Christopher Dickey -- Our man in Charleston
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This is a view of the U.S. Civil War and of events that led up to it
from a different perspective.  While we normally see a historical
period through descriptions of the major political and military
leaders of that time, in this book we see it through the actions and
passions of less well known figures whose actions and passions and
dedication had crucial impacts.  In particular, this is a view
through the actions an reports of Robert Bunch, the British Consul
in Charleston.

"Our man in Charleston" helps us appreciate how important Britain's
decision to support or not support The South was.  It also helps us
understand how influential the reporting, letters, and dispatches
sent by Robert Bunch to his superiors were to the making of that
decision.  It was Bunch who knew major figures in The South and who
could see how determined those Southerners were to preserve slavery
and how likely they were to start up the slave trade with Africa and
how brutal both of those, but especially the slave trade, were.

And, it's really a bit neat to see inside the British government at
that time and to learn something about their functionaries, Robert
Bunch, in particular, who is their man in Charleston, and about
others in their foreign office, too.

The deciding factor seems to have been the Atlantic slave trade with
Africa.  The conditions in which slaves were kept on slave ships
were so deplorable and punishing that we cannot and do not want to
imagine them.  The resulting mortality was massive.  The British
people in general and Prince Albert and Queen Victoria in particular
felt it to be unacceptable.  It really was a crucial factor in the
U.S. Civil War; and the writings of Bunch was what made members of
the British government aware of it.

It's an exciting tale, also, because Bunch was filing these negative
reports while pretending to be a friendly diplomat in the midst of a
society that was rabidly pro-slavery and was moving toward
succession and war.  With pro-slavery and pro-secessionist feelings
running so high, Bunch really was risking his safety.

And, it was because of the deplorable and brutal treatment of slaves
that Bunch witnessed in his daily life in Charleston that made him
so strongly opposed to "the peculiar institution" and motivated him
to report on it.  This was not (merely) about civil rights or even
freedom; this was about torment and brutality.

The specific issue or task that was on Bunch's plate was the law in
The South that governed the treatment of black sailors in the
British navy.  When in a U.S. port, black sailors could be
imprisoned and given over for their use as slaves.  Why this was
important to those in The South is interesting: Dickey claims it was
because of fears that free blacks walking the streets of Charleston
might encourage insurrection and revolt among other blacks.  That
indicates an awareness of the unstable and explosive system that was
being perpetuated, a system that could only be controlled with force
and violence.

Dickey mentions several times that those in Britain had received
detailed accounts of the gruesome suffering and the thousands of
deaths aboard slave trade ships.  It was what made the slave trade
with Africa unacceptable to the British government and people.  Keep
in mind that Britons of many kinds and classes would very much like
to continue to receive raw cotton from The South so as to keep
British mills working.  It was the slave *trade* that they found so
unacceptable, not slavery itself, which Dickey claims they could
ignore, and it was this that created the conflict that prevented
Britain from supporting The South.  Moreover, it was Bunch's
reporting back to his superiors that ensured their awareness that
this trade would likely resume.

Another conflict for Britain derived from the fact that they had
colonies that produced cotton with "free" labor and this cotton
could not compete with the cheap, slave produced cotton from The
U.S. South.

One fascinating aspect of "Our man in Charleston", and you will find
it on numerous pages, is the glimpses that it gives us into the
emotions and psychology of Southerners, especially the white elite
and ruling classes.  Those emotions and feelings, though perhaps
unreasonable from our perspective, help to explain why the ruling
classes in The South was willing and even determined to risk and
enter such a destructive war.  It's more complex than saying that
they had no choice if they hoped to preserve they way of life and
privileged position and fortunes.  It was also a fear of what would
happen if they no longer had the power and control to keep blacks
suppressed.

Part of the driving force of this book and Bunch's behavior was his
awareness of the atrocious opinions and behaviors of Southern whites
with respect to slaves and slavery.  More than awareness, Bunch was
forced to see that behavior everyday on the streets of Charleston,
for example, in the slave market.  That's a likely explanation for
why he was determined to file such negative reports, in spite of the
risks that he was taking in doing so.  The capture of several slave
trade ships with the resulting reports of the horrible conditions on
them and the deaths of so many slaves in their holds forced an
awareness of the abhorrent nature of the slave trade for all but the
most determined proponents of slavery.

Keep in mind that Bunch, as part of his job as British Console, was
required to maintain friendly relations with Charleston elites, all
the while understanding that their violent pro-slavery attitudes and
behaviors would cause extremely negative reactions were they to
become aware of his reports.  The immanent danger to Bunch due to
his anti-slavery reports became even more so as fears of war and
insurrection increased in The South, in part because of news of the
raid on Harpers Ferry.

The conflicts we are helped to understand by this book are more than
just for and against slavery.  The South, especially the border
states of Virginia and Maryland also *bred* slaves.  And, a huge
amount of capital and investment was tied up in the ownership of
slaves.  So, there were those who wanted the price of slaves to go
up, just as there were those who wanted it to go down, which
re-starting the slave trade might cause.

Dickey reports on a number of slave trade ships that were captured
or defeated in one way or another to ensure that we understand that
the slave trade was not a minor effort that could be easily
suppressed.

And, Dickey describes a conversation between Bunch and Robert
Barnwell Rhett, in which Rhett claimed that to prohibit the slave
trade would be equivalent to admitting that slavery was wrong, and
therefore no Southern State or Confederacy would agree to such a
thing.  Differences over the slave trade and slavery itself were
truly unresolvable, short of war.  Succession was inevitable, and
maybe even war, claims Dickey.

Slaves had become an important commodity and investment.  The trade
in slaves had made fortunes for some, while the fortunes of others
was tied up in their ownership.  And, like other markets, there was
a good deal of speculation, even a bubble in the late 1850's.

It even, it seems to me, makes sense to talk of "the slavery trap":
slavery created fortunes and an opulent way of life, but once you
had this economic system and a society that bought into it, there
were no alternatives other than giving up those fortunes and that
way of life or preserving it through force and violence and,
eventually, war.

It's a fascinating account of the period and events that led to the
U.S. Civil War.

10/20/2015

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