VIEW IN BERLIN: THE PALACE BRIDGE AND PLEASURE GARDEN.
the Army. But Hungary and Venetia had still to be held down by the sword. The Queen, however much she might regret the contest between the Crown and the nation in Prussia, did not view it with the scornful levity that was fashionable at the time in England. She knew that the carrying out of the military policy of Prussia was the condition precedent to the incorporation of North Germany under Prussian leadership. She was well aware that when the Bernstorff Ministry fell, Count von Bismarck, Prussian Minister at Paris, would become President of the Council, and she knew what purpose he had in view. Von Bismarck had, in fact, visited London in July, 1862, and he had conversed freely and frankly with the leaders of both parties. At a dinner party given by Baron Brunnow in his honour, he revealed his plans to Mr. Disraeli, who on the same evening repeated the conversation to Count Vitzthum. “‘I shall soon,’ said in effect the Prussian statesman, ‘be compelled to undertake the conduct of the Prussian Government. My first care will be to reorganise the Army, with or without the help of the Landtag. The King was right in undertaking this task, but he cannot accomplish it with his present advisers. As soon as the Army shall have been brought into such a condition as to inspire respect, I shall seize the first best pretext to declare war against Austria, dissolve the German Diet, subdue the minor States, and give national unity to Germany under Prussian leadership. I have come here to say this to the Queen’s Ministers.’”[133] Count Vitzthum adds that Mr. Disraeli’s commentary was, “Take care of that man! he means what he says.” On the other hand, the late Lord Ampthill—who was present at the dinner—told Mr. Lowe, the biographer of Prince Bismarck,[134] that Mr. Disraeli described the Bismarckian policy as the “mere moonshine of a German Baron.”[135] The Landtag refused to sanction an increase in the Army, for which it saw no obvious use. The King could not publicly avow why the increase was wanted. The Cabinet confessed itself helpless in the dilemma, whereupon the King telegraphed for Count von Bismarck, who was holiday-making in the Pyrenees, to come to Berlin. He arrived there on the 19th of September. On the 23rd, after seven days’ debate, the Chamber refused to vote the Army Estimates and the Ministry resigned. The King’s retort was the appointment as Prime Minister of the man, whose policy was that of “blood and iron.” From that moment the history of Continental Europe took a fresh departure, which was watched by the Queen with anxious eyes. Like the Prince Consort, her sympathies were with the new Prussian policy. Only, she would have endeavoured to attain Von Bismarck’s ends without using his methods. That the Bismarckian methods were adopted in less than a year after the Prince Consort’s death, only serves to illustrate how quickly the policy of the Court of Berlin changed after the King of Prussia was emancipated from Prince Albert’s moderating influence.
As might be expected, the struggle in America was followed in England with keen interest, and step by step. The Confederate States found no difficulty in raising troops, and in supplying them with capable leaders. They seemed to have raised money on the security of their stocks of cotton. But they evidently were soon in financial straits, for Mr. Mason told some of his intimate friends in London in February that it would be hardly possible for the Confederates to find money for their troops much longer. The war was then costing them £500,000 a day. The Federal Government was more prosperous. In a few months it had 800,000 men under arms, and even its enemies bore testimony to the fact that these troops were always well paid and well fed. General McClellan, during the autumn and winter of 1861, organised a great army for the defence of Washington, which was menaced by the Confederate forces. Instead of dispersing these, McClellan contented himself with watching them. Early in January the Federals at Mill Springs, Kentucky, foiled an attempt of the Confederates to attack Ohio. Next month Burnside captured the Confederate garrison of Roanoke, in North Carolina, and in March he also took Newbern. Fort Henry, on the Tennessee, and Fort Donelson, on the Cumberland River, yielded to General Grant, and Pope seized a Confederate post on the Mississippi, called “Island No. 10.” On the 24th of February Commodore Farragut, after a brilliant action, forced the defences of New Orleans, from which the Confederates retreated, and the city was then occupied by General Butler. So far victory had crowned the Federal banners. But on the 6th of April the fortune of war favoured the Confederates, when General Albert Sydney Johnston surprised Grant at Pittsburg Landing, on the west side of the Tennessee River, opposite to Savannah. The timely arrival of General Buell and the galling fire of two Federal gunboats on the river saved Grant’s army from utter destruction, and when night fell he still stood at bay on the river’s bank. Next morning (the 7th) he renewed the struggle with characteristic obstinacy, and drove the Confederates back to their lines at Corinth. In this action General Johnston was killed. To him succeeded Beauregard, who for many weeks held, by sheer audacity, the lines at Corinth against Halleck and 150,000 Federal troops. At last Beauregard and his army suddenly vanished, leaving Halleck and his lieutenant, Pope, in a state of stupefaction at their disappearance.[136] The Western States echoed with the tramp of armed men on both sides, but save for a Confederate defeat at Corinth in October, and a Federal surrender at Hartville in December, nothing worth recording happened. The lesson from the year’s campaign in this region was that the Confederates blundered by trying to do too much when they attempted to hold the line of the Ohio. Vicksburg was the only strong post which they retained on the Mississippi. On sea they were more successful. They nailed iron rails on to the hull of the old United States warship Virginia, and sent her forth in March from the Navy Yard at Norfolk as the Merrimac to spread terror through the Federal transport fleet. The United States ironclad, Monitor, however, fought her on the 9th of March and drove her into port. At close quarters the shot glanced off the protected sides of the ships, and it was not till the Monitor fired into the unprotected part of the Merrimac’s hull that she disabled her. This action—as we have seen—aroused naval critics in England, and convinced them that the “wooden walls” of the country were obsolete.
Meanwhile great expectations had centred in the Army of the Potomac. Its leader, McClellan, was one of the most highly trained and scientific soldiers in the service of the Federal Government. Its numbers were overwhelming, and yet month after month passed by and it did nothing. It permitted the Confederates to retreat unmolested from their lines at Manassas in spring, when McClellan pursued them for two days. He then suddenly returned to Washington, and made arrangements to convey his army from the Potomac to the peninsula between York River and James River. From that point he meant to deliver a crushing blow against Richmond, the Confederate capital. At this moment President Lincoln deprived McClellan of the Command-in-Chief, and gave Generals McDowell and Fremont independent commands in Northern Virginia. It is not fair to forget, therefore, in criticising McClellan’s movements, that he thus lost the right to dispose of McDowell’s division as he pleased, for the protection of his left flank. McClellan’s campaign was unfortunate. General Joseph Johnston artfully seduced him into the swamps of the Chickahominy River, where he settled down and entrenched himself behind earthworks, while Stuart, with the Confederate cavalry, worked round the Federal right, looted part of their camp, and returned in safety to Richmond. General Jackson—“Stonewall” Jackson—dashing through the Shenandoah Valley, had driven the Federals under Banks back to the Potomac, and was menacing Washington. McDowell, who was hastening to McClellan’s aid, was suddenly recalled to protect the Federal capital, and McClellan, whose position was now hopeless, had to retreat, after repeated attacks, to Harrison’s Landing, on the James River—a manœuvre which was termed by the New York Press “a strategic movement to the rear.” He then embarked his army at Aquia Creek, and took it to Alexandria. To cover McClellan’s retreat, Pope advanced from the Rapidan to the Rappahannock, but was met by the Confederate General, Robert Lee, who fought a drawn battle with him at Cedar Mountain on the 9th of August. Jackson, by a rapid movement westward, crossed the Blue Mountains and thrust himself between Pope’s rear and Washington, and again Stuart made a raid on the Federal camp. Pope was now completely outmanœuvred, so he was fain to fall back on the Potomac and the strong lines of Washington. Lee pushed on, intending to raise Maryland. He was checked by McClellan at Antietam, and recrossed the Potomac, but without being pursued. Jackson now captured the Federal garrison at Harper’s Ferry.
A month elapsed before McClellan renewed his advance on Richmond, and in November he was dismissed from his command. Halleck was now Commander-in-Chief, and Burnside, McClellan’s successor, transferring the struggle
MR. PEABODY.