Memoirs of Service Afloat, During the War Between the States Part 49

On the contrary, it was expressly stated that the guaranties contained in it were to continue and be in force, so long as the parties to whom the guaranties were given, should perform their part of the treaty stipulations. It was made, not in contemplation of a continuation of the war, but with a view to put an end to the war, and the guaranties were demanded by us as _peace guaranties_. It did, in effect, put an end to the war and pacify the whole country; General Taylor in Alabama and Mississippi, and General Buckner and others in Texas, following the lead of General Johnston. Are we to be told now by an Attorney-General of the United States, that the moment the object of the convention, to wit, the restoration of peace, was accomplished, the convention itself became a nullity, its terms powerless to protect us, and that General Johnston's army surrendered, in fact, without any terms whatever? You cannot sustain such an opinion, Mr. President. It will shock the common sense and love of fair play of the American people. But to show still further that it was the intention of the parties that this should be a _continuing_ convention, the words used were, "not to be disturbed by the _United States Authorities_," these words being co-extensive with the whole power of the Government. We were not only "not to be disturbed" by General Sherman, or any other military commander or authority, but by _any authority whatever_, civil or military. Nor will it do to say that General Sherman, being merely a military man, had no authority to speak for the civil branch of the Government, for his action, as we have seen, was approved by the Administration at Was.h.i.+ngton.

One more remark, Mr. President, and I will forbear to trespa.s.s further on your time and patience. The act of war for which I was arrested, was well known to the Department of the Government making the arrest, ten months before the convention was entered into at Greensboro'. It was also well known to the same Department, that about the middle of February, 1865, I was a.s.signed to the command of the James River Squadron, near Richmond, with the rank of a rear-admiral; being thus promoted and employed by my Government, after the alleged illegal escape off Cherbourg. If the Federal Government then entertained the design, which it has since developed, of arresting and trying me for this alleged breach of the laws of war, was it not its duty, both to itself and to me, to have made me an exception to any military terms it might have been disposed to grant to our armies? I put it to you, Mr. President, as a man and a magistrate to say, and I will rest my case on your answer, whether it was consistent with honor and fair dealing, for this Government first to entrap me, by means of a military convention, and then, having me in its power, to arrest me and declare that convention null and void, for the course recommended to you by Mr. Speed comes to this--nothing more, nothing less.

I have thus laid before you, tediously I fear, and yet as concisely as was consistent with clearness, the grounds upon which I claim at your hands, who are the guardian of the honor of a great nation, my discharge from arrest and imprisonment. I have spoken freely and frankly, as it became an American citizen to speak to the Chief Magistrate of the American Republic. We live in times of high party excitement, when men, unfortunately, are but too p.r.o.ne to take counsel of their pa.s.sions; but pa.s.sions die, and men die with them, and after death comes history. In the future, Mr. President, _when America shall have a history_, my record and that of the gallant Southern people will be engrafted upon, and become a part of your history, the pages of which you are now acting; and the prayer of this pet.i.tion is, that you will not permit the honor of the American name to be tarnished by a perfidy on those pages. In this paper I have stood strictly upon legal defences; but should those barriers be beaten down, conscious of the rect.i.tude of my conduct, throughout a checkered and eventful career, when the commerce of half a world was at my mercy, and when the pa.s.sions of men, North and South, were tossed into a whirlwind, by the current events of the most b.l.o.o.d.y and terrific war that the human race had ever seen, I shall hope to justify and defend myself against any and all charges affecting the honor and reputation of a man and a soldier. Whatever else may be said of me, I have, at least, brought no discredit upon the American name and character.

I am, very respectfully, &c., RAPHAEL SEMMES.

WAs.h.i.+NGTON CITY, January 15, 1866.

At the time of my arrest, there was a newspaper called the "Republican,"

published in the city of Was.h.i.+ngton, in the interests of President Johnson. There had been some little struggle between Congress and the President, as to who should take the initiative in the wholesale hanging of "traitors" which had been resolved upon. The "Republican," speaking for President Johnson, declares, in the article which will be found below, _his_ readiness to act. He is only waiting, it says, for Congress to move in the matter. Here is the article:--

"WHY DON'T CONGRESS ACT?

"As long ago as last October, the President of the United States commenced an earnest effort to initiate the trials of prominent traitors, beginning with the arch-traitor Jefferson Davis. It is now a historical record, and officially in the possession of the Congress of the United States, that, upon application to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to know at what time, if any, the United States Court for the District of Virginia would be ready to try certain high crimes against the National Government, the President received an answer from Chief-Justice Chase, that the Court would not sit in that district, while that territory was under military control, and suggested the propriety of delaying action in the matter, until Congress acted. Congress a.s.sembled. The President referred the whole subject, respectfully, to the consideration of Congress in his annual message, and subsequently, in answer to a resolution of inquiry, he sent, by special message, the correspondence alluded to above, between himself and Chief-Justice Chase.

"All the facts were thus legitimately laid before the legislative branch of the Government _three and a half months ago_! The President, some time in November last, stopped the work of pardoning, except in a few cases where the applications were accompanied by the most positive evidence of good intentions toward the Government. From among those who have applied for pardon, the President has reserved for trial about _five hundred_ of the military and political leaders of the rebel Government--a sufficient number to begin with at least. This number, as cla.s.sified by the President, we published, by permission, some time since.

"Now, in view of the above statement of facts, what has Congress done? Has Congress pa.s.sed any law directing how the rebels shall be tried? No. Has Congress pa.s.sed any resolution requesting the President to order a military court for the trial of Davis & Co.? No.

Has Congress agitated the subject at any time, in any manner, looking to a trial of the cases referred to? No.

"But what have Congressmen done in their individual capacity? Many of them, from day to day, have spoken sneeringly of the President, because he has not done what he began to do, but which the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court prevented, by refusing to hold the court, and which the Congress of the United States has wholly neglected, or _purposely ignored_. The people, through the press of the country, and in private communication, are beginning to inquire why Congress don't act. Governors of States, ignorant of the facts, are haranguing the people about the _indisposition_ or _neglect_ of the _President_ to try traitors. Why don't Congress act? The President is ready, and has been ready from the beginning, to co-operate with Congress in any const.i.tutional measure by which traitors can be tried, to the end, that treason may thereby be made odious. We repeat the question with which we commenced, and which is echoed by the people everywhere, 'Why don't Congress act?'"

There is an old adage which says, "When rogues fall out, honest men get their rights." Fortunately for the "traitors" of the South, Andrew Johnson, and the Congress quarrelled. Johnson undertook to reconstruct the Southern States, in _his_ interests, and Congress claimed the right to reconstruct them in _its_ interests. The Const.i.tution of the United States was equally disregarded by them both. Johnson had no more respect for it than Congress. His mode of reconstruction equally violated it, with that of Congress. It was a struggle between usurpers, which should be master--that was all. Johnson, with a single stroke of the pen, struck down all the State governments, called conventions of the people, and told the conventions what they should do. Congress might go a little further, but its violation of the Const.i.tution could not, well, be more flagrant.

The breach widened from day to day, and the quarrel at last became bitter.

Neither party, opposed by the other, could afford to become the hangman of the Southern people, and the very pretty little programme, which, according to the "Republican" newspaper, had been arranged between the rogues, naturally fell to the ground.

Johnson finding that his quarrel with Congress had ruined him with his party, now set about constructing a new one--a Johnson party. His scheme was to ignore both the Democratic, and the Republican parties. If he could succeed in reconstructing the Southern States, to the exclusion of Congress, he might hope to get the votes of those States in the next Presidential election. But to conciliate these States, it would not do to hang "_five hundred_ of the military and political leaders of the rebel Government," as a mere "beginning." He must pursue a different policy. He now issued first one amnesty proclamation, and then another--doling out amnesty, grudgingly, in broken doses--until he had issued three of them.

By the last of these proclamations, the writer of these pages, who was true to his State, was "graciously pardoned" by Andrew Johnson, who had not only been a traitor to his State, but had betrayed, besides, two political parties. A glorious opportunity presented itself for him to show himself a statesman. He has proved a charlatan instead. He cowered in his struggle with Congress, and that body has shorn him of his prerogatives, and reduced him to the mere position of a clerk. This is the second act of the drama, the first act of which was the secession of the Southern States. The form of government having been changed by the revolution, there are still other acts of the drama to be performed.

THE END.