Extracts from the Diary of Edmund Ruffin; Wm. and Mary Qrtly., Vol. 23, No. 3; Pages 154 - 171 ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net ************************************************************************ Page 154 to be added later. William and Mary Quarterly 155 vessels. There never was a negotiation between different govern- ments, on a disputed & difficult question of right, so speedily car- ried through & settled. The Growth of Secession. April 5, 1861. In the Virginia Convention, a direct vote has been taken for immediate secession & received only 48 voices against 98. This is more than I supposed possible even of that submissive & mean body. In the meantime, there are daily indications of continues popular changes to secession. One of the most recent & strongest is that of the "Whig" Newspaper of Richmond, the able & in- fluential & main organ of the Unionista & Submissionists, has changed editors & sentiments, & is about to come out for imme- diate secession * *. The Literary Messenger for April re- ceived today presents as the leading article my "Reminiscences of the Times of Nullification." This was placed in the hands of the Editor before I determined to withdraw from the public press -- but I have tried to keep its authorship entirely secret except to the Editor. Death of Stephen A. Douglas. June, 1861 Lately Stephen A. Douglas died. Not many months ago, this able man and unequalled demagogue stood higher in popular favor & in the prospect of gaining political eminence, than any other individual in this country. No other politician had so many devoted & zealous supporters though he had not enough to beat the combination votes that elected the comparatively ob- scure Lincoln. Since Douglas coalesced with the abolition party, he had lost his previously high political position, & his later ad- vance to the presidency was hopeless. Probably chagrin & morti- fication for his political overthrow combined with disease & the fruits of long continued intemperance (part of his dema- gogical policy & precedure), to cause his early death. There was no more unscrupulous or dangerous politician. 156 William and Mary Quarterly McClellan's Ability as a General June 17, 1861 * * The battle of Bethel seems to excite men more in the North than the South. It is as mortifying to them as gratifying to us. The northerners are still gaining & encroaching in the Northwestern counties & in the Valley, by aid of our disaffected or traitorous citizens. They have got footing along the Balt. & Ohio Railroad by invasions from Pennsylvania as far as into Hampshire. Gen McClellan, who commands the Northers forces in all the West, is said by Gen Lee to be the ablest of all the commanders under Scott. His successful & extended advances on us seem to offer evidence of his talents. Successes of the South June 21, 1861 The events of the war, so far, have been remarkable in char- acter, & in general, of remarkable uniformity. The Northern government had possession of all the Navy, of the regular army of Veteran troops -- & of all the fortifications & munitions of war, except such as our authorities or people seized upon in the be- ginning. On our side we had not (& scarcely have now) an armed vessel - not a regular or trained soldier - & no military organization. In every skirmish or more important fight, except the shameful surprise of our troops at Phillipi, we, with raw volunteers have had the advantage. Even in the two surprises at Phillipi & at Farifax C.H., our forces, though surprised & at Phillipi routed, caused much bloodshed - & at Fairfax C.H., the remnant of our men, who stood their ground, gained a decided advantage. William and Mary Quarterly 157 THE SURRENDER OF THE CONFEDERATE COMMISSIONERS. January 5, 1862 The letter of instructions from the British ministry to Lord Lyons, & by him laid before the U.S. government, after stating the circumstances of the capture of our Commissioners on board the Trent, concludes with the concise & unequivocal demand that (if not previously offered by the U.S. authorities,) there shall be made "to the British government such redress as alone could satisfy the British nation, namely, the liberation of the four gentle- men, (the Commissioners & their Secretaries,) & their delivery to your lordship, (the British ambassador at Washington,) in order that they may be again placed under British protection, and a suit- able apology for the aggression which has been committed." This letter was exhibited to Seward. His reply is very long, of argu- ment justifying the legality of the capture upon various grounds, & nearly throughout. But nearly at the close, on technical & other grounds he yields the question, & agrees that the prisoners were illegally captured & shall be delivered up. Now if this conclusion had been reached, (as he would have it understood,) on the reasoning of his government, in advance & irrespective of the British demand, the prisoners ought to have been, & would have been, set free, with all courtesy to them, as soon as their arrest was known-& "a suitable apology" offered, before being required, to the British government. Or, this not having been done before,when it was demanded & the demand was to be conceded, Seward would have saved some little of the humiliation of his government if he had yielded at once & in few words, admitting the wrong comitted, & to be so righted. But his labored justification makes his surrender so much the more glaring & humiliating. But this is a small matter to what previously had occurred. The retaining the prisoners in close confinement, & send- ing them to Boston-the entertaining in Congress of a proposition to confine them as felons,-the justification & boast- ing of the act by Congress, the Navy Department (& therefore including the Executive,) the aproval, boastful & defiant tone 158 William and Mary Quarterly of the whole northern press & people-all go to prove that there was no intention to deliver up the prisoners, or to confess or re- pair any wrong-doing, until after & under the peremptory de- mand of the British government. Therefore, the surrender, which have been, if made at first, & voluntarily, honorable to the U.S. government, is now as full & complete, & yet is dis- honorable & humiliating as is possible, not only to the Executive, but to the House of Representatives which so promptly sanc- tioned the act & also to the Nothern people in general. Still the "suitable apology" to the British government has not been made- unless, in pity & contempt for the degradation of its adversary, the long whining letter & defence by Seward shall be deemed an apology-which it certainly is in the whole purport, & in abject submission & humiliation. This may be deemed a sufficient, though not an assured & literal apology, if the British government chooses to be magnani- mous, or deems it would bring dishonor on itself to drive its ad- versary, for refuge, into a still lower depth of humiliation & contempt. But if there is, on the contrary, a disposition to make the most of the advantage gained & offered, the full measure of retribution will be exacted of the government which had first maintained its wrong-doing as an approver, a boaster, & a bully, to an extent only equalled by its subsequent prompt (& as Mr Seward says "cheerful"), acquiescence in the demands of Eng- land for redress. But, putting aside all this, as questions of honor & dishonor, it is inconceivable why the U.S. government should have hazarded any loss, or danger, by retaining the captured Com- missioners after they had been brought to Fortress Monroe. Their mission had then been frustrated, so far as their early pres- ence in France & England was concerned. Their longer detention could do no greater harm to the objects of their mission -& might promote them, as no doubt has been done by their arrest, & would have removed, in the manner most honorable to its sense of jus- tice, courtesy, & m oderation, every ground of complaint from every quarter. William and Mary Quarterly 159 But as in all its other acts & general policy, in the struggle to subjugate the South, the North acts as if demented for its own destruction. Often has been quoted, in reference to the acts, of the northern government, & every week there occurs some new & fit occasion to repeat, 'Quem Deus vult perdere, prius dementat.' One continued & uniform part of this policy is the habitual & systematic lying of the functionaries, as if required by rule & general orders, & practiced by all ranks from President Lincoln to the lowest military commander, who has to report to the public through the government. Not one of them utters lies more grossly, deliberately, & in the face of all known facts & proba bilities, than Mr. Seward-& nowhere more remarkably than in this official letter. He therein speaks of the resistance of ("pre- tended") Confederate States as certainly drawing to a speedy close, & that the only thing that has encouraged, or will cause the continuance of their rebellion to the North, is their hope of being reconized & aided by European powers. Much of such stuff was believed in England, while such lies were some- what new, & all news from the C.S. had to be obtained (as is mostly still the case,) through northern newspapers. But the falsehood of nearly all northern statements has now become so notorious even in Europe, that they will receive but little credit when not otherwise confirmed, & even in the absence of all con- tradiction. CONFEDERATE PRISONERS AT CAMP DOUGLAS March 10, 1863 [Mr. Ruffin inserts a newspaper clipping giving an account of the freezing to death at Camp Douglas, Ohio, of twelve Con- federate prisoners. The 65th Illinois Regiment, U. S. A., on guard there, protested against the condition of the barracks, which had no stoves and no panes in the windows. This con- demnation was echoed by the Chicago Times, which denounced as murder the transportation to this Northern latitude of pris- oners from the warm climate of the South, to endure the tor- 160 William and Mary Quarterly tures of the fierce rigors of the winter weather, without any protection being prepared for them.] POLICY OF ENGLAND TO INJURE BOTH SECTIONS. March 10, 1863 A writer in a London paper has addressed a letter to Lord Palmerston stating and denouncing the number of war steamers now building in Britian for the C. S. in violation of law & the declaration of neutrality. But if, as this writer charges, the British government has illegally, & in violation of its professed neutrality, favored the Confedertaes on the ocean, & indeed enabled us to do all that our few cruisers have done, it is no contradiction, but the re- verse, to what I have before charged, that the British government wishes the two parties to this war to do all possible damage to each other. Without an armed vessel for ocean service, with- out seamen, with all our ports blockaded, & European ports closed against our prizes & our obtaining naval & military sup- plies, the C. S. could have done nothing on the ocean, & the Yankee mercantile marine, in safety, would still have success- fully rivalled British ships. Therefore, the government connives at the invasion of its neutrality, & permits a few armed cruisers to sail & make captures under the Confederate flag-not to send them into port, & save them in existance, as future competitors with British ships-but to destroy them, & so extinguish so many future competitors, whether as northern or southern property. To aid the C.S. so far, & in this manner only, is to enable them to fight for the benefit of England, & as much in promotion of its interests as their own. On the other hand, by denying to the C.S. the free supply of arms, ammunition, & military equip- ments, (by recognizing as legal the blockade of our ports,) while the Yankees are supplied to any extent, & by the exclud- ing from us, in like manner, all necessary supplies of clothing, &c., the C.S. are practically prevented from exerting half of their military power on land against their enemy, who is under none of these disadvantages, & thus is enabled to inflict a double William and Mary Quarterly 161 amount of danger on the unprotected southern states. Thus, by pretending to observe neutrality, & by violating it in different modes against both parties, England enables the C.S. to greatly injure Yankeedom on the ocean, & Yankeedom to injure the C.S. on the land, & in general-&in both cases, to forward to the greatest extent the desire & policy of England, of the North & South destroying each other, & neither gaining any power from the losses it inflicts on the other. DIFFICULTIES WITH ENGLAND. April 21, 1863 Earl Russell, the British Minister for Foreign Affairs, has in their correspondence, treated our Commissioner Mr. Mason, with so much slight & disrespect, & also the C.S. government with so much unfairness, & injustice, & even using falsehood & fraudulent construction to favor the Yankee illegal & invalid blockade, that the general wish of the people is in favor of recall- ing our commissioner from England, & ceasing all attempts at diplomatic intercourse with that government. Why our Presi- dent has not done so, long ago, is to me surprising & incom- prehensible. But while our enemy has been so greatly favored by England, professing neutrality at our expense-& even, by maintaining the illegal blockade, Yankeedom has been enabled to frustrate or defeat our military efforts, & to continue to carry on the war with doubled power, & effect- still its government is greatly dissatisfied with that of England. The building war vessels in England to bo sold to the C.S., (though not armed or equipped before being delivered to our agents) has beedn complained of by the U.S. Minister, loudly & in offensive terms. And to such complaints, & charges of illegal & partial action, Earl Russell has replied as curtly & almost as insultingly as to our Commissioner. Hence, with all the care of England to concilliate Yankeedom, the relations of the two governments are in an uneasy state, & may, by any act of im- prudence, or of vigor, on either side, at any moment may be- come hostile. At the North it is manifest from the tone of the