Читать книгу Lincoln's Plan of Reconstruction - Charles H. McCarthy - Страница 6

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The first movement toward reconstruction in Louisiana, as in the case of Tennessee, was bound up with the war powers of the President, and, no doubt, was made with some expectation of aiding his military plans. The thought of restoring a loyal government there proceeded quite naturally from the peculiar situation in the State. Though not so nearly unanimous for secession as South Carolina, her people acted with energy and promptness when they received tidings of “this last insult and outrage,” as the election of Mr. Lincoln was sensationally styled.^[47] Three days were deemed sufficient for deliberation, and the convention, January 25, 1861, passed an ordinance of secession. Two weeks before this assembly met at Baton Rouge, the arsenal and the forts, a public building and a revenue cutter had been seized by State troops from New Orleans. In the mint and the custom house of that city more than half a million dollars was secured for the Confederate States, and in accepting these funds the Montgomery Congress expressed its “high sense of the patriotic liberality” of Louisiana.^[48] This act of generosity, however, loses much of its merit when it is remembered that both the coin and bullion in the mint, as well as the customs, belonged to the Federal government. Besides, there was then no scarcity of money in the State, for Northern enterprise had found for her cotton and her sugar profitable markets both at home and abroad. It was benefits of this sort, enjoyed in the Union, that enabled Governor Moore in January, 1861, to report to his Legislature an overflowing treasury.^[49] This undoubted prosperity served only to aggravate the war fever. Enthusiasm in New Orleans was only less ardent and general than in Charleston. Business was almost suspended, and by the first of June no less than 16,000 residents of Louisiana were serving in the Confederate army.^[50]

President Lincoln’s proclamation of April 19 preceding had inaugurated a blockade of every port within the State. The early days of July witnessed the disappearance of Governor Moore’s boasted surplus, and during the summer New Orleans became bankrupt;^[51] her foreign commerce was destroyed by the blockade, her credit had vanished. Though enlistments continued without interruption, signs of financial distress multiplied with the approach of winter. Rebellion, it was soon discovered, was not attended with unmixed blessings; bad government had produced its usual consequences, and when Governor Taylor, late in the summer of 1862, undertook to raise an army for the defence of his State he was surprised at the universal apathy; neglect and disaster had brought disunionists to a condition little short of hostility to the Richmond government.^[52]

Union men in southern Louisiana had not been unobservant of these signs; permanent residents of this portion of the State had, for the most part, maintained their loyalty to the General Government. Indeed, a decided majority of them in the election of 1860 had voted for Bell and Douglas, and though here, as elsewhere in the South, ardent secessionists were found, the proceedings in the convention took the Union men by surprise.^[53] In the interval they had refrained from violence, but had not become reconciled to oppression.

The importance of New Orleans to their cause had not been overlooked by Confederate authorities, and that city was held firmly in their grasp until the fleet of Captain Farragut, toward the close of April, 1862, steamed up in hostile array before its defences. The occupation by General Butler’s army of this strategic position ended in southern Louisiana the activity of the more extreme secessionists, and though some restlessness at the presence of Federal forces was pretended by even Union men, they had not until the surrender made any serious effort to help themselves. Under protection of the army, however, they commenced immediately to form Union associations for the purpose of developing the loyal sentiment in this part of the State. Resolutions recommending an election were passed by these organizations; newspapers discussed the question, and in various ways it was forced upon the attention of the President.^[54] The more prudent and intelligent among them began under encouragement of Federal troops to consider measures for relief; the less practical commenced writing complaints to friends in the North.

In a private letter of July 26, 1862, to Hon. Reverdy Johnson, then in New Orleans investigating General Butler’s relations with foreign consuls, Mr. Lincoln, noticing a reference to the restlessness of the people under the rule of General Phelps, asks the Maryland Senator to pardon him for believing the complaint “a false pretense.” A way to avert the inconveniences arising from military occupation was for the people of Louisiana “simply to take their place in the Union upon the old terms.”^[55] Writing two days later to Cuthbert Bullett, a Southern gentleman who appears to have enjoyed his personal esteem and confidence, the President, after mentioning difficulties in the way of establishing civil authority in the State, suggested a method of avoiding them: “The people of Louisiana who wish protection to person and property,” he wrote, “have but to reach forth their hands and take it. Let them in good faith reinaugurate the national authority, and set up a State government conforming thereto under the Constitution. They know how to do it, and can have the protection of the army while doing it. The army will be withdrawn so soon as such State government can dispense with its presence; and the people of the State can then, upon the old constitutional terms, govern themselves to their own liking.”^[56] If, however, Union men exerted themselves no further than criticism of the Federal Government, it was more than intimated that there were to be expected greater injuries than military necessity had yet inflicted.

The pressure of events appears even then to have been forcing the President in the direction of emancipation. To August Belmont, of New York, who enclosed the complaints of a New Orleans correspondent, Mr. Lincoln, July 31, 1862, repeated in substance what had already been written to Mr. Bullett, and added: “Those enemies must understand that they cannot experiment for ten years trying to destroy the government, and if they fail still come back into the Union unhurt. If they expect in any contingency to ever have the Union as it was, I join with the writer [Mr. Belmont’s correspondent] in saying, ‘Now is the time.’ ”^[57]

The appointment in August, 1862, of General George F. Shepley as military governor may be regarded as the first act in the restoration of a loyal government for Louisiana. His selection, though probably intended as a private commendation of the judgment of General Butler, who had already designated him as Mayor of New Orleans, was never considered by that officer adequate atonement for the public censure implied in his removal, December, 1862, from command of the Department of the Gulf.

Upon the Federal occupation of New Orleans and adjacent territory all functions of the disloyal government therein immediately ceased. As controversies were constantly arising the establishment of courts had become a necessity. At first these questions were for the most part adjudicated by General Butler himself, but the pressure of military and other affairs compelled him soon to refer their settlement to civilians or to army officers especially chosen for the purpose. This uncertain system of justice, though immeasurably better than none, led to the institution of courts each of which was known by the name of the officer holding it. Accused persons were brought to trial, and judgments executed by soldiers detailed for such duty. No formal record of proceedings in these tribunals appears to have been kept, though memoranda of judgments rendered were, no doubt, made by an officer who came eventually to be designated as clerk.

For the decision of questions relating exclusively to the force under his command General Butler some time in June, 1862, organized a tribunal known as the Provost Court of the Army of the United States, over which Major Joseph M. Bell presided. Questions in no way connected with the military, especially matters of police and the punishment of crimes, were often submitted for its determination. Aggrieved persons, without reflecting upon the consequence of their acts, naturally appealed for redress to the holder of power. Thus the authority of this institution silently extended, and by the autumn of 1862 it exercised unquestioned jurisdiction over all criminal cases arising in the city of New Orleans.^[58] In the absence of courts for adjudicating civil questions they, too, were referred to its consideration. All functions of government having been suspended by the capture of the city, it became the duty of the Federal commander, and his right by the laws of war, to provide, among other things, for the administration of justice.

One of the early acts of General Shepley after his appointment as Military Governor was to establish a system of courts for the State. Most of the former officials having fled after the surrender, he was compelled practically to create new tribunals, and this task he greatly simplified by reviving those institutions of justice with which the people of Louisiana were already familiar. John S. Whittaker was accordingly appointed Judge of the Second District Court of the parish of Orleans. Besides possessing in civil matters the ordinary powers of a local court the old tribunal of that name had been a court of probates and successions. The new exercised all the powers of the old court. It should be remembered, however, that the latter derived its authority from the laws of Louisiana, while the former owed its existence to the war powers of the Federal Executive. Its jurisdiction extended to civil cases generally where the defendant resided in the parish of Orleans or was a non-resident of the State.^[59]

Judge Hiestand was appointed to the bench of the Fourth District Court of the parish of Orleans. Besides possessing the general authority of other district courts in that parish it entertained appeals from justices’ courts; indeed, these constituted a large part of its business.^[60]

The Sixth District Court of the parish of Orleans, revived soon after the capture of the city, is, because of the incumbent of that bench, Judge Rufus K. Howell, of greater interest than either of the preceding. Under a commission received from the State of Louisiana before its attempted secession he continued to preside over that tribunal while the disunion party ruled New Orleans, and performed his functions up to the very hour of its surrender to the Federal authorities. Having early taken the oath of allegiance to the national Government he was permitted to resume his functions.^[61] Like the tribunals mentioned, this court retained and exercised all the powers that it possessed as originally constituted.

These courts, instituted during September and October, 1862, entered upon the discharge of their duties about the 1st of November following. They were the only tribunals of civil jurisdiction in Louisiana, and that jurisdiction was limited, as against defendants resident of the State, to citizens of the parish of Orleans. As to inhabitants beyond the limits of that parish there was no court in which they could be sued. Though the Federal forces held several counties in this condition, their tenure fluctuated with the fortunes of war. A court was therefore needed whose jurisdiction would expand with the advance, and contract with the retreat, of the Union armies. The Provost Court was not deemed adequate, and indeed was never designed to meet such contingencies. To supply this deficiency a tribunal of very extensive powers, designated as “a court of record for the State of Louisiana,” was constituted by Executive order on October 20. Of this flexible institution Charles A. Peabody, of New York, a friend of Secretary Seward, was made provisional judge. Besides being empowered to select a prosecuting attorney, a marshal and a clerk, and to make rules for the exercise of his jurisdiction, he was authorized “to hear, try and determine all causes, civil and criminal, including causes in law, equity, revenue and admiralty, and particularly all such powers and jurisdiction as belong to the District and Circuit Courts of the United States, conforming his proceedings, so far as possible, to the course of proceedings and practice which has been customary in the Courts of the United States and Louisiana—his judgment to be final and conclusive.” These officers were to be paid out of the contingent fund of the War Department, and a copy of the Executive order, certified by the Secretary of War, was “held to be a sufficient commission” for the Judge.

This institution, made up as to its personnel in the North, was sent from New York with the great expedition of General Banks constituted and organized for immediate business to Louisiana. Though Judge Peabody, accompanied by Augustus de B. Hughes, Isaac Edward Clarke and George D. Lamont, who had been chosen, respectively, clerk, marshal and prosecuting attorney, arrived in New Orleans December 15, 1862, the opening of court was delayed till the 29th of that month by a change of administration in that Department.^[62]

In addition to the tribunals described many other courts were established about this time; of these the Supreme Court of Louisiana is the only one which appears to require especial mention. In former times under the State judicial system appeals had lain to this institution, and it was accordingly held that decisions of the courts now created were subject to its revision. In this manner many of their judgments were stayed and in suspense, so that the new district courts were of little practical benefit. The necessity of a tribunal to remedy this deficiency and adjudicate the accumulated cases of former years soon became apparent, and in April, 1863, Mr. Peabody was appointed Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court; associated with him on this bench were judges chosen from among the people of Louisiana.

Nearly a week before his appointment of Judge Peabody, Mr. Lincoln, by the hand of Hon. John E. Bouligny, who had not left his seat in the House of Representatives when Southern delegations withdrew from Congress, sent to General Butler, Governor Shepley and other Federal officers having authority under the United States in Louisiana a communication requesting each of them to assist Mr. Bouligny in his effort to secure “peace again upon the old terms under the Constitution of the United States.”^[63] This desirable end was to be attained by the election of “members to the Congress of the United States particularly, and perhaps a legislature, State officers, and United States senators friendly to their object.” Federal officers were instructed to give the people a chance to express their wishes at these elections. “Follow forms of law,” wrote the President, “as far as convenient, but at all events get the expression of the largest number of the people possible. All see how such action will connect with and affect the proclamation of September 22. Of course the men elected should be gentlemen of character, willing to swear support to the Constitution, as of old, and known to be above reasonable suspicion of duplicity.”^[64]

Loyal leaders, believing that Northern men holding office under the General Government in Louisiana would be set up as candidates, communicated their fears to the President, who sent to Governor Shepley a fortnight before the election a letter of which the essential portion is as follows:

We do not particularly need members of Congress from there to enable us to get along with legislation here. What we do want is the conclusive evidence that respectable citizens of Louisiana are willing to be members of Congress and to swear support to the Constitution and that other respectable citizens there are willing to vote for them and send them. To send a parcel of Northern men here as representatives, elected, as would be understood (and perhaps really so), at the point of the bayonet, would be disgusting and outrageous; and were I a member of Congress here, I would vote against admitting any such man to a seat.^[65]

The note of sincerity is unmistakable throughout, and in those Representatives and Senators opposed to Executive policy the concluding sentences especially must have excited strange emotions when they re-read in after years their impassioned attacks in Congress upon that dark spirit who, it was gravely alleged, labored with might unquestioned to subordinate the Legislative branch of Government.

The Union associations referred to appointed committees who waited upon General Shepley and demanded an election. This he hesitated to call until considerable pressure had first been exerted. The sentiments of the President concurring with the local feeling in New Orleans, Shepley finally yielded, and on November 14, 1862, issued a proclamation for an election to be held December 3d following. This election, in the language of his proclamation, was ordered “for the purpose of securing to the loyal electors” of both the First and Second Congressional Districts “their appropriate and lawful representation in the House of Representatives of the United States of America, and of enabling them to avail themselves of the benefits secured by the proclamation of the President of the United States to the people of any State, or part of a State, who shall on the first day of January next be in good faith represented in the Congress of the United States, by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such State have participated.”^[66]

In addition to the qualifications prescribed by the laws of Louisiana, General Shepley required each elector to take an oath of allegiance to the United States, and from among the old and respected citizens of the State appointed sheriffs and commissioners of election, who performed their duties to the entire satisfaction of both candidates and voters. The army, for reasons given above, refrained from all manner of interference, and no Federal office-holder was a nominee.

For the first time in many years, it was admitted, every qualified elector might freely cast his ballot without fear of intimidation or violence. In a total of 2,643 votes Benjamin F. Flanders was chosen, with little opposition, for the First, and Michael Hahn, by a safe majority, for the Second Congressional District. A larger vote was actually cast for Flanders than had been received by his predecessor, and in both districts 7,760 citizens, or about half the usual number, appeared at the polls. When it is remembered that four thousand soldiers who enlisted in Butler’s army from this part of the State did not participate in the contest, that many citizens from this section were serving in the Confederate army and that not a few Union men were exiles in the North or in Europe the vote in this election was by no means light.

With credentials signed by Governor Shepley, Messrs. Hahn and Flanders appeared in Washington as claimants for seats in Congress. After a thorough investigation of the election and several ingenious arguments in opposition both were admitted, February 17, 1863, though not without considerable misgiving, as Representatives for the remainder of the term, which expired March 3 following. For their exclusion the opposition relied mainly upon these grounds:

First. The election, it was asserted, was brought about by a threat of interference with slave property if the State was not represented in Congress by January 1, 1863; this was a measure of coercion, and the compliance of citizens in appearing at the polls was ascribed to selfish motives rather than to loyal and patriotic sentiments.

Second. The existence of any vacancy in a constitutional sense was at least doubtful; and even if vacancies existed in these districts the authority of a military governor to call an election was denied.

Third. It was objected that Governor Shepley had dispensed with the registry required by law and had empowered commissioners of election to decide upon the qualifications of voters; finally, by requiring an oath of allegiance to the United States, he had imposed upon electors a test unknown to the laws of Louisiana.^[67]

While the cases of Messrs. Hahn and Flanders were pending the edict of freedom had gone forth, for the President, as announced in his preliminary proclamation of September 22, had declared, January 1, 1863, “as a fit and necessary war measure,” that “all persons held as slaves within said designated States and parts of States, are and henceforward shall be free.”^[68] Louisiana was named as one of the States in rebellion. From the operation of this measure, however, the city of New Orleans and thirteen parishes of the State were excepted.

The admission, February 17, of Hahn and Flanders gave new life to the political reorganization of the State.^[69] But with this revival of interest there was discovered among the supporters of the Federal Government a difference of opinion as to the best course to be pursued in the circumstances. This division of sentiment arose concerning the wisdom of retaining slavery in those parishes not included in the President’s proclamation. The Union associations, each appointing five delegates, organized what they termed a Free State General Committee with Thomas J. Durant as president. This body, holding anti-slavery views and assuming that rebellion had destroyed the fundamental law, took measures to elect delegates to a general convention for the purpose of framing a new constitution prohibiting slavery. Their plan was approved by General Shepley, who, June 12, 1863, appointed Mr. Durant Attorney-General for the State, with power to act as commissioner of registration.^[70] He was ordered on the same day to make an enrollment of all free white male citizens of the United States having resided six months in the State and one month in the parish, who should each take the oath of allegiance and register “as a voter freely and voluntarily for the purpose of organizing a State government in Louisiana, loyal to the Government of the United States.”^[71]

The conservative element, though less active, was by no means indifferent to these measures, and sent to Washington a committee of planters to consult the President. They represented in a communication to him that they had “been delegated to seek of the General Government a full recognition of all the rights of the State as they existed previous to the passage of an act of secession, upon the principle of the existence of the State constitution unimpaired, and no legal act having transpired that could in any way deprive them of the advantages conferred by that constitution.” They further requested him to direct the Military Governor to order an election on the first Monday of November following for all State and Federal officers.^[72] To this committee, composed of E. E. Malhiot, Bradish Johnson and Thomas Cottman, Mr. Lincoln, under date of June 19, 1863, replied “that a respectable portion of the Louisiana people desired to amend their State constitution, and contemplated holding a State convention for that object. This fact alone, as it seems to me, is a sufficient reason why the General Government should not give the committal you seek to the existing State constitution. I may add that while I do not perceive how such committal could facilitate our military operations in Louisiana, I really apprehend it might be so used as to embarrass them.”^[73]

It is evident, when we recall the letter of July 26, 1862, to Reverdy Johnson, that the President, then only contemplating emancipation, had, since his proclamation had gone forth, taken much more advanced ground.^[74] The army was still his main reliance, and the wisdom of restoring a loyal government as well as the method of that restoration was regarded favorably or otherwise as it appeared to facilitate or embarrass military operations.

Relative to an election in November he said, “There is abundant time without any order or proclamation from me just now.” Though their request was courteously denied, he assured the committee that the people of Louisiana should not lack an opportunity for a fair election for both Federal and State officers by want of anything within his power to give them.^[75]

The political reorganization of the State was at this point interrupted by the absence at Port Hudson of General N. P. Banks, then in command of the Department of the Gulf. So energetic and successful was the Confederate General Taylor that by July 10, when he received intelligence of the fall of Port Hudson and the surrender of Vicksburg, his mounted scouts had been pushed to within sixteen miles of New Orleans.^[76] The surrender in these strongholds of more than 40,000 men was a crushing blow to the Richmond Government; enough troops were disengaged by these victories to overwhelm the enemy that menaced New Orleans, and General Taylor hurriedly concentrated his army in the valley of the Red River to observe the movements of the Federal commander. The Union picket line marked at this time the bounds of Governor Shepley’s civil jurisdiction; indeed, it was not greatly extended until the surrender of General E. Kirby Smith late in May, 1865, after the engagement at Brazos. Eastern Louisiana, with Alabama and Mississippi, had passed a few weeks earlier under Federal control.

The great numbers withdrawn from production in the South combined with a rigorous enforcement of the blockade had occasioned a cotton famine in the markets of the world. To relieve this condition an outlet was sought for the abundant crops of the Red River country; and this fact was probably, not without considerable influence, in determining the course of the expedition into Texas, which was intended to accomplish a very different though scarcely less important purpose.

Though the vigilance of Mr. Adams, United States Minister to England, was rewarded by the abandonment in that country of any further attempt to build cruisers of the Alabama type, the Confederate naval agent by no means despaired of dealing still severer blows to the commerce of the North, and, attracted by promises which appear to have been authorized by the ruler of France, changed his field of activity from Liverpool to Bordeaux, where a ship-builder was engaged to construct two formidable rams. With the attempts to get these under the Confederate flag this essay is not concerned.^[77] French interests in Mexico appeared at that time to require the cultivation of friendly relations with what some European States believed was destined to become a new power among the nations of the world; hence Napoleon’s encouragement to the Confederate representatives abroad. This situation was so seriously regarded by the Government at Washington that even at considerable sacrifice it was determined to plant the Union flag somewhere in Texas. To effect this object General Banks had considered and submitted to the War Department plans of his own; these, however, appear to have been reluctantly abandoned because of repeated instructions from General Halleck, and the movement toward Shreveport in the spring and early summer of 1864 was begun. From the protracted and envenomed controversy to which it gave rise among the officers on both sides its disastrous ending is familiar to all.^[78]

While this joint land and naval expedition was yet in contemplation Mr. Lincoln found time to inform the Federal commander of his opinions respecting the establishment of a civil government in Louisiana. In his letter of August 5, 1863, to General Banks he wrote:

While I very well know what I would be glad for Louisiana to do, it is quite a different thing for me to assume direction of the matter. I would be glad for her to make a new constitution recognizing the emancipation proclamation, and adopting emancipation in those parts of the State to which the proclamation does not apply. And while she is at it, I think it would not be objectionable for her to adopt some practical system by which the two races could gradually live themselves out of the old relation to each other, and both come out better prepared for the new. Education for young blacks should be included in the plan. After all, the power or element of “contract” may be sufficient for this probationary period; and, by its simplicity and flexibility, may be the better.

As an anti-slavery man, I have a motive to desire emancipation which pro-slavery men do not have; but even they have strong enough reason to thus place themselves again under the shield of the Union; and to thus perpetually hedge against the recurrence of the scenes through which we are now passing.

He expressed his approval of the registry which he supposed Mr. Durant was making with a view to an election for a constitutional convention, the work of which, he hoped, would reach Washington by the meeting of Congress in December. Before concluding this letter he added: “For my own part, I think I shall not, in any event, retract the emancipation proclamation; nor, as executive, ever return to slavery any person who is freed by the terms of that proclamation, or by any of the acts of Congress.”^[79]

He again invites attention to the fact that if Louisiana should send members to Congress their admission would depend upon the respective Houses and not to any extent upon the wishes of the Executive.

Copies of this communication he intended to send to Hahn, Flanders and Durant. Three months later, when the gentleman last named informed him that nothing had yet been done toward the enrollment, Mr. Lincoln wrote immediately to General Banks a letter which at once reveals both the extent of his interest in this subject and his extreme disappointment on learning that his wishes had been but little regarded. Flanders, then in Washington, confirmed the account of Durant. “This disappoints me bitterly,” said the letter of November 5, 1863, and though the President did not blame either General Banks or the Louisiana leaders for this apparent neglect he urged them “to lose no more time.” “I wish him [General Shepley], …” continued the letter, “without waiting for more territory, to go to work and give me a tangible nucleus which the remainder of the State may rally around as fast as it can, and which I can at once recognize and sustain as the true State government. And in that work I wish you and all under your command to give them a hearty sympathy and support.

“The instruction to Governor Shepley bases the movement (and rightfully, too) upon the loyal element. Time is important. There is danger, even now, that the adverse element seeks insidiously to preoccupy the ground. If a few professedly loyal men shall draw the disloyal about them, and colorably set up a State government, repudiating the Emancipation Proclamation and reëstablishing slavery, I cannot recognize or sustain their work. I should fall powerless in the attempt. This Government in such an attitude would be a house divided against itself.

“I have said, and say again, that if a new State government, acting in harmony with this government, and consistently with general freedom, shall think best to adopt a reasonable temporary arrangement in relation to the landless and homeless freed people, I do not object; but my word is out to be for and not against them on any question of their permanent freedom. I do not insist upon such temporary arrangement, but only say such would not be objectionable to me.”^[80]

It should be remembered that Thomas J. Durant, who was authorized to make the enrollment as well as to appoint “registers” to assist him, was spokesman of the wealthy and influential class of planters, or the conservative element whose interests opposed any disturbance of existing conditions. He appears to have drawn for the President a somewhat gloomy picture of the political situation in Louisiana, and finally to have protested against the government organized by the adverse party. The outlook there, however, was not so discouraging as represented; for as early as October 9 Governor Shepley had renewed his order for the registration, modifying the former one so far as to include “all loyal citizens.”

Interest was somewhat quickened by the announcement of certain conservative leaders of an intention to hold a voluntary election in conformity with the old constitution and laws of the State. On October 27, 1863, an address signed by the president and vice-president of the Central Executive Committee was published in the papers of New Orleans. This appeal, directed to the loyal citizens of Louisiana, begins:

The want of civil government in our State can, by a proper effort on your part, soon be supplied, under laws and a constitution formed and adopted by yourselves in a time of profound peace. It is made your duty, as well as your right, to meet at the usual places, and cast your votes for State and parish officers, members of Congress, and of the State Legislature.

The day, as fixed by our laws, is Monday, the 2d day of November next, 1863. There is nothing [proceeds the address] to prevent your meeting on the day fixed by law, and selecting your agents to carry on the affairs of government in our own State. The military will not interfere with you in the exercise of your civil rights and duties, and we think we can assure you that your action in this respect will meet the approval of the National Government.

The failure of those citizens addressed to exercise their rights, it was asserted, would subject “the country” to the danger of being thrown as “vacated” territory into the hands of Congress.^[81]

The Free State Committee having been invited to coöperate, a correspondence ensued between the rival organizations; but, on the ground that this movement was both illegal and unjust, the Free State men declined to participate in the election. In their reply the latter assert that “There is no law in existence, as stated by you [The Executive Central Committee], directing elections to be held on the first Monday of November.

“The constitution of 1852, as amended by the convention of 1861, was overthrown and destroyed by the rebellion of the people of Louisiana, and the subsequent conquest by the arms of the United States does not restore your political institutions.”^[82]

The reply then proceeds to discuss the injustice of the movement, and upon this subject its reasoning is entitled to more respect. As to the status of the constitution of 1852, it is not easy to comprehend how the secession convention, a body universally regarded as revolutionary, could amend, in the manner attempted, the fundamental law, seeing that this revolution was not yet crowned with success.

Though no general election was held in response to this address, voting took place in two parishes, and certain persons were chosen as Representatives in Congress. Before giving an account of this election of November 2, 1863, it may be proper to notice a petition submitted by the free colored people of New Orleans to Governor Shepley praying to be registered as voters so that they could “assist in establishing in the new Convention a Civil Government” for their “beloved State of Louisiana.” This address, prepared at a meeting on November 5, and not without ability, recites in appropriate language the services rendered by free colored men to both the Nation and the State. It is sufficient to observe here that their prayer was not granted. The paper itself will be considered in discussing the successive steps which led to the complete enfranchisement of the race.^[83]

The preceding chapter has noticed President Lincoln’s Amnesty Proclamation of December 8 as well as that part of the accompanying message to Congress discussing his plan for restoring Union governments in the insurgent States. The House had not completed its organization for the Thirty-eighth Congress when Thaddeus Stevens, a Representative from Pennsylvania, either from curiosity or an anxiety to oppose, as he conceived, the policy of the President, inquired what names had been omitted in the call of members. At a later stage of its first meeting, December 7, 1863, he again referred to this subject by asking to have read the credentials of persons claiming to be Representatives “from the so-called State of Louisiana.” The acting clerk facetiously promised compliance, and read a certificate signed by Mr. John Leonard Riddell naming A. P. Field, Thomas Cottman and Joshua Baker as persons elected to represent respectively the First, Second and Fifth Congressional Districts of the State.^[84]

On a resolution “That A. P. Field is not entitled to a seat in this House from the State of Louisiana,” reported January 29, 1864, from the Committee of Elections, his right to admission was fully discussed.

Under the apportionment of 1850 that State sent four, and by the census of 1860 became entitled to five, Representatives. By an act of Congress approved July 14, 1862, each State entitled to more than one member in the lower House was to be divided into as many districts as it had been allotted Representatives.

But, said Chairman Dawes, as Louisiana had never been so divided no person in that State had been chosen according to Federal law. The election under which Mr. Field claimed a seat occurred in the old First Congressional District, which, with a great portion of the city of New Orleans, included two adjacent parishes, Placquemines and St. Bernard. On November 1, General Shepley issued a military order forbidding the election, and none was held in New Orleans. In the two outlying parishes, however, under the auspices of a citizens’ committee, to which returns were made, a few voters appeared at the polls. In the parish of St. Bernard, the only locality in which the House had any proof that electors participated, Mr. Field received one hundred and fifty-six votes, and though no evidence in support of his statement had been offered, about the same number, he alleged, had been cast for him in Placquemines.

The question was, proceeded Mr. Dawes, whether a gentleman with this constituency could be in any sense considered as having been elected. There were in his district over 10,000 qualified voters, and of these the claimant received the support of only one hundred and fifty-six; hence nearly ten thousand electors expressed no opinion, armed interference having prevented 9,844 of them from indicating a preference. There was no evidence that this majority acquiesced in what was done by one hundred and fifty-six men in a corner of St. Bernard parish where an election was permitted. If no other objection existed, the State had not been districted as required by the Act of July, 1862; this consideration of itself appeared to the Committee a reason sufficient for his exclusion. Further, his certificate was signed by one John Leonard Riddell, himself chosen Governor at the same time and in the same parishes. His term, according to the laws of Louisiana, did not commence till January 1, 1864, and it was not easy to comprehend how he came to regard himself as Executive of the State on November 20, 1863, when he signed the certificate presented by the claimant. Mr. Riddell, indeed, had not then been inaugurated.

Had not Congress failed to divide the State, the suppression of this election would have been without justification and have deserved the condemnation of the House. It, however, did not conform to the laws of Louisiana, for the votes were not cast nor were they counted or canvassed as prescribed thereby. This, in substance, was the argument of Mr. Dawes.

By other members attention was invited to the fact that under the same laws and conditions an election had been held in Louisiana a year before, and in consequence two Representatives admitted. To this observation Mr. Stevens replied that Hahn and Flanders, the members referred to, had been seated by the power of the House without, as he then supposed, any law or right. Henry Winter Davis alone among all who spoke on the question approved the action of the Military Governor on the ground that there was no legal right to hold an election, and the attempt of any number of persons to do so was an usurpation of sovereign authority which was properly prevented. Other Representatives, however, strongly condemned this act of Governor Shepley and at least one desired the House to express as an amendment to the resolution its disapproval of his conduct. Though not the question in debate, there could be no mistaking upon this point the sentiments of a majority of the members.

Mr. Field, permitted to address the House, observed that it was the fault of the General Government that Union men in Louisiana had not been aided by the previous administration. If they had been, the blood of Illinois and Massachusetts patriots would not have sprinkled the soil of his State.

To show that some sort of government existed there he caused the clerk to read a list of one hundred and twenty-five officers acting in those parishes included within Federal military lines, and added that though New Orleans since its capture paid annually in taxes, collected through Governor Shepley, two and a half million dollars, besides a considerable sum in internal revenue, her people were represented neither in the local nor the national Government.

The constitution of Louisiana, he said, required that qualified electors should be white males who had attained the age of twenty-one years, and been residents of the State for twelve months immediately preceding the election. The provision was so modified by Governor Shepley that persons of this description were allowed to vote after a residence of six months. Mr. Field did not know whence was derived the authority to amend constitutions.

To secure his coöperation in establishing a loyal government Union men met as early as September 19 in convention at New Orleans, and appointed a committee of nine to present an address to the Military Governor inviting his assistance. He declined, however, after a lengthy interview to order an election for Representatives until the State had first been divided. In fact, until instructions which he had requested, were received from Washington he refused to order any election whatever, though he volunteered to forward to Mr. Lincoln any communication which they desired to address him on that subject. Besides its correspondence with Governor Shepley, the New Orleans convention on September 21 had sent a letter to General Banks, the Department commander, to secure if possible his approval of their movement.

Notice, dated October 20, was given that an election would be held, November 2, at the usual places in the parish of St. Bernard, and the State and Federal offices to be filled, as well as the precise places at which voters could cast their ballots, were mentioned. Since the military authorities had refused to assist them, and had then issued no order against an election, loyal men thought it not improper to express their opinions at the polls. As the Free State people considered Louisiana out of the Union they declined to participate, and though General Banks in obedience to instructions from the President had subsequently ordered an election they maintained the same attitude. The claimant’s party did not oppose this order; for if unable to restore their State in the manner most acceptable they were willing to coöperate in any method likely to accomplish that object.

Precisely what number of voters would be called a constituency Mr. Field had not been informed. In the portion of his Congressional District included in St. Bernard and Placquemines parishes there were only 2,400 electors, and the President’s plan required only one tenth of the number of votes cast in 1860. Though the election of November 2 preceded the Executive proclamation, that fact should not make it void. The electors in New Orleans were not free to express a choice, and even if it had been otherwise the vote in the First District must have been greatly diminished since 1860, for he was assured by two paymasters that 7,000 men had been recruited there for the Union army.

Some members admitted that the national Government had not given sufficient protection to Union men in Louisiana, and therefore should not now take advantage of that neglect to also deprive them of representation in Congress. These believed that if Mr. Field had received a majority of the votes in his district any informality in the election should be overlooked, for the right to representation in Congress grows out of the Constitution, and regulations governing such elections are matters of mere convenience. The fact that no State organization existed there did not create a legal impediment, and it was no objection that Louisiana had not been redistricted, for the additional member was not imposed as a burden but as a right which she was free to exercise or not; besides, the greater representation includes the less.

Notwithstanding these considerations, and strong, though not universal, testimony to the claimant’s loyalty, he was denied admission, February 9, 1864, by a vote of 85 to 48.^[85] His case, however, was not exactly similar to that of Messrs. Hahn and Flanders, as stated by one Representative, for they had received, in the circumstances, a comparatively large vote.

To this end came the movement of the planters designed primarily to counteract that inaugurated by the Free State Committee, which also, as we shall see, was soon at variance with the military authorities. Important changes had occurred in the shifting politics of his State before the House had taken final action in the case of Mr. Field; these will be briefly related.

Military necessity had led the President to issue, December 8, 1863, his Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction proposing, though not rigidly insisting upon, a plan for reinaugurating State governments wherever there existed such a loyal nucleus as could effectively assist in overthrowing the rebellion. In discussing the affairs of Tennessee that plan has been quoted at such length as to require no further mention in this place.^[86]

General Banks on January 8, 1864, announced his intention of ordering an election of State officers. He was urged at this point by the Free State Committee to allow their election to go on, but he refused to yield even under pressure of an immense public meeting favorable to their object.^[87] Without his coöperation their plan was doomed to failure, and when entreaties did not avail to move him they promptly inveighed against his methods and his motives in the columns of The National Intelligencer at Washington. In a letter dated New Orleans, January 9, 1864, a correspondent writes:

President Lincoln has started a Missouri case in Louisiana, and has made Banks our master; and Banks is another Schofield, only worse than he. Our mass meeting last evening was a complete success; but its object will be defeated by Banks, who, under orders direct from the President, declares his purpose to order an election for a convention; thus playing into the hands of Cottman, Riddle, and Fields, and their crew. The Union men—the true Union men—are thunderstruck by the course of the President in this matter.

We were not informed of the President’s orders to General Banks until the hour of the meeting last night, and the meeting was not informed at all. General Shepley, who is generally liked, and who has done all he could to promote the free State cause, and to organize a free State government, will resign, and the election ordered by Banks will be purely at military dictation, and will be so regarded.

The correspondent does not know the secret springs of all these acts of the President, but thinks he has probably been deceived by base and interested men. “Banks,” he believes, “has the unchanged confidence of Mr. Lincoln.” The writer concludes by asking whether it is not possible to get the President to countermand his orders to Banks immediately, “and let the people manage matters as they have begun to do?”^[88] To prove that no line of policy would be acceptable to the Free State Committee Mr. Field, in his remarks before the House, read in full the communication from which these excerpts are taken.

To comprehend clearly the nature of the controversy which so suddenly arose between the Free State General Committee and the Federal commander in Louisiana it may be necessary to explain with some detail the precise attitude of that organization relative to the question at issue between the adverse parties. In discussing the respective merits of the State constitutions of 1852 and 1861 the organ of the Free State men says:

The question is altogether immaterial; for, in the conflict of arms incident to this rebellion, the predominant ideas of the good people of Louisiana have far preceded either constitution; and to reorganize now the State on the slave basis, which both constitutions and the laws passed under them recognized, has become an utter impossibility. Free soil and free speech have grown up into absolute necessities, directly resulting from the war, which has converted into dust and ashes all the constitutions which Louisiana has ever made, embodying the ideas of property in our fellow-man, and all the baneful results of this system of African slavery. The present war is nothing but the conflict of the ideas of slavery and liberty. … We cannot have peace until public opinion is brought quite up to this point. We cannot reorganize the civil government of our city, and still less that of our State, and get rid of the fearful incubus of martial law now pressing down our energies by its arbitrary influence, unless we believe, give utterance to and establish the fundamental principle of our national government: “all men are created free and equal.” We know of no better way to effect this than by calling a convention as soon as possible, to declare the simple fact that Louisiana now is and will forever be a free State.^[89]

The party favoring this method insisted that in August, 1863, when General Shepley was in Washington, their plan in all its parts was adopted in a Cabinet meeting, and that a special order issued from the War Department directing the Military Governor to carry it into execution. The movement for reorganizing the State would thus be placed under control of the steadfast opponents of slavery. They further claimed that Mr. Lincoln then preferred the calling of a convention to an election of State officers under the old constitution. His letter of August 5, 1863, to General Banks certainly leaves no doubt as to his sentiments at that time, for he expressed his approval of the enrollment being taken by Durant with a view to an election for a constitutional convention, the mature work of which, he thought, should reach Washington by the meeting of Congress. The impossibility of so expediting registration outside of New Orleans as to be ready for an election at that early date was explained to the President by the Free State Committee.

Mr. B. F. Flanders returning from Washington in October, 1863, reported the President as saying, in reply to an objection that enough territory and population were not under protection of the Union army to justify an election, that so great was the necessity for immediate action that he would recognize and sustain a State government organized by any part of the population of which the National forces then had control, and that he wished Flanders on his return to Louisiana to say so.^[90]

The registration under Governor Shepley, though frequently interrupted, had proceeded, and the Free State Committee, to insure the success of their object, conferred with him for the purpose of holding, about January 25, 1864, an election for delegates to a State convention which, as already observed, intended to frame a new constitution abolishing slavery everywhere throughout the State. The announcement, then, on January 8, 1864, by General Banks of his intention to order an election of State officers under the old constitution was regarded by them as a decision for their adversaries. Their objections to the proclamation itself will be noticed in the proper place. It provided not only for an election of State officers on February 22 following, but also for the choice of delegates to a convention to be held in April for a revision of the constitution. The paramount objection of the Free State men was that the election of State officers would, under the course of General Banks, precede that for delegates to the convention, the point at which they desired to begin the work of reëstablishing a civil government for the State.

To Thomas Cottman, who accompanied Mr. Field to Washington claiming a seat in Congress as Representative from the Second Louisiana District, Mr. Lincoln, on December 15, wrote:

You were so kind as to say this morning that you desire to return to Louisiana, and to be guided by my wishes, to some extent, in the part you may take in bringing that State to resume her rightful relation to the General Government.

My wishes are in a general way expressed, as well as I can express them, in the proclamation issued on the eighth of the present month, and in that part of the annual message which relates to that proclamation. It there appears that I deem the sustaining of the Emancipation Proclamation, where it applies, as indispensable; and I add here that I would esteem it fortunate if the people of Louisiana should themselves place the remainder of the State upon the same footing.^[91]

Though this letter expressed as one of Mr. Lincoln’s strongest wishes a hope that all Union men in Louisiana would “eschew cliquism,” he was destined to be disappointed, for at this very time letters from General Banks, dated December 6 and 16, informed him that Governor Shepley, Mr. Durant and others had given him to understand that they were charged exclusively with the work of reconstruction in Louisiana and hence he had not felt authorized to interfere. Other officers had set up claims to jurisdiction conflicting and interfering with his own powers of military administration. Annoyed that a misunderstanding was delaying work which he had been urging for a year, the President, on the 24th of December, wrote General Banks as follows:

I have all the while intended you to be master, as well in regard to reorganizing a State government for Louisiana, as in regard to the military matters of the department; and hence my letters on reconstruction have nearly, if not quite, all been addressed to you. My error has been that it did not occur to me that Governor Shepley or any one else would set up a claim to act independently of you; and hence I said nothing expressly upon the point.

Language has not been guarded at a point where no danger was thought of. I now tell you that in every dispute with whomsoever, you are master.

Governor Shepley was appointed to assist the commander of the department, and not to thwart him or act independently of him. Instructions have been given directly to him, merely to spare you detail labor, and not to supersede your authority. This, in its liability to be misconstrued, it now seems was an error in us. But it is past. I now distinctly tell you that you are master of all, and that I wish you to take the case as you find it, and give us a free State reorganization of Louisiana in the shortest possible time. What I say here is to have a reasonable construction. I do not mean that you are to withdraw from Texas, or abandon any other military measure which you may deem important. Nor do I mean that you are to throw away available work already done for reconstruction; nor that war is to be made upon Governor Shepley, or upon any one else, unless it be found that they will not coöperate with you, in which case, and in all cases, you are master while you remain in command of the department.^[92]

This letter making General Banks “master” of the situation in Louisiana the President concluded by thanking him for his successful and valuable operations in Texas. But before receiving this extensive authority and the undoubted assurance of Mr. Lincoln’s confidence the commander, on December 30, submitted to the President a plan of reconstruction based upon the Proclamation and the Message of the 8th of that month. For evident reasons this communication deserves to be reproduced almost entire:

I would suggest [says General Banks], as the only speedy and certain method of accomplishing your object, that an election be ordered, of a State government, under the constitution and laws of Louisiana, except so much thereof as recognizes and relates to slavery, which should be declared by the authority calling the election, and in the order authorizing it, inoperative and void. The registration of voters to be made in conformity with your Proclamation, and all measures hitherto taken with reference to State organization, not inconsistent with the Proclamation, may be made available. A convention of the people for the revision of the constitution may be ordered as soon as the government is organized, and the election of members might take place on the same or a subsequent day with the general election. The people of Louisiana will accept such a proposition with favor. They will prefer it to any arrangement which leaves the subject to them for an affirmative or negative vote. Strange as this may appear, it is the fact. Of course a government organized upon the basis of immediate and universal freedom, with the general consent of the people, followed by the adaptation of commercial and industrial interests to this order of things, and supported by the army and navy, the influence of the civil officers of the Government, and the Administration at Washington, could not fail by any possible chance to obtain an absolute and permanent recognition of the principle of freedom upon which it would be based. Any other result would be impossible. The same influence would secure with the same certainty the selection of proper men in the election of officers.

Let me assure you that this course will be far more acceptable to the citizens of Louisiana than the submission of the question of slavery to the chances of an election. Their self-respect, their amour propre will be appeased if they are not required to vote for or against it. Offer them a government without slavery and they will gladly accept it as a necessity resulting from the war. On all other points, sufficient guarantees of right results can be secured; but the great question, that of immediate emancipation, will be covered ab initio, by a conceded and absolute prohibition of slavery.

Upon this plan a government can be established whenever you wish—in thirty or sixty days; a government that will be satisfactory to the South and the North; to the South, because it relieves them from any action in regard to an institution which cannot be restored, and which they cannot condemn; and to the North, because it places the interests of liberty beyond all possible accident or chance of failure. The result is certain.^[93]

Upon receiving this communication the President, who cherished no plan of restoration to which exact conformity was indispensable, expressed, January 13, 1864, in a letter to General Banks his gratitude for the zeal and confidence manifested by him on the question of reinaugurating a free State government in Louisiana. He hoped, because of the authority contained in the letter of December 24, that the Department Commander had already commenced work. “Whether you shall have done so or not,” continues the letter, “please, on receiving this, proceed with all possible despatch, using your own absolute discretion in all matters which may not carry you away from the conditions stated in your letters to me, nor from those of the message and proclamation of December 8. Frame orders, and fix times and places for this and that, according to your own judgment.”^[94]

This letter repeats the idea of subordination to General Banks of all officials in his department holding authority from the President, and stated that the bearer of the communication, Collector Dennison, of New Orleans, understood the views of the commander and was willing to assist in carrying them out. Before Mr. Dennison arrived in New Orleans, however, General Banks had already, in his proclamation of January 11, 1864, fixed a date for the election. This action was determined, said the Department Commander, upon ample assurance “that more than a tenth of the population desire the earliest possible restoration of Louisiana to the Union”; hence he invited “the loyal citizens of the State qualified to vote in public affairs … to assemble in the election precincts designated by law, … on the 22d of February, 1864, to cast their votes for the election of State officers herein named, viz. Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, Secretary of State, Treasurer, Attorney-General, Superintendent of Public Instruction and Auditor of Public Accounts—who shall, when elected, for the time being, and until others are appointed by competent authority, constitute the civil government of the State, under the constitution and laws of Louisiana, except so much of said constitution and laws as recognize, regulate or relate to slavery, which being inconsistent with the present condition of public affairs, and plainly inapplicable to any class of persons now existing within its limits, must be suspended, and they are therefore and hereby declared to be inoperative and void. This proceeding is not intended to ignore the right of property existing prior to the rebellion, nor to preclude the claim for compensation of loyal citizens for losses sustained by enlistment or other authorized acts of Government.”^[95]

The qualifications of voters in this election were to be determined by the oath of allegiance prescribed by the President’s proclamation together with the condition annexed to the elective franchise by the constitution of Louisiana. Officers elected were to be duly installed on the 4th of March.

So much of the registration effected under direction of Governor Shepley and the several Union Associations as was not inconsistent with the proclamation and other orders of the President was approved. The proclamation further announced that arrangements would be made for the early election of members of Congress for the State, and, that the organic law might be made to conform to the will of the people and harmonize with the spirit of the age, an election of delegates to a convention for the revision of the constitution would be held on the first Monday of April following.

This proclamation declared, among other things, that

The fundamental law of the State is martial law. … The Government is subject to the law of necessity, and must consult the condition of things, rather than the preferences of men, and if so be that its purposes are just and its measures wise, it has the right to demand that questions of personal interest and opinion shall be subordinate to the public good. When the national existence is at stake, and the liberties of the people in peril, faction is treason.

The methods herein proposed submit the whole question of government directly to the people—first, by the election of executive officers, faithful to the Union, to be followed by a loyal representation in both Houses of Congress; and then by a convention which will confirm the action of the people, and recognize the principles of freedom in the organic law. This is the wish of the President.^[96]