explaining the situation in Missouri, as we Radicals viewed it, and stating just why we had come to Washington. We Germans had not felt so kindly toward Mr. Lincoln since he had set aside Frémont's proclamation of emancipation.' We thought he had missed a great opportunity and had thereby displayed a lack of statesmanship. We believed him to be under the influence of the Blair family. Now that he himself had issued an emancipation proclamation we felt wronged because it applied only to the States in rebellion, and not to our own State. Thus,' I said to the President, 'you are really punishing us for our courage and patriotism.' We felt, as Gratz Brown expressed it, that we had to fight three administrations-Lincoln's, Jeff Davis's, and our own Governor Gamble's. We felt that we had a right to complain because Lincoln sent out to Missouri generals that were not in sympathy with us.

"Our talk was of the very frankest kind. Lincoln said he knew I was a German revolutionist and expected me to take extreme views. I recollect distinctly his statement that he would rather be a follower than a leader of public opinion. He had reference to public opinion in the Border States. 'We need the Border States,' said he. Public opinion in them has not matured. We must patiently educate them up to the right opinion.' The situation at that time was less favorable in the other Border States than in Missouri. Their Union men had not the strong fighters that Missouri had. As things were then going, the attitude of the Border States was of the very highest importance. I could realize that the more fully as Lincoln argued the case."

An arrangement was made for the President to receive the committee on September 30 and hear their statement of grievances. The imposing procession of delegates went to the White House at nine o'clock in the morning. At the Committee's own request, all reporters and spectators were refused admission to the audience, only the President and one of his secretaries meeting them. Even the great front doors of the White House were locked during the forenoon. The conference began by the reading of an address which

denounced the conservative party, and demanded that General Schofield be removed and General Benjamin F. Butler be put in his place, and that the enrolled militia of the State be discharged and national troops replace them.

After the reading of the address, the President replied. Mr. Enos Clarke of St. Louis, who was one of the delegates, records the impression this reply made upon his mind:

The President listened with patient attention to our address," says Mr. Clarke, " and at the conclusion of the reading replied at length. I shall never forget the intense chagrin and disappointment we all felt at the treatment of the matter in the beginning of his reply. He seemed to belittle and minimize the importance of our grievances and to give magnitude to minor or unimportant matters. He gave us the impression of a pettifogger speaking before a justice of the peace jury. But as he talked on and made searching inquiries of members of the delegation and invited debate, it became manifest that his manner at the beginning was really the foil of a master, to develop the weakness of the presentation. Before the conclusion of the conference, he addressed himself to the whole matter in an elevated, dignified, exhaustive, and impressive manner.

"There was no report made of this conference, but I remember that Mr. Lincoln made this statement: 'You gentlemen must bear in mind that in performing the duties of the office I hold I must represent no one section of the Union, but I must act for all sections of the Union in trying to maintain the supremacy of the government.' And he also said this: 'I desire to so conduct the affairs of this Administration that if, at the end, when I come to lay down the reins of power, I have lost every other friend on earth, I shall at least have one friend left, and that friend shall be down inside of me.' These were characteristic expressions.

"Toward the conclusion of the conference and after the whole matter had been exhaustively discussed by the President and the petitioners, Mr. C. D. Drake, our chairman, stepped forward and said: ' Mr. President, the time has now come when we can no longer trespass upon your attention,

but must take leave of you;' and in those deep, impressive, stentorian tones peculiar to Mr. Drake, he added, ' Many of these men who stand before you to-day return to inhospitable homes, where rebel sentiments prevail, and many of them, sir, in returning there do so at the risk of their lives, and if any of those lives are sacrificed by reason of the military administration of this government, let me tell you, sir, that their blood will be upon your garments and not upon ours.'

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During this impressive address the President stood before the delegation with tears streaming down his cheeks, seeming deeply agitated.

"The members of the delegation were then presented individually to the President and took leave of him. I shall always remember my last sight of Mr. Lincoln as we left the room. I was withdrawing, in company with others, and as I passed out I chanced to look back. Mr. Lincoln had met some personal acquaintances with whom he was exchanging pleasantries, and instead of the tears of a few moments before, he was indulging in hearty laughter. This rapid and wonderful transition from one extreme to the other impressed me greatly."

Ex-Governor Johnson of Missouri, another member of the committee, says of Lincoln's reply to their address:

"The President in the course of his reply hesitated a great deal and was manifestly, as he said, very much troubled over the condition of affairs in Missouri. He said he was sorry there should be such divisions and dissensions; that they were a source of more anxiety to him than we could imagine. He expressed his appreciation of the zeal of the radical men, but sometimes thought they did not understand the real situation. He besought us not to get out of humor because things were not going as rapidly as we thought they should. The war, he pointed out, affected a much larger territory than that embraced within the borders of Missouri, and possibly he had better opportunities of judging of things than some of us gentlemen. He spoke with great kindness, but all the way through showed his profound regret at the

condition of affairs in our State. He regretted especially that some of the men who had founded the Republican party should now be arrayed apparently against his administra

tion.

"I had met Mr. Lincoln twice before then. This time he appeared different from what he had on the two former occasions. There was a perplexed look on his face. When he said he was bothered about this thing, he showed it. He spoke kindly, yet now and then there was a little rasping tone in his voice that seemed to say: 'You men ought to fix this thing up without tormenting me.' But he never lost his temper."

"

One of Mr. Lincoln's secretaries was present at this conference and made notes on Mr. Lincoln's answer to the delegation. The following sentences quoted from these notes in Nicolay and Hay's " Abraham Lincoln " show still further how plainly the President dealt with the committee:

"Your ideas of justice seem to depend on the application of it."

"When you see a man loyally in favor of the Unionwilling to vote men and money-spending his time and money and throwing his influence into the recruitment of our armies, I think it ungenerous, unjust, and impolitic to make views on abstract political questions a test of his loyalty. I will not be a party to this application of a pocket inquisition.

"You appear to come before me as my friends, if I agree with you, and not otherwise. I do not here speak of mere personal friendship. When I speak of my friends I mean those who are friendly to my measures, to the policy of the Government. I am well aware that by many, by some even among this delegation-I shall not name them-I have been in public speeches and in printed documents charged with tyranny and wilfulness,' with a disposition to make my own personal will supreme. I do not intend to be a tyrant. At all events I shall take care that in my own eyes I do not become one."

Mr. Lincoln then sent the committee away, promising to reply by letter to their address. The events of the next day showed him more plainly than ever what a following they had. The night after the conference, Secretary Chase gave them a great reception at his house. He did not hesitate to say, in the course of the evening, that he was heartily in sympathy with their mission and that he hoped their military department would be entrusted to a gentleman whose motto was "Freedom for all." Going on to New York, the committee were given a great and enthusiastic meeting at Cooper Union: William Cullen Bryant made a sympathetic speech, and various members of the committee indulged in violent denunciations of the conservative element of the country, and did not hesitate to threaten Mr. Lincoln with revolutionary action if he did not yield to their demands.

Mr. Lincoln of course was not insensible to the political power of the Missouri radicals. He knew that this was a test case. He knew that they made their issue at a critical time for him, it being the eve of the fall elections. So important did his supporters consider it that he do something to pacify radical sentiment that Mr. Leonard Swett, one of his most intimate friends, and one heartily in sympathy with his policy, urged him, one day in October, to take a more advanced position and recommend in his annual message a constitutional amendment abolishing slavery:

Turning to me suddenly, he said, "Is not the question of emancipation doing well enough now?" I replied it was. "Well," said he, "I have never done an official act with a view to promote my own personal aggrandizement, and I don't like to begin now. I can see that emancipation is coming; whoever can wait for it will see it; whoever stands in its way will be run over by it."

In spite of the pressure and threats of the Committee of