Mr. Benjamin to Mr. Mann, August 14, 1862

Mr. Benjamin to Mr. Mann.

Sir: We are informed that an arrangement has
been recently concluded between the government of the United States and
that of Denmark for transferring to the Danish colonies in the West
Indies Africans who may be captured from slavers and brought into the
United States. We are not informed of the precise terms of this
arrangement, and can, of course, have no objection to offer to its
execution, if confined to the class of persons above designated, that
is, to Africans released by the United States from vessels engaged in
the slave trade in violation of laws and treaties.

It has, however, been suggested by the president that under cover of this
agreement the United States may impose upon the good faith of the
government of Denmark, and make it the unwitting and innocent
participant in the war now waged against us. The recent legislation of
the Congress of the United States, and the action of its military
authorities, betray the design of converting the war into a campaign of
indiscriminate robbery and murder. I enclose herewith a letter of the
president to the general commanding-in-chief of our armies, and a
general order on the subject of the conduct of Maj. Gen. Pope, now
commanding the enemy’s forces in northern Virginia, that you may form
some faint idea of the atrocities which are threatened. The act of
Congress of the United States, (of which a copy is enclosed,) decreeing
the confiscation of the property of all persons engaged in what that law
terms a rebellion, includes, as you are aware, the entire property of
all the citizens of the confederacy. The same law decrees substantially
the emancipation of all our slaves; and an executive order of President
Lincoln directs the commanders of his armies to employ them as laborers
in the military service. It is well known, however, that notwithstanding
the restrictive terms of this order, several of his generals openly
employ the slaves to bear arms against their masters, and have thus
inaugurated, as far as lies in their power, a servile war of whose
horrors mankind has had a shocking example within the memory of many now
living. The perfidy, vindictiveness, and savage cruelty with which this
war is waged against us have had but few parallels in the annals of
nations.

The government of the United States, however, finds itself greatly
embarrassed in the execution of its schemes by the difficulty of
disposing of the slaves seized by its troops and subject to confiscation
by its barbarous laws. The prejudice against the negro race in the
northern States is so intense and deep-rooted that the migration of our
slaves into those States would meet with violent opposition both from
their people and local authorities. Already riots are becoming rife in
the northern cities, arising out of conflicts and rivalries between
their white laboring population and the slaves who have been carried
from Virginia by the army of the United States. Yet these slaves are an
inappreciable fraction of the negro population of the South. It is thus
perceived that the single obstacle presented by the difficulty of
disposing of slaves seized for confiscation is of itself sufficient to
check in a very great degree the execution of the barbarous policy
inaugurated by our enemies.

The repeated instances of shameless perfidy exhibited by the government
of the United States during the prosecution of the war justify us in the
suspicion that bad faith underlies every act on their part having a
bearing, however remote, on the hostilities now pending. When,
therefore, the president received at the same time information of two
important facts—one, that the United States were suffering grave
embarrassment from the presence within their limits of the slaves seized
from our citizens; the other, that the United States had agreed to
transfer to Denmark, for transportation to the Danish West Indies, all
Africans captured at sea from slave-trading vessels, he felt that there
was just reason to suspect an intimate connexion between these facts,
and that the purpose of our treacherous enemy was to impose on the good
faith of a neutral and friendly power by palming off our own slaves
seized for confiscation by the enemy as Africans rescued at sea from
slave-traders.

You are specially instructed to observe that the president entertains no
apprehension that the government of Denmark would for one moment swerve
from the observance of strict neutrality in the war now raging on this
continent; still less that it would fail disdainfully to reject any
possible complicity, however remote, in the system of confiscation,
robbery, and murder which the United States have recently adopted under
the sting of defeat in their unjust attempt to subjugate a free people.
His only fear is that the cabinet of Copenhagen may (as has happened to
ourselves) fail to suspect in others a perfidy of which themselves are
incapable. His only purpose in instructing you, as he now does, to
communicate the contents of this despatch to the Danish minister of
foreign affairs (and if deemed advisable to furnish a copy of it) is to
convey the information which has given rise to the suspicions
entertained here. The president hopes thus to prevent the possibility of
success in any attempt that may be made to deceive the servants of his
Danish Majesty by delivering to them for conveyance to the West Indies
our slaves seized for confiscation by the enemy, instead of Africans
rescued on the high seas.

You are requested to proceed to Copenhagen by the earliest practical
conveyance, and execute the president’s instructions on this subject
without unnecessary delay.

I am, &c.,