Chapter 349: The Emancipation Proclamation
Chapter 339 The Emancipation Proclamation of the Negro Slaves
In a way, this time Austria acted as a shit-stirrer. Under normal circumstances, this kind of thing was usually done by the British.
It was only that the British were weak-minded and worried that after selling a large number of warships, they would not have the ability to suppress the challenges of the European countries.
The navy is the core of a seapower state, and once the Royal Navy appears weak, the challengers will just pounce on it.
Do not look at France is now ruled by the pro-British faction, once the opportunity arose, the French absolutely do not mind taking over, which is the world’s largest usually suppress the second reason.
Historically, the British supported the southern government and sold mostly old warships, and the core warships of the Royal Navy could not be taken out.
Franz is much more conscientious, although also mixed with a lot of old warships, but those few ironclads are the masterpiece of modern Austrian industrial technology, he did not play the abridged version.
Technically speaking, it was still at least a decade or so ahead of the Americans. Two warships a few hundred meters distance to shoot at each other, ammunition hit all, hit rate of zero, only the U.S. Navy can do it.
Of course the human factor in this, is also a major reason, two rookie navy can not hold expectations. But the artillery technology is not passable, is also an important factor.
Austria and is not a sea power countries, even if the southern government reverse launched warship technology, but also harmless, there is not enough industrial strength want to imitate are difficult.
As for the construction of warships according to the development of the corresponding countermeasures, that is overthinking. Are building new ships, still afraid of the old warships are targeted?
Do not look at this time span is not long, in fact, this era of technology is very fast, Austrian iron armor ship technology has been improved many times. Now still lying on the platform of the warship, and the original iron armor ship is completely different.
The same firepower, when eight or nine thousand tons of ironclad, now only seven thousand tons can be achieved.
The bigger the warship wasn’t the stronger the combat power. It was more about the guns installed, and usually the more powerful and numerous the guns were, the stronger the fighting power of the warship.
Armor thickness is also a measure, though it is not valued at the moment. Since it was a colonial empire, it was definitely time to consider ocean warfare, and a defensive navy was not suitable for Austria.
……
New York, to which the federal government had just been evacuated from Washington, was again struck by a bolt from the blue.
It had just mobilized the populace and used everyone’s enthusiasm for the land to gain enough soldiers to create a military advantage over the Southern government.
The War Department was planning a counterattack, ready to use its strength advantage to wear down the Rebel Party. Unfortunately, before this plan could be put into action, news was received that the southern government had purchased the fleet.
This meant that the plan to rely on the Navy to blockade the South was completely bankrupt, and even for some time to come the Federal Government Navy would still be at a disadvantage, and perhaps the Southern Government would have to blockade them in turn.
Needless to doubt, the decision of the southern government’s naval strength lies in the southern government’s input, and the strength of the support of the Great Powers.
Austria can sell fleet to the southern government, then Britain, France and Spain can also sell fleet to the southern government. It is impossible for the northern government to compete with Britain, France, Austria and Spain in terms of industrial strength, the two sides are not in a class at all.
President Abraham Lincoln forced himself to calm down, looked at the Secretary of the Navy expectantly asked: “If this fleet into the rebel fleet, the Navy can not guarantee us the smooth flow of maritime transportation?”
Clearly, he had given up on using the Navy to blockade the Southern states. Lincoln had the self-awareness that instead of thinking about things that couldn’t be done, he should first consider whether the federal government would be blockaded.
Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles thought for a moment and said, “There may be a little trouble, but the enemy does not have the ability to blockade our coasts.
The ocean fleet sold by Austria is strong in combat, and that’s because they are centered around five state-of-the-art ironclads with over thirty sail battleships attached.
But they don’t have a large number of warships, and apart from these main battle ships, the rest are auxiliary vessels.
Our shipbuilding capacity is limited, and if we were to rely solely on our own strength, it would take at least two years before we could overtake the rebels.
The war can’t wait that long, so in order to gain maritime superiority as soon as possible, we can only buy or rent warships from the outside world.”
Building ships takes time, and with the U.S. shipbuilding industry it would be impossible, in any case, to build hundreds of warships in just a few years.
Historically, that navy of the American Civil War Union was likewise based on buying and leasing, and building its own was only part of the equation.
After all, warships are quite a bit easier to build, not to mention the ironclads which are a reflection of the industrial capacity of the new era, and even wooden sail battleships are no less demanding.
Wood alone was a challenge. A sail battleship often requires thousands of trees to be cut down, and the wood is usually stored for a few years to dry out after treatment.
The most critical keel could only be made of oak or teak, which was very demanding on the trees.
Fortunately, with the development of shipbuilding technology, most of these components can now be replaced by steel, or after so many years of felling, the Americans want to find so much wood is a dream.
When it comes to steel there is no doubt that it is natural to import it from the British. The United States has defended its reputation as the world’s number one steel importer for many years, and now that war has broken out, the demand for steel is even greater.
This is why Lincoln was worried about the blockade; if they were cut off from supplies, they could simply concede defeat and recognize the independence of the Southern government.
President Lincoln said fiercely, “Go ahead with your plan, at this point it’s also time to fight with the Southern government for financial strength, to see who lasts longer.”
War fighting is all about money, and in this day and age many things can be bought with money, and that includes warships.
Any European country would be happy to take the deal, and as long as there was enough profit, who cared who the warships were sold to?
Secretary of State Safar spoke up, “I’m afraid this is not enough, the European powers are in favor of the southern government. Even if they are willing to sell us warships. At most, it will balance the two sides.
The naval blockade has failed, and the key to winning this war is back on the land. Only if we win on land will we be able to win this war and maintain national unity.”
This is a very realistic problem, do not look at the northern government economically dominant, really if the fight for financial strength, may not be the southern government’s opponent.
In this era, the U.S. Revenue Service is not so strong fighting force, capitalists naturally will not honestly pay taxes. In contrast, it was easier for the plantation owners in the South to collect tariffs when they exported their goods.
In order to raise funds, the federal government issued a number of bonds in the country, but unfortunately, these money are dollars, in the local use is okay, in the international can no one buy.
The Southern government had cotton as collateral, issued bonds overseas, and got its hands on foreign currency. Occasionally, the sale of commodities, but also can be mixed with a portion of the bonds to pay the bills.
As for enlisting the support of European countries, the federal government has already tried, without any effect. Even if someone supports them, but also just stay in the verbal.
Now Napoleon III was still busy annexing the Kingdom of Sardinia, and it was impossible to offend the British, Austrian and Western countries for their interests and lose the opportunity to expand on the European continent.
President Lincoln tentatively asked, “How about we abolish slavery?”
Secretary of State Safar immediately objected, “Private property is sacrosanct, it’s against the U.S. Constitution, and it would also push slaveholding states loyal to the Union into the Southern government.”
The sanctity of private property not only protects the interests of slave owners, but equally protects the interests of capitalists.
The rabbit in the hat is in everyone’s heart, and if the federal government were to tear it open, the capitalists would be equally concerned that someday the federal government would turn the knife on them.
Lincoln explained: “I mean to emancipate the Negroes in the rebel states, and the rest of the country remains the same.”
Secretary of State Safar still shook his head, now that 15 of the 16 slaveholding states in the Union had joined the Southern government, the remaining Delaware slavery had long existed in name only.
It was still unknown how effective this decree would be, but the negative effects it would bring were very serious.
Maybe the people of the southern states thought that the federal government wanted to deprive them of all their property and wanted them to fight to the end, and that would really be the end of it.
Even if you take out the black slaves, there are still seven or eight million people, and the support of the Great Powers, if they all want to be independent, the federal government will never have the opportunity to unify.
President Lincoln added again, “We have no choice, there are already a large number of black troops in the rebel army. If we can’t divide them, the rebels are going to use this cannon fodder to consume our elite troops.
As far as I know, the rebels have also signed a labor importation treaty with the Austrians, bringing in an average of 300,000 strong laborers a year.
What are they up to? It is simply that the slaveholders are paying the price for independence now, and that they will be compensated in the future with these laborers.
Anyway, when it comes to their territory, it’s up to them whether they end up with laborers or slaves.”
Not to mention the plantation owners in the South, but even the capitalists in the North, there were people who wanted to bring in a bunch of cheap strong laborers to dig mines.
People were forced out, the southern government naturally couldn’t compete with the northern government in terms of army numbers because of the lack of population, using slaves to fight the war was also an option.
Secretary of State Safar did not continue to oppose, according to the current situation, in order to gain an advantage on the battlefield, it is necessary to divide the relationship between slaves and slave owners.
Otherwise, if the Southern rebels used two or three black slaves to fight off a Union soldier, they would all cry to death.
Don’t look at the war being fought, the business of labor export companies never stops, the rebels can afford to lose.
……
In September 1862, President Lincoln presented the Emancipation Proclamation to Congress. After much heated debate, it was narrowly passed at President Lincoln’s insistence.
Contents: Provided for the abolition of slavery in the rebel states and allowed slaves to join the Northern army as free men, beginning on New Year’s Day, 1863.
The abolition bill immediately caused a sensation in the U.S. There was also a wave of fugitives from slavery in the southern states, and blacks began to show up at Northern government recruiting points.
It even spread to the Confederate government’s army, and in order to appease the military, the Confederate government had to grant black soldiers the status of freedmen.
Because of the Abolitionist Act, politically the Southern government was already at a disadvantage, and in order to change this situation, the Confederate government was not idle.
At the suggestion of delegates from various countries, the Confederate government began to bring the Indians into the fold and promised to support their independent statehood.
(End of chapter)