Government can prevent this island from lapsing into the condition of a second Hayti, we shall carefully take into consideration any measures recommended by your Excellency. We feel ourselves bound in this emergency to aid, so far as the resources of the country will admit, the Government in all steps which may be necessary for ensuring the security of the colony and the protection of life and property."

A Bill was introduced for abolishing the Constitution and substituting a new one, of which the chief features were that there should be only one Chamber, composed partly of nominees of the Crown and partly of elected members. A Bill was also proposed to regulate Places of Public Worship, full of the most stringent provisions which excited warm opposition on the part of the Dis

senters.

Ultimately, however, a Bill was passed, simply abolishing the Constitution of Jamaica, and giving the Crown power to substitute whatever kind of Government it thought fit.

So great was the excitement amongst some classes in this country when the news of these deplorable events reached England, and so persevering was the agitation which they kept up, that the Russell Ministry determined to issue a Commission of Inquiry, and in the mean time suspend Governor Eyre by sending out, as temporary Governor, Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Storks, G.C.B., who was hastily summoned from Malta for the purpose. He sailed for Jamaica before the end of the year, and was followed by the Commissioners, Mr. Russell Gurney, Q.C., M.P., the Recorder of London, and Mr. Maule, the Recorder of Leeds, who, with Sir Henry Storks, are to investigate and report on the facts connected with the late outbreak. Until those facts are collected and presented in a trustworthy form, it is impossible to come to a fair and just opinion in a case where on the one side it is alleged that the severest measures were imperatively necessary to save the colony from destruction, and on the other it is clamorously asserted that a riot was mistaken for a revolt, and that the course pursued by the authorities implicates them in the crime of murder.

T

CHAPTER IV.

AMERICA.

March of General Sherman from Savannah to Goldsboro'-Capture of Fort Fisher by the Federals and abandonment of Wilmington by the Confederates-General Fast proclaimed by President Davis-Urgent call by General Lee for delivery of arms -Disasters of the Confederates-Message by President Davis to the Confederate Congress-Surrender of Richmond-Terins of Surrender of the Confederate army arranged between Generals Grant and Lee-Inauguration of Mr. Lincoln as President, the second time, of the United States-His Address-Speech of Mr. Johnson, the Vice-President-Assassination of President Lincoln-Capture and death of the assassin-Mr. Johnson takes the oaths of office as President-His reply to an Address-Proclamation charging President Davis with being privy to the assassination of President Lincoln-His capture and imprisonment-Execution of persons implicated in the assassination.

THE war which has so long raged with such devastating fury in America came this year to a sudden and unexpected end. The superior power and resources of the North, backed by the indomitable perseverance of its people, triumphed over the South, which, isolated from the rest of the world by a rigorous blockade, and deprived of all external support, could no longer support the unequal conflict, and was forced to succumb after one of the most heroic struggles for independence ever recorded in history. Drained of men, money, and munitions of war, and subject to privations of every kind, it could not keep head against the increasing armies which the North was able to pour into the field; and at last it was girdled by such a wall of fire that it was obliged to yield, to escape utter destruction.

In our last volume we gave an account of the victorious march of General Sherman from Atlanta, and his capture of Savannah, and we now propose to follow his conquering army on its northern expedition, which did more than any thing else to complete the discomfiture of the Confederates.

General Sherman remained a month at Savannah, preparing for his northward march. The left wing of his army under General Slocum, with the cavalry under General Kilpatrick, were ordered to rendezvous near Robertsville, South Carolina; but as the heavy rains had swollen the river, they did not succeed in crossing the Savannah until the first week in February. In the mean time, General Grant sent a division to garrison Savannah, and Generals Terry and Palmer operated on the coast of North Carolina, to prepare the way for Sherman's approach. On the 19th of January all the preparations were complete, and the order to march was given. General Sherman intended to advance to

Goldsboro', North Carolina, where he hoped to arrive in the middle of March. He himself embarked from Savannah for Hilton Head, off Charleston, where he held a conference with Admiral Dahlgren, and then proceeded to Beaufort and Pocotaligo, where Major-General Blair was encamped at the head of a corps of the Federal army. He says, in a despatch giving an account of his campaign :-" On the 25th, a demonstration was made against the Combahee Ferry and Railroad Bridge across the Salkahatchie, merely to amuse the enemy, who had evidently adopted that river as his defensive line against our supposed object, the city of Charleston. I reconnoitred the line in person, and saw that the heavy rains had swollen the river, so that water stood in the swamps for a breadth of more than a mile at a depth of from one to twenty feet. Not having the remotest intention of approaching Charleston, a comparatively small force was able, by seeming preparations to cross over, to keep in their front a considerable force of the enemy disposed to contest our advance on Charleston."

He continues:- "The 17th and 15th corps drew out of camp on the 31st of January, but the real march began on the 1st of February. All the roads northwards had for weeks been held by Wheeler's cavalry, who had, by details of negro labourers, felled trees, burned bridges, and made obstructions to impede our march. But so well organized were our pioneer battalions, and so strong and intelligent our men, that obstructions seemed only to quicken their progress. Felled trees were removed and bridges rebuilt by the heads of columns before the rear could be closed up."

The Confederates held the line of the Salkahatchie in force, but their positions were forced, and they fell back behind the Edisto at Branchville, where they burnt two bridges. On the part of the Federals, General Sherman says, "all hands were at once set to work to destroy railroad track" from the Edisto by way of Bamberg and Blackville as far as Windsor. By the 11th of February his army was on the railway all the way from Midway to Johnson's Station, whereby the Confederate forces were divided between Branchville and Charleston on the one side, and Aiken and Augusta on the other. He then began his movement on Orangeburg, and the next day found the enemy entrenched in front of Orangeburg Bridge, but they were driven across the bridge and closely followed. Before the close of the day the Federals were in Orangeburg. General Blair was then ordered to destroy the railway as far as Lewisville and push the enemy across the Congaree, "while," says General Sherman, "without wasting time or labour on Branchville or Charleston, which I knew the enemy could no longer hold, I turned all the columns straight on Columbia."

Early in the morning of the 16th of February the leading column reached the bank of the Congaree, opposite Columbia, but too late to save the bridge which crossed the river at that point, and which was burnt by the Confederates. A few shots were fired

by the Federals, but no white flag was shown, or other sign of surrender by the occupants of Columbia. A flying bridge was then thrown across Broad River, about three miles above the town, and a portion of the Federal army having crossed that river, a pontoon bridge was laid across the Congaree, when the news arrived that Columbia had surrendered, and General Sherman entered the town. He says:-"I was the first to cross the pontoon bridge, and, in company with General Howard, rode into the city. The day was clear, but a perfect tempest of wind was raging. The brigade of Colonel Stone was already in the city, and was properly posted. Citizens and soldiers were in the streets, and general good order prevailed. General Wade Hampton, who commanded the Confederate rearguard of cavalry, had, in anticipation of our capture of Columbia, ordered that all cotton, public and private, should be moved into the streets and fired, to prevent our making use of it. Bales were piled every where; the rope and bagging cut, and tufts of cotton were blown about in the wind, lodged in the trees and against houses, so as to resemble a snow-storm. Some of these piles of cotton were burning, especially one in the very heart of the city, near the Court-house, but the fire was partially subdued by the labour of our soldiers."

The public buildings were set on fire by the Federals, but, according to General Sherman's statement, before this was done, the fires that General Hampton had kindled took hold of the surrounding buildings; and the result was a great destruction of private houses and other property. General Sherman says:-"I disclaim on the part of my army any agency in this fire, but on the contrary claim that we saved what of Columbia remains unconsumed. And without hesitation I charge General Wade Hampton with having burned his own city of Columbia, not with a malicious intent, or as the manifestation of a silly 'Roman stoicism,' but from folly and want of sense in filling it with lint, cotton, and tinder."

The left wing of the Federals, under General Slocum, reached Winnsboro' on the 21st of February, and was followed by the cavalry under General Kilpatrick. The latter then moved upon Lancaster, with orders to keep up the delusion that a general march was intended upon Charlotte, North Carolina, to which place General Beauregard and all the Confederate cavalry had retreated from Columbia. We do not think it necessary to give a detail of all the various movements that now took place, which, without the aid of a minutely-marked map, would only confuse the reader. We need only mention that Sherman's forces marched onward, through Chesterfield and Cheraw, upon Fayetteville, which was reached on the 11th of March, and where a sharp contest took place between General Hampton and General Kilpatrick, which resulted in the defeat of the Confederates.

Three days were passed at Fayetteville, where a great destruction of property took place. General Sherman says: "I was then aware that the fragments that had left Columbia under Beaure

gard had been reinforced by Cheatham's corps from the West and the garrison of Augusta, and that ample time had been given to remove them to my front and flank about Raleigh. Hardee had also succeeded in getting across Cape Fear River ahead of me, and could therefore complete the junction with the other armies of Johnston and Hoke in North Carolina. And the whole, under the command of the skilful and experienced Joe Johnston, made up an army superior to me in cavalry, and formidable enough in artillery and infantry to justify me in extreme caution in making the last step necessary to complete the march I had undertaken.'

On the 15th of March the Federal columns resumed their march. The enemy were discovered next morning with artillery, infantry, and cavalry in an entrenched position in front of the point where the road branches off towards Goldsboro' through Bentonville. An engagement took place, and the Confederates were again defeated. They retreated during the night in the direction of Smithfield. Here General Johnston awaited the Federals, and the two hostile forces came into collision on the 18th of March, near Bentonville, when General Slocum's leading column was attacked by them and sustained a temporary check. General Sherman says:-"The left wing received six distinct assaults by the combined forces of Hoke, Hardee, and Cheatham, under the immediate command of General Johnston himself, without giving an inch of ground, and doing good execution on the enemy's ranks, especially with our artillery, the enemy having little or none. Johnston had moved by night from Smithfield with great rapidity and without unnecessary wheels, intending to overwhelm my left flank before it could be relieved by its co-operating columns. But he 'reckoned without his host.' I had expected just such a movement all the way from Fayetteville, and was prepared for it."

Sherman made his dispositions, and in the afternoon of the 20th, he says:-"A complete and strong line of battle confronted the enemy in his entrenched position, and General Johnston, instead of catching us in detail, was on the defensive, with Mill Creek and a single bridge to his rear." Next day a general attack was commenced by the Federals, and, to use General Sherman's own expression, "quite a noisy battle ensued;" the result of which was that the Confederates were obliged to retreat upon Smithfield, and the Federals remained in possession of the field.

On the same day the Federal columns entered Goldsboro', "the real 'objective,'" says General Sherman, "with its two railroads back to the seaports of Wilmington and Beaufort, North Carolina." General Sherman here left his army under the command of General Schofield and proceeded alone to General Grant's head quarters, which he reached on the 27th of March, "and soon learned the general state of the military world, from which he had been in a great measure cut off since January." He adds:-"Of course the abandonment to us by the enemy of the whole sea coast, from Savannah to Newbern, North Carolina, with its forts, dockyards,