SUNDAY
AUGUST 2, 1863
THE DAILY PICAYUNE (LA)

The Privateers in the Waters of Brazil.
Important Question of Neutral Rights.
[Correspondence of the London Shipping Gazette, Rio Janeiro, June 9.]

The proceedings of the Confederate cruisers Alabama, Georgia and Florida, which recently visited the Brazilian ports of Fernando Noronha, Pernambuco and Bahia, have given rise to questions from which serious complications may not improbably result.

On the 19th ult., the American Consul complained that sailors belonging to Federal vessels burned by the Alabama and Florida, put on shore at Bahia and placed in charge of the Brazilian authorities, under the protection of the American Consul, had been subsequently taken on board the Confederate privateers and now formed portions of their crews.

Immediately upon receipt of this communication, the President of the province of Bahia addressed letters to the commanders of the Confederate privateers, stating “this fact” was a flagrant violation of the neutrality imposed upon itself by the Government of Brazil; that he protested warmly against such violation, and requested that the individuals in question might be given up. The Confederate officers denied that any such occurrence had taken place, and their vessels were permitted to leave the port.

Previous to this incident, on the 14th ult., the English ship Castor, loaded with coal, said to be bound for Shanghai, entered the port of Bahia, ostensibly to repair damages. On the 15th the American Consul informed the President of Bahia that the Castor had on board several pieces of artillery and some twenty sailors, intended for the Alabama or the Georgia. The President next day forwarded this complaint to the British Consul at Bahia, inviting him to accompany the customhouse officer on board the Castor, to see whether the complaint had any foundation. Meantime the Castor had commenced discharging a portion of her coal into the Confederate cruisers.

On the 18th the English consul returned the following reply: The denunciation of the American consul is devoid of foundation. The facts he has put forward are quite inexact. The opinion he expressed is entirely illusive. The English consul has been on board the Castor, has ascertained that she does not carry arms, that her crew consists only of the men upon the ship’s books, and that the only real fact of those alleged is her delivery of coals–a proceeding which it is the sole aim of the American consul to prevent. The consul is ready to be present at the visit proposed by the President. The captain of the Castor is perfectly willing to permit such a visit, but the consul in any case protests against every act, assuming the character of the right of search or of requisition by the consul of the United States. He (the English consul) entertains grave doubts of the American consul’s right, owing to the mere supply of coal, to raise any claim against an English ship, belonging to a neutral nation, at anchor in the harbor of Bahia, a neutral port. The neutrality resulting from the independent exercise of its right by a State cannot obstruct commercial relations, and a belligerent power is not entitled to demand their cessation in a neutral port between its opponent and the subjects of a neutral nation. Toleration by the president of the province of the supply of coal by an English ship to the Confederate cruisers in this port cannot (without infringing common sense and international law) be considered a hostile act, contrary to the strict neutrality of Brazil.

The proposed visit on board the Castor took place, accompanied by interrogation of the captain and crew. The result showed no proof whatever of the allegations, although it seemed pretty clear that the cargo of coal had no other original destination that the Confederate privateers. The captain of the Alabama, indeed, admitted the fact, plainly declaring that he had a perfect right to purchase coal in England, and to provide for its discharge out of a neutral ship within a neutral port. Captain Semmes at the same time requested the President’s authorization to continue taking in his coal.

The President replied that the coal must be put on shore and sent into the market, where Captain Semmes could buy as much as he pleased. He added that his instructions forbade him to allow the delivery of any kind of goods coming direct from another country where the sale had taken place aboard.

The American Consul, however, still insisting upon search for and delivery of the contraband of war, the English Consul on the 21st opposed the application, repeating more forcibly his arguments of the 18th. The President, therefore, on the 22d, notified to the American Consul that his duty was confined to confiscate contraband whenever its existence was proved, but did not extend to making investigations upon the subject.

The American Consul still persisting, again received the same reply, the President declaring himself convinced that the alleged delivery of arms and munitions had not taken place.

The consignees of the Castor, in concert with the British Consul, upon their part, offered to unload the ship entirely, provided the expenses were paid by Brazil. The President forwarded this offer to the American Consul, with a proposition that the latter should defray the costs.

At this juncture the Federal steam-frigate Mohican put in at Bahia, and a report was immediately circulated that she intended to seize the Castor. The captain of the English vessel attempted to leave the port without having complied with the form required by customs. He was brought to by the guns of the forts, put back, and went through the accustomed formalities preparatory to setting sail anew. Before the Castor was outside the harbor, the Mohican got up steam and went in pursuit. Perceiving himself chased, the captain of the Castor determined not to leave the port, but to place himself under the protection of Brazilian ships until the arrival of an English man of war. Thereupon the Mohican left Bahia to look after the Confederate privateers, and on the 1st inst., an American brig coming from Rio Grande do Sul, reported having recently passed the Florida, with the Mohican in chase.

The above facts were all respecting the matter known at Rio on the 9th. They have given rise to an exchange of notes between the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister of the United States. The latter is reported to have sent in an ultimatum demanding, first, the dismissal from their posts of the Presidents of Bahia and Pernambuco; second, payment by the Brazilian Government of the value of Federal ships captured or burned in Brazilian ports or waters; third, an indemnity.

A rumor is current that the dispute has been settled, but in what manner has not transpired. The report, in fact, must be taken with all reserve.

•••••

England’s Hope from Lee’s Invasion.
[From the London Times, July 8.]

In the interest of peace it is to be hoped that Gen. Lee will at least make this invasion sufficiently effective to disgust the Northern people with the war, and to shame their leaders out of their boasting and conceit.

The London Times in a leader remarks that the Southern States produce the best generals, the best statesmen and the best public functionaries of all kinds in the Union, and are thereby proved to be the nearest approach to a governing class. It admits this while stating that it is to Southern statesmen that England owes the numerous insults she has received from America.

The London Star of July 9 says, that this is the crisis there can hardly be a doubt. Now or never, we may say, one side or the other must conquer. The great republic will perish or prevail, according to the measure of the force it may put forth at this crisis of the struggle with the treason that would make slave power supreme in the law and on the soil of a free people.

MONDAY
AUGUST 3, 1863
THE CHARLESTON DAILY COURIER (SC)

Latest from Europe.
Mr. Roebuck Withdraws his Motion for the Recognition of the Southern Confederacy.

The steam ship Scotia, with dates from Liverpool of the 18th, arrived off Cape Race on the 24th ult. Her news is four days later. We give a summary of its most important points.

In the House of Commons, on the 13th, Mr. Roebuck rose and said:

Sir, I rise for the purpose of moving that the order be read for the purpose of its being discharged. [Hear, hear.] I brought forward that motion under the feeling that I was about to invite the House to take a step which would have the effect of putting an end to the horrible carnage now going on in America, and which would also serve the commercial interests of Great Britain. For so doing I have incurred much obloquy–an obloquy that has come from a very noisy, if not from a very wise party. [Laughter.] I must say that my present determination has not been influenced thereby. The noble lord at the head of the Government had said that the continuance of this debate was an impediment in his way to the good government of the country. [Hear, hear.] I have paid respect to the noble lord’s wishes, and I have likewise induced my honorable friend (Mr. Lindsay) to forego his feelings in the matter.

When the noble lord sat down on Friday last, my honorable friend and myself were perfectly, or at least very nearly, satisfied with what had been stated, and if nothing more had been said, there the matter would have ended, but official arrogance is a plant of portentously rapid growth, [loud laughter] and the Under Secretary of Foreign Affairs thought fit to bring a charge against my honorable friend, to which he believed his honor and his feelings called for an answer. But, sir, a little cool reflection has taught him that insinuations of the kind, coming from such a quarter, may not be regarded [Loud cries of “Oh, oh,” and “Hear, hear.”]

It has been stated that the time has not yet come for the consideration of the question, and I have yielded to the suggestion. But let the noble lord bear in mi d that there are two dangers before him which he will have to meet, and which England will have to meet, and one is the possibility of a reconstruction of the Union upon a Southern basis, and the other is the acknowledgement of the Confederate South by the Emperor of the French alone.

These are the two great dangers for England. [Cries of “No, no,” and “Hear, hear.”] The noble lord, will, I have no doubt, with his long experience, fully justify the confidence of the people in his consideration of these two great questions. I leave them, sir, without hesitation, in his hands, though I must say my opinions are entirely against the withdrawal of them from public consideration at this time. England and England’s interests demand the decision of this House, and it is only under a feeling of great respect for the noble lord that I now withdraw this motion. [Hear, hear.]

Mr. Lindsay followed with an account of his interview with the French Emperor, and endeavored to vindicate himself from the charge of being an “amateur diplomatist.”

Viscount Palmerston followed, reviewed the personal question in regard to the volunteer mission of Messrs. Roebuck and Lindsay as ambassadors in behalf of the rebels, which he pronounced irregular, and that the British Government preferred to get its communications from foreign Powers through its accredited ministers and diplomatic agents.

The London Times, editorially, shows the  inexpediency of Roebuck’s motion, contending that the present time is inopportune for interference.

The Confederate Steamer Florida.–The Wilmington (N. C.) Journal of Thursday, July 30th, publishes an interesting account of the cruise of the Florida, received by the steamer Robert E. Lee, from Bermuda. Want of space compels us to omit the full narrative for the present. Mr. Wilson, a member of the crew of the Florida, who kept a journal, gives the following list of vessels captured, burned or bonded, since the leaving of Mobile:

Estelle, Corris Annie, Star of Peace, J. M. Colcord, Commonwealth, Kate Dyer, Clarence, Southern Cross, J. B. Hoxie, Windward, Jacob Bell, Aldebaran, Lapwing, Oneida, Henrietta, Crown Point, Red Gauntlet, ship Sunrise; schooners V. H. Hill, Wm. B. Nash, and Hull. The last four vessels were captured within sixty miles of New York.

The Florida came into Bermuda after coal and to land prisoners (some sixty). She exhibits evidence of good hard work–has more hard money in her chest than when she sailed from Mobile. The Yankees have contributed well to the support of this cruiser in cash, sails, provisions, &c., &c.

The crew of the Florida are a fine, hardy set of men, and seem much attached to the ship and officers.

Quite a circumstance occurred on the 14th ult. Official salutes passed between the Florida and the authorities!–the first instance in our history. This looks like recognition! Certainly it acknowledges nationality.

The following is a list of the deaths on board the Florida since she commenced her cruise:

Seamen–John Johnson, liver complaint; Isaac White, lost overboard; John Lehman, consumption; Surgeon Grafton, drowned near the line; James Sudley, Steward [and] Paymaster Lynch, died at sea of hemorrhage of the lungs.

•••••

The Late Riot in New York.–The New York Times, a strong advocate of the draft, says of the late riot in that city:

The public mind is fast settling down into a conviction that the late outbreak was the result of a deliberate plot, devised and managed by men of talent, who did not at all appear on the scene. No sooner was the draft commenced than the streets were startled with an irruption of Vandals that could have been hardly less looked for had they sprung from straight beneath the pavements themselves. To attack and destroy the newspapers which had sustained the conscription; to confound the city by an indiscriminate, murderous foray upon its colored population; and then to overwhelm it with terror, and completely paralyze it by the sacking of stores and houses, and by robberies in the streets–all these were just the methods best adapted to give the mob a complete control of the city, and successfully inaugurate revolution.

TUESDAY
AUGUST 4, 1863
THE BOSTON DAILY ADVERTISER

The President’s order of retaliation for the murder or enslavement of black soldiers of the United States by the rebels was issued with the greatest deliberation, and, of course, under a solemn conviction of all that is implied in such a step. Its necessity has been presented in these columns too often to leave any occasion for us to dwell upon it now. We only wish at this time to call attention to the circumstances under which it has finally been issued and to some points in which, it seems to us, the government may have gained by a delay which has seemed to many–and to ourselves among the number–to have been excessive.

Measures of retaliation are justly looked upon with so much suspicion by the world at large, and in the event of their execution becoming necessary, the result is so shocking tour humane feelings, that it is a matter of the greatest consequence to have the necessity for such a measure appear clearly on the record, and to have the responsibility for what may ensue thrown upon the other party by undeniable facts. In the present case this has been done so successfully that, whatever may ensue, the government of the United States stands free from all possible censure for the consequences, and should be sure of the approval and sympathy of the civilized world. The President’s general order of retaliation is dated July 30th. Almost exactly a year before, on the 2d of August, 1862, the subject was first brought up by General Lee, in a communication which he had been instructed to make to the General-in-Chief at Washington. Reciting that generals Hunter and Phelps were said to have armed slaves in the departments of the South and of the Gulf, the rebel general was instructed to inquire whether the statements were true and to warn our government that upon it would rest the responsibility for what the rebel government might think it necessary to do in the premises. The correspondence in which this warning was given came to an abrupt close, in consequence of the insulting character of some of General Lee’s language. On the 21st of the same month and order was issued by the rebel adjutant-general at Richmond, declaring Generals Hunter and Phelps to be, not public enemies, but outlaws, and directing that if either of them or any commissioned officer employed in organizing slaves for armed service should be captured, he should not be regarded as a “prisoner of war, but held in close confinement for execution as a felon, at such time and place as the President may order.” This order was followed on the 22d of December last by a proclamation issued by Jefferson Davis, in which, after ordering General Butler and all his officers to be treated as felons and not as prisoners of war, he adds this general direction:

“That all Negro slaves captured in arms be at once delivered over to the executive authorities of the respective States to which they belong, to be dealt with according to the laws of said States.

“That the like orders be executed in all cases with respect to all commissioned officers of the United States, when found serving in company with said slaves in insurrection against the authorities of the different States of this Confederacy.” ->

These orders, it will be perceived, are limited to the case of slaves found in arms against their late masters. In the execution of the orders, however, it has been taken for granted that every black is a slave. We learn of no distinction whatever being observed, but all Negro soldiers have on the contrary been treated with merciless severity. No Negroes are ever returned by the rebels as among their prisoners, and it is a ghastly fact that none were found at Port Hudson or Vicksburg when those places surrendered. Negroes in company with those of our men who were captured at Galveston were sold into slavery; Negroes at Port Hudson were stated to have been hanged in sight of our outposts; and there is reason to believe that at Charleston the same ferocious spirit has found vent in the murder of men who were wounded or had virtually become prisoners. In short, it has become perfectly manifest, both by the orders of the rebel authorities and by their acts, that it is now their barbarous policy to deny the rights of war to all black troops and their officers. They have proved tis by the actual shedding of blood, and it is now for the government to protect every man who wears its uniform, by the most stringent measures.

If the President had declared his intention to retaliate for such outrages earlier, he might perhaps have saved some lives, but on the other hand he would not have been able to point so emphatically as now to the forbearance of the government and to the proof of its reluctance to adopt the stern measures now found necessary. And it is to be remembered, too, that in adopting the policy earlier, the government would have done it without having that large balance of prisoners in its favor, which enables it to deal with the matter with confidence, and with a strong probability of effecting its purpose by a threat, without the necessity for entering upon the dreadful course of setting life against life.

•••••

Our Foreign Relations.–Those of our readers who have permitted themselves to be disturbed in this warm weather by the New York Herald’s alarming accounts of the condition of our foreign relations, may be restored to the equanimity which is now needful to comfort, by the following, which we take from the Washington correspondence of the same paper, under date of Sunday:

“The apprehensions entertained of immediate hostilities between this government and Great Britain, growing out of the decision in the Alexandra case, are somewhat abated. It is now believed that the judgment of the inferior court in favor of the defendants will be reversed by the tribunal to which it has been appealed. The determined tone of Secretary Seward in regard to the outrage on all international rights by the protection afforded to the construction in English navy yards and the harboring in English ports of piratical craft and armed vessels, intended to prey upon American commerce, has doubtless occasioned Lord Russell and the British government to consider gravely the subject presented, and there are indications that this outrage will not, at least openly, be continued.”

WEDNESDAY
AUGUST 5, 1863
THE NEW HAVEN DAILY PALLADIUM (CT)

The Army of the Potomac.
Position of Lee’s Army.
[Special Dispatch to the Evening Post.]

Washington, Tuesday, Aug. 4.

Direct advices from the front state that the Army of the Potomac is inactive, and likely to remain so for some time to come. The various corps are camped in healthy places, near pure water, and have cool and comfortable quarters.

The first installment of conscripts reached the camp yesterday. From two to four hundred daily are expected.

The rebel army lies between the Rappahannock and the Rapidan; Lee being at Culpepper. Everything is quiet within their lines as in our own.

Furloughs for twenty and thirty days have been granted by General Meade.

•••••

A Rothschild on the Rebel Loan.–Rev. Dr. McClintock writes from Paris to The Methodist:

A gentleman was transacting some business with the Frankfurt head of the house of Rothschild. After the business was finished the conversation turned toward American affairs. “How is it,” asked the stranger, “that the Confederate loan is not quoted in Frankfurt?” “Because we do not allow it to be quoted,” was the reply. “But why not?” “Because we do not believe in the loan, and because we do not believe in the cause.” “But the loan was negotiated here by the house of Erlanger.” “Yes,” replied Rothschild, “but you do not find it sold here, to any extent, except by that house. No Jewish house of any character or wealth has touched that loan, nor will they ever touch it.”

•••••

Steamer Attacked by the Sioux.

Leavenworth, August 4.

The steamer Robert Campbell has arrived from the mountains, where she has been with Government supplies. Her passengers report that the Sioux are very desperate, and say there is no place where white men are safe.

The Campbell grounded near the mouth of the Yellowstone river, and the Indians on the bank made signals of friendship. The captain sent a boat with six men ashore, when, just as they were landing, the Indians fired on them, killing three and wounding one. The crew of the Campbell returned fire, the effect of which was unknown. The steamer, left alone, was boarded by the Indians and robbed.

The steamer Belle, of Peoria, is aground. It was feared the Indians would burn her, as the river was full of canoes.

The Government has possession of the Nellie Rogers and Shreveport, light draught vessels, to transport supplies.

The steamer Sam Getty is at Fort Randall loading with supplies, but can neither move up nor down. It is thought the expedition against the Indians this season will prove a failure on account of low water.

•••••

Since the first of last February, Col. Wilder, of Rosecrans’ army, has been twenty-eight times through the rebel lines and taken 1,159 prisoners, about 4,000 horses, and a small army of slaves. In the last expedition he took about 650 prisoners, 800 horses and 250 slaves, killed ten guerrillas and mortally wounded Col. Grant. He lost one man, private Stewart, of the Seventeenth Indiana. He has hanged five and shot fifteen rebels, including a second lieutenant caught with our uniform on, in accordance 3ith the orders of Gen. Rosecrans. Wilder is chief of the famous mounted infantry.

The Cost of Mob Law.

The claims for damage done to property in the New York riots already presented at the office of the City Comptroller amounts to about eleven hundred thousand dollars.¹ If the account stops at that figure (and it has not stopped there and it is impossible yet to judge how much higher it may go) it is a frightful bill of expense thrown upon the taxpayers of the city. Add to this eleven hundred thousand the further sum of two and a half millions which the city council voted to pay to buy the rioters clear of the draft, and we have a total of three million, six hundred thousand dollars, to come out of the city treasury on the riot account–and the prospect is that it will be swelled to four millions, at the least, before all the bills are in. This is equal to an addition of over forty per cent to the already enormous weight of New York city taxes. The mass of the people, those of moderate means on whom this burden must bear heavily, may find it a powerful, practical argument against the spirit of disloyalty which, if allowed to get the upper hand, entails upon tem such serious cost. If they were insensible to the force of other and higher considerations, this argument, that goes straight to the pocket, must have its effect.

There is another quarter in which there are indications that the conduct of the traitorous mob way work serious harm to New York. The loyal people of the Northwest are not satisfied to give the benefits of their trade to any city where rampant disloyalty can run riot, finding friends in high official quarters. They are comparing the behavior of New York with that of Philadelphia, where the draft has proceeded as quietly and regularly as in any town in New England. Pondering upon that matter, they are beginning to speak out in plain language the thoughts which the spectacle suggests to them. The nature of their reflections is exhibited in the following from the Indianapolis Journal:

New York is already alarmed lest her disloyal conduct may affect her trade with the West, and for this apprehension there is sufficient cause. The people in the West have it in their power to cripple New York, just as the traitors of New York propose to cripple the Government–by withholding supplies.

We hope that Western merchants will remember these two cities as they deserve. Philadelphia has honored the nation by her prompt obedience to the laws. New York has disgraced it by the most infernal outrages ever committed on this continent. Two-thirds of the merchants of New York are copperheads who have sustained Fernando Wood for years. A majority of those of Philadelphia are loyal. Every dollar of trade that leaves New York for Philadelphia contributes something to the cause of the country, and weakens the power for evil of those who either seek the destruction of the country or view its danger with indifference.

THURSDAY
AUGUST 6, 1863
THE VERMONT PHŒNIX

Mr. Editor: As criticism is the order of the day, and the draft the all absorbing topic since the thunders of Gettysburg have died away among the mountains, permit me through the medium of your paper to add a word to the volumes that have already been written about the present call for soldiers and the course that Government is pursuing to raise them.

In the first place it will be admitted by every candid mind that our forces now in the field after relieving the nine months’ men are not sufficient for the task before them. The President being aware of this fact has issued a call for 300,000 more to be drafted and forwarded to the scenes of action as soon as may be, that this accursed rebellion may be put down, that the union may be preserved, that we may secure for our children and generations yet unborn the same great and inestimable blessings that our fathers bequeathed to us, and what has been the result? How have we responded to this call? Have we manifested a willingness to sustain our chief magistrate in the position in which we have placed him? Or have we turned him the cold shoulder? Let us see, and I shall not go to New York, and Boston, the scenes of riot and bloodshed; I shall not select Gov. Seymour, Fernando Wood, and a few of the leading copperheads of Boston as the scape goats for the sins of the nation; but as in the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem every man built over against his own house, we will come to our State and search for stones to cast. It is stated, and the statement is probably not far from the truth, that of the number of drafted men in Windham County not fifty will go to the war; and what is true of the county is true of the State; and what is true of the State is true of other States, and this small number with few exceptions are those who cannot raise sufficient money to pay their exemption fees, and steps are being taken to withhold from government even this small number. Many of the towns have called meetings for the purpose of raising money to pay the exemption fees of all who have been or may be drafted. This in New England, the home of the Puritans, the mother of liberty, the cradle of patriotism! God forbid.

What would be the feeling of Ethan Allen could he be permitted to read upon the records of a town in his native state the following vote?

“Voted to raise by a tax on the grand list sufficient money to pay the exemption fees for all who have been or may be drafted from this town into the service of the United States.” He would order the removal of his statue from the capital of his native state. But they say they have the power to do it; that government cannot help themselves. So has a mother power to withhold from her suckling babe that nourishment which nature has provided to preserve its life; and the results would be alike. But shall it be so; are we willing to sacrifice the dying gift of our fathers on the altar of cowardice? Is there one among the green hills of Vermont who deems the sacrifice too great to leave the society of friends and home? Refer him to that page in our history written by Gen. Washington, when he left his quiet and peaceful home on the banks of the Potomac ->

to face the danger of the battle field. Is there one who pleads the pressure of business? Refer him to that page written by Gen. Putnam, who left his plow standing in the furrow. Is there a mother who pleads for a beloved son? Refer her to that volume written by our mothers of the revolution who, when the war whoop sounded would hastily embrace an only son and say with feelings that none but a mother knows, go my son, and God be with you. And is there a traitor who is willing to turn his back upon his country in this her hour of danger? Refer him to that blackened page written by Benedict Arnold, and there let him write out his character in blackened letters to be handed down to his children and children’s children, with shame, contempt, and disgrace.

•••••

Army Bread vs. “Hard Tack.”

Editor Phœnix: I see in your paper of last week an article from the Scientific American on Army Bread, stating that our soldiers are less healthy than the rebels, because we eat hard tack of poor quality, baked in bad gases, while they have corn meal. My experience leads me to say that the bowel complaints so common, especially in the Department of the Gulf, are caused in a different way from that given by this scientific writer. The hard tack of the army I have found not only abundant, but sweet and good; it is however, hard tack, being probably the worst substance to chew used as human food. Sea biscuit and Navy bread are pulpy by comparison. I tis therefore not chewed, but swallowed in bits. Few men have been long in service without breaking out more or less front teeth and grinders in cracking the rations, which cannot be crumbled or softened. Meals, too, are often taken in a great hurry, or while marching, and the hard tack cannot be dipped in coffee or fried in fat to become smoother, though perhaps not more digestible; so that, in general, these stony, almost metallic lumps, pass into the soldier’s stomach every day, and go down undigested, on their irritating course through the system, causing dyspepsia and inflammatory diseases of the bowels.

One hundred and twenty-five of our men were prisoners in Louisiana for two months last fall, and lived on the same fare as the rebels–fresh beef and corn meal–and came back thin and weak and so diseased that several died soon after, and some have not yet got over the effects of that diet.

Hard tack is good, with this qualification: it can’t be chewed; and it is fit only for that generation, mentioned by Solomon, whose “teeth are as swords and their jaw teeth as knives.” So it is with good reason that our judicious Board of Enrollment exempt drafted men for loss of teeth. A cartridge can be torn with the thumb nail, but no gums can manage our army bread as now furnished.

If it were softer it would spoil in the hot, damp climate of the South, and the only thing is to have young men whose “grinders have not ceased because they are few.”

FRIDAY
AUGUST 7, 1863
THE LIBERATOR (MA)

Copperhead Sedition.

The Galesburg (Illinois) Democrat says that the following flagrantly disloyal resolutions were recently passed at a Copperhead meeting in the town of Rio, in that State:

Whereas, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, has, by issuing of a Proclamation freeing the Negro slaves of the Southern States, openly set at naught the Constitution of the country, and arrogated to himself the power to enact and nullify State laws at his pleasure, in defiance of State Constitutions, and

Whereas, He has also, in that Proclamation, ordered and decreed that the Executive Government, including the Military and Naval force, recognize and maintain the freedom of said Negro slaves, and

Whereas, He further declares and makes known that such freed Negroes are to be received into the service of the United States, thus evidently intending to incite the slaves to servile insurrection, that their masters may be murdered, their property destroyed, and, as an inevitable consequence, their wives and daughters violated, therefore

Resolved, That while we, loyal citizens of the State of Illinois, are ever ready to support this or any other administration in its lawful and constitutional acts, we are unwilling to tender further support or aid to an administration that openly violates the Constitution of the United States, and tramples underfoot the Constitutions of the different States.

Resolved, That the President, who has sworn before his God to support and maintain the Constitution of his country, and then wantonly violates it, is not only a dangerous and unfit person to be at the head of the nation, but is foresworn and perjured, and should no longer be permitted to disgrace the chair once occupied by Washington, Jefferson and Jackson.

Resolved, That we contemplate with horror the results which must follow the enforcement of the President’s Emancipation Proclamation to the people of the South, that we loathe and abhor the miscreant who would deliberately arm five hundred thousand demi-savages, under the specious pretext of a military necessity, and turn them loose upon our white brethren of the South.

Resolved, That inasmuch as we are forced to the conclusion that the war now waged by the administration against the South is not, and has not been, for the restoration of the Union, but has had for its object the abolition of slavery, the wiping out of lines and the territorializing of the Southern States, or, failing in this, a dissolution of the Union; we here deliberately and firmly pledge ourselves, one to the other, that we will not render any support to the present administration in carrying on its wicked abolitionist crusade against the South; that we will resist to the death all attempts to draft any of our citizens into the army, and that we will permit no arbitrary arrests to be made amongst us by the minions of the administration.

Resolved, That while we regard the Emancipation Proclamation as the final blow that has destroyed all hope of the reconstruction of the Union as it was, we also view it as the entering wedge which will ultimately divide the middle and northwestern States from our mischief-making, puritanical, fanatical New England brethren, and, finally, culminate in the formation of a Democratic Republic out of the middle, northwestern and Southern States, and for this we are thankful.->

Resolved, That we will resist the introduction of free Negroes into the town of Rio, first by lawful means, and when that fails, we will drive them, together with such whites as may be engaged in bringing them in, out of the State, or afford them hospitable graves.

Resolved, That we recommend to our Democratic brethren throughout the State to hold meetings and express their views on the questions now agitating the country.

Resolved, That the Secretary be instructed to send the proceedings of this meeting, together with the Resolutions adopted, to the Chicago Times and Quincy Herald.

•••••

A White Substitute for a Black Conscript.–Benjamin Johnston, a colored man, was drafted from the town of Scio, Allegany County. Mr. Johnston reported at the Provost Marshal’s office in this village on Friday last, and offered an able-bodied white man as a substitute. He was examined and accepted–has been sworn into service, and is now in the barracks as the substitute for Mr. Johnston. It seems to us that if a black man may hire a white man for a substitute, a white man ought to be allowed to hire a black man for a substitute. It is a poor rule that won’t work both ways. The present arrangement gives the Negro an advantage over the whites, since he may hire from any color or race. We present this case for the consideration and indignation of our Copperhead friends. It is another evidence of the “rank inequalities” of the Conscript Law; and perfectly conclusive on the point, which has heretofore been doubted by some, that this is “a war for the Negro.”–Elmira paper.

•••••

The Emancipation Question at Vicksburg.–The inevitable slavery question came up at Vicksburg, after the surrender. By the terms of the parole, officers were allowed to take away their “private property.” Some of them claimed that this included their “servants” or slaves. But the slaves did not take the same view of the case, and some of them had the audacity to enlist in the colored Union ranks, to the intense disgust and amazement of their late masters. General Logan was appealed to for redress. He gave orders to enlist no more men while the Confederate officers remained in the place, but at the same time issued orders that no colored men should be carried away by the officers aforesaid. He afterwards removed all restraint upon the peripatetic “private property,” and allowed those who chose to remain within the Federal lines, whence they could not be removed. As soon as the rebel officers had left the city, the accessions of intelligent and able-bodied colored men to the Union ranks were frequent and valuable.

SATURDAY
AUGUST 8, 1863
THE SPRINGFIELD REPUBLICAN (MA)

The Reason of the Thing.
A Conversation with X.

I had a talk with a man; we will call him X. I dare not give his name; it would betray the nationality, and from the initial you may think he was Persian, his name perhaps Xerxes. X was in mortal terror of the draft, and thereupon ensued a conversion. He had been a professed “Negro hater.” What a name! What a diabolical spirit, to persecute men, women and children merely on account of color, without regard to moral qualities. It reminds me of the blind hatred of the Jews in what we call the dark ages, when the very name or suspicion of a Jew raised a hooting crowd. X suddenly became converted on this point. He had declared he would not see blacks raised to terms of equality with whites. Regiments indeed! There should be no black regiments; they might be servants and cooks, but white soldiers never would fight with them side by side. Now he says, “They may fight and welcome. I don’t care how many regiments they have, the more the merrier. If they want to be free, they may fight for their freedom. But I wish they would keep away from me. S to giving Negroes work and taking it from us, that is what I will not put up with.”

“My friend,” said I, “in your country, who are considered as having most right there; you who were born there, or men who came from another country, India or Egypt for instance?”

“Why, of course, we who were born there. I should have liked to see anyone interfering with us, coming there to claim our places.”

“Ah,” I said, “cases differ. Here are men born in the country. Their ancestors were brought here, perhaps against their will, and they are here, not by their own choice, but born here, whether they would or no. Now here you come in a ship, of your own accord, and plant yourself in our country, and then find fault with our laws and institutions, and declare that you will not be interfered with by natives of the country.”

“Well,” said he, “I never saw it in that light. Still, it’s hard to be turned out of work by black men.”

“Turned out? Isn’t there room enough? Here you are, all the while sending for your relatives to come, bringing them over, (say from Persia,) by ship loads, because there is room for all. If you are so very much crowded, why do you not leave them at home, where, by their own account, they are very well off, if they are willing to work? How many of your friends have you brought over in the last two years to a country where you suffer such wrongs?

“Well, I couldn’t just say.”

“Better not, friend. But if there are so many of them, just please to remember this is a land where ‘there’s room enough for all’.”

•••••

Morgan in the Ohio Penitentiary.–The Columbus correspondent of the Cincinnati Commercial gives the following history of the incarceration of the great guerrilla Morgan and his officers in the Ohio penitentiary:

“Well, the great raider is done for at last, and wiped out, as a military man, along with twenty-nine co-thieves. He was incarcerated this afternoon in that staunch hotel, called the Ohio Penitentiary. They were delivered over to Capt. Merion by the military authorities, and immediately put through the same motions as other criminals–persons searched, hair and beard shaved, bathed and clad in clean suits. Morgan and Duke submitted very quietly, but some of the younger thieves demurred bitterly, until told they must submit. Morgan had his belt filled with gold, greenbacks and confederate notes. One who had before broken his parole refused to strip, when it was instantly done for him. Duke begged for his moustache, but it was no go–it was razored. They will be compelled to submit to prison discipline, but confined apart from the convicts, and guarded day and night by the military. One or two talked about retaliation, but the rule against speaking was instantly enforced. A Negro convict did the barbering for the chivalry.”

Condition of Lee’s Army.–An intercepted letter from a rebel in the Shenandoah valley gives the following sketch of the condition of the rebel army after its retreat across the Potomac:

“I have never seen anything equal our poor starved soldiers. (Yes, starved.) I never saw such a change in so short a time. Our men seem discouraged. Never before did I see them inclined to complain at any hardships they had to undergo–but now many of them say they can’t stand the way they are marched and starved from post to pillar, and they won’t. They come back so dirty and so many barefooted, looked jaded and disheartened; poor creatures, I pity them from my heart, but I could not supply all their wants. And now it grieves me, so many haggard faces and pleading eyes come up before me that I have not enjoyed one mouthful since our army passed, though I have done the best I could for them. I think we are badly worsted by that raid. We went there seeking revenge, we are now reaping the reward. ‘Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord.’ We have gained nothing, but lost heavily. We exchanged 15,000 or 20,000 men for a few horses and cattle. It is awful to think of the men we lost unnecessarily over there. There was plenty to do on our own soil, and here we ought to have stayed. But it seems as if as soon as our army gets in a good condition the fever of invasion runs to such a height that nothing will cool it but to invade the Northern States. And when I think of the poor men that have been sacrificed, and our independence no nearer gained than before, but the war prolonged, my heart grows sick. If our men must die, let them fall upon our own soil, and there let their graves be. We fared bad enough at Sharpsburg, but worse at Gettysburg, and it hurts me worse to think of the men we there than anywhere else.”

•••••

The payments for May and June sent to the different armies amount to $29,530,000.

•••••

General News Summary.

Hundreds of the colored people of New York city have migrated to the country, and thousands would be glad to leave the mob-ruled city if they could find homes elsewhere. Many of the merchants refuse to re-employ their colored laborers, because they still fear the copperhead mob, and so it happens that there is still a demand upon the charitable for funds to support thousands of poor people who can get no work in the city and know not where to go. This is pitiful. If this permanent triumph of ruffianism over a defenseless class is permitted, it will be a deep and ineffaceable disgrace to the city.

The great pin-hunter, the Baron de Sevres, is dead. Amongst the property he left were found two large and heavy boxes, which by his heirs were supposed to contain cash, but turned out to be filled with hundreds of thousands of all imaginable kinds of pins. For the last twenty years his regular habit has been to pass along the most frequented streets and places of public resort, and to pick up any pins he discovered on the ground.

The whole number of American sea-going craft lost during July was 22. Of these 7 were ships, 4 barks, 2 brigs and 9 schooners. Six were wrecked, ten burned, one abandoned, one sunk, two run down and two missing. Of those burned, 9 were destroyed by the British pirates. The total value of the vessels was $475,000.

Hundreds of New York rowdies, who escaped to Philadelphia to avoid arrest for the crimes they committed during the draft riots, are selling themselves as substitutes for drafted men, as the easiest method of escaping starvation or the penitentiary.

¹ About $2.26B in 2012 U.S. dollars as per the Measuring Worth site calculators.