The Project Gutenberg ebook of History of the United States, Volume 4, by

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CHAPTER X.

FOREIGN RELATIONS--FINANCES--EMANCI­PATION

A civil war of vast proportions in the world's greatest republic naturally aroused deep interest among the monarchies of Europe. Russia evinced warm friendliness to the United States. The rest of the world, save England and France, showed us no ill-will.

England, with unfriendly haste, admitted the belligerent rights of the Confederacy before Mr. Adams, our minister, could reach the British court. The North was surprised and shocked that liberty-loving, conservative England should so far side with "rebellious slave-holders." It would seem that, besides sympathy with the aris­tocratic structure of southern society, na­tional envy helped to put England into this false position.

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Commercial interests had greater weight. Four millions of peo­ple in England depended upon cotton manufactures for support. Three-fourths of the cotton they had used came from our southern ports, which the blockade closed. Moreover, the Confederacy declared for free trade, while the North adopted a high war tariff which drove many English goods out of American markets. The London Times complained that nearly $4,000,000 worth of English cutlery alone had been made worthless by our tariff.

An incident early in the war heightened the ill-will between the two countries. On a dark night in October, 1861, Messrs. Mason and Slidell, Confederate commis­sioners to England and France, ran the blockade at Charleston, and soon after took passage at Havana on the English mail steamer Trent. November 8th, 250 miles out from Havana, the United States sloop of war San Jacinto, Captain Wilkes, com­pelled the Trent, by a shot across her bows, to heave to, and took off the commissioners.

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All England was hot with resentment. Troops were shipped to Canada, and other war preparations begun. A special mes­senger was hurried to Washington, demanding an apology and the release of the prisoners. Wilkes's action, though without authority in international law, was warmly approved by the people. The House of Representatives tendered him a vote of thanks. But the Government disavowed the seizure and gave up the commissioners. Mr. Seward, Secretary of State, in a digni­fied reply to England, insisted that the seizure was fully justified by England's own practice of searching neutral vessels on the high seas; but that, as the United States had always condemned this practice, the prisoners would be released, especially as Captain Wilkes should have brought the Trent before a prize court instead of decid­ing the validity of the prize himself. The action of the Government, though unpopu­lar at the time, was undoubtedly as prudent as it was just. We could not afford to provoke war with England.

The Landing of the Allied Troops at Vera Cruz.

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Our most vicious enemy abroad was Na­poleon III., so profuse yet so hypocritical in his professions of good-will. He, too, hastened to accord belligerent rights to the Confederacy. Had England not been too wary to join him, the two nations would certainly have recognized the South's independence. Napoleon was on the point of doing this alone. Seven war-vessels were, with his sanction, built for the Con­federates at Bordeaux and Nantes, though he was too wily to allow them to sail when he became aware that their desti­nation was fully known to our minister.

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Far-reaching political schemes were at the bottom of Napoleon's wish for a dismembered Union. He was plotting to restore European influence in America by setting up an empire on the ruins of the Mexican republic, and he knew that the United States would never allow this while her power was unbroken. In the latter part of 1861 a French army in­vaded Mexico. The feeble government was overthrown after a year or two of fighting. In 1863 an empire was estab­lished, and Napoleon offered the throne to the Austrian archduke Maximilian. Meanwhile, the protests of the United States were disregarded. But when our hands were freed by the collapse of the Confederacy, Napoleon changed his tone. The French troops were withdrawn early in 1867, and Maximilian was left to his fate. The unhappy prince, betrayed by his own general, fell into the hands of the old Mexican Government, now in the ascendant, and was tried by court-martial and shot. It should be remembered, however, that France's unfriendly attitude all through the Rebellion was maintained by her unscrupulous emperor and did not re­flect the wish of the French people.

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The expenses of the war were colossal. From beginning to close they averaged $2,000,000 a day, sometimes running up to $3,500,000. The expenditure for the fiscal year ending July 1, 1865, was nearly $2,000,000,000. Of this the War Depart­ment required, in round numbers, $1,000, 000,000; the navy department, $123,000,­000. These figures reveal the vast scale upon which the war was waged by land and sea. The national debt rose with frightful rapidity. It was $64,000,000 in 1860, $1,100,000,000 in 1863, $2,800,000,­000 (the highest point reached) in 1865. State and local war debts would swell the amount to more than $4,000,000,000.

The position of Secretary of the Treas­ury during the war was anything but a bed of roses. The ordinary national in­come was hardly a drop in the bucket compared with the enormous and con­stantly increasing expenses. The total receipts for the year ending July 1, 1860, were only $81,000,000. How should the vast sums needed to carryon the war be raised? Resort was had to two sources of revenue--taxation and loans.

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A considerable revenue was already derived from customs imposed upon im­ported goods. In 1861, and again in 1863, tariffs were raised enormously, professedly to increase the revenue. These high rates in a measure defeated their own purpose, altogether stopping the importation of not a few articles.

The war compelled the Government to resort to internal taxation--always unpop­ular and now unknown in the United States for nearly half a century. Taxes were laid upon almost everything--upon trades, incomes, legacies, manufactures. The words of Sydney Smith will apply to our internal taxes during the war:

"Taxes on the ermine which decorates the judge, and the rope which hangs the criminal; on the poor man's salt and the rich man's spice; on the brass nails of the coffin and the ribands of the bride." The tax on many finished products ranged from eight to fifteen per cent.; on some it rose to twenty per cent.

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