Posted on 03/10/2020 5:13:01 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Free Republic University, Department of History presents U.S. History, 1855-1860: Seminar and Discussion Forum
Bleeding Kansas, Dred Scott, Lincoln-Douglas, Harpers Ferry, the election of 1860, secession all the events leading up to the Civil War, as seen through news reports of the time and later historical accounts
First session: November 21, 2015. Last date to add: Sometime in the future.
Reading: Self-assigned. Recommendations made and welcomed.
Posting history, in reverse order
To add this class to or drop it from your schedule notify Admissions and Records (Attn: Homer_J_Simpson) by reply or freepmail.
The Diary of George Templeton Strong, Edited by Allan Nevins and Milton Halsey Thomas
But the editorial on page 4 today adds facts to their fantasies and sucks hot air out of at least one of their improbable balloons.
from the editorial on page 4:
"In seeking for the causes of this palpable defeat of our steamship-owners by foreigners, we discover that British ship-owners enjoy a marked advantage in a regular subvention by the British Government.
That Government sagaciously devotes a large sum annually to the maintenance of the Cunard line of steamers.
The Cunards can afford to carry passengers and freight at cost; the money they receive from the English Government in the guise of mail-pay, affords a handsome dividend on the capital invested by their owners.
This places them in a position far superior to that of any American line.
A smaller advantage is enjoyed by the Canadian line, which receives a similar annual aid from the Government of Canada.
Other lines -- the screw line from New York to Liverpool, the Galway line, and others-likewise receive aid, in one shape or another from the British Government.
The statesmen of England long ago came to the conclusion that a few hundred thousand pounds would be well invested in driving American steamships off the Atlantic.
How well they have succeeded the figures given above sufficiently prove.
"Our Steamships received nothing but a bare remuneration for transporting the mails from port to port.
There was a time when Congress paid a large subsidy to the Collins steamers.
Unhappily Mr. Collins and his associates had neither the sagacity nor the moderation which were requisite to retain the boon.
Instead of relying on the patriotism and sagacity of Congress, it is loudly asserted that they undertook to buy up members and newspapers; and, as was to be expected, the result was the loss of their annual grant.
An oder of corruption and roguery hung round the line to the day of its death.
It was badly managed, badly officered, and badly engineered in every way.
If Mr. Collins had been content with the same allowance as the Cunard vessels receive from the British Government, and if he had forborn to seek that by scheming and intriguing, he would have enjoyed it still, and the line would still have been in existence.
"However, we may let by-gones be by-gones.
The question is now, shall anything be done for the salvation of our steam navy?
We, in this journal, have always taken the democratic ground that Government subventions to lines of steamers were wrong in principle, as partaking of the fatal protective system.
We hold that if the steamship business be good and profitable, our people have enterprise enough to engage in it; if it be not good and profitable, it is a waste of time and money to tax the people at large to make it so.
But in this case a distinction must be drawn on national grounds.
High national reasons forbid us to suffer the dominion of the Atlantic Ocean to pass into the hands of Europeans.
In the event of war, the vast preponderance of Great Britain's steam navy would place this country at great disadvantage..."
Second, the editorial reminds us of other statistics which show that, including all US imports & exports, over 90% was carried on US owned ships by 1825, but that fell to just 2/3 by 1860 and to less than 1/3 by 1866, continuing to fall thereafter.
Point is: the building, owning & operating of ocean-going ships was less & less the focus of US capital investors.
There was more reliable profit to be made investing in railroads and cotton plantations.
The Diary of George Templeton Strong, Edited by Allan Nevins and Milton Halsey Thomas
Cute. It reminds me of a visit to the North Carolina History Room at the Wilmington Public Library. The archivist told me that the room is haunted by the spirits of people who died before their genealogical research was complete, probably because they ran into a courthouse fire in 1792.
It was a stop on “ghost tours”!
How is there a picture of the April session of the Democrat National Convention when we are still in March?
Would you believe it is an artist’s rendition of how he imagines the hall will look next month when the DNC opens?
I noticed that too, thought it must just be homer giving us a preview of coming... ah, fireworks!
The last excerpt from this book was on March 5 (reply #10). This excerpt is out of sequence, however. I put it on this date as being two weeks after the Opposition Convention in Jefferson City, or the date Bates was endorsed by the Missouri Republican state convention.
Doris Kearns Goodwin, Team of Rivals
The Diary of George Templeton Strong, Edited by Allan Nevins and Milton Halsey Thomas
Doris Kearns Goodwin, Team of Rivals
Springfield, Ills Mar16, 1860
Dear Delahay
I have just returned from the East. Before leaving, I received your letter of Feb. 6; and on my return I find those of the 17th. & 19th. with Genl. Lane's note inclosed in one of them.
I sincerely wish you could be elected one of the first Senators for Kansas; but how to help you I do not know. If it were permissable for me to interfere, I am not personally acquainted with a single member of your Legislature. If my known friendship for you could be of any advantage, that friendship was abundantly manifested by me last December while in Kansas. If any member had written me, as you say some have Trumbull, I would very readily answer him. I shall write Trumbull on the subject at this sitting.
I understood, while in Kansas, that the State Legislature will not meet until the State is admitted. Was that the right understanding?
As to your kind wishes for myself, allow me to say I can not enter the ring on the money basis first, because, in the main, it is wrong; and secondly, I have not, and can not get, the money. I say, in the main, the use of money is wrong; but for certain objects, in a political contest, the use of some, is both right, and indispensable. With me, as with yourself, this long struggle has been one of great pecuniary loss. I now distinctly say this. If you shall be appointed a delegate to Chicago, I will furnish one hundred dollars to bear the expences of the trip.
Present my respects to Genl. Lane; and say to him, I shall be pleased to hear from him at any time.
A. LINCOLN.
P.S. I have not yet taken the newspaper slip to the Journal. I shall do that to-morrow; and then send you the paper as requested.
A. L.
SOURCE: Roy P. Basler, Editor, The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln
, Vol. 4, p. 31-2
Mark W. Delahay Wikipedia page
Here are the wages of your testimony!
I am obliged for your suggestion. Have faith. I believe when in active health, I have never done less than was expected of me. I hope not to fall short hereafter.
I have twice visited Hyatt in jail. He is serene and tranquil, determined to stay there at least five years, if before then he is not discharged.
Half of our Republicans need conversion to first principles. Lawyers are strong in defending a point, already occupied. They will find any required number of reasons for their cause. But they are not leaders where great principles are in question. Ask Mr. Sewall if I am not right.
SOURCE: Preston Stearns, The Life and Public Services of George Luther Stearns, p. 214
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