it a- vAuiuauai- "JUJIiV3Ur Hi r\| in-av^ V-f> t ^ 'JJH9W- fffe T> ANGfl&> ^OF-CAIJFC%, sk^ ^n /^>C%- ff%% /SOl^ F-CAllf m^ E-UBRARY^ /J p B %)jircwtf^ %Mnv; ; % T ^-^^ e? * ^uwv-soi^ %a3AiNfl-av^ ^M-UBRARy^ ^l-UBRARY^ i 1 ir"^ &1 ir"l ^?Aavat ^AHVH ^IE-IINIVER%. ^IDS-AN \ ****** i/~* LIFE ABRAHAM LINCOLN, HIS EABLT HISTORY, POLITICAL CABEEK, AND SPEECHES IN AND OUT OF CONGRESS ; ALSO A GENERAL VIEW OF HIS POLICY PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES; MESSAGES, PROCLAMATIONS, LETTERS, ETC. AHD A CONCISE HISTORY OF THE WAR, BY JOSEPH H. BARRETT. CINCINNATI: MOORE, WILSTACH & BALDWIN, 26 WEST FOUBT.H STREET. 1865. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1864, by MOORE, WILSTACH & BALDWIN, the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of Ohio. T T M >I JlJUt ' '. I! M s " :i ^ ^ T. MS7 THE first part of the sketch of Mr. Lincoln's life, herewith presented to the public, was prepared for the press in June, 1860 only slight modifications having been made, and brief additions, so as to embrace the period terminating with hia inauguration. This portion of the work embodies a condensed view of Mr. Lincoln's speeches, which can not fail to interest the attentive student, who seeks for information concerning his early political life. The second part, after a summary of National events immediately preceding March 4, 1861, gives a condensed history of Mr. Lincoln's Administration, including a narrative of military operations, down to the present time. The most important public papers, addresses and occasional let- ters of the President, will also be found in the following pages. It has been the fortune of Mr. Lincoln to be called to the Chief Magistracy, at an epoch when a long-maturing con- spiracy for the dismemberment of the Union has culminated in a war of unprece4ented magnitude. The President, tried as none of his predecessors ever were, has so wisely exercised his power as to command the hearty support of all loyal men at home, and the admiration of enlightened thinkers, unperverted by anti-democratic prejudice in Europe. It was a late member of the British Parliament who pointed out single passages from an address of Mr. Lincoln, as worth " all that Burke overwrote." His able statesmanship has justified the confidence of the peo- ple, while his sterling qualities of heart, his humane sympa- 3 thies, his purity of life, and his power of winning the love and trust of his countrymen, have contributed to deepen the earn- estness of the popular wish for his continuance, during another term, in the high office he providentially fills. It is hardly to be hoped that the present attempt to treat so wide a subject, within BO small a compass, will satisfy all read- ers. Many minor details, of special interest to individuals, have necessarily been omitted. Some accounts of military and naval undertakings, which might, of themselves, have filled an entire volume, have been given with perhaps a disappointing brevity. It must suffice to say, here, that no pains have been spared as no requisite facilities for obtaining correct data have been lacking to make the work not only trustworthy and complete in regard to matters of salient interest, but also as acceptable as possible to all classes of loyal readers. WASHINGTON, D. C., May 14, 1864. J. H. B. CONTENTS. PART I. CHAPTER I. . Preliminary Remarks Ancestry of Abraham Lincoln Their Residence In Penn- sylvania and Virginia His Grandfather Crosses the Alleghanies to join Boone and his Associates " The Dark and Bloody Ground "-*-His Violent Death His Widow Settles in Washington County Thomas Lincoln, his Son, Marries and Locates near Hodgeuville Birth of Abraham Lincoln LaRue County Early Life and Training ill Kentucky ........... ........................... ........ ............ ........ .... 9 CHAPTER II. Removal from Kentucky An Emigrant Journey The Forests of Southern Indi- ana New Home Indiana in 1816 Slavery and Free Labor Young Lincoln at His Work His Schools and Schoolmasters Self-Education A Characteristic Incident Acquaintance with River Life His First Trip to New Orleans as a Flat boatman Death of His Mother His Father's Second Marriage Recollec- tions of an Early Settler Close of an Eventful Period in Young Lincoln's History ........................................................................ .............. ................... 21 CHAPTER III. The French Settlements The North-West The Advance of Emigration Four Great States Founded North and South in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois Senti- ments of Southern Emigrants The First Emigrations A Coincidence of Dates Mordecai and Josiah Lincoln Removal to Illinois Settlement on the San- famon, in Macon County Locality Described Abraham Lincoln Splits Throe housand Rails Removal of His Father They Separate His Father Spends the rest of his Days in Coles County Abraham Lincoln makes another Trip as a Flatboatman Becomes Clerk in a Store on His Return Leaves the Business, 30 CHAPTER IV. Breaking Out of the Black Hawk War The Invasion of 1831 The Rock-river Country Threatened Prompt Action- of GOT. Reynolds Retreat of Black Hawk Treaty of 180-1 Bad Faith of the Indians-Invasion of 1832 Volun- teers Called For Abraham Lincoln one ef a Company from Menard County He is chosen Captain Rendezvous at Beardstown Hard Marches across tho Country to Oquawka, Prophetstown, and Dixon Expected Battle. Avoided by the Enemy Discontent among Volunteers They are Disbanded Captain Lin- coln Remains, Volunteering for Another Term of Service Skirmishing Fights Arrival of New Levies Encounter at Kellogg's Grove Black Hawk at Fon Lakes He Retreats Battle on the Wisconsin Hastens Forward to the Mis sissippi Battle of Bad-ax End of Lincoln's First Campaign Autobiographic CHAPTER V. A New Period in Mr. Lincoln's Life His Political Opinions Clay and Jackson- First Run as a Candidate for Representative Election in 1834 Illinois Strongly Democratic Mr. Lincoln as a Surveyor Laud Speculation Mania Mr. Liu- coin's First Appearance in th* Legislature Banks and Internal Improve- mentsWhig M-asurea Democratically Botched First Sleeting of Lincoln with Douglas The Latter Seeks an Office of the Legislature, and Gets it Mr. Lincoln Re-elected in 1*30 Mr. Douglas also a Member of the House Distin- guished Associates Internal Improvements Again Mr. Lincoln's Views on fMnvrr.v The Capital R.-moved to Springfield The Now Metropolis Revulsion of 1837 Mr. Lincoln Chosen for a Third Torm John Citlhouu, of Lecompton Memory Lincoln the Whig Lender, aad Candidate for S|>caker Close Vote 5 Vi CONTENTS. First Session at Springfield Lincoln Re-elected in 1810 Partisan Remodeling of the Supreme Court Lincoln Declines Further Service in the Legislature His Position as a Statesman at the Close of this Period Tribune of tho People, 47 CHAPTER VI. Mr. Lincoln's Law Studies His Perseverance under Adverse Circumstances- Licensed to Practice in 183C His Progress in his Profession His Qualities as an Advocate A Romantic and Exciting Incident in his Practice Reminiscence of his Early Life Renders Material Service to the Family of an Old Friend- Secures an Acquittal in a Murder Case, in Spite of a Strong Popular Prejudice Against the Prisoner Affecting Scene Mr. Lincoln Removes to Springfield in 1837 Devotes Himself to his Profession, Giving up Political Life His Mar- riageFamily of Mrs. Lincoln Fortunate Domestic Relations His Children and their Education Denominational Tendencies Four Years' Retirement 62 CHAPTEB VII. Mr. Lincoln's Devotion to Henry Clay Presidential Nominations of 1844 The Campaign in Illinois Mr. Lincoln makes an Actjve Canvass for Clay John Calhonn the Leading Polk Elector The Tariff Issue Thoroughly Discussed Method of Conducting the Canvass Whigs of Illinois in a Hopeless Minority- Mr. Lincoln's Reputation as a Whig Champion Renders Efficient Service in Indiana Mr. Clay's Defeat, and the Consequences Mr. Lincoln a Candidate for Congressman in 1846 President Folk's Administration Condition of the Coun- tryTexas Annexation, the Mexican War, and the Tariff Political Character of the Springfield District Lincoln Elected by an Unprecedented Majority- Ills Personal Popularity Demonstrated _ 08 CHAPTER VIII. The Thirtieth Congress Its Political Character The Democracy in a Minority in the House Robert C. Winthrop Elected Speaker Distinguished Members in both Houses Mr. Lincoln takes his Seat as a Member of the House, and Mr. Douglas for the first time as a Member of the Senate, at the same Session Mr. Lincoln's Congressional Record that of a Clay and Webster Whig The Mexi- can War Mr. Lincoln's Views on the Subject Misrepresentations Not an Available Issue for Mr. Lincoln's Opponents His Resolutions of Inquiry in Regard to the Origin of the War Mr. Richardson's Resolutions Indorsing the Administration Mr. Richardson's Resolutions for an Immediate Dis- continuance of the War Are Voted Against by Mr. Lincoln Resolutions of Thanks to Gen. Taylor Mr. Henley's Amendment, and Mr. Ashmun's Addi- tion thereto Resolutions Adopted without Amendment Mr. Lincoln's First Speech in Congress, on the Mexican War Mr. Lincoln on Internal Improve- mentsA Characteristic Campaign Speech Mr. Lincoln on the Nomination of Gen. Taylor; the Veto Power ; National Issues ; President and People ; Wil- mot Proviso ; Platforms; Democratic Sympathy for Clay ; Military Heroes and Exploits ; Cass a Progressive ; Extra Pay ; the Whigs and the Mexican War ; Democratic Divisions Close of the Session Mr. Lincoln on the Stump Gen. Taylor's Election Second Session of the Thirtieth Congress Slavery in the District of Columbia The Public Lands Mr. Lincoln as a Congressman He Retires to Private life T2 CHAPTER IX. Mr. Lincoln in Retirement for Five Tears Gen. Taylor's Administration The Slavery Agitation of 1850 The Compromise of Clay and Fillmore The " Final Settlement " of 1852 How, and by Whom it was Disturbed Violation of the Most Positive Pledges The Kansas-Nebraska Bill Douglas, the Agitator- Popular Indignation and Excitement Mr. Lincoln Takes part in the Canvass of 1854 Great Political Changes The Anti-Nebraska Organization Springfield Resolutions of 1854 Results of the Election A Majority of Congressmen and of the Legislature Anti-NebraskaElection of United States Senator to Sue- ceed Gen. Shields Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Trumbull A Magnanimous Sacrifice- Mr. Trumbull Elected 119 CHAPTER X. The Republican Party Organized Their Platform Adopted at Bloomington The Canvass of 1856 Mr. Lincoln Sustains Fremont and Dayton His Active Labors on the Stump Col. Bissdl Elected Governor of Illinois Mr. Buchanan Inau- guratedHis Kansas Policy Mr. Douglas Committed to it in June, 1857-John Calboun his Special Friend The Springfield Speech of Douglas Mr. Lincoln's Reply .. .... 127 CONTENTS. Vii / CHAPTER XI. Tin Lecompton Struggle The Policy of Douglas Changed-He Breaks with the Administration and Loses Caete at the South Republican Sympathies Douglas Falters, but Opposes the English Bill Passage of that Measure Democratic State Convention of Illinois Douglas Indorsed, and Efforts for his Re-election Commenced The Democratic Bolt Meeting of the Republican State Conven- tion in June Mr. Lincoln Named as the First and Only Choice of tho Republi- cans for Senator His Great Speech Before the Convention at Springfield Doug- las and Lincoln at Chicago Speeches at Bloomington and Springfield Unfair ness of the Apportionment Pointed Out by Mr. Lincoln He Analyzes the Douglas Programme Seven Joint Debates Douglas Produces a Bogus Plat- form, and Propounds Interrogatories "Unfriendly Legislation" Lincoln Fully Defines his Position on the Slavery Question Result of the Canvass The People for Lincoln ; the Apportionment for Douglas Public Opinion 141 CHAPTER XII. Mr. Lincoln in Ohio His Speech at Columbus Denial of the Negro Suffrage Charge Troubles of Douglaa with his "Great Principle" Territories not States Doctrines of the Fathers His Cincinnati Speech" Shooting Over the Line " What the Republicans Mean to Do Plain Questions to the Democracy The People Above Courts and Congress Uniting the Opposition Eastern Tour The Cooper Institute Speech Mr. Bryant's Introduction What the Fathers Held What will Satisfy the Southern Democracy Counsels to the Republi- cans Mr. Lincoln Among the Children .... 182 CHAPTER XIII. The Republican National Convention at Chicago The Charleston Explosion " Constitutional Union " Nominations Distinguished Candidates Among the Republicans The Platform Tho Ballotings Mr. Lincoln Nominated Unpar- alleled Enthusiasm The Ticket Completed with the Name of Senator H ami in Its Reception by the Country Mr. Lincoln's Letter of Acceptance 190 PART II. CHAPTER I. Commencement of President Lincoln's Administration Retrospect and Sum- mary of Public Events Fort Sumter 197 CHAPTER II. The Loyal Uprising The Border Slave States Summary of Events Battle of Bull Run _ .. 227 CHAPTER III. Extra Session of Congress President Lincoln's Message Rebel Affairs at Rich- mond ^ .7 _ 254 CHAPTER IV. Military Reorganization Resume of Events to the December Session of Con- gress Action in Regard to " Contrabands " and Slavery ^.^ 274 CHAPTER V. The President's Message, December, 1861 Proceedings of Congress Emancipa- tion Confiscation Messages and Addresses of Mr. Lincoln 293 CHAPTER VI. Military Events Inaction on the Potomac Western Campaign Capture of New Orleans ..... 320 Viii CONTENTS. CHAPTER VII. Military Events In the East The Peninsular Campaign OHAPTEK VIII. Campaign of the Army of Virginia Withdrawal of the Army of the Potomac from the Peninsula First Invasion of Maryland McClellan Superseded 384 CHAPTEB IX. A New Era Inaugurated Emancipation Message of the President Last Session of the Thirty-seventh Congress 410 CHAPTEB X. Summary of Military Movements in the West Army of the Potomac General Hooker Superseded (Jen. Meade takes Command Battle of Gettysburg >.. 437 CHAPTEB XI. The Popular Voice in 1863 First Session of the Thirty-eighth Congress Am- nesty Proclamation Message Orders, Letters, and Addresses Popular Senti- ment in 1864 Appointment of Lieutenant General Grant Opening of the Military Campaigns of 1804 Conclusion 451 APPENDIX. Bespecting Soldiers Absent without Leave 484 A National Fast 485 The Draft A Proclamation by the President 486 The President's Letter to Gen. Schofield Relative to the Removal of Gen. Curtis... 488 Proclamation for a day of National Thanksgiving because of Signal Victories on Sea and Land ^ 490 Letter from the President to Hon. Erastus Corning and Others 491 The President's Reply to the Committee from Ohio Urging the Recall of Mr. Vallandigham 499 Letters from President Lincoln to Gov. Seymour, of New York, Relative to the Draft in that State 503 The Suspension of the Writ of Habeas Corpus Ordered in Certain Cases 506 President Lincoln's Letter to Gen. Schofield 607 Thanksgiving 508 President Lincoln's Reply to Hon. Charles D. Drake and Others ^.... 609 A Call for Three Hundred Thousand Volunteers 614 Rev. Dr. McPheeters The President's Reply to an Appeal for Interference 316 An Election Ordered in the State of Arkansas , 616 The President's Proclamation of the 8th of December, 1863 Explanation Cases Defined 617 I. CHAPTER I. MR. LINCOLN'S EARLY BOYHOOD IN KENTUCKY. Preliminary Remarks. Ancestry of Abraham Lincoln. Their Resi- dence in Pennsylvania and Virginia. His Grandfather Crosses the Alleghanies to join Boone and his Associates. "The Dark and Bloody Ground." His Violent Death. His Widow Settles in Wash- ington County. Thomas Lincoln, his Son, Marries and Locates near Hodgenville. Birth of Abraham Lincoln. La Rue County. His Early Life and Training in Kentucky. THE name of no living man is more prominent, at this moment, on the lips and in the thoughts of the American people, than that of ABRAHAM LINCOLN. This happens not merely because, as the candidate of a party, he has won the highest political honors. He has a hold upon the public mind which a partisan election alone can not account for. This event, indeed, is the effect rather than the cause. An over- whelming popular enthusiasm in certain States where he is best known (and manifested also by the assembled crowds at Chicago, during the memorable week of the Convention) did much to turn the poising balance in his favor, and to determine his selection as a candidate over all his distinguished com- petitors. What Robert Burns has proverbially been to the people of his native land, and, to a certain extent, of all lands, as a bard, Abraham Lincoln seems to have become to us as a statesman and a patriot, by his intimate relations alike with the humbler and the higher walks of life. By his own native energy and 9 10 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. endowment, he has risen from a place of humble obscurity to a commanding position and power among his fellow-men, and achieved an enduring fame. The experiences of the " toiling millions," whether of gladness or of sorrow, have been his experiences. He has an identity with them, such as common toils and common emotions have produced. Thus and other- wise he has become, in person no less than in principle, a genuine representative man in the great cause of FREE LABOR. This is not the time to enter very minutely into the details of the private life of Mr. LINCOLN. Still in the prime of his manhood, with long years of public service apparently yet before him, and with so large a proportion of those who have been associated with him now remaining on the stage of action, no multiplied and indiscriminate relations, designed merely to gratify public curiosity, should be expected in this connection. When the grand era on which, individually, he is now entering, shall have closed, let the more intimate and searching history of all that he has done, said and suffered, whether as a public or as a private citizen, be attempted by other and more ambitious hands. It is rather the purpose of the present work to furnish the true and complete outline of a life, which, though not uneventful, or wanting in enticing suggestions to the imagination, often tempting the writer aside into romantic episodes and gossiping researches, is more immediately interesting at this time as throwing light upon the mystery we have noted at the outset, and as bearing directly upon the present state of our national politics, to which Mr. Lincoln now holds so important a relation. The reader is here given a reliable account of the main events of a remarkable career ; and should his curiosity at any fitage demand more than is given, he may rest assured that nothing has been designedly omitted or glossed over, that tends to illustrate the character, or to affect the public stand- ing of the statesman who is the subject of this memoir. Char- acteristic anecdotes and personal incidents currently related of him will only be noted in these pages when clearly authentic. Those of questionable authority, or ascertained to be positively fictitious, will be carefully excluded. No statement is haz- J LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 11 arded which is not capable of verification. A candid estimate of the man, and an accurate representation of his opinions and past acts as a statesman, have been attempted, and such as shall deserve the implicit confidence of the people, of what- ever class or partizan predilection. Facts are set down with- out eulogistic comment, and the views of Mr. Lincoln, with such explanations as justice may seem to require, will usually be given in his own words. The ancestors of ABRAHAM LINCOLN were of English descent. We find the earliest definite traces of them in Berks county, Pennsylvania, though this was almost certainly not the first place of their residence in this country. Their location, and their adherence to the Quaker faith, make it probable that the original emigration occurred under the auspices of WM. PENN, or at least in company with those who sympathized and shared in his colonizing movement. It was doubtless a branch of the same family that, leaving England under different religious impulses, but with the same adventurous and inde- pendent spirit, settled, at an earlier date, in Old Plymouth Colony. The separation may possibly have taken place this side of the Atlantic, and not beyond. Some of the same traits appear conspicuously in both these family groups. One tra- dition indeed affirms that the Pennsylvania branch was trans- planted from Hingham, Mass., and was derived from a common stock with Colonel Benjamin Lincoln, of Revolutionary fame. There is a noticeable coincidence in the general prevalence, among each American branch, of Scriptural names in christen- ing the Benjamin, Levi, and Ezra, of Massachusetts, having their counterpart in the Abraham, Thomas, and Josiah, of Virginia and Kentucky. The peculiarity is one to have been equally expected among sober Friends, and among zealous Puritans. Berks county can not have been very long the home of Mr. Lincoln's immediate progenitors. There Can hardly have been more than a slender pioneer settlement there, up to the time that one or mora of the number made another remove, not far 12 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. from 1750, to what is now Rockingham county, Virginia. Old Berks was first settled about 1734, then, too, as a German colony and was not organized as a county until 1752 ; before which date, according to family traditions, this removal to Virginia took place. This, it will be observed, was pre-eminently a pioneer stock, evidently much in love with backwoods adventure, and con- stantly courting the dangers and hardships of forest- life. Kockingham county, Virginia, though intersected by the beautiful valley of the Shenandoah, or rather by two valleys made by its chief forks, not very far from their junction, and inviting, by its natural resources, the advances of civilization, must nevertheless have been, at the time just mentioned, in the very heart of the wilderness. Now, it is one of the most productive counties of Virginia, having exceeded every other county in the State, according to the census of 1850, in its crops of wheat and hay. A branch of the family, it is under- stood, still remains there, to enjoy the benefits of so judicious a selection, and of the labors and imperfectly requited endur- ances of these first settlers. It was more than thirty years later than the arrival there of the Lincolns of Pennsylvania, that Rockingham county first had an organized political existence. From this locality, about the year 1780. perhaps a little later, Abraham Lincoln, grandfather of the one who now bears that name, started westward across the Alleghanies, attracted by the accounts which had reached him of the wonderfully fertile and lovely country explored by Daniel Boone, on and near the Kentucky river. During all his lifetime, hitherto, he could have known little of any other kind of existence than that to which he had been educated as an adventurous fron- tiersman. The severe labor of preparing the heavily timbered lands of the Shenandoah for cultivation, the wild delights of hunting the then abundant game of the woods, and the exciting hazards of an uncertain warfare with savage enemies, had been almost the sole occupations of his rough but healthful life. Perhaps the settlements around him had already beerun to be too far advanced for the highest enjoyment of his character- istic mode of living ;. or possibly, with others, he aspired to the LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 13 possession of more fertile fields, and to an easier subsistence, with new forest-expanses more eligible for the delights of the chase. Whatever the reason, he set out at the time just stated, with his wife and several young children, on his long journey across the mountains, and over the broad valleys intervening between the Shenandoah and the Kentucky. At this date, and for ten or twelve years later, the present State of Kentucky formed part of the old Commonwealth of Virginia. " The dark and bloody ground," as afterward named for better reasons than the fiction which assigns this meaning to its Indian appellation, had then been but recently entered upon by the white man. Its first explorer, Daniel Boone, whose very name suggests a whole world of romance and adventure, had removed, when a mere boy, among the earlier emigrants from Eastern Pennsylvania, to Berks county. Here he must have been a contemporary resident, and was per- haps an acquaintance, of some of the younger members of the Lincoln family. At all events, as substantially one of their own neighbors, they must have watched his later course with eager interest and sympathy, and caught inspiration from his exploits. At eighteen, Boone had again emigrated, with his father as before, to the banks of the Yadkin, a mountain river in the north-west of North Carolina, at just about the same date as the removal of the Lincolns to Virginia. Some years later, Boone, in his hunting excursions, had passed over and admired large tracts of the wilderness north of his home, and especially along a branch of the Cumberland river, within the limits of what is now Kentucky. It was not until 1769, how- ever, that, with five associates, he made the thorough explora- tion of the Kentucky valley, which resulted in the subsequent settlements there. The glowing descriptions which ultimately got abroad of the incredible richness and beauty of these new and remote forest-climes of Trans-Alleghanian Virginia, and of their alluring hunting-grounds, must have early reached the ears of the boyhood-companions of Daniel Boone, and spread through the neighboring country. The stirring adv.entures of the pioneer hero, during the next five or six years, and the beginnings of substantial settlements in that far-west country, 14 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. must have suggested new attractions thitherward to the more active and daring spirits, whose ideal of manhood Boone so nearly approached. From the borders, in various directions, hundreds of miles away, emigration had now begun. These recruits were from that class of hardy frontiersmen most inured to the kind of toils they were to encounter anew in the Kentucky forests. They went forward, fearless of the dangers to be encountered from the numerous bands of Indians already recommencing hostilities, after a temporary pacification. Here was a com- mon territory and place of meeting for the tribes, both of the North and the South, and here, before and after this date, there were many exciting adventures and deadly conflicts with these savages, whose favorite haunts had been thus uncere- moniously invaded. It was not far from the date of the disastrous battle of the Lower Blue Licks, that the grandfather of Mr. Lincoln, with his young family, reached the region which had perhaps long been the promised land of his dreams. This transmigration was certainly some time later than 1778, and earlier than 1784, as circumstances hereafter to be stated will show. Boone, Kenton, Harrod, Floyd, and their brave associates, were still in the midst of the great struggles which have given them last- ing memory in history. Lincoln was ambitious to share their fortunes, and to fix his home in this more genial and opulent clime. The exact place at which he settled is not known. It was somewhere on Floyd's creek, and probably near its mouth, in what is now Bullitt county. The hopes which led to this change of his home were not destined to be fulfilled. He had made but a mere beginning in his new pioneer labors, when, while at work one day, at a distance from his cabin, unsuspect- ing of danger, he was killed by an Indian, who had stolen upon him unaware. This took place in the year 1784, or very near that time, when he was probably not more than thirty-five years of age. His widow, thus suddenly bereaved in a new and strange land, had now their three sons and two daughters left to her sole protection and care, with probably little means LIP! OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 15 for their support. She soon after removed to what became Washington county, in the same State, not far distant, and there reared her children, all of whom reached mature age. One of the daughters was married to a Mr. Grume, and the other to a man named Bromfield. The three sons, respectively named Thomas, Mordecai, and Josiah, all remained in Ken tucky until after their majority. Thomas Lincoln, one of these sons, was born in 1778. He was a mere child when his father removed to Kentucky, and was but six years old at the time of the latter's death. The date of this event was consequently about 1784. Of the early life of the orphan boy, we have no knowledge, except what can be learned of the general lot of his class, and of the habits and modes of living then prevalent among the hardy pioneers of Kentucky. These backwoodsmen had an unceasing round of hard toils, with no immediate reward but a bare subsistence from year to year, and the cheering promise of better days in the future. But even their lands, as in the case of Boone, they were not always so fortunate as to retain in fee. More comfortable days, and a much improved state of things had come, before Thomas arrived at maturity, but in his boy hood and youth, he must have known whatever was worst in the trials and penury of the first generation of Kentucky frontiersmen, with few other enjoyments than an occasional practice with his rifle. His training was suited to develop a strong, muscular frame, and a rugged constitution, with a char- acteristic quickness of perception and promptness of action. The Kentuckian of that and the succeeding generation had generally a tall, stalwart frame, a frank and courteous heart, and a humorous and slightly quaint turn of speech ; a fondness for adventure and for the sports of hunting ; a manly self- respect, and a fearless independence of spirit. ' " Pride in their port, defiance in their eye, ***** Intent on high designs, a thoughtful band, By forms unfashioncd, fresh from nature's hand, Fierce in their native hardiness of soul' True to imagined right, above control. 16 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. This generation began its life with the independent existence of the nation, and partook largely of the spirit of exultant self-confidence then abroad through the land. These were the circumstances and associations under which, in those primeval days in Kentucky, Thomas Lincoln passed through the period of boyhood and youth. At the date of the political separation from Virginia, in 1792, and the formation of a new State, this orphan boy, struggling to aid his mother in the support of the ill-fortuned family, had reached the age of fourteen. The currents of emigration had become enlarged and accelerated, meantime, until the population was swelled, as early as 1790, to more than 73,000 ; and during the next ten years it was more than trebled, reaching 220,000. The wilderness that once was around Boonesborough, Harrodsburg, and Lexington, was now blossoming as the rose. Still, how- ever, there was ample space unoccupied, within the limits of the new State, for those who craved the excitements and the loneliness of a home in the wilderness. In 1806, Thomas Lincoln, being then twenty-eight years of age, was married to Nancy Hanks, a native of Virginia, and settled in what was then Hardin county, Kentucky. It does not appear that the parents of Miss Hanks ever removed to Kentucky, though others of the family did so. Of the history of her ancestry, we have no definite particulars. Her position in life appears to have been not dissimilar to that of her hus- band. That she possessed some rare qualities of mind and heart, there is reason to believe ; although, dying at an early age, and having, from the time of her marriage, passed her days on obscure frontiers, few recollections of her are acces- sible. ABRAHAM LINCOLN was born of these parents on the 12th day of February, 1809. The place where they at this time resided, is in what is now LaEue county, about a mile and a half from Hodgenville. the county seat, and seven miles from Elizabethtown, laid off several years previously, and the county Beat of Hardin county. He had one sister,' two years his senior, who grew up to womanhood, married, and died while young. He had a brother, two years younger than himself, LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 17 who died in early childhoood. Mr. Lincoln remembers to have visited the now unmarked grave of this little one, along with his mother, before leaving Kentucky. These were the only children of Thomas Lincoln, either by the present or by a subsequent marriage, hereafter to be noticed. ABRAHAM has thus, for a long time, been the sole immediate representa- tive of this hardy and energetic race. LaRue county, named from an early settler, John LaRue, was set off and separately organized in 1843, the portion con- taining Mr. Lincoln's birthplace having been, up to that date, included in Hardin county. It is a rich grazing country in its more rolling or hilly parts, and the level surface produces good crops of corn and tobacco. In the northern borders of the county, on the Rolling Fork of Salt river, is Muld- row's Hill, a noted eminence. Hodgenville, near which Mr. Lincoln was born, is a pleasantly situated town on Nolin creek, and a place of considerable business. About a mile above this town, on the creek, is a mound, or knoll, thirty feet above the banks of the stream, containing two acres of level ground, at the top of which there is now a house. Some of the early pioneers encamped on this knoll ; and but a short distance from it a fort was erected by Philip Phillips, an emi- grant from Pennsylvania, about 1780 or 1781, near the time Mr. Lincoln's ancestor arrived from Virginia. John LaRue came from the latter State, with a company of emigrants, and settled, not far from the same date, at Phillips' Fort. Robert Hodgen, LaRue's brother-in-law, purchased and occupied the land on which Hodgenville is built. Both these pioneers were men of sterling integrity, and high moral worth. They were consistent and zealous members of the Baptist church, and one of their associates, Benjamin Lynn, was a minister of the same persuasion. Such were the influences under which, more than twenty years before Thomas Lincoln settled there, this little colony had been founded, and which went far to give the com- munity its permanent character. It is needless to rehearse the kind of life in which Abra- ham Lincoln was here trained. The picture is similar in all such settlements. In his case, there was indeed the advantage 2 18 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. of a generation or two of progress, since his grandfather had hazarded and lost his life in the then slightly broken wilder- ness. The State now numbered some 400,000 inhabitants, and had all the benefits of an efficient local administration, the want of which had greatly increased the dangers and difficul- ties of the first settlers. Henry Clay, it may here be appropri- ately mentioned, had already, though little more than thirty years of age, begun his brilliant political career, having then served for a year or two in the United States Senate. Yet, with all these changes, the humble laborers, settled near " Hpdgen's Mills," on Nolin creek, had no other lot but incessant toil, and a constant struggle with nature in the still imperfectly reclaimed wilds, for a plain subsistence. Here the boy spent the first years of his childhood. With apparently the same frowning fortune which darkened the early days of Robert Burns, it was not destined that young Lincoln's father should succeed in these first endeavors to secure a competency. Even before the date of his earliest distinct recollections, he removed with his father to a place six miles distant from Hod- genville, which was also ere long to be surrendered, as we shall presently see, for a home in the far-off wilderness, and for frontier life, in its fullest and most significant meaning. The period of ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S Kentucky life extends through a little more than seven years, terminating with the autumn of 1816. If it be true as a rule (as Horace Mann was wont to maintain), that the experiences and instructions of the first seven years of every person's existence, do more to mold and determine his general character, than all subsequent train- ing, then must we regard Mr. Lincoln as a Kentuckian (of the generation next following that of Clay), by his early impres- sions and discipline, no less than by birth. In those days there were no common schools in that country. The principal reliance for acquiring the rudiments of learning was the same as that to which the peasant-poet of Ayrshire was indebted. Education was by no means disregarded, not did young Lincoln, poor as were his opportunities, grow up an illiterate boy, as some have supposed. Competent teachers ffere accustomed to offer themselves then, as in later years, LITE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 19 who opened private schools for a neighborhood, being sup- ported by tuition or subscription. During his boyhood days in Kentucky, Abraham Lincoln attended, at different times, at least two schools of this description, of which he has clear recollections. One of these was kept by Zachariah Biney, a Roman Catholic, whose peculiarities have not been wholly effaced from the memory of his since so distinguished pupil. But although this teacher was himself an ardent Catholic, he made no proselyting efforts in his school, and when any little religious ceremonies, or perhaps mere catechizing and the like, were to be gone through with, all Protestant children, of whom, it is needless to say that young "Abe" was one, were accus- tomed to retire, by permission or command. Einey was prob- ably in some way connected with the movement of the " Trappists," who came to Kentucky in the autumn of 1805, and founded an establishment (abandoned some years later) under Urban Guillet, as superior, on Pottinger's Creek. They were active in promoting education, especially among the poorer classes, and had a school for boys under their immediate supervision. This, however, had been abandoned before the date of Lincoln's first school-days, and it is not improbable that the private schools under Catholic teachers were an offshoot of the original system adopted by these Trappists, who sub- sequently removed to Illinois. Another teacher, on whose instructions the boy afterward attended, while living in Kentucky, was named Caleb Hazel. His was also a neighborhood school, sustained by private patronage. With the aid of these two schools, and with such further assistance as he received at home, there is no doubt that he had become able to read well, though without having made any great literary progress, at the age of seven. That he was not a dull or inapt scholar, is manifest from his subsequent attainments. With the allurements of the rifle and the wild game which then abounded in the country, however, and with the meager advantages he had, in regard to books, it is certain that his perceptive faculties, and his muscular powers, were 20 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. much more fully developed by exercise than his scholastic talents. While he lived in Kentucky, he never saw even the exterior of what was properly a church edifice. The religious services he attended were held either at a private dwelling, or in some log school-house, or in the open grove : " Fit shrine for humble worshiper to hold ^ Communion with his Maker. These dim vaults, These winding aisles, of human pomp or pride Report not. No fantastic carvings show The boast of our vain race, to change the form Of Thy fair works. But Thou art here, Thou fill'st The solitude." f Unsatisfactory results of these many years' toil on the lands of Nolin Creek, or a restless spirit of adventure and fondness for more genuine pioneer excitements than this region con- tinued to afford, led Thomas Lincoln, now verging upon the age of forty, and his son beginning to be of essential service in manual labor, to seek a new place of abode, far to the west, beyond the Ohio river. tBrjant. LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 21 CHAPTER II. MB. LINCOLN'S EARLY LIFE IN INDIANA. fhe Removal from Kentucky. An Emigrant Journey. The Forests of Southern Indiana. New Home of the Lincoln Family. Indiana in 1816. Slavery and Free Labor. Young Lincoln at His Work. His Schools and Schoolmasters. Self-Education. A Characteristic Incident. Acquaintance with River Life. His First Trip to New Orleans as a Flatboatman. Death of- His Mother. His Fathers Second Marriage. Recollections of an Early Settler. Close of an Eventful Period in Young Lincoln's History. EARLY in the autumn of 1816, an immediate departure for the new wilds of Indiana was determined on by Thomas Lin- coln. It was no very imposing sight, certainly, as the little family, bidding the old Kentucky home adieu, moved forward upon their long and winding pioneer march. Many sad thoughts there undoubtedly were in that small group, and perhaps some forebodings also, as their former place, gradually receding, at length disappeared from their reverted eyes. But these emotions must soon have been lost in the excitements of their journey. It was no novel picture which they presented, for that period, as they advanced on their lonely way, for the days required to bring them to the place whence they were to cross the " Beautiful River." The plain wagon, with its simple cover- ing as a shelter for its lading of household utensils, articles of food, and " varieties," was drawn by a not too spirited or over- fed horse, in a harness probably compounded of leather and hempen cords of an uncertain age. In the forward part of this conveyance, sat the emigrant wife and her daughter, nine years old, while the father and his son, now past seven, walking in the rear, took care that the indispensable cow kept pace to the 22 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. music of the jolting wheels. Underneath the wagon, or scout- ing at pleasure through the surrounding woods, was of course a large dog, constant to the fortunes of his master's family, and ready for any fate to which their migrations might lead him. Arrived at the appointed landing on the hanks of the Ohio, it only remained to embark the little caravan upon a flathoat, and to cross the stream, now swelled to fair proportions by the autumn rains. Finally, after reaching the Indiana side, the adven- turers landed at or near the mouth of Anderson's Creek, now the boundary between the counties of Perry and Spencer, about one hundred and forty miles below Louisville, by the river, and sixty above Evansville. In a direct line across the country from their former residence, the distance is perhaps hardly one hundred miles. The place at which Mr. Lincoln settled, at the end of this journey, is some distance back from the Ohio river, near the present town of Gentryville. Under the earliest organization, this was in Perry county, of which Troy was the county seat. Two years later, Spencer county was formed, embracing all that part of Perry west of Anderson's Creek, and including the place at which Mr. Lincoln had located himself. Here his emigrant wagon paused, and aided by the busy hands of his son, a log cabin was speedily built, which was to be their home through many coming years. The particular site of his dwelling was doubtless determined, as usual, by the dis- covery of a living spring of water, after fixing on his selection for a farm. This completed, and a shelter provided for their stock, the next business was to clear up a space in the forest which should produce a crop of grain for their sustenance the next season. Hard work had begun in good earnest for the young Kentuckian. He was to learn the realities of genuine pioneer life, such as he had before but imperfectly understood, unless by tradition and the evening tales of his father. Indiana, at this date, was still a Territory, having been originally united under the same government with Illinois, after the admission of Ohio as a State, " the first-born of the great North-west," in 1802. A separate territorial organization was made for each in 1809. A few months before the arrival LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 23 of Thomas Lincoln, namely, in June, 1816, pursuant to a Con- gressional " enabling act, J> a Convention had been held which adopted a State Constitution, preparatory to admission into the Union. Under this Constitution, a month or two later, in December, 1816, Indiana became, by act of Congress, a sove- reign State. The population of Indiana was now about 65, 000, distributed chiefly south of a straight line drawn from Vincennes, on the Wabash, to Lawrenceburg, on the Ohio. Vincennes was long the territorial capital, and with the surrounding country, had been occupied by French emigrants, many years before the Kevolution. In 1800, the whole number of residents in these colonies was less than 5,000. These, like other French set- tlements, made little progress of themselves. From 1800 to 1810 there had been a large increase, mostly by emigrations to Southern Indiana from Kentucky, swelling the population to 24,520, at the latter date. In 1811 had occurred serious diffi- culties with the Indians, terminating in the decisive victory over them at Tippecanoe. So general had become the settle- ments, eastward from Vincennes and up the Ohio river, that the capital was removed far eastward to Corydon, in 1813, as a central location. This place, the capital of Harrison county, is about twenty-five miles west from Louisville, and more than a hundred south of the present metropolis of the State. But one county intervened between Harrison and Perry, and Gen- tryville is hardly forty miles, in a direct line, from Corydon. This place continued to be the seat of government for the State- until 1824, as it had been for the Territory during the three years next preceding 1816. It was but natural, therefore, that emigration should be prominently directed to this part of the State, at the period under consideration. In 1820 the popula- tion had increased to over 147,000, or more than six -fold dur- ing ten years, and nearly thirty-fold since 1800. There is little doubt that in emigrating, Thomas Lincoln had fallen in with a prevalent contagion in his own State, and that he took up his residence in the part of Indiana then deemed most desirable of all that was unoccupied. It is common to attribute these extensive migrations from the border slave- 24 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. holding States into the non-slaveholding Northwest, to a pre- ference for institutions based upon free labor to the exclusion of slavery. This was, beyond question, a powerful inducement with many, yet by no means the exclusive one; and with some it did not exist at all. In the earlier days of Kentucky, the proportion of slaves to the free white population was small, and in many places slavery can hardly have been an appreciable element. But in 1816, the number of slaves must have ex- ceeded 100,000, and their ratio of increase was becoming very high. Upon a man in the circumstances of Mr. Lincoln, with a young family to rear, this consideration undoubtedly had its weight, among the others we have suggested as the cause of his removal to Indiana. We have at least the fact, that, though painfully, and with an exile's sadness, he turned his back for- ever on a State that tolerated slavery, to seek a new home where free labor had been sacredly assured exclusive rights and honors. The next thirteen years Abraham Lincoln spent here, in Southern Indiana, near the Ohio, nearly midway between Louisville and Evansville. He was now old enough to begin to take an active part in the farm labors of his father, and he manfully performed his share of hard work. He learned to use the axe and to hold the plough. He became inured to all the duties of seed-time and harvest. On many a day, during every one of those thirteen years, this Kentucky boy might have been seen with a long " gad " in his hand, driving his father's team in the field, or from the woods with a heavy draught, or on the rough path to the mill, the store, or the river landing very probably at times, in the language of the Hoosier bard, descriptive of such pioneer workers in general : *' ' sans shoes or socks on, With snake-pole and a yoke of oxen." A vigorous constitution, and a cheerful, unrepining disposi- tion, made all his labors comparatively light. 'To such a one, this sort of life has in it much of pleasant excitement to com- pensate for its hardships. He learned to derive enjoyment from the severest lot. The " dignity of labor," which is with LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 25 demagogues such hollow cant, became to him a true and appreciable reality. Here, as in Kentucky, he attended private schools, and in other ways increased his little stock of learning, aided by what he had already acquired. The same want of systematic public instruction, and the same mode of remedying this lack, pre- vailed in Indiana, as in his former home. One of his teachers was named Andrew Crawford, to whom he used to be occasion- ally indebted for the loan of books, to read at such leisure hours as he could command. His last teacher was a Mr. Dorsey, who has had the satisfaction, in later years, of taking his former scholar by the hand, rejoicing to recognize the once obscure boy as now one of the foremost leaders of the people. Dorsey was lately residing in Schuyler county, Illinois, where he also had sons living. . That we may estimate Mr. Lincoln in his true character, as chiefly a self-educated man, it should be stated that, summing up all the days of his actual attendance upon school instruc- tion, the amount would hardly exceed one year. The rest he has accomplished for himself in his own way. As a youth ho read with avidity such instructive works as he could obtain, and in winter evenings, by the mere light of- the blazing fire- place, when no better resource was at hand. An incident having its appropriate connection here, and illustrating several traits of the man, as already developed in early boyhood, is vouched for by a citizen of Evansville, who knew him in the days referred to. In his eagerness to acquire knowledge, young Lincoln had borrowed of Mr. Crawford a copy of Weems' Life of Washington the only one known to be in existence in the neighborhood. Before he had finished reading the book, it had been left, by a not unnatural oversight, in a window. Meantime, a rain storm came on, and the book was so thoroughly wet as to make it nearly worthless. This mishap caused him much pain ; but he went, in all honesty, to Crawford with the ruined book, explained the calamity that had happened through his neglect, and offered, not having sufficient money, to " work out " the value of the book. " Well, Abe," said Crawford, " as it's you I won't be hard on :\ 26 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. you. Come over and pull fodder for me for two days, and we will call our accounts even." The offer was accepted and the engagement literally ful- filled. As a boy, no less than since, Abraham Lincoln had an honorable conscientiousness, integrity, industry, and an ardent love of knowledge. The town on the Ohio river nearest his home was Troy, the capital of Perry county down to the date of its division. This place, at the mouth of Anderson's Creek, had been settled as early as 1811, and was a place of some consequence, both for its river trade and as the county seat. After this latter advantage was lost, by the formation of a new county in 1818, Troy dwindled away, and is now a place of only about five hundred inhabitants. Rockport, nearly twenty miles south-west of Gentryville, became the capital of Spencer county, and thenceforward a point of interest to the new settlers. It is situated on a high bluff of the Ohio river, and receives its name from "Lady Washington's Rock," a pictur- esque hanging-rock at that place. At these two points, young Lincoln gained some knowledge of the new world of river life and business, in addition to his farm experience, and to his forest sports with rod and rifle. It was during one of the later of these thirteen years, that Abraham, at nineteen, was permitted to gratify his eager long- ing to see more of the world, and to try the charms of an excur- sion on the Beautiful River. He had inherited much of the adventurous and stirring disposition of his Virginian grand- father, and was delighted with the prospect of a visit to New Orleans, then the splendid city of Western dreams. He per- formed this journey, on a common flat-boat, doing service as one of the hands on that long yet most exhilarating trip. We have no particulars of this his sole excursion as a FLATBOATMAN dur- ing his Indiana days, yet to his own mind it probably still affords many not unpleasing recollections. He was undoubt- edly the life of the little company, delighting them with his humorous sallies no less than with his muscular superiority and with his hilarious activity and intuitive tact in all that immediately concerned their voyage. LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 27 If there had been any forebodings at the time of departure from their first home on Nolin Creek, these were to be ere- long realized by the Indiana emigrants. Scarcely two years had passed, in this changed climate, and in these rougher forest experiences, before the mother of young Abraham perhaps too gentle to encounter the new trials added to those she had before partially surmounted, and to endure the malarious influences in which this wild country abounded was called to a last separation from those she had so tenderly loved. She died in 1818, leaving as her sole surviving chil- dren, a daughter less than twelve years old, and a son two years younger, of whose future distinction, even with a mother's fondness, she probably had but an indefinite hope. A grave was made for her " Where the wind of the West breathes its softest sigh ; Where the silvery stream is flowing nigh Where the sun's warm smile may never dispel Night's tears o'er the form that was loved so well Where no column proud in the sun may glow, To mock the heart that is resting below." A year or two later, Thomas Lincoln contracted a second marriage with Mrs. Johnston, a widow with three children, that were brought up with those of Mr. Lincoln. Besides these step-children, there were no additions to the family as before enumerated. In concluding this brief account of the thirteen important years which were spent by Abraham Lincoln as an Indianian, the personal recollections of a distinguished lawyer and states- man of an older generation, who emigrated to Indiana at nearly the same date, will aid in conveying a correct impres- sion of these times, and of the circumstances with which the youth was surrounded. Indiana, says the late Hon. 0. H. Smith,* " was born in the year 1816, with some sixty-five thousand inhabitants only about forty years ago. A few counties only were then organ- * Early Indiana Trials and Sketches Eeminiscences, by Hon. 0. H. Smith, page 285. 28 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. ized. The whole middle, north, and north-west portions of the State were an unbroken wilderness, in the possession of the Indians. Well do I remember when there were but two families settled west of the Whitewater Valley one at Flat Bock, above where Rushville now stands, and the other on Brandywine, near where Greenfield was afterward located. When I first visited the ground on which Indiajiapolis now stands, the whole country, east to Whitewater and west to the Wabash, was a dense, unbroken forest. There were no public roads, no bridges over any of the streams. The trav- eler had literally to swim his way. No cultivated farms, no houses to shelter or feed the weary traveler, or his jaded horse. The courts, years afterward, were held in leg huts, and the juries sat under the shade of the forest trees. I was Circuit Prosecuting Attorney at the time of the trials at the falls of Fall Creek, where Pendleton now stands. Four of the pris- oners were convicted of murder, and three of them hung, for killing Indians. The court was held in a double log cabin, the grand jury sat upon a log in the woods, and the foreman signed the bills of indictment which I had prepared, upon his knee ; there was not a petit juror that had shoes on all wore moccasins, and were belted around the waist, and carried side knives used by the hunter. The products of the country con- sisted of peltries, the wild game killed in the forest by the Indian hunters, the fish caught in the interior lakes, rivers, and creeks, the pawpaw, wild plum, haws, small berries gath- ered by the squaws in the woods. The travel was confined to the single horse and his rider, the commerce to the pack -sad- dle, and the navigation to the Indian canoe. Many a time and oft have I crossed our swollen streams, by day and by night, sometimes swimming my horse, and at others pad- dling the rude bark canoe of the Indian. Such is a mere sketch of our State when I traversed its wilds, and I am not one of its first settlers." Thus it was that young Lincoln grew up to the verge of manhood ; he led no idle or enervating existence. Brought up to the habits of sobriety, and accustomed to steady labor, no one of all the working-men with whom he came in contact LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 29 was a better sample of his class than he. He had now become a Saul among his associates, having reached the hight of nearly six feet and four inches, and with a comparatively slender yet uncommonly strong, muscular frame. He was even then, in his mental and moral characteristics, no less than in his physical proportions, one not to be forgotten or- unappreciated by those who knew him. Many reminiscences of those days of his hardy endeavor and rough experience linger in the minds of the plain, earnest people among whom his lot for a long period was thus cast, and will some time be repeated, with such exaggerations or fabulous glosses as are wont gradually to gather, like the sacred halo of the painters, around the memorials of a recognized hero. And a hero, ever hereafter, in the traditions of Southern Indiana, will be the youthful Abraham Lincoln, gigantic and stalwart in his outward form, no less than in the glowing and noble spirit already beginning to foresee and prepare for a high des- tiny. Wherever he has dwelt becomes classic and consecrated ground, and to have known him, even in his obscurest days, will be deemed a circumstance to be recounted with pride. To gather up such recollections and to perpetuate them with the- pen, will be the work of future times and other hands. This period of young Lincoln's life was terminated by another removal of his father, as will appear in the next chapter. 30 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. CHAPTER III. FIRST TEAKS IN ILLINOIS. 1830-32. The French Settlements. The North-West. The Advance of Emigra- tion. Four Great States Founded in the Lifetime of Mr. Lincoln's Father. North and South Meeting in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. Sentiments of Southern Emigrants. The First Emigrations. A Coincidence of Dates. Mordecai and Josiah Lincoln. Kemoval to Illinois. Settlement on the Sangamon, in Macon County. The Locality described. Abraham Lincoln Splits Three Thousand Rails. Another Removal of his Father. They Separate. His Father Spends the rest of his Days in Coles County. Abraham Lincoln makes Another Trip as a Flatboatman. Becomes Clerk in a Store on his Re- turn. Leaves the Business after a Year's Service. THE early French settlements of Illinois, at Kaskaskia and Cahokia, had proved as little successful or permanent as those of Indiana around Vincennes. The territory had come into the possession of the British Government just before the Revolution, and emigration from Virginia had commenced almost simultaneously to that quarter and to Kentucky. In 1787, as is well known, the settlements here, in common with those scattered throughout the great expanse of United States territory, Northwest of the Ohio river, were brought under a territorial government, as wide in its local scope as it was apparently insignificant in the extent of its population and power. Time speedily demonstrated the error of such an estimate of the remarkable region between the Ohio, the Mis- sissippi, and the Lakes, yet, even to this day, the people of the East accept the idea of this greatness and coming power rather as an abstract proposition than as a living reality, deeply affecting their own relative interests and the common resources and grandeur of the country. LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 31 The rapid growth of Kentucky on the one side, and of Ohio and Indiana on the other, we have incidentally seen in these pages. The birth of Mr. Lincoln's father, Thomas Lincoln, was anterior to or nearly coeval with the very first settlements in all those States, excepting only the lifeless French colonies of Indi- ana. The State of Illinois may be added to those of which it may be said, in like manner, his own life was the measure of their age, dating from the first substantial and growing existence of their colonial settlements. In Illinois, as in Indiana, the earliest waves of a healthful emigration had come from Ken- tucky and Virginia, and in both cases alike, the Southern portion was the earliest to be occupied. Between these early outflowings of free labor from the land of slavery, and those later ones from the free States of the East, on more northern parallels, there is a marked difference, still traceable creating, in a certain sense, in all the States of the Northwest which touch the imaginary line of Mason and Dixon, a division of North and South. Experience and increased commingling between these localities are fast abating the distinctness of this somewhat indefinite separating line, but for years to come it can not be wholly obliterated. These two elements, combined and consolidated, growing into unity instead of being arrayed against each other in widening separation, will go to constitute the strongest of States. The Southern emigration gave char- acter to the earlier legislation of Indiana and Illinois especially. With evidences of a lurking attachment to the peculiar 'insti- tution of the States on the other side of the Ohio river, the general tenor of public sentiment and action was as positive and distinct, as were the opinions of the more Northern mul- titudes who came in to fill up these new commonwealths. And yet the views of slavery prevalent in southern Indiana and Illinois, were at that time' not much diverse from those which were entertained in the communities from which these settlers had come. They regarded slavery as an evil to be rid of; and to make sure of this, those who were not already too much entangled with it, left in large numbers for a region which, by request of Virginia herself, the donor, was " forever " protected from the inroads of this moral and social mischief. 32 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. As we have seen, Indiana had more than 100,000 people concentrated in the south, before any real advance had "been made in the central and northern parts. Nearly the same thing was true of Illinois. The territory had been separately organized in the same year with the birth of Abraham Lin- coln 1809. The next year's census showed its entire white population to be only 11,501. These were almost exclusively located south of the National Road, which crosses the Kaskas- kia river at Vandalia, extending nearly due west to Alton. Notwithstanding the severe labors of opening the forests on the rich western soil, and the lorfg period that must necessarily elapse between the first clearing therein and the perfect subju- gation of the selected lands into cultivated farms, there seems to have been a general avoidance, even down to comparatively a late period, of the open prairie, which is now thought to offer such pre-eminent facilities for cultivation, with almost immediate repayment for the toil bestowed. The settlers who had gone into Illinois, evidently placed a low estimate upon the prairie lands, and always settled on the banks of some stream, on which there was plenty of timber, seeking the forest by preference for their homes. The open character of the country undoubtedly repelled emigration, and caused it to be concentrated on the chief streams, for a long time, when at last it commenced in earnest. In 1820, two years after admission into the Union, the entire population, still 'almost entirely confined to the same region, and to similar localities as ten years before, amounted to only 55,211. From that time to 1830, there was some extension of the settlements northward, toward the center of the State, and up the Mississippi to Galena, where the mines were" already worked. The rivers along which the principal settlements had been made, aside from the great boundary rivers, the Missis- sippi, the Ohio, and the Wabash, were the Kaskaskia, the Em- barras, the Sangamon, and their branches. There were a few settlements, also, in the Rock-river country, and on the range of Peoria. The population, thus chiefly distributed, had now (1830) reached 157,445. The brothers of Thomas Lincoln, had previously removed LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 33 to a more northern location in Indiana, than that which he had occupied. Both settled in the Blue-river country Mor- decai in Hancock county, where he not~~long after died, and Josiah in Harrison county. Their example, perhaps, had its influence upon Thomas, who, however, took a course of his own. Whatever the immediate or remote occasion, he left Indiana in the spring of 1830, to seek another place of abode, in the State of Illinois. He had seen the growth of Kentucky from almost the very start, to a population of nearly 700,000, and he had lived in Indiana from the time its inhabitants numbered only 65,000, until .they had reached nearly 350,000. As he first set his foot within the limits of Illinois, its vast territory had, comparatively, but just begun to be occupied , scarcely at all, as we have seen, except in the extreme southern portion, and hero- Imost exclusively along the principal streams. I* a country so poorly supplied with wood and water, as Illinois, such sites would naturally be the first to be taken up, and with a prairie addition, suited the tastes even of those to whom the level, open country was forbidding in appearance. Mr. Lincoln pushed forward to the central part of the State, where such locations were still abundant. A more beautiful country than that of the Sangamon valley, could not easily have been anywhere discovered by an explorer. It was not strange that the report of such lands, if he heard it in his Southern Indiana home, should have attracted even so far one who was bred to pioneer life, and inherited a migratory disposition. He first settled on the Sangamon " bottom," in Macon county. Passing over the Illinois Central Railroad, as you approach Decatur, the county-seat of Macon, from the south, a slightly broken country is reached two or three miles from that place, and presently the North Fork of the Sangamon, over which you pass, a mile from the town. This stream flows westwardly, uniting with the South Fork, near Jamestown, ten miles from Springfield. Following down this North Fork for a distance of about ten miles from Decatur, you come to the immediate vicinity of the first residence of Abraham Lincoln (with his father's family), in Illinois. 4 34 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Here, for the first season of his abode in the new State, he continued to assist his father in his farm-work. One of the first duties was to fence in a field on the rich bottom-lands, which had been selected for cultivation. For this purpose, with the help of one laborer, Abraham Lincoln, at this time, split THREE THOUSAND RAILS the crowning work of a long laborious period of his life. The hand who aided him in this exploit, named John Hanks, a distant relative of his mother, is yet living, and bears earnest testimony to the strength and skill with which the maul and the wedge were employed on this occasion. For some unexplained reason, the family did not remain on this place but a single year. Abraham was now of age, and when, in the spring of 1831, his father set out for Coles county, sixty or seventy miles to the eastward, on the upper waters of the Kaskaskia and Embarras, a separation took place, the son for the first time assuming his independence, and commencing life on his own account. The scene of these labors he has not since visited. His father was soon after comfortably settled in the place to which he had turned his course, and spent the remainder of his adventurous days there, arriving at a good old age. He died in Coles county, on the 17th day of January, 1851, being in his seventy- third year. The farm on the Sangamon subsequently came into the pos- session of a man named Whitley, who also erected a mill in the vicinity. While there was snow on the ground, at the close of the year 1830, or early in 1831, a man came to that part of Macon county where young Lincoln was living, in pursuit of hands to aid him in a flatboat voyage down the Mississippi. The fact was known that the youth had once made such a trip, and his services were sought for the occasion. As one who had his own subsistence to earn, with no capital but his hands, and with no immediate opportunities for commencing professional study, if his thoughts had as yet been turned in that direction, he accepted the proposition made him. Perhaps there was something of his inherited and acquired fondness for exciting adventure, impelling him to this decision. With him, were LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 35 also employed, his former fellow-laborer, John Hanks, and a son of his step-mother, named John Johnston. In the spring of 1831, Lincoln set out to fulfill his engagement. The floods had so swollen the streams that the Sangamon country was a vast sea before him. His first entrance into that county was over these wide-spread waters, in a canoe. The time had come to join his employer on his journey to New-Orleans, but the latter had been disappointed by another person on whom he relied to furnish him a boat, on the Illinois river. Accord- ingly, all hands set to work and themselves built a boat, on that river, for their purposes. This done, they set out on their long trip, making a successful voyage to New Orleans and back. It is reported by his friends, that Mr. Lincoln refers with much pleasant humor to this early experience, so relating some of its incidents as to afford abundant amusement to his auditors. In truth, he was a youth who could adapt himself to this or any other honest work, which his circumstances required of him, and with a cheerfulness and alacrity a cer- tain practical humor rarely equaled. He could turn off the hardest labor as a mere pastime ; and his manly presence, to other laborers, was as a constant inspiration and a charm to lighten their burdens. It was midsummer when the FLATBOATMAN returned from this his second and last trip, in that capacity. The man who had commanded this little expedition now undertook to establish himself in business at New Salem, twenty miles below Springfield, in Menard county a place of more relative consequence then than now two miles from Petersburg, the county seat. He had found young Lincoln a person of such sort that he was anxious to secure his services in the new enterprise he was about to embark in. He opened a store at New Salem, and also had a mill for flouring grain. For want of other immediate employment, and in the same spirit which had heretofore actuated him, Abraham Lincoln now entered upon the duties of a clerk, having an eye to both branches of the business carried on by his employer. This connection continued for nearly a year, all the duties of his position being faithfully and cheerfully performed. 36 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. It was to this year's humble but honorable service one that would have been ennobled by his alacrity in discharging it, as a necessity of his lot, were the employment far less dig- nified than it really was that Mr. Douglas tauntingly alluded, in one of his speeches during the canvass of 1858, as " keeping a grocery." In his reply, Mr. Lincoln declared his adversary to be " wofully at fault " as to the fact, in alleging him to have been a grocery-keeper, though it might be no great sin had the statement been well founded. He added that, in truth, he had " never kept a grocery anywhere in the world." The business of this country merchant at New Salem did not prove remarkably successful. In any event, the employ- ment was not such as could have permanently suited an active, muscular person, like young Lincoln, with a lurking passion for adventure, and for more exciting scenes. His clerkship days, however, were brought to an abrupt close, probably much sooner than they otherwise would have been, by the breaking out of the Black-Hawk war, in which he was eager to bear an honorable part. LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 37 CHAPTER IV. SERVICE IN THE BLACK-HAWK WAR 1832. Breaking Out of the Black-Hawk War. The Invasion of 1831. The Rock-river Country Threatened. Prompt Action of GOT. Reynolds. Retreat of Black Hawk. Treaty of 1804 Re-affirmed. Bad Faith of the Indians. Invasion of 1832. Volunteers Called For. Abraham Lincoln one of a Company from Menard County. He is chosen Captain. Rendezvous at Beardstown. Hard Marches across the Country to Oquawka, Prophetstown, and Dixon. Expected Battle Avoided by the Enemy. Discontent among Volunteers. They are Disbanded. Captain Lincoln Remains, Volunteering for Another Term of Service. Skirmishing Fights. Arrival of New Levies. Encounter at Kellogg's Grove. Black-Hawk at the Four Lakes. Ho Retreats. Battle on the Wisconsin. Hastens Forward to the Missis- sippi. Battle of the Bad-Ax. End of Lincoln's First Campaign. Autobiographic Note. WHILE Abraham Lincoln was quietly performing his duties in the pioneer " store," in Menard county, reports were re- ceived of an alarming Indian invasion, on the western border of the State. In the spring of 1831, while he was employed in his excursion down the Mississippi, the noted Black-Hawk, an old chief of the Sac tribe of Indians, repudiating the treaty by the terms of which they had been removed beyond the Father of Waters, re-crossed the river with his women and children, and three hundred warriors of the Sacs, together with allies from the Kickapoo and Pottawatomie nations. His object was again to take possession of his old hunting-grounds, and to establish himself where the principal village of his nation before had been, in the Rock-river country. The Indians began committing depredations upon the property of the white set- tlers, destroying their crops, pulling down their fences, driving off and slaughtering their cattle, and ordering the settlers themselves to leave, under penalty of being massacred. 38 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. In response to the representations of Gov. Reynolds, to whom the settlers applied for protection, Gen. Gaines, com- mander of the United States forces in that quarter, took prompt and decisive measures to expel these invaders from the State. With a few companies of regular soldiers, Gen. Gaines at once took up his position at Rock Island, and at his call, several hundred volunteers, assembled from the northern and central parts of the State, upon the proclamation of Gov. Reynolds, joined him a month later. His little army, distributed into two regiments, an additional battalion, and a spy battalion, was the most formidable military force yet seen in the new State. The expected battle did not take place, the Indians having suddenly and stealthily retired again, in their canoes, across the river. The troops had been advanced to Vandruff's Island, opposite the Indian town, where the engagement was antici- pated, and there was much dissatisfaction among the volunteers, and some complaints against the generals, Gaines and Duncan, for permitting the enemy to escape. Whether or not either of these commanders was chargeable with blame, this retreat of Black Hawk only prolonged the difficulties impending, and prepared the way for a more formid- able and eventful campaign, the next season. Gen. Gaines, however, had taken measures to preclude any such possibility, BO far as the deliberate engagements of the uneasy chief could avail for that purpose. Intimidated by the threats of Gaines to cross the river, and to prosecute the war on that ground, Black Hawk sued for peace. A treaty was entered into, by which he agreed that he and his tribe should ever after remain on the west side of the river, unless by permission of the State Governor, or of the President. Thus was the treaty of 1804 reaffirmed, by which the lands they were claiming had been distinctly conveyed to the United States Government, which, in turn, had sold them to the present settlers. In express violation, however, of this second deliberate engagement, Black Hawk and his followers began, early in the spring of 1832, as we have seen, to make preparations for a xother invasion. Many and grievous wrongs have undoubt* c Uy been inflicted upon tho savage tribes, by the superior race LIFE OF ABBAUAM LINCOLN. 39 that has gradually, but steadily driven the former from theii ancient homes. But the bad faith shown in this case, and the repeated violation of deliberate and voluntary agreements, waa wholly without justification or excuse. No provocation or plausible pretext had arisen after the treaty of the previous June ; yet Black Hawk, under the misguided influence and false representations of the " Prophet," who persuaded him to believe that even the British (to whom Black Hawk had always been a fast friend), as well as the Ottawas, Chippewas, Winne- bagoes and Pottawatomies, would aid them in regaining their village and the adjoining lands. Under this delusion, to which the wiser Keokuk refused to become a dupe, though earnestly invited to join them, Black Hawk proceeded to gather as strong a force as possible. He first established his headquarters at the old site of Fort Madison, west of the Mississippi. After his preparations, of which the people of Illinois were advised, had been completed, he proceeded up the river with his women and children, his property and camp equipage, in canoes, while his warriors, armed and mounted, advanced by land. In spite of a warning he had received that there was a strong force of white soldiers at Fort Armstrong, on Rock Island, he continued on to the mouth of Rock river, where, in utter recklessness and bad faith paying not the slightest regard to his solemn agreement of the last year the whole party crossed to the east side of the Mississippi, with a declared purpose of ascend- ing Rock river to the territory of the Winnebagoes. This was in the early part of April, 1832. Black Hawk, after he had gone some distance up this latter river, was overtaken by a messenger from Gen. Atkinson, who had command of the troops on Rock Island, and ordered to return beyond the Mississippi. This was defiantly refused. Gov. Reynolds again issued a call for volunteers to protect the settlers from this invasion. A company was promptly raised in Menard county, in the formation of which, Abraham Lincoln was one of the most active. From New Salem, Clary's Grove, and elsewhere in the vicinity, an efficient force was gathered, and in making their organization, Lincoln was elected Captain and this was the first promotion he had ever 40 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. received by the suffrages of his fellows, and one that afforded particular satisfaction to his not unaspiring, though modest spirit. Their first march was to the rendezvous appointed by Gov. Reynolds, at Beardstown, one of the earlier settlements on the Illinois river, forty miles west of New Salem. Here eighteen hundred men were speedily assembled, under the direction of the Governor. The forces were organized into four regiments, with an additional spy battalion. Geu. Samuel Whiteside, of the State militia, who had commanded the spy battalion in the campaign of the previous year, was now intrusted with the command of the whole brigade. Gen. James D. Henry was placed at the head of the spy battalion. This little army, a more imposing force than that of the preceding year, set out from Beardstown on the 27th of April, for the scene of action. Three or four days' hard marching across the country brought the volunteers to Oquawka, on the Mississippi, from whence they proceeded, without delay", north- ward to the mouth of Rock river. Here it was arranged with Gen. Atkinson, commander of the regulars, that the vol- unteer force should march up the latter stream a distance of about fifty miles, to Prophetstown, where they were to encamp, awaiting the arrival of the regulars, with provisions, by the river. Gen. Whiteside, however, instead of following out this plan, set fire to the Prophet's village, on arriving, and pushed forward toward Dixon's Ferry, forty miles further up the river. These incessant marches must have severely taxed the endurance of many of the inexperienced soldiers, but to Capt. Lincoln, reared as he had been, they rather hightened the exhilaration which attended these adventures from the start. The prospect of speedily overtaking and encountering the enemy in battle, and the hope of winning, in the fight, some special honors for the little contingent under his com- mand, relieved the sense of fatigue. A short distance below Dixon's Ferry, it was ordered that the baggage-wagons should be left behind, and that a forced march should be made upon that place. Arrived there, Gen. Whiteside halted, and sent LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 41 out scouting parties to ascertain the position and condition of the enemy. Here two battalions of mounted volunteers, num- bering two hundred and seventy-five men, joined them from McLean, Peoria, and other counties, eager to distinguish them- selves by participating in the war. Some of these fiery spirits, advancing without orders, and having no other duty assigned them than that of scouts, had a little skirmish on the 12th of May, a mile distant from their encampment, in Ogle county, with a number of mounted Indians, in which three of the latter were killed. Black Hawk and his principal forces were not far off, and rallying seven hundred men, he promptly repelled the assaults of these scouts, pursuing them in a dis- orderly condition, to their camp. These rash adventurers now showed greater eagerness in flight, than they had before to gain distinction in battle, and ran helter-skelter over the prairie, producing such confusion and dismay as to render it difficult to prevent the most serious effects from their insub- ordinate conduct. As it was, eleven of the men were killed, the confidence of the Indians was greatly raised, and the sur- vivors, who came straggling into the camp of General White- side, were full of panic, anticipating an immediate and general attack from their pursuers. Such was " Stillman's defeat." The consequence of this affair was a council of war at the tent of the commander-in-chief, and a decision to march, early next morning, to the scene of that evening's misadven- ture. The great battle which Capt. Lincoln and his fellow- volunteers had come so far to participate in, seemed now on the point of becoming a reality. Notwithstanding the prema- ture advance of Whiteside from Prophetstown had left them without the necessary supplies, and subjected them to the privations so well known to experienced soldiers, yet seldom encountered so early in a campaign, they made up for the absence of their regular provisions as best they might, and were ready, with the dawn, for the day's undertaking. But their enemy did not await their coming. Arrived at the scene of yesterday's skirmish and flight, they found not a straggler of all the savage forces. They had partly gone further up the river, and partly dispersed, to coirmit depredations in the 42 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. surrounding country. One party of them came suddenly upon a settlement near Ottawa, and massacred fifteen persons, carrying two young women into captivity. This circumstance alone is sufficient to show how utterly unfounded was the pre- tense of some that Black Hawk had no hostile purpose^ in this repudiation of his treaty engagements, and to remove any ground for the mistaken sympathy which many have expended upon him. After this energetic but vain attempt to fall in with the enemy and give him battle, Gen. Whiteside, having buried the dead of the day before, returned to camp, where he was joined, next day, by Gen. Atkinson, with his troops and supplies. The numbers of the army were thus increased to twenty-four hundred, and a few weeks more would have enabled this force to bring the war to a successful close. But many of the vol- unteers, whose time had nearly expired, were eager to be dis- charged. They had seen quite enough of the hardships of a campaign, which, without bringing as yet any glory, had turned out in reality quite different from what their imagina- tions had foretold. With the prevailing discontents, but one course was possible. The volunteers were marched to Ottawa, where they were discharged by Gov. Reynolds, on the 27th and 28th of May. This sudden disbanding, without a battle, and with no results accomplished, was a disappointment to the young captain from Menard county. Gov. Reynolds had previously issued a call for two thousand new volunteers, to assemble at Beardstown and Hennepin. In accordance with the wishes of Lincoln and others, who were still ready to bear their share of the campaign, to its close, the Governor also asked for the formation of a volunteer regiment from those just dis- charged. Lincoln promptly enrolled himself as a private, as did also General Whiteside. Before the arrival of the other levies, a skirmishing fight with the Indians was had at Burr Oak Grove, on the 18th of June, in which the enemy was defeated, with considerable loss, and on the side of the volunteers, two killed and one wounded. LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 43 The Winnebagoes and Pottawatomies now showed a decid- edly hostile disposition toward the whites, and an inclination to join the movement of Black Hawk. Accordingly, with the appearance of the new levies, which had been divided into three regiments, and their junction with the regular and volun- teer forces already in the field the whole number of volunteers alone being thirty-two hundred the army was placed in a formidable and effective attitude for offensive warfare. Mean- time the Indian atrocities continued, their acts of signal treachery and cruelty rendering an efficient prosecution of the war, to its termination, indispensable. Galena, then a village of about four hundred inhabitants, was surrounded by the des- perate enemy, and in imminent danger of attack. Apple River Fort, twelve miles from Galena, had already been made the object of a fierce and persevering attack, by Black Hawk himself and a hundred and fifty of his warriors, and obstinately defended by twenty-five men, during fifteen hours of constant fighting, ending with the retreat of the Indians, with no slight loss. Within the fort, one man was killed and another wounded. Straggling parties of Indians, at various points, made attacks upon the whites, producing constant alarm and excitement, through that part of the country. The new forces, under command of Gen. Atkinson, of the regular army, were at length put in motion, detachments being sent out in different directions. A severe fight was had at Kellogg's Grove, in the midst of the Indian country, on the 25th of June, resulting in the retreat of the Indians, with much loss. Five whites were killed, and three wounded. A detachment under Gen. Alexander was stationed in a position to intercept the Indians, should they attempt to recross the Meanwhile, it was understood that Black Hawk had concen- trated his forces, in a fortified position, at the Four Lakes, awaiting the issue of a general battle. Gen. Atkinson moved in that direction, with all possible celerity, and encamped a mile above Turtle Village, on the open prairie, not far from Rock river, on the 30th of June. The appearance of hostile Indians, prowling around his encampment, showed that their progress 44 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN was watched, but they were not, attacked. Next day, with numerous reinforcements, Gen. 'Atkinson's troops reached Burnt Village, a Winnebago town on the Whitewater river. They were now in a strange country, in which, for want of correct information, they were obliged to advance slowly and cautiously. There were traces of hostile Indians in the vicin- ity, and next day two soldiers, at a little distance from the camp, were fired upon by them, and one seriously wounded. But from this point it was difficult to discover the trail of the enemy. Nearly two months had now passed since the opening of the campaign, and its purpose seemed as remote from accomplish- ment as ever. The new volunteers had many of them become discontented, like the former ones. Their number had in fact become reduced one-half. The wearisome marches, the delays, the privations and exposures, had proved to them that this service was no pastime, and that its romance was not what it seemed in the distance. They sickened of such service, and were glad to escape from its restraints. Not so, however, with Lincoln, who had found in reality the kind of exciting adven- ture which his spirit craved. While others murmured, and took their departure, he remained true and persistent, no less eager for the fray, or ambitious to play a genuine soldier's part, than at the beginning. To him it had been what his imagination painted, and he had a hearty earnestness in his work that kept him cheerful, and strongly attached others to him. It was not destined, however, that he should be actively engaged in any battle more serious than those encounters already mentioned. The forces were divided and dispersed in different directions, on the 10th of July, with a view to obtain- ing supplies. Two days later, news was received that Black Hawk was thirty-five miles above Gen. Atkinson, on Rock river. A plan of Generals Alexander, Henry, and others, to take him by surprise, without awaiting orders, was frustrated by their troops refusing to follow them. Gen. Henry finally set out in pursuit of the Indians, on the 15th of July, but was misled by treachery. He continued on for several days, LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 45 acquiring better information, passing the beautiful country around the Four Lakes, the present site of Madison, Wiscon- sin, and after another day's hard march came close upon the retreating Indians, and finally overtook them on the 21st. They were immediately charged upon, and 'driven along the high bluffs of the Wisconsin, and down upon the river bottom. The Indians lost sixty-eight killed, and of the large number wounded, twenty-five were afterward found dead on their trail leading to the Mississippi. The regulars, in this engagement on the Wisconsin, were commanded by Gen. (then Col.) ZACHARY TAYLOR, afterward President of the United States. Gen. Henry, of Illinois, and Col. Dodge (afterward United States Senator), were chief commanders of the volunteers. Waiting two days at the Blue Mounds, the forces still in the field were all united, and a hard pursuit resumed through the forests, down the Wisconsin. On the fourth day, they reached the Mississippi, which some of the Indians had already crossed, while the others were preparing to do so. The battle of the Bad-Ax here brought the war to a close, with the cap- ture of Black Hawk and his surviving warriors. Mr. Lincoln, as yet a youth of but twenty-three, faithfully discharged his duty to his country, as a soldier, persevering amid peculiar hardships, and against the influences of older men around him, during the three months' service of this hia first and last military campaign. Sarcastically commenting on the efforts of Gen. Cass's biog- raphers to render him conspicuous as a military hero, Mr. Lincoln, in a Congressional speech, delivered during the can- vass of 1848, made a humorous and characteristic reference to his own experiences as a soldier. We give his language on this occasion, as a suitable pendant to our sketch of this period of Mr. Lincoln's youth : (; By the way, Mr. Speaker, did you know I am a military hero? Yes, sir, in the days of the Black Hawk war, I fought, bled, and came away. Speaking of Gen. Cass's career, reminds me of my own. I was not at Stillman's defeat, but I was about as near it, as Cass to Hull's surrender ; and like him, I saw the place very soon afterward. It is quite certain I did 46 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. not break my sword, for I had none to break ; but I bent a musket pretty badly on one occasion. If Cass broke his sword, the idea is, he broke it in desperation ; I bent the musket by accident. If Gen. 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 good many bloody struggles with the musquitoes ; and although I never fainted from loss of blood, I can truly say I was often very hungry. " Mr. Speaker, if I should ever conclude to doff whatever our Democratic friends may suppose there is of black-cockade Federalism about me, and, thereupon, they should take me up as their candidate for the Presidency, I protest they shall not make fun of me as they have of Gen. Cass, by attempting to write me into a military hero." LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 47 CHAPTER Y. EIGHT YEARS IN THE LEGISLATURE OF ILLINOIS 1834-41. A New Period in Mr. Lincoln's Life. His Political Opinions. Clay and Jackson. His first Run as a Candidate for Representative. His Election in 1834. Illinois Strongly Democratic. Mr. Lincoln as a Surveyor. Land Speculation Mania. Mr. Lincoln's First Appear- ance in the Legislature. Banks and Internal Improvements. Whig Measures Democratically Botched. First Meeting of Lincoln with Douglas. The Latter Seeks an Office of the Legislature and Gets it. Mr. Lincoln Re-elected in 1836. Mr. Douglas also a Member of the House. Distinguished Associates. Internal Improvements Again. Mr. Lincoln's Views on Slavery. The Capital Removed to Springfield. The New Metropolis. The Revulsion of 1837. Mr. Lincoln Chosen for a Third Term. John Calhoun of Lecompton Memory. Lincoln the Whig Leader, and Candidate for Speaker. Close Vote. First Session at Springfield. Lincoln Re-elected in 1840. Partizan Remodeling of the Supreme Court. Lincoln Declines Further Service in the Legislature. His Position as a Statesman at the Close of this Period. A Tribune of the People. WE now approach the period of Mr. Lincoln's transition to the more natural position in which, as a professional man and a statesman, he was to attain that success and eminence for which his rare endowments fitted him. Hitherto, he had been unconsciously undergoing a varied training, the whole tendency of which, if rightly subjected afterward to a high purpose in life, could not fail to be advantageous. He had learned much of the world, and of men, and gained some true knowledge of himself. The discipline of those hard years of toil and penury, so manfully and cheerfully gone through with, was of more value to him, as time was to prove, than any heritage of wealth or of ancestral eminence could have been. Still the conflict with an adverse fortune was, to continue; but from this time 48 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. onward, a more genial future began to shape itself in tlie hopes and aspirations of the self-reliant youth. His later experi- ences had shown him more clearly that he was not to be a mere private in the great battle of life, but that he had certain qualities which could place him at the head of a column or of a brigade, if he were so minded. Nor was he indifferent to the good opinion of his fellow-men. The confessed satisfac- tion which the captaincy of a company of volunteers had given him, as the expressed preference of a hundred or two of asso- ciates for him above all others, as a leader, showed that, however distrustful as yet of his own powers, he was not without ambi- tion, or unable to appreciate popular honors. This campaign likewise, besides the excitements of varied adventure which it afforded, so much to his natural inclination, had brought him in contact with inspiring influences and associations, and had demonstrated, and doubtless improved, his powers of fixing the esteem and admiration of those around him. He had been, as is told of him, a wild sort of a boy, and in his peculiar way he had attached his associates to him to a remarkable degree. This will be seen from a circum- stance to be presently related. His horizon had been enlarged and his dreams ennobled. Meantime, it is to be remembered, that he had come home from the Black Hawk war with no definite business to resort to, and still under a necessity of devoting his chief and immediate energies to self-support. He has, then, reached a new epoch of his youth, at this date, and entered on another distinct period of his history. Proof of this we shall find in the fact that he became, on returning home, a candidate for representative in the State Legislature, the election of which was close at hand. A youth of twenty-three, and not at all generally known through the county, or able, in the brief time allowed, to make him- self so, it may have an appearance of presumption for him to have allowed the use of his name as a candidate. He was not elected, certainly, and could hardly have thought such an event possible ; yet the noticeable fact remains that he received so wonderful a vote in his own precinct, where he was best if not almost exclusively known, as may almost be said to LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 49 have made his fortune. His preciuct (he had now settled in Sangamon county) was strongly for Jackson, while Lincoln had, from the start, warmly espoused the cause of Henry Clay. The State election occurred in August, and the Presidential election two or three mouths later, the same season. Political feeling ran high, at this the second election (as it proved) of Jackson. Notwithstanding this, such was the popularity which young Lincoln had brought home with him from the war, that out of the two hundred and eighty -four votes cast in his precinct, two hundred and seventy-seven the entire vote wanting seven were cast for him. Yet, a little later in the same canvass, Gen. Jackson received a majority of one hundred and fifty-five for the Presidency, from the very same men, over Mr. Clay, whose cause Lincoln was known to favor. So marked an indication as this of his personal power to draw votes, made him a political celebrity at once. In future elec- tions it became a point with aspirants to seek to combine his strength in their favor, by placing Lincoln's name on their ticket, to secure his battalion of voters. When he was elected to the Legislature for the first time, two years later, his major- ity ranged about two hundred votes higher than the rest of the ticket on which he ran. Such was the beginning of Mr. Lincoln's political life, almost in his boyhood. This is the proper place to pause and review, in a brief way, the state of political affairs in Illinois, at the time of his first appearance upon this public arena. We shall find the revolution which has been wrought Mr. Lin- coln, though for long years in an apparently hopeless minority in the State, having been always a foremost leader on the side opposed to the Democracy to be scarcely less remarkable than his youthful successes at the polls. At the date of Mr. Lincoln's arrival when just of age in the State of Illinois, Gen. Jackson was in the midst of his first Presidential term. Since 1826 every general election in that State had resulted decisively in favor of his friends. In August, 1830, the first election after Lincoln became a resident of the State, and before he was a qualified voter, the only rival candidates for Governor, were both of the same 5 50 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. strongly predominant party. The Legislature then elected had a large majority on that side. In 1832, Gen. Jackson received the electoral vote of Illinois, for the second time, by a decisive majority. The Legislature of 1834 was so strongly Democratic, that the Whig members did not have any candidates of their own, in organizing the House, but chose rather to exercise the little power they had in favor of such Democratic candidate as they preferred. Against such, odds, as we shall see, the opponents of that party struggled long and in vain. Even the great political tornado which swept over so large a portion of the Union in 1840, made no decisive impression upon Illinois. In spite of all these diffi- culties and discouragements, Mr. Lincoln adhered steadily to his faith, never once dreaming of seeking profit in compliance, or in a compromise of his honest principles. Henry Clay was his model as a statesman, and always continued such, while any issues were left to contend for, of the celebrated American system of the great Kentuckian. During the time Mr. Lincoln was pursuing his law studies, and making his first practical acquaintance with political life, he turned his attention to the business of a surveyor as a means of support. The mania for speculation in Western lands and lots was beginning to spread over the country at this time ; and while our young student of law had neither means nor inclination to embark in any such enterprise for himself, it was the means of bringing him some profitable employment with the chain and compass. From the earliest grand center of these operations in land and town lots, Chicago, which had also itself furnished, even then, most remarkable examples of fortunes easily made, the contagion spread everywhere through the State. Towns and cities without number were laid out in all directions, and innumerable fortunes were made, in anti- cipation, by the purchase of lots in all sorts of imaginary cities? during the four or five years preceding the memorable crisis and crash of 1837. It was during the year previous to that consummation, that this business had reached its hight in Illinois. With the revulsion, came also a brief period of adversity to the successful surveyor, whose occupation was now LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 51 gone. It is said that even his surveying instruments were sold under the hammer. But this cha^e only served to estab- lish him more exclusively and permanently in his profession of the law. Mr. Lincoln's first election to the Illinois Legislature, as has heen stated, was in 1834. His associates on the ticket were Major John T. Stuart (two or three years later elected to Congress), John Dawson and William Carpenter. All were decided Clay men, or, as the party in that State was first styled, Democratic Republicans. About this time, the name of Whigs had begun to be their current designation. Lincoln was the youngest member of this Legislature, with the single exception of Hon. Jesse K. Dubois, of Lawrence county, now Auditor of State in Illinois, who served with him during his entire legislative career. He had not yet acquired position as a lawyer, or even been admitted to the bar, and had his reputation to make, no less, as a politician and orator. At this time he was very plain in his costume, as well as rather uncourtly in his address and general appearance. His clothing was of homely Kentucky jean, and the first impression made by his tall, lank ^gure, upon those who saw him, was not specially prepossessing. He had not outgrown his hard backwoods experience, and showed no inclination to disguise or to cast behind him the honest and manly, though unpolished characteristics of his earlier days. Never was a man further removed from all snobbish affectation. As little was there, also, of the demagogue art of assuming an uncouthness or rusticity of manner and outward habit, with the mistaken notion of thus securing particular favor as " one of the masses." He chose to appear then, as he has at all times since, precisely what he was. His deportment was unassuming, though without any awkwardness of reserve. During this, his first session in the Legislature, he was taking lessons, as became his youth and inexperience, and preparing himself for the future, by close observation and attention to business, rather than by a prominent participation in debate. He seldom or never took the floor to speak, although before the close of this and the succeeding special session of the same Legislature, he had shown, as previously 52 LIFE OK ABRAHAM LINCOLN. in every other capacity in which he was engaged, qualities that clearly pointed to him as fitted to act a leading part. One of his associates from Sangamon county, Maj. Stuart, was now the most prominent member on the Whig side of the House. The organization of this Legislature was of course in the hands of the Democrats. The Speaker was Hon. James Semple, afterward United States Senator. In the selection of his committees, he assigned Lincoln the second place on the Committee on Public Accounts and Expenditures, as if with an intuition, in advance of acquaintance, of the propriety of setting " Honest Abe " to look after the public treasury. Hon. Joseph Duncan, then a member of Congress, had been elected Governor at the same time this Legislature was chosen, over Mr. Kinney, also a Democrat, and of what was then termed the "whole hog " Jackson school. Notwithstanding the strong preponderance of the Democrats in both branches of the Legis- lature, and in the State, it is noticeable that in the distinguish- ing measures of Whig policy, in this as in subsequent years, the minority found their principles repeatedly in the ascendant, though, unable to control the details of their practical applica- tion. This was true more particularly in regard to banks and internal improvements. Though inferior in numbers, the Whigs had superiority in ability, and in the real popularity and genuine democracy of their doctrines. General attention had now come to be strongly fixed upon the remarkable natural advantages and resources of the new State of Illinois. Land speculation, as we have seen, had already begun to bring in Eastern money, and the population was rapidly increasing. According to the Whig policy, it now became desirable that every proper and reasonable legislative aid should be afforded to further the development of the latent power of this young commonwealth, and its progress toward the high rank among the States of the Mississippi valley, which had been indicated and provided for by nature. Despite the strong Democratic predominancy in this Legislature, therefore, a new State bank, with a capital of one million and five hun- dred thousand dollars, was incorporated, and the Illinois bank at Shawneetown, which had suspended for twelve years, wag LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 63 rechartered, with a capital of three hundred thousand dollars. It is to be noticed, however, that this bank legislation, just like that of many other States, similarly circumstanced, while it fully indorsed the Whig policy, in its fundamental principle, was by no means so skillfully done or so safely guarded as it should have been, and habitually was done in those States where the Whigs were in the ascendant. Whatever troubles have accrued in Illinois, under this head, have been chiefly due to the fact that Whig measures were not rightly shaped and executed by Democratic hands. Whig measures, framed and carried out by Democrats, have too often ended in a mere botch. At the same time, it is observable that these imperfect, yet plausible concessions to the public welfare, have often saved the Democratic party, at the expense of the real interest involved. The State bank charter passed the House of Representatives by one majority. This Legislature also gave some attention to what are technically called internal improvements within the State. In behalf of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, the company for constructing which had been incorporated in 1825, a loan was agitated at the first session. Congress had granted for this work, in 1826, about 300,000 acres of land on the proposed route of the canal. But for a special message of Gov. Duncan, maintaining that the desired loan could be effected on a pledge of these canal lands alone, it is probable that the loan bill, reported by a Senator from Sangamon county, named George Forquer, would have passed. At the next session, in 1835, this measure was carried, a bill pledging the credit of the State in behalf of the Canal Company, to the amount originally pro- posed, having become a law. The loan was negotiated by Gov. Duncan the next year, and the work on "this important canal was commenced in June, 1836. At the same special session, a large number of railroads, without State aid, were chartered, in- cluding the Illinois Central and the Galena and Chicago routes. It is hardly necessary to state more distinctly that these measures, securing, with all the defects of their origin, immense benefits to the people of Illinois, and in their spirit accordant with the great principles of the " American system," were sup- 54 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. ported by Mr. Lincoln and his Whig associates. Not what they desired, these measures were yet the nearest approach to their wishes that could be obtained of the majority. It was during the regular session of this Legislature, that Stephen A. Douglas, not himself a member, became first known to Mr. Lincoln. Late in the year 1833, Mr. Douglas, then in his twenty-first year, had migrated to Illinois (Vermont being his native State), and commenced teaching a district school in Winchester, Scott county. During the succeeding year, he gave a portion of his time to the study of law, taking part also in the political affairs of his locality. The Legislature, at this session, had taken from the Governor the power of appointing State's attorneys for the several judicial districts, and provided that these officers should be elected by the Legislature, in joint convention. Though he had been but a little more than a year in the State, and was scarcely to be regarded as an expert in the profession of the law, Mr. Douglas presented himself before the Legislature as a candidate for State's attorney for the first judicial district, against Mr. Hardin, a distinguished lawyer, then in office. The movement was so adroit, that the youthful advocate distanced his unsuspecting competitor, receiving thirty- eight votes to thirty-six cast against him. At this time, young Douglas was as thin in flesh as he is short in stature. Mr. Lincoln has since remarked, that on this the first occasion of their meeting, Douglas " had no flesh on him," and was physi- cally " the least man he ever saw." In 1836, Mr. Lincoln was elected for a second term, as one of the seven representatives from Sangamon county. Among his associates were Mr. Dawson, re-elected, and Ninian W. Edwards. Mr. Douglas was one of the representatives from Morgan county (to which he had recently removed), and along with him Mr. Hardin, whom he had managed to supersede as State's attorney in 1835. The latter (who was subsequently in Congress, and who fell at Buena Vista) was the only Whig elected from that county, the other five representatives being Demo- crats. This canvass in Morgan county is memorable for introducing in Illinois, through the aid of Douglas, the convention system, the benefit of which he was subsequently LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 55 to reap in the local contests of that State. He had been put on the representative ticket to fill a vacancy occasioned by the declinature of one of the candidates, having failed himself in this instance to secure a nomination from the convention. He was never again elected to the Legislature, having in fact vacated his seat after the first session, and accepted the federal appointment of Register in the land office at Springfield. In this body, as in that which immediately preceded, the Democrats had a decided majority. Gen. Semple was re-elected Speaker. Mr. Lincoln was assigned a place on the Com- mittee of Finance. In addition to those we have already named, the House included many men of ability, who have been distinguished in the politics of the State or of the nation, among whom were James Shields, Augustus C. French, Robert Smith, John Dougherty, TV. A. Richardson, and John A. Mc- Clernand. At the two sessions of this Legislature, in 1836 and '37, Mr. Lincoln came forward more prominently in debate, gradually becoming recognized as the leading man on the Whig side. The subject of internal improvements became one of the most prominent ones before this Legislature, as had happened with the last. Of this policy, in a judiciously guarded form, Mr. Lincoln had been from the first a staunch and efficient advocate. He held it to be the duty of Government to extend its fostering aid, in every Constitutional way, and to a reason- able extent, to whatever enterprise of public utility required such assistance, in order to the fullest development of the natural resources, and to the most rapid healthful growth of the State. The Democratic party, while professing the let- alone (laissez-faire) principle in general, was compelled to fol- low pretty closely in the wake of its adversary, in some of its most distinctive features of public policy. The question of internal improvements was one of these. And while the Dem- ocrats had a decided majority of the members of each House, it was understood that, by the aid of pledges made contrary to Democratic teaching in general, a majority for liberal legisla- tion in regard to internal improvements had likewise been secured. The business, in fact, under the grand excitement of 66 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. the flush times of 1836, was somewhat overdone, and through subsequent mismanagement and the revulsion of the next yar, matters were eventually made still worse. The voice of the people was overwhelmingly in favor of the legislation which was granted. Even Whigs like Mr. Lincoln, were outstripped by some ardent Democrats Mr. Douglas among them in zeal for these improvements ; they having unfortunately, as noticed in the case of hank-legislation, in appropriating the principle, failed to understand its most skillful and safe application in practice. >' * At the first session of 1836-7, about 1,300 miles of* railroad were provided for, in various quarters, the completion of the Illi- nois and Michigan Canal, from Chicago to Peru, and the im- provement of the navigation of the Kaskaskia, Illinois, Rock, and Great and Little Wabash rivers ; requiring in all a loan of $8,000,000. This included the novel appropriation of $200,000 to be distributed among those counties through which none of the proposed improvements were to be made. The system voted by the Legislature was on a most magnificent scale, such as New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio or Indiana had not surpassed. This system of internal improvement, with Democratic varia- tions, having scarcely been inaugurated when the crash of 1837 came, did not entirely correspond in practice with what it had promised in theory. There was also a considerable addition made to the banking capital of the State at this session. During the winter, resolutions of an extreme Southern char- acter, on the slavery question, were introduced, and, after dis- cussion, adopted by the Democratic majority. The attempt was, of course, made to affix a character of abolitionism to all those who refused assent to these extreme views. At that time, the public sentiment of the North was not aroused on the subject, as it became a few years later, in consequence of pro-slavery aggressions. Yet Mr. Lincoln refused to vote for these resolutions, and exercised his Constitutional privilege, along with one of his colleagues from Sangamon county, of entering upon the Journal of the House his reasons for thua acting. As showing his sentiments twenty-three years ago, LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 57 on this now so prominent national question, the protest referred to, as it appears on the journal, is here appended in full : MARCH 3d, 1837. The following protest was presented to the House, which was read and ordered to be spread on the journals, to wit: " Resolutions upon the subject of domestic slavery having passed both branches of the General Assembly, at its present session, the undersigned hereby protest against the passage of the same. " They believe that the institution of slavery is founded on both injustice and bad policy ; but that the promulgation of abolition doctrines tends rather to increase than abate its evils. " They believe that the Congress of the United States has no power, under the Constitution, to interfere with the institu- tion of slavery in the different States. " They believe that the Congress of the United States has the power, under the Constitution, to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia ; but that the power ought not to be exercised, unless at the request of the people of said District. " The difference between these opinions and those contained in the said resolutions, is their reason for entering this protest. " (Signed) " DAN STONE, " A. LINCOLN, " Representatives from the County of Sangamon" On the formation of the separate Territory of Illinois, in 1809, Kaskaskia, perhaps the oldest town in all the Western country, had been designated as the capital. Such it con- tinued to be until Illinois was admitted into the Union as a State, in 1818, when Vandalia, far up the Kaskaskia river, was laid out as the new capital. For some time it continued to be relatively a central location. But during several years preceding 1837, the middle and northern portions of the State had filled so rapidly that the propriety of a removal of the capital to a point nearer the geographical center had become manifestly expedient. At this session, accordingly, an act was passed changing the seat of government to Spring- field, the principal town in the interior of the State, from and after the 4th day of July, 1839. To the people of Sangamon county, whom Mr. Lincoln represented, this was of course a 6 58 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. most satisfactory measure, and by the State at large it was received with general approbation. Vandalia, which had reached a population of about two thousand, dwindled away for a time, until it had but about one-fourth that number of inhabitants, though of late years it has revived. Springfield has steadily advanced, since this period, and is one of the most beautiful interior towns of the West. The prairie coun- try for scores of miles around is as charming in appearance and as fertile in its productions as any tract of like extent on the face of the earth. It is greatly to the credit of Mr. Lin- coln's good taste and sagacity that, when he came to his majority, he fixed upon such a locality for his home, fore- seeing for this spot a successful future, to which ( altogether beyond his anticipation ) his influence, in 1836, added a material advantage, and his presence, in 1860, gives a national luster of renown. The financial disasters of the spring of 1837, were the occasion of an extra session of the Legislature of Illinois in July of that year. The Governor asked for the legalization of the suspension of specie payments by the banks of the State, which a majority of both Houses granted. He also asked a repeal or modification of the internal improve- ment system, which was refused. The condition of affairs was deemed critical, and particularly so to the prospects of the Democratic party, which had just been congratulating itself on the election and inauguration of the successor of Gen. Jackson, Martin Van Buren, as President. In Illinois, that party had held unbroken and decisive sway, from the days of the younger Adams down. Whatever looseness of legislation had contributed to these evils at home, they were responsible for. And in the nation, the political dangers were felt to be imminent so much so that the President had called an extra session of Congress. There was a want of Democratic har- mony, however, at Washington and at Vandalia. The doctors of the party sat in council at the latter place, during the special session, but in the Legislature they only accomplished what has been stated. It now required the most desper- ate exertions to save the Democracy from defeat, and the LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 59 Whigs actively followed up their advantages. So overwhelm- ing had been the strength of their opponents, however, from the time that Mr. Lincoln first appeared on the political stage, and long before, that, while a great change was visible in the results of the next election, the revolution was not yet to be completed. In 1838, Mr. Lincoln was for the third time elected a repre- sentative in the Legislature, for the two years ensuing. Among the other six representatives of Sangamon county was John Calhoun, since notorious for his connection with the Lecompton Constitution. Availing himself of some local issue or other, and being a man of conceded ability, of highly respectable Whig antecedents and connections, he had slipped in by a small majority, crowding out the lowest candidate on the Whig ticket. The remaining five were Whigs, including E. D. Baker, Ninian W. Edwards, and A. McCormick. The strength of the two parties in the House was nearly evenly balanced, the Democrats having only three or four majority, rendering this unexpected gain particularly acceptable. So well recognized was now the position of Mr. Lincoln in his party that, by general consent, he received the Whig vote for the Speakership. There was a close contest, his Demo- cratic competitor being Col. William Lee D. Ewing, who had served with Lincoln in the Black Hawk war. On the fourth ballot, Ewing had a majority of one over all others, two Whigs (including Mr. Lincoln) and two Democrats having scattered their votes. At the State election, in August, 1838, the Whig candidate for Governor made an excellent run, but was defeated by Thomas Carlin, Democrat. State affairs were hardly brought in issue in the general canvass. A majority of the Legisla- ture, at the first session, was opposed to the repeal or modifi- cation of the public works system, but voted additional expenditures thereon, to the amount of $800,000. At a special session, however, this body repealed the system, and made provisions for its gradual winding up. Mr. Lincoln, as the Whig leader, had his position on the Committee on Finance, and exerted his influence in favor of wise counsels, 60 LIPE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. and such a determination of affairs as would best remedy the evils resulting from this loose Democratic tampering with measures of Whig policy. Aside from these financial questions, there were few matters of any general interest before this Legislature. This session of 1838-9 was the last held at Vandalia. A special session in 1839, inaugurated the new state-house at Springfield. The great contest of 1840 was already casting its shadow before, and began chiefly to engross the attention of persons in polit- ical life. Whig candidates for electors were nominated in November of this year, and discussions commenced in earnest. Mr. Lincoln who was deemed one of the strongest champions of the cause before the people, was repeatedly called on to encounter the foremost advocates of the Democratic party what no man in Illinois, it was now manifest, could do more successfully. For the fourth time in succession, Mr. Lincoln was elected to the Legislature in 1840 the last election to that position which he woulo 1 consent to accept from his strongly attached constituents of Sangamon county. In this Legislature, like all previous ones in which he had served, the Democrats had a majority in both branches, and the responsibility of all legislation was with them. It was at this session that, to over- rule a decision unacceptable to Democrats, and for political and personal reasons of common notoriety in Illinois, the judicial system of the State was changed, at the instigation of Douglas, against the judgment of many leading Dem- ocrats, and five new judges, of whom Mr. Douglas was one, were added to the Supreme Court of the State. This is now generally felt to be a measure conferring little credit upon those concerned in concocting the scheme, and was never heartily approved by the people. There was but one session during the two years for which this Legislature was chosen. Mr. Lincoln, as in the last, was the acknowledged Whig leader, and the candidate of his party for Speaker. First elected at twenty-five, he had continued in office without interruption so long as his inclination allowed, and until, by his uniform courtesy and kindness of manners, LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 61 his marked ability, and his straight-forward integrity, he had won an enviable repute throughout the State, and was vir- tually, when but a little past thirty, placed at the head of his party in Illinois. Begun in comparative obscurity, and without any adven- titious aids in its progress, this period of his life, at its termination, had brought him to a position where he was secure in the confidence of the people, and prepared, in due time, to enter upon a more enlarged and brilliant career, as a national statesman. His fame as a close and convincing debater was established. His native talent as an orator had at once been demonstrated and disciplined. His zeal and earnestness in behalf of a party whose principles he believed to be right, had rallied strong troops of political friends about him, while his unfeigned modesty and his unpretending and simple bearing, in marked contrast with that of so many impe- rious leaders, had won him general and lasting esteem. He preferred no claim as a partizan, and showed no overweening anxiety to advance himself, but was always a disinterested and generous co-worker with his associates, only ready to accept the post of honor and of responsibility, when it was clearly their will, and satisfactory to the people whose interests were involved. At the close of this period, with scarcely any con- sciousness of the fact himself, and with no noisy demonstra- tions or flashy ostentation in his behalf from his friends, he was really one of the foremost political men in the State. A keen observer might even then have predicted a great future for the " Sangamon Chief," as people have been wont to call him ; and only such an observer, perhaps, would then have adequately estimated his real power as a natural orator, a sagacious statesman, and a gallant TRIBUNE OF THE PEOPLE. LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. CHAPTER VI. HIS SETTLEMENT AT SPRINGFIELD AND HIS MAR- RIAGE. 1837-42. Mr. Lincoln's Law Studies. His Perseverance under Adverse Circum- stances. Licensed to Practice in 1836. His Progress in his Pro- fession. His Qualities as an Advocate. A Romantic and Exciting Incident in his Practice. A Reminiscence of his Early Life. He Renders a Material Service to the Family of an Old Friend. Secures an Acquittal in a Murder Case, in Spite of a Strong Popular Preju- dice Unjustly Excited Against the Prisoner. An Affecting Scene. Mr. Lincoln Removes to Springfield in 1837. Devotes Himself to his Profession, Giving up Political Life. His Marriage. The Family of Mrs. Lincohi. Fortunate Domestic Relations. His Children and their Education. Denominational Tendencies. Four Dears' Retirement. DURING the time of his service in the Legislature, Mr. Lincoln was busily engaged in mastering the profession of law. This he was, indeed, compelled to do somewhat at inter- vals, and with many disadvantages, from the necessity he was under to support himself meanwhile by his own labor, to say nothing of the attention he was compelled to give to politics, by the position he had accepted. Nothing, however, could pre- vent his consummating his purpose. He completed his prelim- inary studies, and was licensed to practice in 1836. His repu- tation was now such that he found a good amount of business, and began to rise to the front rank in his profession. He was a most effective jury advocate, and manifested a ready perception and a sound judgment of the turning legal points of a case. His clear, practical sense, and his skill in homely or humorous illustration, were noticeable traits in his argu- ments. The graces and the cold artificialities of a polished rhetoric, he certainly had not, nor did he aim to acquire them. His style of expression and the cast of his thought were his own, having all the native force of a genuine originality. LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 63 The following incident, of which the narration is believed to be substantially accurate, is from the pen of one who professes to write from personal knowledge. It is given in this connection, as at once illustrating the earlier struggles of Mr. Lincoln in acquiring his profession, the character of his forensic efforts, and the generous gratitude and disinterestedness of his nature : Having chosen the law as his future calling, he devoted himself assiduously to its mastery, contending at every step with adverse fortune. During this period of study, he for some time found a home under the hospitable roof of one Arm- strong, a farmer, who lived in a log house some eight miles from the village of Petersburg, in Menard county. Here, young Lincoln would master his lessons by the firelight of the cabin, and then walk to town for the purpose of recitation. This man Armstrong was himself poor, but he saw the genius struggling in the young student, and opened to him his rude home, and bid him welcome to his coarjMrfare. How Lincoln graduated with promise how he has more than fulfilled that promise how honorably he acquitted himself, alike on the battle-field, in defending our border settlements against the ravages of savage foes, and in the halls of our national legis- lature, are matters of history, and need no repetition here. But one little incident, of a more private nature, standing as it does as a sort of sequel to some things already alluded to, I deem worthy of record. Some few years since, the oldest son of Mr. Lincoln's old friend Armstrong, the chief support 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 preliminary 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 im- proper incident in the life of the prisoner each act which bore the least semblance of rowdyism each schoolboy quarrel was suddenly remembered and magnified, until they pictured him as a fiend of the most horrid hue. As these rumors spread abroad, they were received as gospel truth, and a fever- ish desire for vengeance seized upon the infatuated populace, while only prison-bars prevented a horrible death at the 64 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. hands of a mob. The events were heralded in the news- 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 in which he found himself placed, fell into a melancholy condi- tion, bordering upon despair; and the widowed mother, look- ing through her tears, saw no cause for hope from earthly aid. At this juncture, the widow received a letter from Mr. Lincoln, volunteering his services in an effort to save the youth from the impending stroke. Gladly was his aid accepted, although it seemed impossible for even his sagacity to prevail in such a desperate case ; but the heart of the attorney was in his work, and he set about it with a will that knew no such word as fail. Feeling that the poisoned condition of the pub- lic mind was such as to preclude the possibility of impannel- ing 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 unraveling 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 falsehoods. 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 inno- cence, in the justice of the God she worshiped, and in the noble counsel, who, without hope of fee or reward upon earth, had undertaken the cause took his seat in the prisoner's box, and with a " stony firmness " listened to the reading of the indictment. Lincoln sat quietly by, while the large auditory looked on him as though wondering what he could say in defense 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 extri- cation. The counsel for the defense propounded but few questions, and those of a character which excited no uneasi- ness on t the part of the prosecutor merely, in most cases, requiring the main witness to be definite as to time and place. When the evidence of the prosecution was ended, Lincoln introduced a few witnesses to remove some erroneous impres- sions in regard to the previous character of his client, who, though somewhat rowdyish, had never been known to com- mit a vicious act; and to show that a greater degree of ill- feeing existed between the accuser and the accused, than the LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 65 1 . accused and the deceased. The prosecutor felt that the case was a clear one, and his opening speech was brief and format. Lincoln arose, while a deathly silence pervaded the vast audi- ence, and in a clear but moderate tone began his 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, ho saw the prisoner inflict the death blow with a slung-shot. Mr. Lincoln showed, that at the hour referred to, the moon had not yet appeared above the horizon, and consequently the whole talc was 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 achieve- ment. His whole being had for months been bound up in this work of gratitude and mercy, and, as the lava of the over- charged crater bursts from its imprisonment, so great thoughts and burning words leaped forth from the soul of the eloquent Lincoln. He drew a picture of the perjurer, so horrid and ghastly that the accuser could sit under it no longer, but reeled and staggered from the court-room, while the audience fancied they could see the brand upon his brow. Then in words of thrilling pathos, Lincoln appealed to the jurors, as fathers of sons who might become fatherless, and as husbands of wives who might be widowed, to yield to no previous impres- sions, 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 freeman. The jury retired, and the court adjourned for the day. Half an hour had not elapsed, when, as the officers of the court and the volunteer attorney sat at the tea-table of their hotel, a messen- ger announced that the jury had returned to their seats. All repaired immediately to the court-house, and while the prisoner was being brought from the jail, the court-room was filled to overflowing with citizens of the town. When the prisoner and his mother entered, silence reigned as completely as though the house were empty. The foreman 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 6 66 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. and innocent. Then, with the words, " Where is Mr. Lin- coln ? " he rushed across the room and grasped the hand of hia deliverer, while 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 uawet by tears, and I turned from the affecting scene. As I cast a glance behind, I saw Abraham Lincoln obeying the divine injunction, by comforting the widowed and the fatherless. On becoming well established in his profession, Mr. Lincoln took up his permanent residence at Springfield, the county seat of Sangarnon county. This occurred in the spring imme- diately following the passage of the act removing the State capitol to that place, but more than two years before it was to go into effect. The date at which he became settled in Spring- field, which has ever since been the place of his residence, was April 15, 1837. For several years after this removal, Mr. Lincoln remained a bachelor, and was an inmate of the family of the Hon. William Butler, the present Treasurer of the State. For three or four years he continued to represent his county in the Legislature, but after 1840, he refused further public service, with a view to the exclusive pursuit of his profession, the highest success in which he could not hope to obtain while giving so much of his time, as had been hitherto required of him, to political affairs. On the 4th of November, 1842, Mr. Lincoln was married to Miss MARY TODD, daughter of the Hon. Kobert S. Todd, of Lexington, Kentucky. This lady is one of four sisters, tho eldest of whom had previously married the Hon. Ninian W. Edwards, and settled at Springfield. All have since married, and reside in the same town. No man was ever more for- tunate in his domestic relations than Mr. Lincoln has been ; the accomplished manners and social tastes of his wife, which make her a general favorite, being not less conspicuous than her devotion to her family, and her care to render their home cheerful and happy, as well as cordially hospitable to all. They have three children boys; the eldest of whom is in LITE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 67 his seventeenth year, and the others respectively nine and seven. Another boy, the second child, died when about four years old. The surviving sons have been well trained, and their education very particularly cared for. The oldest has been for some time past fitting for college at Exeter Academy, New Hampshire, and enters Harvard University the present season. It is proper to add here that Mrs. Lincoln is a Presbyterian by education and profession (two of her sisters are Episcopa- lians), and that her husband, though not a member, is a liberal supporter of the church to which she belongs. It should fur- ther be stated that the Sunday-School, and other benevolent enterprises associated with these church relations, find in him a constant friend. In this quiet domestic happiness, and in the active practice of his profession, with its round of ordinary duties, and with its exceptional cases of a more general public interest, Mr. Lin- coln disappears for the time from political life. Its peculiar excitements, indeed, were not foreign to the stirring and adventurous nature which, as we have seen, was his by inher- itance. Nor could the people, and the party of which he was BO commanding a leader, long consent to his retirement. Yet such was his prudent purpose now especially, with a family to care for ; and to this he adhered, with only occasional exceptions, until, four years after his marriage, he was elected to Congress. ^ LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. CHAPTER VII. CAKVASSES OP 1844 AND 1846. Mr. Lincoln's Devotion to Henry Clay. The Presidential Nomina- tions of 1844. The Campaign in Illinois. Mr. Lincoln Makes an Active Canvass for Clay. John Calboun the leading Polk Elector. The Tariff Issue Thoroughly Discussed. Method of Conducting the Canvass. The Whigs of Illinois in a Hopeless Minority. Mr. Lincoln's Reputation as a Whig Champion. Renders Efficient Service in Indiana. Mr. Clay's Defeat and the Consequences. Mr. Lincoln a Candidate for Congressman in 1846. President Polk's Administra- tion. Condition of the Country. Texas Annexation, the Mexican War and the Tariff. Political Character of the Springfield District. Mr. Lincoln Elected by an Unprecedented Majority. His Personal Popularity Demonstrated. ME. LINCOLN had, from his first entrance into political life, recognized Henrj Clay as his great leader and instructor in statesmanship. His reverence and attachment for the great Kentuckian had been unlimited and enthusiastic. When, there- fore, Mr. Clay had been nominated by acclamation for the Presi- dency by the National Whig Convention, held at Baltimore on the 1st of May, 1844, and when a Democrat of the most offen- sive school was put in nomination against him, Mr. Lincoln yielded to the demands of the Whigs of Illinois, and, for the first time breaking over the restrictions he had placed upon himself in regard to the exclusive pursuit of his profession, he consented to take a leading position in canvassing the State as an elector. In a State that had stood unshaken in its Dem- ocratic position, while so many others had been revolutionized during the great political tempest of 1840, there was, of course, no hope of immediate success. It was deemed an opportunity not to be lost, however, for maintaining and strengthening the Whig organization, and a spirited canvass was consequently made. LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 69 On the Democratic side, John Calhoun, then one of the strongest and most popular speakers of that party, and in many respects quite another man than he subsequently became, held the laboring oar for Mr. Polk. Mr. Lincoln traversed various parts of the State, attracting large audiences and keep- ing their fixed attention for hours, as he held up to admiration the character and doctrines of Henry Clay, and contrasted them with those of his Presidential opponent. On the tariff question, which was the chief issue in Illinois that year, he was particu- larly elaborate, strongly enforcing the great principles on which the protective system, as maintained by Clay, was based. He had always a fund of anecdote and illustration, with which to relieve his close logical disquisitions, and to elucidate and enforce his views in a manner perfectly intelligible, as well as pleasing to all classes of hearers. This campaign, so barren in immediate results, as it was expected to be in Illinois, was not without its excellent fruits, ultimately, to the party. It had also the effect of establishing Mr. Lincoln's reputation as a political orator, on a still broader and more permanent foun- dation. From this time forward he was widely known as one of the soundest and most effective of Whig champions in the West After doing in Illinois all that could have been required of one man, had this arena been of the most promising descrip- tion, Mr. Lincoln crossed the Wabash, at the desire of the people of his former State, and contributed largely toward turning the tide of battle for Clay in that really hopeful field. Here he worked most efficiently, losing no opportunity up to the very eve of the election. In Indiana, those efforts have not been forgotten, but will be freshly called to mind, at this juncture, by great numbers of Old Whigs in Southern Indiana. If any event, more heartily than another, could have dis- couraged Mr. Lincoln from again participating in political affairs, it was the disastrous result, in the nation at large, of this canvass of 1844. He felt it more keenly than he could have done if it were a mere personal reverse. Mr. Clay was defeated, contrary to the ardent hopes, and even expectations 70 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. of his friends, down to the last moment. With the causes and the consequences which followed that event, the impartial historian, at some future day, can more candidly and philosophically speak than any of those who shared in this disappointment. That the election of Mr. Polk over Mr. Clay, made the subse- quent political history of our country far different from what it would have been with the opposite result, all will concede. Two years later, in 1846, Mr. Lincoln was induced to accept the Whig nomination for Congress in the Sangamon District. Tho annexation of Texas had, in the mean time, been con- summated. The Mexican war had been begun, and was still in progress. The Whig tariff of 1842 had just been repealed. This latter event had been accomplished in the Senate by the casting vote of Mr. DALLAS, the Vice President, and with the official approval of Mr. POLK, the President, both of whom had been elected by the aid of Pennsylvania, and had carried the vote of that State solely by being passed off upon the people as favoring the maintenance of the tariff which they thus destroyed. The Springfield district had given Mr. Clay a majority of 914 in 1844, on the most thorough canvass. It gave Mr. Lin- coln a majority of 1,511, which was entirely unprecedented^ and has been unequaled by that given there for any opposition candidate, for any office since. The nearest approach was in 1848, when Gen. Taylor, on a much fuller vote than that of 1846, and receiving the votes of numerous returned Mexican volunteers, of Democratic faith, and who had served under him in Mexico, obtained a majority of 1,501. In the same year (1848) Mr. Logan, the popular Whig candidate, was beaten by Col. Thomas L. Harris, Democrat, by 106 majority. There was no good reason to doubt, in advance, that Mr. Lincoln would have been elected by a handsome majority, had he con- sented to run for another term, nor has it been questionable, since the result became known, that the strong personal popularity of Mr. Lincoln would have saved the district. It was redeemed by Richard Yates in 1850, who carried his election by less than half the majority (754) which Mr. Lin- coln had received in 1846. The district, since its recoustruc- LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 71 tion, following the census of 1850, has been Democratic. Under all the circumstances, therefore, the vote for Mr. Lin- coln was a remarkable one, showing that he possessed a rare degree of strength with the people. His earnest sincerity of manner always strongly impressed those whom he addressed. They knew him to be a man of strong moral convictions. An opponent intended a sneer at this trait (of which he him- self was never suspected), when he called Mr. Lincoln "conscientious." There was a universal confidence in his honest integrity, such as has been rarely extended to men so prominent in political life. The longer he was tried as a public servant, the more his constituents became attached to him. A popularity thus thoroughly grounded is not to be destroyed by the breezes of momentary passion or prejudice, or materially affected by any idle fickleness of the populace. 72 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. CHAPTER VIII. MR. LINCOLN IN CONGRESS. 1847-49. The Thirtieth Congress Its Political Character The Democracy in a Minority in the House. Robert C. Winthrop Elected Speaker. Distinguished Members in both Houses. Mr. Lincoln takes his Seat as a Member of the House, and Mr. Douglas for the first time as a Member of the Senate, at the same Session. Mr. Lincoln's Congres- sional Record, thatof a Clay and Webster Whig. The Mexican War. Mr. Lincoln's Views on the Subject. Misrepresentations. Not an Available Issue for Mr. Lincoln's Opponents. His Resolutions of Inquiry in regard to the Origin of the War. Mr. Richardson's Reso- lutions Indorsing the Administration. Mr. Hudson's Resolutions for an Immediate Discontinuance of the War. Voted Against by Mr. Lincoln. Resolutions of Thanks to Gen. Taylor. Mr. Henley's Amendment, and Mr. Ashmun's Addition thereto. Resolutions Adopted without Amendment. Mr. Lincoln's First Speech in Con- gress, on the Mexican War. Mr. Lincoln on Internal Improvements. A Characteristic Campaign Speech Mr. Lincoln on the Nomination of Gen. Taylor ; the Veto Power ; National Issues ; President and People; the Wilmot Proviso; Platforms; Democratic Sympathy for Clay ; Military Heroes and Exploits ; Cass a Progressive ; Extra Pay ; the Whigs and the Mexican War; Democratic Divisions. Close of the Session. Mr. Lincoln on the Stump. Gen. Taylor's Election. Second Session of the Thirtieth Congress. Slavery in the District of Colum- bia. The Public Lands. Mr. Lincoln as a Congressman. He Retires to Private Life. MR. LINCOLN took his seat in the National House of Rep- resentatives on the 6th day of December, 1847, the date of the opening of the Thirtieth Congress. In many respects this Congress was a memorable one. That which preceded, elected at the same time Mr. Polk was chosen to the Presidency, had been strongly Democratic in both branches. The policy of the Administration, however, had been such, during the first two years of its existence, that a great popular reaction had followed. LIFE OB' ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 73 The present House contained but one hundred and ten Demo- crats, while the remaining one hundred and eighteen, with the exception of a single Native American from Philadelphia, were nearly all Whigs, the balance being " Free-Soil men-," who mostly co-operated with them. Of these, only Messrs. Giddings, Tuck and Palfrey refused to vote for the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop for Speaker, who was elected on the third ballot. Among the members of the House, on the Whig side, were John Quincy Adams (who died during the first session, and was succeeded by Horace Mann), and George Ashmun of Mas- sachusetts, Washington Hunt of New York, Jacob Collamer and George P. Marsh of Vermont, Truman Smith of Connecti- cut, Joseph R. Ingersoll and James Pollock of Pennsylvania, John M. Botts and William L. Goggin of Virginia, Alexander H. Stephens, Robert Toombs and Thomas Butler King of Georgia, Henry W. Hilliard of Alabama, Samuel F. Vinton and Robert C. Schenck of Ohio, John B. Thompson and Charles S. Morehead of Kentucky, Caleb B. Smith and Richard W. Thompson of Indiana, and Meredith P. Gentry of Tennes- see. On the Democratic side, there were David Wilmot of Pennsylvania, Robert M. McLane of Maryland, James Mc- Dowell and Richard K. Meade of Virginia, R. Barnwell Rhett of South Carolina, Howell Cobb of Georgia, Albert G. Brown and Jacob Thompson of Mississippi, Linn Boyd of Kentucky, Andrew Johnson, George W. Jones and Frederick P. Stanton of Tennessee, James S. Greene and John S. Phelps of Mis- souri, and Kinsley S. Bingham of Michigan. Illinois had seven representatives, of whom Mr. Lincoln was the only Whig. His Democratic colleagues were John A. McClernand, Orlando B. Ficklin, William A. Richardson, Robert Smith, Thomas J. Turner and John Wentworth. At this session, Stephen A. Douglas took his seat in the Senate, for the first time, having been elected the previous winter. In that body there were but twenty-two Opposition Senators, against thirty-six Democrats. Among the former were Daniol Webster, Wm. L. Dayton, S. S. Phelps, John M. Clayton, Reverdy Johnson, Thomas Corwin, John M. Bcrrien, and John Ee.\. On the Democratic side were John C. Cal- 7 74 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. houn, Thomas H. Benton, Daniel S. Dickinson, Simon Came- ron, Hannibal Hamlin, Sam Houston, R. M. T. Hunter and William R. King. Mr. Lincoln \vas comparatively quite a young man -when he entered the House, yet he was early recognized as one of the foremost of the Western men on the floor. His Congressional record, throughout, is that of a Whig of those days, his votes on all leading national subjects, being invariably what those of Clay, Webster or Corwin would have been, had they occupied his place. One of the most prominent subjects of considera- tion before the Thirtieth Congress, very naturally, was the then existing war with Mexico. Mr. Lincoln was one of those who believed the Administration had not properly managed its affairs with Mexico at the outset, and who, while voting sup- plies and for suitably rewarding our gallant soldiers in that war, were unwilling to be forced, by any trick of the supporters of the Administration, into an unqualified indorsement of its course in this affair, from beginning to end. In this attitude, Mr. Lincoln did not stand alone. Such was the position of Whig members in both Houses, without exception. Yet his course was unscrupulously misrepresented, during the cam- paign of 1858, and not improbably will be again during the present canvass. That many men who now support Mr. Liu- coin, approved the President's course in regard to the Mexican War, as well in its inception as in its management from firs* to last, is not improbable. But that all those who, at that time were induced by their party relations, to sustain the Adminis- tration, at heart approved the method in which hostilities were precipitated, or felt satisfied that the most commendable mo- tives actuated the Government in its course toward Mexico, is certainly not true. This is not an issue that the present Dem- ocratic party need be anxious to resuscitate. Still less will the friends of Mr. Lincoln be reluctant to have his record on this question scrutinized to the fullest extent. Early in the session, after listening to a long homily on the subject from the President, in his annual message, in which the gauntlet was defiantly thrown down before the Opposition members, and after his colleague. Mr. Richardson, had pro> LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 75 posed an unqualified indorsement of the President's views, Mr. Lincoln (December 22. 1847) introduced a series of res- olutions of inquiry in regard to the origin of the war. They affirmed nothing, but called for definite official information, such as, if conclusively furnished in detail, and found to accord with the general asseverations of Mr. Folk's messages, would have set him and his administration entirely right before the country. Either such information was accessible, or the repeated statements of the President on this subject were groundless, and his allegations mere pretenses. If the Democratic party was in the right, it had not the least occa- sion to complain of this procedure, if pressed to a vote. Mr. Lincoln's preamble and resolutions (copied from the Congress- ional Globe, first session, thirtieth Congress, page 64) were in the following words : WHEREAS, The President of the United States, in his mes- sage of May 11, 1846, has declared that " the Mexican Gov- ernment not only refused to receive him [the envoy of the United States^, or listen to his propositions, but, after a long continued series of menaces, has at last invaded our territory, and shed the blood of our fellow-citizens on our own soil: " And again, in his message of December 8, 1846, that " We had ample cause of war against Mexico long before the break- ing out of hostilities ; but even then we forbore to take redress into our own hands until Mexico herself became the aggres- sor, by invading our soil in hostile array, and shedding the blood of our citizens : " And yet again, in his message of December 7, 1847, that " The Mexican Government refused even to hear the terms of adjustment which he [our minister of peace] was authorized to propose, and finally, under wholly unjustifiable pretexts, involved the two countries in war, by invading the territory of the State of Texas, striking the first blow, and shedding the blood of our citizens on our own soil: " and, WHEREAS, This House is desirous to obtain a full knowl- edge of all the facts which go to establish whether the partic- ular spot on which the blood of our citizens was so shed was or was not at that time "our own soil: " therefore, Resolved by the House of Representatives, That the President of the United States be respectfully requested to inform this House 1st. Whether the spot on which the blood of our citizens 76 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 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 within 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. 4th. Whether that settlement is or is not isolated from any and all other settlements by the Gulf and the Rio 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, leaving unprotected their homes and their growing crops, before the blood was shed, as in the messages stated ; and whether the first blood, so shed, was or was not shed within the inclosure 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 offi- cers 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 once intimated to the War Department that, in his opinion, no such movement was necessary to the defense or protection of Texas. These resolutions were laid over, under the rule. Many other propositions, embracing the substance of this question were also brought before the House, besides Mr. Richardson's, which ultimately failed. Mr. Lincoln did not call up his resolutions, nor were they ever acted upon ; but he commented on them in a speech subsequently made. On the third day of January, 1848, Mr. Hudson, of Massa- chusetts, offered a resolution, directing the Committee on Mil- LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 77 itary Affairs " to inquire into the expediency of requesting the President of the United States to withdraw to the east hank of the Rio Grande our armies now in Mexico, and to propose to the Mexican Government forthwith a treaty of peace on the following hasis, namely : That we relinquish all claim to indemnity for the expenses of the war, and that the boundary between the United States and Mexico shall be established at or near the desert between the Nueces and the Rio Grande ; that Mexico shall be held to pay all just claims due to our citizens at the commencement of the war, and that a convention shall be entered into by the two nations to pro- vide for the liquidation of those claims and the mode of payment." This was a test question on abandoning the war, without any material result accomplished. Mr. Lincoln voted with the minority, in favor of laying this resolution on the table. On the question of adopting the resolution, which was defeated, yet voted for by John Quincy Adams, Ashmun, Vinton, and many others on the Whig side, Mr. Lincoln voted in the negative. (>See Congressional Globe, first session, 3Qth Congress, page 94.) On the same day, almost immediately following the above action, joint resolutions of thanks to General Zachary Taylor and our troops in Mexico, having been offered, an amendment was proposed by Mr. Henley, a Democratic member from Indiana, as an adroit political maneuver, by which it was designed to secure an indorsement of the war from the "Whigs, or a refusal of the vote of thanks. He moved the addition of this clause to the resolutions: "engaged, as they were, in defending the rights and honor of the nation." As an amend- ment to the amendment, in order to defeat its underhand pur- pose, Mr. Ashmun promptly moved to add the words : " In a war unnecessarily and unconstitutionally begun by the Presi- dent of the United States." Mr. Lincoln voted for Ashmun's amendment to Henley's amendment. So also did Messrs. Clingman and Barringer, of North Carolina ; A. H. Stephens, Robert Toombs and Thomas Butler King, of Georgia ; Gog- gin, of Virginia; Gentry, of Tennessee; and a majority of 78 WE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. all those voting. [See page 95, as above.] The object intended, of defeating the brilliant movement of Mr. Henley, was accomplished. The amendment, as amended, was not carried. The resolutions, in their original shape, were subse- quently reintroduced by Mr. Stephens, and adopted without opposition. (Congressional Globe, page 304.) On the 12th day of January, 1848, Mr. Lincoln expressed his views, frankly and fully, in regard to the war with Mexico. It was the first speech made by Mr. Lincoln in Congress, and is subjoined entire, as reported in the Appendix to the Con- gressional Globe [1st session, 30th Congress, page 93] : ME. LINCOLN'S SPEECH OK THE MEXICAN WAR. (In Committee of tke Whole House, January 12, 1848.) Mr. Lincoln addressed the Committee as follows : MR. CHAIRMAN : Some, if not all, of the gentlemen on the other side of the House, who have addressed the Committee within the last two days, have spoken rather complainingly, if I have rightly understood them, of the vote given a week or ten days ago, declaring that the war with Mexico was unneces- sarily and unconstitutionally commenced by the President. I admit that such a vote should not be given in mere party wantonness, and that the one given is justly censurable, if it have no other or better foundation. I am one of those who joined in that vote ; and did so under my best impression of the truth of the case. How I got this impression, and how if may possibly be removed, I will now try to show. When the war began, it was my opinion that all those who, because of knowing too little, or because of knowing too much, could not conscientiously approve the conduct of the President (in the beginning of it), should, nevertheless, as good citizens and patriots, remain silent on that point, at least till the war should be ended. Some leading Democrats, including ex- President Van Buren, have taken this same view, as I understand them ; and I adhered to it, and acted upon it, until since I took my seat here ; and I think I should still adhere to it, were it not that the President and his friends will not allow it to be so. Besides, the continual effort of the President to argue every silent vote given for supplies into an indorsement of the jus- tice and wisdom of his conduct ; besides that singularly can- did paragraph in his late message, in which he tells us that Congress, with great unanimity (only two in the Senate and fourteen in the House dissenting) had declared that " by the LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 79 act of the Republic of Mexico a state of war exists between that Government and the United States;" when the same jour- nals that informed him of this, also informed him that, when that declaration stood disconnected from the question of sup- plies, sixty-seven in the House, and not fourteen, merely, voted against it ; besides this open attempt to prove by telling the truth, what he could not prove by telling the whole truth, demanding of all who will not submit to be misrepresented, in justice to themselves, to speak out ; besides all this, one of my colleagues [Mr. Richardson], at a very early day in the session, brought in a set of resolutions, expressly indorsing the original justice of the war on the part of the President. Upon these resolutions, when they sjiall be put on their pas- sage, I shall be compelled to vote ; so that I can not be silent if I would. Seeing this, I went about preparing myself to give the vote understandingly, when it should come. I care- fully examined the President's messages, to ascertain what he himself had said and proved upon the point. The result of this examination was to make the impression, that, taking for true all the President states as facts, he falls far short of prov- ing his justification ; and that the President would have gone further with his proof, if it had not been for the small matter that the truth would not permit him. Under the impression thus made I gave the vote before mentioned. I propose now to give, concisely, the process of the examination I made,- and how I reached the conclusion I did. The President, in his first message of May, 1846, declares that the soil was ours on which hostilities were commenced by Mexico ; and he repeats that declaration, almost in the same language, in each successive annual message thus showing that he esteems that point a highly essential one. In the importance of that point I entirely agree with the President. To my judgment, it is the very point upon which he should be justi- fied or condemned. In his message of December, 1846, it seems to have occurred to him, as is certainly true, that title, ownership to soil, or anything else, is not a simple fact, but is a conclusion following one or more simple facts; and that it was incumbent upon him to present the facts from which he concluded the soil was ours on which the first blood of the war was shed. Accordingly, a little below the middle of page twelve, in the message last referred to, he enters upon that task ; form- ing an issue and introducing testimony, extending tho whole to a little below the middle of page fourteen. Now, I propose to try to show that the whole of this issue and evidence is, from beginning to end, the sheerest deception. The issue, aa 80 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. he presents it. is in these \vords: "But there are those who, conceding all this to be true, assume the ground that the true western boundary of Texas is the Nueces, instead of the llio Grande ; and that, therefore, in inarching our army to the east bank of the latter river, we passed the Texan line, and invaded the territory of Mexico." Now, this issue is made up of two affirmatives and no negative. The main deception of it is, that it assumes as true that one river or the other is necessarily the boundary, and cheats the ^superficial thinker entirely out of the idea that possibly the boundary is some- where beliceen the two, and not actually at either. A further deception is, that it will let in evidence which a true issue would exclude. A true issue made by the President would be about as follows : " T say the soil was ours on which the first blood was shed ; there are those who say it was not." I now proceed to examine the President's evidence, as appli- cable to such an issue. When that evidence is analyzed, it is all included in the following propositions : 1. That the Rio Grande was the western boundary of Lou- isiana, as we purchased it of France in 1803. 2. That the Republic of Texas always claimed the Rio Grande as her western boundary. 3. That, by various acts, she had claimed it on paper. 4. That Santa Anna, in his treaty with Texas, recognized the Rio Grande as her boundary. 5. That Texas before, and the United States offer annexa- tion, had exercised jurisdiction beyond the Nueces, between the two rivers. 6. That our Congress understood the boundary of Texas to extend beyond the Nueces. Now for each of these in its turn : His first item is, that the Rio Grande was the western boundary of Louisiana, as we purchased it of France in 1803 ; and,'seeming to expect this to be disputed, he argues over the amount of nearly a page to prove it true ; at the end of which, he lets us know that, by the treaty of 1819, we sold to Spain the whole country, from the Rio Grande eastward to the Sa- bine. Now, admitting for the present, that the Rio 'Grande was the boundary of Louisiana, what, under heaven, had that to do with the present boundary between us and Mexico? How, Mr. Chairman, the line that once divided your land from mine can still be the boundary between us after I have sold my land to you, is, to me, beyond all comprehension. And how any man. with an honest purpose only of proving the truth, could ever have thought of introducing such a fact to prove such an issue, is equally incomprehensible. The out- LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 81' rage upon common riyht, of seizing as our own what we have once sold, merely because it was ours before we sold it, is only equaled by the outrage on common sense of any attempt to justify it. The President's next piece of evidence is, that " The Repub- lic of Texas always claimed this river (Rio Grande) as her western boundary." That is not true, in fact. Texas has claimed it, but she has not always claimed it. There is, at least, one distinguished exception. Her State Constitution the public's most solemn and well-considered act; that which may, without impropriety, be called her last will and testa- ment, revoking all others makes no such claim. But sup- pose she had always claimed it. Has not Mexico always claimed the contrary? So that there is but claim against claim, leaving nothing proved until we get back of the claims, and tind which has the better foundation. Though not in the order in which the President presents his evidence, I now consider that class of his statements, which are, in substance, nothing more than that Texas has by various acts of her Convention and Congress, claimed the Rio Grande as her boundary on paper. I mean here what he says about the fixing of the Rio Grande as her boundary, in her old Con- stitution (not her State Constitution), about forming congres- sional districts, counties, etc. Now, all this is but naked claim; and what I have already said about claims is strictly applicable to this. If I should claim your land by word of mouth, that certainly would not make it mine ; and if I were to claim it by a deed which I had made myself, and with which you had nothing to do, the claim would he quite the same in substance, or rather in utter nothingness. I next consider the President's statement that Santa Anna, in his treaty with Texas, recognized the Rio Grande as the western boundary of Texas. Besides the position so often taken that Santa Anna, while a prisoner of war a captive could not bind Mexico by a treaty, which I deem conclusive ; besides this, I wish to say something in relation to this treaty, so called by the President, with Santa Anna. If any man would like to be amused by a sight at that little thing, which the President calls by that big name, he can have it by turning to Niles' Register, volume 50, page 336. And if any one should suppose that Niles' Register is a curious repository of so mighty a document as a solemn treaty between nations, I can only say that I learned, to a tolerable degree of certainty, by inquiry at the State Department, that the President him- self never saw it anywhere else. By the way, I believe I should not err if I were to declare, that during the first ten 8 82 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN". years of the existence of that document, it was never by any- body called a treaty ; that it was never so called till the Presi- dent, in his extremity, attempted, by so calling it, to wring something from it in justification of himself in connection with the Mexican war. It has none of the distinguishing features of a treaty. It does not call itself a treaty. Santa Anna does not therein assume to bind Mexico; he assumes only to act as President, Commander-in-chief of the Mexican army and navy ; stipulates that the then present hostilities should cease, and that he would not himself take up arms, nor influence, the Mexican people to take up arms, against Texas, during the existence of the war of independence. He did not recognize the independence of Texas ; he did not assume to put an end to the war, but clearly indicated his expectation of its continuance ; he did not say one word about boundary, and most probably never thought of it. It is stipulated therein that the Mexican forces should evacuate the territory of Texas, passing to the other side of the Rio Grande; and in another article it is stipulated, that to prevent collisions between the armies, the Texan army should not approach nearer than within five leagues of what is not said but clearly, from the object stated, it is of the Rio Grande. Now, if this is a treaty recognizing the Rio Grande as the boundary of Texas, it con- tains the singular feature of stipulating that Texas shall not go within five leagues of her own boundary. Next comes the evidence of Texas before annexation, and the United States afterward, exercising jurisdiction beyond the Nueces, and between the two rivers. This actual exercise of jurisdiction is the very class or quality of evidence we want. It is excellent so far as it goes ; but does it go far enough ? He tells us it went beyond the Nueces, but he does not tell us it went to the Rio Grande. He tells us jurisdiction was exer- cised between the two rivers, but he does not tell us it was exercised over all the territory between them. Some simple- minded people think it possible to cross one river and go beyond it, without going all the way to the next; that jurisdiction may be exercised between two rivers without covering all the country between them. I know a man, not very unlike myself, who exercises jurisdiction over a piece of land between the Wabash and the Mississippi ; and yet so far is this from being all there is between those rivers, that it is just one hundred and fifty-two feet long by fifty wide, and no part of it much within a hundred miles of either. He has a neigh- bor between him and the Mississippi that is, just across the street, in that direction whom, I am sure, he could neither persuade nor/orce to give up his habitation ; but which, nevsr- LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 83 theless, lie could certainly annex, if it were to be done, by merely standing on his own side of the street and claiming it, or even sitting down and writing a deed for it. But next, the President tells us, the Congress of the United States understood the State of Texas they admitted into the Union to extend leyond the Nueces. Well, I suppose they did I certainly so understand it but how far beyond? That Congress did not understand it to extend clear to the Rio Grande, is quite certain by the fact of their joint resolu- tions for admission expressly leaving all questions of boundary to future adjustment. And, it may be added, that Texas herself is proved to have had the same understanding of it that our Congress had, by the fact of the exact conformity of her new Constitution to those resolutions. I am now through the whole of the President's evidence; and it is a singular fact, that if any one should declare the President sent the army into the midst of a settlement of Mexican people, who had never submitted, by consent or by force to the authority of Texas or of the United States,* and that there, and thereby, the first blood of the war was shed, there is not one word in all the President has said which would either admit or deny the declaration. In this strange omission chiefly consists the deception of the President's evidence an omission which, it does seem to me, could scarcely have occurred but by design. My way of living leads me to be about the courts of justice ; and there I have some times seen a good lawyer, struggling for his client's neck, in a desperate case, employing every artifice to work round, befog, and cover up with many worda some position pressed upon him by the prosecution, which he dared not admit, and yet could not deny. Party bias may help to make it appear so ; but, with all the allowance I can make for such bias, it still does appear to me that just such, and from just such necessity, are the President's struggles in this case. Some time after my colleague (Mr. Richardson) intro- duced the resolutions I have mentioned, I introduced a preamble, resolution, and interrogatories, intended to draw the President out, if possible, on this hitherto untrodden ground. To show their relevancy, I propose to state my understanding of the true rule for ascertaining the boundary between Texas and Mexico. It is, that wlwrever Texas was exercising jurisdiction was hers ; and wherever Mexico was exercising jurisdiction was hers ; and that whatever separated the actual exercise of jurisdiction of the one from that of the other, was the true boundary between them. If, as is proba- bly true, Texas was exercising jurisdiction along the western 84 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. bank of the Nueces, and Mexico was exercising it along tin eastern bank of the Rio Grande, then neither river was the boundary, but the uninhabited country between the two was. The extent of our territory in that region depended not on any treaty-faced boundary (for no treaty had attempted it), but on revolution. Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most valuable, a most sacred right a right which, we hope and believe, is to liberate the world. Nor is this right confined to cases in which the whole people of an existing government may choose to exercise it. Any portion of such people that can may revolutionize, and make their own of so much of the territory as they inhabit. More than this, a majority of any portion of such people may revolu- tionize, putting down a minority, intermingled with, or near about them, who may oppose their movements. Such minority was precisely the case of the Tories of our own Revolution. It is a quality of revolutions not to go by old lines, or old laws ; but to break up both, and make new ones. As to the country now in question, we bought it of France in 1803, and sold it to Spain in 1819, according to the President's statement. After this, all Mexico, including Texas, revolu- tionized against Spain ; and still later, Texas revolutionized against Mexico. In my view, just so far as she carried her revolution, by obtaining the actual, willing*or unwilling sub- mission of the people, so far the country was hers, and no further. Now, sir, for the purpose of obtaining the very best evi- dence as to whether Texas had actually carried her revolution to the place where the hostilities of the present war com- menced, let the President answer the interrogatories I proposed, as before mentioned, or some other similar ones. Let him answer fully, fairly and candidly. Let him answer with facts, and not with arguments. Let him remember he sits where Washington sat ; and, so remembering, let him answer as Washington would answer. As a nation should not, and the Almighty will not, be evaded, so let him attempt no evasion, no equivocation. And if, so answering, he can show that the soil was ours where the first blood of the war was shed that it was not within an inhabited country, or, if within such, that the inhabitants had submitted themselves to the civil authority of Texas, or of the United States, and that the same is true of the site of Fort Brown then I am with him for his justifica- tion. In that case, I shall be most happy to reverse the vote I gave the other day. I have a selfish motive for desiring that LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 85 the President may do this ; I expect to give some votes, in connection with the war, which, without his so doing, will be of doubtful propriety, in my own judgment, but which will be free from the dtJubt, if he does so. But if he can not or will not do this if, on any pretense, or no pretense, he shall refuse or omit it then I shall be fully convinced, of what I more than sus- pect already, that he is deeply conscious of being in the wrong ; that he feels the blood of this war, like the blood of Abel, is crying to heaven against him ; that he ordered General Tay- lor into the midst of a peaceful Mexican settlement, purposely to bring on a war ; that originally having some strong motive what I will not stop now to give my opinion concerning to involve the two countries in a war, and trusting to escape scrutiny by fixing the public gaze upon the exceeding bright- ness of military glory that attractive rainbow that rises in showers of blood that serpent's eye that charms to destroy he plunged into it, and has swept on and on, till, disappointed in his calculation of the ease with which Mexico might be subdued, he now finds himself he knows not where. How like the half insane mumbling, of a fever dream is the whole war part of the late message f At one time telling us that Mexico has nothing whatever that we can get but territory ; at another, showing us how we can support the war by levying contributions on Mexico. At one time urging the national ' honor, the security of the future, the prevention of foreign interference, and e^n the good of Mexico herself, as among the objects of the war ; at another, telling us that, " to reject indemnity by refusing to accept a cession of territory, would be to abandon all our just demands, and to wage the war, bear- ing all its expenses, without a purpose or definite object." So, then, the national honor, security of the future, and every- thing but territorial indemnity, may be considered the no purposes and indefinite objects of the war 1 But having it now settled that territorial indemnity is the only object, we are urged to seize, by legislation here, all that he was content to take a few months ago, and the whole province of Lower Cal- ifornia to boot, and to still carry on the war to take all wo are fighting for, and still fight on. Again, the President is resolved, under all circumstances, to have full territorial indemnity for the expenses of the war ; but he forgets to tell us how we are to get the excess after those expenses shall have surpassed the value of the whole of the Mexican territory. So, again, he insists that the separate national existence of Mexico shall be maintained ; but he does not tell us how this can be done after we shall have taken all her territory. Lest 86 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. the question I here suggest be considered speculative merely, let me be indulged a moment in trying to show they are not. The war has gone on some twenty months ; for the expenses of which, together with an inconsiderable old score, the Presi- dent now claims about one-half of the Mexican territory, and that by far the better half, so far as concerns our ability to make any thing out of it. It is comparatively uninhabited ; so that we could establish land offices in it, and raise some money in that way. But the other half is already inhabited, as I understand it, tolerably densely for the nature of the country ; and all its lands, or all that are valuable, already appropriated as private property. How, then, are we to make any thing out of these lands with this incumbrance on them, or how remove the incumbrance ? I suppose no one will say we should kill the people, or drive them out, or make slaves of them, or even confiscate their property ? How, then, can wo make much out of this part of the territory ? If the prose- cution of the war has, in expenses, already equaled the better half of the country, how long its future prosecution will be in equaling the less valuable half is not a speculative but a prac- tical question, pressing closely upon us; and yet it is a ques- tion which the President seems never to have thought of. As to the mode of terminating the war and securing peace, the President is equally wandering and indefinite. First, it is to be done by aTmore vigorous prosecution of the war in the vital parts of the enemy's country ; an( after apparently talking himself tired on this point, the President drops down into a half despairing tone, and tells us, that " with a people distracted and divided by contending factions, and a govern- ment subject to constant changes, by successive revolutions, the continued success of our arms may fail to obtain a satis- factory peace," Then he suggests the propriety of wheedling the Mexican people to desert the counsels of their own lead- ers, and, trusting in our protection, to set up a government from which we can secure a satisfactory peace, telling us that "this may become the only mode of obtaining such a peace.' 1 But soon he falls into doubt of this too, and then drops back on to the already half-abandoned ground of " more vigorous prosecution." All this shows that the President is in no wise satisfied with his own positions. First, he takes up one, and, in attempting to argue us into it, he argues himself out of it ; then seizes another, and goes through the same process ; and then, confused at being able to think of nothing new, he snatches up the old one again, which he has some time before cast off. His mind, tasked beyond its power, is running LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 87 hither and thither, like some tortured creature on a burning surface, finding no position on which it can settle down and be at ease. Again, it is a singular omission in this message, that it nowhere intimates when the President expects the war to ter- minate. At its beginning, General Scott was, by this same President, driven into disfavor, if not disgrace, for intimating that peace could not be conquered in less than three or four months. But now at the end of about twenty months, during which time our arms have given us the most splendid suc- cesses every department, and every part, land and water, officers and privates, regulars and volunteers, doing all that men could do, and hundreds of things which it had ever before been thought that men could not do ; after all this, this same President gives us a long message without showing us that, as to the end, he has himself even an imaginary conception. As I have before said, he knows not where he is. He is a bewild- ered, confounded, and miserably-perplexed man. God grant he may be able^to show that there is not something about his conscience more painful than all his mental perplexity. Mr. Lincoln was an industrious member of the Committee on Post-offices and Post-roads, and thoroughly acquainted himself with the details of that prominent branch of the public service. On the 5th of January, 1848, he made a clear and pertinent speech in regard to a question of temporary interest which then excited considerable attention, the "Great Southern Mail " contract. Some of the Virginia Whig members had taken issue with the Postmaster General, in regard to his action on this question, and there were indications of an attempt to give a partizan turn to the affair. Mr. Lincoln sustained the action of that Democratic official, insisting that his construc- tion of the law in this instance, which was the more econom- ical, was also the more correct one. It is unnecessary to enter into the details of the case here. We subjoin two or three paragraphs from the speech, which was purely a practical one, for the purpose of showing the general spirit and tenor of Mr. Lincoln's mode of dealing with business matters : " I think that abundant reasons have been given to show that the construction put upon the law by the Postmaster General is the right construction, and that subsequent acts of Congress have confirmed it. I have already said that the 88 LIFE OF AliUAHAil LINCOLN. grie\ ance complained of ought to be remedied. But it is said that the sum of money about which all this difficulty has arisen is exceedingly small not more than 2,700. I admit it is very omall ; and if nothing else were involved, it would not be worth the dispute. But there is a principle involved ; and if we once yiold to a wrong principle, that concession will be the prolific somce of endless mischief. It is for this reason, and not for the s.\ke of saving 2,700, that I am unwilling to yield what is demanded. If I had no apprehensions that the ghost of this yielding would rise and appear in various distant places, I would say, pay the money, and let us have no more fuss about it. But I have such apprehensions. I do believe, that if we yield this, oar act will be the source of other claims equally unjust, and therefore I can not vote to make the allowance." Mr. L. insisted that the true and great point to which the attention of this House or the committee should be directed was, what is a just compensation ? Inasmuch as this railroad and steamboat company could afford greater facilities than any other line, the service ought to be done upon this route ; but it ought to be done on just and fair principles. If it could not be done at what had been offered, let it be shown that a greater amount was jnst. But, until it was shown, he was opposed to increasing it. He had seen many things in the report of the Postmaster General and elsewhere that stood out against the river route. Now, the daily steamboat transporta- tion between Troy and New York was performed for less than one hundred dollars per mile. This company was dissatisfied with two hundred and twelve or two hundred and thirteen dollars per mile. It had not been shown, and he thought it could not be shown to them why this company was entitled to more, or so much more, than the other received. It was true, they had to encounter the ice, but was there not more ice further north? There might possibly be shown some reason why the Virginia line should have more; but was there any reason why they should have so much more? Again, the price paid between Cincinnati and Louisville for daily trans- portation was not two hundred and thirteen dollars per mile, or one hundred dollars, or fifty ; it was less than twenty-eight dollars per mile. Now, he did not insist that there might not be some peculiar reasons connected with this route between this city and Richmond that entitled it to more than was paid on the routes between Cincinnati and Louisville, and Troy and New York. But, if there were reasons, they ought to be shown. And was it supposed that there could be any, or so peculiar reasons as to justify so great a difference in compcu- LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 89 bation &i was claimed by this company ? It did seem that there couid be none. These reasons actuated him in taking the position he had taken, painfully refusing to oblige his friend from Virginia, which he assured the gentleman he had the greatest inclina- tion to do. In relation to the report of the committee, let him state one thing : It proposed that the Postmaster General should again offer this company what he had already offered and they had refused. It was for the reason that the Postmaster General, as he understood, had informed them that he was not himself going to renew the proposition. The committee supposed, at any rate he (Mr. L.) supposed that as soon as the company should know that they could get what he had offered them, and no more as soon as all hope of greater compensation was cut off that instant they would not take ten thousand dollars a year for the privilege of doing it. Whether this was actually the case he did not profess positively to know ; it was a matter of opinion, but he firmly believed it. In proposing to offer them the contract again, as he had already said, the committee yielded something, viz.: the damage that the Government would have to pay for the breaking up of the present arrangement. He was willing to incur that damage ; some other gentlemen were not; they were further away from the position which his friend from Virginia took. He was willing to yield something, but could not consent to go the whole length with the gentleman. The subject of internal improvements, as before indicated, had long been one in which Mr. Lincoln had taken a special interest. In the Illinois legislature, he had favored the policy of developing the resources of the State by the fostering aid of the local government, in so far as he might, under the con- stant restraints of a Democratic majority. The great River and Harbor Improvement Convention, held at Chicago, not long before the commencement of his Congressional life and to which he refers in his subjoined speech on this policy he had participated in, as one of its most active and earnest members. A brief, fifteen-minute speech of his on that occa- sion, of which there appears to be no report extant, is still remembered by many of those who heard it, as one of the most eloquent and impressive efforts of that memorable con- vention, which was presided over by the Hon. Edward Bates, 8 90 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. of St. Louis. Aside from the celebrated speech of the latter, a theme of constant praise from that day to the present, no more electrifying address was made before the convention than that of Mr. Lincoln. On the 20th day of June, 1848, after the presidential nom- ination of Mr. Cass, whom " circumstances," it will be re- membered, prevented from being present at that convention, Mr. Lincoln took occasion to address the House on this sub- ject. Below is his speech entire, as reported in the Appendix to the Congressional Globe for that session (p. 709). MB. LINCOLN'S SPEECH ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS. (In Committee of the Whole House, June 20, 1848.) Mr. Lincoln said : MR. CHAIRMAN : I wish at all times in no way to practice any fraud upon the House or the committee, and I also desire to do nothing which may be very disagreeable to any of the members. I therefore state, in advance, that my object in taking the floor is to make a speech on the general subject of internal improvements ; and if I am out of order in doing so, I give the Chair an opportunity of so deciding, and I will take my seat. The Chair. I will not undertake to anticipate what the gentleman may say on the subject of internal improvements. He will, therefore, proceed in his remarks, and if any question of order shall be made, the Chair will then decide it. Mr. Lincoln. At an early day of this session the Pres- ident sent to us what may properly be termed an inter- nal improvement veto message. The late Democratic Conven- tion which sat at Baltimore, and which nominated General Cass for the Presidency, adopted a set of resolutions, now called the Democratic platform, among which is one in these words : " That the Constitution does not confer upon the General Government the power to commence and carry on a general system of internal improvements." General Cass, in his letter accepting the nomination, holds this language : " I have carefully read the resolutions of the Democratic National Convention, laying down the platform of our politi- cal faith, and I adhere to them as firmly as I approve them cordially." These things, taken together, show that the question of LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 91 internal improvements is now more distinctly made has become more intense, than at any former period. It can no longer be avoided. The veto message and the Baltimore res- olution I understand to be, in substance, the same thing ; the latter being the more general statement, of which the former is the amplification the bill of particulars. While I know there are many Democrats, on this floor and elsewhere, who disapprove that message, I understand that all who shall vote for General Cass will thereafter be considered as having approved it, as having indorsed all its doctrines. I suppose all, or nearly all, the Democrats will vote for him. Many of them will do so, not because they like his position on this question, but because they prefer him, being wrong in this, to another, whom they consider further wrong on other questions. In this way the internal improvement Democrats are to be, by a sort of forced consent, carried over, and arrayed against them- selves on this measure of policy. General Cass, once elected, will not trouble himself to make a Constitutional argument, or, perhaps, any argument at all, when he shall veto a river of harbor bill. He will consider it a sufficient answer to all Democratic murmurs, to point to Mr. Folk's message, and to the " Democratic platform." This being the case, the ques- tion of improvements is verging to a final crisis ; and the friends of the policy must now battle, and battle manfully, or surrender all. In this view, humble as I am, I wish to review, and contest as well as I may, the general positions of this veto message. When I say general positions, I mean to exclude from consideration so much as relates to the present embarrassed state of the Treasury, in consequence of the Mex- ican war. Those general positions are : That internal improvements ought not to be made by the General Government : 1. Because they would overwhelm the treasury ; 2. Because, while their burdens would be general, their ben- efits would be local and partial, involving an obnoxious ine- quality ; 3. Because they would be unconstitutional ; 4. Because the States may do enough by the levy and col- lection of tunnage duties ; or, if not, 5. That the Constitution may be amended. " Do nothing at all, lest you do something wrong," is the sum of these positions is the sum of this message ; and this, with the exception of what is said about Constitutionality, applying as forcibly to making improvements by State authority as by the national authority. So that we must abandon the improvements of the country altogether, by any and every 92 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. authority, or we must resist and repudiate the doctrines of this message. Let us attempt the latter. The first position is, that a system of internal improvement would overwhelm the treasury. That, in such a system, there is a tendency to undue expan- sion, is not to be denied. Such tendency is founded in the nature of the subject. A member of Congress will prefer voting for a bill which contains an appropriation for his district, to voting for one which does not ; and when a bill shall be expanded till every district shall be provided for, that it will be too greatly expanded is obvious. But is this any more true in Congress than in a State Legislature? If a member of Con- gress must have an appropriation for his district, so a member of a Legislature must have one for his county ; and if one will overwhelm the national treasury, so the other will overwhelm the State treasury. Go where we will, the difficulty is the same. Allow it to drive us from the halls of Congress, and it will just as easily drive us from the State Legislatures. Let us, then, grapple with it, and test its strength. Let us, judging of the future by the past, ascertain whether there may not be, in the discretion of Congress, a sufficient power to limit and restrain this expansive tendency within reasonable and proper bounds. The President himself values the evidence of the past. He tells us that at a certain point of our history, more than two hundred millions of dollars had been applied for, to make improvements, and this he does to prove that the treasury would be overwhelmed by such a system. Why did he not tell us how much was (/ranted'/ Would not that have been better evidence? Let us turn to it, and see what it proves. In the message, the President tells us that " during the four succeed- ing years, embraced by the administration of President Ad- ams, the power not only to appropriate money, but to apply it, under the direction and authority of the General Government, as well to the construction of roads as to the improvement of harbors and rivers, was fully asserted and exercised." This, then, was the period of greatest enormity. These, if any, must have been the days of the two hundred millions. And how much do you suppose was really expended for im- provements during those four years ? Two hundred millions ? One hundred? Fifty? Ten? Five? No, sir, less than two millions. As shown by authentic documents, the expenditures on improvements during 1825, 1826, 1827 and 1828, amounted to SI, 879,627 01. These four years were the period of Mr. Adams' administration, nearly, and substantially. This fact shows that when the power to make improvements was "fully asserted and exercised," the Congresses did keep within rca- LIFE OE ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 93 donable limits ; and what has been done it seems to me, can be done again. Now for the second position of the message, namely, that the burdens of improvements would be general, while their benefits would be local and partial, involving an obnoxious inequality. That there is some degree of truth in this posi- tion I shall not deny. No commercial object of Government patronage can be so exclusively general, as not to be of some peculiar local advantage ; but, on the other hand, nothing is so local as not to be of some general advantage. The navy, as I understand it, was established, and is maintained, at a great annual expense, partly to be ready for war, when war shall come, but partly also, and perhaps chiefly, for the pro- tection of our commerce on the high seas. This latter object is, for all I can see, in principle, the same as internal improve- ments. The driving a pirate from the track of commerce on the broad ocean, and the removing a snag from its more nar- row path in the Mississippi river, can not, I think, be distin- guished in principle. Each is done to save life and property, and for nothing else. The navy, then, is the most general iu its benefits of all this class of objects ; and yet even the navy is of some peculiar advantage to Charleston, Baltimore, Phil- adelphia, New York, and Boston, beyond what it is to the inte- rior towns of Illinois. The next most general object I can think of, would be improvements on the Mississippi river and its tributaries. They touch thirteen of our States Pennsyl- vania, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Iowa. Now, I suppose it will not be denied, that these thir- teen States are a little more interested in improvements on that great river than are the remaining seventeen. These instances of the navy, and the Mississippi river, show clearly that there is something of local advantage in the most general objects. But the converse is also true. Nothing is so local as not to be of some general benefit. Take, for instance, the Illinois and Michigan canal. Considered apart from its effects, it is perfectly local. Every inch of it is within the State of Illinois. That canal was first opened for business last April. In a very few days we were all gratified to learn, among other things, that sugar had been carried from New Orleans, through the canal, to Buffalo, in New York. This sugar took this route, doubtless, because it was cheaper than the old route. Supposing the benefit in the reduction of the cost of carriage to be shared between seller and buyer, the result is, that the New Orleans merchant sold his sugar a little dearer, aud the people of Buffalo sweetened their coffee a little 94 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. cfoaper than before ; a benefit resulting from the canal, not to Illinois, where the canal is, but to Louisiana and New York, where it is not. In other transactions Illinois will, of course, have her share, and perhaps the larger share too, in the bene- fits of the canal ; but the instance of the sugar clearly shows that the benefits of an improvement are by no means confined to the particular locality of the improvement itself. The just conclusion from all this is, that if the nation refuse to make improvements of the more general kind, because their benefits may be somewhat local, a State may, for the same reason, refuse to make an improvement of a local kind, because its benefits may be somewhat general. A State may well say to the nation : " If you will do nothing for me, I will do nothing for you." Thus it is seen, that if this argument of " inequality " is sufficient anywhere, it is suffi- cient everywhere, and puts an end to improvements altogether. I hope and believe, that if both the nation and the States would, in good faith, in their respective spheres, do what they could in the way of improvements, what of inequality might be produced in one place might be compensated in another, and that the sum of the whole might not be very unequal. But suppose, after all, there should be some degree of ine- quality : inequality is certainly never to be embraced for its own sake ; but is every good thing to be discarded which may be inseparably connected with some degree of it ? If so, we must discard all government. This Capitol is built at the public expense, for the public benefit ; but does any one doubt that it is of some peculiar local advantage to the property holders and business people of Washington ? Shall we remove it for this reason? And if so, where shall we set it down, and be free from the difficulty? To make sure of our object, shall we locate it nowhere, and leave Congress here- after to hold its sessions as the loafer lodged, " in spots about?" I make no special allusion to the present President when I say, there are few stronger cases in this world of "burden to the many, and benefit to the few" of "ine- quality" than the Presidency itself is by some thought to be. An honest laborer digs coal at about seventy cents a day, while the President digs abstractions at about seventy dollars a day. The coal is clearly worth more than the abstractions, and yet what a monstrous inequality in the prices 1 Does the President, for this reason, propose to abolish the Presidency ? He does not, and he ought not. The true rule, in determining to embrace or reject anything, is not whether it have any evil in it, but whether it have more of evil than of good. There are few things tchoUy evil or wholly good. LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 93 Almost every tiling, especially of government policy, is an inseparable compound of the two ; so that our best judgment . of the preponderance between them is continually demanded. On this principle, the President, his friends, and the world generally, act on most subjects. Why not apply it, then, upon this question ? Why, as to improvements, magnify the evil, and stoutly refuse to see any good in them ? Mr. Chairman, on the third position of the message (the Constitutional question) I have not much to say. Being the ' man I am, and speaking when I do, I feel that in any attempt at an original, Constitutional argument, I should not be, and ought not to be, listened to patiently. The ablest and the best of men have gone over the whole ground long ago. I shall attempt but little more than a brief notice of what some of them have said. In relation to Mr. Jefferson's views, I read from Mr. Folk's veto message : " President Jefferson, in his message to Congress in 1806, recommended an amendment of the Constitution, with a view to apply an anticipated surplus in the treasury ' to the great purposes of the public education, roads, rivers, canals, and such other objects of public improvements as it may be thought proper to add to the Constitutional enumeration of the Federal powers.' And he adds : ' I suppose an amend- ment to the Constitution, by consent of the States, necessary, because the objects now recommended are not among those enumerated in the Constitution, and to which it permits the public moneys to be applied.' In 1825, he repeated, in his published letters, the opinion that no such power has been conferred upon Congress." I introduce this, not to controvert, just now, the Constitu- tional opinion, but to show, that on the question of expediency, Mr. Jefferson's opinion was against the present President that this opinion of Mr. Jefferson, in one branch at least, is, in the hands of Mr. Polk, like McFingal's gun : " Bears wide and kicks the owner over." But, to the Constitutional question. In 1826, Chancelor Kent first published his Commentaries on American Law. lie devoted a portion of one of the lectures to the question of the authority of Congress to appropriate public moneys for internal improvements. He mentions that the question had never been brought under judicial consideration, and proceeds to give a brief summary of the discussions it had undergone between the legislative and executive branches of the Gov- ernment. He shows that the legislative branch had usually , and the executive against, the power, till the period UtJ LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. of Mr. J. Q. Adams' administration; at which point he con- siders the executive influence as withdrawn from opposition, and added to the support of the p*wer. In 1844, the Chan- celor published a new ed.tion of his Commentaries, in whu-h he adds some notes of what had transpired on the question since 182G. 1 have not time to read the original text, or tin; notes, but the whole may be found on page 267, and the two or three following pages of the first volume of the edition cf 1844. As what Chancelor Kent seems to consider the sum of the whole, I read from one of the notes : " Mr. Justice Story, in his Commentaries on the Constitu- tion of the United States, vol. 2, page 429440, and again, page 519-538, has stated at large the arguments for and against the proposition that Congress have a Constitutional authority to lay taxes, and to apply the power to regulate com- merce, as a means directly to encourage and protect domestic manufactures ; and, without giving any opinion of his own on the contested doctrine, he has left the reader to draw his own conclusion. I should think, however, from the arguments as stated, that every mind which has taken no part in the discus- sions, and felt no prejudice or territorial bias on either side of the question, would deem the arguments in favor of the Con- gressional power vastly superior." It will be seen, that in this extract, the power to make improvements is not directly mentioned ; but by examining the context, both of Kent and of Story, it will appear that the power mentioned in the extract and the power to make improvements, are regarded as identical. It is not to be denied that many great and good men have been against the power ; but it is insisted that quite as many, as great, and as good, have been for it ; and it is shown that, on a full survey of the whole, Chancelor Kent was of opinion that the argu- ments of the latter were vastly superior. This is but the opinion of a man ; but who was that man? He was one of the ablest and most learned lawyers of his age, or of any other age. It is no disparagement to Mr. Polk, nor, indeed, to any one who devotes much time to politics, to be placed far behind Chancelor Kent as a lawyer. His attitude was most favorable to correct conclusions. He wrote coolly and in retirement. He was struggling to rear a durable monument of fame ; and he well knew that truth and thoroughly sound reasoning were the only sure foundations. Can the party opinion of a party President, on a law question, as this purely is, be at all compared or set in opposition to that of such a man, in such an attitude, as Chancelor Kent? This Constitutional question will probably never be better LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 97 settled than it is, until it shall pass under judicial considera- tion ; but I do think that no man who is clear on this ques- tion of expediency need feel his conscience much pricked upon this. Mr. Chairman, the President seems GO think that enough may be done in the way of improvements, by means of tun- nage duties, under State authority, with the consent of the General Government. Now, I suppose this matter of tunnage duties is well enough in its own sphere. I suppose it may be efficient, and perhaps sufficient, to make slight improvements and repairs in harbors already in use, and not much out of repair. But if I have any correct general idea of it, it must be wholly inefficient for any generally beneficent purposes of improvement. I know very little, or rather nothing at all, of the practical matter of levying and collecting tunnage duties ; but I suppose one of its principles must be, to lay a duty, for the improvement of any particular harbor, upon the tunnage coming into that harbor. To do otherwise to collect money in one harbor to be expended on improvements in another would be an extremely aggravated form of that ine- quality which the President so much deprecates. If I be right in this, how could we make any entirely new improve- ments by means of tunnage duties? How make a road, a canal, or clear a greatly obstructed river? The idea that we could, involves the same absurdity of the Irish bull about the new boots : " I shall niver git 'em on," says Patrick. " till I wear 'em a day or two, and stretch 'em a little." We shall never make a canal by tunnage duties, until it shall already have been made awhile, so the tunnage can get into it. After all, the President concludes that possibly there may be some great objects of improvements which can not be effected by tunnage duties, and which, therefore, may be expe- dient for the General Government to take in hand. Accord- ingly, he suggests, in case any such be discovered, the pro- priety of amending the Constitution. Amend it for what ? If, like Mr. Jefferson, the President thought improvements expedient, but not Constitutional, it would be natural enough for him to recommend such an amendment ; but hear what he says in this very message : " In view of these portentous consequences, I can not but think that this course of legislation should be arrested, even were there nothing to forbid it in the fundamental laws of our Union." For what, then,*would he have the Constitution amended? With him it is a proposition to remove one impediment, merely to be met by others, which, in his opinion, cau not be 9 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. removed to enable Congress to do what, in his opinion, they ought not to do if they could. [Here Mr. Meade, of Virginia, inquired if Mr. L. under- stood the President to be opposed, on grounds of expediency, to any and every improvement?] To which Mr. Lincoln answered : In the very part of his message of which I am now speaking, I understand him as giving some vague expressions in favor of some possible objects of improvements ; but, in doing so, I understand him to be directly in the teeth of his own arguments in other parts of it. Neither the President, nor any one, can possibly specify an improvement, which shall not be clearly liable to one or another of the objections he has urged on the score of expedi- ency. I have shown, and might show again, that no work no object can be so general, as to dispense its benefits with precise equality ; and this inequality is chief among the " portentous consequences " for which he declares that improve- ments should be arrested. No, sir ; when the President inti- mates that something in the way of improvements may prop- erly be done by the General Government, he is shrinking /rom the conclusions to which his own arguments would force him. He feels that the improvements of this broad and goodly land are a mighty interest ; and he is unwilling to confess to the people, or perhaps to himself, that he has built an argument which, when pressed to its conclusion, entirely annihilates this interest. I have already said that no one who is satisfied of the expe- diency of making improvements need be much uneasy in his conscience about its Constitutionality. I wish now to submit a few remarks on the general proposition of amending the Constitution. As a general rule, I think we would do much better to let it alone. No slight occasion should tempt us to touch it. Better not take the first step, which may lead to a habit of altering it. Better rather habituate ourselves to think of it as unalterable. It can scarcely be made better than it is.' New provisions would introduce new difficulties, and thus cre- ate and increase appetite for further change. No. sir ; let it stand as it is. New hands have never touched it. The men who made it have done their work, and have passed away. Who shall improve on what they did ? Mr. Chairman, for the purpose of reviewing this message in the least possible time, as well as for the sake of distinctness. I have analyzed its arguments as well as I could, and reduced them to the propositions I have stated. I have now examined them in detail. I wish to detain the committee only a little while longer, with some general remarks on the subject of LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 99 improvements. That the subject is a difficult one, can not be denied. Still, it is no more difficult in Congress than in the State legislatures, in the counties, or in the smallest municipal districts which everywhere exist. All can recur to instances of this difficulty in the case of county roads, bridges, and the like. One man is offended because a road passes over his land ; and another is offended because it does not pass over his ; one is dissatisfied because the bridge, for which he is taxed, crosses the river on a different road from that which leads from his house to town ; another can not bear that the county should get in debt for these same roads and bridges ; while not a few struggle hard to have roads located over their lands, and then stoutly refuse to let them be opened, until they are first paid the damages. Even between the different wards and streets of towns and cities, we find this same wrangling and difficulty. Now, these are no other than the very difficul- ties against which, and out of which, the President constructs his objections of" inequality," " speculation," and " crushing the Treasury." There is but a single alternative about them they are sufficient, or they are not. If sufficient, they are suffi- cient out of Congress as well as t it, and there is the end. We must reject them as insufficient, or lie down and do noth- ing by any authority. Then, difficulty though there be, let us meet and overcome it. " Attempt the end, and never stand to dou't ; Nothing so hard, but search will find it out" Determine that the thing can and shall be done, and then we shall find the way. The tendency to undue expansion is unquestionably the chief difficulty. How to do something, and still not to do too much, is the desideratum. Let each con- tribute his mite in the way of suggestion. The late Silas Wright, 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 how much money can, for that year, be spared for improve- ments ; then apportion that sum to the most important objects, So far all is easy ; but how shall we determine which are the most important? On this question comes the collision of interests, /shall be slow to acknowledge that^or harbor or your river is more important than miw, and vice versa. To clear this difficulty, let us have that same statistical informa- tion which the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Vinton] suggested 100 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. at the beginning of this session. In that information we shall have a stern, unbending basis of facts a basis in nowise sub- ject to whim, caprice, or local interest. The pre-limited amount of means will save us from doing too much, and the statistics will save us from doing what we do, in wrong places. Adopt and adhere to this course, and, it seems to me, the dif- ficulty is cleared. One of the gentlemen from South Carolina (Mr. Khett) very much deprecates 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 everything be enumerated, a portion of such statistics may not be very useful to this object. Such products of the country as are to be consumed where they are produced, need no roads and rivers, no means of transportation, and have no very proper connection with this subject. The surplus, that 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 be among the most valuable statistics in this connection. From these it would readily appear where a given amount of expenditure would do the most good. These statistics might be equally accessible, as they would be equally useful, to both the 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 equalized 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 first session of the Thirtieth Congress was prolonged far beyond the date of the Presidential nominations of 1848, and the canvass was actively carried on by members on the floor of the House. Mr. Lincoln warmly sustained the nomi- nation of Gen. Taylor, and before the adjournment of Con- gress, he made, in accordance with precedent and general practice, one of his characteristic campaign speeches. He showed himself a man of decided partizan feelings, and entered into this contest with zeal, not only repelling the violent attacks upon the Wliig candidate, but showing that there were blows LIPB OP ABEAHAM LINCOLN. 101 to be given as well as taken. He said some things in a rein of sarcastic humor, which could only have been mistaken for actual bitterness, by those who did not know the really genial character of the man. Argument, ridicule and illustrative anecdotes were brought into requisition, with great ability and unsparing boldness, in setting the real issues of the canvass, political and personal, in what he deemed a proper light before the people. Although containing so many things of mere temporary inter- est, this speech will be read with avidity at the present time, an-d particularly on account of several passages which have especial significance from the position Mr. Lincoln himself now occu- pies what had then probably never once seriously entered his thoughts as among the events of the future. This effort will perhaps give occasional offense to the purist in style, but its manly earnestness and force, and its adaptedness to popular effect as a campaign document, will not be called in question. It is obvious that some change has taken place in Mr. Lin- coln's manner of speaking since those days, yet his first appearance in the national arena of politics exhibited that rugged strength and that earnest directness of expression which have given him permanent power with popular auditories. ME. LINCOLN'S SPEECH ON THE PBESIDENCY AND GBNEBAL POLITICS. (Delivered in the Howe, July 27, 1848.) GEN. TAYLOR AND THE VETO POWER. Mr. Lincoln said Mr. SPEAKER : Our Democratic friends seem to be in great distress because they think our candidate for the Presidency don't suit us. Most of them can not find out that Gen. Taylor has any principles at all ; some, however, have discovered that he has one, but that that one is entirely wrong. This one principle is his position on the veto power. The gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Stanton) who has just taken his seat, indeed, has said there is very little if any difference on this ques- tion between Gen. Taylor and all the Presidents ; and he seems to think it sufficient detraction from Gen. Taylor's position on it, that it has nothing new in it. But all others, whom I have heard speak, assail it furiously. A new member from Ken- 102 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. tucky (Mr. Clarke*) of very considerable ability, was in partic- ular concern about it. He thought it altogether novel and unprecedented for a President, or a Presidential candidate, to think of approving bills whose Constitutionality may not be entirely clear to his own mind. He thinks the ark of our safety is gone, unless Presidents shall always veto such bills as, in their judgment, may be of doubtful Constitutionality. However clear Congress may be of their authority to pass any particular act, the gentleman from Kentucky thinks the Presi- dent must veto it if he has doubts about it. Now I have neither time nor inclination to argue with the gentleman on the veto power as an original question ; but I wish to show that Gen. Taylor, and not he, agrees with the earliest statesmen on this question. When the bill chartering the first Bank of the United States passed Congress, its Constitutionality was ques- tionetl ; Mr. Madison, then in the House of Representatives, as well as others, had opposed it on that ground. Gen. Wash- ington, as President, was called on to approve or reject it. He sought and obtained, on the Constitutional question, the sepa- rate written opinions of Jefferson, Hamilton and Edmund Ran- dolph, they then being respectively Secretary of State, Secre- tary of the Treasury, and Attorney General. Hamilton's opinion was for the power ; while Randolph's and Jefferson's were both against it. Mr. Jefferson, after giving his opinion decidedly against the Constitutionality of that bill, closed his letter with the paragraph which I now read : " It must be admitted, however, that unless the President's mind, on a view of everything which is urged for and against this bill, is tolerably clear that it is unauthorized by the Con- stitution ; if the pro and the con hang so even as to balance his judgment, a just respect for the wisdom of the Legislature would naturally decide the balance in favor of their opinion ; it is chiefly for cases where they are clearly misled by error, ambition or interest, that the Constitution has placed a check in the negative of the President. THOMAS JEFFERSON. "February 15, 1791." Gen. Taylor's opinion, as expressed in his Allison letter, is as I now read : " The power given by the veto is a high conservative power ; but, in my opinion, should never be exercised, except in cases of clear violation of the Constitution, or manifest haste and want of consideration by Congress." It is here seen that, in Mr. Jefferson's opinion, if, on the Constitutionality of any given bill, the President doubts, he is *The late Hon. Beverly L. Clarke. LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 103 not to veto it, as the gentleman from Kentucky would have him to do, but is to defer to Congress and approve it. And if we compare the opinions of Jefferson and Taylor, as expressed in these paragraphs, we shall find them more exactly alike than we can often find any two expressions having any literal differ- ence. None but interested fault-finders, can discover any sub- stantial variation. THE NATIONAL ISSUES. But gentlemen on the other side are unanimously agreed that Gen. Taylor has no other principle. They are in utter darkness as to his opinions on any of the questions of policy which occupy the public attention. But is there any doubt as to what he will do on the prominent questions, if elected? Not the least. It is not possible to know what he will or would do in every imaginable case ; because many questions have passed away, and others doubtless will arise which none of us have yet thought of; but on the prominent questions of currency, tariff, internal improvements, and Wilmot proviso, General Taylor's course is at least as well defined as is General Cass's. Why, in their eagerness to get at General Taylor, several Democratic members here have desired to know whether, in case of his election, a bankrupt law is to be estab- lished. Can they tell us General Cass's opinion on this ques- tion ? (Some member answered, " He is against it.") Aye, how do you know he is ? There is nothing about it in the platform, nor elsewhere, that I have seen. If the gentle-man knows anything which I do not, he can show it. But to return : General Taylor, in his Allison letter, says: " Upon the subject of the tariff, the currency, the improve- ment of our great highways, rivers, lakes, and harbors, the will of the people, as expressed through their Representatives in Congress, ought to be respected and carried out by the Executive." A PRESIDENCY FOR THE PEOPLE. Now, this is the whole matter in substance, it is this : The people say to General Taylor, " If you are elected, shall we have a national bank?" He answers, " Your will, gentlemen, not mine." "What about the tariff?" "Say yourselves." "Shall our rivers and harbors be improved?" "Just as you please." " If you desire a bank, an alteration of the tariff, internal improvements, any or all, I will not hinder you; if you do not desire them, I will not attempt to force them on you." " Send up your members of Congress from the various districts, with opinions according to your own, and if they are for these measures, or any of them, I shall have nothing to 104 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. oppose; if they are not for them, I shall not, by any appliances whatever, attempt to dragoon them into their adoption." Now, can there be any difficulty in understanding this? To you, Democrats, it may not seem like principle ; but surely you can not fail to perceive the position plainly enough. The dis- tinction between it and the position of your candidate is broad and obvious, and I admit you have a clear right to show it is wrong, if you. can; but you have no right to pretend you can not see it at all. "We see it, and to us it appears like prin- ciple, and the best sort of principle at that the principle of allowing the people to do as they please with their own business. My friend from Indiana (Mr. C. B. Smith) has aptly asked, "Are you willing to trust the people ?" Some of you answered, substantially, " We are willing to trust the people ; but the President is as much the representative of the people as Con- gress." In a certain sense, and to a certain extent, he is the representative of the people. He is elected by them, as well as Congress is. But can he, in the nature of things, know the wants of the people as well as three hundred other men coming from all the various localities of the nation ? If so, where is the propriety of having a Congress ? That the Constitution gives the President a negative on legislation, all know; but that this negative should be so combined with platforms and other appliances as to enable him, and, in fact, almost compel him, to take the whole of legislation into his own hands, is what we object to is what General Taylor objects to and is what constitutes the broad distinction between you and us. To thus transfer legislation is clearly to take it from those who understand with minuteness the interest of the people, and give it to one who does not and can not so well understand it. I understand your idea, that if a Presidential candidate avow his opinion upon a given question, or rather upon all questions, and the people, with full knowledge of this, elect him, they thereby distinctly approve all those opin- ions. This, though plausible, is a most pernicious decep- tion. By means of it measures are adopted or rejected, contrary to the wishes of the whole of one party, and often nearly half of the other. The process is this : Three, four, or half a dozen questions are prominent at a given time ; the party selects its candidate, and he takes his position on each of these questions. On all but one his positions have already been indorsed at former elections, and his party fully committed to them ; but that one is new, and a large portion of them are against it. But what are they to do ? The whole are strung together, and they must take all or reject all. They can not take what they like and leave the rest. What they LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 105 are already committed to, being the majority, they shut their eyes and gulp the whole. Next election, still another is introduced in the same way. If we run our eyes along the line of the past, we shall see that almost, if not -quite, all the articles of the present Democratic creed have been at first forced upon the party in this very way. And just now, and just so, opposition to internal improvements is to be estab- lished if Gen. Cass shall be elected. Almost half the Demo- crats here are for improvements, but they will vote for Cass, and if he succeeds, their votes will have aided in closing the doors against improvements. Now, this is a process which we think is wrong. We prefer a candidate who, like Gen. Taylor, will allow the people to have their own way regardless of his private opinion ; and I should think the internal-improve- ment Democrats at least, ought to prefer such a candidate. He would force nothing on them which they don't want, and he would allow them to have improvements, which their own candidate, if elected, will not. GEN. TAYLOR AND THE WILMOT PROVISO. Mr. Speaker, I have said Gen. Taylor's position is as well defined as is that of Gen. Cass. In saying this, I admit I do not certainly know what he would do on the Wilmot proviso. I am a Northern man, or, rather, a Western free State man, with a constituency I believe to be, and with personal feelings I know to be, against the extension of slavery. As such, and with what information I have, I hope, and believe, Gen. Taylor, if elected, would not veto the proviso ; but I do not know it. Yet, if I knew he would, I still would vote for him. I should do so, because, in my judgment, his election alone can defeat Gen. Cass ; and because, should slavery thereby go into the territory we now have, just so much will certainly happen by the election of Cass ; and, in addition, a course of policy leading to new wars, new acquisitions of territory, and still further extensions of slavery. One of the two is to be President; which is preferable? CASS ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS. But there is as much doubt of Cass on improvements as there is of Taylor on the proviso. I have no doubt myself of Gen. Cass on this question, but I know the Democrats differ among themselves as t<5 his position. My internal improvement colleague ( Mr. Wentworth ) stated on this floor* the other day, that he was satisfied Cass was for improvements, because Le had voted for all the bills that he ( Mr. W.) had. So far so good. But Mr. Polk vetoed some of 10 106 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. these very bills ; the Baltimore Convention passed a set of resolutions, among other things, approving these vetoes, and Cass declares, in his letter accepting the nomination, that he has carefully read these resolutions, and that he adheres to them as firmly as he approves them cordially. In other words, Gen. Cass voted for the bills, and thinks the President did right to veto them ; and his friends here are amiable enough to consider him as being on one side or the other, just as one or the other may correspond with their own respective incli- nations. My colleague admits that the platform declares against the Constitutionality of a general system of improve- ments, and that Gen. Cass indorses the platform ; but he still thinks Gen. Cass is in favor of some sort of improvements. Well, what are they ? As he is against general objects, those he is for, must be particular and local. Now, this is taking the subject precisely by the wrong end. Particularity expending the money of the whole people for an object which will benefit only a portion of them, is the greatest real objec- tion to improvements, and has been so held by Gen. Jackson, Mr. Polk, and all others, I believe, till now. But now, behold, the objects most general, nearest free from this objec- tion, are to be rejected, while those most liable to it are to be embraced. To return : I can not help believing that Gen. Cass, when he wrote his letter of acceptance, well understood he was to be claimed by the advocates of both sides of this question, and that he then closed the door against all further expressions of opinion, purposely to retain the benefits of that double position. His subsequent equivocation at Cleveland, to my mind, proves such to have been the case. PLATFORMS. One word more, and I shall have done with this branch of the subject. You Democrats; and your candidate, in the main are in favor of laying down, in advance, a platform a set of party positions, as a unit; and then of enforcing the people, by every sort of appliance, to ratify them, however unpalata- ble some of them may be. We, and our candidate, are in favor of making Presidential elections and the legislation of the country distinct matters ; so that the people can elect whom they please, and afterward legislate just as they please, without any hindrance, save only so much as may guard against infractions of the Constitution, undue haste, and want of consideration. The difference between us is clear as noon- day. That we are right we can not doubt. We hold the true Republican position. In leaving the people's business in LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 107 their hands, we can not be wrong. We are willing, and even anxious, to go to the people on this issue. MR. CLAY'S DEFEAT AND DEMOCRATIC SYMPATHIES. But I suppose I can not reasonably hope to convince you that we have any principles. The most I can expect is, to assure you that we think we have, and are quite contented with them. The other day, one of the gentlemen from Georgia ( Mr. Iverson ), an eloquent man, and a man of learning, so far as I can judge, not being learned myself, came down upon us astonishingly. He spoke in what the Baltimore American calls the " scathing and withering style." At the end of his second severe flash I was struck blind, and found myself feeling with my fingers for an assurance of my continued physical existence. A little of the bone was left, and I gradually revived. He eulogized Mr. Clay in high and beautiful terms, and then declared that we had deserted all our principles, and had turned Henry Clay out, like an old horse, to root. This is terribly severe. It can not be answered by argument ; at least, I can not so answer it. I merely wish to ask the gentleman if the Whigs are the only party he can think of, who sometimes turn old horses out to root? Is not a certain Martin Van Buren an old horse, which your own party have turned out to root? and is he not rooting a little to your discomfort about now? But in not nominating Mr. Clay, we deserted our principles, you say. Ah ! in what? Tell us, ye men of principles, what principle we violated? We say you did violate principle in discarding Van Buren, and we can tell you how. You violated the primary, the cardinal, the one great living principle of all Democratic representative government the principle that the representative is bound to carry out the known will of his constituents. A large majority of the Baltimore Convention of 1844 were, by their constituents, instructed to procure Van Buren's nomination if they could. In violation, in utter, glaring contempt of this, you rejected him rejected him, as the gentleman from New York ( Mr. Birdsall ), the other day expressly admitted, for availability that same " general availability" which you charge upon us, and daily chew over here, as something exceedingly odious and unprin- cipled. But the gentleman from Georgia ( Mr. Iverson ), gave us a second speech yesterday, all well considered and put down in writing, in which Van Buren was scathed and withered a " few" for his present position and movements. I can not remember the gentleman's precise language, but I do 108 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. remember ha put Van Buren down, down, till he got him where he was finally to "stink " and "rot." Mr. Speaker, it is no business or inclination of mine to defend Martin Van Buren. In the war of extermination now waging between him and his old admirers, I say, devil take the hindmost and the foremost. But there is no mistaking the origin of the breach ; and if the curse of "stinking" and " rotting" is to fall on the first and greatest violators of princi- ple in the matter, I disinterestedly suggest, that the gentleman from Georgia and his present co-workers are bound to take it upon themselves. [Mr. Lincoln then proceeded to speak of the objections against Gen. Taylor as a mere military hero ; retorting with effect, by citing the attempt to make out a military record for Gen. Cass ; and referring, in a bantering way, to his own ser- vices in the Black Hawk war, as already quoted. He then said : ] CASS ON THE WILMOT PROVISO. While I have Gen. Cass in hand, I wish to say a word about his political principles.- As a specimen, I take the record of his progress on the Wilmot Proviso. In the Washington Union, of March 2, 1847, there is a report of the speech of Gen. Cass, made the day before in the Senate, on the Wilmot Proviso, during the delivery of which Mr. Miller, of New Jersey, is reported to have interrupted him as follows, to-wit : " Mr. Miller expressed his great surprise at the change in the sentiments of the Senator from Michigan, who had been regarded as the great champion of freedom in the North-west of which he was a distinguished ornament. Last year the Senator from Michigan was understood to be decidedly in favor of the Wilmot Proviso ; and, as no reason had been stated for the change, he (Mr. Miller) could not refrain from the expres- sion of his extreme surprise." To this Gen. Cass is reported to have replied as follows, to- wit: " Mr. Cass said, that the course of the Senator from New Jersey was most extraordinary. Last year he (Mr. Cass) should have voted for the proposition had it come up. But circumstances had altogether changed. The honorable Sena- tor then read several passages from the remarks as given above, which he had committed to writing, in order to refute such a charge as that of the Senator from New Jersey." LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 109 In the "remarks above committed to writing," is one num- bered 4, as follows, to-wit : " 4th. Legislation would now be wholly imperative, because no territory hereafter to be acquired can be governed with- out an act of Congress providing for its government. And such an act, on its passage, would open the whole subject, and leave the Congress, called on to pass it, free to exercise its own discretion, entirely uncontrolled by any declaration found in the statute book." In Niles' Register, vol. 73, page 293, there is a letter of Gen. Cass to A. 0. P. Nicholson, of Nashville, Tennessee, dated December 24, 1847, from which the following are correct extracts : " The Wilmot Proviso has been before the country some time. It has been repeatedly discussed in Congress, and by the public press. I am strongly impressed with the opinion that a great change has been going on in the public mind upon this subject in my own as well as others ; and that doubts are resolving themselves into convictions, that the prin- ciple it involves should be kept out of the National Legislature, and left to the people of the Confederacy in their respective local Governments. * * * * * * * " Briefly, then, I am opposed to the exercise of any jurisdic- tion by Congress over this matter ; and I am in favor of leaving the people of any territory which may be hereafter acquired, the right to regulate it themselves, under the general principles of the Constitution. Because, " 1. I do not see in the Constitution any grant of the requisite power to Congress ; and I am not disposed to extend a doubtful precedent beyond its necessity the establishment of territorial governments when needed leaving to the inhab- itants all the rights compatible with the relations they bear to the Confederation." AN OBEDIENT DEMOCRAT. These extracts show that, in 1846, Gen. Cass was for the Proviso at once; that, in March, 1847, he was still for it,, but not just then ; and that in December, 1847, he was against it altogether. This is a true index to the whole man. When the question was raised in 1846, he was in a blustering hurry to take ground for it. He sought to be in advance, and to avoid the uninteresting position of a mere follower ; but soon he began to see glimpses of the great Democratic ox-gad wav- ing in his face, and to hear indistinctly, a voice saying, "back," " back, sir." " back a little." He shakes his head and bats his eyes, and blunders back to his position of March, 1847 ; but 110 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. still the gad waves, and the voice grows more distinct, and sharper still " back, sir ! " " back, I say ! " " further back ! " and back he goes to the position of December, 1847 ; at which the gad is still, and the voice soothingly says " So ! " " Stand still at that." Have no fears, gentlemen, of your candidate ; he exactly suits you, and we congratulate you upon it. However much you may be distressed about our candidate, you have all cause to be contented and happy with your own. If elected, he may not maintain all, or even any of his positions previously taken ; but he will be sure to do whatever the party exigency, for the time being, may require ; and that is precisely what you want. He and Van Buren are the same " manner of men ; " and like Van Buren, he will never desert you till you first desert him. [After referring at some length to extra " charges " of Gen. Cass upon the Treasury, Mr. Lincoln continued : ] WONDERFUL PHYSICAL CAPACITIES. But I have introduced Gen. Cass's accounts here, chiefly to show the wonderful physical capacities of the man. They show that he not only did the labor of several men at the same time, but that he often did it, at several places many hundred miles apart, at (he same time. And at eating, too, his capaci- ties are shown to be quite as wonderful. From October, 1821, to May, 1822, he ate ten rations a day in Michigan, ten rations a day here, in Washington, and near five dollar's worth a day besides, partly on the road between the two places. And then there is an important discovery in his example the art of being paid for what one eats, instead of having to pay for it. Hereafter, if any nice young man shall owe a bill which he can not pay in any other way, he can just board it out. Mr. Speake'r, we have all heard of the animal standing in doubt between two stacks of hay, and starving to death ; the like of that would never happen to Gen. Cass. Place the stacks a thousand miles apart, he would stand stock-still, midway between them, and eat them both at once ; and the green grass along the line would be apt to suffer some too, at the same time. By all means, make him President, gentlemen. He will feed you bounteously if if there is any left after he shall have helped himself. THE WHIGS AND THE MEXICAN WAR. But as Gen. Taylor, is, par excellence, the hero of the Mexi- can warj and, as you Democrats say we Whigs have always LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Ill opposed the war, you think it must be very awkward and embarrassing for us to go for Gen. Taylor. The declaration that we have always opposed the war, is true or false accordingly as one may understand the term " opposing the war." If to gay " the war was unnecessarily and unconstitutionally com- menced by the President," be opposing the war, then the Whigs have very generally opposed it. Whenever they have spoken at all, they have said this ; and they have said it on what has appeared good reason to them : The marching an army into the midst of a peaceful Mexican settlement, frightening the inhabitants away, leaving their growing crops and other property to destruction, to you may appear a per- fectly amiable, peaceful, unprovoking procedure ; but it does not appear so to us. So to call such an act, to us appears no other than a naked, impudent absurdity, and we speak of it accordingly. But if, when the war had begun, and had be- come the cause of the country, the giving of our money and our blood, in common with yours, was support of the war, then it is not true that we have always opposed the war. With few individual exceptions, you have constantly had our votes here for all the necessary supplies. And, more than this, you have had the services, the blood, and the lives of our political breth- ren in every trial, and on every field. The beardless boy and the matui'e man the humble and the distinguished, you have had them. Through suffering and death, by disease and in battle, they have endured, and fought, and fallen with you. Clay and Webster each gave a son, never to be returned. From the State of my own residence, besides other worthy but less known Whig names, we sent Marshall, Morrison, Baker, and Hardin ; they all fought, and one fell, and in the fall of that one, we lost our best Whig man. Nor were the Whigs few in number, or laggard in the day of danger. In that fearful, bloody, breathless struggle at Buena Vista, where each man's hard task was to beat back five foes, or die himself, of the five high officers who perished, four were Whigs. In speaking of this, I mean no odious comparison between the lion-hearted Whigs and Democrats who fought there. On other occasions, and among the lower officers and privates on that occasion, I doubt not the proportion was different. I wish to do justice to all. I think of all those brave men as Americans, in whose proud fame, as an American, I too have a share. Many of them, Whigs and Democrats, are my con- stituents and personal friends; and I thank them more than thank them one and all, for the high, imperishable honor they have conferred on our common State. 112 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. AN IMPORTANT DISTINCTION. But the distinction between the cause of the President in beginning the war, and the cause of the country after it was begun, is a distinction which you can not perceive. To you, the President and the country seem to be all one. You are interested to see no distinction between them; and I venture to suggest that possibly your interest blinds you a little. We see the distinction, as we think, clearly enough ; and our friends, who have fought in the war, have no difficulty in see- ing it also. What those who have fallen would say, were they alive and here, of course we can never know ; but with those who have returned there is no difficulty. Col. Haskell and Maj. Gaines, members here, both fought in the war; and one of them underwent extraordinary perils and hardships ; still they, like all other Whigs here, vote on the record that the war was unnecessarily and unconstitutionally commenced by the Presi- dent. And even Gen. Taylor himself, the noblest Koman of them all, has declared that, as a citizen, and particularly as a soldier, it is sufficient for him to know that his country is at war with a foreign nation, to do all in his power to bring it to a speedy and honorable termination, by the most vigorous and energetic operations, without inquiring about its justice, or anything else connected with it. Mr. Speaker, let our Democratic friends be comforted with the assurance that we are content with our position, content with our company, and contentrwith our candidate ; and that although they, in their generous sympathy, think we ought to be miserable, we really are not, and that they may dismiss the great anxiety they have on our account. Mr. Lincoln concluded with some allusions to the then divid- ed condition of the New York Democracy. This session of Congress came to a close on the 14th day of August. The chief points of Mr. Lincoln's Congressional record, thus far, have been noticed, and his principal speeches given at length. He stood firmly by the side of John Q ''. On the 31st of January, Mr. Edwards, from the Committee on the District of Columbia, reported a bill, suitably guarded in its terms, prohibiting the slave-trade in the District. On a motion to lay this on the table, Mr. Lincoln voted in the neg- ative, with the friends of that measure, who were a majority. This bill, however, passed over among the unfinished business of the session. In regard to the grant of public lands to the new States, to aid in the construction of railroads and canals, Mr. Lincoln favored the interests of his own constituents, under such rea- sonable restrictions as the proper carrying out of the purpose of these grants required. This policy had been strongly opposed by Mr. Vinton, while one of the bills of this sort was pending. In the brief remarks which Mr. Lincoln offered in reply, there are some points (Congressional Globe, page 533) worth quoting here : In relation to the fact assumed, that, after a while, the new States, having got hold of the public lands to a certain extent, would turn round and compel Congress to relinquish all claim to them, he had a word to say, by way of recurring to the history of the past. When was the time to come (he asked) when the States in which the public lands were sit- uated would compose a majority of the representation in Congress, or any thing like it. A majority of Representa- tives would very soon reside West of the mountains, he admitted ; but would they all come from States in which the public lands were situated ? They certainly would not ; for, as these Western States grew strong in Congress, the public lands passed away from them, and they got on the other side LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 117 of the question, and the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Vinton) was an example attesting that fact. Mr. Vinton interrupted here to say, that he had stood upon this question just where he was now, for five-and-twenty years. Mr. Lincoln was not making an argument for the purpose of convicting the gentleman of any impropriety at all. He was speaking of a fact in history, of which his State was an example. He was referring to a plain principle in the nature of things. The State of Ohio had now grown to be a giant. She had a large delegation on that floor ; but was she now in favor of granting lands to the new States as she used to be? The New England States, New York, and the Old Thirteen, were all rather quiet upon the subject ; and it was seen just now that a member from one of the new States was the first man to rise up in opposition. And so it would be with the history of this question for the future. There never would come a time when the people residing in the States embracing the public lands would have the entire control of this subject ; and so it was a matter of certainty that Congress would never do more in this respect than what would be dictated by a just liberality. The apprehension, therefore, that the public lands were in danger of being wrested from the General Govern- ment by the strength of the delegation in Congress from the new States, was utterly futile. There never could be such a thing. If we take these lands (said he) it will not be without your consent. We can never outnumber you. The result is, that all fear of the new States turning against the right of Congress to the public domain must be effectually quelled, as those who are opposed to that interest must always hold a vast majority here, and they will never surrender the whole or any part of the public lands unless they themselves choose so to do. This was all he desired to say. With the termination of the Thirtieth Congress, by Consti- tutional limitation, on the 4th of March, 1849, Mr. Lincoln's career as a Congressman came to a close. He had refused to "be a candidate for re-election in a district that had given him over 1,500 majority in 1846, and nearly the same to General Taylor, as the Whig candidate for the Presidency in 1848. It does not appear that he desired or would have accepted any place at Washington among the many at the disposal of the incoming Administration, in whose behalf he had so zealously labored. He retired once more to private life, renewing the 118 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. professional practice which had been temporarily interrupted by his public employment. The duties of his responsible position had been discharged with assiduity and with fearless adherence to his convictions of right, under whatever circum- stances. Scarcely a list of yeas and nays can be found, for either session, which does not contain his name. He was never conveniently absent on any critical vote. He never shrank from any responsibility which his sense of justice impelled him to take. His record, comparatively brief as it is, is no doubtful one, and will bear the closest scrutiny. And though one of the youngest and most inexperienced members of an uncommonly able and brilliant Congress, he would long have been remembered, without the more recent events which have naturally followed upon his previous career, as standing among the first in rank of the distinguished statesmen of the Thirtieth Congress. LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 119 CHAPTER IX. PROFESSIONAL LITE. THE ANTI-NEBRASKA CANVASS. 18491854. Mr. Lincoln in Retirement for Five Years. Gen. Taylor's Administra- tion. The Slavery Agitation of 1850. The Compromise of Clay and Fillmore. The " Final Settlement" of 1852. How, and by Whom it was Disturbed. Violation of the Most Positive Pledges. The Kansas- Nebraska Bill. Douglas, the Agitator. Popular Indignation and Excitement. Mr. Lincoln Takes Part in the Canvass of 1854. Great Political Changes. The Anti-Nebraska Organization. Springfield Resolutions of 1854. Results of the Election. A Majority of Con- gressmen and of the Legislature Anti-Nebraska. Election of United States Senator to Succeed Gen. Shields. Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Trum- bull. A Magnanimous Sacrifice. Mr. Trumbull Elected. DURING the five years immediately following the close of his Congressional life, Mr. Lincoln attentively pursued his profes- sion of the law. He took no active part in politics through the period of Gen. Taylor's administration, or in any of the exciting scenes of 1850. His great political leader, Henry Clay, had resumed his place in the Senate, and was earnestly striving one of the last great labors of his life to avert the dangers to the country, which he believed to be threatened by the fierce contests over the question of Slavery. It was, with the slave States, a desperate struggle to retain the balance of power in the Senate, by rejecting the application of another free State for admission, the granting of which would destroy the exact equilibrium then existing. The policy of admitting a slave State along with every new free one, had substantially prevailed for years ; but, at this time, despite the extensive additions of Mexican territory, there was no counterbalancing slave State ready for admission. The exclusion of slavery 120 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. from California had, in fact, been rather a surprisc^nnd this application was evidently still more an irritating circumstance for that reason. And yet this movement was in strict accord- ance with the policy of a Southern President. As a final result, the admission of California was only carried by means of great counterbalancing concessions on the part of the free States. For months after, there was much discontent in both eections, in regard to the compromise measures of 1850, which were defeated in Congress, when first acted upon as a whole, but were ultimately carried in detail. It was not until 1852, when both the great parties of the country agreed to accept those measures as a " final settlement " of the slavery contro- versy, that public sentiment, North and South, appeared to have become fully reconciled to this adjustment. The Admin- istration, brought into power by the election of that year, was most thoroughly and sacredly committed to the maintenance of this settlement, and against the revival of the Slavery agita- tion in any form. To introduce that subject, under any pre- tense, into the halls of Congress, was an act of wanton incen- diarism, in utter disregard of most solemn pledges, by the aid of which the Democratic party had secured whatever real hold it had upon popular confidence. Such was the state of affairs in 1852, and at the time of Mr. Pierce's inauguration in 1853. Mr. Lincoln, as a private citizen, engrossed with his profes- sional duties, had borne no part in the original controversy, and had taken no share in its settlement. Whether preferring the non-intervention policy of President Taylor, or the com- promise course of Clay and Fillmore, he had undoubtedly regarded the peace established, by means of the latter, as one that ought by all means to be preserved, and the pledges of both sections of the country, through the action of both the national parties, as religiously binding upon every public man who had openly or tacitly assented thereto. That he approved all the details of this compromise is not probable. But that, if faithfully adhered to, the practical results would have been eatisfactory, he was undoubtedly convinced. The introduction of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, in 1854. in the midst of this profound peace on the slavery question, was LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 121 " the alarm of the fire-bell at night" which startled Mr. Lin- coln in the repose of his private life, and showed that the incendiary had but too successfully been at his work. The solemn pledge of peace had been violated by the very men who were most forward in making it, and most noisy in their professions of a desire that the slavery conflict should cease. This new agitating movement, not only unsettling all the more recent stipulations made for the sake of peace, but even going back to destroy the only condition yet assailable, of the Com- promise of 1820, and that the very portion which was agreed on as a consideration to the free States, was led by the ambi- tious politician of Illinois, Stephen A. Douglas. Not only had this unscrupulous agitator committed himself as fully as man could do to the maintenance of peace on this question, after the compromise of 1850, but he had, a year previous, called down vengeance upon the hand that would dare disturb the time-honored Missouri compact that settlement which secured freedom "forever" to the soil embraced within the limits of Kansas and Nebraska. Yet the first hand raised for the commission of this incalculable wrong was his own ! Douglas himself reported the act which violated that com- pact, and which opened the new territories to slavery (pro- fessedly, pot really, at the option of the people), contrary to the spirit of all the early legislation, and to the hitherto uni- form course of the Government. Even he himself had recently voted for the Wilmot Proviso as applied to the territory acquired from Mexico, and Mr. Polk had approved the Oregon bill, containing the same restriction. Never was there more universal indignation among the people of the North, and many of the more sagacious statesmen of the South clearly foresaw the mischiefs that were to follow from this sacrilege. Yet strange to say, this measure sundered and broke up the Whig party forever, through the action of a large portion of the Southern "Whig Congressmen, in joining the Democracy in this act of bad faith, for the sake of supposed sectional advant- age. The most intense excitement prevailed throughout the country, and the destruction of the old party lines was effect- ually accomplished. 11 122 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. These events called forth Mr. Lincoln once more to do battle for the right. He entered into the canvass of 1854, as one of the most active leaders of the "Anti-Nebraska" movement. He addressed the people repeatedly from the stump, with all his characteristic earnestness and energy. He met and cowed the author of the " Nebraska iniquity," in the presence of the masses, and powerfully aided in effecting the remarkable polit- ical changes of that year in Illinois. The incendiary act had come to the final vote, in the Senate, on the 26th day of May. About the first of August, Congress adjourned. Douglas lingered by the way on his return to his constituents, and reached Chicago near the close of that month. Here he met a storm of indignation from the people, whom for manifesting their disapprobation of his conduct, he compla- cently termed a " mob." He had proposed to speak in self- vindication, on the evening of the first day of September. He was received with the most decisive demonstrations of popular indignation, which he attempted to face down with an insufferable insolence of manner, that only tended to increase the excitement against him. After long perseverance in an attempt to compel a hearing, he was forced to succumb. All over the State he early discovered the same state of feeling existed among a large portion of his constituents, although there was no refusal to hear him, except in this first unlucky effort to defy and silence a crowd by bullying deportment. The popular rage gradually subsided, but the deliberate senti- ment of the people of Illinois on this subject has only been confirmed and strengthened against him with time. From commanding a large majority of the popular vote, as he had done previously, his strength dwindled away, until, for years past, he and the party that sustained him, have been in a pos- itive minority in the State. The reader can judge how much this, to him, painful truth, had to do with the change of policy adopted by him, in opposing the Lecompton Constitution, the legitimate fruit of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, and substantially approved by him in advance, in a speech made in Springfield, in 1857. Mr. Douglas visited several parts of the State, vainly attempt- OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 123 ing, by ingenious but sophistical addresses to the people to avert the impending revolution. Mr. Lincoln met him in debate at Springfield, during the time of the State Fair, early in October, 1854, and the encounter was a memorable one in the great campaign then in progress. They met a few days later at Peoria, where Mr. Douglas had no better fortune. Subse- quently to that encounter, he showed a decided preference for speaking at other times and places than Mr. Lincoln. The Anti-Nebraska organization, formed at Springfield in October of that year, and embracing men of all parties opposed to the reckless measures which had introduced the most violent agitation in regard to slavery ever known in the coun- try, was the beginning from which the Kepublican party in Illinois was to be matured. Among the resolutions at that time adopted, after setting forth in a preamble that a majority of Congress had deliberately and wantonly re-opened the con- troversy respecting the extension of slavery under our national jurisdiction, which a majority of the people had understood to be closed forever by the successive compromises of 1820 and 1850, were the following : Resolved, That the doctrine affirmed by the Nebraska Bill, and gilded over by its advocates with the specious phrases of non-intervention and popular sovereignty, is really and clearly a complete surrender of all the ground hitherto asserted and maintained by the Federal Government, with respect to the limitation of slavery, is a plain confession of the right of the slaveholder to transfer his human chattels to any part of the public domain, and there hold them as slaves as long as inclin- ation or interest may dictate ; and that this is an attempt totally to reverse the doctrine hitherto uniformly held by statesmen and jurists, that slavery is the creature of local and State law, and to make it a national institution. Resolved, That as freedom is national and slavery sectional and local, the absence of all law upon the subject of slavery pre- sumes the existence of a state of freedom alone, while slavery exists only by virtue of positive law. Resolved, That we heartily approve the course of the freemen of Connecticut, Vermont, Iowa, Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, New York, Michigan and Maine, postponing or disregarding their minor difference of opinion or preferences, and acting together cordially and trustingly in the same cause of freedom, 124 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. of free labor, and free soil, and we commend their spirit to the freemen of this and other States, exhorting each to re- nounce his party whenever and wherever that party proves unfaithful to human freedom. In behalf of these principles, Mr. Lincoln had already taken the stump, and for them he did valiant service in various parts of the State. This new party was organized late in the season, and the canvass for Treasurer, the only State, officer to be elected, was but imperfectly made. In some parts of the State, there was even no distribution of tickets containing the name of this candidate. The result, even under these unfavorable circum-_ stances, and in spite of the overwhelming Democratic prepond- erance during the previous twenty-five years, was extremely close, and for a long time doubtful. The Democratic candidate barely escaped defeat. This was the last election in which the party sustaining Douglas has had even the appearance of a majority in Illinois. The revolution was now substantially accomplished. From that day to the present the Opposition party has been steadily gaining in strength, and that of Mr. Douglas sinking more and more into a hopeless minority. Even the temporary reaction, under the Anti-Lecompton flag, was more apparent than real. Of the nine Congressional Districts, the Opposition now, for the first time, carried a majority, electing five members, and the Democrats four. The Legislature would have been completely revolutionized, in both branches, with little doubt, but for the large number of Democrats " holding over," as members of the new Senate. In the House, the Anti-Nebraska representatives numbered forty, and the Democratic thirty- five. In the Senate, there were seventeen elected as Demo- crats, and eight as Opposition men. Of the former, however, there were three, elected two years previously, who repudiated Dotfglas and his policy, and inclined to the Opposition. These were Norman B. Judd, J. M. Palmer, and B. C. Cook. Reckoning these with the Anti-Nebraska side, the Senate stood, Op"pX)sition eleven, Democrats fourteen leaving a LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 125 majority against the Douglas Democracy of two on joint ballot. A United States Senator, to succeed Gen. Shields on the 4th of March, 1855, was to be chosen by this Legislature. For the first time in the history of Illinois, the election of an Opposition Senator was within the reach of possibility. Mr. Lincoln was the first choice of the great mass of the Opposi- tion for this position. From his prominence, for a long time, in the old Whig party, it was but natural that a portion of the members having Democratic antecedents who had come into the new organization, should hesitate to give Mr. Lin- coln their votes. This was especially true of the three Senators above named as holding over, they having been elected as regular Democrats. Under this state of things, it was manifest, after a few ballots, that, with the close vote in joint convention the election of a Democrat, not to be cer- tainly relied on as an opponent of the Douglas policy, and at best uncommitted in regard to the new party organization, might be the result of adhering to Mr. Lincoln. He, accord- ingly, with the self-sacrificing disposition which had always characterized him, promptly appealed to his Whig friends to go over in a solid body to Mr. Trumbull, a man of Demo- cratic antecedents, who could command the full vote of the Anti-Nebraska Democrats. By these earnest and disinterested efforts, the difficult task was accomplished, great as was the sacrifice of personal feeling which it cost the devoted friends of Mr. Lincoln. On the part of himself and them, it involved the exercise of a degree of self-denial and magnanimity, as rare as it was noble. It demonstrated their honest attachment to the great cause for which old party lines had been aban- doned, and their sincere purpose of thoroughly ignoring all differences founded on mere partizan prejudice. It cemented the union of these Anti-Nebraska elements, and consolidated the new organization into a permanent party. The joint convention for electing a United States Senator met on the 8th day of February, 1855. On the first ballot, James Shields, then Senator, who had been induced by 126 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Douglas, against his own better judgment, to vote for the Kansas-Nebraska bill, received 41 votes, and three other Democrats had one vote each. Abraham Lincoln had 45 votes, Lyman Trumbull 5, Mr. Koerner 2, and there were three other scattering votes. On the seventh ballot, the Democratic vote was concentrated upon Gov. Matteson, with two exceptions, and he received also the votes of two Anti- Nebraska Democrats, making 44 in all. On the tenth ballot, Mr. Trumbull was elected, in the way just explained, receiving 51 votes and Mr. Matteson 47. Every Whig vote but one was given to Mr. Trumbull. Among the speeches delivered by Mr. Lincoln in this memorable campaign, which gave the Eepublicans an able Senator from Illinois, and which effectually accomplished the overthrow of the Democracy in that State, perhaps the ablest and most characteristic was the one delivered at Peoria, important portions of which were quoted by him in the canvass with Douglas, four years later. LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 127 CHAPTER X. POLITICAL MOVEMENTS IN 1856 AND '57. The Republican Party Organized. Their Platform adopted at Blooming- ton. The Canvass of 1856. Mr. Lincoln Sustains Fremont and Day- ton. His Active Labors on the Stump. Col. Bissell Elected Governor of Illinois. Mr. Buchanan Inaugurated. His Kansas Policy. Mr. Douglas Committed to it in June, 1857. John Calhoun His Special Friend. The Springfield Speech of Douglas. Mr. Lincoln's Reply. MR. LINCOLN took an active part in the formation of the .Republican party as such. The State convention of that organization which met at Bloomington, on the 29th of May, 1856, sent delegates to the Philadelphia Convention of that year, held for the nomination of Presidential candidates. The resolutions of the Bloomington Convention, in place of which Mr. Douglas produced an entirely different series on the stump, in 1858, are subjoined in full : WHEREAS, The present Administration has prostituted its powers, and devoted all its energies to the propagation of slavery, and to its extension into Territories heretofore dedi- cated to freedom, against the known wishes of the people of such Territories, to the suppression of the freedom of speech, and of the press ; and to the revival of the odious doctrine of con- structive treason, which has always been the resort of tyrants, and their most powerful engine of injustice and oppression ; and whereas, we are convinced that an effort is making to subvert the principles, and ultimately to change the form of our Government, and which it becomes all patriots, all who love their country, and the cause of human freedom, to resist ; therefore Resolved, That foregoing all former differences of opinion upon other questions, we pledge ourselves to unite in opposition to the present-Administration, and to the party which upholds and supports it, and to use all honorable and Constitutional 128 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. means to wrest the government from the unworthy hands which now control it, and to bring it back in its administration to the principles and practices of Washington, Jefferson and their great and good compatriots of the Revolution. Resolved, That we hold, in accordance with the opinions and practices of all the great statesmen of all parties, for the first sixty years of the administration of the Government, that, under the Constitution, Congress possesses full power to pro- hibit slavery in the Territories ; and that while we will main- tain all Constitutional rights of the South, we also hold that justice, humanity, the principles of freedom as expressed in our Declaration of Independence, and our National Constitu- tion, and the purity and perpetuity of our Government require that that power should be exerted, to prevent the extension of slavery into Territories heretofore free. Resolved, That the repeal of the Missouri Compromise was unwise, unjust and injurious; in open and aggravated viola- tion of the plighted faith of the States, and that the attempt of the present Administration to force slavery into Kansas against the known wishes of the legal voters of that Territory, is an arbitrary and tyrannous violation of the rights of the people to govern themselves, and that we will strive by all Constitutional means, to secure to Kansas and Nebraska the legal guaranty against slavery, of which they were deprived, at the cost of the violation of the plighted faith of the nation. Resolved, That we are devoted to the Union, and will, to the last extremity, defend it against the efforts now being made by the Disunionists of this Administration to compass its dis- solution ; and that we will support the Constitution of the United States in all its provisions, regarding it as the sacred bond of our Union, and the only safeguard for the preserva- tion of the rights of ourselves and our posterity. Resolved, That we are in favor of the immediate admission of Kansas as a member of this Confederacy, under the Consti- tution adopted by the people of said Territory. Resolved, That the spirit of our institutions, as well as the Constitution of our country, guarantees the liberty of con- science as well as political freedom, and that we will proscribe no one by legislation or otherwise, on account of religious opinions, or in consequence of place of birth. Resolved, That in Lyman Trumbull, our distinguished Sen- ator, the people of Illinois have an able and consistent expo- nent of their principles, and that his course in the Senate meets with our unqualified approbation. LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 129 With this creed, and the Philadelphia platform, subsequently adopted, the Republicans of Illinois went into the canvass of 1856. Mr. Lincoln labored earnestly during the campaign, sus- taining the nominations of FREMONT and DAYTON. In the State canvass, Col. Wm. H. Bissel received the united support of the Opposition for Governor, and was elected by a decisive majority. On the Presidential candidates, there being, unfor- tunately, two tickets in the field, the divided Opposition were unsuccessful, although Fremont, in spite of the heavy Fill- more vote ran so closely upon Buchanan that the result was for a time in doubt, and only the nearly solid vote of "Egypt" decided the result in favor of the latter. The untiring exertions of Mr. Lincoln on the stump, in enlighten- ing the people as to the real issues involved, did much toward securing this remarkable vote. Mr. Buchanan came into power in March, 1857, and the hopes which had been entertained of a material change, under his administration, of the unjust and execrable policy hitherto pursued toward Kansas, were speedily dissipated. After some little show of resistance at first, he was soon found acting in accordance with the dictates of the extreme pro-slavery inter- est. A deep scheme was concocted, into the secrets of which even the Governor and Secretary of that Territory were not admitted, for forcing Kansas into the Union as a slave State. This plot began to be suspected, and its existence more and more confirmed by the course of events, not long after Mr. Buchanan's inauguration. The thin vail of " bogus Popular Sovereignty," with which Douglas had tried to hide the naked deformity of the act under which Kansas and Nebraska were organized, was to be rent asunder. People were beginning to look with curiosity for the next evasion or artful afterthought by which he would attempt to escape the force of a public sentiment which was already rapidly bearing him dow"n, before this more complete exposure became inevitable. This interest in his course was the more lively, for the reason that his Sena- torial term had nearly expired, and that, without some remark- able change of affars, or some ingenious device, the curse he 130 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. had himself pronounced in evidence upon the disturber of the Missouri compact, was to he most signally realized. Meantime, the machinery had been put in motion for a Convention at Lecompton, which was to ratify a Constitution prepared at Washington, under Administration auspices, and to secure the great purpose intended by the Southern sup- porters of the Kansas-Nebraska scheme. How grossly unjust and unequal were the provisions of the act calling this Con- vention, and how deliberate was its design of excluding the free State men from any effectual voice in determining " the domestic institutions " of a State in which the party of free labor comprised about four-fifths of the people, as had already been distinctly indicated, need not be here rehearsed. ,To Douglas, at least, the real facts were not unknown. That these iniquities must all ultimately come out, and receive the condemnation of the people, he can not have seriously ques- tioned. Yet, in spite of these facts, it is undeniably true, and is clearly of record, that he committed himself in advance not at all uncertain, most assuredly, as to what it was sub- stantially to be in favor of the Lecompton Constitution. John Calhoun, the chosen instrument of the Administration for carrying out its plot to defeat " Popular Sovereignty " in Kansas, was one of the special friends of Douglas, and under- stood to share his intimate confidence. And when, in his speech at Springfield, in June, 1857, Mr. Douglas substan- tially indorsed the Lecompton Convention and its doings, beforehand, no one had any reason to doubt that he intended fully to sustain the Administration in attempting to force a slave Constitution on the people of Kansas a process for which his " organic act" had prepared the way. In the course of his remarks on that occasion, he said : Kansas is about to speak for herself through her delegates assembled in convention to form a Constitution, preparatory to her admission into the Union on an equal footing with the original States. Peace and prosperity now prevail throughout her borders. The law under which her delegates are about to be elected is believed to be just and fair in all its objects and provisions. There is every reason to hope and believe that LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 131 the law will be fairly interpreted and impartially executed, so as to insure to every bona fide inhabitant the free and quiet exercise of the elective franchise. If any portion of the inhabitants, acting under the advice of political leaders in distant States, shall choose to absent themselves from the polls, and withhold their votes, with a view of leaving the free State Democrats in a minority, and thus securing a pro- slavery Constitution in opposition to the wishes of a majority of the people living under it, let the responsibility rest on those who, for partizan purposes, will sacrifice the principles they profess to cherish and promote. Upon them and upon the political party for whose benefit and under the direction of whose leaders they act, let the blame be visited of fastening upon the people of a new State institutions repugnant to their feelings and in violation of their wishes. Words could not have more positively indicated his purpose of sustaining all the acts of the Lecompton Convention, or that he anticipated the formation of a pro-slavery Constitution, for which he meant to charge the blame upon the free State men and upon the Republican party in general, anticipating then that the non-voting policy would be adopted. In a sub- sequent part of this same speech, he still more fully and unre- servedly indorsed the act providing for the Lecompton Con- stitutional- Convention, committing himself to all its legitimate consequences. He said : The present election law in Kansas is acknowledged to be fair and just the rights of the voters are clearly defined and the exercise of those rights will be efficiently and scru- pulously protected. Hence, if the majority of the people of Kansas desire to have it a free State (and we are told by the Republican party that nine-tenths of the people of that Territory are free State men), there is no obstacle in the way of bringing Kansas into the Union as a free State, by the votes and voice of her oivn people, and in conformity with the great principles of the Kansas-Nebraska act ; provided all the free State men will go to the polls, and vote their principles in accordance with their professions. If such is not the result, let the consequences be visited upon the heads of those whose policy it is to produce strife, anarchy, and bloodshed in Kan- sas, that their party may profit by slavery agitation in the northern States of this Union. That the Democrats in Kan- sas will perform their duty fearlessly and nobly, according to 132 LITE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. the principles they cherish, I have no doubt, and that the result of the struggle will be such as will gladden the heart and strengthen the hopes of every friend of the Union, I have entire confidence. The Lecompton Convention was to settle the whole Kansas controversy, " peacefully and satisfactorily," according to the professed faith of Mr. Douglas. He fully indorsed it in its origin, and committed himself to abide by its results, which were accomplished through the instrumentality of one of his warmest personal friends. And what these results would be, in his opinion, he clearly foreshadowed in the extracts above given from his speech. He expected a pro-slavery Constitu- tion, and he repeatedly approved, without any reservation, the convention-act which, by its regular carrying-out, accomplished that expectation. He declared, substantially, that the will of the people could be fully and fairly expressed in forming a Constitution at Lecompton, under that act ; and that if they did not obtain such a Constitution as they desired, it would be their oicn fault plainly implying that they must submit to such action as should be taken. He left himself scarcely a loophole of retreat, whatever might come of the Lecompton Convention. In the same speech Mr. Douglas spoke at length in indorse- ment of the dogmas embraced in what is popularly called the Dred Scott decision, and particularly of the one which denies the power of Congress to exclude slavery from the Territories. He tried, also, to convey the impression that the Kpublican party was in favor of negro equality, because dissenting in general to a judicial opinion, of which one of the details is a denial to the negro race of any legal redress for wrongs in the higher courts. A third subject of this speech was the Utah rebellion, which Mr. Douglas proposed to end by annulling the act establishing the Territory of Utah. To this speech Mr. Lincoln replied at Springfield, two weeks later. It is noticeable that the first two of the topics of Mr. Douglas's speech formed leading subjects of the great canvass of the next year. It is not impossible that this prompt joining LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 133 of issues may have had its influence in inducing Mr. Douglas BO completely to change front, before another twelve-month had passed. In any event, these two speeches have a rare interest, from their immediate relations to the coming contest, of which they are properly the prelude. We give Mr. Lin- coln's remarks at length: SPEECH OF MB. LINCOLN, IN REPLY TO ME. DOUGLAS, ON KANSAS, THE DRED SCOTT DECISION, AND THE UTAH QUESTION. (Delivered at Springfield, lll^ June 26, 1857.) FELLOW-CITIZENS : I am here, to-night, partly by the invi- tation of some of you, and partly by my own inclination. Two weeks ago Judge Douglas spoke here, on the several subjects of Kansas, the Dred Scott decision, and Utah. I listened to the speech at the time, and have read the report of it since. It was intended to controvert opinions which I think just, and to assail (politically, not personally) those men who, in com- mon with me, entertain those opinions. For this reason I wished then, and still wish to make some answer to it, which I now take the opportunity of doing. I begin with Utah. If it prove to be true, as is probable, that the people of Utah are in open rebellion against the United States, then Judge Douglas is in favor of repealing their terri- torial organization, and attaching them to the adjoining States for judicial purposes. I say, too, if they are in rebellion, they ought to be somehow coerced to obedience ; and I am not now prepared to admit or deny, that the Judge's mode of coercing them is not as good as any. The Republicans can fall in with it, without taking back anything they have ever said. To be sure, it would be a considerable backing down by Judge Doug- las, from his much vaunted doctrine of self-government for the territories; but this is only additional proof of what was very plain from the beginning, that that doctrine was a mere deceitful pretense for the benefit of slavery. Those who could not see that much in the Nebraska act itself, which forced Governors, and Secretaries, and Judges on the people of the territories, without their choice or consent, could not be made to see, though one should rise from the dead. But in all this, it is very plain the Judge evades the only question the Republicans have ever pressed upon the Democ- racy in regard to Utah. That question the Judge well knew to be this : " If the people of Utah shall peacefully form a State Constitution tolerating polygamy, will the Democracy admit them into the Union?" There is nothing in the Uni- ted Suites Constitution or law against polygamy ; and why is it 134 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. not a part of the Judge's "sacred right of self-government" for the people to have it, or rather to keep it, if they choose ? These questions, so far as I know, the Judge never answers. It might involve the Democracy to answer them either way, and they go unanswered. As to Kansas. The substance of the Judge's speech on Kansas is an effort to put the Free State men in the wrong for not voting at the election of delegates to the Constitutional Convention. He says : " There is every reason to hope and believe that the law will be fairly interpreted and impartially executed, so as to insure to every bona fide inhabitant the free and quiet exercise of the elective franchise." It appears extraordinary that Judge Douglas should make such a statement. He knows that, by the law, no one can vote who has not been registered ; and he knows that the Free State men place their refusal to vote on the ground that but few of them have been registered. It is possible this is not true, but Judge Douglas knows it is asserted to be true in letters, news- papers and public speeches, and borne by every mail, and blown by every breeze to the eyes and ears of the world. He knows it is boldly declared, that the people of many whole counties, and many whole neighborhoods in others, are left unregistered ; yet, he does not venture to contradict the decla- ration, or to point out how they can vote without being regis- tered ; but he just slips along, not seeming to know there is any such question of fact, and complacently declares, " There is every reason to hope and believe that the law will be fairly and impartially executed, so as to insure to every bona fide inhabitant the free and quiet exercise of the elective franchise." I readily agree that if all had a chance to vote, they ought to have voted. If, on the contrary, as they allege, and Judge Douglas ventures not particularly to contradict, few only of the free State men had a chance to vote, they were perfectly right in staying from the polls in a body. By the way, since the Judge spoke, the Kansas election has come off. The Judge expressed his confidence that all the Democrats in Kansas would do their duty including "free State Democrats " of course. The returns received here, as yet, are very incomplete ; but, so far as they go, they indicate that only about one-sixth of the registered voters, have really voted ; and this too, when not more, perhaps, than one-half of the rightful voters have been registered, thus showing the thing to have been altogether the most exquisite farce ever enacted. I am watching with considerable interest, to ascer- tain what figure "the free State Democrats" cut in the con- cern. Of course they voted all Democrats do their duty LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 135 and of course they did not vote for slave State candidates. We soon shall know how many delegates they elected, how many candidates they had pledged to a free State, and how many votes were cast for them. Allow me to barely whisper my suspicion, that there were no such things in Kansas as " free State Democrats " that they were altogether mythical, good onlj to figure in newspa- pers and speeches in the free States. If there should prove to be one real, living free State Democrat in Kansas, I suggest that it might be well to catch him, and stuff and preserve his skin, as an interesting specimen of that soon to be extinct variety of the genus Democrat. And now, as to the Dred Scott decision. That decision declares two propositions first, that a negro can not sue in the United States Courts ; and secondly, that Congress can not prohibit slavery in the Territories. It was made by a divided court dividing differently on the different points. Judge Douglas does not discuss the merits of the decision, and in that respect, I shall follow his example, believing I could no more improve upon McLean and Curtis, than he could on Taney. He denounces all who question the correctness of that decis- ion, as offering violent resistance to it. But who resists it? Who has, in spite of the decision, declared Dred Scott free, and resisted the authority of his master over him ? Judicial decisions have two uses first, to absolutely deter- mine the case decided ; and secondly, to indicate to the public how other similar cases will be decided when they arise. For the latter use, they are called " precedents " and " authorities." We believe as much as Judge Douglas (perhaps more) in obedience to, and respect for the judicial department of Govern- ment. We think its decisions on Constitutional questions, when fully settled, should control, not only the particular cases decided, but the general policy of the country, subject to be disturbed only by amendments of the Constitution, as provided in that instrument itself. More than this would be revolution. But we think the Dred Scott decision is erroneous. We know the court that made it, has often overruled its own decisions, and we shall do what we can to have it overrule this. W offer no resistance to it. Judicial decisions are of greater or less authority as prece- dents, according to circumstances. That Ihis should be so, accords both with common sense, and the customary under- standing of the legal profession. If this important decision had been made by the unanimous concurrence of the judges, and without any apparent partisan bias, and in accordance with legal public expectation, and with X 136 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. the steady practice of the departments, throughout our his- tory, and had been in no part based on assumed historical facts which are not really true ; or, if wanting in some of these, it had been before the court more than once, and had there been affirmed and re-affirmed through a course of years, it then might be, perhaps would be, factious, nay, even revolu- tionary, not to acquiesce in it as a precedent. But when, as is true, we find it wanting in all these claims to the public confidence, it is not resistance, it is not factious, it is not even disrespectful, to treat it as not having yet quite established a settled doctrine for the country. But Judge Douglas considers this view awful. Hear him : " The courts are the tribunals prescribed by the Constitu- tion and created by the authority of the people to determine, expound and enforce the law. Hence, whoever resists the final decision of the highest judicial tribunal, aims a deadly blow to our whole Republican system of government a blow which, if successful, would place all our rights and liberties at the mercy of passion, anarchy and violence. I repeat, there- fore, that if resistance to the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States, in a matter like the points decided in the Dred Scott case, clearly within their jurisdiction as defined by the Constitution, shall be forced upon the country as a political issue, it will become a distinct and naked issue between the friends and enemies of the Constitution the friends and the enemies of the supremacy of the laws." Why, this same Supreme Court once decided a national bank to be Constitutional ; but General Jackson, as President of the United States, disregarded the decision, and vetoed a bill for a re-charter, partly on Constitutional ground, declar- ing that each public functionary must support the Constitu- tion, "as he understands It." But hear the General's own words. Here they are, taken from his veto message : "It is maintained by the advocates of the bank, that its Constitutionality, in all its features, ought to be considered as settled by precedent, and by the decision of the Supreme Court. To this conclusion I can not assent. Mere precedent is a dangerous source of authority, and should not be regarded as deciding questions of Constitutional power, except where the acquiescence of the people and the States can be considered as well settled. So far from this being the case on this subject, an argument against the bank might be based on precedent. One Congress, in 1791, decided in favor of a bank ; another, in 1811, decided against it. One Congress, in 1815, decided against a bank ; another, in 1816, decided in its favor. Prior to the present Congress, therefore, the prece- LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 17 dents drawn from that source were equal. If we resort to the States, the expressions of legislative, judicial and executive opinions against the bank have been probably to those in its favor as four to one. There is nothing in precedent, there- fore, which, if its authority were admitted, ought to weigh in favor of the act before me." I drop the quotations merely to remark, that all there ever was, in the way of precedent up to the Dred Scott decision, on the points therein decided, had been against that decision. But hear General Jackson further : "If the opinion of the Supreme Court covered the whole ground of this act, it ought not to control the co-ordinate authorities of this Government. The Congress, the Executive and the Court, must each for itself be guided by its own opin- ion of the Constitution. Each public officer, who takes an oath to support the Constitution, swears that he will support it as he understands it, and not as it is understood by others." Again and again have I heard Judge Douglas denounce that bank decision, and applaud General Jackson for disre- garding it. It would be interesting for him to look over his recent speech, and see how exactly his fierce philippics against us for resisting Supreme Court decisions, fall upon his own head. It will call to mind a long and fierce political war in this country, upon an issue which, in his own language, and, of course, in his own changeless estimation, was "a distinct issue between the friends and the enemies of the Constitu- tion," and in which war he fought in the ranks of the ene- mies of the Constitution. I have said, in substance, that the Dred Scott decision was, in part, based on assumed historical facts which were not really true, and I ought not to leave the subject without giv- ing some reasons for saying this ; I, therefore, give an instance or two, which I think fully sustain me. Chief Jus- tice Taney, in delivering the opinion of the majority of the Court, insists at great length, that negroes were no part of the people who made, or for whom was made, the Declaration of Independence, or the Constitution of the United States. On the contrary, Judge Curtis, in his dissenting opinion, shows that in five of the then thirteen States, to wit : New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and North Carolina, free negoes were voters, and, in proportion to their numbers, had the same part in making the Constitution that the white people had^ He shows this with so much particu- larity as to leave no doubt of its truth ; and as a sort of con- clusion on that point, holds the following language : " The Constitution was ordained and established by the 12 138 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. people of the United States, through the action, in each State, of those persons who were qualified by its laws to act thereon in behalf of themselves and all other citizens of the State. In some of the States, as we have seen, colored persons were among those qualified by law to act on the subject. These colored persons were not only included in the body of 'the people of the United States,' by whom the Constitution was ordained and established ; but in at least five of the States they had the power to act, and, doubtless, did act, by their suffrages, upon the question of its adoption." Again, Chief Justice Taney says : " It is difficult, at this day to realize the state of public opinion in relation to that unfortunate race, which prevailed in the civilized and enlight- ened portions of the world at the time of the Declaration of Independence, and when the Constitution of the United States was framed and adopted." And again, after quoting from the Declaration, he says : " The general words above quoted would seem to include the whole human family, and if they were used in a similar instrument at this day, would be so under- stood." In these the Chief Justice does not directly assert, but plainly assumes, as a fact, that the public estimate of the black man is more favorable now than it was in the days of the Revolution. This assumption is a mistake. In some tri- fling particulars, the condition of that race has been amelior- ated ; but, as a whole, in this country, the change between then and now is decidedly the other way ; and their ultimate destiny has never appeared so hopeless as in the last three or four years. In two of the five States New Jersey and North Carolina that then gave the free negro the right of voting, the right has since been taken 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 I understand, masters could, at their own pleas- ure, emancipate their slaves ; but since then such legal restraints have been made upon emancipation as to amount almost to prohibition. In those days "Legislatures held the unquestioned power to abolish slavery in their respective States ; but now it is becoming quite fashionable for State Constitutions to withhold that power from the Legislatures. In those days, by common consent, the spread of the black man's bondage to the new countries was prohibited ; but now, Congress decides that it will not continue the prohibition and the Supreme Court decides that it could not if it would. In those days our Declaration of Independence was held LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 139 sacred by all, and thought to include all ; but now, to aid in making the bondage of the negro universal and eternal, it is assailed, sneered at, construed, hawked at, and torn, till, if its framers could rise from their graves, they could not at all recognize it. All the powers of earth seem rapidly combining against him. Mammon is after him ; ambition follows, phi- losophy follows, 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 concurrence of every key ; the keys in the hands of a hun- dred different men, and they scattered to a hundred different and distant places ; and they stand musing as to what inven- tion, in all the dominions of mind and matter, can be pro- duced to make the impossibility of his escape more complete than it is. It is grossly incorrect to say or assume, that the public esti- mate of the negro is more favorable now than it was at the origin of the Government. Three years and a half ago Judge Douglas brought forward his famous Nebraska bill. The country was at once in a blaze. He scorned all opposition, and carried it through Con- gress. ' Since then he has seen himself superseded in a Presi- dential nomination, by one indorsing the general doctrine of his measure, but at the same time standing clear of the odium of its untimely agitation, and its gross breach of national faith ; and he has seen that successful rival Constitutionally elected, not by the strength of friends, but by the division of his adver- saries, being in a popular minority of nearly four hundred thousand votes. He has seen his chief aids in his own State, Shields and Richardson, politically speaking, successively tried, convicted, and executed, for an offense not their own, but his. And now he sees his own case, standing next on the docket for trial. There is a natural disgust, in the minds of nearly all white people, to the idea of an indiscriminate amalgamation of the white and black races ; and Judge Douglas evidently is basing his chief hope upon the chances of his being able to appro- priate 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. He makes an occasion for lugging it in from the opposition to the Dred Scott decision. He finds the 140 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Republicans insisting that the Declaration of Independence 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 it does, do so only because they want to vote, eat and sleep, and marry with negroes ! He will have it that they can not be consistent else. Now, I pro- test against the counterfeit logic which concludes that, because I do not want a black woman for a slave I must necessarily want her for a wife. I need not have her for either. I can just leave bar alone. In some respects she certainly is not my equal ; but in her natural right to eat the bread she earns with her own hands, without asking leave of any one else, she is my equal, and the equal of all others. Chief Justice Taney, in his opinion in the Dred Scott case, admits that the language of the Declaration is broad enough to include the whole human family ; but he and Judge Doug- las argue that the authors of that instrument did not intend to include negroes, by the fact that they did not at once actu- a^ly place them on an equality with the whites. Now, this grave argument comes to just nothing at all, by the other fact, that they did not at once, or ever afterward, actually place all white people on an equality with one another. And this is the staple argument of both the Chief Justice and the Sena- tor for doing this obvious violence to the plain, unmistakable language of the Declaration. I think the authors of that notable instrument intended to include all men, but they did not intend to declare all men equal in all respects. They did not mean to say all were equal in color, size, intellect, moral developments, or social capacity. They defined with tolerable distinctness in what respects they did consider ail men created equal equal with " certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pur- suit of happiness." This they said, and this meant. They did not mean to assert the obvious untruth, that all were then actually enjoying that equality, nor yet, that they were about to confer it immediately upon them. In fact, they had no power to confer such a boon. They meant simply to declare the right, so that the enforcement of it might follow as fast as circumstances should permit. Mr. Lincoln, in conclusion, pointed out in a clear and forci- ble manner the real distinction between hia own views and those of Mr. Douglas, on this question, as he has done in other speeches. LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 141 CHAPTER XI. THE LINCOLN-DOUGLAS CAMPAIGN OF 1858. The Lecompton Struggle. The Policy of Douglas Changed. He Breaks with the Administration and Loses Caste at the South. Republican Sympathies. Douglas Falters, but Opposes the English Bill. Passage of that Measure. Democratic State Convention of Illinois. Douglas Indorsed, and Efforts for His Re-election Com- menced. The Democratic Bolt. Meeting of the Republican State Convention in June. Mr. Lincoln named as the First and Only Choice of the Republicans for Senator. His Great Speech Before the Convention at Springfield. Douglas and Lincoln at Chicago. Speeches at Bloomington and Springfield. Unfairness of the Appor- tionment Pointed Out by Mr. Lincoln. He Analyzes the Douglas Programme. Seven Joint Debates. Douglas Produces a Bogus Platform, and Propounds Interrogatories. "Unfriendly, Legisla- tion." Lincoln Fully Defines His Position on the Slavery Question. Result of the Canvass. The People for Lincoln ; the Apportionment for Douglas. Public opinion. The Lecompton Convention did its work according to the programme laid down at Washington. It adopted the Con- stitution desired, and probably devised, at the national capital, with the design of forcing slavery upon an unwilling people. One of the chief instruments in the execution of this work, so far as it could be consummated at Lecompton, was John Calhoun, an Illinois politician. The act under which that Convention was assembled, had received an unreserved and complete indorsement from Douglas, as :< fair and just." He was emphatically committed in advance by his Springfield speech to the action of that Convention, which exercised no powers not distinctly conferred upon it by the act thus indorsed, or not in strict accordance with what was contem- plated from the first by its framers. Yet late in the autumn of 1857, a rumor began to be circulated that Douglas was hes- itating about sustaining the Lecompton Constitution. Know 142 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. ing his previous attitude, people were generally incredulous in regard to this report. After a time, however, some of the leading Democratic papers of Illinois began to hreak ground against the Lecompton scheme, and when Congress assembled, in December, there were serious doubts as to whether Douglas did not intend to break with the Administration on this sub- ject. Suspense on this point was soon relieved. Immedi- ately after the annual message of Mr. Buchanan was read in the Senate, Douglas took occasion to announce his disagree- ment with the President on the Kansas question, and this notice was followed up by an elaborate speech the next day, in which he boldly talked against " forcing this Constitution down the throats of the people of Kansas in opposition to their wishes and in violation of our pledges.". He ignored all his recent attempts to charge the responsibility upon the non- voters if the Constitution did not suit them. He seemed to forget his declaration that the act calling the Lecompton Con- vention was "just and fair in all its objects and provisions." He now denied the right of the minority represented at Lecompton, in accordance with the well-understood " objects and provisions " of that act, " to defraud the majority of that people out of their elective franchise." In brief, whatever his motives and these may be left to himself he had completely changed his attitude during the last few months, and now co-operated with the Republicans in opposing the Lecompton policy to which the President and the Democratic party had become definitely committed before the world. These two facts, however, are undeniable. The re-election of Douglas as Senator was to depend on the com- ing election in Illinois, and without some definite change of course, from that he had indicated at Springfield in June pre- vious, he would be compelled to yield his place to Abraham Lincoln, as the associate of Lyman Trumbull. It is not necessary here to follow the history of the despe- rate struggle which this change cost him during the long session of Congress. He carried with him but two Democratic Senators " I desire him to answer whether he is opposed to the acquisition of any new territory unless slavery is first pro- hibited therein?" A. I am not generally opposed to honest acquisition of ter- ritory ; and, in any given case, I would or would not oppose such acquisition, accordingly as I might think such acquisition would or would not agitate the slavery question among our- selves. Now, my friends, it will be perceived upon an examination of these questions and answers, that so far I have only answered that I was not pledged to this, that or the other. The Judge has not framed his interrogatories to ask me any thing more than this, and I have answered in strict accord- ance with the interrogatories, and have answered truly that I am not pledged at all upon any of the points to which I have answered. But I am not disposed to hang upon the exact form of his interrogatory. I am rather disposed to take up at least some of these questions, and state what I really think upon them. As to the first one, in regard to the Fugitive Slave law, I have never hesitated to say, and I do not now hesitate to say, that I think, under the Constitution of the United States, the people of the Southern States are entitled to a Congres- sional Slave law. Having said that, I have had nothing to say in regard to the existing Fugitive Slave law, further than that I think it should have been framed so as to be free from some of the objections that pertain to it, without lessening its efficiency. And inasmuch as we are not now in an agitation in regard to an alteration or modification of that law, I would not be the man to introduce it as a new subject of agitation upon the general question of slavery. In regard to the other question, of whether I am pledged to the admission of any more slave States into the Union, I state to you very frankly that I would be exceedingly sorry LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 179 ever to be put in a position of having to pass upon that ques- tion. I should be exceedingly glad to know that there would never be another slave State admitted into the Union ; but I must add, that if slavery shall be kept out of the Terri- tories during the Territorial existence of any one given Terri- tory, and then the people shall, having a fair chance and a clear field, when they come to adopt the Constitution, do such an extraordinary thing as to adopt a slave Constitution, unin- fluenced by the actual presence of the institution among them, I see no alternative if we own the country, but to admit them into the Union. [Applause.]] The third interrogatory is answered by the answer to the second, it being, as I conceive, the same as the second. The fourth one is in regard to the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. In relation to that, I have my mind very distinctly made up. I should be exceedingly glad to see slavery abolished in the District of Columbia. I believe that Congress possesses the Constitutional power to abolish it. Yet as a member of Congress, I should not with my present views, be in favor of endeavoring to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, unless it would be upon these conditions : first, that the abolition should be gradual ; second, that it should be on a vote of the majority of qualified voters in the District ; and third, that compensation should be made to unwilling owners. With these three conditions, I confess I would be exceedingly glad to see Congress abolish slavery in the Dis- trict of Columbia, and, in the language of Henry Clay, " sweep from our Capital that foul blot upon our nation." In regard to the fifth interrogatory, I must say here, that as to the question of the abolition of the slave-trade between the different States, I can truly answer, as I have, that I am pledged to nothing about it. It is a subject to which I have not given that mature consideration that would make me Teel authorized to state a position so as to hold myself entirely bound by it. In other words, that question has never been prominently enough before me to induce me to investigate whether we really have the Constitutional power to do it. I could investigate it if I had sufficient time to bring myself to a conclusion upon that subject ; but I have not done so, and I say so frankly to you here, and to Judge Douglas. I must say, however, that if I should be of opinion that Congress does possess the Constitutional power to abolish slave- trading among the different States, I should still not be in favor of the exercise of that power unless upon some con- servative principle as I conceive it, akin to what I have said 180 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. in relation to the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. My answer as to whether I desire that slavery should be prohibited in all Territories of the United States, is full and explicit within itself, and can not be made clearer by any comments of mine. So I suppose in regard to the question whether I am opposed to the acquisition of any more territory unless slavery is first prohibited therein, my answer is such that I could add nothing by way of illustration, or making myself better understood, than the answer which I have placed in writing. Now in all this, the Judge has me, and he has me on the record. I suppose he had flattered himself that I was really entertaining one set of opinions for one place and another set for another place thdt I was afraid to say at one place what I uttered at another. What I am saying here I suppose I say to a vast audience as strongly tending to Abolitionism as any audience in the State of Illinois, and I believe I am saying that which, if it would be offensive to any persons and render them enemies to myself, would be offensive to persons in this audiem V. At Jonesboro, in the lower part of " Egypt," where their third debate was held, Douglas reiterated his often-refuted charges of ultraism against Lincoln, which the latter just as coolly and convincingly disposed of, as if there had been no unscrupulous pertinacity in making false accusations against him. After bringing home the sin of reopening agitation, to the door of Douglas, he proceeded to show as extravagant radicalism in the recorded professions of the Democracy as of any persons acting with the Republican party. He then completely riddled the " unfriendly legislation" theory of Douglas, exhibiting its utter inconsistency with fidelity to his Constitutional oaths, so long as he indorsed the validity of the political dogmas of Judge Taney, in his Dred Scott opinion. In the fourth debate, at Charleston, the attempts of Doug- las to make capital out of the Mexican War question were appropriately disposed of. Here, also, Douglas was convicted, on conclusive testimony, of having stricken out of the Toombs' Kansas Bill a clause requiring the Constitution that should be formed under its provisions, to be submitted to the people. LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 181 This had an important bearing on one objection upon which Douglas based his Anti-Lecompton rebellion. The fifth joint discussion was held at Galesburg, the sixth at Quincy, and the last at Alton. The main topics and methods of these debates, as of the rest, did not substantially differ from those of the speeches at Chicago and Springfield. The Alton debate occurred on the 15th of October. As the day of the election (November 2d) approached, it became more and more evident that strong efforts were making, aided by the advice of Senator Crittenden on the one hand, and of ^ice President Breckinridge on the other, to secure a diver- sion of " Conservative" votes, American, Democratic, and "Whig, in the central and southern part of the State, in favor of Douglas. These endeavors succeeded to such an extent that, with the immense advantages the Douglas party had in their unequal and utterly unfair apportionment of Legislative Districts, and in the lucky proportion of Democratic Senators holding over, they secured a small majority in each branch of the new Legislature. The Senate had 14 Democrats and 11 Republicans the House 40 Democrats and 35 Republicans. The popular voice was for Lincoln, by more than four thousand majority over Douglas. Admiration of the manly bearing and gallant conduct of Mr. Lincoln, throughout this campaign, which had early assumed a national importance, led to the spontaneous sug- gestion of his name, in various parts of the country, as a candidate for the Presidency. From the beginning to the end of the contest, he had proved himself an able statesman, an effective orator, a true gentleman, and an honest man. While, therefore, Douglas was returned to the Senate, there was a general presentiment, that a juster verdict was yet to be had, and that Mr. Lincoln and his cause would be ulti- mately vindicated before the people. That time was to come, even sooner, perhaps, than his friends, in their momentary despondency, expected. From that hour to the present, the fame of Abraham Lincoln has been enlarging and ripening, and the love of his noble character has become more and more deeply fixed in the popular heurt. 182 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. CHAPTER XII. SPEECHES OF 1859-'60. Mr. Lincoln in Ohio. His Speech at Columbus. Denial of the Negro Suffrage Charge. Troubles of Douglas with His "Great Princi- ple." Territories Not States. Doctrines of the Fathers. His Cin- cinnati Speech. "Shooting Over the Line." What the Republicans Mean to Do. Plain Questions to the Democracy. The People Above Courts and Congress. Uniting the Opposition. Eastern Tour. The Cooper Institute Speech. Mr. Bryant's Introduction. What the Fathers Held. What Will Satisfy the Southern Democracy? Counsels to the Republicans. Mr. Lincoln Among the Children. DURING the year following his great contest with Douglas, which had resulted in a barren triumph through the injustice of the previous Democratic Legislature in refusing a fair and equal apportionment, Mr. Lincoln again gave himself almost exclusively to professional labors. During the autumn cam- paign of 1859, however, when Douglas visited Ohio, and endeavored to turn the tide of battle in favor of the Democ- racy in that State, so as to secure the re-election of Mr. Pugh, and to gain other partizan benefits, an earnest invitation was sent to Lincoln to assist the Republicans in their canvass. Ho complied, and delivered two most effective speeches in Ohio, one at Columbus, and the other at Cincinnati. In his speech at the former place (September 16, 1859), he began by noticing a statement which he read from the central Democratic organ, averring that in the canvass of the previous year with Douglas, " Mr. Lincoln declared in favor of negro suffrage." This charge he quickly disposed of, showing by quotations from his printed speeches of that canvass, that he LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 183 distinctly and repeatedly declared himself opposed to the policy thus attributedto him. Mr. Lincoln then noticed the recent Columbus speech of Mr. Douglas, in which he " dealt exclusively " in the " negro topics " of discussion. Mr. L. spoke at some length on these issues, and thoroughly exposed the distinctions between genuine popular sovereignty, and the spurious sort which Douglas and his friends pass off f&r the reality. He then went on to notice the great amount of trouble which Mr. Douglas has had with his spurious popular sovereignty, and to illustrate how " his explanations explanatory of explanations explained are interminable." The Harper's Magazine essay was dis- sected, and left without any logical vitality or cohesion. Two or three brief points in the remainder of this speech are subjoined : STATES AND TERRITORIES. There is another little difficulty about this matter of treat- ing the Territories and States alike in all things, to which I ask your attention, and I shall leave this branch of the case. If there is no difference between them, why not make the Territories States at once ? What is the reason that Kansas was- not fit to come into the Union when it was organized into a Territory, in Judge Douglas's view? Can any of you tell any reason why it should not have come into the Union at once? They are fit, as he thinks, to decide upon the slavery question the largest and most important with which they could possibly deal what could they do by coming into the Union that they are not fit to do, according to his view, by staying out of it? Oh, they are not fit to sit in Congress and decide upon the rates of postage, or questions of ad valorem j or specific duties on foreign goods, or live oak timber con- I tracts. [Laughter.] They are not fit to decide these vastly ii important matters, which are national in their import, but they I are fit, "from the jump," to decide this little negro question. ;! But, gentlemen, the case is too plain ; I occupy too much time ! on this head, and I pass on. >;' v''l tV *f ^'ii;J ;-''A**J' ;^ "ii STAND BY THE DOCTRINES OF THE FATHERS. I see in the Judge's speech here a short sentence in these I words: "Our fathers, when they formed this Government under which we live, understood this question just as well, and 131 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. even better than we do now." That is true. I stick to that. [Great cheers and laughter.] I will starjd by Judge Douglas in thatiio the bitter end. [Renewed laughter.] And now, Judge Douglas, come and stand by me, and faithfully show how they acted, understanding it better than we do. All I ask of you, Judge Douglas, is to stick to the proposition that the men of the Revolution understood this subject better than we do now, and with that better understanding they acted better than you are trying^to act now. [Applause.] At Cincinnati, on the 17th of September, Mr. Lincoln addressed an immense audience on the same general political topics, and in his ablest manner. He did not repeat or merely play variations upon his Columbus speech, but adopted new modes of illustrating and enforcing his views. He was listened to with an interest rarely excited by any orator who ever spoke in this city, even in the most exciting campaign. No extracts can give a true idea of its ability and power as a whole. Alluding to Douglas's perversions of his views, and to the charge of wishing to disturb slavery in the States by " shooting over " the line, Mr. Lincoln said : SHOOTING OVER THE LINE. It has occurred to me hero to-night, that if I ever do shoot over at the people on the other side of the line in a slave State, and purpose to do so, keeping my skin safe, that I have now about the best chance I shall ever have. [Laughter and applause.] I should not wonder if there are some Kentuck- ians about this audience ; we are close to Kentucky ; and whether that be so or not, we are on elevated ground, and by speaking distinctly, I should not wonder if some of the Ken- tuckians should hear me on the other side of the river. [Laughter.] For that reason I propose to address a portion of what I have to say to the Kentuckians. I say, then, in the first place, to the Kentuckians, that 1 am what they call, as I understand it, a " Black Republican." [Applause and Laughter.] I think that slavery is wrong, morally, socially and politically. I desire that it should be no further spread, in these United States, and I should not object if it should gradually terminate in the whole Union. [Ap- plause.] While I say this for myself, I say to you, Ken- tuckians, that I understand that you differ radically with me upon this proposition ; that you believe slavery is a good thing ; that slavery is right ; that it ought to be extended and LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 185 perpetuated in this Union. Now, there being this broad dif- ference between us, I do not pretend in addressing myself to you, Kentuckians, to attempt proselyting you at all ; that would be a vain effort. I do not enter upon it. I only pro- pose to try to show you that you ought to nominate for the next Presidency, at Charleston, my distinguished friend, Judge Douglas. [Applause.] In whatever there is a differ- ence between you and him, I understand he is as sincerely for you, and more wisely for you, than you are for yourselves. [Applause.] I will try to demonstrate that proposition. Understand now, I say that I believe he is as sincerely for you, and more wisely for you, than you are for yourselves. Mr. Lincoln then went on to show that Douglas is con- stantly endeavoring to " mold the public opinion of the North to the ends" desired by the South ; that he only differs from the South in so far as is necessary to retain any hold upon his own section ; that not daring to maintain that slavery is right, he professes an indifference whether it is "voted up or voted down" thus indirectly advancing the opinion that it ia not wrong ; and that he has taken a step in advance, by doing what would not have been thought of by any man five years ago, to-wit : denying that the Declaration of Independence asserts any principle intended to be applica- ble to black men, or that properly includes them. The tend- ency of this charge " is to bring the public mind to the conclusion that when men are spoken of, the negro is not meant ; that when negroes are spoken of, brutes alone are contemplated." Of the certainty of a speedy Republican triumph in the nation, and of its results, Mr. Lincoln said : WHAT THE OPPOSITION MEAN TO DO. I will tell you, so far as I am authorized to speak for the Opposition, what we mean to do with you. We mean to treat you, as nearly as we possibly can, as "Washington, Jefferson, and Madison treated you. [Cheers.] 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 degenerated men (if we have degenerated) may, imitating the examples of those noble fathers Wash- 186 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. ington, Jefferson and Madison. [Applause;] We mean to remember that you are as good as we; that there is no differ- ence between us other than the difference of circumstances. We mean to recognise 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 [laugh- ter] and I have the honor to inform you that I once did get a chance in that way. [A voice, " Good for you," and applause.] PLAIN QUESTIONS TO THE DISUNION DEMOCRACY. I have told you what we mean to do. I want to know, now. when that thing takes place, what you mean to do. I often hear it intimated that you mean to divide the Union whenever a Kepublican, or anything 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 ? [A voice. "He is a Douglas man."] Well, then, I want to know what you are going to do with your half of it? [Applause and laughter.] Are you going to split the Ohio down through, and push your half off a piece? Or are you going to keep it right alongside of us outrageous fellows? Or are you going to build up a wall someway between your country and ours, by which that movable property of yours can't cme over here any more, and you lose it? Do you think you can better yourselves on that subject, by leaving us here under no obligation whatever to return those specimens of your mov- able property that come hither ? You have divided the Union because we would not do right with you, as you think, upon that subject; when we cease to be under obligations to do anything for you, how much better off do you think you will be ? Will you make war upon us and kill us all ? Why, gentlemen, I think you are as gallant and as brave men as live ; that you can fight as bravely in a good cause, man for man, as any other people living ; that you have shown your- selves 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. [Loud cheering.] You will never make much of a hand at whipping us. If we were f< wer in numbers than you, I think that you could whip us ; if we were equal it would likely be a drawn battle ; but being inferior in numbers, you will make nothing by attempting to master us. WHAT REPUBLICANS MUST DO. I say that we must not interfere with the institution of Slavery in the States where it, exists, because the Constitution LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 187 forbids it, and the general welfare does not require us to do BO. We must not withhold an efficient fugitive slave law, because the Constitution requires us, as I understand it, not to withhold such a law, but we must prevent the outspreading of the institution, because neither the Constitution nor the general welfare 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 CONGRESSES AND COURTS [applause], not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert that Constitution. [Applause.] After expressing an earnest desire " that all the elements of the Opposition should unite in the next Presidential election and in all future time," on a right and just basis ; and after saying, " There are plenty of men in the slave States that are altogether good enough for me to be either President or Vice President, provided they will profess sympathy with our purpose in the election, and will place themselves upon such ground that our men, upon principle, can vote for them," Mr. Lincoln brought his remarks to a close. In the spring of 1860, Mr. Lincoln yielded to the calls which came to him from the East for his presence and aid in the exciting political canvasses there going on. He spoke at various places in Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, and also in New York city, to very large audiences, and was everywhere warmly welcomed. Perhaps one of the greatest speeches of his life, was that delivered by him at the Cooper Institute, in New York, on the 27th of February, 1860. A crowded audience was present, which received Mr. Lincoln with enthusiastic demonstrations. William Cullen Bryant presided, and introduced the speaker in terms of high compli- ment to the West, and to the " eminent citizen " of that sec- tion, whose political labors in 1856 and '58 were appropriately eulogized. THE COOPEK INSTITUTE SPEECH. Mr. Lincoln then proceeded to address his auditors in an extended and closely-reasoned argument, proving in the most convincing manner, that the Republican party stands where 188 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. " the Fathers " stood on the slavery question, and eloquently enforcing the sentiment expressed by Mr. Douglas in his Columbus speech, of the previous autumn, namely : " Our fathers, when they framed the Government under which we live, understood this question just as well, and even better, than we do now." The argument and its illustrations were masterly ; the logic unanswerable. A few paragraphs of his concluding remarks are all that can be given here : WHAT WILL SATISFY THE SOUTHERN DEMOCRACY ? A few words now to Republicans. It is exceedingly desira- ble that all parts of this great Confederacy shall be at peace, and in harmony one 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 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 the subject 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 will not. In all their present complaints against us, the Territories are scarcely men- tioned. Invasions and insurrections are the rage now. Will it satisfy them if, in the future, we have nothing to do with invasions and insurrections? We know it will not. We so know, because we know we never had anything to do with invasions and insurrections ; and yet this total abstaining does not exempt us from the charge and the denunciation. The question recurs, What will satisfy them ? Simply this We must not only let them alone, but we must, somehow, con- vince them that we do let them alone. This, we know by experience, is no easy task. We have been so trying to con- vince them, from the very beginning of our organization, but with no success. In all our platforms and speeches, we have constantly protested our purpose to let them alone ; but this has had no tendency to convince them. Alike unavailing to convince them is the fact, that they have never detected a man of us in any attempt to disturb them. These natural and apparently adequate means all failing, what will convince them ? This, and this only : cease to call slavery icrony, and join them in calling it right. All this must be done thoroughly done in acts as well as in words. * * If our sense of duty forbids this, then let us stand by oui duty, fearlessly and effectively. Let us be diverted by none of LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 189 those sophistical contrivances wherewith we are so industri- ously plied and belabored contrivances such as groping for some middle ground between the right and the wrong, vain as the search for a man who should be neither a living man nor a dead man such as a policy of " don't care " on a question about which all true men do care such as Union appeals, beseeching true Union men to yield to Disunionists. reversing the Divine rule, and calling, not the sinners, but the righteous to repentance such as invocations of Washington, imploring men to unsay what Washington said, and undo wh'at Washing- ton did. Neither let us be slandered from our duty by false accusations against us, nor frightened from it by menaces of destruction to the Government, nor of dungeons to ourselves. Let us have faith that rurlit makes ruiglit; and in that faith, ]ct us, to the end, dare to do our duty, as 'we understand it. This is the last of the great speeches of Mr. Lincoln, of which there is any complete report. It forms a brilliant close to this period of his life, and a fitting prelude to that on which he is believed to be about to enter. It was during this visit to New York that the following inci- dent occurred, as related by a teacher in the Five -Points House of Industry, in that city : Our Sunday-school in the Five Points was assembled, one Sabbath morning, a few months since, when I noticed a tall, and remarkable-looking man enter the room and take a seat among us. He listened with fixed attention to our exercises, and his countenance manifested such genuine interest, that I approached him and suggested that he might be willing to say something to the children. He accepted the invitation with evident pleasure, and coming forward began a simple address, which nt once fascinated every little hearer, and hushed the room into silence. His language was strikingly beautiful, and his tones musical with intensest feeling. The little faces around would droop into sad conviction as he uttered sentences of warning, and would brighten into sunshine as he spoke cheerful words of promise. Once or twice he attempted to close his remarks, but the imperative shout of " Go on ! " " Oh, do go on 1 " would compel him to resume. As I looked upon the gaunt and sinewy frame of the stranger, and marked his powerful head and determined features, now touched into soft- ness by the impressions of the moment, I fe.t an irrepressible curiosity to learn something more about him, and when he was quietly leaving the room, I begged to know his name. He courteously replied, " It is Abra'm Lincoln, from Illinois 1 " LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. CHAPTER XIII. ME. LINCOLN'S NOMINATION FOR THE PRESIDENCY The Republican National Convention at Chicago. The Charleston Ex- plosion. "Constitutional Union" Nominations. Distinguished Can- didates among the Republicans. The Platform. The Ballotings. Mr. Lincoln Nominated. Unparalleled Enthusiasm. The Ticket Completed with the name of Senator Hatnlin. Its Reception by the Country. Mr. Lincoln's Letter of Acceptance. THE doings of the Republican National Convention, which met at Chicago on the 16th of May, 1860, are too fresh in public recollection to be recapitulated or dwelt upon here. At the date of its assembling, the great quadrennial conven- tion of the Democratic party had been held at Charleston, and, after nearly two weeks' session, had adjourned without any agreement upon either platform or candidates. Douglas, with his Freeport record, which had become necessary in order to accomplish his temporary purpose, had proved an irrecon- cilably disturbing element in that convention. The nomina- tion of Douglas by a united Democracy had been demonstrated to be impossible, and the only alternative of his withdrawal or an incurable disruption was presented. Subsequently, a "Constitutional Union" Convention had assembled at Balti- more and nominated a Presidential ticket, with no other definitely avowed object than that professed in common by all citizens, everywhere, of supporting the Constitution and the Union. All eyes were now turned toward Chicago, as the point at which the problem of the next Presidency was to be definitely solved. Before the Republican National Convention met, the names LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 191 of many distinguished statesmen had been proposed for the first place on the Presidential ticket, and their merits and availability had been extensively discussed. In this prelimi- nary canvassing there had been no bitterness or unseemly personalities. There was a general indication of harmony iu ultimate action, and of unbroken union upon whatever ticket should be selected. The first day of the convention was spent in organizing, and on the second day the committee, selected for that purpose, reported a platform of principles which was unanimously adopted, and has been strongly approved by the people. On the morning of the 18th, amid the most intense though subdued excitement of the twelve thousand people inside of the " Wigwam'' in which the convention was held, and amid the anxious solicitude and suspense of the still greater num- bers outside who could not gain admission, it was voted to proceed at once to ballot for a candidate for President of the United States. Seven names were formally presented in the following order : WILLIAM H. SEWARD, of New York ; ABRAHAM LINCOLN, of Illinois; WILLIAM L. DAYTON, of New Jersey; SIMON CAMERON, of Pennsylvania; SALMON P. CHASE, of Ohio; EDWARD BATES, of Missouri ; and JOHN HcLsAN, of Ohio. Loud and long-continued applause greeted the first two of these names, in particular, between which it was soon appa- rent that the chief contest was to be. On the first ballot Mr. Seward received 173 votes, Mr. Lin- coln 102, Mr. Cameron 50, Mr. Chase 49, Mr. Bates 48, Mr. Dayton 14, Mr. McLean 12, and there were 16 votes scattered among candidates not put in nomination. For a choice, 233 votes were required. On the second ballot (Mr. Cameron's name iaving been withdrawn) the vote for the several candidates was as follows : Mr. Seward* 184, Mr. Lincoln 181, Mr. Chase 42, Mr. Bates 35, Mr. Dayton 10, Mr. McLean 8, scattering 4. The third ballot was immediately taken, and, when the call of the roll was ended, the footings were as follows : For Mr. Lincoln 231, Mr. Seward 180, Mr. Chase 24, Mr. Bates 22, 192 LIPB OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. all others 7. Immediately, before the result was announced, four Ohio delegates changed their votes to Mr. Lincoln, giving him a majority. The scene which followed the wild manifestations of approval and delight, within and without the hall, prolonged uninterruptedly for twenty minutes, and renewed again and again for a half-hour longer no words can describe. Never before was there a popular assembly of any sort, probably, so stirred with a contagious and all-pervading enthusiasm. The nomination was made unanimous, on motion of Mr. Everts, of New York, who had presented the name of Mr. Seward, and speedily, on the wings of lightning, the news of the great event was spread to all parts of the land. Subsequently, with like heartiness and unanimity, the ticket was completed by the nomination, on the second ballot, of Senator HANNIBAL HAMLIN, of Maine, for Vice-President. These demonstrations at Chicago were but ; representation of the common sentiments of the masses of the Republican party, and of thousands among the people, not before included in its ranks, in the country at large. From that day to the present, the wisdom of the nomination of Abraham Lincoln for the highest place in the American Government has been more and more confirmed. As a man of the people, in cordial sympathy with the masses, he has the undoubting confidence of the sincere friends of free labor, regardless of party distinc- tions. As a man of sterling integrity and incorruptible hon- esty, he is felt to be a suitable agent for upholding the Federal Government in its present days of trial. As a man of sur- passing ability, and of sound principles, after the earliest and best standards in our political history, his election has given to the country an administration creditable to our Republi- can polity, and it will result in the complete removal of the great disquieting element in our National affairs, which has caused a gigantic civil war. The brief letter of Mr. Lincoln, in acceptance of the Presi- dential nomination, is subjoined : LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 193 SPRINGFIELD, ILL., May 23, 1860. HON. GEO. ASHMUN, . President of the Republican National Convention: SIR: I accept the nomination tendered me by the conven- tion over which you presided, and of which I am formally apprised in the letter of yourself and others, acting as a com- mittee of the convention for that purpose. The declaration of principles and sentiments, which accom- panies your letter, meets my approval ; and it shall be my care not to violate, nor disregard it, in any part. Imploring the assistance of Divine Providence, and with due regard to the views and feelings of all who were repre- sented in the convention ; to the rights of all the States, and Territories, and the people of the nation ; to the inviolability of the Constitution, and to the perpetual union, harmony and prosperity of all, I am most happy to co-operate for the prac- tical success of the principles declared by the convention. Your obliged friend and fellow-citizen, ABRAHAM LINCOLN. The popular favor with which the nomination of Mr. Lincoln was first received was strengthened by the spirited canvass which followed. The electoral votes of the States of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Con- necticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, California and Oregon, seventeen Sta-tes, were cast for Lincoln and Hamlin. The votes of Maryland, Delaware, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas and Texas, eleven States, were cast for Breckinridge and Lane. The votes of Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee were cast for Bell and Everett. The electoral vote of Missouri was given for Douglas and Johnson. The vote of New Jersey was divided, four being given for Lincoln and three for Douglas. The aggregate electoral vote for each Presidential candidate, as found by the official canvass in joint session of the two Houses of Congress, on the 13th day of February, 1861, was as follows: For Abraham Lincoln, 180; for John C. Breck- inridge, 72 ; for John Bell, 39 ; and for Stephen A. Douglas, 17 194 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 12. The Yicc President, Mr. Breckinridge, then officially declared Mr. Lincoln elected President of the United States for four years, commencing on the 4th of March, 1801. The aggregate popular vote for each of the Presidential can- didates, at this election, was as follows : For Mr. Lincoln, 1,866,452; for Mr. Douglas, 1,375,157; for Mr. Breckinridge, 847,953 ; and for Mr. Bell, 590,631. The last speech of Mr. Douglas, in the ensuing spring, urged upon his friends an earnest support of the administration in putting down the rebellion, as in his speech at Norfolk, Va., during the preced- ing canvass, he had declared in favor of coercion as the remedy for secession. Mr. Bell went over to the secession cause, co-operating with Mr. Breckinridge, now a General in the Kehel army. The total vote for the two loyal candidates was 3,241,609. On the morning of February llth, Mr. Lincoln, with his family, left Springfield for Washington. A large concourse of citizens had assembled at the depot, on the occasion of his departure, whom, with deep emotion, he addressed as follows : MY FRIENDS : No one, not in my position, can appreciate the sadness I feel at this parting. To this people I owe all that I am. Here I have lived more than a quarter of a century ; here my children were born, and here one of them lies buried. I know not how soon I shall see you again. A duty devolves upon me which is, perhaps, greater than that which has devolved upon any other man since the days of Washington. He never could have succeeded except for the aid of Divine Providence, upon which he at all times relied. I feel that I can not succeed without the same Divine aid which sustained him; and in the same Almighty being I place my reliance for support, and I hope you, my friends, will all pray that I may , receive that Divine assistance, without which I can not succeed, but with which success is certain. Again, I bid you all an affectionate farewell. ; * ,'.,, The first speech of Mr. Lincoln on his journey was that delivered at Indianapolis, on the evening of the same day, addressed to a multitude of people assembled to welcome him. As containing the earliest direct intimation of his views on the all-engrossing topic of the time, it is appropriately given here : LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 195 FELLOW CITIZENS OP THE STATE OF INDIANA : I am here to thank you for this magnificent welcome, and still more for the very generous support given by your State to that political cause, which, I think, is the true and just cause of the whole country, and the whole world. Solomon says, " there is a time to keep silence ; " and when men wrangle by the mouth, with no certainty that they mean the same thing while using the. same words, it perhaps were as well if they would keep silence. The words " coercion " and " invasion " are n^uch used in the~e days, and often with some temper and hot blood. Let us make sure, if we can, that we do not misunderstand' the meaning of those who use them. Let us get the exact definitions of these words, not from dictionaries, but from the men themselves, who certainly deprecate the things they would represent by the use of the words. What, then, is coercion? What is invasion? Would the marching of an army into South Carolina, without the consent of her people, and with hostile intent toward them, be inva- sion? 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 habit- ually violated, would any or all of these things be invasion or coercion? Do our professed lovers of the Union, who spite- fully resolve that they will resist coercion and invasion, under- stand that such things as these, oft 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 great affection would seem to be exceedingly thin and airy. If sick, the little pills of the homeopathist would be much too large for it to swallow. In their view, the Union, as a family relation, would geem to be no regular marriage, but rather a sort of "free-love " arrangement, to be maintained 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 is a bond we all recognize. That position, however, a State can not carry out of the Union with it. I speak of that assumed primary right of a State to rule all which is less than itself, and to ruin all which is larger than itself. If a State and a County, in a given case, should be equal in number of inhabitants, in what, as a matter of princi- ple, is the State better than the County ? Would an exchange of name be an exchange of rights? Upon what principle, upon what rightful principle, may a State, being no more than 196 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. one-fiftieth part of the nation in soil and population, break up the nation, and then coerce a proportionally large subdivision of itself in the most arbitrary way ? What mysterious right to play tyrant is conferred on a district of country with its people, by merely calling it a State ? Fellow citizens, I am not asserting anything. I am merely asking questions for you to consider. And now allow me to bid you farewell. Enthusiastic greetings awaited the President elect all along his route, the people hailing the approach of the day which was to witness, under his auspices, the beginning of a new regime for the nation. PA.RT II. CHAPTER I. Commencement of President Lincoln's Administration. Retrospect and Summary of Public Brents. Fort Sumter. ON the 4th day of March, 1861, Mr. Lincoln took the oath of office, as President of the United States. The administra- tion of James Buchanan, and eight years of intensely southern sway in all branches of the National Government, were now at an end. During the four months that had intervened since the people decreed this change not a moment had been lost by the leaders in the now clearly developed scheme of revolt, in making energetic preparation for its consummation. So well had they succeeded, by the aid of bold treason or of inert complicity at the national capital, that they imagined they had assured the full attainment of their object, almost without the hazard of a single campaign. While professing, however, to believe in a fancied right of peaceable secession, and proclaim- ing their desire to be left unmolested in the execution of their revolutionary purposes, the chief conspirators well knew that this immunity could only be gained by such use of the remain- ing days of the outgoing administration that the crisis should already be over, or resistance to their treason be rendered inef- fectual, when the new administration should begin. They industriously collected the materials of war, yet spared no efforts to bring about a state of things which should insure either peaceful submission to their will or a sure vantage ground for an appeal to arms. While yet the question of passing a secession ordinance was pending in South Carolina, President Buchanan, in his annual message, after having urged the unconstitutionality of the pro- 197 198 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN, posed action, distinctly notified the complotters that he was equally without constitutional power to oppose their carrying out that purpose. When appealed to by the veteran head of the army, at a still earlier day, to take firm military possession of the United States forts on the southern coast, the same pub- lic functionary could find no means of adopting this prudent precaution. Consequently, the rebellious South Carolina lead- ers carried through their ordinance of secession on the 20th of December, 1860. Fort Moultrie, by an overt act of treason, was seized on the 28th, and the Palmetto flag was raised over Gov- ernment property in Charleston. On the 3d of January, 1861, without even the pretext of a secession ordinance, or any form of authority from his own State, Gov. Brown, of Georgia, seized Forts Pulaski and Jackson, at Savannah ; and this exam- ple was followed next day, in Alabama, by the occupation of Fort Morgan, at Mobile. * The patient submission with which all these acts were wit- nessed by the Executive, nay, the meekness with which he had himself invited them, and the ready assistance rendered to these efforts of treason by some of the highest officers imme- diately about him, were followed by the natural results. On the 9th of January, the steamer Star of the West, tardily dis- patched with a small re-enforcement for Fort Sumter, now held by a totally inadequate garrison, was fired into from rebel bat- teries erected on Morris' Island, and from Fort Moultrie. On the same day, the conspirators in Mississippi, now, as in the times of repudiation, under the lead of Jefferson Davis, fol- lowed their co-laborers in South Carolina, in the pretense of secession. Alabama, Florida and Georgia were speedily sub- jected to a similar process of rebel manipulation. Louisiana, on the 28th of January, and Texas on the 1st of February, were proclaimed as having dissolved their connection with the Union. Meanwhile, the delegates of these States successively withdrew from Congress. On the 10th of December, Howell Cobb, Secretary of the Treasury, had resigned the position he had so zealously per- verted to the aid of the great conspiracy, and departed to the more immediate scene of action, that he might hasten the con- LITE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 199 summation, for a time delayed, and so earnestly resisted in Georgia as seemingly to involve the result in doubt. The ven- erable Secretary of State, Lewis Cass, surrendered his place four days later, in disgust at the hopelessness of his efforts to rouse President Buchanan to some effective resistance to the destructive blows aimed at the national life. John B. Floyd soon after (Dec. 29) retired from the office of Secretary of War, which he had used to disarm the loyal portion of the country, and to fill the rebellious States with cannon and mus- kets, which they were not slow to appropriate to the uses of rebellion. Jacob Thompson, without resigning, absented him- self on a tour in the South, throwing all the weight of his influence as a cabinet officer in favor of rebellion in his native State of North Carolina. Bold peculation was meanwhile left to do its work in his department, in aid of the treasonable labors of high officials in crippling the Government, and in ren- dering the new administration as powerless as possible to meet the approaching crisis. The Secretary of the Navy had noto- riously dispersed our war vessels to distant seas, so that months must pass before the incoming administration could bring an effective naval force to bear on the rebellion. Delegates from the seven States in which this spreading insurrection had become predominant assembled at Montgom- ery, in Alabama, on the 6th of February, organized their "Confederacy" under a temporary constitution, and, on the 9th, selected Jefferson Davis to be their President, with Alex- ander H. Stephens as Vice President. The latter had been chosen as a representative of the more conservative sentiment, having strenuously resisted secession, as an utterly needless rebellion against " the best government upon earth," and his acceptance was a token of the general acquiescence of all political leaders of the States concerned in the rebellion now organized. Around this nucleus of seven States, thus com- pletely in revolt, it was expected by the conspirators that every State in whjch slavery existed would soon be gathered, by a common interest, in the bonds of a common crime. The leaven of rebellion was industriously diffused through every other sbveholding State, and in several, movements were 200 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. already in progress, which afterward culminated in secession ordinances. While this confederacy of seven States was forming, a con- vention, composed of delegates from most of the free States, and from all the border slave States, was in session at Wash- ington, aiming to bring about, by compromise, a peaceable solu- tion of the pending struggle. On the part of leading loyal men this conference was conducted in good faith, in a concilia- tory spirit, and with an earnest desire to avert any more seri- ous collision than had already occurred. On the other hand, it was manifest that at least the delegates from Virginia, with John Tyler at their head, were aiming only to use this means to widen the gulf already existing, and to overcome the decided Union majority still existing in all the border slave States. While a series of propositions, therefore, looking to peace on the basis of a preserved Union, were agreed to by a majority of the Convention (which adjourned on the 1st of March), no practical result appeared in the rebellious districts, unless of an adverse character. This action did serve, however, to pro- claim to all the world the anxiety of the people of the free States to avert, by any possible concessions, the full initiation of civil war. On the llth of February, likewise, the Federal House of Representatives unanimously passed a resolution, introduced by Mr. Corwin, of Ohio (soon after concurred in by the Senate), providing for an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, forever prohibiting any legislation by Congress interfering with slavery in any State of the Union a measure that fully set aside one of the chief pretended occa- sions for revolt. Going still further, in the way of concession, and in fact surrendering the long controversy about slavery in the Territories, were the resolutions known as the Crittenden Compromise, and which certain Southern Senators deliberately defeated, in their own house, by withholding their votes. The temper and purpose of the secession leaders were thua distinctly manifested. They would have no compromise. On their own terms, of final separation alone, would they listen to terms of peace. Many of them manifestly desired war, and exulted in the hope of such revenge upon their Northern oppo- LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 201 nents as war only could bring ; while all insisted on yielding nothing, except on the condition of substantially gaining every- thing they aimed at, by a full recognition of a separate and independent Confederacy comprising all the slaveholding States. For to this end, though less than half the number of those States had already been carried by the revolutionists, they were zealously laboring, and of the final issue no doubt was enter- tained, when once the Montgomery organization was counte- nanced as a legitimate government. It is unpleasant to mention, yet impartial history can not omit the fact, that hopes of peaceable submission to secession were seemingly encouraged in Southern minds by newspapers and orators in the North, at this period, and that a number of political leaders, with scarcely any apparent popular support, it is true, earnestly advocated what they termed the policy of peaceable separation. To this day, perhaps, it may be doubt- ful to many minds whether, had not a spirit of unbounded insolence and a haughty defiance, that spurned even the slight- est concession, been manifested by the secession leaders, this complacent policy more fatal than any former compromise might not have gained the ascendency in the popular mind. So much had been brought to final accomplishment by the conspirators during the closing months of Mr. Buchanan's administration. Such was the spirit manifested by them to repel conciliation in every form, to maintain peace solely on condition of the complete submission of the loyal States to every essential demand of secessionism. And such, on the other hand, was the amicable disposition of loyal men every- where, and their earnest wish to avoid a collision of arms, if any other solution were possible short of absolute degradation and ruin to the nation. Jefferson Davis, in assuming power as head of the "Confederacy," at Montgomery, February 18, stated the sole conditions of peace in the following unmistake- able language : If a just perception of mutual interest shall permit us peaceably to pursue oy/r separate political career, my most earn- est desire will have been fulfilled. But if this be denied MS, and the integrity of our territory and jurisdiction be assailed, 202 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. it will but remain for us with firm resolve to appeal to arms, and invoke the blessing of Providence on a just cause. This was immediately followed by the recommendation that a Confederate army be organized and put in training for the emergency ; " a well instructed, disciplined army, more numer- ous than would usually be required, on a peace establishment," being distinctly indicated as essential to his plans. While it is thus clear that he and all his coadjutors were de- termined on war from the outset, and at all hazards, unless dis- union were recognized as an accomplished fact, and the juris- diction of the Government over the rebellious districts were abandoned without a struggle, it is equally manifest that not a single -grievance complained of could have failed of redress, under our popular institutions, by peaceable methods. While deluding their adherents with smooth words, they deliberately chose an appeal to arms, and scorned a peaceable solution, which was equally at their disposal, under the Constitution and the laws. ' Some acts of vigor and patriotic fidelity, during the closing days of Mr. Buchanan's administration, deserve to be remem- bered, to the honor of those cabinet ministers, to whom alone the country was indebted for these redeeming deeds. Dix, Stauton and Holt had preserved a remainder of popular respect for a Government that all the loyalty of the nation rejoiced to see transferred to the hands of a new executive, untried though he was, and terrible as was the task devolving upon him. Despite all the threats, constantly repeated for months past, that Mr. Lincoln should never be permitted to occupy the Presidential chair, and desperate as had been the plottings for his assassination, he appeared at the east front of the capitol and received, at the appointed time, the oath from "Chief Justice Taney. During the period that had elapsed since the election, Mr. Lincoln had carefully studied the situation, closely watch- ing the course of events. His inaugural address shows the results of his observation, and of the application of his sterling good sense and comprehensive practical judgment to the mastery of the problem to be solved by him as head of the nation. He LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 203 clearly understood how everything depended, so far as his administration was concerned, on a true insight into the very heart of the question, and on the initiation, at the very outset, of an appropriate policy in dealing with the rebellion. The great insurrection is the uppermost thought almost the exclu- sive theme of his inaugural address. That this was the wisest utterance of the time, manifesting a rare foresight, as well as a remarkable skill in briefly presenting the true ques- tions at issue, in their proper bearings, with a calm, candid appeal to the nation, in all its parts, in behalf of law, order and peace, will more and more clearly appear in the light of after events. Whoever would acquaint himself with the inmost traits of Mr. Lincoln's character, as a public man, and at the same time discover, in honest and plain words, a statement in advance of the fundamental principles by which his administration has been guided, let him carefully study this paper, every sentence of which is full of meaning : MR. LINCOLN'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. FELLOW-CITIZENS OP THE UNITED STATES : In compliance with a custom as old as the Government itself, I appear before you to address you briefly, and to take, in your presence, the oath prescribed by the Constitution of the United States, to be taken by the President before he enters on the execution of his 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 Republican Administration, their property and 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 interfere with the institu- tion of slavery in the States where it exists." I believe I have no lawful right to do so ; and I have no inclination to do so. Those who nominated and elected me, did so with the full knowledge (hat I had made this, and made many similar deck- 204 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. rations, 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 domestic institutions according to its own judg- ment exclusively, is essential to that balance of power on which the perfection and endurance of our political 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 j and in doing so I only press upon the public attention the most conclusive evidence of which the case is susceptible, that the property, peace, and security of no section are to be in anywise endangered by the now incoming administration. I add, too, that all the protection which, consistently with the Constitution and the laws, can be given, will be cheerfully given to all the States when lawfully demanded, for whatever cause, as cheerfully to one section as to another. There is much controversy about the delivering up of fugi- tives from service or labor. The clause I now read is as plainly written in the Constitution 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 the intention of the lawgiver is the law. All members of Congress swear their support to the whole Constitution to this provision as well as any other. To the proposition, then, that slaves whose cases come within the terms of this clause " shall be delivered up," their oaths are unani- mous. Now, if they would make the effort in good temper, could they not, with nearly equal unanimity, frame and pass a law by means of which to keep good that unanimous Oath ? There is some difference of opinion whether this clause should be enforced by National or by State authority ; but eurely that difference is 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 this oath shall go unkept on a merely unsubstantial controversy as to how it shall be kept ? LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 205 Again, in any law upon this subject, ought not all the safe- guards of liberty known in the civilized and humane jurispru- dence to be introduced, so that a free man be not, in any case, surrendered as a slave ? And might it not be well at the same time to provide by law for the enforcement of that clause in the Constitution which guarantees that " the citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States?" I take the official oath to-day with no mental reservations, 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 sug- gest that it will 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 find impunity in having them held to be unconstitutional. It is seventy-two years since the first inauguration of a President under our National Constitution. During that period, fifteen different and very distinguished citizens have in succes- sion administered the executive branch of the Government. They have conducted it through many perils, and generally with great success. Yet, with all this scope for precedent, I now enter upon the same task, for the brief constitutional term of four years, under great and peculiar difficulties. A disruption of the Federal Union, heretofore only menaced, is now formidably attempted. I hold that in the contemplation of universal law and of the Constitution, the Union of these States is perpetual. Perpetuity is implied, if not expressed, in the fundamental law of all national governments. It is safe to assert that no government proper ever had a provision in its organic law for its own termination. Continue to execute all the express provisions of our National Constitution, and the Union will endure forever, it 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 association of States in the nature of a contract merejy, can it, as a contract, be peaceably unmade by less than all the parties who made it ? One party to a contract may violate it break it, so to speak ; but does it not require all to lawfully rescind it ? Descending from these general principles, we find the proposition that in legal contemplation the Union is per- petual, 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 matured and continued in the Declaration of Independence in 1776. It was further matured, and the faith of all the then 206 LIFE OF ABEAHAM LINCOLN. thirteen States expressly plighted and engaged that it should be perpetual, by the Articles of the Confederation, in 1778 ; and, finally, in 1787, one of the declared objects for ordaining and establishing the Constitution was to form a more perfect Union. But if the destruction of the Union by one or by a part only of the States be lawfully possible, the Union is less than before, the Constitution having lost the vital element of perpetuity. It follows from these views that no State, upon its own mere motion, can lawfully get out of the Union ; that resolves and ordinances to that effect, are legally void ; and that acts of violence within any State or States against the authority of' the United States, are insurrectionary or revolutionary, according to circumstances. I therefore consider that, in view of the Constitution and the laws, the Union is unbroken, and, to the extent of my ability, I shall take care, as the Constitution itself expressly enjoins upon me, that the laws of the Union shall be faithfully executed in all the States. Doing this, which I deem to be only a simple duty on my part, I shall perfectly perform it, so far as is prac- ticable, unless my rightful masters, the American people, shall withhold the requisition, or in some authoritative manner direct the contrary. I trust this will not be regarded as a menace, but only as the declared purpose of the Union that it will constitutionally defend and maintain itself. In doing this there need be no bloodshed or violence, and there shall be none unless it is forced upon the National authority. The power confided to me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess the property and places belonging to the Government, and collect the duties and imposts ; but beyond what may be neces- sary for these objects there will be no invasion, no using of force against or among the people anywhere. Where hostility to the United States shall be so great and so universal as to prevent competent resident citizens from holding the Federal offices, there will be no attempt to force obnoxious strangers among the people that object. While the strict legal right may exist of the Government to enforce the exercise of these offices, the attempt to do so would be so irritating, and so nearly impracticable withal, that 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, the people everywhere shall have that LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 207 sense of perfect security which is most favorable to calm thought and reflection. The course here indicated will be followed, unless current events and experience shall show a modification or change to be proper ; and in every case and exigency my best discretion will be exercised according to the circumstances actually existing, and with a view and hope of a peaceful solution of the National troubles, and the restoration of fraternal sympathies 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 affirm nor deny. But if there be such, I need address no word to them. To those, however, who really love the Union, may I not speak, before entering upon so grave a matter as the destruction of our National fabric, with all its benefits, its memories, and its hopes ? Would it not be well to ascertain why we do it ? Will you hazard so desperate a step, while any portion of. the ills you fly from have no real existence ? Will you, while the certain ills you fly to are greater than all the real ones you fly from ? Will you risk the commission of so fearful a mistake ? All profess to be content in the Union if all constitutional rights can be maintained. Is it true, then, that any right, plainly written in the Constitution, has been denied ? I think not. Happily the human mind is so constituted, that no party can reach to the audacity of doing this. Think, if you can, of a single instance in which a plainly- written provision of the Constitution has ever been denied. If, by the mere force of numbers, a majority should deprive a minority of any clearly-written constitutional right, it might, in a moral point of view, justify revolution ; it certainly would, if such right were a vital one. But such is not our case. All the vital rights of minorities and of individuals are so plainly assured to them by affirmations and negations, guar- antees and prohibitions in the Constitution, that controversies never arise concerning them. But no organic law can ever be framed with a provision specifically applicable to every question which may occur in practical administration. No foresight can anticipate, nor any document of reasonable length contain, express provisions for all possible questions. Shall fugitives from labor be surrendered by National or by State authorities ? The Constitution does not expressly say. Must Congress pro- tect slavery in the Territories? The Constitution does not expressly say. From questions of this class, spring all our constitutional controversies, and we divide upon them into majorities and minorities. 208 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. If the minority will not acquiesce, the majority must, or the Government must cease. There is no alternative for continuing the Government but acquiescence on the one side or the other. If a minority in such a case, will secede rather than acquiesce, they make a precedent which, in turn, will ruin and divide them, for a minority of their own will secede from them whenever a majority refuses to be controlled by such a minority. For instance, why not any portion of a new Confederacy, a year or two hence, arbitrarily secede again, precisely as portions of the present Union now claim to secede from it ? All who cherish disunion sentiments are now being educated to the exact temper of doing this. Is there such perfect identity of interests among the States to compose a new Union as to produce har- mony only, and prevent renewed secession ? Plainly, the central idea of secession is the essence of anarchy. A majority held in restraint by constitutional check and limitation, and always changing easily with deliberate changes of popular opinions and sentiments, is the only true sovereign of a free people. Whoever rejects it, does, of necessity, fly to anarchy or to despotism. Unanimity is impossible ; the rule of a majority, as a permanent arrangement, is wholly inadmissible. So that, rejecting the majority principle, anarchy or despotism, in some form, is all that is left. I do not forget the position assumed by some that constitu- tional questions are to be decided by the. Supreme Court, nor do I deny that such decisions must be binding in any case upon the parties to a suit, as to the object of that suit, while they are also entitled to a very high respect and consideration in all parallel cases by all other departments of the Government; and while it is obviously possible that such decision may be erro- neous 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 better be borne than could the evils of a different practice. At the same time the candid citizen must confess that if the policy of the Government upon the vital questions affecting the whole people is to be irrevocably fixed by the decisions of the Supreme Court, the instant they are made, as in ordinary litigation between parties in personal actions, the people will have ceased to be their own masters, unless having to that extent practically resigned their Government into the hands of that eminent tribunal. Nor is there in this view any assault upon the Court or the Judges. It is a duty from which they may not shrink, to decide cases properly brought before them ; and it is no fault of theirs if others seek to turn their decisions to political pur- LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 209 poses. One section of our country believes slavery is right and ought to be extended, while the other believes it is wrong and ought not to be extended ; and this is the only substantial dis- Eute ; and the fugitive slave clause of the Constitution, and the iw for the suppression of the foreign slave-trade, are each as well enforced, perhaps, as any law can ever be in a community where the moral sense of the people imperfectly supports the law itself. The great body of the people abide by the dry legal obligation in both cases, and a few break over in each. This, I think, can not be perfectly cured, and it would be worse in both cases after the separation of the sec- tions than before. The foreign slave-trade, now imperfectly suppressed, would be ultimately revived, without restriction, in one section ; while fugitive slaves, now only partially surren- dered, would not be surrendered at all by the other. Physically speaking, we can not separate ; we can not remove our respective sections from each other, nor build an impassable wall between them. A husband and wife may be divorced, and go out ofLfrhe presence and beyond the reach of each other, but the different parts of our country can not do this. They can not but remain face to face ; and intercourse, either amicable or hostile, must continue between them. Is it possible, then, to make that intercourse more advantageous or more satisfactory after separation than before ? Can aliens make treaties easier than friends can make laws ? Can treaties be more faithfully enforced between aliens than laws can among friends? Sup- pose you go to war, you can not fight always; and when, after much loss on both sides, and no gain on either, you cease fight- ing, the identical 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, or their revolutionary right to dismember or over- throw it. I can not be ignorant of the fact that many worthy and patriotic citizens are desirous of having the Natiorial Con- stitution amended. While I make no recommendation of amendment, I fully recognize the full 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 exist- ing circumstances, favor, rather than oppose, a fair opportunity being afforded the people to act upon it. I will venture to add, that to me the convention mode seems preferable, in that it allows amendments to originate with the people themselves, instead of only permitting them to take or reject propositions originated by others not especially chosen 18 210 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. for the purpose, and which might not he precisely such as they would wish either to accept or refuse. I understand that a pro- posed amendment to the Constitution (which amendment, how- ever, I have not seen) has passed Congress, to the effect that the Federal Government shall never interfere with the domestic institutions of 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 provision to now be implied constitu- tional law, I have no objection 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 the terms for the separation of the States. The people themselves, also, can do this 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 Kuler of nations, with his eternal truth and justice, be on your side of the North, or on yours of the South, that truth and that justice will surely prevail by the judgment of this great tribunal, the American people. By the frame of the Govern- ment under which we live, this same people have wisely given their public servants but little power for mischief, and have with equal wisdom provided for the return of that little to their own hands at very short intervals. While the people retain their virtue and vigilance, no administration, by any extreme 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 bo frustrated by taking time ; but no good object can be frus- trated by it. Such of you as are now dissatisfied still have the old Consti- tution unimpaired, and on the sensitive point, the laws of your own framing under it ; while the new administration will have no immediate power, if it would, to change either. If it were admitted that you who are dissatisfied hold the right side in the dispute, there is still no single reason for pre- LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 211 cipitate action. Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him who has never yet forsaken this favored land, are still competent to adjust, in the best way, all our pres- ent difficulties. In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The Government will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in Heaven to destroy the Government; while I shall have the most solemn one to "preserve, protect, and defend" it. I am loath 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 cords of memory, stretching from every battle- field and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature. Both to the large assemblage that listened to the distinct recital of this address, in tones which made every word audible to the throng, and to loyal men everywhere, as it was brought to them a few minutes or hours later, by the aid of telegraph and printing press, it was a welcome message. The people saw in it an as- surance that imbecility, double-dealing, or treachery, no longer had sway in the nation ; that the new President was determined to carry out the behests of the people in maintaining the National integrity ; and that, while thus faithfully observing his official oath, he would use every lawful and rational means to avert the convulsions of domestic war. He distinctly suggested the holding of a National Constitutional Convention, which would have power to adjust all the questions properly at issue, even including peaceable separation in a lawful manner, by a change of the organic law. He demonstrated unanswerably the- utter causelessness of war, and distinctly assured the conspirators that if hostilities were commenced, it must be by them, and not by the Government. He laid down a line of policy which, had it been met in a corresponding spirit on the other side, would inevitably have averted disastrous years of bloodshed and all their consequences. While thus announcing his views, and 212 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. reaffirming sentiments formerly uttered by himself, as well as those of the political convention which nominated him for the Presidency, he also plainly indicated that the benefits secured by the Constitution to any portion of the people could not be claimed by them while trampling that instrument under foot. He told them plainly that the course he thus marked out was not one to be pursued toward rebels who should plunge the nation in war. He gave them seasonable notice that no immu- nities could be claimed under the assurances given on this or any other occasion, inconsistent with the changed condition of affairs, should they madly appeal to arms. The whole address breathes an earnest yearning for an hon- orable peace. It does not, however, like the unfortunate mes- sage of his predecessor, of the previous December, base the desire for peace on a confessed helplessness of the Government or an indisposition to exert its power of self-preservation. A new political era had begun, and true patriots breathed more freely. One of the first duties of the President was to purge the Government of disloyal or doubtful men in responsible places. Long-continued Democratic precedent justified a general change of civil officers, from highest to lowest, on the ground of politi- cal differences alone. But after the treasonable developments of the previous months and years, a thorough sifting of all the Departments became indispensable, from high considera- tions of duty, on the basis of loyalty and disloyalty, rather than of mere partisanship. No practical measures could be adopted before this change was at least partially accomplished. The magnitude of such a work, to which the President gave the most earnest and unwearying attention for weeks, need not be indicated. The patience with which the " claims " of different candidates for place were weighed, and the kindness (tempered often with a wholesome firmness) which characterized his deportment toward all, usually retained the confidence and esteem of those whom he felt compelled to disappoint. It was during the days between his arrival in Washington and his inauguration, that the construction of his Cabinet, per- hapa substantially settled in his own mind before he left Illi- LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 213 nois, was definitely determined. The position occupied by Mr. Seward before the country, was such as to leave no hesitation as to the propriety of offering him the highest place of honor under the Executive, as Secretary of State. This posi- tion was, at an early day, placed at Mr. Seward's disposal. The office of Attorney General was, with like promptitude, tendered to Judge Bates, of Missouri, whose leading position as a Southern statesman, with anti-slavery tendencies, of the Clay school, had caused his name to be prominently and widely used in connection with the Presidency before the nomination for that office, made at Chicago. Governor Chase, of Ohio, who had recently been elected to a second term in the Senate, after four years of useful and popular service in the executive chair of his State, perhaps quite as early occurred to the mind of Mr. Lincoln as a man specially fitted to manage the finances of the nation through the troublous times that were felt to be approaching. This difficult post Mr. Chase surrendered his seat in the Senate to accept. Mr. Cameron, of Pennsylvania, selected as Secretary of War ; Mr. Welles, of Connecticut, as Secretary of the Navy, and Mr. Montgomery Blair, of Mary- land, as Postmaster General, were all leading representatives of the Democratic element of the party which had triumphed in the late election. Mr. Caleb B. Smith, of Indiana, a contempo- rary of Mr. Lincoln in Congress, and for years one of the most distinguished Whig politicians of the West, was tendered the place of Secretary of the Interior, which he accepted. It deserves remark here, that John Bell, of Tennessee, who had received a large popular vote at the Presidential election, and whose strength in the electoral college made him the third of four Presidential nominees, was at this time in Washington, and his appointment to a place in the Cabinet, as a loyal Border State man, was desired by many, especially in the West. But Mr. Blair, an avowed Anti-Slavery man, and viewed as one of the most radical of Republicans, was preferred to Mr. Bell, a zealous partisan opponent, and one whose unreliable character, as developed by his sudden defection to the Rebel cause, Presi- dent Lincoln was not slow to perceive. Next to the indispensable and primary duty of securing, in 214 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. the places under him, trustworthy men, in sympathy with him- self as to the great questions uppermost in the public mind, was that of more directly preparing, at home and abroad, to grapple with the rebellion, now fully organized at Montgomery, and manifestly emerging, with mad haste, into open hostilities. This work involved nice problems of foreign diplomacy, as well as prudent care, at once to avert divisions in the loyal States when the sharp crisis should come, and to place the onus of commencing civil war unequivocally upon the secession leaders, if it were to begin. The utmost energy was also needed in so prearranging affairs that means might not be wanting when battle should be forced upon the nation. In this view, much of the seeming mystery which enveloped the six weeks preceding the attack on Fort Sumter, disappears without inquiring into State secrets, if, at this period, there were such, over which the curtain should still rest. For several days the inaugural address was quietly working its way among the people, giving heart to the supporters of the Government and startling the conspirators by its calm and telling appeal to thinking men every-where. With the Rebel leaders it became a study to prevent the natural effect of this State paper upon those whom they wished to follow them, not only in the eight Slave States which had, as yet, held back from the fatal step, but even in those States already in insur- rection. They scrupled at nothing in their attempts to ward off its influence and to pervert the attitude of the Government. At the same time they were zealous and active in completing the direct preparations for war which had been commenced many months before. Equally busy, and for a much longer period, had they been in poisoning the public mind of Europe. The diplomatic agents employed by Mr. Buchanan had been, in large propor- tion, from the Slave States, and of those from the North some were far from manifesting a genuine fidelity to the Government that had accredited them. To change these Foreign Ministers and Consuls, and to instruct their successors, was not the work of a day, nor did a removal of these men from office by any means necessarily involve their retirement from the vantage- LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 215 ground they had gained. They had rather been largely rein- forced by numerous emissaries sent abroad during the preceding autumn and winter. It was the early care of Mr. Lincoln's Administration, through the polished pen of Mr. Seward, and through the new diplomats sent abroad, to counteract these influences. From this period commenced the gradual formation and concentration of a public sentiment abroad favorable to the Government. Yet the change was not immediately apparent, and the work was a slow and toilsome one. The aim to convince Foreign Nations that the malcontents were clearly and wholly in the wrong, that the intentions of the Government were pacific, and that there was no revolutionary purpose of overturning South- ern society while the dissentients yielded obedience to the Constitution and the laws, can not have failed of speedy success with candid and thoughtful men abroad as well as at home. On whom the whole responsibility of war would rest, should war come, no longer admitted of doubt. The Montgomery " Congress," on the 9th of March, passed an act, pursuant to the recommendation of Mr. Davis, for the organization of a Confederate army. Three days later Mr. Forsyth, of Alabama, and Mr. Crawford, of Georgia, presented themselves at the State Department in "Washington, in the atti- tude of " Confederate Commissioners," with the pretended purpose of seeking to negotiate a treaty, on the assumption of representing " an independent nation de facto and de jure" While well knowing, both from the nature of the controversy, and from the distinct avowals of Mr. Lincoln's inaugural address, that this preliminary claim, if noticed at all, would be promptly rejected, and passing over altogether the President's frank and honorable suggestion of a National Convention, in which all the States should be represented and all grievances listened to and constitutionally adjusted, they presumed to assert that the persons represented by them " earnestly desire a peaceful solution" of the " great questions " " growing out of this political separation." The President declined all recogni- tion of these negotiating parties, and, with a simple " memo- randum " of Mr. Seward, apprising them of this fact, was 216 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. inclosed a copy of the inaugural address, to which they were referred for the views controlling the Government, and which, in fact, had undoubtedly been carefully perused by them before undertaking this false mission, intended solely for diplomatic effect, both in the loyal States and in Europe. To the Government this dilatory episode gave a few days of much needed time for the work now in hand. These " Com- missioners " at length retired from Washington, discharging their Parthian arrow, in the shape of a final communication to the Secretary of State, on the 9th of April. It was an evidence of that forbearance manifested by Mr. Lincoln through all the earliest stages of this conflict, a forbearance the value of which all the world can now appreciate, however distasteful to more excitable minds at the time, that these defiant rebels were per- mitted to return to their homes, instead of taking their well- earned place within prison walls. Five weeks and more had now passed since the inauguration, and the situation of affairs in Fort Sumter, to which the gallant Anderson had transferred his little garrison of seventy men from Fort Moultrie, near the close of the year, portended an approaching crisis. The overt act of war had long since been committed by the Charleston rebels, in firing on the Star of the West as she went to carry relief to that Fort, on which beleaguering batteries, not before unmasked, were already pre- paring to open. The supply vessel turned back, and though nearly two months had passed before Mr. Buchanan vacated the Presidential chair, his Administration was permitted to expire without, an attempt to retrieve that humiliation. As time wore on, no military preparations, as yet, being visible, Messrs. Forsyth and Crawford being known to be still in Washington, without any thing being positively disclosed as to the character of their intercourse with the State Department, and those persons having been finally permitted to depart, with only the public certainty that they had been denied ofiBcial recognition, a general uneasiness began to pervade the popular mind. This growing discontent was fanned J by the positive assertions of busy quidnuncs that Fort Sumter was to be evacuated in obedience to the demand of the Charleston traitors. LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 217 The visit of Mr. Fox to Major Anderson on the 22d day of March, afforded little relief to the current anxiety, so conflict- ing were the reports as to the purpose of his mission. The visit of still another supposed agent of the Government to Charleston, three days later, was generally construed unfa- vorably. Sanguine and nervous people were beginning to despond, or to speak openly of " weakness and vacillation " on the part of the President. It was only those who did not thoroughly know Mr. Lincoln who could seriously have doubted him for a moment. And yet, the stranger lingering in the capital during those calm yet dubious days which preceded the outburst of a storm, every moment's delay of which was an incalculable gain to the Government, would almost have pro- nounced the Administration doomed to ignominious failure, to popular repudiation, such as a counter-revolution of loyal men in the North must inevitably follow, at the very outset of its career. To omit to record this state of things, vividly impressed as it must be on the mind of every man in Washington, who observed events from the outside, would be to leave out the most striking view in the foreground of the picture. When taken in connection with subsequent events, it would also be as unjust to the fame of President Lincoln, as false to the facts of history. It was during this period that Mr. Alexander H. Stephens, (who, recreant to the sterling words in which, a few short months earlier, he had denounced this insane attempt to destroy the best Government on earth, for no real grievance whatever, but solely to gratify and revenge the thwarted ambition of defeated politicians, was now enjoying the mimic honors of the "Confederate" Vice Presidency,) delivered a remarkable speech, ia the city of Savannah, (March 21,) which must also have its permanent place in the annals of the time. The over-crowded audience, the enthusiastic applause, the solemnities of the occa- sion, and the known, frank, and positive character of the man, all combine to mark this utterance as a genuine reproduction of the thought and purpose of the chief conspirators, and their ready followers, at this hour. Only some of its chief points 19 218 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. can be recalled here, as showing both the estimate placed upon Mr. Lincoln's official action hitherto, and the real animus of the rebellion, when relieved of the disguises which Stephens had already stripped off in his anti-secession speech on the 19th of January, in the Georgia Convention. After proceeding at some length to point out the " Improve- ments " he discerned in the Montgomery Constitution over that which the seven "Confederate States" had repudiated, Mr. Stephens said : But not to be tedious in enumerating the numerous changes for the better, allow me to allude to one other though last, not least : The new Constitution has put at rest forever all the agitating questions relating to our peculiar institutions African slavery as it exists among us the proper status of the negro in our form of civilization. This was the immediate cause of the late rupture and present revolution. Jefferson, in his forecast, had anticipated this, as the rock upon which the old Union would split. He was right. What was conjecture with him, 13 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 enslavement of the African was in violation of the laws of nature; that it was WRONG IN PRINCI- PLE, SOCIALLY, 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, (he institution would l>e evanescent and pass away. Let us pause here, for a moment, to consider this distinct concession truthful in every word as to the views of Jeffer- son " and most of the leading statesmen" of the Constitutional era. How perfectly this agrees with the admission, two months earlier, that under an eminently Southern administration of the Government under the Constitution, for a long period of years, the South had no grievance whatever to complain of! Still more striking is the suggestion which this passage makes of that portion of Mr. Lincoln's celebrated Springfield speech, quoted by the author of the elaborate paper, in imitation of the Declaration of Independence, setting forth the causes of South Carolina's secession, when he says : LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 219 Observing the forms of the Constitution, a sectional party has found within that article establishing the Executive Depart- ment, the means of subverting the Constitution itself. A geographical line has been drawn across the Union, and all the States north of that line have united in the election of a man to the high office of President of the United States, whose opinions and purposes are hostile to slavery. He is to be intrusted with the administration of the common government, because he has declared that that " Government can not endure permanently half slave, half free," and that the public mind must rest in the belief that slavery is in the course of ultimate extinction. Setting aside the special pleading and inaccurate statement of the South Carolinian, how completely is he answered at every point by the Georgian, who had already, beyond a doubt, carefully perused the former's argument ! In a word, Stephens fairly and honorably concedes that the exact position held by Jefferson, and most of his contemporary statesmen, in regard to slavery, is precisely that which Mr. Rhett, even in his less candid effusion, attributes to Mr. Lincoln, and both practically unite in bearing testimony to the following clear enunciation of the grand spirit and purpose of the rebellion, as stated in his Savannah speech by Mr. Stephens, after pronouncing these ideas of Jefferson and his contemporaries to be " fundamentally wrong," as resting "upon the assumption of the equality of races :" v- x: js'i' -, ,-.! nridS'-i : 1-' . " v " .-:-.-" ; '=. .^M 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 Government, is the first, in the history of the world, BASED UPON this great physical, philo- sophical, and moral truth. ****** It is upon this, as I have stated, our social fabric is firmly planted ; and I can not permit myself to doubt the ultimate success of a full recognition of this principle throughout the civilized and en- lightened world. * * * * This stone which was rejected by the first builders, " it become the chief stone of the corner" in our new edifice. 220 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Mr. Stephens, after discussing the ability of the seven States already banded together to go on in their undertaking without the " Border States," and the hopes and wishes entertained in regard to the latter, goes on to discuss the prospect in regard to hostilities with the National Government, as follows : As to whether we shall have war with our late confederates, or whether all matters of difference between us shall be amica- bly settled, I can only say that the prospect for a peaceful adjustment is better, so far as I am informed, itian it has been. The prospect of war is, at least, not so threatening as it has been. The idea of coercion, shadowed forth in Mr. Lincoln's inaugural, seems not to be followed up, thus far, so vigorously as was expected. Fort Sumter, it is believed, will soon be evacuated. What course will be pursued toward Fort Pickens, and the other forts on the Gulf, is not so well understood. It is to be greatly desired that all of them should be surrendered. Our object is peace, not only with the North, but with the world. * * * The idea of coercing us, or subjugating us, is utterly preposterous. Whether the intention of evacuating Fort Sumter is to be received as an evidence of a desire for a peaceful solution of our difficulties with the United States, or the result of necessity, I will not undertake to say. I would fain hope the former. Rumors are afloat, however, that it is the result of necessity. All I can say to you, therefore, on that point, is, keep your armor bright, and your powder dry. That Mr. Stephens well understood the impossibility of peace on the only terms he ventured even to hint, is sufficiently man- ifest, and his reporter further adds, referring to a later part of his speech : He alluded to the difficulties and embarrassments which seemed to surround the question of a peaceful solution of the controversy with the old Government. How can it be done ? is perplexing many minds. The President seems to think that he can not recognize our independence, nor can he, with and by the advice of the Senate, do so. The Constitution makes no such provision. A general convention of all the States has been sug- gested by some. He closed without recommending this, or any other practi- cable method of peace which, perhaps, for himself ho would LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 221 have consented to well knowing that quite another policy was predetermined by conspirators older in the work than he, and to whose scheme he had already undoubtedly given his full consent. The Rebels saw no hope but in war. Any thing -short of that would amount only to a brief ebullition, in the States in which insurrection was already dominant. Something was yet needed to " fire the Southern heart." All the initiated knew that the match was soon to be applied to the industriously pre- pared train. They may have dreamed of the surrender of Sumter or Pickens as a military necessity ; hut they little under- stood the purpose of the President, if it was ever thought pos- sible on any other ground. They certainly greatly mistook his intentions, in either event. It must be remembered that the close of the last Adminis- tration found, still in the office of the Adjutant-General of the Army, a man (General Cooper) who now holds a like position in the Confederate service. The Departments and the city were filled with men of like sympathy, whose knowledge of affairs enabled them to communicate immediate information as to every movement inaugurated, and even of the avowed purposes or projects of every high officer of the Government, civil or military. Men deemed entirely trustworthy and faithful, even, were afterward found to have been in complicity with the traitors, and not a few holding military commissions which could not he revoked without positive grounds were regarded as doubtful. For a time it was uncertain how far any one with a few noble exceptions in responsible places, in Army or Navy, could be relied on for a cordial support of any efficient policy, even of defense. The event has shown how well founded, in numerous instances beside that of General Cooper, was this distrust. Mr. Lincoln fully appreciated his surroundings. Disloyalty was rampant among the citizens of the capital. In the Depart- ments, or just relieved therefrom, were men who watched every move, and were anxious to aid the rebellion. The sifting pro- cess has been steadily going on, yet how impossible was an immediate purification, is manifest. Under all the circumstances 222 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. of his position, the President had no resource but to keep his own counsel. Inexperienced in military affairs, he had the ready advice and faithful service of the illustrious head of the Army, Lieutenant-General Scott. True and loyal as that veteran General was, however, his political sympathies had never gone with the now dominant party, while his Virginian birth and associations led him to shrink from every appearance of attempted coercion. It is no secret that General Scott openly and earnestly advocated the evacuation of Fort Suniter on military, if not also on political, grounds. It is believed that he carried over nearly every Cabinet Minister to his views. The President, while adjusting his new agencies, and learning the spirit of the men about him, in the Army and in the Navy, as well as awaiting, with attentive eye, the developments of opinion and action, in both sections, allowed the consideration of this question to be continued, from day to day, without indicating his purpose. The emissaries who waited here on their false diplomatic mission kept duly apprised, through channels easily imaginable after what has since transpired, of the opinions of General Scott and the deliberations thereon. They had constantly communicated with the leaders at home, it being deemed expedient to allow, during all this period, free intercourse by mail and telegraph. The result was a general impression at the South for which no word of the Chief Executive ever gave any warrant, although he obviously had no occasion to correct any such misconception that Fort Sumter was to be evacuated, and that no attempt would be made to reinforce Fort Pickens. The parting missive of these pseudo-diplomats, on the 9th of April, makes the following statement on this point (addressed to Mr. Seward): The memorandum [of the Secretary of State, before referred toj is dated March 15, and was not delivered until April 8. Why was it withheld during the intervening twenty-three days ? In the postscript to your memorandum you say it " was delayed, as was understood, with their (Messrs. Forsyth and Crawford's) consent." This is true; but it is also true that, on the 15th of March, Messrs. Forsyth and Crawford were assured by a person occu- LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 223 pying a high official position in the Government, and who, as they believed, was speaking by authority, that Fort Sumter would be evacuated within a very few days, and that no measure changing the existing status, prejudicially to the Confederate States, as respects Fort Pickens, was then contemplated, and these assur- ances were subsequently repeated, with the addition that any contemplated change, as respects Pickens, would be notified to its. On the 1st of April we were again informed that there might be an attempt to supply Fort Sumter with provisions, but that Governor Pickens should have previous notice of the attempt. There was no suggestion of reinforcements. The undersigned did not hesitate to believe that these assurances expressed tlie intentions of the Administration at the time, or, at all events, of prominent members of that Administration. This delay was assented to, for the express purpose of attaining the great end of the mission of the undersigned, to-wit : A pacific solution of existing complications. * * * The intervening twenty-three days were employed in active unofficial efforts, the object of which was to smooth the path to a pacific solution, the distinguished personage alluded to cooperating with the under- signed ; and every step of that effort is recorded in writing, and now in possession of the undersigned and of their Government. * * * * It is proper to add that, during these twenty- three days, two gentlemen of official distinction, as high as that of the personage hitherto alluded to, aided the undersigned as intermediaries in these unofficial negotiations for peace. Without stopping to inquire how far the veracity of a docu- ment, conceived in such a spirit and designed for immediate effect, North and South, is to be implicitly relied on, it is enough to say that, by its very terms, this paper shows clearly that neither the President, nor any one authorized in any man- ner to speak for him, ever gave the assurances stated, even in unofficial intercourse. If these conspirators were deceived by " intermediaries," holding responsible places in the Govern- ment, yet so abusing the confidence of their superiors as to communicate their military plans to the emissaries of rebels who had already levied war against the Government, and fired upon its flag, it is manifest that neither Mr. Lincoln nor his Constitutional advisers need regret the deception. The Presi- dent, however, it is proper distinctly to state, never had the 224 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. slightest knowledge of the communications alleged, if they ever took place. It should also he definitely stated here, that Mr. Lincoln (whatever military or civil advisers may have imagined) never seriously entertained the purpose of peaceably and voluntarily abandoning any Government fortifications or property. Much less was he prepared to leave the gallant garrisons of Fortd Surnter and Pickens to starvation or humiliating surrender. As early as the 18th of March, General Bragg, then in com- mand of the Confederate forces at Pensacola, issued his order cutting off supplies of every kind from Fort Pickens as well as from the " armed vessels of the United States," then in the harbor a military step toward the reduction of the fort, in marked contrast with the pacific professions and affected good faith set forth in the Rebel document just quoted from. An intention -of precipitating more active hostilities there was plainly indicated by the insurgents, and the necessity of deci- sive action on the part of the Government was apparent. A small fleet, of eight vessels, was got in readiness with all pos- sible expedition, (including the two sloops-of-war, Pawnee and Powhatan, with transports carrying troops and supplies,) the first of which set sail from the Washington Navy-Yard on th 6th of April, and the remainder during the next three days. The orders were sealed, but the movement could not be alto- gether a secret. In fact, it seems to have been almost immedi- ately known at the headquarters of secession in the South. While a portion of this fleet paused off Charleston harbor, the remainder saved Fort Pickens by a timely reinforcement. On the 7th of April, General Beauregard, at Charleston, followed his co-laborer at Pensacola, and issued an order, notice of which was sent to Major Anderson, prohibiting further intercourse between that fort and the city. This was another military step, backed by the rapid concentration of Rebel troops at Charleston, toward compelling the surrender of Fort Suinter. It left no course to the Government short of furnishing supplies to the garrison of that sea-girt fort. And how careful the Presi- dent was, from the outset, to avoid, so far as was possible, every act that might even unwarrantably provoke a collision of arms, LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 225 is well illustrated in this instance. On the 8th of April the day after Beauregard's hostile order the President caused the parties interested at Charleston to be officially informed that provisions were to be dispatched to Major Anderson by an unarmed vessel. It is easy to see on which side the true pacific purpose lay. The act of war, commenced by firing on the Star of the West, in January, was renewed by Beauregard in the attempt to starve out Major Anderson. This renewal, again, was met by the mere effort to supply, in a peaceable way, the rations of a garrison that could not4hus be abandoned. Beauregard at once communicated the movement, thus offi- cially explained, to the Rebel Secretary of War, and, under special instructions, received April 10th, demanded, on the fol- lowing day, the surrender of Fort Sumter the indisputable property of the Federal Government, the right of domain and jurisdiction over which had been expressly and solemnly granted to that Government by the uncancelled vote of South Carolina herself. The demand was courteously refused. Major Anderson was again called on to name a time at which he would evacuate the fort, meanwhile committing no hostile act. That officer replied, on the 12th, that he would, " if provided with the proper and necessary means of transportation, evacuate Fort Sumter by noon on the 15th instant," should he not " receive, prior to that time, controlling instructions" from the Government, " or additional supplies." To this eminently peaceful and reasonable proposition, the reply was returned that the commandant of " the provisional forces of the Confed- erate States " would open the fire of. his batteries on Fort Sumter in one hour from the date of this " pacific " message, "April 12, 1861, 2:30 A. M." This " Confederate" assurance accorded with the result. After enduring the long-continued fire of numerous batteries, Anderson and his garrison of seventy men were compelled to surrender the fort to Beaure- gard and his seven thousand rebels in. arms. Thus began in dread earnest, by a clearly unwarrantable and ' unprovoked act, following repeated protestations of a desire for a " peaceable solution" of troubles resulting solely from the constitutional election of a President, confessedly standing on 226 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. the same platform, in regard to special Southern interests, as Jefferson, and most of the founders of the Government, a civil war, designed to establish a new Government on the chief cor- ner-stone of slavery, and to revolutionize the opinions of the civilized world in regard to that system. Whatever could be done to avert this final step, was patiently, kindly, sincerely done by Abraham Lincoln. All truthful history will record this of him, through all ages, to his lasting praise. No rough passion, no fretful impatience, no revengeful impulse, ever ruffled his spirit during all these days of suspense. But the gauntlet was at length thrown down, and no alternative was left but to meet force with force. LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 227 CHAPTER II. The Loyal Uprising. The Border Slave States. Summary of Events. Battle of Bull Run. THE first effect of the fall of Fort Sumter was to silence, for the time, all opposition to the President in the Free States. One sentiment was uppermost in the minds of all loyal people that of indignation at the authors of the war, now inaugu- rated at Charleston, mingled with the purpose of vindicating the National Flag, and of restoring the legitimate authority of the Government in all the States. Wherever a contrary feeling existed, the strong manifestations of popular enthusiasm for the Government caused such treachery to be carefully dis- guised. For once, the people of the Free States were a unit in action. The demand for vigorous preparation to protect the National Capital, and to suppress the insurrection, was univer- sal. Simultaneously with this development of loyalty, Mr. Lincoln prepared his proclamation of April 15th, calling on the States for their several proportions of an army of seventy- five thousand men. He also, in the same paper, called an extra session of Congress, to commence on the 4th day of July following. A like unanimity had been hoped by the conspirators in every Slave State. It was, perhaps, chiefly in order to produce this effect, that the responsibility of beginning the war was assumed by the Rebel leaders. As yet the seven States which had originally entered into the Confederacy at Montgomery had received no accessions from the eight remaining States, sup- posed to have a common interest with them, from a common peculiarity of institutions. On the very next day after that combination was entered into (February 9), the people of Ten- nessee had voted against secession, by a large majority. On the 228 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 1st day of March a similar vote had been taken in Missouri. On the 4th day of April, a secession ordinance had been rejected in the State Convention of Virginia, by a vote of 45 yeas and 89 nays. In Maryland, the firmness and earnest loy- alty of Gov. Hicks had defeated all the schemes for assem- bling a convention in that State to consider the question of seces- sion. Delaware had manifested a decided Union spirit, and the canvass on this question in Arkansas had thus far developed a strong disinclination to embark in the disunion scheme of Davis and his fellow-conspirators. In North Carolina and Kentucky, all the efforts to seduce the people into rebellion appeared to have been of little avail. Thus, with two tiers of Slave States extending from the Atlantic to the Mississippi, two west of the Mississippi, and the two north-east of Vir- ginia, a majority of all, having many interests diverse from those of the Cotton States, now nominally confederated in the crimes of their leaders, the rebellion was manifestly doomed from the outset, if peace and the opportunity for calm deliber- ation were allowed. The rebels undoubtedly wished to avoid the lasting odium of bringing on a desolating and destructive civil war. They saw clearly, however, whither the quiet and pacific policy of the Administration was tending. Not another State would join the Secession movement, if that policy were permitted to con- tinue. From the 1st day of February to the fall of Sumter two months and a half not a State had joined the movement, and two, on the immediate border of the Cotton States, had deliberately rejected the proposition, although the State Gov- ernments of both were in the hands of active Secessionists. The fatal blow a necessity to the mad project in hand was accordingly struck. The immediate object was to gain over the remaining Slave States, and naturally, as second only to the preparation for war, the course to be pursued by those States became an object of chief interest. The necessity of at once gaining over Virginia to the Seces- sion side, in order to the prosecution of their plans, was now manifest to the leading conspirators at Montgomery and Rich- mond. The Convention of that State, as already seen, had LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 22!) hitherto proved intractable. In electing that body, the people had decided for the Union by a very large majority. What show or pretense of right, even on Secession principles, had these representatives to repudiate alike the clearly expressed wishes of their constituents and their own personal pledges? In the hope of gaining some plausible pretext for such an act of double perfidy, to be used in connection with threats rapidly growing into a reign of terror, a committee of three was appointed by the Convention, just at the time of the impending attack on Fort Sumter, to wait on the President, avowedly to ascertain his intended policy toward the rebellious States. Mr. Lincoln granted this committee an interview on the 13th of April, and gave them the subjoined response : To Hon. Messrs. PRESTON, STUART and RANDOLPH Gen- tlemen : As a committee of the Virginia Convention, now in session, you present me a preamble and resolution in these words : " WHEREAS, In the opinion of this Convention, the uncer- tainty which prevails in the public mind as to the policy which the Federal Executive intends to pursue toward the seceded States, is extremely injurious to the industrial and commercial interests of the country, tends to keep up an excitement which is unfavorable to the adjustment of the pending difficulties, 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 respectfully ask him to communicate to this Convention the policy which the Federal Executive intends to pursue in regard to the Confederate States." In answer I hav 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 uncertainty in the public mind as to what that policy is, and what course I intend to pursue. Not having as yet seen occasion to change, it is now my purpose to pursue the course marked out in the inaugural address. I com- mend a careful consideration of the whole document as the best expression I can give to my purposes. As I then and therein said, I now repeat, " The power confided in me will be u^ed to hold, occupy, and possess property and places belong- ing to the Government, and to collect the duties and imports ; but beyond what is necessary for these objects there will be no 230 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. invasion, no using of force against or among the people any- where." By the -words " property and places belonging to the Government," I chiefly allude to the military posts and prop- erty -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 authorities from these places, an unprovoked assault has been made upon Fort Sumter, I shall hold myself at liberty to repossess it, if I can, like S laces which had been seized before the Government was evolved upon me ; and in any event I shall, to the best of my ability, repel force by force. In case it proves true that Fort Sumter has been assaulted, as is reported, I shall, perhaps, cause the United States mails to be withdrawn from all the States which claim to have seceded, believing that the com- mencement of actual war against the Government justifies and possibly demands it. I scarcely need to say that I consider the military posts and property situated within the States which claim to have seceded, as yet belonging to the Government of the United States as much as they did before the supposed secession. Whatever else I may do for the purpose, I shall not attempt to collect the duties and imposts by any armed invasion of any part of the country ; not meaning by this, how- ever, that I may not land a force deemed necessary to relieve a fort upon the border of the country. From the fact that I have quoted a part of the inaugural address, it must not be inferred that I repudiate any other part, the whole of which I reaffirm, except so far as what I now say of the mails may be regarded as a modification. The Governors of Virginia and Kentucky, thoroughly in fellowship with the South Carolina policy from the outset, promptly sent back defiant messages in response to the Presi- dent's call for troops. "Kentucky will furnish no troops," said Governor Magoffin, " for the wicked purpose of subduing her sister Southern States." " The militia of Virginia," wrote Letcher to Secretary Cameron, " will not be furnished to the powers at Washington for any such use or purpose as they have in view." Similar was the reply of Governor Harris, of Ten- nessee. Governor Ellis, of North Carolina, with greater mod- eration in his language, plainly intimated his purpose not to respond to the President's call. On the 17th, the Virginia Convention, yielding at length to the artifices and intimidations of the busy conspirators, in whose service an ignorant mob wa? LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 231 conspicuous, passed, in the darkness of a secret conclave, an ordinance of secession. The processes resorted to for the ac- complishment of this object were yet insufficient to move many honorable delegates from their fidelity, but the fatal majority was obtained. Although there was still to be, nominally, a vote of the people on this question, on the 23d of May, Union sentiments were no longer tolerated at Richmond. Violence and terror insured a majority for the insurrection in a State which, on a fair vote, would still have pronounced emphatically against secession. The conspirators in North Carolina also triumphed, as was to be expected after this defection, and Tennessee and Arkan- sas followed. Thus four States were gained to the " Confed- eracy" by no means through a fair or honest vote as a result of the war begun in Charleston harbor. The desperate efforts to win over Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri, utterly failed, as would have been the case with the other four States, just named, had the pacific policy of the "Administration been permitted to continue. The week following the President's proclamation was crowded with important events. Public meetings were held all through the loyal States, and the response to the call for troops was hearty and universal. Companies and regiments were rapidly filled up and started for the National Capital. But a few hours intervened before Massachusetts had one regi- ment at its rendezvous, and ready for departure. Pennsylvania and New York were on the alert, and a battalion of volunteers, from the former State, were the first to reach Washington, while the New York Seventh was at nearly the same time on its way. The spirit already roused throughout the country was greatly intensified by the attempts of a secession mob in Baltimore to prevent the passage of the Massachusetts Sixth- through that city. Here the first blood of Union troops was ?hed, on an ever memorable anniversary, the 19th day of April. Enlistments followed with such rapidity, that it was soon only a question whose services should be declined, of the tens of thou- sands offering themselves. The city of Washington, an object of threatened attack, and 232 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. thronged with people, who either openly proclaimed their hos- tility to the Government, or were of doubtful fidelity, was full of excitement liable at any moment to an emeute or to an irruption of rebel troops already in the field in Virginia. Alexandria was in their possession, or easily accessible at any moment from Richmond. Rumors were current of an immedi- ate intention on the part of the Confederate leaders to occupy Arlington Heights, completely commanding the city, while as yet only a few companies of the regular service, with two or three light field batteries, were in Washington for its defense. To these were added a few hundred volunteer militia, made up chiefly of transient sojourners at the Capital. A few dragoons, with a detachment of artillery, guarded the Long Bridge, and the Navy Yard and other portions of the city had a small guard of extemporized infantry. There was also a single com- pany of sappers and miners, under Lieut, (now General) Weitzel. Thus passed an anxious week, while every exertion was made by the Government and its loyal supporters to assem- ble an adequate defensive force. How easily the place might have been taken, with not one of the present numerous and strong fortifications, with no army but half a dozen scattered companies of infantry, cavalry and artillery, and with so large a number within ready to rise and give active welcome to the assailing force they so eagerly expected, need not here be dis- cussed. From one extremity of the country to the other, the danger was seen and felt. The few days needful, fortunately were gained. The 19th of April is further memorable for the proclamation issued on that day, declaring a blockade of every port cf the States in insurrection, in the following terms : WHEREAS, An insurrection against the Government of the United States has broken out in the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, and the laws of the United States for the collection of the reve- nue can not be efficiently executed therein conformably to that provision of the Constitution which requires duties to be uni- form throughout the United States : AND WHEREAS, A combination of persons, engaged in such LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 233 insurrection, have threatened to grant pretended letters of marque to authorize the bearers thereof to commit assaults on the lives, vessels, and property of 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 already been issued, requiring the persons engaged in these disorderly pro- ceedings 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 protection of the public peace, and the lives and property of quiet and orderly citizens pursuing their lawful occupations, until Congress shall have assembled and deliberated on the said unlawful proceedings, or until the same shall have ceased, have further deemed it advisable to set on foot a blockade of the ports within the States aforesaid, in pursuance of the laws of the United States, and of the laws of nations in such cases pro- vided. For this purpose a competent force will be posted so as to prevent entrance and exit of vessels from the ports afore- said. If, therefore, with a view to violate such blockade, a vessel shall approach, or shall attempt to leave any of the said ports, she will be duly warned by the commander of one of the blockading vessels, who will indorse on her register the fact and date of such warning ; and if the same vessel shall again attempt to enter or leave the blockaded port, she will be cap- tured and sent to the nearest convenient port, for such proceed- ings against her and her cargo as prize as may be deemed advisable. And I hereby proclaim and declare, that if any person, under the pretended authority of said States, or under any other pre- tense, shall molest a vessel of the United States, or the persons or cargo on board of her, such person will be held amenable to the laws of the United States for the prevention and punish- ment of piracy. By the President : ABRAHAM LINCOLN. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. Washington, April 19, 1801. " Intelligence having been received that Virginia troops were marching on Harper's Ferry, to take possession of the import- ant Government property there, the public works were destroyed and the place evacuated by Lieut. Jones, the com- mandant. Almost simultaneously the Fourth Massachusetts 20 234 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Regiment, dispatched by wise forethought, arrived at Fortress Monroe (soon after reinforced by the First Vermont, under Col. Phelps), and secured a permanent occupation of that strong position in the Old Dominion, which had now become (without waiting for the consummation of the farce of a pop- ular vote under duress) the eighth State of the Rebel Confed- eracy. During this brief period at the close of a week of unpre- cedented excitement at Washington and of loyal enthusiasm throughout the country earnest appeals were made to the President by prominent Marylanders to stop all attempts to transport troops through that State to the National Capital. His prompt reply set all such petitions at rest. The usual thoroughfares, meanwhile, had been obstructed. Treason hoped the work was already accomplished, and relief cut off. Timor- ous or hesitating men feared that the effort would be useless. But the purpose of Mr. Lincoln was not for an instant shaken. The route by Annapolis was opened by Gen. Butler and his Massachusetts force, and on the 25th of April troops from the North began to pour into Washington, relieving all immediate anxiety. The people had nobly responded. The " great up- rising " was an assured event. Toward the veteran Lieutenant-General of the Army all eyes were turned as the fit organizer and leader of the Govern- ment forces. His counsels were potent, necessarily, in the for- mation of plans suited to the juncture. Compelled to resort to force by armed aggressive rebellion, the foremost purpose was strictly a defensive one. To protect the capital first of all for in the flush of triumph over the reduction of Fort Sumter, the determination to take Washington, a city surrounded by territory claimed as destined to form part of the Confederacy, was boldly avowed, alike by the Rebel Secretary of War and by the organs of public opinion every -where in the insurrectionary States was the object aimed at by the President, and ener- getically undertaken by Gen. Scott. Secondary to this, and a labor for the future, was the reoccupation and re-possession of Federal forts and Federal property already seized by the Rebels, and the retention of such as were threatened, as LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 235 distinctly promised by the President in his inaugural address forcibly now, since the peaceable alternative was no longer pos- sible. The blockade by sea, and a defensive campaign by land, were the immediate steps recommended by the General-in- Chief and adopted by the Administration. On the 27th of April the following announcement of new Military Departments and Commanders was made by Adj.- Gen. Thomas: 1. The Department of Washington, including the District of Columbia, according to its original boundary, Fort Washington and the adjacent country, and the State of Maryland as far as Bladensburgh, inclusive ; under the com- mand of Gen. Joseph K. F. Mansfield headquarters at Wash- ington. 2. The Department of Annapolis, including the coun- try for twenty miles on each side of the railroad from Annapolis to the city of Washington, as far as Bladensburgh ; under the command of Gen. B. F. Butler headquarters at Annapolis. 3. The Department of Pennsylvania, including that State, the State of Delaware, and all of the SUte of Maryland not embraced within the Departments first named ; under command of Gen. Robert Patterson headquarters at Philadelphia, " or any other point he may temporarily occupy." This organ- ization of Departments indicates the field of contemplated military operations in the East. The Department of Wash- ington extended no further southward than the old limits of the District of Columbia, an extension into Virginia only for the obvious purpose of including Alexandria and Arlington Heights, as essential to the defenses of the capital. To these Departments were added a fourth, on the 10th day of May, including the States of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, under the command of Gen. George B. McClellan head- quarters at Cincinnati. This Department was also manifestly organized with a view to the maintenance of a defensive line, on the Ohio river, from Wheeling to Cairo. During the first week succeeding the fall of Fort Sumter, indications were appa- rent which led the people along this extended line and par- ticularly at Cincinnati and Cairo, deemed especially vulnerable points to desire some efficient preparation to repel any Rebel advance. The debatable ground of Kentucky was early cov- 236 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. eted as a field for military occupancy by the confident insurgents. The Governor of that State was in open sympathy with the rebellion, and, under the guise of neutrality which even the most loyal of her citizens seemed for a time to acquiesce in as the wisest expedient, was believed to be preparing to subject the State to Rebel domination. Across this middle territory, by the Covington and Lexington Railroad, on the one hand, and by the Mississippi river, from Columbus and Paducah, on the other, an invasion of Ohio or Illinois was reasonably appre- hended. That sympathizers and complotters with the Mont- gomery leaders were eagerly designing and ready to aid such invasion, in both sections of Kentucky, was well understood. It was from the wish for prompt and decisive action in securing this defensive line, which involved the occupation of all necessary points on the Kentucky side of the river com- manding the north bank of the Ohio, just as the possession of the bights south of the Potomac, near Washington, was essen- tial to the defense of that city, that the appointment of Gen. McClellan by Gov. Dennison, of Ohio, as Commander of the Volunteer Militia of that State, was made. This was earnestly desired, especially by influential citizens of Cincin- nati, where McClellan had been quietly residing during the previous year or two, charged with responsible duties in the management of an important railroad. It was known that he had a military education and that he was an experienced engi- neer, which latter, quality specially commended him to the favor of those who were anxious for the protection of the city. To render this appointment efficient, by giving him authority to pass the limits of Ohio and to occupy the bights on the Kentucky side of the river, his appointment, by the Federal Government, to a position in the regular army was strenuously urged, and ere long secured. In assigning him so large an area as his Department, its contemplated reorganization at an early day was distinctly announced. It was also on the 10th day of May that the Rebel Secretary of War issued his order, at Montgomery, directing Gen. Robert E. Lee to assume command of the " forces of the Con- federate States in Virginia." LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 237 Of the eight Slave States which had stood aloof from the N Montgomery Confederacy at the outset, Virginia had nominally entered into an alliance with that pretended Government, as already seen, and practically joined the insurrection, in advance of the promised popular vote. Tennessee and Arkansas fol- lowed this example on the 6th of May, and North Carolina (her rulers being previously in practical alliance), on the 20th. Maryland, Missouri and Kentucky, as the event proved, were saved from this suicidal conduct, not without the aid of Federal arms. Delaware remained true. On the 29th of April the blockade was extended, in accord- ance with a proclamation of the President, so as to embrace the ports of Virginia and North Carolina, owing to rebellious acts in those States, antecedent to their pretended secession, yet clearly pointing to such an event as practically determined. Jefferson Davis, on the same day, having hastily convened his " Confederate Congress " to make provision for more effective hostilities, submitted his message to that body, containing an elaborate attempt to justify the war that had been precipitated upon the country, appealing to slaveholding interest and preju- dice, and instigating a united and zealous prosecution of the war. He recognized, solely, the issue of slavery as the one cause which had led to the outbreak. As to the mode of action pursued by the Rebel leaders, he distinctly claimed that the Constitutional right of secession had been steadily maintained by " the Democratic party of the United States," and urged its pledges " that it would faithfully abide by and uphold " those principles, as they were " laid down in the Kentucky and Vir- ginia Legislatures of 1799," and its adoption of " those princi- ples as constituting one of the main foundations of its political creed." (How vain this appeal, let the prompt and cordial action of such Democrats as Douglas, Andrew Johnson, B. F. Butler, Daniel S. Dickinson, Lewis Cass, and hundreds of other faithful leaders in the ranks of their party testify. The reor- ganized party, assuming the Democratic name, at a later day, under the auspices of Vallandigham, Richardson, Wood, Cox and their compeers, may perhaps as heartily, though not as openly, indorse this exposition of the " Democratic " faith, as 238 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. it directly sustains the allegation of Davis that Northern aggressions are the cause of the war.) The Rebel champion further asserts that these " principles were maintained by overwhelming majorities of the people of all the States of the Union at different elections, especially in the election of Mr. Jefferson, in 1805, Mr. Madison, in 1809, and Mr. Pierce in 1852." Equally veracious are his narratives of the impudent efforts of Crawford and his associates to make an appearance of negotiating for peaceable separation, and of the events immediately preceding the attack on Fort Sumter, with a view to rid himself of the terrible responsibility of in- augurating a war that must consign his name to lasting infamy. He boasts of his attempt to organize piracy on the high seas, by assuming the power of issuing letters of marque and repri- sal, without a shadow of right under international laws, even conceding his claim of a national existence for his pseudo-Con- federacy. He expresses his entire confidence " that, ere you [the 'Confederate Congress '] shall have been many weeks in session, the whole of the Slaveholding States of the late Union will respond to the call of honor and affection, and by uniting their fortune with ours, promote our common interests and secure our common safety." He speaks of " the rapid develop- ment of the purpose of the President of .the United States to invade our soil, capture our forts, blockade our ports, and wage war against us," and refers to the report of the " Confederate " Secretary of War u for a full history of the occurrences in Charleston harbor, prior to and including the bombardment and reduction of Fort Sumter, and of the measures subse- quently taken for common defense, on receiving the intelligence of the declaration of war" (so this scrupulous personage chooses to say) "against us by the President of the United States." He gives the number of his troops " now in the field at Charleston, Pensacola, Forts Morgan, Jackson, St. Philip, and Pulaski," as 19,000 men, with 16,000 more "now en route for Virginia." He adds: " It is proposed to organize and hold in readiness for instant action, in view of the present exigences of the country, an army of 100,000 men;" and declares that volunteers " are constantly tendering their services far in excess LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 239 of our wants." He does not conclude his extended document without uttering the now familiar words, equally as appropriate to brigands and pirates as to traitors : "All we ask is, to be let alone." Partly by way of inciting slaveholders to unite as a body in his unhallowed schemes, and partly to influence public opinion abroad, for the hour, the arch conspirator prepared this skillful, but eminently fallacious, message, and he found the pseudo- Congress he addressed to be willing instruments in organizing the formidable war power he desired. These preparations at Montgomery and the growing require- ments of a service already expanded through so wide a field, made it necessary for Mr. Lincoln to anticipate the extra ses- sion of Congress, called for the 4th of July, and to issue, on the 3d of May, a proclamation for 42,000 additional volunteers, for the term of three years, unless sooner discharged, and for eight regiments of infantry, one of cavalry, and one of artillery, numbering 22,714 in the aggregate, to be added to the regular army. A call was also made, in the same proclamation, for 18,000 additional seamen for the naval service. This action, clearly justified by the requirements of the occasion, or rather made obligatory upon him by the necessities of the situation, was confirmed and legalized, without opposition, by Congress at its extra session. It met the universal approval of the loyal men of the country, and the quick response to this call in a few days more than filled the demand for army volunteers. Cairo, Illinois, had befn occupied by Government forces, under Col. B. M. Prentiss, during the latter part of April. On the Kentucky and Missouri sides of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, and particularly on each side of the former, at Columbus, Belmont and below, preparations on the part of the insurgents were soon manifest, threatening an aggressive move- ment, and certainly intended to hold the Mississippi, as a rebel possession, from Cairo to New Orleans. The prompt move- ment of Illinois volunteers saved the West from invasion. This little army of occupation at Camp Defiance prepared the way for enterprises, enlarging to a magnitude perhaps little imagined at the moment. 240 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. At this time, also, Capt. Nathaniel Lyon (subsequently General) -was taking prompt measures to protect the United States arms' in the Arsenal at St. Louis from seizure by Seces- sionists, who were scheming to get possession of this prize of incalculable value to the Union troops then volunteering. The Government now, as for months afterward, though untiring in its efforts, found it no easy task to provide muskets in numbers at all adequate to the emergency. Adroit management secured the very considerable supply at St. Louis to the Department of the Ohio. Like timely action, soon after, broke up a Seces- sion camp forming in the same city, and defeated the plots of a traitorous Governor for betraying the State of Missouri into the hands of the insurgents. Camp Jackson, with a large sup- ply of arms and munitions of war, and several hundred prison- ers, were surrendered on the 10th of May a memorable day for Missouri. On the llth of the same month, Gen. W. S. Harney, of the regular army, returning from Kichmond, whither he had been taken as a prisoner, captured in Western Virginia, while on his way to Washington, assumed command of the Military Depart- ment of the West. His career was a brief one, practically cul- minating in a compact entered into, on the 21st, with Gen. Sterling Price, acting on behalf of the disloyal Governor of Missouri, to the effect that the whole responsibility and labor of maintaining peace and order in that State should be in- trusted to the State authorities ; while Gen. Harney, on his part, should make no military movements, and carefully avoid any acts tending to produee jealousy and excitement. It is need- less to say that such an engagement never had the sanction of the President. It was definitely set aside by an order of the Adjutant General addressed to Harney, under date of May 27th, and a force was promptly put in the field, under command of Gen. Lyon. Meanwhile, at Washington, since the free arrival of troops had commenced, the whole country south of the Potomac, except as explored by scouts, was little better than an unknown land. At Alexandria, a secession flag floated in sight of the Capital, while at Manassas Junction a threatening force was LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 241 gathering. It was not until the morning of the 24th of May that an advance into Virginia, by the forces under Gen. Mans- field, was deemed expedient. This movement, awakening great interest among the people, who had anticipated early and deci- sive results, and began already to weary of indispensable delay, had no further immediate purpose than the occupancy of Arlington Heights and Alexandria, for the greater security of Washington ; for any more extended undertaking, this impro- vised army, as all now see after three years of war, was entirely inadequate, either in itself or in its appliances. An advance on Manassas Junction, at this time, was indeed discussed in official circles, but military opinions were decidedly against the undertaking, and the Department of Washington was not now enlarged. This advance into Virginia, early in the morning of the day after the farce of a popular vote for Secession had been enacted, was executed without resistance. Col. Ellsworth, who com- manded a regiment ordered to Alexandria, lost his life by the hands of an assassin, in hauling down, with his own hand, the Rebel flag that had, for many days, flaunted defiance toward Washington ; otherwise, no serious casualty occurred. To the people of Alexandria this movement was a surprise, and some prisoners fell into the hands of our troops. The number of men who crossed the Potomac, at this time, was about 13,000. They immediately commenced constructing earthworks, where Fort Ellsworth, Fort Corcoran, the defenses of the Long BridgeN, and other memorials of like purpose, still attest the labors then entered upon. Two days later, the Postmaster General issued his order sus- pending all postal service in the States of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Missis- sippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas, to take effect on the 31st of May. Tennessee, although in league with the Confederate insurgents, through the State officers, was intentionally omitted in this order. Obvious advantages had resulted from a contin- uance of the United States mails in all the States hitherto, and it was only when, more active hostilities being imminent, these advantages would be more than counterbalanced, that this order 21 242 LIFJ5 OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. was issued. To the leaders and people of the insurgent dis- tricts it was no light matter, as at once practically felt, to be deprived of this beneficent intervention of the Federal Govern- ment, maintained, as it always had been, in part, by a tax upon the correspondence of the Free States. This order marks the date of the first decisive step toward the enforcement of non- intercourse with the Rebel population, except as their territory might successively fall within the lines of our armies, now rapidly preparing for the field. A great portion of the army which had been forming under the eye of Gen. McClellan, was to have its first employment, by direction of the President, in sustaining the loyal people of Western Virginia. The force sent into that region was to drive back the Rebel troops which had gone out to destroy the Bal- timore and Ohio Railroad, and to subjugate that part of the State, in which a purpose to repudiate secession was already manifested. The order was issued by the General from his headquarters at Cincinnati on the 26th of May, and the First Virginia Regiment of volunteers, under Col. B. F. Kelly, was sent out from Bellaire on the Wheeling branch of the railroad, while the Fourteenth Ohio Regiment of volunteers, under Col. J. B. Steadman, advanced on the Parkersburg branch of the road, toward Grafton. For several days after this movement commenced, Gen. McClellan remained at Cincinnati. Under the auspices of Gov. Magoffin and his Inspector-General, Simon B. Buckner, a force was organizing in Kentucky, believed to be covertly intended for the Rebel service, and watched with apprehension by loyal people north of the Ohio. During the progress of Buckner s preparations he visited Cincinnati and had a pro- tracted interview with Gen. McClellan, on the 8th of June. In an official report to Gov. Magoffin, made public on the 22d of that month, Buckner set forth in detail what he alleged as a formal agreement between McClellan and himself, the sub- stance of which, after an engagement on the part of Kentucky to maintain " neutrality " between the " United States " and the " Southern States," is contained in the following extract from that document : LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 243 Gen. McClellan stipulates that the territory of Kentucky shall be respected on the part of the United States, even though the Southern States should occupy it; but in the latter case he will call upon the authorities of Kentucky to remove the Southern forces from our territory. Should Kentucky fail to accomplish this object in a reasonable time, Gen. '''McClellan claims the same right of occupancy given to the Southern forces. I have stipulated, in that case, to advise him of the inability of Kentucky to comply with her obligations, and to invite him to dislodge the Southern forces. He stipulates that if he is successful in doing so, he will withdraw his forces from the territory of the State as soon as the Southern forces shall have been removed. This, he assures me, is the policy which he will adopt toward Kentucky. That this interview took place, is an undisputed fact. That any compact of this nature was entered into, would seem incredible, without other evidence than Buckner's word of honor. But that Gen. McClellan, while commanding the Department of the Ohio, did nothing inconsistent with the alleged terms of agreement, must be conceded. Thus was one controlling purpose in his first appointment by the Governor of Ohio completely defeated. The occupation and defense of the southern bank of the river, near Cincinnati, was voluntarily abandoned either by reason of this stipulation or without it by the man specially chosen for that work. Near the same date, Gen. McClellan addressed a letter to the late Mr. Crittenden, expressing regret that some of Gen. Prentiss' men, in making an excursion down the Mississippi, on the 12th of June, had landed on the Kentucky shore and cut down and brought away a Secession flag which they saw flying at Colum- bus. He disclaimed all responsibility for this intrusion. Thus cautious was the Commanding General to be no aggres- sor on the soil of any Slave State, and to wound the sensi- bilities of neither incipient Rebels nor " neutrals," who were supporters of slave institutions. Even while sending a force to the aid of loyal Western Virginia, at the request of her people, he was careful to assure them : Notwithstanding all that has been said by the traitors to induce you to believe that our advent among you will be signal 244 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. ized by interference with your slaves, understand one thing clearly not only will we abstain from all such interference, but we will, on the contrary, with an iron hand, crush any attempt at insurrection on their part. The firs4Ungagement in Western Virginia was fought at Phil- ippa, on the 2d of June, Gen. Thomas A. Morris, of Indiana, being the officer in actual command of the forces now concentrated at and near Grafton, with headquarters at that place. The arduous and successful expedition thence to Philippa, surprising and breaking up an important camp of Rebels, was under the imme- diate direction of Col. Dumont, of Indiana. On the 3d of June, Gen. Patterson issued an address from his headquarters, now at Chambersburg, Pa., to the troops of his Department, promising that they should "soon meet the insurgents." He added : " You must bear in mind you are going for the good of the whole country, and that, while it is your duty to punish sedition, you must protect the loyal, and, should the occasion offer, at once suppress servile insurrection." It is worthy of note here that Mr. Lincoln, with that magna- nimity which would see only an endangered country, had put at the head of three important Military Departments three of the most decided of his political opponents Patterson, Butler and McClellan. These appointments were made under the earnest conviction how well justified by the result will pres- ently appear that these officers possessed the military capacity and skill suited to the wants of the occasion, and that they would heartily sustain the Government in its work of self-pres- ervation. Patterson and McGlellan had each been selected by the Republican Executives of their own States. Both had served in Mexico, under the eye of Gen. Scott, and their selec- tion had his approval. To the voluntary promises made by Patterson and McClellan, that slavery should be upheld by force of arms, if need be, it must be added that a like assurance was given by Butler to the people of Maryland, soon after his occupation of Annapolis. A few days after the victory at Philippa, Gen. Thomas A. Morris, the General in actual command, on whom, with Gen. W. S. Roaecrans, the direction of the campaign now inaugu- LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 245 rated in West Virginia mainly depended, issued his proclama- tion from headquarters at Grafton, calling on the people to arm for their own protection against the enemies of their " freedom and peace," and to rally in arms to the support of the Consti- tutional Government. The Convention of loyal Virginia Del- egates, held at Wheeling, proclaimed, on the 17th of June, their repudiation of the pretended ordinance of secession by which Virginia was called on " to separate from and wage war against the Government of the United States," and in the name of the people, declared that " the offices of all who adhere to "* the Richmond Convention and Gov. Letcher (in the enumerated acts of treason and usurpation perpetrated hy them), whether legislative, executive or judicial, are vacated. A new State Government was promptly organized, with Francis H. Pierpont for Governor. In due time a State Legislature was chosen, and Senators and Representatives in Congress were elected. Thus, with the full approbation of President Lincoln, and with his substantial support, was the first step inaugurated toward a restoration of a loyal local Government in the insurgent States. The State Government thus organized was for Virginia in its integrity, and it was sustained by the people, wherever our armies held in check the armed forces of the Rebels. On the 23d of June, three weeks after the battle of Phil- ippa, Gen. McClellan, having just arrived, issued another proclamation to the people from headquarters at Grafton, announcing that the Army of the Ohio, " headed by Virginia troops, is rapidly occupying all Western Virginia." He re- affirmed the promises of his former proclamation, adding: " Your houses, families, property and all your rights will be religiously respected." He denounced upon guerrillas and marauders the severest penalties of military law. To the sol- diers of his Army he issued an order enjoining good conduct, and inspiriting them for the work before them. " We have come here," he said, " to save, not to upturn." Nearly three weeks later, July 12th (after a skirmish at Laurel Hill, on the 10th), an engagement was had with the Rebels under Col. Pegram, commonly known as the battle of Rich Mountain, resulting in the surrender of that officer and a 246 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. number of men, officially estimated as " nine hundred or one thousand," as well as in the rout and close pursuit of Gen. Garnett and the forces he was bringing to the support of Pe- gram, and in the death of Garnett at Carrickford, on the 14th. Without discussing the merits of this brief campaign, in which the number of men engaged on either side may be estimated at rather more than 10,000, it will suffice to quote the final sum- ming up, by the Commanding General, in his dispatch to the War Department, of July 14th, as follows : HUTTONSVILLE, VA., July 14, 1861. Col. E. D. Towntend, Assistant Adjutant General : Gen. Garnett and his forces have been routed and his bag- gage and one gnn taken. His army are completely demoralized. Gen. Garnett was killed while attempting to rally his forces at Carrickford, near St. George. We have completely annihilated the enemy in Western Virginia. Our loss is but thirteen killed and not more than forty wounded, while the enemy's loss is not far from two hundred killed, and the number of prisoners we have taken will amount to at least one thousand. We have captured seven of the ene- my's guns in all. A portion of Garnett's forces retreated, but I look for their capture by General Hill, who is in hot pursuit. The troops that Garnett had under his command are said to be the crack regiments of Eastern Virginia, aided by Geor- gians, Tennesseeans and Carolinians. Our success is complete, and I firmly believe that secession is killed in this section of the country. GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN, Maj.-Gen. U. S. A. A similar work was simultaneously going on in Missouri, under the earnest and skillful guidance of Gen. Nathaniel Lyon. Missouri was nearly betrayed by its Secessionist Governor and his subordinates, without the aid of a conspiring Convention, yet she was drifting, under unscrupulous management, in the same direction which Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee had gone. Gov. Claiborne F. Jackson had defied the popular repudiation of Secession, issued his proclamation, on the 12th, calling out 50,000 militia, to repel " invasion," etc., and imme- diately organized a further Rebel force at the State Capital, LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 247 after the breaking up of Camp Jackson, at St. Louis, as already narrated. Gen. Lyon approaching Jefferson City with a mod- erate force, Jackson evacuated the place on the 14th of June, and the Union forces occupied ft on the following day. On the 17th, Gen. Lyon, finding that the Rebel Governor was fortifying at Boonville, forty miles distant (his forces being commanded by Gen. Sterling Price), advanced to that point and gained a complete victory, dispersing the insurgents, who lost heavily in killed, wounded and prisoners. These ener- getic movements at once secured the possession of a large portion of the State from Rebel interference. The defeat of the conspirators, first at St. Louis and after- ward at Boonville, had been so complete that it was several weeks before any considerable force was rallied to disturb the quiet into which the State was settling down, under the new government of loyal rulers, which was meanwhile forming. On the 3lst of July, Hamilton R. Gamble was elected Provi- sional Governor by the Missouri State Convention, and duly inaugurated, with other loyal officers, chosen at the same time. The future of that State was thus assured. In Gen. Butler's Department a movement, preparatory to opening t^e way to Vorktown, was made by a small force, on the 10th of June, resulting in a repulse at Big Bethel. Coming a week after the cheering success at Philippa, under Gen. Mor- ris, the effect of this reverse, unimportant as it may seem, was sadly felt by the country, and placed the Commanding General under a cloud, from which he unfortunately did little to redeem himself, during the time he retained this command. The fight at Falling Waters, on the 2d of July, was the chief event, which had thus far relieved the general quietude, not to say dullness, prevailing in the Department of Gen. Pat- terson. This skirmish occurred near Hainesville, Md., in the tardy execution of a long-deferred movement of Patterson's force from Chambersburg, by Williamsport, to Harper's Ferry. The loss was small on either side, yet, as an indication of some approaching activity, it was not without its effect on an already impatient people. With further delays and hesitations, the force of Patterson was, at length thrown across the Potomac. 248 LIFE OF ABSAIIAM LINCOLN. At this time, a considerable Rebel force was belreved to hare accumulated at Manassas Junction and at Winchester. The popular demand was almost universal that our troops, now so long in arms, the brief term* of a large portion of whom was about to expire, should be led against the enemy. Gen. Scott at length decided on a movement upon Manassas resulting in the battle of Bull Run, with which this first period of the war may be said to have closed. Gen. Irvin McDowell took command of the troops on the Yirginia side of the Potomac, May 27th, three days after they had crossed over. His headquarters were at the Arlington House. On the 31st of May, a company of cavalry, under Lieut. Tompkins, dashed into the village of Fairfax Court House, where several hundred Rebel cavalry were stationed, killing a number of the enemy and capturing five prisoners. His own loss was one killed and five wounded or missing. This may be called the first cavalry raid. As a reconnoissance, this otherwise unimportant affair was of service, the officer in com- mand reporting the presence of Rebel troops at that point to the number of 1,500 men. After the manifestations, here as well as in the Shenandoah Valley, of a gradual aggressive movement of the insurgents, threatening alike Alexandria, Washington and the upper part of Maryland, the impatience of the people ignorant as they were of the difficulties in the way of properly equipping a force, even then so much out of proportion to any organized in this country during the last forty years was natural, when, with only skirmishing along the Potomac, no general movement to thrust back these aggressors had been commenced until the mid- dle of July. That the causes of this delay were beyond the control of the Executive, and that even when commenced the experienced military leaders in command had failed to put their forces in full readiness, is now apparent. The Rebels them- selves anticipated an earlier attack, and had prepared for it, awaiting the onset on their chosen ground. Meanwhile bat- teries began to be erected along the Potomac, at Acquia Creek and elsewhere, threatening a complete blockade of the river. On the 27th of June, Capt, James H. Ward, of the Navy, had LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 249 lost his life in an attack on the obstructions at Matthias Point. The hope and purpose of capturing Washington and subju- gating Maryland were clearly shown by the procedure of the Rebels, and not without reason, when we remember their mili- tary preparations during a whole year, and the advantages given them by the Administration just closed. Baltimore, in which there had been, since the 19th of April, constant conspiracies in aid of the rebellion, and which was relied on by the Rebel leaders for important aid in the general scheme of extending their military sway northward to Mason and Dixon's line, had been occupied by Gen. Butler on the 14th of May. Strong works thrown up on Federal Hill, and else- where, as well as Fort McIIenry, now held the conspirators in. check, and their designs were effectually overthrown before Butler's transfer to the new Department of Virginia, a few days later. This Department originally embraced Eastern Virginia to the summit of the Blue Ridge, and the States of North Caro- lina and South Carolina. Gen. N. P. Banks succeeded to the command at Baltimore, and continued the vigorous measures of his predecessor. On the 15th of July, Gen. Patterson's army advanced, occu- pying Bunker Hill, and the Rebel force under J. E. Johnston fell back on Winchester. Pafterson was expected at least to occupy the attention of the Rebels, to whose force his own actually was, as believed at the time in Washington, largely superior. Almost simultaneously with this " demonstration" in the Valley, Gen. McDowell issued an order (July 16th) dis- tributing his troops into divisions, and took up the line of march toward Fairfax Court House. This place his advance column occupied on the following day, without resistance. His entire effective force was not far from 50,000 men : the First Division under command of Gen. Daniel Tyler, of Connecticut ; the Second under Col. David Hunter, of the Army ; tfce Third under Col. S. P. Heintzelman, of the Army ; the Fourth under Gen. Theodore Runyon, of New Jersey, and the Fifth under Col. D. S. Miles, of the Army. The two last divisions were intended to act as the Reserve. On the 1 Sth, Patterson's force, instead of attacking Johnston 260 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. at Winchester, was moved on Charlestown a step which all critics, judging after the event, will agree to have been unfor- tunate, in consequence of which no effectual cooperation with the Manassas movement was rendered. On the same day, (Thursday) McDowell resumed his march in the direction of Centreville, and a premature engagement was brought on at Blackburn's Ford, by a portion of Gen. Tyler's division. The slight repulse which followed ended an immediate advance, and detained the army, inactive, at and near Centreville, for the next two days. The plan of battle, as now seen in the published order of Gen. McDowell, for Sunday the 21st, was a good one, but the ^execution of some of its details was imperfect, and the delay of troops in moving to the scene of action prepared the way for the final disaster, through the arrival of Rebel reinforcements from Johnston, whom Patterson had failed to occupy as ordered. The immediate purpose of giving battle at this time, was to force the enemy from his position commanding the Warrenton road, and to destroy the railroad from Manassas to the Valley of Virginia, preventing communication with the large Rebel force in the latter locality. The stream named Bull Run passes in a southeasterly direc- tion through the ravine at the foot of the slope beyond Centre- ville. Three roads lead from the latter place to the South and West one nearly due south, crossing Bull Run at Blackburn's Ford ; a second due west toward Groveton, over the Stone Bridge ; and a third, about midway between these two, at an angle of forty-five degrees, to each, extending more directly to Newmarket, (near Manassas Junction), where Beauregard, com- manding the Rebel forces, had his headquarters. This last road is known as the Warrenton turnpike. Beyond the run are the Manassas Plains, extending for miles, mostly an open country, like a Western prairie. On the rolling ground near the stream the woods are dense, and there are occasional groves farther away. The Rebel lines extended for a distance of six to ten miles along the right bank of Bull Run, from near Blackburn's Ford to the Stone Bridge, and beyond the Grove- ton road. The Rebel lines were two or three miles distant, at LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 251 the nearest point, from Newmarket, and visible from the head- quarters of Beauregard. The number of his men, on Sunday morning, is believed to have been about forty thousand in line, with fifteen or twenty thousand in reserve, exclusive of reen- forcements arriving during the day. A large portion of Johnston's forces had previously reached Manassas Junction, and that General was present in person, but waiving his seniority of rank, allowed Beauregard to conduct the engagement, his dispositions having already been made. Leaving part of the division under Miles two brigades with two batteries as a reserve at Centreville, together with Rich- ardson's brigade, temporarily assigned to the same division, which was to threaten Blackburn's Ford, covered by the ene- my's right, McDowell ordered Tyler's division to take position on the Warrenton road, menacing the Rebel center. To Hun- ter's division was intrusted the important work of turning the Rebel left, going to the right of the Groveton road, and crossing Bull Run above Sudley's Spring. This force was to be followed by Heintzelman's division, which was to cross lower down, after Hunter had effected his crossing and descended the right bank to a point nearly opposite, driving away any force that might be there to dispute the passage. These two divi- sions were the ones most actively engaged in the ensuing battle. The necessity of strongly guarding against the contingency of a Rebel movement to occupy Centreville, either by Blackburn's Ford or the Warrenton road, was strongly impressed on the mind of the Commanding General. This led to the detach- ment of one of Heintzelman's brigades, after the movement commenced, to be added to the force on our left. The event showed the wisdom of his action in protecting this position, which the Rebel General had deliberately planned to assail, if we may credit his report, written long afterward, and which, but for McDowell's precautions, might have been taken at the close of the battle, to the much more serious discomfiture of our army. More time was consumed in getting the men in position, on the morning of the 21st, than had been anticipated. Tyler opened with his artillery at half past six o'clock, eliciting no 252 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. reply. Burnside's brigade, under Hunter, successfully crossed the stream, and emerged from the wooded bank into the open plain beyond. Almost immediately, the head of the column encountered a heavy Rebel force, but Tyler* and Heintzelman had each, from their respective positions, succeeded in throwing part of their force across, and presently nearly all but the reserves before mentioned were brought into action. The ground was hotly contested from half past ten o'clock until three. The advantage at the latter hour was clearly on the side of our arms, and the victory seemed assured. That such was the view taken by the Rebel commanders even, is seen from the accounts of the battle from that side. At this important juncture, a further reinforcement from Johnston's army at Winchester (perhaps, in fact, " the residue" of that army, as supposed by Gen. McDowell) arrived on the field. Our men, who had been up since two o'clock, had marched several miles, and had fought for many hours, were exhausted by the privations they had necessarily undergone, and from the fatigue incident to such labors in an excessively hot day. Most were inexperienced troops. This was their first engagement. The new masses now hurled upon them decided the event. The battle was lost. Panic and pell-mell retreat ensued. Only on reaching Centreville was any degree of order restored, after the first falling back. The official report of Gen. McDowell states his loss as 481 killed, and 1,011 wounded, without an enumeration of prisoners. Beauregard stated his own losses as 269 killed, and 1,438 wounded, and estimated McDowell's entire loss (including prisoners) at over 4,500. The battle field remained in possession of the insur- gents, yet, in spite of their superior numbers, they failed to improve their victory by either a destructive pursuit or an early movement upon Washington. The Rebel General con- fesses, in his official report, that he was intending, before the battle, to attack McDowell, instead of awaiting his farther ad- vance, manifestly hoping, after uniting Johnston's forces and his own, to gain possession of the Federal Capital. The hard- contested field of Bull Run postponed farther attempts to ac- complish this purpose, and the prompt and efficient measures LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 253 taken for the defense of Washington rendered the joint cam- paign of Johnston and Beauregard as unproductive of material results, as the advance of McDowell, unsustained by Patterson, had been wanting in military success. It was chiefly in its moral effect, at home and abroad, that this battle had any special significance '! ; .'U.'J w lo , woi Jji . i .! lo s\ properly sustained, while they do not offend me, do pain me very much. Blenker's division was withdrawn from you before you left herb, and you know the pressure under which I did it, and, as I thought, acquiesced in it certainly rot without reluctance. After you left, I ascertained that less than twenty thousand unorganized men, without a single field battery, were all you designed to be left for the defense of Washington and Manassas Junction, and part of this even was to go to Gen. Hooker's old position. General Banks' corps, once designed for Manas- sas Junction, was diverted and tied up on the line of Win- chester and Strasburgh, 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 McDowell. I do not forget that I was satisfied with your arrangement to leave Banks at Manassas Junction : but when that arrange- ment was broken up, and nothing was substituted for it, of LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 353 course I was constrained to substitute something for it myself. And allow me to ask, do you really think I should permit the line from Richmond, via Manassas Junction, to this city, to be entirely open, except what resistance could be presented by less than twenty thousand unorganized troops ? This is a question which the country will not allow me to evade. There is a curious mystery about the number of troops now with you. When I telegraphed you on the 6th, saying you had over a hundred thousand with you, I had just obtained from the Secretary of War a statement 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-three thousand be accounted for? As to General Wool's command, I understand it is doing for you precisely 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 rela- tively gain upon you that is, he will gain faster by fortifica- tions and reinforcements than you can by reinforcements 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 country will not fail to note, is now noting, that the present hesitation to move upon an intrenched enemy is but the story of Manassas repeated. I beg to assure you that I have never written you or spoken to you in greater kindness of feeling than now, nor with a fuller purpose to sustain you, so far as, in my most anxious judgment, I consistently can. But you must act. Yours, very truly, A. LINCOLN. Maj.-Gen. McCLELLAN. Gen. McClellan, in the early part of that report, in which he has given his own rhetorical coloring to his operations, as a military commander, quotes, without contradiction or objection, the following statement of Mr. Tucker, Assistant Secretary of War, showing that he had landed at Fortress Monroe, by the Gth day of April, (having received the final order as early as 30 354 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. the 28th of February), 121, 500 men for McClellan, with a num- ber of wagons and animals manifestly well proportioned to these numbers : In thirty-seven days from the time I received the order in Washington (and most of it was accomplished in thirty days), these vessels transported from Perryville, Alexandria, and Washington to Fort Monroe (the place of departure having been changed, which caused delay) one hundred and twenty -one thousand five hundred men, fourteen thousand five hundred and ninety-two animals, one thousand one hundred and fifty wagons, forty-four batteries, seventy-four arnbu- lauces, besides pontoon bridges, telegraph materials, and the enormous quantity of equipage, etc., required for an army of such magnitude. And yet McClellan telegraphed to the President on the 7th of April : " My entire force for duty only amounts to 85,000." Six days later, before receiving reinforcements, McClellan him- self reported his force (as officially certified by Adj. -Gen. Thomas,) to be 117,721, of whom 100,970 were present for duty. In addition to this was the considerable force of Gen. Wool, on which he was authorized to draw at will. McDowell's command, also, so far as practicable, was put in a position for at once sustaining him and covering Washington. .To Gen. McClellau's earnest appeal for Gen. Franklin's di- vision, on the 10th of April, Secretary Stanton replied on the following day, granting this request. At the same date, McClel- lan telegraphed : " Nothing is left undone to enable us to attack with the least possible delay. * * There shall not be a moment's unnecessary delay in any of the operations here." On the 12th, he sends thanks for the promised reinforcements, and adds : " I am confident as to results now." On the 13th, he says : "Our work is progressing rapidly. We shall soon be at them, and I am sure of the result." On the 14th : "We are getting up the heavy guns, mortars and ammunition quite rapidly." To the President he telegraphed at the same date : " I have seen Gen. Franklin, and beg to thank you for your kindness and consideration. I now understand the matter, which I did not before." LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 355 From day to day, his dispatches continued to hold out the expectation of almost immediate results, yet nothing of conse- quence occurred for many days, save an unfortunate skirmish at Lee's Mill, on the 16th, in which 35 were killed and 130 wounded, without any advantage gained. McClellan inquiring in regard to the position of McDowell, the President sent the following reply on the 21st: "Your dispatch of the 19th was received that day. Fredericksburg is evacuated and the bridge destroyed by the enemy, and a small part of McDowell's com- mand occupies this side of the Rappahannock opposite the town. He purposes moving his whole force to that point." On the 23d, McClellan reported : " Recent rains have injured the roads and delayed us, but we are making progress all the time." On the 26th, a lunette (of the enemy's works) was carried, and on the 27th, the " first parallel essentially finished without acci- dent," but the roads were " becoming horrid again." The total number of McClellan's force, On the 30th of April, as officially given by Asst. Adj. -Gen. Townsend, was 130,37(8, of whom 112,392 are reported as "effective." This includes the division under Gen. Franklin, which had arrived several days before, but still remained on the transports. Nearly a month had now passed, in the manner indicated by the dispatches above quoted fair samples of all when there came a request for additional guns, which drew from the Presi- dent the following response : <\rt. .^t'on* 7*4.; l.*ud. .-4f?vT) * KM EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, j May 1, 1862. j" Maj.-Gen. MCCLELLAN: Your call for Parrott guns from Washington alarms me chiefly because it argues indefinite procrastination. Is any thing to be done ? A. LINCOLN. Two days later, on the night of May 3d, the enemy evacua- ted his works. The siege of Yorktown, without a close investment, which was not attempted, if ever contemplated, could have no other than barren results, unless the retreating enemy were promptly pursued. For this, his movement was not soon enough dis- 356 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. covered. Here was, indeed, as the President had dreaded, " the story of Manassas repeated" if that opinion may he hazarded in the face of Gen. McClellan's positive claim of a "brilliant success." His first announcement of the evacua- tion was in the following dispatch : HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, May 4, 9 A. M. x To the Hon. EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War : 'We have the ramparts. Have guns, ammunition, camp equipage, etc. We hold the entire line of his works, which the engineers report as being very strong. I have thrown all my cavalry and horse-artillery in pursuit, supported by infantry. I move Franklin's division, and as much more as I can transport by water, up to West Point to-day. No time shall be lost. The gunboats have gone up York river. I omitted to state that Gloucester is also, in our possession. I shall push the enemy to the wall. G. B. McCLELLAN, L^V M orGel " 1 - At 1 o'clock, on the same day, McClellan telegraphed as follows : Our cavalry and horse-artillery came up with the enemy's rear guard in their intrenchments about two miles this side of Williamsburg. A brisk fight ensued. Just as my aid left, Gen. Smith's division of infantry arrived on the ground, and I presume he carried his works, though I have not yet heard. The enemy's rear is strong, but I have force enough up there to answer all purposes. We have thus far seventy-one heavy guns, large amounts of tents, ammunition, etc. All along the lines their works prove to have been most formidable, and I am now fully satisfied of the correctness of the course I have pursued. The success is brilliant, and you may rest assured its effects will be of the greatest importance. There shall be no delay in following up the enemy. The rebels have been guilty of the most murderous and barbarous conduct in placing torpe- does within the abandoned works, near Mill Springs, near the flag-staffs, magazines, telegraph-offices, in carpet-bags, barrels of flour, etc. Fortunately we have not lost many men in this manner. Some four or five have been killed and a dozen wounded. I shall make the prisoners remove them at their own peril. LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 357 His dispatches of the next day are less joyous in their tone. It is '.'raining hard," and he pronounces the "roads infamous" and " horrible." An important engagement was fought this day, of which he had apparently gained imperfect knowledge when sending the following dispatch, late in the evening : BIVOUAC IN FRONT OF WILLIAMSBURG, May 5, 1862, 10 o'clock P. M. Hon. E. M. ST ANTON, Secretary of War : After arranging for movements up York river, I was urgently sent for here. I find Gen. Joe Johnston in front of me in strong force, proba- bly greater a good deal than my own. Gen. Hancock has taken two redoubts and repulsed Early's Rebel brigade, by a real charge with the bayonet, taking one Colonel and a hundred and fifty other prisoners, and killing at least two Colonels and many privates. His conduct was bril- liant in the extreme. I do not know our exact loss, but fear that Gen. Hooker has lost considerably on our left. I learn from the prisoners taken that the Rebels intend to dispute every step to Richmond. I shall run the risk of at least holding them in check here, while I resume the original plan. My entire force is undoubtedly inferior to that of the Rebels, who will fight well ; but I will do all I can with the force at my disposal. G. B. McCLELLAN, Major-General Commanding, fc !t VM ^n'^Tq-^ffeffS^pr-r ; ^> .4 .it">i> lo Mp; Gen. Stoneman had promptly moved his cavalry and horse- artillery, on receiving the order for pursuit, on the morning of the 4th. He first found the enemy within his works, two miles east of \Villiamsburg, and being unsustained by infantry, was forced to retreat, with some loss, on being attacked by the guns of Fort Magruder. During the afternoon and night, the divi- sions of Gens. Smith and Hooker arrived on the ground twelve or fourteen miles distant from Yorktown as well as the corps commanders, Sumner, Heintzelman and Keyes. No portion of General Sumner's force was yet present, but, as the senior offi- cer, he assumed command, and ordered an attack on the Rebel works, in the evening, by Smith's division. Night, however, came on before the order could be executed. During the night, Sumner posted Hancock's brigade, of that division, in a strong 358 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. position on the left. Hooker's division, by order of Gen. Heintzelman, had taken position on the Lee's Mill road, coming near Fort Magruder quite early in the morning. At half past 7 o'clock, Hooker began an attack on the works in his front. The enemy gathered in superior force at this point, and the contest continued for hours, Gen. Heintzelman anx- iously awaiting the appearance of Kearney's division, which he had sent for in the morning. A heavy rain had commenced the night before, which continued until the following morning, impeding the movement of troops, but not interrupting the determined purpose to carry the enemy's works. Hooker had suffered serious loss, his ammunition was giving out, and his troops were becoming exhausted, when at length, after 3 o'clock, Gen Kearney arrived with his men, and was ordered by Heintzelman at once to attack, which he did so vigorously as to drive the enemy back at all points, and to relieve Hooker, whose left flank was in imminent danger. On the right, also, the enemy massed troops against Han- cock, who kept up a gallant fight to maintain his position, without the reenforcement which Gen. Sumner was unwilling to hazard his center by sending him, until after the arrival of part of Couch's division, at 1 o'clock, which was followed by the remainder during the afternoon, and by Casey's division, so that the entire corps of Gen. Keyes was finally present, on the right and center. Hancock was on the point of being over- whelmed by greatly superior numbers, when the remainder of Smith's division, and Naglee's brigade from Hooker's division, were sent to his support, under the orders of McClellan, who arrived on the ground, as he states in his report, " between 4 and 5 o'clock in the afternoon. Meanwhile, Gen. Han- cock, feigning to retreat slowly, drew out the enemy from their position, then turning suddenly, staggered them by volleys of musketry, and completed their rout by a brilliant bayonet charge, with a loss to the enemy of more than five hundred, bis own loss being but thirty-one men. The brunt of the battle had been sustained by the divisions of Hooker and Kearney, under Gen. Heintzelman. The former sustained the principal losses of the day, which were LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 359 officially stated at 456 killed, 1,400 wounded, and 372 missing. This earnest and gallant battle, fought almost entirely without the knowledge of the commanding General, illustrates what was reasonably expected at the very outset at Yorktown. It seems hardly too much to say that it may have saved another month's siege at Williamsburg, where the position was perhaps even more favorable for defense than that at Yorktown, and where the enemy had a very much greater force than was originally at the latter place. As a result of. this battle, the enemy retired from Williamsburg that night, and continued his retreat up the Peninsula. No immediate pursuit was attempted. Gen. McClellan was exceedingly dissatisfied with Sumner and the other corps commanders for venturing this engagement in his absence. In his first dispatch he notices only the movement of Hancock as a success. He names only Hooker besides, and him merely to refer to his losses. He afterward made some imperfect amends to Gen. Heintzelman and others, under re- monstrance, but apparently with grudging reluctance, and even in his final report, after his resentment had ample time to cool, he stops short with the praise of Hancock, giving little credit to those who had done the chief work. On occupying Wil- liamsburg, the next day he announced: " The victory is com- plete," stating that the enemy lost heavily in killed. The division under Gen. Franklin had been pushed forward by water to the right bank of the Pamunkey river, opposite West Point, and this movement was sustained by the divisions of Gens. Sedgwick, Porter and "Richardson, also transported in steamers. Franklin landed his troops on the morning of the 7th, and Dana's brigade (of Sedgwick's division) arrived soon after. These forces were attacked at 9 o'clock in the morning by a formidable Rebel force, and the battle lasted until 3 o'clock in the afternoon, when the enemy was finally repulsed. Meanwhile, time had been gained for the main Rebel force to retreat unmolested, and with security to its trains. Franklin made a successful defense, only, instead of accomplishing any aggressive results. His total loss is reported as 194, including a large proportion of officers. Communication between Williamsburg and West Point was 360 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. fully opened on the 10th. " Movements were difficult and slow." In the mean time, Norfolk had heen taken by Gen. Wool, and the Merrimac finally " neutralized." At this period, the President and Secretary of War as well as the Secretary of the Treasury, who had accompanied Gen. Wool in his advance on Norfolk were on a visit at Fortress Monroe. It was while here that the Secretary of War received the follow- ing dispatch from Gen. McClellan, dated May 9 : To Hon. E. M. STANTON, Secretary of War : I respectfully ask permission to reorganize the Army Corps. I am not will- ing to be held responsible for the present arrangement, expe rience having proved it to be very bad, and it having nearly resulted in a most disastrous defeat. I wish rather to return to the organization by divisions, or else to be authorized to relieve incompetent commanders of Army Corps. Had I been one-half hour later on the field on the 5th, we would have been routed and would have lost every thing. Notwithstanding my positive orders, I was informed of nothing that had occurred, and I went to the field of battle myself upon unofficial infor- mation that my presence was needed to avoid defeat. I found there the utmost confusion and incompetency, the utmost dis- couragement on the part of the men. At least a thousand lives were really sacrificed by the organization into corps. I have too much regard for the lives of my comrades, and too deep an interest in the success of our cause, to hesitate for a moment. I learn that you are equally in earnest, and I therefore again request full and complete authority to relieve from duty with this army, commanders of corps or divisions who find them- selves incompetent. G. B. McCLELLAN, Major-General Commanding. Secretary Stanton replied, in substance : The President directs me to say that you " may temporarily suspend that organization in the army now under your immediate command, and adopt any you see fit until further orders. He also writes you privately." The President's letter, thus referred to, is as follows : HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF VIRGINIA, | FORT MONROE, VA., May 9, 1862. j Maj.-Gen. McCLELLAN My Dear Sir: I have just assisted the Secretary of War in framing the part of a dispatch to you LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 361 relating to Army Corps, which dispatch, of course, will Lave reached you long before this will. I wish to say a few words to you privately on this subject. I ordered the Army Corps organization not only on the unanimous opinion of the twelve generals whom you had selected and assigned as generals of divisions, but also on the unanimous opinion of every military man I could get an opinion from, and every modern military book, yourself only exeepted. Of course, I did not on my own judgment pretend to understand the subject. I now think it indispensable for you to know how your struggle against it is received in quarters which we can not entirely disregard. It is looked upon as merely an effort to pamper one or two pets, and to persecute and degrade their supposed rivals. I have had no word from Sumner, Heintzelman, or Keyes the commanders of these corps are, of course, the three highest officers with you : but I am constantly told that you have no consultation or com- munication with them ; that you consult and communicate with nobody but Gen. Fitz John Porter, and perhaps Gen. Franklin. I do not say these complaints are true or just ; but at all events, it is proper you should know of their existence. Do the com- manders of corps disobey your orders in any thing? When you relieved Gen. Hamilton of his command the other day, you thereby lost the confidence of at least one of your best friends in the Senate. And here let me say, not as appli- cable to you personally, that Senators and Representatives speak of me in their places as they please without question, and that officers of the army must cease addressing insulting letters to them for taking no greater liberty with them. But to return. Are you strong enough are you strong enough even with my help to set your foot upon the necks of Sumner, Heintzelraan arid Keyes all at once? This is a prac- tical and very serious question to you. The success of your army and the cause of the country are the same, and of course I only desire the good of the cause. Yours truly, A. LINCOLN. Gen. McClellan did not conclude to make the changes which he had pronounced so indispensable. On the contrary, avail- ing himself of the President's permission, he soon after created two new corps the " Fifth Provisional Corps," formed of the divisions of Porter and Sykes, the former taken from the corps of Heintzelman, and the latter Regulars, to be commanded by Gen. Fitz John Porter ; and the " Sixth Provisional Corps, 1 ' consisting of Franklin's division, from McDowell's corps, an* 5 31 362 LIFE OF ABRAIIAM LINCOLN. Smith's division, from Keyes' corps, to be commanded by Gen. W. B. Franklin. The headquarters of the Army of the Potomac reached the White House on the 16th of May, and three days later with the corps of Franklin and Fitz John Porter, had advanced to Tunstall's Station, five miles nearer Richmond. Complaints of the roads and requests for reinforcements were not forgot- ten in the official dispatches of this period ; nor had the Presi- dent schooled himself to perfect patience with the slow advance up the Peninsula, when he thought that not a moment's unne- cessary delay should occur in " pushing the enemy to the wall." On the 14th, Gen. McClellan, being detained by bad roads, took occasion to send a long dispatch, representing his wants and opinions, to which the President, on the 15th, sent the following reply : Your long dispatch of yesterday is just received. I will answer more fully soon ; will say HOW that all your dispatches to the Secretary of War have been promptly shown to me. I have done and shall do all I could and can to sustain you. I hoped that the opening of James river and putting Wool and Burnside in communication with an open road to Richmond or to you, had effected something in that direction. I am still not willing to take all our force off the direct line between Richmond and here. On the 20th of May, the advance reached the Chickahominy river, and found Bottom's Bridge, across that stream, as well as the railroad bridge, a mile above, destroyed by the enemy. The position was occupied, and the reconstruction of the bridges commenced. The river being fordable at this time, Casey's division was sent across the river and ordered to throw up defenses. Gen. Heintzelman's entire corps was also thrown across, in support. The center and right were advanced to the left bank of the river. On the 24th, the extreme right occu- pied Mechanicsville, and one of the brigades (Naglee's) of Heintzelman's corps drove the enemy from the Seven Pines, on the Bottom's Bridge road, the left of the army advancing to that position. The distance from the Chickahominy at Bot- tom's Bridge to Richmond is about twice as great as the dis- LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 363 tance to Kichmond from the same stream at Mechanicsville. The entire line now extended from the latter point to Seven Pines, about half way from the river to Kichmond, the Chick- ahominy flowing between the left and the right and center. This stream, here about forty feet in width, is subject to sud- den variations in volume, heavy rains causing it to overflow the bottom-lands on each side, and rendering it impassable except by bridges all of which, in this vicinity, had been destroyed by the enemy. The Meadow Bridge was north of Richmond, near the Virginia Central railroad, and a short distance above the bridge at Mechanicsville. The third, fol- lowing down the stream six or seven miles, was called New Bridge, and was a less distance above the York river railroad bridge. Between Bottom's Bridge and Mechanicsville, McClel- lan determined to construct as many as eleven new bridges. The Rebel line of defenses, within which the enemy had retired, commenced nearly opposite Drewry's Bluff, on the James river, and bending in a northeasterly direction, across the York river railroad, to the Chickahominy, very nearly fol- lowed up the right bank of that stream. The diameter of this semi-circular line was about seven miles, from the center at Richmond. The main body of the enemy, it appears, was encamped on the New Bridge road. Gen. Joseph E. Johnston was still in command. By instructions from the War Department, issued on the 17th of May, Gen. McDowell, to be reenforced by Shields' division, had been directed to establish a communication, as soon as possible, between his left and McClellan's right. Correspond- ing directions were sent to Gen. McClellan. A gunboat expe- dition up the James river had meanwhile been repulsed at Fort Darling, and the attempt to approach Richmond by^|hat means had been effectually abandoned. On the 21st, McClellan tele- graphed the following, with many other matters, to the Presi- dent : I am not sure that I fully comprehend your orders of the 17th instant, addressed to myself and Gen. McDowell. If a junction is effected before we occupy Richmond, it must necessarily be east of the railroad to Frederick sburg and within my depart- 364 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. ment. This fact, my superior rank, and the express language of the sixty- second article of war, will place his command under my orders, unless it is otherwise specially directed by your Excellency ; and I consider that he will be under my com- mand, 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. If I err in naj construction, I desire to be at once set right. Frankness compels me to say, anxi6us as I am for an increase of force, that the march of McDowell's column upon Richmond by the shortest route will, in my opinion, uncover Washington, as to any interposition by it, as com- pletely as its movement by water. The enemy can not advance by Fredericksburg on Washington. Should they attempt a movement, which to me seems utterly improbable, their route would be by Gordonsville and Manassas. The President replied as follows, under date of May 22 : Your long dispatch of yesterday is just received. You will have just such control of Gen. McDowell and his forces as you therein indicate. McDowell can reach you by land sooner than he could get aboard of boats, if the boats were ready at Frede- ricksburg, unless his march shall be resisted, in which case the force resisting him will certainly not be confronting you at Richmond. By land he can reach you in five days after start- ing ; whereas by water he would not reach you in two weeks, judging by past experience. Franklin's single division did not reach you in ten days after I ordered it. A. LINCOLN. How the purpose above indicated came necessarily to be changed, will best appear from the two following dispatches : MAY 24, 1862. I left Gen. McDowell's camp at dark last evening. Shields' command is there, but it is so worn that he can not move before Monday morning, the 26th. We have so thinned our line to get troops for other places, that it was broken yesterday al Front Royfcl, with a probable loss to us of one regiment infantry, two companies cavalry, putting Gen. Banks in some peril. The enemy's forces, under Gen. Anderson, now opposing Gen. McDowell's advance, have, as their line of supply an* retreat, the road to Richmond. If, in conjunction with McDowell's movement against Ander- son, you could seud a fo-^c from your right to cut off the enc nay's supplies from L .i.ui^d, preserve the railroad bri'lj ; LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 365 across the two forks of the Pamunkey and intercept the enemy's retreat, you will prevent the army now opposed to you from receiving an accession of numbers of nearly 15,000 men ; and if you succeed in saving the bridges, you will secure a line of railroad for supplies in addition to the one you now have. Can you not do this almost as well as not, while you are building the Chickahominy bridges ? McDowell and Shields both say they can, and positively will, move Monday morning. I wish you to move cautiously and safely. You will have command of McDoWell, after he joins you, precisely as you indicated in your long dispatch to us of the 21st. A. LINCOLN. Maj.-Gen. G. B. MCCLELLAN. McClellan, in his report, erroneously gives a later dispatch (dated May 24) as the President's response on this occasion. Intelligence received at a later hour on the same day, caused the President to suspend the order in regard to Gen. McDowell's movement, as the subjoined dispatch indicated to McClellan : MAY 24, 1862. In consequence of Gen. Banks' critical position, I have been compelled to suspend Gen. McDowell's movements to join you. The enemy are making a desperate push upon Harper's Ferry, and we are trying to throw Gen. Fremont's force and part of Gen. McDowell's in their rear. A. LINCOLN. To this, Gen. McClellan replied : "I will make my calcula- tions accordingly." The next dispatch clearly sets forth, the situation of- affairs at the time : WASHINGTON, May 25, 1862. Your dispatch received. Gen. Banks was at Strasburg with about six thousand men, Shields having been taken from him to swell a column for McDowell to aid you at Richmond, and the rest of his force scattered at various places. On the 23d, a Rebel force of seven to ten thousand fell upon one regi- ment and two companies guarding the bridge at Port Royal, destroying it entirely ; crossed the Shenandoah, and on the 24th, yesterday, pushed on to get north of Banks on the road to Winchester. Gen. Banks ran a race with them, beating them into Winchester yesterday evening. This morning a battle ensued between the two forces, in which Gen. Banks was beaten back into full retreat toward Martinsburg, and probably is 366 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. broken up into a total rout. Geary, on the Manassas Gap rail- road, just now reports that Jackson is now near Front Royal with ten thousand troops, following up and supporting, as I understand, the force now pursuing Banks. Also, that another force often thousand is near Orleans, following on in the same direction. Stripped bare, as we are here, I will do all we can to prevent them crossing the Potomac at Harper's Ferry or above. McDowell has about twenty thousand of his forces moving back to the vicinity of Port Royal ; and Fremont, who was at Frank- lin, is moving to Harrisonburg ; both these movements intended to get in the enemy's rear. One more of McDowell's brigades is ordered through here to Harper's Ferry; the rest of his forces remain for the present 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 rod to Harper's Ferry, of which arm there is not a single one at that point. This is now our situation. If McDowell's force was now beyond our reach, we should be entirely helpless. Apprehensions of something like this, and no unwillingness to sustain you, has always been my reason for withholding McDowell's forces from you. Please understand this, and do the best you can with the forces you have. A. LINCOLN. Maj.-Gen. McCLELLAN. Later, on the same day, the President sent the following : WASHINGTON, May 25, 1862. Maj.-Gen. McCLELLAN: The enemy is moving north in suffi- cient force to drive Banks before him in precisely what force we can not tell. He is also threatening Leesburg and Geary on the Manassas Gap railroad, from both north and south, in pre- cisely what force we can not tell. I think the movement is a general and concerted one, such as could not be if he was act- ing upon the purpose of a very desperate defense of Rich- mond. I think the time is near when you must either attack Richmond or give up the job, and come to the defense of Washington. Let me hear from you instantly. A. LINCOLN. On the same day, McClellan replied : " Telegram received. Independently of it, the time is very near when I shall attack Richmond. The object of the movement is probably to pre- LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 367 vent reinforcements being sent to me I have two corps across the Chickahominy, within six miles of Richmond ; the ethers on this side at other crossings within the same distance, and ready to cross when bridges are completed." Gen. Stoneman was sent out with a small cavalry force to cut the Virginia Central railroad between the Chickahominy and Hanover Court House. This is the eastern one of two lines of railroad from Richmond, both of which meet at Hanover Junction, several miles beyond the Court House. The other extends nearly due north from Richmond to Fredericksburg and Acquia Creek. Both roads cross the South Anna river a few miles south of their junction, and at no great distance apart. To have destroyed both the South Anna bridges of these roads would have cut the enemy's direct communications with the forces in the Valley, and with those resisting McDowell's ad- vance southward. In cutting only one of these roads, several miles south of the South Anna, very little was effected. The President anxiously telegraphed, on the 26th : " Can you not cut the Acquia Creek railroad also ? What impression have you as to the intrenched works for you to contend with in front of Richmond ? Can you get near enough to throw sheila into the city?" McClellan replied (on the same day) that he had " cut the Virginia Central railroad in three places, between Hanover Court House and the Chickahominy," and would "try to cut the other." To the other questions of the President, he replied : " I do not think Richmond intrenchments formidable ; but am not certain. Hope very soon to be within shelling distance. Have railroad in operation from White House to Chickahominy. Hope to have Chickahominy bridge repaired to-night. Nothing of interest to-day." Later, he telegraphed as follows : CAMP NEAR NEW BRIDGE, ") May 26, 1862, 7.30 P. M. } Have arranged to carry out your last orders. We are quietly closing in upon the enemy, preparatory to the last struggle. Situated as I am, I feel forced to take every possible precaution against disaster, and to secure my flanks against the probably superior force in front of me. My arrangements for to-morrow 368 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. are very important, and if successful, will leave me free to strike on the return of the force detached. Gr. B. MCCLELLAN, Major-General. His Excellency, A. LINCOLN, President. On the 27th, Fitz John Porter, with the Fifth Corps, was sent to disperse a Rebel force near Hanover Court House, threat- ening the communications of our army, and in a position to reenforce Jackson or to interfere with any southward move- ment of McDowell. This force was Branch's division, esti- mated to have been about nine thousand strong. Porter's corps, without needing the aid of Sykes' division of Regulars, sent to his support on the 28th, broke up the Rebel camp, and dispersed Branch's force. The result was thus announced by the Commanding General : Porter's action of yesterday was truly a glorious victory ; too much credit can not be given to his magnificent division and its accomplished leader. The rout of the rebels was complete ; not a defeat, but a complete rout. Prisoners are constantly coming in ; two companies have this moment arrived with excellent arms. The President, after receiving this and other glowing dis- patches on the subject, as well as repeated demands for reen- forcements on the ground that all the Rebel forces were con- centrating at Richmond, sent the following : WASHINGTON, May 28, 1862. I am very glad of Gen. F. J. Porter's victory ; still, if it was ,a total rout of the enemy, I am puzzled to know why the Rich- mond and Fredericksburg railroad was not seized again, as you say you have all the railroads but the Richmond and Frede- ricksburg. I am puzzled to see how, lacking that, you can have any, except the scrap froin Richmond to West Point. The scrap of the Virginia Central, from Richmond to Hanover Junction, without more, is simply nothing. That the whole of the enemy is concentrating on Richmond, I think, car. not be certainly known to you or me. Saxton, at Harper's Ferry, informs us that large forces, supposed to be Jackson's and Ewell's, forced his advance from Charjestown to-day. Gen. King telegraphs us from Fredericksburg that contrabands give certain information that fifteen thousand left Hanover June- LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 369 tion Monday morning to reenforce Jackson. I am painfully impressed with the importance of the struggle before you, and shall aid you all I can consistently with my view of due regard to all points. A. LINCOLN. Maj.-Gen. McCLELLAN. On the 29th, Gen. Marcy (chief of McClellan's staff) sent the following dispatch to the Secretary of War : A detachment from Gen. F. J. Porter's command, nnder Major Williams, Sixth Cavalry, destroyed the South Anna railroad bridge at about 9 A. M. to-day ; a large quantity of Confederate public property was also destroyed at Ashland this morning. The President replied : WASHINGTON, May 29, 1862. Your dispatch as to the South Anna and Ashland being seized by our forces this morning is received. Understanding these points to be on the Richmond and Fredericksburg rail- road, I heartily congratulate the country, and thank Gen. McClellan and his army for their seizure. A. LINCOLN. Gen. R. B. MARCY. The President had previously telegraphed to Gen. McDowell, on the 28th : " If Porter effects a lodgment on both railroads, near Hanover Court House, consider whether your force in Fredericksburg should not push through and join him." It is difficult to conceive any collateral operation which, at this juncture, could have had more positive results, than a thor- ough breaking of the enemy's communication with Jackson, by destroying the South Anna bridges and otherwise. After receiving the President's congratulations, however, on the sup- posed accomplishment of this object, the Commanding Gene- ral telegraphed as follows clearly implying that Porter's movement had really effected little in that direction, as the event proved : HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, j May 30, 1862. } From the tone of your dispatches, and the President's, I do 370 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. not think you at all appreciate the value and magnitude of Porter's victory. It has entirely relieved my right flank, which was seriously threatened ; routed and demoralized a con- siderable portion of the Kehel forces ; taken over seven hundred and fifty prisoners ; killed and wounded large num- bers ; one gun, many small arms, and much baggage taken. It was one of the handsomest things in the war, both in itself and in its results. Porter has returned, and my army is again well in hand. Another day will make the probable field of battle passable for artillery. It is quite certain that there is nothing in front of McDowell at Fredericksburg. I regard the burn- ing of South Anna bridges as the least important result of Porter's movement. G. B. McCLELLAN, Major-General. Hon. E. M. STANTON, Secretary of War. On the 29th, Mr. Lincoln had telegraphed : " I think we shall be able, within three days, to tell you certainly whether any considerable force of the enemy, Jackson or any one else, is moving on Harper's Ferry or vicinity. Take this expected development into your calculation." On the 31st, McClellan said in a dispatch: "A contraband reports that Beauregard arrived in Richmond day before yesterday with troops, and amid great excitement Roads again frightful. Need more ambulances." At the same date, the President sent the following important information : A circle whose circumference shall pass through Harper's Ferry, Front Royal and Strasburg, and whose center shall be a little north-east of Winchester, almost certainly has within it this morning the forces of Jackson, Ewell and Edward John^ son ; quite certainly they were within it two days ago. Some part of their forces attacked Harper's Ferry at dark last even- ing. Shields, with McDowell's advance, retook Front Royal at 11 A. M. yesterday, with a dozen of our own prisoners taken there a week ago, one hundred and fifty of the enemy, etc. . . Shields at Front Royal reports a rumor of still an additional force of the enemy, supposed to be Anderson's, having entered the Valley of Virginia. This last may or may not be true. Corinth is certainly in the hands of Gen. Halleck, The Army of the Potomac, as officially reported on the 31st of May, numbered 127,166, of which force 98,008 were pres- LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 371 ent for duty. To this was added the force of Gen. Wool, now put under Gen. McClellan's command, numbering 14,007 in, the aggregate, 11,514 being " effective." Total, 141,173, with 109,522 present for duty. Gen. Sigel was also ordered to report, with his command, to Gen. McClellan; but the order was subsequently countermanded, -and this force sent to Har- per's Ferry. McCall's division was ordered to him on the 6th of June, and he received many other regiments from time to time. An order of the War Department, June 1, extended the Department of Virginia to include that part of the State south of the Rappahannock and east of the railroad from Frede- ricksburg to Richmond, Petersburg, and Weldon, under com- mand of Maj.-Gen. McClellan. Gen. "Wool was assigned to the command of the Middle Department, succeeding Gen. Butler, with directions to report to Gen. McClellan for orders. Despite the diversion of a portion of his force for operations in the Valley, the Rebel General in command at Richmond now boldly assumed the aggressive against McClellan. Taking advantage of a sudden rise of the Chickahominy, before the entire completion of the bridges, Johnston attacked our left in heavy force near Seven Pines and Fair Oaks, on the 31st of May, having skillfully made his combinations with a view to cut off the corps of Heintzelrnan and Keyes. The attack commenced about 1 o'clock in the afternoon. Casey's division, in the advance, was driven backward, after stoutly contesting the field for hours, while Heintzelman's two divi- sions were brought up in support. The enemy, attempting to force his way between these troops and Bottom's Bridge, was kept in check until about 6 o'clock. Gen. Sumner came up at that hour with Sedgwick's division, followed by Richardson's, having crossed on the imperfect bridge which they had con- structed, and appeared suddenly on the left flank of Johnston's force, opening a destructive fire with his batteries, which stopped the enemy's advance. Then, by a gallant bayonet charge, led by Sumner in person, the Rebels were driven back with great slaughter, beyond Fair Oaks Station. What had been 372 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. almost a crushing defeat, would have been turned into a bril- liant victory, had our remaining troops been brought into action, and might probably have given us possession of Rich- mond. This great opportunity escaped the Commanding General. As Prince de Joinville, his friend and volunteer aid during this campaign, informs us : " It was not until 7 o'clock in the evening that the idea of securing all the bridges without delay, and causing the whole army to cross at daybreak to the right bank of the Chickahominy, was entertained. It was now too late. Four hours had been lost, and the opportunity that moment so fleeting, in war as in other circumstances had gone." The river rose rapidly during the night, sweeping away all the bridges. The enemy renewed the attack in the morning, knowing that our left and center were now completely isolated from the remainder of their comrades, the corps of Porter and Franklin. The troops of Sumner, Heintzelman and Keyes fought with desperate courage, sustaining themselves against the con- centrated strength of the enemy, until nearly noon, when the latter retired, leaving his dead unburied, and many of his wounded on the field. Both sides had suffered severely in the battles of Saturday and Sunday. The Government loss is stated as about 5,000 and the Rebel loss about 8,000. The situation of the Army of the Potomac was now full of interest its opportunities clearly to be seen. The whole force which could be sent against it from Richmond had been beaten by one-half of this army. Jackson, with a force estimated at 25,000, was now fighting with Banks, and Fremont and McDowell were endeavoring to close in about him. In relation to reported reinforcements to Johnston, McClellan telegraphed, on the 3d : "I am satisfied that Beauregard is not here." At the same time, he was fully aware that the forces of Beaure- gard and Bragg had evacuated Corinth on the 30th of May, and were now partly disposable for active service wherever they were most needed. Every day's delay was now an advantage to the enemy. To wait for reinforcements was to wait for his adversary to gather in every scattered regiment, and to hasten LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 373 the arrival of Jackson and Beauregard. To pause for pleasant weather and good roads, was to postpone action indefinitely. He was already almost within shelling distance of Richmond. His supplies came with regularity hy water to White House, and thence hy railroad to his lines. And yet, with almost daily dispatches about rains and bad roads, with continual appeals for more men, which he knew could not be granted to any great extent, and with repeated assurances of what he was just going to do, nearly an entire month wore away, at this critical and most favorable juncture, without result. On the 3d of June, he says : " The next leap will be the last one." The Government and the country expected it to be taken at once. But on the 5th, comes an argument for more troops. Five new regiments, and McCall's division, from McDowell's command, are promptly granted him. On the 8th, he says : " I shall be in perfect readiness to move forward to take Rich- mond the moment McCall reaches here, and the ground will admit the passage of artillery." On the same day, McDowell informs him : " For the third time I am ordered to join you, and this time I hope to get through." Having thus the long- sought forces of McDowell apparently within his grasp, he improves the occasion to call for more, telegraphing as follows, on the llth: "I have again information that Beauregard has arrived, and that some of his troops are to follow him." He asks, therefore, that reinforcements may be sent him from Halleck's army. He laments that he is the victim of an " ab- normal season," and adds : " I am completely checked by the weather." At the same date (despite the weather) he reports that " McCall's troops have commenced arriving." On the 12th, he reports : " Another good day. All quiet this morning. I move headquarters, to-day across the river." On the 14th : " I hope two days more will make the ground practicable." On the 15th : " Another rain set in about 3 P. M. to-day." On the 18th he thinks reinforcements for Jack- son* had gone from Richmond. Mr. Lincoln replies, stating *The battles of Cross Keys and Port Republic, in which Gen. Fre- mont failed to arrest the retreat of Stonewall Jackson, had been fought ou tbo 8th and 9i.h of June. 374 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. circumstances by which this opinion is "corroborated," adding: " If this is true, it is as good as a re-enforcement to you of an equal force. I could better dispose of things, if I could know about what day you can attack Richmond." McClellan replies, the same day : " A general engagement may take place any hour We shall await only a favorable condition of the earth and sky, and the completion of some necessary prelimi- naries." On the 19th, the President suggests that the reported re -en- forcement of Jackson may be a mere ruse. McClellan replies, on the 20th : " I have no doubt that Jackson has been re-en- forced from here. There is reason to believe that Gen. R. S. Ripley has recently joined Lee's army,* with a brigade or divi- sion from Charleston. Troops have arrived recently from Goldsboro. There is not the slightest reason to suppose the enemy intends evacuating Richmond. He is daily increasing his defenses I would be glad to have permission to lay before your Excellency, by letter or telegraph, my views as to the present state of military affairs throughout the whole country. In the mean time, I would be pleased to learn the disposition, as to numbers and position, of the troops not under my command, in Virginia and elsewhere." To this singular dispatch, the President sent the following reply: WASHINGTON, June 21, 1862, 6 P. M. Your dispatch of yesterday, 2 P. M., was received this morning. If it would not divert too much of your time and attention from the army under 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 telegrapk, 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 can not, I would rather not transmit either by telegraph or letter, because of the chances *Gen. Robert E. Lee had been assigned to the command of the Rebel forces at Richmond, on the 3d of June, superseding Johnston, who had been wounded at Fair Oaks. LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 375 of its reaching the enemy. I would be very glad to talk with you, but you can not leave your camp, and I can not well leave here. A. LINCOLN, President. Haj.-Gen. GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN. In his final report, Gen. McClellan makes the following statement : " All the information I could obtain, previoiis to the 24th of June, regarding the movements of Gen. Jackson, led to the belief that he was at Gordonsville. where he was receiving re-enforcements from Richmond via Lynchburg and Staunton ; but what his purposes were, did not appear until the date specified," etc. Entertaining this opinion, it may well be asked, in passing, how happened it that he so vehemently urged, again and again, the withdrawal of all troops from before "Washington, leaving an entirely inadequate garrison within the city itself, in order to transfer all to the Peninsula ? Such, on the one hand, is his confession ; such, on the other, was his demand. That Jackson was prepared for any " pur- pose " that best suited the occasion that he would have attacked Washington had McDowell's army been withdrawn, as McClellan desired, or that he would have invaded Maryland by way of the Valley, as Lee has since done can admit of no rational doubt. Both those movements were defeated by the wise forecast of the President, and by his persistence in adhe- ring to the policy so clearly marked out, with the approval of all the leading generals, at the outset of the Peninsular move- ment. When McClellan admits his inability to discern the intentions of Jackson, more than a month after the latter left Richmond, he at once puts at rest all cavils in regard to the opinions of those who assumed some other purpose possible than that finally developed. But what solution can be given of his own inaction during all this period of Jackson's known absence ? And how will .he even give a plausible look to hia eagerness to withdraw McDowell, and to leave to Jackson an unobstructed route to the National Capital? But the " purposes" of Jackson, hitherto so uncertain, were discovered on the 24th of June, and thus reported : 376 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, ) June 24, 1862, 12 P. M. A very peculiar case of desertion has just occurred from the enemy. The party states that he left Jackson, Whiting, and Ewell, (fifteen brigades,) at Gordonsville, on the 21st ; that they were moving to Frederickshall, and that it was intended to attack my rear on the 28th. I would be glad to learn, at your earliest convenience, the most exact information you have as to the position and movements of Jackson, as well as the sources from which your information is derived, that I may the better compare it with what I have. G. B. MCCLELLAN, Major-General. The reply was as follows : WASHINGTON, June 25, 1862. We have no definite information as to the numbers or posi- tion of Jackson's force. Gen. King yesterday reported a deserter's statement that Jackson's force was, nine days ago, forty thousand men. ; Some reports place ten thousand Rebels under Jackson, at Gordonsville ; others, that his force is at Port Republic, Harrisonburg, and Luray. Fremont yesterday reported rumors that Western Virginia was threatened ; and Gen. Kelley, that Ewell was advancing to New Creek, where Fremont has his depots. The last telegram from Fremont contradicts this rumor. The last telegram from Banks says the enemy's pickets are strong in advance at Luray ; the peo- ple decline to give any information of his whereabouts. Within the last two days the evidence is strong that for some purpose the enemy is circulating rumors of Jackson's advance in various directions, with a view to conceal the real point of attack. Neither McDowell, who is at Manassas, nor Banks and Fremont, who are at Middletown, appear to have any accu- rate knowledge of the subject. A letter transmitted to the department yesterday, pur- ported to be dated at Gordonsville on the 14th instant, stated that the actual attack was designed for Washington and Baltimore, as soon as you attacked Richmond, but that the report was to be circulated that Jackson had gone to Richmond, in order to mislead. This letter looked very much like a blind, and induces me to suspect that Jackson's real movement is now toward Richmond. It, came from Alex- andria, and is certainly designed, like the numerous rumors put afloat, to mislead. I think, therefore, that while the warn- ing of the deserter to you may also be a blind, that it could not LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 377 safely be disregarded. I will transmit to you any further information on this subject that may be received here. EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War. Maj.-Gen. MCCLELLAN. On the 25th, McClellan began to advance his left, prepara- tory, he says, to a general forward movement. In the evening of the same day, he reported : " The affair is over, and we have gained our point fully, and with but little loss, notwithstanding {he strong opposition." An hour and a half earlier, he had tele- graphed : "On our right, Porter has silenced the enemy's bat- teries in his front." The blow which the wily deserter had announced to be struck by Jackson on the 28th, fell two days earlier. Only an hour after announcing the success of his preliminary movement on the 25th, McClellan reported that he had "information confirm- ing the supposition that Jackson's advance is at or near Han- over Court House', and that Beauregard arrived, with strong reinforcements, in Richmond yesterday." Th desponding side of his temper, and an impulse to protect himself from the extreme effects of an apprehended fall, appear in the following paragraph of this dispatch : I regret my great inferiority in numbers, but feel that I am in no way responsible for it, as I have not failed to represent repeatedly the necessity of re-enforcements, that this was the decisive point, and that all the available means of the Govern- ment should be concentrated here. I will do all that a general can do with the splendid army I have the honor to command, and, if it is destroyed by overwhelming numbers, can at least die with it and share its fate. But if the result of the action which will probably occur to-morrow, or within a short time, is a disaster, the responsibility can not be thrown on my shoul- ders ; it must rest where it belongs. Secretary Stanton replied : WASHINGTON, June 25, 1862, 11.20 P. M. Your telegram of fifteen minutes past 6 has just been received. The circumstances that have hitherto rendered it impossible for the Government to send you any more reenforce- ments than has been done, have been so distinctly stated to you by the President, that it is needless for me to repeat them. 32 378 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Every effort has been made by the President and myself to strengthen you. King's division has reached Falmouth ; Shield's division and Ricketts' division are at Manassas. The President designs to send a part of that force to aid you , as speedily as it can be done. E. M. STANTON, Secretary of War. Maj.-Gen. G. B. MCCLELLAN. The President sent the following dispatch on the same subject : WASHINGTON, June 26, 1862. Maj.-Gen. McCLELLAN : Your three dispatches of yester- day in relation to the affair, ending with the statement that you completely succeeded in making your point, are very gratifying. The later one, of 6.15 P. M., suggesting the probability of your being overwhelmed by two hundred thousand, and talking of where the responsibility will belong, pains me very much. I give you all I can, and act on the presumption that you will do the best you can with what you have, while you continue, ungenerously I think, to assume that I could give you more if I would. I have omitted, and shall omit, no opportunity to send you reinforcements whenever I possibly can. A. LINCOLN. P. S. Gen. Pope thinks if you fall back, it would be much better toward York river than toward the James. As Popo now has charge of the Capitol, please confer with him through the telegraph. A. LINCOLN. The aggregate number of the Army of the Potomac, on the 20th of June, was 156,838. The campaign had now extended into the season when disease could not fail to be prevalent, in the low, swampy region now occupied by the Government troops. The effective men numbered 115,102. From the evening of the 26th, when Jackson attacked his right, and threatened his communications by the Pamunkey river, Gen. McClellan states that " every energy of the army was bent" to the end of "an immediate change of base across the Peninsula." The Rebel Gen. D. H A Hill had gone out from Richmond with his command that day, over Meadow Bridge, to form a junction with Jackson, who was approaching by way of Ashland and Hanover Court House. At about 3 o'clock P. M., Hill attacked McCall, at Mechanicsville, and LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 379 was finally repulsed, with great 'loss. Gen. McClellan tele- graphed : " Victory to-day complete, and against great odda. I almost begin to think we are invincible." During the night, the baggage of the Fifth Corps (Porter's) was sent across to the west side of the Chickahominy, and preparations were made to start the trains next day, for James river. Orders were at the same time sent to the White House for the removal of all the stores possible from that vicinity, by water, up the James river, to meet the retreating army, and to destroy what- ever supplies could not be thus reshipped. These orders were promptly executed. Gen. Stoneman, with his cavalry force, having been cut off, made a successful retreat to the White House. McCall was to fall back and unite with the rest of Porter's corps, on the east bank of the Chickahominy, to hold the bridges at Games' Mill, giving time for the main army to exe- cute its intended movement. This position was to have been maintained until the night of the 27th, when Porter's force was to cross, destroying the bridges. Hill, however, attacked McCall at dawn with great vigor, compelling him to retire further down the stream, leaving the bridge at Mechanicsville to the enemy. A large part of the Rebel force was now on the left bank of the river, and expeditiously concentrated for the destruction of Porter's forces at Games' Mill, near the New Bridge. Porter's left at length gave way, under the fierce and overwhelming onset of the enemy, and the center was thrown into confusion, with imminent danger of utter rout. Reen- forcements were hurried across from the south bank of the river, and saved the day. Meagher's Irish brigade, fighting with unsurpassed gallantry, and French's brigade, with like heroic conduct, came to the support of Porter's broken divi- sions, and held the enemy in check until night closed the con- flict. This battle was one of the most sanguinary of the cam- paign, resulting in defeat, but it gained time for starting the trains and troops through White Oak Swamp. It had also drawn out Lee's forces from Richmond, so as to prevent any 'immediate interference with the retreat from that quarter. It was not until the 28th, that Lee became fully aware of 380 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. the purpose of McClellan to withdraw his army to the James river. The single road by which this movement was to be made was exposed, at different points, to an advance of the enemy from Richmond, by the several roads leading from the city. There was no degree of security until the rear had passed through the Swamp, and on emerging therefrom the danger would be soon renewed. The corps of Sumner and Franklin were stationed at Fair Oaks on Sunday, the 29th, (Heintzelman meanwhile retiring,) and having protected the trains, which were now well on their way, (a large amount of property which could not be transferred having been destroyed,) began to fall back. The enemy, perceiving the movement, promptly attacked the retiring forces, about 2 o'clock P. M., and they made a stand not far from Savage's Station. The Rebel masses, brought up within a short distance of our artil- lery, now in position, were repulsed with great loss, and their repeated attacks were successfully repelled. During the night, Sumner and Franklin fell back to the White Oak Swamp bridge. On the morning of the 30th, the last of the troops had followed the trains across that bridge. Franklin remained to dispute the passage of the Rebels at this point, while Heint- zelman, with the four divisions of Hooker, Sedgwick, Kearney and McCall, took position at Charles City Cross Roads, where several roads leading from Richmond intersect. Jackson's corps crossed the Chickahominy early on Monday morning, following up the retreating army by the Williamsburg road. The forces of Longstreet, A. P. Hill, Magruder and Huger went out the Charles City road with the expectation of intercepting our forces at that point. Jackson had come close upon the position held by Franklin at the White Oak Swamp, a little before noon ; but the rear of our army had already crossed and destroyed the bridge. An artillery engagement followed, lasting until night, with severe losses on both sides. Two brigades of Sumner's corps participated in this action. Further pursuit from this direction was not attempted. Toward night, on the same day, the forces of Longstreet and others (commanded by Gen. A. P. Hill, the former being absent.) attacked the force under Hciutzelman, who was aided LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 381 by part of Sumner's corps. The enemy was repulsed with great slaughter and thrown into confusion. In vain were fresh troops massed against the well-managed batteries and heavy musketry fire of our forces. After a desperate conflict, in which the fate of the whole Army of the Potomac was at stake, and with all the strength the Rebels could bring upon the field, a decisive victory was gained for the Government. This has been called the battle of Glendale. The corps of Keyes and Porter had meanwhile moved for- ward, in advance of the remaining troops, toward James river, near Turkey Bend, to open communication with the gunboats. The rear of the trains had reached Malvern Hill while the action at Glendale was going on. The transports from the White House arrived almost simultaneously. During the night, the corps of Sumner, Heintzelman and Franklin fell back to the vicinity of this point. Here was an elevated open table-land, a mile and a half in length by three-fourths of a mile in breadth, crossed by several intersecting roads. The troops were massed on this hill for a final encounter, most of the artillery being placed in position including ten siege guns at the very summit. Porter's corps held the left, Heintzelman and Sumner the center, and Keyes the right, the line curving backward nearly to the river. The left flank was protected by the gunboats under command of Com. Rodgers, which took part in the action, and on the right the roads were barricaded. Thus disposed, after the losses incurred during a weari- some retreat of seventeen miles, fighting by day and march- ing by night, the Army of the Potomac was compelled to grapple with the collected forces of the enemy. Before 10 o'clock in the morning, Rebel skirmishers, with artil- lery, appeared all along the left wing. About 2 o'clock a column was seen in front of Heintzelman, beyond the range of his artillery, moving toward the right, but it disappeared without making an attack. An hour later, the divisions of Kearney and Couch, on the left center, were fiercely assailed with artillery and musketry. The fire was returned with such effect as to drive back the assailants in disorder, our forces advancing several hundred yards to a stronger position. This 382 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. action occupied about an hour. The enemy renewed the attack on the left about six o'clock, with artillery, advancing his in- fantry columns to storm the hill. These were swept away by our batteries, and each successive attacking party shared the same fate, until the field was covered with the wounded and dead. Not only artillery fire, but also volleys of musketry and bayonet charges, met the persistent assailants, who advanced, column after column, only to be crushed and scattered. Night ended the terrible struggle the Stars and Stripes floating in grand triumph over the field made ghastly with the Rebel masses, fallen in the vain attempt to overwhelm a gallant army that six days before had seemed their easy Prey- Instead of improving the advantage gained, to drive into Richmond an enemy whose strength, as now shown by repeated trials, had been greatly overrated, and who was disheartened by continued defeat, the commanding General withdrew his forces from their strong position, retiring to Harrison's Landing. This was effected during the next two days, with no serious attempt at molestation from the enemy. Gen. McClellan states the entire number of his killed, wounded and missing during these seven days, at 15,249. Thus ended the Peninsular campaign adding three disas- trous months of unmasterly activity to the eight months of dreamy indecision before Washington. It was no fault of the army. It was from no lack of support by the Government. It was due to no combination of untoward events. The posi- tive successes at Williamsburg, at Fair Oaks, at Savage's Station, at Glendale, and at Malvern Hill, show that the Army of the Potomac could win victories, even against great supposed odds in numbers and in position, when courageously led to the fight. In adopting a route to Richmond by the Lower Chesapeake, against the better judgment of the President, Gen. McClellan had expressed his readiness to stake his reputation, his life, and the cause itself, on the success of his plan. He was fur- nished all needful means, and every available man, consistently with hit own opinions as to the necessary security of Washing- LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 383 ton, and with the express conditions agreed to by himself ia undertaking the work. He sadly failed in his efforts to employ those men and means to the accomplishment of the end desired. The military record of the campaign has a singular same- ness. When occasionally his roads are good, he can not move without reinforcements. When his reinforcements come, he has to wait for better roads. Thus time passes the month of April, before an army originally one-eighth as large as his own ; much of May and June by the sickly Chickahominy, his men not unfit for duty engaged in throwing up intrenchments, to be abandoned on the first attack. Day after day, he is only waiting for something just on the point of being gained, when his final advance and assault are to commence. But perfect readiness never comes ; and at last, the enemy, con- centrating all his strength, himself attacks, and puts upon its defense, an army that was confidently led forth for aggres- sive war. A month wasted at Yorktown, without plausible palliation ; tardy pursuit, after the unintended battle, resulting in victory at Williamsburg ; unaccountable hesitation and slackness on the Chickahominy ; utter neglect to use the known absence of Jackson, or to anticipate the arrival of Beauregard after the evacuation of Corinth ; insured an otherwise impossible discomfiture. Never did the result of a campaign more bit- terly disappoint public hope. The worst that Mr. Lincoln had foreseen from the adoption of the Peninsular plan had happened, and even a loss of the entire army was now dreaded. Every advantage supposed by Gen. McClellan to be attainable by this route to Richmond had been thrown away. The cause had suffered a vastly greater blow than at Bull Run. The nation was more depressed ; the Administration more painfully em- barrassed, than by any previous calamity. The worst effects upon the cause, abroad and at home, were to be apprehended from thU unfortunate issue of a grand military plan. 384 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. CHAPTER VIII. Campaign of the Army of Virginia. Withdrawal of the Army of the P9tomac from the Peninsula. First Invasion of Maryland. McClel- lan Superseded. GEN. FREMONT, commanding the Mountain Department, and Gen. Banks, commanding the Department of the Shenan- doah, having failed to cooperate effectively in carrying out the President's order intended to entrap Jackson in his bold ope- rations in the Valley, and the subsequent movements of Gen- McDowell, in command of the Department of the Rappahan- nock, having also been unable to render decisive aid in this work, it became manifest that a reorganization of the forces in question, under one head, had become necessary. Some time before the final catastrophe at Richmond, it had also become apparent that the Army of the Potomac, instead of accomplish- ing its object, was rather in danger of being itself sacrificed. Meanwhile, the capture of New Madrid, the occupation of Corinth, and the rapid advance of our forces down the Missis- sippi, taking possession of Fort Pillow on the 5th of June, and of Memphis on the 6th, and passing with little opposition to Vicksburg, (before which our fleet appeared on the 25th,) had not only secured substantial results, but had also awakened a desire for similar leadership in the East. Few events of the war, thus far, had evinced better general- ship than the operations at New Madrid and Island Number Ten, in which Maj.-Gen. John Pope was the hero. Aside from Gen. Grant, still needed with the Army of the Tennessee, no other general, at this time, was more emphatically a rising man in the army. The President accordingly determined to call Gen. Pope to Washington, where he arrived about the 20th of June. After full consultation and deliberation, the President having visited Gen. Scott at West Point, on the 24th, it was decided LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 385 to consolidate the three departments specified above, and to organize a new campaign. In pursuance of this purpose, the President issued his order, on the 2&th of June, creating the Army of Virginia, under the command of Gen. Pope, the forces under Gen. Fremont to constitute the First Army Corps, those of Gen. Banks the Second Corps, and those under Gen. McDowell the Third Corps, each to he commanded hy those officers respectively. At the time of this action, the critical condition of McClellan's army seemed to impose the necessity of positive measures for protecting Washington and holding the approach into Maryland and Pennsylvania by the Shenan- doah Valley, from the first foreseen, as since demonstrated,- to be an important element of the military position. On the 27th, Gen. Fremont asked to be relieved from his command. This request was granted, and his connection with the army, in any active command, has never since been resumed. Gen. Francis Sigel was soon after put in command of the First Corps of the Army of Virginia in his stead. Maj.-Gen. Halleck was also called to Washington. It may be safely assumed that the appointment of this officer as General-in-chief of the army was one of the subjects in regard to which the President had anxiously desired the counsel of Gen. Scott, and about which there was a free interchange of \iews, on the memorable visit of the 24th of June. The appointment of Gen. Halleck as General-in-chief was officially announced on the llth of July. On the 28th of June, the Governors of seventeen States united in an address to the President, expressing their belief in the readiness of the people to respond to a call for more troops, and in the popular desire for prompt and vigorous measures to end the rebellion. In response, the following cir- cular was sent to each of the Governors uniting in this sug- gestion, and the call for three hundred thousand additional troops was at once published : EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, ") July 1, 1862. | GENTLEMEN : Fully concurring in the wisdom of the views expressed to me in so patriotic a manner by you in the com- 33 386 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. munication of the 28th day of June, I have decided to call into the service an additional force of three hundred thousand men. I suggest and recommend that the troops should be chiefly of infantry. The quota of your State would be . I trust that they may be enrolled without delay, so as to bring this unnecessary and injurious civil war to a speedy and satisfactory conclusion. An order fixing the quotas of the respective States will be issued by the War Department to-morrow. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Gen. Pope at once entered on the work of preparation for th far from welcome duties assigned him. On ascertaining the condition of the forces placed at his command, he was pain- fully conscious of the great disproportion of the means at his disposal to the ends that were desired. In addition to the troops within the intrenchments around Washington, the whole effective force at his disposal was as follows : First Corps, 11,500 ; Second Corps, (as reported,) 14,500 ; and Third Corps, 18,400 making in all, 44,400. Gen. Pope states, however, that the Second Corps really numbered but about 8,000, so that the total was barely 38,000. With this force, the new Com- manding General had the triple task of defending Washington, holding the Shenandoah Valley, and creating a diversion in favor of the army at Harrison's Landing. At the first intelligence of Jackson's onset upon the Army of the Potomac by way of Hanover Court House, on the 26th, Gen. Pope had earnestly and repeatedly urged the impolicy of a retreat to the James river, still further away from re-enforce- ments, but advised, instead, that McClellan should make his way northward, where effective support could be rendered him by the remaining troops in Virginia. This policy of concen- tration may have been impracticable, under the circumstances ; and at all events, it was little regarded by McClellan, except upon conditions that would expose to the enemy all the ap- proaches to Washington and the Valley. The necessity of cor- dial cooperation between the little army left for the defense of these positions, and the remnant of McClellan's force, at Harri- son's Landing, was obvious. The utter impossibility of send- LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 387 ing to the latter point any re- enforcements drawn from the former, hardly needs to be stated, and yet it was for precisely the reason that this was not done, that Gen. McClellan, after his disastrous battle at Gaines' Mill, on the 28th, wrote the following lettlr which, but for his deliberate reproduction of it in his final report, might have been charitably dismissed as a mere hasty ebullition received with a forbearance which, perhaps, such unamiable weakness had long since ceased to deserve : HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, ) SAVAGE'S STATION, June 28, 1862, 12.20 A. M. j I now know the full history of the day. On this side of the river (the right bank) we repulsed several strong attacks. On the left bank our men did all that men could do, all that sol- diers could accomplish, but they were overwhelmed by vastly superior numbers, ev*en after I brought my last reserves into action. The loss on both sides is terrible. I believe it will prove to be the most desperate battle of the war. The sad remnants of my men behave as men. Those battalions who fought most bravely, and suffered most, are still in the best order. My regulars were superb ; and I count upon what are left to turn another battle, in company with their gallant com- rades of the volunteers. Had I twenty thousand or even ten thousand fresh troops to use to-morrow, I could take Kich- mond ; but I have not a man in reserve, and shall be glad to cover my retreat and save the material and personnel of the army. If we have lost the day, we have yet preserved our honor, and no one need blush for the Army of the Potomac. I have lost this battle because my force was too small. I again repeat that I am not responsible for this, and I say it with the earnestness of a general who feels in his heart the loss of every brave man who has been needlessly sacrificed to-day. I still hope to retrieve our fortunes ; but to do this the Government must view the matter in the same earnest light that I do. You must send me very large re-enforcements, and send them at once. I shall draw back to this side of the Chick- ahominy, and think I can withdraw all our material. Please understand that in this battle we have lost nothing but men, and those the best we have. In addition to what I have already said, I only wish to say to the President that I think he is wrong in regarding me as ungenerous when I said that my force was too weak. I merely 388 LITE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. intimated a truth which to-day has been too plainly proved. If, at this instant, I could dispose of ten thousand fresh men, I could gain the victory to-morrow. I know that a few thousand more men would have changed this battle from a defeat to a victory. As it is, the Government must not and can not hold me responsible for the result. I feel too earnestly to-night. I have seen too many dead and wounded comrades to feel otherwise than that the Govern- ment has not sustained this army. If you do not so now, the game is lost. If I save this army now, I tell you plainly that I owe no thanks to you, or to any other persons in Washington. You have done your best to sacrifice this army. K B. McCLELLAN. Hon. E. M. STANTON. Further communication with this officer was interrupted until, after his arrival at Harrison's Landing, the following dispatch was sent in reply : WASHINGTON, July 1, 1862, 3.30 P. M. IV; is impossible to re-enforce you for your present emer- gency. 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 stroag enough to face the enemy, you must find a place of seci.rity, and wait, rest, and repair. Maintain your ground if you can, but save the army at all events, even if you fall back to 1'ort Monroe. We still have strength enough in the coun- try, and will bring it out. A. LINCOLN. Maj.-Gen. G. B. McCLELLAN. Obviously, the chief concern in regard to this army was now to preserve it from further loss there having been, in fact, apprehensions through the country that its entire surrender would be the ultimate result, even after it had reached its present comparatively secure position. Indeed, had the num- bers under Lee at all corresponded with McClellan's estimate, this danger was still imminent. The enemy held one bank of the James river, the chief security to our communications being in the fleet of gunboats under Commodore Eodgers. It was under these circumstances that Gen. Pope, having unsuccessfully appealed to the chief authorities at Washington to relieve him from a ccn.iiiand from which so little was to l:e LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 389 hoped, and in which his high military reputation was staked at tearful odds, issued an energetic address to his army, with the vigorous orders so offensive to his adversaries, and proceeded earnestly to the performance of the three-fold duties already indicated, drawing almost the entire army of Lee away from Richmond. One of Pope's first movements was the sending out of cavalry detachments from Fredericks!) urg, to cut the Virginia Central railroad at several points. This having been duly accomplished, orders were given to Gen. Banks, on the 14th of July, to send forward all his cavalry, with an infantry support, to occupy Culpepper Court House, and to advance from thence to Gordonsville, destroying the railroad for ten or fifteen miles eastward from that place. The cavalry commander failed to execute the latter part of the order, going only as far as Madi- son Court House a failure which cost him his command. Jackson's advance, under Ewell, reached Gordonsville on the 16th. Gen. Pope took the field in person on the 29th, and the main portion of his infantry and artillery was placed in position, by the 7th of August, along the turnpike road from Sperryville to Culpepper. Gen. Buford, who had been as- signed to the command of the cavalry in Banks' corps, wa? posted at Madison Court House with five regiments, his pick- ets extending along the Rapidan, from Burnett's Ford to the Blue Ridge. Gen. Sigel was directed to send a brigade of infantry and a battery of artillery, in support of Buford, to Robertson's river. Gen. Bayard, with four cavalry regiments, was posted near Rapidan Station, his pickets extending east- ward along the Rapidan to Raccoon Ford, and westward to meet those of Buford at Burnett's Ford. Cavalry pickets were also stationed along the Rapidan from Raccoon Ford to the con- fluence of that river with the Rappahannock, while King's division of infantry remained opposite Fredericksburg, substan- tially completing the line to the Potomac. On the 8th, the enemy was reported in force in front of both Bayard and Buford, the former slowly falling back toward Cul- pepper. Crawford's brigade, of Banks' corps, was sent toward Cedar mountain, to support Bayard, and to aid in ascertaining 25 890 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. the numbers and intentions of the enemy. On the 9th, Banks was ordered, with the remainder of his corps, to join the bri- gade under Crawford Sigel having failed, for some reason, to arrive from Sperryville, to participate in this movement as intended. Ricketts' division, of McDowell's corps, was posted three miles in the rear of Banks, so as to be available for his support, or to be thrown toward Sperryville, whither Buford was retreating, reporting a heavy Rebel force advancing toward Culpepper from Madison Court House. During the day, on the 9th, and down to five o'clock, the enemy did not appear before Banks, in any considerable force, which led that officer, contrary to the intentions of the com- manding General, who merely desired the enemy at this point to be kept in check, to advance two miles to attack. In reality, he encountered a superior force in a strong position, his troops fighting bravely. The action lasted less than two hours, the Government forces being gradually driven back to their former position, with considerable loss. Ricketts' division now came up to their aid, with Gen. Pope at its head. A brisk artillery fire was soon after commenced, driving back the enemy to his former shelter in the woods. Sigel having arrived, his corps was now advanced and that of Banks withdrawn toward Culpepper, to be put in condition dfter its fatigues and losses. King had been telegraphed for at Fredericksburg on the 8th, and arrived on the night of the llth, which day had been spent by both parties in burying the dead. Pope, now having numbers about equal to those of the enemy, determined to bring on a battle, by falling on his line of communications at daybreak. But, during the night, Jack- son retired hurriedly across the Rapidan, toward Gordonsville, leaving behind many of his dead and wounded. Gen. Pope reports a loss of about 1,800 men, in killed, wounded and prisoners. A cavalry force, under Buford and Bayard, followed the enemy to the Rapidan, capturing many stragglers. Thereupon the cavalry resumed its former position, on the line of the Rapidan, from Raccoon Ford to the Blue Ridge. On the 14th, Pope had an accession to his strength, by the LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 391 arrival of Gen. Reno, with 8,000 men from the forces of Gen. Burnside (Ninth Corps), which had arrived.at Falmouth. The army was then advanced, taking a favorable position, with its right, under Sigel, resting on Robertson's river; the center, under McDowell, occupying both flanks of Cedar mountain, and the left, under Reno, taking position near Raccoon Ford, covering the road thence to Stevensburg and Culpepper Court House. The cavalry, meanwhile, continued to operate on the communications of the enemy, who was receiving heavy reen- forcements from Richmond. A cavalry expedition sent toward Louisa Court House, on the 16th, captured the Adjutant Gen- eral of Stuart, and. among other papers, an autograph letter from Gen. Robert E. Lee to the latter, showing the plans of the enemy to mass an overwhelming force in Pope's front, and to fall upon him before he could be reenforced from the Army of the Potomac. Despairing of such assistance in holding his present strong position, Pope made the best dispositions in his power for withdrawing behind the Rappahannock, which move- ment was executed with great skill and expedition, on the night of the 18th, and during the day of the 19th. It now becomes necessary to return to the Army of the Poto- mac, the presence and cooperation of which had become so essential to success at this critical juncture. During the first days of July, Gen. McClellan had been en- deavoring to render his new position as secure as possible. It was early manifest that a withdrawal of his force, to aid in the operations before Washington, did not accord with his indi- vidual views. To the last, he was extremely loath to abandon the Peninsula. On the 4th of July, McClellan had said, in a dispatch to the President : "Our communications by the James river are not secure. There are points where the enemy can establish themselves with cannon or musketry and command the river, and where it is not certain that our gunboats can drive them out." At the same date, before receiving the dis- patch just quoted from, the President, still anxious in regard to the preservation of McClcllan's remaining force, and without having definitely determined on the course to be pursued with regard to it, wrote him as follows : 892 LIFE OF AliRAllA-U LLM'OLJN'. WAR DEPARTMENT, / ^, , WASHINGTON CITY, D. C., July 4, 1862. I understand your position as stated in ycur letter, and 'by Gen. Marcy. To re-enforce you so as to enable you to resume the offensive within a mouth, or even six weeks, is impossible. In addition to that arrived and now arriving from the Potomac, (about ten thousand men, I suppose), and about ten thousand I hope you will have from Burnside very soon, and about five thousand from Hunter a little later, I do not see how I can send you another man within a month. Under these circum- stances, the defensive, for the present, must be your only care. Save the army, first, where you are, if you can, and, secondly, by removal, if you must. You, on the ground, must be the judge as to which you will attempt, and of the means for effect- ing it. I but give it as my opinion, that with the aid of the gunboats and the re-enforcements mentioned above, you can hold your present position ; provided, and so long as you can keep the James river open below you. If you are not tolerably confident you can keep the James river open, you had better remove as soon as possible. I do not remember that you have expressed any apprehension as to the danger of having your communications cut on the river below you, yet I do not sup- pose it can have escaped your attention. Yours, very truly, A. LINCOLN. Maj.-Gen. MCCLELLAN. P. S. If at any time you feel able to take the offensive, you are not restrained from doing so. A. L. McClellan replied, on the 7th : " My position is very strong, and daily becoming more so. If not attacked to-day, I shall laugh at them. I have been anxious about my communica- tions Alarm yourself as little as possible about me, and don't lose confidence in this army." At the same date, ho wrote a long letter to the President, volunteering a statement of his "general views concerning the existing state of the rebel- lion." He reminds Mr. Lincoln that " the Rebel army is in the front, with the purpose of overwhelming us by attacking our positions or reducing us by blocking our river commu- nications." He "can not but regard" his " condition$as criti- cal." The singularity of one sitting down, under such circum- stances, to write a political disquisition, as if he were the veriest gentleman of leisure, 'is more striking than any thing LIFE OP ABBAHAM LINCOLN. 393 in the document itself. Two or three paragraphs in this letter (dated July 7, 1862, and published at length in the writer's last official report) will serve to show its quality : Our cause must never be abandoned ; it is the cause of free institutions and self-government. Tho Constitution and the Union must be preserved, whatever may be the cost in time, treasure, and blood. If secession is successful, other dissolu- tions are clearly to be seen in the future. . Let neither military di?aster, political faction, nor foreign war shake your settled purpose to enforce the equal operation of- the laws of the United States upon the people of every State. The time has come when the Government must determine upon a civil and military policy, covering the whole ground of our National trouble This rebellion has assumed the character of a war ; as such it should be regarded, and it should be conducted upon the highest principles known to Christian civilization. It should not be a war looking to the subjugation of the people of any State, in any event. It should not be at all a war upon popu- lation, but against armed forces and political organizations. Neither confiscation of property, political executions of per- sons, territorial organization of States, or forcible abolition of slavery should be contemplated for a moment. . . . Unless the principles governing the future conduct of our struggle shall be made known and approved, the effort to obtain requisite forces will be almost hopeless. A declaration of radi- cal views, especially upon slavery, will rapidly disintegrate our present armies. The policy of tlje Government must be sup- ported by concentrations of military power. The National forces should not bexlispersed in expeditions, posts of occupation, and numerous armies, but should be mainly collected into masses, and brought to bear upon the armies of the Confederate States. Those armies thoroughly defeated, the political structure which they support would soon cease to exist. From time to time, Gen. McClellan continued to urge the policy of preparing his army to advance on Richmond from its present position. He called for reinforcements, asking a con- centration under his command of t; every thiiig we can possibly spare from less important points, to make sure of crushing the enemy at Richmond, which seems clearly to be the most impor- tant point in rebeldom." The President visited Harrison's Landing on the 8th of July, and in company with the Com- 394 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. manding General, reviewed the Army of the Potomac. For an entire month, scarcely so much as a reconnoissance in force occurred to break the monotony of life in that unhealthy locality. On the 30th, Gen. Halleck suggested that the enemy at Richmond he pressed, to ascertain the strength of his force there. Finally, on the 4th of August, one day after being ordered to prepare for a prompt withdrawal to Acquia Creek, the divisions of Hooker and Sedgwick, by order of Gen. McClellan, advanced and turned Malvern Hill, causing the Rebel force which had occupied that position to retreat toward Richmond. Col. Averill, on the evening of the 5th, returned from a cavalry reconnoissance in the direction of Savage's Station, and McClel- lan announced : " Our troops have advanced twelve miles in one direction, and seventeen in another, toward Richmond to-day." Meanwhile, he had commenced sending off his sick and disabled soldiers, as directed by Gen. Halleck, on the 30th of July the order being repeated, with emphasis, on the 2d of August. On the 6th, he was ordered to send, " imme- diately,"^ regiment of cavalry and several batteries of artil- lery to Burnside's command at Acquia Creek. Instead of promptly complying with this order, Gen. McClellan returned a dispatch offering reasons for non-compliance, and promising to " obey the order as soon as circumstances per- mit." It was partly complied with a day or two later. From .the 3d of August, when he was directed to take " im- mediate measures" for withdrawing his army from the Penin- sula, Gen. McClellan earnestly resisted this order, until, on the 6th, he was definitively informed : " The order will not be rescinded, and you will be expected to execute it with all pos- sible promptness." Gen. Halleck, who had not determined on this course, until he had visited Gen. McClellan in camp, respectfully considered the views presented against it, and wrote him at length, assigning the following, among other reasons, for the policy adopted : You and your officers at our interview estimated the enemy's forces in and around Richmond at 200,000 men. Since then, you and others report that they have received, and are receiv- ing, large re-enforcements from the South. Gen. Pope's army, LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 395 covering Washington, is only about 40,000. Your effective force is only about 90,000. You are thirty miles from Richmond, and Gen. Pope, eighty or ninety, with the enemy directly between you, ready to fall with his superior numbers upon one or the other, as he may elect ; neither can re-enforce the other in case of such an attack. If Gen. Pope's army be diminished to re-enforce you, Wash- ington, 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 oc- cupy, 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 can not be united by land without exposing both to destruction, and yet they must be united. To send Pope's forces by water to the Peninsula is, under present circum- stances, a military impossibility. The only alternative is to send the forces on the Peninsula to some point by water, say Fredericksburg, where the two armies can be united. * * But you will reply, why not re-enforce me here, so that I can strike Richmond from my present position ? To do this, you said, at our interview, that you required 30,000 additional troops. I told you that it was impossible to give you so many. You finally thought you would have some chance of succe.ss with 20,000. But you afterward telegraphed me that you would require 35,000, as the enemy was being largely re- enforcfd. If your estimate of the enemy's strength was correct, your requisition was perfectly reasonable ; but it was utterly impos- sible 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-enforced, would almost destroy it in that climate. The months of August and September are almost fatal to whites who live on that part of James river ; and even after you received the re-enforcements 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 fortifi- cations would^not require considerable time perhaps as much as those at Yorktown. This delay might not only be fatal to the health of youi army, but in the mean time Gen. Pope's forces would be ex- posed 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 396 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. the Peninsula to the Kappahannock, I must remark that a large number of your highest officers, indeed a majority of those whose opinions have heen reported to me, are decidedly in favor of the movement. Even several of those who originally advo- cated the line of the Peninsula, now advise its abandonment. This final decision was telegraphed to McClellan on the 6th. Pope's situation on the Rapidan, as already seen, was becoming critical, and yet, on the 9th, Gen. Halleck found occasion to telegraph as follows : WASHINGTON, August 9, 1862, 12.45 P. M. I am of the opinion that the enemy is massing his forces in front of Gens. Pope and Burnside, and that he expects to crush them and move forward to the Potomac. You must send re-enforcements instantly to Acquia Creek. Considering the amount of transportation at your disposal, your delay is not satisfactory. You must move with all possi- ble celerity. H. W. HALLECK, Major-General. Maj.-Gen. G. B. McCLELLAN. He received in reply : " There has been no unnecessary delay, as you assert not an hour's but every thing has been and is being pushed as rapidly as possible to carry out your orders." On the 10th, a full week after the original order, Gen. Halleck again telegraphed : " The enemy is crossing the Rapida* in large force. They are fighting Gen. Pope to-day. There must be no further delay in your movements. That which has already occurred was entirely unexpected, and must be satisfactorily explained." The chief excuse for this delay was the want of sufficient transportation. He had not yet dis- posed of even the sick a work required to be at once proceeded with, as early as the 30th of July. But even this imperfect explanation is set aside by Gen. Halleck in the following reply, (August 12th) : " The Quartermaster General informs me that nearly every available steam vessel in the country is now under your control Burnside moved nearly 13,000 troops to Acquia Creek in less than two days, and his transports were immediately sent back to you. All the vessels in the James river and the Chesapeake Bay were placed at your disposal LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN'. 397 and it was supposed that eight or ten thousand of your men could be transported daily There has been, and is, the most urgent necessity for dispatch, and not a single moment must be lost in getting additional troops in front of Washing- ton." Gen. McClellan again asseverates, in reply, that he is doing all he can, and actually says, (August 12th), nine days after the order to move : " If Washington is in danger now, this army can scarcely arrive in time to save it ; it is in much better position to do so from here than from Acquia." Two or three days later, in a dispatch dated August 14, 11 P. M., McClellan at length announced : " Movement has com- menced by land and water. All sick will be away to-morrow night " the " movement " referred to being, as he states in his final report, that " of the main army." At noon on the 15th, we find him saying : " Two of my army corps marched last night and this morning en route for Yorktown one via Jon js' Bridge, and the other via Barrett's Ferry, where we have a pontoon bridge. The other corps will be pushed forward as fast as the roads are clear; and I hope before to-morrow morn- ing to have the entire army in motion." In a word, under the most urgent orders to hasten to Washington, at a time of imminent danger, nearly two iceeks expire before the march is commenced. The remainder of the movement was executed in accordance with this beginning. On the 21st, eighteen days after the order to move was given, Uen. Halleck sends the following to McClellan, then at Fortress Monroe : " The forces of Burnside and Pope are hard pushed, and j equire aid as rapidly as you can send it. Come yourself as soon as you can. By all means, see that the troops senfc have plenty of ammunition. We have no time here to supply them. Moreover, they may have to fight as soon as they land." McClellan replied : " I have ample supplies of ammunition for infantry and artillery, and will have it up in time. I can supply any deficiency that may exist in Gen. Pope's army." Leaving the corps of Gen. Keves to occupy Yorktown, and Sumner's corps waiting for transportation, the remainder of the troops having at length embarked, McClellan sailed from Fortress Monroe for Acquia Creek on the evening of August 23, and reported from that 398 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. place on the morning of the 24th. On the 27th, he reached Alexandria. Gen. Pope, having promptly executed his retrograde move- ment, had his men in a strong position on the Rappahannock line, with the following dispositions on the 20th August : The right, under Sigel, was posted three miles above Rappahannock Station, on the left bank of the river, and connecting closely with McDowell in the center, near that point, and the left keeping open the connection with Fredericksburg, whence reen- forcements from the Army of the Potomac were partly to come. Repeated calls were made from Washington for addi- tional forces to cover his right, which could not be further extended without exposing this necessary connection on the left, and which was strongly threatened by the enemy. Ample time had passed, since the order of August 3, for the arrival of the requisite force for this purpose from the Peninsula, but the tardy movement of McClellan had rendered this reenforce- ment, reasonably expected, as yet impossible. The enemy, now in strong force, confronted Pope from Kelly's Ford, to a point beyond his extreme right. On the 21st and 22d, attempts were made by the Rebels to cross the river at several points, but in every instance they were repulsed. Pope was urged to make every exertion to hold out for two days longer, when it was believed his line would be adequately strengthened. But up to the 25th, the only forces that had arrived in his vicinity, except the detachment under Reno, from Burnside's corps, were 2,500 of the Pennsylvania Reserves, under Gen. Reynolds, which reached Kelly's Ford, and Kearney's division, 4,500 strong, at Warrenton Junction. The evident movements of the enemy to turn his right, caused the Commanding General much uneasiness, but the necessity of maintaining his communication on the left was still imperative. Sigel was instructed to stand firm, allowing the enemy to cross at Sulphur Springs, and move toward Warrenton, when Pope determined to mass his force to the right for the purpose of falling upon the enemy's advance. All of the cavalry, under Buford and Bayard, were pushed to the right of Sigel, toward Fayetteville and Sulphur Springs, to picket the river and to watch the enemy's movements. On the LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 399 night of the 22d, a small cavalry force made an attack on our army trains at Catlett's Station, doing no great damage. The right of Pope being still heavily threatened, while a strong force was massed in his front at Rappahannock Station, he formed the bold plan of concentrating his force, recrossing the Rappahannock, and assailing the flank and rear of the opposing army. On the morning of the 23d, his forces were collected for this purpose near Rappahannock Station. The river had meanwhile suddenly risen, and finding that a crossing could not be effected in less than thirty-six hours, the plan was changed. Sigel's corps, supported by those of Banks and Reno, were ordered to Sulphur Springs, to attack any force fallen in with, and to advance to Waterloo Bridge. McDowell, to whose command the reinforcements under Reynolds were attached, was moved directly upon Warrenton, to unite with Sigel, if occasion should require, on the road from thence to Sul- phur Springs or Waterloo Bridge. It was ascertained that, on the afternoon of the 24th, the whole force of the enemy was extended along the river, from Rappahannock Station to Waterloo Bridge, his center being near Sulphur Springs. During the day, a large Rebel force moved rapidly northward toward Rectortown, west of Bull Run Mountains, (which are crossed by the Manassas railroad at Thoroughfare Gap.) This movement clearly evinced a pur- pose to fTirn the right of Pope's army by way of White Plains and Thoroughfare Gap. Gen. Pope, feeling bound, as he says, by his instructions to maintain his communication with Frede- ricksburg, and having assurances that 30,000 men were to be sent forward that day, or the next morning, did not imme- diately change his position to meet that emergency. The main force of the enemy steadily tending in the same direction as the advance, he determined, on the night of the 25th, to aban- don the lower fords of the Rappahannock, and directed McDowell, with his own corps and that of Sigel, to hold War- renton, while Reno was pushed forward three miles on the Warrenton turnpike, and Fitz John Porter, who had now reported to him from near Bealton Station, was ordered to join Reno. Heintzelinan'a corps was left at Warrenton Junction, 400 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. with the intention of being sent, at the proper time, to Green- wich, intermediate between Warrenton and Gainesville. It was requested of Gen. Halleck that Franklin's corps should be hastened to Gainesville, and that a strong division of the Peninsular troops should be posted at Manassas Junction. All the cavalry at that place was ordered to be sent forward to Thoroughfare Gap, for observation. Gen. Kearney was directed to post strong guards all along the railroad in his rear, from Warrenton Junction southward, while Gen. Sturgis was charged with the performance of a like duty from Manassas Junction to Catlett's Station. It was confidently expected by Gen. Pope that these several dispositions would have been completed by the afternoon of the 26th. Jackson advanced through Thoroughfare Gap, as anticipa- ted, and at 8 o'clock P. M., on the 26th, he had cut the rail- road six miles east of Warrenton Junction, near Kettle Run. A sharp action ensued on the 27th between Hooker and Ewell, near Bristow, in which the latter was beaten. No report had been made by the cavalry sent to watch the enemy's movement, and it now became manifest to the commanding General that the re-enforcements so confidently expected on the assurances given, had failed to come to his support. His plans, otherwise likely to have been successful in stopping Jackson's advance, were thus foiled. He determined to throw the forces he had upon the enemy, moving toward Manassas and Gainesville, and getting between Lee's army and Bull Run. His entire force, much of which was greatly exhausted by continual marching or fighting, during the last nine days, now numbered about 54,000. On the morning of the 27th he proceeded to execute the purpose just indicated. McDowell reached Gainesville during the night of the 27th, as directed, and Kearney and Reno took position at Greenwich, according to orders, communicating with McDowell. This force was thus successfully interposed between the main army of Lee. still west of the Bull Run Mountains, near White Plains, and the forces of Jackson, Ewell, and A. P. Hill, now south of the Warrenton turnpike, in the immediate vicinity of Manassas* Junction. It was now that Gen. Pope, feeling that Jackson LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 401 was completely in his power, ordered Fitz John Porter, with his command of fresh troops, to move at 1 o'clock the next morning to Bristow Station, with a view to complete the work of inclosing and crushing Jackson. This order was defiantly disregarded, as charged by Gen. Pope, and as subsequently proved to the full satisfaction of a court-martial, by whose ver- dict Porter, for this and other acts during the two or three days ensuing, was ignominiously dismissed from the service. Kear- ney, having been moved to Bristow Station, was sent thence, followed by Hooker, (whose command, notwithstanding the orders of Gen. Halleck, and the lavish promises of McClellau in reply, was almost entirely destitute of ammunition), in pur- suit of Ewell toward Manassas. Porter's corps did not arrive at Bristow until half past 10 o'clock in the morning of the 28th. Meanwhile, Jackson had evacuated Manassas Junction, very early that morning. Sigel's corps, in the advance at Gainesville, had also failed to move on Manassas as expeditiously as was intended, otherwise the retreat of Jackson would have been intercepted before he reached Bull Run. The command- ing General reached Manassas Junction, with Reno's corps and Kearney's division, within an hour after Jackson in person had left for Centreville. Hooker, Kearney and Reno were imme- diately sent forward toward the latter place, and Porter was ordered to bring up his corps. McDowell was also apprised of the state of affairs, and ordered to recall his troops advancing on Manassas, (as directed before Jackson's retreat was begun,) and to move out the road from Gainesville toward Centreville. Near night, Gen. Kearney drove Jackson's rear-guard out of the latter place, occupying it about dark, with his advance a little beyond. McDowell, who had with him Sigel's corps and Reynolds' division, in addition to his own corps, (from which the division of Ricketts had been detached in the direction of Thoroughfare Gap), encountered the advance of Jackson about 6 o'clock in the evening, and a conflict ensued, lasting until dark, when each force held its ground. Contrary to expecta- tion, however, King's division, which had sustained the princi- pal part in this action, withdrew during the night, and Rick- etts had been driven back from the Gap, retiring upon Bristow 34 402 LIFE Or ABRAHAM LINCOLN. **" ^ Station. The party assailing Ricketts was the advance of Longstreet, sent to re- enforce Jackson. Gen. Sigel, supported by Reynolds, was directed to attack Jackson on the 29th, and Gen. Heintzelman, with the divisions of Hooker and Kearney, was ordered forward from Centreville t3 attack the enemy in the rear. Orders were sent to McDow- ell and Porter to move forward, with their two corps, to Gaines- ville, with all haste, to participate in the battle. Sigel began the attack at daylight, (on the 29th), a mile or two east of Groveton, where he was soon joined by Hooker and Kearney. Jackson at first attempted to avoid an engagement by falling back, but was compelled to take a stand, having his right a little south of the "Warrentou turnpike, and his left near Sudley Springs. His line was covered by an old railroad grade, ex- tending from Gainesville toward Leesburg. The engagement was a severe and protracted one. Porter having entirely failed to bring his men into action as ordered, Jackson, though his forces were badly cut up. was able to hold out until Longstreet, with the advance of Lee's main army, near night came up to his support. The losses were very heavy on both sides, Gen. Pope estimating his killed and wounded at six or eight thou- sand. That of the enemy was very much greater. The battle of the 30th, the enemy being thus re-enforced, was fought under great disadvantages, near the old battle- ground of Bull Run. The Government troops fought with great bravery, maintaining their position with remarkable firm- ness amidst heavy losses, though the left was gradually forced back. Pope had boldly attacked, in the morning, to anticipate the arrival of further re-enforcements to the enemy by Thor- oughfare Gap. It was not until dark that this sanguinary engagement ceased, when our left had receded nearly three- fourths of a mile, though with unbroken ranks and in good order, the turnpike in the rear, which the enemy had endeavored to occupy, being still well covered. The losses on both sjdes were very heavy. Gen. Pope's army was not only exhausted with hard work before the commencement of this day's fight, but was also LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 403 becoming destitute of supplies. To an urgent request on the 28th for rations and forage, to be promptly forwarded, he re- ceived the following reply on the morning of the 30th : To THE COMMANDING OFFICER AT CENTREVILLE : I hare been instructed by Gen. McClellan to inform you that he will have all the available wagons at Alexandria loaded with rations for your troops, and all the cars also, as soon as you will send in a cavalry escort to Alexandria as a guard to the train. Respectfully, W. B. FRANKLIN, Major-General commanding Sixth Corps. " Such a letter," says Gen. Pope, " when we were fighting the enemy, and Alexandria was swarming with troops, needs no comment." Neither Sumner's corps nor Franklin's had as yet been advanced to render any aid in a military crisis, which urgently demanded the presence of every available man at the scene of action. Another corps, commanded by McClellan's chief favorite, Fitz John Porter, though close at hand, had been found equally wanting at Groveton, through the deliberate dis- obedience of its commander, though it took part in the battle of the 30th. Gen. McClellan was, meanwhile, quietly waiting at Alexandria, having been ordered by Gen. Halleck, on the 27th, to " take entire direction of the sending out of the troops from Alexandria ;" and having also been told on the same day, that " Franklin's corps should march" to Manassas "as soon as possible." On the previous day, the 26th, Sumner's corps commenced disembarking at Acquia Creek. While thus leisurely waiting, charged with the duty of promptly sending indispensable re-enforcements to Pope, yet neglecting to send even the needed supplies to the troops he already had, McClel- lan was* sending such suggestions to Washington as the fol- lowing : I am clear that one of two courses should be adopted : First, to concentrate all our available forces to open communications with Pope ; Second, to leave Pope to get out of his scrape, and at once use all our means to make the Capital perfectly safe. To this the President replied : 404 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. WASHINGTON, August 29, 1862, 4.10 P. M. Yours of to-day just received. I think your first alternative, to-wit. : "to concentrate all our available forces to open com- munication with Pope," is the right one, but I wish not to con- trol. That I now leave to Gen. Halleck, aided by your coun- sels. A. LINCOLN. Maj.-Gen. McCLELLAN. After the battle of the 30th, and the opening of free com- munication for the enemy at Thoroughfare Gap, through which the main army of Lee was now pouring in great numbers, it only remained for Gen. Pope to withdraw his army, as best he could, toward Washington. All the troops were withdrawn to Centreville in good order, where they were rested during the day, on the 31st, receiving supplies and ammunition. Here he was joined by Sumner and Franklin, with an aggregate re- enforcement of 19,000 men. On the 1st of September, the enemy was found moving toward Fairfax Court House, endan- gering Pope's right. Due precautions had been taken, so that when the right was attacked at sunset, the enemy was met by McDowell, Reno, Hooker, and Kearney. A sharp conflict fol- lowed, at Chantilly, in the midst of a thunder-storm, termina- ting soon after dark. The Rebels were handsomely repulsed. Maj.-Gen. Kearney and Brig. -Gen. Stevens were among our killed. On the 2d, the forces under Gen. Pope were ordered to be withdrawn within the intrenchments around Washington, which movement was executed in good order. Directly after, Gen. Pope was relieved, and appointed to the command of the Department of the Northwest. Gen. McClellan, on the 1st of September, was orally directed by Gen. Halleck to take command of the defenses of Wash- ington. He immediately entered on the work, his command, however, being still limited to the Army of the Potomac, and no new jurisdiction being assigned to him outside of the forti- fications. It was without any formal extension of this authority that he went out to meet the enemy in Maryland, where Lee next assumed a threatening position, having gone out by Leea burg and crossed the Upper Potomac. LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 405 Proceeding cautiously, until the purpose of the enemy was definitely developed, the advance of Gen. McClellan's forces, on the 14th of September, came up with and defeated the rear- guard of Lee at South Mountain. This was a gallant action, in which Gen. Burnside and his corps took a conspicuous part, and in which Gen. Keno lost his life. On the side of the Government, about 30,000 men were engaged, at various points, including the forces under Gen. Meade. The Com- manding General reports his losses as 312 killed, 1,234 wounded, and 22 missing. About 1,500 prisoners were taken from the enemy, whose losses in killed and wounded were estimated to have largely exceeded those of the Government forces. Meanwhile, Gen. Franklin had been executing a movement on the left, by Crampton's Gap, where he had a sharp engage- ment. He was directed to relieve Harper's Ferry, where Col. Miles, with a force of nearly 14,000 men, was in imminent danger. Before Franklin came to his aid, though within sound of his guns, Miles (who was soon after killed) had surrendered his position, his munitions of war, and his entire force of infantry and artillery. His cavalry, numbering about 2,000, cut its way out on the night of the 14th, under the command of Col. Davis, capturing, on its route to the Government lines, the train of Longstreet and over one hundred prisoners. ^ McClellan's forces were soon through the mountain passes, and a prompt engagement with the enemy was expected, with a view to prevent his return across the Potomac, without a crushing defeat. The circumstances now seemed favorable to this result, the forces of McClellan being massed in the imme- diate vicinity of the Rebel army, which was now contending merely for a secure retreat in itself a concession of decided inferiority. On the 15th, the enemy made a stand on the hights beyond Antietam Creek, in the vicinity of Sharpsburg. McClellan, seeing the formidable position thus occupied, deemed it advisa- ble to prepare with great deliberation, for the attack he had intended to make at once. The 15th and most of the 16th were accordingly employed in this preparation, during which time 406 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. the enemy also made new dispositions, some artillery firing going on during both days. Meanwhile, Jackson's forces returned from the capture of Harper's Ferry. The corps of Sumner and Hooker (the latter of whom had taken the place of Heintzelinan, assigned to duty within the fortifications at Washington) were posted on the right, near Keedyville, on both sides of the Sharpsburg turnpike. Franklin's corps and Couch's division were placed in front of Brownsville, in Pleas- ant Valley. Burnside's corps occupied a position on the left. Heavy artillery was massed in the center, behind which, in the low ground, Porter's corps was held in reserve. The right, center and left^were each, respectively, near three stone bridges across Antietam Creek, the one on the right being about three and a half miles from that on the left. In the evening of the 16th, Hooker's corps advanced across the stream, by the upper bridge and by a ford near it, with orders to endeavor to turn the enemy's left. After a short engagement, the opposing force was driven back, and Hooker encamped for the night on the ground thus gained. Sumner's corps crossed at the same point, and was followed by the corps of Gen. Mansfield (the Twelfth, consisting of the divisions of Gens. Williams and Green.) At an early hour on the morning of the 17th, Hooker made an attack on the enemy's left his whole corps being soon engaged, as well as the remaining troops that had crossed over, on the right. Franklin's corps and other forces were also brought into action. The contest was a severe one, the enemy having evidently moved a heavy force to the support of his left his right not having been engaged by Burnside, until after the heaviest of this fighting was over. Gen. Mansfield fell mortally wounded. Gen. Hooker was early so severely wounded as to be compelled to leave the field. Gen. Hartsuff, of Hooker's corps, was also badly wounded, as were Gens. Sedg- wick and Dana, and many other officers. On both sides, there was heavy slaughter. The enemy was finally driven backward eome distance, and our right held the position gained. Gen. Burnside's advance, on the left, was not commenced until hours after Hooker had brought on the action on the LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 407 right. About 8 o'clock in the morning, he was ordered by the Commanding General to carry the bridge before him, and to occupy the hights beyond, advancing along their summit toward Sharpsburg. The bridge was not carried until 1 o'clock, and a halt was again made until 3, the hights being finally carried in a gallant manner. Burnside earnestly asked, but failed to receive reinforcements from the heavy reserve under Porter, which remained inactive through the day. The enemy, as night approached, heavily reenforced his right, compelling Burnside to fall back to a lower range of hills than that he had gained. On the whole, our forces had gained a substantial advantage, and had inflicted the heaviest damage on the enemy, in killed and wounded. Instead of renewing the engagement, next morning, as a less prudent general would undoubtedly have done, Gen. McClellan spent the 18th " in collecting the dispersed, giving rest to the fatigued, removing the wounded, burying the dead, and the necessary preparations for a renewal of the battle." During the night of the 18th. Lee's entire army retreated across the Potomac. " As their line was but a short distance from the river," Gen. McClelian says in his final report, <: the evacuation presented but little difficulty, and was effected before daylight." His dispatches of the 19th, show that he regarded these mat- ters somewhat differently at the time. In fact, several hours elapsed, before the Commanding General appears to have under- stood how completely the enemy had eluded his grasp. In his official dispatch of Sept. 29, Gen. McClellan says, in summing up his estimate of the Rebel losses : As nearly as can be determined at this time, the number of prisoners taken by our troops in the two battles will, at the lowest estimate, amount to 5,000. The full returns will no doubt show a larger number. Of these about 1,200 are wounded. This gives the Rebel loss in killed, wounded and prisoners, 25,542. It will be observed that this does not include their stragglers, the number of whom is said by citizens here to be large. It may be safely concluded, therefore, that the Rebel army lost at least 30,000 of their best troops during their campaign in Maryland. 408 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. In his last report, Gen. MeClellan states his own losses during the same period as amounting, in the aggregate, to 15,520. It was not until the 20th, that Maryland Hights were occu- pied by the corps of Gen. Williams. On the 22d, Gen. Sumner was advanced to Harper's Ferry. On the 23d, Gen. MeClellan regarded the enemy as still remaining in front of him, with " indications of an advance of reinforcements." and accord- ingly proceeded to act on a defensive policy. On the 27th, he believes " the main body of the enemy is concentrated not far from Martinsburg," and extending " toward our right and beyond it." All efforts to induce a vigorous pursuit of an enemy lately represented as completely routed and panic- stricken, proved of no avail. On the 1st of October, the President visited the army, (the headquarters of which were still on the Maryland side of the Potomac) and passed over the battle-fields of South Mountain and Antietam. in company with Gen. MeClellan. It is not too much to say that this visit was made, in part, from the extreme anxiety felt by Mr. Lincoln on account of the protracted delay in moving the army, and from a desire to ascertain, by per- sonal observation, how far this inaction was necessary or rea- sonable. On the President's return, the following dispatch was sent by Gen. Halleck to Gen. MeClellan : WASHINGTON, D. C., October 6, 1862. I am instructed to telegraph 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 reenforced with thirty thousand men. If you move up the valley of the Shenandoah, not more than twelve or fifteen 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 possi- ble. You will immediately report what line you adopt, and when you intend to cross the river ; also to what point the reen- forcements 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. LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 40$ Cnder various dilatory pleas, this peremptory order was effectually disregarded. After fifteen days, during which various supplies were asked and furnished, and an appearance of being on the eve of moving was kept up, McClellan sent Gen. Halleck a dispatch, on the 21st, complaining of a want of horses, as an excuse for further delay, and begging " leave to ask whether the President desires " him u to march at once, or to await the reception of the new horses, every possible step having been taken to insure their prompt arrival." The General-in-chief immediately replied : ' ; Your telegram of 12 M. has been sub- mitted to the President. He directs me to say that lie has no change to make in his order of the 6th inst. . . . The President does not expect impossibilities ; but he is very anxious that all this good weather should not be wasted in inactivity." A full investigation of the facts is believed to have justified the fol- lowing conclusion, stated by Gen. Halleck to the Secretary of War, on the 28th of October : " In my opinion, there has been no such want of supplies in the army under Gen. McClellan as to prevent his compliance with my order to advance against the enemy. Had he moved his army to the south side of the Potomac, he could have received his supplies almost as readily as by remaining inactive on the north side." During the last days of October and the earlier days of November, the Army of the Potomac was put in motion. After weeks of fine weather had passed unimproved, it is not surprising that " heavy rains delayed the movement considera- bly in the beginning." The army advanced along the southern base of the Blue Ridge, by Lovettsville, Snicker's Gap, and Rectortown, until the several corps were massed in the vicinity of "Warreuton. The main army of Lee at the same time fell back on Gordonsville. On the night of the 7th, a dispatch from President Lincoln reached Gen. McClellan, at his headquarters near Rectortown, relieving him from the command of the Army of the Potomac. Maj.-Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside was designated as his succes- sor. This transfer of the command was promptly carried into effect, and Gen. McClellan. on the 10th, took his final leave of the army. 35 410 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. CHAPTER IX. A New Era Inaugurated. Emancipation. Message of the Presi- dent. Last Session of the Thirty-seventh Congress. THE elections, prior to the autumn of 1862, had shown large majorities for the Administration. Brilliant successes had been won by its armies in the West, until, in June, the tide of vic- tory paused before Vicksburg. In the East, military ineffi- ciency had culminated on the Peninsula and before Washington. Lee had invaded Maryland, and leisurely retired, unpursued. Political defeat followed military disaster. Ohio and Pennsyl- vania gave small majorities against the Administration in Octo- ber. New York, in the next month, followed the example. The lower House of the next Congress was already claimed as secured by the Opposition. Popular discontent and despondency were every -where manifest. Opposition politicians held the President responsible before the people for the non -action of their favorite General, whom they did not cease to lament when removed. Peace Democrats rallied behind banners inscribed. " For a more vigorous prosecution of the war ; " yet their repre entative man was the one who, evading orders of the Administration, and thwarting the President's wishes, had wasted lavish preparations and abundant military forces, during a whole year, in organizing failure. Long before this disheartening epoch, however, President Lincoln, as seen in previous pages, had earnestly directed his thoughts to the proper mode of dealing with slavery, in its necessary relations to the war. His final speech to the Border State men on compensated emancipation, as we have seen, plainly indicated that, as early as July, his mind was mnde up to wrest this element of military power from the support of the Rebellion. In the month of May, 1862, Gen. Hunter, then commanding the Department of the South, issued an unauthorized order, in LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 411 which he attempted, by logical deduction from the premise of Secession, to establish the conclusion that, in his military department, all slaves had become manumitted. As a result of this logical exercise, he declared such persons to be " forever free." This order, like the rhapsody on Slavery and Roman- ism, issued by Gen. Phelps, in his proclamation at Ship Island, might have been suffered to pass without public notice by the Executive, had it not emanated from a commanding general in whose department were two of the States in which slaves were the most numerous, and had it not the appearance of an authentic announcement of a new policy, which Gen. Hunter had lately been sent out to put in operation. The President felt constrained to set aside this order, which he did in the fol- lowing well-considered proclamation: WHEREAS, There appears in the public prints what purports to be a proclamation of Major General Hunter, in the words and figures following, to wit : HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH, ") HILTON A - D - 1863 > and of the L ' '-I Independence of the United States of America the eighty-eighth. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Mr. Lincoln's Annual Message was sent in to Congress on the 9th day of December. This document omitting only portions of less abiding interest is as follows : MR. LINCOLN'S ANNUAL MESSAGE. FELLOW-CITIZENS OP THE SENATE AND HOUSE OP REP- RESENTATIVES : Another year of health and sufficiently abun- dant harvests, has passed. For these, and especially for the improved condition of our National affairs, our renewed and profoundest gratitude to God is due. LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 463 We remain in peace and friendship with foreign powers^ The efforts of disloyal citizens of the United States to involve us in foreign wars, to aid an inexcusable insurrection, have been unavailing. Her Britannic Majesty's Government, as was justly expected, have exercisfed their authority to prevent the departure of new hostile expeditions from British ports. The Emperor of France has, by a like proceeding, promptly vindi- cated the neutrality which he proclaimed at the beginning of the contest. Questions of great intricacy and importance have arisen, out of the blockade and other belligerent operations, between the Government and several of the maritime powers, but they have been discussed, and, Ss far as was possible, accommo- dated in a spirit of frankness, justice, and mutual good will. It is especially gratifying that our prize courts, by the impartiality of their adjudications, have commanded the respect and confi- dence of maritime powers. The supplemental treaty between the United States and Great Britain for the suppression of the African slave-trade, made on the 17th day of February last, has been duly ratified, and carried into execution. It is believed that, so far as American ports and American citizens are concerned, that inhuman and odious traffic has been brought to an end. . . . Incidents occurring in the progress of our civil war have forced upon my attention the uncertain state of international questions touching the rights of foreigners in this country and of United States citizens abroad. In regard to some Govern- ments, these rights are at least partially defined by treaties. In no instance, however, is it 'expressly stipulated that, in the event of civil war, a foreigner residing in this country, within the lines of the insurgents, is to be exempted from the rule which classes him as a belligerent, in whose behalf the Govern- ment of his country can not expect any privileges or immuni- ties distinct from that character. I regret to say, however, that such claims have been put forward, and, in some instances, in behalf of foreigners who have lived in the United States the greater part of their lives. There is reason to believe that many persons born in for- eign countries, who have declared their intention to become citizens, or who have been fully naturalized, have evaded the military duty required of them by denying the fact, and thereby throwing upon the Government the burden of proof. It has been found difficult or impracticable to obtain this proof, from the want of guides to the proper'sources of information. These might be supplied by requiring clerks of courts, where decla- rations of intention may be made or naturalizations effected, to send, periodically, lists of the names of the persons naturalized, 464 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. or declaring their intention to become citizens, to the Secre- tary of the Interior, in whose Department those names might be arranged and printed for general information. There is also reason to believe that foreigners frequently become citizens of the United States for the sole purpose of evading duties imposed by the laws of their native countries, to which, on becoming naturalized here, they at once repair, and, though never returning to the United States, they still claim the interposition of this Government as citizens. Many alter- cations and great prejudices have heretofore arisen out of this abuse. It is, therefore, submitted to your serious considera- tion. It might be advisable to fix a limit, beyond which no citizen of the United States residing abroad may claim the interposition of his Goyernment. The right of suffrage has often been assumed and exercised by aliens, under pretenses of naturalization, which they have disavowed when drafted into the militarv service. I submit the expediency of such an amendment of the law as will make the fact of voting an estoppel against any plea of exemption from military service, or other civil obligation, on the ground of alienage The condition of the several organized Territories is gene- rally satisfactory, although Indian disturbances in New Mexico have not been entirely suppressed. The mineral resources of Colorado, Nevada, Idaho, New Mexico, and Arizona are proving far richer than has been heretofore understood. I lay before you a communication on this subject from the Governor of New Mexico. I again submit to your consideration the expe- diency of establishing a system for the encouragement of immi- gration. Although this source of National wealth and strength is again flowing with greater freedom than for several years before the insurrection occurred, there is still a great deficiency of laborers in every field of industry, especially in agriculture and in our mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals. While the demand for labor is thus increased here, tens of thousands of persons, destitute of remunerative occu- pation, are thronging our foreign consulates, and offering to emigrate to the United States if essential, but very cheap, assistance can be afforded them. It is easy to see that, under the sharp discipline of civil war, the nation is beginning a new life. This noble effort demands the aid, and ought to receive the attention and support, of the Government. Injuries, unforeseen by the Government and unintended, may, in some cases, have been inflicted on the subjects or citizens of foreign countries, both at sea and on land, by persons in the service of the United States. As this Government expects LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 465 redress from other Powers when similar injuries are inflicted by persons in their service upon citizens of the United States, we must be prepared to do justice to foreigners. If the exist- ing judicial tribunals are inadequate to this purpose, a special court may be authorized, with power to hear and decide such claims of the character referred to as may have arisen under treaties and the public law. Conventions for adjusting the claims by joint commission have been proposed to some Gov- ernments, but no definite answer to the proposition has ye't been received from any. In the course of the session, I shall probably have occasion to request you to provide indemnification to claimants where decrees of restitution have been rendered and damages awarded by admiralty courts, and in other cases, where this Government may be acknowledged to be liable in principle, and where the amount of that liability has been ascertained by an informal arbitration. The proper officers of the Treasury have deemed themselves required, by the law of the United States upon the subject, to demand a tax upon the incomes of foreign consuls in this country. While such demand may not, in strictness, be in dei'Ogation of public law, or perhaps of any existing treaty between the United States and a foreign country, the expe- diency of so far modifying the act as to exempt from tax the income of such consuls as are not citizens of the United States, derived from the emoluments of their office, or from property not situated in the United States, is submitted to your serious consideration. I make this suggestion upon the ground that a comity which ought to be reciprocated exempts our consuls, in all other countries, from taxation to the extent thus indi- cated. The United States, I think, ought not to be exception- ably illiberal to international trade and commerce. The operations of the Treasury during the last year have been successfully conducted. The enactment by Congress of a National Banking Law has proved a valuable support of the public credit ; and the general legislation in relation to loans has fully answered the expectations of its favorers. Some amendments may be required to perfect existing laws ; but no change in their principles or general scope is believed to be needed. Since these measures have been in operation, all demands on the Treasury, including the pay of the Army and Navy, have been promptly met and fully satisfied. No considerable body of troops, it is believed, were ever more amply provided, and more liberally and punctually paid ; and it may be added that 466 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. by no people were the burdens incident to a great war ever more cheerfully borne. The receipts during the year from all sources, including loans and the balance in the Treasury at its commencement, were $901,125,674 86, and the aggregate disbursements, $895,796,630 05, leaving a balance on the 1st of July, 1863, of 5,329,044 21. Of the receipts there were derived from cus- toms $69,059,642 40 ; from internal revenue, $37,640,787 95 ; from direct tax, $1,485,103 61; from lands, $167,617 17; from miscellaneous sources, $3,046,615 35 ; and from loans, $776,682,361 57 ; making the aggregate, $901,125,674 86. Of the disbursements, there were, for the civil service, $23,253,922 08; for pensions and Indians, $4,216,520 79; for interest on public debt, $24,729,846 51; for the War Department, $599,298,600 83; for the Navy Department, 863,211,105 27 ; for payment of funded and temporary debt, $181,086,635 07; making the aggregate, $895,796,630 65; 'and leaving the balance of $5,329,044 21. But the pay- ment of funded and temporary debt, having been made from moneys borrowed during the year, must be regarded as merely nominal payments, and the moneys borrowed to make them as merely nominal receipts ; and their amount, $181,086,635 07, should therefore be deducted both from receipts and disbursements. This being done, there remain, as actual receipts, $720,039,039 79; and the actual dis- bursements, $714,709,995 58, leaving the balance as already stated. The actual receipts and disbursements for the first quarter, and the estimated receipts and disbursements for the remaining three quarters, of the current fiscal year 1864, will be shown in detail by the report of the Secretary of the Treasury, to which I invite your attention. It is sufficient to say here that it is not believed that actual results will exhibit a state of the finances less favorable to the country than the estimates of that officer heretofore submitted ; while it is confidently expected that at the close of the year both disbursements and debt will be found very considerably less than has been anticipated. The report of the Secretary of War is a document of great interest. It consists of 1. The military operations of the year, detailed in the report of the General-in-Chief. 2. The organization of colored persons into the war service. 3. The exchange of prisoners, fully set forth in the letter of General Hitchcock. 4. The operations under the act for enrolling and calling out LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 467 the National forces, detailed in the report of the Provost Mar- shal General. 5. The organization of the invalid corps ; and 6. The operation of the several departments of the Quar- termaster General, Commissary General, Paymaster General, Chief of Engineers, Chief of Ordnance, and Surgeon General. It has appeared impossible to make a valuable summary of this report, except such as would be too extended for this place, and hence I content myself by asking your careful atten- tion to the report itself. The duties devolving on the naval branch of the service dur- ing the year, and throughout the whole of this unhappy con- test, have been discharged with fidelity and eminent success. The extensive blockade has been constantly increasing in efficiency, and the Navy has expanded ; yet on so long a line it has so far been impossible to entirely suppress illicit trade. From returns received at the Navy Department, it appears that more than one thousand vessels have been captured since the blockade was instituted, and that the value of prizes already sent in for adjudication, amounts to over thirteen million dollars. The naval force of the United States consists, at this time, of five hundred and eighty-eight vessels, completed and in the course of completion, and of these seventy-five are iron-clad or armored steamers. The events of the war give an increased interest and importance to the Navy, which will probably ex- tend beyond the war itself. The armored vessels in our Navy, completed and in service, or which are under contract and approaching completion, are believed to exceed in number those of any other Power. But while these may be relied upon for harbor defense and coast service, others, of greater strength and capacity, will be neces- sary for cruising purposes, and to maintain our rightful posi- tion on the ocean. The change that has taken place in naval vessels and naval warfare since the introduction of steam as a motive power for ships-of-war, demands either a corresponding change in some of our existing navy -yards, or the establishment of new ones, for the construction and necessary repair of modern naval vessels. No inconsiderable embarrassment, delay, and public injury have been experienced from the want of such Govern- mental establishments. The necessity of such a navy-yard, so furnished, at some suitable place upon the Atlantic seaboard, has, on repeated occasions, been brought to the attention of Con- gress by the Navy Department, and is again presented in the report of the Secretary which accompanies this communication. 468 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. I think it my duty to invite your special attention to this sub- ject, and also to that of establishing a yard and depot for naval purposes upon one of the Western rivers. A naval force has been created on those interior waters, and under many disad- vantages, within little more than two years, exceeding in num- bers the whole naval force of the country at the commencement of the present Administration. Satisfactory and important as have been the performances of the heroic men of the Navy at this interesting period, they are scarcely more wonderful than the success of our mechanics and artisans in the produc- tion of war vessels, which has created a new form of naval power. Our country has advantages superior to any other nation in our resources of iron and timber, with inexhaustible quantities of fuel in the immediate vicinity of both, and all available and in close proximity to navigable waters. Without the advantage of public works, the resources of the nation have been devel- oped, and its power displayed, in the construction of a navy of such magnitude, which has, at the very period of its creation, rendered signal service to the Union. The increase of the number of seamen in the public service, from seven thousand five hundred men in the spring of 1861, to about thirty-four thousand at the present time, has been accomplished without special legislation or extraordinary boun- ties to promote that increase; It has been found, however, that the operation of the draft, with the high bounties paid for army recruits, is beginning to affect injuriously the naval service, and will, if not corrected, be likely to impair its effi- ciency, by detaching seamen from their proper vocation and inducing them to enter the army. I therefore respectfully suggest that Congress might aid both the army and naval services by a definite provision on this subject, which would at the same time be equitable to the communities more especially interested. I commend to your consideration the suggestions of the Secretary of the Navy in regard to the policy of foster- ing and training seamen, and also the education of officers and engineers for the naval service. The Naval Academy is rendering signal service in preparing midshipmen for the highly responsible duties which in after-life they will be required to perform. In order that the country should not be deprived of the proper quota of educated officers for which legal provision has been made at the Naval School, the vacancies caused by the neglect or omission to make nominations from the States in insurrection have been filled by the Secretary of the Navy. Tlie school is now more fuH and complete than at any former LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 469 period, and in every respect entitled to the favorable conside- ration of Congress. During the past fiscal year the financial condition of the Post Office Department has been one of increasing prosperity, and I am gratified in being able to state that the actual postal revenue has nearly equaled the entire expenditures; the latter amounting to 811,314,206 84, and the former to 811,163,789 59, leaving a deficiency of but 8150,417 25. In 1860, the year immediately preceding the rebellion, the deficiency amounted to 5,656,705 49, the postal receipts of that year being $2,645,722 19 less than those of 1863. The decrease since 1860 in the annual amount of transportation has been only about 25 per cent., but the annual expenditure on account of the same has been reduced 35 per cent. It is manifest, there- fore, that the Post Office Department may become self-sustain- ing in a few years, even with the restoration of the whole service The quantity of land disposed of during the last and the first quarter of the present fiscal years was 3,841,549 acres, of which 161.911 acres were sold for cash, 1,456,514 acres were taken up under the homestead law. and the residue disposed of under laws granting lands for military bounties, for railroad and other purposes. It also appears that the sale of the public lands is largely on the increase. It has long been a cherished opinion of some of our wisest statesmen that the people of the United States had a higher and more enduring interest in the early settlement and sub- stantial cultivation of the public lands than in the amount of direct revenue to be derived from the sale of them. This opin- ion has had a controlling influence in shaping legislation upon the subject of our National domain. I may cite, as evidence of this, the liberal measures adopted in reference to actual set- tlers ; the grants to the States of the overflowed lands within their limits, in order to their being reclaimed and rendered fit for cultivation ; the grants to railway companies of alternate sec- tions of land upon the contemplated lines of their roads, which, when completed, will so largely multiply the facilities for reach- ing our distant possessions. This policy has received its most signal and beneficent illustration in the recent enactment grant- ing homesteads to actual settlers. Since the 1st day of Jan- uary last, the before-mentioned quantity of 1,456,514 acres of land have been taken up under its provisions. This fact and the amount of sales furnish gratifying evidence of increasing settlement upon the public lands, notwithstanding the great struggle in which the energies of the Nation ha.ve been en- 470 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. gaged, and which has required so large a withdrawal of our citizens from their accustomed pursuits The measures provided at your last session for the removal of certain Indian tribes, have been carried into effect. Sundry treaties have been negotiated which will, in due time, be sub- mitted for the constitutional action of the Senate. They con- tain stipulations for extinguishing the possessory rights of the Indians to large and valuable tracts of lands. It is hoped that the effect of these treaties will result in the establishment of permanent friendly relations with such of these tribes as have been brought into frequent and bloody collision with our out- lying settlements and emigrants. Sound policy and our imper- ative duty to these wards of the Government demand our anxious and constant attention to their material well-being, to their progress in the arts of civilization, and above all, to that moral training which, under the blessing of Divine Providence, will confer upon them the elevated and sanctifying influences, the hopes and consolations of the Christian faith When Congress assembled a year ago, the war had already lasted nearly twenty months ; and there had been many con- flicts on both land .and sea, with varying results. The rebel- lion had been pressed back into reduced limits ; yet the tone of public feeling and opinion, at home and abroad, was not sat- isfactory. With other signs, the popular elections, then just past, indicated uneasiness among ourselves, while, amid much that was cold and menacing, the kindest words coming from Europe were uttered in accents of pity that we were too blind to surrender a hopeless cause. Our commerce was suffering greatly by a few armed vessels built upon and furnished from foreign shores ; and we were threatened with such additions from the same quarter as would sweep our trade from the sea and raise our blockade. We had failed to elicit from European Governments any thing hopeful upon this subject. The pre- liminary Emancipation Proclamation, issued in September, was running its assigned period to the beginning of the new year. A month later the final proclamation came, including the an- nouncement that colored men of suitable condition would be received into the war service. The policy of emancipation, and of employing black soldiers, gave to the future a new aspect, about which hope and fear and doubt contended in uncertain conflict. According to our political system, as a matter of civil administration, the General Government had no lawful power to effect emancipation in any State ; and for a long time it had been hoped that the rebellion could be suppressed with- out resorting to it as a military measure. It was all the while deemed possible that the necessity for it might come, arid that, LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 471 if it should, the crisis of the contest would then be presented. It came, and as was anticipated, it was followed by dark and doubtful days. Eleven months having now passed, we are per- mitted to take another review. The Rebel borders are pressed still further back, and by the complete opening of the Missis- sippi the country dominated by the rebellion is divided into distinct parts, with no practical communication between them. Tennessee and Arkansas have been substantially cleared of insurgent control, and influential citizens in each, owners of slaves and advocates of slavery at the beginning of the rebel- lion, now declare openly for emancipation in their respective States. Of those States not included in the Emancipation Proc- lamation, Maryland and Missouri, neither of which, three years ago, would tolerate any restraint upon the extension of slavery into new Territories, only dispute now as to the best mode of removing it within their own limits. Of those wfio were slaves at the beginning of the rebellion, full one hundred thousand are now in the United States mili- tary service, about one-half of which number actually bear arms in the ranks ; thus giving the double advantage of taking so much labor from the insurgent cause, and supplying the places which otherwise must be filled with so many white men. So far as tested, it is difficult to say they are not as good soldiers as any. No servile insurrection, or tendency to violence or cruelty, has marked the measures of emancipation and arming the blacks. These measures have been much discussed in for- eign countries, and contemporary with such discussion the tone of public sentiment there is much improved. At home the Bame measures have been fully discussed, supported, criticised, and denounced, and the annual elections following are highly encouraging to those whose official duty it is to bear the coun- try through this great trial. Thus we have the new reckoning. The crisis which threatened to divide the friends of the Union is past. Looking now to the present and future, and with reference to a resumption of the National authority within the States wherein that authority has been suspended, I have thought fit to issue a proclamation, a copy of which is herewith trans- mitted. On examination of this proclamation it will appear, as is believed, that nothing is attempted beyond what is amply justified by the Constitution. True, the form of an oath Is given, but no man is coerced to take it. The man is only promised a pardon in case he voluntarily takes the oath. The Constitution authorizes the Executive to grant or withhold the pardon at his own absolute discretion ; and this includes the ii^Ut' : 472 LIFE OF ABRAHAMS LINCOLN. power to grant on terms, as is fully established by judicial and other authorities. It is also proffered that if, in any of the States named, a State Government shall be, in the mode prescribed, set up, such Gov- ernment shall be recognized and guaranteed by the United States, and that under it the State shall, on the constitutional conditions, be protected against invasion and domestic violence. The constitutional obligation of the United States to guarantee to every State in the Union a republican form of government, and to protect the State, in the cases stated, is explicit and full. But why tender the benefits of this provision only to a State Government set up in this particular way? This section of the Constitution contemplates a case wherein the clement within a State favorable to republican government, in the Union, may be too feeble for an opposite and hostile element external to or even within the State ; and such are precisely the cases with which we are now dealing. An attempt to guarantee and protect a revived State Govern- ment, constructed in whole, or in preponderating part, from the very element against whose hostility and violence it is to be protected, is simply absurd. There must be a test by which to separate the opposing element, so as to build only from the Bound ; and that test is a sufficiently liberal one, which accepts as sound whoever will make a sworn recantation of his former unsoundness. But if it be proper to require, as a test of admission to the political body, an oath of allegiance to the Constitution of the United States, and to the Union under it, why also to the laws and proclamations in regard to slavery? Those laws and pro- clamations were enacted and put forth for the purpose of aid- ing in the suppression of the rebellion. To give them their fullest effect, there had to be a pledge for their maintenance. In my judgment they have aided, and will further aid, the cause for which they were intended. To now abandon them would be not only to relinquish a lever of power, but would also be a cruel and an astounding breach of faith. I may add at this point that, while I remain in my present position, I shall not attempt to retract or modify the Emancipation Proclama- tion ; nor shall I return to slavery any person who is free by the terms of that proclamation, or by any of the acts of Con- gress. For these and other reasons, it is thought best that support of these measures shall be included in the oath ; and it is believed the Executive may lawfully claim it in return for pardon and restoration of forfeited rights, which he has clear constitutional power to withhold altogether, or grant upon the ' terms which he shall deem wisest for the public interest. It LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 473 should be observed, also, that this part of the oath is subject to the modifying and abrogating power of legislation and_ supreme judicial decision. The proposed acquiescence of the National Executive in any reasonable temporary State arrangement for the freed people, is made with the view of possibly modifying the confusion and destitution which must, at best, attend all classes by a total revolution of labor throughout whole States. It is hoped that the already deeply afflicted people in those States may be some- what more ready to give up the cause of their affliction, if, to this extent, this vital matter be left to themselves ; while no power of the National Executive to prevent an abuse, is abridged by the proposition. The suggestion in the proclamation as to maintaining the political framework of the States on what is called reconstruc- tion, is made in the hope that it may do good without danger of harm. It will save labor, and avoid great confusion. But why any proclamation now upon this subject? This question is beset with the conflicting views that the step might be delayed too long or be taken too soon. In some States the elements for resumption seem ready for action, but remain inactive, apparently for want of a rallying point a plan of action. Why shall A adopt the plan of B, rather than B that of A? And if A and B should agree, how can they know but that the General Government here will reject their plan ? By the proclamation a plan is presented which may be accepted by them as a rallying point, and which they are assured in advance will not be rejected here. This may bring them to act sooner than they otherwise would. The objection to a premature presentation of a plan by the National Executive consists in the danger of committals on points which could be more safely left to 'further developments. Care has been taken to so shape the document as to avoid em- barrassments from this source. Saying that, on certain terms, certain classes will be pardoned, with rights restored, it is not said that other classes or other terms will never be included. Saying that reconstruction will be accepted, if presented in a specified way, it is not said it will never be accepted in any other way. The movements, by State action, for emancipation in several of the States, not included in the Emancipation Proclamation, are matters of profound gratulation. And while I do not repeat in detail what I have heretofore so earnestly urged upon this subject, my general views and feelings remain unchanged ; and I trust that Congress will omit no fair opportunity of aid- ing these important steps to a great consummation. 40 474 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. In the midst of other care?, however important, we must not lose sight of the fact that the war power is still our main reli- ance. 9o that power alone can we look, yet for a time, to give confidence to the people in the contested regions that the insur- gent power will not again overrun them. Until that confi- dence shalfbe established, little can be done any-where for what is called reconstruction. Hence our chiefest care must still be directed to the Army and Navy, who have thus far borne their harder part so nobly and well. And it may be esteemed fortu- nate that in giving the greatest efficiency to these indispensable arms, we do also honorably recognize the gallant men, from commander to sentinel, who compose them, and to whom, more than to others, the world must stand indebted for the home of freedom disinthralled, regenerated, enlarged, and perpetuated. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. DECEMBER 8, 1863. During its first session, the President found in this Congress the ready cooperation he needed in all measures for the prose- cution of the war. A system of direct taxation, affording a firm basis for all Government securities, and insuring against financial disaster, was carefully matured and passed. The enactments required to carry out the policy of the distinguished Secretary of the Treasury, and to sustain his earnest efforts, hitherto successful, to meet all the pressing demands upon the National exchequer, received the necessary attention. A con- trolling desire to further the energetic exertions of the Gov- ernment in preparing for the grand struggle with rebellion in its last desperate campaign, as hoped, was so manifested in the action of both Houses as to inspire the country with confidence in a speedy and favorable issue of the war. The improved temper of the House of Bepresentatives, as compared even with that of the preceding one, was seen in its severe and indignant censure of the Secessionist, Harris, of Maryland, (whose expulsion was voted by a decided majority of the members, failing of the requisite two-thirds only by the recusancy of Democrats professedly loyal,) and of his sympa- thizing coadjutor, Alexander Long, of Ohio, both declared " unworthy members " of that body. It will be borne in mind that Vallandigham, of whom Long was but a docile disciple, habitually belched his treasonable sentiments in the previous LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 475 House without official rebuke ; and that traitors, like Burnett, of Kentucky, and Reid, of Missouri, retained their seats therein through the extra session, going directly after into the Rebel military or civil service. Toleration to treason in utterance was now no longer a virtue. On the first day of the session, Mr. Washburne, of Illinois, offered a joint resolution, reviving the rank of Lieutenant General in the army. This resolution was adopted by both Houses in the last days of February, and was approved by the President. All eyes were now turned upon Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, the hero of so many victories, who was seen to be, if not the most earnest and the most unselfish, at least the most suc- cessful, commander in a war, in which so many officers had won a high place in popular regard, as the fit person to receive this chief honor, with its immense responsibilities. The Presi- dent immediately nominated Gen. Grant as Lieutenant Gene- ral, and he was unanimously confirmed, on the 2d day of March, by the Senate. Having been called to Washington without delay, he received his commission with a rare modesty, and at once proceeded to organize a grand campaign, embracing the armies of the East and the West in a combined effort for their closing work. In intrusting this great power to Lieut. -Gen. Grant, the direction of military affairs was limited by no hampering con- ditions. The entire forces of the country, with such subordi- nates and such preparations as he chose to ask, were freely placed at his disposal. The Lieutenant General had not only heartily supported the Administration in its endeavors to put down, by vigorous attacks, a wantonly wicked insurrection, but he had emphati- cally expressed, in his correspondence, his personal approval of the President's policy of emancipation and of enrolling col- ored soldiers in the armies of the Government. Earlier movements in Florida and in Louisiana, already undertaken, afforded no very auspicious opening to the cam- paigning season ; Fort Pillow on the Mississippi and Plymouth in North Carolina were captured by the Rebels, followed by massacres unparalleled in barbarism by the acts of any profes- 476 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. sedly civilized people since the darkest ages ; but the grand armies of Eastern Tennessee and in Virginia, heavily increased in strength by new levies and by the withdrawal of troops from positions in which their action could not be effective in exe- cuting the intended advance upon the great central points of the rebellion, were put in condition for striking the last mortal blows upon a tottering conspiracy, too long suffered to gather hope from the delay of retribution on its crimes. The following speech, delivered by Mr. Lincoln on the 18th of April, 1864, at a fair held in Baltimore for the benefit of the United States Sanitary Commission, is particularly suggestive, in regard to the date, place, and occasion of its delivery. On his way to Washington, in February, 1861, he passed through the city of Baltimore incognito, to escape from a plot of assas- sination, of which he had been forewarned. On the 19th of April, in the same year, the blood of loyal soldiers, on march- ing to protect the National Capital, had flowed in the streets of that city. He now stood before an immense throng in the same city, on the anniversary eve of the assault upon those soldiers, at the fair in aid of an organization for the benefit of Union soldiers every-where. He spoke, too, of slavery, and was loudly cheered when he referred to the practically accom- plished annihilation of that institution in Maryland. He even took this opportunity the first public occasion presented to announce his determined purpose of enforcing retaliation (long before enjoined on the army by special orders) for the crime, then just perpetrated, of massacreing the colored garrison of Fort Pillow, refusing quarter. The report of this speech, as it appeared in the Baltimore journals at the time, is here given : After the cheering had ended, and after, with great exer- tions, order had been secured every body being anxious to see the President he said, substantially: LADIES AND GENTLEMEN : Calling it to mind that we are in Baltimore, we can not fail to note that the world moves. [Ap- plause.] Looking upon the many people I see assembled here to serve as they best may the soldiers of the Union, it occurs to me that three years ago those soldiers could not pass through Baltimore. I would say. blessings upon the men who have LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 477 wrought these changes, and the ladies who have assisted them. [Applause.] This change which has taken place in Baltimore, is part only of a far wider change that is taking place all over the country. When the war commenced, three years ago, no one expected that it would last this long, and no one supposed that the in- stitution of slavery would be materially affected by it. But here we are. The war is not yet ended, and slavery has been very materially affected or interfered with. [Loud applause.] So true is it that man proposes and God disposes. The world is in want of a good definition of the word liberty. We all declare ourselves to be for liberty, but we do not all mean the same thing. Some mean that a man can do as he pleases with himself and his property. With others, it means that some men can do as they please with other men and other men's labor. Each of these things are called liberty, although they are entirely different. To give an illustration : A shep- herd drives the wolf from the throat of his sheep when attacked by him, and the sheep, of course, thanks the shepherd for the preservation of his life ; but the wolf denounces him as despoil- ing the sheep of his liberty especially if it be a black sheep. [Applause.] This same difference of opinion prevails among some of the people of the North. But the people of Maryland have re- cently been doing something to properly define the meaning of the word, and I thank them from the bottom of my heart for what they have done and are doing. [Applause.] It is not very becoming for a President to make a speech at great length, but there is a painful rumor afloat in the country, in reference to which a few words shall be said. It is reported that there has been a wanton massacre of some hundreds of col- ored soldiers at Fort Pillow, Tennessee, during a recent engage- ment there, and it is fit to explain some facts in relation to the affair. It is said by some persons that the Government is not, in this matter, doing its duty. At the commencement of the war, it was doubtful whether black men would be used as soldiers or not. The matter was examined into very carefully, and after mature deliberation, the whole matter resting as it were with himself, he, in his judgment, decided that they should. [Applause.] He was responsible for the act to the American people, to a Christian nation, to the future historian, and, above all, to his God, to whom he would have, one day, to render an account of his stewardship. He would now say that in his opinion the black soldier should have the same protection as the white sol- dier, and he would have it. [Applause.] It was an error to 478 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. say that the Government was not acting in the matter. The Government has no direct evidence to confirm the reports in existence relative to this massacre, but he himself believed the facts in relation to it to be as stated. When the Government does know the facts from official sources, and they prove to substantiate the reports, retribution will be surely given. [Applause.] A month earlier, Mr. Lincoln had made the following happy response to a call of the assembled multitude at a fair, for sim- ilar objects, held in Washington : LADIES AND GENTLEMEN : I appear, to say but a word. This extraordinary war in which we are engaged falls heavily upon all classes of people, but the most heavily upon the sol- dier. 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 coun- try's cause. The highest merit, then, is due to the soldier. In this extraordinary war, extraordinary developments have manifested themselves, such as have not been seen in former wars ; and among these manifestations nothing has been more remarkable than these fairs for the relief of suffering soldiers and their families. And the chief agents in these fairs are the women of America. I am not accustomed to the use of the 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 [Great applause.] The spring elections of 1864, in New Hampshire, Connect- icut and Rhode Island, showed still more decidedly than those of the previous year, that the Administration had become strong in the confidence and affection of the people. That this gratifying result had a direct relation to Mr. Lincoln in per- son, is seen in the fact that the Administration party in each of those States, had committed itself, without dissent, in favor of his reelection, making this a distinct issue of the canvass. In twelve other States, nearly at the same time, the popular voice, as declared through State Conventions or Legislatures, demanded, with like unanimity and enthusiasm, that Mr. Lin- LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 479 coin should continue in the Presidency for another term. A similar current of opinion was seen to exist in every other loyal State. Since the celebrated " era of good feeling," in the days of President Monroe, this manifestation of popular sentiment has had no parallel. Abroad, too, no less than at home, the true friends of our Government have almost univer- sally looked upon the reelection of Mr. Lincoln, under the present circumstances of the country, as the manifest interest and duty of the American people. The policy of Mr. Lincoln's Administration has been fully set forth in his owu words. No dissembling, no insincerity, gives the least false tinge to any of his public papers or ad- dresses. This outspoken, frank, confiding way of his, has given him a hold upon the popular heart, and upon the love of all true men, such as few statesmen have ever had. " Honesty" is the word which has been commonly used in speaking of this trait coupled with a sterling integrity that excludes all selfish and sinister ends ; yet it is something more, as the Golden Rule has a wider scope than simple justice. He not only really be- lieves in the right and the true as infinitely preferable to the wrong and the false, both in means and in end, but he is also sure that the people have the same pure faith, and will judge him with that degree of candor which he uses in unfolding to them his purposes and his thoughts. The spirit of that Diplo- macy which conceals, and feigns, and doubles, and deceives, never for a moment darkened his mind. Of necessity, the questions relating to slavery and the Afri- can element of our population, have occupied the foremost ground during all this great struggle, in which Mr. Lincoln has been called to lead the organized action of the nation. His whole policy on this general subject, and a concise history of his action and of the processes of his mind thereon, are set forth, with admirable frankness and precision, in the following letter to a gentleman in Kentucky: EXECUTIVE MANSION, ") WASHINGTON, April 4, 1864. j A. G. HODGES, Esq., Frankfort, Ky. My Dear Sir: You ask me to put in writing the substance of what I verbally said, 480 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. the other day, in your presence, to Gov. Bramlette and Senator Dixon. It was about as follows : I am naturally anti-slavery. If slavery is not wrong, noth- ing is wrong. I can not remember when I did not so think and feel. And yet, I have never understood that the Presi- dency conferred upon me an unrestricted right to act officially upon this judgment and feeling. It was in the oath I took, that I would, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. I could not take the office without taking the oath. Nor was it my view, that I might take an oath to get power, and break the oath in using the power. I understood, too, that, in ordinary civil adminis- tration, this oath even forbade me to practically indulge my primary, abstract judgment, on the moral question of slavery. I had publicly declared this many times, and in many ways. And I aver that, to this day, I have done no official act in mere deference to my abstract judgment and feeling on slavery. I did understand, however, that my oath to preserve the Constitution to the best of my ability, imposed upon me the duty of preserving, by every indispensable means, that Gov- ernment that Nation of which that Constitution was the organic law. Was it possible to lose the Nation, and yet pre- serve the Constitution? By general law, life and limb must be protected ; yet often a limb must be amputated to save a life ; but a life is never wisely given to save a limb. I feel that measures, otherwise unconstitutional, might become lawful, by becoming indispens- able to the preservation of the Constitution, through the pre- servation of the Nation. Right or wrong, I assumed this ground, and now avow it. I could not feel that to the best of my ability I had even tried to preserve the Constitution, if to gave slavery or any minor matter, I should permit the wreck of Government, Country and Constitution, all together. When early in the war, Gen. Fremont attempted military emancipa- tion, I forbade it, because I did not then think it an indis- pensable necessity. When a little later, Gen. Cameron, then Secretary of War, suggested the arming of the blacks, I objected, because I did not yet think it an indispensable neces- sity. "When, still later, Gen. Hunter attempted military eman- cipation, I again forbade it, because I did not yet think the indispensable necessity had come. When, in March, and May, and Jujy, 1862, I made earnest and successive appeals to the Border States to favor compen- sated emancipation, I believed the indispensable necessity for military emancipation and arming the blacks would come, unless averted by that measure. They declined the proposi- LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 481 tion, and I was, in my best judgment, driven to the alternative of either surrendering the Union, and with it the Constitution, or of laying strong hand upon the colored element. I chose the latter. In choosing it, I hoped for greater gain than loss ; but of this I was not entirely confident. More than a year of trial now shows no loss by it, in our foreign relations ; none in our home popular sentiment ; none in our white military fofce no loss by it anyhow or any -where. On the contrary, it shows a gain of quite a hundred and thirty thousand soldiers, seamen, and laborers. These are palpable facts, about which, as facts, there can be no caviling. We have the men, and we could not have had them without the measure. And now, let any Union man who complains of the measure, test himself, by writing down in one line that he is for subdu- ing the rebellion by force of arms, and in the next that he is for taking these 130,000 men from the Union side, and placing them where they would be, but for the measure he condemns. If he can not face his cause so stated, it is only because he can not face the truth. I add a word, which was not in the verbal conversation. In telling this tale, I attempt no compliment to my own sagacity. I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me. Now, at the end of three years' struggle, the Nation's condition is not what either party or any man devised or expected. God alone can claim it. Whither it is tending, Beems plain. If God now wills the removal of a great wrong, and wills also that we of the North, as wall as you of the South, shall pay fairly for our complicity in that wrong, impartial history will find therein new cause to attest and revere the justice and goodne.-^s of God. Yours, truly, A. LINCOLN. When Mr. Lincoln's determination to employ negro soldiers first became publicly known, it encountered " conservative " opposition in the loyal States. To many, even, who hoped success from this movement, it was a doubtful experiment. The results shown in the foregoing letter, leave this no longer an open question. Prejudice has given way before demon- strated fact, until soldiers in the field and citizens at home now welcome the aid of this immense power, wrested from the enemy and added to the loyal armies. The arch conspirator at Richmond had the sagacity to see that serious consequences were involved in this policy. Resort- ing to the methods so bug potcut with the men of his class, and 41 482 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. seemingly forgetful, for the moment, that they were not still equally available, he fulminated a threatening edict, designed to arrest this work by intimidation. It was plainly indicated that neither black soldiers nor their white officers need claim any of the immunities recognized under the laws of war. This was emphatically met by the President, in the only possible way, by orders for retaliation, issued to our armies. General Order, No. 100, under date of April 24, 1863, pro- mulgating general instructions for the government of our armies, " previously approved by the President," contain the following directions, specially enjoining the protection of colored troops: The law of nations knows of no distinction of color, and if an enemy of the United States should enslave and sell any captured persons of their army, it would be a case for the severest retaliation, if not redressed upon complaint. The United States can not retaliate by enslavement; therefore, death must be the retaliation for this crime against the law of nations. All troops of the enemy known or discovered to give no quarter in general, or to any portion of the army, receive none. Mr. Lincoln made these instructions more explicit and direct, in the following order issued by himself as Commander-in- Chief, and communicated to the entire Army, referring to this subject alone : EXECUTIVE MANSION, ] WASHINGTON, July 30, 1863. j It is the duty of every Government to give protection to its citizens, of whatever class, color or condition, and especially to those who are duly organized as soldiers in the public service. The law of Nations, and the usages and customs of war, as carried on by civilized powers, permit no distinction as to color in the treatment of prisoners of war as public enemies. To sell or enslave any captured person, on account of his color, and for no offense 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 offense shall be pun- ished by retaliation upon the ecemy's prisoners in our possession. It is therefore ordered, that for every soldier of the United States killed in violation of the laws of war, a Rebel soldier shall be executed ; and for every one enslaved by the enemy or LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 483 sold into slavery, a Rebel soldier shall be placed at hard labor on the public works, and continued at such labor until the other shall be released and receive the treatment due to a pris- oner of war. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. How completely the Administration has been able, under the often critical and complicated situations resulting from an ex- tended blockade of our coast, from a premature concession of belligerent rights to armed Rebels by leading powers of Europe, from the constant pud crafty efforts of Secession emissaries to secure a recognition of the so-called Confederacy by those p owers, and from all the incidents of an unprecedented civil war, necessarily affecting our foreign relations in various ways, to maintain peace with other nations, can not be lost sight of in the excitement of military events at home. The value of this successful pacific policy which has been attended by an increase rather than a diminution of respect abroad can not be too highly estimated. Not less conspicuous is the success which has attended the financial policy of the Government. This is, indeed, a marvel which would have hardly been credited in advance as possible, with the prospect of a war lengthened out beyond the period of three years, and calling into the service a million and a half of men, with all the attendant expenditures. To-day, however, Gov- ernment securities are firm ; no one doubts the full payment of every dollar of the public indebtedness; every new loan is speed- ily taken ; and no adjusted claim has long to await liquidation. The operations of the Army and Navy, Delated in only the merest summary of the more prominent events, and necessarily excluding more than an allusion to much that would have re- quired volumes to detail at large, have engrossed a 1 great por- tion of the preceding pages. Could exact justice be done in such a narrative, as affecting both these branches of the service, it would clearly appear that neither has been wanting m effi- cient executive management, or in its proper share of the great work already accomplished. On these two strong arms of war, now so organized by the President as to secure universal confidence, must mainly depend the future issues of the great conflict. APPENDIX. VARIOUS PROCLAMATIONS, LETTERS, ETC., OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN, NOT CONTAINED IN THE BODY OF THE WORK, RESPECTING SOLDIERS ABSENT WITHOUT LEAVE. BT THE PRESIDENT 0? THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA A PROCLAMATION. EXECUTIVE MANSION, ") WASHINGTON, March 10, 1863. } In pursuance of the twenty-sixth section of the act of Con- gress, entitled an act for enrolling and calling out the National forces, and for other purposes, approved on the third of March, in the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty -three, I, Abraham Lincoln, President and Commander-in-chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, do hereby order and command that all soldiers enlisted or drafted into the service of the United States, now absent from their regiments without leave, shall forthwith return to their respective regiments ; and I do hereby declare and proclaim that all soldiers now absent from their respective regiments without leave, who shall, on or before the first day of April, 1863, report themselves at any rendezvous designated by the general orders of the War Depart- ment, No. 58, hereto annexed, may be restored to their respective regiments without punishment, except the forfeiture of pay and allowances 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 sol- diers remaining in the ranks to increased hardships and dangers ; I do, therefore, call upon all patriotic and faithful citizens to oppose and resist the aforementioned dangerous and treasonable crimes, and aid in restoring to their regiments all soldiers ab- sent without leave, and assist in the execution of the act of Congress for " enrolling and calling out the National forces, 484 APPENDIX. 485 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 set my hand. Done at the city of Washington, this tenth day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-seventh. By the President : ABRAHAM LINCOLN. EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War. A NATIONAL FAST. BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES 07 AMERICA A. PROCLAMATION. WHEREAS, The Senate of the United States, devoutly recog- nizing the supreme authority and just government of Almighty God, in all the affairs of men and of nations, has, by a resolu- tion, requested the President to designate and set apart a day for National prayer and humiliation ; AND WHEREAS, It is the duty of nations, as well as of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth announced in the Holy Scriptures, and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord ; And, insomuch as we know that, by His divine law, nations, like individuals, are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war, which now desolates the land, may be but a pun- ishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our National reformation as a whole people ? We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and pros- perity. We have grown in numbers, wealth, and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us ; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us ! It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess ou/ National sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness. Now, therefore, in compliance with the request, and fully con- 486 APPENDIX. earring in the views of the Senate, I do, by this my proclama- tion, designate and set apart Thursday, the thirtieth day of April, 1863, as a day of National humiliation, fasting, and prayer. And I do hereby request all the people to abstain on that day from their ordinary secular pursuits, and to unite, at their several places of public worship and their respective homes, in keeping the day holy to the Lord, and devoted to the humble discharge of the religious duties proper to that solemn occasion. All this being done, in sincerity and truth, let us then rest humbly in the hope, authorized by the Divine teachings, that the united cry of the nation will be heard on high, and an- swered with blessings, no less than the pardon of our National sins, and restoration of our now divided and suffering country to its former happy condition of unity and peace. 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, on this thirtieth day i- -i of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight - ' 'J hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-seventh. By the President: ABRAHAM LINCOLN. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. THE DRAFT A PROCLAMATION BY THE PRESIDENT. WASHINGTON, May 8, 1863. BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA A. PROCLAMATION. WHEREAS, The Congress of the United States, at its last session, enacted a law, entitled " An act for enrolling and call- ing 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 Government to suppress insub- ordination and rebellion, to guarantee to each State a repub- lican form of government, and to preserve the public tranquil- lity ; and . WHEREAS, For these high purposes, a military force is in- dispensable, to raise and support which all persons ought wil- lingly to contribute ; and WHEREAS, No service can be more praiseworthy and hon- orable 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 APPENDIX. 487 the said statute 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 pur- suance 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 military 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, within the ages specified in said act, who have heretofore declared on oath their intentions to become citizens under and in pursuance to the laws of the United States, and who have not exercised the right of suffrage, or any other po- litical franchise under the laws of the United States, or of any of the States thereof, that they are not absolutely precluded by their aforesaid declaration of intention from renouncing their purpose to become citizens ; and that, on the contrary, such persons, under treaties and the law of nations, retain a right to renounce that purpose, and to forego the 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 alienage will be received, or allowed, to exempt from the obligations imposed by the afore- said act of Congress any person of foreign birth who shall have declared on oath his intention to become a citizen of the United States, under the laws thereof, and who shall be found within the United States at any time during the continuance of the present insurrection and rebellion, at or after the expi- ration 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 intention 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 the laws thereof, or under the laws of any of the several States. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington this'Sth day of [L. s.] May, in the year of our Lord 1863, and of the inde- pendence of the United States th.e eighty-seventh. By the President: ABRAHAM LINCOLN. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. 488 APPENDIX. PRESIDENT'S LETTER TO GEN. SCHOFIELD RELATIVE TO THE REMOVAL OP GEN. CURTIS. EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, May 27, 1863. Gen. J. M. SCHOFIELD Dear Sir: Having removed Gen. Curtis and assigned you to the 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 Gen. Curtis be- cause of my full conviction that he had done wrong by com- mission 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 the people, have entered into a pestilent, fac- tious quarrel among themselves, Gen. Curtis, perhaps not of choice, being the head of one faction, and Gov. Gamble that of the other. After months of labor to reconcile the difficulty, it seemed to grow worse and worse, until I felt it my duty to break it up somehow, and as I could not remove Gov. Gamble, I had to remove Gen. Curtis. Now that you are in the posi- tion, I wish you to undo nothing merely because Gen. Curtis or Gov. Gamble did it, but to exercise your own judgment, and do right for the public interest. Let your military measures be strong enough to repel the invaders and keep the peace, and not so strong as to unnecessarily harass and persecute the people. It is a difficult role, and so much greater will be the honor if you perform it well. If both factions, or neither, shall abuse you, you will probably be about right. Beware of being as- sailed by one and praised by the other. Yours, truly, A. LINCOLN. **%*&* y ' Preceded by a band of music, many of the citizens of Wash- ington, filled with joy at the defeat of the Eebels at Gettysburg, visited the White House on the evening of the 4th of July, 1863, and serenaded the President, who acknowledged the compliment in the following terms: FELLOW-CITIZENS : I am very glad indeed to see you to- night, and yet I will not say I thank you for this call ; but I do most sincerely thank Almighty God for the occasion on which you have called. Plow long ago is it eighty odd years since, on the 4th of July, for the first time in the history of the world, a nation, by its representatives, assembled and de- clared as a self-evident truth, " that all men are created equal." That was the birthday of the United States of America. Since then the 4th of July has had several very peculiar recogni- tions. The two men most distinguished in the framing and APPENDIX. 489 eupport of the Declaration, were Thomas Jefferson and John Adams the one having penned it, and the other sustained it the most forcibly in debate the only two, of the fifty-five who signed it, who were elected Presidents of the United States. Precisely fifty years after they put their hands to the paper, it pleased Almighty God to take both from this stage of action. This was indeed an extraordinary and remarkable event in our history. Another President, five years after, was called from this stage of existence on the same day and month of the year; and now, on this last 4th of July just past, when we have a gigantic rebellion, at the bottom of which is an effort to over- throw the principle that all men were created equal, we have the surrender of a most powerful position and army on that very day. And not only so, but in a succession of battles in Pennsylvania, near to us, through three days, so rapidly fought that they might be called one great battle, on the 1st, 2d, and 3d of the month of July, and on the 4th the cohorts of those who opposed the declaration that all men are created equal, " turned tail " and run. [Long continued cheers.] Gentle- men, this is a glorious theme, and the occasion for a speech ; but I am not prepared to make one worthy of the occasion. I would like to speak in terms of praise due to the many brave offi- cers and soldiers who have fought in the cause of the Union and liberties of their country from the beginning of the war. These are trying occasions, not only in success, but for the want of success. I dislike to mention the name of one single officer, lest I might do wrong to those I might forget. Recent events bring up glorious names, and particularly prominent ones ; but these I will not mention. Having said this much, I will now take the music. It was on the 4th of July, it will be remembered, that Gen. Pemberton surrendered Vicksburg, with over 30,000 prisoners, to Gen. Grant. EXECUTIVE MANSION, ") WASHINGTON, July 13, 1863. j Maj. Gen. U. S. GRANT My Dear General: I do not re- member that you and I ever met personally. I write this now as a grateful acknowledgment of the almost inestimable service you have done the country. I write to say a word further. When you first reached the vicinity of Yicksburg, I thought you should do what you finally did march the troops across the neck, run the batteries with the transports, and thus go below ; and I never had any faith, except a general hope, that you knew better than I that the Yazoo Pass expedition, and 490 APPENDIX. the like, could succeed. When you got below, and took Port Gibson, Grand Gulf, and vicinity, I thought you should go down the river and join Gen. Banks, and when you turned northward, east of the Big Black, I feared it was a mistake. I now wish to make the personal acknowledgment, that you were right and I was wrong. Yours, truly, A. LINCOLN. PROCLAMATION FOR A DAT OF NATIONAL THANKSGIVING BE- CAUSE OF SIGNAL VICTORIES ON SEA AND LAND. BT THE PBESIDIST OF THS UNITED STATES OF JLMEBICA A PROCLAMATION. It has pleased Almighty God to hearken to the supplications and prayers of an afflicted people, and to vouchsafe to the Army and Navy of the United States on the land and on the sea, victories so signal and so effective as to furnish reasonable grounds for augmented confidence that the Union of these States will be maintained, their Constitution preserved, and their peace and prosperity permanently secured ; but these victories have been accorded, not without sacrifice of life, limb, and liberty, incurred by brave, patriotic, and loyal citi- zens. Domestic affliction, in every part of the country, follows in the train of these fearful bereavements. It is meet and right to recognize and confess the presence of the Almighty Father, and the power of His hand equally in these triumphs and these sorrows. Now, therefore, be it known, that I do set apart Thursday, the 6th day of August next, to be observed as a day for Na- tional Thanksgiving, praise, and prayer ; and I invite the peo- ple of the United States to assemble on that occasion in their customary places of worship, and in the form approved by their own conscience, render the homage due to the Divine Majesty, for the wonderful things He has done in the Nation's behalf, and invoke the influence of His Holy Spirit, to subdue the anger which has produced, and so long sustained, a needless and cruel rebellion ; to change the hearts of the insurgents ; to guide the counsels of the Government with wisdom ade- quate to so great a National emergency, and to visit with ten- der care, and consolation, throughout the length and breadth of our land, all those who, through the vicissitudes of marches, voyages, battles, and sieges, have been brought to suffer in mind, body, or estate, and finally, to lead the whole nation through paths of repentance and submission to the Divine will, back to the perfect enjoyment of union and fraternal peace. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. APPENDIX. 491 Done at the city of Washington, this fifteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight [L. S.] hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the eighty-eighth. By the President : ABRAHAM LINCOLN. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. LETTER PROM THE PRESIDENT TO HON. ERASTUS CORNING AND OTHERS. EXECUTIVE MANSION, ") WASHINGTON, June 13, 1863. } HON. ERASTUS CORNING and others Gentlemen: Your letter of May 19th, inclosing the resolutions of a public meet- ing held at Albany, New York, on the 16th of the same month, was received several days ago. The resolutions, as I understand them, are resolvable into two prop'ositions 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 law- ful measure to suppress the rebellion ; and, secondly, a decla- ration of censure upon the Administration for supposed uncon- stitutional action, such as the making of military arrests. And from the two propositions a third is deduced, which is, that the gentlemen composing the meeting are resolved on doing their part to maintain our common Government and country, despite the folly or wickedness, as they may conceive, of any Adminis- tration. 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 in the 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 personal to myself might follow the censures systematically cast upon me for doing what, in my view of duty, I could not forbear.. The resolutions promise to support me in every constitutional and lawful measure to suppress the rebel- lion, and I have not knowingly employed, nor shall knowingly 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 un- constitutional. I think they are not. The resolutions quote from the Constitution the definition of treason, and also the limiting safeguards and guarantees therein provided for the citizen on trial for treason, and on his being held to answer for 492 APPENDIX. capital, or otherwise infamous crimes, and in criminal prosecu- tions, 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 protection in times of civil commotion." And, apparently to demonstrate the proposition, the resolu- tions proceed : " They were secured substantially to the p]ng- lish people after years of protracted civil war, and were adopted into our Constitution at the close of the Revolution." Would not the demonstration have been better if it could have been truly said that these safeguards had been adopted and applied during the civil wars and during our Revolution, instead of after the one and at the close of the other? I, too, am de- votedly for them after civil war, and before civil war, and at all times, " except when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require " their suspension. The resolu- tions proceed to tell us that these safeguards " have stood the test of seventy-six years of trial, under our republican system, under circumstances which show that, while they constitute the foundation of all free government, they are the elements of the enduring stability of the Republic." No one denies that they have so stood the test up to the beginning of the present re- bellion, if we except.a certain occurrence at New Orleans ; nor does any one question that they will stand the same test much longer after the rebellion closes. But these provisions of the Constitution have no application to the case we have in hand, be- cause the arrests complained of were not made for treason that is, not for the treason defined in the Constitution, and upon con- viction 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 pro- ceedings 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 Prior to my installation here, it had been inculcated that any State had a lawful right to secede from the National Union, and that it would be expedient to exercise the right whenever the devotees of the doctrine should fail to elect a President to their own liking. I was elected contrary to their liking, and accordingly, so far as it was legally possible, they had taken seven States out of the Union, and had seized many of the United States forts, and had fired upon the United States flag, APPENDIX. 493 all before I was inaugurated, and, of course, before I had done any official act whatever. The rebellion thus began soon ran into the present civil war ; and, in certain respects, it began on very unequal terms between the parties. The insurgents had been preparing for it more than thirty years, while the Govern- ment had taken no steps to resist them. The former had care- fully 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 sympathizers pervaded all departments of the Government, and nearly all communities 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 they were inaugurating, by the Constitution itself, the " habeas corpus "> might be suspended ; but they also knew they had friends who would make a question as to who was to suspend it ; mean- while, their spies and others might remain at large to help on their cause. Or if, as has happened, the Executive should suspend the writ, without ruinous waste of time, instances of arresting innocent persons might occur, as are always likely to occur in such cases, and then a clamor could be raised in regard to this which might be, at least, of some service to the insur- gent cause. It needed no very keen perception to discover this part of the enemy's programme, so soon as, by open hostilities, their machinery was put fairly in motion. Yet, thoroughly imbued with a reverence for the guaranteed rights of individ- uals, 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 such cases. Civil courts are organ- ized chiefly for trials of individuals, or, at most, a few individ- uals 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 frequently grow too numer- ous and powerful for the ordinary courts of justice. 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 cue member more- ready to hang the panel than to hang the traitor. Aad yet, again, he who dissuades one man from volunteering, or induces 494 APPENDIX. one soldier to cfcsert, weakens the Union cause as much as he who kills a Union soldier in battle. Yet this dissuasion or in- ducement may be so conducted as to be no defined crime of which any civil court would take cognizance. Ours is a case of rebellion so called by the resolution be- fore me in fact a clear, fragrant, and gigantic case of rebel- lion ; 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, the public safety may require it," is the provision which specially applies to our pres- ent case. This provision plainly attests the understanding of those who made the Constitution, that ordinary courts of- justice are inadequate to " cases of rebellion " attests their purpose that, in such cases, men may be held in custody whom the courts, acting on ordinary rules, would dis- charge. Habeas corpus does not discharge men who are proved to be guilty of defined crime ; and its suspension is allowed by the Constitution on purpose that men may.be ar- rested and held who can not 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 docs 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 ordi- nary and continuous perpetration of crime ; while the latter is directed at sudden and extensive uprisings against the Govern- ment, which at most will succeed or fail in no great length of time. In the latter case arrests are made, not so much for what has been done as for what probably would be done. The latter is more for the preventive and less for the vindictive than the former. In such cases the purposes of men are much more easily understood than in cases of ordinary crime. The man who stands by and says nothing when the peril of his Government is discussed, can not be misunderstood. If not hindered, he is sure to help the enemy ; much more, if he talks ambiguously talks for his country with " buts," and " ifs " and " ands." Of how little value the constitutional pro- visions I have quoted will be rendered, if arrests shall never be made until deflBed crimes shall have been committed, may be illustrated by a few notable examples. Gen. John C. Breckin- ridge, Gen. Robert E. Lee, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, Gen. John B. Magruder, Gen. William B. Preston, Gen. Simon B. Buckner, and Commodore Franklin Buchanan, now occupying the very highest places in the rebel war service, were all within the power of tho Government since the rebellion began . ;.nd APPENDIX. 493 were nearly as well known to be traitors then as now. Un- questionably, 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 by 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 unconstitu- tional in localities where rebellion or insurrection does not act- ually exist. They insist that such arrests shall not be made "outside of the lines of necessary military occupation and the scenes of insurrection." Inasmuch, however, as the Constitu- tion 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 constitu- tional 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 mischievous interference with the raising and supplying of armies to suppress the rebellion, as where the re- bellion 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 dangers of rebellion or invasion. Take the particular case mentioned by the meeting. It is asserted, in substance, that Mr. Vallan- digham was, by a military commander, seized and tried "for no other reason than words addressed to a public meeting, in criti- cism of the course of the Administration, 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 under- stand, was made for a very different reason. Mr. Vallandigham avows his hostility to the war on the part of the Union ; and his arrest was made because he was laboring, with some effect, to prevent the raising of troops ; to encourage desertion from the army, and to leave the rebellion without an adequate mili- tary force to suppress it. He was not arrested because he was damaging the political prospects of the Administration, or the personal interests of the commanding gcuci'iJ, but because he 496 APPENDIX. was damaging the army, upon the existence and vigor of which the life of the nation depends. He was warring upon the mili- tary, 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 mis- take of fact, which I would be glad to correct on reasonably satisfactory evidence. I understand the meeting whose resolutions I am considering to be in favor of suppressing the rebellion by military force by armies. Long experience has shown that armies can not be maintained unless desertions shall be punished by the severe penalty of death. The case requires, and the law and the Con- stitution 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 injurious 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 con- temptible 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 constitu- tional when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety requires them, which would not be constitutional when, in the absence of rebellion or invasion, the public safety does not re- quire 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 Govern- ment can constitutionally take no strong measures in time of rebellion, because it cau 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 appreciate the danger apprehended by the meeting, that the American people will, by means of military arrests during the rebellion, lose the right of public discussion, the liberty of speech and the press, the law of evidence, trial by jury, and habeas corpus, throughout the indefinite peaceful fu- ture, which I trust lies before them, any more than I am able to believe that a man could contract so strong an appetite for APPENDIX. 497 emetics, during temporary illness, as to persist in feeding upon them during the remainder of his healthful life. In giving the resolutions that earnest consideration which you request of me, I can not overlook the fact that the meeting speak as "Democrats." Nor can I, with full respect for their known intelligence, and the fairly presumed deliberation with which they prepared their resolutions, be permitted to suppose that this occurred by accident, or in any way other than that they preferred to designate themselves "Democrats" rather than "American Citizens." In this time of National peril, I 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, we could do better battle for the coun- try 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 arc sure to expend much of our ingenuity and strength in finding fault with and aiming blows at each other. But, since you have denied me this, I will yet be thankful, for the country's sake, that not all Democrats have done so. He on whose discretionary judgment Mr. Vallandig- ham was arrested and tried is a Democrat, having no old party afiinity 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 ap- prove the course taken with Mr. Vallandigham, while I have not heard of a single one condemning it. I can not 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, Gen. Jackson still maintained martial or military law. Now that it could be said the war was over, the clamor against martial law. which had existed from the first, grew more furious. Among other things, a Mr. Louiallier published a denunciatory news- paper article. Gen. Jackson arrested him. A lawyer by the name of Morrel procured the United States Judge Hall to issue a writ of habeas corpus to relieve Mr. Louiallier. Gen. Jackson arrested both the lawyer and the judge. A Mr. Hollander ven- tured to say of some part of the matter that " it was a dirty trick." Gen. Jackson arrested him. When the officer under- took to serve the writ of habeas corpus, Gen. Jackson took it 42 498 APPBNMX. from him, and sent him away with a copy. Holding the judga in custody a few days, the General sent him beyond the limits of his encampment, and set him at liberty, with an order to re- main till the ratification of peace should be regularly announced, or until the British should have left the Southern coast. A day or two more elapsed, the ratification of a treaty of peace was regularly announced, and the judge and others were fully liber- ated. A few days more, and the judge called Gen. 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 Congress refunded principal and interest. The late Senator Douglas, then in the House of Representatives, took a leading part in the debates, in which the constitutional question was much discussed. I am not prepared to say whom the journals would show to have voted for the measure. It may be remarked : First, that we had the same Constitu- tion then as now ; secondly, that we then had a case of inva- sion, and now we have a case of rebellion ; and, thirdly, that the permanent right of the people to public discussion, the lib- erty 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 Gen. Jackson, or its subsequent ap- proval 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. Vallan- digham. While I can not 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 particular case. Of course, I must practice a general directory and revisory power in the matter. One of the resolutions expresses the opinion of the meeting that arbitrary 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 re- gard this as, at least, a fair appeal to me on the expediency of exercising a constitutional power which I think exists. In re- sponse 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 dis- charge 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 pro- gresses, it appears to me, opinion and action which were iu great confusion at first, take shape and fall into more regular channels, so that the necessity for strong dealing with them APPENDIX. 499 gradually decreases. I have every reason to desire th,at it should cease altogether ; and far from 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 rebel- lion. Still, I must continue to do so much as may seem to be required by the public safety. A. LINCOLN. THE PRESIDENT'S REPLY TO THE COMMITTEE FROM OHIO URGING THE RECALL OF MR. VALLANDIGHAM. WASHINGTON, June 29, 1863. GENTLEMEN: The resolutions of the Ohio Democratic State Convention, which you present me, together with your intro- ductory and closing remarks, being, in position and argument, mainly the same as the resolutions of the Democratic meeting at Albany, New York, I refer you to my response to the latter as meeting most of the points in the former. This response you evidently used in preparing your remarks, and I desire no more than that it be used with accuracy. In a single reading of your remarks, I only discovered one inaccu- racy in matter which I suppose you took from that paper. It is where you say, " The undersigned are unable to agree with you in the opinion you have expressed that the Constitution is different in time of insurrection or invasion from what it is in lime of peace and public security." A recurrence to the paper will show you that I have not ex- pressed the opinion you suppose. I expressed the opinion that the Constitution is different in its application in cases of rebel- lion or invasion involving the public safety, from what it is in times of profound peace and public security. And this opinion I adhere to, simply because, by the Constitution itself, things may be done in the one case which may not be done in the other. I dislike to waste a word on a merely personal point, but I must respectfully assure you that you will find yourselves at fault should you ever seek for evidence to prove your assump- tion that I "opposed, in discussions before the people, the policy of the Mexican War." You say: "Expunge from the Constitution this limitation upon the power of Congress to suspend the writ of habeas cor- PUS, and yet the other guarantees of personal liberty would re- main unchanged." Doubtless, if this clause of the Constitution, improperly called, as I think, a limitation upon the power of Congress, were expunged, the other guarantees would remain the same ; but the question is, not how those guarantees would 500 APPENDIX. 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 bo indulged in expunging that clause, letter and spirit, I really think the constitutional argument 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 Beems 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 corrobor- ative of this view is the fact that Mr. Yallaudigham, in the very case in question, under the advice of able lawyers, saw not where else to go but to the habeas corpus. But by the Constitution the benefit of the writ of habeas corpus itself may be suspended, when, in case of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may re- quire 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. This question, divested of the phrase- ology calculated to represent me as struggling for an arbitrary personal prerogative, is either simply a question who shall de- cide, or an affirmation that nobody shall decide, what the public safety does require in cases of rebellion or invasion. The Con- stitution contemplates the question as likely to occur for deci- sion, but it does not expressly declare who is to decide it. By necessary 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 their Commander-in-chief of the Army and Navy, is the man who holds the power and bears the responsibility of mak- ing it. If he uses the power justly, the same people will prob- ably justify him ; if he abuses it, he is in their hands, to be dealt with by all the modes they have reserved to themselves in the Constitution. The earnestness with which you insist that persons can only, in times of rebellion, be lawfully dealt with in accordance with the rules for criminal trials and punishments in times of peace, induces me to add a word to what I said on that point in the Albany response. You claim that men may, if they choose, embarrass those whose duty it is to combat a giant rebellion, and then be dealt with only in turn as if there were no rebel- lion. The Constitution itself rejects this view. The military arrests and detentions which have been made, including those of Mr. Vallandigham, which are not different in principle from the other, have been for prawn ticn. and not for punishment APPENDIX. 501 as injunctions to stay injury, as proceedings to keep the peace and hence, like proceedings in such cases and for like reasons, they have not been accompanied with indictments, or trial by juries, nor in a single case by any punishment whatever be- yond 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 modifica- tion of it was made as a less disagreeable mode to him of secur- ing the same prevention. I am unable to perceive an insult to Ohio in the case of Mr. Vallandigham. Quite surely nothing of this sort was or is in- tended. I was wholly unaware that Mr. Vallandigham was, at the time of his arrest, a candidate for the Democratic nomina- tion for 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 offi- cers she has given, in the present National trial, to the armies of the Union. You claim, as I understand, that, according to my own posi- tion in the Albany response, Mr. Vallandigham should be re- leased ; and this because, as you claim, he has not damaged the military service by discouraging enlistments, encouraging deser- tions, or otherwise ; and that if he had, he should have been turned over to the civil authorities under the recent act of Con- gress. I certainly do not know that Mr. Vallandigham has specifically and by direct language advised against enlistments and in favor of desertions and resistance to drafting. We all know that combinations, armed, in some instances, to resist the arrest of deserters, began several months ago ; that more re- cently the like has appeared in resistance to the enrollment preparatory to a draft ; and that quite a number of assassina- tions have occurred from the same animus. These had to be met by military force, and this again has led to bloodshed and death. And now, under a sense of responsibility more weighty and enduring than any which is merely official, I solemnly de- clare my belief that this hindrance of the military, including maiming and murder, is due to the cause in which Mr. Vallafi- digham 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 one man. These things have been notorious, known to all, and of course known to Mr. Vallandigham. Perhaps I would not be wrong to say they originated with his especial friends and adherents. With perfect knowledge of them he has frequently, if not con- stantly, made speeches in Congress and before popular assem- blies ; aud if it can bo shown that, with these things staring 602 APPENDIX. him in the face, he has ever uttered a word of rebuke or coun- sel against them, it will be a fact greatly in bis favor with me, and one of which, as yet, I am totally ignorant. When it ia known that the whole burden of his speeches has been to stir up men against the prosecution of the war, 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 counseled directly in favor of it. With all this before their eyes, the convention you represent have nominated Mr. Vallandigham for governor of Ohio, and both they and you have declared the purpose to sustain the National Union by all constitutional means, but, of course, they and you, in common, reserve to yourselves to decide what are constitutional means, and, unlike the Albany meeting, you omit to state or intimate that, in your opinion, an army is a consti- tutional means of saving the Union against a rebellion, or even to intimate that you are conscious of an existing rebellion being in progress with the avowed object of destroying that very Union. At the same time, your nominee for governor, in whose behalf you appeal, is known to you, and to the world, to declare against the use of an army to suppress the rebellion. Your own attitude, therefore, encourages desertion, resistance to the draft, and the like, because it teaches those who incline to desert and to escape the draft to believe it is your purpose to protect them, and to hope that you will become strong enough to do so. After a personal intercourse with you, gentlemen of the committee, I can not 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 of you, may, if you choose, indorse your names upon one of them, and return it thus indorsed to me, with the understanding that those sign- ing are thereby committed to the following propositions, and to nothing else : 1. That there is now a rebellion in the United States, the object and tendency of which is to destroy the National Union ; and that, in your opinion, an army and navy are constitutional means for suppressing that rebellion. 2. That no one of you will do any thing which, in his own judgment, will tend to hinder the increase, or favor the de- crease, or lessen the efficiency of the Army and Navy, while engaged in the effort to suppress that rebellion ; and APPENDIX. 503 3. That each of you will, in his sphere, do all he can to have the officers, soldiers, and seamen of the Army and Navy, while engaged in the effort to suppress the rebellion, paid, fed, clad, and otherwise well provided and supported. And with the further understanding that upon receiving the letter and names thus indorsed, I will cause them to be pub- lished, which publication 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. Vallandigham upon terms not embracing any pledge from him or from others as to .jvhat he will or will not do. I do this because he is "not present to speak for himself, or to authorize others to speak for him ; and hence I shall expect that on returning he would not put himself practically in an- tagonism wiHi the position of his friends. But I do it chiefly because I thereby prevail on other influential gentlemen of Ohio to so define their position as to be of immense value to the army thus more than compensating for the consequences of any mistake in allowing Mr. Vallandigham to return, so that, on the whole, the public safety will not have suffered by it. Still, in regard to Mr. Vallandigham and all others, I must hereafter, as heretofore, do so much as the public service may seem to require. I have the honor to be respectfully, yours, etc., ABRAHAM LINCOLN. LETTERS FROM PRESIDENT LINCOLN TO GOVERNOR SEY- MOUR, OP NEW YORK, RELATIVE TO THE DRAFT IN THAT STATE. * EXECUTIVE MANSION, ") WASHINGTON, August 7, 1863. } His Excellency, HORATIO SEYMOUR, Governor of New York, Albany, N. Y.: Your communication of the 3d inst. has been received and attentively considered. I can not consent to sus- pend the draft in New York, as you request, because, among other reasons, TIME is too important. By the figures you send, which, I presume, are correct, the twelve districts represented 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 aver- age of 2,200 in one class, and 4,864 in the other. Assuming that the districts are equal, one to another, in entire popula- tion, as required by the plan on which they were made, this disparity is such as to require attention. Much of it, however, I suppose, will be accounted for by the fact that so many more 504 APPENDIX. persons fit for soldiers are in the city than in the country, who have too recently arrived from other parts of the United States and from Europe, to be either included in the census of 1860, or to have voted in 1862. Still, making due allowance for this, I am yet unwilling to stand upon it as an entirely sufficient ex- planation of the great disparity. I shall direct 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 Seven- teenth and Twenty-ninth, shall be carefully reenrolled ; and, if you please, agents of yours may witness every step of the process. Any deficiency which may appear by the new enroll- ment, will be supplied by a special draft for that object, allow- ing due credit for volunteers who may be obtained from these districts respectively during the interval ; and at all points, so far as consistent with practical convenience, due credits shall bo given for volunteers, and your Excellency shall be notified of the time fixed for commencing a draft in each district. I do not object to abide a decision of the United States Su- preme Court, or of the Judges thereof, on the constitutionality of the draft law. In fact, I should be willing to facilitate the obtaining of it. But I can not 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 victori- ous soldiers already in the field, if they ifcall not bo 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 constitutional 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 precise legal proportion to those who are not to go. My purpose is to be in my action just and constitutional, and yet practical, in per- forming, the important duty with which I am charged, of main- taining the unity and the free principles of our common country. Your obedient servant, A. LINCOLN. APPENDIX. 505 EXECUTIVE MANSION, \ WASHINGTON, August 11, 1863. j His Excellency, HORATIO SEYMOUR, Governor of New York : Yours of the 8th, with Judge-Advocate General Water- bury'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 com- munication dated the 3d. In view of its great length, and the known time and apparent care taken in its preparation, I did not doubt that it contained your full case as you desired to pre- sent it. It contained the figures for twelve districts, omitting the other nineteen, as I supposed, 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 commu- nication received to-day, you send figures for twenty-eight dis- tricts, including the twelve sent before, and still omitting three, for which I suppose the enrollments 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, the Fifth and Sev- enth 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-enrolled. The correct case will 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 Sixteenth, Seventeenth, Eighteenth, Twenty-second, Twen- ty-fourth, Twenty-sixth, Twenty-seventh, Twenty-eighth, Twenty-ninth, and Thirtieth Districts. In the others, except the three outstanding, the drawing will 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 en- rolled 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 re- stated in this, or for any other cause. Your obedient servant, A. LINCOLN. 43 506 APPENDIX. THE SUSPENSION OF THE WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS ORDERED i IN CERTAIN CASES. BT THE PBESIDKST OF THE CXITED STATES OF AMERICA A PROCLAMATION. WHEREAS, The Constitution of the United States has or- dained that " The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, \ the public safety may require it;" and whereas, a rebellion was existing on the third day of March, 1863, which rebellion is still existing ; and whereas, by a statute which was approved on that day, it was enacted by the Senate and House of Repre- sentatives of the United States, in Congress assembled, that during the present insurrection the President of the United States, whenever, in his judgment, the public safety may re- quire, is authorized to suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in any case throughout the United States, or any part thereof; and whereas, in the judgment of the President, the public safety does^equire that the privilege of the said writ shall now be suspended 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 the United States, or as deserters therefrom, or other- wise amenable to military law, or to the rules and articles of war, or the rules and regulations prescribed for the military or naval services by the authority of the President of the United States, or for resisting the draft, or for any other offense against the military or naval service ; now, therefore, I, Abraham Lin- ^ coin, President of the United States, do hereby proclaim and 3 make known to all whom it may concern, that the privilege 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 until this proclamation shall, by a subsequent one. to be issued by the President of the United States, be modified and revoked. And I do hereby require all magistrates, attor- neys, and other civil officers within the United States, and all officers and others in the military and naval services of the United States, to take distinct notice of this suspension, and give it full effect, and all citizens of the United States to con- duct 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. APPENDIX. 507 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 hun- dred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the eighty-eighth. By the President : ABRAHAM LINCOLN. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S LETTER TO GEN. SCHOFIELD. EXECUTIVE MANSION, ) WASHINGTON, D. C., October 1, 1863. } Gen. JOHN M. SCHOFIELD: There is no organized military force in avowed opposition to the General Government now in Missouri, and if any shall reappear, your duty in regard to it will be too plain to require any special instruction. Still, the condition of things, both there and elsewhere, is such as to render it indispensable to maintain, for a time, the United States military establishment 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 establishment, and to so use it, as far as practicable, to compel the excited people there to let one another alone. Under your 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 you interfere with the expression of opinion in any form, or allow it to be interfered with violently by others. In this you have a discretion to ex- ercise 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 still seem to you to be necessary restrictions upon trade and intercourse. I think proper, however, to enjoin upon you the following : Allow no part of the military under your command to be engaged in either returning fugitive slaves, or in forcing or enticing slaves from their homes ; and, so far as practicable, enforce the same forbearance upon the people. Report to me your opinion upon the availability for good of the enrolled militia of the State. Allow no one to enlist col- ored troops, except upon orders from you, or from here through you. 508 APPENDIX. Allow no one to assume the functions of confiscating prop- erty, 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, includ- ing as of those laws the restrictions laid by the Missouri Con- vention upon those who may have participated in the rebellion. So far as practicable, you will, by means of your military force, expel guerrillas, marauders, and murderers, and all who are known to harbor, aid, or abet them. But, in like manner, you will repress assumptions of unauthorized individuals to perform the same service, because, under pretense of doing this, they become marauders and murderers themselves. To now restore peace, let the military obey orders ; and those not of the military leave each other alone, thus not breaking the peace themselves. In giving the above directions, it is not intended to restrain vou in other expedient and necessary matters, not falling within their range. Your obedient servant, A. LINCOLN. THANKSGIVING. BT THB PRESIDES! OF THE UNITED STATES QT AMERICA A PBOCLAMATIOH. The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added which are of so extraordinary a nature that they can not fail to even penetrate and soften the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and sever- ity, which has sometimes seemed to invite and provoke the aggressions of foreign States, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been re- spected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed every-where, except in the theater of military conflict. While that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union, the needful diversion of wealth and strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense, have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship. The ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battle-field ; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is per- APPENDIX. 509 mitted to expect a continuance of years, with a large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It hath seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, devoutly, and gratefully acknowledged, as with ono heart and voice, by the whole American people. I do, there- fore, invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea, and those who are so- journing in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and prayer to our beneficent Father, who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that, while offering up the ascrip- tions justly due to him for such signal deliverances and bless- ings, they do also, with humble penitence for our National perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers, in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably en- gaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation, and to restore it, as eoon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity, and union. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be afiixed. Done at the city of Washington, this, the third day of Octo- p T _ 1 ber, in the year of our Lord 1863, and of the Inde- L ' 'J pendence of the United States the eighty-eighth. . By the President : ABRAHAM LINCOLN. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. { r fj"j.-* v.(* (.' t /).' i;^W i ."'. 1 ' PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S REPLY TO HON. CHARLES D. DRAKE AND OTHERS. EXECUTIVE MANSION, ) WASHINGTON, October 5, 1863. j Hon. CIIAS. D. DRAKE and others, Committee Gentlemen: Your original address, presented on the 30th ult., and the four supplementary ones presented on the 3d inst., have been care- fully considered. I hope you will regard the other duties claiming my attention, together with the great length and im- portance of these documents, as constituting a sufficient apol- ogy for my not having responded sooner. These papers, framed for a common object, consist of the things demanded, and the reasons for demanding them. The things demanded are : 510 APPENDIX. 1st. That Gen. Schofield shall be relieved, and Gen. Butler be appointed as Commander of the Military Department of Missouri ; 2d. That the system of enrolled militia in Missouri may be broken up, and National forces be substituted for it ; and 3d. That at elections persons may not be allowed to vote who are 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 Gen. Schofield, or the enrolled militia, is responsible for that suffer- ing and wrong. The whole can be explained on a more chari- table, and, as I think, a more rational hypothesis. We are in civil war. In such cases there always is a main question ; but in this case that question is a perplexing com- pound Union and Slavery. It thus becomes a question not of two sides merely, but of at least four sides, even among those who are for the Union, saying nothing of those who are against it. Thus, those who are for the Union with, but not 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 toithout, but prefer it without. Among these, again, is a subdivision of those who are for gradual, but not for immediate, and those who are for imme- diate, but not for gradual extinction of slavery. It is easy to conceive that all these shades of opinion, and even more, may be sincerely entertained by honest and truth- ful men. Yet, all being for the Union, by reason of these dif- ferences, each will prefer a different way of sustaining the Union. At once, sincerity is questioned, and motives are assailed. Actual war coming, blood grows hot, and blood is spilled. Thought is forced from old channels into confusion. Deception breeds and thrives. Confidence dies, and universal suspicion reigns. Each man feels an impulse to kill his neigh- bor, lest he be killed by him. Revenge and retaliation follow. And all this, as before said, may be among honest men only. But this is not all. Every foul bird comes abroad, and every dirty reptile rises up. These add crime to confusion. Strong measures deemed indispensable but harsh at best, such men make worse by maladministration. Murders for old grudges, and murders for pelf, proceed under any cloak that will best serve for the occasion. These causes amply account for what has occurred in Mis- souri, without 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 APPENDIX. 511 as prevalent under Fremont, Hunter, Halleck, and Curtis, as under Schofield. If the former had greater force opposed to them, they also had greater force with which to meet it. When the organized rebel army left the State, the main Fede- ral forne had to go also, leaving the Department Commander at home, relatively no stronger than before. Without dispar- aging any, I affirm with confidence, that no Commander of that Department has, in proportion to his means, done better than Gen. Schofield. The first specific charge against Gen. Schofield is, that the enrolled militia was placed under his command, whereas it had not been placed under the command of Gen. 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 charge that Gen. Curtis being superseded by Gen. Schofield, Franklin A. Dick was superseded by James 0. Broadhead 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 pre- sented to me, whic-h led to a change of commander of that department. To restrain contraband intelligence and trade, a system of searches, seizures, permits and passes, had been introduced, I think, by Gen. Fremont. When Gen. Halleck came, he found and continued the system, and added an order, applica- ble to some parts of the State, to levy and collect contributions from noted rebels, to compensate losses, and relieve destitution caused by the rebellion. The action of Gen. Fremont and Gen. Halleck, as stated, constituted a sort of system which Gen. Curtis found, in full operation when he took command of the department. 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 adminis- tration, 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 possible to hold any to a very strict accountability ; and those yield- ing 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 own pockets. Money being the object, the man having money, whether loyal or disloyal, would be a victim. This practice doubtless existed to some extent, and it was a real additional evil, that it could be, and was plausibly charged to exist in greater extent than it did. 612 APPENDIX. When Gen. Curtis took command of tie department, Mr Dick, against -whom I never knew any thing to allege, had gen- eral charge of this system. A controversy in regard to it rap- idly grew into almost unmanageable proportions. One side ignored the necessity and magnified the evils of the system, while the other ignored the evils and magnified the necessity ; and each bitterly assailed the other. I could not fail to see that the controversy enlarged in the same proportion as the professed Union men there distinctly took sides in two oppos- ing political parties. I exhausted my wits, and very nearly my patience also, in efforts to convince 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 the other. 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 Gen. Curtis, or to give a victory to any party, I 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 the change. I gave the new commander no instructions as to the admin- istration of the system mentioned, beyond what is contained in the private letter afterward surreptitiously published, in which I directed him to act solely for the public good, and independ- ently 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 Gen. Schofield, and the late massacre at Lawrence, Kansas, is pressed as evi- dence of that imbecility. 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 fiendish hearts to do it. The charge is made that Gen. Schofield, on purpose to pro- tect the Lawrence murderers, would not allow them to be pur- sued into Missouri. While no punishment could be too sudden or too severe for those murderers, I am well satisfied that the preventing of the threatened remedial raid into Missouri was the only way to avoid an indiscriminate massacre there, includ- ing probably more innocent than guilty. Instead of condemn- APPENDIX. 513 ing, I therefore approve what I understand Gen. Schofield did in that respect. The charge that Gen. Schofield has purposely withheld pro- tection from loyal people, ind purposely facilitated the objects of the disloyal, are altogether beyond my power of belief. I do not arraign the veracity of gentlemen as to the facts com- plained of; but I do more than question the judgment which would infer that these facts occurred in accordance with the purposes of Gen. Schofield. With my present views, I must decline to remove Gen. Schofield. In this I decide nothing against Gen. Butler. I sincerely wish it were convenient to assign him a suitable command. In order to meet some existing evils, I have addressed a letter of instruction to Gen. Schofield, a copy of which I inclose to you. As to the " Enrolled Militia," I shall endeavor to ascer- tain, 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," implies that, in your judg- ment, the latter is doing something which needs 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? Shall they be withdrawn from Banks, or Grant, or Steele, or Rosecrans ? Few things have been so grateful to my anxious feelings, as when, in June last, the local force in Missouri aided Gen. Schofield to so promptly send a large general force to the re- lief of Gen. Grant, then investing Vicksburg, and menaced from without by Gen. Johnston. Was this all wrong ? Should the Enrolled Militia then have been broken up, and Gen. Heron kept from Grant, to police Missouri ? So far from find- ing cause to object, I confess to a sympathy for whatever re- lieves our general force in Missouri, and allows it to serve elsewhere. I therefore, as at present advised, can not attempt the de- struction of the Enrolled Militia of Missouri. I may add, that the force being under the National military control, it is also within the proclamation with regard to the habeas corpus. I concur in the propriety of your request in regard to elec- tions, and have, as you see, directed Gen. Schofield accord- ingly. I do not feel justified to enter upon the broad field you present in regard to the political differences between Radicals and Conservatives. From time to time I have done and said what appeared to me proper to do and say. The public knows it well. It obliges nobody to follow me. and I trust it obliges 514 APPENDIX. me to follow nobody. The Radicals 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 Radicals or Conservatives. It is my duty to hear all ; but at last I must, within my sphere, judge what to do and what to forbear. Your obedient servant, A. LINCOLN. A CALL FOR THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND VOLUNTEERS. BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA A PROCLAMATION. WHEREAS, The term of service of part of the volunteer forces of the United States will expire during the coming year; and whereas, in addition to the men raised by the present draft, it is deemed expedient to call out three hundred thousand vol- unteers to serve for three years or during the war, not, however, exceeding three years ; Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States and Commander-in-chief of the Army and Navy thereof, and of the militia of the several States when called into actual service, do issue this my proclamation, calling upon the Governors of the different States to raise, and have enlisted into the United States service, for the various companies and regiments in the field from their respective States, their quotas of three hundred thousand men. I further proclaim that all the volunteers thus called out and duly enlisted, shall receive advance pay, premium, and bounty, as heretofore communicated to the Governors of States by the War Department, through the Provost Marshal General's office, by special letters. I further proclaim that all volunteers received under this call, as well as all others not heretofore credited, shall be duly cred- ited and deducted from the quotas established for the new draft. I further proclaim that if any State shall fail to raise the quota assigned to it by the War Department under this call, then a draft for the deficiency in said quota shall be made in said State, or on the districts of said State for their due pro- portion of said quota, and the said draft shall commence on the fifth day of January, 1864. And I further proclaim that nothing in this proclamation shall interfere with existing orders, or with those which may be issued for the present draft in the States where it is now in progress, or where it has not yet been commenced. APPENDIX. 515 The quotas of the States and districts will be assigned by the War Department through the Provost Marshal General's office, due regard being had for the men heretofore furnished, whether by volunteering or drafting ; and the recruiting will be con- ducted in accordance with such instructions as have been or may be issued by that Department. In issuing this proclamation, I address myself not only to the Governors of the several States, but also to the good and loyal people thereof, invoking them to lend their cheerful, will- ing, and effective aid to the measures thus adopted, with a view to reinforce our victorious armies now in the field, and bring our military operations to a prosperous end, thus closing for- ever the fountains of sedition and civil war. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington, this seventeenth day [L. s.] of October, A. D. 1863, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-eighth. By the President: ABRAHAM LINCOLN. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. REV. DR. M'PHEETERS THE PRESIDENT'S REPLY TO AN AP- PEAL TOR INTERFERENCE. EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, December 23, 1863. I have just looked over a petition signed by some three dozen citizens of St. Louis, and their accompanying letters, one by yourself, one by a Mr. Nathan Eanney, and one by a Mr. John D. Coalter, the whole relating to the Rev. Dr. McPhee- ters. The petition prays, in the name of justice and mercy, that I will restore Dr. McPheeters to all his ecclesiastical rights. This gives no intimation as to what ecclesiastical rights are withdrawn. Your letter states that Provost Marshal Dick, about a year ago, ordered the arrest of Dr. McPheeters, pastor of the Vine-street Church, prohibited him from officiating, and placed the management of affairs of the church out of the control of the chosen trustees; and near the close you state that a certain course "would insure his release." Mr. Ranney's letter says : "Dr. Samuel McPheeters is enjoying all the rights of a civilian, but can not preach the gospel ! " Mr. Coalter, in his letter, asks : " Is it not a strange illustration of the condition of things, that the question who shall be allowed to preach in a church in St. Louis shall be decided by the President of tho United States?" 516 APPENDIX. Now, all this sounds very strangely; and, withal, a little as if you gentlemen making the application do not understand the case alike one affirming that this doctor is enjoying all the rights of a civilian, and another pointing out to me what will secure his release! On the 2d of January last, I wrote to Gen. Curtis in relation to Mr. Dick's order upon Dr. Mc- Pheeters ; and, as I suppose the Doctor is enjoying all the rights of a civilian, I only quote that part of my letter which relates to the church. It was as follows : " But I must add that the United States Government must not, as by this order, undertake to run the churches. When an individual, in a church or out of it, becomes dangerous to the public interest, he must be checked; but the churches, as such, must take care of them- selves. It will not do for the United States to appoint trustees, supervisors, or other agents for the churches." This letter going to Gen. Curtis, then in command, I sup- posed, of course, it was obeyed, especially as I heard no further complaint from Dr. Me. or his friends for nearly an entire year. I have never interfered, nor thought of interfering, as to who shall or shall not preach in any church ; nor have I know- ingly or believingly tolerated any one else to interfere by iny authority. If any one is so interfering by color of my author- ity, I would like to have it specifically made known to me. If, after all, what is now sought is to have me put Dr. Me. back over the heads of a majority of his own congregation, that, too, will be declined. I will not have control of any church or any side. A. LINCOLN. AN ELECTION ORDERED IN THE STATE OP ARKANSAS. EXECUTIVE MANSION, ") WASHINGTON, January 20, 1864. j Maj. Gen. STEELE : Sundry citizens of the State of Arkansas petition me that an election may be held in t,hat State, at which to elect a Governor; that it be assumed at that election, and henceforward, that the Constitution and laws of the State, as before the rebellion, are in full force, except that the Constitu- tion is so modified as to declare that there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except in the punishment of crimes whereof the party shall have been duly convicted ; that the General Assembly may make such provisions for the freed people as shall recognize and declare their permanent freedom, and provide for their education, and which may yet be con- strued as a temporary arrangement, suitable to their condition as a laboring, landless, and homeless class ; that saitl election shall be held on the 28th of March, 18G1, at all the usual APPENDIX. 617 places of the State, or all such as voters may attend for that purpose ; that the voters attending at 8 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 procla- mation 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 directly 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 5,406 votes shall have been cast, you can receive said votes and ascertain all who shall thereby appear to have been elected ; that on the th day of next, all persons so appearing to have been elected, who shall appear before you at Little Rock, and take the oath, to be by you sev- erally 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 immedi- ately enter upon the duties of the offices to which they shall have been respectively elected. You will please order an election to take place on the 28th of March, 1864, and returns to be made in fifteen days there- after. A. LINCOLN. Later, the President wrote the following letter : WILLIAM FISHBACK, Esq.: When I fixed a plan for an elec- tion 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 Gen. Steele, and three or four dispatches to you and others, saying that he (Gen. 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 there will be no agreement on any thing; and Gen. Steele, commanding the military, and being on the ground, is the best man to be that master. Even now citizens are telegraphing me to post- pone the election to a later day than either fixed by the Conven- tion or me. This discord must be silenced. A. LINCOLN. THE PRESIDENT'S PROCLAMATION or THE STH OF DECEMBER, 1863 EXPLANATION CASES DEFINED. BY THE PRESIDENT OT TUB UNITED STATES Ot AMERICA A PROCLAMATION. WHEREAS, It has become necessary to define the cases in which insurgent enemies are entitled to the benefits of the Proclamation of the President of the United States, which was made on the eighth day of December, 1863, and the manner in 518 APPENDIX. which they shall proceed to avail themselves of these benefits ; and whereas, the objects of that proclamation were to suppress the insurrection and to restore the authority of the United States ; and whereas, the amnesty therein proposed by the President was offered with reference to these objects alone ; Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do hereby proclaim and declare that the said proclama- tion does not apply to the cases of persons who, at the time when they seek to obtain the benefits thereof by taking the oath thereby prescribed, are in military, naval, or civil confine- ment or custody, or under bonds, or on parole of the civil, mili- tary or naval authorities, or agents of the United States, as prisoners of war, or persons detained for offenses of any kind, either before or after conviction ; and that, on the contrary, it does apply only to those persons who, being yet at large, and free from any arrest, confinement, or duress, shall voluntarily come forward and take the said oath, with the purpose of re- storing peace and establishing the National authority. Persons excluded from the amnesty offered in the said pro- clamation may apply to the President for clemency, like all other offenders, and their application will receive due consid- eration. I do further declare and proclaim that the oath presented in the aforesaid proclamation of the 8th of December, 1863, may be taken and subscribed before any commissioned officer, civil, military, or naval, in the service of the United States, or any civil or military officer of a State or Territory not in insurrec- tion, who, by the laws thereof, may be qualified for administer- ing oaths. All officers who receive such oaths are hereby authorized to give certificates thereof to the persons respectively by whom they are made, and such officers are hereby required to trans- mit the original records of such oaths, at as early a day as may be convenient, to the Department of State, where they will be deposited, and remain in the archives of the Government. The Secretary of State will keep a registry thereof, and will, on application, in proper cases, issue certificates of such records in the customary form of official certificates. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington, the twenty-sixth day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight [L. S.] hundred and sixty-four, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-eighth. By the President : ABRAHAM LINCOLN. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of Stat. PUBLICATIONS OF MOOEE, WILSTAOH & BALDWIN. BAYARD TAYLOR'S CYCLOPEDIA OF MODERN TRAVEL. A. Record of Adventure, Exploration and Discovery for the past fifty years. Comprising Narra- tive! of the most distinguished Travelers since the leginning of this Century. Prepared and arranged by Bayard Taylor. 1 volume, royal 8co. 1034 pp. Embellished with fine portrait* on steel by Butlre, and illustrated by over sixty wood engravings ly Orr, and thirteen authentic Maps by Schonberg. Sold by canvassing agents only. A magnificent octavo volume, which, for general interest and value, is worthy of the dis- tinguished compiler, and equally worthy of universal patronage. The volnme really con- tains the value of a whole library, reliable as a book of reference, and as interesting as a book of romance. Springfield (Mass.) Republican. The popular lectures and writings of Bayard Taylor, have awakened in the United States a thirst foj information respecting foreign countries and nations. A striking proof of this is given in the fact that a publishing house in Cincinnati have issued, under the auspices of Bayard Taylor, a volume of uearly one thousand pp., devoted exclusively to records of travel. These Reports are perfectly reliable ; the matters of fact of each explorer, often in his own language, are condensed iuto a consecutive narrative, by the most competent living author in the same department. New York Independent. j The reading public owes to Bayard Taylor many a debt for rare and vnluable instruction most agreeably conveyed ; but we doubt if he ever performed a more useful service than in compiling this massive, varied and most valuable volnme. The entire circle of books of which he has given the spiiit and juice, would form a library ; and many of them are now almost inaccessible. Mr. Taylor's part has been conscientiously done, "it is not merely a work of selection and groupings ; much of it is his own statement of the results more voluminously given, and written in a clear and elegant style. We can not but regard it as a very useful as well as entertaining work, well adapted to communicate accurate and com- prehensive views of the world, and supplying for families an almost inexhaustible fund of pleasant reading. Xew York Evangelist. No writer of the present age can. be found so admirably qualified for such an undertak- ing. Louisville Journal. Such is the full title-page of a magnificent octavo volume of 1034 pages, jvut issued. . . . We said "a magnificent octavo/ 1 It is so whether we consider its contents, or the superb style in which the publishers have gotten it up. It is just the book for the family library ; all classes will be interested in its perusal. Ladies' Repository. The conception of this work is admirable ; and its execution is what might be expected from one of the most accomplished and intelligent travelers of the age. . . It is remarkable for its compactness, condensation and symmetry ; and whoever will take the time to read it through, will possess himself of an amount of information, in respect to the physical, intel- lectual, and moral couditition of almost every portion of the globe, which he can scarcely expect to find elsewhere. The work is illustrated with a large number of maps and engrav- ings, which are executed with great skill and care, and add much to the interest of the nar- ratives to which they are prefixed. Puritan Recorder. I Mr. Bayard Taylor is the very Ulysses of modern tourists, and Emperor Adrian of living ramblers and so is qualified to edit, or compile, from the works of other travelers. . . . It is but the merest justice to say, that Mr. Taylor has-done all that even an uneasily satis- fied reader could expect, to produce a capital book. Boston Chronicle. Apart from the confidence inspired by the name of the writer, it needs but a brief oxpla- nati jn of its contents to show that it forms a highly important addition to the family library. Its pages are crowded with interesting information. Ifev York Tribune, from Professor C. C. Fellon, of Harvard University. A scholar, traveler and writer, having a reputation so deservedly high in this thtee-fold relation as Bayard Taylor, may be presumed to give his name only to works worthy of it. The present volume I have examined carefully, and have read a considerable part of it ; and I have found- it prepared and arranged with excellent judgment, and filled with matter of the highest interest and value. Both the plan and execution are, in my judgment, marked by ability, extensive knowledge, good taste, and good sense. from Oliver Wendell Holmes, 3f. D., Author of the "Autocrat of the Breakfast Table," etc. Mr. Bayard Taylor has done the reading public a great favor in bringing together the most essential and interesting portions of so many narratives within a very moderate com- pass, and in such form a to be accessible to multitudes whoso libraries must take little room and cost but moderate expenditure. It is safe to say that no man's selection would be accepted so unhesitatingly in America as those of our own favorite travel story-teller. From Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, of Boston, formerly Speaker House of Representatives, V. S. I have examined it with great interest. It contains a large amount of entertaining and Instructive matter, very conveniently and carefully arranged ; and I shall value it aa a work both for present reading and future reference. PUBLICATIONS OF MOOEE, WILSTAOH & BALDWIH. THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION; One Volume, 12mo., 480 pp. Price, g It is proper to gay that Mr. Ogden has, for many years, been engaged almost exclusively with Teachers and in Normal Schools. NOTICES. From the Rev. Wm. Russell, Stale Educational Lecturer, Massachusetts. The truly philosophical and thoroughly practical methods of early culture, suggested to the primary teacher, if faithfully acted on, would make our elementary schools scenes of the most attractive and delightful, as well aa instructive, occupation for childhood. From Wm. F. Phelpt, A. M., Principal of the New Jersey Stale Normal Schools. Ny Dear Sir : Allow me to say that, in my humble judgment, you have struck the right vein, both in the conception and execution of your ideas regarding the Philosophy of Teach- ing. You afford a splendid contribution to our limited means for the training of Teachers. A good scholar merely has fulfilled only one of the conditions essential to a good educator. What we most need is a clear elucidation and a scientific classification of the principles of education, so that they may be mastered and applied to the rearing and training of rational and immortal beings. I need not assure you that this task you have, according to my no- tions, most happily executed. The application of diagrams to the work seems to me to bo a happy thought, addressing the subject to that most perfect of all senses, the sense of sight. From Cyrus Knowlion, Esq., Principal of Hughes High School, Cincinnati. It is by far the best work of the kind with which I am acquainted. From A. J. Rickojf, late Superintendent of Cincinnati Public Schools. MESSRS. MOORE, WILSTACH 4 BALDWIN : I have given attention to every work announced In England or this country, treating upon this subject; and I may say, without hesitation, that Mr. Ogden's treatise is, in its conception and arrangement, the mott scientific nmoug them all. It can not be read by the teacher without great practical advantage ; it will pre- pare him for the business of the schoolroom ; it will give new direction to his spec::latious ; it will, I believe, greatly assist to establish the business of teaching as a profession. Schoolmasters owe it to themselves and their profession, to give this book a circulation never yet reached by any of a similar character. Its use should not be confined to teachers alone. It should find a place in the library of every family, as the most valuable contribu- tion yet made in our language for the advancement of education. OGDEN ON EDUCATION, Is a very full and systematic work on the general subject of education, full of suggestiva thoughts, tersely expressed. They deserve and demand proper consideration, seasoned by that confidence in their author which his evident carefulness and experience beget. Rhode Island Schoolmaster. Is just the hand-took for teachers who intend to be thorough and foremost in their pro- fession. Intelligent parents would find it an interesting and valuable aid in the hours when they " ponder in their hearts " how to bring up children. Toronto (C. W.) Colonist. A very elaborate, philosophical, and thorough work on a great subject, too much over- looked by thinking men. . . Must be immensely valuable to every parent and teacher. A'. Y. Observer. Contains, in a single volume, a great deal of valuable material. The whole subject of human culture is laid before the reader, and treated in simple, yet comprehensive language. . . . Parents and teachers should be induced to study this excellent work. Massacliu- letts Teacher. Has many features, both novel and ingenious, which entitle it to consideration as an original work. Xew York Century. Enters very fully and closely into the philosophy of teaching. Philadelphia Press. Is a sound, judicious and original work. It does not deal in commonly-rcceivc-d notions, but renlly enters into the profound themes, upon which it treats with great strength of thought, keenness of perception, and practical skill. Zion's Herald, Boston. It is the only work extant that can pretend to a full and complete system of instruction. Mnch has previously been written on the subject that is valuable, which has failed, however, in a great measure, to become available, because of the absence of system, and a failure even to recognize a systematic arrangement as a desideratum. Mr. Ogdeu approximates more nearly a scientific treatment of his subject than any author we have met. I<*ta Instructor and School Journal. PUBLICATIONS OF MOOEE, WILSTACH & BALDWIN RUFUS CHOATE'S FAVORITE AUTHOR ON RHETORIC. A SUCCESSFUL NEW SCHOOL BOOK. -RHETORICAL PRAXIS: The principles of Rhetoric Exemplified and Applied in Copious Exercises for Systematic Practice, chiefly in the Development of Thought. BY HENRY W. WAY, A. 31., Author of " The Art of Elocution/' and of " Elements of the Art of Rhetoric." One rol- . .' 2 u.-nc, 12mo., 309 pages. Price, 75 cents. From the Snperintendent of Circleville (0.) Public Schooli. I have examined it carefully, and with much satisfaction. I believe it is a most excellent work, and needs only to be known to secure for it an introduction into all our High Schools. We have adopted it as a text-book. Respectfully yours, JOHN LYNCH. From Oir, New TorJ; Independent. Tbe design of this work is to train the pupil in the principles of Rhetoric as applied to the unfolding of thought ; so that Rhetoric, instead of an artificial code of rules, is a philo- Bophicul outgrowth of ideas and the principles of language. The plan is excellent, and the ' upil ' get at the theme or proposition to be stated ; and then priate words. Prof. Day brings to his task philosophical judgment, refined tastamnd urac- yarious exercises are prepared with judgment and skill. The pupil is taught to analyze his idea* ; to get at the theme or proposition to be stated ; and then to frame this in appro- tical experience. His work should become a text-book in all schools, in lieu of the cus- tomary exercises in composition. From tJif New Fg?anr of this volume has certainly proposed to him- self .the true ideal to be accomplished in teaching Rhetoric ; for he would teach his pupil to write by teaching him to think. W<5 believe thU book to be superior to any other of the kind, and to have the highest claim upon practical teachers for a trial, for its thoroughness, Its comprehensiveness, as well as for the great iugeuuity and skill with which it has been prepared. We recommend it most cordially to teachers. From the Educational Repository and Family Monthly, Atlanta, Georgia. It is a thoroughly practical treatise for developing the art of discourse upon a true idea. Almost all systems of Rhetoric which are in common use in the Euglish language, proceed upon the idea that style is every thing, and pay but little attention to the thought itself. This work just reverses the=e plans, goes back to the systems of the Greek fathers in Rhet- oric, and tiuds the true doctrine in the fact so well stated by Daniel Webster, that " all true power in writing is in the idea, not in thn stylo," and that the first of all requisite*, a Sir Walter j^coU observes, is in " having something to say." The " Development of the Thought" is the basis ; and when the tbougttt stand* out i:i all its wcll-b'.iilt proportions, the drapery of'-style is thrown around it. We haven't space to give as thorough a notice of this work as we feel inclined to do. No better book can U- placed in the hands of young students in our male colleges. It should be closely studied by every >'reshuian class in every college, and in all tlie high schools in this country. If a teacher can not succeed in teaching the art of composition with this work, he need try no other. More than five hundred themes are given ii; the latter part, adapted -to all grades and classes. We sincerely wish we could have had this book years ago. from tiie Xew York Observer, Xovemler, 18tiO. This work is truly p.-icntinc and practical. Ir seizes the old idea of intention, unfolded by both Aristotle and Cicero, and develops it in t!ie light of modern metaphysics, and thus illuminates it and adapts it to the present aualysi- of the. mental powers. It is, to all intents and purposes, the art of thinking, rather than of writing. It makes thought the pedestal- style the shaft ; ideas tin- soul, and body, ton, of composition ; style the mere habiliments the having something to say tho motive power the manner of saying it the mere ma- chinery, in one case characterized by strength, in another by grace, beauty and polish. The object of the Praxis, then, is to induct the pupil into the habit of thought, to teach him to select an object or subject cu which he shall fix his mental powers, and then put down, without regard t first to style, just the ideas arising in his own mind, as he carefull/ and continuously beholds or contemplates the object. Let teachers try it ; they will not be disappointed. It la au aid in tho right direction. PUBLICATIONS OP MOORE, WILSTACH St BALDWIN. ORIOLA.; A New and Complete Hymn and Tune Book for Sabbath Schools. BY WILLIAM B. BRADBURY. Author of " The Shawm," " The Ju- bilee," " Singing-Bird," " Sabbath-School Choir," etc. From the Xew York Observer. This is a large collection of Hymns and Tunes, admirably adapted to the rise of Sabbath Schools and all occasions for social singing among the young. The tunes are judiciously selected, comprising a large number of those which are favorites with the childreu, and altogether it is the most complete work ef the kind that we have ever seen. From the New York Evangelist, September. One of the mofit attractive features of the Sabbath School, next after, and sometimes even before that of the library, is the singing. To improve this, and to make it the channel for conveying truth, in the beautiful form of hymns, to the young mind, is a noble aim. The author has essayed to meet thu object, and has furnished us with a volume containing not far from SCO hymns and tunes. \Vc have been much pleased with the tasteful and judicious manner in which the .ask has been executed. From the Neie York Century, September. Hie object of this hook is to raise and vary the character of music and singing, which are Important elements in Sabbath School tuition. All the melodies it contains have been well eelected, and are associated with pure and elevated ideas. Simple directions are given for the learning of new tunes. We can Bafely recommend it to the attention of teachers and learners of singing classes. From the Presbyterian Herald, Louisville. Oviola. \Ve hare received from the Publishers a copy of a little Hymn and Tune Rook for Sabbath Schools, by AVin. B. Bradbury, with the above title. For several reasons we deem it the best that we have seen, and cordially recommend it. 1st. It is the best and has the greatest variety of tunes, having .";0 piiges and nearly 200 tunes. d. There are several sets of words to each tune, thus keeping it fresh for a longer time. 3d. The selection of both words and tunes is altogether the best we know of. 4th. It contains many of the good old church tunes and hymns which should- be taught to Sabbath Schools, as well as the peculiar Sabbath School tunes. It contains, viz.: Ortonville, Laban, I3alerma, Zephyr, Jlartyn, Hebron, Duke Street, Old Hundred, and the like. This is a very great recommendation, aiding, as it does, the much-coveted, yet rare congregational singing. Fi-o,r. Oie Christian Times, Chica-ju. ' OBIOI.A " contains a fine selection of Tunes and Hymns, specially adapted for Sunday Schools. Host of the good popular Sunday School melodies of the present day are inserted, while a large number of new pieces have been composed expressly fcr this work. " Animated, but not boisterous ; gentle, but not <1UI or tame " are directions that will apply to mort of the compositions in this book. Ffom the Central Christian Herald. It contains those pieces which have been sung with such interest and effect at Sabbath School meetings and 1'iiion mrptiiifs of various kinds for a few yours past. In addition to these choice old friends, Mr. Bradbury presents to us some of his best music, composed expressly for this work. It is undoubtedly the Sabbath School Hymn and Tune Book of our day, and must come at once into general use. POMEROY, OHIO, September. In my judgment as a musician, after twenty years' experience, I have never seen as good a book for Sabbath School children. Yours, respectfully, A. W. WILLIAMB. Rev. W. C. VAN METER, of the Fourth Ward Mission, New Tork, for several years, and, until very recently, connected with the Fire Points Mission, writes to the publishers: " Success to the ' Oriola 1 ' The more I see of it the better I like it. I wish all my favor- ites were in it ; but as it ia, the book is the best now out." From T. J. Tone, Principal George Street Public School. CINCINNATI, October. Dear Sir: In your "Oriola" I find a large collection of gems, well adapted to meet the wants of our Sunday Schools. We have had it in use nearly two month*, and have becu delighted in rehearsing its contents. Children love music that is cheerful, lively and flow- ing. Their young and fervent affections feed upon that which is passionate ni:d jubilant. Among the characteristics of your book, I am happy to find thcso very marked. Yours, truly. PUBLICATIONS OF MOOBE, WILSTAOH & BALDWIN THE WHEAT PLANT: lit Origin, Culture, Growth, Development, Competition, Varieliet, Diteaiti, etc. ; together icith a Chapter on Indian Corn, itt Culture, etc. By JOHK H. KLIPPAKT, Corresponding Secretary ef the Ohio State Board of Agriculture. One hundred niuttrationt. One volume 12mo., pp. 706. Price, $1 60. From the Cincinnati Commercial. No work in the language will be found to equal it in the complete, thorough discussion of the great cereal in its entire history. The book ought to be considered indispensable to every farmer, and will be an addition to the library of every intelligent merchant a well as devotee to science. From the MilvauJtee Daily Wisconsin. We have read it with profit and interest. It should be placed in the bands of every farmer In Wisconsin. Ohio is one of the best wheat-growing States of the Union ; yet the averoga of wheat to the acre has declined from twenty-five bushels to thirteen all for the want of cultivation by artificial stimulants and manures. In England the crop has been more than doubled, until it now averages thirty-six bushels to the acre. This ha* been accomplished by the closest attention to the wants of the soil. From the Kew York Tribune. Th author of this instructive treatise has employed the labor of many yean to a thor- ough investigation of the important plant to which it is devoted. A minute and accurate knowledge of the subject is exhibited on every page, and its fullness of detail, clearness of illustration, and variety of information, must at once elevate it to the rank of a stau- dard authority. From the Iowa State Democrat. It would occupy too much space to go into a general review of this truly valuable work, but we must content ourselves with a few brief sentences taken at random. . . . It U highly important that it should be in the hands of every farmer in the Union. From the Louitville Journal. The above is a work of over seven hundred pages, comprehending all that is known aa to the physiology, culture, varieties, diseases, etc., of the wheat plant. The first comprehen- tive t realise ever produced in this country ou this subject, and perhaps the most thorough work on the subject ever published. ..... From the Cleveland Morning Leader. The importance to fanners and all agriculturists of such a book as this, written with great care by such an author, can not be too highly estimated. The Wheat crop is the great crop of the West. . . . Mr. Klippart, from hia widely-extended acquaint- ance with eminent and practical agriculturists, has abundant means for comparing note* and making practical observations, which his abilities as an author enable him to present, In the most beneficial manner, to those interested. .... Every farmer ihould have a copy of this invaluable work. It will amply repay its cost. From the Davenport Daily Gazette. This work has been prepared with great care by a man perhaps better qualified for tha task than any other person in the country. He has produced a work which should be in the hands of every agriculturist, as it contains a vast amount of information which, if properly put into practice, must result in better and more certain wheat crops. from the American Farmer, Baltimore. We have examined this work with great interest, and have marked many of its page* for future reference aud quotations in our magazine. Prom Prof. Hoyt, in Witconiin Farmer. The most elaborate, but also the most valuable production hitherto published on that important subject in this country. From L. V. Sierce, in Ohio Farmer. lar portion as partic No farmer should bo without it. To point out any particular portion as particularly excellent, where all is fint-rate, ii a ould bo wit From tht Country Gentleman. It is the result of careful and untiring investigation, which, although conducted with special reference to this crop, it* varieties, growth, etc., in Ohio, can not but U of great arvlce to the farmers of other States. PUBLICATIONS OF MOOEE, WILSTAOH & BALDWIN. PRACTICAL LANDSCAPE GARDENING. By G. M. K KKN. Containing Ticenty-tu-o Illustration* and 1'lanx for laying out Grounds, Kith full directions for Planting Shade Tree. Shrubbery and. Flower*. Third Edition. One volume, IZnto., Mtulin. Price, $1 50. Mr. Kern has produced the right book at the right moment. Putnam's Magazine. His suggestions are ill an emiucut degree valuable, and his opinions (which fire ex- pressed iu clear, concise, and lucid diction) easily interpreted, by even tho most limited conception, fairly assert hia claim to a station in the foremost rank of rural improvers. If. Y. Horticulturist. It abounds in useful and tasteful suggestions, and in practical instructions. Nortlitm Farmer. It is a very timely and valuable book Better adapted to the wautn and cir- cumstances of our people than any other upon the subject. Ohio Cultivator. No one can long walk hand in hand with Mr. Kern without being sensible that ho is in the bauds of oue who is worthy of all confidence. Louueille Courier. Has so nobly succeeded as to render his volume an invaluable acquisition to all. Boston ^Traveler. It is plain in its details, aud : Trill be more valuable to the million than any work on the robject of Land.-'crtpo Gardening yet published. The mechanical execution of the volume is the very perfection of printing aud binding. Ohio Farmer. Admirably calculated to meet the wants of the public. Boston Atlas. By a careful perusal of this little volume, which will cost but SI 50, the purchaser will probably find that he has learned what he has been all his life wishing to know, aud what will be worth to him more than ten times its cost. Xashcille WJiiy. He descends to the minutest details of instruction, so that his book mav be taken as a manual for the practical operator. A T . 1'. Evangelist. GRAPE AND STRAWBERRY CULTURE. The Culture of the Grape and Wine Malting. By ROBEBT BITCHAXAJT. With an Appendix, con- taining Direction* for the Cultivation of the Strawberry. By N. LOSQWOETH. Sixth Edition. One volume, I2mo., Mutlin. Price* 63 cents. It contains much opportune and instructive information relative to the cultivation of these two delicious trait*. Michigan Farmer. One of the books which pass current through the world on account of the great authority Of the author's name. Hoboken Gazette. There are no men better qualified for the undertaking. Louisville Journal. It deals more with facts, with actual experience and observation, and less with specula- tion, supposition and belief, than any thing on the topic that has yet appeared in the United States. In other words, a mau may take it and plant a vineyard, aud raise grapes With succes8.-HorticrW. We can not too strongly recommend this little volume to the attention of all who have a Tine or strawberry bed. Farm and Shop. This book embodies the essential principles necessary to be\bserved in the successful man- agement of these fruits. Uoston Cultivator. We have on two or thrive occasions said of this little book, that it is the best we have ever Men on the subjects of which it treats. A man with ordinary judgment can not fail iu grape or strawberry culture, if he tries to follow its advice. Ohio Farmer. HOOPER'S WESTERN FRUIT BOOK. A Compendious Collection of Facli, from the Note* and Experience of Successful Fruit Cult*- riiti. Arranged for Practical nte in Orchard and Garden. One volume, 12/wo., with Illustra- tion*. Price, 81 00. Three thousand copies of this work have already been disposed of. PTJBLIOATI01TS OF MOOBE, WILBTACH & BALDWHT. RENOUARD'S HISTORY OF MEDICINE. A History of Medicine, from il Origin to the Nineteenth Century, with an Appendix, containing a series of Philosophic and Historic Letters on Medicine of the present Century, by Dr. Benou. ard, Paris. Translated from the French, by C. G. Comegys, Prof. Inst. Med. in Miami Mtd* ieal College. One volume octavo. Sheep. Price, W 00. SYNOPTIC TABLE OF CONTENTS : I. AGE OF FOUNDATION. 1. PRIMITIVE PERIOD: From the Origla of Society to Ihe Destruction of Troy, 1184, B. C. 2. SACRED OR MYSTIC PERIOD : Ending with the Dispersion of the Pythagoreans, 500, B. C. 3. PHILOSOPHIC PERIOD : Ending at the Foundation of the Alexandrian Library, 320, B. C. 4. ANATOMICAL PERIOD : Ending at the death of Galon, A. D. 200. II. AGE OF TRANSITION. 5. GREEK PE- RIOD : Ending at the Burning of the Alexandrian Library, A. D. 640. 6. ARABIC PE- RIOD : Ending at the Revival of Letters in Europe, A. D. 1400. III. AGE OF RENO- VATION. 7. ERUDITE PERIOD: Comprising the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries. 8. REFORM PERIOD : Comprising the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. From Professor Jackson, of the University of . PHILADELPHIA, May 1. My Dear Sir The work you have translated, " Histoire de la Medecine," by Dr. P. V. Renouard, is a compendious, well-arranged treatise on the subject. Every physician and student of medicine should be acquainted with the history of his science. It is not only interesting, but of advantage to know the views and the interpreta- tions of the same pathological conditions investigated at the present day, in the past ages. They were handled then with as much force and skill as now, but without the scientific light that assists so powerfully modern research. Very truly yours, SAMUEL JACKSON. The best history of medicine extant, and one that will find a place in the library of every i who aims at an acquaintance with the past history of his professic truction ere are many items in it we should like to offer for the instruction aud amusement of onr readers. American Journal of Pharmacy. From the pages of Dr. Renouard, a very accurate acquaintance may be obtained with th history of medicine its relation to civilization, its progress compared with other sciences and arts, its more distinguished cultivators, with the several theories and systems proposed by them ; and it* relationship to the reigning philosophical dogmas of the several periods. His historical narrative is clear and concise tracing the progress of medicine through its three ages or epochs that of foundation or origin, that of transition, and that of renova- tiou. American Journal of Medical Science. It is a work of profound and cnriotis research, and win fin a place in our English IHerature which has heretofore been vacant. It present* a compact view of the progress of medicine in dif- ferent ages; a lucid erposition of the theories of rival sects; a clear delineation of the change* of different systems ; together with the learingi of Ihe whole on the progress of cirilization. Tho work also abounds in amusing and instructive incidents relating to the medl.^1 profession. The biographical pictures of the great cultivators of the science, such as Hippocrates, Gale Avicenna, Haller, Harvey, Jenner, and others, are skillfully drawn. Dr. Comegys deseri IIII.-T, xiitiitr, narvcy, jeuuer, aim tuners, are vniuiuuj urawn. _. . 9g . the thanks of not only the members of the medical profession, but also of every American scholar, for the fidelity and success with which hit task has been performed. Harper'* Magazine. From the British and Foreign Medico-Chirurgical Review. History of Medicine. It is expressly from the conviction of the deficiency of the English language in works on the History of Medicine, that we feel indebted to Dr. Comegys for the excellent translation of tho comparatively recent work of Renouard, the title cf which is placed at the head of this article We hope before long to find that in every important school of medicine in this country, opportunities will be offered to stu- dents whereby they may be enabled to attain some knowledge at least of th history ol that profession to the practice of which their live* re to bo devoted. PUBLIOATIONS OP MOORE, WILSTAOH & BALDWIN. THE AMERICAN DISPENSATORY, BY JOHN KI\, M. !>., Pro/essor of Obstetrics, and Diseases of Women and Children, in tht " Eclectic Medical Insti- tute, Cincinnati." ONE VOLUME ROYAL OCTAVO, 1509 PAGES. THE SIXTH EDITION, REVISED AND ENLABGED, JTJST IPTJIBLISJEIEID. /ART I contains an account of a large number of medicinal plants indigenous to this coun- try, many of which were for the first time presented to the profession in this work, giving their botanical descriptions, general chemical histories, therapeutical properties and uses, together with a large amount of information relative thereto, of practical value to the chemist, pharmaceutist and physician. PART II contains practical pharmacy, and a description of the various pharmaceutical compounds iu use among Medical Kefonners, especially of that class to which the author belongs, known as Eclectics. The various chemical and pharmaceutical processes de- scribed are mainly those of recent date, and such as have been found by ample experience to bo the best ; these are fully and clearly explained, so that every apothecary may be en- abled to prepare, without difficulty, all or any of the more modern preparations of He- formers, whenever ordered. PART III is devoted to the various mineral medicines, their chemical histories, therapeuti- cal virtues and uses, together with a vocabulary explaining the Latin words and abbre- viations frequently met with iu medical prescriptions; tables of doses; weight* and measures ; chemical composition of mineral waters ; specific gravities ; hydrometrical equivalents; solubility of salts, acids, bases, etc., etc., all of which are of much utility and indispensable to the chemist and pharmaceutist. The work contains a full and com- plete index, so arranged that any medicine, compound, or table, etc., may bo promptly found without any delay or difficulty. Although many valuable Dispensatories have been presented to the Physicians and Phar- maceutists of this country and Europe, they have all, excepting the former editions of thii Work, been confined to an account of those remedies only which have been recognized and employed by that class of Physicians termed " Old School," or "Allopathic," and have, therefore, only partially answered the purposes of the largo number of progressive medical men found in these countries. In the present Dispensatory, as already remarked, not only ore all the known medicinal plants described, as well as their numerous pharmaceutical compounds, but likewise all those poisonous mineral agents so strongly objected to by the New -School Physicians thus forming a volume full and complete in itself. There is no other work in Europq or America containing such completeness of information regarding the history of therapeutical virtues, and uses of indigenous and exotic medicinal plants, nor which so fully explains the various processes by which their properties are extracted, or their compounds prepared ; and, indeed, much of the matter presented can be found iu no other volume extant. To render the work practically useful to the 1'hysician and Pharma- ceutist, and to bring it up to the discoveries and improvements iu medical science of the present day, neither pains nor expense have been spared. In bringing the work up to it* present standard of excellence, the author has had the efficient aid of a geutleman well known throughout the country as a thoroughly accomplished Chemist and Pharmaceutist ; one who ia daily engaged in the practical pursuits of his profession. NOTICES OF FOEMEE EDITIONS. GOOD OLD-SCHOOI AUTHORITY. The American Journal of Pharmacy speaks of the work ta follows : " We hav taken some pains to give it a careful examination, although pressed for time. . . . The numerous plants which are brought forward as Eclectic Keine- ber of facts of a Therapeutical character, which deserve to be studied. Many of these ar capable of being adopted by physicians, especially by country physicians, who havo the d- vanUge of more easily getting the plants. . . . The attention which is now PUBLICATIONS OF MOOEE, WILSTACH & BALDWIN. being given by the Eclectics, in classifying and arranging facts and observations relative to American plants, will certainly be attended with excellent results. " It would afford us much pleasure to extract a number of articles from the Eclectic Dis- pentatory, but the length of this article admonishes us to stop ; yet we can not close without adjudging to Dr. King the merit of giving perspicuity and order to the vast mass of mate- rial collected under the name of Botanical Medicine, and for his determination to oppose the wholesale quackery of Eclectic Chemical Institutes. The Eclectics have opened a wide field for the rational therapeutist, and the organic chemist ; and we hope that physicians and apothecaries will not be repelled from reaping the harvest which will accrue to obser- vation and experiment. 11 The examination we have been able to give it, has convinced us that a great deal of labor has been bestowed upon the production, and that it contains an account of a larger number of the medical plants indigenous to our country, than any other work with which we art acquainted. Michigan Journal of Medicine. Lengthy reports, commendatory of the work, have been made, and numerous Medical Col leges have adopted it as a text-book. Thousands of copies have been eagerly purchased by parties residing in nearly or quite every State of the Union, in Canada and the provinces, and, indeed, in all parts of the world where the English language is spoken. At no former time has the demand been so urgent, or the orders on hand half so large as at present. KING'S AMERICAN ECLECTIC OBSTETRICS. By JOHN KING, M. D. 1 vol. royal 8vo., sheep, 800 pages. Price $ We have carefully examined Dr. King's work, and can honestly recommend it as a safe and judicious guide both to the student and to the practitioner of midwifery. In the treat- ment of the different subjects it differs but little, if at all, from the standard works on Ob- stetrics in the English language, except that the employment of a number of articles of the materia medica, not much in vogue among regular practitioners, is much insisted on in the medical treatment of women in the puerperal state. Boston Medical and Surgical Journal (Old School). We consider it as the best practical work on Obstetrics extant. Middle States Medical Reformer. Probably no man has done more than Prof. KING to elevate the literary character of the particular class of the medical profession to which he belongs. In this age of light and intelligence, no class of medical men can sustain themselves, and commend their particular systems to an intelligent public, without giving evidence of high attainments in literature as well as science. Prof. King, if he stands not at the head, is certainly not surpassed by any of his colleagues. His work on Obstetrics bears evident marks of the same master- mind shown so conspicuously in his Dispensatory. It is elaborate, thorough in all its de- tails, and so far as we have been able to examine, fully equal to the works of any other clasf of physicians on that subject. Wvrcettfr Journal of Medicine. KS\C,'S (JOHN, M. .) CHART OF URINARY DE- POSITS. EXTRACTS FROM NOTICES. Talle oj Urinary Deposits, icilh their Microscopical and Chemical Tests for Clinical Exami- nations. By John King, 31. D., Cincinnati. This is a very valuable chart, giving, at a glance, the essential facts in regard to the various forms of urinary deposits, their chemical constituents, and their remedies. There are thirteen well-executed drawings, and several tables. This chart can be framed and hung up in the physician's office, and thus easily eferred to. W^e heartily commend it to the attention of our readers. New Jersey Medical Reporter. The result of much labor and close observation. It will be useful for reference, and par- ticularly valuable to the Medical student. Dr. King, of Cincinnati, is the author, and de- serves mucL credit for this valuable contribution to Medical Science. Iowa Medical Journal. Table of Urinary Depots, etc. This is a valuable aid to any one who makes exam- inations of urinary deposits, containing thirteen figures of these deposits, as they appear under the microscope. Xew Hampshire Journal of Medicine. A very useful and vjiluable chart. We congratulate Dr. King on the manner in which he has condensed this difficult but important subject, so ag to present a bird's-eye aud clear view of the matter, in the form of a chart. Philadelphia Metlical and Surgical Joumal. PUBLICATIONS OF MOORE, WILSTACH & BALDWIN. Carefully arranged, and will prove useful as a reference to the practitioner, to refresh hi* _nemor; Journal memory, and materially aid the student in getting a clear idea of the subject. American al of Pharmacy, Philadelphia. Will be Bent by mail (post-paid) for FIFTY CENTS, or may be had through booksell lers. AMERICAN ECLECTIC PRACTICE OF MEDICINE. By I. G. JONES, M. D. Late Professor of Theory and Practice of Medicine, in the Kclec tic Medical Institute, Cincinnati. New edition ; extended and revised, at request of the author, by WM. SHEBWOOD, M. D., Professor of Medical Practice and Pathology, iu the Eclectic College of Medicine, Cincinnati. Complete in two volumes, octavo, 1,000 pages. Price $ EXTRACTS FROM NOTICES. The views maintained by the authors are stated with clearness and precision ; the styio is flowing and lively, and the whole book is remarkably free from the verbiage which i* such a general feature of medical treatises. .tf. I'. Tribune. It was the earnest advice of Dr. Rush to his students, to thoroughly investigate the indig- enous medicines of this country ; and one great merit of this work is that it contains de- scriptions of many recent remedial agents that are not embodied in any other work on practice. It is ably and lucidly written, and will highly interest and instruct all who read it. Galena Journal. Coming from the source it does, and with the able revisions and important additions which it has received, this edition of the work can not fail to be regarded as a complete and reliable text-book of practical medicine, suited to the wants and convenience of such students and practitioners as would desire to guin the most useful and imp'irtant informa- tion which the profession possesses at the present day, together with a correct knowledge ol the remedies and treatment, in the most desirable form, peculiar to what is known as the Eclectic System of Medicine. It is not a book of recipes, adapted to routine practice, but it is filled with practical directions and suggestions, intended for the intelligent prac- titioner, accompanied by rational explanations of and reasons for every procedure recom- mended i'i the treatment of diseases ; and every important paragraph in the work is ren- dered at once accessible by means of a complete table of contents, and a very copious index. The spirit of the work is liberal and eclectic in the true sense of those terms, so that no medical man, of any school, can take offense at its contents ; while all, it is be- lieved, will derive much practical advantage from a careful perusal of its pages. HVstern ChrMan Advocate. We have received from the publishers a copy of the above work, and after giving it such a cursory examination as the pressure of other engagements would permit, are prepared to say that, for Eclectics it is, perhaps, the best work published. The language id clear, and generally forcible, and being in the form of lectures to his class, it has the merit of free- dom and liveliness of style, so necessary iu such works to keep up tlie interest of the reader. . . In regard to the practical part, it is due to the varied research of Ihn authors to say, that it contains many excellent suggestions, as well as prescriptions. Southern Medical Reformer. f & m^f s7 V^^^ ~J^^ f Four years ago, at the earnest request of his former colleagues and friends, the late Prof. I. G. Jones had published the work of which we are now presented -with a rcvixfti and ex- tended edition ; and since then his practice has been received by tho liberal portion of th profession, throughout the country, as the practice, and far superior to all others. But as a new edition was called for, it has been very carefully revised at the request of the author, now deceased, by his former associate, and is presented to the profession with many additions, corrections of errors and oversights. Tho various additions, and Notes on Treatment, ns well as the new articles by the present editor, hove been so arranged as to preserve the former scope and design of the work ; and while it is rendered more perfect and complete, the original arrangement of the author is not interfered with. The mechanical execution of the book is admirable Colle