January 5, 1861 Civil War News Page 2

 

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Civil War News from January 5, 1861 Harper's Weekly

Other Leafs From This Edition of Harper's Weekly

Up | January 5, 1861 Cover- Georgia Congressional Delegation | The Georgia Delegation biographies | January 5, 1861 Civil War News Page 3

 

 

 

JANUARY 5, 1861

HARPER'S WEEKLY.

2

THE GEORGIA DELEGATION IN
CONGRESS.

ROBERT TOOMBS:

 a Senator from Georgia, has already been chronicled in Harper's Weekly as one of the Representative Men of the Republic. Born in Wilkes County, where he now resides, on the 2nd of July, 1810, he received, as he grew up, the best educational advances that the State afforded ; then went to Union College, at Schenectady, New York. where he graduated; and before he had attained the legal age was admitted to practice at the bar by special statute of the Georgia Legislature. In 1837 he was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives, in which he sat (with the exception of the session of 1841) until elected to Congress in 1845. Originally a Democrat, he had turned from General Jackson after the " Force Bill," which was launched against the South Carolina nullifiers, and had joined the State Rights party of Georgia, led by Governor Troup, and known by his name. But while he admired the abstract theories of Calhoun, the young Georgian advocated that material progress, and that system of education, which has had such a wonderful effect. Taking his seat in the House of Representatives at Washington in 1845, Mr. Toombs was classed among the State Rights Whigs, but has never acknowledged fealty to either caucus or party discipline. In 1850 he joined Howell Cobb and other Democrats in the formation of the Constitutional Union Party, and the next year led off in dissolving the Whig phalanx. In 1852 he was elected to the United States Senate, where he has of late acted with the Democrats, yet ever opposed extravagance, consolidation, and humbug, and never hesitated to do what he thought right, regardless of public opinion.

ALFRED IVERSON

 The other United States Senator from Georgia, was born in Burke County in that State, on the 3rd of December, 1798 ; and after having graduated at Princeton College in 1820, commenced the practice of law at Columbus. Taking a deep interest in political matters, he was elected for three successive terms to the State House of Representatives and then to the State Senate. On the reorganization of the Superior Court he was elected Judge for a term of three years, and then re-elected for a term of four years. In 1845 he was an elector at large on the ticket which gave the vote of the State to James K. Polk, having as a colleague Governor M'Donald (recently deceased), and as a district elector on the tick-et Herschel V. Johnson, who recently run on the Presidential ticket with Judge Douglas. In 1847 he was elected, as a Democrat, a member of the Thirtieth Congress, in which Abraham Lincoln was likewise a Representative. In 1854 he was elected to the United States Senate, where he took his seat in March, 1855, and where his term will expire in March next. He has been a valuable member of the Committee on Claims, and also of the Committee on Military Affairs ; nor has he ever hesitated in the frank expression of his opinion, especially in the prolonged discussion on the naval retiring board, the action of which he afterward denounced in debate as "one of the most outrageous and disgraceful proceedings ever put on the records of the country." Although now a decided secessionist, he has not heretofore hesitated to ex-press himself (in urging the increase of the army), as an advocate of the employment of force by the General Government to secure the execution of the Federal laws.

PETER E. LOVE

Representative from the First District, was born near Dublin in Georgia, on the 7th of July, 1818, and was left an orphan at an early age. Educated under the guardianship of his brother-in-law, General Eli Warren, he entered Franklin College in 1834, where he remained until 1837, when he left to commence the study of medicine. The next year he attended the lectures at Philadelphia; but not fancying the medical profession, he returned to Georgia, where he so diligently prepared himself for the bar that he was admitted to practice in 1839. In 1840 he took an active part in the Presidential election, aiding in giving the electoral vote of Georgia to General Harrison, and in 1843 he was elected Solicitor- General of the Southern Judicial Circuit, in which capacity he won high honors. In 1844 he again did yeoman's service in the Whig ranks in favor of Henry Clay, but afterward joined in the Constitutional Union movement, and in 1853 was appointed Judge of the Southern Judicial Circuit by Governor Cobb, a position which he continued to hold by repeated elections. In 1859 he was elected to the House of Representatives, and while a zealous advocate of the rights of his State, he has carefully looked after the interests of the city of Savannah, in his own district, securing the mail-service with Havana, and otherwise aiding the progress of that flourishing sea-port.

MARTIN J. CRAWFORD,

 of Columbus, is the efficient representative from the Second Congressional District, and the readers of Harper's Weekly will remember the previously published sketch of his life. Descended from the Crawfords so honorably identified with the history of Georgia, he was born in Jasper County, on the 17th of March, 1820 ; completed his education at the Mercer University ; was admitted to the bar, served as a member of the Georgia Legislature from 1845 to 1847, and in 1853 was elected Judge of the Superior Court for the Chattahoochee Circuit. In 1855 he was elected a member of the House in the Thirty-fourth Congress, and has since been a leading spirit among those who are opposed to extravagant expenditure as necessarily leading to a consolidation of the Federal Government. On the questions which have brought about the present crisis he has ever taken a decided stand.

THOMAS HARDEMAN,

 the representative from the Third or Macon District, was born in Bibb County, Georgia, on the 12th of January, 1825, and after having graduated at Emory College in 1845, engaged in mercantile pursuits, with great success. He was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 1853, and again in 1857. and was a State Senator in the intermediate

term of 1855. In the Presidential contest of 1856 Fillmore carried the Macon District by 65 votes, and Mr. Hardeman was elected by 153 majority, after a close contest. Although he has made no public declaration of his views on the great question of the day, he is not in any wise behind his colleagues in the expression of his devotion to State Rights.

LUCIUS J. GARTRELL,

 the Representative from the Fourth Congressional District, was born in Wilkes County, Georgia, on the 7th of January, 1821. After completing his education at Macon College, Virginia, and Franklin College, at Athens, Georgia, he studied law, was admitted to the bar, and in 1843 was elected Solicitor-General of the Northern Judicial Circuit. In 1847 he resigned this position, having been elected to the State Legislature, but was re-elected in 1849, so efficiently had he before discharged his duties. In 1856 he was one of the Presidential electors who gave the vote of the State to James Buchanan ; in 1857 he was elected a Representative in the Thirty-Fifth Congress ; and in 1859 he was re-elected to the present Congress. An experienced and able debater, he has spoken on most of the prominent questions be-fore the House since he has been a member, especially on the contested election cases. On the question of Southern Rights he has taken a decided stand, and in January, 1860, he gave notice in a speech that—to use his own words—" the is-sues are fully made up, and the trial between right and wrong, justice and injustice, lawlessness and the Constitution, union and disunion, will soon be had [at the Presidential election], and I pray God that the result at the ballot-box may not be such as to force upon my people the dire necessity of appealing to the cartridge-box."

JOHN W. H. UNDERWOOD,

the Representative from the Fifth District, was born in Elbert County, Georgia, November 20, 1816. Receiving a thorough education, he studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1834, when he soon took a high rank in his profession, and in 1843 was elected by the General Assembly Judge of the Western Circuit, a position which he resigned in 1847. In 1850 he was elected a member of the Constitutional Convention, and espoused the cause of Southern Rights, siding with the late Governor McDonald against the Union candidate, Howell Cobb, in their famous gubernatorial struggle. Presidents Pierce and Buchanan each tendered him a judicial appointment; but he declined. In 1857 he was elected a member of the lower branch of the Georgia Legislature, and was chosen Speaker. In 1859 he was elected to Congress by a very large majority, and was prominent in his endeavors to consolidate the entire Southern vote with that of the Northern Democrats in the election of Speaker, which was known to be indicative of the Presidential choice. But he ever avowed his belief that the Constitution of the United States is a compact, and that each State, as a party to the compact, is—in case of its infraction —to judge of the mode of redress.

JAMES JACKSON,

 who represents the Sixth, or Athens District, was born in Jefferson County, in 1819, and is of that Jackson family so long and so honorably identified with the history of Georgia. After having completed his studies at Franklin College, where he graduated in 1837, he read law, and was admitted to the bar in 1840. In 1842 he entered political life, and was elected Secretary to the State Senate ; in 1845, and again in 1847, he was elected a member of the State House of Representatives ; in 1849 he was elected by the Legislature Judge of the Western Circuit ; and in 1853, and again in 1857, the people re-elected him to the same position. Nominated for Congress, he re-signed his judgeship, and was elected, taking his seat in December, 1857.

JOSHUA HILL,

 who represents the Seventh District, was born in Abbeville District, South Carolina, but removed to Georgia early in life. Al-though not favored with a collegiate education he was a diligent student, and in due time was admitted to the bar. Here he acquired a high reputation, and was honored with several local trusts ; until, in 1857, he was elected by the American party to Congress, and re-elected in 1859, when the contest was so close that he only had 139 majority, Fillmore having received at the previous Presidential election 84 majority. He is devotedly attached to national American principles, and has always refused to join in the discussion of slavery on the floor of the House, regarding it as a strictly local question, on the merits or demerits of which Congress has no right to talk or to legislate. But he has avowed himself a Southern Rights man. " I am prepared," said he, three years since, " to assert my rights, and shall be ready when the time comes, if it ever should—which God in his mercy avert !—to assert them to the utmost extreme. I shall stand pre-pared to take my destiny with those who are indissolubly linked with me. These are no idle enunciations. I deal not in them. They are the earnest convictions of my heart, and I will deceive no man. I say to the North, before you shall succeed to power, if you do obtain the possession of the Government, by all the glories of your boasted Bunker Hill ; by the memories of your Pilgrim Fathers, whom I have never traduced, and never will ; by the common blood that was poured out at Concord and Lexington and Saratoga, and on the battle-fields of the South, I implore you to give up and abandon this idea, which is suicidal to the Confederacy, of restricting the institution of slavery to its present limits. What would you say in the event our country shall expand ? But if you have determined to go on, if you have sworn in your hearts never to relent, you may, and perhaps will, have the power; but whenever you seek to use it, the unhappy day will have arrived when this nation, and civilized man throughout the world, will have cause to lament the dire calamity involved in your success."

JOHN J. JONES,

 the Representative from the Eighth District, is the only son of Hon. Seaborn H. Jones, of Burke County, where be was born on the 13th November, 1824. After having graduated with honor at Emory College, he studied law,

and was admitted to practice in 1848. After the retirement of Alexander H. Stephens he was elected as his successor, and enjoys the general esteem of his colleagues from all sections.

HARPER'S WEEKLY.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 1861.
THE ABANDONMENT OF FORT
MOULTRIE.

THE country is thrown into a state of great excitement by the intelligence that, on Christmas night, the gallant Major ANDERSON, commanding the United States force at FORT MOULTRIE, abandoned that fort, and removed all his command to FORT SUMTER. The guns at FORT MOULTRIE have been spiked, and the gun-carriages burned. FORT SUMTER IS a work of great strength, and, with the force now in it, commanded as it is, can be held securely against any army that South Carolina can bring against it. FORT MOULTRIE, on the other hand, was a very weak position, and could not have been defended against a vigorous attack. The movement reflects the greatest credit on the judgment of Major ANDERSON, who, it seems, acted exclusively on his own responsibility in the matter, and without consultation with the Government or with General SCOTT.
These PICTURES, studied in connection with the news of the day, will enable readers to form an accurate idea of the important events which are now occurring at Charleston.

THE FALL OF PEKIN.
IF the public mind in this country were not so wholly engrossed with our own political troubles, the news brought by the Persia—that the allied French and English have taken Pekin—would have been the chief topic of conversation ever since. We doubt whether any event of equal importance to the world at large has taken place since the Battle of Waterloo or the establishment of American Independence.
To realize its moment, people must bear in mind that nearly one half the population of the world are subjects of the Emperor of China; that these millions are generally educated, industrious, refined, and enlightened; and that if they could be pried out of the groove in which they have been traveling for ever so many centuries, and fairly introduced into the family of nations, the effect on the general movement of civilization and commerce would be something like what would follow the establishment of intercourse between this and another of the planets in our system.
It is popularly supposed that we have inter-course with China. We have a treaty which allows us to trade at five ports. But all sailors agree that one sees a great deal more of China at any good Chinese museum than at Hong Kong, Amoy, Foo-Chow, Ning-po, or Shanghai. At most, if not all these places, the anchorage for ships is many miles from the town ; and if it were not, the prejudices of the Chinese and municipal laws do not permit foreigners to travel through their streets. Until the recent capture of Canton it was as much as a man's life was worth to walk through the Chinese city. Mr. Fortune, who traveled through the tea districts, and Father Hue, who traversed the kingdom from Thibet, both bear witness to the imminent peril of life which awaits explorers of the Flowery Land. It has always been the fixed policy of the Chinese empire to restrict their intercourse with foreigners to within the narrowest possible limits—to sell teas and silk, but to buy as few goods as possible—and to take no ideas at all from abroad. That policy has been in harmony with the prejudices of the Chinese people ; and hence, though Chinese tea and Chinese silk have been in use in this country for a century or so, we are no nearer under-standing the Chinese, and they are no nearer understanding us, than we were when the Encyclopedists painted China as the model empire.
The capture of Pekin must change all this. It is not likely that the Allies will conclude a peace without securing material guarantees for the concessions they will exact from China. It is probable that they will demand the possession of some strong places in the interior, in order to protect foreigners traveling or trading. They will, of course, obtain the right of establishing embassies at Pekin, with such military force as may be necessary to guard them. New commercial treaties will doubtless be concluded, and an indemnity claimed which, for a few years, will reverse the silver tide that has so long set Asia-ward.
Of the ultimate result we can not yet speak. The empire of China is understood to be in the

 

last stage of dissolution, and the fairest provinces to be in the hands of rebels and a prey to anarchy. The Allies may find that the capture of Pekin has devolved upon them the duty of reconstructing the government of the empire. Whether the task could be accomplished, and, if so, by what expedients and on what principles, none can yet undertake to decide. It is not likely, however, that the capture of Pekin, and the predominance of European power in China, are likely to render the ultimate settlement less advantageous than it would otherwise have been to the cause of commerce and civilization.

THE LOUNGER
THE INVERTED YEAR.
THE year is utterly inverted—turned completely upside down. June is changed into December, and through double windows the sitter by the fire looks out upon brown and leafless trees. But the poet reminds us, as the imagination begins to sympathize with the desolation,
"In a drear-nighted December,
Too happy, happy tree,
Thy branches ne'er remember
Their green felicity;
The north can not undo them,
With a sleety whistle through them,
Nor frozen thawings glue them
From budding at their prime."
The trees preach patience through the long, long months in which they stand so rugged and bare. Just now the year draws to its shortest days. The bitter cold closes the streams and stiffens the ponds. There is an unnatural brightness and silence in the woods, as in a chamber where some one died yesterday. How still the nights are! The multitudinous murmur of the summer nights—was it real ? Were there sultry moonlights? Were there gargling brooks, and rustling trees, and the voices of katydids, and crickets, and owls, and tree-toads, and the hum of insects, and lowing of cattle, and sounds of music upon calm waters, and the song of midnight loiterers in boats? Where are they now?
Yet as the days dwindle they lead us to the festal season of the year, and bring Santa Claus back again. They lead us to New Year's, and the kindly words of mutual greeting. In the silence of the sparkling midnights, as we listen, although we hear no sound of katydid and cricket, we may perhaps hear another music, another softer, far-off carol, " Peace on earth, good-will to men !"
And we need to hear that just now, if we can only hear it rightly, and understand that death is not peace. Men ought to forbear and conciliate and entreat kindly, provided that they do not yield what they honestly prefer to a present peace. There are better things than the enforced peace of a day or a year; and the permanent peace of a great principle is one of them.
The builder is a fool who plasters over the crack in his wall, in-stead of making the wall fast. The plaster may hold to-day, and the wall comes down to-morrow. You may have peace with a highwayman who puts a pistol to your head if you will only give him your purse. But your momentary peace is purchased at the expense of that of society.

TRAVELING.
STEPPING from the train at Marshall, in the State of Michigan, to ask a question at the office, a traveler was amused to read a notice above a blackboard, "No questions answered at the office. The latest information to be found here," or words to that effect ; of course, " here" was a blank board, and if a traveler wanted any kind of information he might whistle for it, or consult the depths of his interior consciousness, for there were " no questions answered at the office." ;
Some time since a gentleman at the West wrote to the Lounger in reply to some strictures upon the manners of railway officers made by another correspondent. He said very justly that the ticket-dealer was the helpless victim of every bore and fool who wished to vent endless silly questions. A man will ask him what time it is with a clock straight before his nose, and so forth. It is, of course, trying ; but it is certainly better to endure the idle talker than to snub the sincere inquirer. Nor ought any man to erect an exception into a rule; but rough, short treatment is, at least, frequent treatment upon our railroads.
Here is a letter from another traveler who has had experiences:
" My wife, worn-out with nursing me, had gone on before to Boston. I came by the 'Old Colony Road.' It was fair when I started, but raining when the train stopped. A high board fence on each side. Perhaps f was in a comatose state: I know that I had been for an hour breathing with difficulty the nasty, stinking, sulphury, smoky, dusty, and feculent atmosphere of the car, and I can not answer for my senses under such circumstances. I did not know, and was not informed, that we had arrived
 


 

 

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