How the States Got Their Shapes Too_ The People Behind the Borderlines - Mark Stein [108]
I do issue this proclamation to warn all persons that the General Government … will not fail to prosecute with due energy all those who … presume thus to disregard the laws of the land and our treaty obligations.
Privately, Pierce confided to Louisiana Senator John Slidell and others that he would not seek to enforce the Neutrality Act if Quitman’s expedition could be kept under wraps. But Quitman’s luck was running out. Eleven days after the presidential proclamation, the New York Express revealed that “many of the Northern members [of Congress], and several from the slaveholding states … are convinced that there is plan on foot to get Cuba—peaceable or otherwise.… The Administration, it is believed, will favor the scheme.” As rumors mounted in the press, Supreme Court Justice John A. Campbell ordered that a grand jury be presented with charges against Quitman for violating the Neutrality Act. The grand jury, however, refused to issue an indictment for a crime not yet committed. Judge Campbell then sought to torpedo the commission of the crime by ordering that Quitman be held in prison until he had posted bond as assurance that he would not enter Cuba. The order triggered widespread condemnation as unconstitutional, given that Quitman had not been charged with any crime.
While his lawyers navigated the legal obstacle course, Quitman struggled with other obstacles. Many of his recruits and backers were now having second thoughts in the wake of the court’s actions. Seeking to bolster their commitment, he traveled again to Washington in April 1855, hoping he could somehow obtain a meeting with President Pierce. In a case of fact being stranger than fiction, a correspondent for the New York Herald witnessed the president and Quitman unexpectedly encountering each other on Pennsylvania Avenue. “During the past six weeks, [President Pierce] has been seen but once on the avenue,” the correspondent wrote. When Pierce next ventured out for a rare stroll, “in front of the Milkwood house he met General Quitman.… There was no chance to dodge, and they stood face to face.… With slight tremor in the voice, I heard him say, ‘General, why haven’t you been to see me? Call in the morning.’ ”
The following morning, Pierce shared with Quitman intelligence he had received regarding Spain’s military buildup in Cuba. Troop levels were being increased, fortifications upgraded, and its naval presence bolstered. With Quitman’s recruits and dollars dwindling, the bottom line was clear: he had no chance. Six weeks later, Quitman resigned as revolutionary Cuba’s commander in chief.
Though he gave up the title, he did not abandon the dream. Six months after resigning from the Cuban expedition, Quitman won election to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he sought further opportunities to pursue his agenda. The opportunity presented itself when William Walker, who had previously raised a private army that he unsuccessfully led into Mexico, raised another private army that he more successfully led into Nicaragua. Like Quitman’s venture, Walker’s acts violated the Neutrality Act. Upon Walker’s arrest, Congressman Quitman resumed his quest. “A resolution calling upon the President for information relative to the arrest of Gen. Walker … has passed the House by a large majority, and Gen. Quitman made an attempt to introduce his bill for the repeal of certain sections of the neutrality laws,” the New York Herald reported in January 1858.
Quitman’s efforts, however, were cut short. The following month, the press reported on a disease that only affected patrons of the National Hotel in Washington. In July the Charleston Mercury wrote, “The telegraph announces the decease of General Quitman.… [T]he intelligence is not a surprise; for, under the effects of the mysterious National Hotel disease, his vital powers have been slowly but surely failing.” The mysterious disease turned out to have resulted from backed-up sewage in the hotel’s basement, emitting toxic