Z. B. Vance to State troops to support the Confederate forces in the defense of, January 21, 1864

Meridian, January 21, 1864.

Respectfully forwarded for reference to the Honorable Secretary of War.

I can see no sound reason why we should not use our cotton to purchase supplies we cannot get otherwise. We have reached a point, in my opinion, at which the hazard of greater evils than any which may follow from selling cotton are threatening us.

TEL OLK Tneutenant- General. [Second indorsement. ] FEBRUARY 2, 1864.

May be considered when law regulating exports is to be adjusted.

STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, Raleigh, N. C., January 7, 1864. Hon. J. A. SEDDON:

DEAR SiR: Your dispatch of the 6th, asking me not to object to making the steamer Don conform to the regulations of the Confederate authorities in regard to transporting Government cotton, requires a more detailed reply than I can transmit by telegraph.

I have now at Bermuda and on the way there eight or ten cargoes of supplies of the very first importance to the Army and the people, consisting chiefly of some 40,000 blankets, 40,000 pair of shoes, large quantities of army cloth and leather, 112,000 pair of cotton ecards, machinery and findings to refit twenty-six of our principal cotton and woolen factories, dyestuffs, lubricating oils, &c., in addition to which I have made large purchases of bacon. Knowing that one steamer could not bring these cargoes in before spring, at which time I anticipate the closing of the port, if not sooner, and that the risk was increasing daily, I sold one-half of the State’s steamer Advance, and purchased of Messrs. Collie & Co. one-fourth interest in four steamers—the Don and the Hansa, and two others now building—for the purpose of hurrying these supplies in. The terms give the State one-fourth the outward cargo and the whole of the inward, nothing being carried for speculation whatever. The Hansa, which recently left Wilmington, not having coal enough to take her to Bermuda, where my freight is, was instructed to load at Nassau with Confederate bacon, so determined was I that the whole capacity of these steamers should be employed for the public good. In return for this Messrs. Collie & Co. did expect they would be relieved from the burden of giving one-third of their outward capacity to the Confederate Government, and I did also. Should one-third be given to the Confederacy and one-fourth to the State outward, and to the latter the whole of the return cargo, I submit that it would amount to a prohiCONFEDERATE AUTHORITIES.

bition of the business. Neither would it comport with justice or sound policy.

It is a little remarkable to me that the entire importing operations of this State, which have been so successful and so beneficial to the cause, seems to have met with little else than downright opposition rather than encouragement from the Confederate Government. In its very inception Mr. Mason, our commissioner in England, laid the strong hand on my agents, and positively forbade them putting a bond on the market for five months after they landed in England. Then came vexatious and irritating quarantine delays at Wilmington (enforced by the military, not the civil authorities), though our foreign depot was, at great cost and inconvenience, made at Bermuda instead of Nassau to avoid this. Then seizures of my coal at Wilmington occurred, and the denial of facilities to get it from the mines, &e. It was not until aftermy decided remonstrance to you in November that I met with anything else than an evident hostility in the operations of my steamers. And now, if the regulations in regard to private blockade-runners are enforced, I think it highly probable that this line will be stopped entirely, as the profits will scarcely justify the risks. A great deal of this, I am aware, is attributable to the want of discretion on the part of subordinate officers, as well as the want of foresight displayed in the opposition of every industrial interest of the country by army officers, yet I have had it to contend with.

After this statement I leave it with you to say whether the regulations referred to shall be enforced. If they are, I shall certainly countermand the sailing of the two other steamers now expected, and would suggest for the benefit of the Department that it would be much better to purchase than to seize an interest in the property of strangers who are engaged in bringing in indispensable supplies through a most vigorous and dangerous blockade.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

State troops to support the Confederate forces in the defense of

Alabama, see Series I, Vol. XXXII, Part II, p. 529.]

[JANUARY 8, 1864.—For Davis to Vance, in relation to peace negotiations with the enemy, see Series I, Vol. LI, Part II, p. 808.