with Fremont's proclamation. Halleck directed that fugitive slaves attempting to enter the lines of the army should be excluded. He assumed they would go back and give valuable information to the enemy. The soldiers knew the slaves would not return to their masters. The course pursued by the new commander increased the difficulties and perplexities of the President.

The expedition fitted out by General Butler was nearly ready to sail for the Gulf of Mexico.

"Get into New Orleans, if you can," said Mr. Lincoln, "and the backbone of the Rebellion will be broken. It is of more importance than anything else that can now be done; but don't interfere with the slavery question, as Fremont did in St. Louis."

"May I not arm the negroes?" Butler asked.

"Not yet; not yet."

"But Jackson armed them, Mr. President, in 1815."

"Not to fight against their masters, general, but with them."

"I will wait, Mr. President, for the word or the necessity." "That is right. God be with you.” (")

With this benediction General Butler sailed with his army for the mouth of the Mississippi.

It is one of the anomalies of history that those members of Congress whose sympathies were with the Confederates should have been on most friendly terms with General McClellan. A loyal member, familiar with affairs, William D. Kelley, of Pennsylvania, has given this statement relative to McClellan's associates:

"The headquarters of the general-in-chief soon became a rendezvous for the master-spirits of the reactionary force. Here frequent conferences were held, in which Messrs. Vallandigham and George H. Pendleton, of the House, and Senators Milton S. Latham and Henry M. Rice were conspicuous. These meetings were characterized by a prominent Democrat, who revolted from their objects (Mr. Odell, of New York), as a "continuing caucus" for the consideration of plans of resistance to all measures which proposed to strengthen the army and navy, to provide means for their pay, sustenance, the munitions of war, and means of transportation; and to devise means of embarrassing the Government by constitutional quibbles and legal subtleties."

Let us remember that these consultations were had, acccording to this statement, in the headquarters of General McClellan. Mr. Kelley goes on: "It was here, so it was then said, that Vallandigham was inspired to take such a course with reference to the surrender of Mason and Sli

dell as might result in war with Great Britain. Here, too, a preliminary draft of the resolutions of Mr. Pendleton, which declared that Congress alone has the power, under the Constitution, to suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, was said to have been discussed. . . . Here, too, at the headquarters of the general-in-chief, indignities as gross, if not more gross, than those which drove General Scott into retirement, were flagrantly inflicted upon the President of the United States. Among General Scott's complaints was that his subordinate refused to confer with him; and when the President, impelled by anxiety for the country, waived questions of official etiquette and proceeded to headquarters, the announcement of his presence was more than once greeted with boisterous and derisive laughter, evidently intended for his ears; and there was one occasion when it was more than whispered by those immediately about the President, that he was made to wait nearly an hour, while men who denied the right of the Government to maintain the Union by force of arms engaged McClellan's attention; and when, at his own good time, the general concluded to see his commander-in-chief, his departing guests visibly sneered as they passed the cold chamber in which he had been so long imprisoned." (")

To understand this indignity towards the President we must take into account the ideas underlying the war. It was a conflict between two forms of society-on the one side Aristocracy, in which a cultured few ruled the uneducated many and lived upon their unrequited toil; on the other side Democracy, the rule of all the people. It was far more than the preservation of the Union. Jefferson Davis, representing aristocracy, had been educated by the nation at West Point. The aristocratic government of which he was the head had made slavery its foundation. The members of Congress who gathered in the spacious mansion selected by General McClellan for his military residence had received their education in college and university. McClellan, elevated by President Lincoln to command the army, had also been educated at West Point. He had been an honored delegate to observe military operations in the Crimean War. He was cultured and refined. He had suddenly been called when a young man from the management of a railroad to command half a million men in arms. He desired the preservation of the Union, but it must be restored just as it was before the conspirators began the conflict. Slavery was not to be harmed.

Abraham Lincoln was the representative of democracy. His poverty had been so pinching that he had received only a few weeks' instruction. in the log school-house of the frontier. Life had been a battle with

hardship and privation. His heart went out to every needy and struggling being, irrespective of race or social condition. He lived not for himself, but for his fellow-men. The question once uttered by pharisaical lips in the marble corridors of Herod's temple-" How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?"-after eighteen centuries was repeated in the drawing-room of the general-in-chief of the army of the republic. But in that mansion it was accompanied by contumely and contempt.

Great benefactors have ever been maligned by their fellow-men. Moses, Elijah, Socrates, William the Silent, were reviled-and Him of Nazareth, the greatest of all. Mr. Lincoln was not an exception. He was scoffed by his enemies, and depreciated by hypocritical friends.

NOTES TO CHAPTER XV.

(1) J. G. Holland, "Life of Abraham Lincoln," p. 322.

(2) U. S. Grant, "Personal Memoirs," vol. i., p. 239.

At the age of

(3) A. H. Markland, "Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln,” p. 322. (4) Horace Greeley was born at Amherst, N. H., February 3, 1811. thirteen he was apprenticed to learn the art of printing, at Poultney, Vt. His parents moved to Erie, Pa., and he twice visited them, walking most of the distance. In 1831 he began work in New York City as a journeyman printer. He thought the public would patronize a cheap paper, and with Mr. H. D. Shepard established the "Morning Post," the first penny paper ever published. He became editor of the "New Yorker" in 1834; it was devoted to literature, and attained a circulation of 9000 in a short time. During the political campaign of 1840 Mr. Greeley edited the "Log Cabin ;" it had a circulation of more than 80,000. On April 10, 1841, in company with Mr. McElrath, he began the publication of the "Daily Tribune." He continued as its editor till his death. He gave many lectures and public addresses. He was an able journalist, impulsive and erratic. He thought it would be better for the country to allow the seceded States to establish a confederacy. He supported and opposed by turns the Administration of President Lincoln, but ever earnestly labored to promote what seemed to him the best welfare of the country. In 1872 he accepted the nomination of the Democratic Party as President-the party which through life he had strenuously opposed. He published a history of the war, entitled "The American Conflict." The unremitting labor of a third of a century during a most exciting period, the turmoil of a political campaign, the death of a beloved wife, exhausted the powers of nature. He died November 29, 1872, a few weeks after the close of the political campaign.-Author.

(5) Joseph Henry was born December 17, 1797, at Albany, N. Y. He began life as a watch-maker. He early gave his attention to science, and was appointed Professor of Mathematics in Albany Academy, 1826. He began experiments in electricity by using an electro-magnet. He rang a bell by electricity in 1831, demonstrating its use by conveying signals. He was appointed Professor of Natural Philosophy in Princeton College. He was appointed Regent of Smithsonian Institute, 1846. He was one of the founders of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. President Lincoln found great pleasure in his society. He died May 13, 1878.

(*) General John Charles Fremont was born in Savannah, Ga., January 21, 1813. He was educated at Charleston College. He was appointed instructor of mathematics in the navy, 1833-35. He received the appointment of second lieutenant of Topographical Engineers, 1837. He became son-in-law to Senator Benton, of Missouri, and through Mr. Benton's influence was appointed to command an expedition to explore an overland route to the Pacific Ocean. He assisted in the conquest of California, and was appointed Military Governor. He was elected Senator from that State upon its admission to the Union. He explored a new route to the Pacific at his own expense, 1853. Upon the formation of the National Republican Party, 1856, he was nominated as candidate for the Presidency, and received 114 electoral votes against 174 given to Buchanan. He was appointed major-general in the United States Army, 1861, and assigned to command the Western Department. His military administration was conducted without regard to economical considerations. His proclamation in relation to the freedom of slaves greatly embarrassed the President. In 1862 he was assigned to West Virginia, but resigned his commission, not being willing to serve under an officer of inferior rank. -Author.

(*) Gideon Welles, “Galaxy Magazine,” 1883, p. 647.

(8) Titian J. Coffey, "Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln," p. 142.

(*) B. F. Butler, "Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln," p. 142. (10) William D. Kelley, "Lincoln and Stanton," p. 6.

19

CHAPTER XVI.

WINTER OF 1862.

HE year opened with half a million men in arms. Very little had been accomplished by the Union generals. McClellan had organized a great army, but with the coming of winter it was dwindling rather than increasing. The hospitals were filled with patients. He had no plan for a movement. General Halleck was in command in Missouri, General Buell in Kentucky. There was no co-operation between them. The President endeavored to bring about unity of action. "I state," he wrote to Buell and Halleck, "my general idea of the war to be that we have the greater numbers, and the enemy has the greater facility of concentrating forces upon points of collision; that we must fail unless we can find some way of making our advantage an overmatch for his; and this can be done only by menacing him with superior forces at different points at the same time." He went on to say he wanted Halleck to menace Columbus on the Mississippi, and Buell at the same time to move upon the force under Johnston, at Bowling Green, in Central Kentucky. Buell took no notice of the letter, possibly thinking, though Mr. Lincoln was commander-in-chief, he knew nothing about military affairs.

Halleck sent no reply to the President, but wrote McClellan the idea of moving down the Mississippi was impracticable, or at least premature. He thought it better to move up the Tennessee and carry out a plan which had been suggested. He must have 60,000 men before undertaking it.

The President awoke to the fact that the three commanders were three do-nothings. Neither McClellan nor Buell had any plan, and Halleck wanted a great army before undertaking any movement.

The people of eastern Tennessee, who had declared for the Union, were being arrested and imprisoned by Confederates from Georgia and Texas. Refugees had pitiable stories to tell of sufferings. The President was anxious that Buell should move to their relief, but nothing was done.