Richmond Bread Riot

APRIL 18, 1863.]

HARPER'S WEEKLY.

243

(Previous Page) who express these loyal sentiments are foreigners, their hearty sympathy and interest are most grateful. But if they are American citizens why not say so? Why endeavor to emphasize the fact of foreign birth? Why create more classes and divisions than actually exist? Whoever is an American citizen can have no higher title. And obviously all judicious men will wish at this time to blend as closely as possible the great mass of loyal citizens—and to avoid classifying them by any name of party or country. For all loyal men there is now but one party, that of the Government; but one country, the United States of America. When the flag floats supreme once more we may remember that we were born in America or Germany, in Ireland or France; we may discover that we belong to some political party that marches, with all the other parties, beneath that flag. But now all our hands and hearts are needed to hold it aloft and establish it securely. While the war lasts we are not Republicans or Democrats—we are not foreigners and natives—we are only loyal American citizens, resolved to stand by our Government and the Union, and to support it always in every way that it requires our aid, knowing that when the Government falls, we fall with it, and that the end of the Union is the end of peace and prosperity in every State, in every county, and in every town of the country.

GEORGE LONG DUYCKINCK.

A QUIET, faithful, patient, and industrious life ended when George Long Duyckinck died. His almost shadowy figure flitting through the street had long foretold the event; and those who knew him but slightly, like the writer of these lines, could not be surprised when they read that he was gone. Yet the notice of his death recalled other days in other lands, the bloom and bright expectancy of youth, when he too dreamed dreams and saw visions. Of literary tastes and ambition. he led the retired, unobtrusive life of a scholar and author. And if he achieved no eminent literary fame, his biography of George Herbert must be long prized by the thoughtful, religious reader, while his name will be always associated with that of his brother Evert as the joint author of that truly noble monument of literary and historical research, the Cyclopedia of American Literature.

George Duyckinck's work ends early, but it is well done; and the purity of the impression which even the intercourse of a casual acquaintance received, his fidelity, his noiseless piety, the consciousness of powers and life well used, will "plead against oblivion for his name."

THE ARGUMENT OF SEPARATION.

ONE of our faithful friends in England is Goldwin Smith, Professor of History at Oxford. He writes under the name of "Anglo-Saxon," in the London Daily News, with a vigor and knowledge which are most admirable. But he shares to some degree the feeling which was combated in a late "Letter to an English Friend" in these columns, and expresses the opinion that some kind of division might be both feasible and desirable.

In reference to this letter a friend writes to the Lounger: "I am surprised at the difficulty experienced by him and by others of the soundest English thinkers in recognizing the invincible objections to a separation and division of the States. It is not easy to see what prevents them from appreciating the case—from understanding that geographically, politically, and morally division is alike impracticable. It is only for men who hold similar opinions to those of Conway, of Kansas, to argue for separation. All those who believe in the righteousness of the cause which the North is sustaining, and who have confidence in the depth and honesty of conviction of the mass of the Northern people, ought to see that to recognize a Southern Confederacy is to be untrue to the principles which underlie all our professions, and are the ground of all our hopes.

"I was writing the other day to —, at Oxford, and citing this passage (of Goldwin Smith's). I compared with it the following sentence from his remarkable treatise on 'Irish History and Irish Character,' where, speaking of the possible relations between England and Ireland, he says: 'Independence would of course be feasible in itself, if it could only be accompanied by geographical separation; but so close a neighborhood would involve contact, and contact would bring on collision; rivalry, jealousy, hostility would spring up all the more certainly because there would be between the two countries the memory of a former union and of a recent divorce; and Ireland, menaced by the power of England, would become the ward or vassal of France or some other foreign power, which, for its own purposes, would constitute itself her protector.' This reasoning has a double force in our case; and, sufficient argument as it is, is in our case accompanied by others still stronger."

WHAT IS LOYALTY?

WHEN Mr. Fernando Wood and Mr. G. Ticknor Curtis sneer at loyalty, as a word which has no meaning in a popular government, what do they mean? When they say or insinuate that it is an emotion known only in monarchies, they merely say what the experience of every moment contradicts. Loyalty is a purely impersonal emotion, except in the case of individuals. The general British loyalty to the monarch, for instance, is like the Romish reverence for the Pope. The Briton knows nothing and cares nothing about the woman Victoria. It is the Queen who is the object of his loyalty; just as the Holy Father may be personally a scamp or a criminal; but the Pope must be infallible.

Now an Englishman is loyal to the Queen for what reason? Simply. you answer, because she is Queen. Yes; but what is the Queen in England? She is merely the visible representative of the nation. Individually she may be worthless;

but as a representative of the national power and majesty she is profoundly honored. If she were Boadicea, if she personally commanded men and swayed them by her superior genius, they would be loyal to that personal superiority. But for her subjects she is a ceremony merely; and if, in the case of Victoria, her blamelessness of life and the fact that she is a woman, create a peculiar interest, that interest has nothing to do with loyalty. Englishmen were just as loyal to that worthless popinjay George Fourth as they are to the estimable woman who is now Queen. And in each case loyalty was the same thing. It was reverence for the King and Queen. But the King and Queen in the British system are ciphers. The reverence is for their representative quality.

Now will either of the learned political pundits who deny the possibility of loyalty as an American sentiment, deny that the American citizen (excepting always Copperheads) honors the majesty and power of his Government quite as much as a British subject?

It is the national glory and grandeur—in one word, it is the Nation—which, in any civilized modern people, is the object of the emotion called loyalty. It is blended of pride and fidelity. And as in this country there is no separate and permanent representative of the nation, independent of parties in the nation, the feeling attaches itself to the Government lawfully constituted and represented. He is a loyal man who stands by it, and votes and fights for it. He is a disloyal man who tries in every way to embarrass and paralyze it; who talks about the distinction between the Administration and the Government; as if a man were at honorable liberty to refuse to obey any law, in this extremity of peril, which he may choose to call unconstitutional; or who plots with foreign Ministers for the ruin of the nation. Such a plan is disloyal, whoever is or is not loyal.

BACON.

THE noble reprint of Bacon's works edited mainly by Janes Spedding, which has hitherto been issued by Brown and Taggard, has passed into the hands of Taggard and Thompson, who have lately published the fifth volume, and will regularly complete the work, two of the remaining five volumes being already in press. As this is the finest edition of Bacon's writings ever published, so it is properly one of the handsomest books issued in this country. That its publication is continued despite the war, is a cheering illustration of the good faith of publishers, and of the sufficient welcome of so great a work by the American people. Yet it is a matter of pride not alone with the publishers but with us all. We are sprung from the same stock with the philosopher, we have not outgrown his wisdom; and we honor ourselves in arraying him for our library shelves in a manner commensurate with his worth. It is certainly to be hoped that nothing will prevent the completion of the series. And if there be one work which no American "gentleman's library should be without," it is this fine edition of Bacon.

LOYAL SOLDIERS.

IT is pleasant to remark that the prejudice against black soldiers is steadily disappearing before the record of their bravery in the field. There is no instance of their ill-conduct. In the various expeditions upon which they have been sent, although none of them have been of the greatest importance, they have shown an obedience, an alacrity, a steadiness, and bravery which are of the best augury for the future.

Nor have the direful consequences to helpless innocence which, according to many, were to follow the summons to freedom of the black race, yet been detected. The direful consequences to

helpless innocence are to be found in the story of the treatment of the blacks by the whites, not of the whites by the blacks. The remorseless and prolonged murder of the middle passage—the untold and inconceivable suffering of the subject race at the hands of brutal and irresponsible drivers—this has been the key note of the treatment of helpless innocence in the region now in rebellion. There were plenty of eloquent tears ready to flow upon the 1st of January over the fate that might befall the families of rebels. Where were the same tears for the anguish and wrong which had befallen for generations the families of the slaves of rebels?

The sympathy invoked in advance for sufferings that are purely imaginary, was only a part of the Copperhead conspiracy against the Government. If it could only be embarrassed and paralyzed; if it could only be compelled to yield to the rebellion and receive the terms that rebels might choose to impose, every Copperhead would rejoice. The end would be obtained, and every falsehood is a good enough Morgan if it only last until after election.

HUMORS OF THE DAY.

THE LAST POTATO.

'TIS my last, last potato!

Yet boldly I stand

With the calmness of Cato,

My fork in my hand.

Not one in the basket?

Must you also go?

(With sorrow I ask it)

Shall I peel ye or no?

Let's make an incision

(There's no need to peel ye),

'Twill let in the vision,

To judge if ye're mealy.

How wholesome! how truly

It smells through the mist

Good-by, my sweet Murphy,

Oh, who could resist?

If in that blest Eden

Potatoes had been

Of fruits the forbidden,

We still should have sin;

For who in his senses

Would long be in doubt

'Twixt earth with potatoes,

Or Eden without.

THE MOHOCKS.

On the 6th dune, 1712, Sir Mark Cole and three other gentlemen were tried at the old Bailey for riot, assault, and beating the watch. A paper of the day asserts that these were "Mohocks;" that they had attacked the watch in Devereux Street, slit two persons' noses, cut a woman in the arm with a penknife so as to disable her for life, rolled a woman in a tub down Snow Hill, misused other women in a barbarous manner by setting them on their heads, and overset several coaches and chairs with short clubs, loaded with lead at both ends, expressly made for the purpose. In their defense the prisoners denied that they were Mohocks, alleging that they were "Scourers," and had gone out, with a magistrate's sanction, to scour the streets, arrest Mohocks and other offenders, and deliver them up to justice. On the night in question they had attacked a notorious gambling-house, and taken thirteen men out of it. While engaging in this meritorious manner they learned that the Mohocks were in Devereux Street, and on proceeding thither found three men desperately wounded, lying on the ground. They were then attacked by the watch, and felt bound to defend themselves. As an instance of the gross misconduct of the watch, it was further alleged that they, the watch, had on the same night actually presumed to arrest a peer of the realm, Lord Hitchinbroke, and had latterly adopted the practice of going their rounds by night accompanied by savage dogs. The jury, however, in spite of this defense, returned a verdict of "Guilty;" and the judge fined the culprits in the sum of three shillings and four-pence each. It is scarcely credible that, so late as the last century, a number of young men of rank and fashion, assuming the name of a savage tribe, emulated their barbarous actions by wantonly inflicting the most disgusting cruelties on the peaceable inhabitants, particularly women, of London. And after these Mohocks, as they styled themselves, had held the town in terror for two years, after a royal proclamation had offered £100 reward for the apprehension of any one of them, when these four persons were at last brought up to justice, the amount of punishment inflicted was merely the paltry fine of 3s. 4d.

DO YOU GIVE IT UP?

When is the first walking-stick mentioned?

When Eve presented Adam with a little cane (Cain.)

Why is an acting magistrate like freezing water? Justice (just ice).

DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE.

REPORTED MOVEMENT NEAR CHARLESTON.

THE Richmond Inquirer of 3d inst. says:

The enemy have landed in force on Seabrook's, or John's Island. Three gun-boats and several transports are lying off the island. Skirmishing has already taken place between ours and the enemy's pickets. Our pickets are driven in and the enemy advancing. General Haygood has ordered all the women, children, and non-combatants removed from Adams Run, which is twenty miles from Seabrook's Island.

REPORTED BREAD RIOT AT RICHMOND.

Colonel Stewart, of the Second Indiana regiment, one of the fourteen United States officers just released by the rebels, and who has just arrived at Baltimore, makes the following statement: On Thursday last he saw from his prison window in Richmond a great bread riot, composed of about three thousand women, who were armed with clubs and guns and stones. They broke open the Government and private stores, and took bread, clothing, and whatever else they wanted. The militia were ordered out to check the riot, but failed to do so. Jeff Davis and other high officials made speeches to the infuriated women, and told them that they should have whatever they needed. They then became calm, and order was once more restored. All the other released Union officers confirm this statement. The story, however, looks very fishy.

FROM VICKSBURG.

The news from Vicksburg is not encouraging. The movement on Haines's Bluff proved a failure, and our fleet has returned to Young's Point. The bombardment of Vicksburg was postponed from the 27th ult. in consequence of a storm; but General Grant had placed a heavy battery of Parrott guns beyond the levee, in a position to reach the city, and it is said has already silenced a rebel battery opposite.

THE SUNFLOWER EXPEDITION.

The Sunflower expedition has returned to the Mississippi River. The rebels had so obstructed the channel that no progress could be made through it. An attempt was made by the enemy to hem in the fleet by obstruction front and rear, but the infantry succeeded in releasing the vessels after some skirmishing.

MORGAN WHIPPED.

The following has been received at the head-quarters of the army: MURFREESBORO, April 6, 1863.

To Major-General Halleck, General-in-Chief, Washington: General Stanley has returned from his scout, bringing in some forty or fifty prisoners and 300 serviceable horses and mules. He drove Morgan's cavalry from the peninsula, whipping them from their strong-hold, Snow Hill, north of Smithville, and, but for their precipitate retreat and the difficult nature of the country, would have had a force in their rear and captured their artillery and animals.

The enemy left quite a number of their dead, and fled toward M'Minnville, leaving many horses, saddles, and guns.      W. S. ROSECRANS.

A REBEL CAMP ATTACKED.

We learn by dispatches from Nashville, dated on 7th, that General Mitchell, with three hundred and fifty cavalry, went out on the Lebanon pike to Green Hill, and, dashing into a rebel camp, where there was a large number of conscripts, on the sabre charge, he took fifteen prisoners, killed five, and captured all their arms, horses, and equipments.

JACKSONVILLE BURNED.

The town of Jacksonville, Florida, has been burned by the Union forces under Colonel Rust, in return for the attempt of the rebels to shell it and murder all the Union inhabitants.

BATTLE OF SOMERSET.

The official dispatches from General Gilmore relative to the battle near Somerset, Kentucky, on the 30th ult., have been forwarded by General Burnside to the War Department. The action lasted five hours. The rebels were driven from their first position, which was defended by six cannon, and the second position was finally stormed and carried. The rebels, commanded by Pegram, and numbering over two thousand six hundred men, were driven in confusion to and over the Cumberland River with a loss that "will not fall far short of five hundred men." Between three and four hundred cattle were taken, and "Scott's famous rebel regiment was cut off from the rest and scattered." General Gilmore is the officer who commanded at the reduction of Fort Pulaski last April.

THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC.

General orders have been issued for a grand muster of the troops in the Potomac Army on the 10th inst., after which the muster-rolls of the different regiments will be sent to the Adjutant-General for the use of the Provost-Marshal in drafting men to fill up the regiments and batteries to their legal complement.

ELECTIONS IN CONNECTICUT AND RHODE ISLAND.

The election in Connecticut on 6th resulted in the success of the Republican ticket for State officers, and three of the four Republican nominees for Congress, while beth branches of the Legislature are strongly Republican. The Democrats lose one member of Congress. Buckingham's majority for Governor is estimated at about three thousand, being a Republican loss of six thousand since last year. The Rhode Island election likewise showed a victory for the Republicans.

FOREIGN NEWS.

THE REBEL LOAN.

Our European files by the Canada, dated on the 21st of March, detail the progress of the Confederate loan to its close in London, Liverpool, Paris, Frankfort, and Amsterdam. The bids amounted to fifteen millions of pounds sterling, and the premium averaged fully four and a half all through. The opinion of Sir Hugh Cairns as to the legality of the loan in England is published with the advertisement of the promoters.

MORE SHIPS BURNED.

The ship Washington, lately captured and bonded by the Alabama, landed at Southampton, England, about three hundred and fifty men, taken from the American vessels Golden Little, Olive Jane, and Palmetto, by the commander of the Alabama before he destroyed them. The masters of the three vessels detail the circumstances attending the outrages of Captain Semmes.

POLAND.

THE REVOLUTION.

The reports announce the end of the Polish insurrection, so far as operations in the field against Russia are concerned. Langiewicz was defeated in battle by the forces of the Czar, and driven, with many of his soldiers, into the Austrian territory. Here he was held for some time as a prisoner, his followers being placed under the surveillance of the police. The ex-Dictator was finally surrendered to the Russian authorities, and conveyed to the fortress of Cracow. It was rumored in Paris that the Czar Alexander had telegraphed to Napoleon promises of an amnesty, a liberal constitution, and the right of self-government for Poland.

THE LETTER OF MARQUE.

POSTMAN SEWARD (to old Mother Britannia).—"Letter of Marque from Mr. LINCOLN—guess there's a CHECK in it!"