transaction, while the Confederates were the losers through distraction in council and discouragement everywhere. The duty prescribed now for the North was to conquer a peace, since peace could not be gained by treaty. The North aroused itself to give a finishing blow to its brave but now staggering opponents.

On the 10th of January, 1865, a debate was sprung upon the House in regard to these peace negotiations. It was opened by James Brooks, of NewYork. He favored an armistice. He vigorously assaulted the President's action. Thaddeus Stevens answered in a fierce onslaught on Jefferson Davis, and the position which he assumed for the Confederate Government as an independent state. The saturnine Pennsylvanian had forgotten that he had by his own speeches and action regarded the Confederacy as an independent power. The writer answered both speeches as extreme opinions. He defended the meeting at Hampton Roads. He asserted that if it were followed up it would lead to peace and reunion. He quoted General Grant's statement, that he (the General) was convinced, by conversations with Messrs. Stephens and Hunter, that their intentions were good, and that their desire to restore peace and union was sincere. "If we fail," said the author in conclusion, "to make peace, the fault will lie at the door of the radicals." The war fiercely continued to do its bloody work until April 19, 1865. Then peace was gained. It was contained in this simple proposition of General Grant:

"By the South laying down their arms, they will hasten that most desirable event, save thousands of human lives, and hundreds of millions of property not yet destroyed." General Sherman, a short time afterward, made the same terms with General Johnston for the disbandment of the army of the latter, which were given to Lee at Appomattox. Thus ended the most momentous war known to history.

CHAPTER XVII.

PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S POLICY OF RECONSTRUCTION.

THE AMNESTY PROCLAMATION THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE-THE CONDITIONS OF PARDON-THE EXCEPTED CLASSES-RECONSTRUCTION BILL IN THE HOUSE -MILITARY PROVISIONAL GOVERNORS THE QUALIFICATION OF VOTERS-ELECTION OF MEMBERS OF CONGRESS SENATE AMENDMENTS REJECTED-THE BILL PASSES CONGRESS IT FAILS TO BE SIGNED BY THE PRESIDENT-ITS POLICY ADOPTED BY HIM CRITICISMS OF HIS PARTY MR. LINCOLN'S MODERATE VIEWS-NEGRO SUFFRAGE PROPOSED-EXTREME MEASURES DEVELOPING — AUTHOR'S ESTIMATE OF LINCOLN.

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N his annual message, dated Dec. 8, 1863, President Lincoln gives at length his reasons for issuing the Amnesty proclamation of the same day. The latter offers terms of reconciliation and a restoration of political rights and relations under the government to the people of the Confederate States. The policy is for a general amnesty with some exceptions. The preamble to the proclamation recites the clause in the Constitution which provides that the President "shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment." Reference is made to the acts of Congress declaring forfeitures and confiscations of property and the liberation of slaves. The President then grants the amnesty and pardon in these words: "Therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do proclaim, declare, and make known to all persons who have directly, or by implication, participated in the existing rebellion, except as hereinafter excepted, that a full pardon is hereby granted to them, and each of them, with restoration of all rights of property, except as to slaves, and in property cases where rights of third parties shall have intervened, and upon the condition that every such person shall take and subscribe an oath, and thenceforward keep and maintain said oath inviolate; and which oath shall be registered for permanent preservation, and shall be of the tenor and effect following, to wit:

"I, , do solemnly swear, in presence of Almighty God, that I will henceforth faithfully support, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States and the union of the states thereunder; and that I will, in like manner, abide by and faithfully support all acts of Congress passed during the existing rebellion with reference to slaves, so long and so far as not repealed, modified, or held void by Congress, or by decision of the Supreme Court; and that I will, in like manner, abide by and faithfully support all proclamations made by the President during the existing rebellion having reference to slaves, so long and so far as not modified or declared void by decision of the Supreme Court, so help me God."

The persons first excepted from the privileges of amnesty under this proclamation are: all those who left judicial stations, or seats in Congress, or the army or navy of the United States, to take part in the rebellion. Further exceptions are: all army and navy officers in the service of the Confederacy above the grade of colonel in the army or lieutenant in the navy, and all, of whatever grade, who maltreated colored or white prisoners of war. The conditions of amnesty were those which, under the act of Congress, the President was authorized to impose. They were deemed essential to the restoration of peace and union. Under the conditions of this proclamation, Mr. Lincoln sets forth his mode of reconstruction in these words: "Whenever, in any of the eleven states in rebellion, a number of persons not less than one-tenth of the number of votes cast in such state at the Presidential election of the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty, each having taken the oath aforesaid, and not having since violated it, and being a qualified voter by the election law of the state existing immediately before the so-called act of secession, and excluding all others, shall re-establish a state government, which shall be republican, and in no wise contravening said oath, such shall be recognized as the true government of the state, and the state shall receive thereunder the benefits of the constitutional provision which declares that The United States shall guarantee to every state in this Union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion; and, on application of the legislature, or the Executive (when the legislature cannot be convened), against domestic violence."

While President Lincoln insisted that the freedom of the negroes must be recognized, he fully appreciated the "confusion and destitution" which would attend a sudden disruption of the labor system. On this subject he proposed in his message to acquiesce in any reasonable temporary state arrangement for the freed people which might be made with the view of modifying the confusion and destitution which must at best attend all classes by a total revolution of labor throughout the Southern States. He expresses the hope that the already deeply afflicted people in those states may be somewhat more ready to give up the cause of their affliction, if, to that extent, this vital matter be left to themselves; while no power of the national Executive

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to prevent an abuse is abridged by the proposition. The proclamation also declared that the Executive claimed no right to insure to the reconstructed states a representation in Congress. That matter the President regarded as being exclusively within the control of the two Houses.

On the motion of Henry Winter Davis, of Maryland, in the House of Representatives, Dec. 15, 1863, so much of the President's message as related to the duty of the United States to guarantee a republican form of government to the states in which the recognized governments were overthrown, was referred to a select committee of nine. Upon the question, the yeas were 89, the nays 80. That committee had instructions to report bills necessary and proper for carrying the constitutional guaranty into effect. A bill was reported by the committee, which passed in the House by a strict party vote, except that Mr. Whaley, Republican, of West Virginia, voted in the negative. The yeas were 74, the nays 66. The leading features of the bill were as follows: The President was authorized to appoint a provisional governor for each of the states declared to be in rebellion, with the pay and emoluments of a brigadier-general. He was to be charged with the civil administration until a state government should be recognized. The governors were to direct the United States Marshals to enroll all the white male citizens of the United States resident within the respective states as soon as the insurrection should be suppressed, and whenever a majority of them should take the oath of allegiance. The loyal people thus to be ascertained were authorized to elect delegates to conventions for the purpose of re-establishing the state governments. Qualified voters in the United States Army were allowed to vote in the camps. No person who had held or exercised any civil or military office (except offices merely ministerial, and military offices below the grade of colonel), state or Confederate, under the usurping power, was allowed to vote or be a member of the legislature, or governor. Slavery was to be forever prohibited, and no debt, state or Confederate, created by the usurping power, was to be recognized or paid by the state. The constitutions framed by the conventions of the several states were to be ratified by the people and reported to the President, who would lay them before Congress; and upon their approval by that body, the President would make proclamation recognizing the governments so established, and none others; whereupon the people might proceed to the election of members of Congress, and exercise all other functions of co-equal states. In the meantime the governor would enforce the laws of the Union and of the particular state, as they existed before the rebellion, except as regards slavery.

Mr. Wade, from the Committee on Territories, in the Senate, reported the House bill with two amendments: one fixing the compensation of the provisional governors at $3,000, and the other striking out the word "white" where it occurs in defining the qualifications of voters and office-holders. Mr. Brown, of Missouri, the Senate sitting as in committee of the whole,

offered a substitute which deprived the people of the states in rebellion of the right to elect Senators and Representatives in Congress and Presidential electors, until the insurrection or rebellion should be abandoned or suppressed, and until the return of the inhabitants to their allegiance should be acknowledged by proclamation of the President. This substitute was agreed toyeas 17, nays 16; Messrs. Brown, Cowan, Doolittle, Grimes, Henderson, Johnson, Lane of Indiana, Trumbull, and Van Winkle-the latter of West Virginia-voting in the affirmative with the Democrats. The Senate then adopted the substitute, by yeas 20, nays 13; Messrs. Harlan, of Iowa, Harris, of New-York, and Pomeroy, of Kansas, voting with the Democrats, together with the other Republicans named above. The bill then passed its final reading-yeas 26, nays 3. The nays were Messrs. Davis and Powell, of Kentucky, and Saulsbury, of Delaware. An amendment proposed by Mr. Sumner, making the Emancipation Proclamation a statute, was rejected— yeas II, nays 21.

When the bill came back from the Senate, Mr. Garfield, in the House of Representatives, June 13, offered as a joint resolution the proposition of Senator Brown. The resolution was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time, but after a brief colloquy, it was, on motion of Mr. Blaine, laid on the table by a vote of 104 yeas to 33 nays. Mr. Ashley, of Ohio, asked leave, on the 20th of June, to offer a joint resolution of similar purport; but it was objected to. On the 22d of June, 1863, Mr. Dawes, of Massachusetts, in the House, reported from the Committee on Elections, a resolution proposing the appointment of a commission by the President, for the purpose of visiting such of the states lately in rebellion as had taken steps to re-establish their relations of allegiance to the Union. He desired to ascertain whether the loyal people in them were sufficiently strong to main tain the reorganized governments against the insurgents. Another resolution declared that no state thus set up should be acknowledged until evidence was furnished of its ability to sustain itself.

The House non-concurred with the Senate's amendment, and asked for a committee of conference. But the Senate receded from its amendment. It adopted the House bill-yeas 18, nays 14. Messrs. Doolittle, Henderson, Lane of Indiana, Ten Eyck of New Jersey, Trumbull, and Van Winkle voting in the negative, with the Democrats. This bill was in the main conformable to the plans recommended by the President. It differed from them in some respects. These he deemed essential. He was ready to approve the action of any state which should be reconstructed by the people in conformity with the congressional plan; but he could not consent to the overthrow of what had already been done in Arkansas and Louisiana for the restoration of their relations to the Union. In these states constitutions had been re-formed, and officers had been elected under them on the plans recommended by the President. The bill passed by the two houses would have