Page images
PDF
EPUB
[graphic][graphic][merged small][merged small]
[graphic][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][ocr errors][subsumed]
[graphic][merged small]

of the Confederacy, from any port or place beyond the said limits, may freely pass with their cargoes to any other place beyond the said limits, without let or hindrance, on paying pilotage and other charges. Regulations were made to prevent the disposing of any part of the cargoes without payment of the customs due to the Confederate States. This the Southerners probably thought was all that the Western people could desire, or, at least, justly claim.

Having thus extended one hand, as they supposed, to the Western navigation, they extended the other to Great Britain, by modifying the navigation laws. The act, which was ready for the President's assent on the 26th of February, was "to modify the navigation laws, and to repeal all discriminating duties on ships and vessels;" and enacted that "all laws which forbid the employment in the coastingtrade of ships or vessels not enrolled or licensed, and also all laws which forbid the importation of goods, wares, or merchandise from one port of the Confederate States to another, or from any foreign port or place in a vessel belonging wholly or in part to a subject or citizen of any foreign State or power, are hereby repealed." Discriminating duties on foreign ships were also repealed. Thus, the coasting-trade from Charleston to Galveston was now thrown open to the British flag. This was certainly a tempting bait to Great Britain, who had so long sought from the Federal Government to be admitted to the coasting-trade of the United States in return for the right to trade between her colonies. As the South owns no shipping, but supplies an immense freight annually in cotton, rice, and tobacco, it was equivalent to offering her carrying-trade to Great Britain.

The act for the suppression of the slave-trade was in the usual terms, but contained a provision for dealing with the negroes found on board . the captured vessels, which is somewhat amusing. If the vessel is cleared from any port in the United States, the President shall communicate with the Governor of that State, and "shall offer to deliver such negroes to the said State on receiving a guarantee that the said negroes shall enjoy the rights and privileges of freemen in such State, or in any other State of the United States, or that they shall be transported to Africa, and there set at liberty, without expense to the Government." The notion of the Confederate States bargaining with Massachusetts or Pennsylvania that a negro shall "have all the rights and privileges of a freeman," might imply a doubt as to the sincerity of their professions in behalf of the negro. In default of the foreign State accepting this offer, the President was empowered to receive any propositions made for the transport of the negroes to Africa by private persons, and, should no such philanthropist offer himself, "the President shall cause the said negroes to be sold at public auction to the highest bidder." This, it must be confessed, is a descent from the lofty morality of the earlier part of the clause. All these acts were passed with great unanimity.

On the 6th of February, an act placing at the disposition of Congress five hundred thousand dollars for the placing of the seceded States in a better condition of defence was passed by the legislature of Alabama. This offer was accepted by the Confederate Congress.

« PreviousContinue »