Glass. H^6 7 .5b:^-.j'_ Book iJl_, C^^-' f Z LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES ABRAHAM LINCOLN, «♦ f > •^AT'-.D-riTAj! i%r;:,ni iXi'RKSSUf for HA'a; .::3 by Derby" k Miller, i . / ss^ THE LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF ABEAHAM LINCOLN, SIXTEENTH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES ; TOGETHER WITH HIS STATE PAPERS, INCLUDINa HIS SPEECHES, ADDRESSES, MESSAGES, LETTERS, AND PROCLAMATIONS, AND THE CLOSING SCENES CONNECTED WITH HIS LIFE AND DEATH. BY HENRY J; RAYMOND. TO WniCn ARE ADDED ANECDOTES AND PERSONAL REMINISCENCES OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN, By frank B. CARPENTER. With a Steel Portrait, and other Illustrations. NEW YORK: DERBY AND MILLER, PUBLISHERS, No. 5 Spruce Street. 1865. ^H' £^57 "^ r Kntered accordint; to Act of Congress, in the year ISflS, By derby & MILLEU, In the Clwk's OfflciJ of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. Alvorp, Stereotyper and Printrx nst. Of ,: April 3 1935 PREFACE. During the Presidential canvass of 1864, the author of this work prepared for its publishers^a volume upon the Adniinistr.ition of Presideni Lincoln. Its main object was to atford the American peoi3le the materials for form- ing an intelligent judgment as to the wisdom of continu- ing Mr. Lincoln, for four years more, in the Presidential office. That canvass resulted in his re-election. But he had scarcely entered upon the duties and responsibilities of his second term, when his career was closed by assassination. He had lived long enough, however, to finish the great work which had devolved upon him. Before his eyes were closed, they beheld the overthrow of the rebellion, the extirpation of slavery, and the res- toration, over all the land, of the authority of the Goustitution of the United States. Not the people of his own country alone, but all the world, will study with interest the life and public acts of one whose work was at once so great and so successful. The principles which guided his conduct, and the policy by which he sought to carry them out — the temper and character which w^ere the secret sources of his strength — will be sought and found in the acts and words of his public life. For more truly, perhaps. 6 Preface. than any other man of his own or of any otlier time, Mr. Lincoln had but one character and one mode of action, in public and private affairs. It is the purpose of this work, so far as possible, to facilitate this inquiry. Every public speech, message, letter, or document of any sort from his pen, so far as accessible, will be found included in its pages. These documents, with the narrative by which they are accom- panied, may, it is hoped, aid the public in understanding aright the character and conduct of the most illustrious actor, in the most important era, of American history. ILLUSTRATIONS. PAOB 1. POKTEAIT OF ABKAHAM LINCOLN, engraved by A. H. Ritoiie . Face Title 2. ABKAHAM LINCOLN'S EAKLY HOME IN KENTUCKY . . . " 16 S. ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S HOME IN SPRINGFIELD . . . . "104 4. RAISING THE OLD FLAG AT INDEPENDENCE HALL . . . " 154 5. PRESIDENT LINCOLN AND HIS FAMILY, 1861 . . . , " 158 6. INAUGURATION AS PRESIDENT AT WASHINGTON . . . . " 1&3 7. PROCLAMATION OF EMANCIPATION " •200 8. FAC-SIMILE OP PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S LETTER TO MR. RAYMOND . 589, 590 9. PRESIDENT LINCOLN ENTERING RICHMOND .... Face 690 10. ASSASSINATION AT FORD'S THEATRE "696 11. THE DEATH OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN "702 12. FUNERAL CORTEGE THROUGH NEW YORK . . . . . " 708 13. REMAINS LYING IN STATE AT CHICAGO "710 14. THE LAST RITES AT SPRINGFIELD "712 15. FUNERAL ARCH OVER HUDSON RIVER RAILROAD ..." 724 CONTENTS CHAPTER I. Early Life of Abraham Lincoln. — His Own Record. — His Ancestry. — Changes of Residence. — Death and Funeral of his Mother. — Entrance upon Polit- ical Life. — A Member of the Legislature and of Congress. — The Mexican War Page 1 7 CHAPTER n. THE LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATE. Presidential Campaign of 185fi.— Douglas at Springfield in 1S57.— Lincoln's Reply.— The Great Debate. — Eloquent Defence of the Doctrines of the Republican Party. — Result of the Contest Page 46 CHAPTER in. sm. LurcoLN and the presidency. The Campaign of 1851) in Ohio.— Mr. Lincoln's Speeches at Columbus and Cincinnati.— His Visit to tlie East. — In New York City. — The Great Speech at Cooper Institute. — Mr. Lincoln nominated for the Presidency. — His Election Page 78 CHAPTER IV. FROM THE ELECTION, NOYEMBER 6, 18G0, TO THE INAUGURATION, JIARCIT 1, 186L The Presidential Election. — Secession of South Carolina. — Formation of the Rebel Confederacy. — The Objects of Secession. — Secession Movements in Washington. — Debates in Congress. — The Crittenden Resolutions. — Con- ciliatory Action of Congress. — The Peace Conference. — Action of Con- gress. — The Secession Movement unchecked Pr,ge 107 CHAPTER V. ^ FROM SPRINGFIELD TO "WASHINGTON. Speech at Indianapolis. — Arrival and Speech at Cincinnati. — Speech at Co- ' lurabns. — Speech at Pittsburg. — Arrival and Speech at Cleveland. — Arri- val at Buffalo. — At Rochester and Syracuse. — At Albany.— Speech at 10 Contents. Ponghkeepsie.— In New York.— Reply to tlio Mayor of New York. — la New Jersey.— Arrival at Philadelphia. — Speocli in Philadelphia. — At Harriaburg. — Arrival and Reception at Washington Page 131 CHAPTER VI. FROM THE INAUGtrRATION TO THE MEETING OF CONGRESS, JULY 4, 18G1. The Inaugural Address. — Organization of the Government. — The Bombard- ment of Fort Sumter. — Passage of Troops through Baltimore. — Interview with the Mayor of Baltimore. — Tlie Blockade of Rebel Ports. — The Pres- ident and the Virginia Commissioners. — Instruction to our ilinisters abroad. — Recognition of the Rebels as Belligerents. — Rights of Neu- trals Page 161 CHAPTER VII. THB EXTRA SESSION OP CONGRESS, AND THE MILITARY EVENTS OF THE SUMMER OF 1861. First Annual Message. — Action of Congress. — Slavery and Confiscation. — The Defeat at Bull Run. — Treatment of the Slavery Question. — General Fre- mont and the President. — The Trent Affair Page 186 CHAPTER VIII. THE REGULAR SESSION OP CONGRESS, DECEMBER, 1861. — THE MESSAGE. — DEBATES, ETC. Meeting of Congress. — President's Message. — Disposition of Congress. — Slavery in Territories and District of Columbia. — Proposed Aid to Eman- cipation by Slave States. — The Debate in Congress. — The President and General Hunter. — The Border State Representatives. — The Border State Reply. — The Finances. — The Confiscation Bill. — The President's Action and Opinions. — The President's Message. — Message in Regard to Mr. Cameron. — The President and his Cabinet. — Close of the Session of Con- gress. — The President's Letter to Mr. Greeley. — The President and the Chicago Convention. — Proclamation of Emancipation Page 212 CHAPTER IX. the military administration of 1862. — the president and general m'clellan. General McClellan succeeds McDowell. — The President's Order for an Ad- vance. — The Movement to the Peninsula. — Rebel Evacuation of Manas- sas. — Arrangements for the Peninsular Movement. — The President's Letter to General McClellan. — The Rebel Strength at Yorktown. — The CUxNTHNTS. 11 Battle of TTilliamsburg. — McCli'Uan's Fear of being Overwhelmed. — The President to McdoUan. — Jackson's Raid in the Shenandoah Valley. — The President, to McGlellan. — Seven Pines and Fair Oaks. — McClellan'a Com- plaints of McDowell. — His C:)ntimied Delays. — Prepares for Defeat. — Calls for more Men. — His Advice to the President. — Preparations to Con- centrate the Army. — General Halleck to McClcllan. — Appointment of General Pope. — Imperative Orders to McClellan. — McClellan's Failure to aid Pope. — His Excuses for Delay. — Proposes to Leave Pope Unaided. — Excuses for Franklin's Delay. — His Excuses proved Groundless. — His alleged Lack of Supplies.— Advance into Maryland. — The President's Letter to McClellan. — He Protests against Delay. — McClellan Relieved from Command. — Speech by the President Page '2o2 CHAPTER X. GENERAL OOXDUCT OF THE ADMINISTRATION^ IN 1862. Successes in the Southwest. — Recognized Objects of the War. — Relations of the "War to Slavery. — Our Foreign Relations. — Proposed Mediation of the French Emperor. — Reply to the French Proposal. — Secretary Seward's Dispatch. — The President's Letter to Fernando Wood. — Observance of the Sabbath Page 3'2o CHAPTER XI. THE CONGRESSIONAL SESSION OF 18G2-'63. — MESSAGE OF THE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL ACTION OF THE SESSION. The President's Message. — Are the Rebel States Aliens? — The Provision for a Draft. — Message on the Finances and Currency.- -Admission of West Virginia. — Close of the Session Page 3-1:4 CHAPTER XII. ARBITRARY ARRESTS. — THE SUSPENSION OF THE WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS. — THE DRAFT. Arbitrary Arrests. — First Suspension of the Habeas Corpus. — Aid and Com- fort to the Rebels. — Executive Order about Arrests. — Appointment of a Commissioner on Arrests. — Opposition to the Government. — The Case of Vallandigham. — Governor Seymou-r on Vallandigham. — President Lin- coln on Arrests. — President Lincoln on Military Arrests. — The Presi- dent's Letter to Mr. Corning. — The President to the Ohio Committee. — The President on Vallandigham's Case. — The Habeas Corpus Suspended. — Proclamation Concerning AUefls. — The Draft -The Xew York Riots. — Letter to Governor Seymour. — The Draft Resumed andOompleted. Page :;73 12 Contents. CHAPTER XIII. MILITARY EVENTS OF ISiui. THE REBEL DEFEAT AT GETTYSBURG. FALL OF VICKSBURG AND PORT HUDSON. The Battles at Fredericksburg. — Rebel Raid into Pennsylvania. — Results at Gettysburg. — Vicksburg and Port Hudson Captured. — Public. Rejoicings. — The President's Speech. — Thanksgiving for Tictorics. — Battle of Chat- tanooga. — Thanksgiving Proclamation Page 407 CHAPTER XIV. POLITICAL MOVEMENTS IN MISSOURI. — THE STATE ELECTIONS OF ISG:5. General Fremont in Missouri. — The President's Letter to General Hunter. — Emancipation in Missouri. — Appointment of General Schofie.d. — The President ard the Ilissouri Radicals. — The Presidont to t^ie Missouri Committee. — The President and General Schofield. — The President and the Churches.— Letter to Illinois.— The Elections of 1863 Page 422 CHAPTER XV. THE CONGRESS OF ] 863-64. — MESSAGE OF THE PRESIDENT. — ACTION OF THE SESSION. — PROGRESS IN RAISING TROOPS. Tlie President's Message. — The Proclamation of Amnesty. — Explanatory Proclamation. — Debate on Slavery. — Call for Troops. — General Blair's Resignation. — Diplomatic Correspondence.— Our Relations v.dth England. — France and Mexico. — The President and the Monroe Doctrine. . . Page 445 CHAPTER XVL MOVEMENTS TOVTARDS RECONSTRUCTION. State Governments in Louisiana and Arkansas.— Difference of Views be- tween the President and Congress. — The Rebellion and Labor. — The President on Benevolent Associations. — Advancing Action concerning the Negro Race. — Free State Constitutions Piige 481 CHAPTER XVII. MILITARY EVENTS OF THE SPRING AND SUMMER OF 1864. r.-raile of the Olustee. — Kilpatrick's Raid on Richmond. — The Red River lOxpedition. — The Fort Pillow Massacre. — Rebel Atrocities. — General Grant's Advance upon Richmond. — Battles in May. — Sherman's March to Atlanta. — Rebel Raids in Maryland and Kentucky. — Siege of Petersburg. — Martial Law iu Kentucky. — Draft for Five hundred thousand Men. — Capture of Mobile and .\tlanta Page 513 Contents. 13 CHAPTER XVIII. THE rOLlTICAL CAMPAIGN OF 180-4. Tlic Presidential Election. — The Cleveland Convention. — The Convention at Baltimore. — Mr. Lincoln's Renomination and Acceptance. — Popular Feel- ing During the Summer. — The Arguelles Case. — The Forged Proclama- tion. — The Niagara Falls Conference. — The Chicago Convention. — Progress and Result of the Campaign. — Popular Joy at the Result Page 547 CHAPTER XIX. THE MEETING OP CONGRESS AND PROGRESS OF THE WAP^ Condition of the Country at the Meeting of Congress. — The Message. — Pro- ceedings in Congress. — Fort Fisher. — Death of Edward Everett. — Peace Conference in Hampton Roads. — Military Aflairs Page G20 CHAPTER XX. CLOSE OF THE REBELLION. The Inaugural Address. — Proclamation to Deserters. — Speeches by the Pres- ident. — Destruction of Lee's Army. — The President's Visit to Richmond. —Return to Washington.— Close of the War Page 6(i9 CHAPTER XXI. THE president's ASSASSINATION. The Condition of the Country.— Assassination of the President. — Murderous Assault upon Secretary Seward. — The Funeral Procession from Washing- ton to Springfield, Illinois. — Fate of the Assassins. — Estimate of Mr. Lincoln's Character. — Conclusion Page 691 ANECDOTES AND REMINISCENCES OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN. PAQB Mr. Lincoln's Sadness "^26 His Favorite Poem ''^28 His Religious Experience '?30 His Sympathy "35 His Humor, Shrewdness, and Sentiment '-^'^ The Emancipation Proclanuition ^^59 14 Contents. APPENDIX. LETTERS ON SUNDRY OCCASIONS. PAGE To Mr. Hodges, of Kentucky ''67 To General Hooker '^^^ To Joliri B. Fry '^'^^ To Governor Magoffin '^'^^ To Count Gasparin ' "^ The President and General McClellan '7*72 Warnings against Assassination ''79 REPORTS, DISPATCHES, AND PROCLAMATIONS RELATING TO THE ASSASSINATION. Secretary Stanton to General Dix "^SS The Death-Bed ''SS The Assassins '7^^ Reward Offered by Secretary Stanton '787 Flight of the Assassins "787 The Conspiracy Organized in Canada 787 Booth Killed. — Harold Captured 788 Reward Offered by President Johnson 788 The Funeral '^88 OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS. Acting Secretary Hunter to Minister Adams 789 Acting Secretary Hunter to his Subordinates 789 Orders from Secretary Stanton and General Grant 789 Orders from Secretary Welles 790 Order from Secretary McCuUoch 791 Order from Postmaster-General Dennison 791 Proclamation by President Johnson of a Day of Humiliation and Mourning 791 Secretary Stanton to Minister Adams 792 Important Letter from J. Wilkes Booth 793 Indictment of the Conspirators 796 The Finding of the Court 799 The following memorandum given by Mr. Lincoln to Hicks, the well- known artist, while he was painting his portrait in Springfield, Illinois, soon after his first nomination for the Presidency, is not without in- terest : — " I was born February 12, 1809, in then Hardin County, Kentucky, at a point within the now County of Larue, a mile or a mile and a half from where Hodgen's mill now is. My parents being dead, and my own memory not serving, I know no means of identifying the precise locality. It was on Nolen Creek. A. Lincoln." Juno 14, 1S60. M]M" THE LIFE, PUBLIC SERVICES AND STATE PAPERS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. CHAPTER I. Early Life of Abraham Lincoln. — IIis Owx Record. — IIis Ancestry. — Changes of Eesidence. — Death and Funeral of his Mother. — En- trance UPON Political Life. — A Member of the Legislature and OF Congress. — The Mexican War. The comj)iler of tlie "Dictionary of Congress" states, that wliile j)reparing that work for publication, in 1858, he sent to Mr. Lincohi the usual request for a sketch of his life, and received the following reply : " Born, February 12, 1809, in Hardin County, Kentucky. " Education defective. " Profession, a Lawyer. " Have been a Captain of Volunteers in Black Hawk War. " Postmaster at a very small Office. " Four times a Member of the Illinois Legislature, and was a MEiiBER of the Lower House of Congress. " Yours, &o., "A. Lincoln." Around the facts stated with such characteristic mod- esty and brevity clusters the history of the eiwly life of our late President. The ancestors of Abraham Lincoln were of English descent ; and although they are believed to have originally emigrated to this country with the followers of William Penn, it is dilBcult to trace them 2 18 The Life, Public Services, and farther "back tlian to tlieir place of residence in Berks County, Pennsylvania, whence a part of the family re- moved, in 1750, to that section of Virginia now known as Rockingham County. Thirty years later, Abraham Lin- coln, the grandfather of our late President, finding civil- ization crowding him too closely, and possibly enticed by the stories which came back to the frontier settle- ments from that famous pioneer, Daniel Boone, but undeterred by the dangers which he knew he must in- evitably encounter, determined to make another bold push westward, and settled on Floyd' s Creek, in Ken- tucky, in what is now known as Bullitt County. Hardly had he secured a home for his little family, when he was fatally shot by an Indian, who came upon him stealthily while he was at work, some distance from his log cabin. Thus deprived of her protector, his widow at once re- moved, with her three sons and two daughters, to that part of Kentucky now known as Washington County. Thomas, the eldest of the sons, the father of Abraham Lincoln, was but six years old when his mother was so suddenly made a widow. The necessity of assisting to provide for her probably delayed his own settlement in life, for it was not until he was twenty-eight years old, in 1806, that he married Nancy Hanks. His wife was a Virginian by birth ; but no facts regarding either her an- cestry or early life have been preserved, although it is a tradition, possibly originating in the reputation achieved by her son, that she was a woman of rare mental endow- ment. Immediately after their marriage the couple re- moved to Hardin County, Kentucky, and there, on Feb- ruary 12th, 1809, as has already been stated, Abraham Lincoln was born. His early life was spent in poverty and toil ; but his father, feeling keenly his own deficien- cies, determined. to give his son every possible advantage in the way of gaining an education, and, Avhen but seven years old, he was equipped with an old copy of Dil- worth' s Spelling Book, which constituted one-third oi the family library, and was sent to school to a ^Mr. Hazel It is also said that one Zachariah Riney, a Roman Catholic^ State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 19 having some connection with the Trappists, who had founded an institution on Pottinger's Creek, with Urban Guillcjt as suj)erior, had tlie honor of instructing the future President in the rudiments. Whether Mr. Lin- coln favored his other cliildrx^n, one a girl two years older than Abraham, and the otlier a boy two years his junior, to the same extent, is doubtful, for the routine of school life was not only broken in upon by his frequent demands upon his son's time, but finally it was inter- rupted altogether by his determination to abandon Ken- tucky and try his fortunes where his energies were not checked and repressed by the obstacles which slavery constantly thrust in his way. In 1817 Mr. Lincoln car- ried this plan into execution. The old home Avas sold, their small stock of valuables placed upon a raft, and the little family took their way to a new home in the wilds of Indiana, where free labor would have no competition with slave labor, and the poor white man might hope that in time his children could take an honorable posi- tion, won by industry and careful economy. The place of their destination was Spencer County, Indiana. For the last few miles they were obliged to cut their road as they went on. " With the resolution of veteran pioneers they toiled, sometimes being able to pick their way for a long distance without chopping, and then coming to a standstill in consequence of dense forests. Suffice it to say, that they were obliged to cut a road so much of the way that several days were emploj^ed in going eighteen miles. It was a difficult, wearisome, trying journey, and Mr. Lincoln often said, that he never passed through a harder experience than he did in going from Thompson' s Ferry to Spenser County, Indiana." Thus, before he was eight years old, Abraham Lincoln began the serious business of life. The cabin in which the family lived was built of logs, and even the aid of such a mere child was of account in the wilderness where they now found themselves, after seven days of weary travel. Their neighbors, none of whom lived nearer than two or three miles, welcomed the strangers, and 20 The Life, Public Services, and lent a liand towards building tlie rude dwelling in wliicli tlie future President lay down, after fatiguing but health- ful toil, to dream the dreams of childhood, undisturbed by thoughts of the future. But just as Abraham was becoming accustomed to his new residence, his home was made desolate by the death of his mother, which occurred when he was ten years old. She died long before she could have imagined, in her wildest dreams, the eminence and distinction which her son Avas to attain ; but she was happy in the knowledge that, chiefly under her own tuition, for she had not in- trusted his education entirely to the schoolmaster who chanced to settle within reach, her favorite son had learned to read the Bible — the book which, as a Christian woman, she prized above all others. It is impossible to estimate the influence which this faithful mother ex- erted in moulding the character of her child ; but it is easy to believe that the earnestness with which she im- pressed upon his mind and heart the holy precepts, did much to develop those characteristics which in after years caused him to be known as pre-eminently the "Honest" man. There is touching evidence that Abra- ham held the memory of his mother in sacred remem- brance. She had instructed him in the rudiments of writing, and Mr. Lincoln, in spite of the disparaging remarks of his neighbors, who regarded the accomplish- ment as entirely unnecessary, encouraged his son to per- severe, until he was able to put his thoughts upon paper in a style which, although rude, caused him to be regarded as quite a prodigy among the illiterate neighbors. One of the very first efforts of his faltering pen was writing a letter to an old friend of his mother's, a travelling preacher, urging him to come and deliver a sermon over her grave. The invitation must have been couched in impressive, if not affecting language ; for, although the letter was not written until nine months after his mother's remains had been deposited in their last resting-place. Parson Elkins, the preacher to Avhom it was extended, responded to the request, and three months subsequent- St ATI'] Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 21 ly, just a year after her decease, preached a sermon com- memorative of the virtues of one whom her neighbors still held in ati'ectionate and respc^ctful remembrance. In his discourse it is said that the Parson alluded to the manner in which he had received the invitation, and Abra- liam's pen thereafter found frequent employment, in wi'iting letters for the same neighbors who had before pretended to esteem lightly the accomplishment of which they at last recognized the value. About two years after the death of Mrs. Lincoln, Mr. Lincoln married Mrs. Sally Johnston, a widow with tliree children. She proved an excellent mother to her step- son and daughter, and a faithfid wife. During the twelve years that the family remained in Indiana, Abraham's father encouraged him to improve all the opportunities offered for mental development. How scanty these privi- leges were, may be inferred from the fact that the entire number of days that he was able to attend school hardly exceeded one year. While in Indiana, one of his teachers was a Mr. Dorsey, who, a few mouths ago, was living in Schuyler County, Illinois, where he was looked up to with much respect by his neighbors, as one of those who had assisted in the early instruction of the then President of the United States. He tells with great satisfaction how his pupil, who was then remarked for the diligence and eager- ness with which he pursued his studies, came to the log-cabin school-house arrayed in buckskin clothes, a rac- coon-skin cap, and provided with an old arithmetic which had somewhere been found for him to begin his investiga- tions into the "higher branches." In connection with his attendance upon Mr. Crawford's school, an incident is told which is sure to find a place in every biography of our late President. Books were, of course, very hard to find in the sj^arsely settled district of Indiana where the Lincoln family had their home, and every printed volume upon which Abraham could lay his hands was carefully guarded and eagerly devoured. Among the volumes in Mr. Crawford's scanty library was a copy of Ramsay's Life of Washington, which Abraham secured permission 22 The Life, Public Services, and upon one occasion, to take home with him. During a severe storm he imjDroved his leisure by reading his book. One niglit he kiid it down carefully, as he thought, and the next morning he found it soaked through ! The wind had changed, the storm had beaten in through a crack in the logs, and the appearance of the book was ruined. How could he face the owner under such circumstances? He had no money to offer as a return, but he took the book, went directly to Mr. Crawford, showed him the irreparable injury, and frankly and honestly offered to work for him until he should be satisfied. Mr. Crawford accepted the oifer, and gave Abraham the book for his own, in return for three days' steady labor in ' ' pulling fodder." This, and Weems's Life of Washington, were among the boy' s favorite books, and the story that we have just told is so nearly parallel to the lamous "hatchet" in- cident in the early days of the Father of his Country, that it is easy to believe that the frequent perusal of it im- pressed upon his mind, more effectually than any solemn exhortation could have done, the precept that " honesty is the best policy," and thus assisted to develop that character of which integrity was so prominent a trait in after years. Among the other volumes which Mr. Lincoln was accustomed to refer to, as having been eagerly read in his youthful days, Avere a Life of Henry Clay, Esop's Fables, and Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. It is quite probable tliat the quaint phraseology of these last two volumes, and their direct and forcible illustra- tions, may have impressed upon the productions of Mr. Lincoln' s ]3en that style which is one of their most pecu- liar and favorite characteristics. When nineteen years old, Abraham Lincoln, moved, perhaps, equally by the desire to earn an honest liveli- hood in the shape of "ten dollars a month and found," and by curiosity to see more of the world, made a trip down the Mississippi to New Orleans, upon a flat-boat. He went in company with the son of the owner of the boat, who intrusted a valuable cargo to their care. The trip was quite an eventful and exciting one, for on the State PArEKS of Abraham LixNColn. 23 way clown tlie great river they were attacked by seven negroes, who hoped to capture the "boat and the cargo. They found, however, that they had undertaken a task to the execution of which they were unequal. After a spirited contest the negroes were driven back, and com- pelled to abandon their attempt, leaving our boatmen the undisputed masters of the field. Upon this trip young Lincoln" s literary acquirements were called into useful action, and besides the stipulated ten dollars per month, he gained a substantial reputation as a youth of promising business talent. During the twelve years that the family had been living in Indiana, the advancing tide of civilization havi. again encroached upon them almost imperceptibly, and in 1830 Thomas Lincoln, impatient of the restrictions which he found the gradually increasing population drawing around him, again determined to seek a new home farther west, and after fifteen days' journey came upon a site near Decatur, Macon County, Illinois, which seemed to him a desirable one. He immediately erected a log cabin, and, with the aid of his son, who was now twenty-one, proceeded to fence in his new farm. Abra- ham had .little idea, while engaged in the unromantic occupation of mauling the rails wliich were to bound his father s possessions, that he was writing a page in his life which would be read by the whole nation years after- ward. Yet so it proved to be. A writer, describing one of the incidents in the earlier political career of the late President, says : — During the sitting of the Republican State Convention, at Decatur, a banner, attached to two of these rails, and bearing an appropriate inscrip- tion, was brought into the assemblage, and formally presented to that body, amid a scene of unparalleled enthusiasm. After tliat, they were in demand in every State of the Union in which free labor is honored, where they were borne in processions of the people, and hailed by hun- dreds of thousands of freemen as a symbol of triumph, and as a glorious vindication of freedom and of the rights and dignity of free labor. These, however, were far from being the first and only rails made by Lincoln. He was a practised hand at the business. Mr. Lincoln has now a cane made from one of the rails split by his own hands in boyhood. 24 The Life, Public Services, and Eveiy one remembers how, during the presidential campaign of 1860, Mr. Lincoln was characterized as a "rail-splitter ;" first, sneeringly, by his opponents ; after- wards by his own supporters, as the best possible proof that he was of and from the people. Notwithstanding the increasing age of Thomas Lincoln, his disposition was so restless, and his desire for change so ineradicable, that, after a single year' s residence in his new home, he determined to abandon it, and in the spring of 1831 started for Coles County, sixty or seventy miles to the eastward. Abraham detennined not to follow his father in his journeyings, and possibly the want of his son' s efficient help compelled him to forego further change, and to settle down for the rest of his days on the upper waters of the Kaskaskia and Embarras, where he died on January 17, 1851, in the seventy-third year of his age. In the spring of 1831, Abraham made his second trip to New Orleans, in the capacity of a fiat-boatman, returning in the summer of the same year. The man who had em- ployed him for this voyage was so well pleased with the energy and business capacity displayed by young Lincoln, that upon establishing a store at New Salem, some twenty miles from Springfield, soon afterward, he engaged him to assist him in the capacity of clerk, and also to superin- tend a flouring-mill in the immediate vicinity. In one of the celebrated debates during the Senatorial campaign, Mr. Douglas ventured to refer, in rather disparaging terms, to this year of Mr. Lincoln's life, taunting him with having l)een a grocery -keeper. To this Mr. Lincoln replied as follows : — The jv;dge is wofully at fault about his early friend Lincoln being a "grocery-keeper." I don't know as it would be a great sin, if I had been ; but he is mistaken. Lincoln never kept a grocery anywhere in the world. It is true that Lincoln did work tlie latter part of one winter in a little still-house, up at the head of a hollow. This frank statement drew the sting completely from the taunt of Senator Douglas. Some, at least, of those who were listening to the debate, knew that, at the time State Papers of Abraiia:\i Lincoln. 25 to wliicli Mr. Lincoln referred, a winter of unusual severity liad caused extreme sufit'ering tlirougli that sec- tion of Illinois, and that he was not only anxious, but compelh^d, to take np with any occu]oation by which he might turn an honest penny in order to keep his lather's family, who were even then partially dependent uj)on him, from positive want. In 1832 the Black Hawk war broke out, and Mr. Lin- coln, prompt as ever to answer the call of duty, joined a volunteer company and took the field against the Indians. That he had already gained a recognized position in the part of tlie State where he then lived, is clearly indicated by the fact that he Avas elected captain of his company. After a few weeks' ineffectual service, the force which had responded to the call of Governor Reynolds was dis- banded. The troubles broke out anew, however, within a short time, and again Mr. Lincoln enlisted, this time also as a private. AVhat rank v/as conferred upon him, if any, during this campaign is not recorded ; but in spite of the pressure brought to bear npon him by older mem- bers of his company, to induce him to return home, he discharged his duties faithfully through the three months' campaign. Many years after, during his congressional career, Mr. Lincoln referred thus humorously to his military services in this "war:" — By the way, Mr. Speaker, did yoii know I was a military hero? Yes, sir, in the days of the Bhick Hawk war I fought, bled, and came away. Speaking of General Cass's career, reminds me of my own. I was not at Sullivan's defeat, but I was about as near to it as Cass was to Hull's surrender; and, like him, I saw the place soon after. It is quite certain that I did not break my sword, for I had none to break ; but I bent my musket pretty badly on one occasion. If Cass broke his sword, the idea is, he broke it in desperation. I bent the musket by accident. If General Cass went in advance of me in picking whortleberries, I guess I surpassed him in charges upon the wild onions. If he saw any live fighting Indians, it was more than I did, but I had a great many bloody struggles with the mosquitoes ; and although I never fainted from loss of blood, I certainly can say I was often very liungry. His military career closed, Mr. Lincoln turned his atten- 26 • The Life, Public Services, xVxd tion to politicks. He espoused the cause of Henry Clay- in opposition to that of General Jackson, who was very popular in that section of Hlinois — and ran as a candidate for the State legislature. Although this contest took place three months before the presidential election, the same elements entered into it, and Mr. Lincoln was de- feated, as he undoubtedly expected to be, although his failure must have been amply compensated for by the highly complimentary vote that he received in his own precinct, which gave him two hundred and seventy-seven votes out of two hundred and eighty-four cast ; and this, be it remembered, was the first and last time that he was ever beaten before the people. The contest ended, Mr. ' Lincoln settled down to business again. He purchased a store and stock of goods on credit, and secured the postmastership of the town ; but the venture was un- successful, and he sold out. Meanwhile, he was still employing every opportunity offered him to improve his mind. He had mastered grammar, and occupied his leisure time in general reading, taking care to write out a synopsis of every book he perused, so as to fix tlie con- tents in his memory. About this time he met John Calhoun, afterwards president of the Lecompton Constitutional Convention. Calhoun proposed to Lincoln to take up surveying, and himself aided iji his studies. He had plenty of employmeiit as a surveyor, and won a good reputation in this new line of business ; but the financial crash of 1837 destroyed his business, and his instruments were finally sold under a slieritf's execution. This reverse again threw him back into political life, and as the best preparation for it he vigorously pursued his legal studies. In 1834, Mr. Lincoln again ran for the legislature, and this time was elected. Then that political life commenced, which his countrymen's votes have since shown they fully appreciated. In 1836, Mr. Lincoln was again elect- ed to the legislature as one of the seven representatives from Sangamon County, and during this term he was assigned a place on the Finance Committee, his member- State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 27 sliip of the Committee on Public Accounts and Expendi- tures during his first term liaving qualified him for this duty. The following letter, whicli was written during this canvass, besides being an interesting reminiscence of Mr. Lincoln's early political life, is valuable as exhibiting, in a striking manner, his determination to be frank and honest in all his dealings with the public and with his opponents : — New Salem, June 21, 1836. Dear Colonel: — I am told that, (luring my absence last week, you passed through this place, and stated publicly that you were in possession of a fact or facts, which, if known to the public, would entirely destroy the jirospects of N. "W. Edwards and myself at the ensuing election ; but that, through favor to us, you would forbear to divulge them. No one lias needed favors more than I, and, generally, few have been less unwilling to accept them; but in this case favor to me would be in- justice to the public, and, therefore, I must beg your pardon for declining it. That I once had the confidence of the people of Sangamon county is sufficiently evident, and if I have since done any thing, either by design or misadventure, which, if known, would subject me to a forfeiture of that confidence, he that knows of that thing and conceals it, is a traitor to his country's interest. I find myself wholly unable to form any conjecture of what fact or facts, real or supposed, you spoke. But my opinion of your veracity will not permit me, for a moment, to doubt that you, at least, believed what you said. I am fiattered with the personal regard you manifested for me ; but I do hope that, on more mature reflection, you will view the public interest as a paramount consideration, and therefore determine to let the v/orst come. I here assure you that the candid statement of facts on your part, how- ever low it may sink me, shall never break the ties of personal friendship between us. I wish an answer to this, and you are at liberty to publish both, if you choose. Very respectfully, A. Lincoln. Col. Robert Allen. It was in this year (1836) that Mr. Lincoln first became acquainted with Mr. Douglas, whom he was destined to meet in so many hotly contested campaigns, but whom he did not then anticipate that he should, twenty-four years afterwards, defeat in a presidential election. The Democrats of course held the ascendency in the Illinois 28 The Life, Public Services, and legislature at tliis time, and tliey took advantage of tlieir strength to pass some extreme pro-slavery resolutions, branding as "abolitionists" those who refused to indorse them. That his position might not be misunderstood, Mr. Lincoln took advantage of his parliamentary privi- lege to enter upon the Journal of the House, in connec- tion Avith a colleague, his reasons for voting in opposition to the resolutions. This document, which now possesses historical interest, reads as follows : — March 3, 1S37. The following protest was presented to the House, which was read and ordered to be spread on the journals, to wit: " Resolutions upon the subject of domestic slavery having passed both branches of the General Assembly at its present session, the undersigned hereby protest against the passage of the same. " They believe that the institution of slavery is founded on both injustice and bad policy ; but that the promulgation of abolition doctrines tends r.ather to increase than abate its evils. " They believe that the Congress of the United States has no power, under the Constitution, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the different States. " They believe that the Congress of the United States has the power, under the Constitution, to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia; but that the power ought not to be exercised, unless at the request of the people of said District. " The diiierence between these opinions and those contained in the said resolutions, is their reason for entering tliis protest. " (Signed) "Dan Stone, "A. Lincoln, Representatives from the County of Sangamon.'''' In 1838, Mr. Lincoln was for the third time elected to the State legislature ; and among his six colleagues, as rep- resentatives from Sangamon County, was John Calhoun, since notorious for his connection with the Lecompton Constitution. His position as leader of the Whigs in the House was so well recognized, that he received the party vote for the Speakership, and was defeated by only one vote. In 1840, for the fourth successive term, Mr. Lin- coln was returned to the legislature, and again received the vote of his party as the candidate for Speaker. Meanwhile, he had been vigorously engaged in canvas- sing the State, in anticipation of the presidential election, State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 29 aud liad greatly enhanced liis reputation by his repeated earnest and eloquent efltbrts. Politics had interfered so seriously with Mr. Lincoln's legal studies, which had been energetically prosecuted during the intervals of legislative duty, that at the close of this term he declined a renomination, in order that he might devote his whole time to the practice of his profes- sion. As already stated, he had been admitted to the bar in 1836 ; and on April 15, 1837, he settled permanently in Springfield, the seat of Sangamon County, which was destined to be his future home. His friend and former colleague in the legislature, Hon. John T. Stuart, was his partner. One incident of his law practice partakes deeply of the romantic. It is authentic, however, and is well worth narrating. When Mr. Lincoln first went out into the world, to earn a living for himself, he worked for a Mr. Armstrong, of Petersburg, Menard County, who, with his wife, took a great interest in him, lent him books to read, and, after the season for work was over, encour- aged him to remain with them until he should find some- thing "to turn his hand to." They also hoped much from his influence over their son, an over-indulged and somewhat unruly boy. The sequel, which is thus graph- ically told by the Cleaveland Leader^ shows how these good people reaped their reward for their generosity to the young man whom they so generously took under their protection. That journal says : — Some few years since, the eldest son of Mr. Lincoln's old friend, Armstrong, the chief supporter of his widowed mother — the good old man having some time previously passed from earth — was arrested on the charge of murder. A young man had been killed during a riotous melee in the night-time at a camp-meeting, and one of his associates stated that the death-wound was inflicted by young Armstrong. A pre- liminary examination was gone into, at which the accuser testified so positively, that there seemed no doubt of the guilt of the prisoner, and therefore he was held for trial. As is too often the case, the bloody act caused an undue degree of excitement in the public mind. Every improper incident in the life of the prisoner — each act which bore the least semblance to rowdyism — each schoolboy quarrel, — was suddenly 30 The Life, Public Services, and remembered and magnified, until tliey pictured him as a fiend of the most horrible hue. As tliese rumors spread abiijad they were received as goa- pel truth, and a feverish desire for vengeance seized upon tlie infatuated pojuilace, whilst only prison bars prevented a horrible death at tlie hands of a mob. The events were heralded in the county papers, painted in highest colors, accompanied by rejoicing over the certainty of punishment being meted out to the guilty party. The prisoner, overwhelmed by the circumstances under which he found himself placed, fell into a melan- choly condition bordering on despair, and the widowed mother, looking through her tears, saw no cause for hope from earthly aid. At this juncture, the widow received a letter from Mr. Lincoln, vol- unteering his services in an elfort to save the youth from the impending stroke. Gladly was his aid accepted, although it seemed impossible for even his sagacity to prevail in such a desperate case ; but the heart of the attorney was in his work, and he set about it with a will that knew no such word as fail. Feeling that the poisoned condition of the public mind was such as to preclude the possibility of impanelling an impartial jury in the court having jurisdiction, he procured a change of venue and a postponement of the trial. He then went studiously to work unravelling the history of the case, and satisfied himself that his client was the victim of malice, and that the statements of the accuser were a tissue of faLe- hoods. "When tlie trial was called on, the prisoner, pale and emaciated, with hopelessness written on every feature, and accompanied by his half- hoping, half-despairing mother — whose only hope was in a mother's belief of her son's innocence, in the justice of the God she worshijjped, and in the noble counsel, who, without hope of fee or reward upon earth, had undertaken the cause — took his seat in the prisoners' box, and with a "stony firmness" listened to the reading of the indictment. Lincoln sat quietly by, while the large auditory looked on him as though wondering what he could say in defence of one whose guilt they regarded as certain. The examination of the witnesses for the State was begun, and a well- arranged mass of evidence, circumstantial and positive, was introduced, which seemed to impale the prisoner beyond the possibility of extrication. The counsel for the defence propounded but few questions, and those of a character which excited no uneasiness on the part of the prosecutor — merely, in most cases, requiring the main witnesses to be definite as to the time and place. When the evidence of the prosecution was ended, Lincoln introduced a few witnesses to remove some erroneous impressions in regard to the previous character of his client, who, though somewhat rowdyish, had never been known to commit a vicious act; and to show that a greater degree of ill feeling existed between the accuser and the accused, than the accused and the deceased. The prosecutor felt that the case was a clear one, and his opening speech was brief and formal. Lincoln arose, while a deathly silence pervaded the vast audience, and in a clear and moderate tone began his State Papers of AbpwViiam Lincoln. 31 ftrgument. Slowly and carefully he i-evio\ved the testimony, pointing out the hitherto unobserved discrepancies in the statements of the principal witness. That which had seemed plain and plausible he made to appear crooked as a serpent's path. The witness had stated that the affair took l)lace at a certain hour in the evening, and that, by the aid of the brightly shining moon, he saw the prisoner inflict the death-blow with the slung- sliot. Mr. Lincoln showed that at the hour referred to the moon had not yet ai)i)eared above the horizon, and consequently the whole tale was a fabrication. An almost instantaneous change seemed- to have been wrought in the minds of iiis auditors, and the verdict of "not guilty" was at the end of every tongue. But the advocate was not content with this intellectual achievement. His whole being had for months been bound up in this work of gratitude and mercy, and as the lava of the over charged crater bursts from its imprisonment, so great thoughts and burning words leaped forth from the soul of the eloquent Lincoln. He drew a picture of the perjurer so horrid and ghastly, that the accuser could sit under it no longer, but reeled and staggered from the court-room, whilst the audience fancied they could see the brand upon his brow. Then in words of thril- ling pathos Lincoln appealed to the jurors as fathers of some who might become fatherless, and as husbands of wives who might be widowed, to yield to no previous impressions, no ill-founded prejudice, but to do his client justice; and as he alluded to the debt of gratitude wliich he owed the boy's sire, tears were seen to fall from many eyes unused to weep. It was near night when he concluded, by saying that if justice was done — as he believed it would be — before the sun should set, it would shine upon his client a free man. The jury retired, and the court ad- journed for the day. Half an hour had not elapsed, when, as the oiBcers of the court and the volunteer attorney sat at the tea-table of their hotel, a messenger announced that the jury had returned to their seats. All repaired immediately to the court-house, and whilst the prisoner was being brought from the jail, the court-room was filled to overflowing with citizens from the town. When the prisoner and his motlier entered, silence reigned as completely as though the house were empty. The fore- man of the jury, in answer to the usual inquiry from the court, delivered the verdict of "Not Guilty!" The widow dropped into the arms of her son, who lifted her up and told her to look upon him as before, free and innocent. Then, with the words, "Where is Mr. Lincoln?" he rushed across the room and grasped the hand of his deliverer, whilst his heart was too full for utterance. Lincoln turned his eyes toward the West, where the sun still lingered in view", and then, turning to the youth, said : " It is not yet sundown and you are free." I confess that my cheeks were not wholly unwet by tears, and I turned from the affecting scene. As I cast a glance behind, I saw Abraham Lincoln obeying the Divine injunc- ticn by comforting the widowed and fatherless. 32 The Life, Public Services, and A writer in the San Francisco Bulletin^ in the course of an article giving reminiscences of Mr. Lincoln, thus sketches still another phase of his legal career : — A number of years ago, the writer of this lived in one of the judicial circuits of Illinois in which Abraham Lincoln had an extensive, though not very lucrative practice. The terms of the court were held quarterly, and usually lasted about two weeks. The occasions were always seasons of great importance and much gayety in the little town that had the honor of being the county seat. Distinguished members of the Bar from sur- rounding and even from distant counties, ex-judges and ex-members of Congress attended, and were personally, and many of them popularly known to almost every adult, male and female, of the limited population. They came in by stages and on horseback. Among them, the one above all whose arrival was looked forward to with the most pleasurable antici- pations, and whose possible absence — although he never was absent — was feared with the liveliest emotions of anxiety, was "Uncle Abe," as he was lovingly called by us all. Sometimes he might happen to be a day or two late, and then, as the Bloomington stage came in at sundown, the Bench and the Bar, jurors and the general citizens, would gather in crowds at the hotel where he always put up, to give him a welcome if he should happily arrive, and to experience the keenest feelings of disappoint- ment if he should not. If he arrived, as he alighted and stretched out both his long arms to shake hands with those nearest to him and with those who approached — his homely face handsome in its broad and sun- shiny smile, iiis voice touching in its kindly and cheerful accents — every one in his presence felt lighter in heart and became joyous. He brought light with him. He loved his fellow-men with all the strength of his great nature, and those who came in contact with him could not help reciprocating the love. His tenderness of the feelings of others was of sensitiveness in the extreme. For several years after settling in Springfield, Mr. Lin- coln remained a bachelor, residing in the family of Hon. William Butler, who was, a few years since, elected State Treasurer. On November 4tli, 1842, he married Miss Mary Todd, daughter of Hon. Robert S. Todd, of Lex- ington, Kentucky, She now mourns the violent and untimely death of her lamented husband. Mr. Lincoln's love for Henry Clay, which was enkin- dled by the life of that statesman, which he read when a boy, grew with his years, and when he reached manhood it had deepened into enthusiastic admiration. In 1844 he stumped Illinois for him, and even extended his labors tc State Papers of Abraham Llncoln. 33 Indiana. None felt more keenly tluin lie tlie unexpected defeat of his iavorite. In 1846 Mr. Lincoln was induced to accept the nomination for Congress, and in the district which had, two years before, given Mr. Clay, for Presi- dent, a niajorit}^ of nine hundred and fourtiien votes, he astonished himself and his friends by rolling up a major- ity of fifteen hundred and eleven. To add to the signifi- cance of his triumph, he was the only Whig representative from Illinois, which had then seven members in that • bod}^ This Congress had before it subjects of great importance and interest to the country. The Mexican War was in progress, and Congress had to deal with grave questions arising out of it, besides determining and providing the means by which it was to be carried on. The irrepressible Slavery Question was there also, in many of its Protean forms,— in questions on the right of petition, in questions as to the District of Columbia, in many questions as to the Territories. Mr. Lincoln was charged by his enemies in later years, when political hostility was hunting sharply for material out of which to make capital against him, with lack of patriotism, alleging that he voted against the war. The charge was sharply and clearly made by Judge Douglas, at the first of their joint discussions in the Senatorial contest of 1858. In his speech at Ottawa, he said of Mr. Lincoln, that '^ while in Congress he distinguished him- self by his opposition to the Mexican war, taking the side of the common enemy against his own country, and when he returned home he found that the indigna- tion of the people followed him everywhere." No better answer can be given to this charge than that which Mr. Lincoln himself made, in his reply to this speech. He says: "I was an old Whig, and whenever the Democratic party tried to get me to vote that the war had been righteously begun by the President, I would not do it. But whenever they asked for any money or land-warrants, or any thing to pay the soldiers there, during all that time I gave the same vote that Judge Douglas did. You can think as you please as to whether 34 xHE IjIfe, Public Services, anp that was consistent. Such is the truth, and the Judge has a right to make all he can out of it. But when he, by a general charge, conveys the idea that I withheld supplies from the soldiers who were fighting in the Mex- ican war, or did any thing else to hinder the soldiers, he is, to say the least, grossly and altogether mistaken, as a consultation of the records will prove to him." We need no more thorough refutation of this imputa- tion upon his patriotism than is embodied in this clear and distinct denial. It required no little sagacity, at that- time, to draw a clear line of demarcation betAveen sup- porting the country wlnle engaged in war, and sustaining the war itself, which Mr. Lincoln, in common with the great body of the party with which he was connected, regarded as utterly unjust. The Democratic party made vigorous use of the charge everywhere. The whole foundation of it, doubtless, was the fact which Mr. Lin- coln states, that, whenever the Democrats tried to get him " to vote that the war had been righteously begun,'' he would not do it. He showed, in fact, on this point, the same clearness and directness, the same keen eye for the important point in a controversy, and the same tena- city in holding it fast, and thwarting his opponent's utmost eflbrts to obscure it and cover it up, to draw attention to other points and raise false issues, which were the marked characteristics of his great controversy with Judge Douglas at a subsequent period of their poli- tical history. It is always popular, because it always seems patriotic, to stand by the country when engaged in war— and the people are not invariably disposed to judge leniently of eftbrts to prove their country in the wrong as against any foreign power. In this instance, Mr. Lincoln saw that the strength of the position of the Administration before the people, in reference to the beginning of the war, was in the point, which they lost no opportunity of reiter- ating, viz. : that Mexico had shed the blood of our citizens on our own soil. This position he believed to be false, and he accordingly attacked it in a series of resolutions requesting the President to give the House information State Papers op Abraham Lincoln. 35 on that point ; wliicli Pret^ident Polk would have found as difficult to dodge as Douglas found it to dodge the questions which Mr. Lincoln proposed to him. As a part of the history of Mr. Lincoln's Congressional career, we give these resolutions, omitting the preamble, Avhich simply reproduces the language employed by President Polk in his message, to convey the impression that the Mexicans were the aggressors, and that the war was undertaken to repel invasion, and to avenge the shed- ding of the blood of our fellow-citizens on our own soil. The quaint phraseology of the resolutions stamps them as the production of Mr. Lincoln's pen. They read as follows : Resolved hy the House of Eepresentatives, Tliat the President of the United States be respectfully requested to inform this House — 1st. Whether the spot on which the blood of our citizens was shed, as in his messages declared, was or was not within the territor}- of Spain, at least after the treaty of 1819, until the Mexican revolution. 2d. Wliether that spot is or is not within the territory which was wrested froni Spain by the revolutionary Government of Mexico. .3d. Whether that spot is or is not within a settlement of people, which settlement has existed ever since long before the Texas revolution, and until its inhabitants tied before the approach of the United States army. 4th. Whether that settlement is or is not isolated from any and all other settlements by the Gulf and the Eio Grande on the south and west, and by wide uninhabited regions on the north and east. 5th. Whether the people of that settlement, or a majority of them, or any of them, have ever submitted themselves to the government or laws of Texas or of th6 United States, by consent or by compulsion, either by accepting office, or voting at elections, or paying tax, or serving on juries, or having process served upon them, or in any other way. 6th. Whether the people of that settlement did or did not flee from the approach of the United States army, leaving unprotected their homes and their growing crops, he/ore the blood was shed, as in the messages stated ; and whether the first blood so shed, was or was not shed within the enclosure of one of the peoi)le who had thus fled from it. 7th. Whether our citizens, whose blood was shed, as in his messages declared, were or were not, at that time, armed ofiicers and soldiers, sent into that settlement by the military order of the President, through 1,he Secretary of War. 8th. Whether the military force of the United States was or was not so sent into that settlement after General Taylor had more '.l.uu once o6 The Life, Public Services, and intimated to the War Department that, in his opinion, no such movement waa necessary to the defence or protection of Texas. These resolutions, which Mr. Polk would have found it very inconvenient to answer, were laid over, under the rule, and were never acted upon, although Mr. Lincoln commented on them in a speech, made January 12, 1848, which, by the way, was his first formal appearance in the House. In this speech he discussed, in his homely but forcible manner, the absurdities and contradictions of Mr. Polk' s message, and exposed its weaknesses. In these times, when questions of so much greater mag- nitude and importance have overshadowed those which occupied or agitated the public mind twenty years ago, it seems strange that political opponents could even then have compelled Mr. Lincoln to defend his course in Congress, as having been prompted by patriotic motives. The nation which has been plunged into mourning by his sudden and violent death, would now regard as gratuitous and puerile any argument, the purpose of which should be to prove that Mr. Lincoln's action upon this Mexican question was governed by the same inflexible ideas of honor and right which ruled him so unwaveringly throughout his entire public career, and which have since made his memory sacred. A Whig from conviction, Mr. Lincoln acted consistently with his party upon all questions of public concern. On June 20, 1848, after the nomination of General Cass as the Democratic candidate for the Presidency, Mr. Lincoln made an able speech in support of the line of policy the Whigs had pursued regarding internal improvements. He ridiculed mercilessly the position taken by General Cass upon this important question, and, in concluding his remarks, thus stated his own views, while he dealt a severe blow at the same pseudo chivalric spirit of the South, which he has since been chiefly instrumental in humbling to the dust. He said : How to do something^ and still not to do too much, is the desideratum. Let each contribute Ms mite in the way of suggestion. The late Silas State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 37 Wright, in a letter to the Chicago convention, contributed liis, which was wortli something; and I now contribute mine, wliicli maybe wortli nothing. At all events, it will mislead nobody, and therefore will (b) im harm. I would not borrow money. I am against an overwhelming, crushing system. Suppose that, at each session. Congress .shall lirst determine how mucli money can, for that year, be spared for improve- ments; then apportion that sum to the most imforiant objects. Su far all is easy; but how shall we determine which are the most im- portant? On this question comes the collision of interests, /shall Ik- slow to acknowledge that your harbor or your river is inore important than ?«/«e, and vice versa. To clear this difficulty, let us have that saiiic statistical information which the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Vinton] sug- gested at the beginning of this session. In that information we shall have a stern, unbending basis of facts — a basis in nowise subject to wliini, caprice, or local interest. The pre-liinited amount of means will save ns from doing too mucli^ and the statistics will save us from doing what we do in wrong places. Adopt and adhere to this course, and, it seems to me, the difficulty is cleared. One of the gentlemen from South Carolina [Mr. Rhett] very much de- precates these statistics. lie particularly objects, as I understand him, to counting all the pigs and chickens in the land. I do not perceive mucli force in the objection. It is true, tliat if every thing be enumerated, a portion of such statistics may not be very useful to this object. Such products of the country as are to be consumed where they are produced, need no roads and rivers, no means of transportation, and have no very proper connection with this subject. The surplus., that whicli is produced in one place to be consumed in another ; the capacity of each locality for producing a greater surplus ; the natural means of transportation, and their susceptibility of improvement ; the hindrances, delays, and losses of life and property during transportation, and the causes of each, would be among the most valuable statistics in this connection. From these it would readily appear where a given amount of expenditure would do the most good. These statistics might be equally accessible, as they would be equally useful, to both the Xation and the States. In this way, and by these means, let the Is"ation take hold. of the larger works, and the States the smaller ones ; and thus, working in a meeting direction, discreetly, but steadily and firmly, what is made unequal in one place may be equal- ized in another, extravagance avoided, and the whole country put on that career of prosperity which shall correspond with its extent of territory, its natural resources, and the intelligence and enterprise of its people. The nomination of General Taylor as the Whig candi- date for the Presidency, by the Convention of that party at Philadelpliia, to which Mr. Lincoln was a delegate, fairly o].)ened the campaign, and Congress prolonged its 38 The Life, Public Services, and session nntil August 14tli, as the members, — Senators and Representatives alike, — insisted, each for himself, upon expressing his views, and deiining his position in full, for the benefit of his constituents. The only speech of any length made by Mr. Lincoln, subsequent to that from which we have already quoted, Avas delivered July 27th, when he defended, with characteristic shrewdness and ability, the position General Taylor had taken regarding the exercise of the veto power. This speech is, perhaps, more strongly marked by Mr. Lincoln' s peculiarities than any other of his Congressional utterances. The keen sarcasm with which he exposed the inconsistencies of both General Cass and Mr. Van Buren, is not surpassed in any of his subsequent efforts. Upon the adjournment of Congress, the members en- tered energetically into the popular canvass, Mr. Lincoln first making a visit to ISTew England, where he delivered a number of effective campaign speeches in support of General Taylor. Tlie journals of the day note his pres- ence at the Massachusetts State Convention during his brief visit to New England, and speak in terms of tlie highest praise of an address which he delivered at New Bedford. He felt conscious, however, that he could labor more effectively among his Western friends, and accord- ingly spent most of his time during the canvass in that section of the country. Although he failed to carry his own State for his favorite candidate, his disai:)pointment was entirely forgotten in General Taylor' s election. In December, when the Thirtieth Congress reassembled for its second session, Mr. Lincoln took his seat ; but the exhaustion consequent uj)on the exciting political cam- paign just closed, reacted upon Congress, and precluded the possibility of any exciting discussions. Important action was taken, however, upon the slavery question in some of its phases. It is needless to state, that du- ring his entire Congressional service Mr. Lincoln steadily and persistently cast his vote upon the side of freedom. He repeatedly recorded himself against laying on the table, without consideration, petitions in favor of tlie StxVTE Papeiis of AiiUAiiAM Lincoln. 39 abolition of slavery in the District of Cohmil>ia, and against the slave-trade. On the question of abolishing slavery in the District, he took rather a prominent part. A Mr. Gott had in- troduced a resolution directing tlie pro})er committee to introduce a bill abolishing the slave-trade in the District. On January 16 (1849), Mr. Lincoln moved the following amendment, instructing the Committee to intro- duce a bill not for the abolition of the slave-trade, but of slavery, within the District : — Resolved, That the Committee on the District of Columbia be instructed to report a bill in substance as follows : Seo. 1. Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Bepresentatlvcs qf the United States, in Congress assembled, That no person now within the District of Columbia, nor now owned by any person or persons now resi- dent within it, nor hereafter born within it, shall ever be held in slavery within said District. Sec. 2. That no person now within said District, or now owned by any person or persons now resident within tlie same, or hereafter born within it, shall ever be held in slavery without the limits of said District : Pro- vided, That the officers of the Government of the United States, being citizens of the slaveholding States, coming into said District on public business, and remaining only so long as may be reasonably necessary for that object, may be attended into and out of said District, and while there, by the necessary servants of themselves and their families, without their right to hold such servants in service being impaired. Sec. 3. Tliat all children born of slave mothers within said District, on or after the 1st day of January, in the year of our Lord 1850, shall be free ; but shall be reasonably supported and educated by the respective owners of their mothers, or by their heirs or representatives, and shall serve reasonable service as apprentices to such owners, heirs, or represen- tatives, until they respectively arrive at the age of years, when they shall be entirely free : And the municipal authorities of Washington and Georgetown, within their respective jurisdictional limits, are hereby empowered and required to make all suitable and necessary provision for enforcing obedience to this section, on the part of both masters and ap- prentices. Sec. 4. That all persons now within this District, lawfully held as slaves, or now owned by any person or persons now resident within said District, shall remain such iit the will of their respective owners, their heirs, or legal representatives : Provided, that such owner, or his legal representatives, may at any time receive from the Treasury of the United 40 The Life, Public Services, and States tlie full value of Lis or her slave, of the class in this section men- tioned, upon which such slave shall be fortliwith and forever free : And pro- vided further, That the President of the United States, the Secretary of State, and the Secretary of the Treasury, shall be a board for determining the value such slaves as their owners desire to emancipate under tliis section, :uid whose duty it shall be to hold a session for the purpose on the first Monday of each calendar month, to receive all applications, and, on satisfactory evidence in each case that the person presented for valuation is a slave, and of the class in the section mentioned, and is owned by the applicant, shall value such slave at his or her full cash value, and give to the applicant an order on the Treasury for the amount, and also to such slave a certificate of freedom. Sec. 5. That the municipal authorities of "Washington and George- town, within their respective jurisdictional limits, are hereby empowered and required to provide active and efficient means to arrest and deliver up to their owners all fugitive slaves escaping into said District. Sec. 6. That the elective officers within said District of Columbia are hereby empowered and required to open polls, at all the usual places of holding elections, on the first Monday of April next, and receive the vote of every free white citizen above the age of twenty-one years, having resided within said District for the period of one year or more next prece- ding the time of such voting for or against this act, to proceed in taking said votes, in all respects not herein specified, as at elections under the muni- cipal laws, and with as little delay as possible to transmit correct state- ments of the votes so cast to the President of the United States; and it shall be the duty of the President to count such votes immediately, and if a majority of them be found to be for this act, to forthwith issue his pro- clamation giving notice of the fact ; and this act shall only be in full force and efiiect on and after the day of such proclamation. Sec. 7. That involuntary servitude for the punishment of crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall in no wise be pro- hibited by this act. Sec. 8. That for all purposes of this act, the jurisdictional limits of Washington are extended to all parts of the District of Columbia not included within the present limits of Georgetown. A bill was afterwards reported by the committee for- bidding the introduction of slaves into the District for sale or hire. This bill also Mr. Lincoln supported, but in vain. The time for the success of such measures, in- volving to an extent attacks upon slavery, had not yet come. The question of the Territories also came up in many ways. The Wilmot Proviso had made its first appearance State Papers op Abraham Lincoln. 41 in the previous session, in the August before, but it was re- peat(Hlly before tliis Congress also, when eiforts were made to a|)ply it to tlie territory which we procured fi'oni M(^x- ico, and to Oregon. On all occasions when it was befon; the House it Avas supported by Mr. Lincoln, and he stated during liis contest with Judge Douglas, that }w had voted for it, "in one way and another, about forty times." He tlius showed hinself, in 1847, to be the same friend of freedom for the Territories Avhich he was afterwards, du- ring the heat of the Kansas struggle. Another instance in which the slavery question was before the House, Avas in the famous Pacheco case. Tins Avas a bill to reimburse the heirs of Antonio Pacheco for the value of a slave who Avas hired by a United States officer in Florida, but ran aAvay and joined the Seminoles, and, being taken in arms with them, was sent out of Florida Avith them, when they Avere transported to the West. The bill Avas reported to the House by the Com- mittee on Military Aifairs. This committee Avas com- posed of nine. Five of these were slaveholders, and these made the majority report. The others, not being slaveholders, reported against the bill. The ground taken by the majority Avas, that slaves were regarded as 'property by the Constitution, and Avhen taken for public service should be paid for as property. The principle involved in the bill, therefore, was the same one which the slaveholders had struggled in so many ways to main- tain. As they sought afterAvards to have it established by a decision of the Supreme Court, so noAV they tried to have it recognized by Congress, and Mr. Lincoln op- posed it there, as heartily as he afterwards Avithstood it Avhen it took the more covert, but no less dangerous shape of a judicial dictum. Mr. Lincoln's congressional career terminated at the close of this session (March 4, 1849), and, for reasons satisfactory to himself, he declined a renomination, althougli his re-election, had he consented to become a candidate, was morally certain. In this same year, how- ever, he was the Whig candidate in Illinois for United 42 The Life, Public Services, and States Senator, "but without success — tlie Democi-ats liav- ing tlie control of the State, whicli tliey retained until the conflict arising out of the Nebraska bill, in 1854. Nothing could more forcibly illustrate the complete rest and relaxation from political cares and anxieties which Mr. Lincoln enjoyed during these few years, than the fact that he found time, while practising his pro- fession, to indulge the exercise of his inventive faculties. A correspondent of the Boston Admrtlser, writing from Washington, thus states the form in wiiich the mechan- ical genius of the ex-Congressman and future President found expression : — Occupying an ordinary and commonplace position in one of the show- cases in the large hall of the Patent Office, is one little model which, in ages to come, will be prized as at once one of the most curious and one of the most sacred relics in that vast museum of unique and i)riceless things. This is a plain and simple model of a steamboat, roughly fashioned in wood, by the hand of Abraham Lincoln. It bears date in 18-19, when the inventor was known simply as a successful lawyer and rising politi- cian of Central Illinois. Neither his practice nor his politics took up so much of his time, as to prevent him from giving nmch attention to con- trivances which he hoped might be of benefit to the world and of pi-ofit to himself. The design of this invention is suggestive of one phase of Abraham Lincoln's early life, when he went up and down the Mississi[ipi as a flat- boatman, and became familiar with some of the dangers and inconve- niences attending the navigation of the Western rivers. It is an attempt to make it an easy matter to transport vessels over shoals and snags and sawyers. The main idea is that of an apparatus resembling a noiseless bellows, placed on each side of the hull of the craft, just below the water- line, and worked by an odd but not complicated system of ropes, valves, and pulleys. When the keel of the vessel grates against the sand or obstruction, these bellows are to be filled with air; and, thus buoyed up, the ship is expected to float lightly and gayly over the shoal, which would otherwise have proved a serious interruption to her voyage. The model, which is about eighteen or twenty inches long, and has the air of having been whittled with a knife out of a shingle and a cigar- box, is built without any elaboration or ornament, or any extra apparatus beyond that necessary to show the operation of buoying the steamer over the obstructions. Herein it diff'ers from very many of the models which share with it the shelter of the immense halls of the Patent Ofiice, and which are ftishioned with wonderful nicety and exquisite finish, as if much of the labor and thought and aftection of a lifetime had been de- State Papers of ABRAirA:\[ Lincoln. 43 voted to their construction. This i.s a model of ;i different kind ; carved as one niiglit imagine a retired rail-splitter would whittle, strongly, but not smoothly, and evidently made with a view solely to convey, by the sim])lest possible means, to the minds of the patent authorities, an idea of the purpose and plan of the simple invention. The label on the steamer's deck informs us that the patent was obtained; but we do not learn that the navigation of the western rivers was revolutionized by this quaint conception. The modest little model has reposed hei'C sixteen .years; and since it found its resting-place here on the shelf, the shrewd inventor lias found it his task to guide the ship of state over shoals more perilous, and obstructions more obstinate, than any prophet dreamed of when Abraham Lincoln wrote his bold autograph on the prow of this miniature steamer. This curious episode, however, must not create the impression that Mr. Lincoln had allowed his mind to be entirely diverted from the observation of the imj)ortant political events then transpiring. He undoubtedly noted carefully the development of those questions which sub- sequently absorbed so large a share of attention, and calculated accurately the influence which they would liave upon the relations of the two great political organ- izations. He had fought slavery often enough to know what it was, and he was thoroughly conversant with the aniinus of its supporters. It is not, therefore, at all likely that he was taken by surprise when the Nebraska Bill was introduced, and the proposition was made by Stephen A. Douglas to repeal that very Missouri Compromise which he had declared to be " a sacred thing, which no ruthless hand would ever be reckless enough to disturb." The Nebraska Bill was passed May 22, 1854, and the event gave new and increased force to the poj)ular feel- ing in ftivor of freedom, which the proposition to repeal the Missouri Compromise had excited. Everywhere the friends of freedom gathered themselves together and ral- lied round her banner, to meet the conflict which was plainly now closely impending, and which had been forced upon the people by the grasping ambition of the slave- holders. The political campaign of that 3^ear in Illinois was one of the severest ever known. It was intensifled by the fact that a United States Senator was to be chosen 44 The Life, Public Services, and by the legislature then to be elected, to fill the place of Shields, who had voted with Douglas in favor of the Ne- braska Bill. Mr. Lincoln took a prominent part in this campaign. He met Judge Douglas before the people on two occa- sions, the only ones when the Judge would consent to such a meeting. The first time was at the State Fair at Springfield, on October 4th. Tliis was afterwards con- sidered to have been the greatest event of the whole can- vass. Mr. Lincoln opened the discussion ; and in his clear and eloquent, yet homely way, exposed the tergiver- sations of which his opponent had been guilty, and the fallacy of his pretexts for his present course. Mr. Douglas had always claimed to have voted for the repeal of the Missouri Compromise because he sustained the "great principle" of popular sovereignty, and de- sired that the inhabitants of Kansas and Nebraska should govern themselves, as they were well able to do. The fallacy of drawing from these premises the conclusion that they therefore should have the right to establish slavery there, was most clearly and conclusively exposed by Mr. Lincoln, so that no one could thereafter be misled by it, unless he was a willing dupe of pro-slavery sophistry. "My distinguished friend," said he, "says it is an insult to the emigrants of Kansas and Nebraska to sup- pose that they are not able to govern themselves. We must not slur over an argument of this kind because it happens to tickle the ear. It must be met and answered. I admit that the emigrant to Kansas and Nebraska is competent to govern himself, hut I deny his right to govern any other person iDithout that person's consent.'''' The two opponents met again at Peoria. We believe it is universally admitted that on both of these occasions Mr. Lincoln had decidedly the advantage. The result of the election was the defeat of the Democrats, and the election of anti-Nebraska men to the legislature, to secure the election of a United States Senator who would be true to freedom, if they could be brought to unite upon a can- State Papers of Abraham Lincdlx. 45 didato. Mr. Lincoln was nainnilly the candidate of those wlio were of Wing antecedents. Jndge Trumbull was as luitu rally the candidate of some who had ically come out from the Democratic i)arty — though they still called themselves Free Democrats. There was danger, of course, in such a posture of affairs, and Mr. Lincoln, in that spirit of patriotism whicli he has always shown, by his own personal exertions secured the votes of his friends for Judge Trumbull, who was accordingly chosen Senator. The charge w^as after- wards made by the enemies of both, that there had been in this matter a breach of faith on the part of Judge Trumbull, and that Mr. Lincoln had the right to feel, and did feel, aggrieved at the result. Mr. Lincoln himself, however, expressly denied, in his speech at Charleston, September 18, 1858, that there had been any such breach of faith. 46 The Life, Public Services, and CHAPTER II. THE LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATE. Peesidential Campaign of 1856. — Douglas at Speingfield in 1857. — Lincoln's Reply. — The Great Debate. — Eloquent Defence of the DOCTEINES OF THE EePUBLIOAN PaETY. — ReSULT OF THE CONTEST. The pressure of the slavery contest at last fully organ- ized the Republican party, wliicli held its first convention for the nomination of President and Vice-President at Philadelphia, on June 17, 1856. John C. Fremont was nominated for President, and William L. Dayton for "Vice-President. Mr. Lincoln's name was prominent be- fore the convention for the latter office, and on the infor- mal ballot he stood next to Mr. Dayton, receiving 110 votes. Mr, Lincoln' s name headed the Republican elec- toral ticket in Illinois, and he took an active part in the canvass, but the Democrats carried the State, though only by a plurality vote. Meanwhile, Senator Douglas embraced every oppor- tunity to keep himself and his doctrines before the people, but whichever way he turned, he found his vigilant antagonist constantly in his front. For twenty years the two had been so invariably opposed to each other in politics, that whenever Mr. Douglas made a speech, the people instinctively anticipated a reply from Mr. Lincoln ; and there was a special Providence in thus opposing to the Avily, deceptive sophistries of the former the clear, incisive common sense of the latter, whicli the multitude could not avoid comprehending. Early in June, 1857, Senator Douglas made his famous speech in Springfield, which was universally accepted as a declara- tion that lie meant to sn stain all the acts of the Lecomp- ton Convention, even though a pro- slavery constitution State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 47 should be ibrraed, the responsibility for the .-idoptioii of which he meant to fasten upon the Republican party, since it was anticipated that the members of that organ- ization in the Territor}^ would refrain from voting. He further indorsed the Dred Scott decision in tliis same speech, and, in discussing the Utah rebellion, proposed to end the difficulty by annulling the act establishiiig tlie Territory. Mr. Lincoln promptly took issue witli him upon all these points, in a speech also delivered at Springfield, two weeks later. He declared himself in favor of "coercing" the people of Utah into obedience, and while he "did not admit or deny that the Judge's method of coercing them might not be as good as any," he showed how Mr. Douglas abandoned his principles, and "his much-vaunted doctrine of self-government for the Territories," by suggesting such a plan. He then defended the course of action wliich the Republicans in Kansas had adopted, and ridiculed mercilessly the myth- ical "Free State Democrats," of whom so much had been said. Next he discussed the Dred Scott decision, and showed that, in denouncing it, he had not gone so far as Mr. Douglas himself had done in applauding General Jackson for disregarding the decision of the same tribunal upon the constitutionality of the National Bank. Quoting from the Dred Scott decision some expressions in which Chief-Justice Taney intimated that the public estimate of the black man was more favorable then than it was in the days of the revolution, Mr. Lincoln replied to the impli- cation in the following forcible manner : — This assumption is a mistake. In some trifling particulars the condi- tion of that race has been ameliorated ; hut, as a whole, in this country, the change between then and now is decidedly the other way ; and their ultimate destiny has never appeared so hopeless as in the last three or four years. In two of the five States — N'ew Jersey and Xorth Carolina — that then gave the free negro the right of voting, the right has since been taken away; and in the third — ^ew York — it has been greatly abridged, while it has not been extended, so far as I know, to a single additional State, though the number of the States has more than doubled. In those days, as I understand, masters could, at their own pleasure, eni.-mcipate tJieir slaves; but, since then, such legal restrainth have been maile upon 48 The Life, Public Services, and einaucipatiou as to amount almost to proliibition. In tliose (lays, legis- latures held the unquestioned power to abolish slavery in their respective States ; but now it is becoming quite fashionable for State constitutions to withhold that power from the legislatures. In those days, by com- mon consent, the spread of the black man's bondage to the new countries was prohibited; but now, Congress decides that it will not continue the prohibition, and the Supreme Court decides that it could not, if it would. In tliose days, our Declaration of Inde{)endence was held sacred by all, and thought to include all ; but now, to aid in making the bondage of the negro universal and eternal, it is assailed, sneered at, construed, hawked at, and torn, till, if its framers could rise from their graves, they could not at all recognize it. All the powers of earth seem rapidly combining against him. Mammon is after him ; ambition follows, philosophy fol- lows, and the theology of the day is fast joining the cry. They ha\e him in his prison-house ; they have searched his person, and left no prying instrument with him. One after another they have closed the heavy iron doors upon him ; and now they have him, as it were, bolted in with a lock of a hundred keys, which can never be uidocked without the con- currence of every key ; the keys in the hands of a hundred diiferent men, and they scattered to a hundred different and distant places; and they stand musing as to what invention, in all the dominions of mind and matter, can be produced to make the impoiisibility of his escape more complete than it is. It is grossly incorrect to say or assume that the public estimate of the negro is more favorable now than it was at the origin of the Govern- ment. No one would have been more surprised than Mr. Lin- cohi himself, could the fact have been revealed to him, when uttering these words, that through him as an hum- ble instrument in the hands of Providence, and in the brief space of eight years, a vast change would be brought about in the status of that class, whose suiferings and wrongs he thus eloquently depicted. In this same speech Mr. Lincoln turned from the course of his argument for a moment, to demolish, in his charac- teristic manner, the absurd charge which his opponent had demeaned himself by repeating, that, in laboring to secure the negro his rights, the Republicans desired to place him on a comj^lete political and social equality with themselves. He said : — There is a natural disgust, in the minds of nearly all white people, to the idea of an indiscriminate amalgamation of the white and black races ; State Papers of. Abraham Lincoln. 49 nnil JTidge Douglas evidently is basing his cliief hope npon the chances of Iiis being able to appropriate the benefit of this disgust to himself. If ho can, by much drumming and repeating, fasten th§ odium of tliat idea upon his adversaries, he thinks he can struggle through the storm. He llierefore clings to this liope, as a drowning man to the last plank. He makes an occasion for lugging it in from the opposition to the Dred Scott decision. He finds the Republicans insisting that the Declaration of Inpependence includes all men, black as well as white, and forthwith he boldly denies that it includes negroes at all, and proceeds to argue gravely that all who contend that it does, do so only because they want to vote, eat and sleep, and marry with negroes ! He will have it that they cannot be consistent else. Now, I protest against the counterfeit logic which concludes that, because T ^o not want a black woman for a slave, I must necessarily want her tor a wife. I need not have her for either. I can just leave her alone. In some respects, she certainly is not my equal ; but in her natural right to eat the bread she earns with her own hands, without asking leave of any one else, she is my equal, and the equal of all others. We have tlins presented the leading points in these two speeches, because the discussion was the prelude to the famous Senatorial contest of 1858, which gave Mr. Lincoln a national reputation, not only as an able debater and eloquent orator, but as a sagacious and wise politi- cian — wise enough to stand inflexibly by principles of the soundness of which he was himself satisfied, even against the judgment of earnest friends. On the 4th of March, 1857, Mr. Buchanan had taken his seat in the Presidential chair. The struggle between freedom and slavery for the possession of Kansas was at its height. A few (\-dj& after his inauguration, the Su- preme Court rendered the Dred Scott decision, which was thought by the friends of slavery to insure their victory, by its holding the Missouri Compromise to be unconstitu- tional, because the Constitution itself carried slavery all over the Territories of the United States. In spite of this decision, the friends of freedom in Kansas maintained their ground. The slaveholders, however, pushed for- ward their schemes, and in November, 1857, their Con- stitutional Convention, held at Lecompton, adopted the Lecompton Constitution. The trick by which they sub- mitted to the popular vote only a schedule on the slavery 4 •50 The Life, Public Services, and question, instead of the wliole Constitntion, compelling every voter, however he might vote .upon this schedule, to vote for their Constitution, which fixed slavery upon the State just as surely, whether the schedule was adopted or not, will he well remembered, as well as the feeling wliich so unjust a device excited throughout the North. Judge Doughis had sustained the Dred Scott decision, but he could not sustain this attempt to force upon the people of Kansas a Constitution against their will. He took ground openly and boldly against it — denouncing it in the Senate and elsewhere as an outrage upon the people of Kansas, and a violation of every just Democratic prin- ciple. He declared that he did not care whether the people voted the Slavery clause "up or down," but he thought they ought to liave the chance to vote for or against the Constitution itself. The Administration had made the measure their own, and this opposition of Douglas at once excited against him the active hostility of the slaveholders and their friends, witli whom he had hitherto acted in concert. The bill was finally passed through Congress on April 30th, 1858, under what is known as the English Bill, whereby the Constitution was to be submitted to the vote's of the people of Kansas, with the offer of heavy bribes to them, in the way of donations of land, etc., if they would accept it ; and the people, in spite of the bribes, voted it down by an immense majority. Judge Douglas' s term was on the eve of expiring, and he came home to Illinois after the adjournment of Con- gress, to attend in person to the political campaign, upon the result of which was to depend liis re-election to the Senate. His course on the Lecompton bill had made an open breacti between him and the Administration, and he had rendered such good service to the Republicans, in their battle with that monstrous infamy, that there were not wanting many among them who were inclined to think it would be wise not to oppose his re-election. But the Republicans of Illinois thought otherwise. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 51 They know that he was not in any sense a Republican. They knew that on the cardinal principle of the Kepub- lican party, opposition to the spread of Slavery into the Territories, lie was not Avith them ; for he had dechired in the most positive way that he "did not care whether Slavery was voted down or up." And they therefore determined, in opposition to the views of some influential Republicans, at home as well as in other States, to fight the battle through against him, with all tlie energy that they could bring to the work. And to this end, on the ITth of June, 1858, at their State Convention at Spring- field, they nominated Mr. Lincoln as their candidate for the Senate of the United States. The circumstances we have briefly sketched invested the campaign about to open with national importance. The people of the whole Union saw that the struggle then initiated in Illinois must ultimately extend to other States, and they knew that they would soon be compelled them- selves to pass upon the questions there to be decided. None doubted that the principle of ' ' Popular Sovereignty' ' would be thoroughly examined, for the reputation of the two combatants as men of extraordinary ability was es- tablished. It was the universal expectation that each aspirant for senatorial honors would display peculiar caution in opening the struggle, in order to prevent the other from gaining any undue advantage ; but Mr. Lin- coln scorned every appearance of subterfuge or evasion. His opinions had become sharj)ly defined and clearly crystallized during the contests through which he had passed in the years preceding, and in his speech to the Convention which nominated him, signifying his accept- ance of the honor conferred upon him, he expressed him- self so unreservedly and frankly that even his supporters were for the moment startled. In a speech delivered at Chicago, July 9, — the first after Mr. Lincoln's nomination, — Senator Douglas alluded to this address as having been "well prepared and care- fully written." In reply, Mr. Lincoln said, " Grentlemeu. Judge Douglas informed you that this speech of mine 52 The Life, Public Services, and was probably carefully j^repared. I admit that it was. I am not a master of language. I liave not a fine educa- tion ; I am not capable of entering into a disquisition upon dialectics, as I believe you call it." In the address thus alluded to, Mr. Lincoln struck the key-note of the campaign. Its exposition of his political creed, and his statement of the important points at issue, is so succinct and complete that we reproduce it here. It is as fol- lows : — Mr. President, and Gentlemen of .the Convention : — If wo could rirst know wliere we are, and whither we are tending, we could better judge what to do, and how to do it. We are now far into the tifth year since a policy was initiated with the avowed object, and confident prom- ise, of putting an end to slavery agitation. Under the operation of that policy that agitation has not only not ceased, but has constantly augment- ed. In my opinion, it will not cease until a crisis shall have been reached and passed. "A house divided against itself cannot stand." I believe this Government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved, I do not expect the house to fall, but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest tlie further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction ; or its advocates will pusli it forward till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new. North as well as South. . Have we no tendency to the latter condition ? Let any one who doubts carefully contemplate that now almost com plete legal combination — piece of machinery, so to- speak — compounded of tlie Nebraska doctrine and the Dred Scott decision. Let him consider not only what work the machinery is adapted to doj and how well adapt- ed ; but also let him study the history of its construction, and trace, if he can, or rather fail, if he can, to trace, the evidences of design and concert of action among its chief architects from the beginning. The new year of 1854 found slavery excluded from more than half the States by State Constitutions, and from most of the natiunal territory by Congressional prohibition. Four days later commenced the struggle which ended in repealing that Congressional prohibition. This opened all the national territory to slavery, and was the first point gained. But so far Congress only had acted ; and an indorsement by the people, real or apparent, was indispensable, to save the point already gained and give chance for more. Tliis necessity had not been overlooked, but had been provided for, as well as might be, in the notable argument of "squatter sovereignty," State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 53 otherwise called "sacred rii>;ht of self-ij:over[nnent;" which latter phrase, thout,fh expressive of the only rightful basis of any government, was so perverted in this attempted use of it as to amount to just this: That if any one man choose to enslave another^ no third man shall be allowed to object. That argument was incorporated into the Nebraska bill itself, in the language which follows: "It being the ti'ue intent and meaning of this act not to legislate slavery into any Territory or State, nor to exclude it therefrom ; but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to the Constitution of the United States." Then opened the roar of loose decla- mation in favor of "squatter sovereignty," and "sacred right of self-gov- ernment." "But," said opposition members, "let us amend the bill so as to expressly declare that the people of the Territory may exclude slavery." "Not we," said the friends of the measure; and down they voted the amendment. While the Nebraska bill was passing through Congress, a law-case., in- volving the question of a negro's freedom, by reason of his owner having voluntarily taken him first into a free State and then into a Territory cov- ered by the Congressional prohibition, and held him as a slave for a long time in each, was passing through the United States Circuit Court for the District of Missouri; and both Nebraska bill and lawsuit were brought to a decision in the same month of May, 1854. The negro's name was "Dred Scott," which name now designates the decision finally made in the case. Before the then next presidential election, the law-case came to, and was argued in, the Supreme Court of the United States ; but the decision of it was deferred until after the election. Still, before the elec- tion. Senator Trumbull, on the floor of the Senate, requested the leading advocate of the Nebraska bill to state his opinion whether the people of a Territory can constitutionally exclude slavery from their limits ; and the latter answers: "That is a question for the Supreme Court." The election came. Mr. IJuchanan was elected, and the indorsement, Buch as it was, secured. That was the second point gained. The in- dorsement, however, fell short of a clear popular majority by nearly four hundred thousand votes, and so, perhaps, was not overwhelmingly reliable and satisfactory. The outgoing president, in his last annual message, as impressively as possible echoed back upon the people the weight and authority of the indorsement. The Supreme Court met again ; did not announce their decision, but ordered are-argument. The presi- dential inauguration came, and still no decision of the court; but the incoming President, in his inaugural address, fervently exhorted the people to abide by the forthcoming decision, whatever it might be, Then, in a few days, came the decision. The reputed author of the Nebraska bill finds an early occasion to maRe a speech at this capital, indorsing the Dred Scott decision, and vehemently denouncing all opposition to it. The new president, too, seizes the earlv 54 The Life, Public Services, and occasion of tlie Silliraan letter to indorse and stroiigly construe that decision, and to express his astonishment thnt any diiferent view had ever been entertained. At length a squabble springs up between the President and the author of the Nebraska bill, on the mere question of fact, whether the Lecomp- tou Constitution was or was not, in any just sense, made by the people of Kansas ; and in that quarrel the latter declares that all he wants is a fair vote for the people, and that he cares not whether slavery be voted down or voted up. I do not understand his declaration that he cares not whether slavery be voted down or voted up, to be intended by him other than as an apt definition of the policy he would impress upon the public mind — the principle for which he declares he has suffered so much, and is ready to suffer to the end. And well may he cling to that principle. If he has any parental feeling, well may he cling to it. That principle is the only shred left of his original Nebraska doctrine. Under the Dred Scott decision "squatter sovereignty" squatted out of existence, tumbled down, like temporary scaffolding — like the mould at the foundry served through one blast and fell back into loose sand — helped to carry an election, and then was kicked to the winds. His late joint struggle with the Republi- cans, against the Lecompton Constitution, involves nothing of the origi- nal Nebraska doctrine. That struggle was made on a point — the right of a people to make their own constitution — upon which he and the Eepub- licans have never differed. The several points of the Dred Scott decision, in connection with Sena- tor Douglas's "care not" policy, constitiite the piece of machinery, in its present state of advancement. This was the third point gained. The working points of that machinery are : — First. That no negro slave, imported as such from Africa, and no descendant of such slave, can ever be a citizen of any State, in the sense of that term as used in the Constitution of the United States. This point is made in order to deprive the negro, in every- possible event, of the benefit of that provision of the United States Constitution, which declares that "The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges and immuni- ties of citizens in the several States." Secondly. That, "subject to the Constitution of the United States," neither Congress nor a Territorial Legislature can exclude slavery from any United States territory. This point is made in order that individual men may fill up the Territories with slaves without danger of losing them as property, and thus to enhance the chances of permanency to the insti- tution through all the future. Thirdly. That whether the holding a negro in actual slavery in a free State makes him free, as against the holder, the United States courts will not decide, but will leave to be decided by the courts of any slave State the negro may be forced into by the master. This point is made, not to oe pressed immediately ; but, if acquiesced in for awhile, and apparently State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 55 indorsed by the people at an election, then to sustain the logical conclu- sion that what Dred Scott's master might lawfully do with Dred Scott, in the free State of Illinois, every other master may lawfully do with any othei one, or one thousand slaves, in Illinois, or in any other freo State. Auxiliary to all this, and working hand in hand with it, the Nebraska doctrine, or wliat is left of it, is to educate and mould public opinion, at ^east Northern pul)lio opinion, not to care whether slavery is voted down or voted up. This shows exactly where we now are ; and partially, also, whither we are tending. It will throw additional light on tlie latter, to go back, and run the mind over the string of historical facts already stated. Several things will now appear less dark and mysterious than they did when they were transpiring. The people were to be left "perfectly free," "subject only to the Constitution." What the Constitution had to do with it, outsiders could not then see. Plainly enough now, it was an exactly fitted niche for the Dred Scott decision to afterward come in, and declare the perfect freedom of the people to be just no freedom at all. Why was the amend- ment, expressly declaring the right of the people, voted down? Plainly enough now : the adoption of it would have spoiled the niche for the Dred Scctt decision. Why was the court decision held up ? Why even 11 Senator's individual opinion withheld till after the presidential election? Plainly enough now : the speaking out then would liave damaged the perfectly free argument upon which the election was to be carried. Why the outgoing President's felicitation on the indorsement? Why the delay of a re-argument ? Why the incoming President's advance exhortation in favor of the decision? These things look like the cautious patting and petting of a spirited horse preparatory to mounting him, when it is dreaded that he may give the rider a fall. And w^hy the hasty after- indorsement of the decision by the President and others ? We cannot absolutely know that all these exact adaptations are the result of preconcert. But when we see a lot of framed timbers, diiFerent portions of which we know have been gotten out at diiFerent times and places, and by different workmen — ^Stephen, Franklin, Roger, and James, for instance— and when we see these timbers joined together, and see they exactly make the frame of a house or a mill, all the tenons and mortices exactly fitting, and all the lengths and proportions of the differ ent pieces exactly adapted to their respective places, and not a piece too many or too few — not omitting even scaffolding — or, if a single piece be lacking, we see the place in the frame exactly fitted and prepared yet to bring such piece in — in such a case, we find it impossible not to believe that Stephen and Franklin and Roger and James all understood one another from the beginning, and all worked upon a common plan or draft drawn up before the first blow was struck. It should not be overlooked that, by the Nebraska bill, the people of a 56 The Life, Public Services, and State^ as "well as Territory, were to be left "perfectly free," "sTibjecl only to the Constitution." Why mention a State ? They were legislating for Territories, and not for or about States. Certainly, the people of a State are and ought to be subject to the Constitution of the Uuitftd States; but why is mention of this lugged into this merely territorial law? Why are the people of a Territory and the people of a State therein lumped together, and their relation to the Constitution therein treated as being precisely the same? While the opinion of the court, by Chief-Justice Taney, in the Dred Scott case, and the separate opinions of all the concurring Judges, expressly declare that the Constitution of the United States neither permits Congress nor a territorial legislature to exclude slavery from any United States Territory, they all omit to declare whether or not the same Constitution permits a State, or the people of a State, to exclude it. Possibly, this is a mere omission; but who can be quite sure, if McLean or Curtis had sought to get into the opinion a declaration of unlimited power in the people of a State to exclude slavery from their limits, just as Chase and Mace sought to get such declara- tion, in behalf of the people of a Territoi-y, into the Nebraska bill; — I ask, who can be quite sure that it would not have been voted down in the one case, as it had been in the other? The nearest approach to the point of declaring the power of a State over slavery, is made by Judge Nelson. He approaches it more than once, using the precise idea, and almost the language, too, of the Nebraska act. On one occasion, his exact language is, " except in cases where the power is restrained by the Constitution of the United States, the law of the State is supreme over the subject of slavery within its jurisdiction." In what cases the power of the States is so restrained by the United States Constitution, is left an open question, precisely as the same question, as to the restraint on the power of the Territories, was left open in the Nebraska act. Put this and that together, and we have another nice little niche, which we may, ere long, see filled with another Supreme Court decision, declaring that the Constitution of the United States does not permit a State to exclude slavery from its limits. And this )nay especially be expected, if the doc- trine of "care not whether slavery be voted down or voted up," shall gain upon the public mind sufficiently to give promise that such a decision can be maintained when made. Such a decision is all that slavery now lacks of being alike lawful in all the States. Welcome or unwelcome, such decision is probably coming, and will soon be upon us, unless the power of the present politi- cal dynasty shall be met and overthrown. We shall lie down pleasantly dreaming that the people of Missouri are on the verge of making their State free, and we shall awake to the reality instead, that the Supreme Court has made Illinois a slave State. To meet and overthrow the power of that dynasty, is the work now before all those who would prevent that consummation. That is what we have to do. How can we best do it '{ State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 57 There ard those wlio denounce us openly to their own friends, and yet whisper us softly, that Senator Douglas is the aptest instrument there is with which to effect that object. They wish us to infer all, from the fact that he now has a little quarrel with tlie present head of the dynasty ; and that he has regularly voted with us on a single point, upon wiiich he and we have never differed. They remind us that he is a great man, and tiiut the largest of us are very small ones. Let this be granted. But ''a living dog is better than a dead lion." Judge Douglas, if not a dead lion, for this work, is at least a caged and toothless one. llow can he oppose the advances of slavery ? He don't care any thing about it. His avowed mission is impressing the "public heart" to care 7wthing about it. A leading Douglas democratic newspaper thinks Douglas's superior talent will be needed to resist the revival of the African slave-trade. Does Douglas believe an effort to revive that trade is approaching? He has not said so. Does he really think so ? But if it is, how can he resist it ? For years he has labored to prove it a sacred right of white men to take negro slaves into the new Territories. Can he possibly show that it is less a sacred right to buy them whet-e they can be bought cheapest? And unquestionably they can be bought cheaper in Africa than in Vir- ginia. He has done all in his power to reduce the whole question of slavery to one of a mere right of property ; and as such, how can he op- pose the foreign slave-trade — how can he refilse that trade in that " prop- erty" shall be " perfectly free"— unless he does it as a protection to the home production ? And as the home producers will probably not ask the protection, he will be wholly without a ground of opposition. Senator Douglas holds, we know, that a man may rightfully be wiser to-day than he was yesterday— that he may rightfully change when he finds himself wrong. But can we, for that reason, run ahead, and infer that he will make any particular change, of which he himself has given no intimation? Can we safely base our action upon any such vague in- ference? Now, as ever, I wish not to misrepresent Judge Douglas's position,*question his motives, or do aught that can be personally offen- sive to him. Whenever, if ever, he and we can come together on princi- ple, so that our cause may have assistance from his great ability, I hope to have interposed no adventitious obstacle. But, clearly, lie is not now with us — he does not pretend to be — he does not promise ever to be. Our cause, then, must be intrusted to, and conducted by, its own undoubted friends— those whose hands are free, whose hearts are in the work— who do care for the result. Two years ago, the Republicans of the nation mustered over thirteen hundred thousand strong. We did this under the single impulse of resistance to a common danger, with every external circumstance against us. Of strange, discordant, and even hostile elements, we gathered from the four winds, and formed and fought the battle through, under the constant hot fire of a disciplined, proud, and pampered enemy. Did we brave all then, to falter now ?— 5S The Life, Public Services, and now, wlieii that same encMiiy is wavering, dissevered, and belligerent? The result is not doubtful. We shall not fail — if we stand firm, we shcdl not fail. Wise counsels may accelerate, or mistakes delay it; but, sooner or later, the victory is sure to come. The first paragraph of this speech has Ibecome famous in our political history, aud the whole address, with its bold utterance of truths Avliich many, even of Mr. Lin- coln' s supporters, did not at that time care to lace, was a fitting prelude to the great contest which was to follow. Although, as its author admitted, it had been carefully l^repared, he had not consulted with any of his friends regarding it, and none of them, even those with whom he was the most intimate, knew of the positions which he intended to take, until they heard them enunciated from the platform in Springfield, on that memorable June 17. Three weeks later (July 9), Senator Douglas arrived in Chicago, where his friends welcomed him with the most ostentatious demonstrations. On the same day he made a speech, reviewing Mr. Lincoln' s address to the Spring- field Convention. He spoke of Mr. Lincoln as "a kind, amiable, and intelligent gentleman, a good citizen and an honorable opponent," and then proceeded to reply to the speech in question, assuming a tone of superiority almost amounting to superciliousness. He was especially severe upon the introductory passage of Mr. Lincoln's address, in which he asserted his belief that the Govern- ment could not endure half slave and half free?. Mr. Lincoln was himself present during the delivery of Senator Douglas' s speech, and on the next evening took occasion to reply to it before an immense assemblage, specially convened for that purpose. After a few intro- ductory remarks, Mr. Lincoln thus alluded to the famous phrase which had become the watch-word of the Demo- cratic party for the campaign : — Popular sovereignty! everlasting popular sovereignty! Let us for a moment inquire into this vast matter of popular sovereignty. What ia popular sovereignty? We recollect that at an early period in the history of this struggle, there was another name for the same thing — SquaUer State PArERs of Abraham Lincoln. 59 Sovereignty. It was not exactly Popular Sovereignty, but Sfjiiatter Sovereignty. "What do those terms mean ? What do those terms mean when used now? And vast credit is taken by our friend, the Judge, in regard to his support of it, when he declares the lust years of his life have been, and all the future years of his life shall be, devoted to this matter of popular sovereignty. What is it? Why, it is the sovereignty of tiic people! What was Squatter Sovereignty ? I suppose, if it liad any sig- niticance at all, it was the right of tlie people to govern themselves, to be sovereign in their own aftairs, while they were squatted down in a country not their own — while they had squatted on a Territory that did not belong to tlism, in the sense that a State belongs to tlie people who inhabit it — when it belonged to the nation — such right to govern them- selves was called " Squatter Sovereignty." Now I wish you to mark. What has become of that S(juatter Sover- eignty? What has become of it? Can you get anybody to tell you now that the people of a Territory have any authority to govern themselves, in regard to this mooted question of slavery, before they form a State Constitution? No such thing at all, although there is a general running fire, and although there has been a hurrah made in every speech on that side, assuming that policy had given the people of a Territory the right to govern themselves upon this question ; yet the point is dodged. To- day it has been decided — no more than a year ago it was decided by the Supreme Court of the United States, and is insisted upon to-day, that the people of a Territory have no right to exclude slavery from a Territory, that if any one man chooses to take slaves into a Territory, all the rest of the people have no right to keep them out. This being so, and this decision being made one of the points that the Judge approved, and one in the approval of which he says he means to keep me down — put me down I should not say, for I have never been up. He says he is in favor of it, and sticks to it, and expects to win his battle on that decision, which says that there is no such thing as Squatter Sovereignty ; but that any one man may take slaves into a Territory, and all the other men in the Territory may be opposed to it, and yet by reason of the Constitution they cannot prohibit it. Wlien that is so, how ra\;ch is left of this vast matter of Squatter Sovereignty, I should like to know ? The Lecompton Constitution and its fate were next dis- cussed, and then Mr. Lincoln proceeded to reply to the inferences which his opponent had so characteristically but unwarrantably drawn from the introductory para- graph of his Springfield speech. He said : In this paragraph which I have quoted in your hearing, and to which I ask the attention of all. Judge Douglas thinks he discovers great political 60 The Life, Public Services, and heresy. I want your attention particularly to what he has inferred from it. He says I am in favor of making all the States of this Union uniform in all their internal regulations ; that in all their domestic concerns I am in favor of making them entirely uniform. He draws this inference from the language I have quoted to you. He says that I am in favor of making war by the North upon the South for the extinction of slavery; that I am also in favor of inviting (as he expresses it) the South to a war upon the North, for the purpose of nationalizing slavery. Now, it is singular enough, if you will carefully read that passage over, that I did not say that I was in favor of any thing in it, I only said what I expected would take place. I made a prediction only — it may have been a foolish oi^e, perhaps. I did not even say that I desired that slavery should be put in course of ulti- mate extinction. I do say so now, however, so there need be no longer any difficulty about that. It may be written down in the great speech. Gentlemen, Judge Douglas informed you that this speecli of mine was probably carefully x)repared. I admit that it was. I am not master of language ; I have not a fine education ; I am not capable of entering into a disquisition upon dialectics, as I believe you call it ; but I do not believe the language I employed bears any such construction as Judge Douglas puts upon it. But I don't care about a quibble in regard to words. I know what I meant, and I will not leave this crowd in doubt, if I can explain it to them, what I really meant in the use of that paragraph. I am not, in the first place, unaware that this Government has endured eighty-two years half slave and half free. I know that. I am tolerably well acquainted with the history of the country, and I know that it has endured eighty-two years, half slave and half free. I believe — and that is what I meant to allude to there — I ielieve it has endured, because during all that time, until the introduction of the Nebraska bill, the public mind did rest all the time in the belief that slavery was in course of ultimate extinction. That was what gave us the rest that we had through that period of eighty-two years ; at least, so I believe. I have always hated slavery, I think, as much as any Abolitionist — I have been an Old Line Whig — I have always hated it, but I have always been quiet about it un- til this new era of the introduction of the Nebraska bill began. I always believed that everybody was against it, and that it was in course of ulti- mate extinction. [Pointing to Mr. Browning, who stood near by.] Browning thought so ; the great mass of the nation have rested in the belief that slavery was in course of ultimate extinction. They had reason so to believe. The adoption of the Constitution and its attendant history led the people to believe so; and that such was the belief of the framers of the Constitution itself, why did those old men, about the time of the adoption of the Constitution, decree that slavery should not go into the new Terri- tory, where it had not already gone ? Why declare that within twenty years the African Slave Trade, by which slaves are supplied, might be cut State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. G1 off by Congress? Why were all these acts? I miglit ennmorato more of tliese acts — hut enough. What were they hut a clear indication that the framers of the Constitution intended and expected the ultimate ex- tinction of that institution? And now, when I say, as I said in my speech that Judge Douglas has quoted from, when I say that I think the oppo- nents of slavery will resist the farther spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest with the belief that it is in course of ultimate ex- tinction, I only mean to say, that they will place it where the founders of this Government originally placed it. I have said a hundred times, and I have now no inclination to take it back, that I believe there is no right, and ought to be no inclination in the people of the free States to enter into the slave States, and interfere with the question of slavery at all. I have said that always; Judge Douglas has heard me say it — if not quite a hundred times, at least as good as a hundred times ; and when it is said that I am in favor- of interfering with slavery where it exists, I know it is unwarranted by any thing I have ever intended, and, as I believe, by any tiling I have ever said. If, by any means, I have ever used language which could fairly be so construed (as, however, I believe I never have), I now correct it. So much, then, for the inference that Judge Douglas draws, that I am in favor of setting the sections at war with one another. I know that I never meant any such thing, and I believe that no fair mind can infer any such thing from any thing I have ever said. XTiese speeches in Chicago and those that had preceded them made it evident that the struggle was to take the shape of a personal contest between the two men, and in every respect, — physically, mentally, and politically, — they were thoroughly antagonistic to each other. Each, moreover, recognized the other as the embodiment of principles to which he was in deadly hostility. Judge Douglas was the champion of all sympathizers with slavery at the North — of those who openly advocated it, and still more of those who took the more plausible and dangerous part of not caring whether it ' ' was voted down or up." Mr. Lincoln's soul was on fire with love for freedom and for humanity, and with reverence for the Fathers of the country, and for the principles of freedom for all, under the light of which they marched. He felt that the contest was no mere local one ; that it was com- paratively of little consequence which man succeeded in 62 The Life, Public Services, and the fight, but that it was all-important that the banner of freedom should be borne with no faltering step, but "full high advanced." And thus through the whole campaign he sought with all his power to press home to the hearts of the people the principles, the example, and the teach- ings of the men of the Revolution, At the time of the delivery of the speeches in Chicago, to which we have already alluded, there was no under- standing regarding joint discussions. One week later,how- ever, both spoke in Springfield on the same day, but be- fore different audiences ; and one week later, Mr. Lincoln addressed a letter to Douglas, challenging him to a series of debates during the campaign. The challenge was accepted, and arrangements were at once made for the meetings. The terms proposed by Mr. Douglas — whether intentionally or unintentionally does not appear — were such as to give him the decided advan- tage of having four opening and closing speeches to Mr. Lincoln's three; but Mr. Lincoln, while noticing the in- equality, did not hesitate to accejDt tiiem. The seven joint debates were held as follows : — at Ot- tawa, on August 21st; at Freeport, on August 27th; at Jonesboro, on September 15th ; at Charleston, on Septem- ber 18th ; at Galesburg, on October 7tli ; at Quincy, on Oc- tober IBth ; at Alton, on October 15th. These seven tour- naments raised the greatest excitement throughout the State. They were held in all quarters of the State, from Freeport in the north to Jonesboro in the extreme south. Everywhere the different parties turned out to do honor to their champions. Processions and cavalcades, bands of music and cannon-firing, made every day a day of excite- ment. But far greater was the excitement of such orator- ical contests between two such skilled debaters, before mixed audiences of friends and foes, to rejoice over every keen thrust at the adversary, to be cast down by each failure to parry the thrust so aimed. It is impossible to present here any thing more than the barest sketch of these great efforts of INIr. Lincoln. They are, and alwaj^s State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 63 will be, to those who are interested in the history of tlie slavery contest, most valuable and important documents. In the lirst of these joint debates, which took place at Ottawa, Mr. Douglas again rung the changes ui:)on the introductory passage of Mr. Lincoln's Springfield speech, "a house divided against itself," etc. Mr. Lincoln reitera- ted his assertion, and defended it in effect, as he did in his speech at Chicago. Then he took up the charge which he had previously made, of the existence of a con- spiracy to extend slavery over the Northern States, and pressed it home, citing as proof a speech which Mr. Douglas himself had made on the Lecompton bill, in which he *liad substantially made the same charge against Buchanan and others. He then showed again, that all that was necessary for the accomplishment of the scheme was a decision of the Supreme Court that no State could exclude slavery, as the court had already de- cided that no Territory could exclude it, and the acquies- cence of the people in such a decision ; and he told his hearers that Douglas was doing all in his power to bring about such acquiescence in advance, by declaring that the true position was, not to care whether slavery " was voted down or up," and by announcing himself in favor of the Dred Scott decision, not because it was right, but because a decision of the court is to him a "Thus saitli the Lord," and thus committing himself to the next de- cision just as firmly as to this. He closed his speech with the following eloquent words : — Henry Clay, my beau-ideal of a statesman, the man for whom I fonglit all my humble life — Henry Clay once said of a class of men who would repress all tendencies to liberty and ultimate emancipation, that they must, if they would do this, go back to the era of our independence, and muzzle the cannon which thunders its annual joyous return ; they must blow out the moral lights around us ; they must penetrate the human soul, and eradicate there the love of liberty ; and then, and not till then, could they perpetuate slavery in this country ! To my thinking, Judge Douglas is, by his example and vast influence, doing that very thing in this community, when he says that the negro has nothing in the Declara tion of Independence. Henry Clay plainly understood the contrary 64 The Life, Public Services, and Judge Douglas is going back to the era of our Kevolution, and, to the ex- tent of his ability, muzzling the cannon which tliunders its annual joyous return. "When lie invites any people, willing to have slavery, to establish it, he is blowing out the- moral lights around us. When he says, he " cares not whether slavery is voted down or voted up,"— f-that it is a sacred right of self-government, — he is, in my judgment, penetrating the human soul, and eradicating the light of reason and the love of liberty in this American people. And now I will only say, that when, by all these means and appliances, Judge Douglas shall succeed in bringing public sen- timent to an exact accordance with his own views — when these vast as- semblages shall echo back all these sentiments — when they shall come to repeat his views and to avow his principles, and to say all that he says on these mighty questions — then it needs only the formality of the second Dred Scott decision, which he indorses in advance, to make slavery alike lawful in all the States — old as well as new. North as well as South. The debate at Freeport — tlie second of the series — took place August 27, and was marked by Mr. Lincoln answer- ing a series of seven questions proposed by his opponent. We give the interrogatories and the replies, as follows : Question 1. I desire to know whether Lincoln to-day stands, as he did in 1854, in favor of the unconditional repeal of the Fugitive Slave law ? Answer. I do not now, nor ever did, stand in favor of the uncondi- tional repeal of the Fugitive Slave law. Q. 2. I desire him to answer whether he stands pledged to-day, as he did in 1854, against the admission of any more slave States into the Union, even if the people want them ? A. I do not now, or ever did, stand pledged against the admission of any more slave States into the Union. Q. 3. I want to know whether he stands pledged against the admis- sion of a new State into the Union with such a Constitution as the people of that State may see tit to make ? A. I do not stand pledged against the admission of a new State into the Union, with such a Constitution as the people of that State may see fit to make. Q. 4. I want to know whether he stands to-day pledged to the aboli- tion of slavery in the District of Columbia ? A. I do not stand to-day pledged to the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. Q. 5. I desire him to answer whether he stands pledged to the pro- liibition of the slave-trade between the different States ? A. I do not stand pledged to tlie prohibition of the slave-trade bo tween the different States. Q. 6. I desire to know whether he stands pledged to prohibit slavery State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 65 in all the Territories of the United States, North as well as South of the Missouri Compromise line ? A. I am impliedly, if not expressly, pledged to a belief in the right and duty of Congress to prohibit slavery in all the United States Terri- tories. •Q. 7. I desire him to answer whether he is opposed to the acquisition of any new territory unless slavery is first prohibited therein ? A. I am not generally opposed to honest acquisition of territory; and, in any given case, I would or would not oppose such acquisition, accord- ingly as I might think such acquisition would or would not aggravate the slavery question among ourselves. Before answering these questions, Mr. Lincoln notified Mr. Dongkis that he shonhl insist upon the right to pro- pound an equal number to him, if he desired to do so, and before closing submitted these four interrogatories : Question 1. If the people of Kansas shall, by means entirely unob- jectionable in all other respects, adopt a State Constitution, and ask admission into the Union under it, tefore they have the requisite number of inhabitants according to the English bill — some ninety-three thousand -will you vote to admit them ? Q. 2. Can the people of a United States Territory, in any lawful way, against the wish of any citizen of the United States, exclude slavery from its limits prior to the formation of a State Constitution? Q. 3. If the Supreme Court of the United States shall decide that States cannot exclude slavery from their limits, are yon in favor of ac- quiescing in, adopting, and following such decision as a rule of political action ? Q. 4. Are you in favor of acquiring additional territory, in disregard of how such acquisition may affect the nation on the slavery question ? To these questions he received, as he undoubtedly ex- pected, only evasive replies. He also, in the course of the debate, pressed home upon his opponent a charge of quoting resolutions as having been adopted at a Repub- lican State Convention which were never so adopted, and again called Douglas's attention to the conspiracy to nationalize slavery, and showed that his pretended desire to leave the people of a Territory free to establish slavery or exclude it, was really only a desire to allow them to establish it, as was shown by his voting against Mr 5 GG The Life, Public Services, and T'luise's amendment to the Nebraska bill, wliicli gave the leave to exclude it. In the third debate, which took place at Jonesboro, Mr. Lincoln showed that Douglas and his friends were trying to change the position of the country on the slavery question from what it was when the Constitution was adopted, and that the disturbance of the country had arisen from this pernicious effort. He then cited from Democratic speeches and platforms of former days to prove that they occupied then the very opposite ground on the question from that Avhich was taken at the time he was speaking. He also brought out in strong relief the evasive character of Douglas's answers to the questions which he had proposed, especially the subterfuge of " un- friendly legislation," which he had set forth as the means by which the people of a Territory could exclude slavery from its limits in spite of the Dred Scott decision. It is a noteworthy fact that when Mr. Lincoln was pre- paring these questions for Douglas, he was urged by some of his friends not to corner him on this last point, because he would surely stand by his doctrine of Squatter Sov- ereignty in defiance of the Dred Scott decision, "and that," said they, "will make him Senator." "That may be," said Mr. Lincoln, with a twinkle in his eye, " but if he takes that shoot he never can be President." Mr. Lincoln's sagacity did not fail him here. This posi- tion which Douglas took of "unfriendly legislation," was a stumbling-block which he was never able to get over ; and if the contest between them had brought out no other good result, the compelling Douglas to take this ground was a most important point gained. In the fourth joint debate at Charleston, Mr. Lincoln brought forward and spoke at length upon the evidence of a charge previously made by Judge Trumbull against Douglas, of being himself reponsible for a clause in the Kansas bill which would have deprived the joeople of KaJisas of the right to vote upon their own Constitution. He stated this point as follows : State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 67 The bill that went into his (Mr. Douglas's) liands had the provision in it for a submission of the Constitution to the people ; and I say its language amounts to an express provision for a submission, and that he took the provision out. He says it was known that the bill was silent in this particular; lut I say^ Judge Douglas^ it was not silent when you got it. It was vocal with the declaration, when you got it, for a submission of the Constitution to the people. And now, my direct question to Judge Douglas is, to answer why, if he deemed the bill silent on this point, he found it necessary to strike out those particular harmless words. If he had found the bill silent and without this provision, he might say what he does now. If he supposes it was implied that the Constitution would be submitted to a vote of the people, how could these two lines so en- cumber the statute as to make it necessary to strike them out ? IIow could h^ infer that a submission was still implied, after its express provi- sion had been stricken from the bill? I find the bill vocal with the pro- vision, while he silenced it. He took it out, and although he took out the other provision preventing a submission to a vote of the people, I ask, icTiy did you first put it in? I ask him whether he took the original provision out, which Trumbull alleges was in the bill ? If he admits that he did take it out, I aslc Mm what he did it for? It looks to us as if he had altered the bilL If it looks differently to him— if he has a different reason for liis action from the one we assign him — he can tell it. I insist upon knowing why he made the bill silent upon that point, when it was vocal before he put his hands upon it. Mr. Douglas, it is needless to say, conld not parry tMs home thrust. In liis efforts to do so (for Mr. Lincoln gave him several opportunities sul)sequenlly to explain his position^ he invariably lost his temper. In view of the discussions now in progress in many parts of the country, the following passage from Mr. Lin- coln's final rejoinder to Mr. Douglas, in this debate at Charleston, possesses peculiar interest. Judge Douglas has said to you that he has not been able to get from me an answer to the question whether I am in favor of negro citizenship. So far as I know, the Judge never asked me the question before. He sliall have no occasion to ever ask it again, for I tell him very frankly that I am not in favor of negro citizenship. This furnishes me an occa- sion for saying a few words upon the subject. I mentioned in a certain speech of mine which has been printed, that the Supreme Court had decided that a negro could not possibly be made a citizen; and with- out saying what was my gronnd of complaint in regard to that, or whether I had any ground of complaint, Judge Douglas has from that 68 The Life, Public Services, and thing nianufactured nearly every thing that he ever says about my dispo- sition to produce an equality between the negroes and the white people. If any one will read my speech, he will find I mentioned that as one of the points decided in the course of the Supreme Court opinions, but I did not state what objection I had to it. But Judge Douglas tells the people what my objection was, when I did not tell them myself. Now my opinion is that the different States have the power to make a negro a citizen under the Constitution of the United States, if they choose. The Dred Scott decision decides that they have not that power. If the State of Illinois had that power I should be opposed to the exercise of it. That is all I have to say about it. In tlie fifth joint debate, that at Galesbiirg, Mr. Lincoln defended the Republican party from the charge of being sectional, and in the course of his speech he thus pointedly- sketched the diiference between the supporters of Mr. Douglas and their opponents, as regarded the manner in which they respectively looked upon the free and slave States : — The Judge tells, in proceeding, that he is opposed to making any odious distinctions between free and slave States. I am altogether unaware that the Republicans are in favor of making any odious distinctions between the free and slave States. But there still is a difference, I think, between Judge Douglas and the Republicans in this. I suppose that the real dif- ference between Judge Douglas and his friends, and the Republicans on the contrary, is, that the Judge is not in favor of making any difference between slavery and liberty — that he is in favor of eradicating, of pressing out of view, the questions of preference in this country for free or slave institutions ; and consequently every sentiment he utters discards the idea that there is any wrong in slavery. Every thing that emanates from him or his coad^jutors in their course of policy, carefully excludes the thought that there is any thing wrong in slavery. All their arguments, if you will consider them, will be seen to exclude the thought that there is any thing whatever wrong in slavery. If you will take the Judge's speeches, and select the short and pointed sentences expressed by him — as his declaration that he "don't care whether slavery is voted up or down" — you will see at once that this is perfectly logical, if you do not admit that slavery is wrong. If you do admit that it is wrong, Judge Douglas cannot logically say he don't care whether a wrong is voted up or voted down. Judge Douglas declares that if any community want slavery they have a right to have it. He can say that logically, if he says that there is no wrong in slavery ; but if you admit that there is a wrong in it, he cannot logically say that anybody has a right to do wrong. He insists that, upon the score of equality, the owners of slaves and the owners of property State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 69 — of horses and every other sort of property — should be alike, and hold them alike in a new Territory. Tluit is perfectly logical, if the two species of property are alike, and are equally founded in riiiht. But if you admit that one of them is wrong, you cannut institute any equality be- tween right and wrong. And from this dift'erence of sentiment — the belief on the part of one that the institution is wrong, and a policy springing from that belief which looks to the arrest of the enlargement of that Avrong ; and this other sentiment, tluit it is no wiong, and a policy sprung from that sentiment wliich will tolerate no idea of i)reventing that wrong from growing larger, and looks to there never being an end of it through all the existence of things— arises the real difference between Judge Douglas and his friends on the one hand, and the Eepublicans on the other. Now, I confess myself as belonging to that class in the country who contemplate slavery as a moral, social, and political evil, having due regard for its actual existence amongst us, and the difficulties of getting rid of it in any satisfactory way, and to all the Constitutional obligations which have been thrown about it ; but, nevertheless, desire a policy that looks to the prevention of it as a wrong, and looks hopefully to the time when, as a wrong, it may come to an end. Mr. Lincoln also, after again calling attention to tlie fraudulent resolutions, and giving strong proof that Doug- las himself was a party to the imposition, showed that he had failed to answer his question about the acceptance of the new Dred Scott decision, which, he said, was "just as sure to be made as to-morrow is to come, if the Demo- cratic party shall be sustained ' ' in the elections. He then discussed the policy of acquiring more territory, and the importance of deciding upon any such acquisition, by the effect which it would have upon the Slavery question among ourselves. In the next debate, at Quincy, besides making some personal points as to the mode in which Douglas had con- ducted the previous discussions, he stated clearly and briefly what were the principles of the Republican party, what they proposed to do, and what they did not propose to do. This exposition is at once so lucid and succinct that we give the passage at length. Mr. Lincoln alluded to the assertion made by Judge Douglas at Galesburg, that he (Mr. Lincoln) desired to avoid the responsibility attach- 70 The Life, Public Services, and iiig to tlie "enormity" of tlie principles lie advocated, and said that lie would heartily state those principles, as well as it was in his power to do, "in all their enormity," which he did as follows : "We have in this nation this element of domestic slavery. It is a matter of absolute eertaintj' that it is a disturbing element. It is the opinion of all the great men who have expressed an opinion upon it, that it is a dan- gerous element. We keep up a controversy in regard to it. That contro- versy necessarily springs from diflerence of opinion, and if we can learn exactly — can reduce to the lowest elements — what that difterence of opinion is, we perhaps shall be better prepared for discussing the different systems of policy that we would propose in regard to that disturbing element. I suggest that the difference of opinion, reduced to its lowest terms, is no other than the difterence between the men who think slavery a wrong and those who do not think it wrong. The Eepublican party think it a wrong — we think it is a moral, a social, and a political wrong. "We think it is a wrong not confining itself merely to the persons or the states where it exists, but that it is a wrong in its tendency, to say the least, that extends itself to the existence of the whole nation. Because we think it wrong, we propose a course of policy that shall deal with it as a wrong. "We deal with it as with any other wrong, in so far as we can prevent its growing any larger, and so deal with it that in the run of time there may be some promise of an end to it. "We have a due regard to the actual presence of it amongst us, and the difficulties of getting rid of it in any satisfactory way, and all the Constitutional obligations thrown about it. I suppose that in reference both to its actual existence in the nation, and to our Constitutional obligations, we have no right at all to disturb it in the States where it exists, and we profess that we have no more inclina- tion to disturb it than we have the right to do it. "We go further than that ; we don't propose to disturb it where, in one instance, we think the Constitution would permit us. "We think the Constitution would permit us to disturb it in the District of Columbia. Still we do not propose to do tliat, unless it should be in terms which I don't suppose the nation is very likely soon to agree to — the terms of making the emancipation gradual, and compensating the unwilling owners. "Where we suppose we have the Constitutional right, we restrain ourselves in reference to the actual existence of the institution and the difficulties thrown about it. "We also oppose it as an evil, so far as it seeks to spread itself. "We insist on the policy that shall restrict it to its present limits. We don't suppose that in doing this we violate any thing due to the actual presence of the institution, or any thing due to the Constitutional guaranties thrown around it. We oppose the Dred Scott decision in a certain way, upon which I State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 71 ouglit perhaps to address you a few word>:. We do not propose that wlien Dred Scott has been decided to be a slave by the court, we, as a mob, will decide him to be free. We do not propose that, when any other one, or one thousand, shall be decided by that court to be slaves, we will in any violent way disturb the rights of property thus settled ; but we nevertheless do oppose that decision as a political rule, which shall be binding on the voter to vote for nobody who thinks it wrong, which shall be binding on the members of Congress or the President to favor no measure that does not actually concur with the principles of that decision. We do not propose to be bound by it as a political rule in that way, because we think it lays the foundation not merely of enlarging and spreading out what we consider an evil, but it lays the foundation for spreading that evil into the States themselves. We propose so resisting it as to have it reversed if we can, and a new judicial rule established upon this subject. I will add this, that if there be any man who does not believe that slavery is wrong in the three aspects which I have mentioned, or in any one of thern, that man is misplaced, and ought to leave us. While, on the other hand, if there be any man in the Eepublican party who is impa- tient over the necessity springing from its actual presence, and is impa- tient of the Constitutional guaranties thrown around it, and would act in disregard of these, he too is misplaced, standing with us. He will find his I)lace somewhere else ; for we have a due regard, so far as we are capable of understanding them, for all these things. This, gentlemen, as well as I can give it, is a plain statement of our principles in all their enormity. Mr. Douglas replied to Mr. Lincoln in a manner wliich proved that he felt the arguments which his antagonist had advanced to be actually unanswerable, and in open ing his rejoinder Mr. Lincoln used this language : — I wish to return to Judge Douglas my profound thanks for his public annunciation here to-day, to be put on record, that his system of policy in regard to the institution of slavery contemplates that it shall last for- ever. We are getting a little nearer the true issue of this controversy, and I am profoundly grateful for this one sentence. Judge Douglas asks you, " Why cannot the institution of .slavery, or rather, why cannot the nation, part slave and part free, continue as our fathers made it forever V In the first place, I insist that our fathers did not make this nation half slave and half free, or part slave and part free. I insist that they found the in- stitution of slavery existing here. They did not make it so, but they left it so, because they knew of no way to get rid of it at that time. When Judge Douglas undertakes to say that, as a matter of choice, the fathers of the Government made this nation part slave and part free, he assumes what is historically a falsehood. More than that : when the fathers 72 The Life, Public Services, and of the Government cut off the source of slavery by tlie abolition of the slave-trade, and adopted a system of restricting it from the new Territories where it had not existed, I maintain that they placed it where they understood, and all sensible men understood, it was in the course of ultimate extinction; and when Judge Douglas asks me why it cannot continue as our fathers made it, I ask him why he and his friends could not let it remain as our fathers made it? It is precisely all I ask of him in relation to the institution of slavery, that it shall be placed upon the basis that our fathers placed it upon. Mr. Brooks, of South Carolina, once said, and truly said, that when this Gov- ernment was established, no one expected the institution of slavery to last until this day ; and that the men who formed this Government were wiser and better than the men of these days ; but the men of these days had experience which the fathers had not, and that experience had taught them the invention of the cotton-gin, and this had made the perpetuation of the institution of slavery a necessity in this country. Judge Douglas could not let it stand upon the basis on which our fathers placed it, but removed it, &\^d put it upon the cotton-gin basis. It is a question, there- fore, for him and liis friends to answer — why they could not let it remain where the fathers of the Government originally placed it. The seventli and last joiut debate took jDlace at Alton, October 15. According to the schedule previously agreed upon, Mr. Douglas had the opening speech. Mr. Lincoln, in his rejoinder, made a thorougli and exhaustive review of the slavery question in its relations to the Democratic party. He showed that the doctrines of that party, with reference to this question, were not those held at the time of the Revolution ; traced the development of the agita- tion which had resulted from the efforts of the Democracy to put slavery upon a different footing, and sketched the dangers and difficulties in which this attempt had in- volved the country. He thus expressed his opinion of the way in which this agitation might be terminated : — I have intimated that I thought the agitation would not cease until a crisis should have been reached and passed. I have stated in what way I thought it would be reached and passed. I have said that it might go one way or tlie other. We might, by arresting the further spread of it, and placing it where the fathers originally placed it, put it where the pub- lic mind should rest in the belief that it was in the course of ultimate ex- tinction. Thus the agitation may cease. It may be pushed forward until it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new, North as well as South. I have said, and I repeat, my wish is that the further State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 73 spread of it may be arrested, and that it may be placed where tlie public muul shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction. I have expressed that as my wish. I entertain the opinion, upon cTidence sufficient to my mind, that the fathers of this Government placed that in- stitution where the public mind did rest in the belief that it was in the course of ultim.ate extinction. Let me ask why they made provision that ttic source of slavery — the African slave-trade — should be cut off at the end of twenty years? Why did they make provision th£.t in all the new territory we owned at that time, slavery should be forever inhibited? "Why stop its spread in one direction and cut off its source in another, if they did not look to its being placed in the course of ultimate extinction ? Mr. Lincoln then demonstrated that the whole contro- versy turned upon the vital question whether slavery was wrong or not, and proved that the sentiraent of the Democratic party, as it then existed, was that it was not wrong, and that Douglas and those who sympathized Avith liim did not desire or ever expect to see the country freed from this gigantic evil. , Upon this point he said : The sentiment that contemplates the institution of slavery in this coun- try as a wrong is the sentiment of the Republican party. It is the senti- ment around which all their actions — all their arguments circle — from which all their propositions radiate. They look upon it as being a moral, social, and political wrong; and while they contemplate it as such, they nevertheless have due regard for its actual existence among us, and the difficulties of getting rid of it in any satisfactory way, and to all the con- stitutional obligations thrown about it. Yet, having a due regard for these, they desire a policy in regard to it that looks to its not creating any more danger. They insist that it should, as fir as may be, be treated as a wrong, and one of the methods of treating it as a wrong is to make provision that it shall grow no larger. They also desire a policy that looks to a peaceful end of slavery at some time, as being wrong. These are the views they entertain in regard to it, as I understand them ; and all their sentiments — all their arguments and propositions are brought within this range. I have said, and I repeat it here, that if there be a man amongst us who does not think that the institution of slavery is wrong, in any one of the aspects of which I have spoken, he is misplaced, and ought not to be with us. And if there be a man amongst us who is so impatient of it as a wrong as to disregard its actual presence among us, and the difficulty of getting rid of it suddenly in a satisfactory way, and to disregard the con- stitutional obligations thrown about it, that man is misplaced, if he is on our platform. AVe disclaim sympathy with him in practical action. He is not placed properly with us. i The Life, Public Services, and Ou this subject of treating it as a wrong, and limiting its sj read, let nie say a word. lias any tiling ever threatened the existence of this Union, save and except this very institution of slavery? What is it that we hold most dear amongst us ? Our own liberty and prosperity. What has ever threatened our liberty and prosperity, save and except this institution of Blavery ? If this is true, how do you propose to improve the condition of things by enlarging slavery — by spreading it out and making it bigger? You may have a wen or cancer upon your person and not be able to cut it out lest you bleed to death ; but surely it is no way to cure it, to en- graft it and spread it over your whole body. That is no proper way of treating what you regard a wrong. You see this peaceful way of dealing with it as a wrong — restricting the spread of it, and not allowing it to go into new countries where it has not already existed. That is the peaceful way, the old-tashioued way, the way in which the fathers themselves set us the example. On the other hand, I have said there is a sentiment which treats it as not being wrong. That is the Democratic sentiment of this day. I do not mean to say that every man who stands within that range positively asserts that it is right. That class will include all who positively assert that it is right, and all who, like Judge Douglas, treat it as indifferent, and do not say it is either right or wrong. These two classes of men fall withiu the general class of those who do not look upon it as a wrong. And if there be among you anybody who sujiposes that he, as a Demo- crat, can consider himself "as much opposed to slavery as anybody," I would like to reason with him. Y"ou never treat it as a wrong. What other thing that you consider as a wrong, do you deal with as you deal with that? Perhaps you say it is wrong, but your leader never does, and you quarrel with anybody who says it is wrong. Although you pretend to say so yourself, you can find no fit place to deal with it as a wi'ong. Y"ou must not say any thing about it in the free States, because it is not here. You must not say any thing about it in the slave States, because it is there. You must not say any thing about it in the pulpit, because that is religion, and has nothing to do with it. You must not say any thing about it in politics, because that will disturb the security of "my jjlace." There is no place to talk about it as being a wrong, although you say yourself it is a wrong. But, finally, you will screw yourself up to the be- lief that if the people of the slave States should adopt a system of grad- ual emancipation on the slavery question, you would be in favor of it. You would be in favor of it. You say that is getting it in the right place, and you would be glad to see it succeed. But you are deceiving yourself. You all know that Frank Blair and Gratz Brown, down there in St. Louis, undertook to introduce that system into Missouri. They fought as vali- antly as they could for the system of gradual emancipation which you pretend you would be glad to see succeed. Now I will bring you to the test. After a iiard fight they were beaten, and when the news came over State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 75 here you threw up your hats and hurrahed for Democracy. More than that ; take all the arguments made in favor of the system you have pro- posed, and it carefully excludes the idea that there is any thing wrong in the institution of slavery. The arguments to sustain that policy carefully excluded it. Even here to-day you heard Judge Douglas quarrel with me because I uttered a wish that it might sometime come to an end. Al- though Henry Clay could say he wished every slave in the United States ■was in the country of his ancestors, I am denounced by those pretending to respect Henry Clay for uttering a wish that it might sometime, in some peaceful way, come to an end. The Democratic policy in regard to that institution will not tolerate the merest breath, the slightest hint, of the least degree of wrong about it. Besides tlie speeches made in the course of these seven joint debates, Mr. Lincoln delivered at least fifty other addresses to the people, in all parts of the State, during the canvass, everywhere expounding his views and de- claring his sentiments with the same frankness and man- liness. The chief interest of the contest, however, cen- tred in their joint debates, and with every succeed- ing encounter the feeling in the State, and through- out the country, became more intense. As the day for final decision approached, Illinois fairly blazed with the excitement. While Mr. Douglas fully sus- tained his previous reputation, and justified the estimate his friends had placed upon his abilities, he labored un- der the comparative disadvantage of being much better known to the country at large than was his antagonist. During his long public career, people had become par- tially accustomed to his manner of presenting arguments and enforcing them. The novelty and freshness of Mr. Lincoln's addresses, on the other hand, the homeliness and force of his illustrations, their wonderful pertinence, his exhaustless humor, his confidence in his own re- sources, engendered by his firm belief in the justice of the cause he so ably advocated, never once rising, how- ever, to the point of arrogance or superciliousness, fast- ened upon him the eyes of the people everywhere, friends and opponents alike. It was not strange that more than once, during the course of the unparalleled excitement 76 The Life, Public Ser\ices, and wliicli marked tliis canvass, Mr. Douglas should have been thrown off his guard by tlie singular self-possession displayed by his antagonist, and by the imperturbable firm- ness with which he maintained and defended a posi- tion once assumed. The unassuming confidence which marked Mr. Lincoln's conduct was early imparted to his supporters, and each succeeding encounter added largely to the number of his friends, until they began to indulge the hope that a triumph might be secured in spite of the adverse circumstances under which the struggle was com- menced. And so it would have been, had party lines Ibeen more strictly drawn. But the action of Mr. Doug- las with reference to the Lecompton Constitution when it was before the United States Senate, and the bitter hos- tility of the southern wing of the Democratic party to wards him, had led very many Republicans, and some of high consideration and influence in other States, to favor his return to the Senate. They deemed this due to the zeal and efficiency with which he had resisted the attempt to force slavery into Kansas against the will of the peo^ pie, and as important in encouraging other Democratic leaders to imitate the example of Douglas in throwing off the yoke of the slaveholding aristocracy. This feeling proved to be of much weight against Mr. Lincoln in the canvass. In the election which took place on November 2d, the popular vote stood as follows : Republican 126,084 Douglas Democrat 121,940 Lecompton Democrat 5,091 Mr. Lincoln, therefore, had the people heen permitted to decide the question directly, would have been returned to the Senate, since he had a plurality of four thousand one hundred and forty-four votes over Mr. Douglas ; but the State legislature was the tribunal that was to pass finally upon it ; and there, fortunately for the country, as the future showed, but unfortunately for Mr. Lincoln State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 77 at that time, the Democrats had secured an advantage, by means of an unfair districting of the State, which it was impossible to overcome. Notwithstanding the immense gains made by tlie Republicans, their opponents had, in the upper branch of this body, fourteen members to their eleven, while in the lower House these two parties stood forty Democrats to thirty-live Republicans. This state of affiiirs secured Mr. Douglas a re-election, although the fact that he was fairly beaten on the popular vote, robbed his triumph of much of its lustre. An overruling Prov- idence, the workings of which can now be clearly traced, but which were then inscrutable, by securing this result, ultimately gave the nation for its chief magistrate the man best fitted to carry it safely tlirough the most trying period of its history. 78 • The Life, Public Services, and CHAPTER III. MR. LINCOLiSr AND THE PRESIDENCY. The Campaign of 1859 in Ohio. — Mr. Lincoln's Speeohes at Columbus AND Cincinnati. — IIis Visit to the East. — In New Yokk City. — Tub GREAT Si'EEOn at CoOPEK INSTITUTE. Mb. LiNCOLN NOMINATED FOB THE PrESIDENCT. — HiS ELECTION. Cheerfully resigning himself to tlie fortunes of politi- cal warfare, Mr. Lincoln, upon the close of this canvass, returned to the practice of his profession. But he was not long allowed to remain in retirement. In the autumn of 1859 the Democrats of Ohio nominated Mr. Pugh as their candidate for governor, and to repay the fidelity with which he had followed his standard, as well as in the hope of securing important advantages for the democ- racy, Mr. Douglas was enlisted in the canvass. The Republicans at once appealed to Mr. Lincoln to come to their assistance. He promptly responded to the invita- tion to meet his eld antagonist, and more than sustained his great reputation by two speeches, one delivered at Columbus and the other at Cincinnati. Not fully satis- fied with the position in which the closfe of the canvass in Illinois had left his favorite doctrine of Popular Sover- eignty, Mr, Douglas had secured the insertion in Harper's Magazine of an elaborate and carefully prepared article explaining his views at length. Mr. Lincoln' s speech at Columbus was a most masterly review of this paper. After replying briefly to the identically stale charges which Mr. Douglas had so often repeated during the can- vass in Illinois, and which he had reiterated in a speech delivered at Columbus a few days previously, Mr. Lin- coln addressed himself to the task he had in hand, as fol- lows ; — The Republican party, as I understand its principles and policy, believe that there is great danger of the institution of slavery being spread out State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 79 and extended, 'until it is ultimately made alike lawful in all the States of this Union ; so believing, to prevent that incidental and ultinintp consum- mation, is the original and chief purpose of tiic Republican organization, I say " chief purpose" of the Republican organization ; for it is certainly true that if the National House shall fall into the hands of the Republicans, they will have to attend to all the other matters of national house-keep- ing as well as this. The chief and real purpose of the Republican party is eminently conservative. It proposes nothing save and except to restore this Government to its original tone in regard to this element of slavery, and there to maintain it, looking for no further change in reference to it than that which the original framers of the Government themselves ex- pected and looked forward to. The chief danger to this purpose of the Republican party is not just now the revival of the African slave-trade, or the passage of a Congres- sional slave-code, or the declaring of a second Dred Scott decision, making slavery lawful in all the States. These are not pressing us just now. They are not quit* ready yet. The authors of these measures know that ■we are too strong for them ; but they will be upon us in due time, and we will be grappling with them hand to hand, if they are not now headed off. They are not now the chief danger to the purpose of the Republican organization ; but the most imminent danger that now threatens tliat pur- pose is that insidious Douglas Popular Sovereignty. This is the miner and sapper. While it does not propose to revive the African slave-trade, nor to pass a slave-code, nor to make a second Dred Scott decision, it is preparing us for the onslaught and charge of these ultimate enemies when they shall be ready to come on, and the word of command for them to advance shall be given. I say this Douglas Popular Sovereignty — for there is a broad distinction, as I now understand it, between that article and a genuine Popular Sovereignty. I believe there is a genuine popular sovereignty. I think a definition of genuine popular sovereignty, in the abstract, would be about this : That each man shall do precisely as he pleases with himself, and with all those things which exclusively concern him. Applied to Government, this principle would be, that a General Government shall do all those things which pertain to it, and all the local Governments sha.ll do pre- cisely as they please in respect to those matters which exclusively concern them. I understand that this Government of the United States, under which we live, is based upon this principle ; and I am misunderstood if it is supposed that I have any war to make upon that principle. Now, what is Judge Douglas's Popular Sovereignty? It is, as a prin- ciple, no other than that, if one man chooses to make a slave of another man, neither that other man nor anybody else has a right to object. Applied in Government, as he seeks to apply it, it is this : If, in a new Territory into which a few people are beginning to enter for the purpose of making their homes, they choose to either exclude slavery from their 80 The Life, Public Services, and limits or to establish it there, however one or the other'may affect the persons to be enslaved, or the infinitely greater number of persons whc are afterward to inhabit that Territory, or the other members of the fami- lies of communities, of which they are but an incipient member, or the general head of the family of States, as parent of all — however their action may affect one or the other of these, there is no power or right to inter- fere. That is Douglas's Popular Sovereignty applied. He has a good deal of trouble with Popular Sovereignty. His explana tions explanatory of explanations explained are interminable. The most lengthy, and, as I suppose, the most maturely considered of his long series of explanations, is his great essay in Harper's Magazine. This exordium was followed by a speech which will rank among the ablest efforts of Mr. Lincoln. In an argument in which great sarcasm and humor were charac- teristically intermingled, he thoroughly exposed the fallacy of the positions taken by Mr. Douglas, and in conclusion, after again warning his hearers against the insidious dangers of this doctrine of popular sovereignty, said : — Did you ever, five years ago, hear of anybody in the world saying that the negro had no share in the Declaration of National Independence ; that it did not mean negroes at all ; and when " all men " were spoken of, negroes were not included ? I am satisfied that five years ago that proposition was not put upon paper by any living being anywhere. I have been unable at any time to find a man in an audience who would declare that he had ever known of anybody saying so five years ago. But last year there was not a Douglas popular sovereign in Illinois who did not say it. Is tliere one in Ohio but declares his firm belief that the Declaration of Independence did not mean negroes at all? I do not know how this is ; I have not been here much ; but I presume you are very much alike everywhere. Then I suppose tliat all now express the belief that the Declaration of Inde- pendence never did mean negroes. I call upon one of them to say that he said it five years ago. If you think that now, and did not think it then, the next thing that strikes me is to remark that there has been a change wrought in you, and a very significant change it is, being no less than changing the negro, in your estimation, from the rank of a man to that of a brute. They are taking him down, and placing him, when spoken of, among reptiles and crocodiles, as Judge Douglas himself expresses it. Is not this change wrought in your minds a very important change ? Public opinion in this country is every thing. In a nation like ours, this popular sovereignty and squatter sovereignty have already wrouglit a State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 81 change in the puhlic mind to tlie extent I h;ive stated. There is no man in this crowd who can contradict it. Xow, if you are opposed to slavery hniiestly, as much as anyhody, i ask you to note that fact, and the like of which is to follow, to l)o plastered on, layer after layer, until very soim you are prepared to deal with the negro everywhere as with the brute. If public sen- timent has not been debauched already to this point, a new turn of the screw in that direction is all that is wanting; and this is con- stantly being done by the teachers of this insidious popular sovereignty. You need but one or two turns further until your minds, now ripening under these teachings, will be ready for all these things, and you will re- ceive and support, or sulimit to, the slave-trade, revived with all its horrors, a slave-code enforced in our Territories, and a new Dred Scott decision to bring slavery up into tlie very heart of the free North. This, [ must say, is but carrying out those words prophetically spoken by Mr. Clay, many, many years ago — I believe more than thirty years, when he told an audience that if they would repress all tendencies to liberty and ultimate emancipation, they must go back to the era of our independence, and muzzle the cannon which thundered its annual joyous return on the Fourth of July ; they must blow out the moral lights around us ; they must penetrate the human soul and eradicate the love of liberty; bur until they did these things, and others eloquently enumerated by him, they could not repress all tendencies to ultimate emancipation. I ask attention to the fact that in a pre-eminent degree these popular sovereigns are at this work; blowing out the moral lights around us; teaching that the negro is no longer a man, but a brute; that the Declara- tion has nothing to do with him; that he ranks with the crocodile and the reptile ; that man, with body and soul, is a matter of dollars and cents. I suggest to this portion of the Ohio Republicans, or Democrats, if there be any present, the serious consideration of this fact, that there is now going on among you a steady process of debauching public opinion on this subject. With tliis, my friends, I bid you adieu. Ill liis speecli at Cincinnati, Mr. Lincoln addressed liini- self particularly to the Kentuckians wliom he supposed to be among his hearers, and after advising them to nom- inate Mr. Douglas as their candidate for tlie Presidency at the approaching Charleston Convention, showed them liow by so doing they would tlie most surely protect their cherished institution of slavery. In the course of liis argument he expressed this shrewd opinion, wul:^h may now be classed as a prophecy : — It is but my opinion ; I give it to you without a fee. It is my opinion 6 82 The Life, Public Services, and that it is for you to take him [Mr. Douglas] or be defeated ; and that if you do take him, you may be beaten. You will .surely be beaten if you do not take Inm. We, the Republicans and others forming the opposition of the country, intend to " stand by our guns," to bo patient and firm, and in the long run to beat you, whether you take him or not. We know that before we fairly beat you, we have to beat you both together. We know that you arc '' all of a feather," and that we have to beat you altogether, and we expect to do it. We don't intend to be very impatient about it. We mean to be as deliberate and calm about it as it is possible to be, but as firm and resolved as it is possible for men to be. When we do as wo Bay, beat you, you perhaps want to know what we will do with yo^i. I will tell you, so far as I am authorized to speak for the opposition, what we mean to do with you. We mean to treat you, as near as wo possibly can, as Washington, Jefferson, and Madison treated you. We mean to leave you alone, and in no way to interfere witli your institution ; to abide by all and every comjjromise of the Constitution, and, in a word, coming back to the original proi)Osition, to treat you, so far as degener- ated men (if we have degenerated) may, according to the examples of those noble fathers — Washington, Jefferson, and Madison. We mean to remember that you are as good as we; that there is no difterence between us other than the difference of circumstances. We mean to recognize and bear in mind always that you have as good hearts in your bosoms as other people, or as we claim to have, and treat you accordingly. We mean to marry your girls when we have a chance — the white ones, I mean, and I have the honor to inform you that I once did have a chance in that way. I have told you what we mean to do. I want to know, now, when that tiling takes place, what do you mean to do ? I often hear it inti- mated that you mean to divide the Union whenever a Republican, or any +hing like it, is elected President of the United States. [A voice — " That is so."] " That is so," one of them says ; I wonder if he is a Kentuckiau ? [A voice — " He is a Douglas man."] Well, then, I want to know what you are going to do with your half of it ? Are you going to split the Ohio down through, and push your half off a piece ? Or are you going to keep it right alongside of us outrageous fellows ? Or are you going to build up a wall some way between your country and ours, by which that movable property of yours can't come over here any more, to the danger of your losing it? Do you think yon can better yourselves on that sub- ject, by leaving us here under no obligation whatever to return thos® specimens of your movable property that come hither? You have divided the Union because we would not do right with you, as you think, upon that subject ; when we cease to be under obligations to do any thing for you, hr.-- .iiuch better off do you think you will be? Will you make war upon us and kill us all? Why, gentlemen, I think you are'as gallant and as brave men as live ; that you can fight as bravely in a good cause, man fi>r man, as any other people living; that you have shown yourselves State Papers of Abiiaiiam Lincoln. 83 capable of this upon various oocfisions; but, man for man, you are not better than we are, and there are not so many of you as there are of u.s. You will never make much of a hand at wliippinj^ us. If we were fewer ill numbers than you, I think that you could whip us; if we were equal, it would likely be a drawn battle; but, being inferior in numbers, you will make nothing by attemi)tiiig to master us. But perhaps I have addressed myself as long, or longer, to the Ken- tuckians than I ought to have done, inasmuch as I have said that what- ever course you take, we intend in the end to beat you. The rest of this address was mainly occupied with a discussion of the policy Avliich the Republican party should pursue in the Presidential campaign then about to open. The following passage from this part of the speech is among the most notable of Mr. Lincoln's many noble utterances : In order to beat oar opponents, I think we want and must have a national policy in regai-d to the institution of slavery, that acknowledges and deals with that institution as being wrong. AYhoever desires the pre- v'ention of the spread of slavery, and the nationalization of that institution, yields all when he yields to any policy that either recognizes slavery as being right, or as being an indifferent thing. Nothing will make you suc- cessful but setting up a policy which shall treat the thing as being wrong. When I say this, I do not mean to say that this General Government is charged with the duty of redressing or preventing all the wrongs in the world; but do think that it is charged with preventing and redressing all wrongs which are wrongs to itself. This Government is exprv._«sly charged with the duty of providing for the general welfare. We believe that the spreading out and perpetuity of the institution of slavery impairs the general welfare. We believe — nay, we know, that that is the only thing that has ever threatened the perpetuity of the Union itself. The only thing which has ever menaced the destruction of the government under which we live, is this very thing. To repress this thing, we think, is providing for the general welfare. Our friends in Kentucky differ from us. We need not make our argu- ment for them, but we who think it is wrong in all its relations, or in some of them at least, must decide as to our own actions, and our own course, upon our own judgment. I say that we must not interfere with the institution of slavery in the States wher6 it exists, because the Constitution forbids it, and the general welfare does not require us to do so. We must not withhold an efficient Fugitive Slave law, because the Constitution requires us, as I understand it, not to withhold such a law. But we must prevent the outspreading of the institution, because neither the Constitution nor the general welfare 8-1 The Life, Public Services, and requires ns to extend it. We must prevent the revival of tlie African slave- trade, and the enacting by Congress of a Territorial slave-code. We must prevent eacli of these things being done by either Congresses or courts. The people of these United States are the rightful masters of both Con- gresses and courts, not to overtlirow the Constitution, but to overtlirow the men who pervert the Constitution. To do tliese tlnngs we must employ instrumentalities. We must hold conventions ; we must adopt platforms, if we conform to ordinary custom ; we must nominate candidates, and we must carry elections. In all these things, I tliink that we ought to keep in view our real purpose, and in none do any thing that stands adverse to our purpose. If we shall adopt a platform that fails to recognize or express our purpose, or elect a man tliat declares liimself inimical to ourpurjjose, we not only take nothing by our success, but we tacitly admit that we act upon no other principle than a desire to have "the loaves and fishes," by which, in the end, our apparent success is really an injury to us. During tlie latter part of that year (1859) Mr. Lincoln also visited Kansas, and was greeted with enthusiastic cordial ity by the people, whose battles he had fought witli such masterly ability and skill. In February, 1860, in response to an invitation from the Young Men' s Republican Club, he came to New York, to deliver an address upon some toj^ic appropriate to the crisis which it was evident was ap- proaching. Tuesday evening, February 27th, was the hour, and Cooper Institute was the place, selected for the first appearance of the future President before the New York public ; and a curiosity to see the man who had so ably combated the "Little Giant" of the West, as well as an earnest desire to hear an expression of his views upon tlie cjuestions which were then so rapidly developing in im- portance, and beginning to agitate the public mind so deeply, filled the large hall named to overfloAving, with an audience which comprised many ladies. William Cullen Bryant presided, assisted by numerous prominent politicians. He presented Mr. Lincoln to the audience with a few appropriate remarks. Mr. Lincoln was quite warmly received, and delivered an address which at times excited uncontrollable enthusiasm. It was at once accepted as one of the most important contributions to the current political literature of the day, and now stands among the State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 85 enduring monuments to Mr. Lincoln's memory. We ap- pend it in full : Mk. Phesident and Fellow-Citizens of New Yokk : — The facts with wliicli I sliuU deal this evening are mainly old and familiar ; nor is there any thing new in the general use I shall make of them. If there shall ho any novelty, it will he in the mode of presenting the facta, and the infer- ences and ohservations following that i)resentatiou. In his speech last autumn, at Columhus, Ohio, as rei>orted in the "New York Times," Senator Douglas said: " Our fathers^ when tlicy framed the Government nnder which we live^ understood this question juntas icelU and even letter than we do now.^'' I fully indorse this, and I adopt it as a text for this discourse. I so adopt it hecause it furnishes a precise and an agreed starting-point for a discus- sion hetween RepuhUcans and that wing of the Democracy headed by Senator Douglas. It simply leaves tlie inquiry : " What was the under- standing those fathers liad of the question mentioned T'' Wliat is the frame of Government under which we live ? The answer must be: " The Constitution of the United States." That Constitution consists of the original, framed in 1787 (and under which the present government first went into operation), and twelve subsequently framed amendments, the first ten of which were framed in 1789. Who were our fathers that framed the Constitution ? I suppose the " thirty-nine " who signed the original instrument may be fairly called cur fathers who framed that part of the present Government. It is almost exactly true to say they framed it, and it is altogether true to say they fair- ly represented the opinion and sentiment of the whole nation at that time. Their names, being familiar to nearly all, and accessible to quite all, need not now be repeated. I take these "thirty-nine," for the present, as being our "fathers who framed tlie Government under which we live." What is the question which, according to the text, those fathers under stood "just as well, and even better than we do now ?" It is this : Does the proper division of local from fedei-al authority, or any thing in the Constitution, forbid our Federal Government to control as to slavery in our Federal Territories ? Upon this Senator Douglas holds the affirmative, and Kepublicans the negative. This affirmation and denial form an issue, and this issue — this question — is precisely what the text declares our fatliers understood " bet- ter than we." Let us now inquire whether the " thirty-nine," or any of them, acted upon this question ; and if they did, how they acted upon it — how they expressed that better understanding? In 178-i, three years before the Constitution — the United States then owning the Northwestern Territory, and no other — the Congress of the Con 86 The Life, Public Services, and fetleration had before them the question of proliibiting shwery in that Ter- ritory ; and four of the " thirty-nine," who afterward framed the Consti- tution, were in that Congress and voted on tliat question. Of these, Roger Sherman, Thomas Mifflin, and Hugh Williamson voted for the pro- hibition, tlius showing that, in their understanding, no line dividing local from Federal authority, nor any thing else, properly forbade the Federal Government to control as to slavery in Federal territory. The other of the four— James M'Henry — voted against the prohibition, showing thar, for some cause, he thought it ina proper to vote for it. In 1T87, still before the Constitution, but while the Convention was in session framing it, and while the Northwestern Territory still was the only territory owned by the United States, the same question of prohibiting slavery in the territory again came before the Congress of the Confedera- tion ; and two more of the " thirty-nine" who afterward signed the Con- stitution were in that Congress, and voted on the question. They were William Blount and William Few ; and they both voted for the prohibi- tion—thus showing that, in their understanding, no line dividing local from Federal authority, nor any thing else, properly forbade the Federal Government to control as to slavery in Federal territory. This time the prohibition became a law, being part of what is now well known as the Ordiiiai'ce of '87. The question of Federal control of slavery in the territories, seems not to have been directly before the Convention which framed the original Constitution ; and hence it is not recorded that the " thirty-nine," or any of them, while engaged on that instrument, expressed any opinion on that precise question. In 1789, by the first Congress which sat under the Constitution, an act was passed to enforce the Ordinance of '87, including the prohibition of slavery in the Northwestern Territory. The bill for this act was reported by one of the " thirty -nine," Thomas Fitzsiminons, then a member of the House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. It went through all its stages without a word of opposition, and finally passed both branches with- out yeas and nays, which is e(iuivalent to a unanimous passage. In this Congress there were sixteen of the thirty-nine fathers who framed the original Constitution. They were John Langdon, Nicholas Gilman, Wm. S. Johnson, Roger Sherman, Robert Morris, Thos. Fitzsimmons, William Few, Abraham Baldwin, Rufus King, William Patcrson, George Clymer, Richard Bassett, George Read, Pierce Butler, Daniel Carroll, James Madi- son. This shows that, in their understanding, no line dividing local from Fed- eral authority, nor any tiling in the Constitution, properly forbade Con- gress to i)ro!iibit slavery in the Federal territory; else both their fidelity to correct principles, and their oath to support the Constitution, would have constramed them to oppose the prohibition. Again: George Washington, another of the "thirty-nine," was then State Papers of Abraham Lixcolx. 87 President of the United States, and, as such, approved and sis^ncd the bill ; thus completing its validity as a law, and thus showing that, in his under- standing, no line dividing local from Federal authority, nor fl.ny tiling in the Constitution, forbade the Federal Government to control as to shivery in Federal territory. Fo great while after the adoption of the original Constitution, Korth Carolina ceded to the Federal Government the country now constituting the State of Tennessee; and, a few years later, Georgia ceded that which now constitutes the States of Mississippi and Alabama. In both deeds of cession it was made a condition by the ceding States that the Federal Government should not prohibit slavery in the ceded country. Iksides this, slavery was then actually in the ceded country. Under these cir- cumstances, Congress, on taking charge of these countries, did not abso- lutely prohibit slavery within them. But they did interfere with it — take control of it — even there, to a certain extent. In 1798, Congress organ- ized the Territory of Mississippi. In the act of organization, they prohib- ited the bringing of slaves into the Territory, from any place without the United States, by fine, and giving freedom to slaves so brought. This act passed both branches of Congress without yeas and nays. In that Con- gress were three of the "thirty-nine" who framed the original Constitu- tion. They were John Langdon, George Read, and Abraham Baldwin. They all, probably, voted for it. Certainly they would have placed their opposition to it upon record, if, in their understanding, any line dividing local from Federal authority, or any thing in the Constitution, jiroperly for- bade the Federal Government to control as to slavery in Federal territory. In 1803, the Federal Government purchased the Louisiana country. Our former territorial acquisitions came from certain of our own States ; hut this Louisiana country was acquired from a foreign nation. In 1804, Congress gave a territorial organization to that part of it which now con- stitutes the State of Louisiana. Kew Orleans, lying within that part, was an old and comparatively large city. There were other considerable towns and settlements, and slavery was extensively and thoroughly inter- mingled with the people. Congress did not, in the Territorial Act, pro- hibit slavery ; but they did interfere with it — take control of it — in a move marked and extensive way than they did in the case of Mississippi. The substance of the provision therein made in relation to slaves was: First. That no slave should be imported into the territory from foreign parts. Second. That no slave should be carried into it who had been imported into the United States since tlie first day of May, 1708. Third. That no slave should be carried into it except by the owner, and for his own use as a settler; the penalty in all the cases being a fine upon the violator of the law, and freedom to the slave. This act also was passed without yeas and nays. In the Congres.s which passed it, there were two of the "thirty-nine." They were Abra- 88 The Life, Public Services, and liam Baldwin and Jonathan Dayton. As stated in tlie case of Mississippi, it is probable they both voted for it. They would not have allowed it to pass without recording their opposition to it, if, in their understanding, it violated either the line properly dividing local from Federal authority, or any provision of the Constitution. In 1819-20, came and passed the Missouri question. Many votes were taken, by yeas and nays, in both branches of Congress, upon the various phases of the general question. Two of the "thirty-nine" — Rufus King and Charles Pinckney — were members of that Congress. Mr. King steadily voted for slavery prohibition and against all compromises, while Mr. Pinckney as steadily voted against slavery prohibition, and .against all compromises. By this, Mr. King showed that, in his understanding, no line dividing local from Federal authority, nor any thing in the Consti- tution, was violated by Congress prohibiting slavery in Federal territory ; while Mr. Pinckney, by his vote, showed that, in his understanding, there was some sufficient reason for opposing such prohibition in that case. The cases I have mentioned are the only acts of the "thirty-nine," or of any of them, upon the direct issue, which I have been able to discover. To enumerate the persons who thus acted, as being four in ITS-t, two in 1787, seventeen in 1789, three in 1798, two in 1804, and two in 1819- 20 — there would be thirty of them. But this would be counting John Langdon, Pvoger Sherman, "William Few, Rufus King, and George Read, each twice, and Abraham Baldwin, three times. The true number of those of the "thirty-nine" whom I have shown to have acted upon the question which, by the text, they understood better than we, is twenty- three, leaving sixteen not shown to have acted upon it in any way. Here, then, we have twenty-three out of our thirty-nine fathers " who framed the Government under which we live," who have, upon their official responsibility and their corporal oaths, acted upon tlie very ques- tion whicii the text affirms they " understood just as well, and even bet- ter than we do now;" and twenty -one of them — a clear majority of the whole "thirty-nine" — so acting upon it as to make them guilty of gross political impropriety and wilful perjury, if, in their understanding, any proper division between local and Fetuous in any one at this day to aftirm that the two things which that Congress deliberately framed, and carried to ma- turity at the same time, are absolutely inconsistent with each other? And does not such aflirmation become impudently absurd when coupled with the other affirmation from the same mouth, that those who did the two things alleged to be inconsistent, understood whether they really were inconsistent better than we — better than he who affirms that they are inconsistent ? It is surely safe to assume that the thirty-nine framers of the original Constitution, and the seventy-six members of the Congress which framed the amendments thereto, taken together, do certainly include those who may be fairly called " our fathers who framed the Government under which we live." And, so assuming, I defy any man to show that any one of them ever, in his whole life, declared that, in his understanding, any proper division of local from Federal authority, or any part of the Con- stitution, forbade the Federal Government to control as to slavery in the Federal territories. I go a step further. I defy anyone to show that any living man in the whole world ever did, prior to the beginning of the present century (and I might almost say prior to the beginning of the State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 91 last half of tbo present century), declare that, in his nnderstanfUn!^, any proper division of local from Federal authority, or any part of the Consti- tution, forhade the Federal Government to control as to slavery in the Federal territories. To those who now so declare, I give not only " our fathers who framed the Government under which we live." but with them all other living men within the century in which it was framed, among whom to search, and they shall not be able to find the evidence of a single man agreeing with them. Now, and here, let me guard a little again-t being misnndei-stood. I do not mean to say we are bound to follow implicitly in whatever our fathers did. To do so, would be to discard all the lights of cun-ent ex- perience — to reject all progress — all improvement. AVhat I do say is, that if we would supplant the ojjinions and policy of our fathers in any case, we should do so upon evidence so conclusive, and argument so clear, that even their great authority, fairly considered and weighed, cannot stand ; and most surely not in a case whereof we ourselves declare they under- stood the question better than we. If any man at this day sincerely believes that proper division o-f local from Federal authority, or any part of the Constitution, forbids the Federal Government to control as to slavery in tlie Federal territories, he is right to say so, and to enforce his position by all truthful evidence and tair argument which he can. But he liaa no right to mislead others, who have less access to history, and less leisure to study it, into the false belief that " our fathers, who framed the Government under which we live," were of the same opinion — thus substituting falsehood and deception for truthful eviilence and fair ai-gument. If any man at this day sincerely believes "our futliers who framed the Government under which we live," used and applied principles, in other cases, which ought to have led them to understand that a proper division of local from Federal authority, or some part of the Constitution, forbids the Federal Government to control as to slavery in the Federal territories, he is right to say so. But he should, at the same time, brave the responsibility of declaring that, in his opinion, he understands their principles better than they did themselves; and especially should he not shirk that responsibility by asserting that they " understood the question just as well, and even better than we do now." But enough! Let all icho believe that ^^ our fathers, icho framed the Oovernment under which ice live, understood this question just as well, and even letter than we do noio,"" speak as they sjjohe, and act as they acted upon it. This i^ all Repuhlicans ash — all Republicans desire — in relation to slavery. As those fathers marlced it, so let it be again marlced, as an evil not to be extended, but to be tolerated and protected only because of, and so far as, its actual presence among us makes that toleration and protection a necessity. Let all the guaranties those fathers gave it be not grudgingly, but fully and fairly maintained. For this- Republicans contend, and with this, so far as I know or believe, they will be canteut. 92 The Life, Public Services, and And now, if thej' would listen — as I suppose they will not — I would address a few words to the Southern people. I would say to them : — You consider yourselves a r<.'asonaLIe and a just people ; and I consider that in the general qualities of reason and justice you are nut inferior to any other people. Still, when you speak of us Republicans, you do so only to denounce us as reptiles, or, at the best, as no better than outlaws. You will grant a hearing to pirates or murderers, but nothing like it to ''Black Republicans." In all your contentions with one another, each of you deems an unconditional condemnation of "Black Republicanism " as the first thing to be attended to. Indeed, such con- demnation of us seems to be an indispensable prerequisite — license, so to speak — among you, to be admitted or permitted to speak at all. Now, can you, or not, be prevailed upon to pause, and to consider whether this is quite just to us, or even to yourselves ? Bring forward your charges and specifications, and then be patient long enough to hear us deny or justify. You say we are sectional. We deny it. That makes an issue; and the burden of proof is upon you. You produce your proof; and what is it? "Why, that our party has no existence in your section — gets no votes in your section. The fact is substantially true; but does it prove the issue? If it does, then in case we should, without change of principle, begin to get votes in your section, we should thereby cease to be sectional. You cannot escape this conclusion; and yet, are you willing to abide by it? If you are, you will probably soon find that we have ceased to be sectional, for we shall get votes in your section this very year. You will then begin to discover, as the truth plainly is, that your proof does not touch the issue. The fact that we get no votes in your section, is a fact of your making, and not of ours. And if there be fault in that fact, that fault is primarily yours, and remains so until you show that we repel you by some wrong principle or practice. If we do repel you by any wrong principle or practice, the fault is ours ; but this brings you to where you ought to have started — to a discussion of the right or wrong of our principle. If our principle, put in practice, would wrong your section for the bene- fit of ours, or for any other object, then our principle, and we with it, are sectional, and are justly opposed and denounced as such. Meet us, then, on the question of whether our principle, put in practice, would wrong your section ; and so meet us as if it were possible that something may be said on our side. Do you accept the challenge? No! Then you really believe that the principle which "our fathers who framed the Gov- ernment under which we live" thought so clearly right as to adopt it, and indoi'se it again and again, upon their otficial oaths, is in fact so clearly wrong as to demand your condemnation without a moment's con- eideration. Some of you delight to flaunt in our faces the warning against sectional parties given by Washington in his Farewell Address. Less than eight State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 93 years before Wasliingtoii gave that warning, he had, as President of tho United States, approved and signed an act of Congress enforcing the pro- hibition of shivery in tlie Northwestern Territory, which act embodied the policy of tl»e Government upon that subject up to, and at, the very moment he penned that warning ; and about one year after he penned it, he wrote La Fayette that he considered that prohibition a wise measure, expressing in the same connection his hope that we should at some time have a confederacy of free States. Bearing this in iniiul, and seeing that sectionalism has since arisen upon this same subject, is that warning a weapon in your Iiands against us, or in our hands against you ? Could Washington himself speak, would he cast the blame of that sectionalism upon us, who sustain his policy, or upon you, who repudiate it? We respect that warning of Washington, and we commend it to you, together with his example pointing to the right application of it. But you say you are conservative — eminently conservative — wliile we are revolutionary, destructive, or something of the sort. What is con- servatism? Is it not adherence to the old and tried, against a new and untried? We stick to, contend for, the identical old policy on the point in controversy which was adopted by "our fathers who framed the Gov- ernment under which we live;" while you with one accord reject, and scout, and spit upon that old policy, and insist upon substituting something new. True, you disagree among yourselves as to what that substitute shall be. You are divided on new propositions and plans, but you are unanimous in rejecting and denouncing the old policy of the fathers. Some of you are for reviving the foreign slave-trade ; some for a Con- gressional Slave-Code for the Territories; some for Congress forbidding the Territories to prohibit Slavery within their limits; some for maintain- ing Slavery in the Territories through tlie judiciary; some for the "gur- reat pur-rinciple" that "if one man would enslave another, no third man should ol)ject," fantastically called " Popular Sovereignty ;" but never a man among you in favor of Federal prohibition of slavery in Federal terri- tories, according to the practice of "our fathers who framed the Govern- ment under which we live." Not one of all your various plans can show a precedent or an advocate in the century witliin which our Government originated. Consider, then, whether your claim of conservatism for your- selves, and your charge of destructiveness against us, are based on the most clear and stable foundations. Again : you say we liave made the slavery question more prominent than it formerly was. We deny it. We admit that it is more prominent, but we deny that we made it so. It was not we, but you, who discarded the old policy of the fathers. We resisted, and still resist your innovation; and thence comes the greater prominence of the question. Would, you have that question reduced to its former proportions? Go back to that old policy. What has been will be again, under the same conditions. If 04 The Life, Public Services, and you would have the peace of the old times, roadopt the preceiits and policy of the old times. You charge that we stir up insurrections among your slaves. "We deny it; and what is your proof? IIar[)er's Ferry! John Brown!! John Brown was no Republican ; and you have failed to implicate a single Re- publican in his Harper's Ferry enterprise. If any member of our party is guilty in that matter, you know it or you do not know it. If you do know it, you are inexcusable for not designating the man and proving tlie fact. If you do not know it, you are inexcusable for asserting it, and especially for persisting in the assertion after you have tried and failed to make the proof. You need not be told that persisting in a charge which one does not know to be true is simply malicious slander. Some of you admit that no Republican designedly aided or encouraged the Harper's Ferry atfair; but still insist that our doctrines and declara- tions necessarily lead to such results. "We do not believe it. We know . we hold to no doctrine, and make no declaration, which were not held to and made by " our fathers who framed the Government under which we live." You never dealt fairly by us in relation to this affair. When it occurred, some important State elections were near at hand, and you were in evident glee with the belief that, by charging the blame upon us, you could get an advantage of us in those elections. The elections came, and your expectations were not quite fulfilled. Every Republican man knew that, as to himself at least, your charge was a slander, and he was not much inclined by it to cast his vote in your favor. Republican doctrines and declarations are accompanied with a continued protest against any interference whatever with your slaves, or with you about your slaves. Surely, this does not encourage them to revolt. True, we do, in common with " our fathers, who framed the Government under which we live," declare our belief that slavery is wrong ; but the slaves do not hear us declare even this. For any thing we say or do, the slaves would scarcely know there is a Republican party. I believe they would not, in fact, generally know it but for your misrepresentations of us in their hearing. In your political contests among yourselves, each faction charges the other with -sympathy with P^lack Republicanism ; and then, to give point to the charge, defines Black Republicanism to simply be insurrection, blood, and thunder among the slaves. Slave insurrections are no more common now than they Avere be- fore the Republican party was organized. "What induced the Southamp ton insurrection, twenty-eight years ago, in which, at least, three times as many lives were lost as at Harper's Ferry? You can scarcely stretch your very elastic fancy to the conclusion that Southampton was "got up by Black Republicanism." In the present state of things in the United States, I do not think a general or even a very extensive slave insurrec- tioj is possible. The indispensable concert of action cannot be attained. The s.Aves have no means of rapid communication ; nor can incendiary State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 95 freemen, l/lack or wliite, supply it. The cxjilosive Tiiateriiils arc every- where in parcels; but there neither are, nor can he supplied, the indis- pensable connectinj^-trains. Much is said by Southern people about the aftcotion of slaves for their masters and mistresses; and a part of it, at least, is true. A plot for an uprising could scarcely be devised and communicated to twenty individ- uals before some one of them, to save the life of a favorite master or mis- tress, would divulge it. This is the rule; and the slave revolution in Hayti was not an exception to it, but a case occurring under peculiar cir- cumstances. The gunpowder plot of British history, though not connect- ed with slaves, was more in point. In that case, only about twenty were admitted to the secret; and yet one of them, in his anxiety to save a friend, betrayed the plot to that friend, and, by consequence, averted the calamity. Occasional poisonings from the kitchen, and open or stealthy assassinations in the tield, and local revolts, extending to a score or so, will continue to occur as the natural results of slavery; but no general insurrection of slaves, as I think, can happen in this country for a long time. Whoever much fears or much hopes for such an event will be alike disappointed. la the language of Mr. Jefterson, uttered many years ago, ■' It is still in our power to direct the process of emancipation and deportation peace ably, and in such slow degrees, as that the evil will wear otf insensibly; and their places be, j)ari passu, filled up by free white laborers. If, on the contrary, it is left to force itself on, human nature must shudder at the prospect held up." Mr. Jefferson did not mean to say, nor do I, that the power of emanci- pation is in the Federal Government. lie spoke of Virginia ; and, as to the power of emancipation, I speak of the slaveholding States only. The Federal Government, however, as we insist, has the power of restraining the extension of the institution — the power to insure that a slave insur- rection shall never occur on any American soil which is now free from slavery. John Browm's effort was peculiar. It was not a slave insurrection. It was an attemjit by white men to get up a revolt among slaves, in which the slaves refused to participate. In fact, it was so absurd that the slaves, with all their ignorance, saw plainly enough it could not succeed. That atfair, in its philosophy, corresponds with the many attempts related iu history at the assassination of kings and emperors. An enthusiast broods over the ojjpression of a people till he ftincies himself commissioned by Heaven to liberate them. He ventures the attempt, which ends in little else than his own execution. Orsini's attempt on Louis Napoleon and John Brown's attempt at Harper's Ferry were, in their philosophy, pre- cisely the same. The eagerness to cast blame on old England in the one case, and on New England in the other, does not disprove the sameness of the two tilings. 96 The Life, Public Services, a.\d And Low much would it avail you, if von could, by the ut^a of John BroAvn, Helper's Book, and the like, break up the Republican organiza- tion? Human action can be modified to some extent, but human nature cannot be changed. There is a judgment and a feeling against slavery in this nation, which cast at least a million and a half of votes. You cannot destroy that judgment and feeling — that sentiment — by breaking up the political organization which rallies around it. You can scarcely scatter and disperse an army which has been formed into order in the face of your heaviest fire ; but if you could, how much would you gain by forcing the sentiment which created it out of the peaceful channel of the ballot- box, into some other channel? "What would that other channel probably be? Would the number of John Browns be lessened or enlarged by the operation ? But you will break up the Union rather than submit to a denial o? your Constitutional rights. That has a somewhat reckless sound; but it would be palliated, if not fully justified, were we proposing, by the mere force of numbers, to de- prive you of some right plainly written down in the Constitution. But we are proposing no such thing. When you make these declarations, you have a specific and well-under- stood allusion to an assumed Constitutional right of yours to take slaves into the Federal Territories, and to hold them there as property. But no such right is specifically written in the Constitution. That instrument is literally silent about any such right. We, on the contrary, deny that such a right has any existence in the Constitution, even by implication. Your pur])ose, then, jdainly stated, is, that you will destroy the Gov- ernment unless you be allowed to construe and enforce the Constitution as you please on all points in dispute between you and us. Y"ou will rule or ruin, in all events. This, plainly stated, is your language. Perhaps you will say the Su- preme Court has decided the disputed Constitutional question in your favor. Not quite so. But, Avaiving the lawyer's distinction between dic- tum and decision, the Court have decided the question for you in a sort of way. The Court have 'iubstantially said, it i^ your Constitutional right to take slaves into the Federal Territories, and to hold them there as property. When I say the decision was made in a sort of way, I mean it was made in a divided Court, by a bare majority of the judges, and they not quite agreeing with one another in the reasons for making it; that it is so made as that its avowed supporters disagree with one another about its meaning, and that it was mainly based upon a mistaken statement of fact — the statement in the opinion that "the right of property in a slave is distinctly and expressly aftirmed in the Constitution." An inspection of the Constitution will show that the right of property in a slave is not ^''distinctly and ayressbj aftirmed " in it. Bear in mind, the judges do not pledge their judicial opinion th.at such right is im2')lied State Papeiis of Abraham Lincoln. 97 ^y aflinnod in the Constitution; but tliey pledge tiieir veracity that it is '^ distmctly and exprcusly'''' affirinod there — "distinctly," tliat is, not mingled with any thing else — "expressly," that is, in words meaning just that, without the aid of any inference, and susceptible of no other meaiung. If they had only pledged their judicial opinion that such right is affirmed in the instrument by implication, it would be open to others to show that neither the word "slave" nor "slavery" is to be found in the Constitution, nor the word "property" even, in any connection with lan- guage alluding to the things slave or slavery, and that wherever in that instrument the slave is alluded to, he is called a " person ;" — and wher- ever his master's legal right in relation to him is alluded to, it is spoken of as "service or labor which maybe due," — as a debt payable in service or labor. Also, it would be open to show, by contemporaneous history, that this mode of alluding to slaves and slavery, instead of speaking of them, was employed on purpose to exclude from the Constitution the idea that th(^'e could he property in man. To show all this, is easy and certain. When this obvious mistake of the judges shall be brought to their no- tice, is it not reasonable to expect that they will withdraw the mistaken statement, and reconsider the conclusion based upon it? And then it is to be remembered that " our fathers, who framed the Government under which we live" — the n en who made the Constitution — decided this same Constitutional question in our favor, long ago — decided it without division among themselves, when making the decision ; without division among themselves about the meaning of it after it was made, and, so far as any evidence is left, without basing it upon any mis- taken statement of facts. Under all these circumstances, do you really feel yourselves justified to break up this Government, unless such a court decision as yours is shall be at once submitted to as a conclusive and final rule of political action ? But you will not abide the election of a Republican president ! In that supposed event, you say, you will destroy the Union ; and then, you say, the great crime of having destroyed it will be upon us! That is cool. A highwayman holds a pistol to my ear, and mutters through liis teeth, " Stand and deliver, or I shall kill you, and then you will be a murderer !" To be sure, what the robber demanded of me — my money — was my own ; and I had a clear right to keep it ; but it was no more my own than my vote is my own ; and the threat of death to me, to extort my money, and the threat of destruction to the Union, to extort my vote, can scarcely be distinguished in principle. A few words now to Eepublicans. It is exceedingly desirable that all "parts of this great Confederacy shall ie at peace, and in harmony one with another. Let us Repuhlicansdo our part to have it so. Even though much pn'ovolced., let us do nothing through passion and ill temper. Even though the southern people icill not so much as listen to vs, let us calmly 1 98 The Life, Public Services, and consider their demands, and yield to them if, in our delilerate vieic of our duty, we possiUy can. Judging by all they say and do. and by tlie sub- ject and nature of their controversy with us, let us determine, if we can, what will satisfy them. "Will they be satisfied if the Territories be unconditionally surrendered to tliem? We know they will not. In all their present complaints against us, the Territories are scarcely mentioned. Invasions and insur- rections are the rage now. "Will it satisfy them if, in the future, we have nothing to do with invasions and insurrections? We know it will not. We so know, because we know we never had any thing to do with in- vasions and insurrections; and yet this total abstaining does not exempt us from the charge and the denunciation. The question recurs, what will satisfy them ? Simply this: We must not only let them alone, but we must, somehow, convince them that we do let them alone. This, we know by experience, is no easy task. We liave been so trying to convince them from the very beginning of our or- -anizatinn, but with no success. In all our platforms and speeches we have constantly protested our purpose to let them alone ; but this has had no tendency to convince them. Alike unavailing to convince them is the fact that they have never detected a man of us in any attempt to disturb them. These natural and apparently adequate means all failing, what will con- vince them ? This, nnd this only : cease to call slavery icrong, and join them ill calling it right. And this must be done thoroughly — done in acts as well as in words. Silence will not be tolerated — we must place ourselves avowedly with them. Senator Douglas's new sedition law must be enacted and enforced, suppressing all declarations that slavery is wrong, whether made in politics, in presses, in pulpits, or in private. We must arrest and return ttieir fugitive slaves with greedy pleasure. We mu^t pull down our Free State constitutions. The whole atmosphere must be disinfected from all taint of opposition to slavery, before they will cease to believe that all their troubles proceed from us. I am quite aware they do not state their case precisely in this way. Most of them would probably say to us, " Let us alone, do nothing to us, iind say what you please about slavery." But we do let them alone — have never disturbed them — so that, after all, it is what we say which dissatisfies them. They will continue to accuse us of doing, until wc cease saying. I am also aware they have not as yet, in terms, demanded the over throw of our Free State Constitutions. Yet those Constitutions declare the wrong of slavery, with more solemn emphasis than do all other sayings against it; and when all these other sayings shall have been silenced, the overthrow of these Constitutions will be demanded, and nothing be left to resist the demand. It is nothing to the contrary, that they do not demand the wliole of this just now. Demanding what they State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 99 do, and for the reason they do, they can vohiiitarily stop nowhere short of this consummation. Holding, as they do, that shivery is morally right, and socially elevating, they cannot cease to demand a full national recognition of it, as a legal right and a social blessing. Nor can wo justifiably withhold this on any ground save our conviction that slavery is wrong. If slavery is right, all words, acts, laws, and con- stitutions against it are themselves wrong, and should be silenced and swept away. If it is right, we cannot justly object to its nationality — its universality ; if it is wrong, they cannot justly insist upon its extension — its enlargement. All they ask we could readily grant, if we thought slavery right ; all we ask they could as readily grant, if they thought it wrong. Their thinking it right, and our thinking it wrong, is the precise fact upon which depends the whole controversy. Thinking it right, as they do, they are not to blame for desiring its full recognition, as being right; but, thinking it wrong, as we do, can we yield to them? Can we cast our votes with their view, and against our own? In view of our moral, gocial, and political responsibilities, can we do this? Wrong as we think slavery is, we can yet afford to let it alone where it is, because that much is duo to the necessity arising from its actual pres- ence in the nation; but can we, while our votes will prevent it, allow it to spread into the National Territories, and to overrun us here in these Free States? If our sense of duty forbids this, then let us stand by our duty, fearlessly and effectively. Let us be diverted by none of those so- phistical contrivances wherewith we are so industriously plied and bela- bored — contrivances such as groping for some middle ground between the right and the wrong, vain as the search for a man who should be neither a living man nor a dead man — such as a policy of "don't care" on a question about which all true men do care — such as Union appeals be- seeching true Union men to yield to Disunionists, reversing the divine rule, and calling, not the sinners, but the righteous to repentance — such as invocations to Washington, imploring men to unsay what Washington said, and undo what "Washington did. . Neither let us be slandered from our duty by false accusations against us, nor frightened from it by menaces of destruction to the Government nor of dungeons to ourselves. Let us have faith that Right makes Might, axd in that faith let us, to the end, daee to do oue duty as WK aXDERSTAND IT. The pre-eminent ability displayed in this address, com- pelled the people of the Middle and Eastern States to acknowledge that Mr. Lincoln was not only one of the foremost men of the West, but of the whole country, and this estimate was confirmed by the speeches which he subsequently delivered in Connecticut, Rhode Island, and 100 The Life, Public Services, and New Harapsliire. Indeed, it is no exaggeration to state that tlie joint effect of these efforts— more particularly his speech at Cooper Institute — and of his debates with Mr. Douglas, was to make Mr. Lincoln decidedly the second choice of the great body of the Republicans of New York, as the candidate of the Republican party for the campaign of 1860. Some incidents of this visit to New York, illustrate the simplicity and earnestness of the character of our late President so forcibly, that they are well deserving being placed on record. A prominent member of the Young Men's Republican Association, who was thrown much in Mr. Lincoln' s company during his brief stay, writes : During the day, before the delivery of the address, a friend of Mr. Liucobi called at the Astor House, where he was staying, and suggested that the orator should be taken up Broadway and shown the city, of which he knew but little, stating, I tliiuk, that he had been here but once before. We accompanied him to several large establishments, with all of which he seemed much amused. At one place he met an Illinois acquaintance of former years, to whom he said, in his dry, good-natured way : " Well, B., how have you fared siuce you left IlUnois?" To which B. replied, '" I have made one hundred thousand dollars and lost it all ; how is it with you, Mr. Lincoln ?" " Oh, very well," said Mr. Lincoln ; " I have the cottage at Springfield and about $3,000 in money. If they make me Vice-President with Seward, as some say they will, 1 hope I shall be able to increase it to $20,000, and that is as much as any man ought to want." We visited a photographic establishment upon the corner of Broadway and Bleecker street, where he sat for his picture, the first taken in New York. At the gallery he met and was introduced to George Bancroft, and had a brief conversation with that gentleman, who welcomed him to New York. The contrast in the appearance of the men was most striking — the one courtly and precise in his every word and gesture, with the air of a trans-Atlantic statesman ; the other bluff" and awkward, his every utterance an apology for his ignorance of metropolitan manners and cus- toms. " I am on my way to Massachusetts," said he to "Mr. Bancroft, " where I have a son at school, wlo, if report be true, already knows much more than his father." A teacher at the Five Points House of Industry tells this touching incident, which doubtless transpired during the same visit : State Papers of Abraham LiiNCuln. 101 Our Sunday School iu the Five Points was assembled, one Sabbatli morning, when I noticed a tall, remarkable looking man enter the roo.a and take a seat among us. He listened with fixed attention to our exer- cises, and his countenance expressed sucli genuine interest that I ap- proaclied, him and suggested that he might be wilHng tu say somethuig to the children. lie accepted the invitation with evident pleasure; and, coming forward, began a simple address, which at once fascinated every little hearer and hushed the room into silence. His language was stri- kingly beautiful, and his tones musical with intensest feeling. The little faces around him would droop into sad conviction as he uttered sentences of warning, and would brighten into sunshine as he spoke cheerful words of promise. Once or twice he attempted to close his remarks, but the imperative shout of "Go on!" "Oh, do go on!" would compel him to resume. As I looked upon the gaunt and sinewy frame of the stranger, and marked his powerful head and determined features, now touched into softness by the impressions of the moment, I felt an irrepressible curiosity to learn something more about him, and when he was quietly leaving the room I begged to know his name. He courteously replied, " It is Abraham Lincoln, from Illinois." The following letter, written during this same period, in reply to an invitation to attend a festival in honor of tlie anniversary of Jefferson's birthday, given by the Republicans of Boston, is thoroughly cliaracteristic of Mr. Lincoln in the quaint humor of its illustration : Springfield, Illinois, April 6, 1S59. Gentlemen : — Your kind note inviting me to attend a festival in Boston on the 13th instant, in honor of the birthday of Thomas Jelferson, was duly received. My engagements are such that I cannot attend The Democracy of to-day hold the liberty of one man to be absolutely notliing, when in contiict with another man's right of "proferty. Eepub- licans, on the contrary, are both for the man and the dollar^ but, in case of conflict, the man he/ore the dollar. I remember being once much amused at seeing two partially intoxi- cated men engaged in a fight with their great-coats on, which fight, after a long and rather harmless contest, ended in each having fought himself out of his own coat, and into that" of the other. If the two leading par- ties of this day are really identical with the two in the days of Jefl:ersoii and Adains, they have performed the same feat as the two drunken men. But, soberly, it is now no child's play to save the principles of .Jeffer- son from total overthrow in this nation This is a world of compensations ; and he who would he no slave, must consent to have no slave. Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves ; and, under a just God, cannot long retain it. 102 The Life, Public Services, and All honor to Jefferson ; to a man who, in the concrete pressure of a strnggle for national independence by a single people, had the coolness, forecast, and capacity to introduce into a merely revolutionary docu- ment an abstract truth, applicable to all men and all times, and so to embalm it there, that to-day and in all coming days it shall be a rebuke and a stumbling-block to the harbingers of reappearing tyranny and oppression. Your obedient servant, A. LiNCOLX. Messrs. II. L. Pieece, and others, etc. But we turn from this episode to resume the formal record of Mr. Lincoln's political career. The Republican National Convention of 1860 met on the 16th of May, at Chicago, in an immense building which the people of that city had put up for the purpose, called the Wigwam. There were four hundred and sixty-five delegates. The city was filled witli earnest men, who had come tliere to press the claims of their favorite can- didates, and the halls and corridors of all the hotels swarmed and buzzed with an eager crowd, in and out of which darted or pushed or wormed their way the various leaders of party politics. Mr. Chase, Mr. Bates, and Mr. Cameron were spoken of and pressed somewhat as candi- dates, but from the first it was evident that the contest lay between Mr. Seward and Mr. Lincoln. Judge Wilmot, of Pennsylvania, was chosen temporary Chairman of the Convention, and in the afternoon of the first day a permanent organization was effected, by the choice of George Ashmun, of Massachusetts, as presi- dent, with twenty-seven vice-presidents and twenty-five secretaries. On Thursday, the 17th, the Committee on Resolutions reported the platform, which was enthusiasti- cally adopted. A motion was made to proceed to the nomination at once, and if that had been done the result of the Convention might have proved very different, as at that time it was tliought that Mr. Seward's chances were the best. But an adjournment was taken till the morning, and during the night the combinations were made which resulted in the nomination of Mr. Lincoln. The excitement of the Convention and of the audience on State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 103 the inoniini^ of Friday was intense. The Illinoisans had turned out in great numbers, zealous for Lincoln ; and though tlie other States, near and far, had sent many men who were equally zealous for Mr. Seward, it was quite clear that Mr. Lincoln's supporters were in the majority in the audience. The first ballot gave Mr. Seward one hundred and seventy-three and a half votes to one hun- dred and two for Mr. Lincoln, the rest being scattered. On the second ballot the first indication of the result was felt, when the chairman of the Vermont delegation, which had been divided on the previous ballot, announced, when the name of that State was called, that " Vermont casts her ten votes for the young giant of the West, Abraham Lincoln." On the second ballot, Mr. Seward had one hundred and eighty-four and a half to one hun- dred and eighty-one for Mr. Lincoln, and on the third bal- lot Mr. Lincoln received two hundred and thirty votes, be- ing Avithin one and a half of a majority. The vote was not announced, but so many everywhere liad kept the count that it was known throughout the Convention at once, Mr. Carter, of Ohio, rose and announced a change in the vote of the Ohio delegation of four votes in favor of Mr. Lincoln, and the Convention at once burst into a state of the wildest excitement. The cheers of tlie audience within were answered by those of a yet larger crowd without, to whom the result was announced. Cannon roared, and bands played, and banners waved, and the excited Republicans of Chicago cheered themselves hoarse, while on ' the wings of electricity sped all over the country the news of Mr. Lincoln' s nomination, to be greeted everywhere with similar demonstrations. It was long before the Convention could calm itself enough to proceed to business. When it did, other States changed their votes in ftivor of the successful nominee, until it was announced, as the result of the third ballot, that Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, had received tliree hun- dred and fifty -four votes, and was nominated by the Re- publican party for the office of President of the Uir'ted States. The nomination was then, on the motion of Mr. 104 The Life, Public Services, and Evarts, of New York, made unanimous, and tlie Conven- tion adjourned till the afternoon, when they completed their work by nominating Hannibal Hamlin for Vice- President. Mr. Lincoln was at Springfield at the time. He had been in the telegraph-office during the casting of the first and second ballots, but then left, and went over to the office of the State Journal, where he was sitting convers- ing with friends while the third ballot was being taken. In a few moments came across the wires the announce- ment of the result. The Superintendent of the Telegraph Company, who was present, wrote on a scrap of paper, "Mr. Lincoln: You are nominated on the third ballot," and a boy ran with the message to Mr. Lincoln. He looked at it in silence amid the shouts of those around him ; then rising and putting it in his pocket, he said quietly, "There's a little woman down at our house would like to hear this — Til go down and tell her." Next day there arrived at Springfield the committee appointed by the Convention to inform Mr. Lincoln officially of his nomination. They waited upon him at his residence, and Mr. Ashmun, President of the Couven tion, addressing Mr. Lincoln, said : I have, sir, the honor, in behalf of the gentlemen who are present — a Committee appointed by the Republican Convention recently assembled at Chicago — to discharge a most pleasant duty. We have come, sir, under a vote of instructions to that Committee, to notify you that you have been selected by the Convention of the Republicans at Chicago for President of the United States. They instruct us, sir, to notify you of that selection, and that Committee deem it not only respectful to yourself, but appropriate to the important matter which they have in Iiand, that they should come in person, and present to you the authentic evidence of the action of that Convention ; and, sir, without any phrase which shall either be considered personally plauditory to yourself, or which shall have any reference to the principles involved in the questions which are con- nected with your nomination, I desire to present to yon the letter which has been prepared, and which informs you of your nomination, and with it the platform resolutions and sentiments which the Convention adopted, Sir, ni your convenience we shall be glad to receive from you such a re sponse as it may be your pleasure to give us. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 105 Mr. Lincoln listened to this address witli a de^-ree of grave dignity that almost wore the appearance of sadness, and after a brief pause, in which he seemed to be ponder- ing the momentous responsibilities of his position, he replied : — Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Committee: — I tender to you, and through you to the Republican National Convention, and all the people represented in it, my profoundest thanks for the high honor done nie, whicli you now formally announce. Deeply, and even painfully sensible of the great responsibility which is inseparable from this high lionor — a responsibility which I could almost wisli had fallen upon some one of the far more eminent men and experienced statesmen whose distinguislicd names were before the Convention — I shall, by your leave, consider more fully the resolutions of the Convention, denominated the platform, and, without any unnecessary or unreasonable delay, respond to you, Mr, Chairman, in writing, not doubting that the platform will be found satis- factory, and tlie nomination gratefully accepted. And now I will not longer defer the pleasure of taking you, and each of you, by the hand. Tall Judge Kelly, of Pennsylvania, who was one of the committee, and who is himself a great many feet high, had meanwhile been eying Mr. Lincoln's lofty form with a mixture of admiration, and possibly jealousy ; this had not escaped Mr. Lincoln, and as he shook hands with the judge he inquired, " What is your height ?" " Six feet three. What is yours, Mr. Lincoln V^ " Six feet four." " Then," said the judge, " Pennsylvania bows to Illi- nois. My dear man, for years my heart has been aching for a President that I could 7oo7i up to, and P ve found him at last in the land where we thought there were none but little giants." Mr. Lincoln's formal reply to the official announcement of his nomination was as follows : — Springfield, Illinois, May 23, 1S60. Sir : — I accept the nomination tendered me by the Convention over which you presided, of which I am formally apprised in a letter of your- self and others acting as a Committee of the Convention for tliat pur- pose. The declaration of principles and sentiments which accominmies your letter meets my approval, and it shall be my care not to violate it, 106 The Life, Public Services, and or disregard it in any part. Imploring the assistance of Divine Provi- dence, and with due regard to the views and feelings of all who were represented in the Convention, to the rights of all the States and Territories and people of the nation, to the inviolability of the Constitution, and the perpetual union, harmony, and prosperity of all, I am most happy to co- oi)erate for the practical success of the principles declared by the Con- vention. Your obliged friend and fellow-citizen, Abraham Lincoln. Hon. George Asiimun, President of the Republican Convention. Mr. Lincoln's nomination proved universally acceptable to the Republican party. Its members recognized in liim a man of firm principles, of ardent love for freedom, of strict integrity and truth, and they went into the political contest with a zeal and enthusiasm Avliich was the guaran- tee of victory ; while the doubt and uncertainty, the divided counsels and wavering purposes of their oppo- nents were the sure precursors of defeat. His nomination was the signal to the leaders of the slaveholders' party for pressing upon the Democratic Con- vention their most ultra views, that by the division croclaimed their willingness to adopt any just and proper measures which would quiet the appre- hensions of the South, while they insisted that th(^ authoritj^ of the Constitution should be maintained, and the constitutional election of a President should be re- spected. At the oj^ening of the session, Mr. Powell, of Kentucky, in the Senate, moved the reference of that portion of the President's Message which related to the sectional difficulties of the country, to a select committee of thirteen. This resolution being adopted, Mr. Critten- den immediately afterwards introduced a series of joint resolutions, embodying what came to be known after- w^ards as the Crittenden Compromise — proposing to sub- mit to the action of the people of the several States the following amendments to the Constitution : — 1. Probibitiiig slavery in all the territory of the United States north of 36° 30', and protecting it as property in all territory south of that line; and admitting into the Union, with or without slavery, as its Constitution might provide, any State that might be formed out of such territory, whenever its population should be sufficient to entitle it to a member of Congress. 2. Prohibiting Congress from abolishing slavery in places under its exclusive jurisdiction within Slave States. 3. Prohibiting Congress from abolishing slavery within the District of Columbia, so long as slavery should esiat in Virginia or Maryland; or without the consent of the inhabitants, or without just compeusatioi. to the owners. 4. Prohibiting Congress from hindering the transportation of sh^vfts from one State to another, or to a Territory in which slavef-y is allowed. 5. Providing that where a fugitive slave is lost to his owner by violent resistance to the execution of the process of the law for his recovery, the United States shall pay to said owner his full value, and may recover the same from the county in which such rescue occurred. 120 The Life, Public Services, and 6. These provisions were declared to be unchangeable by any future amendment of the Constitution, as were also the existing articles relating to the representation of slaves and the surrender of fugitives. Besides these proposed amendments of tlie Constitution, Mr. Crittenden's resolutions embodied certain declara- tions in affirmance of tlie constitutionality and binding force of tlie fugitive slave law — recommending the repeal by the States of all bills, the effect of which was to hinder the execution of that law, proposing to amend it by equalizing its fees, and urging the effectual execution of the law for the suppression of the African slave-trade. These resolutions were referred to the Committee of Thirteen, ordered on Mr. Powell' s motion, and composed of the following senators : — Messrs. Powell, Hunter, Crittenden, Seward, Toombs, Douglas, Colla- raer, Davis, AVade, Bigler, Eice, Doolittle, and Grimes. On the 31st of December, this committee reported that they ' ' had not been able to agree upon any general plan of adjustment." The whole subject was nevertheless discussed over and over again during the residue of the session ; but no final action was taken until the very day of its close. On the 21st of January, Messrs. Yulee and Mallory, of Florida, resigned their seats in the Senate, because their State had passed an ordinance of secession ; and on the 28th, Mr. Iverson, of Georgia, followed their example. Messrs. Clay and Fitzpatiick, of Alabama, and Mr. Davis, of Mississippi, followed next, and, on the 4th of February, Messrs. Slidell and Benjamin, of Louis- iana, also took their leave. In the House of Representatives the debates took the same general direction as in the Senate. On the first day of the session a resolution was adopted, by a vote of one hundred and forty-five to thirty-eight, to refer so much of the President's Message as related to tlie perilous con- dition of the country, to a committee of one from each State. This committee was appointed as follows : — State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 121 Corwin of Ohio. Dunn of Iiuliiina. Millson of Virginia. Taylor of Louisiana. Adams of Massachusetts. Davis of Mississippi. Winslow of North Carolina. Kellogg of Illinois. Iluniphroy of New York. Houston of Alabama. Boyce of South Carolina. Morse of Maine. Campbell of Pennsylvania. Phelps of Missouri. Love of Georgia. Eust of Arkansas. Ferry of Connecticut. Howard of Mijchigan. Davis of Maryland. Hawkins of Floinda. Eobinson of llhode Island. Hamilton of Texas. "Whitely of Delaware. Washburn of Wisconsin. Tappan of New Hampshire. Curtis of Iowa. Stratton of New Jersey. Birch of California. Bristow of Kentucky. Windom of Minnesota. Morrill of Vermont. Stark of Oregon. Nelson of Tennessee. A great variety of resolutions were offered and referred to this committee. In a few days tlie committee reported the following series of resolutions, and recommended their adoption : — Resolved ii/ the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assemMed^ That all attempts on the parts of the legislatures of any of the States to obstruct or hinder the recovery and surrender of fugitives from service or labor, are in derogation of the Con- stitution of the United States, inconsistent with the comity and good neighborhood that should prevail among the several States, and danger- ous to the peace of the Union. Resolved^ That the several States be respectfully requested to cause their statutes to be revised, with a view to ascertain if any of them are in conflict with, or tend to embarrass or hinder the execution of, the laws of the United States, made in pursuance of the second section of the fourth article of the Constitution of the United States, for the delivering up of persons held to labor by the laws of any State and escaping therefrom ; and the Senate and House of Eepresentatives earnestly request that all enactments having such tendency be forthwith repealed, as required by a just sense of constitutional obligations, and by a due regard for the peace of the Eepublic ; and the President of the United States is requested to communicate these resolutions to the governors of the several States, with a request that they will lay the same before the legislatures thereof, respectively. Resolved^ That we recognize slavery as now existing in fifteen of the United States by the usages and laws of those States; and we recognize no authority, legally or otherwise, outside of a State where it so exists, to 122 The Life, Public Services, and iuterfere with slaves or slavery in such States, in disregard of the rights of their owners or the peace of society. Resolved., That we recognize the justice and propriety of a faitliful execution of the Constitution, and laws made in pursuance thereof, on the subject of fugitive slaves, or fugitives from service or labor, and discoun- tenance all mobs or hindrances to the execution of such laws, and that citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States. Eesohed, That we recognize no such conflicting elements in its compo- sition, or sufficient cause from any source, for a dissolution of this Gov- ernment; that we were not sent here to destroy, but to sustain and harmonize the institutions of the country, and to see that equal justice is done to all parts of the same ; and, finally, to perpetuate its existence on terms of equality and justice to all the States. Resolved, That a faithful observance, on the part of all the States, of all their constitutional obligations to each other and to the Federal Gov- ernment, is essential to the peace of the country. Resolved, That it is the duty of the Federal Government to enforce the_ Federal laws, protect the Federal property, and preserve the Union of these States. Resolved, That each State be requested to revise its statutes, and, if necessary, so to amend the same as to secure, without legislation by Con- gress, to citizens of other States travelling therein, the same protection as citizens of such States enjoy ; and also to protect the citizens of other States travelling or sojourning therein against popular violence or illegal summary punishment, without trial in due form of law for imputed crimes. Resolved, That each State be also respectfully requested to enact such laws as will i)revent and punish any attempt whatever in such State to recognize or set on foot the lawless invasion of any other State or Terri- tory. Resolved, That the President be requested to transmit copies of the foregoing resolutions to the Governors of the several States, with a request that they be communicated to their respective legislatures. These resolutions were intended and admirably cal- culated to calm the apprehensions of the people of the slaveholding States as to any disposition on the part of the Federal Government to interfere with slavery, or withhold from them any of their constitutional rights ; and in a House controlled by a large Republican majority, they were adopted by a vote of ayes one hundred and tliirty-six, noes fifty-three. Not content with this effort to satisfy all just complaints on the part of the Southern StxVte Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 123 States, the same committee reported tlie following resolu- tion, recommending such an amendment of the Constitu- tion as should put it forever out of the power of the government or people of the United States to interfere with slavery in any of the States : — Be it resolved ly the Senate and House of Representatives of the United. States of America in Congress assemhlcd (two-thirds of both Houses con- curring), That the following article be proposed to the legislatures of the several States as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which, when ratified by three-fourths of said legislatures, shall be valid, to all intents and purposes, as a pai't of the said Constitution, namely : Art. 12. 'Ro amendment shall be made to the Constitution which will authorize, or give to Congress the power to abolish or interfere, within any State, with the domestic institutions thereof, including that of i)or- 6ons held to labor or service by the laws of said State. This resolution was adopted by a vote of one hundred and thirty-three to sixty-five — more than tioo-thirds in its favor. This closed the action of the House of Repre- sentatives at this session on this important subject, though it had previously adopted, by a unanimous vote, the following declaratory resolution : — Hesolved, That neither the Federal Government nor the people, or the governments of the nou-slaveholding States, have the right to legislate upon or interfere with slavery in any of the slaveholding States in the Union. The action of the Senate was somewhat modified by the intervening action of a Peace Conference, which assembled at Washington on the 4th of February, in pursuance of a recommendation of the State of Virginia, embodied in resolutions adopted by the Greneral As- sembly of that State on the 19th of January. It con- sisted of delegates, one hundred and thirty-three in number, from twenty-one States— none of those which had seceded being represented. John Tyler, of Virginia, was appointed president, and a committee, consisting of one from each State, was appointed, with authority to '•report what they may deem right, necessary, and proper, to restore harmony and preserve the Union." 124 The Life, Public Services, and On the 15tli of February the committee reported a series of resolutions, in seven sections, whicli were discussed and amended, one by one, until the afternoon of the 26th, when the vote was taken upon them as amended, in succession, with the following results : — Section 1. lu all the present territory of the United States, north of the parallel of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes of north latitude, in- voluntary servitude, except in punishment of crime, is prohibited. In all the present territory south of that line, the status of persons held to invol- antary service or labor, as it now exists, shall not be changed; nor shall any law be passed by Congress or the territorial legislature to hinder or prevent the taking of such persons from any of the States of this Union to said territory, nor to impair the rights arising from said relation ; but the same shall be subject to judicial cognizance in the Federal Courts, accord- ing to the course of the common law. "When any territory north or south of said line, within such boundary as Congress may prescribe, shall con- tain a population equal to that required for a member of Congress, it shall, if its form of government be repul)lican, be admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original States, with or without involuntary servitude, as the constitution of such State may provide. The vote on the adoption of the section was as follows : — Ayes. — Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsjdva- nia, Ehode Island, Tennessee — 8. Noes. — Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Vermont, V-irginia — 11. So its adoption was not agreed to. A reconsideration of this vote was called for by the delegates from Illinois, and agreed to, 14 to 5. On the next day the question was again taken on the adoption of the section, with the following result : — Ayes. — Delaware, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio. Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee — 9. Noes. — Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Vermont, Virginia — 8. Thus the section was adopted. It was stated by the members from New York, when the State was called, that one of their number, D. D. Field, was absent, and the del- egation was divided. Thus New York, Indiana, and Kansas were divided. The adoption of the second section was then moved ; it was as fol- lows: — Section 2. No territory shall be acquired by the United States, except by discovery, and for naval and commercial stations, depots, and transit State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 125 routes, witliout a concurrence of the majority of all the Senators from States which allow involuntary servitude, and a majority of all the Sena- tors from States which prohibit that relation ; nor shall territory be ac- quired by treaty, unless the votes of a majority of the Senators from each class of States hereinbefore mentioned be cast as a part of the two-thirds majority necessary to the ratification of such treaty. The vote on this section was as follows : — Ayes. — Delaware, Indiana, Kentucky, ]\[aryland, Missouri, Xew Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Virginia — -11. Noes. — Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, ISTorth Car- olina, New Hampshire, Vermont — 8. New York and Kansas were divided. The adoption of section three of the report, with the amendments, was next moved. The amended section was as follows: — Section 3. Neither the Constitution nor any amendment thereof shall be construed to give Congress power to regulate, abolish, or control, within any State, the relation established or recognized by the laws thereof touching persons held to labor or involuntary service therein, nor to interfere with or abolish involuntary service in the District of Colum- bia without the consent of Maryland and without the consent of the owners, or making the owners who do not consent just compensation ; nor the power to interfere with or prohibit representatives and others from bringing with them to the 'District of Columbia, retaining, and taking away, persons so held to labor or service ; nor the power to in- terfere with or abolish involuntary service in places under the exclusive jurisdiction of the United States, within those States and Territories where the same is established or recognized ; nor the power to prohibit the removal or transportation of persons held to labor or involuntary service in any State or Territory of the United States to any other State or Territory thereof, where it is established or recognized by law or usage ; and the right during transportation, by sea or river, of touching at ports, shores, and landings, and of landing in case distress shall exist; but not the right of transit in or through any State or Territory, or of sale or traffic, against the law thereof. Nor shall Congress have power to authorize any higher rate of taxation on persons held to labor or service than on land. The vote on the adoption of the section was as follows : — Ayes.— Delaware, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Ehode Island, Tennessee, Vir- ginia — 12. Noes.— Connecticut, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, New Ilamp- sliire, Vermont — 7. So the section was adopted. Kansas and New York were divided. 126 The Life, Public Services, and The adoption of the fourth section of the report, as amended, was then moved ; it was as follows : — Section 4. The third paragraph of the second section of the fourth article of the Constitution shall not be construed to prevent any of the States, by appropriate legislation, and through the action of their judicial and ministerial officers, from enforcing the delivery of fugitives from labor to the person to whom such service or labor is due. The vote on the adoption of this section was as follows : — Ayes. — Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Khode Island, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia — 15. Noes. — Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire — 4. Thus the section was adopted. Kansas and New York were divided. The adoption of the fifth section of the report, as amended, was then moved ; it was as follows : — Section 5. The foreign slave-trade is hereby forever prohibited, and it shall be the duty of Congress to pass laws to prevent the importation of slaves, coolies, or persons held to service or labor, into the United States and the Territories from places beyond the limits thereof. The vote on the adoption of this section resulted as follows : — Ayes. — Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vermont, Kansas — Ifi. Noes. — Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Virginia — 5. The section was thus adopted. A motion was next made to adopt the sixth section, as amended; it was as follows : — Section G. The first, third, and fifth sections, together with this section of these amendments, and the third paragraph of the second section of the first article of the Constitution, and the third paragraph of the second sec- tion of the fourth article thereof, shall not be amended or abolished with- out the consent of all the States. The vote on this section was as follows : — Ayes. — Delaware, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, Oliio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Kansas — 11. Noes. — Connecticut, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, North Caro- lina, New Hampshire, Vermont, Virginia — 9. NcM^ York was divided. So this section was adopted. The motion was then made to adopt the seventh and last section, as amended: it was as follows : — Section 7. Congress shall provide by law that the United States shall pay to the owner the full value of his fugitive from labor, in all cases State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 127 where tbe marshal, or other officer wiiose duty it was to arrest such fugi- tive, was prevented from doing so by violence or intimidation, from mobs or other riotous assemblages, or when, after arrest, such fugitive was res- cued by like violence or intimidation, and the owner thereby deprived of the same ; and the acceptance of such payment shall preclude the owner from further claim to such fugitive. Congress shall provide by law for securing to the citizens of each State the privileges and immunities of cit- izeus in the several States. The vote on this section was as follows : — Ayes. — Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, ISTew Jersey, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Khode Island, Tennessee, Kan- sas — 12. Noes. — Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Missouri, North Carolina, Vermont, Virginia — 7. Thus the last section was adopted. New York was divided. The adoption of the following resolution was then moved by Mr. Frank- lin, of Pennsylvania : — Resolved, As the sense of this Convention, that the highest political duty of every citizen of the United States is his allegiance to the Federal Government created by the Constitution of the United States, and that no State of this Union has any constitutional right to secede therefrom, or to absolve the citizens of such State from their allegiance to the Gov- ernment of the United States. It was moved to lay the resolution on the table. The vote was as follows : — Ayes. — Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia — 9. Noes. — Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Ehode Island, Vermont, Kansas — 12. Some amendments were then offered and laid on the table, when its indelinite postponement was moved and carried by the following vote : — Ayes. — Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Virginia — 10. Noes. — Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania— 7. New York was divided. The following preamble was then offered by Mr. Guthrie, and agreed to:— To the Congress of the United States : The Convention assembled upon the invitation of the State of Virgmia^ to adjust the unhappy differences which now disturb the peace of the QnioQ and threaten its continuance, make known to the Congress of th'j 128 The Life, Public Services, and United States that their body convened in the City of Washington on the ith instant, and continued in session until the 27th. There were in the body, wlien action was taken upon tliat which is here submitted, one hundred and thirty-three commissioners, represent- ing the following States : Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachu- setts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania. Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas. They have approved what is herewith submitted, and respectfully re- quest that your honorable body will submit it to conventions in the States as an article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States. In the Senate, on the 2d day of March, a communica- tion was received from the President of the Peace Con- gress, communicating the resolutions thus adopted in that body. They were at once referred to a committee consist- ing of Messrs. Crittenden, Bigler, Thomson, Seward, and Trumbull. The next day they were reported to the Sen- ate for its adoption, Messrs. Sew^ard and Trumbull, the minority of the Committee, dissenting from the majority, and proposing the adoption of a resolution calling on the legislatures of the States to express their will in regard to calling a Convention for amending the Constitution. The question then came up on adopting the resolutions of the Peace Conference. Mr. Hunter, of Virginia, moved to substitute the first of Mr. Crittenden' s resolutions for the first of those reported by the committee. Mr. Crit- tenden o^iposed it, and urged the adoption of the proposi- tions of the Peace Conference in preference to his own. Mr. Mason, of Virginia, opposed the resolutions of the Peace Conference, on the ground that it would not satisfy the South. Mr. Baker, of Oregon, advocated it. Mr. Green, of Missouri, opposed it, as surrendering every Southern principle, in which he was seconded by Mr. Lane, of Oregon. At this stage of the proceedings, Mr. Douglas gave a new turn to the form of the proceedings of the Senate, by moving to take up the resolution adopted by the House to amend the Constitution so as to prohibit forever an}'- interference with slavery in the States. This motion was State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 129 carried. Mr. Piigli moved to amend by substituting for this resolution the resolutions of Mr. Crittenden. This was rejected — ayes 14, noes 25. Mr. Brigham, of Michi- gan, next moved to substitute a resolution against any amendment of the Constitution, and in favor of enforcing the laws. Tliis was rejected — ayes 13, noes 25. Mr. Grimes, of Iowa, then moved to substitute the resolution of Messrs. Seward and Trumbull, as the minority of the Select Committee, calling on the State Legislatures to ex- press their will in regard to calling a Convention to amend the Constitution. This was rejected — ayes 14, noes 25. The propositions of the Peace Conference were then moved by Mr. Johnson, of Ai*kansas, and rejected — ayes 3, noes 34. Mr. Crittenden' s resolutions were then taken up, and lost by the following vote : — Ayes. — Messrs. Bayard, Bright, Bigler, Crittenden, Douglas, Gwin, Hunter, Jolmson of Tennessee, Kennedy, Lane, Latham, Mason, Nichol- son, Polk, Pugh, Rice, Sebastian, Thomson, and Wigfall — 19. Noes. — Messrs. Anthony, Bingham, Chandler, Clark, Dixon, Doolittle, Durkee, Fessenden, Foote, Foster, Grimes, Harlan, King, Morrill, Sum- ner, Ten Eyck, Trumbull, Wade, Wilkinson, and Wilson — 20. ■ • The resolutions were thus lost, in consequence of the withdrawal of Senators from the disaffected States. The question was then taken on the House resolution to amend the Constitution so as to prohibit forever any amendment of the Constitution interfering with slavery in any State, and the resolution was ado^pted by a two-thirds vote- • ayes 24, nays 12. This closed the action of Congress upon this important subject. It was strongly Republican in both branches, yet it had done every thing consistent with its sense of justice and fidelity to the Constitution to disarm the ap- prehensions of the Southern States, and to remove all provocation for their resistance to the incoming Adminis- tration. It had given the strongest possible pledge that it had no intention of interfering with slavery in any State, by amending the Constitution so as to make such interference forever impossible. It created governments for three new Territories, Nevada, Dakotah, and Colora- 130 The Life, Public Services, and do, and passed no law excluding slavery from any one of them. It had severely censured the legislation of some of the IN'ortliern States intended to hinder the recovery of fugitives from labor ; and in response to its expressed wishes, Rhode Island repealed its laws of tliat character, and Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts, and Wisconsin had the subject under consideration, and were ready to take similar action. Yet all this had no effect whatever in changing or checking the secession movement in the Southern States. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 131 CHAPTER V. FEOM SPRINGFIELD TO WASHINGTOK. SpEKon AT Indianapolis. — Arrival and Speech at Cincinnati. — Speech AT Columbus. — Speech at Pittsburg. — Arrival and Speech at Cleve- land. — Arpival at Buffalo. — At Eochester and Syracuse. — At Albany. — Speech at Poughkeepsie. — In New York. — Reply to the Mayor of New York. — In New Jersey. — Arrival at Philadelphia. — Speech in Philadelphia. — At Hakrisburg. — Arrival and Reception AT Washington. Feom the date of his election, Mr. LiisrcoLN maintained silence on the affairs of the country. The Government was to remain for three months longer in tlie hands of Mr. Bnchanan, and the new President did not deem it becom- ing or proper for him to interfere, in any way, with the regular discharge of its duties and responsibilities. On the 11th of February, 1861, he left his home in Spring- field, Illinois, accompanied to the railroad depot by a large concourse of his friends and neighbors, whom he bade farewell in the following words : — My Friends : — No one not in my position can appreciate the sadness I feel at this parting. To this people I owe all that I am. Here I have lived more than a quarter of a century ; here my children were born, and here one of them lies buried. I know not how soon I shall see you again. A duty devolves upon me which is, perhaps, greater than that which has devolved upon any other man since the days of Washington. He never would have succeeded except for the aid of Divine Providence, upon which he at all times relied. I feel that I cannot succeed without the same Divine aid which sustained him, and on the same Almighty Being I place my re- liance for support ; and I hope you, my friends, wiU all pray that I may receive that Divine assistance, without which I cannot succeed, but with which success is certain. Again I bid you all an aifectionate farewell. As the train passed through the country, the President was greeted with hearty cheers and good wishes by the thousands who assembled at the railway stations along 132 The Life, Public Services, and the route. Party spirit seemed to liave been forgotten, and the cheers were always given for " Lincohi and the Constitution. ' ' At Tolono lie appeared upon the platform, and in response to the applause which hailed his appear- ance, he said : — I am leaving you on an errand of national importance, attended, as you are aware, with considerable difficulties. Let ns believe, as some poet has expressed it, "Behind the cloud the sun is still shining." I bid you an affectionate farewell. At Indianapolis the party was welcomed by a salute of thirty-four guns, and the President-elect was received by the Governor of the State in person, and escorted to a carriage in waiting, which proceeded — followed by a pro- cession of the members of both houses of the legislature, the municipal authorities, the military, and firemen— to the Bates House. Appearing on the balcony of this hotel, Mr. Lincoln Avas greeted by the hearty applause of the large crowd Avhich had assembled in the street, to which he addressed the following remarks : — Governor Morton and Fellow-Citizens of the State of Indiana : — Most heartily do 1 thank you for this magnificent reception, and while I cannot take to myself any share of the compliment thus paid, more than that which pertains to a mere instrument, an accidental instrument, perhaps I should say, of a great cause, I yet must look upon it as a most magnificent reception, and as such most heartily do thank you for it. You have been pleased to address yourself to me chiefly in behalf of this glorious Union in which we live, in all of which you have my hearty sympathy, and, as far as may be within my power, will have, one and inseparably, my hearty consideration. While I do not expect, upon this occasion, or until I get to Washington, to attempt any lengthy speech, I will only say to the salvation of the Union there needs but one single thing — the hearts of a people like yours. [Applause.] The people, when they rise in mass in behalf of the Union and the liberties of their country, truly may it be said, "The gates of hell cannot prevail against thein." [Renewed applause.] In all trying positions in which I shall be placed— and, doubtless, I shall be placed in many such— my reliance will be placed upon you and the people of the United States; and I wish you to remember, now and forever, that it is your business, and not mine ; that if the union of these States, and the liberties of this people shall be lost, it is but little to any one man of fifty-two years of age, but a great deal to the thirty millions of people who inhabit these State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 133 United States, and to their posterity in all coming time. It is your busi- ness to rise up and preserve the Union and liberty for yourselves, and not for me. I desire they should be constitutionally performed. I, as already inti- mated, am but an accidental instrument, temporary, and to serve but for a limited time; and I appeal to you again to constantly bear in mind tluit with you, and not with politicians, not with Presidents, not with office- seekers, but with you is the question. Shall the Union and shall the liber- ties of this country be preserved to the latest generations? [Cheers.] Ill tlie evening the members of the legishiture waited upon him in a body at his hotel, where one of their num- ber, on behalf of the whole, and in presence of a very large assemblage of the citizens of the place, made a brief address of welcome and congratulation, which Mr. Lincoln acknowledged in the following terms : — Fellow- Citizens of the State of Indiana: — I am here to thank you much for this magniticent welcome, and still more for the generous sup- port given by your State to that political cause which I think is the true and just cause of the whole country and the whole world. Solomon says there is " a time to keep silence," and when men wrangle by the mouth with no certainty that they mean the same thing, while using the same icord., it perhaps were as well if they would keep silence. The words "coercion" and "invasion" are much used in these days, and often with some temper and hot blood. Let us make sure, if we can, that we do not misunderstand the meaning of those who use them. Let us get exact definitions of these words, not from dictionaries, but from the men themselves, who certainly depreciate the things they would represent by the use of words. What, then, is "Coercion?" What is " Invasion?" Would the marching of an army into South Carolina, with- out the consent of her people, and with hostile intent towards them, be "invasion?" I certainly think it would; and it would be "coercion" also if the South Carolinians were forced to submit. But if the United States should merely hold and retake its own forts and other property, and collect the duties on foreign importations, or even withhold the mails from places where they were habitually violated, would any or all these things be "invasion" or "coercion?" Do our professed lovers of the Union, but who spitefully resolve that they will resist coercion and inva- sion, understand that such things as these on the part of the United States would be coercion or invasion of a State? If so. their idea of means to preserve the object of their aifection would seem exceedingly thin and airy. If sick, the little pills of the homceopathists would be much too large for it to swallow. In their view, the Union, as a family 134 The Life, Public Services, and relation, would seem to be no regular marriage, but a sort of " free-love" arrangement, to be maintained only on " passional attraction." By-the-way, in what consists tlie special sacredness of a State ? I speak not of the position assigned to a State in the Union, by the Constitution; for that, by the bond, we all recognize. That position, however, a State cannot carry out of the Union with it. I speak of that assumed primary right of a State to rule all which is less than itself, and ruin all which is larger than itself. If a State and a county, in a given case, should bo equal in extent of territory, and equal in number of inhabitants, in what, as a matter of principle, is the State better than the county? Would an exchange of names be an exchange of rights upon principle? On what rightful principle may a State, being not more than one-iiftieth part of the nation, in soil and population, break up the nation and then coerce a proportionally larger subdivision of itself, in the most arbitrary way ? What mysterious right to play tyrant is conferred on a district of country, with its people, by merely calling it a State? Fellow-citizens, I am not asserting any thing ; I am merely asking ques- tions for you to consider. And now allow me to bid you farewell. On the morning of the 12th, Mr. Lincoln took his depart- ure and arrived at Cincinnati at about noon, having been greeted along the route by the hearty applause of the thousands assembled at the successive stations. His reception at Cincinnati was overwhehning. The streets were so densely crowded that it was witli the utmost diffi- culty the procession could secure a passage. Mr. Lincoln was escorted to the Burnett House, which had been hand- somely decorated in honor of his visit. He was welcomed by the Mayor of the city in a few remarks, in response to which lie said : — Mr. Mayor and Fellow-Citizens : — I have spoken but once before this in Cincinnati. That was a year previous to the late Presidential election. On that occasion, in a playful manner, but with sincere words, I addressed much of what I said to the Kentuckians. I gave my opinion that we, as Eepublicans, would ultimately beat them, as Democrats, but that they could postpone that result longer by nominating Senator Douglas' for the Presidency than they could in any other way. They did not, in any true sense of the word, nominate Mr. Douglas, and the result has come certainly as soon as ever I expected. T also told them how I expected they would be treated after they should have been beaten ; and I now wish to call their attention to what 1 then said upon that subject. I then said, "When we do as we say, beat you, you perhaps want to know what we will do with you. I will tell you, as far as I am authorized to speak for the oppo- State Papers of Abiiaiia:\i Lincoln. 135 sition, what we me.in to do witli you. We mean to treat you, as near as we possibly can, as "Washington, Jefferson, and Madison ti-eated you. We mean to leave you alone, and in no way to interfere with your institu- tions ; to abide by all and every compromise of the Constitution ; and, in a word, coming back to the original proposition, to treat you so far as degenerate men, if we have degenerated, may, according to the example of those noble fathers, Washington, Jefferson, and Madison. We mean to remember that you are as good as we ; that tliere is no difference be- tween us, other than the difference of circumstances. We mean to recog- nize and bear in mind always that you have as good hearts in your bosoms as other people, or as we claim to have, and treat you accordingly. Fellow-citizens of Kentucky ! friends ! brethren, may I call you in my new position ? I see no occasion, and feel no inclination to retract a word of this. If it shall not be made good, be assured the fault shall not be mine. Ill the evening the German Republican associations called upon Mr. Lincoln and presented him an address of con- gratulation, to which he responded, warmly indorsing the wisdom of the Homestead bill, and speaking of the advan- tages offered by the soil and institutions of the United States to foreigners who might wish to make it their home. He left Cincinnati on the morning of the 13th, accompanied by a committee of the Ohio Legislature, which had come from the capital to meet him. The party reached Colum- bus at two o'clock, and the President was escorted to the haU of the Assembly, where he was formally welcomed by Lieutenant-Governor Kirk on behalf of the legislature, which had assembled in joint session, to which he made the following reply : — Mr. President and Mr. Speaker, and Gentlemen of the General Assembly: — It is true, as has been said by the President of the Senate, that very great responsibility rests upon me in the position to which the votes of the American people have called me. I am deeply sensible of that weighty responsibility. I cannot but know what you all know, that without a name, perhaps without a reason why I should have a name, there has fallen upon me a task such as did not rest even upon the Father of his Country ; and so feeling, I cannot but turn and look for the support without which it will be impossible for me to perform that great task. I turn, then, and look to the great American people, and to that God who has never forsaken them. Allusion has been made to the interest felt in relation to the policy of the new Administration. In this I have received from some a degree of 136 The Life, Public Services, and credit for liaving kept silence, and from others some depreciation. I still think that I was right. In the varying and repeatedly shifting scenes of the present, and without a precedent which could enable me to judge by the past, it has seemed fitting that before speaking upon the difficulties of the country, I should have gained a view of the whole field so as to be* sure after all — at liberty to modify and change the course of policy as future events may make a change necessary. I have not maintained silence from any want of real anxiety. It is a good thing that there is no more than anxiety, for there is nothing going wrong. It is a consoling circumstance that when tve look out, there is nothing that really hurts any- body. "We entertain different views upon political questions, but nobody is suffering any thing. This is a most consoling circumstance, and from it we may conclude that all we want is time, patience, and a reliance on that God who has never forsaken this people. Fellow-citizens, what I have said I have said altogether extemporaneously, and will now come to a close. Both houses then adjourned. In the evening Mr. Lin- coln held a levee, which was very largely attended. On the morning of the 14th, Mr. Lincoln left Columhus. At Steubenville he had a formal though brief reception, being addressed by Judge Floyd, to whose remarks he made the following reply : — I fear that the great confidence placed in my ability is unfounded. In- deed, I am sure it is. Encompassed by vast difficulties as I am, nothing shall be wanting on my part, if sustained by the American people and God. I believe the devotion to the Constitution is equally great on both sides of the river. It is only the difterent understanding of that instru- ment that causes difficulty. The only dispute on both sides is, "What are their rights?" If the majority should not rule, who should be the judge? Where is such a judge to be found? We should all be boimd by the majority of the American people — if not, then the minority must control. Would that be right ? Wotfld it be just or generous? Assuredly not. I reiterate, that the majority should rule. If I adopt a wrong policy, the opportunity for condemnation will occur in four years' time. Then I can be turned out, and a better man with better views put in my place. The train reached Pittsburg in the evening, and Mr. Lincoln was received with the utmost enthusiasm at the Monongahela House by a large crowd which had assembled to greet him. He acknowledged their reception briefly : — He said he would not give them a speech, as he thought it more rare, if not more wise, for a public man to abstain from much speaking. Ho State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 137 expressed Ins gratitude and surprise at seeing so great a crowd and sneli boundless enthusiasm manifested in the night-time, and under such un- toward circumstances, to greet so unworthy an individual as himself. This ■was undoubtedly attributable to the position which more by accident than by worth he had attained. He remarked further, that if all those whole-souled people whom ho saw this evening before him, were for tlie preservation of the Union, he did not see how it could be in much dan- ger. He had intended to say a few words to the people of Pittsburg — the greatest manufacturing city of the United States— upon such matters as they were interested in ; but as he had adopted the plan of holding his tongue for the most part during the last canvass, and since his election, he thouglit he had perhaps better now still continue to hold his tongue. [Cries of " Go on," " go on."] Well, I am reminded that there is an Alle- ghany City as well as an Alleghany County, the former the banner town, and the latter the banner county, perhaps, of the world. I am glad to see both of thera, and the good people of both. That I may not disap- point these, I will say a few words to you to-morrow as to the peculiar interests of Alleghany County. On the morning of the 15th, the Mayor and Common Council of the City of Pittsburg waited in a body upon the President-elect. The Mayor made him an address of formal welcome in presence of a very large number of citizens who had assembled to witness the ceremony. After the applause which greeted his appearance had subsided, Mr. Lincoln made the following remarks : — I most cordially thank His Honor Mayor Wilson, and the citizens of Pittsburg generally, for their flattering reception. I am the more grate- ful because I know that it is not given to me alone, but to the cause I represent, which clearly proves to me their good-will, and that sincere feeling is at the bottom of it. And here I may remark, that in every short address I have made to the people, in every crowd through which I have passed of late, some alhision has been made to the present dis- tracted condition of the country. It is natural to expect that I should say something on this subject; but to touch upon it at all would involve an elaborate discussion of a great many questions and circumstances, requiring more time than I can at present command, and would, perhaps, unnecessarily commit me upon matters which have not yet fully devel- oped themselves. The condition of the country is an extraordinary one, and fills the mind of every patriot with anxiety. It is my intention to give this subject all the consideration I possibly can before specially deciding in regard to it, so that when I do speak it may be as nearly right as possible. When I do speak, I hope I may say nothing in opposi- iion to the spirit of the Constitution, contrary to the integrity of the 138 The Life, Public Services, and Union, or wliich will prove inimical to the liberties of the people, or to the peace of the whole country. And, furthermore, when the time arrives f(jr me to speak on this great subject, I hope I may say nothing to disappoint the people generally throughout the country, especially if the expectation has been based upon any thing which I may have hereto- fore said. Notwithstanding the troubles across the river — (the speaker pointing southwardly across the Monongahela, and smiling) — there is no crisis but an artificial one. AVhat is there now to warrant the condition of affairs presented by our friends over the river ? Take even their own view of the questions involved, and there is nothing to justify the course they are pursuing. I repeat, then, there is no crisis, excepting such a one as may be gotten up at any time by turbulent men, aided by design- ing politicians. My advice to them, under such circumstances, is to keep cool. If the great American people only keep their temper on both sides of the. line, the troubles will come to an end, and the question which now distracts the country will be settled, just as surely as all other diffi- culties of a like character which have originated in this Government have been adjusted. Letthe people on both sides keep their self-posses- sion, and just as other clouds have cleared away in due time, so will this great nation continue to prosper as heretofore. But, fellow-citizens, I have spoken longer on this subject than I intended at the outset. It is often said that the Tariff is tlie specialty of Pennsylvania. Assuming that direct taxation is not to be adopted, the Tariff question must be as durable as the Government itself. It is a question of national housekeeping. It is to the Government what replenishing the meal-tub is to the family. Every vai-ying circumstance will require frequent modifications as to the amount needed, and the sources of supply. So far there is little difference of opinion among the people. It is only whether, and how far, the duties on imports shall be adjusted to favor home productions. In the home market that controversy begins. One party insists that too much protection oppresses one class for the advan- tage of another, while the other party argues that with all its incidents, in the long run, all classes are benefited. In the Chicago Platform there is a plank upon this subject, which should be a general law to the incom- ing Administration. "We should do neither more nor less than we gave the people reason to believe we would when they gave us their votes. That plank is as I now read. Mr. Lincoln's private secretary then read section twelfth of the Chicago Platfomi, as follows: — That while providing revenue for the support of the General Govern- ment, by duties upon imports, sound policy requires such an adjustment of these imports as will encourage the development of tlie industrial interest of the whole country ; and we commend that policy of national exchanges wliich secures to working-men liberal wages, to agriculture remunerative prices, to mechanics and manufacturers adequate reward State Papers op Abraham Lincoln. 139 for tlie'r skill, labor, and enterprise, and to the nation commercial pros- perity and independence. Mr. Lincoln resumed : As with all general propositions, doubtless there will be shades of diiference in construing this. I have by no means a thoroughly matured judgment upon this subject, especially as to details; some general ideas are about all. I have long thought to produce any necessary article at home which can be made of as good quality and with as little labor at home as abroad, would be better policy, at least by the difference of the carrying from abroad. In such a case, the carrying is demonstrably a dead loss of labor. For instance, labor being the true standard of value, is it not plain that if equal labor gets a bar of railroad iron out of a mine in England, and another out of a mine in Pennsyl- vania, eacli can be laid down in a track at home cheaper than they could exchange countries, at least by the cost of carriage ? If there be a pres- ent cause why one can be both made and carried cheaper in money price than the other can be made without carrying, that cause is an unnatural and injurious one, and ought naturally, if not rapidly, to be removed. The condition of the treasury at this time would seem to render an early revision of the Tariff indispensable. The Morrill Tariff Bill, now pending before Congress, may or may not become a law. I am not posted as to its particular provisions, but if they are generally satisfactory, and the bill shall now pass, there will be an end of the mat- ter for the present. If, however, it shall not pass, I suppose the whole subject will be one of the most pressing and important for the next Con- gress. By the Constitution, the Executive may recommend measures which he may think proper, and he may veto those he thinks improper, and it is supposed that he may add to these certain indirect influences to affect the action of Congress. My political education strongly inclines me against a very free use of any of these means by the Executive to control the legislation of the country. As a rule, I think it better that Congress should originate as well as perfect its measures without external bias. I, therefore, would rather recommend to every gentleman who knows he is to be a member of the next Congress to take an enlarged view, and inform himself thoroughly, so as to contribute his part to such an adjustment of the tariff' as shall produce a sufficient revenue, and in its other bearings, so far as possible, be just and equal to all sections of the country, and all classes of the people. Mr. Lincoln left Pittsburg irame Jiatel/ after tlie delivery of this speech, being accompanied to the depot by a long procession of the people of the city. The train reached Cleveland at half-past four in the afternoon, and the Pres- ident-elect was received by a long procession, which marched, amidst the roar of artillery, througli the princi- 140 The Life, Public Services, and pal streets to the Weddell House, wliere Mr. Lincoln, in reply to an address of welcome from tlie Mayor, made the following remarks : — Me. Chairmax and Fellow-Oitizens of Cleveland : — We have been marcliing about two miles through snow, rain, and deep mud. The large numbers that have turned out under these circumstances testify that you are in earnest about something or other. But do I think so meanly of you as to suppose that that earnestness is about me personally? I would be doing you injustice to suppose it was. You have assembled to testify your respect to the Union, and the Constitution and the laws. And here let me state that it is with you, the people, to advance the great cause of the Union and the Constitution, and not with any one man. It rests with you ahme. This fact is strongly impressed on my mind at present. In a community like this, whose appearance testifies to their intelligence, I am convinced that the cause of liberty and the Union can never be in danger. Frequent allusion is made to the excitement at present existing in our national politics, and it is as well that I should also allude to it here. I think that there is no occasion for any excitement. The crisis, as it is called, is altogether an artificial crisis. In all parts of the nation there are differences of opinion on politics. There are differences of opinion even here. You did not all vote for the person who now ad- dresses you. What is happening now will not hurt those who are further away from here. Have they not all their rights now as they ever have had ? Do not they have their fugitive slaves returned now as ever ? Have they not the same Constitution that they have lived under for seventy odd years ? Have they not a position as citizens of this com- mon country, and have we any power to change that position ? [Cries of "No."] What, then, is the matter with them? Why all this excite- ment? Why all these complaints? As I said before, this crisis is all artificial! It has no foundation in fact. It was not " argued up," as the saying is, and cannot therefore be argued down. Let it alone, and it will go down of itself. [Laughter.] Mr. Lincoln said that they must be content with but a few words from him. He was very much fatigued, and had spoken so much that he was already hoarse. Ho thanked them for the cordial and magnificent reception they had given him. Not less did he thank them for the votes they gave him last fall ; and quite as much he thanked them for the eflicient aid they had given the cause which he represented — a cause which he would say was a good one. He had one more word to say. He was given to understand that this reception was tendered not only by his own party supporters, but by men of all parties. This is as it should be. If Judge Douglas had been elected, and liad been here, on his way to Washington, as I am to-night, the Republicans should have joined his supporters in welcoming him, State PArEiis of Abraham Lincoln. 141 just as his friends liave joined witli mine to-night. If all do not join now to save the good old ship of the Union on this voyage, nohody will have a chance to pilot her on another voyage. He concluded by thank- ing all present for the devotion they had shown to the cause of the Union. On tlie morning of the 16th the Presidential party left Cleveland for Buffalo. At Erie, where they dined, loud calls were made upon Mr. Lincoln for a speech, in response to which he made a few remarks, excusing himself for not expressing his opinions on the exciting questions of the day. He trusted that when the time for Speaking should come, he should find it necessary to say nothing not in accordance with the Constitution, as well as with the interests of the people of the whole country. At North- east Station he took occasion to state that during the cam- paign he had received a letter from a young girl of the place, in which he was kindly admonished to do certain things, and among others to let his whiskers grow ; and, as he had acted upon that piece of advice, he would now be glad to welcome his fair correspondent, if she was among the crowd. In response to the call a lassie made her way through the crowd, was helped on the platfomi, and was kissed by the President. Arriving at Buffalo, Mr. Lincoln had the utmost diffi- culty to make his way through the dense crowd which had assembled in anticipation of his arrival. On reaching the American Hotel, he was welcomed in a brief speech by Acting-Mayor Bemis, to which he responded as follows : — Me. Mayor and Fellow-Citizens of Buffalo and the State of New YoEK : — I am here to thank yoa briefly for this grand reception given to me, not personally, but as the representative of our great and beloved country. [Cheers.] Your worthy Mayor has been pleased to mention, in his address to me, the fortunate and agreeable journey which I have had from home, only it is a rather circuitous route to the Federal Capital. I am very happy that he was enabled in truth to congratulate myself and company on that fact. It is true we have had nothing thus far to mar the pleasure of the trip. We have not been met alone by those vvho assisted in giving the election to me ; I say not alone by them, but by the whole population of the country through which we have passed. This is as it should be. Had the election fallen to any other of the distinguished 142 The Life. Public Services, and canJicLiles instead of myself, under the peculiar circumstances, to say the least, it would have, been proper for all citizens to have greeted him as you now greet rae. It is an evidence of the devotion of the whole people to tlie Constitution, the Union, and the perpetuity of the liberties of this country. [Cheers.] I am unwilling on any occasion that I should be so meanly thought of as to have it supposed for a moment that these demon- strations are tendered to me personally. They are tendered to the country, to the institutions of tlie country, and to the perpetuity of the liberties of the country, for which these institutions were made and created. Your worthy Mayor has thought fit to express the hope that I may be able to relieve the country from the present, or, I should say, the threat- ened difficulties. I am sure I bring a heart true to the work. [Tremen- dous applause.] For the ability to perform it, I must trust in that Supreme Being who has never forsaken this favored land, through the instrumen- tality of this great and intelligent people. Without that assistance I shall surely fail; with it, I cannot fail. When we speak of threatened difficul- ties to the country, it is natural that it should be expected that something should be said by myself with regard to particular measures. Upon more mature reflection, however — and others will agree with me — that, when it is considered that these difficulties are without precedent, and never have been acted upon by any individual situated as I am, it is most proper I should wait and see the developments, and get all the light possible, so that when I do speak authoritatively, I may be as near right as possible. [Cheers.] When I shall speak authoritatively, I hope to say nothing in- consistent with the Constitution, the Union, the rights of all the States, of each State, and of each section of the country, and not to disappoint the reasonable expectations of those who have confided to me their votes. In this connection allow me to say that you, as a portion of the great American people, need only to maintain your composure, stand up to your sober convictions of right, to your obligations to the Constitution, and act in accordance with those sober convictions, and the clouds which now arise in the horizon will be dispelled, and we shall have a bright and glorious future ; and when tins generation has passed away, tens of thou- sands will inhabit this country where only thousands inhabit it now. I do not propose to address you at length ; I have no voice for it. Allow me again to thank you for this magnificent reception, and bid you farewell. Mr. Lincoln remained at Buffalo over Sunday, the 17tli, and on the morning of the 18th left for Albany. On reaching Rochester, he was introduced by the Mayor to a crowd of several thousands, to whom he said : — I confess myself, after having seen many large audiences since leavmg home, overwhelmed with this vast number of faces at this hour of the morning. I am not vain enough to believe that you are here from any wish to see me as an individual, but because I am for the tinio being the State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 143 representative of the American people. I could not, if I woiikl, address you at any length. I have not the strength, even if I hau the time, for a speech at each of tliese many interviews that are atforded me on my way to Wasliington. I appear merely to see you, and to let you see me, and to bid you farewell. I hope it will be understood that it is from no dis- inclination to oblige anyljody that I do not address you at greater length. At Syracuse, wliere preparations had been made to give liim a formal reception, lie made the following remarks in reply to an address of welcome from the Mayor ; — Ladies and Gentlemen : I see you have erected a very fine and hand- some platform here for me, and I presume you expected me to speak from it. If I should go upon it, you would imagine that I was about to deliver you a much longer speech than I am. I wish you to understand that I mean no discourtesy to you by thus declining. I intend discourtesy to no one. But I wisli you to understand that, though I am unwilling to go upon this platform, you are not at liberty to draw any inferences concern- ing any other platform with which my name has been or is connected. [Laughter and applause.] I wish you long life and prosperity iudividu ally, and pray that with the perpetuity of those institutions under which we have all so long lived and prospered, our happiness may be secured, our future made brilliant, and the glorious destiny of our country estab- lished forever. I bid you a kind farewell. At Utica, where an immense and most enthusiastic assemblage of people from the surrounding country had gathered to see him, Mr. Lincoln contented himself by saying :— Ladies and Gentlemen : — I have no speech to make to you, and no time to speak in. I appear l^efore you that I may see you, and that you may see me ; and I am willing to admit, that so far as the ladies are concerned, I have the best of tiie bargain, though I wish it to be understood that I do not make the same acknowledgment concerning the men. [Laughter and applause.] The train reached Albany at half- past two in the after- noon, where Mr. Lincoln was fonnally received by the Mayor in a complimentary address, to which he thus replied : — Mr. Mayor : — I can hardly appropriate to myself tlie flattering terms in which you communicate the tender of this reception, as personal to my- self. I most gratefully accept tlie hospitalities tendered to me, and will not detain you or the audience with any extended remarks at this time 144 The Life, Public Services, and I presuDie tliat in the two or three courses through which I shall have to go, I shall liave to repeat somewhat, and I will therefore only repeat to you my thanks for this kind reception. A procession was then formed, wMch escorted Mr. Lin- coln to the steps of the Capital, where he was welcomed by the Governor, in presence of an immense mass of the people, whom he addressed as follows : — Mr. Goyeknoe : — I was pleased to receive an invitation to visit the capital of the great Empire State of the nation, on my way to the Federal Capital, and I now thank you, Mr. Governor, and the people of this capital, and the people of the State of New York, for this most hearty and mag- nificent welcome. If I am not at fault, the great Empire State at this time contains a gre-ater population than did the United States of America at the time she achieved her national independence. I am proud to be invited to pass through your capital and meet them, as I now have the honor to do. I am notified by your Governor that this reception is given without distinction of party. I accept it the more gladly because it is so. Almost all men in this country, and in any country where freedom of thought is tolerated, attach themselves to pohtical parties. It is but ordinary charity to attribute this to the fact that in so attaching himself to the party which his judgment prefers, the citizen believes he thereby promotes the best interests of the whole country ; and when an election is passed, it is altogether befitting a free people that, until the next election, they should be as one people. The reception you have extended to me to-day is not given to me personally. It should not be so, but as the representa- tive for the time being of the majority of the nation. If the election had resulted in the selection of either of the other candidates, the same cor- diality should have been extended to him as is extended to me this day, in testimony of the devotion of the whole people to the Constitution and the whole Union, and of their desire to perpetuate our institutions, and to hand them down in their perfection to succeeding generations. I have neither the voice nor the strength to address you at any greater length. I beg you will accept my most grateful thanks for this devotion — not to me, but to this great and glorious free country. Mr. Lincoln was then escorted to the Hall of Assembly, and was formally received on behalf of the members of the legislature, to whom he made the following ad- dress : — ■ Me. Peksidknt and Gentlemen of the Legislature of the State of New York :— It is with feelings of great diflfidence, and, I may say, with feelings of awe, perhaps greater than I have recently experienced, that I State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 14G meet you here in this place. The history of tliis fjreat State, tlie renown of those great men who have stood here, and spoke here, and heen heard here, all crowd around my fancy, and incline me to shrink from any attempt to address you. Yet f have some confidence given me by the generous manner in which you have invited me, and by the still more generous manner in which you have received me, to speak further. You have invited and received me without distinction of party. I cannot for a moment suppose that tliis has been done in any considerable degree with reference to my personal services, but that it is done in so far as T am regarded at this time as the representative of the majesty of this great nation. I doubt not this is the truth, and the whole truth, of the case, and this is as it should be. It is much more gratifying to me that this reception has been given to me as the representative of a free people, than it could possibly be if tendered as an evidence of devotion to me, or to any one man personally. And now I think it were more fitting that I should close these hasty remarks. It is true that, while I hold myself, without mock modesty, the humblest of all individuals that have ever been elevated to the Presidency, I have a more difficult task to perform than any one of them. You have generously tendered me the united support of the great Empire State. For this, in behalf of the nation— in behalf of the present and future of the nation— in behalf of civil and religious liberty for all tiiue to come, most gratefully do I thank you. J I do not propose to enter into an explanation of any particular line of policy, as to our present difficulties, to be adopted by the incoming Ad- ministration. I deem it just to you, to myself, and to all, that I should see every thing, that I should hear every thing, that I should have every light that can be brought within my reach, in order that, when I do so speak, I shall have enjoyed every opportunity to take correct and true grounds ; and for this reason I don't propose to speak, at this time, of the policy of the Government. But when the time comes I shall speak, as well as I am able, for the good of the present and future of this country— for the good both of the North and the South of this country— for the good of the one and the other, and of all sections of the country. [Rounds of applause.] In the mean time, if we have patience, if we restrain our- selves, if we allow ourselves not to run off" in a passion, I still have confi- dence that the Almighty, the Maker of the Universe, will, through the instrumentality of this great and intelligent people, bring us through this, as he has through all the other difficulties of our country. Relying on this, I again thank you for this generous reception. [Applause and cheers.] On the morning of tlie 19tli Mr. Lincoln went to Troy, and, in reply to the welcome of the Mayor, said : — Mr. Mayor and Citizens of Trot :— I thank you very kindly for tliis great reception. Since I left my home it has not been my fortune to meet ]0 L46 The Life, Public Services, and an asserablago more numerous and more orderly than this. I am the more graittied at this mark of your regard, since you assure me it is ten- dered, not to the individual, but to the high office you have called me to fill. I have neither strength nor time to make any extended remarks, and I can only repeat to you my sincere thanks for the kind recei)tion yon have thought proper to extend to me. On tlie route to New York, by the Hudson River Rail- road, very large crowds of people had assembled at the various stations to welcome him. At Hudson he spoke as follows : — Fellow-Citizens: — I see that you have provided a platform, but I shall have to dedine standing on it. [Laughter and applause.] Tlie superin- tendent tells me I have not time during our brief stay to leave the train. 1 liad to decline standing on some very handsome platforms prepared for me yesterday. But I say to you, as I said to them, you must not on this account draw tlie inference that I have any intention to desert any plat form I have a legitimate right to stand on. I do not appear before you for the purpose of making a speech. I come only to see yon, and to give you the opportunity to see me; and I say to you, as 1 have liefore said to crowds wliere there are so many handsome ladies as there are here, I think I have decidedly the best of the bargain. I have oidy, therefore, to thank you most cordially for this kind reception, and bid you all fare- well. At Poughkeepsie, where great preparations had been made for his reception, he responded thus to an address from the Mayor : — Fellow-Citizens: — It is altogether impossible I should make myself beard by any considerable portion of this vast assembhige ; hut, although 1 appear before you mainly for the purpose of seeing you, and to let you see, rather than hear me, I cannot refrain from saying tliat I am highly gratified — as much here, indeed, under the circumstances, as I have been anywhere on my route — to witness this noble demonstration — made, not in honor of an individual, but of the man who at this time humbly, but earnestly, represents the majesty of the nation. This reception, like all others ihat have been tendered to me, doubtless emanates from all the politicnl parties, and not from one alone. As such I accept it the more gratefully, siqce it indicates an earnest desire on the part of the whole people, without regard to political differences, to save — not the country, because the country will save itself— but to save the institutions of the country — those institutions under which, in the last three-quarters of a century, we liave grown to be a great, an intelligent, and a happy people —the greatest, the most intelligent, and the happiest people in the world State Papers of Abiiaham JjIncoln. 147 These noble manifestations indicate, with unerring certainty, tliat the wliolo people are willing to make common cause for this object; tliat if, as it ever must be, some have been successful in the recent election, and some luive been beaten— if some are satisfied, and some, are dissatisfied, tlie defeated party are not in favor of sinking tiie sliip, but are desirous of running it through tlie tempest in safety, and willing, if they tliink the people have committed an error in their verdict now, to wait in the hope of reversing it, and setting it right next time. I do not say that in the recent election the peojjle did the wisest thing that could have been done; indeed, I do not think they did ; but 1 do say, that in accepting the great trust committed to me, which I do witii a determination to endeavor to prove worthy of it, I must rely upon you, upon the people of the wlujle country, for support; and with their sustaining aid, even 1, humble as I am, cannot fail to carry the ship of State safely through the storm. I have now only to thank you warmly for your kind attendance, and bid you all an affectionate farewell. At Peekskill, in reply to a brief address from Judge Nelson, lie said : — Ladies and Gentlemen : — I have but a moment to stand before yon, to listen to and return your kind greeting. I thank you for this reception, and for the pleasant manner in which it is tendered to me, by our mutual friend. I will say in a single sentence, in regard to the difficulties that lie l)efore me and our beloved country, that if I can only be as generously and unanimously sustained as the demonstrations I have witnessed indi- cate I shall be, I shall not fail ; but without your sustaining hands I am sure that neither I, nor any other man, can hope to surmount these ditfi- culties. I trust that in the course I shall pursue I shall be sustained, not only by the party that elected me, but by the patriotic people of the whole country. The President-elect reached New York at three o'clock, and was received by an immense demonstration of popu- lar enthusiasm. Places of business were generally closed, and the streets were filled Avith people, eager to catch a glimpse of his person. On reaching the Astor House, he was compelled by the importunity of the assembled crowd to appear on the balcony, from which he said : — Fellow-Citizens : — I have stepped before you merely in compliance with what appears to be your wish, and not with the purpose of making a speech. I do not propose making a speech this afternoon. I could not be heard by any but a small fraction of you, at best ; but, what is still worse than that, I have nothing just now to say that is worthy of your hearing. [Applause.] I beg you to believe that I do not now refuse to 148 The Life, Public Sehvices, and address you from any disposition to disoblige yon, bnt to the contrary. But, at the same time, I beg of yon to excuse me for the j^resent. In the evening, Mr. Lincoln received a large deputation from the various Republican associations which had taken an active part in the election canvass, and in reply to a brief welcome from Mr. E. D. Smith, on their behalf, he thus addressed them : — Ml!. Chairman and Gentlemen : — I am rather an ohl man to avail myself of such an excuse as I am now about to do. Yet the truth is so distinct, and presses itself so distinctly upon me, that I cannot well avoid it — and that is, that I did not understand when I was brought into this room that I was brought here to make a speech. It was not intimated to me that I was brought into the room where Daniel Webster and Henry Clay had made speeches, and where, in my position, I might be expected to do something liice those men, or do something worthy of myself or my audience. I, therefore, will beg you to make very great allowance for the circumstances in which I have been by surprise brought before you. Now, I have been in the habit of thinking and speaking sometimes upon political questions that have for some years past agitated the coun- try ; and, if I were dispf)sed to do so, and we could take up some one of the issues, as the lawyers call them, and I were called upon to make an argument about it to the best of my ability, I could do so without much preparation. But that is not what you desire to be done here to-night. 1 have been occupying a position since the Presidential election of silence, of avoiding public freaking, of avoiding public writing. I have been doing so, because I th' ' ght, upon full consideration, that was the proper course for me to take. [Great applause.] I am brought before you now, and re(iuired to make a speech, when you all approve more than any thing else of the fact that I have been keeping silence. [Great laugli- ter, cries of "Good," and applause.] And now it seems to me that the response you give to that remark ought to .justify me in closing just here. [Great laughter.] I have not kept silence since the Presidential election from any party wantonness, or from any indifference to the anxiety that pervades the minds of men about the aspect of the political affairs of this country. I have kept silence for the reason that I supposed it was pecu- liarly proper that I should do so until the time camq when, according to the custom of the country, I could speak officially. A voice — The custom of the country? I heard some gentleman say, " According to the custom of the country." I alluded to the custom of the President-elect, at the time of taking the oath of office. That is what I meant by "tiic custom of the country." I do suppose that, while the political drama being enacted in this coun- try, at this time, is rapidly shifting its scenes — forbidding an anticipation. State Papers of Aiuiauam Lincoln. 149 witli any degree of certuiiity, to-day, wliat we sliall see to-morrow — it was i)e('uliarly titting tliat 1 slioullause.] While I am exceedingly gratified to see the manifestation upon your streets of your military force here, and exceedingly gratified at your promises here to use that force upon a proper emergency — while I make these acknowledgments I desire to repeat, in order to preclude any pos- sible misconstruction, that I do most sincerely hope that we shall have no use for them. [Applause.] That it will never become their duty to shed blood, and most especially never to shed fratei-nal blood. I pi-omise that, so far as I may have wisdom to direct, if so painful a result shall in any-wise be brought about, it shall be through no fault of mine. [Cheers.] Allusion has also been made by one of your honored speakers to somo remarks recently made by myself at Pittsburg, in regard to what is sup- posed to be the especial interest of this great Commonwealth of Pennsyl- vania. I now wish only to say, in regard to that matter, that the few remarks which I uttered on that occasion were rather carefully worded. I took pains that they should be so. I have seen no occasion since to add to them, or subtract from them. I leave them precisely as they stand [applause], adding only now, that I am pleased to have an expression from you. gentlemen of Pennsylvania, significant that they are satisfactory to you. And now, gentlemen of the General Assembly of the Common- wealth of Pennsylvania, allow me to return you again my most sincere thanks. 158 The Life, Public Services, and After the delivery of this address, Mr. Lincoln devoted some hours to the reception of visitors, and at six o'clock retired to his room. The next morning the whole coun- try was surprised to learn that he had arrived in Wash- ington—twelve hours sooner than he had originally in- tended. His sudden departure proved to have been a measure of precaution for which events subsequently disclosed afforded a full justification. For some time pre- vious to his departure from home, the rumor had been current that he would never reach the Capital alive. An attempt was made on the Toledo and Western Railroad, on the 11th of February, to throw from the track the train on whicli he was journeying, and just as he was leaving Cincinnati a hand grenade was found to have been se- creted on board the cars. These and other circumstances led to an organized and thorough investigation, under the direction of a police detective, carried on Avith great skill and perseverance at Baltimore, and which resulted in dis- closing the fact that a small gang of assassins, under the leadership of an Italian who assumed the name of Orsini, had arranged to take his life during his passage through Baltimore. General Scott and Mr. Seward had both been apprised of the same fiict through another source, and' they had sent Mr. F. W. Seward as a special messenger to Philadelphia, to meet the President-elect there, pre- vious to his departure for Harrisburg, and give him notice of these circumstances. Mr. Lincoln did not deviate from the programme he had marked out for him- self, in consequence of these communications ; except that, under the advice of friends, he deemed it prudent to anticipate by one train the time he was expected to arrive in Washington. He reached there on the morning of Saturday, the 23d. On Wednesday, the 27th, the Mayor and Common Council of the city waited upon Mr. Lincoln, and ten- dered him a welcome. He replied to them as follows : — Mr. Mayor :— I thank you, and through you the municipal authorities of this city who accompany you, for this welcome. And as it is the first State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 159 time in iny life, yiucc tli(.' present phase of politics has presenteil itself in this country, that I have said any thing publicly within a region of country where the institution of slavery exists, I will take this occasion to say, that I think very much of the ill-feeling that has existed and still exists between the people in the sections from which I came and the people here, is dependent upon a misunderstanding of one another. I therefore avail myself of this opportunity to assure you, Mr. Mayor, and all the gentlemen present, tliat I have not now, and never have had, any other tlian as kindly feelings towards you as the people of iny own section. I have not now, and never have had, any disposition to treat you in any respect otlierwise than as my own neighbors. I have not now any purpose to withhold from you any of the benefits of the Consti- tution, under any circumstances, that I would not feel myself constrained to withhold from my own neighbors; and I hope, in a word, that when we shall become better acquainted — and I say it with great confidence — we shall like each other the more. I thank you for the kindness of this reception. On the next evening a serenade was given to Mr. Lincoln by the members of the Republican Association, and he then addressed the crowd which the occasion had brought together as follows : — My Friexds: — I suppose that I may take this as a compliment paid to me, and as such please accept my thanks for it. I have reached this City of Washington under circumstances considerably differing from those under which any other man has ever reached it. I am here for the pur- pose of taking an official position amongst the people, almost all of whom were politically opposed to mo, and are yet opposed to me, as I sujipose. I pro|)ose no lengthy address to you. I only propose to say, as I did on yesterday, when your wortliy Mayor and Board of Aldermen called upon me, that I thought much of the ill feeling that has existed between you and the people of your surroundings and that people from among whom I came, has depended, and now depends, upon a misunder- standing. I hope that, if things shall go along as prosperously as I believe we all desire they may, I may have it in my power to remove sometliing of this misunderstanding; that I may be enabled to convince you, and the])eople of your section of the country, that we regard you as in all things our equals, and in all things entitled to the same respect and the same treat- ment tliat we claim for ourselves; that we are in no wise disposed, if it were in our power, to oi)press you, to deprive you of any of your rights under the Constitution of the United States, or even narrowly to split hairs with you in regard to these rights, but are determined to give you, as tar as lies in our hands, all your rights under the Constitution — not 160 The Life, Public Services, and grudgingly, but fully and fairly. [Applause.] I hope that, by thus dealing with you, we will become better acquainted, and be better friends. And now, my friends, with these few remarks, and again returning my thanks for this compliment, and expressing my desire to hear a little more of your good music, I bid you good-night. This closed Mr. Lincoln's public speeches down to the date of his inauguration. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 161 CHAPTER VI. FROM THE INAUGURATIOX TO THE MEETING OF CGNGRESS, JULY 4, 186L The Inaugural Address. — Organization of the Government. — The Bombardment of Fort Sumter. — Passage of Troops through Bal- timore. — Interview with the Mayor of Baltimore. — The Block- ade OF Rebel Ports. — The President and the Virginia Commis- sioners. — Instruction to our Ministers abroad. — Recognition of the Rebels as Belligerents. — Rights or ISTeutrals. OjST tlie 4th of March, 1861, Mr. Lincoln took the oath and assumed the duties of tlie Presidential office. He was quite right in saying, on the eye of his departure from his home in Springlield, that those duties were greater than had devolved upon any other man since the days of Washington. A conspiracy which had been on foot for thirty years had reached its crisis. Yet in spite of all that had been done by the leading spirits in this move- ment, the people of the slaveholding States were by no means a unit in its support. Seven of those States — South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, Florida, and Louisiana— had passed secession ordinances, and united in the establishment of a hostile Confederacy ; but in nearly all of them a considerable portion of the people were opposed to the movement, while in all the remaining slaveholding States a very active canvass was carried on between the friends and the opponents of secession. In Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee especially, the Government of the United States was vindicated and its authority sustained by men of pre-eminent ability and of commanding reputation, and there seemed abundant reason for hoping that, by the adoption of prudent meas ures, the slaveholding section might be divided, and the Border Slave States retained in the Union. The authori- ties of the rebel Confederacy saw the importance of push- 11 162 The Life, Public Services, and ing the issue to an instant decision. Under their directions nearly all the forts, arsenals, dock-yards, custom-houses, &c., belonging to the United States, within the limits of the seceded States, had been seized, and were held by representatives of the rebel government. The only forts in the South which remained in possession of the Union were Forts Pickens, Taylor, and Jefferson on the Florida coast, and Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, and prepa- rations were far advanced for the reduction and capture of these. Officers of the army and navy from the South had resigned their commissions and entered the rebel service. Civil officers representing the United States within the limits of the Southern States could no longer discharge their functions, and all the powers of that Government were practically paralyzed. It was under these circumstances that Mr. Lincoln entered upon the duties of his office, and addressed him- self to the task, first, of withholding the Border States from joining the Confederacy, as an indispensable pre- liminary to the great work of quelling the rebellion and restoring the authority of the Constitution. The ceremony of inauguration took place as usual in front of the Capitol, and in presence of an immense mul- titude of spectators. A large military force was in attendance, under the immediate command of General Scott, but nothing occurred to interrupt the harmony of the occasion. Before taking the oath of office, Mr. Lincoln delivered the following INAUGURAL ADDRESS. Fellow- Citizens of the United States : — In compliance with a custom as old as the Government itself, I appear before you to address you brietiy, and to take in your presence the oath prescribed by the Constitution of the United States to be taken by the President "before he enters on the execution of his otfice." I do not consider it necessary at present for me to discuss thosv? matters of administration about which there is no special anxiety or excitement. Apprehension seems to exist, among the people of the Southern States, that by the accession of a Eepublican Administration their property and State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. lt)3 their peace and personal security are to be endangered. There lias never been any reasonable cause for such apprehension. Indeed, the most ample evidence to the contrary has all the while existed and been open to their inspection. It is found in nearly all the published speeches of him who now addresses you. I do but quote from one of those speeches when I declare that "I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to inter- fere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so." Those who nominated and elected me did so with full knowledge that I had made this and many similar declarations, and had never recanted them. And more than this, they placed in the platform for my acceptance, and as a law to themselves and to me, the clear and emphatic resolution which I now- read : — Resolved, Tliat the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the States, and especially the right of each State to order and control its own domes- tic institutions according to its own judgment exclusively, is essential to the balance of power on wliich the perfection and endurance of our polit- ical fabric depend, and we denounce the lawless invasion by armed force of the soil of any State or Territory, no matter under what pretext, as among the gravest of crimes. I now reiterate these sentiments ; and, in doing so, I only press upon the public attention the most conclusive evidence of which the case is sus- ceptible, that the property, peace, and security of no section are to be in anywise endangered by the now incoming Administration. I add, too, that all the protection which, consistently with the Constitution and the laws, can be given, will be cheerfully given to all the States, when law- fully demanded, for whatever cause — as cheerfully to one section as to another. There is much controversy about the delivering up of fugitives from service or labor. The clause I now read is as plainly written in the Con- stitution as any other of its provisions : — No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered np on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due. It is scarcely questioned that this provision was intended by those who made it for the reclaiming of what we call fugitive slaves ; and the inten- tion of the lawgiver is the law. All members of Congress swear their support to the whole Constitution — to this provision as much as any other. To the proposition, then, that slaves, whose cases come within the terms of this clause, "shall be delivered up," their oaths are unanimous. Now, if they would make the effort in good temper, could they not, with nearly equal unanimity, frame and pass a law by means of which to keep good that unanimous oath ? There is some difference of opinion whether this clause should be en- forced by National or by State authority ; but surely that difference is 164 The Life, Public Services, anp not a very material one. If tlie slave is to be surrendered, it can be of but little consequence to him, or to others, by which authority it is done. And should any one, in any case, be content that his oath shall go unkept, on a mere unsubstantial controversy as to how it shall be kept? Again, in any law upon this subject, ouglit not all the safeguards of lib- erty kuowii in civilLzed and humane jurisprudence to be introduced, so that a free man be not, in any case, surrendered as a slave ? And might it not be well, at the same time, to provide by law for the enforcement of that clause in the Constitution which guarantees that " the citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States?" I take the official oath to-day with no mental reservation, and with no purpose to construe the Constitution or laws by any hypercritical rules. And while I do not choose now to specify particular acts of Congress as proper to be enforced, I do suggest that it will be much safer for all, both in otficial and private stations, to conform to and abide by all those acts which stand unrepealed, than to violate any of them, trusting to find im- punity in having them held to be unconstitutional. It is seventy-two years since the first inauguration of a President under our Xational Constitution. During that period, fifteen different and greatly distinguislied citizens have, in succession, administered the Executive branch of the Government. Tljey have conducted it through many perils, and generally with great success. Yet, with all this scope for prece- dent, I now enter upon the same task for the brief constitutional term of four years, under great and peculiar difficulty. A disruption of the Fed- eral Union, heretofore only menaced, is now formidably attempted. I hold that, in contemplation of universal law, and of the Constitution, the Union of these States is perpetual. PeriJetuity is implied, if not ex- pressed, in the fundamental law of all National Governments. It is safe to assert that no government proper ever had a provision in its organic law for its own termination. Continue to execute all the express provi- sions of our jSTational Government, and the Union will endure forever — 1\ being impossible to destroy it, except by some action not provided for in the instrument itself. Again, if the United States be not a Government proper, but an associ- ation of States in the nature of contract merely, can it, as a contract, be peaceably unmade by less than all the parties who made it? One party to a contract may violate it — break it, so to speak ; but does it not require all to lawfully rescind it ? Descending from these general principles, we find the proposition that, in legal contemplation, the Union is perpetual, confirmed by the history of the Union itself. The Union is much older than the Constitution. It was formed, in fact, by the Articles of Association in 1774. It was ma- tured and continued by the Declaration of Independence in 1776. It was further matured, and the faith of all tho then Thirteen States expressly State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 165 plighted and engaged that it should be perpetual, by the Articles of Con- federation in 1778. And, finally, in 1787, one of the declared objects for ordaining and establishing the Constitution was " to form a more perfect union." But if destruction of the Union, by one, or by a part only, of the States, be lawfully possible, the Union is less perfect than before, tlio Con- stitution having lost the vital element of perpetuity. It follows, from these views, that no State, upon its own mere motion, can lawfully get out of the Union ; that resolves and ordinances to that effect are legally void; and that acts of violence within any State or States, against the authority of the United States, are insurrectionary or revolutionary, according to circumstances. I, therefore, consider that, in view of the Constitution and the laws, the Union is unbroken, and to the extent of my ability I shall take care, as the Constitution itself expressly enjoins upon me, that the laws of the Union be faithfully executed in all the States. Doing this I deem to be only a simple duty on my part ; and I shall perform it, so far as practica- ble, unless my rightful masters, the American people, shall withhold tlio requisite means, or, in some authoritative manner, direct the contrary. I trust this will not be regarded as a menace, but only as the declared pur- pose of the Union that it will constitutionally defend and maintain itself. In doing this there need be no bloodshed or violence ; and there shall be none, unless it be forced upon the National authority. The power con- fided to me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess the property and places belonging to the Government, and to collect the duties and im- posts ; but beyond what may be but necessary for these objects, there will be no invasion, no using of force against or among the people anywhere. Where hostility to the United States, in any interior locality, shall be so great and universal as to prevent competent resident citizens from hold- ing the Federal offices, there will be no attempt to force obnoxious stran- gers among the people for that object. Wliile the strict legal right may exist in the Government to enforce the exercise of these offices, the attempt to do so would be so irritating, and so nearly impracticable withal, I deem it better to forego, for tlie time, the uses of such offices. The mails, unless repelled, will continue to be furnished in all parts of the Union. So far as possible, the people everywhere shall have that sense of perfect security which is most favorable to cabn thought and reflection. The course here indicated will be followed, unless current events and ex- perience shall show a modification or change to be proper, and in every case and exigency my best discretion will be exercised, according to cir- cumstances actually existing, and with a view and a hope of a peaceful solution of the National troubles, and the restoration of fraternal sympa- thies and aftections. Tliat there are persons in one section or another who seek to destroy the Union at all events, and are glad of any pretext to do it, I will neither 166 The Life, Public Services, and aflBrm nor deny; but if there be such, I need address no word to thein. To those, however, who really love the Union, may I not speak ? Before entering upon so grave a matter as the destruction of our National fabric, with all its benefits, its memories, and its hopes, would it not be wise to ascertain precisely why we do it ? Will you hazard so des- perate a step wliile there is any possibility that any portion of the ills you fly from have no real existence? Will you, while the certain ills you fly to are greater than all the real ones you fly from — will you risk the com- mission of so fearful a mistake ? All profess to be content in the Union, if all constitutional rights can be maintained. Is it true, then, that any right, plainly written in the Constitution, has been denied? I think not. Happily the human mind is so constituted that no party can reach to the audacity of doing this. Think, if you can, of a single instance in which a plainly written provision of the Constitution has ever been denied. If, by the mere force of num- bers, a majority should deprive a minority of any clearly written consti- tutional right, it might, in a moral point of view, justify revolution — certainly would if such right were a vital one. But such is not our case. All the vital rights of minorities and of individuals are so plainly assured to them by affirmations and negations, guarantees and prohibitions in the Constitution, that controversies never arise concerning them. But no organic law can ever be framed with a provision specifically applicable to every question which may occur in practical administration. No fore- sight can anticipate, nor any document of reasonable length contain, ex- press provisions for all possible questions. Shall fugitives from labor be surrendered by National or by State authority? The Constitution does not expressly say. May Congress prohibit slavery in the Territories ? The Constitution does not expressly say. Must Congress protect slavery in the Territories ? The Constitution does not expressly say. From questions of this class spring all our constitutional controversies, and we divide upon them into majorities and minorities. If the minority will not acquiesce, the majority must, or the Government must cease. There is no other alternative; for continuing the Government is acquies- cence on one side or the other. If a minority in such case will secede rather than acquiesce, they make a precedent which, in turn, will divide and ruin them; for a minority of their own will secede from them when- ever a majority refuses to be controlled by such minority. For instance, why may not any portion of a new Confederacy, a year or two hence, arbitrarily secede again, precisely as portions of the present Union now claim to secede from it? All who cherish disunion sentiments are now being educated to the exact temper of doing this. Is there such perfect identity of interests among the States to com- pose a new Union, as to produce harmony only, and prevent renewed secession? Plainly, the central idea of secession is the essence of anarchy. A State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 1G7 majority held in restraint liy constitutional checks and limitations, and always changing easily with deliberate clianges of popular opinions and sentiments, is the only true sovereign of a free jjcople. Whoever rejects it, does, of necessity, fly to anarchy or to despotism. Unanimity is im- possible; the rule of a minority, as a permanent arrangement, is wholly inadmissible; so that, rejecting the majority principle, anarchy or despot- ism, in some form, is all that is left. I do not forget the position assumed by some, that constitutional ques- tions are to be decided by the Supreme Court ; nor do I deny that such decisions must be binding, in any case, upon the parties to a suit, as to the object of that suit, while they are also entitled to very high respect and consideration in all parallel cases, by all other departments of the Government. And while it is obviously possible that such decisions may be erroneous in any given case, still, the evil eifect following it being limited to that particular case, with the chance that it may be overruled, and never become a precedent for other cases, can better be borne than could the evils of a different practice. At the same time, the candid citizen must confess that if the policy of the Government upon vital questions atfecting the whole people, is to be irrevocably tixed by de- cisions of the Supreme Court, the instant they are made in ordinary litigation between parties in personal actions, the people will have ceased to be their own rulers, having to that extent practically resigned their Government into the hands of that eminent tribunal. Nor is there in this view any assault upon the Court or the Judges. It is a duty from which they may not shrink to decide cases properly brought before them, and it is no fault of theirs if others seek to turn their decisions to political purposes. One section of our country believes slavery is right, and ought to he extended, while the other believes it is wrong, and ought not to be extended. This is the only substantial dis- pute. The fugitive slave clause of the Constitution, and the law for the suppression of the foreign slave-trade, are each as well enforced, perhaps, as any law can ever be in a community where the moral sense of the people imperfectly supports the law itself. The great body of the people abide by the dry legal obligation in both cases, and a few break over in each. This, I think, cannot be perfectly cured ; and it would be worse, in both cases, after the separation of the sections than before. The foreign slave-trade, now imperfectly suppressed, would be ultimately revived, without restriction, in one section; while fugitive slaves, now only partially surrendered, would not be surrendered at all by the other. Physically speaking, we cannot separate. "We cannot remove our re- spective sections from each other, nor build an impassable wall between them. A husband and wife may be divorced, and go out of the presence and beyond the reach of each other ; but the different parts of our coun- try cannot do this. They cannot but remain face to face ; and inter- course, either amicable or hostile, must continue between them. It is 168 The Life, Public vSeRvices, and impossible, then, to make that intercourse more advantageous or more satisfactory after separation than before. Can aliens make treaties easier than friends can make laws? Can treaties be more faithfully enforced between aliens than laws can among friends? Suppose you go to war, you cannot light always ; and when, after much loss on both sides, and no gain on eitlier, you cease fighting, the identical old questions, as to terms of intercourse, are again upon you. This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing Government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or their revolu- tionary right to dismember or overthrow it. I cannot be ignorant of the fact that many worthy and patriotic citizens are desirous of having the J^ational Constitution amended. While I make no recommendation of amendments, I fully recognize the rightful authority of the people over the whole subject, to be exercised in either of the modes prescribed in the instrument itself ; and I should, under existing circumstances, favor, rather than oppose, a fair opportunity being afforded the people to act upon it. I will venture to add, that to me the convention mode seems preferable, in that it allows amendments to originate with the people themselves, instead of only permitting them to take or reject proposi- tions originated by others, not especially chosen for the purpose, and which might not be precisely such as they would wish to either accept or refuse. I understand a proposed amendment to the Constitution — which amendment, however, I have not seen — has passed Congress, to the effect that the Federal Government shall never interfere with tlie domestic insti- tutions of the States, including that of persons held to service. To avoid misconstruction of what I have said, I depart from my purpose not to speak of particular amendments, so far as to say that, holding such a pro- vision now to be implied constitutional law, I have no objections to its being made express and irrevocable. The Chief Magistrate derives all his authority from the people, and they have conferreil none upon him to fix terms for tlie separation of the States. The i)eople themselves can do this also if they choosf ; but the Executive, as such, has nothing to do with it. His duty is to administer the present Government as it came to his hands, and to transmit it, unimpaired by him, to his successor. Why should there not be a patient confidence in the ultimate justice of the people ? Is there any better or equal hope in the world ? In our present differences, is either party without faith of being in the right ? If the Almighty Ruler of Nations, with his eternal truth and justice, be on your side of the North, or on yours of the South, that truth and that justice will surely prevail, by the judgment of this great tribunal of tho American people. By the frame of the Government under which we live, the same people have wisely given their public servants but little power for mischief; and State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 169 have, with equal wisdom, provided for the return of that little to their own hands at very short intervals. While the people retain their virtue and vigilance, no Administration, by any extreme of wickedness or folly, can very seriously injure the Government in the short space of four years. My countrymen, one and all, think calmly and well upon this whole subject. Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time. If there be an object to hurry any of you in hot haste to a step which you would never take deliberately, that object will be frustrated by taking time ; but no good object can be frustrated by it. Such of you as are now dissatisfied, still have the old Constitution unimpaired, and, on the sensitive point, the laws of your own framing under it ; while the new Administration will have no immediate power, if it would, to change either. If it were admitted that you who are dissatisfied hold the right side in the dispute, there still is no single good reason for precipitate action. Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him who has never yet forsaken this favored land, are still competent to adjust, in the best way, all our present difficulty. In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issues of civil war. The Government wiU not assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the Government; while I shall have the most solemn one to " preserve, protect, and de fend " it. I am loth to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic cord of memory, stretching from every battle-field and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, wlien again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature. The declarations of the Inaugural, as a general thing, gave satisfaction to the loyal people of the whole coun- try. It was seen, everywhere, that while President Lin- coln felt constrained, by the most solemn obligations of duty, to maintain the authority of the Government of the United States over all the territory within its juris- diction, whenever that authority should be disputed by the actual exercise of armed force, he would nevertheless do nothing whatever to provoke such a demonstration, and would take no step which could look like violence or offensive warfare upon the seceded States. In the Border States its reception was in the main satisfactory. But, as 170 The Life, Public Services, and a matter of course, in those States, as elsewhere tlirougli- out the South, the secession leaders gave it the most hostile construction. No effort was spared to inflame the public mind, by representing the Inaugural as embodying the purpose of the President to make war upon the Southern States for their attempt to secure a redress of wrongs. The President's first act was to construct his Cabinet, which was done by the appointment of William H. Sew- ard, of New York, Secretary of State ; Salmon P. Chase, of Ohio, Secretary of the Treasury ; Simon Cameron, of Pennsylvania, Secretary of War ; Gideon Welles, of Con necticut, Secretary of the Navy ; Caleb B. Smith, of In- diana, Secretary of the Interior ; Montgomery Blair, of Maryland, Postmaster-General ; and Edward Bates, of Missouri, Attorney-General. These nominations were all confirmed by the Senate, and these gentlemen entered upon tlie discharge of the duties of their several offices. On the 12th of March, Messrs. John Forsyth, of Ala- bama, and Crawford, of Georgia, requested an unofficial interview with the Secretary of State, which the latter declined. On the 13th they sent to him a communication, informing him that they were in Washington as commis- sioners from a government composed of seven States which had withdrawn from the American Union, and that they desired to enter upon negotiations for the adjustment of all questions growing out of this separation. Mr. Sew- ard, by direction of the President, declined to receive them, because it "could not be admitted that the States referred to had^ in law or fact, withdrawn from the Fed- eral Union, or that they could do so in any other manner than with the consent and concert of the people of the United States, to be given through a National Convention, to be assembled in conformity with the provisions of the Constitution of the United States." This communication, though written on the IStli of March, was withheld, with the consent of the Commissioners, until the 8th of April, when it was delivered. The fact of its receipt, and its character, were instantly telegraphed to Charleston, and State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 171 it was made tlie occasion for precipitating the revolution by an act wliicli, it was believed, would unite all the Soutliern States in support of the Confederacy. On the day of its receipt, the 8th of April, General Beauregard, at Charleston, telegraphed to L. P. Walker, the rebel Secretary of War, at Montgomer^^, that "an authorized messenger from President Lincoln had just informed Gov- ernor Pickens and himself that provisions would be sent to Fort Sumter peaceably, or, otherwise, by force." Gen- eral Beauregard was instructed to demand the surrender of the fort, which he did on the 11th, and was at once in- formed by Major Anderson, who was in command, that his " sense of honor and his obligations to his Government prevented his compliance." On the night of the same day General Beauregard wrote to Major Anderson, by orders of his Government, that if he "would state the time at which he would evacuate Fort Sumter" (as it was known that it must soon be evacuated for lack of provisions), "and will agree that, in, the mean time, you will not use your guns against us unless ours shall be employed against Fort Sumter, we will abstain from opening fire upon you." At half-past two in the morning of the 12tli, Major Anderson replied that he would evacuate the fort by noon on the 15th, abiding, meantime, by the terms proposed, unless he should "receive, prior to that, control ling instructions from his Government, or additional sup plies." In reply to this note he was notified, at half-past tliree, that the rebels would open their batteries upon the fort in one hour from that time. This they did, and, after a bombardment of thirty-three hours, Major Anderson agreed to evacuate the fort, which he carried into eflect on Sunday morning, the 14th. The effect of this open act of war was, in some respects, precisely what had been anticipated by the rebel autliori- ties : in other respects, it was very different. Upon the Southern States it had the effect of arousing public senti- ment to the highest pitch of enthusiasm, and of strength- ening the rebel cause. At the North, it broke down, for the moment, all party distinctions, and united the 172 The Life, Public Services, and people in a cordial and hearty support of the Govern- ment. The President regarded it as an armed attack upon the Government of the United States, in support of the com- bination which had been organized into a Confederacy to resist and destroy its authority, and he saw, at once, that it could be met and defeated only by the force placed in his hands for the maintenance of that authority. He accordingly, on the 15th of April, issued the following PEOCLAMATION. By the President of the United States. Whereas^ tlie laws of the United States have been for some time past and now are opposed, and the execution thereof obstructed, in the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in the marshals bylaw: now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, in virtue of the power in me vested by the Constitution and the laws, have thought fit to call forth, and hereby do call forth, the militia of the several States of the Union, to the aggregate number of seventy- five thousand, in order to suppress said combinations, and to cause the laws to be duly executed. The details for this object will be immediately communicated to the State authorities through the War Department. I appeal to all loyal citizens to favor, facilitate, and aid this eflTort to maintain the honor, the integrity, and existence of our National Union, and the perpetuity of popular government, and to redress wrongs already long enough endured. I deem it proper to say that the first service assigned to the forces hereby called forth will probably be to repossess the forts, places, and property which have been seized from the Union ; and in every event the utmost care will be observed, consistently with the objects aforesaid, to avoid any devastation, any destruction of, or interference with, property, or any disturbance of peaceful citizens of any part of the country; and I hereby command the persons composing the combinations aforesaid to disperse and retire peaceably to their respective abodes, within twenty days from this date. Deeming that the present condition of public atfairs presents an extra- ordinary occasion, I do hereby, in virtue of the power in me vested by the Constitution, convene both houses of Congress. The Senators and "Representatives are, therefore, summoned to assemble at their respective chambers, at twelve o'clock, noon, on Thursday, the fourth day of July State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 173 next, then and there to consider and determine such measures as, in their ^visdo!n, the public safety and interest may seem to demand. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused tlie sen! of the United States to he affixed. Done at the City of Washington, this fifteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, and of tlic independence of the United States the eighty-fifth. Abraham Lincoln. By the President. William H. Seward, Secretary of State. The issue of this ProcJamation created tlie most intense enthusiasm throughout the country. Scarcely a voice was raised in any of the Northern States against this measure, which was seen to be one of absolute necessity and of self-defence on the part of the Government. Every Northern State responded promptly to the Presi- dent's demand, and from private persons, as well as by the legislatures, men, arms, and money were offered, rn unstinted profusion and with the most zealous alacrit}', in support of the Government. Massachusetts was first in the field ; and on the first day after the issue of the Proclamation, Iter Sixth Regiment, completely equipped, started from Boston for the National Capital. Two more regiments were also made ready, and took their departure within forty-eight hours. The Sixth Regiment, on its way to Washington, on the 19th, was attacked by a mob in Baltimore, carrying a secession flag, and several of its members were killed or severely wounded. This inflamed to a still higher point the excitement which already per- vaded the country. The whole Northern section of the Union felt outraged that troops should be assailed and murdered on their way to protect the Cajutal of the Na- tion. In Maryland, where the Secession party was strong, there was also great excitement, and the Governor of the State and the Mayor of Baltimore united in urging, for prudential reasons, that no more troops should be brought through that city. To their representation the President made the following reply : — 174 The Life, Public Services, and Washinqton, April 29, 13(J1. Governor Hicks and Mayor Brown : Gentlemen : — Your letter by Messrs. Bond, Dobbin, and Brune is re- ceived. I tender you both niy sincere thanks for your eiforts to keep the peace in the trying situation in which you are placed. For the future, troops must be brought here, but I make no point of bringing them through Baltimore. Without any military knowledge my- self, of course I must leave details to General Scott. He hastily said this morning in the presence of these gentlemen, " March them around Balti- more, and not through it." I sincerely hope the General, on fuller reflec- tion, will consider this practical and proper, and that you will not object to it.- By this a collision of the people of Baltimore with the troops will be avoided, unless they go out of their way to seek it. I hope you will exert your influence to prevent this. Now and ever I shall do all in my power for peace consistently with the maintenance of the Government. Your obedient servant, Abraham Lincoln. And in further response to the same request from Gov- ernor Hicks, followed by a suggestion that the contro- versy between the North and South might be referred to Lord Lyons, the British Minister, for arbitration, Presi- dent Lincoln, through the Secretary of State, made the following reply : — ■ Department of State, April 22, 1S61. His Excellency Thomas H. HicKS, Governor of Maryland: Sir: — I have had the honor to receive your communication of this morning, in which you inform me that you have felt it to be your duty to advise the President of the United States to order elsewhere the troops then off Annapolis, and also that no more may be sent through Maryland ; and that you have further suggested that Lord Lyons be requested to act as mediator between the contending parties in our country, to prevent the effusion of blood. The President directs me to acknowledge the receipt of that communi- cation, and to assure you that he has weighed the counsels it contains with the respect which he habitually cherishes for the Chief Magistrates of the several States, and especially for yourself. He regrets, as deeply as any magistrate or citizen of this country can, that demonstrations against the safety of the United States, with very extensive preparations for the effusion of blood, have made it his duty to call out the forces to which you allude. The force now sought to be brought through Maryland is intended for nothing but the defence of the Capital. The President has necessarily confided the choice of the National highway which that force shall take State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 175 in coininf!: to this city to the Lientenant-General commanding tlie Army of the United States, who, like his only predecessor, is not less distin- guished for his humanity than for his loyalty, patriotism, and distin- guished public service. The President instructs me to add, that the National highway thus selected by the Licutenant-General has been chosen by hiia upon consul- tation with prominent magistrates and citizens of Maryland as the one which, while a route is absolutely necessary, is farthest removed from the populous cities of the State, and with the expectation that it would there- fore be the least objectionable one. The President cannot but remember that there lias been a time in tlie history of our country when a general of the American Union, with forces designed for the defence of its Capital, was not unwelcome anywhere in the State of Maryland, and certainly not at Annapolis, then, as now, tlie capital of that patriotic State, and then, also, one of the capitals of the Union. If eighty years could have obliterated all the other noble sentiments of that age in Maryland, the President would be hopeful, nevertheless, that there is one that would forever remain there and everywhere. That sen- timent is, that no domestic contention whatever that may arise among the parties of this Republic ought in any case to be referred to any foreign arbitrament, least of all to the arbitrament of a European monarchy. I have the honor to be, with distinguished consideration, your Excel- lency's obedient servant, William H. Seward. At the President' s request, the Mayor of Baltimore, and a number of leading influential citizens of Maryland, waited upon him at Washington, and had an open con- ference upon the condition of affiairs in that State. The Mayor subsequently made the following report of the in- terview : — The President, upon his part, recognized the good faith of the city and State authorities, and insisted upon his own. He admitted the excited state of feeling in Baltimore, and his desire and duty to avoid the fatal consequences of a collision with the people. He urged, on the other hand, the absolute, irresistible necessity of having a transit through the State for such troops as might be necessary for the protection of the Federal Capital. The protection of Washington, he asseverated with great earnestness, was the sole object of concentrating troops there ; and he protested that none of the troops brought through Maryland were in- tended for any purposes hostile to the State, or aggressive as against the Southern States. Being now unable to bring them up the Potomac in security, the Government must either bring them through Maryland or abandon the Capital. 176 The Life, Public Services, and lie called on General Scott for liis opinion, which the General gave at length, to the eifect that troops might be brought through Maryland, without going through Baltimore, by either carrying them from Perrys- ville to Annapolis, and thence by rail to "Washington, or by bringing them to the Eelay House on the Northern Central Railroad, and marching them to the Relay House on the "Washington Railroad, and thence by rail to the Capital. If the people would permit them to go by either of those routes uninterruptedly, the necessity of their passing tlirough Baltimore would be avoided. If the people would not permit them a transit thus remote from the city, they must select their own best route, and, if need be, fight their way through Baltimore — a result which the General ear- nestly deprecated. The President expressed his hearty concurrence in the desire to avoid a collision, and said that no more troops should be ordered through Balti- more, if they were permitted to go uninterruptedly by either of tlie othef routes suggested. In this disposition the Secretary of "War expressed his participation. Mayor Brown assured the President that the city authorities would use all lawful means to prevent their citizens from leaving Baltimore to attack the troops in passing at a distance ; but he urged, at the same time, the impossibility of their being able to promise any thing more than their best efforts in that direction. The excitement was great, he told the President ; the people of all classes were fully aroused, and it was impos- sible for any one to answer for the consequences of tlie presence of North- ern troops anywhere within our borders. lie reminded the President, also, that the jurisdiction of the city authorities was confined to their own population, and that he could give no promises for the people elsewhere, because he would be unable to keep them if given. The President frankly acknowledged this difficulty, and said that the Government would only ask the city authorities to use their best efforts with respect to those under their jurisdiction. Tlie interview terminated with the distinct assurance, on the part of the President, that no more troops would be sent through Baltimore un- less obstructed in their transit in other directions, and with the under- standing that the city authorities should do their best to restrain their own people. In accordance with this understanding, troops were for- warded to Washington "by way of Annapolis, until peace and order were restored in Baltimore, when the regular use of the highway through that city w\is resumed, and has been continued without interruption to the present time. On tlie 19th of April the President issued the following proclamation, blockading the ports of the seceded States : — State Papers of Abraham Lijncoln. l'^ A PROCLAMATION, By the President of the Unitted States. Whereas^ An insurrection against tlie Government of the United States has broken out in the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Flor- ida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, and the laws of the United States for the collection of the revenue cannot be efficiently executed therein conformable to that provision of the Constitution which required duties to be uniform throughout the United States: — • And whereas, A combination of persons, engaged in such insurrection, have threatened to grant pretended letters of marque, to authorize the bearers thereof to commit assaults on the lives, vessels, and property of the good citizens of the country, lawfully engaged in commerce on the high seas, and in waters of the United States : — And tchereas, An Executive Proclamation has been already issued, re- quiring the persons engaged in these disorderly proceedings to desist therefrom, calling out a militia force for the purpose of repressing the same, and convening Congress in extraordinary session to deliberate and determine thereon : — Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, with a view to the same purposes before mentioned, and to the protec- tion of the public peace, and the lives and property of quiet and orderly citizens pursuing their lawful occupations, until Congress shall have assembled and deliberated on the said unlawful proceedings, or until the same shall have ceased, have further deemed it advisable to set on foot a blockade of the ])orts within the States aforesaid, in pursuance of the laws of the United States and of the laws of nations in such cases pro- vided. For this purpose a competent force will be posted, so as to pre- vent entrance and exit of vessels from the ports aforesaid. If, therefore, with a view to violate such blockade, a vessel shall approach, or shall attempt to leave any of the said ports, she will be duly warned by the commander of one of the l}lockading vessels, who will indorse on her register the fact and date of such warning; and if the same vessel shall again attempt to enter or leave the blockaded port, she will be ca])tured and sent to the nearest convenient port, for such proceedings against her and her cargo as prize as may be deemed advisable. And I hereby proclaim and declare, that if any person, under the pre- tended authority ©f such States, or under any other jiretence, shall molest a vessel of the United States, or the persons or cargo on board of her, puch persons will be held amenable to the laws of the United States foi '.lie pi'evention and punishment of piracy. By the President. Abraham Lincoln. Wii.r.iAM H. Sewakd, SeoretarT/ of State Wasuington, April 19. ISlll. • • 12 1 78 The Life, Public Services, and These were tlie initial steps by wliicli the Government sought to repel the attempt of tlie rebel Confedeiac}^ to overthrow its authority by force of arms. Its action was at that time wholly defensive. The declarations of rebel officials, as well as the language of the Southern press, indicated very clearly tlieir intention to push the war begun at Sumter into the North. Jeiferson Davis had liimself declared, more than a month previous, that when- ever the war should open, the North and not the South should be the field of battle. At a popular demonstration held at Montgomery, Ala., on hearing that fire had been opened upon Sumter, L. P. Walker, the rebel Secretary of War, had said, that while ' ' no man could tell where the war would end, he would prophesy that the flag which now flaunts the breeze here, would float over the dome of the old Capitol at Washington before the first of May," and that it "might float eventually over Faneuil Hall itself." The rebel Government had gone forward with great vigor to prepare the means for making good these predictions. Volunteers were summoned to the field. Besides garrisoning the fortresses in their posses- sion along the Southern coast, a force of nearly twenty thousand men was pushed rapidly forward to Virginia. A loan of eight millions of dollars was raised, and Davis issued a proclamation offering letters of marque to all per- sons who might desire to aid the rebel Government and (mrich themselves by depredations upon the rich and ex- tended commerce of the United States. The South thus plunged openly and boldly into a war of aggression ; and the President, in strict conformity with the declaration of his Inaugural, put the Government upon the defensive, and limited the military operations of the moment to the pro- tection of the Capital. The effect of these preliminary movements upon the Border Slave States was very decided. The assault upon Sumter greatly excited the public mind throughout those States. In Virginia it was made to inure to the benefit of the rebels. The State Convention, which had been in session since the 13tli of February, was composed of a hundred State Papers of Abraham Lintoln. 179 and fifty-two delegates, a large majority of whom were Union men. The Inaugural of President Lincoln liad created a good deal of excitement among the members, and a very animated contest had followed as to its proper meaning. The secessionists insisted that it announced a policy of coercion towards the South, and had seized the occasion to urge the immediate passage of an ordinance of secession. This gave rise to a stormy debate, in which the friends of the Union maintained their ascendency. The news of the attack upon Sumter created a whirlwind of excitement, which checked somewhat the Union move- ment ; and, on the 13th of April, Messrs. Preston, Stuart, and Randolph, who had been sent to Wasliington to as- certain the President's intentions towards the South, sent in their report, which was received just after Governor Pickens, of South Carolina, had announced the attack upon Sumter, and had demanded to know what Virginia intended to do in the war they had just commenced, and in which they were determined to triumph or perish. The Commissioners reported that the President had made the following reply to theu" inquiries : — To Hon. Messrs. Prestox, Stuart and Randolph : Gentlemen : — As a committee of the Virginia Convention, now in ses- sion, you present me a preamble and resolution in these words: — Whereas, In the opinion of this Convention, the uncertainty which pre- vails in the public mind as to the policy which the Federal Executive in- tends to pursue towards the seceded States, is extremely injurious to the industrial and commercial interests of the country, tends to keep up an excitement which is unfavorable to the adjustment of the pending diffi- culties, and threatens a disturbance of the public peace : — Therefore, Resolved, That a committee of three delegates be appointed to wait on the President of the United States, present to him this preamble, and re- spectfully ask him to communicate to this Convention the policy which the Federal Executive intends to pursue in regard to the Confederate States. In answer I have to say, that having, at the beginning of my official term, expressed my intended policy as plainly as I was able, it is with deep regret and mortitication I now learn there is great and injurious un- certainty in the public mind as to what that policy is, and what course I intend to pursue. Not having as yet seen occasion to change, it is now my purpose to pursue the course marked out in the Inaugural Address. I commend a careful consideration of the whole document as the best ex- 180 The Life, Public Services, and pression I can give to my purposes. As I then and therein said, I now- repeat, " The power confided in rae will be used to hold, occupy, and pos- sess property and places belonging to the Government, and to collect the duties and imposts ; but beyond what is necessary for these objects there will be no invasion, no using of force against or among the people any- where." By the words "property and places belonging to the Govern- ment," I chiefly allude to the military posts and property which were in possession of the Government when it came into my liands. But if, ag now appears to be true, in pursuit of a purpose to drive the United States authority from these places, an unprovoked assault has been made upon Fort Sumter, I shall hold myself at liberty to repossess it, if I can, like places which had been seized before the Government was devolved upon me; and in any event I shall, to the best of my ability, repel force by force. In case it proves true that Fort Sumter has been assaulted, as is reported, I shall, perhaps, cause the United States mails to be withdrawn from all the States which claim to have seceded, believing that the com- mencement of actual war against the Government justifies and possibly demands it. I scarcely need to say that I consider the military posts and property situated within the States which claim to have seceded, as yet belonging to the Government of the United States as much as they did before the supposed secession. Whatever else I may do for the purpose, I shall not attempt to collect the duties and imposts by any armed inva- sion of any part of the country; not meaning by this, however, that I may not land a force deemed necessary to relieve a fort upon the border of the counti-y. From the fact that I have quoted a part of the Inaugural Address, it must not be inferred that I repudiate any other part, the whole of which I reaflirm, except so far as what I now say of the mails may be regarded as a modification. Abraham Lincoln. On the 17tli, two days after this report was presented, and immediately after receiving the President's prochi- mation calling for troops, the Convention passed an ordi nance of secession by a vote of eighty-eight to fifty-five ; and Virginia, being thus the most advanced member of the rebel Confederacy, became the battle-field of all the earlier contests which ensued, and on the 21st of May the capital of the rebel Government was transferred to Richmond. Very strenuous efforts were made by the rebel authori- ties to secure the adhesion of Maryland, Kentucky, Ten- nessee, and Missouri to the Confederacy ; but the wise forbearance of the President in his earlier measures had checked these endeavors, and held all those States but State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 181 Tennessee aloof from active participation in the secession movement. The months of May and June were devoted to the most active and vigorous preparations on botli sides for the contest which was seen to be inevitable. Over a hundred thousand troops liad been raised and organized in the rebel States, and the great mass of them had been pushed forward towards the Northern border. On the 20th of A^jril, the Government of the United States seized all tlie dispatches which had accumulated in the telegraph offices during the preceding year, for the purpose of detecting movements in aid of the rebel conspiracy. On the 27th of April the blockade of rebel ports was extended by proclamation to the ports of North Carolina and Virginia. On the 3d of May the President issued a proclamation calling into the service of the United States forty-two thousand and thirty-four volunteers for three years, and ordering an addition of twenty-two thousand one hundred and fourteen officers and men to the regular army, and eighteen thousand seamen to the navy. And on the 16th, by another proclamation, he directed the commander of the United States forces in Florida to "permit no person to exercise any office or authority upon the islands of Key West, Tortugas, and Santa Rosa, which may be in- consistent with tlie laws and Constitution of the United States ; authorizing him, at the same time, if he shall find it necessary, to suspend the writ of habeas corpus^ and to remove from the vicinity of the United States fortresses all dangerous and suspected persons." One of the first duties of the new Administration was to define the position to be taken by the Government of the United States towards foreign nations in view of the rebellion. While it is impossible to enter here upon this very wide branch of the general subject at any consid- erable length, this history would be incomplete if it did not state, in oflicial language, the attitude which the Presi- dent decided to assume. That is very distinctly set forth in the letter of instructions prepared by the Secretary of State for Mr. Adams, on the eve of his departure for 182 The Life, Public Seiivices, a\d the court of St. James, and dated i\pril 10, in the following terms : — Before considering the arguments you are to use, it is important to in- dicate tliose which you are not to employ in executing that mission : — First. The President has notic-ed, as the whole American people have, with much emotion, the expressions of good-will and friendship towards the United States, and of concern for their present embarrassments, which have been made on apt occasions, by her Majesty and her ministers. You will make due acknowledgment for these manifestations, but at the same time you will not rely on any mere sympathies or national kindness. You will make no admissions of weakness in our Constitution, or of apprehen- sion on the part of the Government. You will rather prove, as you easily can, by comparing the history of our country wnth that of other States, that its Constitution and Government are really the strongest and surest which have ever been erected for the safety of any people. You will in no case listen to any suggestions of compromise by this Government, under foreign auspices, with its discontented citizens. If, as the President does not at all apprehend, you shall unliappily find her Majesty's Government tolerating the application of the so-called seceding States, or wavering about it, you will not leave them to suppose for a moment that they can grant that application and remain the friends of the United States. You may even assure them promptly, in that case, that if they determine to rec- ognize, they ]nay at the same time prepare to enter into alliance with the enemies of this Republic. You alone will represent your country at Lon- don, and you will represent the whole of it there. "When you are asked to divide that duty with others, diplomatic relations between the Govern- ment of Great Britain and this Government will be suspended, and will remain so until it shall be seen which of the two is most strongly in- trenched in the confidence of their respective nations and of mankind. You will not be allowed, however, even if you were disposed, as the President is sure you will not be, to rest your opposition to the applica- tion of the Confederate States on the ground of any favor tliis Adminis- tration, or the party which chiefly called it into existence, proposes to show to Great Britain, or claims that Great Britain ought to show them. You will not consent to draw into debate before the British Government any opposing moral principles which may be supposed to lie at the foundation of the controversy between those States and the Federal Union. You will indulge in no expressions of harshness or disrespect, or even impatience, concerning the seceding States, their agents, or their people. But you will, on the contrary, all the while remember that those States are now, as they always heretofore have been, and, notwithstanding their temporary self-delusion, they must always continue to be, equal and honored members of this Federal Union, and that their citizens through- out all political misunderstandings and alienations still are and always State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 183 inu&t be om- kindred and countrymen. In short, all your arguments must belong to one of three classes, namely : First. Arguments drawn from the principles of public law and natural justice, which regulate the inter- course of equal States. Secondly. Arguments which concern equally the honor, welfare, and happiness of the discontented States, and the honor, welfare, and happiness of the whole Union. Thirdly. Arguments which are equally conservative of the rights and interests, and even sentiments of the United States, and just in their bearing upon the rights, interests, and sentiments of Great Britain and all other nations. Just previous to tlie arrival of Mr. Adams at liis post, the British Government determined, acting in concert with that of Prance, to recognize the rebels as a bellige- rent power. Against this recognition our Government directed Mr. Adams to make a decided and energetic pro- test. On the lifteenth of June tlie British and French Ministers at Washington requested an interview with the Secretary of State for the purpose of reading to him cer- tain instructions they had received on this subject from their respective governments. Mr. Seward declined to hear them officially until lie knew the nature of the docu- ment, which was accordingly left with him for perusal, and he afterwards declined altogether to hear it read, oi receive official notice of it. In a letter to Mr. Adams, on the 19th, he thus states its character and contents : — That paper purports to contain a decision at which the British Govern- ment has arrived, to the effect that this country is divided into two belligerent parties, of which the Government represents one, and that Great Britain assumes tlie attitude of a neutral between them. This Government could not, consistently with a just regard for the sov- ereignty of the United States, permit itself to debate these novel and extraordinary positions with the Government of her Britannic Majesty; much less can we consent tliat that Government shall announce to us a de«ision derogating from that sovereignty, at which it has arrived with- out previously conferring with us upon the question. The United States are still solely and exclusively sovereign within the territories they have lawfully acquired and long possessed, as they have always been. They are at peace with all the world, as, with unimportant exceptions, they have always been. They are living under the obligations of the law of nations, and of treaties with Great Britain, just the same now as heretofore; they are, of course, the friend of Great Britain, and they insist that Great Britain shall remain their friend now, just as she has hitherto been. Great Britain, by virtue of these relations, is a stranger to parties and sections in this 184 The Life, Public Services, and country, whether they are hjyal to the United States or not, and Great Britain can neither rightfully qualify the sovereignty of the United States, uor concede, nor recognize any rights or interests or power of any party> State, or section, in contravention to the unbroken sovereignty of the Fed- eral Union. What is now seen in this country is tlie occurrence, by no means peculiar, but frequent in all countries — more frequent even in Great Britain than here — of an armed insurrection engaged in attempting to overthrow the regularly constituted and established Government. There is, of course, the employment of force by the Government to suppress the insurrection, as every other government necessarily employs force in such cases. But these incidents by no means constitute a state of war impairing the sovereignty of the Government, creating belligerent sec- tions, and entitling foreign States to intervene, or to act as neutrals between them, or in any other way to cast off tlieir lawful obligations to the nation thus for the moment disturbed. Any other principle than this would be to resolve government everywhere into a thing of accident and caprice, and ultimately all human society into a state of perpetual war. "We do not go into any argument of fact or of law in support of the positions we have thus assumed. Tliey are simply the suggestions of the instinct of self-defence, the primary law of human action — not more the law of individual than of National life. Similar views were presented for the consideration of the French Emperor, and, indeed, of all the foreign gov- ernments with which we held diplomatic intercourse. The action of the seceding States Avas treated as rebellion, purely domestic in its character, upon the nature or merits of which it would be unbecoming in us to hold any discussion with any foreign Power. The President pressed upon all those governments the duty of accepting this view of the question, and of abstaining, consequently, from every act which could be construed into any recog- nition of the rebel Confederacy, or which could embar- rass the Government of the United States in its endeav- ors to re-establish its rightful authority. Especial pains were taken, by the most emphatic declarations, to leave no doubt in the mind of any foreign statesman as to the purpose of the people of the United States to accomplish that result. "You cannot be too decided or explicit," was the uniform language of the Secretary, "in making known to the Government that there is not now, nor has State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 185 there been, nor will there Ibe, any the least idea existing in tliis Government of suffering a dissolution of this Union to take place in any way whatever." Efforts were also made by our Government to define, with the preci- sion which the novel features of the case required, the law of nations in regard to neutral rights, and also to secure a general concurrence of the maritime powers in the principles of the Paris Convention of 1859 : the latter object was, however, thwarted by the demand made by both France and England, that they should not be re- quired to abide by these principles in their application to the internal condict which was going on in the United States. This demand the President pronounced inadmis- sible. 186 The Life, Public Services, and CHAPTER VII. THE EXTRA SESSION OF CONGRESS, AND THE MILITARY EVENTS OF THE SUMMER OF 1861. First Annual Message. — Action of Oongre33. — Slateet and Con- fiscation. — The Defeat at Bull Run. — Treatment of the Slavery Question. — Geneeal Fbemont and the President. — The Trent Affair. In pursuance of tlie President's proclamation of the IStli of April, Congress met in extra session on the 4th of July, 1861. The Republicans had control of both houses, counting thirty-one votes out of forty-eight in the Senate, and one hundred and six out of one hundred and seventy-eight in the House ; there being, moreover, five in the Senate and twenty-eight in the House who, without belonging to the Republican party, supported the Administration in its eftbrts to preserve the Union. Hon. G. A. Grow was elected Speaker of the House ; and, on the 5th, the President communicated to Congress his first Annual Message, as follows : — Fellow- Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives : — Having been convened on an extraordinary occasion, as authorized by the Constitution, your attention is not called to any ordinary subject of legislation. At the beginning of the present Presidential term, four months ago, the functions of the Federal Government were found to be generally suspend- ed within the several States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Missis- sippi, Louisiana, and Florida, excepting only those of the Post-Office Department. Within these States all the forts, arsenals, dock-yards, custom-houses, and the like, including the movable and stationary property in and about them, had been seized, and were held in open hostility to this Govern- ment, excepting only Forts Pickens, Taylor, and Jefferson, on and neai the Florida coast, and Fort Sumter, in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. The forts thus seized had been put in improved condition, new ones had State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 187 been Imilt, and armed forces had been organized and wero organizing, all avowedly with the same hostile purpose. The forts remaining in the possession of tlie Federal Government in and near these States were either besieged or menaced by warlike prepa- rations, and especially Fort Sumter was nearly surrounded by well- protected hostile batteries, with guns equal in quality to the best of its own, and outnumbering the latter as perhaps ten to one. A dispropor- tionate share of the Federal muskets and rifles had somehow found their way into these States, and had been seized to be used against the Govern- ment. Accumulations of the public revenue, lying within them, had been seized for the same object. The Navy was scattered in distant seas, leaving but a very small part of it within the immediate reach of the Government. Officers of the Federal Army and Navy had resigned in great numbers ; and of those resigning, a large proportion had taken up arms against the Government. Simultaneously, and in connection with all this, the purpose to sever the Federal Union was openly avowed. In accordance with this purpose, an ordinance had been adopted in each of these States, declaring the States, respectively, to be separated from the National Union. A formula for instituting a combined government of these States had been promulgated ; and this illegal organization, in the character of the Confederate States, was already invoking recognition, aid, and intervention from foreign Powers. Finding this condition of things, and believing it to be an imperative duty upon the incoming Executive to prevent, if possible, the consumma- tion of such attempt to destroy the Federal Union, a choice of means to that end became indispensable. This choice was made, and was de- clared in the Inaugural Address. The policy chosen looked to the exhaus- tion of all peaceful measures before a resort to any stronger ones. It sought only to hold the public places and property not already wrested from the Government, and to collect the revenue, relying for the rest on time, discussion, and the ballot-box. It promised a continuance of the mails, at Government expense, to the very people who were resisting the Government ; and it gave repeated pledges against any disturbance to any of the people, or any of their rights. Of all that which a President might constitutionally and justifiably do in such a case, every thing was forborne, without which it was believed possible to keep the Government on foot. On the 5th of March (the present incumbent's first full day in office), a letter of Major Anderson, commanding at Fort Sumter, written on the 28th of February, and received at the "War Department on the 4th of March, was by that Department placed in his bauds. This letter ex- pressed the professional opinion of the writer, that reinforcements could not be thrown into that fort within the time for his relief, rendered ne- cessary by the limited supply of provisions, and with a view of holding possession of the same, with a force of less than twenty thousand good 188 The Life, Public Services, and ;;nd well-discipliaed men. This opinion was concurred in by all the t'fficers of his command, and their memoranda on the subject were made enclosures of Major Anderson's letter. The whole was immediately laid before Lieutenant-General Scott, who at once concurred with Major Anderson in opinion. On reflection, however, he took full time, con- sulting with other officers, both of the army and the navy ; and at the end of four days came reluctantly, but decidedly, to the same conclusion as before. He also stated at the same time that no such sufficient force was then at the control of the Government, or could be raised and brought to the ground within the time when the provisions in the fort would be exhausted. In a purely military point of view, this reduced the duty of the Administration in the case to the mere matter of getting the garrison safely out of the fort. It was believed, however, that to so abandon that position, under the circumstances, would be utterly ruinous ; that the necessity under which it was to be done would not be fully understood; that by many it would be construed as a part of a voluntary policy ; that at home it would dis- courage the friends of the Union, embolden its adversaries, and go far to insure to the latter a recognition abroad; that, in fact, it would be our National destruction consummated. This could not be allowed. Star- vation was not yet upon the garrison ; and ere it would be reached Fort Pickens might be re-enforced. This would be a clear indication of policy, and would better enable the country to accept the evacuation of Fort Sumter as a military necessity. An order was at once directed to be sent for the landing of the troops from the steamship Brooklyn into Fort Pickens. This order could not go by land, but must take the longer and slower route by sea. The first return news from the order was received just one week before the fall of Fort Sumter. The news itself was, that the officer commanding the Sabine, to which vessel the troops had been transferred from the Brooklyn, acting upon some quasi armistice of the late Administration (and of the existence of which the present Adminis- tration, up to the time the order was dispatched, had only too vague and uncertain rumors to fix attention), had refused to land the troops. To now re-enforce Fort Pickens before a crisis would be reached at Fort Sumter, was impossible — rendered so by the near exhaustion of provisions in the latter-named fort. In precaution against such a conjuncture, the Government had a few days before commenced preparing an expedition, as well adapted as might be, to relieve Fort Sumter, which expedition was intended to be ultimately used or not, according to circumstances. The strongest anticipated case for using it was now presented, and it was resolved to send it forward. As had been intended in this contingency, it was also resolved to notify the Governor of South Carolina that he might expect an attempt would be made to provision the fort ; and that, if the attempt should not be resisted, there would be no effort to throw in men, arms, or ammunition, without further notice, or in case of an State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 189 attack upon the fort. This notice was accordiuglj given ; wlicrcnpon the fort was attaclved and bombarded to its faW, without even awaiting the arrival of the provisioning expedition. It is thus seen that the assault upon and reduction of Fort Sumter was in no sense a matter of self-defence upon the part of the assailants. They well knew that the garrison in the fort could by no possibility commit aggression upon them. They knew — they wert*. expressly notified— that the giving of bread to the few brave and hungry men of the garrison was all which would on that occasion be attempted, unless themselves, by resisting so much, should provoke more. They knew that this Gov- ernment desired to keep the garrison in the fort, not to assail them, but to maintain visible possession, and thus to preserve the Union from actual and immediate dissolution — trusting, as hereinbefore stated, to time, discussion, and the ballot-box for final adjustment; and they as- sailed and reduced the fort for precisely the reverse object — to drive out the visible authority of the Federal Union, and thus force it to immediate dissolution. That this was their object the Executive well understood; and having said to them in the Inaugural Address, " You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors," he took pains not only to keep this declaration good, but also to keep the case so free from the power of ingenious sophistry that the world should not be able to misunderstand it. By the affair at Fort Sumter, with its surrounding circumstances, that point was reached. Then and thereby the assailants of the Government began the conflict of arms, without a gun in sight, or in expectancy to return their fire, save only the few in the fort, sent to that harbor years before for their own protection, and still ready to give that protection in whatever was lawful. In this act, discarding all else, they have forced upon the country the distinct issue, "immediate dissolution or blood." And this issue embraces more than the fate of these United States. It presents to the whole family of man the question, whether a constitu- tional republic or democracy — a government of the people by the same people — can or cannot maintain its territorial integrity against its own domestic foes. It presents the question, whether discontented individ- uals, too few in numbers to control administration, according to organic law, in any case, can always, upon the pretences made in this case, or on any other pretences, or arbitrarily, without any pretence,' break up their Government, and thus practically put an end to free government upon the earth. It forces us to ask, "Is there, in all republics, this inherent and fatal weakness?" "Must a government, of necessity, be too strong for the liberties of its own people, or too weak to maintain its own exist- ence?" So viewing the issue, no choice was left but to call out the war power of the Government; and so to resist force employed for its destruction, hv force for its preservation. 190 The Life, Public Services, and The call was made, and the response of the country was most gratify- ing — surpassing in unanimity and spirit the most sanguine expectation. Yet none of the States commonly called Slave States, except Delaware, gave a regiment through regular State organization. A few regiments liave been organized within some others of tliose States by individual enterprise, and received into the Government service. Of course, the seceded States, so called (and to which Texas had been joined about the time of the inauguration), gave no troops to the cause of the Union. The Border States, so called, were not uniform in their action, some of them being almost for the Union, while in others— as Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas — the Union sentiment was nearly repressed and silenced. The course taken in Virginia was the most remarkable— per- haps the most important. A convention, elected by the people of that State to consider this very question of disrupting the Federal Union, was in session at the Capital of Virginia when Fort Sumter fell. To this body the people had chosen a large majority of professed Union men. Almost immediately after the fall of Sumter many members of that majority went over to the original disunion minority, and with them adopted an ordinance for withdrawing the State from the Union. Whether this change was wrought by their great approval of the assault upon Sumter, or their great resentment at the Government's resistance to that assault, is not definitely known. Although they submitted the ordinance for ratification to a vote of the people, to be taken on a day then some- what more than a month distant, the Convention and the Legislature (which was also in session at the same time and place), with leading men of the State not members of either, immediately commenced acting as if the State were already out of the Union. They pushed military preparations vigorously forward all over the State. They seized the United States armory at Harper's Ferry, and the navy-yard at Gosport, near Norfolk. They received — perhaps invited— into their State large bodies of troops, with their warlike appointments, from the so-called seceded States. They formally entered into a treaty of temporary alii ance and co-operation with the so-called "Confederate States," and sent members to their Congress at Montgomery; and, finally, they permitted the insurrectionary Government to be transferred to their capital at Rich mond. The people of Virginia have thus allowed this giant insurrection to make its nest within her borders ; and this Government has no choice left but to deal with it where it finds it. And it has the- less regret, as the loyal citizens have in due form claimed its protection. Those loyal citizens this Government is bound to recognize and protect as being Virginia. In the Border States, so-called — in fact, the Middle States — ^there are those who favor a policy which they call "armed neutrality" — that is, an arming of those States to prevent the Union forces passing one way, State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 101 or the disunion tlic other, over their soil. This wouhl he disunion com- pleted. Figuratively speaking, it wouhl be the building of an impassable wall along the line of separation— and yet not quite an impassable one, for, under the guise of neutrality, it would tie the hands of Union men, and freely pass supplies from among them to tbe insurrectionists, which it could not do as an open enemy. At a stroke it would take all the trouble off the hands of secession, except only what proceeds from the external blockade. It would do for the disunionists that which of all things they most desire — feed them well, and give them disunion without a struggle of their own. It recognizes no fidelity to the Constitution, no obligation to maintain the Union ; and while very many who have favored it are doubtless loyal citizens, it is, nevertheless, very injurious in eftect. Recurring to tlie action of the Government, it may be stated that at first a call was made for seventy-five thousand militia ; and rapidly fol- lowing this, a proclamation was issued for closing the ports of the insur- rectionary districts by proceedings in the nature of a blockade. So far all was believed to be strictly legal. At this point the insurrectionists announced their purpose to enter upon the practice of privateering. Other calls were made for volunteers to serve for three years, unless sooner discharged, and also for large additions to the regular army and navy. Tliese measures, whether strictly legal or not, were ventured upon under what appeared to be a popular demand and a public necessity ; trusting then, as now, that Congress would readily ratify them. It is believed that nothing has been done beyond the constitutional compe- tency of Congress. Soon after the first call for militia, it was considered a duty to authorize the Commanding-General, in proper cases, according to his discretion, to suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus^ or, in other words, to arrest and detain, without resort to the ordinary processes and forms of law, such individuals as he might deem dangerous to the public safety. This authority has purposely been exercised but very sparingly. Never- theless, the legality and propriety of what has been done under it are (questioned, and the attention of the country has been called to the proposition, that one who has sworn to "take care that the laws be faithfully executed," should not himself violate them.. Of course, some consideration was given to the question of power and propriety before this matter was acted upon. The whole of the laws which were required to be faithfully executed were being resisted, and failing of execution in nearly one-third of the States. l^Iust they be allowed to finally fail of execution, even had it been perfectly clear that by the use of the means necessary to their execution some single law, made in such extreme tenderness of the citizen's liberty that practically it relieves more of the guilty than of the innocent, should to a very limited extent be violated ? To state the question more directly : Are all the laws but one to go unex- 192 The Life, Public Services, and edited, and the Government itself go to pieces, lest that one be violated 1 Even in such a case, would not the official oath be broken if the Gov- ernment should be overthrown, when it was believed that disregarding the single law would tend to preserve it? But it was not believed that this question was presented. It was not believed that any law was violated. The provision of the Constitution that " the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended unless when, m cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it," is equivalent to a provision — is a provision — that such privilege may be suspended when, in case of rebellion or invasion, the public safety does require it. It was decided that we have a case of rebellion, and that the public safety does require the qualified suspension of the privilege of the writ which was authorized to be made. Now, it is insisted that Congress, and not the Executive, is vested with this power. But the Constitution itself is silent as to which or who is to exercise the power ; and as tlie provision was plainly made for a dangerous emergency, it cannot be believed the framers of the instrument intended that in every case the danger should run its course until Congress could be called together, tlie very assembling of which might be prevented, as was intended in this case, by the re- bellion. No more extended argument is now offered, as an opinion, at some length, will probably be presented by the Attorney-General. Whether there shall be any legislation on the subject, and, if any, what, is sub- mitted entirely to the better judgment of Congress. The forbearance of this Government had been so extraordinary, and so long continued, as to lead some foreign nations to shape their action as if they supposed the early destruction of our National Union was probable. "While this, on discovery, gave the Executive some concern, he is now happy to say that the sovereignty and rights of the United States are now everywhere practically respected by foreign powers ; and a general sympathy with the country is manifested througliout tlie world. The reports of the Secretaries of the Treasury, War, and the Navy, will give the information in detail deemed necessary and convenient for your deliberation and action ; while the Executive and all the Depart- ments will stand ready to supply omissions, or to communicate new facts considered important for you to know. It is now recommended that you give the legal means for making this contest a short and decisive one ; that you place at the control of the Government, for the work, at least four hundred thousand men and $400,000,000. That number of men is about one-tenth of those of proper ages within the regions where, apparently, all are willing to engage ; and the sum is less than a twenty-third part of the money value owned by tlie men who seem ready to devote the whole. A debt of $000,000,000 now, is a less sum per head than was the debt of our Revolution when State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 19 o wo came out of that struggle; and the money value in the country now bears even a greater proportion to what it was then, than does the popu- lation. Surely each man has as strong a motive now to preserve our liberties, as each had then to establish them. A right result, at this time, will he worth more to the world than ten times the men and ten times the money. The evidence reaching us from the country leaves no doubt that the material for the work is abundant, and that it needs only the hand of legislation to give it legal sanction, and the hand of the Executive to give it practical shape and efficiency. One of the greatest perplexities of the Government is to avoid receiving troops faster than it can provide for them. In a word, the people will save their Government, if the Government itself will do its part only indifferently well. It might seem, at first thought, to be of little diflTerence whether thti present movement at the South be called "secession" or "rebellion." The movers, however, will understand the difference. At the l)eginning, they knew they could never raise their treason to any respectable magnitude by any name which implies violation of law. They knew their people possessed as much of moral sense, as much of devotion to law and order, and as much pride in, and reverence for the history and Government of their common country, as any other civilized and patri- otic people. They knew they could make no advancement directly in tlio teeth of these strong and noble sentiments. Accordingly, they com- menced by an insidious debauching of the public mind. They invented an ingenious sophism, which, if conceded, was followed by perfectly logical steps, through all the incidents, to the complete destruction of the Union. The sophism itself is, that any State of the Union may, consistently with the National Constitution, and therefore lawfully and peacefully, withdraw from the Union without the consent of the Union, or of any other State. The little disguise that the supposed right is to be exercised only for just cause, themselves to be the sole judges of its justice, is too thin to merit any notice. With rebellion thus sugar-coated they have been drugging the public mind of their section for more than thirty years, and until at length they have brought many good men to a willingness to take up arms against the Government the day after some assemblage of men have enacted the farcical pretence of taking their State out of the Union, who could have been brought to no such tiling the day before. This sophism derives much, perhaps the whole, of its currency trom the assumption that there is some omnipotent and sacred supremacy pertaining to a State — to each State of our Federal Union. Our States have neither more nor less power than that reserved to them in the Union by the Constitution — no one of them ever having been a State out of the Union. The original ones passed into the Union even before tliey cast off their British colonial dependence ; and the new ones each came 13 194 The Life, Public Services, and into the Union directly from a condition of dependence, excepting Texas And even Texas, in its temporary independence, was never designated n State. The new ones only took the designation of States on coming int( the Union, while that name was first adopted by the old ones in and by the Declaration of Independence. Therein tlie "United Colonies" were declared to be "free and independent States;" but, even then, the ob- ject ])lainly was not to declare their independence of one another, or of the Union, but directly the contrary; as their mutual pledge and their mutual action before, at the time, and afterwards, abundantly show. The express plighting of faith by each and all of the original tliirteon in the Articles of Confederation, two years later, that the Union shall be per- petual, is most conclusive. Having never been States, either in substance or in name, outside of the Union, whence this magical omnipotence of "State Rights," asserting a claim of power to lawfully destroy the Union itself? Much is said about the "sovereignty" of the States; but the word even is not in the National Constitution ; nor, as is believed, in any of the State constitutions. "What is " sovereignty " in the political sense of the term ? Would it be far wrong to detine it " a political community without a political superior?" Tested by this, no one of our States, ex- cept Texas, ever was a sovereignty. And even Texas gave up the char- acter on coming into the Union ; by which act she acknowledged the Constitution of the United States, and the laws and treaties of the United States made in pursuance of the Constitution, to be for her the supreme law of the land. The States have their siatns in the Union, and they have no other legal status. If they break from this, they can only do so against law and by revolution. The Union, and not themselves sepa- rately, procured their independence and their liberty. By conquest or purchase the Union gave each of them whatever of independence or liberty it has. The Union is older than any of the States, and, in fact, it created them as States. Originally some dependent colonies made the Union, and, in turn, the Union threw off their old dependence for them, and made them States, such as they are. Not one of them ever had a State constitution independent of the Union. Of course, it is not for- gotten that all the new States framed their constitutions before they en- tered the Union ; nevertheless dependent upon, and preparatory to, com- ing into the Union. Unquestionably the States have the powers and rights reserved to them in and by the National Constitution; but among these, surely, are not included all conceivable powers, however mischievous or destructive; but, at most, such only as were known in the world, at the time, as gov- ernmental powers; and, certainly, a power to destroy the Government itself had never been known as a governmental — as a merely administra- tive power. This relative matter of National power and State Riglits, as a principle, is no other than the principle of generality and locality. Whatever concerns the whole should be contided to tiie whole— to the State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 195 General Government; while whatever concerns only the State shouh] bo left exclusively to the State. This is all there is of original principle about it. Whether the National Constitution, in defining boundaries be- tween the two has api)lied the principle with exact accuracy, is not to b'; questioned. We are all bound by that defining, without question. What is now combated, is the position that secession is consistent with the Constitutit)n — is bnvful and peaceful. It is not contended that there is any express law for it; and nothing should ever be implied as law which leads to unjust or absurd consequences. The Nation purchased with money the countries out of which several of these States were formed; is it just that they shall go otf without leave and without refunding? The Nation paid very large sums (in the aggregate, I believe, nearly a hundred mil- lionsj to relieve Florida of the aboriginal tribes; is it just that she shall now be off without consent, or without making any return? The Nation is now in debt for money applied to the benefit of these so-called seceding States in common with the rest ; is it just either that creditors shall go unpaid, or the remaining States pay the whole? A part of the present National debt was contracted to pay the old debts of Texas; is it just that she shall leave and pay no part of this herself? Again, if one State may secede, so may another; and when all sliall have seceded, none is left to pay the debts. Is this quite just to creditors? Did we notify them of this sage view of^nrs when we borrowed their money? If we now recognize this doctrine by allowing the seceders to go in peace, it is difficult to see what we can do if others choose to go, or to extort terms upon which they will promise to remain. The seceders insist that our Constitution admits of secession. They have assumed to make a national constitution of their own, in which, of neces- sity, they have either discarded or retained the right of secession, as they insist it exists in ours. If they have discarded it, they thereby admit that, on principle, it ought not to be in ours. If they have retained it, bj their own construction of ours, they show that to be consistent they must secede from one another whenever they shall find it the easiest way of settling their debts, or effecting any other selfish or unjust object. The principle itself is one of disintegration, and upon which no Government can possibly endure. If all the States save one should assert the power to drive that one out of the Union, it is presumed the whole class of seceder politicians would at once deny the power, and denounce the act as the greatest outrage upon State rights. But suppose that precisely the same act. instead of being called " driving the one out," should be called " the seceding of the others from that one," it would be exactly what the seceders claim to do ; unless, indeed, they make the point that the one, because it is a minority, may rightfully do what the others, because they are a majority, may not rightfully do. These politicians are subtile and profound on the rights of minorities. They are not partial to that power which made the Constitu tiuii, and speaks from the preamble, calling itself " We, the People." 196 The Life, Public Services, and It may well be questioned whether there is to-diiy a majority of th« legally qualified voters of any State, except, perhaps, South Carolina, in favor of disunion. There is much reason to believe that the Union men are the majority in many, if not in every other one, of the so-called sece- ded States. The contrary has not been demonstrated in any one of them. It is ventured to afBrni this even of Virginia and Tennessee ; for the result of an election held in military camps, where the bayonets are all on one side of the question voted upon, can scarcely be considered as demonstra- ting popular sentiment. At such an election, all that large class who are at once for the Union and against coercion would be coerced to vote against the Union. It may be affirmed, without extravagance, that the free institutions we enjoy have developed the powers and improved the condition of our whole people beyond any example in the world. Of this we now have a stri- king and an impressive illustration. So large an army as the Government has now on foot was never before known without a soldier in it but who had taken his place there of his own free choice. But more than this: there are many single regiments whose members, one and another, possess full practical knowledge of all the arts, sciences, professions, and what- ever else, whether useful or elegant, is known in the world ; and there is scarcely one from which there could not be selected a President, a Cabi- net, a Congress, and jierhaps a court, abundantly competent to administer the Government itself. Nor do I say this is not true also in the army of our late friends, now adversaries in this contest; but if it is, so much better the reason why the Government which has conferred such benefits on both them and us sliould not be broken up. Whoever, in any section, proposes to abandon such a Government, would do well to consider in deference to what principle it is that he does it ; what better he is likely to get in its stead ; whether the substitute will give, or be intended to give, so much of good to the people? There are some foresh ado wings on this subject. Our adversaries have adopted some declarations of independence, in which, unlike the good old one, penned by Jefterson, they omit the words, "all men are created equal." Why? They have adopted a tem- porary national constitution, in the preamble of which, unlike our good old one, signed by Washington, they omit ''We, the People," and sub- stitute, "We, the deputies of the sovereign and independent States." Why? Why this deliberate pressing out of view the rights of men and the authority of the people? This is essentially a people's contest. On the side of the Union it is a struggle for maintaining in the world that form' and substance of Govern- ment whose leading olyect is to elevate the condition of men ; to lift arti- ficial weights from all shoulders ; to clear the paths of laudable pursuits for all ; to afford all an unfettered start and a fair chance in the race of life. Yielding to partial and temporary deyiartures, from necessity, this is the leading object of the Government for whose existence we contend. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 197 lam most happy to believe that the plain people understand and a])pre- ciate this. It is worthy of note, that while in this tlie Government's hour of trial, large numbers of those in the army and navy who have been favored with the offices have resigned and proved false to the hand which had [)ampered them, not one common soldier or common sailor is known to have deserted his flag. Great honor is due to those officers who remained true, despite the ex- ample of their treacherous associates ; but the greatest honor, and most important fact of all, is the unanimous firmness of the common soldiers and common sailors. To the last man, so far as known, they have s\ic- cessfully resisted the traitorous efforts of those whose commands but an hour before they obeyed as absolute law. This is the patriotic instinct of plain people. They understand, without an argument, that the destroy- ing the Government which was made by Washington means no good to them. Our popular Government has often been called an experiment. Two points in it our people have already settled — the successful establishing and the successful administering of it. One still remains — its successful maintenance against a formidable internal attempt to overthrow it. It is now for them to demonstrate to the world that those who can fairly carry an election can also suppress a rebellion; that ballots are the rightful and peaceful successors of bullets ; and that when ballots have fairly and con- stitutionally decided, there can be no successful appeal back to bullets • that there can be no successful appeal, except to ballots themselves, at succeeding elections. Such will be a great lesson of peace; teaching men that what they cannot take by an election, neither can they take by a war ; teaching all the folly of being the beginners of a war. Lest there be some uneasiness in the minds of candid men as to what is to be the course of the Government towards the Southern States after the rebellion shall have been suppressed, the Executive deems it proper to say, it will be his purpose then, as ever, to be guided by the Constitu- tion and the laws; and that he probably will have no diflferent nnder- standing of the powers and duties of the Federal Government relatively to the rights of the States and the people under the Constitution than that expressed in the Inaugural Address. He desires to preserve the Government, that it may be administered for all, as it was administered by the men who made it. Loyal citizens every- where have the right to claim this of their Government, and the Govern- ment has no right to withhold or neglect it. It is not perceived that in giving it there is any coercion, any conquest, or any subjugation, in any just sense of those terms. The Constitution provides, and all the States have accepted the provi- sion, that "the United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a re[)ubLican form of Government." But if a State may lawfully go out of the Union, having done so, it may also discard the republican form of 198 The Life, Public Services, and Government; so tliat to prevent its going out is an indispensable means to the end of maintaining the guarantee mentioned ; and when an end is lawful and obligatory, the indispensable means to it are also lawful and obligatory. It was with the deepest regret that the Executive found the duty of em- ploying the war power in defence of the Government forced upon him. He could but perform this duty or surrender the existence of the Govern- ment. No compromise by public servants could in this case be a cure ; not that coinprc^nises are not often proper, but that no popuiar Govern- ment can long survive a marked precedent that those who carry an elec- tion can only save the Government from immediate destruction by giving up tlie main point upon which the people gave the election. The people the-uselves, and not their servants, can safely reverse their own deliberate decisions. As a private citizen the Executive could not have consented that these institutions shall perish ; much less could he, in betrayal of so vast and so sacred a trust as these free people have confided to him. He felt that he had no moral right to shrink, or even to count the chances of his own life, in what might follow. In full view of his great responsibility he has so far done what he has deemed his duty. You will now, according to your own judgment, perform yours. He sincerely hopes that your views and your action may so accord with his as to assure all faitliful citizens who have been disturbed in their rights of a certain and speedy restoration to them, under the Constitution and the laws. And having thus chosen our course, without guile and with pure pur- pose, let us renew our trust in God, and go forward without fear and with manly hearts. Abraham Lincoln. July 4, 18(51. Congress imitated the President in confining its attention exclusively to the rebellion and the means for its suppres- sion. The zealous and enthusiastic loyalty of the people met a prompt response from their rej)resentatives. The JudiciarjT^ Committee in the House was instructed on the 8th to prepare a bill to confiscate the property of rebels against the Government ; and on the 9th, a resolution was adopted (ayes ninety-eight, noes fifty-five), declaring it to be "no part of the duty of the soldiers of the United States to capture and return fugitive slaves." A bill was promptly introduced to declare valid all the acts of the President for the suppression of the rebellion previous to the meeting of Congress, and it brought on a general discussion of the principles involved and the interests State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 199 concerned in tlie contest. There were a few in both Houses, with Jolm C. Breckinridge, of Kentucky, at their head, who still insisted that any resort by the Govern- ment to the use of the war power against the rebels was unconstitutional, and could only end in the destruction of the Union ; but the general sentiment of both Houses fully sustained the President in the steps he had taken. The subject of slavery was introduced into the discussion commenced by Senator Powell, of Kentucky, who pro- posed on the 18th to amend the Army Bill by adding a section that no part of the army should be employed " in subjecting or holding as a conquered province any sov- ereign State now or lately one of the United States, or in abolishing or interfering Avitli xVfrican slavery in any of the States." The debate which ensued elicited the senti- ments of members on this subject. Mr. Sherman, of Ohio, concurred in the sentiment that the war was " not to be waged for the purpose of subjugating any State or freeing any slave, or to interfere with the social or domestic insti- tutions of any State or any people ; it was to preserve this Union, to maintain the Constitution as it is in all its clauses, in all its guarantees, without change or limita- tion." Mr. Dixon, of Connecticut, assented to this, but also declared that if the South should protract the war, and "it should turn out that either this Government or slavery must be destroyed, then the people of the North —the Conservative people of the North-^would say, rather than let the Government perish, let slavery perish." Mr. Lane, of Kansas, did not believe that slavery could survive in any State the march of the Union armies. These seemed to be the sentiments of both branches of Congress. The amendment was rejected, and bills were passed ratifying the acts of the President, authorizing him to accept the services of half a million of volunteers, and placing five hundred millions of dollars at the dispo- sal of the Government for the prosecution of the war. On the 15th of July, Mr. McClernand, a democrat from Illinois, offered a resolution pledging tlie House to vote any amount of money and any number of men nereFSfiiy 200 The Life, Public Services, and to suppress the rebellion, and restore the authority of the Government, wliicli was adopted, with but live opposing votes ; and on the 22d of July, Mr. Crittenden, of Ken- tucky, offered the following resolution, defining the objects of tlie war : — Resolved ly the Mouse of Represent atitea of the Congress of the United States, That the f>reseut deplorable civil war has been forced upon the country by the disunionists of the Southern States, now in arms against the Constitutional Government, and in arms around the Capital; th'at in this national emergency, Congress, banishing all feelings of mere passion or resentment, will recollect only its duty to the whole country ; that this war is not waged on their part in any spirit of oppression, or for any pur- pose of conquest or subjugation, or purpose of overthrowing or interfering with the rights or established institutions of those States, but to defend and maintain the supremacy of the Constitution, and to preserve the Union with all the dignity, equality, and rights of the several States un- impaired; and that as soon as these objects are accomplished the war ought to cease. This resolution was adopted, with but two dissenting votes. It was accepted by the whole country as defining the objects and limiting the continuance of the war, and was regarded with special favor by the loyal citizens of the Border States, whose sensitiveness on the subject of slavery had been skilfull}^ and zealously played upon by the agents and allies of the rebel confederacy. The war was universally represented by these men as waged for the destruction of slavery, and as aiming, not at the pres- ervation of the Union, but the emancipation of the slaves ; and there was great danger that these appeals to the pride, the interest, and the prejudices of tlie Border Slave States might bring them to join their fortunes to those of the rebellion. The passage of this resolution, with so great a degree of unanimity, had a very soothing effect upon the apprehensions of these States, and contributed largely to strengthen the Government in its contest with the rebellion. The sentiments of Congress on this matter, as Avell as on the general subject of the war, were still further developed in the debates which followed the introduction to the House of a bill passed by the Senate to "confiscate property used for insurrectionary purposes," It was referred to State Pap:;us of Abhaiiam Lincoln. 201 the JiTdiciary Coraniittee, and n^ported back with an amend- ment, providing that whenciver any slave shoukl be required or permitted by his master to take up arms, or be employed in any fort, dock-yard, or in any military service in aid of the rebellion, he should become entitled to his freedom. Mr. AVickliffe and Mr. Burnett, of Ken- tucky, at once contested the passage of the bill, on the ground that the Government had no right to interfere in any way with the relation existing betAveen a master and his slave ; and they were answered by the Northern mem- bers with the argument that the Government certainly had a right to confiscate property of any kind employed in the rebellion, and that there was no more reason for protecting slavery against the consequences of exercising this riglit, than for shielding any other interest that might be thus involved. The advocates of the bill denied that it was the intention of the law to emancipate the slaves, or that it would bear any such construction in the courts of justice. They repudiated tlie idea that men in arms against the Union and Constitution could claim the pro tection of the Constitution, and thus dei-ive from that instrument increased ability to secure its destruction ; but they based their proposed confiscation of slave property solely on the ground that it was a necessary means to the prosecution of the war, and not in any sense the object for which the war was ^^aged. After a protracted debate, that section of the bill which related to this subject was passed— ayes sixty, noes forty-eight— in the following form : — That whenever, hereafter, durinc; the present insurrection against the Government of tiie United States, any person chiimed to be lield to labor or service under the laws of any State, shall be required or pennitted by tlie person to whom such labor or service is claimed to be due, or by the lawful agent of such person, to take up arms against the United States, or shall be required or permitted by the person to whom such service or labor is claimed to be due, or his lawful agent, to work or to be employed in or upon any fort, navy-yard, dock, armory, ship, or intrenchment, or in any military or naval service whatever, against the Government and lawful authority of the United States, then, and in every sucli case, tho person to whom such service is claimed to be due, shall forfeit liis claim 202 The Life, Public Services, and to such labor, any law of the State, or of the United States, to the con- trary notwithstanding ; and whenever thereafter the person claiming such labor or service shall seek to enforce his claim, it shall be a full and suffi- cient answer to such claim that the person whose service or labor is claimed, had been employed in hostile service against the Government of the United States, contrary to the provisions of this act. Congress closed its extra session on the 6tli of August. It had taken the most vigorous and effective measures for the suppression of the rebellion, having clothed the Pres- ident Avith even greater power than he had asked for in the prosecution of the war, and avoided with just hdelty all points which could divide and weaken the loyal sen- timent of the country. The people responded with hearty applause to the patriotic action of their representatives. The universal temper of the country was one of buoyancy and hope. Tliroughout the early part of the summer the rebels had been steadily pushing troops through Virginia to the borders of the Potomac, menacing the National Cap- ital with capture, until in the latter part of June they had an army of not far from thirty-hve thousand men, holding a strong position along the Bull Run Creek— its left posted at AVinchester, and its right resting at Manassas. It was determined to attack this force and drive it from the vicin- ity of Washington, and the general belief of the country was that this would substantially end the war. The National army, numbering about thirty thousand men, moved from the Potomac, on the 16th of July, under General McDowell, and the main attack was made on the 21st. It resulted in the defeat, with a loss of four hundred and eighty killed and one thousand wounded, of our forces, and their falling back, in the utmost disorder and confusion, upon Wasliington. Our army was completely routed, and if the rebel forces had known the extent of their success, and had been in condition to avail them- selves of it with vigor and energy, the Capital would easily have ftillen into their hands. The result of this battle took the whole country by sur- prise. The most sanguine expectations of a prompt and decisive victory had been universally entertained ; and State Papers of Alsuaiiam Lincoln. 203 the actual issue first revealed to tlie people tlie prospect of a long and bloody war. But the public heart was not in the least discouraged. On the contrary, the cftect was to rouse still higlier the courage and determination of the people. No one dreamed for an instant of submission. The most vigorous efforts were made to reorganize the army, to increase its numbers by volunteeiing, and to establish a footing for National troops at various points along the rebel coast. On the 28th of August Fort Hat- teras was surrendered to the National forces, and on the 31st of October Port Royal, on the coast of South Caro- lina, fell into possession of the United States. On the 3d of December Ship Island, lying between Mobile and New Orleans, was occupied. Preparations were also inade for an expedition against New Orleans, and by a series of combined movements the rebel forces were driven out of Western Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri — States in which the population had from the beginning of the con- test been divided in sentiment and action. On the 31st of October General Scott, finding himself unable, in consequence of illness and advancing age, to take the field or discharge the duties imposed by tlie enlarging contest, resigned his position as commander of the army, in the following letter to the Secretary of War :— IlEAD-QrARTEKS OF THE ArMT, I Washington, October 81, 1S61. f The Hon. S. Cameron, Secretary of War : — Sir: — For more than three years I liave been unable, from a hurt, to mount a horse, or to walk more than a few paces at a time, and that with much pain. Other and new infirmities — dropsy and vertigo — adnionish me that repose of mind and body, with the appliances of surgery and medicine, are necessary to add a little more to a life already protracted mnch beyond the usual span of man. It is under such circumstances — made doubly painful l)y the uniuitural and unjust rebellion now raging in the Soutliern States of our (so late) pms- perous and happy Union — that I am coinpelled to request tliat my name may be placed on the list of array officers retired from active service. As this request is founded on an absolute right, granted by a recent act of Congress, I am entirely at liberty to say it is with deep regret that I withdraw myself, in these momentous times, from tlie orders of a Presi- dent who has treated me with distinguislied kindness and courtesv ; whom 204 The Life, PuiiLic Services, akd I know, upon much personal intercourse, to be patriotic, without soctionn] partialities or prejudices ; to be highly conscientious in the performance of every duty, and of unrivalled activity and perseverance. And to you, Mr. Secretary, whom I now ofHcially address for the last time, I beg to acknowledge my many obligations, for the uniform high consideration I have i-eceived at your hands ; and have the honor to remain, sir, with high respect, your obedient servant, WixriELD Scott. President Lincoln waited upon General Scott at liis residence, accompanied by his Cabinet, and made personal expression to him of the deep regret which he, in common with the whole country, felt in parting with a public ser- vant so venerable in years and so illustrious for the services he had rendered. He also issued the following order : — On the first day of November, 1861, upon his own application to the President of the United States, Brevet Lieutenant-General Winfield Scott is ordered to be placed, and hereby is placed, upon the list of retired officers of the army of the United States, without reduction of his current pay, subsistence, or allowances. The American people will hear with sadness and deep emotion that General Scott has withdrawn from the active control of the army, while the President and unanimous Cabinet express their own and the Nation's sympatliy in his personal affliction, and their profound sense of the im- portant public services rendered by him to his country during his long and brilliant career, among which will ever be gratefuUj^ distinguished his faithful devotion to the Constitution, the Union, and the Flag, when nssailcd by parricidal rebellion. Abraham Lincoln. The command of the army then devolved by appoint- ment upon Major- General McClellan, who had been re- called from Western Virginia after the battle of Bull Run, and had devoted himself to the task of recruiting the anny in front of Washington, and preparing it for the defence of the Capital, and for a fresh advance upon the forces of the rebellion. It cannot have escaped attention that thus far, in its policy concerning the war, the Government had been very greatly influenced by a desire to prevent the Border Slave States from joining the rebel confederacy. Their accession would have added immensely to the forces of the rebel- lion, and would have increased very greatly the labor and State Papers of Auiiaiiam Lincoln. 205 difficulty of its suppression. The Administration and Congress had, therefore, avoided, so tar as possible, any measures in regard to slavery which could needlessly ex- cite the hostile pn^udices of th(^ people of the Bor(J(^r States. The Confiscation Act aftected only those slaves who should be " required or permitted" by their masters to render service to the rebel cause. It did not in any respect change the condition of any others. The Presi- dent, in the Executive Department, acted up(3n the same principle. The question first arose in Virginia, simulta- neously at Fortress Monroe, and in the western part of the State. On the 26th of May, General McClellan issued an address to the people of the district under his com- mand, in which he said to them, "Understand one thing clearly: not only will we abstain from all interference with your slaves, but we will, on the contrary, with an iron hand crush any attempt at insurrection on their part." On the 27th of May, General Butler, in command at Fortress Monroe, wrote to the Secretary of War that he Avas greatly embarrassed by the number of slaves that were coming in from the surrounding conntry and seeking protection within the lines of his camp. He had deter- mined to regard them as contraband of war, and to em- ploy their labor at a fair compensation, against which shonld be charged the expense of their support— the relative valne to be adjusted afterwards. The Secretary of War, in a letter dated May SOtli, expressed the appr< > val by the Government of the course adopted by General Butler, and directed him, on the one hand, to "permit no interference by the persons nnder his command with the relations of persons held to service nnde-r the laws of any State," and on the other, to "refrain from surren- dering to alleged masters any such persons who might come within his lines." On the 8th of August, after the passage of the Confisca- tion Act by Congress, the Secretary of War again wrote to General Butler, setting forth somewhat more fully the views of the President and the Administration upon this subject, as follows : — 20G The Life, Public Services, and It is the desire of the President that all existing rights in ah the States le fully respected and maintained. The war now prosecuted on the part of the Federal Government is a war for the Union, and for the preserva- tion of all constitutional rights of States and the citizens of the States in the Union. Hence no question can arise as to fugitives from service within the States and Territories in which the authority of the Union is fully acknowledged. The ordinary forms of judicial proceeding, which must be respected by military and civil authorities alike, will sufiice for the enforcement of all legal claims. But in States wholly or partially under insurrectionary control, where the laws of the United States are so far opposed and resisted that they cannot be etfectually enforced, it is obvi- ous that rights dependent on the execution of those laws must teiaporarily fail; and it is equally obvious that rights dependent on the laws of the States within which military operations are conducted must be necessarily subordinated to the military exigencies created by the insurrection, if not wholly forfeited by the treasonable conduct of parties claiming them. To this general rule rights to services can form no exception. The act of Congress approved August 6th, 1861, declares that if per- sons held to service shall be employed in hostility to the United St,ates, the right to their services shall be forfeited, and such persons shall be discharged therefrom. It follows of necessity that no claim can be recog- nized by the nulitary authorities of the Union to the services of such per- sons when fugitives. A more difficult question is presented in respect to persons escaping from the service of loyal masters. It is quite apparent that the laws of the State, under wliich only the services of such fugitives can be claimed, must needs be wholly, or almost wholly suspended, as to remedies, by the insurrection and the military measures necessitated by it ; and it is equally apparent that the substitution of military for judicial measures, for the enforcement of such claims, must be attended by great inconveniences, embarrassments, and injuries. Under these circumstances, it seems quite clear that the substantial- rights of loyal masters will be best protected by receiving such fugitives, as well as fugitives from disloyal masters, into tlie services of tlie United States, and employing them under such organizations and in such occupa- tions as circumstances may suggest or require. Of course a record should be kept, showing the name and description of the fugitives, the name and the character, as loyal or disloyal, of the master, and such facts as may be necessary to a correct understanding of the circumstances of each case, after traufjuillity shall have been restored. Upon the return of peace, Congress will doubtless properly provide for all the persons thus received into the service of the Union, and for just compensation to loyal masters. In this way only, it would seem, can the duty and safety of the Govern- ment, and the just rights of all, be fully reconciled and harmonized. You will therefore consider yourself as instructed to govern your future action, in respect to fugitives frojn service, by the principles herein stated. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 207 and will 'eport from time to time, and at least twice in each montli, vour action in the premises to this Department. You will, however, neitlicr authorise nor permit any interference, by the troops under your command, with the servants of peaceful citizens, in house or field, nor will yon, in any way, encourage such servants to leave the lawful service of their masters ; nor will you, except in cases Avhere the public safety may seem to require it, prevent the voluntary return of any fugitive to the service from which he may have escaped. The same policy was adopted in every part of tlie coun- try. All interference with the internal institutions of any State was expressly forbidden ; but the Government would avail itself of the services of a portion of the slaves, taking care fuU}^ to provide for compensation to loyal masters. On the 16th of August, Hon. C. B. Smith, Secretary of the Interior, in a speech made at Providence, Rhode Island, took occasion to declare the policy of the Administration upon this subject. Its theor}^, said he, is, that "the States are sovereign within their spheres; the Government of the United States has no more right to interfere with the institution of slavery in South Carolina than it has to interfere with the peculiar institution of Rhode Island, whose benefits I have enjoyed." On the 31st of August, General Fremont, commanding the AVestern Department, which embraced Missouri and a yjart of Kentucky, issued an order "extending and de daring establisln^d martial law throughout the State of Missouri,'' and declaring that "the property, real and personal, of all persons in the State of Missouri, who shall take up arms against the United States, or who sliall be directly j^roven to have taken an active part with their enemies in the field, is declared to be confiscated to the public use, and tlieir slaves, if any they have, are hereby declared free men." The President regarded tliis order as transcending the authority vested in him by the Act of Congress, and wrote to General Fremont, calling liis at- tention to this point, and requ(^sting him to niodif}^ liis proclamation so as to make it conform to the law. Gen- eral Fremont, desiring to throw off from liimself the responsibility of changing his action, desired an ex 208 The Life, Public Services, and plicit order— whereupon tlie President tlms addressed ]iim : — "Waphington, D. C, September 11, 1S61. Major-General Jonx C. Fkemont : — Sir: — Yours of the 8th, in tiuswer to mine of the 2d instant, was just received. Assured that you upon the ground could Ijetter judge of the necessities of your position than I could at this distance, on seeing your proclamation of August 30, I perceived no general objection to it; the particular clause, however, in relation to the confiscation of property and the liberation of slaves, appeared to me to be objectionable in its non- conformity to the Act of Congress, passed the 6th of last August, upon the same subjects, and hence I wrote you expressing my wish that that clause should be modified accordingly. Your answer, just received, ex- presses the preference on your part tliat I should make an open order for the modification, which I very cheerfully do. It is therefore ordered that the said clause of said proclamation be so modified, held, and construed, as to cunform with, and not to transcend, the provisions on the same sub- ject contained in the act of Congress entitled "An Act to confiscate prop- erty used for insurrectionary purposes," approved August G, 1861, and the said act be published at length with this order. Your obedient servant, A. Lincoln. These views of the Government were still farther en- forced in a letter from the Secretary of War to General T. W. Sherman, who commanded the expedition to Port Royal, and in orders issued by General Dix in Virginia, on the 17th of November, and by General Halleck, who succeeded General Fremont in the AVestern Department, prohibiting fugitive slaves from being received witliin the lines of the army. During all this time strenuous efforts Avere made in various quarters to induce the Presi- dent to depart from this policy, and not only to proclaim a general emancipation of all the slaves, but to put arms in their hands, and employ them in the field against the rebels. But they were ineffectual. The President ad- hered firmly and steadily to the policy which the then f^xisting circumstances of the country, in his judgment, rendered wise and necessary ; and he was sustained in this action by the public sentiment of the loyal States, and by the great body of the people in the Slave States along the border. The course which he pursued at that time contributed largely, beyond doubt, to strengthen State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 209 the cause of tlie Union in those Border States, and espe- cially to withdraw Tennessee from her hastily formed connection with the rebel Confederacy. In the early part of November an incident occurred which threatened for a time to involve the country in open war with England. On the 7th of that month the British mail steamer Trent left Havana for St, Thomas, having on board Messrs. J. M. Mason and John Slidell, on their way as commissioners from the Confederate States to England and France. On the 8th the Trent was hailed from the United States frigate San Jacinto, Captain Wilkes, and brought-to by a shot across her bows. Two officers and about twenty armed men from the latter then went on board the Trent, searched her, and took from her by force, and against the protest of the British ofR- ' cers, the two rebel commissioners, with Messrs. Eustis and McFarland, their Secretaries, who were brought to the United States and lodged in Fort Warren, the Trent being released and proceeding on her way. The most ' intense excitement pervaded the country when news of this affair was received. The feeling was one of admira- tion at the boldness of Captain Wilkes, and of exultation at the capture of the rebel emissaries. In England the most intense and passionate resentment took possession of the public mind. The demand for instant redress was universal, and, in obedience to it, the Government at once ordered troops to Canada and the outfit of vessels of war. Our Government met the matter with prompt and self- possessed decision. On the 30th of November Mr. Sew- ard wrote to Mr. Adams a general statement of the facts of the case, accompanied by the assurance that ' ' in the capture of Messrs. Mason and Slidell Captain Wilkes had acted without any instructions from the Government," and that our Government was prepared to discuss the matter in a perfectly fair and friendly spirit as soon as the ground taken by the British Government should be made known. Earl Russell, under the same date, wrote to fjord Lyons, rehearsing the facts of the case, and say- 14 210 The Life, Public Services, and ing that tlie British Government was "willing to believe that the naval officer who committed the aggression was not acting in compliance with any authority from his Government," because the Government of the United States ' ' must be fully aware that the British Government could not allow such an affront to the national honor to pass without full reparation." Earl Russell trusted, therefore, that when the matter should be brought under its notice the United States Government would, "of its own accord, offer to the British Government such redress as alone could satisfy the British nation, namely, the lib- eration of the four gentlemen and their delivery to the British minister, that they may again be placed under British protection, and a suitable apology for the aggres- sion which has been committed." In a subsequent note Lord Lyons was instructed to wait seven days after its delivery for a reply to this demand, and in case no an- swer, or any other answer than a compliance with its terms, should be given by the expiration of that time, he was to leave Washington with the archives of the lega- tion, and repair immediately to London. On the 26th of December the Secretary of State, by di- rection of the President, sent a reply to this dispatch, in which the whole question wsis discussed at length, and with conspicuous ability. The Government decided that the detention of the vessel, and the removal from her of the emissaries of the rebel confederacy, was justifiable by the laws of war and the practice and precedents of the British Government ; but that in assuming to decide upon the liability of these persons to capture for himself, in- stead of sending them before a legal tribunal where a regular trial could be had, Captain Wilkes had departed from the rule of international law uniformly asserted by the American Government, and forming part of its most cherished policy. The Government decided, therefore, that the four persons in question would be ' ' cheerfully liberated." This decision, sustained by the reasoning advanced in its support, commanded the immediate and universal acquiescence of the American people ; while in State Papers of Abraham Llncoln. 2X1. England it Avas received with hearty applause by the friends of this country, especially as it silenced the clam- ors and disappointed the hostile hopes of its enemies. The French Government had joined that of England in its representations upon this subject, and the decision of our Grovernment was received there with equal satisfac- tion. The eifect of the incident, under the just and judi- cious course adopted by the Administration, was emi- nently favorable to the United States — increasing the general respect for its adherence to sound principles of public law, and silencing eifectually the slander that its Grovernment was too weak to disappoint or thwart a pop- ular clamor. One of the immediate fruits of the (discus- sion was the prompt rejection of all demands for recog- nizing the independence of the Confederate States. 212 The Life, Public Services, and CHAPTER VIII. THE REGULAR SESSION OP COXGRESS, DECEMBER, 1861.— THE MESSAGE.— DEBATES, ETC. Meeting of Congress. — Pkksident's Message. — Disposition of Oon- GEESS. — Slavery in Territories and District of Columbia. — Pro- posed Aid to Emancipation by Slave States. — The Debate in Congress. — The President and General Htinte'r. — The Boeder Stat* Representatives. — The Border State Reply. — The Finances. — The Confiscation Bill. — The President's Action and Opinions. — The President's Message. — Message in Regard to Me. Cameron. — The President and ms Cabinet. — Close of the Session of Con- gress. — The President's Letter to Me. Greeley. — The President A.ND THE Chicago Convention. — Proclamation of Emancipation. Congress met in regular session (tlie second of the Thirty- seventh Congress) on the 2d of December, 1861. On the next day the President sent in his Annual Message, as follows : — Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives : In the midst of unprecedented political troubles, we have cause of great gratitude to God for unusual good health and most abundant harvests. You will not be surprised to learn that, in the peculiar exigencies of tho times, our intercourse with foreign nations has been attended with profound solicitude, chiefly turning upon our own domestic affairs. A disloyal portion of the American people have, during the whole year, been engaged in an attempt to divide and destroy the Union. A nation which endures factious domestic division is exposed to disrespect abroad ; and one party, if not both, is sure, sooner or later, to invoke foreign inter- vention. Nations thus tempted to interfere are not always able to resist the counsels of seeming expediency and ungenerous ambition, although measures adopted under such influences seldon fail to be unfortunate and injurious to those adopting them. The disloyal citizens of the United States who have ofi:ered the ruin of our country, in return for the aid and comfort which they have invoked abroad, have received less patronage and encouragement than they prob- ably expected. If it were just to suppose, as the insurgents have seemed State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 213 to assume, that foreign nations, in this case, discarding all moral, social, and treaty obligations, would act solely and selfishly for the most speedy restoration of commerce, including especially the acquisition of cotton, those nations appear, as yet, not to have seen their way to their object more directly, or clearly, through the destruction, than through the pres- ervation, of the Union. If we could dare to believe that foreign nations are actuated by no higher principle than this, I am quite sure a sound ar- gument could be made to show them that they can reach their aim more readily and easily by aiding to crush this rebellion, than by giving en- couragement to it. The principal lever relied on by the insurgents for exciting foreign nations to hostility against us, as already intimated, is the embarrassment of commerce. Those nations, however, not improbably, saw from the first, that it was the Union which made, as well our foreign as our do- mestic commerce. They can scarcely liave failed to perceive that the effort for disunion produced the existing difficulty ; and that one strong nation promises moffe durable peace, and a more extensive, valuable, and reliable commerce, than can the same nation broken into hostile fragments. It is not my purpose to review our discussions with foreign states ; because whatever might bo their wishes or dispositions, the integrity of our country and the stability of our Government mainly depend, not upon them, but on the loyalty, virtue, patriotism, and intelligence of the Amer- ican people. The correspondence itself, with the usual reservations, is herewith submitted. I venture to hope it will appear that we have practised prudence and liberality towards foreign powers, averting causes of irritation ; and with firmness maintaining our own rights and honor. Since, however, it is apparent that here, as in every other state, foreign dangers necessarily attend domestic difficulties, I recommend that adequate and ample measures be adopted for maintaining the public defences on every side. "While, under this general recommendation, provision for defend- ing our sea-coast line readily occurs to the mind, I also, in the same con- nection, ask the attention of Congress to our great lakes and rivers. It is believed that some fortifications and depots of arms and munitions, with harbor and navigation improvements, all at well-selected points upon these, would be of great importance to the national defence and preserva- tion. I ask attention to the views of the Secretary of War, expressed in his report, upon the same general subject. I deem it of importance that the loyal regions of East Tennessee and Western North Carolina should be connected with Kentucky and other faithful parts of the Union by railroad. I therefore recommend, as a military measure, that Congress provide for the construction of such road as speedily as possible. Kentucky will no doubt co-operate, and through her Legislature make the most judicious selection of a line. The northern terminus must 214 The Life, Public Services, and connect with some existing railroad, and whether the route shall be from Lexington or Nicholasville to the Cumberland Gap, or from Lebanon to the Tennesee line, in the direction of Knoxville, or on some still different line, can easily be determiaed. Kentucky and the General Government co-operating, the work can be completed in a very short time, and when done it will be not only of vast present usefulness, but also a valuable permanent improvement worth its cost in all the future. Some treaties, designed chiefly for the interests of commerce, and having no grave political importance, have been negotiated, and will be submitted to the Senate for their consideration. Although we have failed to induce some of the commercial Powers to adopt a desirable melioration of the rigor of maritime war, we have removed all obstructions from the way of this humane reform, except such as are merely of temporary and accidental occurrence. I invite your attention to the correspondence between her Britannic Majesty's Minister, accredited to this Government, and the Secretary of State, relative to the detention of the British ship Perthshire in June last by the United States steamer Massachusetts^ for a supposed breach of the blockade. As this detention was occasioned by an obvious misapprehen- sion of the fects, and as justice requires that we should commit no belliger- ent act not founded in strict right as sanctioned by public law, I recom- mend that an appropriation be made to satisfy the reasonable demand of the owners of the vessel for her detention. I repeat the recommendation of my predecessor in his annual message to Congress in December last in regard to the disposition of the surplus which will probably remain after satisfying the claims of American citizens against China, pursuant to the awards of the commissioners under the act of the 8d of March, 1859. If, however, it should not be deemed advisable to carry that recom- mendation into effect, I would suggest that authority be given for invest- ing the principal over the proceeds of the surplus referred to in good se- curities, with a view to the satisfaction of such other just claim of our citizens against China as are not unlikely to arise hereafter in the course of our extensive trade with that empire. By the act of the 5th of August last. Congress authorized the President to instruct the commanders of suitable vessels to defend themselves against and to capture pirates. This authority has been exercised in a single in- stance only. ■ For the more effectual protection of our extensive and valuable com- merce in the Eastern seas especially, it seems to me that it would also be advisable to authorize the commanders of sailing-vessels to recapture any prizes which pirates may make of the United States vessels and their car- goes, and the Consular Courts established by law in Eastern countries to adjudicate the cases in the event that this should not be objected to by the local authorities. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 215 If any good reason exists why we should persevere longer in with- holding our recognition of the independence and sovereignty of Ilayti and Liberia, I am unable to discern it. Unwilling, however, to inaugurate a novel policy in regard to them without the approbation of Congress, I submit to your consideration the expediency of an appropriation for maintaining a Charge iVAffitires near each of those new states. It do-jg not admit of doubt that important commercial advantages might be secured by favorable treaties with them. The operations of the Treasury during the period which has elapsed since your adjournment have been conducted with signal success. The patriotism of the people has placed at the disposal of the Government the large means demanded by the public exigencies. Much of the national loan lias been taken by citizens of the industrial classes, whose confidence in their country's faith, and zeal for their country's deliverance from its present peril, have induced them to contribute to the support of the Government the whole of their limited acquisitions. This fact imposes peculiar obligations to economy in disbursement and energy in action. The revenue from all sources, including loans for the financial year ending on the 30th of June, 1861, was $86,835,900 2T; and the expenditures for the same period, including payments on account of the public debt, were $84,578,034 47; leaving a balance in the treasury, on the 1st of July, of $2,257,045 80 for the first quarter of the financial year ending on Sep- tember 30, 1861. The receipts from all sources, including the balance of July 1, were $102,532,509 27, and the expenses $98,239,733 09; leaving a balance, on the 1st of October, 1801, of $4,292,776 18. Estimates for the remaining three-quarters of the year and for the financial year of 1863, together with his views of the ways and means for meeting the demands contemplated by them, will be submitted to Congress by the Secretary of the Treasury. It is gratifying to know that the expenses made necessary by the rebellion are not beyond the resources of the loyal people, and to believe that the same patriotism which has thus far sustained the Government will continue to sustain it till peace and union shall again bless the land. I respectfully refer to the report of the Secretary of War for information respecting the numerical strength of tho army, and for recommendations having in view an increase of its efiiciency, and the well-being of the various branches of the service intrusted to his care. It is gratifying to know that the patriotism of the people has proved equal to the occasion, and that the number of troops tendered greatly exceed the force which Congress authorized me to call into the field. I refer with pleasure to those portions of his report which make allusion to the creditable degree of discipline already attained by our troops, and to the excellent sanitary condition of the entire army. The recommendation of tho Secretary for an organization of the militia upon a uniform basis is a subject of vital importance to the future safety of the country, and ia commended to the serious attention of Congress. The large addition to 216 The Life, Public Services, and . the regular army, in connection with the defection that has so considera- bly diminished the number of its officers, gives peculiar importance to his recommendation for increasing the corps of cadets to the greatest capacity of the Military Academy. By mere omission, I presume. Congress has failed to provide chaplains for the hospitals occupied by the volunteers. This subject was brought to my notice, and I was induced to draw up the form of a letter, one copy of which, properly addressed, has been delivered to each of the persons, and at the dates respectively named and stated in a schedule, containing, also, the form of the letter marked A, and herewith transmitted. These gentlemen, I understand, entered upon the duties designated at the times respectively stated in the schedule, and have labored faithfully therein ever since. I therefore recommend that they be compensated at the same rate as chaplains in the army. I further suggest that general provision be made for cliaplains to serve at hospitals, as well as with regiments. • The report of the Secretary of the Navy presents, in detail, the opera tions of that branch of the service, the activity and energy which have characterized its administration, and the results of measures to increase its efficiency and power. Such have been the additions, by construction and purchase, that it may almost be said a navy has been created and brought into service since our difficulties commenced. Besides blockading our extensive coast, squadrons larger ^an ever before assembled under our flag have been put afloat, and performed deeds which have increased our naval renown. I would invite special attention to the recommendation of the Secretary for a more perfect organization of the navy, by introducing additional grades in the service. The present organization is defective and unsatisfactory, and the sug- gestions submitted by the department will, it is believed, if adopted, ob- viate the difficulties alluded to, promote harmony, and increase the effi- ciency of the navy. There are three vacancies on the bench of the Supreme Court — two by the decease of Justices Daniel and McLean, and one by the resignation of Justice Campbell. I have so far forborne making nominations to fill these vacancies for reasons which I will now state. Two of the outgoing judges resided within the States now overrun by revolt ; so that if successors were appointed in the same localities, they could not now serve upon their circuits ; and many of the most competent men there probably would not take the personal hazard of accepting to serve, even here, upon the su- preme bench. I have been unwilling to throw all the appointments northward, thus disabling myself from doing justice to the South on the return of peace ; although I may remark, that to transfer to the North one which has heretofore been in the South, would not, with reference to territory and population, be unjust. During the long and brilliant judicial career of Judge McLean, his cir- State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 217 cuit grow intaan empire — altogetlier too largo for any one judge to give the courts therein more than a nominal attendance — rising in population from one million four hundred and seventy thousand and eighteen, in 1830, to six million one hundred and fifty-one thousand four hundred and five, in 18G0. Besides this, the country generally has outgrown our present judicial system. If uniformity was at all intended, the system requires that all the States shall he accommodated with Circuit Courts, attended by su- preme judges, while, in fact, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, Florid;v, Texas, California, and Oregon, have never had any such courts. Nor can this well be remedied without a change of the system ; because the add- ing of judges to the Supreme Court, enough for the accommodation of all parts of the country with Circuit Courts, would create a court altogether too numerous for a judicial body of any sort. And the evil, if it be one, will increase as new States come into the Union. Circuit Courts are use- ful, or they are not useful. If useful, no State should be denied them ; if not useful, no State should have them. Let them be provided for all, or abolished as to all. Three modifications occur to me, either of which, I think, would be an improvement upon our present system. Let the Supreme Court be of convenient number in every event. Then, first, let the whole country be divided into circuits of convenient size, the supreme judges to serve in a number of them corresponding to their own number, and independent circuit judges be provided for all the rest. Or, secondly, let the supreme judges be relieved from circuit duties, and circuit judges provided for all the circuits. Or, thirdly, dispense with circuit courts altogether, leaving the judicial functions wholly to the district courts and an independent Supreme Court. I respectfully recommend to the consideration of Congress the present condition of the statute laws, with the hope that Congress will be able to find an easy remedy for many of the inconveniences and evils which constantly embarrass those engaged in the practical administration of them. Since the organization of the Government, Congress has enacted some five thousand acts and joint resolutions, which fill more than six thousand closely-printed pages, and are scattered through many volumes. Many of these acts have been drawn in haste and without sufficient cau- tion, so that their provisions are often obscure in themselves, or in con- flict with each other, or at least so doubtful as to render it very difficult for even the best-informed persons to ascertain precisely what the statute law really is. It seems to me very important that the statute laws should be made as plain and intelligible as possible, and be reduced to as small a compass as may consist with the fulness and precision of the will of the legislature and the perspicuity of its language. This, well done, would, I think, greatly facilitate the labors of those whose duty it is to assist in the ad- 218 The Life, Public Services, and ministration of the laws, and would be a lasting benefit to the people, by placing before them, in a more accessible and intelligible form, the laws which so deeply concern their interests and their duties. I am informed by some whose opinions I respect, that all the acts of Congress now in force, and of a permanent and general nature, might be revised and rewritten, so as to be embraced in one volume (or, at most, two volumes) of ordinary and convenient size. And 1 respectfully recom- mend to Congress to consider of the subject, and, if my suggestion be ap- proved, to devise such plan as to their wisdom shall seem most proper for the attainment of the end proposed. One of the unavoidable consequences of the present insurrection is the entire suppression, in many places, of all the ordinary means of admin- istering civil justice by the oiBcers, and in the forms of existing law. This is the case, in whole or in part, in all the insurgent States ; and as our armies advance upon and take possession of parts of those States, the practical evil becomes more apparent. There are no courts nor officers to whom the citizens of other States may apply for the enforcement of their lawful claims against citizens of the insurgent States ; and there is a vast amount of debt constituting such claims. Some have estimated it as high as two hundred million dollars, due, in large part, from insurgents in open, rebellion to loyal citizens who are, even now, making great sacrifices in the discharge of their patriotic duty to support the Government. Under these circumstances, I have been urgently solicited to establish, by military power, courts to administer summary justice in such cases. I have thus far declined to do it, not because I had any doubt that the end proposed — the collection of the debts— was just and right in itself, but because I have been unwilling to go beyond the pressure of necessity in the unusual exercise of power. But the powers of Congress, I suppose, are equal to the anomalous occasion, and therefore I refer the whole mat- ter to Congress, with the hope that a plan may be devised for the admin- istration of justice in all such parts of the insurgent States and Territories as may be under the control of this Government, whether by a voluntary return to allegiance and order, or by the power of our arms ; this, how- ever, not to be a permanent institution, but a temporary substitute, and to cease as soon as the ordinary courts can be re-established in peace. It is important that some more convenient means should be provided, if possible, for the adjustment of claims against the Government, espe- cially in view of their increased number by reason of the war. It is as much the duty of Government to render prompt justice against itself, in favor of citizens, as it is to administer the same between private indi- viduals. The investigation and adjudication of claims, in their nature, belong to the judicial department ; besides, it is apparent that the atten- tion of Congress will be more than usually engaged, for some time to come, with great national questions. It was intended, by the organiza- tion of the Court of Claims, mainly to remove this branch of business State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 219 from the halls of Congress; but while the court has proved to be an ef- fective and valuable means of investigation, it in great degree fails to effect the object of its creation, for want of power to make its judgments final. Fully aware of the delicacy, not to say the danger, of the subject, I com- mend to your careful consideration whether this power of making judg- ments final may not properly be given to the court, reserving the right of appeal on questions of law to the Supreme Court, with such otlier provisions as experience may have shown to be necessary. I ask attention to the report of the Postmaster-General, tne following being a summary statement of the condition of the department : The revenue from all sources during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1861, including the annual permanent appropriation of seven hundred thousand dollars for the transportation of "free mail matter," was nine million forty-nine thousand two hundred and ninety-six dollars and forty cents, being about two per cent, less than the revenue for 1860. The expenditures were thirteen million six hundred and six thousand seven hundred and fifty-nine dollars and eleven cents, showing a decrease of more than eight per cent, as compared with those of the previous year, and leaving an excess of expenditure over the revenue for the last fiscal year of four million five hundred and fifty-seven thousand four hundred and sixty-two dollars and seventy-one cents. The gross revenue for the year ending June 30, 1863, is estimated at an increase of four per cent, on that of 1861, making eight million six hun- dred and eighty-three thousand dollars, to which should be added the earnings of the department in carrying free matter, viz., seven hundred thousand dollars, making nine million three hundred and eighty-three thousand dollars. The total expenditures for 1863 are estimated at twelve million five hundred and twenty-eight thousand dollars, leaving an estimated defi- ciency of three million one hundred and forty -five thousand dollars to be supplied from the Treasury, in addition to the permanent appropriation. The present insurrection shows, I think, that the extension of this dis- trict across the Potomac River, at the time of establishing the Capital here, was eminently wise, and consequently that the relinquishment of that portion of it which lies within the State of Virginia was unwise and dangerous. I submit for your consideration the expediency of regaining that part of the district, and the restoration of the original boundarie? thereof, through negotiations with the State of Virginia. The report of the Secretary of the Interior, with the accompanying documents, exhibits the condition of the several branches of the public business pertaining to that department. The depressing influences of the insurrection have been especially felt in the operations of the Patent and General Land Offices. The cash receipts from the sales of public lands during the past year have exceeded the expenses of our land system only about two hundred thousand dollars. The sales have been entirelv sua- 220 The Life, Public Services, and pended in the Southern States, wliile the interruptions to the business of the country, and the diversion of large numbers of men from labor to military service, have obstructed settlements in the new States and Terri- tories of the Northwest. The receipts of the Patent OflSce have declined in nine months about one hundred thousand dollars, rendering a large reduction of the force ersployed necessary to make it self-sustaining. The demands upon the Pension Office will be largely increased by the insurrection. Numerous applications for pensions, based upon the casual- ties of the existing war, have already been made. There is reason to believe that many who are now upon the pension rolls, and in receipt of the bounty of the Government, are in the ranks of the insurgent army, or giving them aid and comfort. The Secretary of the Interior has directed a suspension of the payment of the pensions of such persons upon proof of theii- disloyalty. I recommend that Congress authorize that officer to cause Li:.i names of such persons to be stricken from the pension rolls. The relations of the Government with the Indian tribes have been greatly disturbed by the insurrection, especially in the southern superin- tendency and in that of New Mexico. The Indian country south of Kansas is in the possession of insurgents from Texas and Arkansas. The agents of the United States appointed since the 4th of March for this superin- tendency have been unable to reach their posts, while the most of those who were in office before that time have espoused the insurrectionary cause, and assume to exercise the powers of agents by virtue of commis- sions from the insurrectionists. It has been stated in the public press that a portion of those Indians have been organized as a military force, and are attached to the army of the insurgents. Although the Government has no official information upon this subject, letters have been written to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs by several prominent chiefs, giving assurance of their loyalty to the United States, and expressing a wish for the presence of Federal troops to protect them. It is believed that upon the repossession of the country by the Federal forces, the Indians will readily cease all hostile demonstrations, and resume their former relations to the Government. Agriculture, confessedly the largest interest of the nation, has not a department, nor a bureau, but a clerkship only, assigned to it in the Gov- ernment. While it is fortunate that this great interest is so independent in its nature as to not have demanded and extorted more from the Gov- ernment, I respectfully ask Congress to consider whether something more cannot be given voluntarily with general advantage. Annual reports exhibiting the condition of our agriculture, commerce, and manufactures, would present a fund of information of great practical value to the country. While I make no suggestion as to details, I ven- ture the opinion that an agricultural and statistical bureau might profit- ably be organized. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 221 The execution of the laws for the suppression of the African slave-trade has been confided to the Department of the Interior. It is a subject of grat- ulation that the efforts which have been made for the suppression of this inhuman traffic have been recently attended with unusual success. Five vessels being fitted out for the slave-trade have been seized and con- demned. ■ Two mates of vessels engaged in the trade, and one person in equipping a vessel as a slaver, have been convicted and subjected to the penalty of fine and imprisonment, and one captain, taken with a cargo of Africans on board his vessel, has been convicted of the highest grade of offence under our laws, the punishment of which is death. The Territories of Colorado, Dakotah, and Nevada, created by the last Congress, have been organized, and civil administration has been inau- gurated therein under auspices especially gratifying, when it is considered that the leaven of treason was found existing in some of these new coun- tries when the Federal officers arrived there. The abundant natural resources of these Territories, with the security and protection afforded by organized government, will doubtless invite to them a large immigration when peace shall restore the business of the country to its accustomed channels. I submit the resolutions of the Legis- lature of Colorado, which evidence the patriotic spirit of the people of the Territory. So far the authority of the United States has been upheld in all the Territories, as it is hoped it will be in the future. I commend their interests and defence to the enlightened and generous care of Congress. I recommend to the favorable consideration of Congress the interests of the District of Columbia. The insurrection has been the cause of much suffering and sacrifice to its inhabitants, and as they have no rep- resenta.tive in Congress, that body should not overlook their just claims npon the Government. At your late session a joint resolution was adopted authorizing the President to take measures for facilitating a proper representation of the industrial interests of the United States at the exhibition of the industry of all nations to be holden at London in the year 1862. I regret to say I have been unable to give personal attention to this subject — a subject at once so interesting in itself, and so extensively and intimately connected with the material prosperity of the world. Through the Secretaries of State and of the Interior a plan or system has been devised and partly matured, and which will be laid before you. Under and by virtue of the act of Congress entitled " An act to con- fiscate property used for insurrectionary purposes," approved August 6, 1861, the legal claims of certain persons to the labor and service of cer- tain other persons have become forfeited; and numbers of the latter, thus liberated, are already dependent on the United States, and must bo pro- vided f©r in some way. Besides this, it is not impossible that some of the States will pass similar enactments for tlieir own benefit respectively, and by operation of which persons of the same class will be thrown upon 222 The Life, Public Services, and them for disposal. In such case, I recommend that Congress provide for accepting such persons from such States, according to some mode of val- uation, in lieu, pro tanto, of direct taxes, or upon some other plan to be agreed on with such States respectively ; that such persons, on such ac- ceptance by the General Government, be at once deemed free; and that, in any event, steps be taken for colonizing both classes (or the. one first mentioned, if the other shall not be brought into existence) at some place or places in a cHmate congenial to them. It might be well to consider, too, whether the free colored people already in the United States could not, so far as individuals may desire, be included in such colonization. To carry out the plan of colonization may involve the acquiring of ter- ritory, and also the appropriation of money beyond that to be expended in the territorial acquisition. Having practised the acquisition of ter- ritory for nearly sixty years, the question of constitutional power to do so is no longer an open one with us. The power was questioned at first by Mr. Jefferson, who, however, in the purchase of Louisiana, yielded his scruples on the plea of great expediency. If it be said that the only legitimate object of acquiring territory is to furnish homes for white men, this measure effects that object; for the emigration of colored men leaves additional room for white men remaining or coming here. Mr. Jefferson, however, placed the importance of procuring Louisiana more on political and commercial grounds than on providing room for population. On this whole proposition, including the appropriation of money with the acquisition of territory, does not the expediency amount to absolute necessity — that, without which the Government itself cannot be perpet- uated ? The war continues. In considering the policy to be adopted for sup- pressing the insurrection, I have been anxious and careful that the inev- itable conflict for this purpose shall not degenerate into a violent and remorseless revolutionary struggle. In the exercise of my best discretion, I have adhered to the blockade of the ports held by the insurgents, instead of putting in force by proclama- tion the law of Congress enacted at the late session for closing those ports. So, also, obeying the dictates of prudence, as well as the obligations of law, instead of transcending I have adhered to the act of Congress to confiscate property used for insurrectionary purposes. If a new law upon the same subject shall be proposed, its propriety will be duly con- sidered. The Union must be preserved; and hence all indispensable means must be employed. We should not be in haste to determine that radical and extreme measures, which may reach the loyal as well as the disloyal, are indispensable. The inaugural address at the beginning of the Administration, and the message to Congress at the late special session, were both mainly devoted to the domestic controversy out of which the insurrection and consequent war have sprung. Nothing now occurs to add or subtract State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 223 to or from the principles or general purposes stated and expressed in those documents. The last ray of hope for preserving the Union peaceably expired at the assault ^pon Fort Sumter; and a general review of what has oc- curred since may not be unprofitable. What was painfully uncertain then is much better defined and more distinct now ; and the progress of events, is plamly in the right direction. The insurgents confidently claimed a strong support from north of Mason and Dixon's line ; and the friends of the Union were not free from apprehension on the point. This, however, was soon settled definitely, and on the right side. South of the line, noble little Delaware led off right from the first. Maryland was made to seem against the Union. Our soldiers were assaulted, bridges were burned, and railroads torn up within her limits; and we were many days, at one time, without the ability to bring a single regi- ment over her soil to the Capital. Now her bridges and railroads are repaired and open to the Government ; she already gives seven regiments to the cause of the Union, and none to the enemy ; and her people, at a regular election, have sustained the Union by a larger majority and a larger aggregate vote than they ever before gave to any candidate or any question. Kentucky, too, for some time in doubt, is now decidedly, and, I think, unchangeably ranged on the side of the Union. Missouri is comparatively quiet, and, I believe, cannot again be overrun by the insurrectionists. These three States of Maryland, Kentucky, and Mis- souri, neither of which would promise a single soldier at first, have now an aggregate of not less than forty thousand in the field for the Union ; while of their citizens, certainly not more than a third of that number, and they of doubtful whereabouts and doubtful existence, are in arms against it. After a somewhat bloody struggle of months, winter closes on the Union people of Western Virginia, leaving them masters of their own country. An insurgent force of about fifteen hundred, for months dominating the narrow peninsular region constituting the counties of Accomac and Northampton, and known as Eastern Shore of Virginia, together with some contiguous parts of Maryland, have laid down their arms ; and the people there have renewed their allegiance to, and accepted the protec- tion of, the old flag. This leaves no armed insurrectionist north of the Potomac, or east of the Chesapeake. Also we have obtained a footing at each of the isolated points on the southern coast of Hatteras, Port Royal, Tybee Island, near Savannah, and Ship Island ; and we likewise have some general accounts of popular movements in behalf of the Union in North Carolina and Tennessee. These things demonstrate that the cause of the Union is advancing steadily and certainly southward. Since your last adjournment Lieutenant-Geueral Scott has retired from the head of the army. During his long life the nation has not been un- 224 The Life, Public Services, and inindt'ul of Jiis merit ; yet, oa calling to mind how faithfully, ably, and brilliantly he has served the country, from a time far back in our history^ when few of the now livmg had been born, and thenceforward contin- ually, I cannot but think we are still his debtors. I submit, therefore, for your consideration what further mark of recognition is due to him, and to ourselves as a grateful people. With the retirement of General Scott came the executive duty of ap- pointing in his stead a general-in-chief of the army. It is a fortunate circumstance that neither in council nor country was there, so far as I know, any difference of opinion as to the proper person to be selected. The retiring chief repeatedly expressed his judgment in favor of General McOlellan for the position ; and in this the nation seemed to give a unanimous concurrence. The designation of General McOlellan is, there- fore, in considerable degree, the selection of the country as well as of the Executive; and hence there is better reason to hope there will be given him the confidence and cordial support thus, by fair implication, promised, and without which he cannot, with so full efficiency, serve the country. It has been said that one bad general is better than two good ones ; and the saying is true, if taken to mean no more than that an army is better directed by a single mind, though inferior, than by two superior ones at variance and cross-purposes with each other. And the same is true in all joint operations wherein those engaged can have none but a common end in view, and can differ only as to the choice of means. In a storm at sea, no one on board can wish the ship to sink ; and yet not unfrequently all go down together, because too many will direct, and no single mind can be allowed to control. It continues to develop that the insurrection is largely, if not exclu- sively, a war upon the first principle of popular government — the rights of the people. Conclusive evidence of this is found in the most grave and maturely-considered public documents, as well as in the general tone of the insurgents. In those documents we find the abridgment of the exist- ing right of suffrage, and the denial to the people of all right to partici- pate in tlie selection of public officers, except the legislative, boldly advocated, with labored arguments to prove that large control of tlie people in government is the source of all political evil. Monarchy itself is sometimes hinted at as a possible refuge from the power of the people. In my present position, I could scarely be justified were I to omit rais- ing a warning voice against this approach of returning despotism. It is not needed, nor fitting here, that a general argument should be made in favor of popular institutions ; but there is one point, with its connections, not so hackneyed as most others, to which I ask a brief at- tention. It is the effort to place capital on an equal footing with, if not above, labor, in the structure of government. It is assumed that labor ia available only in connection with capital ; that nobody labors unless some- State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 225 body else, owning capital, sonieliow by the use of it induces liim to labor. This assumed, it is next considered whether it i& best that capital shall hire laborers, and thus induce thcni to work by their own consent, or bny them, and drive them to it without their consent. Having proceeded so far, it is naturally concluded that all laborers are either hired laborers, or what we call slaves. And further, it is assumed that whoever is once a hired laborer is fixed in that conditi(Hi for life. Now, there is no such relation between capital and labor as assumed; nor is there any such thing as a free man being fixed for life in the con- dition of a hired laborer. Both these assumptions are false, and all in- ferences from them are groundless. Labor is i)rior to and indei)endent of capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of ca])ital, and deserves much the higher considera- tion. Capital has its rights, which are as worthy of protection as any other rights. Nor is it denied that there is, and probably always will be, a relation between labor and capital, producing mutual benefits. The error is in assuming that the whole labor of community exists within that relation. A few men own capital, and those few avoid labor themselves, and, with their capital, hire or buy another few to labor for them. A large majority belong to neither class — neither work for others, nor have others working for them. In most of the Southern States, a majority of t'lie whole people of all colors are neither slaves nor masters; while in I lie Northern, a large majority are neither hirers nor hired. Men, with their families — wives, sons, and daughters — work for themselves on their farms, in their houses, and in their shops, taking the whole pi-oduct to themselves, and asking no favors of capital on the one hand, nor of hired laborers or slaves on the other. It is not forgotten that a considerable number of persons mingle their own labor with capital— that is, they labor with their own hands, and also bny or hire others to labor for them; lint this is only a mixed, and not a distinct class. No principle stated is disturbed by the existence of this mixed class. i^gain: as has already been said, there is not of necessity any such thing as the free hired laborer being fixed to that condition for life. Many independent men everywhere in these States, a few years back in their lives, were hired laborers. The prudent, penniless beginner in the world labors for wages a while, saves a surplus with which to 1)uy tools or land for himself, then labors on his own account another while, and at length hires another new beginner to help him. This is the just, and generous, and prosperous system, which opens the way to all, gives hope to all, and consequent energy, and progress, and improvement of condition to all. No men living are more worthy to be trusted than those who toil upfroin poverty— none less inclined to take or touch aught which they have not honestly earned. Let them beware of surrendering a political power which they already possess, and which, if surrendered, will surely be used 15 226 The Life, Public Services, and to close tlic door of advancement against such as they, and to fix new dis- abilities and 'burdens upon them, till all of liberty shall be lost. From the first taking of our national census to the last are seventy years ; and we find our population, at the end of the period, eight timo^i as great as it was at the beginning. The increase of those other things which men deem desirable has been even greater. We thus have, at one view, what the popular principle, applied to Government through the machinery of the States and the Union, has produced in a giveii time; and also what, if firmly maintained, it promises for the future. There are already among us those who, if the Union be preserved, will live to see it contain two hundred and fifty millions. The struggle of to-day is not altogether for to-day ; it is for a vast future also. With a reliance on Providence, all the more firm and earnest, let us proceed in the great task which events have devolved upon us. Abraham Lincoln. The actual condition of the country and the progress of the war, at the opening of the session, are very clearly stated in this document ; and the principles upon which the President had based his conduct of public affairs are set forth with great distinctness and precision. On the subject of interfering Avith slavery, the President liad adhered strictly to the letter and spirit of the act passed by Congress at its extra session ; but he very distinctly foresaw that it might become necessary, as a means of quelling the rebellion and preserving the Union, to resort to a much more vigorous policy than was contemplated by that act. While he threw out a timely caution against undue haste in the adoption of extreme measures, he promised full and careful consideration of any new law which Congress might consider it wise and expedient to pass. It very soon became evident that Congress was dis- posed to make very considerable advances upon the legislation of the extra session. The resistance of the rebels had been more vigorous and effective than was anticipated, and the defeat at Bull Run had exasperated as well as aroused the public mind. Th<^ forbearance of the Government in regard to slavery had not only failed to soften the hostility of the rebels, but had been rep- resented to Europe by the rebel authorities as proving a determination on the part of the United States to protect State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 227 and perpetuate slavery by restoring tlie authority of the Constitution which guaranteed its safety ; and tlie acts of tiie extra session, especially the Crittenden resolution. defining and limiting the objects of the war, were quoted in rebel dispatches to England for that purpose. It was known, also, that within the lines of the rebel army slaves were freely employed in the construction of fortifications, and that the}-^ contributed in this and other ways very largely to the strength of the insurrection. The whole country, under the influence of these facts, began to re- gard slavery as not onjy the cause of the rebellion, but as the main strength of its armies and the bond of union for the rebel forces ; — and Congress, representing and sharing this feeling, entered promptl}^ and zealously upon such measures as it would naturally suggest. Resolu- tions at the very outset of the session were offered, call- ing on the President to emancipate slaves whenever and wherever such action would tend to weaken the rebel- lion ; and the general policy of the Government upon this subject became the theme of protracted and animated debate. The orders issued by the generals of the army, especially McClellan, Halleck, and Dix, by which fugi- tive slaves were prohibited from coming within the army lines, were severely censured. All the resolutions upon these topics were, however, referred to appropriate com- mittees, generally without specific instructions as to the character of their action upon them. Early in the session a strong disposition was evinced in some quarters to censure the Government for its arbitrary arrests of persons in the loyal States, suspected of aiding the rebels, its suppression of disloyal presses, and otlier acts which it had deemed essential to the safety of the country ; and a sharp debate took place in the Senate upon a resolution of inquiry and implied censure offered by Mr. Trumbull, of Illinois. The general feeling, how- ever, was so decidedly in favor of sustaining the Presi- dent, that the resolution was referred to the Judiciary Committee, by a vote of twenty-five to seventeen. On the 19th of December, in the Senate, a debate ou 228 The Life, Public Services, and the relation of slavery to the rebellion arose upon a reso- lution offered by Mr. Willey, of West Virginia, who con- tested the opinion that slavery was the cause of the war, and insisted that the rebellion had its origin in the hostility of the Southern political leaders to the demo- cratic principle of government ; he believed that when the great body of the Southern people came to see the real purpose and aim of the rebellion, they would with- draw their support, and restore the Union. No action was taken on the resohition, which merely gave occasion for debate. A resolution was adopted in the House, forbidding tlie employment of the army to return fugitive slaves to their owners ; and a bill was passed in both Houses, declaring that hereafter there shall be "neither slavery nor involuntar}^ servitude in any of the Territories of the United States, now existing, or which may at an}- time be formed or acquired by the United States, other- wise than in the punishment of crimes whereof the party shall have been duly convicted." In the Senate, on the ISth of March, a bill was taken up to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia ; and an amendment was offered, directing that those thus set free should be colonized out of tlie United States. The policy of colonization was fully discussed in connection with the general subject, the senators from the Border States opposing the bill itself, mainly on grounds of expediency, as calculated to do harm under the existing circumstances of the country. The bill Avas passed, with an amendment appropriating money to be used by the President in colonizing such of the emancipated slaves as might wish to leave the coufttry. It received in the Senate twenty-nine votes in its favor and fourteen against it. In the House it passed by a vote of ninety-two to thirty-eight. President Lincoln sent in the following message, an- nouncing his approval of the lull : — Fellow-Oitizkns of the Sevate and House of Rki'uesentatiyes : Tlie act entitled "An act for the release of certain persons In Id to State Papers of Abuaham Lincoln. 229 service or labor in the District of Columbia," has this day been ai)i)r()vcd and signed. I have never doubted the constitutional authority of Congress to abol- ish slavery in this District ; and I have ever desired to see the national capital freed from the institution in some satisfactory way. Ilence there has never been in my mind any question upon the subject except the one of expediency, arising in view of all the circumstances. If there be mat- ters within and about this act which might have taken a course or shape more satisfactory to my judgment, I do not attempt to specify them. I am gratifieil that the two principles of compensation and colonization are both recognized and practically applied in the act. , In the matter of compensation, it is provided that claims may be pre- sented within ninety days from the passage of the act, " but not there- after ; " and there is no saving for minors, femnies covert, insane, or absent persons. I presume this is an omission by mere oversight, and I recom- mend that it be supplied by an amendatory or supplemental act. Abkaiiam Lincoln. April IQ, 1862. ' ' ' / ' ' ' On the 6tli of March, the President sent to CongreSvS the following message on the subject of aiding such slaveholding States as might take measures to emancipatt^ their slaves : Washington, March 6, 1S62. Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Repkesentatives : I recommend the adoption of a joint resolution by your honorable body, which shall be, substantially, as follows : Resolved, That the United States, in order to co-operate with any State which may adopt gradual abolition of slavery, give to such State pecu- niary aid, to be used by such State, in its discretion, to compensate it for the inconvenience, public and private, produced by such change of sys- tem. If the proposition contained in the resolution does not meet the ap- proval of Congress and the country, there is an end of it. But if it doea command such approval, I deem it of importance that the States and people immediately interested should be at once distinctly notified of the fact, so that they may begin to consider whether to accept or reject it. The Federal Government wouhllind its highest interest in such a meas- ure as one of the most important means of self-preservation. The lead- ers of the existing rebellion entertain the hope that this Government will ultimately be forced to acknowledge the independence of some part of the disaffected region, and that all the slave States north of such part will then say, "The Union for which we have struggled being already gone, we now choose to go with the Southern section." To deprive 230 The Life, Public Services, and them of this hope substantially ends the rebellion ; and the initiation of emancipation deprives them of it, and of all the States initiating it. The point is not that all the States tolerating slavery would very soon, if at all, initiate emancipation ; but while the ofter is equally made to all, the more Northern shall, by such initiation, make it certain to the more Southern that in no event will the former ever join the latter in their proposed Confederacy. I say initiation, because, in my judgment, grad- ual and not sudden emancipation is better for all. In the mere financial or pecuniary view, any member of Congress with the census or an abstract of the Treasury report before him, can readily see for himself how very soon the current expenditures of this war woidd purchase' at a fair valuation, all the slaves in any named State. Such a proposition on the part of the General Government sets up no claim of a right by the Federal authority to interfere with slavery within State limits — referring as it does the absolute control of the subject, in each case, to the State and the people immediately interested. It is pro- posed as a matter of perfectly free choice to them. In the Annual Message last December, I thought fit to say " the Union must be preserved, and hence all indispensable means must be employed." I said this, not hastily, but deliberately. War has been made, and con- tinues to be an indispensable means to this end. A practical reacknowl- edgment of the national authority would render the war unnecessary, and it would at once cease. But resistance continues, and the war must also continue ; and it is impossible to foresee all the incidents which may attend, and all the ruin which may follow it. Such as may seem indis- pensable, or may obviously promise great efficiency towards ending the struggle, must and will come. The proposition now made (though an offer only), I hope it may be es- teemed no offence to ask whether the pecuniary consideration tendered would not be of more value to the States and private persons concerned than would the institution and property in it, in the present aspect of affairs. "While it is true that the adoption of the proposed resolution would be merely initiatory, and not within itself a practical measure, it is recommended in the hope that it would lead to important practical results. In full view of ray great responsibility to ray God and my country, I earnestly beg the attention of Congress and the people to the subject. Abraham Lincoln. This Message indicates very clearly the tendency of the President's reflections upon the general relations of slavery to the rebellion. He had most earnestly endeav- ored to arouse the people of the Southern States to a contemplation of the fact that, if they persisted in their effort to overthrow the Government of the United States, State Papers of Abraham Lin(^oln. 231 the fate of slavery would sooner or later inevitably ho in- volved in the conflict. The time was steadily approach- ing when, in consequence of their obstinate persistence in the rebellion, this result would follow ; and the President, with wise forethought, sought anxiously to reconcile the shock which the contest would involve, with the order of the country and the permanent prosperity of all classes of the people. The general feeling of the country at that time was in harmony with this endeavor. The people were still disposed to exhaust every means which justice would sanction, to withdraw the people of the Southern States from the disastrous war into which they had been plunged by their leaders, and they welcomed this sugges- tion of the President as likely to produce that result, if any effort in that direction could. In pursuance of the recommendation of the Message, Mr. R. Conkling, of New York, introduced, in the House of Representatives, on the 10th of March, the followuig resolution : — Resolved hy the Senate and House of Fepresejitatives of the United States in Congress assenihled, That the United States ouglit to co-operato with any State which may adopt gradual abolishment of slavery, giving to such State pecuniary aid, to be used by such State in its discretion, to compensate for the inconveniences, public and private, produced by such a change of system. The debate on this resolution illustrated the feelings of the country on the subject. It Avas vehemently opposed by the sympathizers with secession from both sections, as an unconstitutional interference with slavery, and hesita- tingly supported by the anti-slavery men of the North, as less decided in its hostility than they had a right to ex- pect. The sentiment of the more moderate portion of the community was expressed by Mr. Fisher, of Delaware, who regarded it as an olive-branch of peace and harmony and good faith presented by the North, and as well calcu- lated to bring about a peaceful solution and settlement of the slavery question. It was adopted in the House by a vote of eighty-nine to thirty-one. Coming up in the 232 The Life, Public Services, and Senate on tLe 24tli of March, it was denounced in strouy; terms by Mr. Saulsbuiy, of Delaware, and others — Mr Davis, of Kentucky, opposing the terms in whicli it was couched, but approving its general tenor. It subse- quently passed, receiving thirty-two votes in its favor, and but ten against it. This resolution Avas approved b^ the President on the 10th of April. It was generally re- garded by the people and by the President himself as rather an experiment than as a fixed policy — as intended to test the terajDer of the people of the Southern States and offer them a way of escape from the evils and embar- rassments with which slavery had surrounded them, rather than set forth a distinct line of conduct which was to be pressed upon the country at all hazards. This char- acter, indeed, was stamped upon it by the fact that its practical execu.tion was made to depend wholly on th(- people of the Southern States themselves. It recognized their complete control over slavery, within their ow^n limits, and simply tendered them tlie aid of the General Government in any steps they might feel inclined to take to rid themselves of it. The President was resolved that the experiment should have a full and a fair trial ; and while he would not, on the one hand, permit its effect to be impaired by the nat- ural impatience of those among his friends who weiv warmest and most extreme in their hostility to slavery, he, on the other hand, lost no opportunity to press the proposition on the favorable consideration of tlie people of the Border Slave States. On the 9th of May, General Hunter, who commanded the Department of South Carolina, which included also the States of Georgia and Florida, issued an order declar- ing all tlie slaves within tliat department to be tlience- fortli and " forever free." This was done, not from any alleged military necessity growing out of the operations in his department, but upon a theoretical incompatibility between slavery and martial law. The President there- upon at once issued the following proclamation : — State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 233 WTiereas, There apiieiirs in tlie i)nl)lic prints wliat jnirports to bo ii proclanuition of Major-Creueral Ilnuter, in tlie words and ligures follow- ing :— IIeap-Qitartrks Oki'aktmknt of 'iiik Sorxii, ( Hilton IIkad, S. C, Jfai/ y, lbC)2. j General Order, N'o. 11. The three States of Georgia, Florida, and Soutli Carolina, comprising the Military Department of tlie South, having deliberately declared them- selves no longer under the United States of Amei-ica, and having taken up arms against the United States, it becomes a military necessity to de- clare them under martial law. Tliis was accordingly done on the 25th day of April, 1862. Slavery and martial law in a free country are altogether incompatible. Tlie persons in these States — Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina — heretofore held as slaves, are therefore declared forever free. [Official.] Signed, David IIuxtek, Major-General Commanding. Ed. W. Smith, Acting Assistant Adj't-General. And, loTiereas, the same is producing some excitement and inisunder- standing, therefore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States. proclaim and declare that the Government of the United States had no knowledge or belief of an intention on the part of General Hunter to is- sue such proclamation, nor has it yet any authentic information that the document is genuine ; and, further, that neither General Hunter nor any other commander or person has been authorized by the Government of the United States to make proclamation declaring the slaves of any State free, and that the supposed proclamation now in question, whether genu- ine or false, is altogether void so far as respects such declaration. I fur- ther make known that, whether it be competent for me, as Commander- in-Cliief of the Army and Navy, to declare the slaves of any State or States free ; and whether at any time, or in any case, it shall have become a necessity indispensable to the maintenance of the Government to exer- cise such supposed power, are questions which, under my responsibility. I reserve to myself, and which I cannot feel justified in leaving to the de- cision of commanders in the field. These are totally ditferent questions from those of police regulations in armies or in camps. On the sixth day of March last, by a special Message, I recommended to Congress the adoption of a joint resolution, to be substantially as follows :— Resolved, That the United States ought to co-operate with any State which may adopt a gradual abolishment of slavery, giving to sucii State earnest expression to compensate for its inconveniences, public and pri- vate, produced by such change of system. The resolution in the language above quoted was adopted by large ma- jorities in both branches of Congress, and now stands an authentic, defi- nite, and solemn proposal of the Nation to the States and people most in- 234 The Life, Public Services, and terested in the subject-uiatter. To the iieople of these States now, I mostly appeal. I do not argue— I beseech you to make the arguments for yourselves. You cannot, if you would, be blind to the signs of the times. I beg of you a calm and enlarged consideration of them, ranging, if it may be, far above partisan and personal politics. This proposal makes common cause for a common object, casting no i-eproaches ui)on any. It acts not the Pharisee. The change it contem- plates would come gently as the dews of Heaven, not rending or wreck- ing any thing. Will you not embrace it? So much good has not been done by one effort in all past time, as in the providence of God it is now your hii2;h privilege to do. May the vast future not have to lament that you have neglected it. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be hereunto aflBxed. Done at the City of Washington, this 19th day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, and of the inde- pendence of the United States the eighty-sixth. (Si'i-ned) Abraham Lincoln. liy the President : W. n. Skwaud, Secretary of State. This proclamation silenced the clamorous denunciation by which its enemies had assailed the Administration on the strength of General Hunter's order, and renewed the confidence, which for the moment had been somewhat impaired, in the President's adherence to the principles of action he had laid down. Nothing practical, however, was done in any of the Border States indicating any dis- position to act upon his suggestions and avail themselves of the aid which Congress had offered. The members of Congress from those States had taken no steps towards inducing action in regard to it on the part of their con- stituents. Feeling the deepest interest in the adoption of some measure which should permanently detach the Border Slave States from the rebel Confederacy, and believing that the plan he had recommended would tend to accomplish that object, President Lincoln sought a conference with the members of Congress from those States, and on the 12th of July, when they waited upon him at the Executive mansion, he addressed them as follows : — State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 235 Gentlemen: — After tlie adjournment of Congress, now near, I sliall have no opiiortunity of seeing you fur several months, l^elieving that you of the Border States liohl more power for good than any other cciual number of nienihcrs, I feel it a duty which 1 cannot justifiably waive to make this appeal to you. I intend no reprciach or complaint when I assure you thai, in my opin- ion, if you all had voted for tiie resolution in the gradual einancii)ati()n Message of last Marcli, the war would now be substantially ended. And the plan therein proposed is yet one of the most potent and swift means of ending it. Let the States which are in rebellion see definitely and cer- tainly that in no event will the States you represent ever juin their pro- posed Confederacy, and they cannot much longer maintain the contest. But you cannot divest them of their hope to ultimately have you with them so long as you show a determination to perpetuate the institution within your own States. Beat them at elections, as you have over- w^helmingly done, and, nothing daunted, they still claim you as their own. You and I know what the lever of their power is. Break that lever before their faces, and they can shake you no more forever. Most of you have treated me with kindness and consideration, and I trust you will not now think I improperly touch what is exclusively your own, when, for the sake of the whole country, I ask. Can you, for your States, do better than to take the course I urge ? Discarding jmnctilio and maxims adapted to more manageable times, and looking only to the unprecedentedly stern facts of our case, can you do better in any possible event ? You prefer that the constitutional relation of the States to the nation shall be practically restored without disturbance of the institution : and if this were done, my whole duty, in this respect, under the Consti- tution and my oath of office, would be performed. But it is not done, and we are trying to accomplish it by war. The incidents of the war cannot be avoided. If the war continues long, as it must if the object be not sooner attained, the institution in your States will be e.^tinguished by mere friction and abrasion — by the mere incidents of the war. It will be gone, and you will have nothing valuable in lieu of it. Mucli of its value is gone already. How much better for you and for your peoi)le to take the step which at once shortens the war, and secures substantial compen- sation for that which is sure to be wholly lost in any other event ! How much better to thus save the money which else we sink forever in the war! How much better to do it while we can, lest the war ere long render us pecuniarily unable to do it! How much better for you, as seller, and the nation, as buyer, to sell out and buy out that without which the war could never have been, than to sink both the thing to be sold and the price of it in cutting one another's throats ! I do not speak of emancipation at once, but of a decision at once to emancipate gradually. Boom in South America for colonization can Ije obtained cheaply, and in abundance, and when numbers shall be large 23G The Life, Public Services, and enough to bo ■company and encouragement for one another, tlie freed people will not he so reluctant to go. I am ]uvssed with a difficulty not yet mentioned — one which threatens division among those who, united, are none too strong. An instance of it is known to you. General Hunter is an honest man. He was, and I hope still is, my friend. I valued him none the less for his agreeing with me in the general wish that all men everywhere could be free. He pro- claimed all men free within certain States, and I repudiated the procla- mation. He expected more good and less harm from the measure than I could believe would follow. Yet, in repudiating it, I gave dissatisfaction, if not otfeuce, to many whose support the country cannot aft'ord to lose. And this is not the end of it. The pressure in this direction is still upon me, and is increasing. By conceding what I now ask you can relieve me, and, much more, can relieve the country in this important point. Upon these considerations, I have again begged your attention to the Message of March last. Before leaving the Capital, consider and discuss it among yourselves. You are patriots and statesmen, and as such I ])ray you consider this proposition ; and, at the least, commend it to the con- sideration of your States and people. As you would perpetuate popular government for the best people in the world, I beseech you that you do in nowise omit this. Our common country is in great peril, demanding the loftiest views and boldest action to bring a speedy relief. Once relieved, its form of government is saved to the world; its beloved his- tory and cherished memories are vindicated, and its happy future fully assured and rendered inconceivably grand. To you, more than to any others, the privilege is given to assure that happiness and swell tliat grandeur, and to link your own names therewith forever. The members to whom the President thus appealed were divided in opinion as to the merits of the proj^osi- tion which he had laid before them. A majority of tliem aiibmitted an eLaborate reply, in which they dissented from the President's opinion that the adoption of this policy would terminate the war or serve the Union cause. They held it to be his duty to avoid all interference, dire(;t or indirect, with slavery in the Southern States, and attributed much of the stubborn hostility which the South had shown in prosecuting the war, to the fact that Congress had departed in various instances from the spirit and objects for which the war ought to be prose- cuted by the Government. A minority of those mem- bers, not being able to concur in this reply, submitted one of their own, in which they thus set forth their view State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 237 of the motivevS of the President in the course he liad adopted, and expr«?ssed their substantial concurrence in its justice and wisdom : — We believe that the whole power of the Government, npheld and sus- tained by all the influences and means of all loyal men in all sections and of all parties, is essentially necessary to put down the re})ellion and preserve the Union and the Constitution. We understand your appeal to us to have been made for the purpose of securing this result. A very large portion of the people in the Northern States believe that slavery is the "lever power of tlie rebellion." It matters not whether this opinion is well founded or not. The belief does exist, and we have to deal willi things as they are, and not as we would have them be. In consequence of the existence of this belief, we understand that an immense pressure ia brought to bear for tiie purpose of striking down this institution through the exercise of military authority. The Government cannot maintain this great struggle if the support and influence of the men who entertain these opinions be withdrawn. Neither can the Government hope for early success if the support of that element called "conservative " be withdrawn. Such being the condition of things, the President appeals to the Border State men to step forward and prove their patriotism by making the first .sacrifice. No doubt, like appeals have been made to extreme men in the North, to meet us half way, in order that the whole moral, political, pecuniary, and physical force of the nation may be firmly and earnestly united in one grand eff'ort to save the Union and the Constitution. Believing that such were the motives that prompted your address, and such the results to which it looked, we cannot reconcile it to our sense of duty, in this trying hour, to respond in a spirit of fault-finding or queru- lousness over the things that are past. We are not disposed to seek for the cause of present misfortunes in the errors and wrongs of others who propose to unite with us in a common purpose. But, on the otlitM- hand, we meet your address in the spirit in which it was made, and. as loyal Americans, declare to you and to the world, tliat there is no sacrifice that we ai'e not ready to make to save the Government and institutions of our fathers. That we, few f)f us though there may be, will permit no men, from the North or from the South, to go further than we in the accom- plishment of the great work before us. That, in order to carry out these views, we will, so far as may be in our power, ask the people of the I>or- der States calmly, deliberately, and fiiirly, to consider your recommenda- tions. We are the more emboldened to assume this position from the fact, now become history, that the leaders of the Southern rel)ellion have olFered to abolish slavery amongst them as a condition to foreign inter- vention in favor of their independence as a nation. If they can give up slavery to destroy the Union, we can surely 238 The Life, Public Services, and ask our people to consider tlie question of emancipation to save the Union. Hon. Horace Maynard, of Tennessee, on the IQfh of July submitted to the President his views of the ques- tion, in which he tiius set forth his appreciation of the motives which had induced him to make the proposition in question to the Southern States :— Your whole administration gives the highest assurance that you are moved, not so much from a desire to see all men everywhere made free, as from a desire to preserve free institutions for the benefit of men already free ; not to make slaves free men, but to prevent free men from being made slaves ; not to destroy an institution which a portion of us only consider bad, but to save an institution which we all alike consider good. I am satisfied that you would not ask from any of your fellow- citizens a sacrifice not in your judgment imperatively required by the safety of the country. This is the spirit of your appeal, and I respond to it in the same spirit. Determined to leave undone nothing which it was in his power to do to effect the object he had so much at heart, the President, on the 12th of July, sent in to Con- gress a Message transmitting the draft of a bill upon the subject, as follows : — Fellow- Citizens of the Senate and House of Eepresentatives : — Herewith is the draft of the bill to cf)mpensate any State which may abolish slavery within its limits, the passage of which, substantially as presented, I respectfully and earnestly recommend. Abraham Lincoln. Be it enacted by the Senate and Rouse of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assemlled : — That wlienever the President of the United States shall be satisfied tliat any State shall have lawfully abolished slavery within and throughout such State, either immediately or gradually, it shall be the duty of the President, assisted by the Secre- tary of the Treasury, to prepare and deliver to each State an amount of six per cent, interest-hearing bonds of the United States, equal to the ag- gregate value at dollars ])er head of all the slaves within such State as reported by the census of 1860; the whole amount for any one State to be delivered at once, if the alx>lishment be immediate, or in equal annual instalments, if it be gradual, interest to begin running on each bond at the time of delivery, and not before. And he it further enacted^ That if any State, having so received any such bonds, shall at any time afterwards by law reintroduce or tolerate slavery within its limits, contrary to the act of abolishment upon which such bonds shall have been received, said bonds so received by said Statt' State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 239 shall at once be null and void, in whosesoever hands they may be, and such State shall refund to the United States all interest which may liave been paid on such bonds. The bill was referred to a committee, but no action was taken upon it in Congress, nor did any of tlie Border States respond to the President's invitation. The propo- sition, however, served a most excellent purpose in test- ing the sentiment of both sections of the coiintr}^ and in preparing the way for the more vigorous treatment of the subject of slavery which the blind and stubborn preju- dices of the slaveholding communities were rapidly ren- dering inevitable. Two other subjects of importance engaged the atten- tion and received the action of Congress during this ses- sion : the provision of a currency, and the amendment of the law to confiscate the property of rebels. A bill au- thorizing the issue of Treasury notes to the amount of $150,000,000, and making them a legal tender in all busi- ness transactions, was reported in the House by the Fi- nance Committee, of which Hon. E. G. Spaulding, of New York, was Chairman, and taken up for discussion on tlie 17tli of June. It was advocated mainly on the score of necessity, and was opposed on the ground of its alleged unconstitutionality. The division of sentiment on the subject was not a party one, some of the warmest friends and supporters of the Administration doubting whether Congress had the power to make any thing but silver and gold a legal tender in the payment of debts. The same bill provided for a direct t-ix, involving stamp duties, taxes upon incomes, etc., sufficient with the duties upon imports to raise $150,000,000 p(^r annum, and also for th-' establishment of a system of free banking, by which bank- notes to be circulated as currency might be issued upon the basis of stocks of the United States deposited as secu- rity. The bill was discussed at length, and was finally adopted by a vote of ninety-three to fifty-nine. In the Senate it encountered a similar opposition, but passed by a vote of thii-ty to seven, a motion to strike out the legal- tender clause having been previously rejected — seven- 240 The Life, Public Services, and teen voting in favor of striking it out, and twenty-two against it. The subject of confiscating tlie property of rebels ex- cited still dt'eper interest. A bill for that purpose was taken up in tile Senate, on tlie 25tli of February, for dis- cussion. By one of its sections all the slaves of any per- son, anywhere in the United States, aiding the rebellion, were declared to be forever free, and subsequent sections provided for colonizing slaves thus enfranciiised. The bill was advocated on the ground that in no other way could the property of rebels, in those States where the judicial authority of the United States had been over- borne, be reached ; while it was opposed on the ground that it Avas unconstitutional, and that it would tend to render the Southern people still more united and despe- rate in their rebellion. By the confiscation act of the pre- vious session, a slave who had been emploj^ed in aiding the rebellion was declared to be free, but the fact that lie had been thus employed must be shown by due judicial process ; by this bill all the slaves of any person who had been thus engaged were set free without the inter- vention of any judicial process whatever. This feature of the bill was warmly opposed b}^ some of the ablest and most reliable of the supporters of the Administration, as a departure from all recognized rules of j)roceeding, and as a direct interference with slavery in the States, in violation of the most solemn pledge of the Govern- ment, the Republican party, and individual supporters of the Administration. Senator Collamer, of Vermont, urged this view of the case with great cogency, citing Mr. Sumner's opinion expressed on the 25th of February, 1861, when, on presenting a memorial to the Senate in favor of abolishing slavery, he had added: "In offering it, I take this occasion to declare most explicitly that I do not think that Congress has any right to interfere with slavery in a State ;" and quoting also Senator Fessenden's declaration in the debate on abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia, when he said: "I have held, and T hold to-day, and I say to-day what 1 have said in my State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 241 place before, that the Congress of the United States, or the people of the United States through the Congress, under the Constitution as it now exists, have no right whatever to touch by legislation the institution of slavery in the States where it exists by law." Mr. Sherman's opinion, expressed in the same debate, that "we ought religiously to adhere to the promises we made to the peo- ple of this country when Mr. Lincoln was elected Presi- dent — we ought to abstain religiously from all interfer- ence with the domestic institutions of the slave or the Free States," was also quoted, and Mr. Collamer said he did not see how it was possible to pass the bill in its present form without giving the world to u-nderstand that they had violated those pledges, and had interfered with slavery in the States. Mr. Collamer accordingly offered an amendment to the bill, obviating the objections he had urged against it ; and this, with other amendments offered by other Senators, was referred to a Select Committee, which subsequently reported a bill designed, as the Chairman, Mr. Clark, of New Hampshire, explained, to harmonize the various shades of opinion upon the sub- ject, and secure the passage of some measure Avhicli should meet the expectations of the country and the emergency of the case. The first section of this bill pro- vided, that every person who should hereafter commit the crime of treason against the United States, and be adjudged guilt}^ thereof, should suffer death, and all his slaves, if any, be declared and made free ; or he should be imprisoned not less than five years, and fined not less than $10,000, and all his slaves, if any, be declared and made free. The distinctive feature of this section, as distinguished from the corresponding section of the original bill, con- sisted in the fact that a trial and conviction were required before any person guilty of treason could be punished, either by death, imprisonment, or the forfeiture of his property. It was opposed, on the one hand, l^y Mr. Trum- bull, of Illinois, on the ground that it "made treason easy"— and on the other, by Mr. Davis, of Kentucky. 16 242 The Life. Public Services, and because it set slaves free. Mr. Snmner offered a substi- tute to tlie whole bill, which in his judgment did not go far enough in giving the country the advantage of the " oj3- portunity whicli Clod, in His beneficence, had afforded" it for securing universal emancipation. Mr. Powell, of Kentucky, moved to strike out the eleventh section, which authorized tlie President to "employ as many per- sons of African descent as he might deem necessary and . proper for the suppression of the rebellion, and to organ- ize and use them in such manner as he might judge best for the public welfare" — but his motion was rejected by a vote of eleven to twenty-five. While the bill was thus denounced by one class of Senators as too violent in its method of dealing with the rebels, it was resisted with still greater vehemence by another class as entirely de- fective in that respect. Mr. Sumner was especially severe in his censure of Senators who proposed, he said, "when the life of our Republic is struck at, to proceed as if by an indictment in a criminal court." His remarks gave rise to considerable personal discussion — which was interrupted by the receipt of a similar bill which had been passed by the House of Representatives, and which was decidedly more in harmony with the extreme views of Mr. Sumner and his friends, than the Senate bill. It assumed that the rebels were to be treated like a foreign enemy, without regard to the limitations and require- ments of the Constitution, and that Congress, instead of the President, had the supreme and exclusive control of the operations of the war. This bill on coming before the Senate was set aside, and the bill which had been reported by the Senate Committee substituted in its place, by a vote of twenty-one to seventeen, and the latter was finally passed ; ayes twenty-eight, noes thirteen. The House did not concur in this amendment to its own bill ; but on receiving the report of a Committee of Conference which made some amendments to the Senate bill, it was passed, as amended, by both Houses, and sent to the President for his signature. The provisions of this bill were as follows : — State Papers of Auraiiam Lincoln. 243 Section 1 enacted that every person who shouhl after its passage com- mit the crime of treason against the United States, and be adjudged guilty thereof, should suffer death, and all his slaves, if any, should be declared and made free ; or he should be imprisoned for not less than five years, and fined not less than $10,000, and all his slaves made free. Section 2 declared that if any person shall hereafter incite, assist, or engage in any rebellion against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof, or give aid or comfort thereto, or to any existing rebellion, and be convicted thereof, he shall be imprisoned for ten years or less, fined not more than $10,000, and all his slaves shall be set free. Section 3. Every person guilty of these ofTences shall be forever dis- qualified to hold any office under the United States. Section 4. This act was not to affect the prosecution, conviction, or punishment of any person guilty of treason before the passage of the act, unless convicted under it. Section 5 made it the duty of the President to seize and apply to the use of the army of the United States all the property of persons who had served as officers of the rebel army, or had held certain civil ofiices under the rebel Government, or in the rebel States, provided they had taken an oath of allegiance to the rebel authorities, and also of persons who, having property in any of the loyal States, shall hereafter give aid to the rebellion. Section 6 prescribed that if any other persons being engaged in the rebellion should not, within sixty days after public proclamation dul.- made by the President, cease to aid the rebellion, all their property should be confiscated in the same manner. Section 7 directed that proceedings in rem should be instituted in the name of the United States in the court of the district within which such property might be found, and if said property, wliether real or personal, should be found to belong to any person engaged in rebellion, it should be condemned as enemies' property, and become the property of the United States. Section 8 gave the several District Courts of the United States author- ity and power to make such orders as these proceedings might reipiire. Section 9 enacted that all slaves of persons who shall hereafter be en- gaged in rebellion against the Government of the United States, or who shall in any way give aid or comfort thereto, escaping from such persons, and taking refuge within the lines of the army, and all slaves captured from such persons or deserted by them and coming under the control of the Government of the United States, and all slaves of such persons found, or being within any ])lace occupied by rebel forces, and afterwards occu- pied by the forces of the United States, shall be deemed captives of war. and shall be forever free of their servitude, and not again held as slaves. Section 10 enacted that no slave escaping into another State should be delivered up, unless the claimant should make oath that the owner ur 244 The Life, Public Services, and master of such slave bad never borne arms against tbe United States, or given any aid and comfort to the rebellion ; and every person in tlie mili- tary service of the United States was prohibited from deciding on the validity of any claim to the services of any escaped slave, on pain of dis- missal. Section 11 authorized the President to employ as many persons of Af- rican descent as ho might deem necessary and proper for the suppression of the rebellion, and to organize and use them as he might deem best for the public welfare. Section 12 authorized the President to make provision for the coloni- zation, with their own consent, of persons freed under this act, to some country beyond the limits of the United States, having first obtained the consent of the Governmeut of said country to their protection and settle- ment, with all the privileges of free men. Sectiox 13 authorized the President at any time hereafter, by procla- mation, to extend to persons who may have participated in this rebellion, pardon and amnesty, with such exceptions, and at such time, and on such conditions as he might deem expedient for the public welfare. Section 14 gave the courts of the United States authority to institute such proceedings, and issue such orders as might be necessary to carry this act into effect. It soon came to be understood that the President had o .'ections to certain portions of the bill whicli would probably prevent him from signing it. A joint resolu- tion was at once passed in the House, providing that the bill should be so construed "as not to apply to any acts done prior to its passage ; nor to include any member of a State legislature, or judge of any State court who has not, in accepting or entering upon his office, taken an oath to support the constitution of the so-called Confed- ei-ate States of America." When this reached the Senate, Mr. Clark, of New Hampshire, offered the following, to be added to the resolution : — Nor shall any punishment or proceedings under said act be so con- strued as to work a forfeiture of the real estate of the otiender beyond his natural life. This provision encountered a sharp opposition : Mr. Trumbull, of Illinois, insisting that the forfeiture of real estate for life only would amount to nothing, and other Senators objecting to being influenced in their action l)y State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 245 the supposed opinions of tlie President. Mr. Clark also proposed another amendment, authorizing the President, in granting an amnesty, to restore; to the ofl'ender any property which might have been seized and condemned under this act. The resolutions and amendments were passed by the Senate, and received the concurrence of the House. On the 17th of July President Lincoln sent in tlie following message, announcing that he had signed the bill, and specifying his objections to the act in its original shape : — Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Eepresentatives: Considoring the bill for " An Act to suppress insurrection, to punish treason and rebellion, to seize and confiscate the property of rebels, and for other purposes," and the joint resolution explanatory of said act as being substantially one, I have approved and signed both. Before I was informed of the resolution, I had prepared the draft of a message, stating objections to the bill becoming a law, a copy of which draft is herewith submitted. Abraham Lincoln. July 12, 1862. [Copy.] Fellow-Oitizens of the House of Repreesentatives : I herewith return to the honorable body in which it originated, the bill for an act entitled " An Act to suppress treason and rebellion, to seize and confiscate the property of rebels, and for other purposes," to- gether with my objections to its becoming a law. There is much in the bill to which I perceive no objection. It is wholly prospective ; and it touches neither person nor property of any loyal citizen, in which particular it is just and proper. The first and second sections provide for the conviction and punish- ment of persons who shall be guilty of treason, and persons who shall *' incite, set on foot, assist, or engage in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States, or the laws thereof, or shall give aid or comfort thereto, or shall engage in or give aid and comfort to any such existing rebellion or insurrection." By fair construction, per- Bons within those sections are not punished without regular trials in duly constituted courts, under the forms and all the substantial provisions of law and the Constitution applicable to their several cases. To this I per- ceive no objection ; especially as such persons would be within the gen- eral pardoning power, and also the special provision for pardon and am- nesty contained in this act^ It is also provided that the slaves of persons convicted under tliese sec- 246 The Life, Public Services, and tions shall be free. I tliink tliere is an unfortunate form of expression, rather than a substantial objection, in this. It is startling to say that Congress can free a slave within a State, and yet if it were said the ownership of a slave had lii-st been transferred to the nation, and (Jon- gress had then liberated him, the difBculty would at once vanish. And this is the real case. The traitor against the General Government for- feits his slave at least as justly as he does any other property; and he forfeits both to the Government against which he offends. P'e Govern- ment, so far as there can be ownership, thus owns the forfeited slaves, and the question for Congress in regard to them is, " Shall they be made free or sold to new masters?" I perceive no objection to Congress de- ciding in advance that they shall be free. To the high honor of Ken- tucky, as I am informed, she is the owner of some slaves by escheat, and has sold none, but liberated all. I hope the same is true of some other States. Indeed, I do not believe it will be physically possible for the General Government to return persons so circumstanced to actual slavery. I believe there would be physical resistance to it, which could neither be turned aside by argument nor driven away by force. In this view I have no objection to this feature of the bill. Another matter involved in these two sections, and running through other parts of the act, will be noticed hereafter. I perceive no objections to the third or fourth sections. So far as I wish to notice the fifth and sixth sections, they may be con- sidered together. That the enforcement of these sections would do no injustice to the persons embraced within them, is clear. That those who make a causeless war should be compelled to pay the cost of it, is too ob- viously just to be called in question. To give governmental protection to the property of persons who have abandoned it, and gone on a crusade to overthrow the same Government, is absurd, if considered in the mere light of justice. The severest justice may not always be the best policy. The principle of seizing and appropriatmg the property of the person em- braced within these sections is certainly not very objectionable, but a justly discriminating application of it would be very difficult, and, to a great extent, impossible. And would it not be wise to i)lace a power of remission somewhere, so that these persons may know they have some- thing to lose by persisting, and something to gain by desisting ? I am not sure whether such power of remission is or is not in section thirteen. Without any special act of Congress, I think our military commanders, when, in military phrase, "they are within the enemy's country," should, in an orderly manner, seize and use whatever of real or personal prop- erty may be necessary or convenient for their commands ; at the same time preserving, in some way, the evidence of what they do. What I have said in regard to slaves, while commenting on the first and second sections, is applicable to the ninth, with the difference that no provision is made in the whole act for determining whether a particular State Papp^rs of Abraham Lincoln. 247 individual slave does or does not fall within the classes defined in that section. He is to be free upon certain conditions ; but whether those conditions do or do not pertain to him, no mode of ascertaining is pro- vided. This could be easily supplied. To the tenth section I make no objection. The oath therein re(iuired seems to be proper, and the remainder of the section is substantially iden- tical with a law already existing. The eleventh section simply assumes to confer discretionary power upon the Executive. Without the law, I have no hesitation to go as far in the direction indicated as I may at any time deem expedient. And I am ready to say now, I think it is proper for our military commanders to employ, as laborers, as many per.sons of African descent as can bo used to advantage. The twelfth and thirteenth sections are something better than unobjec- tionable ; and the fourteenth is entirely proper, if all other parts of the act sliall stand. That to which I chiefly object pervades most part of the act, but more distinctly appears in the first, second, seventh, and eighth sections. It is the sum of those provisions which results in the divesting of title forever. For the causes of treason and ingredients of treason, not amounting to the full crime, it declares forfeiture extending beyond the lives of the guilty parties ; whereas the Constitution of the United States declare^* that " no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood or forfeiture except during the life of the person attainted." True, there is to be no formal attainder in this case ; still, I think the greater punishment can- not be constitutionally intlicted, in a diiferent form, for the same oifence. With great respect I am constrained to say I think this feature of the act is unconstitutional. It would not be difficult to modify it. I may remark that the provision of the Constitution, put in language borrowed from Great Britain, applies only in this country, as I under- stand, to real or landed estate. Again, this act, in rem^ forfeits proi)erty for the ingredients of treason without a conviction of the supposed criminal, or a personal hearing given him in any proceeding. That we may not touch property lying within our reach, because we cannot give personal notice to an owner who is absent endeavoring to destroy the Government, is certainly satis- factory. Still, the owner may not be thus engaged; and I think a rea- sonable time should be provided for such parties to appear and have per- sonal hearings. Similar provisions are not uncommon in connection with proceedings in rem. For the reasons stated, I return the bill to the House in which it origi- nated. The passage of this bill constituted a very important step in the prosecution of the war for the suppression of 248 The Life, Public Services, and tlie rebellion. It prescribed definite penalties for tlie crime of treason, and thus supplied a defect in the laws as they then existed. It gave the rebels distinctly to un- derstand that one of these penalties, if they persisted in their resistance to the authority of the United States, would be the emancipation of their slaves. And it also authorized the employment by the President of persons of African descent, to aid in the suppression of the Rebel- lion in any way which he might deem most conducive to the public welfare. Yet throughout the bill, it was clearly made evident that the object and purpose of these measures was not the abolition of slavery, but the preser- vation of the Union and the restoration of the authority of the Constitution. On the 14th of January Simon Cameron resigned his position as Secretary of War. On the 30th of April the House of Representatives passed, by a vote of seventy- live to forty-five, a resolution, censuring certain official acts performed by him while acting as Secretary of War ; whereupon, on the 27th of May, President Lincoln trans- mitted to the House tli*:? following message : — To tlie Senate and House of Bepresentatives : The insurrection which is yet existing in the United States, and aims at tlie overthrow of the Federal Constitution and the Union, was ch\n- destinely prepared during the winter of 18G0 and 1861, and assumed an open organization in tlie form of a treasonable provisional government at Montgomery, Alabama, on the eighteenth day of February, 1861. On the twelfth day of April, 1861, the insurgents committed the flagrant act of civil war by the bombardment and capture of Fort Sumter, which cut off the hope of immediate conciliation. Immediately afterwards all the roads and avenues to this city were ol)structed, and tlie Capital was put into the condition of a siege. The mails in every direction were stopped and the lines of telegraph cut off by the insurgents, and military and naval forces which had been called out by the Government for the de- fiance of Washington were prevented from reaching the city by organized and combined treasonable resistance in the State of Maryland. There was no adequate and effective organization for the public defence. Con- gress had indefinitely adjourned. There was no time to convene them. It became necessary for me to choose whether, using only the existing means, agencies, and processes which Congress had provided, I should let the Government fall into ruin, or whether, availing myself of the broader State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 249 powers conferred by the Constitution in cases of insurrection, I would make an effort to save it, with all its blessings, for the present age and for posterity. I thereupon summoned my constitutional advisers, the heads of all the departments, to meet on Sunday, the twentieth day of April, 1861, at the office of the Navy Department, and then and there, with their unanimous concurrence, 1 directed that an armed revenue cutter should proceed to sea to afford protection to the commercial marine, especially to the California treasure-ships, then on their way to this coast. I also directed the Commandant of the Navy Yard at Boston to purchase or charter, and arm, as quickly as possible, five steamshii)s for purposes of public defence. I directed the Commandant of the Navy Yard at Phila- delphia to pui'chase or charter, and arm, an equal number for the same purpose. I directed the Commandant at New York to purchase or char- ter, and arm, an equal number. I directed Commander Gillis to purchase or charter, and arm and put to sea, two other vessels. Similar directions were given to Commodore Du Pont, with a view to the opening of pas- sages by water to and from the Capital. I directed the several officers to take the advice and obtain the aid and efficient services in the matter of his Excellency Edwin D. Morgan, the Governor of New Y'ork; or, in his absence, George D. Morgan, Wm. M. Evarts, R. M. Blatchford, and Moses II. Grinnell, who were, by my directions, especially empowered by the Secretary of the Navy to act for his department in that crisis, in matters pertaining to the forwarding of troops and supplies for the public defence. On the same occasion I directed that Governor Morgan and Alexander Cummings, of the City of New Y''ork, should be autiiorized by the Sec- retary of "War, Simon Cameron, to make all necessary arrangements for the transportation of troops and munitions of war in aid and assist- ance of the officers of the army of the United States, until comnmnica- tion by mails and telegraph should be completely re-established between the cities of Washington and New York. No security was required to be given by them, and either of them was authorized to act in case of inability to consult with the other. On the same occasion I authorized and directed the Secretary of the Treasury to advance, without requir- ing security, two millions of dollars of public money to John A. Dix, George Opdyke, and Richard M. Blatchford, of New Y^ork, to be used by them in meeting such requisitions as should be directly consequent upon the military and naval measures for the defence and support of the Government, requiring them only to act without compensation, and to report their transactions when duly called upon. The several de- partments of the Government at that time contained so large a number of disloyal persons that it would have been impossible to provide safely through official agents only, for the performance of the duties thus con- fided to citizens favorably known for their ability, loyalty, and patriot- ism. The several orders issued upon these occurrences were trans- mitted by private messengers, who pursued a circuitous way to tho 250 Thi: Life, Puulic Services, and seaboard cities, inlaud across the States of Pennsylvania and Ohio, and the northern lakes. I believe that by these and other similar measures taken in that crisis, some of which were witliout any authority of law, the Government was saved from overthrow. I am not aware that a dollar of the public funds thus confided, without authority of law, to un- ofticial persons, was either lost or wasted, although appi'ehensions of such misdirections occurred to me as objections to these extraordinary pro- ceedings, and were necessarily overruled. I recall these transactions now, because my attention has been directed to a resolution which was i)assed by tlie House of Representatives on the thirtieth of last month, which is in these words : — Resolved, That Simon Cameron, late Secretary of War, by intrusting Alexander Cummings with the control of large sums of tlie public money, and authurity to purchase military supplies without restriction, without requiring from him any guarantee for tlie faithful ijerformance of his duties, while the services of competent public officers were available, and by involving the Government in a vast number of contracts with [)ersons not legitimately engaged in the business pertaining to the subject-matter of such contracts, especially in the purchase of arms for future deliv- ery, has adopted a policy highly injurious to the public service, uud deserves the censure of the House. Congress will see that I should be wanting in candor and injustice if I should leave the censure exjjressed in this resolution to rest exclusively or chietly upon Mr. Cameron. The same sentiment is unanimously enter- tained by the heads of the departments, who partici[)ated in the proceed- ings which the House of Representatives has censured. It is due to Mr. Cameron to say, that although he fully ap[>roved the proceedings, they were not moved nor suggested by himself, and that not only the Presi- dent, but all the other heads of departments, were at least equally respon- sible witli him for whatever error, wrong, or fault v.'as committed in the premises. Abkauam Lincoln. This letter was in strict conformity witli the position •uniformly held by the President in regard to tlie respon- sibility of members of his Cabinet for acts of the Admin- istration. He always maintained that the proper duty of eacli Secretary was, to direct the details of every thing done within his own depai-tment, and to tender such sug- gestions, information, and advice to the President as he might solicit at his hands. But the duty and responsi- bility of deciding what line of policy should be pursued, or what steps should be taken in any speciiic case, in hi a judgment, belonged exclusively to tiie President; and he was always willing and ready to assume it. Tliis posi- State Papers of Abkaiiam Llncoln. 251 tiou lias been widoly and sliarply assailed in various quarters, as contrary to the precedents of our early his- tory : but we believe it to be substantially in accordance with the theory of the Constitution upon this subject. The progress of our armies in certain portions of the Southern States had warranted the suspension, at several ports, of the restrictions placed upon commei'ce by the blockade. On the 12th of May the President accordingly issued a .proclamation declaring that the blockade of the ports of Beaufort, Port Royal, and New Orleans should so far cease from the 1st of June, that commercial inter- course from those ports, except as to contraband of war, might be resumed, subject to the laws of the United States and the regulations of the Treasury Department. On the 1st of July he issued another proclamation, in pursuance of the law of June 7th, designating the States and ]3arts of States that were then in insurrection, so that the laws of the United States concerning the collection of taxes could not be enforced within their limits, and de- claring that "the taxes legally chargeable upon real estate, under the act referred to, lying within the States or parts of States thus designated, together with a penalty of fifty per cent, of said taxes, should be a lien upon tlio tracts or lots of the same, severally charged, till paid.'' On the 20th of October, finding it absolutely necessary to provide judicial proceedings for the State of Louisiana, a part of which was in our military possession, tlie Presi- dent issued an order establishing a Provisional Court in the City of New Orleans, of wliicli Charles A. Peabody was made Judge, with authority to try all causes, civil and criminal, in law, equity, revenue, and admiralty, and particularly to exercise all such power and jurisdiction as belongs to the Circuit and District Courts of the United States. His proceedings were to be conformed, as far as possible, to the course of proceedings and practice usual in the Courts of the United States of Louisiana, and his judgment was to be final and conclusive. Congress adjourned on the 17th of July, having adopted many measures of marked though minor importance, be- 252 The Life, Public Services, and sides those to wliicli we have referred, to aid iu the pros- ecution of the war. Several Senators were expelled for adherence, direct or indirect, to the rebel cause ; meas- ures were taken to remove from the several departments of the Government employes more or less openly in sym- pathy with secession ; Hayti and Liberia were recognized as independent republics ; a treaty was negotiated and ratified with Great Britain which conceded the right, within certain limits, of searching suspected slavers car- rying the American flag, and the most liberal grants in men and money were made to the Government for the prosecution of the war. The President had appointed military governors for several of the Border States, where public sentiment was divided, enjoining them to protect the loyal citizens, and to regard them as alone entitled to a voice in the direction of civil affairs. Public sentiment throughout the loyal States sustained the action of Congress and the President, as adapted to the emergency, and well calculated to aid in the suppres- sion of the rebellion. At the same time it was very evi- dent that the conviction was rapidly gaining ground that slavery was the cause of the rebellion ; that the para- mount object of the conspirators against the Union was to obtain new guarantees for the institution ; and that it was this interest alone which gave unity and vigor to the rebel cause. A very active and influential party at the North had insisted from the outset that the most direct way of crushing the rebellion was by crushing slavery, and they had urged upon the President the adoption of a policy of immediate and unconditional emancipation, as the only thing necessary to bring into the ranks of the Union armies hundreds of thousands of enfranchised slaves, as well as the great mass of the people of the Northern States who needed this stimulus of an appeal to their moral sentiment. After the adjournment of Con- gress these demands became still more clamorous and importunate. The President was summoned to avail himself of the opportunity offered by tlie passage of the Conflscation Bill, and to decree the instant liberation of State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 253 every slave belonging to a rebel master. These demands soon assumed, with the more impatient and intemperate portion of the friends of the Administration, a tone of complaint and condemnation, and the President was charged with gross and culpable remissness in the dis- charge of duties imposed upon him by the act of Con- gress. They were embodied with force and effect in a letter addressed to tlie President by Hon. Horace Greeley, and published in the New Yorlc Tribune of the 19th of August, to which President Lincoln made the following reply :— ExECUTivB Mansion, TVASniNGTON, August 11, 1SC2. Hox. Horace Greeley : Dear Sir — I have just read yours of the 19th instant, addressed to my- self through the New Yorh Tribune. If there be in it any statements or assumptions of fact which I may know to be erroneous, I do not now and here controvert them. If there be any inferences which I may beheve to be falsely drawn, I do not now and here argue against them. If there be perceptible in it an impatient and dictatorial tone, I waive it in deference to an old friend whose heart I have always supposed to be right. As to the policy I "seem to be pursuing," as you say, I have not meant to leave any one in doubt. I would save the Union. I would save it in the shortest way under the Constitution. The sooner the national authority can be restored, the nearer the Union will be — the Union as it was. If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time save slavery, I do not agree witli them. If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time destroy slavery, I do not agree with them. My j)(ii'amnunt ohject is to save the Wnion, and not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it — if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it— and if I could do it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that. What I do about slavery and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save this Union ; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing liurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I believe doing more will help the cause. I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors, and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true news. 254 The Life, Public Services, and I 'nave here stated ni}" purpose according to my views of official duty, and I iiit'.Mid no modification of my oft-expressed personal wisli that all men everywhere couhl be free. Yours, A. Lincoln. It was impossible to mistake tlie President' s meaning after this letter, or to have any doubt as to the policy by which he expected to re-establish the authority of the Constitution over the whole territory of the United States. His "paramount object," in every thing he did and in every thing he abstained from doing, was to "save the Union." He regarded all the power conferred on him by Congress in regard to slavery, as having been conferred to aid him in the accomplishment of that object — and he was resolved to wield those powers so as best, according to his own judgment, to aid in its attainment. He for- bore, therefore, for a long time, the issue of such a proc- lamation as he was authorized to make by the sixth sec- tion of the Confiscation Act of Congress— awaiting the developments of public sentiment on the subject, and being especially anxious that when it was issued it should receive the moral support of the great body of the people of the wliole country, without regard to party distinctions. He sought, therefore, with assiduous care, every opportunity of informing himself as to the drift of public sentiment on this subject. He received and conversed freely with all who came to see him and to urge upon him the adoption of their peculiar views ; and on the 13th of September gave formal audience to a depu- tation from all the religious denominations of the City of Chicago, which had been appointed on the 7th, to wait upon him. The committee presented a memorial request- ing him at once to issue a proclamation of universal eman- cipation, and the chairman followed it by some remarks in support of this request. The President listened attentively to the memorial, and then made to those who had presented it the following reply :— The subject presented in the memorial is one upon which I have thouglit much for weeks past, and I may even say for months. I am approached State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 255 with the most opposite opinions and advice, and that by religions men, who arc equally certain that they represent the Divir>e will. I am sure that eitlier the one or the other class is mistaken in tliat l)e]ief, and per- haps in some respects both. I hope it will not be irreverent for me to say that if it is probable that God would reveal his will to others, on a point so connected with my duty, it might be supposed he would reveal it directly to me; for, unless I am more deceived in myself than I often am, it is my earnest desire to know the will of Providence in this matter. And if I can learn what it is I will do it ! These are not, however, the days of miracles, and I suppose it will be granted that I am not to expect a direct revelation. I must study the plain physical facts of the case, ascertain what is possible, and learn what appears to be wise and right. The subject is difficult, and good men do not agree. For instance, the other day, four gentlemen of standing and intelligence from New York called as a delegation on business connected with the war; but before leaving two of them earnestly besought rae to proclaim general emanci- pation, upon which the other two at once attacked them. You know also that the last session of Congress had a decided majority of anti- slavery men, yet they could not unite on this policy. And the same is true of the religious people. Why, the rebel soldiers are praying with a great deal more earnestness, I fear, than our own troops, and expect- ing God to favor their side : for one of our soldiers who had been taken prisoner told Senator Wilson a few days since that he met nothing so discouraging as the evident sincerity of those he was among in their prayers. But we will talk over the merits of the case. "What good would a proclamation of emancipation from me do, espe- cially as we are now situated? I do not want to issue a document that the whole world will see must necessarily be inoperative, like the Pope's bull against the comet! Would my word free the slaves, when I cannot even enforce the Constitution in the rebel States? Is there a single court, or magistrate, or individual that would be influenced by it there? And what reason is there to think it would have any greater effect upon the slaves than the late law of Congress, which I approved, and which offers protection and freedom to the slaves of rebel masters who come within our lines? Yet I cannot learn that that law has caused a single slave to come over to us. And suppose they could be induced by a proc- lation of freedom from me to throw themselves upon us, what should we do with them? How can we feed and care for such a multitude? General Butler wrote me a few days since that he was issuing more rations to the slaves who have rushed to him than to all the white troops under his command. They eat, and that is all ; though it is true General Butler is feeding the whites also by the thousand; for it nearly amounts to a famine there. If, now, the pressure of the war should call off our forces from New Orleans to defend some other pc'.nt, what is to prevent the masters from reducing 'he blacks to slavery again ? for I 256 The Life, Public Services, and am told Miat whenever the rebels take anj black prisoners, free or slave, they immediately auction them olf ! They did so with those they took from a boat that was aground in the Tennessee River a tow days ago. And then I am very ungenerously attacked for it ! For instance, when, after the late battles at and near Bull Kun, an expedition went out from Washington under a flag of truce to bury the dead and bring in the wounded, and the rebels seized the blacks who went along to help, and sent them into slavery, Horace Greeley said in his paper that the Govern- ment would probably do nothing about it. What could I do? Now, then, tell me, if you please, what possible result of good would follow the issuing of such a proclamation as you desire ? Understand, I raise no objections against it on legal or constitutiimal grounds, for, as commander-in-chief of the army and navy, in time of war I suppose I have a right to take any measure which may best subdue the enemy ; nor do I urge objections of a moral nature, in view of possible conse- quences of insurrection and massacre at the South. I view this matter as a practical war measure, to be decided on according to the advantages or disadvantages it may oifer to the suppression of the rebellion. The Committee replied to these remarks, insisting that a proclamation of emancipation would secure at once the sympath}^ of Europe and the civilized world ; and that as slavery was clearly the cause and origin of the rebel- lion, it was simply just, and in accordance with the word of God, that it should be abolished. To these remarks the President responded as follows :— I admit that slavery is at the root of the rebellion, or at least its sine qua non. The ambition of politicians may have instigated tliem to act, but they would have been impotent witliout slavery as their instrument. I will also concede that emancipation would help us in Europe, and con- vince them that we are incited by something more than ambition. I grant, further, that it would help somewhat at the i^orth, though not so much, I fear, as you and those you represent imagine. Still, some addi- tional strength would be added in that way to the war, and then, un- questionably, it would weaken the rebels by drawing off their laborers, which is of great importance ; but I am not so sure we could do much with the blacks. If we were to arm them, I fear that in a few weeks the arms would be in the hands of the rebels ; and, indeed, thus far, we have not had arms enough to equip our white troops. I Avill mention another thing, though it meet only your scorn and contempt. There are fifty thousand bayonets in the Union army from the Border Slave States. It would be a serious matter if, in consequence of a proclamation such as you desire, they should go over to the rebels. I do not think they all State PArEus of Abraham Lln-coln. 257 would — not so many, indeed, as a year ago, or as six months a£;o--not sc many to-day as yesterday. Every day increases their Union feclin<; They are also getting their pride enlisted, and want to beat the rebels Let me say one thing more : I tliink you sliould admit that we already have an important principle to rally and unite the people, in the fact that constitutional government is at stake. This is a fundamental idea going down about as deep as any thing. Tlie Committee replied to tliis in some "brief remarks, lo wliicli tlie President made the following response : — Do not misundei-stand me because I have mentioned these objections. They indicate the difficulties that have thus far prevented my action in some such way as you desire. I have not decided against a proclanuition of liberty to the slaves, but hold the matter under advisement. And I can assure yon that the subject is on my mind, by day and night, moi-e than any other. Whatever shall appear to be God's will I will do. I trust that in the freedom with which I have canvassed your views I have not in any respect injured your feelings. After free deliberation, and being satisfied that the public welfare would be promoted by snch a steji, and that public sentinic^nt Avould sustain it, on the 22d of Sep- tember the President issued the following preliminary PROCLAMATION OF EMAXCIPATION. I, Abraham Lixcolx, President of the United States of America, and Commander-in-Chief of the army and navy thereof, do hereby proclaim and declare that hereafter, as heretofore, the war will be prosecuted for the object of practically restoring the constitutional relation between the United States and each of the States, and the people thereof, in which States that relation is or may be suspended or disturbed. That it is my purpose, upon the next meeting of Congress, to again recommend the adoption of a practical measure tendering pecuniary aid to the free acceptance or rejection of all slave States, so ,Mlled, the people whereof may not then be in rebellion against the United States, and which States may then have voluntarily adopted, or thereafter mav vol- untarily adopt, immediate or gradual abolishment of slavery within their respective limits ; and that the effort to colonize persons of African descent, with their consent, upon this continent or elsewhere, with the previously obtained consent of the governments existing there, will be continued. That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State, or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion 258 The Life, Public Services, and against the United States, shall be tlien, thenceforward, and forever free ; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the mili- tary and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such i)ersons, or any of them, in any etforts they may make for their actual freedom. That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by proc- lamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, iu ANhicli tiic people thereof respectively shall then be in rebellion against the United States; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall on that day be in good faith represented in the Congress of the United States, by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such State shall have participated, shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such State, and the people thereof, are not then in rebellion against the United States. That attention is hereby called to an act of Congress entitled "An Act to make an additional xVrticle of War," approved March 13th, 18G2, and which act is in the words and figures following: — Be it enacted Inj the Senate and Rouse of Eepresentatirei^ of the United States of America in Congress assemhJed, That hereafter the following shall be promulgated as an additional article of war for the government of the army of the United States, and shall be obeyed and observed as such : — Section 1. — All officers or persons in the military or naval service of the United States are prohibited from employing any of the forces under their respective comnuxnds for the purpose of returning fugitives from service or labor who may have escaped from any persons to whom such service or labor is claimed to be due ; and any officer who shall be found guilty by a court-martial of violating this article shall be dismissed from the service. Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That this act shall take effect from and after its passage. Also, to the ninth and tenth sections of an act entitled " An Act to Suppress Insurrection, to Punish Treason and Rebellion, to Seize and Confiscate Property of Rebels, and for other Purposes," approved July 16, 18G2, and wh^'-b sections are in the words and figures following : — Seo. 9. And le it further enacted, That all slaves of persons who shall hereafter be engaged in rebellion against the Government of the United States, or who shall in any way give aid or comfort thereto, escaping from such persons and taking refuge within the lines of the army; and all slaves captured from such persons, or deserted by them and coming under the control of the Government of the United States; and all slaves of such persons found on [or] being within any jxhice occupied by rebel forces and afterwards occupied by forces of the United States, shall be deemed captives of war, and shall be forever free of their servitude, and not again held as slaves. Seo. 10. And le it farther enacted, That no slave escaping into anv State, Territory, or the District of Columbia, from any other State, shall State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 259 be delivered np, or in any way impeded or hindered of his liberty, except for crime, or some offence against tlie laws, unless the person claiming said fugitive shall first make oath that the person to whom tlic labor or service of such fugitive is alleged to be due is his lawful owner, and has not borne arms against the United ^tates in the present rebellion, nor in any way given aid and comfort thereto; and no ])erson engaged in the military or naval service of the United States shall, under any pretence whatever, assume to decide on the validity of the claim of any person to the service or labor of any other person, or surrender up any such per- son to the claimant, on pain of being dismissed from the service. And I do hereby enjoin upon and order all persons engaged in the military and naval service of the United States to observe, obey, and en- force, within their respective spheres of service, the act and sections above recited. And the Executive will in due time recommend that all citizens of the United States who shall have remained loyal thereto throughout the rebellion, shall (upon the restoration of the constitutional relation be- tween the United States and their respective States and peojile, if that relation shall have been suspended or disturbed) be compensated for all losses by acts of the United States, including the loss of slaves. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set ray hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the City of Washington, this twenty-second day of Sep- tember, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and [l. 8.] sixty-two, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-seventh. Abraham Lincoln, By the President : William II. Seward, Secretary of State. The issuing of this procLimation created the deepest interest, not unmixed with anxiety, in the public mind. The opponents of the Administration in the loyal States, as well as the sympathizers with secession everywhere, insisted that it afforded unmistakable evidence that the object of the war was, what they had always declared it to be, the abolition of slaverj^, and not the restoration of the Union ; and they put forth the most vigorous efforts to arouse public sentiment against the Administration on this ground. They were met, however, by the clear and explicit declaration of the document itself, in which the President " proclaimed and declared" that "hereafter, as heretofore, the war will be prosecuted for the object of practically restoring the constitutional relation between 260 The Life, Public Services, and the United States and each of the States and the people thereof, in which that relation is or may be suspended or disturbed." This at once made it evident that emancipa- tion, as provided for in the proclamation, as a war meas- ure, was subsidiary and subordinate to the paramount object of the war— the restoration of the Union and the re-establishment of the authority of the Constitution ; and in this sense it was favorably received by the great body of the loyal people of the United States. It only remains to be added, in this connection, that on the 1st of January, 1863, the President followed this measure by issuing the following PROCLAMATION. Whereas, on the 22d day of September, in the year of onr Lord ono thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a proclamation was issued by tlio President of the United States, containing, among other things, the fol- lowing, to wit: — That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand cicht hundred and sisty-tliree, all persons held as slaves within any States or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free ; and the Executive Government of the United States, in eluding the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to re- press such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom. Tliat the Executive will, on the first day of .January aforesaid, by proc- lamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which the people thereof respectively shall then be in rebelHon against the United States; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall on that day be in good faith represented in the Congress of the United States, by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such State shall have participated, shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that siich State, and the people thereof, are not then in rebellion against the United States. Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and Government of the United States, and as a fit antl necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion, do, on this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and in accordance with my purpose so to do, publicly pro- laimed for the full period of one hundred days from the day first above State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 261 mentioned, order and designate, as the States and parts ol" States wherein the people thereof respectively are this day in rebellion against the United States, the following, to wit : Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana (except the parishes of St. Bernard, Plaque- mines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James, Ascension, Assumption, Terre Bonne, Lafourche, Ste. Marie, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the City of New Orleans), Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolma, N'orth Carolina, and Virginia (except the forty-eight counties designated as "West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkeley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Anne, and Norfolk, inclu- ding the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth), and which excepted parts are for the present left precisely as if this proclamation were not is.sued. And by virtue of the power and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States and parts of States are, and henceforward shall be, free ; and that the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons. And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defence; and I recommend to them that, in all cases when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages. And I further declare and make known that such persons, of suitable condition, will be received into the armed service of the United States, to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service. And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my name, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the City of Washington, this first day of January, in the year Fl s 1 *^^ ^"'' ^^^^ ^^^ thousand eiglit hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-seventh. By the President : ^Vbeaham Lincoln. William H. Sewaed, Secretary of State. 262 The Life, Public Services, and CHAPTER IX. THE MILITARY ADMINISTRATION OF 1862.— THE PRESIDENT AND general McCLELLAN. Genekai, McClellan succeeds McDowell. — The President's Order for AX Advance. — The Movement to the Peninsula. — Rebel Evacuation OF Manassas. — Arrangements for the Peninsular Movement. — Tub President's Letter to General McClellan. — The Eebel Strength at Yorktown. — The Battle of Williamsburg.— McClellan 's Fear of being Overwhelmed. — The President to McClellan. — Jackson's Raid in the Shenandoah Valley. — The President to McClellan.— Seven Pines and Fair Oaks. — McClellan's Complaints of Mc- Dowell. — His Continued Delays. — Prepares for Defeat. — Calls FOR MORE Men. — His Advice to the President. — Preparations to Concentrate the Army. — General Halleck to McClellan. — Ap- pointment OF General Pope. — Imperative Orders to McClellan. — McClellan's Failure to aid Pope. — His Excuses foe Delay.— Pro- poses TO LEAVE. — Pope unaided. — Excuses for Franklin's Delay. — His Excuses proved Groundless. — His alleged Lack of Supplies. — Advance into Maryland. — The President's Letter to McClellan. — He Protests against Df.lay. — McClellan relieved from Com- mand. — Speech by the President. The repulse of the national forces at the battle of Bull Run in July, 1861, aroused the people of the loyal States to a sense of the magnitude of the contest which had been forced upon them. It stimulated to intoxication the pride and ambition of the rebels, and gave intinite encourage- ment to their efforts to raise fresh troops, and increase the military resources of their Confederation. Nor did the reverse the national cause had sustained for an instant damp the ardor or check the determination of the Govern- ment and people of the loyal States. General McDowell, the able and accomplished officer who commanded the army of the United States in that engagement, conducted the operations of the day with signal ability ; and his defeat was due, as subsequent disclosures have clearly shown, far more to accidents for which others were re- State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 2Go sponsible, than to any lack of skill in planning the hat- tie, or of courage and generalship on the held. But it was the hrst considerable engagement of the war, and its loss was a serious and startling disappointment to the sanguine expectations of the people : it was deemed neces- sary, therefore, to place a new commander at the head of the army in front of Washington. General McClellan, who had been charged, at the outset of the war, with operations in the Department of the Ohio, and who had achieved marked success in clearing Western Virginia of the rebel troops, was summoned to Washington on tlie 22d of July, and on the 27th assumed command of tlie Army of the Potomac. Although then in command only of a department. General McClellan, with an ambition and a presumption natural, perhaps, to his age and the circumstances of his advancement, addressed his atten- tion to the general conduct of the war in all sections of the country, and favored the Government and Lieutenant- General Scott with several elaborate and meritorious let- ters of advice, as to the method most proper to be pui*- sued for the suppression of the rebellion. He soon, how- ever, found it necessary to attend to the preparation of the army under his command for an immediate resumption of hostilities. Fresh troops in great numbers speedil}^ poured in from the Northern States, and were organized and disciplined for prompt and effective service. The number of troops in and about the Capital when General McClellan assumed command, was a little over fifty thou- sand, and the brigade organization of General McDowell formed the basis for the distribution of these new forces. By the middle of October this army had been raised to over one hundred and fifty thousand men, with an artil- lery force of nearl}^ five hundred pieces — all in a state of excellent discipline, under skilful officers, and animated by a zealous and impatient eagerness to renew the contest for the preservation of the Constitution and Government of the United States. The President and Secretary of War had urged the division of the army into corjjs d\irmee^ for the purpose of more effective service ; but 264 The Life, Public Services, and General McClellan liad discouraged and thwarted their endeavors in this direction, mainly on the ground that there were not officers enough of tried ability in the army to be intrusted with such high commands as this division would create. On the 22d of October, a portion of onr forces which had been ordered to cross the Potomac above Washing- ton, in the direction of Leesburg, were met by a heavy force of the enemy at Ball' s Bluff, repulsed with severe loss, and compelled to return. The circumstances of this disastei' excited a great deal of dissatisfaction in the pub- lic mind, and this was still further aggravated by the fact that the rebels had obtained, and been allowed to hold, complete control of the Potomac below Washington, so as to establish a virtual and eflective blockade of the Capital from that direction. Special efforts were repeat- edly made by the President and IS'avy Department to clear the banks of the river of the rebel forces, known to be small in number, which held them, but it was found impossible to induce Genei-al McClellan to take any steps to aid in the accomplishment of this result. In October lie had promised that on a day named, four thousand troops should be ready to proceed down the river to co- operate with the Potomac flotilla under Captain Craven ; but at the time appointed the troops did not arrive, and General McClellan alleged, as a reason for having changed his mind, that his engineers had informed him that so large a body of troops could not be landed. The Secre- tary of the Navy replied that the landing of the troops was a matter of which that department assumed the responsibility ; and it was then agreed that the troojjs should be sent down the next night. They were not sent, however, either then or at any other time, for which General McClellan assigned as a reason the fear that such an attempt might bring on a general engagement. Cap- tain Craven upon this threw up his co]umand, and the Potomac remained closed to the vessels and transports of the United States until it was opened in March of the next year by the voluntary withdrawal of the rebel forces. State Papeus of Abraham Lincoln. 265 On the 1st of November, General McClellan was ap- pointed by the President to succeed General Scott in the command of all tlie armies of the Union, remaining in personal command of the Army of the Potomac. Ilis attention was then of necessity turned to the direction of army movements, and to the conduct of j)()litical affairs, so far as they came under military control, in the more distant sections of the country. But no movement took place in the Army of the Potomac. The season had been unusually favorable for military operations — the troops were admirably organized and dis- ciplined, and in the highest state of efhciency — in num- bers they were known to be far superior to those of the rebels opposed to them, who were nevertheless permit- ted steadily to push their approaches towards Washing- ton, while, from the highest officer to the humblest pri- vate, our forces were all animated with an eager desire to be led against the enemies of their country. As winter approached without any indications of an intended move- ment of our armies, the public impatience rose to the highest point of discontent. The Administration was everywhere held responsible for these unaccountable de- lays, and was freely charged by its opponents with a de- sign to protract the war for selfish political purposes of its own ; and at the fall election the public dissatisfaction made itself manifest by adverse votes in every considera- ble State where elections were held. I'nable longer to endure this state of things, President Lincoln put an end to it on the 27th of January, 1862, by issuing the following order : — Executive Mansion, Washington, Januar)/ 27, 1S62. Ordei'ed, That the twenty-second day of February, 1802, be the day for a general movement of the hind and naval forces of the UnitfJ States against the insurgent forces. That especially the army at and about For- tress Monroe, the Army of the Potomac, the Army of Western Virginia, the army near Munfordsville, Kentucky, the army and flotilla at Cairo, and a naval force in the Gulf of Mexico, be ready to move on that day. That all other forces, both land and naval, with their respective com- manders, obey existing orders for the time, and be ready to obey addi- tional orders when duly given. 266 The Life, Public Services, and That the lieads of departments, and especially the Secretaries of War and of the Navy, with all their subordinates, and the General-in-C!iief, with all other commanders and subordinates of land and naval forces, will severally be held to their strict and full responsibilities for prompt execution of this order. Abraham Lincoln. This order, wliicli applied to all the armies of the Uni- ted States, was followed four days afterwards by the fol- lowing special order directed to General McClellan : — Executive Mansion, Wabhincston, January 81, 1&C2. Ordered, That all the disposable force of the Army of the Potomac, after providing safely for the defence of Washington, be formed into an expedition for the immediate object of seizing and occupying a point upon the railroad southwest of what is known as Manassas Junction, all details to be in the discretion of the Commander-in-Chief, and the expe- dition to move before or on the twenty-second day of February next. Abkaiiam Lincoln. The object of this order was to engage the rebel army in front of Washington by a flank attack, and by its de- feat relieve the Capital, put Richmond at our mercy, and break the main strength of the rebellion by destroying the principal army arrayed in its support. Instead of obeying it, General McClellan remonstrated against its execution, and urged the adoption of a different plan of attack, which was to move upon Richmond by way of the Chesapeake Bay, the Rappahannock River, and a land march across the country from Urbana, leaving the rebel forces in position at Manassas to be held in check, if they should attempt a forward movement, only by the troops in the fortifications around Washington. As the result of several conferences with the President, he ob- tained permission to state in writing his objections to his plan — the President meantime sending him the following letter of inquiry : — Executive Manbiox, WAgmNOTOsr, Fehruary 3, 1862. Mt Dear Sir: — You and I have distinct and different plans for a movement of the Army of the Potomac : yours to be done by the Chesa- peake, up the Rappahannock to Urbana, and across land to the terminus of the railroal on the York Paver ; mine to move directly to a point on the railroad southwest of Manassas. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 267 If you will give satisfactory answers to the following questions, I sliall gladly yield my i)lau to yours : — 1st. Does not your plan involve a greatly larger exi)enditurc of time and money than mine? 2d. Wherein is a victory more certain by your plan tlian mine? 3d. Wherein is a victory more valuable by your plan than mine? 4tii. In fact, would it not be less valuable in this : that it would break no great line of the enemy's communications, while mine would ? 5th. In case of disaster, would not a retreat be more difticult by your plan than mine ? Yours, truly, Abraham Lincoln. Major-General McClellan. General McClellan sent to the Secretary of War, un- der date of February 3d, a very long letter, presenting strongly the advantage possessed by the rebels in hold- ing a central defensive position, from which they could with a small force resist any attack on either fiank, con- centrating their main strength upon the other for a deci- sive action. The uncertainties of the weather, tlie neces- sity of having long lines of communication, and the prob- able indecisiveness even of a victory, if one should be gained, were urged against the President's plan. So strongly was General McClellan in favor of his own plan of operations, that he said he "should prefer the move from Fortress Monroe as a base, to an attack upon Ma- nassas." The President was by no means convinced by General McClellan' s reasoning; but in consequence of his steady resistance and unwillingness to enter upon the execution of any other plan, he assented to a submission of the matter to a council of twelve officers held late in February, at head-quarters. The result of that council was, a decision in favor of moving by way of the lower Chesapeake and the Rappahannock — seven of the Gen- erals present, viz., Fitz-John Porter, Franklin, W. F. Smith, McCall, Blenker, Andrew Porter, and Naglee, voting in favor of it, as did Keyes also, with the qualifi- cation that the army should not move until the rebels were driven from the Potomac, and Generals McDowell, Sumner, Heintzelman, and Barnard, voting against it. In this decision the President acquiesced, and on the 268 The Life, Public Services, axd 8tli of March issued two general war orders, tlie first directing the Major-General commanding the Army of the Potomac to proceed forthwith to organize that part of said army destined to enter upon active operations into four army corps, to be commanded, tlie fi.rst by General McDowell, the second by General Sumner, the third by General Ileintzelman, and the fourth by General Kej'es. General Banks was assigned to the command of a fifth corps. It also appointed General Wadsworth Military Governor at AVashington, and directed the order to be " executed with such promptness and dispatch as not to delay the commencement of the operations already di- rected to be undertaken by the Army of the Potomac."' The second of these orders was as follows : — Executive Mansion, Wasuington, March 8, 1862. Ordered, That no change of the base of operations of the Army of the Potomac shall he made without leaving in and about Washington such a force as, in the opinion of the General-in-Chief and the com- manders of army corps, shall leave said city entirely secure. That no more than two army corps (about fifty thousand troops) of said Army of the Potomac shall be moved en route for a new base of operations until the navigation of the Potomac, from Washington to the Chesapeake Bay, shall be freed from the enemy's batteries, and other obstructions, or until the President shall hereafter give express per- mission. That any movement as aforesaid, en route for a new base of operations, which may be ordered by the General-in-Chief, and which may be in- tended to move upon the Chesapeake Bay, shall begin to move upon the bay as early as the eighteenth March instant, and the General-in-Chief sliall be responsible that it moves as early as that day. Ordered, That the army and navy co-operate in an immediate eftbrt to capture the enemy's batteries upon the Potomac between Washington and the Chesapeake Bay. Abraham Lincoln. L. TuoMAs, Adjutant- General. This order was issued on the 8tli of March. On the 9th, information Avas received by General McClellan, at Washington, that the enemy had abandoned his position in front of that city. He at once crossed tlie Potomac, and on the same night issued orders for an immediate ad- vance of the whole army towards Manassas — not with State Papfus of Abraham Lincoln. 2G9 cany intention, as he lias since explained, of pursuing tlie rebels, and taking advantage of tlieir retreat, but to "get rid of superfluous baggage and other impediments Avhich accumulate so easily around an army encamped for a long time in one locality"— to give the troops " some expe- rience on the march and biyouac preparatory to the cam- paign," and to afford them also a "good intermediate step between the quiet and comparative comfort of the camps around Washington and the vigor of active opera- tions."* These objects, in General McClellan's opinion, were sufficiently accomplished by what the Prince de Joinville, of his staff, styles a "promenade" of the army to Manassas, where they learned, from personal inspec- tion, that the rebels had actually evacuated that position ; and on the 15th, orders were issued for a return of the forces to Alexandria. On the 11th of March, the President issued another or- der, stating that " Major-General McClellan having per- sonally taken the field at the head of the Army of the Potomac, until otherwise ordered, he is relieved from the command of the other military departments, retaining command of the Department of the Potomac." Major- General Halleck was assigned to the command of the De- partment of the Mississippi, and the Mountain Depart ment was created for Major-General Fremont. All the commanders of departments were also required to report directly to the Secretary of War. On the 13th of March, a council of war was held at head-quarters, then at Fairfax Court-House, by which it was decided that, as the enemy had retreated behind the Rappahannock, operations against Richmond could best be conducted from Fortress Monroe, provided : — 1st. Tliat tlio enemy's vessel, Merritnac, can be neutralized. 2d. That the means of transportation, sufficient for an immediate trans fer of the force to its new base, can be ready at Washington and Alexan- dria to move down the Potomac ; and, 3d. That a naval auxiliary force can be had to silence, or aid in silen- cing, the enemy's batteries on the York Kiver. * See General McClellan's Report, dated August 4, 1863. 270 The Life, Public Services, and 4th. That the force to he left to cover Washington sliall he such as to give an entire feeling of security for its safety from menace. Note. — That with the forts on the riglit bank of the Potomac fully garrisoned, and those on the left bank occupied, a covering force in front of the Virginia line of twenty-five thousand men would suffice. (Keyes, Ileintzelman, and McDowell.) A total of forty thoueand men for the defence of tlie city would suffice. (Sumner.) Upon receiving a report of this decision, the following communication was at once addressed to the commanding general : — "War Department, March 13, 1862. The President having considered the plan of operations agreed upon by yourself and the commanders of army corps, makes no objection to the same, but gives the following directions as to its execution :— 1st. Leave such force at Manassas Junction as shall make it entirely certain that the enemy shall not repossess himself of that position and line of communication. 2d. Leave Washington entirely secure. 8d. Move the remainder of the force down the Potomac, choosing a new base at Fortress Monroe, or anywhere between here and there ; or, at all events, move sucli remainder of the army at once in pursuit of the enemy by some route. Edwin M. Stantox, Secretary of War. Major-General George B. MoClellan. It will readily be seen, from these successive orders, that the President, in common with the whole country, had been greatly pained by the long delay of the Army of the Potomac to move against the enemy while en- camped at Manassas, and that this feeling was converted into chagrin and mortification when the rebels were allowed to withdraw from that position without the slightest molestation, and without their design being even suspected until it had been carried into complete and suc- cessful execution. He was impatiently anxious, there- fore, that no more time should be lost in delays. In reply to the Secretary of War, General McClellan, before embarking for the Peninsula, communicated his intention of reaching, without loss of time, the field of v^hat he believed w^ould be a decisive battle, which he expected State Papers of AiiUAiiAM Lincoln. 271 to fight between AYest Point and Riclimond. On tlie 31st of March, the President, out of deference to tlie importu- nities of General Fremont and his friends, and from a be- lief that this officer could make good use of a larger force than he then had at liis command in the Mountain Depart- ment, ordered General Blenker's division to leave the Army of the Potomac and join him ; a decision which he announced to General McClellau in the following let- ter :— ExECUTiTE Mansion, WABniNGTON, March 81, 1S62. My Deak Sir: — Tliis morning I felt constrained to order Blenker's division to Fremont, and I wi'ite this to assure you that I did so with great pain, understanding that you would wish it otherwise. If you could know the full pressure of the case, I am confident that you would justify it, even heyond a mere acknowledgment that the Commander-in-Chief may order what he pleases. Yours, very truly, A Lincoln, Major-General McClellan. General Banks, who had at first been ordered by Gen- eral McClellan to occupy Manassas, and thus cover Washington, was directed by him, on the 1st of April, to throw the rebel General Jackson well back from Win- chester, and then move on Staunton at a time "nearly coincident with his own move on Richmond ;'' though General McClellan expressed the fear that General Banks "could not be ready in time" for that movement. The four corps of the Army of the Potomac, destined for active operations by Avay of the Peninsula, were ordered to em- bark, and forwarded as rapidly as possible to Fortress Monroe. On the 1st of April, General McClellan wrote to the Secretary of war, giving a report of the dispositions he had made for the defence of Washington ; and on the 2d, General Wadsworth submitted a statement of the forces under his command, which he regarded as entirely inade- quate to the service required of them. The President re- ferred the matter to Adjutant-General Thomas and General E. A. Hitchcock, who made a report on the same day, in which they decided that the force left by General ]\IcClel- lan was not sufficient to make Washington " entirely 272 The Life, Public Services, and secure/'' as tlie President had required in his ordei o] March 13 ; nor was it as large as the council of officers held at Fairfax Court-House on the same day had ad- judged to be necessary. In accordance with this decision, and for the purpose of rendering the Capital safe, the army corps of General McDowell was detached from General McClellan's immediate command, and ordered to report to the Secretary of War. On reaching Fortress Monroe, General McClellan found Commodore Goldsborough, who commanded on that naval station, unwilling to send any considerable portion of his force up the York River, as he was employed in watcliing the Merrimack^ Avhich had closed the James River against us. He therefore landed at the Fortress, and commenced his march up the Peninsula, having reached the Warwick River, in the immediate vicinity of Yorktown, which had been fortified, and was held by a rebel force of about eleven thousand men, under General Magruder— a part of them, however, being across the river at Gloucester. He here halted to reconnoitre the position ; and on the 6tli wrote to the President that he had but eighty -five thousand men fit for duty — that the whole line of the Warwick River was strongly fortified — that it was pretty certain he was to "have the whole force of the enemy on his hands, probal)]y not less than a hundred thousand men, and probably more," and that he should commence siege operations as soon as he could get up his train. He entered, accordingly, upon this work, telegraphing from time to time complaints that he was not properly supported by the Government, and asking for re-enforcements. On the 9th of April, President Lincoln addressed him the following letter : — "Washington, April 9, If ^2. My Dear Sir : — Your dispatches, complaining that yon are not prop- erly sustained, while they do not otfend me, do pain me very much. Blenker's division was withdrawn from you before you left here, and you know the pressure under which I did it, and, as I thought, acqui- esced in it — certainly not without reluctance. After you left, I ascertained that less than twenty thousand iiiiorgaQ- State Papers of Aluauam Lincoln. 273 ized men, without a single field battery, were all you designed to be lett for the (IcIVnce of Washington and Manassas Junction, and part of this even was to go to General Hooker's old position. General Banks's corps, once designed for Manassas Junction, Avas diverted and tied up on the line o.f Winchester and Strasburg, and could not leave it without aguiu exposing the Upper Poton)ac and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. This presented, or would present, when McDowell and Suianer should be gone, a great temptation to the enemy to turn back from the Ilappahannock and sack Washington. ^My imj)licit order that Washington should, by the judgment of all the commanders of army corps, be left entirely secure, had been neglected. It was precisely this that drove me to detain Mc- Dowell. I do not forget that I was satisfied with your arrangement to leave Banks at Manassas Junction : but when that arrangement was broken up, and nothing was substituted for it, of course I was constrained to substitute something for It myself. And allow me to ask, do you really think I should permit the line from Richmond, via Manassas Junction, to this city, to be entirely open, except what resistance could be presented by less than twenty thousand unorganized troops? This is a (juestion which the country will not allow me to evade. There is a curious mystery about the number of troops now with you. When I telegraphed you on the sixth, saying you had over a hundred thousand with you, I had just obtained from the Secretary of War a state- ment taken, as he said, from your own returns, making one hundred and ■ eight thousand then with you and en route to you. You now say you will have but eighty-five thousand when all en route to you shall have reached you. How can the discrepancy of tweuty-three thousand be accounted for? As to General Wool's command, I understand it is doing for you ])re- cisely Avhat a like number of your own would have to do if that command was away. I suppose the whole force which has gone forward for you is with you by tliis time. And if so, I think it is the precise time for you to strike a blow. By delay, the enemy will relatively gain, upon you — that is, he will gain faster by fortifications and re-enforcements than you can by re- enforcements alone. And once more let me tell you, it is indispensable to you that you strike a blow. lam powerless to lielp this. You will do me the justice to remember I always insisted that going down the bay in search of a field, instead of fighting at or near Manassas, was only shifting, and not surmounting a difficulty ; that we would find the same enemy, and the same or eipial intrenchments, at either place. The coun- try will not fail to note, is now noting, that the present hesitation to move upon an intrenched enemy is but the story of Manassas repeated. I beg to assure you that I have never written you or spoken to you in greater kindness of feeling than now, nor with a fuller purpose to sustain 18 274 The Life, Public Services, and you, 60 far as, in my most anxious judgment, I consistently can. But you must act. Yours, very truly, Abraham Lincoln. Major-General McClellan. In this letter the President only echoed the impatience and eagerness of the whole country. The most careful inquiries which General Wool, in command at Fortress Monroe, had been able to make, satisfied him that York- town was not held by any considerable force ; and sub- sequent disclosures have nuide it quite certain that this force Avas so utterly inadequate to the defence of the position, that a prompt movement upon it would have caused its immediate surrender, and enabled our army to advance at once upon Richmond. General McClellan decided, however, to approach it by a regular siege ; and it was not until tliis design had become apparent, that the rebel Government began to re-enforce Magruder.* He * The following extract from the official report of Major-General Magruder, dated May 3d, 1862, and published by order of the Confederate Congress, is con- clusive as to the real strength of the force whit-li General McClellan had in front of him at Yorktown : — Headquaetkes, Department of the Tkninsi'I-a, ( Lek's Farm, Mny 3, 1S62. - General S. Cooper, A. and I. G. C. S. A. : General :—Doeming it of vital importance to hold Yorktown on York River, .inil Mulberry Island on .James Kiver, and to keep tlic enemy in check by an intervening; line until the author ities might take such steps as should be deemed necessary to meet a serious advance of the ene- rr;y in tlie Peninsuhi. I felt compelled to dispose of my forces in such a manner as to accomplish these objects ivjth ttie least risk possible under the circumstances of great hazard which sur- rounded the little army 1 commanded. I h.id prepared, as my real fine of defence, positions in advance .it Harwood's and Young"? Mills. Both flanks of this line were defended by boggy and difficult streams and swamps. * * * In my opinion, this advanced line, with its flank defences, might have been held by twenty thousand troops. * * * Finding my forces too weak to attemjit the de- fence of this line. I was compelled to jirepare to receive the enemy on a seoi.\ with fiee thoU4innd ?»««, exclxistve of tlue, garrisons, tee stopped and held in cheek over one hundred tfiouxand of Vn enemy. Every preparation was made in anticiiiation of another attack by the enemy. Tivo men slept in the trenches and under arms, but, to my utter surprisa, he permitted day after dat) to elapie without an aaS'tu/t. In a few days the obji ct of his del.ay was apparent. In every direction in front of our line.i, throuiih the intervening looods and along the open fieldx, earthworkx began to appear. Through the energetic action of the Government re-enloreemcnts begun to pour in, and each Itour the army of the Penin.sula gretc ulronger and ^tronger, until anxiety passed from my mind as to the result of an attack upon un. * * * J. Bankuead Maqeupbr, Major-Genei-ai, 276 The Life, Public Services, and from the beginning that a very formidable line of forts had been erected here, and it ought to have been equally well known by the commanding general that the retreat- ing enemy would avail himself of them to delay the pursuit. General McClellan, however, had evidently anticij)ated no resistance. He remained at his head-quar- ters, two miles in the rear of Yorktown, until summoned by special messenger in the afternoon of tlie 5th, who announced to him that our troops had encountered ihe enemy strongly posted, that a bloody battle was in progress, and that his presence on the held was impera- tively required. Replying to the messenger that he had supposed our troops in front " could attend to that little matter," General McClellan left his head-quarters at about half-past two, p. m., and reached the field at five. Gen- eral Hooker, General Heintzelman, and General Sumner had been fighting under enormous difficulties, and with heavy losses, during all the early part of the day ; and just as the commanding general arrived, General Kearney had re-enforced General Hooker, and General Hancock had executed a brilliant flank movement, which turned the fortunes of the day, and left our forces in possession of the field. General McClellan does not seem to have understood that this affair was simply an attempt of the rebel rear- guard to cover the retreat of the main force, and that when it had delayed the pursuit it had accomplished its whole purpose. He countermanded an order for the advance of two divisions, and ordered them back to Yorktown ; and in a dispatch sent to the War Depart- ment the same night, he treats the. battle as an engage- ment with the whole rebel army. "I find," he says, ' ' General Joe Johnston in front of me in strong force, probably greater, a good deal, than my own." He again complains of the inferiority of his command, says he will do all he can "with the force at his disposal," and that he should "run the risTc of at least holding them in check here (at Williamsburg) while he resumed the original plan" — which was to send Franklin to West Point by State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 277 water. But tlie direct pursuit of tlie retreating i-ebel army was abandoned — owing, as the General said, to the bad state of the roads, wiiich rendered it im^^racticable. Some five days were spent at AVilliamsburg, which en- abled the rebels, notwithstanding the "state of the roads," to withdraw their whole force across the Chick- ahominy, and establish themselves within the fortifica- tions in front of Richmond. On the morning of the 7th, General Franklin landed at AVest Point, but too late to intercept the main body of the retreating army ; he "w^as met by a strong rear-guard, Avith whom he had a sharp • but fruitless engagement. The York River had been selected as the base of operations, in preference to the James, because it "was in a better jiosition to effect a junction with any troops that might move from Washington on the Fredericksburg line ;"* and arrangements were made to procure supplies for tlie army by that route. On the 9th, Norfolk was evacuated by the rebels, all the troops withdrawing in safety to Richmond ; and the city, on the next day, was occupied by General Wool. On the 11th, the formidable steamer Merrimack^ which had held our whole naval force at Fortress Monroe completely in check, was blown up "by the rebels themselves, and our vessels attempted to reopen the navigation of the James River, but were repulsed by a heavy battery at Drury's Bluff, eight miles below Richmond. After waiting for several days for the roads to improve, the main body of the army was put in motion on the road towards Richmond, which was about forty miles from William s])urg ; and, on the 16th, head-quarters were established at White House, at the point where the Richmond Railroad crosses the Pamun- key, an affluent of the York River— the main body of the army lying along the south bank of the Chickahominy, a SAvampy stream, behind which the rebel army had in- trenched itself for the defence of Richmond. General McClellan began again to prepare for fighting * See General McCIellan's testimony — Report of Committee on Conduct of the AV'ar, vol. i., p. -131. 278 The Life, Public Services, and the "decisive battle" wliicli he had been predicting evei since the rebels withdrew from Manassas, but which they had so far succeeded in avoiding. A good deal of his at- tention, however, was devoted to making out a case of neglect against the Government. On the 10th of May, when he had advanced but three miles beyond Williams- burg, he sent a long dispatch to the War Derartment, reiterating his conviction that the rebels were about to dispute his advance with their whole force, and asking for "every man" the Government could send him. If not re-enforced, he said he should probably be "obliged to fight nearly double his numbers strongly intrenched." Ten days previously the otRcial returns showed that he had one hundred and sixty thousand men under his com- mand. On the 14th, he telegraphed the President, reit- erating his fears that he was to be met by overwhelming numbers, saying that he could not bring more than eighty thousand men into the field, and again asking for "every man" that the War Department could send him. Even if more troops should not be needed for military pur- poses, he thought a great display of imposing force in the capital of the rebel government would have the best moral effect. To these repeated demands the President, through the Secretary of War, on the 18th of May, made the following reply : — Washington, May IS — 3 p. m. General :— Your dispatch to the President, asking re-enforcenientsi, has been received and carefully considered. The President is not willing to uncover the Capital entirely; and it is believed that even if this were prudent, it would require more time to effect a junction between your army and that of the Rai)pahannock by the way of the Potomac and York River, than by a land march. lu order, therefore, to increase the strength of the attack upon Richmond at the earliest moment, General McDowell has been ordered to march upon that city by the shortest route. He is ordered, keeping himself always in posi- tion, to save the Capital from all possible attack, so to operate as to put his left wing in communication with your right wing, and you are in- structed to co-operate so as to establish this communication as soon aa possil)le by extending your right wing to the north of Richmond. It is believed that this communication can be safely established either north or south of the Paraunkey River. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 27U In any event, you will be able to prevent the main body of tlie enemy's forces from leaving Kichmoud, and falling in overwholniiiig force upon General McDowell. He will move with between thirty-five and forty thousand men. A copy of the instructions to General McDowell are with this. The specific task assigned to his command has been to provide against any danger to the capital of the nation. At your earliest call for re-enforcements, he is sent forward to co-oper- ate in the reduction of Richmond, but charged, in attempting tlii-;, not to uncover the City of Washington, and you will give no order, either before or after your junction, which can put him out of position to cover this city. You and ho will communicate with each other by telegraph or otherwise, as frequently as may be necessary for sufficient co-operation. When General McDowell is in position on your right, his supplies must be drawn from West Point, and you will instruct your staff officers to be prepared to supply him by that route. The President desires that General McDowell retain the command of the Department of the Rappahannock, and of the forces with which ho moves forward. By order of the President. • Edwix M. Stanton. In reply to this, on the 21st of May, General McClellan repeated liis declarations of the overwhelming force of the rebels, and urged that General McDowell should join him by Avater instead of by land, going down tlie Rappa- hannock and the bay to Fortress Monroe, and then ascend- ing the York and Paraunkey Rivers. He feared there was "little hope that he could join him overland in time for the coming battle. Delays," he says, "on my part will be dangerous : I fear sickness and demoralization. This region is unhealthy for Northern men, and unless kept moving, I fear that our soldiers may become dis- couraged" — a fear that was partially justified by the ex- perience of the whole month succeeding, during which he kept them idle. He complained also that McDowell was not put more completely under his command, and declared that a movement by land would uncover Wash- ington qnite as completely as one by water. He was busy at that time in bridging the Chickahominy, and gave no instructions, as required, for supplying McDow- ell' s forces on their arrival at West Point. 280 The Life, Public Services, and To these representations lie received from the Presi- dent the following reply : — Washington, Mdij 24, 1SG2. I left General McDowell's camp at dark last evening. Shields's com- mand is there, but it is so worn that he cannot move before ilouday morning, the :^6th. We have so thinned our line to get troops for other places that it was broken yesterday at Front Royal, with a probable loss to us of one regiment infantry, two companies cavalry, putting General Banks in some periL The enemy's forces, under General Anderson, now opposing General McDowell's advance, have, as their line of supply and retreat, the road to Richmond. If, in conjunction with McDowell's movement against Anderson, you could send a force from your right to cut off the enemy's supplies from Richmond, preserve the railroad bridge across the two fords of the Pa- munkey, and intercept the enemy's reti-eat, you will prevent the army now opposed to you from receiving an accession of numbers of nearly fifteen thousand men ; and if you succeed in saving the bridges, you will secure a line of railroad for supplies in addition to the one you now have. Can you not do this almost as well as not, while you are building the Ohickahominy bridges? McDowell and Shields both say they can, and positively will move Monday morning. I wish you to move cautiously and safely. You will have command of McDowell, after he joins you, preci-ely as you indicated in your long dispatch to us of the 21st. A. Lincoln, President. Major-General G. B. McClellan. General Banks, it will be remembered, had been sent by General McClellan, on the 1st of April, to guard the ap- proaches to Washington by the valley of the Shenandoah, which were even then menaced by Jackson with a con- siderable rebel force. A conviction of the entire insuffi- ciency of the forces left for the protection of the Capital had led to the retention of JMcDowell, from whose com- mand, however, upon General McClellan' s urgent and impatient applications. General Franklin's division had been detached. On the 23d, as stated in the above letter from the President, there were indications of a purpose on Jackson' s part to move in force against Banks ; and this purpose was so clearly developed, and his situation became so critical, that the President was compelled to State PArERS oe Abraham Lincoln. 281 re-enforce liim, a movement v.iiieh lie announced in tlie following dispatch to General McCleilan : — May 24, 1S02.— (Fi-om WasliiiiKloii, 4 i>. m.) In consequence of General Banks's cntical position, 1 have Iteen com- pelled to suspend General McDowell's movements to join you. The enemy are making a desperate push upon Harper's Ferry, and -we are trying to throw General Fremont's force, and part of General McDowell's, in their rear. A. Lincoln, President. Major-General G. B. McClellan. Unable, apparently, or nnAvilling to concede any thing whatever to emergencies existing elsewhere. General McCleilan remonstrated against the diversion of McDow- ell, in .reply to which he received, on the 26t:li, the following more full explanation from the President : — Washington, Mity '25, 1S62. Your dispatch received. General Banks was at Strasburg with about six thousand men, Sliields having been taken from him to swell a col- umn for McDowell to aid you at liichmond, and tlie rest of his force .scattered at various places. On the 23d, a rebel force, of seven thousand to ten thousand, fell upon one regiment and two companies guarding the bridge at Port Royal, destroying it entirely ; crossed the Slienandoah, and on the 24th, yesterday, pushed on to get north of Ranks on the road to Winchester. General Banks ran a race witli tliem, lieating them into Winchester yesterday evening. Tins morning a battle ensued between the two forces, in which General Banks was beaten back into full retreat towards Martinsburg, and probably is broken up into a total rout. Geary, on the Manassas Gap Railroad, just now reports that Jackson is now near Front Royal with ten thousand troops, following up and supporting, as I understand, the force now pursuing Banks. Also, that anotlier force of ten thousand is near Orleans, following on in the same direction. Stripped bare, as we are here, I will do all we can to prevent them cross- ing the Potomac at Harper's Ferry or above. McDowell has about twenty thousand of his forces moving back to the vicinity of Port Royal, and Fremont; who was at Franklin, is moving to llairisunbiirg — botli these movements intended to get in the enemy's rear. One more of McDowell's brigades is ordered through here to Harper's Ferry ; the rest of his forces remain for the i)resent at Fredericksburg. We are sending such regiments and dribs from here and Baltimore as we can spare to Harper's Ferry, supplying their places in some sort, calling m militia from the adjacent States. We also have eighteen cannon on the road to Harper's Ferry, of which arm there is not a single one at tliat point. This is now our situation. 282 The Life, Public Services, and If McDowell's force was now beyond our reach, we should be entirely helpless. Apprehensions of something like this, and no unwillingness to sustain you, has always been my reason for withholding McDowell's forces from you. Please understand this, and do the best you can with the forces you have. A. Lincoln, President. Major-General McOlellan. Jackson continued liis triumphant march through the Shenandoah Valley, and for a time it seemed as if noth- ing could prevent his crossing the Potomac, and making his appearance in rear of AVasliington. The President promptly announced this state of things to General Mc- Clellau in the following dispatch : — Washington, May 25, 1SG2 — 2 p. m. The enemy is moving north in sufticient force to drive General Banks before him ; precisely in what force we cannot tell. lie is also threaten- ing Leesburg and Geary on the Manassas Gap Eailroad, from both north and south; in precisely what force we cannot tell. I think the move- ment is a general and concerted one. Such as would not be if he was acting upon the purpose of a very desperate defence of Richmond. I think the time is near when you must either attack Richmond or give up the job, and come to the defence of Washington. Let me hear from you instantly. A. Lincoln. To this General McClellan replied that, independently of the President' s letter, ' ' the time was very near when he should attack Richmond." He knew nothing of Banks's position and force, but thought Jackson's move- ment was designed to prevent re-enforcements being sent to him. On the 26th, the President announced to General Mc- Clellan the safety of Banks at Williamsport, and then turned his attention, Avitli renewed anxiety, to the move- ment against Richmond, urging General McClellan, if possible, to cut the railroad between that city and the Rappahannock, over which the enemy obtained their supplies. The General, on the evening of the 26th, in- formed him that he was "quietly closing in upon the enemy preparatory to the last struggle" — that he felt forced to take every possible precaution against disaster, State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 283 and that liis "arrangements for tlie morrow Avere very important, and if successful would leave him free to strike on the return of the force attacked." The move- ment here referred to was one against a portion of the rebel forces at Hanover Court-House, which threatened McDowell, and was in a position to re-enforce Jackson. The expedition was under command of General Pitz-John Porter, and proved a success. General McClellan on the 2Sth announced it to the Government as a "complete rout" of the rebels, and as entitling Porter to the highest honors. In the same dispatch he said he Avould do his best to cut off Jackson from returning to Pichmond, but doubted if he could. The great battle was about to be fought before Richmond, and he adds: "It is tlie policy and the duty of the Government to send me by water all the well-drilled troops available. All unavailable troops should be collected here." Porter, he said, had cut all the railroads but the one from Richmond to Fred- ericksburg, which was the one concerning which the President had evinced the most anxiety. Another expedition was sent to the South Anna River and Ashland, which destroyed some bridges without op- position. This was announced to the Government by General McClellan as another "complete victory " achiev- ed by the heroism of Porter— accompanied by the state- ment that the enemy were even in greater force than he had supposed. " I will do," said the dispatch, "all that quick movements can accomplish, and you must send me all the troops you can, and leave to me full latitude as to choice of commanders." In reply, the President sent him the following : — WASiirNGTON, Mai/ 2S, 1S62. I am very glad of General F. J. Porter's victory; st'll, if it was a total ront of the enemy, I am puzzled to know wliy the riichmoiid and Fred- ericksburg Railroad was not seized again, as you say yoii liave all the railroads but the Richmond and Fredericksburg. I am jjuzzled to see how, lacking tliat, you can have any, except the scrap from Richmond to West Point. The scrap of the Virginia Central, from Richmond to Han- over Junction, without nr^re, is simply nothiug. That the whole of the enemy is concentrating on Richmond, I think, cannot be certainly known 284 The Life, Public Services, a^'d to you or mo. Saxton, at Harper's Ferry, informs us 'Jiat large forces, supposed to be Jackson's and Ewell's, forced his advance froin Charles- town to-day. General King telegraphs us from Fredericksburg that con- trabands give certain information that fifteen thousand left Hanover Junction Monday morning to re-enforce Jackson. I am painfully im- pressed with the importance of the struggle before you, and shall aid you all I can consistently with my view of the due regard to all points. A. Lincoln. Major-General MoClellan. To a dispatch reporting the destruction of the South Anna Railroad bridge, the President replied thus :— WASinxGTON, ifay 29, 1SC2. Your dispatch as to the South Anna and Ashland l)eing seized by our forces this morning is received. Understanding tliese points to bo on the Richmond and Fredericksburg Railroad, I heartily congratulate the country, and thank General McClellan and his army for their seizure. A. Lincoln. On the 30th, General McClellan telegraphed to the Sec- retary of War, complaining that the Government did not seem to appreciate the magnitude of Porter' s victory, and saying that his army was now well in hand, and that " another day will make the probable field of battle pass able for artillery." On the 25th of May, General Keyes with the Fourth Corps had been ordered across the Chickahominy, and was followed by the Third, under General Heintzelman— cue division of the Fourth, under General Casey, being pushed forward within seven miles of Richmond, to Seven Pines, which he Avas ordered to hold at all hazards. On the 28th, General Keyes was ordered to advance Casey's Division three-quarters of a mile to Fair Oaks. General Keyes obeyed tlie order, but made strong representations to head- quarters of the extreme danger of pushing these troops so far in advance without adequate support, and requested that General Heintzelman might be brought within sup- porting distance, and that a stronger force miglit be crossed over the Chickahominy to be in readiness for the general engagement which these advances would be very likely to bring on. These requests were neglected, and General State Papers of Abhaiiam Linooj.x. 285 Kojes was rop:arded and tix^atod as an alarmist. On tlie afternoon of the 30th he made a personal examination of his front, and reported that he was menaced hy an over- whelming force of the enemy in front and on botli Hanks, and he again urged the necessity for support, to which he received a ver}'' abrupt reply that no more troo})S would be crossed over, and that the Third Corps would not be ad- vanced unless he was attacked. At about noon the next day he was attacked on both flanks and in front. General Casey's Division driven liack with heavy loss, and in spite of a stubborn and gallant resistance on the part of his corps, General Keyes was compelled to fall back with severe losses, some two miles, when the enemy was check- ed, and night put an end to the engagement. On hearing the firing at head-quarters, some four miles distant. Gen- eral McClellan ordered General Sumner to hold liis com- mand in readiness to move. General Sumner not only did so, but moved them at once to the bridge, and on receiv- ing authority crossed over, and, by the greatest exertions over muddy roads, reached the field of battle in time to aid in checking the rebel advance for the night. Early the next morning the enemy renewed the attack with great vigor, but the arrival of General Sumner, and the advance of General Heintzelman' s Corps, enabled our forces, though still greatly inferior, not only to repel the assault, but to inflict upon the enemy a signal defeat. The}^ were driven back in the utmost confusion and with terrible losses upon Richmond, where their arrival created the utmost con- sternation, as it was taken for granted they would be immediately followed by our whole army. General McClellan, who had remained with the main body of the army on the other side of the Cliickahominy during the whole of the engagements of both days, crossed the river after the battle was over, and visited the field. "The btate of the roads," he says, "and the impossibil- ity of manoeuvring artillery, prevented pursuit." He re- turned to head-quarters in the afternoon. On the next day, June 2d, General Heintzi'lman sent forward a strong reconnoitring party under General Hooker, which went 286 The Life, Public Services, and within four miles of Riclimond without linding any en- emy. Upon being informed of tliis fact, General McClel- lan ordered the force to fall back to its old position, assigning the bad state of the roads as the reason for not attempting either to march upon Richmond, or even to hold the ground already gained. In a dispatch to Wash- ington on the 2d, he states that he "only waits for the river to fall to cross with the rest of the army and make a general attack. The inorale of my troops," he adds, " is now such that I can venture much. I do not fear for odds against me." It seems to have been his intention then, to concentrate his forces for an immediate advance upon the rebel capital, though in his report, written more than a year afterwards, he says the idea of uniting' the two wings of the army at that time for a vigorous move uj)on Richmond was " simply absurd, and was probably never seriously entertained by any one connected with the Army of the Potomac."* The Government at once took measures to strengthen the army bv all the means available. An order was issued, placing at his command all the disposable forces at Fortress Monroe, and another ordering McDowell to send McCall' s division to him by water from Fredericksburg. McDowell or Fremont was expected to fight Jackson at Front Royal, after which, part of their troops would become available for the Army of the Potomac. On the 4th, General McClellan telegraphed that it was raining, that the river was still high, that he had "to be very cautious," that he expected another severe battle, and hoped, after our heavy losses, he " should no longer be regarded as an alarmist." On the 5th, the Secretary of War sent him word that troops had been embarked for him at Baltimore, to which he replied on the 7th, ''^ I sJiall he in perfect readiness to mom forward and take Riclimond the moment McCall reaches Jiere, and the ground will admit the pas- sage of artillery^ .On the 10th, General McCall's forces began to arrive at White House, and on the same day * See General McClellan's Report, August 4, 1863. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 287 General McClellaii telegraphed to tlie department tliat a rumor had reached him that the rebels had been re-enforced by Beauregard— that he thought a portion of Halleck's army from Tenness(^e should be sent to strengthen liim, but that lie should " attack with what force he had, as soon as the weather and ground will permit— but there will be a delay," he added, "the extent of whi'^h no one can foresee, for the season is altogether abnormal." The Secretary of War replied that Halleck would be urged to comply with his request if he could safely do so — that neither Beauregard nor his army was in Riclimond, that McDowell's force would join him as soon as possible, that Fremont had had an engagement, not wholly successful, with Jackson, and closing witli this strong and cordial assurance of confidence and support : — Be assured, General, that there never lias been a moment when my de- sire has been otherwise than to aid you with my whole heart, mind, and strength, since the hour we first met ; and whatever others may say for tlieir own purposes, you have never had, and never can have, any one more truly your friend, or more anxious to support you, or more joyful than I shall be at the success which, I have no doubt, will soon be achieved by your arms. On the 14th, General McClellan wrote to the War Department that the weather was favorable, and that iioo days more would make the ground practicable. He still urges the propriety of sending him more troops, but linds a new subject of complaint in a telegram he had received from McDowell. The latter, on the 8th, had received the following orders : — The Secretary of War directs that, having first provided adequately for the defence of the City of Washington and for holding the position at Fredericksburg, you operate with the residue of your force as speedily as possible in the direction of Richmond to co-operate with M:ijor-Genera] McClellan, in accordance with the instructions heretofore given you. Ale- CalVs Diriftion, which has been by previous order directed towards Rich- mond by water, will still form a part of the Aryny of the Rappahan?iocl; and will come under your orders when you are in a position to co-opcratf with General McClellan. 288 The Life, Public Services, and General McDowell had telegraphed McClellaii as fol- lows on the 10th of June : — For tlie third time 1 a:ii ordered to join you, and hope this time to get through. In view of the remarks made \vith reference to my leaving you, and not joining you before, by your friends, and of sometliing I have heard as coming from you on that subject, I wish to ^ay, I go with the greatest satisfaction, and hope to arrive with my main body in time to be of service. McCall goes in advance by water. I will be with you in ten days with the remainder by Fredericksburg. And again, June 12th :— , The delay of Major-General Banks to relieve the division of my com- mand in the valley beyond the time I had calculated on, will prevent ray joining you with the remainder of the troops I am to take ]>elow at as early a day as I named. My Third Division (McCall's) is now on the way. Please do we the favor to so place it that it may be in a position to join the others as they come t.'own from Fredericlcubiirg. These telegrams, it will be seen, are in accordance with the orders to McDowell of the 8th, which directed that McCall's Division shonld continue to form part of the Army of the Rappahannock, and required that McDowell should operate in the direction of Richmond, to co-oper- ate with McClellan in accordance with instructions here- tofore gircn him. These instructions are those of the 17th and 18th of May, concerning which McClellan sent to the President his long telegram of the 21st, in wliicli he says :^ This fact (McDowell's forces coming within his department), my supe- rior rank, and the express language of the sixty-second article of war, will place his command under my orders, unless it is otherwise specially airected by your Excellency, and I consider that he will be under my command, except that I am not to detach any portion of his forces, or give any orders which can put him out of position to cover Washington To this the President answered : — Tou will have command of ilcDowell after he joins you, precisely as yon indicated in your long dispatch to us of the 21st. In regard to this, McClellan, in his report (August 4th, 1863), says :- State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 289 This information, that McDowell's Corps would march from Fredericks hurg on the following Monday — the 2fith— and that ho would be under my command as indicated in my telegram of tlie 21st, was cheering news, and I now felt confident that we would, on liis arrival, be sutHciently strong to overpower the large army confronting us. Yet in the simple request of McDowell, as to the posting of his Third (McCairs) Division — made to carry out tlie plan — tlie news of which, McClellan says, was so cheering, and inspired him with such confidence, Mc- Clellan sees nothing but personal ambition on McDowell's • part, and protests against that "spirit" in the following terms : — That request does not breathe the proper spirit. Whatever troops come to me must be disposed of so as to do the most good. I do not feel that, in such circumstances as those in which I am now placed, (Tcneral McDowell should wish the general interests to be sacrificed for the pur- pose of increasing his command. If I cannot fully control all his trooj^s^ I want none of them, but tconld prefer to fight the battle icith what I hare, and let others be responsible for the results. The department lines should not be allowed to interfere with me ; but General McD., and all other troops sent to me, should be placed comj>lete- ly at my disposal, to do with them as I think best. In no other way can they be of assistance to me. I therefore request that I may have entire and full control. The stake at issue is too great to allow personal con siderations to be entertained: you know that I have none. It had been suggested, in some of the journals of the day, that General McDowell might possibly advance upon Richmond from the north, without waiting for McClellan : it is scarcely possible, however, that any suspicion of such a purpose could have had any thing to do with General McClellan' s reiterated and emphatic desire that McDowell should join him by water, so as to be in his rear, and not by land, which would bring him on his front — with liis peremptory demand that all Mc- Dowell's troops should be " completely at his disposal," with his indignant protest against McDowell's personal ambition, or Avith his conviction of the propriety and necessity of disavowing all personal considerations for himself. But it is certainlj^ a little singular that a com- 19 290 The Life, Public Services, anp mandor, intrusted with an enterprise of sucli transcondeiit importance to his army and country, who had been so urgently calling for re-enforcements as absolutely indis- pensal)le to success, should have preferred not to receive them, but to light the battle with wliat he had, rather than have the co-operation of McDowell under the two conditions fixed by the President, (1) that he should not deprive him of his troops, or, (2) post them so as to prevent tlieir being kept interposed between the enemy and Washington. Even if he could leave " others to be responsible for the results," it is not easy to see how he could reconcile the possibility of adverse results with his professedly paramount concern for the welfare of his country. On the 20tli of June, he telegraphed the President that troops to the number of probably ten thousand had left Richmond to re-enforce Jackson ; that his defensive works on the Chickahominy, made necessary by his " inferioiity of numbers," would be completed the next day ; and that he would be glad to learn the "disposi- tion, as to numbers and position, of the troops not under his command, in Virginia and elsewhere," as also to lay before his Excellency, "by letter or telegraph, his views as to the present state of military affairs tlirougliont the whole country y To this he received the following reply :— Washinoton, Jime 21, 1S62 — 6 p. m. Your dispatcli of yesterday, two p. m., was received this morning. If it wonld not divert too much of yonr time and attention from tlie army under yonr immediate command, I would be glad to have yonr views as to the present state of military affairs throughout the whole country, as you say you would be glad to give them. I would rather it should be by letter than by telegraph, because of the better chance of secrecy. As to the numbers and positions of the troops not under your command in Virginia and elsewhere, even if I could do it with accuracy, which I cannot, I would rather not transmit, either by telegraph or letter, because of the chances of its reaching the enemy. I would be very glad to talk tvith you, but ynu cannot leave your camp, and I cannot well leave here. A. Lincoln, Pre^dcnb. Major-General George B. MoClellan. State Papers ov Abhaiiam Lincoln. 291 The President also stated that the news of Jackson's having been re-enforced from Richmond was confirmed by General King at Fredericksburg, and added, "If tliis is true, it is as good as a re-enforcement to you of an equal force." In acknowledging the first dispatch, Gen- eral McClellan said, he "perceived that it would be better to defer the communication he desired to make" on tlie condition of the country at large ; he soon, indeed, had occasion to give all his attention to the army under his command. General McClellan had been, for nearly a month, de- claring his intention to advance upon Richmond imme- diately. At times, as has been seen from his dispatches, the movement was fixed for specific days, though in every instance something occurred, when the decisive moment arrived, to cause a further postponement. On the 18th, again announcing his intention to advance, he said that a ' ' general engagement might take place at any hovr, as an advance by us involves a battle more or less decisive." But in the same dispatch he said, "After to- morrow we shall fight the rebel army as soon as Provi- dence will permit." But in this case, as in every other, in spite of his good intentions, and the apparent permis- sion of Providence, General McClellan made no move- ment in advance, but waited until he was attacked. He had placed his army astride the Chickahominy — the left wing being much the strongest and most compact, the right being comparatively weak and very extended. He had expended, however, a great deal of labor in bridging the stream,* so that either wing could have been thrown across with great ease and celerity. Up to the 24th of June, General McClellan believed Jackson to be in strong force at Gordonsville, where he was receiving re-enforce- ments from Richmond with a view to operations in that quarter. But on that day he was told by a deserter that Jackson was planning a movement to attack his right and rear on the 28th. and this information was confirmed by advices from the War Department on the 25th. On that day, being convinced that he is to be attacked, and will 292 The Life, Public Services, and therefore be compelled to fight, he writes to the Depart- ment to throw upon others the responsibility of an antici- pated defeat. He declares the rebel force to be some two hundred thousand, regrets his " great infeiiority of num- bers," but protests that he is not responsible for it, as he has repeatedly and constantly called for re-enforcements, and declares that if the result of the action is a disaster, the " responsibility cannot be thrown on his shoulders, but must rest where it belongs." He closes by announ- cing that a reconnoissance which he had ordered had proved successful, that he should probably be attacked the next day, and that he felt "that there was no use in again asking for re-enforcements." To this the President replied as follows : — "Washington, June 26, 1S62. Your three dispatches of yesterday in relation, ending with the state ment that you completely succeeded in making your point, are very grati fying. The later one, suggesting the probability of your being over whelmed by two hundred thousand men, and talking of to whom the re sponsibility will belong, pains me very much. I give you all I can, and act on the presumption that you will do the best you can with what you have ; while you continue, ungenerously, I think, to assume that I could give you more if I would. I have omitted — T shall omit — no opportunity to send you re-enforcements whenever I can. A. Lincoln. General McClellan had foreseen the probability of be- ing attacked, and had made arrangements for a defeat. "More than a week previous," he says in his report, "that is, on the 18th," he had prepared for a retreat to the James River, and had ordered supplies to that point. His extreme right was attacked at Mechanicsville on the afternoon of the 26th, but the enemy were repulsed. The movement, however, disclosed the purpose of the rebel army to crush his right wing and cut off his communica- tions, if possible. Two plans were open to his adoption : he might have brought over his left wing, and so strength- ened his right as to give it a victory, or he might have withdrawn his right across the Chickahominy — in itself a strong defensive line — and have pushed his whole force into Richmond, and upon the rear of the attacking force. Con- State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 293 ceiitration seemed to be absolutely essential to success In any event. But lie did not attempt it. He left the riglit Aving to contend next day with thirty thousand men, without support, against the main body of the rebel army, and only withdrew it across the Chickaliominy after it had been beaten with terrific slaughter on the 27th, in the battle of Gaines's Mill. On the evening of that day he informed his corps commanders of his purpose to fall back to the James River, and withdrew the I'emainder of his right wing across the Chicka- liominy. On the next day the whole army was put in motion on the retreat, and General McClellan found time again to reproach the Government with neglect of his army. If he had ten thousand fresh men to use at once, he said, he could take Richmond ; but, as it was, all he could do would be to cover his retreat. He repeated that he "was not responsible " for the result, and that he must have instantly very large re-enforcements ; and closed by saying to the Secretary of War — what we do not believe any subordinate was ever before permitted to say to his superior officer without instant dismissal — "If I save this army now, I tell you plainly that I owe no thanks to you or to any persons in Wasliington : you Jiave done your best to sacrifice this army.'''' To this dispatch the President replied as follows : — Washington, June 28, 1 862. Save your army at all events. Will send re-enforcements as fast as we can. Of course they cannot reach you to-day, to-morrow, or next day. I have not said you were ungenerous for saying you needed re-enforce- ments; I thouglit you were ungenerous in assuming that I did not send them as fast as I could. I feel any misfortune to you and your army quite as keenly as you feel it yourself. If you have had a drawn battle or a repulse, it is the price we pay for the enemy not being in Washington. We protected Washington, and the enemy concentrated on you. Had we stripped Washington, he would have been upon us before the troops sent could have got to you. Less than a week ago you notified us that re- enforcements were leaving Richmond to come in front of us. It is the nature of the case, and neither you nor the Government is to blame. A. Lincoln. Tinder general orders from General McClellan, he and V 294 The Life, Public Skkvices, and his staff proceeding in advance, and leaving word where the corps commanders were to make successive stands to resist pursuit, but taking no part personally in any one of the succeeding engagements, the army continued its march towards James River. They first resisted and re- pulsed the pursuing rebels on the 29th at Savage Station, in a bloody battle, fought under General Sumner, and on the 30th had another severe engagement at Glendale. On the 1st of July, our troops, strongly posted at Mal- vern Hill, were again attacked by tlie rebels, whom they repulsed and routed with terrible slaughter ; and orders were at once issued for the further retreat of the army to Harrison's Landing, w^hicli General McClellan had per- sonally examined and selected on the day before. Even before the battle of Malvern Hill, he had telegraphed to Washington for "fresh troops," saying he should fall back to the river if possible ; to which dispatch he received the following reply : — Washington, Jxdy 1, 1862—3.30 p. m. It is impossible to re-enforce you for your present emergency. If we had a million of men we could not get them to you in time. We have not the men to send. If you are not strong enough to face the enemy, you must find a place of security, and wait, rest, and repair. Maintain your ground if you can, but save the army at all events, even if you fall back to Fort Monroe. We still have strength enough in the country, and will bring it out. A. Lincoln. Major-General G. B. McClellan. On the next day, in reply to a request from General McClellan for fifty thousand more troops, the President thus addressed him : — Washington, July 2, 1862. Your dispatch of yesterday induces me to hope that your army is hav- ing some rest. In this hope, allow me to reason with you for a moment. When you ask for fifty thousand men to be promptly sent you, you surely labor under some gross mistake of fact. Recently you sent papers show- ing your disposal of forces made last sjjring for the defence of Washington, and advising a return to that plan. I find it included in and about Wash- ington seventy-five thousand men. Now, please be assured that I have not men enough to fill that very plan by fifteen thousand. All of General Fremont's in theValley, all of General ISaiiks's, all of General McDowell'.'; State Papers of Abraham Llmcoln. 295 not with you, and all in Wusliingtun takon togetlier, do not oxceod, if the}' roach, sixty thousand. With (Jenoral Wool and (Jeuural l)ix added to those mentioned, I have not, outside of your army, seventy-live tliousand men cast of the mountains. Tims, the idea of sending you fifty thousand, or any other considerable force promptly, is simply absurd. If, in your frequent mention of resi)onsibility, you have the im|)ression that 1 blame you for not doing more than you can, please be relieved of such impres- sion. 1 only beg that, in like manner, you will not ask iuipossibilitiea of me. If you think you are not strong enougli to take llichmondjust now, I do not ask you to try just now. Save the army, material, and personnel, and I will strengthen it for the ofl'ensive again as fast as I can. The Governors of eighteen States offer me a new levy of three hundred thousand, which I accept. A. Lincoln. On the next day, the od, General McCh'llan again wrote for one hundred tlionsand men — "moie ratlierthan less," in order to enable hhn to '' accomY^lisli the great task of capturing Richmond, and putting an end to the rebellion ;" and at the same time he sent his chief of staff, General Marcy, to Washington, in order to secure a perfect under- standing of the state of the army. The General said he hoped the enemy was as completely worn out as his own army, though he apprehended a neAY attack, from which, however, he trusted the bad condition of the roads might protect him. On the 4th, he repeated his call for "heavy re-enforcements," but said he held a very strong position, from which, with the aid of the gunboats, he could only be driven by overwhelming numbers. On the same day he received the following from the President : — Wae Department, Washington City, D. C, July 4, 1S62. I understand yorir position as stated in your letter, and by General Marcy. To re-enforce you so as to enable you to resume the offensive within a month, or even six weeks, is impossible. In addition to that arrived and now arriving from the Potomac (about ten thousand men, I suppose), and about ten thousand, I hope, you will have from Burnside very soon, and about five thousand from Hunter a little later, I do not see how I can send you another man within a month. Under these circum- stances, the defensive, for the present, must be your only care. Save the army, first, where you are, if you can; and secondly, by removal, if you must. You, on the ground, must be the judge as to which you will attempt, and of the means for eft'ecting it. I but give it as my opinion, that with the aid of the gunboats and the rc-enforcemeuts mentioned above, you 296 The Life, Public Services, and can hold your present position ; provided, and so long as you can keep the James Kivor open helow you. If you are not tolerably confident you can keep the James River open, you had better remove as soon as pos- sible. I do not remember that you have expressed any apprehension as to the danger of having your communication cut on the river below you, yet I do not suppose it can have escaped your attention. A. Lincoln. P. S.— If at any time you feel able to take the oifensive, you are not restrained from doing so. A. L. At tills point, on the 7tli of July, General McClellan sent the President a; letter of advice on the general con- duct of his Administration. He thought the time had come "when the Government should determine upon a civil and military policy covering the whole ground of our national trouble," and he proceeded to lay down the basis of such a policy as ought to be adopted. The war against the rebellion, he said, "should not be a war looking to the subjugation of the people of any State in any event. Neither confiscation of property, political execution of persons, territorial organization of States, nor forcible abolition of slavery, should be contemplated for a mo- ment." He added : — Military power should not be allowed to interfere with the relations of servitude, either by supporting or impairing the authority of the master, except for repressing disorder, as in other cases. Slaves, contraband, under tlie act of Congress, seeking military protection, should receive it. The right of the Government to appropriate permanently to its own service claims to slave labor, should be asserted, and tlie right of the owner to compensation therefor should be recognized. This principle might be extended, upon grounds of military necessity and security, to all the slaves of a particular State, thus working manumission in such State ; and in Missouri, perhaps in Western Virginia also, and possibly even in Maryland, the expediency of such a measure is only a question of time. * * * Unless the principles governing tlie future conduct of our struggle shall be made known and approved, the effort to obtain requisite forces will he almost hopeless. A declaration of radical views, especially upon slavery, will rapidly disintegrate our present armies. He closed this letter by saying that to carry out these views the President would require a Commander-in-Chief who possessed his confidence and could execute his orders ; State Papers of Abraham Lincoln, 297 he did not ask that place for himself, but would serve hi any position that might be assigned him. "I may be/" he adds, "on the brink of eternity; and as I hope for forgiveness from my Maker, I have written this letter with Bincerity towards you, and from love for my country." The President, instead of entering upon a discussion as to the general policy of his Administration, continued to urge the General' s attention to the state of his own army ; and in order to inform himself more accurately as to its actual condition and prospects, visited the camp on the 8th of July, at Harrison's Landing. The actual strength of the army seems to have been at that time a matter of considerable difference of opinion ; and in regard to it, on returning to Washington, the President thus addressed the General : — EiKCUTTVE Mansion, Washington, July 13, 18G2. My Dear Sir: — I am told that over one hundred and sixty thousand men have gone with your army on the Peninsuh^. When I was with you the other day, we made out eighty-six thousand remaining, leaving seventy- three thousand five hundred to be accounted for. I believe three thousand five hundred will cover all the killed, wounded, and missing, in all your battles and skirmishes, leaving fifty thousand who have left otherwise. Not more than five thousand of these have died, leaving forty-five thou- sand of your army still alive, and not with it. I believe half or two- thirds of them are tit for duty to-day. Have you any more perfect knowledge of this than I have ? If I am right, and you had these men with you, you could go into Richmond in the next three days. How can they be got to you, and how can they be prevented from getting away in such numbers for the future ? A. Lincoln. In reply to this letter, the General disclosed the fact that thirty-eight thousand two hundred and fifty men of his army were absent b}^ authority — /. e., on furloughs granted by permission of the Commanding General. The actual number of troops composing his army on the 20tli of July, according to official returns, Avas one hundred and flity- eight thousand three hundred and fourteen, and the aggre- gate losses in the retreat to the James River was fifteen thousand two hundred and forty-nine. During the President'?, visit to the camp, the future movements of the army were a subject of anxious delib- 298 The Life, Public Services, A^"D eratioii. It was understood that the rebels were gather- ing hirge forces for another advance upon Washington, which was comparatively unprotected — and as General McClellan did not consider himself strong enough to take the otfensive, it was felt to be absolutely necessary to con- centrate the army, either on the Peninsula or in fiont of Washington, for the protection of the Capital. The former course, after the experience of the past season, was felt to be exceedingly hazardous, and the corps commanders of the Army of the Potomac were decidedly in favor of the latter. General McClellan at once addressed himself to the task of defeating the project. On the 11th, he tele graphed to the President that "the army was in line spirits, and that he hoped he would soon make him strong enough to try again." On the 12th, he said he was "more and more convinced that the army ought not to be with- drawn, but promptly re-enforced and thrown again upon Richmond." He " dreaded the eifects of any retreat on the morale of his men" — though his previous experience should have obviated any such aj^prehension in his mind. "If we have a little more than half a chance," he said, "we can take Richmond." On the 17th, he urged that General Burnside's whole command in North Cai'olina should be ordered to join him, to enable him to "assume the offensive as soon as possible." On the 18th, he re- peated this request ; and on the 28th, again urged that he should be "at once re- enforced by all available troops." On the 2oth, General Halleck had visited the camp, and, after a careful inspection of the condition of the army, called an informal council of the officers, a majority of whom, upon learning tlie state of affairs, recommended its withdrawal from the Peninsula. On the 80th, he issued an order to General McClellan to make arrangements at once for a prompt removal of all the sick in his army, in order to enable him to move "in any direction." On the 2d of August, not having received any reply, General Halleck renewed his order to " remove them as rapidly as possible ;' ' to which, on the 3d, General McClellan replied that it was "impossible to d^^cide what cases to Statf. Papers op Abhaiiam Lincoln. 299 send off unless lie knew what Avas to be done with the anny "— and that if he was to be " kept longer in igno- rance of what was to be effected, he could not be expected to accomplish the object in view." In reply, Genei-al Halleck informed him that his army was to be "with- drawn from the Peninsula to Aquia Creek," but that the withdrawal should be concealed even from his own offi- cers. General McClellan, on the 4th, wrote a long protest against this movement — saying it mattered not what ])ar- tial reverses might be sustained elsewhere — there was the "true defence of Washington," and he asked that the order might be rescinded. To this letter, after again urging General McClellan on the 4th to hasten the removal of the sick, which he was "expected to have done with- out waiting to know what were or would be the intentions of the Government respecting future movements," Gen- eral Halleck on the 6tli addressed him as follows : — Head-Quaf.tfks ok the Army, > Washington', August 6, 1S6'2. ( General : — Your telegram of yesterday was received this morning, Jind I iniiuediutely telegrai)lied a brief reply, promising to write you more fully by mail. You, General, certainly could not have been more pained at receiving my order than I was at the necessity of issuing it. I was advised by high officers, in whose judgment I had great confidence, to make the order immediately on ray arrival here, but I determined not to do so until I could learn your wishes from a personal interview. And even after that interview I tried every means in my power to avoid withdraw- ing your army, and delayed my decision as long as I dared to delay it. I assure you, General, it was not a hasty and inconsiderate act, but one that caused me more anxious thoughts than any other of my life. But after full and mature consideration of all the fros, and cons, I was reluctantly forced to the conclusion that the order must be issued — there was to my mind no alternative. Allow me to allude to a few of the facts in the case. You and your officers at our interview estimated the enemy's forces in and around Richmond at two hundred thousand men. Since then, you and others report that they have received and are receiving large re-enforcements from the South. General Pope's army, covering Wash- ington, is only about forty thousand. Your effective force is only about ninety thousand. You are tliirty miles from Richmond, and General Pope eighty or ninety, voiih the enemy directly between you, ready to /all 300 The Life, Public Services, and with his superior numhers upon one or the other as he may elect ; neither can re-enforce the other in case of such an attach. If General Poi)e'9 army be diniinislied to re-enforce yon, Washington, Maryland, and Pennsylvania wonld be left uncovered and exposed. If your force be reduced to strengthen Pope, you would be too weak to even hold the position you now occupy, should the enemy turn round and attack you in full force. In other words, the old Army of the Potomac is split into two parts, with the entire force of the enemy directly between them. They cannot be united by land without expo- sing both to destruction, and yet they must be united. To send Pope's forces b}- water to the Peninsula is, under x'i'esent circumstances, a military impossibility. The only alternative is to send the forces on "the Peninsula to some point by water, say Fredericksburg, where the two armies can be united. Let me now allude to some of the objections which you have urged : you say that the withdrawal from the present position will cause the certain demoralization of the army, "which is now in excellent discij)line and condition." I cannot understand why a simple change of position to a new and by no means distant base will demoralize an army in excellent discipline, unless the officers themselves assist in that demoralization, which I am satisfied they will not. Your change of fi-ont from your extreme right at Hanover Court-House to your present condition was over thirty miles, but I have not heard that it demoralized your troops, notwithstanding the severe losses they sustained in effecting it. A new base on the Rappahannock at Fredericksburg brings you within about sixty miles of Richmond, and secures a re-enforcement of forty or fifty thousand fresh and discij)lined troops. The change with such advantages will, I think, if properly represented to your army, encourage rather than demoralize your troops. Moreover, you yourself suggested that a junction might be effected at Yorktown. but that a flank march across the isthmus would be more hazardous than to retire to Fort Monroe. You Avill remember that Yorktown is two or three miles further than Fredericksburg is. Besides, the latter is between Richmond and Wash- ington, and covers Washington from any attack of the enemy. The political effect of the withdrawal may at first be unfavorable ; but I think the public are beginning to understand its necessity, and that they will have much more confidence in a united army than in its separated fragments. But you will reply, why not re-enforce me here, so that I can strike- Richmond from my present position ? To do this, you said, at our inter- view, that you required thirty thousand additional troops. I told you that it was impossible to give you so many. You finally thought you State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. ;]01 would have '" some chance " of success with twenty tliousand. I!ut you afterwards telegraphed nie that you would require thirty-five tliousiind, as the enemy was being largely re-enforced. If your estimate of the enemy's strength was correct, your rc([uisition was perfectly reasonable; but it was utterly impossible to fill it until new troops could be enlisted and organized, which would require several weeks. To keep your army in its present position until it could be so re-en forced would almost destroy it in that climate. The months of August and September are almost fatal to whites who live on that part of James River; and even after you received the re-en- forcements asked for, you admitted that you must reduce Fort Darling and the river batteries before you could advance on Richmond. It is by no means certain that the reduction of these fortifications would not require considerable time — perhaps as much as those at York- town. This delay might not only be fatal to the health of your army, but in the mean time General Pope's forces would be exposed to the heavy blows of the enemy without the slightest hope of assistance from you. In regard to the demoralizing effect of a withdrawal from the Penin- sula to the Rappahannock, I must remark that a large number of your highest officers, indeed a majority of those whose opinions have been re- ported to me, are decidedly in favor of the movement. Even several of those who originally advocated the line of the Peninsula now advise its abandonment. I have not inquired, and do not wish to know, by whose advice or for what reasons the Army of the Potomac was separated into two parts, with the enemy between them. I must take things as I find them. I find the forces divided, and I wish to unite them. Only one feasible plan has been presented for doing this. If you, or any one else, had presented a better plan, I certainly should have adopted it. But all of your plans require re-enforcements which it is impossible to give you. It is very easy to ash for re-enforcements, but it is not so easy to give them when you have no disposable troops at your command. I have written very plainly as I understand the case, and I hope you will give me credit for having fully considered the matter, although I may have arrived at very different conclusions from your own. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, W. H. Halleok, Qeneral-in- Chief. Major-General G. B. MoClellax, Commanding, etc., BerlceUrj, Virginia. The order for the removal of the sick was given to General McClellan on the 2d of August. On the Ttli, he reported that three thousand seven hundred and forty 302 The Life, Public Services, and had been sent, and five thousand seven hundred still remained. On the 9th, General Halleck telegraphed McClellan that the enemy was massing his forces in front of G(^neral Pope and Burnside to crush them and move upon Washington, and that re-enforcements must at once be sent to Aquia Creek ; to which he replied that he would "move the whole army as soon a$ the sick were disposed of." On the 12th, in repl}' to the most pressing- orders for immediate dispatch from General Halleck, Avho urged that Burnside had moved thirteen thousand troops in two days to Aquia Creek, General McClellan said if Washington was in danger, that army could scarcel}^ arrive in time to save it. On the 14th, he announced that the movement had commenced ; on the 17th, he said he "should not feel entirely secure until he had the whole army beyond the Chickahominy, but that he would then begin to forward troops by water as fast as transportation would permit." On the 23d, General Franklin's Corps started from Fortress Monroe; General McClellan followed the next day, and reached Aquia Creek on the 24th, and Alexandria on the evening of the 26th of August. On tlie 27t]i of June the President had issued an order consolidating into one army, to be called the Army of Virginia, the forces under Major- Generals Fremont, Banks, and McDowell. The command of this army was assigned to Major-General John Pope ; and the army was divided into three corps, of which the first was assigned to Fremont, the second to Banks, and the third to Mc- Dowell. Upon receiving this order, Major-General Fre- mont api)lied to be relieved from the command which it assigned him, on the ground that by the appointment of General Pope to the chief command, his (Fremont's) position was "subordinate and inferior to that heretofore held by him, and to remain in the subordinate rank now assigned liim would largely reduce his rank and consid- eration in the service." In compliance with his request, General Fi-emont was at once relieved. On the 27th of August, General McClellan was ordered State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 303 by General Halleck to ^'-taJce entire direction of the send- ing out of the troops froin Alexandria'' to re-enforce Pope, whom tlie enemy were pressing with a powerful army, and whose head-quarters were then at Warrenton Junction. A portion of the Army of the Potomac which arrived before General McClellan, had at once gone for- ward to the aid of Pope ; of those wliich arrived after him, or which were at Alexandria when he arrived, not one reached the field, or took any part in the battles by which the army was saved from destruction and the Capi- tal from capture. Tlie extent to which General McClellan, who had the " entire direction of the sending of these re-enforcements," was responsible for this result, is a matter of so much importance, not only to himself and the Government, but to the whole country, as to demand a somewhat detailed examination. In his report of August 4th, 1863, after giving a portion only of the correspondence between himself and the Government on this subject. General McClellan sa^^s : — It will be seen from what has preceded that I lost no time that could be avoided in moving the Army of the Potomac from the Peninsula to the support of the Army of Virginia; that I spared no effort to hasten the embarkation of the troops at Fort Monroe, Newjxjrt News, and Yorktown, remaining at Fort Monroe myself until the mass of the army had sailed ; and that after my arrival at Alexandria, I left notfting in my power iindone to forward siq^plies and re-enforeements to General Pope. I sent, with troops that moved, all the cavalry I could get hold of. Even my personal escort was sent out upon the line of the railway as a guard, Avith the provost and camp guards at head-quarters, retaining less than one hundred men, many of whom were orderlies, invalids, members of bands, &c. All the head-quarters teams that arrived were sent out with supplies and ammunition, none being retained even to move the head- quarters camp. The S(iuadron that habitually served as my personal escort was left at Falmouth with General Burnside, as he was deficient in cavalry. Before taking up more important matters, it may be well to remark, that as General McClellan was in the City of Alexandria, and not in any way ex- 804 The Life, Public Services, and posed to personal danger, it is difficult to appreciate the merit he seems to make of yielding up his per- gonal escort, provost and camp guards, and head-quar- ter baggage-teams, Avhen he had no use for them himself, and when they were needed for the purpose for which they are maintained — operating against the enemy, and that too in a pressing emergency. Even as it was, he seems to have retained nearly a hundred, many of whom he says were orderlies, &c., &c., around his person. Leaving this personal matter, we come to the important question — Is it true that Greneral McClellan left, as he avers, nothing undone in his power to forward supplies and re-enforcements to General Pope' s army ? Did he, on tliis momentous occasion, honestly and faithfully do his whole duty in this respect, without any personal aims, or any jealousy, and with the single eye to the success of our arms, and the honor, welfare, and glory of the nation ? He had been repeatedly urged to hurry forward the troops from the Peninsula. On the 9tli of August, he was informed by General Halleck that "the enemy is massing liis forces in front of Generals Pope and Burnside to try and crush them, and move forward to the Potomac ;" and was further told, "Considering the amount of transporta- tion at your disposal, your delay is not satisfactory. You must move with all celerity.''^ Again, on the 10th, General Halleck informed him that ' ' the enemy is crossing the Rapidan in large force. They are fighting General Pope to-day. There must be no fur- ther ^elay in your movements : that which has already occurred was entirely unexpected, and must be satisfac- torily explained. Let not a moment's time be lost, and telegraph me daily what progress you have made in exe- cuting the order to transfer your troops." Again, on the 21st, he was told, "the forces of Burnside and Pope are hard pushed, and require aid as rapidly as you can. By all means see that the troops sent have plenty of ammuni- tion. We have no time to supply them ; moreover, they may have to fight as soon as they land." Whether or not the delays of General McClellan were State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 305 excusable, those telegrams must have shown him, if proof were necessary, the emergency in which Pope was j)laced, and that the concentration of the two armies was not be- ing effected in the time expected, and, as a consequence, that Pope was in a critical position, needing immediate help to save his army from defeat. It was under these circumstances that General McClellan left the Peninsula. AVhen he readied Aqnia on the 24th, under most posi • tive and pressing oi'ders from Washington, Genei'al Pope, who liad Ix'en holding the line of the Rappahannock for nearly a week against the assaults of Lee's whole army, and keeping up communication Avith Fredericksburg, so as to receive the re-enforcements McClellan liad been ordered to send up from the Peninsula — linding these re-enforcements not coming by water to join his left as fast as Lee marched by land around his right, and that his right, though stretched to Waterloo Bridge, had been turned and his rear threatened, had been obliged to throw back his right, first to Warrenton, and then to Gaines- ville, and his left and centre from Rappahannock and Sulpliur Springs to Warrenton Junction, Bristol, and Manassas. General McClellan knew on the 24th, when at Aquia, of the abandoning of Rappahannock Station, and of Pope's having broken his communication with Fredericksburg, and himself reported the facts to General Halleck. August 26th, General Halleck ordered General Mc- Clellan from Aquia to Alexandria, and told him "Gen- eral Franklin's Corps," Avhich had arrived at Alexan- dria, "will march as soon as it receives transportation." General Pope had, when his line was stretched from below Rappahannock Station to beyond Warrenton, asked that Franklin's Corps might be sent out to take post on his right at Gainesville, to which there was transportation by turnpike and railroad, to guard against what afterwards happened — the movement of the enemy through that place on his rear. The failure to have tliat corps at that place, or in the action at all, was one of the chief causes of Pope's failure. Why was this 'i 20 306 The Life, Public Services, and August 27t]i, as already stated, General McClellan was directed "to take entire direction of the sending ont of tlie troops from Alexandria." On the same day he was informed of the position of Pope's head-quarters ; of that of most of Pope's forces; of where Pope wished re- enforcements sent him — Gainesville ; and that Fitz- John Porter, then nnder Pope, reported a battle imminent. At 10 A.M. on that day, he was told by Halleck, "that Franklin' s Corps should march in that direction (Manas- sas) as soon as possible ;" and again at 12 p. m., he was further told by Halleck that " FranJdin' s Corps should mom out hy forced marclies^ carrying three or four days' provisions, and to be supjyUed as far as possible by railroad.''' It is vv'ell to bear in mind these explicit orders, and the circumstances under which, and the object for which they were given, for General McClellan either seems to have forgotten them, or to have utterly failed to appre- ciate their importance. A battle reported by liis favorite general, Fitz- John Porter, as imminent, within cannon sound of where he was, — the road to the battle-field, a wide, straight, Macadam turnpike, well-known to both General McClellan and General Franklin, as each had been over it more than once,— the whole of the enemy and army which had been pressing Pope since the 9th, now concentrating to overwhelm him,— here, one would think, was every motive for him to do, as he claims to have done, every thing in his power to send re-enforce- ments forward, and to send them instantly. Why was it, then, that, at 7.15 p. m. on the 29th, more than two days after the order for it to go by forced marches to re-enforce an army engaged in battle, Frank- lin' s Corps, was still at Anandale, about seven miles from Alexandria, and Franklin himself in Alexandria? Gen- eral Halleck says it was all contrary to his orders, and McClellan acknowledges himself "responsible for both these circumstances." In the mean time, Pope' s forces fought the battles of the 27th, 28th, and 29th, and were now to fight that of the State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 307 30th Tvitliout Franklin's help. Why was this? Were the orders to send Franklm out countermanded ? General Halleck says tliey were not. As it is never just to judge a person by the light obtained after the fact, let us see, so far as the correspondence enables us, what were the dif- ferent phases of the case as they presented themselves at the time. The intimation to McClellan on the 26th, that Franklin was to go to the front, was followed by the positive or- ders of the 27th, given at 10 a. m. and 12 m. On that day General McClellan reports that Generals Franklin, Smith, and Slocum are all in Washington ; and that he had given orders to place the corps in readiness to march to the next in rank. At the same time, he reports heavy firing at Centreville. On the 28th, Halleck, learning that McClellan, who it seems had also gone to Washington, had not returned to Alexandria, sent orders to Franklin direct, to move with his corps that day (the 28th) towards Manassas Junction. On the 28tli, at 3.30 p. m., Halleck informs McClellan that " not a moment must be lost in pushing as large a force as possible towards Manassas, so as to communicate with Pope before the enemy is re-enforced." On the same day, at 7.40 p.m., he again tells him :— There must be no further delay in moving Franklin's Corps towards Manassas. They must go to-morrow morning^ ready or not ready. If we delay too long to get ready, there will be no necessity to go at all, for Pope will either be defeated or victorious without our aid. If there is a want of wagons, the men must carry provisions with them till the wagons come to their relief. There is no possible room for misunderstanding the in- tention of the General-in-Chief from these orders. He wished, and ordered, that communication should be at once re-established with Pope, and Pope re-enforced in time to be of service. Why did not McClellan re-establish the communication, and re-enforce Pope in time to be of service ? Why did he halt Franklin' s Corps at Anandale ? He gives reasons for this in his telegram to Halleck of 308 The Life, Public Services, and August 29tli. "By referring to my telegrams," he says, " of 10.30 A. M., 12 M., and 1 p. m., together with your reply of 2.48 r. m., you will see why Franklin' s Corps halt- ed at Anandale," Let us examine these telegrams in connection with the circumstances then existing. The first is as follows : — Camp neak Alexandria, August 29, 10.30 a. m. Franklin's Corps are in motion ; started aboi;t six a. m. I can give liira but two squadrons of cavalry. I propose moving General Cox to Upton's Hill to hold that important point with its works, and to push cavalry scouts to Vienna via Freeman's Hill and Hunter's Lane. Cox has two squadrons of cavalry. Please answer at once whether this meets your approval. I have directed Woodbury, with the Engineer Brigade, to hold Fort Lyon. Sumner detached last night two regiments to the vicinity of Forts Ethan Allen and Marcy. Meagher's Brigade is still at Aquia. If Sumner moves in support of FraiiHin, it leaves us without any reliable troops in and near Washington ; yet Franklin is too weak alone. What shall be done? No more cavalry arrived. Have but three squadrons be- longing to the Army of the Potomac. Franklin has but forty rounds of ammunition, and no wagons to move more. I do not think Franklin is in a condition to accomplish much if he meets strong resistance. I should not have moved him hut for yonr pressing orders of last night. What have you from Vienna and Drainsville ? Geo. B. McClellajt, Ma^or- General. Major-General H. W. Halleok, General-in-Chief To this Halleck replies : — War Department, WAsniNGTOx, D. C, August 29, 1S62. Upton's Hill arrangement all right. We must send wagons and am- munition to Franklin as fast as they arrive. Meagher's Brigade ordered up yesterday. Fitzhugh Lee was, it is said on good authority, in Alex- andria on Sunday last for three hours. I hear nothing from Drainsville. H. W. Halleck, General-in-Chief. Major-General MoClellan, Alexandria. To this McClellan sends the second of the dispatches he refers to, as follows. There are two telegrams of the same date : — HEAD-QtrARTERS Aemt Potomac, Avgust 29, 1SC2, 12 m. Your telegram received. Do you wisli the movement of Franklin's Corps to continue? He is without reserve ammunition, and without transportation. Geo. B. McClellan, Major-General. Major-General H. W. H'ai.leok, General-in-Chief State Papers of Abuaham Lincoln. 309 IIead-Qi'arteiis Army Totomao, I Alexandria, Viuoinia, Auyuiit 29, 1862, 12 m. j Have ordered most of tlie 12th Pennsylvania Cavalry to reiiort to Gen- eral Bernard for scouting duty towards Kockville, Poolesville, &c. If YOU apprehend a raid of cavalry on your side of river, I had better send a brigade or two of Sumner's to near Tennallytown. Would it meet your views to post rest of Sumner's Corps between Arlington and Fort Corcoran, where they can either support Cox, Franklin, Chain Bridge, and even Tennallytown? Franklin has only ten thousand to eleven thousand ready for duty. How far do you wish the force to advance? Geo. B. MoClellax, Major- General U. S. Army. Major-General Halleck, General-in-Chief. Then follows the telegram of 1 p. m. : — Head-Quarters near Alexandria, ( .4r/(?!M<29, 1S62, 1 p. M. ) I anxiously await reply to my last dispatch in regard to Sumner. Wish to give order at once. Please authorize me to attach new regiments per- manently to my old brigades. I can do much good to old and new troops in that way. I shall endeavor to hold a line in advance of Forts Allen and Marsh, at least with strong advanced guards. I wish to hold the line through Prospect Hill, Marshall's, Miner's, and Hall's Hills. This will give us timely warning. Shall I do as seems best to me witli all the troops in this vicinity, including FranJclin, who I really think ought 7iot, under the present circumstances, to proceed beyond Anandale? Geo. B. McClellax, Major-General. General Halleck, General-in-Chief. It certainly is not easy to discover in these dispatches any indications of a strong desire to re-enforce the Army of the Potomac, then lighting a battle in his front and within his hearing, but under another commander. They evince no special interest in the result of that battle, or the fate of that army — tlie army for which, while under his command, he had expressed so much affection, and whose defeat he afterwards declared, when he was again at its head, would be incomparably more disastrous to the - nation than the capture of Washington itself. We find ' in these dispatches, which he cites in his own vindica- tion, no evidence to sustain the declaration of his rejDort, 310 The Life, Public Services, and tliat from tlie moment of liis arrival at Alexandria he "left notliiug iu his power undone to forward supplies and re-enforcements to General Pope." On the contrary, they seem to show that he had decided to do, what in a telegram of the same date he had suggested to the Presi- dent, "leave Pope to get out of his scrape," and devote himself exclusively to the safety of Washington.* He thinks any disposition of Franklin' s and Sumner' s troops wise, except sending them forward to re-enforce Pope. He is anxious to send them to Upton's Hill, to Chain Bridge, to Tennallytown, to Arlington, and Fort Corco- ran — anywhere and everywhere except where they were wanted most, and where alone they could assist in get- ting Pope "out of his scrape," and in saving the Army of the Potomac. It was natural and proper that he should give attention to the defence of Washington, for he had, as General Helleck says, "general authority over all the troops" that were defending it. But his special duty was "sending out troops from Alexandria to re-en- force Pope." Why did he give so much attention to the former, and so little to the latter duty ? Why was it that, from the time of his landing at Alexandria, not another man of his army joined Pope, or made a diversion in his favor, till after Pope had fallen back from Manassas and fought four battles without the aid he had a right to ex- pect, and wliich General McClellan was repeatedly and peremptorily ordered to give ? Those of McClellan' s forces which had reached Alex- * On the 29th he had telegraphed to the President as follows : — I am clear that one of two courses should be adopted : First, to concentrate all our available forces to open communications with Pope ; second, to leave Pope to get out of his scrape, and at once use all our means to make the Capi- tal perfectly safe. No middle ground will now answer. Tell me what you wish me to do, and I will do all in my power to accomplish it. To this the President had thus replied : — Washington, August 29, 1S62-4. 10 p m. Tours of to-day just received. I think your first alternative, to wit, "to concentrate all our available forces to open communication with Pope," is the right one, but I wish not to control. That I now leave to General Halleck, aided by your counsels. A. Lincoln. Major-General McClellan State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. oil andria before him, or were tliere before liis arrival, Stur- cj;iy, Kearney, Hooker, and Heintzelman, bad all gone forward and joined in these battles. Why could not Franklin— all of whose movements were controlled by McOlellan— do as much with him as his brother com- manders had done without him ? The lirst thing that McClellan did, on reaching Alex- andria, in the discharge of his duties to send forAvard troops, was to stop those actually going ! In his dispatch of August 27th, nine o'clock p. m., he says to General Halleck— " I found part of Cox's command under orders to take the cars : will halt it with Franklin until morn- ing ! " And Cox never went out, though anxiously ex- pected and under orders to move. What are the reasons given by McClellan for not sending, or not permitting Franklin to go ? On the 27th, at quarter past eleven p. m., immediately after the positive order was issued for Frank- lin to move by forced marches and carry three or four days' provisions, McClellan says : — ' ' Fraukliii's artillery lias no horses except for four guns without cais- sons. I can pick up no cavalry. * * I do not see that we have force enough in hand to form a connection with Pope, whose exact position we do not know. A part of the perplexity he seems to have been in was removed that day at six o'clock p. m., when he received, as he says, a copy of a dispatch from Pope to Halleck, in which Pope says : "All forces now sent forward should be sent to my right at Gainesville." The next day, at one o'clock p. m., he telegraphs : — " I have been doing all possible to hurry artillery and cavalry. The moment Franklin can be started with a reasonable amount of artillery he shall go." Again, at forty minutes past four of the 28th, he tele- graphs : — General Franklin is with me here. I will know in a few moments the condition of artillery and cavalry. We are not yet in a condition to move ; may be by to-morrow morning. 312 The Life, Public Services, and A few moments later, lie says : — Your dispatch received. Neither Franklin's nor Sumner's Corps is now in a condition to move and fight a battle. It would be a sacrifice tc send them out now! I have sent aids to ascertain the condition of Col- onel Tyler ; but I still think that a premature movement in small force will accomplish nothing but the destruction of the troops sent out. The small force (?) to wliicli lie refers consisted, as here- tofore stated, of Sumner's Corps of fourteen thousand and Franklin' s of eleven thousand, a total of twenty-five thousand — not going to tight a battle by itself, but to re- enforce an army already engaged, and constituting cer- tainly a handsome re-enforcement on any field. On the 29th, he says : — Franklin has but forty rounds of ammunition, and no wagons to move more. I do not think Franklin is in a condition to accomplish much if he meets strong resistance. I should not have moved him but for your pressing orders of last night. On this same day : — Do you wish the movement of Franklin's Corps to continue? He is without reserve ammunition and without transportation. It may be remarked here, that Franklin had not yet gone beyond Anandale — about seven miles — and had, as yet, neither come upon the enemy, nor joined the army in front, nor gained any information about either. If, there- fore, his movement was not to continue, it must be be- cause it was too hazardous, or because he had no reserve ammunition or transportation. So, it seems, it was General McClellan' s judgment that Franklin could not be sent, as soon as he landed, to re- enforce Pope — because, first, he had his artillery only partially mounted ; second, he had no cavalry ; third, he had but forty rounds of ammunition, and no transporta- tion for more. The subsequent difficulties were, that ae had no transportation for his reserve ammunition, and was too weak alone, and Sumner ought not to be sent to support him, as it would leave the Capital unprotected ! State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 313 It is fortunato some of McClellan's Corps preocded liini from the Peuiusula, and arrived and marched befo]'(^ li<' came up. For, if not, two of the corps who joined ]?ope and fouglit under him woukT. have been halted for the reasons that stayed Franklin. Kearney joined without artillery, and Pope ordered two batteries to be given liim ; Porter had but forty rounds of ammunition — Ileint- zeknan joined without cavaky. Why, may it be asked, were "neither Sumner's nor FrankUn's Corps in a condition to move and fight a bat- tle?" McClellan had been told that in embarking his troops he must see they were supplied with ammunition, "as they might have to fight as soon as they landed." The men were not fatigued by hard marches, nor ex- hausted with fighting and lack of food, as were their companions in front. What was there to prevent their going to re-enforce them, but the orders and pretexts for delay of General McClellan 1 It will have been noticed that lack of transportation was at the bottom of the alleged difiiculties. Transpor- tation was not required for supplies, for the men were ordered to carry their food with them. Is it not strange that, in view of the emergency of the case, some extraor- dinary means were not resorted to, to impress horses and wagons — if none existed in the hands of the Government — in the cities of Alexandria, Georgetown, and Washing- ton, where there was an abundance of both ? Such things have been done even in this war, on much less important occasions than this one. But will not this plea seem stranger still when it is found that there was no need of pressing any private property into service — that there was plenty of public transportation on hand? Let the following dispatch show : — War Department, Washington, D. C, Auguf!t 30, 1862. I am by no means satisfied witli General Franklin's march of yester- day, considering the circumstances of the case. He was very wrong in stopping at Alexandria. Moreover, I learned lust night tliat the Quarter- master's Department would have given him j)lenty of transportation if 314 The Life, Public Services, and iie had applied for it any time since liis arrival at Alexandria. He knew the importance of opening comnumieation with General Pope's army, and should have acted more promptly. H. W. Halleck, Oeneral-in- Chief. Major-General McClellan, Alexandria. But most strange of all is, that General McClellan knew of there being public transportation at hand, and yet did not use it, even when the fate of a campaign depended upon it, and afterwards assigned the want of it as the reason for not obeying his orders to send re-enforcements. He says, in hip dispatch of August 30, to Gfeneral Pope : — The quartermasters here (Alexandria) said there was none disposable. The ditficulty seems to consist in the fact (he adds), that the greater part of the transportation on hand at Alexandria and Washington has been needed for current supplies of the garrisons. The inference is irresistible that General McClellan, who had charge of every thing in and around Alexan- dria and Washington, thought it was better that the Army of the Potomac, under Pope, should not be re- enforced, and be defeated, than that the garrisons should be subjected to the slightest inconvenience ! The answer of General Halleck to the telegrams of Gen- eral McClellan, in which the latter made so many propo- sitions about the movements of Sumner' s Cordis and the disposition of Cox' s force and the other troops for the defence of Washington, is as follows : — War Dbpaktment, Washington, D. C, August 29, 1862. Your proposed disposition of Sumner's Corps seems to me judicious. Of course I have no time to examine into details. The present danger is a raid upon Washington in the niglit-time. Dispose of all troops as you deem best. I want Franklin's Corps to go far enough to find out something about the enemy. Perhaps he may get such information at Anandale as to prevent his going further. Otherwise, he will push on towards Fairfax. Try to get something from direction of Manassas eithei by telegrams or through Franklin's scouts. Our people must move &•• tively and fijid out where the enemy is. I am tired of guesses. II. W. Halleck, General-in-Chief Major-General McClellan, Alexandria. State Papers op Abraham Lincoln. 315 It is in tills dispatcli tliat General McCiellan linds liia antliority to lialt Franklin at Anandale, Franklin had been repeatedly ordered to join Pope, "bnt had been de- layed by McClellan, who evidently did not intcuid he should get beyond his control if possible. In his tt'legram to Halleck of one o'clock p. m of the 29th, he asks if he may do as seems to him best with all the troops in the vicinity of Alexandria, including Franklin— Franklin being still in the vicinity of Alexan- dria. Halleck, in giving him authority to dispose of all troops in his vicinity evidently refers to the disposition to be made of those for the forts and defences, for he pro- ceeds to say, I want " Franklin's Corps to go far enough to hnd out something about the enemy." Franklin's Corps did not go out ftir enough to learn any thing about the enemy. AVliat he learned he picked up at Anandale from citizens, and probably from Banks's wagon-train, which passed him as it came from the front, which it seems it was able to do with safety at the time McClellan considered it too hazardous for forty thousand men to move to the front to join the army. It is unnecessary to pursue this matter any further, and show, as might easily be done, how similar delays were procured with respect to other troops which might have been sent to re-enforce Pope. It is sufficient to say that forty thousand men, exclusive of Burnside' s force, were thus— as it seems to us intentionally— withheld from Pope at the time he was engaged in holding the army of Lee in check. Having thus disposed of the question of re- enforcements, it now remains to say a word about supplies, which Gen- eral McClellan says he left nothing undone to forward to Pope. "^ When at Fort Monroe he telegraphed (August 21st, 10. 52 p. M.) :— I have ample supplies of ammunition for infantry and artillery, and will liave it up in time. I can supply any deficiency that may exist in General Pop6''s army. 316 The Life, Public Services, and August the SOtli (1.45 p. m.), General llalleck tele- graplied liim : — Ammunition^ and particularly for artillery, must be immediately sent forward to Ceatreville for General Pope. . To wliicli lie replied : — I know nothing of the calibres of Pope's artillery. All I can do is to direct my ordnance officer to load up all the wagons sent to him. General McClellan might have vsry easily found out those calibres. His ordnance officer knew those of the corps of his own army, and he was in iclegraphic commu- nication with the ordnance officer in Waishingtou, where a register is kept of all the batteries in service. AVhat was his cou.rse with respect to supplies of forage and subsistence, of which Pope' s army was in such ex- treme need \ He directed Franklin to say to Poj)e he would send him out supplies if he, Pope, Avould send cavalry to es- cort them out! "Such a request" (says Pope, in his dispatch of 5 a. m., August 30), " when Alexandria is full of troops, and I fighting the enemy, needs no comment." The Army of the Potomac, under General Pope, was defeated and driven back upon Washington. But it had contested every inch of the ground, and had fouglit every battle with a gallantry and tenacious courage that would have insured a decisive victory if it had been properly and promptly supported. It was not broken, either in spirit or in organization ; and it fell back upon the Capital prepared to renew the struggle for its salvation. By this time, however, General McClellan had become the recognized head of a political part}^ in tlie country, and a militarj'- clique in the army ; and it suited the pur- poses of both to represent the defeat of the Army of the Potomac as due to the fact that General McClellan was no longer at its head. The progress of the rebel army, moreover, up the Potomac, with the evident intention of moving upon Baltimore or into Pennsylvania, had created State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 317 ;i state of feeling tlirouglioiit the country and in Washing- ton cniiiiently favorable to the designs of Gen(?ral Mc Cldlau's partisans; and upon the urgent but unjust rep- resentation of some of his ofRc(Ts that the army would not serve under any other commander, General Pope was relieved, and General McClellan again placed at the head of the Army of the Potomac, and on the 4th of September he commenced the movement into Maryland to repel the invading rebel forces. On the 11th, he made urgent application for re-enforce- ments, asking that Colonel Miles be withdrawn from Har- per' s Ferry, and that one or two of the three army corps on the Potomac, opposite Washington, be at once sent to join him. "Even if Washington should be taken," he said, ' ' while these armies are confronting each other, this would not in my judgment bear comparison with the ruin and disaster that would follow a single defeat of this army," although, as will be remembered, when that army was under Pope, and engaged in a battle which might destroy it, he had said (Aug. 27), "I think we should ^r^^ provide for the defence of the Capital." General Halleck replied that "the capture of Washington would throw them back six months, if not destroy them," and that Miles could not join him until communications were opened. On the 14th, the battle of South Mountain took place, the rebels falling back to the Potomac ; and on the 17th the battle of Aiitietam was fought, resulting in the defeat of the rebel forces, although no pursuit was made, and they were allowed, during the night and the whole of the next day, quietly to withdraw their shattered forces to the other side of the Potomac. The losses he had sustained and the disorganization of some of his commands were assigned by General McClellan as his reason for not renew ing the attack, although the corps of General Fitz-John Porter had not been brought into action at all. Orders were issued, however, for a renewal of the battle on the 19th, but it was then suddenly discovered that the enemy was on thp other side of the Potomac. General McClellan did not feel authorized on account of the condition of his 318 The Life, Public Services, and army to cross in pursuit, and on the 23d wrote to Wasli- ington, asking for re-enforcements, renewing tlie applica- tion on the 27th, and stating his purpose to be to hold the army where it was, and to attack the enemy should Tie attempt to recross into Maryland. He thought that only the troops necessary to garrison Washington sliould be retained there, and that every thing else available should be sent to him. If re-enforced and allowed to take his own course, he said, he would be responsible for the safety of the Capital. On the 1st of October, President Lincoln visited the army and made careful inquiry into its strength and con- dition. On the 6th, he issued the following- ordei* for an immediate advance : — ■Washington, D. C, October 6, 1S62. I .am instructed to telegraph to you as follows: The President directs that you cross the Potomac and give battle to the enemy, or drive him south. Your army must move now, while the roads are good. If you cross the river between the enemy and Washington, and cover the latter by your operation, you can be re-enforced with thirty thousand men. If you move up the valley of the Shenandoah not more than twelve or fif- teen thousand can be sent you. The President advises the interior line between Washington and the enemy, but does not order it. He is very desirous that your army move as soon as possible. You will immediately report what line you adopt, and when you intend to cross the river : also to wliat point the re-enforcements are to be sent; It is necessary that the plan of your operations be positively determined on, before orders are given for building bridges and repairing railroads. I am directed to add, that the Secretary of War and the General-in-Chief fully concur with the President in these instructions. H. W. Halleck, General-in-Chief. Major-General MoClellan. On receiving this order. General McClellan inquired as to the character of troops that would be sent him, and as to the number of tents at command of the army. He also called for very large quantities of shoes, clothing, and supplies, and said that without these the army could not move. On the lltli, the rebel General Stuart, with a force of aliout twenty five hundred men, made a raid into Pennsylvania, going completely round our army, and State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 319 thwarting all the arrangements by which General Mc Clellan had reported that his capture was certain. On the 13th, in consequence of his protracted delays, the Presi- dent addressed to General McClellan the following letter : Executive Mansion, WASniNOTON, October 13, 1862. My Dear Sir: — You remember my speaking to yon of what I called your over-cautiousnes3. Are you not over-cautious when you assume that yon cannot do what the enemy is constantly doing? Shouk^.you not claim to be at least his equal in prowess, and act upon the claim ? As I understand, you telegraphed General Halleck that you cannot sub- sist your army at Winchester unless the railroad from Harper's Ferry to that point be put in working order. But the enemy does now subsist his army at Winchester, at a distance nearly twice as great from railroad transportation as you would have to do without the railroad last named. He now wagons from Culpepper Court-House, which is just about twice as far as you would have to do from Harper's Ferry. He is certainly not more Ijian |alf as well provided with wagons as you are. I certainly should be pleased for you to have the advantage of the railroad from Harper's Ferry to Winchester ; but it wastes all the remainder of autumn to give it to you, and, in fact, ignores the question of time, which cannot and must not be ignored. Again, one of the standard maxims of war, as you know, is, " to operate upon the enemy's communications as much as possible, without exposing your own." You seem to act as if this applies against you, but cannot apply in yom- favor. Change positions with the enemy, and think you not he would break your communication with Eichmond within the next twenty-four hours? You dread his going into Pennsylvania. But if he does so in full force, he gives up his communications to you absolutely, and you have nothing to do but to follow and ruin him ; if he does so with less than full force, fall upon and beat what is left behind all the easier. Exclusive of the water line, you are now nearer Richmond than the enemy is, by the route that you can and he mtist take. Why can you not reach there before him, unless you admit that he is more than your equal on a march? His route is the arc of a circle, while yours is the chord. The roads are as good on vdurs as on his. You know I desired, but did not oi'der, you to cross the Potomac below instead of above the Shenandoah and Blue Eidge. My idea was, that this would at once menace the enemy's communications, which I would seize if he would permit. If he should move northward, I would follow him closely, holding his communications. If he should prevent our seizing his communications, and move toward Eichmond, I would press closely to him, fight him if a favorable opportunity should present, and at least try to beat him to Eichmond on the inside track. I say "try;" if 320 The Life, Public Services, and we never try, we shall never succeed. If he make a stand at Winchester, moving neither north nor south, I would fight him there, on the idea that if Ave cannot beat him when lie bears the wastage of coming to us, we never can when Ave bear the Avastage of going to him. Tliis jtroposition is a simple truth, and is too important to be lost sight of for a moment. In coming to us, he tenders us an advantage which Ave should not waive. "We should not so operate as to merely drive him aAvay. As Ave must lieat him somcAvhere, or fail finally, we can do it, if at all, easier near to us than far away. If Ave cannot beat the enemy Avhere he now is, Ave nevei can, he again being within the intrenchments of Richmond. Recurring to the idea of going to Richmond on the inside track, the facility of sup- plying from the side aAvay from the enemy is remarkable, as it wore, b}' the diflS'erent spokes of a wheel, extending from the hub towards the rim, and this whether you move directly by the chord, or on the inside arc, hugging the Blue Ridge more closely. The chord-line, as you see. carries you by Aldie, Haymarket, and Fredericksburg, and you see how turn- pikes, railroads, and finally the Potomac by Aquia Greek, meet you at all points from Washington. The same, only the lines lengthened a little, if you press closer to the Blue Ridge part of the Avay. The gaps through the Blue Ridge I understand to be about the following distances from Harper's Ferry, to Avit : Vestal's, five miles; Gregory's, thirteen; Snick- er's, eighteen; Ashby's, twenty-eight; Manassas, thirty-eight; Ghester, forty-five; and Thornton's, fifty-three. I should think it preferable to take the route nearest the enemy, disabling him to make an important move without your knowledge, and compelling him to keep his forces together for dread of you. The gaps would enable you to attack if you should wish. For a great part of the Avay you would be practical!}' between the enemy and both Washington and Richmond, enabling us to spare you the greatest number of troops from here. When, at length, running to Richmond ahead of him enables him to move this Avay, if he does so, turn and attack liim in the rear. But I think he should be engaged long before such point is reached. It is all easy if our troops march as Avell as the enemy, and it is unmanly to say they cannot do it. This letter is in no sense an order. Yours, truly, A. Lixcoln. Major-General MoGlellan. For over a fortnight longer General McClellan delayed any attempt to move liis army in obedience to the Presi- dent' s order. He spent this interval in complaints of inad- equate supplies, and in incessant demands for re-enforce- ments ; and on the 21st inquired whether it was still the President' s wish that he should march upon the enemy at once, or await the arrival of fresh horses. He was told in '-■^dIj that the order of the 6th was unchanged, and that State Papers of Abraham Llncoln. 321 v^liile tlie President did not expect impossibilities, he was " very anxious tliat all this good weather should not be wasted in inactivity." General McClellan states in his report that he inferred, from the tenor of this dispatch, that it was left to his own judgment whetlier it would be safe for the army to advance or not ; and he accordingly fixed upon the first of November as the earliest date at which the forward movement could be commenced. On the 25th he complained to the Department of the con- dition of his cavalry, saying that the horses were fatigued and greatly troubled with sore tongue ; whereupon the President addressed him the following inquiry : — War Department, Washington, October 25, I8C2. I have just read your dispatch about sore-tongue and fatigued liorses. Will you ])ardon ine for asking what tlie horses of your army have done Bince the battle of Autietain that fatigues any thing ? • A. Lincoln. The General replied that they had been engaged in making reconnoissances, scouting, and picketing ; to which the President thus rejoined :— ExEonTivE Mansion, AVasiiington, Octoher 26, 1S62. Yours in reply to mine about horses received. Of course you know the facts better than I. Still, two considerations remain : Stuart's cavalry outmarched ours, having certainly done more marked service on the Pen- insula and everywhere since. Secondly : will not a movement of our army be a relief to the cavalry, com])elling the enemy to concentrate in- Btead of " foraging " in squads everywhere ? But I am so rejoiced to learn from your dispatcli to General Ilalleck that you began crossing the river this morning. A. LiNCor.x. The General replied in a long dispatch, rehearsing in detail the labors performed by his cavalry, to which he thought the President had done injustice. This note eli- cited the following reply : — ExECiTTivB Mansion, Washington, October 26, 1862. Yours of yesterday received. Most certainly I intend no injustice to any, and if I have done any I deeply regret it. To be told, after more than five weeks' total inaction of the army, and during which period we had sent to that army every fresh horse we possibly could, amounting in the whole to seven thousand nine hundred and eighteen, that the cavalry 21 322 The Life, Public Services, and horses wore too much fatigued to move, presented a very cheerless, almost hopeless, prospect for the future, aud it may have forced something of impatience into my dispatches. If not recruited and rested tlicn, when could they ever be ? I suppose the river is rising, and I am glad to believe you are crossing. A. Lincoln. The General next started, as a neAv topic of discussion, the extent to which the line of the Potomac should be guarded after he left it, so as to cover Maryland and Penn- sylvania from further invasions. He thought strong gar- risons should be left at certain points, complained that his forces were inadequate, and made some suggestion con- cerning the position of the rebel army under Bragg, which led General Halleck in reply to remind liim that Bragg was four hundred miles away, while Lee was but twenty. On the 27th the General telegraphed to the President that it was necessary to "fill up the old regiments of his com- mand before taking tliem again into action," to which the President thus replied : — Executive Mansion, Washington, October 2T, iSG2. Your dispatch of three p. m. to-day, in regard to fUliug up old regiments with drafted men, is received, and the request therein sliall be complied with as far as practicable. And now I ask a distinct answer to the ques- tion, '' Is it your purpose not to go into action again till the men now being drafted in the States are incorporated in the old regiments?" A. Lincoln. The General, in reply, explained that the language of tlie dispatch, which was prepared by one of his aids, had incorrectly expressed his meaning, and that he should not postpone the advance until the regiments were filled by drafted men. The army was gradually crossed over, and on the 5th of November the General announced to the President that it was all on the Virginia side. This was just a month after the order to cross had been given — the enemy meantime having taken possession of all the strong points, and falling back, at his leisure, towards his base of operations. These unaccountable delays in the move- ment of the army created the most intense dissatisfaction in the public mind, and completely exhausted the patience of the Government. Accordingly, on the 5th of Novem- State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 323 bcr, an order was issued relieving General McClellan from the command of the Army of the Potomac, and directing General Burnside to take his place. Thus closed a most remarkable chapter in the history of tlie war. For over fifteen months General :McClellan had commanded the Army of the Potomac, the largest and most poAverful army ever marshalled till then upon this con- lijumt— consisting of one hundred and sixty thousand m(m, and furnished, in lavish profusion, with every thing requisite for effective service. Throughout th(» whole of this long period that army had been restrained by its com- mander from attacking the enemy. Except in the single instance of Antietam, where, moreover, there was no pos- sibility of avoiding an engagement, every battle which it fought was on tlie defensive. According to the sworn testimony of his own commanders. General McClellan might have overwlielmed the rebel forces arrayed against him at Manassas, at Yorktown, after Williamsburg, Fair Oaks, Malvern Hill, and Antietam ; but on every one of these occasions he carefully forbore to avail himself of the superiority of his position, and gave the enemy ample time to prepare for more complete and eflective resistance. It is no part of our present purpose to inquire into the causes of this most extraordinary conduct on the part of a commander to whom, more completely tlian to any other, v/ere intrusted the destinies of the Nation during oii<.> of the most critical periods. Whether he acted from an innate disability, or upon a political tlieory— AvhetlKn- he intentionally avoided a decisive engagement in order to accomplish certain political results Avhich he and his secret advisers deemed desirable, or whether he was, by the native constitution of his mind, unable to meet the gigantic responsibilities of his position when the critical moment of trial arrived, are points which the public and posterity will decide from an unbiased study of the evi- dence w^iich his acts and his words afford. As the record we have given shows, President Lincoln lost no oppor- tunity of urging upon liim more prompt and decisive^ 324 The Life, Public Services, and action, while in no instance did lie withhold from him any aid which it was in the power of the (Government to give. Notlnng can show more clearly the disposition of the President to sustain him to the utmost, and to protect him from the rapidly rising tide of public censure and discon- tent with his ruinous and inexplicable delays, than the following remarks made by him at a war meeting held at Washington on the 6th of August, after the retreat to the James River, and just before the withdrawal of the army from the Peninsula : — Fkllow-Citizens : — I believe there is no precedent for my appearing bel'ure you on this occasion, but it is also true that there is no precedent for your being here yourselves, and I offer, in justification of myself and of you, that, upon examination, I have found nothing in the Constitution against it. I, however, have an impression that there are younger gentle- men who will entertain you better, and better address your understanding than I will or could, and therefore I propose but to detain you a moment longer. I am very little inclined on any occasion to say anything unless I hope to produce some good by it. The only thing I think of just now not lii5ame situation. If the military commanders in the field cannot be success- ful, not only the Secretary of War, but myself, for tlie time being the master of them both, cannot but be failures. I know General McClellan wishes to be successful, and I know he does not wish it any more than the Secretary of War for him, and both of them together no more than I wish it. Sometimes we have a dispute about how many men General McClel- lan has had, and those who would disparage him say that he has had a very large number, and those who would disparage the Secretary of War insist that General McClellan has had a very small number. The basis for this is, there is always a wide difference, and on this occasion, perhaps a wider one than usual, between the grand total on McClellan's rolls and the men actually fit for duty ; and those who would disparage him talk of the grand total on paper, and those who would disparage the Secretary of War talk of those at present fit for duty. General McClellan has sometimes asked for things that the Secretary of War did not give him. General State Pai'ers of Abraham Lia'coln. 325 McClellan is not to blame for asking what he wanted and needed, and the Secretary of War is not to blame for not giving when ho had none to give. And I say here, as far as I know, the Secretary of War has witliheld no one thing at any time in my power to give him. I have no accnsatiou against him. I believe he is a brave and able man, and I stand here, as justice requires me to do, to take upon myself what has been cliurgcd on the Secretary of War, as witliholding from him. I have talked longer than I expected to do, and now I avail myself of my privilege of saying no more. 320 The Life, Public Services, and CHAPTER X. GENERAL COXDUCT OF THE ADMINISTRATION IN 1862. Successes ix the Southwest. — Recognized Objects of the "Wak. — Rklatioxs of the War to Slavery. — Our Foreign Relatione. — Proposed Mediation of the French Emperor. — Reply to the FuKNcn Proposal. — Secretary Seward's Dispatch. — The Presi- dent's Letter to Fernando Wood. — Observance op the Sabbath. In every other section of the country, except in East- ern Virgijiia, the military operations of the year 1862 were marked by promptitude and vigor, and attended by success to the National arms. Early in February, a lodg- ment had been effected by the expedition under General Burnside on the coast of North Carolina ; and, on tlie 19tli of January, the victory of Mill Springs had released Western Kentucky from rebel rule, and opened a path for the armies of the Union into East Tennessee. The President's order of January 27th, for an advance of all the forces of the Government on the 22d of February, had been promptly followed by the capture of Forts Henry and Donelson on the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers, which led to the evacuation of Bowling Green, the surren- der of Nashville, and the fall of Columbus, the rebel strong- hold on the Mississippi. Fort Pulaski, which guarded the entrance to Savannah, was taken, after eighteen hours' bombardment, on the 12th of April, and tlie Avhole west coast of Florida had been occupied by our forces. By the skilful strategy of General Halleck, commanding the Western Department, seconded by the vigorous activity of General Curtis, the rebel commander in Missouri, Gen- eral Price, had been forced to retreat, leaving the Avhole of that State in our hands ; and he was badly beaten in a subsequent engagement at Sugar Creek in Arkansas. On the 14th, Island No. 10, commanding the passage of the State Papeks of Aimiaiiam Lincoln. 327 Mississippi, was taken by General Poj-Ki ; and, on tlie 4th of June, Forts Pillow and Randolph, still lower down, were occupied by our forces. On the 6th, the city of Memphis was surrendered by the rebels. Soon after the fall of Nashville, a formidable expedition had ascended the Tennessee River, and, being joined by all the available Union forces in that vicinity, the whole, under command of General Ilalleck, prepared to give batth; to the rebel army, which, swelled by large re- enforcements from every quarter, was posted in the vicin- ity of Corinth, ninety miles east of Memphis, intending by a sudden attack to break the force of the Union army, Avhich was sweeping steadily down upon them from the field of its recent conquests. The rebels opened the attack with great fur}^ and effect, on the morning of the 6th of April, at Pittsburg Landing, three miles in ad- vance of Corinth. The light lasted nearly all day, the rebels having decidedly the advantage ; but in their final onset tliey were driven back, and the next day our army, strengthened by the opportune arrival of General Buell, completed what proved to be a signal and most im- portant victory. When news of it reached Washing- ton, President Lincoln issued the following proclama- tion : — It has ])leased Almighty God to vouchsafe signal victories to the land and naval forces engaged in suppressing an internal rebellion, and at the same time to avert from our country the dangers of foreign intervention and invasion. It is therefore recommended to the people of the United States, that at their next weekly assemblages in their accustomed places of public wor- ship which shall occur after the notice of this Proclamation shall have been received, they esjiecially acknowledge and render thanks to our Heavenly Father for these inestimable blessings; that tliey then and there implore spiritual consolation in behalf of all those who have been brought into atlliction by the casualties and calamities of sedition and civil war; and that they reverently invoke the Divine guidance for our national counsels, to the end that they may speedily result in the restoration of peace, harmony, and unity throughout our borders, and hasten the estab- lishment of fraternal relations among [^11 the countries of the earth. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. 328 The Life, Public Services, and Done at the City of "Wa.shinijjton, this tenth day of April, in the [l. 8.] year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-sixth. Abraham Lincoln. By the President: Wm. IL Sewakd, Secretary of State. On the 28th of ^lay the rebels evacuated Corinth, and were pushed southward by our pursuing forces for some twenty-five or thirty miles. General Mitchell, by a daring and most gallant enterj^rise in the latter part of April, took possession of Huntsville in Alabama. In February a formidable naval expedition had been fitted out under Commodore Farragut for the capture of New Orleans ; and on the 18th of April the attack commenced upon Forts Jackson and St. Philip, by which the passage of the Mississippi below the city is guarded. After six days' bombardment, the whole fleet passed the forts on. the night of the 23d, under a terrible fire from both ; and on the 25th the rebel General Lovell, who had command of the military defences of the city, withdrew, and Com- modore Farragut took possession of the town, which he retained until the arrival of General Butler on the 1st of May, who thereupon entered upon the discharge of his duties as commander of that Department, During the summer, a powerful rebel army, under General Bragg, invaded Kentucky for the double pur- pose of obtaining supplies and affording a rallying point for Avhat they believed to be the secession sentiment of the State. In the accomplishment of the former object they were successful, but not in the latter. Thej^ lost more Avhile in the State from desertions than they gained by recruits ; and after a battle at Perryville, on the 7tli of October, they began their retreat. On the 5th of Oc- tober a severe battle was fought at Corinth, from which a powerful rebel army attempted to drive our troops under General Rosecrans, but they were repulsed with very heavy losses, and the campaign in Kentucky and Ten- nessee was virtually at an end. A final effort of the enemy in that region led to a severe engagement at Mur- State Papers of Abraham Lincoen. 329 freesboro' on the 31st of December, wliicli resulted in thp defeat of the rebel forces, and in relieving Tennessee from the presence of the rebel armies. In all the military operations of this year, especial care had been taken by the generals in command of the several departments, acting under the general direction of the Government, to cause it to be distinctly understood that the object of the war was the preservation of the Union and the restoration of the authority of the Constitution. The rebel authorities, both civil and military, lost no opportunity of exciting the fears and resentments of the people of the Southern States, by ascribing to the Nation- al Government designs of the most ruthless and implaca- ble hostility to their institutions and their persons. It was strenuously represented that the object of the war was to rob the Southern people of their rights and their property, and especially to set free their slaves. The Government did every thing in its power to allay the apprehensions and hostilities wliich these statements were calculated to produce. General Gartield, while in Ken- tucky, just before the victory of Mill Springs, issued on the 16th of January an addr( ss to the citizens of that section of the State, exhorting them to return to their allegiance to the Federal Government, which had never made itself injuriously felt by any one among them, and promising them Aill protection for their persons and their property, and full reparation for any wrongs they might have sustained. After the battle of Mill Springs, the Secretary of War, under the direction of the President, issued an order of thanks to the soldiers engaged in it, in which he again announced that the "purpose of the war was to attack, pursue, and destroy a rebellious enemy, and to deliver the country fi'om danger menaced by traitors." On the 20th of November, 1861, General Halleck, commanding tlK? Department of the Missouri, on the eve of the advance into Tennessee, issued an order enjoining upon the troops the necessity of discipline and of order, and calling on them to prove by their acts that they came "to restore, not to violate the Constitution and 330 The Life, Public Services, and the laws," and that tlie people of the South under the flag of the Union should "enjoy the same })rotection of life and property as in former days." '' It does not belong to the military," said this order, "to decide upon the relation of master and slave. Such questions must be settled by tlie civil courts. No fugitive slave will, there- fore, be admitted within our lines or camps except when specially ordered by the General commanding." * So also General Burnside, when about to land on the soil of North Carolina, issued an order, February 3d, 1862, call- ing upon the soldiers of his army to remember that they were there "to support the Constitution and the laws, to put down rebellion, and to protect the persons and prop- erty of the loyal and peaceable citizens of the State." And on the 18tli of the same month, after Fort Henry and Roanoke Island had fallen into our liands, Commodore Goldsborough and General Burnside issued a joint proc- lamation, denouncing as false and slanderous the attempt of the rebel leaders to impose on the credulity of tlie Southern people by telling tliem of "our desire to de- stroy their freedom, demolish their property, and liberate their slaves," and declaring that the Government asked only that its authority might be recognized, and that "in no way or manner did it desire to interfere with their laws, constitutionally established, their institutions of any kind whatever, their property of any sort, or their usages in any respect." And, on the 1st of March, General Curtis, in Arkansas, had addressed a proclamation to the * In regard to this order, -irhich was afterwards severely criticised in Congress. General Halleck wrote the following letter of explanation ; — Head-Quarters Dkpaktment of tmf Missouri, i St. Louis. Decemher S, ISGl. i My Dear Colonel :— Tours of the 4tli instant is just received. Order No. 3 was, in my mind, cleajly a rnilitaiy necessity. Unautlicrized jiersons, black or white, fiee or slaves, must be kept cut of our caniii.«. unless we arc willing to publish to the enemy every thinj we do or intend to do. It was a military and not a political order. I am ready to carry out any lawful Instructions in regard to fugitive slaves which my su[ie riors 11U13" give me, and to enforce any law which Cotigress may pass. But I cannoi make law, and will not violate It. Ton know my private opinion on the policy of conflscutins the slave property of the rebels inarms. If Congress shall pass it, you may be certain that I shall enforca it. Perhajis my policy as to the treatment of rebels and iheir Jiroperty is as well set out in Or- der No. IS, issued the day your letter was written, as I could now describe it. Hon. F. P. Blaik, Washington. State Papers of Abraham Linx'oln. 331 people of that State, denouncing as false and calumnious the statements widu^ly circulated ot the design.^ and sen- timents of the Union armies, and dechiring tliat they souglit only "to put down rebellion by making war asainst those in arms, their aiders and abettors" — and that they came to ''vindicate the Constitution, and to preserve and perpetuate civil and religious liberty under a flag that was embalmed in the blood of our Revolution- ary fathers." In all this the Government adhered, with just and rigorous fldelity, to the principles it had adopt- ed for its conduct at the outset of the war ; and in its anxiety to avoid all cause of complaint and all appear- ance of justification for those who were in arms against its authority, it incurred the distrust and even the denuncia- tion of the more zealous and vehement among its own friends and supporters in the Northern States, On the 22d of July, in order to secure unity of action among the commanders of the several military depai'tments, upon the general use to be made of rebel property, the President directed the issue of the following order : — War Di:rAKTMENT, Wastiington, July 22, 1862. Flmt. Ordered that military comniaiulers within the States of Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas, in an orderly manner seize and use any property, real or personal, which may be necessary or convi'iiient for their several com- mands, for sniiplies, or for other military purposes; and that Avhile prop- erty may be destroyed for proper military objects, none shall be destroyed in wantonness or malice. Second. That military and naval commanders shall employ as laborers, within and from said States, so many jiersons of African descent as can be advantageously used for military or naval purposes, giving them reason- able wages for their labor. Third. Tliat, as to both property, and persons of African descent, accounts shall be kept sufficiently accurate and in detail to show quan- tities and amounts, and from whom both property and such persons shall have come, as a basis njion which compensation can he made in proper cases; and the several departments of this Government shall attend to and perform their appropriate parts towards the execution of thc^se orders. By order of the President: Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of Wnr. And on the 25tli of July he issued the following procla- 332 The Life, Public Services, and mation, warning the people of the Southern States against persisting in their rebellion, under the penalties prescribed by the contiscation act passed by Congress at its preceding session : — By order of the President of the United States. A PROCLAMATION. In pursuance of the sixth section of the Act of Congress, entitled "An Act to suppress insurrection, to punish treason and rebellion, to seize and confiscate the property of rebels, and for other purposes," apjjroved July 17th, 18(32, aud which Act, and the joint resolution explanatory thereof, are herewith published, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do hereby proclaim to and warn all persons within the contem- plation of said sixth section to cease participating in, aiding, countenan- cing, or abetting the existing rebellion, or any rebellion, against the Gov- ernment of the United States, and to return to their proper allegiance to the United States, on pain of the forfeiture and seizures as within and by said sixth section provided. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the City of Wasliington, this twenty-fifth day of July, in the -, year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, L S ' and of the independence of the United States the eighty-seventh. Abraham Lincoln By the President : "William H. Seward, Secretary of State. Our relations with foreign nations during the j^ear 1862 continued to be in the main satisfactory. The President held tliroughout, in all his intercourse with European powers, the same firm and decided language in regard to the rebellion which had characterized the correspondence of the previous year. OurMinister in London, witli vigi- lance and ability, pressed upon the British Grovernment the duty of preventing the rebel authorities from building and lltting out vessels of war in English ports to prey upon the commerce of the United States; but in every instance these remonstrances were Avithout practical effect. The Government could never be convinced that the evi- dence in any specific case was sufficient to warrant its interference, and thus one vessel after another was allowed to leave British ports, go to some other equally neutral State Papers of Abraham Llncoln. 333 locality iind take on board munitions of war, and enter upon its career of piracy in the rebel service. As early as the 18th of February, 1862, Mr. Adams had calh'd tlie attention of Earl Russell to the fact that a steam gunboat, afterwards called the Oreto, was being built in a Liverpool ship-yard, under the supervision of well-known agents of the rebel Government, and evidently intended for the rebel service. The Foreign Secretary replied that the vessel Avas intended for the use of parties in Palermo, Sicily, and that there was no reason to suppose she was intended for any service hostile to the United States. Mr. Adams sent evidence to show that the claim of being designed for service in Sicily was a mere pretext ; but he failed, by this dispatch, as in a subsequent personal conference with Earl Russell on the 15th of April, to in- duce him to take any steps for her detention. She sailed soon after, and was next heard of at the British " neutral" port of Nassau, where she was seized by the authorities at the instance of the American consul, but released by the same authorities on the arrival of Captain Semmes to take command of her as a Confederate privateer. In Oc- tober an intercepted letter was sent to Earl Russell by Mr. Adams, Avritten by the Secretary of the Navy of the Confederate Government, to a person in England, com- plaining that he had not followed the Oreto on her de- parture from England and taken command of her, in ac- cordance with his original appointment. In June, Mr. Adams called Earl Russell's attention to another power- ful war-steamer, then in progress of construction in the ship-yard of a member of the House of Commons, evi- dently intended for the rebel service. This complaint went through the usual formalities, was referred to the '^ Lords Commissioners of her Majesty's Treasury," who reported in due time tliat they could discover no evidence sufficient to warrant the detention of the vessel. Soon afterwards, however, evidence was produced which was sufficient to warrant the collector of the port of Liverpool in ordering her detention ; but before the necessary for- malities could be gone through with, and through delays 334 The Life, Public Services, and caused, as Earl Russell afterwards explained, by tlie "sudden development of a malady of the Queen's ad- vocate, totally incapacitating him for the transaction of business," the vessel, whose managers were duly adver- tised of every thing that was going on, slipped out of port, took on board an armament in the Azores, and entered the rebel service as a privateer. Our Government sub- sequently notified the British Government that it would be held responsible for all the damage wliich tliis vessel, known first as "290," and afterwards as the Alabama, might intiict on American commerce. Discussions were had upon the refusal of the British authorities to permit American vessels of war to take in coal at Nassau, upon the systematica attempts of British merchants to violate our blockade of Southern ports, and upon the recapture, by the crew, of the Emily St. Pierre, which had been seized in attempting to run the blockade at Charleston, and was on her way as a prize to the port of New York. The British Government vindicated her rescue as sanctioned by the principles of international law. The only incident of special im])ortance which occurred during the year in our foreign relations, grew out of an attempt on the part of the Emperor of the Frencli to secure a joint effort at mediation between the Government of the United States and the rebel authorities, on the part of Great Britain and Russia in connection with his own Government. Rumors of such an intention on the part of the Emperor led Mr. Dayton to seek an interview^ with the Minister for Foreign Affairs on the 6th of November, at which indications of such a purpose were apparent. The attempt failed, as both the other powers consulted declined to join in any such action. The French Govern- ment thereupon determined to take action alone, and on the 9th of January, 1863, the Foreign Secretary wrote to the French Minister at Washington a dispatch, declaring the readiness of the French Emperor to do any thing in his power which might tend towards the termination of the war, and suggesting that " nothing w^ould hinder the Government of the United States, without renouncing t](^ State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. ooo cadyantiiges w]iic]i it believes it can attain by a continua- tion of the war, from entering upon informal conferences with the "Confederates of the South, in case they should show themselves disposed thereto." The specific advan- tages of such a conference, and the mode in which it was to be brought about, were thus set forth in this dispatch : — Representatives or commissioners of tlie two parties could assemble at such point as it should be deemed proper to designate, and whicli could. for this purpose, be declared neutral. Reciprocal complaints could bo examined into at this meeting. In place of the accusations which Nortli and South mutually cast upon each other at this time, Avould be substituted an argumentative discussion of the interests which divide them. They would seek out by means of well-ordered and profound deliberations whether these interests are definitively irreconcilable — whether separation is an extreme wliich can no longer be avoided, or whether the memories of a common existence, whether the ties of any kind which have made of the North and of the South one sole and whole Federative State, and liave borne them on to so high a degree of pros[)erity, are not more powerful than the causes wliich have placed arms in the hands of the two popula- tions. A negotiation, the object of which would be thus determinate, would not involve any of the objections raised against the diplomatic in- terventions of Europe, and, without giving birth to the same hopes as the immediate conclusion of an armistice, would exercise a happy influence on the march of events. Why, therefore, should not a combination which respects all the rela- tions of the United States obtain the approbation of the Federal Govern- ment? Persuaded on our part that it is in conformity with their true interests, we do not hesitate to recommend it to their attention; and, not having sought in the project of a mediation of the maritime powers of Europe any vain display of influence, we would applaud, with entire free- dom from all susceptibility of self-esteem, the opening of a negotiation which would invite the two populations to discuss, without the co-opera- tion of Europe, the solution of their differences. The re])ly which the President directed to be made to this proposition embraces so many points of permanent interest and importance in connection with Ids Adminis- tration, that we give it in full. It was as follows : — Departmkkt of Statr, Wasiiinoton'. FcJiruartj 6. ]S6'?. Sir: — The intimation given in your dispatch of January loth, that 1 might expect a special visit from M. Mercier, has been realized. He called on the 3d instant, and gave me a copy of a dispatch whicii lie bad just then received from M. Drouyn de I'lTuys under the date of the t)th of January, 336 The Life, Public Services, and I have taken the President's instructions, and I now proceed to give yon his views upon the subject in question. It has been considered with seriousness, resulting from the reflection that the people of France are known to be faultless sharers with the American nation in the misfortunes and calamities of our unhappy civil war ; nor do we on this, any more than on other occasions, forget the traditional friendship of the two countries, which we unhesitatingly be- lieve has inspired the counsels that M. Drouyn de I'Huys has imparted. He says, " the Federal Government does not despair, we know, of giv- ing more active impulse to hostilities;" and again he remarks, "the pro- traction of the struggle, in a word, has not shaken the confidence (of the Federal Government) in the definite success of its etForts." These passages seem to me to do unintentional injustice to the language, whether confidential or public, in which this Government has constantly spoken on the subject of the war. It certainly has had and avowed only one pur[)ose — a determination to preserve the integrity of the country. So far fi'oin admitting any laxity of effort, or betraying any despondency, the Government has, on the contrary, borne itself chaerfully in all vicissi- tudes, with unwavering confidence in an early and complete triumph of the national cause. Now, when we are, in a manner, invited by afriendl}' power to review the twenty-one months' history of the conflict, we find no occasion to abate that confidence. Through such an alternation of victories and defeats as is the appointed incident of every war, the land and naval forces of the United States have steadily advanced, reclaiming from the insurgents the ports, forts, and posts which they had treacher- ously seized before the strife actually began, and even before it was seri- ously apprehended. So many of the States and districts which the insur- gents included in the field of their projected exclusive slaveholding dominions have already been re-established under the flag of the Union, that they now retain only the States of Georgia, Alabama, and Texas, with half of Virginia, half of North Carolina, two-thirds of South Caro- lina, half of Mississippi, and one-third respectively of Arkansas and Louisiana. The national forces hold even this small territory in close blockade and siege. This Government, if required, does not hesitate to submit its achieve- ments to the test of comparison; and it maintains that in no part of the world, and in no times, ancient or modern, has a nation, when rendered all unready for combat by the enjoyment of eighty years of almost un- broken peace, so quickly awakened at the alarm of sediiTon, put forth energies so vigorous, and achieved successes so signal and etlective as those which have marked the progress of this contest on the part of the Union. M. Drouyn de I'Huys, I fear, has taken other light than the correspond- ence of this Government for his guidance in ascertaining its temper and firmness. He has probably read of divisions of sentiment among those who hold themselves forth as organs of public opinion here, and has given State Papers of Aiuiaiiam Lincoln. 337 to them an undue importance. It is to be remembered Uiat this iy a iiution of thirty Diillions, civilly divided into forty-one Statea and Territories, which cover an expanse hardly less than Europe ; tiiat the people are a [)ure democracy, exercising everywhere the utmost freedom of speech and sutirage ; that a great crisis necessai-ily [n-oduccs vehement as well as pro- found debate, with sharp collisions of individual, local, and sectional interests, sentiments, and ambitious; and that this heat of controversy is increased by the intervention of speculations, interests, prejudices, and passions from every other part of the civilized world. It is, however, through such debates that the agreement of the nation upon any subject is habitually attained, its resolutions formed, and its policy established. While there has been much difference of popular opinion a::d favor concerning the agents who shall carry on the war, the principles ou which it shall be waged, and the means with which it shall be pros- ecuted, M. Drouyn de I'lluys has only to refer to the statute-book of Congress and the Executive ordinances to learn that the national ac- tivity has hitherto been, and yet is, as efficient as that of any other nation, whatever its form of government, ever was, under circumstances of equally grave import to its peace, safety, and welfare. Not one voice has been raised anywhere, out of the immediate tield of the insurrection, in favor of foreign intervention, of mediation, of arbitration, or of com- promise, with the relinquishment of one acre of the national domain, or tharagraph in the letter, as I consider, is in these words: "On tlie 2oth of November last I was advised by an authority which I deemed likely to be well informed, as well as reliable and truth- ful, that the Southern States would send representatives to the next Con- gress, provided that a full and general amnesty should permit them to do so. No guarantee or terms were asked for other than the amnesty re- ferred to." I strongly suspect your information will prove to be groundless ; never- theless, I thank you for communicating it to me. Understanding the phrase in the paragraph above quoted — " the Southern States would send representatives to the next Congress " — to be substantially the same as that "the people of the Southern States would cease resistance, and would reinaugurate, submit to, and maintain the national authority within the limits of such States, under the Constitution of the United States," I say that in such case the war would cease on the part of the United States ; and that if within a reasonable time " a full and general amnesty" were necessary to such end, it would not be withheld. 1 do not think it would be proper now to communicate this, formally or informally, to the people of the Southern States. My belief is that they already know it; and when they choose, if ever, they can commu- nicate with me unequivocally. Nor do I think it proper now to suspend military operations to try any experiment of negotiation. I should nevertheless receive, with great pleasure, the exact informa- tion you now have, and also such other as you may in any way obtain. Such information might be more valuable before the 1st of January than pfterwards. While there is nothing in this letter which I shall dread to see in his- tory, it is, perhaps, better for the present that its existence should not become public. I therefore have to request that you will regard it a:^ confidential. Your obedient servant, A. LiXCOLN. Tilt,' intimation in this letter that information concerniug 342 The Life, Public Services, and the alleged willingness of the rebels to resume their alle- giance, "might be more valuable before the 1st of Jan uary than afterwards," liad reference to the Emancipation Proclamation, which he proposed to issue on that day, unless the offei' of liis preliminary proclamation should be accepted. That proclamation had been issued on the 22d of September, and the sense of responsibility under which this step was taken, was clearly indicated in the following remarks made by the President on the evening of the 24th of that month, in acknowledging the compli- ment of a serenade at the Executive Mansion : — Fellow-Citizens : — I appear before you to do little more than acknowl- edge the courtesy you pay me, and to thank you for it. I have not been distinctly informed why it is that on this occasion you appear to do me this honor, though I suppose it is because of the proclamation. What I did, I did after a very full deliberation, and under a very heavy and sol- OTun sense of responsibility. I can only trust in God I have made no mis- take. I shall make no attempt on this occasion to sustain what I have done or said by any comment. It is now for the country and the world to pass judgment, and may be take action upon it. I will say no juore upon this subject. In my position I am environed with difficulties. Yet they are scarcely so great as the difficulties of those who, upon the battle- field, are endeavoring to purchase with their blood and their lives the fu- ture happiness and prosperity of this country. Let us never forget them. On the 14th and 17th days of this present month there have been battles bravely, skilfully, and successfully fought. We do not yet know the par- ticulars. Let us be sure that, in giving jiraise to certain individuals, we do no injustice to others. I only ask you, at the conclusion of these few remarks, to give three hearty cheers to all good and brave officers and men who fought those successful battles. In November the President published the following order regarding the observance of the day of rest, and the vice of profanity, in the army and navy : — ExKCFTiTE Mansion, Washington, November 16, 1862. The President, commander-in-chief of the army and navy, desires and enjoins the orderly observance of the Sabbath by the officers and men in the military and naval service. The importance for man and beast of the prescribed weekly rest, the sacred rights of Christian soldiers and sailors, a becoming deference to the best sentiment of a Christian people, and a due regard for the Divine will, demand that Sunday labor in the army and navj' be reduced to the measure of strict necessity. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 348 Tlio discipline anil oliaracter of tlio National forces should not suffer. nor the cause they defend be imperilled, by the profanation of the day or name of the Most High. "At this time of public distress," adapting the words of Washington in 1776, "men may find enough to do in the service of God and their country, without abandoning themselves to vice and im- morality." The first general order issued by the Father of his Country, after the Declaration of Independence, indicates the spirit in which our institutions were founded, and should ever be defended. "The general hopes and trusts that every officer and man will endeavor to live and act as becomes a Christian soldier defending the dearest rights and liberties oi his country." A. Lincoln. 344 The Life, Public Services, and CHAPTER XL THK CONGRESSIONAL SESSION OF 1862-'63.— MESSAGI*: OP THE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL ACTION OF THE SESSION. The Peesident's Message. — Are the Kebel States Aliens? — The Pro- vision FOK A Draft. — Message on the Finances and Curkenot.— Admission of -Western Virginia. — Close of the Session. The third session of the Thirty-seventh Congress opened on the 1st day of December, 1862— the supporters of the Administration having a large majority in both branches. The general condition of the country, and the progress made in quelling the rebellion, are clearly set forth in the following Message of President Lincoln, which was sent in to Congress at the beginning of the session : — Felloic- Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives : — Since your last annual assembling, another year of health and bountiful harvests has passed, and vrhile it has not pleased the Almighty to bless us with the return of peace, we can but press on, guided by the best light He gives us, trusting that, in His own good time and Avise way, all will be well. The correspondence, touching foreign affairs, which has taken place during the last year, is herewith submitted, in virtual compliance with a request to that effect made by the House of Representatives near the close of the last session of Congress. If the condition of our relations with other nations is less gratifying than it has usually been at former periods, it is certiuly more satisfactory than a nation so unhappily distracted as we are might I'easonably have appreliended. In the month of June last there were some grounds to expect that the maritime Powers, which, at the beginning of our domestic difficulties, so unwisely and unncessarily, as we think, recognized the insurgents as a belligerent, would soon recede from that position, which has proved only less injurious to themselves than to our own country. But the temporary reverses which afterwards befell the National arms, and wliich were exaggerated by our own disloyal citizens abroad, have hitherto delayed that act of simple jus- tice. The civil war which has so radically changed for the moment the occu- pations and habits of the American people, has necessarily disturbed the State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 345 social condition, and affected very deeply the prosperity of tlie nations with which we have carried on a commerce that has been steadily in- creasing!; througliout a period of half a century. It has, at the same time, excited political ambitions and ap{)rehensions which have produced a pro- found ap;itation throughout the civilized world. In this un usual niJtitation we have forborne from taking part in any controversy between foreign States, and between parties or factions in such States. We have attempt- ed no propagandism, and acknowledged no revolution. But we have left to every nation the exclusive conduct and management of its own aft'airs. Our struggle has been, of course, contemplated by foreign nations witli reference less to its own merits than to its supposed and often exaggerated etlects and consequences resulting to those nations themselves. Never- theless, complaint on the part of this Government, even of it were just, would certainly be unwise. The treaty with Great Britain for the suppression of the slave-trade has been put into operat.on with a good prospect of complete success. It is an occasion of special jdeasure to acknowledge that the execution of it on the part of Her Majesty's Government has been marked with a jealous respect for the authority of the United States and the rights of their moral and loyal citizens. The convention with Hanover for the abolition of the stade dues has been carried into full effect, under the act of Congress for that pur- pose. A blockade of three thousand miles of sea-coast could not be established and vigorously enforced, in a season of great commercial activity like the present, without committing occasional mistakes, and inflicting uninten- tional injuries upon foreign nations and their subjects. A civil war occurring in a country where foreigners reside and carry on trade under treaty stipulations is necessarily fruitful of complaints of the violation of neutral rights. All such collisions tend to excite misap- prehensions, and possibly to produce mutual reclamations between nations which have a common interest in preserving peace and friendship. In clear cases of these kinds I have, so far as possilde, heard and redressed complaints which have been presented by friendly Powers. There is s' ill, however, a large and an augmenting number of doubtful cases, upon which the Government is unable to agree with the Governments whose protection is demanded by the claimants. There are, moreover, many cases in which the United States, or their citizens, suffer wrongs from the naval or military authorities of foreign nations, which the Governments of these States are not at once prepared to redress. I have proposed to some of the foreign States thus interested mutual conventions to examine and adjust such complaints. This proposition has been made especially to Great Britain, to France, to Spain, and to Prussia. In each case it has been kindly received, but has not yet been formally adopted. I deem it ray duty to recommend an appropriation in behalf of tlie owners of the Norwegian bark Admiral P. Tordenskiold, which vessel 346 The Lifi:, Public Services, and way in Mav, LST)!, prevented l)y tlie coiiiuiamler of the hlockadiiig foroe off Charleston from leaving that port with cargo, notwithstanding a sim- ilar privilege had, shortly before, been granted to an English vessel. I have directed the Secretary of State to cause the papers in the case to be communicated to the projjcr committees. Ap|)lications have been made to me by many free Americans of African descent to fiivor their emigration, with a view to such colonization as was contemplated in recent acts of Congress. Other parties, at home and abroad — some from interested motives, others upon patriotic considera- tions, and still others influenced by philanthropic sentiments — have sug- gested similar measures; while, on the other hand, several of the Span- ish-American Kepublics have protested against the sending of such colo- nies to their respective territories. Under these circumstances, I have declined to move any such colony to any State without first obtaining the consent of its Government, with an agreement on its part to receive and protect such emigrants in all the rights of freemen; and I have at the same time offered to the several States situated within the tropics, or having colonies there, to negotiate with them, subject to the advice and consent of the Senate, to favor the voluntary emigration of persons of that class to their respective territories, upon conditions which shall be equal, just, and humane. Liberia and Hayti are, as yet, the only countries to which colonists of African descent from here could go with certainty of being received and adopted as citizens; and I regret to say such persons, contemplating colonization, do not seem so willing to migrate to tliose .countries as to some others, nor so willing as I think their interest de mands. I believe, however, opinion among them in this resjject is improving; and that ere long there will be an augmented and considera- ble migration to both these countries from the United States. The new commercial treaty between the United States and tlie Sultan of Turkey has been carried into execution. A. commercial and consular treaty has been negotiated, subject to the Senate's consent, with Liberia; and a similar negotiation is now pending ■wi.h the Eepublic of Hayti. A considerable improvement of the national coi-imerce is expected to result from these measures. Our relations with Great Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, Russia, Prussia, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, the N'etherlands, Italy, Rome, and the other European States remain undisturbed. Very favorable rela- tions also continue to be maintained with Turkey, Morocco, China, and Japan. During the last year there has not only been no change of our previous velations with the Independent States of our own continent, but more friendly sentiments than have heretofore existed are believed to be en- tertained by these neighbors, whose safety and progress are so intimately connected with our own. This statement especially applies to Mexico, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Honduras, Peru, and Chili. The commission under the convention with the Republic of New Gra Statk Patkus of Abuaiiam Lincoln. 347 nudii closed its session without haviiii; iuuliti.'.l and passed upon all tiio claims which were submitted to it. A proposition is pending to revive the convention, that it be able to do more complete justice. The joint commission between the United States and the Republic of Costa Rica has completed its labors and submitted its report. T have favored the project for connecting the United States with Eu- rope by an Atlantic telegraph, and a similar project to extend the tele- graph from San Francisco to connect by a Pacific telegraph with the line which is being extended across the Russian Empire. The Territories of the United States, with unimportant exceptions, liave remained undisturbed by the civil war; and they are exhibiting such evidence of prosperity as justifies an expectation that some of them will soon be in a condition to be organized as States, and be constitution- ally admitted into the Federal Union. The immense mineral resources of some of those Territories ought to be developed as rapidly as possible. Every step in that^ direction would have a tendency to improve the revenues of the Government and dimin- ish the burdens of the people. It is worthy of your serious considera- tion whether some extraordinary measures to promote that end cannot be adopted. The means which suggests itself as most likely to be eft'ec- tive, is a scientific exploration of the mineral regions in those Territories, with a view to the publication of its results at home and in foreign coun- tries — results which cannot fail to be auspicious. The condition of the finances will claim your most diligent considera- tion. The vast expenditures incident to the military and naval opera- tions required for the suppression of the rebellion have been hitherto met with a promptitude and certainty unusual in similar circumstances; and the public credit has been fully maintained. The continuance of the war, however, and the increased disbursements made necessary by the augmented forces now in the field, demand your best reflections as to the best modes of providing the necessary revenue, without injury to busi- ness, and with the least possible burdens upon labor. The suspension of specie payments by the banks, soon after the com- mencement of your last session, made large issues of United States notes unavoidable. In no other way could the payment of the troops and the satisfixction of other just demands, be so economically or so well provided for. The judicious legislation of Congress, securing the receivability of these notes for loans and internal duties, and making them a legal tender for other debts, has made them a universal currency, and has satisfied, partially at least, and for the time, the long felt want of a uniform circu- lating medium, saving thereby to the people immense sums in discounts and exchanges. A return to specie payments, however, at the earliest period compati- ble with duo regard to all interests concerned, should ever be kept in view. Fluctuations in the value of currency are always injurious, and to reduce these fluctuatious to the lowest possible point will always be a 348 The Life, Public Services, and leading purpose in wise legislation. Convertibility, prompt and certain converlibiiily into coin, is erenerally acknowledged to be the best and surest safeguard against them ; and it is extremely doubtful whether a circulation of United States notes, payable in coin, and sufficiently large for the wants of the people, can be permanently, usefully, and safely maintained. Is there, then, any other mode in which the necessary provision for the public wants can be made, and the great advantages of a safe and nnifonn currency secured? I know of none which promises so certain results, and is, at the same lime, so unobjectionable as the organization of banking associations, un- der a general act of Congress, well guarded in its provisions. To such associations the Government might furnish circulating notes, on the security of United States bonds deposited in the Treasury. These notes, prepared under the supervision of proper officers, being uniform in ap- pearance and security, and convertible always into coin, would at once protect labor against the evils of a vicious currency, and facilitate com- merce by cheap and safe exchanges. A moderate reservation from the interest on the bonds would compen- sate the United States for the preparation and distribution of the notes, and a general supervision of the system, and would lighten the burden of that part of the public debt employed as securities. The public credit, moreover, would be greatly improved, and the negotiation of new loans greatly facilitated by tlie steady market demand for Government bonds which the adoption of the proposed system would create. It is an additional recommendation of the measure, of considerable weight, in my judgment, that it would reconcile as far as possible all existing interests, by the opportunity offered to existing institutions to reorganize under the act, substituting only the secured uniform national circulation for tlie local and various circulation, secured and unsecured, now issued by them. The receipts into the Treasury, from all sources, including loans, and balance from the preceding year, for the fiscal year ending on the 30tl> of June, 1862, were $583,885,247.60, of which sum $49,056,397.62 were derived from customs; $1,795,331.73 from the direct tax; from public lands, $152,203. 71 ; from miscellaneous sources, $931,787.64; from loans in all forms, $529,692,460.50. The remainder, $2,257,065.80, was the balance from last year. The disbursements during the same period were for Congressional, Executive, and Judicial purposes, $5,939,009.29; for foreign intercourse^ $1,339,710.35 ; for miscellaneous expenses, including the mints, loans, post-office deficiencies, collection of revenue, and other like charges, $14,129,771.50; for expenses under the Interior Department, $3,102,- 985.52 ; under the War Department, $394,368,407.36 ; under the Navy Department, $42,674,569.69; for interest on public debt, $13,190,324.45; and for payment of public debt, including reimbursement of temporarj State Papers of Aimiaiiam Llxcoln. 349 loan, and redemptions, $'J(i,0'J(), 922.0'.) ; iuukin<,' ;ui ug<,n-oi:;atc of ^570,- 841,700.25, and leaving a hulance in tlio Treasury on the 1st day of July, 1862, of $13,043,546.81. It should be observed that the sum of $90,090,922.09, expended for reimbursements and redemption of public debt, beinj^ included also in the loans made, may be properly deducted, both from receipts and expen- ditures, leaving the actual receipts for tlio year $487,788,324.97, and the expenditures, $474,744,778.16. Other information on the subject of tlie finances will be found in the report of the Secretary of the Treasury, to Avhose statements and views I invite your most candid and considerate attention. The reports of the Secretaries of War and of the Navy are herewith transmitted. These reports, though lengthy, are scarcely more than brief abstracts of the very numerous and extensive transactions and operations conducted through those Departments. Nor could I give a summary of t*hem here, upon any principle which would admit of its being much shorter than the reports themselves. I therefore contem myself with laying the reports before you, and asking your attention t( them. It gives me pleasure to report a decided improvement in the financia condition of the Post-Office Department, as compared with several pre- ceding years. The receipts for the fiscal year 1801 amounted to $8,349,296.40, which eml^-aced the revenue from all the States of the Union for three-quarters of tliat year. Notwithstanding the cessation of revenue from the so-called seceded States during the last fiscal year, the increase of the correspondence of tlie loyal States has been suffi- cient to produce a revenue during the same year of $8,299,820.90, being only $50,000 less than was derived from all the States of the Union during the previous year. The expenditures show a still more favorable result. The amount expended in 1861 was $13,600,759.11. For the last year the amount has been reduced to $11,125,304.13. show- ing a decrease of about $2,481,000 in the expenditures as compared with the preceding year, and about $3,750,000 as compared with the fiscal year 1800. The deficiency in the Department for the previous year was $4,551,966.98. For the last fiscal year it was reduced to $2,112,814.57. These favorable results are in part owing to the cessation of mail service in the insurrectionary States, and in part to a careful review of all expen- ditures in that department in the interest of economy. The efficiency of the postal service, it is believed, has also been much improved. The Postmaster-General has also opened a correspondence, through the De- partment of State, with foreign Governments, proposing a convention of postal representatives for the purpose of simplifying the rates of foi-eign postage, and to expedite tlie foreign mails. This proposition, equally im- portant to our adopted citizens and to the commercial interests of thi> country, has been favorably entertained and agreeJ to by .all the Govern- ments from whom replies have been received. 350 The Life, Public Services, and I ask the attention of Concjress to tlie suggestions of the Postmaster- General in his report respecting the farther legislation required, in his opinion, for the benefit of the postal service. The Secretary of the Interior reports as follows in regard to the public lands : — The public lands have ceased to he a source of revenue. From the 1st July, 1861, to the 30th September. 1862, the entire cash receipts from the sale of lands were $137,476.26 — a sum much less than the expenses of our land system during tlie same period. The homestead law, which will take effect on the 1st of January next, offers such inducements to settlers that sales for cash cannot be expected, to an extent sufficient to meet the expense of the General Land Office, and the cost of surveying and bringing the land into market. The discrepancy between the sum here stated as arising from the sales of the public lands, and the sum derived froin the same source as reported from the Treasury Department, arises, as I understand, from the fact that the periods of time, tliough apparently, were not really coincident at the beginning-point — the Treasury report including a con- siderable sum now which had previously been reported from the inte- rior — sufficiently large to greatly overreach the sum derived from the three months now reported upon by the Interior, and not by the Treasury. The Indian tribes upon our frontiers have, during the past year, mani- fested a spirit of insubordination, and, at several points, liave engaged in open hostilities against the white settlements in their vicinity. The tribes occupying the Indian country south of Kansas renounced their allegiance to the United States, and entered into treaties with the insur- gents. Those who remained loyal to the United States were driven from the country. The chief of the Cherokees has visited this city for the pui'pose of restoring the former relations of the tribe with the United States. He alleges that they were constrained, by superior force, to en- ter into treaties with the insurgents, and that the United States neg- letted to furnish the protection which their treaty stii)ulations required. In the month of August last, the Sioux Indians in Minnesota attacked the settlement in their vicinity with extreme ferocity, killing, indiscrimi- nately, men, women, and children. This attack was wholly unexpected, and therefore no means of defence had been provided. It is estimated that not less than eight hundred persons were killed by the Indians, and a large amount of property was destroyed. IIow this outbreak was in- duced is not definitely known, and suspicions, which may be unjust, need not be stated. Information was received by the Indian Bureau, from different sources, about the time hostilities were commenced, that a si multancous attack was to be made upon the white settlements by all the tribes between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains. The State of Minnesota has suft'ered great injury from this Indian war. A large i)ortion of her territory has been depopulated, and a severe loss State Papkrs of Abraham Lincoln. 351 has been sustained by the destruction of jiropcrty. The pcojdc of tliat State manifest much anxiety for the removal of the tribes beyond tin- limits of the State as a guarantee against future hostilities. The Com- missioner of Indian Affairs will furnish full details. I submit for your especial consideration whether our Indian system sliail not be remodelled. Many wise aiul good men have impressed me with the belief that this can be profitably done. I submit a statement of the proceedings of commissioners, which shows the progress that has been made in the enterprise of constructing the Pacific Railroad. And this suggests the earliest completion of this road, and also the favorable action of Congress upon the projects now pending before them for enlarging the capacities of the great canals in New York and Illinois, as being of vital and rapidly increasing importance to the whole nation, and especially to the vast interior region hereinafter to be noticed at some greater length. I purpose having prepared and laid be- fore you at an early day some interesting and valuable statistical informa- tion upon this subject. The military and commercial importance of enlarging the Illinois and Michigan Canal, and improving the Illinois River, is presented in the report of Colonel Webster to the Secretary of War, and now transmitted to Congress. I respectfully ask attention to it. To carry out the provisions of the act of Congress of the 15th of ilay last, I have caused the Department of Agriculture of the United States to be organized. The Commissioner informs me that within the period of a few months this dei)artmeut has established an extensive system of correspondence and exchanges, both at home and abroad, which promises to effect highly beneficial results in the development of a correct knowledge of recent improvements in agriculture, in the introduction of new products, and in the collection of the agricultural statistics of the different States. Also, tliat it will soon be prepared to distribute largely seeds, cereals, plants, and cuttings, and has already published and liberally diffused much valu- able information in anticipation of a more elaborate report, which will in due time be furnished, embracing some valuable tests in chemical science now in progress in the laboratory. The creation of this department was for the more immediate benefit of a large class of our most valuable fellow-citizens; and I trust that the liberal basis upon which it has been organized will not only meet your approbation, but that it will realize, at no distant day, all the fondest anticipations of its most sanguine friends, and become the fruitful source of advantage to all our people. On the 22d day of September last, a proclamation was issued by the Executive, a copy of which is herewith submitted. In accordance with the purpose expressed in the second paragraph of that paper, I now respectfully call your attention to what may be called •' compensated emancipation." A nation may be said to consist of its territory, its people, and its laws 352 The Life, Public Services, and The territoj;^' is the only part wliich is of certain durability. '• One g-oner- ation passeth away, and another generation coraeth, but the eartli .■ilndeth forever." It is of the first importance to duly consider and estiiiu.te this ever-endiiring part. That portion of the earth's surface which is owned and inhabited by the people of the United States is well adapted to the home of one national family, and it is not well adapted for two or more. Its vast extent, and its variety of climate and productions, are of advan- tage in this age for one people, whatever they might have been in former ages. Steam, telegraphs, and intelligence have brought these to be an advantageous combination for one united people. In the Inaugural Address I brietiy pointed out the total inadequacy of disunion as a remedy for the differences between tlie ])eople of the two sections. I did so in language which I cannot improve, and which, there- fore, I beg to repeat : — " One section of our country believes slavery is right, and ought to be extended ; while the other believes it is wrong, and ought not to be extended. This is the only substantial dispute. The fugitive slave clauce of the Constitution, and the law for the suppression of the foreign slave- trade, are each as well enforced, perhaps, as any law can ever be in a community where the moral sense of the people imperfectly suj)ports the law itself. The great body of the people abide by the dry legal obligation in both cases, and a few break over in each. This, I think, cannot be cured ; and it would be worse, in both cases, after the separation of the .sections than before. The foreign slave-trade, now imperfectly su])pressed, would be ultimately revived without restriction in one section; while •fugitive slaves, now only partially surrendered, would not be surrendered at all by tlie other. "Physically speaking, we cannot separate. We cannot remove our respective sections from each other, nor build an impassable wall between them. A husband and wife may be divorced, and go out of the presence and beyond the reach of each other ; but the ditferent parts of our coun- try cannot do this. They cannot but remain face to face ; and intercourse, either amicable or hostile, must continue between them. Is it possible, then, to make that intercourse more advantageous or more satisfacloi-y after separation than before ? Can aliens make treaties easier than friends can make laws? Can treaties be more faithfully enforced between aliens than laws can among friends? Suppose you go to war, you cannot tight always; and when, after much loss on both sides, and no gain on either, you cease lighting, the identical old questions, as to terms of intercourse, ;ire again upon you." There is no line, straight or crooked, suitable for a national boundary, upon which to divide. Trace through, from east to west, upoii the line between the free and slave country, and we shall find a little more than one-third of its length are rivers, easy to be crossed, and populated, or soon to be populated, thickly upon both sides; while nearly all its .re maining length are merely surveyors' lines, over which peo]>le may walk back and forth without any consciousness of their presence. No pai't of this line can be made any more difficult to pass by writing it down on paper or parchment as a national boundary. The fact of separation, if it State Pvpeiis of Ap.uaiiam Lixcoln. 853 rom.cs, ijives up, on the part of the seocdinc: section, the fiifritive shivo ihiuse, along with uU otlier oonstitutiunal obligations upon the section seceded from, while I siionld expect no treaty stipnhxtion wonhl ever be made to take its phxce. But there is another difficulty. The great interior region, bounded east by the Alleghanies, north by the British dominions, west by the Rocky Mountains, and south by the line along which the culture of corn and cotton n)eets, and which includes part of Virginia, ])art of Tennessee, all of Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missfjuri, Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota, and the Territories of Dakota, Nebraska, and part of Colorado, already has above ten millions of people, and will havo tifty millions within fifty years, if not prevented by any political folly or mistake. It contains more than one-third of the country owned by the United States — certainly more than one million of sc[uare miles. Once half as populous as Massachusetts already is. it would have more than seventy-five millions of people. A glance at the map shows that, terri- 'orially speaking, it is the great body of the Republic. The other parts are but marginal borders to it. the magnificent region sloping west from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific being the deepest, and also the richest in undeveloped resources. In the production of provisions, grains, grasses, and all which proceed from them, this great interior region is naturally one of the most important of the world. Ascertain from the statistics the small proportion of the region which has as yet been brought into culti- vation, and also the large and rapidly increasing amount of its jjroducts, and we shall be overwhelmed w'ith the magnitude of the prospect pre sented. And yet this region has no sea-coast — touches no ocean any- where. As part of one nation, its people now find, and may forever find, their way to Europe by New York, to South America and Africa by New Orleans, and to Asia by San Francisco. But separate our common conn- try into two nations, as designed by the present rebellion, and every man of this great interior region is thereby cut off from some one or more of these outlets, not perhaps by a physical barrier, but by embarrassing and onerous trade regulations. And this is true, wherever a dividing or boundary line may be fixed. Place it between the now free and slave country, or })lace it soutli of Kentucky, or north of Ohio, and still the truth remains that none south of it can trade to any port or place north of it, and none north of it can trade to any port or ])lace south of it, except upon terms dictated by a Government foreign to them. These outlets, east, west, and south, are indispensable to the well-being of the people inhabiting and to iiiliabit this vast interior region. Which of the three ma}' be the best is no proper question. All are better than either, and all of riglit belong to that people and to their successors forever. True to themselves, they will not ask where a line of separation shall be, but will vow I'atlie.r that there shall be no such line. Nor are the marginal regions less interested in these communications to and through them to the grent 23 ' 354 The Life, Public Services, and outside world. They too, and each of them, must have access to this Egypt of the West, witliout paying toll at the crossing of any nationt^. boundary. Our national strife springs not from our permanent part; not from the land we inliahit; not from our national homestead. There is no possible severing of this, but would multiply and not mitigate evils among us. In all its adaptations and aptitudes it demands union and alihors separation. In fact, it would ere long force reunion, however much of blood and treasure the separation might have cost. Our strife pertains to ourselves — to the passing generations of men ; and it can, without convulsion, be hushed forever with the passing of one generation. In this view, I recommend the adoption of the following resolution and articles amendatory to the Constitution of the United States : — Rcsohed hy the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of both Houses con curring), That the following articles be proposed to the Legislatures (or Conventions) of the several States as amendments to tJie Constitution of the United Htates, all or any of which articles, when ratified by three- foui-tlis of the said Legislatures (or Conventions), to be valid as part or parts of the said Constitution, viz. : — Akticle. — Every IState, wherein slavery now exists, which shall abolish the same therein at any time or times before the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand and nine hundred, shall receive com- pensation from the United States as follows, to wit : Tiie President of the United States shall deliver to every such State bonds of the United States, bearing interest at the rate of per cent. per annum, to an amount equal to the aggregate sura of for each slave shown to have been therein by the eighth census of the United States, said bonds to be delivered to such State by instalments, or in one parcel, at the completion of the abolishment, accordingly as the same shall have been gradual, or at one time, within such State; and interest shall begin to rnn upon any such bond only from the proper time of its delivery as aforesaid. Any State having received bonds as aforesaid, and afterwards reintroducing or tolerating slavery therein, shall refund to the United States the bonds so received, or the value thereof, and all interest paid thereon. Article, — All slaves who shall have enjoyed actual freedom by the chances of the war, at any time before the end of the rebellion, shall be forever free; but all owners of such, who shall not have been disloyal, shall be compensated for them at the same rates as is provided for States adopting abolishment of slavery, but in such way that no slave shall be twice acc(junted for. Article. —Congress may appropriate money, and otherwise provide for colonizing free colored persons, with their own consent, at any place or places without the United States. I beg indulgence to discuss these proposed articles at some length. Without slavery the rebellion could never have existed ; without slavery it could not continue. Among the friends of the Union there is great diversity of sent! rent State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 355 and of policy in regard to slavery and the African race amongst ns Some would perpetuate slavery; some would alxdish it suddenly, and without compensation ; some would abolisii it gradually, jiiid with com- pensation; some would remove the freed people from us, and some would retain them with us: and there are yet other minor diversities. Because of these diversities we waste much strength among ourselves. By mutual concession we should harmonize and act together. This would be compromise'; but it would be compromise among the friends, and not with the enemies of the Union. These articles are intended to embody a jjlan of such mutual concessions. If the jdan shall be adoptctl, it is assumed that emancipation will follow in at least several of the States. As to the first article, the main points are: first, the emancipation; secondly, the length of time for consummating it — thirty-seven years; and, thirdly, the compensation. The emancipation will be unsatisfactory to the advocates of perpetual slavery ; but the length of time should greatly mitierate their dissatisfae- tion. The time spares both races from the evils of sudden derangement — in fact, from the necessity of any derangement; while most of those whose habitual course of thought will be disturbed by the measure will have passed away before its consummation. They will never see it. Another class will hail the prospect of emancipation, but will deprecate the length of time. Tliey will feel that it gives too little to the now liv- ing slaves. But it really gives them much. It saves them from the vagrant destitution which must largely attend immediate emancipation in localitiei where their numbers are very great; and it gives the inspiring assurance that their posterity shall be free forever. The plan leaves to each State choosing to act under it, to abolish slavery now, or at the end of the cen- tury, or at any intermediate time, or by degrees, extending over the whole or any i)art of the period ; and it obliges no two States to proceed alike. It also provides for compensation, and generally the mode of making it. This, it would seem, must further mitigate the dissatisfaction of those who favor perpetual slavery, and especially of those who ai"e to receive the compensation. Doubtless some of those who are to pay and not receive will object. Yet the measure is both just and economical. In a certaia sense the liberation of slaves is the destruction of property — property acquired by descent or by purchase, the same as any other property. It is no less true for having been often said, that the people of the South are not more responsible for the original introduction of tliis property than are the people of the North ; and when it is remembered how unhesitat- ingly we all use cotton and sugar, and share the profits of dealing in them, it may not be quite safe to say that the South has been more respon- sible than the North for its continuance. If, then, for a common object 1 this property is to be sacrificed is it not just that it be done at a common ^charge ? And if with less money, oi money more easily paid, we can preserve 356 The Life, Public Services, and the benefits of the Union by this means than we can by the war alone, is it not also economical to do it? Let us consider it, then. Let us ascer- tain the sum we have expended in the war since compensated emancipation was proposed last March, and consider whether, if that measure iiad been promptly accepted by even some of the slave States, the same sum would not liave done more to close the war than has been otherwise done. If 80, the measure would save money, and, in that view, would be a prudent and economical measure. Certainly it is not so easy to pay something as it is pay nothing; but it is easier to pay a large sum than it is to pay a larger one. And it is easier to pay any sum when we are able, than it is to pay it before we are able. The war requires large sums, an of increase, for the several decennial periods, to be as follovvii: — 1799 3,929,827 1800 5,805,937 35.02 per cent, ratio of increase. 1810 7,239,814 3G.45 " " " 1820 9,038,131 33.13 " " " 1830 12,866,020 33.49 " " " 1840 17,069,453 32.67 " " " 1850 23,191,876 35.87 " " " 1860 31,443,790 35.58 " " " This shows an average decennial increase of 34.G0 per cent, in popula- tion through the seventy years, from our first to our last census yet taker It is seen that the ratio of increase, at no one of these two periods, is either two per cent, below or two per cent, above the average ; thus show - ing liow inflexible, and consequently how reliable, the law of increase in our case is. Assuming that it will continue, it gives the following re- sults : — 1870 42,323,.341 1880 56,967,216 ' 1890 76,677,872 1900 103.208,415 1910 138,918,526 1920 186,984,335 1930 251,680,914 These figures show that our country may be as populous as Europe now is at some point between 1920 and 1930 — say about 1925 — our territory, at seventy-three and a third persons to the square mile, being of capacity to contain two hundred and seventeen million one liundred and eighty- six thousand. And we will reach this, too, if we do not ourselves relinquish the chance, by the folly and evils of disunion, or by long and exhausting wars spring- ing from the only great element of national discord among us. While it cannot be foreseen exactly how much one huge example of secession, breeding lesser ones indefinitely, would retard population, civilization, and prosperity, no one can doubt that the extent of it would be very great and injurious. Tlie proposed emancipation would shorten the war, perpetuate peace, insure this increase of population, and proportionately the wealth of the country. With these we should pay all the emancipation would cost, together with our other debt, easier than we should pay our other debt with- out it. If we had allowed our old national debt to run at six per cent, per ivnnum. simple interest, from the end of our Revolutionary struggle until to-day, witliout paying anything on either principal or interest, each man of us would owe less upon that debt now than each man owed upon it 358 The Life, Public Services, and then; and this hecause our increase of men, through the wliole peri(jd, has been greater than six per cent.; lias run faster than the interest upon the debt. Th\is, time alone relieves a debtor nation, so long as its popu- lation increases faster than unpaid interest accumulates on its debt. This fact would be no excuse for delaying payment of what is justly due; but it shows the great importance of time in this connection — the great advantage of a policy by which we shall not have to pay until we number a hundred millions, what, by a different policy, we would have to now. when we number but thirty-one millions. In a word, iu .shows that a dollar will be much harder to pay for the war than will be a dollar for the emancipation on the proposed plan. And then tlie latter will cost no blood, no ])recious life. It will be a saving of both. As to the second article, I think it would be impracticable to return to bondage the class of persons therein contemplated. Some of them, doubt- less, in tht^ property sense, belong to loyal owners ; and hence provision is made in this article for compensating such. The third article relates to the future of the freed people. It does not oblige, but merely authorizes Congress to aid in colonizing such as may consent. This ought not to be regarded as objectionable on the one hand or on the other, insomuch as it comes to nothing unless by the mutual con- sent of the people to be deported, and the American voters, through their representatives in Congress. I cannot make it better known than it already is, that I strongly favor colonization. And yet I wish to say there is an objection urged against free colored persons remaining in the country which is largely imaginary, if not somet'-mes malicious. It is insisted that their presence would injure and displace white labor and white laborers. If there ever could be a proper time for mere catch arguments, that time surely is not now. In times like the present men should utter notliing for which they would not willingly be responsible through time and in eternity. Is it true, then, that colored peoi)le can displace any more white labor by being free than by remaining slaves? If they stay in their old places, they jostle no white laborers ; if they leave their old places, they leave them open to white laborers. Logically, there is neither more nor less of it. Emancipation, even without deportation, would probably enhance the wages of white labor, and, very surely, would not reduce them. Thus the customary amount of labor would still have to be performed — the freed people would surely not do more tlian their old proportion of it, and very probably for a time would do less, leaving an increased part to white laborers, bringing their labor into greater demand, and conse(iuently enhancing the wages of it. With deportation, even to a limited extent, enhanced wages to white labor is mathematically certain. Labor is like any other commodity in the market — increase the demand for it and you increase the price of it. Reduce the supply of black labor, by colonizing the black laborer out of the country, and by precisely so much you increase the demand for and wages of white labor. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. o59 But it is dreaded tliut the freed people wills warm forth jvud cotet tho whole latid! Are tliey not already in the land? Will lit)eration make them any more numerous? Equally distributed among the whites of tiie whole country, and there would be but one colored to seven whites. Could the one, in any way, greatly disturb the seven? There are many communities now having more than one free colored person to seven whites; and this, without any apparent consciousness of evil from it. The District of Ct)lumbia and the States of Maryland and Delaware are all in this condition. The District has more than one free colored to six whites; and yet, in its frequent petitions to Congress, I believe it has never presented the presence of free colored persons as one of its griev- ances. 15ut why sliould emancipation South send the freed people North? People of any color seldom run unless there be something to run from. Heretofore colored people to some extent have fled North from bondage; and now, perhaps, from bondage and destitution. But if gradual eman- cipation and deportation be adopted, they will have neither to llee from. Their old masters will give them wages at least until new laborers can be procured, and the freedmen in turn will gladly give their labor for tho wages till new homes can be found for thein in congenial climes and with people of tlieir own blood and race. This proposition can be trusted on the mutual interests involved. And in any event, cannot the North de- cide for itself whether to receive them ? Again, as practice proves more than theory, in any case, has there been any irruption of colored i>eople northward because of the abolishment of slavery in this District last spring? What I have said of the proportion of free colored persons to the whites in the District is from the census of ISGO, having no reference to persons called contrabauds, nor to those made free by the act of Congress abolishing slavery here. The plan consisting of these articles is recommended, not but that a restoration of national authority would be accepted without its adoption. Nor will the war, nor proceedings under the proclamation of Septem- ber 22, 18G2, be stayed because of the recommendation of this plan. Its timely adoption, I doubt not, would bring restoration, and thereby stay both. And, notwithstanding this plan, the recommendation that Congress provide by law for compensating any State which may adopt emancipa- tion before this plan shall have been acted upon, is hereby earnestly re- newed. Such would be only an advanced part of the plan, and the same arguments apply to both. This plan is recommended as a means, not in exclusion of, but addi- tional to, all others for restoring and preserving the natiotud authoritj throughout the Union. Tlie subject is presented exclusively in its eco- nomical aspect. The plan would, I am confident, secure peace more speedily, and maintain it more permanently, than can be dtuie by force alone; wiiile all it would cost, considering amounts, and nuuuier ot pay- 360 The Life, Public Services, and ment, and times of payment, would 1)6 easier paid than will he the addi- tional cost of the war, if we solely rely upon force. It is much — very much — that it would cost no hlood at all. The plan is proposed as permanent constitutional law. It cannot he- come such, without the concurrence of, first, two-thirds of Congress, and afterwards three-fourths of the States. The requisite three-fourths of tlie States will necessarily include seven of the slave States. Their concur- rence, if ohtained, will give assurance of their severally adopting eman- cipation, at no very distant day, upon the new constitutional terms. This assurance would end the struggle now, and save the Union forever. I do not forget the gravity which should characterize a paper addressed to the Congress of the nation hy the Chief Magistrate of tlie nation. Nor do I forget that some of you are my seniors; nor that many of you have more experience than I in the conduct of public affairs. Yet I trust that, in view of the great responsibility resting upon me, you will perceive no want of respect to yourselves in any undue earnestness I may seem to display. Is it doubted, then, that the plan I propose, if adopted, would shorten the war, and thus lessen its expenditure of money and of blood? Is it doubted that it would restore the national authority and national pros- perity, and perpetuate both indefinitely ? Is it doubted that we here — Congress and Executive — can secure its adoption ? Will not the good people resi)ond to a united and earnest appeal from us? Can we, can they, by any other means, so certainly or so speedily assure these vital objects? We can succeed only by concert. It is not " 6an any of us ima- gine better?" but ''Can we all do better?" Object whatsoever is possible, still the question recurs, " Can we do better?" The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disinthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country. Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this Congress and this Administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No per- sonal significance or insignificance can si)are one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the latest generation. We say that we are for the Union. The world will not forget that we say this. We know how to save the Union. TJio world knows we do know how to save it. We — even we here— hold the power and bear the responsibility. In giving freedom to the slave we as- sure freedom to the free — honorable alike in what we give and what we preserve. We shall nobly save or meanly lose the la.st best hope of earth, Other means may succeed ; this could not, cannot fail. The Avay is plain, peaceful, generous, just — a way which, if followed, the world will forever applaud, and God must forever bless. Abraham Lixcolx. December 1, 1S62. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 361 At the very outset of the session, resolutions wen; in- troduced by the opponents of the Administration, ('(insur- ing, in strong terms, its arrest of individuals in tlie loyal States, suspected of giving, or intending to give, aid and comfort to the rebellion. These arrests were denounced as utterly unwarranted by the Constitution and laws of the United States, and as involving the subversion of the public liberties. In the Senate, the general subject was discussed in a debate, commencing on the 8th of Decem- ber, the opponents of the Administration setting forth very fully and very strongly their opinion of the unjusti- fiable nature of this action, and its friends vindicating it, as made absolutely necessary by the emergencies of the case. Every department of the Government, and every section of the country, were filled at the outset of the war with men actively engaged in doing the work of spies and informers for the rebel authorities ; and it Vv'as known that, in repeated instances, the plans and purpost's of the Grovernment liad been betray(^d and defeated by these aiders and abettors of treason. It became absolutely necessary, not for purposes of punishment, but of prtn^en- tion, to arrest these men in the injurious and perliajjs fatal action they were preparing to take ; and on this ground the action of the Government was vindicated and justified by the Senate. On the Sth of Dec(>mber, in the House of Representatives, a bill was introduced, declaring the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus to have been required by the public safety ; confirming and declaring valid all arrests and imprisonments, by whomsoever made or caused to be made, under the authority of the President ; and indemnifying the President, secretaries, heads of departments, and all persons who have been concerned in making such arrests, or in doing or advising any such acts, and making void all prosecutions and pro- ceedings whatever against them in relation to the matters in question. It also authorized the President, during the existence of the war, to declare the suspension of the writ of liaheas corpus^ "at such times, and in such places, and with regard to such persons, as in his judgm'?nt the 362 The Life, Public Services, and public safety may require." This bill was passed, receiv- ing ninety votes in its favor, and forty -five against it. It was taken up in the Senate on the 22d of December, and after a discussion. of several days, a new bill was substi- tuted and passed ; ayes 33, noes 7. This was taken up in the House on the 18th of February, and the substitute of the Senate was rejected. This led to the appointment of a committee of conference, which recommended tliat the Senate recede from its amendments, and that the bill, substantially as it came from the House, be passed. This report was agreed to after long debate, and the bill thus became a law. The relations in which the rebel States were placed by their acts of secession towards the General Government be'^arae a topic of discusion in the House of Representa- tives, in a debate wiiich arose on the 8th of January, upon an item in the Appropriation Bill, limiting the amount to be paid to certain commissioners to the amount that might be collected from taxes in the insurrectionary States. Mr. Stevens, of Pennsylvania, pronounced the opinion that the Constitution did not embrace a State that was in arms against the Government of the United States. He maintain- ed that those States held towards us the position of alien enemies— that every obligation existing between them and us had been annulled, and that with regard to all the Southern States in rebellion, the Constitution has no bind- ing force and no application. This position was very strongly controverted by men of both parties. Those who were not in full sympathy with the Administration opposed it, because it denied to the Southern people the protection of the Constitution ; while many Republicans regarded it as a virtual acknowledgment^ of the validity and acHual force of the ordinances of secession passed by the Rebel States. Mr. Thomas, of Massachusetts, expressed the sentiment of the latter class very clearly when he said that one object of the bill under discussion was to impose a tax upon States in rebellion— that our only authority for so doing was the Constitution of the United States— and that we could only do it on the ground that the author- State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. .^A' ity of the Government oyer tliose States is just as valid now as it was before the acts of secession werc^ passed, and that every one of those acts is utterly null and void. No vote was taken which declared din^ctly the opinion of the House on the theoretical question thus involved. The employment of negroes as soldiers was subjected to a vigorous discussion, started on th(^ 27th of January, by an amendment offered to a pending bill by Mr. Stevens, directing the President to raise, arm, and equip as many volunteers of African descent as he might deem useful, for such term of service as he might think proper, not exceeding five years — to be officered by white or black persons, in the President' s discretion — slaves to be accept- ed as well as freemen. The members from the Border States opposed this proposition with great earnestness, as certain to do great harm to the Union cause among their con- stituents, by arousing prejudices which, whether reason- able or not, were very strong, and against which argument would be foand utterly unavailing. Mr. Crittenden, of Kentucky, objected to it mainly because -it would convert the war against the rebellion into a servile war, and es- tablish abolition as the main end for which the war was carried on. Mr. Sedgwick, of New York, vindicated the policy suggested, as having been dictated rather by neces- sity than choice. He pointed out the various steps by which the President, as the responsible head of the Gov- ernment, had endeavored to prosecute the war success- fully without interfering with slavery, and shoAved also how the refusal of the Rebel States to return to their allegiance had compelled him to advance, step by step, to the more rigorous and effective policy which had now become inevitable. After considerable further discussion, the bill, embodying substantially the amendment of Mr. Stevens, was passed ; ayes 83, noes 54. On reaching the Senate it was referred to the Committee on Military Affairs, which, on the 12th of February, reported against its pas- sage, on the ground that the autherity which it was in- tended to confer upon the President was already sufficient- ly granted in the act of the previous session, approved 364 The Life, Public Services, and July 17, 1862, which authorized the President to employ, in any military or naval service for which they might be found competent, persons of African descent. One of the most important acts of the session was that which provided for the creation of a national force by enrolling and drafting the militia of the whole country — each State being required to contribute its quota in the ratio of its population, and the whole force, Avhen raised, to be under the control of the President. Some measure of the kind seemed to have been rendered absolutely ne- cessary by the revival of party spirit throughout the loyal States, and by the active and effective efforts made by the Democratic party, emboldened by the results of the fall elections of 1862, to discourage and prevent volunteer- ing. So successful had they been in this work, that the Government seemed likely to fail in its efforts to raise men for another campaign ; and it was to avert this threat- ening evil that the bill in question was brought forward for the action of Congress. It encountered a violent i:esist- ance from the opposition party, and especially from those members whose sympathies with the secessionists were the most distinctly marked. But after the rejection of numerous amendments, more or less affecting its character and force, it was passed in the Senate, and taken up on the 23d of February in the House, where it encountered a similar ordeal. It contained various provisions for exempting from service persons upon wliom others were most directly and entirely dependent for support— such as the only son of a widow, the only son of aged and infirm parents who relied upon liim for a maintenance, &c. It allowed drafted persons to procure substitutes ; and. to cover the cases in which the prices of substitutes might become exorbitant, it also provided that upon payment of three hundred dollars the Government itself would procure a substitute, and release the person diafted from service. The bill Avas passed in the House, with son]*' amendments, by a vote of 115 to 49 ; and the amendments being concurred in by the Senate, the bill became a law. One section of this act required the President to issue State Papers of Abraham Lixcjolx. hijo a proclaiiuiticni offering an ainuesty to derit.'rtiu's, and hu accordingly issued it, in tlie following words : — A PROCLAMATIOK By the Fresident of the United States of America. Executive Mansion, Washington, March 10, 1SG3. . In pursuance of the twenty-sixth section of the act of Congress entitled "An Act for enrolling and calling out the National Forces, and for other purposes," approved on the third of March, in the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, I, Abi-ahani Lincoln, President, and commander- in-chief of the army and navy of the United States, do hereby order and command that all soldiers enlisted or drafted into the service of the United States, now absent from their regiments without leave, shall forthwith return to their respective regiments; and I do hereby declare and pro- claim that all soldiers now absent from their respective regiments without leave, who shall, on or before the first day of April, 1863, report them- selves at any rendezvous designated by tlie General Orders of the War Department, No. 58, hereto annexed, may be restored to their respective regiments without punishment, except the forfeiture of pay and allow- ances during their absence ; and all who do not return within the time above specified shall be arrested as deserters, and punished as the law provides. And whereas evil-disposed and disloyal persons, at sundry jdaces, have enticed and procured soldiers to desert and absent themselves from their regiments, thereby weakening the strength of the armies, and prolonging the war, giving aid and comfort to the enemy, and cruelly exposing tlie gallant and faithful soldiers remaining in the ranks to increased hardships and dangers : I do therefore call upon all patriotic and faithful citizens to oppose and resist the aforementioned dangerous and treasonable crimes, and aid in restoring to their regiments all soldiers absent without leave, and assist in the execution of the act of Congress for "Enrolling and calling out the National Forces, and for other purposes," and to support the proper authorities iti the prosecution and punishment of oftenders against said act, and aid in suppressing the insurrection and the rebellion. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand. Done at the City of Washington, this tenth day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-seventh. Abraham Lincoln. By the President : Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War. The finances of tlie country enlisted a good deal of attention during this session. It was necessary to pro- 366 The Life, I'ublio Seuvioes, and vide in some way for the expenses of the war, and also for a currency ; and two bills were accordingly introduced at an early stage of the session relating to these two sub- jects. The Financial Bill, as linally passed by both Houses, authorized the Secretary of the Treasury to borrow and issue bonds for nine hundred millions of dollars, at not more than six per cent, interest, and payable at a time not less than ten nor more than forty years. It also authorized the Secretary to issue treasury notes to the amount of four hundred millions of dollars, bearing interest, and also notes not bearing interest to the amount of one hundred and fifty millions of dollars. While this bill was pending, a joint resolution was passed by both Houses, authorizing the issuing of treas- ury notes to the amount of one hundred millions of dollars, to meet the immediate wants of the soldiers and sailors in the service. The President announced that he had signed this reso- lution, in the following MESSAGE. To the Senate and House of Representatives : — I liave signed the joint resolution to provide for the immediate pay- ment of tlie army and navy of the United States, passed by tlie House of Representatives on the 14th, and by the Senate on tlie 15th inst. The joint resolution is a simple authority, amounting, however, under the existing circumstances, to a direction to the Secretary of the Treasury to make an additional issue of one hundred millions of dollars in United States notes, if so much money is needed, for the payment of the array and navy. My approval is given in order that every possible facility may be atforded for the prompt discharge of all arrears of pay due to our sol- diers and our sailors. While giving this approval, however, I thinlv it my duty to express my sincere regret that it has been found necessary to authorize so large an additional issue of United States notes, when this circulation, and that of the suspended banks together, have become already so redundant as to increase prices beyond real values, thereby augmenting the cost of living, to the injury of labor, and the cost of supplies— to the injury of the whole country. It seems very plain that continued issues of United States notes, without any check to the issues of suspended banks, and without adequate provision for the raising of money by loans, and for funding the issues, so as to keep them within due limits, must soon produce disastrous conse- State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 367 quences; and this matter appears to mo so important tliat I feel bound to avail myself of this occasion to ask the special attention of Congress to it. That Congress has power to regulate the currency of the country can hardly admit of doubt, and that a judicious measure to prevent the dete- rioration of this currency, by a reasonable taxation of bank circulation or otherwise, is needed, seems equally clear. Indei)endently of this gen- eral consideration, it would be unjust to the people at large to exempt banks enjoying the special privilege of circulation, from their just prujior- tion of the public burdens. In order to raise money by way of loans most easily and cheaply, it is clearly necessary to give every possible support to the public credit. To that end, a uniform currency, in which taxes, subscriptions, loans, and all other ordinary public dues may be paid, is almost if not quite indispensa- ble. Such a currency can be furnished by banking associations authorized under a general act of Congress, as suggested in my message at the begin- ning of the present session. The securing of this circulation by the pledge of the United States bonds, as herein suggested, would still further facili- tate loans, by increasing the present and causing a future demand for such bonds. In view of the actual financial embarrassments of the Government, and of the greater embarrassment sure to come if the necessary means of re- lief be not afforded, I feel that I should not perform ray duty by a simple announcement of my approval of the joint resolution, which proposes relief only by increasing the circulation, without expressing my earnest desire that measures, such in substance as that I have just referred to, may receive the early sanction of Congress. By such measures, in my opinion, will payment be most certainly secured, not only to the army and navy, but to all honest creditors of the Government, and satisfactory- provision made for future demands on the Treasury. Abkaiiam Lincoln. The second bill — that to provide a national currency, secured by a pledge of United States stocks, and to provide for the circulation and redemption thereof, was passed in the Senate — ayes twenty-three, noes twenty-one ; and in the House, ayes seventy-eight, noes sixty -four— under the twofold conviction that so long as the war continued the country must have a large supply of paper money, and that it was also highly desirable that this money should be national in its character, and rest on the faith of the Government as its security. Another act of importance, passed by Congress at this session, was the admission of West Yiiginia into the Union. The Constitution of the United States declares oG8 The Life, Public Services, and tluit no new State shall be formed within the jurisdiction of any State without the consent of the legislature of the State concerned, as well as of the Congress. The main question on which the admission of the neAV State turnt^d, therefore, was whether that State had been formed with the consent of the Legislature of Virginia. The facts of the case were these : In the winter of 1860-61, the L(^gis- lature of Virginia, convened in extra session, had called a convention, to be held on the 14th of February, 1861, at Richmond, to decide on the question of secession. A vote was also to be taken, when the delegates to this con- vention should be elected, to decide whetlier an ordinance of secession, if passed by the convention, should be re- ferred back to the people ; and this was decided in the affirmative, by a majority of nearly sixty thousand. The convention met, and an ordinance of secession was passed, and referred to the people, at an election to be held on the fourth Tuesday of May. Without waiting for this vote, the authorities of the State levied war against the United States, joined the Rebel Confederacy, and invited the Confederate armies to occupy portions of their territory. A convention of nearly live hundred delegates, chosen in Western A^irginia under a popular call, met early in May, declared the ordinance of secession null and void, and called another convention of delegates from all the coun- ties of Virginia, to be held at Wheeling, on the 11th of June, in case the secession ordinance should be rati- fied by the popular vote. It was so ratified, and the convention met. It proceeded on the assumption that the officers of the old Government of the State had va- cated their offices by joining the rebellion ; and it ac- cordingly proceeded to fill them, and to reorganize the Government of the whole State. On the 20th of August the convention passed an ordinance to '' provide for the formation of a new State out of a portion of the territory of this State." Under that ordinance, delegates were elected to a convention which met at Wheeling, November 26th, and proceeded to draft a Constitution for the State of West Virginia, as the new State was named, which State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 3G9 was submitted to tlie people of AVost Virginia in April, 1862, and by them ratified — eighteen thousand eiglit hundred and sixty-two voting in favor of it, and five hun- dred and fourteen against it. Tlie Legislature of Virgini^i, the members of which were elected by authority of the Wheeling Convention of June 11th, met, in extra session, called by the Governor appointed by that convention, on the 6th of May, 1862, and passed an act giving its consent to the formation of the new State, and making application to Congress for its admission into the Union. The ques- tion to be decided by Congress, therefore, was whether the legislature which met at Wheeling on the 11th of June was "the Legislature of Virginia," and thus competent to give its consent to the formation of a new State within the State of Virginia. The bill for admitting it, notwith- standing the opposition of several leading and influential Republicans, was passed in the House — ayes ninety-six, noes flfty-five. It passed iu the Senate without debate, and was approved by the President on the 31st of Decem- ber, 1862, and on the 20th of April, 1863, the President issued the following proclamation for the admission of the new State : — W7iereas, by the act of Congress approved the 31st day of December last, the State of West Virginia was declared to be one of the United States of America, and was admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original States iu all respects whatever, upon the condition that certain changes sliould be duly made in the proposed Constitution for that State. And ichercas, proof of a compliance with that condition, as required by the second section of the act aforesaid, lias been submitted to me : Now, tlierefore, be it known that I, Abjaham Lincoln, President of the United States, do hereby, in pursuance of the act of Congress aforesaid, declare and proclaim that tlie said act shall take effect and be in force from and after sixty days from the date hereof In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the City of Washington, this twentieth day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty- [l. 8.] three, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-seventh. Abkauam Lincoln. By the President • William II. Sewakd, Secretary of State. 370 The Life, Public Services, and A bill was brought forward in the Senate for discussion on the 29th of January, pi'oposing a grant of money to aid in the abolition of slavery in the State of Missouri. It gave rise to a good deal of debate, some Senators doubt- ing whether Congress had any constitutional right to make such an appropriation, and a marked difference of opinion, moreover, growing up as to the propriety of gradual or immediate emancipation in that State. Mr. Sumner, Mr. Wilson, and several others, insisted that the aid proposed should be granted only on condition that emancipation should be immediate ; while the Senators from Missouri thought that the State would be much more certain to provide for getting rid of slavery if the time were ex- tended to twenty-three years, as the bill proposed, than if she were required to set free all her slaves at once. The Senators froin the slave States generally opposed the measure, on the ground that Congress had no authority Tinder the Constitution to appropriate any portion of the public money for such a purpose. The bill was finally passed in the Senate, but it failed to pass the House. Two members of Congress from the State of Louisiana were admitted to seats in the House of Representatives under circumstances which made that action of consider- able importance. Lumediately after the occupation of New Orleans by the National forces under General But- ler, the President had aj^pointed General Shepley military governor of the Statu of Louisiana. The rebel forces were driven out from the City of New Orleans, and some of the adjoining parishes ; and when, during the ensuing summer, the people were invited to resume their allegiance to the Government of the United States, over sixty thou- sand came forward, took the oath of allegiance, and were admitted to their rights as citizens. On the Hd of Decem- ber, General Shepley, acting as military governor of the State, ordered an election for members of Congress in th«; two districts into which the City of New Orleans is divi ded — each district embracing also some of the adjoining parishes. In one of these districts, B. F. Flanders was elected, receiving two thousand ihree hundred and seventy State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 371 votes, and all otliers two liiindrcd and seventy-thrco ; and in the other, Michael Halm was elected, r(H;civiiig twc thousand seven hundred and ninety-nine votes out of hvo thousand one liundred and seventeen, the whole number cast. A committee of the House, to which tlu; a])plii-a- tion of these gentlemen for admission to their seats had been referred, reported, on the 9th of February, in favor of their claim. It was represented in this report that th(^ requirements of the Constitution of the State of Louisiana had in all respects been com])lied witli, the only question being whether a military governor, appointed by the President of the United States, could properly and right- fully perform the functions of the civil governor of the State. The committee held that he could, and cited a de- cision of the Supreme Court of the United States, not only recognizing the power of the President to appoint a mili- tary governor, but also recognizing botli his civil and military functions as of full validity and binding obliga- tion. On the other hand, it was maintained that repre- sentatives can be elected to the Federal Legislature only in pursuance of an act of the State Legislature, or of an act of the Federal Congress. In this case neither of these requirements had been fulfilled. The House, however, admitted both these gentlemen to their seats, by a vote of ninety-two to forty-four. Before adjourning. Congress passed an act, approved on the 3d of March, authorizing the President, "in all domestic and foreign wars," to issue to private armed vessels of the United States letters of marque and reprisal — said authority to terminate at the end of three years from the date of the act. Resolutions were also adopted in both Houses, protesting against every proposition of foreign interference, by proffers of mediation or other- wise, as '' unreasonable and inadmissible," and declaring the "unalterable purpose of the United States to prose- cute the war until the rebellion shall be overcome." These resolutions, offered by Mr. Sumner, received in the Senate thirt3^-one votes in their ftivor, while bnt five were cast against them, and in the House one hundred 372 The Life, Public Services, and and tliree were given for tlieir passage, and twenty-eiglit dgainst it. The session closed on the 4th of March, 1863. Its pro- ceedings had been marked by the same thorough and fixed determination to carry on the war, by the use of the most vigorous and effective measures for the suppres- sion of the rebellion, and by the same full and prompt support of the President, which had characterized the preceding Congress. While some members of the Administration party, becoming impatient of the delays which seemed to mark the progress of the war, were inclined to censure the caution of the President, and to insist upon bolder and more sweeping assaults upon the persons and property of the people of the Rebel States, and especially upon the institution of slavery — and while, on the other hand, its more open opponents denounced every thing like severity, as calculated to exasperate the South and pro- long the war, the great body of the members, like the great body of the people, manifested a steady and firm reliance on the patriotic purpose and the calm sagacity evinced by the President in his conduct of public aflairs. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 378 CHAPTER XII. AEBITRARY ARRESTS.— THE SUSPENSION OF THE WRIT OP HABEAS CORPUS.— THE DRAFT. Aebituary Arrests. — First Suspension of the Habeas Corpus. — Am AND Comfort to the Rebels. — Executive Order about Arrests. — Appointment of a Commissioner on Arrests. — Opposition to thb Government. — The Cask of Vallandigham. — Governor Seymour ON Vallandigham. — President Lincoln on Arrests. — President Lincoln on Military Arrests. — The President's Letter to Mr. Corning. — The President to the Ohio Committee. — The President ON Vallandigham's Case. — The Habeas Corpus Suspended. — Proclamation Concerning Aliens. — The Draft. — The ITew York Riots.— Letter to Governor Seymour. — The Draft Resumed and Completed. At tlie very outbreak of the rebellion, the Administra- tion was compelled to face one of the most fonnidable of the many difSculties which have embarrassed its action. Long before the issue had been distinctly made by the rebels in the Southern States, wliile, under the protecting toleration of Mr. Buchanan's Administration, the conspirators were making preparations for armed resistance to the Government of the United States, evi- dences were not wanting that they relied upon the active co-operation of men and parties in the Xorthern States, whose political sjmipathies had always been in harmony with their principles and their action. As early as in January, 1861, while the rebels were diligently and actively collecting arms and other munitions of war, by purchase in the Northern States, for the contest on which they had resolved, Fernando Wood, then Maj^or of New York, had apologized to Senator Toombs, of Georgia, for the seizure by the police of New York of " arms intended for and consigned to the State of Georgia," and had assured him that "if he had the power, he should sum- marily punish the aitthors of this illegal and unjustifiable 374 The Life, Public Services, and seizure of private property." The departments at Wash- ington, tlie army and tlie navy, all places of responsi- bility and trust under the Government, and all depart- ments of civil and political activity in tlie Northern States, were found to be largely filled by persons in active sympathy with the secession movement, and ready at all times to give it all the aid and comfort in their power. Upon the advent of the new Administration, and when active measures began to be taken for the sup- pression of the rebellion, the Government found its plans betrayed and its movements thwarted at every turn. Prominent presses and politicians, moreover, throughout • the country, began, by active hostility, to indicate their sympathy with those who sought, under cover of oppo- sition to the Administration, to overthrow the Govern- ment, and it became speedily manifest that there was suf- ficient of treasonable sentiment throughout the North to paralyze the authorities in their effbrts, aided only by the ordinary machinery of the law, to crush the secession movement. Under these circumstances, it was deemed necessary to resort to the exercise of the extraordinary powers with which, in extraordinary emergencies, the Constitution had clothed the Government. That instrument had pro- vided that ' ' the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus should not be suspended, unless when, in cases of rebel- lion or invasion, the public safety might require it." By necessary implication, whenever, in such cases either of rebellion or invasion, the public safety did require it, the privilege of that writ might be suspended ; and, from the very necessity of the case, the Government -^vhich was charged with the care of the public safety, was em- powered to judge when the contingency should occur. The only question that remained was, loliicli depa.rtmeni of the Government was to meet this responsibility. If the act was one of legislation, it could only be performed by Congress and the President ; if it was in its nature executive, then it might be performed, the emergency re- quiring it, by the President alone. The pressing emer- State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 375 gency of the case, moreover, went far towards dictating the decision. Congress liad adjourned on the 4th of March, and could not be again assembled for some months; and infinite and, perhaps iatal mischief might be don^i during the interval, if the Northern allies of the rebellion were allowed with impunity to prosecute their plans. Under the iniluence of these considerations, the Presi- dent, in his proclamation of the 3d of Maj', 1861, dire<;t- ing the commander of the forces of the United States on the Florida coast to permit no peison to exercise any authority upon the islands of Key West, the Tortugas, and Santa Rosa, which might be inconsistent with tlie authority of the United States, also authorized him, "if he should find it necessary, to suspend the writ of habeas corpus, and to remove from the vicinity of the United States fortresses all dangerous or suspected persons." This was the first act of the Administration in that d^irection ; but it was very soon found necessary to resort to the exercise of the same powers in other sections of the country. On the 25th of May, John Merryman, a resi- dent of Hayfield, in Baltimore County, Maryland, known \)j the Grovernment to be in communication with the rebels, and to be giving them aid and comfort, was arrested and imprisoned in Fort McHenry, then com- manded by General Cadwallader. On the same day he forwarded a petition to Roger B. Taney, Chief-Justice of the United States, reciting the circumstances of his arrest, and praying for the issue of the writ of habeas corpus^ The writ was forthwith issued, and General Cadwallader was ordered to bring the body of Merryman before the Chief-Justice on the 27th. On that day Colonel Lee pre- sented a written communication from General Cadwalla- der, stating that Merryman had been arrested and com- mitted to his custody by officers acting under the author- ity of the United States, charged with various acts of treason : with holding a commission as lieutenant in a company avowing its purpose of armed hostility against tliH Government, and with having made often and unre- served declarations of his association with this armev. 376 The Life, Publio Services, and force, and of his readiness to co-operate with lliose en- gaged in tlie present rebellion against the Government of the United States. The General added, that he was "duly authorized by the President of the United States to suspend the writ of liaheas oorjncs for the public safety ;" and tliat, while he fully appreciated the deli- cacy of the trust, he was also instructed "that, in times of civil strife, errors, if any, should be on the side of safety to the country." The commanding General ac- cordingly declined to obey the writ, whereupon an attachment was forthwith issued against him for con- tempt of court, made returnable at noon on the next daj^ On tliat day, the marslial charged with serving the at- tachment made return that he was not admitted within the fortress, and had consequently been unable to serve the writ. The Chi(^f-Justice, thereupon, read an opinion that the President could not suspend the writ of habeas corpus^ nor authorize any military officer to do so, and that a military officer had no right to arrest any person, not subject to the rules and articles of war, for an offence against the laws of the United States, except in aid of the judicial authority, and subject to its control. The Chief Justice stated further, that the marshal had the power to summon out the posse comitatus to enforce the service of the writ, but as it was apparent that it would be resisted by a force notoriously superior, the Court could do notliing further in the premises. On the 12th of May, another writ was issued by Judge Giles, of Baltimore, to Major Morris, of the United States Artillery, at Fort McHenry, who, in a letter dated the 14th, refused to obey the writ, because, at the time it was issued, and for two weeks previous, the City of Balti- more had been completely under the control of the rebel authorities, United States soldiers had been murdered in the streets, tlie intention to capture that fort had been openly proclaimed, and the legislature of the State was at that moment debating the question of making war upon the Government of the United States. All this, in his j udgment, constituted a case of rebellion, and afford- State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 377 ed sufficient legal cause for suspeudiiig th«^ writ of liaheas corpus. Similar cases arose, and were disposed of in a similar manner, in other sections of the country. The Governor of Virginia had ])roposed to Mr. G. Heincken, of New York, the agent of the New York and Virginia Steamship Company, payment for two steamers of that line, the Yorktown and Jamestown, wliicli lu.^ had seized for the rebel service, an acceptance of which proffer, Mr. Heincken was informed, would be treated as an act of treason to the Government ; and on his api)lication, Mr. Seward, the Secretary of State, gave him the follow- ing reasons for this decision : — An insurrection has broken out in several of the States of tliis Union, including Virginia, designed to overthrow the Government of the United States. The executive authorities of that State are parties to that insur- rection, and so are public enemies. Their action in seizing or buying vessels to be employed in executing that design, is not merely without authority of law, but is treason. It is treason for any person to give aid and comfort to public enemies. To sell vessels to them whicli it is their ])urpose to use as ships of war, is to give them aid and comfort. To receive money from them in payment for vessels which they h.ave seized for those purposes, would be to attempt to convert the unlawful seizure into a sale, and would subject the party so offending to the pains and penalties of treason, and the Government would not hesitate to bring the offender to punishment. These acts and decisions of the Government were vehe- mently assailed by the party opponents of the Adminis- tration, and led to the most violent and intemperate assaults upon the Government in many of the public prints. Some of these journals were refused the privi- lege of the public mails, the Government not holding itself under any obligation to aid in circulating assaults upon its own authority, and stringent restrictions were placed upon the transmission of intelligence by telegraph. On the 5th of July, 1862, Attorney-General Bates trans- mitted to the President an elaborate opinion, prepared at his request, upon his power to make arrests of x^ersons l^nown to have criminal complicity with the insurgents, or against wdiom there is probable cause for suspicion of such criminal complicity, and also upon his right to 378 The Life, Public Services, and refuse to obey a writ of lidbeas corpus in case of sucli arrests. The Attorney General discussed tlie subject at considerable length, and reached a conclusion favorable to the action of the Government. From that time for- ward tlie Government exerted, with vigor and energy, all the power tlius placed in its hands to prevent the rebel- lion from receiving aid from tliose in sympathy with its objects in the Northern States. A large number of persons, believed to be in complicity with tlie insurgents, were placed in arrest, but were released upon taking an oath of allegiance to the United States Baltimore con- tinued for some time to be the head-quarters of conspira- cies and movements of various kinds in aid of the rebel- lion, and the arrests were consequently more numerous there than elsewheri' Indeed, very strenuous efforts were made throughout the summer to induce some action on the part of the legislature which would place the State in alliance with the Rebel Confederacy, and it was confi- dently believed that an ordinance looking to this end would be passed at the extra seosion which was convened for the 17tli of September ; but on the 16th, nine secession members of the House of Delegates, with the officers of both houses, were arrested by General McClellan, then in conunand of the army, who expressed his full appro- bation of the proceedings, and the session was not held. The President at the time gave the following statement of his views in regard to these arrests : — The public safety renders it necessary that the grounds of these arrests should at jtresent be withheld, but at the proper time they will be made public. Of one thing the people of Maryland may rest assured, that no arrest has been made, or will be made, not based on substantial and un- mistakable complicity witli those in armed rebellion against the Govern- ment of the United States. In no case has an arrest been made on mere Buspicion, or through personal or partisan animosities ; but in all cases the Government is in possession of tangible and unmistakable evidence, which will, when made public, be satisfactory to every loyal citizen. Arrests continued to be made under authority of the State Department, not without complaint, certainly, from large numbers of the people, but with the general acqui- Statk Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 379 escence of the whole comnnmity, and beyond all qu^^stion greatly to the advantage of the Governinent and the eouii- tiy. On the 14th of February, 18G2, an order was issued on the subject, which transferred control of the w^liole matter to the War Department. The circumstances wiiich had made these arrests necessary are stated with so much clearness and force in that order, that we insert it at length, as follows : — EXECUTIVE OKUEKS IX RELATION TO STATE VRISOXEK8. ■War Dr.rAP.TMF.NT, Washington, February 14. The breaking out of a formidable insurrection, based on a conflict of political ideas, being an event without precedent in the United States, was necessarily attended by great confusion and perplexity of the public mind. Disloyalty, before unsuspected, suddenly became bold, and treason astonished the world by bringing at once into the field military forces superior in numbers to the standing army of the United States. Every department of the Government was paralyzed by treason. De- fection appeared in the Senate, in the House of Eei)resentatives, in the Cabinet, in the Federal Courts; ministers and consuls returned from foreign countries to enter the insurrectionary councils, or land or naval forces; commanding and other officers of the army and in the navy be- trayed the councils or deserted their i)0sts for commands in the insurgent forces. Treason was flagrant in the revenue and in the post-office service, as well as in the Territorial governments and in the Indian reserves. Not only governors, judges, legislators, and ministerial ofScers in the States, but even whole States, rushed, one after another, with apparent unanimity, into rebellion. The Capital was besieged, and its connection with all the States cut off. Even in the portions of the country which were most loyal, political combinations and secret societies were formed, furthering the work of disunion, while, from motives of disloyalty or cupidity, or from excited passions or perverted sympathies, individuals were found furnishing men, money, and materials of war and supplies to the insurgents' military and naval forces. Armies, ships, fortifications, navy yards, arsenals, military posts and garrisons, one after another, were betrayed or abandoned to the insurgents. Congress had not anticipated and so had not provided for the emergency. The municipal autliorities were powerless and inactive. The judicial ma- chinery seemed as if it had been designed not to sustain the Government, but to embarrass and betray it. Foreign intervention, openly invited and industriously instigated by the abettors of the insurrection, became imminent, and has only been pre- 380 The Life, Public Services, and vented hj tl)c practice of strict and impartial justice, vvitli the most perfect moderation in our intercourse with nations. The puhlic mind was alarmed and apprehensive, though fortunately not distracted or disheartened. It seemed to be doubtful whether the Federal Government, which one year before had been thought a model worthy of universal acceptance, had indeed the ability to defend and maintain itself. Some reverses, which perhaps were unavoidable, suffered by newly levied and ineflicient forces, discouraged the loyal, and gave new hopes to the insurgents. Voluntary enlistments seemed about to cease, and desertions commenced. Parties speculated upon the question whether conscription had not become necessary to fill up the armies of the United States. In this emergency the President felt it liis duty to employ with energy the extraordinary powers which the Constitution confides to him in cases of insurrection. He called into the field such military and naval forces, unauthorized by the existing laws, as seemed necessary. lie directed measures to prevent the use of the post-oflice for treasonable correspond- ence, lie subjected passengers to and from foreign countries to new passport regulations, and he instituted a blockade, suspended the writ of habeas corpus in various places, and caused persons who were represented to him as being or about to engage in disloyal or treasonable practices to be arrested by special civil as well as military agencies, and detained in military custody, when necessary, to prevent them and deter others from such practices. Examinations of such cases were instituted, and some of the persons so arrested have been discharged from time to time, under circumstances or upon conditions compatible, us was thought, with the public safety. Meantime a favorable change of public opinion has occurred. The line between loyalty and disloyalty is plainly defined ; the whole structure of the Government is firm and stable ; apprehensions of public danger and facilities for treasonable practices have diminished with the passions which prompted heedless persons to adopt them. The insurrection is believed to have culminated and to be declining. The President, in view of these facts, and anxious to favor a return to the normal course of the Administration, as far as regard for the public welfare will allow, directs that all political prisoners or state prisoners now held in military custody, be released on their subscribing to a parole engaging them to render no aid or comfort to the enemies in hostility to the United States. The Secretary of "War will, however, at his discretion, except from the effect of this order any persons detained as spies in the service of the in- surgents, or others whose release at the present moment may be deemed incompatible with the public safety. To all persons who shall be so released, and who shall keep their parole, Sfi^TE PAi'EllS OF AbHAIIAM LlNCOLN. 381 the President grants an amnesty for any i)ast oftenccs of treason or dis- loyalty which they may liave committed. Extraordinary arrests Mill hereafter be made under the direction of the military authorities alone. By order of the President: Edwin M. Stanton. Secretary of War. On the 27tli of the same montli, a commission was ap- pointed "by the War Department, consisting of Major- General Dix and Hon. Edwards Pierrepont, of New York, to examine into the cases of the state prisoners then remaining in custody, and to determine whether, in view of the public safety and the existing rebellion, they should be dischai-ged, or remain in arrest, or be remitted to the civil tribunals for trial. These gentlemen entered at once upon the discharge of their duties, and a large number of prisoners were released from custody on taking the oath of allegiance. Wherever the public safety seemed to require it, however, arrests continued to be made— the President, in every instance, assuming all the responsibility of these acts, and throwing himself upon the courts and the judgment of the country for his vindi- cation. But the President himself had not up to this time directed any general suspension of the writ of liaheas corpus, or given any public notice of the rules by which the Government would be guided in its action upon cases that might arise. It was left to the Secretary of War to decide in what instances and for what causes arrests should be made, and the privilege of the writ should be sus- pended. In some of the courts into w^liich these cases were brought, the ground was accordingly taken that, although the President might have autliority under the Constitution, when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety should require it, to suspend the writ, he could not delegate that authority to any subordinate. To meet this view^ therefore, the President, on the 24th of September, 1862, issued the following PROCLAMATION. Whereas, it htis been necessary to call into service, not only volunteers, ^>ut also portions of the militia of the States by draft, in order to suppress 382 The Life, Public Services, and the insurret.'tion existing in the United States, and disloyal persons are not adecjuately restrained by the ordinary processes of law from hindering this measure, and from giving aid and comfort in various ways to the in- surrection : Now, therefore, be it ordered — First. That during the existing insurrection, and as a necessary measure for suppressing the same, all rebels and insurgents, their aiders and abettors, within the United States, and all persons discouraging volunteer enlist- ments, resisting military drafts, or guilty of any disloyal practice affording aid and comfort to the rebels against the authority of the United States, shall be subject to martial law, and liable to trial and punishment by courts-martial or military commission. Second. That the writ of Jialeas corpxis is suspended in respect to all persons arrested, or who are novv, or hereafter during the rebellion shall be, imprisoned in any fort, camp, arsenal, military prison, or other place of confinement, by any military authority, or by the sentence of any court-martial or military commission. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the City of Washington, this twenty-fourth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hun- [l. s.] dred and sixty-two, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-seventh. AmiAiiAM Lincoln. By the President: AViLLiAM IL Seward, Secretary of State. This proclamation was accompanied by orders from the War Department appointing a Provost-Marshal-General, whose head-quarters were to be at Washington, Avith special provost-marshals, one or more in each State, charged with the duty of arresting deserters and disloyal persons, and of inquiring into treasonable practices throughout the country. They were authorized to call upon either the civil or military authority for aid in the discharge of their duties, and were required to report to the department at Washington. The creation of this new department had been made necessary by the increased activity of the enemies of the Government throughout the North, and by the degree of success which had attended their eiforts. Prompted partly by merely political and partisan motives, but in many instances by thorough sym- pathy with the secession movement, active political lead- State Papers of Abkaiiam Lincoln. 38o ers ]iad sc't in vigorous motion vory extonsivo nuicliinery I'or the advancement of their designs. "Peace-meetings" were held in ev(^ry section of the Northern States, at whicli the action of the (government was most veliemently as- sailed, the objects of the war wei-e misrepresented, and its prosecution denounced, and special efforts made to ])revent enlistments, to promote; desei'tions, and in (^very way to cripple tin; Government in its efforts to subdue the rebel- lion by foi'ce of arms. The vigorous a(;tion of tin; Gov- ernment, however, in arresting men conspicuous in these disloyal practices, had created a salutary reaction in the public mind, and had so far relieved the Administiation from apprehension as to warrant the promulgation of the following order : — Wab Dei'ap.iment, Washington, Novemher 22, 1SC2. Ordered — 1. That all persons now in military custody, avIio liave been arrested fur discouraging volunteer enlistments, opj)Osing the draft, or for otherwise giving aid and comfort to the enemy, in States where the draft lias been made, or the quola of volunteers and militia has been furnished, shall be discharged from further military restraint. 2. The ])ersons who, by the authority of the military commander or governor in rebel States, have been arrested and sent from such State foi disloyalty or hostility to the Government of the United States, ;ind are now in military custody, may also be discharged upon giving tlieir parole to do no act of hostility against the Government of the United States, nor render aid to its enemies. But all such persons shall remain subject to military surveillance and liable to arrest on breach of their parole. And if any such persons shall prefer to leave the loyal States on condition of their not returning again during the war, or until special leave for that purpose be obtained from tlie President, then such persons sliall, at his option, be released and depart from the United States, or be conveyed beyond the military lines of the United States forces. 3. This order shall not oj)erate to discharge any person who has been in arms against the Government, or by force and arms has resisted or at- tempted to resist the draft, nor relieve any person from lialjility to trial and punishment by civil tribunals, or by court-martial or military commis- sion, who may be amenable to such tribunals for offences committed. Wy order of the Secretary of War: E. D. TowNSEND, Assistant Adjutant- General. During the succeeding winter, while Congress was in session, public sentiment was comparatively at rest on this 384 The Life, Public Services, and subject. Congress liad enacted a law, sanctioning the action of the President in suspending the writ of liabeas corpus, and clothing him with full authority to check and punisli all attempts to defeat tlie efforts of the Government in the prosecution of the war. After the adjournment, however, Avhen the political activity of the country was transferred from the Capital to the people in their respec- tive localities, the party agitation was revived, and public meetings were again held to denounce the conduct of the Government, and to protest against the further j)rosecu- tion of the war. One of the most active of these advo- cates of peace with the Rebel Confederacy was Hon. C. L. Yallandigham, a member of Congress from Ohio, who had steadily op2)osed all measures for the prosecution of the war throughout the session. After the adjournment he made a political canvass of his district, and in a speech at Mount Vernon, on the 1st of May, he denounced the Gov- ernment at AVashington as aiming, in the conduct of the war, not to restore the Union, but to crush out liberty and establish a despotism. He declared that the war was waged for the freedom of the blacks and the enslaving of the wliites — that the Government could have had peace long before if it had desired it — that the mediation of France ought to have been accepted, and that the Govern- ment liad deliberately rejected propositions by which the Southern States could liave been brought back to the Union. He also denounced an order. No. 38, issued by General Burnside, in command of the department, forbid- ding certain disloyal practices, and giving notice that per- sons declaring sympatliy for the enemy would be arrested for trial, proclaimed his intention to disobey it, and called on the people who heard him to resist and defeat its exe- cution. For this speech Mr. Yallandigham was arrested, by order of General Burnside, on the 4th of May, and ordered for trial before a court-martial at Cincinnati. On the 5th, lie applied, through his counsel. Senator Pugh, to the Circuit Court of the United States for a writ of habeas corpus. In reply to this application, a letter was read from Gen- State Papers of Abraham LtncoLxN. 380 eral Burnside, setting forth the consiclerationa which liad led liim to make the arrest, and Vallandi^'liain's counsel was then lieard in a very long argiuiK^it on tlie case. Judge Stewart pronounced his decision, refusvnijWw Avrit, on the ground that the action of General Burnside was necessary for the public safety. " The legality of the ar- i-est," said the judge, " depends upon the extent of the necessity for making it, and that was to be determined b}' the militar}^ commander." And he adds — Men should know and lay the truth to heart, that there is a course ol conduct not involving overt treason, and not therefore suhject to punish- ment as such, which, nevertheless, imi)lies moral guilt, and a gross offence against the country. Those ^vho live under the protection and enjoy the blessings of our benignant Government, must learn that they cannot stab its vitals with impunity. If they cherisli hatred and hostility to it, and desire its subversion, let them withdraw from its jurisdiction, and seek the fellowship and protection of those with whom they are in sympathy. If they remain with us, w^hile they are not of us, they must be subject to sucli a course of dealing as the great law of self-preservation prescribes and will enforce. And let them not complain if the stringent doctrine of military necessity should find them to be the legitimate subjects of its action. I have no fear that the recognition of this doctrine will lead to an arbitrary invasion of the personal security, or personal liberty, of the citizen. It is rare indeed that a charge of disloyalty will be made on insufficient grounds. But if there should be an occasional mistake, such an occurrence is not to be put in competition with the preservation of the nation ; and I confess I am but little moved by the eloquent appeals of those who, while they indignantly denounce violation of personal liberty, look with no horror upon a despotism as unmitigated as the world has ever witnessed. The military commission, before which Yallandigham was ordered for trial, met on the 6th, found him guilty of the principal offences charged, and sentenced him to be placed in close confinement in some fortress of the United States, to be designated by the commanding officer of that departinr>nt, Major-General Burnside approved the sen- tence, and designated Fort Warren, in Boston Harbor, as the place of confinement. The President modified this sentence by directing that, instead of being imprisoned, Mr. Yallandigham should be sent within the rebel lines, and should not return to the United States until after the 3S6 The Life, Public Services, and lerniination of the war. This sentence was at once carrier! into execution. The arrest, trial, and sentence of Mr. Yallandigham created a good deal of excitement throughout the country. The opponents of tlie Administration treated it as a case of martyrdom, and held public meetings for the purpose of denouncing the action of the Government as t^^rannical and highly dangerous to the public liberties. One of the earliest of these demonstrations was held at Albany, N". Y., on the 16th of May, at which Hon. Erastus Corning pre- sided, and to whicii Governor Seymour addressed a letter, expressing in the strongest terms his condemnation of tl)e course pursued by the Government. "If this proceed- ing," said he, speaking of the arrest of Yallandigham, "is approved by the Government, and sanctioned by the people, it is not merel}^ a step towards revolution — it is revolution. It will not only lead to military despotism — it establishes military despotism. In this aspect it must be accepted, or in this aspect rejected. * ^* * The people of tliis country now wait with the deepest anxiety the decision of the Administration upon these acts. Hav- ing given it a generous support in the conduct of the war, we pause to see what kind of a government it is for whicli we are asked to pour out our blood and our treasure. The action of the Administration will determine, in the minds of more than one-half of tlie people of the loyal States, whether this war is waged to put down rebellion at the South, or destroy free institutions at the ]S'orth." The resolutions which were adopted at this meeting pledged the Democratic party of the State to the preser- vation of the Union, but condemned in strong terms the whole system of arbitrary arrests, and the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus. A copy of these resolutions was forwarded by the pre- siding officer to President Lincoln, who sent the follow- ing hotter in reply : — ExEOUTivK Mansion, "Washington, J'ime IS, 1868. Hon. EliASTUS COENING AND OTHEKS : Gentlemen : — Your letter of May 19, enclosing the resolutions of a pub- State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 387 lie meeting held at Albiiny, N. Y., on the IGtli of the siunc month, was received several days ago. The resolutions, as I understand them, arc resolvaI)le into two proposi- tions : first, the expression of a purpose to sustain the cause of the Union to secure peace through victory, and to support the Administration in every constitutional and lawful measure to suppress the rebellion ; and secondly, a declaration of censure uj)on the Administration for supposed unconstitutional action, such as the making of military arrests. And from the two propositions a third is deduced, which is, that the gentlemen composing the meeting are resolved on doing their part to maintain our common Government and country, despite the folly or wickedness, as they may conceive, of any Administration. This position is eminently patriotic, and as such I tliank the meeting and congratulate the nation for it. My own purpose is the same, so that the meeting and myself have a common ohject, and can have no difference, except in tiie choice of means or measures for effecting that object. And here I ought to close this paper, and would close it, if there were no apprehension that more injurious consequences than any merely per sonal to myself might follow the censures systematically cast upon me for doing what, in my view of duty, I could not forbear. The resolutions promise-to support me in every constitutional and lawful measure to sup- press the rebellion, and I have not knowingly employed, nor shall know- ingly employ any other. But the meeting, by their resolutions, assert and argue that certain military arrests, and proceedings following them, for which I am ultimately responsible, are unconstitutional. I think they are not. The resolutions quote from the Constitution the definition of treason, and also the limiting safeguards and guarantees therein provided for the citizen on trial for treason, and on his being held to answer for capital, or otherwise infamous crimes, and, in criminal prosecutions, his right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury. They proceed to resolve "that these safeguards of the rights of the citizen against the pretensions of arbitrary power were intended more especially for Ins pro- tection in times of civil commotion." And, apparently to demonstrate the proposition, the resolutions pro'- ~ ceed : "They were secured substantially to the English people after yaars of protracted civil war, and were adopted into our Constitution at the close of the Eevolution." Would not the demonstration have been better if it could have been truly said that these safeguards had been adopted and applied during the civil wars and during our Revolution, instead of after the one and at the close of the other? I, too, am devotedly for them after civil war, and before civil war, and at all times, "except when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require " their sus- pension. The resolutions proceed to tell us that these safeguards " have stood the test of seventy-six years of trial, under our republican system, under circumstances which show that, while they constitute the founda- 388 The Life, Public Services, and t'.;)!i of all free government, they are the elements of the enduring sta- bility of the Republic." No one denies that they have so stood the test up to the beginning of the present rebellion, if we except a certain occur- rence at New Orleans ; nor does any one question that they will stand the same test much longer after the rebellion closes. But these provisions of the Constitution have no application to the case we have in hand, be- cause the arrests complained of were not made for treason — that is, not for the treason defined in the Constitution, and upon conviction of which the punishment is death — nor yet were they made to hold persons to answer for any capital or otherwise infamous crimes ; nor were the proceedings following, in any constitutional or legal sense, " criminal prosecutions." The arrests were made on totally different grounds, and the proceedings following accorded with the grounds of the arrest. Let us consider the real case with which we are dealing, and apply to it the parts of the Constitution plainly made for such cases. Prior to my installation here, it had been inculcated that any State had a lawful right to secede from the National Union, and that it would be expedient to exercise the right whenever the devotees of the doctrine should fail to elect a President to their own liking. I was elected con- trary to their liking, and accordingly, so far as it was legally possible, they had taken seven States out of the Union, had seized many of the United States forts, and had fired upon the United States flag, all before I was inaugurated, and, of course, before I had done any official act what- ever. The rebellion thus began soon ran into the present civil war ; and, in certain respects, it began on very unequal terms between the par- ties. The insurgents had been preparing for it more than thirty years, while the Government had taken no steps to resist them. The former had carefully considered all the means which could be turned to their account. It undoubtedly was a well-pondered reliance with them that, in their own unrestricted efforts to destroy Union, Constitution, and law altogether, the Government would, in great degree, be restrained by the same Constitution and law from arresting their progress. Their sympa- thizers pervaded all departments of the Government, and nearly all com- munities of the people. From tliis material, under cover of '' liberty of speech," "liberty of the press," and "habeas corpus," they hoped to keep on foot among us a most efficient corps of spies, informers, suppliers, and aiders and abettors of their cause in a thousand ways. They knew that in times such as they were inaugurating, by the Constitution itself the "habeas corpus" miglit be suspended ; but they also knew they had friends who would make a question as to who was to suspend it : mean- while, their spies and others might remain at large to help on their cause. Or if, as has happened, the Executive should suspend the writ, without ruinous waste of time, instances of arresting innocent persons might occur, as are always likely to occur in such cases, and then a clamor could be raised in regard to this which might be, at least, of some service to the State Papers of Abraham Llncoln. 389 insurgent cause. It needed no very keen perception to discover this part of the enemy's programme, so soon as, hy opening hostilities, tlieir ma- chinery was pnt fairly in motion. Yet, thoroughly imbued witli a rev- erence for the guaranteed rights of individuals, I was slow to adopt llic strong measures which by degrees I have l)een forced to regard as being within the exceptions of the Constitution, and as indispensable lo the public safety. Nothing is better known to history than that courts of justice are utterly incompetent to such cases. Civil courts are organized chiefly for trials of individuals, or, at most, a few individuals acting in concert, and this in quiet times, and on charges of crimes well defined in the law. Even in tiincs of peace, bands of horse-thieves and robbers fi'c- quently grow too numerous and powerful for the ordinary courts of jus- tice. But what comparison, in numbers, have such bands ever borne to the insurgent sympathizers even in many of the loyal States? Again, a jury too frequently has at least one member more ready to hang the panel than to bang the traitor. And yet, again, he who dissuades one man from volunteering, or induces one soldier to desert, weakens the Union cause as much as he who kills a Union soldier in battle. Yet this dissuasion or inducement may be so conducted as to be no defined crime of which any civil court would take cognizance. Ours is a case of rebellion — so called by the resolution before me — in fact, a clear, flagrant, and gigantic case of rebellion ; and the provision of the Constitution that " the privilege of the writ oi habeas corpus shall not be suspended unless wlicn, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the pub- lic safety may require it," is the provision which specially applies to our l)rescnt case. This provision plainly attests tlie understanding of those who made the Constitution, that ordinary courts of justice are inadequate to "cases of rebellion" — attests their purpose that, in such cases, men may be held in custody whom the courts, acting on ordinary rules, would discharge. Habeas corpus does not discharge men who are proved to be guilty of defined crime; and its suspension is allowed by the Constitu- tion on purpose that men maybe arrested and held who cannot be proved to be guilty of defined crime, " when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it." This is precisely our present case — a case of rebellion, wherein the public safety does require the suspension. Indeed, arrests by process of courts, and arrests in cases of rebellion, do not proceed altogether upon the same basis. The former is directed at the small percentage of ordinary and continuous perpetration of crime ; while the latter is directed at sudden and extensive uprisings against the Government, which at most will succeed or fail in no great length of time. In the latter case arrests are made, not so much for what has been done as for what probably would be done. The latter is more for the preventive and less for the vindictive than the former. In such cases the purposes of men are much more easily understood than in cases of ordinary crime. The man who stands by and says nothing, when the 390 The Life, Public Services, and peril of his Government is discussed, cannot be misunderstood. If not hindered, he is sure to help the eneni}'; much more, if he talks ambigu- ously — talks for his country with "buts," and "ifs," and "auds." Of how little value the constitutional provisions I have quoted will be ren- dered, if arrests shall never be made until defined crimes shall have been committed, may be illustrated by a few notable examples. General John C. Breckinridge, General Robert E. Eee, General Joseph E. Johnston, General John B. Magnider, General William B. Preston, General Simon B. Buckner, and Commodore Franklin Buchanan, now occupying the very highest places in the rebel war service, were all within the power of the Govei'nment since the rebellion began, and were nearly as well known to be traitors then as now. Unquestionably, if we had seized and held them, the insurgent cause would be much weaker. But no one of them had then committed any crime defined in the law. Every one of them, if arrested, would have been discharged on Jiaheas corpus^ were the Avrit allowed to operate. In view of these and similar cases, I think the time not unlikely to come when I shall be blamed for having made too few arrests rather than too many. By the third resolution, the meeting indicate their opinion that military arrests may be constitutional in localities where rebellion actually exists, but that such arrests are unconstitutional in localities where rebellion or insurrection does not actually exist. They insist that such arrests shall not be made " outside of the lines of necessary military occupation and the scenes of insurrection." Inasmuch, however, as the Constitution itself makes no such distinction, I am unable to believe that there is any such constitutional distinction. I concede that tlie class of arrests complained of can be constitutional only when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require them ; and I insist that in such cases they are constitutional wherever the public safety does require them ; as well in places to \yhich they may prevent the rebellion extending as in those where it may be already prevailing ; as well where they may restrain mis- chievous interference vv^ith the raising and supplying of armies to sup- press the rebellion, as where the rebellion may actually be ; as well where they may restrain the enticing men out of the army, as where they would prevent mutiny in the army; equally constitutional at all places where they will conduce to the public safety, as against the dan- gers of rebellion or invasion. Take the particular case mentioned by the meeting. It is asserted, in substance, that Mr. Vallandigham was, by a military commander, seized and tried " for no other reason than w^ords addressed to a public meeting, in criticism of the course of the Admin- istration, and in condemnation of the military orders of the general." Now, if there be no mistake about this; if this assertion is the truth and the whole truth ; if there was no other reason for the arrest, then I con- cede that the arrest was wrong. But the arrest, as I understand, was made for a very diflerent reason. Mr. Vallandigham avows his hostility to State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. ;501 the war on the part of the Union; and his arrest was made because li..' was hiboring, with some eftect, to prevent the raising of troops; to en- courage desertions from the army; and to leave tlie rebellion witliout an adequate military force to suppress it. He was not arrested because he was damaging the political prospects of tlie Administration, or the per- sonal interests of the commanding general, but because he was damaging the army, npon the existence and vigor of which the life of the nation depends. He was warring upon the military, and this gave the military constitutional jurisdiction to lay hands npon him. If Mr. Vallaudigham was not damaging the military power of the country, then this arrest was made on mistake of fact, which I would be glad to correct on rea- sonable satisfactory evidence. I understand the meeting, whose resolutions I am considering, to be in favor of suppressing the rebellion by military force — by armies. Long experience has shown that armies cannot be maintained unless desertions shall be punished by the severe penalty of death. The case requires, and the law and the Constitution sanction, this punishment. Must I shoot a simple-minded soldier boy Avho deserts, while I must not touch a hair of a wily agitator who induces him to desert? This is none the less injuri- ous when effected by getting a father, or brother, or friend, into a public meeting, and there working upon his feelings till he is persuaded to write the soldier boy that he is fighting in a bad cause, for a wicked Administration of a contemptible Government, too weak to arrest and punish him if he shall desert. I think that in such a case to silence the agitator and save the boy is not only constitutional, but withal a great mercy. If I be wrong on this question of constitutional power, my error lies in believing that certain proceedings are constitutional when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety requires them, which would not be constitutional when, in the absence of rebellion or invasion, the pub- lic safety does not require them ; in other words, that the Constitution is not, in its application, in all respects the same, in cases of rebellion or invasion involving the public safety, as it is in time of profound peace and public security. The Constitution itself makes the distinction ; and I can no more be persuaded that the Government can constitutionally take no strong measures in time of rebellion, because it can be shown that the same could not be lawfully taken in time of peace, than I can be ])ersuaded that a particular drug is not good medicine for a sick man. because it can be shown not to be good food for a well one. Nor am I able to appreciate the danger apprehended by the meeting that the Amer- ican people will, by means of military arrests during the rebellion, lose the right of public discussion, the liberty of speech and the press, the law of evidence, trial by jury, and habeas corpus, throughout the indefi- nite peaceful future, which I trust lies before them, any more than I am able to believe that a man could contract so strong an appetite for emetictj 392 The Life, Public Services, and (luring temporary illness as to persist ia feeding upon tlicm daring the remainder of liis liealtliful life. In giving tlie resolutions that earnest consideration wliich you request of me, I cannot overlook the fact that the meeting speak as " Demo- crats." Xor can I, with full respect for their known intelligence, and the fairly presumed deliberation with which they prepared their reso- lutions, be permitted to suppose that tliis occurred by accident, or in any way other than tliat they preferred to designate themselves " Dem- ocrats" ratlier tlian "American citizens." In this time of national peril, I would liave preferred to meet you on a level one step higher tliaa any party platform ; because I am sure tliat, from such more elevated position, wo could do better battle for the country we all love than wo possibly can from those lower ones where, from the force of liabit, the prejudices of the past, and selfish hopes of the future, we are sure to ex- pend much of our ingenuity and strength in finding fault with and aiming blows at each other. But, since you have denied me this, I will yet be thankful, for the country's sake, that not all Democrats have done so. He on whose discretionary judgment Mr. Vallandigham was arrested and tried is a Democrat, having no old party affinity with me; and the judge who rejected the constitutional view expressed in these resolutions, by refusing to discharge Mr. Vallandigham on habeas corpus^ is a Democrat of better days than these, having received his judicial mantle at the hands of President Jackson. And still more, of all those Democrats who are nobly exposing their lives and shedding their blood on the battle-field, I have learned that many approve the course taken with Mr. Vallandig- ham, while I have not heard of a single one condemning it. I cannot assert that there are none such. And the name of Jackson recalls an incident of pertinent history : After the battle of N"ew Orleans, and while the fact that tlie treaty of peace had been concluded was well known in the city, but before official knowledge of it had arrived. General Jackson still maintained martial or military law. Now that it could be said the war was over, the clamor against martial law, which had existed from the first, grew more furious. Among other things, a Mr. Louiallier pub- lished a denunciatory newspaper article. General Jackson arrested him. A lawyer by the name of Morrel procured the United States Judge Hall to issue a writ of habeas corpus to relive Mr. Louiallier. General Jack- son arrested both the lawyer and the judge. A Mr. Hollander ventured to say of some part of the matter that "it was a dirty trick." General Jackson arrested him. When the officer undertook to serve the writ of habeas corjms, General Jackson took it from liim, and sent him away with a copy. Holding the judge in custody a few days, the General sent him beyond tlie limits of his encampment, and set him at liberty, witli an order to remain till the ratification of peace should be regularly announced, or until the British should have left the Southern coast. A day or two more elapsed, the ratification of a treaty of peace was rega- State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 393 larly announced, and the judge and otlicrs were fully liberated. A few- days more, and the judge called General Jackson into court and fined liiin $1,000 for having arrested him and the others named. The General paid the line, and there the matter rested for nearly thirty years, when Con- gress refunded principal and interest. The late Senator Douglas, then in the House of Representatives, took a leading part in the debates, in which the constitutional question was much discussed. I am not pre- pared to say whom the journals would show to have voted for the measure. It may be remarked : First, that we had the same Constitution then as now; secondly, that we then had a case of invasion, and now we have a case of rebellion; and, thirdly, that the permanent right of the people to public discussion, the liberty of speech and of the press, the trial by jury, the law of evidence, and the habeas corpus, suffered no detriment Avhat- ever by that conduct of General Jackson, or its subsequent approval by the American Congress. And yet, let me say that, in my own discretion, I do not know whethei T would have ordered the arrest of Mr. Vallandigham. While I cannot shift the responsibility from myself, I hold that, as a general rule, the commander in the field is the better judge of the necessity in any partic- ular case. Of course, I must practise a general directory and revisory power in the matter. One of the resolutions expresses the opinion of the meeting that arbi- trary arrests will have the effect to divide and distract those who should be united in suppressing the rebellion, and I am specifically called on to discharge Mr. Vallandigham. I regard this as, at least, a fair appeal to me on the expediency of exercising a constitutional power which I think exists. In response to such appeal, I have to say, it gave me pain when I learned that Mr. Vallandigham had been arrested — that is, I was pained that there should have seemed to be a necessity for arresting him — and that it will afford me great pleasure to discharge him so soon as I can, by any means, believe the public safety will not suffer by it. I further say that, as the war progresses, it api)ears to me, opinion and action, v.hich were in great confusion at first, take shape and fall into more regular channels, so that the necessity for strong dealing with them gradually decreases. I liave every reason to desire that it should cease altogether ; and far from the least is my regard for the opinions and wishes of those v.'ho, like the meeting at Albany, declare their purpose to sustain the Government in every constitutional and lawful measure to suppress the rebellion. Still, I must continue to do so much as may seem to be re- quired by the public safety. A. Lincoln. Similar meetings were held in New York, Pliiladelpliia, and other cities and towns of the North, and, on the 11th of June, a State Convention of the Democratic party was held at Columbus, Ohio, for the nomination of State offi- 304 The Life, Public Services, and cers. Mr. Vallandigham was, at tliat convention, made tlie Democratic candidate for Governor, receiving, on the first ballot, four hundred and forty-eight votes out of four hundred and sixty-one, the whole number cast. Senator Pugh was nominated for Lieutenant-Governor, and reso- lutions were adopted protesting against President Lin- coln's enuincipation proclamation; condemning martial law in loyal' States, where war does not exist ; denoun- cing the suspension of the writ of liaheas corpus ; protest- ing very strongly against the banishment of Vallandig- ham, and calling on the President to restore him to his rights ; declaring that they would hail with deliglit the desire of the seceded States to return to their allegiance, and that they would co-operate with the citizens of those States in measures for the restoration of peace. A committee of the convention visited Washington, and on the 26th of June presented to the President the resolutions adopted by the convention^ and urged the immediate recall and restoration of Mr. Vallandigham. their candidate for Governor. To this. President Lincoln made the following reply : — WAsniNOTON, June, 29, 1S63. Gentlemen : — The resolutions of the Ohio Democratic State Conven tioii, which you pi-esent me, together with your introductory and closing remarks, being in position and argument mainly the same as the resolu- tions of the Democratic meeting at Albany, New York, I refer you to my response to the latter as meeting most of the points in the former. This response you evidently used in preparing your remarks, and I de- sire no more than that it be used with accuracy. In a single reading of your remarks, I only discovered one inaccuracy in matter whicli I suppose you took from tliat paper. It is where you say, "The undersigned are unable to agree with you in the opinion you have expressed that the Constitu- tion is difterent in time of insurrection or invasion from what it is in time of peace and public security." A recurrence to the paper will show you that I have not expressed the opinion you suppose. I expressed the opinion that the Constitution is difterent in its application in cases of rebellion or invasion, involving, the public safety, from what it is in times of profound peace and public security ; and this opinion I adhere to, simply because by the Constitu- tion itself things may be done in the one case which may not be done in the other. State Papers of Abraham Lin-coln. 39 u I dislike to waste a word on a merely personal point, but I must re- spectfully assure you that you will find yourselves at fault should you ever seek for evidence to prove your assumption that I "opposed in discussions before the people the policy of the Mexican war." You say: "Expunge from the Constitution this limitation ui)on the power of Congress to suspend the writ of haleas corpus^ and yet the other guarantees of personal liberty would remain unchanged." Doubt- less, if this clause of the Constitution, imi)roperly called, as I think, a limitation upon the power of Congress, were expunged, the other guar- antees would remain the same ; but the question is, not how those guar- antees would stand with that clause out of the Constitution, but hoAv they stand with that clause remaining in it, in case of rebellion or invasion, involving the public safety. If the liberty could be indulged in expun- ging that clause, letter and spirit, Ireally think the constitutional argu- ment would be with you. My general view on this question was stated in the Albany response, and hence I do not state it now. I only add that, as seems to me, the benefit of the writ of habeas corpus is the great means through which the guarantees of personal liberty are conserved and made available in the last resort; and corroborative of this view is the fact that Mr. Yal- landigham, in the very case in question, under the advice of able law yers, saw not where else to go but to the Ml)eas corpus. But by the Constitution the benefit of the writ of Tialicas corpus itself may be sus- pended, when, in case of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it. You ask, in substance, whether I really claim tliat I may override all the guaranteed rights of individuals, on the plea of conserving the public safety — when I may choose to say the public safety requires it. Tins question, divested of the phraseology calculated to represent mo as struggling for an arbitrary personal prerogative, is either simply a question who shall decide, or an aflirmation that nolwchj shall decide, what the public safety does require in cases of rebellion or invasion. The Constitution contemplates the question as likely to occur for de- cision, but it does not expressly declare who is to decide it. By neces- sary implication, when rebellion or invasion comes, the decision is to be made from time to time ; and I think the man whom, for the time, the people have, under the Constitution, made the commander-in-chief of their army and navy, is the man who holds the power and bears the responsibility of making it. If he uses the power justly, the same people will probably justify him ; if he abuses it, he is in their hands to be dealt with by all the modes they have reserved to themselves in the Constitution. The earnestness with which you insist that persons can only, in times of rebellion, be lawfully dealt with in accordance with the rules for criminal trials and punishments in times of peace, induces me to add a 396 The Life, Public Services, and word to wliat I said on tliat point in the Albanj' response. You claim that men may, if thoy choose, embarrass those whose duty it is to com- bat a giant rebellion, and then be dealt with only in turn as if there were no rebellion. The Constitution itself rejects this view. The mili- tary arrests and detentions which have been made, including those of Mr. Vallandigham, which are not diiferent in principle from the other, have been for jor^Bew^ww, and not for ptinisJwient — as injunctions to stay injury, as proceedings to keep the peace — and hence, like proceedings in such cases and for like reasons, they have not been accompanied with indictments, or trial by juries, nor in a single case by any punishment whatever beyond what is purely incidental to the prevention. The original sentence of imprisonment in Mr. Yallandigliain's case was to prevent injury to the military service only, and the modification of it was made as a less disagreeable mode to him of securing the same pre- vention. I am unable to perceive an insult to Oliio in the case of Mr. Vallan- digham. Quite surely nothing of this sort was or is intended. I was wholly unaware that Mr. Vallandigham was, at the time of his arrest, a candidate for the Democratic nomination of Governor, until so informed by your reading to me the resolutions of the convention. I am grateful to the State of Ohio for many things, especially for the brave soldiers and officers she has given in the present national trial to the armies of the Union. You claim, as I understand, that according to my own position in the Albany response, Mr. Vallandigham should be released ; and this be- cause, as you claim, he has not damaged the military service by discour- aging enlistments, encouraging desertions, or otherwise; and that if he had, he should have been turned over to the civil authorities under the recent acts of Congress. I certainly do not know that Mr. Vallandigham has specifically and by direct language advised against enlistments and in favor of desertions and resistance to drafting. We all know that combinations, armed in some instances, to resist the arrest of deserters, began several months ago ; that more recently the like has appeared in resistance to the enrolment preparatory to a draft; and that quite a number of assassinations have occurred from the same animus. These had to be met by military force, and this again has led to bloodshed and death. And now, under a sense of responsibility more weighty and enduring than any which is merely ofiicial, I solemnly declare ray belief that this hindrance of the military, including maiming and murder, is due to the cause in which Mr. Vallandigham has been engaged, in a greater degree than to any other cause; and it is due to him personally in a greater degree than to any other man. These things have been notorious, known to all, and of course known to Mr. Vallandigham. Perhaps I would not bo wrong to say they originated with his especial friends and adherents. With perfect knowl- State Papers of Adkaiiam Lincoln. 30 V edge of thoiu, he has frequently, if not constantly, mndc si)ccelies in Congress and before jjopular assemblies; and if it can be shown tliat, with these things staring him in the face, he has ever uttered a word of rebuke or counsel against them, it will be a fact greatly in liis favoi' with me, and of wliich, as yet, I am totally ignorant. Wlicn it is known that the whole burden of his speeches has been to stir up men against tlie prosecution of the war, and that in the midst of resistance to it he lias not been known in any instance to counsel against such resistance, it is next to impossible to repel the inference that he has counselled directly in favor of it. With all this before their eyes, the convention you represent have nominated Mr. Vallandigham for Governor of Ohio, and both they and you have declared the purpose to sustain the National Union by all con- stitutional means; but, of course, they and you, in common, reserve to yourselves to decide what are constitutional means, and, unlike the Albany meeting, you omit to state or intimate that, in your opinion, an army is a constitutional means of saving the Union against a rebellion, or even to intimate that you are conscious of an existing rebellion being in progress with the avowed object of destroying that very Union. At the same time, your nominee for Governor, in whose behalf you appeal, is known to you, and to the world, to declare against the use of an army to suppress the rebellion. Your own attitude, therefore, encourages desertion, resistance to the draft, and the like, because it teaches those who incline to desert and to escape the draft to believe it is your pur- pose to protect them, and to hope that you will become strong enougli to do so. After a short personal intercourse with you, gentlemen of the com- mittee, I cannot say I think you desire this etlect to follow your attitude; but I assure you that both friends and enemies of the Union look upon it in this light. It is a substantial hope, and, by consequence, a real strength to the enemy. If it is a false hope, and one which you would willingly dispel, I will make the way exceedingly easy. I send you duplicates of this letter, in order that you, or a majority, may, if you choose, indorse your names upon one of them, and return it thus indorsed to me, with the understanding that those signing are thereby committed to the following propositions, and to nothing else :— 1. That there is now rebellion in the United States, the object and tendency of which is to destroy the National Union; and that, in your opinion, an army and navy are constitutional means for suppressing that rebellion. 2. That no one of you will do any thing which, in his own judgment, will tend to hinder the increase, or favor the decrease, or lessen the cfTiciency of the army and navy, while engaged in the effort to suppress that rebellion ; and, — 3. That each of you will, in his sphere, do all he can to have the 398 The Life, Public Services, and officers, soldiers, and seaiaen of the army and navy, while engaged in the effort to suppress the rebellion, paid, fed, clad, and otherwise well pro- vided for and supported. And with the further understanding that upon receiving the letter and names thus indorsed, I will cause them to be published, which publication shall be, within itself, a revocation of the order in relation to Mr. Vallandighara. It will not escape observation that I consent to the release of Mr. Vallandighaui upon terms not embracing any pledge from him or from others as to what he will or will not do. I do this because he is not present to speak for himself, or to authorize others to speak for him ; and hence I shall expect that on returning he would not put himself practically in antagonism with the position of his friends. But I do it chiefly because I thereby prevail on other influential gentlemen of Ohio to so define their position as to be of immense value to the army — thus more than compensating for the consequences of any mistake in allowing Mr. Vallandigham to return, so that, on the whole, the public safety will not have suffered by it. Still, in regard to Mr. Vallandigham and all others, I must hereafter, as heretofore, do so much as the public service may seem to require. I have the honor to be respectfully yours, &c., A. Lincoln. The canvass tlironghout the summer was very animated. As a matter of course, the opponents of the Administration in Ohio, as elsewhere throughout the country, made this matter of arbitrary arrests a very prominent point of attack. Special stress was laid upon the fact that, instead of acting directly and upon his own responsibility in these cases, the President left them to the discretion of military com- manders in the several departments. This was held to be In violation of the law of Congress which authorized the President to suspend the writ of habeas corpus^ but not to delegate that high prerogative. To meet this objection, therefore, and also in order to establish a uniform mode of action on the subject, the President issued the following PEOCLAMATION. Whereas^ the Constitution of the United States has ordained that " The privilege of the writ of habeas, corpus shall not be suspended, unless, when in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it ; and, whereas, a rebellion was existing on the 3d day of March, 1863, which rebellion is still existing; and, whereas, by a statute which was approved State Papers of Aiuiaiiam Llxcolx. oO'J oa that day, it was enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States, in Congress assembled, that during the present in- surrection the President of the United States, whenever, in liis judgment, tlie public safety may require, is authorized to suspend the i^rivilego of the \vrit of habeas corpus in any case throughout the United States, or any part thereof; and, whereas, in the judgment of the President the public safety does require that the privilege of the said writ sliall now be sus- pended throughout the United States in cases where, by the authority of the President of the United States, military, naval, and civil officers of the United States, or any of them, hold persons under their command or in their custody, either as i)risoners of war, spies, or aiders or abettors of the enemy, or officers, soldiers, or seamen enrolled, drafted, or mustered, or enlisted in, or belonging to the land or naval forces of the United States, or as deserters therefrom, or otherwise amenable to military law, or to the rules and articles of war, or the rules and regulations prescribed for the military or naval services by the authority of the President of the United States, or for resisting the draft, or for any other offence against the military ornaval service : Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do hereby proclaim and make known to all whom it may con- cern, that the privilege of the writ of haleas corpus is suspended tliroughout the United States in the several cases before mentioned, and that this sus- pension will continue throughout the duration of the said rebellion, or until this Proclamation shall, by a subsequent one, to be issued by the President of the United States, be modified and revoked. And I do here- by require all magistrates, attorneys, and other civil officers within the United States, and all officers and others in the military and naval services of the United States, to take distinct notice of this suspension and give it full effect, and all citizens of the United States to conduct and govern themselves accordingly, and in conformity with the Constitution of the United States and the laws of Congress in such cases made and provided. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed, this fifteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States of America the eighty-eighth. Abraham Lincoln. By the President : Wm. H. Sewaed, Secretary of State. The act passed by Congress " for enrolling and calling out the national forces," commonly called the Conscrip- tion Act, provided that all able-bodied male citizens, and persons of foreign birth who had declared their intention to become citizens, between the ages of twenty and forty- rive, were liable to be called into service. The strenuous 400 The Life, Public Services, and efforts made by tlie enemies of tlie Administration to arouse the hostility of the people against its general policy, had proved so far successful as greatly to discourage volun- teer enlistments ; and the Government was thus compelled to resort to the extraordinary powers conferred upon it by this act. Questions had been raised as to the liability of foreigners to be drafted under this law ; and in order to settle this point, the President, on the 8th of May, issued the following proclamation. Washington, May S, 1S68. By the President of the United States of America. PROCLAMATION". WJiereas, the Congress of the United States, at its last session, enacted a law, entitled "An Act for enrolling and calling out the national forces, and for other purposes," which was approved on the 3d day of March last; and Whereas^ it is recited in the said act that there now exists in the United States an insurrection and rebellion against the authority thereof, and it is, under the Constitution of the United States, the duty of the Govern- ment to suppress insubordination and rebellion, to guarantee to each State a republican form of government, and to preserve the public tranquillity ; and Whereas^ for these high purposes, a military force is indispensable, to raise and support which all persons ought willingly to contribute ; and Whereas, no service can be more praiseworthy and honorable than that which is rendered for tlie maintenance of the Constitution and the Union, and the consequent preservation of free government ; and Whereas, for the reasons thus recited it was enacted by the said stat- ute that all able-bodied male citizens of the United States, and persons of foreign birth who shall have declared on oath their intentions to become citizens under and in pursuance of the laws thereof, between the ages of twenty and forty-five years, with certain exemptions not necessary to be here mentioned, are declared to constitute the National forces, and shall bo liable to perform military duty in the service of the United States, "when called out by the President for that piirpose ; and Whereas, it is claimed, on and in behalf of persons of foreign birth, with- in the ages specified in said act, who have heretofore declared on oath their intentions to become citizens under and in pursuance to the laws of the United States, and who have not exercised the right of suftrage, or any other political franchise under the laws of the United States, or of any of the States thereof, that they are not absolutely precluded by their afore- saicl declaration of intention from renouncing their purpose to become citizens; and that, on the contrary, such persons, under treaties and the State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 401 I;iw of nations, retain a right to renounce that purpose, and to forego tlie privilege of citizenship and residence within the United States, under the ohligations imposed by the aforesaid act of Congress : Now, therefore, to avoid all misapprehensions concerning the lial/ility of persons concerned to perform the service required by such enactment, and to give it full etlect, I do hereby order and proclaim that no plea of alien- age will be received, or allowed to exempt from the obligations imposed by the aforesaid act of Congress any person of foreign birth who shall have declared on oath his intention to become a citizen of the United States, under the laws thereof, and who shall be found within the United States at any time during the continuance of the present insurrection and rebellion, at or after the expiration of the period of sixty-five days from the date of this proclamation ; nor shall any such plea of alienage be allowed in favor of any such person who has so, as aforesaid, declared his inten- tion to become a citizen of the United States, and shall have exercised at any time the right of sutFrage, or any other political franchise within the United States, under the laws thereof, or under the laws of any of the several States. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the City of Washington, this 8th day of May, in the year of our r T Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the in- L S dependence of the United States the eighty-seventh. Abraham Lincoln. By the President : "William IL Sewaed, Secretary of Slate. It was subsequently ordered that the draft should take place in July, and public proclamation was made of the number which each State would be required to furnish. Enrolling officers had been appointed for the several dis- tricts of all the States, and, all the names being placed in a wheel, the number required were to be publicly drawn, under such regulations as were considered necessary to insure equal and exact justice. Very great pains had been taken by the opponents of the Administration to excite odium against that clause of the law which fixed the price of exemption from service under the draft at three hundi-ed dollars. It was represented that this clause was for the special benefit of the rich, who could easily pay the sum required ; while poor men who could not pay it would be compelled, at whatever hardships to themselves and their families, to enter the army. The draft was commenced iu 26 402 The Life, Public Services, and the City of New York on Saturday, -Tnly 11th, and was condncted quietly and successfully during that day. On Sunday j^lots were formed and combinations entered into to resist it ; and no sooner was it resumed on Monday morning, July 13, than a sudden and formidable attack was made by an armed mob upon the office in one of the districts ; the wheel was destroyed, the lists scattered, and the building set on fire. The excitement spread through tile city. Crowds gathered everywhere, with no apparent common object ; but during the day the movement seem- ed to be controlled by leaders in two general directions. The first was an attack upon the negroes ; the second an assault upon every one who was supposed to be in any way concerned in the draft, or prominently identified, officially or otherwise, with the Administration or the Re- publican party. Unfortunately, the militia regiments of the city had been sent to Pennsylvania to withstand the rebel invasion ; and the only guardians left for the public peace were the regular police and a few hundred soldiers who garrisoned the forts. Both behaved with the greatest vigor and fidelity, but they were too few to protect the dozen miles between the extremities of the city. The mob, dispersed in one quarter, would reassemble at another, and for four days the city seemed given up to their control. The outrages committed during this time were numerous and aggravated. Kegroes were assaulted, beaten to death, mutilated, and hung ; building after building Avas sacked and burned ; gangs of desperadoes patrolled the streets, levying contributions, and ordering places of business to be closed. A Colored Orphan Asylum, sheltering some hundreds of children, was sacked and burned. After the first day, the riot, which was at first directed against the draft, took a new turn. The entire mass of scoundrel - ism in the city seemed to have been let loose for indis- criminate plunder. Women, half-grown boys, and chil- dren, were foremost in the work of robbery, and no man felt safe from attack. The police force did their duty rjianfully, aided at first by the few troops at the disposal of the authorities, and subsequently by the regiments who State Papers of Abuaham Lincoln. 403 began to return from Pi^nnsylvania. In the strect-liglits which occurred, many of the defenders of law and order lost their lives, while a far largt^r number of tlu^ rioters were killed. The bands of rioters were linally dispersed, and the peace of the city was restored. During these occurrences the draft was necessarily sus- pended ; and on the 3d of August, Governor Seymour addressed a long letter to the President, asking that fur- ther proceedings under the draft might be postponed until it should be seen whether the number required from the State of New York could not be raised by volunteering, and also until the constitutionality of the law could be tested in the judicial tribunals of the country. The Governor pointed out an alleged injustice in the applica- tion of the law, by which, in four districts of tlie State of New York, a far higher quota in proportion to the popu- lation was required than in the other districts of the State ; and this was urged as an additional reason for postponing the further execution of the law. To this appeal the President, on the 7tli of August, made the following reply : — EsKOUTivB Mansion, Wabiiington, Aur/ust 7, 1803. His Excellency Horatio Seymour, Governor of New York, Albany, X. Y. : Your communication of the 3d inst. lias been received and attentively considered. I cannot consent to suspend the draft in New York, as you request, because, among other reasons, time is too important. By the figures you send, which I presume are correct, the twelve districts repre- sented fall in two classes of eight and four respectively. The disparity of the quotas for the draft in these two classes is certainly very striking, being the dilFerence between an average of 2,200 in one class, and 4,8G4 in the other. Assuming that the districts are equal, one to another, in entire population, as required by the plan on wliich they were made, 'this disparity is such as to require attention. Much of it, however, I suppose will be accounted for by the fact that so many more persons fit for soldiers are in the city than are in the country, who have too recently arrived from other parts of the United States and from Europe to be either included in the census of 1860, or to have voted in 18(32. Still, making due allowance for this, I am yet unwilling to stand upon it as an entirely sufficient explanation of the great disparity. I shall direct 404 The Life, Public Services, and the draft to proceeil in all the districts, drawing, however, at first from each of the four districts — to wit, the Second, Fourth, Sixth, and Eighth — only, 2,200 being the average quota of the other class. After this drawing, these four districts, and also the Seventeenth and Twenty-ninth, shall bo carefully re-enrolled; and, if you please, agents of yours may witness every step of the process. Any deficiency which may appear by the new enrolment will be supplied by a special draft for that object, allowing due credit for volunteers who may be obtained from these districts respectively during the interval ; and at all points, so far as consistent with practical convenience, due credits shall be given for volunteers, and your Excel- lency shall be notified of the time fixed for commencing a draft in each district. I do not object to abide a decision of the United States Supreme Court, to concentrate half of that nuniher. General Peiiibi'itoii, therefore, proposed to surrender Yicksburg on the morn- ing of the 4th of July, on condition that his troops should be permitted to march out. Grant refused, demanding an absolute surrender of the garrison as prisoners of war. Upon consultation with his officers, Pemb<*rton acceded to these terms. By tliis surrender about thirty-one thou- sand prisoners, two hundred and twenty cannon, and seventy thousand stand of small arms fell into our hands. The prisoners were at once released on parole. The entire loss of the enemy during the campaign which was thus closed by the surrender of Yicksburg, was nearly forty thousand ; ours was not far from seven thousand. The capture of Yicksburg was immediately followed by that of Port Hudson, which Avas surrendered on the 8th of July to General Banks, together with about seven thousand prisoners, fifty cannon, and a considerable num- ber of small arms. The whole course of the Mississippi, from its source to its mouth, was thus op<^ned, and the Confederacy virtually separated into two parts, neither capable of rendering any etfective assistance to tlie other. The great victories, by which the Fourth of July had been so signally and so gloriously commemorated, called forth the most enthusiastic rejoicings in every section of the country. Public meetings were held in nearly all tlie cities and principal towns, at which eloquent speeches and earnest resolutions expressed the joy of the peop]t\ and testified their unflinching purpose to prosecute the war until the rebellion should be extinguished. A large concourse of the citizens of Washington, preceded by a band of music, visited the residence of the President, and the members of his Cabinet— giving them, in succession, the honors of a serenade— which the President acknowl- edged in the following remarks : — Fellow-Citizens :— I am very glad indeed to see you to-night, and yet I will not say I thank you, for this call ; but I do most sincerely tliank Almighty God for the occasion on which you have called. How long ago is it?— eighty odd years since, on the Fourth of July, for the iir-^t 416 The Life, Public Services, and time, in tlie history of the world, a nation, by its representatives, assem- bled and declared as a self-evident truth, "that all men are created equal." That was the birtliday of the United States of America. Since tlien tlie Fourth of July lias had several very peculiar recognitions. The two men most distinguished in the framing and support of the Declara- tion were Thomas Jefferson and John Adams— the one having penned it, and tlu; other sustained it the most forcibly in debate— the only two of the iifty-five who signed it, and were elected Presidents of the United States. Precisely fifty years after they put their hands to the paper, it pleased Almighty God to take both from this stage of action. This was indeed an extraordinary and remarkable event in our history. Another President, five years after, was called from this stage of existence on the same day and month of the year; and now on this last Fourth ol July, just passed, when we have a gigantic rebellion, at the bottom of which is an effort to overthrow the principle that all men were created equal, we have the surrender of a most powerful position and army on that very day. And not only so, but in a succession of battles in Penn- sylvania, near to us, through three days, so rapidly fought that they might be called one great battle, on the first, second, and third of the month of July ; and on the fourth the cohorts of those who opposed the Declaration that all men are created equal, "turned tail" and run. [Long-continued cheers.] Gentlemen, this is a glorious theme, and the occasion for a speech, but I am not prepared to make one worthy of the occasion. I would like to speak in terms of praise due to the many brave officers and soldiers who have fought in the cause of the Union and liber- ties of their country from the beginning of the war. These arc trying occasions, not only in success, but for the want of success. I dislike to mention the name of one single officer, lest I might do wrong to those I might forget. Recent events bring up glorious names, and particularly prominent ones ; but these I will not mention. Having said this much, I will now take the music. The President, a few days afterwards, wrote to General Grant the following letter : — ExECUTrvE Mansion, Washington, July 13, 1S63. Major-General Grant : My Deak General: — I do not remember that you and I ever met per- sonally. I WM-ite this now as a grateful acknowledgment for the almost inestimable service you have done the country. I write to say a word further. When you first reached the vicinity of Vicksburg, I thought you should do what you finally did — march the troops across the neck, run the batteries with the transports, and thus go below ; and I never had any faith, except a general hope that you knew better than 1, that the Yazoo Pass expedition, and the like, could succeed. When you got below, and took Port Gibson, Grand Gulf, and vicinity, I thought you should go State Papers of Abraham I.incoln. 417 down tlie river aiid join (Jcneral Uanks, and wiien vdn tiiriifd iimtli ward east of the Big Black, I iVarcd it was a mistake. I hdw wish to make tho personal acknowledgment, that you were right and I was wrong. Yours, truly, A. Lincoln. These victories, together witli others, both nuniei'ous and important, which were acliieved in other sections of the conntry, gave such strong grounds of encouragement and hope for the speedy overthrow of the rebellion, tliat, on the 15th of July, the President issued the following proclamation for a da.y of National Thanksgiving :- By the President of the United States of America. A PROCLAMATION. It has pleased Almighty God to hearken to the supplications and prayers of an afflicted people, and to vouchsafe to the Army and the Navy of the United States, on the land and on the sea, victories so signal and so effective as to furnish reasonable grounds for augmented confi- dence that the Union of these States will l>e maintained, their Constitu- tion preserved, and their peace and prosperity permanently secured; but these victories have been accorded, not Avitli^ut sacrillce of life, limb, and liberty, incurred by brave, patriotic, and loyal citizens. Domestic affliction, in eveiw part of the country', follows in the train of these fear- ful bereavements. It is meet and right to recognize and confess the pres- ence of the Almighty Father, and the power of Ilis hand, equally in these triumphs and these sorrows. Now, therefore, be it kno-wn, that I do set apart Thursday, the sixth day of August next, to be observed as a day for National Thanksgiving, praise, and prayer ; and I invite the people of the United States to assem- ble on that occasion in their customary places of worship, and in the form approved by their oAvn conscience, render the homage due to the Divine Majesty, for the wonderful things He has done in the Nation's behalf, and invoke the influence of Ilis Holy Spirit, to subdue the anger which has produced, and so long sustained a needless and cruel rebellion; to change the hearts of the insurgents; to guide tlie counsels of the Gov- ernment with wisdom adequate to so great a national emergency, and to visit with tender care and consolation, throughout the length and breadth of our land, all those who, through the vicissitudes of marches, voyages, battles, and sieges, have been brought to suffer in mind, body, or estate, and finally, to lead the whole nation, through paths of repentance and submission to the Divine will, back to the perfect enjoyment of union and fraternal peace. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my liand, a;id caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. 27 418 The Life, Public Services, and Done at the City of "Washington, this 15th day of July, in the year of GUV Lord one thousand eight liundred and sixty-three, and of [l. s.] the independence of the United States of America the eighty- eiglith. Abraham Lincoln. By the President : Wm. IL Sewaed, Secretary of Sto,U. In other portions of tlie field of war, our arms, during tlie year 1863, had achieved other victories of marked imjDortance which deserve mention, though their relation to the special object of this work is not such as to require them to be described in detail. After the retreat of the rebel General Lee to the south side of the Rapidan, a considerable portion of his army was detached and sent to r<'-enforce Bragg, threatened by Rosecrans, at Chattanooga ; but, with liis numbers thus diminished, Lee assumed a threatening attitude against Meade, and turning his left flank, forced him to fall back to the line of Bull Run. Several sharp skirmishes oc- curred during these operations, in which both sides sus- tained considerable losses, but no substantial advantage was gained by the rebels, and by the 1st of November they had resumed their original position on the south side of the Rapidan. After the battle of Murfreesboro', and the occupation of that place by our troops, on the 5th of January, 1863, the eneni}^ took position at Shelby ville and Tullahonia, and the winter and spring were passed in raids and unim- portant skirmishes. In June, while General Grant v/as besieging Vicksburg, information reached the Govern- ment which led to the belief that a portion of Bragg"' s army had been sent to the relief of that place ; and Gen- eral Rosecrans was urged to take advantage of this divi- sion of the rebel forces and drive them back into Georgia, so as completely to deliver East Tennessee from the rebel armies. He was told that General Burnside would move from Kentucky in aid of this movement. General Rose- crans, however, deemed his forces unequal to such an enterprise ; but, receiving re-enforcements, he commenced on the 25th of June a forward movement upon the enemy, State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 419 strongly intrpnoliod at Tiillalionia, with Ills main force near Slielbyville. Deceiving tlie rebel General by a movement npon his left flank, Rosecrans threw the main body of his army npon the enemy's right, which he tnrned so completely that Bragg abandoned his position, and fell back rapidly, and in confusion, to Bridgeport, Alabama, being pursued as far as practicable by our forces, (hm- eral Burnside had been ordered to connect himself with Rosecrans, but had failed to do so. Bragg continued his retreat across the Cumberland Mountain and the Tennes- see River, and took post at Chattanooga, whither he was pursued by Rosecrans, who reached the Tennessee on the 20th of August, and on the 21st commenced shelling Chat- tanooga and making preparation for throwing his army across the river. A reconnoissance, made by General Crittenden on the 9th of September, disclosed the fact that the rebels had abandoned the position, which was immediately occupied by our forces, who pushed forward towards the South. Indications that the rebel General was receiving heavy re-enforcements and manoeuvring to turn the right of our army, led to a concentration of all our available forces; but, notwithstanding all this, on the 19th of September, General Rosecrans was attacked by the rebel forces— their main force being directed against his left wing, under General Thomas, endeav- oring to turn it so as to gain the road to Chattanoo- ga. The attack was renewed the next morning, and with temporary success— Longstreet' s Corps, which had been brought down from the Army of Virginia, hav- ing reached the field and poured its massive columns through a gap left in the centre of our line by an unfor- tunate misapprehension of an order ; but the opportune arrival and swift energy of General Granger checked his advance, and the desperate valor of Thomas and his troops repulsed every subsequent attempt of the enemy to carry the position. Our losses, in this series of engage- ments, were sixteen hundred and forty-four killed, nine thousand two hundred and sixty-two wounded, and four thousand eight hundred and forty -five missing— a total 420 The Life, Public ServiceSj and swelled by the estimated losses of our cavalry to about sixteen thousand three hundred and fifty-one. The rebel General immediately sent Longstreet against Burnside, who was at Knoxville, while he established his main force again in the neighborhood of Chattanooga. In October, General Rosecrans was superseded by General Grant. On November 23d, having been re-enforced by General Sherman from Vicksburg, General Grant moved his army to the attack, and on the 25th the whole of the range of heights known as Missionary Ridge, held by Bragg, was carried by our troops after a desperate strug- gle, and the enemy completely routed. This was a very severe c>iigagement, and our loss was estimated at about four thousand. Generals Thomas and Hooker pushed the rebel forces back into Georgia, and Granger and Sherman were sent into East Tennessee to relieve Burn- side, and raise the siege of Knoxville, which was pressed by Longstreet, who, failing in this attempt, soon after retreated towards Virginia. Upon receiving intelligence of these movements the President issued the following recommendation :— Executive Mansion, Washington, D. C, December T, 1863. Reliable information being received that the insurgent force is retreat- ing from East Tennessee, under circumstances rendering it probable that the Union forces cannot hereafter be dislodged from that important posi- tion ; and esteeming this to be of high national consequence, I recom- mend that all loyal peojile do, on receipt of this information, assemble at their places of Avorship, and render special homage and gratitude to Al- mighty God for this great advancement of the national cause. A. Lincoln. On the 3d of October, the President had issued the fol- lowing proclamation, recommending the observance of the last Thursday of November as a day of Thanksgiving :-— PROCLAMATION. By the President of the United States of America. The year that is drawing towards its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added which are of so extraordinary a na- ture that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 421 is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to invite and provoke the aggressions of foreign States, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict, while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. The needful diversion of wealth and strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, has not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship. The axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battle-field ; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect a continitance of years, with large increase of freedom. No hnman counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are tlie gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless re- membered mercy. It has seemed to me tit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and voice, by the whole American people. I do, therefore, invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea, and those who are sojourning in 'foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and prayer to our beneficent Father, who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recom- mend to them that, while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoid.ibly en- gaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation, and to restore it, as soon as may be con- sistent with the divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity, and union. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be afBxed. Done at the City of Washington, this third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, [l. s.] and of the independence of the United States the eighty- eighth. ABRAn.\M LiXCOL.N. By the President : Wii.LiAjM H. Seward, Secretary of State. 422 The Life, Public Services, and CHAPTER XIV. POLITICxVL MOVEMENTS IN MISSOURI.— THE STATE ELECTIONS OF 1863. Gexekai, Feemoxt in Missouri. — The President's Letter to General Hunter. — Emancipation in Missouri. — Appointment of General SoHOFiELD. — The President and the Missouri Kadioals. — The Pres- ident TO the Missouri Committee. — The President and General Sohofield. — The President and the OnuROUES.— Letter to Illinois. — The Elections of 1863. The condition of aifairs in Missouri had been somewhat peculiar, from the very outbreak of the rebellion. At the outset the Executive Department of the State Gov- ernment was in the hands of men in full sympathy with the secession cause, who, under pretence of protecting the State from domestic violence, Avere organizing its forces for active co-operation with the rebel movement. On the 3()th of July, 1861, the "State Convention, origi- nally called by Governor Jackson, for the purpose of taking Missouri out of the Union, but to which the people had elected a large majority of Union men, de- clared all the Executive offices of the State vacant, by reason of the treasonable conduct of the incumbents, and appointed a Provisional Government, of which the Hon. H. R. Gamble was at the head. He at once took meas- ures to maintain the national authority within the State. He ordered the troops belonging to the rebel Confederacy to withdraw from it, and called upon all the citizens of the State to organize for its defence, and for the preserva- tion of peace within its borders. He also issued a proc- lamation, framed in accordance with the following sug- gestions from Washington : — Washington, August 3, 18G1. To His Excellency Gov. Gamble, Governor of Missouri : In reply to your message, addressed to the President, I am directed to to say, that if, hy a proclamation, yon promise security to citizens in State Papers of Abkaiia:\i Lincoln. 42o arms, who voluntarily return to their uUegiance, and hcliave as peaceable and loyal men, thii; Government will cause tlio promise to he respected. SiMox Camekon, Sccrctitnj of War. Two days after tliis, Governor Jackson, returning from Ricliniond, declared the State to be no longer one of the United States ; and on the 2d of Novenibor, the legisla- ture, summoned by him as Governor, ratilied a compact, by which certain commissioners, on both sides, had agreed that Missouri should join the rebel Confederacy. The State authority was thus divided— two persons clahuing to wield the Executive authority, and two bodies, also, claiming to represent the popular will — one adhering to the Union, and the other to the Confed- eracy in organized rebellion against it. This state of things naturally led to wide-spread disorder, and carried all the evils of civil war into every section and neighl^or- hood of the State. To these evils were gradually added others, growing out of a division of sentiment, which afterwards ripened into sharp hostility, among the friends of the Union within the State. One of the earliest causes of this dissension was the action and removal of General Fre- mont, who arrived at St. Louis, to take command of the Western Department, on the 26th of July, 1861. On tlie 31st of August he issued a proclamation, declaring that circumstances, in his judgment, of sufficient urgency, rendered it necessary that "the Commanding General of the Department should assume the administrative power of the State," thus superseding entirely the authority of the civil rulers. He also proclaimed the whole State to be under martial law, declared that all persons taken with arms in their hands, within the designated lines of the Department, should be tried by court-martial, and, if found guilty, shot; and coniiscated the property and emancipated the slaves of "all persons who should be proved to have taken an active part with the enemies of the United States." This latter clause, transcending the authority conferred by the Confiscation Act of Congress, 424 The Life, Public Services, and Wiis sul)seqiiently modified by order of the President of the United States."'^ On the 14th of October, after a personal inspection of affairs in that Department by the Secretary of War, an order was issued from the War Department, in effect censuring General Fremont for liaving expended very large sums of the public money, through agents of his own appointment, and not responsible to the Govern- ment ; requiring all contracts and disbursements to be made by the proper officers of the army ; directing the discontinuance of the extensive fieldworks which the Gen- eral was ei-ecting around St. Louis and Jefferson City, and also the barracks in construction around his head-quar- ters ; and also notifying him that the officers to whom he had issued commissions would not be paid until those commissions should have been approved by the Presi- dent. On the 1st of November, General Fremont en- tered into an agreement with General Sterling Price, commanding the rebel forces in Missouri, by which each party stipulated that no further arrests of citizens should be made on either side for the expression of political opinions, and releasing all who were then in custody on such charges. On the 2d of November, General Fremont was relieved from his command in the Western Department, in conse- quence of his action in the matters above referred to, his command devolving on General Hunter, to whom, as soon as a change in the command of the Department had been decided on, the President had addressed the follow- ing letter • — Wasiiixgto.n-, October 24, ISCl. Sir : — The command of the Department of the West liaving devolved upon you, I propose to ofter you a few suggestions, knowing how hazard- ous it is to bind down a distant commander in the field to speciiic lines of operation, as so much always depends on tlie knowledge of localities and passing events. It is intended, therefore, to leave considerable margin for the exercise of your judgment and discretion. The main rebel army (Price's) west of the Mississippi is believed to hav^ lift'jswd Dade County in full retreat upon Northwestern Arkansas, * See page 208. State Papers of Abhaiiam Lincoln. 425 leaving Missouri almost free from the enemy, excepting' in tlic southeast part of the State. Assuming this basis of fact, it seems ilesirahle — as you are not iikeiy to overtake Price, and are in danger of making too long a line from your own base of supplies and re-enforceiUL-nts — that you should give up the pursuit, halt your miiiu army, divide it into two eorjis of observation, one occupying Scdalia and the other llolhi, tlie present termini of railroads, then recruit tlic condition of both corjis by re- establisliing and improving tlieir discipline and instruction, perfecting their clothing and equipments, and providing less uncomfortable cpuirters. Of course, both railroads must be guarded and kept open, judiciously employing just so mucli force as is necessary for this. From tliese two points, Sedalia and Rolla, and especially in judicious co-operation with Lane on the Kansas border, it would be very easy to concentrate, and repel any army of the enemy returning on Missouri on the southwest. As it is not probable any such attempt to return will be made before or during the approaching cold w^eather, before spring the people of Missouri will be in no favorable mood for renewing for next year the troubles which have so much atBicted and impoverished them during this. If you take this line of policy, and if, as I anticipate, you will see no enemy in great force approaching, you will have a surplus force whicli you can withdraw from those points, and direct to others, as may be needed — the railroads furnishing ready means of re-enforcing tliose main points, if occasion requires. Doubtless local uprisings for a time will continue to occur, but those can be met by detachments of local forces of our own, and will ere long tire out of themselves. While, as stated at the beginning of this letter, a large discretion must be and is left with yourself, I feel sure that an indefinite pursuit of Price, or an attempt by this long and circuitous route to reach Memphis, will be exhaustive beyond endurance, and will end in the loss of the whole force engaged in it. Your obedient servant, A. Lincoln. The Commander of the Department of the West. General Hunter' s first act was to repudiate tlie agree- ment of General Fremont with General Price, and, on the 18th of November, General Halleck arrived as his successor. The action of General Fremont had given rise to very serious complaints on the part of the people of Missouri ; and these, in turn, had led to strong demonstrations on his behalf. His removal was made the occasion for public manifestations of sympathy for liim, and of censure for the Government. An address was ].resent(xl to liim, signe I 426 The Life, Public Services, and by large numbers of the citizens of St. Louis, those of German birtli largely predominating, in\yliicli liis removal was ascribed to jealousy of his popularity, and to the fact that liis policy in regard to emancipation was in advance of the Government at Washijigton. "Yon have risen," said this address, "too fast in popular favor. The policy announced in your proclamation, although hailed as a political and military necessity, furnished your ambitious rivals and enemies with a cruel weapon for" your intended destruction. The harbingers of truth will ever be crucihed by the Pharisees. AVe cannot be deceived by shallow and flimsy pretexts, by unfounded and slanderous reports. We entertain no doubt of your al)ility to speedily con- found and silence your traducers. The day of reckoning is not far distant, and the people will take care that the schemes of your opponents shall, in the end, be signally defeated." The General accepted these tributes to his merits, and these denunciations of the Government, with grateful acknoAvledgments, saying that the kind and aftec- tionate demonstrations which greeted him, cheered and strengthened his confidence — "my confidence," he said, "already somewhat wavering, in our republican institu- tions." The sharp personal discussions to which this incident gave rise, were made still more bitter, by denunciations of General Halleck's course in excluding, for military reasons, which have been already noticed,* fugitive slaves from our lines, and by the contest that soon came up in the State Convention, on the general subject of emancipa- tion. On the 7th of June, 1862, a bill was introduced into the convention by Judge Breckinridge, of St. Louis, for gradual emancipation, framed in ac(-ordance with the recommendation of the President's Message. By the combined votes of those who were opposed to eman- cipation in any form, and those who were oppos(^d to the President's plan of gradual emancipation, this bill was summarily laid on the table. But on the 13th, the subject was again brought up by a message from Governor See page 330. State Papers of Abuaiiam Lincoln. 427 Gnnihle, calling attention to tlio fact that Congress had passed a resolution, in accordance with the President's recommendation, declaring that "the United States ought to co-operate with any State wiiich niiglit adopt a gradual emancipation of slavery, giving to such State, at its dis- cretion, compensation for the inconvenience, public and private, caused by such a change of system." This mes- sage was referred to a special committee, which reported resolutions, recognizing the generous spirit of this pro- posal, but declining to take any action upon it. These resolutions were adopted, and on the 16tli a Mass Con- vention of Emancipationists, consisting of one hundred and ninety-five delegates from tw^enty-five counties, met at Jefferson City, and passed resolutions, declaring it to be the duty of the next General Assembly to pass laws giving effect to a gradual system of emancipation on the basis proposed. At the State election, in the follow^ing November, the question of emancipation was the leading theme of con- troversy. Throughout the State the canvass turned upon this issue, and resulted in the choice of a decided majority of the Assembly favorable to emancipation. But the di- vision in the ranks of tliis party still continued, and gave rise to very heated and bitter contests, especially in St. Louis. During the summer, the main rebel army liaving been driven from the State, and the Union army being of necessity in the main vvithdraAvn to other fields, the State was overrun by reckless bands of rebel guerrillas, who robbed and plundered Union citizens, and created very great alarm among i]w people. In consequence of these outrages, Governor Gamble ordered the organization of the entire militia of the State, and authorized General Schofield to call into active service such portions of it as might be needed to put down marauders, and defend peace able and loyal citizens. The organization was eftected with great promptness, and the State militia became a powerful auxiliary of the National forces, and cleared all sections of the State of the lawless bands which liad in- flicted so much injury and committed so many outrages. On the 19th of September, the States of Missouri, Kan- 428 The Life, Public Services, and sas, and Arkansas were formed into a military district, of which the command was assigned to (reneral Curtis, who was thoroughly in sympathy with the friends of im- mediate emancipation and the supporters of General Fremont in his differences with tlie Government. He had control of the National Ibrces in his district, but Governor Gamble did not give him command of the State militia. The differences of political sentiment between the two sections of the Union men of the State came thus to be represented, to some extent, by two organized military forces ; and the contest between their respective partisans continued to be waged with increasing bitterness, greatly to the embarrassment of the Government at AVashington, and to the weakening of the Union cause. This continued until the spring of 1863, when the President removed General Curtis from his command, and appointed General Schofield in his place. This gave rise to very vehement remonstrances and protests, to one of which, sent by tele- graph, the President made the following reply : — Your dispatch of to-day is just received. It is very painful to me that you, in Missouri, cannot, or will not, settle your factional quarrel among yourselves. I have been tormented with it beyond endurance, for months, by both sides. Neither side pays the least respect to my appeals to your reason. I am now compelled to take hold of the case. A. Lincoln. To General Schofield himself, the President soon after addressed the following letter : — ExBcimvB Mansion, WAsniNGTON, 2I(ty 27, 1S63. General J. M. Schofield : Dear Sir : — Having removed General Curtis and assigned you to the command of the Department of the Missouri, I think it may be of son.e advantage to me to state to you why I did it. I did not remove Genera. Curtis because of my full conviction that he had done wrong by commis- sion or omission. I did it because of a conviction in my mind that tlie Union men of Missouri, constituting, when united, a vast majority of the people, have entered into a pestilent, factious quarrel, among themselves. General Curtis, perhaps not of choice, being the head of one faction, and Governor Gamble that of the other. After montlis of lab(M- to reconcile the difficulty, it seemed to grow worse and worse, until I felt it my duty to break it up somehow, and as I could not remove G ivernor Gamble, I State Papers of Auhaiiam Lincoln. 420 had to remove General Curtis. iSTow thiit yo\i ure in the position, I wi.sli you to undo nothing merely because (Jeneral Cintls or Governor (ianilile did it, but to exercise your own judgment, and do riglit for tlio public in- terest. Let your military measures be strong enougli to repel the invaders and keep the peace, and not so strong as to unnecessarily harass and per- secute tlie people. It is a difficult role^ and so much greater will bo the honor if you perform it well. If both factions, or neither, shall abuse you, you will probably be about right. Beware of being assailed by one and praised by the other. Yours truly, A. Lincoln. This action gave special dissatisfaction to tlie more rad- ical Unionists of the State. They had been anxious to have the Provisional Government, of which Grovernor Gamble was the executive head, set aside by the National authority, and the control of the State vested in a Military Governor clothed with the authority which General Fre- mont had assum(>d to exercise by his proclamation of August 31st, 1861; — and tlie Germans enlisted in the movement had made very urgent demands for the restora- tion of General Fremont himself. Several deputations visited Washington, for the purpose of representing tliese views and wishes to the President — though they by no means restricted their efforts at reform to matters within their own State, but insisted upon sundry changes in the Cabinet, upon the dismissal of General Halleck from the position of Commander of the Armies of the Uiiited States, and upon other matters of equal magnitude and impor- tance. The following i-eport of President Lincoln's reply to these various requests was made by a member of a com- mittee appointed at a mass meeting, composed mainly of Germans, and held at St. Louis on the lOth of May : although made by a person opposed to the President's action, it p)robably gives a substantially correct statement of his remarks : — Messrs. Emile Pretokious, Tiieodobe Olsuausen, R. E. Eombaur, &c. : Gentlemen : — During a professional visit to Washington City, I pre- sented to the President of the United States, in compliance with your in- structions, a copy of the resolutions adopted in mass meeting at St. Louis on the 10th of May, 18G3, and I requested a reply to the suggestions therein contained. The President, after a careful and loud reading of the whole 430 The Life, Public Services, and report of proceedings, saw proper to enter into a conversation of two ' hours' duration, in tlie course of which most of the topics embraced in the resohitions and other subjects were discussed. As my share in the conversation is of secondary importance, I propose to omit it entirely in this report, and, avoiding details, to communicate to you the substance of noteworthy remarks made by the President. 1. The President said that it may be a misfortune for the nation that he was elected President. But, having been elected by the people, he meant to be President, and perform his duty according to his best understanding, if he had to die for it. No General will be removed, nor will any change in the Cabinet be made, to suit the views or wishes of any particular party, faction, or set of men. General Halleck is not guilty of the charges made against him, most of which arise from misapprehension or ignorance of those who prefer them. 2. The President said that it was a mistake to suppose that Generals John 0. Fremont, B. F. Butler, and F. Sigel are " systematically kept out of command," as stated in the fourth resolution; that, on the contrary, he fully appreciated the merits of the gentlemen named ; that by their own actions they had placed themselves in the positions which they occu- pied; that he was not only willing, but anxious to place them again in command as soon as he could find spheres of action for them, without doing injustice to others, but that at j>resent he " had more pegs than holes to put them in." 3. As to the want of unity, the President, without admitting such to be the case, intimated that each member of the Cabinet was responsible mainly for the manner of conducting the affairs of his particular depart- ment ; that there was no centralization of responsibility for the action of the Cabinet anywhere, except in the President himself. 4. The dissensions between Union men in Missouri are due solely to a factious spirit, \\hich is exceedingly reprehensible. The two parties ''ought to have their heads knocked together." "Either would rather see the defeat of their adversary than that of Jefferson Davis." To this spirit of faction is to be ascribed the failure of the legislature to elect senators and the defeat of the Missouri Aid Bill in Congress, the passage of which the President strongly desired. The President said that the Union men in Missouri who are in favor of gradual emancipation represented his views better than those who are in favor of immediate emancipation. In explanation of his views on this subject, the President said that in his speeches he had fre(}uently used as an illustration, ^'he case of a man who had an excrescence on the back of his neck, the removal of which, in one operation^ would result in the death of the patient, while "tinkering it off by degrees" would preserve life. Although sorely tempted, I did not reply with the illustration of the dog whose tail was amputated by inches, but confined myself to argu- ments. The President announced clearly that, as far as he was at present State Papers of Atuiaiiaim Lincoln. 431 advised, tlic radicals in Missouri hud no riglit to consider thcniselvcH tlie exponents of his views on the subject of emancipation in that State. 5. General Curtis was not relieved on account of any wrong act or groat jiistake committed by him. The system of Provost-Marshals, established by him throughout the State, gave rise to violent complaint. That tlie President liad thought at one time to appoint General Fremont in liis place; (hat at another time he had thougiit of api)ointing General Mc- Dowell, whom he characterized as a good and loyal though very unfortu- nate soldier; and that, at last, General Schofield was appointed, with a view, if possible, to reconcile and sati.sfy the two factions in Missouri. He has instructions not to interfere with either party, but to confine him- self to his military duties. I assure you, gentlemen, that our side was as fully presented as the occasion permitted. At the close of the conversa- tion, the President remarked that there was evidently a " serious misunder- standing " springing up between him and the Germans of St. Louis, which he would like to sec removed. Observing to him that tlie difference of opinion related to facts, men, and measures, I withdrew. I am, very respectfully, &c., James Tau.ssig. On the 1st of July the State Convention, in session at JefTerson City, passed an amendmt^nt to the Constitution, dechiring that shivery should cease to exist in Missouri on the 4th of July, 1870, with certain specified exceptions. This, however, was by no means accepted as a final dis- position of the matter. The demand was made for imme- diate emancipation, and Governor Gamhle and the mem- bers of the Provisional Government who had favored the policy adopted by the State Convention, were denounced as the advocates of slavery and allies of the rebellion. In the early part of August a band of rebel guerrillas made a raid into the town of Lawrence, Kansas, and butchered in cold blood over two hundred unarmed citizens of the place. Tliis brutal act aroused the most intense excite- ment in the adjoining State of Missouri, of which the op- ponents of the Provisional Govei-nment took advantage to throw upon it and General Schofield, who had command of the State militia as well as of the National forces, the responsibility of having permitted this massacre to take place. A Mass Convention was held at Jefferson City on the 2d of September, at which resolutions were adopted denoun- 432 The Life, Public Services, and cing tlie militar}' policy pursued in the State and tlie del- egation of military powers to the Provisional Government. A committee of one from each county was appointed to visit "Washington and lay their grievances before the President ; and arrangements were also made for the ap- pointment of a Committee of Public Safety, to organize and arm the loyal men of the State, and, in the event of not ob- taining relief, to call on the people in their sovereign capa- city to "take such measures of redress as the emergency might require." In the latter part of September the com- mittee appointed by this convention visited Washington and had an interview with the President on the 30th, in which they represented Governor Gamble and General Schoiield as in virtual alliance with the rebels, and de- manded the removal of the latter as an act of justice to the loyal and anti-slavery men of the State. The com- mittee visited several of the Northern cities, and held public meetings for the purpose of enlisting public senti- ment in their support. At these meetings it was claimed that the radical emancipation party was the only one which represented the loyalty of Missouri, and President Lincoln was very strongly censured for " closing his ears to the just, loyal, and patriotic demands of the radical party, while he indorsed ti)e disloyal and oppressive de- mands of Governor Gamble, Gi^neral Schoiield, and their adherents." On the 5th of October President Lincoln made to the representations and requests of the committee the follow- ing reply : — ExEcuTivK Mansion, Wasiiimcton, October 5, 1S63. Hon. Charles Dkake and others, Committee: Gentlemen : — Your original address, presented on the 30th ult., and the four supplementary ones presented on the 3d inst., have been care- fully considered. I hope you will regard the other duties claiming my attention, together with the great length and importance of these docu- ments, as constituting a sufficient apology for not having responded sooner. These papers, framed for a common object, consist of the things de- manded, and the reasons for demanding tlu'Ui. The th'ngs demanded are-^ State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 433 First. That General Schofield shall be relieved, and Ccneral liiitlor bo appointed as Coinniander of the Military Department of Missouri. Second. That the system of enrolled militia in Missouri may be broken np, and National forces be substituted for it'; and Third. That at elections, persons may not be allowed to vote who are not entitled by laAV to do so. Among the reasons given, enough of suffering and wrong to Union men is certainly, and I suppose truly, stated. Yet the whole case, as presented, fails to convince me tbat fieneral Schofi3ld, or the enrolled militia, is responsible for that suffering and wrong. The whole can bo explained on a more charitable, and, as I think, a more rational hy- potliesis. We are in civil war. In such cases there always is a main question; but in this case that question is a perplexing compound — Union and slavery. It thus becomes a question not of two sides merely, but of at least four sides, even among those who are for the Union, saying nothing of those who are against it. Thus, those who are for tlie Union loitli. but not without slavery ; those for it without., but not with; tbose for it with or without, but prefer it with ; and tbose for it with or without, but pre- fer it without. .^mong tliese, again, is a subdivision of those who are for gradual, but not for immediate, and those wlio are for immediate, but not for gradual extinction of slavery. It is easy to conceive that all these shades of opinion, and even more, may be sincerely entertained by honest and truthful men. Yet, all being for the Union, by reason of these differences each will prefer a different way of sustaining the Union. At once, sincerity is (juestioned, and mo- tives are assailed. Actual Avar coming, blood grows hot* and blood is spilled. Thought is forced from old channels into confusion. Deception breeds and thrives. Coniidcnce dies, and universal susiiicion reigns. Each man feels an imi)ulse to kill his neighbor, lest lie be killed by him. Revenge and retaliation follow. And all this, as before said, may bo among honest men only. But this is not all. Every foul bird comes abroad, and every dirty reptile rises up. These add crime to confusion. Strong measures deemed indispensable, but harsh at best, such men make worse by maladministration. Murders for old grudges, and mur- ders for pelf, proceed under any cloak tliat will best serve for the oc- casion. These causes amply account for what has occurred in Missouri, with- out ascribing it to the weakness or wickedness of any general. The newspaper files, those chroniclers of current events, will show that tho evils now complained of were quite as prevalent under Fremont, Hunter, ITalleck, and Curtis, as under Schofield. If the former had greater force opposed to them, they also had greater force with which to meet it. When the organized rebel army left the State, the main Federal force had W) go also, leaving the department commander at home, relatively no 434 The Life, Public Services, a.nu stronger than befcjre. Without disparaging any, I affirm with confidence that no commander of that department has, in proportion to his means, done better than General Schofield. The first specific cliarge against General Schofield is, that the enrolled militia was placed under his command, whereas it had not been placed under the command of General Curtis. The fact is, I believe, true; but you do not point out, nor can I conceive how that did, or could, injure loyal men or the Union cause. You ciiarge that General Curtis being superseded by General Schofield, Franklin A. Dick ^\ as sup-.rseded by Jajies O. Broadl aad as Provost- Marshal General. No very specific showing is made as to how this did or could injure the Union cause. It recalls, however, the condition of things, as presented to me, which led to a change of commander of tliat department. To restrain contraband intelligence and trade, a system of searches, seizures, permits, and ])asses, had been introduced, I think, by General Fremont. Wlien General Ilalleck came, he found and continued the sys- tem, and added an order, applicable to some parts of the State, to levy and collect contributions from noted rebels, to compensate losses, and relieve destitution caused by the rebellion. The action of General Fre- mont and General Ilalleck, as stated, constituted a sort of system which General Curtis found in full operation when he took command of the de- partment. Tliat there was a necessity for something of the sort, was clear ; but that it could only be justified by stern necessity, and that it was liable to great abuse in administration, was equally clear. Agents to execute it, contrary to the great prayer, were led into temptation. Some might, while otliers would not, resist that temptation. It was not possi- ble to hold any to a very strict accountability; and those yielding to the temptation would sell permits and passes to those who would pay most and most readily for them, and would seize property and collect levies in the aptc-st way to fill their own pockets. Money being the object, the man having money, whether loyal or disloyal, would be a victim. This practice doubtless existed to some extent, and it was a real additional evil, tliat it could be, and was plausibly charged to exist in greater extent than it did. When Genertii Curtis took command of the department, Mr. Dick, against whom I ne\er knew any thing to allege, had general charge of this system. A controversy in regard to it rapidly grew into almost unman- ageable jjroportions. One side ignored the necessity and magnified the evils of tiie systijin, while the other ignored the evils and magnified the necessity; and each bitterly assailed the other. I could not fail to see that the controversy enlarged in the same proportion as the professed Union men there distinctly took sides in two opposing political parties. I exhausted my wits, and very nearly my patience also, in efforts to con- vince both that the evils they charged on each other were inherent in the t-ase. and could not be cured by giving either party a victory over the other. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 435 Plainly, the irritating system was not U> bo i)cri)otuul ; and it was plausibly urged that it could be modified at once with advantage. Tiie case could scarcely be worse, and whether it could be nuide l)etter could only be determined by a trial. In this view, and not to ban or brand General Curtis, or to give a victoi-y to any party, I made tlie change of commander for tlie department. 1 now learn that soon after tiiis change Mr. Dick was removed, and that Air. IJroadhead, a gentleman (»f no less good character, was put in tlie |)laee. The mere fact of tliis change is more distinctly complained o*' tl.an is any conduct of the new officer, or otlier consequence of the change. I gave the new commander no instructions as to the administration of the system mentioned, beyond what is contained in the private letter afterwards surreptitiously published, in which I directed him to act solely for the public good, and independently of both parties. Neither any thing you have presented me, nor any thing I have otlierwise learned, lias convinced me that he has been unfaithful to this charge. Imbecility is urged as one cause for removing General Schofield ; and the late massacre at Lawrence, Kansas, is pressed as evidence of tluit im- becility. To my mind that fact scarcely tends to prove the proposition. Tliat massacre is only an example of what Grierson, John Morgan, and many others might have repeatedly done on their respective raids, had they chosen to incur the personal hazard, and possessed the fiendish hearts to do it. The charge is made that General Schofield, on purpose to protect the Lawrence murderers, would not allow them to be pursued into Missouri. While no punishment could be too sudden or too severe for those mur- derers, I am well satisfied that tlie preventing of the threatened remedial raid into Missouri was the only way to avoid an indiscriminate massacre there, including probably more innocent than guilty. Instead of con- denming, I therefore approve what I understand General Schofield did in that respect. The charge that General Schofield has purposely withheld protection from loyal people, and purposely facilitated the objects of tlie disloyal, are altogether beyond my power of belief. I do not arraign the veracity of gentlemen as to the facts complained of, but I do more than question tlie judgment which would infer that these facts occurred in accordance witli the purposes of General Schofield. With my present views, I must decline to remove General Schofield. In this I decide nothing against General Butler. I sincerely wish it were convenient to assign him a suitable command. In order to meet some existing evils, I have addressed a letter of instruction to General Schofield, a copy of which I enclose to you. As to the "Enrolled Militui," I shall endeavor to ascertain, better tliau I now know, what is its exact value. Let me say now, however, that your proposal to substitute National force for the "Enrolled Militia," implies that, in your judgment, the latter is doing something which needs 436 The Life, Public Services, and to be done; and if so, the proposition to throw that force away, and to snpply its place by bringing other forces from the field where they are urgently needed, seems to me very extraordinary. Whence shall they come? Shall they be -withdrawn from Banks, or Grant, or Steele, or Rosecrans ? Few things have been so grateful to my anxious feelings, as when, in June last, the local force in Missouri aided General Schofield to so promptly send a large general force to the relief of General Grant, then investing Vicksburg, and menaced from without by General Johnston. Was this all wrong? Should the Enrolled Militia then have been broken up, and General Heron kept from Grant to police Missouri? So far from finding cause to object, I confess to a sympathy for whatever relieves our general force in Missouri, and allows it to serve elsewhere. I therefore, as at present advised, cannot attempt the destruction of the Enrolled Militia of Missouri. I may add, that the force being under the Nationa' militai-y control, it is also within the proclamation in regard to the habeas corpus. I concur in the propriety of your request in regard to elections, and have, as you see, directed General Schofield accordingly. I do not feel Justified to enter upon the broad field you present in regard to the politi- cal differences between Radicals and Conservatives. From time to time I have done and said what appeared to me proper to do and say. The public knows it well. It obliges nobody to follow me, and I trust it obliges me to follow nobody. The Radicals and Conservatives each agree with me in some things and disagree iu others. I could wish both to agree with me in all things; for then they would agree with each other, and would be too strong for any foe from any quarter. They, however, choose to do otherwise, and I do not question their right. I, too, shall do what seems to be my duty. I hold whoever commands in Missouri or elsewhere responsible to me, and not to either Radicals or Conservatives. It is my duty to hear all ; but, at last, I must, within my sphere, judge what to do and what to forbear. Your obedient servant, A. Lincoln. INSTRUCTIONS TO GENERAL SCHOFIELD. Executive Mansion. Washington, D. C, Ociolier 1, 1S()3. General John M. Schofield : There is no organized military force in avowed opposition to the Gen- eral Government now in Missouri, and if any shall reappear, your duty in regard to it will be too plain to require any special instructioa. Still, the condition oi things, both there and elsewliere, is such as to render it indispensable to maintain, for a time, the United States military estab- lishment in that State, as well as to rely upon it for a fair contribution of support to that establishment generally. Your immediate duty in regard to Missouri now is to advance the etiiciency of that establishment, State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 437 and to so Tiso it, as fur as practicable, to conqicl (lie excited poo])le lliere to let one another alone. Under your recent order, which T have approved, you will onlv arrest individuals, and suppress assemblies or newspapers, when they may be working palpalle injury to the military in your charge; and in no other case will you interfere with the expression of opinion in any form, or allow it to be interfered with violently by others. In this you have a discretion to exercise with great caution, calnmess, and forbearance. With the matter of removing the inhabitants of certain counties eu masse, and of removing certain individuals from time to time, who are supposed to be mischievous, I am not now interfering, but am leaving to your own discretion. Nor am I interfering with what may still seem to you to be necessary restrictions upon trade and intercourse. I think proper, however, to enjoin upon you the following: Allow no part of the military under your command to be engaged in either returning fugitive slaves, or in forcing or enticing slaves from their homes; and, so far as practicable, enforce the same forbearance upon the people. Eeport to me your opinion upon the availability for good of the en- rolled militia of the State. Allow no one to enlist colored troops, except upon orders from you, or from here through you. Allow no one to assume the functions of confiscating property, under the law of Congress, or otherwise, except upon orders from here. At elections see that those, and only those, are allowed to vote, who are entitled to do so by the laws of Missouri, including as of those laws the restrictions laid by the Missouri Convention upon those who may have participated in the rebellion. So far as practicable, you will, by means of your military force, expel guerrillas, marauders, and murderers, and all who are known to harbor, aid, or abet them. But in like manner you will repress assumptions of unauthorized individuals to perform the same service, because under pre- tence of doing this they become marauders and murderers themselves. To now restore peace, let the military obey orders ; and those not of the military leave each other alone, thus not breaking the peace them- selves. In giving the above directions, it is not intended to restrain you in other expedient and necessary matters not falling within their range. Your obedient servant, A. Lincoln. The condition of affairs in this department continued to be greatly disturbed by political agitations, and the per- sonal controversies to which they gave rise ; and after a lapse of some months th'^ President deemed it wise to relieve General Schotield from further command in thi.s department. This was done by an order from the War 438 The Life, Public Services, and Department, dated January 24th, 1864, by whicli, also, General Rosecrans was appointed in his place. In liia order assuming command, dated January 30th, General Rosecrans paid a very high compliment to his predeces- sor, for the admirable order in Avhich he found the business of the d(!partment, and expressed the hope that he might receive "the honest, firm, and united support of all true national and Union men of the Department, without regard to politics, creed, or party, in his endeavors to maintain law and re-establisli peace, and secure pros- perity throughout its limits." Before closing this notice of the perplexities and an- noyances to which the President was subjected by the domestic contentions of Missouri, we may mention, as an illustration of the extent to which they were carried, the case of Rev. Dr. McPheeters, who had been silenced by General Curtis for preaching disloyalty to his congrega- tion in St. Louis. The incident gave rise to a good deal of excitement, which was continued throughout the year. Towards the close of it the President wrote the following letter in reply to an appeal for his interference : — EsEOUTivB Mansion, Washisoton, December 23, 1S63. I have just looked over a petition signed by some three dozen citizens of St. Louis, and their accompanying letters, one by yourself, one by a Mr. Nathan Ranney, and one by a Mr. John D. Coalter, the whole rela- ting to the Rev. Dr. McPheeters. The petition prays, in the name of justice and mercy, that I will restore Dr. McPheeters to all his ecclesias- tical rights. This gives no intimation as to what ecclesiastical rights are withdrawn. Your letter states that Provost-Marshal Dick, about a year ago, ordered the arrest of Dr. McPheeters, pastor of the Vine Street Church, pro- hibited him from officiating, and placed the management of affairs of the church out of the control of the chosen trustees ; and near the close you state that a certain course "would insure his release." Mr. Ranney's letter says: "Dr. Samuel McPheeters is enjoying all the rights of a civil- ian, but cannot preach the Gospel!" Mr. Coalter, in his letter, asks: " Is it not a strange illustration of the condition of tilings, that the ques- tion who shall be allowed to preach in a church in St. Louis shall be de- cided by the President of the United States ?" Now, all this sounds very strangely; and, withal, a little as if you gentlemen, making the application, do not understand the case alike ; State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 439 one affirmiiifi; thtit his doctor is enjoying all the rights of a civilian, ami another pointing ont to me what will secure his re/mse/ On the 2(1 of January last, I wrote to General Curtis in relation to Mr. Dick's order upon Dr. McPheeters ; and, as I suppose the doctor is enjoying all the rights of a civilian, I only quote that part of my \rt\vv which relates to the church. It was as follows : "But I must add that tlic United States Government must not, as hy this order, undertake to run tlie cluirchcs. When an individual, in a church or out of it, hecomes dangerous to the public interest, he must be checked ; but the churches, as such, must take care of themselves. It will not do for the United States to ajjpoint trustees, supervisors, or other agents for the churches." This letter going to General Curtis, then in cnininaiid, I supposed, of course, it was obeyed, especially as I heard no fui-tlier complaint from Doctor Mc. or his friends for nearly an entire year. J have never inter- fered, nor thought of interfering, as to who shall or shall not preach in any church ; nor have I knowingly or believingly tolerated any one else to interfere by my authority. If any one is so interfering by color of my authority, I would like to have it specifically made known to mc. If, after all, what is now sought, is to have me put Doctor Mc. back over the heads of a majority of his own congregation, that, too, will ho declined. I will not have control of any church on any side. A. Lixcoi^. The Presbytery, tlie regular clnircli authority in the matter, subsequently decided that Dr. McPheeters could not return to his pastoral charge. The victories of the Union arras during the summer of 1863— the repulse of the rebels at Gettysburg, the cap- ture of Vicksburg and Port Hudson, and the consequent restoration of the Mississippi to the commerce of the nation— produced the most salutary effect upon the public sentiment of the country. There was a good deal of partisan opposition to specific measures of the Adminis- tration, and in some quarters this took the form of open hostility to the further prosecution of the war. But the spirit and determination of the people were at theii height, and the Union party entered upon the political contests of the autumn of 1863, in the several States, with confidence and courage. The President had been invited by the Republican State Committee of Illinois to attend the State Convention, to 440 TiiE Life, Public Services, and be lield at Springfield on the 3d of September. Finding it impossible to accept the invitation, he wrote in reply the following letter, in which several of the most con- spicuous features of his policy are defended against the censures by which they had been assailed : — Executive Mansion, Washington, Anrjuat 26, 1863. Plon. James C. Conkling : My Dear Sir : — Your letter inviting me to attend a mass meeting of nnconditional Union men, to be held at the capital of Illinois, on the 3d day of September, has been received. It would be very agreeable for mo thus to meet my old friends at my own home ; but I cannot just now be absent from here so long as a visit there would require. The meeting is to be of all those who maintain unconditional devotion to the Union; and I am sure that my old political friends will thank mo for tendering, as I do, the nation's gratitude to those other noble men whom no partisan malice or partisan hope can make false to the nation's life. There are those who are dissatisfied with me. To such I would say : You desire peace, and you blame me that we do not have it. But how can we attain it? There are but three conceivable ways: First — to sup- press the rebellion by force of arms. This I am trying to do. Are you for it? If you are, so far we are agreed. If you are not for it, a secorul way is to give up the Union. I am against this. Are you for it? If you are, you should say so plainly. If you are not iovforce^ nor yet for dk- solutioi, there only remains some imaginable compromise. I do not believe that any compromise embracing the maintenance of the Union is now possible. All that I learn leads to a directly oi)positG belief. The strength of the rebellion is its military, its array. That army dominates all the country, and all the people, within its range. Any offer of terms made by any man or men within that range, in opposition to that army, is simply nothing for the present ; because such man or men have no power whatever to enforce their side of a compromise, if one were made with them. To illustrate : Suppose refugees from the South and peace men of tlie North get together in convention, and frame and proclaim a compromise embracing a restoration of the Union. In what way can that compro- mise be used to keep Lee's army out of Pennsylvania? Meade's army can keep Lee's army out of Pennsylvania, and, I think, can ultimately drive it out of existence. But no paper compromise to which the con- trollers of Lee's army are not agreed can at all affect that army. In an effort at sucli compromise we would waste time, which the enemy would improve to our disadvantage; and that would be all. A compromise, to be effective, must be made either with those who control the rebel army, or with the people, first liberated from the dorai- State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 441 nation of tli;it army by the success of our own army. Now, allow mc to assure you thut no word or intimation from that rebel army, or from any of the men controlling it, in relation to any peace compr(>niise, has ever come to my knowledge" or heliof. All charges and insinuations to the contrary are deceptive and groundless. And I ])romise you that if any such proposition shall hereafter come, it shall not be rejected and kei)t a secret from you. I freely acknowledge myself to be the servant of the people, according to the bond of service, the United States Constitution ; and that, as such, I am responsible to them. But, to be plain. You are dissatisfied with me about the negro. Quite likely there is a difterence of opinion between you and myself upon that subject. I certainly wish that all men could be free, Avhile you, 1 suppose, do not. Yet, I have neither adopted nor proposed any measure which is not consistent with even your view, provided that you are for the Uiuon. I suggested compensated emancipation; to which you re- plied you wished not be taxed to buy negroes. But I had not asked you to be taxed to buy negroes, except in such way as to save you from greatei- taxation to save the Union exclusively by other means. You dislike the Emancipation Proclamation, and perhaps would have it retracted. You say it is unconstitutional. I think differently. I think the Constitution invests its Commander-in-Chief with the law of war in time of war. The most that can be said, if so much, is, that slaves are property. Is there, has there ever been, any question that by the law of war, property, both of enemies and friends, may be taken when needed ? And is it not needed whenever it helps us and hurts the enemy ? Armies, the world over, destroy enemies' property when they cann.«t use it; and even destroy their own to keep it from the enemy. Civilized belligerents do all in their power to help themselves or hurt the enemy, except a few things regarded as barbarous or cruel. Among the exceptions are the massacre of vanquished foes and non-combatants, male and female. But the Proclamation, as law, either is valid or is not valid. If it is not valid it needs no retraction. If it is valid it cannot be retracted, any more than the dead can be brought to life. Some of you profess to think its retraction would operate favorably for the Union. Why better after the retraction than hefore the issue ? There was more than a year and a half of trial to suppress the rebellion before the Proclamation was issued, the last one hundred days of which passed under an exphcit notice that it was coming, unless averted by those in revolt returning to their allegiance. The war has certainly progressed as favorably for us since the issue of the Proclamation as before. I know, as fully as one can know the opinions of others, that some of the commanders of our armies in the field, who have given us our most important victories, believe the Emancipation policy and the use of colored troops constitute the heaviest blows yet dealt to the rebellion, and that at least one of those important successes could not have beer, achieved when it was but for the aid of black soldiers. 442 The Life, Public Services, and Among the coramanders who hold these views arc yome wlio have never had any affinity with what is called "Abolitionism," or with "Republican party politics," bvit who hold them purely as military Opinions. I submit their opinions as entitled to some weight against the objections often urged that emancipation and arming the blacks are unwise as military mea&^ures, and were not adopted as such in good faith. You say that you will not fight to free negroes. Some of them seem willing to fight for you ; but no matter. Fight you, then, exclusively, to save the Union. I issued the Proclamation on purpose to aid you in saving the Union. Whenever you shall have conquered all resistance to the Union, if I shall urge you to continue fighting, it will be an a])t time then for you to declare you will not fight to free negroes. I thought that in your struggle for the Union, to whatever extent the negroes should cease heli)ing the enemy, to that extent it weakened the enemy in his re- sistance to you. Do you think differently? I thought that whatever negroes can be got to do as soldiers, leaves just so much less for white soldiers to do in saving the Union. Does it appear otherwise to you? But negroes, like other people, act upon motives. Why should they do any thing for us if we will do nothing for them ? If they stake their lives for us tliey must be prompted by the strongest motive, even the promise of freedom. And the promise, being made, must be kept. The signs look better. The Father of Waters again goes unvexcd to the sea. Thanks to the great Northwest for it; nor yet wholly to tliem. Three hundred miles up they met ISTew -England, Empire, Keystone, and Jersey, hewing their way right and left. The sunny South, too, in more colors than one, also lent a helping hand. On the spot, their part of the history was jotted down in black and white. The job was a great national one, and let none be slighted who bore an honorable part in it. And while those who have cleared the great river may well be proud, even that is not all. It is hard to say that any thing has been more bravely and well done than at Antietam, Murfreesboro', Gettysburg, and on many fields of less note. Nor must Uncle Sam's web feet be forgotten. At aU the watery margins they have been present, not only on the deep sea, the broad bay, and the rapid river, but also up the narrow, muddy bayou, and wherever the ground was a little damp, they have b^en and made their tracks. Thanks to all. For the great Republic — for the principle it lives by and keeps alive — for man's vast future — thanks to all. Peace does not appear so distant as it did. I hope it will come soon, and come to stay; and so come as to be worth the keeping in all future time. It will then have been proved that among freemen there can be no successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet, and that they who take such appeal are sure to lose their case and pay the cost. And there will be some black men who can remember that with silent tongue, and clinched teeth, and steady eye, and well-poised bayonet, they have helped mankind on to this great consummation, wliilo I fear there will State Papers of AiuiaiiaiM Lincolx. 443 be some white ones unable to forget tluit with malijiiiiint licirt ciiul de- ceitful speech they have striven to hinder it. Still, let us not he over-sanguine of a speedy, final triunnph. Let us be quite sober. Let us diligently apply the means, never doubting that a just God, in Ilis own good time, will give us the rightful result. Yours, very truly, A. LI^•coLN. The result of the canvass justified the confidence of the friends of tlie Administration. Every State in whicli elec- tions were held, with the single exception of New Jersey, voted to sustain the Government ; and in all the largest and most important States the majorities were so large as to make the result of more than ordinary significance. In Ohio, Vallandigham, who had been put in nomination mainly on account of the issue he had made with the Government in the matter of his arrest, was defeated by a majority of nearly one hundred thousand. New York, which had elected Governor Seymour the year before, and had been still further distinguished and disgraced by the anti-draft riots of July, gave a majority of not far from thirty thousand for the Administration ; and Pennsyl- vania, in spite of the personal participation of General McClellan in the canvass against him, re-elected Governor Curtin by about the same majority. These results fol- lowed a very active and earnest canvass, in which the opponents of the Administration put forth their most vigorous efforts for its defeat. The ground taken by its friends in every State was that which had been held by the President from the beginning — that the rebellion must be suppressed and the Union preserved, at whatever cost — that this could only be done by force, and that it was not only the right, but the duty, of the Government to use all the means at its command, not incompatible with the laws of war and the usages of civilized nations, for the accomplishment of this result. They vindicated the action of the Government in the matter of arbitrary arrests, and sustained throughout the canvass, in every State, the policy of the President in regard to slavery and in issuing the Proclamation of Emanci])ation as a military measure, against the vehement and earnest efforts of the Opposition 444 The Liii:, Public Services, and The result was, therefore, justly claimed as a decided verdict of the peo])le iii sujjport of the Government. It was so regarded by all parties throughout the country, and its effect upon their action "was of marked imjiortance. While it gave renewed vigor and courage to the friends of the Administration everywhere, it developed the divi- sion of sentiment in the ranks of the Opposition, which, in its incipient stages, had largely contributed to theii- defeat. The majority of that party were inclined to acquiesce in the deliberate judgment of the country, that the rebellion could be subdued only by successful war, and to sustain the Government in whatever measures might be deemed necessary for its effectual prosecution :— but the resolute resistance of some of its more conspicuous leaders withheld them from open action in this direc- tion. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 445 CHAPTER XV. THE CONGRESS OF 18G3-4.— MESSAGE OF THE TRESIDENT.— ACTION OF THE SESSION.— PROGRESS IN RAISING TROOPS. The Peesidext's Message. — The Proclamation' of Amnesty.— Explan- atory Proclamation. — Debate on Slavery. — Call for Troops. — General Blair's Resignation. — Diplomatic Correspondence. — Our Relations with England. — France axd Mexico. — The President AND the Monroe Doctrine. Congress met on Monday, December 7, 1863. The House of Representatives was promptly organized by the election of Hon. Scliiiyler Colfax, a Republican from In- diana, to be Speaker — he receiving one hundred and one votes out of one hundred and eiglity-one, the whole num- ber cast. Mr. Cox, of Ohio, was the leading candidate of the Democratic opposition, but he received only fifty- one votes, the remaining twenty-nine being divided among several Democratic members. In the Senate, the Sena- tors from West Virginia were admitted to their seats by a vote of thirty-six to five. On the 9th, the President transmitted to both Houses the following Message : — Felloio- Citizens of the Senate and Home of Representatives : Another year of health and of sufficiently abundant harvests has passed. For these, and especially for the improved condition of our na tional affairs, our renewed and profoundest gratitude to God is due. We remain in peace and friendship with foreign Powers. The efforts of dis- loyal citizens of the United States to involve us in foreign wars to aid an inexcusable insurrection have been unavailing. Her Britannic Majesty's Government, as was justly expected, have exercised their authority to prevent the departure of new hostile expeditions from British ports. The Emperor of France has, by a like proceeding, promptly vindicated the neutrality which he proclaimed at the beginning of the contest. Questions of great intricacy and importance have arisen out of the blockade, and other belligerent operations, between the Government and several of the maritime Powers, but they have been discussed, and. its 446 The Life, Puelic Services, and far as was possible, ucconniKKlatcd in a spirit of frankness, justice, and mutual good-will. It is especially gratifying that our prize courts, by the impartiality of their adjudications, have commanded the respect and confidence of mari- time Powers. Tiie supplemental treaty between the United States and Great Britain for the suppression of the African slave-trade, made on the 17th day of February last, has been duly ratified and carried into execution. It is believed that so far as American ports and American citizens nre con cerned, that iiJiuman and od.ous traifiiG has been biought ;.o an eiid. I have thought it proper, subject to the approval of the Senate, to concur with the interested commercial Powers, in an arrangement for the liquidation of the Scheldt dues, upon the principles which have been heretofore adopted in regard to the imposts upon navigation in the waters of Denmark. The long-pending controversy between this Government and that of Chili, touching the seizure at Sitana, in Peru, by Chilian officers, of a large amount in treasure, belonging to citizens of the United States, has been brought to a close by the award of His Majesty the King of the Belgians, to whose arbitration the question was referred by the parties. Tlie subject was thoroughly and patiently examined by that justly i-espected magistrate, and altliough the sum awarded to the claimants may not have been as large as they expected, there is no reason to dis- trust tlie wisdom of His Majesty's decision. That decision was promptly complied with by Chili when intelligence in regard to it reached that country. The Joint Commission, under the act of the last session for carrying into effect the Convention with Peru on the subject of claims, has been organized at Lima, and is engaged in the business intrusted to it. Difficulties concerning interoceanic transit through Nicaragua are in course of amicable adjustment. In conformity with i)rinciples set forth in my last Annual Message, I have received a representative from the United States of Colombia, and have accredited a Minister to that Republic. Incidents occurring in the progress of our civil war have forced upon my attention the uncertain state of international questions touching the rights of foreigners in this country and of United States citizens abroad. In regard to some Governments, these rights are at least partially de- fined by treaties. In no instance, however, is it expressly stipulated that in the event of civil war a foreigner residing in this country, within the lines of the insurgents, is to be exempted from the rule which classes him as a belligerent, in whose behalf the Government of his country can- not expect any privileges or immunities distinct from that character. I regret to say, however, that such claims have been put forward, and, in some instances, in behalf of foreigners who have lived in the United States the greater part of their lives. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 447 There is reason to believe that many persons horn in lorei[i;n e(niiitries, who liave declared their intention to become citizens, or who liavc been fully naturalized, have evaded the military duty required of tliein by denving the fact, and thereby throwinj^ upon tlio Government the burden of i)r()()f. It has been found dillicult or impractictible to obtain this* proof, from the want of guides to the proper sources of information. These might be su[)plied by requiring clerks of courts, vi'here declarations of intention may be made, or Tiaturalizations elFected, to send periodically lists of tiie names of the persons naturalizeil, or declaring their intention to become citizens, to t!ie Secretary of the Interior, .n whose depart- ment those names might be arranged and ])rinted for general information. There is also reason to believe that foreigners frequently become citizens of the United iStates for the sole purpose of evading duties imi)osed by the laws of their native countries, to which, on becoming naturalized here, they at once repair, and though never returning to the United States, they still claim the interposition of this Government as citizens. Many altercations and great prejudices have heretofore arisen out of this abuse. It is, therefore, submitted to your serious consideration. It might be advisable to fix a limit beyond which no citizen of the United States residing abroad may claim the interposition of his Government. The riglit of suffrage has often been assumed and exercised by aliens under pretences of naturalization, which they have disavowed when drafted into the military service. Satisfactory arrangements have been made with the Emperor of Rus- sia, which, it is believed, will result in effecting a continuous line of tele- graph through that empire from our Pacific coast. I recommend to your favorable consideration the subject of an inter- national telegraph across the Atlantic Ocean, and also of a telegraph be- tween this capital and the national forts along the Atlantic seaboard and the Gulf of Mexico. Such communications, established with any rea- sonable outlay, would be economical as well as elfective aids to the diplo- matic, military, and naval service. The Consular system of the United States, under the enactments of tlie last Congress, begins to be self-sustaining, and there is reason to hope tliat it may become entirely so with the increase of trade, which will ensue whenever i)eace is restored. Our Ministers abroad have been faithful in defending American rights. In protecting commercial interests, our Consuls have necessarily had to encounter increased labors and responsibilities growing out of the war. These they have, for the most part, met and discharged with zeal and efficiency. This acknowledgment justly includes those Consuls who, residing in Morocco, Egypt, Turkey, Japan, China, and other Oriental countries, are charged with complex functions and extraordinary powers. The condition of the several organized Territories is generally satisfac- tory, although Indian disturbances in New Mexico have not been entirely suppressed. 448 The Life. Public Services, and Tlie mineral resources of Colorado, Nevada, Idaho, New Mexico, and Arizona, are proving far richer than has been heretofore understood. T lay before you a communication on this subject from the Governor ot New Mexico. I again submit to your consideration the expediency uf establisliing a system for the encouragement of emigration. Although this source of national wealth and strength is again flowing with greater freedom than for several years before the insurrection occurred, there is still a great deficiency of laborers in every field of industry, especially in agriculture and in our mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals. While the demand for labor is thus increased here, tens of thousands of i)ersons, destitute of remunerative occupation, are throng- ing our foreign consulates, and oflFering to emigrate to the United States, if essential, but very cheap, assistance can be afl:orded them. It is easy to see that under the sharp discipline of civil war the nation is beginning a new life. This noble effort demands the aid, and ought to receive the attention and sui)port, of the Government. Injuries unforeseen by the Government, and unintended, may in some cases have been inflicted on the subjects or citizens of foreign countries, both at sea and on land, by persons in the service of the United States. As this Government expects redress from other Powers when similar injuries are inflicted by persons in their service upon citizens of the United States, we must be prepared to do justice to foreigners. If the existing judicial tribunals are inadequate to this purpose, a special court may be authorized, with power to hear and decide such claims of the character referred to as may have arisen under treaties and the public law. Conventions for adjusting the claims by joint commission have been proposed to some Governments, but no definite answer to the prop- osition has yet been received from any. In the course of the session I shall probably have occasion to request you to provide indemnification to claimants where decrees of restitution have been rendered, and damages awarded by Admiralty Courts ; and in other cases, where this Government may be acknowledged to be liable in principle, and where the amount of that liability has been ascertained by an informal arbitration, the proper oflScers of the Treasury have deemed themselves required by the law of the United States upon the subject, to demand a tax upon the incomes of foreign Consuls in this country. While such a demand may not, in strictness, be in derogation of public law, or perhaps of any existing treaty between the United States and a foreign country, the expediency of so far modifying the act as to exempt from tax the income of such Consuls as are not citizens of the United States, derived from tlie emoluments of their office, or from property not situate .n the United States, is submitted to your serious consideration. I make this suggestion upon the ground that a comity which ought to be recip- rocated exempts our Consuls in all other countries from taxation to the extent thus indicated. The United States, I think, ought not to be ex- ceptionally illiberal to international trade and conimerce. Stati<] Papers of Abhaiiam Lincoln. 449 The operation.s of the Treasury duriiif:^ tlie last year liave been success- fully conducted. The enactment by Congress of a National Hanking Law has proved a valuable support of the public credit, and tiie general legislation in relation to loans has fully answered the expectation of it." favorers. Some amendments may be required to perfect existing laws, but no change in their principles or general scope is believed to be needed. Since these measures have been in operation, all demands on the Treas- ury, including the pay of the army and navy, have been promptly met and fully satisfied. No considerable body of troops, it is believed, were ever more amply provided and more liberally and punctually paid; and, it may be added, that by no people were the burdens incident to a great war more cheerfully borne. The receipts during the year, from all sources, including loans and the balance in the Treasury at its commencement, were $!)()!, 125,074 86, and the aggregate disbursements $895,790,030 05, leaving a balance on the 1st of July, 1803, of $5,329,0-44: 21. Of the receipts, there were derived from customs $09,059,642 40; from internal revenue, $37,640,787 95, from direct tax, $1,485,103 61; from lands, $107,017 17; from miscel- laneous sources, $3,046,615 35; and from loans, $776,682,301 57: making the aggregate $901,125,674 86. Of the disbursements, there were for the civil sei-vice $23,253,922 08; for pensions and Indians, $4,216,520 79; for interest on public debt, $24,729,846 51 ; for the War Department, $599,- 298,600 83; for the Navy Department, $03,211,105 27 ; for payment of funded and temporary debt, $181,086,635 07 : making the aggregate $895,- 790,630 05, and leaving the balance of $5,329,044 21. But the payment of the funded and temporary debt, having been made from moneys borrowed during the year, must be regarded as merely nom- inal payments, and the moneys borrowed to make tliem as merely nomi- nal receipts; and their amount, $181,080,535 07, should therefore be deducted both from receipts and disbursements. This being done, there remains, as actual receipts, $720,039,039 79, and the actual disbursements $714,709,995 58, leaving the balance as already stated. The actual receipts and disbursements for the first quarter, and the esti- mated receipts and disbursements for the remaining tliree quarters of the current fiscal year, 1804, will be shown in detail by the report of the Sec- retary of the Treasury, to which I invite your attention. It is sufficient to say here, that it is not believed that actual results will exhibit a state of the finances less favorable to the country than the esti- mates of that officer heretofore submitted, while it is confidently expected that, at the close of the year, both disbursements and debt will be found very considerably less than has been anticij)ated. The report of the Secretary of War is a document of great interest. It consists of — First. — The military operations of the year detailed in the report of the General-in-Chief. Second. — The organization of colored persons into the war service. 29 450 The Life, Public Services, and Third. — The exchange of prisoners, fully set forth in the letter of Gen- eral Hitchcock. Fourth. — The operations under the act for enrolling and calling out the national forces, detailed in the report of the Provost-Marshal General. Fifth. — The organization of the Invalid Corps. And— Sixth. — The operations of the several departments of the Qnurtermaster- General, Commissary-General, Paymaster-General, Chief of Engineers, Chief of Ordnance, and Surgeon-General. It has appeared impossible to make a valuable summary of this report, except such as would be too ex- tended for this place, and hence I content myself by asking your careful attention to the report itself. The duties devolving on the naval branch of the service during the year, and throughout the v/hole of this unhappy contest, have been discharged with fidelity and eminent success. The ex- tensive blockade has been constantly increasing in efficiency, as the navy has expanded, yet on so long a line it has, so far, been impossible entirely to suppress illicit trade. From returns received at the Navy Department, it appears that more than one thousand vessels have been captured since the blockade was instituted, and that the value of prizes already sent in for adjudication amount to over thirten millions of dollars. The naval force of the United States consists at this time of live hundred and eighty-eight vessels completed and in the course of completion, and of these seventy-five are iron-clad or armored steamers. The events of the war give an increased interest and importance to the navy, which will probably extend beyond the war itself. The armored vessels in our navy completed and in service, or which are under contract and approaching completion, are believed to exceed in number those of any other Power ; but while these may be relied upon for harbor defence and coast sei-vice, others of greater strength and capacity will be necessary for cruising pur- poses, and to maintain our rightful position on the ocean. The change that has taken place in naval vessels and naval warfare since the introduction of steam as a motive power for ships of war, demands either a corresponding change in some of our existing navy-yards, or the establishment of new ones, for the construction and necessary repair of modern naval vessels. No inconsiderable embarrassment, delay, 'and pub- lic injury, have been experienced from the want of such governmental establishments. The necessity of such a navy-yard, so furnished, at some suitable place upon the Atlantic seaboard, has, on repeated occasions, been brought to the attention of Congress by the Navy Department, and is again presented in the report of the Secretary, which accompanies this communication. I think it my duty to invite your special attention to this subject, and also to that of establishing a yard and depot for naval purposes upon one of the Western rivers. A naval force has been created on these irterior waters, and under many disadvantages, witliin a little more than two years, exceeding in number the whole naval force of the country at trie commencement of the present Administration. Satisfactory and important State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 451 as have been tlie performances of the heroic men of the navy ut this in- teresting period, they are scarcely more wonderful than tiie success of our mechanics and artisans in the production of war-vessels, wliicii has created a new form of naval power. Our country has advantages superior to any other nation in our resources of iron and timber, with inexhaustible quantities of fuel in the immediate vicinity of both, and all available and in close proximity to navigable waters. Without the advantage of public works, the resources of the nation have been developed, and its power displayed, in the constructioa of a navy of such magnitude, which has at the very period of its creation rendered signal service to the Union. The increase of the number of seamen in the public service from seven thousand five hundred men in the spring of 1801, to about thirty-four thousand at the present time, has been accomplished without special legis- lation or extraordinary bounties to promote that increase. It has been found, however, that the operation of the draft, with the high bounties paid for army recruits, is beginning to affect injuriously the naval service, and will, if not corrected, be likely to impair its efficiency by detaching seamen from their proper vocation, and inducing them to enter the army. I therefore respectfully suggest that Congress might aid both the army and naval service by a definite provision on this subject, which would at the same time be equitable to the communities more especially interested. I commend to your consideration the suggestions of the Secretary of the Navy, in regard to the policy of fostering and training seamen, and also the education of officers and engineers for the naval service. The Naval Academy is rendering signal service in preparing midshipmen for the highly responsible duties which in after-life they Avill be required to per- form. In order that the country should not be deprived of the proper quota of educated officers, for which legal provision has been made at the naval school, the vacancies caused by the neglect or omission to make nominations from the States in insurrection, have been filled by the Secre- tary of the Navy. The school is now more full and complete tlian at any former period, and in every respect entitled to the favorable consideration of Congress. During the last fiscal year the financial condition of the Post-Office De- partment has been one of increasing prosperity, and lam gratified in being able to state that the actual postal revenue has nearly equalled the entire expenditures, the latter amounting to $11,314,206 84, and the former to $11,163,789 59, leaving a deficiency of but $150,417 25. In 18G0, the year immediately preceding the rebellion, the deficiency amounted to $5,656,705 49, the postal receipts for that year being $2,647,225 19 less than those of 1863. The decrease since 1860 in the annual amount of transportation has been only about 25 per cent. ; but the annual expendi- ture on account of the same has been reduced 35 per cent. It is manifest, therefore, that the Post-Office Department may become self-sustaining iu a few years, even with the restoration of the whole service. 452 The Life, Public Services, and The international conference of postal delegates from the principal countries of Europe and America, which was called at the suggestion of the Postmaster-General, met at Paris on the 11th of May last, and con- cluded its deliberations on tlie 8th of June. The principles established by the conference as best adapted to facilitate postal intercourse between nations, and as the basis of future postal conventions, inaugurates a gen- eral system of uniform international charges at reduced rates of postage, and cannot fail to produce beneficial results. I refer you to the Report of the Secretary of the Interior, wliich is herewith laid before you, for useful and varied information in rehition to Public Lands, Indian Affairs, Patents, Pensions, and other nuitters of the public concern pertaining to his department. The quantity of land disposed of during the last and the first quarter of the present fiscal year was three million eight hundred and forty- one thousand five hundred and forty-nine acres, of Avhich one hundred and sixty-one thousand nine hundred and eleven acres were sold for cash. One million four hundred and fifty-six thousand five hundred and four- teen acres were taken up under the Homestead Law, and the residue dis- posed of under laws granting lands for military bounties, for railroad and other purposes. It also appears that the sale of public lands is largely on the increase. It has long been a cherished opinion of some of our wisest statesmen! that the people of the United States had a higher and more enduring in- terest in the early settlement and substantial cultivation of the public lands than in the amount of direct revenue to be derived from the sale of thera. This opinion has had a controlling influence in shaping legislation upon the subject of our national domain. I may cite, as evidence of this, the liberal measures adopted in reference to actual settlers, tlie grant to the States of the overflowed lands Avithin their limits, in order to their being reclaimed and rendered fit for cultivation, the grants to railway companies of alternate sections of land upon the contemplated lines of their roads, which, when completed, will so largely multiply the fiicilities for reaching our distant possessions. This policy has received its most signal and beneficent illustration in the recent enactment granting home- steads to actual settlers. Since the first day of January last, the before- mentioned quantity of one million four hundred and fifty-six thousand five hundred and fourteen acres of land have been taken up under its pro- visions. This fact, and the amount of sale.% furnish gratifying evidence of mcreasing settlement upon the public lands, notwithstanding the great struggle in which the energies of the nation have been engaged, and which has required so large a witlidrawal of our citizens from their accustomed pursuits. I cordially concur in the recommendation of tlie Secretary of the Interior, suggesting a modification of the act in favor of those engaged in the military and naval service of the United States. I doubt not that Congress will cheerfully adopt such measures as will, without essentially changing the general features of the system, secure to State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 453 the greatest practical extent its benefits to those who have left their homes in defence of the country in this arduous crisis. I invite your attention to the views of the Secretary as to the propriety of raising, by appropriate legislation, a revenue from the mineral lands of the United States. The measures provided at your last session for the removal of certain Indian tribes have been carried into effect. Sundry treaties have been negotiated, which will, in due time, be submitted for the constitutional action of the Senate. They contain stipulations for ex- tinguishing the possessory rights of the Indians to large and valuable tracts of lands. It is hoped tliat the effect of these treaties will result in the establishment of permanent friendly relations with such of these tribes as have been brought into frequent and bloody collision with our outlying settlements and emigrants. Sound policy, and our imperative duty to these wards of the Government, demand our anxious and con- stant attention to their material well-being, to their progress in the arts of civihzation, and, above all, to that moral training which, under the blessing of Divine Providence, will confer upon them the elevated and sanctifying influences, the hopes and consolations of the Christian faith. I suggested in my last Annual Message the i)ropriety of remodelling our Indian system. Subsequent events have satistied me of its necessity. The details set forth in the report of the Secretary evince the urgent need for immediate legislative action. I commend the benevolent institutions, established or patronized by the Government in this District, to your generous and fostering care. The attention of Congress, during the last session, was engaged to some extent with a proposition for enlarging the water communication between the Mississippi River and the northeastern seaboard, which proposition, however, failed for the time. Since then, upon a call of the greatest respectability, a convention has been held at Chicago upon the same sub- ject, a summary of whose views is contained in a Memorial Address to the President and Congress, and which I now have the honor to lay before you. That the interest is one Avhich will ere long force its own way I do not entertain a doubt, while it is submitted entirely to your wisdom as to what can be done now. Augmented interest is given to this subject by the actual commencement of work upon the Pacific Rail- road, under auspices so favorable to rapid progress and completion. The enlarged navigation becomes a palpable need to the great road. I transmit the second annual rei)ort of the Commissioners of the De partment of Agriculture, asking your attention to the developments in that vital interest of the nation. When Congress assembled a year ago, the war had already lasted nearly twenty months, and there had been many conflicts on both land and sea, with varying results; the rebellion had been pressed back into reduced limits; yet the tone of public feeling and opinion, at home and abroad, was not satisfactory. With other signs, the popuhir el-.'itions then just p.ast indicated uneasiness among ourselves, while, .'uiiid much that was 454 The Life, Public Services, and cold and menacing, the kindest words coming from Europe were utterea in accents of pity that we were too blind to surrender a liopeless cause. Our commerce was suffering greatly by a few vessels built upon and furnislied from foreign shores, and we were threatened with such addi- tions from the same (juarters as would sweep our trade from the seas and raise our blockade. We hud failed to elicit from European Governments any thing hopeful upon tliis subject. The preliminary Emancipation Proclamation issued in September was running its assigned period to the beginning of the new year. A month later, the tinal proclamation came, including the announcement that colored men of suitable condition would be received in the war service. The policy of emancipation and of employing black soldiers gave to the future a new aspect, about which hope and fear and doubt contended in uncertain conflict. According to our political system, as a matter of civil administration, the Government had no lawful power to effect emancipa- tion in any State, and for a long time it had been hoped that the rebel- lion could be suppressed without resorting to it as a military measure. It was all the while deemed possible that the necessity for it might come, and that if it should, the crisis of the contest would then be presented. It came, and, as was anticipated, was followed by dark and doubtful days. Eleven months having now passed, we are permitted to take another review. The rebel borders are pressed still further back, and by the complete opening of the Mississippi, the country dominated by the rebel- lion is divided into distinct parts, with no practical communication be- tween them. Tennessee and Arkansas have been substantially cleared of insurgent control, and influential citizens in each — owners of slaves and advocates of slavery at the beginning of the rebellion — now declare openly for emancipation in their respective States. Of those States not included in the Emancipation Proclamation, Maryland and Missouri, neither of which three years ago would tolerate any restraint upon the extension of slavery into new Territories, only dispute now as to the best mode of removing it within their own limits. Of those who were slaves at the beginning of the rebellion, full one hundred thousand are now in the United States military service, about one-half of which number actually bear arms in the ranks— thus giving the double advantage of taking so much labor from the insurgent cause and sujjplying the places which otherwise must be filled with so many white men. So far as tested, it is difficult to say they are not as good soldiers as any. No servile insurrection or tendency to violence or cruel- ty has marked the measures of emancipation and arming the blacks. These measures have been much discussed in foreign countries, and, contemporary with such discussion, the tone of public sentiment there is much improved. At home tlie same measures have been fully discussed, supported, criticised, and denounced, and the annual eleciions following are highly encouraging to those whose official dut\ it is to bear the country through this great State Papers of Aduaiiam Lincoln. 455 trial. Thus Ave have the new reckoning. The crisis which thrcatcnc(II to divide tlic friends of the Union is past. Looking now to the present and future, and with reference to a re- sunii)ti()n of the National authority in the States wherein that authority has been suspended, I have thought fit to issue a prochimation — a copy of which is herewith transmitted. On examination of this proclamation, it will appear, as is believed, that nothing is attempted beyond what is amply justified by the Constitution. True, the form of an oath is given, but no man is coerced to take it. The man is only promised a pardon in case he voluntarily takes the oath. The Constitution authorizes the Executive to grant or withdraw the pardon at his own absolute discretion, and this includes the power to grant on terms, as is fully established by judicial and other authorities. It is also proftered that if in any of the States named a State Government shall be in the mode prescribed set up, such govern- ment shall be recognized and guaranteed by the United States, and that under it the State shall, on the constitutional conditions, be protected against invasion and domestic violence. The constitutional obligation of the United States to guarantee to every State in the Union a republican form of government, and to protect the State in the cases stated, is explicit and full. But why tender the benefits of this provision only to a State Government set up in this particular way? This section of the Constitution contemplates a case wherein the element within a State favorable to republican government in the Union may be too feeble for an opposite and hostile element external to or even within the State, and such are precisely the cases with which we are now dealing. An attempt to guarantee and protect a revived State Government, constructed in whole or in preponderating part from the vei-y element against whose hostility and violence it is to be protected, is simply absurd. There must be a test by which to separate the opposing elements, so as to build only from the sound ; and that test is a sufficiently liberal one which accepts as sound whoever w:ll make a sworn recantation of his former unsoundness. But if it be proper to require, as a test of admission to the political body, an oath of allegiance to the Constitution of the United States and to the Union under it, why also to the laws and proclamations in regard to slavery ? Those laws and proclamations were enacted and put forth for the pur- pose of aiding in the suppression of the rebellion. To give them their fullest eflFect there had to be a pledge for their maintenance. In my judg- ment they have aided and will further aid the cause for which they were intended. To now abandon them would be not only to relinquish a lever of power, bitt wottld also be a cruel and an astounding breach of faitli. I may add, at this point, that while I remain in my present position, I shall not attempt to retract or modify the Emancipation Proclamation, nor 456 The Life, Public Services, and sbiill I return to slavery any person who is free by the terms of that proc- lauiati'jii, or by any of tlie acth of Congress. For these and other reasons, it is thought best that sui)port of these measures sliall be included in the oath, and it is believed that the Exec- utive may lawfully claim it in return for pardon and restoration of for- feited rights, which he has a clear constitutional power to withhold al- together or grant upon the terms which he shall deem wisest for the public interest. It should be observed, also, that this part of the oath is subject to the modifying and abrogating jjower of legislation and supreme judicial decision. The proposed acquiescence of the National Executive in any reasonable temporary State arrangement for tlie freed people, is made with the view of possibly modifying the confusion and destitution which must at best attend all classes by a total revolution of labor throughout whole States. It is hoped that the already deeply afflicted people in those States may be somewhat more ready to give up the cause of their affliction, if, to this extent, this vital matter be left to themselves, while no power of the Na- tional Executive to prevent an abuse is abridged by the proposition. The suggestion in the proclamation as to maintaining the political frame- work of the States on what is called reconstruction, is made in the hope that it may do good, without danger of harm. It will save labor, and avoid great confusion. But why any proclamation now upon this subject? This question is beset with the conflicting views that the step might be delayed too long, or be taken too soon. In some States the elements for resumption seem ready for action, but remain inactive, apparently for want of a rallying-point — a pl.ui of action. Why shall A adopt the plan of B, rather than B that of A? And if A and B should agree, how can they know but that the General Government here will reject their plan? By the proclamation a plan is presented which may be accepted by them as a rallying point — and which they are assured in advance will not be reject- ed here. This may bring them to act sooner than they otherwise would. The objection to a premature presentation of a plan by the National Executive consists in the danger of committals on points whicli could be more safely left to further developments. Care has been taken to so shape the document as to avoid embarrassments from this source. Saying that on certain terms certain classes will be pardoned with rights restored, it is not said that other classes or other terms will never be included. Saying that reconstruction will be accepted if presented in a specified way, it is not said it will never be accepted in any other way. The move- ments by State action for emancipation in several of the States not inclu- ded in the Emancipation Proclamation are matters of profound gratnlation. And while I do not repeat in detail what I have lieretofore so earnestly urged upon this subject, my general views and feelings remain unclianged; and I trust that Congress will omit no fair opportunity of aiding these im- portant ste[)s to the great consummation. In the midst of other cares, however iin[)ortant, we must not lose sight State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 457 of the fact tliat the war power is still our main reliance. To that power alone can we look, for a time, to give confidence to the people in the con- tested regions, that the insurgent power will not again overrun them. Until that confidence shall be established, little can bo done anywhere for what is called reconstruction. PTence our chiefest care must still be di- rected to the army and navy, who have thus far borne their harder part so nobly and well. And it may bo esteemed fortunate that in giving the greatest efficiency to these indispensable arms, we do also honorably recognize the gallant men, from commander to sentinel, who compose them, and to whom, more than to others, the world must stand indebted for the home of freedom, disenthralled, regenerated, enlarged, and per- petuated. (Signed) Abraham Lincoln. December 8, 1863. Tlie following proclamation was appended to the Mes- sage : — PROCLAMATION. Whereas, in and by the Constitution of the United States, it is provided that the President shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offences against the United States, except in cases of impeachment ; and whereas, a rebellion now exists, whereby the loyal State Governments of several States have for a long time been subverted, and many y)ersons iiave committed and are now guilty of treason against the United States; and Whereas^ with reference to said rebellion and treason, laws have been enacted by Congress, declaring forfeitures and confiscation of ])roperty and liberation of slaves, all upf)n terms and conditions therein stated, and also declaring that the President w.as thereby authorized at any time thereafter, by proclamation, to extend to persons who may have partici- pated in the existing rebellion in any State or part therec*', pardon and amnesty, with such exceptions and at such times and on such conditions as he may deem expedient for tlie public welfare ; and Whereas^ the Congressional declaration for limited and condition.al pardon accords with the well-established judicial exposition of the par- doning power; and Whereas, with reference to the said rebellion, the President of the United States has issued several proclamations with provisions in regard to the liberation of slaves ; and Whereas, it is now desired by some persons heretofore engaged in said rebellion to resume their allegiance to the United States, and to rein- augurate loyal State Governments within and for their respective States : Therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do proclaim, de- clare, and make known to all persons who have directly or by implication participated in the existing rebellion, except as hereinafter excepted, thai 458 The Life, Public Services, and a full i)ar(luii is hereby granted to them and each of them, with restora- tion of all rights of ])ro[)erty, excei)t as to slaves, and in property cases where rights of third parties shall have intervened, and upon the condition that every such person shall take and subscribe an oath and thencefor- ward keep and maintain said oath inviolate, an oath which shall be regis- tered for permanent preservation, and shall be of the tenor and etl'ect following, to wit: — " I, , do solemnly swear, in presence of Almighty God. that I will henceforth faithfully support, protect, and defend the Consti- tution of the United States and the Union of the States thereunder ; and that I will in like manner abide by and faithfully support all acts of Congress passed during tlie existing rebellion with reference to slaves, so long and so far as not repealed, modified, or held void by Congress, or by decision of the Supreme Court ; and that I will in like manner abide by and faithfully suiijtort all pro'-lamations of the President made during the existing rebellion having reference to slaves, so long and so far as not modified or declared void bv decision of the Supreme Court. So help mo God." The persons excepted from the benefits of the foregoing provisions are ; All who are, or shall have been civil or diplomatic officers or agents of the so-called Confederate Government; all who have left judicial stations under the United States to aid the rebellion ; all who are, or shall have been military or naval officers of said so-called Confederate Govern- inent, above the rank of colonel in the array, or of lieutenant in the navy ; all who left seats in the United States Congress to aid the rebellion ; all who resigned commissions in the army or navy of the United States, and afterwards aided the rebellion ; and all who have engaged in any way in treating colored persons, or white persons in charge of such, otherwise than lawfully as prisoners of war, and which persons may have been found in the United States service as soldiers, seamen, or any other capacity; and I do further proclaim, declare, and make known that, whenever, in any of the States of Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, and I^orth Caro- lina, a number of persons not less than one-tenth in number of the votes cast in such States at the presidential election of the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty, each having taken the oath aforesaid, and not having since violated it, and being a qualified voter by the elec- tion law of the State existing immediately before the so-called act of secession, and excluding all others, shall re-establish a State Government which shall be republican, and in nowise contravening said oath, such shall be recognized as the true Government of the State, and the State shall receive thereunder the benefits of the constitutional provision, which declares that ''The United States shall guarantee to every State in this L^nion a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion, and, on application of the Legislature, or the Execu- State Papeus of Abraham Lincoln. 459 tive, when the Legislature cannot be convened, agahist domestic vio- lence." And I do further proclaim, declare, and make known, that any pro- vision whicli may be adopted by such State Government in relation to the freed people of such State, which shall recognize and declare their permanent freedom, provide for their education, and which may yet be consistent, as a temporary arrangement, with their present condition as a laboring, landless, and hcmieless class, will not be objected to by the National Executive. And it is suggested as not improper that, in constructing a loyal State Government in any State, the name of the State, the boundary, the subdivisions, the Constitution, and the general code of laws, as before the rebellion, be maintained, subject only to the modifications made necessary by the conditions herein before stated, and such others, if any, not contravening said conditions, and which may be deemed expe- dient by those framing the new State Government. To avoid misunder- standing, it may be proper to say that this proclamation, so far as it relates to State Governments, has no reference to States Avherein loyal State Governments have all the while been maintained; and for the same reason it may be proper to further say, that whether members sent to Congress from any State shall be admitted to seats, constitution- ally rests exclusively with the respective Houses, and not to any extent with the Executive. And still further, that this proclamation is intended to present the people of the States wherein the national ruthority has been suspended, and the loyal State Governments have been subverted, a mode in and by which the national authority and loyal State G-overn- ments may be re-established within said States, or in any of them. And, while the mode presented is the best the Executive can suggest with hi^^ present impressions, it must not be understood that no other poscibb mode would be acceptable. Given under ray hand at the City of "Washington, the eighth day of De- cember, A. D. one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of th« independence of the United States of America the ei^yhtv-eighth. Apbaka-m Lincoln. By the President : "VVm. H. Seward, Secretary of State. In further prosecution of the object sought by thie measure of amnesty, the President subsequently issued the following additional explanatory PROCLAMATION. By the President of the United States of America. Whereas, it has become necessary to define the cases in which insui gent enemies are entitled to the benefits of the Proclamation of tlic Pres/' 460 The Life, Public Services, and (lent of tlio United States, which was made on the 8th day of Decemher, 1863, and tlie manner in wiiich they shall proceed to avail themi^elves of these benefits ; and whereas the objects of that Proclamation were to suppress tlie insurrection and to restore the authority of the United States; and whereas the amnesty therein proposed by the President was offered with reference to these objects alone : Now, tlierefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do hereby proclaim and declare that the said Proclaniation does not apply to the cases of persons who, at the time when they seek to obtain the benefits thereof by taking the oath thereby prescribed, are in military, naval, or civil confinement or custody, or under bonds, or on parole of the civil, military, or naval authorities, or agents of the United States, as prisoners of war, or persons detained for offences of any kind, either be- fore or after conviction; and that on the contrary it does apply only to those persons who, being yet at large, and free from any arrest, confine- ment, or duress, shall voluntarily come forward and take the said oath, with the purpose of restoring peace, and establishing the national au- thority. Persons excluded from the amnesty offered in the said Proclamation may apply to the President for clemency, like all other oftendei's, and their application will receive due consideration. I do fnrtlicr declare and proclaim that the oath presented in the afore- said proclamation of the 8th of December, 1863, may be taken and sub- scribed before any commissioned officer, civil, military, or naval, in the service of the United States, or any cUn\ or military officer of a State or Territory not in insurrection, who, by the laws thereof, may be qualified for administering oaths. All officers who receive such oaths are hereb}' authorized to give cer- tificates thereof to the persons respectively by whom they are made, and such officers are hereby required to transmit the original records of such oaths, at as early a day as may be convenient, to the Department of State, where they will be deposited, and remain in tlie archives of the Govern- ment. The Secretary of State will keep a registry thereof, and will, on appli- cation, in proper cases, issue certificates of such records in the customary form of official certificates. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the City of Wash- [l. s.] ington, the 26th day of March, in the year of our Lord 1864, and of the independence of the United States tlie eighty-eighth. Abraham Lincoln. By the President : "Wm. n. Seward, Secretary of State. The diplomatic correspondence of the 3^ear 1863, which State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 401 was transmitted to Congress witli tlie President's ^les- sage, was vohiminons and intei-esting. But it touched few points of general interest, relating mainly to matters of detail in the relations between the United States and foreign Powers. One point of importance was gained in the course of our correspondence with Great Britain — the issuing of an order by that Government forbidding the departure of formidable rams Avhich were building in English ports unquestionably for the rebel service. Our minister in London had been unwearied in collecting evi- dence of the purpose and destination of these vessels, and in pressing upon the British Government the absolute necessity, if they wished to preserve peaceful relations with the United States, of not permitting their professedly neutral ports to be used as naval depots and dock-yards for the service of the rebels. On the 5th of September, 1868, Mr. Adams had written to Lord Russell, acknowl- edging the receipt of a letter from him in which the d(^- liberate purpose of the British Government to take no action in regard to these rams was announced. ]Mr. Adams had expressed his regret at such a decision, whicli he said he could regard as no otherwise tlian as prac- tically opening to the insurgents free liberty in Great Britain to prepare for entering and destroying any of tlie Atlantic seaports of the United States. "It would be superfluous in me." added Mr. Adams, "to point out to your lordship that this is war. No matter what may be the theory adopted of neutrality in a struggle, when this process is carried on in the manner indicated, from a ter- ritory and with tlie aid of the subj(^cts of a third party, that third party to all intents and purposes ceases to be neutral. Neitlier is it necessaiy to show that any Gov ernment which suffers it to be done, fails in enforcing the essential conditions of international amity towards the country against whom the hostility is directed. In my belief it is impossible that any nation, retaining a propc^r degree of self-respect, could tamely submit to a continu- ance of relations so utterly deficient in reci])]ocity. I have no idea that Great Britain would do so for a mo- 462 The Life, Public Services, and ment." On the 8tli of September, Earl Russell wrote to Mr. Adams, to inform liim tliat "instructions had been issued which would prevent the departure of the two iron-clad vessels from Liverpool." The Earl afterwards ex])hiined in Parliament, however, when charged with liaving taken this action under an implied menace of war conveyed in the letter of Mr. Adams, that it was taken in pursuan(;e of a decision which had been made previous to the receij)t of that letter and in ignorance of its existence. On the lltli of July, Mr. Seward forwarded a dispatch to Mr. Adams, elicited by the decision of the Bi-itish Court in the case of the Alexandra, which had been seized on suspicion of having been fitted out in viol^ition of the laws of Great Britain against the enlistment of troops to serve against nations with which that Govern- ment was at peace. The decision was a virtual repeal of the enlistment act as a penal measure of prevention, and actually left the agents of the rebels at full libert}- to prepare ships of war in English ports to cruise against the commerce of the United States. Mr. Seward conveyed to Mr. Adams the President's views on the extraordinary state of atfairs which this decision revealed. Assuming that the British Government liad acted throughout in perfect good faith, and that the action of its judicial tri- bunals was not to be impeached, this dispatch stated that "if the rulings of the Chief Baron of the Exchequer in the case of tlie Alexandra should be affirmed by the court of last resort, so as to regulate the action of her Majesty's Government, the President would be left to understand that there is no law in Great Britain which Avill be elec- tive to preserve mutual relations of forbearance between the subjects of her Majesty and the Government and peo- ple of the United States in the only point where they are exposed to infraction. And tlie United States will be without any guarantee whatever against the indiscrimi- nate and unlawful employment of capital, industry, and skill by British subjects, in building, arming, equipping, and sending forth ships of war from British ports, to make war asrainst tlie United States." The su^'gestion State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 463 was made wliether it would not be Avise for Parliament to amend a law thus proved to be inadequate to the pur- pose for which it was intended. If the law must be left without amendment and be construed by the Government in conformity with the rulings in this case, then, said Mr. Seward, " there will be left for the United States no alter- native but to protect themselves and their commerce against armed cruisers proceeding from British ports as against the naval forces of a public enemy ; and also to claim and insist upon indemnities for the injuries which all such expeditions have hitherto committed or shall hereafter commit against this Government and the citizens of the United States." " Can it be an occasion for either surprise or complaint," asked Mr. Seward, " that if this condition of things is to remain and receive the deliberate sanction of the British Government, the navy of the Uni- ted States will receive instructions to pursue these ene- mies into the ports which thus, in violation of the law of nations and the obligations of neutrality, become harbors for the pirates 1" Before the receipt of this dispatch, Mr. Adams had so clearly presented the same views, of the inevitable results of the policy the British Government seemed to be pursuing, to Lord Russell, as to render its transmission to him unnecessary — Mr. Seward, on the 13th of August, informing Mr. Adams that he regarded his "previous communications to Earl Russell on the subject as an execution of his instructions by way of an- ticipation." Our relations -svith France continued to be friendly ; but the proceedings of the French in Mexico gave rise to rep resentations on both sides which may have permanent importance for the welfare of both countries. Rumors were circulated from time to time in France that the Gov- ernment of the United States had protested, or was about to protest, against the introduction into Mexico of a monarchical form of government, under a European prince, to be established and supported by French arms ; and these reports derived a good deal of plausibility from the language of the American press, representing the un- 464 The Life, Public Services, and doubted sentiment of a very large portion of the American people. Various incidental conversations were Lad on tliis subject during the summer of 1863, between Mr. Day- ton, our Minister in Paris, and the French Minister of Foreiijn Affairs, in which the latter uniformly assured I^Ir. Dayton that France had no thought of conquering Mexico or establishing there a dominant and permanent power. She desired simply to enforce the payment of just claims and to vindicate her honor. In a conversation reported by Mr. Dayton in a letter dated August 21, M. Drouyn de I'Huys took occasion again to say that " France had no purpose in Mexico other than heretofore stated— that she did not mean to appropriate permanently any part of that country, and that she should leave it as soon as her griefs were satisfied, and she could do so with honor." "In the abandon of a conversation somewhat familiar," adds Mr. Dayton, "I took occasion to say that in quitting Mexico she might leave -^^xnippet behind her. He said no ; the strings loould he too long to loork. He added tliat they had had enough of colonial experience in Algeria: that the strength of France was in her compact body and well-defined boundary. In that condition she had her resources always at command." In a dispatch dated September 14, Mr. Dayton reports a conversation in which the Frencli Minister referred to the "almost universal report that our Government only awaits the termination of our domestic troubles to drive the French out of Mexico." He said that the French naturally conclude that, if they are to have trouble with us, it would be safest to take their own time ; and he assured M. Drouyn de I'Huys that, " relying on the con- stant assurances of France as to its purposes in Mexico, and its determination to leave the people free as to their form of government, and not to hold or colonize any por- tion of their territories," our Government had indicated no purpose to interfere in the quarrel, not concealing at the same time our earnest solicitude for the Avell-being of that country, and an especial sensitivcn^^^ss as to any forcible interference in the form of its government. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 405 On the 21st of Sept(miber, Mr. Seward iiiHtriicted Mi-. Daytou to call the attention of tlie French Minister to the apparent deviations of the French in Mexico from the tenor of the assurances nniformly given by the Frencli Government that they did not intend permanent occupa- tion of that country, or any violence to the sovereignty of its people. And on the 26tli of 'the same month Mr. Seward set forth at some length the position of our Gov ernment upon this question,' which is mainly embodied in the following extract : — The United States hold, in regard to Mexico, the same principles that they hold in regard to all other nations. They have neither a right nor a disposition to intervene by force in the internal affairs of Mexico, whether to establish and maintain a republic or even a domestic government there, or to overthrow an imperial or a foreign one, if Mexico chooses to estab- lish or accept it. The United States have neither the right nor the dis- position to intervene by force on either side in the lamentable war which is going on between France and Mexico. On the contrary, they practise in regard to Mexico, in every phase of that war, the non-intervention which they require all foreign powers to observe in regard to the United States. But notwithstanding this self-restraint this Government knows full well that the inherent normal opinion of Mexico favors a government there repubUcan in form and domestic in its organization, in preference to any monarchical institutions to be imposed from abroad. This Govern- ment knows also that this normal opinion of the people of Mexico re- sulted largely from the influence of popular opinion in this country, and is continually invigorated by it. The President believes, moreover, tliat this popular opinion of the United States is just in itself and eminently essential to the progress of civilization on the American continent, which civilization, it believes, can and will, if left free from European resistance, work harmoniously together with advancing refinement on the other con- tinents. This Government believes that foreign resistance, or attempts to control American civilization, must and will fail before the ceaseless and ever-increasing activity of material, moral, and political forces, which peculiarly belong to the American continent. Nor do the United States deny that, in their opinion, their own safety and the cheerful destiny to which they aspire are intimately dependent on the continuance of fre« republican institutions throughout America. They have submitted these opinions to the Emperor of France, on proper occasions, as worthy of his serious consideration, in determining how ho would conduct and close what might prove a successful war in Mexico. N"or is it necessary to practise reserve upon the point that if France should, upon due consider- ation, determine to adopt a policy in Mexico adverse to the Amerieau 4:06 The Life, Public Services, and opinion and sentiments which I have described, that policy would prob- ably scatter seeds which would be fruitful of jealousies which miglit ultimately ripen into collision between France and the United States and other American republics. . . . The statements made to you by M. Drouyn de I'lluys concerning the Emperor's intentions are entirely satis- factory, if we are permitted to assume tliem as having been authorized to be made by the Emperor in view of the present condition of affairs in Mexico. The French Minister, in a conversation on the 8tli of October, stated to ]\Ir. Dayton that the vote of the entire population of Mexico, Spanish and Indian, would "be taken as to the form of government to be established, and he had no doubt a large majority of that vote would be in favor of the Archduke Maximilian. He also expressed a desire that the United States would express its acquies- cence in such a result, and its readiness to enter into peaceful relations with such a Government, by acknowl- edging it as speedily as possible— inasmucli as such a course would enable France the sooner to leave Mexico and the new Government to take care of itself. In reply- ing to this request, on the 23d of October, Mr. Seward repeated the determination of our Government to maintain a position of complete neutrality in the war between France and Mexico, and declared that while they could not anticipate the action of the people of Mexico, they had not "the least purpose or desire to interfere with their proceedings, or control or interfere with their free choice, or disturb them in the exercise of whatever insti- tutions of government they may, in the exercise of an ab- solute freedom, establish." As we did not consider the war yet closed, however, we were not at liberty to con- sider the question of recognizing the Government which, in the further chances of that war, might take the place of the one now existing in Mexico, with which our rela- tions were those of peace and friendship. The policy of the President, therefore, in regard to the war in Mexico, was that of neutrality ; and, although this policy in some respects contravened the traditional pur- poses and principles of the Government and peoph.' of State Papers op Abraham Lincoln. 4G7 the United States, it is not easy to see wliat other could have been adopted without invitniii; liazards wliicli no responsibk^ statesman lias a right to incur. The war against Mexico was undertaken ostensibly for objects and purposes wliicli we were compelled to regard as legitimate, and we could not ourselves depart from a strict neutrality without virtually conceding the right, not only of France, but of every other nation interested in our downfall, to become party to the war against us. While we have to a certain extent pledged ourselves to hold the whole continent open to republican institutions, our first duty was clearly to preserve the existence of our own Republic, not only for ourselves, but as the only condition on which republicanism anywhere is possible. The President, therefore, in holding this country wholly aloof from the war with France, consulted the ultimate and permanent interests of democratic institutions not less than the safety and welfare of the United States, and pursued the only policy at all compatible with the pres- ervation of our Union and the final establishment of the Monroe doctrine. Neither the President nor the people, however, indicated any purpose to acquiesce in the impo- sition of a foreign prince upon the Mexican people by foreign armies ; and on the 4th of April, 1864, the House of Representatives adopted the following resolution upon the subject, which embodies, beyond all doubt, the set- tled sentiment of the people of this country : — Resolved^ That the Conjiress of the United States are unwilling by silence to leave the nations of the world under the impression that they are indiiferent spectators of the deplorable events now transpiring in tlie Eepublic of Mexico ; therefore, they think it fit to declare that it does not accord with the sentiment of the people of the United States to acknowledge a monarchical government erected on the ruins of any republican government in America, under the auspices of any European Power. The Senate, however, took no action upon the resolu- tion. But in consequence of a statement by the Paris Moniteur^ that the French Government had received from our authorities " satistjictory evidence of the sense •168 The Life, Public Services, and and bearing" of the resolution, the House on the 23d of May culled for the explanation- whicli had heen given to the Government of France. In answer to this call, the President transmitted a report of the Secretary of State, enclosing a dispatch to Mr. Dayton, in which the Secretary, while saying that ",the resolution truly inter- prets the unanimous sentiment of the people of the United States in regard to Mexico," added, that "it was another and distinct question, whether the United States would think it necessary or proper to express themselves in tlie form adopted by the House of Representatives at tills time," — " a question whose decision rested with the President, and that the President did not at present con- template any departure from the policy which this Gov- ernment has hitherto pursued in regard to the war whicli exists between France and Mexico." The action of Congress during the first of the session was not of special interest oi- importance. Public atten- tion continued to be absorbed by military operations, and Congress, at its previous session, had so fully provided for the emergencies, present and prospective, of the war, that little in this direction remained to be done. Resolu- tions were introduced by members of the opposing par- ties, some approving and others condemning the polic,> of the Administration. Attempts were made to amend the Conscription Bill, but the two Houses ftiiling to agree on some of the more important changes proposed, the bill, as finally passed, did not vary essentially from the original law. The leading topic of discussion in this connection was the employment of colored men, free and slave, as soldiers. The policy of thus employing them had been previously established by the action of the Government in all departments ; and all that remained was to regulate the mode of their enlistment. A proviso was finally adopted by both Houses that colored troops, "while they shall be credited in the quotas of the sev- eral States or subdivisions of States wherein they are respectively drafted, enlisted, or shall volunteer, shall not be assigned as State troops, but shall be mustered State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 4 6 'J into regimeuts or companies as 'United States Colored Volunteers.' " Tlie general tone of the debates in Congress indicated a growing convicition on the part of the peo2)le of the whole country, without regard to party distinctions, that the destruction of slavery was inseparable from the vic- torious prosecution of the war. Men of all parties acqui- esced in the position that the days of slavery were numbered— that the rebellion, organized for the purpose of strengthening it, had placed it at the mercy of the ISTational force, and compelled the Government to assail its existence as the only means of subduing the rebellion and preserving the Union. The certainty that the pros- ecution of the war must result in the emancipation of the slaves, led to the proposal of measures suited to this emergency. On the 6tli of February, a bill was reported in the House for the establishment of a Bureau of Freed- men's Affairs, which should determine all questions re- lating to persons of African descent, and make regulations for their employment and proper treatment on abandoned plantations ; and, after a sharp and discursive debate, it was passed by a vote of sixty -nine to sixty-seven. The bill, however, did not pass the Senate, and nothing final was done in this direction until the next session. The most noticeable of the measures in reference to slavery which were before Congress at this session was the resolution to submit to the action of the several States an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, prohibiting the existence of slavery within the States and Territories of the Union forever. The opposition which this proposition met was wonder- fully little considering the radical nature of the change proposed, and showed that the experience of the last three years had left but little inclination in any quarter to prolong the existence of slavery, and that the political necessities which formerly gave it strength and protection had ceased to be felt. At the commencement of the session, resolutions were oflered by several members in both Houses, aiming at its prohibition by such an amend- 470 The Life, Public Services, and ment of the Constitution. This mode of accomplishing I he object sought was held to be free from the objections to wliicli every other was exposed, as it is unquestion- ably competent for the people to amend the Constitution, in accordance with the forms prescribed by its own pro- visions. One or two Southern Senators, Mr. Saulsbury, of Delaware, and Mr. Powell, of Kentucky, being prom- inent, urged that it was a palpable violation of State rights for the people thus to interfere with any thing which State laws declare to be property ; but they were answered by Reverdy Johnson, of Maryland, who urged that when the Constitution was originally framed this prohibition of slavery might unquestionably have been embodied in it, and that it was competent for the people to do now whatever they might have done then. A prominent feature of the debate on the resolution in the Senate was a strong speech in its favor by Senator Henderson, of Missouri, whose advocacy of the measure surprised even its friends, and was a striking proof of the progress of anti- slavery sentiment in the Border States. The resolution passed the Senate on the 8th of April, 1864, by the strong vote of thirty-eight to six. It then went to the House, where it was taken up on the 31st of May. Mr. Holman, of Indiana, objected to the second reading of it, and this brought the House at once to a vote on the rejec- tion of the resolution, which was negatived by a vote of seventy-six to fifty-five. It was debated at a good deal of length, but without a tithe of the excitement which the mere mention of such a change would have aroused but a few years before. The vote on the passage of the resolution was taken on the 15th of June, and resulted in its rejection by a vote of ninety-four in its favor to sixty-five against it, two- thirds being necessary. Mr. Ashley, of Ohio, changed his vote to the negative, for the purpose of moving a reconsid- eration ; and the motion to reconsider having been made, the matter went over in this position to the next session. A more successful effort was made to repeal the noto- rious Fugitive Slave Law. The bill for the repeal was inti'oduced in the House, where it was passed on the 13th State Papers of Aehaiiam Lincoln. 471 of June, by a vote of eiglity-two to fifty-eiglit. On llie ] Hf k it was received in tlie Senate, when, on motion of Mr. Sum- ner, it was referred to the Committee on Slavery and Freed- men, who immediately reported it favorably, without amendment ; but a vote on it was not reached till the 23d, when it passed by a vote of twenty- seven to twelve. The action of Congress during the session, relating to questions connected with taxation and the currency, does not call for detailed mention in this connection. Some incidental matters which arose excited full as much controversy as more important matters of legisla- tion. One heated controversy was had over a resolution introduced on Saturday, the 9th of April, by the Speaker, Mr. Colfax, for the expulsion from the House of Alexander Long, a member from Ohio, for language used by him in a speech before the House. Mr. Colfax' s resolution was as follows : — Whereas^ on the 8th day of April, 1864, when the House of Repre- sentatives was in Committee of the Whole on the State of the Union, Alexander Long, a Representative in Congress from the Second District of Ohio, declared himself in favor of recognizing the independent nation- ality of the so-called Confederacy, now in arras against the Union. And whereas^ the said so-called Confederacy, thus sought to be rec- ognized and established on the ruins of a dissolved or destroyed Union, has, as its chief officers, civil and military, those who have added perjury to their treason, and who seek to obtain success for their parricidal efforts by the killing of the loyal soldiers of the nation who are seeking to save it fi-om destruction. And ichereas, the oath required of all members, and taken by the said Alexander Long on the first day of the present Congress, declares that " I have voluntarily given no aid, countenance, counsel, or encouragement to persons engaged in armed hostility to the United States," thereby de- claring that such conduct is regarded as inconsistent with membership in the Congress of the United States : Tliercfore resolved^ That Alexander Long, Representative from the Second District of Ohio, having, on the 8th day of April, 1804, declared himself in favor of recognizing the independence and nationality of the so-called Confederacy, now in arms against the Union, and thereby given aid, countenance, and encouragement to persons engaged in armed hostil- ity to the United States, is hereby expelled. The resolution was followed by a sharp deba'e, in the 472 The Life, Public Services, and course of wliich Mr. Benjamin G. Harris, of ISIaryland, during a furious speecli against tlio resolution, used the following words : — "The South ask you to leave them in peace, but now you say you will bring them into subjection. That is not done yet, and God Almighty grant it never may be!" These words added fuel to the fire which was already raging. On motion of Mr. Washbiirne, of Illinois, the language of Mr. Harris was taken down by the Clerk of the House. The resolution for the expulsion of Mr. Long was postponed till the following Monday, and a resolution was immediately introduced for the expulsion of Mr. Harris, which, under the operation of the previous question, was brought to an immediate vote. The vote resulted in yeas eighty-one, nays fifty-eight ; and the res- olution was lost, a two-thirds vote being requisite for the expulsion of a member. A resolution was then introduced that Mr. Harris, "having spoken words this day in debate manifestly tending and designed to encourage the existing rebellion and the public enemies of this nation, is de- clared to be an unworthy member of this House, and is hereby severely censured ;' ' and this resolution was adopted by a vote of ninety-two yeas to eighteen nays. The resolution for the expulsion of Mr. Long was de- bated for four days, when the mover, being satisfied that a sufficient vote could not be obtained for the expulsion, adopted as his own a substitute of two resolutions, intro- duced by Mr. Broomall, of Pennsylvania. The first reso- lution, declaring Mr. Long an unworthy member of the House, was adopted by a vote of eighty yeas to seventy nays. The second, directing the Speaker to read the first resolution to Mr. Long during the session of the House, was also adopted. Considerable time was also consumed, and a good deal of ill-feeling created, by a controversy betw^een General F, P. Blair, Jr., of Missouri, whose seat in Congress was contested, and other members of the Missouri dele- gation. General Blair was accused by one of his col- State Pai'Ers of Abraham Lincoln. 473 leagues of very discreditable transactions in granting permits to trade Avitliin the limits of his department, frf)m ■which he was, however, completely exonerated by the investigations of a committee of the House. Aft(ir this matter was closed, General Blair resigned his seat in tlie House and returned to his post in the army. The House, by resolution, called upon the President for information as to the circumstances of his restoration to command, and received on the 28th of April the following in reply :— To the House of Representatives : In obedience to the resolution of your honorable body, a copy of which is herewith returned, I have tlie honor to make the following brief state- ment, which is believed to contain the information sought. Prior to and at the meeting of the present Congress, Robert C. Schenck, of Ohio, and Frank P. Blair, Jr., of Missouri, members elect thereto, by and with the consent of the Senate held commissions from the Execu- tive as major-generals in the volunteer army. General Schenck tendered the resignation of his said commission, and took his seat in the House of Representatives, at the assembling thereof, upon the distinct verbal un- derstanding with the Secretary of War and the Executive that he might at any time during the session, at his own pleasure, withdraw said resig- nation and return to the field. General Blair was, by temporary agreement of General Sherman, in command of a corps through the battles in front of Chattanooga, and in marching to the relief of Knoxville, which occurred in the latter days of December last, and of course was not present at the assembling of Con- gress. When he subsequently arrived here, he sought and was allowed by the Secretary of War and the Executive the same conditions and promise as was allowed and made to General Schenck. General Schenck has not applied to withdraw his resignation; but when General Grant was made Lieutenant-General, producing some changes of commanders. General Blair sought to be assigned to the com- mand of a corps. This was made known to General Grant and General Sherman, and assented to by them, and the particular corps for him was designated. This was all arranged and understood, as now remembered, 80 much as a month ago; but the formal withdrawal of General Blair's resignation, and the reissuing of the order assigning him to the com- mand of a corps, were not consummated at the War Department until last week, perhaps on the 23d of April instant. As a summary of the whole, it may be stated that General Blair holds no military commission or appointment other than as herein stated, and that it is believed he is now acting as major-general upon the assumed validity of the commis- Bion herein stated, and not otherwise. ■,1» 474 The Life, Public Services, and There are some letters, notes, telegrams, orders, entries, and perhajjs other documents, in connection with this subject, which it is believed would tlirow no additional light upon it, but which will be cheerfully furnished if desired. Abraham Lixcolx. The House on the next day passed a resolution calling for all the letters and documents having reference to the affair, and on May 2d the President sent to Congress the following message : — To the Honorable House of Representativea : In compliance with the request contained in your resolution of the 29th ultimo, a copy of which resolution is herewith returned, I have the honor to transmit the following : — ExEcuTivB Mansion, WAsniiiGToN, November 2, 1863. lion. Montgomery Blair: My Dear Sir: — Some days ago I understood you to say that your brother. General Frank Blair, desires to be guided by my wishes as to whether he will occupy his seat in Congress or remain in the field. My wish, then, is compounded of what I believe will bo best for the coun try; and it is that he will come here, put his military commission in my hands, take his seat, go into caucus with our friends, abide the nomina- tions, help elect the nominees, and thus aid to organize a House of Eep- resentatives which will really support tlie Government in the war. If the result shall be the election of himself as Speaker, let him serve in that position. If not, let him retake his commission and return to the army for the benefit of the country. This will heal a dangerous schism for him. It will relieve him from a dangerous position or a misunderstanding, as I think he is in danger of being permanently separated from those with whom only he can ever have a real sympathy — the sincere opponents of slavery. It will be a mistake if he shall allow the provocations offered him by insincere time-servers to drive him from the house of his own building. He is young yet. He has abundant tak'uts — quite enough to occupy all his time without devoting any to temper. He is rising in military skill and usefulness. His recent appointment to the command of a corps, by one so competent to judge as General Sher- man, proves this. In that line he can serve both the country and himself more profitably than he could as a member of Congress upon the floor. The foregoing is what I would say if Frank Blair was my brother in- stead of yours. (Signed) A. Lincoln. (After some unimportant documents, the resignation of General Blair was annexed, dated January 1, 1864, and its acceptance by the Presi- dent on January 12th. Then came the following telegram :— ) ExEouTiTE Mansion, "Washington, D. C, March 15. Lieutenant-General Grant, Nashville, Tennessee : General McPherson having been assigned to the command of a depart- ment, could not General Frank Blair, without difficulty or detriment to State Papers of Abraham Jjincoln. 475 the service, be assigned to the command of the corps lie commanded awliile last autumn ? (Signed) A. Lincoln. (Then came some dispatches showing that General Logan was in com- mand of that corps, the Fifteenth, and that General Blair was to be as- signed to the Seventeenth, and General Blair's request, dated April 20tli, that he be assigned to the Seventeenth Corps at once. Then came the following note : — ) ExEonxiTE Mansion, Wariiington, April 23, 13(54. Hon. Secretary of War: My Dear Sir: — According to our understanding with Major-Goneral Frank P. Blair, at the time he took his seat in Congress, last winter, he now asks to withdraw his resignation, then tendered, and be sent to the field. Let this be done. Let the order sending him be such as shown to-day by the Adjutant-General, only dropping from it the names of Ma- guire and Perkins. Your? ti'uly, A. Lincoln. (After giving General Blair's request to withdraw his resignation and his appointment to the Seventeenth Corps, the Message closed as follows : — ) The foregoing constitutes all sought by the resolution, so far as remem- bered or has been found by diligent search. May 2, 1864. Abraham Lincoln. On April 28th, the President sent to Congress the fol- lowing Message, wliich sufficiently explains itself : — To the Honorable Senate and House of Hepresentatives : I have the honor to transmit herewith an address to the President of the United States, and through him to both Houses of Congress, on the condition of the people of East Tennessee, and asking their attention to the necessity for some action on the part of the Government for their re- lief, and which address is presented by the Committee or Organization, called " The East Tennessee Eelief Association." Deeply commisera- ting the condition of those most loyal people, I am unprepared to make any specific recommendation for their relief. The military is doing, and will continue to do, the best for them within its power. Their address represents that the construction of a direct railroad communication between Knoxville and Cincinnati, by way of Central Kentucky, would be of great consequence in the present emergency. It may be remem- bered that in my Annual Message of December, 1861, siich railroad con- struction was recommended. I now add that, with the hearty concur- rence of Congress, I would yet be pleased to construct the road, both for the relief of those people and for its continuing military importance. Abraham Lincoln. Other matters engrossing the attention of Congress, no definite action was taken upon the subject thus referred to. 47G The Life, Public Services, and A bill was passed on Maroli 2d, restoring the grade of Lieutenant-General, and General Grant was appointed by the President, with the assent of the Senate, to that office, and invested w^th the command of the armies of thb United States. The commission was handed by the President to Gen- eral Grant, at the White House, on the 9tli of March : and as he gave it, he thus addressed him :— Genekal Grant : — The expression of the nation's approbation of vhat you have already done, and its Teliance on you for what remains to do in the existing great struggle, is now presented with this commission, con- stituting you Lieutenant- General of the Army of the United States. With this high honor, devolves on you an additional responsibility. ^3 the country herein trusts you, so, under God, it will sustain you. I scarcely need add, that with what I here speak for the country, goes my own hearty personal concurrence. General Grant responded as foUoAVS : — Mr. President: — I accept this commission, with gratitude for the high honor conferred. With the aid of the noble armies that have fought on so many fields for our common country, it Avill be my earnest endeavor not to disappoint your expectations. I feel the full weight of the responsibilities now devolving on me, and I know that if they are met, it will be due to those armies ; and above all, to the favor of that Providence which leads both nations and men. Gen. Grant announced liis assumption of command under this appointment by a General Order, issued at Nashville on the 17th of March. Towards the close Of the year 1863, as the terms of service of many of the volunteer forces were about to expire, the President issued a proclamation for three hundred thousand volunteers. The military successes of the season had raised tlie public courage and inspired new confidence in the final issue of the contest for the preservation of the Union ; it was believed, therefore, that an appeal for volunteers w^ould be responded to with alacrity, and save the necessity for a resort to another draft. The proclamation was as follows : — State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 477 a proclamation. By the President of the United States. Whereas, the term of service of part of the volunteer forces of the United States will expire during the coming year; and, whereas, in addi- tion to the men by the present draft, it is deemed expedient to call ont three hundred thousand volunteers to serve for three years or during the war, not, however, exceeding three years : Now, therefore, I Abraiiam Lincoln, President of the United States, and Commander-in-Chief of the army and navy thereof, and of the militia of the several States when called into actual service, do issue this my proclamation,' calling upon the Governors of the different States to raise, and have enlisted into the United States service, for the various companies and regiments in the field from their respective States, the quotas of tliree hundred thousand men. I further proclaim that all the volunteers thus called out and duly enlisted shall receive advance pay, premium, and bounty, as heretofore communicated to the Governors of States by the War Department through the Provost-Marshal General's office, by special letters. I further proclaim that all volunteers received under this call, as well as all others not heretofore credited, shall be duly credited and deducted from the quotas established for the next draft. I further proclaim tliat if any State shall fail to raise the quota a..- signed to it by the War Department under this call, then a draft for the deficiency in said quota shall be made in said State, or in the districts of said State, for their due proportion of said quota, and the said draft shall commence on the 5th day of January, 1864. And I further proclaim that nothing in this proclamation shall inter- fere with existing orders, or with those which may be issued for the present draft in the States where it is now in progress, or where it has not yet been commenced. The quotas of the States and districts will be assigned by the War De- partment through the Provost-Marshal General's olfice, due regard being had for the men heretofore furnished, whether by volunteering or draft- ing; and the recruiting will be conducted in accordance with such instructions as have been or may be issued by that Department. In issuing this proclamation, I address myself not only to the Govern- ors of the several States, but also to the good and loyal people thereof, invoking them to lend their cheerful, willing, and effective aid to t)\e measures thus adopted, with a view to re-enforce our \'ictorious army now in the field, and bring our needful military operations to a prosper- ous end, thus closing forever the fountains of sedition and civil war. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be aflixed. 47S The Life, Public Services, and Done at the City of Washington, this 17th day of October, r 1 1803, and of the independence of the United States the eighty- sevrnth. Abeaham Lincoln. By the President: "William II. Seward, Secretary of State. By the act of 1861 for raising troops, a Government "bounty of one hundred dollars was paid to each volun- teer ; and this amount had been increased from time to time, until each soldier who had already filled his term of service was entitled to receive four hundred dollars on re-enlisting, and each new volunteer three hundred. After the President's proclamation was issued, enlist- ments, especially of men already in the service, proceeded with great rapidity, and the amount to be paid for boun- ties threatened to be ver}^ large. Under these circum- stances, Congress adopted an amendment to the enrol- ment act, by which the payment of all bounties, except those authorized by the act of 1861, was to cease after the 5th day of January. Both the Secretary of War and the Provost-Marshal General feared that the effect of this, when it came to be generally understood, would be to check the volunteering, which was then proceeding in a very satisfactory manner ; and on the 5th of January, the day when the prohibition was to take effect, the President sent to Congress the following communica- tion : — ■Washington, Januariy 5, 1S64. Gentlemen of the Senate and Rouse of Representatives : By a joint resohition of yonr honorable bodies, approved December 23, 1868, the paying of bounties to veteran vohinteers, as now practised by the War Department, is, to the extent of three hundred doUars in each case, prohibited after the fifth day of the present month. I trans- mit for your consideration a communication from the Secretary of War, accompanied by one from the Provost-Marshal General to him, both relating to the subject above mentioned. I earnestly recommend that this law be so modified as to allow bounties to be paid as they now are at least to the ensuing 1st day of February. I am not witliout anxiety lest I appear to be importunate iu thus recalling your attention to a subject upon which you have so recently acted, and nothing but a deep conviction that the public interest demands it could induce me to incur State Papers of Abraham Ll^x•0LN. 479 the hazard of beini? inisutulerstood on tliis point. The Executive ap- proval was given by me to tlie resolution mentioned, and it is now by a closer attention and a fuller knowledge of facts that I feel constrained to recommend a reconsideration of the subject. A. Lincoln. A resolution extending the payment of "bonnties, in accordance with this recommendation, to the lirst of April, was at once reported by the Military Committee of the Senate, and passed by both Houses of Congress. The volunteering, however, did not appear to supply men with sufficient rapidity, and on the 1st of February, 1864, the President made the following order : ExECUTivB Mansion, February 1, 1864. Ordered, that a draft for five hundred thousand men, to serve for three years or during the war, be made on the 10th day of March next, for the military service of the United States, crediting and deducting therefrom so many as may have been enlisted or drafted into the service prior to the 1st day of March, and not heretofore credited. (Signed) Abraham Lincoln. Tlie effect of this order was not only to stimulate enlist- ments, but also to induce a general application of all cred- its that could possibly be made, to reduce the quotas of the different districts, and many of them, before the time came round, wei-e enabled to announce themselves en- tirely out of the draft. Partly on this account, doubtless, before the 10th of March came the draft was indefinitely postponed, and on the 15th of March another order was made calling for the additional number of two hundred thousand men, "in order to supply the force required to be drafted for the navy, and to provide an adequate re- serve force for all contingencies." The various districts were required to fill their quotas by the 15th of April, and it was announced tliat Avhere they had not done so, a draft would be commenced as soon after that date as prac- ticable. Some persons holding positions as consuls of foreign powers having claimed to be exempt from the draft on that ground, the following order was made on the subject on the 19th of May, 1864, the immediate occasion of it 480 The Life, Public Services, and being snch a daim on the part of a Mr. Hunt, a Consul of Belgium, at St. Louis : — It is ofBcially announced by the State Department that citizens of the United States holding commissions and recogtiized as Consuls of foreign powers, are not by law exempt from military service if drafted : Therefore the mere enrolment of a citizen holding a foreign consulate will not be licld to vacate his commission, but if he shall be drafted his exequatur will be revoked unless he shall have previously resigned in order that another consul may be received. An exequatur bearing date the 3d day of May, 1858, having been issued to Charles Hunt, a citizen of the United States, recognizing him as a Con- sul of Belgium for St. Louis, Missouri, and declaring him free to exercise and enjoy such functions, powers, and privileges as are allowed to the con- suls of the most favored nations in the United States, and the said Hunt having sought to screen himself from his military duty to his country, in consequence of thus being invested with the consular functions of a for- eign power in the United States, it is deemed advisable that the said Charles Hunt should no longer be permitted to continue in the exercise of said functions, powers, and privileges. These are therefore to declare that I no longer recognize the said Hunt as Consul of Belgium, for St. Louis, Missouri, and will not permit him to exercise or enjoy any of the functions, powers, or privileges allowed to consuls of that nation, and that I do hereby wholly revoke and annul the said exequatur heretofore given, and do declare the same to be absolutely null and void from this day forward. In testimony whereof, I have caused these letters to be made patent, and the seal of the United States of America to be hereunto affixed. Given under my hand at "Washington, this 19th day of May, in the year oi our Lord 1864, and of the independence of the United States of Amer- ica the eighty-eighth. Abeaham Lincoln. By the President : William H. Seward, Secretary of State. E-eoruiting under tlie order of Marcli 15th continued to progress, but not with sufficient rapidity. On the 23d of April, the Governors of Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, In- diana, and Ohio tendered to the Government a force of one hundred thousand men from those States, to serve for one hundred days. The proposition was accepted, and on recommendation of the Secretary of War, Congress voted twenty-five million dollars to defray the expenses— the resolution being passed without debate, and by almost unanimous consent. State Papers of Abiiaiiam Lincoln. 48i CHAPTER XVI MOVEMENTS TOWARDS RECONSTRUCTION. State Governments in Louisiana, and Arkansas. — Difference of Views BETWEEN TnE PRESIDENT AND CoNGRESS. TrE REBELLION AND LaBOR.^ The President on Benevolent Associations. — Advancing Action OONCERINO the Xegro Race. — Free State Constitutions. The proclamation which accompanied the Annual Mes- sage of the President for 1864 emhodied the lirst sugges- tions of the Administration on the important subject of re- constructing the Governments of those States which had ioined in the secession movement. The matter had been canvassed somewhat extensively by the public press, and by prominent politicians, in anticipation of the overthrow of the rebellion, and the view taken of the subject had been determined, to a very considerable extent, by tlie sentiments and opinions of the different parties as to the object and purpose of the war. The supporters of the Administration did not all hold precisely the same ground on this subject. As has already been seen, in the debates of the Congress of 1862-3, a considerable number of the friends of the Government, in both houses, maintained that, by the act of secession, the revolted States had put themselves outside the pale of the Constitution, and were henceforth to be regarded and treated, not as members of the Union, but as alien enemies : * — that their State organ * President Lincoln's view of this position is stated in the following note ad- dressed by him to the publishers of the North American lievieiv, which contained an article upon his policy of administration : — Executive Mansion, Washikgton, January 16, 1SG4. " Messks. Ckosbt & NicnoLS : "Gentlemen: — The number for this month and year of the Ki-rih American Retietv iva8 duly received, and for which jdease accept my thanks. Of course I am not the most impartial iud£:e ; yet, with due allowance foi this, I venture to hope th.it the article entitled 'The Presi- 482 The Life, Public Services, and izations and State boundaries had been expunged by their own act ; and that they were to be readmitted to the jurisdiction of the Constitution, and to the privileges of the Union, only upon such terms and conditions as the Federal Gov^^rnment of the loyal States might prescribe. On the other hand, it was held that the acts of secession, passed by the several State Governments, were absolutely null and void, and that while the persons who passed them, and those who aided in giving them effect, by taking up arms against the United States, had rendered themselves liable individually to the penalties of treason, they had not, in any respect, changed the relations of their States, as such, to the Federal Government. The governments of those States had been for a time sub- verted ; but they might at any time be re-established upon a republican basis, under the authority and protection of the United States. The proclamation proceeded, in the main, upon the latter theory. The President had the I30wer, under the Constitution, and by specific legislation of Congress, to grant pardons upon such conditions as he might deem expedient. In the exercise of this power. President Lincoln released from legal penalties and re- stored to the rights of citizenship all, in each State, with dent's Policy' will be of value to the country. I fe.w I am not -worthy of M which is therein kindly said of me personally. •'The semen'* (if twelve lines, commencing at the top of page 252,1 could wish to be not exactly what it is. In what is there expressed, the writer has not correctly understood me. 1 have never had a theory that secession could absolve States or people from their obligations. Precisely the contrary is asserted in the Inaugural address; and it was because of my belief in the continuation of those ohligations that I was puzzled, for a time, as to denying the legal rights of those citizens who remained individually innocent of treason or rebellion. But I mean no more now than to merely call attention to this point. " Tours respectfully, "A. Lincoln." The sentence referred to by Mr. Lincoln is as follows: — " Even so long ago as when Mr. Lincoln, not yet convinced of the drvnger and magnitude of the crisis, was endeavoring to persuade himself of Union majorities-at the South, and carry on a war that was half peace, in the hope of a pence that would have been all war, while he wae still enfiircins the Fugitive Slave law, under some theory that secession, however it might ab- solve States from their oblipiations, could not escheat them of their claims under the Constitu- tion, .ai:d that slaveholders in rebellion h.ad alone, among mortals, the privilege of having thoir cake t.nd eating it at the s.ame time, — the enemies of free government were striving to persuade the people th.-vt the war was an abolition crusade. To rebel without reason w.as proclaimed as one cf the rights of man, while it was carefully kept out of sight that to suppress rebellion is the first duty of government" State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 483 certain specified exceptions, who should take and abide by a prescribed oath ; and then he proclaimed his pur- pose to recognize tliem as the citizens of such State, and as alone competent to organize and carry on the local government ; and lie pledged thf» power of the General Government to protect such republican State Governments as they might establish, "against invasion, and against aomestic violence/' By way of precaution against a usurpation of power by strangers, he insisted on the same qualifications for voting as had been required by the con- stitution and laws of the State previous to secession : — and to provide against usurpation of power by an insig- nificant minority, he also required that the new govern- ment should be elected by at least one-tenth as many voters as had voted in the State at the Presidential elec- tion of 1860. In the oath which he imposed as essential to citizenship, the President required a pledge to sustain the Constitution of the United States, the laws of Con- gress, and the Executive proclamations and acts on the subject of slavery, so long and so far as the same should not be declared invalid and of no binding obligation by the Supreme Court of the United States. These were the foundations of the broad and substantial basis laid by the President for the restoration of the Union, and the re-es- tablishment of loyal republican governments in the sev- eral seceded States. Various indications in the Southern States had satisfied the President that the time had come when the work of re- construction might safely and wisely be tlius commenced. In Tennessee, where the rebels had never maintained any permanent foothold, but where the Government at Wash- ington had found it necessary to commit the local author- ity to Andrew Johnson, as Provisional Governor, there had been a very strong party in favor of restoring the State to its former position as a member of the Federal Union. But in Louisiana the movements in the same direction had been earlier and more decided than in any other Southern State. The occupation of New Orleans by the National forces, and the advent of General Butler 484 The Life, Public Services, and as commander of that Military Department, on the 1st of May, 18G2, speedily satisfied a very considerable portion of the inhabitants, who had i^roperty at stake in the city and State, tliat the rebel authority could never be restored. There were, however, even among professed Unionists, many who devoted their time and energy rather to carp- ing at the measures which the Government felt itself called upon to pursue, and to the promotion and adoption of their individual views, than to cordial co-operation with the President in his efforts to re-establish the forms of civil government upon a proper basis. It Avas in answer to such a complaint that the President wrote the follow- ing I'i;' ter : — "Washinoton, D. C, July 28, 1862. CuTHBERT Bullitt, Esq., New Orleans, La. : Sir : — The copy of a letter addressed to yourself by Mr. Thomas J. Du- rant has been shown to me. The writer appears to be an able, a dispassion- ate, and an entirely sincere man. Tlie first part of the letter is devoted to an effort to show that the secession ordinance of Louisiana was adopted airaiiist the will of the majority of the people. Tliis is probably trne, ;ind in that fact may be found some instruction. Why did they allow the or- dinance to go into effect? Why did they not exert themselves? Why stand passive and allow themselves to be trodden down by a minority? Why did they not hold popular meetings, and have a convention of their own to express and enforce the true sentiments of the State? If pre-or- ganization was against them, then why not do this now that the United States army is present to protect them ? The paralyzer — the dead palsy — of the Government in the whole struggle is, that this class of men will do nothing for the Government — nothing for themselves, except demand- ing that the Government shall not strike its enemies, lest they be struck by accident. Mr. Durant complains that, in various ways, tlie relation of master and slave is disturbed by the presence of our army ; and he considers it par- ticularly vexatious that this, in part, is done under cover of an act of Con- gress, while constitutional guarantees are superseded on the plea of mili- tary necessity. Tlie truth is, that what is done and omitted about slaves is done and omitted on the same military necessity. It is a military neces- sity to have men and money ; and we cannot get either, in sufficient num- bers or amounts, if we keep from or drive from our lines slaves coming to them. Mr. Durant cannot be ignorant of the pressure in this direction, nor of ray efforts to hold it within bounds, till he, and such as he, shall have time to help tliemselves. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 485 I am not posted to speak understandingly on the public regulations of whicli Mr. Durant complains. If experience shows any of them to be \vrong, let them be set right. I think I can perceive in the freedom of trade which Mr. Durant nrges, that he would relieve both friends and enemies from the pressure of the blockade. By this he would serve the enemy more effectively than the enemy is able to serve himself. I do not say or believe that to serve the enemy is the purpose of Mr. Durant, or that he is conscious of any purposes other than national and patriotic ones. Still, if there were a class of men who, having no choice of sides in the contest, were anxious only to have quiet and comfort for themselves while it rages, and to fall in with the victorious side at the end of it, without loss to themselves, their advice as to the mode of con- ducting the contest would be precisely such as his. He speaks of no duty, apparently thinks of none, resting upon I'nion men. Pie even thinks it injurious to the Union cause that they should be restrained in trade and passage, without taking sides. They are to touch neither a sail nor a pump — live merely passengers (" dead-heads" at that) — to be carried suug and dry throughout the storm and safely landed right side up. Nay, more — even a mutineer is to go untouclied, lest these sacred passengers receive an accidental wound. Of course, the rebellion will never be suppressed in Louisiana, if the professed Union men there will neither help to do it, nor permit the Gov- ernment to do it without their help. Now, I think the true remedy is very different from what is suggested by Mr. Durant. It does not lie in rounding the rough angles of the war, but in removing the necessity for the war. The people of Louisiana, who wish protection to person and property, have but to reach forth their hands and take it. Let them in good faith reinaugurate the national au- thority and set up a State Government conforming thereto under the Con- stitution. They know how to do it, and can have the protection of the army while doing it. The army will be withdrawn so soon as such Gov- ernment can dispense with its presence, and the people of the State can then, upon the old terms, govern themselves to their own liking. This is very simple and easy. If they will not do this, if they prefer to hazard all for the sake of destroying the Government, it is for them to consider whether it is prob- able I will surrender the Government to save them from losing all. If they decline what I suggest, you will scarcely need to ask what I will do. What would you do in my position ? Would you drop the war where it is, or would you prosecute it in future with elder-stalk squirts, charged with rose-water? Would you deal lighter blows rather than heavier ones? Would you give up the contest leaving every available means un- applied? I am in no boastful mood. I shall not do more than I can, but I shall do all I can to save the Government, wliich is my sworn duty as well as 486 The Life, Public Services, and my personal inclination. I shall do nothing in malice. "What I deal with is too vast for malicious dealing. Yours verj truly, A. Lincoln. As time went on, however, the disposition of the citizens to exert themselves for the re-establishment of former civil relations increased, and preparations were accord- ingly made to hold an election in the fall of that year for members of the Congress of the United States. General Shepley had been appointed Military Governor of the State, and to him the President, in November, addressed the following letter on that subject : — ExEoiTTivE Mansion, WASurNGTON, November 21, 1862. Deak Sir: — Dr. Kennedy, bearer of this, has some apprehension that Federal officers, not citizens of Louisiana, may be set up as candidates for Congress in that State. In my view there could be no possible object in such an election. We do not particularly need members of Congress from those States to enable us to get along with legislation here. What we do want is the conclusive evidence that respectable citizens of Louisiana are willing to be members of Congress and to swear support to the Constitu- tion, and that other respectable citizens there are willing to vote for them and send them. To send a parcel of Northern men here as representa- tives, elected, as would be understood (and perhaps really so), at the point of the bayonet, would be disgraceful and outrageous ; and were I a mem- ber of Congress here, I would vote against admitting any such man to a seat. Yours, very truly, A. Lincoln. Hon. G. F. Shepley. The election was held, and Messrs. Flanders and Hahn were chosen and admitted to their seats at the ensuing session, as has been already seen. On the 23d of May, 1863, the various Union associations of New Orleans applied to the Military Governor of the State for authority to call a convention of the loyal citi- zens of Louisiana, for the purpose of framing a new State Constitution, and of re-establishing civil government under the Constitution of the United States. What they especially desired of him was that he should order a regis- tration of the loyal voters of the State, and appoint com- missioners of registration in each parish to register the names of all citizens who should take the oath of alle- State Papers of Acuaiiam Lincoln. 487 giance to the Constitution of the United States, and repu- diate allegiance to the rebel Confederacy. General Slu^p- ley, in reply, recognized fully the great importance of the proposed movement, but thought it of the utmost conse- quence that it should proceed as the spontaneous act of the people of tlie State, without the slightest appearance or suspicion of having been in any degree the result of military dictation. He consented to provide for the regis- tration of such voters as might voluntarily come forward for the purpose of being enrolled, but deferred action upon the other points submitted to him until he could re- ceive definite instructions on the subject from the Govern- ment at Washington. In June, a committee of planters, recognizing the pro- priety of some movement for the re-establishment of civil authority in the State, and not concurring in the policy of those who proposed to form a new constitution, applied to the President, asking him to grant a full recognition of the rights of the State as tliey existed before the act of secession, so that they might return to their allegiance under the old Constitution of the State, and that he would order an election for State officers, to be held on the 1st Monday of November. To this application the President made the following- reply :— Executive Mansion, WashinCtTon June 19, 1S63. Gentlemen : — Since receiving your letter, reliable information has reached me that a respectable i^ortion of the Louisiana people desire to amend their State Constitution, and contemplate holding a convention for that object. The fact alone, it seems to me, is sufficient reason why the General Government should not give the committee the authority you seek to act under the existing State Constitution. I may add, that while I do not perceive how such a committee could facilitate our military opera- tions in Louisiana, I really apprehend it might be so used as to embarrass them. As to an election to be held in November, there is abundant time with- out any order or proclamation from me just now. The people of Louisi- ana shall not lack an opportunity for a fair election for both Federal and State officers by want of any thing within my power to give them. Your obedient servant, A. LiNOCLN. 488 The Life, Public Services, and After the appearance of the President' s proclamation, the movement towards reconstruction in Louisiana as- sumed greater consistency, and was carried forward with greater steadiness and strength. On the 8tli of January a very hirge Free State Convention was held at New Orleans, at which resolutions were adopted indorsing all the acts and proclamations of the President, and urging the immediate adoption of measures for the restoration of the State to its old place in the Union. On the 11th, Gen eral Banks issued a proclamation, appointing an election for State officers on the 22d of February, who were to be installed on the 4th of March, and another election for delegates to a convention to revise the Constitution of the State on the first Monday in April. The old Constitution and laws of Louisiana were to be observed, except so far as they relate to slavery, " which," said General Banks, " being inconsistent with the present condition of public aifairs, and plainly inapplicable to any class of persons within the limits of the State, must be suspended, and they are now declared inoperative and void." The oath of allegiance required by the President in his proclama- tion, with the condition affixed to the elective franchise by the Constituti n of Louisiana, was prescribed as con- stituting tlie qualifications of voters. Under this order, parties were organized for the elec- tion of State officers. The friends of the National Gov- ernment were divided, and two candidates were put in nomination for Governor, Hon. Michael Hahn being the regular nominee, and rej)resenting the supporters of the policy of the President, and Hon. B. F. Flanders being put in nomination by those who desired a more radical policy than the President had proposed. Both took very decided ground against the continued existence of slavery within the State. Hon. C. Eoselius was nominated by that portion of the peo])le who concurred in the wish for the return of Louisiana to the Union, and were willing to take the oath of allegiance prescribed by the President, but who nevertheless disapproved of the general policy of the Administration, especially on the subject of sla- State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 489 very. The election resulted in the election of Mr. Hahn. The foUowini,^ letter was written by Mr. Lincoln to congratulate him on his election : — ExBOUTivK Mansion, WAsniNOTON, March 13, 18C4. Hon. Michael Hahn : Mij Dear Sir : — I congratulate you on having fixed your name in history as the first Free-State Governor of Louisiana. Now you are about to have a convention, which, among otlier tilings, will probably define the elective franchise. I barely suggest, for your private consideration, whether some of the colored people may not be let in, as, for instance, the very intelli- gent, and especially those who have fought gallantly in our ranks. They would probably help, in some trying time to come, to keep the jewel of liberty in the family of freedom. But this is only a suggestion, not to the public, but to you alone. Truly yours, A. Lincoln. Mr. Hahn was inaugurated as Governor on the 4th of March. On tlie loth he Avas clothed with tlie powers previously exercised by General Banks, as military gov- ernor, by the following order from the President : — Executive Mansion, Wasiiinqton, March 15, 1S64. Ills Excellency Michael Hahx, Governor of Louisiana : Until further orders, you are hereby invested with the powers exercised hitherto by the military governor of Louisiana. Yours truly, Abraham Lincoln. On March 16th, Governor Hahn issued a proclamation, notifying the electors of the State of the election for del- egates to the convention previously ordered by General Banks. The party which elected Governor Hahn succeeded also in electing a large majority of the delegates to tlie con- vention, which met in New Orleans on the 6th of April. On the 11th of May it adopted, by a vote of seventy to six- teen, a clause of the new Constitution, by which slavery was forever abohshed in the State. The Constitution Avas adopted on the 5th of September, by a vote of six thousand eight hundred and thirty- six to one thousand five hun- dred and sixty-six. Great umbrage Avas taken at these proceedings by some 490 The Life, Public Services, ani> of the best friends of tlie cause, as if there had been an unauthorized and unjustifiable interference on the part of the President, so that this Constitution and this State Government, tliougli nominally the work of the people, were in reality only his. That this was a mistake, the following letter, written in August, 1863, is sufficient proof : — Executive Mansion, Washington, August 5, 1863. My deae Gexeiial Banks : While I very well koow what I would be glad for Louisiana to do, it is quite a different thing for me to assume direction of the matter. I would be glad for her to make a new Constitution, i-ecogniziug the Eman- cipation Proclamation, and adopting emancipation in those parts of the State to which the proclamation does not apply. And while she is at it, I think it would not be objectionable for her to adopt some practical sys- tem by which the two races could gradually live themselves out of their old relation to each other, and both come out better prepared for the new. Education for young blacks should be included in the plan. After all, the power or element of "contract " may be sufficient for this proba- tionary period, and by its simplicity and flexibility may be the better. As an anti-slavery man, I have a motive to desire emancipation which pro-slavery men do not have; but even they have strong enough reason to thus place themselves again under the shield of the Union, and to thus perpetually hedge against the recurrence of the scenes through which we are now passing. Governor Shepley has informed me that Mr. Durant is now taking a registry, with a view to the election of a Constitutional Convention in Louisiana. This, to me, appears proper. If such convention were to ask my views, I could present little else than what I now say to you. I think the thing should be pushed forward, so that, if possible, its mature work may reach here by the meeting of Congress. For my own part, I think I shall not, in any event, retract tlie Eman- cipation Proclamation ; nor, as Executive, ever return to slavery any person who is free by the terras of that proclamation, or by any of the acts of Congress. If Louisiana shall send members to Congress, their admission to seats will depend, as you know, upon the respective Houses, and not upon the President. * * * * Yours, very truly, (Signed) A. Lincoln. In Arkansas, where a decided Union feeling had exist- ed from the outbreak of the rebellion, the apjiearance of the proclamation was the signal for a movement to bring State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 491 tlie State btick into the Union. On tlie 20tli of January, a delegation of citizens from that State had an int(^rview with the President, in whicli they urged the adoption of certain measures for the re-establisliment of a legal State Government, and especially the ordering of an election for Governor. In consequence of this application, and in substantial compliance with their request, the President wrote the following letter to General Steele, who com- manded in that Department : — Executive Mansion, Washlnqton, January 20, 1SG4. Major-Geiieral Steele: Sundry citizens of the State of Arkansas petition me that an election may be held in that State, at which to elect a Governor; that it he as- sumed at that election, and thenceforward, tliat the constitution and laws of the State, as before the rebellion, are in full force, except that the con- stitution is so modified as to declare that there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except in the punishment of crimes whereof the party shall have been duly convicted; that the General Assembly may make such provisions for the freed people as shall recognize and declare their permanent freedom, and provide for their education, and which may yet be construed as a temporary arrangement suitable to their condition as a laboring, landless, and homeless class ; that said election shall be held on the 28th of March, 1864, at all the usual places of the State, or all such as voters may attend for that purpose; that the voters attending at eight o'clock in the morning of said day may choose judges and clerks of election for such purpose; that all persons qualified by said constitution and laws, and taking the oath presented in the President's proclamation of December 8, 1863, either before or at the election, and none others, may be voters; that each set of judges and clerks may make returns di- rectly to you on or before the — th day of next ; that in all other respects said election may be conducted according to said constitution and laws ; that on receipt of said returns, when five thousand four hun- dred and six votes shall have been cast, you can receive said votes, and ascertain all who shall thereby appear to have been elected ; that on the — th day of next, all persons so appearing to have been elected, who shall appear before you at Little Rock, and take the oath, to be by you severally administered, to support the Constitution of the United States and said modified Constitution of the State of Arkansas, may be declared by you qualified and empowered to enter immediately upon the duties of the oflaces to which tliey shall have been respectively elected. You will please order an election to take place on the 2Sth of Marcli. 1864, and returns to be made in fifteen days thereafter. A. Lincoln. 492 The Life, Public Services, and Upon the return of tlie delegation to Arkansas, they issued an address to tlie people of the State, urging them to avail themselves of the opportunity thus afforded for restoring their State to its old prosperity, and assuring tliem, from personal observation, that the people of the Northern States would most cordially welcome their return to the Union. Meantime, a convention had as- sembled at Little Rock, composed of delegates elected without any formality, and not under the authority of the General Government, and proceeded to form a new State Constitution, and to fix a day for an election. Upon being informed of this, the President seems to have sent orders to General Steele to help on this move- ment, and he telegraphed to the Provisional Government as follows : — "Washington, February 6, 1SG4. J. Murphy : My order to General Steele, about an election, was made in ignorance of the action your convention had taken or would take. A subsequent letter directs General Steele to aid you on your own plan, and not to tliwart or hinder you. Show this to him. A. Lincoln. He also wrote the following letter to one of the most prominent citizens t — To William Fishback : When I fixed a plan for an election in Arkansas, I did it in ignorance that your convention was at the same work. Since I learned the latter fact, I have been constantly trying to yield my plan to theirs. I have sent two letters to General Steele, and three or four dispatches to you and others, saying that he (General Steele) must be master, but that it will probably be best for him to keep the convention on its own plan. Some single mind must be master, else tliere will be no agreement on any thing ; and General Steele, commanding the military and being on the ground, is the best man to be that master. Even now citizens are telegraphing me to postpone the election to a later day than either fixed by the con- vention or me. This discord must be silenced. A. Lincoln. The dispatches to General Steele reached him both together, and only a few days before the day fixed by the convention for the election. All that he did, there- State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 493 tore, Tvas to issue a proclamation calling on the people to come out and vote at the ensuing election. The convention framed a constitution abolishing sla- very, which was subsequently adopted by a large major- ity of the people. It also provided for the election of State officers on the day appointed for tlie vote upon the constitution ; and the legislature chosen at that election elected two gentle- men, Messrs. Fishback and Baxter, as United States Senators, and also Representatives. These gentlemen presented their credentials at Washington, whereupon Mr. Sumner offered the following resolution in the Senate : — Resolved, That a State pretending to secede from the Union, and bat- tling against tlie General Government to maintain that position, must be regarded as a rebel State, subject to military occupation, and -without representation on this floor, until it has been readmitted by a vote of both Houses of Congress ; and the Senate will decline to entertain any appli- cation from any such rebel State until after such a vote of both Houses. The whole matter was referred to the Judiciary Com- mittee, who, without adopting the views of Mr. Sumner's resolution, reported on the 27th of June that on the tiicts it did not appear that the rebellion was so far suppressed in Arkansas as to entitle the State to representation in Con- gress, and that therefore Messrs. Fishback and Baxter were not entitled to seats as Senators from the State of Arkansas. And the Senate on the next day adopted their report by a vote of twenty-seven to six. In the Hous.-, meanwhile, the Committee on Elections, to whom the application oTthe Arkansas members had been referred, reported to postpone their admission until a com- mission could be sent to inquire into and report the facts of the election, and to create a commission for the exami- nation of all such cases. This propositioii was, however, laid on the table, and the members were not admitted. This action put to rest all question of the representation of the State in Congress till the next session. The cause of the rejection of these Senators and Repre- sentatives was, that a majority in Congress had not agreed 494 The Life, Public Services, and with the President in reference to the plan of reconstruc- tion wliich he proposed. A bill for the reconstruction of the States was introduced into the Senate, and finally passed both Houses on the last day of the session. It provided that the President should appoint, for each of the States declared in rebellion, a Provisional Governor, who should be changed with the civil administration of the State until a State Government should be organized, and such other civil officers as were necessary for the civil ad- ministration of the State ; that as soon as military resist- ance to the United States should be suppressed and the people had sufficiently returned to their obedience, the Governor should make an enrolment of the white male citizens, specifying which of them had taken the oath to support the Constitution of the United States, and if those who had taken it were a majority of the persons enrolled, he should order an election for delegates to a Constitu- tional Convention, to be elected by the loyal white male citizens of the United States aged twenty-one years and resident in the district for which they voted, or absent in the army of the United States, and who had taken the oath of allegiance prescribed by the act of Congress of July 2, 1862 ; that this convention should declare, on behalf of the peojile of the State, their submission to the Constitution and laws of the United States, and adopt the following provisions, prescribed by Congress in the execution of its constitutional duty to guarantee to every State a re- publican form of government, viz.: — First. — No person who has held or exercised any office, civil or mili- tary, except offices merely ministerial and military offices below the grade of colonel, State or Confederate, under the usurping power, shall vote for or be a member of the Legislature or Governor. Second. — Involuntary servitude is forever prohibited, and the freedom of all persons is forever guaranteed in the State. Third. — No debt, State or Confederate, created by or under the sanc- tion of the usurping power, shall be recognized or paid by the State. The bill further provided that when a constitution containing these provisions should have been framed by the convention and adopted by the popular vote, the State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 495 Grovernor sliould certify tliat fact to tlie Pr(^sident, who, after obtaining the assent of Congress, sliould recognize this Government so established as the Government of the State, and from that date senators and representatives and electors for President and Vice-President should be elected in the State. Further provisions were made for the dis- solution of the convention in case it should refuse to frame a constitution containing the above provisions, and the calling of another convention by order of the President whenever he should have reason to believe that the ma- jority were willing to adopt them ; and also for the civil administration of the State in the mean time, and the aboli- tion of slavery and the disfranchisement of rebel officers. This bill thus passed by Congress was presented to the President just before the close of the session, but was not signed by him. The reasons for his refusal to sign it he afterwards thought fit to make known, which he did by the following proclamation : — Whereas, at the late session, Congress passed a bill to guarantee to certain States whose Governments have been usurped or overthrown, a republican form of government, a copy of which is hereunto annexed. And, Whereas, the said bill was presented to the President of the United States for his approval, less than one hour before the sine die adjourn- ment of said session, and was not signed by him. And, Whereas, the said bill contains, among other things, a plan for restoring the States in rebellion to their proper practical relation in the Union, which plan expressed the sense of Congress upon that subject, and which plan it is now thought lit to lay before the people for their consideration : Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do proclaim, declare, and make known that while I am, as I was in December last, when by proclamation I propounded a plan for restoration, unpre- pared by a formal approval of this bill to bo inflexibly committed to any single plan of restoration, and while I am also unprepared to declare that the Free State Constitutions and Governments already adopted and in- stalled in Arkansas and Louisiana, shall be set aside and held for naught, thereby repelling and discouraging the loyal citizens who have set up the same as to further effort, or to declare a constitutional competency in C'ongress to abolish slavery in the States, but am at the same time sin- cerely hoping and expecting that a constitutional amendment abolishing slavery throughout the nation inay be adopted: nevertheless, I am ful\y satisfied with th .' svsteni for restoration contained in the bill, as one very 496 The Life, Public Services, and proper for the loyal people of any State choosing to adopt it, and that I am, and at all times shall be, prepared to give the Executive aid and assist- ance to any such people, so soon as the military resistance to the United States shall have been suppressed in any such State, and the people thereof shall have sufficiently returned to their obedience to the Consti- tution and the laws of the United States — in which cases Military Gov- ernors will be appointed, Avith directions to proceed according to the bill. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the City of Washington, this eighth day of July, in the [l. s.] year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-ninth. Abraham Lincoln. By the President : Wm. H. Seward, Secretary of State. The relations of the war carried on to maintain the repub- lican government of the United States, against the efforts of the slaveholding oligarchy for its overthrow, to the general interests of labor, from time to time enlisted a good deal of the thoughts of the President, and elicited from him expressions of his own sentiments on the sub- ject. On the 31st of December, 1863, a very large meet- ing of workingmen was held at Manchester, England, to express their opinion in regard to the war in the United States. At that meeting an address to President Lincoln was adopted, expressing the kindest sentiments towards this country, and declaring that, since it had become evi- dent tliat the destruction of slavery was involved in the overthrow of the rebellion, their sympathies had been thoroughly and heartily with the Government of the United States in the prosecution of the war. This ad- dress was forwarded to the President through the Amer- ican Minister in London, and elicited the following re- EsEctmvE Mansion, WAsniNGTON, January 19, 1?63. To tJie Worlcingmen of Manchester : I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the address and reso- lutions which you sent me on the eve of the new year. When I came, on the 4th of March, 1861, through a free and constitutional election, to preside in the Government of the United States, the country was found State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 4'J7 at the verge of civil war. ^'h.itcver uiight luivt; \>vvu lliu cause, or whosesoever the fault, one duty, paramount to all others, was before ine, namely, to maintain and preserve at once the Constitution and tlic inte^'- rity of the Federal Republic. A conscientious purpose to perform tbis^ duty is' the key to all the measures of administration which have been, and to all which will iiereafter be pursued. Under our frame of govern- ment and my official oath, I could not depart from this purpose if 1 would. It is not always in the power of Governments to enlarge or re- Btrict the scope of moral results which follow the policies that they may deem it necessary, for the public safety, from time to time to adopt. I have understood well that the duty of self-preservation rests solely with the American people. But I have at the same time been aware that favor or disfavor of foreign nations might have a material influence in enlarging or prolonging the struggle with disloyal men in which the country is engaged. A fair examination of history has served to author- ize a belief that the past actions and influences of the United States were generally regarded as having been heneficial towards mankind. I have, therefore, reckoned, upon the forbearance of nations. Circumstances— to some of which you kindly allude — induced me especially to expect that if justice and good faith should be practised by the United States, they would encounter no hostile influence on the part of Great Britain. It is now a Y)leasant duty to acknowledge the demonstration you have given of your desire that a spirit of amity and peace towards this country may prevail in the councils of your Queen, who is respected and esteemed in your own country only more than she is by the kindred nation which has its home on this side of tlxe Atlantic. I know and deeply deplore the siifl"erings which the workingmen at Manchester, and in all Europe, are called to endure in this crisis. It has been often and studiously represented that the attempt to overthrow this Government, which was built upon the foundation of human rights, and to substitute for it one which should rest exclusively on the basis of hu- man slavery, was likely to obtain the favor of Europe. Through the action of our disloyal citizens, the workingmen of Europe have been subjected to severe trials, for the purpose of forcing their sanction to that attempt. Under the circumstances, I cannot but regard your decisive utterances upon the question as an instance of sublime Christian heroism, which has not been surpassed in any age or in any country. It is indeed an energetic and reinspiring assurance of the inherent power of truth, and of the ultimate and universal triumph of justice, humanity, and free- dom. I do not doubt that the sentiments you have expressed will be sustained by your great nation ; and on the other hand, I have no hesita- tion in assuring you that they will excite admiration, esteem, and the most reciprocal feelings of friendship among the American people. I hail this interchange of sentiment, therefore, as an augury that whatever else may happen, whatever misfortune may befall your country or my 32 498 The Life, Public Services, anl» own, the peace and friendship wliich now exist between the two nations will be, as it shall be my desire to make them, perpetual. Abraham Lincoln. The workingmen of London held a similar meeting at about the same time, and took substantially the same action. The President made the following response to their address : — Executive Mansion, Febi-uary 2, 18G3. To the Workingmen of London : I have received the New Year's Address which you have sent me, with a sincere appreciation of the exalted and humane sentiments by which it was inspired. As these sentiments are manifestly the enduring support of the free institutions of England, so I am sure also that they constitute the only reliable basis fur free institutions throughout the world. The resources, advantages, and powers of the American people are vcrv great, and they have consequently succeeded to equally great respon- sibilities. It seems to have devolved upon them to test whether a gov- ^■rnnient established on the principles of human freedom can be main- tained against an effort to build one upon the exclusive fouiidation of tiuman bondage. They will rejoice with me in the new evidences which your proceedings furnish, that the magnanimity they are exliibiting is justly estimated by tlie true friends of freedom and humanity in foreign countries. Accept my best wishes for yoijr individual welfare, and for the welfare and happiness of the whole British people. Abraham Lincoln. On the 21st of March, 1864, a committee from the Work- ingmen' s Association of the City of New York waited upon the President and delivered an address, stating the general objects and purposes of the Association, and re- questing that he would allow his name to be enrolled among its honorary members. To this address the Pres- ident made the following reply : — Gentlemen of the Committee : — The honorary membership in your association, as generously tendered, is gratefully accepted. You comprehend, as your address shows, that the existing rebellion means more and tends to do more than the perpetuation of African sla- very — that it is, in fact, a war upon the rights of all working people. Partly to show that this view has not escaped my attention, and partly State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 400 that I cannot better express myself, I read a pussiigc from tlicjiiessa"-e to Congress in December, 1861 : — "It continues to develop that the insurrection is largely, if not ox- chisively, a war npon the first principle of popular government, the righta of the people. Conclusive evidence of tliis is found in the most gravo and maturely considered public docninents, as well as in the general tone of the insurgents. In those documents we find the al)ridgnient of the existing right of suffrage, and the denial to the people of all right to par- ticipate in the selection of public officers, except the legislative, boldly advocated, with labored argument to jirove that large control of tiie people in government is the source of all political evil. Monarchy itself is sometimes hinted at as a possible refuge from the power of the people. "In my present position 1 could scarcely be justified were I to omit raising a warning voice against this approach of returning despotism. " It is not needed, nor fitting here, that a general argument should be made in favor of popular institutions; but there is one point, with its connections, not so hackneyed as most others, to which I ask a brief at- tention. It is the efibrt to place capital on an equal footing, if not above lahor^ in the structure of government. It is assumed that labor is avail- able only in connection with capital; that nobody labors unless some- body else, owning capital, somehow by the use of it induces him to labor. This assumed, it is next considered whether it is best that capital shall hire laborers, and thus induce them to work by their own consent, or buy them, and drive them to it without their consent. Having proceeded so far, it is naturally concluded that all laborers are either hired laborers, or what we call slaves. And, further, it is assumed that whoever is once a hired laborer, is fixed in that condition for life. Now there is no suca relation between capital and labor as assumed, nor is there any such thing as a free man being fixed for life in the condition of a hired laborer. Both these assumptions are false, and all infei'ences from them are groundless. "Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher considera- tion. Capital has its rights, which are as worthy of protection as any other rights. Nor is it denied that there is, and probably always will be, a relation between capital and labor, producing mutual benefits. The error is in assuming that the whole labor of a community exists within that relation. A few men own capital, and that few avoid labor them- selves, and, with their capital, hire or buy another few to labor for them. A large majority belong to neither class — neither work for others, nor have others working for them. In most of the Southern States, a major- ity of the whole people, of all colors, are neither slaves nor masters ; while in the Northern, a large majority are neither hirers nor hired. Men with their families — -wives, sons, and daughters — work for tliemselves. on their farms, in their houses, and in their shops, taking the whole product to themselves, and asking no favors of capital on the one hand, nor of hired laborers or slaves on the other. It is not forgotten that a considerable number of persons mingle their own labor with capital ; that is, they labor with their own hands, and also buy or hire others to labor for them, but this is only a mixed and not a distinct class. No principle stated is disturbed by the existence of this mixed class. "Again, as has already been said, there is not, of necessity, any such thing as the free hired laborer being fixed to that condition for life. Many independent men everywhere in these States, a few years back in 600 The Life, Public Services, and their lives, were hired laborers. The prudent penniless beginner in the world labors for wages a while, saves a snri)lus with which to buy tools or land for himself, then labors on his own account another while, and at length hires another new beginner to help him. This is the just and generous and prosperous system which opens the way to all — gives hope to all, and consequent energy and progress, and improvement of condi- tion to all. No men living are more worthy to be trusted than those who toil up from poverty — none less inclined to touch or take aught which they have not honestly earned. Let them beware of surrendering a political power they already possess, and which, if surrendered, will surely be used to close the door of advancement against sucli as they, and to fix new disabilities and burdens upon them, till all of liberty shall be lost." The views then expressed remain unchanged, nor have I much to add. None are so deeply interested to resist the present rebellion as the work- ing people. Let them beware of prejudices, working division and hos- tility among thmselves. The most notable feature of a disturbance in your city last summer was the hanging of some working people by other working people. It should never be so. The strongest bond of human sympathy, outside of the family relation, should be one uniting all work- ing people, of all nations, and tongues, and kindreds. Nor should this lead to a war upon property, or the owners of property. Property is the fruit of labor ; property is desirable ; is a positive good in the world. That some should be rich shows that others may become rich, and, hence, is just encouragement to industry and enterprise. Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another, but let him labor diligently and build one for liimself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built. The President had always taken a deep interest in the volunteer movements of benevolent people throughout the country, for relieving the sufferings of the sick and wounded among our soldiers. A meeting of one of these organizations, the Christian Commission, was held at Washington, on the 22d of February, 1863, to which President Lincoln, unable to attend and preside, ad- dressed the following letter : — ExEC0TivE Mansion, Fehr^iary 22, ISfiS. Rev. Alexander Reed : My Dear Sir: — Your note, by which you, as General Superintendent of the United States Cliristian Commission, invite me to preside at a meeting to be held this day, at the hall of the House of Representatives in this city, is received. While, for reasons which I deem sufficient, I must decline to preside, I cannot withhold my approval of the meeting, and its worthy objects. Whatever shall be, sincerely and in God's name, devised for the good State Papers of Abrauam Lincoln. 501 of the soldiers and seamen in tlieir hard splieres of duty, can scarcely fail to be blessed. And whatever shall tend to turn our tlioTlj^hts from the unreasoning and uncharitable passions, prejudices, and jealousies incident to a great national trouble such as ours, and to fix them on the vast and long-enduring consequences, for weal or for woe, wliicli ;irc to result from the struggle, and especially to strengthen our reliance on the Supreme Being for the final triumph of the right, cannot but be well for us all. The birthday of Washington and the Christian Salihath coinciding this year, and suggesting together tlie highest interests of tliis life and of that to come, is most propitious for the meeting proposed. Your obedient servant, • A. Lincoln. On tlie 16th of March, 1864, at the close of a fan- in Washington, given at the Patent Otfice, for thehencfit of the sick and wounded soldiers of the army. President Lincoln, happening to be present, in response to lond and contimions calls, made the following remarks : — Ladies akd Gentlemen : — I appear to say but a word. This extraor- dinary war in which we are engaged falls heavily upon all clases of peo- ple, bnt the most heavily upon the soldier. For it has been said, all that a man hath will he give for his life; and while all contribute of their substance, the soldier puts his life at stake, and often yields it up in liis country's cause. The highest merit, then, is due to the soldier. In this extraordinary war, extraordinary developments have manifested themselves, such as have not been seen in former wars ; and among these manifestations nothing has been more remarkable than these fairs for the relief of suffering soldiers and their families. And the chief agents in these fairs are the women of America. I am not accustomed to the use of language of eulogy; I have never studied the art of paying compliments to women ; but I must say, that if all that has been said by orators and poets since the creation of the world in praise of women were applied to the women of America, it would not do them justice for their conduct during this war. I will close by saying, God bless the women of America! Still another occasion of a similar character occurred at Baltimore on the 18th of April, at the opening of a fair for the benefit of the Sanitary Commission. The President accepted an invitation to attend the opening exercises, and made the following remarks : — Ladies and Gentlemen : — Calling to mind that we are in Baltimore, we cannot fail to note that the world moves. Looking upon these many people assembled here to serve, as they best may, the soldiers of the 502 The Lifb, Public Services, and Union, it occurs at once that three years ago the same soldiers could not so much as pass through Baltimore. The change from then till now is both great and gratifying. Blessings on the brave men who have wrought the change, and the fair women who strive to reward them for it ! But Baltimore suggests more than could happen within Baltimore, The change within Baltimore is part only of a far wider change. When the war began, three years ago, neither party, -nor any man, expected it would last till now. Each looked fur the end, in some way, long ere to- day. Neither did any anticipate that domestic slavery would be much affected by the war. But here we are ; the war has not ended, and slavery has been much atTected— how much needs not now to be re- counted. So true is it that man proposes and God disposes. But we can see the past, though we may not claim to have directed it ; and seeing it, in this case, we feel more hopeful and confident for the future. The world has never had a good definition of the word liberty, and the American people, just now, are much in want of one. We all de- clare for liberty; but in using tlie same word we do not all mean the same thing. With some the word liberty may mean for each man to do as he pleases with himself, and the product of his labor ; while with others the same word may mean for some men to do as they please with other men, and the product of other men's labor. Ilere are two, not only different, but incompatible tilings, called by the same name, liberty. And it follows that each of the things is, by the respective parties, called by two different and incompatible names — liberty and tyranny. The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep's throat, for which the sheep thanks the sliepherd as his liberator, while the wolf denounces him for the same act, as the destroyer of liberty, especially as the sheep was a black one. Plainly, the sheep and the wolf are not agreed upon a definition of the word liberty ; and precisely the same difference prevails to-day among us human creatures, even in the North, and all professing to love liberty. Hence we behold the process by which thousands are daily passing from under the yoke of bondage hailed by some as the advance of liberty, and bewailed by others as the destruction of all liberty. Recently, as it seems, the people of Maryland have been doing something to define liberty, and thanks to them that, in what they have done, the wolf's dictionary has been repudiated. It is not very becoming for one in my position to make speeches at great length; but there is another subject upon which I feel" that I ought to say a word. A painful rumor, true, I fear, has reached us, of the massacre, by the rebel forces at Fort Pillow, in the west end of Tennessee, on the Mississippi River, of some three hundred colored sol- diers and white oflScers, who had just been overpowered by their assail- ants. There seems to be some anxiety in the public mind whether the Government is doing its duty to the colored scjldier, and to the service, State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 503 at this point. At the beginning of tiic war, and for some time, the uhc of colored troops was not contemphited ; and h(jw tlie change of ])iirpoKo was wrought, I will not now take time to explain. Upon a clear con- viction of duty, I resolved to turn that element of sti'ength to account ; and I am responsible for it to the American i)eople, to the Christian world, to history, and on ray final account to God. Having determined to use the negro as a soldier, there is no way but to give liira all the protection given to any other soldier. The difficulty is not in stating the principle, but in practically applying it. It is a mistake to suppose the Government is indiflerent to this matter, or is not doing the best it can in regard to it. We do not to-day Icnow that a colored soldier, or white officer commanding colored soldiers, has been massacred by the rebels when made a prisoner. We fear it, believe it, I may say, but we do not l-now it. To take the life of one of their prisoners on the. assump- tion that they murder ours, when it is short of certainty tliat they do murder ours, might be too serions, too cruel a mistake. We are having the Fort Pillow aliair thoroughly investigated; and such investigation will probably show conclusively how the truth is. If, after all that has been said, it shall turn out that there has been no massacre at Fort Pillow, it W'ill be almost safe to say there has been none, and will he none elsewhere. If there has been tlie massacre of three hundred there, or even the tenth part of three hundred, it will be conclusively provin ; and being so proven, the retribution shall as surely come. It will be matter of grave consideration in what exact course to apply the retribu- tion ; but in he supposed case, it must come. In June, tlie President attended a similar fair at Phila- delphia, one of the largest that was held in all the coun- try. At a supper given to him there, the health of the President having been proposed as a toast, the President said in acknoAvledgment : — T suppose that this toast is intended to open the way for me to say sometliing. War at the best is terrible, and this of ours in its magnitude and duration is one of the most terrible the world has ever known. It has deranged bilsiness totally in many places, and perhaps in all. It has destroyed property, destroyed life, and ruined homes. It has produced a national debt and a degree of taxation unprecedented in the history of this country. It has caused mourning among us until the heavens may almost be said to be hung in black. And yet it continues. It has had accompaniments not before known in the history of the woi-ld. I mean the Sanitary and Christian Commissions, with their labors for the relief (jf the soldiers, and the Volunteer Refreshment Saloons, understood better by those who hear me than by myself— (applause)— and these fairs, first begun at Chicago and next held in Boston, Cincinnati, and other cities. The motive 504 The Life, Public Services, and and object that lie at the bottom of them is worthy of tbe most that we can do for the soldier who goes to fight the battles of his country. From the fair and tender hand of women is much, very much dbne for the soldier, continually reminding him of the care and thought for him at home. The knowledge that he is not forgotten is grateful to his heart. (Applause.) Another view of these institutions is worthy of thought. They are voluntary contributions, giving proof that the national resources are not at all exhausted, and that the national patriotism will sustain us through all. It is a pertinent question. When is this war to end ? I do not wish to name a day when it will end, lest the end should not come at the given time. "We accepted this war, and did not begin it. (Deafening applause.) We accepted it for an object, and when that object is accom- plished the war will end, and I hope to God that it will never end until that object is accomplished. (Great applause.) We are going through with our task, so far as I am concerned, if it takes us three years longer. I have not been in the habit of making predictions, but I am almost tempted now to hazard one. I will. It is, that Grant is this evening in a position, with Meade and Hancock, of Pennsylvania, whence he can never be dislodged by the enemy until Richmond is taken. If I shall discover that General Grant may be greatly facilitated in the capture of Richmond, by rapidly pouring to him a large number of armed men at the briefest notice, will you go ? (Cries of " Yes.") Will you march on with him ? (Cries of " Yes, yes.") Then I shall call upon you when it is necessary. (Laughter and applause, during which the President retired from the table.) It became manifest, soon after the commencement of the war, that its progress would inevitably have the effect of freeing very many, if not all, the slaves of the South- ern States. The President's attention was therefore directed at an early day to the proper disposition of those who should thus be freed. As his messages show, he was strongly in favor of colonizing them, with their own consent, in some country where they coilld be relieved from the embarrassments occasioned by the hostile preju- dices of the whites, and enter upon a career of their own. In consequence of his urgent representations upon this subject, Congress at its session of 1862 passed an act pla- cing at his disposal the sum of six hundred thousand dol- lars, to be expended, in his discretion, in removing, with their own consent, free persons of African descent to some country which they might select as adapted to their con- dition and necessities. On the 14th of August, 1862, the President received a State Papers of Ap.raiiam Lincoln. 505 dopiitation of colored persons, Avitli Avlioiii he liad an inter- view on tlie subject, of wliicli one of the parties interested has made the following record :— WAsniyoTON, ThxirRdaij, August 14, 1SC2. This afternoon the President of the United States gave an aiulieiioe to a committee of colored men at the White House. Tliey were introduced by Rev. J. Mitchell, Commissioner of Emigration. E. M. Thomas, the chairman, remarked that they were there by invitation to hear wliat tlio Executive liad to say to them. Having all been seated, the President, after a few preliminary observa- tions, informed them that a sum of money had been appropriated by Con- gress, and placed at his disposition, for the purpose of aiding the coloniza- tion in some country, of the people, or a portion of them, of African descent, thereby making it his duty, as it had for a long time been his in- clination, to favor that cause. And why, he asked, should the people of your race be colonized, and where ? Why should they leave this country? This is, perhaps, the first question for proper consideration. You and we are different races. We have between ns a broader difference than exists between almost any other two races. Whether it is right or wrong I need not discuss; but this physical difference is a great disadvantage to us both, as I think. Your race suffer very greatly, many of them by living among us, while ours suffer from your presence. In a word, we suffer on each side. If this is admitted, it affords a reason, at least, why we should be separated. You here are freemen, I suppose. A voice — Yes, sir. The President — Perhaps you have long been free, or all your lives. Your race are suffering, in my judgment, the greatest wrong inflicted on any people. But even when you cease to be slaves, you are yet far re- moved from being placed on an equality with the white race. You are cut off from many of the advantages which the other race enjoys. The aspiration of men is to enjoy equality with the best when free, but on this broad continent not a single man of your race is made the equal of a single man of ours. Go where you are treated the best, and the ban is still upon you. I do not propose to discuss this, but to present it as a fact, with which we have to deal. I cannot alter it if I would. It is a fact about which we all think and feel alike, I and you. We look tp our con- dition. Owing to the existence of the two races on this continent, I need not recount to you the effects upon white men, growing out of the insti- tution of slavery. I believe in its general evil effects on the white race. See our present condition— the country engaged in war ! our white men cutting one another's throats — none knowing how far it will extend — and then consider what we know to be the truth. But for your race among ns there could not be war, althougli many men engaged on either side do not care for you one way or the other. Xeverlheless, I repeat, without 506 The Life, Public Services, and the institution of slavery, and the colored race as a basis, the war conld not have an existence. It is better for us both, tlierefore, to be separated. I know that there are free men among you who, even if they could better their condition, are not as much inclined to go out of the country as those who, being slaves, could obtain their freedom on this condition. I suppose one of the principal difficulties in the way of colonization is, that the free colored man cannot see that his comfort would be advanced by it. You may believe that you can live in "Washington, or elsewhere in the United States, the rcTnainder of your life ; perhaps more so than you can in any foreign country; and hence yon may come to the conclusion that you have nothing to do with the idea of going to a foreign country. This is (I speak in no unkind sense) an extremely selfish view of the case. But you ought to do something to help those who are not so fortunate as your- selves. There is an unwillingness on the part of our people, harsh as it may be, for you free colored people to remain with us. J^ow if you could give a start to the white people, you would open a wide door for many to be made free. If we deal with those who are not free at the beginning, and whose intellects are clouded by slavery, we have very poor material to start with. If intelligent colored men, such as are before me, would move in this matter, much might be accomplished. It is exceedingly im- portant that we have men at the beginning capable of thinking as white men, and not those who have been systematically oppressed. Tliere is much to encourage you. For the sake of your race you should sacrifice something of your present comfort for the purpose of being as grand in that respect as the white people. It is a cheering thought throughout life, that something can be done to ameliorate the condition of those Avho have been subject to the hard usages of^he world. It is difficult to make a man miserable while he feels he is Avorthy of himself and claims kindred to the great God who made him. In the American Eevolutionary War sacrifices were made by men engaged in it, but they were cheered by the future. General "Washington himself endured greater physical hardsliips than if lie had remained a British subject, yet he was a happy man, be- cause he was engaged in benefiting his race ; in doing something for the children of his neighbors, having none of his own. The colony of Liberia has been in existence a long time.- In a certain sense, it is a success. The old President of Liberia, Eoberts, has just been with me, the first time I ever saw liim. lie says they have within the boimds of that colony between three and four hundred thousand people, or more than in some of our old States, sucli as Rhode Island or Delaware, or in some of our newer States, and less than in some of onr larger ones. They are not all American colonists or their descendants. Something less than twelve thousand have been sent thither from this country. Many of the original settlers have died, yet, like people elsewhere, tlieir oftspring outnumber those deceased. The question is, if the colored i)eople ai'e persnaded to go anywhere, why not there? One reason for unwillingness to do so is, that some of you would rather remain within reach of the State Papers op Abiiaiiam Lincoln. o07 country of your nativity. I do not knowliow mucli attuciiinent you may have towards our race. It does not strike ino that you have tlie greatest reason to love them. But still you are attached to them at all events. The i)lace I am thinking about having for a colony, is in Central America. It is nearer to us tliaii Liberia — not nmch more than oiie-fourth as fur as Liberia, and within seven days' run by steamers. T^nlike Liberia, it is a great line of travel — it is a highway. The country is a very excellent one for any people, and with great natural resources and advantages, and espe- cially because of the similarity of climate with your native soil, thus being suited to your physical condition. The particular place I have in view is to be a great highway from the Atlantic or Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean, and this particular place has all the advantages for a olitical affairs in Central America are not in quite as satisfactory condition as I wish. There are contending factions in that quarter ; but it is true, all the factions are agreed alike on the subject of colonization, and want it, and are more generous than we are here. To your colored race they have no objection, l^esides, I would endeavor to have you made equals, and have the best assurance that you should be the equals of the best. The practical thing I want to ascertain is, whether I can get a uiimber of able- bodied men, with their wives and children, v\iio are willing to go, when 508 The Life, Public Services, and I present evidence of encourairement and protection. Could I get a hun- dred tolerably intelligent men, with their wives and children, and able to " cut their own fodder," so to speak ? Can I have fifty? If I could tind twenty-live able-bodied men, with a mixture of women and children- good things in the family relation, I think— I could make a successful commencement. I want you to let me know whether this can he done or not. This is the practical part of my wish to see you. These are sub- jects of very great importance — worthy of a month's study, of a speech delivered in an hour. I ask you, then, to consider seriously, not pertain- ing to yourselves merely, nor for your race and ours for the present time, but as one of the things, if successfully managed, for the good of mankind — not confined to the present generation, but as " From age to age descends the lay To millions yet to be. Till far its echoes roll away Into eternity." The above is merely given as the substance of the President's remarks. The chairman of the delegation briefly replied, that " they would hold a consultation, and in a short time give an answer." The President said, " Take your full time — no hurry at all." The delegation then withdrew. In pursuance of his plans of colonization, an agreement was entered into by the President, September 12, 1862, with A. W. Thompson, for the setlement, by free colored emigrants from the United States, of a tract of country within the Republic of New Grenada— the region referred to by the President in his remarks quoted above ; and the Hon. S. E. Pomeroy, a senator from Kansas, proposed to accompany and superintend the expedition. The sum of twenty -live thousand dollars was advanced to him from the colonization fund, but it was soon after discovered that the Government of New Grenada objected to the landing of these emigrants upon its territory, and the project was abandoned. In April, 1863, an agreement was made with responsible and highly respectable parties in New York for the colo- nization of He a Yache, within the Republic of Hayti, of which a ftivorable grant had been made by the Govern- ment — and which was represented in the published report of the Commissioner of Emigration in the Department of <' StxVte Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 5U9 the Interior, as being in every Avay adai^ttcd to tlie culture of cotton and other tropical products, and as eminently favorable for such an experiment. The Government agreed to pay fifty dollars each for the removal of the consenting emigrants thither — payment to be made on ofhcial certiticate of their arrival. The contractors fulfilled their portion of the agreement with lidelity, and to the utmost extent of their ability ; but after an expenditure of about eighty thousand dollars, it was discovered that the representations of the fertility of the island had been utterly unfounded, and that the enterprise was hopeless. The agent of the company, moreover, through whom the Government had made the original contract, proved to be utterly untrustworthy and incapable, and was removed. The Government at last brought the negroes back to the United States, but incurred no additional expense, as it declined to pay the contractors the stipulated sum for the removal of the emigrants, or to reimburse them any por- tion of the moneys expended in the enterprise. No further experiments were made in the matter of col- onization ; but the disposition and employment of the negroes engaged a good deal of the attention and solicitude of the Government. When the rebellion first broke out there were many persons who insisted upon the instant emancipation of the slaves, and their employment in arms against the rebels of the Southern States. Public senti- ment, however, was by no means prepared for the adop- tion of such a measure. The Administration, upon its advent to power, was compelled to encounter a wide- spread distrust of its general purposes in regard to slavery, and especial pains were taken by the agents and allies of the rebellion to alarm the sensitive apprehensions of the Border States upon this subject. The President, there- fore, deemed it necessary, in order to secure that unity of sentiment without which united and effective action against the rebellion was felt to be impossible, to exclude from the contest all issues of a secondary nature, and to fasten the attention and thought of the whole countr}- upon the paramount end and aim of the war — the restora- 510 The Life, Public Services, and tion of the Union and the authority of the Constitution of the United States. How steadily and carefully this policy was pursued, the preceding pages of this record will show. But as the war went on, and the desjjerate tenacity of the rebel resistance became more manifest — as the held of operations, both military and political, became enlarged, and the elements of the rebel strength were better under- stood, the necessity of dealing with the question of slavery forced itself upon the people and the Government. The legislation of Congress, from time to time, represented and embodied these advancing phases of public opinion. At the extra session of 1861 a law was passed, discharging from slavery every slave who should be required or per- mitted by his master to take up arms against the United States, or to be employed in any military capacity in the rebel service. At the next session the President was authorized to employ persons of African descent in the sup- pression of the rebellion, "insucli manner as he should judge best for the public welfare," and also to issue a proclamation commanding all persons in rebellion against the United States to lay down their arms and return to their allegiance ; and if any persons so warned should be found in rebellion thirty days after the date of such proc- lamation, the President was authorized to set free their slaves. Under these comprehensive acts the President took such steps on the subject as he believed the necessities of the country required, and as the public sentiment of the country would sustain. The Emancipation Proclama- tion was issued on the 1st of January, 1863, and measures were adopted soon afterwards to provide for the changes which it made inevitable. On the 20tli of January, the Secretary of War authorized Governor Andrew, of Mas- sachusetts, to enlist volunteers for three years, and to in- clude persons of African descent, organized into a separate corps. In April, negro troops were enlisted by Adjutant- General Thomas for service in Arkansas, and on the 15th of that month he issued an order appointing commissioners to superintend the execution of a policy which the Gov- ernuKMit had adopted for committing the protection of the State Papers of Aluiaham Lincoln. 511 banks of tlie Mississippi to a negro force. On tli(3 22(1 of May, orders AV(^ro issued by the Secretary of War creating a Bureau of the War Department for all luatlci's relating to the organization of colored troops, and estal) lishing rules for their enlistment, and for the ai)i)()int- ment of officers to command them. And on the 2()th of August, Hon. J. Holt, Judge- Advocate General, sent to the President an official opinion, to the efiect that, under the laws of Congress on the subject, he had full authority to enlist slaves for service in the army precisely as he might enlist any other persons—providing for compensa- tion to loyal owners whose property might thus be taken for the public service. These Avere the initial steps of a movement for the employment of negro troops, which has gone forward steadily ever since, until, as has been seen from the President's Message, over one hundred thousand negro soldiers were already in the army of the United States, contributing largely, by their courage and good conduct, to the suppression of the rebellion, which sought the perpetual enslavement of their race. The pojDular preju dice against their employment in the army, which was so potent at the beginning, gradually gave way, even in the slaveholding States, to a more just estimate of the necessities of the emergency and the capacities of the negro race. And what was of still more importance to the welfare of the country, the people of the slavehold- ing States took up the question of slavery for discussion and practical action, as one in which their own well- being, present and prospective, was deeply involved. The Union party in every Southern State favored the abolition of slavery, and in Missouri, Maryland, Louisi- ana, and Arkansas, measures were speedily taken for the overthrow of an institution which had proved so detri- mental to their interests, and so menacing to the unity of the nation and the stability of republican institutions. In all of them Constitutional Conventions were held, and clauses inserted in the constitutions which were adopted, utterly abolishing slavery ; and these constitu- ol2 The Life, Public Services, and tions were all submitted to the popular vote, with the following results : — For. Against. Maryland 30,174 29,799 Louisiana 6,836 1,566 Arkansas 12,177 226 Missouri 43,670 41,808 In the latter State, the Constitution ado]Dted in 1864 was, by a new Convention, held in January, 1865, revised and amended, and submitted to the popular vote on June 6, 1805, and ratified as above. State Papeus of Abraham Lincoln. 513 CHAPTER XVII. MILITAEY EVENTS OF THE SPRING AND SUMMER OF 18 G4. Battle of Oltstke.— Kii patj:ick\s Raid on Riciimond. — TnK Red Rivku Expedition. — The Fort Pillow Massacre. — Rebel Atrocities. — Gen- eral Grant's Advance tpon Richmond. — Battles in May. — Sher- man's March to Atlanta. — Rep.el Raids in Maryland and Ken- tucky. — Siege of Petersburg. — Martial Law in Kentucky. — Draft for 500,000 Men. — Capture of Mobile and Atlanta. The position of the two great armies of tlie United States at tlie opening of the year 1864 plainly indicated that the main interest of the military movements of the year was to be with the Army of the Potomac, which lay aronnd Culpepper Conrt-Honse, still looking towards Richmond with unfaltering determination ; and with the great Army of the West, which was gathering around Chattanooga for its long and perilous soutliward march. During the month of January little was done anywhere except to prepare for the coming campaign. Neither of the grand armies made any movement during Febiuary or March, but some smaller expeditions were set on foot. As early as the 15th of December, 1863, Greneral Gill- more, commanding the Department of the South, had aj)plied to the Grovernment for permission to send an expedition into Florida, for the purpose of cutting off supplies of the enemy ; and in January, in urging the matter still further upon the attention of General Halleck, he suggested that measures imght be also inaugurated for restoring the State of Florida to her allegiance under the terms of the President's Proclamation. General Gillmore was authorized to take such action in the matter as he should deem proper ; and he accordingly organized an expedition, which left Port Royal on the 5tli of Feb- ruary, under General Seymour, and was followed soon afterwards by General Gillmore himself — to whom, ou 33 514. The Life, Public Sekvices, and the 13th of January, the President had addressed tie following letter : — Executive Mansion, WASniNGTON, January IZ, 1S64. Major-General Gillmore: I uiKlerstand an effort is being made by some wortby gentlemen to reconstruct a legal State Government in Florida. Florida is in your Department, and it is not unlikely you may be there in person. I bave given Mr. Hay a commission of major, and sent him to you, with some ank-books and other blanks, to aid in the reconstruction. He will ex- plain as to the manner of using the blanks, and also my general views on the suliject. It is desirable for all to co-operate, but if irreconcilable differences of opinion shall arise, you are master. I wish the thing done in the most speedy way, so that when done it be within the range of the late proclamation on the subject. The detail labor will, of course, have to be done by others ; but I will be greatly obliged if you will give it such general supervision as you can find consistent with your more strictly military duties. ' Abraham Lincoln. The advance portion of the expedition reached Jack- sonviHe on the 8th of February. General Gillmore re- turned to Port Koyal on the 16th, leaving the command of the expedition to General Seymour. The first opera- tions were successful. Near Jacksonville one hundred prisoners, with eight pieces of serviceable artillery, fell into our hands, and expeditions were pushed forward into the interior, by which large amounts of stores and supplies were destroyed. On the 17th, General Seymour, with five thousand men, was on the Florida Central Railroad, about forty-five miles from Jacksonville. Here they remained until the 20th, when the preparations for a movement toAvards Lake City were completed. The enemy was found in force, a little before reaching Lake City, at Olustee, a small station on the railroad. The engagement was commenced between the enemy' s skir- mishers and our advance. The fire directed against our men was so hot that they were compelled to fall back ; then we brought two batteries to bear on the enemy, and our whole force became engaged with more than twice their number of the rebels, who occupied a strong posi- tion, flanked bv a marsh. Agaki we retreated, taking State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 51-3 another position ; but it was impossible to contend with a force so greatly superior, and, after a battle of three hours and a half, General Seymour retired, leaviim* his dead and severely wounded on the lield. Five guns were lost, and about a thousand men killed, wounded, and missing. On the 3d of February, General Sherman, with a strong force, set out from Vicksburg, in light marching order, and moved eastward. Shortly after, a cavalry expedi- tion, under General Smith, set out from Memphis, to work its way southeastward, and join Sherman some- where on the borders of Mississippi and Alabama. By the 18th, Smith had accomplished nearly one-half of his proposed march, but soon after found the enemy concen- trated in superior force in his front. Finding it impossi- ble to proceed, he fell back, destroying the bridges on the Memphis and Ohio Railroad in his retreat. There was continual skirmishing, but no decisive battle, during the retreat, Avhich lasted until the 25th, when the expe- dition accomplished its return to Memphis. Much dam- age was done to the enemy by the destruction of pi-operty, but the main object of making a junction with Sherman failed. Sherman went as far east as Meridian, almost on the borders of Mississippi and Alabama, and after de- stroying large quantities of rebel stores, and breaking their lines of communication, he returned to Yicksburg. Another enterprise was a raid upon Richmond, made by a large cavalry force under General Kilpatrick. Leaving his camp on the 28th of February, he crossed the Rapidan, gained the rear of Lee's army without being discovered, and pushed rapidly on in the direction of Richmond. A detachment under Colonel Dahlgren was sent from the main body to Frederick's Hall, on the Virginia Central Railroad. The road was torn up for some distance ; then the James River Canal was struck, and six grist-mills, which formed one of the main sources of supply for the Confederate army, were destroyed. Sev- eral locks on the canal were blown iip, and other dam • age done. Dahlgren' s main body then pressed onward to 516 The Life, Public Services, and wards Richmond, and came within three miles of the city, when, encountering a Confederate force, it was compelled to withdraw, Dahlgren himself being killed, and a large part of his force captured. Kilpatrick, meanwhile, pressed onward to Spottsjlvania Court-House, and thence to Beaver Dam, near v\ lun-e the two lines of railway from Richmond, those running to Gordonsville and Freder- icksburg, cross. Here the railway was torn up, and the telegraph line cut, and the cavalry pushed straight on towards Richmond. They reached the outer line of fortifications at a little past ten on the morning of the 1st of March, about three and a half miles from the city. These were fairly passed, and the second line, a mile nearer, was reached, and a desultory fire was kej)t up for poiiie hours. Towards evening Kilpatrick withdrew, and encamped six miles from the city. In the night an artillery attack was made upon the camp, and our troops retired still farther, and on the following morning took up their line of march down the Peninsula towards 'V\"illiamsburg. Several miles of railway connection of great importance to the enemy were interrupted, stores to the value of several millions of dollars were destroyed, and some hundreds of prisoners were captured, as the result of this expedition. In the early part of March, General Banks organized an expedition with all the available force of the army and navy in his department, to move up the Red River as far as Shreveport, where the rebels had large supplies, and where it was intended that he should be joined by General Steele, with the forces which he could collect in Arkansas, when the combined armies would be power- ful enough to sweep away all rebel opposition in tliat part of the State, if not in Texas. A force of about ten thousand men, under command of General A. J. Smith, left Vicksburg on the 10th of March in twenty transports, and, having joined the fleet, proceeded up the Red River. This portion of the expe- dition met with a decided success in the capture of Fort De Russey by storm, with but little loss, by which cap- State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 517 ture the river was opened to the fleet as far as Alexan- dria, where the whole expedition was united under com- mand of General Banks. On the 26th of Marcli they moved forward, meeting witli uninterrupted success, as far as Natchitoches, some eighty miles above Alexandria. But at Sabine Cross-Roads, about twenty miles farther up, they found the rebel army posted, under the command of General Dick Taylor. This resistance had not been anti- cipated : the army was not marching compactly, nor could the gunboats be of any assistance, on account of the dis- tance of the river from the road. The consequence was, that the Thirteenth Corps of our army, being too far in advance to receive proper support, was attacked by the rebels in superior force and driven back upon the Nineteenth Corps, which had formed in line of battle, and which repulsed the advancing enemy with great slaughter. This battle was fought on the 8th of April. That night General Banks determined to ftilt l)ack to Pleasant Hill, at which point two other divisions, under General A. J. Smith, had arrived. Here our forces were attacked, about five o' clock in the afternoon of the next day. The rebels at first gained some advan- tage, pressing the Nineteentli Corps back up a hill, behind the crest of which lay General Smith's troops, by whose unexpected and destructive fire the rebel lines of battle, as they came over the crest, were suddenly ar- rested. A rapid charge of the Union troops put the rebels entirely to flight, with a loss of several thousand killed and wounded, many hundred prisoners, and some guns, most of which, however, had been taken from us by the rebels the day before. Our own army, however, was so shattered in the two battles, that General Banks ordered a retreat of the entire force to Grand Ecore, some forty miles below. The water in the Red River being unusually low, and falling, it was found necessary to remove the fleet, and with it the army, still farther down the river to Alexandria. On the way down, the gunboat Eastport having got aground, had to be abandoned, and was blown up. 518 The Life, Public Services, and General Steele, in consequence of tlie retreat of Gen- eral Banks, was himself compelled to fall back to Little Rock, which he reached without much fighting, but with the loss of a good deal of material. The water in the Red River continued^ to fall until it was found that there was not water enough on the falls at Alexandria to allow the gunboats to pass over. The rebels were enabled to throw forces below, so as to impede the communication with the army by the river, and as it became evident that the army must retreat still far- ther, the gravest apprehensions were felt lest the whole fleet of twelve gunboats should be of necessity, aban- doned to the rebels, or blown up. In this extremity, a plan was devised by Lieutenant-Colonel Bailey, of the Fourth Wisconsin Cavalry, Acting Engineer of the Nine- teenth Corps, of building a series of dams on the falls, by which to raise the water sufficiently to allow the gun- boats to pass over. The plan was ridiculed by some of the best engineers ; but under the approval of Commo- dore Porter, who commanded the fleet, and General Banks, it was tried with perfect success. The dams were built within ten days, and all tlie gunboats brought safely over. Commodore Porter, in his report, says, "Words are inadequate to express the admiration I feel for Col- onel Bailey. * * -^ Leaving oat his ability as an engineer and the credit he has conferred upon the country, he has saved the Union a valuable fleet, worth nearly $2,000,000, and has deprived the enemy of a triumph which would have emboldened them to carry on this war a year or two Ipnger." Colonel Bailey was at once appointed by the President a brigadier-general for these distinguished services. After this escape, the fleet and the army retreated down the river. The fleet lost two small gunboats by rebel batteries on the way down ; but the army, though attacked several times, repulsed the rebels with consider- able loss, and crossed the Atchafalaya in safety, on the 19th of May. x\bout the time of the check which General Banks re- State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 519 ceived at Sabine Cross-Roads, the arms of the Union met with reverses in two other quarters. One of tliese was the capture of Fort Pillow, on the Mississijjpi, on the 12th of April, hj a rebel force under General Forrest, a capture marked in the history of the war by the atro- cious butchery of the garrison after the surrender of the place. The garrison was composed of about six hun- dred men under command of Major Boyd, who was killed near the close of the tight. Of these six hundred about three hundred and fifty were colored troops. The attack was commenced in the early morning, and the gar- rison were driven from some outworks into the fort itself, which they defended with the assistance of a gun- boat, till about four p. m., when the rebels made a final charge upon the fort from positions which they had occu- pied'^by taking advantage of a flag of truce sent to the fort to demand its surrender, and carried its defences by storm. The garrison thereupon threw down their arms and surrendered, but were shot down in cold blood until but few were left alive. Some were forced to stand up in line and were then shot. Some were shot when lying wounded on the ground. Women and children were shot or cut to pieces. The huts in which the sick and Avounded had taken refuge were fired over their heads, and there were stories of even darker cruelties than these. Of the white officers who commanded tlie colored troops, but two were left alive, and these were wounded. Of the garrison there were left thirty- six white men and twenty- one negroes, and forty were carried off" as prisoners. Some of the negroes saved their lives by feigning death and digging out from the thin covering of earth which the rebels had thrown over their victims. The news of this atrocity excited the deepest horror throughout the country, and there was a general call for retaliation. In order to have an authentic statement of the facts. Congress passed resolutions directing the Com mittee on the Conduct of the War to investigate the mat ter. The committee sent two of its members, Senator Wade and Mr. Gooch, to the spot. They examined many 520 The Life, Public Services, and witnesses, and on the 5tli of May made their report, with the testimony which they had taken. The report showed that this proceeding of the rebels was in pnrsuance of a policy deliberately adopted, in the expectation of driving from the ranks of the Union armies not only the negroes', but also the "home-made Yankees," as they termed the loyal Southeriiers. The massacre was referred to by the President in his speech at the opening of the Sanitary Commission Fair, in Baltimore, while it was still under investigation, and he then said that if the massacre was proved to have been committed, retribution should surely come ; nor was this the first time that the question of retaliation had been brought to his attention. In fact, as early as July, 1863, the subject had been considered, and the conclusion which was then arrived at was announced in the follow- ing General Order : — Executive Mansion, Washington, July 30, 1SG3. It is the duty of every Government to give protection to its citizens, of whatever class, color, or condition, and especially to those who are duly organized as soldiers in the public service. The law of nations and the usages and customs of war, as carried on by civilized powers, permit no distinction as to color in the treatment of prisoners of war as public enemies. To sell or enslave any captured person, on account of his color and for no offence against the laws of war, is a relapse into barbarism, and a' crime against the civilization of the age. The Government of the United States will give the same protection to all its soldiers ; and if the enemy shall sell or enslave any one because of his color, the offence shall be punished by retaliation upon the enemy's prisoners in our possession. It is therefore ordered that for every soldier of the United States killed in violation of the laws of war, a rebel soldier shall be executed ; and for every one enslaved by the enemy or sold into slavery, a rebel soldier shall he placed at hard labor on the public works, and continued at such labor until the other sliaU be released and receive the treatment due to a pris- oner of war. Abraham Lincoln. But whether from the President' s tenderness of heart, which made it very hard for him to order the execution of a rebel soldier who had himself done no special wrong, even in retaliation for such barbarities as this at Fort Pil- low, or from some other cause, the first part of this order State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 521 was never executed. The latter part of it was once carried into effect with excellent results by General Butler during the siege of Petersburg. Having learned that some of our colored troops, who had been taken prisoners, were not treated as prisoners of war, but were made to work by the rebels on their fortifications, he at once took a number of rebel officers and set them at work upon the canal, which he was digging at Dutch Gap, where they were constantly exposed to the heavy fire which the rebels kept up to check the progress of the work. This treatment proved speedily effectual. Our colored soldiers were relieved from their work on the fortifications, and the rebel officers were withdrawn from their exposed position and their weary labors. Another similar action led to a similar result. The rebels at Charleston, desirous of checking the fire of the "swamp angel" and other guns, which were making the city uninhabitable, placed some of our officers within reach of the shells, and notified our forces that they had done so. On our part a number of rebel officers of equal rank were immediately taken thither and also placed un- der fire. The only result was the exchange of the officers, and the rebels did not undertake again to defend them- selves in that way. Fort Pillow Avas not the only case of such atrocities on the part of the rebels. A some wl lat similar affair took place on tilt? 20th of April in North Carolina, on the capture of Plymouth on the Roanoke River, where a company of loyal North Carolinians and some negro troops were also mur- dered in cold blood after the surrender. The capture was mainly effected by the success of a rebel iron-clad, the Albe- marle, which was able to destroy some of our gunboats, and drive others down the river, the commander of the Mlcwii, Lieutenant Flusser, being killed by the rebound of a shell, which he had himself fired against the iron sides of the rebel vessel. .Our tieet being driven down the river, communication with our garrison in Plymouth Tv as cut off, and the place, being attacked by a heavy reljel force, was surrendered, after a gallant defence for four days, 522 The Life, Public Services, and "by-its commcander, General Wessels, Avitli its garrison of fifteen hundred men and twenty-five guns. The efFect of this success was to render the withdrawal of our troops from other places in North Carolina inevitable. The Albemarle had for a time complete control of the river, but coming down into the Sound, she was attacked by three of our wooden gunboats, and in a gallant light was so injured as to be compelled to betake herself up the river again to Plymouth, which she never left afterwards, being sunk at her moorings, on the night of the 27th of October following, by a torpedo-boat, commanded by Lieutenant Gushing. In these smaller affairs, the rebels had been able to gain some successes, owing to the policy adopted by General Grant, of concentrating our forces from all quarters to strengthen the two great anuies whose movements were to grind the Confederacy to powder. General Grant, having been appointed to the command of the armies of the United States, went to Nashville, where he issued an order announcing his assumption of the command. After making what arrangements were necessary with reference to the Western army, which he left under the command of General Sherman, he came eastward, to conduct in person the campaign against General Lee. The preparations for the coming cam- paign took time, and it was not till the third day of May that all things were ready for the forward movement. The Army of th6 Potomac remained under the special command of General Meade, and lay about Culpepper Court-House. General Burnside had been collecting a strong force, in good part colored troops, at Annapolis. Another strong force was under the command of Gen eral Butler and General Smith, at Yorktown, and yet an- other, not so strong, und(^r General Sigel, at Winchester. Burnside' s troops were put in motion, and passed through Washington on the 23d of April to a position whence they could follow the Army of the Potomac at a short distance — and all things were thus now ready for the great advance. At this time the following cor- State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 523 respondence passed between the President and General Grant : — Executive Mansion, "Washington, April 30, 1864. Lieut.-General Grant: Not expecting to see you before the spring campaign opens, I wish to express in this way my entire satisfaction with what you have done up to this time, so far as I understand it. The particulars of your plans I neither know nor seek to know. You are vigilant and self-reliant ; and, pleased with this, I wish not to obtrude any restraints or constraints upc* you. While I am very anxious that any great disaster or capture of our men in great number shall be avoided, I know that these points are less likely to escape your attention than they would be mine. If there be any thing wanting which is within my power to give, do not fail to let me know it. And now, with a brave army and a just cause, may God sustain you. Yours very truly, A. Lincoln. GRANT'S REPLY A.D-QL'AnTER8 A CULPBPl'EE COCKT-HOPSE, JJifl/ 1, 1S&4. Eead-Qi'aiitersAkmies of THE United States, I The Peesident: Your very kind letter of yesterday is just received. The confidence you express for the future and satisfaction for the past, in my military administration, is acknowledged with pride. It shall bo my earnest endeavor that you and the country shall not be disappointed. From my first entrance into the volunteer service of the country to the present day, I have never had cause of complaint; have never expressed or ini])lied a complaint against the Administration, or the Secretary of War, for tlirow- ing any embarrassment in the way of my vigorously prosecuting what appeared to be my duty. Indeed, since the promotion which placed me in command of all the armies, and in view of the great responsibility and importance of success. I have been astonished at the readiness with which every thing asked for has been yielded, without even an explanation being asked. Should my success be less than I deserve and expect, the least I can say is, the fault is not with you. Very truly, your obedient servant, U. S. Grant, Lieut.-General. The interest and anxiety witli which the people watched for the approaching movement of the army was very deep. Nor did it content itself with mere watchfulness. It took the right direction of work, and from every quarter the 524 The Life, Public Services, and liands of the Government were stayed up by tlie ^\^liiig hearts of the people. As one instance of the desire to help, which was uni- versally felt, we may mention the offer of Colonel F. B. Loomis, of New London, to garrison Fort Trumbull with citizen soldiers for one hundred days, at his own expense, thus releasing the veterans, by whom it was garrisoned, to go to the front. The President replied to thi^ offer as follows : — ExKCUTivE Mansion, Washington, May 12, 1S64. My Deae Sie: I have the liouor to acknowledge the receipt of your comimuiication of the 28th April, in which you offer to replace the present garrison at Fort Trumbull with volunteers, which you propose to raise at your own ex pcnse. While it seems inexpedient at this time to accept this proposition, on account of the special duties now devolving upon the garrison men- tioned, I cannot pass unnoticed such a meritorious instance of individual patriotism. Permit me, for the Government, to express my cordial thanks to you for this generous and public-spirited offer, which is worthy of note among the many called forth in these times of national trial. I am, very truly, your obedient servant, A. Lincoln. F. B. Loomis, Esq. It was on Monday, the 2d of May, that the forward march of the army began, and the Rapidan was crossed without opposition on Tuesday and Wednesday, by the fords lying to the east of Lee's position. General Grant, recognizing the fact that the strength of the rebellion lay not in the fortifications of Richmond, but in the ranks of Lee's army, aimed to place himself upon the southern communications of that army, and by heavy blows to destroy it. And with the very commencement of this movement he forced Lee to leave the intrenched line be- hind which he had so long faced the gathering storm, and make haste to attack his foe before he had reached his rear. This he at once did, and on Thursday the battles of the Wilderness began. The character of the ground gave every advantage to the rebels. It was all overgrown with scrub pines, with but few roads leading through it. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 5-25 They knew the ground tliorouglily, and their movements could te made unseen, while the dense woods made cav- alry and artillery almost useless. Lee' s first efibrt was to t)reak tlirough our lines between our centre under War- ren and our left under Hancock, but by great exertions this was prevented, and night came without any sub- stantial result. With the morning of Friday, General Grant assumed the offensive, and the tide of battle ebbed and flowed throughout the day. On our left, Hancock's successes in the morning were lost again by noon, but a heavy attack of the rebels upon him in the afternoon was successfully repulsed. On our right no material advan- tage of position was gained during the day ; but the death of General Wadsworth, who fell at the head of his men, was a heavy loss to us, and by a furious assault, just before night, the rebels succeeded in breaking o^ir lines, capturing General Thomas Seymour, and many of his men. The lines were, however, speedily re-established. The result was on the whole favorable to General Grant, as the rebels had failed to thoroughly break his lines or disable him for the forward movement which, on Satur- day night, after a day of skirmishing without any general engagement, he undertook, aiming at Spottsylvania Court- House. The rebels, however, becoming aAvare of his mov(^ment, moved likewise, and, having the shorter line, gained the position first, and held it against our attack during the hours of Sunday, our lines being formed about two miles and a half north of Spottsylvania. Monday was a day of skirmishing, sadly marked for us, however, by the death of General Sedgwick, who was in command of the Sixtli Corps. Night found the two armies facing each other, each behind temporary breastworks, each watchful, each determined. The news of the movement of the army was not made public until Friday morning. The vital importance of its results was everywhere felt. All eyes were at once intent upon those bloody fields, all ears eager for informa- tion of what was going on there ; and the prayers of the whole people of the North went up to God, earnest, fer 526 The Life, Public Services, and vent, full of faith, that He -would l)less the righteous cause. Official bulletins were given to the public of the results of the different days' operations as tliey slowly became known. And on Tuesday morning all hearts were thrilled with joy by the following official announcement from the President : — Executive Mansion, Washington, May 9, 1864. To the Friends of Union a/nd Liberty : Enough is known of army operations, within the last five days, to claim our special gratitude to God. While what remains undone de- mands our most sincere prayers to and reliance iipon Ilini (without whom all effort is vain), I recommend that all patriots at their homes, in their places of public worship, and wherever they may be, unite in common thanksgiving and prayer to Almighty God. Abraham Lincoln. Accompanying this recommendation were published bulletins of the results up to Saturday, the retiring of the rebels from General Grant's front, and the march of our army towards Spottsylvania. The news spread great joy everywhere, and that night a crowd of several thou- sand people marched to the White House to serenade the President, who, being called for, came out and spoke as follows : — Fellow-Citizens : — I am very much obliged to you for the compliment of this call, though I apprehend it is owing more to the good news received to-day from the army, than to a desire to see me. I am indeed very grateful to the brave men who have been struggling with the enemy in the field, to their noble commanders who have directed them, and especially to our Maker. Our commanders are following up their victo ries resolutely and successfully. I think, without knowing the particu lars of the plans of General Grant, that what has been accomplished is of more importance than at first appears. 1 believe, I know (and am especially grateful to know) that General Grant has not been jostled in his purposes, tliat lie has made all his points, and to-day he is on his line as he purposed before he moved his armies. I will volunteer to say that I am very glad at what has happened, but there is a great deal still to be done. While we are grateful to all the brave men and officers for the events of the past few days, we should, above all, be very grateful to Almighty God, who gives us victory. There is enough yet before us requiring all loyal men and patriots to State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 527 perform their share of the labor and follow the example of the modost General at the head of our armies, and sink all personal consideration for the sake of the country. I commend you to keep yourselves in the same tranquil mood that is characteristic of that brave and loyal man. I have said more than I expected when I came before you. Eepeating my thanks for this call, I bid you good-by. While the movement of the Army of the Potomac was the chief point of interest, it was not the only one. On Wednesday, May 4th, General Butler having put his troops on board a fleet of transports, made a rapid move up the James Kiver and occupied City Point and Bermuda Hundred, on hoth sides of the Appomattox River, across which pontoons were thrown— while Gen- eral Kautz, at the head of a strong force of cavalry, left Suff"olk upon a raid on the Petersburg and Weldon Rail- road—which he succeeded in cutting by destroying some bridges. General Butler also succeeded in cutting the railroad between Petersburg and Richmond, so as to pre- vent for a time the sending of re-enforcements to General Lee from the forces that were south of Richmond under Px'auregard. General Grant, meantime, had not been content with merely pounding against Lee' s front with men and with guns, of which he was now able to employ more than in tlie battles of the Wilderness. He also dispatched his cav- alry under General Sheridan round the right flank of the rebels, on the 10th of May, Avhicli, leaching the railroads, made an immense destruction of supplies prepared for Lee's army, and of locomotives and cars for their trans- portation, and which, on the 11th, routed the rebel cav- alry under General Stuart, at Yellow Tavern, in which engagement Stuart was killed ; and, pressing on yet nearer Richmond and over the first line of the works around the city, turned ofl" to tlie east, and crossing the Chickahom- iuy. reached Fortress Monroe witli little loss, having in- flicted great damage on the enemy. The 10th and 11th of May were days of hard fighting for the Army of the Potomac, of heavy losses and par- tial successes for both sides, and of attacks met and re- 528 The Life, Public Services, and pulsed, with the employment of all the resources of both armies ; and the dispatches which General Grant sent to Washington on the night of the 11th summed up the results as follows : — We have now ended the sixth day of very heavy fighting. The result to this time is much in our favor. Our losses have been heavy, as well as those of the enemy. I think the loss of the enemy must be greater. We have taken over five thousand prisoners in battle, while he has taken from us but few, except stragglers. I propose to fight it out on this line, if it takes all summer. The early light of the next morning brought results yet more in our favor ; for with the break of day, Han- cock, now on our right, fell like a thunderbolt upon the rebel intrenchments, and stormed over them, capturing several thousand prisoners, including two generals, to- gether with thirty or forty cannon, only eighteen of which, however, he was able to hold. For Lee, stung to the quick by this deadly blow, gathered all his forces to re- take the position, and five desperate charges upon it du- ring the day covered the ground with dead and wounded, ■until, when the battle was over, nearly a thousand rebel dead lay within an acre or two of ground in front of the works. The utmost exertions of the rebels were in vain, however, and they sullenly withdrew to another posi- tion. A storm now set in and enforced quiet on both armies for several days. During this time General But- ler moved forward towards Fort Darling, but on the 16tli day of May he met with a heavy blow from the rebels, who took advantage of a fog to make a successful attack, driving him from the railroad and forcing him to return to his lines at Bermuda Hundred. General Sigel, too, who had marched down the Shenandoah Valley, was met by a superior force under General Imbden, and driven back with a loss of five guns. General Kautz, however, with his cavalry, having returned from his first successful raid, set out upon a second one towards the Danville road, which he also succeeded in injuring to some extent. The Government strained every nerve to send forward State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. o'iO re-eiiforcements to General Grunt, and on the 18tli tlie fighting in front of Spottsylvania was renewed. On tlie 19th the rebels inflicted a lieayy loss u])on onr right by making an unexpected attack, in which some of our newly arrived regiments suflEered severely. This was an attempt of the rebels to cut our communications, but they failed entirely in doing. so. They had, however, by this time thrown up intrench- ments of so formidable a character that General Grant determined again to make a ilanking movement by the left. The movement was at once perceived by General Lee, and when our forces arrived at the North Anna river, the rebels were already there. They were not, however, able to prevent our forces from crossing the river, and inflicting a severe blow upon the enemy in the crossing. After crossing, however, the main body of Lee's army was discovered to have taken so strong a position be- tween the North and South Anna rivers, that General (xrant again deemed it wise not to make a direct attack, but to repeat his flanking movement. The army Avas accordingly withdrawn without loss , from Lee's front ou the niglitof Thursday, May 26th, and, moving again by the left, crossed the Pamunkey, but was again confronted by the rebel army, which, after some severe figliting, again made a stand at Coal Harbor. While here, one corps of General Butler's army, under General Smith, was transferr(>d to the Army, of the Poto- mac. Thus re-enforced, a violent but unsuccessful attack was made upon the rebel intrenchments on the 3d of June, and, after heavy losses, the attack was abandoned. Repeated efforts, however, on the part of the rebels, to turn our left, and to break up the communication which had been formed with the \yhite House, on the Pamun- key river, also failed as signally. And both armies thus remained for several days, watching each other sleep- lessly, and each preferring to receive rather than to make an attack. Otlier co-operative movements went on during all this 34 530 The Life, Public Services, and time. In Western Virginia, General Averill had made quite a successful raid upon tlie railroads. In the Shen- andoah Valley, where General Hunter had taken com- mand in place of General Sigel, our forces won a brilliant victory at Piedmont over the rebels under Generals Jones and Imboden, the former of whom was killed. Hunter captured one thousand five Inindred prisoners and three guns ; and, formiiig a junction with Crook and Averill, pushed on towards Lynchburg, which however he was unable to reach. An unsuccessful attack was made by General Butler's forces upon Petersburg on the 10th of June. On the 12th of June, General Grant, having become convinced that nothing could be gained by a direct attack upon General Lee, followed up his plan of aiming to strike Lee's southern communications by leaving his front and again marching by the left to the James river, which he crossed upon a pontoon bridge below City Point, and immediately moved forward . to the attack upon Petersburg. Again, however. General Lee, having tlie inside lines to move upon, was a few hours in advance of our troops, and, while several forts were taken on the outer lines of defences, with thirteen- cannon and some ' prisoners, in which the colored troops especially distin- guished themselves, the inner lines were found to be too strong, and our army settled itself down to the siege of Petersburg. General Sherman' s movement upon Atlanta was made at the same time as that of the Army of the Potomac. His army was superior in numbers to that which was opposed to it, but the rocky heights which were held by General John- ston were so strong that General Sherman did not waste its strength by attacking them in front, but by a series of masterly Hank movements he compelled the rebel army to retreat successively from Buzzard's Roost, from Dal- ton, and from Resaca, at which latter place there were, however, two days of heavy fighting on the 14th and 15tli of May, resulting in the capture of both guns and prisoners by our troops, the retreat of Johnston across State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 531 the Oostenaiila river, and the capture without serious opposition of Rome and Kingston, some sixty miles fur- ther on towards Atlanta. At Rome, large quantities of provisions were captured, and large machine-shops were destroyed. Johnston's retreat liad been too rapid to allow of his doing much damage to the railroad along which his army was falling back toAvards Atlanta ; and whatever damage he was enabled to do was at once repaired, and the railroad was put in use to supply our armies in their advance. The Altoona Mountains were the scene of the next stand made by the rebels. General Sherman continued the flanking system, and moved towards Dallas, where, however, he was met by the rebels, who attacked Mc- Plierson's Corps on the 28th of May, and met a disastrous repulse, losing some two thousand five hundred killed and wounded and eight hundred prisoners This move- ment having drawn the rebels from their position at the pass of the Altoona Mountains, it was occupied and held by our cavalry, becoming at once, as Geupral Sherman said, "as useful to us as it was to the enemy," and the rebels took up a new position at Kenesaw and Lost Mountain. Efforts were made by them, while Sherman was advanc- ing towards this position, to interfere with his communi- cations, and some damage was done to the railroad by rebel cavalry, which was, however, speedily driven off. A more discouraging affair, however, was the defeat of a heavy expedition, which set out from Memphis under command of General Sturges, by the rebel General For- rest, on the 10th of June. The requirements of General Sherman's position were not, however, so great but that he was able at once to make arrangements to repair this disaster. Like General Grant, he was not "jostled from his plans" by these outside manoeuvres any more than by the direct blows of the rebel army, and by the ISth of June, when Grant stationed himself before the works of Petersburg after his march of a hundred miles and his many battles, Sherman had arrived before the rebel works at Kenesaw Mountain after a similar march of 532 The Life, Public Services, and figliting and flanking the enemy over something more than a hundred miles of territory. Both of these movements are now recognized as having been splendid successes. But it is not to be denied that from the time of the commencement of the siege of Peters- burg there was a growing feeling of doubt and anxiety in the country in reference to the operations of the army of the Potomac. It had been often announced that Lee's army was cut to pieces and fleeing in disorder, and yet that army had thus far, by repeated stands, been able to prevent Grant from breaking through its lines. Even Petersburg was declared to have been taken by assault on the first attack ; and yet it was found that, instead of this, our army was not able at once to draw its lines around the place far enough to cut off* the Weldon Rail- road. The losses of the array were greatly exaggerated by the opposition, the difficulties of its position magnified, the lack of water and the dust and heat were dilated upon, and even the visit which the President paid to the army on the 22d of June was dwelt upon as an event showing that the difficulties of the situation were great, if not insuperable. The army, however, did not look at it in that light. The President's visit Avas for them a gratification, not a cause for anxiety, and they cheered him, as he rode along the lines, with a heartiness which expressed their confi- dence in him and in the leaders whom he had given them. The President' s confident expressions as to the state of affairs on his return went far to encourage the country ; for the people had already come in great measure to have that abounding confidence in Mr. Lincoln which displayed itself so wonderfully during the rest of his life. He appreciated in his turn the confidence which the people felt in him. " I do my best to deserve this," said he to a friend, " but I tremble at the responsibility that devolves upon me, a weak, mortal man, to serve such a great and generous people in such a place as I hold, in such an awful crisis as this. It is a terrible responsibility ; State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 533 but it lins b('(Mi inipos(^d upon me without my seeking, and I trust Provitlence lias a wise purpose f'oi- me to fultil by appointing me to this charge, whicli is ahiiost too mncli for a weak mortal to liold." He appreciated not only this contidence in him, but tlie whole character of the people. '"Such a peoph^," said he, "can never fail; and they deserve, and will receive, the proudest place in the history of nations." It seems sad to think that he could not have lived to see how speedily the fulfilment of his prophecy approached. General Grant's purpose was to extend iiis lines south- ward, cutting off as speedily as possible the raili-oads which led from Petersburg to the south ; and by the cavalry arm destroying the other railroads leading to Richmond, thus isolating it from the South. In pursu- ance of this plan Sheridan with his cavalry destroyed a large portion of the railroads between Richmond and Gordonsville, returning to the White House, and there oj)ening communications again with General Grant ; and Wilson, on the south, cut the Weldon Railroad, and, reaching Burkesville, did serious damage also to the Danville road. The first move of the army, however, towards the Weldon road resulted disastrously ; and Wilson, on his return from his raid, was set upon at Ream's Station, and had to cut his way through with heavy loss, by the aid of a diversion effected by the Sixth Corps, which was sent to his relief. General Hun- ter, too, was unable to capture Lynchburg, and, fall- ing short of ammunition, Avas compelled to retreat into Western Virginia by the Valley of the Kanawha. Amid these various movements. Congress adjourned on the 4th of July. The feeling at its adjournment was not buoyant, but tending to depression ; and, just before it separated, a resolution was passed, requesting the President to ap- point a day of fasting and prayer. Accordingly, on the 7th of July, he issued the following proclamation :— 534 The Life, Public Services, and proclamation. By the President of the United States. "Whereas, tlie Senate and House of Representatives at their last session adopted a concurrent resolution, which was approved on the second day of July instant, and which was in the words following, namely : That the President of the United States be requested to appoint a day of humiliation and prayer by the people of the United States, that he re- quest his constitutional advisers at the head of the Executive Departments to unite with him, as Chief Magistrate of the nation, at the City of "Wash- ington, and the members of Congress, and all magistrates, all civil, mili- tary, and naval officers, all soldiers, sailors, and marines, with all loyal and law-abiding people, to convene at their usual places of worship, or wherever they may be, to confess and to repent of their manifold sins, to implore the compassion and forgiveness of the Almighty, that if consistent with His will, the existing rebellion may be speedily suppressed, and the supremacy of the Constitution and laws of the United States may be established throughout all the States; to implore Him, as the Supreme Ruler of the world, not to destroy us as a people, nor suffer us to be de- stroyed by the hostility or connivance of other nations, or by obstinate adhesion to our own counsels which may be in conflict with His eternal purposes, and to implore Him to enlighten the mind of the natipn to know and do His will, humbly believing that it is in accordance with His will that our place should be maintained as a united people among the family of nations ; to implore Him to grant to our armed defenders, and the masses of the people, that courage, power of resistance, and endurance necessary to secure that result ; to implore Him in His infinite goodness to soften the hearts, enlighten the minds, and quicken the conscience of those in rebellion, that they may lay down their arms, and speedily return to their allegiance to the United States, that they may not be utterly de- stroyed, that the effusion of blood may be stayed, and that unity and fra- ternity may be restored, and peace established throughout all our borders. Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, cordially concurring with the Congress of the United States, in the peni- tential and pious sentiments expressed in the aforesaid resolutions, and heartily approving of the devotional design and purpose thereof, do here- by appoint the first Thursday of August next to be observed by the peo- ple of the United States as a day of national humiliation and prayer. I do hereby further invite and request the heads of the Executive De- partments of this Government, together with all legislators, all judges and magistrates, and all other persons exercising authority in the land, whether civil, military, or naval, and all soldiers, seamen, and marines in the national service, and all the other loyal and law-abiding people of the United States, to assemble in their preferred places of public worship on that day, and there to render to the Almighty and merciful Ruler of the State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 53o Universe, snch lioniage and such confessions, and to offer to Ilini such suppHcations as the Congress of the United States have, in tlnir aforesaid resolution, so solemnly, so earnestly, and so reverently recoinniendcil. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to he affixed. Done at the City of Washington this seventh day of July, in the} car of -, our Lord one thousand eight hundred and .sixty-four, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-ninth. By the President : i\jjRAnAM Lincoln. William H. Seward, Secretary of State. The depressing effect of the apparent check in tlie on- ward movement of the work of suppressing the rebellion was, however, much alleviated hy the news which ar- rived on the 6th of July, of the sinking of the rebel cruiser Alaba/na, on the 19tli of June, off Cherbourg, by the ICearsarge, nnder the command of Captain Winslow. Opportunities for our navy to distinguish itself in battle, except with forts, had been rare, and great rejoicing was felt that Semmes, the commander of the Alabama, had at last given to the Kearsarge an opportunity to prove, in sight of France and England, that Yankee ships and guns and men were, as of old, dangerous enemies in an encounter. The Shenandoah Valley had been laid open by Hun- ter' s movement into West Virginia, and the rebels took advantage of it to make a push northward. They crossed the Potomac in considerable force, commanded by Gen- eral Early, and on the 9th of July- defeated our troops under General Wallace, at Monocacy. The President called for twelve thousand militia from each of the States of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Xew York, to meet tJiis invasion, from which both Baltimore and Washington were felt to be in some danger. A bold com]iany of raiders even burned the house of Governor Bradford, only four miles from Baltimore, and, passing north of Baltimore, cut the Philadeli^hia and Baltimore Railroad, capturing two trains of cars. One of the passengers on the cars was Major-General Franklin, who was taken prisoner, but afterwards succeeded in making his escape near Reisters- town. The raiders met little opj)Osition through the coun- 536 The Life, Public Seevices, and try, one striking exception "being the conduct of old lehmael Day, a man of eighty-three years, who, when a couple of rebels undertook to pull doAvn a fiag which was flying over his gate, shot one of them and forced the other to retreat. A larger company of tliem, however, came and burned the old man's house, but did not succeed in finding him. Extensive preparations were made at Bal- timore to resist an attack, and the general loyalty of the city was in marked contrast with its attitude at the outset of the rebellion. The militia gathered fast from the loyal States. General Grant had also sent up the Sixth Corps of the Army of the Potomac to aid in the defence of Washington. The Nineteenth Corps, which had just ar- rived from New Orleans, was also sent thither ; and on the 13th of July, the rebel forces, which had for the two days previous skirmished smartly in front of Fort Stevens, near Washington, determined to retreat ; and by tlie end of that week they were all south of the Potomac, having carried off great quantities of plunder and spread great consternation through IMaryland and the lower part of Pennsj^lvania, but not having succeeded at all in compelling General Grant to loosen his hold upon Petersburg. Nor was this the only raid which the rebels undertook. In Kentucky they had made great disturbances under John Morgan, which, though checked by his rout by Gen- eral Burbridge, at Cynthiana, continued, and were receiv- ing so mucli countenance from rebel syrajiathizers in the State, that the President deemed it wise to declare martial law throughout the State, which was done by tlie follow- ing proclamation : — By the President of the United States of America. PROCLAMATION. Washington^, Tuesday, July 5. Whereas, by a proclamation which was issued on the 15th day of April, 1861, the President of the United States announced and declared that the laws of the United States had been for some time past, and tlion were op- posed, and the execution thereof obstructed in certain States therein men- tioned, by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings or by the power vested in the marshals by law ; and State Pafeiis of Abraham Lincoln. f)?)7 Whereas, immcdiatfly after the issnini; of the said proclatnatioii tlin land and naval forces of the United States were pot into activity to sup- press the said insurrections and rebellion ; and Whereas, tiie Congress of the United States, by an act api)rovfd on the third day of March, ISGo, did enact that during the said rclicllidu tiio President of the United States, Avliencver in his judgment the ]iulj]ic safety may require it, is authorized to suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in any case throughout the United States, or any ]),u-t thereof; and Whereas, the said insurrection and rebellion still continue, endangering the existence of the Constitution and Government of tiie United States ; and Whereas, the military forces of the United States are now actively en- gaged in suppressing the said insurrection and rebellion in various jjarts of the States where the said rebellion has been successful in obstructing the laws and public authoi-ities, especially in the States of Virginia and Georgia ; and Whereas, on the fifteenth day of September last, the President of the United States duly issued his proclamation, wherein he declared that the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus should be sus|)enroa^;sides into the rebel forts. Within the harbor the rebel iron- clad Tennessee made desperate battle. The rest of tlie rebel fleet, except one vessel, having been captured or destroyed, she was attacked by several of our vessels at once, who rammed her severel}^ whenever they could get a chance at her, and, seeing the rest of the fleet and the monitors bearing down upon her, she surrendered. She was commanded by Buchanan, who commanded the Merrimac in her famous batth^ with the MonUor, 544 The Life, Public Services, and The conquest of the rebel fleet was followed by the immediate surrender of Forts Gaines and Powell. Fort Morgan still held out, but was immediately invested by General Granger. On the 22d an assault of the fort was commenced, and on the 23d, after a bombardment of twelve hours, in which about three thousand shells were thrown into it, this last of the rebel defences of the har- bor of Mobile was surrendered unconditionally to our forces. Nor was this the only success. General Sherman had been drawing his lines more closely around Atlanta, and Hood having made the mistake of sending off all his cav- alry upon a fruitless eftbrt to destroy the communications between our army and Chattanooga, General Sherman took advantage of it to make a movement on the west of Atlanta towards the rear of Hood's army. Leaving one corps to defend our intrenched lines in front of the city, he threw the rest of his army upon the railroad to Macon, near West Point, upon the 30th of August, and thus cut Hood's army in two and defeated one portion of it at Jonesboro. Hood, finding that he was in danger of being cut off, blew up his magazines in Atlanta on the night of the 1st of September and retreated to the southeast, and on the 2d the Twentieth Corps, which had been left in our intrenchments, marched into the city and took possession, and General Sherman sent the message to Washington — " Atlanta is ours and fairly won." Before receiving General Sherman's official report, the War Department had received news of the fall of Atlanta, and on the 2d, at eight p. m., Mr. Stanton telegraphed to General Dix, at New York, as follows :— This department has received intelligence tliis evening that General Sherman's advance entered Atlanta abont noon to-day. The particulars have not yet been received, but telegrai)ljic communication during the night with Atlanta direct is expected. It is ascertained with reasonable certainty that the na\'al and other credits required by the act of Congress will amount to about two hundred thousand, including New York, which has not yet been reported to this department; so tliat tbe President's call of -Tuly 10 is ])ractically reduced to throe hundred thousand men, to meet and take the place of State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 545 First — The new onlistiocnts in the navy ; Second — The casualties of battle, sickness, prisoners, and desertion • and TJiird — The hundred-days troops and all others going out by expira- tion of service this full. One hundred thousand new troops promptly furnished are all that General Grant asks for the capture of Richmond and to give a finishing blow to the rebel armies yet in the field. The residue of the call would be adequate for garrisons in forts and to guard all the lines of communi- cation and supply, free the country from guerrillas, give security to trade, protect commerce and travel, and re-establish peace, order, and tranquillity in every State. Enwm M. Stanton, Secretary of WAr. This close of General Shennan' s campaign was greeted with the greatest exultation by all the people, and they lieartily responded to the recommendations of the Thanks- giving Proclamation, wliich the President at once issued, and joined heartily in the thanks which he gave in tlie name of the nation to officers and men, and rejoiced in the salutes of one hundred guns which he ordered to be fired everywhere. This proclamation and the orders issued Avere as fol- lows : — • Executive Mansion, Washington Oitt, September 3, 1S64. The signal success that Divine Providence has recently vouchsafed to the operations of the United States fleet and army in the harbor of Mo- bile, and the reduction of Fort Powell, Fort Gaines, and Fort Morgan, and the glorious achievements of the army under Major-General Sherman, in the State of Georgia, resulting in the capture of the city of Atlanta, call for devout acknowledgment to the Supreme Being in whose hands are the destinies of nations. It is therefore requested that on next Sunday, in all places of worship in the United States, thanksgivings be offered to Him for His mercy in preserving our national existence against the insurgent rebels who have been waging a cruel war against the Government of the United States for its overthrow, and also that prayer be made for Divine protection to our l^rave soldiers and their leaders in the field who have so often and so gallantly perilled their lives in battling with the enemy, and for blessings and comfort from tlie Father of mercies to the sick, wounded, and prisoners, and to the orphans and widows of those who have fallen in the service of their country, and that He will continue* to uphold the Government of the United States against all the efforts of public enemies and secret foes. Abraham Lincoi^. 35 546 The Life, Public Services, and ExBCXTTivE Mansioji, September 3, 1864. The national thanks are tendered hy tlie President to Admiral Farragut and Major-General Canby, for the skill and harmony with which the recent operations in Mobile Harbor and against Fort Powell, Fort Gaines, and Fort Morgan were planned and carried into execution. Also to Admiral Farragut and Major-General Granger, under whose immediate command they were conducted, and to the gallant commanders on sea and land, and to the sailors and soldiers engaged in the operations, for their energy and courage, which, under the blessing of Providence, have been crowned with brilliant success, and have won for them the applause and thanks of the nation. Abraham LixcoLif. EsECTTTiTE MANSION, September 3, 1864. The national thanks are tendered by the President to Major-General William T. Sherman and the gallant officers and soldiers of his command before Atlanta, for the distinguished ability, courage, and perseverance displayed in the campaign in Georgia, which under Divine power resulted in the capture of the city of Atlanta. The marches, battles, sieges, and other military operations that have signalized this campaign must render it famous in the annals of war, and have entitled those who have partici- pated therein to the applause and thanks of the nation. Abraham Lincoln. . ExKCTTTiTE MANSION, September 3, 1864. Ordered. — First. — That on Mondaj^, the 5th day of September, com- mencing at the hour of twelve o'clock noon, there shall be given a salute of one hundred guns at the arsenal and navy-yard at Washington, and on Tuesday, the 6th of September, or on the day after the receipt of this order, at each arsenal and navy-yard in the United States, for the recent brilliant achievements of the fleet and land forces of the United States in the harbor of Mobile, and the reduction of Fort Powell, Fort Gaines, and Fort Morgan. Tlie Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy will issue the necessary directions in their respective departments for the exe- cution of this order. Seco7id. — That on Wednesday, the 7th day of September, commencing at the hour of twelve o'clock noon, there shall be fired a salute of one hundred guns at the arsenal at Washington, and at New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Pittsburg, Newport, Ky., and, at St. Louis, and at New Orleans, Mobile, Pensacola, Hilton Ilead, and Newbern, the day after the receipt of tliis order, for the brilliant achievements of the army under command of Major-General Sherman, in the State of Georgia, and the capture of Atlanta. The Secretary of War will give directions for the execution of this order. Abraham Lincoln. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 547 CHAPTER XVIII. THE rOLITICAL CAMPAIGN OF 1864. The Presidential Eleotion^. — The Cleveland Convention. — The Con- vention AT Baltimore. — Mr. Lincoln's Renomination and Accept- ance. — Popular Feeling During the Summer. — The Arguelleb Case. — The Forged Proclamation. — The Niagara Falls Conference. ■ — The Chicago Convention. — Progress and Eesult of the Cam- paign. — Popular Joy at the Result. The American people were approaching another test of their capacity for self-government, in some respects more tr34ng than any they had yet encountered. As the spring of 1864 was passing away, the official term of President Lincoln drew towards its close, and the people were re- quired to choose his successor. At all times and under the most favorable circumstances, the election of a Pres- ident is attended with a degree of excitement, which some of the wisest theorists have pronounced inconsistent with the permanent harmony and safety of a republican form of government. But that such an election should become necessary in the midst of a civil war, which wrapped the whole country in its flames and aroused such intense and deadly passions in tlie public heart, was felt to be fore- most among the calamities which had menaced the land. The two great rebel armies still held the field. The power of their government was still unbroken. All our attempts to capture their capital had proved abortive. The public debt was steadily and rapidly increasing. Under the resistless pressure of military necessity, the Gov- ernment, availing itself of the permissions of the Consti- tution, had suspended the great safeguard of civil freedom, and dealt with individuals whom it deemed dangerous to the public safety with as absolute and relentless severity as the most absolute monarchies of Europe liad ever shown. Taxes were increasing ; new drafts of men 548 The Lde, Public Services, and to fill the ranks of new armies were impending ; the Demo- cratic i)arty, from the very beginning hostile to the war and largely imbued with devotion to the principle of State Sovereignty on which the rebellion rested, and with toleration for slavery ont of which it grew,, was watching eagerly for every means of arousing popular hatred against the Government, that they might secure its transfer to their own hands ; and the losses, the agonies, the desolations of the war were beginning, apparently, to make themselves felt injuriously upon the spirit, the en- durance, the hopeful resolution of the people througliout the loyal States. That under these circumstances and amidst these ele- ments of popular discontent and hostile passion, the nation should be compelled to plunge into the whirlpool of a political contest, was felt to be one of the terrible necessities which might involve the nation' s ruin. That the nation went through it, with a majestic calmness up to that time unknown, and came out from it stronger, more resolute, and more thoroughly united than ever be- fore, is among the marvels which confound all theory, and demonstrate to the world the capacity of an intelligent peoj)le to provide for every conceivable emergency in the conduct of their own affairs. Preparations for the nomination of candidates had be- gun to be made, as usual, early in the spring of 1864. Some who saw most clearly the necessities of the future, had for some months before expressed themselves strongly in favor of the renomination of President Lincoln. But this step was contested with great Avarmth and activity by prominent members of the political party by which he had been nominated and elected four years before. Nearly all the original Abolitionists and many of the more decidedly anti-slavery members of the Republican party were dissatisfied, that Mr. Lincoln had not more rapidly and more sweepingiy enforced their extreme opinions. Many distinguished public men resented his rejection of their advice, and many more had been alienated by his inability to recognize their claims to office. The most State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 549 violent opposition came from those who had been most persistent and most clamorous in their exactions. And as it was unavoidable that, in wielding so terrible and so absolute a power in so terrible a crisis, vast multitudes of active and ambitious men should be disappointed in their* expectations of position and personal gain, th(^ renomination of Mr. Lincoln was sure to be contested by a powerful and organized effort. At the very outset this movement acquired consistency and strength by bringing forward the Hon. S. P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury, a man of great political bold- ness and experience, and who had prepared the way for such a step by a careful dispensation of the vast patron- age of Ms department, as the rival candidate. But it was instinctively felt that this effort lacked the sympathy and support of the great mass of the people, and it ended in the withdrawal of his name as a candidate by Mr. Chase himself. The National Committee of the Union Republican party had called their convention, to be held at Baltimore, on the 8th of June. This step had been taken from a con- viction of the wisdom of terminating as speedily as possible all controversy concerning candidates in the ranks of Union men ; and it was denounced with the greatest vehemence by those who opposed Mr. Lincoln' s nomination, and desired more time to infuse their hostility into the public mind. Failing to secure a postponement of the convention, they next sought to overawe and dic- tate its action by a display of power, and the following call was accordingly issued about the 1st of May, for a convention to be held at Cleveland, Ohio, on the 31st day of that month : — TO THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES. After having labored ineflectually to defer, as far as was in our power, the critical moment when the attention of the people must inevitably be fixed upon the selection of a candidate for the chief magistracy of the country ; after having interrogated our conscience and consulted our duty as citizens, obeying at once the sentiment of a mature conviction and a profound affection for the common country, we feel ourselves impelleJ, 550 The Life, Public Services, and on our own responsibility, to declare to the people that the time lias come for all independent men, jealous of their liberties and of the national greatness, to confer together, and unite to resist the swelling invasion of an open, shameless, and unrestrained patronage, which threatens to in- gulf under its destructive wave the rights of the people, the liberty and dignity of the nation. Deeply impressed with the conviction that, in a time of revolution, when the public attention is turned exclusively to the success of armies, and is consequently less vigilant of the public liberties, the patronage derived from the organization of an army of a million of men, and an administration of affairs which seeks to control the remotest parts of the country in favor of its supreme chief, constitute a danger seriously threatening the stability of republican institutions, we declare that the principle of one term, which has now acquired nearly the force of law by the consecration of time, ought to be inflexibly adhered to in the ap- proaching election. We further declare, that we do not recognize in the Baltimore Conven- tion the essential conditions of a truly National Convention. Its prox- imity to the centre of all the interested influences of the administration, its distance from the centre of the country, its mode of convocation, the corrupting practices to which it has been and inevitably will be sub- jected, do not permit the people to assemble there with any expecta- tion of being able to deliberate at full liberty. Convinced as we are that, in presence of the critical circumstances in which the nation is placed, it is only in the energy and good sense of the people that the general safety can be found ; satisfied that the only way to consult it is to indicate a central position, to which every one may go without too much expenditure of means and time, and where the assembled people, far from all administrative influence, may consult freely and deliberate peaceably-, with the presence of the greatest possible number of men, whose known principles guarantee their sincere and enlightened devotion to the rights of the people and to the preservation of the true basis of republican government, — we earnestly invite our fellow-citizens to unite at Cleveland, Ohio, on Tuesday, May 31, current, for consultation and concert of action in respect to the approaching Presidential election. Two other calls were issued after this, prominent among the signers of which were some of the Germans of Missouri and some of the old Radical Abolitionists of the East. The convention thus summoned met at the appointed time, about one hundred and fifty in number. No call had ever been put forward for the election of delegates to it, and no one could tell whether its members represented State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 551 any constituency otlier than themselves. They came from fifteen different States and tlie District of Colunil)ia, ])ut every one knew that at the East the movement liad no strength whatever. An effort was made by some of them to bring forward the name of General Grant as a candidate, but the friends of Fremont formed altogetiier too large a majority for that. General John Cochrane, of New York, was cliosen to preside over the convention. In the afternoon the plat- form was presented, consisting of thirteen brief resolu- tions, favoring the suppression of the rebellion, the pres- ervation of the habeas corpus, of the right of asylum, and the Monroe doctrine, recommending amendments of the Constitution to prevent the re-establishment of slavery, and to provide for the election of President and Vice- President for a single term only, and by the direct vote of the people, and also urging the confiscation of the lands of the rebels and their distribution among the sol diers and actual settlers. The platform having been adopted, the convention pro- ceeded to nominate General Fremont for President by acclamation. General Cochrane was nominated for Vice- President. The title of " The Radical Democracy" was chosen for. the supporters of the ticket, a National Com- mittee was appointed, and the convention adjourned. General Fremont's letter of acceptance was dated June 4tli. Its main scope was an attack upon Mr. Lincoln for unfaithfulness to the principles he was elected to defend, and upon his Administration for incapacity and selfishness, and for what the writer called "its disregard of constitu- tional rights, its violation of personal liberty and the liberty of the press, and, as a crowning shame, its aban- donment of the right of asylum, dear to all free nations abroad." The platform he approved, with the exception of the proposed confiscation. He intimated that if tlie Balti more Convention would nominate any one but Mr. Lin coin he would not stand in the way of a union of all upon that nominee ; but said, "If Mr. Lincoln be renominated, 552 The Life, Public Services, and as I believe it would be fatal to the country to indorse a policy and renew a power which has cost us the lives of thousands of men and needlessly put the country on the road to bankruptcy, there will remain no alternative but to organize against him every element of conscientious op- position, Avith the view to prevent the misfortune of his re-election." And he accepted the nomination, and an- nounced tliat he had resigned his commission in the army. The convention, the nomination, and the letter of ac- ceptance, fell dead upon the popular feeling. The time had been when Fremont's name had power, especially with the young men of the country. Many had felt that he had received less than he deserved at the hands of the Administration, and that if the opportunity had been afforded he would have rendered to the country distin- guished and valuable service. But the position which he had here taken at once separated him from those who had been his truest friends, whose feelings were accurately expressed by Grovernor Morton, of Indiana, in a speech at Indianapolis on the 12th of June, when he said : "I car- ried the standard of General Fremont to the best of my poor ability through the canvass of 1856, and I have since endeavored to sustain him, not only as a politician, but as a military chieftain, and never until I read this letter did I have occasion to regret what I have done. It has been read with joy by his enemies and with pain by his friends, and, omitting one or two sentences, there is nothing in it that might not have been written or sub- scribed without inconsistency by Mr. Vallandigham." The next form which the effort to prevent Mr. Lin- coln' s nomination and election took, was an effort to bring forward General Grant as a candidate. A meeting had been called for the 4tli of June, in New York, ostensibly to express the gratitude of the nation to him and the sol- diers under his command, for their labors and successes. As a matter of course the meeting was large and enthusi- astic. President Lincoln wrote the following letter in answer to an invitation to attend : — State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 553 Executive Mansion, Wasiunoton, Juno 8, 1864. Hon. F. A. CoNKLiNG and others : Gentlemen : — Your letter, inviting me to be present at a mass meet- ing of loyal citizens, to be held at New York, on the 4tli instant, for the purpose of expressing gratitude to Lieutenant-General Grant for his signal services, was received yesterday. It is iiiipossible for me to attend. I approve, nevertheless, of whatever may tend to strengthen and sustain General Grant and the noble armies now under his direction. My previous high estimate of General Grant has been maintained and heightened by what has occurred in the remarkable campaign he is now conducting, while the magnitude and difficulty of the task before him does not prove less than I expected. lie and his bra\e soldiers are now in the midst of their great trial, and I trust that at your meeting you will so shape your good words that they may turn to men and guns, moving to his and their support. Yours truly, A. Lincoln. AVhateyer political purposes prompted tlie call for this meeting, they were entirely overborne by tlie simple but resistless appeal, made by tlie President in this letter, to the patriotism of the country. Its effect was to stimulate instantly and largely the effort to till up the ranks of the army, and thus aid General Grant in the great campaign by which he hoped to end the war. In a private letter to a personal friend, however. General Grant put a decisive check upon all these attempts of jDoliticians to make his name the occasion of division among Union men, by peremptorily refusing to allow himself to be made a candidate, and by reiterating in still more emphatic and hopeful terms the President's appeal to the people for aid and support. None of these schemes of ambitious aspirants to pohti- cal leadership had any effect upon the settled sentiment and purpose of the great body of the people. They appreciated the importance of continuing the administra- tion of the government in tlie same channel, and saw clearly enough that nothing ayouIcI more thoroughly impress upon the rebels and the world the determination of the people to preserve the Union at all hazards, and at whatever cost, than the indorsement by a popular vote, in spite of all mistakes and defects of policy, of the 554 The Life, Public Services, and President, by wliom the war had thus far been conducted. The nation, moreover, had entire faith in his integrity, his sagacity, and his unselfish devotion to tlie public good. The Union and Republican Convention met at Balti- more on the day appointed, the 8th of June. It numbered nearly five hundred delegates, chosen by the constituents of each Congressional district of the loyal States, and by the people in Tennessee, Louisiana, and Arkansas, in which the rebel authority had been overthrown, and who sought thus to renew their political relations with ihe parties of the Union. The Rev. Robert J. Breckin- ridge, of Kentucky, Avas appointed temporary chairman, and aroused the deepest enthusiasm of the convention by his patriotic address on taking the chair. He pro- claimed openly his hostility to slavery, and demanded, as essential to the existence of the nation, the complete overthrow of the rebellion, and condign punishment for the traitors by whom it had been set on foot. In refer- ence to the nomination of a presidential candidate, he simply expressed the common sentiment when he said : — Nothing can be more plain than the fact that you are here as rep- resentatives of a great nation — voluntary repvesentatives, chosen with- out forms of law, but as really representing the feelings and principles, and, if you choose, the prejudices of the American people, as if it were written in their laws and already passed by their votes. For the man that you will nominate here for the Presidency of the United States and ruler of a great people, in a great crisis, is just as certain, I suppose, to become that ruler as any thing under heaven is certain before it is done. And moreover you will allow me to say, though perhaps it is hardly strictly proper that I should, but as far as I know your opin- ions, I suppose it is just as certain now, before you utter it, whose name you will utter — one which will be responded to from one end to the other of this nation, as it will be after it has been uttered and recorded by your secretary." The permanent organization was efiected in the afternoon, by the choice of Hon. William Dennison, Ex- Governor of Ohio, as president, with tAventy-three vice- presidents, each from a diflerent State, and twenty- three State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 555 secretaries. After a speech from Governor Donnison, and another from Parson Brownlow, of Tennessee, the con vention adjourned till Wednesday morning at nino o'clock. The hrst business which came up when the conven- tion reassembled, was the report of the Committee on Credentials. There were two important questions which arose upon this report. The first was the Missouri ques- tion — there being a double delegation present from that State. The committee had reported in favor of admitting the delegation called the Radical Union Delegation to seats in the convention, as the only one elected in con- formity with usage and in regular form. An effort was made to modify this by admitting both delegations to seats, and allowing them to cast the vote of the State only in case of their agreement. This proposition, however, was voted down by a large majority, and the report of the committee on that point was adopted. This result had special importance in its bearing upon the vexed state of politics in Missouri, which had hitherto, as we have seen, caused Mr. Lincoln much trouble. The next question, which had still greater importance, related to the admission of the delegations from Tennessee, Arkansas, and Louisiana. Congress had passed a resolu- tion substantially excluding States which had been in re- bellion from participation in national affairs until specifi- cally readmitted to the Union — while it was known that President Lincoln regarded all ordinances of secession as simply null and void, incapable of affecting the legal rela- tions of the States to the National Government. At the very opening of the convention an effort had been made by Hon. Thaddeus Stevens, of Pennsylvania, to secure the adoption of a resolution against the admission of dele- gates from any States thus situated. This, however, had failed, and the whole matter was referred to the Committee on Credentials, of which Hon. Preston King, of New York, had been appointed chairman. Mr. King, on be- half of this committee and under its instructions, reported in favor of admitting these delegates to seats, but without 556 The Life, Public Services, and giving them the riglit to vote. Mr. King, for himself, however, and as the only member of the committee who dissented from its report, moved to amend it by giving them equal rights in convention with delegates from the other States. This amendment was adopted by a large majority, and affected in a marked degree the subsequent action of the convention. The report was further amend- ed so as to admit delegates from the Territories of Colo- rado, Nebraska, and Nevada, and also from Florida and Virginia, without the right to vote — and excluding a delegation from South Carolina. Thus amended it was adopted. Mr. H. J. Raymond, of New York, as chairman of the Committee on Resolutions, then reported the following declaration of principles and policy for the Union and Republican party : — THE BALTIMORE PLATFORM. itesolved, Tliat it is the highest duty of every American citizen to maintain;- against all their enemies, the integrity of the Union and the par- amount authority of the Constitution and laws of the United States ; and that, laying aside all differences of political opinion, we pledge our- selves as Union men, animated hy a common sentiment and aiming at a common object, to do every thing in our power to aid the Government in quelling by force of arras the rebellion now raging against its author- ity, and in bringing to the punishment due to their crimes tiie rebels and traitors arrayed against ii. Jiesolced, That we approve the determination of the Government of the United States not to compromise with rebels, or to offer any terms of peace except such as may be based upon an unconditional surrender of their hostility and a return to their just allegiance to the Constitution and laws of the United States ; and that we call upon the Government to maintain this position and to prosecute the war with the utmost pos- sible vigor to the complete suppression of the rebellion, in full relianc©^ upon the self-sacrificing patriotism, the heroic valor, and the undying devotion of the American people to their country and its free institu- tions. Besolved, That as slavery was the cause and noAv constitutes the strength of this rebellion, and as it must be always and everywhere hos- tile to the principles sf republican government, justice and the national safety demand its utter and complete extirpation from the soil of tlie republic ; and that while we uphold and maintain the acts and proclama- State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 557 tions by which the Government, in its own (kfence, lias aimed a deatli- blow at tliis gigantic evil, we arc iu favor, furthermore, of such an amendment to the Constitution, to be made by the j)eople, in confor- mity with its provisions, as shall terminate and forever j)rohil)it the existence of slavery within the limits or the jurisdiction of the United States. Resolved, That tlie thanks of the American people are due to the sol- diers and sailors of the army and the navy, who have perilled their lives in defence of their country and in vindication of the honor of its flag; that the nation owes to them some permanent recognition of their patri- otism and their valor, and ample ftnd permanent provision for those of their survivors who have received disabling and honorable wounds in the service of their country ; and that the memories of those who have fallen in its defence shall be held in grateful and everlasting remembrance. Resolved^ That we approve and applaud the practical wisdom, tlie un- selfish patriotism, and the unswerving fidelity to the Constitution and the pi-inciples of American liberty with which Abraham Lincoln has dis- charged, under circumstances of unparalleled difficulty, the great duties and responsibilities of the Presidential office ; that we approve and in- dorse, as demanded by the emergency and essential to the preservation of the nation, and as within the provisions of the Constitution, the meas- ures and acts which he has adopted to defend the nation against its open and secret foes; that we approve especially the Proclamation of Eman- cipation and the employment as Union soldiers of men heretofore held in slavery ; and that we have full confidence in his determination to carry these and all other constitutional measures, essential to the salvation of the country, into full and complete effect. Resolved, That we deem it essential to the general welfare that har- mony should prevail in our national councils, and we regard as worthy of public confidence and official trust those only who cordially indorse the principles proclaimed in these resolutions, and which should charac- terize the administration of the Government. Resolved, That the Government owes to all men employed in its armies, without regard to distinction of color, the full protection of the laws of war, and that any violation of these laws, or the usages of civ- ilized nations in time of war, by the rebels now in arms, should be made the subject of prompt and full redress. Resolved, That the foreign immigration which in the past has added so much to the wealth, development of resources, and increase of power of this nation, the asylum of the oppressed of all nations, should be fostered and encouraged by a liberal and just policy. Resolved, That we are in favor of a speedy construction of the railroad to the Pacific coast. Resolved, That the national faith, pledged for the redemption of the public debt, must be kept inviolate, and that for this purpose we recora- tnend economy and rigid responsibility in the public expenditures, and a 558 The Life, Public Services, and vigorous and just system of taxation, and that it is the duty of every loyal State to sustain the credit and promote the use of the national currency. Resolved, That we approve the position taken by the Government, that the people of the United States can never regard with indifterence the attempt of any European power to overthrow by force, or to supplant by fraud, the institutions of any republican government on the Western Continent; and that they will view with extreme jealousy, as menacing to the peace and independence of their own country, the eiforts of any such power to obtain new footholds for monarchical governments, sus- tained by foreign military force, in near proximity to the United States. These resolutions were adopted Tinaiiiraously and with great enthusiasm. A motion was then made that Abra- ham Lincoln be nominated for re-election by acclamation, but this was afterwards withdrawn, and a ballot taken in the usual way ; the only votes that were not given for Mr. Lincoln were the twenty-two votes of Missouri, which, as was explained by the chairman of the delega- tion, were given under positive instructions for General Gfrant. Mr. Lincoln received four hundred and ninety- seven votes, and on motion of Mr. Hume, of Missouri, his nomination was made unanimous, amid intense enthu- siasm. The contest over the Vice-Presidency, was spirited but brief. The candidates before the convention were Vice-President Hamlin, Hon. D. S. Dickinson, of New York, and Andrew Johnson, of Tennessee. The strug- gle lay however between Mr. Johnson and Mr. Dickinson. The action of the Convention in admitting the delegates from Tennessee to full membership had a powerful effect in determining the result. Mr. Johnson received two hundred votes on the first call of the States, and it being manifest that he was to be the nominee, other States changed, till the vote, when declared, stood four hinidred and ninety-two for Johnson, seventeen for Dickinson, and nine for Hamlin. The National Executive Committee was then appointed, and the convention adjourned. On Thursday, June 9, the committee appointed to inform Mr. Lincoln of his nomination waited upon him at the White House. Gov- ernor Dennison, the President of the Convention and State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 559 Cliairman of the Committee, addressed him as fol lows : — Mr. Peesident : — The National Union Convention, which closed its sittings at Baltimore yesterday, appointed a committee, consisting of one from each State, with myself as chairman, to inform you of your unani- mous nomination by that convention for election to the office of President of the United States. That committee, I have the honor of now inform- ing you, is present. On its behalf I have also the honor of presenting you with a copy of the resolutions or platform adopted by that convention, as expressive of its sense and of the sense of the loyal people of the country which it represents, of the principles and policy that should cliaracterize the administration of the Government in the present condition of the country. I need not say to you, sir, that the convention, in thus unani- mously nominating you for re-election, but gave utterance to the almost universal voice of the loyal people of the country. To doubt of your triumphant election would be little short of abandoning the hope of a final suppression of the rebellion and the restoration of the government over the insurgent States. Neither the convention nor those represented by that body entertained any doubt as to the final result, under your administra- tion, sustained by the loyal people, and by our noble array and gallant navy. Neither did the convention, nor do this committee, doubt the speedy suppression of this most wicked and unprovoked rebellion. [A copy of the resolutions, which had been adopted, was here handed to the President.] I would add, Mr. President, that it would be the pleasure of the com- mittee to communicate to you within a few days, through one of its most accomplished members, Mr. Curtis, of New York, by letter, more at length the circumstances under which you have been placed in nomination for the Presidency. The President said in response : — Mk. CnAiRMAX AXD Gentlemex OF THE COMMITTEE:—! will neither conceal ray gratification, nor restrain the expression of my gratitude, tliat the Union people, through their convention, in the continued effort to save and advance the nation, have deemed me not unworthy to remain in my present position. I know no reason to doubt that I shall accept the nomination tendered; and yet, perhaps, I should not declare definitely before reading and considering what is called the platform. I will say now, however, that I approve the declaration in favor of so amending the Constitution as to prohibit slavery throughout the nation. When the people in revolt, with the hundred days' explicit notice that they could within those days resume their allegiance without the overthrow of their institutions, and that they could not resume it afterward, elected to stand out, such an amendment of the Constitution as is now proposed became a 560 The Life, Public Services, and fitting and necessary conclusion to the final success of the' Union cause. Such alone can meet and cover all cavils. I now perceive its importance and embrace it. In the joint names of Liberty and Union let us labor to give it legal form and practical efi'ect. At the conclusion of the President's speech, all of the committee shook him cordially by the hand and offered their personal congratulations. On the same afternoon a deputation from the National Union League waited upon the President, and the chair- man addressed him as follows : — Mr. President : — I have the honor of introducing to you the repre- sentatives of the Union League of the Loyal States, to congratulate you upon your renomi nation, and to assure you that we will not fail at the polls to give you the support that your services in the past so highly deserve. We feel honored in doing this, for we are assured that we are aiding in re-electing to the proud position of President of the United States one so highly worthy of it — one among not the least of whose claims is that he was the emancipator- of four millions of bondmen. The President replied as follows : — Gentlemen : — I can only say in response to the remarks of your chair- man, that I am very grateful for the renewed confidence which has been accorded to me, both by the convention and by the National League. I am not insensible at all to the personal compliment there is in this, yet I do not allow myself to believe that any but a small portion of it is to be appropriated as a personal compliment to me. The convention and the nation, I am assured, are alike animated by a higher view of the interests of the country, for the present and the great future, and the part I am entitled to appropriate as a compliment is only that part which I may lay hold of as being the opinion of the convention and of the League, that I am not en- tirely unworthy to be intrusted with the place I have occupied for the last three years. I have not permitted myself, gentlemen, to conclude that I am the best man in the country ; but I am reminded in this con- nection of a story of an old Dutch farmer, who remarked to a companion once that " it was not best to swap horses when crossing a stream." On the evening of the same day the President was ser- enaded by the delegation from Ohio, and to them and the large crowd which had gathered there, he made the following brief speech : — Gentlemen : — I am very much obliged to you for this compliment. I have jnst being saying, and will repeat it, that the hardest of all speeches I Sta'je Papers of Abraham Lijsh.olx. 501 have to answer is a serenade. T never know what to say on tlioso occa- sions. I snppose that you liavedono me this kindness in connection with the action of ti^e Baltimore Convention, which lias recently taken place, and with which, of course, I am very well satisfied. What wo want still more than Baltimore Conventions, or Presidential elections, is success under General Grant. I propose that you constantly bear in mind that the support you owe to the brave officers and soldiers in the field is of the very first importance, and we should therefore bend all our energies to that point. Now without detaining you any longer, I propose that you help mo to close up what I am now saying with three rousing cheers for General Grant and the officers and soldiers under his command. The rousing cheers were given — Mr, Lincoln liimself leading off, and waving his hat as earnestly as any one present. The written address of the Committee of the Convention announcing his nomination, sent to him a few days after- wards, was as follows : — New York, Junt 14, ISW. Hon. Abraham Lincoln : Sir: — The Xational Union Convention, which assembled in Baltimore on June 7th, 1864, has instructed us to inform you that you were nomi- nated with enthusiastic unanimity for the Presidency of the United States for four years from the 4th of March next. The resolutions of the convention, which we have already had the pleasure of placing in your hands, are a full and clear statement of the principles which inspired its action, and which, as we believe, the great body of Union men in the country heartily approve. Whether those resolutions express the national gratitude to our soldiers and sailors, or the national scorn of compromise with rebels, and consequent dishonor, or the patriotic duty of union and success; whether they approve the Proclamation of Emancipation, the Constitutional Amendment, the em- ployment of former slaves as Union soldiers, or the solemn obligation of the Government promptly to redress the wrongs of every soldier of the Union, of whatever color or race; whether they declare the inviolability of the plighted faith of the nation, or offer the national hospita..:y to the oppressed of every land, or urge the union by railroad of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans ; whether they recommend public economy and vigorous taxation, or assert the fixed popular opposition to the establishment by armed force of foreign monarchies in the immediate neighborhood of the United States, or declare that those only are worthy of official trust who approve unreservedly the views and policy indicated in the resolutions — they were equally hailed with the heartiness of profound conviction. Believing with you, sir, that this is the people's war for the maintenance of a Government which you have justly described as "of the people, by 36 5G2 The Life, Public Service,«. and tlic people, for tlie people," we are very sure that you will be glad to know, not only from the resolutions themselves, but from the singuhir harmony and enthusiasm with which they were adopted, how warm is the popular welcome of every measure in the prosecution of the war which is as vigorous, unmistakable, and unfaltering as the national pur- pose itself. No right, for instance, is so precious and sacred to the American heart as that of personal liberty. Its violation is regarded with just, instant, and universal jealousy. Yet, in this hour of peril, every faithful citizen concedes that, for the sake of national existence and the common welfare, individual liberty may, as the Constitution provides in case of rebellion, be sometimes summarily constrained, asking only with painful anxiety that in every instance, and to the least detail, that absolute necessary power shall not be hastily or unwisely exercised. TVe believe, sir, that the honest will of the Union men of the country was never more truly represented than in this convention. Their pur- pose we believe to be tlie overthrow of armed rebels in the field, and the security of permanent peace and union, by liberty and justice, under the Constitution. That these results are to be achieved amid cruel perplex- ities, they are fully aware. That they are to be reached only through cordial unanimity of counsel, is undeniable. That good men may some- times diflfer as to the means and the time, they know. That in the conduct of all human affairs the highest duty is to determine, in the angry conflict of passion, how much good may be practically accom- plished, is their sincere persuasion. They liave watched your official course, therefore, with unflagging attention; and amid the bitter taunts of eager friends and the fierce denunciation of enemies, now moving too fast for some, now too slowly for others, they have seen you throughouf this tremendous contest patient, sagacious, faithful, just — leaning upon the heart of the great mass of the people, and satisfied to be moved by its mighty pulsations. It is for this reason that, long before the convention met, the popular instinct indicated you as its candidate; and the convention, therefore, merely recorded the popular wiU. Your character and career prove your unswerving fidelity to the cardinal principles of American liberty and of the American Constitution. In the name of that liberty and Con- stitution, sir, we earnestly request your acceptance of this nominatioi: ; reverently commending our beloved country, and you, its'Chief Magis- trate, with all its brave sons who, on sea and land, are faithfully defend- ing the good old American cause of equal rights, to the blessing of Almighty God. We are, sir, very respectfully, your friends and fellow-citizens. Wm. Dennison, O., Chairman. W. Bushnell, 111. JosiAH Drummond, Maine. L. P. Alexander, Mich. Thos. E. Sawyer, N. H. A. W. Eandall, Wis. Bradley Barlow, Vt. A. Oliver. Iowa. State Papers of AiiiuiiAM Lincoln. • 5Go A. II. Bullock, Mass. TnoMAs Simi'son, Minn. A. M. Gammell, R. I. John Bidwell, Cal. C. S. BusiiNELL, Conn. TnoMAS II. Peakne, Oregon G. W. Curtis, N. Y. Leroy Kramer, West Va. W. A. Newell, N. J. A. C. Wilder, Kansas. IIenrt Johnson, Penn. M. M. Bui en, Tonncsscc. N. B. Smitiiees, Del. J. P. Grkves, Nevada. W. L. W. Seabrook, Md. A. A. Atociia, La. John F. Hume, Mo. A. S. Paddock, Nebraska. G. W. IIiTE, Ky. Valentine Dell, Arkansas. E. P. Tyffk, Ohio. John A. Nye, Colorado. Cyrus M. Allen, Ind. A. B. Sloanaker, Utah. REPLY OF MR. LINCOLN. ExBOUTivE Mansion, WAsntNOTON, Jime 27, 1864. Hon. "Wm. Dennison and others, a Committee of the Union National Con- vention : Gentlemen: — Your letter of the 14th inst., formally notifying me that I have been nominated by the convention you represent for the Presi- dency of the United States for four years from the 4th of March next, has been received. The nomination is gratefully accepted, as the resolutions of the convention, called the platform, are heartily approved. While the resolution in regard to the supplanting of republican govern- ment upon the Western Continent is fully concurred in, there might be misunderstanding were I not to say that the position of the Government in relation to the action of France in Mexico, as assumed through the State Department and indorsed by the convention among the measures and acts of the Executive, will be faithfully maintained so long as the state of facts shall leave that position i)ertinent and applicable. I am especially gratified that the soldier and seaman were not forgotten by the convention, as they forever must and will be remembered by the grateful country for whose salvation they devote their lives. Thanking you for the kind and complimentary terms in which you have communicated the nomination and other proceedings of the oon- vention, I subscribe myself. Your obedient servant, Abraham Lincoln. The platform adopted by the Baltimore Convention met with the general approval of those of the people who claimed to be the supporters of the Government. One exception -was, however, found In the person of Mr. Charles Gribson, Solicitor of the United States in the 564 • The Life, Public Services, and Conrt of Claims at St. Louis, who, considering, as lie said, that that platform rendered his retention of oflSce under Mr, Lincoln' s Administration wholly useless to the country, as well as inconsistent with his principles, ten- dered his resignation, through the clerk of the Court of Claims, Mr. Welling. The President's reply, communicated through his pri vate secretary, was as follows : — Executive Mansion, Washington, July 25, 1864. J. 0. WELLrNG, Esq. : — According; to the request contained in your note, I have placed Mr. Gibson's letter of resignation in the hands of the President. He has read the letter, and says he accepts the resignation, as he will be glad to do with any other, which may be tendered, as this is, for the purpose of taking an attitude of hostility against him. He says he was not aware that he was so much indebted to Mr. Gibson for having accepted the office at first, not remembering that he ever pressed him to do so, or that he gave it otherwise than as usual, upon a request made on behalf of Mr. Gibson. He thanks Mr. Gibson for his acknowledgment that he has been treated with personal kindness and consideration, and he says he knows of but two small drawbacks upon Mr. Gibson's right to still receive such treat- ment, one of which is that he could never learn of his giving much attention to the duties of his office, and the other is this studied attempt of Mr. Gibson's to stab him. I am, very truly, Your obedient servant, John Hat. The elements of opposition to Mr. Lincoln's election in the ranks of his own jDarty were checked, though not wholly destroyed, hy the unanimity of his nomination. Conferences were still held among prominent men, espe- cially in the city of New York, for the purjwse of organ- izing this hostility and making it effective, and a call was put in circulation for a convention to he held at Cincin- nati, to put in nomination another candidate. The move- ment, however, was so utterly destitute of popular sym- i^athy that it was soon abandoned. A very sharp and iicrimonious warfare was still waged upon Mr. Lincoln and his Administration not only by the leading presses of the opposition, but by prominent men and influential State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 565 journals ostensibly in the ranks of Lis supporters. Every act of the government was canvassed with eager and un- friendly scrutiny, and made, wherever it was possible, the ground of hostile assault. Among the matters thus seized upon was the sur- render to the Sjoanish authorities of a Cuban named Arguelles, whicli was referred to by the Fremont Con- vention as a denial of the right of asylum. This man, Don Jose Augustine Arguelles, was a colonel in the Spanisli army, and Lieutenant-Governor of the District of Colon, in Cuba. As such, in November, 1863, he effected the capture of a large number of slaves tliat were landed within his district, and received from the Govern- ment of Cuba praise for his efficiency, and the sum of fifteen thousand dollars for his share of prize-money on the capture. Shortly afterwards, he obtained leave of absence for twenty days, for the purpose of going to New York and there making the purchase of the Si^anisli newspaper called La Cronica. He came to New York, and there remained. In March following, the Cuban Government made application to our authorities, through the Consul-General's office at Havana, stating that it had been discovered that Arguelles, with others, had been guilty of the crime of selling one hundred and forty-one of the cargo of negroes thus captured, into slavery, and by means of forged papers representing to the Govern- ment that they had died after being landed ; stating also that his return to Cuba was necessary to procure the liberation of his hapless victims, and desiring to know whether the Government of the United States would cause him to be returned to Cuba. Documents authen- ticating the facts of the case were forwarded to our authorities. There being no extradition treaty between our country and Spain, the Cuban Government could take no proceedings before the courts in the matter, and the only question was whether our Government would take the responsibility of arresting Arguelles and sending him back or not. The Government determined to assume the responsibility, and sent word to the Cuban 566 The Life, Public Services, and authorities that if they would send a suitable officer to New York, measures would be taken to i^lace Arguelles in his charge. The officer was sent, and Arguelles hav- ing been arrested by the United States Marshal at New York, was, before any steps could be taken to appeal to any of the courts on his behalf, put on board a steamer bound for Havana. This proceeding caused great indignation until the facts were understood. Ar- guelles having money, had found zealous friends in New York, and a strong effi^rt was made in his favor. It was stated on his behalf that, instead of being guilty of selling these negroes into slavery, it was the desire of the Cuban authorities to get possession of him and silence him, lest' he should publish facts within his knowledge which implicated the authorities themselves in that nefarious traffic. And the fact that he was taken as he was, by direct order of the Government, not by any legal or judicial proceedings, and without having the opportunity to test before the courts the right of the Government thus to send back any one, however criminal, was alleged to spring from the same disregard of liberty and law in which the arbitrary arrests which had been made of rebel sympathizers were said to have had their source. Proceedings were even taken against the United States Marshal under a statute of the State of New York against kidnapping, and everywhere the enemies of the Administration found in the Arguelles case material for assailing it as having trampled upon the right of asylum, exceeded its own legal powers, insulted the laws and courts of the land, and endangered the liberties of the citizen ; while the fact of its having aided in the punish- ment of an atrocious crime, a crime intimately connected with the slave-trade, so abhorrent to the sympathies of the people, was kept out of sight. Another incident used to feed the public distrust of the Administration, was the temporary suppression of two Democratic newspapers in the city of New York. On Wednesday, May 18th, these two papers, the World and the Journal of Commerce, published what purported State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 5G7 to be a proclaiiiation of President Lincoln. At tliis tiiin', as will be recollected, General Grant was still struggling with Lee before Spottsylvania, with terrible skiuglitci- and doubtful prospects, while Sigel had been drivcu back by Lnboden, and Butler was held in cbeck by Beauregard. This proclamation announced to the co,un- try that General Grant' s campaign was virtually closed ; and, "in view of the situation in Virginia, the disaster at Red River, the delay at Charleston, and the general state of the country," it apjDointed the 26tli of May as a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer, and ordered a fresh draft of four hundred thousand men. The morning of its publication was the day of the departure of the mails for Europe. Before its character was discovered, this forged proclamation, telegraphed all over the country, had raised the price of gold five or six per cent., and car- ried discouragement and dismay to the popular heart. The suppression of the papers by which it had been published, the emphatic denial of its authenticity, and the prompt adoption of measures to detect its author, speedily reassured the public mind. After being satis- fied that the publication of the document was inadver- tent, the journals seized were permitted to resume publi- cation, the authors of the forgery were sent to Fort Lafayette, and public afl'airs resumed their ordinary course. But the action of the Government gave fresh stimulus to the partisan warfare upon it. As in the Arguelles case and tlie arbitrary arrests it had been charged with tram- pling upon the liberties of the citizen, so now it was charged with attacking the liberty of the press. Governor Seymour directed the District Attorney of New York to take measures ibr the prosecution and punishment of all who had been connected with shutting up the newspaper ofiices. The matter was brought before a grand-jnr}', which reported that it was " inexpedient to examine into the subject." Determined not to be thus thwarted, Governor Sey- mour, alleging that the grand-jury had disregarded their 568 The Life, Public, Services, and oaths, directed the District Attorney to bring the subject liefore some magistrate. Warrants were accordingly issued by City Judge Russell for the arrest of General Dix and the officers who had acted in the matter. The parties voluntarily appeared before the judge, and an argument of the legal questions involved was liad. The judge determined to hold General' Dix and the rest for tlie action of the grand-jury. One grand-jury, however, had already refused to meddle with the matter, and, greatly to the disappointment of those who had aimed to place the State of New York in a position of open hostility to the Government of the United States, no fur- ther proceedings were ever taken in the matter. An effort was made to bring the subject up in Con- gress. Among other propositions, Mr. Brooks, of New York, proposed to add, as an amendment to a biU for the incorporation of a Newsboys' Home in the District of Columbia, a provision that no newspaper should be sup- pressed in Washington, or its editor incarcerated, without due process of law. He succeeded in making a speech abounding in denunciations of the Government, but had no other success. To those men at the North who really sympathized with the South on the slavery question, the whole policy of the Administration upon that subject was distasteful. The Emancipation Proclamation, the repeal of the Fugi- tive Slave Law, and even the employment of negroes in the army, were witli them grave causes of complaint against it. The President's vieAvs on this matter were expressed in the following conversational remarks, to some pr )minent Western gentlemen :— The slightest knowledge of arithmetic (said he) will prove to any man that the rehel armies cannot he destroyed hy Democratic strategy. It would sacrifice all the white men of the North to do it. There are now in the service of the United States nearly two hundred thousand able-bodi£d colored men, most of them under arms, defending and ac- quiring Union territory. The Democratic strategy demands that these forces be disbanded, and that the masters be conciliated by restoring them to slavery. The black men who now assist Union prisoners to escape State Papers of Aiuiaiiam Lincoln. 569 are to be converted into our enemies, in tlie vain liopc of f,'ainin^ tlie good-will of their masters. We shall have to fight two nations instead of one. You cannot conciliate the South if you guarantee to them ultirnato success, and the experience of the present war proves their success is inevitable if you fling the compulsory labor of four millions of black men into their side of the scale. Will you give our enemies such military advantages as insure success, and then depend upon coaxing, flattery, and concession to get them back into the Union ? Abandon all the forts now garrisoned by black men, take two hundred thousand men from our side, and put them in the battle-field, or cornfield, against us, and we would be compelled to abandon the war in three weeks. We have to hold territory in inclement and sickly places. Where arc the Democrats to do this ? It was a free fight, and the field was open to tbe War Democrats to put down this rebellion by fighting against both master and slave long before the present policy was inaugurated. There have been men base enough to propose to me to return to slavery our black warriors of Port Hudson and Olustee, and thus win the respect of the masters they fought. Should I do so, I should deserve to be damned in time and eternity. Come what will, I will keep my faith with friend and foe. My enemies pretend I am now carrying on this war for the sole purpose of abolition. So long as I am President it shall be carried on for the sole purpose of restoring the Union. But no human power can subdue this rebellion without the use of the emancipation policy, and every other policy calculated to weaken the moral and physical forces of the rebellion. Freedom has given us two hundred thousand men, raised on Southern soil. It will give us more yet. Just so much it has abstracted from the enemy; and instead of checking the South, there are evidences of a fra- ternal feeling growing up between our men and the rank and file of the rebel soldiers. Let my enemies prove to the country that the destruction of slavery is not necessary to the restoration of the Union. I will abide the issue. Aside from the special causes of attack which we have meutioned, others were brought forward more general in their character. The burdens of the war were made especially prominent. Every thing discouraging was harped upon and magnified, every advantage was belittled and sneered at. The call for live liundred tliousand men in June was even deprecated by the friends of the Ad- ministration, because of the political capital which its enemies would be sure to make of it. Nor was Mr. Lin- coln himself unaware tliat such would be the result, but, 570 The Life, Public Services, and though recognizing the elements of dissatisfaction which it carried with it, he did not suffer himself to be turned aside in the least from the path which duty to his coun- try required him to pursue. The men were needed, he said, and must be had, and should he fail as a candidate for re-election in consequence of doing his duty to the country, he would have at least the satisfaction of going down with colors flying. Financial difficulties were also used in the same AYay. The gradual rise in the price of gold was pointed at as indicating the approach of that financial ruin which was surely awaiting the country, if the re-election of Mr. Lincoln should mark the determination of the people to pursue the course upon which they had entered. Amidst these assaults from his opponents, Mr. Lincoln seemed fairly entitled, at least, to the hearty support of all the members of his own party. And yet this very time was chosen by Senator Wade, of Ohio, and H. Winter Davis, of Maryland, to make a violent attack upon him for the course which he had pursued in reference to the Reconstruction Bill, which he had not signed, but had given his reasons for not signing, in his proclama- tion of July 18th. Tliey charged him witli usurpation, with presuming nvrn the forbearance of his supporters, with defeating the will of the people by an Executive perversion of the Constitution, &c., &c., and closed a long and violent attack by saying that if he wished their support he "must confine himself to his Executive duties — to obey and execute, not make the laws — to sup- press by arms armed rebellion, and leave political reorgan- ization to Congress." This manifesto, prepared with marked ability, and skilfully adapted to the purpose it was intended to serve, at first created some slight apprehension among the sup- porters of the President. But it was very soon felt that it met with no response from the popular heart, and it only served to give a momentary buoyancy to the hopes of the Opposition. Still another incident soon occurred to excite a con- State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 571 siderable degree of public anxiety coiicerniuo- the iinnu3- diate political future. It was universally understood that a strong desire for peace pervaded tlie public; mind, and that tlie determination to prosecute the war was the dic- tate of duty, rather than inclination. To such an extent did this longing for peace influence the sentiments and action of some, among the least resolute and hopeful of tlie political leaders in the Republican party, that ready access to them was found by agents of the Rebel Govern ment, stationed in Canada for such active service as cir- cumstances might require. Of these agents, who were then at Niagara Falls, were C. C. Clay, formerly United States Senator from Alabama, Professor Holcombe, of Vir- ginia, and George IS". Sanders. Acting on their behalf and under their instructi4)ns, W. Cornell Jewett, an irre- sponsible and half-insane adventurer, had put himself in communication with Hon. Horace Greeley, Editor of the JVeiu York Tribune, whose intense eagerness for peace had already commended him to the admiration and sympathy of the emissaries of the Rebel Government. In reply to some letter which had been addressed to him, but which has not yet been made public, JoA^ett wrote on the 5th of July to Mr. Greeley the following letter : — Niagara Falls, Ju!i/ 5, 1S64. My Deak Mr. Greeley: — In reply to your note, I have to advise hav- ing just left Hon. George X-. Sanders, of Kentucky, on the Canada side. I am authorized to state to you, for our use only, not the public, that tico ambassadors of Davis & Co. are now in Canada, with full and comj)lete powers for a peace, and Mr. Sanders requests that you come on immedi- ately to me, at Cataract House, to have a private interview, or if you will send the President's protection for him and two frierids, they will come on and meet you. He says the whole matter can be consummated by me, you, them, and President Lincoln. Telegraph me in such form that I may know if you come here, or they to come on with me. Yours, W. 0. Jewett. The next day Mr. Jewett also telegraphed as fol- lows : — H. Greeley, Tribune : "Will you come here ? Parties have full power. Wrote you yesterday Je vtett. 572 The Life, Public Services, and This letter and telegram Mr. Greeley enclosed to tlie President, at Washington, accompanied by the follow- ing letter : — New Yoek, July 7, 1864. My Dear Sik: — I venture to enclose you a letter and telegraphic dis- patch that I received yesterday from our irrepressihle friend, Colorado Jewett, at Niagara Falls. I think they deserve attention. Of course I do not indorse Jewett's positive averment that his friends at the Falls have "full powers" from J. D., though I do^not doubt that he thinks they have. I let that statement stand as simply evidencing the anxiety of the Confederates everywhere for peace. So much is beyond doubt. And therefore I venture to remind you that our bleeding, bankrupt, almost dying country also longs for peace — shudders at the prospect of fresh conscriptions, of further wholesale devastations, and of new rivers of human blood ; and a wide-spread conviction that the Goverment and its prominent supporters are not anxious for peace, and do not improve proffered opportunities to achieve it, is doing great harm now, and is morally certain, unless removed, to do far greater in the approaching elections. It is not enough that we anxiously desire a true and lasting peace ; we ought to demonstrate and establish the truth beyond cavil. The fact that A. II. Stephens was not permitted a year ago to visit and confer with the authorities at Washington has done harm, which the tone at the late National Convention at Baltimore is not calculated to counteract. I entreat you, in your own time and manner, to submit overtures for pacification to the Southern insurgents, which the impartial must pro- nounce frank and generous. If only with a view to the momentous elec- tion soon to occur in North Carolina, and of the draft to be enforced in the Free States, this should be done at once. I would give the safe-con- duct required by the rebel envoys at Niagara, upon their parole to a^void observation and to refrain from all communication with their sympa- thizers in the loyal States ; but you may see reasons for declining it. But whether through them or otlierwise, do not, I entreat you, fail to make the Southera people comprehend that you, and all of us, are anxious for peace, and prepared to grant liberal terms. I venture to suggest the fol- lowing PLAN OF ADJUSTMENT. 1. The Union is restored and declared perpetual. 2. Slavery is utterly and forever abolished throughout the same. 3. A complete amnesty for all political offences,, with a restoration of all the inhabitants of each State to all the privileges of citizens of the United States. 4. The Union to pay four hundred million dollars (§400,000,000) in five per cent. United States stock to the late Slave States, loyal and seccs- State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 57.3 sion alike, to be apportioned pro rata, according to their slave popula- tion respectively, by the census of 1860, in compensation for the losses of their loyal citizens by the abolition of slavery. Each State to be en- titled to its quota upon the ratification by its legislature of this adjust- ment. The bonds to bo at the absolute disposal of tlio legislature ufure- said. 5. The said Slave States to bo entitled henceforth to representation in the House on the biisis of their total, instead of their federal population, the whole now being free. 6, A national convention, to be assembled so soon as may be, to ratify this adjustment, and make such changes in the Constitution as may be deemed advisable. Mr. President, I fear you do not realize how intently the j)eoplo desire any peace consistent with the national integrity and honor, and how joyously they would hail its achievement, and bless its authors. With United States stocks worth but forty cents in gold per dollar, and draft- ing about to commence on the third million of Union soldiers, can this be wondered at? I do not say that a just peace is now attainable, though I believe it to be so. But I do say that a frank offer by you to the insurgents of terms which the impartial say ought to be accepted will, at the worst, prove an immense and sorely needed advantage to the national cause. It may save us from a Northern insurrection. Yours, truly, Horace Greeley. Hon. A. LiNooLX, President, Wafthington, D. C. P. S. — Even though it should be deemed unadvisable to make an offer of terms to the rebels, I insist that, in any possible case, it is desirable that any offer they may be disposed to make should be received, and either accepted or rejected. I beg you to invite those now at Niagara to exhibit their credentials and submit their ultimatum. H. G. To tliis letter the President sent the following answer :— Wasiiingtos, D. C, July 9, 1864. Hon. Horace Greeley : Dear Sib: — Your letter of the 7th, with enclosures, received. If you can find any person anywhere professing to have any proposition of Jef- ferson Davis, in writing, for i)eace, embracing the restoration of the Union and abandonment of slavery, whatever else it embraces, say to him he may come to me with you, and that if he really brings such prop- osition, he shall, at the least, have safe-conduct with the paper (and with- out publicity if he chooses) to the point where you shall have met him. The same if there be two or more persons. Yours truly, A. Lincoln. 574 The Life, Public Services, and Mr. Greeley answered this letter as follows : — Office of the Tribuntj, Xew Toek, July 10, ISGi My Deae Sir : — I have yours of yesterday. Whether there be persons it Niagara (or elsewhere) who are empowered to commit the rebels by aegotiation, is a question; but ^y there be such, there is no question at all that they would decline to exhibit their credentials to me, much more to open their budget and give me their best terms. Green as I may be, I am not quite so verdant as to imagine any thing of the sort. I have neither purpose nor desire to be made a confidant, far less an agent, in such nego- tiations. But I do deeply realize that the rebel chiefs achieved a most decided advantage in proposing or pretending to propose to have A. H. Stephens visit Washington as a peacemaker, and being rudely repulsed; and I am anxious that the ground lost to tlie national cause by that mis- take shall somehow be regained in season for effect on the approaching ISTorth Carolina election. I will see if I can get a look into the hand of whomsoever may be at Niagara; though tli at is a project so manifestly hopeless that I have little heart for it, still I shall try. Meantime I wish you would consider the propriety of somehow ap- prising the people of the South, especially those of North Carolina, that no overture or advance looking to peace and reunion has ever been re- pelled by you, but that such a one would at any time have been cordially received and favorably regarded, and would still be. Yours, Horace Greelet, Hon. A. LiNcoLK. This letter failed to reach the President until after the following one was received, and was never, therefore, specifically answered. Three days after the above letter, Mr. Greeley, having received additional information from some quarter, wrote to the President again as follows : — Office of tite Teibune, New York, July 13, 1864. My Dear Sir : — I have now information on which I can rely that two persons duly commissioned and empowered to negotiate for peace are at this moment not far from Niagara Falls, in Canada, and are desirous of conferring with yourself, or with such persons as you may appoint and empower to treat with them. Their names (only given in confidence) are Hon. Clement C. Clay, of Alabama, and Hon. Jacob Thompson, of Missis- sippi. If you should prefer to meet them in person, they require safe-con- ducts for themselves, and for George N. Sanders, who will accompany them. Should you choose to empower one or more persons to treat with them in Canada, they will of course need no safe-conduct; but they can- not be expected to exhibit credentials save to commissioners empowered as they are. In negotiating directly with yourself, all grounds of cavil State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 575 wonld be avoided, and you would be oiiiibled at all times to net iipun tlio freshest advices of the military situation. You will of course understand that I know nothing and have proposed nothing as to terms, an. Holoombe, George N. Sanders, State Papers of Abhaiiam Lincoln. 577 sli.all have safe-conduct to tlio City of Wnsliini^'toii in company with tli.- lion. Ilorace Greeley, and shall be exempt Irom arrest or annoyance of :iny kind from any ot^ieer of the United States during their journey to tho said City of Washington. By order of the President : John ITay, Major and A. A.-G. On his arrival, Mr. Greeley sent by the hands of Mr. Jewett the following letter : — NiAOAUA Falls, N. Y., Juhj 17, ISCl. Gentlemen: — I am informed that you are duly accredited from Kich- mond as the bearers of propositions looking to the establishment of peace ; that you desire to visit Washington in the fulfilment of your mission ; and that you further desire that Mr. George N. Sanders shall accompany you. If my information be thus far substantially correct, I am authorized by the President of the United States to tender you liis safe-conduct on the journey proposed, and to accompany you at the earliest time that will be agreeable to you. I have the honor to be, gentlemen. Yours, Horace Greeley. To Messrs. Clement C. Clay, Jacob Thompson, James P. Holoomre, Clifton House, C. W. To this letter the following reply was returned : — CLtFTON House, Niagara Falls, July IS, 1S64. Sir: — "We have the honor to acknowledge your favor of the 17th inst., which -would have been answered on yesterday, but for the absence of Mr. Clay. The safe-conduct of the President of the United States has been tendered us, we regret to state, under some misapprehension of facts. We have not been accredited to him from Pvichmond, as the bearers of propositions looking to the establishment of peace. We are, however, in the confidential employment of our Government, and are entirely familiar with its wishes and opinions on that subject ; and we feel author- ized to declare, that if the circumstances disclosed in this correspondence were communicated to Richmond, we would be at once invested with Hie authority to which your letter refers, or other gentlemen, clothed with full powers, would be immediately sent to Washington with a view of hastening a consummation so much to be desired, and terminating at tlie earliest possible moment the calamities of tlie war. We respectfully solicit, through your intervention, a safe-conduct to Washington, and thence by any route which may be designated through your lines to Richmond. We would be gratified if Mr. George Sanders was embraced in this privilege. Permit us, in conclusion, to acknowledge our obliga- tions to you for the interest you have manifested in ilie furtlierance of 578 The Life, Public Services, and our wishes, and to express the hope that, in any event, you will afford ns the opportunity of tendering them la person before you leave the Falls. We remain, very respectfully, &c., C. 0. Clay, Jr. J. P. IIOLCOIIBE. P. S. Tt is proper to state that Mr. Thompson is not here, and has not been staying with us since our sojourn in Canada. Mr. Greeley tliereupon wrote as follows : — International Hotel, Niagaka Falls, N. T., Jtity 18, 1S64. Gentlemen : — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of yours of this date by the hand of Mr. W. 0. Jewett. The state of facts therein ])resented being materially different from that which was understood to exist by the President when he intrusted me with the safe-conduct re- quired, it seems to me on every account advisable that I should commu- nicate with him by telegraph, and solicit fresh instructions, which I shall at once proceed to do. I hope to be able to transmit the result this afternoon, and at all events I shall do so at tlie earliest moment. Yours truly, Horace Greeley. To Messrs. Clement C. Clay and James P. Holoombe, Clifton House, C. W. This letter was thus acknowledged : — Clifton IIouse, Niagaba Falls, July 18, 1861. To Hon. n. Greeley, Niagara Falls, N. Y. : Sir : — We have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of this date by the hands of Colonel Jewett, and will await the further answer which you propose to send to us. We are, very respectfully, &c., (Signed) C. C. Clay, Jr. James P. Holoombe. Mr. Greeley accordingly sent the following telegram at once to the President at Washington : — Independent Teleokath Line, Niagara Falls, July IS, 1S64. Hon. Abuaiiam Lincoln, President: I have communicated with the gentlemen in question, and do not find them so empowered as I was previously assured. They say that "we are, however, in the confidential employment of our Government, and entirely familiar with its wishes and opinions on that subject, and we feel antliorized to declare that, if the circumstances disclosed in this corre.spond- State Papers of Aekaiiam Lincolx. ~)'J\) ence were oommunicated to Richmond, wo would at oiicc bo invested witli tlio autiiofity to wliich your letter refers, or other jreiitlemen clothed with full i)owor would immediately be sent to Washington with a view of liastening a consummation so much to be desired, and terminating at tlio earliest possible moment the calamities of war. We respectfully solicit, through your intervention, a safe-conduct to Washington, and thence '.)y any route which may be designated to Richmond." Such is the more material portion of the gentlemen's letter. I will transmit the entire correspondence, if desired. Awaiting your further instructions, I remain yours, Horace Gijeeley. The President, on receiving tliis telegram, immediately dispatched Major Hay to Niagara with a further commu- nication, and telegraphed to Mr. Greeley that he had done so, whereupon the latter sent across the river the following letter : — iNTEENATlONAi. HOTEL, NiAGAEA FALLS, NkW ToBK, Jllll/ 19, 18fr4, Gentlemex : — At a late hour last evening (too late for communication with you) I received a dispatch informing me that further instructions left Washington last evening, which must reach me, if there be no inter- ruption, at noon to-morrow. Should you decide to await their arrival, I feel confident that they will enable me to answer definitely your note of yesterday morning. Regretting a delay which I am sure you will regard as unavoidable on my part, I remain yours truly, Horace Greeley, To Hon. Messrs. C. C. Clay, Jr., and J. P. Holcombe, Clifton House, C. W. He received the following acknowledgment : — Clifton IJouse, Niagara Falls, July 1!), 1864. Sir: — Colonel Jewett has just handed us your note of this date, in which you state that further instructions from Tv'ashington will reach you by noon to-morrow, if there be no interruption. One, or possibly both of us, may be obliged to leave the Falls to-day, but will return in time to receive the communication which you promise to-mcft-row. We remain truly yours, &c., James P. Holoombe. C. C. Clay, Jr. To the Hon. Horace Greeley, now at the International Hotel. The further instructions from the President, sent by the hands of Major Hay, were as follows :— 580 The Life, Public Services, axd ExEOUTivK Mansion', 'Washington', Juhj 1?, 1S64 To WHOM IT MAY CONCERN : Any proposition which embraces the restoration of peace, the integrity of the whole Union, and tlie abandonment of slavery, and which comes by and with an authority that can control the armies now at war agrinst the United States, will be received and considered by the Executive Government of the United States, and will be met by liberal terms on substantial and collateral points, and the bearer or bearers thereof shall have safe conduct both ways. (Signed) Abraham Lincoln. Major Hay arrived at Niagara on tlie 20th of July, and went with Mr. Greeley across to the Clifton House, where he delivered to Professor Holcombe the above paper, in the President' s own handwriting. The interview was a brief one, and on separating, Mr. Greeley returned to New York, leaving Major Hay to receive their answer, if there should be one. Their reply was, however, sent to Mr. Greeley by the hands of Mr. Jewett. It was as follows : — Niagara Falls, CLirroif House, July 21. To Hon. Horace Greeley : Sir:— The paper handed to Mr. Holcombe on yesterday, in your pres- ence, by Major Hay, A. A.-G., as an answer to the application in our note of the 18th inst., is couched in the following terms: — Executive Mansion, Washington, D. 0., Juhj 18, 1S64 To WHOM IT MAY CONCERN : Any proposition which embraces the restoration of peace, \he integrity of the whole Union, and the abandonment of slavery, and which comes by and with an authority that can control the armies now at war against the United States, will be received and considered by the Executive Government of the United States, and will be met by liberal terms on other substantial and collateral points, and the bearer or bearers therof shall have safe-conduct both ways. Abraham Lincoln. The application to wliich we refer was elicited by your letter of tlie iTth inst., in which you inform Mr. Jacob Thompson and ourselves, that you were authorized by the President of the United States to tender us his safe-conduct on the hypothesis that we were " duly accredited from Eich- mond, as bearers of propositions looking to the establishment of peact^," and desired a vis't to Washington in the fulfilment of this mis- sion. This assertion, to which we then gave, and still do, entire credence, was accepted by us as the evidence of an unexpected but most gratifying change in the policy of the President— a change which we felt authorized to hope might terminate in the conclusion of a peace, mutually just, honor- State Papers of Abraham LI^x'OLN. 581 able, and advantageous to the North and to the South, exacting no con- dition, but that we should be " duly accredited from Ricliniond as bearers of propositions looking to the establishment of peace," thus proffering a basis for conference as comprehensive as we could desire. It seemed to us that the President opened a door, which had previously been closed against the Confederate States for a full interchange of sentiments, free discussion of conflicting opinions, and untrammelled effort to remove all causes of controversy by liberal negotiations. "We indeed coidd not claim the benefit of a safe-conduct which had been extended to us in a charac- ter we had no right to assume', and had never affected to ])0ssess; but the uniform declaration of our Executive and Congress, and their thrice re- peated and as often repulsed attempts to open negotiations, furnish a sufficient pledge to assure us that this conciliatory manifestation on the part of the President of the United States would be met by them in a temper of equal magnanimity. We had therefore no hesitation in de- claring that if this correspondence was communicated to the President of the Confederate States, he would promptly embrace the opportunity presented for seeking a peaceful solution of this unhappy strife. We feel confident that you must share our profound regret that the spirit which dictated the first step towards peace had not continued to animate the counsels of your President. Had tlie representatives of the two Governments met to consider this question, the most motnentous ever submitted to human statesmanship, in a temper of becoming moderation and equity, followed as their delibera- tions would have been by the prayers and benedictions of every patriot and Christian on the habitable globe, who is there so bold as to pronounce that the frightful waste of individual happiness and public prosperity, which is daily saddening the universal heart, might not have been termi- nated, or if the desolation and carnage of war must still be endured through weary years of blood and suffering, that there might not at least have been infused into its conduct something more of the spirit which softens and partially redeems its brutalities? Instead of the safe-conduct which we solicited, and which your first letter gave us every reason to suppose would be extended for the purpose of initiating a negotiation in which neither Government would compromise its riglits or its dignity, a document has been presented which provokes as much indignation as sur- prise. It bears no feature of resemblance to that which was originally offered, and is unlike any paper which ever before emanated from the con- stitutional Executive of a free people. Addressed '• to whom it may con- cern," it precludes negotiation, and prescribes in advance the terms and conditions of peace. It returns to the original policy of " no bargaining, no negotiations, no truces with rebels, except to bury their dead, until every man shall have laid down his arms, submitted to the Government, and sued for mercy." What may be the explanation of this sudden and entire change in the views of the President, of this rude withdrawal of a cour- teous ovea-ture for negotiation at the moment it was Hkely to be accepted, 582 The Life, Pl'blic Services, and of this emphatic recall of words of peace just uttered, and fresh bhists of war to tlie bitter end, we leave for the speculation of those who liavc tlie means or inclination to penetrate the mysteries of his cabinet, or fathom the caprice of his imperial will. It is enough for us to say that we have uo use whatever for the pajicr which has been placed in our hands. We could not transmit it to the President of the Confederate States without offering him an indignity, dishonoring ourselves, and incurring the well- merited scorn of our countrymen. Whilst an ardent desire for peace pervades the people of the Confeder- ate States, we rejoice to believe that there are few, if any, among them, ■who would purchase it at the expense of liberty, honor, and self-respect. If it can be secured only by their submission to terms of conquest, the generation is yet unborn which will witness its restitution. If there be any military autocrat in the North, who is entitled to proffer the condi- tions of this manifesto, there is none in the South authorized to entertain them. Those wlio control our armies are the servants of the people, not their masters, and they have no more inclination than tliey have right to subvert the social institutions of the sovereign States, to overthrow their established constitutions, and to barter away their priceless heritage of self-government. This correspondence will not, however, we trust, prove wholly barren of good results. If there is any citizen of the Confederate States who has clung to a hope that peace was possible with this Administration of the Federal Gov- ernment, it will strip from his eyes the last film of such a delusion ; or if there be any whose hearts have grown faint under the suffering and agony of this bloody struggle, it will inspire them with fresh energy to endure and brave whatever may yet be requisite to preserve to themselves and their children all that gives dignity and value to life, or hope and conso- lation to deatli. And if there be any patriots or Christians in your land, who shrink appalled from the illimitable vista of private misery and public calamity which stretches before them, we pray that in their bosoms a resolution maybe quickened to recall the. abused authority and vin- dicate the outraged civilization of their country. For the solicitude you have manifested to inaugurate a movement which contemplates results the most noble and humane, we return our sincere tliauks, and are most respectfully and truly Your obedient servants, 0. C. Clay, Jr. James P. Holoombe. The letter to Mr. Jewett in wliicli it was enclosed was as follows : — Clifton Houss, Niagara Falls, July 30, 1S64. Col. W. C. Jewett, Cataract House, Niagara Falls : We are in receipt of your note admonishing us of the departure of Hon. Horace Greeley from the Falls, that he regrets the sad termination of the State Papers of Aiuiaham Lincoln. 583 initiatory steps taken for peace, iu eoiisetiueuco of the cluun^o iiia agents a sarii-condiict to Washington upon any such terms, but only on certain other conditions which he concealed from the agents, aiid of which he took no notice whatever, eithtn- in liis corre- spond;:'Tce witli tliem or with the President. Their reply to him, however, corrected his impression that they were " duly accredited " from Richmond to negotiate for peace. They had no authority of the kind, but expressed their belief that they could get it, and, upon this presumption, renewed their solicitations for a safe-conduct to Washing- ton. On the 18th, Mr. Greehy vrr(;te to the President communicating this information, but still making no allu- sion whatever to the conditions imposed upon their being received. The President, meantime, not understanding the cause of delay in their arrival, sent Major Hay, his private sec- retary, to communicate directly with ^' any persons " pro- fessing to have authority from Davis to treat for peace, and to inform them, as he had twice before instructed Mr. Greeley to inform them, that any proposition for peace, in order to be received and considered by him, must embrace "the restoration of peace, the integrity of the whole Union, and the abandonment of slavery." These instructions were embodied in the letter addressed "to w4iom it may concern" — and were delivered by Major Hay in person to the rebel agents. As it was the first they had ever heard of any "conditions," and as they had been informed by Mr. Greeley that he was in- structed by the President to tender them safe- conduct to Washington, without any mention of conditions— they were of course taken by surprise, and naturally enough attributed to the President the "sudden and entire change of viejvs" with which they reproach him in their letter to Mr. Greeley of July 21st. And strangely enough, even after receiving this letter and being thus apprised of the charge brought against the President, Mr. Greeley not only failed to relieve him from it by making public 586 The Life, Public Services, and the facts, but joined in ascribing to Mr, Lincoln the fail- ure of negotiations for peace and the consequent prolon- gation of the war. And, according to Mr. Jewett's state- ment, Mr. Greeley also authorized him to express to the rebel commissioners his regrets, that the negotiation should have failed in consequence of the President's "change of vievs's." It is not easy now, any more than it was then, to reconcile Mr. Greeley' s action in this matter with fidelity to the Union cause, or with good faith to the Administra- tion, by which alone that cause was maintained. The Opposition press made Mr. Lincoln' s alleged tergiversa- tion the ground of fresh and vehement attack, while it was used throughout the rebel States as fresh proof of the faithless character of the Federal Government, and of the absolute impossibility of making peace except by successful war. The commissioners themselves made a very adroit use of the advantage which Mr. Greeley's extraordinary course had placed in their hands, and, in their letter of July 21st, addressed to him, but intended to be a public impeachment of President Lincoln's honor and good faith, made a powerful and effective appeal to the indignant pride of the Southern people and the sym- pathy of their friends in the Northern States. The President felt very sensibly the injustice done to himself, and the injury done the country, by Mr. Greeley's suppression of these most essential facts, in his intercourse with the rebel commissioners. As the only mode of placing the whole subject properly before the people, he applied to Mr. Greele}^ for permission to publish the whole correspondence — omitting only certain passages not at all essential to a full understanding of the subject, and likely seriously to injure the Union cause by infusing into the public mind something of the despondency, which Mr. Greeley himself felt and openly avowed, con- cerning the prospects of the country. The words which Mr. Lincoln desired to have omitted, in the publication of the correspondence, were the following. In the letter of July 7 :— State Papers of Aijuaiia.m Lixcoia'. 587 111 the socuiid para^Tnpl: : tbc wonls " .-uul tin i\'l'<>rt^ 1 venture lo iv- miiid you that our bleediiieace wing of the j)arty, however, had been relatively strengthened in the interim. The delays and losses of the armies, the hope deferred to which the long and bloody struggles in Virginia and in Georgia had fa- miliarized but not inured the popular heart, the rise in gold, the call for five hundred thousand more men — all these things had given them strength, and made them more vehement and more exacting. Their great champion, Mr, Vallandigham, had surreptitiously returned from Canada, in violation of the sentence which ordered Ms banishment from the lines during the war, and had remained in open defiance of the Government, whose failure to arrest and send him back, or otherwise to punish him, was treated then as an indication of Aveakness rather than of Avisdom. He and his friends were active everywhere, and did not hesitate to declare that they must have a peace can- didate, or platform, one or both, at all hazards, and threatened to nominate a candidate of their own, if this course was not pursued. It cannot be doubted that the fatal course which was finally adopted by the Convention was largely due to the efforts of Mr. Yallandigham, and to the encouragement which his friends received from the appai-ent unwillingness of the Government to molest him on his return. The Convention met in Chicau'o on Mondav, .lugust 29, 592 The Life, Public Services, and It was called to order by August Belmont, of New York, the Cliairman of the National Committee, on whose motion Bx-Grovernor Bigler, of Pennsylvania, was appointed temporary Chairman. The business transacted on the lirst day embraced the appointment of Committees on Credentials, Organization, and Resolutions, of which latter committee Mr. Yallandigham was chosen chairman. On Tuesday the committees reported. There were no contested delegations except from Kentucky, and this question the committee settled by admitting both delega- tions and dividing the vote between them. Louisiana and the Territories had sent delegates, but these were at once excluded. Governor Horatio Seymour, of New York, was chosen President of the Convention, with twenty-one vice-presidents and secretaries. In the afternoon, the platform was reported. The second resolution, which embodied the spirit of the Convention, and shaped the succeeding canvass, was as follows : — Resolved, That this Convention does explicitly declare, as the sense of the American people, that after fonr years of failure to restore the Union by the experiment of war, during which, under the pretence of military necessity or war power higher than the Constitution, the Constitution itself has been disregarded in every part, and public liberty and private right alike trodden down, and the material prosperity of the country essentially impaired, justice, humanity, liberty, and the public welfare demand that immediate efforts be made for a cessation of hostilities, with a view to an ultimate convention of the States or other peaceable means, to the end that, at the earliest practicable moment, peace may be restored on the basis of the Federal Union of the States. The other resolutions assailed the Administration for its military interference in elections, its arbitrary arrests, suppression of freedom of speech and of the press, denial of the right of asylum, imposing test-oaths, taking away arms from the people (as had beei;i done where there was danger of armed insurrection on the part of local asso- ciations), and disregard of duty towards our soldiers who were prisoners of war; and they extended " the sym- pathy of the Democratic party" to the soldiers and the sailors. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 503 Mr. Long, of Ohio, wlio, as will be recollected, had been publicly censured by Congress lor a speech bordering upon treason, endeavored to amend the resolutions so as to "place the Convention in a position favoring peace beyond the mistakes of any equivocal language." Under the working of the previous question, however, Mr. Long was silenced, and tlie resolutions were adopted with but four dissenting votes. The Convention then proceeded to the nomination of a candidate for President. The nomination of General McClellan was the signal for a fierce attack upon him by some of the ultra peace men, but he was vigorously defended, and the debate lasted till darkness compelled an adjournment. The vote was taken as soon as the Convention met in the morning, and General McClellan received one hundred and sixty-two votes out of two ■ hundred and twenty-eight, and this number was increased to two hundred and two and a half before the ballot was announced ; the rest having been cast for Thomas H. Seymour, of Connecticut. For Vice-President, the Convention nominated George H. Pendleton, of Ohio, whose position was unqualifiedly among the ultra peace men. Mr. Wicldiffe, of Kentucky, saying that "the delegates from the West were of the opinion that circumstances may occur between noon of to-day and the fourth of March next, which will make it proper for the Democracy of the country to meet in convention again," moved the following resolution : — Resolved, That this Convention shall not be dissolved by adjournment at the close of its business, but shall remain organized, subject to be called at any time and place that the Executive National Committee shall designate. This suggestive resolution was unanimously adopted, and the Convention then separated. The action of the Convention was eminently cheering to the friends of the Administration. It was more open and honest than they had anticipated ; it avowed senti ments Avhich, though entertained, it was feared would be 38 594 The Life, Public Services, and concealed. The Avhole tone of the Convention had been in opposition to the popular feeling on the war. The ultra peace men Lad been prominent in its delibera- tions. Vallandigham, Harris, Long, Pendleton, men who had done their utmost to help on the rebellion and hamper the Government, had been its ruling spirits. The tone of its speeches had been in entire sympathy with the rebels, for whom no words of reproof were uttered, while they were unmeasured in their denun- ciation of Mr. Lincoln and his Administration. The news of the fall of Fort Morgan had come in upon them as they sat in conclave, but it won no cheers from that assembly for the success of the Old Flag and the leaf of imperishable renown which added to the full wi'eatli of laurel, which already crowned our army and our navy. Its resolutions had declared that the Avar was a failure, and called for an immediate cessation of hos- tilities ; while, as a striking commentary upon this decla- ration, the very day after the Convention adjourned brouglit the news of the fall of Atlanta and the glorious success of that grand march of Sherman's army which turned the tide of war, and contributed so largely to its final success. The Union party instantly and joyfully accepted the issue thus boldly tendered. They knew that, once fairly before the country, the result could not be doubtful. The people did not believe that the effort to maintain the Union by force of arms had yet proved "a failure." They did not believe that the Union could be preserved by negotiation, and they were not in favor of a cessation of hostilities until victory should be secured. The issue had been fairly made between the two parties in their respective declarations at Baltimore and Chicago. The fonner demanded a vigorous prosecution of the war, and denounced all terms of peace short of an unconditional surrender of the rebels ; the latter demanded a suspension of hostilities and a resort to negotiation. The great body of the Democratic party throughout the country, sympathizing with the national sentiment, felt State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 595 that tliey had been placed in a false position I)}- the action of tlieir convention. An effort was made to stem the rising tide of public condemnation by Genei-al McClellan, their candidate for the Presidency, in his letter of accept- ance. He declared himself in favor of preserving the Union by a vigorous prosecution of the war, if all the "resources of statesmanship," which should be first em- ployed, should prove inadequate. The letter, however, was without effect. It did something to alienate the peace men who had controlled the Chicago Convention, but nothing to disturb the conviction of the people that the same men would control General McClellan also in the event of his election. The political campaign was thus fairly opened. The Fremont movement, which had but little strength from the start, now came to an inglorious end. Shortly before the meeting of the Chicago Convention, some friends of General Fremont, with some faint hope of compelling Mr. Lincoln to withdraw, had written to the General to know if he would witlidraw from the canvass, provided Mr. Lincoln would do so. In reply, General Fremont, saying that he had no right to act independently of the men who nominated him, suggested that some understanding should be had between the supporters of the Baltimore and Cleveland Conventions, with a view to the convoca- tion of a third convention ; for, as he said, "a really pop- ular convention, upon a broad and liberal basis, so that it could be regarded as a convocation in mass of the people, and not the work of politicians, would command public confidence." The proposition, however, com- manded not the slightest attention ; and after the Demo- cratic nomination was made, the lines were drawn so closely that the pressure of public sentiment compelled the absolute withdrawal of General Fremont, which took place on the 21st of September. From that time forward the contest was between Mr. Lincoln, representing the sentiments of the Baltimore Platform on the one hand, and General McClellan, rej^resenting the sentiments of the Chicago Platform on the other. The line^s w'^va ^^ipajly 596 The Life, Public Sertices, and dra^vn, and the canvass was prosecuted "witli earnestness, but with less than the usual acrimony and intemperate zeal. It was felt to be a contest of principle, and was carried on with a gravity and decorum befitting its im- portance. One of the incidents upon which great stress was laid by the Opposition in the canvass, arose out of some pro- ceedings in Tennessee, of which Andrew Johnson still remained military governor, with reference to the calling of a convention and holding an election in the State. Several efforts had been made in that direction during the year. As early as January 26th, Governor Johnson had issued a proclamation, ordering an election for county officers, and in his proclamation had prescribed stringent qualifications for voters, and a stringent oath which every voter must take. Some of the judges of election thought, however, that it was enough to require of voters to take the oath of the President's amnesty proclamation. Ac- cordingly, one of them wrote to Washington on the sub- ject, as follows : — Nashville, February 20, 1864. Hon. W. H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. 0. : In. county and State elections, must citizens of Tennessee take the oath prescribed by Governor Johnson, or will the President's oath of amnesty entitle them to vote? I have been appointed to hold the March election in Cheatham County, and wish to act understandingly. Warren Jordan. The President himself answered by telegraph as fol- lows : — Washington, February 20, 1864 Waeren Jordan, Nashville : In county elections you had better stand by Governor Johnson's plan; otherwise you will have conflict and confusion. I have seen his plan. A. Lincoln. This election was held witli but inditferent success. A convention was also held in May at Knoxville, but took no important action. But, in September, another con- vention was called together for the purpose of reorgan State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 597 izing the State and taking part in tlie approaching Presi- dential election. The convention met, and dc^termined that the election should be held. They adopted an elec- toral ticket, and provided for ascertaining the qualifica- tions of voters. Among other things, they provided a stringent oath, to be administered to registers and officers holding the elections, and requested Governor Johnson to execute the resolutions which they had adopted "in such manner as he might think would best subserve the interests of the Government." Governor Johnson accordingly, on the SOtli of Septem- ber, issued a proclamation, directing that the election be opened and held, and that at such election "all citizens and soldiers, being free white men, twenty -one years of age, citizens of the United States, and for six months prior to the election citizens of the State of Tennessee, who have qualified themselves by registration, and who take the oath prescribed" by the convention, should be entitled to vote. The oath prescribed was as follows : — "I solemnly swear that I will henceforth support the Constitution of the United States, and defend it against the assaults of all enemies : that I am an active friend of the Government of the United States, and the enemy of the so-called Confederate States : that I ardently desire the sup- pression of the present rebellion against the Government of the United States: that I sincerely rejoice in the triumph of the armies and navies of the United States, and in the defeat and overthrow of the armies, navies, and of all armed combinations in the interest of the so-called Con- federate States : that I will cordially oppose all armistices and negotia- tions for peace with rebels in arms, until the Constitution of the United States, and all laws and proclamations made in pursuance thereof, shall be established over all the people of every State and Ten-itory embraced within the National Union ; and that I will heartily aid and assist the loyal people in whatever measures may be adopted for the attainment of these ends : and further, that I take this oath freely and voluntarily, and without mental reservation. So help me God." An electoral ticket in favor of General McClellan had previously been nominated by persons not in sympathy with the State Convention, nor with the National Ad- ministration, and these gentlemen, on the appearance of this proclamation, drew up a protest, which they addressed 598 The Life, Public Services, and to the President. They j)rotested against Governor John- son' s assuming to dictate the qualifications of voters, which they said were prescribed hy the laws of Tennessee, a copy of which they anfl.exed ; and they protested against the oath. This protest was presented to the President by Mr. J. Lellyet, one of the signers, who sent to a New York news- paper the following account of the interview : — Wasuinoton, October 15. I called upon the President to-daj, and presented and read to him the subjoined protest. Having concluded, Mr. Lincoln responded: — "May I inquire how long it took you and the New York politicians to concoct that paper?" I replied, "It was concocted in Nashville, without communication with any but Tennesseans. We communicated with citizens of Tennessee out- side of Nashville, but not with New York politicians." " I will answer," said Mr. Lincoln, emphatically, " that I expect to let the friends of George B. McClellan manage their side of this contest in their own way, and I will manage my side of it in my way." "May we ask an answer in writing?" I suggested. " Not now. Lay those papers down here. I will give no other answer now. I may or I may not write something about this hereafter. I un- derstand this. I know you intend to make a point of this. But go ahead, you have my answer." " Your answer then is that you expect to let General McClellan's friends manage their side of the contest in their own way, and you will manage your side of it in your way ?" "Yes." I then thanked the President for his courtesy in giving us a hearing at all, and then took my leave. * * * JoHX Lelltet. The President, a few days after, however, sent them the following answer in writing : — ExEOimvE Mansion, Wasuinston, D. C, October 22, 1S64. Messrs. William B. Campbell, Thomas A. R. Nelsoij, James T. P. Carter, John Williams, A. Blizzard, Henry Cooper, Baillih Peyton, John Lellyet, Emerson Etheridge, and John D. Perry man: Qentlemen: — On the 15th day of this month, as I remember, a printed paper manuscript, with a few manuscript interlineations, called a protest, with your names appended thereto, and accompanied by another printed paper, purporting to be a proclamation by Andrew Johnson, Military State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 599 Governor of Tennessee, and also a mannsenpt paper, purporting ti ho extracts from the Code of Tennessee, were laid before nie. The protest, proclamation, and extracts are respectively as follows: — [The protest is here ''ecited, and also the proclamation of Governor Johnson, dated September 30, to which it refers, together with u list of the counties in East, Middle, and West Tennessee; also extracts from the Code of Tennessee in relation to electors of President and Vice-l'rosidcul, qualifications of voters for members of the General Assembly, places of-holding elections, and officers of popular elections.] At the time these papers were presented, as before stated, I had never seen either of them, nor heard of the subject to which they relate, except in a general way one day previously. Up to the present moment, nothing whatever upon the subject has passed between Governor Johnson, or any one else, connected with the proclamation, and myself. Since receiving the papers, as stated, I have given the subject such brief consideration as I have been able to do, in the midst of so many pressing public duties. My conclusion is, that I can have nothing to do with the matter, either to sustain the plan as the convention and Governor Johnson have initiated it, or to revoke or modify it as you demand. By the Constitution and laws, the President is charged with no duty in the Presidential election in any State, nor do I in this case perceive any military reason for his interference in the matter. The movement set on foot by the convention and Governor Johnson does not, as seems to be assumed by you, emanate from the National Executive. In no proper sense can it be considered other than an independent movement of, at least, a portion of the loyal people of Tennessee. I do not perceive in the plan any menace, or violence, or coercion towards any one. Governor Johnson, like any other loyal citizen of Tennessee, has the right to favor any political plan he chooses, and, as military governor, it is his duty to keep the peace among and for the loyal people of the State. ■ I cannot discern that by this plan he purposes any more. But you ob- ject to the plan. Leaving it alone will be your perfect security against it. It is not pro- posed to force you into it. Do as you please, on your own account, peaceably and loyally, and Gov- ernor Johnson will not molest you, but will protect you against violence as far as in his power. I presume that the conducting of a Presidential election in Tennessee in strict accordance with the old code of the State, is not now a possibility. It is scarcely necessary to add, that if any election shall be held and any votes shall be cast in the State of Tennessee for President and Vice- 600 The Life, Public Services, and President of the United States, it will not belong to the military agents. nor yet to the Executive Department, but exclusively to another depart- ment of the Government, to determine whether they are entitled to be counted in conformity with the Constitution and laws of the United States. Except it bo to give protection against violence, I decline to interfere in any way with any Presidential election, f Abraham Lincoln. The signers of the protest thereupon declared the Mc- Clellan electoral ticket Avithdrawn. And this incident was made the basis of fresh attacks upon the President for interfering in the election. Like all other persons in similar position, Mr. Lincoln was subjected to assaults upon his personal character and conduct. One of these charges was, that while all other public creditors drew their compensation in paper money, his salary was paid in gold. The charge is important, now, only because it led to the publication of the follow- ing letter from the Treasurer of the United States : — Untted States TEEAsnKV, Washington, October 13. My Dear Sir : — Since the receipt of your letter of the 10th instant, I have found the article spoken of by you, and which, although I am told it has gone the rounds of the Democratic press, I have not before seen. It is in the words following : — " Jeff. Davis's salary is nominally twenty-five thousand a year, but by the depreciation of the Confederate money is equal to about fifteen hundred dollars, and on this practically he has to live. Abraham Lincoln's salary is legally twenty -five thousand dollars a year. But his legal-tender money, having depreciated to less than half its nominal value, he refuses to take, and demands and receives his pay in gold or gold certificates, while the soldiers of liis army have to take their pay in greenbacks. Isn't this pa- triotic and honest in Old Abe, and ought not he to be re-elected to another four years' hard money for himself, and of largely depreciated money for the people?" Now, this story is perhaps as true as other slanders that have been heaped upon the head of Mr. Lincoln by his malignant Copperhead and traitor enemies. North and South. The facts in the case, however, are entirely at variance witii, and the very reverse of, the statements made in the article quoted. The salary of the President is, in accordance with law, paid in warrant drafts on the Treasury of the United States for the amount, less the income tax, which have been sent him regularly monthly. Instead of drawing his money on these drafts, he has been in the habit of leaving State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. Gill it for a long time without interest. In one case all his salary so roinaincd for eleven months. On several occasions I solicited the President to draAv what was due him, urging' that he was losing largely in interest on tlio amount due him. lie asked me, "Who gains my loss?" On my an- swering, " The United States," he replied, "Then as it goes for the good of the country, let it remain. The Treasury needs it more than I do." Having at length satisfied the President that it was necessary to the clo- sing of my annual accounts that the drafts on the Treasury that he held should he presented and paid, he indorsed and handed them to me. I drew the amount in United States notes, and placed it to his credit as a temporary loan at live per cent, per annum, payahle, principal and interest, in green- backs. Since then his salary has been from time to time mostly invested iu the stocks of the United States, purchased at current rates by his friends for liim. Tlie interest of these stocks is payable in coin. When this in- terest became due, I tried to induce him to draw it. Failing in doing so, the amount due him was sent by Honorable John 0. Underwood, Judge of tlie United States Court for the District of Virginia. The result of his interview with the Pi-esident is best told iu the letter of Judge Underwood to me, which is herewith enclosed to you. I have caused an investigation to be made of the transactions of the President with the receipt of his salary, and the investment of the sums in United States stocks, and enclose you herewith the letter of Leroy Tnttle, Esq., the Assistant Cashier, from Avhich it appears that Mr. Lincoln, from his forbearance in collecting his dues, has lost at least four thousand dollars, and w^hich he has virtually given to the people of the United States. I have great doubts as to the pro- priety T)f answering this foul falsehood, well knowing that others perhaps even grosser will be made, so as to keep the Union party on the defensive, and thus preventing the loyal men of the country from attacking the peace- at-any-price Democracy for their damning heresies and treasonable prac- tices. You, however, ask me to make the statement and to put it in an official form. I have therefore done so, and I authorize you to use it and the accompanying letters, or any part of either, in any way that may seem best calculated to place the President and his calumniators in their true light and positions before the American people. Very respectfully yours, F. E. Spixner, U. S. Treasurer. Tc General D. W. 0. Clarke, Burlington, Vermont. We may say here, that this gift of money to the cause of tlie country was not the only way in which Mr. Lin- coln shared in the burdens of the war. He set an ex- ample to his fellow-citizens, also, by sending a repre- sentative recruit to the army. The differences iu the Union ranks had c^^l disappeared 602 The Life, Public Services, and before tlie common danger. Efforts were made on every side, not for discord, but for harmony and united effort. With this desire, and in accordance with an intimation in the Baltimore Platform that a change in the Cabinet would be desirable, Mr. Lincoln determined to displace Mr. Blair from the position of Postmaster-General. The following correspondence passed between them : — ExEcuTivB Mansion, Washington, September 23, 1S64. Hon, Montgomery Blair : My Dear Sir : — You have generously said to me, more than once, that whenever your resignation could be a relief to me, it was at my disposal. The time has come. You very well know that this proceeds from no dis- satisfaction of mine with you personally or officially. Your uniform kindness has been unsurpassed by that of any other friend, and while ii is true that the war does not so greatly add to the difficulties of your de- partment as to those of some others, it is yet much to say, as I most truly can, that in the three years and a half during which you have adminis- tered the General Post-Office, I remember no single complaint agaiust you in connection therewith. Yours, as ever, A. Lincoln. MR. BLAIR'S REPLY. My Dear Sir : — I have received your note of this date, referring to my offers to resign whenever you should deem it advisable for the pul|^ic in- terest that I should do so, and stating that, in your judgment, that time has now come. I now, therefore, formally tender my resignation of the office of Postmaster-General. I cannot take leave of you witliout renew- ing the expressions of my gratitude for the uniform kindness which has marked your course towards Yours truly, M. Blaie. The President. The political canvass was prosecuted with energy and confidence in every section of the country. The main con- sideration which was pressed upon the public mind was, that the defeat of Mr. Lincoln would be, in the eyes of the rebels, an explicit disapproval of the general line of policy he had pursued, and a distinct repudiation by the people of the Northern States of the Baltimore declara- tion, that the Avar should be prosecuted to tlie complete and final overthrow of the rebellion. This view of the case completely controlled the sentiment and action of the people, and left little room or disposition for wran- State Papers of Abp.aiiam Lincoln. G03 gling over the many petty issues to which such a contest gives birth. As the canvass advanced the confidence of success increased, and received a still further impulse from the grand military victories which, in quick suc- cession, began to crown tlie Union arms. During the montlis of September and October, General Hood, in a vain endeavor to regain the ground lost by the fall of Atlanta, made a movement uj^on General Sherman's communications. He might have caused some trouble, if it had not been for the gallant defence of Alatoona, by General Corse, which enabled Sherman to adopt such measures as drove Hood away from his line of communi- cation, into the northern part of Alabama, where he gathered his forces for that fatal march which led his army to be crushed upon the heights of Nashville. General Grant had not been idle before Petersburg du- ring this time. Several attacks had been made by our forces both on the north side of the James and towards the south of Petersburg, resulting in steady gains for Grant' s operations. But the most important of all were the brilliant victories gained by General Sheridan, in the Shenandoah Valley, one on September 19th, near Winchester, the second three days later, at Fisher's Hill, and the greatest of all at Cedar Creek, on the 19 th of October, when what had already been a repulse of our army, by a surprise on the part of General Early, was tm-ned into a glorious victory by the timely arrival of Sheridan, who on his return from Washington, hearing the guns of the battle at Win- chester, rode full speed to join his men, whom he reformed and led instantly to the destruction of the exulting rebels. It was with the joy of this last victory kindling his heart, that the President, on the 20th of October, issued his proclamation for a national thanksgiving, as follows :— A PROCLAMATION. It has pleased Almighty God to prolong our national life another year, defending us with His guardian care against unfriendly designs from abroad, and vouchsafing to us in His mercy many and signal victories ovei 604 The Life, Public Services, and the enemy who is of our own household. It has also pleased onr Heavenly Father to favor as well our citizens in their homes as our soldiers in their camps and our sailors on the rivers and seas, with unusual health. He has largely augmented our free population by emancipation and by immi- gration, while He has opened to us new sources of wealth, and has crowned the labor of our workingmen in every department of industry with abundant reward. Moreover, He has been pleased to animate and in.spire our minds and hearts with fortitude, courage, and resolution suffi- cient for the great trial of civil war, into which we have been brought by our adherence as a nation to the cause of freedom and humanity, and to afford to us reasonable hopes of an ultimate and happy deliverance from all our dangers and affliction. Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do hereby appoint and set apart the last Thursday in November next, as a day which I desire to be observed by all my fellow-citizens, wherever they may then be, as a day of thanksgiving and prayer to Almighty God, the beneficent Creator and Ruler of the universe ; and I do further recommend to my fellow-citizens aforesaid, that on that occasion they do reverently humble themselves in the dust, and from thence offer up penitent and fer- vent prayers and supplications to the great Disposer of events, for a return of the inestimable blessings of peace, union, and harmony throughout the land, which it has pleased Him to assign as a dwelling-place for ourselves and our posterity throughout all generations. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the City of Washington, this twentieth day of October, in the year of Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, ^^' ^ and of the independence of th^ United States the eighty-ninth. Abeaham LmooLN. By the President : William H. Seward, Secretary of State. He also wrote the following letter of congratulation to G-eneral Slieridan, which was read at the head of every regiment in the command : — ExECUTivB Mansion, Washington, October 22. To Major-General Sheridan : With great pleasure I tender to you, and your brave army, the thanks of the nation and my own personal admiration and gratitude for the month's operations in the Shenandoah Valley, and especially for the splen- did work of October 19. Your obedient servant, Abraham Lincoln, These victories gave vigor and courage to the countr}^ The price of gold fell in the market, the credit of the State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 605 Grovernment was rapidly enhanced, volunteers swelled the ranks of the army, and the menaced draft promised to be unnecessary. The term for which the hundred-days men from the West had enlisted had expired, and the men were sent home, having done good service. Those from Ohio had served in the east, while those from the States farther west had aided Sherman' s march ; when they were discharged the follo^dng complimentary orders, by President Lincoln, were issued : — THANKS TO THE OHIO TROOPS. ■Washington, September 10. Governor Brotjgh: Pursuant lo the President's directions, I transmit to you the following Executive order, made by him in acknowledgment of the services of the hundred-day men, who at the opening of the spring campaign volunteered their service in the operations of General Grant. The certificates of ser- vices mentioned in the order will be prepared without delay and trans- mitted to the officers and soldiers entitled to them. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War. Executive order returning thanks to the Ohio Volunteers for one hun- dred days : — ExEcuTiTB Mansion, Wasiiington' Citt, Septemher 10, 1864. The term of one hundred days for which the National Gur.rd of Ohio volunteered having expired, the President directs an official acknowledg- ment of their patriotism and valuable services during the recent campaign. The term of service of their enlistment was short, but distinguished by memorable events in the valley of the Shenandoah, on the Peninsula, in the operations of the James River, around Petersburg and Richmond, iu the battle of Monocacy, in the intrenchments of Washington, and in other important service. The National Guard of Ohio performed with alacrity the duty of patriotic volunteers, for which they are entitled, and are here- by tendered, through the Governor of their State, the national thanks. The Secretary ot^War is directed to transmit a copy of this order to the Governor of Ohio, and to cause a certificate of their honorable service to be delivered to the officers and soldiers of the Ohio National Guard, who re- centlv served in the military force of the United States as volunteers for one hundred days. Abraham Lincoln. THANKS TO THE TROOPS OF ILLINOIS. War Depabtjtent, Wasiiingtox, October 7, 1864. To THE Governor of Illinois : The following order has been made by the President, and the Adjutant- General is preparing certificates for the officers and soldiers of your State, which will be forwarded to you for distribution. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War 606 The Life, Public Services, and ExEOPTivE Mansion, WAsniNaTON, October 1, 1SG4 Special Executive order returning thanks to volunteers for one hun- dred days, from the States of Illinois. Indiana, Iowa, and Wisconsin : — The term of one hundred days for which volunteers from the States of Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin volunteered, under tlie call of their respective Governors, in the months of May and June, to aid the recent campaign of General Sherman, having expired, the President directs an official acknowledgment to be made of their patriotic service. It was their good fortune to render effective service in the brilliant operations in the Southwest, and to contribute to the victories of the national arms over the rebel forces in Georgia, under command of Johnston and Hood. On all occasions, and in every service to which they were assigned, their duty as patriotic volunteers was performed with alacrity and courage, for which they are entitled to and are hereby tendered the national thanks through the Governors of their respective States. The Secretary of War is directed to transmit a copy of this order to the Governors of Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin, and to cause a certificate of their honorable services to be delivered to the officers and soldiers of the States above named, who recently served in the military service of the United States as volunteers for one hundred days. A. LixcoLX. To one of the Ohio regnnents returning through Washing- ton and calling to serenade him, the President made a brief speech, in which are noticeable, first, his desire to impress upon th nn the importance of the main point involved in the contest with the rebellion, and the duty of not allow- ing minor matters to blind them to this main point, and second, that specimen of his careful and perfectly clear way of stating a proposition, when he says, not that this is a country in which all men are equal, but that it is one in which " every man has a riglit to be equal to every other man." The speech was as follows : — SoLDiEKs: — You are about to return to your homes and your friends, after having, as I learn, performed in camp a comparatively short term of duty in this great contest. I am greatly obliged to you, and to all who have come forward at the call of their country. I wish it might be more generally and universally understood what the country is now engaged in. We have, as all will agree, a free government, where every man has a right to be equal with every other man. In this great struggle, this form of government and every form of human right is endangered if our enemies succeed. There is more involved in this contest than is realized by every one. There is involved in this struggle, the question whether your children and my children shall enjoy the privileges we have enjoyed. I say this, in order to impress upon you, if you are not already so impressed, that no small matter should divert us from our great purpose. State PArEiis of Abraham Lincoln. 007 There may be some inequalities in the practical application of our system. It is fair that each man shall pay taxes in exact proportion to the value of his property, but if we should wait, before collecting a tax, to adjust the taxes upon each man in exact proportion witli every other man, we should never collect any tax at all. There may be mistakes made sometimes ; things may be done wrong, while the oflBcers of the Government do all tliey can to prevent mistakes. But I beg of you, as citizens of this great Republic, not to let your minds be carried off from the great work we have before us. This struggle is too large for you to be diverted from it by any small matter. When you return to your homes, rise up to the height of a generation of men worthy of a free government, and we will carry out the great work we have commenced. I return to you my sincere thanks, soldiers, for the honor you have done me this afternoon. To another Ohio regiment he spoke as folloAVS : — Soldiers : — I suppose you are going home to see your families and friends. For the services you have done in this great struggle in which we are engaged, I present you sincere thanks for myself and the country. I almost always feel inclined, when I say any thing to soldiers, to impress upon them, in a few brief remarks, the importance of success in this contest. It is not merely for the day, but for all time to come, that we should per- petuate for our children's children that great and free government which we have enjoyed all our lives. I beg you to remember this, not merely for my sake, but for yours. I happen, temporarily, to occupy this big White House. I am a living witness that any one of your children may look to come here as my father's child has. It is in order that each one of you may have, through this free government which we have enjoyed, an open field, and a fair chance for your industry, enterprise, and intelli- gence ; that you may all have equal privileges in the race of life, with all its desirable human aspirations — it is for this that the struggle should be maintained, that we may not lose our birthrights — not only for one, but for two or three years, if necessary. The nation is worth fighting for, to secure such an inestimable jewel. The premonitory symptoms of the result of the Presi- dential contest w^ere seen in the State elections by which it was preceded. In September Vermont led oflf with a largely increased Union majorty, and Maine followed her a week after, showing also a proportionate increase in the majority with Avliich that State had sustained the Administration. But the October elections in Ohio, Indiana, and Penn- sylvania indicated Aet more clearl}^ what Avas to be the 608 The Life, Public Services, and result in November. The two former States gave heavy majorities for the Union ticket on the home vote. In fact, in Indiana the soldiers were not allowed to vote at all. Governor Morton, who was a candidate for re-elec- tion, had made a splendid canvass, speaking with great effect all over the State. One matter which doubtless aided him materially, was the discovery of a plot on the part of leading members of the Democratic party in the Northwest to raise a revolt in that section of the coun- try, to release the rebel prisoners, and by arming them, to make a powerful diversion in favor of the rebels. The election following close upon this exposure, Indiana re- elected Governor Morton by a large majority, in spite of the absence of many of her loyal sons in the field. In Pennsylvania the result upon the home vote was close, but with the soldiers' votes the Union ticket car- ried the State by about twelve thousand majority. A victory was won, also, in Maryland for freedom, by the adoption, though by a close vote, of the new Free State Constitution, The heavy majorities in its favor, which were given by Baltimore and the more loyal sec- tions of the State, were overborne by the votes of the southern and western counties, but the votes of the soldiers were almost unanimous in favor of the Con- stitution, and Maryland took her place as a State whose freedom was insured. Mr. Lincoln took great interest in the success of this Constitution. The following is a letter which he wrote to a meeting of its friends in Baltimore, before the elec- tion : — Executive Mansion, "Washington, October 18. Hon. Henry W. Hoffman : My Dear Sib : — A convention of Maryland has formed a new Consti- tution for the State ; a public meeting is called for this evening, at Balti- more, to aid in securing its ratification, and you ask a word from me for the occasion. I presume the only feature of the instrument about which there is serious controversy, is that which provides for the extinction of slavery. It needs not to be a secret, and I presume it is no secret, that I wish success to this provision. I desire it on every con;sideration. I wish State Papers of Ar.RAiiAM Lincoln. GOO to sec all men free. I wish the iiiitional yjrosperity of the al'-eiuly free, which I feel sure the extinction of slavery would hrin<;. I wish to see in progress of disap])earing tliat only thing which could bring this nation to civil war. I attempt no argument. Argument upon the question IS already exhausted by the abler, better informed and more immediately interested sons of Maryland hei'self. I only add, that I shall be gratitied exceedingly if the good people of the State shall by their votes ratify the new Constitution. Yours truly, A. Lincoln. After the result of the election was known, the Presi- dent made the following speech at a serenade given t'o him by the lo3^al Marylanders, in honor of the adoption of the Constitution : — Friends and Fellow-Citizens : — I am notified that this is a compliment paid me by the loyal Marylanders resident in this District. I infer that the adoption of the new Constitution for the State furnishes the occasion, and that in your view the extirpation of slavery constitutes the chief merit of the new Constitution. Most heartily do I congratulate you, and Maryland, and the nation, and the world, upon this event. I regret that it did not occur two years sooner, which, I am sure, would have saved the nation more money than would have met all the private loss incident to the measure ; but it has come at last, and I sincerely hope its friends may fully realize all their anticipations of good from it, and that its opponents may by its eifects be agreeably and profitably disappointed. A word upon another subject. Something said by the Secretary of State in his recent speech at Auburn, has been construed by some into a threat, that if I shall be beaten at the election, I will, between then and the end of my constitutional term, do what I may be able to ruin the Government. Others regard the fact that the Chicago Convention adjourned, not sine die, but to meet again, if called to do so by a particular individual, as the intimation of a purpose that if their nominee shall be elected he will at once seize control of the Government. I hope the good people will permit themselves to suffer no uneasiness on either point. I am strug- gling to maintain the Government, not to overthrow it. I am struggling especially to prevent others from overthrowing it. I therefore say that if I live, I shall remain President until the 4th of next March, and that whoever shall be constitutionally elected, in November, shall be duly installed as President on the 4th of March, and in the inter- val I shall do my utmost that whoever is to hold the helm for the next voyage shall start with the best possible chance of saving the sliip. This is due to the people, both on principle and under the Constitution. Their will, constitutionally expressed, is the ultimate law for all. If tliey 39 610 The Life, Public Services, and should deliberfitely resolve to have immediate peace, even at the loss of" their country and their liberties, I know not the power or the ri derived from customs, $102,318,152 99; from lands. $588,333 29; 628 The Life, Public Services, and from direct taxes, $475,648 96; from internal revenues, $109,741,134 10; from miscellaneous sources, $47,511,448 10; and from loans applied to actual expenditures, including former balance, $623,443,929 13. There were disbursed, for the civil service, $27,505,599 46 ; for pensions and Indians, $7,517,930' 97; for the War Department, $60,791,842 97; for the Navy Department, $85,733,292 97; for interest of the public debt, $53,685,421 69. Making an aggregate of $865,234,087 86, and leaving a balance in the treasury of $18,842,558 71, as before stated. For the actual receipts and disbursements for the first quarter, and the estimated receipts and disbursements for the three remaining quarters of the current fiscal year, and the general operations of the Treasury in detail, I refer you to the report of the Secretary of the Treasury. I con- cur with liim in the opinion that tlie proportion of the inor.eys required to meet the expenses consequent upon the war derived from taxation should be still further increased; and I earnestly invite your attention to this subject, to the end that there may be such additional legislation as shall be required to meet the just expectations of the Secretary. The public debt on the 1st day of July last, as appears by the books of the Treasury, amounted to one billion seven hundred and forty million six hundred and ninety thousand four hundred and eighty-nine dollars and forty -nine cents. Probably, should the war continue for anotlier year, that amount may be increased by not far from five hundred milUons. Held as it is, for the most part, by our own people, it has become a substantial branch of national though private property. For obvious reasons, the more nearly this property can be distributed among all the people, the better. To favor such general distribution, greater inducements to become owners, perhaps, might with good eflFect and without injury, be pi-esented to persons of limited means. With this view, I suggest whether it might not be both expedient and competent for Congress to provide that a limited amount of some future issue of public securities might be held, by any lona-Jide purchaser, exempt from taxation and from seizure for debt, under such restrictions and limitations as might be necessary to guard against abuse of so important a privilege. This would enable prudent persons to set aside a small annuity against a possible day of want. Privileges like these would render the possession of such securities to the amount limited most desirable to any person of small means who might be able to save enough for the purpose. The great advantage of citizens being creditors as well as debtors with relation to the public debt is obvious. Men readily perceive that they cannot be much oppressed by a debt which they owe to themselves. The public debt on the 1st day of July last, although somewhat exceeding the estimate of the Secretary of the Treasury made to Congress at the commencement of last session, falls short of the estimate of that oflicer made in the prL-ceding December as to its probable amount at the beginning of this year, by the sum of $3,995,079 33. This fact exhibits a satisfactory condition and conduct of the operations of the Treasury. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 020 The national banking system is proving to be acceptable to capitalists and to the people. On the 25th day of November, five hundred and eighty-fonr national banks had been organized, a considerable number of which were conversions from State banks. Changes from the State sys- tem to the national system are rai)idly taking place, and it is hoped that very soon there will be in the United States no banks of issue not author- ized by Congress, and no bank-note circulation not secured by the Gov- ernment. That the Government and the people will derive general ben- efit from this change in the banking system of the country can hardly be questioned. The national system will create a reliable and permanent influence in support of the national credit, aad protect the people against losses in the use of paper money. "Whether or not any further legislation is advisable for the suppression of State bank issues, it will be for Congress to determine. It seems quite clear that the Treasury cannot be satisfac- torily conducted, unless the Government can exercise a restraining power over the bank-note circulation of the country. The report of the Secretary of War and the accompanying documents will detail the campaigns of the armies in the field since the date of the last annual message, and also the operations of the several administrative bureaux of the War Department during the last year. It will also specify the measures deemed essential for the national defence, and to keep up and supply the requisite military force. The report of the Secretary of the Navy presents a comprehensive and satisfactory exhibit of the affairs of that de- partment and of the naval service. It is a subject of congratulation and laudable pride to our countrymen that a navy of such i)roportious has been organized in so brief a period, and conducted with so much efliciency and success. The general exhibit of the navy, including vessels under construction on the 1st hissacliusct1s, ;iii(l liis constant and valuable labors lor thi* i-ausc, fully jiislili.«l the following order, issued at Washington on the recrij.i of the news of his death : — Dkpartment or Statk, Wasmixoton, Sunday, January \X The President directs the uiulersifj^iicd to perform tlio paiiifiil duty i>f announcing to the people of the United States, that Eowaud Kvki;kit, distinguished not more hy learning and eloquence than by unsurpa^-.'cl and disinterested labors of patriotism at a period of i)olitical disordor, departed this life at four o'clock this morning. The several P^xecuiivo Departments of the Government will cause appropriate honors to bo rendered to the memory of the deceased, at home and abroad, whcrcvor the national name and authority are recognized. (Signed) Wii.i.iam II. Sewai:i>. The President referred to this death in soint^ remarks which he made on the 24th of January, on the occasion of the presentation to him of a vase of skeleton leaves gathered on the battle-lield of Gettysbui-g, whicli had been one of the ornaments of the Sanitary Fair at Phila- delphia. The chairman of the committee having pre- sented the gift, the President acknowledged its receipt as follows : — Reverend Sir, and Ladies and Gentlemen : — T accept with emotions of profoundest gratitude, the beautiful gift you have been i)leased to pre- sent to me. You will, of course, expect that I acknowledge it. So much has been said about Gettysburg, and so well, that for me to attempt to say more may perhaps only serve to weaken the force of that which has alreaily been said. A most graceful and eloquent tribute was paid to the patriotism and self-denying labors of the American ladies, on the occasion of the con- secration of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg, by our illustrious friend, Edward Everett, now, alas ! departed from earth. His life was a truly great one, and I think the greatest part of it was that whicli crowned its closing years. I wish you to read, if you have not already done so, the eloquent and truthful words which he then spoke of the women of America. Truly, the services they have rendered to the defenders of our country in this perilous time, and are yet rendering, can never be esti- mated as they ought to be. For your kind wishes to me personally, I beg leave to render you likewise my sincerest thanks. I assure you they are reciprocated. And now, gentlemen and ladies, may God bless you all. Several important matters were brought before Con- gress during January. 1 644 The Life, Public Services, and The Senate passed the House resolution requesting the President to give notice of the termination of the Re- ciprocity Treaty, but with amendments, in which the House concurred. The question of retaliation came up in the Senate, and after a lengtliy debate a resolution passed the Senate, on the 31st of January, advising retaliation, but such as was conformable to the usages of war as practised among civ- ilized nations. Great excitement was aroused in the House by a de- bate upon the conduct of General Butler in New Orleans, arising out of a speech by Mr. Brooks, of New York, in which he spoke of the General as "a gold robber," General Butler, hearing of this, sent one of his aids to Mr. Brooks with a letter, asking whether he was correctly reported, and whether there was any explanation, other than what appeared in the report, of his language, say- ing tliat the bearer would call for his answer at any place or time he might designate. Mr. Brooks chose to regard this as a challenge, and therefore an invasion of his privileges as a member of the House, and he ac- cordingly sought to bring it before that body. The Speaker decided that the letter was no invasion of privi- lege. Mr. Brooks appealed from the decision of the chair, and a heated debate followed, which was closed by the withdrawal of the appeal. A very important resolution, reported by the Judiciary Committee, passed the House on the 30th of January, setting forth that as the local authorities of the States of Yirginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Flori- da, Alabama, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Arkansas had rebelled against the Government, and were in rebellion on the 9th of November, 1864, therefore, Resolved^ That the States mentioned in the preamble to this resolution shall not be entitled to representation in the Electoral College for the choice of President and Vice-President of the United States, for the term of oflBce commencing on the 4th of March next, and no electoral votes shall be received or coimted from those States. But by far the most important action which was taken State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 645 during tlie wliole session was the passiige, on the 31 st of January, of the resolution for the constitutional amend- ment prohibiting slavery. This resolution, as will be recollected, passed the Senate early in the previous session, but coming up in the House, it failed at that time to receive the requisite two-thirds vote. A motion for a reconsid- eration was made and laid upon the table. It was taken from the table early in this session, and was debated at great length. It was very soon manifest that by the prog- ress of events the amendment had gained strength since the previous attempt to pass it. The debate was closed by a call for the previous question, for it was a subject on which debate could never be exhausted. The motion to re- consider was carried, by a vote of one hundred and twelve to lifty-seven. The question then recurred on the passage of the resolution, on which the vote was taken amid the deepest interest. The Speaker directed his own name to be called as a member of the House, and voted aye. His vote was received with loud applause, which he promptly checked ; and when the votes of several Democrats were given in favor of the resolution, they were also greeted witli applause, and the hopes of the friends of the meas- ure rose, for although two-thirds had not voted in favor of the reconsideration, it was manifest that the vote on the resolution was gaining in strength. When the vote was declared, and it Avas announced that the resolution was passed by a vote of one hundred and nineteen yeas to hfty-six nays, tumultuous applause broke forth, not only in the galleries, but also on the floor of the House, which immediately adjourned. The adoption of this amendment was hailed with uni- versal satisfaction. Those who had from the beginning regarded slavery as the cause of the rebellion, and had, therefore, made its extinction the indispensable condition of peace, saw in the action of Congress the fruition of their hopes and labors ; while the great body of the peo- ple, wearied by the protracted contest and satisfied that none but the extremest measures would bring it to a close, acquiesced in the prohibition of slavery as a legitimate 64 G The Life, Public Services, and consequence of the rebellion, and as promising substan- tial compensation to tlie nation for the ravages of war. President Lincoln had regarded the passage of the amendment with special interest. He regarded it as cov- ering whatever defects a rigid construction of the Consti- tution might find in his proclamation of emancipation, and as the only mode in which the perpetual prohibition of slavery could be placed beyond doubt or cavil. His view of the subject was indicated in the remarks which he ad- dressed to an enthusiastic crowd, which gathered before the executive mansion, on the evening of the adoption of the resolution, to congratulate him upon this auspicious triumph. In response to their calls, he said : — He supposed the passage through Congress of the constitutional amend- ment for the abolishing of slavery throughout the United States was the occasion to which he was indebted for the honor of this call. The occasion was one of congratulation to the country, and to the whole world. But there is a task yet before us — to go forward and con- summate by tlie votes of the States that which Congress so nobly began yesterday. (Applause and cries, " They will do it," &c.) He had the honor to inform those present that Illinois had already done the work. Maryland was about half through, but he felt proud that Illinois was a little ahead. He thought this measure was a very fitting if not an indispensable adjunct to the winding up of the great difficulty. He wished the reunion of all the States perfected, and so eflfected as to remove all causes of disturbance in the future ; and, to attain this end, it was necessary that the original disturbing cause should, if possible, be root- ed out. He thought all would bear him witness that he had never shrunk from doing all that he could to eradicate slavery, by issuing an Emancipation Proclamation. But that proclamation falls sliort of what the amendment will be when fully consummated. A question might be raised whether the proclamation was legally valid. It might be added, that it only aided those who came into our lines, and that it was inoperative as to those who did not give themselves up ; or that it would have no effect upon the children of the slaves born hereafter; in fact, it would be urged that it did not meet the evil. But this amend- ment is a king's cure for all evils. It winds the whole thing up. He would repeat, that it was the fitting if not the indispensable adjunct to the consummation of the great game we are playing. He could not but congratulate all present — himself, the country, and the whole world — upon this groat moral victory. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 047 In addition to tlie general satisfaction felt })y tlic \vliol(> country at the passage of this amendment, it cairied special joy to that very large class of people who had feared that the war might end without securing the aboli- tion of slavery. Prom the very beginning there had h(Hm a powerful pressure in favor of an adjustment with the discontented and rebellious South, and this had led, as we have already seen, to repeated attempts at negotiation on behalf of the contendiiig forces. The organized authorities on either side maintained their attitude of mutual defiance ; but individuals on both sides kept up a steady and confident attempt, by personal efi'ort, to bring the parties into such a position that they could not avoid negotiations for peace, without subjecting themselves to the injurious imputation of preferring war. It was re- membered that during our war with Mexico, while neither party sued for peace, and while both Governments repu- diated all thought of desiring it, peace was forced upon them by the unauthorized and irresponsible negotiations of a private citizen,* who secured from the Mexican Gov- ernment terms which the American authorities, out of deference to the sentiments of their own people, did not dare refuse. The incident was a perj^etual stimulant to personal ambition, and the country was scarcely ever free, for a month at a time, from rumors of pending negotiations for a speedy peace. During the months of December and January these rumors had been especially rife, and had created a good deal of public anxiety. The whole country had come to regard the strength of the rebellion as substantially broken. In men, in re- sources of every kind, in modes of communication, and in the spirit with which the contest was carried on, the rebels were known to be rapidly and fatally failing ; and it was almost universally believed that a vigorous and steady prosecution of the war would speedily destroy the rebel organization, capture its capital, disperse its armies, and compel an absolute and unconditional submission to * Nicholas P. Trist. 648 The Life, Public Services, and tlio national authority. It Avas not, therefore, without a good deal of solicitude that the public learned that Mr. Francis P. Bhiir, an able, resolute, and experienced poli- tician, had left Wasliington for Richmond, arjued with a pass from President Lincoln, and that the real object of his visit was to prevail upon Jefferson Davis to send, or receive, commissioners to treat of peace between the con- tending parties. The rumor proved to be substantially true. Tlie President had given Mr. Blair a pass through our lines and back. He had gone to Richmond, and had held free conferences with Mr, Davis and other members of the Rebel Government. He returned to Washington on the 16th of January, bringing with him a written as- surance, addressed to himself, from Jefferson Davis, of his willingness to enter into negotiations for peace, to receive a commissioner whenever one should be sent, and of his readiness, whenever Mr. Blair could promise that he would be received, to appoint such a commis- sioner, minister, or other agent, and thus " renew tlie effort to enter into a conference witli a view to secure j>eace be- tween the two countries y Mr. Blair presented this letter to President Lincoln, who at once authorized liim to re- turn to Richmond, carrying with him his written assur- ance that he had constantly been, was then, and should con- tinue to be, " ready to receive any agent whom Mr. Davis, or any other influential ]3erson now resisting the national authority, may informally send me, with a view of secur- ing peace to the people of our common country ^ Mr. Blair left Washington on the 20th of January for Rich- mond, and on the next day placed in the hands of Mr. Davis this response of President Lincoln to his previous assurance ; and Mr. Davis then learned that commission- ers from him could be received to treat of peace, only on tlie assumption that the people of the United States still had one "• common countiy," and not on the assumption, which Mr. Davis had advanced, that they were divided into two independent powers. In consequence of these communications, on the 29th of January, three persons, Alexander H. Stej^hens, R. M. State Papers of Abkaiiam Lincoln. G40 T. Hunter, and J. A. Campbell, made application toGt-n- eral Ord, the commander of the advanced portion of the Army of the Potomac, for permission to enter our lines, and to proceed to Washington as peace commissioners. The application was referred to the President, who grant- ed permission for the three persons named to proceed to Fortress Monroe and there hold an informal conference, with some person or persons to be designated for that pur- pose, on the express condition that the peace proposed to l)e secured should be " for the people of our common coun- try." This response led the commissioners, on the 1st of February, to make an application directly to Lieutenant- General Grant for the permission they had solicited, viz., to go to Washington to confer with President Lincoln concerning peace on the basis of his letter to Mr. Blair, but " without any personal compromise on any question in the letter." Not anticipating such a proviso, which in effect waived entirely what he had laid down as the sine qua non of even an informal conference on the subject of peace, the President had on the 31st of January directed Mr. Seward, the Secretary of State, to proceed to Fortress Monroe for the purpose of conferring with the three com- missioners. He was instructed to insist upon three things as indispensable :— 1. The restoration of the national au- thority throughout all the States. 2. No receding from the position of the National Executive on the subject of slavery. 3. No cessation of hostilities short of an end of the war and the disbanding of the forces hostile to the Government Upon this basis Mr. SeAvard was to hear whatever the commissioners might have to say, and report it to the President ; but he was not to definitely consum- mate any thing. Under these instructions, Mr. Seward reached Fortress Monroe, where he arrived at ten o'clock on the evening of the 1st of February. Upon the receipt at the hands of Major Eckert, his messenger, of the terms in which the rebel commissioners had couched their request to General Grant for a conference, the President decided to recall the Secretary of State and terminate the attempted negotiation ; bat on the receipt of a dispatch from Gen- 650 The Life, Public Services, and eral Grant, expressing liis personal belief that tlie com- missioners were sincere in their desire for peace, and his strong conviction that a personal interview with them on the part of the President was highly desirable. President Lincoln changed his purpose and proceeded at once to Fortress Monroe, where he arrived on the eVening of Feb- ruary 2d. A letter from the three commissioners to Major Eckert was here shown to him, in which was em- bodied the note of their instructions from Mr. Davis, in which they were directed to confer concerning peace be- tween the " two countries." But a subsequent note, ad- dressed by them to General Grant, declared their readiness to confer with the President upon the terms which he had prescribed, or any terms and conditions which he might propose, "not inconsistent with the essential principles of self-government and popular rights on which our in- stitutions are founded," They declared their earnest wish to ascertain, after a free interchange of ideas and information, upon what principles and terms, if any, a just and honorable peace might be secured without the further effusion of blood ; and they sought the conference for that purpose and with these views. On the morning of the 3d of February, President Lin- coln and Secretary Seward held a conference with the three commissioners of several hours' duration. It ended without result. The most authentic statement of what occurred on that occasion is given in the following ex- tract from a dispatch immediately transmitted by the Secretary of State to Mr. Adams, our minister in Eng- land : — The Richmond party approached the discussion ratlier indirectly, and at no time did they make categorical demands, or tender formal stipula- tions or absolute refusals. Nevertheless, during the conference, which lasted four hours, the several points at issue between the Government and the insurgents were distinctly raised, and discussed fully, intelligently, and in an amicable spirit. What the insurgent party seemed chiefly to favor was a postponement of the question of separation upon which the war is waged, and a mutual direction of the efforts of the Government, as well as those of the insurgents, to some exti-ingic policy or scheme for a sea- State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 651 sou, during wliioli passious miglit be expected to subside, and the arniic:! be reduced, and trade and intercourse between tlie peoj^le of tlic two sec- tions be resumed. It was suggested by them that tlirough such postpone- ment we might now have immediate peace, with some not very certain prospect of an ultimate satisfactory adjustment of political relations be- tween the Government and the States, section, or people now engaged in conflict with it. The suggestion, though deliberately considered, was nevertheless re- garded by the President as one of armistice or truce, and he announced that we can agree to no cessation or suspension of hostilities, except on the basis of the disbandment of the insurgent forces and the recognition of the national authority throughout all tiie States in the Union. Collat- erally, and in subordination to the proposition which was thus announced, the anti-slavery policy of the United States was revj^wed in all its bearings, and the President announced that he must not be expected to recede from the positions he had heretofore assumed in his Proclamation of Emancipa- tion, and other documents, as these positions were reiterated in his tmnual message. It was further declared by the President that the complete restoration of the national authority everywhere was an indispensable condition of any assent on our part to whatever form of peace might be proposed. The President assured the other party that while he must adhere to these positions, he would be prepared, so far as power is lodged with the Executive, to exercise liberality. Its power, however, is limited by the Constitution; and, when peace should be made. Congress must necessarily act in regard to appropriations of money, and to the admission of representatives from the insurrectionary States. The Richmond party were then informed that Congress had, on the 31st ult., adopted by a constitutional majority a joint resolution submit- ting to the several States the proposition to abolish slavery throughout the Union, and that thei-e is every reason to expect that it wiU be accept- ed by three-fourths of the States, so as to become a part of the national organic law. The report of the conference and its results, made by the rebel authorities, is embodied in the folloAYing mes- sage from Jefferson Davis, which was sent in to the rebel Legislature on the 5th of February : — To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Confederate States of America : Having recently received a written notification which satisfied me that the President of the United States was disposed to confer informally with nnotiicial agents that might be sentry me with a view to the restoration of peace, I requested Hon. Alexander H. Stephens, Hon. R. M. T. Hun- ter, and Hon. John A. Campbell to proceed through our lines to hold a 652 The Life, Public Si^uyices, and conference witli Mr. Lincoln, or such persons as he might depute to rep- resent him. I herewith submit, for the information of Congress, tlie report of the eminent citizens above named, showing that the enemy refuse to enter into negotiations with the Confederate States, or any one of them separately, or to give our people any other terms or guarantees than those which a conqueror ma}" grant, or permit us to have peace on any other basis than our unconditional submission to their rule, coupled with the acceptance of their recent legislation, including an amendment to the Constitution for the emancipation of negro slaves, and with the right on the part of the Federal Congress to legislate on the subject of the relations between the white and black population of each State. Such is, as I understand, the effect of the amendment to the Constitution which has been adopted by the Congress of the United States. (Signed) Jefferson Davis. Executive Office, Eichmoi^d, February 5, 18G5. EEPORT OF THE REBEL COMMISSIONERS. KiciiMOND, ViKGiNiA, February 5, 1865. To the President of the Confederate States: SiE : — Under your letter of appointment of 2Sth ult., we proceeded to seek an informal conference with Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, upon the subject mentioned in your letter. The conference was granted, and took place on the 3d inst., on board a steamer anchored in Hampton Roads, where we met President Lincoln and Hon. Mr. Seward, Secretary of State of the United States. It con- tinued for several hours, and was both full and explicit. We learned from them that the message of President Lincoln to the Congress of the United States in December last explains clearly and dis- tinctly his sentiments as to terms, conditions, and method of proceeding by which peace can be secured to the people, and we were not informed that they would be modified or altered to obtain that end. We understood from him that no terms or proposals of any treaty or agreement looking to an ultimate settlement would be entertained or made by him with the authorities of the Confederate States, because that would be a recognition of their existence as a separate power, which under no circumstances would be done; and for like reasons, that no such terms would be enter- tained by him from States separately ; that no extended truce or armistice, as at present advised, would be granted or allowed without satisfactory assurances in advance of complete restoration of the authority of the Con- stitution and laws of the United States over all places witliin the States of the Confederacy; that whatever consequences may follow from the re-es- tablishment of that authority must be accepted, but the individuals subject to pains and penalties under the laws of the United States might rely upon a very liberal use of the power confided to him to remit those pains and penalties, if peace be restored. State Papers of Abraham Lincoi.x. 653 During the conlLTcnce tlie proposed aniendinenls to tlie Constitution of the United States, adopted by Congress on the 31st ult., were brought to our notice. These amendments provide that neitlier shivery nor invohm- tary servitude, except for crime, sliould exist within tlie United States, op any phxce within iheir jurisdiction, and that Congress shoukl have tiio power to enforce this amendment by ui^propriate legislation. Of all the correspondence that preceded the conference herein mention- ed, and leading to the same, you have heretofore been informed. Very respectfully, your obedient servants, Alex. H. Stephens, E. M. T. IICNTEK, J. A. Campbell. Tlie public rumors wliich were current upon this sub- ject led to the adoption on the 8th, by the House of Representatives, of a resolution calling upon the Presi- dent for information concerning the conference. To this request President Lincoln responded on the 10th, by transmitting the following message : — Washington, February 10. To the HonoraMe the House of Representatives : In response to your resolution of the 8th inst., requesting information in relation to a conference recently held in Hampton Roads, I have the honor to state that on the day of the date, I gave Francis P. Blair, Sr., a card written on as follows, to wit : — Allow the bearer, F. P. Blair, Sr., to pass our lines, go South, and return. A. Lincoln. December 26, 1864. That at the time, I was informed that Mr. Blair sought the card as a means of getting to Richmond, Va., but he was given no authority to speak or act for the Government, nor was I informed of any thing he would say or do, on his own account or otherwise. Mr. Blair told me that he had been to Richmond, and had seen Mr. Jefterson Davis, and he (Mr. Blair) at the same time left with me a manuscript letter as follows, to wit: — EiciiMOXD, Va., January 12, 1S65. F. P. Blair, Esq. : Sir : — I have deemed it proper, and probably desirable to you, to give you in this form the substance of the remarks made by me to be repeated by you to President Lincoln, &c., &c. I have no disposition to find obstacles in forms, and am willing now as heretofore to enter into negotiations for the restoration of i)eaee. I am ready to send a commission, whenever I have reason to suppose it will be received, or to receive a commission, if the United States CtOv- ernmeut shall choose to send one. 654 The Life, Public Services, and Notwitlistanding the rejection of our former offers, I would, if you could promise that a commissioner, minister, or other agent would be received, appoint one immediately, and renew the eifort to enter into a conference with a view to secure peace to the two countries. Yours, &c., Jeffekson Davis. Afterwards, with the view that it should be shown to Mr. Davis, I wrote, and delivered to Mr. Blair, a letter as follows, to wit : — Washington, January 18, 1S65. F. P. Blair, Esq. : Sir : — You having shown me Mr. Davis's letter to you of the 12t]i inst., you may say to him tliat I have constantly been, am now, and sliall continue ready to receive any agent whom he, or any other influential person, now resisting the national authority, may informally send me, with a view of securing peace to the people of our common country. Yours, &c., A. Lincoln. Afterwards Mr. Blair dictated for and authorized me to make an entry, on the back of my retained copy of the letter last above recited, which is as follows: — January 28, 1865. To-day Mr. Blair tells me that on the 21st inst. he delivered to Mr, Davis the original, of which the within is a copy, and left it with him ; that at the time of delivering, Mr. Davis read it over twice, in Mr. Blair's presence ; at the close of which he (Mr. B.) remarked, tluit the part about our one common country referred to the part of Mr. Davis's letter about the two countries ; to which Mr. D. replied tliat he so under- stood it. A. Lincoln. Afterwards the Secretary of War placed in my hands the following telegram, indorsed by him, as appears : — (Cipher.) Officb U. S. Military Telegkapii, "War Drpartmbnt. The following telegram was received at Washington, January 29, 1865:— Head-Quarters Army of the Jambb, 6.30 p. m., January 29, 1S65. Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War : The following dispatch is just received from Major-General Parke, who refers to me for my action. I refer it to you, in lieu of General Grant's absence. E. O. 0. Oed, Major-General Commanding. Head-Quarters Army of the Potomac, 4 p. m., January 29, 1865. Major-General E. O. 0. Oed, Head-Quarters of the Army of the James: The following dispatch is forwarded to you for your action, since I have no knowledge of General Grant's having had any understanding of, this kind. I refer the matter to you as tlie ranking oflicer present in the two armies. John G. Paeke, Major-General Commanding. From Head-Quarters Ninth Army Corps, January 29, 1S65. Major-General John C. Paeke, Head-Quarters of the Army of the Poto- mac Alexander H. Stephens, R. M. T. Hunter, and J. x\. Campbell desireto cross my lines, in accordance with an understandina: claimed to exist with State PArERS of Abraham Lincoln. 655 Lieutenant-General Grant, on their way to Wasliington as Peace Com- missioners. Shall they be admitted ? They desire an early answer, so a? to come through immediately. They would like to reach City Point to- night if they can. It' they cannot do this, they would like to come through at 10 A. M. to-morrow. O. B. Wilcox, Major- General Commanding Ninth Corps. Kespectfully referred to the President, for such instructions as he may De pleased to give. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War. Jan. 29th, 18G5— 8.30 p. m. It appears that about the time of placing the foregoing telegram in my hands, the Secretary of War dispatched General Ord as follows, to wit : — Was Department, Washington City, January 29, 1865—10 p. m. Major-General Okd :— This department has no knowledge of any under- stand'ing by General Grant to allow any person to come within his lines as commissioners of any sort. You will therefore allow no one to come into your lines under such character or profession until you receive the President's instructions, to whom your telegrams will be submitted for Ms directions. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War. (Sent in cipher at 2 a. m.) Afterwards, by my directions, the Secretary of War telegraphed Gen- eral Ord as follows, to wit : — War Department, Washington City, D. C, 1 January 30, 1865 — 10 A. M. j Major-General E. O. C. Ord, Head-Quarters Army of the James: By directions of the President, you are instructed to inform the three gentlemen, Messrs. Stephens, Hunter, and Campbell, that a messenger will be disi)atched to them, at or near where they now are, without unneces- sary delay. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War. Afterwards I prepared and put into the hands of Major Thomas T. Eckert the following instructions and message: — Executive Mansion, Washington, January SO, 1S6.5. Major T. T. Eckert: Sir: — You will proceed with the documents placed in your hands, and on reaching General Ord, will deliver him the letter addressed liim by the Secretary of War. Then, by General Ord's assistance, procure an interview with Messrs. Stephens, Hunter, and Campbell, or any of them. Deliver to him or them the paper on which your own letter is written- Note on the copy which you. retain the time of delivery, and to whom delivered. Receive their answer in writing, waiting a reasonable time for it, and which, if it contains their decision to come through without further conditions, will be your warrant to ask General Ord to pass them through as directed in the letter of tlie Secretary of War. If, by their answer, they decline to come or propose other terms, do not have them passed through. And this being your whole duty, return and report to me. Yours truly, A. Lincoln. 656 The Life, Public Services, and Messrs. AlexanukkII. Stephens, J. A. Campbell, and II. M. T. Huxtep. : Gentlemen : — I am instructed by the President of the United States to place this paper in your liands, with the information that if you pass through the United States military lines, it will be understood that you do 80 for the purpose of an informal conference on the basis of that letter, a copy of which is on the reverse side of this sheet ; and if you choose to pass on such understanding, and so notify me in writing, I will procure the Commanding General to i)ass you through the lines and to Fortress Mon- roe, under such military precautions as he may deem prudent, and at which place you will be met in due time by some person or persons for the pur- pose of sucli informal conference. And further, tluit you sliall have pro- tection, safe-conduct, and safe return in all events. Tnos. T. EoKERT, Major and Aide-de- Camp. City Point, Virginia, February 1, 1865. The letter referred to by Major Eckert: — F. P. Blaik, Esq. : Sib: — You having shown me Mr. Davis's letter to you of the 12th inst., you may say to him that I have constantly been, am now, and shall con- tinue ready to receive any agent whom he, or any other intiuential per- son now resisting the national authority, may informally send to me with the view of securing peace to the people of our common country. Yours, &c., A. Lincoln. Afterwards, but before Major Eckert had departed, the following dispatch was received from General Grant; — Office U. S. Militaky Telegraph, War DEPAUTMnxr. [Cipher.] The following telegram was received at Washington, January 31, 1865, from City Point, Virginia, 10.30 a. m., January 31, 1865: — His Excellency Abeaham Lincoln, President of the United States : The following comnmnication was received here last evening : — Peteksbukg, Vieginia, Ja?iuary 30, 1S65. Lieutenant-General U. S. Grant, Commanding Armies U. S. : Sir : — AVe desire to pass your lines under safe-conduct, and to proceed to Washington to hold a conference with President Lincoln upon the sub- ject of the existing war, and witli a view of ascertaining upon what terms it may be terminated, in pursuance of the course indicated by him in his letter to Mr. Ulair of January 18, 1865, of which we presume you have a copy ; and if not, we wish to see you in person, if convenient, and to confer with you on the subject. • Very respectfully yours, Alexander H. STEPHEira. J. A. Campbell, R. M. T. Hunter. I have sent directions to receive these gentlemen, and expect to have them at my quarters this evening awaiting your instructions. U. S. Grant, Lieutenant- General Conoitandiii/j Armies U.S. State Papers of Abiiaiiam Lincoln. r;'7 This, it will be perceived, transferred General Ord's agency in the matter to General Grant I resolved, liowever, to send Major Eekert forwaid with his message, and accordingly telegraphed General Grant as iujluws, to wit : — ExBCUTivE Mansion, Washington, Junitary ."I, 1SG5. Lieutenant-General Grant, City Point, Virginia: A messenger is coming'to you on the business contained in your dis patch. Detain the gentlemen in comfortable ([uarters until he arrives, and then act upon the message he brings as far as applicable, it having been made up to pass through General Ord's hands, and wiioii the gentlemen were supposed to be beyond our lines. [iSei't in cipher at 1.30 p. m.] A. Lincoln-. When Major Eckert depai"ted he bore with him a letter of the Secretary of War to General Grant, as follows, to wit : — Wae Department, Washington, D. C, Junuary 30, 1SG5. Lieutenant-General Grant, Commanding, &c. : General: — The President desires that you will please procure for the bearer, Major Thos. T. Eckert, an interview with Messrs. Stephens, Hunter, and Campbell ; and if on his return to you he requests it, pass them through our lines to Fortress Monroe, by such route and under such military pre- cautious as you may deem prudent, giving them protection and comfort- ible quarters while there ; and that you let uone of this have any etiect apon your movements or i)lans. By order of the President : Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War. Supposing the proper jioint to be then reached, I dispatched the Secre- tary of State with the following instructions — Major Eckert, however, going ahead of him : — Executive Mansion, Washington, January 81, 1SC5. Honorable William H. Seward, Secretary of State : You will proceed to Fortress Monroe, Virginia, there to meet and for- mally confer with Messrs. Stephens, Hunter, and Campbell, on the basis of my fetter to F. P. Blair. Esq., of January 18, 1865, a copy of which you have. You will make known to them that three things are indispensable, to wit : First, the restoration of the national authority throughout all the States. Second, no receding by the Executive of the United States on the slavery question from the position assumed thereon in the late annual message tu Congress and in the preceding documents. Third, no cessation of hostilitie> short of an end of the war, and tiie disbanding of all the forces hostile to the Government. You will inform them that all the propositions of theirs not inconsistent with the above will he considered and passed u[iou in a spirit of sincere liberality. You will hear all they may choose to say, and report it to me. You will not assume to definitely consummate any thing. Yours, 8 The Life, Public Services, and Wab Dkpaktmknt, Wasuington, F(hru(t,ry 1, 1SC5. Lieutenant-Gencral Grant, City Point, Va. : Let notliin.LT wliich is transpiring change, hinder, or delay your military movements or plans. [Sent in cipher at 9.30 a. m.] A. Lincoln. Afterwards the following dispatch was received from General Grant : — [In cipher.] Office U. S. Military Telegrapii, Wae Departmbnt. The following telegram was received at Washington, at 2.30 p. m., February 1, 1865, from City Point Va., Fehruary 1, 12.30 p. m., 1805 :— His Excellency A. Lincoln, President of the United States : Yuur dispatch received. There will be no armistice in consequence of the presence of Mr. Stephens and others within our lines. The troops are kept in readiness to move at the shortest notice, if occasion should justify it. U. S. Grant, Lieut.- General. To notify Major Eckert that the Secretary of State would he at Fortress Monroe, and to put them in communication, the following dispatch was sent : — . Wab Depaetme:*t, Washington, February 1, 1SG5. Major T. T. Eckert, Care General Grant, City Point, Va. : Call at Fortress Monroe, and put yourself under direction of Mr. S., whom you will find there. A. Lincoln. On the morning of the 2d instant, the following telegrams were received by me respectively from the Secretary of War and Major Eckert : — FoET MoNUOB, Va., Fehruary 1, 1S65 — 11.30 p. M. To the President of the United States : Arrived at ten this evening. Richmond friends not here. I remain here, W- H. Seward. City Point, Va., Fehruary 1, ISCo— 10 p. m. To his Excellency the President of the United States: I have the honor to report the delivery of your communication and my letter, at 4.15 this afternoon, to which I received a reply at six p. m., but not satisfactory. At eight o'clock r. m. the following note, addressed to General Grant, was received : — Cjty Point, Va., Fehruary 1, 1S65. To Lieutenant-Gencral Grant: giK :— Wo desire to go to Wasliington City to confer informally with the President personally ill reference to the matters mentioned in his letter to Mr. Blair of the ISth of January ultimo, without iLuy personal compromise on any question in the letter. "We have the permission to do bo from the authorities at Richmond. Very respectfully yours, Alex. H. Stephenm, E. M. T. ncNTEE, J. A. Ca-vpbell. State Papers of Abraham ItIXcoln. GOO At 9.30 p. M. I notilied them tli;it tliey could not [jroeced furtlior unless they complied witii the tcniis expressed in my letter. The point of meeting designated in the above note would not, in my oi)ini()ii, be insisted upon. Fort Monroe would be acceptable. Having complied with my instructions, I will return to Wasliingtoii to-morrow, unless otherwise ordered. Thomas T. Eokekt, Major^ &c. On reading this dispatch of Major Eckert, I was about to recall him and the Secretary of State, when the following telegram of General Grant to the Secretary of War was shown me : — [In cipher.] Office or the U. S. Military Telegraph, ( WaK DKI'AinMENT. f The following telegram received at AVashington at 4.35 p. m., Feb- ruary 2, 1865, from City Point, Va., February 1, 10.30 p. m., 1865 :— lion. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War : Xow that the interview between Major Eckert, under his written in strnctions, and Mr. Stephens and party, has ended, I will state confiden- tially, but not officially to become a matter of record, that I am convinced, upon conversation with Messrs. Steplieus and Hunter, that their intentions are good, and their desire sincere to restore peace and union. I have )iot felt myself at liberty to express even views of my own, or to account for my reticence. This has placed me in an awkward position, which I could have avoided by not seeing them in the first instance. I fear now their going back without any expression to any one in authority will have a bad iufiueuce. At the same time, I recognize the difficulties in tlie way of receiving these informal commissioners at this time, and I do not know what to recommend. I am sorry, liowever, that Mr. Lincoln cannot have an interview with the two named in this dispatch, if not all three now within our lines. Their letter to me was all that the President's instruc- tions contemplated to secure their safe-conduct, if they had used the same language to M/ijor Eckert. U. S. Grant, Lieut.- General. This dispatch of General Grant changed my purpose, and accordingly I telegraplied him and the Secretary of War, as follows: — "Wab Department. Washington, D. C, February 2, 1865. Lieutenant-General Grant, City Point, Va. : Say to the gentlemen that I will meet them personally at Fortress Monroe, as soon as I can get there. [Sent in cipher at 9 a. m.] A. Lincoln. "Wap. Department, "Washington, D. C, February 2, 1865. Hon. Wm. H. Seward, Fortress Monroe, Va. : Induced by a dispatch from General Grant, I join you at Fortress Monroe as soon as I can come. [Sent in cipher at 9 a. m.] A. Lincoln. Before starting, the following dispatch was shown me. I proceeded, nevertheless : — [Cipher.] Office U. S. Military Telegraph, "War Department. The following telegram, received at Washington, February 2, 1865, from City Point, Va., 9 a. m., February 2, 1865 :— 660 The Life, Public Services, vnd Hon. Wii. II. Sewaed, Secretary of State. [Copy.] Fort Monuor. To Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War, Washington : The gentlemen here have accepted the proposed terms, and will leave for Fortress Monroe at 9.30 a. m. U. S. Grant, Lietit.- General. On the night of the 2d I reached Hampton Eoads ; found the Secretary of State and Major Eckert on a steamer anchored off the shore, and learned of them that the Richmond gentlemen were on another steamer, also an- chored oft' shore in the Roads, and that the Secretary of State had not yet seen or communicated with them. I ascertained that Major Eckert haJ literally coini)lied with his instructions, and I saw tor tlic first time tlio answer of the Richmond gentlemen to him, which, in his dispatch to me of the 1st, he characterized as not satisfactory. That answer is as follows, to wit : — City Point, Va., February 1, 13G5. Thomas T. Eckert, Major and A. D. 0. : Major: — Your note delivered by yourself this day has been considered. In I'eply, we have to say that we were furnished with a copy of the letter of President Lincoln to Francis P. Blair, of the ISth of January ult., another copy of which is appended to your note. Our instructions are contained in a letter of which the following is a copy : — EiGiTMOND, January 2S, 1865. In conformity with the letter of Mr. Lincoln, of which the foregoing is a copy, you are to pro ceed to Washington City for informal conference with him upon the issues involved in the ex- isting w.ir, and for the purpose of securing peace to the two countries. With great respect, your obedient servant, Jeffekson Davis. The substantial object to be obtained by the informal conference, is to ascertain upon what terms the existing war can be terminated honorably. Our instructions contemplate a personal interview between President Lincoln and ourselves at Washington ; but, with this explanation, we are ready to meet any person or persons that President Lincoln may appoint, at such place as he may designate. Our earnest desire is that a just and honorable peace may be agreed upon, and we are prepar-id to receive or to submit propositions which may possibly lead to the attainment of that end. Very respectfully yours, Alexander II. Stephens, R. M. T. IIdnteb, John A. Campbell. A note of these gentlemen, subsequently addressed to General Grant, has already been given in Major Eckert's dispatch of the 1st inst. I also saw here for the first time the following note, addressed by the Richnionil gentlemen to Major Eckert: — State Paphrs of Abraham Lincoln. GGJ City Point, Va., Feliri'iirtj 2,18lair of the 18th of January ult., or npon any other terms or conditicjns that he nuiy hereafter propose, not inconsistent with the essential principles of self- government and pojiular rights upon which our institutions are founded. It is our earnest wish to ascertain, after a free interchange of ideas and information, upon what principles and terms, if any, a just and honorable peace can be established without the etfusion of blood, and to contribute our utmost etforts to accomplish such a result. AVe think it better to add that, in accepting your passport, we are not to be understood as commit- ting ourselves to any thing, but to carry into this informal conference the views and feelings above expressed. Very respectfully yours, &c., Alexander II. Stephens, J. A. Campbell, R. M. T. IIUNTEU. jSToTE. — The above communication was delivered to me at Fortress Monroe, at 4.30 p. m., February 2, by Lieutenant-Colonel Babcock, of General Grant's staff. Thomas T. Eckeet, Adft and A. D. v. On the morning of the 3d, the three gentlemen, Messrs. Stephens, Hun- ter, and Campbell, came aboard of our steamer, and had an interview with the Secretary of State and myself of several hours' duration. No question or preliminaries to the meeting was then and there made or mentioned. No other person was present. No papers were exchanged or produced ; and it was in advance agreed that the conversation was to be informal and verbal merely. On our part, the whole substance of the instructions to the Secretary of State, hereinbefore recited, was stated and insisted upon, and nothing was said inconsistent therewith. While by the other party it was not said that in any event, or on any condition, they ever would consent to reunion ; and yet they equally omitted to declare that they would not so consent. They seemed to desire a postponement of that question, and the adoption of some other course first, which, as some of them seemed to argue, might or might not lead to reunion, but which course we thought would amount to an indefinite postponement. The conference ended without result. The foregoing, containing, as is believed, all the information sought, is respectfully submitted. Abraham Lincoln. In this instance, as in the previous case of Mr. Greeley the President liad found himself constrained by theintru sive interference of an individual citizen, to open negotia- tions for which, in his judgment, neither the rebels nor 662 The Life, Public Services, and the nation ac large were at all i^repai-ed. No man in tlie country was more vigilant tlian lie in watching for the moment when hopes of peace might wisely be entertained ; but, as he had resolved under no circumstances to accept any thing short of an unconditional acknowledgment of the supreme authority of the Constitution and laws of the United States as the basis of peace, he deer^ed it of tlie utmost consequence that the rebel authorities should not be led to suppose that we were discouraged by the slow progress of the war, or that we were in the least inclined to treat for peace on any other terms than those he had laid down. It was for this reason that he had declined to publish his correspondence with Mr. Greeley, unless expressions in the hitter's letters, calculated to create tliis impression in the rebel States, could be omitted. Acting from the same motives, he had given Mr! Blair no authority to approach the rebel authorities on his behalf upon the subject of peace in any way whatever. He gave him, to use his own words uttered in a subsequent conversation, "no mission, but only ^er-mission." He was probably not unwilling to learn, from so acute and experienced a political observer as Mr. Blair, something of the temper and purpose of the leading men in the Rebel Government, for their public declarations upon tliis subject were not felt to be altogether reliable; and the knowledge we had of their straitened means, and of the difficulty they experienced in renewing the heavy losses in the ranks of their araiy, strengthened the belief that they might not be indisposed for submission to the national authority. Subsequent disclosures have proved the correctness of these suspicions. It is now known that some of the more sagacious and candid of the rebel leaders had even then abandoned all hope of success, and were only solicitous for some way of closing the war, which should not wound too keenly the pride and self-respect of the people of the rebel States. It was due to their efforts that, in spite of the obstinacy witli which Jefferson Davis insisted upon the recognition of his official character, involving the rec State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. GGo ogiiitioii of the South as an iudepenclent nation, an inter- view with the President and Secretary Seward was ob- tained. But they did not secure the consent of their Ex- ecutive to negotiate jipon the only basis wliich Mr. Lin- coln would for a moment admit — the absolute and acknowledged supremacy of the National Government ; and the whole scheme, therefore, fell to the ground.* The attempt at negotiation, however, served a useful purpose. It renewed the confidence of the people throughout the loyal States in the President's unalterable' determination to maintain the Union, while it proved his willingness to end the war whenever that great and para- mount object could be secured ; and, at the same time, it dispelled the delusive hopes, with Avhich the rebel lead- ers had so long inspired the hearts of the great ])ody of the Southern people, that ]3eace was possible with the in- dependence of the Southern States. The attempt of Mr. Davis, in the message we have already cited, f to ''lire the Southern heart" afresh, by his vivid picture of the tyrannical and insulting exactions of President Lincoln, was utterly fruitless. His appeals fell upon wearied ears and despondent hearts. Other important affairs had also arisen to occupy the * Since the overthrow of the rebellion an account of this conference has been published in the Augusta (Ga.) Chro)dcle, said to have been prepared under the supervision of Mr. A. H. Stephens. It adds nothing material to the facts already known, but the following paragraphs are not without interest : — "Davis had on this occasion, as on that of Mr. Stephens's visit to "Washington, made it a condition that no conference should be had unless his rank as counnander or President should first be recognized. Mr. Lincoln declared that the only gronnd upon which he could rest the justice of the war — either with his own people or with foreign powers — was, that it was not V. war for conquest, hut that the States never had been separated from the Union. Conse- quently, he could not recognize another government inside of the one of which he alone was President, nor admit the separate independence of States that were yet a part of the Union. 'That,' said he, 'would be doing what you so long asked Europe to do in vain, and be resigning the only thing the armies of the Union are fighting for.' "Mr. Hunter made a long reply, i«sisting that the recognition of Davis's power to make a treaty was the first and inrecedent of a constitutional ruler treat- ing with rebels. " Mr. Lincoln's face then wore that indescribable expression which generally preceded his hard- est hits, and he remarked : ' Upon questions of history I must refer you to Mr. Seward, for he is posted in such things, and I don't profess to be. But my only distinct recollection o/ the matter is, that Charles lost his head.' That settled Mr. Hunter for a whrle." f Page 57 S. 664 The Life, Public Services, and thouglits of the people during the pendency oi the peacs negotiations. Tlie resolution which had passed the House on Januaiy 31st, directing that the electoral votes of cer- tain States which had joined the rebellion should not be counted, came up before the Senate. An eftbrt was made, but failed, to strike out Louisiana from the list of the rejected States. Other amendments were offered, but rejected, and the resolution was adopted as it passed the House. It was also signed by the President, but he sent to Congress the following message concerning it : — To the JJonorcihlc Senate and House of Representatives of the United States : The joint resolution, entitled " A joint resolution declarin,:; certain States not entitled to representation in the Electoral College," has been signed by the Executive in deference to the view of Congress implied in its pas- sage and presentation to me. In his own view, however, the two Houses of Congress convened under the twelfth article of the Constitution have complete jiower to exclude from counting all electoral votes deemed by them to be illegal, and it is not competent for the Executive to defeat or obstruct the power by a veto, as would be the case if his action were at all essential in the matter. lie disclaims all right of the Executive to in- terfere in any way in the matter of canvassing or counting the electoral votes, and he also disclaims that by signing said resolution he has expressed any opinion on the recitals of the preamble, or any judgment of his own upon the subject of the resolution. Abeauam Lincoln. Executive Mansion, February 8, 1865. On Wednesday, the 8th of February, the Senate and the House met in joint convention for the purpose of count- ing the electoral votes. The two bodies having convened, the certificates of election were opened by Vice-President Hamlin. Electoral votes from Louisiana and Tennessee were presented, but, in obedience to the resolution just mentioned, they were not counted. The total number of votes counted was two hundred and thirty-three, of which Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Johnson had received two hundred and twelve, and they were accordingly declared to have been elected President and Vice-President for the ensuing four years, commencing on the 4th of March. The new State of Nevada had cast but two votes, her third elector having been absent on the day of the meeting. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 6CG Prominent among the measures passed by Congr<>Rs du- ring tlie remainder of tlie session was tlie bill establishing a Freedmen's Bureau. A resolution ottered by Mr. Sumner, and passed, excited a good deal of interest in England. It declared tliat the rebel debt or loan was " simply an agency of the rebel- lion, which the United States can never under any cir- cumstances recognize in any part, or in any way." To the parties who had taken the rebel loan thinking that the South was sure to succeed, or at least to secure some terms of peace which would provide for the assumption of the rebel debt, this resolution, coming as it did after such great military successes on our part, was the re verse of cheering. Two messages were sent to Congress by the President in reference to approaching International Exhibitions in Norway and in Portugal, and a resolution was passed re- questing the President to call upon the citizens to join in them. The House passed a bill repealing so much of the Con- fiscation Act passed July 17, 1862, 244, as prohibited the forfeiture of the real estate of rebels beyond their natural lives. But the Senate failed to take similar action, and the law, therefore, remained unchanged. Resolutions were reported to the Senate by the Com- mittee on Military Affairs, that soldiers discharged for sickness or wounds should be preferred for appointment to civil offices, and recommending citizens generally to give them a similar preference in their private business. The President was in full sympathy with the feeling wl;ich led to this action, as appears by the following order, w^hicli he made for the appointment of a Mrs. Bashnell as postmistress at Sterling, Illinois : — Mr. Washburne lias presented to me all the papers in this case, and finding Mrs. Bushnell as well recommended as any other, and she being the widow of a soldier who fell in battle for the Union, let lier be ap- pointed. A. Lincoln. Tlie question of the recognition of the State Govern- ments in, and the admission of Senators and Representa- 666 The Life, Public Services, and tives from, Louisiana and Arkansas was brought up in both Houses, but was not pressed to a vote, though reports were made in favor of such recognition and admission. The Tariff Bill was modified, a bill for a loan of ^600,- 000,000 was passed, with many other bills of less impor- tance, and on the 3d of March Congress adjourned sine die. The Senate, however, was at once convened in extra session, by a proclamation issued by the President on February 17th, as foUows :— Depaetment of State. PEOOLAMATION. By the President of the United States. Whereas, objects of interest to the United States require that the Senate should be convened at twelve o'clock on the 4th of March next, to re- ceive and act upon such communications as may be made to it on the part of the Executive : Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, have considered it to be my duty to issue my proclamation, declaring that an extraordinary occasion requires the Senate of the United States to con- vene for the transaction of business at the Capitol, in the City of Wash- ington, on the 4th day of March next, at noon on that day, of which all wlio shall at that time be entitled to act as members of that body, are hereby required to take notice. Given under my hand and the seal of the United States, at Washing- ton, this seventeenth day of February, in the year of our Lord [L. s.] one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, and of the independ- ence of the United States of America the eighty-ninth. ABEAnAM Lincoln. By the President : Wm. H. Sewaed, Secretary of State. The military operations during February continued to furnish cheering successes. The peace conference had not been suftered to interfere in the least with military movements. The rebel commissioners were hardly within their lines before General Grant made another movement, taking and holding, though not without severe loss, another of the roads leading southwardly out of Peters- burg, called the Vaughan Road, and giving our troops command of yet another called the Boydton Plankroad. A very encouraging symptom of the situation was the increasing number of desertions from the rebel ranks, State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 067 by which General Lee's army was steadily and seriously diminishing. Our own forces meanwliile were being continually aug- mented by new recruits, which were rapidly obtaijied, by the strong exertions made in every district to avoid a draft. Many questions arose and had to be decided by the President in reference to the draft. The following letter from him to Governor Smith, of Vermont, was called forth by complaints that its burdens Avere not equally distributed : — Executive Mansion, Wasuington, Febriiary 8, 1S65. His Excelleucy Governor Smith, of Vermont : Complaint is made to me, by Vermont, that the assignment of her quota for the draft on the pending call is intrinsically unjust, and also in bad faith of the Government's promise to fairly allow credits for nien previously furnished. To illustrate, a supposed case is stated as fol- lows : — Vermont and New Hampshire must between them furnish six thousand men on the pending call; and being equal, each must furnish as many as the other in the long run. But the Government finds that on former calls Vermont furnished a surplus of five hundred, and New Hampshire a sur- plus of fifteen hundred. These two surpluses making two thousand, and added to tlie six thousand, making eight thousand to be furnished by the two States, or four thousand each, less by fair credits. Then subtract Vermont's surplus of five hundred from her four thousand, leaves three thousand five hundred as her quota on the pending call ; and likewise subtract New Hampshire's surplus of fifteen hundred from her four thou- sand, leaved two thousand five hundred as her quota on the pending call. These three thousand five hundred and two thousand five hundred make precisely six thousand, which the supposed case requires from the two States, and it is just equal for Vermont to furnish one thousand more now than New Hampshire, because New Hampshire has heretofore fur- nished one thousand more than Vermont, which equalizes the burdens of the two in the long run. And this result, so far from being bad faith to Vermont, is indispensable to keeping good faith with New Hampshire. By no other result can the six thousand men be obtained from the two States, and at the same time deal justly and keep faith with both, and we do but confuse ourselves in questioning the process by which the right result is reached. The supposed case is perfect as an illustration. The pending call is not for three hundred thousand men subject to fair credits, but is for three hundred thousand remaining after all fair credits have been deducted, and it is impossible to concede what Vermont asks without coming out short of three hundred thousand men, or making other localities pay for the partiality shown her. GG8 The Life, Public Services, and Tins upon the case staled. If there be different reasons for making an allowance to Vermont, let them be presented and considered. Yours truly, Abraham Lincoln. The success at Fort Fislier was ab]_y followed up by General Terry. One by one the rebel forts on the Cape Fear River fell into our hands, and on the 22d of Febru- ary Wilmington was evacuated, and was occupied by our troops without a struggle. Heavy cavalry expeditions were prepared and sent out through the Southwest, in different directions, and made good progress. But the crowning glory of the month was the success of Sherman's march through South Caro- lina. Starting from Savannah, he moved northwest through swamps which were thought impassable for a a army, forced the line of the Salkeliatchie River, pressed on into the heart of the State, and on the 17th entered Columbia, the capital of the State, without a battle. His presence there made the evacuation of Charleston a neces- sity, and on the next day our forces entered its grass- grown streets, and the old flag floated again from Fort Sum- ter, from which, four years before, it had been traitorously torn down. Sherman' s progress northward continued to be raj)id, but hardly any thing that he could do could give so much joy as the fall of that nest of treason had given. Coming, as it did, just before the 22d c^" Febru- ary, it made the celebration of Washington's birthday one of great rejoicing. The public buildings in Wash- ington were illuminated, and all over the countiy it was a day of joy and gladness of heart. It was not the military successes alone which made the X^eople glad : a general system of exclianging prisoners had been at last agreed upon, and our poor fellows were rapidly coming forward out of those hells on earth, in which the rebel authorities had kept them. In fact, all things seemed auspicious for the future. The close of President's Lincoln's first Administration was brilliant in itself, and gave full promise of yet brighter things to come. State Papers of Achaiiam Lincoln. GG'J CHAPTER XX. THE CLOSE OF THE REBELLION. TlIK IxATJOrEAL AdDKESS. PROCLAMATION TO DeSEUTEKS. SfEECILES BY THE PRESIDENT.— Destruction of Lee's Army. — The President's Visit to Eichmond. — Return to WAsniNGTON. — Close of the Wai^ It seems hardly credible that four years should em- brace within their narrow limit so immense a change as the four years of Mr. Lincoln's first Administration had brought to the country and to himself. When, on the 4th of March, 1861, lie took the oath of office, administered to him by Chief-Justice Taney, the horizon was dark with storms, whose duration and violence were as yet happily unknown. He himself, as he stood on the steps of the Capitol, was an untried man, sneered at by those who had held the reins of power in the country, an object for the rising hate of the aspiring aristocrac}" of the South, which had already sought his life, and would have sought it with still greater vindictiveness, if a tithe of the sagacity, finnness, honesty, and patriotism which animated his breast had been understood ; even then an object of interest and growing affection, comparatively unknown as he was even to his own friends, to those who saw the danger which was overhanging the country, and were nerving themselves to meet it. But now the herceness of the storm seemed to be pass- ing away, and clearer skies to be seen througli the rolling clouds. The citizen, who, four years before, was utterly un- tried and unknown, was now the chosen leader of a nation of thirty million people, who trusted in his honesty as they trusted in the eternal principles of Nature, who believed him to be wise, and knew him to be abundant in patience and kindness of heart, with an army of half a million G70 The Life, Public Services, and men and a navy of liundieds of vessels at liis command, one of the most powerful, certainly the most loved of all the leaders of the nations of the earth. There could be but one higher step for him to attain, and to that, also, in the order of Providence, he was soon to be called. The scene of his re-inauguration was a striking one. The morning hq,d been inclement, storming so violently that up to a few minutes before twelve o'clock it was supposed that the Inaugural Address would have to be delivered in the Senate Chamber. But the people had gathered in immense numbers before the Capitol, in spite of the storm, and just before noon the rain ceased and the clouds broke away, and, as the President took the oath, of office, the blue sky appeared above, a small white cloud, like a hovering bird, seemed to hang above his head, and the sunlight broke through the clouds and fell upon him with a glory, afterwards felt to have been an emblem of the martyr' s crown, which was so soon to rest upon his head. The oath of office was administered by Chief-Justice Chase, and the President delivered his second Inaugural Address as follows : — Fellow-countrymen : — At this second appearing to take the oath of the Presidential oflBce, there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course to be pursued seemed very fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called fortli on every point and pliase of the great contest which still ab- sorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little tliat is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself, and it is, I trust, reasonably satis- factory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no pre- diction in regard to it is ventured. On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago, all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it, all sought to avoid it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, insurgent agents were in the city, seeking to destroy it with war — seeking to dissolve the Union and divide the effects by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather State Papers of Abraham Linxolx. 671 than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather tlian let it perish, and the war came. Ono-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, Init localized in the Southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and power- ful interest. All knew that this interest w.ns somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union by war, while the Gov- ernment claimed no right to do more than tu restrict the territorial en- largement of it. Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the con- flict might cease, or even before the conflict itself sliould cease. Fach looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other' men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayer of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. Woe unto the world because of offences, for it must needs be that offences come, but woe to that man by whom the offence coraeth. If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of these offences which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offence came, shall we discern there any departure from those Divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to him ? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet if God wills, that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and uutil every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so, still it must be said that the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. With malice towards none, with charity for all, with firnmess in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle. and for his widow and his orphans, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and a lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations. The only change which was made in the Cabinet was one made necessary by the resignation, in consequence of his election to the Senate, of Mr. Fessenden, Secretary of the Treasury, whose post was filled on the 6th of March, by the appointment of the Hon. Hugh McCullough, of Indiana. With this exception, affairs went on as before, 872 The Life, Public Services, and without any perceptible cliange in their working iu conse- quence of the change of Administration. The Senate met in extra session, and at once had a sharp debate on the admission of the Senators from Ar- kansas, whose credentials were finally ordered to be sent to the Committee of the Judiciary. The other business before the Senate was Executive merely. One of the acts passed by Congress near the close of the session was an amendment of the laws for calling out the National forces, one provision of which directed the President to issue a proclamation, calling upon de- serters to return to their duty within sixty days. Ac- cordingly, on the 11th of March, the proclamation was issued as follows : — , A PROCLAMATION". Whereas, the twenty-first section of the act of Congress, approved on the 3d instant, entitled "An Act to amend tlie several acts heretofore passed to provide for the enrolling and calling out the national forces and for other purposes," requires that, in addition to the other lawful penalties of the crime of desertion from the military or naval service, all p'jrsons who have deserted the military or naval service of the United States who. shall not return to said service or report themselves to a provost-marshal within sixty days after the proclamation hereinafter mentioned, shall be deemed and taken to have voluntarily relinquished and forfeited their cit- izenship and their right to become citizens, and such deserters shall be forever incapable of holding any office of trust or profit under the United States, or of exercising any rights of citizens thereof ; and all persons who shall hereafter desert the military or naval service, and all persons who, being duly enrolled, shall depart the jurisdiction of the district in which they are enrolled, or go beyond the limits of the United States with intent to avoid any draft into the military or naval service duly ordered, shall be liable to the penalties of this section ; and the President is hereby authorized and required forthwith, on the passage of this act, to issue his proclamation setting forth the provisions of this section, in which proclamation the Pres- ident is re({uested to notify all deserters returning within sixty days as aforesaid that they shall be pardoned on condition of returning to their regiments and companies, or to such other organizations as they may be assigned to, until they shall have served for a period of time equal to their original term of enlistment : Now, therefore, be it known that I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do issue this my proclamation as required by said act, or- dering and requiring all deserters to return to their proper posts ; and I do State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 078 hereby notify thein that all deserters who shall within sixty davs from the date of this proclamation, viz., on or before the 10th day of Mav 1865 return to service or report themselves to a provost-marslial, sliall he pardoned on condition that they return to tlieir regiments or companies or to such other organization as they may be assigned to, and serve tlie re- mainder of their original terms of enlistment, and in addition tliercto a period equal to the time lost by desertion. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the City of Wasliington, this eleventh day of ^farch, in the year Fl s 1 ^'"' *^^"" ^^'^"^^ eighteen hundred and sixty-five, and of the inde- pendence of the United States the eighty-ninth. Abraham Lincoln. By the President : William H. Seward, Secretary of State. In addition to the increase of our armies wliicli tliis proc- lamation gave— for great numbers of deserters availed themselves of its provisions — the draft, which had been often post^ooned, y»^as fairly put in operation on the 15th of March : — not that there was so ];)ressing and im- mediate a need of men, for the tide of military successes continued to roll in full and strong in our favor ; but the authorities felt called upon to provide for future contin- gencies, which happily never arose. On every hand the prospects of the rebellion were growing darker. The stream of deserters from Lee's lines was growing larger and larger, most of the men bringing their arms with them, and all uniting in the same story of the demoralization of those they had left behind. In their extremity, the rebel leaders even began to turn to the negro for help, and various propositions were introduced into the rebel Congress looking towards the employment of slaves as soldiers. The measure, however, was not a pojoular one, for it was felt to be a practical abandonment of tliose ideas of slavery for whose supremacy the rebel- lion had been set on foot. At one time tlie proposition before the rebel Senate for arming the slaves was defeated by one vote. The President referred to this extremity of theirs, and this means of relief which they had sought, in a speech whicli he made whim a rebel flag, captured at Anderson by the One Hundred and Fortieth Indiana Vol- 43 674 The Life, Public Services, and unteers, was presented to Governor Morton in front of tlw National Hotel on the ITtli of March. A large crowd was in attendance. Governor Morton made a brief speech, in wliich lie congratulated his auditors on the speedily ap- proaching end of the rebellion, and concluded by introdu- cing President Lincoln, whose purity and patriotism were confessed, he said, by all, even among the most violent of his opponents. His Administration would be recog- nized as the most important epoch of history. It had struck the death-blow to slavery, and clothed the Re- public with a power it never before possessed. If he had done nothing more tlian put his name to the Emanci- pation Proclamation, that act alone would have made his name immortal. The President addressed the assembly substantially as follows : — Fellow-Citizens: — It will be but. a very few words thcat I sball under- take to say. I was born in Kentucky, raised in Indiana, and lived in Illinois ; and now I am here, where it is my business to care equally for the good people of all the States. I am glad to see an Indiana regiuM'iit on this day able to present the captured flag to the Governor of Indiana. I am not disposed, in saying this, to make a distinction be- tween the States, for all have done equally well. There are but few views or aspects of this great war upon which I have not said or written something whereby my own opinions might be known. But there is one — the recent attempt of our erring brethren, as they are sometimes called, to employ the negro to fight for them. I have neither written nor made a speecli on that subject, because that was their business, not mine, and if I had a wish upon the subject, I had not the power to introduce it, or make it effective. The great question with them was whether the negro, being put into the army, will fight for them. I do not know, and therefore cannot decide. They ought to know better than me. I have in my lifetime heard many arguments why the negroes ought to be slaves; but if they fight for those who would keep them in slavery, it will be a better argument than any I have yet heard. He who will fight for that, ought to be a slave. They have concluded, at last, to take one out of four of the slaves and put them in the army, and that one out of the four who will fight to keep the others in slavery, ought to be a slave himself, unless he is killed in a fight. While I have often said that all men ought to be free, yet would I allov/ those colored persons to be slaves who want to be, and next to the:;:: those white people who argue in favor of making other people slaves. I am in favor of giving an appointment to such white men to State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 675 ii7 it on for these slaves. I will say one thing in regard ti) the ncroes Leing employed to tight for them. I do know he cannot figlit and stay at home and make bread too. And as one is about as ini]iortant as the other to them, I don't care which they do. I am rather in favor of having them try them as soldiers. They lack one vote of doing that, and I wish I could send my vote over the river so that I might cast it in favor of allowing the negro to fight. But they cannot fight and work lioth. We nmst noAV see the bottom of the- enemy's resources. They will stand out as long as they can, and if the negro will fight for them they must allow him to fight. They have drawn upon their last branch of resources, and we can now see the bottom. I am glad to see the end so near at hand. I have said now more than I intended, and will therefore bid you good-by. But even the culminating interest of affairs before Rich- mond did not absorb exclusively the President's attention. On the 17tli he issued the following proclamation against persons furnishing arms to the hostile Indians in the West, W'ho, stirred up by emissaries from the rebels, or coming to the conclusion from their own judgment, that while the white men were thus fighting each other, i*t was surely a good time for the red man to strike, had, on more than one occasion, since the rebellion broke out, spread terror and destruction over the Northwest. WTiereas, Reliable information has been received that hostile Indians within the limits of the United States have been furnished with arms and munitions of war by persons dwelling in foreign territory, and are thereby enabled to prosecute their savage warfare upon the exposed and sparse settlements of the frontier : Now, therefore, be it known that I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim and direct that all persons engaged in that nefarious traffic shall be arrested and tried by court-martial, at tlie nearest mili- tary post, and if convicted, shall receive the punishment due to their deserts. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the City of "Washington, this iTth day of March, in the [l. s.] year of our Lord 1865, and of the independence of the United States of America the eighty-ninth. By the President ; Abraham Lincoln. Wm. H. Seward, Secretary of State. Two days afterwards the following orders were issued by the State Department, directed against blockade-runners, 676 The Life, Public Services, and a class who had been treated, too long with leniency and allowed too many facilities for carrying on their traffic, which had greatly prolonged the war and increased its burdens and difficulties : — Dbpap-tmbnt or State, WAsniNGTON, March 19, 1865. The President directs that all persons who now are or hereafter shall be found within the United States, and who have been engaged in hold- ing intercourse or trade with the insurgents by sea, if they are citizens of the United States or domiciled aliens, be arrested and held as prison- ers of war till the war shall close ; subject, nevertheless, to prosecution, trial, and conviction for any ottence committed by them, as spies or other- wise, against the laws of war. The President further directs that all non-resident- foreigners who now are or hereafter shall be found in the United States, and who have been or .shall have been engaged in violating the blockade of the insurgent ports, shall leave the United States within twelve days from tlie publica- tion of this order, or from their subsequent arrival in the United States if on the Atlantic side, and forty days if on the Pacific side of the coun- try. And such persons shall not return to the United States during the continuance of the war. Provost-Marshals and Marshals of the United States will arrest and commit to military custody all such offenders as shall disregard this order, whether they have passports or not, and they will be detained in such custody until the end of the war, or until discharged by subsequent order of the President. Wm. H. Seward, Secretary of State. There was some little talk during the first part of the month about negotiations for peace. The rebels seem to have thought that, having failed so utterly in their con- ference with the President and Mr. Seward, they might do better if they could succeed in opening negotiations directly with General Grant. The President, however, again defeated them by sending the following order : — Washington, March 3. 1865 — 12 p. m. Lieutenant-General Grant : The President directs me to say to you that he wishes you to have no conference with General Lee, unless it be for the capitulation of General Lee's army, or on some minor and purely military matter. He instructs me to say that you are not to decide, discuss, or confer upon any political question. Such questions the President holds in his own hands, and will submit them to no military conferences or conventions. Meantime you are to press to the utmost your military advantages. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War. State Papers of Aekaiia.m Lincoln. C77 The official duties wliicli devolved upon the President were very heavy after his inauguration. The coming in of a new Administration, though there was so little change, called forth a swarm of office-seekers, and the President's time and strength were severely taxed. He was for a time quite ill, and about the 24th of March took refuge in a visit to the Army of the Po- tomac. On the 25th, General Lee had made a sudden and desperate attack upon Fort Stedman, an important posi- tion on the right of our lines before Petersburg, com- manding our communications with City Point. By a surprise, the rebels carried the fort and took some pris- oners. But the neighboring fortifications turned a terri- ble lire upon it, and our troops, b}^ a gallant assault, drove the rebels out with great loss, so that the day, which began with their success, was turned into a disastrous defeat for them. An attack was also made by our forces on our left, and important advantages w^ere gained in that quarter. The President was visiting the army at the time, and arrived on the field in time to witness the re- treat of the rebels, and to learn the story of their attack and repulse from Genei-al Parke, whose brave fellows of the Ninth Corps had retaken Fort Stedman. The Pres- idential party continued on their route to the extreme right, going within six miles of Richmond. On their ride they witnessed the crossing to the south side of the James of General Sheridan's cavalry, with which, after having raided in the early part of tlie month to the west of Rich- mond, defeated General Early utterly at Waynesboro', and destroyed the James River Canal, and the Lynch- burg Railroad, and done inestimable damage to the rebels, he had come back by way of the White House, on the Pamunkey, and was now crossing to the south side of the James to take a prominent part in the approaching de- cisive assault upon the army of General Lee. General Sherman effected a junction with the forces under General Terry's command, at Goldsboro', N. C, on the 19th of March. There were not wanting those who thought that his 678 The Life, Puelic Seiu'ICES, anp march into North Carolina was a march into danger. Said one of these persons to the President one day : — Mr. Lincoln, as Sherman's array advances, the rebel forces necessarily concentrate and increase in number. Before long Sherman will drive the columns of Johnston, Bragg, Hoke, and others, within a few days' marcu of Lee's main army. May not Lee suddenly march south with the bulk of his army, form a junction with Johnston's troops, and before Grant can follow any considerable distance, strike Sherman's column with supe- rior force, break his lines, defeat his army, and drive his broken frag- ments back to the coast, and with his whole army give battle to Grant, and perhaps defeat him? "And perhaps not," replied the President. "Napoleon tried the same game on the British and Prussians, in 1815. He concentrated his forces and fell suddenly on Blucher, and won an indecisive victory. He then whirled round and attacked the British, and met his Waterloo. Bona- parte was hardly inferior to Lee in military talents or experience. "But are you sure that Lee's forces, united with Johnston's, could beat Sherman's army? Could he gain his Ligny, before meeting with his Waterloo when he attacks Grant? I tell you, gentlemen, there is a heap of fight in one hundred thousand Western veterans. They are a good deal like old Zach. Taylor at Buena Vista — they don't know when they are whipped." The President's judgment was "better, his hopefulness better founded, than the misgivings of his questioner. Upon General Sherman's arrival at Goldsboro', he made a journey to City Point, where he and General Grant held consultation together, and with the President, as to the campaign now about to commence. General Sherman immediately returned to his command, and on the 30th the decisive final movement of the war was begun by General Sheridan, who moved his cavalry towards the south and the left of our army. It had been the plan that he should make a raid upon the Southside Railroad, but when he had gone as far as Dinwiddle Court-House, he was ordered by General Grant to abandon the raid, and, in concert with the infantry under his own immediate command, endeavor to turn Lee's right Hank. There was heavy fighting in that part of the lines on the 30th and the 31st of March, for Lee knew that where Sheridan was he must have a strong front to meet him, State Papers of Abraham Li.ncoln. GT'J and the rebel troops were tlirown out in tluit ])ait of tlu^ lines in heavy force. The President remained at City Point, and at 3 p. m. sent the following telegram to tho Secretary of War : — At 12.30 p. M. to-day, General Grant telegraphed me as follows: There has heen much hard fighting this morning. The enemy drove our left from near Dabney's house back well towards the Buydton I'laulc- road. We are now about to take the offensivo at that point, and 1 hope will more than recover the lost ground. Later he telegraphed again as follows : Our troops, after being driven back to the Boydton Plankroad. turned and drove the enemy in turn, and took tiie White Oak road, which we now have. This gives us the ground occupied by tlie enemy this morning. I will send you a rebel flag captured by our troops in driving the enemy back. 'I'here have been four flags captured to-day. Judging by the two points from which General Grant telegraphs, I in- fer that he moved his head-quarters about one mile since he sent the first of the two dispatches. A. Lixcoi.x. On the 1st of April, General Sheridan's plans and the valor of the troops proved successful. The rebels being flanked b}^ the Fifth Corps, which had been placed under his command, and vigorously attacked in front by the cavalry, w^ere thoroughly routed, with a loss of five or six thousand prisoners, besides killed and wounded. The only dispatch received from the President on this day was one sent before the final success was achieved, which was not till late in the afternoon. The rebel right Aving having been thus crushed, General Grant not only threw his indomitable left forward, but ordered a general attack all along the lines at daylight next morning, which proved everywhere successful. The following dispatches were sent by the President during the day, and give a succinct account of the battle and its results: — CiTT Point, Virginia, April 2, 1S65— 8 30 a. m. Honorable E. M. Staxton, Secretary of War: Last night General Grant telegraphed that General Sheridan, with his cavalry and the Fifth Corps, had captured three brigades of infantry, a train of wagons, and several batteries; the prisoners amounting to several thousand. G80 The Life, Public Services, and This inoruing General Gnuit, liaving ordered an attack alung the wliula line, telegrapiis as fullows : — Both Wriglit and Parke got through tlie enemy's lines. The battle now rages furiously. General Sheridan, with his cavalry, tlie Fifth Corps, and Miles's Division of tlie Second Corps, which was sent to him this morning, is now sweeping down from the west. All now looks highly favorable. General Ord is engaged, but I have not yet heard tlie result in his front. A. Lincoln. City Point, 11 a. m., April 2. Dispatches are frequently coming in. All is going on finely. Generals Parke, Wright, and Ord's lines are extending from the Appomattox to Hatcher's Eun. They have all broken through the enemy's intrenched lines, taking some forts, guns, and prisoners. Sheridan, with his own cavalry, the Fifth Corps, and part of the Second, i« coming in from tlie west on the enemy's flank. Wright is already tearing up the Southside Railroad. A. Lincoln. City Point, Virsinia, April 2, 3 p. m. At 10.45 A. M. General Grant telegraphs as follows: — Every thing has been carried from the left of the Ninth Corps. The Sixth Corps alone captured more than three thousand prisoners. The Second and Twenty-fourth Corps captured forts, guns, and prisoners from the enemy, but I cannot tell the numbers. We are now closing around the works of the line immediately enveloping Petersburg. All looks re- markably well. I have not yet heard from Sheridan. His head-quarters have been moved up to Banks's House, near the Boydton road, about three miles southwest of Petersburg. ' A. Lincoln. City Point, Yieginia, April 2, S.30 p. n. At 4.30 P. M. to-day General Grant telegraphs as follows : — We are now up and have a continuous line of troops, and in a few hours will be intrenclied from the Appomattox below Petersburg to the river above. The whole captures since the army started out will not amount to less than twelve thousand men, and probably fifty pieces of artillery. I do not know the number of men and guns accurately, however. A por- tion of Foster's Division, Twenty-fourth Corps, made a most gallant charge this afternoon, and captured a very important fort from the enemy, with its entire garrison. All seems well with us, and ever}^ thing is quiet just now. A. Lincoln. The results of the fighting of this 2d of April were so disastrous to the rebels, that General Lee saw at once that he must evacuate Petersburg, and Richmond also. His dispatch announcing the necessity was handed to Mr. Davis wliile at church. He immediately left the State Tapeiis of Abkauam Lincoln. G81 cliui'ch, and, making a hasty prej)avation for (L^partiii-c, left that night by the Danville Railroad. Kifhnioud and Petersburg were both abandoned during the niglit. ^t half-past eight the President sent the following dispatch to Secretary Stanton : — This morning Lieutenant-Generul Grant reports Petersburg evacuated, and he is contident that Richmond also is. He is pusliing forward to cut oif, if possible, the retreating rebel army. A. Lincoln. Fifteen minutes before this dispatch was sent, Richmond had been occupied by our troops. The second brigade of the Third Division of the Twenty-fourth Army Corps, under Major-General Weitzel, were the first to enter the city. They found that the rebel authorities had not only carried oif whatever they could, but had set tire to tobacco warehouses, Govermnent workshops, and other buildings, till there was great danger that the whole city would be consumed. General Weitzel at once set the men to work to put out the fires, and re-established as much order as was possible. The President, immediately after sending the above dispatch, went to the front, where all things had changed at once from the terrors of the fierce assault to the exul- tation of eager pursuit. General Grant's objective in the whole campaign had been, not Richmond, but Lee' s army ; and for that he pushed forward, regardless of the captured cities which lay behind him, showing himself as relentless in pursuit as he had been undaunted in at- tack. The President did not, indeed, follow the army in its forced march to cut off Lee's retreat, but he did what would be almost as incredible, if we did not know how difficult he found it to attribute to others hatred of which he felt no impulse himself— he went to Richmond on the day after it was taken. Nothing could be more characteristic or more striking than his entrance into the rebel capital. He came up in aman<>f-war, about two p. m., to the landing called the 682 The Lif^^,, Public Services, and Rocketts, about a mile below the city, and thence, ac- companied by his young son and Admiral Porter, came to the city in a boat. His coming was unannounced. No roll of drums or presented arms greeted his approach. He had not even a militaiy guard. The sailors who had rowed him up accompanied him, armed with carbines. He came in no triumphal car, not even on liorseback, to be "the observed of all observers ;" but, like any other citizen, walked up the streets towards General AVeitzel's head-quarters, in the house occupied two days before by Jefferson Davis. But the news of his arrival spread as he walked, and from all sides the colored people came running together, with cries of intense exultation, to greet their deliverer. A writer in the Atlantic Monthly, thus, from personal observation, describes the scene : — They gathered round the President, ran ahead, hovered upon the flanks of the little company, and hung like a dark cloud upon the rear. Men, women, and children joined the constantly-increasing throng. They came from all the hy-streets, running in hreathless haste, shouting and hallooing, and dancing with delight. The men threw up their hats, tlic women waved their bonnets and handkerchiefs, clapped their hands, and sang, "Glory to God! glory, glory !" rendering all the praise to God, who had heard their wailings in the past, their moanings for wives, hus- bands, children, and friends sold out of their sight; had given them free- dom, and after long years of waiting, had permitted them thus unexpect- edly to behold the face of their great benefactor. "I thank you, dear Jesus, that I behold President Linkum!" was the exclamation of a woman who stood upon the threshold of her humble home, and with streaming eyes and clasped hands gave thanks aloud to the Saviour of men. Another, more demonstrative in her joy, was jumping and striking her hands with all her might, crying, "Bless de Lord I Bless de Lord! Bless de Lord !" as if there could be no end to her thanksgiving. The air rang with a tumultuous chorus of voices. The street became almost impassable on account of the increasing multitude, till soldiers were summoned to clear the way. * * * The walk was long, and the President halted a moment to rest. " May de good Lord bless you. President Linkum!" said an old negro, removing his hat and bowing, with tears of joy '-oiling down his cheeks. The Pres- ident removed his own hat, and boi- d in silence; l)ut it was a bow vfhicli upset tlie forms, laws, customs, and ceremonies of centuries. It was a death-shock to chivalry and a mortal wound to caste. Eecognize a State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. G83 nigger! Faugh I A woimin in an adjoining lionsc liehcld it, and turMi.'d from the scene in unspeal'Cable disgust. Arrived at General Weitzel's head-quarters, after a brief interval the President held a short levee, tlieji took a rapid drive about the city, and left on his return at half-past six p. m. On Thursday he again visited Richmond, accompanied by ]\Irs. Lincoln, Vice-President Johnson, and several Senators and others. He held interviews while here with some of the leading men, who sought to obtain from him something which should make the submission of the South more easy, and should save to the rebel leaders as much as possible of their wealth and power. By them he was urged to issue a conciliatoiy proclamation. He did, indeed, go so far as to send to General AVeitzel the following order, allowing the reassembling of the Virginia Legislature for the purpose stated in the order : — Head-Quarteks Abmies of the United States, I City Point, April 6, ISGo. ' Major-General Weitzel, Richmond, Va. : It lias been intimated to me that the gentlemen who have acted as the Legislature of Virginia, in support of the rebellion, may now desire to assemble at Richmond and take measures to withdraw the Virginia troops and other support from resistance to the General Government. If they attempt it, give them permission and j)rotection, until, if at all, they attempt some action hostile to the United States, in which case you will notify them, give them reasonable time to leave, and at the end of which time arrest any who remain. Allow Judge Campbell to see this, but do not make it public. Yours, &c., A. Lincoln. As Lee surrendered the remains of his army to Gen- eral Grant on Sunday, April 9, that reason no longer ex- isted ; and, on the 12th, General Weitzel received a tele- gram from the President in Washington to annul the call^ as the necessity for it had passed. The President returned to Washington on April 9th, his return having been hastened somewhat by an acci- dent to Mr. Seward, who had been thrown from liis carriage some days previous, and had broken his right arm 684 The Life, Public Services, and and his jaw. Tlie news of Lee' s surrender reached Wash- ington shortly alter Mv. Lincohi arrived, and caused tlie greatest rejoicing, not only in Washington, but over the whole country. In fact, the people had been borne on the top of a lofty wave of joy ever since Sheridan's victory at the Five Forks, and this but intensified the universal exultation. A large company waited on the President on Monday afternoon to congratulate him. In answer to their call, he appeared, merely to say : — If the company had assembled by appointment, some mistake had crept in their understanding. He had appeared before a larger audience than this one to-day, and he would repeat what he then said, namely, he sup- posed owing to the great, good news, there would be some demonstration. lie would ])i-efer to-morrow evening, when he should be quite willing, and lie hoped ready, to say something. He desired to be particular, be- cause every thing he said got into print. Occupying the position he did, a mistake would produce harm, and therefore he wanted to be care- ful not to make a mistake. [A voice, " You have not made any yet. "J The President was greeted with cheers, and, after bid- ding the crowd good-evening, retired. On the next evening, an immense crowd assembled at the Executive Mansion, which, as well as the various departments, was illuminated in honor of tlie occasion. The city, too, was ablaze with bonfires and waving with flags. It was under such circumstances of joy, too soon to be changed into grief as deep as this exultation was high, that Mr. Lincoln delivered this, his last public address, on Tuesday, the 11th of April, as follows : — Fellow-Citizens: — We meet this evening not in sorrow, but in gladness of heart. The evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond, and the sur- render of the principal insurgent army, give hope of a righteous and speedy peace, whose joyous expression cannot be restrained. In the midst of this, however. He from whom all blessings flow must not be for- gotten. A call for a national thanksgiving is being prepared, and will be duly promulgated. Nor must those whose harder part gives us the cause of rejoicing be overlooked. Their honors must not be parcelled out with otliers. I inyself was near the front, and had the pleasure of transmit- ting much of the good news to you. But no part of the honor for plan State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. GS5 or execution \s mine. To General Grant, liis skilful ollici'i's, and l)ravo men, all belongs. The gallant navy stood ready, but was not in ri'adli to take active part. By these recent successes, the reinaugiiration of the national authority — reconstruction — which has had a large share of thought from the first, is pressed much more closely upon our attention. It is fraught with great difficulty. Unlike a case of war betWL'en inde- pendent nations, there is no authorized organ for us to treat with — no one man has authority to give up the rebellion for any other man. We simply must begin with and mould from disorganized and discordant ele- ments. Nor is it a small additional embarrassment that we, the loyal people, ditier among ourselves as to the mode, manner, and measure of re- construction. As a general rule, I abstain from reading the reports of at- tacks upon myself, wishing not to be provoked by that to which I cannot properly ofl'er an answer. In spite of this precaution, however, it comes to my knowledge that I am much censured for some suj)posed agency in setting up and seeking to sustain the new State Government of Louisiana. In this I have done just so much and no more than the public knows. In the Annual Message of December, 1863, and the accompanying proclamation, I pre- 3ented a plan of reconstruction, as the phrase goes, which I promised, if adopted by any State, would be acceptable to and sustained by the Ex- ecutive Government of the nation. I distinctly stated that this was not the only plan which might i^ossibly be acceptable, and I also dis- tinctly protested that the Executive claimed no right to say when or whether members should be admitted to seats in Congress from such States. This plan was in advance submitted to the then Cabinet, and approved by every member of it. One of them suggested that I should then and in that connection apply the Emancipation Proclamation to the theretofore excepted parts of Virginia and Louisiana; that I should drop the suggestion about apprenticeship for freed people, and that I should omit the protest against my own power in regard to the admission of members of Congress. But even he approved every part and parcel of the plan which has since been employed or touched by the action of Louisiana. The new Constitution of Louisiana, declaring emancipation for the whole State, practically applies the proclamation to the part pre- viously excepted. It does not adopt apprenticeship for freed people, and is silent, as it could not well be otherwise, about the admission of mem- bers to Congress. So that, as it applied to Louisiana, every member of the Cabinet fully approved the plan. The message went to Congress, and I received many commendations of the plan, written and verbal, and not a single objection to it from any professed emancipationist came to my knowledge until after the news reached Washington that the people of Louisiana had begun to move in accordance with it. From about July, 1862, I had corresponded with different persons supposed to be in- terested in seeking a reconstruction of a State Government for Louisiana. When the message of 1863, with the plan before mentioned, reached New Orleans, General Banks wrote me that he was confident that the peoj)le, 6SG The Life, Public Services, and •\vitli his inllitiiry co-operation, would reconstruct substixntially on that ]iUin. I wrote to him and some of thorn to try it. They tried it, and tlie result is known. Such has been my only agency in getting up tlic Louisiana Government. As to sustaining it, my promise is out, as before stated. But as bad promises are better broken than kept, I shall treat this as a bad promise and break it, whenever I shall be convinced that keeping it is adverse to the public interest; but I have not yet been so convinced. I have been shown a letter on this subject, supposed to be an able one, in which the writer expresses regret that my mind has not seemed to be definitely fixed upon the question whether the seceded States, so called, are in the Union or out of it. It would perhaps add astonishment to his regret were he to learn that since I have found pro- fessed Union men endeavoring to answer that question, I have purposely forborne any public expression upon it. As appears to me, that question has not been nor yet is a practically material one, and that any discussion of it, while it thus remains practically immaterial, could have no effect other than the mischievous one of dividing our friends. As yet, what- ever it may become, that question is bad as the basis of a controversy, and good for nothing at all — a merely pernicious abstraction. We all agree that the seceded States, so called, are out of their proper practical relation with the Union, and that the sole object of the Government, civil and military, in regard to those States, is to again get them into their prop- er practical relation. I believe that it is not only possible, but in fact easier, to do this without deciding or even considering whether those States have ever been out of the Union, than with it. Finding themselves safely at home, it would be utterly immaterial whether they had been abroad. Let us all join in doing the acts necessary to restore the proper practical relations between these States and the Union, and each forever after innocently indulge his own opinion whether, in doing the acts, he brought the States from without into the Union, or only gave them proper assistance, they never having been out of it. The amount of constituency, 60 to speak, on which the Louisiana Government rests, would be more satisfactory to all if it contained fifty thousand, or thirty thousand, or even twenty thousand, instead of twelve thousand, as it does. It is also unsatis- factory to some that the elective franchise is not given to the colored man. I would myself prefer that it were now conferred on the very intelligent, and on those who serve our cause as soldiers. Still, the question is not whether the Louisiana Government, as it stands, is quite all that is desirable. The question is, Will it be wiser to take it as it is and help to improve it, or to reject and disperse? Can Louisiana be brought into proper practical reKtion with the Union sooner by sustaining or by discarding her new State Government? Some twelve thousand voters in the heretofore Slave State of Louisiana have sworn allegiance to the Union, assumed to be the right- ful political power of the State, held elections, organized a State Govern- ment, adopted a Free State Constitution, giving the benefit of public schools equally to black and white, and empowering the Legislature to State Papeks of Ar.iiAiiAM Lincoln. GST confer tlic elective fraru'lii.se upon the colored man. This Lcislaturc has already voted to ratily the Constitutional Amcndinent rccontly passed by Confijress, abolisliing slavery throui^^liout the nation. Tliese twelve thousand persons are thus fully conmiitted to the Union and to perpetu- ate freedom in the State — committed to the very things, and nearly all things, the nation wants — and they ask the nation'.s recognition and its assistance to make good this committal. Now, if we reject and s|)urn them, we do our utmost to disorganize and disperse tiiein. We, in fact, say to the white man : You are worthless or worse ; we will neither help you nor be helped by yon. To the blacks we say : This cup of liberty which these, your old masters, held to your lips, we will dash from you, and leave you to the chances of gathering the spilled and scattered con- tents in some vague and undefined when, where, and how. If this course, discouraging and paralyzing both white and black, has anv tendency to bring Louisiana into proper practical relations with tlie Union, I have so far been unable to perceive it. If, on the contrary, we recognize and sustain the new Government of Louisiana, the converse of all this is made true. We encourage the hearts and nerve the arms of twelve thousand to adhere to their work, and argue for it, and proselyte for it, and fight for it, and feed it, and grow it, and ripen it to a comjilete suc- cess. The colored man, too, in seeing all united for him, is inspired witli vigilance, and energy, and daring totlie same end. Grant that he desires the elective franchise, will he not attain it sooner by saving the already advanced steps towards it, than by running backward over them? Con- cede that the new Government of Louisiana is only to what it should be as the egg is to the fowl, we shall sooner have the fowl by hatching the egg than by smashing it. [Laughter.] Again, if we reject Louisiana, we also reject one vote in favor of the proposed amendment to the National Constitution. To meet this proposition, it has been argued that no more than three-fourths of those States which have not attempted secession are necessary to validly ratify the amendment. I do not commit myself against this, further than to say that such a ratification would be ques- tionable, and sure to be persistently questioned, while a ratification l)y three-fourths of all the States would be unquestioned and unquestionable. I repeat the question. Can Louisiana be brought into proper practical relation with the Union sooner by sustaining or by discarding her new State Government? What has been said of Louisiana will apply to other States. And yet so great peculiarities pertain to each State, and such im- portant and sudden changes occur in the same State, and withal so new and ixnprecedented is the whole case, that no exclusive and inflexible plan can safely be prescribed as to details and collaterals. Such exclu- sive and inflexible plf^n would surely become a new entanglement. Im- portant principles may and must be inflexible. In the present situation, as the phrase goes, it may be my duty to make some new announcemcn; to the people of the South. I am considering, and shall not fail to act, n'hea satisfied that action Avill be proper. The Life, Public Services, and Tlie sun-ciuLn- of Loe changed tlio whole aspect of the Avar, and cnahled tlie President to phice matters on a dif- l\'rent footing, both at liome and with foreign nations. The following proclamations were issued on April 11 — the first substituting a closing of certain ports for the blockade, as he was authorized to do by act of Congress of July 18, 1861; the second correcting an error in the first ; and the tliii'd, to announce to foreign nations that the re- strictions which they had placed upon our national vessels must be withdrawn, or the same treatment would be ex- tended to them : — A PROCLAMATION". Whereas, by my proclamation of the 19th and 27th days of April, 1861, the ports of the United States in the States of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas were declared to be subject to blockade; but whereas the said blockade has, in consequence of actual military occupation by this Govern- ment, since been conditionally set aside or relaxed in respect to the ports of Norfolk and Alexandria in the State of Virginia, Beaufort in the State of North Carolina, Port Royal in the State of South Carolina, Pensacola and Fernandina in the State of Florida, and New Orleans in the State of Louisiana ; and Whereas, by the fourth section of the act of Congress approved on the 18th of July 1861, entitled "An Act further to provide for the collection of duties on imports and other purposes," the President, for the reasons therein set forth, is authorized to close certain ports of entry : Now, therefore, be it known, that I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do hereby proclaim that the ports of Richinimd, Tappahan- nock, Cherrytown, Yorktown, and Petersburg, in Virginia; of Camden, Elizabeth City, Edenton, Plymouth, Washington, Newbern, Ocracoke, and Wilmington, in North Carolina; of Charleston, Georgetown, and Beaufort, in South Carolina; of Savannah, St. Mary's, Brunswick, and Darien, in Georgia; of Mobile, in Alabama ; of Pearl River, Shieldsboro', Natchez, and Vicksburg, in Mississippi ; of St. Augustine, Key West, St. Mark's, Port Leon, St. John's, Jacksonville, and Apalachicola, in Florida ; of Techc, Franklin, in Louisiana ; of Galveston, La Salle, Brazos de Santiago, Point Isabel, and Brownsville, in Texas, are hereby closed, and all right of im- portation, warehousing, and other privileges shall, in respect to the ports aforesaid, cease until they sliall have again been opened by order of the Pres- ident ; and if, while the said ports are so closed, any ship or vessel from beyond the United States, or having on board any articles subject to duties, shall attempt to enter any such port, the same, together with its tackle, apparel, furniture, and cargo, shall be forfeited to the United States. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 6S0 In uitncss whereof I liave licreunto sot my hand luul caused the sea! of the United States to ho afSxed. Done at the City of Washington this eleventh day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight lumdred and sixty-tive, [l. 6.] and of the independence of the United States of America the eighty-ninth. Abraham Lincoln. William H. Sewakd, Secretary of State. Whereas, by my proclamation of this date, the port of Key West, in the State of Florida, was inadvertently included among those which are not open to commerce, — Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do hereby declare and make known that the said port of Key West is and shall remain open to foreign and domestic commerce, upon the same conditions by which that commerce has heretofore been governed. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the City of Washington the eleventh day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, and of [l. s.] the independence of the United States of America the eighty- ninth. Abeaham Lincoln. By the President : William H. Seward, Secretary of State. Whereas, for some time past, vessels of war of the United States have been refused in certain ports privileges and immunities to which they were entitled by treaty, public law, or the comity of nations, at the same time that vessels of war of the country wherein the said privileges and im- munities have been withheld have enjoyed them fully and uninterruptedly in the ports of the United States, which condition of things has not always been forcibly resisted by the United States, although on the other hand they have not failed to protest against and declare their dissatisfaction with the same. In the view of the United States no condition any longer exists which can be claimed to justify the denial to them by any one of said nations of the customary naval rights such as has heretofore been so unnecessarily persisted in. Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do hereby make known that, if after a reasonable time shall have elapsed for the intelligence of this proclamation to have reached any foreign country in whose ports the said privileges and im- munities shall have been refused as aforesaid, they shall continue to be so refused as aforesaid, then and thenceforth the same privileges and im- munities shall be refused to the vessels of war of the country in the ])orts of the United States, and this refusal shall continue until the war vessels of the United States shall have been placed upon an entire equality in the for- eign ports aforesaid with similar vessels of other countries. The United States, whatever claim or pretence may have existed heretofore, are now 44 690 The Life, Public Services, and at least entitled to claim and concede an entire and friendly equality of rights and hospitalities with all maritime nations. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the City of Washington this eleventh day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, and [l. 8.] of the independence of the United States of America the eighty- ninth. A. Lincoln. By the President : William H. Sewaed, Secretary of State. Nor Avere these the only measures adopted which indi- cated that the war was over, the rebellfon crushed, and the era of peace and good feeling about to be ushered in. On the 13th, the Secretary of War announced that, ' • after mature consideration and consultation with the Lieutenant- General upon the results of the recent cam- paign," the Department determined upon the following measures, to be carried into immediate effect, viz. : — First. — To stop all drafting and recruiting in the loyal States. Second. — To curtail purchases of arms, ammunition, quartermaster's and commissary's supplies, and reduce the expenses of the military establish- ment in its several branches. Third. — To reduce the number of general and staff" officers to the ac- tual necessities of the service. Fourth. — To remove all military restrictions upon trade and commerce, so far as may be consistent with public safety. This determination of the Government, announced in the newspapers of the 14th of April, afforded the country a substantial and most welcome assurance that the war was over. The heart of the nation beat high with grati- tude to the illustrious Chief Magistrate, whose wisdom and patience had saved his country ; but whose glory, not yet complete, was, before another sun should rise, destined to receive the seal of immortality. State Papers of Acuaiiam Lincoln. 691 CHAPTER XXL THE PRESIDENT'S ASSASSINATION. The Condition of the Country. — Assassination of the President. — Murderous Assault upon Secretary Seward. — The Funeral Pro- cession from Washington to Springfield, Illinois.^ — Fate of the Assassins. — Estimate of Mr. Lincoln's Character. — Conclusion. The "VTcir was over. The great rebellion whicli, for four long years, had been assailing the nation' s life, was quelled. Richmond, the rebel capital, was taken, Lee's army had surrendered, and the flag of the Union was floating, in reassured supremacy, over the whole of the National domain. Friday, the 14th of April, the anni- versary of the surrender of Fort Sumter in 1861, by Major Anderson to the rebel forces, had been designated by the Government as the day on which the same officer should again raise the American flag upon the fort, in presence of an assembled multitude, and with ceremonies befitting so auspicious an occasion. The whole land re- joiced at the return of peace and the prospect of re- newed prosperity to the whole country. President Lin- coln shared this common joy, but with a deep intensity of feeling which no other man in the whole land could ever know. He saw the full fruition of the great work which had rested so heavily on his hands and heart for four years past. He saw the great task — as momentous as had ever fallen to the lot of man — which he had ap- proached with such unfeigned diffidence, nearly at an end. The agonies of war had passed away — he had won the imperishable renown which is the high reward of those who save their country, and he could devote himself now to the welcome task of healing the wounds which war had made, and consolidating, by a wise and mag- 692 The Life, Public Services, a.nd iianimous policy, the severed sections of our common Union. Mr. Lincoln's heart Avas full of the generous sentiments which these circumstances were so well calcu- lated to inspire. On the morning of Friday, a Cabinet meeting was held, at which he was even more than usually cheerful and hopeful, as he laid before the Secre- taries his plans and suggestions for the treatment of the conquered peoj)le of the Southern States. And after the meeting was over he talked with his wife, with all the warmth of his loving nature, of the four years of storm through which he had been compelled to pass, and of the p''-eaceful sky on which the opening of his second term nad dawned. His mind was free from forebodings, and tilled only with thoughts of kindness and of future peace. But Mr. Lincoln had failed to estimate aright one of the elements inseparable from civil war — the deep and malig- nant passion which it never fails to excite. Free from the faintest impulse of revenge himself, he could not ap- preciate its desperate intensity in the hearts of others. Mr. Seward, with his larger experience and more practi- cal knowledge of human nature, had repeatedly told him that so great a contest could never close without passing through an era of assassination — that if it did not come as a means of aiding the rebel cause, it would follow, and seek to avenge its downfall, and that it was the duty of all who were responsibly and conspicuously connected with the Government, to be prepared for this supreme test of their courage and patriotic devotion. Mr. Seward himself, had acted upon this conviction, and had stood at his post always prepared for sudden death. Mr. Lincoln was un- willing to contem23late the possibility of such a crime. To all remonstrances against personal exposure, he replied that his death could not possibly benefit the rebel cause, but would only rouse the loyalty of the land to fresh in- dignation, and that no precautions l\e could take would defeat the purpose of his murder, if it were really enter- tained. He continued, therefore, his habit of walking alone from the Executive Mansion to the War Department State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 693 late at niglit, and of riding unattended to liis summer residence, the Soldiers' Home, four or live miles from the Capital, until the Secretary of War finally forced his reluctant assent to the presence of a guard. From time to time during his: Administration, he had received letters threatening him with assassination, but as they were anon- ymous, and couched in language of bravado, he put them aside witliout remark. As the war drew towards its close, and the rebel cause seemed tottering to its fall, warnings of more significance reached the Government, and arrested the attention of its leading members. Hints of plots against the President's life, among the rebel agents abroad and in Canada, began to multiply, and towards the last of March, Secretary Seward received from our consuls in London and Liver- pool detailed rejoorts of revelations, made to their secret agents in France, of a comprehensive conspiracy against the lives of the President and Generals Grant and Sher- man, assumed to be the main bulwarks of the National cause.* These warnings were so distinct and direct, that Mr. Seward consulted Secretary Stanton in regard to them, and it was agreed that he should lay the subject before the President the next day, and earnestly represent to him tiie expediency of avoiding, for a time, all public gatherings, and all needless exposure to possible assault. But the next day Mr. Seward was thrown from his car- riage and, his foot catching in the steps, he was dragged for some distance, and so seriously injured, that he was compelled to dismiss all thought of public matters from his mind. Mr. Lincoln's visit to Richmond had led to remonstrances from friends, who feared that some rebel fanatic, frenzied by the overthrow of the rebel cause, might seek revenge in the murder of the President, and he had, in reply, given assurances that he would take all due precautions. But the matter evidently made but a momentary impression upon his mind, and his personal demeanor in all respects remained unchanged. On Friday, the 14th, he breakfasted with his son, Cap- * See Appendix. 604 The Life, Public Services, and tain Robert Lincoln, wlio was on tlie staft* of General Grrant, and from whom he heard full details of the sur- render of General Lee, of which Captain Lincoln liad been an eye-witness. He received various public men after breakfast, among whom were Speaker Colfax and ex-Senator J. P. Hale, and conversed freelj^, in a tone of high and hopeful courage, of the immediate political future. Nothing can indicate more clearly the elation of mind with which the President regarded the future of the country, now that its safety had been assured, than the language he addressed, in conversation at this interview, to Mr. Colfax, who was at this time preparing for a jour- ney overland to the Pacific coast. Said he : — "Mr. Colfax, I want you to take a message from me to the miners whom you visit. I have very large ideas of the mineral wealth of our nation. I believe it practically inexhaustible. It abounds all over the Western country, from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, and its devel- opment has scarcely commenced. During the war, when we were add- ing a couple of millions of dollars every day to our national debt, I did not care about encouraging the increase in the volume of our precious metals. We had the country to save first. But now that the rebellion is overthrown, and we know pretty nearly the amount of our national debt, the more gold and silver we mine, we make the payment of that debt so much the easier. Now," said he, speaking with more emphasis, " I am going to encourage that in every possible way. We shall have hundreds of thousands of disbanded soldiers, any many have feared that their return home in such great numbers might paralyze industry, by furnishing, suddenly, a greater supply of labor than there will be demand for. I am going to try to attract them to the hidden wealth of our moun- tain ranges, where there is room enough for all. Immigration, which even the war has not stopped, will land upon our shores hundreds of thousands more per year from overcrowded Europe. I intend to point them to the gold and silver that wait for tliem in the West. Tell the miners for me, that I shall promote their interests to the utmost of my ability; because their prosperity is the prosperity of the nation; and," said he, his eye kindling with enthusiasm, " we shall prove, in a very few years, that we are indeed the treasury of the world." At eleven o' clock he attended the meeting of the Cabinet, already referred to, which was rendered more than usu- ally interesting by the presence and report of General Grant, who had come direct to Washington from the field. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 695 without even euteriug the rebel Capital he had conquered, forgetful of himself, and eager only to secure to the country the best fruits of the victory he had achit^^ved. At this meeting the policy to be adopted towards the rebel States was freely canvassed — all the leading points, submitted by the President, commanded the hearty acquiescence of the Cabinet and of General Grant, and, as the result of the interview, Secretary Stanton says he felt that the Govern- ment was stronger than at any j)revious period since the rebellion began. After the meeting was over, President Lincoln arranged to attend the theatre in the evening, ex- pecting to be accompanied by General Grant, and sent his messenger to Ford' s Theatre to engage a box. In the afternoon he received and conversed for a long time with several public men from his own State, and in the early evening had an interview with Speaker Colfax and Hon. George xlshmun, of Massachusetts, for whom, as an old friend, he had a warm regard. The conversation fell upon the apprehension widely felt for his life during his visit to Richmond, and he said that he sliould have felt the same fears concerning any one else under the same circumstances, but he could not feel that he himself was in any danger whatever. He afterwards gave Mr. Ash- mun a card, directing his immediate admission the next morning, when Mr. Aslimun wished to see liim upon business — and, turning to Mr. Colfax, said, '*You are going to the theatre with Mrs. Lincoln and me, are you not?" Mr. Colfax, however, had other engagements for the evening, and could not go. Mr. Lincoln told Mm he would be glad to stay at home, but the people expected both General Grant and himself, and as General Grant had left town, he did not like to disappoint them alto- gether. He then again urged both Mr. Ashmun and Mr. Colfax to accompany him, but they both excused them- selves on the score of previous engagements. At a little af- ter eight o'clock the President, with Mrs. Lincoln, entered their carriage, and halting at the residence of Senator Harris, where they were joined by Major H. R. Rathbone, tlie step-son, and by Miss Clara W. Harris, the daughter, 696 The Life, Public Services, and of the Senator, tliey proceeded to Ford's Theatre, in Tenth Street, and immediately entered the box prepared for their reception. This box was on tlie second floor of the theatre, looking down upon the stage, and on its right as the spectator enters the building. A narrow passage-way from the front behind the dress-circle leads to a door, which opens inwardly into an entry about eight feet long and four feet wide ; from which, at its farther end, another door opens directly into the box. The President, passing through these doors, seat- ed himself in a high-backed rocking-chair, placed for him at the corner of the box nearest the audience, Mrs. Lin- coln sitting next to him on his right. Miss Harris sitting next, in the corner of the box fartliest from the audience, and Major Rathbone sitting on a sofa just behind Miss Harris. The box was a double one, with a front of about ten feet looking upon the stage, a small pillar rising from the centre of the railing to the ceiling above. An Amer- ican flag had been hung in front, in honor of the Presi- dent' s attendance. The door which entered the box was directly behind the President, and about five feet from his chair ; it was left standing open daring the evening. The play for that evening was the "American Cousin." During the performance the attendant of the President came out from the box and sat a few feet from the outer door leading to it. At about nine o'clock a man came to the vicinity, with a large official envelope in his hand, ad- dressed, as is believed, to Gfeneral Grant, and inquired for the President's messenger, to whom he exhibited the envelope, and of whom he made some inquiry, and then went away. At fifteen minutes after ten, John Wilkes Booth, an actor by profession, passed along the passage behind the spectators in the dress-circle, showed a card to the President's messenger, and stood for two or three minutes looidng down upon the stage and the orchestra below. He then entered the vestibule of the President' s box, closed the door behind him, and fastened it by bra- cing a short plank against it from the wall, so that it could not be opened from the outside. He then drew a small Entered acc.,,l,np to At oKongressm the x^-., lN6a, Jn DFUrA A MIOER m «!». < l«rk s Offise ol llieU.stnaCouitol the United iJtrtcs lurllie fcouChetm Oibtriatot Is,en luik THE ASSASSIWAT ION AT FOfiO'S THEATR€. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 697 silver-mounted Derringer pistol, which lie carried in his right hand, holding a long double-edged dagger in his left. All in the box were intent on the proceedings upon the stage ; but President Lincoln was leaning forward, holding aside the curtain of the box with his leit hand, and looking, with his head slightly turned, towards the audience. Booth stepped within the inner door into the box, directly behind the President, and, holding the pis- tol just over the back of the chair in which he sat, shot him through the back of the head. Mr. Lincoln' s head fell slightly forward, and his eyes closed, but in every other respect his attitude remained unchanged. The report of the pistol startled those in the box, and Major Rathbone, turning his eyes from the stage, saw, through the smoke which tilled the box, a man standing between him and the President. He instantly sprang towards him and seized him ; but Booth wrested himself from his grasp, and dropping the pistol, struck at him with the dagger, intlicting a severe wound upon his left arm, near the shoulder. Booth then rushed to the front of the box— shouted ''Sic semnper tyrannis P'—^ui his hand upon the railing in front of the box, and leaped over it upon the stage below. As he went over his spur caught in the flag which draped the front, and he fell ; but recovering himself immediately, he rose, brandished the dagger, and fiicing the audience, shouted " The South is avenged .^ " He then rushed across the stage towards the passage which led to the stage-door in the rear of the theatre. An actor named Hawke was the only person on the stage when Booth leaped upon it, and seeing Booth coming towards him with the dagger in his hand, he ran oif the stage and up a flight of. stairs. Booth ran through the passage-way beside the scenes, meeting one or two persons only, whom he struck from his path, went out at the door which stood open, and which he closed behind him, and mounting a horse which he had brought there, and which a lad was holding for Mm, he rode over the Anacosta bridge, across the east branch of the Poto- mac, giving his real name to the guard who challenged 698 The Life, Public Services, and liim, and found a temporary refuge among tlie rebel sym- pathizers of Lower Maryland. The discharge of the pistol liad not apprised the au- dience of the real nature of the transaction. By many it was supposed to be an incident of the play, and it was not until Booth had leaped from the box and crossed the stage, tliat there was any general suspicion of what had taken place. Mr. J. B. Stewart, who was seated in the orchestra stalls, leaped upon the stage and pursued the flying assassin, but he reached the stage- door only in time to see him riding off on the horse he had mounted. Major Rathbone, seeing that the President was uncon- scious, started for assistance through the door which Booth had barred. Miss Laura Keene, the leading ac- tress in the play, came upon the stage, entered the box, and calling on all in the house to keep quiet, bathed the head of the unconscious victim, and required the crowd to fall back and give him air. The house was speedily in confusion — the lights were turned off, and the multitude dispersed. Several surgeons soon came forward and made an examination of the President' s per- son, and as soon as the wound was discovered, he was removed from the theatre to tlie house of Mr. Peterson, on the opposite side of Tenth Street, where, in a small room on the first floor, he was laid diagonally across a large bed. He was at once divested of his clothing ; the surgeons in attendance, Surgeon-General Barnes presi- ding, examined the wound, and it was at once seen that he could not possibly survive many hours. The ball had entered on the left side of tlie head, behind the left ear, and three inches from it. Its coarse was obliquely forward, traversing the brain, and lodging just behind the right eye. The President was at once surrounded by the prominent officers of the Government, Mrs. Lincoln, overcome with emotion, was led from the theatre to the house where her husband lay. Secretary McCullough, Attorney-General Speed, Secretary Welles, Senator Sum- ner, and other distinguished gentlemen, remained in the roo.n throu":h the nisiht. When first brought into the house State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. G99 the President's breathing was regular, but difficult. This continued throughout the night, he giving, with occa- sional exceptions, no indications of suffering, and remain- ing, with closed eyes, perfectly unconscious. At about seven in the morning his breathing became more difficult, and was interrupted at intervals sometimes for so long a time that he was supposed to be dead. At twenty-two minutes past seven he ceased breathing, and thus expired. There was no convulsive action, no rattling in the throat, no appearance of suffering of any kind — none of the symptoms which ordinarily attend dissolution and add to its terrors. From the instant he was struck by the ball of the assassin, he had not given the slightest indica- tion that he was conscious of any thing that occurred around him. The news that the President had been shot spread at once through the town, and was instantly followed by tidings of a murderous assault, still more terrible in its details, upon the Secretary of State. We have already mentioned the accident by which Mr. Seward was thrown from his carriage, and seriously injured. His right arm was broken above the elbow, his jaw was fractured, and his wiiole system seriously shattered. For nearly a fort- night he had been confined to his bed, unable to swallow any thing but liquids, and reduced, by pain and this enforced abstinence, to a state of extreme debility. His room was on the third floor of his residence in Madison Place, fronting on President Square, and the bed on which he lay stood opposite the door by which the room was entered, and about ten feet from it. At a few minutes past ten — within five minutes of the time when the Pres- ident was shot — a man, proved afterwards to be Lewis Payne Powell, generally known as Payne, rang at the door of Mr. Seward's residence, and said to the colored lad who opened it that he had some medicines prescribed for Mr. Seward by Dr. Verdi, his :^mily physician, which he must deliver in person. The lad said that no one could go up to Mr. Seward's room; but Payne pushed him aside and rushed up stairs. He had 700 The Life, Public Services, and reached the third floor, and was about to enter Mr. Seward' s room, when he was confronted by Mr. Frederick W. Seward, the Secretary's son, to whom he made the same statement of his errand. He was refused admis- sion, when he drew a pistol and snapped it at Frederick without effect ; he then struck him with it upon the head twice, with such force as to break the pistol and prostrate his victim, fracturing his skull. Hearing the noise, Miss Fannie Seward, who was in her father' s room, opened the door, into which Payne instantly rushed, and, drawing a bowie-knife, threw himself upon the bed, and made three powerful stabs at the throat of Mr. Seward, who had raised himself up at the first alarm, and who instantly divined the- real nature and intention of the assault. Each blow inflicted a terrible wound, but, before the assassin could deal another, he was seized around the body by an invalid soldier named Robinson, who was in attendance as nurse, and who strove to drag the murderer from his victim, Payne at once struck at Robinson and inflicted upon him several serious wounds, but did not succeed in freeing himself from his grasp. Mr. Seward, the instant his murderer's attention was withdrawn from him, threw himself off the bed at the farther side ; and Payne, finding that his victim was thus beyond his reach, broke away from Robinson, and rushed to the door. The colored lad in the lower hall had run into the street for help, and Miss Fannie Seward shouted ' ' Murder !" from the upper window. The assassin, on reaching the upper hall, met Major Augustus Seward, another son of the Secretary, whom he struck with his dagger, and on the stairs encountered Mr. Hansen, one of the Secretary's attendants, whom he stabbed in the back. Forcing his way through all these obstacles, he rushed down the stairs, and finding, to his surprise, no one there to oppose his progress, he passed out at the front door, mounted a horse he had left stand- ing in front of the house, and rode leisurely away. When the news of this appalling tragedy spread through the city, it carried consternation to every heart. Tread- State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 701 irig close on the lieels of the Prosidenf s iimrder — loci-pe- trated, indeed, at the same instant — it was instincitively felt to be the work of a conspii'acy, secret, remorseless, and terrible. The Secretary of War, Mr. Stanton, had left Mr. Seward's bedside not twenty minutes ])efore the assault, and was in his private chamber, prepar- ing to retire, when a messenger brought tidings of the tragedy, and summoned his instant attendance. On his way to Mr. Seward's house, Mr. Stanton heard of tlie simultaneous murder of the President, and instantly felt that the Government was enveloped in the meshes of a conspiracy, whose agents were unknown, and which was all the more terrible for the darkness and mystery in which it moved. Orders were instantly given to close all drinking-shops and all places of public resort in the city, guards were stationed at every point, and all possible precautions were taken for the safety of the Vice-Presi- dent and other prominent Government officials. A vague terror brooded over the population of the town. Men whispered to each other as they met, in the gloom of midnight, and the deeper gloom of the shadowy crime which surrounded them. Presently, passionate indigna- tion replaced this paralysis of the public heart, and, but for the precautions adopted on the instant by the Govern- ment, the public vengeance would have been wreaked upon the rebels confined in the Old Capitol Prison. All these feelings, however, gradually subsided, and gave way to a feeling of intense anxiety for the life of the President. Crowds of people assembled in the neighbor- hood of the house where the dying martyr lay, eager for tidings of his condition, throughout the night ; and when, early in the morning, it was announced that he was dead, a feeling of solemn awe filled every heart, and sat, a brooding grief, upon every face. And so it was through all tlie length and breadth of the land. In every State, in every town, in every household, there was a dull and bitter agony, as the telegraph bore tidings of the awful deed. Everywhere throughout the Union, the public heart, bounding with 702 The Life, Public Services, and exultation at the triumphant close of the great war, and ready to celebrate with a mighty joy the return of peace, stood still with a sacred terror, as it was smitten by the terrible tidings from the capital of the Nation. In the great cities of the land all business iustantl}" stopped — no man had the heart to think of gain — flags drooped half- mast fi'om every winged messenger of the sea, from every church spire, from every tree of liberty, and from every public building. Masses of the people came together by a spontaneous impulse, to look in each other's faces, as if they could read there some hint of the meaning of these dreadful deeds — some omen of the country's fate. Thou- sands upon thousands, drawn by a common feeling, crowded around every place of xDublic resort, and listened eagerly to whatever any public speaker chose to say. Wall Street, in New York, was tlironged by a vast multi- tude of men, to whom eminent public officials addressed words of sympathy and of hope. Gradually as the day wore on, emblems of mourning were hung from the win- dows of every house throughout the town, and before the sun had set every city, throughout the length and breadth of the land, to which tidings of the great calamit}^ had been borne by the telegraph, was enshrouded in the shadow of the national grief. On the next day, which was Sunday, every pulpit resounded with eloquent eulogies of the murdered President, and with such comments on his death as faith in an overruling Providence alone could prompt. The whole country was plunged into profound grief — and none deplored the crime which had deprived the Nation of its head with more sincerity than those who had been involved in the guilt of the rebellion, and who had just begun to appreciate those merciful and forgiving elements in Mr. Lincoln's character, whose exercise they themselves would need so soon. Immediately after his death, the body of the President was removed to the Executive Mansion, embalmed, and placed in the G-reen Room, which had been prepared by suitable emblems of mourning for its reception. Near the centre of the room stood the grand catafalque, four State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 703 feet high, iipou which rested the mahogany coIIin, cov- ered with flowers — the last sad offerings of affection — in which the body was placed for its final rest. Tlie funeral services took place on Wednesday the 19th, and were held in the East Room. They were attended by repre- sentatives of every department of the Government, and were exceedingly impressive and touching. The guard of honor, which had watched over the remains of the illustrious dead, still maintained its place, with Major- General Hunter at its head. Nearest the coffin sat the relatives of the President — his children and his wife's connections — liis widow being too utterly prostrated by her grief to leave her room. Deputations from different sections of the country, — Governors of States, Members of the Senate and House of Representatives, — the Heads of the several Executive Departments, with their assist- ants and clerks, the diplomatic corjys and their attaches^ the Judges of the Supreme and the local Courts, repre- sentatives from the Sanitary and Christian Commissions — these and many others, whom respect for the departed President had brouglit to his funeral, entered the room and took tlie places assigned them. At twelve o'clock, Andrew JonNSOisr, who had become, in consequence of this murder, President of the United States, came for- ward, followed by all the members of the Cabinet, except Mr, Seward, Secretary of State, who lay unconscious of the ftite of his beloved and revered chief, himself the prostrate victim of the same daring and remorseless crime. Rev. Dr. Hall, of the Episcopal Church in Washington, read the Episcopal Service for the Dead ; a fervent prayer was offered by Bishop Simpson of the Metho- dist Church, and a funeral discourse was pronounced by Rev. Dr. Gurley, pastor of the new Presbyterian Church in New York Avenue, which the President and his family were in the habit of attending. At the con- clusion of the sermon, the Chaplain of the Senate, Rev. Dr. Gray, made a prayer, and the religious ceremonies were closed. The body of the President was then re- moved and placed upon the lofty hearse, surmounted by 704 The Life, Public Services, and a canopy, and covered witli black velvet, which stood in front of the Executive Mansion. At two o'clock the grand procession started. Pennsyl- vania Avenue was completely cleared, from the Executive Mansion to the Capitol. Every window along its whole length — all the roofs of all the houses — the sidewalks, and every accessible spot along the route, were crowded with a living throng, awaiting in sad and oppressive silence the approach of the funeral-car. The soft, sad strains of funereal music soon broke the stillness of the summer air, and marshalled the grand military cortege which led the way. Then came the hearse, drawn by six gray horses, draped in black, and preceded by twenty pall-bearers, selected from both Houses of Congress, from the Army and Navy, and from civil life, and followed by a great throng of the most eminent officers of the Government, and of deputations from every State and section of the country, and from benevolent, industrial, and political societies throughout the land. Filling Pennsylvania Avenue through its whole extent, this great procession — marshalled with military precision, and marching to the cadence of slow music from many bands — escorted, with becoming pomp, the remains of the martyred President to the National Capitol, which rose in white grandeur, clad, from basement to the summit of its lordly dome, with garments of woe, to receive the precious gift. The whole vast building was draped in black. All the pillars were entwined with crape, — from all the windows hung em- blems of mourning, and a black canopy surmounted the Eastern door, by which the great concourse was to enter. Minute-guns from all the forts around the city thundered forth their sad salutations, — the bells from every tower and spire rang out in muffled tones their chronicle of the stately march. At a little after three o'clock the military cortege^ which led the procession, entered the open space in front of the Eastern entrance. Filing past in proper order, the infantry, wheeling, faced the Capitol, — the artil- lery took position on the hill opposite the entrance, — the cavalry remained in the street, and a great throng of Statk Pai'hks of Abraham Lincoi.n. 705 spectators gazed in sileiicui upon the grand displav. As the funeral-car a2)proached, all the militar}^ bands burst into a solemn requiem, — the artillery thundered out their stormy greeting, — the vast crowd, as by a common im- pulse, uncovered, — and as Rev. Dr. Gurley, in deep and impressive tones, recited tlie grand sentences in which the Church signalizes the departure of her dead, the body of President Lincoln was borne into the rotunda and placed upon the lofty catafalque prepared for its reception. As the recitation closed, President Johnson entered tlie hall, followed by several Senators. Captain Robert Lincoln and the family relatives came forward. The President' a body-guard formed in double column near the body. Dr. Gurley made a closing prayer and pronounced the benediction. All then left the Rotunda : guards were sta- tioned at all the doors. General Augur and his staff took charge of the remains, and with drawn swords the officers detailed for the service mounted guard over them. As night came on, the jets of gas concealed in the height of the dome were lighted ui>, and cast their softened glare upon the vigil that was kept below. The body of the President remained in the Rotunda, exposed to public view, during the night of the 19th, and until nine o'clock at night of the succeeding day. Thou- sands upon thousands visited the Capital to take a last look at his features, and among them were many Avound- ed soldiers, hobbling from the hospitals, to gaze for the last time upon the face of the late Commander-in-Chief. A guard of honor remained during the night, and at six o'clock on the morning of the 21st, the members of tlie Cabinet and distinguished officers of the army, and many members of Congress, paid their final visit to the remains. The coffin was then prepared for removal, and closed. It had been decided to transfer the President' s remains to Springfield, Illinois, the. place of his residence, for final interment ; and the original purpose had been to make the transit as rapidly as was convenient, and with- out exposure of the body to puV 3 view. But this de- sign could not be carried ou"^ F m every city and town 4i 706 The Life, Public Services, and along the extended route came up a cry of tlie people to be allowed to look upon the face of the great martyr to their principles and their nationallife. This demand was conceded, and arrangements were made for a special funeral train over all the roads. A car was fitted up with great taste and elegance, for the reception of the remain? The whole car was draped in black, the mourning on the outside being festooned in double rows above and below the windows. At seven o'clock, after a prayer by the Rev. Dr. Gurley, the coffin containing the remains was removed from the Rotunda, and escorted to the railroad depot, without music, by companies of the Twelfth Veteran Reserve Corps, and followed by Lieutenant- General Grant, members of the Cabinet, and other distinguished personages. At the depot it was received by President Johnson and others, and placed in the rear of the car de- signed for its reception. A guard of twenty-one first ser- geants of the Veteran Reserve Corps had been detailed to accompany the train ; a large number of gentlemen, who had been invited to attend, entered the cars, and at eight o' clock, after another prayer by Dr. Gurley, the train, embracing seven carriages, all in mourning, and drawn by a locomotive also draped with black, slowly moved, amid a vast crowd of silent and sad spectators, out of the depot towards Baltimore. Under the direction of the War Department, a schedule of times of arrival at and departure from every place along the route, for the whole distance, had been marked out with great preci- sion, and was rigidly adhered to. The rate of speed was restricted, a pilot engine was sent in advance to observe the road, and every possible precaution was adopted for the prevention of accidents. As the train moved out of the depot, the great multitude reverently uncovered their heads, and stood fixed in their grief some moments after it had passed away. The passage of this great funeral procession, a distance of more than a thousand miles, through the largest and most populous States and towns of the Union, was one of the most remarkable spectacles ever seen on the face State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 707 of the earth. At every pohit, for all that great dis- tance, vast gatherings of the people assembled to catch a glimpse of the passing train ; and at every place where it stopped, and the remains were exposed to view, great crowds, such as no other occasion had ever brought to- gether before, came to look upon the features of their murdered chief. The great cities poured forth their population in uncounted masses. In town and country every house was hung with mourning — flags drooped at half-mast, and inscriptions, filled with touching expres- sions of the nation's sorrow, or glowing with eulogy of the departed leader, greeted the eye, and renewed the sor- row, of the spectator everywhere. At ten o'clock the train entered the depot at Baltimore, where, in spite of inclement weather, it was met by an immense procession of all ages and classes of peojile : — the coffin was borne through the vast crowd, who stood with uncovered heads, to the funeral-car, elegantly draped, and its sides composed of plate-glass, which awaited its reception in Camden Street. A large and im- posing military display, under command of Brigadier- General H. H. Lockwood, escorted the remains to the Exchange, which had been prepared to receive them, and where they were placed upon a raised dais, covered by a canopy of black and strewn with rare and choice flowers, as a fit resting-place for the illustrious dead. An immense crowd surrounded the building, only a small portion of whom could possibly gain admittance to look upon the corpse. At half-past two the coffin was closed, and removed, a large procession following it to the depot of the Northern Central Railroad Company, from which the funeral train departed at three for Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania, the Governor of that State being one of the attendant mourners. Arriving at Harrisburg at eight o' clock in the evening, the streets were thronged, in S23ite of a heavy rain, with great crowds of people, who followed the remains to the Capitol, where the body lay in state, upon a catafalque surmounted by a wreath of flowering almonds. It was 708 The Life, Public Services, and exposed to public view from nine o'clock to midnight, when the coffin was closed until seven in the morning. It was then again opened, and thousands of citizens passed in to view the body. At nine o' clock, amid the thunder of artillery, a long column of soldiers entered the hall for the same purpose. At eleven o'clock the coffin was replaced upon the funeral-car, and the train de- parted. All along the route, in the villages, and along the road- side in the country districts, the people gathered in large numbers, merely to view the passing train. At Lan- caster, not less than twenty thousand were thus assem- bled. On either side of the road stood benevolent, reli- gious, and working associations, dressed in mourning, standing in long lines, and reverently uncovering their heads as the funeral-car passed by. As the train ap- proached Philadelphia, these demonstrations of respect increased. Private residences were draped in mourning, and flags drooped from every eminence. At half-past four the train reached the depot in Broad Street, and at six the majestic procession, formed to escort the remains to Independence Hall, commenced its march through streets densely filled witli people who had gathered from every part of the surrounding country ; and at half-past nine, before the rear of the procession had left the depot, the body of the President was deposited in the hall, which first echoed the Declaration of- Independence, and which was now prepared, with exquisite taste, to receive to its sanctuary the great martyr of the Liberty which was then proclaimed. In the morning the doors were opened for the public, and before daylight lines were formed, extending from the Delaware to the Schuylkill, at least three miles, of persons awaiting their chance to see the corpse. This continued all through the day, and deep into the succeeding night. Scenes the most touching and impressive marked this farewell visit. The wounded soldiers limping in to look at their late commander — negroes, old and young, flocking in to see him whom they deemed the great deliverer of their race — citizens of State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 709 every class, of every political party, of every vari(^ty of opinion on every subject, gathered by a common impulse of love and pity, to look upon him whom God had made the great leader of the nation in the most perilous crisis of its fate. At four o'clock, on the morning of the 24tli of April, the funeral train took its dej)arture for New York. March- ing in solemn state through the crowds of people, which seemed to line the track all along the route, it reached Jersey City, opposite New York, and passed into tlie spacious depot, which had been clad in mourning, to the music of a funeral dirge, executed by a choir of seventy singers, and under the roar of heavy and loud artillery. The cotRn was lifted from the car and borne on the shoulders of ten stalwart veterans, followed by a proces- sion of conspicuous officials, marching to the music of " Rest in the Grave,'''* sung by the choral societies, to the hearse prepared for its reception. Passing then to the ferry-boat, which at once crossed the river, the hearse, drawn by six gray horses, heavily draped in black, took its place in the procession, headed by General Dix and other officers, escorted by the Seventh Regiment, and the whole cortege moved, through densely-crowded streets and amidst the most impressive display of public and pri- vate grief, to the City Hall. At half-past eleven the head of the procession entered the Park, and while cannon thundered from every fort in and around the liarbor, while church-bells from every spire pealed out the nation's sorrow, and while eight hundred choristers chanted the " CTiorus of the Sjylrits'' and filled the charmed air with its sadly enchanting melody, the coffin was borne up the steps of the City Hall, and placed under the dome, draped, decorated, and dimly lighted, upon the plane prepared for its reception. The troops then retired ; guards were sta- tioned at the head of every stairway and sentries at every door. From this time five officers, relieved every two hours, kept immediate watch over the body, day and night. Soon the doors were opened, and entering, one by one, in proper order, the citizens of the great metropolis came t(» 710 The Life, Public Services, and look upon the illustrious dead. All through that day and the succeeding night the endless stream poured in, while outside the Park, Broadway, and the entire area of Print- ing-House Square, reaching up Chatham Street and East Broadway as far as the eye could see, a vast throng of people stood silent and hopeless, but still expectant, of a chance to enter and see the body of the murdered Presi- dent. Not less than one hundred and fifty thousand per- sons obtained admission, and not less than twice that num- ber had waited for it in vain. At twenty minutes to twelve on the 25th, the doors were closed. The ap- l)ointed pall-bearers took their place beside the coffin, which at one o'clock was lifted and carried, to the tolling of the bell and the tap of the drum, out through the double line of the Seventh Regiment, and placed upon the funeral-car. Escorted by the finest military display ever seen in New York, and followed in pro- cession by great numbers of her citizens, the car moved through the principal streets, in view of a vast con- course of people, to the depot of the Hudson River Railroad, at the corner of Thirtieth Street and Tenth Avenue. AVhen the head of the procession reached the depot the column halted and faced to the west ; and as the car bearing the body came up, the solemn strains of the military bands broke forth, the troops presented arms, the vast crowd kept the most profound and impressive silence, the cofiin, with due ceremonies, was placed upon the railway-car, and at four o'clock, to the sound of a funeral dirge, the train took its departure. It is scarcely worth while to note in detail the demon- strations and observances which followed the President's remains to their final resting-place. At every point there was substantially the same spectacle. Everywhere the people gathered in vast numbers to greet the sad procession. Everywhere the same sorrow, seeming to be almost the expression of a personal and household grief, was shown by drooping fiags, by houses draped in mourning, by touching inscriptions and memorials of the nobleness, the integrity, the purity of the departed chief. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 711 At Albany not less than lifty thousand peophi visited the ca])itol to view the remains, which were escorted by an imposing procession of soldiers and civilians to the depot of the Central Railroad. At four o'clock on the evening of the 2Cth the train left for the West. At Utica, at Syracuse, at Rochester, at Buffalo, and at eveiy vil- lage along the route, crowds of people were assembled. At seven o'clock on the evening of the 27th the train reached Cleveland, where a procession was formed, reli- gious services were held, and the remains were exposed to public view. Similar ceremonies attended the arrival at Columbus, and at every point of the route, through Indi- ana, the same great demonstrations of popular interest and sorrow were observed. At Chicago the most extensive preparations had been made for the reception of the re- mains. On the 1st of May, as the train approached, minute-guns and the tolling of bells signalized the event. The great multitude stood with uncovered heads as the coffin was borne, between the open ranks of the military, under the magnificent Gothic arch, which had been erect- ed across Park Place, and placed upon the funeral-car. Thence it was escorted, by thousands of those who in life had known Mr. Lincoln best, marching in procession, to the Court-House, where the remains lay in state, and were exposed to public view. Thousands upon thousands flocked from the surrounding country to look upon them. Fresh flowers, the sweet offerings of woman's love, from time to time were strewn upon the coffin. Sad strains of music gave voice to the public woe. Addresses were made, eulogies pronounced, and in every way and by every form the great city of his own State sought to tell the world how much she loved and revered the memory of her illustrious son. On the 3d of May the President's remains reached Springfield, which, for so many of his active years and before the nation claimed him, had been his home. They were escorted to the State House, borne into the hall of the House of Representatives,* which had been appropri- ately decorated for the occasion, and placed upon a cata- 712 The Life, Public Services, and ftilque prepared for its reception. All day and all night long tile streets of that quiet town resounded with the footsteps of the thousands who came to look upon the corpse of him they loved as a neighbor and friend, and whom they now revered as foremost among the mighty martyrs of the earth. In the morning minute-guns were tired — and, as a choir of two hundred and fifty voices sang "Peact", trouhled soul^^'' at ten o'clock the cotfin w^as closed forever. The remains were then placed in the hearse, the procession moved, under command of Major- General Hooker, to Oak Ridge Cemetery, and there, while the choir sang " Urimil thy bosom, faitli fill toinb,''' the sepulchre received to its final rest all that was mortal of Abraham Lincoln. Religious exercises were then held, Bishop Simioson pronouncing an eloquent and appropriate funeral oration, and Rev. Dr. Gurley, of Washington, making a closing prayer. Thus closed the life and public services of Abraham Lincoln. As the condition of the country during his Administration made him the most conspicuous figure in American history, so did the circumstances of his death give him a sad and terrible isolation. It was the first time that assassination had sought to aid, or avenge, a political cause in the United States, and nothing but the terrible fever of civil war could have engendered a crime so abhorrent to the American character and the genius of republican institutions. The investigation which the Government at once set on foot, and prosecuted with the utmost vigor, proved that the abduction and assassination of Mr, Lincoln had been the topic of speculative conver- sation, in various portions of the rebel States, for some months previous to its execution. It did not appear, however, that the deed was done by direct procurement of the rebel authorities, though it was made more than probable that the agents whom tliej;^ kept in Canada, and supplied with large sums of money, for what they styled ''detached service" — meaning by that phrase enterprises of robbery, murder, and arson, over which they vainly f ill'lllJ^''llilll|ll|ilNl"7/"#rr.ifllKiilililli^^^ \i\ 111 I State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 713 souglit to throw the protection of the laws of Avar — were at least acquainted witli the horrible plot, and lent it their sanction, if not their aid. But it seems to have originated mainly, if not exclusively, with the man who played the leading part in its execution. Booth was a son of the most distinguished actor of that name, and inherited something of his passionate and peculiar nature. He had been, from the outbreak of the rebellion, one of its most fanatical devotees ; and, as its strength and prospects of success began to grow less and less, his mind was ab- sorbed in desperate schemes for reviving its fortunes and securing its triumph. Papers which he left behind him show that he had deliberatel}^ dedicated himself to this service, long before the surrender of Lee and the virtual overthrow of the rebel cause ; and what was tlien a desire to aid the rebellion, became, after this was hope- less, a desjDerate determination to avenge its downfall. He plotted the murder of Mr. Lincoln, and of the leading members of the Government, with the utmost care and deliberation, selecting for his assistants men better fitted to be tools than confederates, and assuming himself entire charge of the enterprise. The meetings of the conspira- tors were held at the house of one Mrs. Surratt, in Wash- ington ; and detailed arrangements had been made, with her assistance, /or effecting an escape. Booth according- ly, after shooting the President, and escaping across the eastern branch of the Potomac River, found temporary shelter and aid among the rebel sympathizers of Lower Maryland. His movements, however, were greatly em- barrassed and retarded by the fracture of his leg, caused by his fidl as he leaped upon the stage after committing the murder ; and the agents whom the Government had sent in pursuit soon came upon his track, and on the night of the 26th of April found him, with one of his accomplices, a lad named Harold, who had also been the companion of his Hight, in the barn of a farmer named Garrett, near Port Royal, on the south side of the Rap- pahannock, and about ninety miles from Washington. Harold surrendered. Booth refusing to do so, and 714 The Life, Public Services, and menacing his captors with fire-arms, was shot by a ser- geant of the troop, named Corbett. Several persons, implicated more or less directly in the plot, were after- wards apprehended, and tried before a military commis- sion in the City of Washington. Mrs. Surratt, Harold, a man named Atzerott, who was to have killed Vice-Pres- ident Johnson, and Payne, the assailant of Secretary Seward, were executed on the 6tli of July, and several others were sentenced to imprisonment for life or a term of years, for their share in the conspiracy. As these events had nothing to do with the Administration of Mr. Lincoln, it does not fall within the scope of this work to narrate them in greater detail. As might naturally be expected, the horrid crime aroused the most intense indignation throughout the country. No man, in either section, ventured to become its apologist ; and public sentiment, overlooking every thing that was irregular and inconclusive in the proceed- ings of the military commission by whose sentence the parties accused of complicity in the murder were con- victed and hung, applauded the execution, and gave it the sanction of a general and emphatic approval. The murder of the President gave still another evidence of the stability of our institutions, and of the capacity of our ])eople to meet any possible emergency in .the conduct of their affairs. It occasioned not the slightest pause in the stately march of the Government. The Constitution had provided that, in the event of the President's death, the functions of his office should devolve upon the Vice- President. Accordingly^, at ten o'clock on the morning of President Lincoln's decease, Andrew Johnson took the oath of office, and entered upon the discharge of his duties as President of the United States. Not a word was utt'jred, nor a hand lifted, against his accession ; and thus, with the silent and cordial acquiescence of the great body of the people, a crisis was passed which, in other countries and in other times, would have shaken govern- ments to their foundation ; and the world saw with as- tonishment and admiration, that, in war as in peace, in State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 715 tlie most trying crises of a nation's fate as well as in the ordinary course of, public affairs, a Government "of the people, and for the people," was the strongest and the safest the world had ever known. It forms no part of the object of this work to deal in eulogy of President Lincoln and his Administration. Its purpose will have been attained if it places his acts and words in such a form, that those Avho read them may judge for themselves of the merits and defects of the policy he pursued. It was his destiny to guide the nation through the stormiest period of its existence. No one of his predecessors, not even Washington, encountered diffi- culties of equal magnitude, or was called to perform duties of equal responsibility. He was iirst elected by a minority of the popular vote, and his . election was re- garded by a majority of the people as the immediate occa- sion, if not the cause, of civil war ; yet upon him de- volved the necessity of carrying on that war, and of com- bining and wielding the energies of the nation for its suc- cessful prosecution. The task, under all the circum- stances of the case, was one of the most gigantic that ever fell to the lot of the head of any nation ;— the success by which it was crowned vindicates triumphantly the manner in Avhicli it was performed. From the outset, Mr. Lincoln' s reliance was upon the spirit and patriotism of. the people. He had no overween- ing estimate of his own sagacity ; he was quite sensible of his lack of that practical knowledge of men and aflairs which experience of both alone can give ; but he had faith in the devotion of the people to the principles of Republican government, in their attachment to the Con- stitution and the Union, and in that intuitive sagacity of a great community which always transcends the most cunning devices of individual men, and, in a great and perilous crisis, more nearly resembles inspiration than the mere deductions of the human intellect. At the very out- set of his Administration, President Lincoln cast himself, without reserve and without fear, upon this reliance. It has been urged against him as a reproach that he did not 716 The Life, Public Services, and assume to lead and control public sentiment, but was content to be tlie exponent and the executor of its will. Possibly an o]iposite course might have succeeded, but ]oossibly, also, it might have ended in disastrous and fatal failure. One thing is certain : the j)olicy which he did pursue did not fail. The rebellion did not succeed ; the authority of the Government was not overthrown ; no new government, resting on slavery as its corner-stone, has been established upon this continent, nor has any for- eign nation been j)rovoked or permitted to throw its sword into the scale against us. On the contrary, the j)olicy pursued by Mr. Lincoln has been completely and permanently successful — and that fact is conclusive as to its substantial wisdom. In one respect President Lincoln achieved a wonderful success. He maintained, through the terrible trials of his Administration, a reputation, with the great body of the people, for unsullied integrity of pur^DOse and of conduct, which even Washington did not surpass, and which no President since Washington has equalled. He had com- mand of an army greater than that of any living monarch ; he wielded authority less restricted than that conferred by any other constitutional government ; he disbursed sums of mone}^ equal to the exchequer of any nation in the world ; yet no man, of any party, believes him in any instance to have aimed at his OAvn aggrandizement, to have been actuated by personal ambition, or to have con- sulted any other interest than the welfare of his country, and the perpetuity of its Republican form of government. This of itself is a success which may well challenge uni- versal admiration, for it is one which is the indispensable condition of all other forms of success. No man whose public integrity was open to suspicion, no matter what might have been his abilities or his experience, could possibly have retained enough of public confidence to carry the country through such a contest as that from which we have just emerged. No President, suspected of seeldng his own aggrandizement at the expc^nse of his country' s liberties, could ever have received such enor- State PArEus of Abraham Lincoln. 717 III moiis grants of power as Avere essential to a siu-ci prosec'ution of the war against the rebellion. TIk'^- w^'Vi'. lavishly and eagerly conferred upon Mr. Lincoln, because it was known and felt everywhere that he would not abuse them. Faction has had in him iio mark ibr its as- saults. The weapons of party spirit have recoiled harm- lessly from the shield of his unspotted character. It was this unanimous confidence in the disinterest(,'d purity of his character, and in the perfect integrity of his public purposes, far more than any commanding intellect- ual ability, that enabled Washington to hold the faith and confidence of the American people steadfast for seven years, while they waged the unecpial war required to achieve their independence. And it certainly is some- thino; more than a casual coincidence that this same ele- ment, as rare in experience as it is transcendent in impor- tance, should have characterized the President upon whom devolved the duty of carrying the country through our second and far more important and sanguinary struggle. No one can read Mr. Lincoln's State papers without perceiving in them a most remarkable faculty of " putting things" so as to command the attention and assent of the common people. His style of thought, as well as of ex- pression, was thoroughly in harmony Avitli their habitual modes of thinking and of speaking. His intellect was keen, emphatically logical in its action, and capable of the closest and most subtle analysis ; and he used lan- guage for the sole purpose of stating, in the clearest and simplest ]30ssible form, the precise idea he wished to convey. He had no pride of intellect — not the slightest desire for display — no tliought or purpose but that of making everybody understand precisely what he be- lieved and meant to utter. And Avhile this habit may sacrifice the graces of style, it gains immeasurably in practical force and effect. It gives to his public papers a weight and influence with the mass of the people which no public man of this country had ever before attained. And this was heightened by the atmosphere of humor which seemed to pervade his mind, and which was just as 718 The Life, Public Services, and natural to it, and as attractive and softening a portion of it, as the smolvy hues of Indian summer are of the charm- ing season to whicli they belong. His nature was emi- nently genial, and he seemed to be incapable of cherish- ing an envenomed resentment. And although he was easily touched by whatever was painful, the elasticity of his temper and his ready sense of the humorous broke the force of anxieties and responsibilities under which a man of harder, though perhaps a higher, nature, would have sunk and failed. One of the most perplexing questions with which Mr. Lincoln had to deal, in carrying on the war, was that of slavery. There were two classes of persons who could not see that there was any thing perplexing about it, or that he ought to have had a moment's hesitation how to treat it. One was made up of those who regarded the law of slavery as paramount to the Constitution, and the rights of slavery as the most sacred of all the rights which are guaranteed by that instrument ; the other, of those who regarded the abolition of slavery as the one thing to be secured, whatever else might be lost. The former denounced Mr. Lincoln for having interfered with slavery in any way, for any purpose, or at any time ; the latter denounced him, with equal bitterness, for not hav- ing swept it out of existence the moment Fort Sumter was attacked. In this matter, as in all others, Mr. Lincoln acted upon a fixed principle of his own, which he applied to the practical conduct of affairs just as fast as the neces- sities of the case required, and as the public sentiment would sustain his action. His policy from the outset was a tentative one — as, indeed, all policies of government, to be successful, must always be. On the outbreak of the rebellion, the first endeavor of the rebels was to secure the active co-operation of all the slaveholding States. Mr. Lincoln's first action, therefore, was to with- hold as many of those States from joining the rebel Con- federacy as possible. Every one can see now that this policy, denounced at the time by his more zealous anti- slavery supporters as temporizing and inadequate, pre- State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 719 vented Kentucky, Tennessee, Maryland,. Missouri, and part of Virginia from tlirowing their weight into the rebel scale ; and, although it is very easy and very common to undervalue services to a cause after its triumph seems secure, there are few who will not concede that if these States had been driven or permitted to drift into the rebel Confederacy, a successful termination of the war would liav^e been much more remote and much more doubtfid than it proved to be. Mr. Lincoln did every tiling in his power, consistent with lidelity to the Constitution, to retain the Border Slave States within the Union ; and the decree of success which attended his efforts is the best proof of their substantial wisdom. His treatment of the slavery question itself was marked by the same characteristic features. There was not a man living in whose heart the conviction that slavery was wrong was more deeply rooted than in his. " If slavery is Tzoi^ wrong," said he, "then nothing is wrong." Nor was there one more anxious to use every just and lawful means, consistent with the national welfare, to secure its extirpation from the soil of the Republic. But in every thing he did upon this subject, as upon every other, he aimed at practical results, not the indulgence of any theory. He used no power over slavery until the emer- gency had arisen by Avhicli alone its exercise under the Constitution could be vindicated ; and he went no further and no faster in the steps which he took for its destruc- tion, than public sentiment would warrant and sustain him in going. He wished to take no step backward, and therefore was doubly cautious in his advance. His pol- icy secured the final abolition of slavery. It not only decreed that result, but it secured it in such a way, and b}^ such successive steps, each demanded by the special exigency of its own occasion, as commanded the acqui- escence of the great body of the slaveholders themselves. The views by which his action was governed are stated with characteristic clearness and force in his letter of April 4, 1864, to Mr. Hodges, of Kentucky,^ and they * See Appendix. 720 The Life, Public Services, and must commend tlieniselves to the approval of all candid minds. Much has been said of Mr. Lincoln's habit of baling storieg, and it could scarcely be exaggerated. He had a keen sense of the humorous and the ludicrous, and rel- islied jokes and anecdotes for the amusement they afford- ed him. But story-telling was with him rather a mode of stating and illustrating facts and opinions, than any thing else. There is a great difference among men in the manner of expressing their thoughts. Some are rigidly exact, and give every thing they say a logical form. Others express themselves in figures, and by illustrations drawn from nature or history. Mr. Lincoln often gave clearness and force to his ideas by pertinent anecdotes and illustrations drawn from daily life. Within a month after his first accession to office, when the South was threatening civil war, and armies of office-seekers were besieging him in the Executive Mansion, he said to the writer of these pages that he wished he could get time to attend to the Southern question ; he thought he knew what was wanted, and believed he could do something towards quieting the rising discontent ; but the office- seekers demanded all his time. "lam," said he, "like a man so busy in letting rooms in one end of his house, tliat he can' t stop to put out the fire that is burning the other." Two or three years later, when the people had made him a candidate for re-election, the same friend spoke to him of a member of his cabinet who was a can- didate also. Mr. Lincoln said he did not much concern himself about that. It was ver} important to him and the country that the department over which his rival presided slionld be administered with vigor and energy, and whatever would stimulate the Secretary to such action would do good. "R ," said he, "you were brought up on a farm, were you not'^ Then you know Avhat a chin-fly is. My brother and I," he added, "were once ploughi)\g corn on a Kentucky farm, I driving the horse and he holding plough. The horse was lazy, but on one occasion rusiied across the field so that I, with my State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 721 long legs, could scarcely keep pace with him. On reach- ing the end of the furrow, I found an enormous cJiin-Jli/ fastened upon him, and knocked him off. ]\ly l)rotlier asked me what I did that for. I told liim I didn't want the old horse bitten in that way. 'Why,' said my brother, ' that s all that made him go.'' Now," said Mr. Lincoln, "if Mr. has a presidential chin-fly biting him, I'm not going to knock him oif, if it will only make his department goT Tliese, which are given as illustra- tions of very much of his conversation, were certainly per- tinent and frank. Oftentimes he would resort to anec- dotes to turn the current of conversation from some topic which he did not wish discussed, greatly to the disgust, not unfrequently, of the person who had come to extract information which Mr. Lincoln did not choose to impart. He had a habit, moreover, in canvassing public topics, of eliciting, by questions or remarks of his own, the views and objections of opponents ; and, in debate, he never failed to state the positions of his antagonist as fairly, and at least as strongly, as his opponent could state them himself. An impression is quite common that great men, who make their mark upon the progress of events and the world' s history, do it by impressing their own opinions upon nations and communities, in disregard and contempt of theu' sentiments and prejudices. History does not sus- tain this view ^of the case. No man ever moulded the destiny of a nation except by making the sentiment of that nation his ally — by working with it, by shaping his measures and his policy to its successive developments. But little more than a year before the Declaration of Inde- pendence was issued, Washington wrote to a friend in England that the idea of separation from Great Britain was not entertained by any considerable number of the inhabitants of the colonies.* If independence had then been proclaimed, it would not have been supported by public sentiment ; and its proclamation would have ex- cited hostilities and promoted divisions wdiich might have * Letter to Captain Mackensie, October 9, 17 74. 46 722 The Life, Public Seryices, and proved fatal to the cause. Time, — the development of events, — the ripening conviction of the necessity of such a measure, were indispensable as preliminary conditions of its success. And one of the greatest elements of Wash- ington' s strength was the patient sagacity with which he could watch and wait until these conditions were fulfilled. The position and duty of President Lincoln in regard to slavery were very similar. If he had taken counsel only of his own abstract opinions and sympathies, and had proclaimed emancipation at the outset of the war, or had sanctioned the action of those department commanders who assumed to do it themselves, the first effect would have been to throw all the Border Slave States into the bosom of the slaveholding Confederacy, and add their formidable force to the armies of the rebellion ; the next result would have been to arouse the political opposition in the loyal States to fresh activity by giving it a rally- ing-cry ; and the third would have been to divide the great body of those who agreed in defending the Union, but wlio did not then agree in regard to the abolition of slavery. Candid men, who pay more regard to facts than to theory, and who can estimate with fairness the results of public action, will have no difficulty in seeing that the probable result of these combined infiuences would have been such a strengthening of the forces of the Confederacy, and such a weakening of our own, as might have over- whelmed the Administration, and given 'the rebellion a final and a fatal victory. By awaiting the development of public sentiment. President Lincoln secured a support absolutely essential to success ; and there are few per- sons now, whatever may be their private opinions on slavery, who will not concede that his measures in regard to that subject were adopted with sagacity, and prose- cuted with a patient wisdom which crowned them with final triumph. In his personal appearance and manners, in the tone and tendency of his mind and in the fibre of his general character, President Lincoln presented more elements of originality than any other man ever connected with the State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 723 government of this country. lie was kill and thin, an,L!;n- lar and ungraceful in his motions, careless in dress, un- studied in manner, and too thoroughly earnest and hearty, in every thing he said or did, to be polished and ])olite. But there was a native grace, the out-growth of kindness of heart, which never failed to shine through all his words and acts. His heart was as tender as a woman's,— as accessible to grief and gladness as a child's,— yet strong as Herc^^les to bear the anxieties and resiDonsibil- ities of the awful burden that rested on it. Little inci- dents of the war,— instances of patient suffering in devo- tion to duty,— tales of distress from the lips of women, never failed to touch the innermost chords of his nature, and to awaken that sweet sympathy which carries with it, to those who suffer, all the comfort the human heart can crave. Those who have heard him, as many have, relate such touching episodes of the war, cannot recall Avithout emotion the quivering lip, the face gnarled and writhing to stifle the rising sob, and the patient, loving eyes swim- ming in tears, which mirrored the tender pity of his gentle and loving nature. He seemed a stranger to the harsher and stormier passions of man. Easily grieved, he seemed incapable of hate. Nothing could be truer than his declaration, after the heated political contest which secured his re-election, that he had "never willingly planted a thorn in any human breast," — and that it Avas not in his nature to exult over any human being. It is first among the marvels of a marvellous time, that to such a character, so womanly in all its traits, should have been committed, absolutely and with almost despotic power, the guidance of a great nation through a bloody and terrible civil war ; and the success which crowned his labors proves that, in dealing with great communities, as with individuals, it is not the stormiest natures that are most prevailing, and that strength of principle and of purpose often accompanies the softest emotions of the human heart. Nothing was more marked in Mr. Lincoln's personal demeanor than its utter unconsciousness of his position. 724 Life and Public Services of Abraham Lincoln. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to find another man wlio would not, upon a sudden transfer from the obscu- rity of private life in a country town to the dignities and duties of the Presidency, feel it incumbent upon him to assume something of the manner and tone befitting that position. Mr. Lincoln never seemed to be aware that his place or his business were essentially different from those in which he had always been engaged. He brought to every question, — the loftiest and most imposing, — the same patient inquiry' into details, the same eager longing to know and to do exactly what was just and right, and the same working-day, plodding, laborious devotion, which characterized his management of a client' s case at his law office in Springfield. He had duties to perform in both places — in the one case to his country, as to his client in the other. But all duties were alike to him. All called equally upon him for the best service of his mind '^.nd heart, and all were alike performed with a conscien- tious, single-hearted devotion that knew no distinction, but was absolute and perfect in every case. Mr. Lincoln' s place in the history of this country will be fixed quite as much by the importance of the events amidst which he moved, and the magnitude of the results which he achieved, as by his personal characteristics. The Chief Magistrate whose administration quelled a re- bellion of eight millions of people, set free four millions of slaves, and vindicated the ability of the people, under all contingencies, to maintain the Government which rests upon their will, whose wisdom and unspotted integrity of character secured his re-election, and who, finally, when his work was done, found his reward in the mar- tyrdom which came to round his life and set the final seal upon his renown, will fill a place hitherto unoccu- pied in the annals of the world. FUNERAL ARCH ON THE HUDSON. ANECDOTES AND REMINISCENCES PRESIDENT LINCOLN BY FRANK B. CARPENTER. I WENT to Washington the last week m February, 1864, for the purpose of carrying out ray cherished project of painting the scene commemorative of the first reading in cabinet council of the Emanci- pation Proclamation. To my friends, Samuel Sinclair and F. A. Lane, of New York, the Honorable Schuyler Colfax, and Honorable Owen Lovejoy, shall I ever be indebted for the opening up of the way for the successful accomplishment of this undertaking. Through the latter gentleman arrangements were made with the President and Mrs. Lincoln, by which the spacious " State dining-room " of the Executive Mansion was placed at my disposal for a studio, in order that I might enjoy every facility for studying my subjects from the life. The painting of the picture occupied about six months. It era- braced full-length life-size portraits of the President and entire cabinet, and portrays, as faithfully as I was capable of rendering it, the scene as it transpired in the old cabinet chamber of the White House, when the Act of Emancipation first saw the light. My relations with Mr. Lincoln of course becarae of an intimate character. .Permitted the freedom of his private oflice at almost all hours, I was privileged to see and know more of his daily life than has perhaps fallen to the lot of any one not sustaining to him domestic or ofiicial relations. In compiling a chapter of anecdotes, I have endeavored to embrace only those which bear the marks of authenticity. Many in this col- lection I myself heard the President relate ; others were communi- cated to me by persons who either heard or took part in them. Sev- 726 The Life of Abraham Lincoln. cral have had a wide circulation, iu connection with subjects of interest at diflfcrent times which called them out. The reminiscences are mainly my own, and are taken, for the most part, from articles contributed on various occasions, since the assassination, to the public press. MR. LINCOLN'S SADNESS. Many persons formed their impressions of the late President from the stories in circulation attributed to him, and consequently supposed him to have been habitually of a jocund, humorous disposition. There was this element in his nature in a large degree, but it was the sparkle and ripple of the surface. Underneath was a deep undercurrent of sadness, if not melancholy. When most depressed, it was his way frequently to seek rehef in some harmless pleasantry. I recollect an instance related to me, by a radical member of the last Congress. It was during the dark days of 1862, He called upon the President early one moruino-, just after news of a disaster. Mr. Lincoln commenced telling some trifling incident, which the Congressman was in no mood to hear. He rose to his feet, and said, " Mr. President, I did not come here this morning to hear stories ; it is too serious a time." In- stantly the smile disappeared from Mr. Lincoln's face, who exclaimed, « ^ J sit down ! I respect you as an earnest, sincere man. You cannot be more anxious than I am constantly, and I say to you now, that were it not for this occasional vent, I should die !" It has been the business of my life to study the human face, and I have said repeatedly to friends that Mr. Lincoln had the saddest face I ever attempted to paint. During some of the dark days of the spring and summer of 1864, I saw him at times when his care-worn, troubled appearance was enough to bring tears of sympathy into the eyes of his most bitter opponents. I recall particularly one day, when, having occasion to pass through the main hall of the domestic apartments, I met him alone, pacing up and down a narrow passage, his hands be- hind him, his head bent forward upon his breast, heavy black rings under his eyes, showing sleepless nights — altogether such a picture of the effects of sorrow and care as I have never seen ! "No man," says Mrs. Stowe, "has suffered more and deeper, albeit with a dry, weary, patient pain, that seemed to some like insensibility, than President Lincoln." " Whichever way it ends," he said to her, " I have the impression that / shan't last long after it is over." After the dreadful repulse of Fredericksburg, he is reported to have said : " If there is a man out of perdition that suffers more than I do, I pity him." Anecdotes and Remlniscences. 727 The Ilonorablo Schuyler Colf;ix, in his funeral uratioii at Chicago, said of him : — "He bore the nation's perils, and trials, and sorrows, ever on his mind. You know him, in a large degree, by the illustrative stories of which his nremory and his tongue were so prolific, using them to point a moral, or to soften discontent at his decisions. But this was the mere badinage which relieved him for the moment from the heavy weight of pubUc duties and responsibilities under which he often wearied. Those whom he admitted to his confidence, and with whom he conversed of his feelings, knew that his inner life was clieckcrcd with the deepest anxiety and most discomforting solicitude. Elated by victories for the cause which was ever in his thoughts, reverses to our arms cast a pall of depression over him. One morning, over two years ago, calling upon him on business, I found him looking more than usually pale and careworn, and inquired the reason. He replied, with the bad news he had received at a late hour the previous night, which had not yet been communicated to the press — he had not closed his eyes or breakfasted; and, with an expression I shall never forget, he exclaimed, ' How willingly would I exchange places to-day with the soldier who sleeps on the ground in the Army of the Potomac !' " He may not have looked for it from the hand of an assassin, but he felt sure that his life would end with the war long ago. " He told me," says a correspondent of the Boston Journal, "that he was certain he should not outlast the rebellion." It was in last July. As will be remembered, there was dissension then among the Republican leaders. Many of his best friends had deserted him, and were talking of an opposition convention to nominate another candidate ; and uni- versal gloom was among the people. The North was tired of the war, and supposed an honorable peace attainable. Mr. Lincoln knew it was not — that any peace at that time would be only disunion. Speaking of it, he said : " I have faith in the people. They will not consent to disunion. The danger is, they are misled. Let them know the truth, and the country is safe." He looked haggard and careworn ; and further on in the interview I re- marked on his appearance, " You are wearing yourself out with work." " I can't work less," he answered ; " but it isn't that — work never troubled me. Things look badly, and I can't avoid anxiety. Person- ally I care nothing about a re-election, but if our divisions defeat us, I fear for the country." When I suggested that right must eventually triumph ; that I had never despaired of the result, he said, " Neither 728 The Life of Abraham Lincoln. have I, but I may never live to see it. I feel a presentiment that I Bhall not outlast the rebellion. When it is over, my work will be done." HIS FAVORITE POEM. The evening of March 22cl, 1864, was a most interesting one to me. I was with the I'resident alone in his office for several hours. Busy with pen and papers when I went in, he presently threw them aside and commenced talking to me of Shakspeare, of whom he was very fond. Little " Tad," his son, coming in, he sent him to the library for a copy of the plays, and then read to me several of his favorite passages. Relapsing into a sadder strain, he laid the book aside, and leaning back in his chair, said : — " There is a poem which has been a great favorite with me for years, which was first shown to me when a young man by a friend, and which I afterwards saw and cut from a newspaper and learned by heart. I would," he continued, " give a great deal to know who wrote it, but I have never been able to ascertain." Then, half closing his eyes, he repeated the verses to me. Greatly pleased and interested, I told him I would like some time to write them down. A day or two afterwards, he asked me to accompany him to the temporary studio in the Treasury Department of Mr. Swayne, the sculptor, who was making a bust of him. While " sitting," it oc- curred to me that then would be a good opportunity to secure the lines. He very willingly complied with my request to repeat them, and, sitting upon some books at his feet, as nearly as I remember, I wrote the verses down, one by one, as he uttered them :* — Oh I why should the spirit of mortal be proud ? — Like a swift-fleeting meteor, a fast-flying cloud, A flash of the lightning, a break of the wave, He passeth from life to his rest in the grave. The leaves of the oak and the willow shall fade, Be scattered around, and together be laid ; And the young and the old, and the low and the high, Shall moulder to dust, and together shall lie. The infant a mother attended and loved ; The mother, that infant's affection who proved ♦The authorship of this poem has been made known since its publication in the Evening Po»t. It was written by William Knox, a youns; Scotchman, a couleraporary of Sir Walter Scott — who thought highly of his promise. He died quite young. The two verses in brackets were not repeated by Mr. Lincoln, but belong to the original poem. Anecdotes and Reminiscences. 72'J The husband, that mother and infant wlio blest, — Each, all, are away to their dwellings of rest. [The maid on whose cheek, on whose brow, in whoso eye, Shone beauty and pleasure — her. triumphs are by; And the memory of those who loved her and praised, Are alike from the minds of the living erased.] The hand of the king, that the sceptre hath borne, The brow of the priest, that the mitre hath worn, • The eye of the sage, and the heart of the brave. Are hidden and lost in the depths of the grave. The peasant, whose lot was to sow and to reap. The herdsman, who climbed with his goats up the steep. The beggar, who wandered in search of his bread. Have faded away like the grass that we tread. [The saint, who enjoyed the communion of heaven, The sinner, who dared to remain unforgiven. The wise and the foolish, the guilty and just. Have quietly mingled their bones in the dust.] So the multitude goes — like the flower or the weed, That withers away to let others succeed ; So the multitude comes — even those we behold. To repeat every tale that has often been told : For we are the same our fathers have been; We see the same sights our fathers have seen ; "We drink the same stream, we view the same sun, And run the same course our fathers have run. The thoughts we are thinking, our fathers would thhik; From the death we are shrinking, our fathers would shrink: To the hfe we are clinging, they also would cling — But it speeds from us all like a bird on the wing. They loved — but the story we cannot unfold ; They scorned — but the heart of the haughty is cold ; They grieved — but no wail from their slumber will come ; They joyed — but the tongue of their gladness is dumb. They died — ay, they died — we things that are now. That walk on the turf that lies over their brow, And make in their dwellings a transient abode. Meet the things that they met on their pOgrimage road. Yea! hope and despondency, pleasure and pain, Are mingled together in sunshine and rain ; 730 The Life of Abraham Lincoln. And tlio smilo and tho tear, the song and the dirge, Still follow each other, like surge upon surge. 'Tis the wink of an eye, — 'tis the draught of a breath; From the blossom of health to the paleness of death, From the gilded saloon to tho bier and the shroud : — Oh ! why should the spirit of mortal be proud ? Discussing briefly the merits of tMs poem, and its probable author- ship, Mr. Lincoln continued : — *' There are some quaint, queer v erses, written, I think, ^j Oliver Wendell Holmes, entitled ' The Last Leaf,' one of which is to me inex- pressibly touching." He then repeated these also from memory. The verse he referred to occurs in about the middle of the poem, and is this : — " The mossy marbles rest On the lips that he has pressed In their bloom, And the names he loved to hear Have been carved fcfr many a year On the tomb." As he finished this verse he said, in his emphatic way : " For pure pathos, in my judgment, there is nothing finer than those six lines in the English language !" Mr. R. McCormick, in some " Reminiscences," published in the Evening Post, says that Mr. Lincoln was fond of the works of Robert Burns ; and although I myself never heard him allude to the great Scottish poet, I can readily conceive that it may have been true. " There was something," says Mr. McCormick, " in the humble origin of Burns, and in his checkered life, no less than in his tender, homely songs, that appealed to the great heart of the plain man who, trans- ferred from the prairies of Illinois to the Executive Mansion at Wash- ington at a time of immense responsibility, gave a fresh and memora- ble illustration of the truth that ' The rank ia but the guinea's stamp, The man's the gowd for a' that.' " HIS RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. There is a very natural and proper desire, at this time, to know something of the religious experience of the late President. Two or three stories have been published in this connection, which I have never yet been able to trace to a reliable source, and I feel impelled to say here, that I believe the facts in the case— if there were such — have Anecdotes and Reminiscences. 731 been added unto, or unwarrantably embellished. Of all men in the world, Mr. Lincoln was tlie most unaffected and truthful. lie rarely or never used language loosely or carelessly, or for the sake of compli- ment. He was the most utterly indifferent to, and unconscious of, the effect he was producing, either upon oflScial representatives, or the common people, of any man ever in public position. Mr. Lincoln could scarcely be called a religious man, in the common acceptation of the term, and yet a sincerer Christian I believe never lived. A constitutional tendency to dwell upon sacred things ; an emotional nature which finds ready expression in religious conver- sation and revival meetings ; the culture and development of the de- votional element till the expression of religious thought and experi- ence becomes almost habitual, were not among his characteristics. Doubtless he felt as deeply upon the great questions of the soul and eternity as any other thoughtful man, but the very tenderness and hu- mility of his nature would not permit the exposure of his inmost con- victions, except upon the rarest occasions, and to his most intimate friends. And yet, aside from emotional expression, I believe no man had a more abiding sense of his dependence upon God, or faith in the Divine government, and in the power and ultimate triumph of Truth and Rio-ht in the world. In the language of an eminent clergyman of this city, who lately delivered an eloquent discourse upon the life and character of the departed President, " It is not necessary to appeal to apocryphal stories, in circulation in the newspapers — which illustrate as much the assurance of his visitors as the simplicity of his faith — for proof of Mr. Lincoln's Christian character." If his daily life and various public addresses and writings do not show this, surely nothing can demonstrate it. But while inclined, as I have said, to doubt the truth of some of the statements published on this subject, I feel at liberty to relate an incident, which bears upon its face unmistakable evidence of truthful- ness. A lady interested in the work of the Christian Commission had occasion, in the prosecution of her duties, to have several interviews with the President of a business nature. He was much impressed with the devotion and earnestness of purpose she manifested, and on one occasion, after she had discharged the object of her visit, he said to her : " Mrs. , I have formed a very high opinion of your Christian character, and now, as we are alone, I have a mind to ask you to give me, in brief, your idea of what consti- tutes a true religious experience." The lady replied at some length, stating that, in her judgment, it consisted of a conviction of one's ovm 732 The Life of Abraham Lincoln. sinfulness and weakness, and personal need of the Saviour for strength and support ; that views of mere doctrine might and would dlflfer, but when one was really brought to feel his need of Divine help, and to seek the aid of the Holy Spirit for strength and guidance, it was sat- isfactory evidence of his having been born again. This was the sub- stance of her reply. When she had concluded, Mr. Lincoln was very thoughtful for a few moments. He at length said, very earnestly, "If what you have told me is really a correct view of this great subject, I think I can say with sincerity, that I hope I am a Christian. I had lived," he continued, " until my boy Willie died, without realizing fully these things. That blow overwhelmed me. It showed me my weak- ness as I had never felt it before, and if I can take what you have stated as a test, I think I can safely say that I know something of that change of which you speak ; and I will further add, that it has been my intention for some time, at a suitable opportunity, to make a public rehgious profession !" A clergyman, writing to the Friends' Review of Philadelphia, gives the following interesting incident : — " After visiting schools, and holding meetings with the freed- people, and attending to other religious service south of Wash- ington and in that city, I felt that I must attend to manifest duty, and offer a visit in Gospel love to our noble President ; it was immediately granted, and a quarter past six that evening was fixed as the time. Under deep feeling I went ; my Heavenly Father went before and prepared the way. The President gave us a cordial welcome, and after pleasant, instructive conversation, during which he said, in reference to the frecdmen, ' If I have been one of the instruments in liberating this long-suffering, down-trodden people, I thank God for it' — a precious covering spread over us. The good man rested his head upon his hand, and, under a precious, gathering influence, I knelt in solemn prayer. He knelt close beside me, and I felt that his heart went with every word as utterance was given. I afterwards addressed him, and when we rose to go, he shook my hand heartily, and thanked me for the visit." Mr. Noah Brooks, one of Mr. Lincoln's most intimate personal friends, in an admirable aiiicle in Harper'' s Magazine, gives the fol- lowing reminiscence of his conversation : — " Just after the last Presidential election he said, ' Being only mor- tal, after all I should have been a little mortified if I had been beaten in this canvass before the people ; but that sting would have been more Anecdotes and Reminiscences. 783 than compensated by the thought that the people had notifieil itic that all my official responsibilities were soon to be lifted off my back.' In reply to the remark that he might remember that in all these cares ho was daily remembered by those who prayed, not to be heard of men, as no man had ever before been remembered, he caught at the homely phrase, and said, * Yes, I like that phrase " not to be heard of men," and guess it is generally true as you say ; at least, I have been told so, and I have been a good deal helped by just that thought.' Then he solemnly and slowly added, *I should be the most presumptuous block- head upon this footstool, if I for one day thought that 1 could discharge the duties which have come upon me since I came into this place, without the aid and enlightenment of One who is stronger and wiser than all others.' "• By the Act of Emancipation Mr. Lincoln built for himself forever the first place in the affections of the African race in this country. The love and reverence manifested for him by many of these poor, ignorant people has, on some occasions, almost reached adoration. Oue day Colonel McKaye, of New York, who had been one of a committee to investigate the condition of the freedmen, upon his return from Uilton Head and Beaufort, called upon the President, and in the course of the interview mentioned the following incident : — He had been speaking of the ideas of power entertained by these people. They had an idea of God, as the Almighty, and they had realized in their former condition the power of their masters. Up to the time of the arrival among them of the Union forces, they had no knowledge of any other power. Their masters fled upon the approach of our soldiers, and this gave the slaves the conception of a power greater than their masters exercised. This power they called "Massa Linkum." Colonel McKaye said that their place of worship was a large building which they called "the praise house," and the leader of the " meeting," a venerable black man, was known as " the praise man." On a certain day, when there was quite a large gathering of the people, considerable confusion was created by different persons attempting to tell who and what " Massa Linkum " was. In the midst of the excitement the white-headed leader commanded silence. "Brederin," said he, "you don't know nosen' what you'se talkin' 'bout. Now, you just listen to me. Massa Linkum, he ebery whar. He know ebery ting." Then, solemnly looking up, he added : " He walk de ear/ like de Lord ! " Colonel McKaye told me that Mr. Lincoln was very much affected by this account. He did not smile, as another might have done, but 734 The Life of Abraham Lincoln. got up from bis cliair and walked in silence two or three times across the floor. As he resumed his seat, he said, very impressively, " It is a momentous thing to be the instrument, under Providence, of the liberation of a race !" " At another time, he said cheerfully, * I am very sure that if I do not go away from here a wiser man, I shall go away a better man, for having learned here what a very poor sort of a man I am.' Afterwards, referring to what he called a change of heart, he said he did not re- member any precise time when he passed through any special change of purpose, or of heart ; but, he would say, that his own election to oflace, and the crisis immediatly following, influentially determined him in what he called ' a process of crystallization,' then going on in his mind. Reticent as he was, and shy of discoursing much of his own mental exercises, these few utterances now have a value with those who knew him, which his dying words would scarcely have possessed." Says Rev. Dr. Thompson, of New York : — " A calm trust in God was the loftiest, worthiest characteristic in the life of Abraham Lincoln. He had learned this long ago. ' I would rather my son would be able to read the Bible than to own a farm, if he can't have but cue,' said his godly mother. That Bible was Abraham Lincoln's guide." "Mr. Jay states that, being on the steamer which conveyed the gov- ernmental party from Fortress Monroe to Norfolk, after the destruction of the Merrimac, while all on board were excited bythe novelty of the excur- sion and by the incidents that it recalled, he missed the President from the company, and, on looking about, found him in a quiet nook, read- ing a well-worn Testament. Such an incidental revelation of his rehg- ious habits is worth more than pages of formal testimony." When Mr. Lincoln visited New York in 1860, he felt a great interest in many of the institutions for reforming criminals and saving the young from a life of crime. Among others, he visited, unattended, the Five Points' House of Industry, and a teacher in the Sabbath-school there gives the following account of the event : — " One Sunday morning I saw a tall, remarkable-looking man enter the room and take a seat among us. He listened with fixed attention to our exercises, and his countenance expressed such genuine interest that I approached him and suggested that he might be willing to say something to the children. He accepted the invitation with evident pleasure ; and, coming forward, began a simple address, which at once Anecdotes and Reminiscences. 730 fascinated every little hearer and Imshed the room into silence. Ilis language was strikingly beautiful, and his tones musical with intense feeling. The little faces would droop into sad conviction as he uttered sentences of warning, and would brighten into sunshine as he spoke cheerful words of promise. Once or twice he attempted to close his remarks, but the imperative shout of ' Go on ! O, do go on !' would compel him to resume. As I looked upon the gaunt and sinewy frame of the stranger, and marked his powerful head and determined features, now touched into softness by the impressions of the moment, I felt an, irrepressible curiosity to learn something more about him, and while he was quietly leaving the room I begged to know his name. lie courteously replied, * It is Abraham Lincoln, from Illinois.' " In the article in Harper's Magazine already quoted from above, Mr. Brooks says : — " On Thursday of a certain week, two ladies, from Tennessee, came before the President, asking the release of their husbands, held as prisoners of war at Johnson's Island. They were put off until Friday, when they came again, and were again put off until Saturday. At each of the interviews one of the ladies urged that her husband was a religious man. On Saturday, when the President ordered the jelease of the prisoner, he said to this lady, ' You say your husband is a religious man ; tell him, when you meet him, that I say I am not much of a judge of religion, but that in my opinion the religion which sets men to rebel and fight against their Government, because, as they think, that Government does not sufficiently help some men to eat their bread in the sweat of other men's faces, is not the sort of religion upon which people can get to heaven.' " The Western Christian Advocate says : — " On the day of the receipt of the capitulation of Lee, as we learn from a friend intimate with the late President Lincohi, the cabinet meeting was held an hour earlier than usual. Neither the President nor any member was able, for a time, to give utterance to his feeUngs. At the suggestion of Mr. Lin- coln all dropped on their knees, and" offered, in silence and in tears, their humble and heartfelt acknowledgments to the Almighty for the triumph He had granted to the National cause." HIS SYMPATHY. A large number of those whom he saw every day came with appeals to his feelings in reference to relatives and friends in confinement and under sentence of death. It was a constant marvel to me that, with 736 The Life of Abraham Lincoln. all Ins other cares and duties, lie could give so much time and be so patient with this multitude. I have known him to sit for hours lis- tening to details of domestic troubles from poor people — much of which, of course, irrelevant — carefully sifting the facts, and manifesting as much anxiety to do exactly right as in matters of the gravest interest. Poorly-clad people were more likely to get a good hearing than those who came in silks and velvets. No one was ever turned away from his door because of poverty. If he erred, it was sure to be on the side of mercy. It was one of his most painful tasks to confirm a sentence of death. I recollect the case of a somewhat noted rebel prispner, who had been condemned to death, I believe, as a spy. A strong ap- plication had been made to have his sentence commuted. While this was pending, he attempted to escape from confinement, and was shot by the sentinel on guard. Although he richly deserved death, Mr. Lincoln remarked in ray presence, that "it was a great relief to him that the man took his fate into his own hands." "No man in our era," says Mr. Colfax, "clothed with such vast power, has ever used it so mercifully. No ruler holding the keys of life and death, ever pardoned so many and so easily. When friends said to him they wished he had more of Jackson's sternness, he would say, ' I am just as God made me, and cannot change.' It may not be gen- erally known that his door-keepers had standing orders from him that CO matter how great might be the throng, if either senators or repre- sentatives had to wait, or to be turned away without an audience, he must see, before the day closed, every messenger who came to him with a petition for the saving of life." A touching instance of his kindness of heart was told me incidents ally by one of the servants. A poor woman from Philadelphif\, had been waiting, with a baby in her arms, for three days to see the Presi- dent. Her husband had furnished a substitute foi the army, but some time afterwards became intoxicated while with some companions, and m this state was induced to enlist. Soon after he reached tlie army he deserted, thinking that^ as he had provided a substitute, the Govern- ment was not entitled to his services. Returning home, he was, of course, arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced to be shot. The sen- tence was to be executed on Saturday. On Monday his wife left her home with her baby, to endeavor to see the President. Said old Daniel, " She had been waiting here three days, and there was no chance for her to get in. Late in the afternoon of the third day the President was going through the back passage to his private rooms, to get a cup of tea or take some rest." (This passage-way has lately been con- Ankcdotes and Reminiscences. 737 stracted, and shuts the person passing entirely out of view of the :)i;cupants of the ante-room.) " On his way through he heard tlie baby cry. He instantly went back to his oiHce and rang the bell. ' Daniel,' said he, 'is there a woman with a baby in the antc-rooni V I said there was, and if he would allow mc to say it, I thought it was a case lie ought to see ; for it was a matter of life and death. Said he, 'Send her to me at once.' She went in, told her story, and the Presi- dent pardoned her husband. As the woman came out from his pres- ence, her eyes were lifted and her lips moving in prayer, the tears , streaniing down her cheeks." Said Daniel, " I went up to her, and pulling her shawl, said, ' Madam, it was the baby that did it !' " Another touching incident occurred, I believe, the same week. A woman in a faded shawl and hood, somewhat advanced in life, at length was admitted, in her turn, to the President. Her husband and three sons, all she had in the world, enlisted. Her husband had been killed, and she had come to ask the President to release to her the oldest son. Being satisfied of the truthfulness of her story, he said, " Certainly, if her prop was taken away she was justly entitled to one of her boys." He immediately wrote an order for the discharge of the young man. The poor woman thanked him very gratefully, and went away. On reaching the army she found that this son had been in a recent engage- ment, was wounded, and taken to a hospital. She found the hospital, but the boy was dead, or died while she was there. The surgeon in charge made a memorandum of the facts upon the back of the Presi- dent's order, and, almost broken-hearted, the poor woman found her way again into his presence. He was much afTected by her appearance and story, and said, " I know what you wish me to do now, and I shall do it without your asking : I shall release to you your second son." Upon this he took up his pen and commenced writing the order. While he was writing the poor woman stood by his side, the tears running down her face, and passed her hands softly over his head, stroking his rough hair, as I have seen a fond mother caress a son. By the time he had finished writing his own heart and eyes were full. He handed her the paper, " Now," said he, " you have one and /one of the other two left ; that is no more than right," She took the paper, and reverently placing her hand again upon his head, the tears still upon her cheeks, said, " The Lord bless you, Mr. President ! May you live a thousand years, and always be the head of this great nation !" One day the Hon, Tliaddeus Stevens called with an elderly lady, in great trouble, whose son had been in the army, but for some offence 47 738 The Life of Abraham Lincoln. luul been court-martialled, and sentenced either to death or imprison- ment at liard hibor for a long terra, I do not recollect which. There were some extenuating circumstances, and after a full hearing the Pres- ident turned to the representative and said : " Mr. Stevens, do you thiidv this is a case which will warrant my interference ?" " With my knowledge of the facts and the parties," was the reply, " I should have no hesitation in granting a pardon." " Then," returned Mr. Lin- coln, " I will pardon him," and he proceeded forthwith to execute the paper. Tlie gratitude of the mother was too deep for expression, save by her tears, and not a word was said between her and Mr. Stevens until they were half way down the stairs on their passage out, when she sud- denly broke forth in an excited manner with the words, " I knew it was a copperhead lie !" " What do you refer to, madam ?" asked Mr. Ste- vens. " Why, they told me he was an ugly-looking man," she re- plied, with vehemence. " He is the handsomest man I ever saw in my life !" And surely for that mother, and for many another through- out the land, no carved statue of ancient or modern art, in all its symmetry, can have the charm which will forevermore encircle that care-worn but gentle face, expressing as was never expressed before, " Malice towards none — Charity for all." M. Laugel, in the Reinie des Deux Mondes, relates from personal observation one or two interesting incidents: — " A soldier's wife reduced almost to destitution by the absence of her husband, sought to obtain his discharge from the army — this, Mr. Lincoln told her was beyond his power ; but he listened patiently to the poor creature's tale of suffering and sorrow, cheered her and comforted her, reminded her how not herself alone, but the nation generally, were passing through a season of trial, and dismissed her not only with many kind and thoughtful words, but with substantial proofs of sympathy." A beautiful and touching [licture M. Laugel places before us of Mr. Lincoln, in that fatal theatre — months ' before the real tragedy which ended his life — listening to that representation of manly sorrow in " King Lear" — with his little son pressed close to his ample breast, at times answering patiently the little prattling fellow — then showing in every feature how keenly he felt the great dramatist's representation of the sorrows of paternity. To him Shakspeare was, as to all true men, a great teacher, whose words cannot be heard too often, and cannot be rendered more powerful by any extrinsic circumstances. " It matters not to me," he said one day, " whether Sliakspeare be well or ill acted ; with him, the thouo-ht suffices." Anecdotes and llEMiNitrCENCEs. 7 IV,) Ilero is a cliaracteristic touch of liuinor as wi'U as patlios; — thu inci- dent is strictly true : — A distinguished citizen of Ohio had an appointment with the Presi- dent one evening at six o'clock. As he entered the vestibule of the White House, his attention was attracted by a poorly-clad young woman who was violently sobbing. He asked her the cause of her distress. She said she had been ordered away by the servants, after vainly wait- ing many hours to see the President about her only brother, wlio had been condemned to death. Her story was this : — She and her brother were foreigners, and orphans. They had been in this country several years. Her brother enlisted in the army, but, through bad influences, was induced to desert. He was captured, tried, and sentenced to be shot — the old story. The poor girl had obtained the signatures of some persons who had formerly known him, to a petition for a pardon, and alone had come to Washington to lay the case before the Presi- dent. Thronged as the waiting-rooms always were, she had passed the long hours of two days trying in vain to get an audience, and had at length been ordered away. The gentleman's feelings were touched. He said to her that he had come to see the President, but did not know as he should succeed. He told her, however, to follow him up-stairs, and he would see what could be done for her. Just before reaching the door, Mr. Lincoln came out, and meeting his friend said good-humoredly, " Are you not ahead of time?" The gentleman showed him his watch, with the hand upon the hour of six. " Well," returned Mr. Lincoln, " I have been so busy to-day that I have not had time to get a lunch. Go in, and sit down ; I will be back directly," The gentleman made the young woman accompany him into the office, and when they were seated, said to her, " Now, my good girl, I want you to muster all the courage you have in the world. When the President comes back, he will sit down in that arm-chair. I shall get up to speak to him, and as I do so you must force yourself between us, and insist upon his examination of your papers, telling him it is a case of life and death, and admits of no delay." These instructions were carried out to the letter. Mr. Lincoln was at first somewhat surprised at the apparent forwardness of the young woman, but observing her - distressed appearance, he ceased conversation with his friend, and com- menced an examination of the document she had placed in his hands. Glancing from it to the face of the petitioner, whose tears had broken forth afresh, he studied its expression for a moment, and then his eye t\'ii • upon her scanty but neat dress. Instantly his face lighted up. 740 The Life of Abraham Lincoln. "My poor girl," said lie, "you have come here with no governor, or senator, or member of Congress, to plead your cause. You seem honest and truthful ; and you dori't wear hoops — and I will be whipped but I will pardon your brother." Though kind-hearted almost to a fault, nevertheless he always en- deavored to he just. A member of Congress called upon him one day with the brother of a deserter who had been arrested. The excuse was that the soldier had been home on a sick-furlough, and that he afterwards became partially insane, and had consequently failed to return and report in proper time. He was on his way to his regiment at the front to be tried. The President at once ordered him to be stopped at Alexandria and sent before a board of surgeons for exami- nation as to the question of insanity. " This seemed to me so proper," said the representative, " that I expressed myself satisfied. But on going out, the brother, who was anxious for an immediate discharge, said to nie, ' The trouble Avith your President is, that he is so afraid of doing something wrong.' " A correspondent of the JVew York Times, writing from Kentucky, gives the following : — " Among the large number of persons waiting in the room to speak with Mr. Lincoln, on a certain day in November last, was a small, pale, delicate-looking boy about thirteen years old. The President saw him standing, looking feeble and faint, and said : — ' Come here, my boy, and tell me what you want.' The boy advanced, placed his hand on the arm of the President's chair, and with bowed head and timid accents said : ' Mr. President, I have been a drummer in a regiment for two years, and my colonel got angry with me and turned me off; I was taken sick, and have been a long time in hospi- tal. This is the first time I have been out, and I came to see if you could not do something for me.' The President looked at him kindly and tenderly, and asked him where he lived. 'I have no home,' answered the boy. ' Where is your father V ' He died in the army,' was the reply. 'Where is your mother?' continued the President. 'My mother is dead also. I have no mother, no father, no brothers, no sisters, and,' bursting into tears, 'no friends — nobody cares for me.' Mr. Lincoln's eyes filled with tears, and he said to him, ' Can't you sell newspapers ?' ' No,' said the boy, ' I am too weak, and the surgeon of the hospital told me I must leave, and I have no money, and no place to go to.' The scene was wonderfully affecting. The President drew forth a card, and addressing on it certain officials to whom his Anecdotes Ax\d Reminiscences. 741 requesu was law, gave special diroctions 'to care for this poor boy' The wan face of the little druiiimer lit up with a happy smile as he received the paper, and he went away convinced that he had one good and true friend, at least, in the person of the I'resident." Mr. Van Alcn, of New York, writing to the Evening Post, relates the following : — " I well remember one day when a poor woman sought, with the persistent affection of a m'other, for the pardon of her son con- demned to death. She was successful in her petition. When she had left the room, he turned to me and said : ' Perhaps I have doue wrong, but at all events I have made that poor woman happy.' " One night Schuyler Colfax left all other business to ask him to respite the son of a constituent, who was sentenced to be shot, at Davenport, for desertion. He heard the story with his usual patience, though he was wearied out with incessant calls, and anxious for rest, and then replied : — " Some of our generals complain that I impair dis- cipline and subordination in the army by my pardons and respites, but it makes me rested, after a hard day's work, if I can find some good excuse for saving a man's life, and I go to bed happy as I think how joyous the signing of ray name will make him and his family and his friends." And with a happy smile beaming over that care-furrowed face, he signed that name that saved that life. Said the Rev. Dr. Storrs, in his eulogy upon Mr. Lincoln, pronounced at the Brooklyn Academy of Music : — " Of course his sensibilities came gradually to be under the con- trol of his judgment, and the councils of others constrained him sometimes to a severity which he hated ; so that at length the order for the merited restraint 'or punishment of public offenders was frequently, though always reluctantly, ratified by him. But his sympathy with men, in whatever condition, of whatever opinions, in whatever wrongs involved, was so native and constant, and so con- trolling, that he was always not so much inclined as predetermined to the mildest and most generous theory possible. And some- thing of peril as well as promise was involved to the public in this element of his nature. He would not admit that he was in danger of the very assassination by which at last his life was taken, and only yielded with a protest to the precautions which others felt bound to take for him ; because his own sympathy with men was so strong that he could not believe that any would meditate serious harm to him. 742 The Life of Abraham Lincoln. The public policy of his administration was constantly in danger of being too tardy, lenient, pacific toward those who were combined for deadly battle against the Government, because he was so solicitous to win, so anxious to bless, and so reluctant sharply to strike. ' Sic sem- per tyrannis /' shouted his wild theatric assassin, as he leaped upon the stage, making the ancient motto of Virginia a legend of shame forever- more. But no magistrate ever lived who had less of the tyrant in his natural or his habitual temper. In all the veins of all his frame no drop of unsympathetic blood found a channel. When retaliation seemed the only just policy for the Government to adopt to save its soldiers from being shot in cold blood or being starved into idiocy, it was simply impossible for him to adopt it. And if he had met the arch-conspirators face to face, those who had racked and really enlarged the English vocabulary to get terms to express their hatred and dis- gust toward him individually — those who were striking with desperate blows at the national existence — it would have been hard for him not to greet them with open hand and a kindly welcome. The very ele- ment of sadness, which was so inwrought with his mirthfulness and humor, and which will look out on coming generations through the pensive lines upon his face and the light of his pathetic eyes, came into his spirit or was constantly nursed there through his sympathy with men, especially with the oppressed and the poor. He took upon himself the sorrows of others. He bent in extremest personal suffering under the blows that fell upon his countrymen. And when the bloody rain of battle was sprinkling the trees and the sod of Virginia during successive dreary campaigns, his inmost soul felt the baptism of it, and was sickened with grief. 'I cannot bear it,' he said more than once, as the story was told him of the sacrifice made to secure some result No glow even of triumph could expel from his eyes the tears occasioned by the suftering that had bought it !" Too much has not been said of his uniform meekness and kindness of heart, but there would sometimes be afforded evidence that one grain of sand too much would break even this camel's back. Among the callers at the White House one day, was an officer who had been cashiered from the service. He had prepared an elaborate de- fence of himself, which he consumed much time in reading to the President, When he had finished, Mr. Lincoln replied, that even upon his own statement of the case the facts would not warrant executive interference. Disappointed, and considerably crest-fallen, the man withdrew. A few days afterward he made a second attempt to alter the T^resident's convictions, going over substantially the same ground, Anecdotes and Reminiscences. 743 and occupying about the same space of time, but williout uccoinplisli iiio; his end. The third time he succeeded iu forcing himself into Mr. Lincoln's presence, who with great forbearance listened to another repe- tition of the case to its conclusion, but made no reply. \\'aiting for a moment, the man gathered from tlie expression of his countenance that his mind was unconvinced. Turning very abruptly, he said : " Well, Mr. President, I see that you are fully determined not to do n:e jus- tice !" This was too aggravating even for Mr. Lincoln. Manifesting, however, no more feeling than that indii-atcd by a slight cdinpression of the lips, he very quietly arose, laid down a package of j)a})crs he held in his hand, and then suddenly seizing the defunct officer by the coat-collar, he marched him forcibly to the door, saying, as he ejected him into the passage : •' Sir, I give you fair warning never to show yourself in this room again. I can bear censure, but not insult !" Li ? whining tone the man begged' for his papers which he had dropped. "Begone, sir," said the President; "your papers will be sent to you. I never wish to see your face again !" Late one afternoon a lady with two gentlemen were admitted. She had come to ask that her husband, who was a prisoner of war, might be permitted to take the oath and be released from confinement. To secure a degree of interest on the part of the President, one of the gentlemen claimed to be an acquaintance of Mrs. Lincoln ; this, how- ever, received but little attention, and the President proceeded to ask what position the lady's husband held in the rebel service. "Oh," said she, "he was a captain. "^ captain,''' rejoined Mr. Lincoln; " indeed, rather too big a fish to set free simply upon his taking the oath ! If he was an officer, it is proof positive that he has been a zealous rebel ; I cannot release him." Here the lady's friend reiterated the assertion of his acquaintance with Mrs. Lincoln. Listantly the President's hand was upon the bell-rope. The usher in attendance answered the summons. "Cornelius, take this man's name to Mrs. Lincoln, and ask her what she knows of him." The boy presently returned, with the reply that " the Madam " (as she was called by the servants) knew nothing of him whatever. " It is just as I suspected,'^ said the President. The party made one more attempt to enlist his sympathy, but whhout etfect. " It is of no use," was the reply. " I cannot release him !" and the trio withdrew in high displeasure. HIS HUMOR, SHREWDNESS, AND SENTIMENT. It has been well said by a profound critic of Shakspeare, and it occurs to me as very appropriate in this connection, that "the spirit 744 The Life of Abraham Lincoln. which licld the woe of Lear and the tragedy of Hamlet would hare broken, had it not also had the humor of the Merry AVives of Windsor and the merriment of the Midsummer Night's Dream." This is as true of Mr. Lincoln as it was of Shakspeare. The capacity to tell and enjoy a good anecdote no doubt prolonged his life. I have often heard this asserted by one of his most intimate friends. And the public impression of his fecundity in this respect wa.s not exaggerated. Mr. Beecher once observed to me of his own wealth of illustration, that he " thouglit in figures," or, in other words, that an argument hal)itu- ally took on that form in his mind. This was pre-eminently true of Mr. Lincoln. The " points " of his argument were driven home in this way as they could be in no other. Li the social circle chis character- istic liad full play. I never knew him to sit down wdth a friend for a five minutes' chat, without being "reminded" of one or more inci- dents about somebody alluded to in the course of the conversation. Li a corner of his desk he kept a copy of the latest humorous work ; and it was frequently his habit, when greatly fatigued, annoyed, or depressed, to take this up and read a chapter, with great relief The Saturday evening before he left Washington to go to the front, just previous to the capture of Richmond, I was with him from seven o'clock till nearly twelve. It had been one of his most trying days. The pressure of office-seekers was greater at this juncture than I ever knew it to be, and he was almost worn out. Among the callers that evening was a party composed of two senators, a representative, an ex-lieutenant-governor of a Western State, and several private citizens. They had business of great importance, involving the necessity of the President's examination of voluminous documents. Pushing every thing aside, he said to one of the party, " Have you seen the Nasby papers?" "No, I have not," was the answer; "who is Nasby?" " There is a chap out in Oliio," returned the President, " who has been writing a series of letters in the newspapers over the signature of Pe- troleum V. Nasby. Some one sent me a pamphlet collection of them the other day. I am going to write to ' Petroleum ' to come down here, and I intend to tell him if he will communicate liis talent to me, I will sivap places with him !" Thereupon he arose, went to a drawer in his desk, and, taking out the " Letters," sat down and read one to the company, finding in their enjoyment of it the temporary ex- citement and relief which another man would have found in a glass of wine. The instant he had ceased, the book was thrown aside, his countenance relapsed into its habitual serious expression, and the busi- ness was entered upon with the utmost earnestness. AiNECDOTES AND REMINISCENCES. T i ■ J Just here, I may say with propriety, and I feel that it is (hio to Mr. Liiieohi's memory to state, tliat, dm-ing the entire period of my stay in \\'asliin<;-ton, after witnessing his intercourse with ahiiost all elasses of people, including governors, senators, members of Congress, offi- cers of the army, and familiar Ci-iends, I cannot recollect to have ever heard liim relate a circumstance to any one of them all that would liave been out of place uttered in a ladies' drawing-room ! I am aware that a different impression prevails, founded it may be in some instances upon facts; but where there is one fact of the kind lam persuai'])artiiiciit. While tluTi', the l( Icu-rani cmhc announcing the nomiualion of Johnson. "What," said hr In ihi' opcr ator, "do they noniinnlc a Vice- Tresident before they do a I'rcHidcMt?" " "Why," replied the astonisliod oflicial, " liave you not lieard of your- own nomination ? It was sent to the White House two liours ago " "It is all rig] it," replied the rrcsidcnt; "I shall prohahly find it on my return." Langliing pleasantly over this incident, he said, soon afterward : "A very singular occurrence took place the day I was nominated at Chi- cao-o, four years ago, which I am reminded of to-night. In the after- noon of the day, returning home from down town, I went up-stairs to Mrs. Lincoln's sitting-room. Feeling somewhat tired, I lay down upon a coucli in the room, directly opposite a bureau upon which was a looking-glass. As I reclined, my eye fell upon the glass, and I saw distinctly two images of myself, exactly alike, except that one was a little paler than the other. I arose, and lay down again, with the same result. It made me quite uncomfortable for a few moments; but some friends coming in, the matter passed out of my mind. The next day, while walking in the street, I was suddenly reminded of the cir- cumstance, and the disagreeable sensation produced by it returned. I had never seen any thing of the kind before, and did not know what to make of it. I determined to go home and place myself in the same position, and if the same effect was produced, I would make up my mind that it was the natural result of some principle of refraction or optics which I did not understand, and dismiss it. I tried the experi- ment, with the same result, and as I had said to myself, accounting fur it on some principle unknown to me, it ceased to trouble me. But," said he, " some time ago I tried to produce the same effect here, by arrano-inc' a glass and couch in the same position, without success." He did not say, as is asserted in the story as printed, that either he or Mrs. Lincoln attached any omen to it whatever. Neither did he say the double reflection was seen while he was walking about the room. On the contrary, it was only visible in a certain position, and at a cer- tain angle, and therefore, he thought, could be accounted for upon scien- tific principles. A distinguished public oiScer being in Washington, in an interview with the President, introduced the question of emancipation. " Well, you see," said Mr. Lincoln, " we've got to be very cautious how we manage the negro question. If we're not, we shall be like the barber out in Illinois, who was shaving a fellow with a hatchet face and lan- tern jaws like mine. The barber stuck his finger in his customer's 752 The Life of Abraham Lincoln. mouth to make his cheek stick out, but while shaving away he cut through the fellow's cheek and cut off his own finger ! If we are not very careful, we shall do as the barber did !" At the White House one day some gentlemen were present from the West, excited and troubled about the commissions or omissions of the Administration. The President heard them patiently, and then replied : — " Gentlemen, suppose all the property you were worth was in gold, and you had put it in the hands of Blondin to carry across the Niagara River on a rope, would you shake the cable, or keep shout- ing out to him — 'Blondin, stand up a little straighter — Blondin, stoop a little more — go a little faster — lean a little more to the north — lean a little more to the south?' No, you would hold your breath as well as your tongue, and keep your hands off until he was safe over. The Govemment are carrying an immense weight. Untold treasures are in their hands. They are doing the very best they can. Don't badger them. Keep silence, and we'll get you safe across." Being asked at another time by an " anxious" visitor as to what he would do in certain contingencies — provided the rebellion was not subdued after three or four years of effort on the part of the Govern ment — "Oh," said the President, "there is no alternative but to keep '■pegging'' away!'''' After the issue of the Emancipation Proclamation, Governor Morgan, of New York, was at the Wliite House one day, when the President said : — " I do not agree with those who say that slavery is dead. We are like whalers who have been long on a chase — we have at last got the harpoon into the monster, but we must now look how we steer, or, with one ' flop ' of his tail, he will yet send us all into eternity !" During a public "reception," a farmer, from one of the border counties of Virginia, told the President that the Union soldiers, in passiiio- his farm, had hel})ed themselves not only to hay, bat his horse, and he hoped the President would urge the proper officer to consider his claim immediately. Mr. Lincoln said that this reminded him of an old acquaintance of his, "Jack Chase," who used to be a lumberman on the Illinois, a steady, sober man, and the best raftsman on the river. It was quite a trick, twenty-five years ago, to take the logs over the rapids ; but he was skilful with a raft, ar.d always kept her straight in the channel Anecdotes and Reminiscenced. 753 Finally a steamer was put on, and Jack was made captain of her. He always used to take tbe wheel, u'oing through the rapids. One day when the boat was plunging and wallowing along the boiling cur- rent, and Jack's utmost vigilance was being exercised to keep her in the narrow channel, a boy pulled his coat-tail, and hailed him with — " Say, Mister Captain ! I wish you would just st(^p your boat a min- ute — I've lost my apple overboard !" The TiX'sident was once speaking about an attack made on him by the Committee on the Conduct of the War for a certain alleged blun- der, or something worse, in the Southwest — the matter involved being one which had fallen directly under the observation of the officer to whom he was talking, who possessed official evidence completely up- setting all the conclusions of the Committee. " Might it not be well for me," queried the officer, " to set this matter right in a letter to some paper, stating the facts as they actually transpired ?" " Oh, no," replied the President, " at least, not now. If I were to trv to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business. I do the very best I know how — the very best I can ; and I mean to keep doing so unt:. the end. If the end brings me out all right, what is said against me won't amount to any thing. If the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make iTo difference." A gentleman was relating to the President how a friend of his had been driven away from New Orleans as a Unionist, and how, on his expulsion, when he asked to see the writ by which he was expelled, the deputation which called on him told him that the Government had made up their minds to do nothing illegal, and so they had issued no illegal writs, and simply meant to make him go of his own freo will. "Well," said Mr. Lincoln, "that reminds me of a hotel-keeper down at St. Louis, who boasted that he never had a death in his hotel, for whenever a guest was dying in his house he carried him out to die in the gutter." One evening the President brought a couple of friends into the " State dining-room " to see my picture. Something was said, in the conversation that ensued, that " reminded" him of the following circum- stance : "Judge ," said he, "held the strongest ideas of rigid government and close construction that I ever met. It was said of uiui. on one occasion, that he would hanr/ a man for blowing his nose 4.8 754 The Life of Abraham Lincoln. in tlie street, but he would quash the indictment if it failed to specify which hand he blew it with !" On one occasion, in the Executive chamber, there were present a number of gentlemen, among them Mr. Seward. A point in the conversation suggesting the thought, Mr. Lincoln said : " Seward, you never heard, did you, how I earned ray first dol- lar ?" " No," said Mr. Seward. " Well," replied he, " I was about eighteen years of age. I belonged, you know, to what they call down South, the ' scrubs ;' people who do not own slaves are nobody there. But we had succeeded in raising, chiefly by my labor, suffi- cient produce, as I thought, to justify me in taking it down the river to sell. " After much persuasion, I got the consent of mother to go, and constructed a little flatboat, large enough to take a barrel or two of things, that we had gathered, with myself and little bundle, down to Now Orleans. A steamer was coming down the river. We have, you know, no wharves on the Western streams; and the custom was, if pas- sengers were at any of the landings, for them to go out in a boat, the steamer stopping and taking them on board. "I was contemplating my new flatboat, and wondering whether I could make it stronger or improve it in any particular, when two men came down to the shore in carriages with trunks, and looking at the different boats singled out mine, and asked, ' Who owns this ?' I answered, somewhat modestly, ' I do.' ' AVill you,' said one of them, ' take us and our trunks out to the steamer ?' ' Certainly,' said I. I was very glad to have the chance of earning something. I supposed that each of them would give me two or three bits. The trunks were put on my flatboat, the passengers seated themselves on the trunks, and I sculled tliem out to the steamboat. " They got on board, and I lifted up their heavy trunks, and put them on deck. The steamer was about to put on steam again, when I called out that they had forgotten to pay me. Each of them took from his pocket a silver half-dollar, and threw it on the floor of my boat. I could scarcely believe my eyes as I picked up the money. Gentlemen, you may think it was a very little thing, and in these days it seems to me a trifle ; but it was a most important incident in my life. I could scarcely credit that I, a poor boy, had earned a dollar iii less than a day — that by honest work I had earned a dollar. The world seemed wider and fairer before me. I was a more hopeful and confident being from that time." Anecdotes and IIeminiscences. 755 In August, 18G4, tlie President called for five Imndrod thousand more men. The country was much depressed. The rebels liad, in comparatively small force, only a short time before, been to the very gates of Washington, and returned almost unharmed. The Presidential election was impending. Many thought anotlicr call for men at such a time would injure, if not destroy, Mr. Lincoln's chances for re-election. A friend said as much to him one dav, after the President had told him of his purpose to make such a call. " As to my re-election," replied Mr. Lincoln, "it matters not. We must have the men. If I go down, I intend to go, like the Cumherland, with my colors flying !" A gentleman was one day finding fault with the constant agitation in Congress of the slavery question. He remarked that, after the adop- tion of the Emancipation policy, he had hoped for something new. " There was a man down in Maine," said the President, in reply, " who kept a grocery-store, and a lot of fellows used to loaf around that for their toddy. He only gave 'em New England rum, and they drank pretty considerable of it. But after a while they began to get tired of that, and kept asking for something new — something new — all the time. Well, one night, when the whole crowd were around, the grocer brought out his glasses, and says he, ' I've got something New for you to drink, boys, now.' ' Honor bright V said they. ' Honor bright,' says he, and with that he sets out a jug. 'Thar,' says he, ' that's something new ; it's New England rum !' says he. Now," re- marked Mr. Lincoln, " I guess we're a good deal like that crowd, and Congress is a good deal like that store-keeper!" About a week after tlie Chicago Convention, a gentleman from New York called upon the President, in company with the Assistant Secretary of War, Mr. Dana. In the course of conversation, the gentle- man said : " What do you think, Mr. President, is the reason General McClellan does not reply to the letter from the Chicago Convention ?" "Oh !" replied Mr. Lincoln, with a characteristic twinkle of the eye, "Ae is intrenching P'' On the occasion when the telegram from Cumberland Gap reached Mr. Lincoln that " firing was heard in the direction of Knoxville," he remarked that he was " glad of it." Some person present, who had the perils of Burnside's position uppermost in his mind, could not see why Mr. Lincoln should be glad of it, and so expressed himself. " Why, you see," responded the President, "it reminds me of Mistress 756 The Life of Abraham Lincoln. Sallie Ward, a neighbor of mine, wlio had a very lai'ge family. Occa- sionally one of lior numerous progeny would be heard crying in some out-of-the-way place, upon which Mrs. Ward would exclaim, 'There's one of mv childien that isn't dead yet !'" • "On Mr. Lincoln's reception-day, after the nomination," wrote Theodore Tilton, in a letter to the Independent, "his face wore an expression of satisfaction rather than elation. His reception of Mr. Garrison was an equal honor to host and guest. In alluding to our failure to find the old jail, he said, ' Well, Mr. Garrison, when you first went to Baltimore, you couldn't get out ; but the second time, you couldn't get «».' When one of us mentioned the great enthusiasm at the convention after Senator Morgan's proposition to amend the Con- stitution, abolishing slavery, Mr. Lincoln instantly said, ' It was I who suggested to Mr. Morgan that he should put that idea into his opening speech.' This was the very best word he has said since the procla- mation of freedom." In the spring of 1862, the President spent several days at Fortress Monroe, awaiting military operations upon the Peninsula. As a por- tion of the Cabinet were with him, that was temporarily the seat of government, and he bore with him constantly the burden of public affairs. His favorite diversion was reading Shakspeare, whom he rendered with fine discrimination of emphasis and feeling. One day (it chanced to be the day before the taking of Norfolk), as he sat read- ino- alone, he called to his aide * in the adjoining room — "You have been writing long enough, Colonel, come in here ; I want to read you a passage in Hamlet." He read the discussion on ambition between Hamlet and his courtiers, and the soliloquy, in which conscience de- bates of a future state. This was followed by passages from Macbeth. Then opening to King John, he read from the third act the passage in which Constance bewails her imprisoned, lost boy. Then closing the book, and recalling the words — " And, father cardinal, I have heard you say That we shall see and know our friends in heaven : If that be true, I sliall see my boy again " — Mr. Lincoln said : " Colonel, did you ever dream of a lost friend, and feel tliat you were holding sweet communion with that friend, and yet have a sad consciousness that it was not a reality ? — ^jnst so I dream of my boy Willie." Overcome with emotion, he dropped his head on the table, and sobbed filoud. * Colonel Le Grand B. Cannon, of General Wool's staflf. Anecdotes and Reminiscences. 757 A few days before tlie President' .s death, Secretary Stanton tendered his resignation of the War Department. He accompanied the act with a most heart-felt tribute to Mr. Liiicohi's constant fricndsliip and faith- ful devotion to the country, sayino;, also, that lie, as Secretary, had accepted the position to hoM it only until the war should end, ;ind that now he felt his work was done, and his duty was to resign. Mr. Lincoln was greatly moved by the Secretary's words, and tear- ing in pieces the paper containing the resignation, and throwing his arras about the Secretary, he said : " Stanton, you have been a good friend and a faithful public servant, and it is not for you to say when you will no longer be needed here." Several friends of both parties were present on the occasion, and there was not a dry eye that wit- nessed the scene. One of the last, if not the very last story told by President Lin- coln, was to one of his Cabinet who came to see him, to ask if it would be proper to permit Jake Thompson to slip through Maine in disguise and embark for Portland. The President, as usual, was disposed to be merciful, and to permit the arch-rebel to pass unmolested, but the Secretary urged that he should be arrested as a traitor. " By permit- tino- him to escape the penalties of treason," persistently remarked the Secretary, " you sanction it." "Well," replied Mr. Lincoln, " let me tell you a story. There was an Irish soldier here last summer, who wanted something to drink stronger than water, and stopped at a drug- shop, where he espied a soda-fountain. ' Mr. Doctor,' said he, ' give me, plase, a glass of soda-wather, an' if yes can put in a few drops of whiskey unbeknown to any one, I'll be obleeged.' Xow," continued Mr. Lincoln, " if Jake Thompson is permitted to go through Maine unbeknown to any one, what's tbe harm ? So don't have him arrested." It will be remembered that an extra session of Congress was called in July following Mr. Lincoln's inauguration. In the message then sent in, speaking of secession, and the measures taken by the South- ern leaders to bring it about, there occurs the following remark : — "With rebellion thus sugar-coated, they have been drugging the public mind of their section for more than thirty years, until at length they have brought many good men to a willingness to take up arms against the Government," &c. Mr. Defrees, the Government printer, told me that, when the message was being printed, he was a good deal disturbed by the use of the term " sugar-coated," and finally went to the President about it. Their relations to each other being of the most intimate character, he told Mr. Lincoln frankly, that he ought to 75S The Life of Abraham Lincoln. remember that a message to Conirress was a different affair from a speech at a mass-meeting in Illinois — that the messages became a part of history, and should be written accordingly. " What is the matter now ?" inquired the President. " Why," said Mr. Defrees, " you have used an undignified expres- sion in the message ;" and then, reading the paragraph aloud, he added, " I would alter the structure of that, if I were you." " Defrees," replied Mr. Lincoln, " that word expresses precisely my idea, and I am not going to change it. The time will never come in this country when the people won't know exactly what sugar-coated means 1" On a subsequent occasion, Mr. Defrees told me, a certain sentence of another message was very awkwardly constructed. Calling the President's attention to it in the proof-copy, the latter acknowledged the force of the objection raised, and said, "Go home, Defrees, and see if you can better it." The next day Mr. Defrees took in to him his amendment. Mr. Lincoln met him by saying: "Seward found the same fault that you did, and he has been rewriting the paragraph also." Then reading Mr. Defrees's version, he said : " I believe you have beat Seward ; but, ' I jings' " (a common expression with him), " I think T can beat you both." Then taking up his pen, he wrote the sentence as it was finally printed. A Congressman elect, from New York State^ was once pressing a matter of considerable importance upon Mr. Lincoln, urging his ofiicial action. " You must see Raymond about this," said the President (re- ferring to the editor of the New York Times); " he is my Lieutenant- General in politics. Whatever he says is right in the premises, shall be done." The evening before I left Washington, an incident occurred, illus- trating very perfectly the character of the man. For two days my large painting had been on exhibition, upon its completion, in the East Room, which had been thronged with visitors. Late in the after- noon of the second day, the "black-horse cavalry" escort drew up as usual in front of the portico, preparatory to the President's leaving for the " Soldiers' Home," where he spent the midsummer nights. While the carriage was waiting, I looked around for him, wishing to say a farewell word, knowing that I should have no other opportunity. Presently I saw him standing half-way between the portico and the gateway leading to the War Department, leaning against the iron fence — one arm thrown over the railing, and one foot on the stone coping which supports it, evidently having been intercepted, on his Anecdotes and Reminiscences. 759 way in, from the W;vr Department, by a plain-lookin<;- man, wlio was p;ivino- him, very dinidently, an account of a dilliciilty wliirh he had been unable to have rectitied. While waiting, 1 walked out leisurely to the President's side. He said very little to the man, but was intently studying the expression of his face while he was narrating his trouble. AVhen he had fiuished, Mr. Lincoln said to him, "Have you a blank cardT' The man searched his pockets, but finding none, a gentleman standing near, who had overheard the question, came forward, and said, " Here is one, Mr. President." Several persons had, in the mean time, gathered around. Taking the card and a pencil, Mr. Lincoln sat down upon the stone coping, which is not more than live or six inches above the pavement, presenting almost the appearance of sitting upon the pavement itself, and wrote an order upon the card to the propcjr official to " examine this man's case." While writing this, I observed several persons passing down the promenade, smiling at each other, at what I presume they thought the undignified appearance of the Head of the Nation, who, however seemed utterly unconscious, either of any impropriety in the action, or of attracting any attention. To me it was not only a touching picture of the native goodness of the man, but of innate nobility of character, exemplified not so much by a dis- regard of conventionalities, as in unconsciousness that there could be any breach of etiquette, or dignity, in the manner of an honest at- tempt to serve, or secure justice to a citizen of the Republic, however humble he may be. THE EMAN'CIPATION PROCLAMATION On the afternoon of Friday, February 5, 1864, T rang the bell of Mr. Lovejoy's boarding-house, on Fifteenth street, Washington. He ■was then very ill, though his friends did not apprehend that he was so near the close of his noble and faithful career. It is a sad satisfaction to me now to remember that one of the last acts of this good man's life was the writing, while sitting up in his bed, of the note introdu- cing me to Mr. Lincoln. My first interview with the President took place the next day, at the customary Saturday afternoon public recep- tion. Never shall I forget the thrill Avhich went through my v/hole being as I first caught sight of that tall, gaunt form through a distant door, bowed down, it seemed to me, even then, with the weight of the nation he carried upon his heart, as a mother carries her suflfering child, and thought of the place he held in the aftections of the peo- ple, and the prayers ascending constantly, day after day, in his behalf! The crowd was passing through the rooms, and presently it was my 760 The Life of Abraham Lincoln. turn and name to be announced. Greeting mc very jjleasantly, he soon afterward made, an appointment to see me in his official cham- ber, directly after the close of the " reception." The hour named found me at the well-remembered door of the apartment — that door watched daily, with so many conflicting emotions of hope and fear, by the miscellaneous throng gathered there. The President was alone, and already deep in official business, which was always pressing. He received me with the frank kindness and simplicity so characteristic of his nature; and, after reading Mr. Lovejoy's note, said: "Well, Mr. Carpenter, we will turn you in loose here, and try to giye you a good chance to work out your idea." Then giving me a place close beside his own arm-chair, he entered upon the account which I shall now attempt to write out, as nearly as possible in his own words, of the circumstances attending the adoption of the Emancipation policy. First, however, let me glance very briefly at the conditionof the coun- try at this juncture. The summer of 1862 was the gloomiest period of the war. After the most stupendous preparatiojjs known in modern warfare, McClel- lan, with an army of one hundred and sixty thousand men, had re- treated from the Peninsula, after the " seven days' " severe fighting before Richmond, and great depression followed the disappointment of the brilliant hopes of the beginning of the campaign. The "On to Richmond" had been succeeded by "Back to Washington;" and the Rebellion, flushed with success, was more defiant than ever ! Thus far, the war had been prosecuted by the Administration with- out touching slavery in any manner. The reasons for this are admi- rably set forth in Mr. Lincoln's letter to Colonel Hodges. Going over substantially the same ground on an occasion I well remember, Mr. Lincoln said : — " The paramount idea of the Consti- tution is the preservation of the Union. It may not be specified in so many words, but of this there can be no question ; for without the Union the Constitution would be worthless. The Union made the Constitution, not the Constitution the Union ! It seems clear that, if the emergency should arise that slavery, or any other institution, stood in the way of the maintenance of the Union, and the alterna- tive was presented to the Executive, of the destruction of one or the other, he could not hesitate between the two. I can now," he continued, "most solemnly assert that I did all in ray judgment that could be done to restore the Union without interfering with the insti- tution of slavery. We failed, and the blow at slavery was struck !" I now take up the history of the Proclamation itself, as Mr. Lin- Anecdotes and Reminiscences. 701 coin f^ave it to mo, on the occasion of our first interview, and written down by myself soon afterward : — "It had got to be," said he, "midsummer, 1862. Things had gone on from bad to worse, until I felt that we had reached the end of our rope on the plan of operations we had been pursuing; that we had about played our last card, and must change our tactics or lose the game ! I now determined upon the adoption of the. Emancipation policy ; and, without consultation with, or the. knowledge of the Cabinet, I prepared the original draft of the Proclamation ; and, after much anxious thought, called a Cabinet meeting upon the subject. This was the last of July, or the first part of the month of August, 1862." (Tlie exact date he did not remember.) " This Cabinet meet- ing took place, T think, upon a Saturday. All were present, except- ino- Mr, Blair, the Postmas'ter-General, who was absent at the open- ing of the discussion, but came in subsequently. I said to the Cabinet that I had resolved upon this step, and had not called them together to ask their advice, but to lay the subject-matter of a proclamation before them ; sugg-estions as to which would be in order, after they had heard it read. Mr. Lovejoy," said he, *' was in error when he informed you that it excited no comment, excepting on the part of Secretary Seward. Various suggestions were offered. Secretary Chase wished the langu.ige stronger in reference to the arming of the blacks. Mr. Blair, after he came in, deprecated the policy, on the ground that it would cost the Administration the fall elections. Nothing, however, was offered that I had not already fully anticipated and settled in my own mind, until Secretary Seward spoke. Said he : — ' Mr. President, I approve of the Proclamation, but I question the expedi- ency of its issue at this juncture. The depression of the public mind, consequent upon our repeated reverses, is so great, that I fear the eflfect of so hnportant a step, It may be viewed as the last measure of an exhausted Government — a cry for hc^lp ; the Government stretching forth its hands to Ethiopia, instead of Ethiopia stretching forth her hands to the Government.' His idea," said the President, " was, that it would be considered our last shriek on the retreat." (This was his precise expression.) " ' Now,' continued Mr. Seward, ' while I approve the measure, I suggest, sir, that you postpone its issue until you can give it to the country supported by military suc- cess, instead of issuing it, as would be the case now, upon the greatest disasters of the war !' " Said Mr. Lincoln : — " The wisdom of the view of the Secretary of State struck me with very great foice. It v as an aspect of the case that, in all my thought upon the subject, I had 762 The Life of Abraham Lincoln. entirely overlooked. The result was, that I put the draft of the Proc- lamation aside, as you do your sketch for a picture, waiting for a vic- tory. From time to time I added or changed a line, touching it up here and there, waiting the progress of events. Well, the next news we had was of Pope's disaster, at Bull Run. Things looked darker than ever. Finally, came the week of the battle of Antietam. I de- termined to wait no longer. The news came, I think, on Wednesday, that the advantage was on our side. I was then staying at the * Sol- diers' nome'" (three miles out of Washington). " Here I finished writing the second draft of the preliminary Proclamation ; came up on Saturday, called the Cabinet together to hear it, and it was published the following Monday. " It was a somewhat remarkable fact," he continued, " that there were just one hundred days between the dates of the two proclama- tions, issued upon the 22d of September and the 1st of January. I had not made the calculation at the time." At the final meeting on Saturday, another interesting incident oc- curred in connection with Secretary Seward. The President had writ- ten the important part of the Proclamation in these words : — " That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever, free ; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any effoi'ts they may make for their actual freedom." — *' When I finished reading this paragraph," resumed Mr. Lincoln, " Mr. Seward stopped me, and said : ' I think, Mr. President, that you should insert after the word " recognize,^'' in that sentence, the words " and maintain.'''' ' I replied that I had already fully considered the import of that expression in this connection, but I had not introduced it, because it was not my way to promise what I was not entirely sure that I could perform, and I was not prepared to say that I thought we were exactly able to ' maintain' this." "But," said he, " Mr. Seward insisted that we ought to take this ground ; and the words finally went in." Mr. Lincoln then proceeded to show me the various positions oc- cupied by himself and the diff'erent members of the cabinet on the occasion of the first meeting. " As nearly as I remember," said he, Anecdotes and Reminiscences. 76o " the Secretary of tlie Treasury and the Secretary of AVar were here, at my right hand — the others were grouped at the left." From the first, the President seemed raucli interested in my work , but as it progressed, his interest increased. lie was in tlie habit of bringing many friends in to see what advance I was making from day to day, and I have known him to come by himself as many as three or four times in a single day. It seemed a pleasant diversion to him to watch the gradual progress of the work, and his suggestions, though sometimes quaint and homely, were almost invariably excellent. Sel- dom was he heard to allude to any thing that might be construed into a personality in connection with any member of his Cabinet. On one occasion, however, I remember, with a sly twinkle of the eye, he turned to a senatorial friend whom he had brought in to see the pic- ture, and said : " Mrs. Lincoln calls Mr. Carpenter's group " The Happy Family^ At the end of about six months' incessant labor, the picture drew near completion. The curiosity of the public to see it was so great that, by special permission of Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln, it was placed in the "East Room," and, for two days, thrown open for free exhibition. At the close of the second day, just previous to the canvas being taken down and rolled up, the President came in to take, as he said, a " fare- well look at the picture." He sat in front of it for some time, and I asked him if he had aught of criticism to make. lie said he could suggest nothing whatever as to the portraiture — " the likenesses seemed to him absolutely perfect." I then called his attention to the accesso- ries of the picture, stating that these had been selected from the ob- jects in the Cabinet chamber with reference solely to their bearing upon the subject. " Yes," said he, " I sec the war-maps, the portfolios, the s/ai'e-map, and all ; but the book in the corner, leaning against the chair-leg, you have changed the title of that, I see." " Yes," I replied, " at the last moment I learned that you frequently consulted, during the period you were preparing the Proclamation, Solicitor Whiting's work on the ' War Powers of the President,' so I simply changed the title of the book, leaving the old sheepskin binding as it was." "Now," said he, " Whiting's book is not a regular law-book. It is all very well that it should be there ; but I would suggest that you change the character of the binding. It now looks like an old volume of United States Statutes." I thanked him for this criticism, and then said, "Is there any thing else that you would like changed ?" "I see nothing," said he; "all else is perfectly satisfactory to me. In my judgment, it is as good a piece of work as the subject will admit of." 7G4 The Life of Abraham Lincoln. And then, in his shnple-hearted, earnest way, he said to mo, " And I am right glad you have done it !" In February last, a few days after the passage of the " Constitutional Amendment," I was in Washington, and was received by Mr. Lincoln with the kindness and familiarity which had characterized our previ- ous intercourse. I said to him one day that I was very proud to have been the artist to have first conceived of the design of painting a pic- ture commemorative of the Act of Emancipation ; that subsequent occurrences had only confirmed my own first judgment of that act as the most sublime moral event in our history. " Yes," said — he and never do I remember to have noticed in him more earnestness of ex- pression or manner — " as affairs have turned, it is the central act of my Administration, and the great event of the nineteenth century." I remember to have asked him, on one occasion, if there was not some opposition manifested on the part of several members of the Cabinet to the Emancipation policy. He said, in reply : " Nothing more than I have stated to you. Mr. Blair thought we should lose the fall elections, and opposed it on that ground only." Said I, " I have understood that Secretary Smith was not in favor of your action. Mr. Blair told me that, when the meeting closed, he and the ScQretary of the Interior went away together, and that the latter told him, if the President carried out that policy, he might count on losing Indiana, sure !" " He never said any thing of the kind to me," returned the President. " And how," said I, " does Mr. Blair feel about it now ?" "Oh," was the prompt reply, "lie proved right in regard to the fall elections, but he is satisfied that we have since gained more than we lost." " I have been told," said I, " that Judge Bates doubted the constitutionality of the Proclamation. "" He never expressed such an opinion in my hearing," replied Mr. Lincoln. "No member of the Cabinet ever dissented from the policy, in any conversation with me." There was one marked element of Mr. Lincoln's character admirably expressed by the Hon. Schuyler Colfax, in his oration at Chicago upon his death: "When his judgment, which acted slowly, but which was almost as immovable as the eternal hills when settled, was grasping some subject of importance, the arguments against his own desires seemed uppermost in his mind, and, in conversing upon it, he would present those arguments, to see if they could be rebutted." In illustration of this, I need only here recall the fact that the in- terview between himself and the Chicago delegation of clergymen, appointed to urge upon him. the issue of a Proclamation of Emanci- pation, took place September 13, 1862, just about a month after the Anecdotes and Reminiscences. 765 rresident liad declared his establislied purpose to take this stop at tlie Cabinet meeting which I have described. He said to this commit- tee : "I do not want to issue a document that the whole world will see must necessarily be inoperative, like the ]N)pe's hull against the comet!" After drawing out their views upon the subject, he con- cluded the interview with these memorable words : — "Do not misunderstand me, because I have mentioned tlicse objec- tions. They indicate the ditBculties which have thus far prevented mv action in some such way as you desire. I have not deci'led against a proclamation of liberty to the slaves, but hold the matter under ad- visement. And I can assure you that the subject is on my mind, by day and night, more than any other. Whatever shall appear to be God's will, I will do ! I trust that, in the freedom with which I have canvassed your views, I have not in any respect injured your feelings," In farther illustration of this peculiarity of his mind, I will say here, to silence forever the cavils of those who have asserted that he was forced by the pressure of public opinion to nominate Mr. Chase as Judge Taney's successor, that, notwithstanding his apparent hesita- tion upon this subject, and all that was reported at the time in ihe newspapers as to the chances of the various candidates, it is a fact well known to several of his most intimate friends that "there had never been a time during his Presidency, that, in the event of the death t>f Judge Tanev, he had not fully intended and expected to nominate Salmon P. Chase for Chief Justice." These were his very words, ut- tered in this connection. Mr. Chase told me that at the Cabinet meeting, immediately after the battle of Antietam, and just prior to the issue of the September Proclamation, the President entered upon the business before them, by saying that " the time for the annunciation of the Emancipation policy could no longer be delayed. Public sentiment," he thought, " would sustain it, many of his warmest friends and suppDrters demanded it — and he had pro7nised his God that he would do it!'''' The last part of this was uttered in a low tone, and appeared to be heard by no one but Secretary Chase, who was sitting near him. He asked the Presi- dent if he correctly understood him. Mr. Lincoln replied : " I made a solemn vow before God that, if General Lee were driven back from Pennsylvania, I would crown the result by the declaration of freedom to the slaves !" In concluding this article, it will perhaps be expected that I should take some notice of an assertion, made originally in an editorial article in The Independent, upon the withdrawal of Mr. Chase from the polit- 766 The Life of Abraham Lincoln. ical canvass of 1864, and widely copied, in wliicli it was stated that tlie concluding paragraph of the Proclamation was from the pen of Secretary Chase. One of Mr. Lincoln's intimate friends (this incident was related to me by the gentleman himself), who felt that there was an impropriety in this publication, at that time, for which Mr. Chase was in some degree responsible, went to see the President about it. " Oh," said Mr. Lincoln, with his characteristic simplicity and freedom from all suspicion, " Mr. Chase had nothing to do with it ; I think / mentioned the circumstance to Mr. Tilton myself." The facts in the case are these : while the measure was pendino-, Mr. Chase submitted to the President a draft of a proclamation, em- bodying his views upon the subject, which closed with the appropriate and solemn words referred to : " And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice warranted by the Constitution, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God !" Mr. Lincoln adopted this sentence intact, excepting that he inserted after the word "Constitution" the words "upon military necessity." Thus is ended what I have long felt to be a duty I owed to the world — the record of circumstances attending the preparation and issue of the third great state paper which has marked the progress of our Anglo-Saxon civilization. First, is the " Magna Charta," wrested by the barons of England from King John ; second, the " Declaration of Independence ;" and third, worthy to be placed upon the tablets of history, side by side with the two first, is " Abraham Lincoln's Proclamation of Eman- cipation." President Lincoln's Letters. APPENDIX. A. LETTERS ON SUNDRY OCCASIONS. TO MR. UODGES, OF KENTUCKY. Executive Mansion, Washington, April 4, 1SG4. A. Gr. Hodges, Esq., Frankfort, Kentucky: Mt Dear Sir :— You ask me to put in writing tlie substance of what I verbally said the other day, in your presence, to Governor Bramlette and Senator Dixon. It was about as follows: — I am naturally anti-slavery. If slavery is not wron2:,_ nothing is wrong. I cannot remember when I did not so think and feel, and yet I have never understood that the Presidency conferred upon me an un- restricted right to act officially upon this judgment and feeling. It was in the oath I took that I would to the best of my ability preserve, pro- tect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. I could not take the office without taking the oath. Nor was it my view that I might take an oath to get power, and break the oath in nsing the power.^ 1 understood, too, that in ordinary civil administration this oath even for- bade me to practically indulge my primary abstract judgment on tlie moral question of slavery. I had publicly declared this many tiines, and in many ways. And I aver that, to tliis day, I have done no official act in mere deference to my abstract judgment and feeling on slavery. I did understand, however, that my oath to preserve the Constitution to the best of my ability, imposed upon me the duty of preserving, by every indispensable means, that government, that nation, of which that Con- stitution was the organic law. Was it possible to lose the nation and yet preserve the Constitution ? By general law, life and limb must be protected; yet often a limb must be amputated to save a life; but a hie is never wisely given to save a limb. I felt that measures, otherwise unconstitutional, might become lawful, by becoming indispensable to the preservation of the Constitution, through the preservation of the nation. Eight or wrong, I assumed this ground, and now avow it. I could not feel that to the best of my ability I had even tried to preserve the Con- stitution, if, to save slavery, or any minor matter, I should permit the wreck of government, country, and Constitution, altogether, \\hen, early in the war, General Fremont attempted military emancipation, 1 forbade it, because I did not then think it an indispensable necessity. When, a little later, General Cameron, then Secretary of War, suggested the arming of the blacks, I objected, because I did not yet think it an indispensable necessity. When, still later. General Hunter atteiupteu military emancipation, I again forbade it, because I did not yet think ttie 76 S The Life of Abraham Lincoln. iudis[)ensab]e necessity had come. When, in March, and May, and July. 1862, I made earnest and successive appeals to the Border States to favor compensated emancipation, I believed the indispensable neces- sity for military emancipation and arming the blacks would come, unless averted by that measure. They declined the proposition, and I was, in my best judgment, driven to the alternative of either surrendering the Union, and with it tlie Constitution, or of laying strong hand upon the colored element. I. chose the latter. In choosing it, I hoped for greater gain than loss, but of this I was not entirely confident. More than a year of trial now shows no loss by it in our foreign relations, none in our home popular sentiment, none in our white military force, no loss by it any how, or anywhere. On the contrary, it shows a gain of quite one hundred and thirty thousand soldiers, seamen, and laborers. These are palpable facts, about which, as facts, there can be no cavil ling. "We have the men ; and we could not have had them without the measure. And now let any Union man who complains of the measure, test him- self by writing down in one line, that he is for subduing the rebellion by force of arms; and in the next, that he is for taking one hundred and thirty thousand men from the Union side, and placing them where they would be but for the measure he condemns. If he cannot face his case so stated, it is only because he cannot face the truth. I add a word which was not in the verbal conversation. In telling this tale, I attempt no compliment to my own sagacity. I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me. Now, at the end of three years' struggle, the nation's condition is not what either party, or any man, devised or expected. God alone can claim it. Whither it is tending, seems plain. If God now wills the re- moval of a great wrong, and wills also that we of the North, as well as you of the South, shall pay fairly for our complicity in that wrong, im- partial history will tind therein new causes to attest and revere the jus- tice and goodness of God. Yours truly, (Signed) A. Li;^ooln. TO GENERAL HOOKER. The following letters were written by the President to General Hooker soon after the latter had succeeded General Burnside in command of the Army of the Potomac. The first was written just after the battle of Ohancellorsville, as follows : — Warui:ngton, 2 r. m. — May 8, 1863. General Hooker: — The news is here of the capture by our forces of Grand Gulf, a large and very important thing. General Willich, an exchanged prisoner just from Eichmond, has talked with me this morn- ing. He was there when our cavalry cut the roads in that vicinity. He says there was not a sound pair of legs in Pkichmond, and that our men, had they known it, could have safely gone in and burnt every thing and brought Jeff. Davis, captured and paroled three or four hundred men He says as he came to City Point there was an army three miles long — Longstreet, he thought, moving towards Richmond. Milroy has captured a dispatch of General Lee, in which he says his loss was fearful in his late battle with you. A. Lincoln. After the battle of Chancellorsville General Hooker withdrew his forces to the north side of the Rappahannock, and received the following from the President : — Letters to General Hookek. TGI) Executive Mansion, AVashini/ion, Miiij 14, 1803. Mt De.vr Sir: — When I wrote on the 7th I hud an impression tliat possibly, by an early movement, you could get some advantaj^e, iroiii the supposed facts that the enemy's communications were disturbed, aiul tliat he was somewhat deranged in ])osition. That idea has now passed away, the enemy having re-established his communications, regained his posi- tions, and actually received re-enforcements. It does not now ai)pear to me probable tbat you can gain any thing by an early renewal of the at- tempt to cross the Kappahannock. I therefore shall not complain if you do no more for a time than to keej) the enemy at bay, and out of 'other mischief, by menaces and occasional cavalry raids, if i)racticable, and to put your own army in good condition again. Still, if, in your own clear judgment, you can renew the attack successfully, I do not mean to re- strain you. Bearing upon this last point I must tell you T have some pain- ful intimations that some of your cor])s and division commanders are not giving you their entire confidence. This would be ruinous if true, and you should, therefore, first of all, ascertain the real facts beyond all possi- bihty of doubt. Yours truly, A. Lincoln. Both armies remained inactive till the 5iu Mf June, when General Hooker wrote to the President that appearances indicated an advance by General Lee. The President answered him as follows : — Jane 5, 1S63 Major-Geneeal Hooker: — Yours of to-day was received an hour ago. So much of professional military skill is requisite to answer it, that I have turned the task over to General Halleck. He promises to perform it witli his utmost care. I have but one idea which I think worth sug- gesting to you, and that is, in case you find Lee coming to the nortlrof the Rappahannock, I would by no means cross to the south of it. If he should leave a rear force at Fredericksburg, tempting you to fall upon it, it would fight in intrenchments and have you at advantage, and so, man for man, wors't you at that point, while his main force would in some way be getting an advantage of you northward. In one word, I would not take any risk of being entangled up on the river lihe an oi' jumped half over a fence and liable to he torn Jjy dwjs front and rear irithout a fair chance to gore one way or to kick the other. If Lee would come to my side of the river I would keep on the same side and fight liim, or act on the defensive, according as might be my es- timate of his strength relatively to my own. But these are mere sugges- tions, which I desire to be controlled by the judgment of yourself and General Halleck. A. Lincoln. By the 10th of June Lee's forward movement was well developed. The President's views as to the proper course to be pursued by our army remained as before, and he sent the following letter expressing them : — Washington, D. C, June 10, 1S63. Major-General Hooker : — Your long dispatch of to-day is just re- ceived. If left to me, I would not go south of the Rappahannock upon Lee's moving north of it. If you had Richmond invested to-day you would not be able to take it in twenty days ; meanwhile your communi- cations, and with them your army, would be ruined. I think Lee's army, and not Richmond, is your true objective point. If he comes towards the Upper Potomac, follow on his flank, and on the inside track, shortening 49 V70 The Life of Abraham Lincoln. your lines wliile he lengthens his. Fight him, too, when opportunity otters. If he stay where he is^fret him and fret him. A. Lincoln. Lee's advance was to the northwest, through the Valley of the Shenan- doah. Ills advance was heard of far down that valley while yet his rear was near Fredericksburg, and on the 14tli the President wrote to General Hooker as follows : — Washington, D. C, June 14, 1863. Major-General Hooker: — So for as we can make out here, the enemy have Milroy surrounded at Winchester, and Tyler at Martins- burg. If they could hold out a few days, could you help them? If the liead of Lee's array is at Martinsburg and the tail of it on the plank- road between Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, the animal tnust ie very slim somewhere ; could you not break him? A. Lincoln. HON. JOHN minor BOTTS, The following brief letter, written during the first Presidential canvass, shows what were Mr. Lincoln's views in regard to the action of the South- ern States in the event of his election : — Spkinofield, III., Au(;ust 15, 1S60. Mt Dear Sir : — Yours of the 9th, enclosing the letter of Hon. John .Minor Botts. was duly received. The latter is herewith returned according to your request. It contains one of the many assurances I receive from the South, that in no probable event will there be any very formidable effort to, break up the Union. The people of the South have too much of good sense and good temper to attempt the ruin of the Government rather than see it administered as it was administered by the men who made it. At least, so I hope and believe. I thank you both for your own letter and a sight of that of Mr. Botts. Yours very truly, A. Lincoln. John B. Fry, Esq. TO GOVERNOR MAGOFFIN. In August, 1861, Governor Magoffin, of Kentucky, urged the removal by tlie President of the Union troops which had been raised and were en- camped within that State. To this request he received the following reply : — ■Washington, D. C, August 24, 1861 To His Excellency B. Magoffin, Governor of the State of Kentucky Sir: — Your letter of the 19th instant, in which you "urge the removal from the limits of Kentucky of the military force now organized and in camp within that State, is received. I may not possess full and precisely accurate knowledge upon this sub- ject, but I believe it is true that there is a military force in camp within Kentucky, acting by authority of the United States, which force is not very large, and is not now being augmented. I also believe that some arms have been furnished to this force by the United States. Letter to Count Gasparin. 771 I also believe that this force consists exclusively' of Keutiickiaiis, having their cainp in the iniinediuto vicinity of their own homes, and not assail- ing or nienacin.iz; any of the j^ood people of Kentucky. In all I have done in the premises, I have acted ui)on the urgent solici- tation oj" many Kentuckians, and in accordance with what I believed, and still believe, to be the wish of a majority of all the Union-loving people of Kentucky. AVliile I have conversed on the subject with many eminent men of Kentucky, including a large majority of her members of Congress, I do not remember that any one of them, or any other person, except your Excellency and the bearers of your Excellency's letter, has urged me to remove the military force from Kentucky or to disband it. One other very worthy citizen of Kentucky did solicit me to have the augmenting of tlie force suspended for a time. Taking all the means within my reach to form a judgment, I do not believe it is the pojiular wish of Kentucky that the force shall be re- moved beyond her limits, and, with this impression, I must respectfully decline to remove it. I most cordially sympathize with your Excellency in the wish to i)ro- sei've the peace of my own native State, Kentucky, but it is with regret I search for, and cannot find, in your not very short letter, any declara- tion or intimation that you entertain any desire for the preservation of the Federal Union. Abraham Lincoln. TO COUNT GASPARIN. The following letter addressed by President Lincoln to the Count de Gasparin, one of the warmest friends of the United States in Europe, who had written to the President concerning the state of the country, will be read with interest : — Executive Mansion, Washington, August 4, ISG'2. To Count A. de Gasparin: Dear Sir: — Your very acceptable letter dated Orbe, Canton de A^aud, Switzerland, 18th of July, 1862, is received. The moral effect w^as the worst of the affair before Richmond, and that has run its course down- ward. We are now at a stand, and shall soon be rising again, as we hope. I believe it is true that, in men and material, the enemy sutfered more than we in that series of conflicts, while it is certain he is less able to bear it. With us every soldier is a man of cliaracter, and must be treated with more consideration than is customary in Europe. Hence our great army, for slighter causes than could liave prevailed there, has dwindled rapidly, bringing the necessity for a new call earlier than was antici- pated. We shall easily obtain the new levy, however. Be not alarmed if you shall learn that we shall have resorted to a draft for part ot this. It seems strange even to me, but it is true, that the Government is now pressed to this course by a popular demand. Thousands w^ho wish not to personally enter the service, are nevertheless anxious to pay and send substitutes^^ provided they can have assurance that unwilling per- sons, similarly situated, will be compelled to do likewise. Besides this, volunteers mostly choose to enter newly forming regiments, while drafted men can be sent to till up the old ones, wherein man for man they are quite doubly as valuable. You ask, "why is ll that the Xorth with her great armies so often is found with inferiority of numbers face to face witli the armies of the 772 The Life of Abraham Lincoln. South?" "Wliile I painfully know the fact, a military man, which I am not, would better answer the question. The fact I. know has not been overlooked, and I suppose the cause of its continuance lies mainly in the other fact that the enemy holds the interior and we the exterior lines ; and that we operate where the people convey information to the^enemy, while he operates where they convey none to us. I have received the volume and letter which you did me the honor of addressing to me, and for which please accept my sincere thanks. You are much admired in America for the ability of your writings, and much loved for your generosity to us and your devotion to liberal principles generally. you are quite right as to the importance to us for its bearing upon Europe, that we should achieve military successes, and the same is true for us at home as well as abroad. Yet it seems unreasonable that a series of successes, extending through half a year, and clearing more than a hundred thousand square miles of country, should help us so little, while a single half defeat should hurt us so much. But let us be patient. I am very happy to know that my course has not conflicted with your judgment of propriety and policy. I can only say that I have acted upon my best convictions, without selfishness or malice, and that by the help of God I shall continue to do so. Please be assured of my highest respect and esteem. A. Lincoln. B. THE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL McCLELLAN. The transfer of General McClellan's army from the Potomac, where it lay in front of the rebels at Manassas, was a movement of so much im- portance, and has given rise to so much controversy, that we append, for its further elucidation, a memorandum made by Major-General McDowell of the private discussions which preceded it. A copy of this memorandum was given by General McDowell, in the spring of 1864, to Mr. Raymond, and by him, some months afterwards, submitted to the President. The manuscript was returned by the latter, with the following indorsement : — T well remember the meetings herein narrated. See nothing for me to object to in the narrative as being made by General McDowell, except tlie phrase attributed to me "o/ the Jacohinism of Congress,^'' which phrase I do not remember using literally or in substance, and which I wish not to be published in any event. A. Lincoln. October 1, 1864. The following is the MEMORANDUM OF GENERAL McDOWELL. January 10, 1802. — At dinner at Arlington, Virginia. Received a note from the Assistant Secretary of War, saying the President wished to see me that evening at eigiit o'clock, if I could safely leave my post. Soon after, I received a note from Quartermaster-General Meigs, marked "Pri- The PiiKsiw-NT and General INIcClkllan. 773 Viite ami contidoiitinl,'" sayiiii^' the I'rcsideut wished to sec me. Noto lieivwith. Kei)aiiX'd to the President's house at eif,4it o'clock i'. m. Found the President alone. Was taken into the small room in the northeast corner. Soon after, we were joined by Bri.^adier-General Franklin, the Secretary of State, Governor Seward, the Sem-etary of the Treasury, and the Ah- eistant Secretary of War. The President was greatly disturbed at the state of alfairs. Spoke of the cxiiausted ct)ndition of the Treasury ; of the loss of public credit; of the Jacobinism in Congress; of the delicate con- dition of our foreign relations; of the bad news he had received iVom the West, particularly as contained iu a letter from General Ilalleck on the state of alfairs in Missouri; of tlie want of co-operation between General Ilalleck and General Buell ; but, more than all, the sickness of General McCIellan. The President said he was in great distress, and, as he had been to General McClellan's house, and the General did not ask to see him, and as he mu?it talk to somebody, he had sent for General Franklin and my- self, to obtain our opinion as to the possibility of soon commencing active operations with the Army of the Potomac. To use his own expression, if something was not soon done, the bottom would be out of the whole atfair; and, if General McCIellan did not want to use the army, he would like to '• borrow it,^'' provided he could see how it could be made to do something. The Secretary of State stated the substance of some information lie considered reliable, as to the strength of the forces on the other side, which he had obtained from an Englishman from Fortress Monroe, Rich- mond, Manassas, and Centreville, which was to the eftect that the enemy had twenty thousand men under Huger at Norfolk, thirty thousand at Centreville, and, in all, in our front an etfective force, capable of being brought up at short notice, of about one hundred and three thousand men — men not suti'ering, but well shod, clothed, and fed. In answer to the question from the President, what could soon be done with the army, T replied that the question as to the iclien must be preceded by the one as to the hoic and the where. That, substantially, I would organize the army into four army corps, placing the five divisions on the Wasliington side on the right bank. Place three of these corps to the front, the right at Vienna or its vicinity, the left beyond Fairfax Statiqn, the centre beyond Fairfax Court-House, and connect the latter place with the Orange and Alexandria Railroad by a railroad now partially thrown up. This would enable us to supply these corps without the use of horses, except to dis- tribute what was brought up by rail, and to act upon the enemy without reference to the bad state of country roads. The railroads all lead to the enemy's position. By acting upon them in force, besieging his strongholds, if necessary, or getting between them, it possible, or making the attempt to do so, and pressing his left. I thought we sliould, in the first place, cause him to bring up all his forces, and mass them on the flank mostly pressed — the left— and, ])0ssibly, I thought probably, we should again get them out of their works, and bring on a general engagement on favorable terms to us, at all events keeping him fully occupied and harassed. The fourth corps, in connection with a force of heavy guns afloat, would operate on his right flank, beyond the Occoquau, get behind the batteries on the Potomac, take Aquia, which, being supported by the Third Corps over the Occoquan, it could safely attempt, and then move on the railroad from Manassas to the Rappahan- nock. Having a large cavalry force to destroy bridges, I thought by the use of one hundred and thirty thousand men thus employed, and the 774 The Life of Abraham Lincoln. great facilities which the raih-oads gave us, and the compact position we sliould occujiy, we must succeed by repeated blows in crushing out the force in our front, even if it were equal in numbers and strength. The road by the Fairfax Court-IIouse to Centreville would give us the means to bring up siege mortars and siege materials, and even if we could not accomplish the object immediately, by making the campaign one of posi- tions instead of one of manoeuvres, to do so eventually, and without risk. That this saving of wagon transportation should be effected at once, by connecting the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad with the Alexandria roads by running a road over the Long Bridge. That when all this conld be commenced, I could better tell when I knew something more definite as to the general condition of the army. General Franklin being asked, said he was in ignorance of many things necessary to. an opinion on the subject, knowing only as to his own division, which was ready for the field. As to the plan of operations, on being asked by the President if he had ever thought what he would do with this army if he had it, he replied that he had, and that it was his judgment that it should be taken — what could be spared from the duty of protecting the capital — to Yorh River to operate on liichmond. The (piestion then came up as to the means at hand of transporting a large part of the army by water. The Assistant Secretary of War said the nicans had been fully taxed to provide transportation for twelve thousand men. After some further conversation, and in reference to our ignorance of the actual condition of the army, the President wished we should come together the next night at eight o'clock, and that General Franklin and I should meet in the mean time, obtain such further information as we might need, and to do so from tlie stalf of the head-quarters of the x\rmy of the Potoniac. Immediate orders were to be given to make the rail- road over Long Bridge. January \\. — Held a meeting with General Franklin in the morning at the Treasury building, and discussed the question of the operations which in our judgment were best under existing circumstances of season, pres- ent position of the forces, present condition of the country, to be under- taken before going into the matter as to when those operations could be set on foot. I urged that we should now find fortifications in York Piver, Avhich would require a movement in that direction to be preceded by a naval force of heavy guns to clear them out, as well as the works at West Point. That liichmond was now fortified, that we could not hope to carry it by a simple march after a successful engagement, that we should be obliged to take a siege train with us. That all this would take time, which would be improved by the enemy to mass his forces in our front, and we should find that we had not escaped any of the difficulties we have now before this position, but simply lost time and money to find those difficulties where we should not have so strong a base to operate from, nor so many facilities, nor so large a force as we have here, nor, in proportion, so small a one to overcome. That the war now had got to be one of positions till we should penetrate the line of the enemy. That to overcome him in front, or cut his communication with the South, would, by its moral as well as physical efl:ect, prostrate the enemy, and enable us to undertake any future operations with ease and certainty of success ; but that, in order of time as of importance, the first thing to be done was to overcome this army in our front, which is beleaguering our capital, blockading the river, and covering us day by day with the re- proach of impotence, and lowering us in the eyes of foreign nations and of our people, botli North and South, and that nothing but what is not necessary for this purpose should go elsewhere. The President and General McClellan. 775 General Franklin suggested whether Governor Chase, in view of winit we were charged to do, might not be at liberty to tell us where (kiiural Burnside's expedition liad gone. I went and asked him. lie told mo that under the circumstances he felt he ought to do so, and said he was destined for Newbern, North Carolina, by way of llatteraa Inlut und Pamlico Sound, to operate on llaleigh and Beaufort, or eitiker ' f tlium. Tiuit General McCleilaii had, by direction of the President, ac(piaintcd him with his plan, wliich w^as to go with a large part of this Army of the Potomac to Urbana or Toppaiiannock, on the Pappalianuock, and then witl\ his bridge train move directly on Richmond. On further consulta- tion with General Franklin, it was agreed that our incpiiries were to be directed to both cases, of going from our present i)osition, and of remov- ing the large part of the force to another base further South. A question was raised by General Franklin, whctlier, in deference to General McClellan, we should not inform him of the duty we were or- dered to ])erform. } said the order 1 received was marked "private and contidential," and as tliey came from the President, our Commander-in- Chief, I conceived, as a common superior to General McClellan and both of us, it was for the President to say, and not us, and that I would con- sult the Secretary of the Treasury, who was at hand, and could tell us what, was the rule in the Cabinet in sucli matters. The Secretary was of o[>inion that tiie nnvtter lay entirely with the President. "We went to Colonel Kingsbury, Chief of Ordnance of the Army of the Potomac, Brigadier-General Van Vliet, Chief Quartermaster, and Major Shivers, Commissary of Subsistence, and obtained all the information desired. Met at the President's in the evening at eight o'clock. Present the same as on the first day, with the addition of the Postmaster-General, Judge Blair, who came in after the meeting had begun the discussion. I read the annexed paper, marked (A), as containing botli General Frank- lin's and my own views, General Franklin agreeing with me, in view of time, &c., required to take this army to another base, that the operation could best now be undertaken from the present base, substantially as pro- posed. The Postmaster-General opi)osed the plan, and was for having tlie army, or as much of it as could be s])ared, go to York River or For- tress Monroe, either to operate against Richmond, or to Suffolk and cut otf iSTorfolk, that being in his judgment the point (Fortress ^lonroe or York) from which to make a decisive blow ; that the plan of going to the front from this position was Bull Run over again, that it was strategically defective as was the eftbrt last July, as tiien we would have the operations upon exterior lines, and that it involved too much risk; that there was not as nmch difficulty as had been supposed in removing the army down the Chesapeake ; that only from the Lower Chesapeake could anything decisive result against the army at Manassas; that to drive them from their present position by operating from our present base would only force them to another behind the one they now occupy, and we should have all our work to do over again. Mr. Seward thought if we only had a victory over them, it would answer, whether obtained at Manassas, or further South. Governor Chase replied, in general terms, to Judge Blair, to the effect that the moral power of a victory over the enemy in his present position would be as great as one elsewhere, all else equal ; and the danger lay in the probability that we should find, after losing time and millions, that we should have as many difficulties to overcome below as we now have above. The President wished to have General Meigs in consultation on the subject of providing water transportation, and desired General Franklin 776 The Life of Abraham Lincoln. and myself to see liim in tlie morning, and meet again at three o'dock p. M. the next day. January 12. — Met General Franklin at General Meigs's. Conversed with liim on the suhject of our mission at his own house. I expressed my views to General Meigs, who agreed with me in the main as to con- centrating our etlbrts against the enemy in front by moving against him from our present position. , As to the time in which he could assemble water trans])ortatiou for thirty thousand men, he thought in about from four to six weeks. Met at the President's. General Meigs mentioned the time in which he could assemble transports as a mouth to six weeks. The general sub- ject of operations from the present base was again discussed, General Meigs agreeing that it Vv^as best to do so, and to concentrate our forces for the purjjose. The President and Mr. Seward said that General Mc- Clellan had been out to see the President, and was looking quite well ; aud that now, as he was able to assume the charge 06 the army, the Pres- ident would drop any further proceedings with us. The general drift of the conversation was as to the propriety of moving the army further South, and as to the destination of Burnside's expedition. The Postmas- ter-General said that if it was the intention to fight out here (Manassas), then we ought to concentrate. It was suggested and urged somewhat on the President to countermand, or to have General McClellan counter- mand, General Burnside's expedition, and bring it up to Acquia. The President was, however, exceedingly averse from interfering, saying he disliked exceedingly to stop a thing long since planned, just as it was ready to strike. Nothing was done but to appoint another meeting the next 'day at 11 o'clock, when we were to meet General McClellan, and again discuss the question of the movement to be made, &c., &c. January 13, Monday. — Went to the President's with the Secretary of the Treasury. Present, the President, Governor Chase, Governor Seward, Postmaster-General, General McClellan, General Meigs, General Frank- lin, aud myself, and I think the Assistant Secretary of War. The Presi- dent, pointing to a map, asked me to go over the plan I had beft)re spoken to him of. He, at the same time, made a brief explanation of how he came to bring General Franklin and General McDowell before him. I mentioned, in as brief terms as possible, what General Franklin and I Juid done under the President's order, what our investigations had been directed upon, and what were our conclusions, giving as nearly as I could the substance of the paper hereto annexed, marked (B), referring to going to the front from our present base in the way I have hereinbefore stated, referring also to a transfer of a part of the army to another base further south ; that we liad been informed that the latter movement could not be commenced under a month to six weeks, and that a movement to the front could be undertakeu in all of the present week. ' General Franklin dissented-only as to the time I mentioned for beginning operations in the front, not thinking we could get the roads in order by that time. I added, commence operations in all of the week, to which he assented. I concluded my remarks by saying something apologetic in explanation of the position in which we were, to which General McClellan replied somewhat coldly, if not curtly : " You are entitled to have any opinion you please!" No discussion was entered into by him whatever, the above being the only remark he made. General Franklin said, that, in giving his opinion as to going to York River, he did it knowing it was in the direction of General McClellan'a plans. I said that I had acted entirely in the dark. The PiiESiDEXT and GeiNeral McCleli.an. 777 General Meii>-s si)okc of his.aijjcncy in having us callud in hy tho Presi- dent. Tlie President tlien askod what and when any thing eonld he done, again going over somewhat the same ground he had done witli General Franklin and myself. General McClellan said the case was so clear a hiind man could sec it, and then spoke of the difficulty of ascertaining what force lie could count upon; that he did not know whether lie could let Generul Duller go to Ship Island, or whether he could re-enforce General Burnside. Muc^i con- versation ensued, of rather a general character, as to the discrep«incy hetween the numher of men paid for and the number ctfective. The Secretary of the Treasury then put a direct question to General McClellan, to the effect as to what he intended doing with iiis army, and when he intended 5oing it. After a long silence, General McClellan an- swered that the movement in Kentucky was to precede any one from thin place, and that that movement might now hQj'orced. That he had directed General Buell, if he could not iiire wagons for his transportation, that ho must take them. After another pause, he said he must say he was very unwilling to develop his i)lans, always believing that in military matters the fewer persons who were knowing to them the better; that he would tell them if he was ordered to do so. The President then asked liim if he had counted upon any particular time; he did not ask what that time was, but had he in -his own mind any particular time fixed, when a move- ment could be commenced, lie replied he had. " Then," rejoined the President, " I will adjourn this meeting." Exhibit A. Memoranda on which to base an ojnnion, required hy the President, as to when the Army of the Potomac can assume offensive ojyeratioTis. The time of moving depends on whether the army is in whole, or in great part, to be removed by water to another base of operations to the south ; or, whether it is to move against the enemy now immediately in its front. General Franklin favored the tirst, and I inclined to the second. Inquiries were directed in each case. 1st. — If the base is to be changed to York River, as has been suggested, the advance would have to be accompanied by a fleet with heavy guns, to silence the batteries in York River and the works at its head, and to keep tlie river from being obstructed as is the Potomac at this time. To organize such a tleet I should think would require more time than the present state of affairs would permit. To land the force this side of York River with a view to turn the head of it at West Point would require additional land transportation, and a heavy additional item for the means to pass the rivers (perhaps in face of an enemy) between the point of debarkation and Richmond, which is supposed as the objective point in such a campaign. As Richmond is fortified, a siege train and materials would be required. In considering the quantity of land transportation required to move on Richmond from any point of debarkation this side of York River, it should be kept in mind that at this season in this climate the roads are heavy ; and, when used by large trains of artillery or baggage, impassable, unless corduroyed, and, as the army could not move on only one road, to make several would take time, which would be improved by the enemy to mass forces in the front. It would be difficult, if not imiiossible, to conceal from -the enemy our point of landing ; and he is at this time expecting us at York, where he has already a considerable force, and to which, from 778 The Life of Abraham Lincoln. Pticlniioiid, he has a railroad upon which to bring re-enforceinents, and a raih-oad coninuiiiication to Acquia Greek and liis main force at Manassas. It would therefore be necessary to land, in the first place, with a heavy force, to avoid the disaster of being overwhelmed and driven into the bay. The Chief of the Quartermaster's Department at the head-quarters of the Army of the Potomac, Brigadier-General Van Vliet estimates that with every exertion, and taking canal-boats, brigs, &c., &c., to be found in the waters of the Chesapeake and Delaware, he could assemble trans- portation, for thirty thousand men, in about twenty days from the time he should rftc'*'''e the order. Nothing is on hand save what is in cur- rer.t ase nere on the Potomac. The above estimate does not include any land transportation for the troops after their debarkation, nor any for the horses of the cavah-y, but only for the troops and their baggage and sub- sistence. The Assistant Secretary of AVar, I understand, is of opinion that all the available means of water transportation would be fully taxed to provide for even twelve thousand men. In view of the difficulties mentioned, and unforeseen delays, always sure to happen, I do not think a move by water of so large a force as I deem necessary could be counted upon under a month. To move against the enemy in front, we have thirteen divisions, of about ten thousand men each, and General Banks's Division at Fred- erick. There is for this force four thousand four hundred wagons ready for service. If we use the railroads out of Alexandria, and connect them over the Long Bridge with the Baltimore Railroad, about two thousand of these wagons and ten thousand animals may be dispensed with, certainly for the present. Of artillery there is sufficient (three hundred and fifty pieces). Of artillery ammunition there is sufficient to begin with, good for all but New York regiments. Twelve thousand three hundred and forty new Austrian and fifteen to twenty thousand rifles in New York ; ammu- nition for the latter, none for the former. Small-arms ammunition sufficient to commence with. Siege train : — ten ten-inch mortars, with ammunition ; five thirty-two- pound howitzers, with troops. Shelter tents and stretchers, forty-three thousand. From the foregoing it seems to me the army should be ready to move in all of next week. The main difficulty, I think, is in its yet incomplete organization, which could soon be remedied. (Signed) I. McDowell, Brigadier- General. January 10, 1862. TO GENERAL m'cLELLAN. President Lincoln addressed the following letter to General McClellan after the latter had landed his forces on the Peninsula in the spring of 1862. It relates to several points in which the General's action had already excited a good deal of public uneasiness, and been made the sub- ject of public comment: — FOETKESS Monroe, May 9, 1862. My Dear Sik: — I have just assisted the Secretary of War in forming the part of a dispatch to you, relating to army corps, which dispatch, Warnings against Assassination. 77'J of course, will have reaolied you lonjx before this will. 1 wish to say a few words to you privately on this subject. I ordered the army (:()ri)s orgauizatioii not only on the unanimous o])inion of the twelve f^enerals of division, but also on the unanimous opinion of every military man I could ii;et an ojjinion from, and every modern military book, yourself only excepted. Of course, I did not on my own judf,'ment pretend to understand the subject. I now think it indispensable for you to know how your struggle against it is received in quarters which we caniu^t entirely disregard. It is looked upon as merely an eflbrt to ])amper one or two pets, and to persecute and degrade their supposed rivals. I have had no word from Sumner, lleintzelman, or Keyes. The commanders of these corps are of course the three highest officers with you, but I •am constantly told that you have no consultation or communication with them ; that you consult and communicate with nobody but Fitz John Poi-ter, and perhaps General Franklin. I do not say these com- plaints are true or just; but, at all events, it is proper you ^hculd know of their existence. ' Do the commanders of corps disobey your orders in any thing? When you relieved General Hamilton of his command the other day, you thereby lost the confidence of at least one of your best friends in the Senate. And here let me say, not as applicable to you personally, that Senators and Representatives speak of me in their places as they please without question ; and that otiicers of the army must cease addressing insulting letters to them for taking no greater liberty with them. But to return, are you strong enough, even witli my help, to set your foot upon the neck of Sunnier, Heintzelman, and Keyes, all at once? This is a practical and very serious question for you. Yours truly, A. Lincoln. €. WARNINGS AGAINST ASSASSINATION. Allusion is made in the preceding pages to warnings which reached the Government at various times, of plots on foot against the lives of the President and other eminent ofiicials. In reply to a letter of this kind from Hon. John Bigelow, then American Consul at Paris, Mr. Seward, the Secretary of State, wrote as follows : — • Department of State, Washington, July 15, 1SC4. * * * There is no doubt that, from a period anterior to the breaking out of the insurrection, plots and conspiracies for the purposes of assassination have been frequently formed and organized, and it is not unlikely that such a one as has been reported to you is now in agitation among the insurgents. If it be so, it need furnish no ground for anxiety. Assassination is not an American practice or habit, and one so vicious and so desperate cannot be engrafted into our political system. This conviction of mine has steadily gained strength since the civil war begun. Every day's experience confirms it. The President during the heated season occupies a country house near the Soldiers' Home, two or three miles from the city. He goes to and from that place on horseback night and morning unguarded. I go there unattended at all hours, by daylight and moonlight, by starlight, and without any light. 780 The Life of Abraham Lincoln. At a later date, very soon, indeed, before the assassination of the President and the horrible attempt upon his own life, Mr. Seward re- ceived the following communication from our consul in London. It was upon the strength of these letters that the consultation was held to which allusion is made in the preceding page : — United States Consulate, London, March 17, 1865. My Dear Sir: — I herewith enclose for your perusal two private letters I'eceived this week from " B," my secret agent in France. On receiving . the first, dated March 12th, I immediately wrote to him for a more full Btatement of all he knew about its contents. I stated to him that the story seemed very improbable ; that if they intended to resort to such diabolical modes of warfare, they could find instruments enough near at hand to serve them in such a capacity, and liave their work done or attempted more speedily than it could be by sending assassins from Europe ; that the assassins would be sure to forfeit their own lives, &c. At the same time I could not shut out from my mind the idea that the starving of our prisoners, shooting and torturing them, the hotel burn- ings, the piracies, the hanging of Union men in the insurgent States, the murdering of prisoners of war in cold blood after surrendering, and their mauifold acts of cruelty, rendered the purposes named not only probable, but in harmony with their character and acts. My letter bi'ought the further explanation contained in the second letter of the I4th inst. You perceive the statement of B. rests on the declaration of , or a man who now goes by that name. He is a business agent of the rebels, and has the confidence of the leaders to as- great an extent perhaps as any one employed by them, or any one under their direction. Ho travels most of the time from place to place, giving directions and super- intending the purchase and shipment of war material. B. has travelled much with him, and seems to have his entire confidence. I do not think would make such a revelation to B. unless he believed it well founded. If they are to come out openly as professional assassins, it is not at all probable that the distinguished persons named are the only ones selected for their vengeance, or that our Chief Magistrate, or General Grant, are left out of their role. The dangers they see to them in the calm forbearance, the inflexible justice and firm determination of President Lincoln, will not be overlooked by them. According to my request, a full descri])tion of the man calling himself Clark is given in the second letter. Johnston is unknown to "B." If Clark has really set forth on such a mission, he will probably attempt to make his way into Sherman's camp as a private soldier, and attempt the deed during an engagement when Sherman is under fire. Whether there is any actual foundation for what is set forth in the letters or not, I tliink it not my duty to withhold them, for fear it may be only another added to the thousand false rumors which have got into circulation. I send you all I have been able to learn on the subject, that you may act as you deem expedient in the case. Permit me to ex- press my earnest desire, whatever may be thenvish of the rebels in re- gard to you, and I dare say they are the worst that fiendish brains can entertain, that your valuable life may long be spared to your friends and the service of the Republic. I remain, dear sir, most truly yours, F. H. Morse. Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State. P. S. — Please regard B.'s letter as strictly confidential, I mean as far as the name of the writer is concerned. Waunlngs against Assassination. 7S1 FxRia, Siuirhnj, ^f(lrch 12, 1805. Mt Deat: Sir: — I wrote you :KEi) iiY President Johnson. 7S7 ough examination of all persons attempting to cross from the Uiiitud States into Canada, and will arrest suspicions i)ersons. 'I'lie most vigilant scrutiny on your i>art and the force at yy municipal authorities or State Executives. Twentv-live thousand dollars reward will be paid for the apprehension of G. A."Atzerot, sometimes called ''Port Tobacco," one of Booth's ac- complices. Twenty-live thousand dollars reward will be paid for the apprehension of David 0. Harold, another of Booth's accomplices. A liberal reward will be i)aid for any information that shall conduce to the arrest of either the above-named criminals or their accomplices. All persons harboring or secreting the said persons, or either of them, or aiding or assisting their concealment or escape, will be treated as accom- plices in the murder of the President and the attempted assassination of the Secretary of State, and shall be subject to trial before a military com- mission and the punishment of death. Let the stain of innocent blood be removed from the land by the arrest and punishment of the murderers. All good citizens are exhorted to aid public justice on this occasion. Every man should consider his own conscience charged with this solemn duty, and rest neither night nor day until it be accomplished. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War. FLIGHT OF THE ASSASSINS. War Department, Washington, April 22. Major-General John A. Dix, Few York: the counties of Prince George, Charles, and St. Mary's have, during the wdiole war, been noted for hostility to the Government, and its pro- tection to rebel blockade-runners, rebel spies, and every species of public enemy ; the murderers of the President harbored there before the murder, and Booth fled in that direction. If he escapes it will be owing to rebel accomplices in that direction. The military commander of the department will surely take measures to bring these rebel sympathizers and accomplices in murder to a sense of their criminal conduct. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War. THE CONSPIRACY ORGANIZED IN CANADA. War Department, Washington, April 24, 1S65. Major-General John A. Dix, New York : This Department has information that the President's murder was organized in Canada, and approved at Richmond. One of the assassins, now in prison, who attempted to kill Mr. Seward, is believed to be one of the St. Albans raiders. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War. 788 The Life of Abraham Lincoln. BOOTH KILLED HAROLD CAPTURED. Wak Department, Washington, April 27, 9.20 a. m. Major-Generul Dix, New York : J. Wilkes Booth and Harold were chased from the swamp in St. Mary'a County, Maryland, to Garrett's farm, near Port Royal, on the Eappahan- nock, by Colonel Baker's forces. The barn in which they took refuge was fired. Booth, in making his escape, was shot through the head and killed, lingering about three hours, and Harold was captured. Booth's body and Harold are now here. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War. REWARD OFFERED BY PRESIDENT JOHNSON. Bi/ the President of the United States of America. A PROCLAMATION. Whereas, It appears from the evidence in the bureau of military justice that the atrocious murder of the late President Abraham Lincoln, and the attempted assassination of the Hon. W. H. Seward, Secretary of State, were incited, concerted, and procured by and between Jefferson Davis, late of liichmond, Va., and- Jacob Thompson, Clement C. Clay, Beverly Tucker, George N. Saunders, "W. C. Cleary, and other rebels and traitors against the Government of the United States, harbored in Canada: now,' therefore, to the end that justice may be done, I, Andrew Johnson, President of tlie United States, do offer and promise for the arrest of said persons, or either of them, within the limits of the United States, so that they can be brought to trial, the following rewards : One hundred thou- sand dollars for the arrest of Jefferson Davis; twenty-five thousand dol- lars for the arrest of Clement C. Clay ; twenty-five thousand dollars for the arrest of Jacob Thompson, late of Mississippi ; twenty-five thousand dollars for the arrest of George N. Saunders ; twenty-five thousand dol- lars for the arrest of Beverly Tucker, and ten thousand dollars for the arrest of William C. Cleary, late clerk of Clement C. Clay. The Provost-Marshal General of the United States is directed to cause a description of said persons, with notice of the above rewards, to be published. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be afiixed. Done at the City of Washington, the second day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, and of [l. s.] the independence of the United States of America the eighty- ninth. By the President : Andp.ew Johnson. W. Hunter, Acting Secretary of State. THE FUNERAL. War DErARTMENT, Washington, Wednesday, April 17, 1 f. .u. Major-General Dix : The arrangements for conveying the President's remains to Spring- field, Illinois, have been changed this morning. They will go direct from Washington to Philadelphia, Harrisburg, Pittsburg, Fort Wayne, and thence to Springfield. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War. OitDEus FROM Secretary Stanton. 789 8KCOND DISPATCH. War Depabtment, Wabhinoton, jipril 19, tSfi.'), II i-. u. Miijor-General John A. Dix New York : It has been finally concluded to conform to the orifiinal arranf^jeirientH made yesterday for the conveyance of the remains of the late rresidctit, Abraham Lincoln, from Wasiiini^^ton to Springfield, viz. ; By way of Bal- timore, Ilarrisburg, Philadel[)liia, New York, Albany, Biifialo, Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis, and Chicago, to Springfield. Edwix M. Stanton, Secretary of War. OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS. Washington, April 15, 1SC5. To J. C. Derby, United States Dispatch Agent, New York : Send a copy of the following to Mr. Adams at London by the steamer of to-day, if in time:— Charles Francis Adams, &c., &c, : The sad duty devolves upon me to announce the assassination of the President, at Ford's Theatre, last night, by a pistol-shot from a person who entered his box for the purpose. The assassin escaped, but it is supposed has since been arrested. The President died at half-past seven o'clock this mcirning. Vice-President .Johnson has assumed the functions of President, having been sworn in by the Chief-Justice. About the same time an attempt was made by, it is believed, a differ- ent person, to assassinate Mr. Seward ; but the murderer only succeeded in inflicting painful and severe wounds, principally upon his face. Mr. F. W. Seward was beaten over the head with a heavy weapon in the hands of the person who attacked his father, and is grievously hurt. His brother was also wounded by the dagger of the assassin, as was Mr. Hansen, a messenger of the department, who was with the Secretary, and the male nurse in attendance. William Hunter, Acting Secretary of State. [The above telegraphic dispatch was sent oft" by the Portland stean:ei at three p. m. on Saturday, April 15.] ACTING SECRETARY HUNTER TO HIS SUBORDINATES. Department of State, Wasuington, April IT, 1S65. It it hereby ordered that, m honor of the memory of our late illustrious Chief Magistrate, all officers and others subject to the orders of the Secretary of State, wear crape upon the left arm for the period of six months. ^^ ■ Hunter, Acting Secretary. ORDERS FROM SECRETARY STANTON AND GENERAL GRANT. War Department. Adjctant-Geseral's i.)fpice, ( Washington, April 16, 1S65. ( General Orders, No. 66.— The following order of the Secretary of War announces to the armies of the United States the untnnely and lamentable death of the illustrious Abraham Lincoln, late President oi the United States: — ., ,. ,,,.- War Department, Washington, April lb, isw. The distressing dutv has devolved upon the Secretary of War to announce to the armies of the United States, that at twenty-two minutes 790 The Life of Abraham Lincoln. after seven o'clock on the morning of Scatiirduv, the 15th day of April. 18()5, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, died of a mortal wound inflicted on him by an assassin. The armies of the United States will share with their fellow-citizens the feelings of grief and horror inspired by the most atrocious murder of their great and beloved Presi- dent and Commander-in-Chief with profound sorrow, will mourn his death as a national calamity. The head-quarters of every department, post, station, fort, and arsenal will be draped in mourning for thirty days, and appropriate funeral honors will be paid by every army, and in every dei)artment, and at every military i)ost, and at the Military Academy at West Point, to the memory of the late illustrious Chief Magistrate of the nation, and C()mmandei--in-Chief of the armies. Lieutenant-General Grant will give the necessary instructions for carrying this order into eftect. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War. On the day after the receipt of the order at head- quarters of every military division, department, army-post, station, fort, and arsenal, and at the Military Academy at West Point, the troops and cadets will be paraded at ten o'clock a. m., and the order read to them. After which all labor and operations for the day will cease, and be suspended, as far as practicable in a state of war. The national flag will be displayed at half- staff. At the dawn of day thirteen guns will be fired, and afterwards at intervals of thirty minutes between the rising and the setting of the sun a single gun, and at the close of the day a national salute of thirty-six guns. The oflicers of the armies of the United States will wear the badge of mourning on the left arm and on their swords, and the colors of tiieir commands and regiments will be put in mourning for the period of six months. By command of Lieutenant-General Grant. (Signed) W. A. Nichols, Assistant Adjutant- General. War Department, Washington, April 10, 186b. Lieutenant-General Grant, U. S. Army, Commanding Armies of the United States, Washington, D. C : General : — You will please announce by general order to the armies of the United States, that on Saturday, the loth day of April, 18G5, by reason of the death of Abraham Lincoln, the office of President of the United States devolved upon Andrew Johnson, Vice-President, who, on the same day, took the ofticial oath prescribed for the President, and entered upon the duties of that office. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War. War Department, Adjutant-General's Office, ( Washington, April 16, 1SG5. J General Orders, No. 7. — It is hereby announced to the armies of the United States, that on Saturday, the 15th day of April, 1865, by reason of the death of Abraham Lincoln, the oflice of the President of the United States devolved upon Andrew Johnson, Vice-President, who, on the same day, took the oflicial oath prescribed for the President, and entered upon the duties of that office. By command of Lieutenant-General Grant. W. A. Nichols, Assistant Adjutant- General. orders from secretary W'ELLES. Navy Department Washington, April 17, 1805. Special Orders. — Vice-xVdmiral D. G. Farragut and Rear-Admiral William B. Shubrick have been designated to make the necessary arrange- PROCLAMATION BY PllESlDKNT JoiIiNSON. 701 merits on the part of the 'N'avy niul Marine Corps for uttendiiiK, (ui Wed- nesday next, the funeral of the hitc Prcsick-nt of the United Statt^s. CliDKON Wells, Sceretarij of the Navy. Navy DErAirrMicNT, Wabiunoton, April 17, 1SC5. Si'ECiAL Orders. — Officers of the Navy and Marine Corps will assem- hle at the Navy Dei)artnient, in uniform, at 10 o'clock A. m., on Wednes- day next, for the purpose of attt'iidini; tlio funeral of the late President of the United States. Gideon "Welles, Secretary of the Xavy. Navy Departmext, Wasiiincton, April 17, 1S05. Special Order. — By order of the President of the United States, the Navy Department will be closed on Wednesday next, the day of tiie funeral solemnities of the late President of the United States, l.abor will also be suspended on that day at each of the navy-yards and navy stations, and ujjon all the vessels of the United States. The tla<,'s of all vessels and at all navy-yards and stations and marine barracks will be kept at half-mast during the day, and at 12 o'clock, meridian, twenty- one minute-guns will be fired by the senior officer of each scpiadron and the commandants of each of the navy-yards and stations. Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Xavy. • ORDER from secretary m'cULLOCH. Tkeasukt Department, Washington, April 18, 1865. The Secretary of the Treasury, with profound sorrow, announces to the revenue marine the death of Abraham Lincoln, late President of the United States. lie died in this city on the morning of the 15th inst., at twenty-two minutes past seven o'clock. The officers of the revenue marine will, as a manifestation of their respect for the exalted charac- ter and eminent public services of the illustrious dead, and of their sense of the calamity the country has sustained by this afflicting dispen- sation of Providence, wear crape on the left arm and upon the hilt of the sword for six months. It is further directed that funeral honors be paid on board all revenue vessels in commission, by firing thirty-six minute- guns, commencing at meridian on the day after the receipt of this order, and by wearing their fiags at half-mast. Hdgh McCclloch, Secretary of tJie Treasury. ORDER FROM POSTMASTER-GENERAL DENNISON. Post-Office Department, Washington, April IT. To Deputy Postmasters : Business in all the post-offices of the United States will be suspended, and the offices closed, from 11 A. m. to 3 p. m. on Wednesday, the 19th instant, during the funeral solemnities of Abraham Lincoln, late Presi- dent of the United States. W. Denxison, Postmaster- General. proclamation by president JOHNSON OF A DAY OF HUMILIATION AND MOURNING. Whereas, By my direction the acting Secretary of State, in a notice to the public, on the" 17th of April, requested the various religious denoini- nations to assemble on the 19th of April, on the occasion of the obsequies of Abraham Lincoln, late President of the United States, and to observe the same with appropriate ceremonies ; and 792 The Life of Abraham Lincoln. ^Vhereas, Our country has become one great house of monrninpr, wliere the head of the family has been taken away, and beheving that a special period should be assigned for again humbling ourselves before Almighty God, in order that the bereavement may be sanctified to the nation : Now, therefore, in order to mitigate that grief on earth which can only be assuaged by communion with the Father in Heaven, and in com- pliance with the wishes of Senators and Representatives in Congress, communicated to me by a resolution adopted at the national capital, I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, do hereby appoint Thursday, the 25th day of May next, to be observed, wherever in the United States the tlag of the country may be respected, as a day of humiliation and mourning, and recommend my fellow-citizens then . to assemble in their respective places of worship, there to unite in solemn service to Almighty God in memory of the good man who has been removed, so that all shall be occupied at the same time in contemidation of his virtues and sorrow for his sudden and violent end. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the City of Washington, the twenty-fifth (fey of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, [l. 8.] and of the independence of the United States of America the eighty-ninth. Andrew Johnson. By the President : W. Hdntek, Acting Secyetary of State. SECRETARY STANTON TO MINISTER ADAMS. The following is the official report of the death of Mr. Lincoln, Ad- dressed to the Legation in London : — WAanrNGTON, April 15. Sir: — It has become my distressing duty to announce to you that last night his Excellency Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, was assassinated, about the hour of half-past ten o'clock, in his private box at Ford's Theatre, in this city. The President, about eight o'clock, accompanied Mrs. Lincoln to the theatre. Another lady and gentleman were with them in the box. About half-past ten, during a pause in the performance, the assassin entered the box, the door of which was nn- guarded, hastily approached the President from behind, and discharged a pistol at his head. The bullet entered the back of his bend, and pene- trated nearly through. The assassin then leaped from the box upon the stage, brandishing a large knife or dagger, and exclaiming, "A'c semj)er tyrannis!''' and escaped in the rear of the theatre. Immediately upon the discharge, the President fell to the floor insensible, and continued in that state until twenty minutes past seven o'clock this morning, when he breathed his last. About the same time the murder was being com- mitted at the theatre, another assassin presented himself at the door of Mr. Seward's residence, gained admission by representing he had a pre- scription from Mr. Seward's physician, which he was directed to see administered, and hurried up to the third-story chamber, where Mr. Sew- ard was lying. He here discovered Mr. Frederick Seward, struck him over the head, inflicting several wounds, and fracturing his skull in two places, inflicting, it is feared, mortal wounds. He then rushed into the room where Mr. Seward was in bed, attended by a j'oung daughter and a male nurse. The mule attendant was stabbed through the lungs, and it is believed will die. The assassin tlien struck Mr. Seward with a knife or Letter tro.m J. Wilkks Tjootii. 793 daiTijer twice in the tliro.at ;in(l twice in tlui face, iiitlictinp terriiile wounds. By this time Major Seward, elilest son of tiie Seoretai-.v, and another atten(hint reached the room, and rushed to the rescue of the iSecretarv ; they were also wounded in the conflict, and the assassin escaped. Xo artery or important hlood-vessel was severed hy any of the wounds inflicted upon him, hut he was for a long time insensible from the loss of blood. Some hope of his possible recovery is entertained. Immediate- ly upon the death of the President, notice was <^iven to Vice-President Johnson, who happened to be in the city, and upon wliom the oiiice of President now devolves. He will take the office and assume the functions of President to-day. The murderer of the President has been discovered, and evidence obtained that these horrible crimes were cominitted in execution of a conspiracy deliberately jjlanned and set on foot by rebels, under pretence of avenginij: the South and aiding the rebel cause ; Init it is hoped that the immediate perpetrators will he caught. The feeling occasioned by these outrageous crimes is so great, sudden, and overwhelm- ing, that I cannot at present do more than communicate tiiem to you. At the earliest moment yesterday the President called a Cabinet meeting, at which General Grant was present. He was more cheerful and happy than I had ever seen him, rejoiced at the near prospect of firm and dura- ble peace at home and abroad, manifested in a marked degree the kind- ness and humanity of his disposition, and the tender and forgiving spirit that so eminently distinguished him. Public notice had been given that he and General Grant would be present at the theatre, and the opportu- nity of adding the Lieutenant-General to the number of victims to be murdered was no doubt seized for the fitting occasion of executing the plans that appear to have been in preparation for some weeks, but Gen- eral Grant was compelled to be absent, and thus escaped the designs upon him. It is needless for me to say any thing in regard of the influ- ence which this atrocious murder of the President may exercise upon the affairs of this country ; but I will only add that, horrible as are the atroci- ties that have been resorted to by the enemies of the country, they are not likely in any degree to iinpair the public spirit or postpone the com- plete final overthrow of the rebellion, In profound grief for the events which it is my duty to communicate to you, I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant. To Charles Francis Adams, London. Edwin M. Stanton. IMPORTANT LETTER YRO^l J. WILKES BOOTH. HIS ORIGINAL PURPOSE WAS TO TAKE MR. LINCOLN A PRISONER. HIS REASONS FOR HIS ACTION. [From the Philadelphia Press, April 19.] We have just received the following letter, written by John Wilkes Booth, and placed by him in the hands of his brother-in-law, J. S. Clarke. It was written by him in November last, and left with J. S. Clarke in a sealed envelope, and addressed to himself, in his own handwriting. In the same envelope were some United States bonds and oil stocks. This letter was ojiened by Mr. Clarke for the first time on Monday last, and immediately handed by him to Marshall Milward, who has kindly placed it in our bauds. Most unmistakably it proves that he must for many 794 The Life of ABRAHA^r Lincoln. montLs have ooiitcmj)]ated seizing the person of the late Preoident. It is, however, doubtfiil whether he imagined the bhick deed which has phuigecl the nation into the deepest ghwra, and at the same time awa- kened it to a just and righteous indignation: — — , 1864. My Dear Sir : — You may use this as you chink best. But as some may wish to know ichen, who, and why, and as I do not know how to direct it, I give it (in the words of your master) : — " To whom it way concern.^'' Right or wrong, God judge me, not man. For be ray motive good or bad, of one thing I am sure, the Listing condemnation of the North. 1 h)ve peace more than life. Have loved the Union beyond expression. For four years have I waited, hoped, and prayed for the dark clouds to hreak, and for a restoration of our former sunshine. To wait longer would be a crime. All hope for peace is dead. My prayers have proved as idle as my hopes. God's will be done. I go to see and share the bit- ter end. I have ever held that the South were right. The very nomination of Abraham Lincoln, four years ago, spoke plainly war — war upon Southern rights and institutions, llis election proved it. " Await an overt act." Yes ; till you are bound and plundered. What folly ! The South w^ere wise. Who thinks of argument or patience when the finger of his enemy presses on the trigger? Li a, foreign war, I, too, could say, "Country, right or wrong." But in a struggle such as ours (where the brother tries to pierce the brother's heart), for God's sake choose the right. When a country like this spurns justice from her side, she forfeits the allegiance of every honest freeman, and should leave him, untrammelled by any fealty soever, to act as his conscience may ap])rove. People of the North, to iiate tyranny, to love liberty and justice, to strike at wrong and oppression, was the teaching of oiir fathers. The study of our early history will not let me forget it,"and may it never. This country was formed for the ichitc, not for the black man. And, looking upon Africaii slavery from the same stand-point held by the noble framers of our Constitution, I, for one, have ever considered it on& of the greatest blessings (both for themselves and us) that God ever bestowed upon a favored nation. Witness heretofore our wealth and power; w^it- ness their elevation and enlightenment above their race elsewhere. I have lived among it most of my life, and have seen less harsli treatment from master to man than I have beheld in the North from father to son. Yet, Heaven knows, no one would be more willing to do viore for the negro rape than I, could I but see a way to still letter their condition. Hut Lincoln's policy is only preparing the way for their total annihila- tion. The South are not, nor hare they heev, fighting for the continuance of slavery. The first battle of Bull Run did away with that idea. Their causes since for war have been as noUe and greater far than those that urged our fathers on. Even should we allow they were wrong at the beginning of this contest, cruelty and injustice have" made the wrong be- come the right, and they stand noic (before the wonder and admiration of the world) as a noble band of patriotic heroes. Hereafter, reading of their deeds, Thermopylaj will be forgotten. When I aided in the capture and execution of John Brown (who was a murderer on our western border, and who was fairly tried and convicted, before an impartial judge and jury, of treason, and who, by-the-way, has since been made a god), I was proud of my little share in the transaction, for 1 deemed it' my. duty, and that I was helping our common country to Letter imio.m J. AVilkes Booth. 7'.i-') perform n,n act of justice. But wh.it was a crime in poor .lolm i5r>>\vii i- now consickM-ed {\>y themselves) as tlie ui-eatest aiul only vii-tnc of the whole liepuliliciui party. Straujie transmigration! Vice to heooiric a virtue simply because more indulge in it! I thought then, as note, that the abolitionists were the only trnitori^ in the land, and that the entire party deserved the same fate as poor old Brown ; not because they wish to abolish slavery, but on account of tlio means they have ever endeavored to use to effect that abolition. If Brown were living, I doubt whether he himself wou\d set slavery against the Union. Most, or many in the North do, and oj)enly, curse the Union if the South are to return and retain a single rirjhl guaranteed to them by every tie which we once revered as sacred. The South can make no choice. It is either extermination or slavery for themselves (worse than death) to draw from. I know my choice. I have also studied hard to discover upon what grounds the right of a State to secede has been denied, when our very name, United States, and tlie Declaration of Independence, both provide for secession. But there is no time for words. I write in haste. I know how foolish I shall be deemed for undertaking such a step as this, where, on the one side, I have many friends and every thing to make me bapi)y, where my profes- sion alonehaa gained me an income oi more than twenty tliousand dollars a year, and wliere my great i^ersonal ambition in my profession has such a great field for labor. On the other hand, the South has never bestowed upon me one kind word; a place now where I have no friends, except beneath the sod; a place where I must either become a private soldier or a hetro-ar. To give up all of the former for the latter, besides my motherland sisters^ whom I love so dearly (although they so widelydilfer with me in opinion), seems insane; but God is my judge. 1\o\q justice more than I do a country that disowns it; more than fame and wealth; more (Heaven pardon me if wrong), more than a happy home. I have never been upon a battle-tield ; but oh! my countrymen, could you all but see the reality or eft'ects of this horrid war as I have seen tlicm (iu every State, save Virginia), I know you would think like me, and would pray the Almighty to' create in the Northern mind a sense oi right and justice (even shoiild it possess no seasoning of mercy), and that he would dry up this sea of blood between us, which is daily growing wider. Alas ! poor country, is she to meet her threatened doom ? _ Four years ago I would have given a thousand lives to see her remain (as 1 had afways known her)~' powerful and unbroken. And even now I would holdmv life as naught to see her what she was. Oh! my friends, if the fearful scenes of the past four years had never been enacted, or if what has been had been but a frightful dream, from which we could now awake, with what overflowing liearts could we bless our God and pray for his continued favor ! How I have loved tlie old flag can never now be known. A few years since, and the entire world could boast of none so pure and spotless. But I have of late been seeing and hearing of the lloody deeds of which she has leen made the emMem, and would shudder to tliink how changed she had grown. Oh! how I have longed to see her break from the mist of blood and death that circles round her folds, spoiling her beauty and tarnishing her honor. But no. day by day has she been dragged deeper and deei)er into cruelty and oppression, till now_(m my eyes)''her once bright red stripes look like lloody gashes on the face of heaven. I look now upon my early admiration of her glories as a dream. My love (as things stand to-day) is for the South alone. Xor do I deem it a dishonor in attempting to make for her a prisoner of this man, to whom she owes bo much of misery. If success attend ine, I go 796 The Life of Abraham Lincoln. penniless to her side. They say she has found ^^a^ "last ditch" Avhich the North have so long derided and been endeavoring to force her in, lorgetting they are our brothers, and that it is impolitic to goad an enemy to madness. Should I reach her in safety, and find it true, I will proudly beg permission to triumph or die in that same ''ditch" by her side. A Confederate doing duty upon his own responsibility. J. Wilkes Booxn. F. ^ INDICTMENT OF THE CONSPIRATORS. CPIARGES AND SPECIFICATIONS. The following is a copy of the charge and specification against David E. Harold, George A. Atzerodt, Lewis Payne, Michael O'Langhlin, John H. Surratt, Edward Spangler, Samuel Arnold, Mary E. Surratt, and Samuel Mudd :— Charge 1st. — For maliciously, unlawfull}', and traitorously, and in aid of the existing armed rebellion against the United States of America, on or before the 6th day of March, a. d. 1865, and on divers other days be- tween that day and the 15th day of April, 1865, combining, confederating, and conspiring together witli one John H. Surratt, Jolm Wilkes Booth, Jefferson Davis, George N. Saunders, Beverly Tucker, Jacob Tliompson, William C. Cleary, Clement C. Clay, George Harper, George Young, and others unknown, to kill and murder within the Military Department of Washington, and witliin the fortified and intrenched lines thereof, Abraham Lincoln, and at tlie time of said combining, confederating, and conspiring. President of the United States of America and Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy thereof; Andrew Johnson, now Vice-President of the United States as aforesaid ; William H. Seward, Secretary of State of the United States aforesaid, and Ulysses S. Grant, Lieutenant-General of the Army of the United States aforesaid, then in command of tlie armies of the United States, under the direction of the said Abraham Lincoln, and in pursuance of, and in prosecuting said malicious, unlawful, and traitor- ous conspiracy aforesaid, and in aid of said rebellion, afterwards, to wit • On the 14th day of April, 18G5, within the military department of Wash- ington aforesaid, and within the fortified and iiitrenched lines of said military department, together with said John Wilkes Booth and John H, Surratt, maliciously, unlawfully, and traitorously murdering the said Abraham Lincoln, then President of the United States, and Commander- in-Chief of the Artny and Navy of the United States, as iiforesaid, and maliciously, unlawfully, and traitorously assaulting, with intent to kill and murder the said William H. Seward, then Secretary of State of the United States as aforesaid, and lying in wait with intent, maliciously, un- lawfully, and traitorously, to kill and murder the said Andrew Johnson, then being Vice-President of the United States, and the said Ulysses S. Grant, then being Lieutenant-General and in command of the armies of the United States aforesaid. Specijieation 1st. — In this that they, the said David E. Harold, Edward Spangler, Lewis Payne, John H. Surratt, Michael O'Langhlin, Samuel Arnold, Mary E. Surratt, George A. Atzerodt, and Samuel A. Mudd, in- cited and encouraged thereunto by Jefferson Davis, George N. Saunders, Beverly Tucker, Jacob Thompson, William C. Cleary, Clement C. Clay, George Harper, George Young, and others unknown, citizens of the United States aforesaid, and who were then engaged in armed rebellion Indictment of the CoxNspiratou.s. 797 ajxainst tlie I'^nited States of America, within llie limits tliereof, did. iti aid of said armed rebellion, on or before tiio (Jtli (hiy of Marcii, a. d. lH(ir>, and on divers other days and times between that day and llie l.-)th dav of April, A. D. 18G5, combine, confederate, and conspire to^^^'thcr, at Waahini^-ton City, within the military department of Wasiiini^'ton, and within tiie intrenched fortiticiations and military lines of the said Unite. 1«G5, the office of President of the said United States, and the Commander-in-Cliief of the army and navy thereof, would devolve, and to uidawfully, maliciously, and traitorously kill and murder Ulysses S. Grant, then lieutenant-gen- eral, and under the direction of the said Abraham Lincoln, in command of the armies of the United States aforesaid, and unlawfully, maliciously, and traitorously to kill and murder AVilliam IL Seward, then Secretary of State of the United States aforesaid, whose duty it was by law, ujjon the death of said President and Vice-President of the United States afore- said, to cause an election to be held for electors of President of the United States; the conspirators aforesaid designing and intending by the killing and murder of the said Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant, and William H. Seward as aforesaid, to deprive the army and navy of the said United States of a constitutional commander-in-chief, and to deprive the armies of the United States of their lawful commander, and to prevent a lawful election of President and Vice-President of the United States, aforesaid ; and by the means aforesaid to aid and comfort the in- surgents engaged in armed rebellion against the said United States as aforesaid, and thereby aid in the subversion and overthrow of the Con- stitution and the laws of the United States ; and being so combined, con- federated, and consjjiring together in the prosecution of said unlawful and traitorous conspiracy on the night of the 1-ith day of xVpril, a. d. 1S65, at the hour of about ten o'clock and fifteen minutes p. m., at Ford's Theatre, on Tenth Street, in the City of Washington, and within the military de- ])artraent and military lines aforesaid, John Wilkes Booth, one of the conspirators aforesaid, in pursuance of said unlawful and traitorous con- spiracy, did then and there, unlawfully, maliciously, and traitorously, and with intent to kill and murder the said Abraham Lincoln, discharge a pistol tlien held in the hands of him the said Booth, the same being then loaded with powder and leaden ball, against and upon the left and poste- rior side of the head of the said x\.brahani Lincoln, and did thereby then and there intlictnpon him, the said Abraham Lincoln, then President of the said United States, and Commander-in-Chief of tlie army and navy there- of, a mortal wound, whereof afterwards, to wit: on the 15th day of April, A. D. LSGo, at Washington City at^)resaid, the said Abraham Lincoln died, and thereby then and there, and in pursuance of said conspiracy the said defendants and the said John Wilkes Booth did unlawfully, traitorously, and maliciously, with the intent to aid the rebellion, as aforesaid, kill and murder the said Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, as aforesaid, and in further prosecution of the unlawful and traitorous con- spiracy aforesaid, and of the murderous and traitorous intent of said con- spiracy, the said Edward Spangler, on the said l-4th day of Ajjril, a. d. 1865. at about the same hour of that day, as aforesaid, within said mili- tary department and the military lines aforesaid, did aid and assist the caid John Wilkes Booth to obtain an entrance to the box in the said 798 The Life of Abraham Lincolx. theatre in which tlie s;iitl Abraham Lincohi was sitting at the time lie was assaulted and shot as aforesaid by Jolin AVillces Booth ; and also did then and tliere aid said Bootii in barring and obstructing the door of the box of said tlieatre so as to hinder and prevent any assistance to or rescue of the said Abraham Lincoln, against the murderous assault of the said John "Wilkes IJootli, and did aid and abet liim in making his escape after the said Abraham Lincoln had been murdered in the manner aforesaid: and in furtlier prosecution of said unlawful, murderous, and traitorous conspiracy, and in pursuance thereof, and with the intent as aforesaid, the said David E. Harold did, on the 14th of April, a. d. 1865, within the military department and military lines aforesaid, aid and abet, and assist the said Jt)hn Wilkes Booth in the killing and murder of the said Abraliam Lincoln, and did then and there aid and abet and assist him, the said John Wilkes Booth, in attemjjting him to escape througii the military lines aforesaid, and did accompany and assist the said John Wilkes Booth in attempting to conceal himself and escape from justice after killing and murdering the said Abraham Lincoln aforesaid; and in further prosecu- tion of said unlawful and traitorous conspiracy, and of the intent tliereof as aforesaid, the said Lewis Payne did on the same night of the 14th day of April, 18G5, about the same Jiour of ten o'clock, fifteen minutes p. m., at the City of Washington, and within the military department and the military lines aforesaid, unlawfully and maliciously make an assault upoa the said William II. Seward, Secretary of State as aforesaid, in the dwell- ing-house and l)ed-chamber of him, the said William H. Sewai'd, and the said Payne did then and there, with a large knife held in his hand, unlaw- fully, traitorously, and in pursuance of said conspiracy, strike, stab, cut, and attempt to kill and murder the said William H. Seward, and did there- by then and there and with the intent aforesaid, with said knife, inflict upon the face and throat of said William H. Seward divers grievous wounds ; and said Lewis Payne, in further prosecution of said conspiracy, at the same time and place last aforesaid, did attempt, with the knife aforesaid, and a pistol, held in his hand, to kill and murder Frederick W. Seward, Augustus H. Seward, Emrick W. Hansel, and George F. Rob- inson, who were then striving to protect and rescue the said William H. Seward from being murdered by the said Lewis Payne, and did tlien and there, with the said knife and pistols held in his hands, inflict upon the head of said Frederick W. Seward, and upon the persons of said Augustus H. Seward, Emrick W. Hansel, and George F. Robinson, divers grievous and dangerous wounds, with intent then and there to kill and murder the said Frederick W. Seward, Augustus H. Seward, Emrick W. Hansel, and George F. Robinson. And in further prosecution of said conspiracy, and its traitorous and murderous designs, the said George A. Atzerodt did, on the night of the 14th of April, a. d. 1805, and about the same hour aforesaid, within the military department and the military lines aforesaid, lie in wait for An- drew Johnson, then Vice-President of the United States, aforesaid, with the intent unlawfully and maliciously to kill and murder him, the said Andrew Johns(m. Aud in the further prosecution of the conspiracy aforesaid, and of its murderous and treasonable purpose aforesaid, on the nights of the IStli and 14th of April, a. d. 1865, at Washington City, and within tlte military department and military lines aforesaid, the said Michael U'Laughlin did then and there lie in wait for Ulysses S. Grant, then Lieutenant-General .and Commander of the armies of the United States as aforesaid, with in lent then and there to kill and murder the said Ulysses S. CJrant. And in the further prosecution of said conspiracy, the said Samuel Ar- Tnr. FiNi4, 547 ; nomination of Fremont, 551 ; nomin.a- tion of Lincoln, 558; his acceptance, 559, 663; McClellan nominated, 593; Fremont •withdraws, 595; incidents of the canvass, 596; result, 612, 664. Proclamation by tne President — calling for 75,000 troops, and convening Congress, 172; of blockade, 177; increasing army and navy, 181; instructing commander of U. S. forces in Florida, 181 ; revoking order of Gen. Hun- ter, 238; in regard to blockade, 251 ; of eman- cipation, Sept., 1862, 267; of eni.ancipation, Jan. 1, 1863, 260; for Thanksgiving, April 10, 1862, 327; to the rebels, 332; admitting West Virginia, 369; suspending the writ of habeas corjjus, 381, 398; in regard to na- tional forces bill, 400; of victory at Gettys- burg, 411; for Thajiksgiving. .July 15, 1S6.3, 417 ; Thanksgiving for victories in East Ten- nessee, 420; for Thanksgiving, Oct. 3, 1903, 420; of amnesty and reconstruction, 457, 4r>9; calling for iiOO.IKlO volunteers, 477; In regard to bill of Congress for reconstrucllon, 495; appointing a day of humiliation and prayer, ftH; declaring martial law In Ken- tucky, 586; ordering draft of .^dO.OOO men, 540; for Thanks;riving, 608; in retard to blockade, 622; calling for 800,000 men, 688; calling extra session of Senate, 666; to dc- serter.s, 672; in reference to Indian hostili- ties, 675; concerning the blockade, 688, 699; restrictions placed upon national vessels by foreign powers must be withdrawn, 689. Reconstruction — President's mrfvements to- wards and message on, 455; proclamation for, 458 ; remarks on, 481 ; letter to N. A. Review, 482; movements towards, in Louis- iana, 483; movements in Arkansiis, 490; bill providing for, passed by Congress, 494; pro- clamation of President concerning, 495; elec- tions in Tennessee, 596; President's views on, 684. Red River expedition, 516. Richmond besieged, 512, 610, 666, 677; occu- pied, 681. Riots in N. T., 402. Savannah captured, 639. Scott, Gen. — resignation of, 203; President's order retiring, 204. Schofield — appointment to Western Depart- ment, 428; President's instructions to, 428; remov.al from command, 409. Secession conspiracy — .at W.ishington, 112; Mr. Stephens's speech against it, 114. Secession — of South Carolina, 111 ; of Virginia, 180. Seward, Wra. H. — instructions to our minister in England, 182, 183; reply to Frencii oflTer of mediation, 835; diplomacy of 1S63, 460; letter to Mr. Adams on dancer of war with England, 462; letter on the Mexican ques- tion, 465; letter concerning Hampton Roads conference, 650; accident to, 683, 693; mur- derous assault on, 699. Seymour, Governor of New York — correspond- ence with President on the draft, 40.3. Sheridan, General — raid upon Lee's flank. .527 ; takes command in Shenando-ih Valley, 541 ; victories over Early, 603, 604; cav.alry raid to the west of Richmond, 677 : successful at- tack on Lee's right flank, 678, 679, 680. Sherman, General — expedition from Vicksburg, 515; moves towards A than t.-i, 530, 538; cap- tures Atliinta, 544; marches through Georgia' and captures Savarm.ah, 639; march through South Carolin.o, 668; at Goldsboro', North Carolina, 677. Slavery and Slaves — relations of slavery to the rebellion, 199 ; employment of slaves, bill iu 808 Index. regard to, 200; President's views resrcrding fugitive slaves, 20G; abolition in Territories, 228; abolition in District of Columbia, 22S; resolution approving President's policy of aiding emancipation in States, 231 ; adoption in botli Houses, 282; emancipation procla- mations, 257, 2G0; negroes authorized to be employed in army, 468; action of military commanders concerning, 329 ; Ilalleck'e let- ter about slaves, 330 ; constitutional amend- ment prohibiting, 645. States— relation of rebel States to the general government, 362, 481. State Prisoners— executive order relative to, 379; order releasing, 383; appointment of a commission on, 381 ; case of Vallandigham, 8S1 Stephens, A. H. — speech against seccession, 114; statement of objects of the Confedera- cy, 115; report on Hampton Roads confer- ence, 652. St. Albans, raid upon, 611, 6-37. Sumter, bombardment of Fort, 171. Taney, Chlef-Jnstice, death of, 624. Taussig, James, his .iccount of an interview with the President, 429. Tennessee, elections in, 696. Union and Eepublican Convention, 18fl4, 654; resolutions adopted, 566 ; nominates Mr. Lin coin, 558. VttUiindighara— his arrest, trial, and sentence, 884; President's letter to Albany meeting concerning, 386; President's letter to Ohi» meeting concerning, 894 ; nominated for Governor of Ohio, 443 ; is defeated, 443. Vicksburg- siege and surrender, 413. Virginia— secession of, ISO ; Lincoln's reply to commissioners, 179 ; admission of West Virginia, 367. War— Crittenden resolution declaring its ob- jects, 200. War Department — order for protection of Washington, 270; order for seizure of rebel property, 331; to reduce war expenditures and remove military restrictions on trade, 690. Workingmen of Manchester, England, address to President, 496; of London, address to President, 498 ; of New York, visit to Presi- dent, 498. Wilderness, battles of the, 524. Wilmington occupied, 668. Yorktown — McClellan's report of rebel strength, 274; Magi-uder's report, 274; evac- uation of, 275. RITCI-IIE'S DEATH OF PltESlDEiNT LINCOLN. The President died at 22 minutes past 7." — Secretary Stanton to General Dix, April ir»tl], 1605. t A Picture of Permanent National Interest. PAINTED AND ENGRAVED BY A. II. RITCHIE. A magnificent Engraving on Steel from Ritchie's original painting, representing the last mo- ments of President Lincoln, is in active preparation, and will be published during the year 1S66. It will be executed by Mr. Ritchie, who unites in an eminent degree the genius of the painter with that of the engraver, and who in bo th departments of art stands in the front rank of American artists, in proof of which statement we refer to his great pictures of " Wash- ington and his Generals," "Fitting out Moses for the Fair," and " Mercy Knocking at the Wicket Gate." The portraits included in the group composing the last sad scene in the eventful life of our beloved President were taken from life sittings, and are remarkable for their fidelity to nature. The life-like portraits of the eminent men — absorbed by the event about to take place — the touching pathos of the scene — the absence of every thing of a sensational or melo- dramatic character, and the apparent truthfulness with which the gifted artist has delineated the surroundings of the dying patriot, must commend this great work to every lover of the real in historic art. As a specimen of natural and harmonious grouping we are bold to say that this admirable painting has seldom been surpassed. The figures arc twenty -six in number, and comprise those of the dying President ; his son, Capt Robt. Lincoln ; Vice-President Johnson, Secretaries Stanton, Welles, McCulloch, and Usher; Postmaster-General Dennison, and Attor- ney-General Speed ; Generals Halleck, Meigs, Augur, and Todd ; Senator Sumner, Rev. Dr. Gurley ; Speaker Colfax ; John Hay, Private Secretary ; Ex-Governor Farwell, Judge Carter, Judge Otto, Surgeon-General Barnes ; Doctors Crane and Stone ; lion. Mr. Farnsworth, K. F- Andrews, and M. B, Field. The size of the Engraving will be 21 inches by 32 inches, on large and heavj- Plate Paper. SIZE OP THE PAINTING, 7 FEET BY 4J FEET. PRICES. Artist's Proofs (signed), $50; India Proofs, $25; Prints, $10. Address DERBY & i^IILLER, Publishers, 5 SPRUCE STREET, N. Y. The Engraving will be Sold by Subscription only. Agentfs Wanted in every County. "The tribute of a tree-will offering." — Deut. xvi. lo. THE TRIBUTE BOOK: A RECORD OF THE • MUNIFICENCE, SELF-SACRIFICE, AND PATRIOTISM OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, l.N DEFENCE OF THEIR INTEGRITY AS A NATION, DtTRINO THK ^\ \r. FOR THE TJNIOW. ILL USTRA TED. By FRANK B. G^OODHICH, Author of " The Court of Napoleon," &c. The undersif^ncd will publish, about October first, a book with the above title, the object of which is to preserve, in a permanent form, as large a portion as may be, of the names of those who have given of their means, or devoted their energies, to aid the Government in prosecuting the war for the mainte- nance of the union of the States. The work will thus be not only a record of those who have paid " tribute " to the cause, but will be itself a "tribute" to them. The subject naturaUy falls under two heads— the first comprising the spon- taneous gifts of money to aid in the raising of regiments, the equipment of troops, the outfit of officers, &c., upon the breaking out of the Rebellion ; and the second —when this work had been assumed by the Government— chronicling the col- lecting, purchasing, forwarding, and distribution of supplies to promote the health, comfort, and efficiency of the army; The first work was, of necessity, done without order or system ; the second was accomplished by organized bodies, known as the Sanitary and Christian Commissions. The book will in nowise be a mere list of names or catalogue of subscriptions, though in this respect it is intended to be as full as its Umits will allow. In the first place, it will contain a general narrative of the events of the period con- nected with the subject, enlivened by such incidents of personal effort and mi:- nificence (and the widow's mite will not be overlooked) as may properly find a place there, by authentic anecdotes, sketches of persons and places, &c., &c. ; and, secondlj^ it will be profusely illustrated by engravings upon wood, from de- signs by our first artists, executed in the best possible manner. The field for illustration is wide, and in this respect it is intended that the book shall not sufier by comparison with the finest issues of the American Press. It is believed that no record whatever exists of the lar^jcst and most iutorost- ing portion of tho free-will offerings of the American people, and it is tlio pur- pose of the publishers to supply this want. As an evidence that no expense has been spared, to produce a volume every way worthy of the subject, tho pub- lishers beg to state, that tho munificent sum oi forty thousand dollars has beoa advanced by tlie projector of "Tho Tribute Book," Georgo Jones, Esq., of tho New York Times, for the first edition alone. ILLUSTRATIONS. Five Large Desions, illustrating the Sanitary Commission, the Christian Commission, the Western Sanitary Commission, the American Union Commission, and tlu- National Kreed- men's Relief Association, and containing the I'ortraits of their I'residents. TwENTY-fivE ViijNETTF.s and INITIAL LETTERS, for Commiltces of Sanitary Fairs. Four Illustrated Programmes of Kntertainmcnts for tho Soldiers — Dramatic. Musical, School, and Amateur Theatricals. East Tennessee Scenery. Kuins of Chambersliurg. Valley Forge. Lake County Delejration Chicago Fair. Waitresses at the Chicago Fair. Front Stoop Fair. Six and Ninety-six Knitting for the Soldiers. Apple-Parinf!; Bee. Quilting Party. The Fhii; iipon the Churches. Miiiiite-.Mai] of Kalamazoo. Bird's-Nest Bank. The First Subscription. East Tennessee Kefugoes. Blackberryinir for the Soldiers. Cutting Wood for Soldiers' Widows. Makins Shirts for Washington's Army. Christian Commission in the Field. Barrelling Apples for the Soldiers. Strawberry Festival. The Union Volunteer Eefreshment S.aloon. The Cooper-Shop Kefreshmeut Saloon. Hospital Scenes. Getting in Hay for Soldiers' Widows. Voting for the Sword. Treating a llegiment to Doughnuts. The Soldiers' Home at Memptiis. Christmas Trees. — The Kearny Cros.^. The Vanderbilt. From designs. by the following International Relief. — The Gcoree Ori.swold. Santa Cl.ius Helpint: the Ladies of ("ihcinnall, Ch;iiades and Tableaux Illustrated. The Ideal Freed man. The Magic L.antern in the Hospital. An Aid Society's Uooni.s. Procession of the Nevada Sack. The Fairagut Fund. The Kear.sarge Fuud. The Grant Fund. Minnehaha. Mr. Murdock Reading in a Hospital. Patriot Orphan Home. A Subscri|)tion on a Gunboat. A Stage-Co.ach Concert. The Everett Fund for East Tennessee. A Soldier Dictating. A Hospital Steamer. One Dav"s Income, One Day's Labor. The Soldiers' Thanksgiving. An lllustr.ated Bill of Fare. Busy Fingers. Fire Ambulance of Philadelphia. The Sugar Pendulum. The Fair Newsjiapers. One Cent in the Treasury. The National Sailors' Home. Ornamental Dedication. Pictorial Tribute to Abraham Lincoln. ARTISTS. Darlet. White. Shearman. McNEvrN. Nast. Hogan. HOCHSTELN. CiLlPMAN. W HITNBY. Stephens. Billings. MoLENAy. Cart. Hennesst. Will. LtTMLEY. HiTcncocK. Howard. HOPPIN. Waud. Fknn. Rowland. Herrick. Hows. Ettinge. The Tribute Book wUl contain five hundred and twenty pages royal octavo, printed on fine tinted paper, and will bo illustrated by over one hundred and fifty engravings. It will be bound in Turkey morocco, gUt edges and sides, in the best style of workmanship. The Book will be sold exclusively by suhscriiMon, -at the reasonable price of TwEXTT Dollars. DEEBY & MILLEE, Publishers 5 SPEUCE STREET, NEW YORK. CARPENTER'S GREAT NATIONAL PICTURE -^^ ♦ «^ THE FIRST READING OF THE Emancipation Proclamation before the Cabinet, By PEESIDENT LINCOLN. It Tvas the most critical period of tlie -war, McClellan's campaign before Richmond, upon which hung the hopes of the whole loyal North, had just resulted in disastrous failure. After the most stupendous perparations known in modern warfare, the great sacrifice of life had ac- eomplished absolutely nothing in crushing the Rebellion, which, flushed with success, was more defiant than ever. Universal depression and discouragement succeeded the first brilliant hopes engendered by the gi-eat uprising of the North, which followed the bombardment of Fort Sumter. Thus far had the war been prosecuted by the Administration without touching Slavekv in any manner. The Proclamations of Fremont and Hunter, in Missouri and South Carolina, had been nullified at Washington. At length, the demand for a change of policy, beginning with a few radical men, became too decided to be longer ignored. The Anti-Slavery party, largely In the minority at the outbreak of the Eebellion, numbered its converts by millions, so deeply seated had become the convic- tion that Slavery was the sole root and cause of the War. The President could no longer hesitate. The last of July, 1S62, the first draft of the Procla- mation was prepared and a Special Cabinet Meeting was called ; but the occasion of the sum- mons was not made known. The President said he had "fully decided to t.ike the responsi- bility of the act of Emancipation, but th.at suggestions as to the subject-matter were in order." Nothing was offered that he had not already anticipated and carefully considered, until Mr. Seward spoke : " This matter is of so much importance," said he, " that I fear its effect at this juncture; it may be considered the last measure of an exhausted Government — a cry for help — 'the Government stretching forth its hands to Ethiopi.i, instead of Ethiopia stretching forth its hands to the Government.' Therefore, Mr. President, I suggest that you postpone the issue of the Proclamation until it can be given to the country upon Union success rather than defeat." There.sult was, that the Proclamation was reserved, and first given to the world ftmiJ the acclamations which followed the battles of South Mountain and Antietam. This is the moment of time seized by Mr. Carpenter in the composition of his picture. The President seems suddenly arrested aud imiiressed by the wisdom of the view of the Secretary of State. In truth, it was an aspect of the case, as he informed the artist, that he had until that inomont entirely overlooked. Ilia marl-ed face and figure are turnod towards Mr. Sewaiii), wlio is in the act of speaking. lie grasps the Proclamation in his left hand, which lias dropped upon the table at his side; the old lines of humor are all gone from his fuco, and in thoir utoad Is a strange blending of firmness and anxiety. Slightly in the rear of Mr. Lincoln is the Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Chase, standing with arms closely folded over his breast The President Is supported on each hand by the Secretaries of War and tho Navy, Mr. Stantok upon tho right, and Mr. Welles on the left; both of whom, together with Mr. CriASK, are looking, with varying shades of expression, towards the speaker, Mr. Seward. At the end of tho table, opposite tlio President, leaning forward upon his arms, is Jcdgk Batks, the Attorney-General. InTOiediately at his right, standing, as if having but recently entered the room, is Montoomebt Blair, tho Postma.ster-General. In tho background, also standing, is tho late Calkb B. Smith, then Secre- tary of the Interior. By invitation of Mr. Lincoln, Mr. Carpenter occupied the State Dinlng-P.oom of tho " AVhlto House " during the painting of the picture, which consumed about six months. From the New York Tribune^ » It is, by all odds, next to Trumbull's Picture of the 'Declaration of Independence'— a pic- ture worth all the rest in the Capitol put together— the best work of this class that has been painted in America." From the Pittsburg Chronicle. Autographs.- The order-book for copies of the engraving of Carpenter's great picture of the "Cabinet Council concerning the Emancipation Proclamation" contains some very valuable and interesting autographs. On the first page are the orders of all tho distinguished men whose portraits are on the canvas, and also of Secretaries Fossenden, Dennison, Cameron, and McCnl- loch. The first page of the Boston orders bears the name of Everett, Gov. Andrew, Sumner, Garrison, George Thompson, &c. Others are scattered throughout its pages, among which we noticed those of Lieutonant-General Grant, Major- General Sherman, Senator E. D. Morgan, Frederick Douglass, Gerrit Smith, and many more of equal note, A MAGNIFICENT STEEL PLATE ENGRAVING From this Picture is now being executed by the celebrated Artist, A. H. RITCHIE. The Size of the Engraving will be 21 inches by 32 inches, on large and heavy Plate Paper. SIZE OF THE PAINTING, Ui FEET BY 9 FEET. PKICES. Aktist's Proofs (signed), $50 ; India Peoofs, $25 ; Pkints, $10. ADDRESS DERBY & MILLER, Publishers, 5 SPRUCE ST., N. Y. Tub Engraving will be Sold by Subscription only. Agents ^ViiBited in every CouMty. NBW TOEK TIMES. Daily, Semi- Weekly, and Weekly. A POLITICAL, LITERARY, AND MISCELLANEOUS NEWSPAPER, Edited by HENRY J. RAYMOND, AUTnOK OP TIIK "life, PUBLIC SKRVICES, AND STATE PAPERS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN," ETa The New York Times is now in the fifteenth year of its publication, and is widely known as one of the most firmly estabhshed and successful newspapers in the United States. Throughout the recent war against the Rebellion it nmin- tained, with unfaltering trust in the people, the cause of the Union and the Con- stitution, and gave to President Lincoln and his Administration a cordial, ener- getic, and effective support. It sustained the Proclamations of Emancipation, the various acts of Congress designed to strengthen the arm of the Government in its contest with rebellion, and the amendment to tlie Constitution forbidding the existence of slavery within the Umits or jurisdiction of the United States. 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