There was a great debate in Parliament on the subject, in the midst of which Earl Russell arose and said that Baron Gros, the French Minister, had received no communication from his Government on American affairs. Mr. Roebuck, who made the motion on the authority of the Emperor, was astonished that he had been so badly fooled. It still remains a mystery, however, why Baron Gros did not receive the advice in question from the Emperor, because M. Mocquard, the Emperor’s Secretary, wrote to Slidell as follows: “On the next day after the interview of Messrs. Roebuck and Lindsay with the Emperor, the Minister of Foreign Affairs telegraphed Baron Gros to ‘officiously’ inform Lord Palmerston that, should Great Britain be willing to recognize the South, the Emperor would be willing to follow her in that way.”
The only explanation that seems plausible under these circumstances is, that the Palmerston-Russell Cabinet interrupted this telegram to Baron Gros for diplomatic purposes, or that the Baron, seeing that the debate in Parliament had taken an unfavorable turn, had prudently resolved to suppress the advice from Napoleon, in order that his master might not commit himself while England was not heart and soul with him in the enterprise. In fact, England had begun to see that she had taken a false position, and Mr. Gladstone’s eloquent spurt, to the effect that “Jefferson Davis had created a nation,” was no longer the diplomatic faith of England. She was more influenced by fear than love, as she always is, and had begun to think, after the capture of New Orleans and the destruction of the Confederate fleet, that the Federal Government was capable of organizing a formidable navy. The London Times, which voiced diplomatic sentiment then, said so. During this very debate on Roebuck’s motion, Lee’s army had been beaten at Gettysburg, Vicksburg had surrendered and victory was beginning to perch on the Northern banners everywhere. Napoleon also drew in his horns, complaining bitterly that “perfidious Albion” had gone back on him, and he was afraid to permit the war ships, when finished, to leave the French ports for any destination, and when he permitted the English privateer, the Rappahannock, to depart, it was under the injunction that the American minister should know nothing about it.
What Lord Palmerston called a “concatenation of circumstances” contributed largely to force the Emperor to change his policy towards the United States. Maximilian’s Mexican expedition was exceedingly unpopular, trouble was brewing in several parts of the continent, and Bismarck and Von Moltke were cunningly and deliberately weaving that net in which the Man of Destiny, seven years later, was hopelessly entangled at Sedan. His dream of a French American Empire beyond the Mississippi had vanished long before his last abject act of humiliation in surrendering the sword of France to Bismarck. And ere he died, a miserable wreck of disappointed ambition, again a political exile, he had the opportunity of seeing our own Republic, which he sought to destroy, rehabilitated, and on its way to become the greatest nation in history.
THE HON. JOHN SHERMAN,
Who has taken a prominent part in financial matters since the beginning of the war, first in making treasury notes a legal tender in 1862; in proposing the Redemption Act in 1867, which was passed in 1870, and in the resumption of specie payments in 1879, which was the crowning success of the financial policy which established the Government credit on a solid basis.
CHAPTER IX.
SECRETARY CHASE AND THE TREASURY.
The Depleted Condition of the Treasury when Mr. Chase took Office.—Preparations for War and Great Excitement in Washington.—Chivalrous Southerners in a Ferment.—Officials Up in Arms in Defence of their Menaced Positions.—Miscalculation with Regard to the Probable Duration of the War.—A Visit to Washington and an Interview with Secretary Chase.—Disappointment about the Sale of Government Bonds.—A Panic Precipitated in Wall Street.—Millionaires Reduced to Indigence in a Few Hours.—Miraculously Saved from the Wreck.—How it Happened.
Soon after Mr. Chase came into the Treasury he found that money was seriously needed. In fact the Treasury was empty. The expenditure for the fiscal year ending June, 1861, was 62 millions, and there were only 41 millions of revenue to meet them, and even this amount was threatened with a serious reduction on account of the traitorous and rebellious attitude of the South.
After President Lincoln had called upon Congress to provide for the enlistment of 400,000 men, the expenses of the Government were soon advanced to the enormous amount of a million dollars a day. The Secretary of the Treasury made a calculation, which he submitted to the President, showing that the probable expenditures would amount to 318 millions for the ensuing year. He advised that 80 millions be provided for by taxation, 240 millions by loan, and that 50 millions of Treasury notes, redeemable in coin on demand, should be issued.