The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-01-27

ing, as did, that Mr.. Cushing was the
chairman of the Charleston convention
dent.
Il replied: Yes. Mr.. Cushing? What
chance do you think the South has?
HE replied in these words: What
possible chance can it have? The manu-
factories Of the country are all in the
North; the armories and arsenals are all
in the North: the arsanals of Europe are
within ten days of New York, and will
all be open to the United States govern
ment. while they viii be closed to the
South. Whose ports will be blockaded2'
Good morning, Mr.. Cushing l re-
piled, and the subject dropped.
IN NEW YORK AND CANADA.
''Now, have arrived in New York.
Here, too, the excitement was at it's
height. had been warned by friend
that I would have to be careful. and the
warning was scarcely necessary. On
the morning of my reaching the city the
first sight to which lily attention was
drawn was that of -Anderson's command
marching UP Broadway. / had no let
ters Of introduction, nothing which the
man under such circumstances usually
carries. My mission was such that let
tiers of introduction might have proved
dangerous. / knew that il my move
ments were to be traced it would prob
had ordered to be removed to the ex-
press Office to be kept there till further
instructions were received with regard
to it. Subsequently / got young friend
to carry it to Liverpool England. I
called on the cashier of certain New
York bank and asked the question: Are
there any letters from Montgomery
He was greatly startled, and answered
by inviting me into the bank parlor. He
Immediately locked the door pulled
How 1a Sho dnG nd fI,nr, Cai6
!" Now. what is it?'
"I said: L perceive, sir, you are agi-
tated by my calling on you; / will not
embarrass you by telling<you my name.
If you have any letters from Montgom-
cry please send them around to the
office of Trenholm Brothers, of Pine
street, to which firms place of business
1 Immediately proceed. Mr.. William
Trenholm was one of the members of
the firm. His father had been Secretary
also William, occupied an important
position in the Treasury under Cleve-
lands first administration. 1 found at
the office a member of the firm, to whom
7 explained the object of my visit to
New York. told him that 1 was with
out money, and required at least $500
with which to start out for Europe. He
handed me $500, / think it was; / know
/ received the sum which l mentioned
would be necessary. The senior member
of this firm of Trenholm Brothers was
at Charleston: another member was at
New York and a third at Liverpool,
England, in partnership with a gentle
man named Fraser both doing business
under the title of Fraser & Trenholm.
This explanation becomes necessary in
order to enable you to understand how
our Enanciering was done. point upon
which l will subsequently touch
Il now went over 10 Canada and took
a boat, the North Briton, from Hamilton
for Liverpool. But we mad again to run
into American waters at Portland, and
here was taken on board portion pf a
Maine regiment of troops, who were
being moved to the front. In connec-
ton with the sea voyage there is moth
ing special to narrate, except one little
incident which impressed itself forcib1y
on my mind at the time. / was silent
as you can understand, as to the object
OF my journey. Even to a Southern
sympahtizer on board ! never opened
my lips with reference to it. But one
day at dinner the war was in some man.
ner brought up. Sitting beside me was
a young naval officer, who startled me
by this remark:
"I should not be surprised if you
were sent over by jeff Davis to buy
arms for the confederate army
1.-THE matter has left such a strong
impression on my mind that / can re-
call what l had on my dinner plate
beef and brown potatoes. / took a po-
tato on my fork and put it into my
mouth in order to get little time to
think. When / had swallowed the po-
tato / answered:
ct should think if Jeff Davis wanted
to send man to Europe for any such
purpose he would send some one who
knew something about arms
Well said the young officer, 'as
rule those fellows who say least know
most
There the subject was allowed to
drop, much to my satisfaction.
Il arrived in Europe in due time and
While there received full authority from
the confederate government to carry out
my work without consultation with any
one. These instructions were necessary
because of the danger of written docu-
ments being seized by the enemy And
how do you think / received this one
document to which I refer? Well. II
was sewed up in the sole of an old boot
and carried to me one day by a young
man who had come to start a paper in
London to arouse sympathy for those
who We're fighting for the lost cause.
How were our financial matters ar
ranged, you ask? The plan adopted
was one of the simplest in the world
Cotton was bought in the South. being
paid for in paper money 1t was then
shipped in fast steamers to Nassau and
Bermuda. From there 1t was consigned
to Fraser, Trenholm & Co., of Liver
pool, England. The proceeds of the sal
of this cototn were placed to my credit
and, with the money SO obtained, / pur-
chased the supplies necessary for the
confederate army. Everything was paid
for in cash, and thus the lowest prices
were obtained The confidence Of the
people of England in the South was un-
limited. AS an instance of this, let me
tell you little story of how the gov
eminent of the Southern States made a
profit of over $1,000, 900. In 1868 there
were two vessels lying in the Victoria
docks, London. They had been built as
opium smugglers, and were for sale.
They were offered to me, but had no
money with which to buy them, and de-
clined the offer. They were some time
afterwards purchased by some London
spectators and sent to Bermuda, loaded
with arms, ammunition, ETC., for the
South. But their owners were afraid
they could not run the blockade. Under
these conditions l made arrangements
with the new owners to buy one ship,
giving in exchange ,for it some cotton
warrants. These warrants entitled the
bearer of them to a certain number of
pounds at sixty days after the date of
drawing. The gentleman who sold me
the ship was afraid to risk sending his
warrants to have them met, SO he came
| to me and asked me for duplicates, so
| that, if the originals were destroyed. he
could still have the written evidence of