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MAJOR-GEN. HALLECK, U.S.A.
ON the
preceding page
we publish a portrait of the new Commander in Missouri,
MAJOR-GENERAL HALLECK,
United States Army, from a photograph kindly furnished us by Mrs. Halleck.
Major-General Henry Wager Halleck
was born on Long Island, New York, about the year 1818, and graduated at West
Point in the class of 1839. He stood second in his class, Brigadier-General
Stevens, of Oregon, now in command of a brigade at
Beaufort, South Carolina, alone outranking him.
On the 1st July, 1839, he received a commission as Second Lieutenant of
Engineers, and remained at the Academy as Professor for a year.
In 1841 he published a military
work on ''Bitumen and its Uses," etc. In January, 1845, he was appointed First
Lieutenant; and during that year he was selected, by the committee of the Lowell
Institute, at Boston, to deliver one of the regular courses of lectures—the
subject being " Military Science and Art." These lectures he compiled into a
neat volume during the following year, adding thereto a lengthy introduction on
the " Justifiableness of War." The work contains much valuable elementary
instruction, as well as abundance of historical illustration, and is written
with marked ability. In 1847 he was breveted Captain for gallant conduct in
affairs with the enemy on the 19th and 20th days of November, 1847, and for
meritorious service in California. He was Secretary of State of the province of
California, under the military governments of Generals
Kearney, Mason, and
Riley, from 1847 to the end of 1849. He was chief of the staff to Commodore Shubrick in the naval and military operations on the Pacific coast in 1847 and
1848, and was a member of the Convention in 1849 to form, and of the Committee
to draft, the Constitution of the State of California. In July, 1853, he was
appointed Captain of Engineers, and resigned August 1, 1854.
Independent of his military
capacity, General Halleck is noted as an able lawyer, he, at the time of his
appointment, being the principal partner in the law firm of Halleck, Billings, &
Co., of San Francisco. He left his lucrative business to take up arms in defense
of the cause of the Government of the United States, and was created by Congress
a Major-General of the Army, his commission bearing date August 19, 1861. He is,
with good authority, reputed to be a very wealthy man and a good soldier.
He has just published a most
important work on " International Law," the fruit of fifteen years' study.
The country expects great things
of General Halleck. His past record and his physiognomy encourage the belief
that these expectations will not be disappointed.
HARPER'S WEEKLY.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1861.
THE PROSPECT.
THE
arrest of the rebel
ex-Senators Mason and Slidell fills the cup of the perplexities of
the traitors. Upon the success of the efforts of those experienced politicians
the last hope of the insurgents depended. From the first they admitted that they
were incapable of coping with the North ; but they relied on the power of
King Cotton, and felt certain that Great
Britain and France would help them by breaking the blockade. Seven months of
actual warfare without European interference have somewhat shaken that
conviction ; but still it was hoped that the consummate address of Mason and
Slidell would yet verify the predictions of the authors of the rebellion. The
capture of these worthies overturns the scheme, and annihilates the rebel hopes
at a blow.
In truth, as we remarked in a
recent number, the hand of a just Providence has been heavily laid, of late,
upon the wicked wretches who have tried to destroy our Government.
The published correspondence
between Secretary Memminger and the cotton planters shows that the latter are
grievously straitened by the want of a market for their produce; those who
reflect upon the wants of a slave-holding planter will readily realize how
imperious his necessities are, and how intolerable the war has rendered his
condition.
Governor Pickens's Message affords further
evidence of the suffering of the rebels. Refugees all agree in stating that the
distress which prevails at
New Orleans, Mobile, and other cities which
were formerly centres of Southern activity and industry, is without precedent in
history. Every branch and description of business is paralyzed, and thousands of
people are fed daily at New Orleans by a State charity. The strength of the
South is now its weakness : the people who have grown rich by using the labor of
4,000,000 of human beings without paying them for it, are now impoverished by
the necessity of feeding and clothing those four millions without getting any
return for their outlay. The merchant has no business to transact ; the
ship-owner can not get his ships to sea the planter can not sell his produce ;
the laborer can not obtain work; all classes are suffering acutely from the want
of articles of prime necessity-woolen cloths, leather, boots, needles, drugs,
tools of all kinds, and the thousand and one articles for which the shiftless
South has always been dependent on the industrious North. In a military, aspect
the South has lost ground steadily ever since the
battle of Bull Run. Our
fortifications at
Washington are now impregnable, and the hope of
taking that city is lost forever. Maryland is now firmly secured to the Union,
and we garrison Accomac County, Virginia. Kentucky has cast her lot with the
North :
Zollicoffer has abandoned the all-important position of
Cumberland Gap, and it seems doubtful now
whether all the forces of Tennessee will save Buckner from the fate of Williams.
The rebels have been fairly expelled from the soil of Missouri. The defeat of
Lyon and the
capture of Lexington have proved barren
victories, which have cost the rebels men and money, and have had the same
results as would have ensued from defeats. On the coast we hold
Hatteras, which puts an end to privateering; we
hold
Port Royal, the best sea-port on the Atlantic
coast ; we hold
Fort Pickens, and will soon be in possession of
Pensacola: our blockade is as nearly perfect as any blockade can be. Every
privateer sent to sea by the insurgents has either been taken or wrecked ; our
ships sail as safely through the Gulf of Mexico as they did before the war. On
every side we see the same evidences of decay of rebel strength and defeat of
rebel schemes.
On the other hand, the Nation has
during the past summer been slowly gathering up its strength for the fight, and
the result is one of which an American citizen may well be proud. The United
States have at present fully 475,000 men under arms, including the regiments not
yet sent forward from their States. They have over 200 ships of war of various
kinds at sea and in the various dock-yards and navy-yards—enough to blockade
every creek from the capes of the Chesapeake to the Rio Grande. And—what is
still more important—they have plenty of money to pay their soldiers and sailors
and to carry on the war. The Associated Banks of New York, Philadelphia, and
Boston have already lent the Government $150,000,000, and another sum of
$50,000,000 will be forthcoming on 1st January ; besides which the people have
taken and hold in circulation $13,000,000 of United States Notes, payable on
demand, and are increasing the amount daily. All this has been done without any
panic or trouble in the money market ; there has been no danger of any
suspension of specie payments, or forced circulation of paper money; and there
is no prospect of any thing of the kind. Our foreign relations are steadily
improving. In April last, Europe was satisfied that " the republican bubble had
burst." Now every Court in Europe is satisfied that the Republic is strong
enough to maintain itself against all comers, and the Foreign Minister of
England expressly warns British subjects against infringing our blockade. There
is no fear now that Europe will interfere with the suppression of the rebellion.
We have, since July last,
reconquered Missouri, Kentucky, and Maryland ; we have rendered Washington safe
beyond all hazard ; we have occupied two important sea-ports on the rebel coast
; we have created an army out of the mob which flocked to the defense of the
country when the war broke out; we have got rid of incompetent officers, and
placed our best soldiers at the head of our troops ; we have created a navy ; we
have, in a word, developed in this country a military and naval strength equal,
if not superior, to that of France, and decidedly superior to that of any other
nation in the world.
We are now commencing our work.
The past has been experimental merely. We are now going to see how long five to
six millions of people, without industry, without money, without military
resources, and with the distracting element of three and a half millions of
natural enemies among them, can resist the deliberately gathered strength of
twenty-one millions of people, who have emphatically staked their lives, their
fortunes, and their sacred honor on the suppression of the rebellion and the
maintenance of their united nationality. Every day now we shall be making
history.
THE
LOUNGER.
A FRIEND just from England says
that he met very few Englishmen who were not in full sympathy with the rebellion
in this country; and yet not one of them thought that in any case England would
or should interfere. The persons he saw were chiefly of the mercantile class,
and they naturally regard our affairs from the single point of commercial
interest. They do not understand, nor ought they to be expected to understand,
the merits of the case.
But this testimony only confirms
the conviction that we are vindicating ourselves in every way by this war. We
have to teach other Powers that we are a nation. We have, by the maintenance of
our Government, to put Toryism of every kind in the wrong. We have, by the same
means, to conquer the confidence of Trade. The malicious hate of the London
Times, the sneering, caustic flippancy of the Saturday Review can not be changed
by argument nor propitiated by silence. They will hiss, and strike, and sting as
they have begun. They will disbelieve in our success until we succeed, and then
they will prophesy that our success is a delusion. The spirit that animates such
journals will never he just, or candid, or noble, or friendly, or human. It will
always be British, and nothing else.
But the British ignorance and
jealousy of America and American affairs will not, as our friend testifies,
and as the chief organs of
opinion show, lead England to embroil herself in our struggles. To do so would
be to plunge the world into war. The occasion of interference would be the
English necessity of cotton. But the first question that Power asks herself is,
of course, whether war helps her chances of getting it. But how much cotton is
she likely ever to carry from America if she tries to obtain it forcibly? Such a
movement upon the part of England would stir us scarcely less than this
rebellion. The whole energy of our people, devoted for the last half century,
with such amazing success, to trade, would be turned to war. We should accept
arms as our career for a generation. The
slaves would be at once emancipated without any
more hair-splitting. The cotton that was not destroyed by brave bands in the
store-houses would be convoyed to England by a fleet. The vast merchant service
of the United States, suddenly changed to war ships, would strike at English
commerce in every sea. The American market for British cotton goods would be
lost. The American supply of grain would be cut off. The five million of English
subjects who live upon starvation wages, and for whose relief the war would be
waged, would become at once the most dangerous army of paupers in the very heart
of the kingdom. How much cotton is England likely to get, and at what price,
when these are the necessary expenses ?
Recognition of the rebellious
section as an independent power would not help Manchester to cotton. There are
certain immutable truths in the conduct of human affairs; and one of the most
fixed is, that a great living people like those of the Northern States of this
country will not suffer themselves to be expunged as a nation without a
struggle, which will be proportioned in energy to their youth, their vigor,
their intelligence, and their Saxon quality.
In the event of some great
disaster to our arms, it is the opinion of the most enlightened Americans in
Europe that the rebellious section would be acknowledged as independent. But
they surely deceive themselves who suppose that such a movement would compel us
to submit to the insurrection. It might compel us to a long and terrible
struggle. But we are quite as prepared for war, all things considered, as any
nation. If we did not come out unscathed, certainly England would not come out
scathless.
England has thrown away our
friendship. For if she has any statesman who knows the course of our current
history, he is aware that the spirit in our politics which has hitherto
alienated foreign sympathy is precisely the spirit which is now trying to
destroy our Government. Consequently the opposing spirit is one which would have
bound us more strongly in friendly ties with other powers. Had those powers, and
especially England, valued our friendship, they would have shown us natural
sympathy. Certainly the fault is not ours that we are now more separated in
feeling than at any time since the Revolution. Certainly the fault will not be
ours even if English jealousy becomes active and goes to war. That is not
probable. But the alienation of the two nations is already accomplished.
EXCHANGE OF PRISONERS.
OUGHT we to exchange prisoners
with the rebels? And if so, how shall it be done?
After the battle of Bull Run,
when Secretary Cameron sent a letter to " whom it may concern" for the recovery
of the body of the Colonel of the New York Seventy-ninth, the rebel General
looked at the note, and said, sarcastically, " It doesn't concern me," and
dismissed the messengers.
In a war of this kind words are
things. General Washington would not receive letters addressed to him simply as
George Washington, Esquire. He required to he addressed as General of an army.
It was natural, for he was a General of an army. Whether the British thought
that he was rightfully so, was not his affair. So the rebels have an army : an
army marshaled to undo the work of Washington. And the leaders of that army are
Generals, or commanding officers. Is there any harm in saying so? If the address
will lead to negotiations by which good men may be recovered, is there any
sacrifice of honor?
On the other hand, if the
condition of an exchange of prisoners be that the rebel leaders shall be
addressed by the United States as a Government, we ought not to wish for an
exchange. If we can not recover our brave men in any other way than by calling
Mr. Davis President of the Confederate States,
the brave men who have been taken prisoners while resisting that claim would be
the very first to refuse an exchange. The army of the rebels is a fact, and must
be so treated; but their government is a mere pretense, and must be so regarded.
But again, if they choose to
release our captive soldiers upon their oath not to bear arms against them, that
is a matter for the soldiers themselves to decide. The difficulty in the way of
our doing the same, is the fact that the rebels regard us as the Spaniards
regarded Protestants, and hold that there need be no faith with heretics. If
Southern officers do not feel themselves bound by the flag and their oath to the
service of their country, why should we expect them to be bound by any other
oath of allegiance or inaction ? If Floyd should be caught and released upon his
oath, would there be any doubt that he would fire at us the first gun he safely
could ? And if Floyd would do it—we do do not wish to insult any man by
comparing him to Floyd—but could we wisely expect his soldiers to regard their
oath?
There are not wanting those who
say that the war must be taken as a fact, and its conduct governed by the rules
of war; and that to address the Confederates as a power, in order to effect an
exchange, is not to regard them any less as rebels. But is there much doubt that
such an act at the close of the first campaign, and under all the circumstances
of that campaign, would be regarded by other nations as a most significant and
suspicious sign?
The question is grave. It is a
terrible thing to leave our brave men in the hands of such an enemy as the
rebels. It is hard for men going into battle to think that, if captured, they
can not be exchanged. But it is a consciousness that weighs equally upon both
parties. And if the condition of exchange be the verbal concession of the claims
of the rebellion, will not many a soldier say, "Yes, it is hard enough. But it
is the way in which we must do our duty. 'They also serve who only stand and
wait?'"
THE WAR AND PUBLIC CRITICISM.
THE great principles of our
political system are still undisturbed although we are at war. The right of
candid discussion is not lost, nor is honorable criticism of the management of
public affairs suppressed, or sought by any intelligent man to be suppressed.
Constant, unsparing, unscrupulous attacks upon the Administration, prompted by
palpable sympathy with treason, will be stopped with the cordial approbation of
all loyal citizens. In like manner, incessant sneers, taunts, gibes, and
insinuations upon the part of men and papers whose loyalty can not be suspected,
although not to be repressed by authority, will certainly be condemned by
patriotism and the public good sense.
We are to bear in mind that the
administration of the Government in its present hands follows and does not lead
the popular will.
Mr. Lincoln is a man of unsuspected honesty,
and entirely unselfish in the dangerous sense. He is emphatically our Chief
Magistrate. His aim is to enforce the letter of the law, and to be guided
implicitly by the wishes of the nation. Hence, when
General Fremont issued his proclamation fleeing
the slaves of rebels, the President, who did not mean to pass beyond the strict
letter himself, and did not intend that any of his officers should, modified the
proclamation so as to bring it verbally within the exact scope of the Act of
confiscation. Congress, or the representatives of the people, had just
adjourned, after saying precisely what they wished to have done. The President
was of opinion that it was not for him or any other officer to do any thing more
or less.
Public opinion is thus
emphatically the guide of the emergency; and public opinion can arise only
through honest and loyal debate. The utmost candor in the discussion of all
subjects, limited only by good faith and common sense, is therefore the
condition of our success. If the discussion be not conducted in good temper, and
with a tone which indicates an earnest wish for success—if it be captious, and
clearly the result of prejudice and spleen —the remedy, and it is a sure one,
lies in the same public opinion. To abdicate the right of fair and firm
criticism at this era of our history is to betray the citadel. It is a Turkish
stupor of subservience which would calmly stare upon the ruin of the state. But
while this is evident, it is no less so that, while frank discussion of men and
methods is essential to the success of our cause, carping, jealous, sneering
innuendo, or peevish and skeptical acquiescence, are only less hurtful than open
treason.
McCLELLAN'S MOTTO.
GENERAL McCLELLAN'S speech, a few weeks since,
upon receiving the Philadelphia sword, has been justly and universally
commended. It was manly, and therefore simple and modest. He took the sword as
an earnest of public confidence, not as a reward of service. He hoped, he said,
to deserve it. We know that he will.
It is old news now ; but one
phrase in his speech is golden. It should be stamped upon all our hearts: "I ask
in the future, Forbearance, Patience, Confidence"—these three; and who will
refuse them ?
One thing is very clear, and that
is, that no means of ending the war and restoring the peaceful supremacy of the
Government are to be considered out of order for debate. It is idle, for
instance, to say that no abolition capital shall be made out of the war. It is
idle, because if the Government of the United States can not be maintained
without abolishing slavery, it will be abolished. John Cochrane said in New
York, that "though he was not in favor of making this a war of emancipation, yet
if the exigencies of the service required the putting of arms into the hands of
the negroes to fight for the Union, he was heartily in favor of availing
ourselves of such a chance of war. This expedient would he no more than our
enemies world do toward us. He thought this the general opinion of those who had
gone to fight the battles of the Union." And he repeated the sentiment in
Washington.
No man of common sense thinks
otherwise. For why should we hold up an enemy with one hand; and knock him over
with the other?
General Fremont undoubtedly
touched the spring of the rebellion in his proclamation. The President, in his
letter of modification, did not deny that, as a military necessity, it was
competent for any General of a Department to take such a step, but he did not
think that the necessity yet existed; and with that scrupulous regard for the
wishes of the nation, as expressed in Congress, which becomes every Chief
Magistrate, he asked Fremont to make his proclamation conform to the letter of
the law passed at the last session.
The words of the law are as
follows. They are the Fourth Section of the Act to confiscate property used for
insurrectionary purposes: "And be it further enacted, that whenever any person
claiming to be entitled to the service or labor of any other person, under the
laws of any State, shall employ such person in aiding or promoting any
insurrection, or in resisting the laws of the United States, or shall permit him
to be so employed, he shall forfeit all right to such service or labor, and the
person whose labor or service is thus claimed shall be henceforth discharged
therefrom, any law to the contrary notwithstanding."
Events march—to use a Gallicism.
The Congress that meets in December will have been instructed (Next
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