France, would place resources at the service of a difficult
transformation, and would retain in the bosom of the
Union, the most infuriate of its adversaries.
I have shown that the reestablishment of the Union is
not impossible, I might have shown that it is almost necessary; for if the difficulties of union are great, those
of separation are none the less so.
It is easy to write the word separation; to realize
the thing is assuredly less easy; we have no longer an
Alexander VI. to trace a line of demarcation. To whom
shall be given Washington, situated in a slave country?
WVith whom will the other Border States remain? Will
Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina drag by force to
the South those fractions of their territory which have
just rallied to the support of the North? Will free
Kansas be delivered up, a bleeding victim, into the hands
of those who surround and covet her on every side?




THE SOUTH WILL NEVER BE RECLAIMED       255
WCill the inhabitants of the West, of the States that form
the valleys of the Mississippi, the Missouri, and the Ohio,
be told that they must renounce the mouths of their
rivers, that New Orleans and Texas are to belong to
another country, a hostile country, a country which
Europe will ere long, perhaps, have under her protec-.
tion?
Picture to yourself this great American republic, mutilated, separated from its southern boundary and its
ports on the Gulf of Mexico, deprived of Louisiana, which
it had purchased from France; of Florida, which it had
bought of the Spaniards and Indians; of Texas, whose
debts it had paid, regulating both well and ill these accounts with an insolvent neighbor, securing the indemnities due for Federal properties, for repudiated credits, for
reciprocal confiscations! The North and the South-this
is soon said; but where does the North begin, and where
does the South end? Does the North end at the Potomac,
which cuts in two the faithful State of Maryland? Does
the South stop at Tennessee, beyond which the rebellion
of slavery has found partisans? The fact is, that from the
Gulf of Mexico to the great Canadian lakes, we find the
same nation. On the day when it shall be wished to separate the North and South, it will be necessary to trace
I know not what uncertain line through the loyal States,
through the rebel States, through the slave States,
through rivers, through railroads —a line which would
place a custom-house with a body of guards at every
point of this vast frontier.
Tell me not that there will be peace, that the absolute
freedom of commerce will be proclaimed, that customhouses and guards will consequently be useless, and that
the weakness of the frontiers will occasion no inconvenience. Who does not see that such a division is war,




256         ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
war always and everywhere? European commerce sometimes wishes the realization of this bad dream! It talks
of amicable separation, of pacific separation; it has the
appearance of believing that by merely putting peace
into words, it will put it into things! Things are less
accommodating than words. From the state of distrust
to the state of war, it is never very far. Now, what will
be the remediless distrust between the mutilated United
States and the rebellious South, transferred into a government?  I waive all that pertains to slavery; I suppose
that the South, forced in any case to resign itself to progressive emancipation, will make up its mind to continual
escapes, to provocations coming from the North, to abolition appeals from the Northern press. But will the
North, in turn, make up its mind to see the influences
and the busy action of Europe installed in the very heart
of the American continent?
Let us see things as they are. The South, miserable,
ruined, dependent, forced to lean on some one, will seek
and find a protector.  This will be a great misfortune to
America, and, I do not fear to say, a no less great misfortune to Europe.
The moment has not come to insist on this point.
What I have just said suffices to show that questions are
not suppressed with phrases, and that the fine formula,
" an amicable separation," resolves no difficulty.  The
United States will resign themselves to it in case it should
become absolutely necessary; I am the first to counsel
them this sacrifice; but I would speak falsely should I
present to them an assured peace as the consequence of
such a resolution. By force of wisdom, it might perhaps
be attained. Perhaps the wisdom of Europe would also
aid in it, and the South would be left to itself. However
this might be, nothing would be concluded, and it might




THE SOUTH WvILL ~NEVER BE RECLAIMED.    257
be even maintained that a new problem, no less perilous
than the old, would begin to propound itself. The attempt would be made, which would indeed be something,
to live on good terms; the peril of standing armies and
huge expenditures would be escaped; nevertheless, this
peril would threaten to reappear from one moment to
another, and the day that a European intrigue should
peuetrate the South-that day of itself would rekindle
the war.
Once more, there is less arbitrariness and chance in
the formation of national territories than is affirmed. It
is not the will of man nor the caprice of treaties that
has made by itself alone a France, a Switzerland, an
England.  rThe laws of geography are something, although they certainly are not every thing. Now if there
be a country whose unity is written on the soil itself; so
that, on looking at a map, we can scarcely comprehend its
being broken into fractions, it is precisely the one which
we are considering. The same chain of mountains runs
through it from one end to the other, its eastern plain is
interrupted by nothing, its interior plain is one vast valley,
the valley of a single river, running from Canada to the
Gulf of MIexico; its homogeneousness is obvious; there is
in it evidently an organic life, which it is unjustifiable not
to take into account. I marvel at those who demonstrate
to us at length the impossibilities of union, and do not
perceive the difficulties of separation. To accept the latter as a last resort, may become necessary; to seek it as
an ideal, is indeed what I cannot comprehend.
I know of but one thing more detestable than separation; it is conquest. To subjugate, to hold garrison, to
reduce the Southern States to the condition of provinces,
to send and long maintain among them governors from




258         ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
Massachusetts or Illinois, to enter upon the system of
subject republics, to proclaim a lasting suspension of constitutional rights —what are we to call all this? We know
what Venices and Polands cost Europe, what they cost,
not in money or soldiers alone, but in honor and liberty.
An American Poland or Venice would be far worse. To
give itself the pleasure of crushing the South, the North
would begin by immolating its own institutions. This
would be true suicide.
Let us not disguise it, men are found in the North who
have accepted the idea of a conquest, with all its consequences. Many others go forward toward it, without too
closely examining things, saying to themselves in vague
terms that great circumstances call for great measures, and
that if it be necessary to make a few transient sacrifices,
America will not shrink from them.
These so-called transient sacrifices are of those which
bear in history the name of revolution. A thousand times
rather separation, with its inconveniences and dangers,
than the death of the United States! They would die on
the day when, making themselves conquerors and oppressors, they should assume a system appropriate to this rol6e,
a military dictatorship, a large standing army, exceptional
laws.
There is no medium-after the defeat of the slave
States, and past the very brief moment when the re6stab.
lishment of political and material order will exact the
adoption of transitory measures, it will be necessary to
govern these States either as a conquered country or as
free members of the great republic. Lay aside the plans
of military colonization, and other follies, which the press
has put forward; have faith in liberty!-it has often done
and will do miracles. When the South, delivered from
the terror which is weighing upon it, delivered also from




THE SOUTH WILL NEVER BE RECLAIMED.    259
the illusions by which it has been lulled, having no longer
to occupy itself with slavery, the destiny of which will
have been fixed before the end of the war, will find itself
called to participate as before in the votes of Congress, it
will not perhaps bring to it the best possible spirit; I
think, however, that this spirit of opposition will become
rapidly modified under the influence of a position radically changed.
In fine, it is the nature of governments to exist with
greater or less opposition. This one, if it hold out, will
contribute to maintain the unity of the North, and will
play the part of an increasingly feeble minority; it will be
swallowed up in the rapid development of free States,
territories attained to the rank of States, and all endowed
with liberty.
But it appears to me more probable that, under the
light yoke of the constitution and laws, happy in regaining their original independence, the inhabitants of the
South will rally in great part around their country and
flag. The old questions will have disappeared, new interests will appeal to hearts, parties will become transformed,
and as nothing will recall the defeat, as reprisals will be
absent, as the traces of civil war will be carefully effaced,
as the victors will have no right that will not belong to
the vanquished, a better triumph than that which is won,
sword in hand, the triumph over prejudices and hatred,
will come perhaps to crown a policy as skilful as generous.
I know of no other counsel to the United States-to
conquer first, to bring back afterward; to bring back by
the opportune solution of the problem of slavery, by the
immediate and bold reestablishment of liberty.
I add that if, in spite of abolition, and in spite of lib12




260         ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
erty, a violent resistance be maintained in a few States,
if nothing be found there but sullenness and opposition,
if the state of war be reawakened there unceasingly, if it
become necessary to return there from day to day, rather
than hold garrison in these States, it would be fitting to
abandon them to their evil destiny. At no price should
permanent occupation be admitted.
I should have foreseen an extreme case, which appears
to me, I acknowledge, far from probable. But no matter,
though improbable, it is not impossible. There is a corner of America, the same in which the rebellion was born,
the corner formed by South Carolina, Georgia, Florida,
and Alabama, which will remain, perhaps, in insurrection,
and will not rally to the Union, despite the defeat of the
South, and the repossession by the Federal troops of
the fortresses and arsenals. Perhaps it will not limit
itself to making opposition in Congress, or even refusing
to be represented there; perhaps perpetual disturbances,
a lasting agitation, will manifest the determination of a
people resolved to remain alien and hostile.
Then would be the time when the United States, consolidated on their essential frontiers, in possession of the
mouths of the Mississippi, having besides denied by force
of arms the right of separation, certain thenceforth of
escaping the system of amicable dissolution recommended
to them by so many pretended friends, might address the
following language with honor and security to the four
or five refractory States: " We will not sacrifice to you
our principles and institutions; we will not hold garrison
among you, and enter upon the system of standing armies;
we will not pretend to constrain you to be free and happy. Go then, attempt to live alone; some day, we will
see you return to us."




CHAPTER V.
THE SOUTH WILL NOT BE CONQUERED.
THERE are causes for which it is to our honor to fight,
without troubling ourselves too much about the chances
of success or reverses.  A principle is involved; this is
enough for us, happen what may! And this is the way in
which great things are accomplished; the principle is maintained, and success comes into the bargain.  Such is the
fate which awaits the Unitecl States, should their war
become more and more what it was not enough at firsta war of justice.  Not only will European opinion declare itself with increasing warmth,* but they will meet
UTnion elements in the conquered South, which will facilitate the task undertaken. Besides the Germans of
Texas, besides the inhabitants of the mountainous regions
in North  Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and Alabama,
they will see all those return to the old country whom
the defeat of the South will have disenchanted or affranchised, 11 those whom  abolition, steadfastly advancing,
will have brought face to face with a new future.
* I am happy to cite here one of the most eminent minds of Europe,
the great economist and logician, Stuart Mill. He has just defended, in
a much remarked article in Frazer's Magazine, the same theories which.I maintain here.




26 2 -ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
But still it is necessary to conquer; and here is a contested point. The champions of the insurrectional government at Richmond, who display so much activity
among us, do not content themselves with affirming with
imperturbable coolness that the conquered South will not
return to the Union; they affirm with no less coolness that
the South will not be conquered.
It would be easy for me to oppose to these bold
affirmations, which were much bolder two months ago,
the recent victories of the Union. I shall do nothing of
the sort. The issue of the conflict is still in the hands of
God, and I do not feel the right to say that no disaster
can arise. I, who believed in success when few believed
in it, have not ceased to believe in it now that few doubt
it; but success may be more or less slow, more or less
surrounded with difficulties and reverses. I shall not
therefore imitate my opponents, but shall employ a more
modest language. Not feeling any vocation for the character of prophet, I shall take care not to recount here in
advance events that are about to happen. I marvel at
people who are so sure of their facts! The future has
not the least obscurity for them, it has much for me.
I confine myself to protesting against the positive assertions which have contributed but too greatly to mislead
the opinion of Eun:ope. Mly humble theory is this: the
defeat of the South is probable, the return of the conquered
South to the Union is possible.
If I have not arranged my propositions in this order,
it has been to proceed at once to the great question; to
that which disquiets earnest minds, to that which is worth
the pains of debating. As to the chances of the struggle,
I should have less trouble in showing the enormity of the
errors which have been successfully propagated. It will
suffice for me, to take thingks as they stand at the moment




THE SOUTH WILL NOT BE CONQUERED.         263
of my writing, and compare them with the predictions
which have been made us. The most decided and most
untrue affirmations of the past will enlighten us on the
value of the new affirmations which are produced without
ceasing. We shall have neither to examine them in detail, nor still less to fling ourselves into the dangerous
trade of political or military vaticination. I seek, it is
known, to place myself on such ground that my observations will endure, whatever may be, moreover, the course
of affairs in America. The study of principles should not
resemble a book written for the occasion.
VWe are to distrust the news which is sent us from
America. I know not where it is manufactured; but at
critical moments, above all, and when it is in question to
urge us to some folly, inaccurate accounts follow one
after the other. I will only recall what happened in those
weeks of anguish when the Trent affair was in process of
negotiation, and when the peace of the world, as well as
the fate of America, seemed to hang on a single thread.
The telegraph then informed us, again and again, first,
that the city of New York had illuminated in honor
of Captain Wilkes; next, that all the principal cities of
the North had accorded to him the freedom of citizenship; lastly, which was more serious, that Mr. Lincoln
had addressed to the new Swedish minister, Count Piper,
an official address almost announcing a rupture with England. The precise language was given us: "It is our
destiny to encounter, for the third time, the open hostility,
hereditary jealousy and prejudices of Great Britain.....
WVell; be it so! we will sustain the shock of battle like
freemen."  W~hat did it matter to the authors of this
imaginary harangue that it would come to us later from
Stockholm, just as it had been delivered; that is, as pacific and inoffensive as possible?  Later would be too




264         ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
late; the North would be attacked and the South recognized.
The illuminations, of course, had existed nowhere but
in the imagination of newspaper correspondents. And as
to the diplomas, conferring the freedom of the cities, so
far from having been delivered, freedom of cities does
not exist in the United States.
I might cite many other examples; were we not informed that Kentucky and aMissouri, the two principal
Border States, had forsaken the Union, and voted their
adhesion to the South? Now, the votes in question were
those cast in a few villages by some wandering members
of dissolved legislatures. At the same time, the statement of the genuine votes was published, and the result
was, as far as Kentucky was concerned, that, of the one
hundred and ninety-two thousand six hundred and fiftysix voters comprised in this State, one hundred and
seventy-six thousand one hundred and thirty-one had
voted in favor of the Union, and but sixteen thousand
five hundred and twenty-five against it.
Later, when it was in question to prove to Europe
that great military operations were impossible, it was
gravely published in our journals that the armies "were
going into winter quarters."  There was some chance in
this wise of exciting the impatience of the manufacturing
centres, and deciding Europe to break the blockade.
But I should be ashamed to dwell further on the subject.
If it be unjustifiable to invent false news, is it quite
justifiable to propagate ill-founded predictions? Who may
not be mistaken?  Less than any, would I contest this
right to err sometimes, but to err always, is somewhat
less innocent, perhaps. Now, here are a few of the predictions which have made a great noise among us, which




THE SOUTHI WILL NOT BE CONQUERIED.      265
have been admitted as equal to truth, and which have
been since replaced by others, no less cordially welcomed.
The South, being ready and armed, was in a few days
to cross the Potomac, occupy the Border States, rally
together all the slave States, and dictate peace in the
walls of the capital.-We know how much of this it has
done.
Missouri, Kentucky, and  Maryland were about to
make common cause with the South.-They have ranged
themselves on the side of the Union.
After Btll Run the North, terrified, was about to lay
do wvn its arms; after Lexington, the gates of St. Louis were
about to open; after the removal of General Fremont, and
the discouraging reports of Adjutant-General Thomas, the
West was about to witness the rapid triumph of the insurrection. Events have so fully reversed these prophecies
that we may be pardoned for not being dismayed beyond
measure on hearing the new prophecies —it is possible
that the South may be foiled in its attacks, but it is itself
inassailable; it will not be pursued home, the Federal army
cannot depart from its base of operations; money is about
to fail; an amicable separation is about to be signed.
" Near" I recognition has been announced more than
twenty times, with circumstantial details which should
leave room for no doubt. The negotiations which were
about to effect the contestation of the blockade by Europe
have been reported in no less precise a manner.-The danger has been real, I am aware; it is nevertheless certain
that the makers of prognostics have hitherto been unlucky
in their predictions.
The North was without enthusiam, incapable of impulse and sacrifice; divided, moreover, drawn in different
directions by the abolitionists, republicans, and democrats,
comprising a great number of men devoted to the South,




266         ERRiORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
appealed to by its interests, it was about to force Mr.
Lincoln to dictate peace and to impose compromises. —The
unanimity has been complete; the idea of buying peace
by concessions made to slavery has lost ground from the
beginning, and has ended by becoming entirely effaced.
New York was to detach itself from the North, and
declare itself a free city; the great Western States,
through other motives, could not be long in doing the
same; as to California, it was a matter of course.-NNew
York, the West, and California are more than ever attached to the Union.
Riots were about to break out in large cities; socialism was already lifting its head; the numerous working
men of New England, reduced to the most extreme
misery by the scarcity of cotton, were preparing direful
embarrassments for the Government at Washington.-The
domestic peace has not been disturbed for a single instant.
Congress, irritated with Mir. Lincoln, had decided on
deposing him; revolutionary measures would not be long
in being adopted.-The conduct of Congress, from the
beginning to the end, has been as calm as patriotic.
The reaction of great defeats could not be supported
by the democratic populations of the North, the cry of
treason was about to make itself heard, the Government
was about to find itself drawn on to adopt extreme measures, to decree the penalty of death against rebels, to
let loose negro insurrections.-Great disasters have been
supported with the calmness inspired by strength, the
Government has not shed a drop of blood, and has applied
itself to prevent slave insurrections.
The Trent affair was premeditated; it was infallibly
to bring about war; in default of the cabinet, the populace would take it upon itself to hurl the nation against
England; the impulse would be irresistible.-The Gov



THE SOUTH WILL NOT BE CONQUERDD.         267
ernment had premeditated nothing, the populace has
exacted nothing, the nation and its leaders have preserved
a most worthy attitude.
The enlistments of volunteers were to become impossible; States were cited where not a single man consented
to rejoin the standard. —Six or seven hundred thousand
men have rejoined it; every State has exceeded its contingent; and one State, Ohio, has offered by itself alone
more volunteers than were at first demanded of the entire Union.
There could be none but three months' volunteers;
an undisciplined and ridiculous crowd, unceasingly decimated by desertion, mutinying against its officers. —Volunteers for a year, volunteers for the war are alone accepted, discipline is making vast progress, there is no
longer either mutiny or desertion.
Loans were to find no takers, taxes were to provoke
insurrections, commercial and industrial sufferings were
to bring the North to a composition. Loans have been
taken, taxes have been paid, sufferings have been supported.
Probably we are not at the end. The paper currency
is about to furnish a text for declamations; men will not
content themselves with regretting the use of this means,
but will see in it a symptom of dissolution; they will announce to us for to-morrow the forced cessation of the
war, or for the day after, bankruptcy. It is evident of
itself, besides, that the South, on its part, is neither exhausted nor miserable, that its loans are taken without
difficulty, that its treasury is full, that its armies havel
abundance, that it can raise as many soldiers as it pleases,
that it does not accept volunteers for three or six months,
that its government is popular, that opposition and di.
visions are unknown among it, that, in a word, it pos12e




268         ERRORVT CREDITED IN EUROPE.
sesses (I recall the language which was lately held to us)
all the conditions of certain and rapid success.
Why then does it not succeed?  Things went much
better with it a year ago than to-day. In the beginning,
it had every thing on its side; thanks to treason, it found
itself in a position to attack, and the North did not seem
to be in a position to defend. Notwvithstanding, at the
first cannon ball that it fired, the whole North arose, hastened forward, and raised an invincible barrier between
the capital and Charleston. The South then lost its first
illusion.
The battle of Ball Run made it lose the second. It
lacked nothing, it seemed, but a great success, to demoralize the North and draw in Europe. It had its great success; yet the North was found firmer after it than ever,
while Europe had not advanced a step. A conqueror,
but terrified, as it were, at its own victory, it dared not
risk itself outside its studied and leisurely fortified positions. Not to have marched at this moment upon Washington was to have retrograded, and greatly.
The third illusion of the South took flight the day its
commissioners reambarked on board an English steamer.
It had believed itself this time very near the end, recognition was within its grasp, and aid from outside was about
to arrive. Bitter deception! Neither recognition nor aid;
far fiom that, liberal and Christian opinion, the great enemy of the South, awakens from its torpor.
How the respective positions have become modified
within the year! In the beginning, the South alone was
armed, alone prepared, alone officered; it was three
months in advance; the Federal army had been dispersed
and sent to a distance with so much care, that at the momnent of the greatest anxiety, the commander-in-chief had
difficulty to assemble a few soldiers in the menaced capi



THE SOUTEI WILL NOT BE CONQUERED.       269
tal; the fleet had been so adroitly dismantled that, on
the 4th of 3Iarch, 1861, when the new administration
took the power, there were no vessels to secure the execution of the laws and protect the national property; of
seventy-two vessels-of-war which the nation then possessed, the steamer Brooklyn of twenty-five guns, and
the transport BRelief of two guns, alone remained within
reach of 3Mr. Lincoln; on the whole extent of the Southern coasts, the Federal fortresses had been abandoned to
such a point that the greater part? were seized at the first
moment by the insurgents, as well as at least a thousand
pieces of artillery; arms had been conveyed to the Southern arsenals, and this on a large scale; more than one
hundred and fifteen thousand muskets of the best patterns had been sent into the slave States, and two hundred and fifty thousand percussion muskets had been sold
to them beside, at a price representing less than onefourth their value; the treasury, lately still so rich, had
been outrageously pillaged; treason continued to surround the new government, not one of whose military
measures was not communicated on the spot to the insurrectional generals; it succeeded IMr. Buchanan, who, in
a solemn message, had just stammered out excuses, and
rendered as doubtfiul as in him lay, the right of defending Fort Sumter against the assailants. Such was the
startingr-point; the Southern army, and I comprehend it,
expected to encamp before long in Washington. How
many weeks, days perhaps, would it need to bring to
reason this handful of men, this novice of a president, this
divided country, this population of farmers and merchants, strangers to the vocation of arms?
We have no longer to ask, as was then done, whether
the regiments charged with protecting the capital could
succeed in doing so, and could open f, way through the




270         ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
hostile streets of Baltimore. To-day, in spite of several
grave reverses, Bull Run, Springfield, and Lexington,
the United States have everywhere resumed the offensive. They have an army, they have a fleet; they occupy
the principal Border States; they have not permitted the
war to go beyond the enemy's country; they have set
foot on the territory of the insurgent States, while the
South has not even succeeded in holding in Eastern Virginia the ground conquered after the battle of Bull Run,
while it has lost two counties and a population of fifteen
thousand souls; it has fallen back also in Western Virginia, it has fallen back in Missouri, it has fallen back in
Kentucky; it has seen invaded under its eyes and without
daring oppose it, the very suburbs of Charleston and
Savannah. Port Royal in South Carolina, Tybee Island
in Georgia, Fort Pickens in Florida, Ship Island in Mississippi; such are a few of the points occupied. Redoubtable preface of the more serious attacks in the course of
preparation! The national flag, so rudely thrown down,
now floats from one end to the other of the South. The
South has not ceased to retrograde, the North has not
ceased to advance.
The punishment of Charleston was not long in coming. A year had hardly elapsed, when already the fortress of Beaufort was retaken fiom the South Carolinians,
already the principal outlets of the harbor of Charleston
were closed by a barricade destined to last as long as the
war. I do not speak of the sinister conflagration which
vessels in the offing contemplated with terror a few
months ago.
The impotence of the South has just been demonstrated by the year that has passed away. The rebellion began in pride, it runs the risk of ending quite
differently. Whilst it has not succeeded in occupying a




THE SOUTH WILL NOT BE CONQUERIED       271
single inch of free soil, the North has created a navy and
patiently disciplined an army; it is doing many things
declared impossible-it has remained united, it has escaped disturbances fiom the mob, it has raised as many
volunteers as it has wished, it has not sought the support
which might have been lent it by slave insurrections.
Europe has known little of the spirit of patriotism and
sacrifice of which the North has just given proof.
I remember the derision that found utterance among
us, when Mr. Lincoln talked of raising four hundred
thousand men. It was much worse when Congress increased the number to five hundred thousand. Half a
million of men to be raised thus from one day to the
next! Armies of this sort to be improvised! I do not
know whether this is contrary to rule; but it cannot be
now contested th-at five hundred thousand, I am mistaken, six hundred thousand men, and more, have offered
themselves with eagerness-that the transformation of
these volunteers into soldiers has been effected in some
measure in spite of prodigious difficulties; history records
few facts so extraordinary. There are some States, Pennsylvania for instance, which have furnished a hundred
thousand men, greatly exceeding the amount of the quota
required of them.
The impulse which followed the attack on Fort Sumter was truly magnificent; stores were deserted, farms
remained untilled, manufactories interrupted their work
-was it not necessary to hasten at the call of a menaced
country? In a single day, New England found herself
in the field; the West did not remain behind; far from
the theatre of action, on the lakes, in the solitudes, men
made ready for the combat. I add, that the battle of




27 2        ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
Bull Run, instead of arresting this impulse, only gave it
more ardor.
And the North has not only furnished soldiers, it has
also furnished sailors. The fishermen of Maine and Massachusetts have hastened by thousands to the support of
the government. The principal force of the North, tbhe
navy, has been thus re-created with marvellous rapidity.
The North-that country of the dollar! has been no
less prodigal of its money than its men. In a few weeks,
the patriotic donations reached the sum of one hundred
and fifty million fiancs. The merchant princes of New
York distinguished themselves by their liberality; at the
same time that they sent their clerks to the armies, saying to them, "' We will take care of your families," they
sent to the State offerings of ten thousand, twenty thousand, fifty thousand dollars. And societies acted as largely
as individuals; the Pacific Steamship Company made a
donation of one of its best ships, and offered all the rest at
a price to be fixed by three naval officers, two of whom
should be appointed by the government. Note, that the
citizens who acted thus in New York, Pennsylvania,
Massachusetts, Illinois, Ohio, and elsewhere, had just lost
a thousand millions by the repudiation of Southern debts,
and were about to lose double the sum by the effect of the
commercial crisis. The individualism with which men
affect to reproach America, does not seem to prevent the
national unity from manifesting itself there with energy.
This enthusiasm could not come forth in the Border
States-each of them, in proportion to the influence exercised over it by the interests of slavery, has shown itself
disposed to practice between the North and the South a
policy of isolation. This has been one of the great dangers
of the United States, and one of the best chances of the
rebellion. If the thought which for a moment took form




TILE SOUTH WILL NOT BE CONQUERED.        273
in Kentucky had attained its realization, if the neutrality of
the Border States had been accepted, a sort of intermediate confederation would have been thus formed, a veritable rampart destined to protect the South. The government at Washington would perhaps have been struck
powerless on the day that it should have encountered before it a so-called friendly coalition, which would have
permitted entrance into its territory to neither army, which
would have naturally sell itself up as an arbiter, and armed
mediator, threatening to pass over entire from the side
of those who should not welcome its overtures.
MIr. Lincoln did not tolerate for a moment this equivocal attitude, for which justice should be rendered him.
At the risk of transforming into adversaries those who
still presented themselves as friends, he declared clearly
that neutrals would be enemies in his sight. And firmness
has borne here its usual friuits; to-day, the Border States,
with Kentucky at their head, have declared themselves
for the Union; their regiments are combating the South,
the national vanguard against the insurrection is formed
by Missouri, Kentucky, Delaware, Maryland, a part of
Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee.
The territories also have remained faithful. As to the
Indians, this miserable, too much extolled people, whose
barbarous customs would not easily consent to dispense
with slavery, have been tempted to range themselves on
the side of the South, which may count perhaps on their
scalping-knives. Nevertheless, as on the other side, the
Indians cling to the pensions which are paid them from
the treasury, it is probable that they will pause in time
and wheel about, especially in case of the success of the
North.
This success, it is said, depends on the army. Now,




274         ERRORS CREDITED IN EUIROPE.
the national army is inferior in all points to the insurrectional army; a dense crowd which is neither instructed
nor organized, nor disciplined, nor commanded, is not an
army, and will not go through a campaign!
It remains to be known whether the Northern troops
still merit the jeers which men have so long persisted in
lavishing upon them. Nothing is easier than to jeer,
than to see the ridiculous side which is often presented
by great things. But in full justice, is there reason to
laugh so much at soldiers who, in equal numbers, have
almost always beaten those of the South?
It is true that they have often found themselves inferior in numbers. The unskilfulness of the leaders seems
to have resolved the problem of always having the most
troops at their disposal, and always bringing the least into
the field.
Herein was displayed for a time the military inferiority of the North. Taken individually, the soldiers were
worth something; the officers were worth nothing in the
beginning. The officers of the regular army belonged
for the most part to the South, and had proffered it their
services. There were in the South neither companies
formed by contract, nor proprietor-colonels-poor colonels
forced to ask pardon for their inexperience, and lacking
authority over their troops. The social distinctions existing in the South in themselves facilitated command;
rich planters enforce obedience more easily than merchants, lawyers, and members of Congress.
These were the calamities of the beginning. To-day,
all is indeed changed. Incapable men have been thrown
aside, the rest have learned their trade. The soldiers,-on
their side, bear no resemblance to those of a year ago.
There is no more insubordination, as then, no more of
those acts of lack of discipline which, two or three times,




THE SOUTH WILL NOT BE CONQUERED.,    27.5
assumed alarming proportions. Obedience is perfect, the
great army of the Potomac, removed from Washington,
where it was becoming corrupted, and living in barracks,
presents one of the most remarkable phenomena of our
times. The three months' volunteers have disappeared,
and volunteers in earnest have taken their place. Volunteers! Is it not already something to see immense armies
in which not a single man figures contrary to his own
will?
The armies are almost entirely American; the Irish
element, the German element, most valuable, moreover,
form  therein but a comparatively small part.  The sale
of spirituous liquors has been forbidden, and this with the
approbation of the soldiers themselves. The most of them
send to their fathers, mothers, wives, brothers, and sisters
from  half to two-thirds of their pay.  The letters addressed to relatives amount to an incredible number. We
feel that the family ties preserve their full force.  These
armies resemble no others, and what finally characterizes
them is that in every regiment, prayer meetings, presided
over by the officers, indicate the forcible action of a motive power, the strength of which we Europeans can
scarcely comprehend.*
These soldiers bear themselves valiantly on the field
of battle.  We are greatly mistaken if we suppose the
Americans of the North unfit for the vocation of arms.
Far from  it, their temper is thoroughly warlike; they
* It is necessary here to render justice to the Germans; not only have
they furnished admirable regiments and officers of the highest merit, but
they have heroically accepted, in the service of the good cause, the
calamities which have burst upon their families in Missouri and else-,
where. Their houses sacked, their little.farms burned by secession neighbors, bear testimony to the sacrifices which they have made without
hesitation.




276. EUROPE AND THE AMERICAN CRISIS.
have something of the ardor of the French and the solidity
of the English.  It is said that General McDowell has
cavalry regiments which excite the admiration of foreign
officers themselves.
The men who now make part of the army are strong,
courageous, and intelligent; they have attended the public schools; they have a full knowledge of the principles
at stake in the present struggle; they have enlisted
through the feeling of duty. This is true, above all, of the
soldiers from New England.  Nevertheless, the enlistments, except perhaps those from a few large cities, have
in general procured choice men..
Far from fearing that they will remain unfit for the
vocation of arms, I fear much more that they will become
soldiers in good earnest.  I should pity America on the
day that she should cease to merit our sarcasms.  Happy
citizens of the New World, who do not slaughter each
other as gallantly as we, who do not know so well how
to drill and charge in double-quick time!  I desire, for
my part, that there may remain some corner of the globe
where there shall be neither great armies, nor great fleets,
nor great budgets, where, to enter upon a war shall appear
a difficult enterprise, where this enterprise shall be undertaken slowly and unskilfully, where bulletins, deploring the
death of two hundred men, shall afford a subject of laughter.
As, moreover, the Americans do not fear danger, as
their pioneeur of the West run as many risks as our soldiers, it is not in question for them to give proof of it.
Let them not give too much now, I entreat them! May
they ere long unlearn what they are forced to learn today!  If they do not unlearn it, it will be all over with
the United States which we have known, and the day
that the liberty of the blacks shall be proclaimed, the
liberty of the whites will suffer a cruel diminution.




TILE SOUTH WILL NOT BE CONQUERED.        277
Resolved as I am to maintain my position in the region
of general considerations, without entering upon the recital of facts, I leave military events aside. I cannot
refrain, however, fi'om saying a few words of the passage
at arms which served so long, and still serves, to demonstrate in Europe that the definitive victory of the North
is impossible.
Its first reverses astonished no one who gave them
the least reflection. Inexperienced soldiers, commanded
by no less inexperienced officers, acting in the enemy's
country, marching at random  through wooded solitudes
where bodies could with difficulty keep up communication,
attacking a studied and fortified position on which Beauregard had fallen back in all haste, and where it had been
his constant desire to make himself attacked, the urging,
contrary to the laws of war, and the advice of General
Scott, the insane point exacted by the passions of certain
journals, the men of the North could not but be foiled.
Every thing contributed to their defeat-Patterson
did not come up, while Johnson, on the contrary, brought
decisive aid to Beauregard; a panic broke out after a
prolonged combat. There is nothing in all this to surprise
us. Entered upon in such conditions, the battle was lost
in advance. Far firom accusing, as some have dared to do,
the cowardice of the soldiers of General MIcDowell, we
should on the contrary admire the tenacity with which
these raw recruits struggled a whole day against batteries,
against a ready prepared position, against superior numbers of the enemy. The number of their dead and
wounded, a considerable number (for an American battle,
be it understood, and for the effective force engaged),
proves that they fought, and fought well. The panic occurred when it was learned that Beauregard had received
an immense reenforcement, and that the reenforcement




2 7 8        ERlORS CREDITED IN EUtROPE.
expected by MIcDowell had failed. Then, as usual, the
drivers of the baggage-wagons gave the alarm, and the
flight took place.* Beauregard dared not follow in pursuit; which was perhaps the most salient and most significant fact of the day.
If Bull Run had no military consequences, it had potical ones. In the first place, it taught the North that
the war was a thing in earnest, and that the journey to
Richmond was not a matter of mere sport.  It next
taught it, that the plans of a campaign should be made in
the closet of the commander-in-chief, and not in the
offices of influential journals.  MIr. Lincoln has learned
what a fault he committed in yielding to the cry of public opinion, and forcing the action of General Scott.
Lastly, the United States have also learned one thing —
that they were proof against defeat, which, far from staggering them, raised their patriotism anew.
Their attitude after Bull Run has never been sufficiently remarked. There was a firmness in it which was
worth more than victory, and which must bring it sooner
or later. Congress was in session at the time; it neither
humiliated itself, nor gave way to agitation; it lent its
ear to no dishonorable proposition; thoughts of negotiation or compromise were put aside more resolutely than
ever.
It is much less in the hour of triumph than of reverses,
that energetic peoples are recognized. The United States
accepted their defeat openly, manfully, in the English
manner. Instead of losing their time in disguising or explaining, they occupied themselves at once with repairing it. They went back to the causes, recognized the
error committed, felt the necessity of forming an army,
* Since Bull'Run, the Northern armies have many times given proof
of heroic bravery, and the Southern armies have had their panics.




THE SOUTHI WILL NOT BE CONQUERED.       279
and set about the work without delay. Never had volunteers poured in more eagerly and in greater numbers;
McClellan was charged with converting them into soldiers, and it was admitted that this would need time.
Thenceforth commenced that period of systematic immobility, which has been derided among us, for want of
having wished to comprehend it. The great army was
set apart, the staff offices were purged, habits of discipline were created, camp manners appeared, they waited
on the Potomac until Beauregard should take the resolution to make an attack in turn.
He took care not to come in collision with a chosen
and fortified position; this would have been to furnish in
his turn a Bull Run to the Northern soldiers. Beauregard
therefore remained at home, in his position, constantly
hoping that the North would be guilty a second time of
the folly of seeking him there.
But the lesson has been a good one. The original
plan has reappeared. To act with patience, to wait, to
make ready, to leave the blockade to take effect; then,
by degrees, to tighten the meshes of the net, to launch
the great Mississippi expedition, to reach Virginia through
Tennessee and by water, to throw down, perhaps, by
menacing them in the rear, the renowned lines of Manassas; perhaps also to deal elsewhere than in Virginia, in
the regions of the West, decisive blows which must crush
the insurrection.
We may speak of this plan, for its general features are
a secret to no one, while it may be infinitely modified in
application.  Even now, the Mississippi gunboats are
ready. The battle of Somerset, the impression which
these events have made upon Beauregard, forced to watch
over the defence of his left flank, the expedition of General Burnside, arriving on the other flank of the great




280         ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
Southern army, all announce that nothing has been lost
by waiting. It was necessary to have an army; this is
now ready, and it is probable that we shall not be long in
hearing great news.
The intervention of the navy was necessary, moreover,
to the execution of the plan of General Scott, faithfully
maintained by his successor. Now, the North had no
more navy than army. The point in question was, to im,
provise a fleet; this has been done, and it is not the least
merit of the Government at Washington. The fleet will
be called on to play a much more important part in the
struggle than has seemed to be hitherto believed. This
is doubtless the side on which the superiority of the North
will be manifested.
If the materiel of the navy was lacking last year, the
personnel was likewise deteriorated by the withdrawal
of a great number of officers, natives of the South. As
to the sailors, it is a fact worthy of remark that they all
remained at their post.
The South endeavored to make up for the weakness
of its naval resources by issuing letters of marque. Thanks
to it, we have again seen privateers. This odious custom
of private war, war as a speculation, justly abolished by
the treaty of Paris, amid the applause of Europe, has been
a moment resuscitated by the defenders of slavery. Bad
causes call to each other and strike hands.
It is useless to add that the privateers have succumbed
one by one before the American cruisers. The two last,
the Sumter and the Nashville, no longer daring to navigate
the waters of the New World, have come to fill our shores
with consternation by their facile and lamentable exploits.
A cry is now arising against this maritime brigandage;
our ports are asking with anxiety how much longer the




THE SOUTH  WILL NOT BE CONQUERJED.      281
privilege will be maintained for the benefit of the South
of stopping ships, without brincging them before any tribunal, and burning them on the high seas.
The question would have been long since resolved, had
Europe, less ingenious in creating belligerents, accepted
Mr. Lincoln's assent to the stipulations of the treaty of
Paris. I recall this fact for the honor of principles; for
the privateers will have no appreciable influence over the
solution of the struggle in which the United States are
engaged.
Once more, I predict nothing, I am sure of nothing;
it may be that the North will still have disasters and great
disasters to endure; it may be that the plan of its generals will fail, or be considerably modified. The perils of
a Southern campaign are greater perhaps than is supposed
at first sight; the heat, the difficulty of communication,
the imperfection of the commissariat, are all obstacles
which will not be easily surmounted. On the other side,
I am tempted to believe that the attacks by sea, and
those of the Mississipi flotilla, offer serious chances of success. Therein will be displayed those still unknown resources of the modern mind which, above all in an inventive country like America, may produce important results.
But these things have nothing to do with this study,
designed to evolve on all points the permanent and in
some sort philosophic side of the struggle.  Whatever
may happen, I shall not have been less right in establishing that, in announcing to Europe the probable triumph
of the South, there has been propagated among us a
gross and very dangerous error.
I have sought to prove nothing beside. I know moreover wherein lies the great difficulty-it is in their finan.
ces. War at present is so costly (above all, war as they




282          ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
make it) that exhaustion quickly takes place. There is
therefore, outside all European intervcention, a power
which will impose peace within a given time, unless the
reduction of the South be promptly completed.
Although I admit this, I must protest, notwithstanding, against the inconceivable exaggerations which have
found means of going forth on this point. The United
States are not at present a ruined country, feeling the
approach of bankruptcy and about to cease paying its
soldiers. The attitude of American funds has not been
bad since the beginning of the conflict.  Considerable
loans are made with facility; the banks of New York,
Philadelphia, and Boston have taken up the first issues,
and a large part has gone into the hands of private individuals.*
Official reports prove that from 1860 to 1861, the
diminution of the importation of merchandise was sixtysix million dollars, while the diminution of the exportation
amounted to a hundred and thirty-eight millions; but this
diminution is explained by the absence of cotton; there
has been in this single article at least a difference reaching
a hundred and fifty-seven millions. The other exports,
therefore, are far from having diminished. It is a remarkable fact that, with its sole productions, the North has
been able to pay for all its imports, and thus be sufficient
unto itself. In any case, it has suffered little hitherto;
plenty reigns in its fields, and the ranks of agriculture are
open to offer a refuge to the laborers whom manufactures
leave without employ.
The position is by no means very unfavorable. The
activity of the American ports, sustained until the winter by
* At the time of Mr. Lincoln's inauguration, the United States six
per cents stood at 92A; they are now at 92. The last advices from
London prove that confidence is reviving ip England.




THIE SOUTHiI  ILL NOT BE CONQUERED.      283
the enormous exportation of grain, has since given place,
it cannot be denied, to a state of comparative stagnation.
The clearances, and, above all, the arrivals of vessels have
greatly diminished, immigration has fallen off; nevertheless, this falling off has been less than had been supposed
in advance, and the sales of public lands have not sensibly
decreased. In 1860, forty thousand new farms, averaging
forty acres, were set off: for the year of a crisis, this was
not bad. With the exception of the cotton mills, which
are closed, or have reduced their hours of labor, the
greater part of the manufactories are in activity; the
shops are full, and business does not stand still; the bustle of the railroads has not abated; the funds of the Savings Banks are intact; lastly, as I have said, the agricultural prosperity remains complete, and we cannot discover in the North any sign of' that discontent, discomfort,
and disorder, which announces that a country will succumb
ere long in its task.
The only alarming symptom which appears is the bill
which, it is said, is about to authorize the issue of treasury
bonds, which will not be redeemable in specie until after
the war. Leaving aside the exaggerations which have
gone forth on the subject, persuaded that Congress will
take care to prescribe the payment of the interest of the
debt in coin, and that it will regard it as a duty at once
to establish new taxes designed to provide for this interest, I shall not go so far as to say that a plank for
assign ats has been just manufactured at Washington.
Notwithstanding, while recognizing the facilities which
the forced circulation of treasury bonds will give to commercial relations, while recognizing that the suspension
of payments announced by individual banks may call for
the introduction of a uniform national currency, I must
13




284         ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
point out how  baleful in itself is the principle of the
forced circulation of notes.
This principle is baleful, because it is too convenient
of application. In the presence of great public needs, the
temptation of multiplying the creation of treasury bonds
becomes difficult to surmount. With the suspension of
specie payments, we quickly succeed in forming all sorts
of illusions; we always begin by resolving to limit the
quantity; we imagine that we will make energetic efforts
by-and-by to effect their redemption; then, recoiling before the increased prodigiousness of the enterprise, we
end by stammering the too common words: "Necessity
has no law." On that day we renounce the fulfilment
of our engagements, we become guilty of robbery.
God forbid the supposition that America will come to
this! But, in order that she may not come to it, she must
pause at the first step in the dangerous road which she has
just entered. Now that she isno longer subject to the yoke
of the South and its theories of repudiation, she is bound
to show the respect which she has for herself, and the
determination which she has taken, under no pretext, to
violate the laws of justice. By imposing on herself new
taxes, and thus securing, by an honest and courageous
effort, the payment of her war loans, she will win universal esteem. Let her leave to Jefferson Davis, accustomed
of old to these proceedings, the monopoly of irredeemable paper currency.
It is a financial axiom that the representative value
of money represents in reality just as much as it will bring
in exchange. I am well aware that between the paper
currency of the North and that of the South, there is
always this difference, that the final redemption of the
latter is as improbable as its success;* but this is not
* The Southern bonds have already fallen to less than half their




THE SOUTTH WILL NOT BE CONQUERED.         285
enough. A great country like America cannot be allowed to descend, even for a moment, to the rank of those
debtors rwho live by expedients, and pay their creditors
with mere promises. The first duty, the strict duty,
always consists in securing by taxation the effective payment of expenses and the interest of the debt.  Now,
wherever this effective payment is secured by taxation,
paper currency not redeemable by specie cannot long
seem indispensable.
And let it not be said: "France and England have
done the same!"  If one wished to imitate all our follies,
he would go a great way. WVe, Frenchmen, after our
assignats have had our tiers consolicd, I recall it with a
blush of shame. England has not gone so far as bankruptcy; her specie payments, suspended for twenty years,
from 1797 to 1817, have been resumed without imposing
the slightest loss on her creditors. But who would dare
count on a like success?
Nothing is so tempting and dangerous as a violation
of principles which has involved no visible catastrophe in
its train; it is a bad example which continues to act for
centuries. Since the forced circulation of one pound.notes aided to overthrow Napoleon, irredeemable paper
currency has been dreamed of everywhere. Let America
beware! Although the measure may succeed, although
it may be far from resembling an immediate bankruptcy,
or bringing about a future bankruptcy, although very
brief crises like this may seem peculiarly appropriate to an
experiment of the kind, nevertheless, the peril is real.
It would be a great misfortune to be able to incur heavy
expenses, without having to suffer for them on the spot.
nominal value, even in exchange for the greatly depreciated paper currency of the insurgent government.




286          ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
This correspondence between the direct weight of the
taxes and the expenses of the war constitutes the sole
guarantee against certain extravagances.  Now I am
fbrced to say that the present expenditure of the war of
the United States, this expenditure of two million dollars
a day, almost resembles an extravagance. I do not pretend that the United States, should they soon reach the
end of their crisis, must find themselves crushed beneath
a debt disproportioned to their resources. No more do
I pretend that there may not be some good reasons for
establishing the pay of American volunteers on the expensive footing which we cannot succeed in comprehending in Europe, so far distant is it from our habits. Notwithstanding, it must be granted that too little regard has
been had for the financial equilibrium.
I recognize but one superiority in the South, but that
is a real one-a portion of its troops serve without pay.
It does honor to the soldiers who fight in this manner,
without exacting any thing but their support. It constitutes, besides, an enormous saving.
The North, being much richer, has acted rightly in
paying its volunteers, and even in taking account, in fixing their pay, of the national habits and the needs of
families, to whom the pay in general is sent. Nevertheless, there are bounds which, it seems to me, should not
be overstepped. I will not mention the twenty-five millions devoted, it is said, to the support of an army of
musicians; this sum will be doubtless reduced. But to
give thirteen dollars a month to soldiers maintained
luxuriously, and to whom premiums and lands are promised besides when the war is over, is really too much.
All of our European states would become bankrupt, if
they were forced to pay their armies at this rate. Note,
moreover, that Switzerland, which also has none but citi



THE SOUTHI AVILL NOT BE CONQUERED.      287
zens, heads of families, snatched from their occupations,
in the ranks of her militia, pays them barely a few pence
a day, which has always been enough for them.
This would not be enough in America; granted. The
prolonged service of soldiers cannot be compared to the
momentary service of militia; that is true.  I will even
admit readily that the excessively small pay of soldiers
has the deplorable result of rendering possible the creation of large armies. In this respect, the American system has its uses; so long as it is maintained, it will throw
an obstacle in the way of standing armies and long wars.
In the present struggle, this war, which appears to us
extravagant, is perhaps destined to fulfil a providential
mission. Who knows whether it will not be the means
of abridging the struggle?  It is impossible to continue
long at the rate of ten million fiancs a day. It is impossible, on one condition, notwithstanding, and this brings
me back to the principal subject of my remarks, on condition that the ten millions per day be really levied on
the American people, or at least that the interest of the
loans contracted for it be furnished by taxes. The suspension of specie payments often ends in suppressing
or weakening this condition, it permits one to spend
largely and pay little; it is for this, for this above all,
that I denounce it to the patriotism of the Americans.
There is still another argument employed by those
who wish to prove to us that the North cannot win. They
oppose to the superiority of the eminent men placed at
the head of the rebellion, the pretended mediocrity of
MIIr. Lincoln. and his ministers. M{r. Davis and the members of the Richmond cabinet, after having passed their
lives in counseling or dictating the follies of which Europe
has unceasingly complained, have suddenly become per



288        EARRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
sonages of the highest distinction. As to the leaders of
the American Government, there are not disdainful expressions enough to paint their insufficiency.
Pardon me for being of an entirely different opinion.
I shall wait for better proofs of the incapacity of Mir.
Lincoln, before permitting myself to treat with slight respect the man who personifies in himself so great a
cause.
Opposition and criticism are natural to the heart of
man, democracies in particular are not sparing of them;
let Americans, notwithstanding, take care-if they cease
to respect their government, they will furnish weapons
with their own hands to their enemies.
I do not see, besides, that iMr. Lincoln has hitherto
fallen short in his task, assuredly one of the hardest that
could be encountered here below. He is not skilful in
drawing up messages, I admit; he is somewhat devoid of
that personal ascendancy, that aathoritativeness which
facilitates the action of the government; he has made a
few mistakes; he might have more vividly depicted the
principle of which he was the representative, and, without
renouncing a legitimate prudence, have adopted an attitude better suited to rally the sympathies of Europe. But
how many good qualities by the side of these trifling
faullts!  If he has been lacking in brilliancy, what a
compensation has he found in his good sense and
integrity!
It is already something, yes, a great deal, to have a
president who is an honest man; an honest man is a
power as times go.
It is something also to have a president who knows
what he wants, who has known it from the beginning, and
who has had the merit of maintaining, through incidents,
the unity of his policy.  What he begun at the first




THE SOUTH WILL NOT BE CON(QUEiIED.              289
moment, he has not since ceased to pursue-he has not
ceased to purpose the suppression of the rebellion, he has
protested against the title of belligerent, he has refused to
welcome any idea of amicable separation. With a sangfroid which has never been contradicted, he has defended
his programme, his ministers*  and  his generals.   His
firmness, which is not devoid of acuteness, has triumphed
over the difficulties, as enormous as unexpected, which
have come to him from Europe; and has none the less
triumphed over difficulties from within. Through him,
unanimity has been maintained, the ordeal of defeats has
been surmounted, good order has been preserved, revolutionary measures have been turned aside from the struggle. The surety of his judgment will strike attentive
minds in the end. The man who has succeeded during
the past year in conjuring down, without ever abasing
himself, the dangers of a foreign war, the man who, putting aside with a conciliatory hand the exactions of extreme parties, and postponing irritating questions, has
nevertheless insured the onward march of abolition-this
man is not as commonplace as some would have us
believe.
If I speak before all of MIr. Lincoln, it is not that I
* A fact very honorable to Mr. Seward, dating back to last December, should be recorded here. A club having been formed in Philadelphia,
with the design of paving the way for his election to the next Presidency,
Mr. Seward wrote to them that he had taken the immovable resolution to
decline to become a candidate. " I have entered into the goernmenat,"
said he, "to aid in saving the Constitution and the Union, or to perish
with them. It has seemed to me, therefore, that I ought to renounce all
chance of personal advantage, in order that the counsels which I may
give the president during this crisis, may not only be disinterested,
loyal, and patriotic, but may also seem so."-A great deal is said of the
political corruption of American statesmen; I wish that the statesmen
of Europe might never be more corrupt than Mr. Seward.




290         ERROR.S CREDITED IN EUROPE.
forget those by whom he has been seconded, particularly
Mr. Seward. Their administration has obtained the result that, even at the moment when the military superiority went over to the South, the political superiority remained with the North. The Trent affair will not be
useless to its renown in Europe. The diplomatic correspondence of Mr. Seward announces something else
than incapacity. The government which, before having
any suspicion of the English menaces, wrote the despatch
of November 30, and suppressed even the mention of the
Trent affair in the President's Message, could prove later,
with a just sentiment of pride, that, in yielding to the reclamations of England, it secured the triumph of American principles.
This sometimes painful collision with Europe, these
external difficulties of the crisis have evidently formed
the statesmen at Washington. Their progress is visible.
There is a rare comprehension of his position in the courteous liberality of which Mr. Seward has given proof for
some time past. He no longer gives offence, he replies to
remarks by loyal explanations, he unhesitatingly gives a
favorable solution to all secondary questions, he speaks of
England in affectionate terms, he spontaneously opens to
the English troops a passage through the State of Maine.
This is what I call good policy. Let the American
cabinet join to it a more energetic watchfulness over the
finances, and we shall no longer have for it any thing but
praise. Independently of excessive expenses and the
dangerous principle of the forced circulation of paper,
there is shameful waste which calls for unsparing suppression. Whoever is capable of despoiling the country in
circumstances like these, ought to expect no indulgence.
Disorder at this time is treason. Such as has been just
pointed out by honorable members of Congress, Messrs.




TIlE SOUTIH W~ILL NOT BE CONQUERED.     291
Hall, Davies, and others, would arouse a sentiment of
indignation in any country. To put an end to prodigality
is to-day the first duty of Mr. Lincoln and his ministers.
The bearing of the nation has been no less remarkable
than that of the government. Great cities, full of unemployed workmen, have had neither coalitions nor riots.
lIob violence has figured as yet only in the prophecies of
the friends of the South. The Trent affair has brought
out the energetic qualities of the American people; in
spite of a few inevitable manifestations, the vast majority
did not cease to preserve its calmness and follow Mhl-r.
Lincoln without hesitation. Who did not at that timne
admire old General Scott, who did not hesitate, despite
his infirmities, to brave a new voyage in order to place
his faithful sword at the service of his country? I acknowledge that Captain Wilkes himself appeared to me
worthy of sympathy, when, recounting the conscientious
perplexities through which he had passed, placing the
interests of his country and justice before his own, he
thus concludes his report: "' Having acted upon my own
responsibility, I am ready to endure the consequences."
The same patriotism has not ceased to animate both
houses of Congress. I have followed their debates with
some attention; and not only have I been struck with
the talent for discussion which is displayed there, but I
have admired the almost universal sentiment which has
led all these men to divest themselves of the traditions
of party spirit, and rally around the flag of the Union,
which is also that of liberty.
It would be necessary now to place opposite this faithful portrait of the United States, a no less faithful repre.
sentation of the position of the slave States. I shall not
13*




292        IERORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
attempt it; I distrust the documents published by the
Union journals. There are, notwithstanding, some points
that I can verify, for my information will be borrowed
from the Southern journals themselves.
Whoever has read the recent articles of the Richmond
Ezquirer, Richmond llercury, and Jk~emphis Argus,
knows on what to rely concerning the pretended unanimn
ity of the South. The discontent there goes on increasing, and without yet admitting that riots have occurred
at the cry: " HIurrah for the Union!" it must be granted,
in truth, that internal writhings have commenced. A
distinction is beginning to be made between " the cause"
and parties. Discouraging descriptions are given of the
demoralization which is pervading the great army of Virginia; the recent abandonment of Europe is verified;
lastly, it is exclaimed: "For a long time, we have heard
it said that England would fight for us..... We
see the chances of peace receding through the miraculous
increase of the Northern army and navy. Our armies
and families are destitute of every thing. On regarding
the future, we ask ourselves why every thing wears so
dark an aspect."
What shall we add to this language of the Argus?
Is it necessary to tell what are the paper moneys of the
South, the loans of the South, the finances of the South?
As to the state of agriculture and commerce in the South,
I shall not proceed to prove, after so many others, that
negroes have no longer but a nominal price, that the cotton crop is disappearing, that credit and labor are equally
lacking; I shall content myself with quoting this significant sentence from the New  Orleans Picayune, which
certainly cannot be suspected of Unionism: "A mower
might find wherewith to earn his livelihood from the grass
that is growing in some of our streets."




TIlE SOUTH WILL NOT BE CONQUERED.        293
I might have rendered infinitely more complete this
study of the respective forces at the disposal of the North
and South. The prosperity of the first reposes on bases
which the Nwar has not succeeded in shaking for a single
instant. Whoever has taken the trouble to examine that
mighty system of railroads and canals which goes inland
more than two thousand miles to seek the inexhaustible
harvests of the West, whoever knows the new works, pursued in spite of the crisis, which are to bring the Mississipi
and its tributaries as it were to the harbor of New York,
must have formed an idea of the resources of the North.
The North has sufficed for itself during the war; it has
not bent beneath the burden.  Its commercial activity,
for an instant slackened, seems ready to revive before
long. Its irredeemable paper currency is only subjected
to a discount of one, two, or at most four per cent. in exchange for silver; while we, in 1848, saw our irredeemable paper subjected to a discount of eight per cent.
Things are different in the South. At the first rumor
of the defeats of the insurrection, it was proposed to burn
the cotton and tobacco! Now, who does not remember
that, on issuing its bonds, the Southern treasury gave this
same cotton and tobacco as the guarantee of their value.
It is, therefore, the very guarantee of these unlucky bonds
that there is question now of destroying.
This, doubtless, will not be done; but the simple comparison which I have just indicated, permits us to lay our
finger on the financial distress of the Richmond government. These, in reality are "paper rags."' and nothing
else.
Let us remark besides, that the time for planting has
come. What shall be planted in the South?  It is a
formidable, distressing question which is passionately discussed from one end to the other of the slave States. If




294         ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
the war is to last, it will be necessary to sow wheat, to
give up cotton, and to accept a system of culture which
will shake slavery to its foundation, since it will secure to
the negroes long months of idleness. If, on the contrary,
cotton be sown, then this will be to say, in passably clear
terms, that there is no longer thought of continuing the
war.
Many other signs beside have shown already that the
continuance of the war will not be easy.  The demoralization of the Southern armies has taken the most alarming
character; the habits of drunkenness there have acquired
such proportions, that both the government and the press
are forced now to undertake a campaign against whiskey.
It is affirmed that Virginia is covered with distilleries
by the mere fact of the presence of Beauregard's troops
upon its soil; the same scourge has appeared in the train
of Southern regiments in Kentucky and Tennessee.
Such is the position. The reader himself will resolve
the question which of the two adversaries is better prepared for decisive struggles, which is more in a condition
to wait.
And I do not need to anticipatate events, to suppose
the rapid increase of the victories of the North, the rapid
development of discontent and disorganization in the
South.  No, taking things as they are at the moment
when these pages are traced, it is from this time certain
that Jefferson Davis, despite his rare assurance, will have
difficulty in long maintaining the fabulous assertions of
his last Message. Of the two documents published at the
same time by Mr. Lincoln and Davis, at the moment of
the breaking out of the Trent affair, Europe will fully
comprehend which expressed the truth.
If I had to seek a new proof in support of a demon



THE SOUTH WILL NOT iBE CONQUERED.      295
stration which I believe complete, I would show the persevering patience with which the North puts aside the
use of a violent means which it has at its disposal. It is
no small honor for it to have rejected the aid of slave
insurrections.
That these insurrections are possible, alas! cannot be
doubted, and I can scarcely conceive how the South,
which ought to remember what has passed within its
borders, call carry folly and injustice so far as to provoke
the North to this point. But the North, I hope, will
maintain its noble attitude, despite provocations.  We
are no longer in 1812; General Jackson could then call
to arms the colored men of New Orleans without propounding a formidable problem; to-day, it would be
quite different, and if ever the negroes be armed, it must
be admitted that nothing can limit the consequences of
this act.
Better a slow than a polluted victory!  Slowness, I
know, is the great reproach which is cast upon the United States. We live in an age of steam; and when a crisis,
however colossal it may be, is not terminated in a few
months, our patience becomes exhausted. It is something,
notwithstanding, to raise to six hundred and sixty thousand men an army that numbered sixteen thousand in
the beginning, and to raise to two thousand six hundred
guns a fleet that at first numbered five hundred and fifty.
It was necessary to create armament, service, and administration; it was necessary to form staff officers and to introduce discipline. To dissipate the chaos which was found
after Bull Run, to make a great army in a country where
one had never been seen, and of which trained officers
themselves knew nothing except by books-this is a work
for which a few months might be well accorded to General McClellan. As to the naval improvisation, it has




2 96'       ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
been prodigious in all points; of these vessels, of these
gunboats, not a keel had been laid on the stocks at the
advent of Mr. Lincoln; now, the most difficult blockade
that has ever existed is maintained with an efficiency
which Europe has ceased to dispute, and a formidable
flotilla is preparing to descend the Mlississipi.
The slowness of the North has been its greatest progress; it is a lasting triumph won over the impatience
which has once already forced the action of the president,
and procured to the country the defeat of Bull Run. To
endure epigrams is no easy task. I have read pointed
articles, each paragraph ending with, "Spend two million dollars a day, and do nothing."  MIore courage
has been needed to do nothing, than would have been
needed to commit a new fblly. Happily, General
McClellan, to whom all in America do not render sufficient justice, and whom an ultra party implacably pursues, has been found capable of that patriotic temporization which the Americans have styled, with irony, perhaps,
a masterly inactivity.
Be sure of it, Beauregard would have rather the service of an attack had been rendered him; in his own
mind, he has appreciated at their true value the calculated delays of his adversary. Now the North, which has
chosen its time, will also choose its place and manner; if
the decisive action, of which I know nothing, take place
in Virginia, it is probable at least that it will take place
in new conditions.  Morally, politically, militarily, the
North has henceforth a decided superiority; the time
of surprises is past, and the chances of the insurgents
have become almost as bad as their cause.
This is the conclusion to which we are brought by the
impartial study of the elements which compose the North




THE SOUTIH WVILL NOT BE CONQUERED.             297
and South.  A  more decisive conclusion would perhaps
have greater success; but I am resolved to remain what
I have sought to be from the beginning —very firm in my
principles, very circumspect in my previsions.
It is not improbable that the fate of the war will be
fixed before long, and that, notwithstanding, the war itself
will be prolonged. The sultry season is approaching, and
the campaign in the South will be less easy. This vast
country, thinly peopled, intersected by morasses, is but
too well suited to a guerilla warfare.
On the other hand, Europe is still ruled, and much
more than is imagined, by the prejudices which I have
just combated.  If the awaking of liberal and Christian
public opinion  among Englishmen, an awaking which
preceded, let it be said to their honor, the news of the
Northern successes, oppose a powerful obstacle to the
return of the egotistical policy, this policy is not therefore wholly dead.  Doubtless, at the present moment,
there is no longer question of developing the consequences which the term belligerent comprised within itself,*
or of protesting against the stone blockade of Southern
ports;t nevertheless, men have not in the least renounced
the desire, the hope of a final separation. The creation
of two Americas remains the ideal of many, and who
* Matters have been carried so far as to sound the Government at
Richmond to know whether it would be disposed to assent to the Treaty
of Paris. The despatches of its Commissioners have been printed for
Parliament, precisely like those of the American minister, Mr. Adams.
t There is a sandbank near Savannah, for the removal of which Congress voted at Washington, in 1853, a sum of forty thousand dollars, on
the report of a committe of engineers. Whence came this sandbank?
From ships sunk during the Revolutionary War, by order of the commander of the English troops, to block up the entrance to the river. If
the sinking of ships constitute an enormity without parallel, it must be
confessed that it is not without precedent.




298         ERRORS CREDITED IN EUROPE.
knows whether, under certain given circumstances, they
might not be tempted to give it a little aid?
Let us not hasten, therefore, beyond measure to proclaim the triumph of the Union. According to all appearances, we have still before us grave difficulties to surmount on both shores of the Atlantic.
VVe will surmount them, with the help of God. It
seems to me that, after having gone through the preceding, the reader must arrive with me at a two-fold conviction-first, that the work is far from being finished; secondly, that the most difficult part is accomplished, and
that what America has just done is a guarantee of what
she will do.




PART FOURTH.
THE INTERESTS OF EUROPE IN
AMERICA.
CHAPTER I.
EUROPE IN AMERICA.
ARRIVED at this point of our study, a question presents
itself to us, or rather forces itself upon our notice; that
of the general interests of Europe in America. It is not
my intention to dwell upon it long, but I do not wish to
shun it. It seems to me easy to tell without many words
what is our natural policy in the New World; little is
needed for it, except to draw the logical deductions of
the principles which we have just established.
The whole problem of our policy in America is bound
up in the problem of our policy in regard to the United
States. Every thing is connected to such a degree with
the United States, that their power barely shaken, there
is not a single American country, we may say, that does
not appear to be open to European intervention.




300             EUROPE IN AMERICA.
I know some who conclude from this, that the weakening of the United States is desirable. " See how troublesome this immense republic is becoming," they say,
"which has not ceased to increase for the last eighty
years, whose annexations have been perpetual, which
would not have been long in swallowing up Mexico, which
attracts to itself a current of continual immigration. Beginning with three or four million inhabitants, it has
already reached more than thirty million, and this population, which doubles regularly every twenty years, may
attain proportions threatening to our repose. It closes
the New World to us; it will not be long in mixing in
the affairs of the Old. Is it not time to check this prodigious aggrandizement? What we ought to wish is
that, instead of the United States, there may be two rival
confederacies to watch over each other, and produce a
balance of power."
Suppose that this end be attained without going further, that the separation of the South brings no other in its
train, that this be not the beginning of veritable dissolution; suppose, also, that the South become an independent
State, and not the dependent, the protege of such or such
a power, the gate by which Europe will enter without
ceasing into the internal broils of America; yes, supposing this, let us ask ourselves whether, even in this hypothesis, most difficult to realize, the lasting interests of
Europe will have been served or injured by the cause
which it is recommended us to pursue.
One thing at least must be admitted-as far as France
in particular is concerned, the weakening of the United
States is by no means in conformity with her traditions.
France aided in the foundation of the United States. By
the cession of Louisiana, which at that time comprised a




INTERESTS OF EUROPE.             301
considerable part of the valley of the Mississippi, and
from which several States have been carved out, France
contributed to the greatness of the United States. And
she did not do these things at random; she desired them
by virtue of serious motives which, hitherto, have not
seemed contestable.
The United States know this so well, that they count
so far on France as sometimes, I fear, to delude themselves in this respect. I, myself, have had the pleasure
of seeing my book become an occasion for Americans to
render homage to the persevering sympathies of my
country.
Why have these sympathies disappeared? Is this
country no longer the same where French swords have
always been drawn for a cause of liberty?  Ihave not
Rochambeau, MaItthieu Dumnas, and La Fayette, fought
there with glory? Has this country ever figured in any
of the coalitions directed against us?  Has not its neutral
flag, the only one which England was interested in respecting, rendered us signal service?  Doubtless, the
North, though separated from the South, will know how
to maintain the honor of its flag; nevertheless, will there
not be an epoch of transition, during which the guarantees of our commerce in the East will be found diminished?
As to the inconveniencies presented by the ulterior
aggrandizement of the United States, they cannot succeed
in alarming me. The policy of conquest has fallen with
the preponderance of the South. Then, would it be such
a great calamity, if, some day, when the United States
shall have solved among themselves the problem of abolition, anarchical countries like Mexico should fall of their
own accord into their strong hands?  Would not this
solution of the Mexican question be as good as any other?




302             EURtOPE I.N AMIERICA.
Would it not comprise the progress of liberty, the Gospel,
and civilization?  Is it quite sure that governments
founded by distant intervention would have as much
solidity and hope for the future?
France, I think, would not have to grieve at such an
event. Why should she grieve more at another event
often announced with a feeling of dismay which I am
incapable of comprehending? "The United States," it is
exclaimed,' will some day pretend to meddle in the affairs
of the Old World, and to figure in the concert of great
powers!"  Well, if this should be, what reason would vrwe
have to put on mourning?  There is no such thing. as
distance to-day; and since Europe meddles with America,
America may meddle with Europe. The solidarity of
interests is real; is there a principle in opposition to that
manifested by facts?  Is it quite sure that the concert of
great powers was completed in ten or twenty years,
beyond the possibility of introducing the United States
therein? Ought policy to live by fictions, or to seek
realities?
If the greatness of the United States is not of a kind
to trouble France, it can no more disquiet England.
I am well aware that I here encounter prejudices and
traditions which contradict my theory. It seems, at first
sight, that since the American navy may be useful to us,
it may, by logical deduction, be injurious to the English.
I do not deny it; I even confess that, in the event of
separation, the protectorate of the South will probably
belong to Great Britain; according to all appearances,
an agricultural republic will be formed there, wretched
doubtless, and unceasingly menaced; but the products of
which, whatever they may be, will be at the disposal of
the English.




INTERESTS OF EUROPE.             303
There was a time when considerations of this kind
would have been contradicted by no one. At present, in
England itself, the most enlightened men take a higher
stand-point. Far from desiring new colonies and new
protectorates, they urge the abandonment or progressive
emancipation of the old ones. As to the marine, they
have learned to comprehend that the conditions of naval
rivalry are not at all what they were at the beginning of
the present century. Henceforth, there will be several
great navies; France, the United States, Russia, Italy,
others perhaps, will have a part to play in those conflicts
of which the sea may become the theatre.  From this
time, certain pretensions of absolute supremacy fall to the
rank of old and superannuated theories; as it is natural
that England should cling to maintaining a superiority
which is her security, and propose to have twice as many
vessels as any other nation, so is it impossible that she
should dream of the absolute empire of the seas. A number
of great navies always brings coalitions and alliances; it is
no longer a question for the English to remain alone and
annihilate all that does not belong to them; the question
is to have friends.
Now, viewed from  this stand-point, the greatness
of the United States is far to-day from dismaying intelligent Englishmen.  Lord Stanley, M~hr. Gladstone, and
many others with them, have not ceased for some time to
declare that England is interested as much and more than
any one in the prosperity of the United States; far from
fearing it, she should consider it favorable to her own.
Permit me to quote the expression of Mr. Gladstone:
"I have no hesitation in saying, not only that England
has nothing to dread from the elevation of the United
States; but also that, if we have any selfish interest in




304              EUROPE IN AMERICA.
the matter, it is that of seeing the American Union continue to subsist without disturbance."
This is the very truth; if the United States, in a certain measure, represent to France maritime equilibrium,
they represent to England the equilibrium of the races.
She cannot strike New York without striking Liverpool.
Any weakening of the United States would be the weakening of the Anglo-Saxons, and the principle which they
represent here below. MIr. Seward lately wrote a sentence
of great meaning:  "What is to the advantage of America is always to the advantage of England."
But it is necessary here that our point of view be
enlarged. Let us leave France and England, and consider the interests of the human race.  Shall we drag ourselves to the end in the miry and narrow paths of national
selfishness, artificial equilibriums and antagonisms, or
enter, instead, the royal road of harmony?
Among the discoveries of modern policy, none strikes
us so much as this-the prosperity of all is of importance
to all; it is not true that one profits by the misfortunes of
his neighbors; no people is interested in the abasement of
another people; there is on earth a solidarity of suffering
and a solidarity of progress.
The new equilibrium no longer results from the opposition of contrary forces which neutralize each other
by their antagonistic efforts, but from the harmony of
fiiendly forces, which serve each other mutually. Now,
among the forces which should thus contribute to the
common advantage, there are few whose preservation is
more essential than that of the free and individual genius
of the Anglo-Saxons.
The United States have fulfilled, from the close of the
last century, a providential mission, the importance of




INTERESTS OF EUROPE.              305
which it would be difficult to exaggerate, and which will
some day form a chapter by itself in the history of the
migration of peoples.  At the north of that America
which is covered in great part by nations without consistency or true liberty, God has placed a strong and liberal
people. Over the vast territory which it occupies, the
waves of immigration have unceasingly rolled, all taking
the stamp of the Anglo-Saxon race.
Belonging myself to the Latin race, I do not mean
in any way to dispute the services which it has rendered,
and which it will still render to civilization. It personifies certain things in itself, also great and important;
unity, order, administration, military power, tradition,
lastly, that refined brilliancy of literature and art which
belongs to a classic origin. But, what is the use of dis.
guising it?-our tendency, if counterbalanced by nothing here below, would lead to excessive centralization, to
the suppression of the individual. We need, for our own
good, to encounter in our path that altogether different
tendency represented by Germany, England, and the
United States. The Germanic races are necessary to the
Latin races.
These races, I hope, are not destined to combat, but
to assist and complete each other. Woe to those whom
a no less odious than blind policy urges on to a fearful
conflict! I have seen with horror, in surveying Italy,
men whose ideal appeared to be the future formation of
a league of the Latin peoples, to be some day precipitated
upon the Germanic peoples. Thank God! such fancies
will never be welcomed by enlightened minds and generous hearts. The broad policy, the broad equilibrium, will
always have the more partisans. For the safety of the
modern world, the extension of the individualizing race
will be maintained in opposition to the powerful organizations of the centralizing race.




CHAPTER II.
ATTEMPT TO REVIVE OUR OLD COLONIAL POLICY.
IT is natural that the old policy should struggle
against the new. We had reason to expect, therefore,
the reappearance amnong us of the colonial traditions of
another age; the crisis of the United States was too
favorable an occasion for them not to attempt to profit
by it.
What were these ancient traditions? America does
not exist by itself and for itself; Europe should exercise
over it a sort of paramount power; she should play the
part of the mother-country, directing dependent colonies
from afar, and patronizing minor peoples.
These traditions have their root in history; after the
discovery of America, came its conquest. Each European
state had a sort of transoceanic prolongation-there was
an American France, an American England, an American
Spain, an American Portugal.
This was a provisory and unnatural position, destined
to cease on the day that a national spirit should appear in
America. The English America was first ripe for independence; this was quite natural-it had been founded by
free men.  In detaching itself from its mother-country,
it set an example which could not fail to be followed




COLONIAL POLICY.              307
sooner or later by the other colonies.  We know what
happened toward the end of the wars of the empire;
declarations of independence ran like a train of powder
from the table-lands of Mexico to the furthest cape of
Patagonia.
Since then, the colonial system has been maintained
only at a few isolated points, in Canada and the West
India islands. How long these last colonies will endure,
I know not. I will only say that they are daily becoming more independent-Canada is endowed with a free
government; the emancipation of slaves and the emancipation of commerce have broken the heavy chain which
bound the islands to the mother-country, except Spain,
which remains behind according to custom. Europe shows
itself favorable to such progress. Metropolitan patronage
is therefore disappearing, and the hand of the Old World
is withdrawn from the New.
All was thus going on well, and the colonial mania
seemed near becoming extinct when the crisis of the
United States unhappily came to give it new life. We
witnessed at that moment a recrudescence of old passions
and covetousness. In the present weakening and possible
dismemberment of the United States, we are in danger
of seeing before all an opportunity to resuscitate the
things of former times, to bring back Europe in America,
to react against declarations of independence and foundations of republics.
Among a few (I mean this neither for the French nor
the English), covetousness has been awakened, the signal
of a quarry seems to have been heard.-Make haste!
there may be but an hour: we must make the most of it
at least! Reactions, counter revolutions, restorations —
all these must be tried!
14




308             EUROPE IN AMERICA.
Certainly, in point of restoration, I can imagine nothing more gigantic than that retaliation for Bolivar which,
for a moment at least, has been dreamed by Spain. Here
are Mexico, Columbia, Peru, Chili, for aught I know!
To re-create a European, and in some sort colonial America would be no small task. Let no one deceive himself,
moreover; the complete destruction of the United States
is the condition sine qua non of this work; so long as
there shall be a genuine American Government, it will
not endure with a tranquil heart the denationalization of
the New World. It may bow its head, through necessity,
for a moment; but it will await its time and find it.
I am not the one to approve, without restriction, of that
exclusive Americanism by virtue of which all contact with
Europe should be avoided. As I have already said, the
modern facility of communication has rendered isolation
impossible. Our age does not allow it to Japan; it will
not allow it to the Americans. There will henceforth be
a general policy in a sense of which our fathers knew
nothing; Americans will do wrong to be offended if we
meddle to a certain point in their affairs, as we should do
wrong to be terrified if they should meddle in ours.
There will be alliances concluded, combinations arranged,
influences exercised across the Atlantic; let every one
make up his mind to it.
But aside from this excess, which I condemn, it is
impossible for me not to render homage to the American spirit. The celebrated doctrine in which it has
found its formula, the ~Monroe doctrine, is only the expression of a simple truth-Leave America to Americans!
Why may not America have its own system of civilization,
having a right to its place under the sun? Why deny
this nationality? If America does not belong to herself;
if we again apply ourselves (I hope that nothing of the




COLONIAL POLICY.               309
sort will be done) to cutting her up into colonies, protected countries, second-hand governments; if our European intrigues introduce themselves there through the
fissures that may be made by her internal troubles and
civil wars, it will be a great misfortune to her, and a still
greater one perhaps to us. The two solemn recognitions,
that of 1783 and of 1824, proclaimed the accomplishment
of progress, the emancipation of a continent; it would be
strange, we must admit, if, to retrace such progress, we
should choose the precise epoch, whose chief political
dogma appealrs to be the principle of nationalities.




CHAPTER III.
INFLUENCE OF SPAIN.
I IHAVE named the government which lately urged
this reaction. The initiative of Spain has been visible
from the beginning. Willing or unwilling, with a hesitation which does them honor, France and England have
participated in the movement, with the hope, perhaps, of
moderating it. A purely Spanish restoration in Mexico
is what they had no wish to allow.
Spain has for some time given signs of vitality which
I will not affect to disregard. Although it may be still
far from that undisputed position, which classes a people
among the great powers, it cannot be denied that its
recent expeditions to Morocco and Cochin China, have
given it a certain prestige.
How does it happen that, far from rejoicing, the general instinct of Europe takes alarm at this? Because
Europe observes and remembers. She remembers what
Spain has been in history-,  violent, oppressive nation,
hostile to all progress, as to all liberty, a baleful nation in
a word, in the full force of the expression; she observes
what is passing in modern Europe, without succeeding as
yet in discovering the slightest trace of that liberalism




INFLUENCE OF SPAIN.              311
which is remarked among so many other nations, whether
Catholic or Protestant. The possible greatness of Spain
has therefore appeared to us hitherto as a calamity, or at
least a menace.
It is not that elevated qualities are lacking to the
Spanish people; but it seems to have been slumbering in
the Middle Ages, and now that it has awakened, it is still
in the Middle Ages; its habits, its sentiments, its ambitions, are three or four centuries behind the times. One
might be dismayed for less cause.
I seek something youthful, something modern in
Spain. I do not discover it, unless this modern thing be
revolution. Ah! in point of revolutions, Spain need
envy no one; but, to us, who do not confound revolutions
with liberties, this malady, supposing it modern, is an indifferent recommendation. We are struck with consternation to see that through these repeated revolutions, she
has not found the means of inscribing a single generous
principle upon her banner. Within her borders, political
liberty is but an idle word, the liberty of conscience is
openly denied, the liberty of negroes has not yet fbund a
defender.
There are two courts at Madrid; how is it possible
that no one has yet denounced there the infamies of
slavery, and the still greater infamies of the slave trade?
To start up indignantly, and make high-sounding patriotic
speeches when Lord Palmerston denounced the Spanish
slave trade, was very well; to suppress it would be better.
Brazil suppressed it when it really wished to do so.  In
Cuba even, a captain-general conscientiously opposed to the
slave trave has sufficed at once to reduce its proportions.
But General Valdes has not instituted a school; the
Cuban slave trade has troubled no consciences either at




31 2            LEUROPE IN A.1MERICA.
Havana or Madrid. Thus it has increased: in 1858, it
imported seventeen thousand negroes; in 1859, it imported thirty thousand; in 1860, fifty thousand. And all
this, in the face of two treaties; that of 1817, in which
the King of Spain pledged himself to abolish the traffic
fiom 1820; and of 1835, in which the King of Spain
accepted for this object four hundred thousand pounds.
W~hat took place but the other day on the West Coast
of Africa? A small ship, the Quail, bearing the flag of
a new State, Liberia, stopped a slave trader off Cape
Gallinos, bearing the old flag of Spain-it was necessary
to avenge such an insult! A Spanish ship-of-war entered
the port of Ionrovia, the capital of the republic of free
negroes, and attacked the Quail; but met with so warm
a reception that it was soon compelled to return to
Fernando Po, in order to repair its damages.  The
afhait would have had direful results, had not England
intervened.
I have mentioned Fernando Po. It is there, in a
deadly climate, in a colony where troops can remain but
a short time, lodged in pontoons, that the courts-martial,
sentencing beyond power of appeal, have sent the unhappy peasants of Loja. After the crushing speeches of M.
Olozaga and Marshal Narvaez, it is not necessary, doubtless, to show what has been the nature of this pitiless
oppression.
Another fact has filled the conscience of Europe with
consternation. Humble Christians, strangers (it has been
admitted) to all political intrigue, for the sole crime of
having adopted and professed the Protestant faith, have
been condemned to the punishment of the galleys. Who
has not read the touching letter of Matamoras? " My delicate health makes my penalty one of death to me; never



INFLUENCE OF SPAIN-.            313
theless, had I not one, but a thousand lives, I would
sacrifice them all with Christian tranquillity upon the
altars of the holy cause of Jesus, our Divine Redeemer."
An appeal has been made to the Queen. I cannot for an
instant doubt her decision. But how long will Spaniards
be reduced to implore as a grace, the first of all rights,
the right of adoring God according to their conscience?
We may say this, we, French Protestants, who have
not ceased to denounce the Protestant intolerance of
Sweden, and who will pursue its last remains until a
Christian faith shall be no longer insulted by protection.




CHAPTER  IV.
ST. DOMSINGO AND MIEXICO.
IT has cost me much to write the preceding pages; in
recalling the present conduct of Spain, I have been forced
to reassure myself by the thought that the noble qualities
of its people will not be long in prevailing; that political
liberty, the liberty of slaves, and the liberty of conscience
will find generous champions in its bosom; that it will
turn at length from the Middle Ages to enter into the
modern world.
In the mean time, we need to know the chief instigator
of the colonial restoration, to appreciate it justly. Spain
has already taken two steps toward restoration in America-she has regained possession of the Spanish portion
of St. Domingo; and has obtained that Mexican expedition which she would have gladly undertaken alone, and
which she will cease perhaps to desire, now that she cannot undertake it by herself and for her exclusive interests.
The first act is already judged. So long as the United States wvere to be feared, we saw no desire manifested
in St. Domingo to overthrow the Dominican Government
and recall the. former rulers; from the very moment
when it was believed possible to offend without risk a




ST. DOMINGO AND IMEXICO.           315
power transiently enfeebled, the affection for Spain reawakened with sudden unanimity.
It is true that, behind this pretended unanimity, we
gain a glimpse of something quite different. Scarcely
had the Dominicans surrendered themselves to Spain,
when a national resistance was manifested, which it became necessary to suppress at the point of the bayonet.
After the battle, came the executions. General Sanchez,
and nineteen patriots were shot the same day in the city
of San Juan.
The legitimate government being thus reestablished,
it was fitting to make the negro and republican government of Geffrard feel that, henceforth, its days were numbered. A fleet was despatched to impose on it, within
the space of twenty-four hours, the signature of the following conditions-an indemnity of a hundred thousand
piastres for the armed resistance to which President
Geffrard had remained a stranger; the expulsion of all
the Dominican refugees; and the prohibition of any discussion of the Dominican question in the newspapers of
Hayti.
If the Haytian newspapers are condemned to silence,
it has been impossible to force the same system on those
of Jamaica. Immense meetings have been held in this
island to denounce the act of violence accomplished at
St. Domingo. Parliament has formally stated its reservations, and the English minister has held a language on
which Spain will do well to reflect. I advise it no more
to lose sight of the solemn protest which the United
States have taken care to address to it.
In order to tranquillize English opinion, Marshal
O'Donnel has given a pledge in behalf of his country, not
to reestablish slavery in St. Domingo. Will this pledge
be better kept than that given with respect to the slave
14*




316             ELTROPE IN AMIERICA.
trade? I should doubt it strongly, did I not look in the
direction of the United States. There, the question of
slavery is being resolved at this moment, not only for
them, but for Spain and Brazil. As soon as the principle
of abolition shall have been decidedly laid down by the
government at Washington, it must necessarily make its
way at Havana and Porto Rico.
It is thus that St. Domingo will be preserved. As to
the grandiloquent phrases which are inserted in the preamble and not in the articles of the decree relative to
St. Domingo, I do not imagine that they will oppose an
insurmountable barrier, should certain necessities (such is
the recognized expression) ever arise, should the slavery
party ever become turbulent at Cuba or St. Domingo,
should planters from Cuba or Porto Rico come to St.
Domingo with their slaves. The president of the council
could well write to Madrid: " The inhabitants are free; slaverly, that indispensable plague spot of the other colonies, is
in no wise necessary to the working and culture of this fertile country, and your Majesty's government can never
think of reestablishing it here.")  What, however, would
prevent another policy from being adopted, provided that
the indispensable plague spot of the other colonies should
some day appear no less indispensable in this?
I distrust promises of liberty founded upon reasons of
utility. I distrust, because I remember. Seizures are
always accompanied with liberal programmes; the Leclere
expedition, which went to reestablish slavery in this very
St. Domingo, announced its determination to do nothing
of the sort. When the rich valleys (so badly cultivated)
of this great island demand the introduction of blacks,
when the inhabitants of the other Spanish colonies come
thither accompanied by their slaves, I doubt whether zeal
will be carried so far as to emancipate the latter. My




ST. DOMINGO AND MEXICO.           317
scepticism on this point equals that of which Lord Brougham gave proof in the House of Lords.
The Mexican expedition has surprised no one who
comprehended the expedition to St. Domingo. It was in
question to profit by the embarrassment of the United
States, and as speedily as possible to put into execution
the general plan of American restorations.
I say, "it was in question," because affairs have
changed greatly during a few weeks. Qur good sense
which, in the face of results, has quickly seized the scope
of a question, indifferent in a military point of view, of
vast importance in a political point of view; the growing
repugnance of public opinion in England; the sudden
coolness of Spain herself, who hoped for a restoration,
almost a conquest, and finds herself in the presence of
very different prospects; the protests of the United States,
the better listened to inasmuch as their recent successes
may bring a speedy reestablishment of their power, all
seem combined to oblige us to render the expedition
much more inoffensive than it was near being for a moment. I am ignorant whether my previsions will be confirmed by the event; but, whether they be or not, we
are bound to account for the principle by virtue of which
we have been tempted to act. We do not fully renounce
errors, until we know why we renounce them. This
feeble desire to return to our colonial traditions, and to
monarchical restorations in the New World, is a symptom
so serious, that we should fail in our duty, did we neglect to study it, whatever may be, moreover, the fate of
our present enterprise.
Admitting that it return this time without having
effected any thing else than a treaty with President
Juarez, or perhaps a rapid dash on Mexico, what is there




318             EUROPE IN AMERICA.
to prevent it from being some day again undertaken?
Will not Spain be on the watch for a better opportunity?
Will its dreams of counter-revolution in Mexico suddenly cease? Provided that the embarrassment of the United States be prolonged, will not the captains-general of
Cuba endeavor to obtain in the ancient American viceroyalties, the same kind of success which they have obtained at St. Domincgo?
I contest in no manner our right to chastise an unworthy government, and to exact the reparation due our
fellow-countrymen; what terrifies me, and what we should
keep in sight, is that Spain, in the illusion of her first
hopes, may impel us to replace reparation by intervention,
which is quite another thing.
Remark that, however detestable the existing anarchy
of Mexico may be, it is perhaps superior in more than one
point to the infamous system which Spain imposed during three centuries on these magnificent colonies. Without even speaking of the bloody period which followed
the conquest, taking the Spanish administration in Mexico
at its mildest and best time, what a spectacle does it present to us? The Indians (that is to say, almost the entire
population) penned up in their villages as in so many
ghettos, the mixed breeds held as vile, and classed as it
were among beings devoid of reason, the creoles systematically excluded from offices reserved solely for Spaniards
born in Spain, slavery in full vigor, the inquisition
flourishing, the torture applied with cold cruelty, the
power of printing, selling, or reading books not existing
in any degree. Not only was the circulation of ideas interdicted, but the circulation of merchandise was subjected
to the most incredible regulations; the working of a
colony for the benefit of the mother country had rarely
been carried so far. As to the security of strangers, as




ST. DOMINGO AND MEXICO.           319
to the complaints which European countries, particularly
France, would have had a right to make at that time,
those who know how the government set to work to
combat the insurrection at its birth, will have no difficulty
in forming an opinion. It was a trifling consolation to
see, from this epoch, as many colonels and captains, as
many plumes and gilded uniforms in the most obscure
Mexican villages as may be seen there to-day.
Among the most shameful pages of history, there
is nothing that can be compared to this long, bigoted
tyranny. Indeed, when it was overthrown by the great
American Revolution in the beginning of the present
century, its downfall excited not a shadow of regret
either in the New World or the Old. In fine, the present Mexico, to which Spain, if left to herself, would have
gladly given a lesson in good government, is polluted
neither by slavery, nor by the inequalities of race, nor by
intolerance. It is fittingc to render it some credit for
this.
But who knows? religious liberty and civil marriage
were not perhaps in the eyes of the Spaniards, the least
trifling misdeeds to punish, and the most abominable acts
to reform in Mexico. It can no longer be doubted that
at the first moment they dreamed of the pure and simple
establishment of the Spanish monarchy. It is for this
reason, in great part, that France and England have been
unwilling to let them go alone, which they would have
greatly preferred to do. The triple expedition is no longer,
thank God! either a reestablishment of viceroys, or a reaction against the principles of civil and religious liberty,
or a campaign in honor of Miramon and the clerical party.
It is no longer this; nevertheless, let us beware! in
such a matter, it would be but too easy to do what was
at first projected. Pretended political necessities rise up




320              EUROPE IN AMERICA.
one after another. A government has been destroyed;
it is absolutely necessary to replace it. And how? Upon
what shall it be based? We are forced to accept parties as
they are. Thus, we deviate insensibly; at first, it is only
in question to demand reparation; later, the question is to
accord indirect encouragement, and at length we find
ourselves launched into intervention proper.
I call attention to this peril. Non-intervention should
be the sovereign rule of a time so favorable to the principle of nationalities. I know all that may be said: " The
republican system has been the ruin of Mexico; it is only
in question to bring it back to its genuine traditions,
transiently and involuntarily abandoned; monarchical
Mexico will become another Brazil."  Suppose this prospect to be most seductive, suppose institutions to have
the power within themselves that is attributed to them,
and form to prevail over matter, suppose it easy to withdraw after having aided in a political revolution, and
intervention to bring no protectorate in its train, I nevertheless persist in confessing my distaste for the system
which pretends to render men happy in spite of themselves. Were it in the service of the best constitution in
the world, had it no other result than to secure the free
manifestation of the national sentiment and the lasting
satisfaction of the country's needs, the armed propaganda
of a foreign power would always seem to me suspicious.
It is no small thing, moreover, to overthrow for the first
time a republic on the American continent; projects of
monarchical restoration may appear one after another;
Spain, it is said, has already spoken of Peru, and other
tottering and ill-governed republics have been pointed
out to the attention of Europe.
It is in vain that these things are effected through the
hands of the natives; it remains, nevertheless, certain that




ST. I)OMIINGO AND MEXICO.         321
the mere counsels, still less the presence of European
regiments, constitute the most decisive of influences.
Thus begin those interminable tutelages to which I
should be unwilling to see us return. Monarchies implanted in this wise would never have any thing except
a borrowed strength; national life can be developed
neither in nor about them; far different in this from the
Brazilian monarchy which we have just cited, and which
was invented by no one. Born on the soil, it has not had
to invoke the support of European protectorates.
I hope that we shall avoid entering too far into an
enterprise strewn with embarrassment. The language of
the English government and the English press, has proved
for some time that public opinion is on its guard among
our allies. I do not believe that the enthusiasm will be
much greater among us. Spain, herself, much cooled
since the personal chances of her dynasty have disappeared, is perhaps about to cease to urge a policy of intervention.
It remains to be known whether, in the sole aimr of
arresting the expansion of the Anglo-Saxon race, and
replacing the Americans in Mexico by Spaniards and
Austrians, we are willing to introduce, henceforth, a subject of inevitable and deadly conflict between the United
States and Europe.
The overthrowal of the republican system in Mexico,
would be the most sensible check that could be inflicted
on the United States. It would also be a menace, the
scope of which they would measure, and even exaggerate.
They know that, had it not been for their present difficulties, no one would have ever entertained such a thought.
They content themselves at present with complaining
diplomatically, and making their reservations; with re



3 2 2           EUROPE IN AMERICA.
ceiving at Washington plans of a treaty signed by Juarez;
with verifying the profound emotion which the resurrection of the old colonial policy causes from one end to the
other of the New World; by-and-by, they will be tempted to do more. Is it prudent to pave the way for such conflicts in a perhaps early future?  Is a monarchy in Mexico
worth, I do not say, a war with the United States, but a
rupture of amicable relations?  Are we to commence
what we can neither finish nor sustain; what we cannot
sustain in any case except at the price of formidable complications?
These questions propound themselves of their own
accord. The wisdom of Europe will resolve them.




PART FIFTH.
TO AMERICANS.
CHAPTER I.
THE CRISIS OF THE UPEISING.
THIE other day, on opening my letters, I found one
beginning thus: "The downfall of a great people." lMy
anonymous correspondent proposed this subject for my
meditation, exulting over my credulity and absurd optimism.
I must confess that he is not alone. The idea of seizing on the moment when a great people is entering a
painful crisis to celebrate its uprising, will always appear
ridiculous in the eyes of unreflecting men. Pausing at
appearances, what do we see? An enormous diminution
of power, mistakes, reverses, doubtful or disputed successes, heavy taxes, loans, deficits, embarrassment within
and without, a social fever enfeebling and over exciting
by turns, a crowd of problems which propound themselves
alone, but which do not resolve themselves alone; lastly,
in the future, an obscure, uncertain issue, at which no one




324                TO AMERICANS.
can as yet rejoice. To wish us to compliment this people
on the position in which it is placed, on its divisions, its
civil war, the contempt of strangers, the profit which
they derive from its distress, is indeed to be very exacting.
One is not, to this point, a lover of paradoxes.
This great subject of political paradoxes has been
touched in passing by a generous and scholarly pen. "I
do not wish to speak ill of statesmen," wrote M. Laboulaye, "but their policy often consists in shutting themselves up in the present moment, and seeing nothing
beyond it; for this reason, the solution which they choose
is old at its birth. Religionists and philosophers are
generally very disdainful toward sages; nevertheless these
men, who are not at ll practical, are almost the only
ones who are right in the end. Why?  Because they
believe in ideas. Passions wear themselves out, interests
change place, whilst ideas germinate, grow, and become
facts. ~We can foretell their victory, as, in the spring,
when the wheat shoots from the ground, we can foretell
the harvest. Who, for twenty years, have been exclaiming in every key, that the United States were hastening to
ruin through injustice?  Dreamers. Who have pointed
to the statistics of population, tonnage and bales of cotton, to show that the prosperity of the United States was
continually increasing?  Practical men.  The United
States began its uprising on the day when the North and
~West broke with their own interests to defend the cause
of justice.... Whether the North reestablish the Union,
enclosing slavery within a limited circle, or remain alone
with her free institutions, she may again become what
she was in former times, the admiration and envy of
Europe."
I have not resisted the desire to quote these admirable words. If it be a paradox to believe in a moral




CRISIS OF THE UPRISING.            325
uprising which costs something to material prosperity,
there will still be a few of us who will sustain such a
paradox.  If struggles for humanity and right appear
insane, there will be a few of us who will continue to
applaud them. If it be told us that America "is now
making a melancholy exhibition of herself," we will
answer that this melancholy exhibition was made by her
lately, before the crisis, before the wretchedness, before
the pretended decay.
Before the recent successes which have somewhat
changed the points of view, I met none but sorrowful,
disappointed, and discouraged men, exclaiming that all was
lost. This was told us in a country which has witnessed
dragoonades, Louis XV., the Revolution, European coalitions; which has been lost, I know not how many times,
and which is still existing. All was lost in England after
the Stuarts; all is lost in Italy, to hear some men. The
peoples appeal from these sentences.
Do you know what is fatal? To become accustomed
to evil and resigned to iniquity. Where crises of uprising are lacking, crises of death supervene. And crises of
uprising do not go foqard without their train-disasters,
reve'rsets, transient wer<ening.
I have occasionally asked myself for some time past,
on hearing so many lamentations, whetheft men had really
believed in the possibility of a crisis without suffering;
whether they had really been resigned to accept the continuation of the shameful system to which the election of
IMr. Lincoln put an end.  It is the one or the other:
either the former condition was tolerable; or the colossal
transformation which it is in question to effect, should have
cost no one any thing. If they had adopted neither of
these hypotheses, they would not have been thus dismayed; they would not have deplored so loudly the American




326                TO AMtERICANS.
crisis; they would not have clung with the eagerness of
despair to any arrangement, good or bad, honorable or
disgraceful, which seemed suited to end it.
Since the funeral oration commenced at the precise
instant when the North rose against the policy of slavery,
this policy was therefore the condition of the United
States' existence!  They were therefore to let the evil
and crime increase! They were therefore to pile up dollars, to prosper, to make favorable treaties of commerce!
Ah! I know well that great reforms make noise, while
ignoble decay makes none. One vanishes gently, gliding
down miry slopes, and falling into the abyss, and this
without disturbing human communities as do rude efforts
and generous combats.
Before the election of 3Mr. Lincoln, the United States
were rich; they were receiving great numbers of immigrants, they were advancing boldly into the deserts,
they were exercising great influence, and England sent
them  no ultimatums.  WVell, then was the time when
it was fitting to mourn. And we did mourn, indeed; we,
who are blamed for our optimism, then incurred quite a
different reproach. Under this false prosperity, the true
ruin was being accomplished; this great country was
sinking and debasing itself apace.
This was the time when President Taylor traded in
slaves, when the slave trade was organized publicly in
New York, when every census brought proof of the
increase in the number of slaves: three million two hundred thousand in 1850; four million in 1860; when the
extradition of fugitive slaves became the legitimate law
of the whole country; when the whole country descended
to this shame, and seemed to justify for a moment the
sarcastic litany of Theodore Parker-St. Judas Iscariot.




CRISIS OF TIlE UPRISING.          327
To deplore the existing crisis is to regret that time.
There was no longer either truth, or liberty of the press,
or freedom of discussion; the imperious voice of the
South dictated the acts of the Republic and prescribed the
elections; the South exacted a violent outside policy; it
wished Cuba, it wished Central America, it wished space
and virgin lands to which to transport its slaves; the
Supreme Court adopted its maxims, terrified  liberty
recoiled before triumphant slavery, an envious democracy
levelled down all superiority and crushed all independence;
public morals were corrupted, commercial improbity was
approved, principles were blotted out before facts and
conscience before numbers; the standard fell, fell continually, and to heighten the misfortune, the prosperity went
on increasing. One of the most eminent magistrates of
the United States exclaimed lately, on referring to this
fearful time! "I despaired of my country."
IIe despaired of it, on his side; but we Europeans had
but one voice to applaud it. America, to hear us, had
reached the summit of prosperity. We, who sigh so
much to-day, had then neither grief nor terror. After
having blamed in passing a few acts " to be regretted,"
after having deplored as a matter of form " the necessities
of policy," which force one sometimes to sacrifice justice
and to maintain peace at the price of troublesome concessions, we consoled ourselves fully in thinking that, if
America were invaded by slavery, if her institutions were
perverted and her honor compromised, she had not ceased
to increase and grow rich.
As to those who think that the uprising was necessary,
but that it should have cost nothing, I ask whence they
have derived an illusion of this nature. It has not been,
at all events, from history. If there be a truth shownu




2 8               TO AMERICANS.
clearly in its pages, it is that every uprising is a crisis
To dream of roses without thorns and of progress without
suffering, we must shut our eyes. Nothing is so disagreeable to witness as the uprising of a people; there are
struggles, mistakes, reverses, and dangers; there is blood
and ruin; prudent men stand aside, feeling hearts are
roused to indignation, vulgar minds disparage and anathematize. Why not die decently, tranquilly, instead of
troubling the world by these paroxysms of feverish
agitation?
It is almost always at the epochs when the good resumes the lead that we behold the appearance of social
sufferings. It does not enter into the designs of God for
great iniquities to be blotted out before their chastisement has made itself felt. And here, the fact is remarkable, the chastisement falls at once upon all the guilty
ones: upon the South, which sustained slavery; upon
the North, the accomplice of the South; upon Europe,
indifferent to the wrong and too long disposed to profit
by it.
We must bow our heads and adore the hand that smites
us. God has sent the wars, the commercial crises, the
miseries of all kinds; they are the pains of travail, they
will last until a new America, a free and just America,
shall have come into the world.
We always pay more dearly for a progress than a
fault; or rather, it is at the hour of a progress that the
account of faults is settled. Struggles for the right then
break out; and reparation is wrought through suffering.
When our ancient French society, rotten to the core,
crumbled away at the close of the last century; when its
old, accumulated crimes, tyrannies, persecutions, and corruptions encountered other crimes in their way; when
the terrible expiation of the past of France was wrought,




CRISIS OF THE UPRISING.               329
wise men did not fail to write: " We are witnessing the
ruin of a great people." Nevertheless, it was not ruin,
but uprising, which was effected in this manner.
Since the cannon of Sebastopol slew the retrograde
policy which was personified in Nicholas, Russia has entered into the way of reforms.* A new emperor has
generously given the signal, and serfhood is beginning to
die. Here is another country which is about to pass
through a crisis, because it is about to accomplish a progress.   Hasten, ye prophets  of misfortune; announce
anew the ruin of a great people!  See, serfhood does not
disappear alone, it draws along in its train the entire old
organization. This is true; but where is the harm? Was
there not need of transforming the entire organization?
For a long time we have been striving here below to repair worm-eaten edifices, yet it always happens that, after
having replastered again and again, we are forced to
build anew.  We will build anew  then in Russia; the
bureaucracy, the censorship, the police, will not long survive serfhood; the publicity of judicial debates, the discussion of budgets, the intervention of the country in
its own affairs, will not be long in coming.  Already, the
assemblies of the representatives of the nobility at St. Petersburg, and above all, at Moscow, have cast votes which
must have made the Emperor Nicholas rise in his tomb.
Are we to grieve for it?  Let us.grieve that there are so
many abuses to reform, that there is so much corruption
to combat; this is well; but let us not grieve that life is
to be more agitated, more turbulent than death.
* Do not those who obstinately persist in not comprehending the
Crimean war, see what has sprung from it? It has in no wise resuscitated the Turks, for whom very little was cared; it has forced Russia
to abdicate its absolutist patronage, and to undertake its own transformation. The liberal alliance of the West has borne fruits of liberty.




330                TO AMERICANS.
Crises of uprising mark the great epochs of history.
What crisis, I limit myself to this, what crisis can be
compared to that which dates from the coming of Jesus
Christ?  He said: "I do not come to bring peace, but a
sword."  The immensity of the benefit is measured by
the immensity of the suffering. Behold the whole antique society succumbing; behold pagan serenity disappearing; behold the national religions perishing; behold
divisions introducing themselves everywhere, in the State,
in the family, in the very recesses of the human soul;
atrocious persecutions, religious wars spring up unceasingly from their ashes; the refinements of cruelty and
the excesses of hatred are about to have full sway;
the blood of Christians will be shed; and Christians (or
those that bear the name) will shed blood in their turn;
it will flow in torrents; the world will be in anguish.
But the world will be transfigured, rejuvenated, upraised.
Above the mire of ancient society, a new society will have
appeared, like unto the lands which, when our globe assumed its present form, rose at the voice of God from the
bosom of the troubled waters.-The ignominies of Rome
have disappeared, slavery has fallen back slowly before
the gospel; the family has been formed, and woman has
become the mother of the family; individual conscience
has conquered its rights, direct relations have been established between the soul and God, light has been shed on
life, death, and eternity: the mind has known needs,
agitated questions, entered upon spaces of which antiquity knew nothing; modern liberties have made invasion, modern thought has been born. These are marvels,
dazzling marvels, which we should better appreciate if we
were more accustomed to them, if any one could make
us feel but for a day the icy contact with human communities, such as they were before Jesus Christ.




CRISIS OF THE UPRISING.            331
And I speak of communities, I leave aside all that concerns the individual salvation. It will not be useless,
however, to cast a glance inio the depths of the soul, and
to seek there, there also, tl.  characteristics of this supreme crisis, which is the crisis of uprising. They know
something of it, who have tasted the sufferings and the
ravishing delights of faith. They know what rocky paths
are travelled, what sufferings are passed through, what
continual struggles are carried on within us from the
moment that we begin to see ourselves as we are, and to
feel the necessity of internal reform.
Ah! it is with nations as with individuals. The peoples
Nwho make progress are the peoples of suffering and combat. Noble sufferings, glorious combats, without which
uprising is impossible! No, I will never consent to rank
among disasters, the bloody victories of humanity; it
would be to veil the moral side of history. In spite of
all the weeping voices which lately joined in a concert of
lamentations, I congratulate Americans on having willed
the cure with its necessary conditions; on having recoiled
neither before the bitterness of the remedies, nor the
sharp pain of the operations, nor the transient despondency which precedes and paves the way for the reestablishment of strength. I should doubt their uprising, I
acknowledge, if they had not passed through weakening
and the chances ofiuin.'What an immense step America has just taken! Between the presidency of Mr. Buchanan and that of Mr.
Lincoln, there is the distance of a social revolution. The
sons of the Puritans are slow to move; but once set in
motion, they go forward, and nothing stops them. Can
there really be souls cold enough not to rejoice at the
thought, that the time in which we live is that of the
15




332                TO AMERICANS.
great triumph over slavery? Is it nothing to have seen
it with our own eyes while we are on earth?
Slavery has received its death blow; doubtless, I have
no longer to demonstrate it. What the last election commenced, the providential defeats of the North have completed, and now he would be mad, indeed, who should
attempt to return backward. A man who can be believed
on his word, for he has a right to be more fastidious than
any one in the matter of abolition, Charles Sumner, exclaimed lately at Worcester: "The victory is already
gained, the country is already saved!"  And he added
the animating words: " Others may despair, not I. Many
others see the dark side, I cannot..... However
great the peril of our country may still appear, it was far
greater when it was falling, year after year, under the
yoke of slavery."
Slavery, indeed, is not a yoke for the slaves alone, it
is a yoke for the governments themselves; it was the
question first of all to emancipate the government of the
United States. God has had pity on America in not permitting the South to be more adroit; that is, more moderate. If it had consented to return speedily co the Union,
much would have been accorded it; it would have been
left with a majority in the Senate, with the support of
the democratic party in the whole North, lastly, with the
always ready and still powerful menace: "W We will secede
on the day that you touch slavery."
I wish to cite on this subject, one of the most powerful orators of America, the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher:
" I hear many exclaim-' It is horrible to think of brothers
slaughtering each other.' But is it not just as horrible to
think that, on the Southern plantations, so many men are
yielding up the last sigh, torn by the whip of the overseer?... Ah, civil war is a fearful thing, but I




CRISIS OF THE UPRISING.           333
know of something that would be still more fearful-to
see the evil which reigns in the South invade the whole
country.... Peace is not the first good for a nation,
justice is still more precious. You have no right to wish
for peace, until God has made justice to reign. Such is
the teaching of the Gospel. When we shall have done
with injustice, our peace will flow like a river... God
forbid that peace be obtained until the reign of justice be
established among us!"
This prayer has been granted. The reign of justice
will be established; the true uprising, which great hearts
place above prosperity as above peace, will be finally
accomplished.
WVe shall not be long in perceiving it; American policy
will regain the standard below which it had fallen. No.
more wars for slavery, no more WValker expeditions pro.
tected by 3Ir. Slidell and his friends, no more vetoes opposed by a new Jefferson Davis to the vote of a: State
desirous of paying its debts!  Waste will be severely
reprimanded, now that the passion for struggles on the
subject of slavery is no longer at hand to cover every
thing, now that direct taxation has come to make the
knaveries of administrators weigh upon each citizen.
Not only has the government just received its letters
of emancipation, but individuals themselves will breathe
henceforth with a freedom which had ceased to be known
in America. The emancipation of slaves will bring with
it the emancipation of politics and of characters. Two
questions have been treated and resolved at the same
time-the question of slavery and that of democracy; it
was time that the elasticity of individualism resumed its
vigor, and ceased to be restrained by the despotism of
numbers.




334                TO AMtERICANS.
No despotism has surpassed this-thanks to the demagogic pressure let loose by the passions of the South,
popular sovereignty had become a rude idol; it seemed
as though morality were put to vote, and infamy became
honest as soon as it obtained the majority! What do
the ravtages of such principles tell? Public and private
morals corrupted at the same time; for there is, thank
God, aunity in man, and the pretension to remain honest in certain acts while becoming a knave in certain
others, has always received the contradictions of experience.
It will not be the least proof of the uprising which
is being -wrought, to see individuals rise up before the
masses; lately crushed, ground down, confounded by
force with the State, they will dare listen to their conscience and be of their own mind. There will no longer
be unlimited power in America; that is, there will be
liberty at last.
A last progress will have been accomplished; the
United States needed to receive lessons of defeat and
trial. A spoiled, infant people, they could, no more than
other peoples, dispense with the harsh instructions of
adversity. They had been accustomed to success and
flatteries; they had conceived an unreasonable opinion
of themselves. Thence came some presumption in language, and some arrogance in action. Now they have
passed through the crucible in which we leave our
scoriae.
To renounce adulation is not to renounce, far from
it, the esteem of others.  Never, on the contrary, has
the true power of America more fully broken forth. This
uprising through justice will remain one of the great
events of history. This people, fallen so low under Mr.
Buchanan, and which succeeds'in rising, this new Antoeus,




CItISIS 01T' THFE Ul'IISNG.:335
that regains strength on touching the soil of liberty and
law, no one, believe me, will regard with disdain.
It miglht have been said formerly that the United
States subsisted only through their privileged position —
without neighbors, consequently without enemies, exempt
from the efforts exacted by war, life had been easy to
them; their vast political edifice had not been tried, for
it had struggled against no tempest, and there was right
to suppose that the first torrent which beat against the
wall would overthrow or shake the foundations. To-day,
the torrent has come, and the foundation remains. The
impotent nationality which had been shown us submerged
beneath the waves of immigration, has been found an
energetic and long-lived nationality. In the face of the
rebellious South as in the face of the menacing South,
there is found an American nation.  It has broken forever; yes, broken, even in the event of the effective sepa.
ration of a portion of the South, the perfidious weapon
of separation.  It has passed through the triple ordeal
which all governments must endure-the ordeal of foundation, of independence, of revolution. It has affranchised
with one blow, its present and its future. At the hour of
disasters, it has displayed the rarest quality of all-patience
to repair the evil. It could at that time utter the confident speech: " The Americans of the North are only the
better for having been beaten once or twice." Lastly,
while engaged in a struggle with difficulties from without,
the United States have known how to accept the consequences of their embarrassment, without ceasing to hold
a language full of dignity; they have made their protestations and maintained their principles, while awaiting
better days.
I shall not waste my time in demonstrating that, if the
Union come out of the crisis victorious, it will come out




336                TO AMERICANS.
aggrandized.  The uprising of a great people will then
have numerous partisans, and my paradox will become a
commonplace. I have been anxious to establish another
theory, no less true, but less popular-to-day, during the
crisis, in the midst of difficulties and perils, whatever may
be the issue of the struggle, the uprising is already accomplished.  Already, America has said to  slavery:
"Thou shalt go no further."  Already, it has said to the
South: " I recoil neither before thy plans of disruption,
nor before the sovereign influence which thy cotton must
exert on the determinations of Europe.)" Already, it
has resisted the terrible ordeal of treasons. Already, it
has maintained  its unity and avoided mob violence.
Already, it has accepted heavy charges which will leave
their traces on the American budget, like the noble scars
which remain stamped on the countenance of conquerors.
The uprising is therefore already accomplished. It
may be that the United States will still combat and suffer,
but their cause will not perish; and their cause is their
greatness.




CHAPTER II.
3MAINTENANCE OF FREE INSTITUTIONS.
UPRISING is not revolution. It is even quite the contrary. Revolution is what the South has been striving to
effect; the triumph over the South will consist in maintaining as they are the free institutions of the country.
Americans! it is necessary to give a contradiction to
the prognostic, " The civil war will kill slavery in the
South, and liberty in the North." Distrust those among
you who turn to unity of power as to a refuge; do not
listen to those sceptical minds which always expect something, because they believe nothing and hold to nothing.
Remain yourselves, or rather, become yourselves again;
aspire, as to the greatest progress, to the faithful preservation of your ancient Union, without religion of State,
without budget of worships, without great armies, without
centralized administration. Remain yourselves, remain
America, this will be the greatest of originalities. It is
important that there be something ancient on your soil,
something which has passed through crises and survived
battles. Your institutions will be this thing; henceforth
tried and in some sort venerable, clothed with a character of which the fundamental law of a country cannot be
divested with impunity, they will secure a more inviolable




338               TO AMERICANS.
asylum to your liberties. Come out of the struggle with
the programme which you had on entering it, with the
political unity of the State, with the administrative independence of the States; do not make the common country
bear the penalty of the crime of a few; above all, reject
the counsels of those who urge you to ape Europe. As
your flora and your fauna are not ours, so your social
organization should not be that of the Old World. Is it
better?  Is it less good?  Idle questions: it is different,
and different it should remain.
The comparative examination of republic and monarchy is in place in Cinna; in the reality of human
affairs, these great questions resolve themselves by virtue of necessities, which have no connection with the
arguments of political philosophy. But, independently
of forms of government, which are not here in question,
there are principles which may be more or less applied
under all forms of government. America has the privilege of having comprehended them better than any one;
let her not abdicate this superiority.
She is also as little governed, above all as little administered as possible; an immense advantage, which
might be weakened or disappear under the influence of
existing events. The American budget rose to three
hundred million francs in 1860, and the American debt did
not exceed this amount; that is to say, the capital owed
by the United States was only the equivalent of a year
of their revenue. Well; this is the ideal toward which it
is important ere long to return.
Ideal is indeed the word. History will have difficulty
some day to believe that a great nation was able to live
more than seventy years without establishing among it
direct taxation. This was a golden age, which doubtless
will never again be found; I do not delude myself on




MIAIRNTENANCE OF INSTITUTIONS.       339
this point. Once having left the happy epoch when a fewindirect taxes sufficed to defiay their expenses, the United
States wtill not return to it; the question is only to approach it as nearly as possible. Despite the permanent
burden which will be imposed on them  by the interest
and liquidation of the enormous debts contracted during
the war, despite the burden which I hope will result from
progressive emancipation, and the indemnity allowed by
the treasury, there will still be means of establishing at
Washington, budgets bearing very little resemblance to
those we vote in Europe. And this is essential; at an
epoch when financial embarrassment is the plague of
almost all the countries of the Old World, the New
World would do very wrong to suffer itself to be seduced
by the evil sophisms too well accepted among us. Superb
theories have been made for us on the merits of taxation,
on the natural increase of taxation, on the advantage of
paying more and spending more. What the result has
been for us, Frenchmen, every one knows. When our
budget, to the general stupefaction, reached the amount
of a thousand million fiancs, all exclaimed against it.  I.
Thiers made the speech in reply, which was, alas! a
prophecy: " You complain of this budget of a thousand
millions! Look at it well, for you will never again behold
it." Let our example instruct the Americans; unless
they energetically retrace their steps, they will speedily
become accustomed, as well as we, to spending thousands
of millions.
Europe has not only great budgets, she has great
armies, which are still more dangerous. I shall not ask
Americans to return to their army of sixteen thousand
men; I am fully conscious that this is no more to be
thought of; let them say to themselves, however, that all
their energy is about to be needed to resist the tempta



340                TO AMERICANS.
tions to which the condition of war will have given birth.
Doubtless it will be pretended that it is fitting to profit
by these numerous soldiers, disciplined and inured to war,
that there are questions to regulate in Mexico and elsewhere, that there are conquests to make, that the opportunity is admirable for seizing Cuba, the Antilles, who
knows? perhaps South America to Cape Horn, that,
moreover, the South still needs to be watched over, that
prudence does not permit radical measures. Now, there
are cases in which radical measures alone succeed. Happily, the sentiment of the incompatibility between the
American system and standing armies has not ceased to
make its presence felt in the United States. While developing their defensive forces, the fortification of cities
and frontiers, the organization of militia, the improvement of military schools, they have firmly maintained the
provisional character of their armaments. They have
wished, and I praise them for it, none but volunteers.
They have rejected plans of conscription. Perhaps, at
peace, they will keep up a tolerable large navy; they
will not, if they are wise, keep up a large army.
These are friendly counsels.  While comprehending
that there will be changes, that in one sense, it is impossible that a new America should not come forth from
such a furnace, I would wish the new one greatly to
resemble the old, and above all to take care not to reject
its best features.
The modifications, which may be easily foreseen, will
be designed to give a little more strength to the central
power. Without imperilling the principle of self-government, which is the very essence of liberty, the Americans
will doubtless realize in a more precise manner, the fundamental unity of the nation. The idea of confederation,




MAINTENANCE OF INSTITUTIONS.        341
already so cweak, will become still more obliterated. This
is precisely what happened in Switzerland, after the rising
in arms of the Sonderbund.
It is probable that the banking system will be subjected to alteration, and that the unconditional emission
of paper currency in every part of the country will be
prohibited. The independence of judges needs to be
guaranteed; there are States in which they are elected
but for one year; and others where the quota of their
salary is unceasingly called in question. The impotence
of the law in the presence of great popular disorders will
demand preservative measures, the adoption of which has
become possible since the passions of slavery have ceased
to rule the country. Lastly, and without speaking of
the principal change, of that which will determine the
conditions of the complete abolition of slavery, I should
not be astonished if it should be wished to give a little
more prestige to the position of the Chief Magistrate of
the Republic. Without returning to the etiquette established in the time of Washington, when he held great
levees, when he invited none to his table but foreign
envoys holding the rank of Ambassadors, when his carriage, drawn by six horses, was escorted by two aides-decamp, when the managers of theatres received him at the
bottom of the steps, and all the spectators rose at his
entrance, it may be that the simplicity of the White
House will be judged too great. I give no opinion on
the question, but I confess that this president, so powerful in fact, and surrounded by so little paraphernalia, this
chief of a great people, with his civil list costing one hundred and twenty thousand francs, does not appear to me
lacking in greatness.
What is more important is that he should be checked




342                TO AMERICANS.
in the path of dictatorship which he has entered for a
moment. On separating in August, Congress voted him
veritable full powers. Mr. Lincoln has not abused them;
the impetuosity which existed for a month or two has
given place to a more reserved attitude; he seems to
have called to mind the speech of our old publicist Jean
Bodin; "The power to do every thing does not give the
right to do it?,
Nothing is so tempting and so convenient, but also so
dangerous, as full powers. It is reasonable, doubtless, to
take some exceptional measures when the position itself
is exceptional; the necessities of war are incontestable;
a. government, surrounded by spies, and whose plans are
regularly communicated to the enemy, has a right to defend itself. Notwithstanding, let us not hasten to believe
that we shall be much stronger, because we are at
liberty to trample the laws under foot; there is much
more strength, upon the whole, in that respect for the
laws which goes so far as to accept difficulties and extreme
restraint, rather than have recourse to arbitrary measures.
Coups d'etat have never strengthened any one; it is
by avoiding coups cdetat that the coup d'etat of the rebellion will be better suppressed. The law is the great
strength of the North; let it not quit it, or let it hasten
to return to it! iMr. Lincoln, I doubt not, has had very
strong reasons for suspending hcbeas corpus, for ordering
arrests, and for suppressing newspapers. There has been
great exaggeration in saying that the law of the suspected
has been put in force, that Mr. Seward has issued lettres
de cachet, and that Fort Lafayette, (what an irony of
fate!) has been transformed into a Bastile. At all events,
the Government at Washington comprehended its true
interests on the day that it restricted the extent of this
exceptional system. At the present time, it has nearly




MAINTENANCE OF INSTITUTIONS.         343
disappeared-the prisoners of state have been set at liberty, and the passport system, a moment adopted, has
been already abolished.
There are energetic acts from which the president has
been a thousand times right in not shrinking. The arrest
of those members of the Maryland Legislature who were
preparing to vote for secession, and had extended the
hand to Beauregard, will never be brought as a reproach
against General Banks. But other acts would be less
easy to justify.
It will be, above all, at the hour of decisive success,
which will strike ere long, I hope, that we shall be able
to judge American policy. Then will be propounded the
problems of pacification, more important and more difficult perhaps than the problems of the struggle. Then
the question will be to give a contradiction to those who
announce that the North, incapable of adopting the glorious solution furnished it by liberty, can only enter that
wretched path of punishment, reprisal and distrust which
leads straight to military despotism. Already, it is urged
in this direction; it is put on its guard against the sentiments of " false generosity and false pity" which would
spare the principal leaders of the rebellion; it is insisted
that there shall be, at the end of the struggle, a certain
number of exemplary punishments. If it were proposed
to render those men interesting who are far from being
so at present, and to preserve the germ of new insurrections, this would be marvellously well adapted to the purpose. In the sequel of civil wars, we never lack good
reasons for erecting the scaffold, and publishing amnesties
studded with exceptions. Beware! these amnesties, the
public conscience calls lists of proscription. It does not
like courts of justice to be convoked on the morrow of
the battle; ill its opinion, the decrees rendered there by




344                TO AMERICANS.
the conqueror always resemble vengeance more than
justice. I-How glorious it would be to conquer one's self
after having conquered the South! Pardon for all, liberty for all, equality of right for all, this is the vengeance
of the North. It seems as though the greatness of the
part were fitted to tempt it.
As to the proceedings which have hitherto accompanied the war, it must be recognized in full justice that
they do honor to America. I except the Confiscation
Bills. That of the North is only a reprisal, I am aware;
the South, not content with confiscation, has decreed the
non-payment of debts. But if the South adopt odious
measures, is it a reason for the North to do as much?
I hasten to add, that it has not done as much. The
South has gone so far as to prescribe the general confiscation of property possessed in its territory by Northern
citizens. Numerous deputations having insisted with Mr.
Lincoln that the North, in turn, should confiscate all
property within its limits belonging to Southern citizens,
the President opposed the measure. "But they do it on
their side," it was objected. —" If they think themselves
free to commit an act of injustice," the president replied,
"I have neither the right nor the wish to do so."
The war, whatever may have been said of it, has not
for a moment borne the character of cruelty. In spite of
the principles which seemed opposed to it, the United
States have not once treated as rebels, prisoners taken
with arms in their hands; the privateers themselves have
been spared.
Upon the whole, there has been fighting, but the horrors which have hitherto polluted civil wars, have been
avoided with care.  Exchanges of prisoners are made
daily; many obtain their liberty on parole. The progressive invasion of the States is marked neither by de



MAINTENANCE OF INSTITUTIONS.         345
vastation nor pillage. Mildness has been carried so far as
to commute the death penalty pronounced in Missouri
against the wretches who, by burning railroad bridges, had
caused the death of numerous men, women, and children.
Lastly, since the commencement of hostilities, the scaffold
-mark well this fact-has not yet been erected a single
time by the North. After the taking of Fort Sumter,
when treason was everywhere; after Bull Run, when the
enemy was marching on Washington, the United States
had no days of September.
The South is far from having shown the same moderation.  The terror which has reigned in its bosom  for
years has become still more violent. The vigilance committees there have done their well-known work; we
know from the letters of Mr. Russell, that battalions proceeding toward the North, bear before them a coffin on
which " Abraham Lincoln " is inscribed in large letters.
As to the war, that of the extreme West, pursued with
the aid of Indians and pillagers, has shrunk neither from
conflagration nor more detestable atrocities.
It is important to us all that the American institutions
come out intact from the trial. The solidarity which today unites all peoples is so great, that nowhere can any
question be agitated to which we may say that we are
strangers. It is our own business that is in question; it
is the house of our neighbor that is burning, paries proximus ardet.
Republic and monarchy aside, the whole world is interested in the issue of the debate. The success of
America would be a decisive argument in favor of liberty.
If liberal institutions come out victorious from a tempest
where many hoped to see them perish, if it happen for
the first time that a civil war ends without establishing




346               TO AMERICANS.
an exceptional system and an excessive concentration of
power, will this be nothing? Not only is the abolition
of slavery a prodigious deed, made to honor our century,
and the influence of which will make itself felt afar, but
other problems propounded in the NTew World will now
be happily resolved without profit to Europe. WVe are
drifting toward democracy; is it indifferent to us to
know (what is not yet demonstrated) whether it accords
with liberty? We are struggling under the embarrassment
of the Roman question; that is, of establishing relations
between the churches and the state; shall we learn
nothing on the day that we see how much the victory of
the American Government has been facilitated by the
fact that it has not had to trouble itself about the churches,
and that the political conflict could not become complicated with a religious one?




CHAPTER III.
ABOLITION OF SLAVERY.
I Do not wish to repeat what I have said elsewhere,
but to sum up in a few words the results of our study on
this essential point.
What is henceforth important is, not that abolition
maybe effected-this, no one can prevent; but, that it may
be by the desire of the American Government. To know
one's duty is sometimes more difficult than to do it; now,
the duty of the United States is not perhaps as yet sufficiently known to them. They have comprehended and
accepted the necessity of arresting the extension of
slavery; it remains for them to comprehend and accept
the necessity of abolishing it; that is, of taking measures
immediately for this end. Without in any manner making an abolition war, without arming the negroes, without
making a change of front which would divide the North
and alarm the Border States, the American Government
may fully pave the way for the decisive struggle which
alone can give to the present crisis the character of a
crisis of uprising. Slavery, as the great enemy and obstacle to reconciliation, should receive its death blow.




348                TO AMERICANS.
Let its slow and progressive extinction be proclaimedthis is natural; let an indemnity be accorded-this is excellent policy; but let no half-way measures be adopted.
Half-way measures embitter; thorough measures have in
themselves a tranquillizing power. The South itself seems
to have been willing to prepare the way for this great reform —in causing offers of progressive emancipation, more
or less in earnest, to be presented to Europe, the South
has taken away from the most timorous minds and the
most dismayed interests of the Free, or the Border States,
the right to be scandalized, when Mr. Lincoln shall accomplish against the rebellion what MIr. Davis proposed
to accomplish for it.
Honest men will not be lacking, when the hour of great
successes shall have struck, to entreat AIr. Lincoln to do
nothing. To abstain, seems always the height of wisdom;
it is sometimes the height of folly. To abstain, in certain
cases, is to act. If, contrary to all appearances, Congress
and the President should put an end to the rebellion without putting an end to slavery; if the cause of the evil
should survive, America would not be long in paying
dearly for such an error.
Until now, I have comprehended all the circumspection used; I shall still comprehend it in the future. Reserve action for time, put aside abrupt and violent systems, but, in Heaven's name, be resolved, and do not
leave the enemy in possession of the field.
This enemy will be no longer what it has been, that is
certain; slavery can no longer set itself up as master; it
will remain on the defensive. Is this a reason, however,
for not demanding that the Southern States, in due form
of law, shall give their assent, without delay, to abolition?
Otherwise, what fatal agitation will ensue both in the
South and the Border States!  What an obstacle to




ABOLITION.                  349
true union, the tranquillizing of minds and the fusion of
interests!
It would be to keep up irritation, to maintain antagonism, to necessitate military occupation, lastingly to
prevent American institutions, and to secure before long
the renewal of the rebellion, to set to work in any other
way. There will be in the South neither the immigration of free labor, nor the formation of a middle class, nor
the definitive fall of the violent party, until the principle
of abolition shall be laid down in terms that will permit
of no return. Then, only, the aspect of things will change;
the raising of negroes will have an end; deprived at once
of the domestic and foreign slave trade, slavery will vanish, the problem will be resolved. Then, too, will be
produced the so much contested unity and homogeneousness of the American people.
What has been the question during the past year?
To know whether slavery will kill the Union, or whether
the Union will kill slavery. That iMr. Lincoln may be
convinced of it, God will hold closed all the avenues that
lead to peace, until justice shall be satisfied. Durable
peace, peace worthy of the name, peace which a second
time will found the United States, this peace the American people cannot taste until it has first nobly and absolutely done its duty.
This will take place, whether the Union be established,
or the separation of a few States be accepted. Yes, even
in assuming this last, painful hypothesis, we shall not
have to doubt the uprising of the United States.
America will remain one of the most powerful nations
of earth. Resolutely resigning itself, and turning its gaze
within, it will consecrate itself to a glorious work. To
complete the abolition of slavery within its own borders,




835o0              TO AMERICAiN'S.
to suppress all traces of dictatorship, to reestablish the
free workings of its institutions, to return to material
prosperity, to a prosperity better than the former-this
would be no insignificant enterprise.
Many men less confident than myself, are obstinate in
believing that so long as separation does not take place,
the amalgamation of principles will subsist. They wish
the North to constitute a purely abolition State. They
think this the only means of dissolving the democratic
party, and destroying the thought of compromise. It
seems to them, that, slavery being concentrated on one
side and liberty on the other, it would be to the advantage of every one. The constitutional transformation
which abolition supposes, might be accomplished with the
majorities required by the compact; every thing would
go on, therefore, in a more regular and surer manner.
I comprehend this point of view, which is not my own.
Once more, if the question were to choose between Union
without abolition, and abolition without Union, I would
vote for the latter, certain that it alone could accord with
the honor and greatness of the United States. The miserable Union which would be purchased by an act of
cowardice, would not be worth the trouble of picking
up; it would tarnish the cause of America, and compromise its future.
To decrease materially and increase morally is not to
decrease. This people would uprise-this people, which
would no longer represent any thing but liberty, this people, which would have affranchised its institutions and
policy, and which, surrounded by universal esteem, would
advance with the Divine blessing toward its noble destinies. It would consecrate itself to the fruitful work of
abolition in the Border States, it would give to the Border States that unexampled prosperity which they will




ABOLITION.                  351
enjoy, the day that they shall be penetrated by free labor;
it would give to the prosperity of the Border States the
enduring lesson of the -wretched and fallen South.
Its first duty is its first interest. It finds itself in one
of those privileged positions, where the apparent discords
of politics and morality become effaced, one after the
other. It is about to be judged by its acts, not its words.
Now, let us confess it, if its acts have often been good,
they have not always been so. Abolition will be effected.
Of that I have no doubt, but the conduct of the North
toward the fiee colored race is as yet little modified; it
remains as a cruel contradiction, which the North gives
in person to its speeches against slavery.  These five
hundred thousand men, who endure there the iniquities
and outrages of which every one is cognizant, seem to accuse of hypocrisy the nevertheless sincere declarations of
the orators of liberty.
At the door of the meetings where MIr. Sumner is applauded, at the door of the churches where M1:. Beecher
eloquently stigmatizes slavery, at the door of the journals
where the crime of the South is denounced, the crime of
the North remains standing.  This is sad-it should
change. Do you remember, citizens of America, do you remember the bitter speech?  " They wish to be free, and
they do not know how to be just."  Be just, become just,
I entreat you! Compromise yourselves sacredly for justice! Do precisely the thing which costs you the most, it
will be the best in the eyes of men as in the eyes of God!
I have sought in your public newspapers for symptoms
of an indispensable change, and, I grieve to say, I have
not found them. Where are the churches that have set
the example? If there be those which accept both blacks
and whites as members, which open their pews without




352                TO AMERICANS.
distinction of color to blacks and whites, which take disciplinary measures against whoever has been wanting in
respect to a negro-if there be such churches, why do we
not know of them? We are bound to rise to the level of
our cause. The cause of the Americans of the North is
great; they will grow, it is inevitable. In demanding of
the South a colossal sacrifice in the name of the law and
the gospel, they will feel that the law and the gospel cannot remain long disregarded by themselves.
The law and the gospel are still disregarded, and to a
point of which we can with difficulty form an idea. Who
would believe that, in the present year of 1862, the convention charged with revising the constitution of Illinois,
entertained a proposition designed to banish all negroes
from the State? This infamous proceeding was of course
rejected; but, I scarcely dare say it, twenty-one votes were
found in its support. Twenty-one citizens of a free State,
in spite of the law, Christianity, and the commonest rules
of humanity, wished this, supported this! I knew well
that the prejudice of color reigned above all in the West,
I was not ignorant of the geographical, political, and social reasons which served as its basis,-nevertheless, I
would have never imagined that it could go so far as
this, at the very hour in which it was combating the cotton States, which had rebelled in the name of slavery, at
the very hour when it laid claim, with reason, to the sympathies of Europe.
There is a whole past of infamy to repudiate in the
North, and I consider it a duty to say something respecting it. —We will lay aside every thing exceptional, the
sale of lots in certain cemeteries, with this condition, publicly expressed:' No colored persons will be buried
here;" the violent and unpunished demolition of an establishment for higher instruction, founded in New Hamp



ABOLITION.                  353
shire, —an establishment sanctioned by the legislature,
and which proposed to receive, without distinction, youths
of the white and the colored race. We will content ourselves with once more recalling the fact (such things cannot be too often denounced) that in the greater part of
the churches white men alone are admitted, that, if a
small space be reserved near the door for colored persons,
they cannot occupy any other place without being immediately expelled, and that it is taken very ill if they approach the communion-yes, the communion-before the
whites have partaken of the sacrament. Let a colored
woman go to a watering place on account of her health;
as soon as she approaches the spring, the cup is snatched
from her hand, and she is threatened with ill treatment
if she dare return. Let another enter a public vehicle;
she will find wretches there to take her by the throat and
forcibly eject her; and, what is most serious,-for there
are cowards every where-the courts will refuse to receive her complaint, on the ground that her presence has
shocked the public sentiment. It is said that there is a
vehicle to be seen to-day in the streets of New York,
bearing the significant inscription, " Colored persons allowed in this car."
What is to be said of the decisions taken in Ohio and
Illinois, sometimes to hamper the settling of colored men
on the territory of the State, sometimes to expel the
greater number, sometimes to dispute to them even the
exercise of the right of petition? I will not dwell on
these acts, which are already of ancient date, and which
doubtless would not be renewed to-day. Still less would
I wish to expatiate on the monstrous doctrines which, several times, have authorized all colored men, condemned to a
fine which they were unable to pay, to be put up.for sale.
This belongs to ancient history, not so ancient, however,




354                TO AMERICANS.
that it may not be useful to meditate on at the present
time. The proposition which was discussed the other
day in Illinois proves that progress on this point is effected
with lamentable slowness.
A number of Northern States might be cited which
refuse to colored men the quality of citizens, which refuse
them in fact the exercise of political rights, which do not
even accept their testimony in law. The example given
by New York, which, in 1857, constitutionally proclaimed
complete equality, has not been generally followed. Other
States, I will cite Pennsylvania, seem rather to retrograde.
Such is the crime of the North. And let no one seek
to extenuate it by saying that the South carries much further the violation of the rights of the free colored race.
The champions of liberty have different obligations and
different responsibilities, I presume, from the defenders
of slavery. Yes, the South refuses, much more than the
North, to accept the testimony of men of color. Yes,
the South, not content with debarring them the entrance
to the common schools, does not usually permit them to
have schools of their own. Yes, the South goes so far as
to reduce free negroes to slavery; here, because they
have married persons of the white race, there, because
they have given refuge to a fugitive, in another place, for
the sole fact that they have taken the liberty to remain in
the State after their emancipation, or because they have
passed through it.  But, once more, the enormities of
the South do not excuse those of the North.
I have hastened to place by the side of these detestable facts, other facts which show that the North is beginning to be disquieted at its crime, and that, if its progress
be slow, much too slow, notwithstanding, it is not absolutely void.
The proposition made in the last Message will be first




ABOLITION.                    355
remembered-two black republics for the first time, will
have representatives at Washington!*
It is known, next, that a colored man, the Rev. Mr.
Garnett, has received a formal passport from the Secretary of State, which recognizes him as an American citizen,
contrary to the usage established hitherto, contrary to
the opinion expressed by the Supreme Court under the
presidency of Mr. Buchanan.
A colored lawyer has been recently admitted as a
member of the bar in Boston. He is the third, moreover,
who pleads thus, on a footing of equality with the whites,
in the courts of this city.
If the West in general is still ruled by the unworthy
prejudice of color, New England, accustomed to generous
initiatives, applies more and more the principle of human
equality; usually, she has no black schools; her colored
children are not set apart.  Let us add, that they distinguish themselves by their progress, and that it often
happens that they are the first in their class.  The Rev.
Mr. Fisch,t of whom I borrow  this detail with several
others, relates that he questioned these children on the
geography of France.  "They pointed out to me the
course of our rivers," says he, " better than is ordinarily
done in our own schools. There are not many Parisian
children who know much about the Susquehanna, Dela.
ware, and Chesapeake. I have heard young negresses ex.
plain the laws of gravitation, and point out the diameter,
gravity and distance from the earth of the different planets. In the colored Academy at Philadelphia, founded
* Let us hope that Hayti will not entertain the strange idea of permitting herself to be represented by a white man. This has been pretended,
but I will not believe it.
t See the series of articles which he published in the Revue Chretienne after his visit to the United States.
16




356                TO AMERICANS.
by the Quakers, I have asked young girls to construe for
me at sight a portion of the 2Eneid. I have done the
same with the Greek Testament."
The country which has opened the mixed schools of
New England, the country which, in a less liberal thought,
has founded the colored schools of Pennsylvania and New
York, —this country will learn ere long the respect due
to man, whatever may be the color of his skin. It is not
the future that disquiets me, but the present; I am jealous of the honor of the United States, and I wish that
they themselves, on the spot, by a generous impulse,
might place the reform of the North by the side of the
denunciation of the crime of the South.
Never was a moment more serious. After the political crisis, after the military crisis, after the commercial
crisis, the crisis of success may suddenly supervene. Then
will be the time when men will intrigue and embroil
questions to their hearts' content; then will be the time
when evil counsels will crowd in, from within and without,
from  America and Europe.  Therefore I am far from
saying, like some persons, that it is henceforth useless
to lay down principles, to examine the line of conduct
to be held, and to study problems. Material triumph,
supposing it complete, will resolve nothing by itself. The
internal and external dangers will all subsist, to appear
again to-morrow, next year, who knows? if the true solutions be not immediately applied. Yes, to-day it is necessary to look backward, to-day it is necessary to collect
one's thoughts, to-day, it is necessary to take account of
the real nature of the conflict, to-day it is necessary to
tell the truth to the whole world, the truth which alone
raises anew and cures.
After so many hopes fallen one by one, the friends of




ABOLITION.                  35 7
the South still preserve two, to which they cling in despair fobr their cause. They would like, in case that the
Union be reestablished, at least to maintain slavery; that
is to say, the cause of discord, that is to say, the chance
of a new rebellion, attempted under better auspices; they
would like, above all, to persuade Europe that the Union
will not be reestablished.
Have they not dared announce to us even now that
amicable separation was about to be accomplished? Have
not several members of the English Parliament, Earl
Russell himself, declared that before two months, we
may, perhaps, see the North admit the independence of
the South? —Every thing is possible, I grant; but this is
the least possible thing that could be imagined. It is
difficult to believe that the victories of the North will
result in the complete victory of the pretensions of the
South. This rumor is, doubtless, but a last consolation
which those give themselves who, for a year, have not
ceased to build all their plans on the definitive character
of Southern secession.
As to compromises, as to the political weakness which,
in order to win back the South, would avoid touching the
question of slavery, I have already said what were the
reasons for fearing as well as for being reassured. Certain so-called moderate counsels always make themselves
easily welcomed; but, on the other side, the American
opinion is formed, and the great enemy is henceforth
known. It is now almost impossible to spare it.
The peril would be especially grave, if the idea of
calling a convention, and thus, with the South, reconstructing the general Constitution, should  succeed in
gaining admission. I like to believe that MIr. Lincoln will
put aside with a firm hand these revolutionary proceedings. He has struggled for the Constitution, why not




358                TO AMERICANS.
maintain the Constitution? Would it not be glorious to
arrive at the end of this formidable career without having modified the programmes of the beginning? HIere is
the Constitution; it is reestablished, or rather, it continues to impose its laws in spite of every thing, and to
the advantage of every one. No extraordinary power,
convention or any other, has been put in action; the
independence of the States, self-government remains
standing'.
A plan is recommended at this moment, in the name
of some of the principal leaders of the abolition party,
which would overthrow the Constitution, destroy the
independence of the States, and pave the way for central
despotism. To suppress the States which have taken
part in the rebellion, to organize and govern them like
territories, such is the means which it is sought to adopt
in order more rapidly to abolish slavery.
I do not believe that abolition would gain much by
being effected too quickly. The essential point is that it
be effected, and that the principle be laid down irrevocably. It would be easy to attain this end by scrupulously
remaining within the limits of constitutional orthodoxy,
by using only the right which the preceding sessions of
Congress have used themselves, by respecting (this comprises every thing) the boundary which separates the
political and general action of the nation from the local
and administrative action of the States. Independently
of the acts which may be accomplished during the war
according to the terms of the doctrine of John Quincy
Adams, important measures can and should be voted.
For this decisive act, there will be a single hour, the
value of which will be beyond appreciation, and by which
the United States will doubtless know how to profit-it
is the hour that will complete their victories. A little




ABOLITION-.                   359
sooner or a little later, it will come, I hope; I have faith
in the final triumph.  Then, the States who have taken
part in the rebellion, will be still in a state of anarchy;
they will not yet have elected representatives to the
Congress at Washington.  Their absence, for which they
can accuse none but themselves, will secure to MIr. Lincoln the needful majority.
What is there to prevent the adoption, at this moment,
of a series of resolutions designed definitively to settle the
fate of slavery? To abrogate the Fugitive Slave Law,
to suppress slavery in the District of Columbia, to interdict domestic slave trade; to decide that no new slave
State shall be henceforth admitted, and that all the territories shall belong to fireedom, to offer lastly an indemnity
to such States as, within a given time, shall decree progressive abolition,* all this is strictly constitutional. This
is not to say that it would excite no opposition; such
there would be, perhaps, even in the Border States; the
passions of slavery are not accustomed to yield easily.
But it is precisely because it may be opposed and refused,
that the right of States will be seriously respected.  To
stop at this series of measures, is to put aside all violent
intrusion into the internal affairs of the South.
Yet, notwithstanding, it is to decide the question as
well, or rather a hundred times better than would be
done by  exceptional measures.  The oppositions will
fall one after the other before the irresistible power of
the movement which is being wrought.  America will
thus obtain the triple result of maintaining intact the
* If the indemnity be fixed, as was done in France and England, at
about $200, it will be a total expense of $800,000,000, which, apportioned over twenty years, will impose on each year a burden of $20,000,000. Never will expense more glorious or more productive have
been entered in any budget!




369O               T.o:MERICANS.
institutions in the name of which it has combated, of
securing the at once prudent and certain extinction of
slavery, and of solidly founding the Union.
I do not pretend, of course, to draw up such a project; such audacity would ill befit me. I have been only
desirous to show that the United States are not reduced
to choose between the subversive plan projected by an
extreme party, and the complete letting alone of another
party no less extreme, composed of old democrats and
the citizens of the Border States.
These last go on repeating that slavery will fall if no
one nmeddles with it. This is true to a certain point, but
it is essential to meddle with it. IDo not be too sure that
the war has resolved the question, that the party conquered with arms in hand will be also conquered politically, that the country now will be governed in the
interest of liberty, that things will go on as it were of
themselves, that detestable laws will be no longer executed, that the institutions of the South, without protection
and without future, will die a natural death. I recognize
all this, I know that it is given to no one henceforth
to prevent, whether by attempts at ignoble negotiation or
by a culpable letting alone, the great progress which is
about to be accomplished.  Yet, notwithstanding, how
scandalous, shoulld there be negotiation or letting alone!
It is of importance to the honor of America that she
should herself draw the moral conclusion of this formidable conflict. She will have peace only at this price; she
will have Union only at this price; she will have the
sympathies of the world only at this price. And the sympathies of the world, let her not forget, have been, are,
and will be her chief strength.
At the present time, facts are needed, decisive facts,
which will shut the mouth of the enemies of America.




ABOLITION.                 361
To hear them, the reestablishment of the Union would
have no other effect "than to replace slavery under the
aegis of the Federal Constitution." They always return
to the point of separation; when the United States shall
have thus accorded to the rebellion all that it pretended
to obtain, it will be readily admitted that they have cast
out of their bosom the leprosy of slavery, that they form
at length a true republic; sympathies will then be accorded them.
If M3r. Lincoln, as I think, is little disposed to accept
separation, if he cares little to treat with rebels, if the
idea of a treaty concluded through the mediation, and
under the guarantee of Europe pleases him indifferently,
he is bound to prove ere long that the reestablishment of
the Union will not take place without laying down in
fact, and much more surely than all treaties, the principle
of progressive abolition.
To attain this end, it would be fitting perhaps to address first the Border States. In aiding emancipation
among them, a first very considerable result would be
obtained, a few of the intermediate would be transformed into Northern States; they would be attached
indissolubly to the national centre, and insurrection and
slavery would be confined within constantly narrowing
limits.
This, moreover, could not suffice. As the Government
at Washington does not propose to rectify the frontiers
of the free States, but to reestablish in the slave States
the authority of the common Constitution, it should think
also of these last. They may have to decide, in the
plenitude of their independence, between the prudent
abolition which would be facilitated to-day by the indemnity promised by the Union, and the formidable chances




362                TO AMIERICANS.
of a future in which the resurrection of the chances of the
slavery party can in no event find place.
Thus conceived, the proposition of indemnity would
answer to all the necessities of the position in America
and in Europe. It is self-evident that other measures will
follow in the train of the principal one; it is the essence
of a moral conflict such as this to increase, do what one
may, the moral power of the Government and of Congress
Subtle interpretations of the Constitution will have small
chance, henceforth, against the need of suppressing abominable infamies; no one will be persuaded that self-government implies the right to suppress marriage at one's
pleasure, to destroy the family, to sell separately and
carry away the father, mother, and children, any more
than it implies the right of the Mormons also to attack
the family in their way, by establishing polygamy.
The President and Congress may therefore lay down
the principle of indemnity, and secure the approaching
success of progressive abolition, without having recourse,
I trust, to those extreme acts of general emancipation,
proclaimed through military power, which the prolongation and exasperation of the struggle might bring about.
The independence of the States will be protected with
jealous care. It will be doubtless indispensable to provide for certain necessities which will result from the
armed struggle. If the United States win, they should
appoint provisional governors, and secure the working of
some sort of an administration, while waiting till the
regular order be reestablished. The essential point is that
this period of transition be as brief as possible. The provisional governors will have no other mission than to
reorganize the insurgent States, to put again in force the
national constitution, to administer the oath of allegiance,
and to reinstate all liberties, including the liberty of oppo



ABOLITION.                   363
sition. It is during this time, which will separate the
state of war from the state of completed reorganization,
that Congress, composed as yet almost exclusively of
iNorthern representatives, will pass, I suppose, all the acts
destined to regulate the new position of slavery, to resume
the healthy tradition of the fathers of the Republic,-of
those illustrious men, all enemies of servile institutions,-to
exhaust, lastly, in this end the rights of the national government, without doing violence to the rights of the local
governments.
Perhaps I should enter here upon the study of the
social problem which will some day succeed the problem
of abolition; but I have made it a rule unto myself not to
repeat in this volume what I have said in my preceding
work.
We are told that emancipation will bring grave difficulties in its train! Who doubts it? No one has yet
discovered the means of effecting a colossal transformation without suffering.  I add, however, that of all the
forms which this inevitable crisis may put on, none is less
alarming than that of a progressive abolition peaceably
accomplished, with the powerful assistance of an indemni.
ty, with the still more powerful assistance of Northern
capital returning to give life to Southern cultures. Compare with this prospect, that of abolition violently accomplished by war, or, if you like better, that of abolition accomplished willingly or unwillingly by the Southern Confederacy under outside pressure. Here, all is constraint,
all is misery;-a community subverted, ruined, menaced,
impotent, forced unceasingly to guard its frontiers, having
neither money nor hands to replace the slavery which it
loses. I marvel at those who wish things to go on thus,
who consider definitive separation as an ideal, and who
16*




364                   TO AMERICANS.
fancy in this manner to serve the cause of abolition!  It
will be a bad recommendation to it for men to believe
themselves authorized to say: " Abolition is effected, and
the South has become a desert."
It will be quite otherwise with abolition wrought in
those conditions of vigor, prosperity, and political health
-pardon  me the expression-which the South will secure by its return to the Union. A great people will be
there, with unceasingly increasing resources, interested in
resuscitating the cultures of the South.  It will then become possible to render healthy the swamp lands, to introduce the improved machinery and processes which will
facilitate the employment of' European workmen. These
will come by degrees, while slavery itself will fall back by
degrees, furnishing still for a certain number of years the
labor which could not be found immediately elsewhere,
and permitting the transition to be managed with care.*
But let us not delude ourselves; it will be in vain that
we surround affranchisement with all necessary precautions, if the prejudice of color is to subsist as it is. Affianchisement is only the end of the present solution;
another question, still graver, and upon which I am  anxious to dwell, will demand to be resolved in the United
States. The question of race will subsist there when the
question of slavery is settled; when America is no longer
in error.
* I have refrained from taking into account here an element of success which might be disputed, but which I believe to be of the highest
importance. The influence of the gospel among the slaves has created
bonds which will be broken with difficulty. For the maintenance of
order, for the preservation of labor, it is not a matter of indifference that
souls have been moved by the Christian faith. The dispersion will also,
perhaps, encounter an obstacle in the attachment inspired in the poor negro by the church.




ABOLITION.                  365
To transform  the slave into a Pariah would be small
progress. The question is not to throw upon the side
walks of great cities a multitude of unfortunates, repulsed
firom honest occupations, deprived of the rights belonging
to every citizen, condemned, as it were, to wretchedness
and degradation; the question is no more to undertake
a gigantic deportation, hurling violently on Africa, St.
Domningo, Florida, or some other corner of the earth
reserved for them, and where they will be speedily subjected to an exceptional regime, these four millions of
men, called to liberty.
Such a liberty, derisive and lying, would arouse feelings
of universal reprobation against America.  It is not
allowable to be just by halves; those who do good are
under the happy obligation of being unable to stop on
the road, and of going further than they had at first pro.
jected. America is condemned, thank God! to go on
to the end of her glorious enterprise.
Enterprises like this succeed only by going on to the
end.   There, there alone, are encountered beneficial
solutions; there all becomes simple, because all has become just. The difficulties will fall one after the other
from the day that Christian and liberal America accepts
all the consequences of her principle; from the day that
she consents to say: "We are about to apply henceforth,
restricting it in nothing, the fundamental dogma of our
constitution; the time must come when none but freemen shall be found among us, and when all free men
shall be truly equal. We have not to trouble ourselves
to know how the free negro race which will soon
be affranchised will be distributed over our territory.
Perhaps it will accumulate in certain regions, perhaps it
will be gradually effaced before the waves of European
immigration; in going where it suits it to go, in doing




366               TO AMERICANS.
what it suits it to do, it will make use of its right. The
respect of right will be now our policy."
There is but one saving policy; it is that which accomplishes the decrees of justice. It is in vain to cry:
"On to Richmond!" unless you cry at the same time,
"On to justice!"   Supported by these three great
measures, progressive abolition, voluntarily decreed, in.
demnity accorded to the masters, and equality secured to
the affranchised negroes, America will confound its calumniators, and gain for all humanity the greatest liberal
contest of our times.
Once laid down by it, the principle of abolition will
make the tour of the globe. It will visit Brazil, Spain,
Portugal, and Holland; it will go to Liberia, and Sierra
Leone, to fortify these advance posts of liberty on African
soil; it will penetrate that vast Africa which travellers,
and above all, missionaries, are on the way to discover;
it will drive back the wretches who are even now pursuing on the banks of the White Nile, their cruel chase of
men, women, and little children; it will go unto Asia,
unto the Mussulman world, to awaken questions torpid
for centuries.
The American crisis is one of the events of which God
makes use to move the world. No one can tell where its
consequences will stop; but we can say from this time,
that the United States, in effecting the abolition of slavery
within their limits, will have done more than England
herself for the cause of affranchisement; they will have
given a signal which all, whether willing or unwilling,
will be constrained to obey. However lofty may be the
ambition of a great people, it seems to me that it ought
to be content with this.




CHAPTER IV.
GREATNESS OF THE FUTURE.
I MIGHT have elaborated the preceding chapter. It
has seemed to me more in conformity with the general
character of this study, as also with the duties imposed on
me by my position as a foreigner, not to present plans,
properly called, for the solution of these two connected
problems-the abolition of slavery, and the rules of conduct to be adopted toward the free colored race.
Of the two problems, the second is not the one presenting the less difficulties; it will need a heroic impulse
of the Christian conscience. The prejudice of skin is so
closely interwoven with American manners, that even
colored men, they who suffer from it, are not the less
eager to obey it. When free blacks form volunteer regiments in the South, they often observe the gradation
of shades with significant scrupulousness; the first
company is almost white, the second a little darker, and
so on to the last, the soldiers of which are as black as jet;
no man in the United States cares to mingle with those
whose skin is less transparent than his own.
As to abolition, the reader will remark the care which
I have taken, not to counsel any measure which would




368. TO AMERICANS.
not be strictly constitutional. I should have grossly contradicted myself, if, after having advised Americans to
preserve their institutions, and resemble at the end of the
struggle  as nearly as possible what they were in its beginning, I had urged them to violate these institutions
themselves in their fundamental principle. The liberty
of the States is no less important to maintain, than the
sovereignty of the nation. A rebellion against the Constitution should not be combated by a rebellion in the
opposite direction, and the two  original features of the
American  organization  should  neither  perish  in  the
furnace of civil war.  It would  be glorious to see the
United States come out of it with their local independence,
as well as their civil unity, having left nothing but slavery
in the battle, like the three young Jews of Babylon, who
came out of the flames as they had been thrust into them,
with the exception of their chains.
Let the fire devour the chains, but nothing more *
* I entreat those who dispute the constitutional character of the
measures pointed out in the preceding chapter, to examine them in this
point of view.
The offer of abolition with indemnity leaves subsisting the independence of the States; I need not revert to it.
The abrogation of the bill of 1850 concerning fugitive slaves may
legally take place, since Congress is at liberty to revoke what it was at
liberty to pass. Until further orders, the act of February 12, 1793, will
doubtless remain, which, by virtue of a stipulation of the Federal Constitution, authorizes the owners of slaves to seek those who have fled, to
seize them wherever they may find them, and take them before the magistrate. But this act, as we know,' does not command any public officer to
second such pursuit. It remained without effect so long as the detestable bill of 1850 had not come to give it life and force by the creation
of special commissioners, charged with effecting the seizure of fugitive
slaves. Who will be made to believe, after what has just passed, that
the South would have much reason to complain, if an advantage were




GREATNESS OF THE FUTURE.                    369
Thus will open before the Union that noble career, in
which, through obstacles, through sacrifices, through
victories over its enemies, and, above all, over itself, it will
advance toward the greatness of the future. It belongs
to the Americans to demonstrate by irrefutable proof,
that they are a great people, and a people on the way to
uprise.
withdrawn from it with which it very well dispensed for fifty-seven years,
from 1793 to 1850?
The interdiction of the domestic slave-trade comes within the powers
of Congress. If it has suppressed the African slave-trade, it has shown
no more hesitation (as former deliberations prove) in regulating the conditions of the transportation of slaves in the interior. It has even abolished the domestic slave-trade, by an express act, in the District of Columbia. The matter belongs to the National authority, not to that of the
local Governments.
As to the most important measure which would close the territories
to slavery, its legality is clear; for, under the ancient Constitution of the
United States, which exaggerated beyond measure the independence of
the States, the celebrated ordinance of July 13, 1787, was decreed. It
excluded slavery from all the Northwest territory; it was by virtue of
this ordinance that Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Illinois, were
preserved (sometimes, indeed, despite themselves) from contact with the
" peculiar institution." The present Constitution, adopted shortly after
the ordinance of July 13, has not diminished these supreme attributes of
Congress; Article IV. states explicitly that Congress shall have power to
dispose of the territories, and of all other properties belonging to the
United States, and to establish on the subject all the regulations and
measures which it may deem fitting. The sole exception to the rule is
encountered naturally in the territories which, detached from the States
of Virginia, Georgia, and Carolina, were ceded by them only on the express condition that Congress, renouncing-its normal right over these territories, should prohibit therein any measure opposed to slavery.
Finally, the action of Congress being sovereign in the District of Columbia, abolition can evidently be proclaimed there without in any wise
violating the Constitution. This is so true, that this abolition has been
many times discussed, especially in 1847, on the proposition of Mr.
Lincoln.




370                TO AMIERICANS.
A great people! it is said. Does it suffice to be
great to occupy a great territory, to have great clearings,
great plantations, great banks, and great warehouses?
Do you not see how mediocre every thing is in America,
and how far its hero, Washington, brave, courageous, and
sensible as he was, is from equalling the stature of a Caesar
or Napoleon?  Are we to admire those revolutionary
Puritans, before whom the conservative elements of society have disappeared, one after the other, and who have
almost erected into an idol the will of the greater number?
Does this rabble of great cities, which burns now a convent and then a hospital, do these Vigilance Committees,
which apply Lynch law, these Plug Uglies, who stain the
elections with blood, to suit their needs, afford subject
for panegyrics? Is levelling liberty? Does the systematic exclusion of higher classes and higher minds do
honor to the democracy of the New World? Do we
find consolation in meeting, here polygamous Mormons,
there conventions presided over by women, in which the
" rights of women" are expounded, everywhere men
barbed with revolvers, and ready to do justice to themselves, as is done among the savages?
It is easy to firame an accusation, when we thus condense in a single picture, all the misdeeds of a nation;
what is accidental and what is general, what happens only
in a few corrupt cities, in which immigrants from our
Europe flow unceasingly, and that which is met in the
whole country; finally, what takes place in all democracies,
and what characterizes that of the United States. Is
this just? Are we to judge America by what it had become under the yoke of the slavery party, and refuse tr
see what it is to-day? Has not the history of America
for the past year demonstrated to the blindest, that a
great people is found there? Here is a democracy which




GREATNESS OF THE FUTURE.            37 1
restrains itself, which governs itself, which never forgets
itself in the darkest days; it has massacred no one, it has
not once disturbed the peace of the public streets, it has
accepted, followed and respected its elected leaders, it
has suffered under the most exciting circumstances, a
policy of peace to be pursued toward Europe. Where
we have unceasingly (even yesterday again) predicted
excesses, acts of violence, disasters, lack of discipline,
impotence, anarchy, and bankruptcy, it has known how
to place order, firmness, the organization of armies, the
creation of a fleet, confidence in the public funds. What
it has done has been so completely, so radically in opposition to what had been foretold, that the reprinted correspondence of almost all our journals, relative to the story
of events, would constitute at the present time the most
piquant book that could possibly be published.
It seems to me that this is no indifferent matter; in
proof of great things, we may quote' at this time, whatever may be the result, the conduct of the United States
since and including the election of Mr. Lincoln. Our
Old World, always in commotion, unskilful to resolve, I
know not how many questions, in Turkey, in Russia, in
Poland, in Hungary, in Italy, —our Old World, rendered
sleepless by the temporal power of the Pope, is a little
too hasty, perhaps, in triumphing over the embarrassment
of America. As I am correcting these last proof sheets,
I receive letters depicting the material uprising, the more
or less tardy, but, no less certain consequence of the
moral uprising. Let me quote a few sentences: " It does
one good to be here at this moment. You would enjoy
it to the full, could you witness what is passing in the
heart of this youthful and valiant nation. Tried, afflicted,
battered by storms, it is finally uprising. The week
that is closing has intoxicated us with its numerous vic



372                TO AMERICANS.
tories, every hour brings some glorious news. Traitors
are concealing themselves or taking flight; the air vibrates
with joy as it waves the thousands and thousands of flags
that float under our beautiful sky. Slavery is about to
disappear; it is wounded unto death."
I know that vicissitudes of fortune are possible, the
hour of reverses may yet arrive. Notwithstanding, to
have reached the present point, manly virtues were
needed.
The United States have neither the capacities nor the
defects of old nations.; they are great in their way and
not in ours. This is what many men in Europe will
neither understand nor pardon. America has the gift of
exciting among us antipathies which resemble hatred.
I know of but one antipathy which may be compared
to this-that with which we are inspired in general, and
through analogous reasons, by the English Puritanism of
the days of the Stuarts. There are men who fly into a
passion at the mere thought of a Puritan. Tell them
neither of his virtues, nor his austerity, nor his courage,
nor of the thousands of men and women, who for long
years, accepted the loss of their goods, gave their lives,
and endured unheard of sacrifices; tell them no more of
the indomitable firmness with which the English liberties
were defended, or rather founded. They are determined
to ignore all this; they must have cavaliers, refined and
perverse courtiers, brave with the sword in hand, cruel
and persecuting in all else. Charming debauchees, careless profligates, with a good mien and grace, please them
a hundred times more than honest people, rigid, narrow,
and sullen.
Let me be understood rightly. I am of those who think
that honest people do wrong to be sullen; that rudeness




GREATNESS OF THE FUTURE.            3i 7 3
is not a merit, and that disagreeable virtues are only half
virtues. I do not praise the Roundheads, far from it,
for having anathematized literature and art, narrowed the
human mind, introduced formalities and jargons of command, answered intolerance by intolerance, and too often
also, cruelty by cruelty; I certainly do not praise them
for having ended at length in Cromwell.  But under the
rough and coarse bark, under the affected forms, the
religious uniform, in spite of faults and crimes, beyond
detestable leaders and hypocritical imitators, I gain a
glimpse of a great thing —a moral protest against the
infamy, iniquity, and servility, of w.hich the fine Cavaliers
of the Stuarts were usually the living personification.
A strong and free England has come forth fiom this.
Again, a people which has the very real fault of not possessing all the amiable and chivalrous virtues; again, a
people which belongs to the individual rather than the
sympathetic races! One might regret it, and I regret it.
Is this, notwithstanding, a reason for hating,'for condemning and rejecting in, toto, for shutting the eyes to
its capacities?
I have been anxious thus to put the whole question on
the subject of the United States. The Americans are not
Englishmen, no more are they Puritans; yet, nevertheless,
the motive of our extreme aversion, if we wish to go to
the bottom, is really that which makes us often prefer
Cavaliers to Roundheads, and Russians to Englishmen.
There is no point, perhaps, on which the division of
the two classes of minds which coexist here below is produced more clearly. And this is from ancient history.
I seem to hear the declamations at Versailles, in the time
of him who has been so strangely styled the Great King.
Change the names, put the Americans instead of the
Dutch, and you have all our antipathies of to-day. We




374                 TO AMERICANS.
then detested with all our heart, that shop-keeping, re.
publican, Protestant, arrogant, ill-taught people; that
country of journals, discussions, and intestine divisions;
those gross men, rebels but yesterday, without a past,
without monuments without fine arts, except their grotesque figures of porcelain.* Yet it was found that Holland, nevertheless at the moment of perishing, arrested
the fortunes of Louis XIV.; it was found that these shopkeepers, nevertheless ready to sell their country for a
few crowns, sacrificed their property, opened the dykes,
and buried all Holland under the sea, in order to save its
independence.
Let us signal out the faults of the Americans, let us
unsparingly condemn whatever is stiff, harsh, and austere
in their manners; they have this vice' and several beside.
I am far, very far, from saying that all among them is
perfect; but it seems to me that all is not perfect among
us, and that, if it were wished to paint us, portraits might
be made of us too, which would not be flattering. Is the
cringing of graceful peoples of more value than the ungraceful stiffness of angular peoples? I need not resolve
the question. I verify the fact that America is one of
the most moral and enlightened nations on earth. I
verify the fact that, if democratic levelling be detestable,
America has at least known how  to abstract from it
what makes the man-conscience. If certain acts of violence have taken place, the electoral contest in America
has almost always preserved complete liberty: these
orators of the different parties arriving, like princes, to
the sound of salutes of artillery; these assemblies of ten
thousand, twenty thousand auditors; these vast questions
* I entreat the country which has produced Powers' statues, and
Church's landscapes, to forgive me this comparison.




GREATNESS OF THE FUTURE.             375
in which the fate of nations is involved, discussed from the
shores of the Atlantic to the recesses of the desert-all
this is a spectacle which does not lack majesty.
And the system of public instruction! Scarcely had
the first pilgrims landed at Boston Bay, when schools
were established. Twenty years after, a university, that
of Cambridge, was opened. To-day, there is not a town,
not a village, not a clearing which has not provided for
the education of youth. The support of the schools swallows up one-third of the revenue of some of the States.
The vocation of instructor is honored everywhere. In
New England, the first families of the country devote
their daughters to this career.
The Sunday schools, comprising three million pupils,
are conducted by the voluntary and gratuitous care of
four hundred thousand teachers of both sexes, belonging
to all classes of society.
The family worship is celebrated everywhere.  The
gospel exercises an influence over the entire country, the
scope of which it would be difficult for us to measure. To
form an idea of it, one should visit that quarter of New
York city known as the Five Points, the alleys of which
remind one by their names that it was once a den of
assassins. Formerly, no one durst venture there in broad
daylight! now schools alre established in its heart-spacious
halls, resounding with the songs of children snatched from
crime and misery-and thousands of visitors of the highest
classes go thither to carry aid and good advice to families.
The Christian liberality, which has given six hundred
million francs to build churches, which every year devotes
a hundred and twenty million francs to the support of
worship, which furnishes countless millions to charitable
and religious societies, which, even in this moment of
crisis and suffering, sends to enterprises in distress princely




376                 TO A]MERICANS.
offerings of ten, a hundred, two hundred thousand francs,
such liberality does not appear to me a token of decaying
and wretched life.  At the present time, a profound
transformation is being wrought; with the national sin,
other vices will faill; the most sceptical will then compre.
hend that the American people is a great people.
There are those who compare the United States to
Brazil-a community where every thing is in motion, to a
community where every thing is asleep. WVhen the political or moral character of Brazil has been shown me, its
influence on earth, its literature, its scientific discoveries,
especially when Brazil has been shown me, agitating the
subject of her slavery, and laboring, at the cost of gigantic sacrifices, to repair the evil which it has done, then
I will take this burlesque comparison in earnest.
MIeanwhile, the United States are going onward; the
two years, 1861 and 1862, will mark their progress; in
two years, they will have lived a century. Whatever
may happen, I think I have proved that their uprising is
certain.
As regards the South in particular, the problem of its
future lies still before it. Hitherto, it has seemed resolved
to perish; the cotton production, already injured by the
mere fact of the war, will finally disappear if the slave
States refuse to suffer the liberating metamorphosis which
offers itself to them.
A gigantic displacement is on the way to be wrought
-the cotton culture, which has been the stay of slavery
in America, is about to become in Asia and Africa an
instrument of liberty. The providential work which is
being accomplished in this manner is one of the most
glorious that mankind has ever witnessed. To the uprising of the United States, the uprising of the Indies, of




GREATNESS OF THE FUTURE.            377
Australia, of New Zealand and of the interior regions of
Africa will, perhaps, respond in little time. England,
which every year spins cotton enough to measure ten
times the distance of the earth from the moon, is making
prodigious efforts at this moment to break forever her
former dependence, and to seek under other skies the
raw material which the South has had the privilege of
supplying it heretofore —India perhaps will lessen the
sufferings of the cotton crisis for England, while through
the cotton crisis, England will give new life to India; and
the free negroes of Hayti and the Antilles will have their
share in the prey which the South lets escape it.
Will it let it completely escape? I hope not. True
superiority is long-lived, and American cotton, placed in
conditions which are not elsewhere to be found, will keep
its place, provided America consent. What she needs
for this is firmly to establish the principle of abolition,
and to call into the South that multitude of free laborers,
that capital, that agricultural machinery which asks only
to hasten thither. The experience of the Antilles proves
that the emancipated blacks are not at all unfit for labor;
the products have been maintained, and even increased
among these populations transformed by liberty and
regenerated by the gospel. And also, at the present
time, is it not to the labor of free negroes alone that the
Union intrusts the culture of the celebrated Sea Island
cotton, the special product of the suburbs of Port Royal?
The transformation will be easier in the cotton States,
inasmuch as considerable progress has been already accomplished there. Let us be just; a large number of
masters have favored the moral development of their
slaves. Since the foreign slave trade has ceased to bring
rude Africans daily upon the plantations, the negro race
of these States has been rising higher and higher. This




378                TO AMERICANS.
is one of the miracles of the gospel, whose liberating virtue always displays itself, do what one may; it has accomplished, in fact, a vast preparatory work, and has rendered abolition easier in the heart of the Southern States,
than it was in our colonies, or even in those of England.
Under the influence of the churches, of which they are
members, and to which they are in general passionately
attached, many slaves have become pious and intelligent;
their manners are polite, their conduct is good, their conscience is awakened, the sentiment of duty has a large
share in their life; there is among them the germ of a
laborious and peaceful class.
These things must be confessed; in the first place, in
order not to calumniate the South; secondly, to prove to
it that the prudent abolition of slavery, far from drawing
in its train the perils and horrors with which it is charged,
is on the contrary the only means of escaping danger, of
avoiding ruin, of entering without too rude a shock into
a new era of prosperity and peace.
I make no pretensions to know how things will happen. The prevailing opinion in Europe, and especially in
England is that the separation of the South will be ere
long accepted by the North, and that the victories of the
latter, if it win, will have no other result than that of
securing it better boundaries. I shall be greatly astonished,
for my part, if this be true. After having carefully studied the events and discussions of these two years, I remain convinced that the United States have not ceased
to pursue the integral reestablishment of the Union. I
remember the words of Mr. Lincoln: " Our popular government has been often considered a mere trial. Already,
thanks to the nation, it has given proofs of its capacity
on two points: it has succeeded in establishing itself and




GREATNESS OF THE FUTURE.                  7 9
in ruling. It lacks still but one thing-it must succeed
in maintaininog itself against a formidable attempt to overthrow it.  It is for the nation to demonstrate now to the
world that those who can win an election can also suppress a rebellion, that ballots are the lawful and peacetiul
successors of bullets."
The question thus laid down at the first moment, has
remained the same ever since. Unless constrained thereto
by the ill success of their arms, or the intervention of
Europe, the United States will be little disposed, in my
opinion, to admit that bullets should prevail over ballots.
This problem of a revolution in the heart of a free country touches the inmost recesses of their political faith and
national life.
However it may be, we have just seen that two results
are from this time secured-the decline of slavery and the
uprising of a great people. If, contrary to my present
conviction, the separation should make itself accepted,
the North may confine itself to taking measures to preserve the Border States by aiding them to pass as speedily as possible from  the rank of slave States to that of
free States.  If the North should justify my prevision and
pers:ist in not pausing until it has conquered, it is probable
that more general measures will compel all the slave
States to decide between the maintenance of their institutions, thenceforth struck with death, and the acceptance of an indemnity designed to facilitate progressive
abolition.*
* Let us say once more that this indemnity will not be an overwhelming burden on the American finances. It will not involve ten or
fourteen thousand million of francs, as some have had the audacity to
pretend, doubtless estimating the slaves, men, women, and children, at
an average value six or seven times greater than that paid by France and
England. But four thousand million francs are needed, distributed over
17




3tO                  TO AMERICANS.
Will the South, though conquered, continue to resist?
Will it, on the contrary, comprehend its true interests?
Will it again become an integral part of the Union?
Will the American people, reconstructed thus in its elements, at once recover the regular working of its institutions, its small armies, and its insignificant budgets? I
hope so, without disguising from  myself, however, that
neither the armies nor the budgets can again descend to
the standard of two years ago. Nevertheless, should a few
of the Gulf States insist on self-destruction, should they
condemn themselves to suffer through separation instead
of prospering through union, the suffering will then accomplish its work and impart its instruction.  Drawn in
contrary directions, divided and subdivided to infinity
by their new principle, the right of separation, forced to
maintain troops on their fiontiers, in constant struggle
and frequent war with the United States, these unhappy
States will come to regret their isolation; they will end
where they ought to have begun, the Union will reappear.
Do what one may, indeed, the power of absorption which
the United States possess will continue to act; and where
will it act with more force than toward this kindi ed people, bound to them by so many ties?
twenty years; that is, two hundred million francs a year. And aga.n,
this is supposing all the slave States to have accepted the conditions in
the required time and to be entitled to indemnity, which is scarcely
probable.




PART SIXTH.
TO CHRISTIANS.
CHAPTER I.
ATTITUDE OF CHRISTIANS IN AMERICA.
I HAVE a word more to say before laying down the
pen, and this word I shall address to Christians.*  The
work of the emancipation of slaves and the uprising of
the United States should be theirs; it imposes upon them
a special responsibility, of which they have not had sufficient consciousness hitherto.
Slavery and the gospel-two adversaries-are here.
They landed almost at the same time on the shores of
America; the one with the Puritans of New  England,
the other with the colonists of Virginia.  Since then,
they have been constantly engaged in a struggle; and
even when the churches have imperfectly comprehended
their exalted mission, it has not been in them to suppress
* Thanks to the progress which the truth of positions has made in
our terms, I can employ this term instead of having recourse to paraphrases. We need no longer pretend that every man is a Christian; he
who professes Jesus Christ and he who considers Christianity as a mere
national custom.




382                  TO CHRISTIANS
it.  Christianity is a decree of emancipation, and he who
preaches the Gospel, paves the way for emancipation,
whether he knows it or not, whether he wills it or not.
"Christianity," wrote Il. de Tocqueville, " is a religion
of freemen; neither its detractors nor its false friends can
take from it this truly divine character." By the side of,
or rather above abolitionism considered as a party, there
is profound abolitionism, that which acts within the abolitionism of Jesus Christ. Open the books of an illustrious
honest man, such as Tacitus, and compare the sentiments
found expressed there with those which are now prevailing; measure the distance between our time and that
when slaves, tortured to death for having thrown light on
a question concerning their masters, moved no soul, however generous; make this comparison, and tell us what
has been the cvork of the Gospel.  To abolish the servitude of negroes, the heart of the white man must be
changed, and who can do this miracle, except Him wvho
loves both white and black, who has died for both white
and black, who opens wide the doors of the same paternal
mansion alike to white and black. Moral force will always
be stronger than brute force.
"A thousand prisons, crumbling'mid the flames,
Equal not, in the freeing of the soul,
The drop of blood that trickles from the cross."
These beautiful lines of AI. Arnould express a truth
which is written on every page of history.
"It was religion that really emancipated the blacks
in the English colonies," said the Due de Broglie in the
report which we all have read.  "It was religion that
emancipated the blacks in the United States," is what the
annals of America should proclaim in turn.*
* This preparatory work of the Gospel is more advanced than is beSieved. The slaves pray for their liberty, they expect their liberty, they




IN AMERICA.                   383
Have the American churches been unfaithful to their
mission? W~e would be disposed to think so, should we
pause at appearances.
I do not pretend to deny the evil. It is very great;
were it not so, my work would not contain this sixth part.
There are those who pass their time in invoking the holy
Scriptures against the poor slave; those who, according
to the eloquent expression of MIrs. Stowe, drown the lamb
in its mother's milk.
The preachings of the South are, in this respect, one
of the scandals of our times. The South has its bishop,
Leonidas Polk, who is at the same time a general, and
who, followed by several members of his clergy, has taken
the field in Tennessee. The South has its consecrations
of banners, its prayers in behalf of slavery, its passionate
appeals to the protection which the God of love should
accord to slavery.
If' I recall these things, it is not that I wish to give
myself the easy advantage of refuiting such monstrous
doctrines.  No, my thought is directed toward the North
rather than the South.  The faults of the Northern
churches should call our attention to-clay. The Christians
of the South are subject to an impulse which we never
take sufficiently into account. Indulgence is the more
in place here, that we all have been accomplices in the
crime with which we reproach them. All Europe contributed to introduce slavery into America; England in
await it piously from the hands of their Saviour. There is a jubilee song
which is sung secretly in the South, 1862 being the year of jubilee.
The following is the chorus:
"In eighteen hundred and sixty-two,
My people must be fice;
It is the year of jubilee,
My people must be free."




384                 TO CHRISTIANS
particular protected the slave trade during the last century with so much earnestness, that it made one of the
grievances at the insurrection of the colonies; these
colonies themselves, moreover, all participated during long
years in the traffic in negroes from Afiica, and on this
point we have not the right to except the Puritans; lastly,
but the other day, who equipped more than twenty slave
ships every year, if not New York?  No one is therefore
authorized to cast the stone at the Southern planters;
they have simply continued a little longer, under the
influence of exceptional circumstances, what we have
practised as well as they. Is -'t -certain that, placed in
their surroundings, we should have shown better conduct, and held better language?  MIight we not have
succeeded, as well as they, in perverting in good faiith
the meaning of the Gospel, and displaying enthusiasm for
slavery?
This enthusiasm exists in the South.  The South contains a large number of pious, excellent, charitable men,
morally equal to the best Christians of any other country,
who really see nothing else in slavery than a beneficent
tutelage, designed to bring up a minor race, which will
be some day restored to its providential destinies. These
men are friends of the Colonization Society for emancipat.
ed negroes and the negro colony founded by it in Africa.
These men have come (how, I know not, but national
passions work these miracles) to see about them neither
families sold at retail, nor marriages broken, nor young
maidens surrendered to the first comer. The crimes
which spring up in emulation of the first crime, man sold
to man, public crimes, honored, and satisfied with themselves, crimes sanctioned by the law and recognized by the
courts, they assimilate to those troublesome but inevitable
crimes which are born of all communities.




IN AMERICA.                  385
Well; the more I reflect, the more I am astonished,
the less also I feel the right irrevocably to condemn the
intentions of any.
I address myself to the Christians of the North, because I have the hope, still better, the certainty of being
understood. We will quickly agree, as well on the faults
of the past as the duties of the present and the prospects
of the future.
The faults of the past have been grave, but I do not
design to dwell on them.  While recalling them, it is
necessary that I apply here my principle, to believe in
the good. It is by sympathy, by confidence, and not by
incessant recriminations, that those can be encouraged
who are leaving an evil course, and adopting a better. I
can never understand why we should choose the precise
moment when an effort takes place, when, despite many
obstacles, and at the price of many sacrifices, the old
errors have been abandoned, to institute inexorable investigations. Under the pretext of justice, we risk being
neither very able, nor very charitable, nor even very
just.
It is unhappily true that many churches and religious
societies have seemed to shrink too long fiom the austere
duties imposed on them by the question of slavery. Two
examples will suffice to characterize this period of deplorable hesitation. The Tract Society refused writings condemning the crime of slavery; the American Board of
IMissions, restrained by the fear of provoking a crisis in its
work among the Choctaw and Cherokee Indians, miserably
tacked about among the rocks, sometimes passing resolutions against the principle of slavery, then refusing their
application, managing the position of its missionaries and
the prejudices of the Indians, until the moment when
the most extreme consequences of its conduct broke forth




386                   TO CHRIST'ANS
to its terrified gaze-a slave* had been burned alive by
his mistress, a member of the Choctaw Church, and this
mistress, as well as her accomplices, had continued to
belong to the Church, and devoutly to partake of the
communion, while the missionaries had not deemed it
possible to oppose it!
Since then, the American Board has broken with themn,
as a matter of course.  But where find a fact which better points out the indefinite fruitfulness of evil in an ambiguous position?  WVe think that we can limit the consequences of our principles; we will never succeed. Some
day, we will find ourselves on the brink of an abyss, as
happened to the American Board.
Plausible arguments had not been lacking it.  It had
said to itself that missionaries were called to preach the
Gospel, not to meddle in social or political questions;
that the Gospel would end by destroying slavery without
needing to attack it directly; that the Scripture contained no positive commands with regard to it; that the
liberty of action of the missionaries should be respected;
that slaveholders could not, from the mere fact of being
such, be cut off from the Church.
Once launched upon this declivity, one goes fast and
far. The committee of the Society reassured itself by
praying for the abolition of slavery, or inserting a few
* I am no longer obliged to refute the gross literalism which, discovering the mention of slavery in the Gospel, thence concludes that the
Gospel approves slavery.  The apostles who, doubtless, personally believed in its lawfulness, and who, moreover, were charged with no revelation relative to political laws, had received a higher mission; they had
to lay down the bases of that Christian morality before which many social
crimes, which had never been denounced by the Gospel, were to fall in
turn. Cruel tortures have disappeared, slavery is about to disappear, and
we certainly are not at the end.




IN A ITERICA.                387
inoffensive wishes in its reports. Then, when terrible
questions propounded themselves: " Are we to constrain
our missionaries to cut off fiom the Church Indians who
separate families, selling the daughter without the mother,
or the husband without the wife?  Are we to provoke
the anger of the Indians and the expulsion of the missionaries? Are we to destroy the work of half a century?
Are wve to do this, against the advice of the missionaries
themselves? "-the committee dared not come to a decision; it closed its eyes, sighing; it took shelter behind
those general maxims of prudence and patience, so convenient and so dangerous in such a case.
Thus have acted respectable men, whom  I do not
intend to judge. I shall rather judge us all. We are
leaning toward utilitarianism; utilitarianism  is perhaps
the greatest vice of the Christians of our times. To
sacrifice principles to utility, to accept errors which serve
or seem to serve the cause of the Gospel, to reject or at
least postpone truths which would stir up obstacles, to
deplore progress which resembles trial, to be dismayed at
crises of uprising, such is the tendency which prevails
among us. Everv moment, you hear-" This is not perhaps quite in conformity with the Gospel, but it will be
productive of good; let us beware how we put any obstacle in its way."
The Saviour commanded us to cut off a hand or pluck
out an eye, rather than suffer ourselves to be persuaded
by those who condemned His word. These painful amputations are not to our taste; to cut off the Indian mission rather than compound with the infamies of Indian
slavery, would have appeared to us blamable. Nothing
less was needed than the tragedy of which I have just
spoken to modify the points of view.
The utilitarian instinct, which to-day is everywhere,
17*




388                 TO CHRISTIANS
exercises in particular a marked influence in the United
States. It alone explains the equivocal attitude which so
many churches have preserved for so many years toward
the problem of slavery. If they had energetically made
use of the influence which belonged to them, we should
not now see even several Northern States, Iowa, Illinois,
Indiana, Pennsylvania perhaps, preparing infamous bills
designed to close their territory to fiee negroes, and to
render necessary (they will not succeed in it, thank God!)
the transportation of the masses of slaves whose emancipation is foreseen. It must be said that the idea of breakin(r with the Southern churches, and bringing about a
formidable crisis in all their works, had rendered Christians timid and circumspect beyond measure. They persuaded themselves-as is often enough the custom in such
cases-that their action would be the more spiritual, (let
us distrust the word,) the more it remained a stranger
to the discussion of social problems.
Thence those prayer meetings, excellent and touching,
but in which the cessation of slavery rarely obtained a
fleetingc mention. Thence those lamentations which come
to us fiomn America reg arding the inevitable consequences
of the crisis-brothers who labored together are now
separated! The Christian pulpit, on both sides, has become an instrument of civil war! The enormous expenses
of the country restrict donations for the advancement of
the Gospel!  Religious societies are passing through a
time of trial!
I comprehend these sufferings; they are legitimate.
No one can contemplate without affliction, those excellent
American missions in Asia Minor and Syria, now deprived
in part of the resources by which they were maintained.
Eut I have this confidence, first, that the suffering will be
short, next, that missions liberally founded on the devel



IN AMERICA.                      389
opment of indigenous elements, missions which ere long
become churches conducted by the pastors of the country,
will uprise better than others which long preserve the
character of an exotic importation.
However it may be, Christians should know that God
demands of them  fidelity more than success, and that He
reserves to Himself some day to proportion success to
fidelity. It would be sad to be more grieved on the subject of churches rent in twain and receipts endangered,
than we were formerly on the subject of the monstrous
iniquities of slavery.
I have told of the evil, I will now tell of the good.
And first, vast progress is being accomplished by the
very ruptures which the different churches have just endured. The Baptists, Methodists, and Episcopalians of
the South have broken with those of the North. The
Presbyterian synods of the South have just adopted a
similar measure.*,
Thus by a dispensation of God, which may appear
grievous, but is above all salutary, the churches of the
North are snatched from the utilitarian anxieties which
they had laid upon themselves. They have become free,
and their action, their attitude have manifested it on the
spot. I have recent resolutions before my eyes which announce that slavery is at length judged by all as it was
* This is their Address to all th, churches which are upon the earth:
"The antagonism between the North and South on the subject of slavery,
is at the root of all the difficulties which have resulted in the rupture of
the Federal Union, and the horrors of an unnatural war. It is certain that
the North cherishes a profound antipathy for slavery itself, while the
South is animated with an equal zeal in behalf of this institution. The
events of the day necessarily confirm and strengthen this antipathy on
one side, and this zeal for slavery on the other."-This is speaking
clearly.




390                TO CHRISTIANS
formerly by a few. The report presented in 1861 by the
Trustees of the American Congregational Union is worthy these devoted sons of the Puritans, old champions
of civil and religious liberty.  The Baptists have not
shown themselves less firm; their church in Virginia has
just had the honor to suffer the consequences of the hatred
with which it had inspired the slaveholders. It is known
that the Baptist and Methodist are the two favorite denominations of the negroes; the greatest obstacle to their
insurrection would be found, perhaps, were we to search
closely, in the very great influence which the Gospel thus
exercises over them.
Several American missions, that of the Sandwich Islands among others, have declared themselves with earnestness. The American Missionary Association has an
openly abolition position. Lastly, the progress has for
some time been such, that at the last GeneralAssembly of
the Evangelical Alliance, the representatives which America numbered in her midst joined in the unanimous vote
which it cast against slavery.
And I say nothing here of the churches, infinitely nu.
merous, in which the patriotic impulse of the North has
been strikingly manifested. Without speaking of such
pastors as the Rev. Mr. Brownlow, who has taken the
musket and faced the troops in Tennessee commanded by
Bishop Polk, churches are not lacking which are busied
in sending the flower of their youth to the banners of the
Union. Mr. Beecher alone has furnished a hundred and
twenty-five of these young soldiers; a member of his
church has taken it upon himself to furnish revolvers to
all who go; the church maintains the absent and their
families, and sewing circles are constantly occupied in
the manufacture of military equipments.
The influence of the Gospel is immense in America.




IN AMERICA.                391
Since the churches and religious societies have declared
themselves in its favor, the cause of abolition is won.
The South has never been deceived; after the Nat Turner insurrection, its first thought was to close the Sunday
schools and arrest the religious movement. In spite of
the grave faults which I have recalled before, the Christians of the United States have been unable to suppress
even for a single day the fundamental antagonism which
will always exist, thank God! between the Gospel and
slavery. It was Christianity that in former times produced the abolition proclaimed by the Northern States;
it is again Christianity which will now produce abolition
in the Southern States. The remarkable revival which
agitated the whole North, and which, save at a point in
Baltimore, stopped short at the frontiers of the South,
has been the great providential. means against slavery.
Christians have formed everywhere the nucleus of the
Republican party which has elected Mr. Lincoln.
To-day, the heart of the nation beats in the army; it is
found again in the camp; now, what is the spirit of the
army? I have already described it; things happen there
which our old Europe is perhaps incapable to comprehend. These young men, who, with Bible in knapsack,
have gone to fight for the country, these prayer-meetings
held in all the regiments, these millions of tracts, distributed by the hand of the officers themselves, these New
Testaments printed for the army, at the rate of several a
minute, and which have found so many earnest readers in
the ranks, these religious libraries founded, these orders
of the day stamped with an openly religious character,
this proscription of spirituous liquors, accepted with eagerness by the soldiers,-all this forms a sum total which
carries the mind back to the old Huguenot bands or the
camps of Gustavus Adolphus.




392                  TO CHRISTIANS
The Puritan element makes its presence felt. There
are numerous officers who set the example of vital piety.
Was not General McClellan himself, before taking command of the army, impressed with the need of praying on
bended knees with a clergyman, one of his friends?  " I
had given myself to my country, now I have given myself
to God," were the last words, it is said, of this interview.
Other generals have published decidedly Christian
proclamations.  Colonels care like fathers of families for
the moral conduct of their regiments. Who does not
remember the young and handsome Ellsworth, the first
victim of the civil war? His soldiers had all taken a
pledge of good conduct before quitting Chicago; we will
add, that almost all have done honor to their word.
Colonel Anderson, illustrious through his defence of
Fort Sumter, is also a decided Christian.  On being entreated lately to say a few words to a Sunday school, he
declared in words as simple as touching, that his rule of
conduct had been: "Do nothing without placing yourself under the eye of God!"
I might cite a score of regiments where Sunday schools
are held by the colonels, or other officers. I might point
out the works of evangelization pursued by the Christian
soldiers of one of these regiments, under the name of
the lavelock Society.  I might add that the navy presents the same spectacle as the army. Under the influence of leaders, such as Commodores Dupont, Mackean,
and Foote, the ships often resound with the singing of
-nsalms.*
* One of the signs of this spirit is the movement that has been manifested against Sunday battles.  It has been remarked, that whenever the
North made the attack on this day, it was always beaten, witness Bull
Run, Big Bethel, and Ball's Bluff. Since the order of General MClellan,
the South has made the Sunday attacks, and been beaten.




IN AMERICA.                    393
These are great things.  A country in which such
sentiments exercise so much influence, in which the habit
of looking higher than the earth has been contracted by
so many souls, is not a country of which we need despair.
It will go forward, it will not succumb beneath its task,
however heavy it may be; it will finish, in the name of
the Gospel, and by the strength given by God, the colos,
sal work of abolition.  The example is set in high places.
The ministers of the State publicly invoke the blessings
of God on themselves, and the direction of public affairs!
There are prayers at the White House; Mr. Lincoln is
not only an honest man, surrounded by universal esteem,
and whose family anxieties with respect to his children's
health are the anxieties of the whole country; he is also
a Christian.  Those who have read his proclamation designed to set apart a day for fasting and prayer, know
the distance that separates this manifestation of a vital
and personal faith, from  so many documents in which
official piety is accustomed to display its cold formulas,
known and granted in advance. I have also gone over
the proclamations published by the governors of the
States in answer to the invitation of the President, and
I have been struck with the deep seriousness, at once
Christian and patriotic, with which the faults of the people
are therein confessed. This entire nation seems to place
itself under the eye of God, according to the counsel of
Colonel Anderson.*
* Religion exercises so decisive, and in some sort universal an influence in the United States, that the same demonstrations of piety take
place in the South. The Messages of Jefferson Davis end sometimes
with prayers.




CHAPTER II.
ATTITUDE OF CHRISTIANS IN ENGLAND.
DURING this glorious crisis, which they are passing
through in the name of the gospel, and for the holy cause
of justice, the United States counted on the support of
England, above all of Christian England. England is
their mother, she has furnished them  almost all their
original population, she has absorbed into the AngloSaxon nationality the later immigrations. They are bone
of her bone, and flesh of her flesh.  Furthermore, a
religious tie, stronger than that of blood, unites the two
nations which show themselves devoted above all others
to the propagation of the gospel on earth.
We know to what point the frigid attitude of English
Christians has for long months disappointed the hopes
founded upon them. I speak of it the more freely, inasmuch as this fault is already almost a thing of the pastand sympathy is on the way to awaken.
Yes, for long months, English Christians have not had,
as it were, a single word of encouragement to place at
the service of those who were combating (as I have
proved) and suffering for a noble cause. Not a meeting,
hot an address; the journals which serve as organs to the




TO CHRISTIANS IN ENGLAND.           395
principal churches have almost all made it their study to
discredit the movement, to point out with an accent of
triumph the mortifications of the republic, to exaggerate
the successes of the South, and depreciate those of the
North, to deny that slavery was in question, to legitimatize the separation, to present as a desirable ideal the
definitive maintenance of a Southern Confederacy.
This was sad, very sad. Christian England has not
forgotten the moment when the eloquent cry of betrayed
affection crossed the seas, " Oh, Englishmen, Englishmen,
could you not have watched with us one hour? "  It will
be remembered that Miirabeau once proposed the resolution in the National Assembly: " The silence of Sieyes is
a public misfortune." With stronger reason, the resolution might be adopted by all of us, continental Christians,
dismayed by the attitude of England: "The silence of
English Christians is a universal calamity.))
They have sent us invitations to prayer, but among
the subjects pointed out, we have never perceived that
which preoccupied all our thoughts.  The great moral
and religious interest of our age was systematically omitted; the word slavery seemed to have become as suspicious in England as it had been in America. One would
have said that, desirous of justifying the prejudices of
their enemies, they wished to prove to the whole world
that English interests passed with them  before everything, that their abolition zeal was extinct, that questions
of principle were incapable of moving them. During this
time, blood was flowing; that blood, the effusion of which
would have been prevented or promptly checked by the
energetic intervention of European sympathies, that blood
of which we are guilty, all we who have been unwilling
to discourage the monstrous insurrection of the South.
One of the problems that has most tormented my




396                 TO CHRISTIANS
mind has been to explain the conduct of English Christians in certain affairs, and at certain moments. I know
of no men more energetic or devoted; at the present
time, a very large portion of the good which is accomplished on our globe is accomplished through their powerful initiative; yet there are inexplicable breaks in their
action. One would say at times that political England
alone remained, while Christian England had disappeared.
Did we not hear it said but the other day, and with a
show of reason, that in the extreme East, in China, France
had sustained the moral and religious interests, whilst
England represented there nothing but the interests of
her commerce? If such things are thought, if they appear plausible, and are generally received, whose is the
fault?
English Christians have succeeded in persuading themselves that slavery is not in question in the United States.
How? Truly, I cannot yet succeed in comprehending.
The fact is certain, notwithstanding, and it alone explains
the attitude which has grieved us so deeply. By virtue
of a marvellous transformation, the same men whom English opinion formerly condemned with just severity, have
become almost interesting since, by treason and perjury,
by pillaging public property, and repudiating private
debts; taking care, moreover, to proclaim the sanctity of
slavery, they have endeavored to overthrow  their free
constitution, and have supplicated foreign powers to aid
in the destruction of their country.
Whence comes such a metamorphosis?   Whence
comes it that the question of slavery, which formerly
figured alone in the debates of the North and South,* and
* This care for slavery had been carried so far as to propose expressly, that a free State could not be admitted unless a slave State were




IN ENGLAND.                      397
which also figured alone in the ordinance of secession,* fades
away all at once, and passes in the eyes of English Christians as preserving only a secondary part?  I need not
again inquire how.  I limit myself to affirming, and no
one will contradict me, that if, before the too well received sophisms of these last years, it had been announced to
Europe that a President opposed to the extension of
slavery was about to be elected, the English Christians
would have manifested the liveliest joy.  And if it had
then been added, that the South would break the Union
on account of such an election, it would have been thence
concluded that slavery was alone in question, since the
mere threat of arresting its extension sufficed to precipitate the South into an armed revolt.
Then too, those to whom a Free Soil President would
not have been sufficient, would not have thought of discouragincg the movement, but of encouraging it, on the
contrary.-The President and his fiiends do not go far
enough; well, we will endeavor to make them go further;
we will sign addresses, we will stir up abolition agitation,
we will show ourselves ready for every thing else in fine,
than to accord to the champions of slavery the support
of our abstinence, and to refuse to its adversaries, the
vainly solicited aid of our cordial sympathies.
admitted at the same time. Another plan, proposed first by Mr. Calhoun,
and taken up again in 1860, by Senator Hunter of Virginia, proposed
that henceforth two Presidents should be elected, the one from the free,
and the other from the slave States, and that without the signature of
both Presidents, no act of Congress should have the force of law.
* In the ordinance of secession passed by South Carolina, a single
argument is presented "before heaven and earth,"-that slavery is in
danger. After thirty years of agitation against slavery, a man had just
been elected President, "whose opinions and designs were hostile to
slavery."




398                TO CHRISTIANS.
I have pointed out elsewhere the causes of a misunder.
standing, for which I shall never succeed, I think, in
accounting sufficiently. Perhaps, in fine, it cannot be
better explained than by recalling to what point the
United States, under the domination of the slavery party,
were really on the way to become an odious government,
without liberty within, without equity without, without
scruples in public and private affairs.  However it may
be, light is now  dawning, the organs of independent
churches, in particular, are holding a language which will
be understood. It is heard already; in the very heart
of the manufacturing countries, among the populations
that have suffered firom the American crisis, the impulse
of generous sympathy has burst forth; it is' extending, it
is becoming consolidated, it has already forced back before it the sad policy of last year; it will force it back
anew, should it, endeavor to reappear; it does not hold to
observing moral neutrality; it holds to proclaiming loudly
that the wishes of the English people are on the side of
the North; it prepares the broad and solid bases on which
the friendship of the two countries will henceforth repose.
The party of the Bible has risen; Christian England, for
her honor and for the good of America, is about to make
reparation, and more, for the evil she has done.




CHAPTER III.
SOCIAL MIISSION OF CHRISTIANS.
THE Christians of England have made a bad campaign.
What are we to conclude from this?  What is now to
be done to make a better one? Remember the speech
of the general: " The battle is lost, but we have time to
gain another."
We have time. Only let us remember that battles
are not gained by folding the hands. WVe perish by the
inertia of those honest men who bewail themselves, sigh,
see inconveniences everywhere, hesitate to act, and discourage those who do act.
Christian selfishness, pardon me this conjunction of
words, does not cease to impede the good and to chill
generous impulses. Under the pretext of thinking only
of the Gospel, it succeeds in cutting off one by one the
finest fruits of the Gospel. This it is, which pretends to
occupy itself with the conversion of slaves, and not their
emancipation. This it is which, calculating the chances,
and gaining a glimpse of the real inconveniences which
every energetic initiative entails in its train, asks with
anguish whether such or such a progress will not cost too
dear, whether it will not endanger the prosperity of ex



400                TO CHRISTIANS:
istinc works. These works then become idols to which
to offer up sacrifices; provided that the works suffer in
the sequel of a generous movement (and they will suffer
infallibly), the movement itself is blamed, it excites more
ill humor than it attracts sympathy.
How often for some time have I heard the complaint:
"Ah! if there were a Christian party, what mission
would it now fulfil?"  God does not twice in an age
lend his servants striking occasions to manifest by social
benefits the excellence of the Gospel. Christians might
have seconded in America the greatest progress of the
times, and they did not do it; Christians might have
arrested at its beginning the insurrection for slavery, and
they did not do it; Christians might, perhaps, have prevented civil war, and they did not do it; Christians
might have conjured down the chances of a horrible war
between England and America, and they did not do it.
It is because we have not sufficiently comprehended
the social mission of the Gospel. The Gospel! we imprison it in its sphere, and in some sort in its specialty.
We too often draw a difference between the sacred and
the profane. Now, one of the great benefits of the Gospel has consisted precisely in abolishing this distinction,
in reestablishing unity between the human soul and life.
To upraise everything, to sanctify everything, to preserve
everything, to put the sacred everywhere and leave the
profane nowhere, such is the marvellous work which it
accomplishes. Great things and small, affections and interests, duties as fathers of families and as citizens-we
have the right to declare nothing profane; that is, to abstract nothing from our God.
Have we two principles of life, as well as two kinds of
morality, the one for the church and the other for the




THEIR SOCIAL MISSION.            401
world; the one for private relations and the other for
politics? Ah! I would weep my eyes dry, should the
enemies of the Gospel deem themselves authorized by our
fault to dispute its social mission.-" See these renowned
Christians!" they murmur already in our ears, " they
know very well how to compound with vices, profits, or
national prejudices. Opium has imposed silence on them;
now they will be hushed by the presence of cotton."
Our Christianity has the air sometimes of having gone
outside the age. All that is not the direct work of preaching or of charity seems to awaken its scruples. As if any
thing human could remain a stranger to us, as if the Gospel, which surrounded the earth and sky, did not comprehend political communities; as if it proceeded by
mutilations instead of transformations; as if, like false
religions and petty morals, it sanctified man by diminishing him, taking away the affections, taking away the external duties, taking away the arts, taking away literature, taking away, in fine, always and everywhere, and
making the world believe that one loves God, only on
condition of loving nothing else.
The world is but too much disposed to admit this
doctrine. Every Christian, in its eyes, is a man who has
entered a convent, an incomplete man, who will pray,
but will no longer act, who glories henceforth in interesting himself in nothing here below, in calling the affections
idols, in having no heart either for creatures, (as it is said,)
or civilization, or liberty.
I feel no embarrassment in saying these things, for, of
all Christians, perhaps, those of England have best seen
and best practised the principle which I have just cited.
Their history is the most substantial demonstration of the
social mission of the Gospel, of which I know. What




402               TO CHRISTIANS:
would have become of the renowned English liberties, if
the Puritans had not been found in the way of the Stuarts?
These snuffling Presbyterians (and it is not for this quality that I praise them) moved consciences and accomplished a moral revolution, and the progress of events
was changed; they were drifting towards despotism,
igreat armies were about forming, as on the continent;
all this became impossible.
Even in considering only the things of our times, see
the agitations by which the churches of England have
paved the way for so much progress and effected the
abolition of slavery. Herein is found the proof of the
fact that they did not fear to secularize the Gospel. Precisely because the Anglo-Saxon race separates the Church
and State, and considers the profession of faith as a personal act not at all connected with the hereditary capacity of citizen, it is not condemned to those conditions of
sacred and profane by which others endeavor to limit the
fatal confusion which gives to the State a religious power
and to the Church a civil power. When the enemy is in
place, it is necessary, indeed, to erect barricades; when
the ramparts of the human conscience are intact, why
obstruct the circulation?
The English know this, and because they know it,
their abstinence during the first year of the American
conflict has had the strange character which we have felt
it incumbent on us to point out. The European demonstrations of sympathy, in favor of the North, have come
from Christians of the continent; England has scarcely
taken part in them.  I recall here the address signed
in France and Switzerland; the society of a penny a week
for slaves, founded in the Canton de Vaud by the Rev.
Mr. Bichet; the numerous churches in which prayers are
put up for America; the still more numerous houses




THEIR SOCIAL MISSION.              403
where family worship is scarcely ever celebrated without
entreating of God the peaceful abolition of American
slavery; the proposition made by myself, and so generally
welcomed, for the Christians of Europe to participate in
the celebration of the fast appointed by Mr. Lincoln;
lastly, and above all, the solemn and unanimous vote
(cordially joined in by the English Christians) which the
General Assembly of the Alliance cast at Geneva, in spite
of its programmes and regulations. The president of the
Alliance, M. Adrien Naville, set the example in his fine
opening address: "You are," said he to the representatives of the United States, " at this moment tried even
unto blood, but it is in order that the wound from which
you have so long been suffering, may be, by degrees, but
finally cured. How many thanksgivings the Christians
of Europe, like those of America, will render to the Lord
on the day when your noble country shall number none
but freemen!'
The resolution adopted by the members of the Alliance, was no less firm and precise: " The Conference of
the Evangelical Christians of all countries, assembled at
Geneva in 1861, testifies to its brethren of the United
States the lively sympathy which it experiences for them
in the terrible crisis which is desolating their country...
Convinced that it is to the existence of slavery that the
cause of this war must be traced, the Conference entreats
the Lord to incline the hearts of His children in America
to provide, by wise and Christian ways, for the suppression of this institution, as contrary to the spirit of the
Gospel, as it is to the peace, prosperity, and progress, of
this great nation..... "  *
Christianity is fighting its last battle against slavery,
* Against slavery and the slave trade, agreements on this subject
will be certainly negotiated before long. The new American government
18




404                TO CHRISTIANS.
and, what is admirable, in doing a work of liberty, it is
about to do a work of peace. All kinds of progress cling
together, and what is of service to one, is of service to
another; the powerful unity which I pointed out a moment
ago between the human soul and life, may be also pointed
out in the heart of communities.
Since the tocsin of alarm which the Trent affair
sounded among us, the interests of peace have resumed
their place among the anxieties of pious men. This is
seen now in a vote of the English Bible Society, offering
to come to the aid of the American Bible Society during
the crisis, now in a speech of Mr. Newman Hall, electrifying thousands of London auditors. Who, better than
Christians, can strengthen between England and America,
not only external and official peace, but cordial affection?
When sympathies shall have resumed their sway among
the one, prejudices will fall among the other, and the
strong currents of mutual affection will begin again to
flow.
This is, certainly, a glorious mission for the Christians
of both countries to accomplish.
owes it to itself to show that it does not confound the liberty of the seas
with the liberty of slavers.




GENERAL CONCLUSION.
I Do not wish to conclude without once more recalling
the essential idea, which is, as it were, the soul of this
study. This idea is faith in principles. Principles are
interests, principles are success; and if success keep us
waiting, no matter, principles remain: we are to love
them for themselves.
I know of no other position that is sure. He who believes in principles and admits the rights of truth, is sheltered behind an impregnable rampart. Happen what
may, he has done his duty, and, furthermore, has practised
great policy. Miserable policy lives on expedients, interrogates the winds and stars, and, incapable of the victorious
tenacity which gives confidence to good, dares hLaard
nothing, but goes on from day to day, modifying its
maxims to suit circumstances or the chances of success.
The chances of success appear to me great in the
United States, but I ask the reader to render me this
justice, that I have not waited to see them, in order to
believe in them. I believed in them because I believed in
principles. I greeted from the first moment the uprising
of a great people, because I saw from the first moment
that this great people was undertaking a great thing,




406             GENERAL CONCLUSION.
that it was fighting for justice and liberty. One always
uprises in this vocation.
Others, I know, have propounded the problem differently. Will they succeed? Such has been, such is, such
will still be doubtless the principal question. I am not
ignorant what the United States lack to be approved and
applauded. A good cause? to be evidently in the right
against the secessionists?  No. They lack full success.
Let them but triumph over the South, and I shall have no
anxiety about their renown on earth; there will be crowds
of people everywhere eager to celebrate their virtues and
greatness.
Is this to say, that it is a waste of time to seek to
establish unrecognized truths, to demonstrate, for instance,
that slavery is the true cause of the American conflict? I
have been so far from thinking it that I have written this
large volume. Another proof of my faith in principles.
They are, in reality, so powerful, that we succeed in
weakening them only when we begin to veil them. The
worshippers of success know this, for they pervert ideas
in order to succeed in corrupting actions. Every political
error has commenced by a moral error; if the Southerners
had not fora moment persuaded Europe that slavery was
not in qr.estion, they would never have extorted the title
of belligerent.
What force there is in justice! To be rich, to be powerful, to be able, is to be small; to be great, is to be the
servant of justice. Principles prevail as surely in social
struggles, as in the operations of physics and chemistry.
It may take long, but it surely happens at the end of the
reckoning.
What has elected Mr. Lincoln?  What has created
the patriotic impulse of the North? What has weakened
the South? What has checked Europe? What yester



GENERAL CONCLUSION.             407
day prevented an impious war? What will perhaps tomorrow constrain the South itself to proclaim or to suffer
abolition? What has opposed an insuperable barrier to
interests, intrigues and malevolence? What has given
to the Lancashire operatives this resignation worthy of
respect? What has, in so short a time, caused such great
progress in public opinion? What provides it with
weapons in advance against the possible return of the
policy of intervention?  What throws obstacles in the
way of the desire, unceasingly springing up on our side
the Atlantic, to cut the United States in two? What?
Justice.
A just cause has something so triumphant in itself,
that men dare not attack it boldly face to face. They
turn round it, they deny it, they affirm that it is not itself;
for if it were, who would dare sustain the shock?
I speak, the reader will comprehend, of just causes
which have made their place on earth, of those which are
such in the eyes of the world. History is full of just
causes which have waited, which have suffered, which have
been perfidiously trodden under foot, which have been
defeated times without number. These will also have
their turn; it has not yet come. They manifest their
superiority alone in the inmost recesses of the souls by
whom they are believed, they win only internal triumphs.
But let the day come when, by force of internal triumphs
and external defeats, they will have constrained the public conscience to give them recognition, and woe to those
who shall wish thenceforth to check their onward movement!
Abolition is one of these just causes, whose advent is
accomplished. The champions of slavery are lost in advance; they feel that the world goes against them.
This is why I am certain of success; this is why, hav



408             GENERAL CONCLUSION.
ing proved that the great American people has taken
sides against slavery, I call it a great people uprising.
The difficulties are great! Who doubts it?  Principles
take time to pass from the domain of ideas to that of
facts! Who denies it?  Military operations may fail!
Who disputes it? My confidence would be weak indeed
if it rested on the skill of McClellan, on that great army,
marvellously created in a few months, and stretching farther than the distance from Madrid to Moscow, on the
prosperity of the North, on the ruin of the South, on the
discredit of its notes, which already are at a discount of
forty-five per cent for gold, on the need which it will
soon perhaps experience of exporting its two cotton crops,
and of profiting, to offer it to our famishing manufactures,
on the ports which the Union fleet will doubtless occupy
and open within its limits. The reasons of my confidence
are different. I reflect that a just cause is in question, a
cause which has gained its suit; I look at the unanimous
convictions of the nineteenth century; I remember, above
all, that there is a God.
Yes, you will be the stronger, generous defenders of
justice; you will be the stronger, if you ally yourselves
to justice and to God. Hope! God himself has implanted
the need of encouragement in the inmost depths of our
soul. Hope! Cling to hope, preserve a serene and impregnable faith in the triumphs of eternal right.
Danton said: " Audacity, audacity, and again audacity! " I say willingly: "Hope, hope, and again hope! "
This crisis, despite the suffering that it includes, will be
the honor and consolation of our times. Never, perhaps,
were matter and spirit so directly at strife; the question
is a moral one; it is for America to know whether the
Puritan element will win-for the whole world to know
whether liberty and justice will finally prevail.




GENERAL CONCLUSION.             409
The whole world, I have just said, is engaged in the
contest. The uprising of this people upraises us also;
this spectacle of sufferings nobly accepted, does us good.
We feel that one of those storms which purify the atmosphere is passing at this moment over our globe.
Those over whom it passes have to suffer; but after
the tempest comes fine weather, and, like that fleet which,
after having been dispersed by the storm, found itself
again entire in the smooth waters of Port Royal, America
will seem, perhaps, almost to sink beneath the violence
of the winds, until it attain the end. This end is peace.
Having once succeeded in suppressing the fearful evil
which was devouring them, the United States will not
feel that their present sacrifices are disproportioned to
the progress accomplished. Acquired at this price, the
abolition of slavery will not have been bought too dear.
The question in the end is a second creation of the
United States. This is carried on by the American method,
that of Washington, that of the war of 1812, that which
begins in weakness and ends in grandeur.
No, the sixteenth President of the United States will
not be the last; no, the eighty-fifth year of this people
will not be the last; their flag will come out of battle
pierced with bullets and blackened with powder, but
more glorious than ever, without having let fall, as I hope,
in the melee a single one of its thirty-four stars.








DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE.
I borrow from the collections of official documents published by the American and English Governments, a few extracts which seem to me suited to cast much light on the
questions so imperfectly known in Europe, to which I have
devoted the first part of this work.
NOTE  FIRST.
[See Part First, Chap. IV.]
THE QUALIFICATION OF BELLIGERENTS ACCORDED TO THE
SOUTH.
[Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams.]
DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 
WASHITNGTON, June 19, 1861.
SIR: On the 15th day of June instant, Lord Lyons, the British Minister, and Mr. Mercier, the French Minister, residing here,
had an appointed interview with me. Each of those representatives proposed to read to me an instruction which he had received from his Government, and to deliver me a copy if I should
desire it. I answered that, in the present state of the correspondence between their respective Governments and that of the
United States, I deemed it my duty to know the characters and
effects of the instructions, respectively, before I could consent
that they should be officially communicated to this Department.
The ministers, therefore, confidentially and very frankly sub18i*




412             DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE.
mitted the papers to me for preliminary inspection. After having examined them so far as to understand their purport, I declined to hear them read, or to receive official notice of them.
That paper (that of Lord Lyons) purports to contain a decision at which the British Government has arrived, to
the effect that this country is divided into two belligerent parties, of which this Government represents one, and that Great
Britain assumes the attitude of a neutral between them.
This Government could not, consistently with a just regard
for the sovereignty of the United States, permit itself to debate
these novel and extraordinary positions with the Government of
her Britannic Majesty; much less can we consent that that Government shall announce to us a decision derogating from that
sovereignty, at which it has arrived without previously conferring with us upon the question. The United States are still solely and exclusively sovereign within the territories they have
lawfully acquired and long possessed.
What is now seen in this country is the occurrence, by no
means peculiar but frequent in all countries, more frequent even
in Great Britain than here, of an armed insurrection, engaged in
attempting to overthrow the regularly constituted and established Government. There is, of course, the employment of force
by the Government to suppress the insurrection, as every other
Government necessarily employs force in such cases. But these
incidents by no means constitute a state of war impairing the
sovereignty of the Government, creating belligerent sections,
and entitling foreign States to intervene or to act as neutrals
between them, or in any way to cast off their lawful obligations
to the nation thus, for the moment, disturbed. Any other principle than this would be to resolve government everywhere into
a thing of accident and caprice.
It is, we take leave to think, the common misfortune of the
two countries that Great Britain was not content to wait before
despatching the instructions in question, until you had been received by her Majesty's Government, and had submitted the entirely just, friendly, and liberal overtures with which you were
charged.
One point remains. The British Government, while declin



DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE.                 413
ing, out of regard to our natural sensibility, to propose mediation for the settlement of the differences which now unhappily
divide the American people, has nevertheless expressed, in a
very proper manner, its willingness to undertake the kindly duty
of mediation, if we should desire it. The President expects you
to say on this point to the British Government, that we appreciate this generous and friendly demonstration, but that we cannot solicit or accept mediation from any, even the most friendly
quarter. The conditions of society here, the character of our
Government, the exigencies of the country, forbid that any dispute arising among us should ever be referred to foreign arbitration. We are a republican and American people. The Constitution of our Government furnishes all needful means for the
correction or removal of any possible political evil. Adhering
strictly, as we do, to its directions, we shall surmount all our present complications, and preserve the Government complete, perfect, and sound, for the benefit of future generations. But the
integrity of any nation is lost, and its fate becomes doubtful,
whenever strange hands, and instruments unknown to the Constitution, are employed to perform the proper functions of the
people, established by the organic laws of the State.
Hoping to have no occasion hereafter to speak for the hearing
of friendly nations upon the topics which I have now discussed,
I add a single remark, by way of satisfying the British Government, that it will do wisely by leaving us to manage and settle
this domestic controversy in our own way.
CHARLES F. ADAMS, &C., &C.
[Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, p. 91.]
[Mr. Seward to HMr. Dayton.]
DEPARTMENT OF STATE, t
WASHINGTON, June 17, 1861. f
SIR: Every instruction which this Government has given to
its representatives abroad, since the recent change of administration took place, has expressed our profound anxiety lest the disloyal citizens who are engaged in an attempt to overthrow the
Union should obtain aid and assistance from foreign nations




414             DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE.
either in the form of a recognition of their pretended sovereignty, or in some other and more qualified or guarded manner.
Every instruction has expressed our full belief that, without such
aid or assistance, the insurrection would speedily come to an
end, while any advantage that it could derive from such aid or
assistance could serve no other purpose than to protract the existing struggle, and aggravate the evils it is inflicting on our own
country and on foreign and friendly nations.
We have intended not to leave it doubtful that a concession
of sovereignty to the insurgents, though it should be indirect or
unofficial, or though it should be qualified so as to concede only
belligerent or other partial rights, would be regarded as inconsistent with the relations due to us by friendly nations.
That paper (the paper which Mr. Seward had refused to hear
read) does not expressly deny the sovereignty of the United
States of America; but it does assume, inconsistently with that
sovereignty, that the United States are not altogether and for all
purposes one sovereign power, but that this nation consists of
two parties, of which this Government is one. France proposes
to take cognizance of both parties as belligerents.
This Government insists that the United States are one, whole,
undivided nation, especially so far as foreign nations are concerned, and that France is, by the law of nations and by treaties,
not a neutral power between two imaginary parties here, but a
friend of the United States.
It is erroneous, so far as foreign nations are concerned, to
suppose that any war exists in the United States. Certainly,
there cannot be two belligerent powers where there is no war.
There is here, as there has always been, one political power,
namely, the United States of America, competent to make war
and peace, and conduct commerce and alliances with all foreign
nations. There is none other, either in fact, or recognized by
foreign nations. There is, indeed, an armed sedition seeking to
overthrow the Government, and the Government is employingmilitary and naval forces to repress it. But these facts do not constitute a war presenting two belligerent powers, and modifying the
national character, rights, and responsibilities, or the characters,
rights, and responsibilities of foreign nations. It is true that in



DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE.                  415
surrection may ripen into revolution, and that revolution, thus
ripened, may extinguish a previously existing State, or divide it
into one or more independent States, and that, if such States
continue their strife after such division, then there exists a state
of war affecting the characters, rights, and duties of all parties
concerned. But this only happens when the revolution has run
its successful course.
The United States will maintain and defend their sovereignty
throughout the bounds of the Republic, and they deem all other
nations bound to respect that sovereignty until, if ever, Providence shall consent that it shall be successfully overthrown. Any
system of public law or national morality that conflicts with this,
would resolve society, first in this hemisphere, and then in the
other, into anarchy and chaos.
The case, as it now stands, is the simple, ordinary one that
has happened at all times and in all countries. A discontented
domestic faction seeks foreign intervention to overthrow the
Constitution and the liberties of its own country. Such intervention, if yielded, is ultimately disastrous to the cause it is designed to aid.
Down deep in the heart of the American people-deeper than
the love of trade, or of freedom-deeper than the attachment to
any local or sectional interest, or partisan pride, or individual
ambition-deeper than any other sentiment, is that one out of
which the Constitution of this Union arose, namely, American
independence-independence of all foreign control, alliance, or
influence. Next above it lies the conviction that neither peace,
nor safety, nor public liberty, nor prosperity, nor greatness, nor
empire, can be attained here with the sacrifice of the unity of the
people of North America.
WILLIAM L. DAYTON, Esq., &c., &c.
[Papers relating to Foreign Affairs, p. 208.]




416             DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE.
NOTE SECOND.
[See Part First, Chap. III.]
IS SLAVERY REALLY IN QUESTION?
[Mr. Black (Sec. of State) to all the Ministers of the United States.]
CIRCULAR.
DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
WASHINGTON, February 28, 1861.
SIR: You are, of course, aware that the election of last November resulted in the choice of Mr. Abraham Lincoln; that he
was the candidate of the republican or anti-slavery party; that
the preceding discussion had been confined almost entirely to
topics connected, directly or indirectly, with the subject of negro slavery; that every Northern State cast its whole electoral
vote (except three in New Jersey) for Mr. Lincoln, while in the
whole South the popular sentiment against him was almost absolutely universal.
[Papers relating to Foreign Affairs, p. 15.]
NOTE THIRD.
[See Part Third, Chap. V.]
FACTS EXPLAINING THE SUPERIORITY POSSESSED AT THE FIRST
MOMENT BY THE SOUTH.
[llIr. Seward to Mr. Adams.]
DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
WASHINGTON, April 10, 1861.
One needs to be as conversant with our federative system as
perhaps only American publicists can be to understand how
effectually, in the first instance, such a revolutionary movement
must demoralize the General Government. We are not only a
nation, but we are States also. All public officers, as well as all
citizens, owe not only allegiance to the Union, but allegiance also
to the States in which they reside. In the more discontented




DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE.                417
States the local magistrates and other officers cast off at once
their Federal allegiance, and conventions were held which assumed to absolve their citizens from the same obligations. Even
Federal judges, marshals, clerks, and revenue officers resigned
their trusts. Intimidation deterred loyal persons from accepting
the offices thus rendered vacant. So the most important faculties of the Federal Government in those States abruptly ceased.
The most popular motive in these discontents was an apprehension of designs on the part of the incoming Federal administration hostile to the institution of domestic slavery in the States
where it is tolerated by the local constitutions and laws. That
institution and the class which especially cherishes it are not
confined to the States which have seceded, but they exist in the
eight other so-called slave States, and these, for that reason,
sympathize profoundly with the revolutionary movement. Sympathies and apprehensions of this kind have, for an indefinite period, entered into the basis of political parties throughout the
whole country, and thus considerable masses of persons whose
ultimate loyalty could not be doubted, were found, even in the
free States, either justifying, excusing, or palliating the movement toward disunion in the seceding States. The party which
was dominant in the Federal Government during the period of
the last administration embraced, practically, and held in unreserved communion, all disunionists and sympathizers. It heldthe Executive administration. The Secretaries of the Treasury,
War, and the Interior were disunionists. The same party held a
large majority of the Senate, and nearly equally divided the
House of Representatives.  Disaffection lurked, if it did not
openly avow itself, in every department and in every bureau, in
every regiment and in every ship-of-war; in the post-office and
in the custom-house, and in every legation and consulate, from
London to Calcutta. Of four thousand four hundred and seventy
officers in the public service, civil and military, two thousand
one hundred and fifty-four were representatives of States where
the revolutionary movement was openly advocated and urged,
even if not actually organized. Our system being so completely
federative and representative, no provision had ever been made,
perhaps none ever could have been made, to anticipate this




418             DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE.
strange and unprecedented disturbance.  The people were
shocked by successive and astounding developments of what the
statute book distinctly pronounced to be sedition and treason,
but the magistracy was demoralized and the laws were powerless. By degrees, however, a better sentiment revealed itself.
The Executive administration hesitatingly, in part, reformed itself. The capital was garrisoned; the new President came in
unresisted, and soon constituted a new and purely loyal administration. They found the disunionists perseveringly engaged in
raising armies and laying sieges around national fortifications,
situate within the territory of the disaffected States. The Federal
marine seemed to have been scattered everywhere except where
its presence was necessary, and such of the military forces as
were not in the remote States or Territories were held back
from activity by vague and mysterious armistices, which had
been informally contracted by the late President, or under his
authority, with a view to postpone conflict until impracticable
concessions to disunion should be made by Congress, or, at least,
until the waning term of his administration should reach its appointed end. Commissioners, who had been sent by the new
Confederacy, were already at the capital, demanding recognition
of its sovereignty and a partition of the national property and
domain. The treasury, depleted by robbery and peculation, was
exhausted, and the public credit was prostrate.
It being assumed that peaceful separation is in harmony with
the Constitution, it was urged, as a consequence, that coercion
would, therefore, be unlawful and tyrannical; and this principle
was even pushed so far as to make the defensive retaining by the
Federal Government of its position within the limits of the seceding States, or where it might seem to overawe or intimidate
them, an act of such forbidden coercion. Thus it happened that,
for a long time, and in very extensive districts even, fidelity to
the Union manifested itself by demanding a surrender of its
powers and possessions, and compromises with or immunity
toward those who were engaged in overthrowing it by armed
force.
[Papers relating to Foreign Affairs, p. 55.]




DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE.               419
NOTE FOURTH.
[See Part Fourth, C/hap. ITV.]
THE PART OF SPAIN IN THE MEXICAN EXPEDITION.
The Blue Book published by the English Government on
the negotiations which preceded the Mexican Expedition,
contains a despatch from Sir John Crampton, which thus sets
forth the disposition (at that time) of the Spanish Government:
" The Government of Her Catholic Majesty is of the opinion
that it would be well for the combined forces to seek to profit
by the impression which cannot fail to be produced among the
Mexican people, to exercise a moral influence over the contending parties, to bring them to lay down their arms and come to
an understanding, in such a manner as to form a Government
which may offer to the allies some guarantee of the accomplishment of the engagements contracted toward them, and of the
more faithful observation, in the future, of international obligations-a Government which may give some hope, at least, of seeing an end put to the miseries to which this unfortunate country
has been exposed."
This language forms an evident contrast to that of England
proclaiming the absolute determination to exercise no influence
whatever over the Internal affairs of Mexico and the form of its
Government.
We will add that Spain, which had just effected a first colonial restoration in St. Domingo, was at this moment taking all
the initiative measures against Mexico; first, negotiation; then,
active operations. It will be remembered that the despatch of
its quota to Vera Cruz preceded that of France and England.








ALSO JUST READY,
A NEW AND REVISED EDITION OF THE
UPRISING OF A GREAT PEOPLE;
TO WHICH IS ADDED
A WORD OF PEACE
ON THE
@Xfesertlte tt~bttu &ng~anr13 an t1p nitb 2tatts.
By COUNT DE GASPARIN.
TRANSLATED  BY MISS MARY L. BOOTH.
1 Vol. 12mo, 300 pages. Price, 75 cents.
This edition has been carefully revised to conform to the new edition of the original work, just published at Paris. The author has
corrected several errors of fact, which were noted by American reviewers on the appearance of the translation, and has also made sundry changes in the work, designed to bring it down to the present
time.-Extractfrom  Translator's Preface.
"We have as yet seen no American publication of any kind, which can bear
comparison with this French work, in point of fervent zeal for the cause of Freedom, order, and progress, as involved in our existing civil war.  We hope the
translation will have extensive currency, for it cannot fail to inspire and nourish
true patriotism." —Nort]h  American Review.
"America may well accept the views and counsels of so genuine a friend and
so pure and noble a spirit as Gasparin. Most heartily do we recommend to the
attention of the American people the thoughtful and hopeful utterances of this
their noble friend." —Methodist Quarterly.
"The thorough intellectual mastery of the subject determines the quality of
the book, the moral warmth which runs latent through it-(breaking at times into
an eloquence which fairly burns)-takes its power from the weight of his facts and
the force of his logic. There is in his treatment of the question a wise moderation that carries with it convincing force."-N. Y. Times.
" It is the wisest book which has been written upon America since De Tocqueville. * * * Remarkable for its intelligence, its insight, its logic, and its nobleness of purpose."-N-. Y. Evening Post.
" It seems to possess almost the charm of inspiration. He who would understand the American question-who would read a discussion of it in a spirit kind
and conciliatory, yet with a logic irresistible, should ponder these pages."-N-. Y.
Christian Advocate and Journal.
"A most extraordinary book. It gives the fullest and most complete discussion of the causes which led to the great uprisin-of our people, the nature of this
crisis in our history as a nation, and its probable issues. * * * It is the fairest,
noblest, and ablest defence of this country, our people, our institutions, of its future,
even, if we may so speak, as well as its past, vX hich the world has ever seen." —NV
Y. World.