The National tribune., 1907-05-09

MAP OF BIG BETHEL AND vICIN
ITY.
. Passing a vessel thru the blockade
would involve So much trouble and de
| lay, by way of examination to proven
frauds and abuse of the privilege, that
feel myself under the necessity of re
i fusing.'
"'Will the passage of families desr
ing to go North be permitted? asked
Maj. Carey.
i with the exception of an interrupt
ton at Baltimore, which has now bee!
disposed of, travel of peaceable citizen.
thru to the North has not been hin.
dered, and as to the internal thru Vir-
ginia your friends have, for the present
| entire control of il. The authorities al
Washington will settle that question
and j must leave it to be disposed of by
them
II am informed said Maj Carey
that three negros belonging to Col. Nal
| Tory have escaped within your lines
am Col. Mallory's agent and have
charge of his property. What do you
| mean to do with those negros?'
II intend to hold Them said ].
DO you mean, then, to set aside
your constitutional obligation to return
them?'
- mean TO take Virginia at her
WOTU, dS uecIdTeu III tTc ordinance OF
/ Secession past yesterday. i am under
no constitutional obligations to a for
eign country, which Virginia now claims
| to be-
But you say we cannot secede, h,
answered, and so you cannot consis-
tently detain the negros.'
But you say you have seeded, SC
| you cannot consistently claim them. J
| shall hold these negros as contrabanG
1 n EAs IA.
construction of your battery and arc
claimed as your property. The question
| is simply whether they shall be used
| for or against the Government of the
United States. Yet, tho ! greatly need
the labor which had providentialiy com,
to my hands. if Col. Mallory will come
into the fort and take the oath of ale
glance to the United States he shall have
his negros and ] Will endeavor to hire
them from him
Col Mallory is absent was Maj.
Carey's answer.
I'VE courteously parted. On the way
back the correctness of my law was dis
Gust by Maj Haggerty, who was, for :;
young man, very good lawyer. He
said that he doubted somewhat upon
the law, and asked me If ] knew of t,lat
proposition having been laid down jn
any treatise on international law.
Not the precise proposition said ]:
but the precise principle is familiar law,
Property Of whatever nature used OF
capable Of being used for warlike Dur-
poses, and especially when being SO
used, may be captured and held either
on sea or on shore as property contra
band of war. Whether there may be
property in human beings is a question
upon which some of us might doubt
but the rebels cannot take the negative
At any rate, Raggerty, it is a good
enough reason to stop the rebels
mouths with, especially as I should have
held these negros anyway
"At headquarters and in the fort
nothing was discussed but the negro
question, and especially this phase of it.
The negros came pouring in day by
day, and the third day from that !
reported the fact that more than $780,
600 worth of them had come in; that ]
had found work for them to do, hac
classified them and made a list of them
so that their identity might be fully as
sured, and had appointed commits
sioner of negro affairs to take this
business off my hands, for it was be-
coming onerous.
II wrote the Lieutenant General that
awaited Instructions, but should pur-
sue this course until i had received
them. On the Goth 1 Received word
from the Secretary of War, to whom
had duplicated my letter to Gen Scott
His instructions gave me no directions
to pursue any different course of action
from that which had reported to him.
except that / was to keep an accurate
account of the value of their work
But the local effect of the position
taken was of the slightest account COM
pared with its effect upon the country
at large. The question of the disposal
of the slaves was one that perpleyed
tr<ar- <.f
the country and loyal prosecutors of the
war. 1t afforded a groundwork for dis
cussion which yielded many excuses for
those who did not desire the war to he |
carried on. In a word, the slave ques- |
ton was a stumbling block Everybody
saw that if the work of returning fugi- |
tive slaves to their masters in rebellion |
was imposed upon the Union troops it |
would never be done; the men would |
simply be disguised and finally decline |
the duty. Our troops could not act as |
MarshaPs posse in catching runaway
negros to return them to their masters. |
who were fighting us at the same time.
What ought to be done? Nobody made |
answer to that question Fortuitouslv n |
was thrust upon me to decide what must
be done then and there, and, very for
tunately, few moments thought caus-
ed to flash thru my mind the plausible
answer at least to the question: What
will you do? I do not claim for the
phrase 'contraband of war; used in |
this connection, the highest legal sane
ton. because II would not apply to |
property used or property for use in
war. as would be cargo Of coal being
carried to be burned on board an enc
my's ship of war. To hold that contra
band. as well might be done, by no
means included all the coal in the
country. 1t was poor phrase enough;
Wendell Phillips said bad one MyI
staff officer, Maj. Winthrop, insisted it
was an epigram which freed the slaves.
The truth is. as lawyer / was never
very proud Of It, but as an executivel
officer l was very much comforted with
1t as means Of doing my duty.