Seeing that the force in his front was continually being augmented, Lee appears to have concluded that the only course left for him was to deal a heavy and unexpected blow at the least guarded point about the centre of Grant's lines, which, if successful, would cut his army in two, enforce new arrangements for concentration, and perhaps leave time for the detachment of a portion of Lee's army to the assistance of Johnston, sufficient, with the troops under that general's command, to meet and defeat Sherman. The point which he selected was Fort Steadman, nearly due east of Petersburg. Here General Gordon, with two divisions, bore down at daybreak on the 25th of March on the Federal lines, and captured at the first onset Fort Steadman and three adjoining batteries, turning their guns against the retreating defenders. But an overwhelming force was soon brought up by General Meade, which not only drove the Confederates out of the works they had occupied, taking 2,000 prisoners, but, pursuing the advantage, pushed back the whole of that part of the Confederate line, thus rendering Lee's contemplated movement into North Carolina more than ever hazardous. A still more decisive success was gained on the 1st of April, when Sheridan, attacking Lee's right wing, under Pickett, at Five Forks, with a force two or three times as numerous, turned its left at the same time that he attacked in front, and, being successful in both operations, utterly broke and routed the Confederates, 5,000 of whom were taken prisoners. On the next day (Sunday, April 2) Grant ordered a general advance against the defences of Petersburg. The attack was made at daybreak, and although the exhausted Confederates stood bravely to their arms, so great was the preponderance of numbers that they could not prevent the Federals from wresting several redoubts from their hands, so that Petersburg itself stood in danger of falling before the next vigorous assault. Such was the position of affairs at 11 o'clock, when Lee, who had just seen A. P. Hill, one of the most trusted of his lieutenants, shot dead while directing a charge to regain a portion of the works, and fully recognised the imminent peril to which Richmond was exposed through the inability of the gallant army that had so long defended it to hold its ground any longer against the overwhelming masses of the enemy, felt it his duty to send a message of warning to the Confederate President. The message was in nearly these words:—"My lines are broken in three places. Richmond must be evacuated this evening." Before retiring General Ewell set some warehouses on fire and soon a full third of the city was destroyed. Petersburg was evacuated simultaneously with Richmond. After desperate attempts to evade his pursuers of whom Sheridan was the most persistent, Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court-house on April the 9th.
The capitulation of the Army of Virginia was a signal for the close of hostilities everywhere. Sherman, on hearing of the fall of Richmond and Petersburg, advanced from Goldsboro' against Johnston, who soon proposed to surrender upon terms. Sherman was induced to sign a provisional convention (April 18th), the effect of which would have been to continue and confirm to the existing State Governments in the Confederate States the enjoyment of legislative and executive powers. Of course, this convention was instantly disallowed at Washington, and in signing it, even provisionally, it is clear that Sherman exceeded his powers. Johnston then surrendered his army (April 26th) on precisely the same terms as those that had been granted to Lee. A general order, addressed by Grant on the 2nd of June to the "Soldiers of the Armies of the United States," in thanking them for their patriotic exertions, formally announced the termination of hostilities. The armies were everywhere disbanded as soon as possible, the men returning to the pursuits of industry; by the 15th of October upwards of 785,000 men had been mustered out of the service. But a terrible crime cast a gloom over the rejoicings with which the people of the Northern States were celebrating the conclusion of the war, namely, the assassination of Lincoln at Ford's Theatre, Washington, by the actor, John Wilkes Booth. The great President was shot on the 14th of April and died on the following day. In the course of the war recruits to the number of 2,688,523 men had been enlisted into the armies of the Union. Of these, about 1,500,000 were effective soldiers. On the Union side, 275,000 men were either killed outright or died of their wounds, or perished by disease; and on the Confederate side the loss of life must have been little if at all less.
"Her Majesty rejoices at the continued tranquillity and increasing prosperity of her Indian dominions; and she trusts that the large supply which those territories will afford of the raw material of manufacturing industry, together with the termination of the Civil War in the United States of North America, will prevent the recurrence of the distress which long prevailed among the manufacturing population of some of the northern counties." These words, from the Queen's Speech which closed the Session of 1865, give a true insight into the state of the most important of the dependencies of Britain. India was, in 1865, very tranquil and exceptionally prosperous. As the events of the next year showed, it was even too prosperous; the successful attempt to introduce the cultivation of cotton, and, partially at least, to make India take the place of America as a source of cotton-supply, had led to over-speculation and a reckless spirit of investment. It is the fault of all speculators in exceptional times to fancy that the exceptional times will last for ever. The Bombay merchants, with rashness, and, indeed, ignorance that must now appear scarcely credible, presumed upon the long continuance of the American War; they imagined an eternal blockade of Charleston and thought that the mills of Manchester would look for ever to the cotton-fields of Gujerat. Hence this year of which we are speaking was a year of extraordinary prosperity in India. The prosperity, too, affected the revenue; and Sir Charles Wood was able to present a satisfactory Indian Budget when he made his financial statement before the House of Commons. As usual, the statement was deferred till the end of the Session, for Parliament had little patience for the concerns of its vast Eastern empire; but the figures showed a surplus, and a surplus is always welcome. The most notable point was Sir Charles Wood's statement of the money that had been spent in public works during the six previous years. This amounted to no less than seventy-three millions sterling; £34,500,000 on irrigation, roads, buildings, etc., and £38,500,000 on railways. This last figure speaks volumes; some notion of the extension of the internal commerce of India may be derived from it.
It was natural that the termination, or the approach of the termination, of the American War should cause some anxiety as to the views of the United States with regard to Canada. This anxiety was not lessened by a notification that was received early in this year from the Washington Government to the effect that the United States intended to withdraw from an agreement entered into with Britain in 1817, by which both Powers had agreed not to equip naval armaments on the Canadian lakes. This intention of the United States Government was the result of certain "raids" made by Confederate guerillas from a base of operations in Canada, without encouragement of course, but unfortunately without successful hindrance, from the Canadian authorities. The two Houses of Parliament took prompt notice of the action of the United States; and the matter was linked on to the question of a grant for the defences of Quebec, moved in the Commons by Lord Hartington, Secretary at War. A good deal of vigorous language was used, not too friendly to America, not too complimentary to Government; for many persons felt that there was a possibility of serious complications, even of war, between the two countries, on the ground of supposed breaches of neutrality on the part of Great Britain during the American struggle. Events, however, have proved that Mr. Bright was right when he said that if there came a war, it would be one not arising out of national necessities, but out of Cabinet manœuvring; "and that," he said, "I consider a most improbable event." The matter ended by a vote of £50,000, part of a larger installment, being carried for the defences of Quebec; it being understood that the Canadian Government were to fortify Montreal out of their own revenues. But a few days afterwards Mr. Cardwell eased the apprehension of the House by announcing the receipt of intelligence that the Washington Government intended to withdraw its notice for the abrogation of the agreement of 1817. In the course of a few months the American War ended, as has just been described, and the relations between the United Kingdom and the United States entered upon a new phase.
With the exception of the events in Jamaica about to be related, nothing of much importance seems to have taken place in the remaining colonies of Great Britain during the year 1865. The Maori War, however, in New Zealand still dragged on, and formed the subject of a debate in the House of Commons, which called forth from Mr. Cardwell the views of Government as to the proper policy to be pursued by Britain. Mr. Cardwell's statement indicated that there was a disposition on the part of the home authorities to consider whether the time had not come for taking a new departure. He said that "the former arrangement, by which the colony could command the services of a large force of the Queen's troops on paying a merely nominal contribution to the expenses incurred for that force, was at an end." It was decided, in other words—and this with the willing acquiescence of the Governor, Sir George Grey—that the best policy for the interests of the colony was to leave it pretty much to take care of itself. British opinion declared strongly against a war of extermination, in the outset of which the natives had, by the confession of the British Governor, been in the right; and it was thought that, by teaching the colonists that they could not always look to Britain to fight their battles for them, a more pacific mode of dealing with the natives would be entered upon, to the benefit both of the colonists and the Maoris.
MEETING OF LEE AND GRANT AT APPOMATTOX COURT-HOUSE. (See p. [382].)
It was towards the end of October in this year that the alarming news arrived of an insurrection of the negroes in Jamaica, which was at once seen to be the most serious event that had happened in any British colony or dependency since the Indian Mutiny. Few, however, suspected that the importance of the event itself would be lost in the still greater importance of the secondary issues which it raised—the questions of the duties of Colonial Governors, of the legality of martial law, and so forth. These, as will appear in the sequel, were the questions to which the Jamaica insurrection, or riot, gave rise. They were argued in the newspapers, in Parliament, and in courts of law, with passionate earnestness on both sides; for both those who approved of the acts done in the suppression, and those who disapproved of them, felt that a crisis of great magnitude had arrived, and that a proper settlement of the points at issue was essential to the welfare of the colonies, and, through them, to the welfare of Britain.
