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' • JAN 8 1903
l^arbarli College l^ibrars
'.; • r
FROM THE BXqiJE^ OK
MRS. ANNE E. P. SEVER, OF BOSTON,
Widow of Col. James Warren Sever,
1
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PUBLICATIONS
OP THB
Southern History Association
Publication Committee:
Gen. M. J. Wright. Mr. T. L. Colb.
Mr. THOBiAS H. Clark. Dr. Stbphbn B. Webks.
Mr. John B. Brownlow. Dr. Coi^yer Mbriwether.
VOLUME V.
WA8HINOTON, D. C.
THE ASSOCIATION. 1901.
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OFFICERS, 1901.
PRESIDENT: Dr. J. L. M. CURRV.
VICE-PRESIDENTS:
General M. C. BuTi^BR. Mr. Thomas Nsi«son Page.
General M. J. Wright. Professor Woodrow Wii«son.
Colonel G90RGQ A. PorTQRpikld. Senator S. Pasco.
SECRETARY AND TREASURER: COLY9R MSRiw^HER, Ph. D., Washington, Z>. C.
ADMINISTRATIVE COUNCIL: (In addition to the above-named Officers) :
Professor Kemp P. BATT13. Stephen B. Weeks, Ph. D.
Colonel R. A. Brock. Professor H. Schoenfei^d.
Mr. T. L. Cole. Professor Lucian Johnston.
Professor R. Heath Dabney. Mr. Thomas H. Clark.
Professor John R. Picklen. Mr. Alexander Summers.
Professor Chas. Lee Smith. President Geo. T. Winston.
Professor W. C. Stubbs. J. B. Killbbrew, Ph. D.
PUBLICATION COMMITTEE:
Gen. M. J. Wright. Mr. T. L. Cole.
Mr. Thomas H. Clark. Dr. Stephen B. Weeks.
Mr. John b. Brownlow. Dr. Colyer Meriwether.
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CONTENTS.
No. I.JANUARY, 1901.
PAOB
History of the Cokfkderatb Treasury, E. A. Smith, i
The South in Oi*den Times, J. L. M. Curry. 35
Edward Ireland Renick, ... ..... Gaillard Hunt. 49
Reviews and Notices, . . 53
Notes and Queries, 85
No. 2, MARCH, 1901.
Report of the Fifth Annuai, Meeting, . . Colyer Meriwether, Sec'y. 95 History of the Confederate Treasury (Continued), . E. A. Smith. 99
WiixiAM Vans Murray, Clement Sulivane. 151
The Calhoun Letters, J. L. M. Curry. 159
Reviews and Notices, 164
Notes and Queries, 175
No. 3, MAY, 1901.
Sketch of General Muhlenberg, M. J. Wright. 181
History of the Confederate Treasury, (Concluded) . . B. A. Smith. 188
Carrington Genealogy, J. B. Killebrew. 228
Reviews and Notices, . . - 232
Notes and Queries, 260
No. 4, JULY, 1901.
WiLUAM Lyne Wilson, William H. Wilson. 263
Davis*s Last Official Meeting, M. E. Robertson. 291
Kinsey Family Data, Miles White, Jr. 300
On the History of Slavery, ........ 304
John A. Broadus, J. L. M. Curry. 310
Reviews and Notices, 313
Periodical Literature, 334
Notes and Queries, 344
No. S.SEPTEMBER, 1901.
The Louisiana Purchase vs. Texas John R. Ficklen. 351
Henry Baker and Descendants, Miles White, Jr. 388
Lost Colony of Roanoke, .... 401
Book Reviews, 406
Periodical Literature, 438
Notes and Queries, 446
No. 6, NOVEMBER, 1901.
The Organization OF THE Texas Revolution, . . Eugene C. Barker. 451 Henry Baker and Descendants (Concluded), .... Miles White, Jr. 477
Canada's Work for History, 497
Herbert Baxter Adams, 500
The Struggle of the Confederacy, J. L. M. Curry. 504-
Reviews and Notices .... 512
Periodical Literature, 530
Notes and Queries, ... 541
In Memoriam, 548
Index, 551
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Vol. V. JANUARY, 1901.
PUBLICATIONS
OP THE
Southern History Association.
ISSUED BI-MONTHLY.
OONTEISTS :
PAOft
History of thic Coitfkdicrata Trqasurv (Oouthiued), . . E. A. Smith, i
Thb South IN Oij)BnTimks, , J. I*- M. Ciirry. 35
Bdward Irblanb Rbnick, GaUlard Hunt. 49
Rkvibws and Notices, 53
Notes AND QuKRiKs, 85
I
WASHINGTON, D. C.
Published by the aIbociation.
January, 1901.
•3>00 per aA»am| fl.OO p«r number.
Ko retponsiUlity assumed for opinions of contributors.
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OFFICERS, 1901.
PRESIDENT: Dr. J. I^. M. Curry.
VICE-PRESIDENTS:
General M. C. BaTi.BR. Mr. Thomas Nex^omt Pagb.
General M. J. Wright. Profeasor Woodrow Wh^son.
Colonel Gborgb A. Portbrfibu). Senator S. Pasco.
SECRETARY AND TREASURER: CoitYRR Mbriwbthbr, Ph. D., WashingUm, D. C.
ADMINISTRATIVE COUNCIL: (in addition to the aboTe-oamed OAoen) :
Professor Kemp P. Battia. Stbphbn B. Wbbks, Ph. D.
Colonel R. A. Brock. Professor H. Schobnfbi«d.
Mr. T. L. Coi^. Professor Lucian Johnston.
Professor R. Hbath Dabnby. Mr. Thomas H. Cuoik.
Professor John R. Picki^bn. Mr. Ai^bxandbr Sommbrs.
Professor Chas. Lbb Smith. President Gbo. T. Winston.
Professor W. C. Stubbs. J. B. ELiixbbrbw, Ph. D.
PUBLICATION COMMITTEE:
Gen. M. J. WRIGHT. Mr. T. I*. C01.B.
Mr. Thomas H. Ci^ark. Dr. Stbphbn B. Wbbks.
Mr. John B. Browni^ow. Dr. C01.YBR Mbriwbthbr.
Pursuant to a call signed by nearly a hundred representative persons of the South, the Southern History Association was organized at the Columbian Uniyersity, Washington, D. C, on the evening of April 24, 1896, for the pur- pose of studying the history of the Southern States. In carrying out this aim an annual meeting is held, and a Bi-monthly Publication issued. The Associ- ation also desires contributions of journals, letters, manuscripts and other ma- terial towards the beginning of a collection of historical sources. It will gladly accept papera based on research and documents on all subjects touching the South.
All persons, as well as libraries, interested in the work are eligible for membership, without initiation fee ; annual dues $3.00, life dues $30.00. There is no other expense to members, who receive all current publications of the Association free of charge.
The Publications alone can be had, postpaid, at $3.00 per volume, un- bound, or $1.00 per number.
All communications should be addressed to
COLYER MERIWETHER, Secretary, P. O. Box 65. Washington, D. C.
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PUBLICATIONS
SOUTHERN HISTORY ASSOCIATION.
Vol. V. January, 1901. No. 1.
THE HISTORY OF THE CONFEDERATE TREASURY.
By Professor Ernest A. Smith, Allegheny College.
CHAPTER I.— CREATION OF THE TREASURY.
The history of war is not alone the account of the movements of hostile men. Other agencies than bullet and bayonet have their share in deciding the issue. Valor and numbers are largely determining factors, yet eco- nomic forces play a part whose importance needs to be carefully measured. The war chest of a Frederick the Great indicates one method of establishing an absolute guarantee of victory. Modern conflicts cause to be levied, when the emergency arises, more direct contributions from the accumulations, possessions and transactions of the nations' subjects. That people which has the full en- listment of its financial resources and the mustering of its complete industrial strength is well nigh thrice armed.
The Confederate States of America was naturally en- gaged from its inception in a struggle for existence. The creation of its Treasury and the establishment of a rev- enue were a concern of vital consequence, which was to be vastly emphasized by the mounting demands of a land widely assaulted. Thus the test from the start was the
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\* V, ...
more severe in that the Treasury was engaged in deficit financiering. Every device which opportunity or neces- sity could urge was the subject of experiment by the De- partment in its eflforts to supply the sinews of war.
In addition to the ordinary fiscal operations there de- volved on the officials the diverse and difficult problems of loans, currency, taxation, commerce and produce pur- chasing. The study of these activities suddenly thrust on the Treasury will portray phases of public finance, profit- able both for instruction and for warning.
The Provisional Congress of the Confederacy of six Southern States met in Montgomery, Alabama, February 4, i86i. Within four days the Provisional Constitution was drafted and adopted to remain in force one year. The United States laws in operation on November i, i860, and not otherwise inconsistent with the new instrument were enacted as binding on the Confederacy. The following day brought the election of the President and Vice-Presi- dent, while the interval until the inauguration on the i8th of February was occupied by the organization of an army and a navy, the adaptation^ of the former national system of revenue, the declaration' of a temporary internal free trade, and other appropriate legislation. Cabinet officers were to be appointed by the President for a term of s« years, and the choice of Mr. Davis for his Secretary of the
Secrbtary C. G. Mbmminger. Treasury was announced February 19th to be Mr. C. G. Memminger, of Charleston, South Carolina. The experi- ence of this gentleman consisted of a long service- in the Legislature of his State, where as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee he* had charge of the special finan-
» Act of Feb. 14. 1861. • Act of Feb. 18, 1861. -,
•Capers*sL<f*o/Memm.«jr*f, pp. 106-186 Nayhingen.
•Christopher Gustavus ilemm.n^^ was boni a y^^
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cial measures, growing out of the crisis of 1837 and 1857, relating particularly to banks, specie payments and note issues.
Mr. Memminger was then in the Provincial Congress, serving as chairman of the Committee on Commerce. As the minister of finance he received his appointment before the Congress had formally created the Department, for not until February 21st was the law framed** establishing and defining the offices. Under the Secretary were Co'mp-
Organization op the Treasury. troller, Auditor, Register, Treasurer and Assistant Secre- tary. The Treasury^ in embryo at once found a local habitation for itself under the charge of the chief clerk of the Secretary, Col. Henry D. Capers. The first requisi- tion^Dn it to provide blankets and rations for 100 men, the first volunteers, a company from De Kalb county, Georgia, had to be met by the personal credit of the Secretary. The State of Alabama had offered Congress a loan of half a million dollars, but the bonds were not then available.
Within a short time the organization of the Treasury Department in its several divisions was perfected on the system devised by Alexander Hamilton. Several of the ofiScials had served in the United States Treasury and had resigned to tender their services to the new govern- ment. Notably was Philip Clayton, former assistant sec- retary in Buchanan's administration, who now assumed the same position at Montgomery. C. T. Jones came to the register's office as chief clerk, well equipped^, bring- ing from Washington copies of all the forms in use in the several bureaus. The second auditor, W. H. S. Taylor, had been twenty-five years in the employ of the United States. He said in his first report of December 31, 1861,
• Session I, Ch. VIII, Confederate Acts.
• Capcrs's Memminger, p. 310.
' Capers's Ufe of Memminger, p. 319.
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that after taking the oath to the Confederacy, when he went back to Washington to obtain books, forms and precedents he was sternly denied all access. The first auditor was Boiling Baker, who continued in his office to the end. A. B. Clitherall was register and E. C. Elmore, treasurer. There were assistant treasurers at New Or- leans, Charleston, Savannah and Mobile. The deposi- tories performed essential functions of the Treasury mechanism. They were located in the larger cities at first, their number being less than forty for two years, but in- creasing during the great funding operations by three hundred at a time. They were in a way the banking branches of the Department without the discount provis- ion. Here public moneys were received and disbursed, government accounts kept, taxes prepaid for interest cer- tificates, and the various Confederate bonds oflFered for sale. Under the funding acts they were to furnish the government securities in exchange for notes.
The Congressional provisions of the first session in- dicate that the financial system then in view had customs
Customs the Chief Sourcb of Revenub. duties for its chief source of revenue. All United States collectors who joined the new government were appointed with the original powers and pay. Free admission until March 15th had been extended to all meats, grains, pro- visions and war material. Revenue depots* were placed after that date in northern Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina, but duties were generally suspended on goods from border States expected to join the Confederacy. Upon the accession of Tennessee and North Carolina the interior customs offices were abolished. A provisional tariff of 15% ad valorem on coal, iron, wood and paper was adopted March 15th, and a duty of five cents per ton, called light money, was ordered on all vessels entering
• Order of March 21, 1861.
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ports. The Federal blockade early interfered with this policy of relying upon import returns, for on July 9th the collectors at all small ports were dismissed.
The first actual money came to the Treasury March 14th, through the Bullion Fund* of $389,267.46, in the hands of the State Depository of Louisiana, and $147,- 519.66, the balance from customs at New Orleans, which sums were transferred to the Confederate Government by the Convention of the State.
To meet rapidly developing emergencies,
Thb First Financial Lbgislation of Congress was the fifteen million dollar loan authorized February 28th. The bonds were for ten years, bearing 8% coupons, payable semi-annually. This interest was de- finitely guaranteed by the pledge of the duty of 1-8 of one per cent, per pound on all raw cotton exported after August I, 1 861. The interest coupons were receivable for this export duty. This beginning was on a sound basis, and the loan's success demonstrated the correct principles of finance recognized. But more immediate funds were needed for urgent disbursement and the second^® financial legislation provided for the issue of
Onb Mn^uoN Dollars of Treasury Notes. These were to be one year notes, bearing $3.65 interest on $100, similar to the issue by the United States under the regime of Buchanan's Secretary of the Treasury, Howell Cobb, of Georgia, now President of the Provisional Con- gress.^^ They were made receivable for duties and taxes, except export duty on cotton.
•This was coin kept at the New Orleans mint for the con- venience of those bringing bullion; the fund had been $3,000,000 up to i£te6.
"•Act of March 9, i86x. Session I, Chapter XXXII.
"The absence of engravers in the South led to a contract for preparing the issue with the American Bank Note Company, of Kew York. There is a current tradition that these notes were •eized as contraband of war by the United States Government, it
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Placing of the Loan. "A Loan for the Defense of the Confederate States," subscriptions of five million dollars of the fifteen million, was invited by Secretary Memminger the day Congress adjourned, March i6th. Leading business men took charge as commissioners of the loan, four from Louisiana, three each from six other States. The Secretary worked enthusiastically to place the investment", hoping at first to dispose of a million in New York. He wished to get a subscription twice the sum named", believing that such an expression of confidence on the part of the people must have marked influence on European diplomacy. The loan indeed went well, for in two days after the books were opened the five million dollars were taken in Savan- nah, New Orleans and Charleston alone, while it seemed the subscription would reach $8,000,000. The banks were largely the investors and in addition furnished their notes for the deposits on the loan and ag^in paid them out on the Treasurer's draft. All the banks except those of New Orleans and Mobile had suspended specie payments in March. Rates of exchange already varied in the several States, and the agreement was to make all notes equiva- lent to specie. The payments were due by May ist, and as the affair at Fort Sumter had brought definite hostilities with increasing war estimates, the balance of the fifteen million was called for May 7th. Prominent commercial men were invited to suggest plans. The advice" of James D. Denegree, president of the Citizens' Bank, of New Or-
having learned of the shipment by the telegraphic communica- tions. However, on April 3, the letter book *^B" of the Secretary has the entry of 607 unpressions of each denomination of fifty, one hundred, five hundred and one thousand dollars, beingscnt to the Treasurer, E. C. Elmore, and his receipt for them. The two or three specimens extant are quoted extravagantly.
"To G. B. Lamar, Bank of Republic, N. Y. City, March 23, 1861, Letter Book "B.'*
"To Edw. Frost, of Charleston, S. C. April 2, 1861.
** Letter of May 4. 1861.
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leans, a frequent counselor of Mr. Memminger's, was against the reopening of the loan because the people had no money and must wait for their crops. The suggestion of this banker was an issue of $30,000,000 interest bearing Treasury notes and a direct tax payable before March i, 1862. He particularly urged that there be "no half-way measures at this time." The loan met with a tardy re- sponse and on May 21st the balance untaken was adver- tised to be five million. A new appeal now included Vir- ginia, Tennessee and North Carolina, lately come into the Confederacy, and in some States public addresses were made to induce subscriptions. The first public expression of the
Fiscal 'Policy of thb Government is found in the report of the Secretary of the Treas- ury at the second session of Congress. More than ordinary financiering was warranted by the situation*", in- dicated in estimates for the year's expenditures of $54,- 129,464. The appropriations of the first session had been $171683,370, and, now within ninety days of the formation of the nation, the provisions of the fifteen million loan^ when realized, of the million treasury note issue and of the receipts of over a million dollars from customs and the bullion fund would not be fully adequate. The past ex- penditures had been $993,308. The deficit in view was $38,000,000. The plans** presented fairly foreshadowed the fiscal practice of the administration. There were four chief recommendations; a tariff of 12^%, a war tax of $15,000,000, an issue of $20,000,000 Treasury notes and a loan of $50,000,000 at home and abroad. Such a program appears comprehensive, but there were lacking esssential elements of accuracy, vigor and definiteness. The cur- tailment of the tariflF resource by the possible success of
* Report of May 10, 1861.
" Capcrs's Ufe of Memmmger, pp. 417-421.
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the blockade was admitted, yet it was none the less con- fidently counted as an available asset. The arbitrary figure of $235,000,000 was assigned to the exports of the country and the value of the imports calculated to be the same, upon which a tariff of $25,000,000 was apportioned, one-half of it to be collected by February 18, 1862.
In this initial scheme, loans and direct taxes were recog- nized as the chief sources of reliance, yet the practical concern appeared to be to develop a resource that could bring more speedy returns to the exchequer. The Secre- tary stated that all the ready money of the country until the fall crops were sold would be absorbed by the fifteen million loan, and this induced him to urge on Congress the issue of Treasury notes. The application of this prin- cipal financial measure was to be a matter of experiment, ascertaining how the public regarded the notes. The De- partment purposed to use the issue at first to anticipate other income, but the final aim was to familiarize the people with this form of money until it had replaced every other circulating medium and become a permanent loan.
The way for the general use of the government paper was naturally prepared by making Confederate dues pay- able in the notes. Thus, Mr. Memminger came to advo- cate taxation, as a means to another financial end, rather than as the main support of his whole system. He called for the sum of $15,000,000, which was the estimated ex- penditure up to October ist, and the implication was that the collections could be made within four months. In fact, the suggestion was to use the State machinery or by a discount cause the States to pay the whole quota. There was a suggestion to Congress that the tax levy might not be needed in full, nor was the placing of the $50,000,000 loan on the market urged. Other sources of revenue and readjustments through foreign aid were probabilities en- tertained. This hope was expressed very strongly in a
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private report" of the Secretary to an official of Con- gress. The same document contains a vigorous and note-
CORRECT PrIVATB ViBW OF TAXATION.
worthy appreciation of taxation which unfortunately was not emphasized to the same degree in a paper of state until a year later. It said "the most certain and most en- during resources must be sought out by the Government and taxes are the only sure reliance under all circum- stances. Loans come from only a portion; duties reach farther, yet not all; but direct taxes pervade the whole body politic and bring forth the contributions of the will- ing and the imwilling." Here spoke the political econo- mist; his practice was that of an experimenting public servant.
Bonds and Tariff. The response of Congress to the report was the author- ization** to issue $50,000,000 in 8% bonds, or in lieu of bonds $20,000,000 non-interest bearing Treasury notes. The bonds might be sold for specie, military stores or the proceeds of the sale of raw produce or manufactured goods. The notes were receivable for all public dues ex- cept cotton export. The desire of Mr. Memminger for 8% interest on the notes in order to have them withdrawn from circulation as an investment had been refused. The guarantees of the issue were redemption in specie within two years, convertibility into an 8% bond, provided ex- pressly for the purpose, and a pledge of the faith of the Confederate States to raise sufficient revenue to pay the interest and redeem the stock. Congress named $10,- 000,000 as the necessary sum to be raised within the year by direct taxation for a fund of ultimate redemption, yet the sole evidence of a movement towards furnishing this guarantee was instructions to the Secretary to ascertain
"To HowcU Cobb, May i, 1861.
" Act of May 16. Session II, Ch. XXIV.
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the valuation of all the property in the eleven States and learn the nature of the revenue systems. A complete tariff^* measure was passed to take eflFect August 31, 1861. It was a tariff of seven schedules of duties, comprising those on articles at 25%, 20%, 10% and 5%, specific duties and the free list. Compared with the U. S. tariflf of 1857, its rate was 15% on woolens, cotton goods, oil, iron, coal and manufactured products, while that of the United States was 24%. Congress adjourned May 21, to meet in the new capital, Richmond, on July 21.
A Nkw Currency.
The Treasury Department was chiefly concerned about the establishment of the system** of national currency and comprehensive and persistent plans to that end were laid. Upon the suggestion of Mr. Memminger, a convention*^ of bankers was held in Atlanta, Georgia, in June. The ob- ject of the meeting was expressed in the final resolution, that all banks were recommended to receive for all dues the Treasury notes soon to be issued.
The administration" anticipated a small requirement of coin for its purposes and pronounced gold a matter of merchandize and not a true standard of measure, unless it flowed freely. Therefore new currency had to be devised for the Confederacy. That want made imperative, accord- ing to Mr. Memminger, the introduction and wide rise of Treasury notes. He addressed** the banks individually, citing the action of the Atlanta convention, and arguing the advantage of a currency circulating everywhere and sustained by the united credit of the Confederacy. He
"Act of May, 1861. Session II. Oh. XLIV.
"For the present Treasury needs and owing to difficulty in printing the notes authorized, the banks famished the Govern- ment a temporary loan of $5,000,000 of their several note issues.
"^ G. B. Lamar, of Savannah, Ga., was president of the conven- tion and J. S. Gibbs, of Columbia, S. C, secretary.
* To E. Stamcs, of Augusta, Ga., May 24, 1861.
" Circular to banks of June 17, 1861.
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assured them that the notes would be safeguarded by an early levy of a direct tax and also be fundable in 8% bonds, preventive of depredation.
LOYAI,TY OP THE BANKS AND CAPITALISTS.
The banks of New Orleans and Mobile alone refused to make the new money paramount, but in August Mobile suspended specie payment and the Canal and Citizens' banks of New Orleans were" besougjit by the Secretary, and the aid of the Governor and Attorney General of LrOuisiana was invoked to have them accept the Treasury notes as the currency of the land. They were told that they could keep their specie in their vaults, but the good of the country demanded that they place their bank notes • and those of the Confederacy on the same footing. Ac- cordingly in Septembei they consented to do that to which the stress of conditions would have eventually led. Their patriotism is well indicated in the statement" of James D. Denegree, that in a conflict between the credit of the banks and of the Government, the banks must see their own interests destroyed, but the credit of the nation must not be restricted nor the banks incur the responsibility of defeating the resolution. No authorities could ask for more unquestioning support and the loyalty of the credit organizations of the towns and cities manifested itself largely irrespective of true economic considerations.
Material Basis for Treasury Notes. The third session of Congress, assembling in Richmond, was met with the announcement of the purpose to estab- lish a national currency. Expressed apprehensions of danger were answered" by a reference to the banking capacity of the South. From 1852-8, the circulation and deposits in eight Confederate States where banks were
"Letter of Sept. 11, 1861.
" Letter of Oct. 2, 1861, to Memminger.
" Special report of Memminger, July 20.
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located amounted to $85,000,000, with coin of $18,500,000. There was estimated to be $200,000,000 on interest out- side of the banks, whose capital aggregated $85,000,000. The Secretary reasoned that the country could easily sus- tain $100,000,000 of Treasury notes, especially if a large portion of them being made interest bearing should come to take the place of an investment. Their use as money was conceived to increase their value by one-half and the figure of safe absorption of notes was forthwith raised to $150,000,000. The recommendation of the report was for notes to bear two cents interest per day on the hundred dollars. The demand was urgent since the one million of March 9 had been issued and the fifteen million loan was still going slowly with a balance of five million untaken. For immediate claims one million more of the interest notes of March 9 was ordered.*^ Congress was planning larger legislation, which was guided by the statistics" submitted by the Treasury as a result of the inquiry** directed to- ward revenue raising in the previous session. By this showing the g^oss valuation of property in the eleven States, based on a previous general statement of the U. S. Treasury, was $5,202,176,109. Taking as a basis the arti- cles taxed in most of the States, the valuation of $4,632,- 160,541 was given. Instead of $10,000,000 as before, now a tax of $25,000,000 was advised by means of a levy of 54 cents on the $100 of the value of slaves, real estate, mer- chandise, bank, railroad and other stocks and money at interest. In this scheme an ad valorem was preferred to a direct tax and a different basis than that of the revenue systems of the States was advocated.
The extent of appropriations and estimates warranted another appeal*® from Mr. Memminger. $50,000,000 of
" Act of July 24, 1861.
*• Report of State Auditors, July 24
"Act of May 16.
•• Special report of July 29.
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The History of the Confederate Treasury. — Smith. 13
the amounts voted by the First and Second Sessions re- mained to be met and the increase of the estimates to $100,000,000 emphasized the defects of bonds as an avail- able resource. This was the time and place to substitute Treasury notes for the bank circulation in part; at least one-half ought to be replaced, the Secretary said, to the extent of $43,000,000. He had proposed** to set apart the crop subscriptions, now being taken, as additional security for the notes, declaring the value of such a basis was second to coin itself. But the banks in convention assembled in Richmond, July 24, assured him that they did not require the pledge of the proceeds of the produce subscribed. This popular movement of the planters was then used in another form for Treasury purposes and a plan** outlined, which was to be worked extensively at a later time, of issuing bonds in exchange for crop sub- scriptions.
Thb FntsT Largb Financlax Legislation The first large financial legislation of the war was the One Himdred Million Loan of August 19; 1861. The bonds were for twenty years, bearing 8% interest, and the shorter term bonds of May 16 were revoked in favor of the new stock. They were to be issued for funding Treas- ury notes, for exchange for the proceeds of the sale of raw produce and for the purchase of military stores. The notes were non-interest bearing and payable six months after peace was declared. There was. a limit placed, in- cluding former issues, of $100,000,000. The loan was ac- companied by the first war tax, which was expected to pay the interest on the public debt and establish a sinking fund to discharge the principal. The rate was fifty cents on $100; the assessment was set for November i, 1861, and collections by May i, 1862. This was a much longer
" Report of July 20. " Act of August 19.
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period than the Secretary had once'' calculated and the realization was to extend it farther. The Department
Running the Printing Presses- was now concerned with the printing of the Treasury notes. The banks had been supplying the currency of the Government since May, when the issue of $20,000,000 was authorized, loaning their notes at- 5%.
The intention had been to pay back the loan in its own notes within three months. Contracts" had been made with S. Schmidt, of New Orleans,'* but he proved most unsatisfactory and his output was very small, resulting in his dismissal in October. Meanwhile Hoyer and Ludwig, of Richmond, had been engaged on the notes^ and by the latter part of August'* were furnishing almost $2,000,000 a week. The rapid increase of output was indicative of the demand as well as of the workings of the policy of note supply. On October i, a contract was let for $600,000 a day, and by November the daily manufacture of money was $800,000, yet the most serious difficulties had confronted the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.'^ There had not been a single bank note engraver in the South, nor was bank-note paper manufactured therein. Lithographs were used in place of steel engravings, and the first workmen came from Baltimore, as did the sup- plies of paper. But the Federal pickets could not always be evaded, and soon three local manufactories of paper were started. The steady increase of requisitions on the Treasury could not be met with sufficient notes from the
•• Report' of May 10, 1861.
•• Letter to A. B. Githerall, May 7.
• The mint at New Orleans had coined in April four half-dollars and then stopped for lack of bullion. On reverse were: Goddess of Liberty, 13 stars, 1861 ; on obverse : shield with 7 stars, a liberty cap and entwined around it stalks of sugar cane and cotton; in. scribed with "Confederate States of America."
•• Reports of Thompson Allan, clerk of Bureau.
•'The first bonds were prepared in Charleston and New Or- leans.
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The History of the Confederate Treasury, — Smith. 15
presses, so that by October 24, $12,000,000 of claims were unpaid, and a second resort was had to the banks of South Carolina and Georgia for a loan of ten millions of their notes.
By the time of the installation of the permanent con- stitution in February, 1862, this defect had been remedied and Treasury notes held the field alone.
SuBi^iMB Faith in Paper Money. The dominance of the Government credit instruments was hastened by the action of the fifth and last session of the Provisional Congress, which met November 18. Appropriations'* had reached $124,301,038, although the estimates of six months earlier were $71,812,834. Ex- penditures had been $70,666,715, while receipts were $61,- 870,216 of which $18,000,000 was from loans. Up to this date, $32,000,000 in notes had been issued and the Secre- tary asked'® for authority to issue $50,000,000 in excess of the $100,000,000 of the Act of August 19. But, when additional estimates for $99,000,000 were submitted on December 10, he demanded**^ $100,000,000, boldly assert- ing that the scheme of finance adopted by Congress looked to Treasury notes as the supply of means for pub- lic expenditures. He proposed no measures looking be- yond April I, 1862, and expressed faith in the attempted blockade being set aside and the present embarrassments relieved. The attitude of Mr. Memminger is revealed in a communication*^ to G. A. Trenholm, of* Charleston, who became his successor in the final year of the Confederacy. He said, "our Treasury cannot be guided by experience, since history furnishes no parallel of circumstances. It must feel its way." His November report showed a reali- zation of the perils of redundancy and sounded that help- less warning which was the characteristic feature of sub-
• Capers's Life of Memminger, pp. 422-42S.
"Report of Nov. 20, 1861.
•To Howell Cobb, Dec. 10, 1861.
** Letter of Feb. 17, 1862, Letter Book "C."
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sequent official utterances. Congress began in this last session its oft repeated practice of raising the limit,** vot- ing $50,000,000 additional notes.
Thb Delusion of Funding. Among the measures adopted to sustain the value of the notes, funding was judged an absolute specific from the very start, nor was this delusion lost under changed conditions and unfavorable experiences. The $20,000,000 notes of the Act of May 16 could be funded in ten year bonds, bearing 8% interest which were re-exchang^able for notes. This was an experiment and the banks were large- ly induced to fund accordingly. The $100,000,000 note issue of the Act of August 19 was fundable in 8% bonds, running from three to eighteen years, excepting $20,000,- 000, which could be exchanged for ten-year bonds of 7% interest, reconvertible in notes. The demand for this 7% security was so strong, exhausting the amount, that in the November Congress, the Department asked permis- sion to lower the interest further, and a new device** took the place of the bond, a 6% call certificate. The amount of these was to be $30,000,000 and their operation was to convert the depositories into savings banks, where Treas- ury notes were deposited and drew 6% interest, until they were ag^in brought out into the circulation. In address- ing** President Davis, the Secretary stated that the time for the payment of these bonds was not material as their exchange for currency would likely be required before the time fixed for payment, and thus be a class of bonds outside the general funded debt. Twenty years was fixed. While the purpose avowed for these certificates was the absorption of notes, yet at best it could furnish only a temporary check on redundancy, since there was to be a return sooner or later into notes.
• Act of Dec. 24, 1861.
•Act of Dec. 24. Session V, Chapter XXVI.
*• Letter of Jan. 7, 1862.
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The History of the Confederate Treasury, — Smith. 17
Strengthening Public Credit.
Another measure that had given credit to the Govern- cmment paper was its acceptance*' for all public dues ex- cept the export duty on cotton, which was reserved to sustain the fifteen million loan. It was particularly en- joined that the war tax*« should be paid in Treasury cur- rency. The proposition to make the notes a legal tender, which was to be a contention in vain for four years, was early discussed. In its third session Cong^ess*^ had re- ferred the matter to its finance committee on the motion of A. H. Garland, of Arkansas; and two weeks later on the motion of James A. Seddon, of Virginia to make Treasury notes receivable in payment of any debt due corporations or individuals, the vote was adverse.
A third plan to strengthen the credit of the Government was devised out of the liberty allowed Mr. Memminger to decide how he should pay the interest on the funded debt. He announced on December 19 that coin would be used, expecting thereby to increase the desire to fund notes into bonds. He asked** a loan of $1,000,000 from the New Orleans banks for this purpose. Although James D. Denegree arranged to get the amount for him by Janu- ary 16, 1862, it was done with a sharp protest** against the method of financiering. The banker contended that the coin received by bond holders would be put on the market and go from the country. He said that such a policy of payment could not be maintained over six months unless the blockade was lifted. Then a resort to the payment of interest in notes would make a worse con- dition than the one sought to be avoided. The prediction was confirmed and specie gathered later went for supplies to preserve national existence.
* Acts of March 9, May 16, August 19, 1861. •Act of August 19.
*'July 19.
•Letter of Dec 4, 1861.
• Letter of Jan. 16, 1862.
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The legislative and financial policy of the Provisional Congress employed bonds and stocks mainly for the sup- port of the Treasury notes. The initial fifteen million loan was not completed*® until October, the banks being pressed into subscribing the balance. A very small por- tion*^ of the one hundred million loan was placed within the year. The safety fund provision attached to the bonds promised an inviting guarantee. This divided the principal into thirty-six installments, beginning January i, 1864, and a fixed sum was to be appropriated to pay semi- annually the whole interest, together with the portion of the principal. Though this stock had not been sold di- rectly to the public, it was hoped that it would be largely available through the agency of the produce loan.
Crops as a Financial Basis. The subscription of crops was a natural device for an agricultural people, especially during the season when there was little ready money. The second session of Con- gress had looked towards this resource when it" provided bonds to be sold for the proceeds of the sale of raw pro- duce and of manufactured goods. Treasury circulars of June 18 and 26 emphasized this use of bonds and called for subscriptions. This notice was directed to reach the growing crop of cotton and a response of 500,000 bales was estimated. By August several sections began to make liberal returns, the planters offering one-third to one-half their yield. In other places, no support was given and agents of the Treasury were sent to address the people on the loan. Various conventions gave enthusias- tic approval. James E. B. DeBow'^' was made clerk of the Produce Loan Bureau, and in the November report** to
" Circular of Oct. 10, 1861.
•* Letter to E. Stearns, Nov. 20.
"Act of May 16.
"August 3, 1861.
•* Capers's Memminger, p. 425.
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The History of the Confederate Treasury, — Smith. 19
Congress the subscriptions when paid were conjectured to reach likely $40,000,000. The patriotism of this official had led him to the work gratuitously, but on January 20, 1862, he turned over the office to a salaried chief clerk, A. Roane. At that time the subscriptions were approxi- mately placed at 418,000 bales of cotton, 7,000 hogsheads of tobacco, 3*500 hogsheads of sugar, 3,500 barrels of mo- lasses and $500,000 cash. But there had been no proceeds realized by the bureaji and sales depended upon the open- ing of the markets, which was confidently expected through the lifting of the blockade within the year. While the organization for subscription had been fairly effective, the system for collection required more detail and was planned under the direction of the register's office, of which the bureau remained a division until 1863. General agents were located in the larger cities where subsdrip- tions were payable and their subordinates were scattered through the adjoining territory to solicit signing of addi- tional produce and attend to the collection. The practice was for the planter to indicate the portion to be given, name the place and time of delivery and allow his factor to pay the proceeds to the agent, getting in turn a receipt for the 8% bonds.
Government I<oan on Cotton. As nineteen-twentieths of the products offered was cot- ton, this gave force to the sentiment in favor of Govern- ment control of this resource. A common theory*" of subsequent years has been that the failure to seize the cotton made the fatal economic error of the first year of the war ; even in the second year certain newspapers urged purchase by the Confederacy. But the early advocates of a Government loan on cotton were of two classes, those who favored it as a basis of the financial system and the planters who wanted aid for themselves privately. The earliest advocate of the first plan was C. T. Lowndes, of
"• Joseph E. Johnston's Military Operations; Pollard's Lost Cause.
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Charleston, who urged"' securing the staple by an ad- vance of five cents a pound and issuing notes on it as a real source of value. The cotton was to be kept with the Government loan on it until the close of the war, when the advance would be refunded. Lowndes placed this plan above the produce loan notion of that date, which could yield no money until after the blockade unless there was a forced sale. The Secretary promptly*^ opposed gov- ernment purchase. His argument was that the circula- tion just established would be ruined by the amount of notes needed to buy cotton. Notes paid for a pledge of cotton must be an exchange of cash for a lien, and when the cotton was sold, the Government had its notes back and was where it started. He judged there was no ad- vantage in the control of cotton since notes were deemed adequate for all demands. Again,** he said, the notes were already currency by the banks' action and required no exchange for cotton to sustain them.
The second class, which wanted advances on their staple to promote commercial activity, was a very large one, and in a communication** to General W. W. Hardie, of Manor, S. C, Mr. Memminger seemed to incline to- ward it. Shortly, though, he took a decided stand against this plan,'** asserting that the sooner planters learned to rely on themselves, and not the Government, the quicker their relief. The true remedy was to divert labor and capital to raising supplies and furnishing food, and such advances as were necessary could be obtained from pri- vate sources. The New Orleans mentor®^ had spoken against the scheme of public advances saying that was the function of banks or States. A Treasury circular'* was
•• Letter of June 13, 1861.
" Letter of June 20.
" To W. C. Bibb, of Montgomery, Ala., June 21.
" Letter of July 9, Letter Book "C."
••To R. D. Powell, of Columbus, Miss., Oct. 9, 1861.
"Letter of Denegree, Oct. 2.
•*Oct. 15; published in Capers's Memminger, pp. 352-5-
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The History of the Confederate Treasury. — Smith. 21
finally sent to the commissioners of the produce loan, which announced the decision that such material aid as Government purchase was unconstitutional, power exist- ing only for borrowing and not lending. The one to two hundred million of notes proposed for the advance must disarrange all contracts and prices, making the Govern- ment the largest loser. The history of all such public un- dertakings was said to advise against the course.
Cotton Through thb Bi^ockade. A subsequent use made of cotton by the Confederacy was to purchase it for shipment through the blockade to furnish specie in Europe for absolutely essential war sup- plies. This practice began as soon as specie was hoarded and rates of exchange increased. John Frazer, of Charleston, was directed, November 20, 1861, to buy cot- ton and ship by the "Fingal" to Liverpool. In response to an inquiry of Congress, February 12, 1862, as to this purchase, it was learned that after the "Fingal"** was loaded, it was so effectually blockaded at Savannah, that the cotton was returned to the interior. Movements** were made looking to the purchase of cotton in Texas and shipment to Mexico because of this failure in the East. Afterwards, large operations were begun under the plan established by the First Permanent Congress.
Summary of thb First Year. The change from the provisional constitution to the permanent on February 18, 1862, was accompanied by the assembling of a new congress of two branches instead of one, but the administrative personnel of the Govern- ment was not altered. President Davis in his message®* said that the financial system of the first year had proven adequate to supply all wants, although there had been a
•Afterwards was converted into ironclad Atlanta. •Letter to Secretary of War Benjamin, Nov. 23, 1861. • February 18, 1862.
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vast increase of expense for defense. He found much gratification in an unimpaired credit and the absence of a floating debt. Yet such a flattering condition was pos- sible only because this was the year of the organization of the Confederate finances. The issue of Treasury notes was bordering on $125,000,000, with the limit of .$150,- 000,000, set by Congress, not far away. The notes had displaced the circulation of the banks, which on January I, 1859, aggregated only $60,000,000, the total notes, deposits and coin reserve in the South having been $100,- 000,000. Mr. Memminger's estimate in July had been that the country could safely float $150,000,000 of notes, and to that extent the financial policy thus far pursued may be considered a positive gain. But the conduct of the Department in the past year did not presage favor- ably for the maintenance of the bounds appointed to the paper issue.* Depreciation began to show itself quite plainly. In the early months, the paper money was at actual par with gold ; in August it was at 8% discount, at 15% in November, and 25% in February. The receipts from loans were less than $40,000,000. The tariff law of May 2 1 St, which had been carefully framed and was cal- culated to bring in a revenue of $12,500,000, was practi- cally inoperative on account of the blockade. The re- ceipts®* of duties from July ist to December 31st amounted to $63,138, while the expenses of the custom houses for the same period was $63,774. The total customs of the year were $1,270,875, of which $742,475 came in within two months after the formation of the Confederacy. The war tax was not yet collectible and notes and bonds had furnished 98 1-3% of the total receipts. The estimates for this year had been $72,000,000, but the expenditures had proven to be $165,000,000. The certainty of a steady increase of demands with a protracted war and a con- tinued blockade faced Congress and the Treasury Depart- ment.
• Report of Jan. 13, 1862, Treasury Book "C."
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The History of the Confederate Treasury, — Smith. 23
CHAPTER II— OVER-ISSUE.
The Secretary of the Treasury'^ formulated for the new Congress after it had been in session almost a month a financial program that was mainly an enlarged applica- tion of his previously established policy. The expendi- tures were estimated for the next nine months at $215,- 000,000. Authority was asked to increase the issue of notes by $50,000,000, newly fixing a limit of $200,000,000. The report recognized such issues as the most dangerous of all methods of raising money and accurately described the deplorable possibilities which in less than two years were made real. Although a currency having value only in its own country is peculiarly liable to lose its security against excess, every addition becoming permanent cir- culation, the confidence of the administration was not shaken in the efficacy of 8% bonds and call deposits to keep down redundancy. However, it was plain that the credit of the notes would be completely shattered if they were used for all expenditures.
A leading recommendation then was that supplies largely be procured in exchange for bonds. Loans were not being placed directly with the public to any extent, and both for investment and for pajrment on produce Congress was shown there must be the certainty of pro- vision for the interest. If loans were to be enlarged, the
Small and Inefficient Tax. taxes must be enlarged. The next recommendation then was an increase of the present moderate tax rate of a half-cent on the dollar, yet there was not that insistence upon such a measure which the occasion warranted. A possibly difficulty had now arisen in the fact that the per- manent constitution'* had a different clause on the tax-
^ Report of March 14, 1862, Capers's Memminger, pp. 429-437. •Art. I, Sect II, Par. 3.
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ing power from that of the provisional constitution,'* whose only requirement was that the taxes should be uniform. The new provision was similar to the one pre- vailing in the United States Constitution, that direct taxes and representation shall be levied according to population. This difference could be met, the Secretary suggested, by assuming the assessments already made under the war tax of August, 1861, as a basis for the distribution of the proposed increased tax, as soon as Congress decided what aggregate amount must be raised.
The preparations for laying the war tax and the ma- chinery for its collection were arranged with a hesitation and lack of dispatch that marked a people not accustomed to general government revenues. The auditors of the several States had been asked May 21, 1861, to report the value of their property to the Confederate States Treas- ury. Two months later the results'** were laid before Congress. Of the total valuation of $4,632,160,500, real estate and negroes were respectively $1,758,238,000, and $2,142,635,000 constituting 85%. There had been no revenue system of the States. Taxes on slaves were both by poll and ad valorem. The assessment was adopted'^ of $600 each on the three million and a half blacks. There had been no returns of land in South Carolina since 1840, so the listed property was assigned an increase in value o^ 75%' The ad valorem tax was employed instead of the direct, since it lightened the burden upon States less able or willing to bear it. If the proposition had been levied according to representation, the quotas of the richer States of Louisiana, Georgia and South Carolina would have been less than under the ad valorem by more than half a million dollars each. The levy'^ of 50 cents on $100,
•Art. I, Sect. VI, Par. i. '" Report of July 24, 1861, Treasury MMS. " Instructions of Sept. 24, 1861.
"$500 worth of property was exempt in each family; also the property of educational, religious and charitable institutions.
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The History of the Confederate Treasury, — Smith. 25
passed August 19th, was estimated to produce $21,000,- 000.
DBLAYS in C0I.LECTION.
Assessments were to be made as early as November 1st, and collections were due May i, 1862. When the measures looking towards a valuation of Confederate property were taken, Congress passed a provision, four months before the tax act was voted upon, that the sev- eral States might anticipate the payment of the tax and assume^* their quotas, receiving a rebate of 10%.
The chief collectors'* of the war tax, one for each State were appointed September 24th, and the States were di- vided into districts with subordinate collectors at their head, who in turn appointed district assessors. But the selection of all these officers was a work that required time. Some of the chief appointees could not be prompt- ly reached. Certain States, as Texas and Florida, had laws forbidding their State collectors to serve the na- tional system. The majority of the assessors could not beg^n their duties until 1862, and extensions of time were being constantly granted in addition to the supplementary act of Congress of December 19, 1861, which fixed Feb- ruary 1st as the limit. Alabama through the unfortunate selection of a chief collector had no assessment made when collections were due.
Georgia made the best record,'** reporting its assess- There were seven schedules on which the levy was placed: real estate, slaves, merchandise, bank and corporate stock, monev at interest or in securities other than Confederate bonds, casn on hand, cattle and household goods. Under household goods the objects taxed were gold watches, gold and silver plate, pianos and pleasure carriages.
"This was an American practice, having been used in the tax bill of the War of 1812, and also in the Federal direct tax of 1861.
"The chief collectors were: H. T. Gamett, Virginia; E. Steames, Georgia; R. M. Lusher, Louisiana; W. K. Lane, North Carolina; J. D. Pope, South Carolina; A. Martin, Alabama; E. E, Blackburn, Florida; John Handy, Mississippi; G. J. Durham, Texas; J G. M. Ramsey, Tennessee, and W. H. Halliburton, Arkansas.
• Letter to E. Stearnes, collector
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ments fairly promptly. The State Legislatures were ex- ceedingly slow in acting on the assumption of the tax, and the period was extended from November to January and then to February, 1862. Congress had to offer final en- couragement, April 22d, to enable some of the States to assume their quotas, the call certificates being taken by South Carolina for that purpose. The collectors were notified^* to hold themselves in readiness to begin work, for even after many of the Legislatures had voted to take up the quota, there was much delay in attending to the payment. Accordingly when May, the appointed time for the receipts, had come there were few returns made, but Mr. Memminger was expecting large relief for the Treasury speedily."'^
In August one-half the contemplated returns, $10,000,- 000, was announced.^® All the States but Mississippi and Texas had assumed the tax. Thompson Allan, chief of the War Tax Bureau, submitted his report January 6, 1863, showing the receipts to be then $16,664,573. The rebate to the States had reduced the original levy $1,- 700,000. Tennessee fell short $1,000,000 by the occu- pancy of its territory, and other States had various de- ficits. Congress had allowed 109& in case of State respon- sibility for the tax, presumably to cover the expense of collection, yet in Mississippi, where collected by the Con- federate Treasury, the actual cost'* had been 2%, The several Legislatures had issued their own notes to pay the assessments or borrowed on their bonds, so instead of a real taxation, this operation resulted in swelling the gen- eral indebtedness of the country.
Accordingly with such manifestation of the sentiment against direct taxation, the first session of Congress, Feb- ruary i8th to April 21st, did nothing to increase the al-
" April 2, 1862.
'^To G. W. Randolph, Secretary of War, May 5th.
"Report of Memminger, Aug. 21st.
" War Tax Report.
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HosTiuTY TO Legal Tender. ready small and inefficient tax. Yet much time was spent in discussion of the adoption of a legal tender clause, the question starting on February 25th, the date of the pas- sage of the Federal legal tender act. A majority of neither the House nor the Senate received the sugges- tions favorably and the Secretary gave expression®* to L. J. Gartrell, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, of the fixed hostile policy of the administration to the plan. His argument was that the notes needed no aid to enable them to perform the functions of a legal tender, and if force were used suspicion would be aroused and credit affected. He further urged that such a law would not prevent depreciation, while the experience of all nations attested to the utter failure of forcing notes at a penalty.
Currency Act of April, 1862. The currency bill®^ added the $50,000,000 notes asked for and a reserve of $10,000,000, to be kept for issuance to holders of the deposit certificates upon any sudden f
call. Besides. $^,000,000 in denominations of ones and ^ i^f**^ f , twos were ordered. All notes of former issues were of t^X^^ *^J»vA larger denomination and it was thought this incon- venience increased the depreciation. The full recommen- dation of bonds, $165,000,000, was voted, but without the accompanying additional guarantee of interest through adequate taxation. These bonds were for a yet larger period, 30 years, with right to be redeemed within 10 years. In the sum total voted, there were the various forms of substitutes, brought into use during the year past. The call certificates at 6% interest were allotted $50,000,000 of the issue. In December this class of ab- sorbents had been fixed at $30,000,000. The increased de- mand for them was another sign of the depreciation of the notes.
•• Letter of March 13, 1862.
" Act of April 12, 1862, Statute I, Chapter XXVII.
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Bonds Refused, Notes Taken.
A large share of the bonds was intended to be ex- changed for supplies and subsistence. It was expected to give an opportunity for investment to people who had no surplus capital in money. From the first the railroads had taken a portion of their pay for government transporta- tion in bonds. The same bargain was to be struck with the farmer for his produce and the manufacturer for his clothing. This was an extension of the spirit of the pro- duce loan, for the act of one of the parties to the trade was yet left voluntary. If the public responded, that mounting tide of notes could be stayed.
The purpose of the Department was to keep the notes for the pay of the army, for the wages of mechanics and such expenditures not able to be met by bonds. But it was difficult®* to get the War and Navy Departments to cooperate in the new plan of payment. Previously, it had been urged that requisitions be satisfied one-half in cash and one-half in bonds. Now when the law** was tried, the disbursing officers reported that the owners of supplies would not part with them except for notes. Friction be- tween the Departments arose and the Secretary was thought to be unfavorably discriminating when he paid in bonds.
In an appeal to President Davis on April 9th, Mr. Mem- minger wrote that if the whole expense of the Govern- ment was paid in notes, the $50,000,000 provided would be exhausted in sixty days and the Confederacy brought to a stand. The $181,000,000 of bonds was an asset which no power or skill that he knew could convert into cash. Still further harrassed, the Secretary®* asserted that he
" Letter to Secretary Randolph, March 27, 1862.
"•The requisitions of the War and Navy Departments were much in advance of the means of the Treasury to pay, and Mr. Memminger asked that note issues be reserved for the soldiers, and creditors generally be tendered the bonds.
•*To Col. Northrop, May 10, 1862, Letter Book "C."
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had not suggested the law of payment by 'bonds, but the blame for it belonged to Congress. It was known that New Orleans refused to take the bonds, as also in the past it had made little use of the call certificates for fund- ing. Wherever the sections were threatened by the enemy, the people would accept nothing but notes in their dealing with the Confederacy. By June the situation was critical, only. a few million dollars of notes remaining un- issued of the prescribed $200,000,000. The bond measure of Congress being a failure, the next device of the Treas- ury was foreshadowed in a communication®* to the Presi- dent. The Secretary insisted that in the event of the calls for notes exceeding the amount for which legislative au- thority had been given, the Executive must meet the emergency unless interest-bearing notes could be sub- stituted for the many millions of bonds, which had few takers. In the recent currency bijl it had been provided that one hundred dollar notes, bearing an interest of two cents a day, commonly known as seven-thirty notes, might be issued for the purpose of having notes of smaller denomination exchanged for them, while the interest- bearing notes at the same time would be kept out of cir- culation for the sake of the investment. By addressing*® the banks on this new form of note, which had been fre- quently®^ advocated by Mr. Memminger, a considerable demand was established, and within two months $23,000,- ooo** were used. The original bill contained no provisions for the time and means of paying the interest on this form of credit, so that the following session of Congress®* designated the use of non-interest notes annually for the purpose.
"• Special report of June 7th.
"To Savannah and Charleston banks.
"Reports of May 10, July 20, 1861.
"• Report of Aug. 21, 1862.
"Act of Sept 23, 1862.
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FlNAX RBI.IANCE ON PAPER.
The second session of the First Congress placed the final seal of approval on the program of printing govern- ment paper in response to every claim of its creditors. It first granted*® an additional $50,000,000 of the ordinary circulation, then threw aside the limit of $250,000,000 by authorizing notes to be put forth in such amounts as were needed to meet appropriations. In the Treasury report there seemed satisfaction in the workings of the financial measures. Excessive note issue was held up as a disas- trous evil, but no immediate danger was sounded. Never- theless, for six months notes had continued the chief re- source, $115,000,000 being used. Bonds available for the conversion of notes and for the payment of supplies ag- gregated $25,000,000. This stock having been placed on sale with the depositories, found little demand. The call certificates for deposits of notes at 6% was more accept- able to the public, and since the passage of the act in December, 1861, $37,585,200 had been taken. The Presi- dent in his message of August 19th favored giving the people what they wanted, notes and not bonds, saying that the accumulated debt was insignificant compared with the magnitude of the war. However sanguine the expres- sions of the authorities, the small amount of bonds used for funding, thereby possibly carrying off the money stream that was being bid flow so freely, required some remedial action. The seven-thirty note was designed*^ to combine the features of funding and currency. The in- terest was expected to cause it to be hoarded. The De- partment hoped to attract $70,000,000 said to be in the hands of private capitalists. But the interest-bearing notes came to be used for current expenses along with the non-interest notes. Thus the second device in credit instruments of the year failed to attain the purpose for
•*Act. of Sept. 23, 1862. •* Report of Aug. 21, 1862.
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The History of the Confederate Treasury. — Smith. 31
which it was put forth, and the fancied barriers to over- issue were proven insufficient.
Secretary's Ai.arm and Reason for It.
The Secretary now evinced®* the first serious alarm. He acknowledged the unfavorable turn of the experiment which he had planned'* six months earlier, that "after the issue of notes had been raised to $200,000,000, there should be a pause iii this direction, until we can see the eflfects on the country."
At the same period he had written'* to Jas. D. Dene- gree, of New Orleans, "I have endeavored to restrain the issue of Treasury notes, so as not to have a currency of assignats.'' But familiarity with French financial history had not brought the Secretary through safely, and his wamii^ to Congress was that there are indications of various kinds that some support of the currency will soon be required. The new appropriations for the last quarter of the year reached $150,000,000. To meet these the gov- ernment printing presses contributed a monthly increase of $40,000,000 of notes. The estimate on September 30th was that the total circulation outstanding by January i, 1863, would be $433,000,000. The report*' afterwards made the actual amount $410,000,000, the general cur- rency being $290,000,000. To the extent of $120,000,000 were the seven-thirty notes used for current purposes, be- ing issued- in practically equal sums with ordinary notes in the last half year. In ten months there had been a more than three-fold increase of Treasury paper over the amount of the provisional year of the Confederacy ; while in the first year there had not been an adequate concep- tion of the size of the war; neither in the plans for the second year were the provisions of the necessary propor-
"To A. H. Stephens, Oct. 3d. "• Report of March 14, 1862. ••Letter of April ist. "Jan. 10, 1863.
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tions. The estimates were submitted for an aggregate of $298,000,000 by December ist; the expenditures on De- cember 31, 1862, had reached $417,000,000, and there were $81,879,913 undrawn appropriations, making a total of $498,851,648.
In the face of such demands government paper gave the easiest answer. The administration cannot be charged with ignorance of the results of such a policy, yet it cham- pioned no comprehensive financial system. The economic axiom that it is far more difficult to recover a failing cur- rency than to sustain a sound one brought with its utter- ance'* no adequate solution of the growing perplexity.
Three-fold Over-issue and Prices. As the issue of notes was three-fold larger than the South needed for its business transactions, by that degree were prices being theoretically enhanced. The response was not so immediate, and impaired transportation caused great variations in localities. In December, 1862, wheat in Richmond was selling at four dollars, corn at three dollars, and oats at two dollars per bushel, and flour at from $20 to $25 per barrel. Gold had risen from $1.70 in March to $3.00. The steady rise of general prices had well entered on its ruinous course.
Printing and Counterfeiting. In view of the financial methods of this period the preparation of notes and bonds was a most important de- partment of the Treasury. Contracts with the Richmond firms of Hoyer & Ludwig, and Keatinge & Ball, furnished the material, and the registry and signing were done by the government. In May, 1862, when McClellan waged the James River campaign, for safety the issue division was removed to Columbia, South Carolina. The delay of two weeks and more caused an accumulation of unpaid requisitions, already largely on the increase, and there was serious embarrassment of the Treasury for a con-
•• Report of Oct. 3, 1862.
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The History of the Confederate Treasury. — Smith. 33
siderable period. At the same time the method of signing the notes increased the difBcuUies, although a large force of ladies and men was employed. The Secretary asked Congress in vain to allow the signatures to be engraved. The creation of a distinct bureau was advised in 1862, but not until May i, 1863, was the act passed establishing the Treasury Note Bureau, and S. G. Jamison became chief, directing from Richmond. The plant at Columbia*^ was operated to the end, but as necessities increased, lithographers and other skilled workmen were imported from England.
The character of the note was susceptible to counter- feiting, and in August, 1862, an epidemic of false money was thought to threaten the South. Certain plates were stolen from Hoyer & Ludwig, and the spurious issue was started in the West. There was a popular*® belief that firms in the North** were engaged in introducing coun- terfeits. Much indignation was aroused, and President Davis gave official expression of it in a message. The most vigilant measures were taken by the Department and severe penalties enacted. One counterfeiter of Rich- mond was hanged. During 1863 unsigned notes were stolen from Columbia and sporadic cases of counterfeit- ing came to light. Yet it is scarcely probable that suf- ficient false notes were uttered to affect the depreciation of the true. The best evidence was the amounts received at the depositories. The proportion was quite small, an extreme*^ case being at Charleston, where out of $2,- 000,000 the aggregate counterfeits was $2,340. Agents
" C. F. Henckle was made chief clerk on June 3, 1862, and over- saw the contract of Evans & Cogswell.
"• Letter to P. C. Clayton, Asst. Sec'y, Sept. i, 1862.
"S. G. Uphem, 403 Chestnut St., Phila., advertised $20 Con- federate bonds and 15 difiFerent fac-similes of bonds and notes of 1862 issue.
*" Return of Nov. 5, 1862. 3
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were not allowed to suffer for their receipt of bad money. The currency of the land was no longer sound in 1862, and in the first uncertainty of diagnosing the causes of im- pairment, minor disturbing elements were likely to as- sume undue importance.
(To be Continued.)
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THE SOUTH IN THE OLDEN TIME.
By J. L. M. Curry.
Probably no people nor institutions have been more misunderstood than those of the Southern States. One need not go far to find the cause. Southern books and newspapers are little read. Their circulation is mainly local and provincial. The war between the States so un- expectedly protracted, the terrible casualties connected therewith, involving so many families, political antagon- isms, and the discolored and exaggerated statements in fiction and more serious literature and in partisan speeches, have prevented the calm investigation and the sound judgment given to other questions which have not so much sentimentality. One speech in the Senate pre- cipitated a war with Spain. One novel was largely in- strumental in exciting the Northern mind to a determina- tion of "no Union with slaveholders."
Unanimous Satisfaction Ov^r Abolition.
The South retained the "peculiar institution" of Afri- can slavery, fastened on her against her protests, while the North, where it existed in every State at the time of the Declaration of Independence, 1776, liberated herself from it more than half a century ago. The "institution" for many reasons became so incorporated in the social, political and industrial life of the South that its sever- ance, by slow and natural causes, was almost an impos- sibility. Property interests, pride of opinion, jealousy of alien interference, resistance to aspersions and aggres- sions, consolidated the South and induced action which under other conditions would have been the very reverse. That is made plain by the unanimity which now exists of
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satisfaction at abolition, of unwillingness at any cost to have the negroes reenslaved, and of the depth of con- viction that slave labor, instead of being a benefit, was the prolific parent of a thousand evils.
Southern Civilization.
The marked civilization which distinguished the South was not altogether due to slavery, but unquestionably it largely contributed to the creation and maintenance of certain social peculiarities which are rapidly disappearing. In proportion to the whole white population the slave- holders were few in number, and of those who owned slaves a very large majority owned only a few, from one to five. When slaves were held in numbers sufficiently large to give character to the plantation, some results were easily discovered. The estates were large and this necessitated overseers or subordinate managers, the con- centration of labor on a few crops, and prevented that desirable subdivision of land which improves ag^culture and gives to a country an independent yeomanry. Popu- lation was sparse, roads were neglected, free schools could not be established, and the estates became a species of baronies, where the lords of the manor exercised an inferior government quite apart from the general civil jurisdiction.
Slaveholders and Statesmanship.
As a rule, the owners of many slaves and of large plan- tations were men of intelligence, of masterful qualities and often of much culture. Governing a community of de- pendents in such a way as to temper control with modera- tion and justice, to exact obedience and steady labor with- out provoking ill-feeling, rebellion, escape or anarchy, to insist upon order and authority and have, at the same time, cheerful and productive work and great affection, developed a habit of government at home which was
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The South in Olden Times, — Curry. 37
ripened into statesmanship on larger fields. The isola- tion of plantation life and unshared responsibility stimu- lated individuality, self-reliance, acting on one's own judg- ment. In most matters of domestic concern there was no public opnion to which they could be referred, no tribunal for arbitration, and the master was, under the general laws of the Commonwealth, the sole and supreme legisla- tive and executive authority. This independence, self- government, and the presence of a subject class made the slaveholder the vigilant, sometimes hasty protector of the honor of himself and family, the stern advocate of limita- tions upon the powers of the civil government and the valiant defender of the liberties of his race. Hence, Burke's well-known tribute to the unconquerable love of freedom and manly insistence upon their rights, of the Southern colonies in the earliest days of conflict with the mother country.
The Neighborhood Store a Civic Center.
That slaveholders were the leaders in politics and held many influential positions in the State and the Federal governments is not strange. Where people were segre- gated and families were sometimes miles apart, the court house, the militia musters, the elections, the public speak- ings, the rural churches, were the places and the occa- sions for the discussion of agricultural needs, of prices of products, of taxes, of conduct of representatives and pub- lic officers, of neighborhood affairs. The shire-town was generally a small village and offered no inducements for assemblages of the people, except when twice a year the Circuit Courts were held. In nearly every country neighborhood was a store where everything of a miscel- laneous character was kept, and at the same place was the post oflSce. Every day persons, not kept at home by necessary work, were at these stores, and everything per- taining to human life was brought under consideration.
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What more natural and proper than that those who had wealth, were men of affairs, were familiar with markets, read newspapers and traveled, should be consulted and deferred to. When, as often happened, there were present those who had been in the Legislature or in Congress or had visited the seaport cities to buy merchandise or sell produce, they would be called on for information or opin- ions, and they were listened to with respect and atten- tion. My earliest recollection is associated with spon- taneous, somewhat unpremeditated, gatherings of farm- ers at stores and the conversational discussion of ques- tions far beyond my boyish comprehension.
Majority of Farmers Without Slaves.
It is worthy of mention that nearly every person look- ed forward to the time when family work or cares would be lightened by the ownership of a slave. Still, I have known hundreds of lawyers, doctors, merchants, farmers, preachers, mechanics who did not in their own right pos- sess slaves. The majority of farmers had no slaves, but sometimes hired them by the year. These farmers worked their own fields side by side with the negroes and their children. The widely prevalent notion that the cultivation of cotton and tobacco at the South is, or ever was, de- pendent upon negro labor is an error, unsupported by fact. Far more than half of the present ten million bales of cotton have been produced by white labor. The stig- ma of "poor whites," so often us^ed in derision and con- tempt, is unwarranted and grossly unjust. Many non- slaveholders and persons of small means have, in peace and in war, signalized their lives by all the virtues which ennoble humanity and advance civilization.
Illiteracy Not Ignorance Then.
Illiteracy was unfortunately not confined to the negroes, as sparseness of population prevented State sys- tems of free schools. It would be an erroneous inference
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The South in Olden Times. — Curry. 39
that these illiterate people were wholly uninformed. The assemblages to which reference has been made were valu- able schools and educatory in a high degree. In ante- bellum days political discussions prevailed universally. Candidates for governorship, Congress, for Legislature, often for other offices, engaged in joint discussion before the people. Appointments were made for public speak- ing, time was divided equally among contestants or be- tween parties, and for hours there was earnest attention to debates upon the most important questions. Let me illustrate. In 1847 ^^ 1853, when a candidate for the Alabama Legislature, education, finances, taxation, State aid to railways, were discussed. In 1855, when the Know- Nothing or American party, was seeking power in the State and Federal governments, the tenets and purposes of that party were presented by the chosen champions on each side. In 1856, as a candidate for Presidential elec- tor, and in 1857 and 1859, when seeking a seat in Con- gress, making forty or fifty speeches in the district, the issues were internal improvements by the general Gov- ernment, distribution of the proceeds of public lands, veto power, tariff, expenditures, power of Congress over the Territories, "Squatter Sovereignty," and in i860 and 1861, right and expediency of secession and relation of the States to the Federal Union. In those days, while parties
No BossiSM, No Contributions, No Corruption.
were distinct and party feeling was strong, party ma- chinery hardly had an existence ; "bossism" was unknown, voting by sections was unheard of. As a general rule, each man voted as an independent citizen and bribery or corruption in elections, when it occurred, made the place and persons a by-word and a scorn. My contests for the Legislature and for seats in the Federal and Confederate Congress cost me practically nothing. The whole ex-
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pense was covered by a few hotel bills, announcement of candidacy in the newspapers and the printing of tickets.
Not a Dollar i^or Campaign Expenses. In the eight times I sought the suffrage of the electors of county and district and State, I did not pay a dollar for campaign expenses; no such contribution was asked or expected, and I never knew of a dollar being paid for a vote or a nomination. .
No Social Divisions Among Whites. There was in the ante-bellum days no perceptible social division between slaveholders and non-slaveholders as classes. No sharp lines of separation were drawn be- tween them. In marriage, in visiting, in office holding, in professional or other employment, no question was raised as to the ownership of slaves or interest in this species of property. I recall several members of Con- gress who helcj no slaves. Merit, respectability, virtue, was the open sesame to dinners, entertainments, marital relations. Color drew a broad and ineffaceable line of demarcation. The least taint of inferior racial blood operated semper ubique as an exclusion. Piety, church membership, was not the social standard, but integrity and proper treatment of slaves were. I have known wealthy men, according to the estimate of wealth in those days, indicted and convicted for the cruel treatment of their negroes. The counts of the indictment were insuf- ficient food and clothing, over work and harsh and un- usual punishment. The marriagd relationship was sacred. A person divorced for other cause than the awful sin of adultery was tabooed. Separation of husband and wife was tantamount to social proscription. The family was the unit and relationship of the worthy to a remote degree was recognized, and the bond of fellowship em- braced all except those who offended the laws of decency and honesty.
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The South tn Olden Times. — Curry. 41
Pure Angi.o-Saxon Blood.
The white population of the Southern States was An- glo-Saxon. Homogeneity was not much disturbed by alien immigration. It often excites remark and surprise to find that Southerners know their kin in different States and have such minute personal knowledge of many famil- ies.
Hospitality a Characteristic.
Home was sacred and the dearest place on earth, and Christmas was the time for reunion, from grandparents to grandchildren. It was not uncommon to see from twen- ty-five to sixty relatives seated at the bounteous board. In the country, with a sparse population, clubs and theatres did not exist to seduce young men from parental supervision. Between parents and children the inter- course ordinarily was unconstrained and affectionate. Schoolmates often spent the night with their fellows, and this neighborly courtesy was freely reciprocated. Co- education in the country schools and academies was uni- versal, and no harm but much benefit came from this companionship. Hospitality abounded and was a charac- teristic trait. There was rarely a single night for years when there was not under the roofs of my neighbors a welcome guest. The entertainment was lyithout formal- ity, and the guests were treated, and acted, as members of the family. With the slaveholders, or with such of them as had a number of dependents, the cost and trouble of entertaining were almost nil. The table for the family bountifully supplied needed no additions. There was lit- tle economy, perhaps much waste, in the food provided, for what was unconsumed by the "white folks," to use the common phrase of the black people, was used in the kitchen, or in "the quarter," as the village where the ne- groes had their houses was called. Gardens supplied vegetables; the orchards, fruits. Com, ripe or green,
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peas, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, watermelons, etc., were in the fields. Besides cooks and maids and butlers, etc., the children, too young for outdoor work, or selected for skill and intelligence, were on hand to do superfluous or
House Partik of Seventy.
extra work. The entertainment in the country included horses. I have been at houses where seventy guests, with nearly as many horses, were cared for during three or four days. The one-crop system, pernicious in the light of political economy, left but few products for market. When cotton, tobacco, sugar, rice, and sometimes wheat and corn were sold, nothing else had a marketable value. To sell milk or butter or vegetables, was an unknown commercial transaction. Watermelons, apples, peaches, cherries, turnips were free. At least, persons traveling on the road, did not regard it as wrong, or forbidden, or any violation of rights of property, to enter orchards or fields and take what was wanted for immediate personal use. This prodigal living has often been condemned, and is described here to give a true picture of the South.
No Isms, No Skepticism.
The country churches have been mentioned as furnish- ing opportunities for talking over questions of common concern. Conflicts as to the Sundays of worship were avoided as far as possible, and accessible places, within six or eight miles, had a general attendance. Ecclesiasti- cal or denominational differences, while fully recognized, did not interfere with social or political affiliations. Neighborliness, kinship, personal friendships, did not al- low ecclesiastical estrangements. The religion was of the accepted orthodox character. The new isms were un- known or promptly rejected. Infidelity or skepticism, used in a broad, undefined sense, was regarded with hor- ror and not unfrequently made synonymous with untrust- worthiness. Sickness in a family called forth practical
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The South in Olden Times. — Curry. 43
sympathy and helpfulness. Funerals or burials Jiad the presence of the whole community as a mark of respect or to honor those highly esteemed.
Reciprocity in Kindness.
Agricultural life evoked much helpful cooperation in cases of exigency or special need, and these services, cheerfully rendered, were always returned in full tale. Not to reciprocate put one as much without the pale as if he had committed a dishonorable act.
Snake-head Railroads.
That useful vade mecum, the World's Almanac, gives the total track of railways in the United States at 245,238 miles, and the passengers carried as 514,982,288; 904,633 miles of telegraph wire, with 61,398,157 messages, and 772,989 miles of telephone wire. When we consider how our country is now covered with a net work of railways and telegraph and telephone wires, it is hard to realize how recent was their origin and how rapid has been their progress. In my boyhood days, railways were few and short. In Alabama, in 1843, there were only two, one around Muscle Shoals, and the other between Mont- gomery and Franklin, and it was put down on string pieces with flat-iron bars, which, torn up by wheels, occasionally projected into the cars, impaling passengers on what were. termed "snake-heads.'* In 1843, ^^ route to Harvard, I traveled from Augusta to Charleston by rail, built nearly all the way on trestle work, and by steamer
The Stagedriver a Chance eor the Pen and Pencil.
from Charleston to Wilmington. Much travel in those days was on horseback, or in hacks, or picturesque stage coaches, which signalled their arrival in towns and vil- lages, and notified the taverns of number of passengers by long tin horns or by making more ambitious music on bugles. The stagedrivers knew everybody on the road.
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carried packages and messages, and were sometimes the confidants of country lasses and bashful beaux. The Bonifaces are often drawn in character sketches, but the stagedriver of the olden time, a typical class, has escaped portraiture by pen or pencil. Romances of the road are unused material.
Shinplasters. In these days of plentiful gold and silver, inquiries are sometimes made of me about shinplasters. During the financial stress, beginning with 1837, in the absence of a sound circulating medium of "specie" or bank notes, banks, corporations, towns, stores and individuals issued small notes for the fractional part of a dollar, to be re- deemed in current bills when the sum of five dollars was presented. These notes, usually printed on thin and worthless paper, were circulated far and wide, and when mutilated, as soon occurred from handling, or sent so far away as never to return, the issue of the notes enured to the benefit of the voluntary banker. A number of these notes are now before me, and were issued in South Caro- lina, Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee, one, on the Union Bank, Pulaski, Tennessee, sent out in 1837, is decorated by a pretentious stage coach, full of passengers, drawn by four stylish horses.
Caricatures on Slavery. On no single phase of life or civilization has the South been so much misunderstood and misrepresented as on the subject of slavery, in its varied and manifold connec- tions. The caricatures of the relation of master and ser- vant in popular fiction, the honor of canonization con- ferred on John Brown, whose acts can find excuse or pal- liation solely on the plea of insanity, or fanaticism run mad ; the descriptions of superficial observers like Dickens, Hall, Featherstonhaugh, have made impressions which, however unjust, are almost impossible of eradication.
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The South in Olden Times. — Curry. 45
That there were cruel taskmasters, that slavery had in- defensible features and consequences, no reasonable per- son can deny, any more than he can deny cruelty in hus- bands, neglect in fathers and oppression in employers since the world began. The relation of master and ser- vant was not one, generally, of hardship or cruelty. After the exaction of labor, not paid for in money wages, the interest of owners dictated such treatment as would not impair the productiveness or value of labor, nor depreci- ate the property. Apart from humanity, selfishness made it desirable and necessary, in food, clothing, shelter, ser- vice, to consult the physical well-being of the slave. A standard of morals and of intelligence, as far as com- patible with the condition of servitude, also enhanced his pecuniary and industrial value. Bearing in mind the fact, the biblical fact, the legal fact, the traditional fact, that property in man existed and was to be maintained, the re- lation of master and servant was one, in the main, of good treatment, kindness and affection.
A Radical Revolution in Southern Views.
Of course, it is difficult for persons outside the South, or bom since 1861, to form even a partial conception of slavery as it existed before secession. As well may the people of Cuba or the Philippine Islands, fifty years hence, be expected to understand the Cuba and Philip- pines of 1898. Since i860. Southern sentiment and law have undergone a radical revolution. Nine hundred and ninety out of every one thousand white people in the South rejoice that the negro is unalterably free, and about the same ratio regards slavery as a wrong, or a gross economical blunder. As Mr. Lincoln's policy and earnest effort at deportation were not accomplished, a less ratio concedes that citizenship was an unavoidable consequence of emancipation. Now comes "the rub" which Northern
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46 Southern History Association.
Negro Suffrage an Indescribable Blunder.
opinion fails to grasp. Suffrage was not a legal nor a desirable sequence of emancipation or citizenship, and has been a curse to the South, to the whole Nation, and so far as the negroes are concerned, in their bewildering freedom, an indescribable blunder. Denounced as the South may be for its persistent opposition to negro suf- frage in the aggregate, it may as well be understood that the conviction will increase in intensity unless deporta- tion or diffusion, or some other effective agency, reduce the evils of the congestion of the black population. The Southern people approve the limitation of the elective franchise as ordained by Massachusetts, Connecticut, Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina. The more intelligent and conservative regard an educational quali- fication as an indispensable condition precedent to voting, and coincide with the most worthy and remarkable leader of his race, Mr. Booker T. Washington, in wishing the same restriction made applicable to both races and en-
Impoverished Whites and Negro Education.
forced with equal justice and impartiality. Hard as has been the burden, which the general Government, wicked- ly, cruelly, suicidally, has refused to aid the South in bear- ing, thus abdicating the logical and patriotic duty in- separably connected with emancipation and citizenship and suffrage, every Southern State has established a pub- lic school system, sustained by taxation, conferring equal school privileges upon the two races. The Bureau of Education says the South has expended since the war over $100,000,000 for the education of the negro. It should not be forgotten by the censorious that fully $90,- 000,000 of this money came out of the pockets of the im- poverished white people.
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The South in Olden Times. — Curry. 47
The Virulence of Race Prejudice.
The friction between races at the South finds painful parallel in New York, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. It is but fair to remember that the negroes, in the Northern towns and cities, where mob violence occurred, were insignificant in numbers. Lawlessness and revenge were far less ex- cusable, in the light of relative provocation, than in the South where the negroes outnumbered the incensed white people. The virulence of race prejudice overwhelmed the forces of law and order in communities where the in- habitants were, in part, of New England origin, and where an appeal to competent civil authority should have had prompt and protective response. Some one has said that there is no alchemy to get golden conduct out of leaden instincts. Infuriated mobs violate recklessly all laws, hu- man and divine. Social, political and industrial upheaval, and the ill-advised and revengeful reconstruction legisla- tion have failed to produce legitimate results because of the former good feeling between master and servant and the patient and good conduct which, in the aggregate, has marked the two peoples. The inexcusable lynchings and the atrocious crimes which caused them have been surprisingly few, and are not justly chargeable against the great mass of
A Tremendous Push Upward.
either race. The exemption from strikes at the South, from the lawlessness of organized and assertive labor, the beneficial effects of good climate, fertile soil, rich mineral resources, the spur from impoverishment to greater indus- try and economy, the better prices for some agricultural products, have lately g^ven the South a tremendous push upward. Every patriot should labor for a better under- standing of his fellow citizens, for the obliteration of the last vestige of sectional prejudice and bitterness, for the enlightenment of opnion, for the consummation of equal and exact justice to both races, for the uplifting of Ameri-
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can citizenship, for the strengthening and ennobling of all influences which will perpetuate free, representative insti- tutions, add to our prosperity and happiness, and make more lustrous and beneficent our example to all peoples, struggling for free government, based on intelligence, integrity and capacity.
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EDWARD IRELAND RENICK.^
By Gaillard Hunt.
The Executive Departments of the general Govern- ment are popularly supposed to be a burial ground to talent and ambition in young men, but occasionally there rises an exception to this rule and it is proved that even here much can be done by one who has steadfastness of purpose and constantly exercises his mental capabilities. Such a shining exception was Edward Ireland Renick, who died April ii, 1900.
Government Service.
When he was appointed chief clerk of the Department of State, April 17, 1894, he had been continuously in the civil service of the Government for ten years. He was appointed to a position in the Treasury Department, Feb- ruary II, 1884, where he served until April 17, 1893, when Walter Q. Gresham appointed him Chief of the Bureau of Statistics (now the Bureau of Foreign Commerce) in the State Department. The reports issued under his di- rection were notable for their excellence, and the volume of business transacted by his bureau increased greatly. The oflSce of chief clerk falling vacant he was promoted to it, and served until May 20, 1897. He was a man of methodical mind and he adhered strictly to rules. He was perfectly impartial and an untiring worker, and he infused into the whole department staff a new spirit of in- dustry and individual energy, bringing it up to a greater average of efficiency than it had attained for many years. Himself a fine example of the merit system he was an
^ Mr. Renick was an active and devoted member of the South- em History Association at the time of his death.
4
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ardent believer in it, and never deviated from the letter or spirit of the civil service rules. He was punctilious in his conscientiousness and performed the duties of his office without fear or favor. His studies and his aspirations had set towards an under secretaryship, rather than towards a purely administrative office, but his talents were diversi- fied and his administration as chief clerk did credit to himself and his department.
Ancestry and Earl,y Life.
He was born at Baltimore, June 5, 1846, his father be- ing William Hamilton Renick and his mother Elizabeth Ireland. On her side he was a descendant of John Moale, one of the "Sons of Liberty" of Maryland immediately be- fore the Revolution, a member of the Maryland conven- tion of 1775, of the committee of correspondence, and the holder of several important civil offices during the Revolu- tion. In the same line, another ancestor was Jesse Hol- lingsworth, of the revolutionary council of safety ; another was Zebulon Hollingsworth, Attorney of the United States at Baltimore under appointment of General Washington.
Mr. Renick received his early education at the Balti- more City College, whence he went to Roanoke College, Virginia, and then to the law school at the University of Virginia, where he took the course under the celebrated Professor Minor. A year after graduation he went to Atlanta, where he practiced law until he came to Wash- ington to enter the Treasury Department.
His Literary Work.
In 1882 he made his first important appearance in print in an article in The Nation, and continued to contribute to that paper and the Evening Post at intervals for twelve years.
In 1889 appeared his article in the Political Science Quarterly, on "The Control of National Expenditures," and in June, 1890, in the same periodical, his paper on
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"The Comptrollers and the Courts," a lucid account of the old system under which the comptrollers were all- powerful. It showed a complete grasp of the subject, and was written in the simple, clear style which characterized everything that came from his pen.
One year later appeared his more elaborate article "The Decisions of the Comptroller" in the same review. In July, 1898, the Southern History Association published his paper on Christopher Gadsden. For years he was a stud- ent of Gadsden's career, and always insisted that history had failed to render him full justice. The paper presented only a portion of the data he had gathered and which are now among his posthumous papers. At about this time he published important papers on alien ownership of land in the District of Columbia in the Washington Post and Evening Star and American Law Review. They were reprinted in 1900 by the Senate committee on the District of Columbia.
Entering a New Career.
The years spent by Mr. Renick in the Government service had sharpened instead of blunting his powers. He won his promotions entirely by deserving them, and when he had reached a height where he became a shining mark to the spoilsmen and resigned his office, it fell about that his career instead of being ended was really about to be- gin. He loved the law better than anything else, and he studied it profoundly, but thus far the application of his studies had been confined almost entirely to Government business. Freed from official life he was almost imme- diately invited into the firm of eminent international law- yers, the Coudert Brothers, of New York, and placed in charge of their Washington office. Here he spent the busiest and most promising years of his life. He was still a young man and the world lay before him, when he went to Paris to manage a case of the Duke de Castellane.
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It was his first visit to Europe, and he looked forward to it with keen anticipation, but it was destined that there should be an untimely end to a career which promised many years of progress, usefulness and distinction. He had been in Paris but a few weeks when he was stricken by t)rphoid fever and died after an illness of eleven days.
A Southerner of the Higher Type.
His personal qualities were most engaging. He never spoke harshly or unkindly. He never forgot a kindness. He was the soul of truth and honor. He was a South- erner of the higher typt, devoted to his section, proud of its history and confident of its future.
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The Reign of Law. A Tale of the Kentucky Hemp Fields. By James Lane Allen. With illustrations by Harry Fenn and J. C. Earl. New York: The Macmillan Company. London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., 1900, 12**, pp. vii+38s, cloth, $1.50.
This tale of the Kentucky hemp fields is the story of a few years out of the life of David, a strong, honest, vigor- ous-minded, and independent country boy, who, under the influence of Nature, the Bible, and Christianity as he knew it, determined to become a minister of the gospel, but who abandoned that determination because of a change in his beliefs about Christianity and man's place in Nature. This change came about during the year and a half that he was at the Bible College of the State Uni- versity. It was the result of his studying the forms of religion of the other churches in the town besides his own, and comparing them with each other; and of his reading the works of Darwin and" other leaders of the "new science." He became so radical in his views that he not only of his own accord decided that he could not preach, but he was expelled from college and from his church. He had in the meantime, by adopting his new views, alienated himself from his college friends; and he returned home to find that his parents, unable to under- stand him, or to sympathize with him in his position, had no welcome for him.
The hardness of David's lot at home was made endur- able by the peace of mind which followed the settling of his doubts, and by his association with Gabriella. In Ga- briella, although she was a devout churchwoman, he found sjrmpathy, and, later, love.
In less than two years, then, David passed out of the
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period of simple, unquestioning faith in which his re- ligion gave him all that he wanted ; through the period of doubt and unbelief, and into that of firm convictions of a new kind, a steady purpose as to his life work, and a realization of the necessity of a woman's love in his na- ture.
At this point two criticisms of the story may be offered. It is doubtful whether, in 1867, enough of the new scien- tific and theological spirit existed in America to affect seriously the beliefs of a college sophomore ; certainly the spirit was not so much in the atmosphere as Mr. Allen represents it to have been. Then, when it did come, it is not likely that the faculty of even a Bible college would have regarded a student's views as important enough to be so seriously treated.
Although these criticisms may be offered, the author's course is justified. By putting David, whose mind felt the effect of the great modern revolution in scientific and re- ligious thought, in the late "sixties," the author made it possible to link his fortunes with those of Gabriella, a victim of the gjeat social revolution in the Southern States brought about by the Civil War. For, while he, the son of lowly parents, was fighting his intellectual and spiritual battles in the Bible college, she, the daughter of wealthy, aristocratic and cultivated parents, was making her own living by teaching a district school in the neigh- borhood of his father's home. She thus learned of his ambitions and his struggles, and when he came home in disgrace she was ready to be his friend, and, later, his wife. To show, then, the change in conditions which made it possible for a young man and a young woman of widely different social classes to unite their fortunes, justifies put- ting David several years before his natural time.
As to the expulsion of David from the college and the church on account of his views about religion and sci- ence, while that is scarcely the treatment which a sopho-
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more in an American college would have received at any time during the last third of a century, it represents the inward battles which as honest a soul as David's must have on the breaking up of a faith which has been held unquestioningly, and which has come to fill a large part, if not all, of the man's life.
These struggles do not, however, call out the greatest amount of sympathy. The reader feels that David is strong enough to bear all of them, and that, when he has settled his beliefs on a more rational basis, he himself will realize how valuable the experience has been to him. The real tragedy ifi David's life is found in his home. That is the tragedy which is inevitable when thriftless, narrow- minded, sternly pious parents have an industrious, large- souled, broad-minded, generously-reverent son, whotn they can neither understand nor sympathize with. In this case the father has in himself the strain of a noble ances- try ; and, but' for the mother, would have been more lenient towards his son. She, however, is "a lowly mother who has given birth to a lofty son, and who has neither the power to understand him nor the grace to realize her inferiority." Having nothing in common with him, she led on her husband to exaggerate the difference between himself and his son.
A more stupefying home atmosphere than David's mother made would be difficult to find. A single scene will represent all. One winter's day, David had been un- avoidably delayed by his work. When he went to his supper in the cold dining-room, he saw "at the foot of the table where his father had sat, * * two partly eaten dishes: one of spare-ribs, one of sausage. The gravy in each had begun to whiten into lard. Plates heaped with corn-bread and with biscuit, poorly baked and now cold, were placed on each side. In front of him had been set a pitcher of milk ; this rattled, as he poured it, with its own bluish ice." When he had seated himself, his mother's remarks were: "What makes you so late?"
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"Is it going to snow?" "I got three fresh eggs to-day; one had dropped from the roost and frozen; it was cracked, but it will do for the coffee in the morning/' "The cook wants to kill one of the old ones [hens] for soup to-morrow." "We opened the last hill of turnips to- day." "You needn't pack any more chips to the smoke- house : the last meat's smoked enough." To all of these questions and observations David replied cheerfully, but he could not change the situation.
The relief to this dreariness is in the fresh air of the woods and fields, the pungent smell of the hemp, and the sweet, strong spirit df Gabriella. It is Gabriella who nurses David through a severe attack of illness, and brings about enough of an understanding between him and his parents for him to leave them with a kindly feel- ing in their hearts for him when he goes away from home to take up his work — ^the study of physical science.
Running through the entire story is that influence of nature which the readers of Mr. Allen's books have learned to know so well — an influence as fresh as the smell of newly-plowed earth in the spring, and as delicate as the odor of a bed of wild violets on a mossy bank. A strong local color is given by the hemp. The reader never loses its rich, aromatic odor, nor forgets what the plant means to a Kentuckian who has lived where it grows. ' George S. Wills.
The Strength of Gideon and Other Stories. By Paul Laurence Dunbar. New York : Dodd, Mead & Co., 1900, pp. 362, i2mo., cloth, illus. by E. W. Kemble.
Until recently the portrayal of negro character in fic- tion has been done entirely by the pens of white men, but now at least two negroes, Charles W. Chesnutt and Paul Laurence Dunbar, have won favorable recognition in this field.
This book contains twenty short stories, depicting the
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negro in phases ranging from the ante-bellum "mammy" tip, or down, to the fin de siecle colored politician and office- seeker.
Who can read these stories without feeling the super- iority of Gideon, who, with the old-time loyalty of the slave, kept his promise to remain as the protector of his master's wife and children, in spite of the fact that the girl he was to marry begged him to follow the Yankee army with her from the old plantation, to Mr. Cornelius Johnson, who goes to Washington in patent-leather shoes. Prince Albert coat and "shiny top hat," in quest of office ? The contrast between the two marks the entrance of a new character into fiction, that of the educated negro, the imitator and would-be rival of the white man, and raises the question whether the new-comer will interest the reading public. However successful he may become as a rival of the white man in real life, he will never be able to compete with his slave brother on the field of fic- tion. The old-fashioned darky of the South was as abso- lutely unique as the civilization of which he was a factor. In him simple pathos and natural humor found a new ex- pression, which can never be reproduced in the same form in human history. For this reason, perhaps, Mr. Dunbar is at his best in the stories of the old-time negro ; but he by no means equals such writers as Joel Chandler Harris and Thomas Nelson Page in subtle insight and sympa- thetic touch. This is not his fault; for it may well be doubted whether it is possible for one of his own race to catch some phases of the old darkey's character, and these the most attractive phases, as they were impressed on the heart and memory of his master's children.
But Mr. Dunbar's stories are very readable, and several of them are marked by considerable artistic skill. The only notes of bitterness in the book are called forth by lynchings in the South and by the hard conditions that confront the ambitions of the educated negro at the North. R. F. Campbell.
AshevHU, N, C.
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A Cumberland V^detta. A Novel. By John Fox, Jr. New York and London: Harper & Brothers, 1900, pp. 181, 8vo., illus., cloth, $1.25.
In his Cumberland Vendetta, John Fox, Jr., employs an old motive. Nor is this in the least a detriment to his story, being in some sense inevitable. Indeed, it may be asked if there are any new motives in present literature : as the etymologist traces the hundred thousand words of a modern language to a few crude roots, so the literary source-hunter learns from his quest that the great stories of the world are but varied aspects of a half-dozen strangely familiar conceptions. Nemesis, irony of fate, poetic justice have stood artists in stead since long before the days of Greek tragedy, and will continue to serve them until the time of the last play-going, novel-reading man. Now in this artistic seed-stock there is no embryo more venerable and consequently more effective than that labeled, "The love of a chieftain for the daughter of a rival house." Montagues and Capulets, Rodrigues and Chimenes, Porphyros and Madelines, Cranstouns and Margarets — lords and ladies, Italian, Spanish, English, Scottish — have thus found being. The germ-plasm is once more expanded to full life — this time among the mountaineers of the Cumberland range.
The title tells the whole story of the book. We postu- late a hero and heroine divided in mind between their loyalty to traditions of blood-feud and their ripening love of each other. We know before the title page is passed just what part father and brother will play in the drama ; we anticipate the endeavor of blood-guiltiness to make fitting atonement ; and we should be not in the least sur- prised by a tragic culmination. In this last expectation, however, we are deceived. This version, though neces- sarily serious, is not keyed to tragedy. The deaths are so thoroughly in keeping with the fitness of things, as or- dained by the little gods of literature (father and brother
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must be taken off, or else violence is done to a long-stand- ing altar), that they hardly seem the outcome of mighty passions. Reconciliation and sympathy^ in sorrow, pa- thetic but not tragic elements conduct the last strong scene to its close; and the final note is that of hope, as the lovers pass across the hills into a new world.
A story that follows in the main a convention might properly be deemed conventional. This is, however, ex- actly what Mr. Fox's tale is not. The background of wild life and nature is so fresh and true, the persons of the drama are so humanly probable, the action is so rapid and tense, that the rare ozone of spurs and cliffs makes the reader gasp for breath as he is hurried over rough roads. First of all, the author knows his mountaineer (the reviewer is now speaking from the experience of many months in "them parts"), and describes him sen- sibly, not sentimentally. "Among mountain women, the girl was more than pretty; elsewhere only her hair, per- haps, would have caught the casual eye" (p. 36). There is a clue to the whole method of treatment. The realist painting things as they are is not inclined to ascribe to this primitive life all the virtues and all the gp-aces; he does not find Arcadia in the shadow of Thunderstruck Knob. No, Highland beauty and charm do not belong to the women, nor Swiss cheerfulness and love of country to the men of our Southern mountains; but, in lieu of these, often appear genuine frankness, rough courage, crude chivalry and real kindliness of heart. Unfor- tunately contempt of law and order and lack of reverence and of respect for life, with other things that minister to ugliness of existence justify, indeed give color to this medieval kit-motif. The artist does not moralize, save once or twice through the mouth of his miller, the "chorus" of the play ; it is left to the reader to make what he will of these people and their deeds. The characters are strongly drawn, admirably so, if we consider the nar-
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row compass of the story: Rome, Marthy, Old Jas, Jas- per, Isom and the Stetson mother are all fashioned from mountain-rock, but each creation presents a different phase of Cumberland personality.
Mr. Fox knows the hills as well as the men. It is true that he does not delay us, as his predecessors on those heights have invariably done, with elaborate word-pic- tures often of great beauty; he loves compactness too well, thus to tax the reader's patience. The traits of the good story-teller are not those of the poet. Mountain and stream and flower life are not introduced for their own sake— except perhaps in his spring and June land- scapes (pp. 151,163) — 'but as a background to humanity. The moods of nature reflect those of his characters, par- ticularly in the scene between Rome and Marthy before the burning cabin under the rim of Wolfs Head, a very pretty bit of "pathetic fallacy." It is seldom that he strikes such a false note as that on his second page : "The stalks and hooded ears looked in the coming dusk a little like monks at prayer." This simile transports us at once into an alien atmosphere.
As has been intimated, the story moves rapidly, almost breathlessly. The love-element is thus somewhat subor- dinated to the "moving incidents" of the feud: there is little time for the dallyings of courtship amid the threats and vows of vengeance rising on the powder smoke that hangs like a cloud over Hazlan. The retarded movement of the last part of the tale is therefore necessary and fur- nishes a restful relief to the acceleration of the early chap- ters. A more prolix writer might easily have expanded this short story into a volume. Mr. Fox's artistic con- science has left that task to his publishers, who have em- ployed their thicjcest paper and provided margins wider than the print-matter. Palpably mercantile book-making, this !
The style of the story is clear, cogent, incisive, rather
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than graceful or elegant. Short sentences and terse epi- thets are well suited, however, to the speed of the narra- tive, which is too naive to permit the slightest suggestion of "fine writing." The dialogues are on the whole well conceived and well executed, with due regard to dialect; though we miss certain picturesque provincialisms famil- iar to our ears, and all traces of the dry humor that glim- mers in the darkness of mountain-life. To conclude, the tale is a capital one, and loses nothing in the telling.
Frederick Tupper, Jr. Burlington, Vt,
Southern Echoes. By Louise Pike. Boston: East- em Publishing Co., 1900, i2mo., pp., 131, cloth, $1.00.
This interesting little work is a collection of negro dia- lect stories. In the preface, the author speaks of the passing away of the old-time negro ; his dialect and song will soon be numbered among the things that were, and in these sketches Miss Pike shows a desire to perpetuate that dialect. She has evidently made a close study of the old-time negro, and her little volume is a comprehensive one, dealing with the religion, superstition, and other peculiar phases of the negro character. There is a good deal of quiet humor in the sketches, and Miss Pike has taken pains to express the ideas of her character as nearly as possible, in the old-time negro dialect. There are a dozen of these sketches, the first one, "A Prank of Hy- men/' relating an amusing account of a negro suitor who failed to marry because he heard that his sweetheart was "a dissipated 'oman." The next sketch — "Clarissa's Maw" — is an account of a high-tempered old maumer who believed in whipping; in this sketch we have a pic- ture of the pillaging of a Southern home by Union sol- diers. One of the most amusing among the sketches is "Tobit's call," which narrates about an old uncle who "gained a precarious living by doing odd jobs for different
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families and paying court to the cooks in the neighbor- hood. He was great on quoting Scripture and he had a prayer for potatoes answered in a novel and unexpected manner, which resulted in his being cklled to preach. "A game of crap" gives a good insight into the peculiar su- perstition of the negro race. One of the most realistic of the sketches is "Tempers Venture," which tells of the un- successful undertaking of a woman who undertook to sell dinner during court week — a country negro came along who desired to eat and with whom Tempe made this agreement: "You gib meh half a-dollah an* eat all yuh wants." The negro eat so much that when he quit Tempe said: "Dat nigger done clean meh plumb out. Nothin' left but de plates." "A No. 'Count Nigger" tells of a phenomenally lazy member of the race whose master made him industrious by having him placed in a coffin and threatened to bury him — ^when he was released from the coffin "Br'er Ira he run ter dat co*ne house and had all that co'nes shucked 'long 'fo' hit was night." We will not attempt here a synopsis of all the sketches in this volume, but recommend it as a very readable one. It shows the kindly feelings which existed between the races in the old days of slavery. McDonald Furman.
Privaieery S. C.
Who Goes There? The Story of a Spy in the Civil War. By B. K. Benson. New York: The Macmillan Co., 1900, 8vo., pp. xviii+485, 4 maps, cloth, $1.50.
This is an account of the experiences of a man subject to amnesia. He purports to relate them himself, and does so in detail, and very realistically. When a boy at school he met with an accident, which caused, or developed, the peculiar mental malady to which he afterwards from time to time became subject. Under this condition he would entirely forget his past life, but be perfectly sane as to the present. In the war between the States (spoken of
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by the misnomer "rebellion") he commenced as an en- listed man in a Massachusetts regiment, serving in Vir- ginia, and, through the influence apparently of a person having highly developed hypnotic powers, becomes a Fed- eral scout, degenerating into a spy. While operating in this latter capacity within the Confederate lines, and in their uniform, he is accidentally desperately wounded by the explosion of a shell, loses consciousness, and on re- covering his senses finds himself in a field-hospital under the kind treatment of a surgeon of A. P. Hill's corps, but his past is a perfect blank. Of his name he has a vague semi-recollection, but otherwise his personal indentity is as much a mystery to himself as to the kind surgeon and his comrades, who take great interest in his case, and be- friend him. From his uniform it is naturally supposed that he had been a Confederate soldier, and as the com- mand to which he belonged could not be discovered, he enlists, when well, in one of the South Carolina regi- ments belonging to the corps. As the past is a blank, he knows nothing at all about the war, dr the merits of the controversy, but on the facts being explained, readily adopts the Southern views (which is not surprising, in his peculial" condition, free from all prejudice). Finally, after going through many battles creditably, and being several times wounded, he gradually awakes to a consciousness of previous personal identity, and remembers his past life. Being on picket one night, he deserts to the Fed- erals, and carries to them information of Lee's move- ments, which saves Meade from destruction. This deser- tion not being brought about by amnesia, shows the moral unsoundness of the man, when in full possession of his faculties. In places in the story we hear many words of wisdom from the hypnotic doctor, and there are the faintest glimpses of a woman's face.
Edward L. Wells.
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Thkir Shadows Befork. By Pauline Carrington Bouve. (Boston: Small, Maynard & Company, 1899, D, pp. 202, $1.00). This volume, about 32,000 words in length, is a story of the insurrection of the slaves under Nat. Turner in Southampton county, Va., in 1832. The scene is laid in that county in 1830-31, with a rapid ex- tension to the time of John Brown's raid. The principal characters are Charles Christopher Winston, lord of the Winston Manor, country squire of influence and promi- nence locally, a slave owner, irrascible, and a typical South- ern gentleman; Penelope Contesse Winston, his grand- daughter, heroine and narrator of the story, who is easily influenced by Basil Mortimer, her Northern tutor, who comes to Virginia with ideas of freedom and negro equal- ity and gets mixed up in the minds of the people with Nat. Turner's movement and narrowly escapes hanging; a Yankee overseer of the conventional type, various ne- groes and pickaninnies who speak in excellent dialect and more important still Nat. Turner himself.
An effort is made to show the feeling of unrest among the slaves at that period, superinduced by the preaching and mesmeric influence of "Old Nat," but their devotion to their masters is not forgotten, for here as was many times the case during those frightTul days in August, 1831, the lives of the masters were saved by their slaves at the imminent peril of their own.
The action of the tale moves rapidly; the heroine is herself captured by the insurgents and imprisoned in Nat's cave ; she is released by him from captivity, but not from his mesmeric influence (or as the negroes of Vir- ginia would call it, "conjure spell"). His capture, bearing during his trial and execution, his calm, unwavering con- fidence in his own mission as a prophet from God to his people are all clearly portrayed and in substantial agree- ment with the record of history. (See Publications, vol. 4, p. 360, for review of W. S. Drewry's book. The South-
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ampton Insurrection. Washington, 1900). Terrified by her experience the heroine liberates her slaves and mar- ries her abolitionist tutor. The dialect and local color are good; the characters, with the exception of Squire Winston and Nat. Turner, are weak.
Historical Sketches and Reminiscences of an Octogenarian. By Thomas L. Preston. Richmond: B. F. Johnson Publishing Co., 1900, 8vo., cloth, portrait, pp. 170, index.
Together with a short account of the exploration and settlement of Southwest Virginia and an account of some of the more important episodes of its early history, this book gives the writer's reminiscences of men and man- ners as they were in that section more than half a century ago. The writer, through both father and mother the descendant of men most conspicuous among the early settlers and among those who made the later history that he records, is to the manner born and speaks with au- thority; and though the reader may find things here and there to criticise, the book should certainly be pronounced one of much interest and value.
Looked at from a strictly historical standpoint, the defects of the book arise' mainly either from the tendency of the author to place rather too high a value on family tradition or from a failure on his part to estimate cor- rectly the general history of the country at the time of the local event of which he may be treating. As an example of error arising from the latter source the comment on the resolutions and address drawn up by the patriots of Fincastle county, January 20, 1775, may be taken. The First Continental Congress having recommended that a committee be appointed in each county in the Colonies to see that the agreement in reference to the non-importa- tion and non-consumption of British articles should be carried out, the voters of Fincastle met on January 20, 1775, chose such a committee, and drew up an address
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to the delegates who had represented Virginia in the Congress. Toward the close of this address the following spirited language occurs: "We by no means desire to shake off our duty or our allegiance to our lawful sov- ereign, but, on the contrary, shall ever glory in being the loyal subjects of a Protestant Prince, descended from such illustrious progenitors, so long as we can enjoy the free exercise of our Religion as Protestants, and our Liberties and Properties as British subjects.
"But if no pacific measures shall be proposed or adopted by Great Britain, and our enemies shall attempt to dragoon us out of these inestimable privileges, which we are entitled to as subjects, and to reduce us to a state of slavery, we declare that we are deliberately and reso- lutely determined never to surrender them to any power upon earth, but at the expense of our lives." In connec- tion with his account of Fort Chiswell, the county seat of Fincastle, Colonel Preston has the following to say about the "Fincastle Resolutions," evidently basing his remarks mainly on the passage quoted above: "Fort Chiswell has other claims to historical association. It was the meeting place, in all probability, of that band of *West Augusta' patriots who were the first to resolve *to resist the ag- gressions of England by force.' The author of those cele- brated 'Fincastle Resolutions' is not authentically ascer- tained. *********** They are dated January 20, 1775, ^^^^^ months before the battle of Lexing- ton; four before the patriotic resolves of the people of Mecklenburg, North Carolina; Hve before the battle of Bunker's Hill, and nearly a year and five months before the Declaration of Independence." The Fincastle address is in truth a remarkable paper, but it is remarkable rather for its clear and forceful style than for its note of resist- ance ; for similar resolutions and addresses, with just the same note of resistance, were at that time being drawn up by the patriots all over the land. Any one who will examine the collection of historical documents published in "Ameri-
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can Archives/' Fourth Series, Vol. I, may read a number of such papers as the Fincastle address. One of the docu- ments given (p. 1031) contains the resolutions passed by a convention of delegates from the various counties of Maryland. This convention, which met the 12th of De- cember, I77'4, went so far as to resolve unanimously to recommend to the committee of each county that money be raised for the purchase of arms. But this Maryland convention was not the first body that had determined on armed resistance to England. The First Continental Congress itself had decided, if peaceful means failed, to go to this length. The language of its address to the American people, though veiled it may be, cannot be mis- understood. And even before the address was prepared, the body had, on October 8, "Resolved, That this Con- gress approve the opposition of the inhabitants of the Massachusetts Bay to the execution of the late Acts of Parliament ; atid if the same shall be attempted to be car- ried into execution by force, in such case all America ought to support them in their opposition" (p. 907). Space is wanting here for further extracts, but attention is called to the resolutions passed by the delegates from the towns of the county of Suffolk, Massachusetts, Septem- ber 6, 1774 (p. 902). It was these resolutions that called forth from Congress the resolution quoted above. At- tention is called, too, to the instructions given the Vir- ginia deputies to the Congress (p. 689), and, going a step farther back still, to the resolutions of the citizens of Fairfax county, passed when they met to choose repre- sentatives to the convention that was to elect deputies to Congress (p. 598). In both cases armed resistance, under certain circumstances, is unmistakably advocated. Thus it is seen that the men of Fincastle were not the first to resolve "to resist the aggressions of England by force." They were, however, in line with the patriots of the entire country, and when the time came to discard the pen for
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the rifle they proved that they could shoot as well even as the draughtsman of their resolutions could write.
The student of the economic history of Virginia will find Chapter III. of this book, in which chapter is given the history of the manufacture of salt at Saltville, of much interest. The chapter is spetially to be commended to the consideration of those who may be under the impression that combinations among manufacturers to prevent ex- cessive production have never been heard of in industrial history up to the present evil days. In this chapter, too, is to be found perhaps the best work in the book from a literary point of view, the description of the early scenery in the neighborhood of the salt wells being excellent.
The most generally entertaining parts of the book, however, are those devoted to the manners and customs of the mountain people in early days; and those parts, with the part containing the sketch of the town of Abing- don, are probably the most valuable ; though the sketches of Colonel William Preston, the author's grandfather; Gen. Francis Preston, the author's father, and the Hon. William Campbell Preston and Colonel John S. Preston, the author's brothers, both of whom removed to South Carolina, are also of importance.
The lover of Virginia history will close the book with regret that it is not longer.
Prof. H. R. McIlwaine.
North Carolina Sketches, phases of life where the galax grows. By Mary Nelson Carter. Chicago : A. C. McClurg & Co., 1900, cloth, i2mo., pp. 313, $1.00.
This little volume is a very neat production from the printer's standpoint. It contains essays on quite a variety of subjects: Mrs. Smith, Stepping Backward, A Foggy Day, Mr. Timmins, Playing with Fire, Neighborly Gossip, Barter, The Course of True Love, Hiding Out, In Maria's Garden, The Summer is Ended, A White Day, Now is the
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Winter of Our Discontent, Sally, Old Times, Getting an Education, Like other Children.
Some of these essays are very short, others of greater length; and they are for the most part in the supposed North Carolina mountain dialect. The descriptive style is very good, better than the dialect style. The women are energetic and interesting, far more so than the men ; and this upon the whole is probably a truer estimate. The author brings out the extreme simplicity of the life of these mountain folks, their poverty, their little huts and farms, the prevalent influence of whisky among the men, es- pecially the younger men, their habits of courting and marrying, their virtue. The positioa these people took during the Civil War is also brought out to a certain ex- tent. There were men among them who fought for the Northern cause; there were others who fought for the South willingly, while others were compelled to ; there were many others who hid themselves in their mountain caves. The author has also brought out the missionary attempts to give these folks an education and the rival claims of the Baptists and Methodists to give them denominational religion.
The book makes no pretensions of being a historical work. The characters treated in it are highly idealized, as they are to-day, or as they have been in the past. Upon the whole the book is most interesting; its spirit is very fair ; its plan and execution are both good.
Charles Lee Raper.
Columbia University, New York City.
Johnson's Physical Culture Primary Book. By B. F. Johnson. B. F. Johnson Publishing Co., Richmond, Va.
This little book of one hundred and twenty-three pages, handsomely bound and illustrated, has just been issu,ed.
It is written in a plain forcible style, and treats of mat-
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ters hitherto and generally neglected by children, and es- pecially by those attending public schools.
It is true that in most of the public schools in the larger cities, something of physical culture is a part of the cur- riculum, but in most cases it is perfunctory. Mr. John- son has covered the field in a brief but plain manner, and the use of his book in the schools and the carrying out of his suggestions would no doubt add to the healthy growth of the pupils. M. J. W.
As with previous years, volume 27 of the Southern Historical Society Papers (Richmond, Va., 1899, paper, pp. 395), IS filled with valuable historical contributions, counting up 48 titles, very largely reprinted from the daily and weekly papers of the South. The Secretary, Colonel R. A. Brock, could hardly do better service than thus to preserve in handy shape the mass of important data that is being continually poured forth from the periodical press throughout the South. It is safe to say that the best of this widespread output is here gathered up for reference. Without this watchfulness of the Sec- retary it would be almost hopelessly buried, and would besides, after a few years, be lost forever because of the disappearance of the issues, and of the deterioration of the paper the most of transient literature is printed on. It might be suggested though that a few of these ar- ticles are mere rehashes of general historical knowledge, and in consequence are no additions to the present stock of information. In this day of liberality in matters of faith, it seems, also, a useless glance backwards to dis- cuss Lincoln's religious views. If the test of orthodoxy is to be applied some of the giants of the past would be read off the rostrum, Jefferson in the number. It is a question, further, at this time of fraternal breadth, whether it would not be well to print together fair- minded accounts from both sides of some prominent in-
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cident. It would be unique certainly, and very likely elevating.
The tenth volume of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies recently issued (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1900, O., pp. xxii+il+902), continues the history of the operations of the North At- lantic Blockading Squadron, already treated in part in volumes 6 to 9. The blockade by the North Atlantic Squadron extended from the mouth of the Plankatank river, Va., to the southern boundary line of North Caro- lina, except the ports of Norfolk, Va., and Beaufort, N. C, which were occupied by Federal troops and open to trade. The volume in hand contains the reports on the capture of the blockade runner Advance (humorously written here A. D. Vance ; had it been Z. B. Vance there would have been reason in the form), September 10, 1864, which did so much to supply North Carolina with neces- sities from abroad ; the blowing up of the C. S. Ram, Al- bemarle, at Plymouth, N. C, October 27, 1864, by Lieut. Cushing, with cuts of his launch and the torpedo used, and preliminary reports on the investment of Fort Fisher and Wilmington. The index covers 96 pages. There are illustrations and charts of the moveiAents of vessels.
The Proceedings (University Press, Cambridge, paper, 8vo., pp. 58), of the Trustees of the Peabody fund at their 39th meeting, October 3, 1900, is composed chiefly of the comprehensive report of the General Agent, Dr. J. L. M. Curry, with supplements from the Peabody Nor- mal College and two State Superintendents, data from other States being incorporated in the Agent's report. If possible with more force and vigor than ever, does Dr. Curry emphasize the value and importance of pro- viding educational facilities, declaring "the paramount issue" to be the furnishing by the Government "of the widest possible opportunities for the development of the faculties and personality of every citizen." In the finan-
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cial statement we see how the $84,000 of income are dis- tributed among twelve Southern States.
Of late years, the Rocky Mountain plateau, on account of its height, dryness and equability of temperature, is rapidly becoming noted as a vast natural sanitarium for pulmonary troubles. Hence, to show the special advan- tages of New Mexico, we have from the Bureau of Im- migration of that Territory, Climatology, with an ac- count of the resorts and mineral springs in that section (paper, 8vo., pp. 100, illus.).^
In Bulletin No. 4, of the department of geolog^^ of the South Dakota School of Mines (Rapid City, April, 1900, pp. 88, paper, illus., index), C. C. O'Harra gives us a very full and interesting history of geological investiga- tion of the Black Hills region, followed by an exhaustive bibliography. When we learn that this particular spot was not even mentioned until the Lewis and Clark ex- pedition in the first decade of the nineteenth century, and was not noticed scientifically until fifty years ago, our amazement is excusable to see the bibliography mount up to 217 titles. Bulletin No. 3 from the same institu- tion is a paper on "Cyanide experiments" by two mem- bers of the school staff to show the use of this process in treating gold ores (paper 28, April, 1900).
A very valuable little work has been compiled by the Rev. G. T. Gusham, of Manning, S. C. It is entitled Clarendon County Directory, and is a pamphlet of over 100 pages. It gives sketches of the towns and villages of the county, a list of the county officers, churches and pastors, an alphabetical list of the tax j)ayers of both races, with their occupations and post offices, besides other matter.
Mr. Charles Lee Raper, instructor in history, Colum- bia University, New York City, has in preparation a book on Royal Government in North Carolina, 1729- 1776. The chapters may be summarized as follows: (i) Land System, 1663-1776; (2) Review of Proprietary Gov-
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ernment, 1663-1729; (3) The Executive: the Governor; (4) The Executive : the Council ; (5) The Legislative Sys- tem: the Council or Upper House; (6) The Legislative System: the Lower House; (7) The Conflicts of Gover- nor and Lower House; (8) The Conflicts of Council and Lower House; (9) The Judicial System; (10) The Mili- tary System; (11) The Fiscal System; (12) The Down- fall of Royal Government.
In its Roster of the North Carolina Volunteers in the Spanish-American War, 1898-1899 (Raleigh: Edwards & Broughton and E. M. Uzzell, State Printers, 1900, O., pp. 131), that State has again put students under obliga- tions for the completeness of its war records. The State's contributions to our last war were two regiments of 12 companies each and one regiment of ten companies, the last being composed of and officered by negroes. A sketch of each regiment is given, together with the war history of each volunteer. The State now possesses a fair Roster of its Revolutionary soldiers (published in 1869), of the soldiers of 1812 (1851 and 1873), of the Mexi- can war (1887), and of the Civil War (1881, 3 vols.).
A rare North Carolina book which has recently come into the hands of the writer for the first time is Let- ters I from the | Forty-fourth regiment M. V. M. : | a record of the | experience of a nine months' regiment | in the I department of North Carolina in 1862-3. | By Cor- poral. I Boston: | printed at the Herald job office, No. 4 Williams' Court, | 1863, | O., pp. 121. The regiment was enlisted in Boston; had its headquarters in the field in Newbern, N. C, and was under command of Gen. J. G. Foster. It was in four battles, Rawls' Mills, Kinston, Whitehall and Washington. It lost 102 men and at the end of its term of service was disbanded in Boston. The author of the letters was Zenas T. Haines, and they were first published in the Boston "Herald." Another history of the same regiment is the Record of Service of the 44th
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Massachusetts Volunteer Militia in North Carolina, Au- gust, 1862; May, 1863, maps, ports, and illus., O., Boston, 1887.
Hon.*Richard H. Battle has issued in pamphlet form his Address on occasion of the unveiling of the bronze statue to Gov. Z. B. Vance in Capitol Square, Raleigh, N. C, August 22, 1900 (Raleigh: Raleigh Advocate Co. Print. O., pp. 74, port, of Vance and illustration of statue and pedestal). There is an account of the ceremonies attending the unveiling, a short hist6ry of the efforts to secure money for the same, and for which $5,000 was given by the State. Numerous instances are given of Vance's wit and badinage — elements which contributed very largely to his popularity in the State.
Apropos of the contents of Vot. 17 of the North Caro- lina Records in the September number of the Publications (IV, 374), Maj. Graham Daves, of Newbern, N. C, writes that there is a complete and well-preserved copy of the Abstract in the office of the Clerk of the Superior Court of Craven county, N. C, at Newbern. The book con- tains 224 pages, and is entitled. Abstract of the Army Ac- counts of the North Carolina Line, settled by the Commis- sioners at Halifax^ from the ist September, ^7^4, to the ist February, 1785) and at Warrentown in the year 1786. The accounts set forth the names and rank of the claim- ants, the amount paid to each, which is expressed in pounds, shillings and pence, and the person by whom re- ceipted for, all of which is reproduced in the State Records (xvii, pp. 189-263). Filed with the book are quite a number of the original certificates of the Com- missioners, showing the names of some of those entitled, and the sum due each. Apparently these were never paid, as they are not receipted. The copies of the settle- ments were furnished for publication by the agents to make the same, agreeably to an act of the General As- sembly passed at Newbern in 1792. The Society of the Cincinnati of North Carolina has a partial copy of the
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Abstract, and one is thought to be in the office of the clerk of Carteret county.
From the American Anthropologist for July, 1900, Albert S. Gatschet, of the United States Bureau of Eth- nology, Washington, D. C, has reprinted his "Gram- matic sketch of the Catawba language" (paper, 8vo., pp. 23). This tribe of Indians, in South Carolina, now sur- vives only as a remnant, less than 100 in all, and have become so civilized that not more than a third know any- thing of their vernacular. It is practically a dead language and, but for the liberality of the Government, and the scientific study and devotion of such investiga- tors as Mr. Gatschet, every vestige of it would be swept into oblivion.
An important bit of historical testimony appears in the daily New^s and Courier (Charleston, S. C), November IS, 1900, from General Wade Hampton, to the effect that Gen. Lee felt no doubt or hesitancy as to the proper course to pursue at the outbreak of the Civil War, that he felt it was his duty to go with his State, and that if the thing had to be done over he would do the same. All this he remarked to Hampton some time after the conflict had ended, at the same time expressing an inten- tion to write a history of the war.
Periodical Literature.
The October issue of the Texas Historical Quarterly is largely composed of those personal narratives and reminiscences, full of human interest, that the editors are so lucky or skilful in getting. In a simple, straightfor- ward way, R. M. Potter relates the escape of Karnes and Teal from the Mexicans at Matamoras during the Texan revolutionary struggle. They were Texan officers sent there under a flag of truce to arrange for exchange of prisoners, but were unjustly detained by the Mexican General Urrea. With the connivance of some American
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traders there, Potter himself aiding, they slipped away from their guards and fled across the plains to their own forces.
Frontier life, hardship, dangers, disasters, deaths, squabbles, hunger, losses, loneliness, its grim realities, are all painted with the unconscious fidelity of a private journal in the first installment of the "Reminiscences of Mrs. Dilne Harris." Her father, a retired United States army surgeon, after service in St. Louis and New Or- leans, went to the very fringe of Texas civilization in 1833, when she was only eight years of age. He kept a detailed record of his existences at different points which is preserved only by the parts that she copied and blend- ed with her ^wn impressions. When she says that at Harrisburg "they had no use for a jail; everybody hon- est," we might think that there was the golden age of the world, a return to nature, but a few pages farther on we come to a family fuss that finally ended in a killing. Other unlovely details are not spared— distress, scarcity of food, lack of ordinary comforts in the household, hard toil, half rewarded. But there is the best material for the historian when he comes to describe the hot feeling and excitement among the people against Mexican rule. In one place we are told that the teacher complained about the boys not studying, as they talked war all the time, bragging that 200 or 300 Texans could whip all of Mexico. Subsequent events showed they were not far wrong. One curious custom is brought to light. As no preacher or priest was settled near, young people would start in as man, and wife, first signing an agreement to remarry when the priest came around. It would thus happen at times that he would marry the couple and bap- tize the children at the same time. But the spirit of the whole thing was appreciated and no breath of scandal ever arose so far as we are informed.
It seems impossible that only a quarter of a century ago, in 1875, such terrible deeds could have been com-
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mittcd by Mexicans on Americans as those described by Leopold Morris in "Mexican Raid on Corpus Christi," when numbers of men were captured, stripped, whipped, bound and marched with all cruelty across the country. Houses were burned, property destroyed, and several men inhumanly killed, and yet the band got back across the Rio Grande with the loss of only one man, who was brought down by a chance shot and afterwards hanged. In an account of "New Orleans newspaper files," Alex. Dienst incidentally illustrates how far behind pro- portionately that Southern metropolis is as compared with her place in 1835. Then she was the third city in population, second in commercial importance, and had five out of the 35 daily papers then in the Union. He points out the unmatched value of those publications for the Texas historian of the period.
In the Confederate Veteran for October, 1900 (Nash- ville, Tenn.), Major Graham Daves, New Berne, N. C, essays that wearisome but noble task of correcting grave mistakes that are so endlessly palmed off as history. He wipes away that myth of North Carolina's voting, in 1861, by thirty thousand majority, against secession, showing that there was no popular balloting on that question at all. The nearest approach to it was, in Feb- ruary, 1861, when there was a majority of two hundred against holding a convention that was to decide on the matter of secession.
Another brave attempt in this issue to point out truth and avoid error and sensationalism is a short sketch of the Hatfield-McCoy feud in West Virginia, by F. S. Har- ris, Nashville, who declares that "Devil Anse" Hatfield is a well-behaved man apart from that family squabble.
A Confederate Paul Revere is described, except that it was a woman, Mrs. Hannah Tunnell, who sprang from her vehicle and ran through the woods several miles to give notice to the Southern general, Magruder, of the
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advance of the Union forces up the Peninsula to surprise their opponents at Big Bethel on the morning of June 5. 1861.
In the November issue is a summary of a very interest- ing historical investigation contained in Randolph Bar- ton's address at the reunion of the Stonewall brigade last June in Louisville. By correspondence with a propor- tionate number he infers that the 2,600 men who com- posed the famous "stone wall" at Manassas received an average of a wound each before the end of the conflict. He also estimated that the vast majority of those form- ing that inflexible line were beardless boys between six- teen and twenty years of age, and that about fifty only were left to stack arms at Appomattox.
Evidence is submitted to show that to Mrs. M. C. Goodlett, of Nashville, belongs the honor of originating the idea of the U. D. C. A discussion has arisen among the members of this memorial organization, and at the annual meeting in Richmond, 1899, ** ^'^s resolved that proof should be gathered so as to settle the question now before the witnesses were all dead.
A vexed question of historical terms is introduced by O. W. Blacknall in an effort to choose a name for the war waged in the sixties. Of course, he rejects "Rebel- lion," but mentions several others: "War for Secession," "Confederate War," "War between the States," and "War for Southern Independence." The last he con- cludes is the one truest to fact, to history and to senti- ment.
Gen. Bradley T. Johnson furnishes the text of the act passed by the Virginia Legislature on February 9, 1898, on the matter of the Confederate muster rolls for the State.
Four pages of "revolutionary records," composed of the names of some Georgia patriots, some prison-ship martyrs, and Michigan pensioners in 1840, make up the
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documentary portion of the November (1900), American Monthly Magazine (Washington, D. C). These, with eight pages of family sketches of "real daughtef"s," form the additions to the knowledge of the past that this issue contains. The remainder consists of news of the organ- ization (D. A. R.), and essays on MoUie Pitcher, Samuel Adams, Sergeant MacDonald, State of Wisconsin, with poems, a revolutionary calendar, notes and queries.
A splendid work is the aim of the Georgia D. A. R., as explained by the State Regent, Emily Hendree Park, in the December issue. It is no less a thing than to get an appropriation from the Legislature so as to obtain transcripts of the documents in England relating to the colonial history of the State. This was done in 1837- 1838, but the collection was lost by fire.
Bell Bayless edits the account of the battle of King's Mountain, written by Capt. David Vance, a survivor, in 1799. Tho this has been printed before. We are not so told, but are assured that it is the basis for Draper's description of the conflict itself, in his book. King's Mountain and Its Heroes. It covers about six pages, or about 2,500 words, and is a very readable story of the fight from the standpoint of a subordinate.
Another contribution of historical value is "Revolu- tionary Records," four pages, comprising the names of some of the "heroes of King's Mountain," of some pa- triots in the battle of Cowan's Ford, of the reception committee of the Boston Tea Party, December 16, 1773, and of pensioners in Missouri in 1840.
The Treasurer General writes that in 1898 the organi- zation decided to report to the Smithsonian Institution so that the annual account of the society could be print- ed by the United States Government. This is done, but not for general distribution to the members, or even a few copies to the headquarters, unless paid for. The first report contained 129 pages, the second 340 pages. Of this second report, to be out by middle of November,
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there were to be 1,682 copies, 600 for the legislative branch, the remainder for binding, with 500 of these to go to public libraries. It is likely that the influence of the Daughters will be exerted to have one copy furnished free to each member. Like all Government publications, the work can be obtained at cost, with ten per cent, ad- ded, if the public printer is notified in time.
In the Methodist Review (Nashville), for November, 1900, is a most eloquent estimate of the famous Method- ist bishop, George F. Pierce, by Rev. Walker Lewis. As a man, as a preacher, as a bishop, Mr. Lewis considers him peerless. He even compares him with the great biblical leaders: "The stainlessness of his soul sets him beside the Hebrew Daniel; its aim and zeal and energy, beside the apostle of the Gentiles."
After several pages of introduction. Prof. W. L. Weber finally concludes that the "Southern romantic move- ment" began in 1870, and has been carried on chiefly by Harris, Page, Allen, Cable, Murfree. His title is apt to be misleading, as he devotes nearly all of the paper to similar literary conditions and developments in the litera- ture of England.
With a rapid sketch of Thaddeus Sanford, Mr. Geo. F. Mellen begins a series on "famous Southern editors." Sanford, although born in Connecticut, was one of the earliest of the prominent ones. Not until manhood did he go South, to Mobile, where he engaged in merchan- dising for six years, and then entered on his life work by the purchase of the Commercial Register of that city. Here, as journalist for the most part, and as public of- ficial for a few years in later days, he labored with cour- age and fairness for the interests of the locality and sec- tion he had cast his lot with until his death in 1867. Naturally, as a business man, he saw the importance of building up the commerce and agriculture of the South, and of encouraging learning, and advancing the morals.
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Necessarily, if he wanted his paper to live, he had to feed the fierce fires of politics, but it is highly creditable to him that he could so early and so clearly grasp the things that were of vital importance to his chosen land. He hammered away on the deepening of the harbor, es- tablishing of steamship lines, construction of railways, and other topics bearing on the tnaterial improvement of the people. He must have been often heavy with disap- pointment, but perhaps the seed sown then may be bring- ing the industrial fruit of the present.
With the righteous indignation of the scholar, who hates to see material botched up, Mr. A. S. Salley, editor of the South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine, in his issue of October, 1900, points out the slovenly editing of the Greene and Sumter letters that appeared in the Charleston Year Book for 1899, though of course this scientific and valuable criticism does not affect the high credit due the authorities of Charleston in making this correspondence available. If Mr. Salley is right himself in stating that the Sumter letters are in the possession of Mr. Nightingale, then that gentleman must have separated them from those of Greene when he disposed of the Greene collection some years ago.
According to Mr. J. L. Tribble, of South Carolina, it seems possible that Lincoln's mother, Nancy Hanks, came from Anderson county, S. C.
.A circular letter from a South Carolina Governor, Benjamin Guerard, in 1783, shows that Greene's unceas- ing cry for rations for his army continued even after the close of hostilities, as this document is authority to an agent to gather food for the troops quartered on the State.
The papers of the first Council of Safety and the diplo- matic dispatches of Colonel Laurens are continued, the former covering some thirty pages, and the latter twelve.
Genealogy is represented by the "Colleton Family" in
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seventeen pages, while a comprehensive index for the- whole of this first volume counts up 44 pages, the whole volume being 396.
The October Lost Cause (Louisville, Ky.), is mainly filled with sketches of prominent workers in the United Daughters of the Confederacy and other organizations of the kind in the South.
The November issue contains an account of the sev- enth annual convention of the U. D. C, held at Mont- gomery, Ala., November 14th, though the most dignified articles are a sketch of the inauguration of Davis and the "battle of Gettysburg," continued from the September issue. There are several short biographies, and numer- ous notes on the work of the U. D. C.
We regret to announce that the North Carolina Baptist Historical Society Papers, edited by Mr. T. M. Pittman, at Henderson, N. C.,and which has frequently been favorably noticed in these pages, has been forced to suspend publica- tion for lack of adequate support. Rev. Dr. J. D. Huf- ham, whose work appeared regularly in the Papers, an- nounces that he has prepared a history of the North Carolina Baptist State Convention covering a hundred years, from the first efforts until its permanent organiza- tion in 1832. At the last meeting of the body a commit- tee was appointed to raise a fund to be devoted to his- torical investigation.
The American Historical Review for October prints from the original manuscript the Journal of John nar- rower, a Scotch indentured servant in Virginia, 1773-76. The book in which the diary is written is a small quarto volume and contains at present 145 pages. It once con- tained a few more. It was found among the papers of the Corbin family of Moss Neck and Farley Vale, Vir- ^nia. There is a biographical introduction and notes.
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in part, by Mrs. Sally Nelson Robins, of the Virginia Historical Society. Harrower went down from his home in Lerwick, in Shetland, to seek employment in London, but found none, and "This day I being reduced to the last shilling I hade, was obliged to engage to go to Vir- ginia for four years as a schoolmaster for Bedd, Board, washing and five pound during the whole time." He was settled with Col. William Daingerfield at Belvidere, on the Rappahannock, seven miles from Fredericksburg, and taught the children of the neighborhood. He was evidently above the average of intelligence of his class. His diary comes to an abrupt" conclusion in July, 1776, after which date he became manager for Richard Cor- bin, at Moss Neck, near Fredericksburg. A study of "Some Political Aspects of Homestead Legislation," by John Bell Sanborn, shows another phase of the everlast- ing struggle between North and South, the bill which passed the House in 1857 being. "a northern Emigrant Aid measure," and the bill passed in i860 being vetoed by Buchanan. In 1862 another bill became a law. Mr. Walter L. Fleming gives an account of the Buford Ex- pedition to Kansas in 1856, organized by Maj. Jefferson Buford in Alabama in 1855, and by which he hoped to win Kansas to the pro-slavery cause. There are reviews of Latane's Diplomatic Relations of the United States and Spanish America, of DuBois's The Philadelphia Negro, and of other books concerning the South less directly.
In the Review of Reviews for November, Dr. W. E. B. DuBois has an article on the exhibition of the American negro at Paris. "This is the exhibit of American ne- groes, planned and executed by negroes, and collected and installed under the direction of a neg^o special agent, Mr. Thomas J. Calloway." It undertakes to show (a) The history of the American negro ; (b) His present con- dition; (c) His education; (d) His literature. There are charts, photographs, models of progress, pictures and maps illustrating his condition present and past. One
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set of charts undertakes to show his condition in the United States as a whole; another shows conditions in the typical State of Georgia. There are exhibits of vari- ous institutions of learning for that race ; a record of 350 patents granted black men since 1834, while his literature makes a bibliography of 1^00 titles, of which 200 are on exhibition. A list of awards granted the exhibit is added.
The first number of the Patriotic Review (Boston, Mass.), a monthly claiming to be devoted to the "inter- ests of the patriotic and historical organizations of the United States," but almost exclusively in earlier issues filled with D. A. R. work, appeared last September. It is to contain usually about 16 pages, with illustrations.
As a serial in Harper's Mag^azine for 1901, under the title of "Colony and Nation," Professor Woodrow Wil- son will give a history of the people of the United States, doing for this country what J. R. Green has done for England. If possible it will be more vivid, more inter- esting and more profound than Green's.
It is announced that the old Magazine of American History will be revived this year (1901), under the man- agement of William L. Stone and William Abbatt. Pre- sumably, it is to be located in New York City.
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NOTES AND QUERIES.
Survivors op the Confederate Congress. — ^An item in a former number of the magazine Qanuary, 1900, p. 68), in reference to survivors of the Confederate Con- gress has elicited much comment, and some statements inconsistent and unverifiable. They show, however, an increasing interest in Confederate history, notwithstand- ing the misapprehension or ignorance of the real facts. The first Confederate Congress, which was provisional, and to meet the exigency of a new government, met in . Montgomery, Ala., February 4, 1861. In its early period, the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana were represented, and the deputies from these States framed and adopted a pro- visional constitution, organized the government and elected a President and Vice-President. Of those who participated in this action only two members survive, Judge Campbell, of Mississippi, and Mr. J. L. M. Curry, of this city. Later, during the same session, which did not close until the i6th of March, Texas representatives appeared and took their seats, and by vote of the body, and at their request, had the liberty of signing the Con- stitution. Two of those members, the venerable and most highly esteemed Judge Reagan and Gen. Waul, still live.
At the second session of this Congress in April, Vir- ginia had four • delegates, namely: Brockenbrough, Staples, Hunter and Rives. At the third session in July others came in, among them President Tyler. Of the Virginia delegation in the Provisional Congress, Gen. Roger A. Pryor, of New York, alone survives.
Arkansas was admitted in May at the third session held in Richmond, and Tennessee at a later day. Kentucky
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and Missouri, somewhat informally, sent commissioners or deputies in December of that year.
Besides the two survivors of the first days of the Pro- visional Congress, and Gen. Pryor, already mentioned, and Judge Reagan and Gen. Waul, there still live among the representatives of that body, one from Alabama, H.
C. Jones ; two from Tennessee, John F. House and John
D. C. Atkins ; one, Senator Vest, from Missouri ; one. Dr. Ford, from Kentucky, and two from North Carolina, W. W. Avery and A. T. Davidson.
There were two Congresses under the permanent con- stitution of the Confederate government; four sessions of the first, and two of the second. Unlike the provis- ional, there were in the permanent Congress two bodies, a Senate and House of Representatives. Of the first Congress no Senator survives; of the representatives there still live three from Alabama, Curry, Pugh and Ralls; two from Kentucky, H. W. Bruce and Robt. J. Breckinridge; one from Missouri, Vest; one from North Carolina, Davidson; three from Tennessee, Atkins, Menees and John V. Wright; and two from Virginia, Pryor and Goode. Of the second Congress, which ex- pired on the 3d of March, 1865, ^^^ Senator lives, from Missouri, Vest, and one representative from Alabama, Pugh; two from Georgia, Lester and Bell; one from Kentucky, Bruce; one from Mississippi, Orr; one from Missouri, Vest, until transferred to the Senate; four from Tennessee, Atkins, Colyer, Menees and Wright, and one from Virginia, Goode.
It is well known that Mr. Curry has prepared, with much care, from personal recollection and available documents, a Civil History of the Confederate Govern- ment, which will be published during the winter. At the last Confederate Reunion, held in Louisville, a strong resolution was passed in favor of the publication of this then-contemplated work.
Southern' Industrial Convention. — History can be
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^graphically shown as an ever widening circle. How many of the 1,200 delegates that attended the third session of the Southern Industrial Convention at New Orleans, De- cember 4-9th, have even an inkling that they were simply treading in the tracks of their forefathers ? The spirit of De Bow must have hovered over the scene with philo- sophical satire, to see the children of his generation go- ing tlie same round that his contemporaries tramped, the process to be enthusiastically revived after nearly half a century. Certainly if lessons are to be learned from the past, nothing wiser could be done by the managers than to have at every meeting some competent hand to draw warning and inspiration from those efforts of our grandfathers ; thus mistakes could be avoided, suggestions cotdd be gathered and ideals cherished. But in the pro- gram there was no title that touched these helpful ex- amples behind us. In attendance, earnestness and pub- lic interest, the occasion was a great success, and a wide range of topics on material development was presented and^ discussed. Only the strongest endorsement can be given of the spirit and attitude of the organization, as set forth in the motto : "Business. No politics. No Sec- tionalism."
The Alabama Historical Society held their annual meeting at Tuscaloosa, June 18, 1900, completing the fif- tieth anniversary of the existence of the Society. It was organized July 8, 1850. The morning session was held in Clark Hall, at the State University, at 11 a. m. Col. M. S. Stansel, one of the vice-presidents, presided. The annual oration, which was the event of this session, was delivered by Capt. William C. Ward, on "The Building of a State."
The afternoon session was held in the county court house, at 3 p. m. Peter J. Hamilton, one of the vice- presidents, presided, and Thomas M. Owen, the secre- tary, was in attendance. A number of contributed papers were announced by title. Peter J. Hamilton read a paper
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on "The Bay of Espiritu Santo," in which he reached the conclusion that the bay known to ancient cartographers as the Bay of the Holy Spirit is the present Mobile Bay. Col. Charles G. Brown, in behalf of Mrs. Margaret Ayres, of Washington, presented the Society a fac- simile of the impression of the Great Seal of the Con- federacy. Prof. Joel C. DuBose read a paper on "The Uses of Bibliography;" and Rev. C. E. Crenshaw, on "Indian Massacres in Butler County in 1818." Prof. W. C. Richardson read a poem — Semi-Centennial Ode — which breathed the true poetic spirit and was full of pa- triotic favor. Dr. Joshua H. Foster, one of the original founders of the Society fifty years ago, then followed with a paper on "The Alabama Historical Society — Reminiscences of Fifty Years," in which he told of the various events in the history of the organization. A number of reminiscent talks followed. As particularly appropriate to the occasion, Thomas M. Owen read a paper on "Dr. Basil Manly, the founder of the Alabama Historical Society." A. short talk was made by Mrs. P. H. Mell on the Spirit of cooperation which should exist between the Society and the Daughters of the American Revolution, which she represented. The reports of the Secretary and Treasurer showed the Society to be in ex- cellent condition.
In order to better accomplish the object of the Society, the headquarters were permanently located in Birming- ham, where a library, museum and art gallery will at once be established. The Secretary was authorized to employ an assistant to place in charge of the work. The work of collecting will now go on more successfully under the intelligent direction of the Secretary.
The following officers were elected for the ensuing year: President, Joseph F. Johnston; Vice-Presidents, Dr. W. T. Broun, E. L. Russel, T. C. McCorvey, J. M. Falk- ner, S. W. John, and Mrs. W. E. Sorsby; Secretary and Treasurer, Thomas M. Owen; and Executive Committee,
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Notes and Queries. 89
Peter J. Hamilton, O. D. Street, Asa Rountree, W. C. Ward, Joel C. DuBose, and John S. Gillespy^
Mississippi Histoky Commission. — On October 17, 1900, at Jackson, the Mississippi History Commission held its first meeting. The members of the Commission, appointed by Gen. Stephen D. Lee, President of the Mississippi Historical Society, under act of March 2, 1900, are: Dr. Franklin L. Riley, University of Missis- sippi, chairman; Col. J. L. Power, Jackson; Bishop Charles B. Galloway, Jackson ; Hon. Gerard C. Brandon, Natchez; and Hon. P. K. Mayers, Pascagoula. Messrs. Riley, Galloway and Powers were present. An organi- zation was perfected, an outline and an assignment of work was agreed upon. The work projected is similar to that undertaken by the Alabama History Commission. Under the act referred to $2,000 was appropriated to aid the Society in printing its publications, including the Re- port of the History Commission. Since the meeting Mr. Mayers has resigned, and Prof. J. M. White, of the A. and M. College, Starkeville, has been substituted.
The Louisiana Histomcal Society held its regular monthly meeting October 17, 1900, in the Tulane Uni- versity Building, for the first time since June. Dr. Alc6e Fortier, recently returned from Europe, presided. There was a long discussion with regard to the celebration of the Centennial of purchasing the Louisiana Territory, and with regard to obtaining documents relating to that event. Prof. Fortier gave a full account of the large col- lection of archives on colonial Louisiana now in Paris. He showed the importance of these as throwing much light on disputed or obscure points in e/irly local history. So impressed were the members with the value of these data that they decided to invite the cooperation of the other historical societies in the Mississippi Valley in an effort to have all this material copied and published by the United States Government.
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NoKTH Carolina Literacy and Historical So- ciety.— In Raleigh, N. C, on October 23d, the North Carolina Literary and Historical Society was formally inaugurated. At last reports it has attained a member- ship of 167. On that occasion the program included talks on the collection and preservation of historical material by Maj. Graham Daves and Dr. J. S. Bassett; Practical plans for publishing what we produce, by Maj. E. J. Hale ; How we may stimulate the production of literature in North Carolina, by Prof. B. F. Sledd. So far as known, no plan for a regular publication has been for- mulated.
The United Daughters oe the Confederacy held their seventh annual session in the city of Montgomery, Ala., November 14-17, 1900. Since the last session at Richmond, Va., in November, 1899, seventy-nine new Chapters have been chartered. The organization now has four hundred and fifteen Chapters, with 20,000 mem- bers. In every department interest appears to be in- creasing. The next convention will be held at Wilming- ton, N. C. The officers elected for the ensuing year are as follows: President, Mrs. E. G. Weed, Jacksonville, Fla.; First Vice-President, Mrs. W. W. Read, New York; Second Vice-President, Mrs. S. T. McCuUough, Staunton, Va. ; Recording Secretary, Mrs. JoEn T. Hick- man, Nashville, Tenn.; Corresponding Secretary, Miss Mary Meares, Wilmington, N. C. ; Treasurer, Mrs. J. Jefferson Thomas, Atlanta, Ga.
The Wisconsin State Historical Society dedi- cated their fine new library building at Madison, October 19,1900. Mr. John Johnston, of Milwaukee President of the Society, presided at the meeting, and delivered an address. Ten-minute speeches followed, participated in by Charles Francis Adams, of Boston; Dr. James K. Hosmer, librarian of the Minneapolis Public Library; Governor Schofield, of Wisconsin; Senator Stout, presi- dent of the board; Secretary R. G. Thwaites, Charles
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Kendall Adams, president of the State University, and Prof. McLaughlin, of the University of Michigan. In the evening Charles Francis Adams, president of the Massa- chusetts State Historical Society, the oldest in America, delivered an oration. This Society is one of the most handsomely equipped and best conducted institutions of the kind in America, and is rich in Americana, manu- scripts and newspaper files. It has the Lyman C. Draper collection, and much Southern MSS. material.
CoNGiuessioNAi, Centennial. — November 19, 1900, was the one hundredth anniversary of the meeting of the First Congress which assembled in Washington after the capital of the ?.epublic was transferred to that city from Philadelphia. The centennial anniversary of the removal of the seat of government to Washington was elaborately celebrated December 12th. Exercises were held at the Capitol and the White House of an appropriate charac- ter.
The Maryi^and Society, of New York, of which Wil- liam Woodward Baldwin is President, and George B. Covington, Corresponding Secretary, has decided upon the 19th of October as the regular day on which it will hold its anniversaries. This is the day on which the an- cestors of the Marylanders burned the ship Peggie Stuart, loaded with tea, in the harbor of Annapolis in 1774, just after the Boston "Tea Party." It is also the anniversary of the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at York- town.
Monument to James Oglethorpe. — On November 17, 1900, an organization was perfected by the Sons of the Revolution at Savannah, Ga., for the purpose of erecting a monument to Gen. James Oglethorpe, the foun- der of the colony of Georgia. The movement will have the cooperation of the Colonial Dames of the State. It is the design that the base of the monument shall be con- structed of stone, one to be contributed by each county in the State. Funds amounting to several thousands of dol- lars are now available for the work.
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A CoNi^EDERATE Monument was dedicated at Owens- boro Ky., September 21, 1900, the thirty-seventh anniver- sary of the battle of Chickamauga. The monument was designed and executed in bronze by George Julian Zol- nay, of New York, "the sculptor of the Confederacy." The unveiling was done by Mrs. Sarah S. Moorman, aged 81 years, mother of George Moorman, of New Or- leans. It is estimated that nearly 15,000 people were present and viewed the ceremonies.
Key West Monument. — ^The unveiling of the monu- ment dedicated by citizens of Key West to the heroes of the battleship Maine who died in Havana, February 15, 1898, and were buried at Key West, took place March i5» 1900. Over 10,000 people were present. A proces- sion composed of a detachment from the gunboat Ma- chias, two companies of the First Artillery, representa- tives of the army and navy and city officials, local civic organizations and hundreds of school children, marched from the naval station to the cemetery. At the cemetery Col. George Patterson, in behalf of the Monument Com- mittee, presented the monument to Commander Impey, acting for the Navy Department. Rev. Charles W. Fra- zer, orator of the day, made an eloquent address and benediction was pronounced by Chaplain Leroyce. After the unveiling hundreds of school children covered the graves with flowers.
Jefferson Davis Houday. — In the daily press re- ports of November 23, 1900, it was stated that the Legis- lature of Alabama had passed a bill making Davis's birthday, June 3d, a legal holiday.
Bancroft Centennial. — ^The hundredth anniversary of the birth of the historian, Bancroft, who was bom Oc- tober 3, 1800, was appropriately celebrated in Worcester, Mass., the place of his nativity. To a Southern man, Mr. McDonald Furman, Privateer, S. C, belongs the honor of suggesting such a commemoration. In a letter last
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Notes and Queries. 93
June to the Worcester Gazette he called attention to the propriety of recalling the memory of this distinguished author and outlined the exercises.
Pasco. — ^A son of Hon. S. Pasco, Lieut. W. D. Pasco, was killed in an engagement in the Philippines on October 29, 1900.
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PUBLICATIONS
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Southern History Association,
WASHINGTON, D. C.
VOLUME I. 1897, pp. 336. $3.00 UNBOUND.
ELisTORicAi, Sketch of the Association— Historicai, Studies in THE South, Stephen B. Weeks— The Pi^anter of the Ou) South, Richard Malcolm Johnston— Two Southern Magazines, Edward Ingle —David Crockett, Marcos J. Wright— Bibuography of the Statute Law of the oouthern States, Theodore I^. Cole— John Owen's Jour- NAi. IN i8i8 — Bishop Spangenberg's Journai. on North Carouna— Bryant Lester and Descendants, Thomas M. Owen— John Brown's Raid, Andrew Hunter— A Bibuography of John Brown, Thomas Peatherstonhaugh— Thomas Lamar and Some Descendants, W. H. Lamar— HuCK's Defeat, Marcos J. Wright— A Question of Fact, C. C. Pinckney-JouRNAi, OF THE SiEGE OF Savannah in 1779, General Provost— A Bibuography of Wii,i.iam OiUfORE Sibcms, A. S. Salley, Jr.— Book Notes— Notes and Queries— Index.
VOLUME II, 1898, pp^ 390, ^5^3.00 UNBOUND.
Report of Second Annuai, Meeting, Colyer Meriwether, Secy.-^ Unpublished Letters of Andrew Jackson— Transfer of Louisiana, Marcos J. Wright— Society of the Cincinnati in the South, Charles L. Davis— Dismemberment of Virginia, William Baird— Anti-Sla- very Sentiment in the South, Stephen B. Weeks— Pelatiah Webs- ter's Journal, Thomas P. Harrison— Wiluam Strother and Des- cendants, Thomas M. Owen— Richard Winn, J. L. M. Curry— Mary- land's Greatest Poutician, Edward Ingle— Christopher Gadsden, E. I. Renick— Virginia Women and the Civil War, B. W. Arnold— Early Southern Institutions, Peter J. Hamilton— Button Gwin- nett's Commission— Richard Malcolm Johnston, Edmund Clarence Stedman and Stephen B. Weeks— Sir Richard Everard, Marshall De Lancey Haywood— Mount Vernon, Alababia, T. H. Ball— Monroe's Poverty, Thomas M. Owen — Social Affairs in 1760— Book Notes- Notes AND Queries— Index.
VOLUME III, 1899, pp. 384, $300 UNBOUND.
The Florida Mound-Builders, Thomas Featherstonhaugh- Ed- ward MosELEY, James Franklin Shinn— Jacob Ammonet, of Virginia, Cliiton Wood Brausfbrd— SoBiE Difficulties of a Texas Empresario, Lester G. Bugbee— The Texan Expedition Against Mier, Thomas J.
Green— ERSONNEL OF THE NORTH CAROLINA CONVENTION OF I788 —
A Confederate Incident, J. L. M. Curry— Report of Third Annual Meeting, Colyer Meriwether, Sec*y. — Sidney Lanier, George S. Wills — Nulufication Resolutions, A. S. Salley — The Renick Family of Virginia, E. I. Renick— Henry Timrod, Henry E. Shepherd and A. S. Salley— John Brown, Thomas Featherstonhaugh — Salisbury (N. C.) Confederate Prison, A. W. Mangum— Book. Notes— Notes and Queries— Index.
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VOLUiME IV, i9o6> pp. py, 5J»^lfNB0Uf No. I.JANUARY, 1900.
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Vol.. V. MARCH, 1901. No. 2.
PUBLICATIONS
OP THE
Southern History Association.
ISSUED BI-MONTHLY.
CONTENTS :
PAOB
RkporT op THK Fifth Annuai, Mkbting, . . Colyer Meriwether, Sec*y. 95 History op ths Conprdsratk Treasury (Continued), . . B. A. Smith. 99
WnxiAM Vans Murray, . Clement SuUivane. 151
Thk Caxhodn I^bttsrs, J. I4. M. Curry. 159
RKviEws AND Notices, 164
NoTBS AND Queries, 175
WASHINGTON, D. C.
Published by the Association.
March, 1901.
•3.00 per annum | Ol.OO per number.
No responsibility ssBumed for opinions of contributors.
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OFFICERS, 1901.
PRESIDENT: Dr. J. L. M. Curry.
VICE-PRESIDENTS:
General M. C. BoTi^R. Mr. Thomas Nbwon Pagb.
General M. J. Wright. Professor Woodrow W1Z.SON.
Colonel Ghorgb A. Portbrfield. Senator S. Pasco.
SECRETARY AND TREASURER: Coi,Y«R Mkriwhthkr, Ph. D., Washington^ D. C
ADMINISTRATIVE COUNCIL: (In addition to the above-named Officers):
Professor Krmp P. Batti^b. Stephen B. Weeks, Ph. D.
Colonel R. A. Brock. Professor H. Schobnfei«d.
Mr. T. I4. Coi^E. Professor Lucian Johnston.
Professor R. Heath Dabnby. Mr. Thomas H. Ci«ark.
Professor John R. Ficklen. Mr. Ai,exander Summers.
Professor Chas. Lee Smith. President Geo. T. Winston.
Professor W. C. Stubbs. J. B. Kii,i,ebrew, Ph. D.
PUBLICATION COMMITTEE:
Gen. M. J. Wright. Mr. T. L. Coi,B.
Mr. Thomas H. Clark. Dr. Stephen B. Weeks.
Mr. John B. Browni.ow. Dr. Coi^yer Meriwether.
Pursuant to a call signed by nearly a hundred representative persons of the South, the Southern History Association was organized at the Columbian University, Washington, D. C, on the evening of April 24, 1896, for the pur- pose of studying the history of the Southern States. In carrying out this aim an annual meeting is held, and a Bi-monthly Publication issued. The Associ- ation also desires contributions of journals, letters, manuscripts and other ma- terial towards the beginning of a collection of historical sources. It will gladly accept papers based on research and documents on all subjects touching the South.
All persons, as well as libraries, interested in the work are eligible for membership, without initiation fee ; annual dues $3.00, life dues $30.00. There is no other expense to members, who receive all current publications of the Association free of charge.
The Publici^tions alone can be had, postpaid, at $3.00 per volume, un- bound, or |i.oo per number.
All communications should be addressed to
COI.YER MERIWETHER. Secretary, P. O. Box 65. Washington, D. C.
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PUBLICATIONS
OP THB
SOUTHERN HISTORY ASSOCIATION.
Vol. V. March, 1901. No. 2.
THE REPORT OF THE FIFTH ANNUAL MEET- ING OF THE SOUTHERN HISTORY ASSOCIATION.
By CotYER Meriwether, Secretary.
The fifth annual meeting of the Southern History Asso- ciation, for the transaction of business and election of officers, was held in the library of the President, Dr. J. L. M. Curry, 1736 M street. Northwest, Washington, D. C, on the evening of Friday, January 11, 1901. The reports of the Secretary and the Treasurer were presented. Mr. T. L. Cole was appointed auditor for the latter. An al- lowance of seventy-five dollars was voted to the Secre- tary. The Secretary was empowered to obtain the ser- vices of some distinguished gentleman, if possible, to de- liver an address at a public meeting of the Association. At the close of the regular duties the members were very pleasantly entertained with refreshments by Dr. Curry.
The following were elected
Officers for 1901 :
President: Dr. J. L. M. Curry, Washington, D. C.
Vice-Presidents: General M. C. Butler, Washington, D. C. ; General M. J. Wright, War Department ; Mr. Thomas Nelson Page, Washington, D. C. ; Professor Woodrow
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Wilson, Princeton, N. J.; Hon. S. Pasco, Isthmian Canal Commission; Col. George A. Porterfield, Charlestown, W. Va.
Secretary and Treasurer: Colyer Meriwether, Washing- ton, D. C.
Administrative Council (in addition to above officers): Prof. Kemp P. Battle, Chapel Hill, N. C; Col. R. A. Brock, Richmond, Va. ; Mr. T. L. Cole, Washington, D. C; Prof. R. H. Dabney, University of Virginia; Prof. John R. Ficklen, Tulane University; Prof. Chas. Lee Smith, Liberty, Mo.; Prof. W. C. Stubbs, New Orleans, La. ; Dr. S. B. Weeks, Santa Fe, New Mexico ; Prof. H. Schoenfeld, Columbian University ; Prof. Lucian Johnston, Notre Dame, Baltimore, Md. ; Mr. Thos. H. Clark, Law Librarian of Congress ; Mr. Alexander Summers, Bureau of Education; President George T. Winston, Raleigh, N. C, and Col. J. B. Killebrew, Nashville, Tenn.
By vote, the Publication Committee is composed of Gen. M. J. Wright, Mr. Thos. H. Clark, Mr. T. L. Cole, Dr. S. B. Weeks, Col. John B. Brownlow and the Secre- tary.
SKCRirrARY'S RilPORT FOR I9OO.
At this our fifth annual meeting, the Secretary can report undiminished interest in' the work of the Associa- tion. Our printed output is the largest in our history, aggregating 525 pages. The experiment of bi-monthly issues, instead of quarterly, seems to have been successful enough to warrant a consideration of monthly numbers if arrangements could be made as regards time and means.
As in previous years, difficulty has been experienced in getting material for publication, and hence issues have been delayed. It would be easy enough to fill our pages by lowering the standard, but that would be endorsed by none, and would in time defeat its own aim. It would be beyond our present means to pay for contributions, and
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Report of the Fifth Annual Meeting, — Meriwether. 97
besides learned organizations do not generally make such compensation unless in some special cases. It would cer- tainly, though, be advi§able to purchase original historical material when we have the means.
In our own field, among all agencies, conditions re- mained practically unchanged for the past year, except a decline of one, possibly two, in the number of historical periodicals. The various organizations, historical, patri- otic, memorial and historico-social, seem to be in vigorous health. One, the United Daughters of the Confederacy, shows a gratifying growth.
Naturally, the most prominent effort, the one most likely of the greatest results, one that affects the South in common with the whole country, is the movement in Congress for an appropriation to carry out a comprehen- sive research into the archives of the different States. It would be an unspeakable boon for all students and readers of history, if this vast wealth of records and documents could be accurately pointed out and described. It is only proper to add that the father of this noble conception and the chief promoter of it is a member of our Association, Hon. J. W. Stokes, of South Carolina.
It is a sad duty to chronicle the death of our first presi- dent, Mr. William L. Wilson, who, as we all know, had been at the head of Washington and Lee University since 1897, at the end of the Cleveland Administration. An authentic sketch of his life will appear in one of the early issues of our Publication.
Treasurer's Report for 1900. Receipts.
Balance from 1899, $462 28
Membership fees, 462 95
Sales, 108 50
Reprints, 24 75
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gS Southern History Association.
Advertisements, i6 lo
Interest, 1 1 32
Cash from the petty cash account, 8 30
Total, $1,094 20
Expenditures for ipoo.
Printing, .vouchers, i, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, $579 07
Postage, voucher 10, 60 26
Secretary's allowance, voucher 11, 50 00
Freight and expressage, vouchers 12, 16, ^3 99
General and miscellaneous expenses, vouchers
14, 15, 17, 18, 21 03
Cash on hand, voucher 13, 8 30
Rebates, voucher 19, 2 80
Total, $735 45
Surplus, voucher 20, certified check, $3S8 75
CoLYER Meriwether, Treasurer. December 31, ipoo.
Washington, D. C, January 15, 1901, examined and believed to be correct.
T. L. Cole, Auditing Committee.
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THE HISTORY OF THE CONFEDERATE TREAS- URY (Continued.)
By Professor Ernest A. Smith, Allegheny College.
CHAPTER HI.— REMEDIES.
In the second year of the Confederacy the tendency of the financial policy was variously interpreted. The prac- tice of the Administration was to make cheerful reports on the condition of the public credit. The press was in the main conservative and loyal and not disposed as yet to judge harshly the Treasury methods, excepting the utterances*®^ of the Richmond Examiner. There was a popular notion of vast resources in the South, and none but the ignor^pt or timid dared question whether its debts could be paid, however enlarged. But the proposition in Congress of a high rate of taxation brought forth very divergent opinions on the economic measures feasible and adequate. A bill was reported September 23 by Mr. Kenner, of Louisiana, chairman of the Ways and Means
Forced Loan Rejected.
Committee, which provided for the levy of a uniform in- come tax of 20%. This was to be assessed on January i, 1863, on the gross products of the year 1862. All sources of income were liable except bonds and Treasury notes. The minimum exemption of total products and income was $500. In return for paying this tax, the collectors were to give bonds of the Treasury, called "Income Tax Bonds," bearing 6% interest and the principal payable from 10 to 30 years. This plan was thus a forced loan under the name of a
*"Apr. 4, Apr. 11, .Sept. 16, 1862, etc.
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tax. The line of support of the bill by Mr. Kenner gave the type of the new resolute policy that would have re- paired earlier mistakes. His argument^^^ was that things had been going smoothly, but now the time had come for vigorous action. With one slight exception the credit of the South had been based on its future resourt:es. The printing presses could no longer carry on the war, but well defined revenues must be created to sustain the gov- ernment. It was not the business of Congress to lighten the burdens of the people, but to devise measures that will meet the heavy expenses of the present. Mr. Kenner paid a high tribute to the confidence of the people in the notes when he said they would receive them until it took a barrel of notes to buy a barrel of flour, while meantime inevitable financial law was working the nation's irretriev- able ruin. There was hesitation on the part of many members to admit the serious depreciation of the currency and sums ranging from $300,000,000 to $400,000,000 were thought by some to be not excessive for the circulation.
The opposition to the tax measure was many-sided and determined. Those who were working for a legal tender law did not favor the system. The charge of unconstitu- tionality was urged by Mr. Boyce, of South Carolina, and Mr. Bridgers, of North Carolina, on the ground of its being a forced loan. Other representatives denied that the measure was expedient or necessary. Mr. Bruce, of Kentucky, took the position that no tax could be relied upon to pay the interest on the debt, which required for its successive levies the action of future Congresses. It was also declared that the proposed revenue could not be applied to aid the currency. While some hailed the plan as a satisfactory relief from possible impressment of mili- tary supplies, yet the more general sentiment prevailed that the country was not ready for such a measure. The scheme was thought to have been arranged hastily and to
""Richmond Sentinel, Examine, Sept. 23, 1862.
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have not included all revenues. Mr. Chambers, of Mis- sissippi, voiced the attitude of the House in his statement that since the money could not be collected until April there wks no injury from waiting, and the House was not then prepared to perfect a plan of taxation. Accordingly, in the face of the protests of Mr. Perkins, of Louisiana, that they had passed appropriations increasing the ex- penses for one month by $80,000,000, the measure of re- lief was postponed^®* on October 9th to the next session by a vote of 36 to 28.
Legal Tender Unconstitutionai..
The legal tender measure fared no better than in pre- vious sessions. Mr. Poote, of Tennessee, by his advocacy of it established his career as the notorious opponent of the Administration. A motion to make the bill, introduced by Mr. Gartell August i8th, a special order, was defeated by a vote of 54 to 28.
The Judiciary would not report favorably then nor at the third session in January, 1863, when Mr. Swan, of Tennessee, offered a bill to grant an issue of $250,000,000 notes receivable for all debts. The amount of circulation had reached such proportions that a legal tender act would have either created two currencies or had an ex post facto application. The view of the unconstitutionality of such
""The motion of Mr. Jones, of Tennessee, was that it is the duty of Congress to pass a bill at its present session to raise revenue by taxation and that the resolution for adjournment on Monday, Oct. 13, be rescinded. The vote was — ^yeas, Ashe. Bald- win, Barksdale, Bonham, Boyce, Bridgers, Currin, Elliott, Farrow. Foote, Goode, Graham, Gray, Harris, Hartridge, Hilton, Hol- combe. Holt, Tones, Kenner, Lyons, McRae, Menees, Miles, Perkins, Russell, Sexton and Swan — 28. Nays — Atkins, Batson, Bell, Boteler, Chambers, Chilton, Clapp, Clark, Clopton, Collier, Dargan, Dupre, Foster, Freeman, Gardenhier, Garland, Garnett, Gartrell, Hanly, Heiskell, Herbert, Johnson, Kenan of Ga., Kenan of N. C., Lauder, McDowell, McQueen, Pugh, Ralls, Rqyston, Smith of Ala., Smith of N. C, Trippe, Wilcox, Wright of Texas, and Wright of Tenn.--36.
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legislation continued to extend more widely, until a year later, when under new currency plans the proposition being again made, there were very few supporters.
Fatal Inaction of Congress.
. Congress did not escape condemnation for its failure to pass a proper tax law. The Richmond Whig of October, 1862, said: "The country will not accept its leaving im- portant public questions ^o settle themselves as duty done. All know that the currency question imperiously demands some sort of decision." The condition of the currency received increasing public attention and the demand for heavy taxation to secure the bonds which would relieve the inflation came to be a national propaganda. But the evil was wrought in the postponement of that which had been almost fatally delayed, and scores of millions of notes were to be added monthly before measures for relieving eco- nomic mistakes would be ^acted. The inaction of Con- gress in October was an added blow to credit, reflected by the increase of speculation and the desire to get rid of the notes in all forms of investments. Manufacturers were charged with unwarranted advance of prices and extortion was not confined to place or party.
The Produce Loan.
Although increased receipts from taxes were denied, the Treasury worked diligently to render available other re- sources than notes. The bonds had found comparatively few direct purchasers, for they were allowed to be sold only above par. After July, 1862, they were not thrown open to general bids. The funding^®* of notes and ex- change for produce did hot exhaust during this year the one hundred million loan of August 19, 1861, and the bonds of the new loan of April 12, 1862, were not even issued. However, foreign markets now offered an inviting
*•* Report of Jan. 10, 1863.
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prospect for the sale of special cotton bonds. This oppor- tunity arose out of changes in the Produce Loan. The large subscription list of 1861 had not silenced objection to this project. The collections, being at the discretion of the planters, continued to be delayed, since the blockading of the ports hindered the marketing of the produce. The sentiment in favor of government control of cotton opposed the double plan of exchange which put products into notes and these proceeds in bonds. The Richmond Examiner^^^ said the Produce Loan was a sham and a delusion, but if all the cotton was delivered to the government and formed the basis of a bona fide loan of money value, it would be more desirable than gold or silver, and more valuable after the blockade.
The First Congress favored a new adjustment and passed a law on April 21, 1862, allowing the products to be sold direct to the Treasury for 8% bonds, $35,000,000 be- ing appropriated for the purpose. The produce loan con- tinued to receive cotton and tobacco by subscription, but this act gave much wider power to the Secretary for the control of the staples. It looked to a possibly larger use of bonds than had been gained up to this time by the pro- duce subscriptions. This legislation was not radical enough for those who advocated government purchase, nor could the amount to be secured warrant the statement that the cotton of the country created an actual g^rantee of all the Treasury notes issued. Yet the arguments for entire ownership continued to be advanced intermittingly in the newspapers.
The Scheme Not Successful.
In -his report of October 2, 1862, Mr. Memminger ad- mitted the failure of the Produce Loan as a means of con- verting currency into bonds. Nor as a collecting agency was it bringing satisfactory results, though an order had
"•Apr. II, 1862,
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been issued under the new act that the subscribers at once discharge their obligations and allow exchange for bonds.
The report of the chief clerk on January 9, 1863, gave the first accurate gauge of the usefulness of the Bureau. The returns for 1861-2 were 431,347 bales of cotton, worth $21,567,350, at $50 to the bale; other products worth $895,180, cash $608,375, a total of $23,070,905. Of this amount only $2,000,000 had been added in 1862, as the result of the solicitations directed. The agency had not been effective in drawing the support of the people during the second year of the war, and had made only fair pro- gress in realizing on the early pledges, whose payment was no longer optional. The collections amounted to $7,633,044, less than one-third of the total, at an expense of one-third of one per cent.
The next report of Mr. Roane, the chief clerk, on No- vember 30, 1863, placed the value of the old subscriptions at $28,070,905, an increase of $5,000,000 being allowed for the appreciation of cotton. Of this amount now $14,940,- 950 was collected and new subscriptions had been secured to the sum of $16,956,000.^°' The final report of the Pro- duce Loan on November 10, 1864, showed that $11,173,095 of the original list could not be collected on account of lost property and withdrawal of the 8% bonds. This was a shrinkage of 40% of contributions pledged under the more favorable conditions. The additional returns of 1863-4 were $17,579,400, raising the total receipts to $34,476,400,. secured during the war by this agency of the Treasury. The Bureau, however, from May, 1863, had two other di- visions, which were managed separately, the branch for the purchase of cotton, and the branch to collect the tax in kind.
Mr. Memminger did not at once employ the authority Congress gave him to buy cotton with bonds. He was
*"*Of this South Carolina gave $11,171,250; Alabama $3»4S7.500; Florida, $1,217,200; Georgia, $1,110,100.
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only driven to such purchases when the possession of cot- ton furnished the sole means to secure the specie de- manded for European supplies. The supply of coin in the flood of paper issues rapidly disappeared, for the amount in the Southern banks on January i, 1861, was estimated at $27,000,000.^®' Preparations had been made at the New Orleans Mint for the coinage of silver, but after four half dollars were struck in April, 1861, the work was not re- sumed. During the first year the depositories of the cities bought sterling exchange for the Treasury, driving the price to a steadily rising rate. Fraser, Trenholm & Co., of Liverpool, .were the foreign bankers, and to them in the first three years some sum^®^ less than $10,000,000 must have been remitted. By June, 1862, the premium on ex- change had passed 100%, and coin was difficult to secure. At this time the military authorities seized $2,500,000 of the coin of the New Orleans banks to prevent its capture by the Federals. Blockade runners were beginning to take
Sending Cotton Abroad.
out cargoes of cotton to Nassau and to England, and the Treasury saw here an opening for converting the staple into the greatly demanded specie. John Fraser & Co., of Charleston, the correspondent of the Liverpool house, was one of the most trusted agents and assisted in the devel- opment of this government shipping. A considerable trade both for public and private purposes was carried on until the ports were captured by the North.
In order to have stocks of cotton to ship the general agents of the Produce Loan were instructed^*** to buy with vigor; Phinzy & Clayton, at Augusta; J. S. K. Bennett, at Charleston; and L. W. Lawler, at Mobile. But not until the crop was being marketed did the activity beg^n. Then J. E. B. DeBow had been sent to Mississippi, and this was
•"Eighth Census. •
'"Reports of sub-treasurers. "•May 28, 1862.
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' the region from which the largest supplies were drawn ; 2,492 bales were first bought on September 9, 1862, and by December 70,000"® bales had been secured for $4,474,- 400, at I3i cents per pound. The payment was almost entirely in bonds, the cash outlay being only $46,026. Texas was expected to be a good field for operations, but at first the planters refused to sell for bonds, and the transportation planned to Matamoras was thought too far. A. W. McKee was afterwards placed in charge there, and the larger share of the purchases was turned over to the army of the Trans-Mississippi. The general report of November 30, 1863, showed that 399,753 bales had been bought for $30,314,766, bonds having been taken for five- sixths of the amount. The average price per pound was 17 cents, ranging from 12 in Mississippi to 36 in South Caro- lina. Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana furnished 90 per cent, of the stock.
Value of Cotton Purchase.
The report of November ib, 1864, gave an approximate estimate of the value of government cotton purchase. The number of bales had reached 430,724, at a cost of $34,525,220. Of this amount 129,771 bales were lost by capture, burned by the Confederacy "and used for war pur- poses ; 67,653 were west of the Mississippi and subject to military uses ; 6,961 were sold by the Treasury and 19,683 sent to England to pay the foreign debt, leaving a balance yet available of 191,049 bales. When De Bow was engaged in Mississippi, he estimated that he secured one-third of the stock in that State. The yearly crop had been greatly diminished during the war both from the necessities of the times and because of agitation against growing it. The Senate had recommended"^ that no planter produce more than 3 bales to the man. At that time the limitation of
"•Produce Loan report of Jan. 9, 1863. "*Mch. 13, 1862.
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cotton growing was yet expected to exert a political in- fluence in drawing the support of Europe. The crop of 1862 was commonly put at 2,000,000 bales, and as the tithes reported from the yield of 1863 were only 15,000 bales, the depression of agriculttye is well indicated. It was thought^'* that 2,000,000 bales remained in private stocks in the South, November, 1864. The fact that 130,- 000"' bales went to New Orleans that year shows that prohibitions of exportation were not effectual. The Con^ federacy was able to control a fair proportion of the staple within its borders, but only a small part of this was utilized in furnishing the most important war supplies. After the war, the United States disposed of this Confed- erate cotton to the value of $29,500,000.
The Erlanger Loan.
However, the possession of cotton by direct purchase and the subscriptions to the Produce Loan gave effective form to the effort to place a foreign loan. The plan^^* was to issue cotton certificates on the purchases and hypothe- cate them to contractors. They called for delivery at cer- tain ports after peace, 20 bales constituting a certificate worth $1,000; $1,500,000 of these were sent in November, 1862, to James Spence, the English agent. Through Com- missioner J. M. Mason the firm of Erlanger & Co., of Frankfort and Paris, was interested in the investment. Negotiations were carried on in strict secrecy, and a con- tract between the Secretary of the Treasury and Jules Beeri for Emile Erlanger & Co. was signed Janu- ary 8, 1863. The Secretary engaged to get full power from Congress for raising in Europe 75,000,000 francs, equal to £3,000,000. President Davis was told"** the funds were immediately required and prompt action must be
"■Report of Treasury, Nov. 7, 1864. '"Report of Produce Loan, Nov. 10, 1864. "*To J. M. Mason, Oct. 24, 1862. "•Letter of Jan. 9, 1863.
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taken. On January 29, 1863, Congress allowed the loan, and C. J. McRae was sent as loan agent to Paris to sign the bonds, together with Commissioner Slidell.
The bankers made their arrangements so that the bonds were put on the market March 19th. The loan was in denominations of £100 to ii,ooo, with interest at 7%, payable half yearly, and one-fortieth of the face value of the loan was redeemable at half yearly drawings, com- mencing March i, 1864. The iioo bond was made con- vertible into 4,000 lbs. of cotton at 6d. a pound at any time not later than six months after peace. Notice of 60 days to the Confederate foreign representative was required for such exchange. If after peace, the delivery was to be at the chief ports, but during the war at points within ten miles of transportation. The conditions of the contract required the price of the bonds to be 77%- The bankers received 5% commission on their sales and were allowed all excess of 77%. Payments of the loan were to be made within six months by fixed installments.
The bonds were floated in Paris, Frankfort, Amsterdam, and London, and the full amount was subscribed at 90%. Cotton was then quoted at 21 pence, promising heavy profits, and over 300,000 bales were announced as the guar- antee. Although the loan was taken with a rush, the dif- ficulties of getting the cotton out seemed to come as a later consideration. In April the price^^^ began to drop, and though fifteen per cent, of the amount had been paid, it was feared that the whole transaction would be forfeited. Erlanger & Co. were accordingly authorized by Mr. Mason to buy back heavily of the bonds, but this bulling of the market kept the rate up only for a timp. A portion of the repurchased stock was placed again, but £704,000 remained untaken, and for two years there were frequent Treasury orders*^' to dispose of this. Their rate greatly fluctuated
"•Report of Dec. 15, 1863, to the Senate.
"'To Gen. McRae, Sept. 15, Dec. 10, 1863, Aug. 2, 1864.
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in this time, declining sharply after the loss of Vicksburg and sinking to 37% in December, 1863. The following year the increased shipments of cotton through the block- ade cau'sed a marked rise in quotations, closing again in a fall to 57%.
The report of October i, 1864, gave the following state- ment of the dealings :
Total amount of the loan, £3,000,000; bonds bought back, £704,000; bonds of repurchase resold, £195,000; whole amount actually sold, £2,491,000, par value; g^oss proceeds, £1,772,855; commission and expenses, £173,792; net proceeds, £1,599,063 or $7,675,500.
The bankers, in addition to their five per cent., had the excess of 77% on the sales. This profitable venture in- duced Erlanger & Co. to offer a new loan of £5,000,000, September 23, 1863, on the same conditions^^^ as the first, except that the profits above ^7% would be divided equally. Mr. Memminger did not press this contract on Congress, though it was renewed in December, 1864. A balance of the first loan yet remained untaken, and on that venture the government had realized a bare fifty per cent., which in turn did not yield the best returns^^* upon its investment abroad, yet the loan as establishing the for-
SUCCESS OF THE LOAN.
eigti credit of the Confederacy may be considered a suc- cess, in comparison with the other financial experiences of the South. This was due to two reasons ; first, the con- fidence of the holders of the bonds that they would get cotton in any event ; second, the payments of interest semi- annually and the drawings of one-fortieth of the principal were faithfully redeemed. The first drawing was paid out of the proceeds of the loan, March i, 1864, the second
*" Agreement of Memminger and Viscomte H. de St. Ronan, Letter Book "E." "• Bulloch, Secret Service of C. S. in Europe, i, Vol 11, p. 245.
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from the Navy fund, and the third was made under act of February 2, 1865, the total being £212,800.
The London Index of September 15, 1864, in comment- ing on the fact that the Confederate cotton loan was quoted at 73%, while that of the United States was 41%, said that this superior credit abroad was derived from the inestimable strength of the broad substratum of hypothe- cated cotton. While the general bonds of the Confederate funded debt represented a home currency more or less deranged, the foreign credit was on a different basis. However this condition was true when a relatively small amount was involved, and it is highly problematic to say what would have been the outcome of a broader financial application, unless it had been made in the first year, al- though then the economic magnitude of the struggle was no bett^ estimated than the military.
State Guarantee 01? IvOans.
Another possible means of strengthening the* national credit arose out of the constitutional relations of the States to the Confederacy. State bonds on the market with the Treasury loans rated at a higher premium, and it was con- ceived that if the several legislatures would guarantee the Confederate bonds, a readier sale would be commanded. Virginia asked Congress on May 19, 1862, to devise a plan, but the initiative belonged properly to the States. General resolutions were passed by several legislatures, but when it came to deciding on a definite sum the scheme failed. South Carolina, on December i8th, agreed to underwrite its quota of a total $200,000,000. But Mr. Memminger*^* saw such vast results from this plan through the reduction of the interest to 6 per cent, by reason of the added se- curity and "by the saving in interest being so great annu- ally as to create a sinking fund to pay off the entire debt," that he urged the amount be made $500,000,000. South
"•Report of Jan. 10, 1863.
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Carolina agreed to this sum if the other States assumed their share. J. P. Boyce, of Greenville, was engaged by the Treasury, March lo, 1863, to represent the movement before other legislatures, but his address in Georgia was negatived by the message^^^ of Gov. Brown against any guarantee at all, declaring that such action would make the central government too strong. The Secretary severe- ly blamed^*^ Georgia for the failure of the scheme, and declared that the guarantee would have created a sure market in Europe; but any advantage gained from the States' credits would have been temporary, for their finan- cial affairs became equally involved with those of the na- tional government.
Financial State in January, 1863.
The message of President Davis on January 12, 1863, to the third session of the First Congress contained brief notice of the recommendations of the Treasury report, expressing a belief that all the measures would be readily adopted, so that the redundancy would be easily and promptly relieved. The estimates for the half year were submitted^** in fairly relative proportion to the size of the expenditures. An aggregate of over $300,000,000 em- phasized the extent of revenues that must be definitely pro- vided. One item of the budget was the provision for the public debt at $30,000,000; the estimate of the previous year had been $1,500,000, but interest arid redemption of certificates and notes had cost $41,000,000 in 1862. The public debt was now, in bonds and stocks, $145,475,370, and in Treasury notes $410,629,692, a total of $556,105,062. Ten months earlier it had been a matter of congratulation that there was no floating debt, but the other obligations now had proportions not so satisfactory. One of the
.""April 2, 1863.
***To H. Tutwiler of Havana, Ala., Sept. 29, 1863.
"•Report of Jan. 10, 1863.
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earliest acts"* of the session was to pass an appropriation of $20,000,000 to pay interest on the debt. The problem submitted by the Secretary was to reduce the volume of Treasury notes from $450,000,000 to $150,000,000. A cur- rency measure again took precedence of taxation, and the immediate present was provided for in the usual manner. The act of March 23, 1863, limited the issue of notes to $50,000,000 a month. It also contained a complexity of refunding provisions which established the new policy for the withdrawal and discrediting of the excessive issues.
The Demand for Taxation.
On the subject of taxation, Mr. Memminger in his re- port of January 10, 1863, had spoken with a resoluteness and insistence not found in his previous recommendations. He said: "Ample means in the form of a permanent tax must be provided to secure and pay the principal and in- terest of the securities in which the holders are required to invest. Such a tax is the corner-stone of the whole fabric. Without it the scheme has no foundation and can secure neither public confidence nor success." The President had said the people will freely meet adequate taxation. The popular tide was now running strongly towards such a measure. The press demanded that the nation be bled heavily. The Richmond Enquirer^*^ called for a tax of $200,000,000. The delay of action by Congress was bit- terly arraigned. The burden of the charge was that the South had "representation without taxation." The House was said to have shamefully neglected its duty to originate a bill. The Revolutionary note issues had depreciated be- cause there was no central power to lay revenues, but in the Confederacy the right of ample taxation was held as a power of last resort.
"* Feb. 2, 1863. "•Feb. 17, 1863.
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The plan^^* of the Secretary was to follow the system used in the War Tax and make the levy upon property and income. He thought that the vexatious and expensive machinery incidental to a system of stamp duties, excises and licenses precluded the use of such sources. A tax on property alone was too great a burden, and while the in- comes might partly evade assessment, yet profits had been so large, it was deemed imperative that by some device they be made to contribute. The size of the revenues was gauged by the interest demands of the Treasury notes and the funded debt, a total charge then of $48,000,000. A property tax of one per cent, was estimated to yield $36,- 000,000, with deductions for occupied territory, based on the War Tax returns for 1862. The possible yield of in- come tax was arrived at by rating the property of the South at $4,000,000,000, and allowing 7% interest on that sum, then fixing the levy at 10%, returning $28,000,000. Thus would be furnished a tax of $60,000,000, less contin- gencies, and the excess was to be applied to making re- demptions of the principal of the debt yearly. Such re- demption was a condition of the one hundred million loan, but had been omitted for subsequent bonds.
On January 13, 1863, a bill to levy a War Tax was sub- mitted, but other matters than currency engrossed first attention, the House engaging in debates on exemption, and the Senate on a judiciary, neither of which measures was adopted. The Ways and Means Committee reported a bill on February 25th, which provided for a tax of one per cent, on all property, an income tax and a system of licenses. The bill was debated a month and then passed with minor changes. The Senate took a strong stand against the property tax, declaring that it was unconstitu- tional, for direct taxes must be laid according to represen- tation, and the limit of taking the census had been placed
"• Capcrs's Memminger, pp. 447-451 ; Records of War of the Re- bellion. Series IV, Vol. II, pp. 317-322.
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at February, 1865. The Senate changed the system of income taxation, which had been little graded in the House bill. Instead of 14% on incomes up to $10,000, and 24% on excess of $10,000, the proposal was 5% on incomes from $500 to $1,500, 10% on incomes from $1,500 to $10,- 000, I2i% on $10,000 to $15,000, and 15% on excess. The Senate also inserted the provision for the tax in kind or the tithe of one-tenth of the products of the farm. This plan was advocated in order to avoid the policy of impress- ment,^^' regulations for which had been adopted by Con- gress.
In a special communication^^® Mr. Memminger argued strongly for the tithe. With so many changes the confer- ence committees of the Houses had a labor of adjustment, and their agreement was pushed through in the last ten days of the session.
Tax Act op April, 1863.
The Act^** of April 24, 1863, was planned to be exhaus- tive, property in realty and personalty and negroes being excepted. There were four chief sources of revenue; an ad valorem tax on surplus products, the specific taxes and licenses on occupations, trades and business, the graded income tax and the tax in kind. The tax on surplus pro- ducts was made retroactive in order to levy on the output of 1862, and was in operation for one year, its place after- wards being taken by the tithe. It required a payment of 8% on naval stores, liquors, cotton, sugar, rice, and flour held July, 1863. The gains of speculation, which was so popularly denounced, and so universally practiced, were aimed at in a fashion similar to the surplus products by the section of the Act, that placed a 10% tax on profits by pur- chase or sale in 1862 of flour, corn, bacon,' oats, hay, rice,
'"Mch. 26, 1863. "•April 2, 1863.
*" Confederate Acts, Statute III, Ch. 38, Sec. 1-18, Records of War of the Rebellion, Series IV, Vol. II, pp. 513-24.
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salt, iron, sugar, leather, woolens, shoes, etc. This did not apply to the retail trade.
Though personal property was exempt, a tax of one per cent, was placed on moneys. In many of the occupa- tions ^*^ there was a double levy of a license and a percent- age on g^oss sales for 1863. Each business was required to register within 60 days after the Act, and thereafter on January ist, at which time the license was payable. The taxes on occupation and business were to be in force two years. The income tax was a modification of the plan of the two Houses and a further grading. Incomes under $500 were exempt; those from $500 to $1,500 were as- sessed 5%; those from $1,500 to $3,000 paid $% on the first $1,500, and 10% on the excess ; $3,000 to $5,000 paid 10% ; $5,000 to $10,000 paid 12^%, and those above $10,- 000 paid 15%. These assessments were to be collected July I, 1864. Salaries were required to contribute in the following proportion: After an exemption of $1,000, there was a tax of one per cent, on the first $1,500, and two per cent, on the excess. These levies were payable January I, 1864. The tax in kind was one-tenth of the produce,*'* and must be delivered within two months after the esti- mates at a depot not more than eight miles from the place of growth. The obligation could be commuted for cash.
"•On the following simply a license was placed: bankers, $500; brokers, pawn and otherwise, $200; doctors, dentists, jugglers, law- yers and liverymen, $50 each. The combined license and tax on sales applied to the following: auctioneers, apothecaries, confectioners, photographers and tobacconists paid $50 each and 2^^% on gross sales, butchers and bakers with 1% on sales. Retail dealers gen- erally were taxed $50 and 2Va% on sales, while wholesale dealers paid $200 and 2Vi%; wholesale liquor dealers, $200 and 5%; retail liquor dealers, $100 and 10%; distillers, $200 and 20%; brewers, $100 and 2^^%; hotels and inns were assessed on the yearly rental, those bringing $10,000 paid $500; $S,ooo at $300; $2,500 rentals at $200; $1,000 rentals at $100; less than $1,000 at $30. Theatres were rated at $500 and 5% of the receipts.
"•The tithe applied to oats, rice, sugar, cotton, tobacco, molasses and slaughtered animals, in addition to the following products where an initial exemption was allowed to the planter of 50 bu. of sweet potatoes, 50 bu. of Irish potatoes, 100 bu. of corn, 50 bu. of wheat and 20 bu. of peas or beans.
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Approval and Objections.
The law received popular approval because it was ex- pected to yield heavy returns and bring relief from depre- ciated currency. Later it was found to be a complex sys- tem of many valuations and of many times of payments. The taxation was thought to be equitable in that it did not place a tax on land, then largely unremunerative, but the burden was to come upon the actual products in hand. Yet with all this the farmer was not satisfied, and be- lieved^" that the tax should have been on the profits of his crop, and not on the g^oss value. He would have the graded principle applied to the amount of his products as well as to incomes. His proportion looked large in com- parison with the two per cent, on salaries above $1,500. The licenses and taxes on sales were commended in that the incidence came on the consumer.
The assumption of the license power by the national government was a distinct encroachment^" on the reserved rights of the States. In this matter, as in others, the sov- ereignty of the central government was fixed by the stress of practical conditions. In the tax on the occupations the range of discrimination was slight, and the assessment on gross sales was by no means in accordance with the ability and real profits of the business. A very large share of the tax returns was expected from a year that was past. The surplus products and profits of trade were very difficult to measure, and the probabilities of evasion were very great. The entire system as one of direct taxation was not pos- sible to be equalized.
The revenues from the Act were expected to be ample. The Senate Finance Committee announced that it would raise one-third of the expense of the war and have no parallel in history. There was a vagueness in the esti- mates, although the tax on surplus products and profits
"■Richmond Sentinel, Apr. 27, 1863. "•Richmond Enquirer, Mch. 8, 1863.
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was listed to yield $35,ooo,ocx). After the law began to operate so as to allow a reasonable conjecture, the Com- missioner expected a total sum of $100,000,000.
Machinery of Administration.
A comprehensive Assessment Act*** accompanied the Taxation Bill. A Commissioner of Taxes was created, and Thompson Allan was promoted, July 2, 1863, to this position from that of chief of the War Tax Bureau. The machinery of the War Tax of 1861 was utilized to some extent, six**" of the State Collectors being reappointed for the larger work. But collections and not assessments alone now engaged the national concern, and collection districts were constructed in ten of the States, not pre- viously admitting the Treasury agents. It was provided,, that appraisements of property submitted would be open to appeal for fifteen days. Then notices of the times and the places of collection were given and the assessed taxes were a statutory lien for two years. Fines and penalties were to be recovered in the name of the Confederate States of America.
The Department promptly appointed its new forces and sent out portions of the printed forms, so that general instructions could be issued by July 23d. But the new undertaking was vastly different from the earlier taxing, when there was a simple form for a uniform tax on twelve objects. Now there were hundreds of subjects embraced under different classes. The object^** of the schedule was to reach things of which no tangible evidence of liability existed; only the taxpayer having the knowledge. The different times of making returns and receiving collections formed an involved system. A portion of the Act called
"•May I, 1863.
"*The new collectors were T. C. Green, Va.; E. G. Cabaniss, Ga.; G. F. Neill, Miss.; D. N. Kennedy, Tenn.; A. B. Greenwood, Ark.
"•Allan B. E. G. Cabaniss, July 30, 1863.
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for almost immediate assessment, the date of July ist for the produce on hand from 1862, and for the profits on purchases and sales in 1862. These taxes were to be col- lected October i, 1863. Payments on retail and wholesale business were to be made quarterly, while many other col- lections were postponed to 1864.
The Tax in Kind.
The tax in kind was the novel feature of the system and was conducted under a separate organization. Its esti- mates were to be additional to those of the money return. It was planned to provide supplies for the army mainly, and was capable of very efficient contribution, appealing strongly to the highest patriotism of the people. It fur- nished what the government needed and lessened the use of currency, although the magnitude of its operations made it liable to g^eat abuses. Also in subsequent taxa- tion it served as an instrument to prevent the Treasury re- ceiving vital pecuniary support. In Secretary Memmin- ger's advocacy"^ of the plan, he had placed the possible receipts from the tithe at an aggregate value of $83,000,000. The estimate of the Senate Finance Committee in advance was $135,000,000. It was confidently expected that the cotton tenth would materially supplement the Produce Loan stock.
Collection by the Army.
After the assessment of the products of the planters, the collection was given over to the army, unless commuta- tion was elected by the owner. Col. Larkin Smith, A. Q. M. G., was appointed. May 23, 1863, ^^ have supervision
"'He used the crop statistics of i860, although in 1863 agricul- ture was greatly diminished. On the other hand his estimate of prices was lower than the market rate, the chief items being 28,000,000 bu. of corn at $1.50 per bu., 100,000 bales of cotjton at $120 each, 3.000,000 bu. of wheat at $2 per bu., 4,000,000 bu. of potatoes at $1 per bu., meats to value of $8,000,000 and 10,000,000 Jbs. of tobacco at 40 cts.
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of this tithe, and a corps of 68 assistants were put in the eleven States. Quartermasters and commissaries serving wnth the troops were authorized to take the produce and give receipts. Upon reports by these officers to the dis- trict collector, credits for the amounts were entered on the assessor's estimates. After March, 1864, the Tax Bureau of the Treasury transferred the entire management of the tithe to the War Department. The yield of these resources
Yield From the Tax.
can be known only by indirect measure, reckoning from the deductions for tithes, entered against the total tax assessments.
The progress of the ingathering is indicated for the first five months by a statement^*® of produce, worth $6,000,000, the main portion of which was corn, wheat, cured hay and fodder. The report announced that the tithe had largely supported the armies in Virginia after September 1st. The record"* to March i, 1864, placed the value of the tenth at about $40,000,000, using the current market prices. North Carolina,^** Georgia and Alabama were the chief sections from which large supplies were drawn. From entire States nothing was realized, and the fertile area of others was curtailed by the enemy. Moreover, transportation was attended with increasing difficulties, giving cause for complaints against the efficiency of the tax. Its thorough management was a highly responsible and complex undertaking in its provisions for collecting, parceling, storage and protection. It is not strange that large quantities of the produce were lost, aside from the neglect and incompetency charged.^*^ The expense of the
"•Report of Col. Smith, Nov. 30, 1869.
"•Richmond Enquirer^ Mch. 8, 1863.
**• N. C. gave in 8 months, 517,687 bu. of corn, 3,950,000 lbs of cured hay, 10,280,000 lbs of cured fodder, 919,000 bu. of oats. 1,500,- 000 !bs of tobacco.
•** Echols of Ga., December 21, 1864, Richmond Enquirer; Stephen's Const. View, Vol. II, p. 572.
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collection was borne by the army, and for six months of 1864 the appropriation was $12,250,000. In the first opera- tions of Col. Smith the cost had been 7%. From reports of the Tax Bureau and Secretary Trenholm^*^ the probable yield of the tax in kind may be placed at $145,000,000.
Price Commissions.
The tithe was of service in postponing and lessening the necessity of the impressment of supplies for the army. This practice had been resorted to in 1862, and the planters were so dissatisfied with the prices assigned, that the crops were decreased. As an arbitration of the dispute. Con- gress, on March 26, 1863, created a Board of Commission- ers in each State, whose duty it was to publish a schedule of prices every two months. Beginning in May with 56 articles, the list had grown to 93 by November. There was yet complaint that the schedule did not conform to market prices, and a Commissioners' Convention in Augusta, Ga., October 26, 1863, endeavored by a series^*^ of resolutions to regulate the abuses and inequalities. Through 1864 the undervaluation continued, and a certain sharp increase of the schedule in Virginia was revoked'** because of the presumed influence on the currency.
Act S1.0W AND Inadequate.
The administration of the Tax Act of 1863 called for a multiplicity of executive directions. The law was ambigii- ^ ous on many points, and the rulings of the Commissioner had vast scope and authority. A complete system of regu- lations was issued on December 23, 1863, replacing the several provisional orders and minimizing further causes of delay by the officials. The assessments of quarterly sales, surplus and occupations were variously completed,
**• Report of Nov. 7, 1864. '"Richmond Sentinel, Nov. 2, 1863. '** Richmond Enquirer, Aug. i, 1864,
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and the first receipts were realized by September, Wake county, North Carolina, having the credit. By October, the volume^** of payment was well increased, yet the cities were not returning the proportion expected, and of their dues Augusta and Richmond had discharged only one- third by the end of the year. Nine of the States undertook to handle the tax on quarterly sales.
The chief collectors announced^** that speculators evaded the levy on profits and many other frauds and fail- ures were noted. After a few months, it was generally admitted that the Act would not bring in an adequate tax. This was caused partly by evasion and the system itself, yet largely by increased national demand and higher prices. The President said the taxation was too slow for exigen- cies since it was not available within a year. But that was a commendable showing in comparison with the War Tax of August, 1861, which had not been announced as com- pleted until November, 1863, the avails having been raised to $19,500,000 from $16,660,000, reported a year earlier.
By February, 1864, the Commissioner had collected $35,- 000,000 from seven States, Georgia leading with $10,876,- 000. Up to April 16, 1864, receipts were reported^*^ of $82,262,349 from 471 collection districts ; 133 districts had been cut off by the enemy, an aggregate embracing one- third of the population of the Confederacy. The actual value of this amount 6i revenue must be viewed in the light of the depreciated currency of the time. The state- ment of Mr. Allan was that property had become enhanced five-fold over the prices of i860, although at the same time he quoted gold at $1 for $17 Treasury notes. It was the persistent argument of the Treasury officials and of the press throughout the war that on account of the peculiar conditions in the South gold was no longer the standard of value, but land and negroes had taken its, place.
*• Allan's War Tax Correspondence Book "C."
***W. K. Lane's letter, Nov. 17, 1863; J. D. Pope's, Jan, 4, 1864.
'** Report to Congress, Apr. 29, 1864.
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Direct Taxation.
The recognition of the inadequacy of the Act in force brought the sentiment in favor of direct taxation to pre- vail. Secretary Memminger, in his report^** to the fourth session of the First Congress, on December 7, 1863, said that the necessities of the situation no longer allowed a hesitancy /or the letter of the Constitution, requiring a census to be taken before direct taxes could be levied. "The land and negroes in the Confederate States con- tributed two-thirds of the taxable values, and the policy on the part of the States which had ratified the Constitu- tion, was to withhold from contribution to the mainten- ance of the war the very property for which they were contending. In war time the tax ad valorem would be even more equitable than one based on representation, since so many districts were occupied by the enemy." President Davis joined the Secretary in urging a property tax; he said in his message of December 8, 1863, '*The special mode for levying a tax is now impracticable, but Congress is not excused from the general duty; I shall approve any taxation of yours in any mode which puts the burden uniformly on the whole property."
Confederate Inefficient Taxation.
The Treasury asked for a rate of 5% upon a taxable basis of $3,000,000,000 of property, and allowing 20% for evasions, expenses and contingencies, the proceeds were reckoned at $120,000,000. Half of this sum was to go for supplies and half to sustain a new issue of bonds planned to consolidate the public debt. It was asserted that the bonds would not secure credit unless definitely guaranteed by a tax on real property. The House showed its estimate of the need of financial legislation by refusing to refer the recommendations to the Ways and Means Committee, or to the committee of the whole, but a special committee of
^^'Capers's Memminger, pp. 457-476.
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one from each State was instructed^*® to prepare a bill for taxation upon real and personal property, according to values. There was again a popular cry for heavy taxation, but the enormous rise in prices since the original act made estimates of the amount very uncertain. The House was disposed ^'® to levy a sum aggregating $400,000,000, and the suggestion of a 10% call on property had many sup- porters. But the traditional policy of the avoidance of direct payments could not be forgotten, and the spirit in the Senate was opposed to that of the House. Gov. Brown, of Georgia, even called strongly for a repeal of the tax in kind. Final action on the bill was ag^in left to the day of adjournment, when the rate proposed by Mr. Mem- minger was finally accepted.
However, there were various amendments to the Act of 1863 of such a character as to emasculate it entirely and complete the record of the Confederate Congress for in-
AcT o^ February, 1864.
efficient taxation. The bill was passed on February 17, 1864, along with the Currency Act and Compulsory Fund- ing. Its chief feature was the system of rebates ; the new 5% tax on property was offset by the tax in kind, and the income tax was credited with the ad valorem tax on property. The additions^*^ of the law were taxes of 10% on gold and silver plate and watches, etc.; 5% on gold and silver coin, bullion, and dust held by banks or people ; 5% on solvent credits, bills of exchange, moneys held abroad and on paper issued as currency; 10% in addition to the tax of 1863 on profits made in trade and business from January i, 1863-65; also 2$% on profits exceeding 25% made by any bank, joint stock company, corporation, or manufacturing concern. In the assessments property was strangely rated at the prices of 1861, unless sold after
**'Dcc. 9, 1863.
"•Montgomery Mat'/, Tan. 12, 1864.
"*Acts of Congress, Statute IV, Ch. 64.
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1863, while other values were estimated in current prices of February 17, 1864.
Criticisms and Defects.
The application of these laws called forth the most bitter criticism and opposition. The two rates of assessment were charged to have been made in the interest of the agricultural class. The banks were very persistent ob- jectors. A convention of the Virginia and North Carolina banks was held to protest. The memorial of the South Carolina banks of April 7, 1864,^'' summarized their griev- ances ; they were taxed twice, on their capital and on their deposits and issues, which were invested in solvent securi- ties. As the credits exceeded the capital two and three- fold, the banks were contributing from 15 to 20%. Be- sides the stock was valued at such a high rate that the tax often exceeded the dividends. The tax on government securities was loudly denounced as a breach of contract. The levy on all these forms of investment worked a great hardship. While it was aimed against speculators, the chief sufferers were trust funds, widows and those depend- ent on such incomes.
The landed interests in contrast bore a valuation ad- mittedly five times less in proportion, and probably much lower. Also, the tax on coin had a special interpretation, for the "amount" of all gold and silver coin was the word- ing of the section. The levy was made accordingly in kind and the share of coin then converted into currency notes at the ratio of 18 to i by the Treasury order of March 9,
1864. This action was held to serve as a check on de- preciation, as if the gold in itself was to be legislated against. Thus land worth $10,000 on the basis of i860, paid $500 tax in notes, while $10,000 in coin was assessed $9,000 in paper.
But the culminating defect of the amended Act was that
*** Report to Memminger.
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the tax could be paid by the four per cent, certificates in which the compulsory funding of the redundant notes was proceeding. The wise plan of Mr. Memminger had been to use the coupons of the new bond issue and the new notes, but this alteration by Congress precluded the Treas- ury's receiving any considerable pecuniary aid from tl\e Act in 1864.
Rei^orm of the Cumbrous System Demanded.
On the assembling of the Second Congress on May 2, 1864, the Secretary demanded^*^* firmly the reforms of the system, specifying particularly the repeal of the tax in kind, deduction from the five per cent, property tax, the repeal of the deduction of the ad valorem tax from the income tax and a correction of the discrimination as to the dates of assessment of real and personal property with respect to other values. He also pointed out the inequalities suf- fered by the banks and corporations. His arraignment of the system gives an estimate of what real worth there was in this presumedly large attempt at taxation. He said it was marked by inequality, amounting to injustice, and so cumbrous and intricate that delay and disappointment were its inevitable results.
Further Compucations.
Congress refused to make the chief reforms and brought the final alienation with Mr. Memminger. Moreover, to meet the increased pay of the troops, the Soldiers' Tax was created, an added 20% to all assessments then opera- tive. On the last day of the session, June 14th, there was an amendment^*^* to the Acts of April 24, 1863, and of February 17, 1864, to the extent of relieving the banks merely of the tax on deposits. Another effort was made to reach speculation in an extra 30% tax placed against profits realized on trade and sale between February 17th
"■ Capers's Memminger, pp. 484-7. ***Acts of 2nd Congress, Statute I, Ch., 44.
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and July i, 1864. Congress approved the ruling of the 5% tax on coin or exchange to be in specie or in notes at rela- tive value, t. e., market rate, thus discrediting its own money by legislative sanction.
Administration of the Measure.
There had been ambiguity as to which year the abate- ment of the tax in kind had application, and as the general taxes were due June i, 1864, the property tax would be collected in advance of the ascertaining of the tithe. Fur- ther delay resulted at this juncture by the order^*' that the property tax be suspended until the value of the tenth was known. Hence, when the commissioner made his re- port,"* the collections were $118,000,000 on an assessment of $145,527,421, a comparatively small increase over the report of six months earlier. This total included the re- ceipts under the Acts of April 24, 1863, February 17 and June 14, 1864, and was the taxation for two years on several sources of revenue, being also inclusive of the levy on surplus products of 1862.
No complete new assessment of property other than the valuation under the War Tax of 1861 was made. In pre- paring the statements there was much approximate"' figuring. The Commissioner had to estimate the probable portion of the territory in the possession of the enemy and then make deductions. Using the assessment return of 1861 for a State, to this would be added 20% for property not subject then, but taxable under the Acts of 1863-64.
*" Regulations of Commissioner Allan, June 14, 1864.
'" To Secretary Trenholm, Oct. 28, 1864, letter book "E."
**^The tax for Georgia was: Real and personal property, assess- ed under Act of Aug. 19, 1861, $564,173,946.82. To this add 20%
for property, taxable after 1861, $112,834,789.36. Total, ^7,
008,736.18. Tax thereon at 5% is $33»850,436.8o; jewelry and watches (say) $2,500,000, at 5% more, equals $125,000, total, $33,- 975,036.60.
Deductions, destroyed by the enemy (say) 5%, $1,698,771, credit of tax in kind (say) two-thirds, $21,517,776; credit of income tax (say) 10%, $3,227,(>66, net proceeds, $7,431,218.
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From the 5% levy on this sum, successive deductions were made for the destroyed proportion and for the credits by the tax in kind, frequently two-thirds of the total, and by the income tax reckoned at 10%.
These rebates, charged against the property tax, left comparatively small net proceeds to be collected from April to October, 1864. With the removal of the system of abatements, the total receipts would have been almost trebled, counting the tax in kind at $145,000,000 and the income tax with other credits at a less figure. The esti- mate"* of Secretary Trenholm was $374,188,414.
Mr. Memminger had asked for too small an amount at the inception of the Act of 1863. Congress had been still more niggardly in responding and finally had so vitiated the eflSciency of the revenues voted, that the Treasury was forced to continue to the end the policy it too readily had adopted at the beginning, the payment of its debts with government paper.
"•Report to Congress, Nov. 7, 1864.
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CHAPTER IV.— REPUDIATION.
The financial policy of the Confederacy was inaugurated with loans and issues of government money. When the circulation of the banks of the South had been more than» displaced in the first year of the war, the emission of paper did not cease. With the certainty of depreciation realized, the problem then was to retire the surplus currency by some measure that would make room for further new is- sues of notes to meet the increasing appropriations. The reliance on the efficacy of the provisions for funding was implicit. When the first payment of interest on the bonds in January, 1862, had been made in coin, there was a standard set that the administration had not adequately planned to continue. The succeeding payments on bonds had to be made in Treasury notes, and these beginning to depreciate, the bonds likewise cheapened. The working of this system was such that the one resource proved an imperfect check in preventing the abuse of the other.
Again, the payment of interest on Treasury notes in 1862 operated against a larger sale of bonds in that year. The guarantee back of the bonds was not definite enough. The property of the Confederacy was viewed as a security only in a general way. The continued higher quotations of the first loan of fifteen millions, with its pledge of the duty of cotton export, testified to the superiority of this . tock. As a pledge against the one hundred million loan, the War Tax was not sufficient to give absolute security. Suggested reforms'**^ always included a plan for coin or cotton back of the government obligation.
As the emission of notes was the established resource to replenish the Treasury, so changes in the methods of funding became a sovereign remedy for redundancy, be- ing directed to induce a larger use of bonds. Yet the rate
"•Richmond Examiner, Apr. i, 1862; Richmond Sentinel, Aug. 12, 1863.
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on the highest stock, eight per cent., was small in com- parison with the profits to be gained in the most ordinary trade. An accurate reflex of the depreciation of the finances was found in the increase of speculation. This contagion^*® was well spread in 1862, and in the tendency to dispose of the notes quickly, prices were steadily ipount- ing and the standards of gain proportionately swollen.
A Currency Corrective.
In this condition of affairs Congress took its first step in altering the terms of the contract offered for funding notes into bonds. It was in the second session after the unfortunate bill for taxation in the shape of a forced loan had been postponed on the plea that the country was not yet ready. On October 9, 1862, a bill was reported by Chairman Kenner that reduced, after Deceriiber ist, the interest of all bonds to 6%, and the holders of notes were given four months to get the advantage of the higher rate of funding. This was amended by the Senate to 7%, and six months allowed in which note holders could fund at 8%. The bill was passed October ijth, and constituted the sole currency corrective of the second year of the Confederacy.
The advocates of the measure believed that it would bring in so vast a quantity of notes as to remedy deprecia- tion and also would so enhance the value of 8% bonds that the Secretary would make large sales. The Richmond Whig was incredulous and expressed^*^ the opinion that Congress, in announcing the panacea of one per cent, dif- ference in interest, had undertaken to settle the currency question by an expedient which seemed trifling and con- temptible in view of the magnitude of the attempted re- sults. In December the most sanguine estimated that by April 22, 1863, the limit, $120,000,000 of notes, would be funded and thus relieve the new issues, which were half a
^**Examiner, Sept. 23, Oct. 22, 1862. ""Oct. 14, 1862.
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million daily. In February the experiment^'* was going well. The new notes, fundable in 7% bonds, being issued after December i, 1862, were displacing the old notes, whose holders hoarded them. The bonds had gone to a premium of looj, and by April reached 105. The fund- ingi«» induced by the Act amounted to over $50,000,000 from January ist, as against $17,500,000 for the previous five months. But within the same period $130,000,000 in notes had been paid out, and this increased scale of fund- ing was yet far too small.
The Secretary's Funding Scheme.
The Secretary in his report of January 7, 1863, had marked out the way for the extension of the policy which had met with such a fair measure of success. His recom- mendation^** was radical and a precursor of the final des- perate solution of the currency difficulties. It was, that after a reasonable lapse of time the Treasury notes, bear- ing date previous to December i, 1862, should cease to be currency. To carry out this plan the notes, already fundable until April 22, 1863, in S% bonds, and thereafter in 7% bonds, must have a period of limitation also for the lower rate of conversion, and that date to be July i, 1863. The results from the limitation to S% funding were believed to have failed of their highest efficiency, because six months grace was too long a time allowed for its operation. Sixty days were now considered ample as a stiipulant for a new funding provision. The financial policy was to be definitely changed from one of oflering inducements to take the government obligations to that of applying a small portion of constraint on the note holders. An abundance of money in the country was
*« Whig, Feb. 5, 1863.
*" Letter Book "E," Apr. 11, 1863.
*•* Caper's Memminger, pp. 445, 44^.
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proven by the large sums held on deposit and by the amounts invested at interest in private hands, as reported by the War Tax.
The Secretary believed that two-thirds of the currency could be funded without material danger to private inter- ests. He met the charge of infringement of contract with a combination of excuse and argument. The first plea was that Congress had already established the principle by the act reducing the interest on the bonds to seven per cent. Ag^in, the time of the contract was not prohibitory of change, if a full opportunity was allowed to receive the benefits of its performance. Finally the modification of the conditions of the note would be a benefit to both parties in the increased purchasing power of the remain- ing currency. Thus expediency was the main determinant, however questionable the legal warrant. To the further objection that the note lost its value as money, Mr. Mem- minger replied that although this function was gone, its intrinsic value would be unimpaired, being yet receivable for public dues and having the faith and property of the Confederate States pledged for its payment.
But it was evident that a body of notes yet accepted for government obligations would continue to circulate and choke the channels of trade, and it was only a question of time until more heroic measures must cause their removal. The Treasury may be judged to have realized that this limited funding measure was a temporary expedient at best. No sudden large contraction was feared by reason of it, for the circulation of new notes for the six months of 1863 was calculated to reach $200,000,000, a very low estimate. Then the situation of January, 1863, would be repeated and the saihe redundancy must be ag^in faced. The possible depreciation in the price of the bonds from the large funding of notes induced was looked upon as the lesser of two evils, since the depreciation of the notes much exceeded that of the market value of the bonds.
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Action of Gdngress.
The recommendations of the Secretary found Congress ready with many plans of tampering with the currency, including an^ advocacy of a legal tender measure. Mr. Baldwin, of Virginia, had the anticipatory plan of funding all notes prior to April i, 1863, at a monthly decline in the interest rate of bonds of one per cent, from July to December and then declare all notes discharged. Another measure was to exchange the old issue on the basis of $300, allowing $200 in bonds and $100 in legal tender. The bill of Mr. Hunter, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, was introduced to embody the wishes of the Treasury, and was passed January 30, 1863, with amend- ments. The limitation of 7% funding was July, but notes issued since December i, 1862, were included, with the added privilege that after July they could be funded in 4% bonds. The new notes to be issued after April 2, 1863, were to have the fundable provision for six months at 6%, and then to be converted at 4%. Mr. Hunter admitted a breach of promise in limiting the time of funding, but defended it as an imperative measure without which the currency must expand until the public debt was so large that there would be slight hope of payment.
When the bill went to the House, it was debated until March 4th, the leg^ tender remedy being again urged. The minority fought the measure on the ground that the periodical demonetization of the notes would be unintel- ligible to most people and the funding not largely ob- served. However, the House sent the bill back to the Senate with changes in the times of funding which were finally accepted, and the Act^*** as passed on March 23d,
A1.1. Kinds of Financial Paper.
established three classes of notes ; those prior to Decem- ber I, 1862, $290,000,000 originally in amount, were fund- able in 7% bonds until August ist, and then ceased to be
*"Acts of Congress, Statute III. Ch. IX.
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currency; notes issued between December i, 1862, and April 7, 1863, were fundable in 7% bonds up to August ist, and then in 4% stock; notes after April 6, 1863, were fundable for 12 months in 6% bonds, and thereafter in 4%.
Besides the legislation on the notes, there were many other financial provisions in the Act. A further use of call certificates was arranged at a lower rate of interest. The six per cent, bonds and notes issued after April i, 1863, could be put into 5% call certificates. The 4% bonds were convertible into 4% call certificates. All former 6% call certificates were considered to be funded into bonds on June 7 and lost the power of conversion into notes. The seven-thirty notes had been discontinued as an issue when the first limitation of funding began, and now they were also classed as funded.
While the Act contained authority to issue $50,000,000 of notes a month, it had the provision that the Secretary use any disposable means in the Treasury to purchase notes until the whole amount was reduced to $175,000,000. To accomplish this three classes of bonds were named; (i) $200,000,000 of 6% stock, to be sold to any of the States ; (2) if guaranteed by the States, the special bonds to be sold for notes to the highest bidder ; (3) $100,000,000 of bonds at 6%, with coupons, payable in notes or in cotton certifi- cates, which pledged the government to pay in cotton at the rate of 8d. sterling and delivered within six months at certain points.
The first two securities were never issued, but the thifd class, modified by the Act of April 30, 1863, represented the first extensive effort to sell bonds direct since the fifteen million loan of 1861. In all seven classes of stock were authorized.
The Depositories.
The increased funding plans called for an enlargement of the force of depositories. By the Act of April 15, 1862, there had been an increase of these officials, when to their duties of disbursement and deposit were added the ex-
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change of certificates for notes. They were also made agents for the sale of bonds and were the great intermedi- aries for the funding* transactions. The notes were re- ceived by them and forwarded to the Treasury at Rich- mond, which performed the cancellation and sent back the bonds in exchange. In March, 1863, the demand to fund before April 22d necessitated the second greater extension of the depositories. With the passage of the new law, it was found necessary to create a special district in the West, the Trans-Mississippi, which military operations had cut off from the East, and Gen. Kirby Smith was di- rected*** to form a Treasury Note Division at Monroe, La. The reduction in offering bonds from 8% to 7% for notes did not cause any cessation of funding. Rather an end had been made to the hoarding of notes, for the an-
Fear o^ Repudiation.
ticipation of demonetization was taking possession of the public. Many of the banks helped increase the feeling of insecurity by refusing to take the paper issued previous to December i, 1862. Their excuse was the desire to induce greater funding within the limitation. It was nat- ural that they attempted to save themselves, though later they were persuaded to receive the notes on deposit. Cir- culation had been loyally given in the past to the govern- ment obligations by the people at large, but now discrimi- nation began to be made against issues of certain dates, for it was said"^ repudiation had set in.
In such a state of affairs prices were not slow to re- spond, and gold experienced the sharpest and greatest rise of the war. In March the premium was 300, on April 30th 500, on June 11, 700, and in August $12 in notes exchanged for $1 in specie.
>-July 3, 1863.
^'^ Enquirer, June 20, 1863.
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Progress OF Funding. The reports of funding showed that by June 8th $64,- 000,000 of notes had come in under the two Acts of Octo- ber 13, 1862, and March 23, 1863. This had increased in July to $84,000,000, and the total funding was announced by Auditor Robert Tyler, on August i8th, to be $126,- 000,000. This represented over forty-three per cent, of the proscribed issue prior to December i, 1862, yet it left a bulk of $165,000,000 demonetized currency which was ac- ceptable for public dues, and the $120,000,000 of 7-30 notes besides had full circulation. The relief was small when the extent of the new issues was taken into consideration, since within that period $380,000,000 must have been emit- ted, the statement for the three quarters ending September 30, 1863, being $391,000,000.
A Sanguine Secretary. Nevertheless, Mr. Memminger was sanguine, as was his wont, and in a communication*** of August 24th to R. M. T. Hunter, said that the funding had been eminently suc- cessful, since the outstanding notes were within the limits of depreciation reported at the last Congress. At that time the total amount had been three-fold greater than the estimated required circulation of $150,000,000. The reassuring figuring of the Secretary was based on the con- clusion that $150,000,000 of the outstanding circulation was held west of the Mississippi, and there then remained in the east a proportion much less than three to one. On the date of July 22d, he had written**" to G. B. Lamar, of Savannah, that while the loss of the Mississippi river was a very serious injury to the cause, yet in the arrange- ment of Providence it had its counterpoise in cutting off the old currency there from affecting this side. He thought if the Treasury were rid of the old currency in the east, it could get along for another year.
"•Richmond Enquirer, Aug. 24, 1863. '•Letter Book "E/'
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But depreciation could not be arbitrarily measured by the excess of outstanding notes over an assumed limit. The military reverses were adding their effect to the finan- cial situation and the merchants of that period were de- manding $12 in currency for goods that $1 in specie would buy.
Failure in the Sale of Bonds.
The attempted large sale of bonds was likewise impaired. The stock offered had for security what many considered the ultimate standard of value in the South. But some of the conditions of the contract were in a measure respon- sible for the wide non-acceptance of the investment. The $100,000,000 bonds of the Act of March 23, 1863, with 6% coupons, payable in notes, or cotton, the cotton to be de- livered within six months, at the option of the holder, had the supplementary legislation of April 30, 1863, applied to it, by which the new stock was authorized to be $250,- 000,000, with coupons payable in specie or cotton, the cot- ton to be delivered at the option of the government six months after peace. These cotton interest bonds must be sold for Treasury notes alone, and the proceeds devoted to the purchase of produce. This was a double scheme of funding notes and buying cotton, but as the stock was so little taken, the resources for the purchase of the staple were limited, and from 1863 there were slight accessions to the holdings for the Produce Loan.
Mr. Memminger was not pleased^'® with the new form of bonds, yet he extensively advertised them to be offered to the highest bidder on July 20th. The stock was to be confined to home purchasers, whereas the original form could have been sent abroad. The investment seemed most profitable, for the $1,000 bond would pay interest in 500 lbs. of cotton at 6d. or 12^ cents, while cotton was then selling at the ports from 32 to 40 cents. The first
*^To Secretary Mallory, June 16, 1863.
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bids were too few to allow a sale, and upon the second advertisement a number of offers were accepted at 50% premium in paper money, then rated at 12 to i of gold. The bonds were widely placed with the depositaries and their sale strongly urged, with the insignificant result of placing $2,000,000. The quotations of the market were such that large investments in these bonds must have en- tailed a heavy loss on the government, if they had ever come to payment.
However, the public was not taken by these induce- ments, since it judged the cotton interest certificates to be a form of general liability for the indefinite delivery of the staple. Other bonds were quoted at a premium in Treas- ury notes, but their specie value declined through the year along with that of the notes. The funding of notes into 4% bonds after August ist was practically stopped, while only a small exchange was made for 6% bonds. Prices grew intolerably high for necessaries. Fuel was $40 a cord in Richmond in September; bacon sold at $3 a lb., and corn-meal brought $12 per bushel, when formerly it sold at 75 cents. Prices in the interior also fluctuated widely. A feverish condition of the markets was dominant. Brag^s victory caused*^^ gold to fall from 15 to i to 8 to I.
Desperatk Remedies Considered.
The currency had now reached a condition where it held the supreme public attention. Innumerable remedies were offered on every hand. The position of the adminis- tration was expressed in a letter of the Secretary of the Treasury to President Davis on September i, 1863. He said, "Plans for meetings to discuss aid are futile. I en- deavor to correspond with individual merchants and bank- ers. The two difficulties that confront us are distrust of the stability of the government, to be relieved only by
'"Richmond Sentinel, Sept. 22, 1863.
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military successes, and expectation that tfie issue of notes will be indefinitely continued ; this can be relieved by the determinate refusal of Congress and by a resolute effort to raise money by taxes and bonds."
There was nothing new in this program, but the prevail- ing popular expression was likely to decide the final policy. One remedy was strongly advocated by a portion of the press, and had the approbation of many public men. That was the plan^^* of compulsory funding, which would free the country of its excessive currency by a disguised repu- diation. The two preceding Acts limiting the time of funding were considered as merely voluntary, appealing to the patriotism of the people. The banks and retired mer- chants had f esponded, but the great majority of note hold- ers preferred to speculate in other investments. Now, as conscription had to be applied to the military necessities, so forcible^'* conversion of the currency was to be appor- tioned as taxation, thus gathering from all their share.
Bankers' Convention at Augusta.
The banks, as representing conservative interests, met in Augusta, Ga., November 16 and 17, 1863, when thirty- six institutions from Georgia, South Carolina, North Caro- lina, Tennessee and Virginia, had delegates. Mr. G. A. Trenholm, afterwards Secretary of the Treasury, present- ing a line of action adopted by the South Carolina banks, was made chairman of the committee which drafted the resolutions sent to Mr. Memminger as the sense of the convention. The recommendations*'* declared that dues collected, and for which Treasury notes were made receiv- able, had proven inadequate to absorb a sufficient amount of notes to prevent redundancy and now measures must be taken to reduce the circulation to $200,000,000. The following means of doing this were suggested: (i) A new
'"Charlotte Democrat, Nov. 7, 1863. "•Richmond Sentinel, Oct. 27, 1863. "*MSS. of Treasury Department.
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issue of coupon bonds of one billion dollars, bearing six per cent, interest, with the coupons payable in coin yearly ; (2) To meet the wants of the government in the future a sufficient tax should be adopted, and notes be issued as little as possible; (3) A levy of $60,000,000 to meet the interest *of the new bonds and the tax be paid in specie or coupons of the bonds in lieu of coin; (4) the bonds first to be apportioned to the States and notification to the taxpayers in each district to provide themselves for the tax; the bonds hitherto issued and all Treasury notes were to be received in pay for the new bonds ; (5) all exist- ing distinctions between Treasury notes of different issues and dates were to be abolished ; (6) increased duty on all imports and exports during the war to be paid in coin and exchange ; (7) an Issue Department be created and kept separate from the Treasury Department.
' '. The Secretary's Plan.
The Secretary of the Treasury had been invited to at- tend this convention, but sent as his personal representa- tive Wm. Johnson, President of the Charlotte and Colum- bia R. R. Mr. Memminger had well in mind the plan that he would present to Congress in the following month, and his delegate was thoroughly acquainted wi^Ji it. It was to resemble the scheme of the banks, yet have peculiar features of its own, as the letter of instructions to Mr. Johnson on November nth discloses. The Secretary told him to hold back part of the plan, for it would probably do harm if there were information beforehand of the pre- cise compulsory measures intended. He was directed to present the other portions, and if the convention approved, it might advise measures which would bring in those dis- posed to hold back.
Mr. Memminger said it Would be very unfortunate if by giving the politicians information in advance of the action of Congress, they should agitate against his plan. The
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Treasury remedy was clearly outlined^'" to G. B. Lamar, of Savannah, the leading idea being a fancied return to specie values. A sufficient tax, payable in coin, and levied on property, was to guarantee the interest on a new loan that would absorb the whole public debt. In lieu of coin, the coupons of the loan could pay the tax. Tlfe writer said the country was now prepared to cooperate in re- tiring the currency, and stringent provisions would make the measure certain, for no more risks could be run.
Criticisms of Augusta Plan.
The Augusta plan caused considerable discussion and was criticised as being impracticable. The nature of the objections was that the distrust of the government would not allow a sum of bonds to be taken that was twenty times the banking capital of the South, and that little short of general confiscation would put the currency on a safe basis. There had been from time to time various expres- sions^'* of a want of confidence in ultimate redemption. In the main, the sentiment^'' had grown more pronounced in favor of compulsory funding.
The Shattered Currency.
The Secretary matured his plans, bearing a marked re- semblance to that of the banks, yet containing features of temporizing and of radical variance. His statement*'* to the Fourth Session of Congress made evident the un- sound condition of the finances. The receipts*'" of the Treasury from January ist to September 30, 1863, had been $601,522,893, and the expenditures $519,368,559. Civil purposes had demanded $11,629,278, while war re-
^" Letter of Nov. 9, Book "E."
"•Augusta Chronicle, Sept. 26, 1863.
'" Richmond Enquirer, Nov. 19, 1863.
'^Caper's Memminger, pp. 457, 458.
"•Bonds were credited as follows: 8% stock, $107,292,900; 7%* $38,737,650; 6%, $6,810,000; call certificates, $23,475,100. Treasury note issues were $39i>^3iS30.
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quired the balance, excepting $32,212,290 on the public debt and $59,000,000 for notes cancelled. At the same date $65,000,000 of notes were held for cancellation. The funded .debt had reached $293,000,000 ; the unfunded was $701,500,000, consisting of notes, excepting $26,000,000 five per cent, call certificates.
Of the total receipts, notes had supplied 65 per cent, and loans 30 per cent., but the very large part of the latter was the compulsory creation of the funding by limitation of the old and new issues of notes.
Taxation in this period of rapid depreciation had fur- nished a proportion of two-thirds of one per cent. The proportion in the previous report, from the establishment of the permanent government, February i8th to December 31, 1862, was seventy per cent, from notes, twenty-two per cent, from loans and three and two-thirds per cent, from taxation.
On September 30, 1863, there were $476,000,000 of un- drawn appropriations. The estimates for expenses up to July I, 1864, were $475,500,000. Doubling this latter sum to have the total for the calendar year, a need to provide for almost one billion and a half dollars faced Congress when it met December 7, 1863. It was admitted officially that prices were inflated five-fold, while at the same time tax assessments were made at a rate of ten to one for gold.
Billion Dollar Loan Scheme.
The administration program*®* was directed to the ab- sorption of the mass of notes. Accepting $200,000,000 as a necessary circulation, $500,000,000 had to be retired. With such a reduction prices were expected to become more normal, and the expenditures for 1864 would be about $400,000,000. The oft-quoted fifteen million loan was taken as a model, and a new loan of one billion, pay- able in twenty years, was projected, whose six per cent.
**MSS. of Treasury Department.
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interest coupons should be m^de available in public pay- ments as the equivalent of specie dues. This loan was to serve a double purpose, $500,000,000 to be devoted to the funding of the excess of notes, and $500,000,000 to be sold to furnish supplies and to be exchanged to consolidate the debt already funded. This new stock was to be made pre- sumably as good as gold by having specifically pledged for its interest $60,000,000 of taxes on all values, to be paid in coin or the interest coupons of this loan. Taxation was conceived to create a similar demand for these coupons to that which the export duty on cotton fixed for the cou- pons^®* of the fifteen million loan, and thu§ the bonds were said by the Secretary to have the best security which the government had yet offered. In addition, for the ultimate redemption and for the interest of the honds not used in funding there was to be a definite guarantee of a duty on exports and imports for a period of five years after peace.
CoMPUi^ORY Funding the Chief Feature.
The new obligation of the Treasury remedial plan re- sembled that of the Augusta Convention, excepting that the interest of the bonds and, preferably, the taxes, were to be paid in specie by the Augusta plan, instead of some arbitrary equivalent of specie. In further agreement, in order to prohibit future over-issue, the Secretary asked Congress for an absolute limit of $200,000,000 of notes. But the compulsory funding was the feature of the recom- mendations, which in severity well answered the popular clamor and at the same time was certain to meet the con- demnation of the conservative interests. It required all notes in excess of $200,000,000 to be funded by April I, 1864, east of the Mississippi, and by July ist west of the Mississippi. After these dates the notes not only lost their funding privilege, as in the Act of March 23, 1863, but ceased to be receivable for public dues. They remained
^ Capers's Memminger, pg. 467.
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only as evidences of debt payable according to their tenor. All notes were required by the plan to be funded except those under five dollars. The $200,000,000 of the old cur- rency not immediately retired could be exchanged within^ six months for an equal sum of the definitely limited new issue. These notes were to be accepted along with the interest coupons for the proposed property tax.
Some Justification Urged.
The earUer partial repudiation had prepared the way for these more radical measures, and the plea of expediency again sufiiced. Mr. Memminger admitted*®* the violations of the note contract in the right to receive a sum of money two years after peace and the right to use them for gov- ernment dues. He offered no defense of the second in- fringement, which the sovereign power of the nation alone was left to justify. But in the first alteration the Treasury was argued to have maintained its good faith by offering the bonds during ninety days for the notes, and in lieu of the specie promised this was the best security to be given for the present, unless the actual payment was postppned until better times. Such an enactment was urged to be in compliance with the spirit of the law, if not the letter, and the only measure that would save the value of the notes issued and likewise prevent the ruin of public and private credit.
The admininstration, to exonerate itself further, made an ungrateful denial of the resource which had served so faithfully, even if to its destruction. It declared that the legislation now against the notes would be no interference with the rights of the people, as between each other, since there had been no express contract to make them currency, and Congress had always refused to pass a legal tender act for them. The conclusion of the whole matter was that no contract, however solemn, could require national ruin.
"•Caper's Memminger, p. 469-470. Report to Congress.
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The sanguine Secretary believed that the compulsory fea- ture would be less objectionable because the inducements of the bonds would bring in a vast part of the currency voluntarily.
The President seconded unqualifiedly in his message of December 7, 1863, the heroic policy outlined. He said^** that taxation was too slow for exigencies, and the amount of notes was so swollen that to remove the cause of it no measures could be too stringent. He asked Congress to give its earliest and entire attention to the currency. The chairman of the Finance Committee, Mr. Hunter, was ready for a revolution in finances. He contended^'* that precedents were against paying debts in full. The United States had not done it. The Confederate notes had been greatly superior to the Continental issues, which were not fundable. This had been a good feature, while currency was not in excess, but now it had become utterly destruc- tive of public credit. Mr. Hunter thought the govern- ment should confess like a merchant who is involved and start again. But such absolute repudiation was very little approved.
Clash of Views and Interests.
The plans of the Treasury were subjected to sharp criti- cism in Congress by the advocates of contending policies. The funding was objected to as the chief remedy of the currency rather than taxation. Such a policy was thought to place too high a value on the notes, in addition to the ruinous practice of exchanging non-interest bearing notes for high rate government securites. Under the direction*** of Senator Brown, of Mississippi, the proposition to tax the notes 25 or 33 1-3 per cent., received increasing favor. The right to tax notes was held to be the same as that
'"Richmond Enqurier, Dec. 8, 1863; Records of War of the Re- bellion, Series IV, Vol. II, pp. 1035-1040. "* Richmond Sentinel, Dec. 4, 1863. "* Richmond Sentinel, Dec. 24, 1863.
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The History of the Confederate Treasury, — Smith. 145
over any other property. President Davis had hinted in this direction, saying if each person held notes according to his ability, it would be the best form of taxation. The supporters of a legal tender measure renewed their efforts. A bill of Senator Phelan to make the interest coupons of the new bonds legal tender received an unfavorable re- port and was tabled February 3, 1864. Gen. Duff Green, who had been connected with various financial projects, memorialized Congress January 6, 1864, against converting the mass of depreciated notes into a funded debt. He wanted a direct tax on notes and the use of bonds for expenses.
The double remedy for the currency of funding under a penalty and of heavy taxation of notes brought a clash of the branches of Congress and led"* to confusion and delay. There was a divergence of opinion as to the pro- portion of notes to be given for bonds and for the new currency. The House voted to tax the notes, while the Senate rejected the proposition; yet after conference a measure was enacted that combined many of the features of the administration plan with radical Congressional amendments. The objection to treating the whole sum of notes to the same process and the fear that special bonds with coupons receivable for taxes would be used as cur- rency shaped the legislation.
The Ruinous Culminating Act. The Act of February 17, 1864,' was the culmination of the currency laws of the Confederacy. It was heralded as "marking an epoch in the monetary department of modern polity." But the discrediting of the public obliga; tions by this act so paralyzed the national finances that no more serious repudiation needed to be projected for enactment in the succeeding final year. It was a combina- tion of funding currency and taxation. As complex as had
*" Savannah Republican, Feb. 4, 1864; Richmond Examiner , Feb. 6,1864.
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been the Act of March 23, 1863, in dividing the notes into three classes with reference to the date of issue and pre- scribing different times and lates of funding, the new act"^ divided the notes on the basis of denominations and de- monetized portions by application of progressive taxation.
The compulsory funding was required in four per cent, certified stock of twenty years. All notes above five dol- lars were allowed this form of exchange until April ist, east of the Mississippi, and July ist west of the Mississippi. After those dates the one hundred dollar notes were taxed ^^ 33 1-3% and jo% added monthly. Notes other than one hundred were also taxed 33 1-3%, but could be ex- changed from April ist to January i, 1865, for four per cent, bonds, with the proportionate deduction. They also could be traded for a new issue of notes at the rate of two for three, but on January i, 1865, a tax of 100% was to be levied on all the old issue, wiping it out of existence. The five dollar notes had a longer duration of grace, their funding period running to July ist east of the Mississippi, and October ist west of the Mississippi; then a tax of 33 I "3% was applied. The seven-thirty interest notes which had been practicably counted as funded, were forthwith converted into six per cent, bonds. Call certificates for notes issued since September, 1863, must be put into four per cent, bonds or lose one-third by taxation.
The four per cent, certified stock in which the old notes were funded was to be accepted^in payment of taxes. An exception was made of States which held notes in their treasuries, the limitation of funding being placed at Janu- ary I, 1865, and six per cent, bonds given. Since future issues were to be checked the two sources of supplies now provided were certificates of indebtedness, bearing six per cent, and transferable, and non-taxable bonds to the au- thorized amount of $500,000,000. In view of the tax levied on all government securities by the Act of February 17th,
"'Acts of Congress, Statute IV. Ch. LXIII.
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the immunity of this obligation was expected to enhance greatly its value and the demand for it. As definite se- curity for the payment of the six per cent, interest a pledge was made of the export and import duties, payable in specie or coupons of the bonds.
Appucation of the Measure.
The provisions of the Act modified materially the pro- gram of Mr. Memminger. All the notes were not per- emptorily funded at an early date. A cheaper security was offered for the funding and the new six per cent, stock was not guaranteed by direct taxation. Taxes were to be paid not in the interest coupons of special bond issue, but in the four per cent, certificates, which were both non-taxable and the funded representatives of the redundant currency being retired. But the Secretary set himself faithfully to the administration of the legislation; 112 new depositaries were appointed for one year to aid the refunding. Quar- termasters in the armies were selected to discharge similar offices. The old notes were to be cancelled by being cut and hammered at these agencies.
Barely forty days existed for the operations, and in that period it was impossible to prepare the stock and have the new notes issued. Congress had again refused the request to allow the engraving of signatuf es, and the delay of hav- ing scores of ladies serve as signers of the currency was not remedied. A circular appeal^®* was made to 175 banks that they accept certificates issued by the depositaries in lieu of bonds. Their help was further invoked for the ad- justment of prices and business operations to the new cur- rency. The Secretary thought if they would advertise to accept the old notes and give credit for them in proportion of $2 for $3, the rating would be established. Bank checks and temporary certificates of the funding were to tide over until the new notes and bonds were issued.
""Treasury Letter Book "E," Mch. 15, 1864.
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Panic and Prices.
The publication of the Act of February 17th caused a panic in commercial circles. Prices^" at once mounted higher. Whisky that had sold for $90 a gallon brought $120. Various dealers would do no business unless they were paid in $5 notes, and an increase of price was de- manded equal to the tax of 33 1-3%, to be imposed after April 1st.
Mr. Memminger noted the unfavorable effect on prices of the tax on the notes for which the seller of commodities was bound to indemnify himself in advance. He said*** that his plan of cutting off all the notes at one time would have made holders of goods anxious to get the notes at their highest rates, and prices had fallen. Now Congress by depreciating the currency had brought the opposite result. Gold quotations rose from 21 to i in February to 35 to I in March. Many having requisitions refused to present them, awaiting the new issue after April ist.
Brown's Dekunciation.
The legislation was received loyally at first by those*** who expected a reduction in the circulation of from $300,- 000,000 to $500,000,000, yet violent criticism was not en- tirely withheld. Gov. Brown, of Georgia, led in denuncia- tion in his message of March 10, 1864. He said, 'The act has shaken confidence in the justice and competence of Congress. The country was prepared to pay cheerfully a heavy tax, but it did not expect repudiation and bad faith." Georgia was obliged to use Confederate currency, and the tax of the notes would be a direct levy on the State by the national government, which must not be allowed. He ad- vised to accept only the notes at par and then issue a State currency to be exchanged for the new notes.
"•Richmond Enquirer, Feb. 24. *•• Letter to J. K. Sass, of Charleston, S. C, Feb. 26. "* Augusta Chronicle, Feb. 22, 1864; Montgomery Advertiser, Apr. 21, 1864.
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Progress o^ Funding.
In the brief period allotted the operations of the funding of the notes made a large showing. A statement**^ of the Register of the Treasury on April 30, 1864, gave a com- prehensive view of the currency issues from the origin of the Department which were affected by the Act of Febru- ary 17, 1864.
Redundancy Theoretically Relieved.
The Treasury report^** for the period up to the time the taxation on the notes began estimated that $250,000,000 had come in for cancellation, east of the Mississippi. The depositaries observed that only about one-half of this amount was in one hundred dollar bills. The redundancy was figured out by the Secretary to have been relieved in the following manner : $800,000,000 was the amount of the general currency on April ist. Fifty millions being to the credit of disbursing officers, seven hundred and fifty millions were in actual circulation. Fifty millions were presumed to be funded west of the Mississippi, and
|
193 |
Issued. |
Redeemed. |
OuUUnd- inir. |
|
Act of Mth. 9, 1861, Int-bearin^ notes ($3.65), . V * '* May 15, 1861, Two jears after date, . . . " Apr. 17, 1862, Int.-beariiiK notes (I7.30), • '* Apr. 17, 1863, DenomlnationB of 9(j|, $2, . " Oct. 13, 1863, General currency, .^. . . " Oct. 13, i86a, DenominaUona of $1 W $3, . •• Mch. 33, 1863. General currency. . . . • • •• Mch. 33, 1863, Ones and Twos, '• Mch. 33, 1863, Fifty cents. |
$a,o3i,ioi 17,347,955 391,961.830 133,640,000 5,600,000 138,056.000 a,344,8oo 514,032.000 3,033,000 915*758 |
$1495,150 9.172,580 141,034,709 33,658,100 1,103.383 36,159,960 44,737,957 |
$525,950 8,175.375 150,937,121 99.981.500 4.497.618 114.a40.839 473.233,322 |
|
1,097,943,963 |
246360,838 |
851,582,135 |
In this table the redemptions were for worn currency and earlier cancellations, the notes on hand of the last funding not counted.
Of the $973,281,863 non-interest notes, the One Hundred denomi- nations aRRregated $318,038,200; the remainder was: Fifties, $188,- 861,400; Twenties, $217,425,020; Tens, $i57»982,75o; Fives, $79r 090,315.
""To Congress May 2, 1864; Caper's Memminger, pp. 480-1.
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thus with the deduction for notes to be cancelled, there remained in circulation four hundred and fifty millions. One hundred and twenty-eight millions of the one hundred dollar notes were assumed to be unfunded and no longer a medium. Finally the residue of three hundred and twen- ty-two millions was brought to a minimum of two hundred and fourteen million dollars by the tax of one-third. Pro- vided this vast contraction did not shatter all business ex- change, and granted that market values had been fairly and effectively touched, then this splendid result on paper of the currency legislation ought to have restored prices to a healthy condition.
(To be continued.)
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A SKETCH OF WILLIAM VANS MURRAY.
By CLBMENt SULIVANE.
f
Having been requested' to write a memoir of the Hon. William Vans Murray, United States Minister to The Hague, and AssQciate Minister Plenipotentiary to France, under the Administration of President John Adams, I cheerfully do so to the best of my ability with the ma- terials at my command.
Original Materials on the Subject.
Being a collateral relative, and the Murray family eo nomine being extinct, I came into possession of Mr. Murray's letter-books, containing copies of his official correspondence with Mr. Pickering, Secretary of State, and of his private correspondence with Gen. Washington, Mr. John Quincy Adams (subsequently President), aijd various other distinguished politicians of his day; his "common-place book," as he styled it, being a diary kept by him for several years; his elegant library, and the family Bible of the Murray's, containing the record of marriages, births and deaths of all the members of that family from the arrival of William Murray, the first of the name to cross the Atlantic in the early part of the i8th century, down to a generation ago. The Bible was lost by a fire in this town in 1892, but the remaining data are intact, and it is from them and family tradition and old family letters that I gather the facts about to be narrated.
William Murray, His Grandfather.
The William Murray referred to was a cousin and ward of the then Duke of Athol, chief of the Murray clan in Scotland, and having embraced the cause of the Preten- der in the rebellion of 171 5, after its suppression he was
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obliged to fly for his life and escaped to France, whence in or about the year 1717 he emigrated to Maryland, and settled in the village of Cambridge, Dorchester county. He was a very young man at the time, and landed (as himself wrote), with no possessions in the world besides 50 guineas in his pocket. He appears not to have been educated as a physician, but being a young man of liberal education and accomplishments he resorted to the prac- tice of medicine for a livelihood, educated Bimself by ex- perience and acquired a large fortune. Among other in- vestments, he in the year 1739 purchased from the origi- nal patentee of Lord Baltimore about one-third of the land forming the present site of Cambridge. Dr. Murray died in 1759, leaving five children, one of whom (James Murray by name), was the father of William Vans Mur- ray, the subject of this memoir.
Dates of Birth and Death.
The circumstance of the loss of the Murray Bible and the fact that Mr. Murray died while on a visit to Phila- delphia and was buried there (so that there is no tomb- stone to his memory in our old church-yard), make us un- able to give the exact dates of his birth and death. But from the record of the birth and death of his younger brother. Dr. John Murray, his admission to the bar, and the deeds passed between his widow and his brother just after his death, I am able to state that he was bom in Cambridge, Md., about the year 1765 or 1766 and died in Philadelphia, Penna., in the year 1803.
Education in England.
Immediately after the Revolution, Mr. Murray was sent to England to be educated, as was common with the young men of fortune in his day, and from his diary I find him in the year 1786 studying the classics, with a certain Mr. Price, at Chelsea. He subsequently read law at the Temple Inn, and at this time married, young as he was.
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"My Beloved" Wife, Charlotte Higgins.
His wife's name was Charlotte Higgins. She was a very beautiful young woman, as I know from her picture in my possession, and the representations of the old mem- bers of my family who knew her in their youth. She was also refined and accomplished, but belonged to the middle class in England, and young Murray not only married her without the knowledge of his family, but concealed the marriage, and did not bring her home with him when he returned to Maryland. Some years later she came over, and from his diary I find that he lived with her in great happiness until his death, and by his will he devised to her all his property for her life time. There were no children bom to them, and after his death in 1803, she, in December of that year, sold her life estate in all the property to her brother-in-law. Dr. John Murray, the reversioner under the will, and returned to her own people in England, and disappeared from all knowledge of people on this side of the Atlantic.
A Federalist Congressman.
At the March term of our court, 1791, Mr. Murray was admitted to the bar, and thence on practiced law until his death. He must at once have engfaged actively in politics upon his return from abroad, as he was elected to Con- gress from this district in the fall of the last named year, and was twice re-elected thereafter, only leaving Congress when appointed to his foreign mission in 1797. I find the following entry in his diary : "27 Nov. Sat. night. I start on Monday at 2 p. m. with my beloved for Congress. God grant me strength and wisdom to discharge my duty to my happy country." Just following this entry appear notes of the efforts of the Federal party to get Mr. Shem- burgh out of the Speaker's chair by the election of Mr. Dayton, a movement in which the Federalists succeeded on December 7th, by a vote of 46 to 31. For Murray was
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a Federalist after the straightest sect, feared and distrust- ed Jefferson and Jacobinism, and was closely allied both with Alexander Hamilton and John Adams. His reverent love and affection for Gen. Washington, and his enthusias- tic admiration of the latter's character, are beyond all bounds, and it is really touching to read his occasional outbursts on this head.
Washington and "the Damndest Scoundrel," Randolph.
I pause here in my narrative to write the precise reason Gen. Washington had for his outburst against Edmund Randolph, his Attorney General, when he denounced him as "the damnedest scoundrel on the face of the earth." It appears from the Murray diary that among certain dis- patches of Fauchet which fell into the hands of the admin- istration (Murray does not tell how) was found a letter to him from Mr. Randolph, in which the latter says : "The reason why the French Government has so little influence over ours is because the French are niggardly of their louisTdores" "This was in answer to Fauchet's letter in- quiring the reason of the French Government's having so little influence," &c., writes Murray.
DiPU)MATic Appointment.
To resume. Mr. Murray was evidently a young man of the most brilliant talents. This is evidenced by the extra- ordinary eloquence of his pen as shown even in his diary, and yet more so in the letter books' copy of his public and private correspondence above referred to. And his rise in political life was simply astonishing. I presume I am historically correct in affirming that there lived a greater number of conspicuously able men in America during the last twenty years of the last century than have ever before lived at any one time in any one nation before that period or since. And yet, after entering Congress at 25 years of age and remaining there three sessions, at
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31 years of age we find him appointed to the (then) most important and responsible mission in Europe. On Feb- ruary 24, 1797 (he writes), he received the first intimation of the wishes of Gen. Washington — then President — in respect to this matter. The information came through Mr. Pickering (already selected Ky Mr. Adams, President- elect, as his Secretary of State), who stated to Murray that Gen. Washington had determined to appoint him to The Hague. Pickering further informed him that when he (Pickering) had suggested his name to the President for this mission, the latter had anticipated him ; "also that Mr. Adams had asked him [Mr. Pickering] if a nomina- tion would take place this session — for if it did not he would send tne.'* Such was the impression made by this young man of 30 or 31 years of age on such men as Wash- ington, Pickering and Adams. During his congressional life his most intimate friend and companion seems to have been Robert Goodloe Harper.
"His beloved" (as he always refers to Mrs. Murray) was delighted at his appointment, which was made by Gen. Washington a few days later, and the nomination was con- firmed by the Senate on March 2, 1797; and, to his g^eat surprise, without opposition. A certain Van Polanan(?) told him at Mrs. Washington's that night, .that he "was not considered as either British or French," and that he would be so considered in Holland. That the then Minis- ter, John Q. Adams, was very unpopular there because of his being "British" — not so considered from his own con- duct, but because of American enemies here so writing across the Atlantic. Mr. Murray anticipated the same misrepresentation of himself from the same quarter, but how this turned out I cannot say.
The Last Day o]? Washington's Administration.
The next entry in his diary is so interesting that I tran- scribe it in full for your benefit. "3. March, Friday, 1797!!! 'Tis the last day of Washington's administra- tion! We went to-night to the drawing-room — Mrs. W.
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was very much affected — ^the President certainly so, but apparently not so much so — ^all the company was deeply affected. Well they may be. God knows if this machine of ours will go without him. Alas, as yet so all-efficient has been this great man's character that we can hardly say that the Constitution has been try'd — ^as yet it is a thing of paper. Opinion — ^public confidence has kept it up. This man has focussed the public opinion absolutely. He was the public confidence. When he goes out — & it is to-morrow I we know not the Power that we lose out of the machine I!
This night ends my sixth session in Congress !
While writing a short eulogy upon George Washington for [somebody's, I can't make out the name] answer, the clock strikes 12 — and Washington no longer presides over the Union! I swear this very moment appears im- mensely awful to my foreboding mind. May his great spirits-example, & character that so long has invigorated the virtue of America by its exalted standard still operate to the good of my country, & may heaven preserve him to long life in happiness and honour !
ten minutes past Twelve 4 March 1797."
At Mrs. Washington's Tea Party the Next Night.
On the following night the next entry was made in the diary, as follows :
"To-night I went to tea at Mrs. Washington's — ^the General came in and I got a seat by him. He asked me when I embarked for Holland. I told him this month, as he had wished. I spoke highly of our present Minister, Mr. Adams. He said he thought very highly of his pene- tration and talents — that he had not found him fail in any anticipation or intelligence he had given. I told him I had heard (from Mr. Lear) that what I had been very solicitous about had taken place. That my credentials were signed by Him, & expressed my delight. He told me that I had his best wishes, and hoped I would write to him. I thank-
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ed him for the permission, & mentioned to him the con- versation I had with . This man will have done
Washington's Work ]?or Humanity.
more to establish human rights — ^to harmonize the duties & rights of citizenship with the energies of Government than all the books ever written. In time his opinions on public law will operate as the highest authority among nations. Their profound justice — their humanity — & their liberality will be generally admitted among nations who stand in need of exalted authority to support their honest pretensions. Sunday night, 5 March. 1797. Wednesday for Maryland."
Departure Mr Europe. We find from the foregoing that, unless circumstances transpired to delay, Mr. Murray embarked for Holland in March, 1797. Anyway, I find that on June 7th, at 6 o'clock p. m., according to the diary, he arrived at the mouth of the Texel with Mr. Dandridge, his secretary, and on proceeding to The Hague he found Mr. Adams still there. Also Gen. Pinkney.
Political Precocity.
The U. S. Government had but four Ministers abroad at that early period in the life of the Republic, viz : at Lon- don, Berlin, St. Petersburg, and The Hagfue, our relations with France having been ruptured, and our poverty preventing others. And as Mr. Murray had charge of all our relations with France, Spain, and Switzerland (such as they were, or might arise), in addition to those of Hol- land, at a time when he could not at the utmost have been over 31 or 32 years of age, his political precocity and ad- vancement are the most remarkable within my knowledge, next to that of the younger William Pitt alone.
His life in Holland is part of the archives in the State Department, and I pretermit any account of it. While
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there he was appointed one of three Ministers Plenipoten- tiary to negotiate a treaty with France, in 1799; but, for reasons unknown to me, just as he had received passports from M. Talle)rrand, Foreign Minister of France under the consulate, his name on the commission was replaced by another ; and in point of fact he did not go to Paris in that capacity, if he went at all, which I do not know.
Washington underhanded about LAI^AYETTE. To me the most remarkable fact that I discover among the Vans Murray papers was his correspondence with Gen. Washington, then retired to Mount Vernon, from which it transpires that in 1799, just after the liberation of Lafayette from Olmutz, and when Gen. Washington had written to the marquis urging him to come to this country to escape the storms of Europe, and to make Mount Vernon his home so long as it pleased him, Wash- ington was energetically engaged in preventing that gen- tleman from coming over here. It is indisputably and un- mistakably proven that Washington wrote to Murray to engage him to embarrass Fayette by difficulties about passports, weather, anything, to prevent his coming to America, and that Murray promised Washington that he would prevent it, and in fact did. For the marquis was crazy to come, and chafed under the pretexts and delays invented by Mr. Murray at Washington's request, as we also find these papers. The secretary of the Philadelphia Historical Society, when I wrote on this subject about fifteen years, or more, ago, informed me that this fact was known to litterateurs, but for reasons of a public char- acter was suppressed from history.
His Death. Mr. Murray only lived a couple of years, or thereabouts, after his return home upon the accession of Mr. Jefferson to the Presidency; resumed the practice of law, and as stated above, died in Philadelphia in 1803, during a visit to that city.
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THE CALHOUN LETTERS— A REVIEW.
By Hon. J. L. M. Curry.
The Fourth Annual Report of the Historical Manu- scripts Commission appears as the Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the year 1899, Vol. • I. This covers the correspondence of John C. Calhoun, and is a volume of invaluable historical and political inter- est. Fortunately the correspondence has been edited by Dr. J. Franklin Jameson, the accomplished editor of the American Hstorical Review. There is probably no scholar in our country whose well-balanced judgment, political and sectional impartiality and large historical knowledge, so eminently fit him for such a delicate and difficult task. After most laborious and conscientious research, pursued for four years. Prof. Jameson succeeded in securing about 800 letters written by Calhoun, "illustrating all periods of his career in all aspects of his life." Besides these and throwing a flood of light on the man and the history of the South and the Federal Government there have been found over 2,000 letters written to Mr. Calhoun by nearly 900 different writers, representing all classes of Southern so- ciety, and by many Northerners as well. It is evident to any one who appreciates "the greatness of Calhoun, the large space which he occupied in the public thought of his time, and the importance of his career in relation to Ameri- can political history that we have here a great gap in our historical record." Dr. Jameson commends the uni- formity which letters of correspondents reveal on the part of his political supporters. "No one expects any thing of him but the most high-minded political conduct; and, in this respect, also, the letters that are not printed, though many of them are from office-seekers and second-rate poli-
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ticiaifs, tell the same story as those that are printed." They are in striking contrast to the letters of Cicero which were the utterances of a vain and wary politician and were, in fact, political pamphlets designed for the public eye.
If one can have "the stomach" to wade through the shameful and disgusting details brought to light in Mackenzie's Lives of Benj. F. Butler, Jesse Hoyt and Van Buren, in 1845 ^"d 1846, he will see a disclosure of the cor- rupt practices and low political morality of the Swartwouts, Hoyts, Glentworth, etc., which will make him blush for a degeneracy which has not been surpassed in more modern days in New York or Philadelphia or Chicago. The ma- chinery of political jugglers brings into happy contrast the ingenuous, transparent honesty of the Carolinian, "with no other guide but truth," discharging his duty fearlessly and disregarding the opposition excited by interest, envy and jealousy.
So far as the writer of this review recalls, in Calhoun's published letters and speeches, there is quoted but one line of poetry — "Truth crushed to earth will rise again." Col. Starke, in the brief but interesting sketch, wisely incor- porated into the volume, says the young lawyer and farmer and prospective statesman never invoked the muse but once, and "she refused to come at his bidding," for what could she make of an invocation commencing — "whereas." After more than a half century of misunderstanding and obloquy, the prophecy of Bryant is slowly coming true, for the truth does not remain crushed to earth. The pub- lication of these letters confirms, in a most convincing manner, the judgment of devoted followers, and he, who was to most people "a mere abstraction, a purely political eidolon/' is, through his numerous letters and those of family and friends, for the first time, disclosed to the pub- lic as a man, "as a human being and a member of a family, showing his constant devotion to his wife and her mother.
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his strong affection for his children, his anxious care for their well-being and improvement, his abiding interest in all kinsmen."
It was once very common in the rabid newspapers to substitute "Catiline" for "Caldwell," his middle name. No public man was ever more misunderstood; no one's mo- tives more slandered, nor principles more misrepresented and perverted and maligned. Some modern histories speak of him as per se a disunionist, and as conspiring and laboring for the separation of the States. Nothing could be farther from the truth. His last breath was in favor of the union of the Constitution, of the fathers of the Republic. He distinguished sharply and clearly between an association of individuals, or a mere government of States acting according to their own discretion, and a compact of sovereign political communities, held in political union by a common bond, the written Constitution, which contained the full gjant of the powers delegated to the general Gov- ernment. The Union was the result of the ratification of the Constitution by the separate States, each acting for itself. The Constitution destroyed, the Union ceases in- stantaneously. Within the limits of the granted powers the States are united and the Government is sovereign and the Union exists ; without those limits, the States are sep- arate and the Federal Government has no authority. Ob- viously, those are the truest friends of the Union who conserve its spirit, its true end, and strive most earnestly to preserve in its integrity the spirit and the letter of the Constitution. "Those are the Disunionists who sacrifice the Constitution and pervert the Government from its true and defined functions." Thus interpreted there never was in public life a more consistent and devoted friend of the Union.
"It might be said of him, as of very few public men, that he had nothing to fear from the posthumous publication of his papers." His letters will disappoint if they are ex-
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pected to minister to a depraved taste, or to contribute to public or private scandal. He was "neither gossipy nor spiteful, nor was he a man of active personal animosities, for his politics revolved around principles rather than per- sonalities." "My policy," he said, "has never depended on my position, but on principles and truth."
Mr. Webster, who had been his associate for 40 years, said: "There was nothing groveling or low or meanly selfish that came near the head or the heart of Mr. Cal- houn. If he had aspirations, they were high and honor- able and noble." Prof. Jameson evidently has a keen de- light in being privileged to make known to Americans "the character and the career of one of the greatest ^nd most elevated of American statesmen," and to do justice to the "memory of a great and noble statesman."
The questions which aroused such vindictive attacks and such strong prejudices having passed away, it is to be hoped that these letters and documents, now published for the first time, will enable and incite some able writer, like Prof. Jameson himself, to write a veritable biography of one who has been justly called the Aristotle of American politics. The only authentic biography of Calhoun was written by R. M. T. Hunter, of Virginia, and was pub- lished in 1843 by Harper & Brothers, as introductory to his speeches, reports and other writings. Calhoun lived seven years afterwards, and was active as Senator, Secre- tary of State, and as the author of the most profound disquisition on government and of the best exposition of the Constitution,of the United States which have appeared in this country. While the writings of Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton, and Morris have been collected and edited for general reading, it may be expected that after the revelation which comes from this publication, there will be found some enterprising pub- lisher who will give to our American youth and the world easy access to the grand thoughts of the great political
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philosopher. Eulogies at the time of his death by Rhett, Hammond, Barnwell, Miles, Campbell, and Yancey, and the masterly address of Justice Lamar at the unveiling of the monument in Charleston, may be referred to as the best portraitures of the man and the best elucidation of his principles. It may be permitted to refer to an address made before the University of Chicago, July 4, 1898, as a demonstration that the principles, utterances and acts of Calhoun were promotive of the true Union of the States.
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REVIEWS AND NOTICES.
The Bright Side of Humanity. Glimpses of Life in Every Land, showing the Distinctive Noble Traits of all Races. By Edward Leigh Pell, D. D. (Richmond, Va. : The B. F. Johnson Publishing Co. [1900], O., pp. 602, 116 illus., $ .)
This work is perhaps unique in character. Its leading motive may be found in the opening lines of the Introduc- tion : "The virtues are modest, one must look for them or one will overlopk them. The vices are shameless — ^they force themselves upon our attention, they insist upon be- ing seen and talked about." Of more than a thousand books of travel examined in the preparation of the volume "scarcely one-fourth give fitting recognition to the vir- tues of the people at all, while most of them faithfully mirror all the vices in sight."
The task must have been a pleasant one to gather to- gether from many sources for the general reader the noble traits of many peoples. Many expressions indicat- ing these qualities appear in the chapter headings: "The hospitable Arab;" "The sunny side of the South Sea;" "The tidiest Nation" (Holland); "The chivalrous Mexi- can;" "A people who cannot hate" (Hawaiians); "The gentle Esquimos;" "The friendly Tibetans" (A. H. Sav- age Landor is not quoted in the text); "The polite Per- sian;" "The home loving German;" "The dourest and tenderest of men" (Scotch); "The generous Hibernian;" "The courageous Welshman," &c.
These and similar adjectives show the general character of the book. There is a full table of contents and an in- dex. There is no fixed or formal arrangement, for the author has avoided the conventional grouping of subjects according to geographical or political divisions and the
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lack of uniformity in fulness in the various chapters is explained by the scarcity of materials. Many travelers are quoted in the text, while the accounts written in the past are supplemented by contemporaneous ones from many eminent living missionaries and others. While pre- senting the bright side of humanity the author has not failed to remember that there is a dark side to his picture ; in some cases he has sought to explain this as due to wrong training, to misconceptions or to inherited cus- toms. It may be presumed that these accounts, based on such authorities, are generally accurate and fairly repre- sentative, but a year's acquaintance with the Indians of the Southwest has led the writer to doubt all the good things said of that race and to conclude that Sherman was right when he scoffed that the only good Indian was the dead Indian.
To the readers of the Publications the most interesting chapters are those of the American negro. Here the au- thor has changed the general outline of his work. He speaks with authority and presents a common sense dis- cussion of the problem which is made up neither of ex- tracts from Northern travelers, who know nothing of their subject, nor entirely from Southern men, who can hardly expect in this generation to have their practical knowledge of a difficult subject accepted by other sec- tions. Little space is given to the generalities most em- phasized with other nations, but the lines along which improvement is possible and the nature of that improve- ment are pointed out. Doctor Pell steers a direct course between the opposing forces of negrophiles and negro- phobes. He denies that the negro editors, who strive so hard to injure the relations between the races, are more than small politicians at best, and that they are represen- tative of their people. The race is defended against the charges of the lack of patriotism. The Negro's crimes are largely those of environment, for while the unde-
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veloped mass are a horde of petty thieves and hence monumental liars, the race as such is not a criminal one. Its crimes are against person and property, never against government, for the Negro has no isms. The lack of home life and the necessities of mothers who must go out to service are the hot-beds of crime. The great agencies have had as their watchword "mentality rather than mor- ality." "The loudest crying need in every negro quarter in the South is a day nursery for the benefit of the multi- tudes of mothers who are compelled to go out to service."
The author denies that education has solved or is solv- ing the Negro Problem; he denies further that there has been to an appreciable extent any higher education among them, that which passes for such being at best but secondary in character. He claims that both industrial and literary training are necessary and suggests that the Negro colleges turn their attention to a study of this subject. He deplores the passing of the House Darkey of the ante-bellum period and suggests that the estab- lishment of more cordial relations between the older peo- ple of the South and the Negro would go far* toward solv- ing the problem. This "must be done by this generation, for it cannot be done by the next. And it is not a forlorn hope. Race prejudice as it exists in the South to-day is largely a post-bellum growth. The feeling that the neg^o is inferior to the white man of course existed before the war; but the idea that one cannot afford to take a per- sonal interest in a Negro's welfare is clearly a modern conception. The highest born women of the old South never heard of it."
In its typographical make up the book is the best pro- duct that we remember to have seen issued from a South- ern publishing house. The half-tone illustrations are generally well printed, some of them being in colors. The paper is heavy, and while glazed and hard on the eyes, the print is large and clear. A few omissions of leads, a
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misprint in a proper name here and there are all the er- rors of this kind noted, and these serve by their fewness to diflferentiate the book from the usual slipshod, "cheap and nasty" issues of the Southern press. The B. F. Johnson Company deserves high credit for the attention which they have here paid to typographical details and to general appearance.
Although "prepared for the Columbia Historical So- ciety" and largely at their expense, we do not know whether Mr. W. B. Bryan's Bibliography of the District of Columbia (W^ashington : Government Printing Office, 1900, paper, pp. v-f-211, 8vo.), is to be considered as one of their publications or not — an omission that will be a pest to librarians. It is worse than a puzzle though, it is an incomprehensible blunder that a reader must go to volume three of the Society Records for the real preface to this Bibliography. There he will find the plan of the work, the scope, the method of procedure, the cost (over $300), the home of much of the material and many inter- esting facts and conclusions discovered in the course of the investigation. It is there stated to him that United States Government publications touching the subject are not included as being too numerous to undertake at pres- ent. He will also be informed that nearly 700 news- papers have been published in the District of Columbia — a striking total that few persons would have dreamed of. No explanation is offered, why this outline of the scheme and summary of results are separated from the main body that they logically and customarily precede.
But it was a huge task that Mr. Bryan set himself,, to note "books and pamphlets and maps, titles of articles in periodicals, and names of newspapers published in the District" and he very modestly refuses to claim that suc- cess has crowned his effort. Everything of the sort is incomplete and yet the compiler can always know that his labor is in large part valuable if he honestly does his
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best. Mr. Bryan had a virgin soil to strike into, and who- ever follows him will have to make full acknowledgment of deep obligations.
While making allowance for the enormous difficulties of the task there are some shortcomings that it seems fair to mention. We are not told which of the material is rare and where such material is to be found. The col- lation of the periodicals is very unsatisfactory, as we do not know in the case of many of the dead ones how long they were published, whether a complete file is in exist- ence, or, if so, where it is to be seen. Of many of those named, we cannot always tell whether they still breathe or not. It is admitted that vast toil might have been necessary to get this data. A query also arises why the Star is honored with two entries, while the Post has only one.
The Columbia Historical Society has issued volume 3 of their Records (Washington, 1900, paper, pp. 366, 8vo, index) filled with contributions roughly divisible into two classes, reminiscences and researches. The former, giv- ing us views of old Washington days and people, are not only entertaining, but valuable, as they are to a consid- erable extent authoritative, and add to the sum total of historical knowledge, containing personal information of the writers. Partaking of this character and much to be commended, are the articles by J. M. Cutts, Mrs. J. T. Rives, Mrs. V. C. Moore, Judge W. S. Cox, E. L. Morse, Miss V. Miller, W. Tindall, F. M. Howe who has a very fulsome adulation of Governnor A. R. Shepherd, practi- cally claiming for him the credit of ever)rthing worthy in Washington's material development. Such broad, sweep- ing assertions ^re very well suited to newspaperdom, but are hardly in keeping with the dignity of an established historical organ, as there is a great deal to be said on the other side that Mr. Howe seems hopelessly unaware of. The warmth of his testimonial may be excusable on the
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ground that he was the Governor's private secretary, as he himself states.
The articles depending primarily on research are open to the criticism that they do not show the sources of in- formation either in a bibliography or in foot-notes, with three exceptions, W. C. Clephane, S. C. Busey and J. B. Osborne. Even these are not as full and clear as they might be, as books in some instances are quoted without being named, and in other cases are indicated in the body of the paper, and not at bottom of page. In subjects re- quiring investigation beyond the ordinary stock authori- ties handy to all, modem methods of historical writing demand that references be g^ven, so that others can inter- rogate the same witnesses if desired. This is a high standard that few historical publications reach in all their output, but it is something to be striven for.
The society seems to be in a healthy condition, as there are over an hundred members in full standing, and there are funds at times for engaging clerical assistance in his- torical work. The members also are unusually active as nearly all this volume comes from their pens.
Whoever wants to see the Old South in a miniature of gentle mellowness, as painted by one of the noblest and sincerest of observers, let him read Col. R. M. Johnston's Autobiography in the issues of the Conservative Review (The Neale Co., Washington, D. C). It is also an ex- quisite record of the inner life of a refined man and great author. It is the world as viewed by a genuine, simple- hearted man of letters, who vividly and humorously re- lates his experiences. With ideal modesty does he re- count his achievements in the field of literature, a career that he might have pardonably enlarged on because of its uniqueness in winning success after the genial colonel had passed fifty. Yet at that advanced age he practically creates a new school of fiction, and thus makes for him- self an imperishable niche in the hall of fame. Even with
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this incentive to vanity, the closest scrutiny will fail to find the slightest trace of self-complacency. Again he might have been excused to dwell at length on some of the worries and disappointments that arise from a change of locality, from words of reproach or from coldAss of friends, yet not a tinge of sadness mars the innate serenity of this gallant knight oi ^^e^f^l hum^ity: When he tells of his cordial friendship with the lead- ing public men of Georgia, with Alexander and Lin- ton Stephens, with Colquitt and Lumpkin, with Toombs, who "possessed an intellect above that of any other man with whom I ever had acquaintance," there is no note of pride or exultation, no parading of inti- macy, but the calm, shrewd, faithful tribute and judi- cious estimate of one strong man for another. But when we come to the account of his authorship^wje.find thj» topmost level of this well-balanced diat-dctef. Every parent is allowed considerable latitude in talking q| his children, but Colonel Johnston asks for Jl<> indulgence, makes no demand on our charity, but in the clearest, most straightforward way, without hint of affectation, sets forth his labors and rewards as a writer and lecturer, ^ all in the honest, open-minded way he might have de- scribed the progeny of a Cicero oV a Thackeray. So* the limpid stream of his narrative runs on, no fretting, no snarling, but the beautiful picture of a candid heart, that not only shows its excellencies for itself, but is also a mirror for that old bygone system of which it is a pro- duct.
Last summer, on May 8-10, 1900, there was held at Montgomery, Ala., a conference on the race problems of the South, that was addressed by prominent men from North and South, and that attracted the widest attention in the daily press. The meeting was the result of a movement begun in that city in January preceding to form an organization for the study of the vexed ques-
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tions arising from the ethnological conditions in that sec- tion. Under these auspices, speakers of national reputa- tion were brought before large audiences there, and, un- der the same fostering care, their utterances are now preserved in print (Richmond, B. F. Johnson Pub. Co., paper, 8vo, pp. 240, $1.00). From the standpoint of the scientific investigator, one serious defect is to be noted in the discussion; the other side was not presented, the Negro's voice was not heard. He might not have added another fact, or another argument, but he would have of- fered a new attitude that might have forced other views or strengthened old ones. But as it is, the only deliver- ances were from whites. Among the eminent men in at- tendance were W. B. Cochran, of New York ; Herbert Welsh, of Philadelphia; J. L. M. Curry, H. A. Herbert, C. R. Breckenridge, P. B. Barringer, H. B. Frissell, J. D. Dreher and A. M. Waddell. The overruling note sound- ed through all their words is pessimistic. Economically, morally, religiously, even physically, this sad key was struck time and again. There was one variation of relief to this solemn strain, the hope placed on the uplifting power of education. Especially was this emphasized by Dr. Curry. The society has been successful in enlisting cooperation, as they have over 300 members in all the Southern States. It is a select list as there are no dues, and only those with the greatest interest in the purposes are invited to join. The expenses of the meeting and of the publication were readily met by local contributors. By way of commendation, there is a pretty full bibliog- raphy on the Negro question; by way of criticism, there should be a table of contents at least, and an index if possible. But these omissions are insignificant by the side of the heavy task which the indefatigable secretary, Rev. E. G. Murphy (Montgomery), discharged so hap- pily. Much more will also be excused when it is known
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that the book is stitched with thread, and not with that nuisance, steel wire.
The very best and most advanced work on the socio- logical conditions of the Negro is being d<5tie by Atlanta University, through its courses of study, through its teaching corps, through its publications, through dis- semination of information and through its stimulus to the Negro conference that meets in that city. Especially to be commended on the Negro problem is its series of studies of which No. 5 is, The Negro in Business (Atlanta ; paper, pp. 78, 1899, 25 cents), edited by W. E. B. DuBois. Mr. DuBois very skilfully and wisely seized on the best machinery for making a wide and detailed examination of the subject, he enlisted the aid of the students, graduates and teachers of all the leading Negro colleges and uni- versities. By this comprehensive method he could in- clude in the scope of his inquiry some 1900 business men or nearly one-half of the total of 5,000 that are estimated for the whole land. It is a matter of astonishment that so many are to be found in this class which he limited for his purposes to those living in towns on trade or invested capital, thus excluding all farmers. In his list are seen nearly all the vocations that involve buying and selling, even banks, real estate dealers and building and loan associations. Two serious handicaps are noted, the re- luctance of Negroes to patronize their own race, and the crushing influence of the trusts and department stores in stifling individual efforts. The conference earnestly urged the Negroes to stand together and support their own enterprises, possibly at a loss for a time, but such appeals can, of course, do no good, as purchasers, whether white or black, will go where they get the most for their money. Another injunction though is eminent- ly sound, that they get education, both mental and moral.
A special summary is g^ven to newspapers, disclosing one monthly, two quarterlies, and three dailies, 11 peda-
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gogical journals and 136 weeklies, or a remarkable total of 153. Georgia and Texas lead with 23 each. Only one antedates the civil war (1839), while the bulk of the fore- most ones have been born within the past decade.
President W. H. Council, Normal, Ala., has printed a Synopsis of Three Addresses delivered last summer at as many educational institutions in Iowa, on (i) "Build- ing the South," (2) "The Children of the South," and (3) "Negro Religion and Character." (No date, no place, paper, pp. 22, though they are not numbered). They at- tracted marked attention, such observers as the Spring- field Republkcm, daily, declaring them "quite the most re- markable recent contribution to the discussion of the Negro problem at the South." Even this condensation furnishes justification for this strong endorsement as we have here the most beautiful incidents and thoughts put before us in the most glowing language. Almost ideal- ized, is his tribute to the reverent- nature of the race: "It is not extravagant to say that a people so spiritual, so vivid in imagination, will yet put an interpretation upon the religion of Christ which will startle and refine more . favored races. * * * There is more of God to be brought down to man. If the Negro is true to himself, he may be God's instrument to bring it all about." We may not accept this high estimate, we may not have faith in this bright future, but we must yield a meed of s^dmira- tion to the orator's eloquence.
The Atlantic Monthly (Boston), for January, begins a historical series on the Reconstruction Period, with a bril- liant introductory article by Professor Woodrow Wilson, of Princeton, who, with the poise and grasp of a philoso- pher, writes with the vividness and clearness of a man of letters and a man of affairs combined, a Bagehot for in- stance. So sure is he in his strength that he can afford
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to be humorous on such a portentous matter, and tells us that on such a mighty subject "it is a wonder that his- torians who take their business seriously can sleep at night." With such a guide we can feel safe in going to the foundations of that tangled mass that Professor Wil- son seems to think a fateful landmark in our progress. The action of Congress in stepping outside of the Consti- tution to settle the mixed questions has furnished a prece- dent that only those few with the rare insight of Professor Wilson have been able to see. Seven otner papers on lead- ing features of the movement for rehabilitation of the South are to follow this striking contribution. In the num- ber are Mr. Thos. Nelson Page, Hon. H. A. Herbert, and Hon. D. H. Chamberlain.
In the catalogue of the University of North Carolina for 1 899-1900, it is to be noted that Stockard's monograph on the History of Alamance County, which was reviewed in these Publications last November (p. 485), was her thesis in the English, not in the History Department. In fact, history was not in her course, which included English, Greek and Philosophy. Inadvertently, the review might have left the impression that her major work was history.
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NOTES AND QUERIES.
Traveling Libraries in Georgia. — Hon. Hoke Smith has recently made a contribution to the educa- tional facilities of Georgia. .He has sent to each of six- teen counties a library of sixty selected volumes. These libraries are to be itinerants. They will travel into every part of the counties and stop a month or two at every school-house. Each is strongly boxed in a case built for hard traveling. The cases were made especially for Mr. Smith, and are his own invention. Each school superin- tendent will have charge of the library in his county, and will direct where it shall go, also how long it shall stay at each school. Mr. Smith's idea is to have a library remain at one place for from one to two months, or as long as the school superintendent may think it advisable in order that every school child may enjoy the unusual advantages aflforded by the books. Down in Jones coun- ty, a few months ago, Mr. Smith saw a little library in a little hamlet. It was an insignificant collection of books, but the people had worked hard to gather them, and the whole community had great pride in the library. This was a suggestion to him. He saw exemplified by the people there a passion for reading and for knowledge that he knew was not uncommon, but general. It oc- curred to him that by gratifying this thirst for good read- ing matter he could further the cause of education. Mr. Smith made out a list of books that he thought peculiarly adapted to the needs of intelligent country children. He cut this list down to sixty books and ordered sixteen copies of each. Then he had his cases made, and boxing up his books, sent them to the counties to which he had decided to give libraries. The school superintendents have entered enthusiastically into the library movement.
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and are doihg all in their power to carry out the purposes of the donation.
State Aid to History Work in Maryland. — The librarian of the Maryland State Library, Annapolis, fur- nishes the following facts concerning local State aid in behalf of history work: "In 1834 the General Assembly having accepted the manuscript of Bozman's History of Maryland, authorized the Governor and Council to con- tract for its publication and distribution. Several subse- quent resolutions appear in regard to it, but no where any date as to the cost of the work. A little later, by resolution, McMahon's History was published by like resolution, but again no cost is given and the Treasur- er's reports for these years makes no mention of it. In 1876 the General Assembly subscribed in advance for 300 copies of Scharf's History at ten dollars p*r copy (3 vols.). In 1882 the first appropriation for the publication of the Archives was made and two thousand dollars g^ven. In 1884 the appropriation was continued, two thousand dollars being granted for each year, and this custom has been kept up to this date. In all 19 vols, of the Archives have been published and the total appro- priation for this purpose amounts to thirty-six thousand dollars ($36,000). In 1896 fifteen thousand dollars was appropriated for the publication of the roster of the Maryland Volunteers in the Civil War. Some provision has been made for the publication of th6 roster of volun- teers of the Spanish-American War, but as yet I have not been able to find any bill or resolution."
Charleston Historicai. Exhibition. — On the grounds which have been selected as the site of the South Carolina Inter-State and West Indian Exposition, there stands an old colonial home, wl)ich was the scene of lavish comfort and open-hearted hospitality in days gone by. It is proposed to restore this old home, now somewhat touched by tlTe tooth of Time, to something
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Notes and Queries, i77
of its original state, and to collect within its walls valu- able relics of the past. No State in the Union, perhaps, contains more of these relics than South Carolina, and some of these are not only notable as antiques, but have the added value of being historic. The table which Henry Laurens, President of the Congress of 1717, used while he was a prisoner in the Tower of London, is in the pos- session of a lady of South Carolina; few cities possess finer specimens of the work of the most famous of the early miniaturists than Charleston does, while the old plantation homes on the Ashley and the Cooper, which in some cases have been in the same family for more than two hundred years, are full of reminders of the men who made South Carolina a great State in the early days of the Republic, and whose memories are still kept green.
South Carolina Land Records. — ^When the City of Columbia, S. C, was destroyed by Gen. W. T. Sherman, February 17, 1865, all records were destroyed except the Land Books, the Council Journal, the Common House Journals, and some miscellaneous Records, which were saved by their removal from the city by Mr. Hunt, Sec- retary of State. The saving of them has been invaluable to the State.
The Land Records consist of about 100 volumes of Grants, about 500 pages each, extending from 1678 to present time. There are 8 or 9 Books of General In- dexes, but most volumes of Grants have indexes also. These Grant books are not geographically arranged, all parts of the State are indiscriminately included.
There are about 100 Plat Books, including grants from about 1680 to the present, but they are not very com- plete, till after 1730. Plats from 1678 to 1730 are dif- ficult to find. There are eight Books of Indexes from 1730 to 1785, and from 1785 to the present. These vol- umes are most of them in good order. All grants and plats of land made since about 1730 can be found quite
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readily. They are in the custody of the Secretary of State. The cost of copies of grants and plats is usually $1.00 each. When grants, plats (or in fact) any papers are wanted, and to be certified under the great seal of State, there is a fee of $1.00 for this certification.
The books — grants and plats — ^are generally, about gx 15 inches, and about 500 pages, although they vary a lit- tle. One of the defects of these books is that all portions of the State are mixed up indiscriminately. It must be borne in mind that South Carolina was never surveyed in a regular way. Persons applied for and secured grants, just as they had the land run out (in no regular way; and the result is, that now it is a matter of doubt as to whether or not the State owns a single acre of land. We know what the State did grant, but nothing as to what was left and all the older grants and plats were so badly described as to make it impossible to fit them to- gether. My own opinion is that there is no vacant land left in the State. Of course there is some unclaimed and of unknown owners, but that is generally in small pieces and only discovered by the adjoining land owners. — James A. Gibbes.
Department* of Archives and History of the State OF Alabama. — ^The establishment of a permanent "De- partment of Archives and History" by the present General Assembly of Alabama, is by far the most progressive and important step yet taken by any Southern State in the matter of historical work and research. The act was ap- proved February 27, 1901. The Department is to be lo- cated in the State Capitol at Montgomery. "The objects and purposes of the said Department are the care and cus- tody of official archives, the collection of materials bearing upon the history of the State, and of the territory included therein, from the earliest times, the completion and pub- lication of the State's official records, and other historical materials, the diffusion of knowledge in reference to the
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history and resources of the State, the encouragement of historical work and research/* etc. It is placed under the administrative control of a board of nine trustees, but the immediate management and direction is committed to a director to be elected by the board. The director is to receive an annual salary of $1,800, with a contingent fund of $700 yearly. The establishment of the Department is due almost entirely to the zeal and well-directed energies of Thomas M. Owen, who was on March 2, 1901, elected director for a term of six years.
School Histories. — A good stroke for the dignity of history was made in the latter part of February by Gen. H. V. Boynton, the newly-chosen president of the Wash- ington, D. C, school board, in publicly and officially pointing out the errors and exaggerations he Had found in histories adopted several years ago in the public schools of the city. He condemned four out of the seven in use — Barnes's, Montgomery's, Johnston's and McMaster's — and urged their exclusion from the class-room. Two of these are of the type of text-books made to order and to sell. A third, McMaster, with his slavish imitation of Ma- cauley's style, has always Had a wide reputation for loose- ness of statement. But it will be something of a shock to the sincere admirers of Alexander Johnston that he has been caught up for inaccuracy. Many of the instances adduced by Gen. Boynton relate to the Civil War and the late Spanish one, in both of which he was engaged.
North Carolina Tea. — Major Graham Daves, in the Weekly Journal of February 8, 1901 (New Bern, N. C), has sketched the history of the Yaupon tea found in that locality. It was ^sed by the Indians and is believed to have great commercial possibilities.
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Southern History Association,
WASHINGTON, D. C.
VOLUME I, 1897, pp. 336. (Out of Print).
[ HisTORiCAi, Sketch of the Association—Historicai, Studies in
THE South, Stephen B. Weeks— The Pi^nter of the Oi,d South, } Richard Malcolm Johnston— Two Southern Magazines, Edward Ingle
} —David Crockett, Marcus J. Wright— Bibliography of the Statute
i lyAW of the nouTHERN STATES, Theodore L. Cole— John Owen's Jour-
i NAL IN 1818— Bishop Spangenberg's Journal on North Carolina-
Bryant Lester and Descendants, Thomas M. Owen— John Brown's Raid, Andrew Hunter— A Bibliography of John Brown, Thomas Featherstonhaugh— Thomas Lamar and Some Descendants, W. H. Lamar— Huck's Defeat, Marcus J. Wright— A Question of Fact, C. C. Pinckney - Journal of the Siege of Savannah in 1779, General Provost— a' Bibliography of William Gilmore Simms, A. S. Salley , Jr.— Book Notes— Notes and Queries— Index.
VOLUME II, 1898, pp, 390, J553-(X) UNBOUND.
I Report of Second Annual Meeting, Colyer Meriwether, Secy.—
! Unpublished Letters of Andrew Jackson— Transfer of Louisiana,
I Marcus J. Wright — Society of the Cincinnati in the South, Charles
L. Davis— Dismemberment of Virginia, William Baird -Anti-Sla- very Sentiment in the South, Stephen B. Weeks— Pelatiah Webs- ter's Journal, Thomas P. Harrison— William Strother and Des- cendants, Thomas M. Owen— Richard Winn. J. L. M. Curry— Mary- land's Greatest Politician, Edward Ingle— Christopher Gadsden, E. I. Renick— Virginia Women and the Civil War, B. W. Arnold — Early Southern Institutions, Peter J. Hamilton— Button Gwin- nett's Commission— Richard Malcolm Johnston, Edmund Clarence Stedman and Stephen B. Weeks— Sir Richard Evkrard, Marshall De Lancey Haywood— Mount Vernon, Alabama, T. H. Ball— Monroe's Poverty, Thomas M. Owen— Soclal Affairs in 1760 -Book Notes- Notes AND Queries— Index.
VOLUME III, 1899, pp. 584, $300 UNBOUND
The Florjda Mound-Builders, Thomas Featherstonhaugh— Ed- ward MosELEY, James Franklin Shinn— Jacob Ammonbt, of Virginia, Clifton Wood Bransford— Some Difficulties of a Texas Empresario, Lester G. Bugbee— The Texan Expedition Against Mier, Thomas J. Green — brsonnel of the North Carolina Convention of 1788 — A Confederate Incident, J. L. M. Curry -Report of Third Annual Meeting, Colyer Meriwether, 5^^:';^.— Sidney Lanier, George S. Wills — Nullification Resolutions, A. S. Salley — The Renick Family of Virginia, E. I. Renick — Henry Timrod, Henry E. Shepherd and A. S. Salley— John Brown, Thomas Featherstonhaugh — Salisbury (N. C.) Confederate Prison, A. W. Mangum— Book Notes— Notes and Queries— Index. r^^^r^T^
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VOLUME IV, 1900, pp. 52?, «3.oo UNBOUND.
Washington and the Constitution, J. L. M. Curry— Andrew R. Govan, A. S. Salley, Jr.— The Revoi,dtionary War in N. C— Why the Confed- eracy HAD NO Supreme Court— The Texas Frontier. 1820-1825, Lester G. Bugbee— A Baptist Appeal— Report ok Fourth Annual, Meeting, Colyer Meriwether, ^>c>— The Purchase OF Louisiana, Daniel R. Goodloe— The Journal, of Thomas Nichoi^on— Anecdotes of General, Winfieu) Scott- Congressman Stokes and Pubuc Archives— The Southern Planter of the Fifties, Louisa P. Looney— Letter from a Revolution- ary Officer — Governor Richard Bennett, I. T. Tichenor — Light on the Negro Problem — Lee and the Confederacy, Peter Joe Hamilton — The Battle of King's Mountain — Cincinnati Society in Vlrglnia, John Cropper — Some Colonial Ancestors of Johns Hopkins, Miles White — Southern Revolutionary Frontier Life, William Martin— John Wrlght Stanly, J. D. Whitford — The Highlandfjis in America — Reviews and Notices — Notes and Queries— Index.
VOLUIVIE v., 1901, $3.00. UNBOUND. No. I.JANUARY, 1901.
PAOB
History of the Confederate Treasury (Coatinued), . . E. A. Smith. i
The South IN Olden Times, J. L. M. Curry. 35
E WARD Ireland Renick, Gaillard Hunt. 49
Reviews and Notices, 53
Notes and Queries, 85
EXTRA VOLUME I.
INDEX to Meade*8 Old Churches^ Ministers and Families oj l^irginia. By J. M. Toner, M. D., 8vo., pp. 63, cloth or paper $1.00. Indispensable for prompt and ready reference to the mass of names in Meade's two volumes. Indorsed for accuracy and completeness by Colonel R. A. Brock, the well- known authority on Virginia history.
Address Southern History Association,
P. O. Box 65. Washington, D. C.
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V-
Vol. V. MAY, 1901. No. 3.
PUBLICATIONS
OP THE
Southern History Association.
ISSUED BI-MONTHLY.
CONTENTS :
PAGE
Sketch op Gensrai* Mdhi<fcnbkrg, . . . M. J. Wright. i8i
History of thb Confsdbratr Treasury, (Concluded) . . E. A. Smith. i88
Carrington GbnbaW)GY, J. B. Killebrew. 228
Reviews and Notices, 232
Notes and Queries, .... 260
WASHINGTON, D. C.
Published by the Association.
May» 1901.
•3.00 per «iuiam| fl.OO per nviniber.
No retponsibility usumed for opinions of contributors.
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OFFICERS, 1901.
PRESIDENT: Dr. J. L. M. Curry.
VICE-PRESIDENTS:
General M. C. BUTI.ER. Mr. Thomas Nbi,son Pagb.
General M. J. Wright. Professor Woodrow Wii<son.
Colonel Gborgb A. Portbrfieu). Senator S. Pasco.
SECRETARY AND TREASURER: Coi^YRR Meriwether, Ph. D., Washington^ D. C.
ADMINISTRATIVE COUNCIL: (In addition to the above-named Officers):
Professor Kemp P. Batti^e. Stephen B. Weeks, Ph. D.
Colonel R. A. Brock. Professor H. Schoenfei»d.
Mr. T. L. Coi^K. Professor Lucian Johnston.
Professor R. He^Th Dabney. Mr. Thomas H. Ci«ark.
Professor John R. Ficki^en. Mr. Ai,exander Summers.
Professor Chas. LEE Smith. President Geo. T. Winston.
Professor W. C. Stubbs. J. B. Kii,i,ebrew, Ph. D.
PUBLICATION COMMITTEE:
Gen. M. J. Wright. Mr. T. L. Coi,E.
Mr. Thomas H. Ci^ark. Dr. Stephen B. Weeks.
Mr. John b. Browni.ow. Dr. Coi^yer Meriwether.
Pursuant to a call signed by nearly a hundred representative persons of the South, the Southern History Association was organized at the Columbian University, Washington, D. C, on the evening of April 24, 1896, for the pur- pose of studying the history of the Southern States. In carrying out this aim an annual meeting is held, and a Bi-monthly Publication issued. The Associ- ation also desires contributions of journals, letters, manuscripts and other ma- terial towards the beginning of a collection of historical sources. It will gladly accept papers based on research and documents on all subjects touching the South.
All persons, as well as libraries, interested in the work are eligible for membership, without initiation fee ; annual dues {3.00, life dues I30.00. There is no other expense to members, who receive all current publications of the Association free of charge.
The Publicf»tions alone can be had, postpaid, at I3.00 per volume, un- bound, or |i.oo per number.
All communications should be addressed to
COLYER MERIWETHER, Secretary, P. O. Box 65. Washington, D. C.
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Vol. V. Mat, 1901. No. 3.
A SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF GENERAL JOHN PETER GABRIEL MUHLENBERG.^
• By General Marcus J. Wright.
It has been said that "the names of Washington, Lafay- ette and Greene, are the property of the world; those of Steuben, Sullivan, Reed, Muhlenberg, Morgan, Weedon, and Knox and many others, are more exclusively that of the American people." It might have been added, that the history of the latter and others who aided in the achieve- ment our liberties, have not been forgotten, but by reason of great historical events, notably our great Civil War, have for the time being, been relegated, not to forgetfulness ; but to a quiet from which their descendants will lovingly relieve them. It being one of the objects of the Society of the Sons of the American Revolution " to perpetuate the memories of the men who by their services or sacrifices during the war of the American revolution, achieved the independence of the American people," I propose in obe- dience to this purpose, as far as I may be able, in a brief way, to claim your attention to some account of the history
'Read before the District of Columbia Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, January i6, 1901.
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of General John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg, a distin- guished Major General in the revolutionary army. Gen- eral Muhlenberg's father, Doctor Henry Melchior Muhlen- berg, was a native of Hanover, Germany, and was the founder of the Lutheran Church in America, of which he was its most distinguished minister, both in Germany and .America. General Peter Muhlenberg, as he was usually termed, was born in the village of Trappe, Montgomery county, Penna., Oct. ist, 1746. His brother, Frederick Au- gustus Conrad, was also a Lutheran minister, and was a member of the Continental Congress, and twice Speaker of the House of Representatives. General Muhlenberg's early teaching was under charge of a Dr. Smith, at an academy in Philadelphia.
In April, 1763, when in his i6th year, Peter was sent with his two younger brothers to Halle, in Germany, where he entered school. About a year after his entrance into this school an insult was offered him by one of his teachers, which he at once resented by a blow. Knowing that this would result in his expulsion, he enlisted in a regiment of dragoons passing through the town, but through the in- tervention of a British officer he was discharged, and re- turned to America some time in 1766. Early in the year 1768, he was ordained a minister of the Evangelical Luth- eran Church, and soon afterwards appointed assistant rec- tor of a church in New Jersey. Subsequently he was called to the charge of a church in Woodstock, Va., where a number of German Lutherans were settled. In order to meet the public laws of the Colony of Virginia, relating to church establishment, and the collection of tithes, it was necessary for him to receive ordination in the church of England. Accordingly, he proceeded to London, and on April 23d, 1772, was ordained by the Bishop of London, at King's Chapel, St. James, in company with Dr. White and ^r. Braidfoot, alsoAmericans.
During his incumbency of the church at Woodstock, he
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John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg. — ^Wright. 183
was elected a member of the House of Burgesses, of Vir- ginia, where he won the confidence and friendship of George Washington and Patrick Henry. On the passage of the Boston Port Bill in 1774, a meeting of the citizens was called at Woodstock, of which Mr. Muhlenberg was made chairman, and which passed resolutions asserting the inherent right of British subjects to be governed and taxed by representatives chosen by themselves only. He was placed on the Committee of Safety, and became prom- inent in all measures relating to the assertion of the rights of the colonies. When the Virginia House of Delegates in 1775 passed a resolution to raise six additional regiments, Mr. Muhlenberg was appointed Colonel of the Eighth regiment.
It is to be noted that he and Patrick Henry were the only civilians or men without previous military service who were appointed Colonels. After his appointment he caused the announcement to be made at Woodstock, and to the people of other Lutheran churches under his charge, that on the following Sunday he would preach his farewell sermon. On the appointed day, the church at Woodstock was filled to overflowing. At the close of the sermon, he pronounced the benediction, and walking out into the midst of the congregation and divesting himself of his cler- ical gown, he displayed the uniform of a Colonel in the Vir- ginia army.
Turning then to the people he said: "There is a time for all things — z time to preach, and a time to pray, but there is also a time to fight, and that time has now come." Passing to the door, he ordered the drums to beal for re- cruits, and proceeded to read his commission. He secured « that day, about three hundred recruits, and continued re- cruiting until some time in March. To a relative who com- plained that he had abandoned the church for the army, he said : "I am a clergyman it is true, but I am a member of society, as well as the poorest layman, and my liberty is
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as dear to me as to any man. Shall I then sit still and en- joy myself at home, when the best blood of the continent is spilling? Do you think if America should be conquered, I would be safe ? Far from it ! And would you not sooner fight like a man, than die like a dog?"
He was first ordered to Portsmouth, Va., to oppose the movements of Lord Dunmore, who after his defeat at Great Bridges and the destruction of Norfolk, had raised a command consisting chiefly of negro slaves whom he had enticed from their masters, and declared free; and was committing depredations on the adjoining county. Lord Dunmore was, however, not the only enemy to meet. A strong detachment of land forces under Sir Henry Clinton, with a large naval force, had sailed from Boston, and their destination was supposed to be one of the southern col- onies. General Henry Lee was then ordered to take com- mand of the Southern Department. Colonel Muhlenberg^ s command was now actively employed against the enemy, his regiment being stationed near Portsmouth protecting the removal of stores and provisions, during which time he had several affairs with Lord Dunmore's forces. Colonel Muhlenberg was next ordered by General Lee to accom- pany him to Wilmington, North Carolina. This was the result of changes in the movements of Sir Henry Clinton, and soon after a further change resulted in his being or- dered to Charleston, South Carolina, where he arrived on the 23d of June. In the engagement at Charleston, Col- onel Muhlenberg was complimented by General Lee in his official report as follows : "I know not what corps I have the greatest reason to be pleased with, Muhlenberg's Vir- ginians, or the North Carolina troops; they were both equally alert, zealous and spirited."
For some time after these events Colonel Muhlenberg was engaged in recruiting his command in Virginia, and while thus engaged he was promoted Brigadier General (21st Feb.), and assigned to the command of the Continen-
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John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg, — ^Wright. 185
tal troops in Virginia. In April, 1777, his brigade consisted of the First, Fifth, Ninth and Thirteenth regiments of the Virginia Line, and he was ordered to collect, equip and put in condition to take the field, all troops under his com- mand and to be raised.
It would extend this paper beyond a length suitable for this occasion, to enter farther into details, and I shall therefore confine myself to a general statement.
After participating in the engagements of the Brandy- wine, Germantown, Monmouth and Stony Point, where he commanded the first brigade of light infantry, and in* all of which, he won for himself .the reputation of a gallant and skilful officer, he was again ordered to command in Virginia. His duties there were to superintend the collec- tion of troops, provisions and munitions of war, for the southern armies, and in the event of any advance of the enemy in that direction, to assume command of all the troops necessary for defense. This assignment was made by the Congress on the recommendation of General Wash- ington, and was a high compliment ; for the exercise of the command required not only military skill and ability, but great good judgment and firmness of purpose. Following soon after, was the battle of Blansford, where General Muhlenberg was in immediate command of the troops en- gaged, the chief command devolving on Baron Steuben,
General Muhlenberg was now relieved from the command of the division of militia which remained with Baron Steu- ben, and as senior Continental Brigadier General he took command of the regulars, about one thousand strong, his immediate commander being the Marquis de Lafayette. With this command he was engaged in the closing battle of the war, the surrender of Lord Cornwallis, at Yorktown. It has been generally stated and believed that the American light infantry corps which stormed and captured the re- doubt on the left of the British works, was commanded by Col. Alexander 'Hamilton. A careful study of the question
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has satisfied me of the incorrectness of this view. Colonel Hamilton up to a short time before the siege of Yorktown was an aid-de-camp on the staff of General Washington, but having received what he deemed an unmerited rebuke from the Commander-in-Chief, he resigned that position, and joined General Lafayette, who assigned him to the command of a regiment in General Muhlenberg's brigade. The date of his commission made him the senior Colonel. To this brigade, ^nd that of Hazen, was assigned the duty of attacking the redoubt, the whole being under the com- mahd of General Muhlenberg. The light infantry brigade was composed of the regiments of Hamilton, Gimat, Bar- ber and Vose, and were disposed as follows: The ad- vanced corps, consisting of Hamilton's and Gimat's regi- ments, commanded by Colonel Hamilton; while at the usual distance in the rear came the remainder of the col- umn, consisting of Barber's and Vose's regiments and Ha- zen's brigade, all under the command of General Muhlen- berg. Almost at the moment of the attack, thinking the advance not sufficiently strong. General Muhlenberg dis- patched Colonel Barber's regiment to its aid, which ar- rived at the instant the advance forces were getting over the works, and executed its order with great gallantry. It is not intended by this statement, which is fully sustained by ofiicial history, to detract in the least from the laurels of the gallant and able Hamilton, who undoubtedly ad- vanced in immediate command of the storming party of two regiments, and captured the redoubt; but simply to correct a popular error as to the part performed as com- mander of the brigade by General Muhlenberg. In the spring following the capitulation at Yorktown, General Muhlenberg received the appointment of Major General, and some few months afterwards the army was disbanded, and he returned to his home in Woodstock, Virginia. He was one of the founders of the order of The Cincinnati. In 1784, he removed from Virginia to Philadelphia, and in
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John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg, — ^Wright. 187
the succeeding year was elected Vice-President of Penn- sylvania, Dr. Benjamin Franklin being President. This office he held until 1788. On the ratification of the Con- stitution he was elected to Congress to serve from March 4th, 1789, to March 4th, 1791, and of this Congress he was elected Speaker.^ He was re-elected to the Second and Third Congresses, serving until March 4th, 1795, and after an interregnum, was again elected, serving from Decem- ber 2d, 1799, to March 3d, 1801, in which year he was elected to the United States Senate, but r,esig^ed before the meeting of Congress, having accepted an appointment from President Jefferson, to the office of supervisor of rev- enue of the district of Pennsylvania.
In 1803 he was appointed Collector of the Port of Phila- delphia, which he retained until his death, which occurred near Philadelphia, October ist, 1807.
His remains lie by the side of those of his father, near the peaceful village church which witnessed his baptism. The following inscription marks the spot :
Sacred
to the memory of
General Peter Muhlenberg.
Born Oct. i6th, 1746. Died Oct. ist, 1807.
He was brave in the field.
Faithful in the Cabinet,
Honorable in all his transactions,
a sincere friend,
and an honest man.
*It is worthy of note that Gen. Muhlenberg and Hon. Henry Qay were the only two representatives in the U. S. Congress, who were ever elected speaker of the House of Representatives in their first term.
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THE HISTORY OF THE CONFEDERATE TREAS- URY. (Concluded in this Number.)
By Professor Ern^t A. Smith, Allegheny College.
CHAPTER v.— COLLAPSE.
The Second Congress of the Confederate States con- vened May 2, 1864, under conditions temporarily more^** hopeful. The winter had not been unfavorable to the Southern arms and the collection of supplies was im- proved. The currency measures were presumed to have furnished the needed remedy and President Davis"* said the effect would be the reduction of the circulation to $230,000,000 by July first. After the first rise in specie quotations of paper to 23 for i in March, there had been a fall to 20 in April, and 18 in May.
The government^*' expenses for the two preceding quarters were proportionately decreased, though partly be- cause of requisitions held back for the new note issue. The army aijd navy had cost $249426,097 in the inflated cur- rency, but the public debt under the provisions for interest and redemption of notes had required one-third of the to-* tal outlay of $383,110,559. The past estimates were now seen to be much too great, for the balance on April ist of $608,000,000 of undrawn appropriations was sufficient to meet the demands of the succeeding nine months in 1864, allowing a rate of expenditure based on fifty-four millions monthly. The reported receipts of $690,000,000 since Oct. I, 1863, established apparently a large surplus, but a con- siderable source of this income had been $250,000,000 of
•Pollard's Fcurth Year, p. 14. ^Message of May 2, 1864. •Capers^s Memminger, pp. 477, 8.
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four per cent, stock and $39,000,000 of call certificates, real- ized by the compulsory funding.
The tax of 1863 was credited with $59*400,000, but the actual resource meeting the half year's accounts had been the unfailing Treasury note.
A Last Attempt to Limit Note Issue$.
The problem of the new Congress was to satisfy the claims on the Treasury without a speedy recurrence of the condition of over-issue from which legislation had so lately set it free. The note issues were in theory limited to $200,- 000,000, notwithstanding the statute allowed three dollars of the old tenor to be exchanged for two of the new, a pro- viso estimated to require $214,000,000. Hence there was a perilous probability of an output that would thwart the projected improvement of inflated prices. As a relief from ^this danger, the Administration^** offered the familiar rem- edies of the past. The public might be diverted from ex- changing its old currency for the new by remitting taxa- tion on the four per cent stock into which the notes had also the option of being funded. Requisitions on the Treasury could be met by certificates of indebtedness, taxes and the sales of the new half-billion non-taxable bonds.
The experience of earlier efforts did not promise much for the success of this latest government security. Its cou- pons, payable for export duties would have little demand under the effective blockade. The immunity from taxa- tion was a small inducement in contrast with the exag- gerated values of the period. The^*^ advertisements stated that $5,000,000 was to be offered at public outcry in Rich- mond, May 12, but the business men had then been called to the field so largely to repel Grant's attacks that the day of sale was postponed to June 8th. The Secretary was de-
"•Capers's Memminger, pp. 481-484.
*" April 19, 1864, in leading Southern newspapers.
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sirous of securing 50% premium in paper money on the first bids, and, the same conditions prevailing upon the second offering at the capital, the place of sale was changed to Columbia, S. C.
There the price was established at 135 in Confederatie paper on June 21st, and forty-eight special agents were ap- pointed to handle the bonds. Several million dollars worth were sent abroad and the agent, Gen. C. J. McRae,^** was told to take six cents in specie on the dollar for them. This foreign offering came to nothing, as General McRae^** re- ported that five cents was the top of the market, since the speculators in the South had sent over their holdings at that quotation.
Use of Certificates of Indebtedness.
By September 30th the sales of the Treasury had*^^ amounted to $14481,650, and on February i, 1865, Con-^ gress was'^®^ informed that $44,517,500 had been taken at par, with a premium of $14,660,000. $30,000,000 of the bonds were used in discharge of public indebtedness, but there was no additional demand for them. The plan to use the certificates of indebtedness met with even less success than the earlier effort to exchange bonds for subsistence. Every inducement was furnished to urge these credit de- vices, yet^the holders of supplies would not take the certi- ficates, nor did the^®* army quartermasters co-operate in disposing of them, so that by September 30th, only $1,740,- 000 had been placed.
Under such conditions the pressure for the issue of notes proved irresistible by an Administration committed for three years to that financial policy. Yet it was com-
uly 17, 1864, Letter Book "E." To Secretary Trenholm, Nov. 4, 1864. Report of Nov. 7, 1864, Treasury MSS. Letter of Trenholm. Book "F." To Seddon, Secy, of War, Apr. 25, 1864
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monly*®* thought that "the paper money machine" had been stopped, as though a legislative act of this date were adequate to prevent further perils from the currency, what- ever should be the demands for expenditures.
The Treasury Note Bureau was slow in preparing the issues for which heavy demands were made after April ist. The army had drawn previously $72,609 per diem, when expenses were $600,000. Holders of old notes succeeded in making an exchange only after long delay. There arose much irritation and the Department was charged with holding back the new notes. Mr. Memminger incurred the blame of this and had to*®* explain the expediency of his instructions to Congress.
Accordingly, the note circulation started again surely on a course of redundancy. On May 31st, $57,000,000 had been paid out, while* $200,000,000 were reported as need- ed. The value of the notes was lessened by the fact that taxes were being paid in the four per cent, certificates, and thus the paper money affected by the repudiation of Feb- ruary 17th could yet be made available. The largest pro- ducers, the farmers, were independent of money claims by reason of the tithe, so that the additional currency served as in the past to foster speculation, and the public appraised the first and the second tenor with little dif- ference.
Congress Repudiates Secretary Memminger.
The second Congress was early*®' disposed to adjourn and made a record of irresolution after debate surpassing that of the First Congress. Many currency measures were introduced and agreement reached on none. The Senate voted to reduce the limit of note issue to $100,000,000, in which the House would not concur. In an effort to make
"•Richmond Enquirer, Mch. 12, 1864. •^Question of Congress. May 20, Book "E." "•Richmond Enquirer, May 31, 1864.
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the certificates of indebtedness a chief resource, the Senate alone adopted the provisions of ultimate redemption in specie and payment of interest in notes at a coin rating. This was on the recommendation*®' of Mr. Memminger; but the House declared war on him in a resolution of May 26th calling for his resignation, as follows : "In a Congress entrusted with the control of the currency it is impossible to perform the duty effectually, unless the oflBce of Secre- tary is filled by some person of high, unquestioned ability as a financier, whose views in regard to important matters of finance, especially the currency, are in harmony with those of Congress, and who is willing to carry into prompt and eflBcient operation the deliberate enactments of Con- gress on this subject. The Secretary is thus made respon- sible to Congress, and, without touching a right of the President, public welfare demands tlie retirement of Mr. Memminger, not questioning his honesty and patriotism, to be succeeded by some individual of proper ability as a financier and more likely to command public confidence." The motion to table these resolutions was lost by a vote of 37 to 45, and they were referred to the Committee on Judiciary. The report was not made, because it was an open secret that the Secretary would resign at the close of the session.
On June 15th, he*®^ asked to be released from his office because there had come an essential divergence in the plans of the Department and those adopted by Congress. He said his action had been delayed by his sense of obliga- tion to put into operation immediately upon its passage the Act of February 17, 1864, but now the machinery for the plans of Congress in finance and taxes was so adjusted, that a new head could readily assume control.
Congress in its adjournment on June 14th had refused to allow the reforms in taxation so strongly urged and
■••To the Senate, May 20, 1864. *"Capers's Memminger, p. 365.
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thus continued a policy of unfairness and discrimination. Its attack on the Treasury Department was the opening of its opposition to the rest of the Cabinet and reflected that condition*®*, in some quarters prevalent, of a lack of con- fidence in the President and his advisers.
Treasury Supervision of Bi^ockade Running.
Additional powers were conferred upon the Treasury Department in 1864 for the control of commerce. The previous blockade running had been by private companies, which were commonly required to bring one-third of the importations in government supplies. But by the Act of February 6, 1864, the character of the trade was closely supervised and the entrance of luxuries was debarred, a wide range of articles being designated. A maximum of prices was assigned to manufactured goods of cotton, wool, flax and silk received, and these values were invoiced by the Treasury in coin at the place of export. The fur- ther enactment, that one-half of the cargo in and out must be reserved for the Government, caused conflict with sev- eral States which were engaged in trade on their individual account. Against many remonstrances the Department held firm, and the Congress of the Governors, debating the restriction, at Augusta, Georgia, was told*®® that the united interest of all was paramount to the particular con- cerns of one State. Yet, at the close of the year, the con- cession was made to the States. Cotton was the valuable export that induced various English companies to secure contracts for its shipment.
After the available sterling exchange and coin had been exhausted by Mr. Memminger, he had traded cotton to Europe for the imperative war supplies. The Navy, War and Treasury Departments operated at cross purposes for a time in foreign financial negotiations until by an agree-
*• Pollard's Fourth Year of the War, pp. 75, 76,
"•To Gov. Bonham, of South Carolina, Oct. 28, 1864.
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ment*^®, the Treasury assumed direction of handling the cotton and ordered vessels to be purchased exclusively for the purpose. Four*^^ boats were at once secured and con- tracts let for ten others, of which only a few got to sea before the surrender. From July to December, 1864^", 11,795 bales of cotton, worth $1,500,000 in gold, $45,000,- 000 in paper, were exported, the Produce Loan furnishing the stock. The Department did not ship as largely as it had planned, being hampered by the contracts with private companies. The trade*^* of blockade runners flourished, 43 arrivals being entered at Wilmington and Charleston in May and June, and 43 again in November. The most pressing army supplies were thus enabled to be furnished.
The Trans-Mississippi Department.
The cutting in twain of the Confederacy caused a separ- ate establishment of the Treasury in Texas and there the Trans-Mississippi Department was created by Act of Con- gress in March, 1864. P. W. Gray was placed in charge at Marshall on July ist, and carried on the independent ad- ministrative duties of that section. Taxes were collected and the funding conducted, old notes, however, being com- monly stamped and reissued in place of the new, which could not be secured in suflScient quantities from the East. The impressment of supplies was conducted by Gen. Kirby Smith and cotton shipments made from Matamoras. The trade from the Mexican port was directed by the Texas Cotton Bureau, which was active to the last. One re- port^^* from this self-sufficient country was made for the
"« March 29, 1864, Book "E."
*" Bulloch's Secret Service of C. S., Vol II, p. 245.
*"Trenholm to Senate, Dec. 12.
*" Cargoes went to Nassau, Bermuda and Havana and thence re-shipped. Vessels were most active in 1863; in 6 months 32,- 07s bales being carried. From November, 1861, to March. i8i64, 84 steamers were engaged, making 363 trips to Nassau and 65 to other ports. Scharf s C. S. Navy.
•^*Gray to Congress, Feb. 20, 1865.
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quarter of July to October, and showed $95,000,000 re- ceipts against $6,500,000 expenditures ; $55,000,000 of the old currency had been retired and $50,000,000 were yet to come in.
PoucY OF THE New Secretary.
The selection of the successor of Mr. Memminger was a guarantee of the continuance of his policy. Mr. G. A. Trenholm, of Charleston, assumed the Treasury portfoUo on July 20, 1864. He had been a trusted counsellor of his fellow-townsman in preceding years, and was connected with the firm of John Fraser & Company, which had been the principal agent of the Department in South Carolina, and also was commercially connected with Fraser, Tren- holm & Company, of Liverpool, the foreign agents.
Mr. Trenholm began with the Department-honored de- vice of getting deposits of four per cent, call certificates that should be exchanged for $120,000,000 of new notes then in process of emission. He advertised widely and urged persistently the sale of Government securities. A convention of the Commissioners of Prices of the States in session at Montgomery, Alabama, September 2d, was told that the great mass of citizens of every class must buy bonds and nothing else. The exhortation of the Secretary was to stand by the Treasury, but the sentiment of the public found expression in the statement of the Richmond Enquirer^^^ that no one expects miracles from Mr. Tren- holm.
Under appeals for home purchasers, $15,000,000 of the non-taxable stock was disposed of in two months, and twice the amount in the succeeding three months. The certificates of indebtedness were also used to the sum of $30,000,000 and other bonds sold, together with temporary loans placed, so that the Secretary stated*^' he had realized
"•Aug. 22, 1864.
"•To Secretary Seddon, Dec. 31.
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$197,000,000 from these various sources. This showing is rendered improbable by a report of the Treasury Note Bureau, No. 10, that it had furnished a total of $120,000,- 000 of bonds and also by the fact that the issue of paper money was considerably in excess of the amount an- nounced as paid out. However, the activity of the Admin- istration was neutralized by the resumed inflation of prices on to final ruin and by the variety of government securi- ties which speculators hawked about at complex quota- tions of depreciation.
PjtoposED Mui<Tipi<E Standard of Value.
The official policy found utterance on the occasion of the report*" to Congress for the half year ending Septem- ber 30, 1864. There was frank confession of the failure of the Currency Act of February 7, 1864, attested by the same rating for old and new issues, and a present re- dundancy, requiring $25 for $1 of gold.
The Secretary proposed to originate a multiple standard of value, founded on the agricultural staples of cotton, corn and wheat. This would bring stability into the finan- cial reckoning hitherto convulsed by the variableness of gold. Heavy taxation was the foundation of the plan and the redemption of notes and funded debt was to be made from the tithes of the three staple products, at prices fixed by legislative act. The pledge of the tax in kind was to extend very resolutely into the years after peace and mean- while the circulation was to be reduced to $150,000,000 by its proceeds. It is noteworthy that the practicability of the scheme depended upon the adoption of the same recom- mendations which Mr. Memminger had made, that agricul- tural property be assessed on the values of i860 and that the abatements for the tax in kind and the property tax be not allowed.
"'Nov. 7, 1864.
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The funding operations and the public*^® debt during the six months had required $342,000,000 of the $615,- 000,000 expenditure over against receipts of $415,000,000. Of the $65,000,000 of the currency that had been impaired by the Act of Congress, there wai yet credited to the funded debt $325,000,000. It had been impossible to pre- vent the continued use of the interest-bearing notes of 1862, nor did the other denominations, excepting the One Hundred Dollar, cease to be accepted with the one-third discount on the first of July and October. Furthermore, by executive direction, on the plea of the discount of the impoverished holders, the absolute retirement of all the old currency was postponed*^* from January to July ist, 1865.
The money machine continued*^* to operate and it was as impossible as ever to keep within the bounds appointed. The recurring rising tide was marked by the successive"* issues of $57,500,000, May 31, 1864; $120,000,000, July ist ; $345,000,000, November loth, and $468,000,000, January 21, 1865. The large portion of the notes was for direct demands, the exchange of the old currency for the new requiring $121,000,000 the first six months.
FiNAi< Financial Deliberations.
In the second and final session of the Second Congress, sundry bills incorporated the financial plans of Mr. Tren- holm, and President Davis encouraged^** the Houses with the oflBcial opinion that judicious legislation could meet
"• The aggregate at this time was placed at $1,126,000,000, being only $96,000,000 in advance of the statement of six months earlier. The funded proportion was $738,340,000.
"• Act of Congress, Dec. 29, 1864.
"*The Treasury Note Bureau was removed to Columbia, April 26, 1864. The Treasurer was at first ordered to accompany it. Later, July 2, Mr. Elmore resigned and J. N. Hendren succeeded, October i.
•" Reports of* Note Bureau.
"Message of November 7, 1864.
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all exigencies of war and prevent a g^eat accumulation of debt. The press"* demanded a trial of the Treasury pro- gram since it could not make affairs worse. The legisla- tors debated as lengthily and differed as widely as in the three winters past, various groups advocating utter re- pudiation, aboUtiori of tithe, of impressment and quarter- masters, and seizure of c6tton and tobacco to pay the sol- diers.
A portion of the session was devoted to assaults upon the President and the Cabinet. Commissions^** investi- gated the Commissary Department to discover that it was entirely without supplies. Arrears of pay had been accu- mulating for nine months, reaching $180,000,000, and the Quartermaster General reported**" that the army was par- alyzed for want of funds. Desperate conditions did not avert the habitual remedy, but before the Senate joined the House in ordering fresh issues of paper money, the capture of the Note Bureau at Columbia necessitated an inexorable cessation. In the theorizing*** of the Secretary, taxation was now the sole relief and the dissolving Con- gress was asked to pass a levy of one hundred per cent, additional to the rate of 1864. After a protracted dis- agreement of the Houses, a measure was passed on March nth, which contained the reforms whose advocacy had partly discredited Mr. Memminger. The tax in kind and on income must be paid in addition to an eight per cent, levy on property. All taxes for 1863 were doubled save that of the tithe on the farmer.
Impressment of Coin.
But the practical planning of Mr. Trenholm had been directed to getting possession of the coin remaining in the
**• Richmond Enquirer, November 8.
*^ Pollard's Fourth Year, pp. 184-5.
"■ A. R. Lawton to Trenholm, January 2, 1865.
"•To R. M. T. Hunter, February 20, 1865.
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banks and concealed. Secret trade had been allowed**^ with the enemy to secure gold for cotton, and even the States were advised^^® to get the metal within their borders in order to liquidate their portions of the national indebt- edness under conditions of vast depreciation. A law of dire necessity came forth in the Act of March 17, 1865, which asked for a loan of $3,000,000 in coin, and if not contributed, a tax of 25 per cent, was to follow before April 1st. As security for the loan 50,000 bales of Gov- ernment cotton were hjrpothecated. Virginia furnished the gold and the money*^® was used to pay the troops in the rating of Treasury notes at 60 for i.
The utter collapse of the Department was confessed by the call for donations from the citizens of the Confederacy. Joint resolutions came from Congress and the Secretary gave oflBcial utterance, March 20, 1865, that the Treasury being straitened, it is deemed not incompatible with the public dignity to accept the free-will offerings of a gener- ous people. The final receipts were acknowledged and re- corded in family plate, church vessels, jewels, ornaments, rings and personal effects.
■" To T. D, Wagner, of Charleston, January 10, 1865, Book "F."
"•To Chairman F. S. Lyon, January 16.
"•Secretary Trcnholm encouraged Judge Gray, of the Trans- Mississippi Department, by his advice of March 17, to continue financial operations. When the Government moved from Rich- mond southward, at Danville, Va., the gold was drawn on at tiie rate of 70 to i to pay the army. Mr. Trenholm being left ill at Catawba, S. C, the last executive deed of Mr. Davis was the appointment of J. H. Rea^n, P. M., as Acting Treasurer. The funil in coin then was $228,022, which was paid over to the sol- diers, the navy and the agents at Washington, Ga., May 4. Southern Historical Society Papers, Vol. IX, pp. 542-558.
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CHAPTER VI.— COMPARATIVE FINANCIERING.
The similarity of the Revolutionary and the Confederate financial history is commonly observed in the vastness of the depreciation of the paper currencies. The causes of this condition were in some degree the same, while the state of the circulating medium made necessary like methods of correction and the adoption of analogous sub- stitutes and experiments. There was the cycle of early re- sort to paper money, regular and finally rapid additions to the issue, limitation of prices, assessment of taxes in kind, impressment and repudiation. Yet in the details and the results of the operation^, the experiences of the two governments are by no means parallel.
The emission of bills of credit was largely under differ- ent circumstances. The colonies had been familiar with the use of paper money and, though the practice had not been engaged in with unvarying honesty, the demand for a continental issue was general and was urged'*^ on Con- gress by the people. In the Southern Confederacy many mediums of exchange had been prevalent, and the bills of many systems of banks were used. Specie payments hav- ing been suspended early in 1861, the plan of establishing a Government currency was the conception of the Treas- ury administration for the express purpose of replacing the circulation of the various financial institutions.
The Two Fi<ooDS of Paper Money.
The first issue of $2,000,000 on June 22, 1775, was ex- pected to be suflBcient; at least, the subsequent anwunts would be small and rigorously limited. Protestations pre- faced each grant as the sum of notes at more frequent intervals g^ew larger. The first Confederate issue of $1,-
"*Bolles' Financial History, Vol. I, p. 37.
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ooo,cxx) on March 9, 1861, was appointed to furnish im- mediate funds, but the decision of May i6th to emit $20,- 000,000 in notes indicated a purpose to employ this form of credit extensively. The initial calctjlation was to dis- place half the circulation of the banks, then the whole amount, and next to have a moderate increase over what the country had actually required in business. Legislative bounds were touched and lifted again until the national money making was entrusted^*^ to the discretion of the Secretary.
The record*** of the Continental currency inundation was $6,000,000 in 1775, $19,000,000 in 1776, $13,000,000 in ^777> $63,000,000 in 1778, $140,000,000 in 1779, ^otzl $242,- 000,000. In the South the;, figures approximately were $96,000,000 in 1861, $329,000,000 in 1862, $525,000,000 in 1863, $600,000,000 in 1864, total $1,550,000,000. Five- sixths of the Revolutionary issue came in the fourth and fifth years of the war ; three-fifths of the Confederate issue was uttered in the first three years. At the end of the periods named the two governments had practically ceased to print their bills, since they were worth little better than nothing, the quotations of each currency being quite simi- lar, between 40 and 60 to i of specie.
Repudiation, Partiai< and Compi<ete.
However, the more accurate dates of comparison are those of the legislative acts of March 18, 1780 and Febru- ary 17, 1864. The Continental Congress was guilty of direct repudiation, though it had expressly denied*** that it would proceed in "wanton violation" of the pledges of the United States. It ordered the old tenor to be ex- changed for new at the valuation of 40 to i, and the second issue was to be limited to $10,000,000. The enactment of
~Antc, Chapter II, sub-head, "Final reliance on paper." "* Phillips* Continental Money, p. 198. **• Address of Sept. 13, 1779-
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the Southern Congress was not a complete repudiation. For six weeks the currency could be transformed into in- terest-bearing stocks, and then only one-third of the notes was progressively taxed out of existence, while the larger portion was to be rated at three to two of the new issue for a period of nine months.
The relative stages of the results of the two statutes were dissimilar. The second Continental tenor ran a head- long course, passing at once, 2 for i of hard money ; then in 1781 at 4 for I, and next vanishing. Pennsylvania*** State mofiey had been quoted at 3 to i of specie, arid when the Continental was commercially published at 175 to i of specie, the public in its calculation substituted the State notes as the measure and killed the emission of Congress by a listing of 525 to i. The guarantee of this last money had been, as of the early notes, the illusory pledge of the faith of the United States, not yet confederated, and the statutory valuation was notoriously out of accord with the market**" acceptance of the old tenor, 60 and more to i.
The Confederate Congress attempted no valuation of its past issues other than three dollars of the old tenor for two of the new, but since denominations of five dollars were not taxed at once after April ist, 1864, depreciation increased for a month, then was followed by a period of slightly improved quotations. March conditions of the currency were not reproduced until October, although the proportion of exchange for gold was so exaggerated that the relief was practically trifling in degree. The scales of the lessening worth of the paper mediums of the two wars have marked resemblance.
A Common Worthlessness.
In Revolutionary times, within two years of the first issue, the quotation was 2 of paper for i of specie ; by the
"^Sumner's Financier of the Revolution, p. 95. "* Bolles' Financial History, Vol. I, p. 94.
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close of 1777, 4 to I, and in 1778, a variation between 4 to I and 6 to I. The year preceding repudiation, the re- dundancy was measured by $41 of paper in December required to purchase what $8 had secured in January.
Likewise the depreciation of Confederate currency from a discount of 20 to 300 per cent, during 1862 passed to the ruinous fall in the third year of 19 of paper for i of gold. After the temporary checking of 1864, the stress of need and disaster restored the retrograde tendency and the drop from 20 to 40 for i was the record of a few months. So then the quotation of 60 to i in March, 1865, on the eve of dissolution was no less than the market estimate of the notes, which the First American Congress voted to ex- change. Public opinion of these contrasted periods would have shaken off the inexorable standard of hard money. The Penn Packet of February 16, 1779, proclaimed that land, not gold nor silver, subject to monopoly, was the true measure of value. The Richmond Sentinel of August 23, 1863, argued that gold was not a standard for the South and suggestions from many sources were persistent that cotton or land should be substituted. Each government had its currency counterfeited by the enemy. No estimate can be given of English importations. Upham**'^^, of Phila- delphia, placed the value of his Confederate fac-similes at $15,000,000, .alleging that they were issued to satisfy curi- osity, not as forgeries. But New York firms took his designs and Jew brokers carried the issue South.
Inefficient taxation was a common fatal fault of these two governments and the legitimate cause of the currency disasters. The united colonies could not demand of them- selves that which they had denied England. The repre- sentatives of the Southern States would not lay on the people burdens in the season when they had proven the lightest.
"^ Lee's The Currency of the C. S. A., p. 24.
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The Slight Aid of Taxation.
General advice and then earnest recommendation to the States in 1777 to apportion $5,000,000 in taxes were the strongest measures open to the Continental Congress. The belated collections of the tardy levy yielded by Sep- tember, 1779, $3,000,000, a sum equal to one-sixtieth of the note issues. The fiscal policy of Robert Morris was based on taxation, yet with all his insistence and the modest requisitions of Congress, the returns in three years, to November i, 1784 ,were $2,000,000 in actual value. There was no executive power to compel the payment of taxes in the nascent American nation.
On the other hand, the ample authority of the Confeder- ate States was not used with a largeness and a promptness demanded by its needs. After a tax levy within six months of the organization of the government, a year elapsed before the Treasury had received**' slightly more than half the assessment. It was eighteen months after these re- ceipts before the returns of the second and heavier tax were appreciable. The presumed vigorous system of tax- ation with its countervailing rebates was applied in the last year of inflated values, when total avails of $101,- 000,000 are correctly estimated upon being divided by 20 or 30.
In the face of the final paper money issues and because of an unresponsive public, the Revolutionary Congress of December 14, 1779, called for specific supplies and appor- tioned to the States amounts of flour, corn, oats and to- bacco. Much produce was secured, notably in Virginia, but the device**^ lacked administrative direction, so that supplies rotted and were not transported because of ex- pense. The tax in kind of the Confederacy was introduced to enable the farmer to pay most easily his share of taxa-
"•Ante, Chapter II, sub-head, "Delays in Collection." ""Sumner's Financier of the RevoUUion, I, p. 154.
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tion. Large collections of the products were wasted, their control was not well centralized and by reason of the im- paired transportation the tithe afforded a national service relatively small to the burden on the people.
COMPUI^ORY CoNTrRiBirrioNS.
Again, impressment of supplies for the army was com- mon throughout the war with England, beginning in New England in 1775; frequent in Pennsylvania in 1778, and severe in Virginia in 1781. The vexations common to it in that period were reproduced in the South, where im- pressment began in 1862. The schedule of prices ap- pointed by the commissioners of the various States for seized products did not remove objections, and at last cer- tificates of indebtedness were forced on the public in some sections for their supplies. Often the payments allowed were notoriously less than the market quotations, thus arousing the resentment of the planter class. Price con- ventions during the Revolution were the constant resort of the States to urge the use of a money they had already made a legal tender. Schedules**® of prices were adopted in futile effort against depreciation, Congress recommend- ing in 1779 that they do not exceed 20 fold those of 1774. The Confederate Congress never enacted a law of maxi- mum prices for trade in general though Virginia persist- ently urged it.
In the fiscal resource of loans a contrast of practice and conditions in the two Treasury Departments is to be ob- served, for the results were as widely different as the at- tendant realities of national triumpfi and defeat. The loan was an early experiment of the Revolution, $5,000,000 be- ing invited in 1776. Loan oflBce commissioners were placed in each State and fair returns secured.
"• Bollcs' Financial History, I, pp. 159, seq.
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Success and Faii^urb of Foreign Loans.
But when France in 1778 agreed to pay the interest on the loans in specie, a guarantee was afforded that caused subscriptions to aggregate $60,000,000 by 1782. These loan office certificates were not used by Robert Morris, but the timely aid of Louis XVI. had begun the salvation of the Treasury. To the 18,000,000 livres of France were added the first installment of 1,500,000 gulden of the Dutch loan in June, 1782, and the financial crisis had been passed.*** When the paper money was reformed by law in 1780 and banished by commerce, a providential supply of a medium was furnished by specie from the West In- dies and the European loans, enabling the master financier to bring stability out of ruin.
In the Confederacy, commissioners placed largely the Fifteen Million Loan of the first year. The depositories then served as agents of the Treasury, but the loans went slowly, th^ One Hundred Million being taken after two years by exchanges for cotton, subscriptions of the Pro- duce Loan and funding operations. Other stocks sold slightly, for the guarantee was a substratum of cotton un- der limitations not attractive to the public. The Erlanger loan was well conceived and the risk of getting cotton through the blockade the only uncertainty. However, the proceeds of $7,500,000 did not strengthen the financial sys- tem, but were applied to the purchase of foreign war ma- terials. The large proportion of the stocks and certificates represent the loyal support of the citizens in the various funding struggles to remove the incubus of Treasury notes that eventually overwhelmed all.
SK11.1.FUI. Rehabiutation vs. Lack o^ Initiative.
There is no common basis for estimate of Robert Morris and C. G. Memminger. The Treasury of the United States
** Sumner's Financier of the Revolution, I, p. 58.
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was under the direction of a Board of Administration until 1781, when Mr. Morris was installed as financier. Then the Government currency had disappeared and foreigjn specie was furnishing the standard of circulation. The Bank of North America was organized as an efficient aid of the Treasury, furnishings in loans five times the sum in- vested. The commercial credit of Robert Morris per- sonally counted for much, and he employed every device of discount and bill kiting until the immediate national obli- gations were balanced. Therefore his biographer can say**® that favorable bookkeeping extricated him, for he did well not with reasonable means, but much with noth- ing. On the contrary, Mr. Memminger, having direction of Confederate finances in the beginning, might have dic- tated a sound economic policy to a Congress which later would not yield him leadership. 'He invoked the plague of paper money, which he could not remove. No real for- eign aid came to his entanglements, nor did the Treasury hold practical commercial relations with the financial in- stitutions. Resources depleted, a second tide of notes ris- ing, variance with the legislative body brought the retire- ment of the Secretary.
The expenditures**^ of the Revolutionary War were $92,485,693, of which sum $83,135,000, specie value, went out before 1781. The note issues may be regarded as a tax unequally borne during the years of most active opera- tions. The expenditures of the Confederacy, to October I, 1864, may be approximated on a specie basis at $510,- 000,000, but the burden of the notes is evident in the last year, when the one billion outlay, on a currency valuation, shrinks to fifty million dollars, the average inflation being twenty fold.
•* Sumner's Financier of the Revolution, II, p. 131. •" Treasury Report of 1790.
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Loan Poucy of North and South.
A more pertinent comparison is that of the financial policies of the North and the South, parties to the same conflict. The sections having a common fiscal training, interesting analogies occur in the measures of anticipation, the programs, and the readjustments to vaster emergen- cies. The period produced a new national conception of taxation, and an extreme application of the loan policy was made, helping to the destruction of one government, while the same fate was averted from the other only by radical remedies and the favorable fortunes of war.
The nature and form of the various Treasury operations of the North and the South were largely shaped by the respective Secretaries of the Departments. Each came to the position with a legfal and legislative, rather than a com- mercial training. One was led by his Congress into a vig- orous policy, the other was not able to get his belated recommendations adopted in their entirety and severity. There was a common failure to appreciate the size of the war and a tendency to employ temporary measures. Both Mr. Ohase and Mr. Memminger looked to loans as the adequate resource for deficit financiering; then after the failure of the policy, they desperately demanded heavy taxation. The Federal Congress of July, 1861, was asked for an increase of only $20,000,000 above the ordinary tax, while the loan was fixed at $240,000,000. The banks came to the support of the first loans in each section and then in turn they were driven to suspend specie payment. In the North, this result came from the drain*" of coin into the government vaults; in the solidly solvent portion of the South, it was*" demanded in order to give a clear field for the Treasury note circulation.
•• Bolles' Financial History, III, p. 3^
•*Ante, Chapter I, sub-head, "Loyalty of the banks and capi- talists."
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Narrow Vision of the Secretaries.
Mr. Chase planned in 1862 to replace the banknote cir- culation of the North with a national currency, and his modified program found expression in the Banking Act of Feb. 25, 1863, which, however, required two years before being fully operative. In contrast with the large use by the South of the government issue, the North persisted in ac- cepting the money of the private banks, these being more favorably rated than the greenbacks. The first emergency medium of the North, $50,000,000 of demand notes, non- interest bearing, was paid in the fall of 1861 to a very re- luctant*** public. The purport of the messages of the two Secretaries to the respective Congresses after several months of the war was the same. Mr. Memminger af- firmed that note issues were the chief revenue contem- plated and all measures were for an emergency of limited duration. Likewise, Mr. Chase spoke with uncertainty,**' discussing government paper disparagingly, yet debated whether to have specie or paper as the basis of his system.
Loans were not being placed, so the Federal Congress took the initiative Feb. 25, 1862, resorting to notes with the legal tender quality. Thus the law of the North in- duced an acceptance which the devotion of the South ac- corded without compulsion. Within a year the authoriza- tion of greenbacks was $450,000,000, while the note issue of the South for about the same period was $329,000,000. When the third appointed limit to irredeemable money was reached, Mr. Chase employed in 1863 interest' bearing notes quite like Mr. Memminger had done*** in 1862. The Federal Treasury also secured a large acceptance of certifi- cates of indebtedness, placing $160,000,000 by June 30, 1864, at which period the Confederate Administration be- gan to urge in desperation this form of temporary loan.
"* Hart's Chase, p. 223.
••Sumner's American Currency, p. 193.
••Ante, pp. 29, 31.
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North Helped by Loans Other Than Currency.
But the radical distinction of these two financial histor- ies is that the North decreased its note issues, developing after two years, auxiliary revenues from bond sales and taxation. The loan of $150,000,000 in 1861 consisted of seven thirty notes and bonds. But in 1862 Mr. Chase sold few U. S. stocks, because he refused all offers below par, just as Mr. Memminger persisted in doing. However, the loan of $900,000,000 in 1863 became a popular**^ security, and was floated by the thorough business methods of Jay Cooke. Later, when the Secretary managed a new secur- ity, his conditions of offer checked its success. Although the currency was increased in order to promote the sale of bonds, multitudes of people were productively employed by the demands of the war and constituted a body of in- vestors, not similarly existant in the South. Mr. Mem- minger's efforts to sell bonds were made in 1863 and 1864, but the responses were very meager, the public being blamed for complete absorption in speculation. Commer- cial institutions as agents rather than the depositories might have operated to better advantage. Mr. Trenholm early in his term had to admit**® the apathy of the planters to all inducements.
The chief utilization of Confederate bonds and securities was in the funding system, which had its affinity in Federal theory, although the Northern practice of it was not so great contemporaneously. The seven thirty notes of 1861 could be funded into eight per cent. U. S. Stock and the certificates of deposit, exchanged for notes, were employed by Mr. Chase from 1862 on. But instead of forcing these certificates of deposit into permanent*** loans as in the South, they were redeemed on one occasion to the amount of $50,000,000 in order to relieve the currency stringency.
109. Gash of views."
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The Simii^r Fundinc Systems.
Two identical funding measures were prescribed about the same time. The Confederate Act of March 23, 1863, limited the conversion qf notes into seven per cent, stock to August 1st, while the Federal Act of March 3d, declared the privilege of funding previous note issues would end on July 1st. These legal tender notes continued to be used by the North and other bonds being sold at this period for notes, the limitation was less felt and later repealed. Yet the act checked funding and is thought***** to have delayed the resumption of specie payment. The Southern Con- gress did not revoke its limitation of the funding contract, but advanced to more violent measures in the following year. The funding system which the biographer*'^ con- siders a chief trumph of Mr. Chase was effective in absorb- ing temporary loans largely in the year of peace and after.
Another financial analogy is found in the record of tax- ation introduced with the same delay to each section, but developed with widely divergent results. The taxes of 1861 of the two governments were levied according to the schedule of the old U. S. system and were assumed gener- ally by the respective States of the North and the South. The Federal tax of $20,000,000 was lessened by a fourth by reason of apportionment to the seceding region and slight returns were made in either country within a year. In his plans for 1862, the Northern Secretary apologized for the amount of ta^es named, although the New York Chamber of Commerce called for a sum three times as
Taxation Without and With Exemptions.
large. The first real Federal tax law of July i, 1862, laid the foundation of the internal revenue system, besides as- sessing incomes, occupations and transactions. A tax
»• Knox U. S. Notes, p. 138. "' Schncker's Chase, p. 407.
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commissioner was appointed, but the administration^"' of the complex measure was inevitably faulty and the returns very slow, $37,000,000 being received in ten months of 1863. Mr. Chase awaked to the need of taxation and urged in December, 1863, an excessive levy to oflFset the vast indebtedness. The third measure of the North was the act of June 30, 1864, which doubled the previous as- sessment and caused the receipts of that year to double those of the preceding.
No imperative initiative to taxation having been taken by Mr. Memminger in 1862, the Southern Congress was excused in postponing the crude and unpopular measure considered. But this Secretary also changed the spirit of his recommendations and, backed by popular clamor,*"* de- manded a comprehensive tax system, which was answered after a fashion by the legislation of April 24, 1863.
Mr. Memminger was thence to his retirement in conflict with Congress urging a more efficient measure through a tax on property, and correction of the method of rebates and valuation. Besides, with all vigilant collection, the laws were highly susceptible to evasion, so that Secretary Trenholm had to say*"* that the taxes of 1864 were prac- tically nothing. To the contrary, in the North there was a large increase, the record of revenue, internal and cus- toms, being $112,000,000 in 1863, $264,000,000 in 1864, $333>ooo,ooo in 1865.
A Vast Fiscai. and Economic Inequawty.
The disastrous year in Federal financial history was that of 1864, when the depreciation of greenbacks fell from 155 in January to 270 in July. Mr. Chase had poor results in floating a new loan and political reasons arising,
"• Howe's Internal Revenue System, p. 60.
*■ Ante, Chapter III, sub-head, "Tax act of April, 1863."
»*To T. H. Ivey, Lynchburg, Va., Jan. 18, 1865, Letter Book
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he resigned. The two Treasury Departments had new Secretaries at the same time, and the Richmond Enquirer of July 22, 1864, said that Trenholm and Fessenden start under equal circumstances, with enormous debts, immense issue of paper money, heavy taxes, no real money and little credit.
However, taxes were coming into the Northern Treas- ury at almost a million dollars a day, military successes improved its credit, and Mr. Fessenden succeeded in mak- ing various loans which culminated in the sale of $600,- 000,000 of the Act of March 3, 1865, in seven thirty notes. Mr. Trenholm placed bonds better than his predecessor, but the excessive depreciation of the period multiplied the ratio of expenditures, and though the form of tax g^ather- ing in the uninvaded districts was continued to February, 1865, the inevitable financial ruin was consummated.
The public debt of the North on March 31, 1865, was $2,366,955,077, of which there was funded $1,100,361,241. The last Confederate showing of Secretary Trenholm up to Sept. 30, 1864, made a debt of $1,126,381,095, of which was approximately funded $738,340,090. Yet in this state- ment $649,000,000 of Treasury notes in addition were re- pudiated, being called in for cancellation. The gross ex- penditures of the North from June 30, 1861 to June 30, 1865, were $4,655,000 000. If the value of the tax in kind of the South, the unpresented claims, and the various do- nations were counted, it is probable that the Confederate outlay would have reached $3,000,000,000, paper valuation. Of the $3,264,000,000, current expenditures of the North, it has been estimated**' that depreciated currency con- tributed $600,000,000. If an average annual discount of 15% in 1861, 200% in 1862, 500% for nine months in 1863, and 2,000% in 1864 to September 30th is allowed, the in- crease of Confederate expenditure by reason of paper
*" Journal of Political Economy, March, 1897.
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money is $1,590,000,000. This currency by no specious reasoning can be considered a tax as was the wont in Revolutionary times, for it more than doubled the cost of all outlay. It produced irritation and unreality which ended in a public sense of helpless entanglement. It was thus a forerunner of the military vanquishment. The operation of relentless economic law was in the main vaguely com- prehended, but not a few were convinced that somewhere fatal errors had been made by the authorities.
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CHAPTER VII.— LIMITATIONS OF THE TREAS- URY.
Political differences in the interpretation of the Con- stitution of the Republic led to the Civil War, But other differences, economic and social, distinguished the sec- tions." As parties to the conflict, twenty-two States with 22,000,000 population were arrayed against eleven States with 9,000,000, of whom 3,500,000 were slaves. The wealth of the contestants was quoted**** in the valuation by coun- ties of real and personal property at $12,230,000,000 against $6,740,000,000, and in the rating of improved land for agriculture at $4,865,000,000 against $1,780,000,000. In the assessed value of property per capita nine of the Southern States were ranked between third and sixteenth places in the total of thirty-three.
In the various products of the field, the showing of the North and South for i860 was 556,169,962 bu. of corn against 282,626,778; 141,663,098 bu. of wheat against 31,- 441,826; 13,119,169 tons of hay against 709»997; 3*560,032 bu. of peas and beans against 11,501,936. The valuation of the live stock was $707,550,000 against $381,778,000. The staples of the South were represented »in 5,196,000 bales of cotton, 357,500,000 pounds of tobacco, 302,000,000 pounds of sugar and 187,000,000 pounds of rice. In the total mar- ketable worth of the agricultural products of the sections there was not the same disparity shown as in the relative yield of some of the competing products.
Industrial and Monetary Weakness.
But in relative strength of the manufacturing, mineral and commercial resources, the South had excessive limita- tions. The capital invested in manufacturing in the North
"^Eighth Census, U. S.
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was $993,881,130, having a product worth $1,700,330,395, while in the South the sum was only one-tenth of this, $95,- 974,585, with an output of $155,531,281. The volume of the iron industries was in the proportion of $48,346,803 to $3412,022, and the amounts of coal mined were 13,648,- 182 and 649,760 tons respectively. The lengths of the rail- roads of the sections were 19,022 and 9,897 miles. In the financial statistics the odds were heavy against the Con- federacy, which possessed only 221 banking institutions with a capital of $92,048,159, in comparison with 1,421 banks of its opponent, capitalized at $329,841,836.
The ratio of capital and deposits in the South was small in proportion to the other forms of wealth of the section itself; besides, the deposits of $47,204,111 equaled barely a fifth of the money so held in the North. There was a scarcity of specie from the first, the total return being $27,- 200,000. Of the specie, the banks of New Orleans held two-fifths, as well as two-fifths of the aggregate deposits. This city had been one of the soundest commercial centers in the United States, for in the panic of 1857 but four of its nine banks suspended specie payment for a brief time. The loss of this financial base was a severe blow to the Confederate Treasury, especially as it had recently aided in the first pa)rment'of government interest in coin.
The Vague Security ^or Paper Issues.
There was a common expression by public men throughout the most of the war that the wealth of the land was to be measured simply by the money paid for its products by other countries. Conditions had changed and the economic isolation of the period was more severe than before the war, when by deliberate choice the South was not industrially self-sufficient. The blockade of the sea was effective to a degree that fatally weakened the section. Back of the Confederate currency and loans were not vast quantities of cotton and tobacco. Of the 3,849,000 bales of
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the cotton of 1860-1,*" all virtually had been exported be- fore a paper dollar was voted by Congress. Of the esti- mated crop of 2,000,000 bales in 1862, about one-fifth was presumably subscribed to the Produce Loan, yet actual collections and direct purchases realized in three years only 430,000 bales, of which 300,000 were pledged against the Erlanger loan. There was for a financial system an undoubted foundation of material value, to the extent of the fruitful return of an agricultural economy, in the form of assessments on the fundamental capital of the nation. Yet there were not such industries created by the war demands as in the North, which by a reflex power could yield their share of the enlarged support of the gov- ernment.
Unacquainted With Vai.ue oi^ Taxation.
The subject of finance had been little regarded by Southern statesmen on account of their concern for politi- cal and constitutional questions. There was no adequate training by any previous acquaintance with financial oper- ations of the government at Washington for the public men of the Confederacy who had to direct the vast prepar- ations and expenditures of the four years. Heavy taxa- tion was then an unknown experience to an American. The several messages of President Davis devoted a rela- tively small portion of space to the discussion of fiscal af- fairs.
Again, the several States competed with the Confed- eracy in demanding of the citizens subscriptions to the vari- ous loans for their individual purposes. On the proposed purchase of cotton, the Richmond Examiner had**® said it would be a vast Federal stretch of power. Any opposi- tion, however, to the national right of taxation was slight, except in the case of the tax in kind, which received bitter
*^ Capcrs's Memminger, p. 356. "• Oct 12, 1861.
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condemnation from several quarters. Georgia particularly through its Governor, Joseph E Brown, clashed with the Treasury Department in its revenue and currency meas- ures. South Carolina had independently laid a prohibi- tion on exports, but removed*** it. The States being en- gaged in commerce on their official account resented the trade regulations of 1864, pre-empting half of the ship- ments for national purposes, and at the very last they re- gained their privilege. In the main, the States displayed a laudable rivalry in meeting the formal demands of the Administration.
Confidence Affecting Credit.
The credit of the government obligfations became notice- ably impaired in 1862, though the issue of interest bearing notes made the depreciation stationary for the summer. Later, it was affirmed**** that distrust arose not concerning the Confederacy, but from the superabundance of cur- rency, for all knew that tenure to any Southern property at all depended upon the maintenance of the nation. Yet in those days the opinion**^ was uttered and thought to be gaining credence in Richmond that the cause was lost. The failure to induce the States to guarantee a new form of bonds was a blow to confidence and the funding legisla- tion quickened the decline in quotations of currency val- ues, so that Mr. Memminger in July, 1863, spoke of one more year being assured to the Treasury, provided current measures were executed. But the fortune of arms was the supreme arbiter of credit and after the disasters of July, it was not long until the national finances were hopelessly shattered, the currency manipulations completing .the con- dition.
If unfavorable tide of battle was reflected in the esti-
"•Apr. 21, 1862.
^ Richmond Examiner. Oct. 22, 1862.
•" DeBow's Diary. DeBow's Review, Vol. Ill, p. 549, N. S.
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mates of the nation's financial integrity, the military re- sources were in turn impaired by the inefficiency of the Treasury provisions. The Quartermaster GeneraP*^^ de- clared to the Secretary of War that since the first of 1864 credit had been injured by the lack of finances. More es- pecially, the industrial limitations of the South necessitated desperate efforts^®* to furnish in part munitions and arms, which the Administration endeavored to supplement from abroad.
" Loans Confined Largely to Currency.
The foremost and fatal limitation of the Confederate Treasury was the introduction and maintenance of the loan policy. This plan of financiering was due to a lack of political foresight and the arrangements for revenues contemplated an emergency system solely. The theory of credit was blindly optimistic and deprecated an appeal to the sources of income, best available at the beginning. The resort to. loans was the easiest method of raising funds, but it was the most unfortunate in the instance of a country so completely isolated and inevitably compelled to devote all in sacrifice to the cause. It was an effort to project payment into the future, which if met would have been vastly more costly than in the present.
When this loan took chiefly the form of borrowing the circulating medium of the people and additions continued to be made to the currency without any regard to the needs of exchange, there were possibilities of failure that were appalling. There were few enterprises open for em- ployment of the superabundant notes, and the public
"^Southern Historical Papers, Vol. 11, p. 86.
*"A remarkable development of material resources under stress of war was that of the Ordinance Bureau under Gen. Josiah Gor- gas. He created powder mills at Augusta, armories at Richmond, Rome, Favetteville and Selma and various arsenals, mining,^ foun- deries and nitre manufacture were conducted, and by 1863 a large share of the ordinary equipments were furnished. — Gorgas' Monograph, Southern Historical Society, Vol. XII.
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turned to speculation as an outlet, creating fictitious val- ues within a circumscribed trade. The first sale of bonds was thought to have exhausted disengaged capital and this form of loan was not actively pushed again until the full flood of paper money yielded unmistakable signs of wreckage and commercial disaster. Then with the rates of depreciation prevalent, the bonds were not inviting in- vestments; compulsory funding also operated as a deterrent to direct sales in the final years. The Produce Loan in its original plan was a failure, because it required the sales of products to be exchanged for bonds. There was no market, so the subscriptions of cotton had to be taken direct for the securities and the government gained by purchase the staple it had refused in 1861 to Handle.
Landed Interests Prevent Taxation.
Several causes contributed to the failure to employ tax- ation extensively as a source of revenue. There was ex- perimental ignorance of its real importance as the founda- tion of a system of deficit financiering, and it was not un- equivocally demanded by those in authority. Congress lacked the courage to place the definite burden on its con- stituency. The constitutional objection served as a pre- text of postponement, for in the provisional instrument of government there was no apparent limitation. The suc- cessive tax measures show a disinclination to make a com- prehensive, rigorous requisition of the people. The first enlarged taxing spared real property and fell on incomes, occupations and sales. The greatest hindrance to an ade- quate measure was the agricultural class, which in the amendments of 1864 inserted the conditions which nulli- fied the value of the direct levy by the rebates for tax in kind and for income, in addition^®* to the discriminating
•"Ante, Chapter III, sub-head, "Criticisms and defects."
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valuation in favor of the land. At the same time, the banks and the merchants were heavily assessed, but under such conditions that many of the latter class practiced evasion. In the final receipts of the bureau, the cities and towns are exclusively the contributors. When revenues were finally realized in 1863-4 directly from the substance of the coun- try, the financial status of the nation was so impaired that the taxes had in specie a worth of six, then four cents to the dollar in paper.
The Legislative Failure of the Second Year.
The opportune time for taxation in the Confederacy was in 1862. Yet with the message of President Davis affirm- ing the high credit of the nation, addressed to Congress in February, it would have been difficult to bring that body to a revenue enactment. However, when the proposition was postponed in October, depreciation was pronounced and increasing, a situation certain to have been modified by resolute action six months earlier. Even a tax or- dered at the later date would have brought a degree of re- lief before the untoward influence of the military reverses of 1863 was felt. In the North, the readjustment of indus- try counseled a late resort to taxation; in the South, the first and the second years could have been used most efficaciously. The loyalty of the people would have re- sponded to a fearless, positive demand and the cost to the people would have been no more than actually borne in the latter tax in kind. The tax in kind was the device of a dire emergency, but it required a degree of supervision that was scarcely to be furnished and the chance esti- mate *•* of the realization of products worth $40,000,000 out of a contribution of $130,000,000 indicates its expen- siveness.
"* Stephens' War Between the States, Vol. II, 569.
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The Censure of Secretary Memminger-
Upon the resignation of Secretary Memminger the Rich- mond Enquirer,^^^ the Administration org^n, said Con- gress had produced the causes of the financial failure and the recommendations of the Treasury Department had never been adopted, so it was not responsible for the re- sults. The variance of the legislative body and the Secre- tary had grown intense, but in earlier years the relations had been more harmonious. Mr. Memminger certainly is responsible for the failure to present a large, compre- hensive plan of national finance in his recommendations of thf first year. His estimates were small in comparison with the needs, and his anticipations of foreign aid held him from the .large action that would have brought future security. The President seems to have seconded the suc- cessive suggestions of his cabinet officer and originated no solution of later monetary difficulties. In the crucial year of 1863 he did not yield to an appeal to call Congress in special session, while market valuations were ruinously ad- vancing from May to December.
After the nation was financially involved, Congress failed to do its duty and the consideration of revenue measures was always postponed to the very close of the sessions. In the main the recommendations of the Treas- ury Department were carried out. Congress being de- terred by its influence from the purchasing of the cotton crop, and from making a legal tender of the paper money. The Houses adopted the earlier funding suggestions, but it was the agricultural influences that finally brought the rupture in the contest over heavy general taxation.
Late Economic Wisdom and Helplessness.
Mr. Memminger must be commended for his late but courageous fight to establish adequate taxes, but his treat-
"■Junc 20, 1864.
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ment of the note redundancy proved his helplessness to avert its evils. He had in the beginning sounded the dan- gers of over issue, yet had gone the full length, and at the end with a new tenor emerging, he urged that legislative fiat set a limit to the amount. It was thought that he did not have proper conception of the sums he handled and it was told*** as a joke in Congress, that in speaking of the debt he had said it was eight thousand million or eight hundred million dollars, not being certain which. He had a firm faith in his funding devices and believed that a change of percentage could call in large sums of notes at a time when all values were paralyzed. His last large form of bonds had as a chief inducement that they were non- taxable.
It was a remedy of desperation to propose the retire- ment of all the notes in 1864, and it was proclaimed as though values would thereby be restored. But previous changes of the loan contracts with the public had prepared the Secretary for a sweeping measure. Had Congress consented the result in the end would have been little changed. Faith was already largely shaken and the grad- ual retirement of the notes did not lessen the general dis- trust.
The North by paying its interest faithfully in specie pre- served at the worst a measure of confidence. The Conti- nental finances were conducted with foreign coin after the paper money was repudiated. But there was no coin available in the South to furnish a basis for a new venture, and the taxation ordered for the year was payable in the certificates issued for the notes, being funded under pen- alty.
No Contribution to Paper Money History. The persistent practice of the Treasury then was to rely upon the issue of government paper to meet national ex-
^ DeBow's Review, Vol. IV, p. 531.
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penditure, and the history of paper money has been in no way altered by the experiment of the Confederacy. The influence was disastrous upon all the activities of the government and of the land. It induced speculation, which corrupted business morality. In the excessive redundancy . all values were permanently distorted. Industries were increasingly crippled, transportation companies were una- ble to make repairs, farmers evaded sales under impress- ment, and the products of the country were decreased. The Confederacy had been progressively prostrated. The resources for the army had all but failed. The money ma- chine was operated until it fell before the same military might which was bringing an end at the capital. And the soldiers, who had borne the brunt at the last received not the discredited money of the nation, but the coin which had come from its hiding places at the final legislative be- hest.
|
Receipts. |
Appendix^!. |
|||||
|
Bonda. |
Call Cer- tificates. |
Notes. |
Tazea. |
Cuatoms. |
Bank |
|
|
Feby. x8, 1861- Peb.i8,i863to Jan. 1, 1863. Jan. I, X863 to Oct. 1. 1863. Oct. 1. 1863 to Oct. z. X864. |
$31,153,660 43,773,573 154.840,600 313.404,900 |
$59,743,796 33.475,100 6i.i38.66o |
$95,790,350 339.394,885 391,633,530 543,364.878 |
$16,664,513 4,128.988 101,701^)38 |
$1,370,875 668,566 943,900 518.750 |
•9.813,545 3.539.799 |
|
Total, . . |
541.171.733 |
I4i,346,556 |
1,359,973,543 |
133494,539 |
3401,089 |
13,353,344 |
|
Seques* tralion. |
Patent Fund. |
Repay- ments. |
MisceUa- neoos. |
Tax on Notes. |
Total. |
|
|
1861^2, ... |
$1,022,673 2.291,812 |
$139,051,003 457i8SS,704 601,533,893 1.106,584831 |
||||
|
ia6a-3 |
$13,930 10,794 36.957 |
62.891,596 |
||||
|
1863-^ : . : : |
$1,862,500 4,539490 |
|||||
|
1863-4 |
6.964,383 |
$14440^67 |
||||
|
Total, . . |
$6401,990 |
$51,671 |
$91,395,875 |
10,278366' $14440,567 |
$3,305,014,431 |
Digitized by
The History of the Confederate Treasury. — Smith. 225
Bends. Appendix^2,
|
Eisfatper cent. |
cent. |
Six per cent. |
Pour per cent |
Cotton Non-tM- Certificates able 6 p. c. |
||
|
Peby. x86i- Feby. x86a- jMi.-Oct. X863. Oct. x863- X864. |
$31,153,660 43.773.573 xo7,39a,90o 2433450 |
118,737.650 2,364.000 |
$6,810,050 14,306400 |
$3639394.050 |
$3,000,000 8.975.000 |
$19,303,900 |
|
Total. . |
1x83.641.583 |
$4Xiiox.65o |
$21,016450 |
$363,394,050 |
$10,975,000 |
119.303,900 |
CetHfUates,
|
Six per cent calL |
Fire per cent calL |
Four per centcaU. |
Certificates Indebtedness |
Total. |
|
|
1861-1862, |
$3X,X52,66o X02.5X6,368 178,315,700 373.533.560 |
||||
|
i86a-i86« |
I59.743.796 |
||||
|
xISi . . '. ; |
$33,092,900 38313,500 |
$483,200 22,316,160 |
$ii739.*i«> |
||
|
x^, : : . . . : : : |
|||||
|
Total, |
$59,743,796 |
$61315400 |
$33,798,360 |
$1,739,100 |
$685,518,288 |
|
Expenditures, |
Appendix^ |
•J. |
|||
|
War. |
Navy. |
CivU. |
Public Debt. |
Total. |
|
|
Feby.x8, x86x-x862, Peby. x8, x862-Jan. x,i8^ Jan. 1,1863-Oct I, 1863. Oct. 1, x863-Oct X, 1864- |
$152,844430 3*i,oii,754 377.988.244 484,939.8x6 |
$7,600,^5 30,599.383 38437.661 36408,535 |
$5,045,660 13.673.376 xx,629,278 16,038.973 |
'$4ii737.*3» 91.356.739 470,607.163 |
$165,490,575 416,971.735 510,311,935 997.994473 |
|
Total, |
$1,356,784,344 |
$93,005,954 |
$46,387,387 |
$603,591,322 |
$3,099,768,707 |
Appendix^i^
Depreciation o^ Treasury Notes Rated in $i.oo of
Goij>.
1861 — August, 1.05; October, i.io; Nov., 1.15-1.17; Dec, 1.18-1.20.
1862— Jan., 1.18-1,22; Feb., 1.25-1.26; Mch., 1.28-1.30; Apr., 1.38-140; May, 1.50; August, 1.50; Sept., 1.75; Oct., 2.00; Nov., 2.50; Dec, 3.00.
Digitized by
226 Southern History Association.
1863— Jan., 3.10; Feb., 3.33; Mch., 4.20; Apr., 5.00; May, 6.00; June, 7.50; July, 9.00; Aug., 12.00; Sept., 12.50; Oct., 14.00; Nov., 15.00; Dec, 19.00.
1864 — ^Jan., 21.00; Feb., 23.00; Mch., 25.00; Apr., 21.00; May, 19.00; June, 18.00; July, 20.00; Aug., 22.00; Sept., 23.00; Oct., 26.00; Nov., 27-33.00 ; Dec, 34-42.00.
1865 — Jan., 45-50.00 ; Feb., 50-60.00 ; Mch., 60.00; Apr., 100.00.
Bibliography.
Appleton's Annual Encyclopedia, 1861, 2, 3, 4, 5. Bigelow, Jno. — France and the Confederate Navy. Bolles, A. S. — Financial History of the United States, I, III.
Bulloch, J. D. — ^The Secret Service of the Confederate States in Europe. Capers, H. D. — Life and Times of C. G. Memminger. Century Magazine, LIII., Feb., 1897. Correspondence of the Confederate Treasury Depart- ment, now kept in the U. S. Treasury at Washington, D. C. Currency of the Confederate States of America, com- piled by Wm. Lee, M. D. Davis, Jefferson — Rise and Fall of the Confederacy. DeBow's Review, II, IV, V, (New Series). Documents of the Confederate Treasury Department, now kept in the "Rebel Archives" of the War Depart- ment, Washington, D. C. Eighth Census U. S. Hart, A. B.— Life of S. P. Chase. Hdwe, F. C. — ^Taxation in the U. S. under Internal
Revenue. Jones, J. W.— Rebel War Clerk's Diary. Journal of Political Economy, Mch., 1897. Knox, J. J. — ^U. S. Notes.
Newspapers — ^Augusta Chronicle, Charleston Courier, Montgomery Mail, Richmond Dispatch,
Digitized by
The History of the Confederate Treasury, — Smith. 227
Enquirer, Examiner and Whig, and Savannah News as preserved in the files of the "Rebel Archives" at Washington. Phillips — Continental Paper Money. Pollard, E. A.— The Lost Cause.
The First, Second, Third and Fourth Years of the War. Records and Correspondence of the Confederate War Tax Bureau.
Reports of the Commission of Taxes. Reports of C. G. Memminger and G. A. Trenholm, Sec- retaries of the Confederate Treasury. Scharf, J. T. — History of the Confederate States Navy. Schuckers, J. W. — Life and Public Services of Salmon P. Chase. Schwab, J. C. — ^The Finances of the Confederacy, Pol. Science Quarterly, VIII. The Confederate Foreign Loan. Yale
Review, I. The Financier of the Confederate States. Yale Review, II. Senate and House Journals of the Confederate States, Secret and Open Sessions. Southern Historical Society Papers, II,IX, XII. Statutes of the Provisional, the First and the Second Congresses of the Confederate States. Stephens, Alexander H. — ^War between the States. Sumner, W. G. — ^American Currency.
The Financier and the Finances of the American Revolution. Tariff and Tax Laws of the Confederate States. (Concluded.)
Digitized by
INTRODUCTION TO THE GENEALOGY OF THE
DESCENDANTS OF JUDGE PAUL CARRING-
TON AND HIS WIFE PRISCILLA (nee) SIMS.
By Col. J. B. Kii^lebrew.
Judge Paul Carrington, the eldest son of Judge Paul Carrington, I, was bom in Charlotte county, Virginia, February 24, 1733, and was one of the most remarkable men of his time. His father died intestate and at that period the laws of primogeniture being in force in the State of Virginia, he did not claim his rights to all the real estate of his father under that law but generously di- vided it equally with his brothers and sisters. He never re- fused to take from his creditors Continental money, and in doing so, much reduced the value of his estate. He was a member of the House of Burgesses from 1765, and of the Conventions of 1776 and 1788, the last being held to ratify the Constitution of the United States. In 1779 he was appointed Second Judge of the General Court of Virginia, and was Chief Justice in 1780. He was appointed Judge of the Court of Appeals in 1789 and resigned in 1807 at the age of 74. He died at his country seat June 20, 1818. He had three sons in the Revolutionary War.
His second wife, Priscilla Sims, was the daughter of David Sims, Jr., and his wife Lettice May, the daughter of Humphrey May, of Halifax county, Virginia. David Sims, Jr., and Lettice May had the following children to reach the years of maturity, viz : John, Betsy and Priscilla.
John was a large planter and lived and died on Staunton river in Halifax county, Virginia. His descendants still reside on the same estate.
Betsy married first, David Clark; her second husband was her cousin. David Sims, and her third husband was
Digitized by
Descendants of Judge Paul Carrmgtm. — Killebrew. 229
Thomas Read, whom she married in 1806. The father of Thomas Read, also named Thomas, was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1776 and a brother-in- law of Judge Carrington.
Priscilla Sims, as has already been, mentioned, was the second wife of Judge Paul Carrington.
After the death of David Sims, Jr., his wife, Lettice May, married Joseph Ligon, a soldier of the Revolutionary War, who was wounded at the battle of Guilford Court House, March 15, 1781. He was a member of Gen. Stevens' bri- gade, Nathaniel Cooke's regiment, and John Thompson's company. Joseph Ligon was born in 1755 and removed after a second marriage, with his sons and daughters to Montgomery county, Tennessee, where many of his de- scendants now reside. He died September 21, 1842, in the 87th year of his age. But few of the pioneers of Tennessee were more highly esteemed for solid virtues and noble qualities of head and heart. When he was about 80 years of age he became totally blind, but his cheerfulness, good temper and sweetness of disposition never deserted him. He was a man of great dignity of manners and severity of morals. He always spoke of Judge Carrington with deep veneration and the most respectful admiration. Though twenty-two years older than Mr. Ligon, Judge Carring- ton married his stepdaughter, Priscilla.
It may be added that Judge Carrington at the time of his marriage to Priscilla Sims was sixty years of age and his wife sixteen. Their marriage was one of great happiness and their descendants have always been noted for their intelligence, high moral worth and unswerving integrity.
The Genealogy of the Descenbants of Judge Paul Carrington and His Wife Priscilla (nee) Sims.
Judge Paul Carrington and Priscilla Sims had three chil- dren:
I. Henry* married Louisa Cabell and had six children: A. William*; B. Edmonia*; C. Elizabeth*; D. Agnes*; E. Henry*; F. Emma*.
Digitized by
i 230 SoiUhern History Association.
A. William* married Maria Dabuly and has two children: i. Bessie*; 2. Williamine*.
B. Edmonia' married William Read and has nine chil- dren: I. Maria^; 2. Louisa*; 3. Howard*; 4. Edmonia*; 5. Anne*; 6. Sara*; 7. Abram*; 8. Agnes*; 9. May*.
C. Elizabeth* married George H. Gilmer and had three chil- dren: I. Louisa*; 2. Peachy*; 3. George*.
D. Agnes* married Joel Marshall and has two children: i. Bessie*; 2. Henry* — ^both unmarried.
E. Henry* married Lottie Cullen, had ten children: i. Louise*; 2. William^; 3. Cullen*; 4. Henry*: 5. Randolph*; 6.0telia*; 7. Matthew*; 8. Florence*; 9. Lottie*; 10. Gilmer*.
F. Emma* married John W. Reiley and had five children: i. Louisa*; 2. Frances*; 3. Henry*; 4. Emma*; 5. John*.
2. Lettice* Carrington married Walter Coles and had four chil- dren: G. Helen*; H. Mildred*; I. Walter*; J. Agnes*.
G. Helen*, unmarried.
H. Mildred* married Stanhope Flourney and had five children: I. Stanhope*; 2. Coles*; 3- Helen*; 4. Letty*; 5. Charles*.
I. Walter* married Lavinia Jordan and had five children: Wal- ter*, Russell*, Agnes*, Thomas*, Henry*; all unmarried.
J. Agnes* married Grattan Cabell and had two children: Wal- ter*, Florence*; both unmarried.
3. Robert' Carrington married Johanna Bouldin and had five children: K. Thomas*; L. Jane*; M. John*; N. Mildred*; O. Paul*.
K. Thomas* married Pauline Cabell. One child, Martha*, died a nun.
L. Jane* married Albert Rush and had one child, Robert*, living in New Orleans when last heard from.
M. John* married, name of wife unknown; was last heard from as living in Leadville with several children.
N. Mildred* died, unmarried.
O. Paul* died, leaving a widow and several children; where- abouts unknown.
A. (i) Bessie* married James N. Demlope and had five chil- dren: Maria*, Anne*, Bessie', James*, Williani*.
A. (2) Williamine* married Robert Lancaster, had four chil- dren: William' Carrington*, Kitty* and Dabney*.
B. (i) Maria married Thomas Watkins and had three children: Edmonia', Henrietta' and Virginia*.
B. (2) Louisa* married Isaac Read — two children: ,
Howard*.
B. ^3^ Howard* married Mary Pierce; no children.
B. u) Edmonia* married M. M. Martin; four children: Ed- monia', Alexander*, John*, William',
B. (5) Anne*, unmarried.
B. (6) Sara* married John Martin; one child, William*.
B. (7) Abram* married Guilielmo Lawton; one child, Eliza- beth'.
B. (8) Agnes* married John Lancaster; two children: Mary* and Edmonia*.
B. (9) May*, unmarried.
Digitized by
Descendants of Judge Paul Carrington. — Killebrew. 231
C. (i) Louisa* married Holt Easley; four children: Lizzie", Florence*, James*, Gilmer*.
C. (2) Peachy* married John Craddock and had four children: Gilmer , Charles*, Elise*, John".
C. (3) George* married Rena Patton.
E. (i) Louise* married William Leigh and had four children: Henry*, Mary^, Emma*, John*.
E. (2) William*, unmarried.
E. (3) Cullen* married Mary Hannah and had five children: Ella*, Lottie*, Mary*, Louise* and Ruth*.
E. (4) Henry*, died unmarried.
E. (5) Randolph* married Ella Gordon; two children: Ran- dolph* and Elisc*.
E. (6) Otelia married John Cunningham; four children: John', Helen*, Lottie*, Otelia*.
E. (7) Matthew*, unmarried. ^. (8) - ' • - ^
E. (9) Lottie*, immarried.
E. (8) Florence* married Sydney Stevens.
E. (10) Gilmer*, died voung.
F. (i) Louisa marriecf Henry Edmunds; two children: Emma* and John*.
Digitized by
REVIEWS AND NOTICES.
American Reference Library, or Library of American History. 6 volumes. American History So- ciety, Washington.
These volumes, with some artistic illustrations, in bind- ing, paper, type and wide margin, are so attractive as to make reading a luxury. The substance so far as examined, corresponds with the external features. The first volume, by Dr. Buel, relates to Columbus and the New World. The second and third volumes by Drs. Ridpath and Buel are a history of the United States under such compre- hensive heads as Discovery, Planting, Independence, Nationality, War and Greatness. Volume four appears under the editorship of Dr. Buel and Gen. Marcus J. Wright, wrongly placing our friend, the General, in the Bureau of Government Statistics instead of in the Bureau for the "publication of the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion." The account of our new possessions, brought down to date, is very interesting and contains what is of great value in all the discussions which are not likely to be finally settled for months to come.
Volumes five and six are an encyclopedic Dictionary of American History by Drs. Jameson and Buel, which is, in some respects, the more valuable part of the library. While the first four volumes are chronological, the Dic- tionary is alphabetical and is closely correlated with what is in the preceding historical volumes. That Prof. Jame- son has charged himself with the work of verifying state- ments and bringing them down to date, is the best guar- anty that what has been done is in accordance with his- torical accuracy. These volumes, kept in the revolving library, will be a vade tnecum, a Who's Who for one un- willing to be other than accurate.
Digitized by
Reviews and Notices. 233
In the third volume is a relation of the war between the States. This paper appears under the criticism of General Wright, an authority on all matters of Confederate history, and while all his corrections and suggestions were not adopted, still the work is the fairest which has proceeded from Northern authorship, both as to the war itself and the causes of the war. We take pleasure in sajdng that this portion of the history seems to have been prepared with an honest effort at fairness and impartiality. The writers and publishers deserve much credit for the suc- cess they have attained. The "British Almanac" for 1901, in the 74th year of issue, aspiring to be an authority, con- tains amusing illustrations of the difficulty of being ac- curate when a multitude of facts are to be detailed. In giving the great battles of the last century, it says that Antietam, or Sharpsburg, was fought on the 17th Sept., 1862, by 87,000 Federals under McClellan, who defeated 97,000 Confederates under General Lee. The historical truth is that while McClellan did have 87,000 men, Gen- eral Lee, after all his troops came up, had only 35,000. The loss of the Federals was 12409 and of the Confed- erates 8,600. General Lee "expected and hoped for an- other attack," but as it was npt made and McClellan was reinforced by two strong divisions, General Lee, "wiser than his antagonist," withdrew to the south side of the Potomac. The almanac, on the same page, says "San- tiago was fought on July 3, 1898, and the American fleet under Admiral Dewey annihilated the Spanish fleet of six vessels under Admiral Cervera!"
J. L. M. Curry.
A Higher History of the United States for Schools and Academies. By Henry E. Chambers. Re- vised edition. University Put|lishing Company, New York and New Orleans.
A distinguished professor in one of our great Ameri-
Digitized by
2 J4 SotUhem History Associaiian.
can universities* has recently said: "In the amplest sense of the term, history is everything true about everything which man ever did, thought, hoped or felt. It is the limit- less science of past human affairs — a theme unmeasura- bly vast and exceedingly vague. We are within the bounds of history whether we decipher a mortgage or an Assy- rian tile, come at the value of the Diamond Necklace, or describe the over-short pastry to which Charles V. was addicted to his undoing. The tragic reflections of Eli's daughter-in-law when she learned of the discomfiture of her people at Ebenezer, are history ; so are the provisions of Magna Charta, the origin of the doctrine of tran- substantiation, the fall of Santiago, the difference be- tween a black friar and a white friar, and the certified cir- culation of the New York Journal upon February ist of the current year. Each fact has its importance, all have been carefully recorded. * * It is clear that in treating history for a general reader and for the boys and girls in our schools and colleges the question of selection and pro- portion is momentous * * My whole contention may be summed up in the plea that the general reader, and the boys and girls in our high schools and colleges be brought directly in contact with the living past, in the generous hope of immediate fruition. 'The outlines of history' its 'leading facts' as usually conceived, constitute at best the viaticum for a journey — 3, journey, too, which is frequently never taken."
These in the opinion of the writer, are words that cannot be gainsaid. We have read dozens of higher his- tories of the United States, which teach not history, but give us dates and names which were only confusing and left us after the reading totally uninformed of what we wanted to know. The history here under review is some- thing more than a mere statement of dates and names — it
♦Prof. J. H. Robinson, of Columbia University.
Digitized by
Reviews and Notices. 235
tells us what actuated men in certain great events, how those holding opposite opinions sustained tjieir side, and leads us to know not only that a certain thing was done, but why it was done. The book begins with the period of the discovery of the country and going on through the early settlements by Spaniards, French and English, leads up to the periods of colonization, of colonial govern- ment, revolution, the war for independence, the institution of self-government and through the historic channel to the war between the States, the reconstruction of the Southern States and the war with Spain, down to the treaty of Paris. There are certain portions of the book to which we desire to call special attention, and which not- withstanding their great value have been systematically omitted from all other United States histories which we have read. These omitted facts are the identical ones which are absolutely necessary in order that the reader or pupil may understand what the Southern States did when they seceded, and what constitutional grounds they had for believing that they had a right to secede. No one can understand this unless he first learns what a State was in 1776, at the time of the revolution when the colonies declared themselves to be States what a State was in 1782 when the articles of confederation were adopted, and what a State was in 1789, when the Constitution was adopted. It is necessary that this should be known, for a State to-day has a very different meaning from what it had an hundred years ago.
Turning to page 252 of the book you will find a chapter on government, very simple and very easily understood. Farther on you will find chapters on the org^anization of the Federal Government of the United States, equally as important for a clear understanding of the original idea of the Constitution and of the powers of government un- der it. A very important chapter is to be found at page 350, clearly setting forth the development of sectional an-
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236 Southern History Association.
tagonism, and the issues then raised which divided the North and South. The conditions of the country in i860 are set forth and the real reasons given of the cause of the division of the Democratic party. Usually school his- tories state that in i860 the Democratic party was divided, but omit any reason or explanation, leaving the impression that it was probably a mere capricious division and thus failing to do justice to those who whether wisely or un- wisely demanded recognition of their constitutional rights under the government, and refused to remain in a party which refused them.
We are told in most of these histories that the Southern States seized the forts and arsenals within their borders, leaving the impression that these were acts of aggression, but in the work before us a full explanation is g^ven. The organization of the State of West Virginia, the manner of its "taking off" from Virginia with interesting details is given. What Mr. Lincoln did towards reconstruction is told, and the reason given why slavery was not abolished by presidential proclamation, but by the adoption of the thirteenth amendment of the Constitution by the South- ern States. All these important historical facts are stated clearly and dispassionately. There are statements in re- gard to battles and campaigns of the war between the States, written from the lights then before the editor, which ought to be amended, and no doubt will be in a future edition. These corrections being made in the light of official history, will make this part of the work exceed- ingly valuable.
The mere statement of which side won this or that bat- tle, while interesting to this generation, will excite but lit- tle interest in the next century, but the great point will be to know the constitutional grounds on which the South acted, and only upon a clear, dispassionate statement of the whole question will depend the verdict of future gen- erations as to whether the Southern leaders were moved
Digitized by
Reviews and Notices. 237
by patriotism and a firm adherence to constitutional rights or by treason. The leading battles of the war are fully noticed and plans of the more important ones are given. See for instance Gettysburg, the plan of which shows the troops which participated in Pickett's charge and the position of the divisions, brigades and regpiments. Attention is called to the chapters on the tariff controversy of 1832, and specially to the reopening of the tariff ques- tion (Chap, xxii) and the succeeding chapter on "Home Productions." These chapters are the products of the pen of Major C. L. Patton, of the University Publishing Com- pany, and are quite in keeping in their excellence with the remainder of Professor Chambers' most valuable book. The author does not deal in ipse dixits or unfounded as- sertions, but states distinctly the facts from which his de- ductions are drawn.
We very heartily commend it as a book of exceeding value. M. J. W.
Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume xxviii. Edited by R. A. Brock, (Secretary. Richmond, Va., 1900, pp. viii.-f 387, -Svo., paper, index. As with former volumes. Colonel Brock has added a vast deal to the great repository of Civil War history that he has been collecting for a quarter of a century. Not only the de- scendants of those who fought, not only the student of history, but the novelist, the dramatist and the poet will in the years to come turn to this series of Papers for facts, for color, for inspiration. Especially treasured will they be, if the same thing happens in the case of this terrible struggle, as in all former ones, that all the romance and sentiment will cling to the defeated side. This volume, composed of forty-one selections, is filled with this valu- able kind of material, containing adventures, hair-breadth escapes, endurance, humor, pathos, suffering, death, de- struction, the most told by the actors themselves, or by
Digitized by
238 Southern History Association.
those having first-hand knowledge. Not to make invid- ious distinctions, but to illustrate the whole bulk, especi- ally interesting is Major J. H. Claiborne's "Last Days of Lee and his Paladins," which is narrated in a charming, clear and simple fashion. There are other contributions on Lee, including one from Professor E. S. Joynes, of Columbia, S. C, describing the earnestness and gfreatness of Lee as president of the Washington College (now Washington and Lee University). In giving a faithful ac- count of the death of Walter Bowie, Lieutenant J. G. Wiltshire essays that noble but apparently endless task of correcting the mistakes and fabrications of ignorant and sensational writers for the periodical press, who are often either too hurried or too incompetent to get at the real facts which would generally be far more striking and more wonderful than their weak inventions. So distaste- ful to this officer was a distorted article on the subject in a popular magazine that he gives the full story of Bowie's expedition into Maryland in 1864 to capture the Governor and hold him as hostage. His bare statement of the reali- ties of this daring incursion, in which he took part, are enough to stir any except jaded or diseased imaginations. From memoranda left by J. L. Porter, chief constructor of the Confederate navy, we have a brief condensed history of each vessel, the whole arranged alphabetically.
Chickens Comb Home to Roost. By L. B. HUles. New York: Wright & Co., 1899, pp. vii.-f307, 8vo., cloth.
Scenes, incidents, situations, the author has produced, striking, startling and potential enough in the hands of a master to have made a realistic novel of great force and sensation, but as it is, it touches too much on the merely material, gross and vulgar, without any of those uplifting influences that an artistic pen would have given. The writer may have this divine power — ^the very strength and coarseness of his imagination might indicate some gift
Digitized by
Reviews and Notices. 239
out of the ordinary — ^but there are no marked traces of it in his pages. There is stirring adventure, with the basis laid in Virginia during the Civil War and coming down to the present, the interest being heightened by the mixture of love and passion. There is some thrilling description, with passages of faithful dialogues. But the improbable actions, the impossible conduct, the incredible combination of characteristics leave only a blurred im- pression of crudity and confusion, with, perhaps, a faint hint of native vigor underneath.
The Elements o^ the Geology o^ Tennessee, pre- pared for the use of the schools of Tennessee and for all persons seeking a knowledge of the resources of the State. By J. M. Safford, A. M., Ph. D., M. D., and J. B. Kille- brew, A. M., Ph. D. Nashville, Tenn.: Foster & Webb, 1900, pp. vii.+264, boards.
This little volume is a condensation of SafFord's classic work, "The Geology of Tennessee," published in 1869. As the title indicates, it has been prepared with special reference to its use in the elementary schools of the State. Pupils of the Tennessee schools are fortunate in having prepared for their use so excellent an introduction to the science of geology. While the treatment is strictly from the standpoint of the State, and therefore, to a certain extent, gpives a narrow and local view, it renders the sub- ject concrete, and for the beginner this is all important. It will be a comparatively easy matter for the student who has mastered this book to pass to the broader study of the same problems as exemplified in the world at large. Certainly this is a more natural method than to begin with the broader and less tangpible problems.
Most of the topographic and stratigjaphic subdivisions of SafFord's earlier work are retained in this book. Some changes, however, are made in the stratigraphic nomen- clature. An elementary text-book is scarcely the place
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240 Souihem History AssociaHon.
to look for newly-announced stratigraphic names, since it is impossible to give there a full and satisfactory defini- tion of the unit named. It is somewhat unfortimate, therefore, that certain new terms have been introduced; for example, the term Maury shale for what has previously been described as a member of the Devonian, the green- sand bed of the Chattanooga. This bed is here placed in the Carboniferous, although the gfrounds for the classifica- tion are not gpiven. The name chosen is also unfortunate, since the bed is generally absent in Maury county and never possesses its characteristic features there. Similar criticism might be offered to the names Hardin sandstone, Camden chert and Linden limestone. These are small matters, however, when the general excellence of the work is considered and the extremely important place which it occupies in the educational system of the State. Special attention is paid to economic geology 9.nd the varied resources of the State are briefly but clearly described. The wide dissemination of the rudiments of the science which the use of this book in the schools must secure will be an important factor in the industrial development of the entire region.
A History of Alabama for Use in Schools, based as to its earlier parts, on the work of Albert J. Pickett. By William Garrott Broun. New York and New Orleans : University Publishing Company.
This is a book of over three hundred pages, besides an appendix which contains the physical geography and natural divisions of Alabama, by Eugene Allen Smith, Ph. D., Professor of Geology, University of Alabama ; a list of the counties in the State, showing county seats, when laid out, and population ; list of all the governors and lieuten- ant governors and other State officers, representatives in United States Congress and in the Confederate Congress, and the Constitution adopted in 1875. It gives an inter-
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Reviews and Notices. 241
esting account of the Spanish invasion, the settlement by the French, the Crozart experiment and the John Law scheme. The English settlement and rule, and McGil- Uvray resolution and concurrent events are told in a plain, brief manner up to the establishment of the Mississippi Territory. The Creek War, Gen. Jackson's campaigfns, and the admission of the territory as a State into the Union follow in an interesting narrative.
The leading features of the administrations of all the governors, from Bibb to Johnston, are plainly set out, and the war period is treated in a fair and terse manner, in- cluding also the period of reconstruction.
The typography, illustrations and binding are very creditable.
The book forms a valuable addition to the State His- tory Series.
The author is a native of Alabama, but has for some years been connected with the library of Harvard Uni- versity.— M. J. W.
A History of Georgia for the Use of Schools. By Lawton B. Evans. New York and New Orleans: Uni- versity Publishing Company, 1900.
This is one of the very interesting and valuable numbers of the State History Series published by this company. The history proper is divided into eight epochs, to .wit : I. Georgia before English colonization, 2. Under Trus- tees, 3. Under the royal governors, 4. An independent State, 1776-1789, 5. In the Federal Union, 6. In the Con- federate States, 7. Reconstruction, 8. Again in the Union. It is illustrated with well executed portraits of the lead- ing men in the State during all of the eight epochs, in both military and civil life. The narration is in plain, simple language, adapted for young students, and is writ- ten in a very entertaining style. An appenHix of 56 pages contains the topography of the State, the cession of lands
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by Indians and a list of counties in the State, giving the name of person or object for whom named, the name of the county seat, when laid out, and population. It also contains the Constitution adopted in 1877 and list of names of all the governors, colonial, provincial, pro- visional and State.
We have received from the University Publishing Com- pany, of New York and New Orleans, a copy of Maury's Elementary Geography (revised). This is one of the scries of geographies prepared by that learned and eminent man Matthew Fontaine Maury. Nothing in the line of geographies has achieved the reputation with scientific and scholarly men as has this series. The series consists of Maury's Manual of Geography, Elementary Geography, Physical Geography, First lessons in geography. The world we live in, and the wall maps, altogether making the most useful and comprehensive work on geography which has ever been published.
A Bibliography of Mississippi. By Thomas Mc- Adory Owen, A. M., LL. B. Report of American His- torical Association for 1899, Washington, 1900, O. pp. 633- 828.
This Bibliogfraphy of Mississippi while not so extensive as far as mere titles go, is even more complete than that of Alabama, compiled by Mr. Owen, published in 1897 by the American Historical Association. This, like the earlier one, is arranged, so far as possible, under au- thors, all of the publications of one author being brought together whether they are historical or not. When pos- sible titles are gpiven in full with uprights, and accom- panied by full collations, historical, literary and critical notes, and in many cases with reference to the libraries where copies may be seen. In this connection the libra-
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ries of Mr. Owen, of Dr. Geo. W. Hamner and of Con- gress are most frequently mentioned. The compiler has treated his subject in a liberal spirit, including such titles as Field's Essay toward an Indian Bibliogfraphy and Morse's Gazetteer, while it is particularly full under such titles as Codes, Conventions, Laws, Supreme Court, Edu- cation, Indians, maps, the various railroads, Baptist and Presb)rterian churches. State offices, Romans, Shipp, Pickett and Jefferson Davis.
The work is made still more valuable by cross-indexing under general subject heads. It is thus made possible to survey in one alphabet the whole literature of Missis- sippi both by subjects and authors.
An Addr^s delivered at the Unveiling of the Henry County Coni^ederate Monument, Paris, Ten- nessee, Saturday, October 13, 1900. By Ex-Governor James D. Porterw
This is the title of a 24 page pamphlet, illustrated by a picture of the Governor and containing an interesting ac- count of the military organizations and of many of the soldiers furnished by Henry county to the Confederate Army. No county had a more brilliant record in cam- paigns which have no parallel in the history of any other country. The Governor says: "The Army of Tennessee killed. and disabled more men of Sherman's army than we had on our muster rolls, yet Sherman was stronger in numbers when he moved against Rocky Face Ridge, 100 days before that date, after fighting a battle almost every day." It is a matter of just complaint against the South that from Revolutionary days to the present time great achievements on the field have been left without chronicle. To have done them satisfied the heroes and their descendants. Other people have taken care of the fame of soldiers and sailors and left no act without due and careful and eulogistic mention. This address shows
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what can and should be written of our Southern braves. Fortunately, Gov. Porter was a conspicuous actor in much of what he recites, and knew and admired the officers and privates whose memories he seeks to preserve by pen as well as by bronze and marble. Cheetham, Forrest and others from Shiloh to Johnston's surrender in North Carolina were his companions. Writers on both sides have drawn freely on his minute and full memory for what he saw and shared in, and his comrades feel that instead of a short address like this he should give his countrymen a full account of what he witnessed and won.
GamiitEl's Reprint of the Laws of Texas, as first an- nounced more than three years ago, is now complete. The tenth and last volume contains the work of the 22nd, 23rd, 24th and 25th Legislatures, of the laws general and special of the Hogg and Culberson administrations. This period marks the rise and culmination of the first fierce struggle in Texas between corporate power and popular rights. Some of the fruits of the victory for the people under the leadership of Hogg were the Railroad Commis- sion and the law regulating the issuance of stocks and bonds by the railroads.
Besides these there were other important acts of the Hogg administration, such as the creation of a Commis- sion of Appeals, the establishment of a Confederate Home and the Alien Land Law.
In general, Hogg's policy was continued under Cul- berson, the previous laws regulating corporations not be- ing disturbed.
Among the acts of the 24th Legislature was one making it a penal offense to sow Johnson grass on another per- son's land. An interesting concurrent resolution granted John B. Hood Camp of Confederate Veterans the right to place in the Capitol grounds a monument to the Confed- erate dead.
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The following were some of the acts of the 25th Legis- lature : One for the establishment of a public park on the site of the battlefield of San Jacinto; one to set apart lands for the permanent endowment fund for the Branch University for the colored people of this State ; a concur- rent resolution granted to the Association of Terry's Texas Rangers the right to place in the Capitol grounds a monument to their heroic dead, and a joint resolution submitted to the people a constitutional amendment au- thorizing State pensions to disabled and dependent ex- Confederate soldiers and sailors.
This last volume of Gammei^'s Reprint of the Laws of Texas brings the Legislation down to the year 1897. The first volume began with the Austin colonial document of 1822, and also brought out many other important politi- cal papers rarely seen in print. Gammel has redeemed his pledge made at the outset of his undertaking. For his monumental work as first outlined by him is before the public. And it now only remains to say that an index volume is in course of preparation by an expert. This will add immensely to the value of the work, which is steadily winning recognition in our highest courts while making its way into the various departments of the State govern- ment.
Volume III of the Transactions of the Texas Academy of Science, for 1899, (Austin, Texas, October, 1900, paper, large, 8 vo. pp. 308) is practically an F. W. Simonds issue, as he takes up 14 pages with his annual address as Presi- dent and 265 pages with his "Record of Geology of Texas, 1887-1896," the remaining space being gpiven to title pages, index and lists of members. The whole is a well printed, handsome product, and it is the highest tribute to the com- munity that such fine scientific work can find the support of some 150 adherents of the organization. Dr. Simonds is professor of geology in the State University, and his
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bibliography of 466 titles supplements that of Mr. Robert T. Hill, made in 1887. Mr. Hill has been unusually pro- lific since then as his labors furnish some 32 pages for Mr. Simonds, covering titles 196-250.
The papers in the Report of the American Historical Association for 1899 (Washington. Government Printing Office. 1900. O. Vol. I, pp. xii+871 ; Vol. 2, pp. 1218) of most value to Southern students are Bibliography of Mississippi, compiled by Thomas M. Owen, and the cor- respondence of John C. Calhoun, collected and edited by Prof. J. Franklin Jameson. The Calhoun Letters were no- ticed in the previous issue, March, pp. 159-163 of Volume V of these Pubucations ; the Owen bibliography on pp. 242-243 of this number.
Besides the report of the Boston meeting of 1899 and the address of President James Ford Rhodes, there is a paper on Removal of Officials by the Presidents of the United States, by Carl Russel Pish, with tables of removals. Frank Hayden Miller discusses Legal Qualifications for Office in America, both in the Colonial and State periods. Prof. Edward G. Bourne treats the Proposed Absoption of Mexico in 1847-8, while Dr. Bernard C. Steiner contributes a long chapter on the Restoration of the Proprietary of Maryland and the Legislation against the Roman Catholics during the Governorship of Capt. John Hart (1714-1720). Hart seems to have been a man far in advance of his day as far as political liberty is concerned, but he suffered continual interruptions and irritations from the Catholic party of which Charles Carroll was the head.
Dr. Walter F. Prince examines the First Criminal Code of Virginia, generally known as Dale's Code. He believes it more severe than were contemporary laws in England, and that it violated the charter. The Code is three fold in its division, "Articles, Laws and Orders — Divine, Po- litique and Martlall.'' It has been claimed that they were
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of Dutch origin, but this writer says there is "little or no proof that they were "translated or even derived from the Dutch models." He believes that Dale and Gates are re- sponsible for them and not Sir Thomas Sriiythe, against whom they are usually charged.
Dr. O. G. Libby finds that Gordon in his History of the American Revolution borrowed without stint and without acknowledgment from the Annual Register. There are a number of papers dealing with various phases of European history and colonial policy, and one by James IngersoU Wyer on the Study and Teaching of History with an ex- tensive bibliography.
The Fifth General American Tyler Family Gathering on September 12, 1900, at Philadelphia, must have been a successful and enjoyable occasion. There were represent- atives of the clan from nine States. There was a good dinner and entertaining toasts and speeches. Especially bright and instructive for investigfators in English libraries and depositories was the description of his English trip for genealogical research, by the Secretary, W. I. Tyler Brig- ham. This paper, some of the addresses, account of the meeting; Tyler weddings, deaths, notices and Tyler infor- mation generally, are all included in the Report by Mr. Brigham (paper, 8vo., pp. 38, steel portrait, illus.) The President for next year is Prof. Charles M. Tyler, Ithaca, N. Y.
President W. H. Council, of the Agricultural and Me- chanical College, for Negroes, at Normal, Ala., in the'22d annual of the Chattanooga Tradesman, Jan. i, 1901, has words of the wisest advice to his race in trying to point out what seem to be the best lines of progress for them. With rare common sense and moderation he realizes the hard conditions that environment and ethnic prejudice have put on this people, and he urges that they follow the "lines of least resistance," which he finds to be "agriculture and
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personal service." In these two paths they are successful and steadily growing more so, as President Council shows by facts and figures.
Colonel J. B. Killebrew, of Nashville, has reprinted, from Manufacturers' Record, in leaflet form (7 pages, 8vo.) his strong, vigorous summary of the material features of the South. His buoyant tone is indicated by one quotation : "Traversed by some of the grandest rivers on earth and washed by the waves of the greatest oceans ; occupying the most temperate portions of the temperate zone ; in that latitude where man has reached in all ages the highest civilization, the Southern land may well chal- lenge every other on this old earth of ours in a contest for supremacy in material magnificence."
A new literary venture for the South is The Bookworm Birmingham, Ala., monthly, $1.00, yearly), devoted to re- views and notices. The February number, 42 pages, claims a paid circulation of 1,000 copies, which is a most hopeful beginning.
Doubleday, Page & Co., New York, ask subscriptions for a new edition of the writings of Colonel William Byrd, of Westover, Va., to be edited by Professor J. S. Bassett, in one handsome volume, about 400 pages, with* illustra- tions, at $10.00. Byrd, as well known, was one of the most cultivated men of his day. His manuscripts were printed more than half a century ago, but are not now to be found on the market.
Mr. M. DeL. Haywood, Raleigh, N. C, has in prepara- tion the life of William Tryon, a Colonial Governor of North Carolina.
Periodicai. Literature.
One of the most interesting papers in the Virginia Mag- azine ot History and Biography for January, 1901 (Richmond, Va.), is the will of Mrs. Mary Hewes, the mother of Mary Ball, who was the mother of George
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Washington. From the terms ift this instrument, little Mary, then only thirteen years old, seems to have been a favorite child of her mother, who left her negroes, furni- ture and several riding horses. She afterwards received land from her half-brother, in addition to what Tiad come to her from her father.
The letters of a Massachusetts loyalist, Harrison Gray, from 1760 to 177s, are chiefly filled with personal items, but some of his references to our struggle g^ve us an in- sight into the views of the other side. He mentions "the battle of Charlestown, where the British army attained a complete victory over the Rebels.*' Then after reaching England, he writes on Oct. 6, 1775, how much the deluded Americans are to be pitied as there is no hope for them since the English were all determined to push the war vig- orously.
The first Bank of the United States, established in 1791, had many supporters in Virginia, if we are to judge from the petitions sent up from several towns to have branches operated. Richmond, Alexandria and Norfolk all urged arguments to show their advantages for such a fiscal agency, and the original documents with autograph signa- tures are here reprinted. It is not likely that they were successful in their appeals. ^
A most entertaining sketch is that of General Joseph Martin, by his son, William Martin, in the April issue. Dr. S. B. Weeks made use of this narrative in his study of Martin's career, but it is highly worthy of appearing in full.
Through the aid of the Librarian of Congress a list of the Virginia newspapers in that institution is given with annotations, and it is the intention to follow this with an- other of Virginia papers in all public receptacles so far as can be learned.
There is a very exhaustive and caustic criticism of Eg- gleston's Transit of Civilization to America in the 17th
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Century. He is shaq)ly arraigned for his positive state- ments on matters that he showed "a lack of proper in- formation" about, in fact that he could know almost nothing about unless he painfully went through the mass of manuscript records in Virginia, as but little of them are in print. A writer on the life of a people, even tho' they are a colony of only a few thousands, needs an infinity of details at his command. These, the reviewer seems to think, Mr. Eggleston did not have a sufiiciency of for his ambitious purpose. Yet he admits the volume is "full of interest and information."
In both of these numbers several serial articles are found; "Nicholson and Blair," "House of Burgesses," "Council and General Court Records," ^'Virginia in 1635," the event being the deposing of Governor Harvey. The genealogy includes the Throckmorton, Adams, Fitzhugh, Green, Eskridge, Towles, Robards and Farrar families.
The Society has just done a most commendable thing in getting out a supplement entitled a Catalogue of its manuscripts, making 120 pages, which note some printed sources also. It is for sale at $1.00.
Not even the cold formality of bills, returns, muster rolls and other official papers of the First Council of Safety of the Revolutionary Party of South Carolina, continued in January (1901) issue of the South Carolina Histori- cal AND Genealogical Magazine (Charleston, S. C), could keep out obtrusive human nature in search of ofiice. It is safe to say that no application for appointment in our war with Spain quite came up to the praise, pathos and patriotism of David Gould in his letter of Sept. 27, 1775. His high-flown style is indicated in one of his closing par- agfraphs :
"Now, Gentlemen: If on perusing this Paper you shou'd think proper in any manner to honour me with your commands, I shall endeavour to evince my gratitude
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by discharging any trust reposed in me to the best of my abilities and with the utmost integrity." There is almost unconscious humor in a foot note giving the record of a David Gould as surgeon, in the list of Continental officers, from 1777 to 1781.
These papers of the Council of Safety, and the dis- patches of John Laurens on his mission to Europe during our revolutionary war, are continued in the April number of the magazine. A genealogy by the editor, Mr. A. S. Salley, Jr., appears in each of these two issues: "Barn- well of South Carolina^' in January, and "Col. Miles Brew- ton and some of his Descendants" in April.
According to an article in the Wiluam and Mary College Quarterly for January, 1901, Virginia has nourished in each of the three last centuries a great poet: in the 17th, Sandys who translated Ovid at Jamestown ; in the i8th, Goronwy Owen, who wrote such extraordinary poetry in Welsh ; and in the 19th, Poe. Owen was a native of Wales and crossed the Atlantic in 1758 to be master of the William and Mary grammar school, tempted by the salary of two hundred pounds sterling. His merry habits prevented him from holding the place longer than two years. He then served a frontier parish as minister till his death in 1770. An edition of his poetry appeared in 1763 and several more in the last century, after the revival in Welsh literature. Rev. Robert Jones issuing the completest, with life, in 1876. He is said to have been "a perfect master of the Welsh language and Welsh metres." A sketch of the Alabama branch of his offspring is appended, , coming down to the present, taken from the Columbia (March 10, 1892, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.) written by Dr. W. G. Owens. But little is known of the poet Owen, and Pres- ident Tyler, in hopes of calling forth other facts, prints some extracts, not entirely complimentary to Owen's be-
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havior from parish and county records, including the will and inventory. The last shows a few books.
According to another article, a French artist, St. Memin, diu-ing the years 1805-1808, made portraits of some two hundred Virginians, including Jefferson, Lewis and many other leading public men. He also worked in other parts of America, and his collection mounted up to 800. For- tunately he kept copies of each of them, and to-day two sets are known to be in existence, that of Hampton L. Carson, in Philadelphia, and that in the Corcoran Art Gal- lery, in Washington.
The April number contains a most stirring tale of ad- venture, realistic and true, the account of two events of great importance in early Colonial Virginia; a terribly bloody fight in 1620 between an English boat and two Spanish men-of-war in the West Indies, resulting as usual down to Santiago, in a thorough walloping of the Latins ; and the Indian massacre of 1622. Originally, the narra- tive of both occurrences appeared in English and in Dutch. The source for this story is a Dutch pamphlet printed at Leyden in 1707, and translated for the Quarterly by Pro- fessor Charles E. Bishop, of William and Mary College.
Another article carefully traces out the history of the name of the g^rowing city of Newport News. The evi- dence seems clear that it came from Sir William Newce, an English soldier of means and enterprise, who had al- ready founded a port, Newce's, in Ireland. It was easy to pass to "Port Newce," then only natural that a second town should be "New Port Newce," which soon wears down to present form.
Some letters copied from the library of the Bishop of London, at Fullham, throw light on Virgfinia life and edu- cation in first half of the eighteenth century.
Colonial patents (James City and Charles City Coun- ties) genealogy, notes, reviews, make up the balance of these two numbers. An evidence of literary culture in
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colonial times is the inventory of Rev. William Key's books, showing a couple of hundred volumes or so.
Nearly half of the January (1901) issue of The Ameri- can Historical Magazine (quarterly, by Peabody Nor- mal College, Nashville, Tenn.) is devoted to "The records of Washington County," one of the first judicial units in the State of Tennessee.
Some light on Indian troubles in Tennessee during revolutionary times is seen in "A Memoir of John Sevier," written in 1839 for Lyman C. Draper by James Sevier, a son of John Sevier. The original is presumably in pos- session of Wisconsin Historical Society, but a copy was some years ago furnished to the Tennessee Historical So- ciety, from whence the Magazine obtained this.
A pamphlet by W. R. Garrett, in 1884, discussing the Northern boundary of Tennessee, is reprinted, with slight revisions.
An essay on George Rogers Clark and Kentucky pioneers, by General Gates P. Thruston, extract of a statute from Martin's Private Acts of North Carolina, Ku Klux Cypher, and editorial notes, complete this number.
In the April issue we have more Indian history in the "Letters from General Coffee" in the years 1813-1816, in- terspersed with interesting fragments describing the oper- ations against the British around New Orleans in 1815. The correspondence closes with one letter in 1832, ex- pressing the general belief then, in Washingfton, that "nul- lification will go down to rest, never again to raise its head/'
The Washingfton county records are continued and an- other essay appears, "Freedom's namesake," by John M. Gaut, who ranges through the past back to the birth of Christ to show the significance of the name "Cumberland" applied to river and mountain in Tennessee.
More than half of the pages are a reprint of Dr. W. R«
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Garrett's nine articles in the Sunday editions of the Jour- nal and Tribune (Knoxville, Tenn.) from January 27 to March 17th, 1901, in answer to criticisms by A. B, Wil- son on a History of Tennessee by Garrett and Goodpas- ture. Dr. Garrett seems thoroughly at home, and mar- shals his authorities with ease and effectiveness, but a large part of it is a waste of valuable space because some of the discussion deals with the author's attitude, his emphasis, his sense of proportion, matters almost necessarily from the nature of things dependent on the writer's person- ality. Cross-firing on the questions of fact and of credi- bility of sources of information may bring out results of incalculable value. On these Dr. Garrett impresses as sure of his position. Further than this no historian ought to trouble himself to go.
The Quarterly of the Texas Historical Association for January, 1901, has a continuation of the highly interesting "Reminiscences" of Mrs. D. Harris, covering period 1835- 1837, the larger part detailing the experiences of her fam- ily's flight from home upon the Mexican invasion after the fall of the Alamo. The editorial sub-heads containing dates, also, are a g^reat aid to the reader in such a narra- tive.
Eugene C. Barker sets forth the "Difficulties of a Mexi- can Revenue Officer," one Captain Antonio Tenario, who was sent in 1835 to Anahuac to re-establish the custom house there. He seems to have been a man of some char- acter put in a most trying position, and perhaps secretly sympathized with the American settlers in their opposition to the tariff. At any rate he made no great objection when Travis demanded the surrender of the fort, thus furnishing the Mexican commander a good excuse to leave.
From his own experience, old associates, and from a local printed source, W. D. Wood g^ves a "Sketch" of Leon county, including in it a very interesting description
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of the simplicity of those former days, and paying a high tribute to the worth and work of the preacher.
Considering it as a link in the chain of aggfressive move- ments by Americans against Spanish rule on this con- tinent, W. F. McCaleb narrates "The first period of the Guiterrez-Magee Expedition," a filibuster headed by a Mexican and an American in 1812 against Spanish author- ity in Texas. This action was one of a series composed of the "Kemper raid, the Miranda Expedition, the Aaron Burr Conspiracy, and the overwhelming of West Florida." We are not carried farther in this paper than the issuing of the manifestoes on Sept. i, 1812, but it is to be hoped that Mr. M'Caleb will continue the story that he has started so well.
A new and most valuable feature is added to the Con- federate Veteran, the portrayal of the devotion and in- tegrity of the Negro during the Civil War. Some most beautiful and touching instances have already been de- scribed in the pages of the magazine, and it is safe to say that no vein will yield more valuable ore for the future historian and man of letters to work over. In the Febru- ary number notice was given of an amendment to the constitution to be offered at the meeting in Memphis to the effect that no one shall be invited to attend Confeder- ate reunions except Confederates. This proposal is the result of the agitation that arose over the invitation ex- tended to President McKinley to attend the annual gath- ering at Memphis, May 28-30. The March issue has very interesting reminiscences of Forrest by Otey, a reprint of President Davis's address at a meeting of the Southern Historical Society in New Orleans, and notice of the movement to erect a monument to Lizzie Rutherford Ellis, who is claimed to be the first to propose a memorial day for the South. If possible the personal incidents and anecdotes of the war are more valuable and entertaining than usually. «
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A most readable article is the account of a visit to Roanoke Island by Rev. T. N. Ivey, in the M^hodist Review for January, 1901 (Nashville, Tenn.), under the heading, "Where the English First Settled in America." It is a vivid description, mingled with a thread of lively narrative. In the next issue of the magazine (March), we have Mr. S. A. Link's "Fiction Writers of the South," a rapid summary of names and titles, like many others that have appeared of late years. It is a most capital sign of the literary awakening of the section and is a preparation for a dictionary of Southern authors that a scholar, James Wood Davidson, has been faithfully working at for years. Mr. G. J. Leftwich has an interesting paper on the political conditions in Mississippi in the forties in his sketch of the career of Alexander G. M'Nutt. Incidentally the biog^ra- phy opens up the wholesale repudiation that the State went into, showing M'Nutt as Governor to have been one of the leaders, in fact he was proud of the epithet, "the repudiator." With regard to many of the historical pa- pers in the Review, it is to be reluctantly admitted that they are not up to the standard of modern historical methods, in that they do not contain reference to the sources of information. This would make them of far gfreater value to the student and careful reader.
A strong tribute to Mr. William L. Wilson, the late president of Washington and Lee University, does Pro- fessor J. A. Quarles render in the Sbwanee Review for January, 1901 (Sewanee, Tenn.). It is^ happily summar- ized : "Take him all in all, in public and private, in Con- gress and college, in richly stored intelligence, in power to marshal his forces, in convincing persuasive influence upon men, in attractive, winning personality, in generous nobility of spirit, in courage that marks the hero, in the usefulness of an earnest, high-idealed life, we say — ^and we can say no more — ^that he was worthy to sit in the seat
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once filled by Robert E. Lee." F. R. Lassiter has the half of a very careful scholarly investigation, from the sources, of Arnold's invasion of Virginia. Professor W. P. Trent contributes "A New South View of Reconstruc- tion," taken from a lecture he had delivered at Pough- keepsie some months before. In this instance he finds some one besides the South to blame. S. S. P. Patterson laments the folly and evils of the free silver agitation in politically isolating the South and reviving the sectional issue. Bishop, in a review of Wyeth's Life of Forrest, summarizes the marvelous military career of General For- rest, whose eminence Wyeth has so indelibly fixed for all time.
In the mass of essays, genealogical sketches and doings of the various organizations of the D. A. R. in the first three issues of the American Monthly for 1901 (Wash- ingfton, D. C), we find several things of permanent addi- tion to historical knowledge: notably, the revolutionary diary of Rev. David Avery in year 1776; the official report of casualties, Sept. 13, 1755, at Lake George, in the regi- ment of Colonel Ephraim Williams, who was the original founder of Williams College; brief notes on members of the "Boston Tea Party" who threw the tea overboard; names of Revolutionary soldiers buried at several places ; names of prison-ship martyrs ; and names of Revolution- ary pensioners living in 1840 in Alabama, Arkansas and Mississippi.
The American Historical Review for January con- tains an article by Prof. Edward G. Bourne in which he demolishes the legend "How Whitman Saved Oregon,*' which has grown up with the last thirty years. The story runs that Whitman journeyed to the East during the win- ter of 1842-3, visited Washington and induced the Govern- ment to change its policy towards Oregon and thus saved
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that territory for our domain instead of swapping it oflf for a cod fishery. Professor Bourne says: "In both the es« sentials and the explanatory details the story of how Mar- cus Whitman saved Oregon is fictitious. It is not only without trustworthy contemporary evidence, but is ir- reconcilable with well established facts/^ The object of Whitman's trip to the East was entirely religious, to per- suade the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions to reverse their order discontinuing the southern branch of the Oregon mission. There is little or no con- temporary evidence to show that Whitman was in Wash- ington or that he had any influence on the policies of the time. The story of Whitman originated witK his col- league, H. H. Spaulding, and curiously enough has at- tained its widest circulation since 1885, when H. H. Ban- croft's History of Oregon was published giving a clear ac- count of what Whitman actually attempted and what he achieved.
The Review of Reviews for March has an illustrated article by Leonora Beck Ellis on American Tea-Gardens, Actual and Possible, dwelHng especially on the experiment at Pinehurst, near Summerville, S. C, by Dr. Charles U. Shepard, who has met with more success than attended the earlier efforts of the U. S. Government. Other at- tempts are being made in South Carolina, Georgia and Louisiana. Dr. Shepard*s tea acreage is now 75 acres and the actual cost of production for market is 27J cents per pound, the cost of picking being eight times as gfreat in South Carolina as in Asia. It retails readily at $1.00 per pound.
The same number of the Review has a summary of Dr. George T. Winston's article published in the Southern Workman, of Hampton, Va., on Industrial Training in the South. Dr. Winston declares that the result of the well- meaning but ignorant efforts of many philanthropists just
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after the Civil War was to arouse the energies of the negro in the direction of political, religious, social and educational rather than towards industrial achievement. He urges industrial training, especially in agriculture, and advises the Negro to let politics alone. The friendly rela- tions so long existing between the two races in the South should be restored, and both, he argues, should be trained industrially or the one will pull back the other.
The Lost Cause, organ of Confederate Women's Asso- ciations (Louisville, Ky.), have begun to publish on the first page of each number fac-similes of Confederate Notes, with the aim of thus reproducing every one issued. It is said that there are only three complete collections of Con- federate paper money, and hence, some of the series are worth face value.
In the Sunday News (Charleston, S. C), of February 24th is the translation of a chapter from a German work by Mr. Felix Clacius, giving his account of the burning of Columbia, S. C, at the time Sherman's army marched through in February, 1865. Mr. Clacius was a citizen of Germany, serving as consul from Hanover, and his book came out in his native land some twenty years ago. Other excellent historical articles in this journal have appeared as follows :
On January ist, a sketch of the history of the city of Charleston, by A. S. Salley, Jr. ; on March 24th, a summary of the work done by the Irish in South Carolina since the first representative of the race landed there more than two centuries ago; and on March 31st, the narrative of "The Charleston Ancient Artillery School" — ^both these latter being from the pen of General Edward McCrady, the learn- ed historian of South Carolina.
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NOTES AND QUERIES.
The Southern Educational Conference was organ- ized at a series of meetings held in Salem, N. C, closing on April 20. A number of prominent men and women from both North and South were in attendance, including Mr. R. C. Ogden, Dr. Lyman Abbott, Dr. Parkhurst, Dr. Albert Shaw, Mr. Walter H. Page, Bishop Doane and others from New York; Dr. MacAlister and Mr. Julian Hawthorne, of Philadelphia; Dr. J. L. M. Curry, from Washington, and many representatives from other points. There was a manifest determination to do something more than talk, and this feeling crystallized in the resolution to appoint an executive board of seven members to be em- powered to carry on a "campaigjn of education for free schools for all the people by supplying literature to the newspaper and periodical press, by participation in edu- cational meetings, and by general correspondence ; and to conduct a bureau of information and advice on legislative and school organization.
"For these purposes this board is authorized to raise funds and disburse them, to employ a secretary or agent, and to do whatever else may be necessary to carry out these measures and others that may from time to time be found feasible and desirable."
This conference, a continuation of the Capon Springs Confel'ence, promises from the action taken to be a per- manent and useful body. The general sentiment was one of hopefulness and of united action for the improvement of Southern schools, both white and colored. Aid to South- em colleges and universities was emphasized in nearly all the papers and addresses, and one cannot but hope that our institutions, dismantled and crippled by the war, may
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be included in the benefactions which have enriched so many Northern centres of learning.
Virginia Mourning for Her Dead is the descriptive title given to a bronze statue in memory of the cadets of the Virginia Military Institute who fell in the battle of Newmarket, May 15, 1864. It is the work of an eminent artist, Sir Moses Ezekiel, who was then a member of the battalion and took part in the engagement. He offers it as a tribute to his comrades. It is a somewhat unusual de- sign, representing a mail-clad mourning female figure seated upon a piece of breastwork, her foot resting upon a broken cannon overgrown with ivy, and holding a re- versed lance in her hands. The whole is of bronze, seven feet in height, weighing nearly 2,000 pounds, and cost for casting and freight charges some three thousand ddllars, the labor of the sculptor, Ezekiel, being donated. The base, of granite, oval in shape, a little over four feet high and three feet thick, with four massive metal tablets con- taining names, is to be built as soon as sufficient funds can be raised. The site for the monument has been chosen on the west side of the Institute grounds, and the dedication with appropriate ceremonies is expected to take place in a short time.
The Confederate Reunion convening at Memphis, Tenn., May 28th, met in the largest hall for such pur- poses in the South. Built specially for the occasion at a cost of nearly $20,000, with a length of 265 feet and width of 205 feet, it will have a seating capacity of 15,000, with a dance hall for 750 couples and sleeping acconunodations for 800 people underneath the main floor of the west side.
Francis Scott Kxy, the author of one of our national songs, is remembered as occupying for a time a certain house in Washington near the aqueduct bridge, leading to Arlington Cemetery. An effort is now being made to in- terest the Historic Preservation Society to take steps to
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have the mansion saved as a memorial of the patriotic author.
The St. Louis Exposition to celebrate the L#ouisiana Purchase, received an appropriation of five million dollars at the last session of Congress. The same body refused to vote a quarter of a million to the Charleston Exposition to be held this fall as that was considered too local in scope. It is likely though that the U. S. Government will transfer a part of its own exhibit there as a loan.
/Lectures on Southern History. — Prof Ernest A. Smith, Allegheny College, Meadville, Pa., will deliver a series of lectures in July before the Chautauqua Assembly Chautauqua, N. Y., on the social and industrial develop- ment of the South during the past half century. It will be recalled that Professor Smith's treatment of Confederate finances — ^the most comprehensive investigation of that subject in* print — lately appeared in these Publications.
TiMROD Memorial.— On May ist, in Washington Square, Charleston, S. C, with appropriate ceremonies, there was dedicated the monument to the poet Henry Timrod. For several years past strong efforts have been made by a public spirited committee in South Carolina to raise the necessary funds for this testimonial, and it is a matter of sincere gratification that their labors have been successful.
T^ Soldiers op 1812 are remembered by a tablet to their honor, placed in the West Point Chapel by the Em- pire State Society of the Daughters: of 1812, by the per- missioaof Secretary Root, and Colonel Mills, the superin- teodent of the Academy.
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Southern History Association,
WASHINGTON, D. C.
VOLUME I, 1897, pp. 336, (Out of Print).
HisTORiCAi, Sketch of thk Association— Historicai. Studies in THE South, Stephen B. Weeks— The Pi*anter of the Old South, Richard Malcolm Johnston -Two Southern Magazines, Edward Ingle —David Crockett, Marcus J. Wright— Bibuography of the Statute Law of the Southern States, Theodore L. Cole— John Owen's Jour- nal IN 1818— Bishop Spangenberg's Journal on North Carolina- Bryant Lester and Descendants, Thomas M. Owen— John Brown's Raid, A?:drew Hunter— A Bibliography of John Brown, Thomas Featherstonhaugh— Thomas Lamar and Some Descendants, W. H. Lamar— Huck's Defeat, Marcus J. Wright— A Question of Fact, C. C. Pinckney - Journal of the Siege of Savannah in 1779, General Pr6vost— a' Bibliography of William Gilmore Simms, A. S. Sallcy, Jr.— Book Notes— Notes and Queries— Index.
VOLUME II, 1898, pp. 390, j??,00 UNBOUND.
Report of Second Annual Meeting, Colyer Meriwether, Sec^y, — Unpublished Letters of Andrew Jackson— Transfer of Louisiana, Marcus J. Wright— Society of the Cincinnati in the South, Charles L. Davis— Dismemberment of Virginia, William Baird -Anti-Sla- very Sentiment in the South, Stephen B. Weeks — Pelatiah Webs- ter's Journal. Thomas P. Harrison -William Strother and Des- cendants, Thomas M. Owen -Richard Winn, J. L. M. Curry— Mary- land's Greatest Politician, Edward Ingle —Christopher Gadsden, E. I. Reuick— Virginia Women and the Civil War, B. W. Arnold— Early Southern Institutions, Peter J. Hamilton— Button Gwin- nett's Commission -Richard Malcolm Johnston, Edmund Clarence Stedman and Stephen B. Weeks— Sir Richard Everard, Marshall De Lancey Haywood— Mount Vernon, Alabama, T. H. Ball— Monroe's Poverty, Thomas M. Owen — Social Affairs in 1760— Book Notes — Notes and Queries — Index.
VOLUME III, 1899, pp. 384, $3.00 UNBOUND.
The Florida Mound-Builders, Thomas Featherstonhaugh— Ed- ward MosBLEY, James Franklin Shinn— Jacob Ammonet, of Virginia, Clifton Wood Bransford— Some Difficulties of a Texas Empresario, Lester G. Bugbee — The Texan Expedition Against Mier, Thomas J. Green— Personnel of the North Carolina Convention of 1788— A Confederate Incident, J. L. M. Curry— Report of Third Annual Meeting, Colyer Meriwether, Sec'y. — Sidney Lanier, George S. Wills —Nullification Resolutions, A. S. Salley— The Renick Family of Virginia. E. I. Renick— Henry Timrod, Henry E. Shepherd and A. S. Salley— John Brown, Thomas Featherstonhaugh — Salisbury (N. C.) Confederate Prison, A. W. Mangum— Book Notes— Notes and Queries— Index.
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VOLUME IV, 1900, pp. J2^. $3.00 UNBOUND.
Washington and the Constitution, J. L. M. Curry— Andrew R. Gov an, A. S. Salley, Jr.— The Revoi^utionary War in N. C— Why the Confed- eracy HAD NO SOPREME COURT— ThE TbXAS FRONTIER, 182O-1825, I^CStCr
G. Bugbee— A Baptist Appeai,— Report of Fourth Annual Meeting, Colyer Meriwether, Secy^Taz Purchase of Louisiana, Daniel R. Goodloe— The JouRNAi, OF Thomas Nichoi^son— Anecdotes of Generai. Winfieu) Scott— Congressman Stokes and Pubwc Archives— The Southern
PI.ANTER OF the FIFTIES, Louisa P. Looney— LETTER FROM A REV0I,UTI0N-
arv Officer— Governor Richard Bennett, I. T. Tichenor— Light on the Negro Problem— Lee and the Confederacy, Peter Joe Hamilton— The Battle of King's Mountain— Cincinnati Society in Virginia, John Cropper— Some Colonial Ancestors of Johns Hopkins, Miles White — Southern Revolutionary Frontier Life, William Martin— John Wright Stanly, J. D. Whitford— The Highlanders in America— Reviews and Notices— Notes AND Queries— Index.
VOLUME v., 1901, J53.00. UNBOUND. No. I. JANUARY, 1901.
PAOR
History of the Confederate Treasury (Continued), . . E. A. Smith, i
The South IN Olden Times, J. L. M. Curry. 35
Edward Ireland Renick, Gaillard Hunt. 49
Reviews and Notices, 53
Notes and Queries 85
No. 2, MARCH, I901.
PAOB
Report of the Fifth Annual Meeting, . . Colyer Meriwether, Sec'y. 95 History of the Confederate Treasury (Continued), . E. A. Smith. 99
William Vans Murray, Clement Suli vane. 151
The Calhoun Letters, J. L. M. Curry. 159
Reviews and Notices 164
Notes and Queries, 175
EXTRA VOLUME I.
INDEX to Meade's Old Churches^ Ministers and Families 0/ Virginia. By J. M. Toner, M. D., 8vo., pp. 63, cloth or paper |i.oo. Indispensable for prompt and ready reference to the mass of names in Meade's two volumes. Indorsed for accuracy and completeness by Colonel R. A. Brock, the well- known authority on Virginia history.
Address Southern History Association,
P. O. Box 65. Washington, D. C.
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/J'.^'»7 /
V'i. \ JULY, 11)01. No.-L
prrBrJOATTONs
09 t&%
Soi'TiiKRN History Association.
ISSUED BI-MONTHLY.
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.^^.'li.T APi' V^-' •-•*■••■''-
WASHINGTON, D. C.
PcnXiietiXD BY Tur AsaocuTioK.
iut.T, luai.
OFFICERS, 1901.
PRESIDENT: Dr. J. I^. M. Curry.
VICE-PRESIDENTS: Oeaenl M. C. BoTUCR. Mr. Thomas Nki^son Paok.
General M. J. Wright. Professor Woodrow W1130N.
Colonel Gborgk A. Portbrpibld. Senator S. Pasco.
SECRETARY AND TREASURER: CotYKR Mbriwbther, Ph. D., Wfl^hington, D. C.
ADMINISTRATIVE COUNCIL: (In addition to the above>named Officers) :
Professor Kbmp P. Batti«s. Stephen B. Weeks, Ph. D.
Colonel R. A. Brock. Professor H. Schoenfei^d.
Mr. T. L. Coi,B. Professor Lucian Johnston.
Professor R. He^TH Dabnev. Mr. Thomas H. Ci«ark.
Professor John R. Picki«bn. Mr. Auszander' Summers.
Professor Chas. LBE Smith. President Geo. T. Winston.
Professor W. C. Stobbs. J. B. K:ii.lebrew, Ph. D.
PUBLICATION COMMITTEE:
Gen. M. J. Wright. Mr. T. L. C01.E.
Mr. Thomas H. Ci^rk. Dr. Stephen B. Weeks.
Mr. John B. Browni^w. Dr. Coi^yer Meriwether.
Pursuant to a call signed by nearly a hundred representative posons of the South, the Southern History Association was organized at the Columbian University, Washington, D. C, on the evening of April 24, 1896, for the pur- pose of studying the history of the Southern States. In carrying out this aim an annual meeting is held, and a Bi-monthly Publication issued. The Associ- ation also desires contributions of journals, letters, manuscripts and other ma- terial towards the beginning of a collection of historical sources. It will gladly accept papers based on research and documents on all subjects touching the South.
All persons, as well as libraries, interested in the work are eligible for membership, without initiation fee ; annual dues $3.00, life dues $30.00. There is no other expense to members, who receive all current publications of the Association free of charge.
The Publicf^tions alone can be had, postpaid, at $3.00 per volume, un- bound, or $1.00 per number.
All communications should be addressed to
COLYER MERIWETHER, Secretary, P. O, Box 65. Washington, D, C.
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PUBLICATIONS
OF THE '
SOUTHERN HISTORY ASSOCIATION.
Vol. V. July, 1901. No. 4.
WILLIAM LYNE WILSON. By W11.UAM H. Wilson.
William L)^e Wilson, only child of Benjamin and Mary Lyne Wilson, was born near Middleway in Jefferson county, Virginia, now West Virginia, 'May 3, 1843.
Benjamin Wilson was a native of King and Queen county. He lost his father in childhood, and was indebted for much of his early training, as well as for his later edu- cation, to the Rev. R. B. Semple, one of the most famous teachers of Virginia at that day. So high was the regard of Dr. Semple for his pupil, that, when his kinsman, Wil- liam Baylor of Jefferson, wrote to him for a tutor for his children, he at once named young Wilson, who, going to Jefferson, made it his home thereafter. He was a man of scholarly attainments, a hard and zealous student. But he was not too engrossed in his books to take an active interest in national affairs or an active part in the politics of his county, where he soon became a recognized leader among the Democrats. It was his ambition that his son should receive a more thorough education than most youths of that time enjoyed, and it was his wish, often ex- pressed, that he himself might live to plan and direct his
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studies. The wish was denied him. He died before the boy had reached his fourth year.
Mary L)me, kinswoman to William Baylor, was a grand- daughter of William L)^e, member from King and Queen of the House of Burgesses during the memorable years 1769-71. She was a woman of mtore than usual intelli- gence and education, of marked piety, and of a modest and retiring disposition. Upon her devolved the training and education of her son. She sold the home in the country and moved to Charlestown, the county-seat. Here private teiachers were secured, under whose instruc- tion and that of his mother, the boy made good progress and entered the Charlestown Academy in his ninth year.
The following extract, from a letter recently published, pictures his early boyhood :
"I was his most intimate associate and playiellow. His mother, a widow, his maiden aunt, Miss Lucy Lyne, and himself, an only child, formed the household next door to my father's house in Charlestown. His health was always delicate. One of my earliest recollections is of the little fellow standing at the pump on our comer answering puzzling questions in mathematics put to him by my father and Mr. Edwin Moore. His reading was remark- able, although he was never a bookworm. We were fel- low students at the Academy, and he was at the same time my admiration and my envy. He distanced all his companions and in time was in classes beyond all others. He acquired his lessons with astounding facility, almost without study as it appeared to me. He was good in everything. He would go up and read off his Latin, Greek and French with scarcely a pause or an interrup- tion from his teacher. His compositions were my admira- tion. He was modest and free from braggadocio, but had a quiet confidence in his own powers, and his superiority was always acknowledged. He was never expert in games or athletics. He had an old short and crooked bandy-
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stick with which he used to get in some good plays. When teased about its ugly appearance, he would say, 'Age makes no difference; blood will tell.' He was an ardent Democrat, and used to raise flag-poles at election times, and illuminate his windows when the Democrats were successful. With me for an audience, he would deliver Democratic harangues. He read the papers and kept well informed on politick. He made no attempt at superiority, but was very sociable, and had great tact, good nature and common sense. He was a pure-minded boy, free from vulgarity and profanity, and disliking it in others."
One of his teachers, the Rev. C. N. Campbell, writing to a Charlestown paper shortly after Mr. Wilson's death, says, speaking of his last year at the Academy, "He was the most advanced pupil in school, and was alone in almost, if not in all, his studies, though at the time there were bright boys among his schoolmates, several of whom have since risen to distinction. In the memory of all my connection with him, there is nothing disagreeable. In all his conduct there was nothing that left an impression to come up in after years with any other feeling than one of pleasure, or that I would desire to have effaced."
He attended the Academy seven years.
In the autumn of 1858 he went to Columbian College, Washington, D. C, entering the Junior class. Two years later, at the age of seventeen, he graduated with distinc- tion and was offered an assistant professorship; this he declined, and a few months later entered the University of Virginia with the intention of spending several years there in study.
The war came, and he enlisted as a private in the South- ern army. This was in April, 1861, and before the com- pletion of a year's work at the University.
For the first year of the war, he served in the infantry, and then joined Company B of the 12th Virginia Cavalry, a company whose organization is thus described by
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George Baylor, its captain for the greater part of the war, in his recently published book, "Bull Run to Bull Run."
"This company was composed largely of men who had entered at the outbreak of the war and served one year in the ranks of the Second Virginia Regiment of Infantry,, in the famous ' Stonewall Brigade/ Its members were principally sons of farmers of Jefferson county, Virginia, mere schoolboys who had not attained their majority or completed their education. * * * We bore the relation of brother, cousin, schoolmate, neighbor and friend. No arms or equipment were furnished us by the Confederate Government."
Under Captain Baylor's gallant leadership, ,this com- pany became famous in the annals of the Confederacy. It carried no carbines, but only revolvers and sabres, and its equipment was of the lightest sort. "Its business was to ride hard and fast and do its fighting at close quarters." Frequently mentioned in the reports for gallantry, this company was to receive the signal honor of a ten days' furlough, granted by General Lee, for its charge at War- renton Springs.
In this company young Wilson served 'to the end of the war. Made prisoner on December 20th, 1862, by the fall of his horse, he was taken to Fort McHenry, where, mistaken for another who was charged — unjustly — ^with having fired on a flag of truce, he was confined in the dungeon. His imprisonment lasted but a few days; he was exchanged and rejoined his company.
Several horses were shot under him, but he himself received no hurt. Writing to his mother in October, 1864, he says, "My mare has received a painful wound in the jaw. It seems I am doomed to misfortune with my horses; but, when I am disposed to grumble, I feel I ought to be thankful that the bullets which strike them do not strike me." Few companies in the Southern army suf- fered more in killed and wounded : of the four Baylors
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who were in it, father and three sons, the father died of wounds, two of the sons were killed outright, and the third son was twice wounded.
Speaking of Wilson as a soldier, Captain Baylor some years ago used these words : "He was never a strong boy, and his habits of study had not improved his health. But he was in the thick of it every time, and could ride as far and as fast as the best. You could always depend upon him when a fight was on. I don't think he had any idea of what fear was."
Impoverished by the war, it was urgent that he enter at once upon some work which should provide a support for himself and contribute to the support of his mother. The offer of an assistant professorship of Ancient Lan- guages at Columbian College was renewed, and he ac- cepted it gladly, entering upon his duties there in Sep- tember, 1865. Here he enrolled himself a student in the law school, from which he was graduated two years later, June, 1867. Prevented by the test-oath from offering for practice in his native county in West Virginia, he con- tinued in his professorship, rather reluctantly, as is shown by the following entry in his journal :
"Dec. 7th, 1867. I have had many thoughts of late of cutting loose from my present mooring and profession with the advent of another year, and throwing myself, with all the energy I can muster, and all that necessity and poverty would supply, into the practice of law. There are so many considerations just now to be weighed that it will require both time and anxious reflection to reach a satisfactory conclusion. There is the test-oath in West Virginia, and the entire prostration of business in the Southern States, from the imminency of negro rule, oflfers no inducement to a young lawyer now. In the West there is room, and some of my friends have gone thither, but my mother's precarious health, were there no other reason, would make me hesitate long to place such a dis-
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tance between my home and myself. The idea to which I now incline is to remain in my present quarters till I can oflFer for practice in Jefferson."
In the following year, Latin, which had been classed with Ancient Languages, was made a chair to itself, and he became full professor on an increased salary.
During the six years which he spent as teacher at Co- lumbian College, he contributed many articles, usually upon some topic of timely interest, to his home and other papers. During the session 1867-8 he wrote weekly let- ters to the Winchester Times. He makes this entry in his journal: "J^^- ^^9 1868. Have resumed my corres- pondence with the Times. It was my original purpose to attempt a few sprightly communications upon the various interesting objects and occurrences at the capital, making political news only subordinate. But latterly I have fotmd myself devoting the whole letter to politics, which ad- monishes me to beware of devoting too much time to this unprofitable subject. Indeed a disposition to politics seems to have descended to me from my father."
A scrap-book, kept by him from his fourteenth to his sixteenth year, is mainly filled with clippings relative to public measures, debates in Congress, tables of commerce and the like. The letters which he wrote, while a college student, to his mother, contained much of the political news and gossip of the capital and are filled with enquiries as to political happenings in Jefferson. He was at this time one of the editors of the "Bee," a written paper read weekly in the college literary society, and most of his editorials were upon some political question; several of them are signed, in a spirit of boyish humor, "Hon. Wil- liam L. Wilson, of Virginia."
On August 6, 1868, he was married at "Hewick," the home of the bride's grandfather. Dr. Richard Allen Chris- tian, in Middlesex county, Virginia, to Nannie Hunting-
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ton, only child of Dr. A. J. Huntington, piofessor of Greek in Columbian College.
His mother died on the evening of July 4, 1870. Greatly weakened in health by the strain and anxiety which his four years of service in the war had brought her, she had never regained her former strength and cheerfulness. Her death was a great blow to him, made harder by his enforced absence at a time when he had expected to be with her, and by its suddenness which robbed him of all warning.
At the close of the next session he resigned his pro- fessorship at Columbian College, and, forming a partner- ship with his cousin, Capt. George Baylor, began the prac- tice of law at Charlestown. The new firm prospered from the start, Mr. Wilson quickly gaining prominence as an advocate and having much fiduciary business placed in his hands.
On August, 1874, he was sent as a delegate to the Con- gressional convention at Piedmont. Made chairman of his county delegation, he placerf Hon. Chas. J. Faulkner (Sr.) in nomination for Congress. The correspondent of the Wheeling Register y writing to his paper, says, "The speech of Wm. L. Wilson, of Jefferson county, was one of the most impressive and eflFective I have ever heard in a po- litical convention. It was really a splendid speech, very earnestly pronounced, and was listened to with a stillness and attention that showed it was having effect."
In June, 1880, he was chosen, by the convention of his Congressional district, one of the two delegates to the Democratic Convention at Cincinnati. A few weeks later, when the State Convention met, he was nominated for elector-at-large, and at once began an active canvass for Gen. Hancock.
Judge Hoge having in the meantime been nominated for Congress, a vacancy was ^made in the office of circuit judge, and the members of the county bar and the citizens
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generally seemed to designate Mr. Wilson as his' succes- sor. A state senator was to be elected at the same time from the same counties, and this opened a way to politi- cal deal and strategem. The judicial convention met at Martinsburg. Mr. Wilson was defeated by the fraction of one vote, owing to the treachery of several delegates from his own county who had traded him off for senator.
West Virginia went Democratic in the national election, and he was appointed messenger and carried the vote to Washington.
In June, 1881, he was sounded by the board of regents as to whether he would accept the presidency of the West Virginia University. He was not inclined to view the offer favorably, but the demands of a large and growing family, with four sons to educate, made him hesitate to decline it. In a letter written at this time he says, "All my feelings fasten me to Charlestown. But for the gloomy outlook here in the law, and the tempting salary attached to the office, I should not think of it, although the position would not for some reasons be unpleasant to me." In June, 1882, at the next annual meeting of the board of regents, he was unanimously elected, and soon after signified his acceptance of the office. On Septem- ber 6, accompanied by several young men of his county, he went to Morgantown and quietly entered upon his duties as president. This was done "with many mis- givings."
On September 20, exactly two weeks after the session opened, the new Congressional convention met at Pied- mont to select a candidate in place of Messrs. Hoge and Lucas who, after a hopeless deadlock, had been withdrawn by the State Executive Committee. Mr. Wilson's name had been suggested as a compromise candidate to the first convention held at Keyser some weeks before, and he had probably been nominated had not one of the two rival candidates withdrawn his following before his name
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could be brought to a ballot. Jefferson county sent a solid delegation for him to the new convention. On the night of September 20, while attending the prayer-meet- ing of the little Baptist church in Morgantown, he was called to the door and informed that he had been nomi- nated for Congress.
The election was less than three weeks off, and his op- ponent had been long in the field. Then, too, the feud between the Hoge and Lucas factions had dampened party ardor. He made an active canvass in the brief time al- lowed him, being hampered by heavy rains which swelled the streams and made travel through his mountain dis- trict hard and at times hazardous.
The vote was close, and it was many days before the result was known. Then it was shown that he had been elected by eight votes. On recount his plurality was in- creased to ten.
He resigned the presidency of the university to take eflfect March 4, 1883, ^^ ^he commencement of his Con- gressional term, but, upon being presented with a peti- tion signed by the board of regents, the faculty and stu- dents, he consented to remain to the end of the session, refusing, however, to accept pay for this period. He makes the following entry in journal, June, 1883, ^ ^^w days before the close of his term of office : "I have worn out most if not all of the personal prejudices which con- fronted me on coming here, and, despite my Demo- cracy and Confederate record, believe I could live pleas- antly in Morgantown."
In this journal, a month later, he writes, "The boys are completely absorbed in baseball and have a club of which I am informed W. is captain. Sure I am that they seem in perpetual session at the captain's house, and the noise of their deliberations and plannings is good preparation for my Congressional tumults." Ten years later, when he had risen to the leadership of the House, and, worn
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and exhausted by the labors of his tariff bill, he lay ill with typhoid fever in a car sidetracked for the night at a little station in Mexico, a cattle train was run in upon an adjacent switch, and there shunted back and forth for many hours, with a great noise of bumping cars and bel- lowing cattle. When one who was with him drew aside the curtains of his birth at early morning, fearing to note what harm the night had done him, and asked if the noise had not disturbed him greatly, he smiled and said, "Not a bit ! I thought I was back in the House of Rep- resentatives."
He was met at the very threshold of his entrance to the House by a question whose decision bade fair to determine his chances of further congressional life. The two leading candidates for the Speakership of that Con- gress were Mr. Randall and Mr. Carlisle. Agreeing with the latter in his tariflF views, he yet felt that the fine record of Mr. Randall, in his former tenure of that oflSce, was a strong argument in favor of his re-election. The coal and iron interests of West Virginia had made most of the influential Democrats there incline to protection, and the State had hitherto been represented by such men in both Houses of Congress. It was therefore taken for granted that West Virginia would be solid for Mr. Randall in this contest. News of Mr. Wilson's leaning to Carlisle got out, and great pressure was brought to bear upon him, the senators, governor, and others of the highest State officials urging him to vote for Randall.
At this time he wrote, "I wish I could bring myself to vote for Randall. It would relieve me of any doubt and trouble as to re-election, and be taken as a matter of course by the great bulk of our people, although it would be a vote against the interests of nine-tenths of them. All the politicians and papers are for Randall."
On Sunday, December 2, he makes this entry in his journal: "Well, the agony is over and Carlisle is nomi-
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nated ; and I fear my first act as a politician has ended my career. Yet, when I faced the alternative of giving my first vote as a policy one or a conscientious one, I was unable to do violence to my convictions, and accordingly, in the caucus last night, voted for Carlisle."
When the committees were announced, he found him- self a member of the Committee on the District of Colum- bia. This was a disappointment to him, as he was de- sirous of getting on some committee which dealt with the general business of the country. A few days later, the Speaker appointed him a regent of the Smithsonian.
His first speech was made in the second session of this Congress, when he spoke for a few minutes in advocacy of the Morrison bill
In July, 1884, he was renominated for Congress by ac- clamation, and was reelected by a plurality of more than fifteen hundred votes. /
When Congress met, he was assigned to the Committee on Appropriations of which Mr. Randall was chairman, and reappointed a regent of the Smithsonian.
In March, 1886, he delivered a speech on the Pension Appropriations bill which ranked him at once among the best speakers of the House, and was widely praised by the press of the country.
He ¥ras again renominated by acclamation, and was elected by the small plurality of ninety votes. This fall- ing oflf was due, in large measure, to a feeling in his dis- trict that no representative should be given more than two consecutive terms, the nomination then passing to one who lived on the other side of the mountain range by which the district was divided ; and to disappointed office seekers, and to enmities and resentments unavoidably in- flamed in discriminating among applicants for postmaster- ships in making his recommendations.
In this Congress he was appointed a member of the Committee of Ways and Means, and also a member of the
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Committee on Manufactures. As a member of the for- mer committee, he aided in the preparation of its tariflf bill, and, on May 3, 1888, made a speech in advocacy of its passage which was held to be one of the ablest of that debate.
Renominated for a fourth term by acclamation, he was elected by a plurality of 378 votes.
During the summer of 1889 he wrote a series of articles, eleven in number, on "Trusts and Monopolies" for the Baltimore Sun.
The House was now Republican; Mr. Thos. B. Reed became Speaker, and Mr. Wilson was removed from the Committee of Ways and Means and assigned to the Com- mittees of Judiciary and Manufactures, and to two special committees, one upon the Quadro-Centennial and the other to investigate alleged ballot box frauds in Ohio.
On February 3, a few weeks after the convening of this Congress, he made his speech, "General Parliamen- tary Law," a satiric attack upon what he considered the arbitrary rulings of the Speaker. This speech attracted wide attention, was printed in full in many of the lead- ing papers, and added not a little to his reputation. He made four other speeches during this session ; presenting the claims of Washington City for the World's Fair ; on the bill to class worsteds as woolen goods ; against trusts ; and on the Bankruptcy bill.
He was made chairman of the executive committee of the National Association of Democratic Clubs, and de- livered many political addresses, on invitation, in different parts of the country.
To the editor of a paper in his district, who wrote cau- tioning him not to break himself down by overwork, he replied, "As few people enjoy more uniform good health, I ought to be able to carry a good and steady load."
Ag^in renominated by acclamation, he had for his op- ponent a Republican who was likewise a member of the
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Farmer's Alliance, an organization now of considerable strength in his district at that time. In this campaign he made thirty-four speeches in thirty days, traveling long distances in buggy and on horseback. His victory was the most decisive he had yet gained — ^a plurality of more than two thousand votes.
The new House was Democratic, and he was promi- nently mentioned among those most likely to be chosen Speaker. He had pledged his support to Mr. Mills ; nor in the deadlock which followed, though strongly urged to do so, would he allow his name to be presented.
He was restored by the Speaker, Mr. Crisp, to a place on the Ways and Means Committee, and took part in the preparation of the several and separate bills for tariff re- duction which it reported.
In April and May, 1891, he made a tour of the North- west, under the auspices of the National Association of Democratic Clubs, speaking in all of the largest cities of that section.
In the summer he took charge of the Tariff Reform De- partment in the St. Louis Republic, and conducted it for more than a year. He went to Massachusetts and en- listed in the gubernational campaign, making a number of speeches there for Governor Russell.
On April 7, 1892, he made the dosing speech for the Free Wool bill. A few weeks later, when the free silver debate came on in the House, he voted to lay the bill on the table, well knowing that in so doing he was putting his political life to hazard. "This vote has lost him hun- dreds of votes," said the official organ of the Farmers' Al- liance in his district.
When the National Democratic Convention met at Chi- cago that summer^ he was made permanent chairman, and afterwards notified Mr. Cleveland of his nomination in a speech at Madison Square Garden, New York.
A few days later, on July 20th, he was renominated by
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acclamation for a sixth term of Congress, despite the fact that one of the primaries in his own county had gone against him because of his vote on the free silver bill.
He was elected by a thousand plurality.
In August, 1893, when the new Congress met in extra session, called by the President to repeal the Sherman silver purchasing law, Mr. Wilson was designated to pre- pare and introduce the bill, which he did, carrying it through the House by a surprisingly large majority.
He was appointed chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, and set at once to work to prepare a tariff measure which should redeem the pledges upon which the partly had won in the national election.
Soon after passing the bill for the repeal of the Sher- man law, the House took a recess, but the Democratic members of the Ways and Means Committee remained at Washington, working daily, and, at times, far into the night. When the House reassembled, the measure was nearly complete, and, on the 19th of December, Mr. Wil- son reported the bill.
On January 8, 1894, he opened the debate with a speech an hour and a half in length. On the next day he con- cluded his arguments, speaking for an hour, and finished in an utterly exhausted condition. This speech was gen- erally held to be the best he had delivered in Congress.
On February i, he closed the debate in a speech which led to a scene of enthusiasm never before witnessed in the House of Representatives, when he was lifted and borne upon the shoulders of his colleagues.
The passage of the bill left him in broken health, and he now sought rest and recuperation in a trip to Mexico. There he was stricken with typhoid fever. For a time his life was despaired of; but he rallied slowly, and by April was able to begin the homeward journey, traveling by easy stages. He reached Washington in May, still weak- ened and exhausted by his long illness.
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On July 3, the tariff bill passed the Senate, but so al- tered by the protection amendments which had been placed upon it, that conferees of the two Houses were appointed, between whom there began in committee a long and trying struggle. On July 19, Mr. Wilson re- ported to the House the inability of the committee to reach an agreement. He spoke with eyes tightly ban- daged against all light, in intense physical suffering, and in such weakness that he was compelled at times to clutch his desk for support.
A month later, seeing the hopelessness of further strug- gle, he moved that the House concur in the amendments of the Senate. The bill was passed ; and, on August 28, it became a law without the signature of the President.
Speaking, the day after, to the convention which had unanimously renominated him for a seventh term, Mr. Wilson said, "The country knows and history will show where to put the responsibility for our failure to redeem our pledges to the people."
Referring to the impaired state of his healtli, he said, "In other campaigns I have accepted this trust at your hands with a full knowledge of the labor and strain re- quired for so large and so stoutly contested a district as our own, but also with a confidence in my ability to meet that labor and strain. To-day I cannot have that confi- dence, and I shall be constrained to ask at your hands some remission of the labors of public canvassing which I have heretofore so greatly enjoyed."
In the campaign which followed, a great and unusual effort was made to defeat him; speakers from other parts of the country overran his district, and money was freely contributed to the fund of the rival party. These efforts were successful, and he was beaten at the polls in November. His action in putting coal upon the free list of his tariff bill had contributed not a little to this result, furnishing, as it did, a text for speeches to the
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miners of his district, who were told that free coal meant closed mines or lessened wages. He had been warned of the hurt which such action would do him ; even the Demo- cratic Governor of his State had appeared before the Ways and Means Committee to argue for a retention of this duty. But the underl3ring principle of his tariff bill had been free raw material: if a large part of the public revenues must needs be gathered from a tax upon con- sumption, then there should be but one tax and that upon the finished product, not upon the processes and materials of industry. Speaking to his convention he had said, "I knew that the Democrats of West Virginia were not pro- tectionists for West Virginia and reformers or free traders for other States. But, even if I had known otherwise, I would not have gone aside one step from what was to me the clear pathway of my duty to all the people."
During the session of Congress which followed, he opened the debate on the Sugar bill, January 26, 1895, speaking for an hour and a half in favor of a repeal of the additional or differential duty imposed by the Senate ; and two weeks later presented to the House a resolution au- thorizing the bond issue contracted for by the Secretary of the Treasury, on which he made the opening and closing speeches, February 14th.
The death of Mr. Gray, Minister to Mexico, occurring at this time, Mr. Wilson was prominently mentioned as his successor, and many of his friends in the House were eager to see the President in his behalf. But to this he would not consent, feeling that the President should be free to act as he thought best, unembarrassed by any hint or solicitation from him.
In view of the weakened state of his health, this posi- tion, bringing as it would a chance for rest and recupera- tion, was not without allurement, and it was with some feeling of disappointment that he saw it given to another. Writing in his journal, he says, "The President has done
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wisely and for the best. But to a tried soldier, who needs a furlough, the two years in Mexico and the pleasant residence there are very attractive, and I fear I wanted the place more than I confessed even to myself."^
The day after making this appointment, the President sent for Mr. Wilson, and offered him a place in his Cabi- net. A few days later his name was sent to the Senate and his appointment as Postmaster General was promptly con- firmed. On April 3, he entered upon the duties of his new office, Mr. Bissell having considerately extended the date at which his resignation was to take effect, so that Mr. Wilson might have a month's rest after the adjourn- ment of Congress.
But his holiday had not brought him strength, for two weeks after assuming charge of his Department, he writes in his journal : ''I attempted to make some memoranda for my speech to-morrow night, but my fatigue from the day's labors was too great, and I soon fell asleep at my desk, with .only a line or two marked on the paper."
During his two years' term of office, the Rural Delivery system was put into operation: rules governing promo- tion in the Department itself, and in the railway mail ser- vice, were adopted, whose purpose and result was to stimulate and reward merit: and a strong and persis- tent effort was made to secure from Congress the passage of laws for the correction of abuses in second class mail matter, and for the consolidation of post offices into dis- tricts, thereby bringing a large number of the fourth class offices under Civil Service; reforms whereby the postal service of the country would be improved and ma^e self- supporting.
In its leading editorial, May 16, 1896, the New York
*When he made this entry in his journal, Mr. Wilson did not know that he was to be offered a place in the Cabinet. Had both positions — Minister to Mexico and Postmaster General— been ten- dered him, he would have chosen the latter.
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Times thus speaks of Mr. Wilson's work as Postmaster General :
"There is not at this moment a single man in public life in the United States, who has rendered more practical, dif- ficult and enduring service under conditions more remote from those to which his tastes incline."
The Times erred however in thinking that Mr. Wilson found his work uncongenial. "I have found it very pleas- ant," he wrote, "always full of interest, and shall give it up with regret."
Asked by a constituent of his former Congressional dis- trict to meet and address the Democratic Convention of Hardy county, and finding himself unable to leave Wash- ington, owing to important and urgent matters then be- fore the Department, he wrote him a letter, May i8, 1896, in which he argued earnestly and at length against free silver, now a strong and growing issue with the Democrats of West Virginia. This letter was afterwards printed and sent out in the State.
"To the Democrats of Hardy," he wrote, "I owe a special debt of gratitude. They not only supported me in all my candidacies with party loyalty and enthusiasm, but with a personal friendship that I can never forget or re- quite. If it were possible for me to respond to any sum- mons from them, I should do so with alacrity; and I should especially feel it a privilege and a duty, just now, to urge upon them continued fidelity to Democratic princi- ples, and to warn them against that disaster to our party which now hangs so portentously over its immediate fu- ture, and even threatens its disruption as a national party, after a history co-extensive with that of our Government and a record of patriotic achievements that ought to in- spire it to a still greater future. * * * If by any mis- fortune the party should espouse the cause of free silver, its future is doomed. From being a great national party, the advocate of individual freedom, local self-government,
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moderate and just taxation, and other great and inspiring national policies, it becomes a small and powerless sec- tional party, embarked on what a vast majority of the American people believe to be a crusade against the finan- cial credit, the prosperity and the progress of the Union. It will voluntarily surrender not only the Northeast, dis- solving party connection with New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, who have three times turned the scale in the election of Democratic Presidents; with the Democratic constituencies of New England and the Middle States, who have furnished so many votes since the war to save the South from proscriptive legislation, and with those of the Middle West; but doubtless part of the border States of the South. * * * Shall we turn our weapons against our best friends, and go down into remediless defeat?"
When Mr. Bryan was nominated at Chicago upon a free silver platform, Mr. Wilson promptly avowed his unwill- ingness to support him, and identified himself with the sound money wing of the party, which, meeting some weeks later at Indianapolis, named General Palmer as its candidate.
Having occasion, about this time, to make a journey which carried him through a section of his old district, he writes in his journal, "I find myself now isolated from the enthusiastic people who once gave me so many tokens of their friendship and devotion. It is a hard experience to go through, but I must face it cheerfully, in the full confi- dence that I shall regain the friendships now lost to me, and, in any event, enjoy what is even dearer than those friendships, the consciousness that I am true to my coun- try and to my sense of right"
On the afternoon of October 17, he spoke at Charles- town, his home, in advocacy of the sound money ticket. This speech was made under trying conditions, laboring as he was from physical weakness and addressing a hostile* audience, and one filled with all that excitement and bitter-
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ness which was so marked and so deplorable a feature of the campaign. None of the leaders of the local Democracy were present, but, despite their absence and the eflFort they had made to keep others away, the court-room was packed to its walls and doors. No one accompanied him into the building, no one presided over the meeting and no words of introduction or of welcome were spoken. He made his way alone through the crowd and ascended the platform. When he attempted to speak, cries and cheers for the rival candidate drowned his voice, which lacked much of its old strength and clearness. He stopped and waited patiently for the noise to cease; but, when he began, the tumult broke out afresh. Then strength, bom of the hour's need, •came to him as it had done so often in his last term in the House, and, standing upon the edge of the platform, with uplifted arm, he cried, "I have a right to be heard and shall be heard by the men of this county !" His voice rose clear and strong over the contending voices, and men stop- ped crying out and began to listen. "I have a right to be heard by the men of this county. I have a right to be heard with open and unprejudiced minds and with the pre- sumption arising from all my past relations to them, that I will speak my sincere and mature convictions. For fifty years, as boy and man, I have enjoyed and reciprocated their friendship; have possessed and prized their confi- dence. They have loaded me with honors without requir- ing me to sue and importune for them. As no present cen- sure or harshness of judgment can dim my gratitude for all they have done for me in the past, so no consideration of personal consequences can excuse me now from trying to guide them in the path of patriotic duty in such a difficult crisis. I am a Democrat, the son of a Democratic father. From my boyhood, the principles and history of that party, the teachings and deeds of its leaders, have been my fa- vorite study. In all my manhood these principles and teachings have guided my political action because I believe
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them to be the proyed safeguards of free government. It is because the recent Convention at Chicago has aban- doned those principles that I cannot as a Democrat give its nominees my support."
As he proceeded quiet came to the court-room, and he spoke without interruption to the end.
Turning aside for a moment from the line of his argu- ment, he said, "You have been told that I have changed my views and position on the silver question because of the office I now hold; and one paper in the State, from which I have a right to expect at least honest treatment, has gone so far as to say that I taught this people free coinage. I would not deserve the trust you have hereto- fore given me if I did not try to be right to-day even if I were wrong in the past. But I want to say now, so that everyone of you may hear me, that, in the twelve years I represented this district in Congress, and in the seven ac- tive canvasses I made, speaking from court-house to school-house in every county, no man, woman or child ever heard one utterance from my lips in favor of free sil- ver coinage. I have spoken in most of the States of the Union, in the mining States of the West, and no man there ever heard from me one word in favor of free silver coin- age. In 1892 I voted against a free coinage bill. That bill failed by a practically tie vote, and it was charged against me by the free silver papers of this district that I defeated it, because my vote might have carried the bill. Yet, in the face of that well known vote, I was unanimously re- nominated and sent back to Congress. Again in 1893, when Congress was called in extra session because of the panic, I was designated by the Democratic opponents of the Sherman law to introduce the bill repealing that law and to lead the fight in the House. I introduced that bill, carried it through the House, and, in closing the debate upon it, took strong ground against the purchase of any more silver bullion or the issue of any more
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depreciated dollars. I voted against every ratio pro- posed by Mr. Bland and against the revival of the Bland bill. In the face of these votes I was again unanimously renominated and borne in triumphal procession around this district. Pardon this personal recital. I desired to remind you that I have not changed on a question so vital to the welfare and honor of my country, nor will I change at the command of any convention."
Only once again did he digress from the straight line of his argument. Then he said, "I know that a large part of this campaign is vituperative abuse of the President and his great Secretary of the Treasury. I shall not stop to defend them. When a Confederate soldier is willing to stand up and declare that General Lee sold the battle of Gettysburg for Union gold, then will be found a fitting companion for the Democrat who accuses the President and his Secretary of dishonesty. General Lee was no clearer in his great office than President Cleveland and Secretary Carlisle have been in theirs." He spoke for two hours, closing with these words : "This question is not only a financial one; it is even greater — a moral question. Financial integrity is the test of nations. The prosperity of our people, and, still more, the honor of our country, are at stake. I will not, at the behest of any power or authority, not even of a national convention of my party, vote or help to put a stain upon the flag of my country. If, in doing this, I lose the friend- ship and alineate the support of those who have been so true and devoted to me in the past, I must meet that penalty grievious as it is. Even if the acclamations, with which you have heretofore greeted and cheered me, give place to mutterings and curses, I have no right to swerve from the path of duty as it stretches before me. If one so humble as myself may apply the words of Mr. Calhoun in a. like crisis, I would say *I am not one of those who pay no regard to
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party obligations ; on the contrary I place fidelity to party among the political virtues, but I assign to it a limited sphere. I confine it to matters of detail and arrangement, and to minor questions of policy. Beyond that, on all questions involving principles or measures calculated to affect materially the permanent interests of the country, I look only to God and my country.' If I am able to live up to the spirit of these lofty words, I shall not be unhappy or lonely.
'He's a slave who dare not be In the right with two or three.' .
For one of the two or three is sure to be God himself."
This speech, the last he was to make in a political cam- paign, delivered with intense feeling and with an oratory such as he had never equalled in the House, was probably the greatest of his life — a speech whose true strength was little indexed by the imperfect synopses of the press.
"It hypnotized the Democrats for a time," said a local paper, "but has intensified their bitterness against him."
February 11, 1897, he was unanimously elected presi- dent of Washington and Lee University, and, shortly after, signified his acceptance of the office.
Writing in his journal, March 6, the day on which he surrendered his desk in the Post Office Department to his successor, he says, "During my term I have turned out no man or woman for political reasons. In all promotions, I chose the name with the highest record, in no case en- quiring or knowing the politics of the party."
In the month which followed, he wrote a series of ar- ticles, twelve in number, for the New York Herald^ in re- view of the Dingley tariff bill.
He moved to Lexington in August, and, on September 15, was formally installed as president of the University.
In the quiet and pleasant life now opened to him, he
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hoped soon to regain his health; but the ravages upon it had been greater than he knew. His journal of 1898 closes with these words: "I have not done the work I expected. The year has been for me one of weakened health and lessened working power. At times this has given me serious forebodings and anxieties I could not share. I still have work I want to do. I still cherish plans for this University which I hope to carry out, and my age is not such as to make these plans improbable of execu- tion. But I cannot hide from myself the fact that my phy- sical vigor has been waning, that bodily exercise becomes more fatiguing and mental work more impossible of steady pursuit. At times I feel hopeless of ever regaining the health I used to enjoy, and again I find myself buoyed up with hope and full of plans for my future work. God give me a thankful heart for all the blessings of the year now closed, and grant me health and strength and wisdom for the year that is beginning."
His strength declined steadily, but he continued in the active discharge of his olBce, meeting fully all its calls and duties until January, 1900, when, upon the advice of an eminent specialist whom he had consulted, he went to Arizona, where he remained until the latter part of April. Urged by the faculty and board of trustees to prolong his stay, he yet felt it his duty to return to Lexington in time to prepare his annual report and to make arrangement for the University Commencement.
When the school reopened in September, he had be- come so weakened that it was with difficulty he could walk to his office in the college building.
He died on the morning of October 17, less than two weeks after he had last addressed the students at the week- ly meeting in the college chapel.
Speaking of Mr. Wilson's work as president of Wash- ington and Lee, Dr. James A. Quarles, one of the Univers- ity faculty, in an article in the January number of the
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Sewanee Review, says, "His physical condition was not vig- orous, as he had never fully recovered from the excessive strain connected with the framing and passage of the Wil- son tariff act. His mind, however, was clear and strong; his sympathy with his work deep and decided ; his success in speedily mastering the details in the history and organ- ization of the institution, marvelous. He identified himself at once with the university over which he was called on to preside, and showed himself the intelligent and sincere friend of every student and professor. During the three years of his administration there was progress all along the line. He instituted a weekly assemblage of all the faculty and students, which he addressed with rare elo- quence, giving both entertainment and instruction. He converted the library into a working laboratory for the Departments of History and Political Science, the begin- ning of a beneficent reformation. The academic school was strengthened by the establishment of two important professorships, * * * and the law faculty gjew to three full professorships and four lectureships. By its entrance requirements the sympathy and support of many prepara- tory schools have been secured, resulting in an increased attendance of students amounting to sixty per cent. Al- together new heart and hope was given to students and faculty, causing quickened interest and efiiciency in all de- partments."
While president of Washington and Lee, he delivered the Kent Course of lectures, five in number, to the Yale Law School; the Convocation Address at the University of Chicago ; spoke before the Bar Association of Georgia, and, by a vote of the Georgia Legislature, addressed that body on the question of imperialism.
At the time of his death he was a regent of the Smithson- ian, member of the board of trustees of the Slater and of the Peabody Funds, fellow of the Royal Institution of England, and a member of many scientific and historical
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societies. Five universities had conferred upon him the degree of LL. D., and five universities had offered him their presidencies.
He was possessed of a remarkably happy and buoyant disposition, of which neither ill-health, nor the knowledge long had of approaching death, could rob him. He had his moments of gloom, but none witnessed them. The laugh choked by a fit of coughing came again as soon as the cough had stopped. He judged no man harshly, and unkind speech was a stranger to his tongue. He had a woman's quick pity for the suffering of others ; he bore his own with manly indifference, without mention or com- plaint. He had a great love for children ; among letters, dating back through the busy years of his life in Wash- ington, are to be found many, written in large childish hands, thanking him for some little act of kindness he had done, for foreign stamps torn from his letters, for mono- grams and crests cut from the same source, for some non- sense-rhyme or jingle illustrated with a crude drawing of his pen. On the day before he was forced to give up the fight and seek his bed, where he was to die one week later, he and a neighbor's child, a little girl of three, "took turns" swinging each other in a hammock on the porch.
One of the University faculty, in an address delivered at the memorial services held in the college chapel, said, "The last time the speaker saw him, his little dog jumped upon his bed and coddled closely to his side, and the great man reached out and patted 'Dixie' on the head." This dog, a young fox terrier, when the cofiin had been borne down- stairs, took her station on the floor beneath it, and re- mained lying there for hours, in the cold and darkened room, heedless of all effort to coax her away.
A student declared himself unable to keep up in his mathematics and announced his intention to drop it from his ticket. This would mean the loss of his degree.. Mr. Wilson persuaded him to persevere, and, having him come
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to his office, there assisted him in the preparation of his lessons until he had attained a sure footing in his class.
Grave indeed was the sinning of that student for whom the president would not ask of the faculty "another chance/' He disliked to mete out punishment, but did not hesitate when he thought the good of the school required it. When the football team used a non-student in a game played in Kentucky, he promptly ordered them to return to Lexington, where he called them before him and dis- banded them for the rest of the season. He was an ardent champion of athletics, but it must be clean.
In the resolutions adopted by the mass-meeting of the students are these words : '*He was the beloved friend and elder brother of every student in this institution'*
On October 19th, followed by a sorrowing crowd of old neighbors and friends, he was laid to rest in the family lot at Charlestown. A headstone, recently placed at his grave, bears this inscription, chosen by one who had known him, as none other had, both in his public and pri- vate life. "William Lyne Wilson. Born, May 3, 1843. Died, October 17, 1900. 'Blessed are the pure in heart.' "
The Secretary has received the following letters bearing on the above sketch of Mr. Wilson.
From Hon. Grover Cleveland.
Princeton, N. J., June 7, 1901. Dear Sir: I desire to thank you for the opportunity you have ffiven me of reading the advance sheets of a sketch of the life of William L. Wilson which is to appear in a publication of the Southern History Association. ***** i return the sketch. It is so complete and presents the character of this noble man so well and so fully that I do not think I ought to attempt to sup- plement it.
Our public life will never see a better, purer or more patriotic man.
Yours very truly,
Grovbr ClEvkland.
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From iHon. Thos. B. Reed.
25 Broad Street, New York City, June ii, igoi.
My Dear Sir: I have read with much interest the proofs you sent me. I had great respect for Mr. Wilson because he had con- victions and was true to them. There was something very pathe- tic in his last struggle, death-struck as he was, with that greatest of all human forces, popular feeling gone wrong. That that feel- ing is doomed to revulsion does not lessen its power. Human life is too short for the vindication of the wise man while yet alive. Many suns may set and many dark nights cover the earth with clouds before the truth is ripened into fruitage. He is hap- pier who is wrong when others are wrong; but no Darwinian
survival of the fittest to survive" will ever convince the manly man that there is not something higher than happiness. Doing your duty, and facing the consequences, is success itself. Yours very truly,
T. B. Reed.
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PRESIDENT DAVIS'S LAST OFFICIAL MEETING.
The Last Meeting of President Davis With His Officers and Those of His Cabinet Remaining With Him, in the "Old State Bank Building" at Washington, Georgia.
By Mrs. M. E. Robertson.
I have written from my own personal recollection of "The Lost Cause," as it has been called, especially at the time of Mr. Davis's visit to Washington, Ga., after the surrender of our army in Virginia, and will give a simple narrative of the facts which occurred at that eventful time.
It has been said that the Confederacy died in Washing- ton, Ga. It was brought there dead, though President Davis could not and would not believe in a "Lost Cause." I remember well how camly and hopefully he spoke of the army under Kirby Smith, Price and others, and of tmiting with them the scattered forces of the Army of Virginia and Tennessee ; that there would be a reorganization of these forces west of the Mississippi and the struggle maintained in that department. This seemed to be a fixed hope in the mind of Mr. Davis ; in fact so much so that he appeared, and doubtless was, perfectly unconscious* of his own dan- ger, while his friends, realizing his situation, were in eager haste and excitement to get him on his journey. Mrs. Davis had been in Washington, Ga., for two or three days, she having arrived on Friday, just two weeks after General Lee's surrender, and remained, no doubt awaiting Mr. Davis, until the following Monday. At that time, nothing having been heard of him, her friends thought it advisable for her to tarry no longer ; so, with her party and baggage train, she left Washington at noon. Scarcely an hour after her departure a messenger arrived with a dispatch from
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Mr. Davis, saying he would be in Washington the follow- ing day. The dispatch was at once sent forward to her by the kind friends who had entertained her. This found her, with her party, about twenty miles from Washington, where she decided to remain until Mr. Davis should join her. Mrs. Davis's party had traveled through the country from Richmond to Washington in ambulance and baggage wagons, quite a train of them. These remained in front of Dr. Ficklen's house the entire time of her stay in Wash- ington, ready to move at any moment. She received much kindness, courtesy and sympathy from the people, every- thing having been done for her comfort that was possible in this dark hour of trial and suspense. She bore up won- derfully, receiving and entertaining her visitors with per- fect self-forgetfulness. In her party were her children, her sister and Burton N. Harrison, private secretary to Mr. Davis. Mrs. Davis and family were entertained at Dr. Ficklen's, Mr. Harrison coming to us to be with a sick friend. Major Hall, of Baltimore, whom Dr. Robertson had found ill and brought home to be nursed and cared for. We also had as guests General and Mrs. Elzey and their son, Arnold, of Baltimore ; General Elzey having been on parole for several months.
My husband's health was such that it was impossible for him to go into active service, and all that he could do for the "cause" was to entertain and care for sick soldiers, and many an invalid, needing care and nourishment, was sent us from the hospital.
Washington was singularly blessed. Removed entirely from the seat of war, we were spared much of its terrors and distress, and, as yet, the foot of a Federal soldier had never trodden our streets. But now our quiet little town was stirred to its very foundation. Following in quick succession were the announcements of Lincoln's assassina- tion, the surrender of General Lee, the evacuation of Rich- mond, Mrs. Davis's flight but nothing of Mr. Davis. What
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next? Where was the President? All information was vag^e and meagre, depending entirely upon straggling soldiers going South and West, Washington being on the direct route from Virginia and the Carolinas.
The bank in Washington, Ga., was a branch of the Bank of the State of Georgia, the mother bank being located in Savannah, Ga., one of the oldest and most solid institutions of the State, with a number of branches. My husband. Dr. J. J. Robertson, was cashier of the Washington branch and resided in the building with his family (this being the common custom with cashiers of country banks in those days), where the business of the mother bank was still carried on. This building was the most prominent on the public square, in the center of the town, and immediately upon the street leading from the Danburg and Abbeville road. It was in this way that our scraps of news were gathered, as any one coming into the town would pass the bank, and invariably some one was stationed upon the piazza to interview the passers-by. On this special morn- ing (and a more lovely May morning never was seen), the third day of May, in the year eighteen hundred and sixty- five, there were assembled upon this old bank piazza the entire household, men and women, in troubled, earnest, eager conversation. Mrs. Davis had left the day previous and as yet nothing had been heard of Mr. Davis. In the midst of conjecture and surmise, between nine and ten a. m., we saw a man on horseback coming down the street from the Abbeville road. His dress and whole appearance indicated a common countryman — dressed in a suit of homemade cloth. Attracted either by the party on the piazza or the appearance of two of them having on Con- federate uniforms, he rode directly up, halted and uncon- sciously gave the military salute, at the same time asking in a drawling tone : "Are there any soldiers in the town V* "What soldiers do you mean?" inquired one of the gentle- men. "Why," said he, "any kind of soldiers — soldiers are
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soldiers, ain't they?" Whereupon General Elzey re- marked, "Ah, my friend, you are no ignorant countryman ; you betrayed yourself by that military salute, and we strongly suspect your being one of the President's party. Tell us of him. Is he safe ? Where is he ?" The man, or courier, as he proved to be, upon this forced his horse upon the pavement until he touched the railing of the piazza, then leaning forward, asked in cautious, low tones, "Are you Confederates? Are you all friends?" With one voice came the answer, "We are." He then asked if there were any Federal soldiers in the town. Dr. Robertson replied, "There are none, and you can speak freely. We are all friends and most anxious to know of the President's safety." The courier replied, "I have just left Mr. Davis, and he is not an hour's ride from here." This announce- ment was received in perfect silence ; for several moments not a word was uttered. Then arose a commotion. Who was to receive him ? Where was he to go ? How was he to be entertain-ed ? and so on. While the men were talking and planning I decided: "Bring him here. I will be charmed to have him. This is the largest house in the town and the most central." The men were delighted at my proposition. General Elzey, Dr. Robertson and Major Hall went into the bank and after a short consultation Dr. Robertson wrote a note of invitation to Mr. Davis, mount- ed Willie Robertson (who, I am sure, imagined himself embassador plenipotentiary), and sent him with the courier to deliver the invitation.
He found the President and his party stopping for break- fast and to feed their horses, a few miles from Washington. At the breakfast halt, when the road was again taken, Mr. Benjamin said "Good-bye." Not intending to go farther with the party, he turned off South from that point, Mr. Davis and escort coming on to Washington. He was on horseback, dressed, as well as I remember, in a full suit of Confederate grey. He was accompanied by some of his
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Cabinet officers and distinguished Confederate leaders and eminent soldiers, a small escort of cavalrymen, together with a few wagons and several ambulances. He came in apparently much fatigued and retired at once to his room, where he remained until a late dinner.
Many were astonished at my temerity in attempting to entertain them, but I was perfectly sure of my cook, a young negro woman, whose ancestors had served in my family for generations ; her mother was my mother's cook, her grandmother my grandmother's cook, and in those days there was perfect trust and confidence between mis- tress and maid. I shall never forget her untiring devotion to our poor soldiers as they straggled through our little town, hungry and tattered, often hatless and shoeless. I have seen my husband take the shoes from his feet and the hat from his head and hand them over to some poor soldier as he would stop to rest on the old bank steps. And Mary Green (my cook), never failed to have ready some palatable dish. I have known her to spend hours, day after day, making biscuits and preparing some nourishing food for "them poor soldiers." Finally, Dr. Robertson's last hat and shoes had departed with "them poor soldiers." I had, fortunately, some woolen cloth and a sewing machine, and made him a hat ; and we had a g^eat institution in one Ben (a negro man belonging to General E. P. Alexander's father), who was the shoemaker of the village. There was nothing that Ben could not accomplish in the shoe line, from a lady's boot to a man's brogan, and the patching and mending of the worn. But for Ben we might have come down to moccasins.
Now, how could I provide for such a retinue in those hard war times ? But it must be remembered we were in a little out-of-the-way village, in a farming country, where the hardships and deprivations of the war, for food, had never penetrated. I had good soup, vegetables from our garden, a splendid roast of turkey, a fine large ham,
3
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chicken and eggs, salads — lobster, salmon and lettuce — tea and coffee — genuine coffee, which surprised many present, who were eager to learn how I became so well provided for. The tea and canned articles had been received from Boston, almost the last communication between the North and South. The coffee was an accidental find. In passing through Macon, Ga., as late as 1863, my husband having heard of a man who had many sacks of good coffee stored, persuaded him out of one.
It was the next morning, May the fourth, eighteen hun- dred and sixty-five, Mr. Davis held his last meeting, in the old bank, Washington, Ga. It was, so I understood at the time, an informal meeting — more of a consultation with his staff and principal officers and those of his Cabinet who still remained. Along the route the various bureaus of the departments had been abandoned. Hon.* John H. Reagan, Postmaster General, arf9 S. R. Mallory, Secretary of the Navy, came in with Mr. Davis. Mr. Mallory re- mained but a few hours. Bidding Mr. Davis "Good-bye," he left Washington at four o'clock in the afternoon. Mr. Trenholm, Secretary of the Treasury, had been left quite ill at the Catawba river. South Carolina. Gen. John C. Breckenridge, Secretary of War, who had been left behind at the Savannah river, reached Washington the 4th of May, after the President had left, and spent the day and night at my house. Those present at the meeting were : Hon. John H. Reagan, Postmaster General, whom the Presi- dent had appointed Acting Secretary of the Treasury; Col. William Preston Johnston, Aide-de-Camp ; Col. John Taylor Wood, Aide-de-Camp ; Col. Lubbock, ex-Governor of Texas, Aide-de-Camp ; Col. C. E. Thorburn, Naval Pur- chasing Agent; Gen. Bragg, Gen. Robertson, of Texas, and many other distinguished officers. At this meeting, after a lengthy consultation, it was decided thiit the cross- ing of the Mississippi river and the prolonging of the
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struggle was not practicable, and here, in this "Old Bank Building," the Government of the Confederate States of America was formally and officially dissolved. It was evi- dently not until that point was reached that Mr. Davis gave up all hope and acknowledged the uselessness of at- tempting to continue the struggle longer this side of the Mississippi river, and yielded to the only plan possible, to disband the last faithful remnant of the grandest army that ever marched to battle. He rode away on horseback, accompanied by a portion of his staff. Col. Lubbock, Col. John Taylor Wood, Col. Wm. Preston Johnston, and Col. Thorburn.
While standing on the pavement in front of the build- ing, his horse saddled, the bridle in his hand, just ready to mount, he was approached by our Baptist minister, the Rev. H. A. Tupper, who spoke some words of encourage- ment and Christian comfort to him. Mr. Davis, taking him by the hand, said with the greatest fervor, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him." He mpunted his horse and made way, disappearing in a few minutes from the gaze of hundreds of tearful eyes; and thus Washing- ton, Ga., saw the last of the "Glorious Old Confederacy."
Another week found Mr. Davis almost alone, a fugitive in the forests of Georgia, with his wife and a few devoted adherents. On the tenth of May he was captured near Irwinville, Ga., by a body of cavalry under Lieut. Col. Pritchard.
The last official signature President Davis affixed to any paper was appointing Capt. M. H. Clark Acting Treasurer of the Confederate States. The paper reads thus :
"Washington, Georgia, May 4, 1865. "M. H. Clark, Esq., is hereby appointed Acting Treas- urer of the Confederate States, and is authorized to act as such during the absence of the Treasurer.
Jefferson Davis."
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The treasure train arrived shortly after Mr. Davis's party left, reporting at Gen. Basil Dukes's camp, about a mile from Washington, where the cavalry, baggage wag- ons and so on, were camped. Mr. Clark went out, with proper authority, and the whole was turned over to him. Selecting the shade of a large elm tree as the "Treasury Department," he commenced his duties as "Acting Treas- urer C. S."
A portion of the specie belonging to the general Govern- ment consisting of silver coin, was divided out amongst the soldiers, each one obtaining a small sum, about $26.00, and the troops composing the escort were disbanded.
Before leaving Washington, Mr. Davis made certain dis- tributions of his belongings. To a Col. Weems he gave his mess chest; the china contained therein was given to jGen. McLaws. To me he was specially thoughtful and generous; among other things, presenting to me some valuable books, also a goodly supply of tea, coflfee and brandy, most acceptable at that time. Some of each I have retained to this day as relics of the "Lost Cause." But the gift most valued and treasured is the inkstand used by him as President, and his dressing case, containing many me- mentos of him. There was also a framed certificate of his honorary membership with the Mobile Cadets. This I sent to the Cadets.
The table upon which President Davis affixed his last signature and around which he held his "Last Meeting," deliberating and discussing with his advisors the affairs of an already "Lost Cause," is still in my possession, valued as having been used by the Head of a Republic that has ceased to exist.
The above mentioned inkstand and dressing case are now in the Georgia room of the Museum in Richmond, Va.
Many articles have been published, both North and South, giving the erroneous impression that the room
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which Mr. Davis occupied has remained "intact." Not so. Upon leaving the bank we removed all furnishings and the building was sold, and it has since been occupied by vari- ous persons for different purposes, postofiice, millinery, boarding house and so on, and is at the present time owned by the county. Two rooms in the building have been given to the Daughters of the Confederacy.^
*There is probably no one subject connected with the downfall of the Southern Confederacy, of which there has been so much written and about which there have been so many confused ac- counts as that of the last meeting of the Confederate cabinet, and the circumstances attending upon the final dissolution of the Con- federate Government. It has been discussed and written of with a freedom and disregard for real facts, until the real history of that period has become involved in a web of romance. Being an eye witness and participator in these events, I have written the above narrative to preserve the truth of history. — M. E. R.
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THE KINSEY FAMILY.— SUPPLEMENTARY
DATA ON THE ANCESTORS OF
JOHNS HOPKINS.^
[Mr. Samuel Troth, of Philadelphia, author of Prbston at Patuxent, in sending me the data given below regarding the Kinsey family, writes: **A few years ago I spent some time in Lancaster county, Virginia, tracmg my ancestors Howell Powell and Hugh Kinsey around Corotoman and from the old records at Lancaster Court House. So far have found very little about Kinsey in Virginia, and am limited to not-proven theories; for instance I will guess that Hugh Kinsey's brother Robert was older and preceded Hugh in Virginia and settled in York county. That Hugh Kinsey came to Virginia before 1655, bringing wife Margaret and probably some of his younger children, leaving the two elder, Paul and Hu^h, in the old country, who came later in 1655. That Hugh, Jr., married in Virginia, had children Daniel and Sarah and possibly Margaret, the latter mentioned in Will of Hugh, Sr., as a grandchild (she must have been a child of Paul or some other son of Hugh, Sr.). That Hugh, Jr., remained on the Virginia homestead 1659, and that his mother Margaret stayed with him until 1661, coming into Maryland then and assigned her head right to her son Paul. That the wife of Hugh, Jr., died in Virgfinia (the mortgage to John Fish ignores wife, and the head rights for those transported into Maryland 1662 has no mention of wife). Such are fancies built upon the meagre data which may be displaced by later discoveries."
I think Mr. Troth is in error as to at least one of his theories, viz., that Daniel and Sarah were children of Hugh, Jr., and that he brought them into Maryland in 1662. I believe that the list of children of Hugh Kinsey. Sr., as given by me in VoL IV of Publications, p. 433, is correct so far as gfiven, though there may have been other children, including Hugh, Jr. That Daniel and Sarah were children of Hugh, Sr., would appear from the following data:
The mortgage from Hugh Kinsey fjr.?] to John Fish dated 21 May, 1662, and mentioned below, states that Kinsey was then living on a plantation on Rappahannock River in Virginia, while two years before, viz., 22 May 1660, Hugh Kinsey [Sr.J, as shown p. 431, Vol. IV Publications, entered right for 400 acres of land at Patapsco in Maryland for transporting himself and others in- cluding his son Paul and his daughters, Elizabeth Kinsey and Mary Humphreys (Land Office Records, Liber IV fol 565); and the entry for 300 acres granted to Hugh Kinsey (Liber V fol 413) for transporting in 1662 his son Daniel, his daughter
* See Vol. IV., pp. 395-442 of these Publications.
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The Kinsey Family. 301
Sarah and four others, does not include any right for his own transportation, and evidently refers to the elder Hugh who then lived in Maryland, having come into the Colony in 1659, and not to the younger Hugh as supposed by Mr. Troth.
The data given below Mr. Troth states was obtained from official records.— Miles White, Jr.]
Maryland Archives, Vol. IV.— At a Court held March 1645. Rob* Kinsy of virginea p. attorn Jo. wayvill de- mandeth of Rob* nicolls 1500^ tob for a debt due by bill, & damage of non paym* retraxit attachm* in form: consuet retorn 5*^ Apr : next.
York County Virginia Deeds — 14 Aug 1642. Geo Ludlowe to Robert Kinsey, 100 acres.
Att a Quarter held att James Citty the io*»» 8^' 1656 Edward Diggs Esq, Governor
It appearing in Court that Hugh Kinsey is heire to his brother Robert Kinsey dec^ in this County [York] who dyed without any written Will, It is ordered according to Law that the said Hugh Kinsey be possessed of the land belonging to his said brother and that Nathaniel Bacon, Esq., Lt Coll. W" Barber, Coll. George Read and Lt. Coll, Thomas Ludlow or any three of them are hereby enabled to make division of the houseing, cleared ground and Woodland into Three equal parts of which Mr. Gooch who married the relict of Robert Kinsey is to be possest of the one third part and to have his choice, the time appointed for the division being Thursday next.
Record 15*** 8*»' 1656 — ^Whereas by an order of Quarter Court the above mentioned made the division between Capt. Henry Gooch in right of his wife Millicent & Mr. Hugh Kinsey heire of his s^ dec^ brother.
Hugh Kinseys share being the two thirds part amount- ing to 7250 lbs. tobacco & cask.
Lancaster Co. Virginia Vol 3 Deed Book or Court Record.
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28 Jany 1645 — It is ordered by this Court that Mr. Peter Walker shall pay unto Robert Kinsey, Glazier (sic) the quantity of five hundred pounds of merchantable Tobacco & caske and seven barrells of good & sound Indian Com within thirty days at Capt Wormeley his Creek upon York River with Court charges or else execution &c.
Vol 2 — 14 March 1647— This Bill bindeth me John Simp- son of York, glazier &c, to pay to Robt Kinsey &c, 1500 lbs tobacco and one anchor of dutch drams on the tenth day of October next the same to be in the most convenient place that may be &c
Recorded in Cur. Com. Lancaster 20 June 1657
Virginia Land Grants, Book No. 4.
Hugh Kinsey — ^Jany 25, 1655 — 100 acres — Co Lancas- ter.— On north side of Rappahanock River & north east side of Corotoman River and on the westward of a Div- idend of 400 acres whereon the said Kinsey now liveth be- ing the moiety or half of a patent of 800 acres formerly granted to John Mungoe and extending into the woods for length by the aforesaid Dividend North North West 320 poles — West by North 50 poles — South South east parallel to the first course and east by South by the side of Coroto- man River to the place where this land first began — ^The said land being due unto the said Hugh Kinsey by & for the Transportation of two persons into the Colony &c. To hold &c., yielding and paying &c. Which payment is to be made &c., dated the 8*** of October 1655 — Paul Kinsey, Hugh Kinsey.
Granted by Edward Diggs Esq to Mr. Hugh Kinsey.
Taxables in Lancaster Co. Va. List 7 Dec. 1665.
Mr. Kinsey 2 persons.
Lancaster Co. Virginia Court Records, Vol 2.
9 May 1660 — Hugh Kinsey ordered to be paid 200 lbs. of tobacco for one gnnne lost in the late service.
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Vol 2.-^Hugh Kinsey of the County of Lancaster in Rappahanock River in Virginia, planter is due to John Fish of London, Fletcher for 33£. 6s. Sd. of current English money and in security for the Loan to Jan. 25*^ next,, all that plantation whereon the said Hugh Kinsey now liveth containing 500 acres.
21 May 1662 Hugh Kinsey [Seal.] *
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ON THE HISTORY OF SLAVERY.^
The last decade was unusually fertile in books treating the history of slavery in the United States. There have been noticed already in the pages of these Publications Du Bois's Suppression of the African Slave Trade to the United States of America, 1638-1870; Bassett's Servitude in North Carolina, his Anti-Slavery Leaders in North Carolina and his History of Slavery in North Carolina; Weeks's Southern Quakers and Slavery ; Drewry's History of Southampton Insurrection in Virginia in 1832 and others.
These books, avowedly scientific in method and for the most part scholarly in the treatment of their respective subjects, do not appeal to the general reader. A book of the latter class, one which appeals to the*general reader and to him only, is John R. Spear's American Slave Trade. Mr. Spears begins his narrative with the coming of the Dutch man-of-war to Jamestown in 1619. He denies that there was present with the Virginia planters any other idea than the economic one. "Were men who had never obtained a laborer save by purchase, and men who them- selves had voluntarily submitted to being bought and sold, to have their consciences afflicted at the thought of buying these strangers ?" To sum up the facts, slaves were intro- duced into United States territory in answer to a demand for labor. They were purchased by men who were accus-
*The American Slave-Trade. An account of its Origin, Growth and Suppression. By John R. Spears. Illustrated by Walter Appleton Clark. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1900. O. pp. xvii + 232. 12 Ills. Cloth. $2.50.
Slavery in New York. A historical Sketch by Ex- Judge A. Judd Northrup, B. A., M. A., LL. D. New York State Library Bulletin. History No. 4. May, 1900. Albany: University of the State of New York. 1900. O. pp. 243-313. Paper. 10 cents.
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tomed to the purchase and sale of laborers, and no one's conscience was in any way hurt by the transaction (pp. 12,
13). With this frank enunciation of the economic principle he
discusses briefly the influence of Las Casas on the intro- duction of slavery into America and the great influence of the trade itself on English sailors and English seamen. Time was when the trade was eminently genteel and was engaged in by kings and nobles. It tended to develop a race of sea kings: "As the most important branch of British commerce — ^the commerce of New England as well as the commerce of old England — the slave-trade became the chief nursery of British seamen. The instincts inher- ited from viking ancestors were fostered and encouraged then." The seamen who manned our ships in the war of the Revolution and **by their pluck and skill captured the munitions of war that enabled Washington to win at last, were trained on the decks of slavers. And John Paul Jones, one of the 'true sea-kings, whose claim to the title lies in the qualities of the head as well as of the heart/ came through the forecastle of the slaver King George to hoist the first American naval ensign above the quarter deck of the first American flagship" (p. 29-30). But "it is a most interesting fact that while the slave trade developed vikings when it was a leg^l and reputable traffic, it de- veloped a race devoid of every manly instinct when it be- came unlawful" (p. 79).
Not less important was the influence of the trade on ship building. It was responsible for the improvements in mer- chant vessels made towards the close of the eighteenth century, for at the beginning of the nineteenth there was nothing afloat of their size that could overhaul the slavers that were turned into privateers during the war of 1812, while at a later period the Venus, of Baltimore, became the forerunner of "the splendid Yankee clippers whose voy- ages previous to the Civil War astonished the maritime
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world" (p. 40). A few steamers were known in the later trade. Some vessels carried an armament sufficient to beat oflf the smaller armed cruisers, while they trusted to their speed to save them from the grasp of the heavier man-of- war. "The old whaler became a favorite slaver type, be- cause her try-pots could cook yams and rice as well as try oil, and her barrels carry either oil or water."
The commercial enthusiasm, the keen instinct of the Yankee in pursuit of the dollar, comes out nowhere more clearly than here. Even before the assiento of 1713, when England and her colonies gained a monopoly of the trade, he had broken through the trust which English merchants had sought to establish and had induced Parliament to enact that private ships should be free to enter the trade on the payment of 10% duty on English goods exported to Africa — a victory which the author characterizes as "the first Yankee conflict for 'Free Trade and Sailors' Rights.' " Newport, Rhode Island, was the earliest center of the trade in America and never lost its pre-eminence. "Rhode Island has been more deeply interested in the slave trade, and has enslaved more Africans than any colony in New England," wrote Samuel Hopkins in 1770, and it was a pious Newport elder who "always returned thanks on the Sunday following the arrival of a sl?iver in the harbor of Newport, that an .overruling Providence has been pleased to bring to this land of freedom another cargo of benighted heathen, to enjoy the blessings of a Gospel dispensation" (p. 41). Had this good brother and his fellow citizens been as full of the love of humanity and as free from the g^eed of gain, had they seen the heinousness of slavery as clearly as their great-grandchildren saw it (aided by the facts that the trade was then outlawed and that slavery was no longer a paying institution in the North) what a world of misery and sorrow had been spared the suffering South I
The author treats his subject mainly from the economic standpoint. The early chapters discuss also the outfit of
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the slaver, the methods of dealing for slaves when on the slave coast, the horrors of the middle passage and the ex- traordinary profits of the trade. The risks however were great, the rate of insurance for slaves as early as the mid- dle of the eighteenth century being about 20%.
From chapter eight to the end the narrative concerns itself mainly with the history of the efforts towards sup- pressing the trade, which are almost as old as the trade itself. In a general way it parallels the work of Dr. Du Bois, but the two books are very different in character. Mr. Spears says that his work "has been written almost wholly from public documents, biographies, stories of trav- ellers and other sources of original information." He has produced a narrative of thrilling interest for the general . reader, but his book lacks all of those scholarly parapher- • nalia which characterize -the work of Dr. Du Bois. He seldom cites authorities in the text; there are no foot notes ; there is no bibliography, and while there are appen- dixes setting forth the names of vessels and persons ar- rested and placed under bond, there is no index, an un- pardonable blunder in an historical work published by a reputable firm. It is doubtful also if any service is ren- dered the cause of exact history by inserting purely im- aginary drawings, nor does the author add to its value by borrowing as a peroration the turgid rhetoric of the daily press.
The type, paper and press work are all that could be de- sired.
As Judge Northrup pertinently remarks at the beginning of his monograph, the histories of negro slavery have dealt mainly with its existence in the Southern States. Many of them have been partisan in purpose and directed chiefly to the vilification of the South ; and so many have been tainted with the "holier than thou" feeling that we are apt to for- get that slavery was for many years a "national institu- tion." It is therefore cheering to read a fresh treatment
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of this subject as it concerns a Northern State and to learn from a native student that the difficulties and troubles of slave holders in the North were similar to those encoun- tered in the South ; that these difficulties were met in sub- stantially the same way, and that the main reasons for the disappearance of slavery in that section were economic.
Such is Judge Northrup's Slavery in New York, recently published by the University of the State of New York. The author divides his subject into three pirts: (i) Slavery . under the Dutch, from 1626, the date of its introduction, till 1664 ; (2) Under the English, from 1664 till 1776 ; (3) Under the State Government, from 1776 till it oame to an end, by legislative act, on July 4, 1827.
The course of its history there was not essentially differ- ent from that in the Southern States, as is shown in public documents and laws. Slaves were introduced in response to a demand for labor. The West India Company im- ported slaves for in this way it was possible to better de- velop their property and pay better dividends. The Eng- lish, in characteristic fashion, mingled a little piety with their slave trading and slaveholding. This did not mitigate the evils of servitude, but gave them an opportunity to ex- ploit religion in "a harmless and ineffectual way." The notion prevailed in New York, as it did in the South, that conversion and baptism liberated the slave, and it re- quired positive legislation to remove this belief.
The New Yorker had his own troubles with slavery. He had to contend with insurrections. He had to guard against harboring runaways; against trafficking with slaves; against selling them liquor and against thefts by them. He sought to set limitations on the importation of negroes into the province; to check running of slaves to Canada or to the neighboring Indian tribes; to provide for the execution or transportation of slave criminals ; to secure payment by the government for those executed; and to guard against the casting of old and helpless slaves
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as a burden upon the public. Slaves were regarded and treated in New York solely as property, and the laws were framed to this end. These similar matters are duly set forth by this candid historian and the presentment is suffi- cient to make many a modern philanthropist pale with righteous indignation.
But economic conditions were against slavery in New York. They were few in number, the highest estimate be- ing 21,993 i^ 1774 2i^d "their employment was of little pe- cuniary value." In 1799 the State passed its first act look- ing toward the abolition of slavery. This provided that all children bom of a slave parent after July 4, 1799, should be esteemed free, but be bound to service, the males until 28 and the females until 25 years of age. An act of 1817 pro- vided that all slaves bom before July 4, 1799, should be free after July 4, 1827, and at the latter date slavery as such came to an end. A section is added on Indian slaves. The impartiality and fairness of this monograph are most highly commendable.
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JOHN A. BROADUS— A REVIEW.^ By J. L. M. Curry.
Prof. A. T. Robertson's book deserves more than casual mention. What Thackeray said of Theodore Parker was eminently true of Dr. Broadus, that few men in America were so well worth knowing. Dr. Broadus was born in Culpeper county, Virginia, January 24, 1827, and was grad- uated from the University of Virginia in 1850. Beginning to preach at an early age, he became what most persons regarded as the prince of preachers. At all religious as- semblies and in hundreds of churches, his services were in demand and houses of worship were often unable to hold the eager and delighted audiences. Simplicity, earnest- ness, pathos, great power of sympathy, clearness of state- ment, apposite illustration, exaltation of the Scriptures, persuasiveness, were among his characteristics. A treatise on the Preparation and Delivery of Sermons is used in theological seminaries and in colleges in this country and in Great Britain, and has been translated into Chinese and other languages.
The careful preparation of lectures on homiletics for a blind student led to the preparation of a volume, which has become the standard work "and the best single treatise existing on the subject."
Dr. Strong says he was our most persuasive preacher and our best teacher of the art of preaching. An intellect made aglow by the heart makes truth attractive and lov- able. Robertson says : "It is half way toward making me believe when a man believes himself." Great as he was
* Life and Lbtters op John Albert Broadus. By Archibald Thomas Robertson. I^iladelphia: American Baptist Publication Society. 1901. pp. xiv + 462. Illus. i2mo. QoUi. $1.50.
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as a preacher, he was greater as a teacher. Dr. Way- land said no one was fit to have a pupil unless he could make his mark upon him. Tried by this test Dr. Broadus was almost peerless. Teaching was his forte and the. Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, built up by Dr. Broadus and Dr. Boyce, to which they gave toil and sacri- fice, and almost blood and martyrdom, furnished ample scope for the display of pre-eminent abilities. The Beecher Lectures on Preaching, in Yale, and similar service in Greenville enlarged the sphere of usefulness and enabled him to make permanent impressions on the life and thought of professors, students and general audience. Choice English, a winning manner, a conversational tone, wide reading, perfect assimilation and control of stores of knowledge, an irresistible magnetism of Voice, eye, ges- ture, sympathy, made an hour in his class room an era in the life of a conscientious, thoughtful student.
Dr. Broadus was a g^eat scholar. He was acquainted with Latin, Hebrew, Anglo-Saxon, German, French, Span- ish, Italian, Gothic and Coptic. With classic and modern • Greek he was thoroughly familiar, but his acquaintance with patristic Greek, with New Testament Greek, was his chiefest attainment in scholarship. Drs. Hovey, Sdhaflf, Endicott, Lightfoot, Westcott and Hart, were glad to con- sult him and avail themselves of his learning and criticisms. As a member of the International Sunday School Lesson Committee, he was so thoroughly prepared and useful that Dr. Moses Hoge, his colleague, said "he came prepared with the scheme of the lessons already formulated, written out wholly or so planned that he was ready to lead and guide through the whole discussion." The distance of South Carolina from New York made it impossible for him to join the American Company of Revision, but when he was in England Bishop ElHcott introduced him to the Eng- lish Revisers, assembled in Jerusalem Chamber, who greeted him warmly and did him unusual honor.
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Dr. Broadus's Harmony of the Gospels and Commentary on Matthew show wealth of learning, critical acumen, soundness of interpretation, clearness of statement and a well-balanced judgment which have made them authorita- tive with expositors and New Testament students.
Dr. Robertson in writing this interesting and valuable memoir of one whom Dr. Carroll characterizes as the wisest man he ever knew, has wisely permitted Dr. Broadus to come before us himself, "with all his rich en- dowments of nature and grace, his victory over difficulties, his mastery of self, his influence with men, his world-wide usefulness, his power from God." In letters to and from Dr. Broadus the writer possessed an etnbarras de richesses, which he has managed with skill, but there remains an unused mass of the same material which could be used for as large and as instructive a volume as that under review.
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BOOK REVIEWS AND NOTICES.
(
On Southern Poetry Prior to i860. By Sidney Eraest Bradshaw, Ph. D., Professor of English, Bethel College, Ky. Richmond, Va.: B. F. Johnson Pub. Co. (copr. 1900), D, pp. 162, $1.
This monograph inaugurates the Studies in Southern Literature undertaken by the University of Virginia and edited by Professor Charles W. Kent, Ph. D, The first series is to be devoted to Southern Poetry. The idea of these Studies is an excellent one. The literature of the South is not great in amount and most of it not extra- ordinary in- character ; yet it has a distinguished place in the history of American ai>d English literature, for in the field of poetry alone two authors have gained a national reputation, while the fame of a third is as wide as civiliza- tion.
In undertaking to review the field of Southern Poetry up to i860, t)r. Bradshaw has suffered, as he often remarks, from the scarcity of materials. This is due to sev- eral causes. Many of the periodicals in which much verse appeared were emphemeral. The newspapers of the period disappeared more rapidly still. Much of the poetry was published anonymously and has never been identified. The author knows of no bibliography of Southern Poetry; practically all of it is out of print and seemingly few col- lectors have turned their attention to this field.
The plan of the author is to cover the field chronolog- ically, taking for his first period the seventeenth century. The work itself is largely biographical and bibliographical in character. There are few poetical quotations and of literary and artistic criticism of particular poets there is alntost none. That this is a defect is felt by the author, who time and again excuses the imperfection of his work. His
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plea that he is a pioneer in an unworked field, and that material is largely inaccessible must be admitted in part. But it is painful to notice the constancy, the persistence one might almost say, with which he has relied for his literary facts and criticisms on the well known general reference works like Allibone, Duyckinck, Griswold (!!!) Manly, Rutherford, Stedman and Hutchinson (who did not trouble themselves to make use of Southern material that was proffered them), Tyler and others. For biography almost his sole dependence is that g^eat thesaurus of ig- norance and error, known to the trade as Appleton's Cy- clopaedia of American Biography, which as far as the South is concerned is famed for two things — ^the worthy names that are omitted and the blunders that are ad- mitted.
It is little to the author's credit that he has relied on such secondary authorities for his biographies, his bibli- ographies and his literary criticisms. His bibliography of works consulted contains much stuff in the shape of com- pends of literature but few sources that deal to any con- siderable extent with the subject under consideration. The author has browsed widely in the general literature of his subject, but his lack of acquaintance with the local histor- ical literature of the South is profound. For instance he knows nothing of the bibliographical work of Mr. A. S. Salley, Jr., on Simms and Timrod, published in this jour- nal, a knowledge of which would have saved him from painful blunders in the account of Timrod; he actually writes of Alabama without knowing Owen's Bibliography of Alabama ; and according to this authority North Caro- lina has produced a single poet in the person of Lemuel Sjiwyer ! Had the author been only to a small degree ac- quainted with the literature of that State he could not have missed all the following: Herman Husband and the Songs of the Regulation War, 1766-1771 ; George Moses Horton, the slave poet ; George V. Strong ; Attempts at Rhyming,
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by an Oldfield Schoolmaster, 1837; Thomas Godfrey, au- thor of the Prince of Parthia, the first American drama ; Philo Henderson; William Henry Rhodes; A. W. Man- gum ; Mrs. Mason, author of A Wreath from the Woods of Carolina, and a number of others whose work has been preserved in Mrs. Clarke's Wood Notes.
It can hardly be said that the author has added much to the meager total of what was already known of ante bellum Southern poets and which was fairly accessible to students. He has rendered a service in bringing these notes, extracts and criticisms together, but his persistent quotations from secondary authorities when primary ones were either at hand or obtainable for work shows an astonishing ignor- ance of university methods.
A Reprint of Satula and Other Selected Poems, from the Portfolio of Rev. Samuel J. Pinkerton, Augusta, Ga. Cloth, pp. 52 (no place).
"A gentleman of the old school" is a phrase much abused by us now. The thing itself can never suffer abuse: a blending of severity of garb, dignity of manner, stateliness of carriage, formality of diction, loftiness of thought with inward sweetness and grace, bares the head of the most irreverent. To sneer at this, one must be indeed a scof- fer. "A book of the old school," a somewhat rarer thing in nature, is entitled to some regard. The reviewer's hat is off to the slender, sedate, dark-clad volume before him with its traits of an earlier time.
The book is valuable as a survival, as a relic of the Old South. It bears, it is true, the date 1900; it records no in- cident of our past ; but the tone and manner are those of a far-away consulship. The very themes belong to the tokens and gift books of fifty years ago. The poems of nature — of highland ridge and coast inlet — ^the songs of the seasons, the birthday and memorial lines, the verses in a minor key, universal as may be the ideas there em-
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bodied, are laden with the traditions of a bygone taste for generalities. The didactic note, surprisingly dominant in our elder poetry, is all powerful here ; every sheet from the portfolio is fraught with its lesson. The language is clas- sical, often ponderously formal; plain Saxon is pushed aside by periphrases: "Youth" gives to "adolescent life;" "perennial," "verduous" and "abororeous" perform a schoolmaster's duty. The dignified lines move with a heavy step, often pausing too long at an accent or stum- bling over a rhyme. Even the work of the unknown printer and proof-reader abounds in atavisms: "plaintiff chords" is among their quaint blunders.
To summarize in a sentence — ^This book is in the best sense of the word, old-fashioned — ^there can be no finer praise than that.
Frederick Tupper, Jr.
Red Blood and Blue. By Harrison Robertson. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1900, pp. 324. Cloth,
$1.50.
Mr. Robertson, in Red Blood and Blue, and Miss Glasgow in The Voice of the People, write on the same theme — life in the South as affected by the results of the Civil War. Miss Glasgow's story is of political life in Eastern Virginia ; Mr. Robertson's, of social life in Middle Tennessee. In each story the hero, a "poor white," by his ability to work, good sense, force of character, and in- tegrity, wins for himself the recognition and respect of all classes. Each loves, and is loved by, a daughter of one of the "aristocratic" families. Here, however, the parallelism stops. Nick Burr, in Miss Glasgow's story, only for a time loses sight of the social barrier between himself and Eugenia Battle ; and when, in spite of their mutual love, he must leave her finally, he recognizes the fact that the hope of breaking down the barrier between them had always been vain. But Andrew Outcault, in Mr. Robertson's
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story, while knowing that society had placed a barrier be- tween him and Victoria Torrance, at no time regards it as a real barrier, and does not for a moment admit that it can prevent him from marrying her. "I have never loved you for a moment," he said to her, when first telling her of his love, "when I did not know that there were strong bar- riers .between us. At first I did not understand clearly what they were ; but neither then nor later, when I under- stood them fully, did I ever waver in my determination to beat them down or break over them. I knew that I did not put them there, and I made up my mind that I would not be denied the best there was in life because of the acts of others, or the prejudices of caste, for none of which I was responsible."
By "the acts of others" Andrew meant his father's swindling Victoria's father and a good many of the neigh- bors out of some thousands of dollars and then leaving the country. The determination to pay back this money and thus take from the family name that burden of dishonor, was, in his effort to rise, an earlier and a stronger incen- tive than his love for Victoria Torrance.
How Andrew succeeds in his efforts, and how he does win for himself the best in life, Mr. Robertson tells in a story that runs forward rapidly and steadily ; and that sel- dom, if ever, loses sight of the goal. The. story presents types rather than individuals. Feme Run, with its harm- less, gossiping social life, its indolent business life, and its smiling contempt for Andrew Outcault's "projickin' " with "new-fangled" notions is a typical Southern country vil- lage. James York Torrance, a proud, high-bred, gentle- manly relic of the days before the war ;" Captain Hallibur- ton, the kind-hearted, unselfish, hot-tempered Confederate veteran, who always believed that if Forrest had com- manded at Fort Donelson the Confederacy would have succeeded ; and Ony Swangs, the illiterate, vulgar, shrewd.
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but honest, man of affairs, are all types that can be found in many a Southern community.
Outcault wins the love and the hand of Victoria Tor- rance. In such mingling of the red blood and the blue, a contributor to a recent issue of the Atlantic MontMy sees the hope of the "New South." In this writer's opinion, the union of the culture, refinement, and distinction of the "old-time" Southern gentle-folk with the energy, aggres- siveness and thrift of the "middle class" will produce a race inferior to none in the world. If this is correct, "Red Blood and Blue" is not only a good story of contemporary Southern life, but it is a prophecy of that which is to come.
Gl^RGE S.-WlI^LS.
A Carolina Cavalier. A romance of the American Revolution. By George Cary Eggleston. Illustrated by C. D. Williams. Boston: Lothrop Publishing Company. 12 mo, pp. 448, 6 illus., cloth, $1.50.
As a romance this book is fairly readable, the plot is well conceived, but the characters are not well developed, though the interest of the reader should never flag for want of exciting incident. But Mr. Eggleston has signally failed in his endeavor to make all of his "historical refer- ences accurate," and that concerns us most.
On page 35 the author makes it appear that there was "for many years a constant illicit trade between the West Indies and other countries and the Carolina coast," yet on the very next page he quotes Governor Glen to the con- trary effect. Corroboration of Governor Glen is abundant in the South Carolina records.
Beginning with Mrs. Vargave's conversation on page 61, and continuing it throughout the entire book, the author repeats the old and hackneyed charge that there were a great many Tories in South Carolina. At the outset of the Revolution most of the people of South Carolina — many of the leaders of the Revolution — ^were sincerely op-
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posed to a separation from England, but after the massacre of Buford's regiment in the Waxhaws by Tarleton there were very few Tories in all South Carolina who had been citizens of the province previous to 1776, and there were still fewer fighting Tories. As a proof that few citizens of South Carolina were Tories it is only necessary to look at the list of confiscated estates. After the British captured the State they filled it with Tories, but they were brought from the other colonies.
On pages 154-5 Mr. Eggleston gives brief sketches of General Marion and Colonel Peter Horry, and for his statements he must have consulted Weems as authority, for he is wrong in almost every statement.
On page 202 Mr. Eggleston gives us a fictitious letter from Governor Rutledge, dated "Charles Town, April 8, 1779." At that very time Governor Rutledge was in Or- angeburgh. On page 224 it is asserted that General Moul- trie's force was too small to even check Prevost's army on its invasion of South Carolina. It did check it at the gates of Charles Town. Mr. Eggleston accuses Prevost of showing "indecision and hesitation,'* which is directly contrary to the facts, as his conduct on the occasion of his invasion of South Carolina was particularly "dashing."
In dealing with the battle of Stono Mr. Eggleston states that the bulk of Lincoln's army consisted of militia. Gen- eral McCrady's History of South Carolina in the Revolu- tion will refute this, as al^ will original papers in the South Carolina Historical Society's collection.
On page 282 Mr. Eggleston says of Governor Rut- ledge's powers : "Not property alone, but human life and human death also were at his unchecked disposal." This is directly contrary to the expressed terms of the act con- ferring the extraordinary powers on Rutledge.
A hundred errors of more or less importance could be pointed out in this historical novel, but space forbids.
A. S. Salley, Jr.
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The Louisiana Purchase and Our Title West of THE Rocky Mountains, With a Review of Annexation BY THE United States. By Binger Hermann, Commis- sioner of the General Land Office. Washington : Govern- ment Printing Office, 1898. Ills., maps, portraits.
It is a fact not creditable to the officials of the Federal Government that the public utterances on the subject of the boundaries of the Louisiana Purchase have been to- tally lacking in consistency. The average school boy who views the series of maps issued by our Government must be sorely puzzled what to believe. For instance the map of Public Domain, issued in 1880, and the volume of House Miscellanies, bearing the title of "Public Domain of the United States," (1883), both include the so-called Oregon territory in the accessions obtained through the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Yet two years later (1885), H. Gannett, Chief Geographer of the United States, in his "Boundaries of the United States," printed by the Government, says: "It is certain that the area comprised in Washington, Ore- gon and Idaho was not included in the Purchase of 1803." Then, in 1896 the Land Office published a large wall map, which represented the Oregon region as ceded to the United States by France in 1803. But two years later (1898) there comes into court Hon. Binger Hermann, Com- missioner of the General Land Office, who declares that the previous map was incorrect, and in his "Louisiana Pur- chase," which bears the imprimatur of the Secretary of the Interior, gives us a new official map of the United States, excluding the Oregon territory from the cession of 1803.
If, in two brief years, such a change in the point of view can take place, the public is justified in awaiting with curi- osity the next expression of official opinion.
We wish to preface our brief review of this work by saying that we are heartily in accord with Mr. Hermann in his special contention. We appreciate, moreover, the in- teresting and important statistics which he has collected to
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illustrate the value of the accessions of territory made pre- vious to the conclusion of the Spanish- American war. But this is not all that Mr. Hermann has done for us. He has utilized the opportunity to incorporate in his book a gen- eral plea for expansion, which finally bursts into a fulsome eulogy of President McKinley for his wisdom in annexing the Hawaiian Islands to the Public Domain. "As the illus- trious Thomas Jefferson," we are told, "crowned his mem- ory with imperishable fame by his annexation of the em- pire west of the Mississippi, so President McKinley has added to his renown and forever endeared himself to his fellow-countrymen, for [sic] his safe counsels and his un- tiring and zealous aid in the annexation of Hawaii."
As this work was published after our victories of 1898 in the Spanish war, the reader begins to suspect that the lat- ter part of the work, if not the whole, is a thinly disguised campaign document, directed to the anti-expansionists, but published at the public cost. Whatever may be the merits of the controversy, it does not appear that Mr. Her- mann's book, viewed with reference to the issues of the day, exhibits either good taste or good rhetoric.
In dealing, moreover, with historical material, Mr. Her- mann does not show himself at his best. His researches seem to have been neither wide nor deep, and as a result we find in his book a curiously one-sided view of some of the g^eat questions concerning our national boundaries.
In his discussion of the Oregon question, he treats as insignificant the early claims advanced by Great Britain to that region — a point of view that will not be generally ac- cepted by students of American history. Then again, Mr. Hermann evidently believes that Texas was included in the Louisiana Purchase. "For nearly eighty years," he teljs us, "following La Salle's discovery the country named by him as Louisiana remained intact as French possessions." In support of this statement Mr. Hermann seems to rely on the English maps of I\)pple, Moll, and Bowen. Mr. Her-
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mann should at least have told his readers that from 1715 to 1762 Texas was actually occupied and in the possession of the Spanish Government, and that while some valuable maps may be cited to uphold his contention, the excellent French map of Vaugondy (1762) and that of D'Anville and other geographers contradict the claim set up for the French by omitting Texas from the boundaries of Louis- iana. Nothing, nroreover, is said by Mr. Hermann of the views of Henry Adams and H. H. Bancroft, the principal authorities on the Texas boundary question.
Finally the map of the United States, as given us by Mr. Hermann, has the old fault of marking the boundaries of Louisiana in 1803 with the same definiteness with which they were fixed at later dates. For instance the south- western boundary of "Louisiana as ceded by France 1803" is given as it was fixed by the treaty of 1819 and the northern boundary as it was fixed by the treaty of 1818. Does Mr. Hermann mean to assert that these were the proper boundaries in 1803, and not merely compromise lines determined at later dates? He evidently believes (correctly) that they were compromise boundaries, and therefore, he should have placed along these lines the dates of the treaties, as Dr. Channing has wisely done in his map of the United States (see his "Students' History of the U.
S.").
This same lack of accuracy is found in the large map of the United States (published by the U. S. Land Office, 1898), which is evidently based on Mr. Hermann's investi- gations. It and its prototype convey a false idea of our history.
An accurate official map of the United States, showing the accessions of territory, has not yet appeared. It is to be hoped that the American Historical Association will undertake to prepare this important aid to the study of our history.
John R. Ficklen.
Tulane University.
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The Germans in Coi^onial Times. By Lucy Forney Bittinger. Philadelphia and London: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1901, D., pp. 314, map.
This is pre-eminently a Pennsylvania book. It was to Penn's colony that the first German immigp-ation, dating front 1683, was directed; here it reached its high water mark and from Pennsylvania it started again on a second migp-ation which contributed largely to the peopling of the Valley of Virginia and the Piedmont region of the Caro- linas.
The proportions of this Volkerwanderung are seldom realized, yet it brought to America prior to 1783, 150,000 people, composing one-half of the population of Pennsyl- vania besides large settlements in New York, Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas and Georgia, with smaller and un- successful'ones in Maine, New Jersey and Louisiana. The causes of this movement were two fold, religious and so- ciological.
This work traces the effects of Penn's visit to Germany, the first settlement at Germantown and the coming of the Labadists to Maryland. It reviews at some length the many religious quarrels and controversies that occupied the minds of the brethren of Ephrata and the energies of the press of Christopher Saur, the first man in America to print books in German and the first who printed the Bible in an European language.
The chapter on the Germans as pioneers is poorly worked out. Those on German settlements in States other than Pennsylvania, especially the Carolinas and Georgia, are short, fragmentary and very insufficient. The book is a popular presentation only of an interesting subject. The bibliogp^aphy attached (6 pages) contains few sources and there is no evidence in the work itself that it is other than a compilation. The author would seem to be ignorant of the sources of her subject and such a book as Salley's His- tory of Orangeburg County, S. C, with all its wealth of
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materiafs on the Germans finds no place in the bibli- ogp-aphy. There is an excellent index — ^perhaps the spirit of AUibone still hovers over the Lippincott office !
In and Around the Grand Canyon. By George Wharton James. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1900. O., pp. xxiv + 341- 30 full page plates and 70 ills, in text. Cloth, $3.00.
The Grand Canyon of the Colorado River, lying in Northern Arizona, has greatly increased in interest in the last few years. With the development of railroad faciHties and other provisions for physical comfort it is destined to more and more attract visitors to its marvelous scenery and to its unending series of changing phenomena. The Grand Canyon is itself an extensive series of canyons and (together with Marble Canyon) extends for many miles up and down on both sides of the mouth of the Little Colo- rado, which river presents the very curious phenomenon of not draining directly its own banks. The canyon is in places more than a mile in depth and extends sometimes more than twelve miles from rim to rim.
This book is not an account of hasty travel and hurried description. It is the result of ten years' visits by the au- thor to "the most sublime spectacle on earth.*' The en- thusiasm of the author knows no bounds; he describes conditions under which the work was written and they are most surely enough to arouse enthusiasm. He has fol- lowed carefully the trails of early pioneers and explorers ; there are many quotations from early historians and from late writers who have visited this g^eat phenomenon. In fact it is mainly on these later writers that the author de- pends for his description of this vast amphitheatre and its ever changing panorama. He confines his own ac- counts largely t6 the many interesting and often harrow- ing experiences which he has met with in this wild region.
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He has also given names to many important points in the Canyon, some of which are meritorious 'and appropriate, others fanciful and some foolish.
While treating of a country inhabited by Indians and while the Canyon itself was used for many centuries by the peaceful Hopis as a place of refuge and defense against the more warlike Apaches, the Indian appears compara- tively little in its pages apart from two or three chapters devoted to the Supais who still have their home within the limits of the lower end of the Canyon.
The work is intended in part as a guide book for the Canyon traveller and of the ten main trails seven are de- scribed. These include the Lee's Ferry trail ; Red Canyon trail ; the Old trail, incorrectly known as the Hance trail ; the Grand View trail; the Bright Angel trail; Mystic Spring trail; and Peach Spring road. The three unde- scribed are now practically inaccessible. These trails are described with more or less minuteness and consequently to the reader are dull and tiresome, but to the traveller they must be of much service.
There is a chapter on the geological formation of the country ; one on its botany and a three-page bibliography of canyon literature. Heavy plate paper is used ; the type is large and the illustrations clear. There is no index. The work is popular, not scientific in character. Its key- note is enthusiasm. It is always and unreservedly enthusi- astic, sometimes undeservedly enthusiastic and this exhu- berant enthusiasm commits the author to many expres- sions which are more rhetorical and verbose than critical.
In the Second Part of the Seventeenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1898) Mr. Cosmos Mindeleflf has an interesting study of Navajo Houses. The Navajo Indians live on a reservation of about 11,000 square miles in northwest New Mexico and northern Arizona. The
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whole is an elevated plateau, very broken in character, and arid, almost worthless.
But the fortune of the tribe is by no means as hard as it might appear, since they have many large herds of sheep and ponies, the progeny of the flocks stolen in former days from the more peaceful Pueblos, for prior to the American occupation the Navajos lived by war and plunder. As flocks and herds necessitated a movement from place to place this had its influence on the character and style of their architecture. Houses are divided into two classes, for summer and winter use, the form, the location and the ceremonies at the dedication of these houses have been rigidly fixed by immemorial custom. But reservation life, the introduction of agriculture, and a desire to imitate the whites are rapidly changing the architecture of the tribe.
The same volume contains the report of Mr. Jesse Wal- ter Fewkes on his Archaeological Expedition to Arizona in 1895, containing many illustrations of pottery and tools collected.
To Adjutant and Inspector General J. W. Floyd, of South Carolina, the greatest credit is due for his Histor- ical Roster and Itinerary of S. C. volunteer troops in the Spanish-American War (Columbia S. C, R. L. Bryan Co., 1901, pp. 268, illus., cloth). It contains a narra- tive of the movements of every regiment and company or other unit of organization with biographical data of every man in the service. The general regimental sketches, composed by an officer in each, are especially interesting reading apart from their value as military history. ^ One criticism seems fair, there should have been an index of names, for which space could have been easily found by leaving out several pages of the official orders and routine matters. This defect affects the permanent value of this full record of the S. C. volunteers.
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One of the most valuable of recent contributions to Con- federate literature is the History of K:eRSHAw's Brigade, by Col. D. A. Dickert, of Newberry, S. C, who was a cap- tain in the Confederate war and entered service at the ten- der age of fifteen years. This work is a volume of nearly 600 pages and is written in a style graphic and clear. Col. Dickert has done his work carefully and fully. Besides giv- ing accounts of battles in which the brigade took part, the work abounds with well written and valuable biographical sketches. A number of amusing war anecdotes are nar- rated and the volume abounds in likenesses. A very val- uable part of the work is the appendix giving a roll of all the members who belonged to Kershaw's Brigade. The chapter on Secession might well be read to the higher grades of all the graded schools in the South. We cheer- fully recommend this as a good historical work to place in all Southern graded school libraries.
McDonald Furman.
A stirring narrative that seizes the imagination with its fire and force, and yet tempers it with a wholesome gen- erous appreciation of noble qualities on the opposing side, is A Soldier of the Civil War, by a "member of the Virginia Historical Society" (privately printed by Burrows Bros. Co., Cleveland, O., paper, pp. 63, illus.). It is a vivid condensation of Mrs. G. E. Pickett's life of her hus- band, the famous leader in Pickett's charge at Gettysburg. The writer has the rare gift of using the thoughts and facts of the larger work, so skillfully inwoven with his own views, as to make his review seem an original production. Of course he gives frank acknowledgment to Mrs. Pickett.
In a modest little volume, entitled Inside of Rebeldom (Washington, D. C, 1900; 8 vo. pp. 288), Dr. J. P. Cannon, now of McKenzie, Tenn., tells the dramatic story of the daily life of a private soldier in the Confederate army. It
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contains an account of personal experiences in camp, on the march, and on the field of battle. The truthful narra- tive of actual facts in those trying years, 1861 to 1865, is far more thrilling than fiction. Dr. Cannon's work is based on notes made in "a good-sized memorandum book" during the war. He was a member of Co. C, 27th Regi- ment of Alabama Infantry, and the book presents in a large measure the history of this command.
•One of the most useful publications coming from a Southern State in recent years is the North Carolina Year Book for 1901, published by the News and Observer, Josephus Daniels, editor, Raleigh, N. C. (n. d., n. p. [Raleigh (?), 1900], D. pp. [2]+i42+[i8] ; paper, 25 cents ; cloth, 50 cents).
The avowed object of the Year Book is to be to North Carolina what the World Almanac is to the United States. There are gathered here items of information and statistics concerning most phases of the religious, intellectual and industrial life of the State, including statistics of the vari- ous religious denominations, with lists of ministers ; cotton mills,organization and management, number of spindles and looms and amount of capital ; banks ; the organization of various State boards ; lists of the present county officers and of all State officers past and present.
For a new effort in an unworked field the Year Book is creditable, but a more careful proof-reading and more careful editing are required if it is to become an authority. Thus there are errors in the list of governors and in the dates assigned to senatorial terms. Under the heading, "Presidents of the U. S. Senate," it is said "North Carolina has furnished three presidents pro tempore of the United States Senate," Franklin, Macon and Mangiim. The com- piler has omitted Rans"om from the list entirely. He should have also pointed out that Mangum took the place of a vice-president, as Tyler became president, while Franklin
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and Macon served while the regular vice-president was still in oflSce, thus making Mangum's case different from theirs. In another edition the literary and intellectual life of the State should be better represented. Further, in the "His- torical events" inserted against various days in the calen- dar why not use North Carolina names? Mangum's, for instance, for September 7th, instead of Whittier's?
Mr. James F. Hurley, editor of the Tribune, of Con- cord, N. C, has issued a second edition of William S. Har- ris's Historical Sketch of Poplar Tent Church, Cabarrus Co., N. C. (Concord, N. C. : The Tribune, 1901, O. pp. 18, 25 cents). The sketch was first published in 1873 (Charlotte, N. C, O. pp. 17). The church is located in a strong Presbyterian community, which dates from 1732. The church was organized in 1751 by Rev. John Thomp- son, the first Presbyterian missionary in N. C. It has been long noted for its devotion to the cause of education. Rev. John Robinson had a school here (and also in Fay- etteville) for many years, which was hardly less famous than that of Rev. David Caldwell near Greensboro, for he numbered among his pupils Governor Owen, of North Carolina; Govs. Israel Pickens and John Murphy, of Ala- bama; Hons. Charles Fisher, Daniel M. Forney, Henry W. Conner and D. M. Barringer, all of whom were mem- bers of Congress, the latter also being minister to Spain. Dr. Charles Caldwell, world-famous seventy years ago as a physician, and Charles W. Harris, first acting president of the University of North Carolina, also went out from this congregation. The account of Harris is based on tra- dition and on Footers Sketches. Mr. Hurley has done good service in reprinting it.
The North Carolina Bar Association was formed in Raleigh, N. C, February 10, 1899, succeeding an earlier organization which had been allowed to lapse. The new
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society has more than 300 of the foremost lawyers in the State as members, holds an annual meeting and publishes its proceedings in full. This is one of the best signs of its vitality and usefulness. It has issued two volumes of its Proceedings. Volume I (Durham, N. C: The Seeman Printery, 1899, O- PP- ^5^)> contains, besides verbatim re- ports of debates, constitution, roll of members, &c., the annual address by the president, Piatt D. Walker, Esq., anid an historical and legal review of the work of the North Carolina Legislature of 1899, ^Y Hon. H. G. Conner. Volume II (Durham, N. C. : The Seeman Printery, 1900, O. pp. 210), contains, besides the formal details of the Asheville meeting June 27-29, 1900, well executed por- traits of Piatt D. Walker, Charles F. Warren and Charles M. Stedman, the three presidents of the Association, with biographical sketches, and the formal addresses delivered during the session, among them being one of ex-Chief Justice James E. Shepherd, entitled "Some Leaves from Colonial History," which deals with the law in early North Carolina. Each volume is supplied with a full index.
Besides his summary of deaths and events in Camp 435, United Confederate Veterans (Augusta, Ga.), the his- torian, Charles E. Jones, includes in his Eighth Annum, Report several short addresses by members and comrades (paper, 16 pages).
The New York Monument Commission for the Battle- fields of Gettysburg and Chattanooga has issued its final REPORT ON THE Battlefield op Gettysburg in three volumes, extending to 1462 large quarto pages (Albany: 1900, J. B. Lyon Company). There are maps, many illus- trations and an index of ten pages only.
Few books in local and State history have commanded a greater degree of respect from students and scholars
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than the History of Alabama and, incidentally, of Georgia and Mississippi, by Albert James Pickett. This work was first published in two volumes in 1851 (Charles- ton, i2mo., pp. xix+377 and viii+445), and ran through three editions in that year. It is based in part on original printed sources in English, French and Spanish, and in part on the interviews of the author with Indian chiefs and white pioneers during the first half of the 19th century. It is far above the average State history in the author's grasp of his subject, and has been accepted as an authority on the subjects of which it treats. A fourth edition of this valuable work was published by Robert C. Randolph, of Sheffield, Ala., in 1896, in 8vo., pp. 669. It is a verbatim reprint of the earlier editions, the illustrations are the same, and a portrait of Pickett has been added. For present day use the weakness of Pickett lies in the fact that his narration closes with the admission of the State to the Union in 1819. This defect has now been remedied by Mr. Thomas M. Owen. He has prefixed to a new edi- tion of Pickett published by the Webb Book Company (Birmingham, 1900, 8°, pp. 773, port, and ills.), a valuable appendix which he calls Annals of Alabama, 1819-1900. He modestly says "they are not designed to be in any sense a history of the period covered, and are only intended to em- brace in the briefest possible form, consistent with clear- ness and accuracy, the outline facts of that history from the admission of the State into the Union in 1819 to the present time. There is no attempt at literary style. The facts are presented as nearly as practicable in chronologi- cal order.^* As a matter of fact the Annals will serve the general student as a well connected and sufficiently full history for the time covered. Mr. Owen has given some attention to the industrial growth of the State, has added chapters on literary history and bibliography, and has pre- pared an extensive index which is wanting in all earlier editions. The text of Pickett is from the plates of the
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1896 edition, the portrait of Pickett and the illustrations being the same. Mr. Owen's work adds 200 pages to the size of the original.
Among the pamphlets relating to the industrial life of Alabama, the following have been recently published: Birmingham District and the Advantages it Offers (8vo., pp. 27); Commercial Club Exchange (Birming- ham; 8vo., pp. 31); and The New South, Its Steel Plant and Ensley, Ala. (Svo., pp. 16).
The story of the efforts of the women of Alabama, in erecting the Confederate Monument, on Capitol Hill, Montgomery, Ala., is beautifully told by Mrs. I. M. P. Ockenden in a small octavo pamphlet of 95 pages (Mont- gomery, 1900). The effort is traced from the latter part of 1865, when formal steps were taken looking to the erec- tion of a monument down to the 7th of December, 1898, when it was unveiled. One of the most valuable features of the brochure is the account of the unveiling, and the orations and speeches in full of the several participants.
Professor Ernst von Halle, a German student, is at present in this country making a full study of the South with a view, perhaps, to a comprehensive history of that section from the economic side. He has also investigated the Civil War from that standpoint, and in 1906 published a pamphlet of 46 pages on the influences of the blockade on the fortunes of the Confederacy. He considers the work of the Northern vessels as really decisive of the re- sult reached. Several years since he put forth a >^de research on the cotton planting. It is to be regretted that so far none of his labors have appeared in English dress.
Mrs. A. R. Watson, Memphis, Tenn., asks for subscrip- tions to A Royal Lineage, a work of 75 pages, tracing
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back a number of American families to Alfred the Great, price $4.50. It is cordially commended by. President Lyon G. Tyler, William and Mary College, for "its general inter- est and accuracy."
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The birth of another historical periodical is to be chron- icled, The West Virginia Historical Magazine Quar- terly, published by the West Virginia Historical and Antiquarian Society, Charleston, W. Va. The first issue, January, 1901, appears under the editorship of J. P. Hale, President of the Society, and contains 68 pages, subscrip- tion one dollar per annum. Mr. Hale asks from members and "others who may have the will" "trustworthy accounts concisely written of past and current events local. State and general, of historical interest pertaining to the State," including traditions and unpublished matter bearing on early frontier life and explorations, our two wars with England, Mexican, Civil, Spanish, Philippine and Chinese Wars, also "short biographical sketches of persons who have taken a prominent and useful part in the affairs of the State." It is a very comprehensive scheme and Mr. Hale makes a good beginning, though it is unfortunate that he has to give up space to reprints from a contemporary, the West Virginia School Journal. As these articles are al- ready in durable form, a reference to them would guide the future investigator, and Mr. Hale could devote his strength to making available material not yet published, but of course at the start he will suffer from scarcity of such offerings. Naturally, there is a sketch of Charleston, giving considerable details of local interest and value. There is a rather full discussion of the formation of the State, of West Virginia with some light on the present con- dition of mining in the State. Arguments to prove Rum- sey the inventor of the steamboat, a short life of John Laidley, a personal reminiscence of the Battle of Scary in 1861, an enquiry on the disappearance of "wild pigeons," and an extract from a diary giving a very readable descrip-
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tion of Washington's daily existence in 1785, complete the number with the exception of "First Settlers of West Vir- ginia/' a list of frontiersmen, which is perhaps the most important addition to historical knowledge here set forth. In the April number, the editor, J. P. Hale, gives a sketch of a part of the Great Kanawha valley, and describes the improvement of the river for navigation purposes. The detailed steps for organizing the State are given, with lists of State officers to the present. A genealogical paper be- gins in "The Ruff ners," who are traced to Peter Ruffner, a German emigrant to America in 1732. His posterity are now claimed to considerably "exceed one thousand in number." Running heads on every other page would greatly assist a reader in rapidly grasping the contents.
The American Monthly (organ of D. A. R., Washing- ton, D. C), for April and May, a double number, consists of the stenogp-aphic record of the Tenth Continental Con- gress, held February 18-23, 1901. It does seem a waste of valuable printing space to give up some 500 pages to preserving all the words uttered during the six days' ses- sions. But few State legislatures go to such expense, and even the English Parliament is content with a condensa- tion of its debates. From the official reports, the organi- zation, though, has had a most wonderful growth, averag- ing nearly 3,200 new names yearly for the decade of life. The rate of loss for the same period by death, resignation and non-payment of dues, has been less than 300. At present there are about 32,000 paying members. The total receipts, excluding the balance from previous year, are but slightly more than expenditures, each being about $34,000. Hence, a favorable balance is obtainable only through the addition to the roll bringing initiation and annual fees. The magazine, with about 2,800 subscribers, does not pay for itself in money returns, as it costs about $6,000 yearly, while its own receipts are some $2,500. The chief items
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of expense are printing,* over $4,000, and salaries, $1,600. But this expense is properly disregarded because of the great advantages to the society of having an organ, and furthermore it is cheaper to have this monthly publication than an annual report, because the latter would have to be mailed at eight cents a pound, while the other goes at one cent. Mrs. E. M. Avery, who served as editor for 1900, is retained for the present year, and it is certain that she will continue, as far as in her power, that admirable feature of real contributions to history in the shape of documents, archives and other original material.
The June number consists of the annual reports of the State Regents with the official doings of the parent organi- zation at its monthly sessions. Although to masculine students it seems queer to find scattered over the pages of a historical periodical such terms as "musical teas," "pink teas," "literary teas," "light teas," "rich colonial costumes," "rummage sales," "delicious refreshments," "series of tab- leaux," etc., yet the most of these accounts are filled with the details of the work and standing of the local chapters. A few only are gush and splutter.
It is only natural that women should cultivate the social features of their meetings as much as possible, still there are two lines of genuine historical effort that seem to ap- peal strongly to these fair devotees of history ; listing and collecting revolutionary relics, and marking revolutionary graves. ?
The Regent of Iowa, Ida W. Armstrong (these good ladies, whether "strong-minded" or not, all drop the "Mrs." or "Miss" from their signatures), makes a departure from the beaten path. She has a grave criticism of the general meetings-ih Washington, so just and well-balanced, that it would be wise to consider her pregnant warning when she speaks of "a large proportion of delegates who experience nothing but keen disappointment at these annual Con- gresses" (p. 1038). The Georgia Regent very candidly
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refers to three "languishing chapters" that she has been "unable to rally" (p. 1017).
From the monthly Treasurer's report, it is seen that the Congress last February cost $4,742, the largest items being $2,800 for hire of the Opera House, and about $400 for the reception at the Corcoran Art Gallery.
A very handy grouping of the sources of information on the San Jacinto Campaign, fought in Texas in 1836, and ending in the complete defeat of the Mexicans and capture of their general, Santa Anna, is Mr. E. C. Barker's "The San Jacinto Campaign," occupying practically all of the April (1901), issue of the Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association. Mr. Barker ransacked all the au- thorities available, both printed and manuscript. He found so little of the latter that he makes but small claim to "originality of matter." In fact he declares that though there is a good deal published in English, only a slight part is contemporaneous. His compilation covers more than a hundred pages, and no one who ever looks into the subject can fail to be under the deepest obligation to him.
Volume four of the Records of the Columbia Histori- cal Society (Washington, D. C, paper, pp. 248, illus.), is filled with articles that indicate a very worthy aim to culti- vate the local field, but fortunately all such material often touches on the limits of the broader domain. Mr. J. H. Smith a descendant of the founder of the National Intel- ligencer, gives two selections from a manuscript collec- tion that he has inherited, one a private letter of 1829, throwing light on the spcial life of political leaders of the day, and the other a letter from Thomas Jefferton (per- haps printed before), giving his well-known views on re- ligion. Mr. Smith has "several hundred autographic let- ters of distinguished persons" of the i8th and 19th cen- turies, "with a large amount of seemingly valuable manu-
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script." There are letters from John and John Quincy Adams, from Jefferson, Monroe, Madison, Jackson, Franklin, Clay, Calhoun, Randolph, Wirt, and others, with 25 from George Washington. The Society could not do better than to exploit Mr. Smith's files.
There are two biographical contributions on two pic- turesque early citizens of Washington: A. B. Woodward and Thomas Law. Two municipal features are traced to their origin, the Parking system and the Building Regu- lations. Other articles bear on early printing in the city, Washington's interest in the founding of the Capitol here, the Capitol in 1800, the Navy Yard section, and the at- tack on Washington in 1864. The Society has in view no small undertaking, the gathering of material on the old families resident in the District in 1800. For advancing this purpose the rather unusual experiment was tried of inserting an advertisement in the daily press asking for the cooperation of descendants. It is very gratifying to note that Mr. James F. Hood, the chairman of the com- mittee having the matter in charge, realizes the great dan- gers of this expedient and the enormous difficulties in the way of getting full and accurate data except at consider- able expenditure of time and money. This spirit of care on all the pages would make these Records more valuable, though it is recognized that the members might wish to combine the interesting and serious. Several of the con- tributions, while very readable, are faulty from the stand- point of permanent additions to historical knowledge in that they ignore foot notes and fail to g^ve sources of information. These defects put them far below the best methods of historical work, even though they may be entertaining to the audience when delivered.
The Journal of Proceedings and Addresses of the 9th annual meeting of the Southern Educational Association, held at Memphis, December 27-29, 1899, is a well printed.
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cloth-bound volume of 333 pages (for sale by the Secre- tary, P. P. Claxton, Greensboro, N. C). It is filled with educational papers on a level with the best from similar organizations anywhere in this country. Naturally, we should not expect much history in these pages, but there is one article permeated with that element. President Charles W. Dabney's "Washington's Work for Educa- tion," which is really a strong plea for a national univer- sity. President Dabney reads that conclusion from Wash- ington's life and writings and a skilful, masterly argument does he base on this foundation.
Financially the Association seems to be on solid ground, as there is a fair surplus in the treasurer's report. The membership, too, is very representative, covering all the Southern States and mounting to some 250. The success of this body, which is only ten years old, would appear significant as indicating that regional combinations are needed intermediate between the national unit and local ones. The smaller branch may be too limited and isolated for greatest good, while the central one is too large, un- unwieldly and remote. The three kinds might meet all demands and provide opportunity for fullest measure of all activities.
In the Proceedings of the Trustees of the John P. Slater Fund for the Education of the Preedmen (paper, pp. 46, 1901), we have a most profound summary of the vast importance of the negro question from the pen of Dr. J. L. M. Curry, the chairman of the Educational Committee. He makes an earnest appeal for a thorough consideration of the matter by the President and the Congress of the United States. In the line of this view, the Trustees at the annual meeting, April 3, 1901, passed resolutions em- powering "the Chairman, the Treasurer and the General Agent" to take steps "for bringing before the next Con- gress the desirability of the appointment of a National
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Commission, to inquire into the present condition of edu- cation among the negroes of the South." Dr. Curry was also requested in his next report "to add a brief history of the John F. Slater Fund and state what it has accom- plished." A highly appreciative minute of the character and services of the Hon. W. L. Wilson, as trustee, was adopted. The Treasurer's report shows an income of $77r 637, and an expenditure of nearly the same amount, includ- ing $16,000 for investments. The appropriations, $55,000, go chiefly to some ten institutions through the South, mainly to encourage industrial training. The reports from these schools indicate great hopefulness.
Thb Confederate Veteran for May (Nashville, Tenn.), contains very pleasant reminiscences of the spring of 1861, before the storm burst, by Mrs. P. F. Edmonds, showing how little the bulk of people anticipated the war, and how painful it was to break the ties. Among the mass of thrilling adventures and incidents described in this issue, one of the most remarkable is the account of Adam John- son, a daring soldier of the type of Forrest.
The Lost Cause (Louisville, Ky.), for April, is chiefly filled with announcements and other advance information of the Confederate Reunion to be held at Memphis, Tenn., May 28-30th. There are now 1,331 camps noted, with applications for over a hundred more. The sponsors are increasing very rapidly, there being some 5,000 of these entitled to attend, but not to be entertained. Only 46 of these will be officially recognized as guests of the Re- union, in consequence there will be much pouting and dis- appointment.
In the issue for May is the address of Hon. J. L. M. Curry before the Southern Society of New York, on Feb- ruary 22d, a profound discussion of the consequences of the Civil War. Incidentally he makes a strong appeal for
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better educational facilities and for a memorial to South- ern women.
The Methodist Review (Nashville, Tenn.), for May- June, contains two historical articles, both popular in character, but neither one making any addition of import- ance to exact historical knowledge: "Lorenzo Dow in Mississippi," by Bishop C. B. Galloway; and "Rev. John W. P. McKenzie," by G. C. Rankin.
The American Historical Review for April has an article by Prof. George L. Burr, in which he reviews the arguments against the well-accepted belief that the world was coming to an end in the year 1000. The earliest refer- ence to this belief dates from 1605, but "like all good stories it grew." Not only is there no contemporary evi- dence to show that this belief was general, and hence a leading cause of the first Crusade, but at that date the Christian calendar was itself yet a novel thing. Monkish chronicles had begun to employ it at an early date, but John XIII. was the first Pope to use it and this was about 970 A. D. Its use "did not become general in the west of Europe till after the year 1000." The story was exploded in France by Plaine in 1873, irkdependently by Rosieres in 1878, and by Roy in 1885 ; in Germany by Von Eicken in 1883, and in Italy by Orsi in 1887.
The rise of Metropolitan Journalism, 1800-1840, is treat- ed by Charles H. Levermore. James Ford Rhodes has a chapter on Sherman's march to the sea, in which both the strategic importance and the brutal ruthlessness of the march are emphasized. The reviews include one on Stevens's Thomas iHariot, by C. S. Peirce, in which the subject is considered only as a mathematician and not as the first historian of Virginia. Edward D. Collins reviews, unfavorably, Spears's American Slave Trade; Gen. Basil W. Duke reviews Fiske's Mississippi Valley in the Civil
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War, and Gen. H. V. Boynton Cox's Military Reminiscen- ces of the Civil War.
A short time since in the Popular Science Monthly (November, 1900), Prof. Geo. P. Garrison, University of Texas, Austin, Tex., had a very broad and thoughtful dis- cussion of the views on history advanced by Mr. Jas. P. Rhodes in his address before the American Historical As- sociation as President, at the previous annual meeting of that body. In the world of the intellect Mr. Rhodes ranks history below literature, below mathematics and below the physical sciences. He also considers ancient writers on Jthe subject greater than modern. Prof. Garrison criticises these conclusions in a very scholarly spirit, but he and Mr. Rhodes ag^ee in condemning the prolixity of the au- thors in the present era.
A strong and beautiful appeal did Major Graham Daves make in his memorial address at Raleigh, N. C, on May loth (The Morning Post, May 11, 1901), for the preserva- tion of noble deeds and undying devotion to duty. As ex- amples of valor and endurance, he graphically sketched the part North Carolina troops have taken in the wars waged in this land.
In the Washington Post of March 14 and 19, 1901, it was said that in 1865 the Confederate Government sent an agent to offer retrocession of Louisiana to Napoleon III. in return for his armed intervention in our Civil War. C. J. Polignac, who was claimed to have been the bearer of this message, denied the whole story in a letter of April 17th, from Cannes, France, to Gen. M. J. Wright, which subsequently appeared in the daily press, one instance being the Charleston News of May 26, 1901.
In the Buffalo Courikr (N. Y.), of June 5, 1901, is a very interesting interview with Col. John B. Brownlow, who has charge of the U. S. Post Office exhibit at the Pan-American Exposition, describing some of the rare his-
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torical relics that are shown. One of the most striking is a small ledger of a little over 100 pages in which Frank- lin kept the accounts of the whole Post Office Department for three years, from 1775 to 1778. Another is the desk that Jeflferson used in penning the Declaration of Inde- pendence.
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Ture Eleventh Confederate Veteran Reunion, held at Memphis, Tenn., May 28-30, 1901, was in many respects the most successful ever held. There were 2,309 delegates, representing some 1,350 Camps, Texas leading with 451 delegates from 129 Camps. The total number of visitors brought into the city was claimed by the local committees of management to be over 125,000.
In the regular parade on the third day 4,000 veterans were in line. The procession composed of these, of the carriages of the sponsors and guests, and other organiza- tions, required one and a half hours to pass a given point.
A very unusual feature on such occasions was the flower parade, on the second day. May 29th, in which paper imita- tions were used instead of the natural blossoms.
There were two balls, to both of which veterans were admitted free ; one on the night of May 29th, by the Sons of Veterans, and the other, the regular one on such occa- sions, on the night of May 30th. Both were held in the Reunion Hall, and were largely attended.
On the third day. May 30th, the corner-stone of the Forrest Monument was laid with appropriate ceremonies.
At the opening session of the convention. General Geo. W. Gordon, of Memphis, was the temporary presiding of- ficer. Mr. Bennett H. Young, of Louisville, Ky., was the annual orator, an address being also delivered by Bishop Gailor. The most important measures of the Convention were: (i) the decision to take steps within ninety days, for the construction of the Battle Abbey at Richmond, Va., for which there were reported, cash $81,296, subscriptions $81,307, balance on Rouss offer $60,000, totaling with other items $228,170; (2) the adoption of a resolution absolutely forbidding the invitation of non-Confederates to a Re-
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union, except by the delegates in convention assembled; (3) adoption of a resolution requesting Congress to appro- priate a sufficient amolint to care for Confederate graves in Northern cemeteries; (4) adoption of a resolution of thanks to Congress and the President for the appropria- tion to reinter the Confederate dead of Washington in the National Cemetery; (5) adoption of the historical report which breathed the most fraternal sentiments ; (6) adoption of resolution asking for subscriptions to erect a monu- ment to Southern women, with Gen. A. P. Stewart, secre- tary, Chattanooga, Tenn. ; (7) report of Davis Monument Association of cash $32,672, subscriptions $10,727; (8) services in memory of Winnie Davis, with prayer by Rev. Dr. Perry, and address by Rev. Geo. C. Harris.
By unanimous acclamation, all the old officers were re- elected, as follows : Commander-in-Chief, General John B. IGordon; Commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, General Wade Hampton; Commander of the Army of the Tennessee, General S. D. Lee; Commander of the Army of the Trans-Mississippi, General W. L. Cabell.
After a spirited contest, by a vote of 1,263 to 1,046, Dal- las, Texas, was selected as the next meeting place, against Louisville, Ky.
The Southern Ladies' Memorial Association met also in Memphis, one of their most important exercises being the solemn services in memory of Jefferson Davis.
The Sons of Confederate Veterans also convened in Memphis, holding their Sixth Annual Convention. They reported $700 collected for the monument to Southern Women, with $5,000 of subscriptions. They chose officers for the coming year as follows: Commander-in-Chief, Judge R. B. Haughton, St. Louis, Mo.; Commander of the Department of Northern Virginia, Edwin P. Cox, of Richmond, Va.; Commander of the Department of the Army of the Tennessee, W. A. Collier, Jr., of Memphis,
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Tenn. ; Commander of the Department of the Trans-Mis- sippi, W. M. Kavanaugh, of Little Rock, Ark.
The Chapman Paintings. — ^Through the energy of Mrs. Joseph Bryan, of Richmond, Va., the Confederate Museum there has come into the possession of a very rare and valu- able memento of the Civil War, the 31 oil paintings made at Charleston, S. C, during the winter of 1863-1864, by Conrad Wise Chapman, an artist of distinction, who left his studio at Rome to assist the South. These produc- tions are of special historical importance, as he chose his subjects from the forts, batteries and other defences for Charleston, a very unusual design. Mrs. Bryan raised the purchase funds by appeals through the South, securing contributions from every Southern State except Louisiana and Arkansas.
Reburial of Confederate Dead. — In keeping with President McKinley's fraternal sentiments at Atlanta, De- cember 14, 1898, Congress in the summer of 1900 (June 6th), appropriated $2,500 for removing the remains of 128 Confederate soldiers from the National Soldiers' Home at Washington to Arlington, and for marking the graves of these and 136 others already buried at Arlington. But quite a protest has been made against this step by some members of Confederate Women's Memorial Societies on the ground that no monument could ever hereafter be erected to these dead without the consent of Congress. Prominent leaders though among Confederate veterans have strongly endorsed the act of Congress, and have in- terested themselves in quieting the opposition to it. It is to be hoped they will be successful.
South Carolina Monument at Chickamauga. — On May 27th, with solemn exercises, there was dedicated in Chickamauga Park, a monument to the South Carolina soldiers who fought in that bloody battle. Addresses were delivered by Gen. C. Irvine Walker, Governor M. B. Mc- Sweeney, Hon. D. S. Henderson, Col. J. Harvey Wilson,
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Notes and Queries, 347
Bishop Ellison Capers, and Gen. Henry V. Boynton, the last a Northern general whose speech seems to have par- ticularly touched the hearts of has former opponents as he paid such frank and hearty tribute to Southern courage and valor. The memorial is a product of the State of South Carolina, designed and built by a local firm in Co- lumbia, of granite from the State. It is some 37 feet high, surmounted by a bronze palmetto tree, with metal tablets at the base, bearing inscriptions composed by Bishop (General) Ellison Capers.
Th^ Olivia Raney Free Library, of Raleigh, N. C, which has been mentioned in the Publications already (III. p. 264), was formally dedicated and opened to the public on January 24th. The speech of presentation was made by Rev. Dr. M. M. Marshall for the trustees, and that of ac- ceptance on behalf of the people of Raleigh by R. T. Gray, Esq. The Library occupies its own home, which is a new brick building within a stone's throw of the Capitol. It contains some 5,000 volumes and is intended to be both a reference and a circulating library, but mainly the latter. The building and library are the gift of Mr. Richard Bev- erly Raney to the city in memory of his deceased wife, who was Miss Olivia Blount Cowper, and represents an outlay of about $40,000. No other library gift, equal in value, has ever been made in North Carolina. It is believed that the library will be supported and enlarged out of the municipal treasury.
The Race Issue seems very likely to come up even in the D. A. R., as there is a probability that some colored ladies will apply for membership in this hereditary organi- zation on the basis of help furnished the American cause by the loaning of money to the American Government dur- ing the war with England. Through the energy of Mrs. Amos G. Draper a list has been compiled from U. S. Treasury records of persons who lent capital to the Ameri-
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can authorities. Some of these patriots were negroes, and it is said that some of their descendants will make applica- tion for membership, claiming eligibility under that clause of the constitution of the Daughters of the American Revolution which admits those who "rendered material aid."
The Lee- Washington relics, which have been in the National Museum in the possession of the United States 'Government for more than a third of a century, have been ordered by President McKinley to be restored to Gen. C W. C. Lee. When General R. E. Lee's home, Arling- ton, was occupied by the General Government during the Civil War, these interesting mementoes of Washington were removed for safe keeping by the officer in command. President Johnson, in 1869, instructed the Secretary of the Interior to return them to Mrs. R. E. Lee, but the House of Representatives passing a resolution against this step, nothing further was done until the action of the President in April, though the Lee family made eflforts to get them. They comprise Washington's tent, several china services, vases and other household articles.
A Tablet to Washington in commemoration of his visit to Charleston, S. C, in 1791, has been erected on the house that he occupied, at that time the residence of Judge Heyward, and now that of Mr. Fuseler. This memorial is due to the efforts of a member of the Daughters of the Revolution.
At the unveiling of this tablet on May 23d, in Charles- ton, Mr. Yates Snowden delivered a very interesting ad- dress, dealing with the incidents of the occasion and de- tailing some of the traditions connected with those who entertained the august visitor. Happily, Mr. Snowden's investigations are preserved in the Sunday News (Charleston, May 26, 1901).
The Remains of General Nathaniel Greene were
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discovered in the Colonial Cemetery at Savannah, Ga., last March by Colonel Asa B. Gardner, President of the Rhode Island Society of the Cincinnati. The identification was made by means of the name-plate, army buttons and rusted fragments of the sword.
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Vol. V. S^j^MBEEvl90l. No. 5.
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ISSUED BI-MONTHLY.
CONTENTS :
PAGE
The Louisiana Purchase vs. Texas John R. Ficklen. 351
Henry Baker and Descendants, Miles White, Jr. 388
Lost Cow)ny of Roanoke, 401
Book Reviews, 406
Periodical Literature, 438
Notes and Queries 446
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Colonel Gborgb A. P0RTERFIE1.D. Senator S. Pasco.
SECRETARY AND TREASURER: Coi^YBR Meriwbthrr. Ph. D., Washington, D. C.
ADMINISTRATIVE COUNCIL: (lu addition to the aboTc-named Officers):
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Colonel R. A. Brock. Professor H. Schobnfbi.d.
Mr. T. L. Coi,E. Professor Lucian Johnston.
Professor R. Heath Dabney. Mr. Thomas H. Culrk.
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Pursuant to a call signed by nearly a hundred representative persons of the South, the Southern History Association was organized at the Columbian University, Washington, D. C, on the evening of April 24, 1896, for the pur- pose of studying the history of the Southern States. In carrying out this aim an annual meeting is held, and a Bi-monthly Publication issued. The Associ- ation also desires contributions of journals, letters, manuscripts and other ma- terial towards the beginning of a collection of historical sources. It will gladly accept papers based on research and documents on all subjects touching the South.
All persons, as well as libraries, interested in the work are eligible for membership, without initiation fee ; annual dues $3.00, life dues $30.00. There is no other expense to members, who receive all current publications of the Association free of charge.
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Vol. V. SsPTiMBBB, 1901. No. 6.
WAS TEXAS INCLUDED IN THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE?
By Professor John R. Ficklkn.
It is the purpose of this paper to discuss the question whether the present State of Texas was included in the territory of Louisiana as purchased in 1803 during the administration of Thomas Jefferson. It may seem to many persons that this question was practically settled in 1819 when by treaty with Spain we acquired the Floridas and gave up all claims to Texas; or that in any case, it has been sufficiently discussed in the past. It should be remembered, however, that nearly all the distinguished American statesmen of the first quarter of the last century maintained that in the treaty of 1819 with Spain, the United States, for reasons of expediency, relinquished claims to Texas that could have been made good before any fair-minded court of arbitration. Moreover, a reason for reopening the discussion may be based on the fact that a few years ago, Mr. Henry Adams, a grandson of John Quincy Adams, published in his History of the United States the recently discovered instructions given by Napo- leon to General Victor when the latter was preparing to
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take possession of Louisiana in the name of France. As these instructions show the intention of France to occupy Louisiana as far as the Rio Grande, at least one distin- guished student of history, Dr. Channing, of Harvard, de- clares that it was reserved for Mr. Adams to prove con- clusively that "in 1803 the United States had a perfect title to Texas." Accordingly, in Dr. Channing's own History of the United States (1899), ^^ ^"^ ^ "^^P ^^ ^^^ Louisi- ana Purchase, which embraces in the territory acquired all Texas to the Rio Grande.
History has been described as "a collection of prob- lems rather than a statement of facts." Whether Mr. Adams has really discovered the key to the Texas prob- lem seems to the present writer an open question.
It may be added that the subject has of late acquired a new interest from the fact that the centenary of the pur- chase of Louisiana is to be celebrated in 1903, and it is ex- pected that even if the several States carved out of the purchased territory do not decide to hold separate cele- brations, they will at least send representatives to the splendid ceremonies to be held in St. Louis.^ The State of Texas has already thrown down the gage, and one of her Senators, after quoting a number of authorities (not including, however, either Mr. Henry Adams or Dr. Chan- ning), has recently asserted that "there can be no doubt that Texas was a part of the Louisiana Purchase."
The question, therefore, is once more befo.re us, with new light thrown upon it by Mr. Adams, and with the kindest of feelings towards the State of Texas, the present
* It would certainly seem that the appropriate place in which to celebrate the acquisition of Louisiana is New Orleans; for this city was long the capital of the province, and it was here that the transfer from Spain to France and from France to the United States took place. Unfortunately for New Orleans the wealthy city of St. Louis was able to bid a lar^e sum for the honor and its action was rewarded by a large subsidy from Congress.
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writer wishes to advance a view that is adverse to her present claims.
For the sake of clearness in dealing with a subject on which diplomatists and historians have taken opposite sides for a hundred years, it will be best to give a brief historical sketch of Texas history and then consider under separate heads the testimony of the old cartographers, the testimony of the diplomatic agents who represented France, Spain, and the United States whenever the ques- tion came up for discussion ; the testimony of writers on international law, and the testimony of the historians, and the conclusions which this paper is intended to embody.
Historical Skctch.
On Easter Sunday of the year 1513 Ponce de Leon dis- covered the land of Florida for the Crown of Spain; but the earliest explorers to reach the shore of Texas were the ill-fated followers of Panfilo de Narvaez. In the year 1528 De Narvaez landed in Florida with a commission to govern the provinces on the mainland from the "Rio de las Palmas in Mexico to the Cape of Florida." After a fruit- less attempt to conquer the western portion of Florida, the Spaniard sailed westward with his followers until some forty of them under the treasurer of the expedition, Ca- beza de Vaca discovered the mouth of the Mississippi, and finally landed on the coast of Texas, either at Galveston or at St. Joseph's Island. Here they fell into the hands of the Indians, and for six years those that survived were treated as slaves. Finally, De Vaca and three companions made their escape, marched across Texas by^ route the exact line of which is still a matter of dispute* among scholars, and reached a little Spanish settlement in Mex- . ico. They brought with them such wonderful stories of the "seven cities of Cibola," described to them by the Indians
* See Quarterly of Tex. State Hist. Assoc, 1899-1900.
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as full of gold and precious stones, that several ex^pedi- tions were sent out by the excited Spaniards to penetrate through Texas to the north. Moreover, when De Vaca returned to Spain, the recital of his adventures stirred the famous De Soto to undertake the exploration in which he rediscovered the Mississippi, and lost his life on its banks. His followers descended the river, and coasted Texas until they reached Mexico (1539-1542).'
One hundred and fifty years passed. The Spaniards, though they had explored Texas, and though they con- tinued throughout this period to traverse its broad plains from time to time, had made no actual settlements within its limits. Santa Fe, in New Mexico, had been settled perhaps as early as 1605, ^"^ St. Augustine in 1565 ; but in the year 1685 Santa Fe had been temporarily wrested from the Spaniards by the Indians. The Spaniards had retired to El Paso del Norte on the west bank of the Rio Grande ; there was no settlement east of that- river.
About this time vague rumors reached Mexico that the French were going to attempt a settlement in Texas. As the Spaniards regarded Texas as part of the royal domain discovered and explored by their countrymen, and as the King Philip II. had issued a decree excluding all for- eigners from the Gulf of Mexico as a niare clatistim, steps were taken to prevent all intrusions. Nevertheless in the year 1685 the famous Frenchman, Robert Cavelier de la Salle, with a band of colonists, landed at Matagorda Bay on the coast of Texas. Three years before La Salle had penetrated from Canada to the Mississippi, and following the river to its mouth, he had taken possession of the whole Mississippi valley and of the coast "as far west as
"Brown (History of Texas, I. p. 6) says: "The first formal claim of the Spanish crown to Texas was made in 1540 by Cor- onado at the Indian village of Ysleta on the Rio Grande, now in El Paso County, Texas."
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the River of Palms."* After making this splendid prepara- tion to settle a region discovered by Spain so many years before and still claimed by that power, La Salle returned to France, and in 1685 brought over a colony destined for the banks of the Mississippi. Unfortunately, he missed the mouth of the great river, and landed 400 miles to the west.*' On his arrival in Matagorda Bay, La Salle at first believed that he was in the vicinity of the Mississippi, and when he discovered his error, he determined to transport his colonists in his only remaining vessel to the banks of the great river. The boat, however, was wrecked and La Salle built a fort for his colonists, and made a little settlement on the Lavaca river. Then with some of his trusty followers he made several explorations with the hope of finding the Mississippi and obtaining assistance , for his colony. Two years passed ; the colonists were re- duced to about a score in number. It seemed as if they would soon perish utterly, and in 1687 La Salle himself fell by the bullet of one of his own dastardly companions. His tragic death casts a dark shadow across the romantic history of early Texas. It is noteworthy that La Salle's brother, who escaped to Canada, tells us that forty-five miles from the settlement in Texas he found the arms of Spain at an Indian village. They were engraved on a copper plate and bore the date 1588. The Indian inhabit- ants of the village had two cannon, some old sword blades, some books of Spanish comedy; "all which con-
*The Rio de las Palmas on Sanson's map of' 1757 seems to be the Rio Bravo, but Vaugondy's map of 1762 makes it a river south of Nouveau Leon in Mexico, or the modern Conchas(}),
•J. G. Shea, quoting some significant passages m Margry's Documents I. and II, maintains that the real object of La Salle was not to settle Louisiana, but to conquer for France, the Santa Barbara mines in Mexico. He certainly meditated hostile ex- peditions against the Spaniards, but Shea does not prove his con- tention that **La Salle went intentionally to Texas as part of his operations against New Biscay." Compare Shea's Penalosa with Margry IL 515, et. seq.
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vinced us that the Spaniards had been there."* However this may be, it was upon this unintentional landing and brief settlement by La Salle that the French ever after- wards based their strongest claim to the plains of TexasJ
It would have been a sad day for La Salle's colonists if the Spanish troops, sent out in 1686-7 had discovered them; it would doubtless have been a repetition of Me- nendez's descent on Ft. Caroline in 1565. Finally, a de- serter from La Salle's fort reached Mexico, and in 1689 another expedition under Governor Alonzo de Leon reached the spot on which the foundations of French do- minion in Texas had been temporarily laid. Here De Leon found not a living soul ; only ruins and the bodies of two Frenchmen left unburied. Evidently the Indians had fallen upon the weak little band of settlers and massacred the greater number. Later on two of La Salle's follow- ers, "naked except for an antelope's skin, with their faces, breasts and arms painted like Indians," presented them- selves to the Spaniards, and under a promise of good treatment, were carried off to Mexico, and thence to the dungeons of Spain. Subsequently the Indians surrendered to the Spaniards a few more of La Salle's followers, whom they had captured in the fort.
Much disturbed by the possibility of losing Texas through another incursion of the French, the Spanish government decided to adopt its usual method of occupy- ing a country. This was to send out missions among the Indians, which should gather around them the savages to be christianized and civilized, while attached to each mis- sion for its protection against the converts {Indios redu-
• See Parkman's La Salle for this incident.
'Texas seems to have gotten its name from the Tejas Indians living between the Colorado and the Trinidad. Bancroft thinks it was perhaps a descriptive term meaning friends, "At first,'* says Dr. McCaleb, "it was applied to the principal settlement of the Spaniards, and then extended to the whole country." Sec Yoakum for another interpretation of the word.
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cidos), and the unconverted (Indies braves), was a presidio or fort, filled with soldiers. Accordingly, in 1690, one year after the destruction of La Salle's colony, the first Span- ish mission, San Francisco de los Tejas, was established among the Texas Indians to the east of the Trinidad river. But neither this nor a second mission that followed it was successful. The Indians rebelled against the enforced civilization, especially when the licentious soldiery began to treat them with gross indignity. Nothing seemed pos- sible except to give up the occupation of the country until some pressing necessity made it expedient, or the disposition of the savages showed itself more amenable to Spanish domination. For more than twenty years, therefore (1693-1716), neither Spain nor France made any further attempt to occupy Texas. Claims to the national ownership of the country remained in abeyance. The first quarter of the i8th century was to witness a vigorous re- vival of the contention.
The first move was made by the French. Though La Salle had perished and his colony had perished with him, the great valley of the Mississippi named ip honor of Louis XIV. was not forgotten by that monarch. In 1699, not without a protest from Spain, the French government sent another colony to take possession of the country watered by the great river. The first permanent settle- ment was made on what is now the site of Ocean Springs, Mississippi (Old Biloxi). The colony, however, did not flourish, and in 171 2 the whole province of Louisiana, as far north as the Illinois and westward to New Mexico and Old Mexico, was transferred to Crozat, a rich banker of France, as chartered owner.
There now appears upon the scene one of the most ro- mantic characters in the early history of Louisiana. This was the shrewd trader, bold explorer, and gallant lover, Louis de St. Denis. In 1713 or 1714 Crozat's governor conceived the plan of sending St. Denis to Mexico to open
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trade with the Spaniards. The execution of this plan re- quired consummate skill ; for the Spaniards were as jealous of their commerce as of their possessions. St. Denis, hop- ing for advancement and private profit, entered into the plan with enthusiasm. Passing through the Indian settle- ment of Natchitoches, he crossed Texas in 1714, and vis- ited the Spanish presidio of San Juan Bautista to the west of the Rio Grande. Here he fell in love with the grand- daughter of the commandant, whom he afterwards mar- ried. In the following year we find him in Mexico, still carrying on negotiations with the government. What agreement he made with the Spanish government is dis- puted, but it sems likely that he agreed to assist the Span- iards in establishing missions in Texas, and that in return he was taken into the employment of the Spanish govern- ment, and vague promises of trade between the French and Spanish possessions were held out by the Spanish viceroy. Whatever may have been the exact terms agreed upon, St. Denis actually accompanied a Spanish expedition which in 1 716 established a number of missions, with a presidio, between the Trinity and Red rivers. This step taken by St. Denis, doubtless with the consent of the French gover- nor, proved fatal to French claims to the soil of Texas. Spain never relinquished her grasp until she lost her Mexi- can colonies in the 19th century. When St. Denis at- tempted actually to open trade with Texas and Mexico, his goods were seized and he himself was thrown into prison. The French governor soon discovered that he had introduced into his neighborhood an enemy that would have to be kept in check to prevent his occupying the country as far as the Mississippi itself.®
" It was about this time that the French established themselves at Natchitoches. Penicant, who is not trustworthy in the matter of dates, says St. Denis left merchandize at Natchitoches on his way to Mexico in I7i4(?) with ten men to guard it, and that soldiers were sent there in 1715 to build a fort, which was visited in 1716 by the Spanish commandant. H. H. Bancroft is not de-
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In 1 719, either through the influence of his Spanish wife or his own ingenuity, St. Denis had escaped from his Mexican prison and was back in Louisiana. This very year the welcome news came to him at Natchitoches that war had been declared between France and Spain. While Bienville attacked the Spaniards at Pensacola, St. Denis conducted a raid into Texas. Priest and soldier alike fled before his onslaught, and all that could took refuge in the Spanish mission of San Antonio. Here they re- mained for two years, when the governor of Coahuila and Texas received orders to reconquer all Texas. This task he promptly accomplished. St. Denis, who met him on the river Neches, seems to have made no objection to the reoccupation of the missions, which ^nakes Bancroft sus- pect that the raid of two years before was intended only to give the Spaniards "a temporary scare." Yet in the year of the counter raid, Benard de la Harpe, who two years before had penetrated into Texas some eighteen leagues west of Natchitoches and had carried on a spirited corre- spondence with the Spaniards in regard to his right to be there, was sent to establish a French settlement on Mata- gorda Bay. His force was not strong enough to meet the opposition of the Indians, who declared that "it was not proper for people of their colors to remain together,"* and compelled this last of French colonies on the coast of Texas to depart.
A few years later the Spanish government made great preparations to introduce into Texas bona Me settlers, who should hold the country more firmly than either mission or presidio. But out of four hundred families that were
finite as to the date of the establishment, though he indicates that it was already occupied as a fort by the French in 1716. Finally the Journal Historique (Beaurain) says: "In January. 1717* Cadillac sent a sergeant and some soldiers to take possession of the post at Natchitoches, which the Spaniards were about to seize." The Spanish mission of Adaes not far away was certainly established in 1716. • See the Journal Historique (Beaurain).
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to be brought over from the Canaries, only 15 came. Homesick and wretchedly poor they eked out a miserable existence at San Antonio. They served the purpose, how- ever, to reinforce the claims of Spain. "One family," said the Marquis de Aguayo, "is worth a hundred soldiers.''
The occupation of Texas by the Spaniards seems to have been accepted by the French as an accomplished fact. An occasional murmur of protest comes from New Orleans ; but in 1735, when the French moved their post of Natchi- toches to the west bank of the Red river, the Spanish com- mandant was bold enough to protest against what he termed an encroachment on Spanish soil, which he main- tained extended to the banks of the Red. St. Denis, who must have been handicapped by the part he had played in establishing the missions of 1716, refused to suspend the transfer of the post ; but modestly claimed as a boundary between Texas and Louisiana a line running between the Adaes and Natchitoches tribes. Unfortunately, no of- ficial boundary line was thought necessary, and though the question was discussed in the diplomatic circles of Spain, the answer was left to the future.*®
The Province of Louisiana Ceded to Spain.
In the meantime the rival claimants traded with each o<her and ceased to be enemies. At the end of the Seven Years' War in 1762 a sudden and secret diplomatic move on the chess board of Europe dispelled the possibility of conflict by transferring to Spain all that portion of Louis-
" Judge Martin in his History of Louisiana says: "On Bayou des Lauriers six miles S. W. by South from Natchitoches, and fifteen miles from Adaes, where the road to Nacogdoches crossed the Bayou, the French had placed leaden plates on a tree on each side of the road, with an inscription expressing that the spot was the boundary between the French and Spanish dominions, without indicating the continuation of the line on either side. Similar plates were placed at Yatassees, 50 miles N. W. of Natchitoches. The line from Bayou des Lauriers to the sea was never run, and each party claimed more than the other would allow."
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iana lying west of the Mississippi with the island of Orleans on the left bank." Spain had received more than she had asked for — nay, more than she really wanted. She accepted the gift, however, and kept it until the treaty of Ildephonso in 1800, but it is noteworthy that she never put Louisiana and Texas under one Government; she always regarded them as separate provinces.
Louisiana Re-Ceded to France.
In the year 1800, by the secret treaty of Ildephonso^a second secret treaty, it will be noted — the king of Spain ceded to Napoleon Bonaparte all Louisiana in return for certain rights guaranteed to the Duke of Parma. The third article of this important treaty was as follows : "His Catholic Majesty promises and engages to retrocede to the French Republic * * * the colony or province of Louisiana with the same extent it now has in the hands of Spainy and that it had when France possessed it, and such as it should be after the treaties subsequently entered into between Spain and other States.*'
Louisiana ceded to the United States.
In May 1803 Napoleon decided to sell the territory to the United States for $15,000,000; but the treaty of ces- sion cast much obscurity on the boundary question by citing the ambiguous words of the treaty of Ildephonso, and then declaring that Napoleon ceded the territory to the United States '*with all its rights and appurtenances as fully and in the same manner as they have been acquired by the French Republic in virtue of the above mentioned treaty." When the first consul was asked to define the boundary of Louisiana he declared that the treaty was ob- scure, but that "if there were no obscurity it would be good
" It is a remarkable fact that thou^fh France had secretly pre- sented the isle of Orleans and Louisiana west of the Mississippi to Spain in 1762, she declares in the treaty of Paris, ratified in 1763, that she still owns the isle of Orleans. •
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policy to insert some." Whether this remark was in- tended as a compliment to the diplomatic astuteness of the United States is a matter of doubt ; but in any case, there was thus opened the way to long and complicated negotia- tions over the possession of Oregon, the Floridas and Texas."
As soon as the United States got possession of Louisi- ana, a claim was made through our commissioners, Messrs. Monroe and Pinckney, to both East and West Florida and Texas as parts of the Louisiana purchase; but Spain re- fused to recognize the claim and the matter was dropped for a number of years. In the meantime Aaron Bun- took advantage of the strong feeling against Spain and prepared to invade the Spanish-American States. In 1806 General Herrera, representing Spain, and General Wilkin- son, representing the United States , met in western Louisiana and agreed to regard the country between the Aroyo Hondo^' and the Sabine as neutral territory, pending the settlement of the boundary dispute. This agreement or sponsion was ratified by both governments doubtless for the purpose of discouraging such expedi-r tions as Burr designed.
In 1815 Spain had as minister to the United States a Spaniard named Onis, who was typically proud and sensi- tive, and much given to ingenious delays and elaborate arguments. After some years of correspondence with our Secretary of State, John Quincy Adams, a treaty was agreed upon and finally ratified in 1821, by which the United States gave up all claim to Texas west of the Sa- bine, received from Spain the two Floridas, and agreed to pay $5,000,000 to satisfy the claims of citizens of the United States against Spain.
By his arguments in the long negotiations with Spain
" See the "Oregon Boundary Question," by J. R. Ficklen, Pubs, of La. Historical Soc, 1898. " A branch of Red River.
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John Quincy Adams seems to have convinced the majority of Americans of that day that the claim of the United States to Texas was a just one, but that for reasons of expediency it had been relinquished. The disappoint- ment and dissatisfaction, however, were so great that in 1827 and again in 1829 the United States tried to purchase Texas ; but Mexico, which was now independent and which regarded Texas as a valuable possession, refused to sell. In 1836 the people of Texas, consisting largely of immi- grants from the United States, declared themselves inde- pendent of Mexico, and nine years later the admission of Texas into the Union plunged us into a war with Mexico, which resulted in a wide expansion of the United States. When Texas was seeking admission to the Union, the Democratic platform signified that Texas had been an- nexed in 1803, sacrificed in the treaty of 1821, and should be reannexed to the United States. It does not appear, however, that the statesmen of that day made any original investigation of the Texas question ; they doubtless adopt- ed the views held by John Quincy Adams and others in the first quarter of the century; it was a political cry echoed from the past.
Testimony of the Maps.
Professor E. A. Freeman once remarked that in study- ing the charts of the world made by ancient geographers, we must free ourselves from the bondage of the modern map. We are easily misled if we think for an instant that early discoverers and explorers in describing the lands they visited had in mind the clear, concise notions of topography which are easily obtained by any school boy of to-day. Confusion reigned supreme in the minds of such men as Columbus and Cabot — not to mention the lesser lights; and to understand their descriptions of the lands they saw, we must strive to put ourselves in their places and study their limitations. To appreciate the die-
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turn of Mr. Freeman, however, we have only to examine the old maps that cartographers of reputation even as late as the eighteenth century have handed down to us. A river or a place will appear in different localities in two contemporary maps or in maps produced by the same cartographer at different times. It is not surprising, there- fore, that such maps should reflect also the uncertainty that existed in regard to the proper boundaries of the provinces that were held in America by European powers. If then I cite some of the important maps of the eigh- teenth century, it is not because they are to be regarded as final authorities on the Texas boundary question, but because it would appear that some of our own diplomat- ists have brought forward maps in support of their asser- tions, when neither they nor their opponents seemed to suspect that other maps of equal authority could be cited to controvert those assertions. This is partcularly true of Messrs. Monroe and Pinckney, who in attempting to set- tle the Texas boundary question with Senor Cevallos in 1805 assured his Spanish Excellency that besides other evidences of ownership as far as the Rio Grande, the United States could show the important map of Lopez,** geographer to the King of Spain in 1762, which "appears to make the Rio Bravo (Grande) the western boundary of Louisiana ;" while the French map of De Lisle, revised and published in 1782, clearly recognized this boundary. These pieces of testimony Cevallos seems to have been totally unable to rebut. However, when the controversy was renewed fifteen years later, and our Secretary of State, John Quincy Adams, cited five other maps in support of our claims, the Spanish Minister Onis had made sufficient researches to be able to bring forward a number of maps
" The Lopez map is in Harvard Library. A photograph of it is owned by the writer. Legend says it is based on the map of D'Anville. While Lopez does not seem to exclude all Texas from the Louisiana territory, he by no means makes the matter clear.
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which upheld the Spanish side of the contention.^* But neither of these diplomatists exhausted the list of maps which are divided on this subject. From the valuable col- lection of maps in the Howard library in New Orleans, it may be shown that while the maps of Homann (i7i2[?]), Leutter (i74o[?]), Moll i7io[?], and (1732), and De Lisle (1782), place the western boundary of Louisiana at the Rio Grande, the same boundary is fixed somewhat to the east of the Sabine River (its present boundary) on the maps of Kitchen (1765), Peter Bell (1772), Pownall (1777), and Vaugondy (1762). We may well imagine that Onis would have been delighted to find the map of Vaugondy; for the authority of Vaugondy wins importance from the fact that he was Geographe Ordinaire to the King of France and published his map in 1762, the same year as Lopez, Geographe Ordinaire to the King of Spain. As Lopez the Spaniard seems to give Texas to France, and Vaugondy the Frenchman presents it to Spain — both in the year 1762, before the secret treaty could have been known — Onis might well have urged that neither one should be cited in evidence ; that they were only exhibiting that exquisite po- liteness which was characteristic of the two nations in their diplomatic relations.
To return to our collection of maps, however, it would be easy to emphasize the uncertainty existing in the minds of the cartographers by citing the maps of Mitchell, 1755, and Bellin, 1744, which place the boundary at an inter- mediate line, beginning about Matagorda Bay; the map of Bonne, 1781, which gives the Trinidad (Trinity) River; the map made for the French Minister Decres in 1807,
" Adams quoted, in addition to those mentioned by Monroe and Pinckney, the Atlas Geographicas (1717). Bowen (1755), Henne- pin (1683), and Alcedo (1788-9); while Onis gave as his author- ities Bowen (1757) (also claimed by Adams), D'Anville [1746I, Bonne, (no date), Janvier (no date), Jeffreys (i775)f Baron Hum- boldt (no date), and Pierson (181 1). Onis added: *'It is well known that Lopez, wholly uninformed as to the country, copied from De Lisle all his errors and handed them on to Alcedo."
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which includes in Louisiana only a portion of Texas, and last of all, the two maps of Jeffreys (1763 and 1776), the first of which limits the province of Louisiana on the west to a line east of the Sabine, while the second extends it to the Rio Grande.^*
Comment is unnecessary ; the reader can judge for him- self whether there is anything conclusive in the testimony of the maps.". It would seem that as to number and trustworthiness, they are about equally divided.
Views of Statesmen and Diplomatic Agents.
As Senator Culberson, of Texas, said in a recent ar- ticle,^^ there can be no doubt that many of our distin- guished American statesmen have held that Texas was properly included in the Louisiana Purchase. It is possi- ble to marshal a formidable list of names ; it would include Jefferson, Madison, Clay, Monroe, Polk, Benton, and a number of others. It is true that Lowndes, of South Caro- lina, and a few other speakers maintained against Clay that the ''ownership of Texas was debatable and had been given up as such,"^*^ but they seem to have been rare ex- ceptions in their day and generation. Jefferson, who said
"Could Jeffreys have intended the first to represent French Louisiana and the second Spanish Louisiana?
" In the discussion of map values, it is to be remembered that in 1762 all Louisiana west of the Mississippi was transferred to Spain. We have seen that Spain always kept the ceded province and Texas under separate governors and allowed the line of cleavage to remain just where it had been under the French re- giffte; but there was no occasion for the Spanish map-makers after the cession of the province to lay any stress on the location of the actual western boundary between Adais and Natchitoches. For all diplomatic purposes it disappeared until the question was revived by the Louisiana purchase. Hence it is of no par- ticular import that in 1786 a Spanish Dictionary (geographical and historical) dedicated to Charles IV, represents Louisiana as "ex- tending 650 miles from longitude 86^^ to 96°" («. e) from the Apalachicola to the mouth of the Rio Grande. (This is Alcedo's work, quoted by Adams.)
" See his dispatch to daily press, May 5, 1900.
"See Schurz: Life of Clay; also McMasters, IV, p. 483.
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he had investigated the subject in his "spare moments/* wrote to Madison in 1803 : "Our right westwardly to the Bay of St. Bernard (Matagorda) may be strongly main- tained." In 1816, he had extended in his mind the limits of Louisiana and wrote to Mr. Mellish : "The western boundary of Louisiana is rightly the Rio Bravo * * * when La Salle took possession of the Bay of St. Bernard, Panuco (in Mexico) was the nearest settlement of Spain, and the Rio Bravo the natural halfway boundary between them."
I cannot find that the other gentlemen advanced any more forcible arguments in support of their opinion, and I think it fair to presume that they based their conclusions on the able statements of the American side of the contro- versy advanced by Messrs. Monroe and Pinckney, in 1804-5, ^"d by J. Q. Adams in 1818-9.
Let us pass in rapid review these statements as they are found in the American state papers .^'^ It was on March 16, 1805, that Pinckney and Monroe, having failed to settle the West Florida question, wrote to the Spanish Commis- sioner Cevallos to obtain his opinion as to the proper southwestern boundary of Louisiana. The purchase had been made two years before, and the United States had not yet been able to determine what she had purchased. At first Cevallos answered that he was studying the his- tory of the subject, but later he replied that Texas ex- tended from the Medina river to the Adaez mission ; that in 1689 the Governor of Coahuila was sent to the Bay of St. Bernard (Espiritu Santo or Matagorda); and that in 1690 he founded the Mission of St. Francisco de Texas, and that other missions were established from that time on. It was true, he added, that France had claimed the coast of Texas, but these claims were preposterous and were never recognized by Spain. The proper boundar>'
••Vol. IV and Vol. XII.
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between Texas and Louisiana should be a line beginning on the coast between the rivers Carcassiu (Calcasieu) and Marmentoa (Mermentau) and passing north between Adaes and Natchitoches to the Red. In answer to this communication Pinckney and Monroe declared that the Spanish missions were merely encroachments, which were resisted by the French ; that when La Salle settled Texas in 1685, the Spaniards had no settlement nearer than Panuco, and that by international law the boundary was the middle distance, or Rio Grande. To reinforce this claim, afterwards advanced by Jefferson, they quoted the charter to Crozat in 1712, the history of Champigny (1773), and the words of Vergennes, Louis XVI's minister, in all of which the boundary was stated to be the Rio Grande. To clinch the argument the Commissioners cited in con- clusion the maps of De Lisle and Lopez.
As no agreement could be reached, negotiations were dropped until they were renewed in 1817 between J. Q. Adams and Onis. Spain now claimed that she had "col- lected documents, both French and Spanish, especially respecting the western boundary of Louisiana, which ren- dered that line susceptible of the most exact and rigorous demonstration." While Adams did not at any time accept this view of the matter it soon appeared that Onis was far better informed than Cevallos, and that J. Q. Adams was armed with superior evidence to that of Messrs. Pinckney and Monroe.
The argument of the Spanish minister was to the effect that Texas had always been the property of Spain. He showed that the coast of the Gulf had been visited by Ponce de Leon in 1513, by Narvaez and Cabeza de Vaca in 1528 (though he was evidently ignorant that De Vaca ac- tually visited Texas), by De Soto in 1539; that foreigners by order of the Spanish King had never been permitted to visit the Gulf — a decree which he said was justified by the principle generally recognized that the property of
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a lake or narrow sea and that of a country, however ex- tensive, provided no other power is established in the in- terior, is acquired by the occupation of its principal points. Thus the Spaniards had occupied Leon and Santander 1595, Santa Fe [i6o5(?)], Texas 1690. Since 1690, he said, Texas had remained quietly under Spanish rule, and there had been no further attempts of the French to pene- trate it. It was true that the French (in 1699) had settled Biloxi and other points; but this was by sufferance and through the friendship of Philip V.^^ The charter to Cro- zat in 1 71 2 extended Louisiana to the Rio Grande, but this charter was "an emanation of the disordered brain of old Louis XIV.''
Our skilful Secretary of State, Mr. Adams, answered the communication of Onis with sarcastic remarks on the vast and ridiculous pretensions of the Spanish King to the Gulf coast and the interior of the country. He then reiterated the arguments of Monroe and Pinckney, and as we have seen above, quoted a number of other im- portant maps upholding the French claims. He then quoted the narrative of Hennepin 1683, of Tonty 1697, of Joutel 1719, together with the spirited correspondence of La Harpe (1719), and Bienville's order to occupy the Bay of St. Bernard in 1721. He summed up the Spanish claims with contempt and vigorously upheld the claims of France. Onis answered sharply that at least one of Mr. Adams' authorities, Hennepin, was regarded by his contempo- raries in Canada as a liar (and this point he conclusively proved). As to the rest he evidently wished Mr. Adams to call to mind the Latin saying, ex una disce omnes. Then after criticising unfavorably the geographers cited by Adams, he added, as we have^een above, an important list of maps upholding the Spanish view.
" Onis does not mention that when the French settled Louis- iana, the Spaniards were already at Pensacola and protested against French occupation.
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Taking the controversy as a whole Onis seems to have had rather the better of the argument. It is true that he had injured his case at some points by trying to prove too much, and had been sharply called to task by Adams — especially when he endeavored to show that France had not settled to the west of the Mississippi without first ask- ing the permission of Spain. Nevertheless he had strengthened his argument by a reference to the early Spanish settlements and especially by the citation of maps that flatly contradicted those of Mr. Adams. It is a curious fact that neither side quotes history or interna- tional law for precedents; which would have lent much interest to the controversy. Still the cold, cutting logic of the Puritan pitted against the elaborate and rather pon- derous propositions of the Spaniard makes this one of the most remarkable diplomatic duels in our history."
" It has been asserted that Spain was really convinced of the legality of our claim to Texas, and was only "bluffing" to gain what advantage she could» There is no intimation of this in the arguments of Onis at this time, but when the King of Spain seemed on the point of refusing to ratify the treaty of 1819, Onis published in Spain a Memoria Sobre las Negociaciones [Publ. in Madrid, 1820. In the Library of Congress there is a translation by T. Watkins (1821), from which the extracts were kindly made for the writer by the efficient Secretary of the Southern History Assoc, Dr. Colyer Meriwether. The Spanish version is in the Department of State, and Dr. Meriwether has verified the ac- curacy of the translation of the extracts.], in which he defended the treaty and made the following statement:
"An impartial publick will judge whether the treaty of February 22, 1819 (which is improperly called a treaty of cessum, as it is in reality one of exchange or permutation of one small province for another of double the extent, richer, and more fertile), deserves the epithet of disgraceful, under which it has been painted to His Ma- jesty. * * * * I will agree, however, that for greater per- spicuity I might have extended the 3d article in the following terms: 7n exchange the United States cede to his majesty the Province of Texas,' &c., as the government wished me to ex- press it; but as I had, in t^ correspondence which is inserted^ for three years contended Wat that province belonged to the King, it would have been a contradiction to say in the treaty that the United States cede it to his Majesty, the same thin^ being obtained by the terms in which it is expressed, the limits that adjudge it to his Majesty being fixed, and the United States ex- pressly renouncing all rights which they had or can have to it.
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The citation of the maps doubtless made an impression on Adams; but neither antagonist convinced the other, and nothing seemed to be left except war or a compro- mise. President Monroe thought it unwise to press our claims to Texas any further, for he was persuaded that it would one day come into our hands. Accordingly in 1819 a treaty was signed, to which reference has been made above. It settled at the same time the Florida claims and the western boundary of Louisiana. Like many other boundary treaties, it resulted from a compromise.
Testimont of International Law.
During the first quarter of the nineteenth century inter- national law had by no means reached its present point of
This charge with which they have soup^ht to obscure the ad- vantages or disadvantages of the treaty is a new triumph to the nation, which is the only object I have always had in view."
At first reading this passage seems to be a declaration on the part of Onis that he had been lying systematically for three years — in other words, that Spain had never had a legal claim to Texas. His real plea, however, is that the treaty did not rep- resent simply a cession on the part of Spain without any quid pro quo. The United States, also, had ceded claims that had some basis, and Onis^nhances their value in order to exalt his own services. These claims he had quieted forever, and he asks recognition of the fact. The third article of the treaty to which he refers, after citing the Sabine river, &c., as the western bound- ary, says: *The United States hereby cede to his Catholic Ma- jesty and renounce forever all the rights, claims, and pretensions to the territories lying west and south of the above described line."
The territonr thus ceded might seem indefinite, and Onis adds that for perspicuity he might have substituted "the province of Texas" as territory given "in exchange;" but that the word "cede" used in the treaty would have made this a contradiction of his public utterances. Besides the cession of Texas was sufficiently indicated by the terms actually used in the treaty.
This statement of Onis, therefore, seems to the present writer only a weak attempt to make his King believe that the treaty Onis had negotiated was not so disgraceful after all. Though Spain afterwards ratified the treaty, we know that she paid no at- tention to the protestations of Onis and persisted m thinking that the treaty did her injustice. ["En Espagne Onis fit de vains efforts pour demontrer aux ministres de Ferdinand qu'il 6tait de Tint^rct de TEspagne de ratifier ce traite" &c. See Diet, of La- rousse, sub. Onis.j
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development, and we find the eminent diplomatists of that day quoting little from the authorities on international conduct except the general rules of discovery and occu- pation. In fact the United States was just taking its proper place among the nations of the world, and being untrammeled by traditions, was striking out along some- what independent lines in the solution of the problems that arose. Reverence for authorities has never been the characteristic of the Americans, and this has been pecu- liarly the case in regard to questions of international law even down to the present day. This independence, how- ever, has not been without satisfactory fruits. The United States has contributed in an important degree to the estab- lishment of the principles of international law and has won praise on more than one occasion from foreign critics. Some years ago, for example, the Ediriboro Review said: "The international law of the United States is character- ized by a marked individuality and independence of thought. The statesmen of the Republic have not felt themselves bound by theories, however venerable, or been troubled by the conflicting views of eminent jurists. They have rested their contentions on clear principles which they have evolved for themselves, and they have enun- ciated their views without obscurity and with perfect straightforwardness."*'
While, however, American statesmen deserve praise for the fearlessness and acumen with which they have dis- cussed matters of international equity and justice, it is to be remembered that the Texas boundary question is one that properly dates back to a period not much later than the middle of the eighteenth century, and that in dis- cussing it we should consider, first of all, the principles of international law as they existed at that time. These prin- ciples had been formulated and had reached a certain de-
*• Quoted by Dr. J. L. M. Curry, in Mag. Amer. Hist.. Vol.
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gree of clearness in the works of eminent writers, and while practice did not always coincide with the more or less ideal rules of conduct laid down by the expounders, still these jurists may be said to have reflected the con- sensus of opinion among the civilized nations on many points concerning the discovery and possession of terri- tory. We may even discover in the writers of the seven- teenth and eighteenth centuries a modification of certain earlier views held in the period immediately following the discovery of America. For instance, as Dr. Scaife** has pointed out, the nations of Europe first claimed in prac- tice that discovery of a country with the formal declara- tion of taking possession gave the right of excluding the rest of the civilized world forever.^*^ Spain, England and other countries acted on this principle for a considerable period ; but as competition for possession of the new world became sharper, it was only natural that this theory should yield to the more sensible one that actual occupa- tion was necessary to validate a title to a discovered coun- try. As early as 1625 we find Grotius, the father of inter- national law, declaring in his famous work : "As to things without a master, if we follow nature alone, they belong to him who discovers and occupies them."*'
Next comes Bynkershoef (about 1737) with the asser- tion that "cultura utique et cura agri possessionem quam maxime indicat.''^^ Finally Vattcl (1758), says: "The title (to discovered land) has been usually respected pro- vided it was soon afterwards followed by real possession."
" See his Development of Internat. Law. Pubs, of Amer. Hist. Asst., Vol. IV.
" It is presumable that the natives, in case they became civ- ilized, would be unable to assert any former claims; but if they did not subscribe to the articles of the Christian faith, the rule was that they might be reduced to slavery by fire and sword. (See the advice of the councillors of Ferdmand, quoted by Scaife.)
■• Quoted by Scaife.
" Quoted by Phillimore.
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Already in 1670 Spain and England had signed a treaty at Madrid by which each promised not to sail or trade in the ports or places of the other. "This/* says Scaife, "shows a virtual recognition of the right conferred by possession but not by discovery/' It may show, however, that the principle was not then strong enough to stand by itself and had to be confirmed by a treaty.
When the necessity of occupation was once insisted upon, it remained to determine how soon it must follow discovery, how long it must last to make good a title, and how much of a country must be occupied to give a title to the whole. But here great difficulty was encountered, and no perfect agreement on these subjects was reached in the eighteenth century. In the seventeenth century England did not hesitate to claim that discovery and a small settlement on the coast one hundred years later, gave her the right to grant a charter controlling a piece of territory many leagues broad and stretching across a continent of three thousand miles in width.** Such pre- tensions recklessly crossed ranges of mountains and vast rivers, of the very existence of which the grantors of the charters were ignorant. But this position England was unable to niaintain, and the far-reaching character of the English charters did not prevent the French from explor- ing the Mississippi Valley in the seventeenth century, and making good their claims by occupation. In a vague way natural boundaries began to be recognized, but it was still uncertain how much territory in the vicinage of a settle- ment could be held. Pufendorf (1762) had given a valua- ble hint when he said : "Since property implies a right of excluding others from your possession, which right would be altogether insignificant if it could not be effectually ex- ercised, it would be in vain for you to claim as your own
" Professor Alexander Johnston insists that these extensive claims were not based upon a mistaken idea of the breadth of the American continent. See Hinsdale's "Old Northwest."
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that which you can by no means hinder others from shar- ing with you;"^^ but this suggestion was quite generally disregarded by the great powers. In 1758 Vattel throws no light on the subject save to say : "If at the same time two or more nations discover and take possession of an island without an owner, they ought to agree between themselves and make equitable partition, but if they can- not agree, each will rightly have empire and dominion over those portions in which it was the first to establish itself/'*^
No ruling, moreover, is to be found as to whether occu- pation must follow discovery within twenty-five or fifty or more years, though the nations seem to have acted on the idea that a very long delay weakened a title. Nor was it determined with any greater accuracy how long occupation must last in order to establish a prescription. In fact these two questions have never been settled to the present day, though some important recommendations have been made by writers on international law in our own time.'^
Before dismissing the older writers on international law it is necessary to consider one other question. Spain at an early period claimed the Gulf of Mexico as a closed sea, and declared that she could justly exclude from it all foreigners. While Grotius in 1609 held that England could not be said to own her narrow seas, Selden a few years later maintained the contrary. Sir Matthew Hale held that Selden had proved his contention." It is certainly true, however, that the French never acknowl- edged this pretension on the part of England, and, as Vat- tel says, Louis XIV would not suffer the channel to be
*• Pufen'dorf Edit., 1729, p. 378.
~ Vattel: Droit des Gens I, p. 381.
"Vattel (1758) recognizes the value of some rule in regard to prescription and usucaption (which he distinguishes), and recom- mends that the number of years necessary to establish a lawful prescription be fixed by treaties.
" See Snow's International Law.
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called the English Channel or the British Sea in the Treaty of Breda.'* Kent, however, holds that it would be proper for the United States to claim as closed sea the waters be- tween headlands, as between the South Cape of Florida and the mouth of the Mississippi. If the views of Selden and Kent are accepted, it would seem that it was not so preposterous for Spain in the seventeenth century to claim as mare clausum the Gulf as enclosed within a line drawn around the coast and from the extreme point of Yucatan to the southern extremity of Florida. She had explored the country surrounding the gulf and had a number of settlements, while the distance across from Yucatan to Florida was only about 500 miles, with the Spanish pos- session of Cuba lying between them. Such a claim would not stand in the nineteenth century, but according to the ideas of the seventeenth century, it was not destitute of a certain show of justice. Such pretensions, as Professor Snow remarks, were not given up until the nineteenth century.
If, therefore, we ask which nation in the light of inter- national law, as it then existed, had the better title to Texas in 1762" — the year in which all grounds of conten- tion were quieted, we find no decisive answer. It is alto- gether probable, however, as it seems to the writer, that if the decision had been left to an impartial tribunal of jur- ists, judgment would have been given in favor of the Span- iards. They had discovered the Mississippi Valley and
"Vattel, p. 191.
•* It will be remembered that the words of the cession (1800) were "Louisiana with the same extent it now has in the hands of Spain, and that it had when France possessed it,*' &c. France gave it to Spain in 1762, and though this year may not be the most favorable in which to review the claims of France, we are auth- orized in choosing it by the rule of international law in the in- terpretation of treaties. Clauses inserted at the instance, or for the benefit of one party, are strictly construed; that is, they are given the meaning least favorable to the party at whose instance they were inserted: it is his fault if he has not expressed himself clearly. See Davis, Internat. Law, p. 246.
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Texas long years before the French, they had occupied Santa Fe and El Paso del Norte for a considerable period before La Salle landed on the coast of Texas. The settle- ment of La Salle, though it was the first, lasted only two or three years; while the Spaniards occupied the country very soon afterwards and held it under their dominion from 1690 to 1693 and again from 171 6 to 1762. "Since property implies a right of excluding others,'' to repeat the words of Pufendorf, * * * * " it would be in vain for you to claim as your own that which you can by no means hinder others from sharing with you/' Or as Dr. Johnson said with reference to the title to the Falkland Islands: "Till the controversy is decided, all that can be had is real possession and actual dominion."*' As for the map makers, we have seen that there were as many French maps acknowledging the Spanish claim as there were Spanish maps acknowledging the French claim. Moreover, before 1762, a compromise line had been agreed upon between the rival settlements at Adaes'* and Natchitoches.
Let us now turn to the rules of international law as they have been developed since 1762. While strictly speaking these rules have no bearing on the subject, it may be urged that like all other rules of international law, they are based not only on national expediency, but also on principles of justice that are as true for the eighteenth century as for the nineteenth century. Accepting this view of the matter, let us see what rules were laid down by our diplomatists in the nineteenth century and by the writers on international law. The rules offered for accept- ance by Monroe and Pinckney were as follows :''
I. Possession of sea coast extends to the interior to the sources of rivers emptying within that coast and to
" Quoted by Dr. Scaife.
•• Modern Adais.
"American State Papers, Vol. XII.
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branches and to the country they cover, and gives the right to exclude all other nations.
2. When one European nation makes a discovery and takes possession of any waters of this continent, and an- other afterwards does the same at some distance from it, where the boundary between them is not determined by the principle above mentioned, the middle distance be- comes such of course.
3. Rights thus acquired cannot be affected by grants of the natives to another power.
Such general rules by no means settled the fine ques- tions involved ; but in 1818 Jefferson, as we have seen, held that the Rio Grande was the western boundary of Louis- iana because in 1685 ^^ was midway between the settle- ment of La Salle and the Spanish settlement at Panuco. The great English authority Phillimore (1843) ^s more definite: "Writers," he says, "agree that use and settle- ment, or in other words, continuous use are indispensable •elements of occupation properly so called." As to the ex- tent of territory that may be appropriated, he adds : "The right of occupation incident to settlement extends over all territory actually and bona Me occupied, over all that is essential to the real use of the settlers * * * over all in fact that is necessary for the integrity and security of the possession. * * * Ibi finitur imperium ubi finitur ar- morum vis."*®
Pomeroy tells us that natural boundaries must have great influence in determining the limits of national do- main, and Lawrence holds that in the absence of these natural boundaries, the boundary of contiguous settle- ments should be drawn middle way between the last posts on either side.
D. D. Field, in his "Outlines of an International Code"
1872), recommends that to obtain a legal title occupation
" Quoted by Scaife.
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The Louisiana Purchase, — Ficklen. 379
should follow discovery within twenty-five years, while occupation during- fifty years should give a prescriptive right.'*
It is certainly not clear that the rules laid down by these more modern jurists uphold the French claims to Texas. Granted that La Salle formed a settlement in Texas in 1685, and that the line between his colony and that of the Spaniards should have been immediately fixed at the Rio Bravo (which was not done). It surely seems unjustifiable to maintain that this comparatively brief sojourn of a colony (which had no intention of remaining there) enti- tled the French to include Texas in the province of Louis- iana under a treaty (Jldephonso) which defines that pro- vince as possessing "the same extent as it now has in the hands of Spain and as it had when France possessed it." Spain, ^ we have seen, never placed Texas under the government of Louisiana, and "when France possessed it" is a clause that should reasonably refer to the year 1762, when France possessed it and transferred it to Spain. At this period Spain had already held Texas continuously for forty-six years, or in all forty-nine years. Prescription was obviously on the Spanish side. The French failed to keep the advantage they had in 1685. The rules laid down by Pinckney and Monroe do not settle in their favor the important point of occupation, while the later jurists in- sist on continuous use in the establishment of a claim.
" Glenn (Intemat. Law, pp. 48-9) cites the following interest- ing case, which bears some resemblance to the Texas question. In 1639 Santa Lucia was occupied by an English colony, which was massacred by Caribs in 1040. No attempt was made by the English to re-colonize. In 1650 the French took possession and held it till 1664, when they were attacked by the English and driven into the mountains. Three years later they re-occupied the land when the English had retired. It does not appear what became of the colony, but the treaty of Utrecht (1713) declared the Island to be neutral and in 1763 it was declared by treaty to belong to France. Hall says that, all things considered, the French occupation was good in law.
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Testimony of the Historians.
Among the writers of American history only a few can be cited within our limits. First of all, Dr. Scaife, who is an expert in regard to the early Spanish explorations, tells us very cautiously that the United States had at least "a ihow of title to land south of the line agreed upon in 1819 ;" but he does not elaborate his position.*®
Yoakum, in his History of Texas, says: "From the year 171 5 [1716?] dates the permanent occupation of Texas by Spain. She had wrested it from France the rightful discoverer; yet it must be admitted she had ac- quired full possession.'* Yoakum, it may be added, holds mistakenly that De Vaca did not discover Texas.
Schouler, in his History of the United States (Vol. HI, p. 176) says: "Our title to Texas as legally a part of the Louisiana cession had little strength, but a hint 8f a legal claim was enough to make men deplore what they termed the gift to Spain of a domain worth fifty times as much as the Floridas."
H. H. Bancroft, in speaking of the unsettled boundaries of Louisiana, says: "In 1803 the government at Wash- ington, in its aggressive policy, claimed all east of the Rio Grande, which included the whole of Texas and the best part of New Mexico — a pretension, as far as the French were concerned, long obsolete."*^
As we saw above. Dr. Edward Channing, of Harvard, in his recent History of the United States (1899), gives us a map of the Louisiana purchase which embraces Texas, and tells his readers that Henry Adams has proved con- clusively that the United States had a perfect title to Texas. As Mr. Adams is supposed to have given a final solution of this intricate question, I have reserved his tes- timony to the last.*^ He is, moreover, the only historian
** Amer. Hist. Assoc. Pubs., Vol. IV.
** See his Texas and North Mex. State, II, p. 9.
**See Adams: History of the United States, Vol. II, passim.
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(except his disciple Dr. Channing), as far as the writer knows, who has taken positive ground in the Texas bound- ary controversy.
As was stated in the beginning of this paper, Mr. Henry Adams bases his conclusion that Texas was included in the territory acquired by the Louisiana Purchase upon his own special discoveries in the Archives of France. The evidence he has produced is as follows: When General Victor was about to sail for Louisiana to take possession of the province in the name of France, he received from the Minister of Marine certain secret instructions" to guide him in proclaiming the authority of France in New Orleans. General Victor never came over ; but a copy of the instructions was given to Laussat, who was sent to Louisiana as the French Commissioner. As Laussat, when he took possession of Louisiana, knew that it had been sold to the United States, he did not publish the in- structions; but he seems to have let it be known what they were.
The text of this valuable document, published for the first time by Mr. Adams, gives the boundaries of Louis- iana as follows : "The extent of Louisianna is well deter- mined on the south by the Gulf of Mexico. It is bounded on the west by the river called Rio Bravo from its mouth to about 30*" parallel of latitude. The line of demarcation stops after reaching this point, and there seems to have been never any agreement in regard to this part of the frontier. The farther we go northward, the more unde- cided is the boundary. There also exists none between Louisiana and Canada. * * * The eastern boundary is the Iberville river.'*
Besides this important testimony that Louisiana ex- tended to the Rio Bravo, Mr. Adams calls attention to the fact that when Laussat began to confide to the Americans
*• Dated November 26, 1802.
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that France had intended to occupy Texas, the Spanish Minister at Washington wrote a letter to Talleyrand in which he did not deny the correctness of Laussat's posi- tion, and tacitly admitted it by appealing to Talleyrand '*to send orders to the French Commissioner Laussat, enjoin- ing him to restrain the pretension of the Americans re- garding the limits of Louisiana and not to show himself favorable to the wishes of the Americans, as there is rea- son to suspect him of doing." "Now, Talleyrand," de- clares Mr. Adams, "knew that by the instructions to Laus- sat the First Consul had given, as far as he could, the authority of both French and Spanish governments to the claim of the United States that Louisiana extended to the Rio Grande." Yet, to please Spain, the unscrupulous Tal- leyrand now disregarded the secret instructions to Victor and Laussat, and actually declared to the United States that in fixing the western boundary of Louisiana, France would have drawn the line (not at the Rio Bravo), but midway between the French and Spanish settlements i. e., between' Adais and Natchitoches.
This affair certainly shows Talleyrand in a bad light, and in these negotiations Mr. Adams seems to find a con- spiracy concocted by France and Spain to defraud the United States of a. province which was rightly ours, and which these two countries, in their secret hearts, knew to be ours. That his theory is a plausible one is shown by the fact that it has brought conviction to the mind of Dr. Channing, and we may imagine that Mr.' Adams felt pro- found satisfaction in unearthing these documents and thus justifying the views held by his distinguished grand- father.
For the present writer, however, the conclusion at which Mr. Adams seems to arrive, that the proper western boundary of Louisiana in 1803 was the Rio Grande, is not proved by the facts alleged. To sum up briefly Mr. Adams seems to hold that, as the secret instructions indicate that
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France intended to push her claim to the Rio Grande, and as the Spanish Minister tacitly admitted the justice of this claim, the said river in the eyes of France and Spain was the correct boundary. Other testimony than this Mr. Adams does not bring forward.
In opposition to his view of the matter, however, may be urged some important considerations. While it is true that Cevallos in his correspondence with Talleyrand, did not deny that Louisiana was bounded by the Rio Grande, there is no evidence that he wrote with the approval of his government on this point. Moreover, in 1805, when he was asked by Monroe and Pinckney for his opinion on this very subject, he asked for time to investigate and in his later correspondence he showed that his investigations never went very far. Moreover, though the First Consul may have given, "as far as he could the authority of the French and Spanish governments to the claim of the United States," it has not been shown that the Spanish government ever admitted in terms that Louisiana ex- tended to the Ria Grande during the domination either of Spain or of France. It is possible that under the treaty of Ildephonso Spain might have been bullied into yielding Texas to the powerful First Consul as a part of the terri- tory ceded to France; but such an act would, of course, prove nothing as to the merits of the question.
Finally, the secret instructions upon which Mr. Adams lays so much stress, were doubtless drawn up at the French Court — in the department presided over by Tal- leyrand himself — without consultation with the Spanish Court. For in the archives of the Louisiana Historical Society, there is an excerpt from the papers of the depart- ment of the Marine, made in 1848, which reads as follows:
' * An XI Vend^miaire. Extraits d'une d^^che du minist^re des re- lations exterienrs an minist^e de la marine et des colonies. ' Une partie des limites du Nouveau Mexiqne et de la Louisiane est d^ter- min^ avec assez de pr^ision. Le Rio Bravo, en le remontant depuis son embouchure jusque vers le 30 degr^» sert de ligne de demarcation,
3
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maifl depuis ce demi-point la ligne est moins exacte. II ne parait pas quil y ait jamais en de convention de limites sur cette partie de la fronti^re. Plus on avance vers le nord, plus la demarcation doit ^tre ind^ise."***
This dispatch, which, as far as the writer knows, has never been pubHshed before, was sent by the Ministr>' of Foreign Affairs to the Ministry of Marine, and evidently formed the text of the instructions drawn up, two months later, for General Victor by Decres, minister of the Marine.**^
It would seem, therefore, that Mr. Adams has proved nothing more than that France, under the Treaty of Ilde- phonso, intended to claim Texas as a part of Louisiana; he has not proved that this claim was valid or that Spain so regarded it. Interpretation of treaties must be mutual.
Conclusion.
In reviewing calmly the facts that have been given in the preceding pages it seems to the writer a correct con- clusion to declare that the present State of Texas has no just claim to be regarded as a part of the territory pur- chased from France in 1803. As we have seen, that claim rests upon the fact that in the year 1685 the adventurous La Salle, who three years before had taken possession in grandiloquent terms of the Valley of the Mississippi and of the coast as far as the River of Palms in Mexico, landed by accident on the coast of Texas and there planted a colony. This colony by the next year had dwindled from 185 to 45 persons and in the following year only about twenty of these were left. La Salle had not proposed to settle on that coast, and it was his intention to remove his dwindling colony as soon as possible, to the banks of the Mississippi. Before this intention could be carried out, he
** Notes et Documents, Vol. I. p. 919.
•This document places in a still worse light the character of Talleyrand; for though it emanated from his office, he after- wards denied its provisions. However, he has no reputation for consistency or honesty to sustain.
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was killed, and his settlement was destroyed by the In- dians.
As soon as the Spaniards learned of what they regarded as an invasion of their rights, they sent a strong force into Texas, and carried off all the members of La Salle's colony that they could find among the Indians — ^an act for which they were never called to account by France. They then proceeded to plant missions and a presidio in Texas (1690). After three years these were abandoned; but twenty- three years later, when the French once more threatened occupation, the Spaniards took permanent possession of Texas and with missionaries and colonists they held it against the French for forty-six years — until, in fact, all contention was quieted by the transfer of Louisiana to Spain.
Spain had also a claim of prior discovery, weak until re- inforced by occupation ; but she based her strongest claim on the exclusion of the French from the soil of Texas dur- ing a long period and upon the fact that between Adaes (Adais) and Natchitoches a boundary line was practically agreed upon. The French, it is true, had protested on several occasions against Spanish occupation, but to bor- row a term from internatiohal law, this seemed to the Spaniards like establishing "a paper blockade'* around Texas, and they very properly refused to recognize a claim which France never enforced. It is noteworthy that La Salle's settlement had no real significance in the history of Texas-
In the nomenclature of town and river, in the gov- vernment and life of the people, no influence, with one slight exception,** save that of Spain, can be detected until the American settlers came crowding into the province during the nineteenth century. As to the maps, we have seen that they differ so much as to the limits of Louisiana
**This exception is the word Lavaca applied to a river called Lavache by La Salle; but it is a significant fact that even this word has assumed a Spanish form.
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that they neutralize one another. The curious phenom- enon has been noted that the best Spanish map (Lopez's) gives (doubtfully) Texas to the French; while the best French maps (Vaugondy and D'Anville) give it to the Spaniards !
Finally the treaty, it is to be remembered, by which the United States acquired Louisiana gave it "with the extent it now has in the hands of Spain and which it had when France possessed it." Now, as "Louisiana in the hands of Spain" never embraced Texas under its government, it would certainly seem that by this clause our country was precluded from advancing a claim to the province. The two clauses should be regarded as reinforcing each other in support of the Spanish claim.
The Floridas and Oregon, which at various times, were claimed by the United States as portions of the Louisiana Purchase, have been declared by the sober judgment of history to have formed no part thereof. A similar judg- ment, it may be predicted, will finally be pronounced in the celebrated case of the Louisiana Purchase vs. Texas.
The writer wishes to thank Mr. Wm. Beer, librarian of Howard Library, New Orleans, for the use of his invaluable private collec- tion of maps, and for the privilege of having the copy made of the Vaupfondy map which accompanies this article; also, Dr Colyer Meriwether, secretary of the Southern History Association, for his helpful investigations in the Library of Congfress.
Bibliography.
American State Papers, Vols. IV, XII, etc.
Archives of La. Historical Society: Notes et Documents, Vol. I.
Annuaire de La Nouvelle Orleans, 1808.
Adams, Henry: History of U. S.
Bancroft, H. H., Texas and Northern Mexican States, 2 Vols.
Brown, History of Texas.
Curry, T. L. M., The La. Purchase, in Mag. of Amer. Hist., Vol. XIV.
Ficklen, J. R., The Oregon Boundary, in Pubs. La. Hist. Soc, 1898.
Journal Historique (La Harpe or Beaurain).
Margry, Pierre; Docs. Tome 11.
McCaleb, W. F., Obscure Points in Mission History, Tex. Quar. 1898.
McMasters, History of Amer. People.
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The Louisiana Purchase, — Ficklen. 387
Martin, History of La.
Onis, Memoria Sobre Las Negociones, 1821.
Penicaut's Narrative in Margry's Docs.
Parkman, La Salle.
Quart. Tour. Tex. Hist Ass., 1898-1900.
Scaifc, Pubs. Amer. Hist. Ass. Vol. IV.
Schouler, Hist. U. S.
Shea, Penalossa's Expedition.
Yoakum's Hist, of Texas and "Testimonio de un Parecer," in appendix.
Wilson, Division and Reunion.
Maps. See collection in Harvard Library and in Howard Library, N. O.
International Law. See works of Grotius, Vattel, Pufcndorf, Selden, Scaife, Davis, Phillimore, Kent, Hall, Lawrence, Pomeroy, Glenn, etc.
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HENRY BAKER AND SOME OF HIS DESCEND-
ANTS.
By Miles White, Jr., Baltimore, Md.
The fact that Henry Baker was through his son Samuel an ancestor of Johns Hopkins,^ the founder of the Johns Hopkins University and Hospital in Baltimore, and was through his son Nathan an ancestor of Charles Robert Leslie, R. A.,* the distinguished author and artist, so highly commended by Ruskin in his Modem Painters, prob- ably will give an added general interest to any account of him and his family.
I. Henry Baker, ^^ in his day and generation filled a useful and honorable position in the communities in which he resided and was held in good esteem by his neighbors and friends, both in England and America. The first record seen of him is found in the Records of Lancashire Quarterly Meeting of Friends, England, which state that Henry Baker, of Newton or New Town, Lancashire, Hus- bandman, and Margaret Hardman of AspuU, Lancashire, Spinster, were married 8 mo. 6tli, 1667,^ under the auspices of Hardshaw West Monthly Meeting. The births of their eight children are also therein recorded, some of whom were bom at Hindley and the others at West Derby. These Records also contain the following two entries of deaths which may refer to Margaret Baker's father, and to one of his grandsons.
''John Hardman d. 10 mo. ist 1722, son of Hen'f Hard-
' For an account of Some Colonial Ancestors' of Johns Hopkins, see Publications Southern History Association, Vol. IV, pp. 395-442.
" For an account of C. R. Leslie, see his Autohiographwal Kecol- lectionSf edited by Tom Taylor; also Quarterly Review, April, i860; North American Review, January, 1861.
■ All dates in this article prior to 1752 are Old Style.
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Hmry Baker mid Descmdants, — ^White. 389
man, of Habersham Eaves, and grandson of old John Hardman of Habersham at Rose Green. John Hardman
Sen^ aged 97 of Habertsham eaves* bur. 5 mo. , 1728,
at Marsden height."
In Besse's Sufferings of the Quakers mention is made of various persons named Baker (some of whom bore the names of Henry and Margaret) who were fined and im- prisoned for attending meetings, refusing to take Oaths, and non-payment of Tithes, but none of them are stated to have resided in Lancashire. John Hardman or Hardi- man, of Lancashire, however, is said to have had his goods taken for tithes in 1671, and with eleven others in 1683 to have been committed to Prison for refusing to answer oa Oath when prosecuted for tithes.*^
Of Henry Baker's parentage and ancestry no record has been seen. There were Bakers in Lancashire in early times. In 1346 William de Doncaster (the Sheriff) made a deed to Roger le Baker, of Pecforton, and Margery his wife, of a third part of a burgage in Flint ;• and the various Parish Registers contain numerous entries of Bakers, the name being quite common. The Index to the Wills and In- ventories now preserved in Court of Probate at Chester y^ shows that between 1593 and 1700 there were 19 Baker Wills or
*Mr. Thomas Stewardson suggests in Pa. Mag. Hist, and Biog. (Vol. X, p. 481), that Walton in Lancashire referred to in the Phila. List of Arrivals as the place whence Henry Baker came was probably Walton-le-Dale near Preston, and not Walton-on- the-Hill, now a suburb of Liverpool; but the fact that Henry's children were born at West Darby, shows this supposition to be erroneous, for West Darby and Walton-on-the-Hill are both sub- urbs of Liverpool and are now incorporated in the City. Mr. J. D. Crossfieid, the custodian of Lancashire Friends' Records, informs me that AspuU and Hindley are in the immediate neigh- borhood of Wigan; Newton is probably Newton-in-Makesfield near Warrington, as this is the only Newton in Hardshaw West Monthly Meeting; and Habergham Eaves is in the Parish of Burnley.
• Besse, Vol. I, pp. 318, 326.
• Journal of Chester Arch. & Hist. Soc, 1888, p. 177.
^ Publications of The Record Society of Lancashire and Cheshire^ edited by J. P. Earwaker, Vols. H, IV, XV, XVIIL
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Administrations, which are still preserved, the testators of which lived at Horton, Nantwich, Oldcastle, Ashton, Wrexham, Pickmere, Crew, etc., but there is no external evidence to show that any of these were of the family from which Henry was descended unless it was Alice Baker of Newton within Makesfield, widow, 1669. And though she lived at the same place and time as Henry, the names mentioned in her Will® are not similar to those in Henry's immediate family.
There is now in the possession of the Pennsylvania His- torical Society "A Partial List of the Families who arrived at Philadelphia between 1682 and 168/' in which is the fol- lowing entry :•
"William Preeson, M"^ of the Vine of Leverpoole arrived the 17^^ day of the 7 mo. 1684 At Philadelphia ffrom Doly- serne near dolgules in Merionethshire," among the passengers were, **From Walton in Lancashire
Henry Baker* Margaret his wife their Daughters Rachell, Rebecca, Phebey, Hester and Nathan, Samuel their sones. Mary Becket 10 servts named John Siddell for 4 years,
•Her Will bears date i6th March, 1661, she is described as Ales. Baker, alias Fleeming, of Newton, in Makesfield, Lancashire, Widow, and the following names and places are mentioned: Testatrix desired to be buried in Winwick Church yard. Eldest son Roger Baker als. Fleeming; Children Richard, John. Anne, Ales, Margaret Baker, als. Fleeming; Daughter Elizabeth White- head and John Whitehead her Son; John Ellam, of Winwick Lan- cashire Yeoman; Richard Baker, the Elder of Newton Husband- man; Executors, Richard Baker, als. Fleeming, the Elder, and son Roger. Testatrix held an estate in Newton for a term of 99 years, subject to an ancient yearly rent of 32 j.,payable to Rich- ard Legh. Witnesses, Henry Houghton, Robert Hey, John Tay- lor. Proved in Consistory Court, Chester, ist September, 1669, by Richard Baker, als. Fleeming, Sen, Power of proving being reserved to Roger Baker, als. Fleeming. No gross amount of the value of the Estate appears in the Inventory which was appraised by Robert Hey, Peter Oackell, Henry Houghton and George Tomlinson.
*Pa. Mag. Hist. & Biog., Vol. VIII, p. 333; Futhey & Cope's Hist. Chester Co., Pa., p. 23.
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Hen : Siddell 4 ye", James Yates 5 ye", Jno Hurst 4 ye" ; Tho: ffisher 4 yrs, John Stedman 4 years, Thos Candy^® for Joseph Feoror 4 yr*, Deborah Booth 4 yrs, Joshua Lert 4 yrs."
Only four daughters are recorded above as having ac- companied Henry and his family to America, but a fifth one, Sarah, probably also came with him then, though she may possibly have come a few years later when he visited England. The entries in the Philadelphia List were not made at the time of the various arrivals recorded therein, but like Pemberton's List of Arrivals in Bucks County were begun in compliance with a law passed in 1684.^^ Pemberton's List in some cases, as in that of Wm. Biles and family records arrivals of children who were subse- quently born in America, and in most cases both Lists probably contain names of all persons in the various fam- ilies at the time the entries were made. It is even possible that Henry Baker came at a later date than the other members of his family, for in a letter from Roger Hay- dock from Warrington, in Lancashire, 4 mo. 7th, 1684, to Phineas Pemberton was an enclosure dated Liverpool the i6th of the same month, which speaks of Henry Baker's detention '*by a wicked priest" and the axiety lest he be not able "to come along w^ his wife family."^^
Dr. John Watson states that Thos. Canby was brought to America by Mr. Baker on his second voyage,^' and it is quite possible that others of Henry Baker's ten servants came at a subsequent date to 1684, for we find that^* "one Margaret Bradley, writing from England to the elder Pemberton, 4 mo. i, 1684, says T can heare of no hus- bandman that is willing to come so far, but Margaret
" Should be Canby.
^'Pa, Mag, Hist. & Biog., Vols. VIII, p. 328; IX, p. 223.
"Ibid, Vol. X, p. 482.
^Memoirs Pa, Hist, Soc., 1826, Vol. I, p. 299.
^* Pa. Mag. Hist, & Biog,, Vol. XI, p. 125.
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Baker tould me she intended to take over 4 or 5 men she thought they might help * * * with one to hould him plowe * * ** It is not unlikely that when she learned of the needs in the colony she concluded to bring more than the four or five at first thought of."
In an account of Sarah (Baker) Milner which appeared in The Friend, ^^ we are told that :
"She was eight or nine years of age when she accompanied her parents to settle in the wilderness. * * * * She had doubt- less good instruction at home, for her father was one who had obtained the confidence of Friends of his meeting, and at times represented them in the Quarterly and Yearly Meetings. He also stood high in the estimation of his fellow citizens generally, and was their representative in the provincial assembly, at different times from 1685 to 1698."
The Records of Middletown Quarterly Meeting of Friends, Bucks County, Penna., contain the following Cer- tificate which Henry Baker brought with him from Eng- land:
"Whereas, Henry Baker, of Darby, in the County of Lan- cashire, did at our last meeting acquaint us with his intention of removing himself, his wife, and family from thereto, into the province of Pennsylvania in America. Not wishing to go without our knowledge and consent, as one belonging to our men's meet- ing, did desire our certificate according to truth on his behalf, as touching our unity with him whilst here among us, and also at our parting.
These may therefore certify whom it may concern, that the said Henry Baker and Margaret his wife, have lived among us for many years, and have all along behaved themselves as far as we know, or have heard, as becoming those professing truth, and he having for several years the employment of a carrier, hath had occasion to deal for many people, and with much goods, and wherein his dealings for what was known hath been very honest and true; and they have been in their places very servicible to friends. And they have also gained a good report of the neigh- bors amongst whom they live, by their quiet and honest behavior towards them. And that we have been and are now at our meeting in unity and fellowship with the said Henry Baker and Margaret his wife; and in the same unity of that spirit do desire the Lord to be with them.
"Vol. XXVIII, p. 197.
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Henry Baker and Descendants. — ^White. 393
Dated and subscribed by us at our meeting at Hardshair, in the said county, the 27th day of third month, i^.
John Charley, Alexander Charley,
Heskin Fell, Richard Cobbon,
{ames Laithwaite, Roger Haddon,
ames Lenketh, Richard Johnson,
George Burch, John Bispham,
Joseph Coppock, Godfry Atherton,
Joshua Crosby, William Croudson,
James Stretteil, Samuel Barnes,
Sarah Mason, George Shaw,
Thomas Crosbie, Nathaniel Atherton/ Henry Mellineux.
The various local histories make mention of Henry Baker, who, they state, was one of the earliest settlers of Bucks County and a landowner in (Upper) Makefield Township in 1684, and that as late as 1692 when Lower Makefield was organized, Upper Makefield was still a wilderness ; His name appears among the owners of cattle in 1684, and later he was dealt with by the meeting "for buying a negro ;" He was one of the original 14 lot owners in Bristol, which was estabHshed as a market town in 1697, and became the capital of Bucks county.^* He was one of the original purchasers of land in Wrights- town,^^ and at the houses of Henry Baker and a few others the Friends of the neighborhood held their meet- ings till the erection of Falls Meeting House in 1690;^® He was foreman of the first Grand Jury of Bucks County in 1685, and^* in 1690 the Court, following the suggestion made by the grand jury in March of that year, made an or- der that Henry Baker, Thomas Janney, William Biles, Phineas Pemberton, Arthur Cook, Edmund Bennett, James Boyden, Nicholas Walne, Joshua Hoopes, John Rowland, Joseph Growden and Samuel TUen meet together at the
"Proud's Hist. Penna., Vol. I, p. 217; Davis' Hist. Bucks Co,, Pa,, pp. 77, 106, 119, 256, 340, 471. JoUiffe Neill & Janney Families, p. 163.
" Buck's Hist, Bucks Co., Pa., p. 113.
^ Hist, early settlement of Wrightstown, p. 107; Hasarcfs Register, Vol. VII, p. 116.
" Battle's Hist, Bucks Co., pp. 184, 190.
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court house the day before the next court "and then and there divide this county into townships, that the same may be presented to the next court to have the approba- tion thereof." For some reason this order was not obeyed, and in September, 1692, the court again took up the matter and appointed the following persons (most of whom were among those previously appointed), viz: Ar- thur Cook, Joseph Growden, John Cook, Thomas Janney, Richard Hough, Henry Baker, Phineas Pemberton, Joshua Hoopes, William Biles, Nicholas Wain, Edmund Lovet, Abraham Cox and James Boyden, and ordered that they "or the greater number of them meet together at the meet- ing-house at Neshaminah the 27th day of this instant, and divide this county into townships,"*® which they accord- ingly did.
The Council on 2d of 11 mo. 1689-90, ordered that Com- missions of ye Peace be made for all ye Counties and these persons following to be Inserted, viz: for Bucks Co.:*^ Art. Cook, Jos. Growdon, Wm. Yardly, Tho. Janney, Wm. Byles, Nich. Newlin, Jo°. Brock and Hen. Baker.
The years that Henry Baker represented the county in the Assembly were 1685, 1687, 1688, 1690 and 1698," but not having seen Votes of Assembly I am unable to state how active a part he took in its proceedings. The Min- utes of the Council show that at least upon one occasion he was sent by the Assembly to communicate its desire concerning proposed legislation."
It is shown in the records of Falls Monthly Meeting that in 1688 meetings were held at the houses of Richard
" Davis* Hist. Bucks Co., Pa., p. loi; Pa. Mag. Hist. & Biog., Vol. XVIII. p. 24.
" Colonial Records, Vol. I, p. 278; Buck's Hist. Bucks Co., p. 23: Pa. Archives, 2d Series, Vol. IX, p. 744.
" Proud's Hist. Petma., Vol. I, pp. 292, 335, 353. 416; Pa. Archives, 2d Series. Vol. IX, pp. 752-3; Battle's Hisf. Bucks Co., p. 700.
" Colonial Records, Vol. I, p. 82.
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Hough, Henry Baker and Ann Harrison; that in 1691, certain Friends, among whom was Henry Baker, agreed to take the Meeting's share of all books that shall be printed in the unity of Friends and by them approved. In 1685 Falls Meeting appointed Henry Baker and Wil- liam Biles to settle a boundary dispute between William Yardley and Eleanor Pownall, and they decided in favor of the former, reporting that the line should be run as the surveyor first laid it out. In the same year Bucks Quar- terly Meeting appointed Thomas Janney, William Biles, Henry Baker, and Richard Hough to adjust a difference between John Brooks and Lydia Wharmby.
George Keith, a minister in the Society of Friends, caused the Society much trouble, and at last succeeded in bringing about a division amongst its members, owing to the views he promulgated; and the various meetings took action to disavow their approval of him, and finally the Yearly Meeting held at Burlington, New Jersey, 7 mo. 7th, 1692, sent out a Testimony against him which was signed by more than two hundred of the most prominent Friends and Colonists of that day, including Thomas Lloyd, John Simcock, Thomas Janney, Phineas Pember- ton, Richard Gove, Mahlon Stacy, Henry Baker, Abra- ham Hardiman, Reuben Pownall, David Lloyd, Thomas Stackhouse and William Biles."
The Records of Falls and Middletown Meetings also show the birth and death of a sort of Henry and Margaret Baker, and that Margaret was buried 6 mo. 5, 1688 ; also that 6 mo. 13th, 1692, and 7 mo. 8th, 1692, Henry Baker and Mary Radcliff of Neshaminie laid their intentions of marriage before the meetings, and that 8 mo. 13th, 1692, Henry Baker, of Bucks County Yeoman and Mary Rad- cliffe, widow, were married under the auspices of Middle- town Mtg., at the house of Henry Baker; Jacob Janney,
** Hazard's Register,' Vol VI, p. 301; The Friend, Vol. XIX, p. 109.
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Job Bunting and 38 others signing the certificate as wit- nesses. The birth of a daughter is recorded, and Mary Baker who survived her husband was buried 3 mo. 13th,
1715.
Mary RadcHflfe was the widow of James Radcliffe of Chapel Hill, Co. Lancaster, England. She is said to have married him June ist, 1673,^° and to have come to Amer- ica with him and their four children in the "Rebecca" of Liverpoole, which arrived at Philadelphia the 31st of 8 mo. 1685. In the List of Arrivals,^* they are recorded as "James Ratclife, Mary Ratclife, Richard Ratclife, Edward Ratclife, Rebecca Ratclife, Rachell Ratclife, free persons from Monsebury in Lancashire." Edward Radcliffe, her son, afterwards married Henry Baker's daughter Phebe, and Mr. Oliver Hough of Philadelphia, one of their de- scendants, has given me the following information in re- gard to Mary (Radcliflfe) Baker :
"Mary Radcliffe, Henry Baker's wife, was widow of James Rad- cliffe, a noted minister of Friends, who came to Penna. from Chapel Hill, Rossendale (formerly Forest of Rossendale), Lan- cashire. Middletown, Mo., Mtg. record says he came from Mus- berry in Rossendale, which no doubt meant the Park of Mus- bury in same district, which had been held by a gentle family of Radcliffes as early as temp. Edw. IV. James Radcliffe died March •29, 1690,
Before marfying James Radcliffe, Mary was widow of
Rawsthorne (erroneously spelt "Rawthorpe" and her residence given as '"Olden" instead of "Holden" in Pa. Mag., Vol. XI, p. 315), and lived in Holden, in or near the Rossendale district. Co. Lancaster. She was married to James Radcliffe at her own house in Holden. The Rawsthornes were a very prominent gentle family in the locality, but I have not yet settled which one's widow she was, nor what was her maiden name. She was one of the most prominent founders of the Chapel Hill meeting of Friends in Rossendale. James Radcliffe, his mother and sister being the same."
Henry Baker was a large holder of real estate, the Minutes of the Board of Property of the Province of
» Pa. Mag. Hist. & Biog., Vol. XI, p. 315.
**Pa. Mag. Hist. & Biog., Vol. VIII, p. 336; Futhey & Cope's Chester Co., Pa., p. 23.
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Penna.^'^ as well as the land records of Bucks county con- taining many references to tracts of land owned by him, some of which are alsb shown upon Holme's Map^^, but extended reference to them is not necessary.
The date of his death is uncertain ; he was perhaps alive II mo. nth, 1700, but had died before 12 mo. i6th, 1701."
His Will dated 3 mo. 7th, 1698, was proven May 23, 1705.'® His residence is given as Bucks County and men- tion is made of his wife Mary and his children Margaret, Phebe, Hester, Nathan and Samuel; Dau. Rachel Bunt- ing's children; Dau. Sarah Wilson and her 3 children; Dau. Rebecca Willford; Counsin Samuel Canby. The Executors were his son Samuel and Enoch Yardley.
The Will of his widow Mary Baker dated 3 mo. loth, 1715, was proven that year,*^ she is described as of the town of Bristol, and mentions her daughter Margaret "Baker and her son Richard Radcliff.
Henry Baker had ten children, eight of whom were born in England, whose names are entered in several books of Meetings composing Lancaster Quarterly Meet- ing, and there are variations of a few days in the dates given as of their births, and some difference as to their parents abode at time of these dates.
Eight of his children reached maturity and these all married in Pennsylvania, and into families which were then among the most prominent in Pennsylvania and Jer- sey.
"Pa. Archives, 2d Series, Vol. XIX, pp. 45, 270, 318, 423, 482. 594, 611. ^ . , „ ..
" This map has been republished in reduced size m Davis Bucks Co., Pa., and in Fiskc's Dutch and Quaker Colonies in Amenca, Vol. II.
**Pa. Archives, 2d Series, Vol. XIX, p. 271.
** Phila. Wills, Liber B, fol 427.
" Bucks Co. Wills, Liber 1, fol 19.
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Children" (by 2 wives: ist, Nos. 1-9; ^nd, No. 10):
1. Rachel, b. Hindley or West Derbye, 2 mo. 23, 1669; m. at Henry Baker's, 4 mo. 27, 1689, Robert Bunting, of West New Jer- sey, Carpenter, under auspices of Middletown Mo. Mtg. Thos. Janney, Rich. Hough, Mahlon Stacy and 39 other witnesses.
2. Nathan, b. West Derbye or Thornley, 10 mo. 21, 1^0; d.
5 mo. 27, 1680; bur. 5 mo 28, 1680.
3. Sarab, b. West Derbye, 8 mo. 18, 1672; d Penna., 2 mo. — , 1715; bur. 2 mo. 29, 1715; m. ist, at Henry Balcer's, 8 mo. 13, i6p2, Stephen Wilson, of Bucks Co., Carpenter, under auspices of Mid- dletown Mo. Mtg., Job Bimting, Jacob Janney and 38 other wit- nesses; m. 2ly, 8 mo. 19, 1708L Falls Mo. Mtg., Isaac Milncr.
4. Rebekah, b. Hindley or West Derby, 6 mo. 24, 1674; m. 1695,
ifohn Wilsford, of West New Jersey. Intentions of marriage aid before Falls Mo. Mtg. 2 mo. 3, 1695.
II. 5. Samuel, b. West Derbye, 8 mo. i, 1676; m. at Falls Meet- ing House, 9 mo. 4, 1703, Rachel Warder, dau. of Willoughby. An account of Samuel is given hereafter.
6. Phebe, b. West Derby, 5 mo. 26, 1678; m. Falls Mo. Mtg.,
6 mo. 18, 1703, Edward Radcliflfe, son of James and Mary Rad- cliflfe. Mary Radcliffe had previously married Henry Baker, father of Phebe.
7. Esther or Hester, b. West Derbye, 6 mo. 28, 1680; m. ist, 1700, Thomas Yardley, of Bristol, Penna., son of William and Jane (Heath) Yardley. Intentions of marriage laid before Falls Mo. Mtg., 9 mo. 3, 1700. His Will dated 11 mo. 27, 1702/3 was proven March 10, 1702/3 (Phila. Wills, B, 287).
m 2ly. 1701, William Browne, son ot James, of Chichester, Ches- ter Co. Intentions of marriage laid before Falls Mo. Mtg. 6 mo. 2, 1704.
w. Sh* 1711/12, Richard W Hough, son of Richard C^) and Margery (Clows) Hough. Intentions of marriage laid before Falls Mo. Mtg. 12 mo. 5, 171 1.
For account of Richard (i) Hough, see Pa. Mag., XVIII, 20-34.
III. 8. Nathan, b. West Derby, i mo. 8, 1684; m. May 15, 1705, Sarah Collet, dau. of Jeremiah. An account of Nathan is given hereafter.
9. Henry, b. Bucks Co., Pa., 12 mo. 12, 1685; d. there, 12 mo. 16, 1685.
10. Margaret, b. Bucks Co., Pa., 6 mo. 4, 1693; d. December — , 1748; m. 4 mo 5, 1722, Falls Mo. Mtg., William Atkinson, son of Thomas and Jane. Margaret Baker was his 2d wife. For account of Wm. Atkinson, see Pa. Mag., XI, 316; XVIII, 33.
There were two members of Henry Baker's household, Mary Becket and Thomas Canby, concerning whom a . good deal has been written, and probably a brief mention of them here will be of interest.
Mary Becket seems to have been sent to America with
■* Dates of Birth of Nos. 1-8, and death of No. 2, as given in Books 732, 756, 783, of Lancashire Qtl. Mtg.; Births of Nos. 9 and 10 as given in Records of Middletown Qtl. Mtg. ; Falls, Mo., Mtg. Register varies the dates somewhat.
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Henry Baker's family by Roger Haydock,** a prominent preacher of the Society of Friends, and his wife Eleanor of Lancashire. In their letters they address her as "daughter," and she calls them "father" and "mother" in her letters. The degree of relationship between them, if any, is now a matter of dispute.
After living a while at Henry Baker^s, Mary seems to have lived with the Pembertons; and Roger Haydock in writing to Phineas Pemberton said :"
"As to her table wages the Agreement w*** H : B : was onely for one year, w^^ wee were free in because of his trouble in taking her over, then she was left to you" * ♦ * "wee are content the same be allowed for 2 years and for y^ tyme shee is there longr shall leave to you" ♦ * ♦ "^e tould them they might expect some place in due tyme" ♦ * ♦ "till some place offer, if you think it is for y« child's good, we are content, shee be wtb them."
Davis in his History of Bucks County says in regard to her:"
"Among the members of Pemberton's household was Mary Becket, a young girl descended from the great family of North- umberland. * * * When her mother married Becket she was a ward in chancery, and they had to fly to the Continent, where he was killed in the religious war in Germany. Mary was the only child. Eleanor Becket, her mother, now married one Haydock, had two daughters who bacame Friends, and came to America, but the time is not known." "We ** mentioned in a pre- vious chapter that among the inmates of Phineas Pemberton's family, of Falls, was Mary Becket, a young English woman, a descendant of the great Northumberland house of Percy. She was married at Falls Meeting the 4 of 8 mo. 1691 to Samuel Bowne, of Flushing, L. I. Below we give a copy of a letter " he wrote to Mary durmg their courtship."
" In 1674 Roger Haydock was prosecuted in the Ecclesiastical Court at Chester for Tithes of about 30 s. value and was sent to Lancaster Goal for 8 mos. In September, 1675, he was again sent to Lancaster Goal at the suit of the Bishop of Chester who wrote to the Goaler charging him not to let Roger have any liberty. Besse's Sufferings, Vol. I, pp. 319, 320.
**Pa. Mag. Hist. & Biog., Vol. XI, p. 125.
" Pp. 86-7.
" Ibid, p. 106.
" For this letter and also an account and Genealogy of the Bowne Family, see Some Colonial Mansions, 2d Series.
4
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Further accounts of Mary Becket will be found in Pa. Mag. Hist. & Biog.,^^ in which, after investigation, issue is taken with some of the statements of Davis. (To be continued.)
"Vol. X, p. 481; Vol. XI, pp. 124, 245.
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THE LOST COLONY OF ROANOKE.^
No other subject in American history, perhaps, has been the cause of such perennial interest as has the first attempt at settlement in the New World by Englishmen under direction of Sir Walter Raleigh, 1584-91. Those who seek the sources at first hand may consult Hakluyt's Voyage and study De Bry's engravings ; or they may read Hawks' North Carolina or Tarbox's Raleigh. Or if they wish to see the latest popular account they may read Major Graham Daves's Virginia Dare, which appears as number one of the North Carolina Booklet. This fol- lows the fortunes of the colony only so far as they are re- corded in history.
In its voyages of Elizabethan seamen to America the Clarendon Press reprints select narratives from the prin- cipal navigations of Hakluyt. The first series contains the voyages of Hawkins, Frobisher and Drake. The second has that of Gilbert, Amandas and Barlow, Cavendish's two voyages and Raleigh's discovery of Guiana. Of these the voyage of Gilbert is older in point of time and is the pre- cursor of all the others. Gilbert's occupation of New-
* Voyages of the Elizabethan Seamen to America. — Edited by Edward John Payne. Second series. Gilbert, Amandas & Bar- low, Cavendish, Kaleigh. Second edition. (Oxford: The Clar- endon Press. O. pp. xlix+298. 3 parts. $1.25).
John Vytal. A tale of the Lost Colony. By William Far- quahr Payson. (New York and London: Harper & Brothers. 1901. D. pp. vi-|-3iS-|- [i]. I ill. $1.20, net.)
The White Doe. By Sallie Southall Gotten. ([Philadelphia.] Printed for the author by the J. B. Lippincott Company. 1901. D. pp. 89. Ills.)
Virginia Dare. By Major Graham Daves. (N. G. Booklet, Vol. I, No. I. Raleigh: Gapitol Printing Company, igoi. S. pp. 16. 10 cents.)
The Lost Colony of Roanoke: Its Fate and Survival. By Stephen B. Weeks. (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. 1891. O. pp. 42.)
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foundland was intended as the first step in a scheme drawn up by himself for expelling the Spaniards from America and transferring it to the English crown. Gilbert went by the northern route, met with reverses and lost his life. The northern was the less favored route, for the plundering^ of homeward bound Spanish vessels was always a part of these enterprises. Raleigh succeeded to the undertaking of Gilbert, his vessels were ordered to go by way of the Canaries and West Indies and exploration on the North Carolina coast was the result. Cavendish, the second Englishman to circumnavigate the globe, was himself a member of the colony of 1585 and Raleigh's search for El Dorado in Guiana was another effort to fulfill the predic- tion of Hayes, one ol Gilbert's captains, "that the countries lying north of Florida God hath reserved the same to be reduced unto Christian civility by the English nation."
There is a scholarly introduction showing the relations of these voyages to each other and to the general trend of English and European history with an extended account of the various efforts to find El Dorado. There are also short introductions to the separate voyages and a few foot- notes explaining obsolete and foreign words. These series will greatly facilitate study of the earliest period of English America.
The story of John Vytal, founded on the mysterious fate of the colony of 1587, of whose fortunes no authorita- tive account has been vouchsafed us, breathes to a cer- tain extent the sixteenth century atmosphere of England, that century of blood and iron, the sturm and drang period, when no Englishman was willing to live or con- tent to die until he had rendered due service to God and native land by striking a blow at the Spaniards. When the story opens the everlasting duel between Protestant England and Catholic Spain, which had been begun be- tween the Roman and the Teuton as long ago as the days
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of Arminius and the Roman legions of Varus and which saw its final culmination at Santiago de Cuba, was on. The author has caught something of the spirit and fire of the times of which he writes for John Vytal, the hero, reproduces in a limited way something of the spirit and determination of Drake. Vytal is a strong man who had fought Spaniards in the Low Countries and whose parents had perished on St. Bartholomew's night and who now devoted all his strength and powers to the defence of the little colony against his ancient enemies.
The story opens in London where the hero, Vytal, and the heroine, Eleanor Dare, and the chief conspirators are introduced. From London and from the thick of one of those hand-to-hand encounters for which that age was noted the scene shifts to the second expedition sent out to settle Old Virginia, now North Carolina.
The main course of the history of that famous voyage and the fortunes of the ill-fated and mysterious colony are followed and there is more than one clash with their hereditary enemies of Spain. When the settlement had been begun, according to this story, they were visited by the Spaniards from St. Augustine, as Fort Caroline had been twenty years before, now under the traitor Sir Wal- ter St. Magil, and in a vessel whose name was suggestive of the Spanish inquisition, Madre de Dios. But St. Magil and Ralph Contempt and their Spanish confeder- ates were less successful than Melendez had been and after their first attempt sailed away little better than shat- tered wrecks. Then come the return of White to Eng- land, the removal to Croatan, various deaths and other misfortunes until the colony had dwindled much in num- bers. They fail to hear from England! no help of any kind comes to them. Vytal acts as governor; he is the moving spirit of the colony, its life and strength, an in- carnation of the i6th century Englishman in his hatred and contempt of Spain. But the Madre de Dios comes
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again and in the struggle which follows the English col- ony is wiped almost out of existence. John Vytal and Eleanor Dare, the latter now freed from the marital yoke of the drunken and imbecile Ananias, are among the few who survive and they hand in hand go off the scene into that wilderness of oblivion from which the art of the his- torian has not yet been fully able to rescue them.
This explanation of the fate of the colony as due to a descent of the Spaniards is a new one. So far as the re- viewer is aware no evidence has come to light showing that Roanoke was visited by the Spaniards during those tiresome years of waiting and watching that followed the defeat of the Great Armada. The historical explanation of the fate of this colony, even more terribly suggestive than death at the hands of the Spaniards, is unknown to the author of this book. This explanation is briefly as follows: The colonists after the departure of White re- moved to Croatan which was a part of the mainland ; here they joined the Hatteras Indians, whose chief was Man- teo; they lived there for a number of years; about the beginning of the 17th century most of the remaining whites and spme of the half breeds were killed by emis- saries sent out by the Virginia Indians under Powhatan ; the remainder now thoroughly intermixed with the Hat- teras tribe took up their wanderings towards the South, and within the course of the 17th century found a home in what is now Robeson county, N. C, and their de- scendants, now known as Croatan Indians, can be identi- fied to-day by means of their language and family names, by their traditions and by various references to them in the works of white explorers. Here is indeed a most fit- ting subject for romance !
The author shows himself largely dominated by the influence of Marlowe. Quotations from his works serve as introductions and he is made to go on the Virginia voy- age. But the author seems not well acquainted with the
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history of that unfortunate attempt at settlement nor with the character of the savage. There was no preacher with the emigrants; there are no cliffs and rocks on Roanoke Island ; Croatan is given two different locations and those who write of the Indian as "straight as a spear" write of him as pictured by imaginative novelists and historians, not from an original study of the bent, underfed and un- dersized savage as he appears in the Southwest to-day. Some of the characters are well drawn. The action is well conceived and rapid. The interest in the story does not lag, but there are among the original settlers no char- acters that can compare in force and power with John Vytal and Eleanor Dare as drawn by the novelist.
The fortunes of the Colony of Roanoke, productive of the deepest historical interest according to the story of John Vytal, full of fascinating romance according to the researches of scholars, has been not less fruitful in legend. In The White Doe Mrs. Robert R. Gotten has gathered together the threads of an Indian legend of love and re- venge and woven them into a narrative of what we may justly call the oldest American love romance in which the English race has a personal concern.
The argument of the story is that the English colonists of 1587 having been attacked and decimated by hostile Indians, seek help and comfort among the followers of Manteo on Wokokon. Here the young Virginia Dare grows up into a beautiful womanhood, beloved of all, es- pecially by Okisko, a young warrior, and Chico, an old magician. The girl prefers the younger man and is car- ried by Chico to Roanoke, turned into a white doe and condemned to a wandering immortality. Okisko seeks for his lost love, goes to a rival magician and secures a magic arrow by means of which he can bring her back to her human form. In the meantime the immortality of the white doe had been noised abroad. She is a cause of chagrin to all the warriors who fail to make her their
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prize. Then comes Wanchese — ^that foil to the good Man- teo — ^with a silver arrow given him by Queen Elizabeth. He, too, lies in wait. Two arrows strike the white doe's heart at the same instant. Under the magic influence of Okisko's she reassumes her human form only to die from the mortal hurt of Wanchese's.
The poem, with prologue and introduction, extends to about 1,200 lines. The body of the poem is in trochaic tetrameter, without rhyme, after the style of Hiawatha, with which, in cadence and flow of verse, in subject and use of Indian ideas, forms and figures, it has much in common. The prologue and epilogue are written in rhymed hexamter, dactylic and anapestic, while the second division, "The Seeds of Truth,^' is in the form of an eight- line stanza where 2 rhymes with 4 and 6 with 8, the others being without rhyme in tetrameters and pentameters, mostly trochaic. All of these forms are less successful than the trochaic tetrameter.
There are notes based on historical sources. The ideal- ization of Virginia Dare as she recovers human shape, which serves as a frontispiece, is the work of Mary Louise Barrett, while the other illustrations are repro- duced from DeBry and labelled to suit the text. Typo- graphically the book is the highest product of the printer's art and comports well with the pleasing story.
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BOOK REVIEWS.
Civil History of the Government of the Confed- erate States with personal reminiscences. By J. L. M. Curry, LL. D. Richmond, Va.: B. F. Johnson Publishing Company, 1901. Price $1.25.
This book is dedicated in very graceful and appropriate language to Gen. John B. Gordon, Gen. Stephen D. Lee, Gen. Joseph Wheeler and All survivors of the "Lost Cause," "and especially to the surviving women of the, Confederacy."
The introductory chapter discusses in an able and im- partial manner the causes and rights of secession, actual nullification, the fugitive slave law, and action of the States on the same. A lucid account follows of the organization of the government, and the provisional constitution, the selection of President and Vice-President, initiatory leg- islation, and the selection of the first cabinet. The simil- arity and differences of the Confederate constitution from that of the United States is shown, embracing the sub- jects of Executive responsibility, ineligibility, restraints on expenditures, executive patronge and relation of the members of the cabinet with the Congress. Protection and the slave trade are discussed and also the wisdom of the changes or differences in the light of present con- ditions. Interesting accounts are given of actions of the border States, the Peace Congress.
The fifth chapter gives very valuable information re- garding the revenues of the Confederacy, the tax in kind, the depreciation of the currency and the uses made of cot- ton to strengthen the finances. The foreign relations of the Confederacy, the commission to Washington, efforts in behalf of belligerent rights, are the main subjects of the sixth chapter, while the two following chapters are
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devoted to the selection of President Davis, the unanimity of the South, the contrast between the resources of the Northern and Southern States, the individuality oi the States as seen in North Carolina, Georgia and Virginia, what the Southern woman did, accounts of hospitals, com- parative strength of the armies, religion in the camps, and religious persecution. The ninth and last chapter is an able justification of the right of secession.
The appendix contains the Constitution of the United States, and that of the Confederate States in parallel lines, the changes made in the former being shown in italicised letters in the latter.
The book is interspersed with characteristic sketches of members of the Confederate Cabinet, and leading mem- bers of the Congress.
While the entire book is one of rare interest and written in the author's best style, the chapter that is likely to ob- tain the most attention is the one entitled "Legal Justifica- tion of the South in Secession."
The author gives a historical review of the separation of the colonies from Great Britain, and the formation of the Constitution, and divides his treatise under the fol- lowing heads: "Equality and Sovereignty of the States," "The Constitution Made by the States," "Relation of States to the Union under the Constitution,'* "States Must Decide — Sectionalism produced disunion." "Why the South resisted Federal encroachments," "Secession the separate and legal act of the States."
It may be well to give the author's own language in the beginning of his able argument on the right of secession as it existed in i860:
"*all concerned wish to disclaim in advance any wish or purpose to reverse the arbitrament of the war, to repeal the late amendments to the Constitution, to revive African slav- ery, or secession as a right or remedy; or to organize any party or cultivate an opinion which, directly or indirectly
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shall inculcate disloyalty to the union or affect the alle- giance of citizens to the Federal Government. Let it be stated once for all that this argument as to the right of the South to be protected in property in slaves, and the exclusive right of a State to be the final judge of the power of the General Government, and to apply suitable remedies, is based on the Constitution and the rights of the States as they existed in i860."
The book is heartily commended to all who wish to dis- pasionately consider the grave subjects of which it treats.
M. J. W.
Numbers and Losses in the Civil War in America, 1861-65. By Thomas R. Livermore, member of the Mili- tary Historical Society of Massachusetts, and during the war Major and Brevet Colonel of the 5th New Hampshire Volunteers, and Colonel of the i8th New Hampshire Volunteers. Boston and New York : Houghton, Mifflin & Co. (The Riverside Press, Cambridge), 1901, 8vo., pp. x.+ 150, cloth.
This is the second edition of a careful survey of a mooted question. This question is one of much more than sectional sentiment.
Underlying the fabric of our indestructible asylum for the oppressed of all peoples — our reunited Nation, as our thoughtful and studious author or compiler, presents it — there must be self-respect. It is idle, or may be mis- chievous, to intimate that the people of sister States of such a provident abiding place as the United States of America, do not love another, when they have, shoulder to shoulder, met so recently misery and lurking disease in so many insidious forms, on soil outside of naturally marked domain, as constitutionally provided.
If the sons of the South have cheerfully rallied, to the glory of the Stars and Stripes, knowingly in face of dis- tempers fatal ; as well, has Time, sweet solace, quite dissi- pated all of mist which might have obscured the charity
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of the sweet ministrant — the blessed woman of the South — whose devotion and sacrifices encircle her with an au- reola of sanctity.
She, with her honored husband or lover, is now in sweet and regardful pace with national power, harmony and greater stride of beneficence and progress.
Colonel Livermore, it is evident, has been actuated by the best of motives, and it would seem that he has sought the truth diligently, and in this aspiration and happy ac- complishment he has essentially lessened dispute and un- seemly wrangle.
If some might dissent from his conclusions just now, the careful historian will commend him.
It may only be necessary to state that in the absence of record in the several Southern States, and in matters of jealous disagreement, in some of them as to the number for the Confederate States Army furnished by them sev- erally, might He the futility of assumptive estimate of the strength or losses of and sustained by the defenders of Southern Rights.
In the State of Virginia, it is true, quite literally, in the knowledge of many surviving, that in the exigencies of self-preservation we "robbed the cradle and the grave." Constantly were our manufactories not only left without workmen, but every one, however young, or howsoever enfeebled by years, repaired to the front, in defence of our menaced capital or other important points. Thus, as urged by Colonel Livermore, may we have had in our armies of the South more than may have been re- ported, or officially estimated.
Our careful author seems to have availed himself by reference to all that has been made public or may be referred to, citing, it may not be questioned, accurately.
Therefore, it might not be the province of this review to question adduction of authority, and it is a hearty sat-
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isfaction to commend what it is evident has been done with excellent purpose.
As Colonel Livermore remarks: "The sustained conflict and terrible loss of four years of war placed the reputation of Southern valor so high, that exaggerated statement of numbers cannot further exalt it in the esti- mation of the world." — Col. R. A. Brock.
East Tennessee and the Civil War. By Oliver P. Temple. Cincinnati: Robt. Clarke Co., 1899, 8vo, pp. xvi. +604, portraits and map, index, cloth $3.50.
This is a well-printed book with an appendix containing a declaration of grievances adopted at the Greenville con- vention, and a list of names of the delegates. The book is more comprehensive in its scope than its title indicates. It begins with the first settlements in Tennessee, and gives a very full account of the Wautauga Association, the his- tory in detail of the battle of King's Mountain, with an interesting description of the early inhabitants of the State. It deals with character of Covenanters, of whom the author has written a very readable and valuable work. Slavery in the State, and legislation on the subject, with an account of anti-slavery newspapers in Tennessee, form an interesting part of the work. Chapters VII. and VIII. are devoted to a review of the political canvass of i860 and 1861, and succeeding chapters give accounts of the Ordinance of Secession, the gubernatorial convention of 1861.
The relations of East Tennesseans to the abolition of slavery, and the abolition party, are fully discussed and a minute account of the celebrated bridge burning affair is given, with an account of executions and imprison- ments, the exodus of citizens loyal to the Union, the siege of Knoxville, and an interesting survey of the ante- cedents of the Union party in East Tennessee. In fact, all the phases civil and military of those momentous times
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receive a share of attention. A very thorough review of the book has been made by Hon. John Allison, of Nash- ville, Tennessee, to which we refer such readers as desire a more comprehensive statement than we can give in this magazine. On one point, however, we wish to take ex- ceptions with the author, and that is, as to the leadership of the Union people of East Tennessee. Judge Temple's statement of the leaders in his book may be entirely just to most of those whom he names, but he does not do justice to Gov. Wm. G. Brownlow.
It is a well known historical fact accredited by all who are familiar with the history of those events and times that Governor Brownlow was par excellence the recognized and accredited leader of the Union party in East Ten- nessee, and that he not only led but dominated public sen- timent, and that to him all Union people looked for advice. Gov. Brownlow was a unique character. He was a man of great natural ability, a fluent speaker, agree- able conversationalist and bold and determined. He as- serted in his newspaper, and proclaimed on the rostrum, what he believed to be right. He defied opposition, and invited controversy. He knew the people of East Ten- nessee, and all their ideas, and had the fullest sympathy with them, and always boldly espoused their cause. He was a Unionist of the deepest dye — "for the Union, the Constitution and the enforcement of the laws." When the war ended he was made governor, it may be said practically by acclamation. The State, of course, was swarming with Confederate soldiers returned from the war. The ears of the governor were filled by designing men with charges of disloyal designs on the part of these Confederate soldiers and he instituted and approved meas- ures of severity which he would not have done in calmer times, and with a better understanding of the facts. He showed in many instances (notably in his reception and treatment of Gov. Isham G. Harris, for whose apprehen-
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sion he had offered a reward), his kindness for Confed- erate soldiers, and his broad nationality. Any history of Tennessee which omits mention of Gov. Brownlow as the great and acknowledged leader of the Union party of East Tennessee is necessarily imperfect.
Judge Temple's book is a very valuable one, containing a mass of information, and is very fair in its treatment of Confederates, and is a valuable addition to the history of the war between the States.
The Dipix)matic History oj? the Southern Con- federacy. The Albert Shaw lectures on Diplomatic His- tory, 1900. By James Morton Callahan, Ph. D. Balti- more: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1901, pp. 304, doth.
The military history of the Confederacy has been treat- ed with great fulness from within and without, in a thou- sand different phases, but on the civil side almost nothing, in comparison, has been published. Hence, Dr. Callahan had substantially virgin soil to delve in and every careful student of the subject could have only warm welcome for his eflfort. In the preface he would have been still further encouraged by the promise that the author was going to study the question from within, to trace "the inner work- ing of the diplomatic machine."
Even here though suspicion is aroused as to our guide's reliability by the word "Secessionists," in capitals, as it is not likely that the Confederates ever officially so de- scribed themselves. Further examination is followed by doubt, distrust and finally loss of all confidence, for whether or not Dr. Callahan has the fitness for such labor, it is clear that he did not give either the time or the preparation required for this difficult task. It may be his temperament simply to skim over the surface of a matter. As advertised here, his "recent studies in Diplomatic His- tory" include (i) Neutrality of the American lakes, 199 pages, 1898; (2) Cuba and International Relations, 503
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pages, 1899; (3) American Relations in the Pacific, 177 pages, 1901. If we add the one under review, 304 pages, we find nearly 1,200 pages. It is not in the power of hu- man beings for one man thoroughly to cover all these lines in such short period. But if the others show the same loose grasp, indefinite conception, careless arrange- ment, useless repetitions and awkward expressions, we can understand his rapidity.
At least one-third of the book does not bear on the topic, but rather on the general history of the Confeder- acy. Some of the chapter headings tell but little more of what is to come after than a street name on the comer discloses of the people who live on the next square. The one reading "Confederate Foreign Policy" starts out with the assertion that there was no "foreign policy," a true statement. More than half of chapter nine is devoted to other points than "Kenner's mission," the generality not being even diplomatic. Not satisfied with ranging over the whole life of the Confederacy, Dr. Callahan has to put on an appendix of fifteen pages on the "Causes of Seces- sion." We wonder why he did not go on and remove other "bones of contention," as the cause of the downfall of the Confederacy, the cause of the defeat at Gettysburg, who killed Jackson, etc. He informs us (p. 39), that "the Confederacy had all the paraphernalia of a constitutional government" — perhaps he does not know that it never had a supreme court.
Possibly hasty revision can be charged with the isolated paragraph on page 70, and for the loose one on page 98, the latter being composed of two unrelated ideas. To the same source we may credit the bold figure in "the letter suspected from appearances that the proposition would not be accepted" (p. 263). Similarly we might excuse the grammatical blunder in "whom he said was not afraid'^ (p. no). For the same reason we can overlook the classi- fication (last words, p. 35), of men still in the flesh under
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the term "late survivors" — ^words almost as contradictory as "dead livers."
As specimens of duplication we twice have Vance's ap- peal to Davis to bring about peace (pp. 240, 253); the Yancey trip to Europe (pp. 84-92, and Chapter III), the Davis squabble with Congress in March, 1865 (pp. 49-51 and 268-269).
As a scholarly contribution to a historical problem the book is worth almost nothing, but as a course of lectures it might have been of interest. It is to be regretted that a great university lent its indorsement to such skimpy work unless the title had been changed to "Lectures on the Confederacy," a topic elastic enough to embrace all these odds and ends.
Life and Times oe Wii^wam Lowndes of South Caro- lina. By Mrs. St. Julien Ravenel. Boston and New York : Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1901, i2mo, illus., pp. ix.+257, cloth.
It is with rare pleasure that one opens this book, if "Eliza Lucas," the charming story of a young girl and ma- tron of Colonial days in Carolina, written by the same au- thor, is fresh in his memory, and fresh it is sure to be if he has ever read it.
The life of William Lowndes was passed in stirring times, and in them he was a prominent actor, "a maker of history." By reading this memoir of Mr. Lowndes, it will also be discovered that the "burning questions" of to-day, which many suppose "modem," are as old as the country— old indeed as the dawn of history. Thus will be learned the diflference between legitimate expansion and imperialism — ^between necessary defensive war and "criminal aggression" — between a revenue tariff and pro- tection.
Mr. Lowndes, a statesman, in the strictest sense of the term, of the highest ability and most exalted character,
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was of the new political party of Jefferson, a Republican, or, as we should now say, a Democrat. He commenced his national political career at Washington as a Represen- tative from South Carolina in the Twelfth Congress, and died, virtually, in harness, in October, 1822, having mean- time repeatedly declined Cabinet positions. He was very independent and if alive to-day, what a thorn in the flesh , he would be to "steering committees," and what a bdc noire to "bosses."
Mr. Lowndes was largely instrumental in bringing about many measures of vital importance to the United States, as a Federal Government, and these were not in- frequently at the expense of the supposed temporary in- terests of his constituents, and to his own personal dis- advantage. Of these, the one of most far-reaching im- portance was the second war with England. American commerce had been driven from the seas by the British Cabinet under the plea of European politics. The ships of the Middle, and Eastern States, were rotting at their wharves ; the produce of the South was valueless without a market; wide-spread distress prevailed; American sail- ors were kidnapped on^the ocean and forced under the lash to serve British masters ; others were butchered with- in sight of their own homes. The flag of the United States became consequently despised throughout Europe, and diplomatic requests for redress were again, as in Frank- lin's time, "greeted with roars of laughter" by the English Ministry. Weak-kneed Americans in the Eastern States clamored for peace at any price, and threatened to secede from the Union, which seemed to have become but a rope of sand. All this was changed, and changed forever, by the war. The Union-Jack went down in defeat on the water, its own chosen fighting ground, and the South- western riflemen at New Orleans, with greatly inferior numbers, made short work of Wellington's Peninsular veterans.
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Mr. Lowndes had foreseen that war was inevitable, if the country was to be preserved, and had worked hard, against great obstacles, to place her in a state of pre- paredness. In the creation of the navy his work was very noteworthy. When the war came, the South suffered greatly, but there was no flinching by Lowndes and he maintained an abiding faith in ultimate success. At last it came, and with it the birth of the United States, as a nation, that is to say, in so far as foreign powers are con- cerned.
But a brief review can do no justice to this valuable con- tribution to American history ; it must be read, to be ap- preciated.— Edward L. Wells.
The Recent Past ]?rom a Southern Standpoint, Reminiscences op a Grandeather. By Richard H. Wil- mer, Bishop of Alabama. New York : Thomas Whittaker, 1900, pp. 294, illus., 8vo, cloth, $1.50.
When men of the character, experience and ability of the late Bishop of Alabama, write books, we may be sure that they have something to write of worth writing and worth reading.
The Bishop's life was a long one, and embraced the most impressive, the most serious, the most distressing, and in all respects, the most intensely interesting period of our history. The long and bitter struggle in Congress, and the constantly increasing agitation throughout our whole country, upon the great questions of constitutional right, and duty, which divided the United States into North and South, were questions in which a man of his earnest nature and strong intelligence would naturally take a deep interest. This interest everywhere appears in his book, but it is always expressed in the spirit of the Christian, as well as in the absolute candor which always characterized the utterances of Bishop Wilmer.
The Bishop writes for his grandchildren, and writes
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with the freedom ot a father writing to his family. He writes about his own experiences; he gives his own re- flections; he makes his own judgments^ and states facts just as he knew them, or as he saw them. The Bishop's personality is stamped all through his book. To those of us who knew him, the reading of his book seems almost like conversing with him. Whoever reads this book, may be sure that they are reading the book of a high, true, representative man, whose word was his bond, and whose bond was his noble pfersonality and character.
The book discusses the burning questions of the con- stitutional rights of the States, as the Southern people re- garded them; it gives a true and faithful picture of do- mestic slavery in the South ; and his reminiscences of the Confederate War, are true to the life. Then the Bishop states the Church question ; tells us how the Church was planted in America; gives a beautiful sketch of his early ministry, and of that prince amongst Christian laymen, Mr. John Stewart, of Virginia ; he writes about the differ- ent religious bodies in the United States, and speaks in no qualified strain about the pretensions and assumptions of the Latin Church, and about our brethren of the different denominational communions. The chapter on scepticism, rationalism and scientism, is like Bishop Wilmer, and is worth reading. As a book of historical interest, it is most valuable. His post bellum reminiscences, his account of the reunion of the Church, North and South after the war; and above all, the sketches of Bishop Elliott, of Georgia ; Bishop Joseph Wilmer, of Louisiana, and Bishop Cobbs, of Alabama, are true pictures of noble men, men of God and of His Church, drawn by the skilful, able and often eloquent pen, of an appreciative brother and friend.
The closing chapter on manliness, may well be read by all of our boys. There are touches of Bishop Wilmer's real genius in this chapter, and always in his sentiments and in his descriptions the reproduction of the real man-
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liness, which every reader of the book, who knew its au- thor, will recognize as pre-eminently his characteristic.
Of course, in a book like this, there is the glow, every- where, of the Bishop's genial humor, and now and again the sparkle of his genuine wit ; which adds a special charm, and makes the book, in our judgment, one of the most charming to read to the family of an evening, that we know of.
Eluson Capers.
Bishop's House, Columbia, S. C.
Thomas Jefferson. By Thomas E. Watson. Boston : Small, Maynawi & Co., 1900, i8mo, pp xviii.+i5o, portrait, cloth, 75 cents. Beacon Biographic series, edited by .M. A. DeWolfe Howe.
Within the narrow limits set for him, Mr. Watson has given us a very interesting view of Jefferson, and a valu- able condensation of the main events in his long life, neces- sarily though confining himself to "the plain road of fact." It is not, however, a mere colorless photograph that is placed before us, but a living portrait. A man of Mr. Watson's strong individuality would unconsciously make us look through his glasses, even though he should be exceeding careful not to distort the image. Very prop- erly this is done with every good, readable biography.
We see Jefferson as he impresses Watson, fair and favorable, but Mr. Watson, while in fullest sympathy with his subject, does not allow his judgment to be blinded to defects as his humorous comments on Jefferson's va- garies will show.
There is nothing of the conventional historical style in these pages. In the preface we find "trashpile" and "chicken coop" as applied to some views of Jefferson's work and capacities. Throughout are phrases and turns of expression taken from the free colloquial usage of to-
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day. Especially lively are the sarcastic references to the "austere dig^ty" of Washington.
All the better that Mr. Watson does thus boldly break away from the hoary traditions of taste. His pen moves more easily and naturally and traces for us a charming narrative, rising often to delightful heights, as the ex- quisite paragraph (p. 26), describing one of JeflFerson's early dreams and its realization. Occasionally the rhetoric is a little lurid, as the sneer over "the greed for gold,'' and the digression (pp. 81-84), to lambaste Hamilton and to paint the "spoilation" of "the masses'' by "the classes" in England.
•
History of Spartanburg County, S. C. By Dr. J. B. O. Landrum. Atlanta Ga. : The Franklin Printing and Publishing Company, 1900, 8vo, pp. 739, cloth, illustra- tions.
This is unquestionably a work of great historical value and research, not only in one respect, but in many, and as a contribution to a county genealogy it is one of the most complete volumes relating to South Carolina ever pub- lished. It is an historical sequel to the "Colonial and Revolutionary History of Upper South Carolina," by the same writer. In the introduction to the present volume we have an account of the origin of the county, which is followed by an account of the early courts, with jury lists. One of the first chapters is devoted to a sketch of Spar- tanburg City, which is not only interesting, but would prove a very useful advertising circular if published in pamphlet form. After this sketch, we have one relating to education in the county, which is an exhaustive article. It will be remembered that it is at Spartanburg where Wof- ford College is located. This is one of the leading educa- tional institutions in the South, and its honored President, Dr. James H. Carlisle (of whom a sketch and likeness are given), is not only a leading educator of South Carolina,
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but in the truest sense of the term, is a great man. An- other prominent educational institution of the city is Con- verse College, which was founded by D. E. Converse, of whom we also have a likeness and sketch. We cannot stop to fully review this part of Dr. Landrum's work, but will say that the S. C. Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Blind is located in this county and in connection with the sketch of the same, we have an account of the Walkers, a prominent educational family of South Caro- lina, who are associated with this important institution and one of whom was its founder. Two of their like- nesses are given. After this educational sketch comes a general review of the religious progress of the county during the nineteenth century, and in this account statis- tics are given of religious affairs among both races at the present time. We have an account of the temperance pro- gress in the county from time to time, which is followed by a very full sketch of political affairs from 1830 to i860.
Spartanburg is not only a leading educational county of South Carolina, but it is also one of the leading manu- facturing counties of the State, and a carefully prepared sketch of its manufacturing enterprises during the last century is given.
We now get into the biographical and genealogical part of the volume, and it is largely a genealogical work. First we have sketches of Revolutionary worthies and among the sketches of families may be mentioned the following: Moore (one of whom is now a professor at the S. C. Col- lege) ; Barry, Wofford (one of whom — the Rev. Benjamin Wofford — made a monument for himself in the educa- tional history of South Carolina by founding Wofford Col- lege); Hampton, Earle, Anderson, Forster, Montgomery, Dean, Woodruff, Bomar, Lipscomb, Duncan, Ballanger, Wingo, Archer, besides numerous biographical sketches, one of which is of the Rev. John Gill Landrum, a promi-
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nent Baptist clergyman of South Carolina, and the father of the writer of the history which we are reviewing.
The Hamptons and Earles mentioned above are among the most prominent families of South Carolina and the name of the former is of national renown. Anthony Hampton (great-grandfather of the present distinguished Gen. Wade Hampton), and a part of his family, were mas- sacred by the Indians in what is now Spartanburg county during the summer of 1776.
Dr. Landrum gives a sketch of Glenn Springs, famous in South Carolina as a summer resort.
A list of the Senators and Representatives from the county in the State legislature from 1786 to 1900 is given, also a document of unique interest in the shape of a list of the heads of families taken in the first census.
The volume closes by devoting over 50 pages to a suc- cinct account of the Confederate soldiers from Spartan- burg county. This account will prove of almost priceless value to the Confederate historians of the future who wish to gather information in regard to the Spartanburg sol- diers and it can safely be said that it is without doubt one of the most complete accounts of the Confederate soldiers of any one Southern county ever published.
This volume is a most comprehensive one and displays a painstaking care on the part of the writer. As we be- fore said, it is a work of great historical value and in re- gard to the genealogical and Confederate history of Spar- tanburg county it will always remain a standard author- ity.
McDonald Furman.
Privateer, S. C.
Northwestern Indiana, from 1800 to 1900. By T. H. Ball. Crown Point, Ind.: 1900, pp. 570, cloth, portrait, maps, index.
Taking a section about 72 miles long and 55 wide, or
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3,960 square miles, covering seven counties in whole and two in part, our author aims "to give the history of the region as a whole, to show its early settlement, its growth and what it now is,, by treating in separate chapters, as topics or subjects of interest, the various particulars which belong to its topography, its physical features, and its general history/' He tabulates his authorities, sizing some of them up with quaint, gentle humor by their avoirdupois, as weighing "four and half pounds," in one instance. But his long residence in the locality, since 1837, his habits of observation and recording, his secretary- ship of a historical association, constitute himself as one of his best sources of information.
According to his promise he has most interestingly and carefully considered a great variety of topics ; as Indians, pioneer life, economic development, religious history, edu- cation, etc.
It is evident all through his pages that he had made the hardest effort to be accurate. It is really refreshing, in distinction from the swinging style of so many of the average county histories, to come across a sharp rap like this : "It is risky to make sweeping statements, especially where the statement implies more knowledge than most men have or can have'' (p. 491). All the more confidence do we have in the writer when he follows up this indict- ment by specific examples from loose pens that he crush- ingly refutes. In consequence of such striving for excell- ence we have not only a very entertaining account but one that we can rely on of a corner of a great valley State.
W. E. Connelley is the author of John Brown, a new life of that abolition leader who made the Harper's Ferry raid in 1859 (Topeka, Kan.: Crane & Co., 1900, i2mo, 2 vols., total pages of 283, paper).
It appears in the series of Twentieth Century Classics, put forth by this firm "under the editorial supervision of
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W. M. Davidson," school superintendent of Topeka; the object being "to furnish special reading of a high order'* for schools and teachers. Mr. Connelley does not aim to add anything to our knowledge pf John Brown, but seeks to restate his career and what it stands for. But his work is so far removed from the approved methods of historical study and writing now taught in all leading universities over the land, and of course in iCansas, that it is hard to believe it was brought forth almost under the shadow of the great State University. Still more incom- prehensible is it that this turgid rhetoric and these bald sweeping statements are indorsed as a "classic" by the educational head of a large city system.
Autobiography of Col. Richard Malcolm Johns- ton. Washington: The Neale Co., 1900, pp. 190, cloth, portrait, 2d edition.
This is the book form of the serial that appeared in the Conservative Review last year, and was reviewed in these Publications, pp. 169-170, of the present volume. It is a beautiful picture of the Old South, an exquisite record of a noble nature. There are many men who saw the tran- sition from the former to the latter days, but exceeding few of the literary skill and power of Col. Johnston, and still fewer who in the present could look back with such playful humor, such delicate poise, such manly modera- tion, such well-balanced judgment. The man himself, his deeds, his trials, his words, his reflections, all told by his pen, is a shaft of light on the momentous era in which he lived.
He was a warm friend with the great political leaders of Georgia, who were also prominent in national affairs. His testimony, though negative, as to what Lincoln of- fered at the Hampton Roads Conference is very pertinent now when there is a discussion, in which Hon. John H. Reagan largely figures, as to what Lincoln said to Steph-
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ens and the other Confederate Commissioners. Col. Johnston says: "I have seen it stated that he [Lincoln] proposed to the commissioners that, after writing upon a blank page the word 'Reunion* they might insert the rest. I have no idea that this is true. Nothing like it was said by Stephens to me, with whom he held closest intimacy" (p. 176).
A clear summary of the imprisonment and trial of Jef- ferson Davis by a fair-minded lawyer, from the official sources chiefly, is Charles M. Blackford's The Trials and Trial o:f Jefferson Davis, read before the Virginia State Bar Association at the 12th annual meeting, at Old Point Comfort, July 17-19, 1900 (Richmond, John T. West, printer, 1900, paper, pp. 46). It is a wonderful con- trast the extracts from authoritative records show, be- tween the pettiness and shortsightedness of some of the minor actors in that mighty drama of a third of a century ago, and the grandeur and breadth of Lincoln, Chase and others like them, who rose above the squabblings and passions of the hour and looked to the future unification of the land. Although Mr. Lincoln does not appear in these pages, the part he had chosen for himself is uncon- sciously marked out with clear distinctness from that of so many smaller men clamoring for the wrong way.
Rev. Robert F. Campbell, Asheville, N. C, continues his scholarly researches on the mountain whites of the South in his Classification of Mountain Whites re- printed from The Southern Workman (paper, pp. 8, large 8vo). It is a surprise to many to know that this term really covers a space 500 miles long by 250 wide, some 200 counties, with an area nearly as great as Germany and a population of some three millions. Dr. Campbell finds three strata, corresponding, one might say, to three dif- ferent heights above sea level ; the first "in the broad, rich
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valleys, or on extensive plateaus;" the second on and around the lower mountain ranges ; the third "haunt the fringes of the better communities in narrow coves, or far up on the mountain sides." It is the last grade counting up about 200,000, or one-fifteenth of the whole, that fur- nishes the chief part of the sociological problem of these mountain dwellers, and they are really the "slums" of the region, for as Dr. Campbell remarks these sparse settle- ments have their slums just as the cities have. As to the racial origin of this "submerged tenth," Dr. Campbell re- jects the "tory" theory, the "bound servant" theory, the "European scum" theory, and declares that they "are the driftwood from the tides of population flowing along the bases and over the Appalachian mountains." "In other words this class is made up of the degenerates of the same races that constitute" the other two higher grades, which are of English, German, Dutch and Scotch-Irish descent. Dr. Campbell writes of his subject with heartfelt interest as he is a Mountain White himself, so he says.
In the College-Bred Negro (Atlanta University Publi- cations, No. 5, 1900, pp. 116, paper, 25 cents), Dr. W. E. B. DuBois has given us another of his most admirable inves- tigations into this vast ethnic problem. Through the co- operation of college graduates and prominent Negroes a mass of facts was gathered on this particular phase. Lists of questions were sent out to some 2,500 persons, both men and women, about one-half of whom replied. From the voluminous details contained in the answers Dr. Du- Bois feels justified in drawing this conclusion : "The cen- tral truth which this study teaches to the candid mind is the success of higher education under the limitations and difficulties of the past. In a scheme such as I have out- lined, providing the rudiments of an education for all, in- dustrial training for the many, and a college course for the talented few, I fail to see anything contradictory or an-
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tagonistic." He thinks that some ten of the higher insti- tutions already established would be sufficient, and that some twenty of so-called colleges should close up their collegiate courses. On the crucial point of all education, the material side, ability to earn a living, over 500 of the 1,252, made returns as to their property. From this data, Dr. DuBois cautiously estimates the average individual accumulations as about $5,000, a figure that would strengthen his views as to the value and importance of ad- vanced culture.
With sadness it is to be confessed that the hand of the • historical e^iitor of the Charleston Year Book for 1900 (Charleston, S. C, 1901, pp. xxi+337+205, 8vo., cloth) has at last lost its cunning. Instead of following his custom of giving us important original material bearing almost en- tirely on the locality, we have a reprint of 64 pages, *The Historical Status of the Negro in Connecticut,'* that saw the light of day more than a quarter of a century ago. The second selection, covering 17 pages, is entitled "Some Brief Remarks on the Address of Hon. Charles Francis Adams," which was delivered last October, 19th, at Mad- ison, Wis., on the dedication there of the new library build- ing for the State Historical Society. Over half of the sev- enteen pages are Mr. Adams's words which were printed in full months ago. The comments on them are a re- threshing of straw that was long since beaten to bits.
These two articles comprise the concessions to histori- cal study in this annual collection of municipal reports. Neither one makes any addition to the sum of knowledge and the 81 pages of valuable space are practically thrown away.
The second of the James Sprunt Historicai. Mono- graphs published by the University of J^orth Carolina, deals with Nathaniel Macon (Chapel Hill, N. C, 1900, O.
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pp. 2l.+ii5+[i]). The first part is a study of the Con- gressional career of Macon (pp. 1-37) by Edwin Mood Wil- son, A. M. The second part is made up of letters written by Macon to Bartlett Yancey, with one from Willie P. Mangum to Yancey in which Macon is mentioned, the whole being annotated with excellent notes, historical, bio- graphical and genealogical, by Professor Kemp P. Battle. Mr. Wilson g^ves little space to the private life of his sub- ject, but as Macon entered the lower house of Congress in 1791 and served continuously until 1828, the monograph covers by far the greater part of his active career. The treatment is temperate and judicial in tone and the final estimate of Macon is much saner than could have been hoped for from most North Carolina writers. He says:
'In his life we have the example of a man of mediocre abilities and meager education rising to occupy the high- est position of trust and honor that the people of his State could bestow. Judged by a standard of tireless en- deavor and unswerving conception of duty, his was a ca- reer successful in the highest degree. Judged by a stand- ard of great personal achievement, it was a success neither brilliant nor remarkable. Mr. Macon can never be called a great man in the highest sense of the term. He was not a leader, he was not a statesman in all respects ; but he was an ideal representative. Lacking the personal influence, the subtle and almost indefinable charm of manner, * * * he was not a great statesman, either in the originality of his view of politics or in the practicability of his theories of government." This sane and sober judgment will be a shock to some newspapers in the State that for political purposes are parading Macon as the greatest man that the State has ever produced.
The letters printed were written mostly between 1818 and 1828 and deal with the political affairs of the time. The annotations and notes by Dr. Battle are such as
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to supply the wants of readers who are without works of reference and incidentally preserve many valuable bits of local history.
Mr. D. A. Tompkins, Charlotte, N. C, has reprinted from Cotton and Cotton Oil, a work now in preparation by him, chapter 2, entitled The Cotton Gin, The history of its invention. (Charlotte, N. C: The Author. 1901. O. pp. 62, 25 cents). It reviews the claims of Whitney and others to this invention; gives copies of the original patent specifications and drawings from the Patent Office records and makes a synopsis of the testimony in the 27 law suits relating to infringements in Georgia, 1796 to 1805, as found in the United States Court records in Sa- vannah, Ga. The monograph is illustrated by original drawings and is done in a most thorough and scholarly fashion. The conclusions of Mr. Tompkins as to honors are (p. 20) : Whitney invented a cotton gin consisting of spikes driven into a wooden cylinder, with a slotted bar through which these spike teeth passed and a brush to clear the spikes ; (2) Hodgen Holmes, of Georgia, invented an improved gin, using circular saws properly spaced, passing through spaces between ribs ; (3) Whitney's inven- tion was fundamental ; (4) the practical application of the fundamental idea was Holmes' invention of the saw gin; (5) Whitney received at least $90,000 in royalties from South Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee; (6) in Georgia Whitney's firm tried to monopolize the ginning business, they failed and got into law suits.
The North Carolina Daughters of the American Revo- lution, with Miss Martha Helen Haywood and Mrs. Hu- bert Haywood as editors, began on May loth the publica- tion of The North Carolina Booklet, a monthly periodical devoted to a presentation in popular style, without foot notes, bibliographies or other scholarly paraphernalia, of
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various important events in the history of the State. The first three numbers have appeared. The contents for the first year will be: ''Virginia Dare," by Maj. Graham Daves; "Colonial Newbern/^ by Mrs. Sarah Beaumont Kennedy; "Liberty, Property and No Stamp Duty," by Col. A. M. Waddell ; "Edenton Tea Party," by Dr. Rich- ard Dillard; "Betsey Dowdy's Ride," by Col. R. B. Creecy ; "The Hornets' Nest," by Mr. Heriot Clarkson ; "Greene's Retreat," by Prof. D. H. Hill ; "Monsier Le Marquis de Lafayette," by Maj. E. J. Hale; "An Admiral and His Daughters," by Dr. Kemp P. Battle; "Pettigrew's Charge,'* by Capt. S. A. Ashe ; "Reminiscences of a Block- ade Runner," by British Vice Consul James Sprunt ; "Ku- Klux," by Mrs. T. J. Jarvis. (Raleigh: Capital Printing Company. lo cents a number, $i.oo a year).
As the initial number of their series "designed to serve as a means for the publication of a selection of the best work done in all lines of research conducted at the Uni- versity of Missouri," we have the well-printed Contribu- tions TO A Psychological Theory o? Music, by Max Meyer (pap., pp. 80, large 8vo., 75 cents).
At the request of the Lodge, Hon. John Nichols has pre- pared and published a History of Hiram Masonic Lodge, No. 40, Raleigh, N. C, from 1800 to 1900. (n. d., n. p. [Raleign? 1901]- O. pp. 56). There are also sketches of individual members and a portrait of the author.
The Minutes of the Fourth Annual Meeting of THE United Daughters of the Confederacy, North Carolina Division, for 1900 have been published (Ra- leigh: Capital Printing Company. 1901. O. pp. 155). It contains the proceedings of the annual meeting, reports on the organization and work of the various chapters, and the address delivered before the society by Capt. C. B.
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Denson, on the character of Jefferson Davis. The object^ of the organization are historical, educational, memorial, benevolent and social, and it is affiliated with the general Society of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Miss Lida Tunstall Rodman, of Washington, N. C, is president, and Mrs. Wm. H. Overman, Salisbury, N. C, secretary.
It is announced that the Diary kept by Colonel Charles C. Blacknall, of the 23d N. C. Regiment, from the begin- ning of the war up to his death at Winchester, Va., Novem- ber 6, 1864, and the letters written by him during that time, which after being lost for seventeen years have been recovered, will both soon be printed in a memoir to be is- sued by his family for private distribution. The publica- tion will be under the care of Col. O. W. Blacknall, Kittrell, N. C, who has done much towards preserving the records of the Confederacy. A short sketch of Col. C. C. Black- nall, with portrait, appears in The Southland for May.
The Love o? Landry. By Paul Laurence Dunbar. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1900, i2mo., pp. 200, cloth, $1.25.
The latest novel by Paul Lawrence Dunbar brings prominently forward the versatility of this Negro author. The author ranks high as a lyrical poet and has won special laurels for his works in Negro dialect. He stands well as a novelist, but most of his works in fiction have dealt with Negro life. His LovE o? Landry is a decided departure, all the characters being Anglo-Saxons of wealth, and the scenes being laid in New York and on a ranch in Colorado. Mildred Osborn, predisposed to con- sumption, the daughter of a wealthy New Yorker, is ad- vised by her physician to go to Colorado for her health. She is met by Landry and becomes interested in him from the first — possibly because he dressed like a cowboy and
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talked like a Harvard graduate. His position is decidedly peculiar and Mildred finds it hard to locate him. The mys- tery which surrounds him, is kept up until there occurs a round-up. Mildred in trying to serve him is wounded and the whole history of his life is told, and the* story of their love follows. The character of the mysterious Landry is well drawn, and there is a charm about the whole work which holds our interest.
The coloring and setting of the story are excellent, and the development of the plot good. The inductive por- trayal of character shows the author as a student of human nature. We believe, however, from an artistic standpoint, Mr. Dunbar's best talent is in poetry, and we deplore the conditions which make it necessary for a writer to leave the field wherein he can do his best work, in order to write books that will sell, but which are inferior to what he can do in another line. Mr. Dunbar easily ranks among the best poets, including all races and countries; but he might not be so classed among novelists. From a socio- logical standpoint, in spite of the fact, that shifting the scene shows great versatility, we believe that more good would come to the Negro race, if the Negro writers would continue to bring the Negro's home life and best charac- teristics before the public in strong but true light as did, "Majors and Minors," and "Lyrics from Lowly Life."
W. H. COUNCILL.
The House Behind the Cedars. By Charles W. Ches- nutt. Boston and New York : Houghton, MifHin & Co., 1901, O. pp. 2I+294, $1.50.
An interesting but impossible tale this ! The story opens in Fayetteville, N. C, for such is Patesville. The hero and heroine, John and Rowena Walden (or Warwick), are two mulatto youth, brother and sister, the illegitimate children of a man of fortune and social position. Their mother is a free colored woman of the old issue. The father dies.
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The son is ambitious; goes to South Carolina; becomes a lawyer and through the overturning and leveling in- fluence of the war rises to wealth and position and mar- ries into an aristocratic family. He seeks to raise his sis- ter to the position he now occupies. He educates her and introduces her to the best society. She is beautiful, culti- vated and of finer mould than her brother. She meets George Tryon, a young North Carolinian of the highest social position. They fall in love and become engaged. But the secret of their servile origin haunts her. She dis- cusses it with her brother. But he is a cool calculating lawyer, aggressive and cunning, with ambitions to be "white" and little regard for the rights of others when those rights come into conflict with his own wishes. But the story will out ; Rowena goes to Patesville to visit her mother. Tryon goes there on business and the secret of her servile origin is revealed.
Now comes the trial ; Tryon deserts her and leaves the city; he tries to put pride of family and of race above what he still calls "love;" he returns to Patesville; sees his adored one dancing in the arms of a grinning mulatto and is again saved from himself. Rowena goes to teach a negro school in Tryon's neighborhood ; a rival appears in the person of the grinning mulatto. Tryon seeks an in- terview; Rowena's efforts to escape from both bring on consequences that cause her death.
The story is impossible. Had the plot been laid in Ohio and had Rowena married her Yankee lover the poetic proprieties would have been maintained, but in the South never. And just here the author betrays his ignorance of Southern manners and society; had Tryon been of the social position to which he is accredited he would never have thought of marrying a woman whose antecedents were so wholly unknown to him, while his vacillation after the discovery marks him as a plain fool.
Topographically the story is correct; much of it is in
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dialect, or in what purports to be dialect, but which is really only the phonographic representation of the English of tlie seventeenth and eighteenth centuries which has sur- vived in the South and which makes the language of many sections the purest English that is spoken to-day. The remarks on slavery would be irritating were they not amusing. Apropos of the debasement of slavery with which the author begins it might be appropriate to ask whether without this "debasement," Mr. Chesnutt would have been engaged at this time in writing interesting but impossible novels or in dining — either in an active or pas- sive sense — his African neighbors. The American Negro is the last to write against slavery if he knows aught of history.
Stringtown on the Pike, a tale of Northernmost Ken- tucky. By John Uri Lloyd, New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1901, pp. viii-l-414, 8vo., illus., cloth, $1.50.
This story, which first appeared as a serial in The Book- man during the past year, has been received with marked favor, particularly in Kentucky. The author is a native of this State, though now living in Cincinnati, where he is Professor of Chemistry in the Eclectic Medical College. It is generally understood that Stringtown on the Pike is the village of Florence in Boone county, Kentucky, a short distance southeast of Covington. Here on the white old pike the scene is laid, the Stringtown grocery, where the village circle met every Saturday night, being the centre- piece of this dramatic story. On its broad porch weekly gather the parson, the judge, the school teacher, the Vir- ginia colonel, the doctor, and the tobacco-chewing old Kentucky gentlemen to discuss questions political, re- ligious, philosophical, sociological, and local. Still the story is not provincial, for many of the scenes and cer- tainly most of the personages are essentially typical of old southern life. Though cast in the war times of '63 and '64
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most of the interest centres about episodes of neighbor- hood life — court-room scenes, division of estates, folk-lore legends, negro superstitions, family feuds, and disap- pointed love.
The real hero of the book is old Cupe (short for Cupid), a faithful negro slave, a descendant of an ancient African king, whose knowledge of the weird symbolism of his an- cestors is applied successfully with fanatical zeal to the liferproblems of his master, mistress, their children, and all their earthly relationships.
The book is intensely dramatic ; the movement is rapid ; and Mr. Lloyd knows the negro dialect and understands village life. But there is a weirdness about the action and the supernatural business would seem somewhat overdone. The style is vigorous and straightforward. The several climaxes in the story, such as the murder scene in the grocery, the death of the Corn Bug, the trial of Cupe and of Red Head, are cleverly managed — indeed, they are in- tensely thrilling. The story varies in many respects from the conventional novel, showing considerable originality both in motif and technique. It is a distinct contribution to the study of Southern local color. It also indicates a field for literary cultivation, the old southern village com- munity.
J. C. Metcai^f.
Georgetown College, Ky.
JuLETTY. A Story of Old Kentucky. By Lucy Cleaver McElroy. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., 1901, 8vo., pp. 280, illus., cloth.
If one desired additional and decisive proof of the skill of the Kentuckian as a raconteur, he would find it in every page of this delightful book. It is not one story, but many stories ingeniously linked in the telling and each con- tributing to the development of the plot. The author of "Juletty" tells her story with a masculine vigor of expres-
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sion and a practised firmness of touch, that, but for the frank avowal of the title page, might leave some doubt as to the gifted writer's sex.
Many years before the opening of our great Civil War, Edgar A. Poe made reference in one of his private letters, to the wealth of literary culture lying perdue and utterly passive in the plantations of the South. It would seem that, in the State of Kentucky, this lurking and long-sup- pressed aptitude for literary expression has been notably developed by events. What Mr. Fox has done for the "Mountains ;" what Mr. Allen and Miss Higbee and Miss Kinkead have done for the "Blue Grass," the accomplished author of "Juletty" has done for the long-neglected "Pen- nyrile." It is a story aglow with life and racy of the soiL As bits of thrilling or aflFecting description, the rescue of the grey mare by Buddy, the wreck of Al. Sincque's cabin by the midnight flood, and the death of young Tom Mor- gan and the great partisan leader's wild agony of grief, are passages hard to match in the pages of modem ro- mance. Here are scenes and situations which only a bom story-teller — ^apt in word-craft by instinct and by art — could vividly and sympathetically reproduce; and, as we follow these fascinating pages, reflecting, as in a mirror, the salient characteristics of the strange environment, our memory reverts to an old-time summer outing with con- genial friends in that quaint, provincial region of mystery and charm — ^a land of soft sunshine ; of broad and fertile ranges; of noble woodlands; of soft-flowing waters, of dewy meadows ; of fields of maize, and gardens of fruits and flowers; of great silent streams mirroring the slow raft or the swift canoe ; of strange relics of vanished races known only by their entombed remains ; of mighty caverns patiently wrought by crude cosmical agencies into cham- bers and corridors of sculpturesque finish and grace; of mysterious rivers, untouched by human traffic, flowing
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ceaselessly, in subterranean silence, like Alph, the sacred river, "down to a sunless sea."
It is here — in this weird, sequestered nook of the mighty world — that the scene of this strange romance is laid. The central figure of the story is the subtle, audacious, amber-eyed "Juletty." There is a fascinating touch of diablerie in her character and disposition which curiously accords with the unique setting in which she is placed, and imparts a sinister interest to every page of the absorbing tale.
T. E. Pickett.
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With a paper showing such mastery of his subject, and such acquaintance with the sources as Mr. Thomas T. Up- shur's address on Eastern Shore History, June 19, 1900, the editor of the Virginia Magazine oi^ History and Biography ought not to feel called on to apologize for making an exception to his general rule of publishing only original documents. With his vast and accurate knowl- edge, Mr. Upshur, without falsifying, exaggerating or even imagining, has given us an exceedingly interesting contribution and a scholarly sketch of the local history from the beginning of white men's habitation there. He sticks to the truth and yet makes "the hard cold facts" of history smile and laugh. A very striking conclusion he reaches is that "the purest Anglo-Saxon blood in the world is doubtless to be found on the eastern shore of Vir- ginia," due to the constant intermarrying.
Of course the bulk of the issue is taken ^ up with the usual documentary material, giving us a continuation of the annotated lists of Virginia newspapers in the Library of Congress ; lists of patriots in Henry county who took the oath of allegiance to the United States in 1777; the petty squabbling between Nicholson and Blair over the management of the William and Mary College in 1705; side light on the Protestant insurrection in Maryland, in 1689 ; collection of taxes and quit rents ; names of muti- neers sent to England in 1636; a significant item at pres- ent, relating to apprehension of "a negro who had rav- ished a white woman," appearing in court records in 1677 ; acts of Virginia Assembly of 1641, showing that then as now a large part of legislation consisted in repealing bad measures ; life in revolutionary Virginia as pictured in the Bland papers which are a part of the collection donated
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to the society, 1848-49, by Charles Campbell, a noted his- torian of Colonial Virginia ; accounts of Virginia militia in the revolution ; Byrd letters and will, and genealogy of the Fitzhugh family and "Wilson Cary of Ceely's, and his family/'
The American Monthly Magazine (D. A. R. organ, Washington, D. C.) for July has some eight pages of original material on the Revolutionary War, but the bulk of the number is taken up with a very gushy account of the Daughters' celebration of Flag Day at BuflFalo, June 14, the "Work of the Chapters," and official matters. The reports from the local units all over the land show a great variety of means to stimulate interest in the meetings. They also indicate that with many of these good ladies the historic and patriotic element is only an occasion for so- cial cultivation.
Three entertaining historical essays, intended for the general reader, are contained in the April Sevvanee Re- view (Sewanee, Tenn.) : "John Marshall," by B. J. Ram- age; "Joseph G. Baldwin," by G. F. Mellen, and "The Functions of a State History," by F. W. Moore. A fourth paper, rigidly scientific and scholarly, aimed for a more restricted audience than the others, is F. R. Lassiter's "Arnold's Invasion of Virginia," which is concluded in this number from the preceding one.
The Confederate Veteran (Nashville, Tenn.) for April prints the letter from Gen. Geo. H. Thomas, of March 12, 1861, to Governor Letcher, of Virginia, stating that "as long as my native State (Virginia) remains in the Union, it is my purpose to remain in the army" (U. S.). The letter was found by the Virginia Secretary of State. This number has a continuation of the controversy as to the kind of treatment Confederate prisoners received on
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Johnson's Island. There is also a communication from Hon. John H. Reagan restating what he has often argued, that President Lincoln did not oflFer at th^ Hampton Roads Conference to pay for the negroes if the South re- turned to the Union.
The June issue very properly gives considerable space to an account of the Confederate reunion at Memphis, but it is to be feared the historical student of the future will find it rather scrappy and meager. There is considerable new material on the Sam Davis incident, showing how he was aided by a woman in getting information when he was playing the spy. The total contributions for a monument to him are nearly $3,000.
With the numbers for July and October, 1900, the North Carolina Historical and Genealogical Reg- ister completes its first volume (Edenton, N. C. : J. R. B. Hathaway, Editor. O. pp. 640, $3). The contents of the third and fourth numbers are similar in character to the first and second. The abstract of wills probated prior to 1760 and filed in the office of the Secretary of State in Raleigh is continued; abstract of marriage bonds of Chowan county, 1801-1838; register of officers of the N, C. Continental Line (July) which has been printed several times before ; merchant marine of Roanoke (July) ; items relating to the Indian war of 1711-12 (July); abstract of wills filed in Chowan county (Oct.); Whitfield Record, a genealogy without known author, order, system, superior figures to indicate generations, dates or authorities (Oct.) ; Bryan Record to which the same criticisms apply; a dis- cussion as to the time the present St. Paul's church, Eden- ton, was built, with various miscellaneous notes and quer- ies, mostly genealogical in character.
There is some improvement in the typographical ap- pearance of the Register over the first numbers. A peru- sal of its pages impresses one very greatly with the per-
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manence of population in Eastern North Carolina. There has been an exceedingly large emigration from that sec- tion, but almost no immigration into it. There is perhaps no other part of the country where a larger per cent, of the white population can trace its ancestry to early colon- ial days, and as these first settlers were almost entirely Englishmen from lower Virginia their descendants are still very largely unmixed with any other race. They are by training and surroundings conservative, honest and law abiding, but isolation has made thftn narrow and less progressive than other sections of the State.
A masterly summary of economic statistics and a glow- ing future for the section, does Mr. R. H. Edmunds give us in his article, "Industrial potentialities of the South" in Manufacturers' Record (Baltimore, Md.) for June 27, 1901. He claims that from present results "we have dem- onstrated that the South is to be the dominating cotton- mill center of America, if not of the world." Similar lead- ership he believes possible in all the great avenues of ma- terial development within that belt.
In the issue for July 4, 1901, Mr. Edward Ingle briefly sketches the career of Daniel Pratt, who started a cotton factory in Alabama before 1850. He extracts an essence from Pratt's life : "One man like Daniel Pratt was worth more to Alabama than a thousand politicians. Pratt did things. * * * Politicians talked." In the issue for June 20, 1901, he has a very luminous article on Lincoln's views about negro colonization.
It is very significant and gratifying to see such papers in a journal of the aims and standing of the Record.
Col. Robert Bingham, superintendent of the Bingham School, Asheville, N. C, has reprinted from the European edition of Harper's Magazine an article on the race prob- lem which he calls "An ex-Slaveholder's View of the
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Negro Question in the South." He shows clearly that the Civil War was in reality a race war — "of the free laborer of the North against the slave laborer of the South, * * * for the purpose of excluding slave labor from the Ter- ritories/' There seem to Colonel Bingham but three solu- tions to the problem : Amalgamation ; slavery or at least political subjection; extinction. The first of these is re- pulsive to Anglo-Saxon instincts and always has been; slavery is impossible. The history of English speaking peoples in their dealings with inferior races make it neces- sary that the friends of the negro "reckon distinctly with the question of his gradual extinction." Education seems to him to have produced slight results ; industrial training will hardly do much good for the race, for "the negro lacks mechanical talent." Other remedies are considered, as well as his criminal tendencies, especially that of the younger negro men for assaulting white women.
The address of Dr. George T. Winston, president of the N. C. A. and M. College, before the American Academy of Political and Social Science in April is essentially along the same lines. He thinks the needs of the negro to-day are his withdrawal from politics and his increased effi- ciency as a laborer.
A detailed and, most likely careful, investigation of ad- ministrative conditions in that locality is J. W. Garner's "Mississippi During the Civil War," in the June (1901) PoiviTiCAL Science Quarterly (Columbia University). He describes the changes in legislation, in the judicial ma- chinery, in social, political and economic relations, fur- nishing a wealth of facts that will be a boon to some gen- eralizing historian of the future. The great universities could do no better work than to encourage the prepara- tion of such monographs that will serve as foundation for the comprehensive popular history, if care is exercised in putting young students to labor in fields not too difficult for them to cultivate.
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The American Historicai. Review prints in its issue for July among its documents ten letters from the celebrat- ed Dr. Thomas Cooper, president of the South Carolina College, addressed to friends in Congress between 1825 and 1832. They deal mainly with attempts to collect a claim against the United States for imprisonment under the alien and sedition laws .in 1800, but have much also on political conditions and show everywhere the vigorous and independent thinking, as well as the biting sarcasm of which Cooper was master. The tenth letter seems to be characteristic.
The same number of the Review prints twenty-four let- ters on political aflFairs by Robert Y. Hayne, James Hamil- ton, Jr., and James H. Hammond, 1830-32, together with a memorandum of a conversg,tion with John C. Calhoun and the circular of the South Carolina Union Party's Com- mittee of Correspondence on the attitude of their party to- wards the Nullification Convention. These letters give an idea of the character and extent of the resistance planned ; the unpreparednessof South Carolina is laid bare and some idea is given of the extent and influence of the Union Party. Other papers on the same subject are promised for October. With this issue the duties of managing editor pass from Professor J. Franklin Jameson to Pro- fessor Andrew C. McLaughlin, of the University of Michi- gan.
The June Lost Cause (Louisville, Ky.) is filled with the Confederate Reunion at Memphis the latter part of May. Very highly to be indorsed is the printing in full of Col- onel B. H. Young's eloquent oration, a splendid summary of the work of the Southern soldiers in the West during the Civil War.
In the Journal (New Bern, N. C.) for June 21, 1901, Major Graham Daves has a very appreciative review of a highly commendable piece of historical work, the first
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volume of the North Carolina State History of the Civil War.
A. M. Waddell has a good summary of J. B. Avirett's Thk Old Plantation in the morning Star (Wilmington, N. C.) for June 20, 1901.
In the Southern Farm Magazine for July, 1901 (Balti- more, Md.), is a humorous and sympathetic reference to a Negro poet, George Moses Horton, whose life is sketched in the North Carolina University Magazine in i860. He wrote one or more volumes, and a number of pieces for the students.
In the Nation for May 30, 1901, Prof. Geo. P. Garrison, of the University of Texas, describes the vast collection of the archives of Mexico, showing that any one who follows the H. H. Bancroft account is sadly misled, as instead of 32 manuscript volumes there is "material enough to make 70,000 volumes."
The Methodist Review for July-August (Nashville, Tenn.) departs from its usual custom in having no histor- ical paper, though it has a number of very learned articles on philosophy, theology, and religious and social ques- tions.
Southern Pictures and Pencillings, edited at Ashe- ville, N. C. by A. H. McQuilkin, has been enlarged in form and scope and rebaptized as The Southland. The first number appeared at Asheyille for May. In its earlier form it did much toward securing legislative aid in estab- lishing a national park in the Southern Appalachians. In its new form it will be devoted to the industries, com- merce and resorts of the South. The May number has a write-up of Asheville.
In the Sunday News (Charleston, S. C.) for July 14, Mr. A. S. Salley, Jr., has a sketch of the artistic^labors of John S. Cogdell (1778-1847), who was also a leading profes- sional and business man in the locality. He produced a
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number of paintings and sculptures largely preserved in the city.
The Atlanta Constitution in its Sunday issue has been conducting a genealogical department under the charge of the local chapter of the D. A. R., consisting chiefly of queries and answers which are gathered into a volume at the end of the year. One volume, that of last year, has ap- peared, containing 600 pedigrees and mentioning 5,000 families, price $1.00.
The greatest of American poets seems a perennial source of interest to lovers of literature. In the Wash- ington Post (July i, 1901), E. A. Oldham calls attention to the translation (previously in North American Review) of a Chinese poem that goes back to 200 B. C, that is very similar to Poe's celebrated "Raven." In the same paper, a few (lays previous, was a review of J. A. Joyce's work on Poe, in which was pointed out an Italian anticipation of Poe in 1809.
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The Southern Industrial Association held a regular convention in Philadelphia, June 11-14, the fourth one. There were some 200 delegates from Virginia, West Vir- ginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Tennessee, Mis- souri, Arkansas, and Mexico and Pennsylvania.
Aside from the formal words of welcome and response, among the more notable addresses were those of Hon. Hoke Smith, Atlanta, Ga., on general Southern develop- ment ; Mr. Robt. C. Ogden, of New York, on education in the South; and Mr. Wu Ting-fang, Chinese Minister to this country, on trade with the Orient. The material at- tractions of the various Southern States for the invest- ment of capital were set forth by some chosen champion.
A number of resolutions were adopted, endorsing the Isthmian Canal, the improvement of rivers and harbors, the movement for good roads, and other means of pro- gress. There were none of the lively debates that had been promised, though there was some discussion as to the amount of illiteracy in the South. A number of the speak- ers and representatives expected failed to attend, due in part at least, it was said, to the short time-limit that the railroads made on their tickets. The president of the as- sociation, Mr. H: H. Hargrove, passed some strictures on the people of Philadelphia for their sparse attendance on the sessions, but it was pointed out that they were at their business though they kept up with all the proceed- ings.
On one point there was cordial unanimity, the hospital- ity of the host. Every day there were receptions and ex- cursions, winding up with one to Atlantic City after the
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close. The daily press were especially hearty on the oc- casion, printing the fullest and most sympathetic reports, illustrated with frequent likenesses of the members.
It was considered very fortunate to hold this gathering in a northern city as there was chance to broaden views and form business acquaintances. One selection on the program is said to have called forth several inquiries from local merchants. One result also was thought to be the establishment of a steamboat line from Philadelphia to Charleston, S. C. On the other hand some sharp crit- icisms have been heard that nothing new was said, nothing definite for the advance of the section was urged, that it was a string of talk, largely interesting and well put, but without purpose.
All the proceedings are to appear in a volume. The next meeting will be at Memphis, Tenn. The chief execu- tive officer is Mr. N. F. Thompson, Huntsville, Ala.
The Miller School. — Under the direction of the su- perintendent. Captain Charles E. Vawter, Mr. J. A. Shep- herd has compiled an account of the Miller Manual Labor School, of Albemarle county, Virginia, sketching the founder, Samuel Miller, and setting forth the work of the institution. It is safe to say that no trust has ever been more wisely administered than the endowment left by this eccentric Virginian. He conceived the notion of a school for poor children when he was himself a penniless boy picking blackberries on top of one of the Ragged Moun- tains where his log cabin home stood. He died in 1869 leaving property of the value of one million dollars to carry out his purpose. The Board of Trust consists of four State officials, and so well have they managed affairs, that they have put over $600,000 into buildings and equip- ment, have spent $1,000,000 on running expenses, and have besides increased the original fund by nearly fifty per cent., having now in round number, $1,500,000, yielding over $70,000 yearly. All this has been done within 22
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years, litigation holding the estate in doubt for several years after the death of Mr. Miller. By a curious provi- sion in the donation those who look after the finances do not exercise any control over the school, but this duty of general oversight devolves upon the county court that acts through a Board of Visitors composed of two. Such a double-headed arrangement might be expected to evolve endless friction, but the pedagogical side seems to have been even more successful than the financial. Very luckily the first board had the good fortune to choose just the right man for the place, and the others have had the good sense to keep him there. The 600 boys who have gone out from the school are earning an average income of nearly $300 annually, many of them filling positions of profit and responsibility. Of the 160 girls, "about two- thirds are engaged in woman's highest work — ^the work of making the home brighter and happier"^-over half of these being married, and the others with their parents.
The Greatest Southern University, if we under- stand by that term an institution devoting a large part of its strength to post graduate instruction, is beyond all question the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. For several years after its opening in 1876, the proportion of patronage from that region was not so marked, but as its advantages became more and more apparent it has at- tracted more and more young men from that quarter. If, as usually done, we class Maryland and the District of Columbia with that section, the South during the last ses- sion furnished 400 students of the total of 651 ; and 16 of the Doctors of Philosophy, of the total of 26 that re- ceived their degrees in June and 10 of the total of 20 Fel- lows for the coming year.
The Transalleghany Historical Society was organ- ized as an adjunct of the extension teaching of the State University, at Morgantown, June 19, 1901, in pursuance of a call with some ninety signatures. It is hoped by the pro-
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meters that a membership of 5c» or more can be secured within a few weeks. It is the aim to carry on the lines of work usual to historical associations, and to publish a magazine. The annual fee is fixed at $2.00. This makes two historical societies in one State. The other one, as well known, is the West Virginia Historical and Antiquar- ian Society, at Charleston, where it was founded in 1890. It has a collection of historical material, and has begun the issue of a Quarterly, two numbers having appeared. Before 1890 there had been the West Virginia Historical Society, organized September 30, 1869, at the State Uni- versity, at Morgantown, holding fourteen annual meet- ings, the last in 1884. The institution at Charleston "never had any connection'' with this society of a similar name at the University in Morgantown. But the Transalleghany is a revival of this old West Virginia Historical Society at Morgantown.
Jamestown Excavation. — In the Washington Times of June 25 was a press dispatch from Richmond, Va., de- scribing the discovery of the foundations of two buildings during the excavations conducted at Jamestown by the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities. The most reasonable conclusion is that the older church having been destroyed by fire, another one was reared on the spot, but not on the original foundation walls. This one, of brick, was afterwards razed to the ground for the material to be used elsewhere.
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VOLUME I, 1897, pp. 336. (Out of Print).
HiSTORiCAi^ Sketch of the Association-— Historicai, Studies in THE South, Stephen B. Weeks-— The Planter of the Oi,d South, Richard Malcolm Johnston— Two Southern Magazines, Edward Ingle —David Crockett, Marcus J. Wright— Bibuography of the Statute Law of the Southern States, Theodore L. Cole -John Owen's Jour- nai, in i8i8— Bishop Spangenberg's Journai, on North Carowna— Bryant Lester and Descendants, Thomas M. Owen— John Brown's Raid, Andrew Hunter— A Bibi^iography of John Brown, Thomas^ Featherstonhaugh— Thomas Lamar and Some Descendants, W. H. Lamar— Huck's Defeat, Marcus J. Wright— A Question OF Fact, C. C. Pinckney— JouRNAi, of the Siege of Savannah in 1779, General Prcvost — A BiBWOGRAPHY OF W11.WAM GiLMORE SiMMS, A. S. Sallcy, Jr.— Book Notes— Notes and Queries— Index.
VOLUME II, 1898, pp, 390, JJ5J.00 UNBOUND.
Report of Second Annuai, Meeting, Colyer Meriwether, Sec^y, — Unpublished Letters of Andrew Jackson-Transfer of Louisiana, Marcus J. Wright— SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI IN THE SouTH, Charles L. Davis— Dismemberment of Virginia, William Baird — Anti-Sla- very Sentiment in the South, Stephen B. Weeks — Pelatiah Webs- ter's Journal, Thomas P. Harrison— William Strother and Des- cendants, Thomas M. Owen — Richard Winn, J. L. M. Curry — Mary- land's Greatest Politician, Edward Ingle— Christopher Gadsden, E. I. Renick— Virginia Women and thr Civil War, B. W. Arnold— Early Southern Institutions, Peter J. Hamilton— Button Gwin- nett's Commission— Richard Malcolm Johnston, Edmund Clarence Stedman and Stephen 6. Weeks — Sir Richard Everard, Marshall De Lancey Haywood— Mount Vernon, Alabama, T. H. Ball— Monroe's Poverty, Thomas M. Owen— Social Affairs in 1760— Book Notes — Notes and Queries— Index.
VOLUME III, 1899, PP- 384, ^3.00 UNBOUND.
The Florida Mound-Builders, Thomas Featherstonhaugh — Ed- ward MosELEY, James Franklin Shinn— Jacob Ammonet, of Virginia, Clifton Wood Bransford— Some Difficulties of a Texas Empresario, Lester G. Bus:bee — The Texan Expedition Against Mier, Thomas J. Green— Personnel of the North Carolina Convention op 1788— A Confederate Incident, J. L. M. Curry— Report of Third Annual Meeting, Colyer Meriwether, wSVr>.— Sidney Lanier, George S. Wills
— NULUFICATION RESOLUTIONS, A. S. Salley— THE ReNICK FAMILY OF
Virginia, E. I. Renick— Henry Timrod, Henry E. Shepherd and A. S. Salley— John Brown, Thomas Featherstonhaugh— Salisbury (N. C.) Confederate Prison, A. W. M^ngum— Book Notes— Notes and Queries— Index.
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Vol. V. NOVEMBER, 1901. No. 6.
PUBLICATIONS
OP THE
Southern History Association.
ISSUED BI-MONTHLY.
CONTENTS :
PAOB
Thb Organization of th« Texas Revoi,dtion, . . Eugene C. Barker. 451 Henry Baker and Descendants (Concluded), .... Miles White, Jr. 477
Canada's Work for History, 497
Herbert Baxter Adams, 500
The Strdggi,e of the Confederacy J. I*. M. Curry. 504
Reviews AND Notices, ... 512
Periodical Literature, 530
Notes and Queries, 541
In Mbmoriam 548
Index, S5i
WASHINGTON, D. C.
Published by the Association.
November, 1901.
•3.00 per aBAami 91«tNI per AwntlMr.
No responsibility UHumed for opiaioiu of cvatributort.
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OFFICERS, 1901.
PRESIDENT: Dr. J. L. M. CURRV.
VICE-PRESIDENTS:
General M. C. finiXBR. Mr. Thomas Nri^son Pagb.
General M. J. Wright. Professor Woodrow W1130N.
Colonel Grorgr A. Portbrfisu). Senator S. Pasco.
SECRETARY AND TREASURER: Coi^YRR Mkriwkther, Ph. D., Wasking^ton^ D, C,
ADMINISTRATIVE COUNCIL: (In addition to the aboveniamed Officers):
Professor Kbmp P. Batti,r. Stephen B. Weeks, Ph. D.
Colonel R. A. Brock. Professor H. Schoenfbi«d.
Mr. T. Irf. Coui. * Professor Ldcian Johnston.
Professor R. Heath Dabney. Mr. Thomas H. Oulrk.
Professor John R. Ficklen. Mr. Ai«exander Summers.
Professor Chas. Lee Smith. President Geo. T. Winston.
Professor W. C. Stdbbs. J. B. Kili^ebrew, Ph. D.
PUBLICATION COMMITTEE:
Gen. M. J. Wright. Mr. T. L. Cole.
Mr. Thomas H. Clark. Dr. Stephen B. Weeks.
Mr. John B. Brownlow. Dr. COlyer Meriwether.
Pursuant to a call signed by nearly a hundred representative persons of the South, the Southern History Association was organized at the Columbiaa University, Washington, D. C, on the evening of April 24, 1896, for the pur- pose of studying the history of the Southern States. In carrying out this aim an annual meeting is held, and a Bi-monthly Publication issued. The Associ ation also desires contributions of journals, letters, manuscripts and other ma- terial towards the beginning of a collection of historical sources. It will gladly accept papers based on research and documents ou all subjects touching the South.
All persons, as well as libraries, interested in the work are eligible for membership, without initiation fee ; annual dues $3.00, life dues $30.00. There is no other expense to members, who receive all current publications of the Association free of charge.
The Publici»tions alone cau be had, postpaid, at I3.00 per volume, un- bound, or $1.00 per number.
All communications should be addressed to
COLYER MERIWETHER, Secretary, P. O. Box 65. Washington, D. C.
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Vol. V. November, 1901. No. 6.
THE ORGANIZATION OF THE TEXAS REVOLU-
TION.^*
By Eugene C. Barker.
As ethnic ties are stronger than political boundaries, it is probable that when Stephen F. Austin settled his first family of Anglo-Americans on the banks of the Brazos, Fate issued her fiat that in the end Texas must belong to the United States; but there can be little question that, save for the rash and impatient policy of Santa Anna, the breach with Mexico might have been indefinitely delayed. For though it is doubtless true that some of those who
^The published works used in the preparation of this paper are: A History of Texas, by D. B. Edward, Cincinnati, 1836; A History of Texas, by John Henry Brown, St. Louis; Texas, by William Kennedy, London, 1841; North Mexican States and Texas, by H. H. Bancroft, San Francisco, i88j); and A Compre- hensive History of Texas, edited by Dudley G. Wootcn, Dallas, 1898. The last is a reprint of Yoakum's History of Texas, with the addition of numerous monographs. For the sake of con- venience, references, except to the last, are made by the name of the author rather than by the title of the book.
The documents, from which this paper is mainly written, are to be found in: The Austin Papers, deposited temporarily in the State Library; the Nacogdoches Archives, in the vaults of the State Library; and the Bexar Archives, in the University of Texas. The newspapers referred to belong exclusively to the Austin collection.
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took advantage of Mexico's liberal colonization oflFers did so with the intention of seizing the first opportunity for separation, yet it cannot be denied that the bulk of the settlers, especially in Austin's territory, were animated by a sincere desire to establish their loyalty to the Mexi- can government. But the turn given to Mexican affairs by Santa Anna between 1833 ^^^ ^835 clashed too rudely with Texan hereditary democracy. An independence or war party arose — small, but clamorous — ^fiercely opposed by the peace party ; and then, loyalty becoming gradually silent, was finally forced into active, organized opposition, and the revolution began.
But although the majority of the Texans were to the last honorably faithful to Mexico, there had been as early as 1832 widespread discontent with the enforced legislative and administrative union between Texas and Coahuila; and at the convention held at San Felipe in October of that year a committee, of which Stephen F. Austin was a member, prepared a memorial praying the national con- gress for their separation, and the elevation of Texas into a state of the Republic. The petitions prepared by this body were never presented to the authorities ; but a second convention having been called in April, 1833, ^^e work of the first was practically duplicated and enlarged, and Aus- tin was sent to Mexico to lay the memorial before con- gress. The neglect of these proposals, the imprisonment of Austin, the disturbed condition of national politics, the disorderly struggle between the rival legislatures of Sal- tillo and Monclova, and the fear that Texas would be or- ganized as a territory, encouraged the more radical separ- atists in October, 1834, to propose through their head and mouthpiece, the Political Chief of the Brazos, Henry Smith, that Texas should consider her connection with Coahuila de facto dissolved and should proceed to organize herself into a Mexican State under the constitution of
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1824.^ But the "Grand Central Committee"' doubtless voiced the popular mind in its protest* against the uncon- stitutionality of such a course ; for the Texans still felt a good deal of confidence in the republican character of Santa Anna, and Austin's letters were all reassuring. At any rate, the matter was quietly dropped.
PouTiCAL Conditions.
By the spring of 1835, however, Santa Anna had gathered the reins of government firmly in his own hands, and to secure himself from opposition, a decree was passed through his pliant congress ordering a reduction of the militia to one soldier for every five hundred inhabitants, the others to be disarmed. The legislature of Coahuila and Texas protested, and was disbanded — avowedly for the fraudulent sale of Texas public land, but really for the purpose of replacing it with representatives favorable to centralism. Governor Viesca was deposed, and the admin- istration of the state fell, after a short interval, into the hands of the military commandant. General Cos.
All this was naturally somewhat disconcerting, but there seems to have been little downright hostility aroused by the action. There was still a hope that the general govern- ment would grant the Texans their desires ; while all sym- pathy with Coahuila had disappeared in the intense long- ing of Texas for separate statehood. An attempt was made, indeed, to make capital out of Governor Viesca's inaugural address*, and his appeal to each of the three departments of Texas to aid him with one hundred armed men in sustaining the civil authority against the military : the translator of the address, under the name of CoahuU- texanus, making a few gratuitous remarks of his own, by way of assuring the people that it was the aim of Mexico
' Edward, 222-24. • Edward, 225-31. •Texas Republican. May 9, 1835. — ^Austin Papers.
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to separate them from Coahuila, organize Texas as a ter- ritory, and then, by repeated insults, to force them into a struggle in which they should either be exterminated or driven from the state, advised them to cling to Coahuila and resist any attempt at separation.* But both the ad- dress and the translator's appeal fell flat. The Political Chief of the Brazos coldly informed the governor that the late land deal had smothered any enthusiasm that the peo- ple might have had for a states' right conflict* ; and Henry Austin printed an article cautioning the people against the inflammatory sentiments of Coahuiltexanus, and quoted extracts from Stephen F. Austin's latest letter from Mex- ico to show that the disposition of the general government was favorable to Texas.* And though the views prompt- ing Henry Austin's advice could well have been influenced by personal interest^, it is quite certain that many believed as he did.
For there were now three parties in Texas : The first, composed of men who believed like Austin in the good faith of Mexico, was preeminently a peace party; the sec- ond, composed of those who had gradually assumed the attitude of indifferent spectators, determined to take no active part in the family quarrels of Mexico, but standing on the defensive, was a conservative party ; and the third, made up of those who believed that Texas could no longer hope for anything save injustice and oppression from the Mexican government, was the independence or war party. The first was comparatively small ; the third was of about the same size, but much more active; while the second contained the majority of the inhabitants. The feeling be- tween the two extreme parties was very bitter, and it was rather fortunate than otherwise that the Indians, threat-
• Texas Republican, May 9, 1835.
• Texas Republican, May 9, 1835.
• Texas Republican, May 9, 1835.
' Henry Austin to J. F. Perry, May 5, 1835. — Austin Papers, in the collection of Hon. Guy M. Bryan, Austin, Texas.
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ening a renewal of their depredations along the frontiers, drew them closer together and forced the conservatives into action with them.
Danger from this source could be understood by all, and gave no chance for division of opinion. Protective measures had to be adopted immediately; and no assist- ance could be expected from the government, even had it been desired, Santa Anna being engaged at that time in the reduction of Zacatecas. The colonists were dependent upon themselves alone.
Organizing for Rhsistancb.
And so, Mina, situated on the frontier where the danger was most pressing, took the first step toward securing or- ganized resistance by appointing on May 8, 1835, a com- mittee of Safety and Correspondence for the general dif- fusion of information.' This committee was increased at a meeting held on May 17* by the addition of Edward Burleson and Samuel Wolfenbarger. And on the same day the citizens of Gonzales and Viesca, two other exposed settlements, held meetings and appointed committees of safety and correspondence.*® It is probable that the two latter places had heard of Mina's action of the 8th, and the coincidence that they should both hold meetings on the same day that Mina had her second meeting will not seem strange when one knows that May 17 fell on Sunday and remembers that Sunday was Mexico's official day for pub- lic business. The observation should be made here, too, that in the beginning the object of these committees was solely to facilitate concerted movement against the In- dians, and this they accomplished; but a more valuable though incidental service performed by them was the re- storation to some extent of the mutual confidence of the
• Brown, I, 290.
• Brown, I, 290. Burnet, in "A Compendium of Texas History," Texas Almanac, 1859, "Si gives May 15 for this date.
*• Brown, I, 290.
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people. For while the bitterness between the war party and the peace party was still great, there doubtless grew up in each a respect for the other and the feeling that all could be depended on to defend their country where the danger was dearly perceived.
Though there is no available record of their organiza- tion, it is evident that committees of safety and correspond- ence spread rapidly, and that by the latter part of June they existed in many of the interior towns and settlements. The natural explanation of their popularity is found in the fact that they were more or less familiar machinery to the colonists: the convention of 1832 had created a central committee and an elaborate system of sub-committees^^, and it was through these that the convention of 1833 ^^^ called". They were continued by this second assembly, and though the sub-committees seem to have soon disap- peared, the central committee continued in existence until November 3, 1835, when it was superseded by a quorum of the consultation.
Friction over Customs.
In the meantime, although so busily engaged at home, Santa Anna was not unmindful of the value of holding on to Texas, and, besides his diplomatic dalliance with Austin, he dispatched a small company of soldiers in January, 1835," to take charge of the custom houses at Anahuac and Galveston— doubtless with a view rather to keeping alive the idea of general Mexican control than to the im- portance of the revenue to be obtained. And in one sense his scheme was successful: the majority of the people acknowledged the legality of the measure and determined
" Proceedings of the General Convention, 22-23; Gammel's Laws of Texas, I, 496-97.
" Brown, I, 231.
^ Captain Tenorio to the Commandant of Coahuila and Texas, January 31, 1835. — Bexar Archives. Edward (235) says this was done in the fall of 1834.
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to protect and assist the collectors in the discharge of their duties ; but in another sense this was the step out of which the rupture with Mexico immediately developed, for the citizens of Anahuac seem to have imagined that theirs was the only port at which duties were collected — though there was certainly a customs officer at Matagorda,^* and prob- ably one at Velasco, — and the belief that they were suflFer- ing a hardship from which the rest of Texas was free, aroused in them a feeling of injustice and injury which was eagerly nursed by the war party.
There had in fact been no attempt to collect customs at Anahuac since the expulsion of Bradburn in 1832, and the path of the new collector was from the beginning an un- pleasant one, strewn with some real difficulties and many petty annoyances. Within less than three months of the establishment of the custom house, on April 17, 1835, the Ayuntamiento of Liberty found it necessary to issue a manifesto, urging the people to strict obedience to the revenue laws until they could be reformed in a constitu- tional manner, and declaring their intention to sustain the collectors.*" This was probably encouraging to the offi- cers, but any hopes built thereon must have crumbled to earth when the citizens of Anahuac met, on May 4, and re- solved, "That the proceedings of the individuals claiming to be Custom House officers at this place have neither been
" Ugartechca to Cos, July 25, 1835. — Bexar Archives.
" Texas Republican, May 30, 1835. Edward (235-238) prints this document under the date of June i, and all succeeding historians have followed him. Yoakum (A Comprehensive History of Texas,' 168) slips into a strange anachronism by declaring that the pro- clamation was issued m denunciation of the party that expelled Tenorio from Anahuac, though the uniformly accepted date of that act is June 30— and refers to Edward (235) as his authority. Bancroft understood that this proclamation was not issued against Travis, but says later (North Mexican States and Texas, II, 156) that the Ayuntamiento of Liberty did condemn him, and carelessly following Yoakum in his reference, cites for confirmation Edward, 235-38, where this document is printed.
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reasonable, just, or regularly legal ;"^* and followed this declaration by a memorial to the governor of Coahuila and Texas setting forth the unjust incidence of the tariflf, and asking him to use his influence with the general govern- ment to secure speedy relief. Another resolution passed at the same time characteristically declared that until this ob- ject was accomplished "no duties should be collected in this port, unless the collection is also enforced equally throughout the province, nor until then will we pay any duties upon importations into this port."
As a matter of fact, however, neither memorial nor resolutions ever reached their destination, for the chair- man, General William Hardin, having departed for the United States before afiixing his official signature to the proceedings, they seem to have been considered invalidat- ed.^^ But reports of the independent attitude of the dis- trict having reached General Cos at Matamoras, he wrote, on May 26, to inform the commander of the garrison at Anahuac that the battalion of Morelos would be embarked immediately for Copano, whence they might be distributed through Texas wherever needed, and that he had urged the general government to send additional re-enforcements im- mediately. In closing he said : "You will operate in every case with extreme prudence, but if by any fatality the pub- lic order should be overturned, you are to proceed without any contemplation against whomsoever may occasion it, without permitting for any cause the national arms and decorum to be tarnished."" This note was not dispatched until the middle of June, and the express who carried it bore also a letter to the Political Chief of the Brazos, which, after recounting and deploring the necessities that
'• Texas Republican, August 8, 1835.
"Texas Republican, August 8, 1835. It is interesting to note that I. N. Moreland, the Secretary of the Ayuntamiento of Liberty which had so loyally exhorted "all good citizens" some three weeks before to support the revenue collectors, was also secretary of this meeting.
"Texas Republican, July 4, 1835.
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had demanded Governor Viesca's deposition and imprison- ment^ appointed him to "take special care of the adminis- tration and interior order of the Department" under his charge, until the general government should appoint new authorities.*' Neither of these papers indicates any desire to oppress the Texans unduly, and it is quite possible that Cos had no other intention than the preservation of order by the enforcement of the law.
The friends of the Anahuac commandant, Don Antonio Tenorio, seized the opportunity, however, to send him con- gratulatory missives upon his approaching deliverance, and when the messenger arrived at Bexar on June 20 he was entrusted with another from Colonel Ugartechea, inform- ing Tenorio that the government had ordered the advance from Saltillo of the troops that had been used against Zacatecas, and expressing the belief that "these Revolu- tionists will be ground down." All of which would doubt- less have proved comforting to Senor Tenorio. But it was the courier's ill luck on reaching San Felipe, June 21, to fall in with a contingent of the war party ; and though he tried to save his dispatches by passing them quickly to a friendly American, he was detected,** and his captors were soon in posession not only of the letter to the Political Chief but also of the messages to Tenorio.
Efforts of the War Party.
Now, the news of Viesca's deposition had arrived some time before and had thrown Texas into the greatest con- fusion. The war party proposed that the people should arm themselves and march to his assistance, or, if this were impracticable, that they should install as governor the "ex- vice governor," Ramon Musquiz, of Bexar. The peace party and conservatives, on the other hand, were opposed
" Texas Republican, July 4, 1835.
■• Gritten to Ugartechea, July 5, i83S.~Bexar Archives.
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to any interference whatever, and on account of the diflEer- ences of opinion the Political Chief, J. B. Miller, had re- quested each municipality of his department to send five representatives to San Felipe on June 22 to consult with the central committee on the position that Texas should assume.*^ But in San Felipe the war party was the strongest — officially at any rate. The Political Chief be- longed to them,** while the Ayuntamiento endorsed the plan to install Musquiz and had undertaken to gain for it the support of the central committee.** The war party, therefore, were jubilant, believing that the information contained in the captured dispatches would turn popular favor in their direction. Miller, indeed, without waiting to learn the opinion of the meeting that he had called for the next day, issued an inflammatory address to the people, or- dering them to arm and march to San Felipe preparatory to an advance on Bexar."
In the general meeting, however, over which Robert M. Williamson presided on the next day*" these hopes were blasted. Several of the municipalities represented were favorable to the San Antonio expedition, but the majority were inclined to vote against it. Disappointed and angry, therefore, but still determined, the war party managed to break up the meeting before any decisive action had been taken against the project ; and then, re-assembling later in the day, they held, according to Edward, a secret meeting of their own,** with the Political Chief in the chair.*^ Their most important measure was the authorization of W. B. Travis to collect a force and expel the garrison at
"Edward, 238.
"Texas Republican, August 8, 1835. "Edward, 238.
"Texas Republican, June 27, 1835.
"Williamson to the People of Texas (a circular), July 4, 1835. " Edward, 238.
"Texas Republican, August 8, and September 26, 1835 ; Cos to Ayuntamiento of Columbia, August i, 1835. — ^Austin Papers.
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Anahuac before the coming of the re-enforcements,'* a commission that was the more cheerfully received by Travis perhaps, because, as he said, he had already been invited there for the same purpose by some of his friends who were "the principal citizens" of the place, and who "were suffering under the despotic rule of the military/'** He accordingly appeared before the fort with about thirty volunteers late in the afternoon of June 29, and Captain Tenorio having abandoned the fort as untenable retreated to the woods, where he held a council of war and decided that "in view of the difficulty and uselessness of making a defense, a capitulation should be made."** This was done the next morning, and he and all his men, save twelve, were disarmed and taken to Harrisburg, whence they soon made their way to San Felipe and thence finally to San Antonio. This act was deprecated throughout Texas ex- cept by the extreme advocates of independence,*^ and its immediate eflFect was to draw the conservatives and the peace party closer together, while it cast the war party into considerable disfavor. A little tact on the part of Mexico at this time would have saved Texas; but Cos could hardly be expected to have known this, and being already suspicious of the colonists, he heard that the Poli- tical Chief presided at the meeting which authorized the outrage and concluding — with sufficient reason, perhaps — that it was simply the expression of the popular will, de- termined to overwhelm the country. When he became in- formed of the true state of public feeling his dogged in- sistence— and he was but the agent of Santa Anna — on the
"Texas Republican, September 26, 1835; Brown, I., 292; Travis to Henry Smith, July 6, 1835 (Quarterly of the Texas State His- torical Association, II., 24).
• Quarterly, II., 24.
■•Tenorio to Ugartechea, July 7, 1835. — Bexar Archives.
" J. H. C. Miller to T. J. Chambers, July 4, 1835 —Bexar Arch- ives; Kennedy, II., 92; A Comprehensive History of Texas, I., 166; Texas Almanac, 1859, 112.
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removal of the leaders of the war party to Mexico for trial finally forced all parties into opposition.
Public Meeting at Columbia.
In the meantime, on June 22, Miller's hasty proclama- tion of the 2 1 St reached Columbia, and a town meeting was called for the next day. Upon its receipt, the local war party immediately held a caucus and prepared a set of resolutions of the same tone, which they presented to the meeting next morning with the suggestion that they be officially passed. Henry Austin proposed as an amend- ment that all action should be postponed until a meeting of the whole jurisdiction could be convened; but this was obstinately refused, and the resolutions having been sub- mitted to a vote, were defeated. They then selected Sun- day, the 28th, for a general meeting, and appointing a committee to prepare a report for it, adjourned.**
The people having duly met in accordance with this call, elected W. D. C. Hall chairman and Byrd B. Waller secre- tary; and, after reading a letter from the Political Chief and the papers captured from the unfortunate courier the week before, appointed a committee of fifteen'* to draw up resolutions for the consideration of the meeting. In their report the committee advised "union, moderation, organ- ization, and a strict obedience to the laws and constitution of the land ;" protested against the "acts of any set of in- dividuals (less than a majority) calculated to involve the citizens of Texas in a conflict with the Federal Government of Mexico;*' and censured particularly the "proceedings of those persons at Anahuac who gave the collector of cus- toms, Don Jose Gonzalez, a series of resolutions declaring that they would not obey the revenue laws of Mexico." These persons they denounced as "foreigners," and de-
" Henry Austin to J. F. Perry, June 24, 1835. — ^Austin Papers, J., 3; Texas Republican, June 27, 1835.
" Texas Republican, July 4, 1835. Brown (I., 293) in enumerat- ing this committee omits the name of F. Bingham.
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clared themselves the "faithful and loyal citizens of Mexico, disposed and desirous to discharge their duty as such;" and they resolved "that it is the duty of the citizens of Texas to unite in the support of the constitution and laws of their adopted land." And Texas being in such a state of anarchy, "without governor, vice-governor, or council/' they proposed to "recognize the Political Chief as the highest executive officer."
This committee is also responsible for the first sugges- tion of a general convention; they proposed that the Political Chief '*be requested to correspond with the other Chiefs of department in Texas, and request them to co-operate with him in electing three deputies from
each jurisdiction to meet the Chiefs of
departments in council, with full powers to form for Texas a Provisional Government, on the principles of the constitution, during the reign of anarchy in the state and that they meet as soon as circumstances will possibly per- mit.'' The Political Chief was also to be requested to in- form the Mexican government of "their peaceable and loyal disposition, and their great desire to remain attached to the Federal government ;" and to command the citizens of his department "to adhere strictly to the laws and con- stitution of the land.""
W. D. C. Hall, J. A. Wharton, W. H. Jack, J. G. Mc- Neel, and G. B. McKinstry were appointed to wait upon the Political Chief with the views of the meeting ; and this duty performed, they were to remain a permanent com- mittee of safety and correspondence. They communicated with Miller in writing, and advised him to send a commis- sion to Cos and Ugartechea assuring them of the peaceful
•* Texas Republican, July 4, 1835. Brown (I., 293) asserts that a majority of the committee drafting these resolutions were in favor of independence, but that they sacrificed their real sentiments out of deference to the conservatives. An examination of their full report will, I think, convince one that their sacrifice, if such it were, was very complete.
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inclinations of the Texans; while at the same time the promptest steps should be taken to organize the militia. This, of course, was according to the instructions of the meeting, but they apparently went beyond the officially ex- pressed will of that body in recommending that persons be appointed to "obtain subscriptions and receive money for the purpose of purchasing arms and other munitions of war;" and in requesting him to inform Miisquiz that the people of the Brazos department would rally round and support him, if he would undertake the administration of the state government.'* The Political Chief replied that he fully endorsed all their recommendations, save one — that communication be opened with Cos and Ugartechea ; but that he would do that, too, if the majority of the people of his department desired it.'* Nevertheless, in a clipping of the Texas Republican, I have found a letter $iated July 2 — ^just the day before this — in which he informs Cos that the bearer of his dispatches to the Anahuac commandant "was by a few individuals examined and the communica- tions opened;" but he encloses him a copy of the resolu- tions adopted by a large meeting in his department — ^very probably the Columbia meeting of June 28, — "which evince the feeling of a large majority of the people," and promis- ing to send in a few days a special commissioner with full particulars, he closed with the assurance that he would do all in his power "to i)reserve the public order and tran- quility."
Desire for a Representative Convention.
By this time, though the most of the people were still faithful to Mexico, there was a general feeling of appre- hensiveness, and the necessity for a convention was ap- preciated by all. On July 4, the committee of safety at Mina issued an address to the Ayuntamientos of the de-
" Texas Republican, July 18, 18^5. ••Texas Republican, July 18. 183S.
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partment of Brazos deploring "the evils that might result from the schisms that had taken place ;" declaring that the mutual "confidence as well as the mutual respect between them and their fellow-citizens of the Mexican republic" had been destroyed by the "misconduct of a few designing men ;" and urging the immediate call of a consultation "at San Felipe, or some other central place.'^*^ And curiously enough, on this same day the committee of safety at Gonzales was writing to the Mina committee, and while assuring it of their utmost confidence in the good will of Mexico, they considered it as "of vital importance that a Convention be immediately called," and were of the opinion that the place of its meeting "should be without the bounds of the San Felipe Junto."** An editorial notice in the Texas Republican of the same date says, "we think every honorable means should be resorted to in order to avert the impending storm."
Now, in addition to the pacific recommendations of the jurisdiction of Columbia on June 28, the Ayuntamiento of that town held a meeting on July 11 and resolved that "it is deemed expedient by this body to take prompt and efficient measures to open an immediate correspondence with the Mexican authorities, that they be informed of the true sentiments of a great majority of the people of this Department and as soon as practicable that of all Texas." And a committee consisting of John A. Wharton, James F. Perry, Josiah H. Bell, Sterling McNeal, and James Knight was selected to lay the views of the Ayuntamiento before the "chairman of a public meeting" to be held at San Felipe "on Tuesday the 14th." They were convinced that order could not be restored without a consultation of representatives from all Texas, and the committee was in- structed to insist that this be brought about with the "utmost expedition." In their letter to the chairman of
"Texas Republican, July 18, 1835. " Texas Republican, July 18, 1835.
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this meeting the Ayuntamiento professed themselves and the citizens of their jurisdiction to be '*true, faithful, loyal, and unoffending Mexican citizens ;" they did not break the laws and constitution themselves, and would not counten- ance others in doing so.'*
At about the same time — ^July 12 — ^Cos, who had not yet heard of the expulsion of Tenorio, issued a general circular to the three departments of Texas in which he warned the people against being led into hasty action against the gov- ernment by the falsehoods of "turbulent foreigners." He reminded them of the liberal concessions that had been made to Texas, and explained that, if the government in- troduced more troops into Texas, it would simply be for the purpose of establishing the custom houses.*^
The San Felipe meeting of July 14 passed resolutions entirely consistent with those already adopted by the Columbia meeting on June 28 and the Columbia Ayunta- miento on July II. They "disapprobated all hostile pro- ceedings that may have been made for offensive operations against the government,*' avowed an earnest desire for peace, and recommended a quiet submission to the "con- stitution, laws, and proper authorities of the country." They agreed in the necessity for a consultation, and ap- pointed J. R. Jones, J. W. McKinney, and A. Somervill a committee to confer with the delegates from Columbia, "& all other committees, with full power to call a meeting of all the citizens of Texas."*^ This joint committee met the next day, and thinking it advisable to^wait for the ar- rival of other delegates before any decisive step was taken toward the calling of a convention, they issued a circular, saying that they believed there was "no just cause to ex- pect an invasion of Texas from the Federal forces ;" and
"Texas Republican, Tuly 18, 1835.
*• Texas Republican, August 22. 1835.
" Texas Republican, July 18, 1835. Brown (I., 295-96) prints a set of proceedings for this meeting, which, while ag^reeing to some extent with these, are evidently drawn from an entirely different source.
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chat when they were joined in a few days by other commit- tees they would make a full exposition of affairs.**
In the meantime while these two delegations were await- ing the arrival of others, the Political Chief, J. B. Miller, was adding his efforts to theirs to reassure both the Texans and the Mexicans. He circulated a proclamation "commanding and exhorting all good citizens to re- main strictly obedient to the constitution and laws,
and to engage in no popular excitement."*' And then feeling, doubtless, that his advice was inconsistent with his proclamation of June 21, and with some of his later im- prudent actions, he frankly admitted that he had then too hastily yielded to the influence of his friends.** The fol- lowing extracts from his letter to Colonel Ugartechea, on July 16, will show that the Mexicans did not enjoy a monopoly in the use of diplomatic flattery: He says, "I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your com- munication under date of the 7th of July, which I received with great pleasure. I have caused it to be printed and
published throughout my department I am
happy to inform you that this department is perfectly tran- quil, and I pledge myself that it shall remain so. Your esteemed communication has satisfied every person and has enabled me to tranquilize my department."**
Miller finally wound up his contradictory career by re- signing, on July 19, in favor of Wily Martin, the Alcalde having, as he said, refused to serve as Political Chief.**
*■ Texas Republican, July 18, 1835.
•Newspaper Clipping. — ^Austin Papers. The proclamation is dated simply "July, 1835," but must have been issued about the same time as his letter to Ugartechea, — ^July 16
** Texas Republican, August 8, 1835.
*• Newspaper Clipping. — Austin Papers.
*• Newspaper Clipping. — Austin Papers. An anonymous writer in the Texas Republican of September 26, 183^, fiercely denounced Miller's whole course, and this action in particular; claiming that the Alcalde had no constitutional right to refuse to serve, but that even then Martin, who was only fourth Regidor, could have suc- ceeded to the office only after it had been refused by the first three Regidors.
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On July 17, D. C. Barrett arrived at San Felipe to repre- sent Mina in the joint committee conference, and he, with the committees from Colimibia and San Felipe, the mem- bers of the latter having been increased to five, entered into a four days' session.*^ It will be remembered that the Columbia delegation had been instructed to urge the speedy call of a convention, and that the original San Felipe committee had been appointed for that purpose with full powers to act. When John A. Wharton moved the call of a convention, however, this motion was defeated, because it was thought that such an act would be regarded by, the authorities as preliminary to a rebellion.** They at- tempted to fulfill their promise of making an exposition of the affairs of Texas, but failed for want of facts;** and then united in dispatching to Cos, at Matamoras, D. C. Barrett and Edward Gritten with conciliatory letters. They also drew up a kind of resume of the late disturb- ances, and called upon all honest citizens to observe the laws and constitution. This was somewhat tardily issued as a proclamation by the chairman and acting Political Chief, Wily Martin, on August 15.*^®
Mexican Blunders.
But just when events in Texas seemed now in a train for peace, the government took the step which antagonized every citizen. On July 24, Tenorio, who had received the order from Santa Anna through Cos and Ugartechea, ap- plied to the Political Chief for the arrest of Lorenzo de Zavala, a political refugee who had arrived in Texas during the early part of the month. Martin declined to make the arrest on the ground that he lacked authority; but the
*' For the names of all these delegates sec Brown, I., 30a
*• Bancroft, North Mexican States and Texas, II., 162.
*• A Comprehensive History of Texas, I., 16&-69.
■•Edward, 239-45. It is possible that these proceedings were published earlier and that Martin re-issued them on August 15 to influence the meeting that assembled on that date.
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general attitude was so quiet and peaceful that Dr. J. H. C. Miller was deceived into thinking that by a slight show of firmness the authorities could gain all that they desired. He wrote therefore, on July 25, to John W. Smith of Bexar, and requesting him to show the letter to Ugartechea, said that if the demand were insisted upon at this time, the Texans would surrender not only Zavala, but the leaders of the war party, Johnson, Williamson, and Travis also; as well as Samuel Williams who was at this time obnoxious to Texans and Mexicans aUke as the re- puted leader of the great land speculation.*^ Ugartechea acted on the suggestion, and, on July 31, dispatched a circular to the different Alcaldes of the departments of Nacogdoches and Brazos, commanding them to arrest these parties and turn them over to Tenorio, who was still at San Felipe. The express bearing these orders was met by the peace commissioners, Barrett and Gritten, at Gonzales on August i, and realizing immediately how the demand would be received by the people, they detained him until Gritten could hasten on to San Antonio and vainly try to persuade Ugartechea to countermand or modify his orders.** The worthy Colonel, indeed, had little option in the matter ; at least, in so far as it concern- ed Zavala and Travis: for His Excellency the President had ordered the arrest of the former, and the order was re-issued to Ugarteachea by Cos on August 8, with in- structions to execute it even "at the risk of losing all his cavalry;"** while, on August i, Cos had urged the Ayuntamiento of Columbia to secure the "apprehension of that ungrateful and bad citizen W. B. Travis," in order that he might be taken to Bexar and punished according to the law.** The two commissioners delayed in San Antonio
•* A Comprehensive History of Texas, I., 170-71. " A Comprehensive History of Texas, L, 171. " Newspaper Clipping. — Austin Papers.
**Cos to Ayuntamiento of Columbia, August I, 1835. — ^Austin Papers*
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for some time, while Gritten could return to San Felipe for enlarged powers to treat with Cos. On August 9, they forwarded a letter to the general, explaining their delay, and expressing the hope that he would receive them favor- ably;*" but a notice soon arrived from him that he would listen to no negotiations from the Texans until they sur- rendered to him the men that he desired, and so, under these circumstances, Barrett and Gritten did not proceed to Matamoras.
In addition, moreover, to the irritation caused by the demand for these arrests. Captain T. M. Thompson, of the schooner Correo, who had been sent by Cos to make in- vestigations at Anahuac, was acting very imprudently. He declared himself commandant of all the ports be- tween Matamoras and the Sabine river, and by confining his operations chiefly to the shores of Galveston Bay, in- terfered extensively in the private affairs of the citizens.** And though, in reply to the San Felipe conference of July 17th, General Cos might write that the Supreme Govern- ment had always made a distinction between the "faithful" and the "faithless," it was being gradually forced upon the consciousness of the Texans that in practice the annoy- ances of Mexico's petty officials fell upon all alike.
Beginning o^ Opposition.
On July 14th, indeed, the citizens of Harrisburg had met, and while declaring themselves loyal Mexicans, they resolved that the constitution was about to be overthrown "by the power of General Santa Anna," and invited all the republicans of Mexico to help them gather up the "scat- tered fragments of that constitution which had been the boast of one of the proudest nations of the earth."" And
•• Barrett and Gritten to Cos, August 9, 1835. — Bexar Archives.
••Texas Republican, September 19, 1835.
"Texas Republican, August 22, 1835. One patriotic resolution of this meeting was, "That if any citizen leave Texas during her struggle, his property shall be confiscated for the public good."
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three days later the people living along the Lavaca and Navidad rivers assembled, and after voting a lack of con- fidence in the republicanism of Santa Anna, declared that they would "oppose any force that might be introduced into Texas for any other than constitutional purposes." They recommended that the reinforcements expected at Bexar be intercepted, and ordered the militia to hold them- selves in readiness to march on the shortest notice."'
At about this time, too, the war party seem to have extended their agitations to the United States : an article in a Louisiana paper of July 25th announces positively that Santa Anna "is now about to enter Texas with an army, to murder, destroy, and drive from that country those who were invited there, and who raised from a wil- derness that which is now a flourishing, happy, and con- tented people." Several "highly respectable citizens of Texas" were said to be already in the city, and upon the arrival of others, who were "hourly expected," a general meeting was to consider "the dreadful state of our friends, relations, and once fellow-citizens, and adopt such meas- ures for their relief in the present emergency as affection may dictate and justice require.""
To the observer of to-day it is evident that by this time a conflict was almost inevitable. The demands for the sur- render of Zavala and the leaders of the hostile party, with rumors of the steps that would be taken to enforce the demands, together with accounts of Thompson's overbear- ing behavior at Anahuac, were assiduously circulated by
" Brown, I., 297-99. These resolutions seem to indicate a good deal of hostility to Mexico, but it is possible that, were the pro- ceedings read in full, this would be considerably softened. James Kerr, writing to T. J. Chambers, July 5, 1835 (Bexar Archives), says: "The inhabitants of La Vaca and Navidad are inclined to attend to their ranches and estates, and they say that if the gov- ernment wishes to seize those criminals and collect the legal du- ties in the custom houses, it may do so." Yoakum dates this meeting July 19.
••Texas Republican, August 22, 1835.
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the war party; and exaggerated reports of this activity reaching General Cos in turn, increased the uneasiness of the authorities. And though it is almost certain that even yet the majority were opposed to any radical measures,** the preaching of the war party had made them suspicious and prepared them to misinterpret anjrthing that Mexico might do. Under these circumstances, therefore, it is dif- ficult to see how war could have been averted by any save an omniscient tactician.
A Scholarly Appeal for Moderation.
Nevertheless, the undoubted exigencies of the time now brought forth the most scholarly appeal to the reason and loyalty of the colonists that appeared throughout this year of manifold resolutions. In reading the proceedings of too many of the public meetings one is painfully struck by the labored efforts of the people to cast their resolutions in dignified, formal phraseology; but the resolutions pre- pared for the San Jacinto meeting, of August 8th, by David G. Burnet, show none of this awkward pursuit of form. After reviewing and accepting as true the reports that the federal government was subverted, they still ex- pressed "a cheering confidence in the distinguished citi- zens of our adopted country, * * * * That they will organ- ize a system of government in accordance with the spirit of the 19th century, * * * * with such a distribution of the three cardinal powers as will assure to each individual all the guarantees necessary to rational political liberty.'^ They declared that they had always considered Mexico the rightful sovereign of the territory of Texas, and while believing it a duty to guard their rights from all Infringe- ment, they also felt themselves under "a sacred obligation to preserve our names untarnished by the imputation of parricidal ingratitude." They considered "names as the mere signification of things/' and said that they were not
••Grittcn to Ugartcchca, July 5, 1835. — Bexar Archives.
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"so obstinately prejudiced in favor of the term 'federal republic' as * * * * to reject another government purely because it has. assumed a different external sign or de- nomination." And they resolved "That although the citi- zens may have the political right to reject the new Govern- ment of Mexico, * * * * we do very seriously question the policy of doing so,, unless constrained by imperious cir- cumstances, such as, we trust, do not and will not exist." But recognizing the necessity of united action upon the part of the colonists, they recommended the immediate calling of a convention at San Felipe.**
The Call ^or a Convention.
This, in fact, was the one thing upon which all Texas was now agreed. It is said that by the middle of August every municipality had elected a committee of safety and correspondence, and that each was pledged to urge the calling of a consultation.** A meeting of the jurisdiction of Columbia had been called on July 30th for the purpose of bringing this about, and when it adjourned until August 1 6th without doing anything, general dissatisfaction was prevalent at the delay.**
But when this adjourned meeting reassembled on Satur- day, August 15th, instead of Sunday, the sixteenth, as was originally intended, the convention was assured. They resolved that they would "not give up any individual to the military authorities," and appointed a committee of fifteen, with B. T. Archer at its head, to prepare an address to the different committees of safety, asking them to con- cur in the call for a convention. This committee went into a session at Velasco on August i8th, and two days later issued its address to the people. No direct suggestion of independence was offered. On the contrary, they pro-
" Texas Republican, September 19, 1835.
" Brown, I., 304.
• Texas Republican, July 25, and August 8, 1835.
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fessed a sincere desire to remain attached to the Mexican government, if that were possible upon constitutional terms ; but at the same time they frankly intimated their opinion that there was little hope of such a possibility. In any event, they said, the desirability of united action was obvious, and since this could be obtained in no other way, they proposed that the committees of each municipality should order the election on October 5th of five delegates to represent them in a consultation to be convened at San Felipe on the 15th of the same month.
This address, issued in the form of a circular, was ac- companied by several anonymous letters, giving informa- tion, for the truth of which the committee vouched, of the arrival of Mexican troops at Goliad and Bexar, and pur- porting to reveal Santa Anna's plan of invasion. It was said that his first plan had been to introduce the troops slowly into Texas "for the Express Purpose of enforcing the revenue laws ;" and that five hundred soldiers had ac- tually embarked at Tampico in May, when the rebellion of Zacatecas broke out and they were recalled. But Zaca- tecas being now reduced, Santa Anna had grown impatient and had determined to overwhelm Texas with a force of ten thousand men and drive every Anglo-American across the Sabine.**
It has already been seen, however, that information such as this, though it doubtless increased the popular anxiety, was not necessary to the securing of the conven- tion. For a long time nothing had been needed but a self-constituted leader, and so, therd was now a general endorsement of Columbia's proposals; the only amend- ment, in fact, being offered by the Nacogdoches commit- tee, that the number of representatives be raised from five to seven.*'
•* Circular issued by the Committee; Texas Republican, August 22 and 29, 1835. Also letter, Milam to Johnson, July 5, 1835. — Austin Papers.
•* Texas Republican, September 26, 1835.
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Austin Despairs of Peaceful Adjustment.
Any hope that still existed of a peaceful adjustment be- tween Texas and Mexico was knocked flat when the loyal Austin, just arrived from his long imprisonment, held out to it no encouragement. In a speech delivered at a bar- becue in Brazoria, on September 8th, he reviewed the his- tory of Texas from the beginning of its Anglo-American colonization; and while repeating to the people Santa Anna's protestations of unalterable respect and esteem, he plainly intimated that little reliance could be placed in them. Santa Anna's plan, he thought, was unquestionably the formation of a centralized government, and, as faithful Mexican citizens, it was their duty to resist his wanton destruction of the republican constitution of i824.**
Four days later a meeting was held at San Felipe, and resolutions having been adopted pledging the people of that jurisdiction to support the constitution of 1824, a new committee of safety was appointed with Stephen F. Austin for its chairman.'^ Henceforth the San Felipe committee seems to have assumed by tacit consent of all the inhabit- ants the direction of Texas affairs, and the committee but voiced the counsel of Austin. Communication was estab- lished with every part of Texas, and information transmit- ted almost daily. A circular of September i8th informed the people that all hope of conciliation was gone, and that war was the only resource ;•* and this was followed by another on the 22d, vouching for the information that General Cos had landed at Copano with four hundred troops, and urging the inhabitants to arm themselves and gather at the Colorado on the 28th.** And in order that this might not interfere with the election of delegates to the consultation, it was advised that the polls be opened
•Texas Republican, September 19, 1835. •'Texas Republican, September 19, 1835. •Texas Republican, September 18, 1835. •Texas Republican, September 26, 1835.
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on September 27th as well as on October sth, the date originally fixed for the election.
All this was accordingly done, but while the Texans were marching to the Colorado the Mexicans had already arrived at the Guadalupe, and ordered the citizens of Gon- zales to surrender their cannon. The events that followed are well known. The cannon was refused; the Mexicans fell back to wait for reinforcements, and on the morning of October 2d the Texans crossed the river and surprised and put them to flight. Though many of the foremost men of Texas still shrank from the suggestion of inde- pendence, and declared that they were attempting only to uphold the Mexican republican constitution of 1824, the revolution had begun.
And so, the consultation which met on October 15th and adjourned till November 3d, had not before it the task of uniting the people upon a single line of action — ^the pur- pose for which it was called — ^but of providing a temporary government for a united people, and supplies for an en- thusiastic army.
Note. — ^Through the courtesy of Mr. Barker, the Association has a collection of unprinted documents bearing on this paper that it is the aim to publish as soon as possible.
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HENRY BAKER AND SOME OF HIS DESCEND-. ANTS. (Second and concluding part.)
By Miles White, Jr.
In an account of Henry Baker in the JoUiffe, Neill and Janney Families it is stated that"
"Thomas Canby. who came over as his indentured servant, was a son of Benjamin Canby, of Thorn, Yorkshire, England. He was compelled to serve four years' time to pay his passage, which then amounted to the sum of four pounds, five shillings for all persons over the age of twelve years. He was a nephew of Henry Baker."
Dr. John Watson in his account of the first settlement of
Buckingham and Solebury says:**
"Thomas Canby for several reasons appears to deserve especial notice. His mother's brother, Samuel Baker,** was one of the early adventurers; and soon after, returning to England, brought his nephew Thomas Canby, then a lad, over with him. Bemg an orphan, his uncle became his gruardian. He was bound bv in- denture to serve with him; in which they took the advice of the Quarterly meeting. After he was free he married and settled near Robert Fletcher's in Abington."
Thomas Canby*^ married three times, ist, at Philadel- phia Mo. Mtg., 8 mo. 27, 1693, Sarah Jarvis ; 2ly., 2 mo. 4, 1709, Mary Oliver, dau. of Evan and Jane ; 3ly., at Buck- ingham Mtg., 8 mo. 9, 1722, Jane Preston. He is said*' tc^ have had 6 daughters and 2 sons by his first wife, and 5 daughters and 2 sons by his second.
The Minutes of Falls Mo. Mtg. show that in 1695, Thomas Canby's house was destroyed by fire,** and that
"P. 163.
"^Memoirs Pa. Hist. Soc, 1826, Vol. I, p. ogg.
** Evidently should be Henry, instead of Samuel.
' See Eastburn Reeder's Early Settlers of Solebury for marriages of various Canby descendants.
*• Buck's Hist. Bucks Co>, p. loi.
*• Davis, p. 106, erroneously states that it was Thos. Janney's house that was burned. I called his attention to the error, and in his new edition it will doubtless be corrected.
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4g£. los. was collected for him. He was chosen Clerk of Buckingham Mo. Mtg. 9 mo. 24, 1720.
II. Samuel Baker<^> (Henry^^^), as heretofore stated, was born at West Derbye, Lancashire, England, 8 mo. i, 1676, and came to America with his parents, arriving at Phila- delphia 7 mo. 17, 1648. He settled in Bucks County and became an extensive landed proprietor and prominent man ; he bought of the London Company 552 acres of land in Makefield, Bucks Co., so late as 17*22.**
The Records of Falls Mo. Mtg. show that in 8 mo. 1703, Samuel Baker and Rachel Warder announced for the sec- ond time their intentions of marriage and were given lib- erty to proceed therewith. Their marriage certificate states that Samuel Baker of Makefield twp. Bucks Co, Yeoman and Rachel Warder of Falls twp. Bucks Co., Spinster daughter of Willoughby Warder were married at Falls Mtg. 9 mo. 4, 1703. Among the 58 witnesses were Abel Janney, Sarah Canby and William Biles.
Samuel Baker(*> held various public offices, having been commissioned as Justice of the Peace March 6, 1708, and March 3, 1710, and elected" to the Assembly in 1710 and 171 1 ; in 1722 he was Commissioner.*^
C. W. Smith in his History of early settlement of Wrightstown gives the number of votes cast at several elections for county officers, from which it appears that Oct. I, 1725, Samuel Baker received 95 votes for Coroner, and Oct. i, 1730, he received 168 votes for Assessor; these votes, however, may have been for his son Samuel.^ The same author tells us that*'
"By virtue of a grant from Wm. Pcnn to James Harrison for 5,000 acres to be laid out, James Harrison grants to Henry Baker, of Makefield, 400 acres a part thereof, to be located in Wrights-
• Jolliffe NeiU and Janney Families, p. 163.
"^Pa. Archives, id Series, Vol. IX, pp. 744-Si 755; Proud's Hist. Pa., Vol. II, p. 54. *" Battle's Hist. Bucks Co., p. 690.
• P. 15. See also Davis' Mist. Bucks Co., p. 255.
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town, which was secured to Samuel Baker, eldest son and heir of Henry Baker, dec'd, by Deed granted by Wm. Penn's Commis- sioners dated 28 Oct., 1701, and which upon resurvey was found to contain 494 acres, 56 of which was included in the Park. Samuel Baker sold this tract to Robert Shaw for £100 by Deed Oct. 31, 1707."
Cutler's map of the resurvey of 1702 shows that Samuel Baker then held a tract of 438 acres in Wrightstown.*®
The Minutes of the Board of Property of Pa. state'® that Patents for various tracts of land were issued to Samuel Baker, some in his own right and some as heir to his father ; a part of this land was in the Proprietor's Mannor of Highlands, and therefore there was some delay in issu- ing the Patent, and in the meanwhile Samuel made large Improvements on same, and it was decided by the Secre- tary right that the Patent should be issued, which was done 6 of 10 mo. 1715,'^ for £10.
Samuel Baker's other land transactions need not be further mentioned than to state that he was one of the persons to whom Abel Janney deeded*^ in Trust for Falls Mo. Mtg. in 1721, part of the land patented to him in 1701.
The Minutes of Falls Mo. Mtg. show that in 9 mo. 1703 it was agreed to hold meetings at Samuel Baker's for one or two weeks, and Davis says'* that "in 1719 the 'upper parts' of Makefield asked permission of Falls to have a meeting on First Days, for the Winter season at Samuel Baker's, John Baldwin's and Thomas Atkinson's, which was allowed."
Even after the meeting house had been built the houses of Samuel Baker and other Friends were used for meet- ings in which marriages were solemnized, for we find that George Clough and Pleasant Haige, of Hopewell, Burling-
*• Davis' Hist. Bucks Co., p. 194 "•Pa. Archives, 2d Series, Vol. XIX,
'/Wtf, pp. 594, 611.
pp. 231, 271, 318, 375, 482. 594
' Bucks Co. Deeds, Liber., 10 fol, 184. ■ Hist. Bucks Co., p. 121.
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^So Southern History AssockUion.
ton Co., N. J., widow of Francis Haige, were married at Samuel Baker's, 9 mo. 13, 1712."
The date of Samuel Baker's death is not known : He left no Will, but as he is not mentioned in his Wife's Will, exe- cuted in 1760, he evidently had died before then.
The Records of Falls Mo. Mtg. contain the names and dates of birth of ten children of Samuel Baker. He must have had at least one more child, as the Will of his wife, Rachel Baker, mentions a daii. Margaret, whose birth is not recorded in meeting Records.
Children:"
1. Ann Mary, b, 4 mo. 16, 1704, m. 1729, Charles Biles, son of Wm. Biles, Jr., and Sarah Langhorne. They married out of meet- ing and were disowned 12 mo. 3, 1730; he appealed to the QtL Mtg. and was 4 mo. 2, 1731, reinstated for informality of Falls Mo. Mtg's action. He sent 7 mo. i, 1731, a satisfactory paper and was reinstated. On 3 mo. 3, 1732, a certificate of removal to Buck- ingham Mo. Mtg. was issued to Charles and wife, which was pre- sented and accepted 7 mo. 4, 1733.
2. Samuel, b, 4 mo. 28, 1706, tn. about 1742 . Minutes of Falls
Mo. Mtg. 12 mo. 2, 1742, state he married out of meeting. His Will probated in 1760 (feucks Co. Wills, Liber. 3, fol. 29) does not show the names or numbers of his children, but shows his wife's name to have been Elizabeth; surname not ascertained. In 1777 Fairfax Mo. Mtg., Va., admitted to membership Elizabeth Baker and children, Nathan, Betty and Rachel. These tnay have been widow and children of Samuel
3. Henry, b. 4 mo. 5, 1708, m. about 1755 out of meeting, and 9 mo. 3, 1755, gave satisfaction and was reinstated. His Will probated in 17(55 (Bucks Co. Wills, Liber. 3, fol. 125) mentions his five daughters, names not given, and shows his wife's name to have been Mary. She may have been a widow Matthews, as Henry mentions a dau. in law (no doubt step dau.) Hannah Matthews. From the settlement of his estate it appears that his five daughters were Rachel Stack, Letitia Baker, Mary Canby, Phebe Dunlap, and Lydia Sutphin.
4. Nathan, b. i mo. 28, 1710, d. y. prior to 7 mo., 1715.
5. Sarah, b. 10 mo. 9, 1712, alive as late as 1778, m. 8 mo, 2, 1733, at Falls Mtg. House, Abel JanneyC^, d. 1774, son of JosephC*) Janney and KebeckahC*) Biles*
In his marriage certificate Abel is described as of Makefield, in the County of bucks & Province of Pensilvania. Francis Hague, Eliz. Warder and Rachel Bunting were among the 68 witnesses. Minutes of Falls Mo. Mtg. show that on 7 mo. i, 1752, a certificate
**Pa. Mag. Hist, and Biog., Vol. XXIV, p. 98. " Names and dates of birth of Nos. i-io, as given in Falls Mo. Mtg. Records.
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of removal was signed for /(bel Janney, wife and children to Fair- fax Mo. Mtg., Va. This certificate was presented at Fairfax Mtg.
8 mo. 20, 1752. The Land Records of Fairfax Co., Va. (Liber. C, No. I, fol. 834), show that Catesby Cocke 30 Apr., 1754, deeded to Abell Janney i,^ acres on small drain or branch of Kittoctin Creek. The JoUine Neill and Janney Families (pp. 170, 182) con- tains an account of Abel and Sarah (Baker) Janney, in which it is said that they took a certificate of removal in 1746 from Middle- town Mtg., ra., to Fairfax Mtg., Va., and in 1741 purchased land on Goose Creek, Va. These statements do not refer to this Abel, however. It was his cousin AbelC*), son of ThomasO and RachelO (Pownall) Janney, who went to Va. in 5 mo., 1746, and 4 mo. 25, 1748, took a certificate of removal to Middletown Mo. Mtg. but died before it was presented 9 mo. 3, 1748.
Sarah (Baker) Janney, while a member of Falls Mtg., was ap- pointed on several committees, and after her removal to Va. was given various appointments By Fairfax meeting, being Clerk of Women's meeting from i mo. 31, 1761, to 11 mo. 28, 1765.
Abel Janney's Will, dated 12 mo. 26, 1770, was proven 14 Nov.. 1774 (Loudoun Co., Va., Wills Liber, B, fol, 98-100), in it he be- queathed to his son Joseph Janney, 10 s over that already con- veyed to him; to son Samuel, the same; to son in law Joseph Hutton and Sarah, his wife, the same; to son Amos, mansion house and plantation with 200 acres; to son John, 200 acres; bal- ance 400 acres to be sold and equally divided between son Abel and son in law Wm. Baker" and Mary, his wife, and testators daus. Rebecca, Rachel and Ruth. Son Amos to pay all testator's just debts, as he is provided for above other children; To sons Amos and John each 2 best horses, wagon, plows and harness; to wife Sarah, all remaining property. Son Abel and son-in-law Wm. Baker, Executors, bro.-in-law John Hough assistant in division of land. Inventory of his property returned Apr. 10, 1775, amounted to £225, 16 s\ wheat and rye additional £38, 9 j, 6d.
His son Joseph(*) Janney. of Loudoun Co., Va., Merchant, b, Bucks Co., Pa., d. Loudoun Co., Va., 1793, m, Horsham Mtg.. Pa.,
9 mo. 28, 1764, Hannah (*) Jones, b, 11 mo. 30, 1742, dau. of John(0 and RebeccaO (Head)" Jones, of Warrington, Bucks Co., Penna. Joseph and Hannah (Jones) Janney were the grandparents of Johns Hopkins, their dau. Hannah(*) Janney, b. 5 mo. 19, 1774, d, II mo. 25, 1846, being his mother. (Publications So. Hist. Assoc, Vol. IV, pp. 440-441).
6. John, b, 7 mo. 25, 17x5, d. i mo. 6, 1759. Register Phila. Mo. Mtg. shows deaths of Rebecca Baker, dau. of John, 6 mo. 5. 1752; and of Sarah Baker, wife of John, 2 mo. 25. 1756. The Will of
}ohn Baker, of Phila., shipwright; dated a (Dct., 1756, proven 11 any., 1759 (Phila. Wills, Liber. L, fol, 206), leaves his estate to
•• Friends* Records do not show whether Wm. Baker was a descendant of Henry or not Minutes of Phila. Mo. Mtg. show that 4 mo. 21, 1761, "application was made for a certificate for William Baker to Fairfax, in Virginia, to which place he some years since removed;" and that on 10 mo. 29, 1762, it was issued.
" For account of the homely arrival of John Head and family see Colonial Days and DameSy p. 69.
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dau. Sarah; names bro. Joseph Baker Executor, with a devise in case of death of dau. to nephew John Baker, son of Joseph.
7. Nathan, b. 7 mo. 27, 1715, alive in 1760. Falls Records give dates of birth of John and Nathan as here stated, whether these dates are correct, or both should be the same is not now known. 7 mo. 21 174s, Nathan presented to Nottingham Mo. Mtg. a cer- tificate from Falls Mo. Mtg., dated 3 mo. i, 1745 ; and 12 mo. 17th, 1749, having removed to rhiladelphia requested a certificate to that meeting which was granted 2 mo. 21, 1750. In both of these certificates he was said to be clear of marriage engagements. Minutes of Phila. Mo. Mtg. show that 5 mo. 30, 1755, the Over- seers reported they had frequently dealt with Nathan on ac- count of his habits and conduct without result, also that he had been married by a priest. 6 mo. 27, 1755, the committee appointed to treat with him reported that he had removed into Maryland, and they were directed to write to him. After the case had been in their hands many months a testimony of disownment was issued 6 mo. 24, 1757. The names of his wife and children have not been ascertained.
8. Joseph, b. i mo. i, 1719, m. Phila. Mo. Mtg. 2 mo. 18, 1749. Esther Head, bur, 9 mo. 5, 1804, aged 79, dau. of John and Re- becca (Mase) Head. Rachel, Henry, John and Margaret Baker were among the witnesses. The Minutes of Phila. Mo. Mtg. of 4 mo. 27, 1759, show that Joseph made the following acknowledg- ment in regard to the sale of a negro, "it was the desire of my brother John Baker the morning before he died that John Par- rock should have the ne^o man I was concerned in selling, which with knowing the disposition of the negro engaged me to sell him the sooner but am sorry I was concerned in a practice I have no unity in and give my friends concern and hope for the future I shall discourage the practice." The Register does not contain entries of the births of Joseph's children, but shows the deaths of three of them, viz: Susanna, d. 12 mo. 21, 1756; Joseph, d- 1 mo. 6. 1759; Joseph, bur. 6 mo. 5, 1772, aged 6 years.
The Will of Joseph Baker, of Phila., Hatter, dated 7-, 6-, 1794- and a Codicil, dated 5-, 4-, 1795, were proven 7-, 6-, 1799 (Phila. Wills, Liber. Y, fol. 199), in which mention is made of his wife Esther; his dau. Rachel, wife of David Shoemaker; his dau. Sarah, wife of Joseph Dunn; his dau. Elizabeth, wife of Jacob Coats; his dau. Esther Deitch; his son Richard Mace Baker, his son Samuel Baker; Sarah, wife of Lewis Taylor; his gd. sons Toseph Baker Dunn, Richard Deitch, and Joseph Baker Deitch; his sister Margaret Tomlinson; Anne Baker* a dau. of his son John Head Baker, dec'd; and the children of Sarah Dunn.
Chief Justice Sharswood, of the Supreme Court of Penna, was a descendant of Joseph Baker.
9. Benjamin, b. 2 mo. 16, 1723. probably d. u. prior to 1760.
10. Lydia, b. 10 mo. 5, 1724, alive in 1760, m. , John Bur- roughs.
11. Margaret, b. , alive in 1760, m. , Tomlin- son.
The Will of Rachel Baker, of Upper Makefield twp.
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dated 26 of i mo., 1760, was proven 16 Feby., 1760,'® and in it mention is made of
Her eldest son, Samuel; son Henry; son Nathan; son Joseph; Joseph; dau. Anna Maria Biles; dau. Sarah Janney; dau. Lydia Burroughs; dau. Margaret Tomlinson; gd.dau. Hannah Bur- roughs, and Friends of Upper Makefield Meeting (£5); the exe- cutors were her son Henry and son in law John Burroughs.
In the Jolliffe, Neill and Janney Families the author says :** **I believe the above William Warder, who was a first Councillor, August 3, 1681, was the father of Willoughby Warder, Sr., and therefore the grandfather of Rachel (Warder) Baker." This first Councillor was, however, named William Warner®^ and not Warder ; and it is. be- lieved that Rachel Baker's grandfather Warder never came to America.
In one of the copies of Bucks Co. Mtg. Registers in the Penna. Historical Society is the following manuscript:
"Memorandum relative to Solomon Warder, by George
Vaux.
Solomon Warder was born in England, probably in the Isle of Wight. He emigrated to America in 1699 and was married in Philadelphia to Elizabeth Howell (who came in the same vessel with him) toward the close of that year, having previously passed meeting with her in the Isle of Wight. He was son of Willoughby Warder and grandson of William Warder, both of Nunwell, Parish of Brading, Isle of Wight.
Willoughby Warder also emigrated to America about 1699 and settled in Falls Twp., Bucks Co. He died in the year 1725 at an advanced age.
Solomon Warder had a sister Rachel, who married Samuel Baker, and a brother Willoughby Warder, Jr., who married Sarah, dau. of John Bowyer, April 13, 1710. This last Willoughby was father of Jeremiah Warder, an eminent merchant in Philadelphia during the last Century, and ancestor of most of the persons bearing the name of Warder in this city.
William Warder, the common ancestor of all the above, docs not appear to have ever been in America. He was probably the same person mentioned in Besse's Sufferings of the Quakers, as one of 37 Friends sent to prison in May, 1684, for meeting together at Park Southwark, London."
•• Bucks Co. Wills, Liber. 3. fol 5 "P. 164.
^ Hazard^ s Annals, p. 525; Pa, Archives, 2d Series, Vol. IX, p. 617; Hist. Chester Co., Pa., pp. 18, 364. Battle's Bucks Co., p. 175.
3
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Mr. George Vaux, Jr., has sent me the following addi- tional information:
"Willoughby Warder, the elder, was son of William Warder, of Nunwell in the Isle of Wight. He was twice married, but I never could ascertain who his first wife was. She was mother of Rachel, who m. Samuel Baker, and appears to have died in England before her husband emigrated. My record states that Rachel is supposed to have accompanied her father when he emigrated. Willoughby's second wife was Mary Howell, widow** of John Howell, m. at Devonshire House, London, 4 mo. 11, i6g6. The second wife was still living in 1736, then aged 92, and is referred to in Thomas Chalkley's Journal. He visited her in that year in Bucks Co."
The Minutes of Falls Mo. Mtg. state 4 mo. 2, 1736, that Mary Warder being an antient Friend & not capable to come to meeting Requested to have a meeting once a month at her house, which was agreed to.
Willoughby Warder was commissioned four times as Justice of the Peace for Bucks Co.," viz: March 6, 1708; March 3, 1710; Dec. 30, 1715, and May 13, 1715. He bought Mch 16, 1 710, of John Fisher and Mary, his wife (late wife of Jacob Janney) as Executors of the Will of Jacob Janney 72^ acres in Bristol Twp.*' that Solomon Warder had sold Sept. 8, 1703, to Jacob Janney; and also bought "Grove Place,"** which had belonged to Phineis Pemberton.
III. Nathan BakerW(//enr3;^i)),was born at West Derby, Co. Lancashire, England, i mo. 8, 1684, and came with his parents to America, arriving at Philadelphia, 7 mo. 17, 1684. They settled in Bucks Co., Pa., where he resided
" Isaac Sharp, who has charge of Friends' Records at Devon- shire House, London, states that Willoughby Warder's 2d wife, the widow Howell, was Mary Gibbs, of White Cross Street, London. She was married to John Howell, Cloth Worker at the Bull & Mouth, 3 mo. i, 1673. Isaac Sharp was unable to find any record of Willoughby's first marriage and states that the Dorset and Hampshire Registers, which include the Isle of Wij^ht, contain no trace of the Warder family He noticed the marriage of a brother of Willoughby.
" Pa. Archives, 2d Series, Vol. IX, pp. 744, 745, 746.
•■ Bucks Co. Deeds, Liber. 4, fol. 162.
•* Battle's Bucks Co., p. 371.
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during his father's life, removing to Chester Co., Pa., in 1703. His brother-in-taw, Thomas Yardley, of Bristol, Bucks Co., executed his Will 11 mo. 27, 1702/3, and Na- than Baker, William Yardley and Rachel Bunting were the witnesses.
The Minutes of Falls Mo. Mtg. show that on 4 mo. 2, 1703, "Richard Hough on behalf of Nathan Baker re- quested a Certificate of his conversation while amongst us, therefore it's desired that Richard Hough & John Watson do make inquiry concerning him," and that no report having been made in 5th or 6th mo., on 7 mo. i, 1703, "Nathan Baker appeared and desired a certificate of his conversation, and this meeting being satisfied concerning him doth order that he shall have a certificate signed by William Biles, Joseph Kirkbride and Richard Hough on the behalf of the meeting."
The Minutes of Concord Mo. Mtg., Chester Co., Pa., show that Nathan Baker produced his certificate 8 mo. 11, 1703, after which time they make no further mention of him.
He was married May 15, 1705, to Sarah Collet, by the Episcopal minister, according to the Parish Records of St. Paul's Church, Chester, perhaps at St. Martin's Church, Marcus Hook, as St. Paul's rector officiated there also; after which time he probably had no further connection with Friends.
Gilbert Cope, the historian of Chester Co., states that "a deed recorded in Book Z, p. 317, recites that Jeremiah Collett and son Jeremiah conveyed 200 acres in Concord to William Smith, March 30, 1700 and Smith to Job Bunting 12 mo. 19, 170%, subject to mortgage to Smith. Job Bunting by will Nov. 14, 1702, directed his lands to be sold by his executrix, Rachel Bunting, who married John Cowgill. They, with William Smith, then of Maryland, yeoman, conveyed the same lands with messuage and plantation thereon to Nathan Baker, 3 mo. (May) ist, 1708; who with Sarah his wife, of Concord, conveyed 170 acres thereof 4 mo. 16, 1711, to Robert Pyle, of Bethel, yeoman for £100. What became of the remaining 30 acres I have not noticed, nor the date of Baker's removal to Maryland, which must have been before 1715."
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A Joseph Baker and wife Mary arrived in Pennsylvania as early as 1685, settled at Edgmont, Chester Co., and at that time had several children. They came from Edge- mont in Shropshire,**^ England, and were prominent in Chester Co. No evidence of relationship between them and Henry Baker's family has been seen.
Nathan Baker appears to have been a miller, after he settled in Maryland, for the Land records of Cecil Co.** show that Nathan Baker and wife Sarah, conveyed by deed to Gee and others, 12 Apr., 1722, a tract of 20 acres on Back Creek with a mill. This conveyance was evidently made on the eve of his taking a voyage to Barbadoes, after which no record of him has been seen.
The dates of the deaths of Nathan and Sarah Baker are not known. His Will dated 12 April, 1722, and witnessed by Francis Mauldin and Edward Jackson, was proven 5 April, 1729.*"
In it he states that he is "Bound for Barbadoes," and he left to his sons Henry, Jeremiah and Nathan five pounds each, when 21 years of age; to his Dafter Mary Baker, at 16 or marriage, a mulatto Wench, Hannah, or thirty pounds; "And the Rest of my children's Portions I lefe to ye good Will & pleser of there deare Mother, my loving virtuous Wife Sarah Baker who I make my whole and sole Executrix. I do give my loving Wife full power to sell all my Rale and personall Estate or to ceepe all or any Part of my reale or personal Estate, according to her good Will and Disposition."
How many more children than the four mentioned in his Will, Nathan and Sarah Baker had is uncertain; the Register of St. Mary Ann's Parish, Cecil Co., Md., shows the marriages of three Bakers between 1732 and 1737, after which there are no Baker entries till 1763. These three entries are as follows :
Oct. 15, 1732, Then marryed Robert Cummins to Eliza- beth Baker.
* Smith's Hist. Delaware Co., Pa., p. 442, Futhey & Cope's Hist. Chester Co., p. 469-70. *^ Liber. 3, fol, 4JS2. " Cecil Co. Wills, Ubei., A. A., No. i, fol, 203.
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1735 July 6. Then marryed Job Ruston to Mary Baker.
1736/7 Jany 12. Then was married Nathan Baker to Joyce Yardley.
All of these three persons were probably Nathan's chil- dren. Nothing further has been seen regarding fiis son Jeremiah, nor his dau. Mary Ruston, unless the entry in Register of Christ Church, Phila., of marriage of Jeremiah Bak^r and Ruth Bonham Aug. 9, 1758, refers to the for- mer. A letter from Job Ruston, beginning "Brother Baker," dated Nov. 12, 1750, and addressed to Mr. Henry Baker, or to Mr. Nathan Baker, and authorizing tKem to collect witness fees of his servant, in a law suit, is re- corded.'*
St. Mary Ann's Parish Register contains the following two entries concerning children of Elizabeth Baker,
"1736 May 18. Then was born James Cummings the son of Robert Cummings and Elizabeth his wife.
Francis Rock was marryed to Mary Pryor, widow, daughter of Robert and Elizabeth Cummings of North East, 27 July, 1759."
Further mention of Nathan's sons Henry and Nathan will be given hereinafter.
The Register of St. Paul's Church, Chester, shows the marriage on May 8, 1730, of Sarah Baker and Philip Ottey. Whether Sarah was the widow or daughter of Nathan does not appear.
Sarah Collet, whom Nathan Baker married, was the daughter of Jeremiah, or as he was sometimes also called Jeremy Collet, of whom Smith in his History of Delaware Co., Pa., says,'*
He "was settled in Chichester before the arrival of William Penn. In 1685 he owned and occupied a tract of land a little north of Marcus Hook. In 1684 he served the office of SheriflF for Chester County. In religious profession he was doubtless an Episcopalian, as he bequeathed £50 for the 'better support of the
" Cecil Co. Deeds, Liber, 4, fol. 523. " P. 454.
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minister officiating in the Chaper — now St. Martin's Church at Marcus Hook. He died about the year 1725" [1706.]
Jeremiah Collet occupied a position of prominence in Chester Co. He was twice commissioned as Justice of the Peace, viz: May 13, 1693, ^tnd Sept. 25, 1703/® and the History of Chester Co,, Pa., makes frequent mention of him, stating^^ among other things that his name appears in the records of the Court held June 13, 1682; and that at the first Court at Chester after Penn's arrival, which met flFebr. 14, 1682, & adjourned unto ye 27th of ye same month, Jeremiah was on the Jury; that 5 mo. i, 1684, the Court appointed Collectors, and Appraisers, of the former were for Chichester, Thomas Usher and Jeremy Collett, and of the latter were for the County, Thomas Usher, Jeremy Collett and Joshua Hastings ; that among the Landholders in 1689 appear the names of Jerem. Collett, Wm. Collett and Richard Collett; that among the list of Taxables in 1693 appear the name of Jeremiah Collett for cSs. 04d;
That in March, 1694-5 the grand inquest "having examined Jeremiah Collet's [the Treasurer's] accounts finds them to be true accounts and finds him to be indebted to the County the sum of eighteen shillings and eleven pence;" and further that on Feby. 25, 1706-7, "Jeremiah Collett, constable of Chichester, being pre- sented by ye Grand Jury for ye neglect of his Duty as a constable for that he did not prevent Mordecay Howel for working and suffering his servants or children to work and do servill Labour on ye first day of the week altho' requested by John Neals so to do,^omes here and cant gainsay the same but acknowledges himself to be thereof guilty. Therefore it is considered that ye sd. Jeremiah shall pay a fine of five shillings & his fees and then shall go quitt."
The Records of St. Paul's Church, Chester, show that Jeremiah was one of the first Vestrymen of that Church, being elected April 18, 1704, and served till his death. The Register contains the following entries :
Anne Collet — ^buried July nth, 1705. Wife of Jer: Col-
^Pa. Archives, 2d Series, Vol. IX, p. 676. Hist. Chester Co., Pa-, p. 364. ^Pp. 20, 24. 26, 31, 33. 35, 38.
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let — died ye fifteenth of OctobV, 1704, and was buried ye nth of July, 1705.
John Collet — son of Jeremiah — buried July 5th, 1705.
Jeremiah Collet — ^Vestryman — November loth, 1706.
Letters of administration on the estate of Jeremiah Collet, late of Chichester, were granted at Philadelphia Dec. 2, 1706, to Weyntie Collet, his widow, the record stating'^ that the said Jeremiah Collet "did make his Last Will & Testam't & thereof appointed Nathan Baker Ex'r as is said, who for reasons unknown has hitherto refused to produce ye sd Will to be proved according to Law."
Weyntie Collet, widow of Jeremiah, renounced her right of administration Jan'y 20, 1706/7, in favor of Jeremiah Collet, son of her late husband. Witnesses, Edward Bezer, Richard Armitt."
Letters were accordingly granted to Jeremiah Collet,^* Gentleman, 4 March, 1706/7. Sureties, Wa : Marten, Tho : Withers. Witnesses, Saml. Weaver, John Joyce.
No evidence that the Will was produced or recorded has been seen, and most of its contents are now unknown. The Will of Jeremiah's son-in-law, Thomas Withers, of Chichester twp., Chester Co., dated March 29, 1720, proven 2 mo. 15, 1720,^" mentions his wife Jane or Joan and five children, Robert, Ralph, Mary Hughs, Jane and Elizabeth Withers, and states that Jeremiah Collett, Sr., late of Chichester, devised to his five grandchildren above named £15 each, which had not been paid.
Smith's History of Delaware Co. as herebefore stated, says he bequeathed £50 to the Chapel at Marcus Hook, giving the date of his death as 1725; and Mr. Wm. Shales Johnson sent me the following extract from his unpub- lished history of St. Paul's Parish.
" Phila. Administrations, Book B, p. 51. " Ibid, p. 54.
" Will of Jeremiah Collett, of Upper Chichester, dated June 8, 1752, was proven Aug. 8, 1752. Chester Co. Wills, Liber. C. hi. 352. * Chester Co. Wills, Liber. A, fol 90.
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"In 1701 the 'Anabaptist Association' was dissolved but was re- vived again in 1715, when it took the name of "The Baptized Church of Jesus Christ;* and exists to-day as the Birmingrham Baptist Church. Many of the baptisms took place in Crum and Ridley Creeks and in 1715 we find the name of Jeremiah Collet as having been baptized May 4th of that year.
Jeremiah Collet, Sr., was a churchman and died in 1706. being buried in St. Paul's churchyard. Jeremiah Collet, of Chichester, was also at the time of his death, a churchman and left a legacy of Fifty Pounds to St Martin's Church, Marcus Hook, the interest of which was to be used to provide for at least four services an- nually in that Church. Who the Jeremiah Collet was who aided in the reorganization of the 'Anabaptist Association* is not cer- tain. He may possibly have been the Chichester Collet, but if so he died a churchman ten years after."
No Will of any Jeremiah Collet has been found to have been proven in 1725, and it is probable that the above be- quest, though paid in 1725, was authorized by the Will of 1706.
From the Records of St. Paul's Parish and the Philadel- phia Administration accounts above quoted, it seems prob- able that Jeremiah Collet was twice married. Anne Collet, who died in 1704, and was reinterred (?) at St. Paul's in 1705, having been his first wife and mother of his children ; and Weyntie Collet, who survived him, having been his second. If so his second marriage was not solemnized in St. Paul's Parish, as his daughter Sarah is the only Collet, whose marriage there is recorded between 1704 and
1733."
No record has been seen of the parentage or place of nativity of Jeremiah Collet. He may have been related to, though probably not the son of George Collet, of Clon- mell, CO. Tipperary, Ireland,^' who at an early date bought a large tract of land in Pennsylvania, and whose daughter Mary Collet married Christopher Pennock, in Ireland, prior to 1675, and whose son George Collet, died in Penna., 8 mo. 2, 1687, and devised his property, by a Nun-
^Pa. Archives, 2d Series, Vol. VIII, p. 594.
" Futhey & Cope's Hist, Chester Co.. Pa., p. 680; see also Pen- nock Family Tree; Pa. Archives, 2d Series, Vol. XIX., pp. 28, 363, 545, 549.
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cupative Will to his nephew, or as he styled him his "Cousin" NathanieJ Pennock.
Nathan Baker/') son of NathanC^) and Sarah(^) (Collet) Baker, married in St. Mary Ann's Parish, Cecil Co., Md., Jan'y 12, 1736/7 Joyce Yardley, and appears to have lived at one time at North East and later at Charlestown, both in Cecil Co., and to have been a miller by trade.
The Genealogy of the Yardley Family gives a list of the children of Thomas and Ann (Biles) Yardley, in which is the following entry in regard to their dau. Joyce :^'
"Joyce, b. 10 mo. 3, 1714; never married."
That this is an error, and that it was she whom Nathan Baker married, is shown by a deed dated 8 May, 1759, ^^^ recorded in Bucks Co., Pa.,^* in 1761, by which Wm. Yard- ley and Thos. Yardley, of Lower Makefield Twp., Gents. ; Mary Jenney, of Truro Twp., Loudoun Co., Va., widow; Francis Hague, of Truro Twp., Planter, and Jane his wife ; David Kinsey, of Solebury, Yeoman and Sarah his wife; Nathan Baker, of North East in Cecil Co., Md., Miller, and Joyce his wife ; (said Wm., Thps., Mary, Jane, Sarah and Joyce being only surviving issue, representatives and heirs of Thomas Yeardley, late of Makefield, Yeoman, de- ceased) convey to Thomas Yeardley, son of Richard, cer- tain lands which Francis Hague Apr. 14, 1742, conveyed to Thos. Yardley, who Dec. 9, 1749, agreed to convey same to Richard Yardley, but died before it was done.
The Records of Cecil Co. show that Nathan Baker, of Charlestown, and Joyce his wife, in consideration of io6i, J2S, yd, current money, conveyed to Andrew Barrett 6 Jan'y, 1775,'* one-fourth part of Lot 82 in Charlestown.
No further information has been found regarding Na- than and Joyce Baker ; and the dates of their deaths, and the names and number of their children are unknown.
• P. 21.
^ Liber, 10, fol. 279. •• Liber, 14, fol. 38.
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The Register of St. Mary Ann's Parish shows the mar- riage of Thomas Baker in 1763, to Ma^gret Pheland ; and the birth of their dau. Hannah Yeardley Baker, Sept. 17, 1764. Also the marriage of Jeremiah Baker and Hannah Thackey, 14 Dec, 1769; and the births of their four chU- dren, Marcy, b. 20 Sept., 1771 ; Francis, b, 17 July, 1774; Elizabeth, b. 17 Aug., 1776; Sarah, b, 25 March, 1778.
Thomas Baker evidently was a son of Nathan ; Jeremiah may have been a son or a nephew.
Henry Baker,<*> the remaining son of Nathan<*> and Sarah<*> (Collet) Baker, was probably their eldest son. Very little is known regarding him. The Records of Cecil Co. show that he bought of John Taylor on 28 May, 1759,®^ cer- tain cattle. He must during his life have owned a good deal of land, as his name occupies about two pages of the Index to the County Land records. In 1740 he purchased a large tract called "Kennedy's Adventure," parts of which he and his wife Elizabeth deeded to James Crumley, 3 Feby, 1742 ; to Edw. Oldham, 26 Aug., 1750; and to Robert Lasley, yeoman, 12 Jan'y, 1758.'* Crumley and Oldham being residents of Chester Co., Pa., and Lasley, of Cecil Co., Md. And from his Will and that of his son Jethro it appears that he owned "Van Bibber's Forest," and land in the Manor, on the latter of which he lived. Both these tracts at one time belonged to Matthias Van Bibber, concerning whom George Johnston in his History of Cecil Co., Md., says :*•
"Prominent among the early settlers of Bohemia Manor were two brothers, Isaac and Matthias Van Bibber. Their father, Jacob Isaacs Van Bibber, was a Hollander and was one of the first settlers of Germantown. His sons, the two brothers before mentioned, were natives of Holland, and were naturalized in Maryland in 1702. Previous to coming to Maryland they had been engaged in merchandizing in Philadelphia. * * * * * Matthias Van Bibber appears to have been fond of the acquisition of land, for in 1714 he purchased Augustine Manor of Ephraim Augrustine
■* Liber. 9, fol. 91.
** Liber. 6. fol 227; Liber. 8, fol. 209; Liber. 9, fol. 5.
"Pp. 186-8.
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Hermcn for £300. This Manor was directly east of Bohemia Manor. ***** Matthias Van Bibber also became the pro- prietor of Van Bibber's Forest, which was patented to him in 1720. This was a large tract of land in the Third district near Mechanics' Valley, containing 850 acres * * * * Matthias Van Bibber was for a long time chief justice of the county and occupied that re- sponsible position when the court house was built at Court House Foint. * * * * Matthias Van Bibber's will was proved in 1739.** He left * * ♦ his part of St. Augustine Manor to his daughters, Sarah and Rebecca.'
The Register of St. Stephen's Parish shows that "Matthias Van Bebber and Haramontie, the daughter of Adam Peterson, of New- castle Coty., in the Territories of Pensilvania, were marryed by Lycense the seventeenth day of Novr., MDCCV.
Jacob Van Bebber, sonn of Matthias Van Bebber & Haraman- tia, his wife, was born the 2 of Feby., MDCCVI. Matthias Van- bebber, son of Matts. V. Bebber and Arriamanca, his wife, was born the 30th day of September, 1729. Henry Vanbebber, son of Do., born 13th January, 1730-1."
I do not know whether Henry Baker obtained the two tracts of the "Forest" and the "Manor'^ directly from the Van Bibber family or from some subsequent owner. No deed to him from Matthias, Sarah or Rebecca Van Bibber is recorded at Elkton. It is possible that the Land Office at Annapolis contains such a conveyance. Henry Baker may possibly have married either Sarah or Rebecca Van Bibber. If so it was his second marriage and occurred during the last decade of his life, as his wife Elizabeth was living as late as 1758. Such a second marriage seems improbable, as Henry in his Will speaks of his widow as th^ mother of his son Jeremiah, and the latter was old enough to be his executor. What Elizabeth's surname was does not appear ; if the Register of St. Augustine's Parish could be found perhaps a record of Henry's marriage might be seen.
•• The will of Matthias van Bebber, of Cecil County, Gent, dated 3 Aug., 1739, proven Oct. i, 1739 (Uber. A. A., No. i, fd, 369), mentions wife Hermana; son Jacob; son Adam; "to my two Daughters Sarah & Rebecca all my Ri^ht & Title & Share in St. Augustine's Mannor to be equally divided between them;" sons Matthias and Henry; daus. Christian and Hester. "Wife to en- joy legacies and bequests to my four youngest children, Sarah, Rebecca, Matthias & Henry untill they severally arrive at age of one and twenty." Wife Hermana sole Executrix.
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Henry Baker died in 1768, and his Will dated 24 June, 1768, was proven 12 July, 1768," In it he says:
"As Death is certain and the Continuance of Life uncertain and as cool Deliberation in perfect Health and sound Composure of mind is the best and most convenient Time to set one's House in order to leave this Stage of Life, I, Henry Baker, have thought proper under such Circumstances as above to leave these Lines as my testament and last Will as I have faith in our blessed Re- deemer my hope is in and thro him to see a joyfuU Resurrection of Soul and Body. But as to the I^emains of my Body I desire it may be buried in a common decent manner without Pomp or Ceremony in a plain coffin without any funeral Sermon or strong Drink in the nearest Church of England Church Yard to the place where I make my Demise in Lieu of funeral Expence I order that five pounds Sf be g^iven to the poor of this Parish divided amongst any number under Twenty that will or may apply for the Dividcnt thereof and after all such Expence and my just Debts being paid I order that my moveable Estate be equally divided between my sons Jeremiah Baker and Henry Baker and my Grand son Samuel Baker son of Francis Baker in Lieu of part of his Father's share after Payment also of such other Legacies as I shall hereafter mention my will is that notwithstanding the irregular proceedings of my wife that she be paid the sum of 30 pounds p year common money during her natural life and during her widowhood to have one sufficient room in my present dwelling house with bed and furniture and a sufficiency of all necessary eatables for her main- tenance & horse & saddle at her disposal or use & a negro girl to wait on her & firewood always provided for her at the Door in full of her Thirds of my Estate."
He bequeathed to his sons Jethro and Jeremiah tracts of land; to the former part of "Van Bibbers Forest," to the latter "Clay Fall, he to pay to his mother £30 per annum; to son Henry "dwelling plantation whereon I now live," and grist mill, also "Smiths Addition" and "Browning's Neglect," he to pay Elizabeth. Dau. of Nathan Baker five pounds current money during her chaste and single life; to grand son Samuel son of Francis land, if he survive his brother Henry; to son Francis Red Lion Tavern in Charlestown; to dau. in law Evey Baker, a negro Girl called Hannah, or £50; the balance of estate to be equally divided be- tween gd. son Samuel Baker and sons Jeremiah and Henry, except a negro boy to Jethro. Son Jeremiah Sole Executor, Book 3, 1760-1776, p 199 shows that Francis Baker Administrator with Will annexed filed Inventory of Henry Baker's personal Estate amount- ing to £606. i8s. No final distribution appears of record.
Jethro Baker(*> was a farmer of Cecil Co., Md., and lived upon a tract of land which was a part of Van Bibber's Forest, and a part of which he inherited from his father, Henry Baker.('> On this tract of land, we learn from an
* Cecil Co. Wills, Liber. B. B., No. 2, foi 300.
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account of Hon. James McCauley, Chief Judge of the Or- phans' Court for Cecil Co., Md., which appeared in The Cecil Whdg,^''
there stood a stone house known in later vears as John William- son's, and later as Lowry's, and in which Methodist meetings on Cecil circuit were held until the building of the Union Church in 1822. That house was built by Jethro Baker (who owned the greater part of the ''Forest" of 800 acres) during the Revolution- ary War, and in a very cold winter during that war Mr. Baker was appointed to gather blankets for the army, and from them took small pox and died." He left two daughters, Lydia and Francina. Lydia married Robert Leslie, a native of Cecil county, and was the mother of Charles R. Leslie, the artist, Thomas J. Leslie, who was paymaster of the U. S. army for fifty years, and of Eliza Leslie, the authoress, whose cook book passed through fifty-six editions, and of Patty Leslie who married Henry C. Carey of Philadelphia. Francina, the other daughter of Jethro Baker married Daniel McCauley.
The Will of Jethro Baker, of Mfllford Hundred, Cecil Co., dated 2 June, 1777, was proven 30 June, 1777,®* he be- queathed to his wife Ann
one third of all his estate real and personal, after payment of his debts; to oldest son Nathan 350 acres, lower end of tract of Van Bibber's Forest, "I now live on;*' to second son Jethro "all that land my father Henry Baker lived on in Manor in Cecil County;" to two daus. Siney and Lydia when 18, two hundred pounds cur- rent money each; "I order and allow 150 acres of land off the upper end of tract I now live on called Vanbebers Forest to be sold at public Vandue." The executors were James Orrack and wife Ann Baker.
The maiden name of Ann Baker, the wife of Jethro, was probably Gonsen, for Miss Eliza Leslie wrote*® "both my parents were natives of Cecil County, Md., also the birth- place of my grandfather and grandmother, on each side. My great-grandfather, Robert Leslie, was a Scotchman. He cante to settle in America about the year 1745 or '46,
"July 28, 1894.
" See also, Early Settlers in Cecil. The Leshe-Baker Family.— CecU Whig, Feb. 25, 1899.
"• For accounts of children of Robert and Lydia Leslie, see Ap- pleton's Cyclop. Amer, Biog., Ill, 696; I, 524.
* Cecil Co. Wills. Liber. C C, No. 3, fol 7.
**Godey's Lady's Book, 1858; Vol. LVI, p. 347-
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and bought a farm on Northeast River, nearly opposite to the insulated hill called Maiden's Mountain. My maternal great-grandfather was a Swede named Gonsen, so that I have no English blood in me."
Whether the Spirit of 1776, or the memories of 18 12 and 1814, or the fact that many Scotch and Irish patriots were expatriated and sent to America, caused Miss Leslie to disavow having any English blood in her, I know not, but it is certain that her claim is not substantiated by facts.
Her great-grandfather Robert Lesfie, or Lashley, the Scotch immigrant, married before i mo. 15, 1740, De- borah,*^ the daughter of Thomas and Magdalen Janney; their son William Leslie, her grandfather, married Christi- ana, daughter of George and Sarah (Hoopes) Hall. George Hall was the son of Samuel Hall, and Sarah was the daughter of Daniel and Jane Hoopes.'* Robert Leslie, the son of William and Christiana, and father of Miss Les- lie, married Decem. 13, 1785, Lydia Baker. Thomas Jan- ney came from Cheshire, and Nathan Baker from Lan- cashire, the Halls and Hoopes were of English descent, and therefore Miss Leslie probably had in her more Eng- lish blood than that of any other nationality ; and through the irony of fate, at the present time, all the descendants of her father, with one exception, are English subjects, and most of them live in England !
•* Ms. Records Nottingham mo. Mtg. of Friends.
" Futhey & Cope's Hist. Chester Co., Pa., pp. 585, 627.
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AN EXAMPLE— CANADA'S WORK FOR HISTORY.
Our governments may justly be called liberal to science and libraries. At public expense we have built numerous deposits for books and established bureaus of geology, biology, bacteriology, laboratories of chemistry and phy- sics, and set up meteorological and astronomical observa- tories. We have not been near so lavish to history, except in a few instances. Some of the states and cities have aided research. Congress has been almost prodigal in appropriations for gathering and publishing the records of the Civil War. A helping hand has been extended in other directions.
But there remains a vast field neglected, not only in Washington but in the country at large. Only a small number of the local units have published their older records, many of them have not arranged or classified them, only a fraction have them in shape easily accessible to research. These storehouses are scattered and seclud- ed without a master key to fit them. There is imperative need for a central agency of information, if not of reposit- ory, to save the student wearisome toil and delay.
It would be no untried path to furnish such facility. A fine model lies just to the North of us, of our own race and speech. For just thirty years has Canada provided this inestimable boon, and that too with unqualified suc- cess.
The official papers of Canada were dispersed and chaotic. Owing to frequent change of the seat of government of the old colony, and to subsequent division of archives after the formation of the federated branches, documents were par- celed out in many places. There was demand for systematic effort, when, in 1871, a long petition came to
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the Dominion Parliament asking that steps be taken to bring order out of the confusion.
A small appropriation was made, chiefly for a salary, but more happily than this, the right man was chosen for the task, Mr. Douglas Brymner, under the Department of Agriculture which also includes Arts and Statistics. This indefatigable investigator set to work, being equipped with *'three empty rooms and very vague instructions." As a preliminary survey he visited all the provincial capitals, noting what was contained in each. He has since several times crossed the Atlantic to London, to delve in the British Museum, and in all the government offices and other English collections likely to contain anything bear- ing on the subject. He also had a full examination made of material in Paris so as to follow the fortunes of French colonization in his field.
In the meantime his energy did not overlook the home material. By active negotiation he stopped the shipment of some eight tons of military correspondence that had been boxed up, and was on its way to London. He especially looked after the Provincial (or State) sources of information. He gathered pamphlets, fly sheets, journals, sessional papers, reports, official documents and rare ma- terial of all kinds, printed and manuscript, relating to the locality. He searched every avenue of the past, and has brought back knowledge on all important events and phases of that existence. He has covered early settle- ments, Indian relations, French communities, the death grapple between Latin and Teuton for the soil of this con- tinent, our Revolutionary War and invasion of Canada, the Canadian Rebellion of 1837; industrial and economic development has also been traced, building of railroads, digging of canals, growth of manufacturing. The more human, or individual side is also remembered, and memori- als for the antiquarian and evidence for the genealogist take their place on the shelves.
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A most worthy stimulus does he impart to impulse in his modest, but comprehensive summary:
"We have, also, a variety of family papers of various periods; numerous documents relating to the refugee loyalists, inaccessible to Sabine and others who have hitherto written on that subject; copies of old parish registers from Acadia and the Lower St. Lawrence, from the Illinois, Detroit, &c., besides notarial regis- ters, originals and copies from the latter named place. More of these registers would have been copied had means permitted. There are miscellaneous documents of general interest as well as those local to Canada; a very valuable collection of printed his- torical works and pamphlets old and new; county histories, manu- script and printed, and, as I have already said, original accounts of many of the early settlements; the valuable collections of the publications of the Public Record Office, London, numbering now upwards of 400 volumes, which I was fortunate enough to obtain as a g^ft from the British Government. The new volumes of these are sent as issued, besides the important and valuable re- ports of the Historical Manuscripts Commission, which is bring- ing to light the treasures hitherto concealed in the muniment rooms of the old British families.
"My ambition aims at the establishment of a great storehouse of the history of the colonies and colonists in their political, ecclesiastical, industrial, domestic — in a word — in every aspect of their lives as communities. Included in this should be the history of the old French rcg^ime in Acadia, Canada, Louisiana and the westward; of all the British Colonies in America from their begin- ning down at least to 1796, when the last of the frontier posts were transferred to the United States. The fortunes of all were so intertwined that it is impossible to separate the records of them without injury. It may be a dream, but it is a noble dream. It has often spurred me to renewed effort, when the daily drudgery — for it was drudgery — ^was telling on mind and body. It might be accomplished, and Ottawa might become on this continent the Mecca to which historical investigators would turn their eyes and direct their steps."
When we see these wonderful results, we are amazed to learn at what slight outlay of public treasure all this has been done. At the start the total cost was a moderate salary only. Later, additions were made for assistants the copyists, but for nearly twenty years the annual amount voted by Parliament never exceeded $6,000. This has gradually increased, but even now the total ex- pense is only $12,000, of which only about one-third is for regular personal compensation. This would scarcely be a drop in the financial stream that yearly pours from the treasur}' of the United States.
4
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HERBERT BAXTER ADAMS (1850-1901): HIS WORK FOR SOUTHERN HISTORY.
Professor H. B. Adams, who died in Amherst, Mass., on July 30, 1901, had trained more men in scientific methods of historical research, than any man now living, perhaps. The list of his pupils includes H. C. Adams, J. Franklin Jameson, Woodrow Wilson, A. W. Small, F. J. Turner, C. M. Andrews, F. W. Blackmar, Albert Shaw, Wm. P. Trent and many others.
Doctor Adams's strength lay in two things : His ability an an organizer and as a judge of men; his skill in impart- ing his own enthusiasm to others and in getting the most and best work out of his students. Many of his students considered his lectures of secondary importance. They were made up from the best authorities to whom the stu- dent was constantly referred and with which he was pre- sumably familiar. As a teacher he did not profess to ex- haust his subject, but, like Confucius, was accustomed to say that he lifted the veil from one corner it was sufficient since the student could then enter for himself. At the be- ginning of his lecture it was his custom to spend a quarter of an hour in discussing recent happenings as recorded in the daily press and in correlating these events with the historical questions which he was a little later to discuss in his lecture, or in showing the relation of these events to the past for he was very fond of discovering survivals.
He was a man of boundless enthusiasm and limitless capacity for work. He could impart to his students his own joy of battle and seldom failed to secure from them the most and the best work of which they were capable. He was eager always to advance them into positions of re- sponsibility as executives, teachers or scholars; his work was positive and constructive ; he was full of suggestions
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leading to the betterment of historical work; he had in- ventiveness and great boldness in execution.
Doctor Adams came to the Johns Hopkins University as fellow: later he became associate, then associate pro- fessor and from 1893 was professor of American and con- stitutional history. The fact that the Johns Hopkins was located in a Southern city, that the founder had provided special facilities for students from three Southern States and that special eflForts were made to attract men from the South made the representation there from that section more cosmopolitan, if not larger, than was to be found in any State institution. The Johns Hopkins was a uni- versity as contradistinguished from a State College. The men who visited it were also more mature, more ambitious and more ready to be emancipated from local ideas, pre- judices and environments and so went forth to battle for a higher standard of truth and accuracy, often at the cost of popularity, if no greater penalty, in their old homes.
Doctor Adams sought to gather into the library of the University all materials obtainable bearing on South- ern history. While the resources of the University forbade large purchases the gift of the Birney Collection of books on slavery and that of the late Col. J. Thomas Scharf covering the whole field of Southern endeavor, to- gether with other minor gifts, made the Southern Alcove of the Historical Seminary most attractive and placed the library among the few that can with any truth boast of a collection of materials on Southern history.
In the field of Southern historical writing it would not be far from accurate to say that Doctor Adams gave that great and greatly neglected subject almost the first well directed impulse that it had ever received. This does not mean that there had not been historical work done in the South and histories published before his day. Books had frequently appeared treating various phases of this broad subject, but most of them were lacking in most of the
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critical apparatus that marks the scholar. They had been prepared with industry and care by earnest and painstak- ing men who had brought good natural ability to bear on their subject, but these men had been trained as lawyers, doctors, preachers, politicians, orators, statesmen, or had received no special training at all. They brought to their task all sorts of training except an exact and thoroug^h knowledge of what constitutes history and what are the re- quirements of historical writing. History has, unfortunate- ly, few technical terms of its own ; for this reason good men and true, while carefully eschewing the field of the legal ad- vocate, the physician, the divine and the chemist, have bold- ly essayed the duties of the historian, and their crude, in- accurate, ill digested performances have been heralded by a local press, still more ignorant than themselves, as the work of genius while this same crowd have passed by un- noticed the work of scholars for the reason their work had the historical qualities that the former wanted and lacked the weaknesses of the local writers.
While this condition has not yet disappeared there is now evidence of a saner sense, surer criticism, and truer grasp of subject among the writers who have appeared in the Southern field in the last ten years.
Coming from a long line of lawyers and publicists Southern students found a congenial atmosphere at the Johns Hopkins University and readily took to the work of the Historical Department. Each was encouraged to work in what might be termed his home field, to master thoroughly his materials and so become an authority on his subject. At the end of twenty years the Johns Hopkins is now able to point to its students or graduates who are the recognized authority on the Southern States: Hol- lander for Baltimore : Steiner and Ingle for Maryland ; Ar- nold and Mcllwaine for Virginia ; Weeks and Bassett for North Carolina; Meriwether for South Carolina; C. E. Jones and McPherson for Georgfia ; Riley and Brough for
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Mississippi; Fay for Louisiana; Lewis for Kentucky; the late Dr. Merriam for Tennessee ; Smith for Missouri.
Much of the work done by these scholars has appeared in the Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science ; in the series of Contributions to Ameri- -can Educational History edited by Dr. Adams for the United States Bureau of Education; and in the Papers and Reports of the American Historical Association which society Doctor Adams organized and of which he was the efficient executive head until last year.
The series of Bibliographies of the various Southern States that have appeared from time to time in the Re- ports of the American Historical Association, the Publi- cations of the Southern History Association, the Publi- cations of the Mississippi Historical Association, the Sewanee Review all bear testimony to the energy and en- thusiasm of Doctor Adams as a creative factor in their or- ganization. (
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THE STRUGGLE OF THE CONFEDERACY.^ By J. L. M. Curry.
The writing of Confederate History passes through stages or cycles, and many years will elapse before the last word is said. Naturally, the military history first claimed attention, and among the best and most conclusive books on that aspect of the subject are Henderson's Jackson and Wyeth*s Forrest. Besides Davis, Stephens, Bledsoe and "The Southern States in their Relations to the Constitution and the Resulting Union," the civil side has* elicited The Civil History of the Confederate States, reviewed in this magazine for Sept., 1901, Smith's History of the Con- federate Treasury,* and Callahan's Diplomatic History of the Southern Confederacy. Dr. Schwab, turning aside from tactical and technical problems in warfare and partial- ly from the political aspects,' considers financial and in- dustrial phenomena, as a study of economic history under the abnormal conditions of war. Before going further, it gives us pleasure to say that the author has shown a historic spirit, consulting and well using many authorities not generally accessible, presenting by far, with the excep- tion of Prof. Smith, the most complete account of the fiscal history of the Confederacy, and showing himself fre- quently far above the incompleteness and prejudices which disfigure so many works on the Confederacy. Contem- . <
* The Conpederate States oi^ America, 1861-1865. A Financial and Industrial History of the South during the Civil War. By John Christopher Schwab. New York; Charles Scribncr's Sons. 1901, pp. XI-[-332. index, cloth, $2.50.
* Professor Smith's study of the Confederate Treasury, appear- ing in these Pubucations for Jan., Mar. and May, 1901, is the fullest investigation of the subject in existence.
•When the author ventures upon political statements, he stumbles grievously.— See pp. 189, 212, &c.
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porary records are scarce and fragmentary, but Dr. Schwab has been industrious in hunting them up and skil- ful in using them. The harshest criticism which can justly be made is that he uses trustworthy and untrustworthy material with equal freedom and confidence and from lack of personal knowledge of some of the authorities attaches undue importance to writers who never saw any thing pertaining to the Confederacy except through jaundiced eyes. No practical good would result from an exposure of these authorities, which any one familiar with the men and events of the war between the States would reject as utterly unreliable.
The difficulties and obstacles encountered by the Con- federacy were unavoidable and insurmountable in conse- quence of the length, magnitude and exhausting character of the war. Chiefest among these was the currency, essential to the government in its varied and imperative needs, to the people in their ordinary pursuits, and needed in all industrial enterprises. The war was undesired, unan- ticipated, unprovided for, by the South, and that section, in men, resources, accumulated capital, banking facilities, transportation, manufactures, all industries, was far in- ferior to its adversary. Mr. Memminger, the Secretary of the Treasury, and President Davis, it may now be con- ceded, were not capable financiers, but the circumstances were such that Morris, Turgot, Colbert, Gladstone, would have found themselves amid **a sea of troubles." No ex- perience, skill, ability, could have kept the very limited amount of specie in the country, or made rapidly increas- ing bonds, treasury notes, bank notes, promissory notes, equal in value to, or convertible into, gold and silver. As the war went on and armies were increased and blockade of coasts became more effective and area of unoccupied country contracted and government necessities grew to more enormous proportions, and facilities of internal com- munication were lessened, the circulating medium perform-
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ed its functions less satisfactorily and with hastening and unimpedible depreciation. Bonds, treasury notes, call certificates, exports and imports were less and less avail- able to meet the illimitable expenditures. Persons, at home and abroad, willing to advance money in exchange for interest-bearing bonds were not to be found. **The government's hopes that the redundancy of the currency would be corrected by their absorption in bonds proved as groundless as similar hopes in the North." Army requi- sitions ran up from 59^ millions in 1861 to 670 millions in 1864, and the estimates during the year 1864 called for 1,500 millions (Schwab, 55,56). The domestic public debt in Oct., 1864, amounted to 1,371 millions (p. 76). During the last year of the war the government was irretrievably bankrupt. Huge floating debts accumulated, unpaid war- rants, &c., were ghosts that would not "down" at any bid- ding of Congress or the Treasury Department.
It would be "love's labor lost" to try to excuse or vin- dicate the failure of the financial policy of the Confederacy. The stubborn facts are before us and refuse to accept ex- planation. Let us concede frankly that they are to be admitted in their baldness. It is no palliative of our re- gret that Dr. Schwab and Dr. Sumner, with their great learning and ability, and all other writers, English and American, while condemning the Confederate finances, have never been able to suggest what would have been a safer policy, or what would, or could, have prevented a redundant or depreciated currency, or fluctuation and ex- cess in prices, or supplied the government with available credit or money.
In all revolutionary crises, demanding large and unex- pected uses of money, or its representatives, governments and people have sustained heavy losses and repeated the experiences of the Confederacy. Dr. Schwab with candor mentions not a few parallel instances as occurring in the North, in Prance, in Austria, in Italy and during our Revo-
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lutionary struggle. Under Secretary Chase's financial regimey the Northern banks lost, as did the Southern, a large part of their specie to the government. The North, the South, France, shared in the same illusion that interest- bearing notes would be held for investment and so pre- vent redundancy (89). The Confederate Government elaborated financial transactions with foreign houses on the security of exports of highly-prized products, and Hamilton in 1779 urged a foreign loan as a remedy for the disturbed state of the currency. During the Revolution, financial distress compelled the government to obtain for- eign supplies by placing loans on the security of American products. Both governments suffered from wastefulness in securing the supplies (28, 29). The funding of the Con- federate debt, a kind of repudiation which proved decep- tive in correcting the redundancy of the currency and in helping the national credit and which was the sure precur- sor of the wreck of Confederate finances, was a copy of the devices adopted during the French and American Revolu- tions (46, 59).
The reviewer has an interesting collection of "shin- plasters," issued during the "hard times" of 1837-1840, and so in the North as well as in the South, during the war, States, municipalities, merchants, innkeepers, &c., issued their promissory notes making them redeemable in goods or services, or when a larger sum was presented for pay- ment.
A favorite mode of bolstering different forms of paper currency has been to make them a legal tender, and the United States Congress passed its first Legal Tender Act, 25 Feb., 1862. Treasury notes to the amount of $150,- 000,000 were authorized, receivable in payment of all debts, except duties and interest due to and from the Federal Government. This compulsory scheme was favored by Secretary Chase although as Chief Justice he declared against its constitutionality, and it became necessary after-
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wards, as the Court was equally divided, to appoint an ad- ditional judge known to be favorable to the strained con- struction of the Constitution. In the Confederate Con- gress bills to make treasury notes a legal tender were often introduced and as often successfully resisted. The reviewer has the notes of a speech made in the Congress in opposition to this effort, in which Tie urged that such a compulsory method of imparting an artificial value to money or government credit had universally proved a fail- ure ; that it was an impairment of contracts ; that the injec- tion into the Constitution of a power not specifically granted, but intentionally omitted, was an utter departure from the fundamental principles of a government which was intended to guard against the assumption of powers not granted, &c., and that on the grounds of expediency the remedy for the evil was a foredoomed failure. The story of the Continental currency and of French assigncUs was cited as conclusive against the measure.
As auxiliary to remedial legislation and to help debtors in their distress; the States passed stay-laws, relaxed col- lection laws and tried many measures to limit the rights of creditors. These measures grew out of the stringency of the times, the diminution of means wherewith to pay debts, and the worthlessness of the "money." They may be, doubtless are, indefensible, but they are the common resort of all countries controlled by public opinion, when panics and bank suspensions occur.
The Confederate Government in its sore trials and in- ability to reap benefits from bonds and fiat money and the impossibility of filling coffers by duties on imports or by direct taxation resorted to a tax in kind, largely at the suggestion and on the advocacy of Senator Hunter, who had been Chairman of the Finance Committee in the Senate of the United States, and resorted to impress- ments which produced much discontent and aroused no little of the opposition to the continuance of the war. The
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aggravations of burdens, already too heavy to be borne> found no comfort or defence in the fact that, under similar conditions and with like complaints, impressments were re- sorted to during the French Revolution and our Revo- lutionary War. The policies of the Confederate and of the Continental Congress also "ran strikingly parallel in their restricting foreign trade and also in engaging in it" (256, 266, 265).
These illustrations might be multiplied as showing that counterparts of our action are easily found elsewhere and that our conditions made a sound currency and the col- lection of sufficient revenue by taxation and the ordinary peace methods an impossibility. Only the survivors of the war can know the privations and sufferings, physical and mental, of that terrible period, when salt was often procured by digging up and boiling the saturated earth of the smoke houses; when coffee was unobtainable, sassafras was the substitute for tea, sorghum for sugar and molasses, medicines were not to be had, a pair of shoes cost $100.00, a barrel of flour, $900, hats and cloth- ing were made at home with rudest implements, railways, in bridges and rolling stock, were in a dismantled condi- tion, prices for the commonest necessaries were fabulous, and, as our industries were almost exclusively agricultural, attempts to secure material means to carry on the war or enjoy former home comforts were hindered on every side.
Dr. Schwab expresses the simple but generally unac- knowledged truth that "it was the blockade rather than the ravages of the army that sapped the industrial strength ot the Confederacy" (236). It destroyed imports and exports as a basis for revenue and as a stimulus to production; it made legislation on trade impotent; it surrounded the South with a Chinese wall; it perpetuated original in- equalities in manufactures and various industries ; it made each day darker and more ominous by the helplessness of industrial improvement.
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Chapter X on the Military Despotism of the Confeder- ate Government is less just to the South than other chap- ters and more partial to the North, and relies more im- plicitly on authorities that we know to be prejudiced and persistently unfavorable to the Confederacy. We may as well admit the historic truth that war and a limited con- stitution are irreconcilable and that restrictions intended for peace are trammels which like the fetters on Samson will be torn asunder in a conflict of life and death. De- spotism in an army seems to be a necessary outgrowth of a protracted and formidable war. Hence both govern- ments— ^the Confederate and the Federal — ^recruited their forces by conscription, which tyrannous exercise of power was less excusable in the North with a largely preponder- ant population and with access to foreign enlistments which supplied 720,000 men to her army. The suspension of the writ of habeas corpus by the Confederate Congress was from February 27, 1862, to August i, 1864, but in many parts of the country it was a dead letter. Dr. Schwab (190) uses this decisive language: *The Confederate Government, in suspending the functions of the civil authorities at various times and places during the war, did not employ this extreme war measure with the stringency character- istic of the similar line of policy adopted by the Federal Government. In the North the relentless declaration of martial law was much more eflfectively and harshly used as a means of cowing the opposition and restraining the disloyal, &c." Senator Hoar, in the Senate, in June last, said: "The courts-martial during the Civil War were a scandal to the civilized world."
Dr. Schwab is satirical in contrasting the religious re- vivals in the Southern army with "the revolting picture of moral decadence" which he finds to have existed in the South. A distinguished General in the Union army, who illustrated with terrible reality the aphorism, said: "War is hell." War is not favorable to the gentler virtues, but.
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altho my testimony may be discredited, I wish to affirm that morality in the South did not suffer the decadence which is charged. In the cities there was some repre- hensible laxity but in the villages and rural districts the departure from the usual correct standard was not so marked as to distinguish from former days.
Amid the severities and sufferings consequent on a war of invasion, aggravated and intensified by unusual condi- tions, the patriotism of the Southern States and people stands out in inextinguishable glory. Men and women never exhibited greater patience, endurance, courage. "The Southern cause evoked as much devoted loyalty as has been called forth by any cause in history; and that cause was supported at a cost greater than in any similar conflict. The Southerners* sacrifices far exceeded those of the Revolutionary patriots" (312). The unconquerable devotion to principle and country makes a sublime record that the history of ages will not surpass. While disinte- grating forces within were incessant and irresistible, cour- age and hope remained until the tragedy closed at Appo- matox.
Notwithstanding, rather because of the mild criticism we have found it necessary to make, we wish to commend this book as a real contribution to history and as a praise- worthy instance of how the asperities of war have been softened. "To the student of our country's history that of the Confederate States is the story of a fierce struggle against overwhelming odds, the culmination of an inevit- able conflict the foundations of which were laid in an earlier period. * * To the economist the war does not centre about the heroic efforts of the South to resist the strategy of the Northern generals, but it centres about the picture it presents of the negation of normal ecenomic forces'* (310).
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The Old Plantation. How We Lived in Great House and Cabin before the War. By James Battle Avirett. F. Tennyson Neely Co., New York, Chicago, London, copyr. 1901, D, pp. X.+220, port, of author and of Dr. Hunter McGuire, $1.50.
This work belongs to a class of memoirs dealing with the part of Southern life of which we have had unfor- tunately too few. It is a conservative, unexaggerated ac- count of plantation life in the South under the old regime by one who was reared on the plantation, and who knew all fli the ins and outs, the cares and vexations of the planter's life, and who is therefore able to write of such things with all of the devotion due to treasured memories. Mr. Avirett, a graduate of the University of North Caro- lina, bred to the law, chaplain on the staff of Turner Ashby, author of a work on Ashby and his compeers, and for many years a clergyman of the Protestant Episcopal Church, takes as the subject of his volume the plantation and home life of his own parents, and writes of scenes and surroundings with which he was eminently familiar. This plantation, one of the largest in the South, was situated in Onslow county, N. C. The daily life of the slaves and of their master and mistress, in seed time and harvest, in winter and summer, on work day and holiday, at com shucking and coon hunting, and above all at Christmas time, is told. The watchfulness which these servants re- ceived in clothing, food, medical attention, houses and in all of those elements which relieved them from carking care, and the lack of which to-day makes the life of the freedman a burden and his body a prey to disease, are all recounted in a simple and unaffected way, but with a large vein of humor. There is no defense of the Southern plan-
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ter, nor of his system, nor of his home life, for no defense is needed. A true story of that life as that here given is its best defense. The master and mistress, the directors of this patriarchal domain, where commercialism was never known to enter, were the only real slaves on the estate. They were the ones who felt the weight of responsibility and the burden of care. They and their equals were the ones to whom the armies of the United States brought real freedom in 1865.
While the scene of these memorials is laid in North Carolina, the pictures given are in no sense peculiar to the State. They were reproduced on hundreds of estates throughout the South, and Uncle Amos, Daddy Cain, Uncle Philip and Buck and Handy are national characters to a man born in the South. It goes without saying that an author who grew up with such surroundings would use the negro dialect to perfection, while such strong words as "tote," "gallavanting," "cuirisum" and *'progecing'^ betray his nativity. There are many references to the prominent men of the State, both living and dead ; many side lights on the politics of the times, and many contributions to the culture history of the South.
In form the book is a twelve mo, set solid. An octavo form with leaded type would have greatly improved its ap- pearance. There is no table of contents, no chapter head- ings, no running headlines and no index. There are numerous slips in proper names and some in historical facts. The- introduction by Dr. Hunter McGuire adds nothing to the value of the work, which is in itself one of the most faithful and accurate presentations of the life of the Southern planter — a phase of English civilization transplanted to America, and which no longer is — that exists in our literature. On such memorials the novelist of the future will base a story that will be an everlasting answer to Uncle Tom's Cabin.
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Selections from the Southern Poets. Selected and edited by William Lander Weber. New York : The Mac- millan Company, 1901, 16°, pp. L.+221, levanteen, 25 cents.
Professor Weber says that this book is intended pri- marily to meet the recommendation of the Georgia Teach- ers' Association that applicants for admission into Georgia colleges be examined on selections from Southern poets. The anthology presents 64 selections from 25 poets. The introduction gives a condensed sketch of the life of each with "appreciations," illuminations, as we would say his- torically, on their work. There is a short bibliography, principally of sources. There are notes, literary, critical and historical. The selections represent the best work of their respective authors and the volume will serve a useful purpose in introducing these poets to their own people. It is desirable that the recommendation of the Georgia teachers be put into force in every State in the South.
The History of South Carolina in the Revolu- tion, 1775-1780. By Edward McCrady. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1901, pp. xxxiii.-|-899, maps and plans, cloth, $3.50.
This book is really the third volume of the magnificent series that General McCrady planned as the history of South Carolina, the two previous ones covering the Pro- prietary and the Royal periods. It shows the same thor- oughness of research, the same grasp of details, and the same comprehensiveness of treatment, but to the general reader it is far more interesting because the very nature of the subject, with the burst of angry passions and the stirring events of the war, gave much wider scope for the author's descriptive pen and philosophical breadth and powers of summarizing.
After a few thoughtful reflections on the beginning of the struggle, and its progress in the Northern colonies.
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we have a full narration of all the movements in South Carolina, including both the civil and military sides, the disgraceful squabblings and petty jealousies among the patriots not being spared a plain exposition. With the accounts of the local uprising we have sufficient temperate comments on the general course of affairs for us to under- stand the entire mighty upheaval in America. It is no mere dry chronicle that we have. Indeed, with a writer of Gen. McCrady's insight and varied experience, it is only a necessary result that we are made to see the close connection between the parts and the whole, and to realize what important bearings these isolated military successes in South Carolina had on the fate of liberty. Throughout we are impressed with the great, priceless contribution this little triangular space made to the common cause. No- where else has it ever been set forth with such lucidity and strength, the frightful sacrifices of the common folk, and the value and magnitude of the achievements of the irregu- lar commands under Sumter, Marion and others. Still more remarkable does this appear when we compare the operations of the volunteers and the drilled troops sent down from higher latitudes. During 1780 "the regularly organized armies under the Continental generals, Lincoln and Gates," in eight engagements suffered casualties of 8,377, 2is against a British casualty of only 647. But in five months of that year "the partisan bands in South Carolina under their own chosen leaders had fought twenty-six battles," inflicting a total loss on the British of 2,486, at a loss to themselves of only 817. It was the activity of these small volunteer forces that broke up the British plan of campaign which was so much like the decisive incursion in the Civil War. Cornwallis intended to advance north- ward and crush Washington between himself and Clinton, just as Sherman really acted with Lee.
A most instructive and entertaining feature of the book are the glimpses we catch of the parallelism that seems to
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run constantly in the author's mind between revolution and "Secession" days. Especially does he point out the difference in spirit of those who took up arms to defend their views. In the first contest democracy had not yet worked its leaven ; the ranks had largely to be filled with mercenaries, hirelings, deserters, while the better element were coolly content to serve as officers. In the latter shock, the flower of the land rushed to the standards as privates and "served throughout it (the war) regardless of the amount of their pay.^'
It is gratifying to note that the closing words of the task promise another volume, to complete the story of the Revolution, in which Gen. McCrady indicates he will not be a blind eulogist of Greene. It is unfortunate that the mass of manuscript material from Greene is not in print, so that Gen. McCrady could have the evidence from both sides to aid him in preserving an impartial poise.
History of Maryland. By L. Magruder Passano. Baltimore: William J. C. Dulany Co., 1900, i2mo, pp. 245, cloth, many illustrations, index.
The history of Maryland, like that of most of the coun- try, is yet to be written. New material is coming to light, long-held views are yielding to investigation and to the handling of authoritative documents in a scientific spirit, and scholarship is teaching men that the writing of history is something more than the compilation of facts or a re- cording in pleasing style of episodes in the life of a people. Mr. Passano has evidently recognized changed conditions, and has endeavored to place himself in harmony with them. His book, though, written especially for use in public and private schools, places limitations upon him. Naturally it must be rather elementary, much must be said in little space and the student must be given a broad sketch rather than a detailed survey of the events of nearly three hun- dred years, their causes and their results. To meet such
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requirements is a difficult task. But Mr. Passano has es- sayed it quite successfully. His best work has been done in the colonial period, which is more or less familiar ground. In dealing with the post-revolutionary times he has, however, given rather too much attention to political events to the neglect of the material progress of the State. That field in Maryland history has hardly been touched as it should be by any writer. Its study is of far more value to a child than that of the doings of politicians and warriors, though it may not at first be quite as entertain- ing. In spite of his undoubted ability to think for himself and to maintain a judicial pose in his writing, Mr. Passano has not escaped from the incubus placed upon Maryland history by earlier writers. For instance, referring to the troubles here in the days of the English Revolution, he writes: "Claiborne, however, bided his time. Six years later joining one Richard Ingle, a tobacco trader and prob- ably a pirate, he invaded Maryland and captured Kent Is- land, while Ingle took St. Mary's. Ingle afid his followers for the next two years roamed about seizing com and tobacco, cattle, and in fact everything they could lay their hands on." Why "probably a pirate ?" Why has Mr. Pas- sano not consulted printed material bearing upon that episode and throwing it into a light radically diflferent from the one in which it was originally placed for a prac- tical purpose ? Why will the intelligent young Sinbads of Maryland history continue to permit the Old Man of the Sea, Tradition, to bestride their shoulders ?
Edward Ingi<e.
North Carolina History Stories. By W. C. Allen. Richmond: B. F. Johnson Publishing Company. In five books. D. pp. 45+47+48+48+45, 10 cents each.
Book one deals with the Roanoke colony ; Book two with Lawson, the Cary rebellion and the Tuscarora war ; the last three relate principally to detached incidents in the war of
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the Revolution. The stories are told in simple, child-like language and will serve a useful purpose in putting before the infantile mind the most picturesque events in the his- tory of the State. They will do this so far as they are accurate, but their inaccuracy is amazing. Nearly all the canons of historical scholarship have been violated. Names are wrong, dates are wrong, things are given as cold facts that we can only reason to be true and the picture on cover is imaginary. Further, in many cases the author has failed utterly to grasp the real meaning of the events he describes. This is notably true in his account of the Gary rebellion and of the career of John Porter. He even makes the latter responsible for the Tuscarora war ! Why does not this writer base his story on the sources and not on Hawks ? Had he done this he could have told also why Barnwell was so willing to accept the surrender of the Tuscarora fort. Nothing is so hard to kill as an historical error. Barnwell waited for 170 years for his reason to be- come known; "perhaps in 170 years more it may have filtered down through the heads of stupid pedagogues into the school histories.
History of South Fork Baptist Association. By Maj. W. A. Graham. Lincolnton, N. C. : The Journal Print- ing Company, 1901, O., pp. 200, port, of author. To be had of the author, Machpelah, N. C, price 75 cents.
This study deals with the history of the Baptist churches in Lincoln, Catawba and Gaston counties, N. C, during the 19th century. It is based largely on the unprinted records of the various congregations and contains a map of the territory embraced in the Association. The South Fork Association itself dates only from 1878. It sprang from the Catawba River Association, 1827-1878, which dis- appeared in the organization of the new. The Catawba came mainly from the Broad River Association, and this was the result of the work of missionaries who came into
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this country from Charleston, for these people looked to the South Carolina metropolis as their trade center, and then, as now, religious work followed business routes, the Ca- tawba River being in general the dividing line between the missionary work of the Charleston, S. C, Association and that of Sandy Creek, N. C. Broad River Association was organized in 1800, and was the first in that section of the State.
Major Graham has sketched briefly the career of the parent associations as an introduction to that of South Fork. He has investigated and written of the history of individual churches and has added many biographical sketches of ministers, and, being a layman, has frequently criticised them and pointed out their weaknesses — some- thing very unusual in church historians, who are too much prone to exalt and magnify all things with which they deal. A list of delegates to associations and an index are added.
Major Graham has also in press a Life of his grandfather, General Joseph Graham, and an address on the Life and Character of General Nathaniel Greene, with a recapitula- tion of the services of North Carolina in the War of the Revolution delivered in Greensboro, N. C, in i860, by his father, Hon. Wm. A. Graham.
Reminiscences of a Southern Woman. By Mrs. George Bryan Conrad. Published by Hampton Institute Press, Hampton, Va.
Up to 1861 there lived, not far from the coast, on the rivers of Georgia and the Carolinas, a class of rice-plant- ers, who were even then unique, and the like of whom will certainly never be seen again. They were usually large land-owners, nearly all of them prosperous, and many wealthy, according to the scale of those days. Their lives were generally very far from idle, busied with the care of large estates and hundreds of negroes. The lady of the house frequently not only presided over a large establish-
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ment, but also looked after the physical and moral welfare of the "settlement," or negro village. Yet time was found for social amenities — an atmosphere of culture and refine- ment pervaded these homes. Warm-hearted, unostenta- tious hospitality was general — ^more ideal hosts and host- esses could not have existed. The guest was never con- scious of being "entertained," but was left to himself to do what he pleased, but whatever he preferred to do somehow always turned out to be ready to his hand. At dinner the happenings of the pleasant days would be talked over — how well hounds had run, and riders followed — wonderful work of setters, or pointers — or perhaps some recently published book would be discussed with trained and dis- criminating taste. Then, when the ladies had retired from table, and the men sat over the wine would come through the open windows air fragrant from the flowers outside, mingling with the aroma from madeira and claret — ^the set- ting sun — ^nowhere more beautiful than on those rivers — would glint through the bright green leaves of the live- oaks, gray-bearded with Spanish moss ; from the drawing- room came faintly heard refined restful voices, or it may be from the lawn a ripple of girlish laughter as the petted blooded colts received their daily lumps of sugar. These men, when the time came, turned their plough-shares into swords and fought the most gallant fight for representa- tive government ever made, until the present war in South Africa. And these were the women, who, dressed in homespun, living on scanty hard food, refugeeing in log cabins, when their homes were burned, superintended plan- tations and farms in the absence of the men, and worked their fingers to the bone in sewing rough clothing for them — it was their hands which ministered in hospitals, and it was their hearts which during the inferno of "recon- struction" saved life from being unendurable. The negroes — "servants" expresses their status much more fitly than "slaves" — showed remarkable fidelity during this war, and
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all honor to them for it, but it was also a splendid proof of the fostering care and love of the masters and mistresses, and the success of that regime.
It is the reminiscences of her childhood in one of these communities, which the author has so charmingly pre- served. Originally intended only for her children, the larger interest of the narrative has resulted in its being given to the public, whose only regret will be that it is not longer. These experiences were had chiefly on the Alta- maha River, in southern Georgia, in one of the most de- lightful of the rice-planting neighborhoods referred to, where the winters were usually so mild, that by February the woods were golden with the yellow jessamine, and the soft air filled with its perfume, close to "The range of the marshes, the liberal marshes of Glynn," of which La- nier sings.
The dedication best gives the key-note to the book: "This little book is dedicated to my children in the hope that it may give them some slight idea of the relations that existed between master and slave when I was a child. The confidence bestowed upon the latter by the former was so great that many a front-door was never even closed, until emancipation came alienating the races and changing trust into suspicion."
"Reconstruction" is now admitted to have been "a po- litical mistake," because it did not permanently put in bondage the thinking, ( ?) voting power of the South, but one rises from reading this narrative so gently told with the conviction that "reconstruction" was far more than this — that it was an atrocious crime — ^and not least against the negro himself.
Edward L. Wells.
A Summer Hymnal, a Romance of Tennessee. By John Trotwood Moore. Philadelphia: Henry T. Coates & Co., 1901, pp. vi+332, 12 mo, 5 illus., cloth, $1.25.
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In this romance of Middle Tennessee, the author follows the lead of James Lane Allen in hanging a bit of idyllic life upon a commonplace love story. If Mr. Moore's admirers had not so frequently compared him to Mr. Allen, a com- parison in this instance would be ungracious; for the Tennessee author suffers by it. He lacks the naturalness, and so, the unaflFectedness of Mr. Allen. Unlike the latter, he seems deliberately to have chosen to be a student and lover of out-of-door life, and that in order to find texts for trite philosophy and platitudinous preaching. That which relates to men and women he subordinates to na- ture; and nature he subordinates to the philosophy and the preaching.
The men and women generally of the story are as unreal as are the wax figures in the windows of a clothing store. The Blind Man and Old Wash may be regarded as the most nearly alive. The philosophy is forced and the mor- alizing is cant — the product, not of a spontaneous philos- opher, but of one who goes out of his way to find lessons in that which is about him. This lack of spontaneity be- comes most unnatural in the description of the ride to Nashville, when the hero, in order to rescue the woman whom he loves from the villain who is to be forced upon her, must drive his favorite horse forty miles in two hours. Such a drive can be made to seem probable; but, from start to finish, it must be a thrilling rush, with no time for thought. Instead of this, the author makes the hero, as he follows the route from the neighborhood of Colum- bia to Nashville, reflect deliberately and at length upon the events of the Civil War, when every inch of this ground was contended for by the Federal and Confederate armies. A man driving twenty miles an hour cannot in- dulge in reverie.
The story as a literary product must be condemned; but it can be commended for its clean, wholesome atmos- phere, for the author's serious attempt to do his best
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work, and for his simple style. Readers who know Ten- nessee south of Nashville will recognize most of the local references.
George S. Wili<s.
When the Gates Lift Up Their Heads. By Payne Erskine. Boston: Little, Brown & Company, 1901, O. pp. vi+445, cloth, $1.50.
This is. a story of the seventies and the scene is laid in Western North Carolina. The heroine is Portia Van Ostade, a Northern girl, who comes South for her mother's health and with her head full of social equality and the inherent excellence of the negro. The hero is John Marshall, son of a Southern gentleman, who fell in the Confederate War. He had received the best educa- tional advantages, had traveled much and now returns to his ancestral estates seeking to redeem them from the ravages of war. His reputed mother is a haughty Cuban Woman, of Spanish descent, who despises Yankees and negroes with equal impartiality. There are many negroes in the story who jabber in almost unintelligible dialect; there are carpetbaggers, Ku Klux, low whites, strangers and foreigners; discussions on the status of the negro, socially, intellectually, morally; theories fine spun by the heroine as to the brotherhood of the race which prepare the reader for the denouement. There are moonshiners, lovers saved by lovers, white cappings, Ku Klux execu- tions, parties and socials, some of the new industrial spirit, much small talk and trivialties, negro sermons and such stuff ad libitum. There is no Southern gentlemen; Mrs. Wells and her daughter are the only Southern char- acters of the better class in the story. With exception of these two all the actors are strangers or inferiors. But the action is rapid; the attention is held closely and the denouement is terrible and disgusting. Considering how- ever the training and feeling of the heroine, her belief in
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the social equality of the races and her enthusiasm for uplifting the negro, it must be confessed that she nobly lives up to her theories, and that poetic justice is done. But from the view point of art the story is a failure and its social lesson can give only disgust to men who believe the Anglo-Saxon blood of the South the best and to whom amalgamation is the greatest of crimes.
JoscELYN Cheshire. A story of Revolutionary days in the Carolinas. By Sara Beaumont Kennedy. New York : Doubleday, Page & Co., 1901, O, pp. viii+i leaf +338, 6 ills, by H. C. Edwards, $1.50.
Joscelyn Cheshire is a pure and wholesome love novel of Revolutionary days with the principal scenes laid in the quaint old town of Hillsboro, N. C. It may be called an international love novel, for while Richard Clevering, the hero, is an ardent Whig and Continental soldier, Joscelyn, the heroine, is no less ardent as a Tory and to complicate politics and love still more in those days of bitterness and estrangement his sister, Betty, has a Tory sweetheart who is an aide on Cornwallis's staff. There is an excursion with Richard to the North where he serves with Washington, acts as spy in Philadelphia, fights at Monmouth and is taken prisoner. His confinement on the dreaded prison ships in Wallabout Bay, his suffering, the heartless cruelty of his jailors, his daring escape by pre- tending death, are vivid and dramatic.
But most interest centers in the heroine, who, in her distant home, watches his career with a curious interest. She is an uncommon type of heroine for she is uncon- scious of her love and has been often driven into open hostility by Richard's easy and arrogant assumption of the certainty of his conquest. Her Tory wit and biting tongue are more than a match for all her Whig detractors, but a day came, after Cornwallis pitched his camp in Hillsboro when he had turned back from Virginia in his useless pur-
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suit of Greene, that all her powers of entertainment, all her nimbleness of wit, all her skill at repartee, all her blandishments were needed to meet the cold and impassive Tarleton and so prevent the capture of a Continental spy concealed in her house. And all of this seemingly in pure wantonness — for mere zest of danger — for mere love of the contrary, since the spy goes with never a word or a look that she could interpret as meaning love. But it was not so with the dashing British captain — had Barry lived the sequel of the story would have been different, but Barry fell at Yorktown and Richard came home a cripple for life. Not even then is he accepted, his persistent watchfulness, his protection to her count for nothing; nothing avails until he loses his old arrogance, his self- confidence and will power, not until he is all humility and self distrust, not until he loses courage and begins to whine does the haughty Tory beauty surrender. Query: Was the love of a woman who was so long unconscious of her own heart worth the having? Should a man woo as a man conscious of his own dignity and self respect or as a grov- elling craven looking up to a superior order of being?
Spanish Simplified, By Augustin Knoflack. New York: University Pub. Co.
This is a small book of less than two hundred pages, but will be found a most excellent guide for persons study- ing the Spanish language. Its treatise on pronunciation is very plain, consisting of graded exercises, after each group of letters, and the adoption of familiar marks used in dictionaries and readers. The sentences composing the exercises are taken from the conversations of everyday life, and furnish illustrations to grammatical rules, and supply at the same time a full equipment of all those ex- pressions that are most necessary for the purposes of busi- ness or travel, so that the book is something of a manual of conversation.
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In their Transactions, No. 8 (Charleston, S. C, 1901, paper, pp. 34), the Huguenot Society of South Carolina contribute two documents to historical material; a let- ter of March 15, 1863, from Alfred Huger, paying a tribute to James L. Petigru, his friend, who had just died; and a personal narrative, in applying for a Revolutionary War pension, by F. G. DeLieseline, covering his services for the cause of liberty. Of the three hundred members of the Society, only two are put down as **Huguenots of the pure blood after two and a quarter centuries." Official lists and reports conclude the issue. It was an oversight not to have table of contents or running heads, or index, or some other guide for the reader.
A strong beautiful tribute to a great teacher and robust nature is Professor W. M. Thornton's Charles Scott Venable (4to, 15 pp., portrait, n. p., n, d.). Born and reared in Virginia, of a well known Virginia family. Pro- fessor Venable had an unusual career for one of quiet, academic pursuits. He had served in three Southern col- leges up to the commencement of the Civil War. Imme- diately volunteering, he went through that strife to Ap- pomattox, having become a member of General Lee's staff. After the close of hostilities he resumed his peda- gogical calling, in the Chair of Mathematics at the Vir- ginia University that he had studied so ardently at in his earlier days. For three years he was chairman of faculty, but during his entire connection, he "was foremost" in working for the development of the institution. To him "the University stands to-day indebted in large measure to his foresight and zeal for an increase of $130,000 in her equipment, of $275,000 in her endowment, and of $25,000 in her annual income — a capitalized total of over $1,000,- 000." He was also declared by a colleague to be "the founder of the wonderful Miller Manual Labor School, next to Miller himself." It is sufficient proof of Venable's
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sense and sagacity with regard to this school to say that he was one of the two men who selected the efficient su- perintendent, Captain Charles E. Vawter. In 1896, just a half century after he had beg^n to instruct young men, he laid down his work, as he felt his 'age kept him from full discharge of duties. He died four years later, August 11, 1900. A query arises in the mind whether a man of such energy, usefulness, and wide influence does not deserve a volume biography, especially when there is such an appre- ciative and capable pen as Professor Thornton's to under- take the task. President Oilman honored a Yale profes- sor, Dana, with more than that.
Dr. T. E. Pickett's Soulier of the Civil War (paper, pp. 63) already noticed in these Publications (p. 372) has been very favorably noted by competent authorities on both sides of that conflict in which General George E. Pickett (the "Soldier") played so prominent a part. Be- sides endorsement through the South, there was praise for it in the Alumni Register of the University of Penn- sylvania, and it passed the critical eye of the "Reading Committee" of the Boston Public Library. Professor Bar- rett Wendell, of Harvard, who has lately published a preg- nant history of American literature, voluntarily writes the publishers: "It is such work as this that is making the Civil War a heroic memory, treasured alike by all Ameri- cans." Especially commendable have been found the fair- ness and accuracy. It is unusual for such facility of ex- pression, such vividness of style, such a wealth of historical illustration and literary allusion to be developed amid the demands of the exacting profession of medicine.
It will be a pleasure to all students of our industrial his- tory to learn that Professor John R, Ficklen, Tulane Uni- versity, New Orleans, by request of the author, is trans- lating into English the first volume of Professor Ernst von Halle's work on Cotton Production and Plantation
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Management in the South. It is presumable he will do the same with the second volume when that appears. Dr. von Halle in his capacity of Professor of Political Economy of the University of Berlin and Economic Adviser to the Ger- man Admiralty has been a prolific writer. By mistake it was stated on p. 332 of present volume of these Publica- tions that none of his labors had been put into English dress. On the contrary, through the kindness of careful students, it had been discovered that one of his investiga- tions, on "Trusts," was composed in English.
The Association for the Preservation of Virginia An- tiquities have put on sale their Year Book, which con- tains much valuable antiquarian and genealogical informa- tion about Virginia, especially the locality of Jamestown, embellished with a dozen illustrations. The organization has been maintained chiefly by a few Virginia women, who hope to awaken an active outside interest. Annual mem- bership fee is $1.00; life fee, $10,00. All communications may be addressed to the Secretary, Mrs. J. Enders Robin- son, 113 Third street, South, Richmond, Va.
Hon. Walter Clark has printed his address before the North Carolina Teachers' Assembly on "How can inter- est BE AROUSEP IN THE STUDY OF THE HISTORY OF NoRTH
Carolina?'' (Goldsboro: Nash Brothers [1901]. O. pp. 16). He reviews the general condition of the public schools, emphasizes the need of more money and suggests possible sources of revenue. The interest; in history itself must be encouraged by plain, simple narratives, brief and striking, of heroic deeds, many of which are here men- tioned, by paintings, engravings and monuments, and by the use of text-books that are more than mere tables of names.
From Major Thos. L. Broun we have a broadside of four pages entitled Archibald Brown's Pedigree, "sent by his son, A. G. T. Brown, of Sherburn, Minnesota, in June, 1901, to Thomas L. Broun, of Charleston, W. Va.,"
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noticing persons of that name back to 1376. Major Broun's family connections are scattered all through the Southern States, and information is desired "respecting the ancestry of the parents of George and Margaret Broun, of Scotland."
Mr. Marshall DeLancey Haywood has printed his ad- dress on the career of CoIvONEL Edward Buncombe, of the fifth N. C. Continental Regiment, delivered before the N. C. Society of the Cincinnati in Hillsboro, N. C, July 4, 1901. Colonel Buncombe was born in St. Christopher's, W. I., in 1742, and died in Philadelphia in 1778 from the effects of wounds received at Germantown. (Raleigh : Al- ford, Bynum and Christophers, 1901. O. pp. 20).
In the American Journal of Sociology for July, 1901 (University of Chicago Press), appears S. S. MacClin- tock's "The Kentucky Mountaineers and their feuds," a descriptive article that increases the puzzle as to what is meant by Sociology. It is not scholarly in conception, as it adds nothing whatever to our knowledge, giving neither new material nor a new handling of old material. It is not popular, as the writer seems to have no command of style, although it is a theme that is widely liked, and that allows considerable latitude of expression. Perhaps his next in- stalment may remove our doubts.
Under the direction of Mr. Henderson Presnell, li- brarian of the Bureau of Education, Washington, D. C, a bibliography of Negro literature is being prepared, with the aim of including not only works by the members of that race, but of works about them. It is intended to be much fuller than the exhibit by the Library of Congress at Paris.
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A very amusing paper and very instructive one on the military discipline of 1813 is the publication of an old manu- script describing courts-martial in the Creek war, under Andrew Jackson, in the American Historicai< Magazine (Nashville, Tenn.), for July, 1901. It is worthy of remark that although some grave breaches of military regulations were proved such as open insubordination and desertion, no death penalty was inflicted. In fact the punishments were not severe, and seemed designed to apply correctives through ridicule more than otherwise. One man guilty of disobedience to orders was sentenced "to ride a wooden horse twenty minutes on two succeeding days between the hours of ten and one o'clock, with ten pounds weight at- tached to each of his feet,*' also to be confined in stocks. A captain, failing to get regular rations, had shot a hog within camp limits, but he was only reprimanded. Some cavalrymen, for desertion, were sentenced "to be sus- pended by one arm one minute at a time a day for three days without anything to rest either foot upon, except one pin sharpened at the end to a point," and were also forced to give up their horses, and were to wear their "outside dress with the wrong side out for two weeks with deser- tion written on the back." One was to be shot, but Jack- son commuted that to a "solemn admonition."
The "papers of Gen. Daniel Smith," an early surveyor of Tennessee (1748-1818), consist of letters to him, chiefly from William Blount, with one or two from Jackson, bear- ing mostly on Indian relations, local politics, appointments to office. One from Jackson shows considerable sym- pathy over the death of "Jackey Donelson."
That close student of Tennessee history. Dr. R. L. C. White, has a very detailed account of the origin of the
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State seal, largely in criticism of the position of W. A. Henderson, of Knoxville, who had urged the theory of the "cymling seal," that the first seal was cut on lead molded in the half of a cymling shell. This conclusion Dr. White demolishes by reference to documentary sources, at the same- time advancing the hypothesis that it took its start from a tradition which Dr. J. G. M. Ramsey through weak- ness of memory, indorsed in later life.
The remainder of the number consists of Gen. G. P. Thruston's statement on reconstruction before a commit- tee of Congress in 1870 ; Davidson County land warrants ; early North Carolina legislation on marriages, church and road building, salt making, attorneys ; memorials of 1824 relating to claims to Tennessee lands by the University of North Carolina; and Washington County records (con- tinued).
The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical As- sociation, July, 1901 (Austin, Texas), contains two good instances of the use of historical evidence on matters of dispute.
W. P. Zuber sums up the points to show that one man escaped from the Alamo, on March 3, 1836, when it was apparent to all that the garrison was doomed. He holds that J. M. Rose, of whom not much. is known, refusing to enter a covenant to remain with the leader, Travis, climbed over the ramparts and after many dangers reached a place of safety. Although this story was published in 1873, '^ has generally been claimed as the special glory of the Alamo that not a soul escaped, in distinction from Thermopylae that had one survivor.
Z. T. Fulmore marshals a mass of details to combat the generally accepted notion as to the annexation of Texas and the Mexican war. He firmly believes that when "the many errors in fact and still more in conclusion * * * * are sifted out and weighed, it will clearly appear that the
6
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origin, growth, and development of Texas into a republic and her subsequent annexation to the United States was neither a Northern, nor a Southern, but a purely Western movement, neither long retarded by the abolitionist nor hastened by the slaveholder, nor seriously affected by the political storms of the East; but a movement having its inspiration in the minds of a class which before the beg^- ning of the last century crossed the AUeghenies and gave to civilization the fertile valley of the Mississippi." "The sole cause" of the Mexican war, he argues, was the annexa- tion of Texas to the United States. He predicts that "when the final verdict of history is reached, and the parti- san excrescences that now disfigure its pages are pruned away * * * ♦ the memories of Houston, Jackson, Calhoun, and Polk, ♦ * ♦ ♦ will be cherished by all true Americans."
The hardships of pioneer life are realistically set forth in the narrative of Capt. Jesse Bumam, who emigrated to Texas from Kentucky nearly a hundred years ago. Cold, himger, semi-starvation, and incessant conflicts and rows with the Indians are detailed in all the bareness of truth.
With reviews and notes, two biographical papers com- plete this issue: Mrs. A. B. Looscan sketches Captain Joseph Daniels (1809-1886), a native of Boston, but a prom- inent citizen of Texas after manhood ; Harry Haynes gives a very sympathetic and interesting account of the untiring labors of Rufus C. Burleson (1823-1901), who, born in Ala- bama, devoted his days to the Baptist ministry and educa- tion in Texas, in fact founding both Baylor and Waco Universities.
According to the tenor of a number of letters from prominent Virginians in 1819-1820 to one of the U. S. Senators, James Barbour, printed in Wiluam and Mary College Quarterly for July, 1901 (Williamsburg, Va., pp. 72), that State in 1820 took the lead among the South- ern States on the slavery question that South Carolina
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had in 1861. These correspondents planted themselves pretty strongly on the ground that the question of slavery was a matter of State right, and hence Virginia was op- posed to the Missouri Compromise. It is a fair inference that the people of Virginia would have favored "a fight to the finish*' then and there on the slavery question. There is very open talk in these missives of "war," "disunion," "dissolution of the Union," etc.
A short illustrated paper by the Editor fixes the situa- tion of Werowocomoco, the scene of Pocahontas's exploit in saving Smith's life. Following the learned historian, Alexander Brown, he finds it to be Portan Bay on the York River, twelve miles above West Point.
AnQther contribution of more general appeal is the chap- ter reprinted from Edward Johnson's Wonder Working Providence of Sions Savior, covering a period of Virginia history in which her own records are defective. It is of interest though this puritan really gloried over the masL- sacre by Indians of "the ungodly" whites in the Virginia Colony.
Nearly half the issue is genealogical, bearing on the Churchill, Woodson, Lewis, Clopton, Wyatt (Wiatt), Tal- bot and Alexander families. There are half a dozen pages of book reviews and notes.
The West Virginia Historical Magazine (Charles- ton, W. Va., Quarterly, July, 1901, pp. 69, $1.00 per year) has as its longest article the "Pre-historic Kanawha Val- ley," by the editor, John P. Hale. It is a very detailed discussion of the mound builders of that locality. A part of it was printed several years ago, and another part is from the investigations of the Smithsonian Institution.
W. S. Laidley attempts to decide which is the oldest town in the State, the honor lying between Romney and Shepherdstown, with choice finally going to the former.
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There are three biographical sketches : Joseph Ruffner, by W. H. Ruffner; Col. Andrew Donnally, by Mrs. M. W. Donnally, and Henry McWhorter, by L. V. McWhorter— none of them in the approved historical methods of the present, as not one has foot notes, or indicates the sources of information, though all are interesting reading.
The copy of a quaint inscription on an old tombstone in Charleston, and the reprint from Congressional records of the proceedings at the presentation to the U. S. Govt., in 1843, of the sword of Washington and Staff of Franklin, by Samuel T. Washington, complete the issue, with some minor Association matters.
The number of typographical errors chargeable solely to the printer are inexcusable. Running page headings would also be a wonderful improvement.
The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine (Charleston, S. C, July, 1901, pp. 167-258). Mr. Worthington C. Ford contributes several letters of Ralph Izard to Thomas JeflFerson, of dates 1784- 1789, chiefly on matters of diplomacy and politics, though there are some interesting passages on farming. It is to be regretted that the editorial reviser cut out some parts from the let- ter of April 24, 1784, as bearing on this subject. Mr. Izard was strongly tinctured with aristocracy as he bewails the drift in the State in 1785: "Our government tends too much to democracy. A handicraftsman thinks an ap- prenticeship necessary to make him acquainted with his business. But our back countrymen are of opinion that a politician may be born such (sic) as well as a poet."
The papers of the First Council of Safety, 1775, are con- tinued, consisting mainly of the returns of Colonel William Thomson's Regiment of Rangers. A genealogy, "Izard of South Carolina," "Notes and Queries," with aflFairs of the S. C. Historical Society, complete the issue.
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Confederate Veteran (Nashville, Tenn., July, pp, 291- 330). With unusual literary skill does Col. Bennett H. Young reproduce for us the spirit and atmosphere of war and its battles and raids and the dash and endurance of men, in his oration at the Memphis reunion, when he de- scribes some of the wonderful deeds of Forrest and Mor- gan and other leaders in the West during the Civil War. Right he must be when he says "the true story of the con- flicts of the Army of Tennessee has never been written." Most properly did a Confederate Camp, Frank Cheatham, at Nashville, thank the orator for his thrilling words. They ought to go one step further and ask him to tell the story of that army, a task that he is perhaps the best fitted of men to do. It must be remembered that only the actors in that drama can reproduce those scenes with the flavor and vividness of actuality. In a very few years none of these will be left and descendants of those men will have to fall back on the cold, critical language of the mere book historian.
A beautiful tribute to a noble woman is the "Work of a Confederate Woman," a sketch of the wife of Gen. Brad- ley T. Johnson. She was an indefatigable "rebel," and was equally untiring after the close of hostilities in toiling for helpless, dependent Confederates.
There are several pages of tributes to the editor's son, P. D. Cunningham, who was drowned in the Rio Grande, July 13th, while serving as Consulting Engineer of the International Boundary Commission.
A sketch of Transylvania University (Ky.), news from various memorial organizations, and numerous war inci- dents complete this number.
August (pp. 339-380), has a pathetic story, all the sadder because true, by B. L. Ridley, of the love of a young girl in the Cumberland mountains for a Union lad who was killed by Confederates just as she dashed into their midst to snatch a pistol from her dead hero's hand, and, after
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shooting several of his enemies, to become a maniac her- self, finally buried by the side of her heart's choice. The most of the remainder of the issue is taken up with ac- counts of the various Confederate memorial societies, a list of the 1,351 Confederate Veteran Camps, a sketch of General Patton Anderson, incidents of the War, and no- tices of comrades who have answered the last call. A com- munication and an editorial urge better business methods in the sessions at annual reunions, and also a change in the office of commander-in-chief.
The Lost Cause (Louisville, Ky.), for July (14 pp.), contains a very thrilling story of adventure, the details of the capture by two Confederate spies of several horses in Louisville, and their escape to the South, all done in mid- day in the early months of 1865. Another interesting- story tells how Sheridan received information as to Early's forces from Miss Wright (Mrs Bonsai), a Quaker sjrm- pathizer of the Northern side, living at Winchester, and how on the strength of a note from her, he decided to attack. Thus occurred the Battle of Winchester, Sheridan acknowledging his obligation to her. The first chapter in the history of torpedoes is claimed to be found in the use of them by the Confederates, and Mr. Ben La Bree has a detailed description, with drawings, of the different kinds used, and a list of vessels, counting up 31 destroyed, and 9 injured.
August contains an account of Early's campaign in Maryland and the Valley of Virginia in 1864-65, by his Chief of Artillery, A. L. Long, who gently tempers Early's overwhelming defeat and the dispersion of his command in this mild language : **Sheridan, having now removed all opposition ♦ * * ♦ formed a junction with Grant al- most without interruption."
A very readable description is given ol the historic cemetery at Winchester, Va., where so many Confederate
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monuments have been erected. There are several pages of notes on work of memorial organizations in the South, indicating very healthy activity, especially among the "Sons" and "Daughffers" of the Confederacy.
The Sewanee Review for July 1901 (Sewanee, Tenn.), has an estimate of Lee by "a New York lawyer who is both the son of a Union soldier and a Republican party worker/* Mr. F. H. Cox. The tone of it is happily sum- med up in
"It was Robert E. Lee who, as a great educator in the South, was a great reconciliator of the Union. The Union has become a nation. It was Lee who led in making it a reconciled nation. * * * He belongs, therefore, not to Virginia and the South alone. He belongs to the whole United States."
The other articles in this issue are literary and educa- tional. In the latter are two exceedingly broad assertions. It is stated that students at Harvard above the Freshman class "have the utmost freedom of choice" among the courses offered. A perusal of the catalogue will show that the young men there are limited in nearly every direction when they come to mark out a path. Again it is said that "so far as the Southern States are concerned, one might al- most say that their educational history for the past quarter of a century has been largely that of the Johns Hopkins University." Surely such a claim cannot apply to any of Southern pedagogics except the colleges, and to them only for the past ten years.
The American Monthly Magazine (organ of D. A. R., Washington, D. C, Aug., 1901, pp. 139-243) has some ten pages of original material on the revolutionary war, names of men who enlisted for service, and continuation of David Avery's diary. There are the usual reports from the Chap- ters, many of them indicating a very lively interest in the
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present as well as in the past. One describes the efforts to study forestry, another speaks of erecting a library, and numerous ones dwell on the social features. In this issue begins the publication of the minutes of the National Board meetings held before the foundation of the Maga- zine. A genealogy, "The Harrisons of Berkeley," the "Young People's Department," two or three essays and poems, notes and queries, necrology, complete the number. September (pp. 245-353) continues the valuable revo- lutionary records, the diary of David Avery touching bat- tle of Princeton, and names of revolutionary soldiers buried in Kentucky and Connecticut, with pay-roll of a company from Pennsylvania and one from Virginia. Three historical essays: "The story of Jane MacRae," "Ann Whitairs Duty," and "Rosannah Waters Farrow," with many details of the members and work of the organization, finish the issue.
In the Methodist Review (Nashville, Tenn.), for Sep- tember, is an estimate of Lowell by Prof. E. W. Bowen, who concludes that he was a "poet who is our most brfl- liant and learned critic, and who has given us our best native idyl, our best and most complete work in dialectic verse, and the noblest heroic ode that America has pro- duced— each and all ranking with the first of their kind in English literature of the modem time."
The Florida Magazine (Jacksonville, Fla., Aug., 1901, pp. 67-125) is now in its third year. It is a monthly "of and for Florida and all those interested in its future pros- perity and development." The August number carries out this idea, being mainly filled with descriptive articles of that locality, with short stories and poems touching that land. A serial, "A Converted Abolitionist," as its name implies, is filled with slavery, politics and discussions.
The September issue (pp. 131-190) contains two his-
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torical papers touching the South: "The first Governor of Florida" (i page) ; and "The General" (5 pages), an ac- count of the daring attempt of a squad of disguised North- ern soldiers during the Civil War to destroy a railroad in Georgia by the use of an engine they had boldly stolen. Nothing new is added to our knowledge of this famous event, described many times, but perhaps with most liter- ary skill by J. C. Harris in his Georgia history stories.
The Transactions of the Texas Academy of Science for 1900 (Austin, Tex., 1901, pp. 102, paper, 8vo) has a de- tailed sketch, by R. A. Thompson, of the development of the railway system of the State. There is now great ac- tivity in building new lines, but according to area the local- ity is far behind the leading States. As compared with Kansas, for instance, with its 11 miles per 100 square miles of surface, Texas has less than 4 miles. With regard to population though, Texas stands about third from the highest, having 37 miles per 10,000 inhabitants, Kansas leading the column with 53 miles.
J. C. Nagle makes a very readable contribution on sani- tary engineering, especially describing methods of filtra- tion. The annual address, by the President, H. W. Har- per, deals with inoculation and immunity from disease. Some geological notes and a paper on preservation of wood complete the number.
A sound trouncing does the Manufacturers' Record (Baltimore), of September 12, bestow on Gunton's Maga- zine for the attempt of the latter to revive sectional feeling by urging Congress to pass a law for uniform hours of labor in competing industries. Right joyfully does the Record for once indulge in "sectionalism" on its own account. Lusty whacks falls on that old spirit of prejudice that en- gendered strife and kindled the flames of war. For an
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appeal to those bygone passions does Gunton get his back basted.
A favorable sign of the growth of interest in historical and genealogical study is the space given up to those sub- jects by the Montgomery Advertiser, the management ^ of the department being in the hands of the D. A. R., or ^ practically their historian, Mrs. P. H. Mell, of Auburn. The issue of September i has three columns of letters, queries and answers.
The generally accepted view among economists that the Confederate finances were poorly managed is vigorously combatted in Charleston News (September i), by G. M. Pinckney, who argues that Mr. Memminger showed con- siderable ability in conducting treasury operations.
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McKiNLXY AND Confederate Graves. — In the Wash- ington Post of September 25, 1901, McKinley's offer in his Atlanta address of December 14, 1898, to help care for Confederate graves, is traced to its origin years ago in the spontaneous prompting of his own mind and heart when, as a congressman, at an army reunion at Fredericks- burg, Va., he observed the neglected condition of the Con- federate cemetery as compared with the Federal one alongside. Not until he became President did he think any utterance from him on the subject would carry much weight and then he did so chiefly at the inspiration of Captain E. P. Howell, who wrote the passage that Mc- Kinley afterwards expanded. The original draft is in the possession of Dr. Henry C. McCook, of Philadelphia.
President Roosevelt Half a "Rebel." — Since his en- trance into the White House, much stress has been laid on President Roosevelt's Southern ancestry. His mother was Miss Martha Bullock, of a historic family that came to Georgia from South Carolina, and furnished some members of renown in Revolutionary days. They were also active and well known in the Civil War, and the Pres- ident is said to be rather proud of the fact that one of his uncles helped to build the Alabama and another fired the last shot from her. He is a member of a patriotic society in Georgia, his eligibility being established on the maternal side.
A Confederate Home will likely be established by the State of South Carolina for needy Confederate soldiers within her borders. For a time it was thought better to divide whatever the legislature might give among the de- serving, leaving them at home to be further assisted by their families and friends, but of late the organi-
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zation of Confederate Veterans has favored a home, and their wishes will very likely prevail. At present there are 6,503 on the rolls, in three classes: A, 36 pensioners, drawing $96 each; B, 200 pensioners, at $19.60 each; and C, 6,267 pensioners, at $14.70 each. The total appropria- tion is $100,000, though a special act provided for $150,- 000 at the last legislative session. This seems a small sum but there is a strong sentiment in the younger element of voters to increase it materially.
Davis's Name on Cabin John Bridge. — ^As well known, during the heat and passion of the Civil War, Jef- ferson Davis's name was erased from the memorial tablet on this famous stone arch — the longest of the kind in the world then — ^spanning a deep ravine a few miles from Washington. Some worthy gentleman, C. B. Smith, Secre- tary of the Interior, thought to obliterate Davis's connec- tion with the work by blotting out his name. If he had studied more, history, and had more closely observed hu- man nature he would have known that he was doing the best thing to perpetuate the memory that he aimed to destroy, because nearly every one that sees the blank space inquires why it is there. Now, when that conflict is only a hallowed memory, an effort is being made to re- store the letters chiseled off, and to give proper credit to Davis as the structure was begun under him when he was Secretary of War, in 1853. According to an article by W. A. Page, in Washington Post (September 8, 1901,), there is no record in the War Department of the mutilation, but William R. Hutton, who was chief engineer of the aque- duct at the time, is quoted to the effect that it was done by the contractor, Robert Mclntyre, on a verbal order from Mr. Smith, to whose Department the construction had been transferred. Hon. John Barrett, formerly Minister to Siam, is active in the movement to return Davis's name to its original place.
The Washington Manor Association, with headquar-
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ters in Philadelphia, has been formed for the purpose of preserving the Harewood house, built by General George Washington, in 1752- 1756, for the use of the family of one of his brothers.. He also afterwards had the manage- ment of the estate there for a number of years during the minority of one of the heirs. It is situated in the famous Valley of Virginia, twelve miles from the mouth of the Shenandoah. On the Board of Regents are Ex-President Cleveland, Admiral Dewey, General Miles, President Seth Low, and a number of other prominent men.
A Memorial to Captain John Smith is the aim of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, to take the form of "a bronze statue of heroic size" to be dedicated at Jamestown in 1907, the ter-centenary of the first settlement at that point. Contributions are asked of all "who revere the heroism of Captain Smith and who enjoy the benefits of the foundation of English civilization and liberty on this continent." Donations may be sent to Mrs. Charles W. Coleman, Williamsburg, Va., Chair- man of the Committee. This commemoration is a part of the general plan inaugurated by the citizens of Williams- burg, September 7, 1900, for a national celebration at Jamestown, on May 13, 1907. President Lyon G. Tyler is the head of the general committee and much encourage- ment has been received for the scheme. It is proposed to have a gjeat civic and naval demonstration.
Stephen F. Austin, the "Father oiE Texas," is to be honored with a marble statue in Statuary Hall, in the •Cap- itol at Washington, if the Daughters of the Republic of Texas can raise the necessary sum of a little over $4,000. His partner in that repository of fame is to be Sam. Hous- ton, the funds for this the State Legislature is expected to appropriate, but the good ladies are appealing to the public for the Austin memorial.
An Example, the Hale School House. Through the labors of the Connecticut Society of the Sons of the
Digitized by
544 Southern History Association,
American Revolution, assisted by the Daughters of the American Revolution, the school house that this Revolu- tionary martyr left when he started on the mission that ended in his execution as a spy, has been bought, restored and set aside as a memorial to this heroic Hfe, the exer- cises of June 17 being described in the American Monthly Magazine for September. Such an effort is a model for emulation everywhere, especially in the South that has so many instances of worthy men that have gone unheralded.
Darlingion County Historical Society (S. C), aux- iliary to the State Historical Society, was formed at Dar- lington, September 13, for the purpose of preserving the local history. W. C. Coker was chosen president, John J. Dargan, vice president, George E. Dargan, secretary and treasurer, with an executive committee, consisting of E. R. Mclver, R. K. Charles and E. O. Woods. Valuable work can be done by such an organization, but very seldom is, if the members will adopt some definite means for showing results. Ordinarily there are but two paths, and for the average society only one can be followed ; either to form a collection as a museum of books and relics, or to issue periodical publications of material that has never before seen the Hght. The former is more expensive, but ap- peals the more strongly to the bulk of people, the latter is the more endurable, and far more appreciated by the few of the studious class.
The Alabama Department of Archives and His- tory, under the alert and efficient director, Mr. Thomas M. Owen, is rapidly and worthily expanding. In the Montgomery Advertiser for July 28 is a long list of his- torical material and relics lately acquired, including books, old newspaper files, manuscripts, documents, war records, pictures, and other objects of value and interest. The is- sue of September i contains two columns of the list of donations during August. A large part is the McLemore collection, chiefly of Civil War relics, that are to be kept
Digitized by
Notes and Queries. 545
separate on deposit for study and examination. Through the generosity of publishers, nearly all of the issues of the periodical press of the State are regularly received for binding and preservation. If legislative appreciation con- tinues to grow, it is safe to say that Alabama will soon be in the front rank of historical State collections.
Professor L. G. Bugbee, University of Texas, much to the regret of all lovers of historic study, has been forced by ill health to secure leave of absence^ so as to spend some time in New Mexico.
A Rare Poet, J. Gordon Coogler. — Less than half a dozen years ago Mr. Coogler came into notice as a writer of very peculiar verse that had strikingly different effects on different readers. Some admired it, others lampooned it, the bulk simply laughed. It was a target for funny par- agraphers in the daily press, and a butt for editorial hu- morists. But it sold and Mr. Coogler continued to grind it out. "Purely Original Verse" he dubbed it, and many of his critics agreed with him, in that nothing else so poor and foolish could be found. But it turned out since his death, September 9, that hfs career was remarkable and he had an unusual combination of qualities. According to a dispatch in the News and Courier (Charleston, Septem- ber 10,) he was highly regarded at his home, Columbia, being known as a very sensible hard working printer, quite successful in running a job office of his own. He com- posed, set up, printed, and disposed of his productions him- self, having recently struck off the sixth edition of his work. Such a linking of literary capacity, business judg- ment and material success, ought to make him envied by the shades of many bards who are enrolled immeasurably higher in the hall of fame.
Mr. Clayton Torrence, 700 Piedmont Avenue, Atlanta, Ga., is preparing a genealogy of the Alston-Lillington- Cain Families, and will be glad to communicate with any representatives. The Alston family descends from John
Digitized by
54^ Southern History Association.
Alston, of Chowan county, N. C, formerly of Virginia; he died in 1758, aged about 85. He patented lands in Ber- tie, Craven and Edgecombe counties, N. C. ; was grand juror 1721-25; asst. jus. Supreme Court, N. C, 1729 and earlier; Sheriff Chowan Co., 1746; member court, 1748; vestryman St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Edenton. He married Mary Qark. His will is dated Feb. 20, 1755, pro- bated Dec. 2, 1758. Issue:
I. Solomon, m. Ann Hinton ; H. William ; HI. Philip, m. Winifred Whitmell; IV. Mary, m. i. Henry Gustan; 2. Wm. Seward; V. Elizabeth, m. Wm. Williams; VI. Sarah, m. Philip Kearney; VII. Charity, m. John Danson; VIII. James, m. Christian Lillington; IX. Joseph John, m.
James Alston, his son, lived on Ellerbee's Creek, Orange Co., North Carolina. He was sole executor upon the will of his father; married Christian Lillington; he died in 1 761 ; his will is recorded in Orange Co., N. C, and is dated Feb. 28, 1761 ; mentions son James Alston; son John Alston, daughters Mary, Charity and Sarah ; wife Christian Lillington.
James Alston's daughter Sarah (or Sallie, as she is com- monly called), married i. Thomas Dudley, of North Caro- lina (probably a descendant of Christopher Dudley, of Onslow county, N. C, although there is a tradition, most probably worthless, that makes him an "English Lord"); 2. William Cain, of Orange Co., N. C. (son of William
Cain, of Orange Co., and Elizabeth ). Sallie
Alston's issue by her first marriage included John Alston Dudley, who removed to Alabama and m. Mary Robinson. By her marriage with William Cain she had: i. Charity Alston (1795-1873), m. Senator Willie P. Mangum ; 2. Wil- liam, m. ; 3. Mary Alston (d. 1874), m.
Sutherland, and 2d, Dr. White ; 4. Anna Linning-
ton, (b. March 17, 1797, d. Oakland, Cal., Nov. 7, 1877); m. Edward Davis, of Mecklenburg Co., Va. (son of Edward
Digitized by
Notes and Queries. 547
Davis and his wife Mary Paine, and b. Dec. 3, 1796), and was gr. m. of Samuel Bell McKee, of Oakland, California. The Lillingtons (or Linnington, for the name is spelled both ways, and there is doubt as to the correct form), are traced to Edward Lillington, of Neuse River, Craven Co., N. C, whose will of July 9, 1736, is of record. He married
, and had George Lillington, of Craven
Co., N. C, will executed 1741/42, probated July 16, 1742; m. Hannah, or Anna, Hutchinson (?), issue Christian Lil- lington, who married James Alston, of Ellerbee's Creek, Orange Co., N. C. Query, were these Lillingtons of the family of Maj. Alexander Lillington, of Cape Fear, and whence the form Linnington?
Digitized by
54^ ' Southern History Associatian.
James William Stokes, a member of the Southern His- tory Association, died at his home, near Orangeburg, S. C, Saturday, July 6, 1901. He was born near this place, on a farm, December 12, 1853. After attending the com- mon schools he graduated at Washington and Lee Uni- versity in 1876, and afterwards in metlicine at Vanderbilt University. Having taught for twelve years he returned to the farm, entered politics, assisted in organizing the farmers, became president of the Farmers' Alliance, was chosen a State Senator in 1890, a Presidential elector in 1892, was elected to* the 54th, 55th, 56th and 57th Con- gresses.' On December 29, i88r, he married Miss E. L. Landess. In April, 1900, he fathered a noble plan for the advancement of historical study in this country by the in- troduction of a bill looking to an appropriation finally to provide for the classification and preservation of the mass of hietorical material in the possession of the different States. The measure was not passed, but he has given a stimulus that will likely end in substantial good.
^ Digitized by
Southern History Association: 549
Calderon Carlisle, of Washington, D. C, a member oi the Southern History Association, died at Asheville, N. C, September 16, 1901, where he was spending the summer. He was born in Washington in 1853, ^"^ was educated there till he entered St. John's College, Annapolis, Md., as a Sophomore in 1868. Three years later, July, 187 1, he graduated with high honors. After spending a year or so in Europe, he studied law and became eminent in that profession. He served as Counsel for the British and other embassies, and often appeared before the Claims Commissions. He was a member of the Metropolitan Club, and one of its Board of Governors for a number of years. He married Miss Kate Thomas, of Richmond, Va., and leaves two children. He was distinguished for literary culture. One competent to judge, who knew him inti- mately, paid him the high compliment of being a perfect gentleman. His father was James Mandeville Carlisle, a distinguished lawyer, in Washington. The Hon. Richmond Pearson and the Hon. J. L. M. Curry were his brothers-in- law.
Digitized by
Digitized by
INDEX.
Abbatt, W., 84.
Adams, H. B., 500-503
Adams, Henry, on La. Purchase,
351, 381-384. Adams, J. Q., on La. Purchase, ^ 367-371. Address, by Porter, review, 243-
244. Alabama, Brown hist, of, review, 240-241. Hist. Dept. of, 178-179, 544. Hist. Soc. of, 87^89. industries of. review, 332. Owen on hist., review, 331. Sanford in, review, 80-81. Allan, 121. Allan, T., 26, 117. Allen, J. L., review, 53-5^. Allen, W. C, review, 517-518. Alston-Lillington-Cain gen.. 545-
547. American Hist, Mag., review, 253-
254, 530-531. Amer. hist. Rev., review, 82-83.
257-258, 341-342, 443. American History, Chambers on,
general, lit. on, 232-237.
American Mo. Mag., review, 78-80, ^ 257, 335-336. 439. 538.
American Reference Library, re- view, 232-233.
American Slave Trade, review, 304-309.
Annual Meeting of So. Hist. Assoc, 95-98.
Armitt, Richard, 489.
Armstrong, Ida W., 336.
Army of Tennessee, review, 535.
Arnold, Benedict, 257, 439.
Association for Preservation of Va. Antiqui., 449.
Atkinson, Thos., 479.
Atkinson, William, 398.
Augusta Convention, 138, 140.
Austin, H., 462.
Austin, S. F., Memorial to, 543. Texas Revolution, 454.
Autihiograpky of Col. Richard Malcolm Johnston, review, 424- 425.
Avery, D., rev., 257.
Avery, E. M., 336.
Avirett, J. B., review, 512-513.
Baker, Ales., children of, 390. Baker, Benj., 482. Baker, Boiling, 4. Baker, Elizabeth, 486-487. Baker, Evy, 494. Baker, H. Y., 492. Baker, Henry, 478, 480, 492, 493, 494.
certificate of, 392.
children of, 390.
genealogy of 388-400.
property of, 393, 397-
public service of, 394.
will of, 494. Baker, Henry, and some of his
descendants, 477-496. Baker, Jeremiah, 492. Baker, Jethro, 494. Baker, John, 481, 482. Baker, Joseph, 482. Baker, Joyce, 491. Baker, Letitia, 480. Baker, Lydia, 482. Baker, Margaret, 388, 482. Baker, Nathan, 480, 482, 484, 491. Baker, Richard, 390. Baker, Roger, 390. Baker, S., 477, 478, 479, 480-481. Baker, Sarah, 480. Baker, Thos., 492. Baldwin, John, 479. Ball, Manr, 248. Ball, T. H.. review, 422-423. Bancroft, G., centennial, 92. Bancroft, H. H., on La. Pur- chase, 380. Bankers* Convention, 138. Baptists, Graham on, review, 518- 519.
in N. C, review, 82.
Digitized by
552
Index.
Barker, E. C, art. by, 451- 476.
review, 254, 337. Barringer, P. B., 171. Barton, R., review, 78. Bassett, J. S., 24& Battle, K. P., 96. Battle, R. H., review, 74. Bayless, B., 79. Baylor, Geo., 266, 267, 2O9, Baylor, W., 263. Becket, Eleanor, 399. Becket, Mary, 390, 398. Bennett, J. S. K., 105. Benson, B. K., review, 62-63. Beyer, E., 489.
Bibliography, D. C, review, 167- 168. hist. Confed. Treas., 226-227. La. Purchase, 386-387. Miss., review, 242-243. Biles, A. M., 483. Biles, R., 4^. Biles, C, 4fio.
Biles, William, 391, 480, 485. Billion dollar loan plan, 141. Bingham, Robert, review, 441. Bittinger, L. R, review, 323-324- Black Hills, geology of, review,
72. Blackford, C. M., review, 425. Blacknall, C. C, 431.
O. W., 78, 431. Blockade running, Confed., 193. Bonds, Confed., 224-225. Bonham, Ruth, 487. Bookworm, review, 248. Booth, Deborah, 391. Botddin, Johanna and children,
230. Bourne, E. G., review, 257-258. Bouve, P. C, review, 64-05. Bowyer. John, 483. Boycc, J. P., III. Boynton, H. V., i79- Bradley, Margaret, ^i. Bradshaw, S. E., review, 313-316. Breckenridge, C. R., 171. Brigham, W. I. T., review, 247. Bright Side of Humanity, review.
164-167. Broadus, J. A., Curry on, review, 310-312.
Brock, R. A., 70, 96.
review, 237-238, 409-411- Brown, Governor, 148. Brown, John, Connelly on, re- view, 423-424. Brown, T. L., 528. Brown, W. G., review, 240-241. Browne, W., J., 398. Brownlow, J. B., 96, 342. Brownlow, W. G., 412. Bryan, Mrs. Jos., 3^46. Br)ran, W. B., review, 167. Brjrmner, Douglas, 498. Buford, J., review, 83. Bugbee, L. G., 545- Buncombe, E., review, 529. Bunting, Job, 485. Bunting, Rachel, 397, 480, 485. Bunting, Robert, 398. Burleson, E., 455. Burr, G. L., review, 341. Burroughs, Hannah. 483. Burroughs, John, 482, 483. Burroughs, Lydia, 483. Busey, S. C, 169. Butler, M. C, 95, Byrd, William, 24a
Cabell, Grattan and children, 23a Cabell, Louisa, 229. Cabell, Pauline and children, 230. Calhoun, J. C, Curry on, 159-163. Callahan, J. M., review, 413-415. Calloway, T. J., review, 83. Campbell, C. N., 265. Campbell, Judge, 85. Campbell, R. F., review. 56-57,
425-426. Canada's Work for History, 497-
499. Canby. B. M., S„ T.. 391. 397, 3<A
477. 480. Cannon, J. P., review, 327. Capers, Ellison, review by. 417-
419. Capers, Henry D.. 3. Carey. H. C, 495- Carlisle. CaHeron. 549. Carolina Cavalier, review, 318-319. Carrinffton, Agnes and children.
2.V). Carrington. Bessie and children.
230.
Digitized by
Index.
553
Carrington, Cullen and children, 231.
Carrington, Edmonia and chil- dren, 230.
Carrington, Elizabeth and chil- dren, 230.
Carrington, Emma and children, 230.
Carrington, Florence and chil- dren, 231.
Carrington, Henry and children, 229, 230.
Carrington, Jane and children, 230.
Carrington, John, 230.
Carrington, Lettice and children, 230.
Carrington Louise and children, 231.
Carrington, Otelia and children, 231.
Carrington, Paul, 230.
Carrington, Randolph and chil- dren, 231.
Carrington, Robert and children, 230.
Carrington, T. and children, 230.
Carrington, William, 230.
Carrington genealogy, 22S-231.
Carter, M. N., review, 68-69.
Catalogue, Va. Soc. Mss., review, 250.
Chalkley, Thos., 484.
Chamberlain, D. H., 174.
Chambers, H. E., review, 233-237.
Channing, E., on La. Purchase,
^ 351, 380-381.
Chapman Paintings, 346.
Charleston, Washington Tablet in, 348.
CJjarleston Exposition, 176-177, 262.
Charleston Year Book, review, 427.
Chase and Memminger, 209.
Chestnutt, C. W., review, 432- 434.
Chickens Come Home to Roost, re- view, 238-239.
Christian, R. A., 268.
Cincinnati Soc, 74,
Civil History of Government of the Confederacy, review, 407-409.
Civil War, Benson on, review of, 62-63.
Cannon on, review, 327.
Conted i^et. on, review, 77-78.
Haines on, review, 73-74.
Lost Cause on, review, b2.
Lee in, review, 75.
Pickett in, rev., 327. see Olticial Records, see So. Hist. Soc. Papers, Clacius, b,, review, 259. Claiborne, review, 238. Clarendon Co. (S. C.) Directory,
review, 72. Clark, David, 228. Clark, M. H., 297. Clark, T. H., 96. Clark, Walter, 528. Classmcaiion of Mountain Whites,
review, 425-426. Claxton, P. P., 339. Clayton, P., 3. Climatology, New Mexico, review,
72. Clephane, W. C, 169. Cleveland, Grover, on Wilson,
289. Clitherall, A. B., 4. Clough, Geo., 479. Clows, Margery, 398. Coats, Jacob, 482. Cobb, H., 5. Cochran^ W. B., 171. Cocke, Catesby, 481. CogdelL John S., 444. Coin, Confed., impressment of,
199. Cole, T. L., 95, 96, 98. Coles, Agnes and children, 230. Coles, Mildred and children, 230. Coles, Walter and children, 230. College-Bred Negro, review, 426-
427. Collet, Anne, 488, 490. Collet, George, 490. Collet, Jeremiah, 485, 487, 488.
489, 490. Collet, John, 489.
Collet, Sarah, 398, 485. 487, 488,
490. 491.
Collet, Weyntie, 489, 490. Colquitt, A. H., Johnston on, 170. Columbia, burning of, review. 259.
Digitized by
554
Index.
Columbia Hist. Soc. review, 167- 168, 337. ^ state of, 169. Confederacy.
bank suspensions in, 6.
Blacknall on, 431.
Callahan on, review, 413-415.
Congr. survivals of, 85-80.
Curry on, rev., 407-409» 504-5"-
Daves on, review, 342.
Davis in, 291-299, 425.
Kershaw's Brigade, review,
Livermorc on, review, 409-411.
Pinckney on, 540.
Pickett on, review, 372, 527.
Porter on, review, 243-244.
Provis. Congr. of, 2.
Schwab on, review, 504-511.
So. Hist. Soc. Paps, on, 237- 238.
Temple on, review, 411 -413.
U. D. C, review, 430-431.
von Halle on, 332.
see Confed. Vet. and Lost Cause and Confed. Treas., Civil War, South, dif. States. Confederate Dead
at Arlington, 346.
McKinley on, 346, 541. Confederate Diplomacy, Polig-
nac, review, 342. Confederate Monuments.
Lexington, 261.
Owensboro, 92. Confederate note printing, 14. Confederate Records in Md., 176. Confederate Home in S. C, 541. Confederate States of Afnerica, re- view, 504-511. Confederate Treasury, history of, i-34» 99-150, 188-227.
act of April, 1863, 114-121.
act of Feb., 1864, 123-125.
and banks, 11, 17 •
basis for notes, 11, 12.
bibliography, 226-227.
bonds of, 9.
and cotton, 19, 33» 104-107, 118- 119.
crop basis for, 18.
and currency, lo-ii, 27.
delayed collections, 25.
early customs revenues, 4-5.
Erlanger loan, 107-110.
fifteen mill. dol. loan, 6.
first fin. leg^s., 5- 13.
funding, 1863, 10, 130-131.
income tax, 99-101.
legal tender, 27, 100-102.
note printing, 14.
mill. dols. notes, 5.
organization of, 3-4.
paper money of, 30.
policy of, 7, 23.
price commissions of, 120.
prices, 32.
printing notes, 31.
produce as basis, 102-104.
and tariff, 4, 9.
tax in kind, 118- 11 9.
and taxation, 8, 23, 112-114, 122-123.
Trans-Miss, dept, 194. Confederate Veteran^ review, 77-78,
255-256, 340, 439-440, 535. Confederate Veterans, Jones on, review, 330.
Memphis Reunion, 344-346. Congressional Centennial, 91. Connelly, W. E., review,, 423-424. Conrad, G. B., review, 519-521 Conservative Rev., rev., 169-170. Contributions to a Psychological
Theory of Music, rev.. 430. Coogler, J. G., 545- Cooke, Nathaniel, 229. Cooper, Thos., review, 443. Cope, Gilbert, 485. Cotten, S. S., review, 401-406. Cotton, blockade running, 21.
bonds, 136.
Edmonds on, rev., 441.
financiering on, 19, 21, 199.
von Halle on, 527.
Tompkins on, review, 429. Cotton Gin, review, 429. Council, W. H., review, 247, 431-
432. Counterfeiting in Confederacy,
33. Cowgill. John. 485. Craddock. John and children, 231. Crops as financial basis, iS. Crossfield. J. D., 389. Crumley, James, 492.
Digitized by
Index.
555
Culberson, Senator, on La. Pur- chase, 366-367. Cullen, Lottie and children, 230. Cumberland Vendetta^ review, 58-
61. Cummings, James, 487. Cummins, Robert, 486. Cunningham, John and children,
231. Curry, J. L. M., address by, re- view, 340. Amer. Hist., review, 233. Broadus, review, 310-312. Calhoun review by, 159-163. Confed. Hist, of, review, 407-
409. Confed. Congr., 85. at Montgomery, 171. Nat £duc. Com., 339. Presdt. of Assoc, 95. report of, review, 71. at Salem, 260. Schwab review by, 504-511. "South in Olden Time," 35-48. Customs revenues of Confed. treas., 4-5.
Dabney, C. W., 339.
Dabney, R. H., 96.
Dabuly, Maria, 230.
Daniels, Josephus, review, 328.
Darlington Co. Hist. Soc, 544.
D. A. R., 540.
Georgia work of, 445.
Patriotic Review, rev., 84.
report of, rev., 79-80.
and race issue, 347.
see Amer. Mon. Mag. Daves, Graham, 74, 179.
review, 77, 342, 443, 401-406. Davidson, W. M., 424. Davis, JeflFerson, Blackford on, rev., 425.
Cabin John Bridge, 542.
on Confed. finances, 21, 111-112.
holiday, 92.
last official meeting of, 291-299. Davis, Sam, 440. De Bow, J. E. B., 18, 105, 106. Deitch, E. J. B., R.. 11, 482. Demlope, James N., and chil- dren, 230. Denegree, J. D., 6, 11, 17, 20. 31.
Department of Archives and His- tory in Ala., 178-179.
Depositories, Conffc,, I33-I34-
Dickert, D. A., review, 327.
Dienst, A., review, 77.
Diplomatic History of the Southern Confederacy, review, 413-415.
Direct taxation, Confed., 122.
District of Columbia, Bryan on, 167, see Col. Hist. Soc.
Dreher, J. D., 171.
'DuBois, W. E. B., review, 83, 172, 426-427.
Dunbar, P. L., review, 56-57, 43i.
Dunlap, Phebe, 480.
Dunn, J. B., 482.
Easley, Holt, and children, 231. East Tennessee and the Civil War,
review, 411-413. Eaves, H., 389. Edmonds, R. H., review, 441. Edmunds, Henry, and chiMren,
231. Edmunds, P. F., review, 340. Eggleston, Edward, review, 249-
250. Eggleston, G. C, review, 318-
319-
Elements of the Geology of Ten- nessee, review, 239-240.
Ellam, John, 390.
Elmore, E. C, 4.
Emancipation, Curry on, 35.
Erskine, P., review, 523-524.
Ethnology, American, 325-326.
Evans, L. B., review, 241-242.
Ezekiel, Moses, 261.
Faulkner, C. J., 269. Feoror, Joseph, 391. Fewkes, J. W., review, 326. Ffisher, Thos., 391. Ficklen. J. R., 96. 527. art. by, 351-387. review, 320-322. Finances, Confederate, 141-146, 188, 200-207, 224-226. Confed. and Revolutionary,
200-207. ignorance of principles of. 217-
218. impressment for. 205-206.
Digitized by
556
Index.
North and South, 208, 212-213, see Con^d. Treas.
Fingal, ship, 21.
Fisher, John, Mary, 484.
Flecming, , 390.
Fleming, W. L., review, 83.
Fletcher, Robt., 477-
Florida Magasine, review, 538.
Flourney, Stanhope, and chil- dren, 230.
Floyd, J. W., review, 326.
Foreign loans, 206.
Fortier, A., 89.
Fox, John, review, 58-61.
Frazer, John, 21.
Frissell, H. B., 171.
Funding, Compulsory, 142, 146. 149.
Furman, McDonald, review by, 61-62, 92, 327, 420-422.
Gadsden, C, Renick on^ 51. GammeVs Reprint, review, 244-
245. Garland, A. H., 17. Garner, J. W., review, 442. Garrett, W. R., review, 254. Garrison, G. P., review, 342, 444. Gartrell, L. J., 27. Gatschet, A. S., 75. Germans, Bittinger on, review,
323-324. Genealogy, Alston-Lillington- Cain, 545-547.
Baker, Henry, 388-400, 477-496.
Brown, review, 528.
Carrington, 228-231.
Colleton family, 81.
Kinsey family, 300-304.
Watson on, 332. See different hist. mags. Geography, Maury's, review. 242. Geology, Texas, review, 245-246.
Tennessee, review, 239-240. Georgia, D. A. R. in, 445.
Evans on, review, 241-242.
Travel, libraries in, 175. Germans in Colonial Times, rev..
323-324. Gibbes, J. A., 178. Gilmer, George. 231. Gilmer, Geo. H., and children,
230.
Gilmer, Louisa, and children, 231. Gilmer, Peachy, and children,
231. Goodlett, M. C, 78. Gold prices, 225-226.
Gonsen, y 496.
Gordon, Ella, and children, 231. Graham, W. A., review, 518-519. Gray, Harrison, 249. Gray, P. W., 194. Greene, Nath., 348. Gresham, W. G., and Renick, 49. Guerard, B., review, 81. Gusham, G. T., review, 72.
Hague, F., 480, 4Q1.
Haige, F., 480.
Haige, Pleasant, 479.
Haines, Z. T., review, 73.
Hale, J. P., 334-335.
Hale School House, 543-544-
von Halle, £., 332, 527.
Hamilton, P. J., 87.
Hampton, W., 75-
Hanks, N., review, 81.
Hannah, Mary, and children, 231.
Hardie, W. W., 20.
Hardiman, see Hardman.
Hardin, W., 458.
Hardman, Henry, 388
Hardman, John, 388, 389.
Harris, D., review, 76.
Harris, F. S., review, 77,
Harrison, J., 478.
narrower, John, review, 82-83.
Hastings, Joshua, 488.
Hatfield. "Devil Anse," 77^
Haydock, Roger, 391, 399.
Hasrwood, M. D., 2^.
Haywood, M. H., 429.
Henry Baker and some of his descendants, 388-400, 477*496.
Herbert, H. A., 171, 174.
Hermann, B.. review, 320-322.
Hermen, E. A., 493.
Hewes. Mary, 248.
Hey, Robert, 390.
Hisrcrins. Charlotte, 153.
Higher History of the United States for Schools and Academies, re- viewed, 233-237.
Hillcs, L. B., review, 238-239.
Hill, R. T., review, 246.
Digitized by
Index.
557
Historians on La. Purchase, 380- 384,
Historical Roster and Itinerary of S. C. Volunteer Troops, re- view, 326.
Historical Sketch of Polar Tent Church, review, 329.
Historical Sketches and Reminis- cences of an Octogenarian, re- view, 65-68.
Histories, School, 179.
History, Ala. Aid to, 178-179. Md. Aid to, 176.
History of Alabama, by Pickett, review, 331.
History of Maryland, review, 516-
517.
History of the Confederate Treasury see Confed. Treas.
History of Hiram Masonic Lodge, review, 430.
History of Kershaw's Brigade, re- view, 327.
History of Slavery, 304-309.
History of South Carolina, review, 514-516.
History of South Fork Baptist As- sociation, review, 518-519.
History of Spartanburg County, re- view, 420-422.
Holmes, Hodgen, review, 429.
Hood, T. F., 338.
Hook, Marcus, 485, 488, 489, 490.
Hoopes, family of, 496.
Hopkins, Johns, 3^,^i.
Hopkins, Samuel, 388.
Horton, G. M., 444.
Hospitality, Southern, 41.
Hough, John, 481.
Hough, Oliver, 396.
Hough, Richard, 398, 485.
Houghton, Henry, 390.
House behind the Cedars, review, 432-434.
Howe, M. A. D., 419
Howel, Mordecay, 484.
Howell, John, Mary, 484.
Hoyer, 14,
Hoyer & Ludwig, 32, 33.
Hufham. J. D., 82.
Humphreys, Mary, 300.
Hunt, G. Renick, sketch by, 49- 52.
Hunter, Mr., 144. Huntington, A. J., 269. Hurley, J. F., review, 329. Hurst, John, 391. Hutton, Joseph, 481.
In and Around the Grand Canyon,
review, 324-325. Indians, Catawba, review, 75.
Navajo, review, 325-326. Ingle, Edward, review, 441, 502,
516-517.
Inside of Rebeldom, review, 327.
International Law and La. Pur- chase, 371-379.
Ivey, T. N., review, 256.
Jackson, Edward, 486.
James, G. W., review, 324-325.
James Sprunt Historical Mono^
ographs, review, 427-428. Jameson, J. F., review, 159, 232,
246, 443. Jamestown Excavations, 449. Jamison, S. G., 33. Janney, Abel, Joseph, 479, 480,
481. Janney, Jacob, 484. Janney, Sarah, 483. Janney, Thos., 496. Jarvis, Sarah, 477. Jefferson, Thomas, Watson on,
review, 419-420. Jenney, Mary, 491 . "John A. Broadus," 310-312. John Brown, review, 423-424. John Vytal, review, 401-406. Johns Hopkins Univ., 448, 537. Johnson, B. F. Co., 1G7. Johnson. B. T., 78. Johnson, W. S., 489. Johnson's Physical Culture Primary
Book, review, 69-70. Johnston, Geo., 402. Johnston, L., 96. Johnston, R. M., review, 169-
170, 424-425. Johnson, W., 139. Johnson, William, 139. Jones, C. E., review, 330. Jones, C. T., 3. Jones. R. H., 481.
Digitized by
558
Index.
Jones, Robert, 251.
Jordan, Lavinia and Children,
230. Joscelyn Cheshire, review, 524-
525.
Journal, (New Bern), review, 443.
Journal of So. Ed. Assoc, re- view, 338-339-
Joyce, J. A., review, 445, 489.
Jovnes, E. S., review, 238.
Juietty, review, 435-437.
Karnes, 75. Keatmges, Ball, 32. Keitn, George, 395. Kennedy, S. b., review, 524-525. Kenner, 99-100. Kent, C. W., 313. Kentucky, Allen on, review, 53- 56.
Mch.lroy on, review, 435-437. Kershaw's brtgadey hist, of, re- view, 327. Key, Francis Scott, 261. Key West Mon., 92. Killebrcw, J. B., 96.
art. by, 228-231.
review, 239-240, 248. King's Mo., battle of, review, 79. Kinsey, David, 491. '*Kinsey Family, ' 300-303. Kirkbride, Joseph, 485. Knoflack, A., review, 525.
Lamar, G. B., 140.
Lancaster, John and children,
230. Lancaster, Robert, and children,
230. Land Records in S. C, 177. Landrum, J. B. O., review, 420-
422. Langhornc, Sarah, 480. La Salle, 354-358. Lasley, Robt., 492. Lassiter, F. R., review, 257. Law, Thomas, 338. Lawler, L .W., 105. Lawton, Guilielmo and child, 230. Lee, R. E., 537- Cox on, review, 537. Hampton on, 75.
Joynes on, rev., 238. Washington relics of, 348. Leftwick, G. J., review, 256. Legal tender. Confederate, 27,
132. Leigh, William and children, 231. Lert, Joshua, 391. Leslie, C. R., 388. Leslie, family of, 496. Leslie, Robert, and children, 495. Lewis, W., review, 80. Libraries, traveling, see Traveling
Libs. Life and Times of William
Lowndes, review, 415-417. Ligon, Joseph, 229. Link, S. A., review, 256. Livermore, T. R., review, 409-
411. Lloyd, J. U.. review, 434-435- Loans, Confed., disaster of, 219-
220. coniparative view, 210. Lost Cause, review, 82, 259, 340,
443, 536-537. „ Lost Colony of Roanoke, review,
401-406. Louisiana, Hist. Soc. of, 89. Louisiana Purchase, article on,
351-387. bibliography of, 386-387. conclusion, 384-387. diplomacy on, 366-371. historians on, 380-384. hist, sketch, 353-36o. international law on, 371-379- testimony of the maps, 363- 366. Louisiana Purchase, review, 320-
322. Lowell, J. R., review, 538. Lowndes, C. T., 19. Lowndes, William, review, 415-
417. Love of Landry, review, 431-432.
Ludwig, , 14.
Lyne, Lucy, Mary, 264.
McCauley, James, 495- McCrady, Edward, review, 259. McElroy, L. C review, 435-4.^7- Mcllwaine. H. R., review by, 65- 68.
Digitized by
Index.
559
McKee, A. W., io6.
McKinley, William, and Confed.
Dead, 346, 54i- McLaughlin, A. C, 443. Macon, Nathaniel, review, 427-
428. McRae, C. J., 108, 190. Magazine of American History y re- view, 84. Manufacturers' Record, review,
441, 539-540. Marshall, Joel, and children, 230. Marten, Wa., 489. Martin, John and child, 230. Martin, M. M., and children, 230. Maryland, aid to hist, by, 176.
Confed, Records in, 176.
Passano on, review, 516-517. Maryland Society (N. Y.), 91 Mason, J. M., 107. Masons, order of, review, 430. Matthews, M. H., 480. Mauldin, Francis, 486. Maury's Elementary Geography,
reviewed, 242. May, Humphrey, 228. May, Lettice, 228, 229. Mell, Mrs. P. H., 540. Mellen, G. F., review, 80. Memminger, C. G., alarm of, 31.
appeal to banks, 10.
Augusta Convention, 139.
bond payments, 16.
censure of, 222.
and Chase, 209.
confidence of, 135-136.
on cotton purchase, 20.
difficulties faced 137-138.
effort for taxation, 223.
fifteen mill. dol. loan, 6.
fin. statement 4th Cong., 140.
friction with Congress, 125.
funding plan, 1863, 130-131.
and Morris. 206-207.
Pinckney's defence of, 540.
anH redundancy, 15.
resignation of, 192.
sketch of, 2-3.
State fin. aid urged, iio-iii.
on use of treas. notes, 13. 22. 28-29.
views on taxation. 8-9. Memphis Reunion, review, 261.
Meriwether, C, report of, 95-98.' Metcalf, J. C, review, 434-435- Methodist Review, review, 80-81,
256, 341, 444, 538. Mexican War, review, 531-532. Mexico, archives of, review, 444. Meyer, Max, review, 430. Miller, J. B., 460, 467. Miller School, 447-448. Milner, Saran, 392. Mina, 455-
Mindeleff, Cosmos, rev., 325-326. Minutes of U. D. C. of N. C, re- view, 430-431. Mississippi, bibliogy. of Owen, review, 242-243. Garner on, review, 442. Hist. Com. of, 89. Missouri Univ., 430. Moale, John, 50. Montgomery Negro Conf., 170-
172. Monuments, Confed. at Lexing- ton, 261. Confed., Montgomery, rev.,
332. Confed., Owensboro, 92. Confed., Paris, review, 243-244. to Maine at Key West, 92. N. Y at Gettysburg, review,
330. Oglethorpe, 91. S. C. Confed. at Chickamauga,
346. Timrod, 262. Moore, E., 264. Moore, J. T., review,. 521-523- Morris and Memminger, 206. Morris, L., review, 77. Mountain Whites, Campbell, re- view, 425-426. Carter on. review, 68-69. Fox on, 58-61. McClintock on, 529. Muhlenberg, F. A. C. 182. Muhlenberg, H. M., 182. Muhlenberg, J. P. G., sketch,
181-187. Multiple standard, Confed., 196. Murphy, E. G.. 171. Murray, W. V., sketch of, 151- 158. ' Murray, William. 151.
Digitized by
56o
Index.
Neals, John, 488.
Negro, Avirett on, review, 512-
513. Bingham on, review, 441-442. Bouvc on, review, 64-65. business ability of, review,
172. Chcstnutt on, review, 432-434- Conrad on, review, 519-521. Council on, review, 173, 247. and D. A. R., 347- Du Bois on, review, 83-84, 172.
426-427. ^ Dunbar on, 56-57- Lloyd on, review, 434-435- Montgomery Conference on,
170-171. ^ _
Pell on, review, 165-100.
Presnell on, 529.
Slater fund, 340.
suffrage, Curry on, 46.
Winston on, 258-259.
see slavery.
see Peabody Reports. Negro in business, review, 172. New Mexico, Climatology of, re- view, 72. New Orleans, relative decline,
77- Nichols, John, review, 430. North Carolina, Allen on, re- view, 517-518.
Baptists, review, 82.
Bar assoc, 329-
Booklet of, review, 429-430-
Carter on, review, 68-69.
Cin. Soc. of, 74-
Clark on, 528.
Daniels on, review, 328.
Erskine on, 523-524.
Graham on, review, 518-519.
Haines on, review. 73-74-
Haywood on, review, 529.
Hiram Masonic Lodge, re- view, 430.
hist. mag. of, review, 440-441-
Kennedy on, review, 524-525-
Lit. and Hist. Soc. of, 90.
Raney Library, 347-
Raper on hist, of, 72-73-
Revolutionary Records, 74.
secession vote on, review, 77,
Spanish-American War, re- view, 73. tea in, 179.
U. D. C, review, 430-431. Vance mon in, review, 74,
North Carolina Baptist Hist, Pa- pers, review, 82.
North Carolina Booklet, review, 429-430.
North Carolina Hist, and Gen. Reg., review, 440-441.
North Carolina History stories, re- view, S17-518.
North Carolina Sketches, review, 68-69.
North Carolina Year Book, review, 328.
Northrup, A. J., review, 304-309.
Northwestern Indiana, review, 422- 423.
Notes, Confed., I32-I33» 189.
Novels, (see So. Novels.)
Numbers and Losses in the Civil War in America, review, 409- 411.
Oackell, Peter, 3po.
Official Records of Union and Con-
federate Navies, review, 71 Oglethorpe, J., monument to, 91. OW Plantation, review, 512-513. Old South, Avirett on, review, 512-513-
Conrad on, review, 519-521.
Curry on, 35-48.
Johnston on, 169-170.
Wilmer on, review, 417-419. Oldham, Edward, 492. Olivia Raney Free Library, 347. On Southern Poetry Prior to i860,
review, 313-316. Onis, 362-371.
"Organization of the Texas Revolution." 451-476.
political conditions, 453-
steps for resistance, 455.
friction over customs, 456.
efforts of war party, 4?9.
public meeting at Columbia. 462.
desire for reps, con., 464.
Mexican blunders, 46J8.
Digitized by
Index.
561
beginning of opposition, 470. appeal for moderation, 472. call for Convention, 473. despair of peaceful adjustment,
475. Oliver, Mary, Evan, Jane, 477. Orrack, James, 495. Osborne, J. B., 169. Ottey, Philip, 487. Owen, Goronwy, 251. Owen, T. M., 87, 88, 179. 544-
review, 242-243, 246, 331. Owens, W. G., 251. Owensboro Confed. mon., 92.
Page, T. N., 95, 174- Panic, financial, 148. Paper money. Confederate, 30, 32.
no new lesson from, 223-224.
and revolutionary, 200-201.
security for, 2i(f-2i7. Park, E. H., 79. Parrock, John, 482. Pasco, S., 06. Pasco, W. D.. 93. Passano, L. M., review. 516-517. Patterson. S. S. P., review, 257. Patriotic Review, review, 84. Patton, C. L., 237. Patton, Ren a, 231. Payne, E. J., rev., 401-406. Payson, W. F., review. 401-406. Peabody fund Proceedings, re- view, 71. Pell, E. L., review, 164-167. Pemberton, Phineas, 391, 399. Penn, W., 478, 479- 487. Pennock, Christopher, 490. Pennock, Nathaniel, 491. Peterson, Adam, 493. Petigru, J. L., 526. Pemberton, Phineas, 484. Pheland, Margaret, 492. Pickett, J. A., review, 331. Pickett, T. E., review, 435-437,
527. Pictures and Pencilings, review,
444. Pierce, G. F., Lewis on, 80. Pierce. Mary, 230. Pike, Louise, review, 61-62. Pinkerton, S. J., review, 315-316.
Pittman, T. M., 82.
Poe, E. A., Oldham on, review,
445. Polignac, C. J., review, 342. Political purity in South, 38-40. Pol. Sci, Quarterly, review, 442. Porter, J. D., review, 243-244. Porterfield, G. A., 96. Potter, R. M., 75. Preeson, W., 390. Presbyterians, in N. C, review,
329. Presnell, H., 529. Preston, Jane, 477. Preston, T. L., review, 05-O8. ^ Price Commissions, Confed., 120. Prices, Confederate, 134, 137, 141,
148. Printing notes. Confederate, 31. Proceedings of Slater Trustees, ^ rev., 339. Provisional Congress of Confed.,
2. Pryor, Mary, 487. Pyle, Robert, 485.
Quartes, J. A., review, 256-257.
on Wilson, 286-287. Quarterly, of Tex. Hist. Assoc, rev., 254-255, 337, 531-532.
Race prejudice, 47.
Radcliffc, James and children,
396. Radcliff, Mary, 395. Randolph, Edmund, 154, Raper, C. L., rev., 68-60, 72. Ravenel, Mrs. St. Julien, review, ^ 415-417. Rawsthormes, 396. Read, Abram and child, 230. Read, Agnes and children, 230. Read, Edmonia and children, 230. Read, Howard, 230. Read, Isaac and children, ^o. Read, Louisa and children, 230. Read, Maria and children, 230. Read, Sara and child, 230. Read, Thomas, 229. Read, William and children, 230. Reagan, J. H., 85. 424, 440. Recent Past from a Southern Stand-
point, review, 417-419.
Digitized by
56-2
Index.
Records of Col. Hist Soc, re- view, 337-338.
Red Blood and Blue, review, 316.
Reed, T. B., on Wilson> 290.
Reign of Law, review, 53-56.
Reiley, John W. and children, 230.
Reiley, Louisa and children, 231.
Reminiscences of a Southern Woman, review, 519-521.
Renick, E. I., sketch of, 49-52.
Renick. W. H., 50.
Report, Amer. Hist. Assoc, re- view, 246-247.
Report, Tyler Family Gathering, review, 247.
Reprint of Satula and Other Poems, review, 315-316.
Repudiation, 201.
Resources, North and South, 215-216.
Review of Reviews, review, 258-
259. , . .
Revolutionary financiering, 200-
207. Revolutionary Records,
in A. M. Mag., review, 78-80.
North Carolina, review, 74.
in S. C, review, 81-82. Revolutionary War, Eggleston
Novel on, review, 318-319. Roane, 104. Roane, A., 19.
Roanoke, lost colony of, 401-406. Robertson, A. T.. review, 310-
312. Robertson, Harrison, review,
316-318. Robertson, J. J.. 293. Robertson, M. E., art. by, 291-
299. Robins, S. N., review, 83. Robinson, J. E., 528. Robinson, J. H., quoted, 234. Rock. Francis, 487. Rocky Mo. Plateau. Climatology,
review, 72. Roosevelt, Presdt., ^41. Rush, Albert and children, 230. Ruston, Job, 487.
SaflFord, J. M.. review. 239-240. St. Denis, 358-359-
St. Louis Exposition, 262. Salley, A. S., review, 81, 259, 318-
319, 444. Sanborn, J. B., review, 83. Sandys, 251. Sanford, T., review, 80. San Jacinto Campaign, review,
337. Schmidt, S., 14. Schoenfeld, H., 96. School Histories, 179.
Ala., Broun, review, 240-241.
general, W. S. Chambers, re- view, 233-237.
Ga., by Evans, review, 241-242. Schouler, on La. Purchase, 380. Schwab, J. C, review, 504-511. Secretary's Report, 96-97. Seddon, J. A., 17. Selections from Southern Poets,
review, 514. Semple, R. B., 263. Sewanee Review, review. 256-257, ^ 439, 537.
Sharswood, Chief Justice, 482. Shaw, Robt., 479. Shepherd, A. R., 168. Shepard, C. U., review. 258. Shinplasters, 44. Shoemaker, David, 482. Siddell, Henry. 391. Siddell, John, 390. SimonHs, F. W.. review, 245-246. Sims, Betsey. 228. Sims, David, 228. Sims, David, Jr., 229. Sims, John, 228. Sims, Priscilla, 228, 229. Slavery. Curry on, 35-48.
hist, of, 304-309.
North rup on. review, 304-309.
Soears on. rev.. 304-309.
in Va., review. 532-533. Slavery in New York, review. 304-
."^09. Smith, C. L.. 96. «W)3. Smith, C. W., 478. Smith. E. A., hist, of Confe^l. treasury by. 1-34, 95-150. 188- 227. 262. 504. Smith, Hoke, aid to libraries, ^ ^75. Smith. John, 543.
Digitized by
Index.
563
Smith, K., 134.
Smith, Larkin, 118.
Smith, J. H., 337-
Smith, William, 485.
Snake-head railroads, 43.
Snowden, Yates, 348.
Soldier of the Civtl War, review,
327, 527. Soldiers of 1812, 262. Sons American Revolution, 181. South, the, Adam's work for,
^500-503.
Curry on, 35-48.
education, 260.
greatest Univ. of, 448.
Indust Convention, 86-87.
Johns Hop. Univ., 537.
Killebrew on, review, 247.
poetry of, Bradshaw, review, 313-316.
Poets of, Weber on, review,
514. see Negro. see Old South. "South in Olden Time," by
Curry, 35-48. South Carolina, Charleston Ex.
in, 176-177. Charleston hist., in, review,
259- Clarendon Co. Directory. 72, Columbia burning, review, 259. Confed. home in, 541. Darlington hist. Soc, 544. Eggleston on, review, 318-319. hist. Mag. of, review, 81-82.
250-251, 534-535. Huguenots, 526. Irish in, review, 259. land records of, 177. Landrum on, 420^422. Lowndes in, review, 415-417. McCrady's Hist., review, 514-
516. Mon. at Chickamauga, 346. in Spanish-Amer. War, review,
220.
5. u Hist, and Gen. Magazine, review, 81-82, 250-251, 534-
535. South Carolina Interstate and West Indian Exposition, 176- 177. .
South Dakota School of Mines Bulletin, review, 72.
Southern Echoes, review, 61-62.
Southern Educational Associa- tion, review, 33^-339.
Southern Educational Confer- ence, Salem meeting, 260.
Southern Farm Mag., review, 444.
Southern Historical Society Papers, review, 70, 237-238.
Southern Hist., lit. on, 237-238. Smith lectures on. 262.
Southern Industrial Assoc, 446-
^ 447.
Southern Libraries, Raney, 347.
Southern Memorial Assoc, at Memphis Reunion, 344-346.
Southern Novels, review of, Al- len, 53-56. Benson, 62-63. Bouve, 64-65. Carter, 68-69. Dunbar, 56-57. Fox, 58-61.
Hilles, review, 238-239. Pike, 61-62.
Southland, review, 444.
Spanish-American War, Floyd on, 326.
Spanish-American War Roster, (N. C.) review, 73.
Spanish Simplified, review, 525.
Spears, I. R., rev., 304-309.
Sprunt, James, review, 427-428.
Stack, R., 480.
Stedman, John, 391.
Stephens, Alex. Johnston on, 170.
Stephens, Linton, Johnston on, 170.
Stewardson, T., 389.
Stevens, Sydney, 231.
Stockard. S. W., 174.
Stokes, J. W., 97, 548.
Stone, W. L., 84.
Strength of Gtdeon and other stories, review, 56-57.
Stringtown on the Pike, review, 434-435.
Struggle of the Confederacy. 504- 5".
Stubbs, W. C, 96.
Digitized by
5^4
Index.
Sullivane, Clement, art on Mur- ray, 151-158. Summers, A., 96 Summer Hymnal, review, 521-523. Sutphin, Lydia, 480
Taxation, Confederate, 23, 141, 211, 212.
inefficient, 203-205.
landed opposition to, 220-221.
Trenholm on, 198. Taylor, John, 390. Taylor, Lewis, 482. Taylor, Tom. 388. Taylor, W. H. S., 3. Tea.
N. C„ 179.
Southern, 258.
Teal , 75.
Temple, O. P., review, 411-413. Tennessee, geology, review, 239- 240.
Moore on. review, 521-523.
see Am. Hist. Mag. Texas, Acad, of Science of, re- view, 245-246, 539. Barker on, 451-476.
Gammel's Reprints, review,
244-245. geology of, review, 245-246. and La. Purchase. 351-387- and Mexicans, review. 75-77- see Quarterly of Texas Hist. Assoc. Thackey, Hannah and children,
492. Their Shadows Before, review. 64-
65.
Thomas lefFerson, review, 419-420.
Thompson. John. 229.
Thompson. N. F., 447.
Thornton, W. M., review, 526.
Timrod. Henry. 262.
Tindall, W., 168.
Tomlinson, George. 390.
Tomlinson. Margaret, 482. 483.
Tompkins. D. A., rev.. 429-430.
Toombs, Robert, Johnston on, 170.
Torpedoes, Confed., review, 536.
Transactions of Huguenot So- ciety, review, 526.
Transactions. Tex. Acad., review,
245-246, 539. Transalleghany Hist. Assoc. 448-
449. Travis, W. B., 460. Treasurer's Report, 97-98, Trenholm, G. A., 15, 126, 127, _ 138, 195. Trials and Trial of Jefferson
Davis, review, 425. Tribble, J. L., review, 81. Troth, S., 300-301. Tunnell, H., 77- Tupper, Frederick, review, 58-61,
316. Turner, Nat, review, 64
United Daughters of Confed- eracy, review, 82, 90.
University of Missouri, publica- tion of. review, 430.
Upshur, T. T., 438.
Urrea, General, 75.
Usher, Thos., 488.
Van Bebber, see Van Bibber. Van Bibber, family of, 492. Van Bibber, M. and family, 492,
493. Vance, Z. B., Battle on, rev., 74.
Monument to, 74. Vaux, Geo., 483, 484. Vawter, C. E.. 447, 527. Venable, C. S., review, 526. Virginia, Antiquities of, review. 449, 528. Jamestown, 449. Preston on, review, 65-68. Military Institute, mon. at. 261. see Wm. an^i Mary College Quarterly, and Va. Mag. Hist, and Biog. Virginia Dare, review, 401-406. Va. Mag. of Hist, and Biog., re- view, 248-250, 438-439. Voyages of Elisabethan Seamen to America, rev,, 401-406.
Withers. Thos.. 489. Waddell, A, M.. 171. 444- Warder, E.. 480. Warder, Jeremiah, 483. Warder, R., W.. .398, 478- Warder, Solomon, 483.
Digitized by
Index.
565
Warder, W., 483, 484. Warner, Wm., 483. IVas Texas Included in the Louis- iana Purchase? 351-387. Washington, Geo., close of his
administration, 156. Charleston Tablet to, 348. and Lafayette, 158. on Randolph, 154. Relics of, 348. Washington, Martha, tea party,
156. Washington Manor Assoc. 542. Watkins, Thomas and children.
230. Watson, A. R.. 332. Watson, John, 391, 477. 485. Watson, Thos. E., review, 419-
420. Waul, Gen., 85. Weaver, Saml., 489. Weber, W. L., review, 80, 514. Weeks, S. B., 96, 401-406, 502. Wells, E. L., review, by, 62-63,
415-417, S19-521. Welsh. Herbert. 171. West Virginia Historical Magazine
Quarterly, review, 334-335,
When the Gates lift up their Heads,
review, 523-524. White Doe, review, 401-406. White, Miles, Jr.. art. by, 300-
303, 388-400, 477, 496. White, R. L. C, review. 530. Whitehead, Elizabeth, John. 390 Whitman myth, review, 257-258. Whitney. Eli. review, 429. Who Goes There? review, 62-63. Willford, Rebecca. 397. William and Mary Coll. Quarterly,
review, 251-252, 532-533-
Williamson, John, 495.
Wills, G. S., review by, 53-56, 316,
521-523. Wilmcr, R. H., review, 417-419. Wilsford, John, 398. Wilson, B., 263. Wilson, E. M., review, 428. Wilson, Mary Ljme, 263. Wilson, Sarah, 397. Wilson, Stephen, 398. Wilson, W., review, 84, 173, 500. Wilson, W. H., a^. by, 203-290. Wilson, W. L., 95.
Cleveland on, 289.
death of, 97.
Quarles on. 256-257, 286-287.
Reed on, 290.
sketch of, 263-290.
Slater Trustees on. 340. Wiltshire, J. G., review, 238. Winston, G. T., 96, 258. 442. Wis. State Hist. Soc, 90-91. Withers, Thos., 489. Wolfenbarger, S., 455. Woodward, A. B., 338. Wright. M. J., 95.
art. on Muhlenberg, 181 -187.
and Polignac, 342.
review, 232, 233, 240-241.
Yaupon tea, 179.
Yardley, Enock, 307.
Yardley, Joyce, 487.
Yardley, A., T., W.. J., 398. 485. 491.
Yates, James. 391.
Year Book, Charleston, 4^.
Year Book, Va. antiquities, re- view, 528.
Yoakum and La. Purchase, 380.
Young, B. H., 443, 535.
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History of the Confederate Treasury (Continued), , . E. A. Smith, i
The South IN Olden Times, J. L. M. Curry. 35
Edward Ireland Renick, ... Gaillard Hunt. 49
Reviews and Notices, ... 53
Notes and Queries, . 85
No. 2, MARCH, 1901.
Report of the Fifth Annual Meeting, . . Colyer Meriwether, Sec'y. 95 History of the Confederate Treasury (Continued), ' . E. A. Smith. 99
William Vans Murray, Clement Sulivane. 151
The Calhoun Letters, J. L. M. Curry. 159
Reviews and Notices, '. . . 164
Notes and Queries, 175
No. j, may, 1901.
Sketch of General Muhlenberg, M. J. Wright. 181
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Carrington Genealogy, J. B. KiUebrew. a^
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Notes and Queries, 260
No. 4, JULY, 1901.
William Lyne Wilson, , . ... William H. Wilson. 263
Davis's Last Official Meeting, . M. E. Robertson. 291
Kinsby Family Data, Miles White, Jr. 300
On the History of Slavery, 304
John A. Broadus, . . . . J. L. M. Curry. 310
Reviews and Notices, 313
Periodical Literature, • • • • 334
Notes and Queries, 344
No. S.SEPTEMBER, 1901.
The Louisiana Purchase vs. Texas, John R. Ficklen. 351
Henry Baker and Descendants Miles White, Jr. 388
Lost Colony of Roanoke, . .... 401
Book Reviews, 406
Periodical Literature, 438
Notes and Queries 446
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