Page:Once a Week Volume V.djvu/644

 . 30, 1861.] when we see, that of the six Slave States which have had any opportunity of declaring themselves, all have yielded a large Union party. Virginia has actually split; and so has North Carolina,—the loyalists in each freed portion being aware that in the intimidated remnant there are many more waiting an opportunity to declare themselves. How far the other four,—Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri,—are from being sound members of the Confederacy, needs no telling.

Through newspapers, and some accidental upliftings of the weighted curtain suspended in front of the Southern stage, we have lately learnt some very interesting things about the financial condition of the Confederacy, and the discontents caused by it. The bankers are, as a class, thoroughly discontented. The government throws on them a task which they cannot fulfil, in requiring them to provide accommodation for domestic buying and selling, under the total stoppage of the foreign trade, which is the very life-blood of the southern economy. The discontents, political, economical and military, have grown strong enough now to support a split; and Georgia, reluctant to enter the Confederacy, is ready to lead the way out of it. The governor is in open opposition to the Southern President; and there have been some important defections from the Montgomery clique in favour of the politics of Georgia and its adherents. Whether the common danger, and the remoteness of the Federal force keep up for a longer or a shorter time the appearance of harmony in the Slave States, the fact of their discordance is not the less certain. Some of the citizens are waiting for a great battle, believing that one Federal victory would explode the Confederate cause at once: and others expect to have to wait till the Union army appears, uncovering opinions as it goes. The one thing that no well-informed citizen believes, from the Potomac to the Gulf, is that the South is unanimous, or anything like it, in its desire of independence. It never was so, while the unreal and impractical habit of mind of its citizens assumed that England and France would speedily interfere on behalf of the cotton States: and, now that it is becoming known that no aid is to be looked for from England and France, the preparation for secession from the Secessionists will go on rapidly. Meantime, visitors from Europe, or other privileged guests who have seen the army or the country under the guidance of the authorities, political or military, should be aware that while all that they see is enthusiasm, or looks like it, they are sure not to see the other side. It is certain that, while the “enthusiasts” are waving their flag wherever the stranger turns, there are dauntless people, men or women, as the case may be, who are upholding the Union flag on church tower or domestic roof, in defiance of street mobs, incendiary torches, and the simmering of the tar-kettle before the door. Whenever the presence of genuine strength removes the gag imposed by illicit force, it will appear how southern opinion divides itself between the two opposite theories of a republic. At present, the fact that opinion is divided is all that we can depend on.

The position of the North is, in many particulars, and on the whole, very like that of the South. There is no more real freedom of opinion on the engrossing subject of the hour in one section than in the other, though the penalties of thinking as people do in the South are less brutal and barbarous. To be sure, we do hear of a citizen here and there being ridden on a rail; but the gutting of printing-offices, and public threats and insults to men of pro-slavery tendencies are what we usually hear of, in the place of the dreadful inflictions on clergymen, governesses, commercial travellers and tradesmen, which are still going on in the Slave States.

Of personal discontent, there is evidently much less. The resources of the North are great; and the armies are well supplied with food, clothes, quarters and pay. The political discontent is, on the other hand, becoming very serious. Without paying any attention at all to the current rumours of disagreements between different departments of the government, and political representatives, we may consider it certain that the President is generally regarded as slow to a degree which gives rise to many explanations, and some unfavourable constructions. Mr. Seward is a minister for any ruler and any people to be ashamed of; and the people are, no doubt, ashamed of him; and, remembering his proposal of a coaxing policy towards the South, they charge him with delays, for coaxing purposes which may be justified by military reasons. Meantime, a man who is not slow—a man keen to perceive an object, and practised in finding a way to it—has said and done, on his own responsibility, what he and the people generally are well aware will have to be said and done. The people have named him the Pathfinder; and the issue of the whole struggle now seems to depend on whether the President and Government will follow his trail, or fumble about in one which will lead them back into the slough.

General FrémontFremont [sic], charged with one division of the war, goes beyond the enlarged declaration of Congress last July, and declares all slaves free by the presence of the United States’ army,—adopting in this step the interpretation of the second President Adams, in regard to the operation of “the war-power.” My neighbours are asking the meaning of “the war-power,” from which so much is expected. It means the scope of that martial law which in certain exigences necessarily supersedes the orders of the legislature, in regard to slavery as to other arrangements. President J. Q. Adams fully explained his view: General FrémontFremont [sic] has fully adopted it, and it remains to be seen whether the nation will uphold him and the doctrine in question, or the Washington Government and the narrower proposal of Congress of last July. This is the Northern split: and it is serious to the last degree.

When General Fremont issued his proclamation, a new spirit thrilled through the northern people: the army was rapidly reinforced with volunteers, and the hesitation which before hung like a fog round each centre of action was at once dispelled. Slavery, the cause of the war, was virtually abolished. Then, after some delay, came the President’s direction to Fremont to draw back, and