Great Britain and the American Civil War Part 54

For the editor, Delane, and for wise Southern sympathizers the fall of Savannah was a much harder blow than the mere loss of prestige to the _Times_[1259]. Courage failed and confidence in the South waned--momentarily almost vanished. Nearly two weeks pa.s.sed before the _Times_ ventured to lift again the banner of hope, and even then but half-heartedly.

"The capture of the city completes the history of Sherman's march, and stamps it as one of the ablest, certainly one of the most singular military achievements of the war.

"... The advantage gained for the Federal cause by the possession of Savannah is yet to be shown. To Sherman and his army 'the change of base' is indisputably a change for the better. a.s.suming that his position at Atlanta was as desperate as shortness of supplies and an interrupted line of retreat could make it, the command of a point near the sea-coast and free communication with the fleet is obviously an improvement. At the least the army secures full means of subsistence, and a point from which further operations may be commenced. On the other hand, the blow, as far as the Confederate Government is concerned, is mitigated by the fact that Savannah has been little used as a seaport since the capture of Fort Pulaski by the Federals at an early stage of the war.

"... But the fall of the city is a patent fact, and it would be absurd to deny that it has produced an impression unfavourable to the _prestige_ of the Confederacy[1260]."

Far more emphatic of ultimate Northern victory was the picture presented, though in sarcasm, by the _Times_ New York correspondent, printed in this same issue:

"No disappointments, however fast they may follow on the heels of each other, can becloud the bright sunshine of conceit and self-worship that glows in the heart of the Yankee. His country is the first in the world, and he is the first man in it. Knock him down, and he will get up again, and brush the dirt from his knees, not a bit the worse for the fall. If he do not win this time, he is bound to win the next. His motto is 'Never say die.' His manifest destiny is to go on--prospering and to prosper--conquering and to conquer."

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1197: Dodd, _Jefferson Davis_, p. 233.]

[Footnote 1198: See _ante_, p. 192.]

[Footnote 1199: Mason Papers. Spence to Mason, Jan. 22, 1864.]

[Footnote 1200: _The Index_, Feb. 18, 1864, p. 105.]

[Footnote 1201: _The Index_, March 24, 1864, p. 189, quoting the _Reader_ for March 19.]

[Footnote 1202: The first Southern meeting in England I have found record of was one reported in the _Spectator_, Nov. 16, 1861, to honour Yancey on his arrival. It was held by the _Fishmongers of London_.

Yancey was warmly received and appealed to his hosts on the ground that the South was the best buyer of English goods.]

[Footnote 1203: The 134 meetings here listed represent by no means all held, for Goldwin Smith estimated at least 500 after the beginning of 1862. (_The Civil War in America_, London, 1866.) The list may be regarded as an a.n.a.lysis of the more important, attracting the attention of _The Liberator_ and of Adams.]

[Footnote 1204: At a banquet given to Thompson in 1863 he was declared by Bright to have been the "real liberator of the slaves in the English colonies," and by P.A. Taylor as, by his courage "when social obloquy and personal danger had to be incurred for the truth's sake," having rendered great services "to the cause of Abolition in America."]

[Footnote 1205: _The Liberator_, Jan. 15, 1864. Letter to James Buffum, of Lynn, Dec. 10, 1863.]

[Footnote 1206: Goldwin Smith's pamphlet: "The Civil War in America: An Address read at the last meeting of the Manchester Union and Emanc.i.p.ation Society" (held on January 26, 1866), pays especial tribute to Thomas Bayley Potter, M.P., stating "you boldly allied yourself with the working-men in forming this a.s.sociation." Smith gives a five-page list of other leading members, among whom, in addition to some Northern friends already named, are to be noted Thomas Hughes, Duncan McLaren, John Stuart Mill. There are eleven noted "Professors," among them Cairnes, Thorold Rogers, and Fawcett. The publicity committee of this society during three years had issued and circulated "upwards of four hundred thousand books, pamphlets, and tracts." Here, as previously, the activities of Americans in England are not included. Thus George Francis Train, correspondent of the _New York Herald_, made twenty-three speeches between January, 1861, and March, 1862. ("Union Speeches in England.")]

[Footnote 1207: For text of Lincoln's pardon see Trevelyan, _Bright_, p.

296. Lincoln gave the pardon "especially as a public mark of the esteem held by the United States of America for the high character and steady friendship of the said John Bright...." The names of leading friends of the South have been given in Chapter XV.]

[Footnote 1208: This was a commonplace of American writing at the time and long after. A Rev. C.B. Boynton published a book devoted to the thesis that England and France had united in a "policy" of repressing the development of America and Russia (_English and French Neutrality and the Anglo-French Alliance in their relations to the United States and Russia_, Cincinnati, C.F. Vest & Co., 1864). Boynton wrote: "You have not come to the bottom of the conduct of Great Britain, until you have touched that delicate and real foundation cause--we are too large and strong a nation" (Preface, p. 3). The work has no historical importance except that it was thought worth publication in 1864.]

[Footnote 1209: Lyons Papers. July 16, 1864. Copy.]

[Footnote 1210: Russell Papers. Lyons to Russell, Aug. 23, 1864.]

[Footnote 1211: June 3, 1864.]

[Footnote 1212: The _Times_, August 4, 1864. Letters dated June 27 and July 5, 1864.]

[Footnote 1213: _A Cycle of Adams' Letters_, II, p. 126. Henry Adams to his brother, May 13, 1864. "The current is dead against us, and the atmosphere so uncongenial that the idea of the possibility of our success is not admitted."]

[Footnote 1214: _Ibid._, p. 136. Henry Adams to his brother, June 3, 1864.]

[Footnote 1215: _The Index_, Feb. 19, 1863, p. 265.]

[Footnote 1216: This was written immediately after the battles of Vicksburg and Gettysburg, but the tone complained of was much more marked in 1864.]

[Footnote 1217: The _Times_ average of editorials on the Civil War ran two in every three days until May, 1864, and thereafter one in every three days.]

[Footnote 1218: Russell wrote to John Bigelow, March 8, 1865: "You know, perhaps, that, as I from the first maintained the North must win, I was tabooed from dealing with American questions in the _Times_ even after my return to England, but _en revanche_ I have had my say in the _Army and Navy Gazette_, which I have bought, every week, and if one could be weak and wicked enough to seek for a morbid gratification amid such ruins and blood, I might be proud of the persistence with which I maintained my opinions against adverse and unanimous sentiment"

(Bigelow, _Retrospections_, Vol. II, p. 361). Also on June 5, 1865, Russell wrote in his diary: "...had the _Times_ followed my advice, how different our position would be--not only that of the leading journal, but of England. If ever I did State service, it was in my letters from America." (Atkins, _Life of W.H. Russell_, Vol. II, p. 115.) See also Bigelow, _Retrospections_, I, pp. 344-45. Russell was editor of the _Gazette_ on its first appearance as a weekly, January 6, 1860, but left it to go to America. On his return he settled down to his editorial task in November, 1862, and thereafter, throughout the war, the _Gazette_ may be regarded as reflecting his views. His entire letters from America to the _Times_ const.i.tute a most valuable picture of the months preceding the outbreak of war, but the contempt poured on the Northern army for its defeat at Bull Run made Russell much disliked in the North. This dislike was bitterly displayed in a pamphlet by Andrew D. White ("A Letter to William Howard Russell, LL.D., on pa.s.sages in his 'Diary North and South'"), published in London in 1863.]

[Footnote 1219: June 25, 1864.]

[Footnote 1220: The _Army and Navy Gazette_, July 30, 1864.]

[Footnote 1221: _Ibid._, June 25, 1864.]

[Footnote 1222: _Ibid._, July 16, 1864. Similar articles and editorials might be quoted from many of the more important papers, but the _Times_ and the _Gazette_ will suffice as furnishing the keynote. I have not examined in detail the files of the metropolitan press beyond determining their general att.i.tude on the Civil War and for occasional special references. Such examination has been sufficient, however, to warrant the conclusion that the _weight_ of the _Times_ in influencing opinion was very great. Collating statistics given in:

(1) Grant's _The Newspaper Press_; (2) in a speech in Parliament by Edward Banes in 1864 (Hansard, 3rd Ser., CLXXV, p. 295); and (3) in _Parliamentary Papers_, 1861, _Commons_, Vol. x.x.xIV, "Return of the Registered Newspapers in the United Kingdom ... from 30 June, 1860, to 30 June, 1861," the following facts of circulation are derived:

(A) _Daily Papers_:

(1) _The Telegraph_ (evening), 150,000 (neutral).

(2) _The Standard_ (morning and evening), 130,000 (Southern).

Under the same management was also _The Herald_ (morning), but with small circulation (Southern).

(3) The _Times_ (morning), 70,000 (Southern). Grant says: "The prestige of the _Times_ was remarkable. The same articles appearing in other papers would not produce the same effect as in the _Times_."

Of Delane, the editor, Grant declared "His name is just as well-known ... throughout the civilized world as that of any of our European kings.... The _Times_ may, indeed, be called the Monarch of the Press." (Grant, II, p. 53.)

(4) _The Morning Advertiser_ (circulation uncertain, probably 50,000), but very largely taken in the trades, in public-houses, and in the Clubs (neutral).

(5) _The Daily News_ (morning), 6,000 (Northern).

(6) _The Morning Star_, 5,500 (but with evening edition 10,000) (Northern). Grant says that contrary to general belief, John Bright was never a shareholder but at times raised money to meet deficits.

_The Star_ was regarded as an _anti-British paper_ and was very unpopular.

(7) _The Morning Post_, 4,500 (Southern). It was regarded as Palmerston's organ.

(8) _The Morning Chronicle_. Very small circulation in the 'sixties (neutral).

(B) _Weekly Papers._--No approximate circulation figures are available, but these papers are placed by Grant in supposed order of subscribers.

(1) _Reynolds' Weekly_. Circulation upwards of 350,000. A penny paper, extreme Liberal in politics, and very popular in the manufacturing districts (Northern).

(2) _John Bull_ (Southern). "The country squire's paper."