by Thomas Dixon
CHAPTER XXIII
THE FATAL BLUNDER
On February 22, 1862, Jefferson Davis committed the one irretrievablemistake of his administration. He consented to his inauguration aspermanent President of the Confederacy under the strict forms ofConstitutional law.
The South was entering the shadows of the darkest hour of her new life.A military dictator clothed with autocratic power could have subdued thediscordant elements and marshaled the resources of the country to meetthe crisis. A constitutional President would bind himself hand and footwith legal forms. A military dictator might ride to victory and carryhis country with him.
His two Commanding Generals had allowed the victorious army of Manassasto drift into a rabble while they wrangled for position, precedence andpower.
The swift and terrible blows which the navy had dealt the South,delivered so silently and yet with such deadly effect that the peoplehad not yet realized their import, had convinced the President that thewar would be one of the bloodiest in history.
The fall of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson with the evacuation ofNashville had been a sword thrust into the heart of the lower South. Theextent of these disasters had not been realized by the public. The Southwas yet a sleeping lioness. She could be roused and her powers wieldedwith certainty by one man. But his hand must be firm.
There was one man in the Cabinet of the Confederacy who clearly saw thisfrom the first dawn of the new year--Judah P. Benjamin, the astuteSecretary of War. His keen logical mind had brushed aside the fog ofsentiment and saw _one_ thing--the need of success and the way in whichto attain it.
The morning of February twenty-second was Washington's birthday, and forthat reason fixed by the South as the day of the inauguration of theirPresident. Nothing could have shown more clearly the tenacity with whichthe Southern people were clinging to their old forms. The day slowlydawned through lowering storm clouds.
The President went early to his office for a consultation with themembers of his new Cabinet. Judah P. Benjamin, his chosen chiefcounselor as Secretary of State, was unusually reticent. The details ofthe inauguration were quickly agreed on and Davis hastened to return tohis room at the White House to complete his preparations for theceremony.
Benjamin followed his Chief thirty minutes later with the most importantcommunication he had ever decided to make.
As the most trusted adviser of the President he had long had the freedomof the house.
The resolute Hebrew features of the Secretary were set with resolution.He pushed his way to the door of Mr. Davis' room, rapped for admissionand without waiting for an answer softly and swiftly entered. Hismission was too important to admit of delay.
He paused at the threshold in surprise.
Jefferson Davis was on his knees in prayer so deep and earnest he hadnot heard.
He waited with head bowed in silent sympathy for five minutes and lookedwith increasing amazement at the white face of the man who prayed. Thisagony of soul before the God of his fathers was a revelation to theMinister of State.
His lips were moving now in audible words.
"Thou alone art my refuge, O Lord! Without Thee I shall fail. Have pityon Thy servant--with Thy wisdom guide!"
The time was swiftly passing. The Minister could not wait.
"I beg your pardon, Mr. President," he began in low tones, "but I havemost important communications to make to you--"
The voice of prayer softly died away and slowly the look of earth cameback to the tired face. He turned his hollow cheeks to Benjamin with noattempt to mask the agony of his spirit, slowly rose and motioned him toa chair.
The Secretary lifted his hand.
"I'm restless. If you don't mind, I'll stand. I have marked threeeditorial attacks on you and your administration in three of the mostpowerful newspapers in the South--the Richmond _Examiner_, the Raleigh_Standard_ and the Charleston _Mercury_--read them please--and then Ihave something to say!"
The President seated himself and read each marked sentence with care.
"The same old thing, Benjamin--only a little more virulent thistime--what of it?"
"This! The success of our cause demands the suppression of these reptilesheets and the imprisonment of their editors--"
"Would success be worth having if we must buy it at the cost of theliberties of our people?"
Benjamin stopped short in his tracks. He had been walking back and forthwith swift panther-like tread.
"We are at war, Mr. President--fierce, savage, cruel, it's going to be.You have realized this from the first. The world will demand of us justone thing--success in arms. With this we win all. Lose this and we loseall--our liberties and a great deal more. Our coast is pierced now atregular intervals to the mouth of the Mississippi River--at FortressMonroe in Virginia--the entire inland waters of North Carolina, PortRoyal, South Carolina, Florida's line has been broken. Grant's army isswarming into Tennessee. McClellan is drilling three hundred thousandmen in Washington to descend on Richmond. It's no time to nurse suchreptiles in our bosom--"
"I can't play the petty tyrant--"
"They'll sting you to death--I warn you--no administration on earth canlive in times of war and endure such infamous abuse as theseconspirators are now heaping on your head. And mark you--they have onlybegun. The junta of disgruntled generals which they have organized willstrangle the cause of the South unless you grip the situation to-daywith a hand of steel. They are laying their plans in the new Congress toparalyze your work and heap on your head the scorn of the world."
The President moved with a gesture of impatience.
"I've told you, Benjamin, that I will not suppress these papers nor signyour order for the arrest of the editors. I am leading the cause of agreat people to preserve Constitutional liberty. Freedom of speech isone of their rights--"
"In times of peace, yes--but not in the crisis of war when the tongue ofa fool may betray the lives of millions. I am not here merely to ask youto suppress these three treacherous rags--I'm here to ask a bigger andfar more important thing. I want you to stop this inaugural ceremonyto-day--"
Davis rose with a quick excited movement.
"What do you mean?"
"Just what I say. Stop in time. We inaugurated a Provisional Governmentat Montgomery to last one year. Why one year? Because we believed thewar would be over before that year expired. It would have been madnessto provide for the establishment of the elaborate and clumsy forms of aConstitutional Government during the progress of war. Why set up aConstitution until you have won by the sword the power to maintain it?"
"But," Davis interrupted, "if we delay the adoption of a Constitution weconfess to the world our want of confidence in the success of our cause.Such a permanent Constitution will be to our people the supreme sign offaith--"
"With these jackals and hyenas of the press yelping and snarling andsnapping at your heels? These men will destroy the faith of our best menand women if you only allow them to repeat their lies often enough. Theywill believe them at last, themselves. You have the confidence to-day ofthe whole South. Your bitterest enemy could not name a candidate tooppose your election last November. Give these traitors time and theywill change all--"
"Not with military success--"
"Granted. But if these jackals break down the confidence of the peoplein the administration, volunteering ceases and we have no army."
"We must use the Conscription. It is inevitable--"
"Exactly!" the Secretary cried triumphantly. "And Conscription is the_reductio ad absurdum_ of your dream of Constitutional Law. Why set up aConstitution at all to-day?"
"Congress must pass a Conscript law when necessity demands it."
"In their own way, yes--with ifs and ands and clauses which defeat itspurpose."
"They must respond to the demands of our people when their patriotism isaroused."
"Our people have patriotism to spare if we can only guide it in theright direction. If it goes to seed in the personal quarrels ofgenerals, if it exha
usts itself in abuse of the Executive, while anoverwhelming enemy marches on us--What then?"
The President lifted his head.
"And you recommend?"
"Stop this ceremony. Refuse the position of permanent President and useyour powers as Provisional President in a Military Dictatorship untilthe South wins--"
"Never!" was the quick reply. "I'll go down in eternal defeat soonerthan win an empire by such betrayal of the trust imposed in me--"
"You're not betraying the trust imposed in you by assuming thesepowers!" Benjamin exclaimed with passion. "You're fulfilling that trust.You're doing what the people have called you to do--establishing theindependence of the South! The Government at Washington has beencompelled to exercise despotic powers from the first--"
"Exactly--and that's why we can't afford to do it. We are fighting thebattle of the North and the South for Constitutional liberty."
"Even so, if we lose and they win, the cause is lost. Seward is nowimprisoning thousands of Northern men who have dared to sympathize withus--"
"An act of infamous tyranny!"
"But if he wins--who will dare to criticise the wisdom of his policyfifty years from to-day? If we lose, who will give us credit for ourhigh ideals of Civil Law in times of war? You have the chance to-day towin. Leap into the saddle and command the obedience of every man, womanand child in the South! Your Congress which assembles to-day is a weakimpossible body of men. They have nothing to do except to make foolishspeeches and hatch conspiracies against your administration. We havemuzzled them behind closed doors. The remedy is worse than the disease.The rumors they circulate through the reptile press do more harm thanthe record of their vapid talk could possibly accomplish. Why tie thesemillstones around your neck? They came yesterday to demand the head ofAlbert Sidney Johnston. They are organizing to drive Lee out of thearmy. They allow no opportunity to pass to sneer at his position as yourchief military adviser since his return from Western Virginia. You knowand I know that Albert Sidney Johnston and R. E. Lee are our greatestgenerals--"
"I'll protect them from the chatter of fools--never fear--"
"To what end if you allow them to break down the faith of our people intheir Government? The strong arm, alone, can save us. It's no time tohaggle about the forms of law. Your duty is clear. Stop this foolishceremony of Inauguration to-day and assume in due time theDictatorship--"
Davis threw both arms up in a gesture of impatient refusal.
"It's a waste of breath, Benjamin. I'll die first!"
The elastic spirit of the younger man recovered its poise at once andaccepted the decision.
With a genial smile he slipped one arm around the tall figure.
"Brave, generous, big-hearted, foolish--my captain! Well, I've done myduty as your chief counselor. Now I'll obey orders--one thing more Imust add in warning. Richmond swarms with spies. It will be impossibleto defend the Capital on the approach of McClellan's army without aproclamation of martial law."
The President looked up sharply.
"We'll compromise on that. I'll proclaim martial law and suspend the_writ_ in Richmond--"
"And a radius of ten miles."
"All right--I'll do that."
It was the utmost concession the wily minister of State could wring fromhis Chief. But it was important. The Secretary had his eye on a certainhouse on Church Hill. It might be necessary to expel its owners.
"By the way," the President added, as his Secretary stood with his handon the door. "I wrote a recommendation to your new department for theappointment of a young friend of Miss Barton to a position in youroffice. He's a man of brilliant talents--a foreigner who has cast hisfortunes with us. Do what you can for him--"
"I'll remember--" the Secretary nodded and hurried to his office toissue his proclamation of martial law for the city and district ofRichmond.
At ten o'clock the rain began to pour in torrents. The streets wereflooded. Rushing rivers of muddy water roared over its cobble stones andleaped down its steep hills into the yellow tide of the James.
Every flag drooped and flapped in dismal weeping against its staff. Thedecorations of the houses and windows outside were ruined. The buntingswayed and sagged in deep curves across the streets, pouring a stream ofwater from the folds.
At twelve o'clock, the procession formed in the Hall of the VirginiaLegislature and marched through the pouring rain to the platform erectedaround the statue of Washington. In spite of the storm an immense crowdpacked the space around the speaker's stand, presenting the curiousspectacle of a sea of umbrellas.
Socola watched this crowd stand patiently in the downpour with adeepening sense of the tragedy it foreshadowed. The people who could settheir teeth and go through an inauguration ceremony scheduled in theopen air on such a day might be defeated in battle, but the victor wouldpay his tribute of blood. He had not dared to ask Jennie to accept hisescort on such a day and yet they drifted to each other's side by somestrange power of attraction.
The scene was weird in its utter depression of all enthusiasm, and yetthe sullen purpose which held the people was sublime in its persistence.An awning covered the speaker's stand and beneath this friendly coverthe ceremony was performed down to the last detail.
The President rose and faced his audience under the most tryingconditions. Oratory was beyond human effort. He did not attempt it. Heread his frank dignified address in simple, clear, musical tones whichrang with strange effect over the crowd of drenched men and women. Not asingle cheer broke the delivery of his address. He sought in no way toapologize for the disasters which had befallen his people. He faced thembravely and summoned his followers to be equally brave.
The close of his address caught the morbid fancy of Socola with peculiarfascination. Clouds of unusual threatening depths were rolling acrossthe heavens, against which the canopied platform was sharply outlined.The thin form of the President rose white and ghost-like against thisblack background of clouds. He was extremely pale, his cheeks holloweddeep, his head bared regardless of the chill mists which beat throughthe canopy.
His tall figure stood tense, trembling, deathlike--the emblem ofsacrificial offering on the altar of his country.
Socola whispered to Jennie:
"Where have I witnessed this scene before?"
"Surely not in America--"
"No"--he mused thoughtfully--"I remember now--on a lonely hill outsideJerusalem the Roman soldiers were crucifying a man on a day likethis--that's where I saw it!"
He had scarcely spoken the uncanny words in a low undertone when thespeaker closed his address with a remarkable prayer.
Suddenly dropping his manuscript on the table he lifted his eyes intothe darkened heavens and cried with deep passion:
"With humble gratitude and adoration, to Thee, O God, I trustinglycommit myself, and prayerfully invoke Thy blessing on my country and itscause!"
