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THE MACON TELEGRAPH: SUNDAY MORNING, JULY 31, 1904.
DIPLOMACY TRIALS
OF THE CONFEDERACY
Discussion as to Whether Results Would have been
tlie Same Had the Statesmanship of the Hon. R.
Barnwell Rhett Been Adopted--The Status of
France and the Views of Napoleon.
By JOHN WITHERSPOON DuBOSE, in Ch«rl..»on Ne
and Cour
Wai
It ever before that a nation at
Its birth was ready with a million
young horsemen to ride across Its bor
ders as Forrest and Morgan and
Mosby rode, gathering arms and blank
ets and horses for wider range of un
paralleled enterprise In the enemy’s
territory? Was ever Invaded nation
Arm In Its foundations to drive back
the million young horsemen from the
farms of the South!
When Robert Barnwell Rhett In
masterly statecraft, at the outset,
would prepare compensatory treaty
rights for the commercial powers of
western Europe In Confederate ports,
thus to hold them sate from hostile
blockade; and when this measure pt
statecraft was refused by' the Con
federate government, the act of re
fusal became tantamount to the use
of a policy of military defense of thou
sands of miles of Southern coast, Im
possible of success, yet a policy where
in the Confederate soldier was shorn
of hip peculiar prowess In war and
whereby an exhaustive draft was made
upon the army for garrison forces.
The government of the Confederacy
lost no time In entering a field of dl
plomacy of Its own, devising a senti
mental .appeal to an unwilling world.
The Confederate states made prompt
advances for admission of the most
refined free government that had ever
lived Into the family circle of heredi
tary monarchies, but it brought In Its
pure hands no temptation to the ava
rice of the old monarchies. It ap
peared with long Bcroll of argument in
Its pure hands going to prove to an
clent kingdoms that the only hope of
free Institutions In America lay In the
length and safety of its own precious
life. That was all of Confederate dl
plomacy—all, from first to last, brief
as the time.
The young slave republic, the off
spring of n dismembered government
at peace with all Europe, and which.
If let alone, would go. full sail, Into
the sphere of monarchical conditions
—the young republic mounted the
pedestal of natural right and with the
curl of virtuous scorn upon its lip
challenged the monarchical world to
turn from the spectacle If it could!
Four Enemies of the South.
Lord Palmerston, the Whig premier
of England, an octogenarian who had
been a personal disciple of Wllberforce
In his youth and who hod brought down
to his present life and office the enthu
siasm then Inspired by the great eman
cipator, heard with a smile of incre
dulity the colemn plea of the Confed
eracy at the court of St. James. John
Bright and Richard Cobden, the ven
erable premier’s lieutenants, had hard
ly composed themselves from the ex-
officers •
ay the
ter and In London voluntary associa
tions of the highest classes were form
al to express in practical methods their
empathy with the South. Rich men
offered money to army hospitals of the
Confederacy, competent writers pub
lished paragraphs and authors wrote
olumes arguing for the South,
members of parliament from their seats
prodded the ministry for Its shirking
policy toward the South. The Tories
were as much our friends as if they
had been of us, on the land.
While the Southern sympathizers In
England w?re thus busy In practical
ways at home, they did not fall to ap
proach Nnpoleon II In their urgency of
Southern cause. The emperor of
Fiance was a willing listener. He took
up the cause of the South through for
mal channels of diplomacy with Eng
land. He held Interviews with English
members of parliament, committing
himself to the most advanced sugges
tions of cq-operatlon with their
government for the recognition and
support of the Independence of the
Confederacy. He urged them to force
the British ministry to favorable ac
tion
Robert Barnwell Rhett, deputy from
South Carolina, had given the subject
of government for the South the study
ot an acute and philosophic mind for
more than the life of a generation. He
took his seat at Montgomery well pre
pared with an outline of foreign policy
1 " r tin* young ropubllf whj.-l, <„• had
don.* so much fn pn«sslbl». Mr.
Rhett’s suggestion was founded upon
certain accomplished facts of daily ex
perience In the relations of the com
merce of the slave states to European
tiade. The export commerce of the
slave states In raw material was the
richest in the world. The official report
of the fiscal yenr ending June 30. 1850,
gave the exports Initiating In the slave
slates at 9188,693,490 and the exports
initiating in the free states at 95,231,-
091. England was both the chief ocean
carrier and the chief manufacturer of
the main subject of Southern com
merce, cotton. The industries of France
%vere also largely involved In the car
rying trade and the manufacture of
Southern raw material.
The Rhett Scheme.
Upon the demonstrated value of
Southern commerce and the historical
record of Southern civil and military
character, Rhett’s object of a foreign
diplomacy rested. The Rhett scheme
was to preceed without a moment’i
delay to assail the well known unt!
slavery prejudice and fanaticism o.
tho Palmerston ministry on the moral
aspect Southern slavery with an Ir
resistible temptation of treaty stipula
tion In the Interest of English com
merce and manufactures known to be
generally controlled by Whigs and ab
olitionists. The Rhett scheme would
worth while to i
11 faithful; they
failures. The axiom remains unlm-
peached, that statecraft Is the Intellec
tual product of an Ideal. Without the
Ideal there is no statecraft. Statecraft
Involving the efficiency of the Confed
erate war office did not suggest John
A. Campbell for assistant secretary of
war, yet Campbell held the place until
the end in the face of his avowal to the
president that he had no sympathy
v ■ th the motives of the Confederacy.
(Letter of Capbell to Judge Curtis.)
lho Mnator from Georgia, Benjamin H.
Hill, was notoriously the' friend and
counsellor of Mr. Davis, yet within
thirty days of the meeting of the Con
federate congress at Montgomery Mr.
Hill had denounced bitterly the South
ern movement. There was never a day
when he either expected or desired the
Confederacy to live. (Life and Speeches
of B. H. Hill, by his son.)
Rhett, Yancey and Wigfall.
Neither text page or index of the
five octavo volumes prepared by Mr.
Davis and his wife, purporting to 10-
lato tho tala of the rtss and fall of the'
Confederacy and the parts acted by
many persons, contains the name of
Robert Barnwell Rhett. William
Yancey, Louis T. Wlgfall and their ns-
soclnted secessionists. The massive
volumes leave a perfect hiatus
tween the lucid accounts of the incor
poration of the slates rights principal
In the federal system of the United
States and the application of the prin
cipal In tho peifectcd Confederate gov
ernment. Who prepared the people
through long years of public discus
sion, and what the motive of final ac
tion, the many books omit to tell. We
are denied the simplicity of facts, for
the gratification of a patriotic desire
to find the men and their motives who
built a government which sought to
lie.- .'inior.k, M • :: ,1 *..n*\
Yancey’s Fruitless M
commissioners to Europe. Messis. Wil
liam L. Yancey, president, and P. A.
Rost and A. Dudley Mann, associate I most radical of the nbolltltntsts,
ly composed themselves rrom ine ex- pledge the trade of England nnd
citing sympathy with which they had France special advantages and prlvl-
watched the campaign of Abraham - - -
Lincoln for the presidency. The Ger-
into prince consort, too, Albert,
tear to carry into the predicate of
Confederate recognition the national
German morbidity of hate against
slavery.
Albert died soon, yet not before ho
had developed his stand for the side
of the United States in the American
conflict For years after her husband’s
death the queen lived In a melancholy
nnd lie would be a rash minister who
should approach her majesty with sug
gestion of variance with her dead hus
band’s known policy.
The Queen Follows Albert’s Prejudices.
It was not new or recently excited
prejudice that the Confederacy met at
the court of St, James. Tho amiable
Victoria in her happiest years had been
offended to hear the truth of the South
ern states. She had retired from her
household the chosen companion of her
childhood, the constant associate of her
domestic life and the favorite among
her four maids of honor, Miss Amelia
Murray. Tho tale so simple, now so
ominous, had been long told to the
world. Miss Murray made a tour ot
the United States, from North to
South, accompanied hlone by her Eng
lish maid.
She came In the time of the Kansas
agitation and being Informed In pub
lic affairs, wrote voluminously in pri
vate letters to friends In England of
party polftlcs as she observed them
In congress and elsewhere. She wrote
critically ot American society. Its cus
toms and the sectional lines that sep
arated what was good North from
what was good South. Gradually ap
proaching tbe slave states, the tourist
accepted proffered hospitality of the
planters and visited plantations. The
tone of her original Wllberforcean
prejudices began to moderate as In
formation reached her mind of prac
tical conditions concerning the South
ern plantation and Its African bonds
men. The truly valuable letters of
Miss Murray were published. The de
lightful literature proved an offence In
the royal court. The revelation of the
truth on the Southern plantation pub
lished from the household of the queen
of England, whose government, di
rected by her husband, was even then
engaged In vigorous efforts to put
down the surviving slave trade In
English bottoms with Bpanlsh-Amerl-
can islanders and Brazil, was bad pol
itics. Not only so. but the queen’s
government had & rule to enter upon
no new treaty of amity and commerce
which failed to commit the signatures
alike to suppression of the African
slave trade. Miss Murray’s published
reports of Southern plantations were
an unwelcome Information and must
needs suffer a positive royal repudia
tion In her dismissal from the semi-
political post she had so long adorned.
The Southern Confederacy, neverthe
less. had taken the most advanced
step open to it against an Indefinite
expansion of the Institution of slavery.
The secession convention of Alabama
had led In the movement which culmi
nate in a proviso of the federal con
stitution forever forbidding the Intro
duction of slaves Into tlie Confeder
acy from any foreign country wteitto-
The Torres Were With us.
But the Palmerston ministry resolv
ed from the outset upon an unfriendly
policy toward the Southern Confedera
cr. The powerful Tory |*arty, dividing
almost evenly with the Whigs, met the
ministry on the fasue. The
Times earnestly supported the Tories
ax£ the South. At Liverpool. Maccbao-
leges In Confederate ports; for exam
ples, a tariff rate for twenty years not
to exceed 20 per cent ad valorem and
certain fixed port charges not to ex
ceed tho cost of maintenance. It was
not pretended that the suggestion of
special and compensatory terms oC
commercial treaty In the premises wi
original. On the contrary the terms
recommended, as proven, by the
treaties of the United States with
France and England In the revolution.
The policy of Rhett was a practical
confronting of nn emergency; the re
fusnl of his policy without a substl
tute In any degree was a sentiment
without an apology.
Did the rejection of Rhett’s scheme
of foreign alliance give promise of any
uncommon exertion of vigor In the
Confederate government within
limits of Its own resources? The In
explicable situation was laid open by
the act of rejection, the diverting of
the federal government of seceded
states from control of the political
school that had contrived It to the
school that had long resisted the in-
ention. Secessionists had called the
government Into existence upon an or
gument all their own; Unionists Im
mediately rose to the administration
and held It firmly until the end. Per
haps an intrepid spirit for hazards re
vealed itself In the conduct of the mei
who had been loth to the last moment
to enter upon so daring nn enterprise
the erection of the new republic.
It Is enough to say the leading seces
sionists of 1880-61 lost control of the
Confederate government at the outset.
If discernment was to be used. If op
portunity was to be seized. If Influence
was to be reckoned on. the founders of
Confederacy had no voice In the
situation. Whether the road to the
Confederacy was straight or devious,
the one significant thing was. It led to
the goal which the road builders were
denied.
Calhoun Trusted Davis.
In the last months of his life, John
C. Calhoun seeing the end of his
availability approaching, prophesied
that the young senator from’Mississip
pi, then on crotches from the field of
Buena Vista, would be the master spir
it In the ripening movement to confed
crate under one government the slave
states. Calhoun died In the belief that
the senator Intended his eloquent de
fens* of the right of secession and his
eloquent portrayal of the perils which
beset the slave states should lead to the
remedy of secession. But the president
of the Southern Confederacy never ap
proved the secession movement Mr.
Davis was perhaps never quite under
stood.
The hand of the Confederate govern
ment denied the predicate of prefer
ence to the men from whose brains and
hearts the Southern movement had
been nourished into complete system,
In the years of opportunity from for
eign diplomacy, the secretary of stati
was Judah P. Benjamin, a Whig an.
Unionist in the period whro tariffs and
free trade were contending American
theories: the secretary of war was Jos.
A. Heddon. by whose order On. John
ston was retired from command the
second army in strength then destroy
ed, and Seddon had be-n earnestly op
posed to the formation of the Confed
eracy long after President Davis took
the oath at Montgomery; the *“
of the treasury. Christopher
mlnger, was a fife long and
portent of the Calhoun doctr
was put In office against t.n declared
Judgment of the president, that Robert
Toombs, secessionist, was tho ablest
financier among all American public
te jurisdiction. These, therefore, were |
lawful prizes and weer a direct in- |
It and Injury to neutral comemrce.
SlideM and Napoleon.
Meantime Commissioner SlUlell was
tlve in Paris. He persuaded M.
Thou venal, the French secretary of
foreign affairs, to obtain from the em
peror permission for Messrs. Lindsay
and Roebuck, members of the British
parliament, to see him In the Interest
of the Confederacy. The emperor
cheerfully received the visitors, Mr.
Slidell also being present. The Inter
view was prolonged at the emperor’s
Insistence. He authorized the English
men to prepare parliament for any ad
vanced movement In favor of the
South, *»ven to a break up of the Whig
government that stood In the way, and
ho would promptly and effectively Join
It. Mr. Lindsay explained at length
to tho emperor thdt the battle of the
United States was not really for the
maintenance of a Union from which
slavery should be eliminated, but for
the maintenance of a Union which
would abolish the revenue tariff and In
lieu restore the Clay American system,
or protective duties for the benefit ot
the commerce and manufacturers of the
North. Ho showed that ns imports
paid for by exports, and as the imports
of the South were great nnd of tho
North small, the South really paid
three-fourths of the Federal revenues,
only to be denied nn equitable dis
bursement of the collections. The em
peror admitted the probable correct
ness of Mr. Lindsay’s views and reit
ernted his readiness to Join England
In recognition of the Confederacy at
onco and to sustain that proceeding at
nil coat. “Why not advance to that
step n)one, your majesty?" inquired
Lindsay. "Ah, what becomes of my
fleet off Vera Cruz!" was the reply.
While tho commissioners were thus
employed Moncure D. Conway, n Vlr-
In Mnrch, 1801. tho Confederate I ■ ,n . l * n extraordinary ability
vho
had In his youth gone North to enlist
with Garrison, Phillips, Mrs. Howe nnd
G, Me
nd he
commissioners, with their accomplish
ed young secretary. Mr. Fenrn, of
Huntsville. Ala., sailed out of the port
of Charleston. Orders were obeyed.
Mr. Yancey made Southern rights
speeches and all talked to the kind of
people who received them into their
confidence of the inherent virtue of
the Southern cause. Yancey had no
confidence when lie left home In his
mission. "Don’t go to Europe If you
value your reputation," his friends
warned him. Having exhausted the
field of his Instructions, he nsked to be
called homo. The request was reluct -
ntly granted by his government. He
was too fluent a talker to be spared.
The others remained. Mr. John M.
Mason, long a distinguished senator
from Virginia, and Mr. Slidell, a native
of New York, long a senator from Lou
isiana, were sent out to the court of
St, James nnd St. Cloud, respectively.
Mason and Slidell.
The two commissioners, their re
spective secretaries, and the family of
Mr. Slidell passed uninterrupted
through the blockade at Charleston
and nt Havana boarded her Brltnnnlc
majesty's mail ship Trent, plying be
tween Vera Cruz. Mexico and South
ampton. Mr. Seward, secretary of
stnte, had determined from the begin
ning of the war to bluff England and
alarm her ministry. Among the first
of his unrelnxlng acts In this line was
the capture of Mason and Slidell un
der the British (lag on the high sens
off the coast of Cuba. Seward held
finger firmly on tho pulso of Pal
merston’s timid government. When
the time came he surrendered tho com
mlssioners to a British ship In the
harbor of Boston, nnd In February,
1862. they were landed nt Liverpool.
Early In February. 1862, Mr. Mason
delivered Informally Secretary Hun
ter’s message to the British ministry.
There was absolutely nothing In it be
yond the stale argument Yancey had
loft behind him, that secession w
not revolution In the American sy
tern, that the Southern people we
not In rebellion, that tho success of
the South In the war was Inevitable,
that the Southern people would neve
return to the Union, that there wen
vnat stores of cotton on the planta
tions, which nn enterprising neutral
could have tor the asking. In the re
tirement ot his later years President
Davis recounted the success of the
first commissioners, na he had antici
pated success, In these words;
Our efforts for recognition by Eu
ropean powers, 1ft'1861, served to make
us better known, to awaken a kindly
feeling In our favor, and cause a re
spectful regard for the effort we were
making to maintain the Independence
of the states which Great Britain bad
recognized nnd her people knew to bo
birthright." (Rise and Fall of the
Confederate Government. Vol. 1, p.
469. This after the contemplation
In fact comprehended the whole
scheme ot Confederate foreign diplo
macy from first to last.
Tories Welcomed Mason.
The Tories of England received Com
missioner Mason with open arms. They
flocked to his apartments to welcome
him and to applaud his country. They
escorted him to a seat In the galleries
of parliament, that he might hear with
his own ears how, they prodded the
ministry and shamed It. They carried
him to their country homes to see their
kennels nnd ‘heir stables and to look
upon their bolls. "They are the same
people here as In old Virginia,” wrote
Mason to his wife. The lord mayor In
vited him to attend the grand annual
dinner. lie was the^» called upon to
speak nnd his speech was tumultuously
applauded.
Commissioner Mason took up the
question of blockade with the English
ministry, to the limited extent that the
ministry would hear him. England had
Insisted that the Confederate States
should Informally accede to the Purls
convention; nnd the Paris convention
had committed the powers that signed
It to the proposition that: (1) Blockade
by belligerents must be effective; (2)
That blockade once raised, even for an
hour, could not be restored without no
tice to neutrals.
The Blockade Inefficient.
Mr. Mason showed to the British
minister conclusively that In the sec
ond year of the war the blockade of the
Confederate ports was not effective;
that a lively trade continually passed
through the blockade, no-called; that,
for Instance, 100 vessels and more had
passed through the Confederate ports
laden with Incoming nnd outgoing mer
chandise Iti the three months only of
the winter of 1*61-62. The commission
er further showed the British secretary
for ferlgn affaire that In lieu of m port
blockade which f* had failed ignomlni
ntisly to maintain, the United State
government ha established a line of
parole ships at sea fit front of the vari
ous Confederate ports, nnd that the
capture* of several neutral vessels,
made In their attempts to trade with
the Confederacy, were actually cap
tures made upon the high seas, and no
In the harbors or witbln the Confede-
>d pi
In Septeir.be
alone
mont
out 975,(
advertised In London that he would lec
ture in that city under tho suspires
of Mr. John Bright and that tho object
of his lecturo was to give moral sup
port to a party In tho United States
that would rlso up and coerce the Lin-
oln administration to stop tho
nnd concedo the Independence of the
Confederacy. Comvny sent Commis
sioner Mason a ticket to his lecturo.
The Blockade Twlco Brokon,
Again and again tho Confederate
commissioners urged upon England
and France tho rights of their govern
ments under the terms of the Park
convention. It was shown that now
in the third year of the alleged block-
ndlng. Flag Officer Ingrnhnm. of tho
Confederate navy, had attacked the
blockading squad,ron off Charleston,
destroyed some of Its vessels nnd
tlrely dispersed the others from x......
The next winter, It may not be amiss
at this place to say. Captain Dixon
nnd crew ran the submarine torpid-
boat Hunley, the first boat of tho klm_
known to naval warfare, under the
blocknder IIousAtonlc, a powerful wn
ship, off the harbor of Charleston. The
llotwntonlc nnd nil on board, about 400
persons, wont to the bottom, carrying
the Hunley with It. Every blockad
taking fright, fled, nnd the port w
open for several days. At the sat
season In which Ingrnhnm opened th
port of Charleston Bommrs open
Galveston. But neither England
France enforced tfte,terms of the Pnrls
convention. In the winter of 1862-63
the improvised navy of the Confeder
ncy destroyed eleven warships of th
United States, while the Alabama
tho Sumter drove t»ie merchant ma
rlne of the enemy off the high seas.
Pressing Need for Firearms.
Among those In high place, e$rly
Impressed with the Importance nf for
eign sympathy nnd trade, ^specially In
the matter of procuring arms for the
Confederacy, was the first ipcretnry
of war. General Leroy Popp Walker.
The secretary suffered a rare experi
ence. He wns so beset by’Importu
nate captains of companies to receive
their commands Into the army thnt he
found it essential to his personal com
fort to reach his office In Montgomery
by tho back way to avoid the Impor
tunities of the soldiers. He made «
requisition on his government for 150.-
000 foreign rifles, but wns shut off with
25.000. The government did neverthe
less promptly select a purchasing ngrot
nnd ordered him to Europe with full
dlscretlonnry power to buy arms and
nrmy equipments.
The person selected was on old army
officer, who had been detailed as drill
master and commnndnnt at the Uni-
erslty of Alabama, a young man. Cnpt.
Caleb Htiae, of Massachusetts. Cnpt.
Huse wns n graduate of West Point
and ft good soldier, but citizens and
prudent soldiers thought Gen. R»iuro-
garfl. with a competent staff must have
been a more serviceable officer to have
sent abroad on so vital a responsibility.
As the sequel proved, when Gen. Jo
seph E. Johnston, soon after the first
Manassas, proposed to Invade the
North as the necessary strategy of war,
President Davis assured him the war
department had not the arms needed.
The president said, with apparently
deep feeling, that h»» "had tried
arms, but had failed, and he did not
know when he could get them. 1
nl out the same tlmo. when Gen. Albert
Ffdney Johnston had recruited nnd put
Ir. camp ten or twelve thousand volun-
for the Western
rotary of war ordered the camps broken
up and the men returned ji
want of arms. In all that time, and for
months after. Capt. Huse was receiv
ing only 1269 or about, n month, from
his government *o use in his duty, but
having made known to friends of the
Confederacy In Untjon his urgent need,
Hlr Isaac Campbell loaned him half n
million dollars on private account nnd
his cargo of much needed arms sailed.
The Confederacy needed a currency
nnd manufactured one. Did the abor
tive effort fairly represent the oppor
tunities of the government? There was
muen of foreign sympathy rejected In
the proceeding. We shall see that ’cot
ton" bonds of the Cnofederacy, mar
ketable In England and France were al
most 100 per rr *nt higher than the
bonds of the United States on Wall
street nt the same period. I well re
member that Vice President Stephen*
in conversation remarked to me, in the
v ar time, that the Confederacy with
Uttle more business tact In Its finances,
might establish "the etrongest paper
currency In the world," referring l-
use* that might b«* mad- of credit,
founded on cotton, by the treasury de
partment.
"Cotton Oblig
The Confederate cruiser Alabama
wan built for the government «t Birk
enhead. on the Mersey, by a firm of
which Jjtlrd. a member of parliament,
was a member. The cost was 8250,000
and the firm rejected offers from I
secretary of th« navy ct Washlngl
to build several warships for ,i
United States. They would Slavs built
Mason wre
twenty or twenty-five i
had for its uses on
tlona,” Now the lncon
States, In I860, was n
only. At a single draft
as able to command one-third of that
sum. "Cotton obligations” of the gov-
nment consisted In a simple pledge
of honor to deliver so many pounds of
lint at a price named, at a convenient
seaport within the Confederate limits
within three calendar months after the
arrival of pence. So attractive to for
eign money lenders wero tho "cotton
obligations" thnt Mr. Erlanger, of the
private banking firm of Erlanger &
Co., Paris, made his way through tho
blockade to Richmond to urge the au
thorities there to sell large blocks of
this character of paper for gold deliv
ered 1»> London.
250,000 Union ’’Hessians."
The United States, pending these In
cidents of Confederate financiering,
was selling bonds in Germany nnd do-
votlng the proceeds to bounties to Ger
man subjects to entor Ita army. Ap-
prxlmately a quarter of a million stout
Germans flocked to save the Union
upon their bounties. At the same pe
riod the United States had agents In
Ireland recruiting soldiers to come to
tho rescue of the Union on promise
that the scanty farm at homo, crippled
with tlthings and landlords* exactions,
should be replaced With many fruitful
American acres nn a ffee gift. Then,
too, to fill out the quota of soldiers,
school teachers and others of both
sexes came fro mNew England to
Southern rice and cotton plnntntlona
to recruit negro troopa and of those
some 241,000 were armed and mustered
Into the ranks of the Union nrmy. What
tho United States bonds brought on
the market In Europe Is Immaterial.
They sold ns low as 40 cents on the
dollar In Wall street.
Tho South Barrows $15,000,000.
Under date "Richmond. January 15,
1863." Secretary of State Benjamin
rrotg to Commissioner Mason: "Tho
gents of Masors. Erlanger & Co. ar
rived a few days before your dispatches
nnd were quite surprised to find their
proposals were considered Inadmissi
ble. They very soon discovered how
Infinitely stronger wo were nnd how
much more abundant our resources
than they had Imagined. We finally
ngreed with them to take fifteen mil
lions Instead of twenty-five millions
which they offered." The 7 per cent,
bonds of the government were taken
at 77. The secretary said the govern-
EX-SENATOR VEST
IS PASSING AWAY
Noted Missoi
Been in Dc
His Life.
ri Statesman Has Long
dining Health—Sketch of
merit took the monoy really hoenuse
Mr. Slidell advised the step to assist
his negotntlons for recognition of
France. At thnt very time, when tho
government wanted no money, the ord-
naco department wns drawing the cop
per to make percussion caps from old
distillery outfits In North Carolina nnd
tho commanding generals stood aghast
nt the long line of shoeless, ragged men
In their ranks.
The Erlanger loan wns plnred In
London with Immediate nnd astonish
ing success, March 3, 1863, Mr. Er
langer hnd returned and the first of
fering of 96.000,000 appeared on Lom-
bnr street. Before the day closed 910,-
000,000 had been subscribed nnd tho
premium wns 5 per cent. When the
aggregate of bids for the entire loan
of 918,000,000 wns summed up 975,000,-
SWBET SPRINGS, Mo.. July 30.—
Ex-Senator George Graham Vest Is
very low. His family has been sum
moned, and there Is only slight hope
for his life. lie has during the week
hnd frequent sinking spells and pays
little attention to h!s surroundings.
Mr. Vest's Csroor.
Tho Inst notable fight made in the
United Staten senate by Senator George
Graham Vest was during the contro
versy over the tariff on coal In January,
1903, following the anthracite coal
strike. It was noted then that hit
brilliant mind wns supported only by
n frail body, and during tho greater
part of his argument he remained
seated or supported himself with n
cane.
Senator Vest’s term expired March 4
last, he having declined re-election.
He was th« last member of the govern
ment of the Confederacy who was nt
that time n member of the congress of
the United States. During tho i>erlod
of n generation he hnd Injen one of
the strongest debaters upon tho Dem
ocratic side of the senate, and com
manded the respect as well as the
friendship of his Republican opponents.
Mr. Vest was a notable man among
tho giants of his time, of his section
nnd of tho entire country. It has been
suggested that ns Thomas H. Bonton
of Missouri wrote his famous work.
"Thirty Years in the Senate," so Vest
might have made a great und striking
contribution to Americans by writing
his forty years’ experience. When ho
retired from the senate Mr. Vest had
served twenty-four years in thnt body.
Benton served thirty years in the sen
ate and two years In the house. But
Mr. Vest’s political career began lor
before he entered the United Htnti
sonnte In 1870. IIo wns In tho Miaou
legislature In 1860 nnd
served until the end of the civil war
In hath the house nnd senate of the
Confederate congress nt Richmond.
A Native of Kontucky.
Born at Frankfort, Ky„ December fl.
1830, Mr. Vest wns graduated at Center
Collego In 1849, nnd from the law de
partment of Transylvania, nt liexlng-
ton. In 1853. Mr. Vest was a elnstmate,
of II. Gmtx Brown, who was made gov
ernor of Missouri through the Liberal
Republican movement In 1868, Hnd who
wns the cnndldnte for tho vice-presi
dency on the Greeley ticket In 1872.
The young Kentuckian moved West
nnd to the central part of Missouri to
begin tho practice of law. Ills pungent
wit, scathing sarcasm and effective
repartee, coupled with that kind of elo
quence which depends upon a ready
flow of language nnd the command of
n large vocabulary soon sent him to
(hr* legislature of Neosho, Jefferson
City the regular rnpltnl of the stnte.
In control of the Federal
moods. One of his coi
trlbuted the phenomenon
agination. "Imagination
Hatch; "It Is his liver,"
JHis Friendship For Quay.
One of the most remarkable friend
ships ever formed In congress wns that
between Vest and Quay, of Pennsyl
vania. They esteemed highly each
other's qualities of personal character
nnd between them there was a strong
Intellectual sympathy. Nevertheless,
Vest, because of bis conviction as to
constitutional law, found thnt he could
not vote for the admission of Quay to
tho senate upon tho appolntme
then belli
The
Mr,
ctlo
•th
ent. IIo
tho Confederal
an sent to the
u representative
hon
at
000 had been subscribed.
Privato Blocnders.
The government, now endeavoring
to make ordor, sent Mr. Colin J. Mc
Rae, a successful cotton factor of Mo
bile. to Europe ns a financial agent*
McRae soon sent homo a protest
against the neglect of his government
In fnlluro to mnke proper control of the
blockade running business. He earn
estly urged thot the government should
take charge of the blockade running
4 control the commerce to Its own
udvnntage. lie gave ns one reason
for his counsel information that much
cotton escaped the blockade direct for
tho port of New York.
Two splendid Iron ships of war for
the Confederacy were completed on the
Clyde by Captain Bulloch The other
brother, (both uncles of President
Roosevelt,)nrrlved In London to take
otnmand of one, for work against tho
nemjr, and Commodore Mnthew F.
Maury arrived to take command of th#
other. Ambassador Charles Francis Ad
ams discovered the approaching read
iness of the ships to put to ren. The
American minister again played his old
gnmo of bluff successfully. He at once
ailed on Karl Russell, her majesty *
secretary for foreign affairs, and de-
nanded the sailing of tho ships should
>• promptly forbidden. The • banker,
leorge Peabody, agreed to put up the
95.000,000 gold that Bussell required, to
Indemnify hJs government, and the
hips were thrown out nf the Confede-
titt po*»esslon at once, before leaving
their docks. All ships building In Eu
rope on account of tha Confederacy
then ceased. The Southern cause was
lead In Europe.
Gettysburg and Vieksburg,
Oen. Lee returned from Pennsylvania
upon a drawn bottle and Gen. John
ston lost Vicksburg In the same days of
midsummer In the third year of the
ar. Confederate sympathizers In Eng
land grew despondent. The Bouthern
people did not grow despondent, nor
did the nrmy for a moment lost fnlth
Ir the final outcome of the war. It la a
notable fnct that the hnttle of Gettys
burg did not come within the plans nf
and would not have occurred nt all
hnd Lee’* order to tho marching vim
t Ihs army t>een duly executed. Get
tysburg village did not He on his lln**
of Invasive mnrch. It wn.n reached by
the turning of the head of a corps In
the van nt right angles to the prescrib
ed course from headquarters. And the
movement wns a surprise to the com
manding general. Not less notable un
Instance of disobedience of orders from
Johnston was the retreat of a wing of
his army Into Vicksburg arid the result-
unt siege nod Inevitable capitulation
that followed.
Other Confederate Agents,
Several young men were sent abroad
to excite the good wilt of foreign peo
ple toward the government of the Con
federacy and Its people. MaJ. Norman
B. Walker of Richmond was placed at
Bermuda to receive and forward mer
chandise both ways. Mr. Henry Holze,
some time one of the editorial writers
of the Mobile Register, was sent to
London In a confidential government
office. Mr. Edwin 4* Leon, a noted
newspaper paragraphic, was sent to
England with 128.000 to purchase. If
need be. space in important Journals
for the discussion by him of the Houth-
grit situation for the better enlighten
ment of the public as well ss th** gov
ernment. Various other citizen* re
sent abroad on missions of the gov
ernment from time to time.
After the cruiser Alabama began h**r
wonderful work on tj • high **•?• < th-
neutrality promised by Great Britain
at the outbreak of the war languished.
>to of Vest would have seated
id would have saved him tho
vero struggle which resulted
In hln election by tlie legislature. Be
fore the roll was called Vest told Quay
the senate cloakroom that his. vote
ild be adverse. He made the .late
nt with tears In his eyes. Quay,
o knew thnt the loss of this one
e would bar him temporarily from
friend ns much ns ever.
Stories About Vest
When he was confined to h
fow years ngo Senator Vea
dubiously upon his ebahees fo
Til- .*<<" Olid dl> Of 111 H
Colonel Edwards, one of thr
employes, called to Inquire
his condition. Tho Hawaiian
ntlon resolution was then un*
(7
slderntlo
lor. The Louisiana
•cordance with Ills cus
irod to deal nt length
on under debate. It ni
3. by the
Richmond mm a representative of Mis
souri or at least of that soctlon of tin
state which desired to link its force
with secession from the Union.
In tho Confederate Congress.
At Richmond Mr. Vest served In
both branches of the Confed
gress. There he wan associated with
such men ns Alexander H. Steph
who became vice president of the C
federacy; Judah P. Benjamin,
after tho war went to England, wl
he became a member of the Que
Bench; Benjnmln H. JTIII. who
afterward elected to the United Ht
senate; A. JI. Garland, who bee
ft member of President Cleveland's
cabinet; Win. L. Ynney, R. Ji. Y. Pey
ton, R. M. T. Hunt
whose muncM nr.- distinguished in thq
nn mis of the Confederacy.
After the war Mr. Vest returned to
Missouri to begin life anew. Ho found
hln adopted state' still torn by the pas
sions of wnr. He wns faced by an op
position among th«* Missourians who
hnd remained with the union to permit
the return to th<* commonwealth of
those who lied Joined the Bouthern
cause, but his feeling soon died nway
and was followed by a remarkable
aeries of r.llnnce* between the blue nnd
the gray In thin border state, which
hnd hern so divided In its alliance dur
ing the civil wnr.
Winning a Name At Lnw.
Thus Vest formed n law partnership
with Col. John B. Phillips, who had
commanded a Union regiment. Ho
Oen. Frnncl# M. Cockrell, who hnd
commanded a Confederate brigade,
and who wa# Vest’s colleague In the
United Btatea annate, associated him
self In law practice with Col. Thomas
P. Crittenden, who, like Vest’s partner
Phillips, had been almost devastated
by war. wns destined to become,
with Its great national resources, the
victim, of sharp speculators In county
and municipal bonds. Borne of Vest’s
prestige nt hla time was
few fra
»d shreds of in-
atlo
andin
aid. no Ignorance unllght-
Veat Inquire*! of Edwards
’ (he senate and received
imincnt. "You will bo ov-
rda cheerfully, i
finishes hln i
In the
sucreaaful contests of suits brought by
these men, who he claimed were eharp-
Mr. Vests lnw practice could not
keep him out of politics. Ills active
participation In several state cam
paigns beginning In opposition to the
"Granger" movement In 1871, fulmi
nated In his election to the United
Hf'ites senate In 1878. Of his follow-
members at thnt thlme there now re
main only four Allison, Jones, of Ne
vada; his colleague. Cockrell and
Morgan, The combined sarvlce of
Vest and Cockrell covers 48 years.
Some of Hi* Contomporarie*.
Among other men with whom Mr.
•Vest associated In the nenat# were
Blaine. Hamlin. Morrill and Edmunds,
from New England; Conkling. from
New York; Wallace, from Pennsyl
vania; Thurman and Pendleton, from
The United Btates continued *
the support It needed from
trade, while the correspondlm
was denied to the Bouthern c
:i<y. Moth belligerent** wer#»
Ing for the construction of wm
British builders when the Ala*
launched, yet after the war
paid looses Inflicted b> the ci
Northern commerce to th sun
000.000.
We have seen that th* Sou
fuel fare a frowning world. \
government lived, to the in 1
ment of Its life, the proud spl
chieftain was burdened with
or tlie shadow of • doubt. In t
of his Vicarious ► ■ rill* e that
the fall, his memory stand* for
:■ | !* i.'l <r <»f dignll> truth ui.*J
endurance Incarnate.
Montgomery, AU.
cb doubt If I
s I dent Levi P. Mo
Id that Mr
good deal to
night as
Ing from
V espied A
vhlrh was
Iver. They
el had "Jumped"
•dr Knf\• arid •
trough the
ft and she
and dou n
ndM than he
»\vn his squlr-
1M It care-
No P.t> SHo
\,rY
4 slo
diekhnu Arnl.'.i Salve <-ur*d
Iu.illy good for burn* and all
ud pslna. Only 25c at all drug
A
rnxrnmm