973.7L63 Welles, Gideon, 1802-1878, 
 
 BW459a 
 
 Administration of Abraham 
 
 Lincoln
 
 LINCOLN ROOM 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 LIBRARY 
 
 MEMORIAL 
 
 the Class of 1901 
 
 founded by 
 
 HARLAN HOYT HORNER 
 
 and 
 
 HENRIETTA CALHOUN HORNER
 
 
 ^\ 
 
 THE GALAXY 
 
 VOL. XXni.— JANUAKY, 1877.— No. 1. 
 
 ADMINISTRATION OF ABHAII.\M LINCOLN. 
 
 rr^IIE political differences wliicli 
 JL have generated parties in this 
 country date back to an early period. 
 They existed under the old coufedcr- 
 ttion, were perceptible in the form- 
 ation of the Constitution and estab- 
 lishment of "a more perfect union." 
 Differences on fundamcutal principles 
 of government led to the organization 
 of parties which, under various names, 
 aftir the adoption of tlie Federal Con- 
 stitution, divided the people and in- 
 fluenced and often controlKd national 
 and State elections. Neither of the 
 parties, however, has alw.ays strictly 
 adhered or been true to its professed 
 principles. Each has, under the pres- 
 sure of circumstances and to secure 
 tcftiporary ascendancy in the Federal or 
 State governments, departed from the 
 landmarks and traditions which gave 
 it its distinctive cliaractcr. The Cen- 
 traiuis, a name wliich more signi- 
 ficantly than any other expresses the 
 ehar.acter, principlij, and ti^ndcncy of 
 those who favor centralization of 
 power in a supreme head that shall ex- 
 ercise paternal control over States and 
 people, have under various names con- 
 stituted one party. On the other hand, 
 the SlatUti, under different names, have 
 from the first been jealous of central 
 supremacy. They believe in local self- 
 government, support the States in all 
 their reserved and ungranted rights, 
 insist on a strict con.'itruotion of the 
 Constitution and the limitation of 
 
 Federal authority to the powers specifi- 
 cally delegated in that instrument. 
 
 The broad and deep line of demarc- 
 ation between these parties has not 
 always been acknowledged. Inno- 
 vation and change have sometimes 
 modified and disturbed this line; but 
 after a period the distinctive boundary 
 has reappeared and antagonized the 
 people. During the administration of 
 Mr. Monroe, known as the "era of 
 good feeling," national party lines 
 were almost totally obliterated, and 
 local and personal controversies took 
 their place. National questions were 
 revivid, however, and contested with 
 extreme violence during several suc- 
 ceeding administrations. Thirty years 
 later, when the issues of bank, tarifl, 
 internal improvements, and an inde- 
 pendent treasury were disposed of, 
 there was as complete a break up of 
 parties as in the days of Monroe. It 
 was not, however, in an "era of good 
 feeling" that this later dislocation of 
 parties took place; but an attempt 
 was made in 1850 by leading politicians 
 belonging to different organizations to 
 unite the people by a compromise or 
 an arrangement as unnatural as it was 
 insincere — party lines if not obliterated 
 were, as the authors intended, in a 
 measure broken down. This compro- 
 mise, as it was called, was a sacrifice of 
 honest principlos, and instead of allay- 
 ing dispute.<i, was followed by a terrific 
 stonn of contention and Tiolcncc tran- 
 
 Eaurcd, iccordloc to -^ct of Conir'". In thf rnr IPTT. by STTKLDON & CO., In th« offloe of tb4 
 librsrUa of Cx>ngT«M, it Wa^hlogtoa. 
 1
 
 6 
 
 ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAUAM LENCOLN. [Jancaky, 
 
 Bcending anything the country had ever 
 expeiienced, and ended in a civil war. 
 
 The time has not yet arrived for a 
 calm and dispassionate review of the 
 acts and actors of that period and the 
 events of the immediately succeeding 
 years ; but the incidents that took place 
 and the experience so dearly purchased 
 should not be perverted, misunder- 
 stood, or wholly forgotten. 
 
 The compromises of 1850, instead of 
 adjusting differences and making the 
 people of one mind on political ques- 
 tions, actually caused in their practical 
 results the alienation of life-long party 
 friends, led to new associations among 
 old opponents, and created organiza- 
 tions that partook more of a sectional 
 character than of honest constitutional 
 differences on fundamental questions 
 relative to the powers and authority of 
 the Government, such as had previous- 
 ly divided the people. The facility 
 with which old political opponents 
 came together in the compromise mea- 
 sures of 1850, and abandoned principles 
 and doctrines for which they had bat- 
 tled through their whole lives, begot 
 popular distrust. Confidence in the 
 sincerity of the men who so readily 
 made sacrifices of principles was for- 
 feited or greatly impaired. Tlie Wliig 
 party dwindled under it, and as an 
 organization shortly went out of ex- 
 istence. A large portion of its mem- 
 bers, disgusted with what they con- 
 sidered the insincerity if not faithless- 
 ness of their leaders, yet unwilling to 
 attach themselves to the Democratic 
 party, which had coalesced in the move- 
 ment, gathered together in a secret or- 
 ganization, styling themselves "Know 
 Nothings." Democrats in some quar- 
 rters, scarcely less dissatisfied witli the 
 compromises, joined the Know Nothing 
 order, and in one or two annual elec- 
 tions this strange combination, without 
 avowed principles or purpose, save that 
 of the defeat and overthrow of poli- 
 ticians, who were once their trusted 
 favorites, was successful. In this de- 
 moralized condition of affairs, the 
 Democrats by the accession of Whigs 
 in the Southern States obtained posses- 
 
 sion of the Government and main- 
 tained their ascendancy through the 
 Pierce administration; and, in a con- 
 test quite as much sectional as polit- 
 ical, elected Buchanan in 1856. 
 
 But these were the expiring days 
 of the old Democratic organization, 
 which, under the amalgamating process 
 of the compromise measures, became 
 shattered and mixed, especially in the 
 Southern States, with former Wliigs, 
 and was to a great extent thereafter 
 sectionalized. The different opposing 
 political elements united against it 
 and organized and established the Re- 
 publican party, which triumphed in the 
 election of Lincoln in 1800. The ad- 
 ministration which followed and was 
 inaugurated in 1801 differed in essen- 
 tial particulars from either of the pre- 
 ceding political organizations. Men 
 of opposing principles — Centralists, 
 who like Hamilton and patriots of that 
 class were for a strong imperial na- 
 tional government, with supervising 
 and controlling authority over the 
 States, on one hand, and Statists on the 
 other, who, like Jefferson, adhered to 
 State individuality and favored a league 
 or federation of States, a national re- 
 public of limited and clearly defined 
 powers, with a strict observance of all 
 the reserved right of the local com- 
 monwealths — were brought together in 
 the elections of 1860. It has been 
 represented and recorded as grave 
 history that the Republican party was 
 an abolition party. Such was not the 
 fact, although the small and utterly 
 powerless faction which, under the 
 lead of "William Lloyd Garrison and 
 others, had for years made aggressiva 
 war on slavery, was one of the elements 
 which united with Whigs and Dem- 
 ocrats in the election of Mr. Lincoln. 
 Nor was that result a Whig triumph, 
 though a large portion of the Whigs in 
 the free States, after the compromises of 
 1850, from natural antagonism to the 
 Democrats, entered into the Repub- 
 lican organization. While it is true 
 that a large majority of the Whigs of 
 the North relinquished their old organ- 
 ization and became Republicans, it is
 
 1877.1 
 
 ADSUNISTRATION OF ABRAH:V>I LINCOLN. 
 
 no les3 true that throughout the slave 
 States, and in many of the free States, 
 the members of the Whig party to a 
 considerable extent supported Bell or 
 Breokenridge. But Democrats dissat- 
 isfied with the measures of the Pierce 
 and Buchanan administrations, in 
 much larger numbers than is generally 
 conceded, took early and efficient part 
 in the Republican organizations— some 
 on account of the repeal of the Mis- 
 souri compromise, but a much larger 
 number in consequence of the efforts 
 of the central Government at Washing- 
 ton, by what vras considered by them 
 an abuse of civil trust, and by military 
 interference, to overpower the settlers 
 in Kansas, denying them the right of 
 self-government, and an attempt arbi- 
 trarily and surreptitiously to impose 
 upon the inhabitants against their will 
 a fraudulent Constitution. It was this 
 large contribution of free-thinking and 
 independent Democrats, who had the 
 courage to throw off party allegiance 
 .and discipline in behalf of the prin- 
 ciples of free government on which 
 our republican system is founded, the 
 right of the people to self-government, 
 and, consequently, the right to form 
 and establish their own constitution 
 without dictation or interference from 
 the central government so long as they 
 violated no provision of the organic 
 law, that gave tone, form, and ascend- 
 ancy to the Republican party in every 
 free State. 
 
 Persistent efforts have been made to 
 establish as historical truths the rep- 
 resentations that the civil war had its 
 origin in a scheme or purjiose to abol- 
 ish slavery in the States where it ex- 
 isted, and that the election of Abraham 
 Lincoln was an abolition triumph — a 
 premeditated, aggressive, sectional war 
 upon the South ; whereas the reverse is 
 the fact — the Republican p.arty in its 
 inception was a strictly constitutional 
 party, that defended the rights of the 
 people, the rights of the States, and 
 the rights of the Federal Government, 
 which were assailed by a sectional com- 
 bination that was not satisfied with the 
 Constitution as it was, but proposed 
 
 to exact new guarantees from the na- 
 tion for the protection of what they 
 called "Southern rights" — rights un- 
 known to the Constitution. The mis- 
 representations that the Republicans 
 were aggressive and aimed to change 
 the organic law have not been without 
 their influence, temporarily at least, 
 in prejudicing and warping the public 
 mind. It is true that the slavery ques- 
 tion was most injudiciously and un- 
 wisely brought into the party contro- 
 versies of the country ; but it was done 
 by the slaveholders or their political 
 representatives in Congress after the 
 failure of the nuUifiers to obtain as- 
 cendancy in the Government on the 
 subject of free trade and resistance to 
 the revenue laws. 
 
 Johu C. Calhoun, a man of un- 
 doubted talents, but of unappeasable 
 ambition, had at an early period of his 
 life, while Secretary of War, and still a 
 young man, aspired to the office of 
 President. By his ability and patri- 
 otic course during the war of 1813, 
 and subsequently by a brilliant career 
 as a member of Mr. Monroe's Cabinet, 
 he h.ad acquired fame and a certain 
 degree of popularity which favored his 
 pretensions, particularly with young 
 men and army officers. Schemes and 
 projects of national aggrandizement 
 by internal improvements, protection 
 to home industries, large military ex- 
 penditures, and me.asures of a central- 
 izing tendency which were popular in 
 that era of no parties, gave him i'dat as 
 Secretary of War. Flattered by his 
 attentions and by his shining qualities, 
 militai-y men became his enthusiastic 
 supporters, and received encourage- 
 ment from him in return. It was the 
 first attempt to elect so young a man to 
 be Chief Magistrate, and was more per- 
 sonal than political in its character. 
 In the memorable contest for the sue- 
 cessorship to President Monroe, Mr. 
 Calhoun at one time seemed to be a 
 formidable candidate; but his pop- 
 ularity being personal was evanescent, 
 and failed to enlist the considerate and 
 reflecting. Even his military hopes 
 were soon eclipsed by Genera! Jack-
 
 8 
 
 .U)iIlNISTRATION OP ABRA.HAJVI LINCOLN. [January, 
 
 son, whose bold achievements and suc- 
 cesses in the Indian and Britisli wars 
 captivated the popular mind. Jack- 
 son had also, as a representative and 
 Senator in Congress, Judge of the 
 Supreme Court of Tennessee, and Gov- 
 ernor of Florida, great civil experience. 
 Mr. Callioun was, however, in the polit- 
 ical struggle that took place in 1834, 
 elected to the second oiBce of the re- 
 public, while in the strife, confusion, 
 and break up of parties no one of the 
 competing candidates for President re- 
 ceived a majority of the electoral votes. 
 He and his supporters submitted to, it 
 may be said acquiesced in, the result 
 then and also in 1828, when General 
 Jackson was elected President and Mr. 
 Calhoun was reelected to the office of 
 Vice-President. This acquiescence, 
 however, was reluctant ; but with an ex- 
 pectation that he would in 1833, at the 
 close of General Jackson's term, be the 
 successor of the distinguished military 
 chieftain. 
 
 But the arrangements of calculat- 
 ing politicians often end in disap- 
 pointments. Such was the misfor- 
 tune of Mr. Calhoun. His ambitious 
 and apparently well contrived plans 
 had most of them an abortive and hap- 
 less termination. Observation and ex; 
 pericnce convinced him, after leaving 
 Mr. Monroe's Cabinet, that the ed- 
 ucated and reflective Statists or State 
 rights men of the country, and espe- 
 cially of the South, would never sanc- 
 tion or be reconciled to the exercise 
 of power by the Federal Govern- 
 ment to protect the manufacturing in- 
 terests of New England, or to construct 
 roads and canals in the West, at the ex- 
 pense of the National Treasury. These 
 were, however, favorite measures of a 
 class of politicians of the period who 
 had special interests to subserve, and 
 who carried with them the consolida- 
 tionists, or advocates of a strong and 
 magnificent central government. The 
 tariff, internal improvements, and kiu- 
 dred subjects became classified and 
 known in the party politics of that day 
 as the "American system" — a system 
 of high taxes and large expenditures 
 
 by the Federal Government — without 
 specific constitutional authority for 
 either. Parties were arrayed on op- 
 posite sides of this system, which, be- 
 sides the political principles involved, 
 soon p.artook of a sectional character. 
 High and oppressive duties on importa- 
 tions, it was claimed, were imposed to 
 foster certain industries in the North to 
 the injury of the South. 
 
 Henry Clay, a politician and states- 
 man of wonderful magnetic power, was 
 the eloquent champion of tlie "Amer- 
 ican system," and enlisted in his favor 
 the large manufacturing interest in the 
 North and the friends of internal im- 
 provement in the West. These mea- 
 sures were made national issues, and 
 Mr. Clay, Speaker of the House of 
 Representatives, appropriated them to 
 his personal advancement, and was 
 their recognized leading advocate. 
 Mr. Calhoun could not be second to 
 his Western rival, but abandoned the 
 policy of protection, iuternal improve- 
 ments, and great national undertak- 
 ings, and allied himself to the com- 
 mercial and plantation interests, which 
 opposed the system, expecting to iden- 
 tify himself with and to receive the 
 support of the Statists. But the strict 
 constructionists of Virginia, Georgia, 
 and other States of the old Jefferson 
 school distrusted him and withheld 
 their confidence and support. 
 
 South Carolina, erratic, brilliant, and 
 impulsive, had never fully harmonized 
 with the politicians of Virginia in their 
 political doctrines, but had been in- 
 clined to ridicule the rigid and non- 
 progressive principles of her states- 
 men, who, always cautious, were now 
 slow to receive into fellowship and to 
 commit themselves to the new con- 
 vert who sought their support. They 
 slighted him, and rejected his nullifi- 
 cation remedies. Instead of following 
 the Palmetto State in her fanatical 
 party schemes on the alleged issue of 
 free trade, and supporting her "fa- 
 vorite son " in his tlieories, they sus- 
 tained General Jackson, whose Union 
 sentiments they approved, and who, 
 to the disgust of Calhoun, became a
 
 1877 
 
 ADMINISTRATION OF ABR^VIIAil LINCOLN. 
 
 caudidato for reelection in 1S32 and 
 received the votes of almost the wliole 
 Bouth. 
 
 In this crisis, when the heated par- 
 tisans of South Carolina in their 
 zeal for free trade and State rights 
 liad made a step in advance of the 
 more staid and reflecting Statists, and 
 undertook to abrogate and nullify the 
 laws of the Federal Government legal- 
 ly enaeted, tltey found themselves un- 
 supported and in difficulty, and natu- 
 rally turnecj to their acknowledged 
 leader for guidance. To contest the 
 Federal Government, and pioneer the 
 way for his associates to resist and 
 overthrow the Administration, Mr. Cal- 
 houn resigned the otBce of Vice-Presi- 
 dent and accepted that of Senator, 
 where his active mind, fertile in re- 
 sources, could, and as he and they be- 
 lieved would extricate them. There 
 was, however, at the head of the Gov- 
 ernment in that day a stern, patriotic, 
 and uncompromising Chief Magistrate, 
 who would listen to no mere temporiz- 
 ingcspedients when the stability of the 
 Union was involved, and who, while 
 recognizing and maintaining the rights 
 of the States, never forgot the rights 
 that belonged to ths Federal Govern- 
 ment. In his extremity, when con- 
 fronting this inflexible President, Mr. 
 Calhouu hastened to make friends with 
 his old opponents. Clay, Webster, and 
 the protectionists, the advocates of 
 the "American system," the authors 
 and champions of the very policy 
 which had been made the pretext or 
 justification for nullification and re- 
 sistance to Federal law and the Fede- 
 ral authority. This coalition of hos- 
 tile factions combined in a scheme, or 
 compromise, where each Bacrificed 
 principles to oppose the administration 
 of Jockaon. It was an insincere and 
 unrighteous coalition which soon fell 
 asunder. 
 
 In the mean time, while nullifi- 
 cation was hopelessly prostrate, and 
 before the coalition was complete, the 
 prolific mind of the aspiring Carolin- 
 ian devised a new plan and a new system 
 of tactics which it was expected would 
 
 sectionalizc and unite the South. 
 This new device was a defence of slav- 
 ery — a subject in which the entire South 
 was interested — against the impudent 
 demands of the abolitionists. Not un- 
 til the nuUifiers were defeated, and had 
 failed to draw the South into their 
 nullification plan, was slavery agita- 
 tion introduced into Congress and 
 made a sectional party question with 
 aggressive demands for national pro- 
 tection. The abolitionists were few 
 in numbers, and of little account in 
 American politics. Some benevolent 
 Quakers and uneasy fanatics, who 
 neither comprehended the structure of 
 our Federal system nor cared for the 
 Constitution, had annually for forty 
 years petitioned Congress to give free- 
 dom to the slaves. But the statesmen 
 of neither party listened to these un- 
 constitutional appeals until the defeat- 
 ed nuUifiers professed great apprehen- 
 sion in regard to them, and introduced 
 the subject as a disturbance, and made 
 it a sensational sectional issue in Con- 
 gress and the elections. 
 
 From the first agitation of the sub- 
 ject as a party question, slavery in all 
 its phases was made; sectional and ag- 
 gressive by the South. Beginning 
 with a denial of the right to petition 
 for the abolition of slavery, and with 
 demands for new and more exacting 
 national laws for the arrest and rendi- 
 tion of fugitives, the new sectional 
 party tost was followed by other mea- 
 sures; such as the unconditional ad- 
 mission of Texas, the extension of 
 slavery into all the free territory ac- 
 quired from Mexico, the repeal of the 
 Missouri compromise, a denial to the 
 people of Kansas of the right to frame 
 their own constitution, and other in- 
 cidental and irritating questions that 
 were not legitimately within the scope 
 of Federal authority. Fierce conten- 
 tions prevailed for years, sometimes 
 more violent than at others. 
 
 In 1850 a budget of compromises, 
 which has already been alluded to, 
 involving a surrender of 4)rinciple8 
 and an enactment of laws that were 
 unwarranted by tho Constitution, and
 
 10 
 
 ADmXISTRATION OF ABRAIIAJiI LINCOLN. [Janc.uit, 
 
 offensive in other respects, had been 
 patched up by old Congressional party 
 leaders, ostensibly to reconcile con- 
 flicting views and interests, but which 
 were superficial remedies for a cancer- 
 ous disease, and intended more to 
 glorify the authors than to promote 
 the country's weli'are. Both of the 
 great parties were committed by the 
 managers to these compromises, but 
 the effect upon each was different. 
 The Whigs, tired of constant defeat, 
 hoped for a change by the compro- 
 mises that would give them recogni- 
 tion and power; but instead of these 
 they found themselves dwarfed and 
 weakened, while the Democrats, who 
 yielded sound principles to conciliate 
 their Southern allies, were for a time 
 numerically strengthened in that sec- 
 tion by accessions from the Whigs. 
 Old party lines became broken, and in 
 the Presidential contest of 1853 the 
 Democratic candidate. General Pierce, 
 a young and showy, but not profound 
 man, was elected by an overwhelming 
 majority over the veteran General 
 Scott, who was the candidate of the 
 Whigs. From this date the Whig or- 
 ganization dwindled and had but a 
 fragmentary existence. Thencefor- 
 ward, until the overthrow of the Dem- 
 ocratic party, the Government at 
 Washington tended to centralization. 
 Fidelity to party, and adherence to 
 organization, with little regard for 
 principle, were its political tests in 
 the free States. Sectional sentiments 
 to sustain Southern aggressions, under 
 the name of "Southern rights," were 
 inculcated, violent language, and acts 
 that were scarcely less so, prevailed 
 through the South and found apolo- 
 gists and defenders at the North. 
 Presidents Pierce and Buchanan, liter- 
 ally "northern men with southern 
 principles," were submissive to these 
 sectional aggressions, acquiesced in 
 the repenl of the Missouri compromise, 
 the extension and nationalizing of 
 slavery, hitherto a State institution, 
 and also to the schemes to prevent the 
 establishment of a free constitution by 
 the people of Kansas. The mass of 
 
 voters opposed to the policy of these 
 administrations, and who constituted 
 the Republican party, were not entire- 
 ly in accord on fundamental principles 
 and views of government, but had 
 been brought into united action from 
 the course of events which followed 
 the Mexican war, the acquisition of 
 territory, and the unfortunate compro- 
 mises of 1850. The sectional strife, 
 for the alleged reason of Lincoln's 
 election and Republican success, which 
 eventuated in hostilities in ISCl, and 
 the tremendous conflict that succeed- 
 ed and shook the foundation of the 
 Government during the ensuing four 
 years, threatening the national exist 
 ence, absorbed all minor questions of 
 a purely political party character, and 
 made the Cabinet of Mr. Lincoln, 
 though its members entertained or- 
 ganic differences, a unit. There were 
 occasions when the antecedent opin- 
 ions and convictions of the members 
 elicited discussion in regard to the 
 powers, limitations, and attributes of 
 government; but in the midst of war 
 disagreeing political ojjiuious as well 
 as the laws themselves were silenced. 
 Each and all felt the necessity of har- 
 monious and efficient action to pre- 
 serve the Union. 
 
 This was especially thj case dur- 
 ing the first two years of the war 
 of secession. Not only the Presi- 
 dent's constitutional advisers, but 
 the Republican members of Congress, 
 embracing many captious, factious, and 
 theoretical controversialists, acted in 
 harmony and concert. Murmurs were 
 heard among ita friends, and dissatis- 
 faction felt that the Administration 
 was not sufficiently energetic or arbi- 
 trary, and because it did not immedi- 
 ately suppress the rebellion. A long 
 period of peace which the country had 
 enjoyed rendered the malcontents in- 
 capable of judging of the necessities 
 of preparation for war. " On to Rich- 
 mond " became the cry of the impa- 
 tient and restless before the armies 
 mustered into service were organized. 
 The violent and impassioned api)eals 
 of excited and mischievous speakers
 
 187 
 
 ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 11 
 
 and writers crc.itcd discontent and 
 clamor that could not always be ap- 
 peased or successfully resisted. Not 
 content with honest if not always in- 
 telligent criticism of tlie Government, 
 some editors, papers, writers, and 
 speakers, at an early period and in- 
 deed throughout the war, condemned 
 the policy pursued, assumed to direct 
 the mauagement of affairs, and ad- 
 vanced crude and absurd notions of 
 the manner in which the Uovcnimeut 
 should be administered and military 
 operations conducted. For a period 
 after the rout at Bull Run, which 
 seemed a rebuke to these inconsiderate 
 partisans, there was a temporary lull 
 of complaints and apparent acquies- 
 cence by Republicans in the measures 
 of administration. 
 
 Military dillereuces and army jea- 
 lousies existed from the beginning, 
 which were aggravated and stimulated 
 by partisan friends and opponents of 
 the rival officers, and by dissent from 
 the policy pursued in the conduct of 
 military affairs to which many took 
 exception. 
 
 General Scott was the military ora- 
 cle of the Administration in the first 
 days of the war. His ability and 
 great experience entitled him to regard 
 a:ul deference on all questions relating 
 to military operations. No one ap- 
 preciated his qualities more than the 
 President, unless it was General Scott 
 himself, who with great self-esteem 
 was nevertheless not unconscious that 
 his age and infirmities had impaired 
 his physical energies, and in some re- 
 spects untitled him to be the active 
 military commander. It was his mis- 
 fortune that he prided himself more 
 if possible on his civil and political 
 knowledge and his administrative 
 ability than on his military skill and 
 capacity. As a politician his opinions 
 were often chimerical, unstable, and 
 of little moment; but his military 
 knowlcdcre and experience were valu- 
 able. With headquarters at Washing- 
 ton, and for thirty years consulted and 
 trusted by successive administrations 
 of different parties in important emer- 
 
 gencies, internal and external, and at 
 one time the selected candidate of one 
 of the great political parties for Presi- 
 dent, he had reason to feel that he was 
 an important personage in the repub- 
 lic; also that he was competent, and 
 that it was a duty for him to partici- 
 pate in political matters, and to advise 
 in civil affairs when there were threat- 
 ened dangers. But while he was sa- 
 gacious to detect the premonitory 
 symptoms of disturbance, and always 
 ready to obey and execute military 
 orders, he was in political and civil 
 matters often weak, irresolute, and in- 
 firm of purpose. He had in the au- 
 tumn of 18G0 warned President Bu- 
 chanan of danger to be apprehended 
 from the secession movement, and 
 wisely suggested measures to preserve 
 peace; but he soon distrusted and 
 abandoned his own suggestions. With- 
 out much knowledge of Mr. Lincoln, 
 and believing erroneously, as did many 
 others, that Mr. Seward was to bo the 
 controlling mind in the new adminis- 
 tration, he early put himself in com- 
 munication with that gentleman. The 
 two agreed upon the policy of surren- 
 dering or yielding to the States in se- 
 cession the fortresses within their 
 respective limits. It has been said, 
 and circumstances indicate that there 
 was also an understanding by Mr. 
 Seward with certain secession leaders, 
 that the forts, particularly Sumter, if 
 not attacked, should not bo reinforced. 
 Of the plans of Mr. Seward and General 
 Scott, and the understanding which 
 cither of them had with the secession- 
 ists, President Lincoln was not in- 
 formed ; but, while he had a sense of 
 duty and a ])olicy of his own, he at- 
 tentively and quietly listened to each 
 and to all others entitled to give their 
 opinions. 
 
 The reports of Major Anderson and 
 the defence of Sumter being military 
 operations, the President, pursuant to 
 Mr. Seward's advice, referred to Gene- 
 ral Scott, and it was supposed by those 
 gentlemen that the President acqui- 
 esced in their conclusions. Nor were 
 they alone in that supposition, for the
 
 13 
 
 ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAUAII LINCOLN. [J.vnuart, 
 
 President, while cautiously feelinw his 
 way, sounding the minds of others, 
 and gathering information from every 
 quarter, wisely kept his own counsel 
 and delayed announcing his determi- 
 nation until the last moment. He was 
 accused of being culpably slow, when 
 he wrvs wisely deliberate. 
 
 When his decision to reinforce Sum- 
 ter was finally made known, the Sec- 
 retary of State and the General-in- 
 Chief were surprised, embarrassed, and 
 greatly disappointed ; for it was an ut- 
 ter negation and defeat of tlie policy 
 which they had prescribed. The Gen- 
 eral, like a good soldier, quietly and 
 submissively acquiesced ; but Mr. Sew- 
 ard, a man of expedients and some 
 conceit, was unwilling and unprepared 
 to surrender the first place in the Ad- 
 ministration, and virtually publish the 
 fact by an Executive mandate which 
 upset his promised and preferred ar- 
 rangements. It was then that he be- 
 came aware of two things : first, that 
 neither himself nor General Scott, nor 
 both combined, were infallible with 
 the Administration ; and second, that 
 the President, with all his suavity and 
 genial nature, had a mind of his own, 
 and the resolution and self-reliance to 
 form, and the firmness and indepen- 
 dence to execute a purpose. They had 
 each overestimated the influence of 
 the other with the President, and un- 
 derestimated his capacity, will, and 
 self-reliance. When the Secretary be- 
 came convinced that he could not alter 
 the President's determination, he con- 
 formed to circumstances, immediately 
 changed his tactics, and after notify- 
 ing the authorities at Charleston that 
 the garrison in Sumter was to be sup- 
 plied, he took prompt but secret mea- 
 sures to defeat the expedition by de- 
 taching the flagship, and sending her, 
 with the supplies and reinforcements 
 that had been prepared and intended 
 for Sumter, to Port Pickens. In doing 
 this he consulted neither the War nor 
 Navy Departments, to which the ser- 
 vice belonged ; but discarding both, 
 and also the General-in-Chief, his pre- 
 ceding special confidant, and with 
 
 whom he had until then acted in con- 
 cert, he took to his counsel younger 
 military officers, secretly advised with 
 them and withdrew them from their 
 legitimate and assigned duties. The 
 discourtesy and the irregularity of the 
 proceeding, when it became known, 
 shocked General Scott. His pride was 
 touched. He felt the slight, but he 
 was too good au officer, too subordi- 
 nate, and too well disciplined, to com- 
 plain. The secret military expedition 
 undertaken by the Secretary of State 
 without the knowledge of the proper 
 departments and of himself, was so ir- 
 regular, such evidence of improper ad- 
 ministration, that he became alarmed. 
 He felt keenly the course of Mr. Sew- 
 ard in not consulting him, and in sub- 
 stituting one of his staff as military 
 adviser for the Secretary of State ; but 
 he was more concerned for the Gov- 
 ernment and country. 
 
 A native of Virginia, and imbued 
 with the political doctrines there prev- 
 alent, but unflinching in patriotism 
 and devotion to the Union and the 
 flag. General Scott hesitated how to 
 act — objected to the hostile invasion 
 of any State by the national troops, 
 but advised that the rebellious section 
 should be blockaded by sea and land. 
 He thought that surrounded by the 
 army and navy the insurgents would 
 be cut oS from the outer world, and 
 when exhausted from non-intercourse 
 and the entire prostration of trade and 
 commerce they would return to duty; 
 the " anaconda principle " of exhaust- 
 ing them he believed would be ellect- 
 ual without invading the territory of 
 States. When the mayor of Baltimore 
 and a committee of secessionists waited 
 upon the President on the SOtli of 
 April to protest against the passage of 
 troops through that city to the national 
 capital, he, in deference to the local 
 government, advised the President to 
 yield to the metropolitan demand, and 
 himself drew up an Executive order to 
 that effect. The seizure of Harper's 
 Ferry and Norfolk and the threatened ' 
 attack upon Washington greatly dis- 
 turbed him, but not so much as the
 
 187 
 
 ADillNISTRATION OF ABRMIAAI LINCOLN. 
 
 i:! 
 
 wild cry of the ardent and impulsive 
 which soon followed of " on to Rich- 
 mond " with an undisciplined army. 
 
 Sensible of his inability to tuke the 
 field, he acquiesced in the selection if 
 he did not propose after the disaster 
 at Bull Run, that General McClcUun 
 should be called to Wiishingtou to 
 organize the broken and demoralized 
 Army of the Potomac. A tliorou>:;h re- 
 organization was promptly and effect- 
 ually accomplished by that officer. In 
 a few days order, precision, and dis- 
 cipline prevailed — the troops were 
 massed and a large army was encamped 
 in and about the national <'apital. But 
 it was soon evident to the members of 
 the Administration that there was not 
 perfect accord between the two Gen- 
 erals. The cause and extent of dis- 
 agreement were not immediately un- 
 derstood. 
 
 At a Cabinet meeting which took 
 place in September at the headquarters 
 of the Gcncrul-in-Chief by reason of his 
 physical infirmities, a brief discussion 
 occurred which developed coolness if 
 not dissatisfaction. An inquiry was 
 made by the President as to the exact 
 number of troops then in and about 
 Washington. General McClellau did 
 not immediately respond — said he had 
 brought no reports or papers with him. 
 General Scott said he had not himself 
 recently received any reports. Secre- 
 tary Seward took from his pocket some 
 memoranda, stating the number that 
 had been mustered in a few days pre- 
 vious, and then went on to mention ad- 
 ditional regiments which had arrived 
 several successive days since, making 
 an aggregate, I think, of about ninety- 
 three thousand men. The General im- 
 mediately became grave. 
 
 When the subject matter for which 
 the Cabinet and war officers had been 
 convened was disposed of, some of the 
 gentlemen left, and General McClcUan 
 was about retiring, when General Scott 
 requested him to remain, and he also 
 desired the President and the rest of 
 us to listen to some inquiries and re- 
 marks which he wished to make. He 
 was very deliberate, but evidently very 
 
 much aggrieved. Addressing General 
 JlcClellan, he said: 
 
 "You are perhaps aware, General 
 McClellan, that you were brought to 
 these headquarters by my advice and 
 by my orders after consulting with tlie 
 President. I know you to be intelli- 
 gent and to be possessed of some ex- 
 cellent military qualities; and after 
 our late disaster it appeared to me that 
 you were a proper person to organize 
 and take active command of this army. 
 I brought you hero for tliat purpose. 
 Many things have been, as I expected 
 they would be, well done ; but in some 
 respects I have been disappointed. 
 You do not seem to be awnre of your 
 true position; anil it was for this rea- 
 son I desired that the President and 
 these gentlemen should hear what I 
 h.ave to say. You are here upon my 
 staff to obey my orders, and should 
 daily report to me. This you have 
 failed to do, and you appear to labor 
 under the mistake of supposing that 
 you and not I are General-in-Chief and 
 in command of the armies. I more 
 than you am responsible for military 
 operations; but since you came here I 
 have been in no condition to give 
 directions or to advise the President 
 because ray chief of staff has neglected 
 to make reports to me. I cannot an- 
 swer simple inquiries which the Pres- 
 ident or any member of the Cabinet 
 makes as to tiie number of troops 
 here ; they must go to the State depart- 
 ment and not come to military head- 
 quarters for that information." 
 
 Mr. Seward hero interposed to say 
 that the statement he had made was 
 from facts which he had himself col- 
 lected from day to day as the troops 
 arrived. '"Do I understand," asked 
 General Scott, "that the regiments re- 
 port ai they come here to the Ilouor- 
 aljle Secretary of State? " 
 
 "No, no," s.aid Mr. Cameron, who 
 wished to arrest or soften a painful in- 
 terview. "General McClellan is not to 
 blame ; it is Seward's ^vork. He is con- 
 stantly meddling with what is none 
 of his business, and (alluding to the 
 Pickens expedition) makes mischief in
 
 14 
 
 ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAHAM UNCOLN. [January, 
 
 the war and navy departments by his 
 interference." 
 
 Tliere was in the manner more than 
 in the words a playful sarcasm which 
 Seward felt and the President evi- 
 dently enjoyed. General MeC'lellan 
 stood by the open door with one hand 
 raised and holding it, a good deal 
 embarrassed. He said he had intended 
 no discourtesy to General Scott, but 
 he had been so incessantly occupied in 
 organizing and placing the army, re- 
 ceiving and mustering in the recruits 
 as they arrived, and attending to what 
 was absolutely indispensable, that it 
 might seem ho omitted some matters 
 of duty, but he should estremely re- 
 gret if it was supposed he had been 
 guilty of any disrespect. 
 
 "You are too intelligent and too 
 good a disciplinarian not to know your 
 duties and the proprieties of military 
 intercourse, " said General Scott; "but 
 seem to have misapprehended your 
 right position. I, you must under- 
 stand, am General-in-Chief. You are 
 my chief of staff. When I brought 
 you here you had my confidence and 
 friendship. I do not say that you have 
 yet entirely lost my confidence. Good 
 day, General McClellan." 
 
 A few weeks later General Scott was 
 on his own application placed upon the 
 retired list, and General McClellan 
 became his succcrisor. Disaffection on 
 the part of any of the officers, if any 
 existed, did not immediately show it- 
 self; the army and people witnessed 
 with pride the prompt and wonderful 
 reorganization that had taken place, 
 and for a time exulted in the promised 
 efficiency and capabilities of the 
 "youug Napoleon." But the autumn 
 passed away in grand reviews and 
 showy parades, where the young Gen- 
 eral appeared with a numerous staff 
 composed of wealthy young gentlemen, 
 inexperienced, untrained, and unac- 
 quainted with military duty, who as 
 well as foreign princes had volunteered 
 their services. Parades and reviews 
 were not useless, and the committal of 
 wealthy and influential citizens who 
 were placed upon his staff had its ad- 
 
 vantages ; but as time wore on and no 
 blow was struck or any decisive move- 
 ment attempted, complaints became 
 numerous and envy and jealousy found 
 opportunity to be heard. 
 
 The expectation that the rebellion 
 would be suppressed in ninety days, 
 and that an undisciplined force of 
 seventy-five thousand men or even 
 five times that number would march to 
 Richmond, clear the banks of the 
 Mississippi, capture New Orleans, and 
 overwhelm the whole South, had given 
 way to more reasonable and rational 
 views before Congress convened at the 
 regular session in December. Still the 
 slow progress that was made by the 
 Union armies, and the immense war ex- 
 penditures, to which our country was 
 then unaccustomed, caused uneasiness 
 with the people, and furnished food and 
 excitement for the factions in Con- 
 gress. 
 
 The anti-slavery feeling was increas- 
 ing, but efforts to effect emancipation 
 were not controlling sentiments of the 
 Administration or of a majority of Con- 
 gress at the commencement or dur- 
 ing the first year of Mr. Lincoln's term, 
 although such are the representations 
 of party writers, and to some extent of 
 the historians of the period. Nor did 
 the Administration, as is often asserted 
 and by many believed, commence hos- 
 tilities and make aggressive war on the 
 slave States or their institutions; but 
 when war began and a national garri- 
 son in a national fortress was attacked, 
 it did not fail to put forth its power 
 and energies to suppress the rebellion 
 and maintain the integrity of the 
 Union. IVrditary delays and tardy 
 movements were nevertheless charged 
 to the imbecility of the Government. 
 It is not to be denied that a portion of 
 the most active supporters of the Pres- 
 ident in and out of Congress and in the 
 armies had in view ulterior purposes 
 than that of suppressing the insuri'ec- 
 tion. Some were determined to avail 
 tliemselves of the opportunity to abol- 
 ish slavery, others to extinguish the 
 claim of reserved sovereignty to the 
 States, and a portion were favorable to
 
 1877.] 
 
 AD3IIN1STRATI0N OF ^UJRAJIAM LINCOLN. 
 
 15 
 
 both of these extremes and to the con- 
 solidation of power in the central Gov- 
 ernment ; Init a larger number than 
 either and perhaps more than all com- 
 bined were for maintaining the Consti- 
 tution and Union unimpaired. 
 
 The President, while opposed to all 
 innovating schemes, had thehai)py fac- 
 ulty of so far harmonizing and recon- 
 ciling his dilTering friends as to keep 
 them united in resisting the secession 
 movement. 
 
 Abraliam Lincoln w.is in many re- 
 spects a remarkable man, never while 
 living fully understood or appreciated. 
 An uncultured child of the frontiers, 
 ■with no educational advantages, iso- 
 lated in youth in his wilderness home, 
 ■with few associates and without family 
 traditions, he knew not his own lineage 
 and connections. Nor was this singu- 
 lar in the then condition of unsettled 
 frontier life, llis grandfather, with 
 Daniel Boone, left the settled part of 
 Virginia, crossed the Alleghany moun- 
 tains, penetrated the "dark and 
 bloody ground," and took up his resi- 
 dence in the wilds of Kentucky near 
 the close of the Revolutionary war. 
 Tliere was little intercourse with each 
 other in the new and scattered settle- 
 ments destitute of roads and with no 
 mail facilities for communication with 
 relatives, friends, and the civilized 
 world east of the mountains. Abra- 
 ham Lincoln, the grandfather of the 
 President, was a nephew of Daniel 
 Boone, and partook of the spirit of 
 his brave and subsequently famous 
 relative. But his residence in his se- 
 cluded home was brief. Uc was killed 
 by the Indians when his son Thomas, 
 the father of President Lincoln, was 
 only six years old. Four years later 
 the fatlierless boy lost his mother. 
 Left an orphan, this neglected child, 
 without kith or kindred for whom he 
 cared or who cared for him, led a care- 
 less, thriftless life, became a wandering 
 pioneer, emigrated from Kentucky 
 when the President w.-w but seven years 
 old, took up his resilience for several 
 years in the remote solitudes of Indiana, 
 and drifted at a later day to Illinois. 
 
 This vagrant life, by a shiftless father, 
 and without a mother or female relative 
 to keep alive and impress upon him the 
 pedigree and traditions of his family, 
 left the President without definite 
 kno.vledge of his origin and tliat of his 
 fathers. The deprivation he keenly 
 felt. I heal'd him say on more than one 
 occasion that when he laid down his 
 official life he would endeavor to trace 
 out his genealogy and family history. 
 He had a vague impression that his 
 family had emigrated from England 
 to Pennsylvania and thence to Virginia ; 
 but, as he remarked in my presence to 
 Mr. Ashmun of Massachusetts, and 
 afterwai'd to Governor Andrew, there 
 was not, he thought, any immediate 
 connection with the families of the 
 same name in Massachusetts, thoug'.i 
 there was reason to suppose they had 
 a common ancestry. 
 
 Uaving entered upon this subject, 
 and already said more than was antici- 
 pated at the commeucment, the oppor- 
 tunity is fitting to introduce extracts 
 from a statement made by himself and 
 to accompany it with other facts which 
 have come into my possession since his 
 death — facts of which he had no 
 knowledge. 
 
 In a brief autobiographical sketch of 
 his life, written by himself, be says: 
 
 I was bom February 12, IROn. in Flarain county, 
 Kentucky. My parents were both born in Virginia, 
 of undistin'^uidhed families — second families per- 
 haps I ehould say. My mother, who died in my 
 tenth year, was of a family of the nitnie of Hanks, 
 some of whom now reside in Adams and others in 
 Macon county, Illinois. My paternal grand- 
 father, Abralium Lincoln, cmij^ated from Rt>ck- 
 infitham county, Virginia, to Kentucky, about 
 1781 or 2, where, a year or two later, he was killed 
 by Indians, not in battle, but by Htealth. when he 
 was laborin'^ to open a farm in the forest. His 
 ancestors, who were (Quakers, went to Virginia 
 from Berks county, Pennsylvania. An effort to 
 Identify them with the New England family of 
 the same name ended in nothing more definite 
 than a similarity of Christian names in both 
 families, such as Enoch, Levi, Hcrdecat, Solomon, 
 Abraham, and the like. 
 
 My father, at the death of his father, was but 
 Blx years of age ; and he grew up literally without 
 education. He removed from Kentucky to what 
 la now Spencer county, Indiana, In my eighth 
 year. We reached our new home about the 
 time the Slate came Into the Union. It was 
 a wild region, with many bears and other wild 
 animals still in the woods. There I grew up.
 
 16 
 
 ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. [Jandart, 
 
 TUere were some schools, so called ; but no quali- 
 fication wua ever required of a teacher, beyond 
 reading', writing, and ciphering to the rule of 
 three. If a Htruggler, supposed to understand 
 Lutiii, happened to sojourn in the neighborhood, 
 he wa3 looked upon us a wizard. There was 
 absolutely nothing to eicite ambition for educa- 
 tion. Ox" course when I came of age 1 did not 
 know much. Still, somehow, I could read, 
 write, and cipher, to the rule of three ; but that 
 was all. I huvK not been to school since. The 
 little advance I nov? have upon this store of 
 education I have picked up from time to time un- 
 der the pressure of necessity. 
 
 I was raised to farm work, which I continued 
 till I was twenty-two. At twenty-one I came to Il- 
 linois, and passed the first year in Macon county. 
 Theii I got to New Salrai, at that time in Sanga- 
 mon, now in Menard county, where I remained a 
 year as a sort of clerk in a store. 
 
 Ill adilition to the foregoing I may 
 add that among my acquaintance in 
 central Pennsylvania were several sis- 
 ters whose maiden name was Winter.:!. 
 Two of these sisters were wives of 
 Judges of the Supreme Court of Penn- 
 sylvania. Another sister was the wife 
 of William Potter, a member of Con- 
 gress of some note from that St.ato and 
 sou of General Potter of the Revolu- 
 tion. These sisters were the great 
 aunts of President Lincoln, and I sub- 
 join au obituary notice of the younger 
 sister, Mrs. Potter, who died in 1875, 
 at the advanced age of eiglity-four. 
 There are some incidents not immedi- 
 ately connected with the subject that 
 might be omitted, but I think it best 
 to present the obituary in full : 
 
 Died, in Bellefonte, at the residence of Edward 
 C. Humes, on Sunday morning, the 30th of May 
 A. D. 13(5, Mrs. Lucy Potter, relict of Hon. Wil- 
 liam W. Potter, deceased, aged eighty-four years, 
 nine months, and two days. 
 
 Mrs. Potter was a member of a large and rather 
 remarkable family ; her father having been bom 
 In ITiS, married in lTi7, died in 1794 ; children to 
 the number of nineteen being born to him, the 
 eldest in 174d, the youngest in 1790— their birth 
 extending over a period of forty-two years. Wil- 
 liam Winters, the father of the deceased, came 
 from Berks county to Northumberland, now Ly- 
 coming county, in the year 1773, having purchased 
 the farm lately known as the Judge Grier farm, 
 near what was called Newberry, but now wlthm 
 the corporate limits of the city of Willlamsport. 
 Jlr. Winters was twice married. His first wife 
 was Ann Boone, a sister of Colonel Daniel Boone, 
 famous in the early annals of Kentucky. His 
 marriage took place in the year 1747 In the then 
 provmce of Virginia. By this union there were 
 issue eleven children, four males and seven fe- 
 males. His eldest daughter, Hannah, married in 
 Kocklnrxhnm county, Virginia, Abraham Lincoln, 
 the grandfather of Prci-ideut Lincoln. Shortly 
 
 before his death, Lincoln, who was killed by the 
 Indians, visited his father-in-law at what is now 
 Willlamsport, and John Winters, his brother-in- 
 law, returned with him to Kentucky, whither 
 Mr. Lincoln had removed after his marriage; 
 John being deputed to look after some lands tak- 
 en by Colonel Daniel Boocie and his father. 
 
 They travelled on foot from the farm, by a 
 route leading by where Bellefonte now is, the In- 
 dian path "leading from Bald Eagle to Franks- 
 town." 
 
 John Winters visited his sister, Mrs. Potter, in 
 1843, and wandering to the hill upon which the 
 Academy is situated, a messenger was sent for 
 him, his friends thinking ho had lost himself ; 
 but ho was only looking for the path he and Lin- 
 coln hod trod sixty years before, and pointed out 
 with his finger the course from Spring creek, 
 along Buffalo run, to where it crosses the *' Long 
 Limestone Valley," us the route they had trav- 
 elled. 
 
 Upon the death of Mr. Wlnters's first wife, in 
 1771, he again, in 1774, married. His second 
 wife was Ellen Campbell, who bore hira eight 
 children, three males and five females, of which 
 latter the subject of this notice was the youngest. 
 
 The father of Mrs. Potter died in 1794, and in 
 1795 Mrs. Ellen Winters, his widow, was licensed 
 by the courts of Lycoming county to keep a 
 "house of entertainment" where Williumsport 
 now is — where she lived and reared her own chil- 
 dren as well as several of her step children. 
 
 Here all her daughters married, Mary becoming 
 the wife of Charles Huston, who for a number of 
 year.s adorned the bench of the Supreme Court of 
 this State ; Ellen, the wl/e of Thomas Burn.side, 
 who was a member of Congress, Judge of the 
 Court of Common Pleas, and finally a Justice of 
 the Supreme Court ; Sarah, the wife of Benjamin 
 Harris, whose daughter. Miss Ellen Harris, resides 
 on Spring street in this borough ; Elizabeth, the 
 wife of Thomas Alexander, a carpenter and build- 
 er, who erected one of the first dwellings in Wil- 
 llamsport, at the comer of what are now Pine and 
 Third streets in that city, and many of whose de- 
 scendants are still living in Lycomiig county ; 
 Lucy, the wife of William W. Potter, a leading 
 politician In this county, who died on the 15th 
 day of October, 1838, while a member of our na- 
 tional Congress. 
 
 Mrs. Potter continued with her mother's fami- 
 ly in Lycoming county, frequently visiting her 
 two sisters, Mrs. Huston and Mrs. Burnside, 
 who resided in Bellefonte, wlicre, in iH15, she 
 was united In marriage, by Kev. James Linn, 
 with William W. Potter, a young and rising law- 
 yer, and sou of General James Potter, one of the 
 early settlers of the county. Here, with her hus- 
 band until his death, and then, upon the marri- 
 age of her niece. Miss Lucy Alexander, with Mr. 
 Edward C. Humes, she made her home, living 
 continuously in this town since her marriage, and 
 having survived her husband for the long period 
 of thirty-seven years, being that length of time a 
 widow. 
 
 The biographers of President Lin- 
 coln have none of them given these 
 f.acts because they did not know them, 
 nor was the President himself aware 
 of them. Of their authenticity so fnr
 
 1877. 
 
 ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 17 
 
 as tbe relationship of Mr. Lincoln 
 with the family of Winters is con- 
 cerned, I have no doubt. His ancestry 
 in this country, paternal and mater- 
 nal^Liucohi, Boone, and Winters — is 
 to be traced to the county of Berks, 
 Pennsylvania. 
 
 A roving child of the forest, where 
 there were not even village schools, 
 Abraham Lincoln had little early cul- 
 ture, but his vigorous native intellect 
 sought information wherever it could 
 be obtained with limited means and 
 opportunities, and overcame almost in- 
 superable obstacles. His quick per- 
 ception and powers of observation and 
 reflection, and his retentive memory 
 were remarkable; his judgment was 
 good, his mental grasp and compre- 
 heusiou equal to any emergency, his 
 intentions were always honest, and 
 his skill and tact, with a determination 
 to always maintain the riglit, begot 
 contidencc and made him successful 
 and great. Party opponents imputed 
 his success under difficulties that 
 seemed insurmountable to craft and 
 cunning; but while not deficient in 
 shrewdness, his success was the result 
 not of deceptive measures or wily in- 
 trigue, but of wisdom and fidelity 
 with an intuitive sagacity that seldom 
 erred as to measures to be adopted, or 
 the course to be pursued. It may be 
 said of him, that he possessed inhe- 
 rently a master mind, and was innate- 
 ly a leader of men. He listened, as 
 I have often remarked, patiently to the 
 advice and opinions of others, though 
 he might diifer from them ; treated 
 unintentional errors with lenity, was 
 forbearing, and kind to mistaken sub- 
 ordinates, but ever true to his own 
 convictions. He gathered information 
 and knowledge whenever and wher- 
 ever he had opportunity, but quietly 
 put aside assumption and intrusive at- 
 tempt to unduly influence and control 
 him. 
 
 Like all his Cabinet, with the excep- 
 tion of Mr. Blair, who had been edu- 
 cated at West Point, he was without 
 military pretension when he entered 
 upon hia executive duties and encoun- 
 
 tered at the very threshold a civil war 
 which had been long maturing, was 
 deeply seated, and in its progress was 
 almost unprecedented in magnitude. 
 Neither he nor any of his advisers had 
 personal, official, jjraotieal experience 
 in udmiuistcring the civil service of 
 the Fedirul GDvernnii-nt. The com- 
 mencement of hostilities, before they 
 had time to become familiar with their 
 duties, imposed upon each and all 
 labors and cares beyond those of any 
 of their predecessors. To these were 
 added the conduct of militai-y opera- 
 tions as novel as they were responsi- 
 ble. Unprepared as the country was 
 for the sudden and formidable insur- 
 rection, the Administration was not 
 less so, yet it was compelled at once 
 to meet it, make prcpar.atioas, call 
 out immense armies, and select officers 
 to organize and command them. 
 
 These commanders were most of 
 them educated military officers, but 
 possessed of limited experience. Tlicir 
 lives had been passed on a peace estab- 
 lishment, and they were consequently 
 without practical knowledge. Many 
 of these, as well as such officers as 
 were selected from civil life, seemed 
 bewildered by their sudden prefer- 
 ment, and appeared to labor under the 
 impression that they were clothed not 
 only with military but civil authority. 
 Some in the higher grades imagined 
 that in addition to leading armies and 
 fighting buttles, they had plenary 
 power to administer the Government 
 and prescribe the policy to be pursued 
 in their respective departments. Much 
 difficulty and no small embarrassment 
 was caused by their mistaken assump- 
 tions and acts, in the early part of the 
 war. 
 
 J. C. Fremont, the western explor- 
 er, a political candidate for the Presi- 
 dency in ISriO, and made a major 
 general by President Lincoln at the 
 beginning of the rebellion in 1861, 
 was assigned to the command of the 
 western department. He evidently 
 considered himself clothed with pro 
 consular powers; that he was a repre- 
 sentative of the Government in a civil
 
 18 
 
 ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAHAM LLXCOLN. [jANU.\x.r, 
 
 capacity as well as military command- 
 er, and soon after establishing his 
 headquarters at St. Louis assumed au- 
 thority over the slavery question which 
 the President could neither recognize 
 nor permit. Gener.d Hunter, at Port 
 Royal, and General Phelps, in the 
 Gulf, each laboring under the same 
 error, took upon themselves to issue 
 extraordinary manifestoes that conflict- 
 ed with the Constitution and laws, on 
 the subject of slavery, which the 
 President was compelled to disavow. 
 The subject, if to be acted upon, was 
 administrative and belonged to the 
 Government and civil authorities — not 
 to military commanders. But there 
 was a feeling in Congress and the 
 country which sympathized with the 
 radical generals in these anti-slavery 
 decrees, rather than with the law, and 
 the Executive in maintaining it. The 
 Secretary of War, under whom these 
 generals acted, not inattentive to cur- 
 rent opinion, also took an extraordinary 
 position, and in his annual report enun- 
 ciated a policy in regard to the slavery 
 question, without the assent of the 
 President and without even consulting 
 him. Mr. Lincoln promptly directed 
 the assuming portion of the report, 
 which had already been printed, to be 
 cancelled ; but the proceeding embar- 
 rassed the Administration and contri- 
 buted to the retirement of Mr. Cameron 
 from the Cabinet. These differences in 
 the army, in the Administration, and 
 among the Republicans in Congress, 
 extended to the people. A radical 
 faction opposed to the legal, cautious, 
 and considerate policy of the Presi- 
 dent began to crystallize and assume 
 shape and form, which, while it did 
 not openly oppose the President, 
 sowed the seeds of discontent against 
 his policy and the general manage- 
 ment of public affairs. 
 
 The military operations of the pe- 
 riod are not hero detailed or alluded 
 to, except incidentally when n.arrating 
 the action of the Administration in di- 
 recting army movements and shaping 
 the policy of the Government. Near- 
 ly one-third of the States were, during 
 
 the Presidency of Mr. Lincoln, unrep- 
 resented in the national councils, and 
 in open rebellion. A belt of border 
 States, extending from the Delaware to 
 the Rocky mountains, which, though 
 represented in Congress, had a divid- 
 ed population, was distrustful of the 
 President. Yielding the Administra- 
 tion a qualified support, and opposed to 
 the Government in almost all its mea- 
 sures, was an old organized and disci- 
 plined party in all the free States, 
 which seemed to consider its obliga- 
 tions to party paramount to duty to the 
 country. This last, if it did not boldly 
 participate with the rebels, was an 
 auxiliary, and as a party, hostile to the 
 Administration, and opposed to near- 
 ly every measure for suppressing the 
 insurrection. 
 
 There were among the friends of the 
 Administration, and especially during 
 its last two years, radical differences, 
 which in the first stages of the war 
 were undeveloped. The mild and per- 
 suasive temper of the President, his 
 generous and tolerant disposition, and 
 his kind and moderate forbearance 
 toward the rebels, whom he invited 
 and would persuade to return to their 
 allegiance and their duty, did not cor- 
 respond with the schemes and designs 
 of the extreme and violent leaders of 
 the Republican party. They had other 
 objects than reconstruction to attain, 
 were implacable and revengeful, and 
 some with ulterior radical views 
 thought the opportunity favorable to 
 effect a change of administration. 
 
 These had for years fomented divis- 
 ion, encouraged stiife, and were as ul- 
 tra and as unreasonable in their de- 
 mands and exactions as the secession- 
 ists. Some had welcomed war with 
 grim satisfaction, and were for pros- 
 ecuting it unrelentingly with fire and 
 sword to the annihilation of the rights, 
 and the absolute subversion of the 
 Southern States and subjection of the 
 Southern people. There was in their 
 ranks unreasoning fanaticism, and fe- 
 rocity that partook of barbarism, with 
 a mixture of political intrigue fatal to 
 our Federal system. Tliese men, dis-
 
 1877.] 
 
 ADffllSnSTKATION OF ABKAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 19 
 
 satisfied with President Lincoln, ac- 
 cused him of temporizing, of imbecil- 
 ity, and of sympathy with tlie rebels 
 because lie would not confiscate their 
 whole property, and hang or punish 
 them as pirates or traitors. Tliese rad- 
 ical Republicans, as they were proud 
 to call themselves, occupied, like all ex- 
 treme men in high party and revolu- 
 tionary times, the front rank of their 
 part}', and, though really a minority, 
 gave tone and character to the Repu'v 
 liean organization. Fired with aveng- 
 ing zeul, and often successful in their 
 extreme views, though to some extent 
 checked and modified by the Pres- 
 ident, they were presuming, and flat- 
 tered themselves they could, if unsuc- 
 cessful with Mr. Lincoln, effect a 
 change in the administration of the 
 Government in 1864 by electing a 
 President who would conform to tlieir 
 ultra demands. Secret meetings and 
 whispered consultations were held for 
 that purpose, and for a time aspiring 
 and calculating politicians gave them 
 encouragement; but it soon became 
 evident that the conservative senti- 
 ment of the Republicans and the coun- 
 try was with Mr. Lincoln, and that the 
 confidence of the people in his patriot- 
 ism and integrity was such as could 
 not be shaken. Nevertheless, a small 
 band of tbe radicals held out and would 
 not assent to his benignant policy. 
 These malcontents undertook to create 
 a distinct political organization which, 
 if possessed of power, would make a 
 more fierce and unrelenting war on the 
 rebels, break down their local insti- 
 tutions, overturn their State govern- 
 ments, subjugate the whites, elevate the 
 blacks, and give not only freedom to 
 the slaves, but by national decree over- 
 ride the States, and give suffrage to the 
 whole colored race. These extreme 
 and rancorous notions found no favor 
 witli Mr. Lincoln, who, though nom- 
 inally a Whig in the past, had respect 
 for the Constitution, loved the Federal 
 Union, and had a sacred regard for the 
 rights of the States, which the Whigs 
 as a party did not entertain. War 
 two years after secession commenced 
 
 brought emancipation, but emancipa- 
 tion did not dissolve the Union, con- 
 solidate the Government, or clothe it 
 with absolute power; nor did it impair 
 the autliority and rights which the 
 States had reserved. Emancipation 
 was a necessary, not a revolutionary 
 measure, forced upon the Administra- 
 tion by the secessionists tliemselves, 
 who insisted that slavery which was 
 local and sectional should be made na- 
 tional. 
 
 The war was, in fact, defensive on the 
 part of the Government against a sec- 
 tional insurrection which had seized 
 the fortresses and public property of 
 the nation; a war for the maintenance 
 of tbe Union, not for its dissolution; a 
 war for the preservation of individual, 
 State, and Federal rights ; good admin- 
 istration would permit neither to be 
 sacrificed nor one to encroach on the 
 other. The necessary exercise of ex- 
 traordinary war powers to suppress the 
 Rebellion had given encouragement 
 and strength to tbe centralists who ad- 
 vocated the consolidation and concen- 
 tration of authority in the general 
 Government in peace as well as war, 
 and national supervision over the States 
 and people. Neither the radical en- 
 thusiasts nor the designing centralists 
 admitted or subscribed to the doctrine 
 that political power emanated from tbe 
 people ; but it was the theory of both 
 that the authority exercised by the 
 States was by grant derived from the 
 parental or general Government. It 
 was their theory that tlio Government 
 created the States, not that the States 
 and people created the Government. 
 Some of them had acquiesced in cer- 
 tain principles which were embodied 
 in the fundamental law called the Con- 
 stitution; but the Constitution was in 
 their view the child of necessity, .i 
 mere crude attempt of the theorists of 
 1770, wlio made successful resistance 
 against British authority, to limit the 
 power of the new central Government 
 which was substituted for that of the 
 crown. For a period after the Rev- 
 olution it was admitted that feeble 
 limitations on central authority had
 
 20 
 
 ADfflNISTRiVTION OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. [Janoabt, 
 
 been observed, though it was main- 
 tained that those limitations had been 
 obstructions to our advancing pros- 
 perity, the cause of continual contro- 
 versy, and had gradually from time to 
 time been dispensed with, broken 
 down, or made to yield to our growing 
 necessities. The civil war had made 
 innovations — a sweep, in fact, of many 
 constitutional barriers — and radical 
 consolidationists like Thaddeus Ste- 
 vens and Henry Winter Davis felt that 
 the opportunity to fortify central au- 
 tliority and establish its supremacy 
 should be improved. 
 
 These were the ideas and principles 
 of leading consolidationists and radi- 
 cals in Congress who were politicians of 
 ability, had studied the science of gov- 
 ernment, and were from conviction op- 
 ponents of reserved rights and State 
 sovereignty and of a mere confedera- 
 tion or Federal Union, based on the po- 
 litical equality and reserved sovereignty 
 of the States, but insisted that the cen- 
 tral Government should penetrate fur- 
 ther and act directly on the people. 
 Few of these had given much study or 
 thought to fundamental principles, the 
 character and structure of our Federal 
 system, or the Constitution itself. Most 
 of them, under the pressure of schemers 
 and enthusiasts, were willing to assume 
 and ready to exercise any power deem- 
 ed expedient, regardless of the organ- 
 ic law. Almost unrestrained legisla- 
 tion to carry on the war induced a spirit 
 of indLEEerence to constitutional re- 
 straint, and brought about an assump- 
 tion by some, a belief by others, that 
 Congress was omnipotent; that it was 
 the embodiment of the national will, 
 and that the other departments of the 
 Government as well as the States were 
 subordinate and subject to central Con- 
 gressional control. Absolute power, 
 the centralists assumed and their fa- 
 natical associates seemed to suppose, 
 was vested in the legislative body of the 
 country, and its decrees, arbitrary and 
 despotic, often originating in and car- 
 ried first by a small vote in party cau- 
 cus, were in all cases claimed to bo de- 
 cisive, and to be obeyed by the Execu- 
 
 tive, the judiciary, and the people, re- 
 gardless of the Constitution. Parlia- 
 mentary discussions were not permit- 
 ted, or of little avail. The acts of caucus 
 were despotic,mandatory, and decisive. 
 The several propositions and plans of 
 President Lincoln to reestablish the 
 Union, and induce the seceding States 
 to resume their places and be repre- 
 sented in Congress, were received with 
 disfavor by the radical leaders, who, 
 without open assault, set in motion an 
 undercurrent against nearly every Ex- 
 ecutive proposition as the weak and 
 impotent offspring of a well meaning 
 and well intentioned, but not very com- 
 petent and intelligent mind. It was 
 the difference between President Lin- 
 coln and the radical leaders in Congress 
 on the question of reconciliation, the 
 restoration of the States, and the rees- 
 tablishment of the Union on the origi- 
 nal constitutional basis, which more 
 than even his genial and tolerant feel- 
 ings toward the rebels led to political 
 intrigue among Republican members 
 of Congress for the nomination of new 
 candidates, and opposition to Mr. Lin- 
 coln's reelection in 1804. At one pe- 
 riod this intrigue seemed formidable, 
 and some professed friends lent it their 
 countenance, if they did not actually 
 participate in it, who ultimately disa- 
 vowed any connection with the pro- 
 ceeding. 
 
 Singular ideas were entertained and 
 began to be developed in propositions 
 of an extraordinary character, relative 
 to the powers and the construction of 
 the Government, which were presented 
 to Congress, even in the first year of the 
 war. Theoretical schemes from culti- 
 vated intellects, as well as crude no- 
 tions from less intellectual but extreme 
 men, found expression in resolutions 
 and plans, many of which were absurd 
 and most of them impracticable and 
 illegal. Foremost and prominent 
 among them were a series of studied 
 and elaborate resolutions prepared by 
 Charles Sumner, and submitted to the 
 Senate on the 11th of February, 1863. 
 Although presented at that early day, 
 they were the germ of the reconstruc-
 
 1877.] 
 
 ADMINISTRATION OF ABR.VHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 SI 
 
 tion policy adopted at a later period. 
 Iq this plan or project for the treat- 
 ment of tlie insurrectionary States and 
 tlij people wlio resided in them, the 
 Massachusetts Senator niauifested lit- 
 tle rcg.ird for the fundamental law 
 or for State or individual riglits. 
 The high position which this Senator 
 held in the liepublican party and 
 in Congress and the country, his 
 cultured mind and scholarly attain- 
 ments, his ardent if not always discreet 
 zeal and elloits to free tlie slaves and 
 endow the whole colored race, wheth- 
 er capable or otherwise, with all the 
 rights and privileges, socially and po- 
 litically, of the educated and refined 
 white population whom they had pre- 
 viously served, his readiness and avow- 
 ed intention to overthrow the local 
 State governments and the social sys- 
 tem where slavery existed, to subjugate 
 thewliitcs and elevate the blacks, will 
 justify a special notice; for it was one 
 of the first, if not the very first of the 
 radical schemes officially presented 
 to change the character of the Govern- 
 ment ond the previously existing dis- 
 tinctions between the races. His the- 
 ory or plan may be taken as the pio- 
 neer of the many wild and visionary 
 projects of the central and abolition 
 force, that took shape and form not 
 only during the war, but after hostili- 
 ties ceased and the rebels were sub- 
 dued. 
 
 Mr. Sumner introduced his scheme 
 with a preamble which declared, 
 among other things, that the " exten- 
 sive territory "' of the South had been 
 " usurped by pretended governments 
 and organizations "; that " the Consti- 
 tution, which is the supreme law of 
 the land, cannot be displaced in its 
 rightful operation within this territo- 
 ry, but must ever continue the su- 
 preme law thereof, notwithstanding 
 the doings of any pretended govern- 
 ments acting singly or in confederation 
 in order to put an end to its suprem- 
 acy." Therefore: 
 
 RAto^tvd, l9t. That any vote of Bccession. or 
 other act by which any Stnte may andprtake to 
 pat an eod to the Bupr«mac7 of tho Coofltitatioo 
 2 
 
 within ita territory, is inoperative and void 
 a;;uin8t tlio Couatitution, and when suatuincd by 
 forco It becomes a practical abdication by the 
 State of all rights uuder tho Coni^titutiun, wtiile 
 the treason which it involves etiii further worlis 
 an instant forftiture of aii those functions uud 
 powers essentlai to the continued existence of 
 the btatti as a body puiitic, so tliat from that 
 time fonvard the territory fulis under the exciu- 
 pive jurisdiction of (Jon;;ress as other territory, 
 and tho State, bcins, according to the laiij;uaye of 
 the iaw, /V.'o d<^ tie, ceases to exist. 
 
 Sd. Tlnit any combination of men assuming to 
 act in the piace of such State, attcraptin.; to en- 
 snare or coerce the intiabitants thereof into a con* 
 fedemtion tiostiie to the Union, is rebellious, 
 treasonable, and destitute of all moral authority; 
 and that such combination is a usurpation inca- 
 pable of any constitutional existence and utterly 
 lawless, so tliat everything dependent upon it i3 
 without constitutional or legal support. 
 
 3d. That the termination of a State under the 
 Constitution necessarily causes the termination 
 of those peculiar local institutions which, havin;^ 
 no origin in the Constitution, or in tho-ie natural 
 rights which exist Independent of the Constitu- 
 tion, are upheld by the sole and exclusive author- 
 ity of tho State. 
 
 . . . Congress will aflsnme complete juris- 
 diction of snch vacated territory where su(;Ii un* 
 constitutional and illegal things have been at- 
 tempted, and will proceed to establish therein re- 
 publican forms of government under the Consti- 
 tution. 
 
 It is not shown how a usurpation or 
 illegal act by conspirators in any State 
 or States could justify or make legal 
 a usurpation by the general Govern- 
 ment, as this scheme evidently was, nor 
 by what authority Congress could de- 
 clare that the illegal, inoperative, and 
 void acts of usurpers who might have 
 temporary possession of or be a ma- 
 jority in a State, could constitute a 
 practical abdication by tho State it- 
 self of all rights under the Consti- 
 tution, regardless of the rights of a 
 legal, loyal minority, guilty of no usur- 
 pation or attempted secession — the 
 innocent victims of a conspiracy; 
 nor where Congress or the Federal 
 Government obtained authority to 
 pronounce "an instant forfeiture of 
 :;11 those functions and powers es- 
 sential to the continued existence of a 
 State as a body politic, so that from 
 that time forward the territory falls 
 under the exclusive jurisdiction of 
 Congress as other territory, and the 
 State, being, according to the language 
 of the law, t'elo de s:, ceases to e.xist. " 
 
 The aduiiiiiitration of Mr. Buchanan
 
 ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. [January, 
 
 a practical statesman. He could jjuU 
 down, but he could not construct— 
 could declare what he considered hu- 
 mane, right, and proper, and act upon 
 it regardless of constitutional compro- 
 mises or conventional regulations 
 which were the framework of the Gov- 
 ernment. No man connected with the 
 Administration, or in either branch of 
 Congress, was more thoroughly ac- 
 quainted with our treaties, so familiar 
 with the traditions of the Government, 
 or better informed on international 
 law than Charles Sumner; but on al- 
 most all other Governmental questions 
 he was impulsive and unreliable, and 
 when his feelings were enlisted, imperi- 
 ous, dogmatical, and often unjust. 
 
 Why innocent persons who were loy- 
 al to the Government and the Union 
 should be disfranchised and proscrib- 
 ed because their neighbors and fellow 
 citizens had engaged in a conspiracy, 
 he could not explain or defend. By 
 what authority whole communities and 
 States should be deprived of the local 
 governments which their fathers had 
 framed, under which they were born, 
 and with the provisions and traditions 
 of which they were familiar, was never 
 told. 
 
 His propositions found no favor with 
 the Administration, nor were they sup- 
 ported at the beginning by any consid- 
 erable number even of the extremists in 
 Congress. It required much training 
 by the centralizing leaders for years 
 and all the tyranny of caucus machinery 
 after the death of Mr. Lincoln to carry 
 them into effect by a series of recon- 
 struction measures that were revolu- 
 tionary in their character, and which 
 to a certain extent unsettled the prin- 
 ciples on which the Government was 
 founded. 
 
 But the counsel and example of the 
 distinguished Senator from Massachu- 
 setts were not without their influence. 
 Resolutions by radical Republicans and 
 counter resolutions, chiefly by Demo- 
 crats, relative to the powers and limi- 
 tations of the Federal Government and 
 the status of States, followed in quick 
 succession. On the 11th of June, the 
 
 aa 
 
 had laid down as a rule of government 
 that a State could not be coerced. The 
 whole country not in rebellion had de- 
 clared there should be no secession, di- 
 vision, or destruction of the Federal 
 Union, but here was the most conspicu- 
 ous leader of the Republican party in 
 the Senate proposing a scheme to pun- 
 ish a State, to anniliilate and destroy its 
 government, to territorialize it, to ex- 
 clude or expel it from the Union, to 
 make no discrimination in its exclu- 
 sions and denunciations between the 
 loyal and disloyal inhabitants, but to 
 punish alike, without trial or convic- 
 tion, the just and the unjust. There 
 were, though he was unwilling to admit 
 it, and was perhaps unaware of it, vin- 
 dictive feelings, venom, and revenge in 
 his resolutions and in his whole treat- 
 ment of the States and the white people 
 of the South. From the time that he 
 had been stricken down by the blud- 
 geon of Brooks in the Senate, Mr. Sum- 
 ner waged unrelenting war on the 
 whites in the Southern States, and seem- 
 ed to suppose it was his special mission 
 — he certainly m.ade it the great object 
 of his life — to elevate the negro race- 
 to give them at least equal rights and 
 privileges with the educated and refined 
 class — and did not conceal his inten- 
 tion and expectation to bring them in 
 :as auxiliaries to the Republican party, 
 ;and thereby give it permanent ascend- 
 ancy. All this was done in the name of 
 humanity, and with apparent self-con- 
 vinced sincerity. He was unwilling 
 to acknowledge tliat he was governed 
 or influenced by personal resentments 
 in his revolutionary plans to degrade 
 the intelligent wiiite and exalt the ig- 
 norant black population by tearing 
 ■down the constitutional edifice. In fre- 
 quent interviews which I held with him 
 then and at later periods, when he 
 ■found it impossible to hold his positions 
 nnder the Constitution, he claimed 
 that he occupied higher ground, and 
 that his authority for these violent 
 measures was the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence, which declared all men were 
 bom equal, etc. Mr. Sumner was an 
 idealist — neither a constitutionalist nor
 
 1877.] LUCILLE'S LETTER. 23 
 
 subject having been agitated and dis- The rcsohition of Dixon traversed 
 cussed for four months, Jlr. Dixon, a the policy of Sumner and was the Ex- 
 Republican Senator from Connecticut, ecutive view of ihe questions tliat were 
 whose views coincided in tlie main with agitated in Congress as to the effect of 
 those of Mr. Lincoln and the Adminis- the rebellion and the condition of the 
 tration, submitted, after consultation States in insurrection. The Adminig- 
 and advisement, the following: (ration did not admit that rebellion 
 Itt»otc«d. That all acts or ordinances of bcccs- dissolved the Union or destroyed its 
 BloQ, alleged to have been adopted by a..y k-isla- federative character; nor did it adopt 
 ture or convention of the people of any htate, are ^ ^ ^i , ^i ^l ^ ^^ 
 aa to the Fcdond Union absolutely nail and void ; or assent to tlie novel theory that the 
 and that while such acts may and do subject the States and the whole people residing 
 Individual actors therein to forfeitures and penal- jjj jj,p^ ^^^ forfeited all sovereignty 
 tics, they do not, in any degree, affect the rela- i oi ^ i • i- • i i 
 tlons of the SUte wherein they purport to have und all reserved State and individual 
 been adopted to the Government of the United rights, because a portion of the inliab- 
 States, but arc as to such Government acts of re- ita^tg j^.n! rebelled ; nor did it admit 
 bellion. insurrection, and hostility on the part of ^- t i- e 
 Uie individuals eng-.i^ed therein, or Riring assent that the usurpation of a portion of any 
 thereto; and that such States are, notwithstjind- community could bring condemnation 
 InsBuchactsorordinances, members of the Fed- and punishment on all. The usurpa- 
 cral Union, and as such lu-e subject to ail the ob- ' 
 
 ligations and duties imposed upon them by the tions and acts of the rebels were 
 
 Constitution of the United States ; and the loyal considered not legal acts, but nuUi- 
 
 cltlzens of such States are entitled to all the ^j^,^ 
 
 ngW« and prlvUeges thereby guaranteed or con- • ^^^^^ WellEU. 
 
 LUCILLE'S LETTER. 
 
 (\UT of the dreary distance and the dark 
 
 I stretch forth praying; palms— yet not to pray ; 
 Hands fold themselves for heaven, while mine, alas ! 
 
 Are sundered— held your way. 
 Brief moments have been ours, yet bright as brief ; 
 Oh I how I live them over, one by one, 
 Now that the endless days, bereft of you. 
 
 Creep slowly, sadly on. 
 Qornered in memory, those bewildering hours, 
 A golden harvest of enchantment yield ; 
 Here, like a pale, reluctant Kuth, I glean 
 
 A cold and barren Held— 
 
 Barren without a shelter : and the hedge 
 Is made of thorns and brambles. It I fain 
 Would lean beyond the barrier, do you sec 
 
 The wounding and the stain ? 
 Did God make us to mock us, on the earth f 
 Why did he fuse our spirits by !lis word. 
 Then set His awful An-el in our path, 
 
 Elis Angel with the sword ? 
 Why, when I contrite kneel confessing all. 
 And seek with tciirs the way to bo forgiven— 
 Why do your pleading eyes look sadly down 
 
 Between my face and heaven ? 
 Why docs my blood thrill at your fancied touch- 
 Stop and leap up at your ideal caress f 
 Ah, God ! to feel that dear warm mouth on mine 
 
 In lingering lendcrncsa I 
 To lie at perfect peace upon your heart, 
 Your arms close folded round mc Arm and fast. 
 My check to yoora— oh. vision dear aa vain I 
 
 That would be home at last. 
 Leon, you are my curse, my blc'slng too, 
 My hell, my hejjven, my storm that wrecks to save : 
 life daunts mc, and the shadows lengthen out 
 
 Lcyond the grave. 
 
 Maut L. Ritteb.
 
 SOME OLD ALMANACKS. 
 
 DO you know, gentle reader, wliat 
 an interesting, valuable, and 
 ussful book an '•Almanack" once 
 was i You are gorged with books, 
 and newspapers lie about thick as 
 leaves in Vallambrosa. Do you ever 
 buy an Almanac for five cents ? I trow 
 not. Therefore you do not know how 
 much careful calculation, skill, and 
 knowledge are to be had for that small 
 piece of money. 
 
 Therefore you cannot sit down in the 
 evening and pore over its mystic signs. 
 Indeed, I fear you do not know what a 
 zodiac is, or what the meaning of 
 " Cancer the Crab " and " Gemini the 
 Twins " may be. It is more than likely 
 you will reply, " Oh, yes; if the Crab 
 had a Cancer, he would cry Gemini to 
 the Twins "—and in that light and flip- 
 pant way you will try to hide your 
 brutal ignorance, if a male, your shal- 
 low understanding, if a female. 
 
 Now I have just had a sort of musty 
 satisfaction in looking over some old 
 Aim macs, wliich dated as far back as 
 1737. They seem to have been the 
 property of somebody whose letters 
 were W. S. His almanacs were so 
 prized that he had interleaved them,and 
 then he recorded his profound observa- 
 tions. He thus liad learned, what I fear 
 you have not, tliat the moon had 
 many mysterious influences besides 
 making the tides rise and fall, if it 
 does. It seems, if we can believe " A 
 Native of New England," who made 
 B. Greene's Almanack for 1731, that 
 the "'Jloon has dominion over man's 
 body," and that when she gets into 
 " Cancer the Crab " you must expect 
 every sort of bodevilment in your 
 broajt and stomael'. When she gets 
 into " Gemini," the same in your arms 
 and s'.ioulders. Wiien she is in " Scor- 
 pio " your bowels and belly are in 
 danger, and so on all through your 
 body ; so that wo might well enough 
 wish the moon were wholly abolished; 
 for the little wishy-washy light slie 
 
 gives to lovers and thieves is not at all 
 a balance for such fearful threatenings. 
 Who was the " Native of New Eng- 
 land " is a secret, and well it is, for 
 in 1727 he graced liis title-page with 
 this poem : 
 
 Man— that Noble Creatnre, 
 
 Scanted of time, and stinted by Weak Nature, 
 
 That in foretimes saw jubilees of years, 
 
 As by onr Ancient History appears ; 
 
 Nay, which is more, even Silly Women then, 
 
 Liv'd longer time than onr jfrave Qraybeird Men. 
 
 " Graced," did I say ? May we not 
 put a<?is before it ? " Silly Women 1 " 
 "Noble Creature !" Did the Native 
 mean that woman then was silly and 
 man then noble ? Well for him is it 
 that our "Mrs. Ward Howes" and 
 "Mrs. Lillie Blakes" cannot make 
 rhymes upon lis name; well for liim 
 that he went his way holding his mantle 
 before his face. 
 
 But he himself did not hold himself 
 lightly. He knew all about Apog5 
 and PerigC (we now spell them 
 ApogC'e and Perigee). But does the 
 Radical Club itself know anything at 
 all about Apogfie and Perigee ? He 
 knew when some "fine moderate 
 weather" would come, when "winds 
 enough for several " would blow, when 
 "bad weather for lioop petticoats" 
 would be; and that was on the 29th 
 and 30th of January, 1727. Fearful 
 weather, we may believe ; but he, the 
 Native, knew. But alas for us I On 
 the 2d, he puts it down as " sloppy and 
 raw cold." Now it so chances that W. 
 S. has kept his MS. notes against this 
 day, and he has it " Vcrijjiiu and plca- 
 mnt," and the next day, "Dry and 
 dust)/.'" Lamentable indeed for the Na- 
 tive ! But he is not to be .shaken for all 
 tliat; he prognosticates through all the 
 year just as if all was to come exactly 
 right. One would like to know what 
 W. S. thought of his prognosticator, 
 and if he kept on studying and believ- 
 ing just the same as if ad had come 
 right, /do not doubt he did.
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOISURBANA 
 
 MMmfsXroF Abraham"" NCOLN united 
 
 3 0112 031793349