kf,'}' >4V . .»¦a££ tcCe.igri ..•D^^l'^byJlerlvA^C.....ir '.-•u Dteincr^cijrc 't/i^ Sct.m~i e^Si^i^ur. iiNGHAVED Bi-AH RITCHIE EXPTiESSLY FO.K RiWMOBD'S LIFE OF UNCOLN. Published by DerbyAMiila-.NewTorls THE LIFE AND PUBLIC SEKVICES OF ABEAHAM LINCOLN, SIXTEENTH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES ; TOGETHER WITH HIS STATE PAPERS, iNCLUDnra HIS SPEECHES, ADDRESSES, MESSAGES, LETTERS, AND PROCLAMATIONS, THE CLOSING SCENES CONNECTED WITH HIS LIFE AND DEATH, BT HENRY J. EAYMOND, TO "WniCU AKE ADDED ANECDOTES AND PERSONAL REMINISCENCES OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN, By FEANK B. CARPENTER, "With a Steel Poetbait, and othek Illustrations. NEW YOEK: DERBY AND MILLER, PUBLISHERS, No. 5 Speucb Steeet. 186.5, Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1865, By derby & MILLER, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court ofHhe United States for the Southern. District of New York. Cc K^^»^' 8^ Alvoed, Stereottpee and Peikter PEEFAOE Ddeiwg- tl;e Presidential canyass of 1864, the author of this work prepared for its publishers^a yolume upon the Administration of President Lincoln. Its main object was to afford the American people 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-electidn. But he had scarcely entered upon the duties and responsibilities of his second term, when his career was closed by assassination. He had liyed long enough, howeyer, to finish the great work which had deyolyed upon him. Before his eyes were closed, they beheld the oyerthrow of ' the rebellion, the extirpation of slayery, and the res toration, oyer all the land, of the authority of the Constitution 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 were 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 other time, Mr, Lincoln had but one character and one mode of action, in public and priyate affairs. It is the purpose of this work, so far as possible, to facilitate this inquiry, Eyery 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. -?- 1. POETEAIT OE ABEAHAM LINCOLN, engraved by A. H. Eitchib . Fnco Title 2. ABEAHAM LINCOLN'S EAELT HOME^IN KENTUCKY . . . " 16 S. ABEAHAM LINCOLN'S HOME IN SPEINGPIELD . . . . "104 4. RAISING THE OLD ELAG AT INDEPENDENCE HALL . . . " 154 5. PEESIDENT tlNCOLN AND HIS FAMILY, 1861 . . " 158 6. INAHGUEATION AS PEESIDENT AT WASHINGTON . . " 163 7. PEOCLAMATION OF EMANCIPATION "260 Bl eac-simile or peesident Lincoln's lettee to me. eaymond . 589, 590 9. PEESIDENT LINCOLN ENTERING EICHMOND . ^ . . Face C90 10. assassination at FOED'S THEATEE "696 It THE DEATH OF ABEAHAM LINCOLN " TO2 12. FUNEEAL COETEGB THEOUGH NEW YOEK "708 13. EEMAINS LYING IN STATE AT CHICAGO "719 14. THE LAST EITES AT SPEINGFIELD "713 15. FUNEEAL AECH OTEE HUDSON EIVEE EAILEOAD ..." 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 Mezican War Page 17 CHAPTER n. THE LIlTCOLN-DOtrGLAS DEBATE. Presidential Campaign of 185fi. — Douglas at Springfield in 1851. — Lincoln's Reply. — The Great Debate. — Eloquent Defence of the Doctrines of the RepubUcan Paity. — Result of the Contest Page 46 CHAPTER HL ME. LIITOOLW AND THE PEESIDEWOT. The Campaign of 1859 in Ohio. — Mr. Lincoln's Speeches at Columbus and Cincinnati. — His Visit to the East. — ^In New Tork City. — The Great Speech at Cooper Institute. — Mr. Lincoln nominated for the Presidency. — His Election Page T8 CHAPTER ly. ITEOM THE BLECTIOif, NOVEMBEB 6, 1860, TO THE INATJOTJEATIOir, MARCH 4, 3861. The Presidential Election. — Secession of South Carolina. — ^Formation of the Rebel Confederacy. — The Objects of Secesf?ion.-7-Secession Movements in Washington. — Debates in Congress. — The Crittenden Resolutions. — Con ciliatory Action of Congress. — Tbe Peace Conference. — Action of Con gress. — The Secession Movement unchecked Page 107 CHAPTER y. FROM SPRINarrELD TO WASHUfaTOlf. Speech at Indianapolis. — Arrival and Speech at Cincinnati. — Speech at Co lumbus.— 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 the Mayor of New York.— I-t New Jersey.— Arrival at Philadelphia.— Speech in Philadelphia.— At Harrisburg. — Arrival and Reception at Washington Page 131 CHAPTER VI. FROM THE INATJGTrRATION TO THE MEETING OP CONGRESS, JTTLT 4, 1861. The Inaugural Address.— Organization of the Government. — The Bombard ment of Fort Sumter. — Passage of Troops through Baltimore. — Interview with the Mayor of Baltimore. — The Blockade of Rebel Ports. — The Pres ident and the Virginia Commissioners. — Instruction to our Ministers abroad. — Recognition of the Rebels as Belligerents.— Rights of Neu trals Page 161 CHAPTER VIL THE EZTRA SESSION OP CONGRESS, AND THE MILITARY EVENTS OP THE STJMMER \ OP 1861. First Annual Message. — Action of Congress. — Slavery aud Confiscation. — The Defeat at Bull Run. — Treatment of the Slavery Question. — General Fre mont and the President. — The Trent Affair. 7 Page 18 B CHAPTER VEIL THE EESTJLAE SESSION OP CONGRESS, DEOEMBEB, 18S1. — 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 Representiitives. — The Border State Reply. — The Finances. — Tho 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 MILITAET ADMINISTRATION OF 1862.— THE PEESIDENT AND GENERAL M'OLELLAN. / General McCleUan succeeds McDoweU.— The President's Order for an Ad vance.— The Movement to the Peninsula.— Rebel Evacuation of Manas- aas.-=-Arrangements for the Peninsular Movement.— The President's Letter to General McCleUan.— Tho Rebel Strength at Yorktown.— The Contents. 11. Battle of "Williamsburg. — McCleUan's Fear of being Overwhelmed. — The President to McCleUan. — Jackson's Raid in the Shenandoah Valley. — Tho President to McCleUan. — Seven Pines and Fair Oaks. — McClellan's Com plaints of McDoweU. — HLs Continued Delays. — Prepares for Defeat. — - Calls for more Men. — His Advice to the President. — Preparations to Con centrate the Army. — General Halleck to McCleUan. — Appointment of General Pope. — Imperative Orders to McClellan. — McCleUan's FaUure 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. — McCleUan ReUeved from Command. — Speech by the President Page 262 CHAPTER X, GENERAL CONDUOT OP 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 326 CHAPTER XL THE CONGRESSIONAL SESSION OP 1862-'63. — MESSAGE OP 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 i544 CHAPTER XIL ARBITRARY AEHESTS. — THE SUSPENSION OP THE WRIT OP HABEAS CORPUS. — THE DEAPT. 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 VaUandigham. — Governor Seymour on VaUandigham. — President Lin coln on Arrests. — President Lincoln on MiUtary 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 AUejas. — The Draft • -The New York Riots. — Letter to Governor Seymour. — Tho Draft Resumed and Completed. Page 3t3 12 Contents. CHAPTER XIIL 1 MIHTARY EVENTS OP 1863.— THE EEBEL DEFEAT AT GETTYSBURG. PALL OF VIOKSBUEG AND POET HUDSON. The Battles at Fredericksburg.- Rebel Raid into Pennsylvania.— Results at Gettysburg.— Vick;sburg and Port Hudson Captured.— PubUc Rejoicings. —The President's Speech. — Thanksgiving for Victories. — Battle of Chat tanooga. — Thanksgiving Proclamation Page 407 CHAPTER XIV. POLITICAL MOVEMENTS IN MISSOURI. — THE STATE ELECTIONS OP 1863. General Fremont in Missouri. — The President's Letter to Gener.il Hunter. — Emancipation in Missouri. — ^Appointment of General Schofie;d.^The President and the Missouri Radicals. — The President to the Missouri Committee. — The President and General Schofield. — Tho President and the Churches. — Letter to lUinois. — The Elections of 1863 Page 422 CHAPTER XV. THE CONGRESS OP 1863-'64. — MESSAGE OP THE PRESIDENT. — ^ACTION OP THE SESSION. — PROGRESS IN RAISING TROOPS. The President's Message. — Tiie Proclamation ' of Amnesty. — Explanatory Proclamation. — Debate on Slavery. — CaU for Troops. — General Blair's Resignation.— Diplomatic Correspondence.— Our Relations with England. — ^France and Mexico. — The President aud the Monroe Doctrine. . . Page 445 CHAPTER XVL MOVEMENTS TOWARDS RECONSTRUCTION. State Governments in Louisiana and Arkansas.— Difference of Views be tween the President and Congress.— The RebeUion and Labor.— The President on Benevolent Associations.— Advancing Action concerning the Negro Race.— Free State Constitutions Page 481 CHAPTER XVII. MILITARY EVENTS OP THE SPRING AND SUMMER OP 1864. Battle of the Olustee.- Kilpatrick's Raid on Richmond.— The Red River Expedition.-The Fort PiUow Massaore.-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 Kentuoky.-Draft for Five hundred thousand Men - Capture of Mobile and Atlanta. . t^' - Page 513 Contents. 13 CHAPTER XVIIL THE POLITICAL CAMPAIGN OF 1864. The 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 FaUs Conference. — ^The Chicago Convention. — Progress and Resiflt of the Campaign. — Popular Joy at the Result Page 547 CHAPTER XIX. THE MEETING OP CONGRESS AND PROGRESS OP THE WAR. Condition of the Country at the Meeting of Congress. — The Message. — Pi-o- ceedings in Congress. — Fort Fisher. — ^Death of Edward Everett. — Peace Conference \n Hampton Roads. — MUitary Affairs Page 620 CHLAPTER XX. CLOSE OP IHE REBELLION. The Inaugural Address. — Proclamation to Deserters. — Speeches by the Pres ident. — ^Destruction of Lee's Army. — Tho President's Visit to Richmond. — Return to "Washington. — dose of the "War Page 669 CHAPTER XXI. THE PRESIDBNt'S ASSASSINATION. The Condition of the Cotmtry. — 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 EEMINISCENCES OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN, PAGE Mr. Lincoln's Sadness 126 His Favorite Poem '?28 His Religious Experience 130 His Sympathy 736 His Humor, Shrewdness, and Sentiment 743 The Emancipation Proclamation 759 PAGE 157 768 14 Contents. APPENDIX, LETTERS ON SUNDRY OCCASIONS. To Mr. Lodges, of Kentucky To General Hooker To John B. Pry '''"' To Governor MagofSn •• ' '" 771 To Count Gasparin The President and General McClellan 772 "Warnings agadj-st Assassination 779 REPORTS, DISPATCHES, AND PROCLAMATIONS RELATING TO THE ASSASSINATION. Secretary Stanton to General Diz 783 The Death-Bed '. 785 The Assassins 786 Reward Offered by Secretary Stanton 787 Plight of the Assassins ¦ 787 The Conspiracy Organized in Canada 787 Eoo'-h KiUod.— Harold Captured 788 Reward Offered by President Johnson 788 The Funeral 788 OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS. Acting Secretary Hunter to Minister Adams ; 789 Acting Secretary Hunter to his Subordinates ^89 Orders from Secretary Stanton and General Grant 789 Orders from Secretary "Welles lygo Order from Secretary MoGuUooh T91 Order from Postmaster-General Dennison 791 Proclamation by President Johnson of a Day of Humiliation and Mourning . 791 Secretary Stanton to Minister Adams 792 l.-fPORTANT Letter prom J. "Wilkes Booth 793 Indictment of the. Conspirators 798 The Finding op the Court rjgg The following memorandum given by Mr. Lincoln to Hicks, the well- kno^vn 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 13, 1809, in then Hardin County, Kentucky, at a point within the now County of Larue, a mile oi' 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.'' June 14, 1860. Ty=0!E-.:i^,^[K[i:y MfSj'^i^h)! ^^^a^yi^"^^'^^ 'hsM^&u AS IT NOW 1/1 AN us IN T ! .IZABETHTOWN, HARDIN CO KY, 1-1:3 t'jlli.-r LmiJi lii: . ' -¦: uifaTit.auJ re-:; l-J '.h- 11 7/ll(^J v n Yea.' )l'.-v ^lifii he THE LIFE, PUBLIC SERVICES AND STATE PAPERS OE ABRAHAM LIISTCOLK CHAPTER I. Eaelt Life op Abraham Linooln. — His Own Eecord. — His Ancestry. — Changes of Residence. — Deatii and Funeral of nis Motdee. — En- thjVncb upon Political Life. — A Member of the Legislature and of Congress. — The Mexican War. The compiler of the "Dictionary of Congress" states, that "while preparing that work for publication, in 1858, he sent to Mr. Lincoln the usual request for a sketch of his life, and received the foIlo"W"ing reply : " Born, February 12, 1809, in Hardin County, Kentucky. " Education defective. " Profession, a Lawyer. " Have been a Captain of Volunteers in Black Hawk "Wab. " Postmaster at a very small Office. " Four times a Member of the Illinois Legislature, and was a Member 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 early life of our late President. The ancestors of Abraham Lincoln were of English descent ; and although they are believed to haye originally emigrated to this country with the followers of William Penn, it is difficult to trace them 2 18 The Life, Public Services, ani> farther back than to their 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 Ufe, 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, when but seven years old, he was equipped with an old copy of Dil- worth's Spelling Book, which constituted one-third of 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 op Abraham Lincoln, 19 haying some connection with the Trappists, who had founded an institution on Pottinger' s Creek, witli Urban GuUlet as superior, had the honor of instructing the future President in the rudiments. Whether Mr, Lin coln favored his other children, one a girl two years older than Abraham, and the other 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 was 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 employed in going eighteen miles, ftwas 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 Lincolu began the serious business of life. The cabin in which the family liyed 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 hand towards buUding the rude dwelling in which the future President lay down, after fatiguing but health ful toil, to dream the dreams of childhood, undisturbed by thoughts of the futiire. 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 was 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 aU 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 bS'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 haye 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 whom it was extended, responded to the request, and three months subsequent^ State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 21 ly, just a year after her decease, preached a sermon com- memoi-ative of the virtues of one whom her neighbors still held in affectionate and respectful remembrance. In his discourse it is said that the Parson alluded to the manner in which he had received the invitation, and Abra- ^ ham's pen thereafter found frequent employment, in "wiiting 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. SaUy Johnston, a widow with three children. She proved an excellent mother to her step son and daughter, and a faithful 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 months ago, was living in Schuyler County, Illiaois, 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 teUs with great satisfaction how his pupil, who was then remarked for the diligence and eager ness with which he pursued his studies, came to tha 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 branrhes." In connection with hia attendance upon Mr. Crawford's school, an incident is told ^yhich is sure to find a place in every biography of our late President. Books were, of course, very hard to find in the sparsely settled district of Indiana where the Lincoln family had their home, and eyery 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 improved his leisure by reading his book. One night he laid 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 offer, 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 haye just told is so nearly parallel to the famous "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 haying been eagerly read in his youthful days, were a Life of Henry Clay, Esop's Fables, and Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. It is quite probable that 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 pen 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 tho State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 2,3 way down the 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 havl again encroached upon them almost imperceptibly, and in 1830 Thomas Lincoln, impatient of the restrictions which he found the gradually increasing population di-a"vving 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 which 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 Eepublican 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 that, 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. IJncoln has now a cane made. from one of the raUs split by his own hands in boyhood. 24 The Life, Public Services, and Every 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 BO 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 mUes to the eastward. Abraham determined 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 flat-boatman, returning in the summer of the same year. The man who had em ployed him for this vof age 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 clerls, 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 haying been a grocery -keeper. To this Mr. Lincoln replied as follows :— The judge is wofully at fault about Ms 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 the latter part of one winter iu 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 Abraham Lincoln. 25 to which Mr. Lincoln referred, a winter of unusual severity had caused extreme suffering through that sec tion of Illinois, and that he was not only anxious, but compelled, to take up Avith any occupation by Avliich he ' might turn an honest penny in order to keep his father's family, who were even then partially dependent upon 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 the State where he then liyed, is clearly indicated by the fact that he was 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, howeyer, within a short time, and again Mr. Lincoln enlisted, this time also as a private. What rank was conferred upon him, if any, during this campaign is not recorded ; but in spite of the pressure brought to bear upon 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 you know I was a military hero? Yes, sir, in the days of the Black 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, tbe 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 hungry. His military career closed, Mr. Lincoln turned his atten- 26 The Life, Public Services, and tion to politics. He espoused the cause of Henry Clay- in opposition to that of General Jackson, who was very popular in that section of Illinois— 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 haye 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 eyery 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 eyery book he perused, so as to fix the 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 in his studies. He had plenty of employment 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 sheriff's execution. Tliis 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 daring this term he was assigned a place on the Finance Committee, his memoer- State Papers op Abraham Lincoln. 27 ship of the Committee on Public Accounts and Expendi tures during his first term haying qualified him for this duty. The following letter, which was written during this canyass, 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, Junt 21, 1S36. Dear Colonel: — I am told- that, during 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 prospects of N. W. Edwards and myself at the ensuing election; but that, through favor to us, you would forbear to divulge them. No one has 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 bad the confidence of the people of Sangamon county is sufiiciently 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 confldence, 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 worst 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 "mth 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 Illinoia 28 The Life, Public Services, and legislature at this time, and they took advantage of their 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- 1 lege to enter upon the Journal of the House, in connec tion with a colleague, his reasons for voting in opposition to the resolutions. This document, which now possesses historical interest, reads as follows : — MiBon 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 tho promulgation of abolition doctrines tends rather to increase than abate its evils. " They believe that the Congress of the United States has no power, under tlie Constitution, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the diflerent 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 ditt'erence between these opinions and those contained in the said resolutions, is their reason for entering this protest. " (Signed) "Dan Stone, "A. Lincoln, Bepresentati'ves from the County of Sangamon." In 1838, Mr. Lincoln was for the third time elected to the State legislature ; and ailiong his six colleagues, as rep resentatives from Sangamon County, was John Calhoun, since notorious for his connection with the Lecom.pton 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 and had greatly enhanced his reputation by his repeated earnest and eloquent efforts. 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 oyer their son, an over-indulged and somewhat unruly boy. The sequel, which is thus graph ically told by the Cleaveland Leader, sho"WS 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, Ai-mstrong, 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 they pictured him as a fiend of the most horrible hue. As these rumors spread abroad they were received as gos pel truth, and a feverish desire for vengeance seized upon the infatuated populace, whilst only prison bars prevented a horrible death at the 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 effort to save tlie 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 be 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 false hoods. When the 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 worshipped, 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 hhn 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 ; aud to show that a greater degree of ill feeling existed between the accuser and tho 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 Abraham Lincoln. 31 argument. Slowly and carefully he reviewed 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 place at a certain hour in the evening, and that, by the aid of the brightly shining moon, he saw the prisoner inflict tho death-blow with the slung- shot. Mr. Lincoln showed that at the hour referred to the moon had not yet appeared above the horizon, and consequently the ¦whole tale wa« a fabrication. An almost instantaneous change seemed to have been wrought in the minds of his auditors, and the verdict of " not guilty" was at the end of every tongue. But the advocate was not content with this intellectual achievement. Ills 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, bnt 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 which 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 officers of the court and tho 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 overfiowing with citizens from the town. When the prisoner and his mother 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 tho 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 1 cast a glance behind, I saw Abraham Lincoln obeying the Divine injuno- titn by comforting the wido'wed 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 stUl 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 ¦n'ith 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 sundoT\n, 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, jiis 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 4th, 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 died 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 to State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 33 Indiana. None felt more keenly than he the unexpected defeat of his favorite. 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 majority of nine hundred and fourteen 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 body. 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 Slayery 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, talcing the si le of the common enemy against Ms 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 3 34 The Life, Public Services, and that was consistent. Such is the truth, and the Judge has a right to make aU 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." tVe 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 between sup porting the country while 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 efforts 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 efforts 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 072, 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 of Abraham Lincoln. 35 on that point ; which President Polk would have found as difficult to dodge as Douglas found if 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 resolations, omitting the preamble, which 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 ly the House of Sepresentatives, That the President of tho 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 territory of Spain, at least after the treaty of 1819, until the Mexican revolution. 2d. Whether that spot is or is not witliin the territory which was ¦wrested from 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 fled before the approach of the United States army. 4:th. 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 the 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, lea-ving unprotected their homes and their growing .crops, lefore 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 people 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 officers and soldiers, sent into that settlement by the military order of the President, through the 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 than onoe 36 The Life, Public Services, and intimated to the "War Department that, in his opinion, no such movement ¦was necessary to the defence or protection of Texas. These resolutions, which Mr. Polk would haye 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 haye 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 haying 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 haye 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 tho 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 o"wn views, while he dealt a severe blow at the same pseudo chiyalric 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 his mite in the way of suggestion. The late Silas State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 37 Vright, in a letter to the Chicago convention, contributed his, which was ¦worth something ; and I now contribute mine, which may be worth nothing. At all events, it will mislead nobody, and therefore will do no harm. I would not borrow money. I am against an overwhelming, crushing system. Suppose that, at each session. Congress shall first determine liow much money can, for that year, be spared for improve ments; then apportion that sum to the most important 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. I shall be slow to acknowledge that yow harbor or your river is more important than mine, and mce versd. To clear this difficulty, let us have that same 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 whim, caprice, or local interest. The pre-limited amount of means will save us from doing too much, and the statistics wUl 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. Ehett] very much de precates these statistics. He particularly objects, as I understand him, to counting all the pigs and chickens in the land. I do not perceive much force in the objection. It is true, that 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 thejr are produced, need no roads and rivers, no means of transportation, and have no very proper connection with this subject. The surplus, that which 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 ba among the most valuable statistics in this connection. Prom 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 lie equally useful, to both the Nation and the States. In this way, and by these means, let the Nation 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 Philadelphia, to which Mr. Lincoln was a delegate, fairly opened the campaign, and Congress prolonged ita 38 The Life, Public Ser"V1ces, and session until August 14th, as the members,— Senators and Representatives alike,— insisted, each for himself, upon expressing his views, and defining 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, was 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. Yan 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 New England, where' he delivered a number of effective campaign speeches in support of General Taylor. The 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 the 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 canyass in that section of the country. Although he failed to carry his own State for his favorite candidate, his disappointment 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 upon 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 slayery 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 thw State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 39 abolition of slayery in the District of Columbia, and against the slave-trade. On the question of abolishing slayery in the District, he took rather a prominent part. A Mr. Gott had in troduced a resolution directing the proper 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 biU 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 ly the Senate and House of Bepresentativea of 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. Sbo. 2. That no person now within said District, or now owned by any person or persons now resident within the 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 imp.aired. Sec 3. That all children born of slave mothers within said District, on or after tbe 1st day of January, in the year of our Lord 1850, shall be free ; but shaU be reasonably supported and educated by the respective owners of their mothers, or by their heirs or representatives, and shaU 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, lawfuUy held as slaves, or now owned by any person or persons now resident within said District, shall remain such at the will of their respective owners, their heirs, or legal representatives : Provided, that such owner, or Jiis legaJ representatives, may at any time receive from the Treasury of the United 40 The Life, Public Services, and States the full value of his or her slave, of the class in this section men tioned, upon which such slave shaU be forthwith 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 this section, and whose duty it shall be to hold a session for the purpose on tha 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 tha applicant, shall value such slave at his or her fuU 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 aU fugitive slaves escaping into said District. Seo. 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 fuU force and effect 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 aU purposes of this act, the jurisdictional limits of "Washington are extended to aU 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 slayery, had not yet come. The question of the Territories also came up in many ways. • The WUmot Proviso had made its first appearance State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 41 in the previous session, in the August before, but it was re peatedly before this Congress also, when efforts were made to apply it to the territory which we procured fr6m Mex ico, and to Oregon. On aU occasions when it was before the House it was supported by Mr. Lincoln, and he stated during his contest with Judge Douglas, that he had voted for it, "in one way and another, about forty times." He thus showed hinself, in 1847, to be the same friend of , freedom for the Territories which he was afterwards, du ring the heat of the Kansas struggle. Another instance in which the slavery question was before the House, was in the famous Paclieco case. This was a bill to reimburse the heirs of Antonio Pacheco for the value of a slave who was hired by a United States officer in Florida, but ran away and joined the Seminoles, and, . being taken in arms with them, was sent out of Florida with them, when they were transported to the West. The bill was reported to the House by the Com mittee on Military Affairs. This committee was 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 was, that slaves were regarded as property by the Constitution, and when 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 afterwards to have it established by a decision of the Supreme Court, so now they tried to have it recognized by Congress, and Mr. Lincoln op posed it there, as heartily as he afterwards withstood it when it took the more covert, but no less -dangerous shapa 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, although 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— the Democrats hav ing the control of the State, which they retained until the confiict*arising out of the Nebraska biU, 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 Adnertiser, writing from Washington, thus states the form in which 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 haU 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 priceless things. This is a plain and simjjle model of a steamboat, roughly fashioned in wood, by the hand of Abraham Lincoln. It bears date in 1849, 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 much attention to con trivances which he hoped might be of benefit to the world and of profit to himself. The design of this invention is suggestive of one phase of Abraham Lincoln's early life, when he went up and down tbe Mississippi as a fiat- boatman, and became familiar with some of the dangers and inconve niences attending the na^vigation 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 fioat 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 differs from very many of the models which share with it the shelter of the immense halls of the Patent Office, and which are fashioned with wonderful nicety and exquisite finish, as if much of the labor and thought and affection of a lifetime had been de- State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 43 voted to their construction. This is a model of a different kind ; carved as one might imagine a retired rail-splitter would whittle, strongly, but not smoothly, and evidently made with a view solely to convey, by the simplest 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 here sixteen years; and since it found its resting-place here on the shelf, the shrewd inventor has found it his task to guide the ship of state over shoals more perUous, and obstructions more obstinate, than any prophet dreamed of ¦when Abraham Lincoln wrote his bold autograph on the prow of this miniatm-e 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 important 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 have 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 animus 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 BUl was passed May 22, 1854, and the event gave new and increased force to the popular feel ing in favor 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 confiict 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 year in Illinois was one of the severest ever known. It was intensified 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 fiU 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- j 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. This was afterwards con sidered to have been the greatest event of the whole can vass. Mr. Lincoln opened the discussion ; and in hia 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 faUacy of drawing from these premises the conclusion that they therefore should haye the right to establish slayery there, was most clearly and conclusively exposed by Mr. Lincoln, so that no one could thereafter be misled by it, unless he was a wUling 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, lut I deny his right to govern any other person without that person's consent." The two opponents met again at Peoria. We believe it is universaUy 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 Lincoln. 45 didate. Mr. Lincoln was naturally the candidate of those who were of Whig antecedents. Judge Trumbull was as naturaUy the candidate of some who had really come out from the Democratic party — though they still caUed themselves Free Democrats. There was danger, of course, in such a posture of affairs, and Mr. Lincoln, in that spirit of patriotism which 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 was after wards made by the enemies of both, that there had been in this matter a breach of faith on the part of Judge TrumbuU, 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. Pbesidential Campaign oe 1856. — Douolas at Spektofield m 1867.— Lincoln's Eeply. — The Geeat Debate. — Eloquent Defence of the DOOTMNES OE THE EePUBLIOAN PaETT. — EeSULT OE THE CONTEST. The pressure of the slayery contest at last fully organ ized the RepubUcan party, which held its first convention for the nomination of President and Yice-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 ofiice, and on the infor mal baUot he stood next to Mr. Dayton, receiving 110 votes. Mr. Lincoln' s name headed the Republican elec toral ticket in lUinois, and he took an active part in the canvass, but the Democrats carried the State, though only by a plurality vote. MeanwhUe, Senator Douglas embraced eyery 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 wUy, deceptive sophistries of the former the clear, incisive common sense of the latter, which the multitude could not avoid comprehending. Early in June, 1857, Senator Douglas made his famous speech in Springfield, which was universaUy accepted as a declara tion that he meant to sustain all the acts of the Lecomp ton Convention, even though a pro-slavery constitution State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 47 should be formed, the responsibility for the adoption of which he meant to fasten upon the Republican party, since it was anticipated that the members of that organ ization in the Territory would refrain from voting. He further indorsed the Dred Scott decision in this same speech, and, in discussing the Utah rebeUion, proposed to end the difficulty by annulling the act establishing the Territory. Mr. Lincoln promptly took issue with him upon aU these points, in a speech also delivered at Springfield, twr 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 impU- cation in the foUowing forcible manner : — This assumption is a mistake. In some trifling particulars the condi tion of that race has been ameliorated ; but, as a whole, in this country, the change between then and now is decidedly the other way; and their ultimate destiny has nevei- appeared so hopeless as in the last three or four years. In two of the five States — New Jersey and North Carolina — that thet. gave the free negro the right of voting, the right has sinc'e been t.iken away ; and in the third — New 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 1 understand, masters could, at their own pleasure, emancipate their slaves ; but, since then, such legal restraints have been made upon 48 The Life, Public Services, and emancipation as to amount almost to prohibition. In those days, le^s- latures held the unquestioned power to aboUsh 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 -wiU not continue tho prohibition, and the Supreme Court decides that it could not, if it would. In those days, our Declaration of Independence was held sacred by aU, and thought to include all ; but now, to aid in making the bondage of tha 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. AU the powers of earth set Ji rapidly combining against him. Mammon is after him ; ambition follows, philosopliy fol lows, and the theology of the day is fast joining the cry. They have 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 unlocked without the con currence of every key ; the keys in the hands of a hundred different 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 impossibUity 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 coln himself, could the fact haye been revealed to him, when uttering these words, that through hhu 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 sufferings 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 complete political and social equality with themselves. He said : — Tliere is a n.atural disgust, in the minds of nearly aU white people, to the idea of an indiscriminate amalgamation of the white and black races ; State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 49 and J^adge Douglas evidently is basing his chief hope upon the chances of his being able to .appropriate the benefit of this disgust to himself If he can, by much drumming and repeating, fasten the odium of that idea upon his adversaries, he thinks he can struggle through the storm. He therefore clings to this hope, as a drowning man to the last plank. Ho 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 s» 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 I do not want a black woman for a slave, I must necessarUy ¦want her for 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 hijT 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 thus presented the leading points in these two speeches, because the discussion.was the prelude to the famous Senatorial contest of 1858, which gave Mr. JAncoln 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 days 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 aU 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 50 The Life, Public Services, and question, instead of the whole Constitution, compelUng 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 be well remembered, as well as the feeling which so unjust a device excited throughout the North. Judge Douglas 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 tbok 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 haye 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, with whom he had hitherto acted in concert. The bill was finally passed through Congress on AprU 30th, 1858, under what is known as the English BiU, whereby the Constitution was to be submitted to the *¦ votes 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 lUinois after the adjournment of Con gress, to attend in person to the political campaign, upon the result of which was to depend his re-election to the Senate. His course on the Lecompton bUl had made an open breach 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 RepubUcans of lUinois thought otherwise. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 51 They knew that he was not in any sense a Republican. They knew that on the cardinal principle of the Repub lican party, opposition to .the spread of Slavery into the Territories, he was not with them ;, for he had declared 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 the energy that they could bring to the work. And to this end, on the 17th 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 briefiy sketched invested the campaign about to open with national importance. The people of the whole Union saw that the struggle then initiated in Hlinois must ultimately extend to other States, and they knew that they would soon be compelled them selves to pass upon the questions there t9 be dedided. None doubted that the principle of ' ' Popular Sovereignty' ' would be thoroiighly examined, for the reputation of the two combatants as men of extraordinary abiUty 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 sharply 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 speeqh delivered at Chicago, July 9, — the first after Mr. Lincoln's nomination, — Senator Douglas alluded to this address as haying been "weU prepared and care fuUy written." In reply, Mr. Lincoln said, " G-entlemen, Judge Douglas informed you that this speech of mine 52 The Life, Public Services, and was probably carefully prepared, I admit that it was. I am not a master of language. I have not a fine educa tion ; I am not capable of entering into a disquisition upon dialectics, as I beUeve you caU it." In the address thus aUuded to, Mr. Lincoln struck the key-note of the campaign. Its exposition of his poUtical 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 : — Me. Peesident, and Gentlemen of the Convention :— If wo could flrst know where 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 fifth 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 wiU not cease untU a crisis shaU 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 faU, but I do expect it wiU cease to be divided. It wiU become aU one thing, or aU the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the 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 wiU push it forward tiU it shaU become aUke lawful in aU the States, old as weU 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 cf the Nebraska doctrine and the Dred Scott decision. Let him consider not only what work the machinery is adapted to do, 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 national 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 ch.ance for more. This necessity had not been overlooked, but had been provided for, iis weU as might be, in the notable argument of " squatter sovereignty,'' State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 53 otherwise called "sacred right of self-government;" which latter phrase, though 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, m the language which foUows: "It being the true 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 bUl 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 la^w'suit were brought to a decision in the same month of May, 1834. The negro's name was "Dred Scott," which name now designates the decision finally made in thecase. 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. StiU, before the elec tion. Senator Trumbull, on the fioor 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 tho latter answers: "That is a question for the Supreme Court." The election came. Mr. Buchanan was elected, and, the indorsement, such 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 tho -weight and auth ority of the indorsement. The Supreme Court met again ; did not announce their decision, but ordered a re-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 make a speech at this capital, indorsing the Dred Scott decision, and vehemently denouncing aU opposition to it. The new president, too, seizes the •arlv 54 The Life, Public Services, and occasion of the Silliman letter to indorse and strongly' construe that decision, and to express his astonishment that any different view had ever been entertained. At length a squabble springs up between the President and the author of the Nebraska biU, on the more question of fact, whether the Lecomp ton 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 slavp-y 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 hafl any parental feeling, weU 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 Eepubli 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, constitute 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 fiU up the Territories with slaves without danger of losing thein as property, and thus to enhance the chances of permanency to the insti. tution through aU 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 wiU 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 pi-essed immediately; but, if acquiesced in for awhUe, 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 lawfu,lly do ¦v\nth Dred Scott, in the free State of Illinois, every other master may lawfully do with any other one, or one thousand slaves, in Illinois, or in any other free State. AuxUiary to all this, and working hand in hand with it, the Nebraska doctrine, or what is left of it, is to educate and mould public opinion, at least Northern public 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 wUl throw additional light on the latter, to go back, and run tho mind over the string of historical facts already stated. Several things •wiU 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 a Senator's individual opinion withheld till after the presidential election ? Plainly enough now : the speaking out then would have 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 why 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, different portions of which we know have been gotten out at different times and places, and by different workmen — Stephen, Franklin, Eoger, and James, for instance — and when we see these timbers joined together, and seo 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 dee 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 aU understood one another from the beginning, and all worked upon a common plan or draft drawn up before the first blow was struck. Tt should not be overlooked that, by the Nebraska bill, the people of a 56 The Life, Public Services, and state, as weU as Territory, were to be left "perfectly free," "subject only to the Constitution." Why mention a State ? They were legislatmg 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 United 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 Stale therein lumped together, and their relation to the Constitution therein treated as being precisely the same? WhUe the opinion of ihe court, by Chief-Justice Taney, in the Dred Scott case, and tbe 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 aU omit to declare whether or not the same Constitution permits a State, or the people of a State, to exclude it. Fossibly, this is a mere omission ; but who can be quite sure, if McLean or Curtis had sought to get into the opinion a de-olaration of unlimited power in the people of a State to exclude slavery from thoir limits, just as Chase and Mace sought to get such declara tion, iu behalf of the people of a Territory, into the Nebraska bid;— 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 tbe 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 may especially be expected, if the doc trine of "care not whether slavery be voted down or voted up," shaU gain upon the public mind sufiiciently to give promise that such a decision can be maintained when made. Snch 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 poUti cal dynasty shall be met and overthrown. We shall lie down pleasantly dreaming that the people of Missouri are on the v«rge of making their State free, and we shall awake to the reaUty 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 are those who 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 the present head of the dynasty ; and that he has regularly voted with us on a single point, upon which he and we have never differed. They remind us that he is a great man, and that tbe largest of us are very small ones. Let this be granted. But " a Uving 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. How can he op*se the advances of slavery ? He don't care any thing about it. llis avowed mission is impressing the "public heart" to care nothing alout it. A leading Douglas democratic ne^wspaper thinks Douglas's superior talent will be needed to resist the revival of the African slave-trade. Does Douglas believe an eflbrt 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 where they can be bought cheapest? And unquestionably they can be bought cheaper in Africa than in Vir ginia. He has done aU 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 refuse 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 ¦wLU be wholly without a ground of opposition. Senator Dcmglas 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 {idventitious obstacle. But, clearly, he 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. Ve 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 J- - 58 The Life, Public Services, and now, when that same enemy ,s wavering, dissevered, and beUigerentT Tbe result is not doubtful. We shaU not fail-if we stand firm, we shall not fail. Wise counsels may accelerate, or mistakes delay it; bii-t, soonei or later, the victory is sure to come. The first paragraph of this speech has become famous in our political history, and the whole address, with its kold utterance of truths which many, even of Mr. Lin coln's supporters, did not at that time care to face, was a fitting prelude to the great contest which was to foUow. Although, as its author admitted, it had been carefuUy prepared, 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, untU 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 supercUiousness. He was especially severe upon the introductory passage of Mr. Lincoln' s address, in which he asserted his beUef that the Govern ment could not endure half slave and half free. Mi\ 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 imtnense 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- craMc party for the campaign : — Popular sovereignty! everlasting popular sovereignty! Let ns for a moment inquire into this vast matter of popular sovereignty. What is popular sovereignty ? We recollect that at an early period iu the history of this struggle, there was another name for the same thing — Squatttf State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 59 Sovereignty. It was not exactly Popular Sovereignty, but Squatter 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 last 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 the people! What was Squatter Sovereignty? I suppose, if it had any sig nificance at all, it was the right of the people to govern themselves, to be sovereign in their own affairs, while they were squatted down in- a country not their own — whUe they had squatted on a Territory that did not belong to tbe^i, in the sense that a State belongs to the 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 Squatter 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. When that is so, how much is left of this vaet 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 particulariy to what he has inferred frora it He says I am in favor of making all the States of this Union uniform in all their internal regulations; that in aU 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 m favor of any thing in it. I only said uh.at I expected would take place. I made.a prediction only— it may have been a foolish one, 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 do-ivn in the great speech. Gentlemen, Judge Douglas informed you that this speech of mine was probably carefuUy prepared. 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 ^ t beUeve the language I employed bears any such construction as J uoge 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 lean 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 conntry, and I know that it has endured eighty-two years, half slave and half free. I leliene — and that is what I meant to aUude to there — I Idieve 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 behef 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, ^o 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, ¦n-ho 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 beUeve. 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 out State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 61 off by Congress? Why were all these acts? I might enumerate more of those acts — but enough. What were they but 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 beUeve 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 s..id 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 anything I have ever intended, and, as I believe, by any thing 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. These 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, — physicaUy, 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 Ught of which they marched. He felt that the contest was no mere local one ; that it was com paratively of Uttle consequence which man succeeded in 62 The Life, Public Services, and the fight, but that it was aU-important that the banner of freedom should be borne with no faltering step, but "fuU high advanced." And thus through the whole campaign he°sought with aU 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 deUvery of the speeches in Chicago, to which we have already aUuded, 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 unintentionaUy 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 accept them. 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 7th ; at Quincy, on Oc tober 13th ; 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 skiUed debaters, before mixed audiences of friends and foes, to rejoice over every keen thrust at the adversary, to be cast down by each faUure to parry the thrust so aimed. It is impossible to present here any thing more than the barest sketch of these great efforts of Mr. Lincoln. They are, and always State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 63 will be, to those who are interested in the history of the slavery contest, most valuable and important documents. In the first of these joint debates, which took place at Ottawa, Mr. Douglas again rung the changes upon 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 bUl, in which he had 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 CQiUd exclude it, and the acquies cence of the people in such a decision ; and he told his liearers 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 saith 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 foiiglit 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 tben, could they perpetuate slavery in this country ! To my thinking, Judge Douglas is, by his example and vast infiuence, 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 Revolution, and, to the ex tent of his ability, muzzling the cannon which thunders its annual joyous return. When be invites any people, wUling to have slavery, to establish it, he is blowing out the moral lights around us. When he says, he " cares not ¦n'bether slavery is voted down or voted up," — that it is a sacred right of self-government,— he is, in my judgment, penetrating the huaan ' soul, and eradicating the Ught of reason and the love of liberty in this American people. And now I wiU only say, that when, by aU 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 shaU 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 ou 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 — the 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 fit 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 seo 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 tha District of Columbia. Q. 5. I desire him to answer whether he stands pledged to the pro hibition of the slave-trade between the different States ? A. I do not stand pledged to the prohibition of the slave-trade bo tween the different States. Q. 6. 1 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. Douglas that he should 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 respecis, adopt a State Constitution, and ask admission into the Union under it, iefore they have the requisite number of inhabitants according to the EngUsh bill — some ninety- three thousand — wiU 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 you 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 a,gain caUed 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 estabUsh it, as was shown by his voting against Mr, 6 66 The Life, Public Services, and Chase's amendment to the Nebraska bUl, which 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 which 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, "wiU 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 compeUing 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 TrumbuU against Douglas, of being himself reponsible for a clause in the Kansas bUl which would haye deprived the people of Kansas of the right to vote upon their own Constitution. He stated this point as foUows : State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. G7 The bill that went into his (Mr. Douglas's) hands 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 tha provision out. He says U was known that the bill was silent in thia 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 qtiestion 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 sUent 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 ? How could hfi infer that a submission was stiU implied, after its express provi sion had been stricken from the biU ? I find the biU vocal with the pro vision, V, bile he sUenced it. He took it out, and although he took out the other provision preventing a submission to a vote of the people, I ask, why 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, / ask him 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 his action from the one we assign him — he can tell it. I insist upon knowing why he made the bill sUenj; upon that point, when it was vocal before he put his hands upon it. Mr. Douglas, it is needless to say, could not parry thia home thrust. In his efforts to do so (for Mr. Lincoln gave him several opportunities subsequently 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. Ha shall 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 fbr 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 ground 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 manufactured neariy every thing that he ever says about my dispo sition to produce an equality between the negroes and the white people. If any one wUl read my speech, he wiU 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 tho United States, if they choose. The Dred Scott decision decides that they have not that power. If the State of lUinois had that power I should be opposed to the exercise of it. That is all I have to say about it. In the fifth joint debate, that at Galesburg, Mr. Lincoln defended the RepubUcan party from the charge of being sectional, and in the course of his speech he thus pointedly sketched the difference 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 Eepublicans 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 coadjutors in their course of policy, carefully excludes the thought that there is any thing wrong in slavery. All their arguments, if you ¦wUl consider them, wiU be seen to exclude the thought that there is any thing whatever wrong in slavery. If you wiU 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 wUl 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 logioaUy say that anybody has a right to do wrong. Ee 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. That is perfectly logical, if the two species of property are alike, and are equally founded in right. But if you admit that one of them is ¦wrong, you cannot institute any equality be tween right and wrong. And from this difference 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 ¦wrong ; and this other sentiment, that it is no wrong, and a policy sprung from tliat sentiment which will tolerate no idea of preventing 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 Republicans on the other. Now, I confess myself as belonging to that class in the country who contemplate slavery as a moral, social, and political e^vil, having due regard for its actual existence amongst us, and the difiiculties 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 calUng attention to the fraudulent resolutions, and giving strong proof that Doug las himself was a party to the imposition, showed that he had faUed 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 sustaiixed" 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 Slayery 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 responsibiUty attach 70 The Life, Public Services, and kig to the " enormity" of the principles he advocated, and said that he would heartUy s.tate those principles, as weU as it was in his power to do, "inaU their enormity," which he did as foUows : We have in this nation this element of domestic slavery. It is a matter of absolute certainty 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 necessarUy springs from difference of opinion, and if we can learn exactly — can reduce to the lowest elements — what that difference 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 difference between the men who think slavery a wrong and those who do not think it wrong. The Republican 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 tbe 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 ns to disturb it in the District of Columbia. Still we do not propose to do that, unless it should be in terms which I don't suppose the nation is very likely soon to agree to^the tei-ms 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 ought perhaps to address you a few words. We do not propose that when 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 -n'ill in any violent way disturb the rights of property thus settled ; but we nevertheless do oppose fliat decision as a political rule, which shall be binding on the voter to vote for nobody who thinks it wrong, which shaU 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 v,-6 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 wiU 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 them, that man is misplaced, and ought to leave us. While, on tha other hand, if there be any man in the Republican 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 place 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 aU their enormity. Mr. Douglas replied to Mr. Lincoln in a manner which proved that he felt the arguments which his antagonist had advanced to be actuaUy 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 polioy in regard to the institution of slavery contemplates that it shall last for ever. We are getting a little nearer tho true issue of this controversy, and I am profoundly grateful for this one sentence. Judge Douglas asks you, " Why cannot the instil 'ition of slavery, or rather, -why cannot the nation, part slave and part free, continue as our fathers made it forever?" lb 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, lie assumes \ohat is historically a falsehood. More than that : -when the fathers 72 The Life, PubLxC Services, and of the Government cut off the source of slavery by the 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 sla-5fery 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, and put it upon the cotton-gin hasis. It is a question, there fore, for him and his friends to answer — why they could not let it remain where the fathers of the Government originaUy placed it. The seventh and last joint debate took place at Alton, October 15. According to the schedule previously agreed upon, Mr. Douglas had the opening speech. Mr. Lincoln, in his rejoinder, made a thorough and exhaustive, review of tlie 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 Avhich had resulted from the efforts of the Democracy to put slavery upon a different footing, and sketched the dangers and difiiculties in which this attempt had in volved the country. He thus expressed his opinion of the way in -vvhich 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 the other. We might, by arresting the further spread of it, and placing it where the fathers originally placed it, put it where .he 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 the public mind 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 evidence sufficient to my mind, that the fathers of this Government placed that in stitution where the public mind did rest in the beUef that it was in the course of ultimate extinction. Let me ask why they made provision that The source of slavery — the African slave-trade — should be cut off at the end of twenty years? Why did they make provision that in all the ne-w 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 sentiment of the Democratic party, as it then existed, was that it was not wrong, and that Douglas and those who sympathized with him did not desire or ever expect to see the country freed from this gigantic eyU. 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 RepubUcan 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 tha difficulties of getting rid of it in any satisfactory way, and to all the con stitutional obligations thrown about it. Tet, ha-ving 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 far as may be, be treated as a wrong, and one of tbe 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 aU their sentiments — aU 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 thmk 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. We disclaim sympathy with him in practical action. He is not placed properly with us. 74 The Life, Public Services, and On this subject of treating it as a wrong, and limiting its spread, let me say a word. Has any thing 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 slavery ? 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? Tou 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. Tou see this peaceful way of dealing with it as a wrong — restricting the spread of it, and not aUowing it to go into new countries where it has not already existed. That is the peaceful way, the old-fashioned 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 t^wo classes of men faU within the general class of those who do not look upon it as a wrong. And if there be among you anybody who supposes that he, as a Demo crat, can consider himself "as much opposed to slavery as anybody," I would like to reason with him. Tou 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 wrong. Tou must not say any thing about it in the free States, because it is not here. Tou must not say any thing about it in the slave States, because it is there. Tou must not say any thing about it in the pulpit, because that is religion, and has nothing to do with it. Tou must not say any thing about it in politics, because that wUl disturb the security of "my place." There is no place to talk about it as being a wrong, although you say yourself it is a ¦svrong. But, finaUy, you wiU 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. Tou would be in favor of it. Tou say that is getting it in the right place, and you would be glad to see it succeed. But you are deceiving yourself Tou 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 hard 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 be 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 the 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 Ulustrations, their wonderful pertinence, his exhaustless humor, his confide;ice 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 aUke. It was not strange that more than once, during the course of the unparalleled excitement 76 The Life, Public Services, and which marked this canvass, Mr. Douglas should have been thrown off his guard by the 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 confldence 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 haye been, had party lines been mor« 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 tUity 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 slayery into Kansas against the wUl of the peo ple, 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 125,084 Douglas Democrat 121 940 Lecompton Democrat 5,091 Mr. Lincoln, therefore, had the people been 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 tlie country, as the future showed, but unfortunately for Mr. Lincoln State Papers oe 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 the Republicans, their opponents had, in the upper branch of this body, fourteen members to their eleven, AvhUe in the lower House these two parties stood forty Democrats to thirty-five Republicans. This state of affairs 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 through the most trying period of its history. 78 The Life, Public Services, and CHAPTER III. MR. LINCOLN AND THE PRESIDENCY. The Oampaion ots 1859 in Ohio.— Me. Lincoln's Spbeohes at CotuMnua AND Cincinnati.— His Visit to the East. — In New Toek City.— Tub GBEAT Speech at Coopbe Institote. — Me. Lincoln Nominated foe THE PeeSIDENOT. HiS ELECTION. Cheerfully resigning himself to the 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 weU as in the hope of securing important advantages for the democ racy, Mr. Douglas was enlisted in .the canyass. 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 deUvered at Columbus and the other at Cincinnati. Not fuUy satis fied with the position in which the close of the canyass in lUinois 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 briefiy to the identically stale charges which Mr. Douglas had so often repeated during tlie <;an- yass 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 ont State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 79 and extended, untU it is ultimately made alike lawful in all the States of this Union ; so believing, to prevent that incidental and ultimtite consuiu mation, is the original and chief purpose of the Republican organization. I say "chief purpose" of the RepubUcan organization; for it is certainly true that if the National House sli.all fall into tlie hands of the Republicans, they wUl have to attend to all the other matters of national liouse-keep- ing as well as this. The chief and real purpose of the RepubUcan 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 quito 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 ¦wUl 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 that pur pose is that insidious Douglas Popular Sovereignty. This is tbe minei 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 abont this: That each man shall do precisely as he pleases ¦with himself, i.nd 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 shall do pre cisely as they please in respect to these 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, nc 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 01 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 tU persons to be enslaved, or the infinitely greater number of persons who 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 tbe famUy 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 tiong 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 wiU 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 tbe world saying that the negro had no share in the Declaration of National Independence ; that it did not mean negroes at all ; and when " aU men " were spoken of, negroes were not included ? I am satisfied that five years ago that proposition was not put npon 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 there 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 beeh here much ; but I presume you are very much alike everywhere. Then I suppose that 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 public mind to the extent I have stated. There is no nan in this crowd who can contradict it. Now, if you are opposed to slavery honestly, as much as anybody, i a.sk you to note that fact, and the like of which is to follow, to be plastered on, layer after lay.er, until very soon 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, Tou need but one or t^wo 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 submit 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 the 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, th jy 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 ; but untU 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 reptUe ; that man, with body and soul, is a matter of doUars 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 ia now going on among you a steady process of debauching public opinion on this subject. With this, my friends, I bid you adieu. In his speech at Cincinnati, Mr. Lincoln addressed him self particularly to the Kentuckians whom he supposed to be among his hearers, and after advising them to nom inate Mr. Douglas as their candidate for the Presidency at the approaching Charleston Convention, showed them how by so doing they would the most surely protect their cherished institution of slavery. In the course of his argument he expressed this shrewd opinion, which may now be classed as a prophecy : — It is bnt 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 wiU surely be beaten if you do not take him. We, the Republicans and others forming the opposition of the country, intend to " stand by our guns," to be patient and firm, and in the long run to beat you, whether you tafce him or not. We know that before we fairly beat you, we have to beat you both together. We know that you are " aU 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 deUberate 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 we say, beat you, yon perhaps want to know what we wiU do with you. I wiU teU you, so far as I am authorized to speak for the opposition, what we mean to do with you. Wo mean to treat you, as near as we possibly can; as Washington, Jefferson, and Madison treated you. We mean to leave you alone, and in no way to interfere with your institution ; 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 degener ated men (if we have degenerated) may, accc rding 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 difference between ns 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 thing 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 thmg 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 Kentuckian 3 [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 tho 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 you can better yourselves on that sub ject, by lea^ving us here under no obligation whatever to return those specimens of your movable property that come hither? Tou 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, how much better off do you think you will be ? Will you make war upon us and kUl 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 foi man, as any other people living; that you have shown yoursehea State Papers op Abraham Lincoln. 83 capable of this upon various occasions ; but, man for man, you are not better than we are, and there are not so many of you as there are of us. Tou will never make much of a hand at whipping us. If we were fewer in numbers than you, I tliink that you could whip us ; if we were equal, it would likely be a drawn battle ; but, being inferior in numbers, you wiU make nothing by attempting 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 yon. The rest of this address was mainly occupied with a discussion of the poUcy which the RepubUcan party should pursue in the Presidential campaign then about to open. The foUowing passage from this part of the speech is among the most notable of Mr. Lincoln's many noble utterances : In order to beat our opponents, I think we want and must have a national policy in regard to the institution of slavery, that acknowledges and deals with that institution as being wrong. Whoever desires the pre vention of the spread of slavery, and the nationalization of that institution, yields aU 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 expressly 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 nnder 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 iu 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 where it exists, because the Constitution foroius it, and the general welfare does not require us to do so. We must not withhold an eflBcient 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 84 The Life, Public Services, and requires us to extend it. We must prevent the revival of the African slave- trade, and the enacting by Congress of a Territorial slave-code. We must prevent each 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 overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution. To do these things 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 think 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 that declares himself inimical to our purpose, we not only take nothing by onr 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 the 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 with such masterly ability and skUl. In February, 1860, in response to an invitation from the Young Men's Republican Club, he came to New York, to deUver an address upon some topic 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 pubUc ; 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 the questions which were then so rapidly developing in im portance, and beginning to agitate the public mind so deeply, fiUed the large haU named to overflowing, with an audience which comprised many ladies. WiUiam CuUen 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 poUtical Uterature of the day, and now stands among the State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 85 snduring monuments to Mr. Lincoln's memory. We ap pend it in fuU : Mb. Peesident and Fellow-Citizens of New Tokk : — The facts with Which I shall deal this evening are mainly old and famiUar ; nor is there liny thing new in the general use I shall make of them. If there shall be any novelty, it wiU be in the mode of presenting the facts, and the infer ences and observations foUowing that presentation. In his speech last autumn, at Columbus, Ohio, as reported in the "New Tork Times," Senator Douglas said: " Our fathers, when they framed the Government und-er which we li'se, ¦understood this question just as well, and even better than we do now." I fuUy indorse this, and I adopt it as a text for this discourse. I so adopt it because it furnishes a precise and an agreed starting-point for a discus sion between Republicans and that wing of the Democracy headed by Senator Douglas. It simply leaves the inquiry : " What was the under standing those fathers had of the question mentioned ?" What 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 tha 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 " thii-ty-nine " who signed the original instrument may be fairly called our 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 aU, and accessible to quite all, need not now be repeated. I take these "thirty-nine,'' for the present, as being our "fathers who framed the 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 federal authority, o»* any thing in the Constitution, forbid our Federal Government to control as to slavery in our Federal Territories f Upon this Senator Douglas holds the affirmative, and Republicans the negative. This affirmation and denial form an issue, and this issue — this question — is precisely what the text declares our fathers 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 03 pressed that better understanding ? In 1784, three years before the Constitution — the United States then owning the Northwestern Territory, and no other— the Congress of the Oovt- 86 The Life, Public Services, and federation had before them the question of prohibiting slavery in that Ter ritory ; and four of the " thirty-nine," who afterward framed the Consti tution, were in that Congress and voted on that question. Of these, Roger Sherman, Thomas Mifflin, and Hugh WiUiamson voted for the pro hibition, 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. The other of the four— James M'Henry — voted against the prohibition, showing that, for some cause, he thought it improper to vote for it. In 1787, StiU before the Constitution, but whUe the Convention was in session framing it, and whUe 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 tho question. They were WUliam Blount and William Few ; and they both voted for the prohibi tion — thus showing that, in their understanding, no line di^viding 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 weU known as the Ordinance 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 tbe 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 Fitzsimmons, then a member of the House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. It went through aU its stages without a word of opposition, and finaUy passed both branches ¦»vith- out yeas and nays, which is equivalent 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 GUman, Wm. S. Johnson, Roger Sherman, Robert Morris, Thos. Fitzsimmons, WiUiam Few, Abraham Baldwin, Rufus King, William Patorson, George Clymer, Richard Bassett, George Read, Pierce Butler, Daniel CarroU, James Madi son. This shows that, in their understanding, no line dividing local from Fed eral authority, nor any thing in the Constitution, property forbade Con gress to prohibit slavery in the Federal territory ; else both their fidelity to correct principles, and their oath to support the Constitution, would have constrained them to oppose the prohibition. Again: George Washington, another of the "thirty-nine," was then State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 87 President of the United States, and, as such, approved and signed the bUl ; thus completing its validity as a law, and thus showing that, in bis under standing, no line dividing local from Federal authority, nor any thing in the Constitution, forbade the Federal Government to control as to slavery in Federal territory. No great whUe after the adoption of the original Constitution, North 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. Besides 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, properly 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 ; but 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. New 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 moi'e 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 the first day of May, 1798. Third. That no slave should be carried into it except by the o^wner, 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 Congress which passed it, there were two of the " thirty -nine." They were Abra- 88 The Life, Public Services, and ham Baldwin and Jonathan Dayton. As stated in the case of Mississippi, it is probable they both voted for it. They would not have aUowed 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 Charies Pinokney— were members of that' Congress. Mr. King steadily voted for slavery prohibition and against aU compromises, whUe Mr. Pinckney as steadily voted against slavery prohibition, and .igainst aU 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 ; whUe 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 1784, 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, Roger Sherman, WiUiam 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 tho question which, by tbe 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 the very ques tion which 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 Federal authority, or any thing in the Constitution they had made themselves, and sworn to support, forbade the Federal Government to control as to slavery in the Federal territories. Thus the twenty-one acted ; and, as actions speak louder than words, so actions, under such responsibility, speak still louder. Two of the twenty-three voted against Congressional prohibition of slavery in the Federal territories, in the instances in which they acted open the question. But for what reasons they so voted is not known. They may have done so because they thought a proper division of local from Federal authority, or some provision or principle of the Constitution, stood in tbe way ; or they may, without any such question, have voted against the prohibition on what appeared to them to be sufficient grounds State Papers op Abraham Lincoln. 89 of expediency. No one who has sworn to support the Constitution, can conscientiously vote for what he understands to be an unconstitutional measure, however expedient he may think it; but one may and ought to vote against a measure which he deems constitutional, if, at the same time, he deems it inexpedient. It therefore would be unsafe to set down even the two who voted against the prohibition, as having done so because, in theii- understanding, any proper division of local from Federal authority, or any thing in the Constitution, forbade the Federal Government to con trol as to slavery in Federal territory. The remaining sixteen of the " thirty-nine," so far as I have discovered, have left no record of their understanding upon the direct question of Federal control on slavery in the Federal territories. But there is much reason to believe that their understanding upon that question would not have appeared different from that of their twenty-three compeers, had it been manifested at aU. Forthe purpose of adhering rigidly to the text, I have purposely omit ted whatever understanding may haye been manifested by any person, however distinguished, other than the thirty-nine fathers who framed the original Constitution ; and, for the same reason, I have also omitted what ever understanding may have been manifested by any of the " thirty- nine " even, on any other phase of the general question of slavery. If we should look into their acts and declarations on those other phases, as the foreign slave-trade, and the morality and policy of slavery generally, it would appear to us that on the direct question of Federal control of sla very in Federal territories, the sixteen, if they had acted at all, would probably have acted just as the twenty -three did. Among that sixteen ¦were several of the most noted anti-slavery men of those times — as Dr. Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, and Gouverneur Morris — while there was not one now known to have been otherwise, unless it may be John Rut- ledge, of South Carolina. The sum of the whole is, that of our thirty-nine fathers who framed the original Constitution, twenty-one — a clear majority of the whole — certainly understood that no proper division of local from Federal au thority, nor any part of the Constitution, forbade the Federal Govern ment to control slavery in the Federal territories ; whilst all the rest prob ably had the same understanding. Such, unquestionably, was the under standing of our fathers who framed the original Constitution ; and the text affirms that they understood the question "better than we." But, so far, I have been considering the understanding of the question manifested by the framers of the original Constitution. In and by the original instrument, a mode was provided for amending it ; and, as I have already stated, the present frame of "the Government under which we live " consists of that original, and twelve amendatory articles framed and adopted since. Those who now insist that Federal control of slavery in Federal territories violates the Constitution, point us to the provisions 90 The Life, Public Services, and which they suppose it thus violates ; and, as I understand, they aU bx upon provisions in these amendatory articles, and not in the original in strument. The Supreme Court, in the Dred Scott case, plant themselves upon the fifth amendment, which provides that no person shall be de prived of "life, liberty, or property without due process of law;" whUe Senator Douglas and his peculiar adherents plant themselves upon the tenth amendment, providing that "the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution," " are reserved to the States respect- '.ively, or to the people." Now, it so happens that these amendments were framed by the first Congress which sat under the Constitution — the identical Congress which passed the act already mentioned, enforcing the prohibition of slavery in the Northwestern Territory. Not only was it the same Congress, but they were the identical same individual men who, at the same session, and at the same time within the session, had under consideration, and in progress toward maturity, these Constitutional amendments, and this act prohibiting slavery in all the territory the nation then owned. The Con stitutional amendments were introduced before, and passed after the act enforcing the Ordinance of '87 ; so that, during the whole pendency of the act to enforce the Ordinance, the Constitutional amendments were also pending. The seventy-six members of that Congress, including sixteen of the framers of the original Constitution, as before stated, were pre-eminently our fathers who framed that part of " the Government under which we live," which is now claimed as forbidding the Federal Government to control slavery in the Federal territories. Is it not a little presumptuous in any one at this day to affirm 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 affirmation 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 Mve." 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 any one to show that any Uving 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 tho present century), declare that, in his understanding, any proper division of local from Federal authority, or any part of the Consti tution, forbade 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 aU other living men within the century in which it was -framed, among whom to search, and they shall not bo able to find the evidence of a single man agreeing with them. Now, and here, let me guard a little against being misunderstood. 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 current ex perience — to reject all progress — all improvement. What I do say is, that if we would supplant the, opinions and policy of onr 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 of local from Federal authority, or any part of the Constitution, forbids the Federal Government to control as to slavery in the Federal territories, he is right to say so, and to enforce his position by all truthful evidence and fair argument which he can. But he has 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 Uve," were of the same opinion — thus substituting falsehood and deception for truthful e^vidence and fair argument. If any man at this 'day sincerely believes " our fathers, who framed the Government under which we live," used and appUed 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 responsibUity 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 1 Let all who believe that " our fathers, who framed the Government under which we live, understood this question just as well, and even better than we do now," speaTc as they spolce, and act as they acted upon it. This is all Bepublicans ash — all Republicans desire— in relation to slavery. As those fathers marked it, eo let it be again marked, as an evil not to be extended, but to be tolerated and protected only because of, and 10 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 thia, so far as I know or beUeve, they will be content. 92 "' The Life, Public Services, and And now, if they would Hsten- as I suppose they wiU not— I would address a few words to the Southern people. I would say to them :— Tou consider yourselves a reasonable and a just people ; and I consider that in the general qualities of reason and justice you are not inferior to any other people. StiU, when you speak of us RepubUcans, you do so only to denounce us as reptiles, or, at the best, as no better than outiaws. Tou wiD grant a hearing to pirates or murderers, but nothing like it to " Black Republicans." In aU 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 pei-mittcd 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 yonr charges and specifications, and then be patient long enough to hear us deny or justify. Tou say we are sectional. We deny it. That makes an issue; and the burden of proof is upon you. Tou 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, tben 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 concluision; and yet, are you wUling to abide by it? If you are, you will probably soon find that we have ceased to be sectional, fur we shall get votes in your section this very year. Tou 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, th.at fault is primarily yours, and roraains 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 yoa really beUeve that the principle which " our fathers who framed the Gov ernment under which we live'' thought so clearly right as to adopt it, aud indorse it again and again, upon their official oaths, is in fact so clearly wrong as to demand your condemnation without a moment's con sideration. Some of you delight to fiaunt in our faces the warning against sectional parties given by Washington in his FareweU Address. Less than eight State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 93 years b»fore Washington gave that warning, he had, as President of the United States, approved and signed an act of Congress enforcing the pro hibition of slavery in the Northwestern Territory, which act embodied the policy of the Government upon that subject up to, and at, the very moment he peAied 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 mind, and seeing that sectionaUsm has since arisen upon this same subject, is that ¦warning a weapon in your hands 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 wai-ning 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 — while 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 nnder which we live ;" whUe 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. Tou 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 re^vdving 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 the judiciary; some for the "gur- reat pur-rinciple'' tbat " if one man would enslave another, no third man should object," 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 Uve." Not one of aU your various plans can show a precedent or an advocate in the century within 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 have made the slavery question more prominent than it formerly was. We deny it. We admit that it is more prominent, but ¦n-e 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 polioy. What has been wiU be again, under the same conditions. If 94 The Life, Public Services, and f ou would have the peace of the old times, readopt the precepts and policy »f the old times. Tou charge that we stir up insurrections among yonr slaves. We deny ',t; and what is your proof? Harper's Ferry 1 John Brown!! John Brown was no RepubUcan ; and you have faUed to impUcate a single Re publican in his Harper's Ferry enterprise. If any member of our party ia 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 the 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 Tou 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 RepubUcan designedly aided or encouraged the Harper's Ferry affair ; but still insist that our doctrines and declara tions necessarily lead to such results. We do not beUeve 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." Tou 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 khat, 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 RepubUcan party. I believe they would not, in fact, generaUy know it but for your misrepresentations of us in their hearing. In your poUtical contests among yourselves, each faction charges the other with sympathy with Black 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 were 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? Tou 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- tioi' is possible. The mdispensable concert of action cannot be attained. The slaves have no means of rapid communication ; nor can incendiary State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 95 freemen, black or white, supply it. The explosive materials are every where in parcels ; but there neither are, nor can be supplied, the indis pensable connecting-trains. Much is said by Southern people about the affection 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 field, and local revolts, extending to a score or so, wiU continue to occur as the natural results of slavery ; but no general insurrection of slaves, as I think, can happen in this couutry for a long time. Whoever much fears or much hopes for such an event will be alike disappointed. In the language of Mr. Jefferson, 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 off insensibly; and their places be, pari 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. He 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 Brown's effort was peculiar. It was not a slave insurrection. It was an attempt 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 affair, in its philosophy, corresponds with the many attempts related in history at the assassination of kings and emperors. An enthusiast broods over the oppression of a people till he fancies himself commissioned by Heaven to liberate them. He ventures the attempt, which ends in Uttle else than his own execution. Orsini's attempt on Louis Napoleon and John Brown's attempt at Harper's Ferry were, in their phUosophy, 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 things. 96 The Life, Public Services, and And how much would it avaU you, if you could, by the use of John Brown, Helper's Book, and the Uke, break up tbe RepubUcan 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 miUion and a half of votes. Tou cannot destroy that judgment and feeUng— that sentiment^by breaking up the political organization which raUies around it. Tou 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 tbe baUot- 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 np the Union rather than submit to a denial of your Constitutional rights. That has a somewhat reckless sound ; but it would be paUiated, 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 sUent about any such right. We, on the contrary, deny that such a right has any existence in the Constitution, even by implication. Tour purpose, then, plainly 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. Tou wUl 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, waiving 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 substantially said, it is 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 afiirmed in the Constitution." An inspection of the Constitution will show that the right of property hi a slave is not " distinctly and expressly affirmed " in it. Bear in mind, the judges do not pledge theii- judicial opinion that such right is implied State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 97' ly affirmed in the Constitution ; but they pledge their veracity that it ia '^distinctly and expressly" affirmed there — "distinctly,"' that 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 meaning. 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 Ian 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 there could be 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 th? Government under which we live" — the men 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 bleak up this Government, unless such a court decision as yours is shaU 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, yon 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 his teeth, " Stand and deliver, or I shaU kill you, and then you will be a murderer I" 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 Republicans. It is exceedingly desirable that all parts of tliis great Confederacy shall be at peace, and in harmony ono with another. Let us Republicans do our part to have it so. Even though much provoked, let us do nothing through passion and ill temper. Even though the southern people will not so much as listen to us, let us calmly 1 98 The Life, Public Services, and consider their demands, and yield to them if, in our deliberate view of our duty, we possibly can. Judging by all they say and do, and by tbe 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 them? We know they wiU not. In aU their present complaints against us, tho Territories are scarcely mentioned. Invasions and insur rections are the rage now. WUl it satisfy them if, in the future, we have nothing to do with invasions and insurrections? Wo know it wiU not. We so know, because we know we never had any thing to do with in vasions and insuiTections ; and yet this total abstaining does not exempt us from the charge and the denunciation. The question recurs, what wiU 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 have been so trying to convince them from the very beginning of our or ganization, 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 wiU con vince them ? This, and this only : cease to call slavery wrong, and join tliem in calUng it right. And this must be done thoroughly — done in a^ts 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 ia wrong, whether made in politics, in presses, in pulpits, or in private. We must arrest and return their fugitive slaves with greedy pleasure. We mu-st pull down our Free State constitutions. The whole atmosphere must be disinfected from all taint of opposition to slavery, before they wiU 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, and 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 wiU continue to accuse us of doing, untU wo cease saying. I am also aware they have not as yet, in terms, demanded the over throw of our Free State Constitutions. Tet those Constitutions declare the wrong of slavery, with more solemn emphasis than do all other sayings against it; and when aU these other sayings shaU have been jUenced, the overthrow of these Constitutions wiU be demanded, and nothing be left to resist the demand. It is nothing to the contrary, that they do not demand the whole of this just now. Demanding what they V State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 99 do, and for the reason they do, they can voluntarUy stop nowhere short of this consummation. Holding, as they do, that slavery is morally right, and socially elevating, they cannot cease to demand a fuU national recognition of it, as a legal right and a social blessing. Nor can we 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 — ita 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, aa 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 wa cast our votes with their view, and against our own ? In view of our moral, social, and political responsibiUties, 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- phis.tical contrivances wherewith we are so industriously plied and bela bored — contrivanoes 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 Hiring 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 Disunionlsts, reversing the divine rule, and calling, not the sinners, bnt 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 its have faith that Right makes Might, and in that faith let its, to the end, dabe to do ooe duty as WB undebstand it. The pre-eminent abUity displayed in this address, com peUed the people of the Middle and Eastern States to acknoAvledge 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 deUvered in Connecticut, Rhode Island, and 100 The Life, Public Services, and New Hampshire. Indeed, it is no exaggeration to state that the 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 RepubUcan party for the campaign of 1860. Some incidents of this visit to New York, Ulustrate the simpUcity and earnestness of the character of our late President so forcibly, that they are weU 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. Lincoln caUed 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 think, that he had been here bnt once before. We accompanied him to several large establishments, with aU of which he seemed much amused. At one place he met an Hlinois acquaintance of former years, to whom he said, in his dry, good-natured way : " Well, B., how have you fared since you left Illinois?" To which B. replied, " I have made one hundred thousand doUars 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 wUl, I hope I shall be able to increase it to $20,000, and tiat ia 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 Tork. At the gaUery he met and was introduced to George Bancroft, and had a brief conversation with that gentleman, who v/elcomed him to New Tork. 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, who, if report be true, already knows much more than his father." A teacher at the Five Points House of Industry teUs this touching incident, which doubtless transpired during the same visit : State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 101 Our Sunday School in the Five Points was assembled, one Sabbath morning, when I noticed a tall, remarkable looking man enter the room and take a seat aipong us. He listened with fixed attention to our exor cises, and his countenance expressed such genuine interest that I ap proached, him and suggested that he might be wUling to say soinething to the chUdren. He 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 word^ of promise. Once or twice he attempted to close his remarks, but tho 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 toucbed 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 tha room I begged to know his name. He courteously replied, " It is Abraham Lincoln, from lUinois." The following letter, written during this same period, in reply to an invitation to attend a festival in honor of the anniversary of Jefferson's birthday, given by the RepubUcans of Boston, is thoroughly characteristic of Mr. Lincoln in the quaint humor of its Ulustration : SPRlNQFrRLD, ILLINOIS, April 6, 1S59. Gentlemen : — Tour kind note inviting me to attend a festival in Boston on the 13th instant, in honor of the birthday of Thomas Jefferson, 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 nothing, when in conflict with another man's right of property. Repub licans, on the contrary, are both for the man and the dollar, but, in case of oonfliot, the man before 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 flght, 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 reaUy identical with the two in the days of Jefferson and Adams, 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 be 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 f AU honor to Jefferson ; to a man who, in the concrete pressure of a struggle 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 aU men and aU times, and so to embalm it there, tbat to-day and in all coming days it shaU be a rebuke and a stumbling-block to the harbingers of reappearing tyranny and oppression. Tour obedient servant, A. Lincoln. Messrs. H. L. Pieece, and others, etc. • But we turn from this episode to resume the formal record of Mr. Lincoln' s political career. The RepubUcan National Convention of 1860 met on the 16th of May, at Chicago, in an immense buUding 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 with earnest men, who had come there to press the claims of their favorite can didates, and the halls and corridors of aU 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 WUmot, of Pennsylvania, was chosen temporary Chairman of the Convention, and in the afternoon of the first day a pennanent 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 haye proved very different, as at that time it was thought 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 Papep^s of Abraham Lincoln. 103 the morning of Friday was intense. The lUiiioisans had turned out in great numbers, zealous for Lincoln ; and though the 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 within one and a half of a majority. The vote was not announced, but so many everywhere had 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 wUdest 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 RepubUcans of Chicago cheered themselves hoarse, whUe on the wings of electricity sped all oyer 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 favor of the successful nominee, until it was announced, as the result of the third ballot, that Abraham Lincoln, of lUinois, had received three hun dred and fifty-four votes, and was nominated by the Re publican party for the office of President of the United States. The nomination was then, on the motion of Mr, 104 The Life, Public Services, and Evarts, of New York, made unanimous, and the Conven tion adjourned tUl the afternoon, when they completea their work by nominating Hannibal HamUn for Vice- Mr. Lincoln was at Springfield at the time. He had been in the telegraph-office during the casting of the first and second baUots, but then left, and went over to the office of the State Journal, where he was sitting convers ing with friends whUe the third baUot 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 baUot," and a boy ran with the message to Mr. Lincoln. He looked at it in sUence amid the shouts of those around him ; then rising and putting it ia his pocket, he said quietly, "There's a Uttle woman down at our house would like to hear this— I'U go down and teU 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 Conven tion, addressmg Mr. Lincoln, said : I have, sir, the honor, in behalf of the gentlemen who are present-^ a Committee appointed by the EepubUcan Convention recently assembled at Chicago — to discbarge 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 hand, 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 shaU either be considered personally planditory 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 at your convenience we shall be glad to receive from you such a re sponse as it may be your pleasure to give us. FORMER RESIDENCE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, SPRINGFIELD, ILL. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 105 Mr. Lincoln listened to this address Tvith a. degree 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 responsibiUties of his position, he repUed : — Mb. CiTAiKMAN AND Gentlemett OF THE COMMITTEE: — I tender to you, and through you to the EepubUcan National Convention, and all the people represented in it, my profoundest thanks for the high honor done me, which you now formally announce. Deeply, and even painfully sensible of the great responsibility which is inseparable from this high honor— a responsibUity which I could almost wish had fallen upon some one of the far more eminent men and experienced statesmen whose distinguished 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 wUl be found satis factory, and the nomination gratefully accepted. And now I will not longer defer the pleasure of taking you, and each of you, by the hand. TaU Judge Kelly, of Pennsylvania, who was one of the committee, and who is himself a great many feet high, had meanwhUe 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 f " Six feet three. What is yours, Mr. Lincoln ?" " Six feet four." "Then," said the judge, " Pennsylvania bows to Hli nois. My dear man, for years my heart has been aching for a President that I could looTc up to, and I'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 : — SPEiNGnEiD, Illinois, May 23, 1860. 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 that pur pose. The declaration of principles and sentiments which accompanies yonr letter meets my approval, and it shaU 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 tiie 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 operate for the practical success of the principles declared by the Con vention. Tour obliged friend and feUow-citizen, Abeaham Lincoln. Hon. Geoeoe Ashmitn, i President of the Republican Convention. Mr. Lincoln's nomination proved universally acceptable to the Republican party. Its members recognized in him 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 which 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 of the Democratic forces the victory of Mr. Lincoln might be assured, and the pretext afforded them for carrying into execution the plot agaiast the liberties of the country which they had been for so many years maturing. That they would dare to carry their threat of rebellion into exe cution, was not believed at the North. If it had been, while it naight have frightened away some votes from Mr. Lincoln, it would haye brought him substantial acces- sion^from the ranks of those who, though following the Democratic banner, had not learned to disregard the good old doctrine that the majority must rule, and who would have rushed to its rescue, if they had believed that it was really threatened. The vote which he received on Novem ber 6, 1860, was that of a solid phalanx of earnest men, who had resolved that freedom should henceforth be national, and that slayery should remain as the framers of the Constitution intended that it should remaia. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 107 CHAPTER IV. FROM THE election, NOV. 6, 1860, TO THE INAUGURATION, MARCH 4, 1861. The Pbesidential Election. — Secession of Sottth Caeoi.ina. — Fokma- TION OF THE EeBEL CoNFEDEBACT. — ThB ObJECTS OF SECESSION. — SE CESSION Movements in "WAsniNOTON. — Debates in Congress. — Thb Ceittendbn Eesolutions. — Conoiliatoet Action of Congress. — Tub Peace Conference. — Action of Congress. — The Secession Move ment Unoiieokkd. Abraham Lincoln was elected to be President of the United States on the sixth day of November, 1860. The preUminary canvass had not been marked by any very extraordinary features. Party lines were a good deal broken up, and four presidential candidates were in the field ; but this departure from the ordinary course of party contests had occurred more than once in the pre vious political history of the country. Mr. Lincoln was put in nomination by the Republican party, and repre sented in his Ufe and opinions the precise aim and object for which that party had been formed. He was a native of a slaveholding State ; and whUe he had been opposed to slavery, he had regarded it as a local institution, the creature of local laws, with which the National Govern ment of the United States had nothing whatever to do. But, in common with all observant public men, he had watched with distrust and apprehension the advance of slavery, as an element of political power, towards ascend ency in the Government of the nation, and had cordiaUy co-operated with those who thought it absolutely neces sary for the future well-being of the country that this advance should be checked. He had, therefore, op posed very strenuously the extension of slavery into the Territories, and had asserted the right and the duty of Congress t<> exclude it by positive legislation there from. 108 The Life, Public _ Services, and The Chicago Convention, which nominated Mr. Lin coln, adopted a platform of which this was the cardinal feature ; but it also took good care to repel the imputa tion of its poUtical opponents, and to remove the appre hensions of the South, that the party proposed to interfere \ with slavery in the States whose laws gave it support and protection. It expressly disavowed all authority and aU wish for such interference, and declared its pur pose to protect the Southern States in the free enjoyment of all their constitutional rights. The Democratic Con vention, originally assembled at Charleston, was disposed to make Mr. Douglas its candidate in opposition to Mr. Lincoln ; but this purpose was thwarted by leading pol iticians of the slaveholding States, who procured the nomination of Mr. Breckinridge, with full knowledge of • the fact that this would divide the Democratic party, and in aU probability secure the election of Mr. Lincoln. Mr. Breckinridge represented the pro-slavery element of the Democratic party, and asserted the duty of the National Government, by a positive exercise of its legislative and executive power, to protect slavery in the Territories against any legislation either of Congress or of the people of the Territories themselves, which should seek to impair in any degree the right, alleged to be recognized in tlie Constitution, of property in slaves. Mr. Douglas sup ported the theory that the people of the Territories, acting through their territorial legislature, had the same right to decide this question for themselves as they had to decide any other ; and he represented this principle in opposition to Mr. Lincoln on the one hand, and Mr. Breckinridge on the other, in the presidential canvass. John Bell, of Tennessee, was also made a candidate by the action mainly of men who were dissatisfied with aU the existing political parties, and who were alarmed at the probable results of a presidential election which promised to be substantially sectional in its character. They put forth, therefore, no opinions upon the leading points in controversy ; and went into the canvass with ¦'the Constitution, the Union, and the enforcement of the State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 109 laws" as their platform, — one upon which they could easily have ralUed aU the people of all sections of the country, but for the fact, which they seemed to overlook, that the widest possible differences of opinion prevaUed among the people as to its meaning. All sections of the country took part in the election. The Southern States were quite as active and quite as zealous as the Northern in carrying on the canvass. Public meetings were held, the newspaper press, South as well as North, discussed the issues involved with energy and vigor, and every thing on the surface indi cated the usual termination of the contest, the triumph of one party and the peaceful acquiescence of aU others. The result, howeyer, showed that this was a mistake. The active and controlling poUticians of the Southern States had gone into the canvass with the distinct and well-formed purpose of acquiescing in the result only in the event of its giving them the victory. The election took place on the 6th of November. Mr. Lincoln re ceived the electoral votes of all the Free States except New Jersey, which was divided, giving him four votes and Mr. Douglas three. Mr. Breckinridge received the electoral votes of aU the Slave States except Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia, which voted for Bell, and Mis souri, which voted for Douglas, as did three electors from New Jersey also. Of the popular vote, Lincoln received 1,857,610; Douglas, 1,365,976 ; Breckinridge, 847,953 ; and Bell, 590,631. In the Electoral College, Lincoln received 180 votes, Douglas 12, Breckinridge 72, and BeU 89. As soon as the result of the election was known, various movements in the Southern States indicated their 'purpose of resistance; and it soon became evident that this purpose had been long cherished, and that members of the Government under the presidency of Mr. Buchanan had officially given it their sanction and aid. On the 29th of October, General Scott sent to the President and John B. Floyd, his Secretary of War, a letter expressing apprehensions lest the Southern people should seize some 110 The Life, Public Services, and of the Federal forts in the Southern States, and advising that they should be immediately garrisoned by way of precaution. The Secretary of War, according to state ments subsequently made by one of his eulogists in Virginia, "thwarted, objected, resisted, and forbade" the adoption of those measures, which, according to the same authority, if carried into execution, would have defeated the conspiracy, and rendered impossible the formation of a Southern Confederacy. An official report from the Ordnance Department, dated January 16, 1861, also shows that during the year 1860, and previous to the presidential election, one hundred and fifteen thou sand muskets had been removed from Northern anriories and sent to Southern arsenals by a single order of the Secretary of War, issued 'on the 30th of December, 1859. On the 20th of November, the Attorney General, Hon. John S. Black, in reply to inquiries of the President, gave him the official opinion that Congress had no right to carry on war against any State, either to prevent a threatened violation of the Constitution or to enforce an acknowledgment that the Government of the United States is supreme : and it soon became evident that the Presi dent adopted this theory as the basis and guide of his executive action. South Carolina took the lead in the secession movement. Her legislature assembled on the 4th of November, 1860, and, after casting the electoral vote of the State for John C. Breckinridge to be President of the United States, passed an act the next day caUing a State Convention, to meet at Columbia on the 17th of December. On the 10th, F. W. Pickens was elected Governor, and, in his inaugu ral, declared the determination of the State to secede, on the ground that, " in the recent election for President and Vice-President, the North had carried the election upon principles that make it no longer safe for us to rely upon the powers of the Federal Government or the guarantees of the Federal compact. This," he added, "is the great overt act of the people of the Northern States, who pro pose to inaugurate a chief magistrate not to preside State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. Ill the common interests or destinies of all States alike, but upon issues of maUgnant hostility and uncompromising war to be waged upon the rights, the interests, and the peace of half of the States of this Union." The Conven tion met on the 17th of December, and adjourned the next day to Charleston, on account of the prevalence of small pox at Columbia. On the 20th an ordinance was passed unanimously repealing the ordinance adopted May 23, 1788, whereby the Constitution of the United States was ratified, and "dissolving the Union now subsisting be tween South Carolina and other States under the name of the United States of America ;" and on the 24th the Gov ernor issued his proclamation, declaring the State of South CaroUna to be a "separate, sovereign, free, and independent State." This was the first act of secession passed by any State. The debates in the State Convention show clearly enough that it was not taken under the impulse of resentment for any sharp and remediless wrong, nor in apprehension that any such wrong would be inflicted ; but in pursuance of a settled and long- cherished purpose. In that debate Mr. Parker said that the movement was "no spasmodic effort — it had been gradually culminating for a long series of years." Mr. Inglis indorsed this remark, aud added, "Most of us have had this matter under consideration for the last tAventy years." Mr. L. M. Keitt said, "I have been engaged in this movement ever since I entered polit ical life." And Mr. Rhett,' who had been for many years in the public service, declared ' that ' ' the secession of South Carolina was not the event of a day. It is not," said he, "any thing produced by Mr. Lincoln's election, or by the non-execution of the fugitive slave law. It is a matter which has been gathering head for thirty years. The election of Lincoln and Hamlin was the last straw on the back of the camel. But it was not the only one. The back was nearly broken before." So far as South Caro lina was concerned, there can be no doubt that her action was decided by men who had been plotting disunion for thirty years, not on account of any wrongs her people had 112 The Life, Public Services, and sustained af the hands of the Federal Government, but from motives of personal and sectional ambition, and for the purpose of establishing a government which should ba permanently and completely in the interest of slavery. But the disclosures which have since been made, imper fect comparatively as they are, prove clearly that the whole secession movement was in the hands of a few conspirators, who had their head-quarters at the national capital, and were themselves closely connected with the Government of the United States. A secret meeting 'of these men was held at Washington on the night of the 5th of January, 1861, at which the Senators from Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, Mississippi, and Florida were present. They decided, by resolutions, that each of the Southern States should secede from the Union as soon as possible ; that a convention of seceding States should be held at Montgomery, Alabama, not later than the 15th of February ; and that the Senators and Members of Congress from the Southern States ought to remaia in their seats as long as possible, in order to defeat measures that might be proposed at Washington hostUe to the -seces sion movement. Davis of Mississippi, SlideU of Louis iana, and Mallory of Florida, were appointed a com mittee to carry these decisions into effect ; and, in pursuance of them, Mississippi passed an ordinance of secession January 9th ; Alabama and Florida, January 11th ; Louis iana, January 26th, and Texas, February 5th. All these acts, as well as all which followed, were simply the execu tion of the behests of this secret conclave of conspirators who had resolved upon secession. In all the conventions of the seceding States, delegates were appointed to meet at Montgomery. In not one of them was the question of secession submitted to a vote of the people ; although in eome of them the legislatures had expressly forbidden them to pass any ordinance of secession without making its validity depend on its ratification by the popular vote. The Convention met at Montgomery on the 4th of Febru ary, and adopted a provisional constitution, to continue in operation for one year. Under this constitution Jeffer State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 113 son Davis was elected President of the new Confederacy, and Alex. H. Stephens, of Georgia, Vice-President. Both were inaugurated on the 18th. In an address delivered on Ms arrival at Montgomery, Mr. Davis declared that "the time for compromise has now passed, and the South is determined to maintain her position, and make all who oppose her smeU Southern powder and feel Southern steel, if coercion is persisted in." He felt sure of the result ; it might be they would "haye to encounter incon veniences at the beginning," but he had no doubts of the final issue. The first part of his anticipation has been fully realized ; the end has hardly proved to be as peace ful and satisfactory as he predicted. The policy of the new Confederacy towards the United States was soon officiaUy made known. The government decided to maintain the status quo until the expiration of Mr. Buchanan's term, feeUng assured that, with his de clared belief that it would be unconstitutional to coerce a State, they need apprehend from his administration no active hostUity to their designs. They had some hope that, by the 4th of March, their new Confederacy would be so far advanced that the new Administration might waive its purpose of coercion ; and they deemed it wise not to do any thing wliich should rashly forfeit the favor and support of "that very large portion of the North whose moral sense was on their side. ' ' Nevertheless, they entered upon prompt and active preparations for war. Contracts were made in various parts of the South for the manufacture of powder, shell, cannon-balls, and other munitions of war. Recruiting was set on foot in several of tlie States. A plan was adopted for the organization of a regular army of the Confederacy, and on the 6th of March Congress passed an act authorizing a military force of one hundred thousand men. Thus was opened a new chapter in the history of Amer ica. Thus were taken the first steps towards overthrow ing the Government and Constitution of the United States, and establishing a new nation, with a new Constitution, resting upon new principles, and aiming at new results. 8 114 The Life, Public Services, and The Constitution of the United States was ordained "in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, in sure domestic tranquillity, provide forthe common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the . blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity." We have the clear and explicit testimony of A. H. Stephens, the Vice- President of the rebel Confederacy, echoing and reaffirm ing that of the whole civilized world to the fact, that these high and noble objects — ^the noblest and the grandest at which human institutions can aim— have been more nearly attained in the practical working of the Govern ment of the United States than anywhere else on the face of the earth. "I look upon this country, with our insti tutions," said Mr. Stephens before the legislature of Georgia, on the 14th of November, 1860, after the result of the presidential election was known, " as the Eden of the world, the paradise of the universe. It may be that out of it we may become greater and more prosperous, but I am candid and sincere in teiiing you that I fear, if we rashly evince passion, and without sufficient cause shaU take that step, that instead of becoming greater, or more peaceful, prosperous, and happy— instead of becom- , ing gods we will become demons, and at no distant day commence cutting each other's throats." Mr. Stephens on that occasion went on, in a strain of high patriotism and common sense, to speak of the proposed secession of the State of Georgia, in language which wUl forever stand as a judicial condemnation of the action of the rebel States. ' ' The first question that presents itself, ' ' said Mr. Stephens, "is, shall the people of the South secede from the Union in consequence of the election of Mr. Lincoln to the Presi dency of the United States ? My countrymen, I teU you candidly, frankly, and earnestly, that I do not think that they ought. In my judgment the election of no man, con stitutionally chosen to that high office, is sufficient cause for any State to separate from the Union. It ought to stand by and aid stiU in maintaining the Constituti'on of the country. To make a point of resistance to the gov ernment, to withdraw from it because a man has been State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 115 constitutionally elected, puts us in the wrong. * * We went into the election with this people. The result was different from what we wished ; but the election has been constitutionally held. Were we to make a point of resist ance to the Government, and go out of the Union on this account, the record would be made up hereafter against us." After the new confederacy had been organized, and Mr; Stephens had been elected its Vice-President, he made an elaborate speech to the citizens of Savannah, in which he endeavored to vindicate this attempt to establish a new government in place of the government of the United States, and to set forth the new principles upon which it was to rest, and which were to justify the movement in the eyes of the world and of impartial posterity. That exposition is too important to be omitted here. It is the most authoritative and explicit statement of the character and objects of the new government which has ever been made. ^Mr. Stephens said : — " The new constitution has put at rest forever all agitating questions relating to our peculiar institutions — African slavery, as it exists among ns — the proper status of the negro in our form of civilization. This was the immediate cause of the late rupture and present revolution. Jeffer son, in his forecast, had anticipated this, as tue ' rock upon which the old Union would split.' He was right. What was conjecture with him, is now a realized fact. But whether he fully comprehended the great truth upon which that rock stood and stands, may be doubted. The prevailing ideas entertained by him, and most of the leading statesmen at the time of the formation of the old Constitution, were, that the enslave ment of the African was in violation of tbe laws of nature ; that it was wrong in principle, sociaUy, morally, and politically. It was an evil they knew not well how to deal with ; but the general opinion of the men of that day was, that, somehow or other, in the order of Providence, the institution would be evanescent and pass away. This idea, though not incorporated in the Constitution, was the prevailing idea at the time. The Constitution, it is true, secured every essential guarantee to the insti • tution while it should last, and hence no argument can be justly used against the constitutional guarantees thus secured, because of the com mon sentiment of the day. Those ideas, however, were fundamentally wrong. They rested upon the assumption of the equality of races. This was an error. It was a sandy foundation, and the idea of a government 116 The Life, Public Services, and built upon it was wrong — when the ' storm came and the wind blew, it feU.' " Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite ideas ; its foundations are laid, its corner-stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man ; that slavery, subordination to the superior race, is his natural and normal condition. This, our new govern ment, is the first in the history of the world, based upon this great physi cal, philosophical, and moral truth. This truth has been slow in the pro cess of its development, like all other truths in the various departments of science. It is even so amongst us. Many who hear me, perhaps, can recollect well that this truth was not generally admitted even within their day. The errors of the past generation still clung to many as late as twenty years ago. Those at the North who still cling to these errors with a zeal above knowledge, we justly denominate fanatics. All fanat icism springs from an aberration of the mind ; from a defect in reasoning. It is a species of insanity. One of the most striking characteristics of insanity, in many instances, is forming correct conclusions from fancied or erroneous premises ; so with the anti-slavery fanatics ; their conclusions are right if their premises are. They assume that the negro is equal, and hence conclude that he is entitled to equal privileges and rights with the white man. If their premises were correct, their conclusions would be logical and just ; but their premises being wrong, their whole argument fails. I recollect once of having heard a gentleman from one of the Northern States, of great power and ability, announce in the House of Eepresentatives, with imposing effect, that we of the South would be com pelled, ultimately, to yield upon this subject of slavery ; that it was as impossible to war successfully against a principle in politics, as it was in physics or mechanics ; that the principle would ultimately prevail ; that we, in maintaining slavery as it exists with us, were warring against a principle — a principle founded in nature, the principle of the equality of man. The reply I made to him was, that upon hia own grounds we should succeed, and that he and his associates in their crusade against onr institutions would ultimately faU. The truth announced, that it was as impossible to war successfully against a principle in politics as it was in physics or mechanics, I admitted, but told him that it was he and those acting with him who were warring against a principle. They were attempting to make things equal which the Creator had made unequal. "In the conflict thus far, success has been on our side, complete throughout the length and breadth of the Confederate States. It is upon thi.s, as I have stated, our social fabric is firmly planted ; and I cannot permit myself to doubt the ultimate success of a full recognition of this principle throughout the civUized and enlightened world." We have thus traced the course of events in the South ern States during the three months that succeeded the State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 117 election of President Lincoln. Let us now see what took place in Washington during the same time. Congress met on the 8d of December, and the Message of President Buchanan was at once sent in. That document ascribed the discontent of the Southern States to the aUeged fact that the violent agitation in the North against slavery had created disaffection among the slaves, and created appre hensions of servUe insurrection. The President vindicated the hostUe action of the South, assuming that it was prompted by these apprehensions ; but went on to show that there was no right on the part of any State to secede from the Union, whUe at the same time he contended that the General Government had no right to make war on any State for the purpose of preventing it from seceding, and closed this portion of his Message by recommending an amendment of the Constitution which should explicitly recognize the right of property in slaves, and provide for the protection of that right in aU the Territories of the United States. The beUef that the people of South Caro lina would make an attempt to seize one or more of the forts in the harbor of Charleston, created considerable uneasiness at Washington ; and on the 9th of December the representatives from that State wrote to the President expressing their "strong convictions" that no such at tempt would be made previous to the action of the State Convention, ^^ provided that no re-enforcements should be sent into those forts, and their relative military status shaU remain as at present." On the 10th of December Howell Cobb resigned his office as Secretary of the Treas ury, and on the 14th General Cass resigned as Secretary of State. The latter resigned because the President refused to re-enforce the forts in the harbor of Charleston. On the 20th the State of South Carolina passed the ordi nance of secession, and on the 26th Major Anderson trans ferred his garrison from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter. On the 29th John B. Floyd resigned Ms office as Secretary of War, aUeging that the action of Major Anderson was in violation of pledges given by the Government that the mUitary status of the forts at Charleston should remaia 118 The Life, Public Services, and unchanged, and that the President had decUned to allow him. to issue an order, for which he had appUed on the 27th, to withdraw the garrison from the harbor of Charles ton. On the 29th of December, Messrs. Barnwell, Adams, and Orr arrived at Washington, as commissioners from the State of South CaroUna, and at once opened a corre spondence with President Buchanan, asking for the deUv ery of the forts and other government property at Charles ton to the authorities of South CaroUna. The President xepUed on the 30th, reviewing the whole question— stating that in removing from Fort Moultrie, Major Anderson acted solely on his own responsibiUty, and that Ms first impulse on hearing of it was to order him to return, but that the occupation of the fort by South Carolina and the seizure of the arsenal at Charleston had rendered tMs impossible. The commissioners replied on the 1st of January, 1861, insisting that the President had pledged Mmself to maintain the status of affairs in Charleston harbor previous to the removal of Major Anderson from Fort Moultrie, and calling on him to redeem this pledge. This communication the President returned. On the 8th of January, the President sent a message to Congress, calling their attention to the condition of public affairs, declaring that while he had no right to make ag gressive war upon any State, it was his right and Ms duty to "use mUitary force defensively against tliose who resist the Federal officers iu the execution of their legal functions, and against those who assail the property of the Federal Government ;" — but throwing the whole re sponsibility of meeting the extraordinary emergencies of the occasion upon Congress. On the same day, Jacob Thompson, of Mississippi, resigned his office as Secretary of the Interior, because the Star of the West had been sent on the 5th, by order of the Government, with sup plies for Fort Sumter, in violation, as he alleged, of the decision of the cabinet. On the 10th, P. F. Thomas, of Maryland, who had replaced Howell Cobb as Secretary of the Treasury, resigned, and was succeeded by General John A Dix, of New York. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 119 The debates and the action of Congress throughout the session related mainly to the questions at issue betAveen the two sections. The discussion opened on the 3d of December, as soon as the President's Message had been read. The Southern Senators generally treated the elec tion of the previous November as having been a virtual decision against the equality and rights of the slavehpld ing States. The Republican members disavowed this con struction, and proclaimed their willingness to adopt any just and proper measures which would quiet the appre hensions of the South, wMle they insisted that the authority of the Constitution should be maintained, and the constitutional election of a President should be re spected. At the opening of the session, Mr. Powell, of Kentucky, in the Senate, moved the reference of that portion of the President' s Message wMch related to the sectional difficulties of the country, to a select committee of tMrteen. TMs. resolution being adopted, Mr. Critten den immediately afterwards introduced a series of joint resolutions, embodying what came to be known after wards 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. Prohibiting 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 it» exclusive Jurisdiction within Slave States. 3. "Prohibiting Congress from abolishing slavery within the District of Columbia, so long as slavery should eiiat in Virginia or Maryland; or without the consent of the inhabitants, or without just compensation to the owners. 4. Prohibiting Congress from hindering the transportation of sbves from one State to another, or to a Territory in which slavery is allowed. 6.' 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 tho 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 the Constitution, Mr. Crittenden's resolutions embodied certain declara tions in affinnance of the constitutionality and binding force of the fugitive slave law — recommending the repeal by the States of all biUs, the effect of which was to hinder the execution of that law, proposing to amend it by equalizing its fees, aud 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. PoweU' s motion, and composed of the following senators : — Messrs. Powell, Hunter, Crittenden, SeWard, Toombs, Douglas, CoUa mer, Davis, Wade, 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 cf the session ; but no final action was taken untU 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 Fitzpatrick, of Alabama, and Mr. Davis, of Mississippi, foUowed next, and, on the 4th of February, Messrs. SlideU and Benjamin, of Loms 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 the perilous con dition of the country, to a committee of one from each State. TMs committee was appointed as follows :— State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 121 Corwin of Ohio. Dunn of Indiana. MUlson of Virginia. Taylor of Louisiana. Adams of Massachusetts. Davis of Mississippi. Winslow of North Carolina. Kellogg of Illinois. Humphrey of New York. Houston of Alabama. Boyce of South CaroUna. Morse of Maine. Campbell of Pennsylvania. Phelps of Missouri. Love of Georgia. Eust of Arkansas. Ferry of Connecticut. Howard of Michigan. Davis of M.aryland. Hawkins of Florida. Eobinson of Ehode Island. HamUton of Texas. "Whitely of Delaware. Washburn of Wisconsin. Tappan of Now 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 the committee reported the following series of resolutions, and recommended their adoption : — Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States ef America in Congress assembled. 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 confiict 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 tho United States is requested to communicate these resolutions to the governors of the several States, with a request that they wUl 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 interfere with slaves or slavery in such States, in disregard of tbe rights of their owners or the peace of society. Resolved, That we recognize the justice and propriety of a faithful 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 aU the privUeges and immunities of citizens in the several States. I Besolved, 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 equ.al justice is done to all parts of the same ; and, finaUy, to perpetuate its existence on terms of equality and justice to all the States. Besolved, 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. Besolved, 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 prevent and punish any attempt whatever in such State to recognize or set on foot the lawless invasion of any other State c Terri tory. Resolved, That tbe 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 thirty-six, noes fifty-three. Not content with this effort to satisfy aU just complaints on the part of the Southern Statu Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 123 States, tbe same committee reported the foUowing 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 ia any of the States : — Be it resolved by 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 article be proposed to the legLslatures 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 aU intents and purposes, as a part of the said Constitution, namely : Art. 12. No amendment shall be made to the Constitution which wiU authorize, or give to Congress the power to abolish or interfere, within any State, with the domestic institutions thereof, including that of per sons held to labor or service by the laws of said State. TMs resolution was adopted by a vote of one hundred and thirty-three to sixty-five — more than two-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 : — Resolved, That neither the Federal Government nor the people, or the governments of the non-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 General 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 VMch 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 Umon." 124 The Life, Public Services,- and On the 15th of February the committee reported a series of resolutions, in seven sections, which 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. In 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 Une, the status of persons held to invol untary 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 tbe rights arising from said relation ; but the same shall be subject to judicial cognizance in tbe 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 republican, 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, Pennsylva nia, Ehode Island, Tennessee — 8. Noes. — Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Tork, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Vermont, Virginia — 11. So its adoption was not agreed to. A reconsideration of this vote was called for by the delegates from Hlinois, 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, Ehode 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. Nc territory shaU be acquired by the United States, except by discovery, and for naval and commercial stations, d^p6ts, and transit State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 125 routes, without 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, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Ehode Island, Tennessee, Virginia — 11. Noes. — Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, North 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 foUows : — 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 estabUshed or recognized by law or usage ; .and tbe 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, lUinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, North CaroUna, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Ehode Island, Tennessee, Vir ginia — 12. Noes.— Connecticut, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hamp shire, 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 foUows : — Section 4. The third paragraph of the second section of the fourth article of the Constitution shaU uot 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, Ehode 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 Umits 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, Ehode Island, Tennessee, Vermont, Kansas — Ifi. Noes. — Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Virginia — 5. The section was thns adopted. A motion was next made to adopt the sixth section, as amended ; it was as follows : — - Section 6. The first, third, and fifth sections, together with this section of these amendments, and the third paragraph of tbe 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 abohshed with out the consent of all the States. The vote on this section was as follows : — Ayes. — Delaware, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Ehode Island, Tennessee, Kansas — 11. Noes.— Connecticut, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, North Caro lina, New Hampshire, Vermont, Virginia — 9. New 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 : — Seotiojt 7. Congress shall provide by law that tbe United States shall pay to the owner the full-value ef his fugitive from labor, in aU cases State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 127 where the marshal, or other officer whose 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 shaU provide by law for securing to the citizens of each State the privUeges and immunities of cit izens in the several States. The vote on this section was as follows : — Ayes. — Delaware, lUinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Ehode 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 foUowing resolution was then moved by Mr. Frank Un, 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 th.at 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 foUows : — ¦ 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 indefinite postponement was moved and carried by the following vote : — Ayes. — Delavrare, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Ehode 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 Virginia^ to adjust the unhappy differences which now disturb the peace of the Union and threaten its continuance, make known to the Congress of tho 128 The Life, Public Services, and United States that their body convened in the City of Washington on the 4th instant, and continued in session until the 27th. ¦, . , . There were in the body, when action was taken upon that which is here submitted, one hundred and thirty-three commissioners, represent ing the foUowing States: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachu- setts, Ehode Island, Connecticut, ^ew York, New Jersey, Pennsylvama, 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 wUl 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. Seward and TrumbuU, the minority of the Comfnittee, 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 calUng 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 opposed 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 any interference with slavery in the States. TMs motion was State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 129 carried. Mr. Pugh moved to amend by substituting for this resolution the resolutions of Mr. Crittenden. TMa 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. This 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, caUing on the State Legislatures to ex press their wUl 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 Arkansas; and rejected — ayes 3, noes 34. Mr. Crittenden' s resolutions were then taken Tip, and lost by the following vote : — Ayes. — Messrs. Bayard, Bright, Bigler, Crittenden, Douglas, Gwin, Hunter, Johnson of Tennessee, Kennedy, Lane, Latham, Mason, Nichol son, Polk, Pugh, Eice, Sebastian, Thomson, and WigfaU — 19. Noes. — Messrs. Anthony, Bingham, Chandler, Clark, Dixon, Doolittle, Durkee, Fessenden, Foote, Foster, Grimes, Harlan, King, Morrill, Sum ner, Ten Eyck, Trumbull, Wade, WUkinson, 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 adopted by a two-tMrds 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 slayery from any one of them. It had severely censured the legislation of some of the Northern States intended to hinder the recovery of fugitives from labor ; and in response to its expressed wishes, Rhode Island repealed its laws of that character, and Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts, and Wisconsin had the subject under consideration, and were ready to take BJmilar 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. FROM SPEINGFIELD TO WASHINGTOW. SpEKon at Indianapolis. — Arrival and Spbeoh at Cinoinnatl — Speboh at Columbus. — Speech at Pittsburg. — Arrival and Speech at Cleve land. — AKrivAL AT Buffalo. — At Eoohestee and Syracuse. — At Albany. — Speech at Poughkeepsib. — In New York. — Eeply to the Mayor of New Yoke:. — In New Jersey. — Arrival at Philadelphia. — Speech in Philadelphia. — At Harrisburg. — Arrival and Eeoeption at Washington. From the date of Ms election, Mr. Lincoln maintained sUence on the affairs of the country. The Government was to remain for three months longer in the hands of Mr. Buchanan, 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 responsibUities. On the 11th of February, 1861, he left his home in Spring field, nUnois, accompanied to the railroad depot by a large concourse of his friends and neighbors, whom he bade fareweU in the foUowing 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 npon 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, will all pray that I may receive that Divine assistance, without which I cannot succeed, but with which success is certain. Again I bid you aU an affectionate 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 have been forgotten, and the cheers were always given for " Lincoln and the Constitution. ' ' At Tolono he appeared upon the platform, and in response to the applause wMch haUed his appear ance, he said : — I am leaving you on an errand of national importance, attended, as yon are aware, with considerable difficulties. Let us believe, as some poet has expressed it, "Behind the cloud the sun is stUl shining." I bid you an affectionate farewell. At IridianapoUs 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 was greeted by the hearty applause of the large crowd which had assembled in the street, to which he addressed the foUowing 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, wUl have, one and inseparably, my hearty consideration. WhUe I do not expect, npon this occasion, or until I get to Washington, to attempt any lengthy speech, I wUl only say to the salvation of the Union there needs but one single tiling — 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 them." [Eenewed applause.] In all trying positions in which I shaU be placed — and, doubtless, I shall be placed in many such— my reliance wUl 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 miUions 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 Uberty for yourselves, and not for mo. I desire they should be constitutionaUy 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 that with you, and not with politicians, not with Presidents, not Avith office- seekers, but with you is the question. Shall the Union and shall tho liber ties of this country be preserved to the latest generations ? [Cheers.] In the evemng the members of the legislature 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 ia the following terms : — Fellow-Citizens of the State of Indiana: — I am here to thank you much for this magnificent welcome, and still more for the generous sup port given by your State to that poUtical 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 nsing the same word, 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 ns 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 CaroUna, 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 spitefuUy resolve that they wiU 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 affection would seem exceedingly thin and airy. If sick, the Uttle piUs of the homoeopathists would bo mnch 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 the 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 aU 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 aU which is less than itself, and ruin all which is larger than itself If a State and a county, in a given case, should be 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-fiftieth part of the nation, in soil and population, break np the nation and then coerce a proportionally larger subdivision of 'itself, in the most arbitrary way? What mysterious right to play tvrant is conferred on a district of country, with its people, by merely caUing it a State? FeUow-citizens, I am not asserting any thing ; I am merely asking ques tions for you to consider. And now aUow 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 overwhelming. Tlie streets were so densely crowded that it was with 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 he said : — Mr. Mayor and Fellow-Citizens :^Ihave 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 Sen.ator Douglas for the Presidency than they could in any other way. They did net, in any true sense of the word, nominate Mr. Douglas, and the result has come certainly as soon as ever I expected. I 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 I then said upon that subject. I then said, "When we do as we say, beat you, you perhaps want to know what we wiU do with you. I wUl teU you, as far as I am authorized to speak for the oppo- State Papers of Abrahaji Lincoln. 135 eition, what we mean to do with you. We mean to treat you, as near as we possibly can, as Washington, Jefferson, and Madison treated 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, iu 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 there 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 shaU not be mine. In the evening the German RepubUcan associations called upon Mr. Lincoln and presented him an address of con gratulation, to which he responded, warmly indorsing the wisdom of the Homestead bUl, 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 :— Me. President and Mr. Speaker, and Gentlemen of the General Assembly: — It is true, as has been said by tjie 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, 1 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 lias 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 having kept sUence, 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 sUence 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 we 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. FeUow-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 Columbus. At SteubenviUe 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 tbe river. It is only the different 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 bound by the majority of the American people — if not, then the minority must control. Would that be right ? Would it be just or generous? Assuredly not. I reiterate, tbat the majority should rule. If I adopt a wrong policy, the opportunity for condemnation wiU 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 i.tmost enthusiasm at the Monongahela House by a large croAyd 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 his gratitude and surprise at seeing so great a crowd and such 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 he saw this evening before him, were for the preservation of tbe Union, be did not see how it could be in much dan ger. He had intended to say a few words to the people of Pittsburg — tlie 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, "ne thought be 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, tbe former the banner town, and the latter the banner county, perhaps, of the world. I am glad to see both of them, 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 AUeghany 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 Ms appearance had subsided, Mr. Lincoln made the following remarks : — I most cordially thank His Honor Mayor WUson, 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, wliich 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 allusion 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 ono, 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 tion to the spirit of the Constitution, contrary to the integrity of the 138 The Life, Public Services, and Union, or which will prove inimical to the liberties of the people, or to the peace of the whole country. And, furthermore, when the time arrives for 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. What is there now to warrant the condition jof 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 Ts 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 tbe 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. Let the people on both sides keep their self-posses sion, and just as other clouds have cleared away in due time, so wUl this great nation continue to prosper as heretofore. But, fellow-citizens, I have spoken longer on this subject than I intended at tbe outset. It is often said that the Tariff is the specialty of Pennsylvania. Assuming that direct taxation is not to be adopted, the Tariff question must be as durable as tbe Government itself. It is a question of national housekeeping. It is to the Government what replenishing the meal-tub is to the family. Every varying circumstance wiU 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 shaU 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, whUe 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. Lincc In's private secretary then read section twelfth of the Chicago Platform, as follows : — That while providing revenue for the support of tbe General Govern- nient, by duties upon imports, sound policy requires such an adjustment of these imports as will encourage the development of the industrial mterest of the whole country; and we commend that policy of national exchanges which secures to working-men liberal wages, to agriculture remunerative prices, to mechanics and manufacturers adequate reward State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 139 for the'r skill, labor, and enterprise, and to the nation commercial pros perity and independence. Mr. Lincoln resumed: As with all general propositions, doubtless there wUl be shades of difference 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 aud 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, each 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 naturaUy, if not rapidly, to be removed. Tlie condition of the treasury at this time would seem to render an early revision of the Tariff indispensable. The Morrill Tariff BiU, 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 poUtical edaoation strongly inoUnes 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 conntry, and aU classes of the people. Mr. Lincoln left Pittsburg immediately after the 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 artiUery, through the princi- 140 The Life, Public Services, and pal streets to the WeddeU House, where Mr. Lincoln, in reply to an address of welcome from the Mayor, made the following remarks : — Mr. Chairman and Fellow- Citizens of Cleveland : — We have been marching 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 tliink 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 aloi.e. 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 aU 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 aU 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 tliem for tbe cordial and magnificent reception they had given him. Not less did he thank them for the votes they gave him kst fall ; and quite as much ho thanked them for the efficient 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 b)i men of all parties. This is as it should be. If Judge Douglas had been elected, and had been hero, on his way to Washington, as I am to-night, the Eepublicans should have joined his supporters in welcoming him, State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 141 just as his friends have joined with mine to-night. If all do not join now to save tbe good old ship of the Union on this voyage, nobody 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 the 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 notliing 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 platform, 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 :— Mr. Mayor and Fellow-Citizens of Buffalo and the State of New York : — I am here to thank you briefiy 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 who 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 candidates instead of myself, under the peculiar circumstances, to say the least, it would have been proper for aU citizens to have greeted him as you now greet me. It is an evidence of the devotion of the whole people to the Constitution, the Union, and tbe perpetuity of the liberties of this country. [Cheers.] I am unwUiing 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 the 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 inteUigent people. Without that assistance I shall surely faU ; with it, I cannot faU. 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 wiU 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 tbe 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 this generation has passed away, tens of thou sands wUl inhabit this country where only thousands inhabit it now. I do not propose to address you at length ; I have no voice for it. AUow me again to thank you for this magnificent reception, and bid you farewell. Mr. Lincoln remained at Buffalo over Sunday, the 17th, 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 leaving home, overwhelmed with this vast number of faces at this hour of llio morning. I am not vain enough to believe that you are here from auy wish to see me as an individual, but because I am for the time being the State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 143 representative of the American people. I could not, if I would, address you at any length. I have not the strength, oven if I had the time, for a speech at each of these many interviews that are afforded me on my way to Washington. I appear merely to see you, and to let you see me, and to bid you farewell. I hope it w-ill be understood that it is from no dis- incUnation to obUge anybody that I do not address you at greater length. At Syracuse, where preparations had been made to give him a formal reception, he made the following remarks in reply to an address of Avelcome 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 deUver 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 wish 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 Ufe 'and prosperity individu 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 tbe 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 before you that I may see you, and that you may see mo ; and I am willing to admit, that so far as the ladies are concerned, I have the best of the 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 formaUy received by the Mayor in a complimentary address, to which he thus replied : — Mr. Mayor : — 1 can hardly appropri.ate to myself the flattering terms in which you communicate the tender of this reception, as [jersonal to my self. I most gratefully accept the 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 presume that in the two or three courses throngh which I shaU have to go, I shall have to repeat somewhat, and I will therefore only repeat to you my thanks for this kind reception. A procession was then formed, which 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. Governor : — 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 greater population than did the United States of America at the time she achieved her national independence. I am proud to bo 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 political 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 wiU 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 foUowing ad dress : — Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Legislature of the State of New York :— It is with feelings of great diffidence, and, I may say, with fuelings of awe, perhaps greater than I have recently experienced, that 1 State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 145 meet you here in this place. The history of this great State, the renown of those great men who have stood here, and spoke here, and been heard here, all crowd around my fancy, and incUne me to shrink from any attempt to address you. Yet I 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 this has been done in any considerable degree with reference to my personal services, but that it is done in so far as I 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, cr 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 religions liberty for all time to come, most gratefully do I thank you. I I do not propose to enter into an explanation of any particular line of policy, as to our present difficulties, to be adopted by tbe 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 se 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 o£tbe Government. But when the time comes I shall speak, aa 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. [Eouuda 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. Eelying on this, I again .thank you for this generous reception. [Applause and cheers.] On the morning of the 19th Mr. Lincoln went to Troy, and, in reply tb the welcome of the Mayor, said :¦ — • Mk. Mayor and Citizens of Troy : — I thank you very kindly for this great reception. Since I left my home it has not been my fortune to meet JO 146 The Life, Public Services, and an assemblage more numerous and moro orderly than this. I am the more graitfied at tliis mark of your regard, since you assure mo 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 reception you have thought proper to extend to me. On the route to New York, by the Hudson River RaU road, very large crowds of people had assembled at the various stations to welcome him. At Hudson he spoke as foUows : — Fellow-Citizens :— I see that you have provided a ^Jiatform, but I shall have to decline standing on it. [Laughter and applause.] The superin tendent teUs me I have not time during our brief stay to leave the train. I bad 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 the inference tbat 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 you, and to give you the opportunity to see me ; and I say to you, as I have before said to crowds where there are so many handsome ladies as there are here, I think I have decidedly the best of the bargain. I have only, therefore, to thank you most cordially for this kind reception, and bid you aU fare weU. At Ponghkeepsie, 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 heard by any considerable portion of this vast assemblage ; but, although I appear before you mainly for the purpose of seeing you, and to let you see, rather than hear me, I cannot refrain from saying that I am highly gr.atified — 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 that have been tendered to me, doubtless emanates from all the political parties, and not from one alone. As such I accept it the more gratefully, since 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 wiU save itself — but to save the institutions of the country — those institutions under which, in tbe last three-quarters of a century, we have 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 Abraham Lincoln. 147 These noble manifestations indicate, with unerring certainty, that the whole people are willing to make common cause for this object; that if, as it ever must be, some have been successful in the recent election, and some have been beaten — ^if some are satisfied, and some are dissatisfied, the defeated party are not in favor of sinking tbe ship, but are desirous of running it through the tempest in safety, and wUling, if they think the people have committed an error in their verdict now, to wait in the hops of reversing it, and setting it right next time. I do not say that in the recent election the people did the wisest thing that could have been done ; indeed, I do not think they did ; but I do say, that in accepting the great trust committed to me, which I do with a determination to endeavor to prove worthy of it, I must rely upon you, upon the people of the whole country, for support ; and with their sustaining aid, even I, 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, he said : — Ladies and Gentlemen :^I have but a moment to stand before you, 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 before 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 diffi 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. Plac'=>s of business were generally closed, and the streets were filled with 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 Services, and address you from any disposition to disoblige you, but to the contrary. But, at the same time, I beg of you to excuse me for the present. In the evening, Mr. Lincoln received a large deputatiou 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 : — Me. Chairman and Gentlemen: — I am rather an old 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 like 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 disposed to do so, and we could take up some ono 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. I 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 thi--r.ght, upon full consideration, that was the proper course for me to take. [Great npplause.] I am brought before you now, and required to make a speech, when you all approve more than any thing else of the fact that 1 have bf en keeping sUence. [Great laugh 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 w-antonness, 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 sUence for the reason that I supposed it was pecu- harly proper that 1 should do so until the time came when, according to tbe custom of the country, I could speak offlciaUy. A voice— The custom of tbe country ? T heard some gentleman say, " According to the custom of the country." I alluded to tbe custom of the President-elect, at the time of taking the oath of office. That is what I meant by " the custom of the country." I do suppose that, while the political drama being enacted in this coun try, ac this time, is rapidly shifting its scenes — forbidding an anticipation, State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 149 with any degree of certainty, to-day, what we shall see to-morrow — it was peculiarly fitting that I should see it all, up to the last minute, before T should take ground that I might be disposed (by the shifting of the scenes afterwards) also to shift. [Applause.] I have said, several times, upon this journey, and I now repeat it to you, that when the time does come, I shall then take the ground that I think is right — [applause] — the ground that I think is right — [applause, and cries of " Good, good " — right for the North, for the South, for the East, for the West, for tbp whole country. [Cries of " Good," "Hurrah for Lincoln," and applause.] And iu doing so, I hope to feel no necessity pressing upon me to say any thing in conflict with the Constitution ; in conflict with the continued union of these States — [applause] — in conflict with the perpetuation of tbe hberties of this people — [applause] — or any thing in confiict with any thing what ever tbat I have ever given you reason to expect from me. [Applause.] And now, my friends, have I said enough? [Loud cries. of "No, no," and three cheer's for Lincoln.] Now, my friends, there appears to be a difference of opinion between you and me, and I really feel called upon to decide the question myself. [Applause, during which Mr. Lincoln descended fi'om the table.] On the morning of the 20th Mr. Lincoln proceeded to the City Hall, where it had been arranged that lie should haye an official reception. He was there addressed by Mayor Wood in the foUowing terms : — Mr. Lincoln: — As Mayor of New York, it becomes my duty to extend to you an official welcome in behalf of tbe Corporation. In doing so, per mit me to say, that this city has never offered hospitality to a man clothed with more exalted powers, or resting under graver responsibilities, than those which circumstances have devolved upon you. Coming into office with a dismembered Government to reconstruct, and a disconnected and hostile people to reconcile, it will require a high patriotism, and an eleva ted comprehension of the whole country and its varied interests, opinions, and prejudices, to so conduct public affairs as to bring it back again to its former harmonious, consolidated, and prosperous condition. If I refer to this topic, sir, it is because New York is deeply interested. The present- political divisions have sorely afflicted her people. All her material inter ests are paralyzed. Her commercial greatness is endangered. She is the child of the American Union. She has grown up under its maternal care, and been fostered by its paternal bounty, and we fear that if the Union dies, the present supremacy of New York may perish with it. To you, therefore, chosen under the forms of the Constitution as the head of thts Confederacy, we look for a restoration of fraternal relations between tha States — only to be accomplished by peaceful and conciliatory means^ aided by the wisdom of Almighty God, 150 The Life, Public Services, and To this address Mr. Lincoln made the foUowing re ply : - Mr. Mayor:— It is with feelings of deep gratitude tbat I make my acknowledgments for the reception that has been given me in tlie feveat commercial City of New York. I cannot but remember that it is done by the people, who do not, by a large majority, agree with me in political sentiment. It is the more grateful to me, because in this I see that for the great principles of our Government the people are pretty nearly or quite unanimous. In regard to the difficulties tliat confront us at this time, and of which you have seen fit to speak so becomingly and so juctly, I can only say that I agree with the sentiments expressed. In my devo tion to the Union I hope I am behind no man in the nation. As to. my wisdom in conducting affairs so as to tend to the preservation of the Union, I fear too great confldence may have been placed in me. I am sure I bring a heart devoted to the work. There is nothing that could ever bring me to consent — wUlingly to consent — to the destruction of this Union (in which not only the great City of New York, but the whole country, has acquired its greatness), unless it would be that thing for which the Union itself was made. I understand that the ship is made for the carrying and preservation of the cargo; and so long as the ship is safe with the cargo, it shall not be abandoned. This Union shall never be .abandoned, unless the possibility of its existence shall cease to exist, without the necessity of throwing passengers ard cargo overboard. So long, then, as it is possible that the prosperity and liberties of this people can be preserved within this Union, it shall be my purpose at all times to preserve it. And' now, Mr. Mayor, renewing my thanks for this cordial reception, allow me to come to a close. [Applause.] On the morning of Thursday, the 21st, Mr. Lincoln left New York for Philadelphia, and on reaching Jersey City was met and welcomed, on behalf of the State, by the Hon. W. L. Dayton, to whose remarks he made this re ply:— iln. Dayton and Gentlemen of the State of New Jersey : — I sh.all only thank you briefly for this very kind reception given me, not person aUy, but as the temporary representative of the majesty of the nation. [Applause.] To the kindness of your hearts, and of the hearts of your brethren in your State, I should be very proud to respond, but I shall not have strength to address, you or other assemblages at length, even if I had the time to do so. I appear before you, therefore, for Uttle else than to greet you, and to briefly say farewell. You have done me the very high honor to present your reception courtesies to me through your great man — a man with whom it is an honor to be associated anywhere, and in owning whom no State can be poor. [Applause.] ¦ Ue has said enough. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 151 and by the saying of it suggested enough, to require a response of an hour well considered. , [Applause.] I could not in an hour make a worthy response to it. I therefore, ladies and gentlemen of Ncav Jersey, content myself with SJiying, most heartUy do I indorse all the sentiments he has expressed. [Applause.] Allow me, most gratefully, to bid you fareweU. [Applause,] At Newark he was welcomed by the Mayor, to whom he said : — Mr. Mayor : — I thank you for this reception at the city of Newark. With regard to the great work of which you speak, I will say that I bring to it a heart fiUed with love for my country, and an honest desire to do ^^¦hat is right. I am sure, however, that I have not the abiUty to do any thing unaided of God, and that without his support, and that of this free, happy, prosperous, and intelligent people, no man can succeed in doing tbat the importance of which we all comprehend. Again thanking you for the reception you have given me, I wiU now bid you fareweU, and proceed upon my journey. At Trenton he was received by a committee of the legislature, and escorted to both branches, which were in session. The President of the Senate welcomed him in a brief address, to which he made the following reply ': — Me. President and Gentlemen of the Senate of the State of New Jersey : — I am very grateful to you for the honorable reception of which I have been the object. I cannot but remember the place that New Jersey holds in our early history. In the early Eevolutionary strug gle few of the States among the Old Thirteen had more of the battle-fields ¦ of the country within their Umits than old New Jersey. May I be par doned if, upon this occasion, I mention that away back in my childhood, the earliest days of my being able to read, I got hold of a small book, such a one as few of the younger members-Jiave ever seen, " Weem's Life of Washington." I remember all the accounts there given of the battle fields and struggles for the liberties of the country, and none fi.^ed them selves upon my imagination so deeply as the struggle here at Trenton, New Jersey. The crossing of the river ; the contest with the Hessians ; the great hardships endured at that time, all fixed themselves on my memory more than any single Eevolutionary event; and you all know, for . you have all been boys, how these early impressions last longer than any others. I recollect thinking then, boy even though I was, that there must have been something more than common that these men struggled for. I am exceedingly anxious that that thing which they struggled for ; that something even more than National Independence; that something that held out a great promise to all the people of the world to all time to 1&2 The Life, Public Services, and come— I am exceedingly anxious that this Union, the Constitution, .and the liberties of the people shall be perpetuated in accordance with the original idea for which that struggle was made, and I shall be most happy indeed if I shall be an humble instrument in the hands of the Almighty, and of this, his most chosen people, as the chosen instrument — also in tho hands of the Almighty— for perpetuating the object of that great struggle. You give me this reception, as I understand, without distinction of party. I learn that this body is composed of a majority of gentlemen who, in the exercise of their best judgment in the choice of a Chief Magistrate, did not think I was tbe man. I understand, nevertheless, that they came forward here to greet me as the constitutional President of the United States — as citizens of the United States to meet the man who, for the time being, is the representative man of the nation — united by a pui-pose to perpetuate the Union and liberties of the people. As such, I accept this xeception more gratefully than I could do did I believe it was ten dered to me as an individual. Mr. Lincoln then passed to the Assembly Chamber, where, in reply to the Speaker, he said : — Me. Speaieee and Gentlemen: — I have just enjoyed the honor of a reception by the other branch of this legislature, and I return to you and them my thanks for the reception which the people of Now Jersey have given through their chosen representatives to me as the representa tive, for the time being, of the majesty of the people of the United States. I .appropriate to myself very little of the demonstrations of respect with which I have been .greeted. I think Uttle should be given to any man, but that it should be a manifestation of adherence to the Union and the Constitution. I understand myself to be received here by the representa tives of the people of New Jersey, a majority of whom differ in opinion from those with whom I have acted. This manifestation is, therefore, to be regarded by me as expressing their devotion to the Union, the 'Consti tution, and the liberties of the people. You, Mr. Speaker, have well said that this is a time when the briivest and wisest look with doubt and awe upon the aspect presented by our nation.al affairs. Under these circum stances, you will readily see why I should not speak in detaU of the course I shall doom it best to pursue. It is proper that I should avaU myself of all the information and aU the time at iny command, in order tbat when the time arrives in which I must speak oflicially, I shaU be able to take the ground which I deem the best and safest, and from which I may have no occasion to swerve. I shaU endeavor to take the ground I deem most just to the North, the East, the West, the South, and the whole country.' I take it, I hope, in good temper, certainly with no malice towards any section. I shall do all that may be in my power to promote a peaceful^ settlement of all our difficulties. The m.an does not live who is more de voted to peace than I am. [Cheers.] None who would do more to pro- State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 153 «erve it, but it maybe necessary to put the foot down firmly. [Here the ludience broke out into cheers so loud and long, that for some moments t was impossible to hear Mr. Lincoln's voice.] And if I do my duty and lo right, you will sustain me, will you not ? [Loud cheers, and cries of ' Yes, yes, we will."] Eeceived, as I am, by the members of a legislature, die majority of whom do not agree with me in political sentiments, I trust that I may have their assistance in piloting the ship of State through this voyage, surrounded by perUs as it is ; for if it should sufier wreck now, there will be no pUot ever needed for another voyage. Gen tlemen, I have already spoken longer than I intended, and must beg leavo to stop here. . The procession then moved to the Trenton House, where the President-elect made the following speech to the crowd outside : — I have been invited by your representatives to the Legislature to vieit this, the capital of your honored State, and in acknowledging their kind invitation, compelled to respond to the welcome of tbe presiding officers of each body, and I suppose they intended I should speak to you through them, as they are the representatives of all of you ; and if I was to speak again here, I should only have to repeat, in a great measure, much that I have said, which would be disgusting to my friends around me-who have met here. I have no speech to make, but merely appear to see you and let you look at me ; and as to tbe latter, I think I have greatly the best of the bargain. [Laughter.] My friends, aUow me to bid you farewell. The party arrived at PhUadelphia at 4 o' clock, and the President-elect, proceeding immediately to the Continen tal Hotel, was welcomed in a brief speech from Mayor Henry, to wMch he repUed as foUows : — Mr. Mayor and Fellow-Citizens of Philadelphia : — I appear before- you to make no lengthy speech, but to thank you for this reception. Tho reception you have given me to-night is not to ine, the man, the individ ual, but to the man who temporarUy represents, or should represent, th© majesty of the nation. [Cheers.] It is true,- as your worthy Mayor has said, that there is anxiety amongst the citizens of the United States at this time. I deem it a happy circumstance that this dissatisfied position of our feUow-citizens does not point us to any thing in which they are being injured, or about to be injured; for which reason, I have felt all the while justified in concluding that the crisis, the panic, the anxiety of the coun try at this time, is artificial. If there be those who differ with me upon this subject, they have not pointed out the substantial difficulty that exists. I do not mean to say that an artificial panic may not do consid erable harm ; that it has done such I do not deny. The hope that has 154 The Life, Public Services, and been expressed by your Mayor, that I may be able to restore peace, har mony, and prosperity to the country, is most worthy of him ; and happy, indeed, will I be if I shall be able to verify and fulfil that hope. [Tre mendous cheering.] I promise you, in all sincerity, that I bring to the work a sincere heart. Whether I wUl bring a head equal to that heart will be for future times to determine. It were useless for me to speak of details of plans now ; I shall speak officiaUy next Monday week, if ever. If I should not speak then, it were useless for me to do so now. If I do speak then, it is useless for me to do so now. When I do speak, I shaU take such ground as I deem best calculated to restore peace, harmony, and prosperity to tbe country, and tend to tbe perpetuity of the nation and the liberty of these States and these people. Your worthy Mayor has expressed the wish, in which I join with him, that' it were convenient for me to remain in your city long enough to consult your merchants and manufacturers ; or, as it were, to listen to those breathings rising within the consecrated walls wherein the Constitution of the United States, and, I will add, the Declaration of Independence, were originally framed and adopted. [Enthusiastic applause.] I assure you and your Mayor that I had hoped on this occasion, and upon all occasions during my life, that I shall do nothing inconsistent with the teachings of these holy and most sacred walls. I never asked any thing that does not breathe fi'om those walls. All my political w.arfare has been in favor of the teacliings that came forth from these sacred walls. May my right hand forget its cun ning, and iny tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if ever I prove false to those teachings. FeUow-citizens, I have addressed you longer than I expected to do, and now aUow me to bid you good-night. On the 21st, Mr. Lincoln visited the old Independence Hall, from which was originally issued the Declaration of Independence. He was received in a cordial speech by Mr. Theodore Cuyler, to which he made the foUow ing response :— Mr. Cuyler : — I am fiUed with deep emotion at finding myself standing here in this place, where were collected together the wisdom, the patriot ism, the devotion to principle from which sprang the institutions under which wc Uve. You have kindly suggested to me that in my hands is the task of restoring peace to the present distracted condition of the country. I can say in return, sir, that all the political sentiments I entertain have been drawn, so far as I have been able to draw them, from the sentiments which originated in and were given to the world from this hall. I have never had a feeling, politically, that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence. I havc, often pondered over the dangers which were incurred by the men who assembled here, and framed and adopted that Declaration of Inde- Nli)»>. ' ' ' /'/^^. Ll 1. StA.TE P.4.PERS OF ABRAHAM LiNCOLN. 155 pendence. I h.ave pondered over the toUs that were endured by the o'ffl- cers aud soldiers of the army who achieved tbat independence. I have often inquired of myself what great principle or idea it was that kept this Confederacy so long together. It was not the mere matter of the sep aration of the Colonies from the mother-land, but that sentiment in the Deolai-ation of Independence which gave liberty, not alone to the people of this country, but, I hope, to the world, for all future, time. [Great ap plause.] It was that which gave promise that in due time the weight would be lifted from the shoulders of aU men. This is the sentiment em bodied in the Declaration of Independence. Now, my friends, can this country be saved upon that basis? If it can, I will consider myself one of the happiest men in the world if I can help to save it. If it cannot be saved upon that principle, it will be truly awful. But if this country can not be saved without giving up tbat principle, I was about to say I would rather be assassinated on this spot than surrender it. [Applause.] Now, in my view of the present aspect of affairs, tffere need be no bloodshed or war. There is no necessity for it. I am not in favor of such a course ; and I may say in advance that there will be no bloodshed unless it be forced upon the Government, and then it will be compelled to act in self- defence. [Applause.] My Mends, this is wholly an'unexpected speech, and I did not expect to be called upon to say a word when I came here. I supposed it was merely to do something towards raising the flag — I may, therefore, have said something indiscreet. [Cries of " No, no."] I have said nothing but what I am wUling to live by, and, if it be the pleasure of Almighty God, die by. One object of iae visit to the HaU was, to have Mr. Lincoln assist in raising the national flag over the Hall. - Arrangements had been made for the performance of this ceremony, and Mr. Lincoln was escorted to the platform- prepared for the purpose, and was invited, in a brief ad dress, to raise the flag. He responded in a patriotic speech, announcing his cheerful compliance with the re quest He alluded to the original flag of thirteen stars, saying that the number had increased as time rolled on, and we became a happy, powerful people, each star add ing to its prosperity. The future is in the hands of tlie people. It was on such an occasion we could reason to gether, reaffirm our devotion to the country and the prin ciples of the Declaration of Independence. Let us make up our minds, said he, that whenever we do put a new star upon our banner, it shaU be a fixed one, never to be 156 The Life, Public Services, and dimmed by the horrors of war, but brightened by the contentment and prosperity of peace. Let us go on to extend the area of our usefulness, and add star upon star, until their Ught shall shine over five hundred milUons of free and happy people. He then performed Ms part in the ceremony, amidst a thundering discharge of artiUery. In the afternoon he left for the West. On reaching Lancaster he was received with a salute, and repUed to an address of welcome in the following words : — Ladies and Gentlemen of Old Lancaster: — I appear.nof to make .1 speech. I have not time to make a speech at length, and not strength to make them on every occasion ; and worse than all, I have none to make. There is plenty of matter to speak about in these times, but it is well known that the more a man speaks tbe less he is understood — the ii;ore he says one thing, the more his adversaries contend he meant something else. I shall soon have occasion to speak officially, and then I will en deavor to put my thoughts just as plain as I can express myselt^ — true to the Constitution and Union of all the States, and to the perpetual liberty of all the people. Until I so speak, there is no ne^d to enter upon details. In conclusion, I greet you most heartily, and bid you an affectionate farewell. On reaching Harrisburg, on the 22d, Mr. Lincoln was escorted to the legislature, and was welcomed by the presiding officers of the two houses, to whom he repUed as follows : — I appear before you only for a very few, brief remarks, in response to what has been said to me. I thank you most sincerely for this reception, and the generous words in which support has been promised me upon this occasion. I thank your great Commonwealth for the overwhelming support it recently gave, not me personally, but the cause which I think a just one, in tho late election. [Loud applause.] Allusion has been made to the fact— the interesting fact, perhaps, we should say— that I for the flrst time appear at the Capital of tho great Commonwealth of Penn sylvania upon the birthday of the Father of his Country, in connection with that beloved anniversary connected with tlie history of this country. I have already gone through one exceedingly interesting scene ^lis morn ing in the ceremonies at Philadelphia. Under tho high conduct'of gentle-' men there, I was for the first time aUowed the privUege of standing in old Independence Hall [enthusiastic cheering], to have a few words addressed to me there, and opening up to mo an opportunity of express ing, with mnch -regret, that I had not more time time to express eome. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 157 thing of my own feelings, excited by the occasion, somewhat to harmonize and give shape to the feelings that had been really the feelings of my whole lite. Besides this, our friends there had provided a magnificent fiag of the country. They had arranged it so that I was given the honor of arising it to the head of its staff. [Applause.] And when it went up, I Was pleased tbat it went to its place by the strength of my own feeble arm, when, according to the arrangement, the cord was pulled, and it fioated gloriously to the wind, without an accident, in tho light, glowing sunshine of the morning. I could not help hoping that there was, in the entire suc cess of that beautiful ceremony, at least something of an omen of what is to come. [Loud applause.] How could I help feeUng then as I often have felt? In the whole of that proceeding I was a very humble instrument. I had not provided the fiag; I had not made the arrangements for elevating it to its place ; I bad applied but a very small portion of my feeble strength in raising it. In the whole transaction I was in the hands of tho people who had arranged it, and if I can have the same generous co-operation of tbe people of the nation, I think tho flag of our country may yet be kept fi.auiiting gloriously. [Loud, enthusiastic, and continued cheers.] I recur for a moment but to repeat some words uttered at the hotel, in regard to what has been "said about the military support which the General Govern ment may expect from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in a proper emergency. To guard against any possible mistake do I recur to this. It is not with any pleasure that I contemplate the possibUity that a neces sity may arise in this country for the use of the military arm. [Applause.] 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 miscon-struction, 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 fraternal blood. I promise that, so far as I may have wisdom to direct, if so painful a result shaU in any-wise be brought about, it shall be through no fault of mine. [Cheers.] Allusion has also boon made by one of your honored speakers to somo remarks" recently made by myself at Pittsburg, in regard to what is sup posed to bo 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 tlianks. 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 afibrded a fuU 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 tMow from the track the train on which 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 poUce detective, carried on with great skill and perseverance at Baltimore, and which resulted ia 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. Greneral Scott and Mr. Seward had both been apprised of the same fact through another source, and they had sent Mr. F. W. Seward as a special messenger to PhUadelpMa, 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 commimications ; 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 CouncU of the city waited upon Mr. Lincoln, and. ten dered Mm a welcome. He repUed to them as foUows :— Mr. Mayor:- I thank you, and through you tho municipal authorities of this city who accompany you, for this welcome. And as it is tho first ift » '^ ;„'.-..nliiii' t.i> AH .if CoTit'n-ss. in tlH' yr„r KTO. liv IIKIIIIV * MILL!;!:, in tho Cli'i-U's Olli.v of tlie Di^lrict, Ccl-.r'. nCih,. Iiiiil...rsi;it.-i lin- lii.' SollllHTn l>i-tricl, i.r \,'W YiirU. PRESIDENT LINCOLN AND HIS FAMILY -1861. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 159 time in my life, since the present phase of politics has presented 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 tlierefore avail myself of this opportunity to assure you, Mr. Mayor, and all the gentlemen present, that I have not now, and never have had, any other than as kindly feelings towards you as the people of my own section. I have not now, and never have had, any disposition to treat you in any respect otherwise 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 Uke 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 foUows : — Mt Friends : — I suppose tbat 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 tho people, almost all of whom wore politically opposed to me, and are yet opposed to me, as I suppose. I propose no lengthy address to you. I only propose to say, as I did on yesterday, when your worthy 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 something of this misunderstanding; that I may be enabled to convince you, and thepeople of your section of the country, that we regard you as in all things our equals, and in all things entitled to the samo respect and the same treat ment that we claim for ourselves; that we are in no wise disposed, if it were in our power, to oppress yen, to deprive you of toy 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 yon, as far ai lies in our hands, all your rights under the Constitution — not 160 The Life, Public Services, and grudgingly, but fuUy 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 ag.ain returning my thanks for this compliment, and expressing my desire to hear a littlo more of your good music, I bid you good-night. This closed Mr. Lincoln' s pubUc speeches down to the date of his iaauguration. , State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. ICl CHAPTER VI. FROM THB INAUGURATION TO THB MEETING OF CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1861. The Inaugural Address. — Organization oe the Government. — The Bombardment of Fort Sumter. — Passage of Troops inEOUoii Bal timore. — Interview with the Mayor of Baltimore. — The Block ade OF Eebel Ports. — The President and the Virginia Commis sioners. — IxSTltnCTlON TO our MINISTERS ABROAD. — EeCOGNITION OF the Eebels as Belligerents. — Eights of Feuteals^ On the 4th of March, 1861, Mr. Lincoln took the oath and assumed the duties of the Presidential ofiice. He was quite right in saying, on the eve of his departure from his home in Springfield, 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 n 'ove- 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, Floric!a, and Louisiana — had passed secession ordinances, and united in the estabhshment of a hostile Confederacy ; but in nearly all of them a considerable portion of the people were opposed to the movement, whUe in all the remaining slaveholding States a very active canvass yfas 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 abiUty 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 Umits 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 Jefierson 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 ofiicers 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 Ms ofiice, 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 rebeUion 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 taldng 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 briefiy, and to take in your presence the oath prescribed by the Constitution of the United States to be taken by the President "before ho enters on the execution of his office." I do not consider it necessary at present for me to discuss those 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 prope ity and State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 163 their peace and personal security are to be endangered. There has 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." Thgso 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, That 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 which 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, wUl be cheerfuUy given to all tho 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 up 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 tho intent- 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, " shaU 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 1 There is some difference of opinion whether this clause should be en forced by National or by State authority ; but surely that difference ia 164 The Life, Public Services, and not a very material one. If the 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, ought not all the safeguards of lib erty known in civilized and humane jurisprudence' to be introduced, so that a free man bo 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 shaU be entitled to all privUeges 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 wUl be much safer for all, both in official and private stations, to conform to and abide by all those acts which stand unrepealed, than to violate any of them, trusting to flnd im punity in having them held to be unconstitutional. It is seventy-two years since the first inauguration of a President under oar National Constitution. During that period, fifteen different and greatly distinguished citizens have, in succession, administered the Executive branch of the Government. They have conducted it through many perils, and generally with great success. Tet, 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. Perpetuity is implied, if not ex pressed, in the fundamental law of all National Governments. It is safe to assort that no government proper ever had a provision in its organic law for its own termination. Continue to execute aU the express provi sions of our National Government, and tho Union will endure forever — il 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 loss 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 tho proposition that, in legal contemplation, tho 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 Decl.aration of Independence in 1770. It was further matured, and the faith of all the then Thirteen States expressly State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 105 pUghted and engaged that it should be perpetual, by the Articles of Con federation in 1778. And, finaUy, in 1787, one of the declared objects for ordaining and estabUshing the Constitution was " to form a more perfect union." But if destruction of the Union, by one, or by a part only, of tho States, be lawfully possible, the Union is less perfect than before, the 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 tho Unio'i 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 tho requisite means, or, in some authoritative manner, direct tho contrary. I trust this will not be regarded as a menace, but only as the declared pur pose of the Union that it will constitutionaUy 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 cou^ 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 bo 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 groat 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. While the strict legal right may exist in the Government to enforce the exercise of these offices, tho attempt to do so would be so irritating, and so nearly impracticable withal, I deem it better to forego, for the 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, tho people everywhere shall have that senso of perfect security which is most favorable to calm thought and reflection. The course here indicated will be followed, unless current events and ex perience shaU 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 affections. That 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 affirm nor deny; but if there be such, I need address no word to them. To those, however, who reaUy love tho Union, may I not speak? Before entering upon so grave a matter as the destruction of our National fabric, with aU its beneflts, its memories, and its hopes, would it not be wise to ascertain precisely why we do it? "WUl you hazard so des perate a stop whUo there is any possibility that any portion of the Uls yon fly from have no real existence ? Will you, whUe the certain iUs you fly to are greater than all tbe real ones you fly from — wiU you risk the com mission of so fearful a mistake ? AU profess to bo 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 hot. HappUy tbe 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. AU the vital rights of minorities and of individuals are so plainly assured to thom 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 speciflcally 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 aU 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 thein into majorities and minorities. If the minority wUl not acquiesce, the majority must, or the Government must cease. There is no other alternative; for continuing the Government is acquies cence on on© side or the other. If a minority in such case wiU secede rather than, acquiesce, they make a precedent which, in turn, wUl 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 now Confederacy, a year or two hence, arbitrarily secede again, precisely as portions of the present Union now claim to secede from it? AU 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 now Union, as to produce harmony only, and prevent renewed secession ? Plainly, tho central idea of secession is the essence of anarchy. A State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 167 majority held in restraint by constitutional checks and limitations, and always changing easily with deUberate changes of papular opinions and sentiments, ia the only»*rne sovereign of a free people. 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 tho majority principle, anarchy or despot ism, in somo form, is aU that is left. I do not forget the position assumed by somo, that constitutional ques tions are to be decided by the Supreme Court ; nor do I deny that such decisions must bo binding, in any ca'so, 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 aU other departments of the Government. And while it is obviously possible that such decisions may be erroneous in any given case, still, the evil effect 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 bettor be borne than could tho ovUs of a different practice. At the samo time, the candid citizen must confess that if the policy of the Government upon vital questions affecting the whole people, is to be irrevocably fixed by de cisions of tbe 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 tho 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 poUtical purposes. Ono section of our country believes slavery is right, and ought to bo extended, whUe 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 tho foreign slave-trade, are each as well enforced, perhaps, as any law can ever be in a community where tho 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 tho 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 tho presence and beyond the reach of each other ; bnt the different parts of our coun try cannot do this. They cannot but remain face to face ; and inter course, either amicable or hostUe, must continue between them. It is 168 The Life, Public Services, and impossible, then, to make that intercourse more advantageous or more satisfactory after separation th.an before. Can aliens make treaties easier than friends can make laws? Can treaties 10 more faithfuUy enforced between aliens than laws can among friends ? Suppose you go to war, you cannot flght always ; and when, after much loss on both sides, and no gain on either, 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 National 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 amend.ments to originate with the people themselves, instead of only permitting them to take or reject proposi tions originated by others, not especiaUy 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 soon — has passed Congress, to the effect that the Federal Government shall never interfere with the 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 bo 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 conferred none upon him to fix terms for the separation of the States. Tbe people themselves can do this also if they choose ; 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 Euler 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 prevaU, 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 Uttle 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 vigUance, 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, ' stiU have the old Constitution unimpaired, and, on the sensitive point, the laws of your own framing under it ; while the new Administration wiU 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 stiU 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 stiU competent to adjust, in the best way, all our present difficulty. In your hands, my dissatisfied foUow-countrymen, and not in mine., is tho momentous issues of civil war. The Government will not assail you. Tou can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. Tou have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the Government; while I shaU 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 sweU tho chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they wiU 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 Uke violence or offensive warfare upon the seceded States. In the Border States its reception was in the main satisfactory. But, aa 170 The Life, Public Services, and a matter of course, in those States, as elsewhere through out the South, the secession leaders gave it the most hostUe 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 Kew York, Secretary of State ; Salmon P. Chase, of Ohio, Secretary of the Treasury ; Simon Cameron, cf Pennsylvania, Secretary of War ; Gideon Welles, of Con • necticut, Secretary of the Wavy ; Caleb B. Smith, of In diana, Secretary of the Interior ; Montgomery Blair, of IMaryland, Postmaster-General ; and Edward Bates,' of Missouri, Attorney-General. These nominations were all confirmed by the Senate, and these gentlemen entered upon the discharge of the duties of their several otfices. On the 12th of March, Messrs. John Forsyth, of Ala bama, and Crawfojrd, of Georgia, requested an unotficial 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 tMs 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 15th of March, was withheld, with the consent of the Commissioners, untU the 8th of AprU, 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 the occasion for precipitating the revolution by an act which, it was believed, would unite all the Southern States in support of the Confederacy. On the day of its receipt, the 8th of AprU, General Beauregard, at Charleston, telegraphed to L. P. Walker, the rebel Secretary of War, at Montgomery, 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 evf^cuate Fort Sumter" (as it was known that it must soon be evacuated for lack of provisions), "and wUl agree that, in the *nean 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 12th, 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 pUes." In reply to this note he was notified, at half-past tMee, 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, wMch he carried into effect 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 authori 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 NCrth, it broke down, for the moment, all party distinctions, and uMted 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 1 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 AprU, issued the following PEOCLAMATION. By the President of the United States. Whereas, the 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 tho po-n'ors vested in the marshals by law : now, therefore, I, Abeaham Lincoln, President of the United States, in virtue of the power in me vested by the Constitution and tho laws, have thought fit to call forth, and hereby do call forth, the mUitia of the several States of the Union, to the aggregate number of seventy- five thousand, in order to suppress said combinations, and to cause tlie laws to bo duly executed. The details for this object will be immediately communicated to the State authorities through tho War Department. I appeal to all loyal citizens to favor, facilitate, and aid this effort to maintain the honor, tho integrity, and existence of our National Union, and tho perpetuity of popular government, and to redress wrongs already long enough endured. I deem it proper to say that the first service assigned to tho forces hereby • called forth will probably be to repossess tbe 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 counti'y ; and I hereby command tho persons composing the combinations aforesaid to disperse and retire peaceably to their respective abodes, within twenty days from this d.ate. Deeming that tho present condition of public affairs 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 Eepresentatives 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 wisdom, the public safety and interest may seem to demand. 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 fifteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-fifth. Abkaham Lincoln. By tbe President. William H. Sewabd, Secretary of State. The issue of this Proclamation created the 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. Eyery 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, in unstintM profusion and with the most zealous alacrity, in support of the Government. Massachusetts was first in the field ; and on the first day after the issue of the Proclamation, her 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 kUled or severely wounded. This inflamed to a stUl Mgher point the excitement which already per vaded the country. The whole Northern section of the Union felt outraged that troops should be assaUed. and murdered on their way to protect the Capital 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 foUowing reply : — 174 The Life, Public Services, and 'Washikoton, April 29, 1861. Governor Hicks and Mayor Beown : Gentlemen : — Tour letter by Messrs. Bond, Dobbin, and Brune is re ceived. I tender you both my sincere thanks for your efforts to keep the peace in tho 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 hastUy 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, -n'ill consider this practical and proper, and that you will not object to it. By this a collision of tho people of Baltimore with the troops will be avoided, unless they go out of their way to seek it. I hope you wiU exert your influence to prevent this. Now and ever I shall do all in my power for peace consistently with tho maintenance of the Government. Tour obedient servant, Abeaham 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 foUowing reply : — Department op State, April 22, 1S61. His ExceUency Thomas H. Hicks, Governor of Maryland : Sin : — I bavo had the honor to receive your communication of this morning, in which you inform mo 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 tho 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 ho habitually cherishes for the Chief Magistrates of the several States, and especially for yourself. Ho 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. Tho President has necessarily confided the choice of the National highway which that force shaU take State Papers of Abraham Lincoln, 175 in coming to this city to the Lieutenant-General commanding tho Arriiy 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 tho National highway thus selected by the Lieutenant-General has boon chosen by him 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 tho State, and with the expectation that it would there fore be the least objectionable one. The President cannot but remember that there has been a time in the history of our country when a general of tho 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, the ' 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 ago 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 tbat may arise among the parties of this Eepublic ought in any case to be referred to any foreign arbitrament, least of all to tho arbitrament of a European monarchy. I have tbe honor to be, with distinguished consideration, your Excel lency's obedient servant, William H. Sewaho. 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 affairs in that State. The Mayor siibsequently made the following report of the in terview : — The President, upon his part, recognized tbe good faith of tho 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 coUision with tho 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 -Bath great earnestness, was the sole object of concentrating troops there ; and he protested that none of the troops brought through Maryland wore 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 iu security, the Government must either bring them through Maryland or abandon the Capital. 176 The Life, Public Services, and He caUed on General Scott for his opinion, which the General gave at length, to the effect that troops might be brought through Maryland, without going through Baltimore, by either carrying them from Perrys- viUo to Annapolis, and thence by rail to Washington, or by bringing them to the Eelay House on the Northern Central EaUroad, and marching them to the Eelay House on the Washington EaUroad, and thence by rail to the Capital. If tbe people would permit them to go by either of those routes uninterruptedly, the necessity of thoir passing through Biiltimore would be avoided. If the people would not permit thom 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 the other 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 tbe troops in passing at a distance ; but he urged, at tho 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 aU classes were fully aroused, and it was impos sible for any one to answer for tho consequences of the presence of North ern troops anywhere within our borders. He reminded tho 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 tbe city authorities to use thoir best efforts with respect -to those under thoir jurisdiction. The 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 was resumed, and has been continued without interruption to the present time. On the 19th of AprU the President issued the foUowing proclamation, blockading the ports of the seceded States:— ^ State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 1V7 A PROCLAMATION, By the President of the Unitted States. WJiereas, An insurrection against the 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 coUection 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. Lave threatened to grant pretended letters of marque, to authorize the bearers thereof to commit assaults on the Uves, 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 whereas, An Executive Proclamation has been already issued, re quiring the persons engaged in those 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 tho public peace, and the lives and property of quiet and orderly citizens pursuing their lawful occupations, until Congress shall have assembled and deliberated on tho said unlawful proceedings, or until tho same shaU have ceased, have further deemed it advisable to set on foot a blockade of the ports within the States aforesaid, in pursuance of tho laws of tho 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 -n'iU be duly warned by tho commander of ono of the blockading vessels, who will indorse on her register the fact and date of such warning ; and if tho samo vessel sbaU again attempt to enter or leave the blockaded port, she will be captured 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 pio- tended authority of such States, or under any other pretence, shall molest a vessel of the United States, or the persons or cargo on board of her, . such persons wUl be held amenable to the laws of the United States for the prevention aud punishment of piracy. By the President. Abkaham Lincoln. William TT. Siswaed, Secretary of State, Washihgtoh, April 19, ISOl. 12 178 The Life, Public Services, and These were the initial steps by Avhich the Government sought to repel the attempt of the rebel Conitideracy to overthrow its authority by force of arms. Its action was at that time wholly defensive. The declarations of rebel ofiicials, as weU as the language of the Southern press, indicated very clearly their intention to push the vrar begun at Sumter into the North. Jefferson Davis liad •himself declared, more than a month previous, that Avhen- ever the war should open, the North and not the South should be the field of battle. At a popular demonstration he]d at Montgomery, Ala., on hearing that fire had been opened upon Sumter, L. P. Walker, the rebel Secretary of War, had said, that whUe "no man could tell where the war would end, he woMd prophesy that the flag which now flaunts the breeze here, would float over tln^ dome of the old Capitol at Washington before the first of May," and that it "might float eventuaUy over Faneul HaU 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 enrich themselves by depredations upon the rich and ex tended commerce of the United States. The South thus plunged openly and boldly into a :svar of aggression : and the President, in strictconformity 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 throu.ghout those States. In Virginia it was made to inure to the benefit of tlie rebels. The State Convention, which had been in session since the 13th of February, was composed of a hundred State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 179 aud fifty-two delegates, a large majority of whom were Union men.^ The Inaugural of President Lincoln had 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 poUcy of coercion towards the South, and had seized tho occasion to urge the immediate passage of an ordinance of secession. TMs gave rise to a stormy debate, in which the friends of the UMon 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 Washington 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 madfi the foUowing reply to their inquiries : — • To Hon. Messrs. Peeston, Stuart and Eandolph : Gentlemen : — As a committee of the Virginia Convention, now in ses sion, you present me a preamble and resolution in these words : — Wliereas, 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 aud commercial interests of the country, tends to keep up an excitement which is unfavorable to tho 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 vzhioh 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 mortification 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 ha-ving 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 ox- 180 The Life, Public Services, and pression I can give to mj purposes. As I then and therein said, I now- repeat, " The power confided in me wiU 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 wiU be no invasion, no using of force against or among the people any where." By the words "property and places belonging to the (iovern- mont," I chiefly allude to the military posts and property which were in possession of the Government when it came into my hands. But if, as now appears to be true, in pursuit of a purpose to drive the United States authority from those places, an unprovoked assault has boon 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 mo ; and in any ©vent I shall, to the best of my abUity, repel force by force. In case it proves true that Fort Sumter has been assaulted, as is reported, I shall, perhaps, cause tho United States mails to be withdrawn from all tho 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 tho country. From tho 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 reaffirm, except so far as what I now say of the maUs may be regarded as a modification. Abeaham Lincoln. On the 17th, two days after this report was presented, and immediately after receiving the President's procla 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 earUer 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 aU 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 both sides for the contest which was seen to be inevitable. Over a hundred thoiisand troops had been raised and organized in the rebel States, and the great mass of them had been pushed forAvard towards the Northern border. On the 20th of AprU, the Government of the United States seized all the dispatches which had accumulated in the telegraph ofiices during the preceding year, for the purpose of detecting movements in aid of the rebel conspiracy. On the 27th of AprU 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 caUing into the service of the United States forty-twc thousand and thirty-four volunteers for three years, ana 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 the laws and Constitution of the United States ; authorizing him, at the same time, if he shall find it necessary, to suspend the writ of liaheas 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 official 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 Services, and the court of St. James, and dated i\prU 10, in the foUowing terms : — Before considering the arguments you are to use, it is important to in dicate those which you are not to employ in executing that mission : — First. Tho President has noticed, as the whole American people haie, with much emotion, the expressions of good-wiU and friendship towards the United States, and of concern for their present embarrassments, -vvhich have been made on apt occasions, by her Majesty and her ministers. Tou will make due acknowledgment for these manifestations, but at the same time you will not rely on anymore sympathies or national kindnes.s. Tou will make no admissions of weakness in our Constitution, or of apprehen sion on the part of the Government. Tou will rather prove, as you easUy can, by comparing the history of our country with tha't of other States, that its Constitution and Government are really the strongest and surest which have ever been erected for tbe safety of any people. Tou 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 unhappUy find ber Majesty's Government tolerating the application of the so-caUed 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 tho United States. Tou may even assure them promptly, in that case, that if they determine to rec ognize, they may at tho samo time prepare to enter into alliance with the enemies of this EepubUc. Tou alone wiU represent your country at Lon don, and yon wiU 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 wiU be su.spended, and wUl remain so until it shaU bo 'seen which of the two is most strongly in trenched in tbe confidence of their respective nations and of mankind. Tou -n'ill not bo aUowed, however, even if you wore disposed, as the President is sure you wiU not be, to rest your opposition to the applica tion of the Oonfederato States on the ground of any favor this Adminis tration, or tho party which chiefly caUed it into existence, proposes to show to Great Britain, or claims that Great Britain ought to show them. Ton wiU not consent to draw into debate before tbe British Government any opposing moral principles which may be supposed to lie at the fouudation of tbe controversy between those States and the Federal Union. Tou will indulge in no expressions of harshness or disrespect, or even imp.ationce, concerning the seceding States, their agents, or their people. But you will, on the contrary, aU the whUe remember that those States aru now, as they always heretofore have boon, 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 stiU are and always State Paper.s of Abraham Lincoln. 183 must bo our kindred and countrymen. In short, all your arguments must belong to one of three classes, namely : First. Arguments drawn frora 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 tho whole Union. Thirdly. Arguments which are equally conservative of the rights and interests, and even sentiments of the United States, and just in thoir bearing upon the rights, interests, and sentiments of Great Britain and aU other nations. Just previous to the arrival of Mr. Adams at his post, the British Government determined, acting in concert with that of France, 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 fifteenth of June the 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 ofiicially until he 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 oificial notice of it. In a letter to Mr. Adams, oh the 19 th, he thus states its character and contents : — That paper purports to contain a decision at which tho British Govern ment has arrived, to tho effect tbat this country is divided into two belligerent parties, of which the Government represents one, and that Great Britain assumes the attitude of a neutral between them. This Government could not, consistently with a just regard for tho 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 that that Government shall announce to us a deeision 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. Thoy are at peace with all the world, as, with unimportant exceptions, they have always been. Thoy 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, tho friend of Great Britain, and they insist that Great Britain shall remain their friend now, just as she has hitherto been. Great Brit.ain, by virtue of these relations, is a stranger to parties and sections in this 184 The Life, Public Services, and country, whether they are loyal to the United States or not, and Great Britain can neither rightfully qualify the sovereignty of the United States, nor concede, nor recognize any rights or interests or power of any partyj State, or section, in contravention to tho unbroken sovereignty of the Fed eral Union. What is now seen in this country is the occurrence, by no means peculiar, but frequent in all countries — more frequent even in Groat Britain than here — of an armed insurrection engaged in attempting to . overthrow the regularly constituted and established Government. There is, of course, tho 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 tho sovereignty of the Government, creating belligerent sec tions, and entitling foreign States to intervene, or to act as neutrals betwoon them, or in any other way to cast off their la-vvful obligations to tbe nation thus for tho moment disturbed. Any other principle than this would bo -to resolve government every whore' into a thing of accident and caprice, and ultimately all human society into a state of perpetual war. Wo do not go into any argument of fact or of law in support of the positions we have thus assumed. Thoy 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 was 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 aU 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-estabUsh 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 expUcit," 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 be, any the least idea existing in this 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 tlie 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 conflict which was going on in the United States. This demand the President pronounced inadmis sible. 186 The Life, Public Services, and CHAPTER Vn. the extra session of congress, and the militart events OF the summer op 1861. FiEST Annual Message. — Action of Congeess. — Slaveet and Con fiscation. — The Defeat at Bull Eun. — Teeatmbnt of the Slaveet Question. — Geneeal Feemont and the Peesident. — The Teent Affaie. In pursuance of the President's proclamation of the- loth 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 tlie Administration in its efforts 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 caUed to any ordinary subject of legislation. At tlie 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-Offioe Department. Witliin these States aU tho forts, arsenals, dock-yards, custom-housos, and the like, inolading the movable and stationary property in and about them, had been seized, and wore held in open hostUity to this Govern ment, excepting only Forts Pickens, Taylor, and Jefferson, on and noai tho Florida coast, and Fort Sumter, in Ch.arleston Harbor, South CaroUna. Tbe forts thus seized had been put in improved condition, new ones had State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 187 been built, and armed forces had been organized and were organizing, all avowedly with the same hostile purpose. The forts remaining in the. possession of tho Federal Government in and near these States were either besieged or menaced by ¦warlike prepa rations, and ospooially Fort Sumter was nearly surrounded by well- protected hostilb batteries, with guns equal in quality to the best of its own, and outnumbering tho 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 groat numbers ; and of those resigning, a large proportion had taken up arms against the Government. Simultaneously, and in connection with all this, tho 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 tbe States, respectively, to be separated from the National Union. A formula for instituting a combined government of those States had boon 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 beUeving it to be an imperative duty upon tho incoming Executive to prevent, if possible, the consumma tion of such attempt to destroy tho Federal Union, a choice of means to that end became incjispensable. This choice was made, and was de clared in the Inaugural Address. The polioy chosen looked to tho exhaus tion of all peaceful measures before a resort to any stronger ones. It sought only to hold tho public places and property not already wrested from the Government, and to collect tho revenue, relying for the rest on time, discussion, and the ballot-box. It promised a continuance of tbe mails, at Government expense, to the very people who wore resisting the Government ; and it gave repeated pledges against any disturbance to auy of the people, or any of their rights. Of all that which a President might constitutionaUy and justifiably do in such a case, every thing was forborne, without which it was believed possible to keep tho Government on foot. On the 5th of March (the present incumbent's first fuU day in office), a letter of Major Anderson, commanding at Fort Sumter, written on the 2Sth of February, and received at the War Department on the 4th of March, was by that Department placed in his hands. 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 and woU-disoiplined men. This opinion was concurred in by aU the officers 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 fuU time, con sulting with other officers, both of tbe army and tbe 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 tho mere matter of getting the garrison safely out of the fort. It was believed, however, that to so abandon tbat 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 tonstrued 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 bo 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 tho troops from tho steamship Brookhjn into Fort Pickens. This order could not go by land, but must take the longer and slower route by sea. Tho first return news from the order was received just ono week before tho fall of Fort Sumter. The news itself was, that the officer commanding the Sabine, to which vessel tbe troops had boon 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 tho 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 tho 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 relievo 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 tbe 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 accordingly given ; whereupon the fort was attacked and bombarded to its fall, without even awaiting tho arrival of the provisioning expedition. It is thus seen tbat 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 possibUity commit aggression upon them. They knew — thoy wore expressly notified — that tho giving of bread to th© few brave and hungry mon of tho garrison was all which would on that occasion be attempted, unless themselves, by resisting so much, should provoke moro. They knew that this Gov ernment desired to keep the garrison in tho fort, not to assail them, but to maintain visible possession, and thus to preserve tho Union from actual and immediate dissolution — trusting, as hereinbefore stated, to time, discussion, and tho ballot-box for final adjustment; and thoy as sailed and reduced the fort for precisely tho 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, "Tou can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors," ho took pains not only to keep this declaration good, but also to keep tho case so free from the power of ingenious sophistry that the world should not be able to misunderstand it. By tho affair at Fort Sumtei-, 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 tho 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 those 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 tho 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, by force for its preservation. 190 The Life, Public Services, and The call was made, and the response of thc country was most gratify. ing— surpassing in unanimity and spirit the most sanguine expectation. Tot none of tho States commonly called Slave States, except Delaware, gave a regiment through regular State organization. A few regiments have been organized within some others of those 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 oaUod, wore not uniform in their action, somo 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 tho 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 faU 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 thoir great approval of the assault upon Sumter, or thoir great resentment at tho Government's resistance to that assault, is not definitely known. Although they submitted tho ordinance for ratification to a vote of the people, to be taken on a day then some what moro than a month distant, tho Convention and the Legislature (which was' also in session at tho same time and place), with leading mon 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 tho navy-yard at Gos|)OJ-t, near Norfolk. They received — perhaps invited — into their State large bodies of troops, with their warlike appointments, fi-ora the so-call-d seceded States. They formally entered into a treaty of temporary alii ance and co-operation with tho so-oaUed "Oonfederato States," and sent members to their Congress at Montgomery ; and, flnally, they permict.jd the insurrectionary Government to be transferred to their capital at Eich mond. The people of Virginia have thus allowed this giant insurrection to make its nest within her borders ; and this Government has uo choice loft but to deal with it where it finds it. And it has the loss regret, as ¦the loyal citizens have in duo form claimed its protection. Those loyal citizens this Government is bound to recognize and protect as being Virginia. In the Border States, so-caUed— in fact, tho Jliddle States— there ara tliose 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. 191 or the disunion the other, over thoir soU. This would be disunion com pleted. Figuratively speaking, it ¦would be the buUding of an impassable wall along the line of separation — and yet not quite an impassable one, for, under tho guise of neutrality, it would tie the hands of Union mon, and freely pass supplies from among them to the insurrectionists, which it could not do as an open enemy. At a stroke it ¦would take aU the trouble oft' the hands of secession, except only what proceeds from the external blockade. It would do for tho disunionlsts that which of all things they most desire — feed them weU, and give them disunion without a struggle of their own. It recognizes no fidelity to the Constitution, no obUgation to maintain the Union ; and while very many who have favored it are doubtless loyal citizens, it is, nevertheless, very injurious in efi'ect. Eecurring to the action of the Government, it may be stated that at first a call was made for seventy-five thousand mUitia; and rapidly fol lowing this, a proclamation was issued for closing the ports of the insur- rectionai-y 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 ivore made for volunteers to serve for three years, unless sooner discharged, and also for largo additions to the regular army and navy. These measures, whether strictly legal or not, were ventured upon undir what appeared to be a popular demand and a public necessity; trusting then, as now, that Congress would roadUy ratify them. It is believed that nothing has been done beyond the constitutional compe tency of Congress. Soon after tho first call for militia, it was considered a duty to authorize the Commanding- General, in proper cases, according to his discretion, to suspend tho privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, or, in other words, to arrest and detain, without resort to tho ordinary processes and forms of law, such individuals as he might deem dangerous to the public safety. This authority has purposely boon exorcised but very sparingly. Never theless, the legality and propriety of what has been done under it are questioned, and tho attention of the country has been caUed to the proposition, that one who has sworn to "take care that tho laws be faithfuUy 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 la^w's which were required to be faithfully executed wore being resisted, and faiUng of execution in nearly one-third of the States. Must thoy be aUowed to finally faU 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 moro of the guilty than of the innocent, should to a very limited extent be violated ? To state the question more directly : Are aU the laws but one to go unex- 192 The Life, Public Services, and ecuted, and tho Government itself go to pieces, lest that one be violated? 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 tbat 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 corpua shall not bo suspended unless when, m cases of rebeUion or invasion, the public safety may require it," is equivalent to a pro-nsion — is a provision— that such privilege may be suspended when, in case of rebellion or invasion, tho public safety does require it. It was decided tbat we have a case of rebeUion, and that the public safety does require tho qualified suspension of the privilege of the writ which was authorized to be made. Now, it is insisted that Congress, and not tbe Executive, is vested with this power. But the Constitution itself is silent as to which or who is to exercise the power ; and as the 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 bo called together, the 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, wUl 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 tho bettor judgment of Congress. Tho 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 tho Executive somo 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 tlie country is manifested throughout the world. The reports of the Secretaries of the Treasury, War, and the Na^vy, wiU give the information in detail deemed necessary and convenient for your deliberation and action ; whUo the Executive and aU the Depart ments wiU stand ready to supply omissions, or to communicate now facts considered important for you to know. It is now recommended that you give the legal means for msiking this contest a short and decisive one ; that you place at the control of the Government, for the work, at least four hundred thousand mon and $400,000,000. That number of mon is about one-tenth of those of proper ages within tho regions -where, apparently, aU are wiUing to engage; and the sum is less than a twenty-third part of the money value owned by the men who seem ready to devote the whole. A debt of $000,000,000 now, is a loss sum per head than was the debt of our Eevolution when State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 193 we came out of that struggle; and tho 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, ¦^¦ill be worth more to the .world than ten times tho mon and ten times tho money. The evidence reaching us from tho 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 h.and of tho 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 Governlnent itself will do its part only indifterently well. It might seem, at first thought,' to bo of little difference whether the present movement at the South be callcd "secession" or "rebellion." The movers, ho'wever, will understand the difference. At tho beginning, thoy know they could never raise their treason to any respectable magnitude by any name which implies violation of law. Thoy 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 the teeth of these strong and noble sentiments. Accordingly, they com menced by an insidious debauching of the public mind. Thoy invented an ingenious sophism, ¦which, if conceded, was foUowed by perfectly logical steps, through all tho incidents, to tho complete destruction of the Union. The sophism itself is, that any State of tho Union may, consistently -n'ith the National Constitution, and therefore lawfuUy and peacefully, withdraw from tho Union ¦without tho consent of the Union, or of any other State. The little disguise that tho supposed right is to be exercised only for just cause, themselves to bo tho solo 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 ycars, and until at length thoy have brought many good men to a Ts'illingnoss to take up arms against the Government the day after some assemblage of men have enacted tho farcical pretence of taking their State out of the Union, who could have been brought to no such thing the day before. This sophism derives much, perhaps the whole, of its currency trom the assumption that tliere is somo 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 tho Union by tho Constitution — no one of thom over having been a State out of the Union. The original ones passed into the Union oven before they cast off their British colonial dependence; and the now ones each cama 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 a State. The new ones only took the designation of States on coming into the Union, while that name was first adopted by ihe old ones in and by tne Declarotion of Independence. Therein tbe "United Colonies" were declared to be "free and independent States;" but, even then, tbe ob ject plainly was not to declare their independence of ono 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 thirteen 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 tbe Union, whence this magical omnipotence of "State Eights," asserting a claim of power to lawfuUy destroy the Union itself? Much is said about the "sovereignty" of the States; bnt 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 tho term ? Would it bo far wrong to define 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 np the char acter on coming into the Union ; by which act she acknov'.iedged the Constitution of tho 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 thoir status in tbe Un'ion, 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, prociired their independence and thoir 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 tbe Union, and, in turn, the Union threw off thoir old dependence for them, and made them States, such as they are. Not one of thom ever had a State constitution independent of the Union. Of course, it is not for gotten that all the now States framed their constitutions before they en tered the Union ; nevertheless dependent upon, and preparatory to, com ing into the Union. Unquestionably tho States have tho 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 boon known as a governmental — as a merely administra tive power. This relative matter of National power and State Eights, as a principle, is no other than tho principle of generality and localitj. "Whatever concerns the whole should be confided to the whole — to the State Papers of Abraham LmcoLN. 195 General Government; while whatever concerns only thc State flluuild 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 applied 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 con.sisteut with the Constitution — is lawful and peaceful. It is not contended that there is any express law for it; and nothing should ever be impliod as law wliich leads to unjust or absurd consequences. The Nation purchased with money tho countries out of which several of those States wore formed; is it just that they shall go off without leave and without refunding ? Tho Nation paid very large sums (iu the aggregate, I believe, nearly a hundred mil lions) 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 ^wliole ? A part of the present National debt was contracted to pay the old debts of Texas ; is it just that she shaU leave aud pay no part of this herself? Again, if one State may secede, so may another ; and when all shall have seceded, none is left to pay the debts. Is this quite just to creditors? Did we notify them of this sage view of ours 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 thoir own, in which, of neces sity, they have either discarded or retained the right of secession, as .they insist it exists in ours. If thoy have discarded it, they thereby admit that, on principle, it ought not to be in ours. If they have retained it, by their own construction of ours, they show that to be consistent they must secede from one another whenever they shall find it the easiostway of settling their debts, or effecting any other selfish or unjust object. Tho 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 secedor politicians would at once deny the power, and denounce the act as the greatest outrago upon State rights. But suppose that precisely the samo act, instead of being caUed " driving the one out," should be called " the seceding of tbe others from' that one," it would be exactly what the seceders claim to do ; unless, indeed, they make the point that tho one, because it is a minority, may rightfully do what tho others, because they are a majority, may not rightfully do. These politicians are subtUe and profound on the rights of minorities. They are not partial to that power which made tlie Constitu tion, and speaks from the preamble, caUing itself " We, .the People." 196 The Life, Public Services, and It may well be questioned whether there is to-day a m.ijority of the legaUy qualified voters of any State, except, perhaps. South Carolina, iu favor of disunion. There is much reason to beUeve that the Union men are the majority in many, if not in every other one, of the so-called sece ded States. Tho contrary has not been demonstrated in any one of them. It is ventured to affirm this even of Virginia and Tennessee ; for the result of an election hold in mUitary camps, where tho bayonets are aU 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 impro^ved 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, ono 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 bo selected a President, a Cabi net, a Congress, and perhaps 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 should not be broken up. Whoever, in any section, proposes to abandon such a Government, would do well to consider iu deference to what principle it is that he does it ; what bettor he is likely .to get in its stead ; whether the substitute wUl give, or be intended to give, BO much of good to the people ? There are somo foreshadowings on this subject. Our adversaries have ad opted some declarations of independence, in which, unlike the good old one, penned by Jefferson, they omit the words, " all men are created equal." Why ? They have adopted a tem porary national constitution, in tbe preamble of which, unlike our good old one, signed by Washington, they omit " We, tbe People," and sub stitute, "We, the deputies of the sovereign and independent State-s." Why? Why this deUberate pressing out of view the rights of men and the authority of the people ? This is essentiaUy 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 whoso leading object is to elevate tho condition of mon ; to lift arti ficial weights from aU shoulders ; to clear the paths of laudable pursuits for aU ; to afford all an unfettered start and a fair chance in the race of life. Tielding to partial and temporary departures, from necessity, this is the leading object of tho Government for whose existence we contend. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 197 1 am most happy to believe that the plain people understand and appre ciate this. It is worthy of note, that while in this the 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 pampered them, not one common soldier or common sailor is known to have deserted his fiag. Great honor is due to those officers who remained true, dospiuO the ex ample of their treacherous associates ; but the greatest honor, and most important fact of all, is the unanimous firmness of tho common soldiers and common sailors. To the last man, so far as known, they have suc cessfully resisted the traitorous efforts of those whose commands 'but au hour before thoy 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. Ono still remains — its successful maintenance against a formidable internal attempt to overthrow it. It is now for them to demonstrate to tho world that those who can fairly carry an election can also suppress a rebellion ; that baUots are the rightful aud 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 bo a great lesson of peace; teaching men tbat •K'hat they cannot take by an election, neither can they take by a war ; teacliing 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 tho Southern States after the rebellion shall have been suppressed, tho Executive dooms it proper to say, it will bo his purpose tben, as over, to be guided by the Constitu tion and the laws ; and that he probably will have no different under standing of the powers and duties of the Federal Government relatively to the rights of tho States and the people under tho 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 mon who made it. Loyal citizens every where have the right to claim this of their Government, and the Govern ment has no right to ¦\vithhold or neglect it. It is not perceived that in giving it there is any coercion, any conquest, or any subjugation, in auy just sense of those terms. The Constitution provides, and all the States have accepted the provi sion, that " the United States shaU guarantee to every State in this Union a ropubUcan 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 that 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 compromises 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 Govornmeut from immediate destruction by giving up the main point upon which the people gave the election. The people themselves, and not thoir 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 tho chances of his own life, in what might follow. In full view of his great responsibility ho has so far done what he has deemed his duty. Tou 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 aU faithful citizens who have been disturbed in thoir rights of a certain and speedy restoration to them, under the Constitution and the laws. And having thus chosen our course, without guUe and with pure pur pose, lot us renew our trust m God, and go forward without fear and with manly hearts. Abeaha-m Linooljt. July 4, 18C1. 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 representatives. The Judiciary Committee in the House was instructed on the 8th to prepare a biU 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 biU was promptly introduced to declare valid all the acts of the President for the suppression of the rebeUion 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 the contest. There were a few in both Houses, with John 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 fuUy sustained the President in the steps he had taken. The subject of slayery was introduced into the discussion commenced by Senator Powell, of Kentucky, who pro posed on the 18th to amend the Army BUl 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 with African 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 aU 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 slayery must be destroyed, then the people of the North — the Conservative people of the North — Avould say, rather than let the Government perish, let slavery perish." Mr. Lane, of Kansas, did not beUeve 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 lUinois, offered a resolution pledging the House to vote any amount of money and any number of men necessary 200 The Life, Public Services, and to suppress the rebeUion, and restore the authority of the Government, which was adopted, with but five opposing votes ; and on the 22d of July, Mr. Crittenden, of Ken tucky, ofl"ered the following resolution, defining the objects of the war : — Resolved by the House of Representatives of the Congress of the United States, That the present deplorable civU war has been forced upon the country by the disunionlsts Of the Southern States, now in arms against the Constitutional Government, and in arms around the Capital ; that 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 thoir 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 aud maintain tho supremacy of the Constitution, and to preserve the Union with all tho 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 ccuntry 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 skilfully and zealously played upon by the agents and allies of the rebel confederacy. The war was universall}^ represented by these men as Avaged 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 the Border Slave States might bring them to join their fortunes to those of the rebelUon. 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 well as on the general subject of the war, were still further developed in the debates which followed the introduction to the House of a biU passed by the Senate to "confiscate property used for insurrectionary purposes." It was referred to State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 201 the Judiciary Committee, and reported back with an amend ment, providing that whenever any slave slrould 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. WicklifiFe 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 between 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 right, 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 the idea that men in arms against the Union and Constitution could claim the pro - tection of the Constitution, and thus derive from that instrument increased abUity to secure its destruction ; but tliey 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 waged. 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, during the present insurrection .against tho Government of the United States, any person claimed to bo held to labor or service under the laws of any State, shall bo required or permitted by the 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 tho 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 iu or upon any fort, navy-yard, dock, armory, ship, or intrenchment, or iu any military or naval service whatever, against the Government and law'ful authority of the United States, then, and in every such case, the person to whom such service is claifnod to be duo, shall forfeit his 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 suffl cient answer to such claim that the person whose service or labor is claimed, had been employed in hostile service against tho Government of tho United States, contrary to the provisions of this act. Congress closed its extra session on the 6th of August. ' It had taken the most vigorous and efiective measures for the suppression of the rebellion, having clothed the Pres ident with even greater power than he had asked for in the prosecution of the war, and avoided- with just fidei ty 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 buoj'ancy 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-five thousand men, holding a strong position along the BuU Run Creek — its left posted at \Yincliester, 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 Washington. 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 fallen 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 Abraham Lincoln. 203 ' the actual issue first revealed to the people the prospect of a long and bloody war. But the public heart Avas not in the least discouraged. On the contrary, the effect Avas to rouse still higher the courage and determination of the people. No one dreamed for an instant of submission. The most vigorous efforts Avere made to reorganize the army, to increase its numbers by volunteei'ing, and to establish a footing for National troops at various points along the rebel coast. On the 2Sth of August Fort Hat- teras Avas surrendered to the National forces, and on the 31st of October Port Royal, on the coast of South Caro Una, fell into possession of the United States. On the 3d of December Ship Island, lying betAveen Mobile and New Orleans, was occupied. Preparations Avere also made for an expedition against Ncav 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 diA'ided 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 the enlarging contest, resigned his position as commander of the army, in the foUoAving letter to the Secretary of War : — Head-Qvahteks op the Akmt, I Wasiiikqion, Octoher 81, 1S61. ( The Hon. S. Cameeou, Secretary of AVar:^ SiE : — For more than three years I have 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 — admonish 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 by the unnatural and unjust rebellion now raging in tho Southern States of our (so late) pros perous and happy Union — that I am compelled to request that my name may be placed on tho list of army 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 Uberty to say it is with deep regret that I withdraw myself, in these momentous times, from the orders of a Presi dent who has treated nie with distinguished kindness and courtesy , T( bom 204 The Life, Public Services, and I know, upon much personal intercourse, to be patriotic, without sectional oartialities or prejudices; to be highly conscientious in the porforiiianca of every duty, and of unrivalled activity and perseverance. And to you, Mr. Secretary, whom I now officially address for the last time, I bog to acknowledge my many obligations, for the uniform high consideration I have received at your bands; and have the honor to remain, sir, ¦ft'ith high respect, your obedient servant, Winfield Soott. President Lincoln waited upon General Scott at his residence, accompanied by his Cabinet, and made personal expression to him of the deep regret Avhich he, in common Avith the AAdiole country, felt in parting Ayith a public ser vant so venerable in years and so illustrious for the services he had rendered. He also issued the ToUoAving order : — On the first day of November, 18G1, upon his own application to the President of the United States, Brevet Lieutenant-General AYinfield 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. Tho American people will hear with sadness and deep emotion that General Soott has withdrawn from the active control of the army, while the President and unanimous Cabinet express their own and the Nation's sympathy in his personal affliction, and their profound sense of tho im portant public services rendered by him to his country during bis long and brilliant career, among which will over bo gratefully distinguished his faithful devotion to the Constitution, tho Union, and the Flag, when assailed by parricidal rebeUion. ABP.AnAii Lixcolji. 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 army in front of Washington, and preparing it for the defence of the Capital, and for a fresh advance upon the forces of the rebelUon. It cannot haye escaped attention that thus far, in its poUcy concerning the Avar, the Government had been very greatly influenced by a desire to prevent the Border Slave States from j oining the rebel confederacy. Their accession Avould have added immensely to the forces of the rebel lion, and AA^ould have increased very greatly the labor and State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 205 difliculty of its suppression. The Administration and Congress had, therefore, avoided, so far as possible, any measures in regard to slavery which could needlessly ex cite the hostile prejudices of the people of the Border States. The Confiscation Act affected 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 upon the same principle. The question first arose in Virginia, simulta neously at Fortress Monroe, and iu the Avestern 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 A7hich he said to them, "Understand one thing clearly: not only wiU we abstain from all interference ¦with your slaves, but we wUl, 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, Avrote to the Secretary of War that he was greatly embarrassed by the number of slaves that were coming in from the surrounding country and seeking protection within the lines of his camp. He had deter mined to regard them as contraband of Avar, and to em ploy their labor at a fair compensation, against which • should be charged the expense of their support — thb relative value to be adjusted afterwards. The Secretary of War, in a letter dated May 30th, expressed the approval by the Government of the course adopted by General Butler, and directed him, on the one hand, to "pennit no interference by the persons under his command Avith the relations of persons held to service under the laws of any State," and on the other, to "refrain from surren dering to alleged masters any such persons Avho 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 AATote to General Butler, setting forth somewhat more fully the vicAvs of the President and the Administration upon this subject, as foUows : — 206 The Life, Public Services, and It is the desire of the President that all existing rights in all the State* bs fully respected and maintained. The war now prosecuted on the part of the Federal Government is a war for tho Union, and for tho pj^esorva- tion of all constitutional rights of States and the citizens of the States iu the Union. Hence no question can arise as to fugitives from service withiu tho States and Territories in -which tho authority of the Union is fully acknowledged. The ordinary forms of judicial proceeding, which must be respected by military and civil authorities alike, wUl suffice for the ¦ enforcement of aU legal claims. But in States wholly or partially under insurrectionary control, where the laws of tho United States are so far opposed and resisted that they cannot bo effectually enforced, it is obvi ous that rights dependent on the execution of those laws must temporarily fail ; and it is equally obvious that rights dependent on tho laws of the States within which military operations are conducted must be necessarily subordinated to the military exigencies created by tho insurrection, if not wholly forfeited by the treasonable conduot of parties claiming them. To this general rule rights to services can form no exception. Tho act of Congress approved August 6th, 18G1, declares that if per sons held to service shall be ' employed in hostility to the United States, the right to their Services shall bo forfeited, and such persons shall be discharged therefrom. It follows of necessity that no claim can be recog nized by the military authorities of tho Union to tho services of such per sons when fugitives. A moro difficult question is presented in respect to persons escaping from tho service of loyal masters. It is quite apparent tbat the laws of tho State, under which only tho service.') of such fugitives can bo claimed, must needs be wholly, or almost wholly suspended, as to romodies, by the insurrection and the military measures nooossitatod 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 bo best protected by recoiving such fugitives, as well as fugitives from disloyal masters, into the services of tho United States, aud employing them under such organizations and in such occupa tions as circuinstauces may suggest or require. Of course a record should be kept, showing the name aud 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 tranquillity shaU have been restored. Upon the return of peace, Congress wUl doubtless properly provide for aU the persons thus reoeivod into the service of tho 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, bo fully reconciled and harmonized. Tou will therefore consider yourself as instructed to govern your future action, in r-^spoct to fugitives from service, by the principles herein stated. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 207 and rt'ill ' eport from time to time, and at least twice in each month, your action in the premises to this Department. Tou will, however, neither autborije nor permit any interference, by the troops under your conimand, with the servants of peaceful citizens, in house or field, nor wiU you, iu any way, encourage such servants to leave the lawful service of their masters; nor will you, except in cases where tho public safety may seem to require it, prevent the voluntary return of dny fugitive to the service from ¦\vhich he may have escaped. The same policy was adopted in every part of the coun try. All interference Avith the internal institutions of any State was expressly forbidden ; but the Government Avould avail itself of the services of a portion of the slaves, taking care fully 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 ProA'idence, Rhode Island, took occasion to declare the policy of the Administration upon this subject. Its theory, said he, is, that ' ' the States are sovereign Avithin their spheres ; the Government of the United States has no more right to interfere Avith the institution of slavery in South Carolina than it has to interfere Avith the peculiar institution of Rhode Island, whose ben^ts I have enjoyed." On the 31st of August, General Fremont, commanding the Western Department, Avhich embraced Missouri and a part of Kentucky, issued an order "extending and de claring established martial laAV throughout the State of Missouri," and declaring that "the property, real and personal, of all persons in the State of Missouri, Avho shall take up arms against the United States, or who shall be directly proven to haye taken an active part Avith their enemies in the field, is declared to be confiscated to the public use. and their slaves, if any they have, are hereby declared free men. ' ' The President regarded this order as transcending the authority vested in him by the Act of Congress, and wrote to General Fremont, caUing his at- tyntion to this point, and requesting him to modify his liroclamation so as to make it conform to the laAV. Gen eral Fremont, desiring to throAV off from himself the responsibUity of changing his action, desired an ex 208 The Life, Public Services, and ' plicit order— whereupon the President thus addressed him : — AVAsniKGTOif, D. C, September 11, ISCl. Major-General Jonn C. Feemont : — Sie: — Tours of the 8th, in answer to mine of the 2d instant, was just received. Assured that you upon the ground could better 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 ; tho part^lcular 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 henco I wrote you expressing my wish tbat that clause should be modified accordingly. Tour answer, just received, ex presses tbe preference on your part tbat 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 conform with, and not to transcend, the pro^¦ision3 on tho same sub ject contained in tbe act of Congress entitled "An Act to confiscate prop erty used for insurrectionary purposes," approved August C, 1861, aud the said act be pubUshed at length with this order. Tour obedient servant, A. Lincoln;. These vicAvs of the Government were stUl farther en forced in a letter from the Secretary of War to General T. W. Sherman, who commanded the expedition to Port Roj^al, and in orders issued by General Dix in Virginia, on the 17th of November, and by General Halleck, who succeeded General Fremont in the Western Department, prohibiting fugitive slaves from being received within the lines of the army. During all this time strenuous efi'orts were 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 Avere ineffectual. The President ad hered firmly and steadUy to the policy which the then existing 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 Ume contributed largely, beyond doubt, to strengthen State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 209 .tJie cause of the Union in those Border States, and espe cially to withdraw Tennessee from her hastily formed connection Avith the rebel Confederacy. In the early part of November an incident occurred which threatened for a titpe to involve the country in open Avar Avith 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 SlideU, on their way as commissioners from the Confederate States to England and France. On the 8th the Trent was haUed 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 offi cers, the two rebel commissioners, with Messrs. Eustis and McFaiiand, their Secretaries, who Avere brought to the United States and lodged in Fort Warren, the D-ent 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 SlideU 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 knoAvn. Earl Russell, under the same date, wrote to lord Lyons, rehearsing the facts of the case, aud say- 14 210 The Life, Public Services, and ing that the 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 alloAV such an affront to the national honor to ¦pass without full reparation." Earl Russell trusted, tlierefore, that when the matter should be brought under its notice the United States GoA^ernment 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 Avhich has been committed." In a subsequent note Lord Lyons Avas 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 ns 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 was discussed at length, and Avith conspicuous ability. Tlie 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 UabiUty of these persons to capture for himself, in stead of sending them before a legal tribunal Avhere 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 Ayould be "cheerfully liberated." This decision, sustained by the reasoning advanced in its support, commanded the immediate and universal acquiescence of the American people ; whUe in State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 211 England it was 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 rejiresentations upon this subject, and the decision of our Government was received there with equal satisfac tion. The effect of the incident, under the just and judi cious course adopted by the Administration, was emi- p ently favorable to the United States — increasing the. general respect for its adherence to sound principles of public law, and silencing effectually the slander that its Government Avas 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 of congress, DECEMBER, 1861.— THB MESSAGE.— debates, ETC. Mebtino 01? CoNOEESs. — Peesidbnt's Message. — Disposition of Oon- OEESS. — Slaveet in Tebeitokies and Distbiot of Colombia. — Peo- posED Aid to Emancipation by Slave States. — The Debate 'in Congeess. — The Peesident and Geneeal Huntee. — The Boedee State Eepresentatives. — The Boedek State Reply. — The Finances. • — Tub Confiscation Bill. — The Peesident's Action and Opinions. — The Peesident's Message. — Message in Eegaed to Mr. Cameeon. — The Peesident and nis Cabinet. — Close of the Session of Con geess. — The Peesidbnt's Lettee to Me. Geeelet. — The Peesident AND the Chicago Convention. — Pkoolamation of Emancipation. Congress met in regular session (the 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 : — Fkllow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Eepeesentatives : In the midst of unprecedented political troubles, wo have cause of gre.lt gratitude to God for unusual good health and most abundant harvests. Tou wiU not be surprised to, learn that, in the peculiar exigencies of the times, our intercourse with foreign nations has been attended with profound solicitude, chiefly turning upon our own domestic aftiiirs. 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 loreign 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 tho United States who have offered tho ruin of our country, in return for the aid and comfort which tliey have invoked abroad, have received less patronage and enoouragoment 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 thoir 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 thoir aim more readily and easily by aiding to crush this rebellion, than by giving en couragement to it. The principal lover 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 weU our foreign as our do mestic commerce. They can scarcely have failed to perceive that the effort for disunion produced the existing difficulty; and that ono strong nation promises more durable peace, iind a more extensive, valuable, and reliable commerce, than can tho samo nation broken into hostile fragments. It is not my purpose to review our discussions with foreign states ; because whatever might be 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 tho 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 hero, as in every other state, foreign dangers necessarily attend domestic difficulties, I recommend that adequate and ample measures be adopted for maintaining tbe 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 ia believed that some fortifications and dep&ts 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 Tonness&e and Western North Carolina should be connected with KontucKy and other faithful parts of tho Union by railroad. I therefore recommend, as a military measure, that Congress provide for the construction of such road as speedily as possible. Eientucky ¦\^-ill 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 raUroad,. 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»KnoxviUe, or xm some still different line, can easily be determined. Kentucky and the General Government co-operating, the work can be completed in a very short time, and when done it wUl 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 tho 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 faded to induce somo of the commercial Powers to adopt a desirable melioration of the rigor of maritime war, we have removed all obstructions from the w.ay 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 tho detention of the British ship Pertlishire in June last by tho United States steamer Massachusetts, for a supposed breach of the blockade. As this detention was occasioned by an obvious misapprehen sion of the facts, and as justice requires that wo should commit uo 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 tho owners of tho 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 tho 3d of March, 1859. If, however, it should not be deemed advisable to carry tbat recom mendation into elfect, I would suggest tbat authority bo given for invest ing tho 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 thc 5th of August last. Congress authorized the Presi»lent to instruct tho 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 mo that it would also be adpisable to authorize the commanders of sailing-vessels to recapture any prizes which pirates m.ay make of the United States vessels and their car goes, and the Consular Courts estabhshed by law in Eastern countries to adjudica+o tho 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 wo should persevere longer in with holding our recognition of the independence and sovereignty of Hayti and Liberia, I am unable to discern it. UnwiUing, however, to inaugurate a nov.ol policy in regard to them without tho apiu'obation of Con.nress, I submit to your consideration the expediency of an appropriation for maintaining a Charge d'' Affaires near each of those new states. It dc>-s3 not admit of doubt that important coihmercial advantages might bo secured by favorable treaties with them. The operations of the Treasury during tho period which has elapsed since your adjournment have been conducted with sigual success. The patriotism of the people has placed at tho disposal of the Government the large moans demanded by the public exigencies. Much of the national loan has been taken by citizens of the industrial clas.ses, whose confidence in their country's faith, and zeal for their country's deliverance from its present peril, have induced thom to contribute to tho support of the * Government the whole of their limited acquisitions. This fact imposes peculiar obligations to economy in disbursement and energy in ,i,ction. The revenue from all sources, including loans for the financial year ending on the 30th of June, 1861, was $80,835,900 27; and the expendituros for the samo period, including payments on. account of thc public debt, were $84,578,034: 47 ; loa'ving a balance in the treasury, on the 1st of July, of $2,257,065 80 for the first quarter of the financial year ending on Sep tember 30, 1801. 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 $4,292,770 18. Estimates for tho remaining three-quarters of the year and for the financial year of 1863, together with his views of tho 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 tho rebellion are not boyoud tho resources of the loyal people, and to believe that the samo 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 efficiency, and the weU-being of the various branches of tho service intrusted to his care. It is gratifying to knov/ that tho 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 wliicli make allusion to the creditable degree of discipline already attained by our troops, and to the excellent sanitary condition of the entire array. Tiio recommendation of the 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 is commended to the serious attention of Congress. Tho large addition to 216 The Life, Public Services, ant) the regular army, in connection with the defection that has so considera bly diminished tho 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 moro omission, I presume. Congress has failed to pro^vide 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, tho form of the letter marked A, and herewith transmitted. These gentlemen, I understand, entered upon the duties designated at tho times respectively stated in the schedule, and have labored faithfuUy therein ever since. I therefore recommend that they be compensated at the same rate as chaplains in tbe army. I further suggest that general provision be eiade for chaplains 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 tho additions, by construction and purchase, that it may almost be said a navy has been created and brought into service since our diiSculties commenced. Besides blockading our extensive coast, squadrons larger than ever before assembled under our flag have been put afloat, and performed deeds which have increased our nav.al renown. I would invito 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 tho department will, it is believed, if adopted, ob viate tho 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 fUl these vacancies for reasons which I will now state. Two of the outgoing judges resided within tho 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- prome bench. I have been unwilling to throw all the appointments northward, thus disabling myself from doing justice to tho South on the return of peace; although I may remark, that to transfer to the North ono which has heretofore been in the South, would not, with reference to territory and jiopulation, be unjust. During the long and briUiant judici.il career of Judge McLean, his cir- State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 217 cilit grow into an empire — altogether too large for any one judge to give tho courts therein moro than a nominal attendance — rising in population frora ono raUUon four hundred and seventy thousand and eighteen, in 1830, to six million one hundred and fifty-one thousand four hundred and five, in 1860. Besides this, the country generally has outgrown our present judicial system. If uniformity was at all intended, the system requires that aU the States shall be accommodated with Circuit Courts, attended by su preme judges, while, in fact, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, Florida, 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 tho 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 now States come into the Union. Circuit Courts are use ful, or they are not useful. If useful, no State should bo denied thom ; if not useful, no State should have them. Let thom be provided for all, or abolished as to all. Throe modificatiohs occur to me, either of which, I think, would be an improvement upon our present system. Lot th© Supreme Court be of convenient number in every event. Then, first, let the whole country be divided into circuits of convenient size, tho supreme judges to serve in a number of them corresponding to their own number, and independent circuit judges be pro^vided for all the rest. Or, secondly, let tho 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 flnd an easy remedy for many of the inconveniences and evUs which constantly embarrass those engaged in the practical administration of them. Since the organization of the Government, Congress has enacted gome five thousand acts and joint resolutions, which fill moro than six thousand closely-printed pages, and are scattered through many volumes. Many of these acts have boor, 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 facihtate 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 bo a lasting benefit to the people, by placing before them, in a more accessible and inteUigible form, the laws which so deeply concern their interests and their duties. I am informed by some whose opinions I respect, that aU 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 respectfuUy recom mend to Congress to consider of the subject, and, if my suggestion be ap proved, to devise such plan as to thoir 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 tho ordinary means of admin istering civil justice by the officers, 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 n'hom the citizens of other States may apply for the enforcement of their lawful claims against citizens of tho insurgent States; and there is avast amount of debt constituting such claims. Some have estimated it as high as two hundred million dollars, due, in largo part, from insurgents in open rebellion to loyal citizens who are, even now, making great sacrifices in che 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 tbe 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 th© 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 moro convenient means should be provided, if possible, for tho 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 Goverument to render prompt justice against itself, in favor of citizens, as it is to administer tho same between private indi viduals. Tho investigation and adjudication of claims, in their nature, belong to the judicial department; besides, it is app,arent that tho atten tion of Congress wiU bo moro than usually engaged, for somo tini© to como, 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 tho 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. FuUy 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 other provisions as experience may have shown to be necessary. I ask attention to the report of the Postmaster-General, too following being a summary statement of the condition of the department : The revenue from aU sources during the fiscal year ending Juno 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 tho 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 cont. 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 80, 1863, is estimated at an increase of four per cont. on that of 1861, making eight miUion 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 mUlion three hundred and eighty-throe thousand dollars. The total expenditures for 1863 are estimated at twelve miUion five hundred and twenty-eight thousand dollars, leaving an estimated defi ciency of three million ono 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 Eiver, at the time of establishing the Capital here, ¦was eminently wise, and consequently that the relinquishment of that portion of it which lies within tho State of Virginia was unwise and dangerous. I submit for your consideration the expediency of regaining that part of the district, and tho restoration of the original boundarie." thereof, through negotiations with the State of Virginia. The report of the Secretary of tho 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 boon especially felt in the operations of the Patent and General Land Offices. Tho 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 entirely su»- 220 The Life, Public Services, and pended- in the Southern States, while the interruptions to the business of the country, and the diversion of large numbers of mon from labor to military service, have obstructed settlements in the new States and Terri tories of the Northwest. The receipts of the Patent Office have decUned in nine months about ono hundred thousand doUars, rendering a large reduction of the force employed 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 tho bounty of tho 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 their disloyalty. I recommend that Congress authorize that officer to cause U'S" names of such persons to be stricken from the pension rolls. The relations of the Government with tho Indian tribes have been greatly disturbed by the insurrection, especially in tbe southern suporin- tondency 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 ifin of March for this superin tendency have been unable to reach their posts, while the most of those who were in office before tbat time have espoused the insurrectionary cause, and assume to exercise tho 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 tho army of the insurgents. Although the Government has no official information upon this subject, letters have been written to the Commissioner of Indian Afiairs by several prominent chiefs, giving assurance of thoir loyalty to the United States, and expressing a wish for the presence of Federal troops to protect them. It is believed that upon tho repossession of the country by the Federal forces, the Indians wUl readUy cease all hostile demonstrations, and resume their former relations to the Government. Agriculture, confessedly tlie largest interest of the nation, has not a department, nor a bureau, but a clerkship only, assigned to it in the Gov ernment. WhUe 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. WhUe 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 thia 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 tho 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 tbat the leaven of treason was found existing in some of these now coun tries when the Federal officers arrived there. The abundant natural resources of those Territories, with tho security and protection affiorded by organized government, will doubtless in^vite to them a large immigration when peace shall restore the business of the country to its accustomed channels. I submit tho resolutions of the Legis lature of Colorado, which evidence the patriotic spirit of tho people of the Territory. So far the authority of the United States has boon uphold in aU the Territories, as it is hoped it wiU be in tho 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 resentative in Congress, that body should not overlook their just claims upon the Government. At your late session a joint resolution was adopted authorizing the President to take measures for facilitating a proper representation of tha 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 for in some way. Besides this, it is not impossible that some of the States will pass similar enactments for their own benefit respeotivel',-, smd by operation of which persons of the samo class wiU be thrown ujiom 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 Ueu, 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 climate congenial to them. It might be well to consider, too, whether tbe 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. Tho 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 tho emigration of colored men leaves additional room for white men remaining or coming hero. Mr. Jeffejson, however, placed the importance of procuring Louisiana more on political and commercial grounds than on pro^viding 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 tho law of Congress enacted at the late session for closing those ports. So, also, obeying tho dictates of prudence, as well as tho 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 npon the samo 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 doccments. The last ray of hope for preserving the Union peaceably expired at the assault -apon 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 plainly in the right direction. The insurgents confidently claimed a strong support from north of Mason aud 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 littlo Delaware led off right from the first. Maryland was made to seem against tbe Union. Our soldiers were assaulted, bridges wore burned, and raUroads torn up within her limits; and we were many days, at one time, without tho ability to bring a single regi ment over her soil to tho Capital. Now her bridges and railroads are repaired and open to tho 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 tho Union by a larger majority and a larger aggregate vote than they ever before gave to any candidate ot any question. Kentucky, too, for some time in doubt, is now decidedly, and, I think, unchangeably ranged on the side of tho Union. Missouri is comparatively quiet, and, I believe, cannot again be overrun by the insurrectionists. These throe States of Maryland, Kentucky, and Mis souri, neither of which would promise a single soldier at first, have now an aggregate of not loss 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 thom 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 kno^wn 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 Eoyal, Tyboe 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-General 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 mindful of his merit; yet, on caUing to mind how faithfully, ably, and brilliantly he has served the country, from a time far back in our history^ when few of tho now living had been born, and thenceforward contin uaUy, I cannot but think we are stiU his debtors. I submit, therefore, for your conriideration what further mark of recognition is due to him, and to ourselves as a grateful people. With tho retirement of General Scott came tho 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 a? 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 McCleUan for the position; and in this the nation seemed to give a unanimous concurrence. Tho designation of General McCleUan 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 vAW bo given him the confldence and cordial support thus, by fair implication, promised, and without which he cannot with so full efficiency, serve the couutry. * 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 Detter directed by a single mind, though inferior, than by two superior- ones at variance and cro.ss-purposes with each other. And the samo is true in all joint operations wherein those engaged can have none but a common end in view, aud can differ only as to the choice of moans. In a storm at sea, no one on board can wish the ship to sink ; and yet not unfroquently all go down together, because too many wiU direct, and no single mind can be aUowed to control. It continues to develop that the insurrection is largely, if uot exclu sively, a war upon the first principle of popular government— the rights of tho people. Conclusive evidence of this is found in tho most grave and maturely-considered pubUc documents, as weU as in the general tone of tie insurgents. In those documents we find tho abridgment of the exist ing right of suffrage, and tbe denial to the people of all right to partici pate in th© s©lection of public officers, except the legislative, boldly advocated, with labored arguments to prove that large" control of the people in government is the source of aU political evil. Monarchy itself is sometimes hinted at as a possible refuge from tho power of the people. In my present position, I could soaroly 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, uot 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 ftbove, labor, in the structure of government. It is assumed that labor is avadable only in connection with capital; that nobody labors unless some- State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 225 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 shaU hire laborers, and thus induce thom 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 ¦wo 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 such relation between capital and labor as assumed ; nor is there any such thing as a free man being fixed for life in tho con dition of a hiro#laborer. Both these assumptions are false, and all in ferences 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 h.as 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 mon own capital, and thos© few avoid labor th©mselve3, and, with their capital, hire or buy another few to labor for them. A large majoi ity belong to neither class — neither work for others, nor have others working for them. In most of the Southern States, a majority 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 themselves on their farms, iu 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 thoir 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 independe.it mon everywhere in these States, a few years back in their lives, wore hired laborers. The prudent, penniless beginner in the world labors for wages a while, saves a surplus 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 tho 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 toU up from 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 the door of advancement against such as they, and to fix new dis- abUities and burdens upon them, till all of liberty shall be lost. From the first taking of our national census to tbe la.st are seventy years; and wo flnd our population, at tho end of the period, eight times as great as it was at the beginning. The increase of those other things n'hioh men deem desirable has been even greater. We thus have, at one view, what tbe popular principle, applied to Government tJirougb the machinery of the States and the Union, has produced in a given time; and also what, if firmly maintained, it promises for the future. There are already among us those who, if the Union bo pres(S»vod, will live to see it contain two hundred and fifty miUions. 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 bavo devolved upon us. Abeaham Lincoln. The actual condition of the country and the progress of the war, at the opening of the session, are yerj 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 with slavery, the President had 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 andue haste in the adoption of extreme measures, he promised full and careful consideration of any neAV law \yhich 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 Eun had exasperated as well as aroused the public mind. The forbearance of the Government in regard to slavery had not only failed to soften the hostUity 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 the authority of the Constitution which guaranteed its safety ; and the acts of the 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 they 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 slayery as not only 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 feeUng, entered promptly 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 emahcipate 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, generaUy 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 other 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, bya 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 slayery to the rebeUion arose upon a reso lution offered by Mr. WUley, of West Yirginia, who con tested the opinion that slavery was the cause of the war, and insisted that the febeUion had its origin in the hostility of the Southern political leaders to the demo cratic principle of government ; he beUeyed 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 resolution, which merely gave occasion for debate. A resolution was adopted in the House, forbidding the 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 involuntary servitude in any of the Territories of the United States, now existing, or which may at any 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 18th of March, a bill was taken up to abolish slayery in the District of Columbia ; and an amendment was offered, directing that those thus set free should be colonized out of the 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 was 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 country. 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 bill : — ¦ Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and Housb of Eepeesentatives : The act entitled " An act for the release of certain persons held to State Papers op Abraham Lincoln. 229 service or labor iu the District of Columbia," has this day been approved 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 tho national capital freed from the institution in some satisfactory way. Hence there has never boon in my mind any question upon the subject except thc one of expediency, arising in view of all the circumstances. If there be mat ters witli'u 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 gratified that the two principles of compensation and colonization are both recognized and practically appUed 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 apt, " but not there after ; " and there is no saving for minors, femmes covert, insane, or absent persons. I presume this is an omission by more oversight, and I recom mend that it be supplied by an amendatory or supplemental act. Abkaham Lincoln. April 16, 1862. On the 6th of March, the President sent to Congress the following message on the subject of aiding such slaveholding States as might take measures to emancipate their slaves : WAsmuOTO^r, March 6, 1862. Fellow-Citizexs of the Senate and House of Eepeesentatives : I recommend tho 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 moot the ap proval of Congress and the country, there is an end of it. But if it does 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 would find its highest interest in such a meas ure as one of the most important means of self-preservation. The lead ers" of the existing rebeUion entert.ain 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 tben 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 substaLtially ends the rebeUion ; and the initiation ot emancipation deprives them of it, and of aU the States initiating it. The point is not that all the States tolerating slavery would very soon, if at aU, initiate emancipation ; but whUe the offer is equally made to aU, 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 tho current expenditures of this war would 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 tho 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 Uniot. 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 moans to this ond. 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 aU the ruin which may follow it. Such as may seem indis- jiensable, 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 tho 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 th© present aspect of affairs. While it is true that tbe adoption of tho 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 my great responsibiUty to my God and my country, I earnestly beg the attention of Congress and tho people to the subject. Abeaham 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 Liwc'oln. 231 the Me of slavery would sooner or later inevitably be in volved in the conflict. The time was steadily approach ing Avhen, in consequence of their obstinate persistence in the rebellion, this result would follow ; and the President, 5 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 aU classes of the people. The general feeling of the country at that time was in harmony with this endeavor. The people were stUl 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. ConkUng, of New York, introduced, in the House of Eepresentatives, on the 10th of March, the following resolution : — Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in Congress assembled. That the United States ought to co-operate ' 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 Ulustrated the feelings of the country on the subject. It was 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 ISTorth, as less decided in its hostUity 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 thu'ty-one. Coining up in the 232 The Life, Public Services, and Senate on the24tli of March, it was denounced in strong terms by Mr. Saulsbury, of Delaware, and others — Mr. Davis, of Kentucky, opposing the terms in which 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 was approved by the President on the 10th of AprU. It was generally re garded by the people and by the President himself aa rather an experiment than as a fixed policy — as intended to test the temper of the people of the Southern States,, and offer them a way of escape from the evils arid embar rassments with which slayery 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 execution was made to depend wholly on the people of the Southern States themselves. It recognized their complete control over slayery, within their own limits, and simply tendered them the 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 were warmest and most extreme in their hostility to slayery, he, on the other hand, lost no opportunity to press the proposition on the favorable consideration of the 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 the slaves within that department to be thence forth and "forever free." This was done, not from any aUeged military necessity growing out of the operations in his department, but upon a theoretical incompatibUity between slavery and martial law. The President there- npon at once issued the following proclamation : — State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 233 Whereas, There appears in tho public prints what purports to be a proclamation of Major-General Hunter, in the words and figures foUow ing :— ¦ Hkad-Qttartekb Dbpaktment of ttie SouTn, \ Hilton Hkad, S. O., May 9, ISC2. j . General Order, No. 11. The three States of Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina, comprising the Military Department of tlie South, having deliberately declared them selves no longer under the United States of America, and having taken up arms against the United States, it becomes a mUitary necessity to de clare thom under martial law. This was accordingly done on the 2.oth day of AprU, 1862. Slavery and martial law in a free conntry are altogether incompatible. The persons in these States — Goorgi.a, Florida, and South Carolina — heretofore hold as slaves, are therefore declared forever free. [Official.] Signed, David Huntee, Major-General Commanding. Ed. W. Sjiith, Acting Assistant Adj't-General. AnA, whereas, the same is producing some excitement and misunder 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 tho 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-Chief 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 different 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-operiite with any State which may adopt a gradual abolishment of sKivory, giving to such State earnest expression to compensate for its inconveniences, public and pri vate, produced by such change of system. The resoluticm 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-matter. To the people 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 tho 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 reproaches upon any. It acts not the Pharisee. Tho change it contem- '. plates would come gently as the dews of He.aven, not rending or v/reck- ing any thing. At^ill you not embrace it? So much good has not been done by ono effort in all past time, as in the providence of God it is now your high privilege to do. May tho vast future not have to lament that you have neglected it. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused tre seal of tho United States to be hereunto affixed. 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 tho United States the eighty-sixth. (Signed) . Abeaham Linoois. By the President : W. H. Sewaed, Secretary of State. This proclamation silenced the clamorous denunciation by which its enemies had assaUed 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 avaU 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. FeeUng 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 accompUsh that object. President Lincoln sought a conference with the members of Congress from those States, and on the 12th of July, Avhen they waited upon him at the Executive mansion, he addressed them as foUows : — State Papers op Abraham Lincoln. 235 Gentlemen: — After the adjournment of Congress, now rear, I shaU Lave no opportunity of seeing you for several months. Believing that vou of the Border States hold more power for good than any other equal number of members, I feel it a duty which I cannot justifiably waive to make this appeal to you. I intend no reproach or complaint when I assure you tbat, in my opin ion, if you all had voted for the resolution in tho gradual emancipation Message of last March, tho war would now be subst.antially ended. And the plan therein proposed is yet one of tho most potent and swift means of ending it. Let tho States which are in rebeUion see definitely and cer tainly that in no event will the States you represent ever join 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 whelmingly 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 shako you no more forever. Most of you have treated mo with kindness and consideration, and I trust you will not now think I improperly touch what is exclusively your ©¦n-n, 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 punctilio and maxims adapted to more manageable times, and looking only to the unprecedentedly stern facts of our case, can you do bettor in any possible event? You prefer tbat the constitutional relation of the States to the nation shall be practically restored without disturbance of tbe institution : and if this were done, my whole duty, in this respect, under the Consti tution and my oath of office, would bo 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.?:tinguislied by mere friction and abrasion — by the mere incidents of the war. It will be gone, and you wiU have nothing valuable in lieu of it. Much of its value is gone already. How much bettor for you and for your people 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 I 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 tho war ere long render us pecuniarUy unable to do it I 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. Koom in South America for colonization can be obtained cheaply, and in abundance, and when numbers shall be large 236 The Life, Public Services, and enough to be company and encouragement for one another, the freed people will not be so reluctant to go. I ara pressed with a difficulty not yet mentioned — one which threatena division among thosft 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 StiU is, my friend. I valued him none the less for his agreeing with me in the general wish tbat aU men everywhere could be free. He pro claimed all men free within certain States, and I repudiated the procla mation, lie expected more good and less harm from the measure than I could believe would follow. Yet, in repudiating it, I gave dissatisfaction, if not offence, to many whose support tho country cannot afford to lose. And this is not the end of it. The pressure in this direction is stiU 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 pray 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 w-orld, 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 that grandeur, and to link your own names there^w'ith forever. The members to whom the President thus appealed were divided in opinion as to the merits of the proposi tion which he had laid before them. A majority of them submitted 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, direct or indirect, with slayery 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 motives of the President in the course he had adopted, and expressed their substantial concurrence in its justice and wisdom : — Wo believe that the whole power of the Government, upheld and sus tained by all the influences and means of all loyal men in all sections and of all parties, is essentiaUy necessary to put down the rebellion 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 tho Northern States believe that slavery is the "lever power of tbe rebellion." It matters not whether this opinion is well founded or not. The belief does exist, and we have to deal with things as they are, and not as we would have thom bo. In consequence of the existence of this belief, we understand that an immense pressure is brought to bear for the purpose of striking down this institution through the exercise of military authority. The Government cannot maintain this great struggle if the support and infiuence of tho mon who entertain those opinions be ¦n-ithdrawn. Neither can the Government hope for early success if the support of that element called " conservative " be withdrawn. Snch being the condition of things, the Presidenc- appeals to tho Border State inen 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 tho nation may be firmly and earnestly united in ono grand effort to save the Union and the Constitution. Believing that such wore 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. Wo are not disposed to seek for tho cause of present misfortunes in tho errors and wrongs of others who propose to unite with us in a common purpose. But, on the other hand, wc meet your address in tho spirit in which it was made, and, as loyal Americans, declare to you and to the world, that there is no sacrifice that ¦we are not ready to make to save the Government and institutions of our fathers. That we, few of us though there may bo, 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 wiU, so far as may be in our power, ask the people of tho Bor der States calmly, deliberately, and fairly, to consider your recommond.v tions. We are the more emboldened to assume this position from the fact, now become history, that the leaders of the Southern rebeUion have offered to abolish slavery amongst them as a condition to foreign intei- vention in favor of their independence as a nation. If they can give np slavery to destroy the Union, we can surely 238 The Life, Public Services, and ask our people, to consider the question of emancipaticn to save the Union. Hon. Horace Maynard, of Tennessee, on the 16th of July submitted to the President his views of the ques tion, in which he thus 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 seo all mon everywhere made free, as from a desire to preserve free institutions for tbe benefit of men already free; not to make slaves free mon, 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 cf th© 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 biU upon the subject, as follows : — Fellow- Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives : — • Herewith is tbe draft of tho bill to compensate any State which may abolish slavery within its limits, the passage of ¦which, substantially as presented, I respectfully and earnestly recommend. Abeaham Lincoln. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Umtea States of America in Congress assembled: — Tbat whenever the President of the United States shall bo satisfied that any State shall have lawfully abolished slavery within and througliout such State, either immediately or gradually, it shall be the duty Of the President, assisted by the Secre tary of tbe Treasury, to prepare and deliver to each State an amount of bix per cent, interest-bearing bonds of tho United States, equal to tho ag gregate value at dollars per head of all tho slaves within such State as reported by the census of 1860; the whole amount for auy one State to bo delivered at once, if the abolishment be immediate, or in equal annual instalments, if it be gradual, interest to begin running on each bond at tho time of delivery, and not before. And le it further enacted, That if any State, having so received any such bonds, shall at any time afterwards by law reintroduce or tolerate slavery witliin its limits, contrary to the act of abolishment upon which such bonds shall have been received, said bonds so received by said State State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 239 BhsU at once be nuU and void, in whosesoever hands they m.iy bc, and such State shall refund to the United States all interest which way have 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 the 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 country, 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 maldng 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 the 17th 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 Avhether 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 tax, involving stamp duties, taxes upon incomes, etc. , sufficient with the duties upon imports to raise $150,000,000 per annum, and also for the 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 thirty to seven, a motion to strike out the legal- tender clause having been previously rejected— seven- 240 The Life, Public Services, anp teen voting in favor of striking it out, and twenty-two against it. The subject of confiscating the property of rebels ex cited still deeper interest. A bUl for that purpose was taken up in the Senate, on, the 25th 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 enfranchised. The bUl 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 was 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 he 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 by some of the ablest and most reliable of the supporters of the Administration, as a departure from aU recognized rules of proceeding, 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 CoUamer, of Vermont, urged this view of the case with great cogency, citing Mr. Sumner's opinion expressed on the 25th of February, 1861, Avhen, 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 elavery 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, aud I saj- to-day what I have said in my State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 24 i 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 Slates 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," Avas also quoted, and Mr. CoUamer said he did not see how it was possible to pass the bill in its present form without giving the world to understand that they had violated those pledges, and had interfered with slayery in the States. Mr. CoUamer accordingly offered an amendment to the bill, obviating the objections he had urged against it ; and tMs, with other amendments offered by other Senators, was referred to a Select Committee, which subsequently reported a bill designed, as the ChaUman, Mr. Clark, of New Hampshire, explained, to harmonize the various shades of opinion upon the sub ject, and secure the passage of some measure which should meet the expectations of the country and the emergency of the case. The first section of this bUl pro vided, that every person who should hereafter commit the crime of treason against the United States, and be adjudged guUty 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 guUty of treason could be punished, either by death, imprisonment, or the forfeiture of his property. It was opposed, on the one hand, by Mr. Trum buU, of Hlinois, 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. Sumner offered a substi tute to the whole bUl, which in his judgment did not go far enough in giving the country the advantage of the ' ' op- por1?unity which God, in His beneficence, had afforded" it for securing universal emancipation. Mr. Powell, of Kentucky, moved to strike out the eleventh section, which authorized the President to "employ as many per sons of African descent as he might deem necessary and proper for the suppression of the rebelUon, 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 biU was thus denounced by one class of Senators as too violent in its method of dealing with the rebels, it was resisted with stiU greater vehemence by another class as entirely de fective in that respect. Mr. Sumner was especiaUy 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 biU 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 bUl, it was passed, as amended, by both Houses, and sent to the President for his signature. The provisions of this biU were as foUows : — State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 243 feBOTioji 1 enacted that every person who should after its passage com mit the crime of treason against the United States, and be adjudged guUty thereof, should sufier 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 tha 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 shaU be set free. Section 3. Every person guilty of these offences shall be forever dis qualified to hold any office under the United States. Section 4. This aot 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 array of the United States all the property of persons who had served as officers of the rebel army, or had held certain civil offices 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, sball hereafter give aid to the rebeUion. Section 6 prescribed that if any other persons being engaged in the rebeUion should not, within sixty days after public proclamation duly made by the President, cease to aid the rebeUion, all their property should be confiscated in the same manner. Section 7 directed that proceedings in rem should be instituted in tho name of the United States in the court of the district within which such property might be found, and if said property, whether 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 snch orders as these proceedings might require. 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 place occupied by rebel forces, and afterwards occu pied by the forces of the United States, shall be deemed captives of war, ond shall be forever free of their servitude, andnot 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 or 244 The Life, Public Services, and master of such slave had never bojne arms against the United States, ot given any aid and comfort to the rebellion ; and every person in the 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 tho President to employ as many persons of Af rican descent as he 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 Umits of the United States, having first obtained the consent of the Government of said country to their protection and settle ment, with all the privileges of free men. Section 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 1-i gave the courts of the United States authority to institute such proceedings, and issue such orders as might be necessai-y to carry this act into effect. It soon came to be understood that tho President had objections to certain portions of the bUl which would probably prevent him from signing it. A joUit resolu tion was at once passed in the House, providing that the biU 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 erate States of America." When this reached the Senate, Mr. Clark, of New Hampshire, offered the foUowing, 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 offender beyond his natural Ufe. This provision encountered a sharp opposition: Mr. Trumbull, of Hlinois, insisting that the forfeiture of real estate for life only would amount to nothing, and other Senators objecting to being influenced in their action by State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 245 the supposed opinions of the President. Mr. Clark also proposed another amendment, authorizing the President, in granting an amnesty, to restore to the offender any property which might have been seized and condemued 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 the following message, announcing that he had signed the bUl, and specifying his objections to the act in its original shape : — Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Repeesentatives : Considering the biU 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 bUl becoming a law, a copy of which di-aft is herewith submitted. Abeaham Lincoln. July 12, 1862. [Copy.] Fellow-Citizens of the House of Repeeesentatives : 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 hUl to which I perceive no objection. It is wholly prospective ; and it touches neither person nor property of any 'oyal citizen, in which particular it is just and proper. Tie first and second sections provide for the conviction and pnnish- tneiit of persons who shall be guilty of treason, and persons who shall "incite, set on foot, assist, or engage in any rebelUon or insurrection against the authority of the United States, or the laws thereof, or shall give aid or comfort thereto, or sball engage in or give aid and comfort to any such existing rebeUion or insurrection." By fair construction, per sons within those sections are not punished without regular trials in duly constituted courts, nnder 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- oral pardoning power, and also the special provision for pardon and an> ncsty contained in this act, It is also provided that the slaves of persons convicted nnder these se«- 246 The Life, Public Services, and tions fcia'il be free. I think there 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 first been transfeiTcd to the nation, and Con gress had then liberated him, tho difiSculty would at once vanish. And this is the real case. Tho traitor .against the General Government for feits his slave at least as justly as ho does any other property ; and he forfeits both to the Government against which he offends. Tl^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 fi-ee or sold .to new masters?" I perceive no objection to Congress de ciding in advance that they shaU 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 beUeve 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, wUl 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 tho 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 more light of justice. The severest justice may not always be the best policy. The principle of seizing and appropriating 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 place 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 mUitary 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 shaves, while commenting on the first and second sections, is applicable to the ninth, with the difference that no provision is made in tho whole act for determining whether a particular .State Papers 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 requii-ed seems to be proper, and tho remainder of the section is substantiaUy 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 persons of African descent as can be 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 shall 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 ia 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 guUty parties ; whereas the Constitution of the United States declar-es that "no attainder of treason shaU work corruption of blood or forfeiture except during tho 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 infiicted, in a different form, for the same offence. 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, aa I und^- gtand, to real or landed estate. Again, this act, in rem, forfeits property 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. StUl, the owner may not bo thus engaged ; and I think a rea sonable time should be provided for such parties to appear and have per sonal hearings. SimUar 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 the rebeUion. It prescribed definite penalties for the crune of treason, and thus suppUed 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 m 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 pubUc 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 AprU the House of Representatives passed, by a vote of seventy- five 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 the following message : — To the Senate and House of Representatives : The insurrection which is yet existing in tho United St.ates, and aims at the overthrow of the Federal Constitution and the Union, was clan destinely prepared during tho winter of 18C0 and 1861, and assumed an open organization in the form of a treasonable provision.al government at Montgomery, Alabama, on the eighteenth day of February, 1861, On the twelfth day of AprU, 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 afcervvaids all the roads and avenues to this city were olistructod, and tho Cajiital 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 bad been caUed out by the Govorninent for the de fence of Washington were prevented from reaching the city by organized and combined treasonable resistance in the State of Maryland. Ther» was no adequate and effective organization for th© 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 thereunon summoned my constitutional advisers, the heads of aU the departments, to meet on Sunday, the twentieth day of AprU, 1861, at the office of the Navy Department, and then and there, with their unanimous concurrence, I directed that an armed revenue cutter should proceed to sea to afford protection to the commercial marine, especially to the California troa3ur©-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 steamships for purposes of public defence. I directed the Commandant of the Navy Yard at Phila delphia to purchase 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 tho aid and eSicient services in the matter of his ExceUency Edwin D. Morgan, the Governor of New York; or, in his absence, George D. Morgan, Wm. M. Evarts, E. M, Blatchford, and Moses H. Grinnell, who were, by my directions, especially empowered by the Secretary of the Navy to aot 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 York, should be authorized 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 communica 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 thom 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 milUons of dollars of public money to John A. Dix, George Opdyke, and Richard M. Blatchford, of New York, 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 tho Government at that time contained so largo 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 fo^ citizens favorably known for their ability, loyalty, and patriot ism. Tho several orders issued upon these occurrences were trans mitted by private messengers, who pursued a circuitous way to tha 250 The Life, Public Services, and seaboard cities, inland across the States of Pennsylvania and Ohio, .and the northern lakes. I /believe that by these and other simUar measures taken in that crisis, some of which were without any authority of Law, the Government was saved from overthrow. I am not aware that a doUar of the public funds thus confided, without authorUy of law, to un official persons, was either lost or wasted, although apprehensions 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 passed by the House of Representatives on the thu'tieth 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 the public money, and authority to purchase military supplies without restriction, without requiring from him any guarantee for the faithful performance of his duties, while the services of competent public officers were available, and by involving tho Government in a vast number of contracts with persons not legitimately engaged in the 'business pertaining to the subject-matter of such contracts, especially in the purchase of arras for future deliv ery, has adopted a policy highly injurious to the public service, and deserves tbe censure of the House. Congress will see that I should be wanting in candor and in justice if I should leavo the censure expressed in this resolution to rest exclusively or chiefiy upon Mr. Cameron. The same sentiment is unanimously enter tained by tlie heads of the departments, who participated in the proceed ings which tho House of Representatives has censured. It is due to Mr. Cameron to say, that although he fully approved the jiroceedings, they were not moved nor suggested by himself, and that not only tbe Presi dent, but all the other heads of departments, wor© at least equally respon sible with him for whatever error, wrong, or fault was committed in the premises. Abeaham Lincoln. This letter was in strict conformity with the position uniformly held by the President in regard to tlie respon sibUity of members of his Cabinet for acts of the Admin istration. He always maintained that the proper duty of each Secretary was, to direct the details of every thing done within his own department, and to tender such sug gestions, information, and advice to the President as he might soUcit at his hands. But the duty and responsi bUity of deciding what line of policy should be pursued, or what steps should be taken in any specific case, in hia judgment, belonged exclusively to the President; and he was always wUling and ready to assume it. Tins post- State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 251 tion has been widely and sharply 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 commerce 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 parts 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 the 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, the Presi dent issued an order estabUshing a Provisional Court in the City of Kew Orleans, of which 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 which we have referred, to aid in the pros ecution of the war. Several Senators were expeUed 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 rebeUion 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 weU 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 stiU more clamorous and importunate. The President was summoned to avail himself of the opportunity offered by the passage of the Confiscation BiU, 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 the President by Hon. Horace Greeley, and pubUshed in the New TorTc Ti-ibune of the 19th of August, to wliich President Lincoln made the following reply :— ExBctmTB MAseiON, Wabiiingtok, August 22, 18Ca Hon. Hoeace Greeley : Deae Sir — I have just read yours of the 19th instant, addressed to my self through the New York 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 thom. If there be any inferences which I may believe to be falsely drawn, I do not now and here argue against them. If there be perceptible in it an impatient and dicte.torial 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 thoy could at the same time save slavery, I do not .agree with them. If there be those who would not save tho Union unless they could at the same time destroy slavery, I do not agree with them. My paramount object is to save the Union, 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 hurts tho cause, and I shaU do more whenever I believe doing more w ill help the cause. I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors, and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shaU appear to be truo views. 254 The Life, Public Services, and I nave here stated my purpose according to my views of official duty, and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that aU men everywhere could be free. Yours, A. Lincoln. It was impossible to mistake the 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 oyer 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 pQwer conferred on him by Congress in regard to slavery, as haying 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 whole 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 reUgious 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 foUowed 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 foUowing reply :— The subject presented in the memorial is one upon which I have thought 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 th.at by religious men, who are equally certain that they represent the Divine will. I am suro that either the one or the other class is mistaken in that belief, and per haps in some respects both. I hope it will not te irrevor©nt for me to say tbat if it is probable that God would reveal his will to others, on a point so connected with my duty, it might be supposed ho would reveal it directly to m©; for, unless I am mor© d©c©ived 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 1 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 inteUigence from New York called as a delegation on business connected with the war; but before leaving two of them earnestly besought me 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 ho met nothing so discouraging as tho 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 freo the slaves, when I cannot even enforce the Constitution in tbe 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 tho 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 como over to us. And suppose thoy 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 food and care for such a multitude? Gener.al 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 Butlor-is feediug the whites also by the thousand; for it nearly amounts to a famine there. If, now, tho pressure of the war should call off our forces from New Orleans to defend some other point, what is to prever.t the masters from reducing the blacks to slavery again ? for I 256 The Life, Public Services, and am told that whenever the rebels take any black prisoners, free or slave, they immediately auction them off! They did so with those thoy took from a boat that was aground in the Tennessee River a few days ago. And then I am very ungenerously attacked for it ! For instance, when, after tbe late battles at and near Bull Run, 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 Gre©l©y said in his pap©r 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 constitutional 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 offer to the suppression of the rebellion. The Committee replied to these remarks, insisting that a proclamation of emancipation would secure at once the sympathy of Europe and the civilized world ; and that as slayery 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 foUows : — I admit that slavery is at the root of the rebellion, or at least its sine qua non. The ambition of politicians may h.ave instigated them to act, but they would bavo been impotent without 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 North, 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 groat importance ; but I am not so suro 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 tho rebels; and, indeed, thus far, we have not had arms enough to equip our white troops. I will mention another thing, though it mo©t 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 OS you desire, they should go over to the rebels. I do not think they aU State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 257 would —not so many, indeed, as a year ago, or as six months ago — not so many to-day as yesterday. Every day increases their Union feeling. They are also getting their pride enlisted, and want to beat the rebels. Lot me say ono thing moro : I think you should admit that wo 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. The Committee replied to this in some brief remarks, to which the President made the following response : — • Do not misunderstand me because I have mentioned these objections. They iudioato the ditBculties that have thus far prevented my action in some such way as you desire. I have not decided against a proclamation of liberty to tbe slaves, but hold the matter under advisement. 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 tbat 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 such a step, and that public sentiment would sustain it, on the 22d of Sep tember the President issued the following preliminary proclamation op emancipation. I, AnRAnAM Lincoln,- President of tho United States of America, and Commander-in-Chief of the array and navy thereof, do hereby proclaim and declare that hereafter, as heretofore, tho war will be prosecuted for the object of practically restoring the constitutional relation b©tw©on 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 called, tho people whereof may not then be in rebellion again-st the United States, and which States may then have voluntarily adopted, or thereafter may 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 tho previously obtained consent of the governments existing there, wUl be continued. That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand , eight hundred and sixty-throe, all persons held as slaves within any State, or designated part of a State, the people whereof shaU then be in rebeUion ¦ 17 258 The Life, Public Services, and against the United States, shaU be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the miU tary and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain tho freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of thom, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom. That tho Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by proo- lamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which tha 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 rebeUion against the United States. That attention is hereby called to an aot of Congress entitled "An Act to make an additional Article of War," approved March 13th, 1862, and which act is in the words and figures foUowing : — Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That hor©after the following shall be promulgated as an additional article of war for the government of the army of the United States, and shaU be obeyed and observed as such : — Section 1. — All officers or persons in the military or naval service of the United Sjtates are prohibitod from employing any of the forces under their respective commands for the purpose of returning fugitives from service or labor who may have escaped from any persons to whom such t 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. Sbo. 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," apin-oved July 16, 1862, and whirh sections are in the words and figures following: — Seo. 9. And be it further enacted. That all slaves of persons who sbaU hereafter be engaged in rebellion against the Government of tho 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 .aU 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 place occupied by rebel forces and afterwards occupied by forces of the United States, shall ba deemed captives of war, and shall be forever free of their servitude, and not again held as slaves. Seo. 10. And be it further enacted, That no slave escaping into any Btate, Territory, or the District of Columbia, from any other State, sbalJ State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 259 be delivered up, or in any way impeded or hindered of his liberty, except for crime, or some offence against the laws, unless the person claiming said fugitive shall first make oath that the person to whom the labor or service of such fugitive is alleged to be due is his lawful owner, and has not born© arms against tho United States in the present rebeUion, nor in any way given aid and comfort thereto; and no person engaged in the mUitary 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 i.ulitary and naval service of the United States to observe, obey, and en- fv. rce, within their respective spheres of service, the act and sections ab ive 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 people, if that relation shall have been su.spended 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 my 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 H. Seward, Secretary of State. The issuing of this proclamation 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 slavery, 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, howeyer, 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 practicaUy 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 foUowed thia measure by issuing the foUowing PROCLAMATION. Whereas, on the 22d day of September, in the year of our Lord ono thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a proclamation was issued by- tho 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 eight hundred and sixty-three, 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 tben, 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. That the Executive wUl, on the first day of .January aforesaid, by proc lamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which tha people thereof respectively shall then be in rebelUon against tbe 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 tbe qualified voters of such State shall have participated, shall, in the absence ol strong countervailing testimony, be doomed conclusive evidence that such 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 and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebeUion, do, on this flrst 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- Claimed for the full period of one hundred days from the day fii-st above : i-^^^i^. SrJ m^. ','^ -r .f'.^J^: *r*i^ T3 Oo o 2 >zo¦o >H Oz ;- t-;^-^ ' State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 261 mentioned, order and designate, as the States and parts of States wherein the people thereof respectively are this day in rebellion against the United States, the foUowing, to wit : Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana (except the parishes of St. Bernard, Plaque mines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James, Ascension, Assumption, I'oiTO Bonne, Lafourche, Ste. Marie, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the City of New Orleans), Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North 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 issued. 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 pai'ts 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 aU cases when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages. And I further declare and make known that such persons, of suitable condition, wiU 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 beUeved to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution upon mUitary 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 of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of '¦^' ^¦-' the independence of the United States the eighty-soventh. By the President : Abraham Lincoln. William H. Seward, Secretary of State. 262 The Life, Public Services, and CHAPTER IX. the militart administration of 1862.— THE PRESIDENT AND general McClellan. General MoClellan succeeds McDowell. — The President's Order fob AN Advance. — The Movement to the Peninsula. — Rebel Evacuatios of Manassas. — Areanqbmbnts for the Peninsular Movement. — Tub President's Letter to General McClellan. — The Rebel Strength AT Yorktown. — The Battle op Williamsburg. — McClellan's Feab 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 Dblats. — Prepares foe 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 MoClellan. — McClellan's Faiu're to aid Pope. — His Excuses foe Delay.^ — Pro poses to leave. — Pope unaided. — Excuses foe 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. — MoClellan relieved from Com mand. — Speech by the President. The repulse of the national forces at the battle of BuU 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 infinite 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 McDoweU, the able and accomplished officer who commanded the army of the United States in that engagement, conducted the operations of the day with signal abiUty ; and his defeat was due, as subsequent disclosures have clearly Bhown, far more to accidents for which others were re- State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 263 sponsible, than to any lack of skill in planning the bat tle, or of courage and generalship on the field. But it was the first 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 McCleUan, 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 the 22d of July, and on the 27th assumed command of the Army of the Potomac. Although then in command only of a department. General McClellan, with aa 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 pur 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 speedUy 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, aud the brigade organization of General McDowell formed the basis for the distribution of these new forces. By the middle of October tMs army had been raised to oyer one hundred and fifty thousand men, with an artU lery force of nearly 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 corps d''armee, for the purpose of more effective service ; but 264 The Life, Public Services, and General McClellan had 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 our 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 disaster excited a great deal of dissatisfaction in the pub Uc mind, and this was still further aggravated by tlie 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 effective blockade of the Capital from that direction. Special efforts were repeat edly made by the President and Navy 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 General McClellan to take any steps to aid in the accomplishment of this result. In October he had promised that on a day named, four thousand troops sliould 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 troops should be sent down the next night. They Avere not sent, howeyer, 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 command, 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 Papers 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 the armies of the Union, remaining in personal command of the Army of the Potomac. IIis attention Avas then of necessity turned to the direction of army movements, and to the conduct of political 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 efficiency — 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 yate, our forces were all animated with an eager desire to be led against the enemies of their country. As Avinter 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 Ayith 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. Unable longer to endure this state of things. President Lincoln put an end to it on the 27th of January, 1862, by issuing the foUowing order : — Executive Mansion, "Washinoton, January 27, 1862. Ordered, That the twenty-second day of February, 1802, be the day for a general movement of the land and naval forces of the Unite J States against the insurgen* forces. Th.at 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, end a naval force in the Gulf of Mexico, be ready to move on that day. That all other forces, both land and naval, with thoir 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 heads of departments, and especially the Secretaiies of War and of the Navy, with aU their subordinates, and the General-in-Chief, with all other commanders and subordinates of land and naval forces, will severaUy bo held to their strict and full responsibilities for jirompt execution of this order. Abraham Lincoln, This order, which applied to aU the armies of the Uni ted States, was followed four days afterwards by the fol lowing special order directed to General McCleUan : — ExBOUTivB Manbiow, WAsmNGTON, January 31, 1&03. Ordered, That aU the disposable force of the Army of the Potomac, after providing safely for tho defence of Washington, be formed into an expedition for the immediate object of seizing and occupying a point upon tho railroad southwest of what is known as Manassas Junction, all details to be in the discretion of the Commander-in-Chief, and tbe expe dition to move before or on the twenty-second day of February next. Abraham Lincoln. Tlie 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 Eichmond at our mercy, and break the main strength of the rebeUion by destroying the principal army arrayed in its support. Instead of obeying it, General McCleUan remonstrated against its execution, and urged the adoption of a different plan of attack, which was to move upon Eichmond by Avay of the Chesapeake Bay, the Eappahannock Eiver, 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 for,ward 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 : — ExEotrriTB Manoiox, Wabhinoton, Fehruary 8, ISGa. My 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 River ; mine to move directly to a point on the railroad southwest of Manassas. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 267 If you wUl give satisfactory answers to the following questions, I shaU gladly yield my plan to yours : — 1st. Does not your plan involve a greatly larger expenditure of time and monry than mine? 2d. W herein is a victory more certain,by your plan than mine ? Sd. Wherein is a victory more valuable by your plan than mine? 4th. In fact, would it not be less valuable in this: that it would break no great Une of the enemy's communications, while mine would ? 5th. In case of disaster, would not a retreat be moro difficult by your plan than mine ? Yours, truly, Abraham Lincoln. Major-General McClellan. General McCleUan 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 -mih a smaU force resist any attack on either flank, con centrating their main strength upon the other for a deci sive action. The uncertainties of the weather, the 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 McCleUan 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 McCleUan' s reasoning ; but in consequence of his steady resistance and unwilUngness to enter upon the execution of any other plan, he assented to a submission of the matter to a councU of twelve officers held late in February, at head-quarters. The result of that councU was, a decision in favor of moving by way of the lower Chesapeake and the Eappahannock — seven of tlie Gen erals present, viz., Fitz-John Porter, Franklin, W. F. Smith, McCaU, Blenker, Andrew Porter, and Naglee, voting in favor of it, as did Keyes also, with the quaUfi cation that the army should not move until the rebels were driven from the Potomac, and Generals McDowell, Sunmer, Heintzelman, and Barnard, voting against it. In this decision the President acquiesced, and on the 268 The Life, Public Services, and 8th of March issued two general war orders, the first directing the Major-General commanding the Army of the Potomac to proceed forthAvith to organize that part of said army destined to enjer upon active operations into four army corps, to be commanded, the first by General McDoAyell, the second by General Sumner, the third by General Heintzelman, and the fourth by General Keyes. General Banks Avas assigned to the command of a fifth corps. It also appointed General Wadsworth Military Governor at Washington, and directed the order to be " executed Avith such promj)tness and dispatch as m t 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 foUows : — ¦ Executive Mansion, Washington, March. S, 1S62, Ordered, That no change of the base of operations of tho Army of tho Potomac sball be made without leaving in aud about Washington such a force as, in tho opinion of the Goneral-in-Chief and tbe com manders of army corps, shall leavo said city entirely secure. That no moro 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 tho navigation of tho Potomac, from Washington to the Chesapeake Bay, shall be freed from the enemy's battej-ies, and other obstructions, or until tho President shall hereaftor 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 shall be responsible that it moves as early as that day. Ordered, That the army and navy co-operate in an immediate effort to capture tbe enemy's batteries upon the Potomac between Washington and tho Chesapeake Bay. Abraham Lincoln. L. TnoMAS, Adjutant- General. This order was issued on the 8th 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 the Potomac, and on the same night issued orders for an immediate ad vance of the whole army towards Manassas — not with State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 269 any intention, ¦ as he has since explained, of pursuing the rebels, and taking advantage of their retreat, but to "get rid of superfluous baggage and other impediments which accumulate so easily around an army encamped for a long time in one locaUty"— to give the troops " some expe rience on the march and bivouac preparatory to the cam paign," and to afford them also a "good intermediate step betAveen the quiet and comparative comfort of the camps around Washington and the vigor of actiA'e opera tions."* These objects, in General McClellan's opinion, were, sufficiently accomplished hy what the Prince de JoinyUle, of his staff, styles a "promenade" of the army to Manassas, where they learned, from personal inspec tion, that the rebels had actuaUy evacuated tliat 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 mUitary 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 councU 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 Eappahannock, operations against Eichmond could best be conducted from Fortress Monroe, provided : — 1st. That tho enemy's vessel, Merrimac, can be neutralized. 2d. That the moans 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 River. * See General McClellan's Report, dated August 4, 1863. 270 The Life, Public Services, and 4th. That the force to be left to cover Washington shall be such as to jjive an entire feeling of security for its safety from menace. NoTB.— That with the forts on the right bank of the Potomac fully garrisoned, and those ou the left bank occupied, a covering force in front of the Virginia line of twenty-five thousand men would suffice. (Keyes, Heintzelman, and McDowell.) A total of forty thousand men for the defence of the city svonld suffice. (Sumner.) Upon receiving a report of this decision, the following communication was at once addressed to the commanding general :— AVab Depaktment, March 13, 1862. The President having considered the plan of operations agreed upon by yourself and tho 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 shaU make it entirely certain that the enemy shall not repossess himself of that position and lino of communication. 2d. Leave Washington entirely secure. 3d. Move the remainder of the force down the Potomac, choosing a new base at Fortress Monroe, or anywhere between here and there ; or, at aU events, move such remainder of the army at once in pursuit of the enemy by some route. Edwin M. Stanton, 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 Avhile en camped at Manassas, and that this feeUng was converted into chagrin and mortification when the rebels were allowed to AvithdraAV from that position Avithout the slightest molestation, and Avithout their design being even suspected untU 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, Avithout loss of time, the field of what he believed AVOiUd be a decisive battle, which he expected State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 271 to fight between West Point and Eichmond. On the 31st of March, the President, out of deference to the importu nities of General Fremont and his friends, and from a be lief that this officer could make good use of a larger force tlian he then had at his 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 McCleUan in the foUoAving let ter ;— Executive Mansion, AVashington, March 31, 1S62. My Dear Sir: — This morning I felt constrained to order Blenker's division to Fremont, and I write 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 tbe case, I am confident that you would jpstify it, even beyond a mere acknowledgment that the Oommandor-in-Ohief may order what he pleases. Yours, very truly, A. Lincoln. Major-Gonoral MoClellan. General Banks, who had at first been ordered by Gen eral McCleUan 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 Eichmond ;" 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 way of the Peninsula, Avere 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 McClel lan was not sufficient to make Washington " entirely 272 The Life, Public Services, ani> secure," as the President had required in his order of March 13 ; nor Avas it as large as the council of officers held at Fairfax Court- Ho use 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, unAvilling to send any considerable portion of his force up the York Eiver, as he was employed in watching the Merrimack, which had closed the James Eiver against us. He therefore landed at the Fortress, and commenced his march up the Peninsula, having reached the Warwick Eiver, 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 6th wrote to the President that he had but eighty-five thousand men fit for duty — that the whole line of the WarAvick Eiver was strongly fortified — that it was pretty certain he was to "haye the whole force of the enemy on his hands, probably 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, AprU 9, 1602. My Dear Sir :— Your dispatches, complaining that you are not prop erly sustained, while they do not offend me, do pain me very much. Blenker's division was withdrawn from you before you left hero, and you know the pressure under which I did it, and, as I thought, acqui esced in 'it — certainly not without roluotanco. After you left, I ascertained that less than twenty thousand unor'^an- State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 273 ized men, without a single field battery, were all you designed to be left for tbe defence 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, was diverted and tied up on the line of Winchester and Strasburg, and could not leave it without again exposing the Upper Potomac and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. This presented, or would present, when McDowell and Sumner should be gone, a great temptation to the enemy to turn back from the Rappahannock and sack Washington. My implicit 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 I do not forget that I was satisfied with your arrangement to leave Banks at Manassas Junction : but when that arrangement was broken up, aud 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, vid 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 question which the country wUl 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 twenty-throe thousand be accounted for? As to General Wool's command, I understand it is doing for you pre cisely what 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 this 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. I am powerless to help 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 equal 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. 1 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 IS 274 The Life, Public Services, and yon, so far as, in my most anxious judgment, I consistently can, Bn"' you must act. Yours, very truly, AniiAHAM Lktcolh. Major-Gonoral MoClellan. 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 Avas not held by any considerable force ; and sub sequent disclosures have made 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 Eichmond. General McClellan decided, however, to approach it by a regular siege ; and it was not until this design had become apparent, that the rebel Government began to re-enforce Magruder.* He * The following extract from the ofScial report of Major-General Magruier, dated May 3d, 1862, and published by order of the Confederate Congress, is con clusive as to the real strength of the force which General McClellan had in front of him at Yorktown : — Headquarters, Bepabtuent of the Peninsula, } Lee's Fabm, May S, 1862. 1 General S. Coopee, A. and I. G. C. S. A. : General : — Deeming it of vital importance to hold Yorktown on York Eiver, and Mulberry Island on James Eiver, and to keep the enemy in eheck 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 my in the Peninsula, I felt compelled to dispose of my forces in such a manner as to accomplish these objects with the least risk possible under the circumstances of great. hazard which sur rounded the little army 1 commanded. I had prepared, as my real line of defence, positions in advance at Harwood's and Young's Mills. Both flanks of this line were defended by boggy and dithcult streams and swamps. * * * In my opinion, this advanced line, with its tianfc defences, might have been held by twenty thousand troops. * * * Finding 7ny forces too weak to attempt t?t,e de fence of this line. I was compelled to prepare to receive the enemy on a second line on War wick Eiver. This line was incomplete in its preparations. Keeping then only sm.all bodies of troops at Harwood's and Young's Mills, and on Ship Point, I distributed my remaining forces along the Warwick line, embracing a front from Yorktown to Minor's farm of twelve miles, and ftom the latter place to Mulberry Island Point one and a half miles. 1 was compelled to place in Gloucester Point, Yorktown, and Mulberry Island, fixed garrisons, amounting to six thou sand men, my whole force being eleven thousand, so tliat it will be seen that the balance of ihe line, embracing a length of thirteen miles, loas defended hy abont five thousand men. After the reconnoissances in great force from Fortress Moni-oo and Newport News, the encray, on the 3d of April, advanced and took possession of Harwood's Mill, He advanced in two heavy columns, one along the old York road, and the other along the Warwick road, and on the 5th of April appeared simultaneously along the whole part of our line from Minor's farm to Yorktown. 1 La.-e no accurate data upon which to base an exact statement of his force; bat from varioiu«. State Papeks of Abraham Lincoln. 275 continued his applications to the Government for more troops, more cannon, more transportation — all which Avere sent forAyard to him as rapidly as possible, being taken mainly from McDowell's corps. On the 14th of April, General FranMin, detached from that corps, reported to General McClellan, near Yorktown, but his troops re mained on board the transports. A month was spent in this Avay, the President urging action in the most earnest manner, and the commanding general delaying from day to day his reiterated promises to commence operations immediately. At last, on the morning of the 4th of May, it was discovered that the rebels had been busy for a day or tAvo in evacuating Yorktown, and that the last of their columns had left that place, all their supply trains hav ing been previously removed on the day and night pre ceding. General McClellan, in announcing tliis event to the Government, added that "no time would be lost" in the pursuit, and that he should "push the enemy to the waU." General Stoneman, with a column of cavalry, was at once sent forward to overtake the retreating enemy, which he succeeded in doing on the same day, and was repulsed. On the 5th, the forces ordered for ward by General McClellan came up, and found a very strong rear-guard of the rebels strongly fortified, about two miles east of Williamsburg, and prepared to dispute the advance of the pursuing troops. It had been known sources of information I was satisfied that I had before me the enemy's Army of the Potomac, under the command of General McClellan, with the exception of the two corps d^armee of Banks and McDowell respectively — forming an aggregate number certainly of not less than one hundred thousand, since ascertained to have bt'en one hundred and twenty thousand men. On every portion of my lines he attacked us with a furious cannonading and musketry, which was responded to with effect hy our batteries and troops of the line. His skirmishers also wei-o well thrown forward on this and the succeeding day, and energetically felt our whole line, but were everywhere repulsed by the steadiness of our troops. Thus, with Jive thousand men, exclusive of tlie garrisons, we stopped and held in cluck over one himdred thousand of the enemy. Every preparation was made in anticipation of another attack by the enemy. The men slept in the trenches and under arms, but, to my utter surprisd, he permitted day after day to elapse witJiout an assault. In a few days the object of his delay was apparent. In every direction in front of our lines, throuijh the intervening woods and along the open fields, earthworks began to appear. Through the energetic action of the Government re-enforcements began to pour In, and each hour tJie army of the Peninsula grew stronger and stronger, until anxiety passed from my mind at to tlie result of an attack upon us. * * * J. Bahehead Maqbcdiis, Major-Oeneral, 276 The Life, Public Services, and from the beginning that a very formidable line of forta had been erected here, and it ought to haye been equaUy 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 anticipated no resistance. He remained at his head-quat-- ters, two mUes in the rear of Yorktown, until summoned by special messenger in the afternoon of the 5th, who announced to him that our troops had encountered the enemy strongly posted, that a bloody battle was in progress, and that his presence on the field 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 coyer 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, I)robably greater, a good deal, than my own." He again complains of the inferiority of his command, says he will do aU he can "with the force at his disposal," and that he should "run the risk of at least holding them in check here (at WiUiamsburg) whUe he resumed the original plan"— which was to send Franldin to West Point by State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 277 water. Bnt the direct pursuit of the retreating rebel army was abandoned — owing, as the General said, to the bad state of the roads, which rendered it impracticable. Some five days Avere spent at Williamsburg, which en abled the rebels, notwithstanding the "state of the roads," to withdraw their whole force across the Chick ahominy, and estabUsh themselves within the fortifica tions in front of Richmond. On the morning of the 7th, General Franklin landed at West Point, but too late to intercept the main body of the retreating army ; he Ayas met by a strong rear-guard, with 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 position to effect a junction with any troops that might move from Washington on the Fredericksburg line ;"* and arrangements were made to procure supplies for the army by that route. On the 9th, Norfolk was evacuated by the rebels, aU the troops withdrajAring 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 bloAvn 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 Williamsburg ; and, on the 16th, head-quarters were established at White House, at the point where the Richmond Railroad crosses the Pamun key, an affiuent 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 McClellan's testimony — Eeport cf Committee on Conduct of th* War, vol i., p. 431. 278 The Life, Public Services, and the "decisive battle" which he had been predicting ever since the rebels withdrew from Manassas, but which they had so far succeeded in avoiding. A good deal of his at tention, howeyer, Ayas 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 Department, reiterating his conviction that the rebels were about to dispute his advance with their whole force, and asking for "eyery 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 official returns showed that he had one hundred and sixty thousand men under his com mand. On the 14th, he telegraphed tlie 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 thouglit 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 : — AVASniNGTOw, May 18 — 2 p. m. General :— Your dispatch to the President, asking re-enforcements. Las 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 Eappahannock by the way of the Potomac and York Pviver, than hy a land march. In order therefore, to increase the strength of tho attack upon Eichmond 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 wmg in communication with your right wing, and you are in structed to co-operate so as to establish this communication as soon as possible by extending your right wing to tho north of Eichmond. It is believed that this communication can be safely established either north or south of thc Pamunkey Eiver. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 279 In any event, you will be able to prevent the main body of the enemy's forces from leaving Eichmond, and falling in overwhelming 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 Eichmond, but charged, in attempting this, 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 sulEcient 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 he moves forward. By order of the President. Edwin M. Stanton. In reply to this, on the 21st of May, General McClellan repeated his declarations of the overwhelmilig force of the rebels, and urged that General McDowell should join him by water instead of by land, going down the Rappa hannock and the bay to Fortress Monroe, and then ascend ing the York and Pamunkey 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 McDoAvell was not put more completely under his command, and declared that a movement by land would uncover Wash ington quite as completely as one by water. He waa 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, Puliic Services, and To these representations he received fiom the Presi dent the foUowing reply : — AVAsniHOTON, May 24, 1862. 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 Monday morning, the 26th. We have so thinned our line to get troops for other places that it was broken yesterday at Front Eoyal, 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 Eichmond. If, in conjunction with McDowell's movement against Anderson, yon could send a force from your right to cut off tho enemy's supplies from Eichmond, preserve the railroad bridge across tho two fords of the Pa munkey, and intercept tho enemy's retreat, 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 thc one you now have. Can you not do this almost as well as not, while you are building tho Chickahominy bridges? McDowell and Shields botli say they can, and positively will move Monday morning. I wish you to move cautiously and safely. You will havo command of McDowell, after he joins you, precisely as you indicated in your long dispatch to us of the 21st. A. Lincoln, President. Major-General G. B. MoClellan. General Banks, it Avill be remembered, had been sent by General McClellan, on the 1st of April, to guard the ap proaches to Washington by tlie valley of the Shenandoah, which were even then menaced by Jackson wit]i 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 McDoAvell, from Avliose com maud, 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 Avere 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 compeUed to State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 281 re-enfotce him, a movement which he announced in the foUoAving dispatch to General McCleUan : — May 24, 1862.— (From Washington, 4 p. m.) In consequence of General Banks's critical position, I have been com pelled to suspend General McDowell's movements to join you. The enemy are making a desperate push upon Harper's Ferry, and we aro trying to throw General Fremont's force, and part of General McDowell's, in their rear. A. Lincoln, President. Major-Goneral G. B. McClellan. Unable, apparently, or unwUling to concede any thing whatever to emergencies existing elsewhere, General McClellan remonstrated against the diversion of McDow ell, m reply to which he received, on the 26th, the foUoAving more full explanation from the President :— Washington, May 25, 1862. Your dispatch received. General Banks was at Strasburg with about six thousand men, Shields having been taken from him to swell a col umn for McDowell to aid you at Eichmond, and the 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 Eoyal, destroying it entirely ; crossed the Shenandoah, and on the 24th, yesterday, pushed on to get north of Banks on the road to Winchester. General Banks ran a race with them, beating them into Winchester yesterday evening. This morning a battle ensued between tho two forces, in which General Banks was beaten back into full retreat towards Martinsburg, and probacy is broken up into a total rout. Geary, on the Manassas Gap Eailroad, just now reports that Jackson is now near Front Eoyal with ten thousand troops, following up and supporting, as I understand, the force now pursuing Banks. Also, that another force of ton thousand is near Orleans, following on in the samo 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 Eoyal, and Fremont, who was at Franklin, is moving to Harrisonburg — both these movements intended to got 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 preseuo 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 in 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 ono at that point. This is now our situation. ^ 282 The Life, Public Services, and If McDowell's force was now beyond our reach, wo should dr entirely helpless. Apprehensions of something like this, and no unwillinrness 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 McClellan. ' Jackson continued his 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 Washington. Tlie President promptly announced this state of things to General Mc CleUan in the foUoAving dispatch : — "Washington, Sfay 25, 1SG2 — 2 p. m. The enemy is moving north in sufBcient force to drive 'General Banki before him ; precisely in what force we cannot tell. He is also threaten ing Leesburg and Geary on the Manassas Gap Eailroad, from both north aud south; in precisely what force we cannot tell. I think the move ment is a general and concerted one. Such as would not bo if he was acting upon the purpose of a very desperate defence of Eichmond. I think the time is near *hen you must either attack Eichmond or give up the job, and come to tho defence of Washington. Let me hear from you instantly. A. Ll^-GOLx. To this General McClellan replied that, independently of the President's letter, "the time was very near Avhen 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 CleUan the safety of Banks at WiUiamsport, and then turned his attention, with 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 then- 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 his "arrangements for the morroAV Avere very important, and if successful Ayould leave him free to strike on the return of the force attacked." The move ment here referred to Avas one against a portion of the rebel forces at Hanover Court-House, which threatened McDoAvell, and Avas in a position to re-enforce Jackson. The expedition Avas under command of General Fitz-John Porter, and proved a success. General McClellan on the 28th 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 Richmond, but doubted if he could. The great battle was aboat to be fought before Richmond, and he adds : " It is the poUcy and the duty of the Government to send me by water aU the Ayell-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, Avhich Avas 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 Avithout op position. Tliis 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 wiU do," said the dispatch, "aU that quick movements can accomplish, and you must send me all the troops you can, and leave to me fuU latitude as to choice of commanders." In reply, the President sent him the foUowing : — AfAsniKOTON, Manj 23, 186S. I am very glad of General F. J. Porter's victory ; still, if it was a total rout of tlie enemy, I am puzzled to know why the Eichmond and Fred ericksburg Eailroad was not seized again, as you say you have all the railroads hut the Eichmond and Fredericksburg. I am puzzled to see how, lacking that, yon can have any, except the scrap from Itichraond to West Point. The scrap of the Virginia Central, from Eichmond to Han over Junction, without niore, is simply nothing. That tho whole of tho enemy is concentrating on Eichmond, I think, cannot be certainly known 284 The Life, Public Services, and t/1 yoa or me. Saxton, at Harper's Ferry, informs us that large forcei, supposed to be Jackson's and Ewell's, forced his advance from 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 ro-enforco 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-Goneral MoClellan. To a dispatch reporting the destruction of the South Anna Railroad bridge, the President replied thus :— Wasuinqton, May 29, 1802. Your dispatch as to the South Anna and Ashland being seized by our forces this morning is received. Understanding these points to bo on tho Eichmond and Fredericksburg Eailroad, I heartily congratulate the country, and thank General McClellan and his army for their seizure. A. Lincoln. On the 30tli, 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 spying 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 Avas foUoAved by the Third, under General Heintzelman— c ne division of the Fourth, under General Casey, being pushed forAvard Avithin seven miles of Richmond, to Seven Pines, which he Ava^ ordered to hold at all hazards. On the 28tli, General Keyes Avas ordered to advance Casey' s Division three-quarters of a mile to Fair Oaks. General Keyes obeyed the order, but made strong' representations to head quarters of the extreme danger of pushing these troops so far in advance Avithout adequate support, and requested that General Heintzelman might be brought within sup porting distance, and that a strongpr force might 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 Abraham Lincoln. 285 Keyes was regarded and treated as an alarmist. On the afternoon of the 30th he made a personal examination of his front, and reported that lie Avas menaced by an over whelming force of the enemy in front and on both fianks, and he again urged the necessity for support, to Avhich he receiA'ed a very abrupt reply that no more troops Avould 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 back with heavy loss, and in spite of a stubborn aud gallant resistance on the part of his coi-ps. 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 mUes distant. Gen eral McCleUan ordered General Sumner to hold his 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 Avith great vigor, but the arrival of General Sumner, and the advance of General Heintzelman' s Corps, enabled our forces, though stiU greatly inferior, not only to repel the assault, but to infiict npon the enemy a signal defeat. They 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 t"hey would be immediately followed by our whole army. General McCleUan, who had remained with the main body of the army on the other side of the Chickahominy during the whole of the engagements of both days, crossed the river after the battle was over, and visited the field. "The state of the roads," he aays, "and the impossibU ity of manoeavring artiUery, prevented pursuit." He re turned to head-quarters in the afternoon. On the next day, June 2d, General Heintzelman sent forward a strong reconnoitring party under General Hooker, which went 286 The Life, Public Services, and within four miles of Richmond without finding any en emy. Upon being informed of this 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 Avith the rest of the army and make a general attack. The morale of my troops," he adds, " is now such that I can venture much. I do not fear for odds against me." It seems to haye been his intention then, to concentrate his forces for an immediate advance upon the rebel capital, though in his report, Avritten more than a year afterwards, he says the idea of uniting the two wings of the array at that time for a vigorous move ujjon 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 by 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 divisiou 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 4tli, General McClellan telegraphed that it Avas 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 Avhich he replied on the 7th, ^'- 1 shall he in perfect 1 eadiness to move forward and take Richmond the moment. McCall reaches here, and the ground will admit the pas sage of artillery.'' .Oa the 10th, General McCaU's forces began to arrive at White House, and on the same day * See General McClellan's Report, August 4, 18G3. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 287 General McClellan telegraphed to the department that a rumor had reached him that the rebels had been re-enforced by Beauregard — that he thought a portion of HaUeck's army from Tennessee should be sent to strengthen him, but that he should " attack with what force he had, as soon as the weather and ground avUI permit — but there wUl be a delay," he added, "the extent of which no one can foresee, for the season is altogether abnormal." The Secretary of War repUed that Halleck AVOuld be urged to comply Avith his request if he could safely do so— that neither Beauregard nor his army Avas in Richmond, that McDoAveU's force would join him as soon as possible, that Fremont had had an engagement, not AvhoUy successful, with Jackson, and closing with this strong and cordial assurance of confidence and support : — Be assured. General, that there never has been a moment when my de sire has4)eon otherwise than to aid you with my whole heart, mind, and strength, since the hour we first met ; and whatever others may say for their 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 McCleUan wrote to the War Department that the weather was favorable, and that two days more AVOuld make the ground practicable. He still urges the propriety of sending him more troops, but finds a new subject of complaint in a telegram he had received from McDowell. The latter, on the 8th, had received the foUoAAdng orders : — ¦ TTie 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 tho residue of your force as speedily as possible in the direction of Eichmond to co-operate with Major-General McClellan, in accordance with the instructions heretofore given you. Me- GalVs Division, which has been by previous order directed towards Eich mond by water, will still form a part of the Army of the Rappahannock, and will come under your orders when you are in a position to co-operatt mth General McClellan. 288 The Life, Public Services, and General McDowell had telegraphed McClellan as fol lows on the 10th of June : — For the third time I am ordered to join you, and hope this time to get through. In view of tho remarks made with reference to my leaving you, and not joining you before, by your friends, and of soinething I have heard as coming from you on that subject, I wish to say, I go with tho greatest satisfaction, and hope to arrive with my main body in time to be of service. McCall goes in advance by water. I wUl be with you in ten days with the remainder hy 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 my joining you with the remainder of the troops I am to take below at as early a day as I named. My Third Division (McCaU's) is now on tho way.' Please do me the favor to so place it that it may be in a position to join the others as they come down from Fredericksburg. These telegrams, it will be seen, are in accordance with the orders to McDowell of the 8th, which directed that McCaU's Division should continue to form part of tho Army of the Rappahannock, and required that McDoweU should operate in the direction of Richmond, to co-oper ate with McClellan in accordance with instructions here tofore given him. These instructions are those of the 17th and 18th of May, concerning which McCleUan sent to the President his long telegram of the 2M, in which 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 oirected 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 :— You will have command of McDowell after he joins you, precisely as you indicated m your long dispatch to us of the 21st. In regard to this, McCleUan, in his report (August 4th 1863), says :- ^ ^ & , State Papers of Abraii.4m Lincoln. 289 This information, that McDowell's Corps would march from Fredericks burg on the following Monday — the 26tli — and that he would be under my command as indicated in my telegram of the 21st, was cheering news, and I now felt confident that we w'ould, on his arrival, be sufficiently strong to overpower the largo army confronting us. Yet in the simple request of McDowell, as to the posting of his Third (McCall' s) Division — made to carry out the plan — the ucavs of which, McClellan says, was so cheering, and inspired him Avith such confidence, Mc CleUan sees nothing but personal ambition on McDowell's part, and protests against that "spirit" in the foUowing terms :— That request docs not breathe tho proper spirit. Whatever troops come to me must be disposed of so as to do tlie most good. I do not feel that, in such circumstances as those in which I am now jdaced, General McDowell should wish the general interests to bo sacrificed for tho pur pose of increasing his command. If I cannot fully control all his troops, I want none of them, but would prefer tojiijht the battle with what I have, and let others be resjponsible fot the results. Tho department linos should not ho allowed to interfere with me ; Lnl General McD., and all other troops sent to me, should be placed C07n2}lete- Zy at my disposal, to do with them as I think best. In no other way cas ihey be of assistance to mc. 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 McDoaa'cU might possibly advance upon Richmond from tlie north, without AA^aiting for McClellan : it is scarcely possible, hoAvever, that any suspicion of such a purpose could have had any thing to do Avith General McClellan's reiterated and emphatic desire that McDoAvell should join him by water, so as to be in his rear, and not by land, AA^hich Avould bring him on his front — with his 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 certainly a Uttle singular that a com- 19 290 The Life, Public Services, and mander, intrusted with an enterprise of such transcendent importance to his army and couutry, Avho had been so urgently calling for re-enforcements as absolately indis pensable to success, should have preferred not to receive them, but to fight the battle with what he had, rather than have the co-operation of McDoAvell under the tAVO conditions fixed by the President, (1) that he should not deprive him of his troops, or, (2) post them so as to prevent their 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 20th 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 "inferiority 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 mUitary affairs throughout the whole country.''' To this he received the following reply :— AVASHiNaTON, June 21, 1S62— 6 p. m. Your dispatch of yesterday, two p. m., was received this morning. If it would not divert too much of your time and attention from the army nnder your immediate command, I would be glad to have your 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 with you, bnt you cannot leave your camp, and I cannot well leave here. A. Lincoln, President. Major-General Geokob B. MoClellan. ^ State Papers of Abraham 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 this 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 AVOuld be better to defer the communication he desired to make" on the 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 eyery 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 hour, 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 McCleUan 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, howeyer, a great deal of labor in bridging the stream, so that either wing could haye been thrown across with great ease and celerity. Up to the 24th of June, General McClellan believed Jackson to be in strong force at GordonsvUle, 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 wiU 292 The Life, Public Services, and therefore be compelled to fight, he writes to the Depart ment to throw upon others the responsibiUty of an antici pated defeat. He declares the rebel force to be some two hundred thousand, regrets his " great inferiority 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 foUows : — ¦WAsniNGTON, June 26, 1862. Your throe dispatches of yesterday in rel.ition, 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 tho best you can with what yon havo ; while you continue, ungenerously, I think, to assume that I could give you more if I would. I have omitted — I shall omit — no opportunity to send you re-enforcemonts 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 Mechanicsyille on the afternoon of the 26th, but the enemy were repulsed. The movement, hoAvever, disclosed the purpose of the rebel army to crush his right wing and cut off his communica tions, if possible. Two plans Avere open to his adoption : he might haye 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— iu 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 centration seemed to be absolutely essential to success in any event. But he did not attempt it. He left the right wing to contend next day with thirty thousand men, without support, against the main body of the rebel army, and only withdrcAV it acioss the Chickahominy 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 Avithdrew the remainder of his right wing across the Chicka hominy. On the next day the Avhole army Avas put in motion on the retreat, and General McClellan found time again to reproach the Government Avith negiect 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 " Avas not responsible " for the result, and that he must have instantly very large re-enforcements ; and closed by saying to the Secretary of War — Avhat 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 teU you plainly that I oioe no thanks to you or to any persons in Washington : you have done yottr hest to sacrifice this army." To this dispatch the President replied as follows :— Wasiiinotok, Jtuie 28, 1 862. . Save your army at all events. Will send re-enforcemonts 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 thought 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 fool it yourself. If you have had a drawn battle or a repulse, it is the price we pay for the enemy not being in AVashington. We protected Washington, and tho enemy concentrated on you. Had wa stripped Washington, he would have been upon us before the troops sent could have got to you. Less than a week ago yiu notified us that re enforcements were leaving Eichmond to come in front of us. It is the nature of the case, and neither you nor the Government is to blame. A. Lincoln. Under general orders from General McCleUan, he and 294 The Life, Public Services, 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 personaUy 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 the 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, which 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 faU back to the river if possible; to which dispatch he received the foUowing reply : — Washington, July 1, 1862—3.30 P. M. It is impossible to re-enforoe 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, yon must find a place of security, and wait, rest, and repair. Maintain your ground if you can, but save tbe army at ail events, even if you fall back to Fort Monroe. We still have strength enough in the country, aud will bring it out. A. Lincoln. Major-General G. B. McClbllan. 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 bo promptly sent you, you surely labor under some gross mistake of fact. Eecently yon sent papers show ing your disposal of forces made last spring for the defence of Wa.sliington, and advising a return to that plan. I find it included in and about AA'ash- ington seventy-five thousand mon. Now, please be assured that I have not men enough to fill that very plan by fifteen thousand. All of General Fremont's in the Valley, all of General Banks's, all of General McDo-^yell's State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 295 not with you, and all in Washington taken together, do not exceed, if they reach, sixty thousand. With General^ Wool and General Dix added to those mentioned, I havo not, outside of your army, soventy-five thousand men east of the mountains. Thus, the idea of sending you fifty thousand, or any other consider.ablo force promptly, is simply absui'd. If, in your frequent mention of responsibility, you have tho impression that I blame you for not doing more than you can, please be relieved of such impres sion. I only beg that, in like manner, you will not ask impossibilities of me. If you think you are not strong enough to take Eichmond just now, I do not ask you to try just now. Save the army, material, and perso7inel, and I will strengthen it for the offensive again as fast as I can. The Governors of eighteen States offer me a new levy of throe hundred thousand, which I accept. A. Lincoln. On the next day, the 3d, General McClellan again wrote for one hundred thousand men — "more rather than less," in order to enable him to " accomplish 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 new attack, from which, hoAvever, 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 : — AVae Depaetmint, Washington Oitt, D. C, July 4, 1862. I understand your position as stated in your letter, and by Geneis,! Marcy. To re-enforce you so as to enable you to resume tho 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 tho judge as to which you will attempt, and of the means for effecting it. I but give it as my opinion, that with the aid of the gunboats and the re-enforcements mentioned above, you 296 The Life, Public Services, and can hold your present position ; provided, and so long as yon can keep tho James Eiver open below you. If you are not tolerably confident you can keep the James Eiver 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 ™ver 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 offensive, you are not restrained from doing so. A. L. At this point, on the 7th of July, General McCleUan sent the President a letter of advice on the general con duct of his Administration. He thought the time had come "Avhen 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 rebeUion, 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 the 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 bo asserted, and the 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 ! particular State, thus working manumission in such State ; and in Missouri; perhaps in Western Virginia also, and possibly even in Maryland, tho expediency of such a measure is only a question of time. * * * Unless the principles governing tlie future conduct of our struggle shall bo made known and approved, the effort to obtain requisite forces will be 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 vifiAVS the President Avould 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 Avould serve ir. any position that might be assigned him. "I may be,' he adds, "on the brink of eternity,; and as I hope foi forgiveness from my Maker, I haye written this letter with sincerity 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 haye been at that time a matter of considerable difference of opinion ; and in regard to it, on returning to Washmgton, the President thus addressed the General : — ExEctmvK Mansion, Washington, July 13, 1862. Mt Deak Sir : — I am told that over one hundred and sixty thousand men have gone with your army on tho Peninsula. When I was with you the other d.ay, wo 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 fit for duty to-day. Have you any moro perfect knowledge of this than I have ? If I am right, and you had these men with you, you could go into Eichmond in tho next three days. How can they be got to you, and how can they be prevented from getting away in fcucli 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 Avere absent by authority— z. 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 fixty - eight thousand three hundred and fourteen, and tlie 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, and eration. It was understood that the rebels were gather ing large forces for another advance upon Washington, wlUch was comparatively unprotected— and as General McCleUan did not consider himself strong enough, to take the offensive, it was felt to be absolutely necessary to con centrate the army, either on the Peninsula or iu fi ont 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 fine 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 throAvn again upon Richmond." He " dreaded the effects of any retreat on the morale of his men" — though his previous experience should have obviated any such apprehension 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 ISTorth Carolina 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 aU available troops." On the 25th, General Halleck had visited the camp, and, after a careful inspection of the condition of the army, caUed an informal councU of the otficers, a majority of whom, upon learning the state of affairs, recommended its withdrawal from the Peninsula. On the 30th, he issued an order to General McClellan to make arrangements at once for a prompt removal of all the sick in his army, in oyder 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 McCleUan replied that it was "impossible to decide what cases to State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 299 Bend off unless he knew what was to be done Avith the army" — 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, General 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 ofii cers. General McClellan, on the 4th, wrote a long protest against this movement — saying it mattered not what par 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 McCleUan 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 HaUeck on the 6th addressed him as follows : — HEAD-QirARTPP.S OE THB ArMT, \ Washington, August 6, 1862. ( Genekal :- — Your telegram of yesterday was reoeivod this morning, and I immediately telegraphed 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 my 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 yoii. General, it was not a hasty and inconsiderate act, but one that caused me more anxious thoughts than any other of my life. Bnt after full and mature consideration of all the pros 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 Eichmond 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 thirty miles from Eichmond, and General Pope eighty or ninety, with the enemy directly between you, ready to fall 300 The Life, Public Services, and with his supirior mimbers upon one or the other as he may elect; neither can re-inforce the other in case of such an attack. If General Po{)e'3 army be diminished to re-enforce you, Washington, Maryland, and Pennsylvania would 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 by water to tho Peninsula is, under present circumstances, a military impossibility. The only alternative is to send the forces on the Peninsula to some point by water, say Fredericksburg, where tho two armies can bo united. Let me now allude to some of tho objections which yon have urged : you say that the withdrawal frora the present position will cause the certain demoralization of the army, " which is now in excellent discipline 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 disci|iline, unless the officers themselves assist in that demoralization, which I am satisfied they will not. Your change of front from your extreme right at Hanover Conrt-Honse 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 Eappahannock at Fredericksburg brings you withiu about sixty miles of Richmond, and secures a re-enforcement of forty oi fifty thousand fresh and disciplined troops. The change with such advantages «'ill, I think, if properly represented to your army, onoour.ago rather than demoralize yonr troops. Moreover. you yourself suggested that a junction miglit be effected at Yorktewn, but that a flank march across the isthmus would be more hazardous than to retire to Fort Monroe. You will romember that Yorktown is two or throe miles further than Fredericksburg is. Besides, the latter is between Richmond aud AVash ington, and covers Washington from any attack of the enemy. The political effect of the withdrawal may at first be unfavor.able ; bnt 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 ro-enforce me here, so that I can strike Eichmond from my present position? To do this, you said, at our inter view, that you required thirty tnousand additional troops. I told yon that it was impossible to give you so many. You finally thought yon State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 301 would have " some chance " of success with twenty thousand. But you afterw.ards telegraphed me that you would require thirty-five thousand, as the enemy was being largely ro-enforoed. If your estimate of the enemy's strength was correct, your requisition was perfectly reasonable; bnt 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 almosi destroy it in that climate. The months of August and September are almost fatal to whites who live on that part of James Eiver; and oven after you received the re-en- forcoments 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 tho 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 Eappahannock, 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 tho 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 yonr plans require re-enforcements which it is impossible to give you. It is -very easy to ask for re-enforcements, but it is not so easy to give thom 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. .Hallkok, Oeneral-in- Chief. Major-General G. B. MoClellan, Commanding, etc., Berkeley, Virginia. The order for the removal of the sick was given to General McCleUan on the 2d of August. On the 7th, 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 HaUeck telegraphed McClellan that the enemy was massing his forces in front of General 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 repUed that he would "move the whole army as soon as the sick were disposed of" On the 12th, in reply to the most pressing orders for immediate dispatch from General Halleck, who 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 scarcely arrive in time to save it. On the 14th, he announced that the movement had commenced ; on the 17tli, he said he "should not feel entirely secure until he had the whole army beyond the Chickahominy, but that he would then begin to forAvard troops by Avater as fast as transportation Avould 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 the 27th 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 McDoweU. 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 appUed to be reUeved 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 him would largely reduce his rank and consid eration in the service." In compliance with his request, General Fremont was at once relieved. On the 27th of August, General McCleUan was ordered State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 303 by General Halleck to " take entire direction of the send ing out of the troops from Alexandria'" to re-enforce Pope, whom the enemy were pressing with a powerful array, 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 which arrived after him, or Avhich 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. The extent to Avhich 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 someAvhat detaUed examination. In his report of August 4th, 1863, after giving a portion only of the correspondence betAveen himself and the Government on this subject, General McCleUan says : — 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, Newport News, and Yorktown, remaining at Fort Monroe myself until the mass of tli_e army had sailed ; and that after my arrival at Alexandria, Ileft nothing in my power undone to forward supplies and re-enforcements 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, with the provost and camp guards at head-quarters, retaining less than one hundi-ed 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 squadron 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 weU to remark, that as General McClellan was in the City of Alexandria, and not in any way ex- 304 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 sonal escort, provost and camp guards, and head-quar ter baggage-teams, when 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, Ave come to the important question — Is it true that General McClellan left, as lie avers, nothing undone in his poAver to forward supplies and re-enforcements to General Pope' s army ? Did he, on this momentous occasion, honestly and faithfuU}^ do his Avhole 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, Avelfare, and glory of the nation ? He had been repeatedly urged to hurry forAvard the troops from the Peninsula. On the 9th of August, he was informed by General Halleck that "the enemy is massing his forces in front of Generals Pope and Burnside to try and crush them, and move forAvard to the Potomac ;" and Avas further told, "Considering the amount of transporta tion, at your disposal, yotfr delay is not satisfactory. You must mace 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 he no fur ther delay in your movements : that which has already occurred Avas entirely unexpected, and must be satisfac- torUy explained. Let not a moment's time be lost, and telegraph me daily Avhat progress you have made in exe cuting the order to transfer your troops." Again, on the 21st, he Avas told, "the forces of Burnside and Pope are hard pushed, and requir.e 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 haA^e to fight as soon as tliey 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 Avhich Pope was placed, and that the concentration of the tAVO 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 McCleUan left the Peninsula. When he readied Aquia on the 24th, under most posi tive and pressing orders from Washington, General Pope, who had been holding the line of the Rappahannock for nearly a Aveek against the assaults of Lee' s Avhole army, and keeping up communication with Fredericksburg, so as to receiA'e the re-enforcements McClellan had been ordered to send up from the Peninsula — finding these re-enforcements not coming by Avater 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, aud then to Gaines ville, and his left and centre from Rappahannock and Sulphur Springs to Warrenton Junction, ' Bristol, and Manassas. General McClellan kncAV 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 Geneial 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, "wiU march as soon as it receives transportation." General Pope had, when his line was stretched from below Rappahannock Station to beyond AVarrenton, asked that Franklin's Corps might be sent out to take post on his right at Gainesville, to which there was transportatioil 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 that corps at that place, or in the action at all, was one of the chief causes of Pope's failure. Why was this ? 20 306 The Life, Public Seratices, and August 27th, as already stated, General McCleUan waa directed "to take entire direction of the sending out of the troops from Alexandria." On the same day he Avas 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 under 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 HaUeck that ^' Franklin' s Corps should move out hy forced marches, carrying three or four days' provisions, and to he supplied as. far as possible hy railroad." It is well 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 haye forgotten them, or to have utterly failed to appre ciate their importance. A battle reported by his favorite general, Fitz-John Porter, as imminent, within cannon sound of where he was, — the road to the battle-field, a Avide, straight. Macadam turnpike, well-knoAvn to both General McClellan and General Franklin, as each had been oyer it more than once, — the whole of the enemy and army which had been pressing Pope since the 9tli, now concentrating to overwhelm him, — here, one would think, was every motive for him to do, as he claims to haye done, every thing in his power to send re-enforce ments forAvard, 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 hj 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 acknoAvledges 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 Avithout Franklin's help. Why was this? Were the orders to send FrankUn out countermanded ? General Halleck says they 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 McCleUan reports that Generals Franklin, Smith, and Sloeum are aU in Washington ; and that he had given orders to place the corps in readiness to march to the next iu rank. At the same time, he reports heavy firing at CentreyUle. On the 28th, Halleck, learning that McCleUan, 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 28th, at 3.30 p. m., Halleck informs McCleUan 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 Avith 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 HaUeck of 308 The Life, Public Services, and August 29th. "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 p. m., you wiU 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 foUows : — Camp neak Alexandkia, August 29, 10.30 A. m. Franklin's Corps aro in motion ; started about six a. m. I can give him 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 vid Freeman's Hill and Hunter's Lane. Cox has two squadrons of cavalry. Please answer at once whether this meets yonr 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. jTjf Sumner moves in support of FranMin, it leaves ns 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 noi think Franklin is In a condition to accomplish much if he meets strong resistance, /should not have moved him but for your pressing orders of last night. What have you from Vienna and DrainsvUle ? Geo. B. McClellan, Major-General. Major-General H. W. Halleok, General-in-Chief. To this HaUeck replies : — AVAR Depaetment, Wabhinoton, 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 np 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 McCleUan sends the second of the dispatches he refers to, as follows. There are two telegrams of the same date : — Head-Quarters Army Potomac, August 29, 1S62, 12 m. Your telegram received. Do you wish 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. Halleok, General-in-Chief. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 309 Heai>-Qttarter8 Aumt Potomao, ) 1 Alexandria, Virginia, August 29, 1S62, 12 m. ) Have ordered most of the 12th Pennsylvania Cavalry to report to Gen eral Bernard for scouting duty towards Rockvillo, 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. MoClellan, Major- General U. S. Army. Major-General Halleok, Oeneral-in- Chief. Then foUows the telegram of 1 p. m. : — IIead-Qitaeters near Alexandria, \ Augvet 29, IS62, 1 p. m. ( I anxiously await reply to my last dispatch in regard to Sumner. Wish to give order at once. Please authorize mo 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 lino 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 with all the troops in this vicinity, including Franklin, who I really think ought not, under the present circumstances, to proceed beyond Ariaiidale ? Geo. B. McClellan, Major-General. General Halleok, 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 fighting 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— the army for wMch, 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 ia these dispatches, which he cites in his own vindica tion, no evidence to sustain the declaration of his report. n 310 The Life, Public Services, and that from the moment of his arrival at Alexandria he "left nothing in his power undone to forward suppUes 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 Avanted most, and where alone they could assist in get ting Pope "out of his scrape," and in saviug 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 HeUeck says, "general authority over aU 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 Avithout the aid he had a right to ex pect, and which General McCleUan was repeatedly and peremptorily ordered to give ? Those of McCleUan'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 onoe use all our means to make the Capi tal perfectly safe. No middle ground will now answer. Tell nw> what you wish me to do, and I will do aU iu my power to accomplish it. To this the President had thus replied : — AVAsniNOTON, August 29, 18G2-4. 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 tha right one, but I wish not to control. That I now leave to General Halleck, aided hy your counsels. x. Lincoln. Major-General McClellan State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 311 andria before him, or Avere there before his arrival, Stur gis, Kearney, Hooker, and Heintzelman, had all gone forward and joined in these battles. Why could not Franklin — all of AVhose movements were controlled by McClellan— do as much Avith him as his brother com manders had done Avithout him ? The first thing that McClellan did, on reaching Alex andria, in the discharge of his duties to send forward 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 : wiU 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, McCleUan says : — Franklin's artillery has 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 : " AU 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 Lefe, Public Services, and A few moments later, he says : — Your dispatch received. J^Teither Franklin's nor Sumner's Corps ii now in a condition to move and fight a battle. It would be a sacrifice to send them out now ! I have sent aids to ascertain the cbndition 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 smaU force (?) to which he refers consisted, as here tofore stated, of Sumner's Corps of fourteen thousand and Frankhn's of eleven thousand, a total of twenty-five thousand— not going to fight 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 aiiny 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 Avere, that he had no transportation for his reserve ammunition, and was too Aveak alone, and Sumner ouglit not to be sent to support him, as it would leave the Capital unprotected ! State, Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 313 It is fortunate some of McCleUan' s Corps preceded him from the Peninsula, and arrived and marched before he came up. For, if not, two of the corps who joined Pope and fought under him would have been halted for the reasons that stayed Franklin. Kearney joined without artillery, and Pope ordered two batteries to be given him ; Porter had but forty rounds of ammunition — Heint zelman joined without cavalry. f. Why, may it be asked, were "neither Sumner's nor Franldin' s Corps in a condition to move and fight a bat tle r' McCleUan 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 McCleUan ? It wUl haye been noticed that lack of transportation was at the bottom of the alleged difficulties. 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, Avhere there was an abundance of both ? Such things have been done even in this war, on much less important occasions than this one. But wUl not this plea seem stranger stUl when it is found that there was no. need of pressing any private property into service — that there Tvas plenty of public transportation on hand? Let the following dispatch shoAV : — • AVAR Department, AVAsmNGTON, D. C, August 30, 1862. I am by no means satisfied with General Franklin's march of yester day, considering the circumstances of the case. He was very wrong in stopiiing at Alexandria. Moreover, I learned last night that the Quarter master's Department would have given him plenty of transportation if 814 T?iE Life, Public Services, and he had applied for it any time since his arrival at Alexandria. He knew tho importance of opening communication with General Pope's army, and should have acted more promptly. H. W. Halleck, General-in- CIdef. Major-General McClellan, Alexandria. But most strange of aU is, that General McClellan kueAV • 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 hig dispatch of August 30, to General Pope :^ The quartermasters here (Alexandria) said there was none disposable. The diflioulty seems to consist in tho fact (ho adds), that the greater part of tho 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 sUghtest 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 Corps and the disposition of Cox's force and the other troops forthe defence of Washington, is as follows : — AVAR Department, AVabdington, D. C, August 29, 1862. Your proposed disposition of Sumner's Corps seems to me judicious. Of course I havo no time to examine into details. The present danger is a raid upon Washington in the night-time. Dispose of all troops as yon deem best. I want Franklin's Corps to go far enough to flnd out something about the enemy. Perhaps he may get such information at Anandale as to prevent his going further. Otherwise, he will push ou towards Fairfax. Try to get soinething from direction of Manassas eithei by telegrams or through Franklin's scouts. Our people must move ao tively and flnd out where the enemy is. I am tired of guesses. H. W. Halleok, General-in- Chiqf Major-General MoClellan, Alexandria. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 315 It is in this dispatch that General McClellan finds his authority to halt Franklin at Anandale. Franklin had been repeatedly ordered to join Pope, but had been de layed by McClellan, who evidently did not intend he should get beyond his control if possible. In his telegram to HaUeck of one o' clock p. m. of the 29th, he asks if he may do as seems to him best with aU the troops in the vicinity of Alexandria, including Franklin — Franklin being still in the vicinity of Alexan dria. HaUeck, in giving him authority to dispose of aU 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 find out something about the enemy." Franklin's Corps did not go out far enough to learn any thing about the enemy. What 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 Avith 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 ia check. Having thus disposed of the question oi re-enforcements, it now remains to say a word about supplies, which Gen eral McCleUan says he left nothing undone to forAvard to Pope. When at Fort Monroe he telegraphed (August 21st, 10. 62 p. M.) :— I have ample supplies of ammunition for infantry and artillery, and will have it up in time. / can supply any deficiency that may exist in General Pope's army. 316 The Life, Public Services, and August the 30th (1.45 p. M.), General Halleck tele graphed him : — Ammunition, and particularly for artillery, must be immediately sent forward to CentreviUe for General Pope. To which he replied : — 1 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 very easily found out those calibres. His ordnance otficer knew those of the corps of his own army, and he Avas in telegraphic comma- nicatiou Avith the ordnance officer in Washington, where a register is kept of aU the batteries in service. What Avas his course with respect to supplies of forage and subsistence, of which Pope' s army Avas in such ex treme need ? He directed Franklin to say to Pope he would send him out suppUes if he. Pope, would send cavalry to es cort them out! "Such a request" (says Pope, in his dispatch of 5 a. m., August 30), " when Alexandria is fuU of troops, and I fighting the enemiy, needs no comment." Tlie Army of the Potomac, under General Pope, Avas defeated and driven back upon Washington. But it had contested every inch of the ground, and had fought every battle with a gallantry and tenacious courage that would have insured a decisive victory if it had been properly and promptly supported. It Avas not broken, either in spirit or in organization ; and it feU back upon the Capital prepared to renew the struggle for its salvation. By this time, howeyer, General McCleUan had become the recognized head of a political party in the country, and a mUitary 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 a state of feeling throughout the country and in Washing ton eminently favorable to the designs of General Mc CleUan's partisans; and upon the urgent but unjust rep resentation of some of his officers that the army would not serve under any other commander. General Pope was relieved, and General McCleUan 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 Milet. 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 wUlbe 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 j^rs^ provide for the defence of the Capital." General Halleck rex)lied that "the capture of Washington would throw them back six months, if not destroy them," and that Miles could not join him untU communications were opened. On the 14tli, the battle of South Mountain took place, the rebels falUng back to the Potomac ; and on the 17th the battle of Antietam was fought, resulting in the defeat of the rebel forces, although no pursuit was made, and they were aUowed, 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 McCleUan 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, howeyer, for a renewal of the battle on the 19th, but it was then suddenly discovered that the enemy was on the other side of the Potomac. General McClellan did not feel authorized on account of the condition of hia 318 The Life, Public Services, and army to cross in pursuit, and on the 23d wrote to Wash ington, asking for re-enforcements, renewing the appUca- tion on the 27th, and stating his purpose to be to hold the army where it was, and to attack the enemy should he attempt to recross into Maryland. He thought that only the troops necessary to garrison Washington should be retained there, and that every thing else avaUable should be sent to him. If re-enforced and aUowed to take his own course, he said, he would be responsible for the safety of the Capital. On the 1st of Octobe"', President Lincoln visited the army and made careful inquiry into its strength and con dition. On the 6tli, he issaed the foUoAyiag- order for an immediate advance : — AVabeinqton, D. O., October 6, 1862. 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 what 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 Avithout these the army could not move. On the 11th, the rebel General Stuart, with a force of about 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 IMcClellan the foiloAving letter : Eiecctite Mansion, AVashington, October 13, 1SC2. Mt Deae Sir : — Yon remember my speaking to you of what I called your over-cautiousness. Are you not over-cautious when you assume that you cannot do what the enemy is constantly doing? Should you not claim to be ,it le.ist his equal in prowess, aud 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 yon 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 than half as well provided with wagons as you are. I certainly should be pleased for you to have the advantage of tho 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 aot as if this applies against you, but cannot apply in jowv favor. Change positions with the enemy, and think you not he would break your communication with Eichmond within tho next twenty-four hours ? You dread his going into Pennsylvania. But if ho 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 ho does so with less than full force, fall upon and boat what is left behind all the easier. / Exclusive of the water line, you are now nearer Eichmond than the enemy is, by the route that you can and he m.ust 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 yours as on his. You know I desired, but did not order, you to cross the Potomac beloAV 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, flght 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 we cannot beat him when ho boars the wastage of coming to us, we never can when we bear the wastage of going to him. This proposition 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 we should not waive. ' We should not so operate as to merely drive him away. As we must beat him somewhere, or fail finally, we can do it, if at all, easier near to us than far away. If we cannot beat the enemy whore he now is, we nevei can, he again being within the intrenchments of Eichmond. Eecurring to the idea of going to Eichmond on the inside track, the facility of sup plying from the side away from the enemy is remarkable, as it were, by the difierent spokes of a wheel, extending from the hub towards the rim, and this whether you move directly by the chord, or on tbe inside arc, hugging the Blue Eidge more closely. The chord-line, as you seo, carries you by Aldie, Haymarket, and Fredericksburg, and you see how turn pikes, railroads, and finally tho Potomac by Aquia Creek, meet you at all points from Washington. The same, only the lines lengthened a little, if you press closer to the Blue Eidge part of the way. The gaps through the Blue Eidge 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; Chester, 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 Avish. For a great part of tho way you would be practically between the enemy aud both Washington and Eichmond, enabling us to spare you tho greatest number of troops from hero. When, at length, running to Richmond ahead of him enables him to move this way, if he does so, turn and attack him 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 well as the enouV, and it is unmanly to say tliey cannot do it. This letter is in no sense an order. ¦M ¦ n ^^.r r^ ^°'^^^' *^"^^' -^^ Le«COLN. Major-General McClellan. For over a fortnight longer General McClellan delayed any attempt to move his 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 stiU the President's wish that he should march upon the enemy at once, or await the arrival of fresh horses. He was told in reply that the order of the 6th was unchanged, and that State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 321 while the President did not expect impossibilities, he was " very anxious that all this good weather should not be wasted in inactivity." General McCleUan states in his report that he inferred, from the tenor of this dispatch, that it was left to his own judgment whether 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 forAvard movement could be commdnced. On the 25th he complained to the Department of the con dition of his cavalry, saying that the horses Avere fatigued and greatly troubled with sore tongue ; whereupon the President addressed him the foUoAving inquiry : — War Department, WAsniNOTON, October 25, 1862. I have just read your dispatch about sore-tongue and fatigued horses. Will you pardon me for asking what the horses of your army have done since the battle of Antietam that fatigues any thing ? A. Lincoln. The General repUed that they had been engaged in maldng reconnoissances, scouting, and picketing ; to Avliich the President thus rejoined: — Executive Mansion, Washington, October 2G, 1SS2. Yours in reply to mine about horses received. Of course you know tho 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 tho cavalry, compelling the enemy to concentrate in stead of " foraging " in squads everywhere ? But I am so rejoiced to learn from your dispatch to General Halleok that you began crossing the river this morning. A. Lincoln. I The General replied in a long dispatch, rehearsing ia detail the labors performed by his cavalry, to Avhich he thought the President had done injustice. This note eU- cited the foUoAving reply : — ExECUTivK Mansion, AVashington, 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 bo told, after more than five weeks' total inaction of the army, and during which period we h.ad sent to that army every fresh horse we possibly could, amounting in tLo whole to seven thousand nine hundred and eighteen, that the cavalry 21 322 The Life, Public Services, and horses ^vero too much fatigued to move, presented a very cheerless, almost hopeless, prospect for tho future, and it may have forced something of impatience into my dispatches. If not recruited and rested then, when could they ever be ? I suppose the river is rising, and I am glad to believe you aro crossing. -^^ Lincoln. The General next started, as a new 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 bat 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, Washinoton, October 2T, i862, Your dispatch of three p. m. to-day, in regard to filling up old regiments with drafted men, is received, and the request therein shall 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 nofl being drafted in tho States are incorporated in the old regiments?" A. LiNcoijf. The General, in reply, explained that the language of the 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 fiUed by drafted men. The army Avas gradually crossed over, and on the 5th of November the General announced to the President that it Avas aU 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 falUng back, at his leisure, toAvards 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 ber, 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 the war. For oyer fifteen months General McCleUan had commanded the Army of the Potomac, the largest and most powerful" army ever marshalled till then upon this con tinent — consisting of one hundred and sixty thousand men, and furnished, in lavish profusion, with every thing requisite for effective service. Throughout the Avhole 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 sibUity of avoiding an engagement, eyery battle which it fought was on the defensive. According to the sworn testimony of his own commanders. General McCleUan might haye overwMlmed the rebel forces arrayed against him at Manassas, at Yorktown, after Williamsburg, Fair Oaks, Malvern HiU, and Antietam ; but on every one of these occasions he carefully forbore to ayaU himself of the superiority of his position, and gave the enemy ample time to prepare for more complete and eflfectiye 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 than to any other, were intrusted the destinies of the Nation during one of the most critical periods. Whether he acted from an innate disability, or upon a political theory — whether he intentionally avoided a decisive engagement in order to accomplish certain political results which he and his secret advisers deemed desirable, or whether he was, by the native constitution of his miad, unable to meet the gigantic responsibiUties 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 which his acts and his words afford. As the record we haye given shows, President Lincoln lost no oppor tunity of urging upon him more prompt and decisive 324 The Life, Public Services, and action, whUe in no instance did he Avithhold from him any aid which it was in the power of the Government to give. Nothing can shoAV more clearly the disposition of the President to sustain him to the utmost, and to protect htm from the rapidly --ising tide of pubUc 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 Eiver, and just before the withdrawal of the army from the Peninsula : — Fellow-Citizens : — I believe there is no precedent for my appearing before 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 bettor, and better address your understanding than I will or could, and therefore I propose but to detain yon a moment longer. T I am very little inclined on any occasion to say any thing unless I hope to produce somo good by it. The only thing I think of just now not likely to be better said by some one else, is a matter in which we have hoard some other persons blamed for what I did myself. There has been a very wide-spread attempt to havo a quarrel between General McClellan and the Secretary of War. Now, I occupy a position that enables mo to observe, that these two gentlemen aro not nearly so deep in the quarrel as some pretending to be their friends. General McClellan's attitude is such that, in the very selfishness of his nature, he cannot but wish to be suc cessful, and I hope he will — and the Secretary of War is in precisely the same situation. If the military commanders in the field cannot be success ful, not only the Secretary of War, but myself, for the 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 moi c than I wish it. Sometimes wo 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 tho Secretary of "War insist that General McCleUan has had a very small number. The basis for this is, there is always a wide diflference, 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 Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 325 McCleUan is not to blame for asking what he wanted and needed, and the Secretary of War is not to blame for not giving when he had none to give. And I say here, as far as I know, the Secretary of War has withheld no on© thing at any time in my power to give him. I havo no accusation against him. I believe he is a brave and able man, and I stand here, as justice requires me to do, to take npon myself what has been charged on the Secretary of "War, as withholding from him. I have talked longer than I expected to do, and now I avaU myself of my privilege of saying no more. 320 The Life, Public SER"ncES, and CHAPTER X. GENERAL CONDUCT OP THB ADMINISTRATION IN 1862. SncoESSES IN TUB Southwest. — Eecoonized Objects of the Wau. — ESLATIONS OF THE AVaK TO SlAVEKAT. — OuE FoREION EeLATIONS. — Piioi'OSED Mediation of the French Ejiperor. — Eeplt to the French Proposal. — Seceetaky Seward's Dispatoh. — The Presi dent's Letter to Fernando Wood. — Observance op the Sabbath, In every other section of the country, except in East ern Virginia, 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 the 19th 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 aU the forces of the Government ou the 22d of February, had been promptly foUoAved by the capture of Forts Henry and Donelson on the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers, Avhich led to the evacuation of BoAvUng Green, the surren der of NashviUe, and the fall of Columbus, the rebel strong hold on the Mississippi. Fort Pulaski, Avhich guarded tlie entrance to Savannah, Avas taken, after eighteen hours' bombardment, on the 12th of April, and the whole Avest 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'ilissouri. 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 t"!he passage of the State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 327 Mississippi, was taken by General Pope ; and, on the 4th of June, Forts PUlow 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 foimidable expedition had ascended the Tennessee River, and, being joined by aU the available Union forces in that vicinity, the whole, under command of General Halleck, prepared to give battle 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 anny, which Avas sweeping steadily down upon them from the field of its recent conquests. The rebels opened the attack with great fury and elfect, on the morning of the 6th of April, at Pittsburg Landing, three miles in ad vance of Corinth. The fight lasted nearly all day, the rebels having decidedly the advantage ; but in their final onset they 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 pleased Almighty God to vouchsafe signal victories to the land and naval forces engaged in suppressing an internal rebellion, and at the samc 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 especiaUy acknowledge and render thanks to our Heavenly Father for these inestimable blessings ; that they then and there implore spiritual consolation in behalf of all those who have been brought into affliction 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 thoy may speedily result in the restoration of peace, harmony, and unity throughout our borders, and hasten the estab lishment of fraternal relations among iiU the countries of the earth. In witness whereof, I havo hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. 328 The Life, Public Services, and Done at tho City of Washington, this tenth day of April, in tlie [l. s.] year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-sixth. ABBAHAii Lincoln. By the President : Wm. H. Sewaed, Secretary of State. On the 2Sth of Jlay the rebels evacuated Corinth, and t were pushed southward by our pursuing forces for some twenty -five or thirty miles. General Mitchell, by a daring and most gallant enterprise 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 tl^e rebel General Lovell, Avho had command of the military defences of the city, withdrew, and Com modore Farragut took possession of the toAvn, Avhicli 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, undei General Bragg, invaded Kentucky for the double pur pose of obtaining supplies and afi"ording a raUying point for what they beUeved to be the secession sentiment of the State. In the accomplishment of the former object they were successful, but not in the latter. They lost more while in the State from desertions than they gained by recruits ; and after a battle at PerryviUe, on the 7th of October, they began their retreat. On the 5tli 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 Avith very heavy losses, and the campaign in Kentucky and Ten nessee was virtually at an end. A final efiTort of the enemy in that region led to a severe engagement at Mur- State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 329 freesboro' on the 31st of December, which resulted in the defeat of the rebel forces, and in reUeying Tennessee from the presence of the rebel armies.' In all the military operations of this year, especial care had been taken by the generals tn 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 mUitary, 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 especiaUy to set free their slaves. The Government did every thing in its power to allay the apprehensions and hostilities which these statements were calculated to produce. General Garfield, while in Ken tucky, just before the victory of Mill Springs, issued on the 16th of January an address to the citizens of that section of the State, exhorting them to return to theu- aUegiance to the Federal Government, which had never made itself injuriously felt by any one among them, and promising them full protection for their persons and their property, and fuU reparation for any wrongs they might have sustained. After the battle of MUl 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 from danger menaced by traitors." On the 20th of November, 1861, General Halleck, commanding the 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 the people of the South under the' flag of the Union should "enjoy the same protection ofi Ufe 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 the civU courts. No fugitive slave AviU, there fore, be admitted within our lines or camps except Avhen 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, caU ing upon the soldiers of his array to remember that they were there "to support the Constitution and the laAVs, tb put doAvn rebellion, and to protect the persons and prop erty of the loyal and peaceable citizens of the State." And on the 18th of the same month, after Fort Henry and Roanoke Island had fallen into our hands, 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 the Southern people by teUing them 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, which was afterwards severely criticised in Congress, General HaUeck wrote the foUowing letter of explanation : — IlEAD-QvAETETtS DepAHTWENT OF TnK MiSSOVKI, \ St. Louis, December 8, ISfil. ( Mt Deah Colonel :-Tours of the 4tb instant is just received. Order No. 8 was, in my mind, clearly a military neccssity. Uuanthori/ert persons, black or white, free or slaves, must he kept out of our eamps, unless we are willing to publish to the enemy every thing 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 supe riors may give me, and to enforce any law which Congress m.ay pass. But I cannot make law, and will nut violate it. You know my private opinion on the policy of eonflseating the slave property of the rebels in .arms. If Congr..ss shall pass it, you may be certain that I shall enforce tt. Perliaps my pohcy as to the treatment of rebels and their property is as well set out In Or- der No. 13, issued thc day your letter w.a3 written, as I could now describe it Hon. F. P. BiAiE, Washington. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 331 people of that State, denouncing as false and calumnious the statements widely circulated of the designs and sen- timents of the Union armies, and declaring that they sought only "to put doAvn rebelUon by making war against those in arms, their aiders and abettors"— aud 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 fidelity, 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 Avho Averein arms against its authority, it incurred the distrust and even the deuuncia^ 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 departments, upon the general use to be made of rebel property, the President directed the issue of the following order : — Wak Department, Washington, July 22, 1862. First. Ordered that military commanders within the States of Virginia, iJordi 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 convenient for their several com mands, for supplies, or for other military purposes ; and that while prop erty lUiiy be destroyed for proper military objects, none shall be destroyed in wa.-tonness or malice. Second. That military and naval commanders sh.all employ as laborers, within and frora said States, so many persons of African descent as can be advan'^ageously used for military or naval purposes, giving them reason able wages for their labor. Third. That, 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 uppn which compensation can he made in proper cases ; and the several departments of this Government shall attend to and perforin their appropriate parts towards the execution of these orders. By order of the President : Edwix M. Stakton, Secretary of War. And on the 25th of July he issued the foUoAving procla- 332 The Life, Public Services, and mation, warniug the people of the Southern States against persisting in their rebeUion, under the penalties prescribed by the confiscation act passed by Congress at its preceding session : — By order of the President of the United States. A PEOCLAMATIOlSr. 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," approved July 17th, 1862, and 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 thoir 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 Washington, this twenty-fifth day of July, in the r 1 year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-seventh. Abeaham LnjooLH. By the President : William H. Sewaed, Secretary of State. Our relations with foreign nations during the year 1862, continued to be in the main satisfactory. The President held throughout, in all his intercourse with European powers, the same firm and decided language in regard to the rebellion Avhich had characterized the correspondence of the previous year. OurMinister in London, Avith vigi lance and ability, pressed upon the British Government the duty of preventing the rebel authorities from buUding and fitting out vessels of war in English ports to prey upon the commerce of the United States ; but in every instance these remonstrances were without practical efifect. The Government could never be convinced that the evi dence in any specific case Avas sufficient to Avarrant its interference, and thus one vessel after another Avas alloAved to leave British ports, go to some other equally neutral State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 333 locality and 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 called the atteution of Earl RusseU to the fact that a steam gunboat, afterwards called the Oreto, was being buUt in a Liverpool ship-yard, under the supervision of weU-known agents of the rebel Government, and evidently intended for the rebel service. The Foreign Secretary replied that the vessel was intended for the use of parties in Palermo, Sicily, and that there was no reason to suppose she was intended for any service hostUe 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 faUed, by this dispatch, as ia a subsequent personal conference Avith Earl RusseU on the 15th of April, to in duce him to take any steps for her detention. She saUed 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, written 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 RusseU' 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 that they could discover no evidence suflicient to warrant the detention of the vessel. Soon afterwards, however, evidence was produced which Avas sufflcient 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 the "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 which this vessel, known first as "290," and afterwards as the Alabama, might inflict 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 systematic 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 importance which occurred during the year in our foreign relations, grew out of an attempt on the part of the Emperor of the French 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 Avith 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 would hinder the Government of the United States, without renouncing the State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 335 advantages which it believes it can attain by a continua tion of the Avai", from entering upon informal conferences with the Confederates of the South, in case they should shoAV themselves disposed thereto." The specific advan tages of such a conference, and the mode in Avhicli it was to be brought about, were thus set forth in this dispatch : — Bepresontatives or commissioners of the two parties could assemble at such point as it should be deemed proper to designate, and which could, for this purpose, be declared neutral. Eeciproc.ol complaints could be examined into at this meeting. In place of the accusations which North and South mutually cast upon each other at this time, Avould he 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 which can no longer be avoided, or whether the memories of a cohimon esiateiico, whether the ties of any kind which have made of the North and of the South one sole and whole Federative State, and have borne them on to so high a degree of prosperity, aro not more powerful than the causes which 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, w'o do not hesitate to recommond it to their attention; and, not having sought in the project of a mediation of tho maritime powers of Europe any vain display of influence, we would applaud, with entire free dom from all susceptibility of solf-osteem, tho opening of a negotiation which Avould invite the two populations to discuss, without tho co-opera tion of Europe, the solution of their differences. The reply which the President directed to be made to this proposition embraces so many points of permanent interest and importance in connection with his Adminis tration, that we give it in full. It was as foUows :^ Department of State, WAsniNOTON, February 6, 1863. Sie: — The intimation given in your dispatch of January lijth, that I might expect a special visit from M. Mercier, has been realized. Ho called on the 3d instant, and gave me a copy of a dispatch whioji he had just then received from M. Drouyn de I'lluys under the date of the 9th of January. 336 The Life, Public Services, and I have taken the President's instructions, and I now proceed to givs you his views upon the subject in question. It has been considered with seriousness, resulting from tho reflection that tho people of France are known to be faultless sharers Avith the American nation in the misfortunes and calamities of our unhappy civil war ; nor do wo on this, any more than on other occasions, forgot 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, Ave 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 efforts." Those passages seem to me to do unintentional injustice to tho language, whether confidential or public, in which this Government has constantly spoken on tho subject of the war. It certainly has had and avowed only one purpose — a determination to preserve the integrity of the country. So far from admitting any laxity of effort, or betraying any despondency, the Government has, on the contrary, borne itself cheerfully 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 a friendly 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 tho field of thoir projected exclusive slaveholding dominions have already been re-established under tho flag of the Union, that they now retain only the States of Georgia, ALibama, 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 tho 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 sediiion, put forth energies so vigorous, and achieved successes so signal and effective as those which have marked the progress of this contest on the part of tho Union. M. Drouyn do I'Huys, I fear, has taken other light than tho correspond ence of this Government for his guidance in ascert.iining its temper and firmness. He has probably read of divisions of sentiment among thoso who hold themselves forth as organs of public opinion here, and has givea State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 337 to them\an undue importance. It is to be rememhered that this ia a nation of thu-ty millions, civilly divided into forty-one States and Territories, whicli cover an expanse hardly less than E.ufope ; that the people are a pure democracy, exercising everywhere the utmost freedom of speech and suffrage ; that a great crisis necessarily produces vehement as well as pro found debate, with sharp collisions of individual, local, and sectional interests, sentiments, and ambitions ; 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. AA'hile there has been much difference of popular opinion and favor concerning the agents who shall carry on the war, the principles on which it shaU be waged, and the means with which it shall be pros ecuted, M. Drouyn de I'Huys 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 field 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 the surrender of even one constitutional franchise. At the same time, it is manifest to the world that our resources are yet abundant, and our credit adequate to the existing emergency. What M. Drouyn do I'Huys suggests is, that this Government shall ap point commissioners to meet, on neutral ground, commissioners of tho insurgents. He supposes that in the conferences to be thus held, recipro cal compLaints could be discussed, and in place of the accusations which tho North and South now mutually cast upon each other, tho conferees would be engaged with discussions of the interests which divide them. He assumes, further, that the commissioners would ^eek, by means of well- ordered and profound deliberation, whether these interests are definitively irreconcilable, whether separation is an extreme that can no longer be avoided, or whether the memories of a common existence, the ties of every kind which have made 'the North and the South one whole Federative State, and have borne them on to so high a degree of prosperity, are not more powerful than the causes which have placed arms in the hands of the two populations. The suggestion is not an extraordinary one, and it may well havo been thought by the Emperor of the French, in the earne.'itnesa of his benevo lent desire for the restoration of peace, a feasible one. But when M. Drouyn de I'Huys shall come to review it in the light in which it must necssearily be examined in this country, I think he can hardly fail to per ceive that it amounts to nothing less than a proposition that, while this Government is engaged in suppressing an armed insurrection, Avith the 22 338 The Life, Public Services, anb purpose of maintaining the constitutional national authority, and preserving the integrity of the country, it shall enter into diplomatic discussion with the insurgents upon the questions whether that authority shall not be re nounced, and whether the country shall not be delivered over to disunion, to be quickly followed by ever-increasing anarchy. If it wore possible for the Government of the United States to com promise the national authority so far as to enter into such debates, it is not easy to perceive Avliat good results could be obtained by them. The commissioners must agree in recommending either that the Union shall stand or that it shall bo voluntarily dissolved ; or else they must leave the vital question unsettled, to abide at last the fortunes of the war. The Government has not shut out the knowledge of the present temper, any more than of the past purposes, of the insurgents. There is not the least ground to suppose that the controlling actors would be persuaded at this moment, by any arguments which national commissioners could offer, to forego tho ambition that has impelled them to the disloyal position thoy are occupying. Any commissioners who should be appointed by these actors, or through their dictation or influence, must enter the conference imbued with the spirit and pledged to the personal fortunes of the insur gent chiefs. The loyal people in the insurrectionary States would be un heard, and any offer of peace by this Government, on the condition of the maintenance of tho Union, must necessarily bo rejected. On the other hand, as I havo already intimated, this Government has not the least thought of relinquishing the trust which has been confided to it by the nation under the most solemn of all political sanctions ; and if it had any such thought, it would still have abundant reason to know that peace proposed at the cost of dissolution would be immediately, un reservedly, and indignantly rejected by the American people. It is a great mistake that European statesmen make, if thoy suppose this people are demoralized. Whatever, in the case of an insurrection, the people of France, or of Great Britain, or of Switzerland, or of the Netherlands would do to save their national existence, no matter how the strife might be re garded by or might affect foreign nations, just so much, and certainly no less, the people of the United States will do, if necessary to save for the com mon benefit the region which is bounded by the Pacific and the Atlantic coasts, and by tho shores of the Gulfs of St. Lawrence and Mexico, together with the free and common navigation of the Eio Grande, Missouri, Arkan sas, Mississippi, Ohio, St. Lawrence, Hudson, Delaware, Potomac, and other natural highways by which this land, which to them is at once a land of inheritance and a land of promise, is opened and watered. Even if tho agents of the American people now exercising their power should, throngh fear or faction, fall below this height of tho national virtue, they would be speedily, yet constitutionally, replaced by others of sterner character and patriotism. I must be allowed to say, also, that M. Drouyn de I'Huys errs in his description of the parties to the present conflict. We have here, m the State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 339 political sense, no North and South, no Northern and Southern States. We have an insurrectionary party, which is located chiefly upon and adja cent to the shore of the Gulf of Mexico ; and we have, on the other hand, a loyal people, who constitute not only Northern States, but also Eastern, Middle, Western, and Southern States. I have on many occasions heretofore submitted to the French Govern ment the President's views of the interests, and the ideas more effective for the time than even interests, which lie at the bottom of the determi nation of the American Government and people to maintain the Federal Union. The President has done the same thing in his Messages and other public declarations. I refrain, therefore, from reviewing that argument in connection with the existing question. M. Drouyn de I'Huys draws to his aid the conferences which took place between the Colonies and Great Britain in our Eevolutionary War. He will allo'w us to assume that action in tho crisis of a nation must accord with its necessities, and therefore can seldom be conformed to precedents. Great Britain, when entering on the negotiations, had manifestly come to entertain doubts of her ultimate success ; and it is certain that the councils of the Colonies could not fail to take new courage, if not to gain other advantage, when tho parent State compromised so far as to treat of peace on the terms of conceding their independence. It is true, indeed, that peace must come at some time, and that con ferences must attend, if they are not allowed to precede the pacification. There is, however, a better form- for such conferences than the one which M. Drouyn de I'Huys suggests. Tho latter would be palpably in deroga tion of the Constitution of the United States, and would carry no weight, because destitute of the sanction necessary to bind either the disloyal or the loyal portions of the people. On the other hand, the Congress of the United States furnishes a constitutional forum for debates between the alienated parties. Senators and representatives from the loyal portion of the people are there already, freely empowered to confer ; and seats also are vacant, and inviting senators and representatives of this discon tented party who may be constitutionally sent there from tho States in volved in the insurrection. Moreover, the conferences which can thus be held in Congress have this great advantage over any that could be organ ized upon the plan'of M. Drouyn de I'Huys, namely, that the Congress, if it were thought wise, could call a national convention to adopt its recom mendations, and give them all the solemnity and binding force of organic law. Such conferences between tho alienated parties maybe said to have already begun. Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri — States which are claimed by tho insurgents — are already represented in Congress, and submitting with perfect freedom and in a proper spirit their advice upon the course hest calculated to bring about, in the shortest time, a firm, lasting, and honorable peace. Eepresentatives have been sent also from Louisiana, and others are understood to be coming from .Arkansas. 340 The Life, Public Services, and Tliere is a preponderating argument in favor of the Congressional form of conference over that which is suggested by M. Drouyn de I'Huys, namely, that while an accession to the latter would bring this Govern ment into a concurrence with the insurgents in disregarding and setting aside an important part of the Constitution of the United States, and so would be of pernicious example, the Congressional conference, on the contrary, preserves and gives new strength to that sacred writing which must continue through future ages the sheet-anchor of the Eepublic. Tou will be at hberty to read this dispatch to M. Drouyn de I'Huys, and to give him a copy if he shall desire it. To the end that you may be informed of the whole case, I transmit a copy of M. Drouyn de I'Huys's dispatch. I am, sir, your obedient servant, William H. Sewaed. The effect of this dispatch was very marked. It put an end to all talk of foreign intervention in any form, and met the cordial and even enthusiastic approbation of the people throughout the country. Its closing suggestions, as to the mode in which the Southern States could resume their old relations to the Federal Government, Avere re garded as significant indications of the policy the Ad ministration was inclined to pursue whenever the ques tion of restoration should become practical ; and while they were somewhat sharply assaUed in some quarters, they comriianded the general assent of the great body of the people. The subject of appointing commissioners to confer with the authorities of the rebel Confederacy had been dis cussed, before the appearance of this correspondence, in the Northern States. It had emanated from the party most openly in hostility to the Administration, and those men in that party who had been most distinctly opposed to any measures of coercion, or any resort to force for the purpose of overcoming the rebeUion. It Avas represented by these persons that the civU authorities of the Confed eracy were restrained from abandoning the contest only by the refusal or neglect of the Government to give them an opportunity of doing so without undue humiliation And dishonor ; and in December, Hon. Fernando Wood, of New York, wrote to the President, informing him that State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 34 x he had reason to believe the Southern States would " send representatives to the next Congress, provided a fuU and general amnesty should permit them to do so," and ask ing the appointment of commissioners to ascertain the truth of these assurances. To this request the President made the foUowing re ply ••— ExEOCTrvB Mahsion, ATASniHaTOH, December 12, 1862. Hon. FeknajStdo Wood : Mt Dear Sie : — Your letter of the 8th, with the accompanying note of same date, was received yesterday. The most important paragraph in the letter, as I consider, is in these words: "On the 25th 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- gross, 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 yon 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 tho samo 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 snch 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. I 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, tho exact informa tion you now have, and also such other as you may in any way obtain. Such information might be more valuable before tho 1st of January than p,fterwards. 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 as confidential. Tour obedient servant, A. LncooLN. The intimation in this letter that information concerning 342 The Life, Public Services, and the aUeged willingness of the rebels to resume their aUe giance, "might be more valuable before the 1st of Jan uary than afterwards," had reference to the Emancipatioa Proclamation, which he proposed to issue on that day, unless the offer of his 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 compU- 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 emn sense of responsibility. I can only trust in God I liaA'e made no mis take. I shall make no attempt on this occasion to sustain what I have done or said by any comnient. It is now for the country and the Avorld to pass judgment, and may be take action upon it. I will say no more upon this subject. In my position I am environed with difficulties. Tet they are scarcely so groat 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. Wo do not yet know the par ticulars. Let us be sure that, in giving praise to certain individuals, we do no injustice to others. I only ask you, at tho conclusion of these few remarks, to give three hearty cheers to all good and brave officers and men Avho 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 :— ExiotiTiTE MANSioif, WASHraoTON, Novcviber 16, 1863. The President, commander-in-chief of the army and navy, desires and enjoins tho orderiy observance of the Sabbath by the officers and men in tho 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 tho best sentiment of a Christian people, and a due regard for the Divine Avill, demand that Sunday labor in the army and navy be reduced to the measure of strict necessity. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 343 The discipline and character of the National forces should not suffer, nor the cause they defend be imperilled, by the profanation of tho day or name of the Most High. "At this time of public distress,'' adopting 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^eneral 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 libertioa of his country." A. Lincoln. 344 The Life, Public Services, and CHAPTER XI. the congressional session of 1862-'63.— message OF THE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL ACTION OF THE SESSION. The President's Message. — Aeb the Eebel States Alieks? — The Peo- visioN FOK a Dkaft. — Message on the Finances and Cueeenot.— Admission oe Westeen Vieqinia. — 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 haying a large majority in both branches. The general condition of the country, and the progress made in quelling the rebelUon, are clearly set forth in the foUowing Message of President Lincoln, Avhich was sent m to Congress at the beginning of the session : — Fellow- Citizens of the Senate and House of Eepresentatives : — Since your last annual assembling, another year of health and hountifnl harvests has passed, and while it has not pleased the Almighty to bless us with the return of peace, we can but press on, guided by the hest light He gives us, trusting that, in His own good time and wise 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 Eepresentatives 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 certinly more satisfactory than a nation so unhappily distracted as we are might reasonably havo apprehended. 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 th6 insurgents as a belligerent, would soon recede from that position, which has proved only less injurious to themselves th.an to our own country. But the temporary reverses which afterwards befell the National arms, and which were exaggerated by our own disloyal citizens abroad, have hitherto delayed that act of simple jus- ti-e. The civil war which has so radically changed for the moment the occu pations aud habits of the American people, has necessarily disturbed tho State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 345 social condition, and affected very deeply the prosperity of the nations with wliich we have carried on a commerce that has been steadily in creasing throughout a period of half a century. It has, at the samo time, excited political ambitions and apprehensions which have produced a pro found agitation throughout the civilized world. In this unusual agitation 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 affairs. Our struggle has been, of course, contemplated by foreign nations with reference less to its own merits than to its supposed and often exaggerated effects and consequences resulting to those nations themselves. Never theless, complaint on the part of this Government, even of it were just, Avould certainly be unwise. The treaty with Great Britain for the suppression of the slave-trade has been put into operation with a good prospect of complete success. It is an occasion of special pleasure 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 moial 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 infiicting uninten tional injuries upon foreign nations and their subjects. A civil war occurring in a country whore 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 possible, heard and redros.sed 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 gome of the foreign States thus interested mutual conventions to examine and adjust such complaints. Thia 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 my duty to recommend an appropriation in behalf of the owners of the Norwegian bark Admiral P, Tordenskiold, which vessel 346 The Life, Public Services, and was in May, 1S61, prevented by the commander of the blockading force 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 proper committees. Applications have been made to me by many free Americans of African descent to favor 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 Eepublics 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 flrst 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 kieir respective territories, upon conditions which shall be equal, just, anc 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 those countries as to some others, nor so willing as I think their interest de mauds. I believe, however, opinion among them in this respect is improving ; and that ore 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 the Sultan of Turkey has been carried into execution. A commercial .and consular treaty has been negotiated, subject to tho Senate's consent, with Liberia ; and a similar negotiation is now pending wilh the Eepublic of Hayti. A considerable improvement of the national coLimerce is expected to result from these measures. Our relations with Great Britain, Franco, Spain, Portugal, Eussia, Prussia, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, the Netherlands, Italy, Eome, and the other European States remain undisturbed. Very favorable rela tions also continue to be maintained with Turkey, Morocco, China, and J apan. During the last year there has not only been no change of our previous velations with tho Independent States of our own continent, bnt 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 Eica, Honduras, Peru, and Chili. The commission under the convention with the Eepublic cf New Gra- State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 347 nada closed its session Avithout having audited and passed upon all tho 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 Eepublic of Costa Eica has completed its labors and submitted its report. I 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 Eussian Empire. The Territories of the United States, with unimportant exceptions, have remained undisturbed by the civil war; and tliey 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 moans which suggests itself as most likely to be effec 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 — restdts 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 fleld, demand your best reflections as to the beat modes of providing the necessary revenue, without injury to busi ness, and Avith 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 satisfaction 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 liniform 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 due regard to all interests concerned, should ever be kept in view. Fluctuations in the value of currency are always injurious, and to reduce these fluctuations to the lowest possible point will always be a 348 The Life, Public Services, and leading purpose in Aviso legislation. Convertibility, prompt and certain convertibility into coin, is generally acknowledged to be the best and surest safeguard against them ; and it ia extremely doubtful whether a circulation of United States notes, payable in coin, and sufficiently large fdr 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 Quiform currency secured? I know of none which promises so certain results, and ia, at the same time, 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. Those notos, 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 tho public debt employed as securities. The public credit, moreover, would be greatly improved, and tho negotiation of new loans greatly facilitated by the 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 the local and various circulation, secured and unsecured, now is.sued 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 SOtb of June, 18G2, 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, $152,203.77; from miscellaneous sources, $931,787.64; from loans in all forms, $529,692,460.50. The remainder, $2,257^065.80, was the baliince from last year. The disbursements during the same period were for Congressional, Executive, and Judicial purposes, $5,939,009.29; for foreign intercourse, $1,339,710.86; for miscellaneous expenses, including the mints, loans, post-oflico deficiencies, collection of revenue, and other like charges, $14,129,771.50; for expenses under the Interior Department, $3,102,- an average from onr first national census, in 1790, until that of 1860, we should, in 1900, have a population of one hundred and three million two hundred and eight thousand four hundred and fifteen. And why may we not con tinue that ratio — far beyond that period ? Our abundant room — our broad national homestead — is our ample resource. Were our territory as limited as are the British Isles, very certainly our population could not expand as stated. Instead of receiving tho foreign born as now, we should be com pelled to send part of the native born away. But such is not our condi tion. We have two million nine hundred and sixty-three thousand square miles. Europe has three million and eight hundred thousand, with a population averaging seventy-three and one-third persons to the square mile. Why may not our couutry at some time average as many ? Is it less fertile ? Has it more waste surface, by mountains, rivers, lakes, deserts, or other causes ? Is it inferior to Europe in any natural advan tage? If then we are, at some time, to be as populous as Europe, how soon? As to when this maybe, we can judge by the past and the present; as to when it will be, if ever, depends much on whether we maintain the Union. Several of our States are already above the average of Europe— seventy-three and a third to the square mUe. Massachusetts one hundred and fifty-seven ; Ehode Island one hundred and thirty-three ; Connecticut ninety-nine ; New Tork and New Jersey, each eighty. Also tw^o other great States, Pennsylvania and Ohio, are not far below, the former having sixty-three and the latter fifty-nine. The States already above the European average, except New Tork, have increased in as rapid a ratio, since jiassing that point, as ever before ; while no one of them is equal to State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 357 Boine other parts of our cotmtry in natural capacity for sustaining a dense [.opulation. Taking the nation in the aggregate, and we flnd its population and ratio of increase, for the several decennial periods, to be as follows — 1799 3,929,827 1800 5,803,937 85.02 per cent, ratio of increase. 1810 7,239,814 36.45 " " " 1820 9,638,131 83.13 " " " LS30 12,866,020 33.49 " " 1840 17,069,458 82.67 " " " 1850 28,191,876 35.87 " " " 1860 ;.. 31,443,790 35.58 " " " This shows an average decennial increase of 34.C0 per cent, in popula tion through the seventy years, from our first to our last census yet taken. 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 how indexible, and consequently how reliable, the law of increase in our case is. Assuming that it will continue, it gives the following re stdts : — 1870 42,323,841 1880 56,907,216 1890 76,677,872 1900 103,208,415 1910 ¦ 188,918,526 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 hundred 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. The proposed emancipation would shorten the war, perpetuate peace, insure this increase of population, and proportionately the -wealth of the conntry. 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 annum, simple interest, from the end of our Eevolutionary struggle until to-day, without 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 Ser"vices, and then; and thia because our increase of men, throngh the whole period, lias been greater than six per cent. ; has run faster than thc interest upon the debt. Thus, time alone relieves a debtor nation, so long as its popu lation increaaea 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, Ave wo'ild have to now, when we number but thirty-one millions. In a word, U 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" the latter will cost no blood, no precious life. It -syill 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 the 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 hot oblige, but merely authorizes Congress to aid in colonizing such as may consent. This ought not to be regarded as objectionable on tho 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 conntry which is largely imaginary, if not sometimes 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 nothing for which they would not willingly be responsible through time and in eternity. Is it true, then, that colored people can displace anymore white labor by being free than by reniaining 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 than 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 consequently 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. Eeduce the supply of black labor, by colonizing tho black laborer out of the country, and by precieely so much yon -Increase the demand for and wages of white labor. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 359 But it is dreaded th.at the freed people Avill swai'm forth and coAet the whole land! Are they not already in the land? Will liberation make them any more numerous ? Equally distributed among the whites of the whole country, and there would be bnt 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 enl from it. The District of Columbia and the States of Maryland and Delaware are all in this condition. The District has more than one freo 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. But why should 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 flee from. Thoir old masters will give them wages at least until new laborers can be procure^d, and the freedmen in turn will gladly give thoir labor for the wages till new homes can be found for them in congenial climes and with people of their 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 wliother to receive them ? Again, as practice proves more than theory, in any case, has there been any irruption of colored people 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 1860, having no reference to persons called contrabands, 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 bo accepted without its adoption. Nor will the war, nor proceedings under the proclamation of Septem ber 22, 1863, be stayed because of the recommendation of this plan. Its timely adoption, I doubt not, would bring restoration, and thereby stay both.' And, notwitlistanding this plan, the recommendation that Congi'csa 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 national authority throughout the Union. The subject is presented exclusively in its eoo'- nomical aapect. The plan would, I am confldent, secure pence more speedily, and maintain it more permanently, than can be done by force .alone; while all it would cost, considering amounts, and manner ef pay 360 The Life, Public Services, and mont, and times of payment, would be easier paid than will be the addi tional cost of the war, if we solely rely upon force. It is much— very much — that it would cost no blood at all. The plan is proposed as permanent constitutional law. It cannot be come such, without the concurrence of, first, two-thirds of Congress, and afterwards three-fourths of the States. The requisite three-fourths of the States will necessarily include seven of the slave States. Their concur rence, if obtained, will give assurance of their severally adopting eman cipation, at no very distant day, upon the new constitutional terms. Thia assurance would end the struggle now, and save the Union forever. I do not forgot tho gravity which should characterize a paper addressed to the Congress of the nation by the Chief Magistrate of the 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. Tet I trust that, m 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 shortep 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 respond 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 " Can 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 aro inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, BO we must think anew, and act anew. We must disinthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country. FeUow-citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this Congress and this Administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No per sonal significance or insigniflcance can spare ono 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 tho Union. The world will not forget that we say this. We know how to save the Union. The world knows we do know how to save it. We — oven we here — hold the power and bear the responsibility. In giving freedom to the slave we as sure frecdoni to the free — honorable alike in what we give and what we preserve. We shall nobly save or meanly lose the last best hope of earth. Other means may succeed ; this could not, cannot fail. The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just — a way which, if followed, the world will forever applaud, and God must forever tless. Abeaham LmooLN. December 1, 1863. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 361 At the very outset of the session, resolutions were in- . troduced by the opponents of the Administration, censur ing, in strong terms, its arrest of individuals in the 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 fuUy 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 Avith men actively engaged in doing the work of spies and informers for the rebel authorities ; and it was known that, in repeated instances, the plans and purposes of the Government had been betrayed and defeated by these aiders and abettors of treason. It became absolutely necessary, not for purposes of punishment, but of preven tion, to arrest these men in the injurious and perhaps 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 8th of December, in the House of Representatives, a bill was introduced, declaring the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus to haye 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 haye been concerned in making such arrests, or in doing or advising any such acts, and making void all prosecutions and pro ceedings Avhatever against them in relation to the matters in qucdtion. It also authorized the President, during the existence of the war, to declare the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, "at such times, and in such places, and with regard to such persons, as in his judgment the 362 The Life, Public Services, and public safety may require." This bUl 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 that the Senate recede from its amendments, and that the biU, substantially as it came from the House, be passed. This report was agreed to after long debate, and the bUl thus became a law. The relations in which the rebel States were placed by their acts of secession toAvards the General Government became a topic of discusion in the House of Representa tives, in a debate Avhich arose on the 8tli of January, upon an item in the Appropriation BUl, 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 eyery obligation existing between them and ns 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 tlie Southern people the protection of the Constitution ; while many Republicans regarded it as a virtual acknowledgment of the validity and actual 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. 363 ity of the Government over those States is just as valid now as it was before the acts of secession Avere paas^, and that every one of those acts is utterly null and void. No vote was taken Avliich declared directly the opinion of the House on the theoretical question thus involved. The employment of negroes as soldiers Avas subjected to a vigorous discussion, started on the 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 AVhite 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 found utterly unavailing. Mr. Crittenden, of Kentucky, objected to it mainly because it would convert the Avar against the rebellion into a servile war, and es tabUsh aboUtion as the main end for Avhich the war was carried on. Mr. SedgAAdck, 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 Avar success fuUy without interfering with slavery, and shoAved also how the refusal of the Rebel States to return to their aUegiance 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 biU, embodying substantially the amendment of Mr. Stevens, was passed ; ayes 83, noes 54. On reaching the Senate it was referred to the Committee on MUitary Affairs, which, on the 12th of February, i'eported against its pas sage, on the ground that the autherity Avhich 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, iS any mUitary 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 enroUing and drafting the miUtia of the whole country- each State being required to contribute its quota in the ratio of its population, and the whole force, when 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 resist ance from the opposition party, and especially from those members Avhose 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 Avas passed in the Senate, and taken up on the 23d of February in the House, Avhere it encountered a similar ordeal. It contained various provisions for exempting from service persons upon whom 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 him 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 doUars the Government itself would procure a substitute, and release the person drafted from service. The bill was passed in the House, with some 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 Lincoln. 365 a proclamation offering an amnesty .to deserters, and he accordingly issued it, in the foUowing words : — A PEOCLAMATION. By the President of the United States of America. ExECTJTiTE Mansion, WASiiixaTON, March 10, 1863. In pursuance of the twenty-sixth section of tho act of Congress entitled "An Act for enrolling and calling out the N.ational Forces, aud for other purposes," approved on the third of March, in the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, I, Abraham Lincoln, President, and commander- in-chief of the army and navy of tho 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 Avithout leave, who shall, on or before the first day of April, 1863, report them selves at any rendezvous designated by the 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 places, 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 the gallant and faithful soldiers remaining in the ranks to increased hardships and dangers : I do therefore call npon 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 tho National Forces, and for other purposes," and to support the proper authorities in the prosecution and punishment of offenders against said act, and aid in suppressing the insurrection and the rebellion. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto sot my hand. Done at the City of Washington, this tenth day of March, in the year of onr Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-seventh. Abeaham Lincoln. By the President : Edwiu M. Stab-ton, Secretary of War. The finances of the country enlisted a good deal of attention during this session. It was necessary to pro- 366 The Life, Public Services, and Aide 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 finally passed by both Houses, authorized the Secretary of the Treasury to borrow and issue bonds for nine hundred mUlions of doUars, 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 milUons of doUars, bearing interest, and also notes not bearing interest to the amount of one hundred and fifty mUlions of doUars. While this bUl 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 Hou^e of Representatives : — I hav© signed the joint resolution to provide for the immediate pay ment of the army and navy of the United States, passed by the House of Eepresentatives on tho 14th, and by the Senate on the 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 army and navy. My approval is given in order that every possible facility may be afforded for tho prompt discharge of all arrears of pay due to our sol diers and our sailors. While giving this approval, however, I think 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 tlie 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 me so important that I feel bound to avail myself of thia occasion to ask the special attention of Congress to it. That Congress has power to regulate tho 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. Independently 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 propor 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 tho Government, and of tho 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 onnouncement of my approval of the joint resolution, which proposes relief only by increasing tho 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 opiniou, 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. Abeaham 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, Avas passed in the Senate— ayes tAventy-three, noes tAventy-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, Avas the admission of West Viiginia into the Union. The Constitution of the United States declares 368 The Life, Public Services, and that no new State shaU be formed Anthin the jurisdiction of any State without the consent of the legislature of the State concerned, as weU as of the Congress. The main question on which the admission of the new State turned, therefore, was whether that State had been formed Avith the consent of the Legislature of Virginia. The facts of the case were these : In the winter of 1860-61, the Legis lature of Virginia, convened in extra session, had caUed a convention, to be held on the 14th of February, 1861, at Richmond, to decide on the question of secession. A vote Avas also to be taken, when the delegates to this con vention should be elected, to decide Avhether an ordinance of secession, if passed by the convention, should be re ferred back to the people ; and this was decided in the afiirmative, 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 five hundred delegates, chosen in Western Virginia under a popular call, met early in May, declared the ordinance of secession nuU and void, and called another convention of delegates from aU the coun ties of Virginia, to be held at WheeUng, 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 Sta,te 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 ncAv State out of a portion of the territory of tMs State." Under that ordinance, delegates Avere 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. 369 was submitted to the people of West Virginia in April, 1862, and by them ratified — eighteen thousand eiglit hundred and sixty -tAVO voting in favor of it, and five hun dred and fourteen against it. The Legislature of Virginia, 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 ncAV 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 Avliich met at Wheeling on the llthof June was "the Legislature of Virginia," and thus competent to give its consent to the formation of a new State Avithin 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 fifty-five. It passed in the Senate without debate, and was approved by the President on the 31st of Decem ber, 1862, and on the 20th of AprU, 1863, the President issued the foUoAving proclamation for the admission of the new State : — Whereas, 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 tho original States in all respects whatever, upon the condition that certain changes should be duly made in the proposed Constitution for that State. And whereas, proof of a compliance with that condition, as required by the second section of the act aforesaid, has been submitted to me : Now, therefore, be it know n that I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do hereby, iuvpuj-suance of the act of Congress aforesaid, declare and proclaim that the 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. s.] three, and of the independence of the United States tho eighty-seventh. Abeaham Lincoln. By the President • William H. Sewaed, Secretary of State. 24 370 The Life, Public Services, and A biU was brought forward in tlie Senate for discussion on the 29th of January, proposing a grant of money to aid in the abolition of slavery in the State of ilissouri. 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 Sttite. 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 from the slave States generally opposed the measure, on the ground that Congress had no authority under the Constitution to appropriate any portion of the public money for such a purpose. The bill Avas 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. Immediately after the occupation of New Orleans by the National forces undfer General But ler, the President had appointed General Shepley military governor of the State 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 3d of Decem ber, General Shepley, acting as mUitary governor of the State, ordered an election for members of Congress in the two districts into which the City of Ncav Orleans is divi ded — each district embracing also some of the adjoining parishes. In one of these districts, B. F. Fhxnders was elected, receiving two thousand three hundred and seventy State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 371 votes, and all others two hundred and seventy- three ; and in the other, Michael Hahn was elected, receiving two thousand seven hundred and ninety-nine votes out of five thousand one hundred and seventeen, the whole number cast. A committee of the House, to which the applica 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 the requirements of the Constitution of the State of Louisiana had in aU respects bfen complied with, the only question being whether a mUitary 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 both 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 fulfiUed. 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- Avise, as " unreasonable and inadmissible," and declaring the "unalterable purpose of the United States to prose cute the war until the rebellion shaU be overcome." These resolutions, offered by Mr. Sumner, received in the Senate thirty-one votes in their favor, Avhile but five were cast against them, and iu the House one hundred 372 The Life, Public Services, and and three were given for their passage, and twenty-eight against 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 Uke 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 pubUc affairs. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 373 CHAPTER XII. arbitrary arrests.— the suspension op the writ of habeas corpus.— the draft. Aebitkaey Aeeests. — Fiest Suspension ov toe Habeas Coepus. — Am AND COMFOET TO THE EeBELS. — EXECUTIVE OliDER ABOUT AniiESTS. — Appointment of a Commissioner on Aeeests. — Opposition' to thb GOVEENMBNT. ThE CaSE OF VaLLANDIGITAM. — GoVERNOE SeYMOUK ON Vallandigham. — President Lincoln ox Arrests. — President Lincoln on Militaey 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 Conoeening Aliens. — The Draft. — The New Yoek KiOTS. — Letter to Governor Seymour. — Tns Deaft Piesumed and Completed. At the very outbreak of the rebellion, the Administra tion was compeUed to face one of the most formidable of the many difficulties which have embarrassed its iction. Long before the issue had been distinctly made by the rebels in the Southern States, Avhile, under the protecting toleration of Mr. Buchanan's Administration, the conspirators Avere 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 Northern States, whose political sympathies had always been in Ipmiony with their principles and their action. As early as in January, 1861, while the rebels Avere diligently and actively collecting arms and other munitions of AA^ar, by purchase in the Northern States, for the contest on AAdiich they had resolved, Fernando Wood, then Mayor 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 hud assured him that " if he liad the power, he should sum marily punish the authors of this Ulegal and unjustifiable 374 The Life, Public Services, and seizure of private property." The departments at Wash ington, the army and the navy, aU places of responsi bUity and trust under the Government, and all depart ments of civil and political activity in the Northern States, were found to be largely fUled by persons in active sympathy with the secession movement, and ready at all times to give it all the aid and comfort in their poAver. Upon the advent of the new AdmUiistration, and when active measures began to be taken for the sup pression of the rebelUon, the Government found its plans betrayed and its movements tliAvarted at every turn. Prominent presses and politicians, moreover, throughout the country, began, by active .hostility, to indicate their symjoathy with those who sought, under cover of oppo sition to the Administration, to overthrow the Govern ment, and it became speedily manifest that there Avas suf ficient of treasonable sentiment throughout the North to paralyze the authorities in their efforts, 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 Avith which, in extraordinary emergencies, the Constitution had clothed the Government. That instrument had pro vided that "the privUege 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 which was charged Ayith the care of the pubUc safety, was em powered to judge when the contingency should occur. The only question that remained was, which department 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 f^r toAvards dictating the decision. Congress had adjourned on the 4th of March, and could not be again assembled for some months ; and infinite and, perhaps fatal mischief might be done during the interval, if the Northern alUes of the rebeUion were allowed Avith impunity to prosecute their plans. Under the influence of these considerations, the Presi dent, in his proclamation of the 3d of May, 1861, direct ing the commander of the forces of the United States on the Florida coast to permit no person to exercise any authority upon the islands of Key West, the Tortugas, and Santa Rosa, which might be iuconsistent Avith the 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 aU dangerous or suspected persons." This was the first act of the Administration in that direction ; but it was very soon found necessary to resort to the exercise of the same poAvers in other sections of the country. On the 25th of May, John Merryman, a resi dent of Hayfield, in Baltimore County, Maryland, knoAvn by the Government 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 CadwaUader. 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 CadwaUader was ordered to bring the body of Merryman before the Chief- Justice on the 27th. On that day Colonel Lee pre- sen;ted a Avritten communication from General CadwaUa 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: Avith holding a commission as heutenant in a company avowing its purpose of armed hostility against the Government, and with having made often and unre served declarations of his association with this armev. 376 The Life, Public Services, and force, and of his readiness to co-operate with those en gaged in the 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 Jiabeas corpus for the public safety ;" and that, 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 AA^rit, Avhereupon an attachment was forthAvith issued against him for con tempt of court, made returnable at noon on the next day. On that day, the marshal charged with serving the at tachment made return that he Avas not admitted Avithin the fortress, and had consequently been unable to serve the Avrit. The Chief- Justice, thereupon, read an opinion that the President could not suspend the Avrit of Jiabeas corpus, nor authorize any military officer to do so, and that a military oflBcer had no right to arrest any person, not subject to the rules and articles of war, for an offence against the laAvs 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 poAver to summon out the posse comiiatus 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 nothing further in the premises. On the 12th of May, another Avrit Avas issued by Judge GUes, of Baltimore, to Major Morris, of the United States ArtiUery, at Fort McHenry, who, in a letter dated the 14th, refused to obey the writ, because, at the time it was issued, and for tAVO 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, the intention to capture that fort had been openly proclaimed, and the legislature of the State AA'a;^ at that moment debating the question of making Avar upon the Government of the United States. AU this, in his judgment, constituted a case of rebelUon, and afford- State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 377 ed sufficient legal cause for suspending the writ of habeas corpus. Similar cases arose, and Avere disposed of in a similar manner, in other sections of the country. , The Governor of Virginia had proposed to Mr. G. Heincken, of New York, the agent of the New York and Virginia Steamship Company, payment for Iavo steamers of that Une, the Yorktown and JamestoAvn, which he 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 application, 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 this 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 aro 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 feu- any person to give aid and comfort to public enemies. To sell vessels to them which it is their purpose to use as ships of war, is to give them aid and comfort. To receive money from them in payment for vessels which they have seized for those purposes, would be to attempt to convert the unlawful seizure into a sale, and would subject the party so offending to tho 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 velie- 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 OAvn authority, and stringent restrictions were placed upon the transmission of intelligence by telegraph. On the 5tli of July, 1862, Attorney-General Bates trans mitted to the President an elaborate opinion, prepared at his request, upon his poAA^er to make arrests of persona known to have criminal complicity AA^th the insurgents, >r against whom 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 Avrit of habeas corpus in case of such arrests. The Attorney- General discussed the subject at considerable length, and reached a conclusion favorable to the action of the Government. From that time for ward the Government exerted, Avith vigor and energy, all the power thus placed in its hands to prevent the rebel Uon from receiAdng aid from those in sympathy with its objects in the Northern States. A large number of persons, believed to be in compUcity with the insurgents, were placed in arrest, but were released upon taking an oath of aUegiance 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 elsewhen^- 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 session Avhich was convened for the 17th of September ; but on the 16th, nine secession members of the House of Delegates, Avith the officers of both houses, were arrested by General McClellan, then in command 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 foUowing statement of his views in regard to these arrests : — The public safety renders it necessary that the grounds of these arrests should at present 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 with those in armed rebellion against tho Govern ment of the United States. In no case has an arrest been made on mere suspicion, 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 acqtd- State Papers of Abraham Lincoln, 379 escence of the whole community, and beyond all question greatly to the advantage of the Government and the coun try. On the 14th of February, 1862, an order was issued on the subject, which transferred control of the whole matter to the War Department. The circumstances which had made these arrests necessary are stated with so much clearness and force in that order, that we insert it at length, as foUoAvs : — EXECUTIVE OEDEKS IN EELATION TO STATE PEISONEES. AVab Depaetment, AVashington, February 14. Tne 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 mOitary 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 Eepresentatives, 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 posts for commands in tho insurgent forces. Treason was flagrant in the revenue and in the post-ofBce service, as well as in the Territorial governments and in the Indian reserves. Not only governors, judges, legislators, and ministerial oflioors in tho 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 ot 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 authorities 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- 880 The Life, Public Services, and vented by the practice of strict and impartial justice, with the most perfect moderation in our intercourse with nations. The public mind was alarmed and apprehensive, though fortunately uot distracted or disheartened. It seemed to be doubtful whether tho 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 perhsips were unavoidable, suffered by newly levied and inefiioient 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 th© President felt it his 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, uuauthorized by the existing laws, as seemed necessary. He directed measures to prevent the use of the post-ofiice for treasonable correspond ence. He 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 havo been discharged from time to time, under circumstances or upon conditions compatible, as 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 u> the normal course of the Administration, as far as'regard for the public welfare will allow, directs that all political pi-isoners or state i)!-isoner» now held in military custody, be released on their subscribing to a parole engaging tlioin to render no aid or comfort to the enemies in hostility to the United States. Tlie Secretary of War will, however, .it his discretion, except from the effect of tbis order any persons detained as spies in the service of tlie in surgents, or utliers whose release at the present moment may be deemed incom))atililc witli the public safety. To all persons who shall be so released, and who shall keep thoii- parole, State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 381 the President grants au amnesty for any past offences of treason or dis loyalty which they may have committed. Extraordinary arrests will hereafter be made under the direction of the military authorities alone. By order of the President: Edwin M. Stanton, Se.metary of War. On the 27th of the same month, a commission Avas 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 pubUc safety and the existing rebellion, they should be discharged, or remain in arrest, or be remitted to the civU 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 aUegiance. Wherever the public safety seemed to require it, however, arrests continued to be made — the President, in every instance,* assuming all the responsibUity 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 habeas 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 which these cases were brought, the ground was accordingly taken that, although the President might have authority under the Constitution, when, in cases of rebelUon 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 foUowing PEOCLAMATION. Whereas, it has been necessary to call into service, not only volunteers, hut also portions of the mUitia of the States by draft, in order to suppress 382 The Life, Public Services, and the insurrection existing in the United States, and disloyal persons are not adequately 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 monts, resisting military drafts, or guilty of any disloyal practice affording aid and comfort tg tho 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 habeas corpus is suspended in respect to all persons arrested, or who are now, 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 anS. sixty-two, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-seventh. Abraham Lincoln. By the President : William H. Sewaed, 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, with 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 mUitary 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 Avhich had attended their efforts. Prompted partly by merely political and partisan motives, but in many instances by thorough sym pathy with the secession movement, active poUtical lead- State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 38h ers had set in vigorous motion very extensive machinery for the advancement of their designs. ' ' Peace-meetings ' ' were held in every section of the Northern States, at Avhich the action of the Government was most vehemently as sailed, the objects of the war were misrepresented, and its prosecution denounced, and special efforts made to prevent enlistments, to promote desertions, and in every way to cripple the Government in its efforts to subdue the rebel lion by force of arms. The vigorous action of the 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 Administration from apprehension as to warrant the promulgation of the. foUowing order : — "Wab Department, -Washington, Ifovember 22, 1S62. Ordered — 1. That all persons now in military custody, who have beeji arrested for discouraging volunteer enlistments, opposing the draft, or for otherwise giving aid and comfort to the enemy, in States where the draft hg,s been made, or the quota of volunteers and militia has been furnished, shall be discharged from fm-ther military restraint. 2. The persons who, by the authority of the military commander or governor in rebel States, have been arrested and sent from such State for disloyalty or hostility to the Government of the United States, and are now in military custody, may also be discharged upon giving their parole to do no act of hostility against the Government of tho 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 retui-ning again during the war, or until special leave for that purpose be obtained from the President, tben such persons shall, at his option, be released and depart from the United States, or be conveyed beyond the military lines of tho United States forces. .3. This order shall not operate to discharge any person who has been in arms against the Government, or by force and arms has resisted or at- terfipted to resist the draft, nor relieve any person from liability to trial »nd punishment by civil tribunals, or by court-martial or military commis sion, who may be amenable to such tribunals for offences committed. By order of the Secretary of War : E. D. ToAVNSBND, Assistant Adjutant- General. During the succeeding winter, while Congress was in eession, pubUc sentiment was comparatively at rest on thia 384 The Life, Public Services, and subject. Congress had enacted a law, sanctioning the action 'of the President in suspending th^ writ of habeas corpus, and clothing him with full authority to check and punish all attempts to defeat the 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 Avas revived, and pubUc meetings were again held to denounce the conduct of the Government, and to protest against the further prosecu tion of the Avar. One of the most active of these advo cates of peace Avith the Rebel Confederacy was Hon. C. L. Vallandigham, a member of Congress from Ohio, who had steadily opposed 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 Grov ernment at Washington 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 whites — 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 had deliberately rejected propositions by Avhich the Southern States could have 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 declarmg sympathy 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. VaUandigham was arrested, by order of General Burnside, on the 4th of May, and ordered for trial before a court-martial at Cincinnati. On the 6th, he applied, through his counsel, Senator Pugh, to the Circuit Court of the United States for a writ of habeas corpus. In reply to this appUcation, a letter was read from Gen- State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 385 eral Burnside, setting forth the considerations which had led him to make the arrest, and Vallandigham's counsel was then heard in a very long argument on the case. Judge Stewart pronounced his decision, refusing the writ, on the ground that the action of General Burnside was necessary for the public safety. " The legality of the ar rest," said the judge, " depends upon the extent of the necessity for making it, and that was to be determined by the mUitary commander." And he adds — Men should know and lay the truth to heart, that 'there is a course of conduct not involving overt treason, and not therefore subject to punish ment as such, which, nevertheless, implies moral guilt, and a gross offence against the country. Those who live under the protection and enjoy the blessings of our benignant Government, must learn that they cannot stab its vitals with impunity. If they cherish 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, -while they are not of us, thoy must be subject to such a course of dealing as th© 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 insuflicient grounds. But if there should be an occasional mistake, such an occurrence is not to be put in competition -«'ith thc 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 npon a despotism as unmitigated as the world has ever witnessed. The military commission, before which Vallandigham was ordered for trial, met on the 6th, found him gailty 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 department. 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. Vallandigham should be sent within the rebel lines, and should not return to the United States untU after the 25 380 The Life, Public Services, and termination of the war. This sentence was at once carried into execution. The arrest, trial, and sentence of Mr. VaUandigham created a good deal of excitement throughout the country. The opponents of the Administration treated it as a case of martyrdom, and held public meetings for the purpose of denouncing the action of the Government as tyrannical and highly dangerous to the public Uberties. 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 Avhich Governor Seymour addressed a letter, expressing in the strongest terms his condemnation of the course pursued by the Government. "If this proceed ing," said he, speaking of the arrest of Vallandigham, "is approved by the Government, and sanctioned by the people, it is not merely a step towards revolution — it is revolution. It will not only lead to miUtary despotism — it establishes military despotism. In this aspect it must be accepted, or in this aspect rejected. -» -» * xhe people of this 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 which we are asked to pour out our blood and our treasure. The action of the Administration wUl determine, in the minds of more than one-half of the people of the loyal States, whether this war is waged to put down rebeUion at the South, or destroy free institutions at the North." 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 foUow ing letter in reply : — ExEOVTiTi Mansion, ATiBmNGTON, J^ne IS, 186S. Hon. Eeasttjs Coeninq and others : Gentlemen .-—Your letter of May 19, enclosing the resolutions of a pub- State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 387 lie me'eting held at Albany, N. Y., on the 16th of the same month, was received several days ago. The resolutions, as I understand them, are resolvable 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 upon 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, aa they may conceive, of any Administration. This position is eminently patriotic, and as such I thank the meeting and congratulate the nation for it. My own purpose is the same, so that the meeting and myself have a common object, and can have no difference, except inthe 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 mo in every constitutional and lawful measure to sup press the rebellion, and I have not knowingly employed, nor shall know- mgly 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 tho 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 his pro tection in times of civil comiriotion." And, apparently to demonstrate the proposition, the resolutions pro ceed : " They were secured substantially to the English people after years 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 Eevolution, 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 mvasion, the public safety may require " thoir sus pension. The resolutions proceed to tell us that these safeguards "have Btood the test of seventy-six years of trial, under our republican system, nnder circumstances Tyhich show that, while they constitute the found.a- 388 The Life, Public Services, and tion of all free government, they are the elements of the enduring sta- binty of the Eepublic." No one denies that they have so stood the test np to the beginning of the present rebellion, if we except a certain occur rence at New Orleans ;i nor does any one question that they will stand the same test much longer after the rebellion closes. But those 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 ba 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 l;he Union, had seized many of the United States forts, and had fired upon the United States flag, all befor« I was inaugurated, and, of course, before I had done any official act what ever. The rebellion thns 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 this 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 thoy were inaugurating, by the Constitution itself the "habeas corpus" might be suspended; but they also know 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 Lincoln. 389 insurgent cause. It needed no very keen perception to discover this part of the enemy's programme, so soon as, by opening hostilities, their ma chinery was put fairly in motion. Yet, thoroughly imbued with a rev erence for the guaranteed rights ^J -ndividuals, I was slow to adopt the strong measures which by degrees I have been forced to regard as being within the exceptions of the Constitution, and as indispensable to the public safety. Nothing is better known to history than that courts of justice are utterly incompetent to snch 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 times of peace, bands of horse-thieves and robbers fre 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 hang 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 ho who kills a Union soldier in battle. Yet this dissuasion or inducement may he 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 mo — in fact, a clear, flagrant, and gigantic case of rebellion; and the provision of the Constitution that " the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended unless when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, tho pub lic safety may require it," is the provision which specially applies to our present case. This provision plainly attests the understanding of those who made tlie 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 tho Constitu tion on purpose that men may be 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 tha 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 Avould 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 tho 390 The Life, Public Services, and peril of his Government is discussed, cannot be misunderstood. If not hindered, he is sure to help the enemy; much more, if he talks ambigu ously—talks for his country with "buts," and "ifs," and "auds."' Of how little value tho constitutional provisions \ have quoted will be '•en- dered, if arrests shall never be made until defined crimes shall have boej committed, may be illustrated by a few notable examples. General John 0. Breckinridge, General Eobert E. Eee, General Joseph E. Johnston, General John B. Magruder, 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 Government 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 habeas corpus, were the writ 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 oi insurrection does not actually exist. Thoy insist that such arrests shall not be made " outside of the lines of necessary military occupation and the scenes of insurrection." Inasmuch, however, as tho Constitution itself makes no such distinction, I am unable to believe that there is any such constitutional distinction. I concede that the 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 which they may prevent the rebellion extending as in those where it may be already prevailing ; as well where they may restrain mis chievous interference with the raising and supplying of armies to sup press the rebellion, as Avhere 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 words 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 mdde for a very different reason. Mr. Vallandigham avows his hostility to . State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 391 the war on the part of the Union ; and his arrest was made because ho was laboring, with some effect, to prevent the raising of troops ; to en- . courage desertions from the army ; and to leave the rebellion without an adequate military force to suppress it. He was not arrested because he was damaging the political prospects of the Administration, or the per sonal interests of the commanding general, but because he was damaging the army, upon 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 upon him. If Mr. Vallandigham 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 evidenc% I understand the meeting, whose resolutions I am considering, to be in favor of suppressing the rebellion by military force-r-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 who 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 rebeUion 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 persuaded 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 approciaie the danger apprehended by the meeting that the Amer ican people will, by means of military arrests during tbe rebellion, lose the right of public discussion, the liberty of speech and the piiess, 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 o.-)ntract so strong an appetite- foit emeties 392 . The Life, Public Services, and during temporary illness as to persist in feeding upon them during tho remainder of his healthful life. In giving the resolutions that earnest consideration which you request of me, I cannot overlook the fact that the meeting speak as " Demo crats." Nor 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 this occurred by accident, or in any way other than that they preferred to designate themselves " Dem ocrats" rather than "American citizens." In this time of national peril, 1 would have preferred to meet you on a level one step higher than any party platform ; because I am sure that, from such more elevated position, wo could do better battle for tSie country we all love than we possibly can from those lower ones where, from the force of habit, 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 whoso 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 New Orleans, and while the fact that the 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 Mp» 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. I ' jiallier. General Jack son arrested both the lawyer and the judge. A Mr. Holl.ander ventured to sjiy 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 corpus. General Jackson took it from him, and sent him away with a copy. Holding the judge in custody a few days, the General gent him beyond the limits of his encampment, and set him at liberty, with 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 wts regu- State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 393 larly announced, and the judge and others were fully liberated. A few days more, and the judge called General Jackson into court and fined him $1,000 for having arrested him and the others named. The General paid the fine, 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 Eepresentatives, took a leading part in the deb.ates, 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 what 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 whether I 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 gtneral 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 dischnrge 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 appears to me, opinion and action, which 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 have every reason to desire that it should cease altogether ; and far frora the least is my regard for the opinions and wishes of those who, 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, Philadelphia, and other cities and towns of the North, and, on the 11th of June, a State Convention of the Democratic party was held at polumbus, Ohio, for the nomination of State offi- 394 The Life, Public Services, and cers. Mr. Vallandigham was, at that convention, made the 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 emancipation proclamation; condemning martial ilaw in loyal' States, where war does not exist ; denoun cing the suspension of the writ of Jiabeas corpus ; protest ing very strongly against the banishment of Vallandig ham, and caUing on the President to restore him to his rights ; declaring that they would hail Avith delight 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 foUowing reply : — AVabhinoton, Jwne 29, 1S6S. Gentlemen : — The resolutions of the Ohio Democratic State Conven tion, which you present 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 tho 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 which I suppose you took from that paper. It is where yon say, " The undersigned are unable to agree with you in the opinion you have expressed that the Constitu tion is different 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 different 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 tho Constitu tion itself things may be done in the one case which may not be done in the other. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 395 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 tlie Constitution this limitation upon tho power of Congress to suspend the writ of habeas corpus, and yet the other guarantees of personal liberty Avould remain unchanged." Doubt less, if this clause of the Constitution, improperly called, as I think, a Jimitation 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 how 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, IreaUy 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. Val landigham, in the very case in question, under the advice of able law yers, saw not where else to go but to the habeas corpus. But by the Constitution the benefit of the writ of habeas corpim 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 that 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. Thia 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 affirmation that nobody 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 aU 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 lawfuUy 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 what T said on that point in the Albany response. You elaim that men may, if they choose, embarrass those whose duty it is to com bat a giant rebeUion, and then be dealt with only in turn as if there were no rebeUion. The Constitution itself rejects this view. The miU tary arrests and detentions which have been made, including those of Mr. Vallandigham, which are not different in principle from the other, have been for prevention, and not for punishment — as injunctions to stay injury, as proceedings to keep the peace — and hence, Uke 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. Vallandigham's case was to prevent injury to the military service only, and the modTfication of it was made as a less disagreeable mode to him of securing the samc pre vention. I am unable to perceive an insult to Ohio in the case of Mr. VaUan digham. Quite surely nothing of this sort was or is intended. I was wholly una-wiire 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 ho had, ho should have been turned over to the civil authorities under the recent acts of Congress. I certainly do not k:now that Mr. Vallandigham has specifically and by direct language advised against enlistments and in favor of desertions and resistance to drafting. We all know tha combinations, armed in some instances, to resist the arrest of dest."ters, 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 mUitary force, and this again has led to bloodshed and death. And now, under a sense of responsibility more Aveighty and enduring than any which is merely official, I solemnly declare my belief that this hindrance of the military, including maiming and murder, is due to the cause in which Mr. VaUandigham 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 Abraham Lincoln. 397 edge of them, he has frequently, if not constantly, made speeches in * Congress and before popular assemblies ; and if it can be shown that, with those things staring him in the face, he has ever uttered a Avord of rebuke or counsel against them, it will be a fact greatly in his favo** with me, and of which, as yet, I am totally ignorant. When it is known that the whole burden of his speeches has been to stir up men against the prosecution of the wf^r, and that in the midst of resistance to it he has 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 aU this before their eyes, the convention you represent have nominated Mr. VaUandigham 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, thoy 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 tho Union against a rebellion, or even to intimate that yon are conscious of an existing rebeUion 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 rebeUion. 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 wiU become strong enough to ' do so. After a short personal intercourse with you, gentlemen of the com mittee, I cannot say I think you desire this effect 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 yon 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 foUowing propositions, and to nothing else :— - 1. That there is now rebeUion 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 yon wUl do any thing which, in his own judgment, will tend to hinder the increase, or favor the decrease, or lessen the efficiency of the army and navy, while engaged in the effort to suppress tliat rebelUon ; and, — 3. That each of you wUl, in his sphere, do all he can to have th9 398 The Life, Public Services, and officers, soldiers, arid seamen of the army and navy, whUe engaged in tho effort to suppress the rebeUion, paid, fed, clad, and otherwise well pro vided for and supported. And with the further understanding that npon receiving the letter and names thus indorsed, I wiU cause them to be published, which pubUcation shall be, within itself, a revocation of the order in relation to Mr. Vallandigham. It will not escape observation that I consent to the release of Mr. VaUandigham upon terms not embracing any pledge from him or from others as to what he wiU or will not do. I do this because ho 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 chiefiy because I thereby prevail on other infiuential 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 wiU not have suffered by it. Still, in regard to Mr. VaUandigham and aU others, I must hereafter, as heretofore, do so much as tho public service may seem to require. I have the honor to be respectfuUy yours, &c., A. Lincoln. The canvass throughout 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 miUtary 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 estabUsh a uniform mode of action on the subject, the President issued the following PEOCLAMATION. Whereas, the Constitution of the United States has ordained that " Tho privUege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, - unless, when in cases of rebeUion or invasion, the public s.afety may rjquire it ; .and, whereas, a rebeUion was existing on the 3d day of March, 1863, which rebeUion is stiU existing ; and, whereas, by a statute which was approved State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 399 on that day, it was enacted by the Senate and House of Eepresentatives of the United States, in Congress assembled, that during the present in- eurroction the President of the United States, whenever, in his judgment, the public safety may require, is authorized to suspend the privilege of the writ of hibeas coipus 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 shall 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 prisoners 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 tbe 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 mUitary or naval services by the authority of tho President of the United States, or for resisting the draft, or for any other offence against the military or naval 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 privUege of the writ of habeas corpus is suspended throughout the United States in the several cases before mentioned, and that this sus pension will continue throughout the duration of the said rebellion, or nntU 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 fuU 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. Abeaham Lincolk. 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 tAventy and forty- five, were liable to be caUed into service. The strenuous 400 The Life, Public Services, and efforts made by the enemies of the Administration to arouse the hostUity of the people against its general poUcy, had proved so far successful as greatly to discourage volun teer enUstments ; and the Government was thus compelled to resort to thef extraordinary powers conferred upon it ' by this act. Questions had been raised as to the liabUity of foreigners to be drafted under this law ; and in order to settle this point, the President, on the 8th of May, issued the foUoAAdng proclamation. AVabhinoton, May 8, 1868. By the .President of the United States of America. PEOCLAMATION. Whereas, the Congress of the United States, at its last session, enacted a law, entitled "An Act for enroUing 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 mUitary 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 the 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 be liable to perform mUitary duty in the service of the United States, when called out by the President for that purpose ; 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 -i^ho have not exercised the right of suffrage, or any other political franchise under the laws of tho United States, or ot any of the States thereof, that they are not absolutely precluded by their afore said declaration of intention from renouncing their purpose, to become citizens ; and that, on the contrary, such persons, under treaties and tha State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 401 law of nations, retain a right to renounce tbat purpose, and to forego tho privilege of citizenship and residence within the United States, under the obligations imposed by the aforesaid act of Congress : Now, therefore, to avoid all misapprehensions concerning the liability of persons concerned to perform the service required by such enactment, and to give it full effect, 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 havo 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 suffrage, or any other political franchise within the United States, under tho laws thereof, or under the laws of any of tho 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 [- -| Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the in dependence of the United States the eighty-seventn. Abeaham Lincoln. By the President : William H. Sewaed, Secretary of State. It was subsequently ordered that the draft should take place in July, and pubUc proclamation was made of the number Avhich each State would be required to furnish. EnroUing 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 draAvn, under such regulations as were considered necessary to insure equal and exact justice. Very great pains had been taken by the opponents of the Admini stration to excite odium against that clause of the law which fixed the price of exemption from service under the draft at three hundred 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 compeUed, at whatever hardships to themselves and their famUies, to enter the army. The di-aft was commenced in 26 402 The Life, Public Seratices, and the City of New York on Saturday, July 11th, and was conducted quietly and successfully during that day. On Sunday plots 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 the 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, officiaUy 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 pubUc 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. Negroes were assaulted, beaten to death, mutilated, and hung ; buUding after building was 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 chUdren, 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 chU dren, were foremost in the work of robbery, and no man felt safe from attack. The poUce force did their duty manfuUy, aided at first by the few troops at the disposal of the authorities, and subsequently by the regiments who State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 408 began to return from Pennsylvania. In the street-fights which occurred, many of the defenders of law and order lost their lives, while a far larger number of the rioters were kiUed. The bands of rioters were finaUy 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 untU it should be seen whether the number required from the State of New York could not be raised by volunteering, and also untU 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 the 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 7th of August, made the foUowing reply : — Exzcunvz Mansion, -Wabhinoton, August T, 1808. ^ His Excellency Hoeatio Se-tmoue, Governor of New York, Albany, N. Y. : Your communication of the 3d inst. has 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 yon 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 difference between an average of -2,200 in one class, anc 4,864 in the other. Assuming that the districts are equal, one to another, in entire population, as required by the plan on which they were made, this disparity is such as to require attention. Much of it, however, I suppose wUl be accounted for by the fact that so many moro persons fit for soldiers are in the city than are in the country, who have too recently arrived from other paf ts of the United States and from Europe to be either included in the census of 1860, or to have voted in 1863. Still, making due allowance for this, I am yet unwUling to stand upon it as an entirely sufficient explanation of the great disparity. I shaU direct 404 The Life, Public Services, and the draft to proceed 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, shaU be carefully re-enroUed; and, if you please, agents of yours may witness every step of the process. Any deficiency which may appear by the new enrolment wUl be suppUed by a special draft for that object, aUowing due credit for volunteers who may be obtained from these districts respectively during the interval ; and at aU points, so far as consistent with practical convenience, due credits shaU be given for volunteers, and yonr Excel lency shaU 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, or of the Judges thereof, on the constitutionality of the draft law. In fact, I should be wUling to facilitate the obtaining of it. But I cannot consent to lose the time while it is being obtained. We are contending with an enemy who, as I understand, drives every able-bodied man he can reach into his ranks, very much as a butcher drives bullocks into a slaughter-pen. No time is wasted, no argument is used. This produces an army which will soon turn upon our now victorious soldiers already in the field, if they shaU not be sustained by recruits as they should be. It produces an army with a rapidity not to be matched on our side, if we first waste time to re-experiment with the volunteer system, already deemed by Congress, and palpably, in fact, so far exhausted as to be inadequate; and then more time to obtain a Court decision as to whether a law is con stitutional which requires a part of those not now in the service to go to the aid of those who are already in it ; and still more time to determine with absolute certainty that we get those who are to go in the precisely legal proportion to those who are not to go. My purpose is to be in my action just and constitutional, and yet practical, in performing the impor tant duty with which I am charged, of maintaining the unity and the free principles of our common country. Your obedient servant, A. Lincoln. On the 8th Governor Seymour replied, reasserting the unfairness and injustice of the enrolments, and expressing his regret at the President's refusal to postpone the draft. He also sent a voluminous statement, prepared by Judge- Advocate Waterbury, designed to sustain the position he had previously assumed. To this the President thus re pUed : — State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 406 ExKODTivE Mansion, A^ABinKOTOJf, August 11, 1803., His Excellency Hoeatio Setmoue, Governor of New York : Yours of the 8th, with Judge-Advocate General Waterbury's report, was received to-day. Asking you to remember that I consider time as being very important, both to the general cause of the country and to the soldiers in the field, I beg to remind you that I waited, at your request, from the 1st until the 6th inst., to receive your communication dated the 3d. In view of its great lengtli, and the known time and apparent care taken in its prepara tion, I did not doubt that it contained your full case as you desired to present it. It contained the figures for twelve districts, omitting the other nineteen, as I suppose, because you found nothing to complain of as to them. I answered accordingly. In doing so I laid down the principle to which I purpose adhering, which is to proceed with the draft, at the same time employing infallible means to avoid any great wrong. With the communication received to-day you send figur-es for twenty-eight dis tricts, ificluding the twelve sent before, and still omitting three, for which I suppose the enrolments are not yet received. In looking over the fuller list of twenty-eight districts, I find that the quotas for sixteen of them are above 2,000 and below 2,700, while, of the rest, six are above 2,700 and six are below 2,000. Applying the principle to these new facts, tho Fifth and Seventh Districts must be added to the four in which the quotas have already been reduced to 2,200 for the' first draft ; and with these four others must be added to those to be re-enroUod. The correct case wUl then stand : the quotas of the Second, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Districts fixed at 2,200 for the first draft. The Provost-Marshal General informs me that the drawing is already completed in the Six teenth. Seventeenth, Eighteenth, Twenty-second, Twenty-fourth, Twenty- sixth, Twenty-seventh, Twenty-eighth, Twenty-ninth, and Thirtieth Dis tricts. In the others, except the three outstanding, the drawing wUl be made upon the quotas as now fixed. After the first draft, the Second, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Sixteenth, Seventeenth, Twenty- first, Twenty-fifth, Twenty-ninth, and Thirty- first will be enrolled for the purpose, and in the manner stated in my letter of the 7th inst. The same principle will be applied to the now outstanding districts when they shall come in. No part of my former letter is repudiated by reason of not being restated in this, or for any other cause. Your obedient servant, A. Lincoln. The draft in New York was resumed on the 19th of Au gust, and as ample preparations had been made for the preservation of the public peace, it encountered no further 406 The Life, Public Services, and opposition. In every other part of the country the pro ceedings were conducted and completed without resist ance. Some difficulty was experienced in Chicago, and the Mayor and ComptroUer of that city addressed the Presi dent on the subject of alleged frauds in the enrolment, and received the following dispatch in reply : — Washington, August 2T, 1803. F. C. Sherman, Mayor ; J. S. Hats, ComptroUer : Yours of the 24th, in relation to the draft, is received. It seems to me the Government here will be overwhelmed if it undertakes to conduct these matters with the authorities of cities and counties. They must be conducted with the Governors of States, who will, of course, represent their cities and counties. Meanwhile, you need not be uneasy until yon again hear from here. A. Lincoln. Subsequently, in reply to further representations on the subject, the same gentlemen received the following :r— AVashinoton, September T, 1863. Tours of August 29th just received. I suppose it was intended by Con gress that thia Government should execute the act in question Avithout dependence upon any other Government, State, City, or County. It is, however, within the range of practical convenierce to confer with tho Governments of States, whUe it is quite beyond that range to have cor respondence on the subject with counties and cities. They are too nu merous. As instances, I have corresponded with Governor Seymour, bnt not with Mayor Opdyke; with Governor Curtin, but not with Mayor Eenry. A. Lincoln. St.ate Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 407 CHAPTER XIII. MILITARY EVENTS OF 18G3.— THE REBEL DEFEAT AT GETTTS- BURa.— FALL OF VICKSBURG AND PORT HUDSON. The Battles at Fredeeicksbueq. — ^Eebel Raid into Pennsylvania. — Results at Getttsbueg. — Vicksbueg and Poet IIudson Captueed. — Public Rejoicings. — The Peesidbnt's Speech. — Thanksgiving foe Viotokies. — Battle op Chattanooga. — Thanksgiving Peoclamation. The mUitary events of 1863, though of very great im portance, are much less closely connected with the direct action of the President than those which occurred in 1862 ; we shaU not attempt, therefore, to narrate them as much in detaU. When General Burnside succeeded Gen eral McClellan in command of the Army of the Potomac, on the 7th of November, 1862, that army was at Warren ton, . the rebel forces falling back before it towards Rich- mond. Deeming it impossible to force the enemy to a decisive battle, and unsafe to follow him to Richmond on a Une which must make it very difficult to keep up his communications. General Burnside, on the 15tli, turned his army towards Fredericksburg — marching on the north bank of the Rappahannock, intending to cross the river, take possession of Fredericksburg, and march upon Rich mond from that point. The advance division, under Gen eral Sumner, arrived opposite Fredericksburg on the 19th ; but a pontoon train, which had been ordered and was expected to be there at the same time, had not come — so that crossing at the moment was impossible. The delay that thus became unavoidable enabled General Lee to bring up a strong force from the rebel army, and possess himself of the heights of Fredericksburg. On the night of the 10th of December, General Burnside threw a bridge of pontoons across the river, and the next day constructed four bridges, under cover of a terrific bombardment of the town. On the 11th and 12th his army was crossed over, and on the 13th attacked the enemy — General Samr- 408 The Life, Public Services, and ner commanding in front, and General FrankUn having command of a powerful flanking movement against the rebel right. The rebels, however, were too strongly post ed to be dislodged. Our forces suffered severely, and were unable to advance. On the night of the 15th, they were therefore withdrawn to the opposite bank of the river. Our losses in this engagement were one thousand one hundred and thirty-eight killed, nine thousand one hundred and five wounded, two thousand and seventy- eight missing ; total, twelve thousand three hundred and twenty-one. The army remained quiet until the 20th of January, when General' Burnside again issued orders for an ad vance, intending to cross the river some six or eight mUes above Fredericksburg, and make a flank attack upon the left wing of the rebel army. The whole army was moved to the place of crossing early in the morning, but a heavy storm on the preceding night had so damaged the roads as to make it impossible to bring up artillery and pontoons with the promptness essential to success. On the 24th, General Burnside was relieved from command of the Army of the Potomac, and General Hooker appointed in his place. Three months were passed in inaction, the season forbidding any movement ; but on the 27th of April, General Hooker pushed three divisions of his army to KeUey' s Ford, twenty -five miles above Fredericksburg, and by the 30th had crossed the river, and turning south, had reached Chancellorsville — five or six miles southwest of that town. A strong cavalry force, under General Stoneman, had been sent to cut the railroad in the rear of the rebel army, so as to prevent their receiving re-enforce ments from Richmond — General Hooker's design being to attack the enemy in flank and rear. The other divi sions of his army had crossed and joined his main force at Chancellorsville, General Sedgwick, with one division only, being left opposite Fredericksburg. On the 2d of May, the left wing of the rebel army, under General Jack son, attacked our right, and gained a decided advantage of position, which was recovered, however, before the State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 409 day closed. The action was renewed next day, and the advantage remained with the enemy. General Sedgwick, meantime, had crossed the river and occupied the heights of Fredericksburg, but was driven from them and com pelled to retreat on the night of the 4th. On the morning of the 5th a heavy rain-storm set in, and in the night of that day General Hooker withdrew his army to the north bank of the Rappahannock, having lost not far from eighteen thousand men in the movement. Both armies remained inactive until the 9th of June, when it was discovered that the rebel forces under Lee were leaving their position near Fredericksburg and moving northwest, through the valley of the Shenandoah. On the 13th the rebel General Ewell, with a heavy force, at tacked our advance post of seven thousand men at Win chester under General Milroy, and not only compelled him to retreat, but pursued him so closely as to convert his retreat into a rout ; and on the 14tli of June the rebel army began to cross the Potomac and advanced upon Hagerstown, Maryland, with the evident purpose of in vading Pennsylvania. The movement created the most intense excitement throughout the country. President Lincoln issued a proclamation calling for one hundred thousand mUitia from the States most directly menaced, to serve for six months, and New York was summoned to send, twenty thousand also. On the 27th the main body of the rebel army crossed the Potomac at WiUiamsport, and General Lee took up his head-quarters at Hagerstown. Meantime, as soon as the movement of the rebel forces from Fredericksburg was discovered, our army had broken up its encampment and marched northward, on a line nearly parallel with that of the enemy, and on the 27th, the same day that the rebels reached Hagerstown, the head-quarters of our army were at Frederick City — our whole force being thus interposed between the rebels and both Baltimore and Washington, and prepared to follow them into Pennsylvania. On that day General Hooker was relieved from command of the army, which was con ferred upon General Meade, who at once ordered an ad- 410 The Life, Public Services, and vance into Pennsylvania in the general direction of Har risburg— towards which the enemy was rapidly advancing in force. On the 1st of July our advanced corps, the First and Eleventh, under Generals Reynolds and Howard, came in contact with the enemy, strongly posted near the town of Gettysburg, and, attacking at once, fought an in decisive battle ; the enemy being so far superior in num bers as to compel General Howard, who was in command at the time, to faU back to. Cemetery Hill and wait for re-enforcements. ' During the night all the coi-ps of our army were concentrated and the next day posted around that point. The Eleventh Corps retained its position on the Cemetery ridge : the First Corps was on the right of the Eleventh, on a knoll, connecting with the ridge ex tending to the south and east, on which the Second Corps was placed. The right of the Twelfth Corps rested on a smaU stream. The Second and Third Corps were posted on the left of the Eleventh, on the prolongation of Ceme tery ridge. The Fifth was held in reserve until the arrival of the Sixth, at 2 p. m. on the 2d, after a march of thirty- two miles in seventeen hours, when the Fifth Avas ordered to the extreme left and the Sixth placed in reserve. At about 3 o' clock the battle was opened by a tremen dous onset of the enemy, whose troops were massed along a ridge a mile or so in our front, upon the Third Corps, which formed our extreme left, and which met the shock with heroic firmness, untU it was supported by the Third and Fifth. General Sickles, who commanded the Third Corps, was severely wounded early in the action, and General Birney, who succeeded to the command, though urged to faU back, was enabled, by the help of the First and Sixth Corps, to hold his ground, and at about sunset the enemy retired in confusion. Another assault was made on our left during the evening, which was also repulsed. On the morning of the 3d, a spirited assault was made upon the right of our line, but without success , and at one p. m. the enemy opened an artillery fire upon our centre and left from one hundred and twenty-five guns, which continued fer over two hours, without reply State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 411 from our side, when it was followed by a heavy assault of infantry, directed mainly against the Second Corps, and repeUed with firmness and success by that corps, supported by Stannard's Brigade of the First Corps. This repulse of the centre terminated the battle. On the morning of the 4th, a reconnoissance showed that the enemy had withdrawn his left flank, maintaining his posi tion in front of our left, with the apparent purpose of form ing a new line of attack ; but the next morning it was ascertained that he was in full retreat. The Sixth Corps, with aU disposable cavalry, were at once sent in pursuit ; but ascertaining that the enemy had availed himself of very strong passes which could be held by a small force, General Meade determined to pursue by a flank move ment, and after burying the dead and succoring the wounded, the whole army was put iu motion for the Potomac. On the 12th it arrived in front of the enemy, strongly posted on the heights in advance of WiUiams port. The next day was devoted to an examination of the position ; but on advancing for an attack on the 14th, it was discovered that the enemy had succeeded in cross ing by the bridge at Falling Waters and the ford at WUliamsport. The pursuit was continued still further, but the enemy, though greatly harassed and subjected to severe losses, succeeded in gaining the line of the Rapi dan, and our forces again occupied their old position on the Rappahannock. On the morning of the 4th of July, the day celebrated throughout the country as the anniversary of the Dec laration of Independence, the President issued the fol lowing : — ¦Wasiunoton, July 4, 10.30 a. m. The President announces to the conntry that news from the Army of the Potomac, up to 10 p. m. of the 3d, is such as to cover that army with the highest honor ; to promise a great success to the cause of the Union, and to claim the condolence of all for the many gallant fallen ; and that for this he especiaUy desires that on this day, He, whose will, not ours, should ever be done, be everywhere remembered and reverenced with profoundest gratitude. A. Lincoln. The result of this battle — one of the severest and nlsost 412 The Life, Public Services, and sanguinary of the war— was of the utmost importance. It drove the rebels back from their intended invasion of Pennsylvania and Maryland, and compelled them to evacuate the upper part of the Yalley of the Shenan doah, leaving in our hands nearly fourteen thousand pris- ^ oners, and twenty -five thousand small arms collected on the battle-field. Our own losses were very severe, amount ing to two thousand eight hundred and thirty-four killed, thirteen thousand seven hundred and nine wounded, and six thousand six hundred and forty-three missing— in aU twenty-three thousand one hundred and eighty- six. During the ensuing season, a piece of ground, seventeen and a half acres in extent, adjoining the town cemetery, and forming an important part of the battle-field, was purchased by the State of Pennsylvania, to be used as a national burying-ground for the loyal soldiers who feU in that great engagement. It was dedicated, with solemn and impressive ceremonies, on the 19tli of November, 1863, the President and members of his Cabinet being in attendance, and a very large and imposing military dis play adding grace and dignity to the occasion. Hon. Edward Everett delivered the formal address, and Presi dent Lincoln made the following remarks : — Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and de Dixise of your judgment and discretion. The 'uain rebel army (Price's) west of the Mississippi is believed to liavo passed Dade County in full retreat upon Northwestern Arkansas, * See page 208. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 425 leaving Missouri almost free from the enemy, excepting in the southeast part of the State. Assuming this basis of fact, it seems desiral le — as yon are not likely to overtake Price, and are in danger of making too long a line from your own base of supplies and re-enforcements — that you should give up the pursuit, halt your main army, divide it into two corps of ' observation, one occupying Sedalia and the other RoUa, the present termini of raUroads, then recruit the condition of both corps by re establishing and improving their discipline and instruction, perfecting their clothing and equipments, and providing less uncomfortable quarters. Of course, both railroads must be guarded and kept open, judiciously employing just so much force as is necessary for this. From these two points, Sedalia and KoUa, 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 snch attempt to return will be made before or during the approaching cold weather, before spring the people of Missouri will be in no favorable mood for renewing for next year the troubles which have so much afflicted and impoverished thom 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 which you can withdraw from those points, and direct to others, as may be needed —tho railroads furnishing ready means of re-enforcing those main points, if occasion requires. Doubtless local uprisings for a time wiU 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 aud is left with yourself, I feel sure that an indefinite pursuit of Price, or au 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. Tour obedient servant, A. Lincoln. The Commander of the Department of the "West. General Hunter' s first act was to repudiate the 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 him, and of censure for the Government. An address was presented to him, signed 426 The Life, Public Services, and by large numbers of the citizens of St. Louis, those of German birth largely predominating, in which his removal was ascribed to jealousy of his popularity, and to the fact that his policy in regard to emancipation was in advance of the Government at Washington. "You 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 wiU ever be crucified by the Pharisees. We cannot be deceived by shallow and flimsy pretexts, by unfounded and slanderous reports. We entertain no doubt of your ability to speedUy con found and silence your traducers. The day of reckonihg is not far distant, and the people wUl take care that the schemes of your opponents shaU, in the end, be signaUy defeated." The General accepted these tributes to his merits, and these denunciations of the Government, with grateful acknowledgments, saying that the kind and affec 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 tliis incident gave rise, were made still more bitter, by denunciations of General HaUeck's course in excluding, for mUitary 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 biU was introduced into the convention by Judge Breckinridge, of St. Louis, for gradual emancipation, framed in accordance 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 opposed to the President's plan of gradual emancipation, this biU 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 Abraham Lincoln.- 427 Gamble, calling attention to the 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 which might adopt a gradual emancipation of slavery, giving to such State, at its dis cretion, com;^ensation 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 twenty -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 following 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 this party still continued, and gave rise to very heated and bitter contests, especially in St Louis. .During the summer, the main rebel army having been driven from the State, and the Union army being of necessity in the main withdrawn 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 the people. In consequence of these outrages. Governor Gamble ordered the organization of the entire miUtia of the State, and authorized General Schofield to caU 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 effected with great promptness, and the State mUitia became a powerful auxiliary of the National forces, and cleared all sections of the State of the lawless bands which had 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 mUitary district, of which the command was assigned to General Curtis, who was thoroughly in sympathy with the friends of im mediate emancipation and the supporters of General Fremont in his differences with the Government. He had control of the National forces 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 Washington, 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 compeUed to take hold of the case. *. A. Lincoln. To General Schofield himself, the President soon after addressed the following letter : — ExECtTTivE Mansion, -Wabhinoton, May 27, 1S63. General J. M. ScnoriELD : Dear Sir : — Having removed General Curtis and assigned you to tho command of the Department of the Missouri, I think it may be of some 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 the Union men of Missouri, constituting, when united, a vast majority of tne 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 months of labor to reconcUo 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 Governor Gamble, I State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 429 had to remove General Curtis. Now that you are in the position, I wish you to undo nothing merely because General Curtis or Governor Gamble did it, bnt to exercise your own judgment, and do right for the public in terest. Let your military measures be strong enough to repel the invaders and keep the peace, and not so strong as to unnecessarily harass and per secute the people. It is a difficult r6le, and so much greater will be the honor if you perform it well. If both factions, or neither, shall abuse you, you wUl 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 the more rad ical Unionists of the State. They had been anxious to have the Provisional Government, of which Governor Gamble was the executive head, set aside by the National authority, and the control of the Sta,te vested in a Military Governor clothed with the authority which General Fre mont had assumed to exercise by his proclamation of August 31st, 1861 ; — and the 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 these 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 United States, and upon other matters of equal magnitude and impor tance. The foUowing report 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 10th of May : although made by a person opposed to the President's action, it probably gives a substantially correct statement of his remarks : — Messrs. Emilb Pbetoeiotjs, Theodore Olshatjsen, E. E. EoMBAnE, &o. : Gentlemen : — During a professional visit to Washington City, I pre sented to the President of the United States, in compliance with your in- strnctions, a copy of the resolutions adopted in mass meeting at St. Louis on the 10th of May, 1863, 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 the course of which most of the topics embraced in the resolutions and other subjects were discussed. As my share in the conversation is of secondary importance, I propose to omit it entirely in this report, aud, 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 perforin his duty according to his best understanding, if he had to die for it. No General will be removed, nor wUl any change in the Cabinet be made, to suit the views or wishes of any particular party, faction, or set of men. General HaUeck is not guilty of the charges made against him, most of which arise from misapprehension or ignorance of those who prefer them. 2. Tho President said that it was a mistake to suppose that Generals John C. 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 flnd spheres of action for them, without doing injustice to others, but that at present 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, which 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 tho defeat of tho Missouri Aid BUl 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 I lan those who are in favor of immediate emancipation. In explanation of his views on this subject, the Pre'sident said that in his speeches he had frequently used as an illustration, t.Tie case of a man who had an excrescence on tbe 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 iUustration of the dog whose tad 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 Abraham Lincoln. 431 advised, the radicals in Missouri had no right to consider themselves the 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 gi-eat mistake committed by him. The system of Provost-Marshals, established by him throughout the State, gave rise to violent complaint. That the President had thought at one time to appoint General Fremont in his place ; that at another time he had thought of appointing General Mc Dowell, whom he characterized as a good and loy.il though very unfortu nate soldier ; and that, at last. General Schofield was appointed, with a view, if possible, to reconcile and satisfy the two factions in Missouri. He has instructions not to interfere with either party, but to confine him self to his mUitary 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 see removed. Observing to him that the difference of opinion related to facts, men, and measures, I withdrew. I am, very respectfully, &c., James Taussig. On the 1st of July the State Convention, in session at Jefferson City, passed an amendment to the Constitution, declaring that slavery 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 Gamble 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. This brutal act aroused the most intense excite ment in the adjoining State of Missouri, of which the op ponents of the Provisional Government took advantage to throw upon it and General Schofield, who had command of the State mUitia as well as of the National forces, the responsibUity 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 the military policy pursued in the State and the del egation of military powers to the Provisional Government A committee of one from each county was appointed to visit Washingtom 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 apd had an interview with the President on the 30th, in which they represented Governor Gamble and General Schofield 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 pnblic meetings for the purpose of enlisting pubUc 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, Avhile he indorsed the disloyal and oppressive de mands of Governor Gamble, General Schofield, and their adherents." On the 5th of October President Lincoln made to the representations and requests of the committee the foUow ing reply : — ExEcuTiTE Mansion, -WAsniNGTON, October 5, 1868. Hon. CnAELES Deake and others. Committee : Gentlemen : — Your original address, presented on the 30th ult., and the four supplementary onob presented on the 3d inst., have been care fuUy 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 tho reasons for demanding them. The th'ngs demanded .are — » State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 433 First'. That Generjil Schofield shall be relieved, and General Butler be appointed as Commander of the Military Department of Missouri. Second. That the system of enrolled militia in Missouri may be broken up, and National forces be substituted for it ; and Third. That at elections, persons may not be allowed to vote who aro not entitled by law 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 that General Sohofisld, 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 pothesis. We are iu civU 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 (lie Union, saying nothing of those who are against it. Thus, those who are for the Union with, but uot without slavery ; those for it without, but not with; those for it with or without, but prefer it with; and those for it with or without, but pre fer it without. Among these, again, is a subdivision of those who aro for gradual, but not for immediate, and those who are for immediate, but not for gradual extinction of slavery. It is easy to conceive that all these shades of opinion, and even moro, may be sincerely entertained by honest and truthful men. Yet, all being for the Union, by reason of these di^rences each will prefer a different way of sustaining the Union. At once, sincority is questioned, and mo tives are assailed. Actual war coming, blood grows hot, and blood is spiUed. Thought is forced from old channels into confusion. Deception u reeds and thrives. ConliJonce dies, and universal susijicion reigns. Each man feels an impulse to kill his neighbor, lest he bo killed by him. Eevenge 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 .it best, such men make worse by maladministration. Murders for old grudges, and mur ders for pelf, proceed under any cloak that 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 the evils now complained of were quite as prevalent under Fremont, Hunter, Halleck, and Curtis, as under Schofield. If the former had greater force opposed to thom, they also had greater force with which to meet it. When the organized rebel array left the State, the main Federal force had to go also, leaving the department commander at home, relatively no 28 434 The Life, Public Services, and • stronger than before. Without disparaging any, I affirm with confidence that no commander of that department has, in proportion to his moans, done better than General Schofield. The first specific charge against General Schofield is, that the enrolled militia was placed nnder 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 cnarge that General Curtis being superseded by General Schofield, Franklin A. Dick was s-apersoded by James O. Brot^dbsad 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 that department. To restrain contraband inteUigence and trade, a system of searches, seizures, permits, and passes, had been introduced, I think, by General Fremont. When General Halleck 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 tho rebellion. The action of General Fre mont and General Halleck, as stated, constituted a sort of system which General Curtis found in full operation when he took command of the de partment. That 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 others would not, resist that temptation. It was not possi ble to hold any to a very strict accountabUity ; 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 aptest way to fill their o-v\'n 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, that it could be, and was plausibly charged to exist in greater extent than it did. When General Curtis took command of the departnient, Mr. Dick, against whom I never knew any thing to allege, had general charge of this system. A controversy in regard to it rapidly grew into almost unman ageable proportions. One side ignored the necessity and magnified the evils of the system, -while the other ignored the evUs and magnified the necessity; and each bitterly assaUed the other. I could not faU to see that the controversy enlarged in the same proportion as tho professed Union i.ion there distinctly took sides in two opposing political parties. I exhausted my wits, and very nearly my patience also, in eftbrts to con vince both that the evils they charged on each other were inherent in the case, and could not be cured by giving either party a victory over th6 other. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 435 Plainly, the irritating system was not to be perpetual ; and it was plausibly urged that it could be modified at once with advantage. The case could scarcely be worse, and whether it could be made better could only be determined by a trial. In this view, and not to ban or brand General Curtis, or to give a victory to any party, 1 made the change of commander for the department. I now learn that soon after this change Mr. Dick was removed, and that Mr. Broadhead, a gentleman of no less good character, was put in the place. The mere fact of this change is more distinctly complained of than is any conduct of the new officer, or other consequence of tho 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 otherwise learned, has convinced me that he has been unfaithful to this charge. Imbecility is urged as one cause for removing General Schofield ; aud the late massacre at Lawrence, Kansas, is pressed as evidence of that im becility. To my mind that fact scarcely tends to prove the proposition. That 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 fiendisli 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 the 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 demning, 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 the disloyal, are altogether beyond my power of belief. I do not arraign tho veracity of gentlemen as to the facts complained of, but I do more than question the judgment which would infer that these facts occurred in accordance with 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 tp 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 Militia," I shall endeavor to ascertain, better than I now know, what is its exact value. Let me say now, however, that your proposal to substitute National force for the "Enrolled Militia," iinplies 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 supply its place by bringing other forces from the field where they are urgently needed, seems to me very extraordinary. Whence shall they come? ShaU they be withdrawn from Banks, or Grant, or Steele, or Eosecrans ? Few things have been so grateful to my anxious feelings, as when, in June last, tho local force in Missouri aided General Schofield to so promptly send a large general force to the relief of General Grant, then investing Vieksburg, and menaced from without by General Johnston. Was this all wrong? Should the EnroUed Militia then have been broken np, and General Heron kept from Grantjito police Missouri ? So far from finding cause to object, I confess to a sympathy for whatever reUeves our general force in Missouri, and allows it to serve elsewhere. I therefore, as at present advised, cannot attempt the destruction of the EnroUed Militia of Missouri. I may add, that the force being under the National military 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 Eadieals and Conservatives. From time to time I have done and said what ajipeared 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 Eadieals and Conservatives each agree with me in some things and disagree in 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 Eadieals 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. INSTEUCTIONS TO GENEEAL SCHOFIELD. Executive Mansion, -Washinoton, D. C, October 1, 1S63. General John M. Schofield : There is no organized military force in avowed opposition to tho Gen eral Government now m Missouri, and if any shall reappear, yonr duty in regard to it will be too plain to require any special instruction. StUl, the condition of things, both there and elsewhere, 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 efficiency of that estabhshment, St.ate Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 437 and to so use it, as far as practicable, to compel the excited people there to let one another alone. Under yonr recent order, which I have approved, you will only arrest individuals, and suppress assemblies or newspapers, when they may be working palpable injury to the military in your charge; and in no other case will yon interfere with the expression of opinion in any form, or allow it to be interfered with violently by others. In this you havo a discretion to exercise with great caution, calmness, and forbearance. With the matter of removing the inhabitants of certain counties en 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 stUl 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 npon orders from you, or from here through you. AUow 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 yonr milit,ko r.nd eating it at the same time,— the enemies of free government were striving to persuads the people that the war was an abolition crusade. To rebel without reason was p'roelaimed as -no of the rights of man, while it was carefully kept ont of sight that to suppress rebelliou il Uui 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 them as the citizens of such State, and as alone competent to organize and carry on the local government ; and he pledged the 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- tabUshment of loyal repubUcan 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 thus commenced. Ll Tennessee, where the rebels had never maintained anv 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, 1862, speedily satisfied a very considerable portion of the inhabitants, who had property at stake in the city and State, that 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 civU government upon a proper basis. It was in answer to such a complaint that the President wrote the foUow ing I'itter : — ¦Washinoton, D. C, July 28, 1SG2. OtTTHBEET Btjllitt, Esq., New Orleans, La. : Sir : — The copy of a letter addressed to yourself by Mr. Thomas J. Du rant has been sho-?vn to me. The writer appears to be an able, a dispassion ate, and an entirely sincere man. The first part of the letter is devoted to an effort to show that the secession ordinance of Louisiana was adopted against the will of the majority of the people. This is probably true, and 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 agaiost 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 nothiug 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, the 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. The truth is, that what is done and omitted about slaves is done and omitted on the same military necessity. It is a military necea sity to have men and money ; and we cannot get either, in sufficient num bers or amounts, if we keep from or drive from onr lines slaves coming to them. Mr. Durant cannot be ignorant of the pressure in this direction, nor of my efforts to hold it within bounds, till he, and such as he, shall have time to help themselves. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 485 I am not posted to speak nnderstandingly on the public regulationa of which Mr. Durant complains. If experience shows any of them to be wrong, let them be set right. I think I can perceive in the freedom of trade which Mr. Durant urges, that he would relieve both friends and enemies from the pressure of the blockade. By this he would serve tho 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 Union men. He even thinks it injurious to the Union cause that they should ba 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 snug and dry throughout the storm and safely landed right side up. Nay, more — even a mutineer is to go untouched, lest these sacred passengers receive an accidental wound. Of course, the rebellion will never be suppressed in Louisiana, if tho 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 bnt 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 tho 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 dest-oying the Government, it is for them to consider whether it is prob able [ will surrender the Government to save them from losing all. If thoy decline what I suggest, you will scarcely need to ask what I wiU 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, which is my sworn duty as well »a 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 very truly, A. LlNOOLS. 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 ISTovember, addressed the ifoUowing letter on that subject : — EXECUTIVE Mansion, WAsnisGTON, November 21, 1362. Dear Sir : — Dr. Kennedy, bearer of this, has some apprehension that Federal ofBcers, not citizens of Louisiana, maybe 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. Wh.at we do want is the conclusive evidence that respectable citizens of Louisiana are willing to be members of Congress and to swear support to tlie Constitn- 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 tho 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. Ln^rcoLiT. Hon. G. P. Sheplbt. 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 MUitary 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 civU government under the Constitution of the United States. What they especiaUy 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 aU citizens who should take the oath of aUe- State PjVpers of Abraham Lincoln. 487 glance to the Constitution of the United States, and repu diate allegiance to the rebel Confederacy. General Shep 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 the 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 they 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 ofiicers, to be held on the 1st Monday of November. To this application the President made the following reply :— EiEOunvB Mansion, Wabiiington June 19, 1363. Gentlemen: — Since receiving your letter, reliable information has reached me that a respectable portion 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 tho General Government should not give the committee the authority you seek to act under the existing State Constitution. I may add, that whDa I do not perceive how such a committee could facilitate our military opera- lions in Louisiana, I really apprehend it might be so used as to embarrasd tliem. 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. Yonr obedient servant, A. LurocLHT. 488 The Llfe, 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 8th of January a very large Free State Convention was held at New Orleans, at which resolutions were adopted indorsing aU 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 Avere 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 affairs, and plainly inapplicable to any class of persons within the Umits 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 atfixed to the elective franchise by the Constitution of Louisiana, was prescribed as con stituting the 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 representing the supporters of the poUcy 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 people 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 wiio nevertheless disapproved of the general policy of the Administration, especiaUy on the subject of sla- State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 489 very. The election resulted in the election of Mr. Hahn. The following letter was written by Mr. Lincoln to congratulate him on his election : — ExioUTiTB Mansion, 'Witnxsoton, March 13, 1864. Hon. Michael Hahn: My Bear 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 other things, 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. LiNooLir. Mr. Hahn was inaugurated as Governor on the 4th of March. On the 15th he was clothed with the powers previously exercised by General Banks, as military gov ernor, by the following order from the President : — EsEcuTivE Mansion, "Washington, March 15, 1861 His Excellency Michael Hahn, Governor of Louisiana: UntU 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 the 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 abolished in the State. The Constitution was 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 was taken at these proceedings by some 490 The Life, Public Services, ank of the best friends of the 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, though nominaUy the work of the people, were in reaUty only his. That this was a mistake, the following letter, written in August, 1863, is sufficient proof : — Executive Mansion, -WAflniNGTON, August 5, 1863. Mt dear General Banks : While I very well know 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, recognizing the Eman cipation Proclamation, and adopting emancipation in those parts of tho 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 h.ive strong enongh reason to thus place themselves again under the shield of the Union, and to thus perpetually hedge against the recurrence of the scenes throngh which we are now passing. Governor Shepley has informed me that Mr. Dur.ant 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 tho Eman cipation Proclamation; nor, as Executive, ever return to slavery any person who is free by the terms 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, npon the respective Houses, and not upon the President. * * * =r Yours, very truly, (Signed) A. Lincoln. In Arkansas, where a decided Union feeUng had exist ed from the outbreak of the rebelUon, the appearance of the proclamation was the signal for a movement to bring State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 491 the State back into the Union. On the 20th of January, a delegation of citizens from that State had an interview with the President, in which they urged the adoption of certain measures for the re-establishment 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 foUowing letter to General Steele, who com manded in that Department : — ExECUTiTi Mansion, Wabhington, January 20, 1864. Major-General 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 be as sumed at that election, and thenceforward, that 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 snch provisions for the freed people as shall recognize and declara 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, yon can receive said votes, ana 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 yon at Little Eock, 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 offices to which they shall have been respectively elected. Yon will please order an election to take place on the 28th of March, 1864, and returns to be made in fifteen days thereafter. A. Lincoln. 492 The Life, Public Services, and Upon the return of the delegation to Arkansas, they issued an address to the people of the State, urging them to avail themselves of the opportunity thus afforded for restoring their State to its old prosperity, and assuring them, 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, 1SC4. J. MoRPilY : 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 thwart or hinder you. Show this to him. A. Lincoln. He also wrote the following letter to one of the most prominent citizens : — 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 aud 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, was 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 the 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 Eepresentatives. These gentlemen presented their credentials at Washington, whereupon Mr. Sumner offered the foUowing resolution in the Senate : — Resolved, That a State pretending to secede from the Union, and bat tling against the 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 facts it did not appear that the rebellion was so far suppressed in Arkansas as to entitle the Stale 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 I eport by a vote of twenty-seven to six. Inthe House, meanwhile, the Committee on Elections, to whom the application of the 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 aU such cases. This proposition 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 which he proposed. A bill for the reconstruction of the States was introduced into the Senate, and finaUy passed both Houses on the last day of the session. It provided that the President should appoint, for each of the States declared in rebelUon, a Provisional Governor, who should be charged with the civil admiuistration of the State until a State Government should be organized, and such other civil officers as were necessary for the civU 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 people 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, nnder 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 nnder 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 Governor should certify that fact to the President, who, after obtaining the assent of Congress, should 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 wUling to adopt them ; and also for the civU administration of the State in the mean time, and the aboli tion of slavery and the disfranchisement of rebel officers. This biU 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 foUowing proclamation : — WJiereas, 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 tho 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 fit 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 be inflexibly committed to any single plan of restoration, and while I am also unprepared to declare that thc Free State Constitutions and Governments already adopted and in stalled in Arkansas and Louisiana, shall be set aside and held for nauglit, thereby repelling and discouraging the loyal citizens who have set up tha same as to further effort, or to declare a constitutional competency iu Congress to abolish slavery in the States, bnt am at the same time sin cerely hoping and expecting that a constitutional amendment abolishing slavery throughout thc nation may be adopted : nevertheless, I am fuhy Eatiufied with tha system for restoration contained in the bill, as one very 496 The Life, Public Services, and propel" 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 suci 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 wUl be appointed, with 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. b.] 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. Sewaed, Secretary of State. The relations of the war carried on to maintain the repub Ucan government of the United Stated, against the efi'orts 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 that 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 foUowing re ply:— Executive Mansion, -WAsniNOTON, January 19, 1863. k To the Workingmen of Manchester : f I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the address and reso lutions which you sent mo on the eve of the new year. When I carae, 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. 497 at the verge of civil war. Whatever might have been the cause, or whosesoever the fault, one duty, paramount to all others, was before mo, namely, to maintain and preserve at once the Constitution and the integ rity of the Federal Eepublic. A conscientious purpose to perform this duty is the key to all the measures of administration which have been, and to all which will hereafter be pursued. Under onr frame of govern ment and my official oath, I could not depart from this purpose if I -would. It is not always in the power of Governments to enlarge or re strict 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 th» 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 beneficial towards mankind. I have, therefore, reckoned npon the forbearance of nations. Circumstances — to some of which you kindly allude — ^induced me especially to expect tha* 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 pleasant 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 baa its home on this side of the Atlantic. I know and deeply deplore the -sufferings 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 npon the question as an instance of sublime Christian heroism, which has not been surpassed in any ago 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 wiU ba sustained by your great nation ; and on the other hand, I have no hesita tion in assuring yon that they will excite admiration, esteem, and tha 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, and o-wn, the peace and iriendship which now exist between the two nations will be, as it shall be my desire to make them, perpetual. Abraham Linooli*-. The workingmen of London held a similar meeting at about the same time, and took substantiaUy the same action. The President made the foUowing response to their address : — ExKOimTiE Mansion, February 2, 1863. To ihe 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 jf the free institutions of England, so I am sure also that they constitute the only reliable basis for free institutions throughout the world. The resources, advantages, and powers of the American people are very great, and they have consequently succeeded to equally great respon sibilities. It seems to have devolved upon them to test whether a gov ernment established on the principles of human freedom can be main tained against an effort to build one upon the exclusive foundation of human bondage. They will rejoice with me in the new e-vidences which your proceedings furnish, that the magnanimity they are exhibiting is justly estimated by the true friends of freedom and humanity in foreign countries. Accept my best wishes for yonr 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 ISTew York waited upon the President and deUvered 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 : — Gbhtlemen of the Commtttee: — 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 yery— that it is, in fact, a war npon the rights of all working people. Partly to show that this view has not escaped ray attention, and partly State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 499 that I cannot better express myself, I read a passage from the message to Congress in December, 1861 : — " It continues to develop that the insurrection is largely, if not ex clusively, 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 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 prove that large control of the 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 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 effort 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 siall 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 aro 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 such 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 inferences 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. Tha 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 themselves, 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 consideralila number of persons mingle their own labor with capital ; that is, tbey 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 ia 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 500 The Life, Public Services, and thair lives, were hired laborers. The prudent penniless beginner in the -world labors for wages a while, saves a surplus 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 aU. 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 snch as they, and to fix new disabilities and burdens npon them, till all of liberty shidl 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 ono 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 himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall bo safe from violence when bnUt. 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 foUowing letter : — Eev. Amxantee Eeed : ^"""^ ^^"'"'' ^'^"'"^ ^ ^''^¦ Mt Deae Sir:— Your note, by which you, as General Superintendent of the United States Christian Commission, invite me to preside at a meeting to be held this day, at the hall of the House of Eepresentatives 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 shaU be, sincerely and in God's name, devised for the good State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 501 of the soldiers and seamen in their hard spheres of duty, can scarcely fail to be blessed. And whatever shall tend to turn our thoughts from the unreasoning and uncharitable passions, prejudices, and jealousies incident to a great national trouble snch as ours, and to fix them on the vast and long-enduring consequences, for weal or for woe, which are 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 ns all. The birthday of Washington and the Christian Sabbath coinciding this year, and suggesting together the highest interests of this life and of that to come, is most propitious for the meeting proposed. Your obedient servant, A. Lincoln. On the 16th of March, 1864, at the close of a fair in Washington, given at the Patent Office, for the benefit of the sick and wounded soldiers of the army, President Lincoln, happening to be present, in response to loud and continuous calls, made the following remarks :— Ladies and 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, but the most heavily npon 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 his countr^-'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 iu these fairs are the women of America. I am not accustomed to tlie 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 1 StUl another occasion of a similar character occurred at Baltimore on the 18th of AprU, 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 foUowing remarks : — Lajjies 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 tbe 502 The Life, Public Services, and Union, it occurs at onoe that three years ago the same soldiers conld not so much as pass through Baltimore. The change from then till no-w ia 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 I 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 for 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 affected — ^how much needs not now to be re counted. So true is it that man proposes and God disposes. Bnt 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 the 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. Here are two, not only different, but incompatible things, 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. 1 The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep's throat, for which the sheep thanks the shepherd 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 bewaUed by others as the destruction of . all liberty. Eecently, 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. I 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 Eiver, of some three hundred colored sol diers and white officers, 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 soldier, and to the service, State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 503 at this point. At the beginning of the war, and for some time, uhe use of colored troops was not contemplated ; and how the change of purpose was wrought, I will not now take time to explain. Upon a clear con viction of duty, I resolved to turn that element of strength to account ; and I am responsible for it to the American people, to the Christian world, to history, and on my final account to God. Having determined to use the negro as a soldier, there is no way but to give him 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 indifferent to this matter, or is not doing the best it can in regard to it. We do not to-day know 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 know it. To take the life of one of their prisoners on the assump tion that they murder ours, when it is short of certainty that they do murder ours, might be too serious, too cruel a mistake. We are having the Fort Pillow affair thoroughly investigated; and such investigation win 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 will be almost safe to say there has been none, and wiU b% none elsewhere. If there has been the massacre of three hundred there, or even the tenth part of three hundred, it will be conclusively proven ; and being so proven, the retribution shall as surely come. It wiU be matter of grave consideration in what exact course to apply the retribu tion ; but in he supposed case, it must come. In June, the President attended a similar fair at PhUa 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 acknowledgment : — I suppose that this toast is intended to open the way for me to say something. War at the best is terrible, and this of ours in its maj^itude and duration is one of the most terrible the world has ever known. It has deranged business 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 world. I mean the Sanitary and Christian Commissions, with their labors for the relief of the soldier."), and the Volunteer Eefreshment 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 the 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 done 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, gi-ving proof that the national resources are not at all exhausted, and that the national patriotism will sustain ns 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 wiU 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 wiU. 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 untU Eichmond is taken. If I shall discover that General Grant may be greatly facilitated in the capture of Eichmond, by rapidly pouring to him a large number of armed men at the briefest notice, wiU 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 aU, 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 could 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 Aagust, 1862, the President received a State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 505 deputation of colored persons, with whom he had an inter view on the subject, of which one of the parties interested has made the following record :— ¦Washinoton, Thursday, August 14, 1862. This afternoon the President of the United States gave an audience to a committee of colored men at the White House. They were introduced by Eev. J. Mitchell, Commissioner of Emigration. E. M. Thomas, the ehairman, remarked that they were there by invitation to hear what tha Executive had to say to them. Having aU 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 conntry, 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 lea-ve this conntry ? This is, perhaps, the first question for proper consideration. You and we are different races. We have between us 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. ^ 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 wliite 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 yon. We look to 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 ont 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 I 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, although many men engaged on either side do not care for you one way or the other. Nevertheless, I repeat, without 606 The Life, Public Services, and the institution of slavery, and the colored race as a basis, the war could not have an existence. It is better for us both, therefore, to be separated. I know that there are free men among yon 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. Yon may believe that you can live in Washington, or elsewhere in the United States, the remainder of your life ; perhaps more so than you can in any foreign country; and hence you 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. Now 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, mnch 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. There is much to encourage you. For the sake of your race you should sacrifiC|e 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 who have been subject to the hard usages of the world. It is difficult to make a man miserable whUe he feels he is worthy 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 hardships than if he 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 him. He says they have within the bounds of that colony between three and four hundred thousand people, or more than in somo of our old States, such as Ehode Island or Delaware, or in some of our newer States, and less than in some of our 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, their offspring outnumber those deceased. The question is, if the colored people are persuaded to go anywhere, why not there ? One reason for unwillingness to do so is, that some of you would rather romuin within reach of the State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 507 country of your nativity. I do not know how much attachment you may havo towards our race. It does not strike me that yon have the greatest reason to love them. But still you are attached to them at all events. The place I am thinking about having for a colony, is in Central America. It is nearer to us than Liberia — not much more than one-fourth as far as Liberia, and within seven days' run by steamers. Unlike 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 colony. On both sides there are harbors among the finest in the world. Again, there is e-vidence of very rich coal mines. A certain amonnt of coal is valuable in any country, and there may be more than enough for the wants of any country. Why I attach so much importance to coal is, it will afford an opportunity to the inhabitants for immediate employment till they get ready to settle permanently in their homes. If you take colonists where there is no good landing, there is a bad show ; and so where there is noth ing to cultivate, and of which to make a farm. Bnt if something is started so that you can get yonr daily bread as soon as, you reach there, it is a great advantage. Coal land is the best thing I know of with which to commence an enterprise. To return — you have been talked to npon this subject, and told that a speculation is intended by gentlemen who have an interest in the country, including the coal mines. We have been mistaken all our lives if we do not know whites, as well as blacks, look to their self-interest. Unless among tho3e deficient of intellect, everybody yon trade with makes something. You meet with these things here and everywhere. If such persons have what will be an advantage to them, the question is, whether it cannot be made of advantage to you ? Yon are intelligent, and know that success does not as mnch depend on external help as on self-reliance. Much, therefore, depends upon yourselves. As to the coal mines, I think I see the means available for your self-reliance. I shaU, if I get a sufficient number of you engaged, have provision made that you shaU not be wronged. If you will engage in the enterprise, I -will spend some of the money intrusted to me. I am not sure you will succeed. The Government may lose the money, but we cannot succeed unless we try ; but we think with care we can succeed. The political affairs in Central America are not in quite as satisfactory condition as j 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. Besides, I would endeavor to have you made equals, and have the best assurance that you should be the equals of the best. The oractical thing I want to ascertain is, whether I can get a number of able- Dodied men, with their wives and children, who are willing to go, when 508 The Life, Public Services, and I present evidence of encouragement 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 find twenty-five 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 be done or not. This is the practical part of my wish to see you. These are sub jects of very great import.ance — 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, bnt 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 roU away Into eternity." The above is merely given as the substance of the President's remarks. The chairman of the delegation briefiy replied, that " tliey 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, 1863, with A. W. Thompson, for the setlement, by free colored emigrants from the United States, of a tract of country within the RepubUc 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-five thousand dollars was advanced to him from the colonization fund, but it was soon after discovered that the Government of N'ew 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 lie a Vache, within the Eepublic of Hayti, of which a favorable grant had been made by the Govern ment—and which was represented in the published report of the Commissioner of Emigration in the Department c f State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 509 the Interior, as being in every way adapted to the 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 official certificate of their arrival. The contractors fulfilled their portion of the agreement with fidelity, 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 fertUity 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 ia 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 rebeUion 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 rebelUon to alaim 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 rebeUion was felt to be unpossible, to exclude from the contest all issues of a secondary nature, and to fasten the attention and thought of the whole country 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 carefuUy this poUcy was pursued, the preceding pages of this record wUl show. But as the war went on, and the desperate tenacity of the rebel resistance became more manifest — as the field of operations, both mihtary 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 mUitary 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 rebelUon, "in such manner as he should judge best for the public welfare," and also to issue a proclamation commanding aU 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 pubUc sentiment of the country would sustain. The Emancipation Proclama tion was issued on the 1st of January, 1863, aud measures were adopted soon afterwards to provide for the changes which it made inevitable. On the 20th of January, the Secretary of War authorized Governor Andrew, of Mas sachusetts, to enlist volunteers for three years, and to ia- clude persons of African descent, organized into a separate corps. In AprU, 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 poUcy which the Gov ernment had adopted for committing the protection of the State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 511 banks of the Mississippi to a negro force. On the 22d of May, orders were issued by the Secretary of War creating a Bureau of the War Department for all matters relating to the organization of colored troops, and estab Ushing rules for their enUstment, and for the appoint ment of officers to command them. And on the 20th of August, Hon. J. Holt, JudgerAdvocate General, sent to the President an official opinion, to the efi'ect 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 enUst any other persons— providing for compensa tion to loyal owners whose property might thus be taken for the pubUc service. These were the iuitial steps of a movement for the employment of negro troops, which has gone forward steadily ever since, untU, 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 popular preju dice against their employment in the army, which was so potent at the beginning, graduaUy 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, Avas 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 aboUshing slavery ; and these constitu- 512 The Life, Public Services, and tions were aU submitted to the popular vote, with the foUowing 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 adopted in 1864 was, by a new Convention, held in January, 1865, revised and amended, and submitted to the popular vote on June 6, 1865j and ratified as above. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 513 CHAPTER XYII. MILITARY events OF THE SPRING AND SUMMER OF 1S64. B.*.TTLE OF Olustee. — Iviipateick's Paid on Eichmond. — The Red Eivkb Exi'EDiTiou. — The Fort Pillow Massaoke. — Eebel Atrocities. — Gen- KitAL Geak-t's Advance upon Eichmojtd. — Battles in Mat. — Sheb- man's March to Atlanta. — Eehel Eaids in Maryland and Ken- TUCKT. — Siege of Peteksbueg. — Martial Law in Kentucky. — Draft FOE 500,000 Men. — Capture of Mobile and Atlanta. The position of the two great armies of the United States at the 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 around Culpepper Court-House, 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 southward 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 February or March, but some smaUer expeditions were set on foot. As early as the 15th of December, 1863, General GUI- more, commanding the Department of the South, had applied to the Government 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 stiU further upon the attention of General Halleck, he suggested that measures might 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 5th of Feb ruary, under General Seymour, and was followed soon afterwards by General GUlmore himself— to whom, on 33 514 The Life, Public Services, and the 13th of January, the President had addressed the following letter: — EiEOOTiTi! Maksiok, WisniKOTON, January 13, IS&L Major-General Gillmore : I understand an effort is being made by some worthy 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 havo given Mr. Hay a commission of major, and sent him to you, with some blank-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 subject. 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 tho late proclamation on the subject. The detail labor will, of course, have to be done by others ; bnt 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 sonville on the 8th of February. General GiUmore re turned to Port Royal 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 Ulterior, by which large amounts of stores and supplies were destroyed. On the 17th, General Seymour, with five thousand men, was on the Florida Central RaUroad, about forty -five miles from JacksonvUle. Here they remained until the 20th, when the preparations for a movement towards Lake City were completed. The enemy was found in force, a little before reaching Lake City, at Olustee, a smaU 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 faU 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, fianked by a marsh. Again we retreated, taking State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 515 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, leaving his dead and severely wounded on the field. Five guns were lost, and about a thousand men kiUed, wounded, and missing. On the 3d of February, General Sherman, with a strong force, set out from Vieksburg, 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 Ms 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, which 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 property, but the main object of making a junction with Sherman faUed. 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 Vieksburg. Another enterprise was a raid upon Richmond, made by a large cavalry force under General Kilpatrick. Leaving his camp on the 28tli 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-mUls, which formed one of the main sources of supply for the Confederate army, were destroyed. Sev eral locks on the canal were blown up, 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 compeUed to withdraw, Dahlgren himself being killed, and a large part of his force captured. Kilpatrick, meanwhile, pressed onward to Spottsylvania Court-House, and thence to Beaver Dam, near where the two lines of railway from Richmond, those running to GordonsvUle and Freder icksburg, cross. Here the railway was torn up, and the telegraph line cut, audi 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 Une, a mile nearer, was reached, and a desultory fire was kept up for some 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 WUUamsburg. Several miles of raUway 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 Avith 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 aU rebel opposition in that part of the State, if not in Texas. A force of about ten thousand men, under command of General A. J. Smith, left Vieksburg 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 March they moved forward, meeting with uninterrupted success, as far as Natchitoches, some eighty miles above Alexandria. But at Sabine Cross- Roads, about twenty miles farther up, I 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 AprU. That night General Banks determined to fall back to Pleasant HUl, 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. I'he rebels at first gained some advan tage, pressing the Nineteenth 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, stUl 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 the 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 untU 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, ^nd 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, br 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 buUding 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 the gunboats brought safely over. Commodore Porter, in his report, says, "Words are inadequate to express the admiration I feel for Col onel Bailey. * * * Leaving out his abUity 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 longer." 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. About 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 these was the capture of Fort PUlow, on the Mississippi, on the 12th of April, by 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 fight. 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, tiU 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 chUdren were shot or cut to pieces. The huts in which the sick and wounded had taken refuge were fired over their heads, and there were stories of even darker cruelties than these. Of the white officers who commanded the 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 examin«d many 520 The Life, Public Services, and witnesses, and on the 5th of May made their report, with the testimony which they had taken. The report showed that this proceeding of the rebels was in pursuance 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 Southerners. The massacre was referred to by the President in hia 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 Makbion, Wabjiington, July KO, 1SG3. It is the duty of every Government to give protection to its citizens, of whatever class, oolor, or condition, and especially to those who are duly organized as soldiers in the public service. The law of nations and tho 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. Tp 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 tlierefore 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 be placed at hard labor on the public works, and coutinued at such labor until the other shall be released and receive the treatment due to a prii»- 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 exceUent 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 immediatel}^ 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 was not the only case of such atrocities on the part of the rebels. A somewhat simUar affair took place on the 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 Miami, Lieutenant Flusser, being kiUed by the rebound of a shell, which he had himself fired against the iron sides of the rebel vessel. Our fleet being driven down the river, communication with our garrison in Plymouth was cut off, and the place, being attacked by a heavy rebel force, was surrendered, after a gaUant defence for four days. 522 The Life, Public Services, and by its commander, General "Wessels, with its garrison of fifteen hundred men and twenty-five guns. The eftect 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 fight 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 foUowing, by a torpedo-boat, commanded by Lieutenant Cushing. 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 armies whose movements were to grind the Confederacyto 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 tiU the third day of May that all things were ready for the forward movement. The Army of the 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, under 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 foUow the Army of the Potomac at a short distance — and aU things were thus now ready for the great advance. At this time the foUowing cor- State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 523 lespondence passed between the President and General Grant : — EXKOOTITE Massidm, -WAsraKOTOH, April 30, ISM. 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. Tou are vigilant and self-reliant ; and, pleased with this, I wish not to obtrude any restraints or constraints upon 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 yon. Tours very truly, A. Lincoln. GEANT'S EEPLT. ad-Qttaetkbb Ai CuuEPPEs CouET-HovsE, May 1, 1864. Head-Qttaetebb Aemteb op the United States, ) The PsEsiDEin? : Tour 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 be 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 implied a complaint against the Administration, or the Secretary of War, for throw 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 yon.Very truly, your obedient servant, U. S. Grant, J^ieut.- General. The interest and anxiety with which the people watched for the approaching movement of the army Avas 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 hands of the Government were stayed up by the wUling hearts of the people. As one instance of the desire to help, which was uni versaUy 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 this offer as follows :— Executive Makbion, Washington, May 12, IS&i. My Dear Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of yonr communication of the 28th April, in which you offer to replace the present garrison at Fort TrnmbuU with volunteers, which you propose to raise at your own ex ponse. While it seems inexpedient at this time to accept this proposition, on account of the speci.il duties now devolving upon the garrison men tioned, I cannot pas's unnoticed siicli 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, whicii is worthy of n^te 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 Avas 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 Avhich 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. 525 They knew the ground thoroughly, and their movements could be made unseen, while the dense woods made cav alry and artillery almost useless. Lee's first efibrt Avas to break through 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 successfuUy repulsed. On our right no material advan tage of position was gained during the day ; but the death of General WadsAvorth, 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 our 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 movement, moved Ukewise, 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 noiles 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 Sixth 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 bless the righteous cause. Official bulletins were given to the public of the results of the different days' operations as they 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 and 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 sii ".ere prayers to and reliance upon Him (without whom all effort is vain), 1 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. AURAIIAM LlNCOLN. Accompanying this recommendation Avere published buUetins 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 neAVS 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 liav% 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. I believe, I know (and am especially grateful to know) that General Grant has not been jostled in his purposes, that he has made all his points, and to-day he is on his lino 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 ofiicers 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 modest General at the head of our armies, and sink aU personal consideration for the sake of tho 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 Avas not the only one. On Wednesday, May 4tli, General Butler having put his troops on board a fleet of transports, made a rapid move up the James River and occupied City Point and Bermuda Hundred, on both sides of the Appomattox River, across which pontoons Avere thrown — while Gen eral Kautz, at the head of a strong force of cavalry, left Suffolk 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 Beauregard. 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 the battles of the Wilderness. He also dispatched his cav alry under General Sheridan round tlie right flank of the rebels, on the 10th of May, which, reaching 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 llth, routed the rebel cav alry under General Stuart, at Yellow TaA^ern, in which engagement Stuart Avas killed ; and, pressing on yet nearer Richmond and over the first line of the works around the city, turned off to the east, and crossing the Chickahom iny, reached Fortress Monroe Ayith little loss, having in flicted great damage on the enemy. The 10th and llth of May Avere 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, Pubi^ic Services, and pulsed, Avdth the employment of aU the resources of both armies ; and the dispatches which General Grant sent to Washington on the night of the llth summed up the results as follows :— We have now ended the sixth day of very heavy fighting. The result to this time is mnch 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 ns 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 Iavo 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 16th day of May he met with a heavy bloAV 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 doAvn the Shenandoah Valley, Avas met by a superior force under General Imbden, and driven back Avith a loss of five guns. General Kautz, however, with his cavalry, having returned from his first successful raid, set out upon a second one toAvards 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. 529 re-enforcements to General Grant, and on the 18th the fighting in front of Spottsylvania Avas renewed. On the 19th^ the rebels inflicted a heavy loss upon our right by making an unexpected attack, in Avhich some of our newly arrived regiments suffered severely. This Avas an attempt of the rebels to cut our communications, but they faUed 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 hiake a flanking 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 Grant again deemed it Avise not to make a direct attack, but to repeat his flanking movement. The army was accordingly withdrawn without loss from Lee' s front on the night of Thursday, May 26th, and, moving again by the left, crossed the Pamunkey, but was again confronted by the rebel army, which, after some severe fighting, again made a stand at Coal Harbor. While here, one corps of General Butler's army, under General Smith, was transferred 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 White House, on the Pamun key river, also faUed as signaUy. And both .armies thus remained for several days, watching .each other sleep- lessly, and each preferring to receive rather than to make an attack. Other co-operative movements went on during all thia u 530 The Life, Public Services, and time. In Western Virginia, General Averill had made quite a successful raid upon the raUroads. In the Shen andoah Valley, Avhere General Hunter had taken com mand in place of General Sigel, our forces won a brUliant victory at Piedmont over the rebels under Generals Jones and Imboden, the former of Avhom was killed. Hunter captured - one thousand five hundred prisoners and three guns ; and, forming 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 lOtli of June. On the 12th of June, General Grant, having become convinced that nothing could be gained by a direct attack upon General Lee, foiloAved 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, Avhich he crossed upon a pontoon bridge beloAA^ City Point, and immediately moved forAvard to the attack upon Petersburg. Again, however. General Lee, having the inside lines to move upon, Avas a few hours in advance of our troops, and, AvhUe several forts Avere 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 Avas 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 flank movements he compelled the rebel army to retreat successively from Buzzard' s Roost, from Dal ton, and from Resaca, at Avhich latter place there were, however, two days of heavy fighting on the 14th and 15th 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 Oostenaula 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 had been too rapid to aUow of his doing much damage to the railroad along Avhich his army Avas falling back toAvards Atlanta ; and whatever damage he was enabled to do was at once repaired, and the raUroad 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 fianking system, and moved towards Dallas, where, however, he was met by the rebels, Avho attacked Mc Pherson's Corps on the 28th of May, and met a disastrous repulse, losing some tAvo thousand five hundred killed and wounded and eight hundred prisoners This move ment haA^g 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 General 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, whUe 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 Shei-man's position were not, however, so great but that he was able at once to make arrangements to repair this disastei-. Like General Grant, he was not "jostled from his plans" by these outside manceuvres any more than by the direct blows of the rebel army, and by the 18tb. of June, when Grant stationed himself before the works of Petersburg after his march of a hundred miles and his many battles, Sherman had arriA^ed before the rebel works at Kenesaw Mountain after a similar march of 532 The Life, Public Services, and fighting 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 groAving 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 Avas 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 Unes. 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 army 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 shoAving 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 was for them a gratification, not a cause for anxiety, and they cheered him, as he rode along the Unes, 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 AVOnderfuUy during the rest of his Ufe. 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 responsibUity ; State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 533 but it has been imposed upon me without my seeking, and I trust Providence has a wise purpose for me to fulfil by appointing me to this charge, which is almost too much for a weak mortal to hold." He appreciated not only this confidence in him, but the whole character of the people. " Such a people, ' ' 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 IioaV speedUy the fulfilment of his prophecy approached. General Grant' s purpose was to extend his Unes south ward, cutting off as speedily as possible the railroads which led from Petersburg to the south ; and by the cavalry arjn destroying the other raUroads 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 GordonsviUe, returning to the White House, and there opening 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, hoAvever, towards the Weldon road resulted disastrously ; and WUson, 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, wMch was sent to his relief. General Hun ter, too, was unable to capture Lynchburg, and, fall ing short of ammunition, Avas compeUed to retreat into Western Virginia by the Valley of the KanaAvha. 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 Prissident to ap point a day of fasting and prayer. Accordingly, on the 7th of July, he issued the foUowing proclamation : — 534 The Life, Public Services, and peoclamation. By the President of the United States. Whereas, the Senate and House of Eepresentatives 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 AVash 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 wlierever 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 ^ates may be established throughout all the States; to implore Him, as the Supreme Euler 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 nation 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 Hira 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 tlieir 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 ]ieiii- 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 tlie 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 tliat day, and there tb render to the Almighty and merciful Euler of the Staie Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 535 Universe, such homage and such confessions, and to offer to Hira snch supplications as the Congress of the United States have, in their afofesaid resolution, so solemnly, so earnestly, and so reverently recommended. 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 seventh day of July, in the year of |- -] our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, and of tho independence of the United States the eighty-ninth. By the President : Abraham Lucoout. William H. Seward, Secretary of State. The depressing effect of the apparent check in the on ward movement of the Avork of suppressing the rebeUion was, however, much alleviated by the news which ar rived on the 6th of July, of the sinking of the rebel cruiser Alabama, on the 19th of June, off Cherbourg, by the Kearsarge, under the command of Captain Winslow. Opportunities for our navy to distinguish itself in battle, except Avith 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 nortliAvard. 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 mUitia from each of the States of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New York, to meet this invasion, from which both Baltimore and Washington were felt to be in some danger. A bold company of raiders even burned the house of Governor Bradford, only four miles from Baltimore, and, passing north of Baltimore, cut the Philadelphia and Baltimore" Railroad, capturing two trains of cars. One of the pas6,engers on the cars was Major-General Franklin, who was taken prisoner, but afterwards succeeded iu making his escape near Reisters- town. The raiders met Uttle opposition through the coun- 536 The Life, Public Services, >and jtry, one striking exception being the conduct of old Ishmael Day, a man of eighty -three years, Avho, when a couple of rebels undertook to pull down a flag which was flying over his gate, shot one of them and forced the other to retreat. A larger company of them, 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 mUitia 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 the end of that week they were all south of the Potomac, having carried off great quantities of plunder and spread great consternation through Maryland and the lower part of Pennsylvania, but not having succeeded at all in compelUng 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, atCynthiana, continued, and were receiv ing so much countenance from rebel sympathizers in the State, that the President deemed it wise to declare martial law throughout the State, which was done by the follow ing proclamation : — By the President of the United States of America. PEOOL-AM ATION. Wabuingtow, Tuesday, July 5. Whereas, by a proclaraation which was issued on the 15th day of April, 1861, the President of the United States announced and declared that tho laws of the United States had been for some time past, and then were op posed, and the execution thereof obstructed in cert.ain States therein men tioned, by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordin.iry cmirso of judicial proceedings or by the power vested in the marshals by law ; and State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 537 Whereas, immediately after tho issuing of the said proclamation the land and naval forces' of the United States were pat into activity to sup press the said insurrections and rebellion ; and Whereas, the Congress of the United States, by an act approved on the third day of March, 1863, did enact that during the said rebellion tlie President of the United States, whenever in his judgment the public 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 part thereof; and }77iereas, the said insurrection and rebellion still continue, endangering the existence of the Constitution and Government of the 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 parts of the States where the said rebellion has been successful iu obstructing the laws and public authorities, 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 ho declared that the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus should be suspended throughout the United States, in oases where by the authority of the President of the United States, the military, naval, and civil officers of the United States, or any of them, hold persons under their cominiind or in their custody, either as prisoners of war, spies, or aiders or abettors of the enemy, or officers, soldiers, or seamen enrolled or drafted, or mustered, or enlisted in, or belonging to the land or naval forces of the United States, or as desert ers therefrom, or otherwise amenable to military law, or the rules and articles of war, or the rales and regulations prescribed for the militaj y and naval sei-vice by authority of the President of the United States, or for resisting a draft, or for any other offence against the military or naval service ; and Whereas, many citizens of thq State of Kentucky have joined the forces of the insurgents, who have on several occasions entered the said State of Kentucky in large force and not without aid and comfort furnished by disaf fected and disloyal citizens of the United States residing therein, have not only greatly disturbed the public peace but have overborne the civil authorities and made flagrant civil war, destroying property and life in various parts of the State ; and Whereas, it has been made known to the President of the United States, by the officers commanding the National armies, that combinations havo been formed in the said State of Kentucky, with a purpose of inciting tho rebel forces to renew the said operations of civil war within the said State, and thereby to embarrass the United States armies now opei-ating in the s,iid States of Virginia and Georgia, and even to endanger their safety. Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the authority vested in roe by the Constitution and laws, do hereby declare that in my judgment the public safety especially requires 538 The Life, Public Services, and that the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus so pro claimed in the said proclamation of the 15th of September, 186.3, be made effectual and be duly enforced in and throughout the said State of Ken tucky, arid that martial law be for the present declared therein. I do therefore hereby require of the military officers in the said State that the privilege of the habeas corpus be effectually suspended within the said State, according to the aforesaid proclamation, and that martial law be established therein to take effect from the date of this proclamation, the said suspension and establishment of martial law to continue until this proclamation shall- be revoked or modified, but not beyond the period when the said rebellion shall have been suppressed or come to an end. And I do hereby require and command, as well as military officers, all civil officers and authorities existing or found within the said State of Ken tucky, to take notice of this proclamation and to give full efi'ect to the same. The martial laws herein proclaimed and the things in that respect herein ordered will not be deemed or taken to interfere with the holding of lawful elections, or with the proceedings of the constitutional Legisla ture of Kentucky, or with the administration of justice in the courts of law existing therein between citizens of the United States in suits or pro ceedings which do not affect the military operations or the constituted authorities of the Government of the United States. 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 5th day of July, in the year [l. s.] of our Lord 1864, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-eighth. Abraham Lincoln. By the President : William H. Seward, Secretary of State. While the loyal States were thus engaged in repeUing rebel raids and strengthening the armies. General Sher man continued his victorious campaign. His assault upon Kenesaw was a failure, because of the strength of the rebel works; but a repetition of the flanking system drove Johnston out of them across the Chattahoochee, which- our army crossed on the llth of July. By a movement of his left wing. General Sherman at once seized Decatur, only six mUes from Atlanta, and severed the railroad be tween Atlanta and Augusta, by which time the dissatis faction, which had been felt in rebeldom with Johnston's continued falUng back, culminated in his removal on the 7th of J uly, and~the appointment of General Hood in his State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 539 place. Hood signalized his appointment by attacking Sherman instead of remaining on the defensive, and was defeated with heavy loss on the 20th of July, and again on the 22d, when our army, though victorious, met with a very severe loss in the death of Major-General McPher son, one of the choicest of the gallant leaders who had stood around Sherman through all that long, laborious, and bloody march. A raid of our cavalry, under General Rousseau, had destroyed the railroad between Atlanta and Montgomery, for thirty miles, with but Uttle" loss. Another, under General Stoneman, though partially suc cessful in what it accomplished on the Macon road, Avas. cut off on its return, and General Stoneman and most of his command were captured, on the 30th of July. StUl, the month closed prosperously upon Sherman's opera tions. Another rebel attack was bloodily repulsed on the 28th, and his Unes were drawn closely around At lanta, while the rebel strength had been more weakened by Hood's assaults than by Johnston's successive retreats. At the North the month did not close so favorably. The hundred-days men offered by the Northwestern States had come promptly forward and been assigned to the posts where they were needed. . On the llth of June the Presi dent made the foUowing brief speech to a regiment of them from Ohio, which passed through Washington : — Soldiers! I understand yon have just come from Ohio ; come to help us in this the nation's day of trial, and also of its hopes. I thank you for your promptness in responding to the call for troops. Tour services were never needed more than now. I know not where you are going. You may stay here and take the places of those who will be sent to the front, or you may go there yourselves. Wherever you go I know you will do your best. Again I thank you. Good-by. But notwithstanding the aid which they furnished iu order to make up the re-enforcements needed for Sher man to keep up his line of communication, for Grant to make the necessary extension of his lines, and for the meeting of rebel raids in various parts of the coun try, She President had deemed it wise, on the 18th of 540 The Life, Public Services, and July, to issue the foUowing Proclamation, ordering a draft of five hundred thousand men : — PEOCLAMATION. By the President of the United States of America. Washington, July 18, 1864. Whereas, By the act approved July 4, 1864, entitled an act further to regulate and provide for the enrolling and calling out the national forces, and for other purposes, it is provided that the President of the United States may, at his discretion, at any time hereafter, call for any number of men as volunteers for the respective terms of one, two, and three years for military service ; and that in case the quota, or any part thereof, -of any town, township, -ward 'of a city, precinct, or election district, or of a county not so subdivided, shall not be filled within the space of fifty days after such call, then the President shall immediately order a draft for one year, to fill such quota, or any part thereof which may be un filled. And, whereas, the new enrolment heretofore ordered is so far com pleted as that the afore-mentioned act of Congress may now be put in operation, for recruiting and keeping up the strength of the armies in the field, for garrisons, and such military operations as may be required for the purpose of suppressing the rebellion and restoring the authority of the United States Government in the insurgent States. Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do issue this my call for five hundred thousand volunteers for the mili tary service ; provided, nevertheless, that all credits which may be estab lished under section eight of the aforesaid act, on account of persons who have entered the naval service during the present rebellion, and by cred its for men furnished to the military servioe in excess of calls heretofore made for volunteers, will be accepted under this call for one, two, or three years, as they may elect, and will be entitled to the bounty pro vided by law for the period of service for which they enlist. And I hereby proclaim, order, and direct, that after the fifth day of Sep tember, 1864, being fifty days from the date of this call, a draft for troops to ser\e for one year, shall be held in every town, township, ward of a city, precinct, election district, or county not so subdivided, to fill the quota which shall be assigned to it under this call, or any part tliereof which may be unfilled by volunteers, on the said fifth day of September, 1864. Done at Washington this 18th day of July, in the year of our Lord, 1804, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-ninth. In testimony wherof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the [l. b.] seal of the United States to be affixed. Abraham Linoolk. Ey the President ; Wm. n. Sewaro, Secretary of State. State Papers of Abraham Ldjcoln. 541 ToAvards the last of the month the rebels made another raid into Maryland and Pennsylvania, and on the 30th of July the town of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, was occupied by their cavalry under General McCausland. A written demand, signed by General Early, was presented for $100,000 in gold, or §500,000 in currency, with a threat of burning the town if the demand was not complied Avitli. As it was not complied with, they fulfilled their threat and laid the toAvn in ashes, without giving the citi zens time to remove their property. The rebel forces remained north of the Potomac till about the 7th of August, but accompUshed nothing else of importance. On that day several of our commands which had been acting against them somewhat independently of each other were consolidated into one, at the head of which was placed General Sheridan. The benefit of this change was speedUy seen. The rebels fell back south of the Potomac, and were so pressed by Sheridan that General Lee deemed it advisable to re-enforce Early from his own Unes, when Sheridan in his turn fell back, and for some weeks there was active manoeuvring on both sides and several smaU battles were fought, in which we gained more than the rebels, who were never able to cross the Potomac in force again. Two days before the burning of Chambersburg, Gen eral Grant had made a movement on the north side of the James River, across which, by means of pontoon bridges, he threw a force which was attacked before it had time to strengthen its position, but repulsed the rebels with a loss of four guns. This movement, though only a feint, was heavy enough to induce General Lee to throw a strong force to the north side also, when our men were in the night drawn back for an attack on the Peters burg Avorks, which was made on the 80th. The attack was begun in front of General Burnside's Unes, by the explosion of a mine under one of the rebel forts, destroy ing it at once. Instantly every gun in our ranks opened upon Petersburg and its defences, and an assault was made upon the gap in the rebel Unes caused by the 542 The Life, Public SERAacES, and explosion of the mine. The attack was successful in piercing the lines, but not in carrying a height just within them, caUed Cemetery HiU, from which, if we had sue ceeded in carrying it, our guns would have commanded Petersburg and its defences. The rebels gathered here in force, and poured so heavy a fire upon our forces that the assault could not be maintained, and whUe part of our troops were driven back, a large number of them, who had entered the blown-up fort, were unable to re turn and were compelled to surrender. Our loss in the whole affair was between two and three thousand men. Charges were made that the colored troops, who formed a part of the assaulting column, had faUed to do their duty ; but the evidence did not sustain this charge, but shoAved that the failure was due mainly to that lack of cordial co-operation among the generals in command, which has so often defeated the most skUful and promis ing plans. It was supposed that this repulse would put an end to active operations in front of Petersburg for a long time ; but this was not giving due credit to Grant's unyielding pertinacity. An important position on the north side of the James was captured on the 15th of August, by a ruse, Hancock's Corps having been shipped on transports doAA^n the river, as if on their way to Washington, but returning under cover of night to join the Tenth Corps in taking and holding a position only ten miles from Richmond, capturing some five hundred prisoners and ten guns. This position was important to cover the work of our men in digging the Dutch Gap Canal, through which it was hoped our iron-clads might go up the river to fiank the rebel defences. Not satisfied with this success, but taking advantage of the fact that Lee, encouraged by the ill success of our assault on the 30th of July, had sent a portion of his troops to re-enforce Early, General Grant, on the 17th, struck a blow at the other end of his lines, upon the A^' el- don Railroad, which was seized by our forces. A furi ous attack was made upon them by the rebels, which at one time met with a partial success, but our lines were State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 543 re-established, and a subsequent attack was repulsed Avith heavy loss. Two rebel generals were killed and three wounded. Another an(^ more determined assault was made on. the 26th, but, after tremendous fighting, was also repulsed. Our loss was severe, but that of the rebels was far more so. The substantial prize of the struggle, the railroad, remained in our possession, and thus another of the sources of supply for the army of General Lee was cut off. Thus the month of August gave us a decided advan tage in Virginia. In the South it gave us brilliant suc cess. In the early part of the month the preparations were completed for an attack upon Mobile, by the fieet under Commodore Farragut, aided, by a small land force under General Granger. The passage of the fieet into the bay past the rebel forts, and the destruction of the rebel fleet, were accomplished in about three hours, on the morning of the 5th of August. Our fieet consisted of fourteen gunboats and three monitors. The gunboats were lashed together, two by two, that one might help the other, and the monitors were on the starboard side of the fleet. The Brooklyn led the way, followed by the flagship Hartford and the rest. One of our monitors, the Tecumseh, commanded by the gallant Craven, was struck by a torpedo and sunk with all on board, except her pilot and eight or ten of her crew. This disaster momentarUy checked the advance, Avhen Farragut, in the flag-ship, rushed forward to the head of the fleet and led the way past the forts, foUoAved by the rest of the gun boats, each one as she went by pouring her broadsides into the rebel forts. Within the harbor the rebel iron clad Tennessee made desperate battle. The rest of the rebel fleet, except one vessel, having been captured or destroyed, she was attacked by several of our vessels at once, who rammed her severely 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 battle with the Monitor. 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 aij assault of the fort was commenced, and on the 23d, after a bombardment of tAvelve 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 aU his cav alry upon a fruitless effort 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 Unes 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 this evening th.it General Sherman's advance entered Atlanta about noon to-day. The particulars have not yet been received, but telegraphic communication during the night with Atlanta direct is expected. It is ascertained with reasonable certainty th.at the naval 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 ' departnient; so tli.it the President's call of July 10 is practic.illy reduced to three hundred thousand men, to meet and take the place of State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 545 First — The new enlistments in the navy ; Second— Tim casualties of battle, sickness, prisoners, and desertion ; and Third— The hundred-days troops and all others going out by expira tion of service this fall. One hundred thousand new troops promptly furnished are all that General Grant asks for the capture of Eichmond 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 tranquilhty in every State, Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War. This close of General Sherman's campaign was greeted with the greatest exultation by all the people, and they heartily responded to the recommendations of the Thanks giving Proclamation, which the President at once issued, and joined heartily in the thanks which he gave in the name of the nation to oflacers and men, and rejoiced in the salutes of one hundred guns which he ordered to be fixed everywhere. This proclamation and the orders issued were as fol lows : — ExECTrn-TB Mansion, -Washington Citt, 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 Port 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 aro 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 brave 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 the Father of mercies to the sick, -wounded, and prisoners, and to the orphans and widows of those who have fallen in the servioe of their country, and that He will continue to uphold the Government of the United iStates against all the efforts of pablic enemies and secret foes. Adraham LracoLW. 85 546 The Life, Public Sera^ces, and ExEOVTi-i-E Mansion, September 8, 1864 The national thapks are tendered by the 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 havc won for them the applause and thanks of the nation. Abraham Lincoln. EsECUTivE Mansion, September 3, 1864. The national thanks are tendered by the President to Major-General WiUiam 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. ExKciTTi-VE Mansion, September 3, 1864. Ordered. — First. — That on Monday, 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. The Secretary of War and the Secretary of tho Navy will issue the necess.iry directions in their respective departments for the exe cution of this order. Second. — That on Wednesday, the 7th day of September, commencing at the hour of twelve o'clock noon, there shall be fired a sahiie of ono 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 Head, and Newborn, the day after the receipt of this order, for the brijiiant achievements of the army nnder command of Major-General Sherman, in the State of Georgia, and the capture of Atlanta. The Secretary of War wOl give directions for the execution of this order. Aeraham Likooln. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 547 CHAPTER XVIIL the POUTICAL campaign OF 1864. The Peesidential Elbotion. — The Cleveland Convention. — The Con vention AT Baltimoke. — Me. Lincoln's Eenomination and Aooept- asce. — PopuLAE Feeling Dueing the Summer. — The Aeguelles Case. — The Foeged Proclamation. — The Niagara Falls Confeeenoe. — ^The Ohioaqo Convention. — Progress and Eesolt of the Cam paign. — Popular Jot at the Eesult. The American people were approaching another test of their capacity for self-government, in some respects more trying than any they had yet encountered. As the spring of 1864 was passing away, the ofiicial term of President Lincoln drew towards its close, and the people were re quired to choose his successor. At aU times and under the most, favorable circumstances, the election of a Pres ident is attended with a degree of excitement, which some of the Avisest 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 fiames and aroused such intense and deadly passions in the public heart, was felt to be fore most among the calamities which had menaced the land. The tAVO great rebel armies stiU 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 had ever shown. Taxes were increasing ; new drafts of men 548 The Life, Public Services, and to fill the ranks of new armies were impending ; the Demo cratic party, 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 out 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 throughout the loyal States. ThuL under these circumstances and amidst these ele ments of popular discontent and hostile passion, the nation should be compeUed 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 people 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 warmth 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 sweepingly enforced their extreme opinions. Many distinguished public men resented his rejection of their advice, and many more had been aUenated by his inabUity 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, the 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 his department, as the rival candidate. But it was insthictively felt that this effort lacked the sympathy and support of the great mass of the people, and it ended in the withdrawal of his na,me as a candidate by Mr. Chase himself. The National Committee of the Union Republican party had caUed 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 ccntroversy 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 hostiUty into tli« pubUc 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 ineffectually 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 onco the sentiment of a mature conviction and a profound affection for the common country, we feel ourselves impelled, 550 The Life, Public Services, ani on our own responsibility, to declare to the people that the time has 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 threatena 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 aro 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 ; satisfled that the only way to consult it is to indicate a central position, to which every one tftay go without too much expendituie 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 Avhether its members represented State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 551 any constituency other than themselves. They came from fifteen different States and the District of Columbia, but every one knew that at the East the movement had 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 altogether too large a majority for that. General John Cochrane, of New York, was chosen to preside over the convention. In the afternoon the plat form was presented, consisting of thirteen brief resolu tions, favoring the suppression of the rebelUon, 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 convenfion 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 4th. 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 Ihe proposed confiscation. He intimated that if the 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. 652, The Lu'ej Public Services, and as I beUeve 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 wUl remain no alternative but to organize against him every element of conscientious op position, AAdth the view to prevent the misfortune of hia re-election." And he accepted the nomination, and an nounced that 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 A^aluable 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 Governor Morton, of Indiana, in a speech at Indianapolis on the 12th of June, Avhen 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 4th of June, in Ncav York, ostensibly to express the gratitude of the nation to him and the sol diers under his command, for theirlabors and successes. As a matter of course the meeting Avas large and enthusi astic. President Lincoln wrote the foUoAving letter in aaswer io an invitation to attend : — State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 553 EiKovTivE Mansion, AV^ashihoton, June S, 196*. Hon. F. A. CoiiTKLiNO and others : Gkntlbmbn : — Your letter, inviting me to be present at a mass meet ing of loyal citizens, to be held at New York, on the 4th instant, for the purpose of expressing gratitude to Lieutenant-General Grant for his signal services, was received yesterday. It is impossible 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. Ee and his brave soldiers are now in the midst of their great trial, and I trust that at your meeting yon will so shape your good words that they may turn to men and guns, moving to his and their support. Yours truly, A. Lincoln. Whatever political purposes prompted the caU for this meeting, they were entirely overborne by the simple but resistless appeal, made by the President in this letter, to the patriotism of the country. Its effect was to stimulate instantly and largely the effort to fill up the ranks of the army, and thus aid General Grant in the great campaign by which he hoped to end the Avar. In a private letter to a personal friend, hoAvever, General Grant put a decisive check upon aU these attempts of politicians 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 politi cal Readership had any effect upon the settled sentiment and purpose of the great body of the people. Th.^y appreciated the importance of continuing the administra tion of the government in the same channel, and saw clearly enough that nothing would 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 whom the war had thus far been conducted. The nation, moreover, had entire faith in his integrity, his sagacity, and his unselfish devotion to the 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 Avho sought thus to renew their political relations with the parties of the Union. The Rev. Robert J. Breckin ridge, of Kentucky, was 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 overthroAV 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 feehngs 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 rill be responded to from one end to the other of this nation, as it wili be after it has been uttered and recorded by your secretary." The permanent organization was effected in the afternoon, by the choice of Hon. WiUiam Dennison, Ex Governor- of Ohio, as president, Avith twenty-three vice presidents, each from a different State, and tAV en ty- three State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 555 secretaries. After a speech from Governor Dennison, and another from Parson Brownlow, of Tennessee, the con vention adjourned tiU Wednesday morning at nine o'clock. The first 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 aUowing 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 poUtics 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 beUion from participation in national affairs until specifi- caUy 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 faUed, 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 right to vote. Mr. King, for Mmself, 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 CaroUna. Thus amended it Avas 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 BALTIMOEE PLATFOEM. Resolved, That it is the highest duty of every American citizen to maintain, against all their eneraies, 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 by a common sentiment and aiming at a common object, to. do everything in our power to aid the Government in quelling by force of arms the rebellion now raging against its author ity, and in bringing to the punishment due to their crimes the rebels and traitors arrayed against it. Resolved, 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 reliance upon the self-sacrificing patriotism, the .heroic valor, and the undying devotion of the American people to their country and its free institu tions. Resolved, That as slavery was the cause and now constitutes tho strength of this -rebellion, and as it must be always and everywhere hos tile to the principles of republican government, justice and the national safety demand its utter and complete extirpation from the soil of the 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 defence, has aimed a death blow at this gigantic evil, we are in favor, furthermore, of such an amendment to the Constitution, to be made by the people, in confor mity with its provisions, as shall terminate and forever prohibit the existence of slavery within the limits or the jurisdiction of the United States. Resolved, That the thanks of the American people are due to the sol dier? and sailors of the army and the navy, who have perilled their lives in defence of their country and in vindicatioD of the honor of its flag ; that the nation owes to them some permanent recognition of their patri otism and their valor, and ample and 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, the un selfish patriotism, and the unswerving fidelity to the Constitution and the principles of American liberty with which Abraham Lincoln has dis charged, under circumstances of unparalleled difficulty, the great duties and responsibilities of the Presidential ofiice; 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 fuU 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 wo regard as worthy of public confidence and official trust those only who cordially indorse the principles proclaimed in these resolutions, and which should cliarac- tiftrize 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 tho public debt, must bo kept inviolate, and that for this purpose we recom mend 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. Resohed, That we approve the position taken by the Government, that the people of the United States can never regard with indifference 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 efforts 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 unanimously 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 Avas explained by the chairman of the delega tion, were given under positive instructions for General Grant. 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 HamUn, 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 hundred 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. Liacoln 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 Chairman of the Committee, addressed him as fol lows : — Me. President: — 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 oflSce 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 characterize 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 ti-iumphant 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 na-vy. 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 : — Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Committee : — I will neither conceal my gratification, nor restrain the expression of my gratitude, that 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 nomin.ition 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 tha 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 standi 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 forin and practical effect. 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 : — Mk. 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 renomination, and to assure you that we will not fail at the poll.s 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 wo 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 tliat 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 liave 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 th,e same day the President was ser enaded by the delegation from Ohio, and to them and the large crowd Avhich had gathered there, he made the folio Aving brief speech : — Gentlemen : — I am very much obliged to you for this compliment. I have just being saying, and will repeat it, that the hardest of all speeches I State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 561 hnve to answer is a serenade. I never know what to say on these occa sions. I suppose that you have done me this kindness iu connection with the action of the Baltimore Convention, which has recently taken place, and with which, of course, I am very well satisfled. 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 officei-s and soldiei-s 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 himself 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 : — ITe-w Toek, June 14, 1854. Hon. Abraham Lincoln : * Sir: — The National Union Convention, which assembled in Baltimore on June 7th, 1864, has instructed us to, inform you that you were nomi- n.ited 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 tha 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 hospitai.ty 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 tho maintenance of a Government which you have justly described as "of the people, by 36 562 The Life, Public Services, and the people, for the people," we are very sure that you will be glad to know, not only from the resolutions tliemselves, but from the siugul.ir harmony and enthusiasm with which they were adopted, how wai-m is the popular welcome of every measure in the prosecution of tho war which is as vigorous, unmistakable, and unfaltering as the nationa} 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 Oonstitntion 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. We 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 beheve to be the overthrow of armed rebels in the field, and the security of perraanent peace and union, by liberty and justice, under the Constitution. That these results are to be achieved amid cruel perplex ities, they are fully a-*vare. That they are to bo reached only through cordial unanimity of counsel, is undeniable. That good men raay some times differ 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 have watched your official course, therefore, with unflagging attention; and amid the bitter taunts of eager friends and tlie fierce denunciation of enemies, now moving too fust for some, now too slowly for others, they have seen yon throughout 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 will. Your character and career prove your unswerving fidelity to the cardinal principles of American liberty and of the Araerioan Constitution. In the name of that liberty and Con stitution, sir, we earnestly request your acceptance of this nomination ; 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, 0., Chairman. W. Bushnell, 111. Josiah Drummond, Maine. L. P. Alexander, Mich. Thos. E. Sawyer, N. H. A. W. Eandall, Wis. Beaulky Barlow, Yt. A. Oliver, Iowa. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 563 A. H. Bullock, Mass. Thomas Simpson, Minn. A. M. Gammell, R. I. John Bid well, Cal. 0. S. Bushxell, Conn. Thomas H. Peaene, Oregon. G. "W. Curtis, N. Y. Leroy Kramer, West Va. "W. A. Newell, N. J. A. C. Wilder, Kansas. Heney Johnson, Penn. M. M. Brien, Tennessee. N. B. Smithehs, Del. J. P. Geeves, Nevada. W. L. W. Seabrook, Md. A. A. Atooha, La. John F. Hume, Mo. A. S. Paddock, Nebraska. G. W. Hite, Ky. Valentine Dell, Arkansas. E. P. Tyffe, Ohio. John A. Nye, Colorado. Cyrus M. Allen, Ind. A. B. Sloanaker, Utah. eeply of me. LINCOLN. ExEotmvE Mansion, -Washington, June 2T, 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 havo 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 fullyconcurred 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, -\vill be faithfully maintained so long as tha state of facts shall leave' that position pertinent 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 tha grateful country for whose salvation they devote their lives. Thanking you for the kind and complimentary terms in which yoa have communicated the nomination and other proceedings of tha con 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 Gibson, Solicitor of the United States in the 564 The Life, Public Services, and Court of Claims at St. Louis, who, considering, as he said, that that platform rendered his retention of ofiice 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, Avas as foUows : — ExECVTiTE Mansion, -WAsniKOTOK, July 25, 1864 J. C. Welling, 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 raay be tendered, as this is, for the purpose of taking an attitude of hostiIity:.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, npon 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 Ije 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, Yonr obedient servant, John Hat. The elements of opposition to Mr. Lincoln' s election in the ranks of his own party were checked, though not wholly destroyed, by the unanimity of his nomination. Conferences Avere still held among prominent men, espe cially in the city of New York, for the purpose of organ izing this hostility and making it effective, and a call was put in circulation for a convention to be held at Cincin nati, to put in nomination another candidate. The move ment, hoAvever, was so utterly destitute of popular sym pathy that it was soon abandoned. A very sharp and acrimonious warfare was still waged upon Mr. Lincoln and his Administration, not only by the leading presses ot the opposition, but by prominent men and infiuential ST.4.TE Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 565 journals ostensibly in the ranks of his supporters. Every act of the government was canvassed with eager and un friendly scrutiny, and made, wherever it was possible, the ground, of hostUe assault. Among the matters thus seized upon was the sur render to the Spanish authorities of a Cuban named Arguelles, which 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 Spanish 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 that Avere landed within his district, and received from the Govern ment of Cuba praise for his efficiency, and the sum of fifteen thousand doUars 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 Spanish newspaper caUed La Cronica. He came to Ncav York, and there remaiued. In March following, the Cuban Government made application to our authorities, throngh 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 Avas necessary to procure the Uberation of his hapless victims, and desiring to knoAV whether the Government of the Unijjted States Avould cause him to be returned to Cuba. Documents authen ticating the facts of the case were forAvarded to our authorities. There being no extradition treaty betAA^een our country and Spain, the Cuban Government could take no proceedings before the courts in the matter, and the only qaestion was Avhether 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 Avould send a suitable officer to Ncav York, measures would be taken to place Arguelles in his charge. The officer was sent, and Arguelles hav ing been arrested by the United States Marshal at New York, Avas, 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 effort Avas 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 knoAvledge which implicated the authorities themselves iu 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 laAV in which the arbitrary arrests Avhich 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 everyAvhere the enemies of the Administration found in the ArgueUes 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 ; Avhile 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 neAVspapers in the city of New Y ork. On Wednesday, May 18th, these two papers, the World and the Journal of Commerce, published what purported State Papers op Abraham Lincoln. ,567 to be a proclamation of President Lincoln. At this time, as AviU be recollected. General Grant was stUl struggling with Lee before Spottsylvania, with terrible slaughter and doubtful prospects, while Sigel had been driven back by Imboden, and Butler was held in check by Beauregard. This proclamation announced to the coun try that General Grant' s campaign Avas virtually closed ; and, " in vieAV of the situation in Virginia, the disaster at Red Hiver, the delay at Charleston, and the general state of the country," it appointed the 26th of May as a day of fasting, humiUation, 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 maUs 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, speedUy reassured the pubUc mind. After being satis fied that the publication of the document was inadver tent, the journals seized were permitted to restime pubU cation, the- authors of the forgery were sent to Fort Lafayette, and pubUc affairs 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 the arbitrary arrests it had been charged with tram pling upon the liberties of the citizen, so now it was charged Avith attacking the Uberty of the press. GoA^ernor Seymour directed the District Attorney of New York to take measures for the prosecution and punishment of all who had been connected with shutting up the newspaper offices. The matter was brought before a grand-jury, which reported that it was " iaexpedient to examine into the subject." Determined not to be thus thwarted. Governor Sey mour, alleging that the grand-jury had disregarded their 56 S The Life, Public Services, and oaths, directed the District Attorney to bring the subject before 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 had. The judge determined to hold General Dix and the rest for the action of the grand-jury. One grand-jury, hoAvever, 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, Avithout due process of law. He succeeded in making a speech abounding in denunciations of the Goverument, 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 LaAV, and even the employment of negroes in the army, Avere with them grave causes of complaint against it. The President's vicAVS on this matter were expressed in the foUoAving conversational remarks, to some prominent Western gentlemen : — The slightest knowledge of arithmetic (said he) will prove to any man -that the rebel armies cannot be destroyed by Democratic strategy. It would sacrifice all the white men of the Noi-th to do it. There are now in the servioe of tho 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 tbat these forces be disbanded, and that tho masters be conciliated by restoring tliem to slavery. The black men who now assist Union prisuuers to escape State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 569 are to be converted into our enemies, in the vain hope of gaining the 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 ultimate 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. AVill 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. AVe have to hold territory in inclement and sickly places. AVhere are the Democrats to do this? It was a free fight, and the field was open to the War Democrats to put down this rebellion by fighting again.st both master and slave long before the present policy was inaugurated. Iliera 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 d.imned. in time and eternity. ADome what will, I will keep my faith with friend and foe. My eneraies 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 polioy 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 tha 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 mentioned, others were brought forward more general in their character. The burdens of the war Avere made especiaUy prominent. Evejy thing discouraging was harped upon and magnified, every advantage was belittled and sneered at. The call for five hundred thousand men in June was even deprecated by the friends of the Ad ministration, because of the political capital Avhich its enemies would be sure to make of it. Nor v.^as Mr. Lin coln himself unaAvare that such Avould 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 Avith colors flying. Financial difficulties were also used in the same way. 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. They charged him with usurpation, with presuming uDon the forbearance of his supporters, with defeating the wiU 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 supxDort 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. StUl another incident soon occurred to excite a con- State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 571 siderable degree of public anxiety concerning the imme diate political future. It was universally understood that a strong desire for peace pervaded the pubUc mind, and that the 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 the political leaders in the Republican party, that ready access to them Avas found by agents of the Rebel Govern ment, stationed in Canada for such active service as cir cumstances might require. Of these agents, AA^ho were then at Niagara Falls, were C. C. Clay, formerly United States Senator from Alabama, Professor Hoicombe, of Vir ginia, and George N. Sanders. Acting on their behalf and under their instructions, W. Cornell Jewett, an irre sponsible and half-insane adventurer, had put himself in communication with Hon. Horace Greeley, Editor of the New YorJi 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 Avhich has not yet been made public, JcAvett wrote on the 5th of July to Mr. Greeley the foUowing letter : — NiAOAEA Falls, July 5, 1864. My Dear Me. Greeley: — In reply to your note, I have to advise hav ing just left Hon. George N. Sanders, of Kentucky, on the Canada side. I am authorized to state to you, for our use only, not the public, that two ambassadors of Davis & Co. are now in Canada, with full and complete pioioers for apeace, and Mr. Sanders requests that you come on iinmedi- ately to me, at Cataract House, to have a private interview, or if you will send the President's protection for him and two friends, they will corae on and meet you. He says the whole matter can be consummated by uie, you, them, and President Lincoln. Telegrajjh me in such form tliat I may know if you come here, or they to come on with me. Yours, W. C. Je-wett. Tlie next day Mr. JcAvett also telegraphed as fol lows : — H. Greeley, Tribune : WOl you come here ? Parties h.ive full power. Wrote you .yesterday Jewett 572 The Life, Public Services, and This letter and telegram Mr. Greeley enclosed to the President, at Washington, accompanied by the foUow ing letter : — Ne-w TOF.K, July T, 1864. My Dear Sir: — I venture to enclose you a letter and telegraphic dis patch that I received yesterday from our irrepressible 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 onr 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 ond confer with the authorities at Washington has done harm, whicli the tone at the late National Convention at Baltimore is not calculated to counteract. I entreat you, in your own tirne 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 St.ates, this should be done at once. I would give the safe-con duct reqnired by the rebel envoys at Niagara, upon their parole to avoid observation and to refrain frora all cominunication with their sympa thizers in the loyal States ; bnt you may see reasons for declining it. But whether throngh them or otherwise, do not, I entreat yon, fail to raaka the Southern 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 sarae. 3. A complete amnesty for all political offences, with a restoration of all the iiihiibitants of each State to all the privileges of citizens of the United States. 4. Tha^Union to pay four hundred million doll.ars (§400,000,000) in ' five per cent. United States stock to the late Slave States, loyal and seces- State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 573 eion alike, to be apportioned pro rata, according to their slave popula- ¦fcion 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 be at the absolute disposal of the legislature afore said. 5. The said Slave States to be entitled henceforth to representation in the House on the basis 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- tliis adjustment, and make such changes in the Constitution as may be deemed advisable. Mr. President, I fear you do not realize how intently the people desire any peace consistent with tho 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 soldiery, 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 ofier 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 ns from a Northern insurrection. Yours, truly, Horace Greeley. Hon. A. Lincolu-, President, Washington, D. G. P. S. — Even though it should be deemed unadvisable to make an oftei 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 credentiais and submit their ultimatum. H. G. To this letter the President sent the foUowing answer : - - ¦WASHiNOTO^f, D. C, July 9, 18G4. Hon. Horace Geeeley : Dear Sir : — Your letter of the 7th, with enclosures, received. If yon can find any person anywhere professing to have any proposition of Jef ferson Davis, in writing, for peace, embracing the restoration of tlie Union and abandonment of slavery, whatever else it embraces, say to hira he raay corne 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. Linoous. 574 The Life, Public Services, and Mr. Greeley answered this letter as foUows : — Office of the Tribitne, Ne-w- Tork, July 10, 1S64. My Dear Sie : — I have yours of yesterday. Whether there be persons ^t Niagara (or elsewhere) who are empowered to commit the rebels by negotiation, is a question ; but if 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 terras. 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. II. Stephens visit Washington as a peacemaker, and being rudely repulsed ; and I am anxious that the ground lost to the national cause by that mis take shall somehow be regained in season for effect on the approaching North Carolina election. I will see if I can get a look into the hand of whorasoever raay be at Niagara; though that 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, Hoeace Geeeley. Hon. A. Lincoln. This letter faUed 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 the Teidttite, New Toek, Jxily 18, 1864. My Dear Sir: — I have now information on which I can rely that two persons duly coramissioned and empowered to negotiate for peace are at this raoment 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 raeet 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 per.sons 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 comraissioners erapowered as they are. In negotiating directly with yourself, all grounds of ca\-il State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 575 wonld be avoided, and you would be enabled at all times to aot upon the freshest advices of the military situation. You will of course understand that I know nothing and have proposed nothing as to terms, and that nothing is conceded or taken for granted by the meeting of persons em powered to negotiate for peace. All that is assumed is a mutual desire to terminate this wholesale slaughter, if a basis of adjustment can be mu tually agreed on, and it seems to me high time that an effort to this end shoul-J be made. I arn of course quite other than sanguine that a peace can now be made, but I am quite sure that 'a frank, earnest, anxious effort to terminate the war on honorable terras would immensely strengthen the Government in case of its failure, and would help us in tho eyes of the civilized world, which now accuses us of obstinacy, and indis position even to seek a peaceful solution of our sanguinary, devastating conflict. Hoping to hear that you have resolved to act in the premises, and to act so promptly that a good influence may even yet be exerted on the North Carolina election next month, I remain yours, Hoeaob Greeley. Hon. A. Lincoln, Washington. On the 12tli, the day before the foregoing letter was sent, Mr. George N. Sanders had written to Mr. Greeley as foUows : — Clifton I-IotrsE, Nxaoaea Falls, ? Cahada West, Juh/ 12, 1364 j, Deae Sie : — I am authorized to say that Honorable Clement 0. Clay, of Alabama, Professor James P. Hoicombe, of Virginia, and George N. S.anders, of Dixie, are ready and willing to go at once to Washington, npon complete and unqualified protection being given either by the Presi dent or Secretary of War. Let the permission include the three naraes and one other. Very respectfully, George N. Sanders. To Hon. HoEAOE Geeeley. This letter of Mr. Sanders does not seem to have been communicated to the President, but on the receipt of Mr. Greeley' s letter of the 13th, he immediately answered it by the foUoAmg telegram : — Executive Ma-nsion, Washington, Juiy 15, 1S64. Hon. Horace Geeeley, New York : — I suppose you received my letter of the 9th. I havo just received yours of the LSth, and am disappointed by it. I was not expecting you to send me a letter, but to bring me a man, or men. Mr. Hay goes to you with my answer to yours of the 13th. A. Lincoln. The answer which Major Hay carried was as follows : — 576 The Life, Public Services, and ExECUTi-ra Mansion, Washington, JuVj 16, 1864. Hon. Horace Greeley: My Dear Sik:— Yours of the 13th is just received, and I am disap pointed that you have not already reached here with those commission ers. If they would consent to come, onbeingshown my letter to you of the 9th instant, show that and this to thein, and if they will come on tho terms stated in the former, bring thera. I not only intend a sincere effort for peace, but I intend that you shall be a personal witness that it is made. Yours truly, -^- Lincoln. When Major Hay arrived at New York, he delivered to Mr. Greeley this letter from the President, and tele graphed its result to the President as follows : — United States Militabt Telegeaph, ( AVak Depaetment, New Toek, 9 a. m., July 16, lb64. ( His Excellency A. Lincoln, President of the United States: Arrived this morning at 6 a. m., and delivered your letter few minutes after. Although he thinks some one less known would create less ex citement and bo less -embarrassed by public curiosity, still he will start immediately if he can have an absolute safe-conduct for four persons to be named by him. Your letter he does not think will guard thom from arrest, and with only those letters he would have to explain the whole matter to any officer who might choose to hinder them. If this meets with your approbation, I can write the order in your name as A. A.-G., or you can send it by mail. Please answer me at Astor House. John Hay, A. A.-G. The President at once answered by telegraph as fol lows : — ExECVTi-viffi Mansion, "Wabhington, JuVy 16, 1864. John Hay, Astor House, New York : Yours received. Write the safe-conduct as you propose, without wait ing for one by mail from me. If there is or is not any thing in the affair, I wish to know it without unnecessary delay. A. Lincoln. Major Hay accordingly wrote the following safe-conduct, armed with Avhich Mr. Greeley betook himself at once to Niagara Palls : — ExEciTTTv-K Mansion, Washington, D. O. The President of the United States directs that the four persons whose names follow, to wit : Hon. Clement 0. Clay, Hon. Jacob Thompson., Prof. James B. Holoombb, Geosob N. Sanders, State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 577 shall have safe-conduct to the City of "Washington in company with the Hon. Horace Greeley, and shall be exempt from arrest or annoyance of any kind from any officer of the United States during their journey to tho said City of Washington. By order of the President : John HaY, Major and A. A.-G. On his arrival, Mr. Greeley sent by the hands of -Mr. JcAvett the foUowing letter : — NiAGAKA Falls, N. T., July IT, 1861. Gentlemen: — I am informed that you are duly accredited frora Eich 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 his safe-conduct on tha journey proposed, and to accompany you at the earliest time that will ba agreeable to yoa. I have the honor to be, gentlemen. Yours, HoEAOB Greeley. To Messrs. Clement 0. Clay, Jacob Thompson, James P. Holoombb, Clifton House, C. W. To this letter the foUowing reply was returned : — Clifton Hottse; Niagara Falls, July 18, 1864. 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 hira from Richmond, as the bearers of propositions looking to the establiahment of peace. We are, however, in the confidential employnoient 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 Eichmond, we would be at once invested with the authority to which yonr letter refers, or other gentlemen, clothed with full powers, would be iramediately sent to Washington with a view of hastening a consummation so much to be desired, and terminating at the earliest possible moment the calamities of the 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. AVe 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 the fartherance of 31 578 The Life, Public Services, and our wishes, and to express the hope that, in any event, you will afford as the opportunity of tendering them in person before you leave the Falls. We remain, very respectfully, &c., C. 0. Clay, Je. J. P. IIOLCOMBE. P. S. — It is proper to state that Mr. Thompson is not here, and has not been staying with us since our sojourn in Canada. Mr. Greeley thereupon wrote as follows : — Ikteenational Hotel, Niagaka Falm, N. T., July 18, 1864. Gentlemen : — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of yours of this date by the hand of Mr. AY. C. Jewett. Th.e state of facts tlierein presented 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 chat 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 shaU do BO at the earliest moment. Yours truly, Horace Geeeley. To Messrs. Clement 0. Clay and James P. Holoombe, Clifton House, 0. W. . This letter was thus acknowledged : — Clifton House, Niagaba Falls, July 18, 1864. To Hon. H. Geeeley, Niagara Falls, N. Y. : Sir : — We have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of yonr note of this date by the hands of Colonel Jewett, and will await the further answer which you propose to send to 'is. 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 Telegraph Like, Niaoaka Falls, July 18, 1864. Hon. Abraham Lincoln, President : I have coramunicated with the gentlemen in question, and do not find them so empowered as I was previously assured. Tliey say that " we are, however, in tho confidential employment of our Government, .and entirely familiar with its wishes and opinions on tliat subject, and we feel authorized to declare that, if the circumstances disclosed in this correspond- State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 579 ence were communicated to Richmond, we would at onoe be invested with the authority to which your letter refers, or other gentlemen clothed with full power would immediately be sent to Washington with a view of hastening a consummation so much to be desired, and terminating at the earliest possible moment the calamities of war. We respectfully solicit, through your intervention, a safe-conduct to Washington, and thence by 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, Hoeace Greeley. The President, on receiving this 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 foUowing letter : — Inteenational Hotel, Niagaba Falls, New Toee, July 19, 1864, Gentlemen: — -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, Hoeaoe Geeeley. To Hon. Messrs. C. 0. Clay, Jr., and J. P. Holoombe, Clifton House, C. W. He received the following acknowledgment : — Clifton House, Niagaea Falls, July 19, 1664. Sir : — Colonel Jewett has just handed us your note of this date, in which you state that further instructions from Washington will reach you by noon to-morrow, if there be no interrujition. One, or possibly both of us, may be obliged to leave the Falls to-day, bnt will return in time to receive the communication which you promise to-morrow. We remain truly yours, &c., James P. Holoombb. C. C. Clay, Jr. To the Hon. Hoeaoe 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, and Exeodtite Mahsion, Af ashikqton, July IS, 1664. To WHOM IT MAY OONOKEN : Any proposition which embraces tho restoration of peace, the. 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 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 the 20th of July, and went with Mr. Greeley across to the CUfton House, where he delivered to Professor Hoicombe the above paper, in the President's own handwriting. The interview was a brief one, and on separating, Mr. Greeley returned to Ncav 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 foUows : — KiAOABA Falls, Cliptoh Hottse, July 21. To Hon. Hoeaoe Greeley : Sir: — The paper handed to Mr. Hoicombe 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 tha following terms : — Executive Mansion, AVashington, D. 0., July 18, 1S64. To WHOM IT MAY OONOEEN : Any proposition which embraces the restoration of peace, the integrity of the whole Union, and the abandonment of slavery, and which comes by and with an authority that can control tha 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. Tha application to which we refer was elicited by your letter of the 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 Rich mond, as bearers of propositions looking to the establishment of peace," and desired a -visit 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 Presicjent — a change which we felt authorized to hope might terminate in the conclusion of a peace, mutually j ust, honor- State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 581 I able, and advantageous to the North and to the South, exacting no con dition, but that we should be " duly accredited from Eichmond as bearers of propositions looking to the establishment of peace," tlwus proffering a basis for conference as comprehensive as we could desire. It seemed to ns that the President opened a door, which had previously been closed against the Confederate States for a full interchange of sentiments, freo discussion of conflicting opinions, and untrammelled effort to remove all causes of controversy by liberal negotiations. We indeed could not claim the benefit of a safe-conduct which had been extended to us in a fcharac- terwe had no right to assume, and had never affected to possess; but the uniform declaration of our Executive and Congress, and their thrice re peated and as often repulsed attempts to open negotiations, furnish a sufBcient pledge to assure us that this conciliatory manifestation on tha part of the President of the United States would be met by thera in a temper of equal magnanimity. We had therefbre no hesitation in de claring that if this correspondence was corainunicated to the President of the Confederate States, he would promptly embrace the opportunity presented for seeking a peaceful solution of this unliappy 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 tho counsels of your President. Had the representatives of the two Governments met to consider this question, the most momentous ever submitted to human statesraanship, 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, whicli 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 parti.ally redeems its brutalities? Instead of the safe-conduct whicli 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 rights or its dignity, a document has been presented which provokes as much indignation as sur prise. It be.ars no feature of resemblance to that which was originally offered, and is unlike any paper which ever before eraanated frora the con stitutional Executive of a free people. Addressed " to whom it may con cern,'' it precludes negotiation, and prescribes in advance the terras 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 sliall have laid down his arras, 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 ovei'ture for negotiation at the moment it was likely to be accepted, 582 The Life, Public Sera'ices, and of this emphatic recall of words of peace just uttered, and fresh bhasts of war to the bitter end, we leave for the speculation of those who have the means or incliiiation to penetrate tho mysteries of his cabinet, or fathom the caprice of his imperial will. It is enough for us to say tliat we havo no use whatever for the paper which has been placed in our hands. We could not transmit it to the President of the Confederate States without offering hira 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 thera. Those who control our arraies are the servants of the people, not their masters, and they have no more inclination than they 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 wUl 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 ag'^ny 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 death. 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 thera, we pray that in their bosoms a resolution may be 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 thanks, and are most respectfully and truly Your obedient servants, C. C. Clay, Jr. James P. Holoombb. The letter to Mr. Jewett in which it was enclosed Avas as follows : — CLrrroN IIovsE, Niagaea Falls, July 20, 1861. Col. W. C. Jewett, Cataract House, Niagara Falls : AVe are in receipt of yonr note admonishing us of tho departure of Hon. Horace Greeley from the Falls, that he regrets the sad termination of the State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 583 initiatory steps taken for peace, in consequence of the change made by the President in his instructions to convey commissioners to AVashington for negotiations, unconditionally, and that Mr. Greeley will be pleased to receive any answer we may have to make through you. AVe avail our selves of this offer to enclose a letter to Mr. Greeley, which you will oblige us by delivering. We cannot take leave of you without expressing our thanks for your courtesy and kind offices as the intermediary through whom our correspondence with Mr. Greeley has been conducted, and as suring you that we are, very respectfully. Your obedient servants, ' 0. 0. Clay, Jr. James P. Holoombb. Mr. Greeley, before his departure, gave the foUowing certificate to Mr. Jewett :— Inteenational Hotel, Niagaea Falls, July 20, 1864. In leaving the Falls, I feel bound to state that I have had no intercourse with the Confederate gentlemen at the Clifton House, but such as I was fully authorized to hold by the President of the United States, and that I have done nothing in the premises but in fulfilment of his injunotione. The notes, tlierefore, which you have interchanged between those gentle men and myself, can in no case subject you to the imputation of unauthor ized dealing with public enemies Horace Geeeley. To W. C. Jewett, Esq. In their note of July 20, to Mr. Jewett, enclosing their final letter to Mr. Greeley, the rebel emissaries acknowl edge the assurance, received from Mr. Jewett, that Mr. Greeley "regrets the sad termination- of the initiatory steps taken for peace, in consequence of the change made by the President in his instructions to convey commis sioners to Washington for negotiations unconditionally.'^ The Commissioners must have misunderstood Mr. Jewett, or Mr. Jewett must have misrepresented Mr. Greeley, in this report of the ground of his "regrets," or else Mr. Greeley must have taken a position quite at variance with the facts of the case. Mr. Greeley could scarcely have beUeved that the President had "changed his instruc tions " in the least degree ; and he must have known that the result of the attempted negotiation was due to a AvhoUy diiferent cause. The iirst response made by the President to Mr. Greeley' g 584 ¦ The Life, Public Services, and urgent entreaty that peace commissioners should be re ceived, was dated July 9, and said : — " If you can find any person professing to have any proposition of Jefferson Davis, in writing, for peace, embracing the restoration of the Union, and abandonment of slavery, whatever else it embraces, say to Mm that he may come to me." At the very outset, therefore, the President distinctly specified the conditions on which he would receive the pretended commissioners : — they must bring written prop ositions for peace from Davis, and those propositions must embrace tAvo of the things which Mr. Greeley himself had suggested, — the restoration of the Union, and the aban donment of slavery. So>^far as appears, Mr. Greeley neither shoAved this letter of the President to the pretended agents of the Rebel Government, nor did he inform them in any way of the conditions on which alone they would be received. .But in his letters of July 10th and 18th, to the President, without making any reference to these con ditions, he reiterates his pressing entreaty that the negotia tions may be encouraged, and that the rebel agents may be received at Washington. To this the President replied, expressing his disappointment that the commissioners had not already arrived, and saying, " If they would consent to come, on being shown my letter to you of the 9th inst. [in which the conditions of their coming were distinctly stated], show that and this to tliem, and if they wiU come on the terms stated in the former, bring thein." Notwithstanding these explicit and peremptory instruc tions, it does not appear that Mr. Greeley gave the rebel agents any information whatever as to the "terms" of their being received, nor did he show them either of the President's two letters in which these terms were slated. But he proceeded to make arrangements for their •visit to Washington, and went to Niagara FaUs to bear them company. There he addressed them a letter on the 17th of July, saying that, if it was true, as he had been in formed, that they were "duly accredited from Richmond as the bearers of propositions looking to the estabhshment of peace, and m the fulfilment of their mission," he was State Papers of Abrah.4.m Lincoln. 585 * ' authorized by the President of the United States to tender them his safe-conduct on the journey proposed." Mr. Gree ley was not authorized to tender these agents a safe-conduct to Washington upon any such terms, but only on certain other conditions which he concealed frorii the agents, and of whicli he took no notice Avhatever, either in his corre- spondcrice with them 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. Greeley wrote to the President communicating this information, but still making no allu- sion whatever to the cond,itions 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 whom 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 Washing-ton, Avithout any mention of conditions — they were of course taken by surprise, and naturally enough attributed to the President the "sudden and entire change of views" 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 '•ot only faUed to reUeve him from it by maldng public 586 The Life, Public Sera^ces, and the facts, but joined in ascribing to Mr. Lincoln the faU 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 faUed in consequence of the President's " change of views." I 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 impossibiUty of making peace except by successful war. The commissioners themselves made a very adroit use of the advantage which Mr. Greeley's extraofdinary 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 efiective 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. Greeley for permission to publisli 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 pubUc mind something of the despondency, which Mr. Greeley himself felt and openly avoAved, con cerning the prospects of the country. The AVords which Mr. Lincoln desired to have omitted, in the publication of the correspondence, Avere the foUowing. In the letter of July 7 :— State Papers of Abrahaai Lincoln. 587 In the second pnr.agraph : the words " ,ind therefore I venture to re mind you that onr bleeding, bankni|)t, almost dying connt]-y .also longs for peace, shudders at the prospect of fresh conscrii>ti(in8, of further wholesale devastations, and of new rivers of human blood, and:" — also the words " now, and is moriilly certain, unless removed, to do far greater iu the approaching elections." In the fourth paragraph, the words "If only with a view to the mo mentous election soon to occur in North Carolina and of the draft to ba enforced in the Free States, this should be done." ' In the last paragraph, the words "It may save us from a Northern in- Burrection." In the letter of July 10th, second paragraph, the words "in season for effect on the approaching Nortli Carolina election ;" and in the last par.agraph, the words " especially those of North Carolina." And in the letter of July 13th, last paragraph, the words "that a good influence may even yet be exerted on the North Carolina election next month." Mr. Greeley declined to give his assent to the pubUca tion of the correspondence, unless these phrases should be published also. The President accordingly submitted in silence to the injustice Avhich had been done him, and com mitted the -wliole subject, in the following letter, to the judg ment of a personal and political friend : — ExEOHTiTi Mansion, Wabiiinoton August 15, 1864. Hon. Hkitey J. Eaymoxd : Mr Deae Sir: — I have proposed to Mr. Greeley that the Niagara cor respondence be published, suppressing only the parts of his letters over which the red-pencil is drawn in the copy which I herewith send. Ha declines giving his consent to the publication of his letters unless these parts be published with the rest. I have concluded that it is better for me to submit, for the time, to the consequences of the false position in which I consider he has placed ine, than to subject the country to tha consequences of publishing these discouraging and injurious parts. I send you this, and the accompanying copy, not for publication, but merely to explain to you, and that you may preserve them until their proper time shall come. Yours truly, Abraham Lincoln. This public statement of the facts of this case is deemed by the author due to the memory of Mr. Lincoln. He has been widely censured for entering into communica tion with rebel agents at all ;— but this correspondence shows that Mr. Greeley's assurances, and his pressing en treaties, had made it necessary for him, either to open the Avay 500 The Life, Public Services, and for peace negotiations or reject the opportunity, Avhich one of the most infiuential leaders of his own party thus assured him was offered, for an honorable termination of the Avar. He was charged Avitli having finally insisted upon certain concessions as the basis of an interview, after having first promised it unconditionally ; but this correspondence shows that these conditions AA^ere distinctly stated at the very outset, but were Avithheld by Mr. Greeley from the knoAvledge of the rebel commissioners. It is due to jus tice, as Avell as to Mr. Lincoln, that impressions so injurious and so false should no longer prevail. The effect of this attempt at negotiation upon the public mind Avas, for the moment, unfavorable to the Union cause. The people, responding heartUy to the demand of the Bal timore Platform, that no peace should be accepted by the Government on any terms short of an unconditional sur render, were distrustful of negotiations Avhich might look to some other issue. The charge of bad faith urged against the President sthnulated the Opposition, and, in the absence of the facts, embarrassed his supporters ; while the fact that Mr. Lincoln insisted upon the abandonment of slavery as one of the conditions of peace, was cited by the opponents of his Administration as proof that the object of the war was changed, and that it was to be Avaged hereafter, not solely for the preservation of the Union, but for the emancipation of the slaves. In the absence of any opposing candidate, these and countless other charges were urged against the Administration with marked effect, and added very materiaUy to the popular despondency Avhich the lack of miUtary success had naturally engendered. Eager to avaU themselves to the utmost of this auspicious condition of political affairs, and embarrassea not a little by discordant sentiments in their OAvn ranks, the Demo cratic party had postponed their National Convention for the nomination of a President from the 22d of June to the 29th of August. But the delay from Avhich they expected so much, in fact, betrayed them into a confidence which proved fatal to their hopes. Their expectations, hoAvever, were not without reason. The state of the pubUc mind State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 591 was favorable to the success of their plans. The as saults upon the Administration had grown more A'iru- lent, and seemed to produce more effect. Many of ita friends, Avho, when Mr. Lincoln Avas renominated, had considered the main work of the political campaign over, had groAvii gradually doubtful. The uncertainty as to the course Avliich the Democratic party Avould pursue compelled them almost to inaction, at least so far as offen sive warfare Avas concerned, while they Avere themselves exposed to every kind of attack. And when the time for the Chicago Convention came, its managers gathered to it with high hopes, believing that if they could only unite upon a candidate and a platform which should not vio lently off"end either wing of the party, their success Avas certain. The peace wing of the party, hoAA'ever, had been relatively strengthened in the interim. The delays and losses of the armies, the hope deferred to Avhieh 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 — aU 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 Avhich ordered his banishment from the lines during the war, and had remained in open defiance of the Government, Avhose failure to arrest and send him back, or otherwise to punish him, Avas treated then as an indication of weakness rather than of Ayisdom. He and his friends were active everyAvhere, 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 oavii, if this course was not pursued. It cannot be doubted that the fatal course Avhich Avas finally adopted by the Convention was largely due to the efforts of Mr. Vallandigham, and to the encouragement which his friends received from the apparent unAviUingness of the Government to molest him on his return. The Convention met in Chicago on Monday, August 29. 592 The Life, Public Services, and It was caUed to order by August Belmont, of New York, the Chairman of the National Committee, on whose motion Ex-Governor Bigler, of Pennsylvania, was appointed temporary Chairman. The business transacted on the first day embraced -the appointment of Committees on . Credentials, Organization, and Resolutions, of which latter committee Mr. Vallandigham 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 tha American people, that after four 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 been done Avhere 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 saUors. St.ate Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 593 Mr. Long, of Ohio, who, as wUl be recollected, had been publicly censured by Congress for a s.peech 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 Avorking of the previous question, however, Mr. Long was sUenced, and the resolutions Avere adopted with but four dissenting Azotes. 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 tAVO 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. WickUffe, 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 AviU make it proper for the Democracy of the country to meet in convention again," moved the foUowing 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 which, though entertained, it was feared would be 594 The Life, Public Services, and concealed. The whole tone of the Convention had been in opposition to the popular feeling on the Avar. The ultra peace men had been prominent in its delibera tions. Vallandigham, Harris, Long, Pendleton, men Avho had done their utmost to help on the rebeUion 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 Avere uttered, while they were unmeasured in their denun ciation of Mr. Lincoln and his Administration. The ncAvs 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 wreath of laurel, which already crowned our army and our navy. Its resolutions had declared that the Avar Avas a faUure, and called for an immediate cessation of hos tilities ; whUe, as a striking commentary upon this decla ration, the very day after the Convention adjourned brought the news of the fall of Atlanta and the glorious success of that grand march of Sherman's army Avliich turned the tide of Avar, and contributed so largely to its final success. The Union party instantly and joyfully accepted the issue thus boldly tendered. They kncAV that, once fairly before the country, the result could not be doubtful. The people did not beUeve that the effort to maintain the Union by force of arms had yet proved "a failure." Thej^ did not believe that the Union could be preserved by negotiation, and they ATere not in favor of a cessation of hostilities until victory should be secured. The issue had been f:\ii\y made between the tAA'o parties in their respective declarations at Baltimore and Chicago. The former demanded a A-igorous 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 conntry, sympathizing Avith the national sentiment, felt State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 595 that they had been placed in a false position by the action of their convention. An effort was made to stem the rising tide of public condemnation by General 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, hoAvever, was without effect. -It did something to alienate the peace men who had controlled the Chicago Convention, but nothing to disturb the con,viction 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 Avdthdraw, had written to the General to know if he would withdraw 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 nomuiated 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 po]p- 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 commaud public confidence." The proposition, however, com manded not the slightest attention ; and after the Demo cratic nomination was made, the lines were draAvn so closely that the pressure of public sentiment compeUed the absolute Avithdrawal of General Fremont, which took place on the 21st of September. E^rom that time forAvai-d the contest was between Mr. Lincoln, representing the sentiments of the Baltimore Platform on the one hand, and General McCleUan, representing the sentiments of the •"hicago Platform on the other. The lines Avere clearly 596 The Life, Public Services, and drawn, and the canvass was prosecuted with earnestness, but with less than the usual acrimony and intemperate zeal. It was felt to be a contest of principle, and waa 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 stiU I'emained military governor, AAdth 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 ofiicers, 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 : — K-ASHTILLE, February 20, ISCl. Hon. W. H. Sewaed, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. : 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 thera to vote ? I have been appointed to hold the March election in Cheathara County, and wish to act nnderstandingly. Waeees- Joedan. The President himself answered by telegraph as fol lows :— AVashington, February 20, 1864. "Waeebn- Joedan, Nashville : In county elections you had better stand by Governor Johnson's plan; otherwise yon will have conflict and confusion. I have seen his plan. A. Lincoln. This election was held with but indifferent success. A convention was also held in May at KnoxvUle, but took no important action. But, in September, another con vention was caUed together for the purpose of reorgan- State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 597 jzing the State and taking part in the approaching Presi dential election. The convention met, and determined 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 Avould best subserve the interests of the Government." Governor Johnson accordingly, on the 30th 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 Avliite men, tAventy-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 Avas as follows : — " I soleranly swear that I will henceforth support the Constitution of the United States, and defend it against the assaults of all enemies : that I ara an. active friend of the Government of the United States, and tho 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 arraies, 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 arras, 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 Teri-itory embraced within the National Union ; and that I will heartily aid and assist tho loyal people in whatever measures may be adopted for the attainment of these ends : and further, that I take tliis oath freely and voluntarily, and without mental reservation. So help me God." An electoral ticket in favor of General McCleUan had previously been nominated by persons not in sympathj' Avith 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 protested against Governor John son's assuming to dictate the qualifications of voters, which they said were prescribed by the laws of Tennessee, a copy of which they annexed ; and they protested against the oath. This protest was presented to the President by Mr. J. LeUyet, one of the signers, who sent to a New York news paper the foUoAving account of the interview : — "WAeiiiNaTON, October 15. I called upon the President to-day, 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 coramunicated 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. McCleUan 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 wOl manage your side of it in your way 2" "Yes." I then thanked the President for his courtesy in giving ns a hearing at all, and then took my leave. * * » John Lelltet. The President, a few days after, however, sent them the following answer in writing : — ExECUTiTE Mansion, AVashington, D. C, October 22, 1864. Messrs. William B. Campbell, Thomas A. E. Nelson, James T. P. Caetee, John Williams, A. Blizzaed, Henet Coopke, Baillie Peyton, John Lellyet, Em-beson Etheeidge, and John D. Pbeky. man: Gentlemen :— 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 manuscript paper, purporting to bo extracts frora the Code of Tennessee, were laid before me. The protest, proclamation, and extracts are respectively as follows : — [The protest is here -i-ecited, and also the proclamation of Governor Johnson, dated September 30, to which it refers, together with a 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-President, qualifications of voters for members of the General Asserably, places of-liolding elections, and ofiicers of popular elections.] At the tirae these papers were presented, as before stated, I had never seen either of thera, nor heard of the subject to which they relate, except in a general way one day previously. Up to the present raoment, 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 miu 4 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 dnty in the Presidential election in any State, nor do I in this case perceive any military reason for his interference in the matter. Tha movement set on foot by the convention and Governor Johnson does not, as seems to be assumed by you, emanate frora the National Executive. In no proper sense can it be considered other tl^an 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- jiosed to force you into it. Do as you please, on your own account, peaceably and loyally, and Gov ernor Johnson wiU 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- BOO 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 tha Government, to determine whether they are entitled to ba counted in conformity with the Constitution and laws of the tTnited States. Except it be to give protection against violence, I decline to interfere in any way with any Presidential election. Abeaham Linoodst. The signers of the protest thereupon declared the Mc CleUan electoral ticket withdrawn. 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 Avas, that while all other public ere liters 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 : — -Qntikd States Teeastibt, -Washinoton, October 13. My Deae Sib : — 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-flve thous.ind a year, but by the depreciation of the Confederate money is equal to .iboiit fifteen liundred' dollars, and on this practically he has to live. Abraliara Lincoln's salary is legally twenty -five thousand dollars a year. But liis 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 array have to take their pay in greenbacks. Isn't this pa triotic and honest in Old Abe, and ought not he to bo 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 sLinders that have been Leaped 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 with, 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, ho has been in the habit of leaving State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 601 it for a long time without interest. In one case all ]\\'^ salary so reniaiood for eleven months. On several occasions I solicited the President to draw what was due him, urging that he was losing largely in interest on tha amount dne hira. Ho asked me, "AV'ho gains my loss?" On ray an swering, " Tlje United States," he replied, "Then as it goes for the good of the conntry, let it remain. The Treasury needs it more than I do." H.aving at length satisfied the President th.at it was neces.sary to the clo sing of ray annual accounts that the drafts on the Treasury tliat he held should be presented and paid, he indorsed andhaoded them to rae. I drew the amount in United States notes, and placed it to his credit as a teraporary loan at five per cent, per annum, payable, principal and interest, in green backs. Since then his salary has been frora tirae to tirae mostly invested in the stocks of the United States, purchased at current rates by liis friends for hira. The interest of these stocks is payable in coin. AVhen tliis 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 the United States Court for the District of Virginia. Tiio result of his interview with the President is best told in the letter of Judge Underwood to me, -n'hich is herewith enclosed to you. I have caused an investigation to be' m.ade of the transactions of the President witli the receipt of his salary, and the investment of the sums in United States stocks, and enclose you herewith the letter of Leroy Tuttle, E.sq., the Assistant Cashier, from whicli it appears that Mr. Lincoln, from his forbearance in collecting his dues, has lost at least four thousand dollars, and whicli lie has virtually given to the people of the United States. I have great doubts as to the pro priety of answering this foul falsehood, well knowing that others perhaps even grosser will be raade, so as to keep the Union party on the defensive, and thus preventing the loyal men of the country frora att.icking tlie peace- at-any-price Deniocracy for their damning heresies and treasonable prac tices. You, however, ask me to raaka 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, E. E. Spinnee, U. S. Treasurer. Tc General D. AV. 0. Claeke, Burlington, Vermont. We may say here, that this gift of money to the cause of the country Avas not the only Avay in Avhich 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 in the Union ranks had aU disappeared 602 The Life, Public Seratices, and before the common danger. Efforts were made on every side, not for discord, but for harmony and united effort. With this desire, and in accordance Avith 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 foUowing correspondence passed between them : — EsEcuTi-TE Mansion, "Washington, September 23, 1864. Hon. MONTGOMEEY Blaie : My Deae Sie : — You have generously said to me, more than once, that •whenever your resignation could be a relief to me, it was at my dispos.il. The time has eome. You very well know that this proceeds from no dis satisfaction of mine with you personally or officially. Your uniforio kindness has been unsurpassed by that of any other friend, and while it 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 whicli you have adminis tered the General Post-Office, I remember no single complaint against you in connection therewith. Yours, as ever, A. Lincoln, MR. BLAIR'S REPLY. My Deae Sie : — I have received your note of this date, referring to my offers to resign whenever you should deem it advisable for the public in terest that I should do so, and stating that, in yonr 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 without renew ing the expressions of ray gratitude for the uniform kindness which has marked your course towards Yours truly, M. Blaie. The Peesident. The political canvass was prosecuted with energy and confidence in every section of the country. The main con sideration Avhich 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 war should be prosecuted to the complete and final overthrow of the rebeUion. This view of the case completely controlled the sentiment and action of the people, and left Uttle room or disposition for wran- State Paper,s of Abraham Lincoln. 603 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 croAvn the Union arms. During the months of September and October, General Hood, in a vain endeavor to regain the ground lost by the fall of Atlanta, made a movement upon 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 toAvards the south of Petersburg, resulting in steady gains for Grant' s operations. But the most important of aU were the brilliant victories gained by General Sheridan, in the Shenandoah Vallej'", 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 19th of October, when what had already been a repulse of our army, by a surprise on the part of General Early, was tui-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 Avas with the joy of this last victory kindling his heart, that the President, on the 20th of October, issued his priclamation for a national thanksgiving, as foUows : — ¦ A PROCLAMATION. It has pleased Almighty God to prolong our national life another year, defending us with His guardian care ag.ainst unfriendly designs from abroad, and vouchsafing to us in His mercy many and signal victories over 604 The Life, Public Services, and the enemy who is of our own household. It has also pleased our Heavenly Father to favor as -well our citizens in their homes as our soldiers in their camps and our sailors on tha rivers and seas, with unusual health. Ha 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 workingraen in every dep.irtment of industry with abundant reward. Moreover, He has been pleased to animate and inspire 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 freedora and humanity, and to afford t'» us reasonable hopes of an ultimate and happy deliverance from all our oangcrs 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 wliich I desire to be observed by all my fellow-citizens, wlierever 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 tliat occasion they do revprent-ly hnmble tlieMselves 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 harraony throughout tho 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 d.iy of October, r -, in the vear of Lord one thousand eiirht hundred and sixty-four, [l. s.j " ' and of the independence of the United States the eighty-ninth. Abeaham Lincoln. By the President : AA'iLLiAM H. SeWaed, Secretary of State. He also wrote the following letter of congratulation to General Sheridan, Avhich Avas read at the head of every regiment in the command : — ExECVTiTE Mansion, Washington, October 22. To M.ijor-Genoral Sheeidan: AVith gre.it ] leasure I tender to yon, .md your brave army, the thanks of the nation and ray own personal admiration and gratitude for the month's operations in the Shen.indoah Vallej', and especially for the splen did work of October 19. Your obedient servant, Abeaham Lincoln. These victories gave vigor and courage to the country Tlie price of gold feU in the market, the credit of the State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 605 Government was rapidly enhanced, volunteers SAvelled 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, AA^liile those from the States farther Avest had aided Sherman's march ; Avhen they Avere discharged the foUoAnug complimentary orders, by President Lincolu, were issued : — THANKS TO THE OHIO TPvOOPS. WAsniNaTON, September 10. Governor Brough: Pursuant to 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 aud trans mitted to the officers and soldiers entitled to thera. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War. Executive order returning thanks to the Ohio Volunteers for one hun dred days : — Executive Mansion, Washington Citt, September 10, 1861 The terra of one hundred days for which the National Gucrd of Ohio volunteered having expired, the President directs an offici.il acknowledg ment of their patriotism and valuable services during the recent campaign. The terra of service of their enlistment was short, but distinguished hj memorable events in the valley of the Shenandoah, on the Peninsula, in the oper.itions of the Jaraes River, around Petersburg and Eichmond, in 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 of War is directed to transmit a copy of tliis order to the Governor of Ohio, and to cause a certificate of their honorable service to ba delivered to the officers and soldiers of the Ohio National Guard, who re cently served in the military force of the United States as volunteers for one hundred days. Abeaham Lincoln. THANKS TO THE TROOPS OF ILLINOIS. Wae Dbpaetmbnt, Washington, October T, 1864. To THE GoVERNOE OF ILLINOIS : The following order has been made by the President, and the Adjutant- General is preparing certificates for the officers and soldiers of yont State, which will be forwarded to you for distribution. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War, 606 The Life, Public Services, and ExECCTTiVE Mansion, Washington, October 1, 1864. 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 Slates of Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin volunteered, under the 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 efl:ective 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 comraand of Johnston and Hood. On all occasions, and in every service to which they were assigned, their duty as patriotic volunteers was perforraed 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 honora'ble 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. Lincoln. To one of the Ohio regiments returning through Washing ton and caUing to serenade him, the President made a brief speech, in which are noticeable, first, his desire to impress upon them the importance of the main point involved in the contest with the rebeUion, and the duty of not alloA\^- ing minor matters to bUnd 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 Jtas a right to be equal to CA^ery other man." The speech was as follows : — Soldiers : — Yon are abont 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 tliis 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 wa 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 Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 607 There may be soma inequalities in the practical application of our nystem. 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 with every other man, we should never collect any tax at all. There may be mistakes wiade soraetiraes ; things may be done wrong, while the officers of the Government do all they can to prevent mistakes. But I beg of you, as citizens of this great Eepublic, 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 dona me this afternoon. To another Ohio regiment he spoke as follows : — SoLDiEEs : — 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 corac 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 onr birtkrights — 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 Avere seen in the State elections by which it was preceded. In September Vermont led off with a largely increased Union majorty, and Maine followed her a week after, slioAving also a proportionate increase in the majority with which that State had sustained the Administration. But the October elections in Ohio, Indiana, and Penn sylvania indicated yet more clearly what was 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 aU. Governor Morton, Avho 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 Ayas close, but Avith tlie soldiers' votes the Union ticket car ried the State by about tAvelve thousand majority. A victory Avas Avon, 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 thia Constitution. The foUowing is a letter which he wrote to a meeting of its friends in Baltimore, before the elec tion : — EsECHTi-TB Mansion, "Washington, October 18. Hon. Henet W. Hoffman : Mt Dkae Sie: — A convention of Maryland has formed a now Oonsti tntion for tho State ; a public meeting is called for this evening, at Balti more, to aid in securing its ratification, and yon ask a word from me for the occasion. I presume the only feature of the instrument abont whict 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 consideration. I wish State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 609 to see all men free. I wish the national prosperity of tl o already free, whieh I feel sure the extinction of slavery would bring. I wish to see in progress of disappearing that 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 herself I only add, that I shall be gratified exceedingly if the good people of the State shall by their votes ratify tho 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 to him by the loyal 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 ia your view the extirpation of slavery constitutes the chief merit o' tho 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 tha 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 e-ffects 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 tha 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 Marcli, 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 ship. This is due to the people, both on principle and under the Oonstitntion. Their will, constitutionally expressed, is the ultimat-o law for all. If they 39 610 The Life, Public Services, and should deliberately resolve to have immedi.ite peace, even at the loss of their country and their liberties, I know not the power or the rii:;lit to resist them. It is their own business, and they must do as they please with their own. I believe, however, tliey are still resolved to preserve their country and their liberties ; and in this, in office or out of it, I ara re solved to stand by them. I may add, that in tliis purpose to save tha country and its liberties, no classes of people seem so nearly unanimous as the soldiers in the field and the sailors afloat. Do they not have the hardest of it? AVho should quail while they do not? God bless the sol-- diers and seamen, with all their brave commanders. The latter part of this speech was called forth by a -/ur- rent misrepresentation of a speech made by Secretary Stew ard at Auburn, on the 5th of September. The Secretary had alluded to the declaration of the Chicago Convention in favor of an immediate cessation of liostilities, and the inevitable tendency of the success of the ticket nominated upon that platform to paralyze the efforts of the Govern ment to put down the rebellion by force of arms ; and he asked, if such a thing should happen, "who could vouch for the safety of the country against the rebels, during the interval which must elapse before the new Administration can constitutionaUy come into poAver?" This was distorted into a threat that if the Democratic candidate should be elected, the Administration would take means to retain by usurpation the power which should of right be handed over to him. And the charge was repeated so persistently, that tho President at length felt called upon to notice it as he did. The result of the October elections had practically determined the result in November. But, as the time drew near, the atmosphere seemed full of turbulent and threatening elements. Loud and angry charges of fraud in the October elections were made by the Opposition, but were not sustained; and they were succeeded by yet louder charges from the other side of an attempted fraud in the soldiers' votes of the State of New York, which were foUowed up by proof Some of the Democratic agents were convicted of these attempted frauds, and, after trial and conviction by a mUitary . commission, they were sentenced to a heavy impiisonnient State PArms of Abraham Lincoln. 61] Tlie rebels used all means in their power to aid the party from whose success tliej' anticipated so much ad vantage. Hood's movement, it was hoped, would have a political influence upon the election ; and Early's ad vance Avas spoken of in Southern journals as a means of assisting the counting of the ballots in Pennsylvania. Along the Northern border, too, the rebel agents, sent thither on " detached service " by the Rebel Government, were active, in movements intended to terrify and harass the people. On the 19th of October, a party of them made a raid into St. Albans, Vermont, robbing the banks there, and making their escape across the lines into Can ada with their plunder, having killed one of the citizens in their attack. Pursuit was made, and several of the marauders were arrested in Canada. Proceedings were commenced to procure their extradition, which were not, however, brought to a close before the election. The Government received information that this affair was but one of a projected series, and that similar attempts would be made aU along the frontier. More than this, there were threats, followed by actual attempts, to set fire to the principal Northern cities, and there were not wanting some signs of an inclination to renew the scenes of the riots of the year before. A very grave sensation was produced by the publica tion of a report of Judge Advocate-General Holt, giving conclusive proof of the existence of an organized secret association at the North, controlled by prominent men in the Democratic party, whose objects were the overthrow, by revolution, of the Administration, in the interest of the rebellion. Some of the leaders were arrested and tried. The Democratic presses had sneered at the Avhole affair as one which was got up by the Government for political effect. But when one of their leaders, being on parole as he was being tried, ran away rather than meet the re sult, people began to be sensible of the danger they had escaped. ' So rife were threats of a revolution at the North, and especiaUy. in New York City, if Mr. Lincoln were re- 612 The Life, Public Services, and elected, that the Government sent a body of veterans from the Army of the James, under General Butler, to that city for purposes of precaution. But, fortunately, in New York, as everywhere else, so quiet an election was never known, nor Avas there ever one more utterly free from complaints of fraud. Certainly, none so de cisive was ever held in this country. Of all the States whicli voted on that day, General McClellan carried but three — New Jersey, Delaware, and Kentucky — while Mr. Lincoln received the votes of all the New England States, of New York and Pennsylvania, of aU the Western States, of West Virginia, Tennessee, Louisi ana, and Arkansas, and of the new State of Nevada, which was, on the 31st of October, admitted into the Union by the foUowing proclamation : — Whereas, The Congress of the United States passed an act, which was approved on the 21st day of March last, entitled, " An Act to enable the People of Nevada to form a Constitution and State Government,'' and for the admission of such State into the Union on an equal footing with the original States; and WTtereas, The said Constitution and State Government have been formed pursuant to the condition prescribed by the fifth section of the act of Con gress aforesaid, and the certificate required by the said act, and also a copy of the Constitution and ordinances have been submitted to the President of the United States : Now, therefore, be it known, that I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, in accordance with the duty imposed upon me by the act of Congress aforesaid, do hereby declare and proclaim th.it the said State of Nevada is admitted into the Union on an equal footing with tha original 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 thirty-first day of Octo ber, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and [l. 8.] sixty-four, and of the independence of the United States tha eighty-ninth. (Signed) Abeaham Lincoln. By the President : Wm. H. Sewaed, Secretary of State. The vote at that election was very large everywhere, and Mr. Lincoln received a popular majority of over four State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 613 hundred thousand votes — a larger majority than was ever received by any other President. The feeling which was uppermost in the President's heart at the result of the election was joy over its effects upon the cause. He expressed this sentiment in some re marks which he made, when serenaded by a club of Penn- sylvanians, at a late hour on the night of the election. His speech was as foUoAVS : — Feiknds and Fellow-Citizens : — ^Even before I had been informed by you that this compliment was paid to me by loyal citizens of Pennsylva nia, friendly to me, I had inferred that you were that portion of /my countrymen who think that the best interests of the nation are to be sub served by the support of the present Administration. I do not pretend to say that you who think so erabraoe all the patriotism and loyalty of the country. But I do believe, and I trust without personal interest, that the welfare of the country does require that such support and in dorsement be given. I earnestly believe that the consequence of this day's work, if it be as you assure me, and as now seems probable, will l5e to the lasting advantage, if not to the very salvation of the country. I cannot at this hour say what has been the result of the election ; but what ever it raay have been, I have no desire to modify this opinion, that all who have labjored to-day in behalf of the Union organization have wrought for the best interests of their country and the world, not only. for the present, but for all future ages. I am thankful to God for this approval of the people. But, while deeply grateful for this mark of their confidence in me, if I know ray heart, my gratitude is free from any taint of personal triumph. I do not impugn the motives of any one opposed to me. It is no pleasure to rae to triumph over any one, but I give thanks to the Alraighty for this evidence of the people's resolution to stand by free government and the rights of humanity. The telegraph brought certain news of the result with in a few hours. On the night of November 10th, the various Lincoln and Johnson Clubs of the District went to the White House to serenade the President, to whom he spoke as foUows : — . It has long been a grave qnestion whether any Government, not too strong for the liberties of its people, can be strong enough to maintain its existence in great emergencies. On this point the present rebellion brought our Government to a severe test, and a Presidential election occurring in a regular course during the rebelhon, added not a little to the train. 614 The Life, Public Services, and If the loyal people united were put to the utmost of their strength by the rebellion, must they not fail when divided and partially paralyzed by a political war among themselves? But the election was a- necessity. "We cannot have free government without elections ; and if the rebelhon conld force us to forego or postpone a national election, it might fairly claim to have already conquered and ruined us. The strife of tho elec tion is but human nature practically applied to the facts of the case. What has occurred in this case must ever recur in similar cases. Human nature will not change. In any future great national trial, compared with the men of this, we will have as weak and as strong, as silly and as wise, as bad and as good. Let us, therefore, study the incidents of this as philosophy to learn wisdom from, and none of them as wrongs to be revenged. But the election, along with its incidental and undesirable strife, has done good, too. It has demonstrated that a people's government can sustain a national election in the midst of a great civil war. Until now, it has not been known to the world that this was a possibility. It shows, also, how sound and how strong we still are. It shows that even among the candidates of the same party, he who is most devoted to the Union and most opposed to treason can receive most of the people's votes. It shows, also, to the extent yet known, that we have more men now than we had when the war began. Gold is good in its place; but living, brave, and patriotic men are better than gold. But the rebellion continues, and, now that the election is over, may not all have a common interest to reunite in a common effort to save our common country? For my own part, I have striven and shall strive to avoid placing any obstacle in the way. So long as I have been here, I have not willingly planted a thorn in any man's bosom. While I am duly sensible to the high compliment of a re-election, and duly grateful, as I trust, to Almighty God, for having directed my countrymen to a right conclusion, as I think, for their good, it adds nothing to my satisfac tion that any other man may be disappointed by the result. May I ask those who have not differed with me to join with rae in this same spirit towards those who have? And now, let me close by asking three hearty cheers for our brave soldiers and seamen, and their gallant and skilful commanders. But though the President rejoiced over the result mainly because of its public bearing on the welfare of the country, he Avas by no means insensible to the per sonal confidence in himself which it exhibited. This feel ing he expressed in a speech which he made to the State Committee of Maryland, who waited on him to congratu late him upon the trust. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 615 The Chairman had remarked that they felt under deep obligations to him because, by the exercise of rare disca'e- tion on his part, Maryland to-day occuDied the proud position of a free State. The President said that he would not attempt to conceal his gratifica tion with the result of the election. He had exercised his best judgment for the good of the whole country, and to have the seal of approbation placed upon his course was exceedingly grateful to his feelings. Believing the pohcy he had pursued was the best and the only oue ' which couid save the country, he repeated what he had said before, that he indulged in no feeling of triumph over any one who had thought or acted differently from himself. He had no such feeling towards any living man. He thought the adoption of a Free State Constitution for Maryland was " a big thing," and a victory for right and worth a great deal more than the part of Maryland in the Presidential eleotion, although of the latter he thought well. In conclusion, he repeated what he had said before : namely, that those who differed from and opposed us, will yet see that defeat was better for their own good than if they had been successful. This same sense of personal gratitude found expression in the foUoAving letter which he wrote to Deacon John Phillips, of Stourbridge, Massachusetts, who, though a hundred and four years old, attended the polls to cast his vote for Mr. Lincoln : — "Exxcnnvs Mansion, -Washington, November 21, 1864. Mt Deae Sie : — I have heard of the incident at the polls in your town, in which you acted so honorable a part, and I take the liberty of writing to you to express my personal gratitude for the comphment paid me by the suffrage of a citizen so venerable. The example of such devotion to civic duties in one whose days have already been extended an average lifetime beyond the Psalmist's limit, cannot but be valuable and fruitful. It is not for myself only, but for the country which you have in your sphere served so long and so well,. that I thank you. Your friend and servant, Abraham Lincoln. Deacon John Phillips. We pubUsh here, as it was written on the same day, the foUowing graceful letter addressed by the President to Mrs. Bixby, a resident of Boston, who had lost five sons in the war, and whose sixth was lying severely wounded' at the time in' the hospital :— 616 The Life, Public Services, and Kiecutitb Mansion, AVasuington, November 21, 1364. Dear Madam : — I have been shown in tha files of the War Departmeilt a statement of the Adjutant-General of Massachusetts, that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from tlie grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendeHng to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save. I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so oostly a sacrifice ftpon the altar of freedom. Yours, very sincerely and respectfully, Abraham Lincoln. To Mrs. BixBT, Boston, Massachusetts. This letter, addressed to one conspicuous among the thousands avIio had laid "costly sacrifices upon the altar of Freedom," touched the hearts of all, and strengthened the feelings of love which the great body of the people were coming to cherish for the man whom Providence had made their ruler. Prominent among the sentiments which ruled the heart and life of Mr. Lincoln, was that reverential sense of de pendence upon an Almighty Providence, which finds strong expression in the following letter which he ad dressed to Mrs. Eliza P. Gurney, an American lady resi dent in London, and wife of a wealthy Quaker banker of that city : — Mt Esteemed Friend: — I have not forgotten, probably never shall forget, the very impressive occasion when yourself and friends visited ma on a Salibath forenoon, two years ago ; nor had your kind letter, written nearly a year later, ever been forgotten. In all it has been your purpose to strengthen ray reliance in God. I am much indebted to the good Christian people of the country for their constant prayer and consolation, and to no one of them more tlian to yourself. The purposes of the Al mighty are perfect and must prevail, though we erring mortals may fail to accurately perceive thera in advance. We hoped for a happy termina tion of this, terrible war long before this, bnt God knows best, and ha3 ruled otherwise. We shall yet acknowledge His wisdom and our own eri-ors tlierein. Meanwhile we must work earnestly in the best lights He gives us, trusting that so working still conduces to the great ends He ordains. Surely, He intends some great good to follow this mighty con vulsion, which no mortal could make, aud no mortal could stay. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 617 Your people — the Friends — hav i had, and are having, very great trials. On principle and faith opposed to both war and oppression, they can only practically oppose oppression by war. In this hard dilemma, some have chosen one horn and some the other. For those appealing to me on con scientious grounds, I have done and shall do tho best I could and can in my own conscience under my oath to the law. That you believe this, I doubt not, and believing it, I shall still receive for our country and my self your earnest prayers to our Father in Heaven. Your sincere friend, ^ A. iilNCOLN. 'i Tliis sense of religious reliance upon Providence, evi dent in all his acts, as well as in his expressions, and a feeling of the integrity and purity of purpose which per vaded all his acts, had won for Mr. Lincoln the cordial support of the various Christian churches of the country, and he had good reason, therefore, for thus expressing his indebtedness to the ' ' Christian people of the land for their constant prayer and consolation." Though not a member of any church or sect, he never neglected a proper occasion for declaring his faith in those great principles on which all Christian churches and sects are buUt. When a committee of colored men from Baltimore came to him to present him an elegant copy of the Bible, he made the foUowing brief speech in answer to their ad dress : — I can only say now, as I have often said before, it has always been a sentiment with me, that all mankind should be free. So far as I have been able, so far as came within my sphere, I have always acted as I be lieved was just and right, and done all I could for the good of mankind. I have, in letters sent forth from this office, expressed myself better than I can now. In regard to the great Book, I have only to say it is the best gift which God has ever given to man. All the good fi'om the Saviour of the world Is comiLunicatedtousthrough this Book. But for that Book, we could not know right from wrong. All those things desirable to man are contained in it. I return you sincere thanks for this very elegant copy of this great Book of God which you present. All knew that Mr. Lincoln was a man of thorough honesty of speech; and his whole life vindicated his asser- 618 The Life, Public Services, and tion that he had acted as he believed was just and right, and had done all he could for the good of mankind. It Avas not strange, therefore, that the churches of the count:-}' gath ered around such a leader of such a cause. When the General Conference of the Methodist Church met in May, 1864, they adopted a series of resolutions, expressing the loyalty of that church, and their sympathy with him. ^ These resolutions were presented to the President, Avho responded to the accompanying address as foUoAVS : — Gentlemen: — In response to your address, allow me to attest tha accuracy of its l^torioal statements, indorse the sentiments it expresses, and thank you in the nation's name for the sure promise it gives. Nobly sustained, as the Government has been, by all the churches, I would utter nothing which might in the least appear invidious against any. Yet without this, it may fairly be said, that the Methodist Episcopal Church, not less devoted than the best, is by its greatest numbers the most important of all. It is no fault in others that the Methodist Church Sends more soldiers to the field, more nurses to the hospit.ils, and more prayers to Heaven than any otlier. God bless the Methodist Church. Bless all the churches ; and blessed be God, who in this our great trial giveth ns the churches. Similar action was also taken by the Baptist Church, and to their delegation, on the presentation of the reso lutions, the President spoke as foUows : — In the present very responsible position in which I am engaged, I havo had great cause of gratitude for the support so unanimously given by aU Christian denominations of the country. I have had occasion so fre quently to respond to something like this assemblage, that I have said all I had to say. This particular body is, in all respects, as respectable as any that have been presented to me. The resolutions I have merely heard read, and I therefore beg to be allowed an opportunity to make a short response in writing. These expressions were not confined to the religious bodies ; they came to the President from all quarters. His sense of this sympathy on the part of those engaged in tlie educational interest Avas expressed in a letter which he '/rrote on learning that Princeton College had given him the degree of LL.D. The letter was as foUows : — State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 619 Exkoutivr Mansion, Washington, December 27, 1861 Mt Dear Sir : — I have the lienor to acknowledge the reception of your note of the 20th of Deoeinber, conveying the announcement that the Trus tees of the College of New Jersey had conferred upon me the degree of Doctor of Laws. The assurance conveyed by this high compliment, that the course of the Government which I represent has received the approval of a body of gentlemen of such character and intelligence, in this time of public trial, is most grateful to me. Thoughtful men must feel that the fate of civilization upon this conti nent is involved in the issue of our contest. Among the most gratifying proofs of this conviction is the hearty devotion everywhere exhibited by our schools and colleges to the national cause. I am most thankful if my labors have seemed to conduct to the preservation of those institutions, under which alone we can expect good government, and in its train sound learning, and the progress of the liberal arts. I am, sir, very truly, yonr obedient servant, A. LrsooLN. Dr. John Maclean. It was with no ordinary interest that the "good Chris tian people" of the North had in the political campaign. . And it was AAdth satisfaction that they saw the triumph of the cause, which was so dear to their hearts, secured by the re-election of a man so true, so pure, so honest, so kindly, so thoroughly Christian in the true sense of the word, as President Lincoln. 620 The Life, Public Services, and CHAPTER XIX. the meeting of congress and progress of THB WAR. Condition op the Countet at the Meeting of Conseess. — The Mes sage.. — Pbooeedinqs in Congress. — Fort Fisher. — Death of Edward Everett. — Peace Conebkenob in Hampton Eoads. — Military Af fairs. The condition of the country when Congress met in December, 1864, Avas in every way encouraging. At the South, General Sherman, taking advantage of Hood's having left the way clear for his march to the sea, had de stroyed Atlanta and plunged into the heart of Georgia. His plans were not positively known, but it Avas knoAvn that he was making good progress, and the greatest con- -fidence was felt in his accomplishing his designs, what ever they were. The President described the position of affairs exactly in the following Uttle speech, Avhich he made, on December 6th, in response to a serenade : — Friends and Fellow-Citizens : — I believe I shall never be old enough to speak without embarrassment when I have nothing to talk about. I have no good news to tell you, and yet I have no bad news to tell. Wa h»,ve talked of elections until there is nothing more to say about thera. The most interesting news we now have is from Sherman. We all know -where he went in at, but I can't tell where he -svill come out at. I will now close by proposing three cheers for General Sherman and his army. Hood had marched into Tennessee with the hope of OA'errunning the State, now that Sherman's army Avas out of his way, but found General Thomas an opponent not to be despised, and had already, in his terrible repulse at Franklin, received a foretaste of the defeats which were about to fall upon him in front of Nashville. In the East, Grant still held Lee's army Avith deadly gripe. He had cut oft' the Weldon Railroad and was slowly working to the southAvard, while Sheridan was State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 621 undisputed master in the Shenandoah Yalley. In North Carolina a decided advantage had been gained by the bold exploit of Lieutenant Cushing, who, Avith a torpedo-boat, sunk the rebel ram Albemarle at her moorings, and opened the way for the recapture of Plymouth, with many guns. Many different schemes of the rebels, not precisely' military in their character according to the ordinary rules of war, had been found out and foiled. A plot to cap ture steamers on the Pacific coast was discovered in time to take measures not only to break it up, but to capture those who had undertaken it. Other attempted raids upon cities and towns near the northern frontier had aiso been prevented. And a plot to set fire to the city of New York faUed of success, although fires were set in thir teen of the principal hotels. The St. Albans raiders were in custody, and reasonable hopes were entertained that they would be delivered over to our authorities. The whole condition of the country was favorable, and the Thanksgiving Day appointed by the President for the 24th of November had been kept Avith joy and gladness of heart. Gold, which had been up as high as 280, had worked down nearly to 200, with every indication of going steadily lower. The pros pects of a relief from any further draft were bright. And measures had been taken to effect the exchange of some of our prisoners, whose dreadful sufferings at the hands of the rebel authorities had shocked the public heart and given a deeper tone to public indignation. One slight indication of the progress which we were making in the restoration of the authority of the Union was the opening of the ports of Norfolk, Virginia, and Fernan dina, Florida, by a proclamation issued on November 19th. A PEOCLAMATION BY THE PEESIDENT. Whereas, by my proclamation of the 19th of April, 1861, it was de clared that the ports of certain States, including those of Norfolk, in the State of Virginia, and Fernandina and Pensacola, in the State of Florida, were for reasons therein set forth intended to be placed under blockade. 622 The Life, Public Services, and aad whereas the said ports were subsequently blockaded accordingly, but having for some time past been in the military possession of the United States, it is deemed advisable that they should be opened to domestic and foreign coraraerce. Now, therefore, be it known that I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, pursuant to the authority in me vested by the fifth section of the act of Congress approved on the 13th of July, 1861, entitled "An aot further to provide for the collection of duties on imports and for other purposes," do hereby declare that the blockade of the said ports of Nor folk, Fernandina, and Pensacola shall so far cease and determine, from and after the first day of December next, that commercial intercourse with those ports, except to persons, things, and information. contraband of war, may from time to time be carried on, subject to the laws of the United States, to the limitations and in pursuance of the regulations whicli may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury, and to such military and naval regulations as are now in force or may hereafter be found necessary. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of tho United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington this nineteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty- [l. s.] four, and of the independence of the United States the eighty- ninth. Abraham Lincoln. By the President : William H. Seward, Secretary of State. Our foreign relations were also in a satisfactory condi ¦ tion. Our relations with Brazil had been for a moment threatened by the capture of the rebel armed vessel Florida, by the WacJiusett, under Captain CoUins, while lying at anchor in the harbor of Bahia, in the early morning of October 5th. The act was unauthorized by our Government. It caused a great outcry from the friends of the rebels abroad, who used every effort to have the European powers take up the matter. No apprehen sion, however, was felt of this, by our people, and while they regretted that any apparent insult should have been offered to Brazil, they Avere not insensible to the advan tage of having thus got rid of one of the rebel pests of the sea. The vessel was brought to Hampton Roads, where, owing to injuries received by an accidental collision with a vessel going out of the harbor, coupled with the damage she had received when taken by the WacJiusett, she sank in spite of every effort that could be made to save her. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 623 Those of her crew who were on board when she was taken were afterwards restored to Brazil, and an ample apology made for the affair. Our relations Avith the Hawaiian Islands had been draAvn more close by the presence of an envoy extraor dinary from that State. The President, on /the llth of June, gave audience to the envoy, Hon. Elisha II. AUen, and in reply to the address made by him, on presenting his credentials, spoke as follows :^ Sir: — In every light in which the State of the Hawaiian Islands can be contemplated, it is an objeet of profound interest for the United States. Virtually it was onoe a colony. It is now a near and intimate neighbor. It is a haven of shelter and refreshment for our merchants, fishermen, se.amen, and other citizens, when on their lawful occasions they are nav igating the eastern seas and oceans. Its people are free, and its laws, language, and religion are largely the fruit of our own teaehing and exaraple. The distinguished part which you, Mr. Minister, have acted in the history of that interesting conntry, is well known here. It gives me pleasure to assure you of ray sincere desire to do what I can to ren der now your sojourn in the United States agreeable to yourself, satisfac tory to your sovereign, and beneficial to the Hawaiian people. In our relations with the other smaUer powers there was nothing especiaUy worthy of mention. It was manifest, however, that the Great Powers of Europe Avere less inclined to interfere with us than they had ever been. The St. Albans raid and the proceedings for the extradition of the raiders, were leading to a good deal of diplomatic correspondence betAveen our Govern ment and that of England. But the readiness of the Canadian authorities to take measures to deliver up the offenders and to prevent such incursions for the future, gave great encouragement to the belief that no serious difficulty would arise. There had been another change in the Cabinet, in addi tion to that which occurred upon the resignation of Mr. Blair. Attorney-General Bates, on the 25th of Novem ber, tendered his resignation, to take effect on December 1st. The post A7as afterwards filled by the appointment of the Hon. James Speed, of Kentucky. 624' The Life, Public SERAacES, and The death of Chief-Justice Taney, Avhich occurred on the 12th of October, had left a vacancy in one of the most important offices in the country. The office was filled on the 6th day of December, by the appointment of Mr. Chase, the late Secretary of the Treasury. Congress met on Monday, the 5th of December, but the President's message was not sent in tiU the next day. It was as foUows : — PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE. Fbllow-Citizens op the Senate and House of Representatives : Again the blessings of health and abundant harvests claim our pro foundest gratitude to Almighty God. The condition of our foreign affairs is reasonably satisfactory. Mexico continues to be a theatre of civil war. While our political rela tions -R'ith that country have undergone no change, we have at the same time strictly maintained neutrality between the belligerents. At the re quest of the States of Costa Eica and Nicaraugua, a competent engineer has been authorized to make a survey of the Eiver San Juan and the port of San Juan. It is a source of much satisfaction that the difiiculties which, for a moment, excited sorae political apprehension, and caused a closing of the in|-eroeeanio transit route, have been amieably adjusted, and that there is a good prospeet that the route will soon be reopened with an increase of capacity and adaptation. We could not exagger ate either the commercial or the political importance of that great im provement. It would be doing injustice to an important South American State not to acknowledge the directness, frankness, and cordiality with which the States of Colombia have entered into intimate relations with thi.s Government. A claims convention has been constituted to complete tha unfinished work of the one which closed its session in 1861. The new liberal Constitution of Venezuela having gone into effect with the universal acquiescence of the people, the Government under it has been reoognized, and diplomatic intercourse with it has been opened in a cordi.al and friendly spirit. The long deferred Aves Island olaim has been satisfactorily paid and discharged. Mutual payments have been made of the claims awarded by the late joint commission for the settlement of claims between the United States and Peru. An earnest and cordial friendship continues to exist between the two countries, and such eflbrts as were in my power have been used to remove misunderstanding, and avert a threatened war between Peru and Spain. Our relations are of the most friendly nature with Chili, the Argentine Pvepublic, Bolivia, Costa Eica, Paraguay, San Salva dor, and Hayti. During the past year no differences of any kind have wisen with any of these republics • and on the other hand, their sympa State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 625 thies with the United States are constantly expressed with cordiality and earnestness. The claim arising from the seizure of the cargo of the brig Macedonian, in 1821, has been paid in full by the Government of Chili. Civil war continues in the Spanish part of San Domingo, apparently without prospect of an early close. Official correspondence has been freely opened with Liberia, and it gives us a pleasing view of social and political progress in that republic. It may be expected to derive new vigor from American influence, im proved by the rapid disappearance of slavery in the United States. I solicit your authority to furnish to the republic a gunboat, at a mod erate cost, to be reimbursed to the United States by instalments. Sueh a vessel is noeded for the safety of that State ag.ainst the native African races, and in Liberian hands it would be more effective in arresting tho African slave-trade than a squadron in our own hands. The possession of the least organized naval force would stimulate a generous ambition in the republic, and the confidence which we - should manifest by fur nishing it, would win forbearance and favor towards tho colony from all civilized nations. The proposed overland telegraph between America and Europe, by the way of Behring's Straits and Asiatic Eussia, which was sanctioned by Congress at the last session, has been undertaken under very favorable circumstances by an association of American citizens, with the cordial good will and support as well of this Government as of those of Great Britain and Eussia. Assurances have been received from most of tha South American States of their high appreciation of the enterprise, and their readiness to co-operate in constructing lines tributary to that world- encircling communication. I learn with much satisfaction that the noble design of a telegraphic communication between the eastern coast of America and Great Britain has been renewed, with the full expectation of its early accomplishment. Thus it is hoped that, with the return of domestio peace, the country will be able to resume with energy and advantage her former high career of coraraerce and civilization. Onr very popular and estimable representative in Egypt died in April last. An unpleasant altercation, which arose between the temporary incum bent of the ofiice and the Governraent of the Pacha, resulted in a suspen sion of intercourse. The evil was promptly correoted on the arrival of the successor in the consulate, and our relations with Egypt, as v/ell as our relations with the Barbary Powers, are entirely satisfactory. The rebellion which has been so long flagrant in China, has at last been suppressed with the co-operating good oflaces of this Government, and of the other Western comraercial States. The judicial consular establishment has become very diflicult and onerous, and it will need legislative revision to adapt it to the extension of our commerce, and to the more intimate intercourse whicli has been instituted with the Gov 40 626 The Life, Public Services, and ernment and people of that vast empire. China seems to be acce;ji,irig with hearty good will the conventional laws which regulate commerce and social intercourse among Western nations. Owing to the peculiar situation of Japan, and the anomalous form of its government, the action of that empire, in performing treaty stipula tions, is inconstant and capricious. Nevertheless, good progress has been effected by the Western powers, moving with enlightened concert. Our own pecuniary claims have been allowed or put in course of settlement, and the inland sea has been reopened to commerce. There is reason also to believe that these proceedings have increased rather than diminished the friendship of J.apan towards the United States. Tho ports of Norfolk, Fernandina, and Pensacola have been opened by proclaraation. It is hoped that foreign merchants will now consider whether it is not safer and more profitable to themselves, as well as just to the United States, to resort to them and other open ports, than it is to pursue, through many hazards, and at vast cost, a contraband trade with other ports which are closed, if not by actual military operations, at least by a lawful and effective blockade. For myself, I have no doubt of the power and duty of the Executive, under the law of nations, to exclude enemies of the human race from an asylum in the United States. If Congress should think that proceedings in such cases lack the authority of law, or ought to be further regulated by it, I reooinmend that provision be made for effectually preventing for eign slave-traders from acquiring domicile and facilities for their criminal occupation in our country. It is possible thiit if it were a new and open question, the raaritirae powers, with the light they now enjoy, would not concede the privileges of a naval belligerent to the insurgents of the United States, destitute as they are and always have been equally of ships and of ports and harbors. Disloyal emissaries have been neither less assiduous nor more successful during the last year than they were before that time in their efforts, under favor of that privilege, to embroil our country in foreign wars. The desire and determination of the maritime States to defeat that design ara believed to be as sincere as, and cannot be more earnest than, our own. Nevertheless, unforeseen politioal difBculties have arisen, especially in Brazilian and British ports,' and on the northern boundary of the United States, which have required, and are likely to continue to require, the practice of constant vigilance and a just and conciliatory spirit on the part 'of the United States, as well as of the nations concerned and their Gov ernments. Commissioners have been appointed under the treaty with Great Britain on the adjustment of the claims of the Hudson's Bay and Puget's Sound Agricultural Companies in Oregon, and are now proceeding to the execution of the trust assigned to them. In view of the insecurity of hfe in the region adjacent to the Canadian border by recent assaults and depredations comraitted by inimical and desperate persons who are harbored there, it has been thought proper to State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 627 give Duiice that after the expiration of six months, the pcii-iod condition ally stipulated in the existing arrangements with Great Britain, the United States must hold themselves at liberty to increase their naval armament upon the lakes, if they shall find that proceeding necessary. The condition of the border will necessarily come into consideration in connection with the question of continuing or modifying the rights of transit from Canada through the United States, as well as the regulation of imports, which were temporarily established by the Eeciprocity Treaty of the 5th of June, 1864. I desire, however, to be understood, while maldng thia statement, that the colonial authorities are not deemed to be intentionally u»just or un friendly towards the United States ; but, on the contrary, there is every reason to expect that, with the approval of the Imperial Governraent, they will take the necessary measures to prevent new incursions across the border. The act passed at the last session for the encouragement of iraraigratioa has, so far as was possible, been put into operation. It seems to need amendment which will enable the officers of the Gov ernment to prevent the practice of frauds against the immigrants while on their way and on their arrival in the ports, so as to secure them here a free choice of avocations and places of settlement. A liberal disposition towards this great national policy is manifested by most of the European States, and ought to be reciprocated on our part by giving the immigrants effective national protection. I regard our immigrants as one of the prin cipal replenishing streams which are appointed by Providence to repair the ravages of internal war and its wastes of national strength and health. All that is necessary is to secure the fiow of that stream in its present fulness, and to that end the Government must in every way raako it manifest that it neither needs nor designs to impose involuntary military service upon those who come from other lands to cast their lot in our country. The financial affairs of the Government have been successfully admin istered during the last year. The legislation of the last session of Congress has beneficially affected the revenue. Although sufficient time has not yet elapsed to experienca the full effect of several of the provisions of the acts of Congress imposing increased taxation, the receipts during the year, from all sources, upon the basis of warrants signed by the Secretary of the Treasury, including loans and the balance in the treasury on the first day of July, 186.3, were $1,. 394, 796,007 62, and the aggregate disbursements upon the same basis were $1,298,056,101 89, leaving a balance in the treasury, as shown by warrants, of $96,739,905 78. Deduct from these amounts the amount of the principal of the public debt redeemed, and the amount of issues in substitution therefor, and the actual cash operations of the treasury were, receipts, $884,076,646 77, disburseraents, $865,234,087 SsO, which leaves a cash balance in tho treasury of $18,842,558 71. Of the receipts, thera were derived from customs, $102,316,152 99; from lando, $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, $628,443,929 13. There were disbursed, for the civil service, $27,505,599 46; for pensions and Indian.s, $7,517,930 97; for the War Department, $60,791,842 97; forthe 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 him in the opinion that tho proportion of tho moneys 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 reqnired 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 miUion six hundred and ninety thousand four hundred and eighty-nine dollars and forty-nine cents. Probably, should the war continue for another year, that amount may ba increased by not far from five hundred millions. 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 moro 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 effect and without injury, be presented to persons of limited means. With this vie-w-, 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 ani- bona-fide purchaser, exempt from taxation and from seizure for debt nnder 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 liraited raost 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 .it the coraraenceinent of last session, falls short of the estimate of that officer made in the preceding 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 cond:ict of the operations of the Treasury. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln, 629 The national banking system is proving to be acceptable to capit.ilists and to the people. On the 25th day of November, five hundred and eighty-four national banks had been organized, a considerable number of which were conversions from State banks. Changes frora the State sys tem to tho national system are rapidly taking place, and it is hoped that very soon there will be in the United States no banks of issue not antlior- 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 conntry can hardly be questioned. The national system will create a reliable and perraanent influence in support of the national credit, a.id protect the people against losses in tha 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 rostra-' ling 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 th.e last annual message, and also the operations of the several administrative bureaux of the War Department during the last year. It will also specily the measures deemed essential for the national defence, and to kec]) 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)roporti(jns has been organized in so brief a period, and conducted with so ranch efiiciency and success. The general exhibit of the navy, including vessels under construction on tha 1st of December, 1864, shows a total of 671 vessels, carrying 4,610-guns, and 510,396 tons, being an actual increase during the 3'ear, over and above all losses by shipwreck or in battle, of 83 ves sels, 167 guns, and 42,427 tons. The total number of men at tliis time in the naval service, including ofiicer.s, is about 51,000. There have been captured by the navy during the year 324 vessels, and the whole number ef naval captures since hostilities comraenced is 1,379, of which 267 are steamers. The gross proceeds arising frora the sale of condemned prize property thus far reported amounts to $14,396,250 51. A large amount of such proceeds is still under adjudication, and yet to be reported. The total expenditures of the Navy Department, of every desorijition, including the cost of the immense squadrons that have been called into txi.stenco from the 4th of March, 1861, to the 1st of November, 1864, ara $238,647,262 35. Tour favorable consideration is invited to the various recoramendations of the Secretary of the Navy, espeoiully in regard to a navy-yard and suitable establishment forthe construction and lejiair of iron vessels and the machinery and armature of our ships, to which refer ence was made in my last annual message. Your attention is i..so invited to the views expressed in the report in 630 The Life, Public Services, and -elation to the legislation of Congress, at its last session, in respect to prize ou our inland waters. I cordially concur in the recommendations of the Secretary as to the propriety of creating the new rank of vice-admiral in our naval service. Your attention is invited to the report of the Postraaster-General for a detailed account of the operations and financial condition of the Post- Ofiice Department. The postal revenues for the year ending June 30, 1864, araounted to $12,408,253 78, and the expenditures to $12,644,786 20; the excess of expenditures over reoeipts being $206,652 42. The views presented by the Postraaster-General on the subject of special grants by the Governraent, in aid of the establishraent of new lines ot ocean raail steamships, and the polioy he recommends for the development of increased commercial interoourse with adjacent and neighboring countries, should receive the careful consideration of Con gress. ¦ It is of noteworthy interest, that the steady expansion of population, improvement, and govermental institutions over the new and unoccupied portions of our country, has scarcely been checked, much less impeded or destroyed by oqr great civil war, which at first glance would seem to have absorbed almost the entire energies of the nation. The organization and admission of the State of Nevada has been com pleted in eonformity with law, and thus our excellent system is firmly established in the mountains which once seemed a barren and uninhabita ble waste between the Atlantic States and those which have grown up on the coast of the Pacific Ocean. The Territories of the Union are generally in a condition of prosperity and rapid growth. Idaho and Montana, by reason of their great distance and the interruption of communication with them by Inuian hostilities, h.ave been only partially organized ; but it is understood that these diffi- cnlties are about to disappear, which will permit their Governments like those of the others to go into speedy and full operation. As intiraately eonneeted with and promotive of this material growth of the nation, I ask the attention of Congress to the valuable information and important recommendations relating to the public lands, Indian affairs, the Pacific Eailroads, and mineral discoveries contained in the report of the Secretary of the Interior, which is herewith transmitted, and which report also embraces the subjects of patents, pensions, and other topios of publio interest pertaining to his department. The quantity of public land disposed of during the five quarters ending on the thirtieth of September last, was 4,221,342 acres, of which 1,538,614 acres were entered under the homestead law. The remainder was located with military land war rants, agricultural scrip certified to States for railroads, and sold for cash. The cash received from sales and looation fees was $1,019,446. The income from sales during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1864, was $078,007 21, against $130,077 95 received during the preceding State Papeks of Abraham Lincoln. 631 year. The aggregate number of acres surveyed during the year has beet equal to the quantity disposed of, and there is open to settlement about 133,000,000 acres of surveyed land. The great enterprise of connecting the Atlantic with the Pacific States by railways and telegraph lines has been entered upon with a vigor that gives assurance of success, notwithstanding the embarrass ments arising from the prevailing high prices of materials and labor. The route of the main line of the road has been definitely located for one hundred miles westward from the cen-tral point at Omaha City, Nebraska, and a preliminary location' of the Pacific Railroad of Califor nia has been made from Sacramento, eastward, to the great bend of Mucker River, in Nevada. Numerous discoveries of gold, silver, and cinnabar mines have been added to the many heretofore known, and the country occupied by tbe Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains and the subordinate ranges now teems -with enterprising labor which is richly remunerative. It is believed that the product of the mines of precious metals in that region has during the year reached, if not exceeded, $100,000,000 in value. It was recommended in my last annual message that our Indian system be remodelled. Congress at its last session, acting ujion the recommendation, did provide for reorganizing the system in California, and it is believed that, under the present organization, the management of the Indians there will be attended -with reasonable success. Much yet remains to be done to pro-vide for the proper government of the Indians in other parts of the country, to render it secure for the advancing settler nnd to provide for the welfare of the nation. The Secretary reiterates his recommendations, and to them the attention of Congress is in-yited. The liberal provisions made by Congress for paying pensions to invalid soldiers and sailors of the Republic, and to the -widows, orphans, and dependent mothers of those who have fallen in battle, or died of disease contracted, or of wounds received in the service of their country, have been diligently administered. There have been added to the pension-rolls, during the year ending the 30th day of June last, the names of 16,770 invalid soldiers, and of 271 disabled seamen ; making the present number of army invalid pen sioners 33,767, and of the navy invalid pensioners, 713. Of widows, orphans, and mothers, 33,198 have been placed on the army pension-rolls, and 348 on the navy roUs. The present number of army pensioners of this class is 35,443, and of the navy pensioners, 798. At the beginning of the year the number of Revolutionary pensioners was 1,480 ; only twelve of them were soldiers, of whom seven have since died. The remainder are those who under the law receive pendens because of rela tionship to Revolutionary soldiers. Dming the year ending the 30th of June, 1864, |4,504,616.93 have been paid to pensioners of all classes. I cheerfully commend to your continued patronage the benevolent 632 The Life, Public Services, and institutions of the District of Columbia, which have hitherto been estab lished or fostered by Congress, and respectfully refer for information con cerning them, and in relation to the Washington Aqueduct, the Capitol, and other matters of local interest, to the report of the Secretary. The Agricultural Department, under the snpervisicn of its present energetic and faithful head, is rapidly commending itself to the great and vital interest it w^as created to advance. It is peculiarly the people's dep.artment, in whicli thoy feel more directly concerned than in any other. I commend it to the continued attention and fostering care of Congress. Tlie war continues. Since the last annual message, all the important lines and positions then occupied by our forces have been raaintained, and our .armies have steadily advanced, thus liberating the regions left in tha rear; so that Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, and parts of other States have again produced reasonably fair crops. The most remarkable feature in the military operations of the year is General Sherman's attempted march of three hundred miles, directly through an insurgent region. It tends to show a great increase of our relative strength, that our General-in-Chief should feel able to confront and hold in check every active force of the enemy, and yet to detaeh a well-appointed large army to move on snch an expedition. The result not yet being known, conjecture in regard to it cannot here be indulged. Important movements have .also occurred during the year, to the effect of moulding society for durability in the Union. Although short of com plete success, it is much in the right direction that 12,000 citizens in each of the States of Arkansas and Louisiana have organized loyal State Govern ments, with free constitutions, and are earnestly struggling to maintain aud administer thera. The movements in the same direction, more extensive though less definite, in Missouri, Kentucky, and Tennessee, should not be overlooked. But Maryland presents the example of complete success. Maryland is secure to liberty and Union for all the future. The genius of rebellion will no more elaira Maryland. Like .another foul spirit, being driven out, it may seek to tear her, but it will woo her no more. At t.he last session of Congress, a proposed amendment of the Constitu tion, abolishing slavery throughout the United St.ates, passed the Senate, but failed for laok of the requisite two-thirds vote in the House of Repre sentatives. Although the present is the same Congress, and nearly the same merabers, and without questioning the wisd(mi or patriotism of those who stood in opposition, I venture to recommend the reconsideration and passage of the measure at the present session. Of course the abstract ques tion is not changed, but an intervening election shows almost certainly that the next Congress will pass the measure, if this does not. Hence there is only a qnestion of tirae as to when the proposed amendment will go to the States for their action, and as it is to go at all events, may we not agree th,it the sooner the better? It is not claimed that the election has im posed a duty on members to change their views or their votes any further State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 633 than as an additional element to be considered. Their judgment may be affected by it. It is the voice of the people now for the first time heard upon the question. In a great national crisis like ours, unanimity of action among those seeking a coinmon end is very desirable — almost indispensable; and yet no approach to such unanimity is attainable unless sorae deference shall be paid to the will of the majority. In thia case tha common end is the maintenance of the Union, and among the means to secure that end, such will, through the election, is most clearly declared in favor of such constitutional amendment. The most reliable indication of public purpose in this country is derived through our popular elections. Judging by the recent canvass and its results, the purpose of the people within the loyal States to maintain the integrity of the Union was never more flrm nor more nearly unanimous than now. The extraordinai-y calm ness and good order with which the raillions of voters met and mingled at the polls, give strong assurance of this. Not only all those who sup ported the Union ticket (so called),. but a great majority of the opposing party also, may be fairly claimed to entertain and to be actuated by the samo purpose. It is an unanswerable argument to this effect that no candidate for any office whatever, high or low, has ventured to seek votes on the avowal that he was for giving up the Union. There has been much hn- pugning of motives, and much heated controversy as to the proper means and best mode of advancing the Union cause ; but in the distinct issue of Union or no Union, the politicians have shown their instinctive knowledge that there is no diversity among the people. In affording the people tho fair opportunity of showing one to another, and to the world, this firm ness and unanimity of purpose, the eleotion has been of vast value to tho national cause. The election has exhibited another fact, not less valuablo to be known — the fact that we do not approach exhaustion in the most important branch of the national resources — that of living men. While it is melancholy to refiect that the war has filled so many graves, and caused mourning to so many hearts, it is some relief to know th.at, compared with the surviving, the fallen have been so few. While corps and divisions and regiments have formed and fought and dwindled and gone oQt of exists ence, a great majority of the men who composed them are still living. The same is true of the naval service. The election returns prove this. So many voters could not else be found. The States regularly holding elections, both now and four years ago — to wit: California, Connecti cut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Mas sachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Ehode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wisconsin — cast 3,982,011 votes now, against 3,870,222 cast then; showing an aggregate now of 3,982,011, to which is to lie .added 33,762 cast now in the new States of Kansas and Nevada, which States did not vote in 1860; thus swelling the aggregate to 4,015,773, and tho net increase, during the three years and a half of war, to 145,551. A table is appended, showing particulars. To this again should be added the 634 The Life, Public Services, and numbers of all soldiers in the field belonging to Massachusetts, Ehode Island, New Jersey, Delaware, Indiana, Illinois, and California, who by the laws of those States could not vote away from their homes, and whicii number cannot be less than 90,000. Nor yet is this all. The number in organized Territories is triple now what it was four years ago, while thousands, white and black, join us as the national arms press back the insurgent lines. So much is shown affirmatively and negatively by the elec tion. It is not material to inquire how the increase has been produced, or to sho-w that it would have been greater but for the war, which is probably true. The important fact remains demonstrated that we have more men now than we had when the war began ; that we are not exhausted, nor in process of exhaustion ; that we are gaining strength, and may, if need be, maintain the contest indefinitely. This as to mon. COMPABATIVB VOTB, 1860 AITO 1864. 1860. 1864. Kentucky ." 148,216 91,300 Maine.. 9'',918 115,141 Maryland 92,502 72,703 Massachusetts 169,533 175,487 Michigan 154,747 162,41? Minnesota 34,799 42,534 Missouri 165,538 * 90,000 New Hampshire 65,953 69,111 New Jersey 121,125 128,680 New Tork 675,156 730,664 Ohio 442,441 470,745 Oregon 14,410 -j- 14,410 Pennsylvania 476,442 672,697 Rhode Island..". 19,931 22,187 Vermont 42,844 55,811 West Virginia 46,195 33,874 Wisconsin 152,180 148,513 Total 3,870,222 3,982,011 Kansas .¦ 17,234 Nevada 16,528 33,762 Total 4,015,773 Material resouroes are now more complete and abundant than ever. The national resources, then, are unexhausted, and, as we believe, inex haustible. The public purpose to re-establish and maintain the national authority is unphanged, and, as wo believe, unchangeable. The manner of continuing the effort remains to choose. On careful consideration of all the evidence accessible, it seems to me that no attempt at negotiation with the insurgent leader could result in any good. He would accept of nothing short of the severance of the Union. His declarations to this effect are explicit and oft repeated. He does not attempt to deceive ns. He affords us no exouse to deeeive ourselves. We cannot voluntarily yield * Nearly. .]. Estimated State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 635 it. Between him and us the issue is distinct, simple, and iufiexible. It is an issue which can only be tried by war, and deoided by victory. If we yield, we are beaten. If the Southern people fail him, he is beaten. Either way it would be the victory and defeat following war. What is true, however, of him who heads the insurgent cause, is not necessarily true of those who follow. Although he cannot reaccept the Union, they can. Some of them we know already desire peace and reunion. The number of such may increase. They can at any moment have peace simply by laying down their arms and submitting to the national authority under the Constitution. After so much the Government could not, if it would, maintain war against them. The loyal people would not sustain or allow it. If questions should remain, we would adjust them by the peaceful means of legislation, conference, courts, and votes, operating only in constitutional and lawful channels. Some certain and other pos sible questions are, and wonld be. beyond the executive power to adjust — as, for instance, the a.^niission of members into Congress, and whatever might require the appropriation of money. The executive power itself would be greatly diminished by the cessation of actual war. Pardons and remissions of forfeiture, however, would still be within the executive con trol. In what spirit and temper this conlffol wonld be exercised, can be fairly judged of by the past. A year ago general pardon and amnesty, npon specified terms, were offered to all except certain designated classes, and it was at the same time made known that the excepted classes were still within contemplation of special clemency. During the year many availed tJiemselves of the general provision, and many raore would, only that the signs of bad faith in some led to such precautionary raeasures as rendered the practical process less easy and certain. During the sarae time, also, special pardons have been granted to individuals of excepted classes, and no voluntary application has been denied. Thus practically the door has been for a full year open to all, except BQcli as were not in condition to mak-e free choice — that is such as were in custody or under constraint. It is still so open to all ; bnt the tirae may come, probably will corae, when public duty shall demand that it be closed, and that in lieu more vigorous measures than heretofore shall be adopted. In presenting the abandonment of armed resistance to the national au thority on the part of the insurgents as the only indispensable condition to ending the war on the part of the Government, I retract nothing heretofore said as to slavery. I repeat the declaration made a year ago, that -while I remain in my present position I shall not attempt to re tract 'or modify the Emancipation Proclaraation. Nor shall I return to slavery .any person who is free by the terms of that proclaraation or by any of tho acts of Congress. If the people should, by whatever mode or means, make it an executive duty to re-enslave such persons, another, and not I, must be their instr u- ment to perform it. In stating a single condition of peace, I mean simply to say, that tlie 636 The Life, Public Services, and war will cease on the part of the Government whenever it shall have teased on the part of those who began it. (Signed) ABEAnAM Lincoln. But little business of importance was transacted in Con gress before the holidays. The question of the admission of senators and representatives from Louisiana made its appearance at once, but the credentials of the applicants for admission were referred to appropriate committees, and no other action was taken on them. On the 12th of December the House passed a resolution requesting the President to give notice of the intention of the Government to terminate the Reciprocity Treaty be tween this country and Canada. A resolution to the same effect, but differing in words, was reported in the Senate by Mr. Sumner, but no action was taken on it untU Con gress reassembled after the holidays. We may mention als5 the attack made upon the Ad ministration by Mr. H. "Winter Davis, on the 15th of December, for its course in relation to Mexico, by offering, as Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the following resolution : — 'o Resolved, That Congress has a constitutional right to an authoritative voice in declaring and prescribing the foreign polioy of the United States, as well in the recognition of new powers as in other matters, and it is the constitution.al duty of the President to respect that policy, not less in diplomatic relations than in the use of the national forces when author ized by law, and the propriety of any declaration of foreign policy by Congress is sufficiently proved by the vote which pronounces it ; and such proposition, while pending and undetermined, is not a fit topic of diplo matic explanation with any foreign power. The House laid the resolution on the table by a vote of sixty-nine to sixty-three, whereupon Mr. Davis requested to be excused from further service on the Committee on Foreign Affairs ; his request was granted accordingly. Five days later, however, Mr. Davis renewed the attack, offering the same resolution, and this timeAvith better suc cess. Tlie first branch of the resolution was adopted by a vote of one hundred and eighteen to eight, and the State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 637 second by a vote of sixty-eight to fifty-eight. No further action was taken by Congress in the matter, nor was it ever publicly referred to by the President. Congress adjourned on the 23d of December for the holiday's. The Presidential reception on New Year' s day was the occasion of a remarkable spectacle for Washing ton, in the appearance of the colored people at the White House. They waited around the doors till the crowd of white visitors diminished, when they made bold to enter the hall. Some of them were richly dressed, while others wore the garb of poverty ; but aUke intent on seeing the man who had set their nation free, they pressed forward, though with hesitation, into the presence of the President. Says an eye-witness— For nearly two hours Mr. Lincoln had been shaking the hands of the "sovereigns," and had become excessively weary, and his grasp became languid ; but here his nerves rallied at the unwonted sight, and he wel comed this motley crowd with a heartiness that raade them wild with ex ceeding joy. They laughed and wept, and wept and laughed, exclaiming, through their blinding tears, "God bless you 1" "God bless Abraham Lincoln ! " " God bress Massa Linkum ! " The proceedings pending before the Canadian court, when Congress met, for the extradition of the St. Albans raiders, were brought to an unexpected terminatioh on the 13th of December, by the decision of Mr. Justice Coursol, by whom the case was heard, discharging the accused from custody on the alleged ground of want of jurisdic tion. Not only were these men thus discharged, but the money which they had stolen from the banks was given up to them, under circumstances which cast great suspicion upon prominent members of the Cana dian Government. This result caused the most intense indignation throughout the States. General Dix, com manding the Eastern Department, immediately issued an order referring to it, and directing all military com manders on the frontiers, in case of any future raids, to shoot down the perpetrators ; "or, if it be necessary, with a view to their capture, to cross the boundary 638 The Life, Public Services, and between the United States and Canada, said commanders are hereby directed to pursue them wherever they may find refuge, and if captured, they are under no circum stances to be surrendered," &c., &c. This part of the order was, however, at once disapproved by the Ad ministration, and General Dix accordingly modified his order so as to require that, before crossing the fron tier, military commanders should report to him for orders. The prompt action of the Canadian Government, which at once caused the rearrest of such of the raiders as had not made their escape, and gave a cordial assistance to the new proceedings Avhicli were begun with a view to their extradition, tended somewhat to allay publio feeUng. But it was deemed advisable to take some measures of precaution along the frontier, and accord ingly on the 17th of December an order was issued that no person should be allowed to enter the United States from a foreign country without a passport, except immi grants coming directly in by sea. Tliis order was made with especial reference to those coming into the United States from the British Provinces, and the people of Canada were excessively indignant at it, but found no remedy. MUitary affairs during this month made good progress. The call which had been made in July for five hundred thousand men, although it produced a good number of re cruits, so that military operations had not suffered for lack of re-enforcements, yet had been in great measure filled by giving credits for men already put into the army or the navy. Accordingly, on the 19th of December, the President issued the following proclamation calUng for two hundted thousand more men : — PEOCLAMATION. Wheeeas, by the act approved July 4, 1864, entitled " An act fur ther to regulate and provide for the enrolling and calling out of the national forces .and for other purposes," it is provided that the President of the United States may, ct his discretion, at any time hereafter, call for any number of men as volunteers for the respective terms of one, two, or St.we Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 639 three years of military service ; and that in case the quota or any part thereof of any town, township, ward of a city, precinct, or election district, or of a coiTnty not so subdivided, shall not be filled within the space of fifty days after such call, the President shall immediately order a draft for one year to fill such quota, or any part thereof which may be un- jUed ; and whereas by the credits allowed in accordance with act of Con gress on the call for five hundred thousand men made July 18, 1864, Jie number of men to be obtained was reduced to two hundred and eighty thousand ; and whereas the operations of the enemy in certain States have rendered it impracticable to procure from thera their full quotas of troops nnder said call ; and whereas, from the foregoing causes, but two hundred and fifty thousand men have been put into the army, navy, and marine corps under the said call of July 18, 1864, leaving a deficiency under the said call of two hundred and sixty thousand : Now, there fore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of tha United States of America, in order to supply the aforesaid deflciehcy, and to pro-ride for casualties in the military and naval service of the United States, do issue this my call for three hundred thousand volunteers, to serve for one, two, or three years. The quotas of the States, districts, and sub-districts, under this call, will be assigned by the War Department through the Provost-Marshal- General of the United States: and in case' the quota, or any part thereof, of any town, township, ward of a city, precinct or eleotion district, or of a county not so sub-divided, shall not ba filled before the 15th day of February, 1865, then a draft shall be made to fill sueh quota, or any part thereof, under this call, which may be unfilled on the said 15th day of February, 1865. In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United St.ates to be affixed. Done at the City of Washington, this nineteenth dav of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight .lundred and sixty- [l. s.] four, -and of the independence of the United States the eighty- ninth. Abeaham Lincoln. By the President : Wm. H. Sewaed, Secretary of State. Operations in the field continued to meet with great suc cess. General Sherman, after an almost unobstructed march across the State of Georgia, burst through to the sea by the capture, on December 13th, of Fort McAllister, on the Ogeechee Eiver, whose faU opened communications for bim with the fleet. Operations to assist him by an attack upon the line of railroad from Savannah to Charleston, had succeeded in retaining a heavy force of the rebels there, although there seems to have been Uttle effort to 640 The Life, Public Services, and concentrate forces to check Sherman's march. It threat ened so many and so diverse points that the rebels were bewUdered and were not able to make any successful re sistance. General Hardee, who commanded in Savannah, determined not to await a siege, but, as soon as Sherman began to get his guns in position, abandoned the city, crossing the Savannah River at night on a pontoon bridge and making his escape, with about fifteen thousand men, into South Carolina. Savannah, thus abandoned, surren-- dered at once on the 21st of December to General Shennan, who on the 22d sent a dispatch to the President, present ing to him " as a Christmas gift, the city of Savannah with one hundred and fifty heavy guns and plenty of ammuni tion, and also about twenty-five thousand bales of cotton." The fall of Savannah was not the only success which made the month of December glorious. It was preceded by the three days' fight in front of Nashville, when Hood' s army was crushed by the attack of General Thomas, and that northward campaign, for the purpose of entering upon which he had left the way open for Sherman to pierce the very vitals of the Confederacy, and by which he had hoped in some degree to neutralize the value of Sherman's progress, was turned at once into utter de struction. His losses during this brief campaign were estimated at more than twenty thousand men. Several expeditions were also sent out by our generals into various parts of the rebel territory — into Mississippi, the southwest parts of Virginia and North Carolina — which met with success, and inflicted great loss upon the rebels. In front of Petersburg General Grant still maintained his position. A heavy force under General Warren was sent out during the early part of the month in the direction of Weldon. The Weldon Railroad was thor oughly destroyed nearly as far as Hicksford, and the ex pedition returned Avithout serious loss. The weather, which was extremely inclement, was the principal obstacle which they encountered. A far more important movement, however, was the attack upon Fort Fisher, which com manded the main entrance to the port of Wilmington, the State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 641 great head-quarters of blockade running. This expedi tion sailed from Fortress Monroe on the 13th of Decem ber. It consisted of a strong fleet under Rear-Admiral D. D. Porter, assisted by a land force under command of General Butler. A prominent feature of it was a vessel loaded with several hundred tons of powder, which it was intended to run ashore as near as possible to the fort and there explode. It was supposed, from the terrible effects caused by the accidental firing some months before of a magazine in England containing about that amount, that the explosion of so large a quantity of powder would entirely destroy or greatly damage the fort and utterly de moralize the garrison. The vessels rendezvoused at Beau fort. North Carolina, and thence sailed for Fort Fisher. But there seems to have been a lack of concert of action between the navy and the army. The powder boat was exploded before the army transports arrived, and whether tlie work was so imperfectly done that only a small portion of the powder was fired, or whether a dif ference of cUcumstances led to a different result, it pro duced little or no effect. A heavy bombardment by the fleet foUowed, lasting for a day and a half, under cover of which the troops were landed above the fort. An outlying battery was captured by them, but on a recon noissance of the main works they were reported to be but little injured by the fire of the fleet, and too strong to be attacked by the force under General Butler' s com mand ; and he accordingly re-embarked and returned with them to Fortress Monroe, and the attack was aban doned. The persistency of General Grant showed itself here, however, as it had done so many times before. He imme diately sent a somewhat larger force, under the command of General Terry, to renew the attack. The fleet, which had replenished its magazines, renewed the bombardment more terribly than before, this time causing great injury to the works, and the troops were again landed for a second assault upon the fort, whose garrison had been in the mean time greatly strengthened. 41 642 The Life, Public Services, and The faUure of the former assault had cau'sed great vexa tion and disgust throughout the country. It was thought that even if the forces were not heavy enough to make a successful assault, they might at least have maintained tlieir ground on shore until a stronger force could be sent, and it was intimated pretty broadly that the assault should have been ordered. General Butler was removed from the command of the Army of the James on the 8th of January. In his fare well order he, on his part, assumed and asserted that liis removal was because he had been too chary of the Uves of his men. Great controversy arose on this point, and assumed at once a political aspect. General Butler was called before the Congressional Committee on the Conduct of the War, and was in the very aot of giving his testimony as to the facts and his reasons for judging an assault impracticable, when the news arrived of the capture of the fort on the night of the 15th of January, after the most desperate as sault of the war. This result put a stop to the contro versy which was rising, and spread the greatest joy through the country, as it wa^ at once seen that the result must be the closing of the only port which had remained open to the blockade runners, and the capture of Wilming ton itself The Richmond papers endeavored to make light of it, and spoke of it as a "blessing in disguise ;" but this deceived no one. It was felt that the last breathing- hole of the rebellion was closed, and that its power must speedily succumb between the mighty forces of the army which Grant held immovable before Petersburg and General Lee, and that other army which General Sher man was already moving forward on its destructive march through South Carolina towards the rear of Richmond. The death of Edward Everett, which occurred on the day of the faU of Fort Fisher, was felt to be a great loss to the country. The patriotic position whicii he had taken at the beginning of the rebellion and steadUy maintained, the uniform support which he had given to the Administration, lending even the weight of State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 643 his name to the electoral ticket in Massachusetts, aud hia constant and valuable labors for the cause, fully justified the foUowing order, issued at Washington on the receijit of the news of his death : — Depaetment or State, Wasbingtok, Sunday, January 15. The President directs tha undersigned to perform the painful duty of announcing to the people of the United States, that Edward Eveebtt, distinguished not more by learning and eloquence than by unsurpassed and disinterested labors of patriotism at a period of political disorder, departed this life at four o'clock this morning. The several Exeeutiva Departments of the Government will cause appropriate honors to ba rendered to the memory of the deceased, at home and abroad, wherever the national name and authority are recognized. (Signed) William H. Sewaed. The President referred to this death in some 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-field of Gettysburg, which 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 : — Rkveeend Sir, and Ladies and Gentlemen : — I accept with emotions of profoundest gratitude, the beautiful gift you have been pleased 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 already 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 which 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 ser-vices 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 aU. , Several important matters were brought before Con gress during January. 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 lengthy debate a resobition 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 that the bearer would call for his answer at any place or time he might designate. Mr. Brooks chose to regard this as a chaUenge, and therefore an invasion of his privUeges 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 foUowed, 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 Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Flori da, Alabama, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Arkansas had rebelled against the Government, and were in rebeUion 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 office commencing on the 4th of March next, and no electoral Totes shall be received or counted from those States. But by far the most important action which was taken State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 645 during the whole session was the passage, on the 31st of January, of the resolution for the constitutional amend ment prohibiting slavery. This resolution, as will be recoUected, 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 whicii debate could never be exhausted. The motion to re consider was carried, by a vote of one hundred and twelve to fifty-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 caUed as a member of the House, and voted aye. Hia 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 with 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 was announced that the resolution was passed by a vote of one hundred and nineteen yeas to fifty-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 646 The Life, Public Services, and consequence of the rebellion, and as promising substan tial compensation to the nation for the ravages of ^Yar. 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 throngh 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 tha whole world. But there is a task yet before us — ^to go forward and con- Buraraate by the 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 tha reunion of all the States perfected, and so efiected 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 ont. He thought all would bear him witness that he had never shrunk frora doing aU that he could to eradicate slavery, by issuing an Emancipation Proclamation. But that proclamation falls short of what the amendment will be when fully consummated. A question might ba raised whether the proclamation was legally valid. It raight be added, that it only aided those who carae into our lines, and that it was inoperative as to those who did not give themselves up; or that it would have no eff'eot 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 eure for all evils. It winds the whole thing up. He would repeat, that it was the fitting if not the indispens.able 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 great moral victory. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 647 Tn addition to the general satisfaction felt by the whole country at the passage of this amendment, it carried special joy to that very large (dass of people who had feared that the war might end without securing tlie aboli tion of slavery. From the very beginning there had been 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 contending 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 effort, 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 aU 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 perpetual 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 the national authority. It was not, therefore, without a good deal of soUcitude that the pubUc learned that Mr. Francis P. Blair, an able, resolute, and experienced poli tician, had left Washington for Richmond, armed with a pass from President Lincoln, and that the real object of his visit was to prevaU upon Jefferson Davis to send, or receive, commissioners to treat of peace between the con tending parties. The rumor proved to be substantiaUy 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, irom 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 the effort to enter into a conference Avith a view to secure peace be tween the two countries." Mr. Blair presented this letter to President Lincoln, who at once authorized him 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 person now resisftng 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 the assumption that the people of the United States still had one " common country," 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. Stephens, R. M. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 649 T. Hunter, and J. A. Campbell, made application to Gen 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, Avho 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 be secured should be " for the people of our common coun try." This response led the commissioners, on the 1st of February, to make an appUcation 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 tlie 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 hostihties short of an end of the war and the disbanding of the forces hostiie to the Government Upon this basis Mr. Seward 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 th(3 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 his personal beUef that the 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 Portress 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 Sewai'd 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 Eichmond party approached the discussion rather 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 Governraent and the insurgents -were distinctly raised, aud 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 Avhich the war is waged, and a muturi direction of the efi'orts of the Government, as well as those of the insurgents, to some extrinsic policy or scheme ior a sea- State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 651 son, during which passions might be expected to subside, and the armies be reduced, and trade and intercourse between the people of the two sec tions be resumed. It was suggested by them that through such postpone ment we might now have iininediate peace, with some not vei-y 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 foroes and the reeognition of the national authority throughout all the States hi the Union. Collat erally, and in subordination to the proposition which was thus announced, the anti-slavery policy of tlie United States was reviewed in all its bearings, and the President announced that he must not be expected to reoede from the positions he had heretofore assumed in his Proclamation of Emancipa tion, and other documents, as these positions were reiterated in his annual 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 ba proposed. The President assured the other party that while he must adhere to these positions, h e -n'ould be prepared, so far as power is lodged with the Executive, to exercise liberality. Its power, however, is liraited by the Constitiition; and, when peace should be made, Congress must necessarily act in regard to appropriations of raoney, and to the admission of representatives from the insurreotionary States. The Eichraond party wore then inforraed that Congress had, on the 31st ult., adopted by a constitutional raajority a joint resolution submit ting to the several States the proposition to abolish slavery throughout the Union, and that there is every reason to expeot that it will 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 following 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 ma that the President of the United States -vvas disposed to confer informally with unofficial agents that might be sent by me with a view to the restoration of peace, I requested Hon. Alexander H. Stephens, Hon. E. M. T. Hun ter, and Hon. John A. Campbell to proceed through our lines to hold a 652 The Life, Public Services, and conference with Mr. Lincoln, or such persons as he might depute to rep resent hira. I herewith submit, for the information of Congress, the 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 raay grant, or permit us to have peace on any other basis than our unconditional submission to tlieir rule, coupled with the acceptance of their recent Jogi.slation, including an amendment to the Constitution for the emancipation of negro slaves, .and witli the right on the part of the Federal Congress to legislate on the subject of the relations between the wliite and black population of eaeh State. Such is, as I understand, the effeot of the araendraent to the Constitution which has been adopted by the Congress of the United States. (Si"-ned) Jefferson Davis. ExEouriTE Office, Eichmond, February 5, 1865. EEPOET OF THE EEBEL COMMISSIONERS. EioiLMOND, ViEGisiA, February 6, 1865. To the President of the Confederate States: Sir: — Under your letter of appointment of 28th ult., we prooeeded to seek an informal conference with Abraham Lincoln, President of tho United States, upon the subject mentioned in your letter. The conference was granted, and took place on the 3d inst., on board a steamer ancliored in Hampton Roads, where we raet President Lincohi and Hop. Mr. Seward, Secretary of State of the United States. It con tinued for several hours, and -svas both full and explicit. We learned frora 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 frora hira that no terms or proposals of any treaty or agreement looking to an ultimate settlement would be entertained or made by liiin 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 frora States separately; that no extended truce orarraistioe, 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 phaces within the States of the Confederacy; that whatever consequences raay follow frora the re-es- tal'Mshinent 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 .^ad penalties, if peace be restored. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 653 During the conference the proposed amendments to the Constitution of the United States, adopted by Congress on the 31st ult., were brought to .aiir notice. These amendments provide that neither slavery nor involun tary servitude, except for crime, should exist witliin the United States, or any place -within their jurisdiction, and that Congress should have tha power to enforce this araendraent by appropi-iate legislation. Of all the correspondence that preceded the conference herein mention ed and leading to the sarae, you have heretofore been informed. Very respectfully, your obedient servants, Alex. H. Stephbits, E. M. T. Hunter, J. A. Campbell. The public rumors which were current upon this sub ject led to the adoption on the 8th, by the House of Representatives, of a resolntion calling upon the Presi dent for information concerning the conference. To this request President Lincoln responded on the 10th, by transmitting the following message : — Washingtoit, February 10. To the Honorable the House of Representatives : In response to your resolution of the 8th inst., requesting information in relation to a conference recently held in Hampton Eoads, I have the honor to state that on the day of the date, I gave Eranois 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 infomied of any thing he would say or do, on his own account or otherwise. Mr. Blair told nio that he had been to Eichmond, and had seen Mr. Jefferson Davis, and ha (Mr. Blair) at the same time left with me a manuscript letter as follows, to wit; — Richmond, "Va., January 12, 1S65. F. P. Blaie, 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 peace. I ara ready to send a commission, wlienever I have reason to suppose it "ivill be received, or to receive a commission, if the United States Gov ernment shall choose to send one. 654 The Life, Public Services, and Notwithstanding the rejection of our former offers, I would, ^^ 7^ could promise that a commissioner, minister, or other agent wouhl ba received, appoint one immediately, and renew the effort to enter mto. a conference with a view to secure peace to the two countries. Yours, &c., Jefferson 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 :— WAsriiNGTOs, January 18, 1865. F. P. Blair, Esq. : Sir : — Tou having shown me Mr. Davis's letter to you of tiie' 12th inst., you may say to him that I have constantly been, am now, and shall continue ready to receive any agent whom he, or any other influential person, now resisting the national authorit)', may informally send rae, -with a view of securing peace to the people of our coraraon couutry. 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, 1S65. To-day Mr. Blair tells me that on the 21st inst. he delivered to Mr. Davis tlie original, of which the witliin is a copy, and left it with hira; that at the time of dehvering, Mr. Davis read it over twice, in Mr. Blair's presence ; at the close of which he (Mr. B.) remarked, that the part about our one common country referred to the part of Mr. Davis's letter about the two countries; to whieh Mr. D. replied that he so under stood it. -A-. Lincoln. Afterwards the Secretary of War placred in my hands the following telegram, indorsed by him, as appears : — (Cipher.) Office U. S. Military Telegraph, Wae Depaet.mhnt. The following telegram was received ' at Washington, January 29, 1865:— Head-Quautees Aemt of TnE James, 6.80 p. sr., January 29, 1865. Hon. EowrN" M. Stanton, Secretary of War : The following dispatch is just received frora M.ajor-General Parke, who refers to me for my action. I refer it to you, in lieu of General Grant's absence. E. 0. 0. Ord, Major-General Commanding. He\d-Qd-aktee3 Army of the Potomac, 4 p. m,, January 29, 1865. Maior-Gener,al E. 0. C. Ord, Head-Quarters of the Array of the Jaraes: 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 the ranking officer present in the two armies. John G. Parke, Major-General Commanding. From HEAn-QuAitTEES Ninth Aemy Cohps, January 29, ISGS. Major-General John C. Parke, Head-Quarters of the Army of the Poto mac : Alexander H. Stephens, R. M. T. Hunter, and J. A. Campbell desire to cross my lines, in accordance -with an understanding claimed to exist with State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 655 Lieutenant-General Grant, on their way to Wa.sliington as Peace Com missioners. Shall they be admitted ? They desire an early answer, so aa to come through immediately. They wonld like to roach City Point to night if they can. If thcy cannot do this, they wgiild like to come through « 10 A. M. to-morrow. O. B'. WiLoox, Major-General Commanding Ninth Corps. Respectfully referred to the President, for such instructions as he may DO pleased to give. Edwin M. ^tkhto-s,' Secretary of War. Jan. 29th, 1805 — 8.30 P. M. It appears that about the time of placing the foregoing telegram in my hands, the Secretary of A¥ar disp.atolied General Ord as follows, to wit: — Wae Department, Washington City, January 29, 1865—10 p. m. Major-General Ord : — Tliis department lias no knowledge of any under standing by General Grant to allow any person to corae 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 tho President's instructions, to whom your telegrams Avill be submitted for his directions. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War. (Sent in cipher at 2 a. m.) Afterwards, by my directions, the Secretary of War telegraphed Gen- sral Ord as follows, to wit : — War Department, Washington City, D. C, \ * January 30, 1865 — 10 a. m. J Major-General E. O. C. Ord, Head-Quarters Army_of the J.ames : By directions of the President, you are instructed to inform the three gentlemen, Messrs. Stephens, Hunter, and Campbell, that a messenger will be disfuitched 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 instruotions and message: — • Executive Mansion, Washington, January 80, 1565. Major T. T. Eckeet : Sir: — You will proceed with the documents placed in your hands, and on reaching Gener.al Ord, will deliver him the letter addressed liiin by the Secretary of War. Then, by General Ord's assistance, procure an interview -\vith Messrs. Stephens, Hunter, and Carapbell, or any of them. Deliver to hira or thera the paper on w-hich your own letter is w-ritten- Note on the copy which you retain the time of delivery, and to whom delivered. Eeceive their answer in writing, waiting a reasonable time for it, and which, if it contains their decision to come tlirough without furtlier conditions, will be your warrant to ask General Ord to pa.ss tliem through as directed in the letter of the Secretary of War. If, by their answer, they decline to come or propose other terms, do not have thera passed through. And this being your whole duty, return and report to me. Yours truly,, A. Lincolk-. 656 The Life, Public Services, and Messrs. Alexandeb H. SiBpnEss, J. A. Campbell, and R. M. T. Hunteh • Gentlemen : — I am instructed by the President of the United States to place this paper in your hands, with the iuforraation that if you pass through the United States raihtary lines, it will be understood that you do so for the purpose of an informal oonfereuce 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 tha Commanding General to pass 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 tirae by some person or persons for the pur pose of such informal conference. And further, that you shall have pro tection, safe-conduct, and safe return in all events. Thos. T. Eokert, Major and Aide-de- Camp. Citt Point, Virginia, February 1, 1865. The letter referred to by Major Eckert: — F. P. Blaie, Esq. : Sir: — 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 auy agent whom he, or any other influential per son now resisting the national authority, may informally send to me with tho view of securing peace to the people of our coinmon country. Yours, &c., A. Lincoln. Afterwards, but before Major Eckert ^lad departed, the following dispatch was received from General Grant : — Office U. S. Military Telegraph, -War DEPARTiicNT. [Cipher.] The following telegram was reoeivod at Washington, January 31, 1863, from City Point, Virginia, 10.30 a. m., January 31, 1865 :— His Excellency Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States : The following communication was received here last evening : Petersburg, Virginia, January SO, 1865. Lieutenant-General U. S. Grant, Commanding Armies U. S. : . ^1^ 'T^^^ '^°'*"''^ ^^ ^^¦^^ y°"^' ''""2s ""'¦^er safe-conduct, and to proceed to Washington to hold a conference with President Lincoln npon the sub ject ot 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. Blair of January IS, 18G5, of which we presume you have a copy ; and it not, we wish to see you in person, if convenient, and to confer with you on the subject. Very respectfully yours, Alexander H. Stephkn-s, J. A. Campbell, E. M. T. HuN-i-EE. I have sent directions to receive these gentlemen, and expect to have thom at my quarters tins evening awaiting your instructions. U. B. Grant, Lieutenant- General Commanding Armies U. 8. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 657 This, it will be jierceived, transferred General Ord's agency in the matter to General Grant I resolved, however, to send Major Eckert forw.iid with his message, and accordingly telegraphed General Grant as follows, to wit : — if ExEotTTiYE Mansion, -Wabhinoton, January 31, 1865. 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 quarters 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 when the gentlemen were supposed to be beyond our lines. [Sent in cipher at 1.30 p. m.] A. Lincoln. When Major Eckert departed he bore with hira a letter of the Secretary of "War to General Grant, as follows, to wit : — -Wae Department, Washington, D. C, January 30, 1865. Lieutenant-General Grant, Commanding, &c. : General: — The President desires that you will please procure for tha bearer, Mfyor Thos. T. Eckert, an interview with Messrs. Stephens, Hunter, and Campbell ; and if on his return to you he requests it, pass thera through our lines to Fortress Monroe, by such- route and under such military pre cautions as you may deem prudent, giving thera protection and corafort- able quarters while there ; and that you let none of this have any effect upon your raovements or plans. By order of tie President : • Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War. Supposing the proper point 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 31, 1865. Honorable William H. Sewaed, Secretary of State : You will proceed to Fortress Monroe, Virginia, there to raeet and for mally confer with Messrs. Stephens, Hunter, and Campbell, on tlie basis of my letter 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 frora the position assumed thereon in tho late annual message to Congress and in the preceding documents. Third, no cessation of hostilities short of an end of the war, aud the disbanding of all the foroes hostile lo the Government. You will inform them that all the propositions of theirs not inconsistent with the above will be considered and passed upon 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, &c., Abraham Lihooln. On the day of its date, the following telegram was sent to General Grant : — m 658 The Life, Public Services, and -War Department, Washington, February 1, 1865. Lieutenant-General Grant, City Point, Va. : Let nothing which 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 Genera' Grant: — [In cipher.] Office U. 8. Military Telegraph, War Department. The following telegram was received at Washington, at 2.30 p.m., February 1, 1865, from City Point Va., February 1, 12.30 p. m., 1865 :— His Excellency A. Lincoln, President of the United States : Your dispatch received. There will be no armistice in consequence of the presence of Mr. Stephens and others within our lines. Tha troops are kept iu readiness to move at the shortest notice, if occasion should justify it. U. S. Grant, Lieut.- General. To notify M.ajor Eckert that the Secretary of State wonld be at Fortress Monroe, and to put them in communicatio,t!, the foUowing dispatch wfis sent : — Was Department, Washington, February 1, 1865. Major T. T. Eokeet, Care General Grant, City Point, Va. : Call .at Fortress Monroe, and put yourself under direction of Mr. S., whom you will flnd there. A. Lincoln. On the morning of the 2d inst,ant, the following telegrams were received by ine respectively from the Secretary of War and Major Eckert: — • FoET Monroe, Va., February 1, 1865 — 11.30 p. iL To the President of the United States : Arrived at ten this evening. Eichmond friends not here. I remain here. W. H. Sewaed. Cpty Point, Va, February 1, 1805—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 p. m. the following note, addressed to General Grant, was received : — City Point, Ta., February 1, 1865. To Lieutenant-General Grant : BiR :— We desire to go to Washington City to confer informally -ivith tho President personally in reference to tho matters mentioned in his letter to Mr. Blair of the 18th of January ultimo. without r.ny personal compromise on any question in the letter We have the permission to do lio from the authorities at Richmond. Very respectfully yours, Alex. II. Stephesh. K. M. T. nu.N-j.^», J. A. Campbell, State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 659 At 9.80 p. m. I notified them that they conld not proceed further unless they complied with tha terms expressed in my letter. The point of meeting designated in the above note would not, in my opinion, be insisted upon. Fort Monroe would be aooeptable. Having complied with my instruotions, I will return to Washington to-morrow, unless otherwise ordered. Thomas T. Eokert, 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 of the TJ. S. Military Telegraph, \ "Was Department. j The following telegram received at Washington at 4.35 p. m., Feb ruary 2, 1865, from City Pomt, Va., February 1, 10.30 p. m., 1865 :— Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of W.ar : Now that the interview between Major Eckert, nnder his written in structions, and Mr. Stephens and party, has ended, I will state confiden tially, but not ofiicially to become a matter of record, that I am convinced, npon conversation with Messrs. Stephens and Hunter, that their intentions are good, and their desire sincere to restore peace and union. I have not felt myself at liberty to express even views of my own, or to account for ray 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 influence. At the same time, I recognize the diffioulties in the way of receiving these informal commis.sioners at this time, and I do not know what to recommend. I am sorry, however, that Mr. Lincoln cannot have an interview with tho 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 sarae language to M.ajor Eckert. U. S. Grant, Lieut.-General. This dispatch of General Grant changed my purpose, and accordingly I telegraphed him and the Secretary of War, as follows : — -War Depaetment, -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. -War Department, "Washington, D. C, February 2, 18G5. Hon. "Wm. H. Sewaed, Fortress Monroe, Va. : Induced by a dispatch from General Grant, I join you at Fortresa Monroe as soon as I can eome. [Sent in cipher at 9 a. m.] A. Lincoln. Before starting, the foUowing dispatch was shown me. I prooeeded, nevertheless : — [Cipher.] Office TJ. 8. Military Telegraph, "War Department. The following telegram, received at Washington, February 2, 1865, fi:oia City Point, Va., 9 a. m., February 3, 1865 : — 660 The Life, Public Services, and Hon. Wm. H. Sewaed, Secretary of St.ate. [Copy.] FOET MoNEoa To Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of "War, Washington : The gentlemen here have accepted the proposed terms, and will leavo for Fortress Monroe at 9.30 a. m. „ , U. S. Grant, Lieut.-General. On the night of the 2d I reached Hampton Eoads ; found the Secretary of State and M.ajor Eckert on a steamer anchored off the shore, and learned of them that the Eichmond gentlemen were on another steamer, also an chored ofl-' shore in the Eoads, and that the Secretary of State had not yet seen or communicated with them. I ascertained that Major Eckert had literally complied with his instructions, and I saw for the flrst time the answer of the Eichmond 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, 1865: Thomas T. Eckert, Major and A. D. C. : Major: — Your note delivered by yourself this day has been considered. In reply, we have to say that -n'o were furnished with a copy of the letter of President Lincoln to Francis P. Blair, of the 18th of Janu.ary ult., anotlier copy of which is appended to your note. Our instructions are contained in a letter of which the following is a copy : — KiGmioND, January 2S, 1865. In conformity -n-ith 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 tho ex isting w.ar, and for the purpose of securing peace to the two countries. With groat respect, your obedient servant, Jefferson Datm. The substantial object to be obtained by the informal conference, is to ascertain upon what terms the existing war can bo terminated honorably. Our instructions contemplate a personal interview between President Lincoln and ourselves at Washington ; but, with this explanation, -ive ara 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 prepared to receive or to submit propositions which may possibly lead to the attainment of that end. Very respectfully yours, Alexander H. Stephens, E. M. T. Hunter, 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 Eichmond gentlemen to Major Eckert : — State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 661 City Point, Va., February 2, 1865. Thomas T. Eokert, Major and A. D. C. : Major : — In reply to your verbal statement that your instruotions did not allow you to alter the conditions upon which a passport could bc given to us, we say that we are williug to proceed to Fortress Monroe, and tliora to have an informal conference with any person or persons tliat President Lincoln may appoint on the basis of his letter to Eranois P. Blair of tho 18th of January ult., or upon any other terms or conditions that he may hereafter propose, not inconsi-stent with the essential principles of self- government and popular 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 elfusion of blood, and to contribute our utmost efforts to accomplish such a result. We think it better to add that, in accepting your passport, we are not to be understood as coiniuit- ting ourselves to any thing, but to carry into this informal conference tha views and feelings above expressed. Very respectfully yours, &a., Alexander H. Stephens, J. A. Campbell, E. M. T. Honter. Note. — The above communication was delivered to me at Fortress Monroe, at 4.30 p. m., February 2, by Lieutenant-Colonel Baboook, of General Grant's staff'. Thomas T. Eckert, AdjH and A. D. C. 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 jjorson w!is present. No papers -svere excliangod 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, wa.s 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 coursa first, which, as some of them seeraed to argue, raight 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 souglit, ia respectfully submitted. Abraham Lincoln. In this instance, as in the previous case of Mr. Greeley, the President had. found himself constrained by the intru sive interference of an individual citizen, to op(?n negotia tions for which, in his judgment, neither the rebels nor 662 The Life, Public Services, and the nation at large were at all prepared. 'No man iu the country was more vigilant than he 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 deen:ed it of the 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. G-reeley, unless expressions in the latter's letters, calculated to create this 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 jf>er-mission." He was probably not unwilling to learn, from so acute and experienced a political observer as Mr. Blair, something of the temj)er and purpose of the leading men in the Uebel 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 difiiculty they experienced in renewing the heavy losses in the ranks of their army, 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 with which Jefferson Davis insisted upon the recognition of his official character, involving the rec- State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 663 ognition of the South as an independent 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 upon the only basis which Mr. Lin coln would for a moment admit-^the absolute and acknowledged supremacy of the National Grovernment ; 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 wiUingness 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 body of the Southern people, that peace 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 rebeUion an account of this conference has been pubUshed in the Augusta {Ga.) Chronicle, said to have been prepared under the supervision of Mr. A H. Stephens. It adds nothing material to the facts already known, bnt the foUo-sviag paragraphs are not without interest : — " Davis had on this occasion, fls on that of Mr. Stephens's visit to Washington, made it a condition that no conference should he had ui^ess his rank as commander or President shouid first be recognized. Mr. Lincoln declared that the only ground upon which he could rest tho justice of the war — either with his own people or with foreign powers— was, that it was not a 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 wh.at you so long asked Europe to do iu v-iin, and he resigning the only thing the armies of the Union are fighting for.' " Mr. Hunter made a long reply, insisting that the recognition of Da-vifi's power to make a treaty was the first and indispensable step to peace, andreferringto the correspondence between King Charles the First and his Parliament as a reliable precedent 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, forTio is posted in such things, and I don't profess to he. But my only distinct recollection oJ the matter is, that Charles lost his head.' That settled Mr. Hunter for a while." f Page 578. 664 The Life, Public Services, and thoughts of the people during the pendency of the peace negotiations. The resolution which had passed the House on January 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 effort 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 theHonorable Senate «nfS House of Representatives of the United States : The joint resolution, entitled " A joint resolution declaring 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, liowever, the two Houses of Congress convened under the twelfth article of the Oonstitntion have complete power to exolude 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. He disclaims all right of the Executive to in terfere in any way in the m.atter 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 tlie preamble, or any judgment of his own upon the subject of the resolution. Abraham Likooln. 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 pot 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 ]\Iarch. T]ie 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. 665 Prominent among the measures passed by Congress du ring the remainder of the session was the bill establishing a Freedmen's Bureau. A resolution offered by Mr. Sumner, and passed, excited a good deal of interest in England. It declared that 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 anyway." To the parties who had taken the rebel loan thinl^ng that the South was sure t j 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 which led to thia action, as appears by the following order, which he made for the appointment of a Mrs. Bushnell as postmistress at Sterling, Illinois :— Mr. Washburne has presented to me all the papers in this caso, 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 her be ap pointed. A. Lincoln. The 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 biU 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 : — Department of Staib. eeoclamation. By the President of the United States. Wliereas, objects of interest to the United States require that the Senate should be convened at twelve o'clock on the ith of March next, to re ceive and act upon such coramunications 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 aU who shall at that time be entitled to act as members of that body, are hereby required to take notice. Given nnder 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. Abraham Lrcjoouf. 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 suffered 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. 667 by which General Lee's army was steadily and seriously diminishing. Our own forces meanwhile were being continually aug mented by new recruits, which were rapidly obtained, 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 foUowing letter from him to Governor Smith, of Vermont, was called forth by complaints that its burdens were not equaUy distributed : — ECTOUTrTE Mansion, 'WASinifaTOK, February 8, 1303. His Excellency 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 men 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 m.aking two thousand, and added to the 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, leaves 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 moro 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 tho 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. 668 The Life, Public Services, and This upon the case stated. If there be different reasons for making an aUowance to Vermont, let them be presented ar.d considered. Yours truly, Abraham Liucoln. The success at Fort Fisher was ably foUowed up by General Terry. One by one the rebel forts on the Cape Fear River feU 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 aa army, forced the line of the Salkehatchie 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 rapid, but hardly any thing that he could do could give so much joy as the faU of that nest of treason had given. Coming, as it did, just before the 22d of 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 country it was a day of joy and gladness of heart. It was not the military successes alone which made the people glad: a general system of exchanging prisoners had been at last agreed upon, and our poor fellows were rapidly coming forward out of those hells on earth, in wliich 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 brig] iter things to come. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 669 CHAPTER XX. THE close op the REBELLION. The Inaugural Address. — Proolamatiok to Deserters. — SpEEcnEs nt tue President. — Destruction of Lee's Army. — The President's Visit to Eichmond. — Eeturn to Washington. — Close oe the War. It seems hardly credible that four years should em brace within their narrow Umit 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, he 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 happUy 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 aristocracy of the South, which had already sought his life, and would have sought it with still greater vindictiveness, if a tithe of the sagacity, firmness, 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 fierceness of the storm seemed to be pass ing away, and clearer skies to be seen through the rolling clouds. The citizen, who, four years before, was utterly un tried and unknown, was now the chosen leader of a nation of tliirty milUon 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 aud kindness of heart, with an army of half a mUUon 670 TiiE Life, Public Services, and men and a navy of hundreds of vessels at his 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, tn the order of Providence, he was soon to be called. The scene of his re-inauguration was a striking one. The morning had 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 deUvered 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 feU 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 foUows : — Eellow-Coontrtmen : — At this second appearing to take the oath of the Presidential oifice, 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 whieh publio declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still ab sorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon whieh .ill else chiefly depends, is as well known to the publio as to myself, and it is, I trust, reasonably s.atis- 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 efi:eots by negotiation. Both parties deprecated Wiir, but one of them would make war rather State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 671 than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came. One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the Sonthern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and power ful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of tha 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 to 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 should cease. Each 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, bnt let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayer of both conld 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 oifence cometh. 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 whieh 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. Tet if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of um-equited toil shall be sunk, and until 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 firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let ns 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 McCuUough, of Indiana. With this exception, affairs went on as before, 672 The Life, Public Services, and without any perceptible change in their working in 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 llth of March, the proclamation was issued as foUows : — A PEOCLAMATION. Whereas; the twenty-first section of the act of Congress, approved on the 3d instant, entitled "Aii Aot to amend the 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 frora th s military or naval service, all persons who have deserted the military cr naval service of the United States who shall not return to said sernce 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 servioe, 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 aot, to issue his proolamation setting forth the provisions of this section, in which proclamation the Pres ident is requested 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 sueh 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 tho United States, do issue this my proclamation as required by said aot, or dering and requiring all deserters to return to their proper posts ; and 1 do State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 673 hereby notify them that all deserters who shall within sixty days from the date of this proclamation, viz., on or before the 10th day of May, 18C5, return to service or report themselves to a provost-marshal, shall be pardoned on condition that they return to their regiraents or companies or to snch other organization as they may be assigned to, and serve the re mainder of their original terms of enlistment, and in addition thereto 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 Washington, this eleventh day of March, in the year [- -, of our Lord 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 which this proc lamation gave — for great numbers of deserters availed themselves of its provisions — the draft, which had been often postponed, was fairly put in operation on the 15th of i\farch ; — not that there was so pressing and im mediate a need of men, for the tide of military successes continued to roll in fuU 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 aU 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 popular one, for it was felt to be a practical abandonment of those ideas of slavery for whose supremacy the rebel lion had been set on foot. At one time the 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 which he made when 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 the National Hotel on the 17th of March. A large crowd was in attendance. Governor Morton made a brief speech, iu wliich he congratulated his auditors on the speedUy ap proaching end of the rebeUion, and concluded by introdu cing President Lincoln, whose purity and patriotism were confessed, he said, by aU, 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 than put his name to the Emanci pation Proclamation, that act alone would have made his name immortal. The President addressed the assembly substantially aa foUows : — Fellow-Citizens: — It will be bnt a very few words that I shall under take to say. I was born in Ken'.ucky, 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 Stat is. I am glad to see an Indiana regiment 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 npon which I have not said or written somethin; whereby my own opinions might be known. But there is one — the recent, attempt of our erring brethren, as they are sometimes called, to eini j'>y the negro to fight for them. I have neither written nor made a speech on that subject, because that was their business, not mine, and if I had a wish upon the subjeet, I had not the power to introduce it, or make it eifective. The great question with them was whether the negro, being put into the army, wiU 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 thoso who wonld keep them in slavery, it will be a better argument than any 1 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 allow those colored persons to be slaves who want to be, and nert to them those white people who argue in favor of making othei people slaves. I am in favor of giving an appointment to such white men tw State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 675 try it on for these slaves. I will say one thing in regard to the negroes being employed to fight for them. I do know he cannot fight and stay at home and make bread too. And as one is about as important 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 aUowing the negro to fight. But they cannot flght and work both. We must now see the bottom of the enemy's resources. They will stand out as long as they can, and if the negro will flght 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 therefora "bid you good-by. But even the culminating interest of affairs before Rich mond did not absorb exclusively the President' s attention. On the 17th 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, it waa Burely a good time for the red man to strike, had, on more than one occasion, since the rebeUion broke out, spread terror and destruction over the Northwest. Whereas, Eeliable 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 nefarions traffic shall be arrested and tried by court-martial, at the 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 17th 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. Sewaed, Secretary of State. Two days afterwards the following orders were issued by the State Department, directed against blockade-runnera, 676 The Life, Public Services, and a class who had been treated too long with leniency and aUowed too many facilities for carrying on their traffic, which had greatly prolonged the war and increased ita burdens and difficulties : — Dbpabtment or State, Wasiiington, March 19, 1865. The President directs that all persons who now are or hereafter shaU 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 offence committed by them, as spies or other wise, against the laws of war. t 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 the 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 tho continuance of the war. Provost-Marshals and Marshals of the United States will arrest and coyimit 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. Sewaed, 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 foUowing order :— Wabhimqtoii, March 8, 1S65— 12 p. n. Lieutenant-General Grant : The President directs me to say to you that he wishes yon to have no conference with General Lee, unless it be for the capitulation of General Lee's army, or on some minor and purely mihtary matter. He instructs me to say that you are not to decide, discuss, or confer upon any politioal question. Such questions the President holds in his own hands, and will submit them to no military conferences or conventions. Meantime yoa are to press to the utmost your military advantages. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary qf War. State PapefvS of Abraham Lincoln. 677 The official duties whic h 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 fire upon it, and our troops, by a gaUant 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 were gained in that quarter. The President was visiting the army at the time, aud 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 General 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 the 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 hia 678 The Life, Public S'eevices, and march into North CaroUna was a march into danger. Said one of these persons to the President one day :- Mr. Lincoln, as Sherman's army advances, the rebel forces necessarily concentrate and increase in number. Before long Sherman will drive tha columns of Johnston, Bragg, Hoke, and others, within a few days' marcii of Lee's raain array. May not Lee suddenly march south with the bulk of his army, fonn 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 array? 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 RaUroad, but when he had gone as far as Dinwiddle Court-House, he waa 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 flank. 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 Lincoln. 679 and the rebel troops were thrown out in that part of the lines in heavy force. The President remained at City Point, and at 3 p. m. sent the following telegram to the Secretary of War : — At 12.30 p. M. to-day, General Grant telegraphed me as follows: There has been much hard flghting this morning. The enemy drove our left from near Dabney's house back well towards the Boydton Plank road. We are now about to take the offensive at that point, and I hope • will more than recover the lost ground. i 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 the White Oak road, whieh we now have. This gives us the ground occupied by the enemy this raorning. I will send you a rebel flag captured by our troops in driviag the enemy back. There have been four flags captured to-day. Judging by the two points from which General Grant tel->.graphs, I in fer that he moved his head-quarters about one mile since he scut the first of the two dispatches. A. llNCOLN. On the 1st of AprU, General Sheridan' s plans and the valor of the troops proved successful. The rebels being flanked by the Fifth Corps, which had been placed undei" his command, and vigorously attacked in front by th< "¦ cavalry, were thoroughly routed, with a loss of five oi six thousand prisoners, besides kiUed and wounded. The only dispatch received from the President on thia day was one sent before the final success was achieved, which was not tiU late in the afternoon. The rebel right wing 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 : — Cnr Point, Vieqinia, April 2, 1865— 8 30 a. s. Honorable E,. M. Stanton, Secretary of War: ^ Last night General Grant telegraphed that General Sheridan, with his cavalry and the Eifth Corps, had captured three brigades of infantry, a train of wagons, and several batteries; the prisoners amounting to several thousand. 680 The Life, Public Services, and This raorning General Grant, having ordered an attack along the whole • line, telegraphs as fjUows: — • Both Wright and Parke got through the enemy's lines. The battle now rages furiously. General Sheridan, with his cavalry, the Fifth Corps, and Miles's Division of the Second G)rps, which was sent to him this morning, is now sweeping down from tlie west. All now looks highly favorable. General Ord is engaged, but I have not yet heard the result in his front. A. Lincoln. Citt 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 Kun. They have all broken through the enemy's intrenched lines, taking sorae forts, guns, and prisoners. Sheridan, with his own cavalry, the Fifth Corps, and part of the Second, is coming in from tlie west on the enemy's flank. Wright is already tearing up the Southside Eailroad. A. Lincoln. Crrr Point, Tibsinia, AprU 2, 2 r. K. At 10.45 A. M. General Grant telegraphs as follows: — Every thing has been carried frora the left of the Ninth Corps. The Sixth Corps alone captured iinn-o than three thousand prisoners. The Sec;-".'', and Twenty-fourth Cor|i3 captured forts, guns, and prisoners from the enemy, but I cannot tell tbe 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-cjuarters have been moved up to Banks's House, near the Boydton road, about three miles southwest of Petersburg. A. Lincoln. Citt Point, Yieginia, April 2, 8.30 p. m. 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 intrenched 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, raade a most gallant charge this afternoon, and captured a very important fort from the eneray, with its entire garrison. All seems well with ns, and every 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 while at church. He immediately left the State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 681 church, and, making a hasty preparation for departure, left that night by the Danville Railroad. Richmond and Petersburg were both abandoned during the night. At half-past eight the President sent the following dispatch to Secretary Stanton: — This raorning Lieutenant-General Grant reports Petersburg evacuated, and he is confident that Richmond also is. He is pushing forward to cut ofl^, 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 Weiitzel, were the first to enter the city.^ They found that the rebel authorities had uot only carried off whatever they could, but had set fire to tobacco- warehouses, Government workshops, and other buildings, tiU 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 marcli 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 ou 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 a man-of-war, about two p. m., to the landing called the 682 The Life, Public Services, and Rocketts, about a mUe 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 roU of drums or presented arms greeted his approach. He had not even a military guard. The sailors who had _ rowed him up accompanied him, armed with carbines. He came in no triumphal car, not even on horseback, to be '• the observed of aU observers ;" but, like any other citizen, walked up the streets towards General Weitzel'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 fianks 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 by-streets, running in breathless haste, shouting and hallooing, and dancing with delight. The men threw up their hats, tho women waved their bonnets and handkerchiefs, clapped their hands, and sang, "Glory to God! glory, glory 1" rendering all the praise to God, who had heard their wailings in the past, their moanings for wives, hus bands, ohildren, 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 t" was tha exclamation of a woman who stood npon the threshold of her humble home, and with strearaing 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 raight, crying, "Bless de Lord! Bless de Lordl Bless de Lord !" as if there could be no end to her thanksgiving. The air rang with a turaultuous 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 rolling down his cheeks. The Pres ident removed his own hat, and hoc -d in silence; but it was a bow which upset the forms, laws, customs, and ceremonies of centuries. It was a death-shook to chivalry and a mortal wound to caste. Eecognize a State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 683 nigger! Faugh! A woman in an adjoining house beheld it, and turned frora the scene in unspeakable disgust. Arrived at General Weitzel's head-quarters, after a brief interval the President held a short levee, then 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 Mrs. 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 conciliatory proclamation. He did, indeed, go so far as to send to General Weitzel the following order, allowing the reassembling of the Virginia Legislature for the purpose stated in the order : — Head-Qcaetek3 Ahmies of the United States, ) City Point, April 6, 1865. ) Major-General Weitzel, Richmond, Va. : It has been intimated to me that the gentleraen who have acted as the Legislature of Virginia, in support of the rebellion, may nowxlesire to assemble at Eichmond and take measures to withdraw the Virginia troops and other support from resistance to the General Government. If they attempt it, give thera permission and protection, 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, AprU 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- his carriage some days previous, and had broken his right arm 684 The Liff, Public Services, and an d his jaw. • The news of Lee' s surrender reached Wash ington shortly after Mr. Lincoln arrived, and caused the 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 theii- call, he appeared, merely to say : — If the company had assembled by appointment, sorae raistake had ci'ept in their understanding. He li.id .appeared before a larger audience than this ono to-day, and lie would repeat what he then said, namely, he sup posed owing to the great, good news, there would be some demonstration. He would prefer to-raorrow evening, when he should be quite willing, and he hoped ready, to say somethiug. He desired to be partioular, 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 raake a raistake. [A voice, " You have not made any yet."] 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 the 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 deUvered this, his last public address, on Tuesday, the llth of April, as foUows : — Fellow-Citizens :— We meet this evening not in sorrow, but in gladness of^ heart. Tlie evacuation of Petersburg and Eichmond, 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, lie from whom all blessings fiow must not be for gotten. A c.ill for a national th.inksgiving is being prepared, and will bo duly promulgated. Nor must those whose harder part gives us the cause of rejoicing be overlooked. Their honors must not be parcelled ont with others. I myself 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 pl.ia State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 685 or execution is mine. To General Grant, his skilful oflScers, and brave men, all belongs. The gallant navy stood ready, but was not in reach to take active part. By these recent suecesses, the reinauguration of tho national authority — reconstruction — which has had a large share of thought from the first, is pressed muoh raore olosely upon our attention. It ia fraught with great diflioulty. Unlike a case of war between inde pendent nations, there is no authorized 07-gan for us to treat with— no one man hfis 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, difter 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 offer an answer. In spite of this precaution, however, it comes to m3 knowledge that I am much censured for sorae supposed 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 sented 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 possibly bo 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 evory raember of it. One of them suggested that I should then and in that connection apply the Emancipation Proclaraation 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 merabers 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 prooLamation 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 mera 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, £jid not a single objection to it frora 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. Eroin about July, 1862, I had corresponded with different per.sons supposed to be in- terosted in seeking a reconstruction of a S'^ate Goverrment for Louisiana. When the message of 1863,with the plan before mentioned, reached New Orleans, General Banks wrote me that he was confldent that thc people, 686 The Life, Public Services, and with his military co-operation, would reconstruct substantially on that plan. I wrote to him and sorae of them to try it. They tried it, and the result is known. Such has been my only agency in getting up the Louisiana Government. As to sustaining it, ray 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 seeraed to be deflnitely fixed upon the question whether the seceded States, so called, are in the Union or out of it. It would perhaps add astonishraent to his regret were he to learn that since I have found pro fessed Union raen endeavoring to answer that question, I have purposely forborne any public expression upon it. As appeal's 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 raisohievons one of dividing our friends. As yet, what ever it may beoorae, 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 seoeded States, so called, are out of their proper practical relation with the Union, and that the sole object of the Governraent, civU and railitary, in regard to those States, is to again get thera 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 theraselves 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 praotioal 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 thera proper assistance, they never h.aving been out of it. The amount of constituency, so 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- faetory to some that the eleotive franchise is not given to the colored man. I would rayself 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 Lc-nisiana Government, as it stands, is quite all that is desirable. The qnestion is, Will it be wiser to take it as it is and help to improve it, or to reject and dsperse ? Can Louisiana be brought into proper practical relstion with the Union sooner by sustaining or by discarding her new State Gov ernment ? 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 publio schools epally to black and white, and empowering the Legislature to State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 687 confer the elective franchise upon the colored man. This Legislature has already voted to ratify the Constitutional Amendment recently passed by Congress, abolishing slavery throughout the nation. These twelve thousand persons are thns fully committed 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 spurn them, we do onr utmost to disorganize and disperse thera. We, in fact, say to the white raan : 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 any tendency to bring Louisiana into proper practical relations with the Union, I have so far been unable to perceive it. ' If, on the contrary, we recognize and sustain the new Governraent 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 complete suc cess. The colored man, too, in seeing all united for him, is inspired with vigilance, and energy, and daring to the sarae end. Grant that he desires the elective franchise, will he not attain it sooner by saving the already adv.mced steps towards it, than by running backward over thera? 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 araendraent to the National Constitution. To meet this proposition, it has been argued u„at no more than three-fourtlis of those States which have not attorapted seoession 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 by three-fourths of all the States would be unquestioned and unquestionable. I repeat tho question. Can Louisiana be brought into proper practical relation with the Union sooner by sustaining or by discarding her new State Governraent? What has been said of Louisiana will apply to other States. And yet so great peculiarities pertain to each State, and such ira- portant and sudden changes occur in the sarae State, and withal so new and unprecedented is the whole case, that no exclusive and inflexible plan can safely be prescribed as to details and collaterals. Such exclu sive and inflexible plan would surely become a new entanglement. Im portant prinoiples raay and must be inflexible. In the present situation, as the phrase goes, it may be my duty to make some new announcement to the people of the South. I am considering, and shall not fail to act, when satisfied that action will be proper. 688 The Life, Public Services, and The surrender of Lee changed the whole aspect of the war, and enabled the President to place matters on a dif ferent footing, both at home and with foreign nations. The foUowing proclamations were issued on AprU 11 — the first substituting a closing of certain ports for the • blockade, as he was authorized to do by act of Congress of Juiy 1 8, 1861; the second correcting an error in the first ; and the third, 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 PEOCLAMATION. Whereas, by my proclamation of the 19th and 27th days of April, 1861, the ports of the United States in the States of Virginia, Nortli Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas were declared to be subject to blockade; but whereas the s.iid blockade has, in consequence of actual military occupation by this Govern ment, since been oonditionally set aside or relaxed in respect to the ports of Norfolk and Alexandria in the State of Virginia, Boanfoi't in the State of North Carolina, Port Eoyal 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 aot of Congress approved on the 13th 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 rorth, is authorized to olose 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 Eichmond, Tappahan- nock, Cherrytown, Yorktown, and Petersburg, in Virginia; of Caraden, Elizabeth City, Edenton, Plymouth, Washington, Newborn, 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 Eiver, Shieldsboro', Natchez, and Vieksburg, in Mis.sissippi ; of St. Augustine, Key West, St. Mark's, Port Leon, St. John's, Jacksonville, and Apalaehicola, in Florida ; of Teeho, Franklin, in Louisiana; of Galveston, La Salle, Brazos de Santi.ago, 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 shall have again been ojiened 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 sueh port, the same, together with its tackle, apparel, furniture, and cargo, shall be forfeited to the United States. State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 689 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, [l. b.] and of the independence of the United States of America the eighty-ninth. Abraham Lincoln. William H. Skwabd, Secretary of State. Wliereas, by my proclamation of this date, the port of Key "West, in tha 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 Lincolu. By the President ; William H. Sewaed, 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, whieh 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 nnnecessarily persisted in. Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do hereby make known that, if after a reasonable time shall havo 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 ports 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 raaritirae nations. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be afiixed. 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. s.] of the independence of the United States of America the eighty- ninth. A. Lincoln. By the President : William H. Sewaed, Secretary of State. Nor were these the only measures adopted which indi cated that the war was over, the rebellfen crushed, and the era of peace and good fefeling about to be ushered in. On the 13thj 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 eflect, viz. : — First. — To stop all drafting and recruiting in the loyal States. Second. — To curtail purchases of a,rms, amraunition, quartermaster's and commissary's supplies, and reduce the expenses of the military establish ment in its several branches. Third. — To reduce the nuraber of general and staff ofiScers to the ac tual necessities of the service. Fourth. — To remove all military restrictions upon trade and commerce, BO far as raay 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. Gra^JiflJ/pe' Fntcrcu according to Act of Congress, in tlie year 1865. by IIKKBY & MILI.EI".. in the Clerk's Office of the District Court ol'the United Sutes forthe Southern District of New York. PRESIDENT LINCOLN IN RICHMOND State Papers of Abraham Lincoln. 691 CHAPTER XXL the presldent's assassination. Thb Conditiost of the Oountet. — Assassination op the Peesident. — MoEDEEona Assault upon Seoeetaet Sewaed. — The Funeeal Peo- OESSION FEOM WASHraOTON TO SPEINGEIELD, ILLINOIS. — FATE OF THE Assassins. — ^Estimate of Me. Lincoln's Ohaeaotee. — CoNOLtrsioN. The war was over. The great rebeUion which, for four long years, had been assaUing the nation' s life, was qtieUed. 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 Maj or 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 heavUy 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 — whj.rh he had ap proached with such unfeigned diffidence, nea^-lv at an end. The agonies of war had passed away — he haa won the imperishable renown which is the high reward of those who save their country, and he could devote himbclf 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, and nanimous poUcy, the severed sections of our common TJnion. Mr. Lincoln's heart was fuU of the generous sentiments which these circumstances were so weU 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 people of the Southern States. And after the meeting was over he talked with his wife. With aU the warmth of his loving nature, of the four years of storm through which he had been compelled to pass, and of the peaceful sky on which the opening of his second term had dawned. His mind was free from forebodings, and filled 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 faUs 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 aU 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 contemplate the possibiUty of such a crime. To all remonstrances against personal exposure, he repUed 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 he 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. .698 late at night, and of riding unattended to his summer residence, the Soldiers' Home, four or five 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 without remark. As the war drew towards its close, and the rebel cause seemed tottering to its fall, warnings ot more significance reached the Government, and arrested the attention of its leading members. Hints of plots against the President' s Ufe, 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 detaUed reports 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 the expediency of avoiding, for a time, all public gatherings, and aU 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 aU 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- * Sea Appendir. '694 The Life, Public Services, and tain Robert Lincoln, who was on the staff of General Grant, and from whom he heard fuU detaUs of the sur render of General Lee, of which Captain Lincoln had been an eye-witness. He received various pubUc men after breakfast, among whom were Speaker Colfax and ex-Senator J. P. Hale, and conversed freely, 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 Eocky 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 muoh 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 wiU 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 them 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 iew 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 entering 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 achieved. 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 previous period since the rebeUion 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 pubUc men from his own State, and in the early evening had an interview with Speaker Colfax and Hon. George Ashmun, of Massachusetts, for whom, as an old friend, he had a warm regard. The conversation fell upon the apprehension widely felt for his Ufe during his visit to Richmond, and he said that he should 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. Ashmun -wished to see him 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 evemng, and could not go. Mr. Lincoln told him he would be glad to stay at home, but the people expected both General Grant and himself, and as General Grant had left to-wn, 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, the step-son, and by Miss Clara W. Harris, the daughter, 636 The Life, Public Services, and of the Senator, they proceeded to Ford's Theatre, in Tenth Street, and immediately entered the box prepared forJ;heir reception. This box was on the second fioor of the theatre, looking down upon the stage, and on its right as the spectator enters the building. Anarrowpassage-way from the front behind the dress-circle leads to a door, which ppens 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 farthest 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 ceiUng above. An Amer ican fiag 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 during 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 beUeved, to General 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 WUkes 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 looking 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 smaU I »¦ T JT' . Ira ^ f; i^'-'' n ^ 'L. ^S ?U?* J^ ' a ^bt< 'tJi WA ^ C'" "' Rh^ Eniersd accnrrfiiig 10 Actof CoDfrresB, in the yeai 1S65, liv DKRBV & MIM.KR. in tti« Clerk's OCir. of tbe DJBtrict Court of tbe IJDited Stales for tKe Southern Olalri'-t of New York. 4 ¦*> THE ASSASSIN AllON AT FORD'S iHEATRE. 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. AU 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 left 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 sUghtly 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 filled 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, inflicting a severe wound upon his left arm, near the shoulder. Booth then rushed to the front of the box — -shouted "