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HARPER'S WEEKLY.
SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 1863.
TO
ADVERTISERS.
HARPER'S WEEKLY has a circulation
of OVER ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND COPIES, which are scattered over the whole country.
Every number is probably read by eight or ten persons, so that advertisements in
its pages reach the eye of more individuals than advertisements in any other
periodical. It is essentially a home paper, and is found in every country house
whose inmates take an interest in the thrilling events of the day. It is not
destroyed after being read, as daily papers are, but is kept, and in many cases
bound, placed in a library, and referred to from time to time. Advertisers who
wish to bring their business to the notice of the public at large, and
especially of the householding class, can find no medium so suitable for their
purpose as Harper's Weekly.
Advertisements on the last page
of Harper's Weekly ONE DOLLAR per line; inside SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS per line. The
space allotted to advertisements is limited, and an early application is
advisable to secure a place.
NEGRO TROOPS.
THE magnificent behavior of the
Second Louisiana colored regiment at
Port Hudson recalls the fact that it is just
two years since a warning, uttered in the columns of this journal, that if this
war lasted we should arm the negroes, and use them to fight the rebels, was
received with shrieks of indignation, not only at the South and in such
semi-neutral States as
Maryland and
Kentucky, but throughout the loyal North and
even in the heart of New England. At that time the bulk of the people of the
United States entertained a notion that it was unworthy of a civilized or a
Christian nation to use in war soldiers whose skin was not white. How so
singular a notion could have originated, and how men should have clung to it in
the face of the example of foreign nations and our own experience in the wars of
1776 and 1812, can only be explained by referring to the extraordinary manner in
which for forty years slavery had been warping the heart and mind of the
American people. A generation of men had grown up in awe of slavery, and in
unchristian contempt of the blacks. And that generation declared that it would
not have
negro soldiers.
It is very cheering to believers
in human progress, and to men who honestly admit that the world moves, to
perceive that the short period of two years has sufficed to cure an evil of so
long standing, and has educated even the hunkerest
Democrat of 1861 into a willingness to arm the
blacks. In the abstract, of course, it is a matter of small congratulation that
we should at last be doing a thing in itself so obviously sensible and proper
that we were clearly fools not to have done it at first. But those who remember
how deep the antipathy was, even among anti-slavery men, to any thing which
seemed to involve the remotest risk of negro insurrection; how even the most
liberal minds among us shrank from any course of policy which seemed capable of
entangling us, under any circumstances, in an admission of negro equality, will
feel no common sense of joy at our
emancipation from so narrow and mean a
prejudice.
We have from time to time
recorded the slow progress of negro enlistments, and the constant obstacles
which have been encountered by the far-seeing men who have desired to raise an
army of blacks. When
General Hunter raised among fugitive slaves the
First South Carolina black regiment at
Hilton Head, the officers of his corps—being
still uneducated to the times—refused to associate with the few brave men who
took command of the negroes; and
Secretary Stanton—still barely stammering over
the A B C of the work—declined to pay them wages because their skins were too
dark. Under the iron rule of
Butler at
New Orleans a black brigade was organized, and
so long as that grim soldier held sway discontent at the measure was prudently
silent. But when Banks succeeded a mutiny among the white troops warned the
General that his Northern men were not yet sufficiently educated to the times to
march side by side with negroes. He wisely solved the problem by sending the
blacks into garrison, and keeping the whites in the field. One regiment, it
seems, he marched against the enemy, and they, we may be sure, will not, after
Port Hudson, be again exposed to sneers or insult. At the Southwest
negroes began to pour into our lines when
Columbus fell, and the rush has never ceased. Yet, until within a few weeks, no
use has been made of them. They came in droves, begging us to employ them as
soldiers or laborers —as any thing. But our generals, slow to learn that they
were excellent fighting material, and that the lesson of the hour was to arm
them, treated them as a nuisance; sometimes fed them in idleness, sometimes sent
them back to their masters, in a few cases used them as laborers, but never,
until recently, put muskets into their hands. It was not till the month of March
last, when Adjutant-General Thomas (who two years ago was so "sound"—as the
phrase was—on the slavery question that he was even suspected of rebel
sympathies) went West at the pressing invitation
of General Blair and others, that
the necessity was discerned of making soldiers of these fugitives. Since then
ten full regiments of negroes have been formed, and are being drilled and
equipped. It is now stated that ten more regiments will shortly be organized.
Indeed there is no limit to the supply of troops which may be drawn from this
source. The valley of the Mississippi and its tributaries could furnish, in the
course of a year, an army of 100,000 men—enough to hold the country after we
have taken it.
At the North, the work of negro
enlistments progresses slowly, partly in consequence of the sparse negro
population, and partly owing to obstacles created by politicians. In this State
no negro regiment has been formed it is said to be hard work enough to obtain
the sanction of the State authorities to the formation of new white regiments.
But Massachusetts has already sent off one full regiment, commanded by Colonel
Shaw, and another is in process of formation. And the negroes of the District of
Columbia will shortly constitute a brigade, and will apply for active service.
Uneasiness is felt in some
quarters lest the rebels should execute their brutal threats of hanging the
officers of
black regiments and selling the privates into
slavery. But no apprehension need be entertained on this score. The act of the
Rebel Congress on this subject is so ingeniously framed that while appearing to
menace our black troops and their officers with dire penalties, it really remits
the whole subject of their treatment to
Jeff Davis; who, of course, will realize that
indignities offered to them would at once be followed by retaliation upon rebel
prisoners in our hands. The 8400 prisoners taken by
General Grant at Vicksburg are a pretty fair
security for our negro troops.
CARRYING THE
WAR INTO THE
NORTH.
THE prediction of the
Richmond papers that the summer campaign would
be fought on Northern soil was no idle threat. For some time past General Stuart
has been massing the advance-guard of the rebel army near Culpepper, and on 9th
a bloody fight took place between that body and a picked detachment of the Army
of the Potomac. Of the result of that encounter we know nothing as yet. But
unless Stuart has been utterly overwhelmed and scattered, we may take for
granted that even if our side has been successful the invasion of Pennsylvania
has only been deferred for a time. The rebels are determined to make us feel
"the horrors of war" in our homes. They are daring and desperate; the recent
cavalry raids into Virginia and Mississippi show how much may be effected by a
band of resolute men; there is every reason to expect, and no good reason to
doubt, but that the soil of Pennsylvania and Maryland will be invaded within the
month.
It may be asked, as it was asked
when
Lee invaded Maryland last fall, cui bono? What
can the rebels gain by invading the North? They can gain simply this—that they
will make our people feel the horrors of war, and give a practical point to the
Copperhead cry for peace. They will both satisfy their thirst for vengeance and
supply the citizens of Maryland and Pennsylvania with pretty substantial grounds
for desiring the war to be ended. These ends, in the opinion of the Richmond
press, amply justify the enterprise.
What are the prospects of
success? The answer to this depends upon the Government at
Washington. Because a brigade of swift cavalry
was able to ride through the thinly-peopled State of Mississippi without meeting
any rebel force, while another brigade contrived, by hard riding and dextrous
management, to dash across from Culpepper to Gloucester Court House, that is no
reason why a rebel corps d'armee should succeed in making good a foothold in the
thickly-peopled State of Pennsylvania—unless we are to suppose that the
Government neglects the most obvious precautions for the protection of the
North.
If, on the first indications of a
rebel purpose to cross the Potomac, the entire militia of Pennsylvania and
50,000 men from the adjacent States are called out if proper measures are taken
by competent officers to remove from points of danger, or to protect adequately
all depots of supplies; if the splendid but somehow amazingly unlucky Army of
the Potomac be manoeuvred so as to fall upon the rear of the invaders, and cut
off effectually their retreat to their base, in this case the invasion of the
North would probably prove the end of the South as a pretended nation. If,
however, matters are suffered to drift along, and the Government deludes itself
into a belief that the rebels are not energetic enough or desperate enough to
try to carry the war into Pennsylvania; or that, being in that State, they will
not prove most formidable intruders, then it will be well for loyal people to
prepare themselves for another season of heart-breaking disaster and
disappointment.
It is a very simple matter, and
one which should admit of no debate. If we can not keep the rebels out of
Pennsylvania, there must be no more talk of foreign wars, for neither could we
prevent the English from landing on our coast.
THE
LOUNGER.
WHETHER WE ARE WHIPPED.
IT seems that there are some
people who think that we are whipped. If we are so, we are all like General
Taylor, who never knew when he was beaten. It must be a peculiarity of the
American mind, and heart, and pluck that when they are discomfited they can not
see it, and push on until they succeed. In one of Thackeray's stories Major
O'Gahagan complains that somebody was killed most shockingly out of rule. By all
the established precedents it was the adversary who ought to have dropped. In
like manner our political O'Gahagans inform us that we are the party which ought
to perceive that it is dead; and that our perversity in believing ourselves to
be still alive is unpardonable. It is precisely the strain in which John Bull
has addressed us from the beginning. "Kicking's no use," sneers honest John;
"you are dead as a door-nail, if you only knew it."
That is exactly the point we can
not beat into our dull brains. Here we have been fighting for two years. We
began without an army, without a navy, with scarcely a dollar, and with no
expectation of a fight. The enemy, on the other hand, had been carefully
preparing for many years. We suddenly see that we must fight, whether we are
ready or not, and we plunge in pell-mell. We are rebuffed, defeated, and
victorious; we win and lose battles through two years of fluctuating fortune;
but meanwhile we steadily push on. We drive the lines of war further and further
into the enemy's territory. We lose no advantage we once secure; and we prevent
their own successes in the field from helping them. A battle won by us is an
enormous benefit to our cause; a battle won by them is of no practical
advantage. Take the last Rappahannock campaign as an illustration. Hooker was
defeated; and what have the rebels gained by it? Take the attack on
Vicksburg. Suppose Grant retires. We have
occupied and destroyed the position at Haines's Bluff, and at Yazoo City we have
ruined the rebel hopes that were intrusted to rams and boats, while we hold the
Yazoo River itself, flanking the city. We played for a ten-strike indeed, but to
score eight counts well in the game. Observe, then, with all our reverses, how
steadily we have proceeded in the work of opening the
Mississippi River. The war has not been an
unvarying, but it has been a persistent and accumulating success for the people
against the oligarchy which seeks their ruin.
There is but one thing necessary
to the complete success of the people, and that is, that their faith shall be
steady and patient. They have taken a great work in hand—a work which by its
very nature requires long and undaunted persistence. The gain of its success is
incalculable. The shame and ruin of its failure are inconceivable. The work can
end only in the victory of the people or of the oligarchy. To make terms with
the rebels is to concede that we are whipped, while every intelligent man in the
land knows that we have steadily advanced upon the rebellion from the first. To
consent to their separation from us is to condemn ourselves to final ruin—to
fall from a first-rate sovereign power to the wretched condition of a loose
group of small states, each one of which will be the more despised because it
was once part of a great nation.
TO
THE FOREIGN OBSERVER.
THAT foreigners, who neither
understand the character of our government nor of the war for its
maintenance—who look upon the first as a folly and the last as a crime—who can
see nothing in the sharp fight but causeless, meaningless, infamous fratricidal
slaughter, should be disposed to regard
Mr. Fernando Wood's meeting as a sign of
returning reason is not impossible. But they ought to understand, before they
attribute too much importance to that event, and before they salute Mr. Wood as
the harbinger of the millennial dawn, exactly the character and scope of the
meeting.
Its central figure was Fernando
Wood. He is a person who is known in this country, and especially in this State
and city, as having escaped legal punishment for swindling through the fortunate
operation of the statute of limitations. He is further known as the Mayor of the
city who refused to obey the laws of the State in regard to the police; who,
when the rebellion was collecting and planting its guns against the laws and
loyal citizens, apologized to the rebels that he could not help the stoppage in
New York of cannon intended for them; and who, before those cannon had begun
their bloody work, suggested to the city of New York to secede from the State.
He is still further known as the man who, after the
attack upon Sumter, insisted that the Union
must be forcibly preserved, and that the executive power should be provided with
every means to maintain the popular will. He is the man who at the same time
declared that he threw himself entirely into the contest against rebels with all
his power and all his might.
Mr. Wood is not a person whose
moral or political reputation gives weight to his words or importance to his
actions. Singularly calm and guarded, if he chooses, in his expressions, his
antecedents infallibly destroy confidence in the purity of his motives. Of a
restless ambition, and, by universal reputation, an unscrupulous political
manager, he is yet repudiated by the party with which he acts, and fails in
every effort to control it. His argument, however apparently calm and cool, is
always an appeal to the basest and most malignant passions, and his sole
dependence is upon the most ignorant and degraded class of the community, which
he flatters and befools. He represents no other body of citizens than the brutal
mob of a great city. His name, whether with more or less justice, is synonymous
with political corruption. In general estimation he taints every cause he
espouses; and if the zealous seeker should try to find in all the free States
the most obsequious and
servile tool of the radical,
prolonged, and perilous effort of the slaveholding faction to ruin this
Government, to break every bond of social order, to debauch the national
conscience, to extirpate the very instinct of nationality, and destroy the
natural love of liberty in the human heart, he would cry Eureka! when he found
Fernando Wood.
His meeting has only the
importance which he gives it. No other person of the least reputation, or of any
influence or consideration whatever, was concerned in it. Mr. Wood's speech was
calm in tone and fiercely defiant in spirit—a characteristic of the plantation
school of politics in which he was bred. He is opposed to war with rebels in
Virginia or Mississippi, but he is perfectly ready and willing for war in New
York, and he invited the Government to try here what General Burnside tries in
his Department. His speech was a plainer and compacter statement of the address
and resolutions, and when he had spoken every thing was said.
That Mr. Fernando Wood, being the
man that we have described in terms which few, whether of his own party or not,
would characterize as unfair, represents the present or future conviction or
policy of the American people is a proposition which few but Mr. Wood himself
would maintain. To suppose it possible is to suppose that the nation agrees that
it is not a nation; that the Union is a form more unsubstantial than a cloud;
that there is no national government possible; and that civil order can
rightfully have no guarantee.
Foreign observers may think the
war foolish and fratricidal, but they can hardly suppose it possible that such a
war could be waged for two years by a nation which, under any conceivable
circumstances, would accept such propositions as these for political principles.
That nation may be conquered, and its government be overthrown. But that it
should be so absolutely conquered as to concede that it never had a right to be
a nation, is incredible to any body who does not believe that human nature
itself has deteriorated upon this continent. The day in which this nation
accepts Fernando Wood as its leader, and his tenets as its faith, is the day
which seals the destruction of free popular institutions, and inaugurates not
the "splendid despotism" for which he frankly pronounces, but a despotism which
rivals that of Dahomy in splendor, and that of the Queen of Madagascar in
dignity and enlightenment. Such an ignominious fall would be without historical
parallel.
JOURNAL OF A RESIDENCE ON A GEORGIAN PLANTATION.
THE Journal of Mrs. FRANCES ANNE
KEMBLE during her residence upon a plantation in Georgia as the wife of the
proprietor is in press, and will be immediately issued by Harper & Brothers. It
is the most thrilling and remarkable picture of the interior social life of the
slaveholding section in this country that has ever been published. Our previous
accounts of that life have been derived from outside observers, either sagacious
and philosophic travelers and students like Olmsted, or from the English and
other foreign tourists who were made to see only what the slaveholders chose;
or, again, from the rosy stories told by slaveholders themselves, or by
"Southside" sympathizers.
But this Journal of Mrs. KEMBLE
was jotted down from day to day as she lived upon the plantation of which she
was mistress. There is no excuse, no palliation of facts, but the whole system
is laid bare and quivering before the eye. So faithful and final a witness we
have not had. Even Uncle Tom's Cabin is only founded upon fact. The Journal of
Mrs. KEMBLE is the fact itself. And thus day by day, from the most unexpected
quarters and the most impartial witnesses, the terrible truth is told that this
rebellion, to secure and perpetuate slavery, is an insurrection against human
nature itself.
The book will be published at the
earliest possible moment, and will be as savagely denounced and denied by the
rebels and their friends as it will be heartily welcomed by every intelligent,
humane, and loyal man in the land and the world.
MR.
KINGLAKE.
THE unqualified applause which
greeted Mr. Kinglake's history, and which—however justified by the picturesque
movement and interest of the work—was rather surprising in the mouths of a
people who were represented in the book as hood-winked by their own Government
and outwitted by that of France, is at last interrupted. Not only have the
ponderous Quarterlies opened upon him, but the pamphleteers have thrown
themselves out as skirmishers, and are picking off his weak points. There
threatens to be a Kinglike literature.
Colonel Calthorpe, in a little
work upon the Crimean campaign, introduces the historian in the most ludicrous
light—so absurd, indeed, that Kinglake has apparently authorized an explanation
of the damaging circumstance. The Colonel says that the first notice taken of
the historian by Lord Raglan was on the morning of the battle of the Alma, when,
seeing a gentleman in extreme difficulties upon the back of a pony, he said, "I
never heard a pony make such a row!" and asked, "Does any one know who the
gentleman is?" The Colonel answered, "It is Mr. Kinglake, the author of 'Eothen.'"
"Oh!" said his Lordship, "a most charming man." Thereupon, before their very
faces, as the Colonel relates, the most charming man was incontinently run away
with, and tossed over the pony's head. To complicate the absurdity, the
historian, through a friend, actually explains that he got a tumble because the
saddle was too large for the pony, who shot saddle and rider over his neck!
If he is once put into the
pillory of ridicule it will go hard with the historian. An author so severely
satirical can not complain of satire; and a man so keen-witted ought to know
that the only way safely to treat such a story was to laugh at it. Sir Francis
Head, about as vulnerable an author as (Next
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