by Alan Sewell
“How long will it take to arm and equip those men?” Lincoln asked.
“We’re producing 10,000 rifles per month, primarily from the Springfield, Massachusetts Arsenal. The smaller arsenals in northern New York, Massachusetts, Maine, and Pennsylvania are fully employed in retrofitting about a 100,000 flintlock muskets to use percussion caps, also at the rate of about 10,000 per month.”
“We’ll need to do something faster than that,” said Senator Wade. “We’ve got hundreds of thousands of men sitting at home sucking their thumbs for lack of weapons. Let’s get these men armed with squirrel guns, shotguns, pistols, or pitchforks and get them in the lines immediately. Then let’s do whatever we have to do to get them standard-issue military rifles. We need those weapons now, not in six months.”
“We’ll be able to let contracts to the Remington, Sharps, Colt, and Burnside companies as soon as we get the currency issue settled,” advised Cameron. “We’re also short on rations, horses, mules, saddles, uniforms, and other material due to the shortage of specie in the government’s accounts to pay for them. Not to mention we’re unable to pay the troops. We’re depending on patriotism to fill the ranks, but even patriotism has its limits.”
“That’s why we must get started immediately with printing paper currency,” replied Treasury Secretary Chase. “We can’t arm and equip the armies unless we have something with which to pay for it. I also recommend that we begin imposing taxes in kind on foodstuffs and livestock. Our commissary agents can impound the goods and send them straight to the armies without having to settle accounts with specie or paper.”
“A tax in kind may not be Constitutional,” advised Congressman Vandever. “We should ask the Supreme Court to rule on it. The same holds true for the printing of paper currency. The Constitution authorizes only gold and silver as legal tender.”
“There’s a war on,” retorted Thad Stevens. “Impose the tax in kind and print the paper currency. There is no time to shillyshally around. We must do what is necessary to defend ourselves. We can argue about the constitutionality after we’ve won our independence.”
“I agree that must take a broad view of the Constitution during the time when our nation’s life hangs in the balance,” said Lincoln. “For each measure in question let us ask first whether it is expedient. If it is expedient then let us ask whether it defies the spirit of the Constitution. I don’t perceive that the printing of paper currency or a tax in kind defies the spirit of the Constitution. Let’s have a complete discussion of those issues at tomorrow’s meeting and decide how to proceed. Let us now return to a discussion of the war. The Secretary of War will please advise us.”
“There isn’t anything new of substance to report on,” said Cameron. “Our fronts have been quiet since our victory at Gettysburg. Our agents in the Confederate Union haven’t reported any preparations for them to resume the offensive. The men they were planning to send into Mexico have been recalled to their training camps near the state capitals. The Confederates have lost their senior commanders. Albert Sydney Johnston is deceased and Joseph Johnston is barely alive in one of our hospitals. General Lee has been sacked. It will take them months to sort out that disorganization in their ranks.”
“They also got their noses bloodied taking St. Louis,” Lincoln reminded them, “and that city was defended by only a few thousand of our men. Their plan for taking Philadelphia unraveled at Gettysburg. I don’t believe they will attack Philadelphia again now that our men are prepared. And that brings us to the proposal for peace that Horace Greeley is attempting to mediate between us and the Jeff Davis Government.”
“What is he proposing?” asked Thad Stevens.
“That the Confederates will recognize our sovereignty,” replied Lincoln. “They will cede to us the Free State territories they hold in New York, New Jersey, Indiana, Illinois, and Oregon. In return we will cede them the Southwest west of the Rocky Mountains, as far north as Latitude 42. That includes all of California. We will retain Oregon and the territories north to Latitude 49 as our window on the Pacific Coast. There is to be free navigation of rivers and canals in all the states and territories of either nation.”
“Who gets Kansas?” asked Stevens.
“Kansas stays with us.”
“What about Colorado?”
“We divide it in half at the Rockies. We get the east. They get the west”
“So we’re proposing to get them out of all the Free States except California,” said Stevens. “I don’t like giving up California, but the ports further up the Oregon Coast are just as good and are less distant from Chicago. And we may continue using the Mississippi River to get our trade to New Orleans? That would be acceptable to me. If the Confederates concur with the proposal, I think it should be accepted.” The rest of the Cabinet affirmed their agreement.
“Is there any other topic for summary discussion today?” asked Lincoln.
“Not for me,” said Stevens. “I am satisfied that every item has had an adequate summary discussion. I’ll be here tomorrow for the discussion of the currency and taxes.”
With that the meeting broke up. Mr. Lincoln felt drained by the discussion. “I am getting old too,” he said to Hay. “My mind does not work as fast as it used to. I could use a dozen more of you young whipper snappers helping me to sort these things out.”
“Don’t sell yourself short, Mr. President,” responded Hay cheerfully. “You steered the discussion so as to reach agreement on our obtaining a secure railroad through the Canadas, a national currency to replace the gold and silver specie that has gone out of circulation, and an agreement to seek peace with the Confederates. That is a sufficient amount of business for anybody to conclude in one day.”
7
New York City, August 22, 1861
Horace Greeley’s Peace Proposal
“Come in, Mr. President!” exclaimed New York Tribune Editor Horace Greeley in warm greeting to Jefferson Davis. “Thank you so much for giving me a fair hearing.”
“The pleasure is mine,” replied Davis. “I need all the friends I can get in the press, especially among you Damn Yankee Abolitionists!”
Greeley threw back his head laughing. “Yes, I know. I do read the Southern papers. Those States Rights men are raising a hue and cry, aren’t they? They’re not at all pleased about your sending recruiting officers and commissary agents into their states to obtain men and supplies for your National Army.”
Davis sat down with Greeley and took off his derby hat. “It’s all about political favors so far as they’re concerned. They think the men and supplies should be raised exclusively by the governors and state legislatures. One can only imagine how much money would be changing hands under the table to obtain procurement contracts and officer appointments. This is a national war that will be administered from Washington City. I’ve made it clear there will be no corruption in procurement and appointments. That hasn’t set well with some people in the state capitals.”
Greeley held up the latest copy of the Charleston Mercury. “Have you read Rhett’s latest editorial?”
Davis shook his head. “I don’t have time to read that tripe anymore.”
Greeley read it anyway. “Rhett says: ‘We’re supposed to be acquiring Mexico and getting rid of Yankeeland. The Damnyankees have done us the favor of leaving on their own volition. Forcing them to stay in our house makes about as much sense as demanding that uninvited guests sleep over after the soiree has finished.’ ”
Greeley laughed again. “They can’t make up their minds whether they want you to conquer us ‘Nigger-Loving Abolitionists’ and force us back into your Confederate Union or whether they want you to barricade the doors and make sure that we’ll never again be able to set foot in the South!”
Davis frowned. “Newspaper editors are never happy!”
He remembered the vile words in the newspapers after the defeat at Gettysburg. The Richmond Examiner had thundered: What little competence Davis brought with him into the Whi
te House now lies buried in the tomb of Albert Sydney Johnston and the men who were sacrificed with him on an altar of intrigue. Davis lacks courage to place the blame for defeat where it belongs. Rather than making a manly admission of fault, he seeks to shift the blame to Robert E. Lee!
Davis looked at Greeley. “Tell the truth, I have gotten fairer press from you than from the Southern Fire Eaters. Never thought I’d receive fairer treatment from a Republican editor than my supposed friends at the South, but you have given it to me, and I appreciate it.”
“You deserve it,” replied Greeley. “You’ve always been honest about saying what’s on your mind, even when you’ve known that it would offend some of your constituencies. Your integrity in preserving the National Union against the Dis-Unionists North and South has made you popular here, even among my Republican readers. Even if they do not favor your course of recovering the Free States by force, they respect you as their President.”
Greeley could hardly believe that he was warming to Jefferson Davis, a product of the slave owning aristocracy he disdained. But how could one not like Jefferson Davis when conversing with him in person?
Davis is stubborn in believing that slavery is the most beneficial relationship between Whites and Negroes. But he is an ardent Unionist who has courageously staked his reputation on making common cause with Stephen Douglas in suppressing the Southern Secessionists. If Davis had not united his fortunes with Douglas, then Bill Yancey’s band would have destroyed the Union from the other side. Davis is a humble man who campaigns only for what he thinks best for preserving the unity of the country. He is honest and speaks the plain truth of what he thinks. He does not revel in complicated schemes like the late Stephen Douglas.
Greeley motioned for Davis to enjoy the minted tea and salted crackers that he had set out on the table.
“Mr. President, I want to ask you to carefully consider whether prosecuting this war to recover the Free States by force is truly in the interests of the Confederate Union. I have a proposal for peace that I will print in The Tribune next Saturday. Mr. Lincoln’s government has already accepted it in principle. Mr. Lincoln’s representative Edward Baker is here. He is ready to meet with you and to sign a letter of intent that his government will accept the proposal.”
“I see,” said Davis. “What are the proposed terms?”
Greeley got up and brought a map from his desk and spread it on the table for Davis to study.
“The Confederate Union will recognize the independence of the United States of Free America. You will cede them the territory you hold in Metropolitan New York and in Indiana and Illinois and the small strip of territory in northwestern Virginia between Pennsylvania and Ohio. In return you will receive title to all territories in the Southwest including all of California.”
Greeley continued while Davis studied the map. “You would be giving up about 50,000 square miles of Free State territory you hold in the settled portions of the country east of the Mississippi River in order to receive 350,000 square miles of land in the Far West that is suitable to the introduction of slavery. And rich in gold and silver I might add. Giving up one square mile of land that is not suited for slavery in return for seven that are seems a fair trade to me.”
Davis frowned. “As President I am sworn to uphold the Constitution for the entire Confederate Union. The people voted by a majority of 63% to elect Douglas and myself to represent them. That is very close to being the two-thirds majority that in Congress is considered to be sufficient to override a Presidential veto. I cannot allow on principle 37% of the people to overturn the decision of the majority. The majority is sovereign over every inch of the national territory.”
“But the votes are concentrated in the northern section of the country,” Greeley argued. “The people in that section feel strongly enough to take up arms to leave.”
“Not all of the Northern people voted Republican!” exclaimed Davis. “We won the electoral votes of Illinois, Indiana, New Jersey and Oregon, all of which you propose should join the United States of Free America. On what basis do you want us to abandon states whose majorities favor us? The so-called United States of Free America don’t even have a legitimate elected government. They have a Provisional President that they change at the drop of a hat. They have a Provisional Congress, which is merely the rump of the Republicans they sent to the old United States Congress. They’ve entirely disfranchised the Democrats. They’re a pirate state, not a Constitutional republic.”
“They are all Free States,” retorted Greeley. “As time goes on they formalize their political institutions to include free elections. They will vote more Republican, as they have been in the process of doing for some years.”
“But you cannot know how these states will vote in the future!” objected Davis. “The entire foundation of the Democratic Party is based on the principle of State Sovereignty --- that the people of each state will decide for themselves how to organize their domestic institutions. That principle applies as much to the Free States as to the Slave States. The Republican Rebels are trying to destroy the Free States’ sovereignty by replacing their state governments with an unelected central government. The Rebels want to deny the people of the Free States their right to vote for the candidates of their choice by removing them from the Confederate Union and foisting a government of unelected officials upon them. Is that not the very definition of tyranny! Is that not war against the Constitution!”
Greeley sighed. “May I suggest looking at it as a practical matter? If you make peace now you will be ending a war that has proven costly in lives and property. St. Louis, Springfield, and much of Cincinnati have been destroyed. Dozens of other towns from New Jersey to Kansas have been pockmarked by irregular warfare. Trade has been disrupted. Businesses have closed. Workers are idle. Were not the armies taking in the unemployed there would be rioting by unemployed mobs. Things will become much worse if the war continues. By making peace you will acquire territories for slavery larger than you had any prospect for obtaining while you were joined with the Free States were in the old Union. You will obtain much more than even Yancey’s gang of Southern Secessionists would have asked for if they had left the Union.”
“Why would I care about what Yancey’s gang wanted? I put that bunch down by joining the ticket with Stephen Douglas. I don’t favor any man who desires to wreck the country, whatever section he represents.”
“But haven’t you wanted to be free from the Abolitionists?” Greely implored. “Haven’t you complained about their trying to undermine slavery? Now they have voluntarily separated themselves from you and gone off into another country where they will not disturb you again. Why not let them go?”
“If only it were true about them not disturbing us!” said Davis in a tone between exasperation and mocking laughter. “If we allow the Abolitionists to go off into their own country do you think they’ll stop inciting our slaves? They’ll stand on their side of the border and shout for our Negroes to rise against us! They’ll send their agents into our territory to agitate our Negroes. There will be a ‘John Brown’ raid organized every year. No, sir, peace cannot be had when one people insist on interfering with the business of others. The Abolitionists must be suppressed until such time as they learn to mind their own business.”
“The Free Staters will not go down easily,” advised Greeley. “They will fight with their teeth and their fingernails. If you do succeed in forcing them back into the Confederate Union it will be at the cost of hundreds of thousands dead. You will recover a land of devastated farms, villages, towns, and cities.”
“I don’t know that it will come to that,” answered Davis. “There are many Democrats and even some moderate Republicans who do not favor their cause any more than do your Democrats and Republicans here in New York. I don’t see how they can carry on a war with that much disaffection in their own ranks. But even should the war prove to be as costly as you say, it is a price better paid now than later. If we allow those people t
o establish themselves as a separate sovereignty we will be required to spend untold millions each and every year to fortify a border that stretches thousands of miles across rivers, mountains, forests, and settled lands. It would be like an iron veil drawn across this continent. Our two peoples would be as destined to perpetual war as the Egyptians and the Hebrews.”
“Then there is no foundation on which to negotiate peace,” said Greeley dejectedly. “The war must continue, perhaps for years.”
“I do appreciate the good faith you have shown in drawing up this proposal,” Davis assured him. “But there can be no basis for peace other than the Republican Rebels laying down their arms and submitting to the Constitution.”
“I suppose that concludes our conversation, then,” said Greeley. “Please think on my proposal. The Free States have already accepted it.”
Davis nodded.
“One other thing,” said Greeley. “I had asked if you would be so kind as to bring me a copy of the speech you will be delivering at Cooper’s Institute tonight. I would like to have it ready for printing in tomorrow’s edition.”
“Oh, yes, of course,” replied Davis. He reached into his vest pocked and pulled out a sheaf of papers. He handed two bound pages to Greeley.”
Greeley thanked him and escorted him to the first floor lobby where Davis’ secretary and one-person body guard waited. Greeley returned to his office and read the speech to himself:
Speech by Jefferson Davis at Cooper’s Institute in New York City
My friends, my brethren, my countrymen ---- I thank you for the patient attention you have given me. It is with feelings of profound gratification that I witness this indication of that national sentiment and fraternity which made us, and which alone can keep us, one people.
