354 ARBITRARY ARRESTS [1863 hostile operations, arrogated power which became necessary to support the policy of arbitrary arrests, so diligently pursued by Seward at first and afterwards by Stanton. The defence made was necessity, and our own precedents were set aside because the State now stood in its greatest peril since the adoption of the Constitution. By the Act of March 3, 1863, the Secretary of State and the Secretary of War were required to furnish lists of "State or political prisoners" to the judges of the United States Courts, but no lists, so far as I have been able to ascertain, were ever furnished; and in truth the aptitude for autocratic government had grown at such a pace that in September [1863] Chase discovered, to his surprise, that the provisions of this act were unfamiliar to the President and to all the members of the Cabinet except himself. For my own part, after careful consideration, I do not hesitate to condemn the arbitrary arrests and the arbitrary interference with the freedom of the press 1 in States which were not included in the theatre of the war and in which the courts remained open. In arriving at this judgment I have not left out of account an unpatriotic speech of Vallandigham's in the House nor the still more dastardly writing in the Democratic newspapers, nor the "Copperhead" talk in the street, in public conveyances and in hotels, where prudence and restraint were cast to the winds; nor am I unmindful of the fact that the criticisms generally were increasing in virulence and that complaints of "the utterance of treasonable sentiments" were constantly being made to the authorities by patriotic men. Nevertheless, I am convinced that all this extrajudicial procedure was inexpedient, unnecessary and wrong and that the offenders thus summarily dealt with should have been prose1 See IV, 253. CH. XI LINCOLN 355 cuted according to law or, if their offences were not indictable, permitted to go free. "Abraham Lincoln," wrote James Bryce, "wielded more authority than any single until Englishman has done since Oliver Cromwell." My read- Woodrow ing of English history and comparative study of our own en have led me to the same conclusion, although it should be bel added that Cromwell's exercise of arbitrary power greatly t exceeded Lincoln's and involved more important infractions of the Constitution of his country. Moreover, there was in Lincoln's nature so much of kindness and mercy as to mitigate the harshness of Seward's and Stanton's procedure. The pervasive and lingering influence of his personality, the respect for the Constitution and the law which history and tradition have ascribed to him, the greatness of his character and work, have prevented the generation that has grown up since the civil conflict from realizing the enormity of the acts done under his authority by direction of his Secretaries of State and War. I have not lighted on a single instance in which the President himself directed an arrest, yet he permitted them all; he stands responsible for the casting into prison of citizens of the United States on orders as arbitrary as the lettres-de-cachet of Louis XIV.1 The technical experts of the War Department and of the Army may be justly criticised for not arming our infantry with breech-loading rifles. They were behindhand and not up to their opportunities. The Secretary of War in his report of December 1,1859, had stated the result of the experiments in breech-loading arms: these arms were "nearly if not entirely perfected," and he added: "With the best breech-loading arm, one skilful man would be equal to two, probably three, armed with the ordinary muzzle 1 For the most celebrated case of arbitrary arrests during the war, that of Vallandigham, see IV, 245. 356 BREECH-LOADING MUSKETS [1864 loading gun. True policy requires that steps should be taken to introduce these arms gradually into our service." But on October 22, 1864, the chief of ordnance reported to Stanton, "The use of breech-loading arms in our service has, with few exceptions, been confined to mounted troops, and on December 5, 1864, he returned to the subject thus: "The experience of the war has shown that breech-loading arms are greatly superior to muzzle-loaders for infantry as well as for cavalry, and that measures should immediately be taken to substitute a suitable breech-loading musket in place of the rifle musket which is now manufactured at the National Armory and by private concerns for this department." Some one ought to have known this at least three years earlier and to have made it his business to press the importance of it upon the President, the Secretary of War and Congress. The Prussians had used a breech-loading rifle in the Revolution of 1848 and again in the SchleswigHolstein war of 1864 and the infantry of the Northern army ought to have been armed with a similar gun for their campaigns twelve months before Lee's surrender. Our few regiments which had repeating and breech-loading rifles did such effective execution that the dramatic scene of Königgratz - a great battle between an army with breechloaders and one with muzzle-loaders - ought to have been anticipated by two years and played upon the field of Virginia or in the mountains of Georgia. In the art of war we showed ourselves inferior to the Prussians but the fault was not with American inventive talent. Excellent arms were offered to the Government and it is safe to say that, had its administration of technical affairs equalled that of the Pennsylvania Railroad or some of our large manufacturing establishments, the army would have had the improved weapons. CH. XI] SANITARY FAIRS 357 The war gave a powerful impetus to the humanitarian | spirit. Americans were essentially religious and Christ's teaching had sunk deep in their hearts. Non-combatants individually and through well-devised organizations were diligent in ministering to the wants and sufferings of the soldiers who were upholding the Northern cause in the field. This work of aid was well adapted to women whose energy, self-sacrifice and well-directed efforts proved them worthy of Lincoln's words spoken at one of the Sanitary fairs.1 "This extraordinary war," he said, "in which we are engaged, falls heavily upon all classes of people, but the most heavily upon the soldier. For it has been said, all that a man hath will he give for his life; and while all contribute of their substance, the soldier puts his life at stake and often yields it up in his country's cause. The highest merit then is due to the soldier. In this extraordinary war, extraordinary developments have manifested themselves such as have not been seen in former wars; and amongst these manifestations nothing has been more remarkable than these fairs for the relief of suffering soldiers and their families. And the chief agents in these fairs are the women of America. I am not accustomed to the use of the language of eulogy; I have never studied the art of paying compliments to women; but I must say, that if all that has been said by orators and poets since the creation of the world in praise of women were applied to the women of America, it would not do them justice for their conduct during this war. I will close by saying, God bless the women of America." Despite the opinion of our Supreme Court that "It follows from the very nature of war that trading between 1 For the Sanitary fairs see V, 257. 358 TRADE WITH THE SOUTH [1864 the belligerents should cease, there was a large overland trade between the South and the North; the South exchanged her cotton for money or needed supplies and this trade was encouraged by the Washington Government. The intention was good, and if the history of these transactions were to be written from the acts of Congress, the proclamations of the President, the instructions of the Secretary of the Treasury and the orders of the Secretaries of War and Navy, it might be affirmed that a difficult problem had been frankly met and solved. Special agents were appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury to collect captured and abandoned property in parts of the Confederacy occupied by our forces which should be sold for the benefit of the United States subject to the rights of ownership of loyal persons. Permits to trade in districts which had been recovered from the Confederacy were issued to 'proper and loyal persons" by these agents and other officers of the Treasury Department, but all commercial intercourse beyond 'the lines of the National Army was strictly forbidden. The special agents were further ordered to confer with the generals commanding the respective departments and they and the authorized traders were in a measure responsible to the military authority but were under the immediate control and management of the Secretary of the Treasury, who supervised this "limited commercial intercourse licensed by the President." No other trade was legal and all property coming into the United States through other means was ordered to be confiscated. 66 But the feverish business conditions of 1864 and a certain relaxation in morality were felt in the commercial intercourse between the South and the North. The price of cotton in Boston at the beginning of the year was eightyone cents per pound; it advanced steadily until the close |