May, 1861. |
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as a basis of promises of redemption, to the amount of fifteen millions of dollars, were disposed of in Europe, chiefly in England.
We shall hereafter further consider this Cotton Loan.
In retaliation for an order issued by Mr. Chase, the Secretary of the Treasury, on the 2d of May, directing all officers in the revenue service, on the Northern and Northwestern waters of the United States, to seize and detain all arms, munitions of war, provisions, and other supplies, on their way toward States in which rebellion existed — in other words, establishing a blockade of the Mississippi and the railways leading southward from Kentucky--the Confederates forbade the exportation of raw cotton or cotton yarn, “excepting through” seaports of the Confederate States, under heavy penalties, expecting thereby to strike a heavy blow at manufactures in the Free-labor States.1 By an order of John H. Reagan, the so-called Postmaster-General of the Confederates, caused by an order of Postmaster-General Blair for the arrest of the United States postal service in States wherein rebellion existed, after the 31st of May, the postmasters in those States were ordered to retain in their possession, after the 1st of June, “for the benefit of the Confederate States, all mail-bags, locks and keys, marking and other stamps,” and “all property connected with the postal service.”
The Confederate Congress adjourned on the 21st of May, to reassemble at Richmond on the 20th of July following,2 after providing for the removal thither of the several Executive Departments and their archives, and authorizing Davis, if it “should be impolitic to meet in Richmond” at that time, to call it together elsewhere.
He was also authorized to proclaim a Fast Day, which he did on the 25th, appointing as such the 13th of June.
In that proclamation he said: “Knowing that none but a just and righteous cause can gain the Divine favor, we would implore the Lord of Hosts to guide and direct our policy in the paths of right, duty, justice, and mercy; to unite our hearts and our efforts for the defense of our dearest rights; to strengthen our weakness, crown our arms with success, and enable us to secure a speedy, just, and honorable peace.”
On Sunday, the 26th,
Davis left Montgomery for Richmond, with the intention, it is said, of taking command of the Confederate troops in Virginia in person,3 accompanied by his favorite aid, Wigfall, of Texas,4 and Robert Toombs, his “Secretary of State.”
His journey was a continuous ovation.
At every railway station, men, women, and children greeted him with cheers and the waving of handkerchiefs.
“When the flute-like voice of Davis,” said a reporter of the Richmond
1 Act approved May 21, 1861.
2 In a speech at Atlanta, Georgia, on the day after the adjournment, Howell Cobb gave reasons for the adjournment to Richmond:--“I will tell you why we did this,” he said. “The Old Dominion, as you know, has at last shaken off the bonds of Lincoln, and joined her noble Southern sisters. Her soil is to be the battleground, and her streams are to be dyed with Southern blood. We felt that her cause was our cause, and that if she fell, we wanted to die by her. We have sent our soldiers into the posts of danger, and we wanted to be there to aid and counsel our brave boys. In the progress of the war, further legislation may be necessary, and we will be there, that when the hour of danger comes, we may lay aside the robes of legislation, buckle on the armor of the soldier, and do battle beside the brave ones who have volunteered for the defense of our beloved South.” This was the open pretense. The speaker, with wise caution, refrained from avowing the real reason to be, to keep war from the households of the Montgomery conspirators, who well knew that one grand objective of the National Army would be the possession of the seat of the Confederate Government.
3 Speech of Alexander H. Stephens at Atlanta, Georgia, May 28, 1861.
4 See pages 81 and 826.
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