Progress of the war.
The Maryland Senators on the Conscript act.
On Monday last, in the United States Senate, while the bill for "enrolling and enlisting the national forces" was before that body, the two Senators from
Maryland had something to say upon that and other subjects.
The notorious traitor
Hicks deprecated crimination and recrimination on the part of the "extremists" on both sides of the
Senate Chamber.
He said:
‘
Here was a party on one side charging the other with being the cause of this war, or having conducted it improperly.
He knew the
Northern extremists had said many provoking things, and done much to wound us of the
Border Slave States especially, but it was a war of words.
But he would go back to the beginning of our troubles, the repeal of the
Missouri compromise, and then down to the Charleston Convention, and the time when the traitors left the Senate.
The extremists of the
South had long been trying to set up a separate Government.
He charged on the extreme Southern men that they were the cause of this war.
He was not a Republican, and, thank God, he never was a Democrat.
He belonged to no party now but the Union party.
Maryland was always loyal to the
Government of
Washington.
True, she faced about at one time, but immediately on the recurrence of the second sober thought she returned to her first love.
He had never voted for a Democrat in his life, but always with a patriotic party.--He had been an old Whig, and was proud that
Maryland had voted for the model
President.
Millard Fillmore, though she did it all alone.
He related circumstances which he said had taken place in connection with efforts to take
Maryland out of the
Union, saying he could tell more perhaps of that than other men. [Some particulars he here related could not be distinctly heard] He referred to talk in
Baltimore of the streets running with blood, and of a message sent to him at
Annapolis, with the form of a proclamation for calling the Legislature, and the ordering of an election in
Baltimore immediately after the 19th of April riots for members of the Legislature.
He determined that the conspirators there, and those acting with them in
Virginia, should be frustrated, as far as possible.
He therefore subsequently called a meeting of the Legislature, but not at
Baltimore.
When the Legislature met at
Frederick,
Mr. Mason, of
Virginia, was there; but he soon found it was best to leave.
He mentioned the name of
Coleman Yellott (a State
Senator) as among those most active in attempting to force revolution at that time, and who subsequently went into
Virginia and remained there.
Threats had previously been made against him, (
Mr. Hicks) and ropes carried to hang him and revolvers to shoot him.
Mr. Hicks said he was for supporting the
Government in all proper measures to put down the rebellion.
He had voted to indemnify the
President and authorize him to suspend the writ of
habeas corpus. Arrests had been made in his own
State of Maryland but he believed that these arrests had saved the
State; and if the
President had hung forty of these men he should have voted to sustain him. There were doubts of the constitutionality of the measure of suspending the writ of
habeas corpus, but he went for that which was expedient to save the
Union.
He had no conscientious scruples about slavery — he had been a slave holder ever since he was eighteen years old; but if it was necessary that slavery should go down to save the country, why let it go.
Mr. Saulsbury asked if the
Senator thought it was necessary?
Mr. Hicks said by no manner of means, and he would fight against any attempt to take his slaves away by force.
In response to another question as to the arrests in
Maryland, he said he thought that the time had gone by for making them.
He claimed in the course of his remarks that
Baltimore was experiencing a new prosperity under present circumstances.
Mr. Kennedy said he differed somewhat with the views of his colleague.
His only guide was the
Constitution which he had sworn to support.
He regarded himself as a stricken down man; and, as regards
Maryland, he saw no hope in the dark gloom that spread about him, and he had no heart in this contest.
He looked upon this bill as the most odious and despotic he had ever read.
He regarded the policy now pursued as tending to destroy all the bonds which bind together the
Union, and destructive of the last vestige of the
Constitution.
He had opposed this policy, and he gloried in his record, now that his career here was almost ended, though efforts had been made by a hired and venal press to misrepresent and slander him, and some spoke of him as a traitor or semi-traitor who formerly denounced him as a Union-saver
He went on to refer to the condition of
Maryland, showing what she had done in developing her resources, creating a debt of $60,000,000,and erecting great public works, with a population of only 450,000 at the time, and maintaining her honor all through, till latterly she had a population of over 700,000.
She lay immediately upon the border, and with great grain-growing and manufacturing interests, but south of a line which throws her whole identity with the
Southern States.
And yet it is said the war does not affect
Maryland--He was frank now to say slavery was nothing to
Maryland, and it is by the action of this Congress that the value of such property is there destroyed, and by nothing else.
He had been a slaveholder, but he had set them free.
Yet he warned
Senators that to introduce the question of emancipation into his State was to introduce revolution.
There was a bill in the other House proposing to give ten millions to
Maryland for her slave property.
For himself and the
State he partly represented he spurned as an insult such tenders as presumptuous interference.
If it was attempted to turn loose thousands of these ignorant semi-barbarians to compete with the white citizens of his State it would raise an insurrection which it would cost millions to put down.
He wanted no hypocritical, canting devil to come to his State preaching philanthropy and equality to these people.
If these negroes were thus to be set free he wanted them taken away.
Let them go to their near of kin, base in heart and deceitful in the objects for which they profess to labor.
He saw no bright future for the
State of Maryland.
Deceit. hypocrisy, and polities seem to have combined to break down that State.
Mr. Hicks said there was an honest difference of opinion between himself and colleague.
His colleague thought the value of slave property was destroyed by the Republican party; he himself thought it was by the extreme men of the
South.
The debate was continued at length by
Messrs. Davis,
Powell,
Richardson,
Saulsbury, and others, against the bill.
’
Greeley on the claims of the rebels — the war and the way to close it.
Greeley thinks the only way to get peace is a vigorous prosecution of the war. He wishes peace were possible without further hostilities, but it is not. The pretence of the rebels that they only "ask to be let alone" is utterly false.
He thus discourses:
‘
They ask impunity in trampling out what remains of life in loyal
East Tennessee; they ask that
West Virginia, which abhors them and was never under their away, be given up to military execution at their hands; they ask that
Missouri, in which they do not now fly a flag, be surrendered red to their away; they ask that
New Mexico and
Arizona, out of which they have been driven by war, be given up to them by peace; they ask that the numerous
Unionists of the South and Southwest be abandoned to their tender mercies — part of them to be enslaved; others to be killed; all to be stripped to the skin by a merciless confiscation.
Apart from and beyond the momentous issue of Union or Disunion, it is morally impossible that the demands of the rebel chiefs should be conceded.
We may be so beaten, routed, conquered, as to be forced to accept very hard conditions; but while the
Union armies hold
Norfolk,
Winchester,
Nashville,
Memphis,
Baton Rouge, New
Orleans, and menace at once
Charleston,
Savannah,
Vicksburg,
Fredericksburg &c, nothing of the sort can be listened to. Briefly, we are in the trials of a great war, and its issue must determine the destiny of our continent.
Should the slave holders' rebellion triumph it will ould to its fundamental conceptions, not a part of the old Union, but the whole of it.
The passage of the
National Militia and Finance bills have placed the means of overcoming the rebellion fairly within the reach of the
President and his Cabinet.
What is still needed is, that these means be promptly made available, skillfully wielded, and vigorously applied.
The rebellion could have been crushed far more easily in 1861 than in 1862, it can be discomfited with less effort and at less cost in 1863 than in 1864 And all the pompous gasconade about "dying in the last ditch," etc., is sheer nonsense, as is the counter cry that we will "never give up the
Onion" If we get well whipped in a few great battles we shall
have to give it up; and if the rebels are handsomely flogged in
Virginia and on the
Mississippi, they will find their "last ditch" a good deal handler than they have supposed it. All their gas about taking to the swamps, the mountains, and maintaining a guerilla contest for years, should their regular armies be routed, ignores the vital fact that they are fighting for slavery, and that six months of guerilla warfare would put an end to this.
So the talk on our side of making this a ten years war, if necessary, fighting to the last man, etc, overlooks such vital facts as the enormously increased expensiveness of modern warfare, the rapid waste and destruction of steamboats, railway machinery, and rolling stock, in such a struggle as ours; the multiplication of privateers, and the impatience of foreign Powers, in view of the derangement of their industry and the famishing discontent of their laborers.
Better call out one million men at once than allow this war to run into another year.
We trust that the next 4th of July will enable us to see clearly the end of it.
’
Affairs in New York.
A letter from New York, dated the 2d inst., says:
‘
The Yankee Dutch
General Sigel, who arrived on Thursday, met his countrymen at Turn Hall and at the
Metropolitan Assembly Rooms, on Saturday evening, making a speech to each assemblage, urging upon his
Dutch friends to remain united in the support of the best Government on earth as the future of their native land depended upon the success of the
Yankees in crushing the rebellion.
He was most enthusiastically cheered.
He was subsequently serenaded by about five hundred
Dutch singers, when, with his wife,
Sigel appeared at a window, and was cheered by about three thousand persons who had gone thither to get a glimpse of the
hero of
Pea Ridge and later fields.
Work continues active at the
Brooklyn Navy Yard.
The brig-of-war
Perry went into commission on the 1st.
The frigate
San Jacinto has been placed at the disposal of a board of experts for certain experiments with her machinery.
The engines of the gunboat
Ottawa are sadly out of repair.
They will receive at once a thorough overhauling.
The gunboat
Sumner will go into commission in the course of the present week.
Her officers have been ordered on board.
The iron-clad
Keokuk was to sail on Tuesday for an unknown port.
The screw steam sloop
Ticonderoga was expected to go on a trial trip to test her machinery Wednesday.
The
real estate operations of last week ran up to nearly three millions. One man purchased eight houses on Eighth Avenue, between 31st and 32d streets, (formerly known as the workshops of the Asylum for the Blind) paying therefore $176,000. He was offered for his bargain $5,000 in about an hour there after, but it was refused.
It is stated that the notorious
George Saunders was actually in New York about a fortnight previous to his departure for
Europe from
Halifax; also, that he was the guest of a well known citizen on
Murray Hill.
Mrs Huldale Allen M. D., lectured to ladies only, in the basement of
Dr. Chapin's church on Tuesday afternoon. Subject: "The Digestive Apparatus."
’
A Yankee account of Richmond.
Captain T. Brant Swearinger, who was captured by our troops at
Fredericksburg, and has been exchanged, has returned home, and furnishes his fellow "nutmegs" with an account of what he says He says he was very kindly treated, and adds:
The Union prisoners generally in the hospitals in
Richmond are well cared for by the rebel surgeon in charge,
Dr. John Wilkins.
The many delicacies sent by the New York Sanitary Commission have all been received, and properly distributed among the sick and wounded.
The only exception to the general rule of good treatment was in the rude and insulting conduct of
Captain T. P. Turner, the Commandant of the
Libby Prison, who regarded neither officers nor privates with any feelings of humanity.
The only Union officers that were released on the 25th of February (by the last flag of truce) were those captured at
Fredericksburg, so that many who were captured more than eight months before are yet in confinement.
Capt. Swearingen represents business in
Richmond as being very dull.
Every thought, every word, every action of the people seemed to have reference to the state of the country.
Although a dark pall, as it were, seemed to have been thrown over the city, men everywhere being disappointed and melancholy in appearance, yet it was but the look of fast approaching desperation.
When roused into conversation they would talk proudly and defiantly of "fighting to the last breath." "death in the last ditch," &c. They certainly have much to dissatisfy them.
They are in great want.
The reports of most exorbitant prices paid for necessaries of life are not exaggerated.
Their most bitter complaint is that drugs are made contraband of war, and they contend that the practice is contrary to all usage in civilized warfare.
The
Captain says that the U. S. "greenbacks" command a premium of 150 per cent. over Confederate money, and are eagerly sought after.
The
Captain also informs us that he met no one in the city of
Richmond or elsewhere that in the least favored the "retaliation" proclamation of
Jefferson Davis.
There are many residents of
Richmond incarcerated in the prisons of that city for expressing their love and loyalty to the old Union--the "Union as it was"--Whose necessities are shamefully neglected by the authorities.
Some measures, he says, should be taken for the release of these men, or at least for their relief.
They at present number over two hundred.
The Richmond Theatre, which has just been finished, was opened with a great flourish of trumpets about three weeks ago. The company performing was large.
The celebrated Ex-Street Commissioner of New York,
Mr. Smith, has resigned his command in the rebel department of North Carolina, his resignation having been accepted.
The cause is supposed to be the existence of difference between
Smith and
Jeff Davison "affairs of State."
The negro regiment troubles at Baton Rouge.
The "Native Louisiana Volunteers," a negro regiment under a
Yankee Colonel named
Nelson, has arrived at
Baton Rouge from New Orleans.
The correspondent of the New York
Herald says:
‘
The regiment was quartered inside the fortifications, relieving a regiment of whites, which was sent out to the front.
They were at once set to work on the fortifications and to leveling certain ruined walls to the ground, to clear a way for the range of our artillery; and it was also made known that the regiment was not to put into any brigade of the white soldiers.
This quieted much of the excitement which had been created by the coming of the regiment.
Nevertheless there is still a strong feeling on the subject, and thoughtful officers are not without apprehensions that serious mischief will result from this experiment--Four officers--two of them belonging to the 133d New York (2d Metropolitan,)--have sent in their resignations, placing it squarely upon the ground that the
Government has determined to make soldiers of negroes; and two of these resignations have already been forwarded to the
commanding General of the Department for his action.
The principal objection to negro regiments is the fact that a part of the officers are black and a part white, and the fear that they will be brigaded with the whites, and that white soldiers will be required to salute black officers.
’
Miscellaneous.
When
Mr. Vallandigham was advertised to lecture in
Baltimore the Administration papers contained the following advertisement:
Union men of
Baltimore!
will you permit that rebel,
Vallandigham, to desecrate our city by lecturing on any subject?
No! No! Never!
These manifestations of violence prevented
Mr. Vallandigham from lecturing in the
Monumental City.
The
Washington correspondent of the Cincinnati
Gazette says, on the 29th ult.;
This very morning
General Hallack declared that there were
twenty-two thousand deserters from the Army of the Potomac alone.
Our other armies are depleted in a similar degree.
The Cincinnati
Commercial has the following paragraph:
Notification is given by many of the organs of the "Democracy" of the day that the butternut is now the accepted emblem of the Democratic party.
The Cincinnati
Enquirer says of the name "butternuts" which it claims for the Democrats: "We thank the Abolitionists for bestowing the name upon us." Papers conducted after the manner of the
Enquirer contain similar expressions.
The glories of the tree are celebrated, and persons of the peace persuasion are wearing butternuts upon their watch guards.
