"Sir, you may place the slave where you please; you may dry up to your utmost the fountains of his feelings, the springs of his thought; you may close upon his mind every avenue of knowledge, and cloud it over with artificial night; you may yoke him to your labor like an ox which liveth only to work, and worketh only to live; you may put him under any process which, without destroying his value as a slave, will debase and crush him as a rational being; you may do this, and the idea that he was born to be free will survive it all. It is allied to his hope of immortality; it is in the etherial part of his nature, which oppression cannot reach; it is a torch lit up in his soul by the hand of Deity, and never meant to be extinguished by the hand of If gentlemen do not see and feel the evil of Slavery while this Federal Union lasts, they will see and feel it when it is gone. They will see and suffer it then in a magnitude of desolating power, to which the pestilence that walketh at noonday would be a blessing-to which the malaria which is now threatening extermination to the Eternal City,' as the proud one of the Pontiff's and Cæsar's is called, would be as refreshing and as balmy as the first breath of Spring to the chamber of disease." man. * * CHAPTER XXXIV. GENERAL OF THE AMERICAN ARMIES. THE grade of the commanding General of the armies of the American Republic has been varied at different periods. George Washington, who was the first General of the American forces, received his appointment as such June 15th, 1775, from the second Continental Congress, then in session at Philadelphia. He was by that body unanimously proclaimed "Commander-inChief of all the Armies raised and to be raised for the defense of the Colonies." His title was General-the highest grade in an army; and up to the period of the revival of this grade by the XXXIXth Congress, July 25th, 1866, no such officer as that of General had existed within the Union. On the adoption of the Federal Constitution, the President of the United States became ex-officio Commander-in-Chief of the army and navy of the United States; and unless by this it could be said that the President was the General of all the armies, we have had but two Americans with the full title of General -George Washington and Ulysses S. Grant-and but one General (Grant) since the formation of the Federal Union under the Constitution; for it will be remembered that Washington's appointment and services as General were made under the Articles of Confederation, during the colonial period of the country. General, Lieutenant-General, Major-General, and BrigadierGeneral are the ranks and order of ranks of the com manders of armies. The General commands all the armies. The officer second in rank is the LieutenantGeneral, next the Major-General, who commands a division of an army, and last, the Brigadier-General, who commands a brigade. The highest grade under Washington during the Revolutionary War, was that of Major-General, under which grade the armies were commanded until the grade of Lieutenant-General was created by special Act of Congress, in 1855, which title was soon after conferred upon Major-General Winfield Scott, as a mark of esteem for his gallantry in the wars of 1812 and of Mexico. The act was expressly so formed that it should not survive him. Soon after the commencement of the Slaveholders' Rebellion, in 1861, age and infirmities compelled General Scott to retire from active service. His resignation and request to be placed upon the retired list was dated October 31st, 1861. Brevet-LieutenantGeneral Winfield Scott, L.L.D., died at West Point, New York, on the 29th of May, 1866, aged eighty years. On the recommendation of General Scott and others of high military standing, George B. McClellan was, on November 1st, 1861, appointed by President Lincoln Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the United States, with the rank of Major-General, the highest rank held by any General from the commencement of the war in 1861, until the appointment of Ulysses S. Grant as a Lieutenant-General, in 1864. He (McClellan) was removed from this command by order of President Lincoln, who appointed Henry W. Halleck as Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the United States. Halleck took command July 23d, 1862 Ranking, as he had before this appointment, MajorGeneral, he was, on March 12th, 1864, at his own request, relieved of the position of Commander-in-Chief of the Army. Congress, on the 29th of February, 1864, revived the grade of Lieutenant-General. President Lincoln, on approving the act, immediately sent the nomination of Major-General Ulysses S. Grant to the Senate for confirmation. The Senate confirmed his nomination March 3d, 1864. On March 9th, President Lincoln, in presenting General Grant his commission as Lieut.General, said: "Gen. Grant: The Nation's appreciation of what you have done, and its reliance upon you for what remains to do, in the existing great struggle, are now presented with this commission, constituting you Lieutenant-General in the Army of the United States. With this high honor devolves upon you, also, a corresponding responsibility. As the country herein trusts you, so, under God, it will sustain you. I scarcely need to add that with what I here speak for the Nation, goes my own hearty personal concurrence." To which Gen. Grant replied: "Mr. President: I accept this commission with gratitude for the high honor conferred. With the aid of the noble armies that have fought on so many fields for our common country, it will be my earnest endeavor not to disappoint your expectations. "I feel the full weight of the responsibilities now devolving on me, and I know that if they are met, it will be due to those armies, and, above all, to the favor of that Providence which leads both nations and men." General Grant, who had left his command in Tennessee to receive this commission, returned to Nashville. March 11th. On March 12th, the succeeding day, the following order was issued at Washington: "WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE, "General Orders, No. 98. "WASHINGTON, March 12th. The President of the United States orders as follows: "1. Maj.-Gen. Halleck is, at his own request, relieved from duty as General-in-Chief of the Army, and Lieut.-Gen. U. S. Grant assigned to the command of the Armies of the United States. The head-quarters of the army will be in Washington, and also with Lieut.-Gen. Grant in the field. 2. Maj.-Gen. Halleck is assigned to duty in Washington, 'as Chief-of-Staff of the Army, under the direction of the Secretary of War and the Lieutenant-General commanding. His orders will be obeyed and respected accordingly. "3. Maj.-Gen. W. T. Sherman is assigned to the command of the military division of the Mississippi, composed of the Departments of the Ohio, the Cumberland, the Tennessee, and the Arkansas. 4. Maj.-Gen. J. B. McPherson is assigned to the command of the Department and Army of the Tennessee. "5. In relieving Maj.-Gen. Halleck from duty as General-inChief, the President desires to express his approbation and thanks for the zealous manner in which the arduous and responsible duties of that position have been performed. "By order of the Secretary of War. "E. D. TOWNSEND, Ass't Adj't Gen." On the 17th Gen. Grant issued the following order: "HEAD-QUARTERS ARMIES OF UNITED STATES, "General Orders, No. 1. "In pursuance of the following order of the President "EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, D. C., March 10th, 1864. "Under the authority of the Act of Congress to revive the grade of Lieutenant-General of the United States Army, approved February 29th, 1864, Lieut.-Gen. U. S. Grant, U. S. A., is appointed to the command of the Armies of the United States. "A. LINCOLN." "I assume command of the Armies of the United States. My head-quarters will be in the field, and until further orders, will be with the Army of the Potomac. There will be an officers' headquarters in Washington, to which all official communica |