sir: Your letter of August 2d, just received, invites my discussion of the cotton question.
I will write plainly and slowly, because I know you have no time to listen to trifles.
This is no trifle; when one nation is at war with another, all the people of the one are enemies of the other: then the rules are plain and easy of understanding.
Most unfortunately, the war in which we are now engaged has been complicated with the belief on the one hand that all on the other are
not enemies.
It would have been better if, at the outset, this mistake had not been made, and it is wrong longer to be misled by it. The Government of the
United States may now safely proceed on the proper rule that all in the
South are enemies of all in the
North; and not only are they unfriendly, but all who can procure arms now bear them as organized regiments, or as guerrillas.
There is not a garrison in
Tennessee where a man can go beyond the sight of the flag-staff without being shot or captured.
It so happened that these people had cotton, and, whenever they apprehended our large armies would move, they destroyed the cotton in the belief that, of course, we would seize it, and convert it to our use. They did not and could not dream that we would pay money for it. It had been
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condemned to destruction by their own acknowledged government, and was therefore lost to their people; and could have been, without injustice, taken by us, and sent away, either as absolute prize of war, or for future compensation.
But the commercial enterprise of the Jews soon discovered that ten cents would buy a pound of cotton behind our army; that four cents would take it to
Boston, where they could receive thirty cents in gold.
The bait was too tempting, and it spread like fire, when here they discovered that salt, bacon, powder, fire-arms,
percussion-caps, etc., etc., were worth as much as gold; and, strange to say, this traffic was not only permitted, but encouraged.
Before we in the interior could know it, hundreds, yea thousands of barrels of salt and millions of dollars had been disbursed; and I have no doubt that
Bragg's army at
Tupelo, and
Van Dorn's at
Vicksburg, received enough salt to make bacon, without which they could not have moved their armies in mass; and that from ten to twenty thousand fresh arms, and a due supply of cartridges, have also been got, I am equally satisfied.
As soon as I got to
Memphis, having seen the effect in the interior, I ordered (only as to my own command) that
gold,
silver, and Treasury notes, were contraband of war, and should not go into the interior, where all were hostile.
It is idle to talk about Union men here: many want peace, and fear war and its results; but all prefer a Southern, independent government, and are fighting or working for it. Every gold dollar that was spent for cotton, was sent to the seaboard, to be exchanged for bank-notes and Confederate scrip, which will buy goods here, and are taken in ordinary transactions.
I therefore required cotton to be paid for in such notes, by an obligation to pay at the end of the war, or by a deposit of the price in the hands of a trustee, viz., the
United States Quartermaster.
Under these rules cotton is being obtained about as fast as by any other process, and yet the enemy receives no “aid or comfort.”
Under the “gold” rule, the country people who had concealed their cotton from the burners, and who openly scorned our greenbacks, were willing enough to take
Tennessee money, which will buy their groceries; but now that the trade is to be encouraged, and gold paid out, I admit that cotton will be sent in by our open enemies, who can make better use of gold than they can of their hidden bales of cotton.
I may not appreciate the foreign aspect of the question, but my views on this may be ventured.
If
England ever threatens war because we don't furnish her cotton, tell her plainly if she can't employ and feed her own people, to send them here, where they cannot only earn an honest living, but soon secure independence by moderate labor.
We are not bound to furnish her cotton.
She has more reason to fight the
South for burning that cotton, than us for not shipping it. To aid the
South on this ground would be hypocrisy which the world would detect at once.
Let her make her ultimatum, and there are enough generous minds in
Europe that will counteract her in the balance.
Of course her motive is to cripple a
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power that rivals her in commerce and manufactures, that threatenes even to usurp her history.
In twenty more years of prosperity, it will require a close calculation to determine whether
England, her laws and history, claim for a home the Continent of
America or the
Isle of Britain.
Therefore, finding us in a death-struggle for existence, she seems to seek a quarrel to destroy both parts in detail.
Southern people know this full well, and will only accept the alliance of
England in order to get arms and manufactures in exchange for their cotton.
The Southern Confederacy will accept no other mediation, because she knows full well that in
Old England her slaves and slavery will receive no more encouragement than in
New England.
France certainly does not need our cotton enough to disturb her equilibrium, and her mediation would be entitled to a more respectful consideration than on the part of her present ally.
But I feel assured the
French will not encourage rebellion and secession anywhere as a political doctrine.
Certainly all the German states must be our ardent friends; and, in case of
European intervention, they could not be kept down.
With great respect, your obedient servant,
gentlemen: I have this moment received your communication, and assure you that it grieves my heart thus to be the instrument of adding to the seeming cruelty and hardship of this unnatural war.
On my arrival here, I found my predecessor (
General Hovey) had issued an order permitting the departure south of all persons subject to the conscript law of the Southern Confederacy.
Many applications have been made to me to modify this order, but I regarded it as a condition precedent by which I was bound in honor, and therefore I have made no changes or modifications; nor shall I determine what action I shall adopt in relation to persons unfriendly to our cause who remain after the time limited by
General Hovey's order has expired.
It is now sunset, and all who have not availed themselves of
General Hovey's authority, and who remain in
Memphis, are supposed to be loyal and true men.
I will only say that I cannot allow the personal convenience of even a large class of ladies to influence me in my determination to make
Memphis a safe place of operations for an army, and all people who are unfriendly should forthwith prepare to depart in such direction as I may hereafter indicate.
Surgeons are not liable to be made prisoners of war, but they should not
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reside within the lines of an army which they regard as hostile.
The situation would be too delicate.
I am, with great respect, your obedient servant,
dear sir: It is well I should come to an understanding at once with the press as well as the people of
Memphis, which I am ordered to command; which means, to control for the interest, welfare, and glory of the
whole Government of the
United States.
Personalities in a newspaper are wrong and criminal.
Thus, though you meant to be complimentary in your sketch of my career, you make more than a dozen mistakes of fact, which I need not correct, as I don't desire my biography to be written till I am dead.
It is enough for the world to know that I live and am a soldier, bound to obey the orders of my superiors, the laws of my country, and to venerate its Constitution; and that, when discretion is given me, I shall exercise it wisely and account to my superiors.
I regard your article headed “City Council-
General Sherman and
Colonel slack,” as highly indiscreet.
Of course, no person who can jeopardize the safety of
Memphis can remain here, much less exercise public authority; but I must take time, and be satisfied that injustice be not done.
If the parties named be the men you describe, the fact should not be published, to put them on their guard and thus to encourage their escape.
The evidence should be carefully collected, authenticated, and then placed in my hands.
But your statement of facts is entirely qualified, in my mind, and loses its force by your negligence of the very simple facts within your reach as to myself: I had been in the army six years in 1846; am not related by blood to any member of
Lucas,
Turner & Co.; was associated with them in business six years (instead of two); am not colonel of the Fifteenth Infantry, but of the Thirteenth.
Your correction, this morning, of the acknowledged error as to