In a week the newly elected Congress would be seated in the Senate Building in Dublin.
And today the first democratically elected President of the Irish Republic, Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa would be sworn into office. That the new Chief Justice of the Supreme Court would administer the oath, not Archbishop Cullen, was a law that was firmly implanted in the new Constitution, and strongly backed by the liberating army. There was an iron fist inside the velvet glove. The bishops, who had worked hard to remain in power, were put out by what they claimed was the bypassing of their authority.
The Americans were adamant. Church and State were separate. Religion had no place in politics. The new constitution was very clear on this matter and could not be challenged. If John Stuart Mill was advising from behind the scenes only his spirit was observed, never the man himself.
Ambassadors from around the world had assembled for this great occasion. Only the ambassador from Great Britain was not there; though that country had been asked. There had been no response to the request.
While across the Irish Sea a fierce argument was raging in Britain. Most strongly heard was the war party. A stab in the back, an assault on a peaceful country, soldiers killed, revenge for besmirched honor called for. Far less vociferous was the voice of reason; after all the Irish problem that had always caused so much dissension down through the years had been settled once and for all. Very few listened to reason. Parliament passed bills raising more troops, while regiments were on their way home from Mexico and the Far East. Ironclads made swift raids along the Irish coast, burning any buildings that flew the new green flag with its golden harp. More American warships appeared in Irish ports to patrol the beleaguered coast.
But all of this was forgotten on this most historical of all St. Patrick's Days. At first light the crowds began streaming into Phoenix Park. It was full to bursting by eleven in the morning and the carriages of the honored guests could only enter after the soldiers had made a lane for them. The viewing stands filled quickly. President Lincoln, and the first lady, were seated on the platform close to the president elect.
"I must congratulate you on a landslide victory," Lincoln said. "This is not your first public office, I understand."
"Indeed it is not. I was elected to the British parliament by the good people of Tipperary," Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa said. "Though the British would not allow me to take my seat since they had arrested me earlier for being a Fenian. There is too much bigotry in Ireland, on all sides. This is why I insisted on having Isaac Butt as my Vice-President. He is a Protestant lawyer who defended me at my trial. To me he symbolizes the drawing together of all the peoples of this troubled island. Now I must thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, and your stout soldiers and officers, for what you have done for this country. Words cannot express our feelings of gratitude..."
"Why I thought you were doing right fine there."
"Then let me take your hand and say that this is the most important moment of my life. Ireland free, my imminent inauguration, in my hand that of the great man who made it all possible. Bless you, President Lincoln, the thanks and blessing of all the Irish people are yours."
It was indeed a memorable day. The speeches were long and windy, but no one cared. The inauguration ceremony brief, the acceptance speech well received. All the excitement had been a bit much for Mary, and the President called for their carriage. But not before Lincoln had sent a message to General Sherman to join him in the hotel. The President waited for him in the sitting room while Mary took her rest. There were some reports and letters waiting for him and he went through them. Smiled at the letter from young Ambrosio O'Higgins who was apparently going into Mexican politics, for which he was well suited. It appeared that he had visited the British road in Mexico, which was now abandoned and deserted. The locals had no use for it and the jungle was quickly taking over.
Sherman found Lincoln at the window, looking down on the celebrating crowds in Sackville Street.
"Come in, Cumph," Lincoln said, hurrying across the room to shake his hand. "This is the first real chance I have had to congratulate you on your marvelous victory by force of arms. And not only you—but Lee in the north, Jackson in the south."
"Thank you, sir, it is greatly appreciated. We have good troops, the highest morale—and the deadliest weapons that soldier ever fired. The Gatling guns carried the day. We have heard from captured prisoners that the mere sound of them struck terror into their troops."
"It was a war well won."
"And a peace well won as well." Sherman pointed at the crowded street below.
"It was indeed. If only..."
They looked down the street to the River Liffey and in their minds' eyes further still across the Irish Sea and to the land beyond.
"I wonder if they will accept the reality of their defeat?" Lincoln said quietly, speaking to himself.
"Their soldiers fought bravely and well. It is not them that we must fear. But the politicians, it appears that they will not let this matter rest."
"We must have peace. Not peace at any price—but a lasting and just peace. The Council of Berlin starts next week, and our ambassadors are already there. They have had sympathetic talks with the French and Germans. The British delegates will arrive soon. With Lord Palmerston at their head. There must be peace." Lincoln said it more in hope, than with any positive feeling.
"There must be peace now," Sherman agreed. "But we must be prepared for war. Only the strength of our navy and army will keep the enemy at bay."
"Speak politely—but make sure that the rifle hanging over the mantelpiece is loaded. That's what an old rail-splitter might say."
"Truer words were never spoken, Mr. President. Never truer."
A NATIONAL HYMN
Mexicans, hear the battle cry
Mount for battle, win or die,
At the might of the cannon's roar.
If a foreign enemy be found
Who dares profane our sacred ground,
Heaven hears and sends your sons
To victory against their guns.
By Francisco González Bocanegra, 1824-1861.
(Translation by Gay Haldeman.)
Bocanegra, and Guillermio Prieto, were the patriotic poets of the Mexican revolution. Their inspiring poems were much loved by the fighting men.
AFTERWORD
It has been often said that history is written by the victors. True enough. Therefore the student of history must always be aware of not taking sides. But there are certain facts that cannot be juggled by the victors. Numerical records are one of them.
It is a matter of record that, during the two-day Battle of Shiloh, the first conflict of the Civil War where large units clashed face to face, that the North and the South, between them lost 22,000 men. To no avail—since their positions were roughly the same at the end of the battle as they had been before they began. And there was worse to come. By the time the war had ended 200,000 soldiers had been killed in battle. Another 400,000 had died of disease or hardship. The population of the United Sates at the time was around 32,000,000. Which means that around two percent of the total population died in the war.
This was indeed the first modern war, where large formations of soldiers clashed with one another, using advanced technology to achieve these disastrous ends. Modern rifles and cannon in great numbers, railroad trains to supply the armies, telegraph and observation balloons to direct the conflict, ironclad steam-driven ships at sea. 600,000 dead. The Civil War was the first mechanized conflict and the terrible price paid was only a shadow of what was to come.
Of course as the technology of warfare improved so did the death toll. By the time of the First World War the improvements of machine-guns, rapid firing rifles, smokeless gun powder, breech-loading cannon and improved transport had made modern warfare that much more deadly. The Germans had 400,000 casualties on the battle of the Somme; the French lost 500,000 at Verdun. The British lost 20
,000 men in a single day in the battle of the Somme—the same number that had been killed during the entire Boer War. Machines were changing the deadly face of warfare.
Not that the generals noticed it. Never known for their imagination, they never quite knew what to do with their new weapons. They were always prepared to fight a new war with the tactics of the previous one.
In the blood-bath of the Civil War the Americans learned by experience how to utilize new tactics and new weapons. Since both sides in the First World War threw away their soldiers' lives in frontal attacks on entrenched machine-gun positions, I feel completely justified in having them do the same thing in this book, in 1863. It is hard to forget that in 1939 Polish cavalry charged against German tanks. The deeply entrenched attitudes of the martial mind are almost immune to novelty, logic or reason.
The irreducible facts of history speak for themselves. If I appear to be prejudiced about the British in Ireland in the nineteenth century, I do apologize. I have attempted to be as even-handed as I can. Putting historical quotes into my characters' mouths whenever possible. Avoiding inflammatory facts when I could. Such as the historical fact that Catholics were not allowed to buy land, or raise a mortgage on it—or even inherit it in the normal fashion. At the turn of the 18th century Catholics owned barely 15 percent of the total land in the country, most of that bog and mountain. This was because, by British law, they could not keep their lands intact. When the owner died the land had to be shared equally among all the sons of the owner. However—should any son of the family turn Protestant—everything became his. Therefore by the end of the mid-18th century Catholics, who made up about 90% of the population, owned only 7% of the land. Is it any wonder that they died during the famine on their miserable tiny plots of land—or later rose in revolt?
Lightning war—or blitzkrieg as the Germans called it—was a natural outgrowth of the use of machines of war. When the Allies first introduced tanks to the battlefield during the First World War they had little idea what to do with them. So they came to the battlefield piecemeal and were duly destroyed. By the time of the Spanish Civil War there were self-propelled guns and armored troop carriers. As well as aerial support. The Germans experimented with their joint use and the art of the blitzkrieg was invented. Neither France nor Britain took heed of these developments until it was too late. My Americans in 1863 did what the Germans did in 1936. They applied all the lessons of combat that they had learned the hard way, through he death of soldiers, to invent a new and more successful kind of warfare.
SPRING—1863
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Abraham Lincoln President of the United States
Hannibal Hamlin Vice-President
William H. Seward Secretary of State
Edwin M. Stanton Secretary of War
Gideon Welles Secretary of the Navy
Salmon P. Chase Secretary of the Treasury
Gustavus Fox Assistant Secretary of the Navy
Edward Bates Attorney General
Judah P. Benjamin Secretary for the South
John Nicolay First Secretary to President Lincoln
John Hay Secretary to President Lincoln
William Parker Parrott Gunsmith
John Ericsson Inventor of USS Monitor
Frederick Douglass of the Freedmen's Bureau
UNITED STATES ARMY
General William Tecumseh Sherman
General Ulysses S. Grant
General Ramsay Head of Ordnance Department
General Robert E. Lee
General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson
General James Longstreet
General Joseph E. Johnston
General Thomas Francis Meagher Commander of the Irish Brigade
Surgeon Francis Reynolds
General Bragg Commander of the Texas Brigade
UNITED STATES NAVY
Commodore Goldsborough Captain of USS Avenger
Rear Admiral David Dickson Porter
Admiral David Glasgow Farragut
Captain Green Captain of USS Hartford
Captain Johns Captain of USS Dictator
Captain Raphael Semmes Captain of USS Virginia
Captain Weaver Captain USS Pawatuck
Captain Eveshaw Captain USS Stalwart
MEXICO
Benito Juarez President of Mexico
Don Ambrosio O'Higgins Revolutionary
General Porfirio Diáz Oaxaca guerrillero chief
General Escobeda Monterrey guerrillero chief
Archduke Maximilian French puppet emperor
GREAT BRITAIN
Victoria Regina Queen of Great Britain and Ireland
Lord Palmerston Prime Minister
Lord John Russell Foreign Secretary
William Gladstone Chancellor of the Exchequer
BRITISH ARMY
Duke of Cambridge Commander-in-Chief
Brigadier Somerville the Duke's aide
General Arthur Tarbet commander Belfast forces
BRITISH NAVY
Admiral Napier
Vice-Admiral Sawyer
Captain Frederick Durnford Captain HMS Conqueror
Captain Fosbery Captain HMS Valiant
Captain Cockham Captain HMS Intrepid