Russian
Minister to Washington, Edouard de Stoeckl, was a close observer of the
Lincoln administration and reliable judge of political events. He saw
Lincoln as weak and vacillating, with the radical Republicans as the
true “masters of the situation,” and had ”been told on good authority
that a [radical] deputation demanded the President’s resignation.”
Bernhard Thuersam, Chairman
North Carolina War Between the States Sesquicentennial Commission
"The Official Website of the North Carolina WBTS Sesquicentennial"
Radical Republican Reign of Terror:
“The
fighting Italian patriot, Giuseppe Garibaldi, who had expressed a
desire for a federal army command – providing the war would be fought
for emancipating the slaves – rejoiced over the [emancipation]
Proclamation. Garibaldi’s followers, the republican liberals of Italy
whose red shirts had become symbols of freedom, added their lavish
praise….
But
in Washington, Stoeckl expressed deep regret that the Emancipation
Proclamation had been issued. In a conference with [William] Seward, the
Russian Minister told Lincoln’s Secretary of State that he regards the
Proclamation “as but a futile menace,” because “it set up a further
barrier to the reconciliation of the North and South – always the hope
of Russia.
In
a lengthy report to St. Petersburg shortly after Lincoln issued the
preliminary Proclamation, Stoeckl charged that radical Republican
leaders had forced Lincoln into this extreme measure in a desperate
effort to maintain their waning political powers. “Their program calls
for immediate and unconditional emancipation, the arming of the slaves
against their masters; the confiscation of all property belonging to the
insurgents; and finally the inauguration in the North of a reign of
terror to silence the protests of the timid conservatives.”
Stoeckl
described Lincoln as vacillating and resorting to half measures because
“he does not dare to go along” with the radicals, nor does he possess
the courage to break with them:
“[Lincoln]
signed the confiscation bill. He authorized wholesale arrests in the
North and even suspended the writ of habeas corpus. [Radicals demanded]
that Lincoln give to Governor Morton of Illinois, and ultra-radical, the
chief command of affairs of war in the West, and delegate to him all
the powers which the Constitution invested in the Chief Executive of the
Republic.
The
President, intimidated by [the] intrigues and violent attacks, decided
to publish the Proclamation…[but] settles the question only halfway;
slavery will continue to exist in the States which recognize the
Union….Slavery would not be abolished….where the decrees of the
President could not be executed. A new proclamation issued by the
President suspends the writ of habeas corpus and establishes martial law
in the entire United States. It is a new concession wrung from Mr.
Lincoln by the radicals.”
(Lincoln and the Radicals, Albert A. Woldman, World Publishing Company, 1952, pp. 182-185)
