say, the history of these should warn us against similar futile efforts in the future. We have been personal witnesses of the sufferings of deluded emigrants under the tropics, the ignorance and infatuation of whose leaders rose to the magnitude and took the shape of crime, and as such should have met with exemplary punishment."

The merits of Mr. Thayer's plan were presented, January 9, 1863, in a report of the Committee on Military Affairs, prepared by Hon. Mr. Buffinton. Its brevity and great ability render it desirable to give it the largest possible circulation:

"Recognizing the importance of whatever measure may tend to the defeat of the unprovoked and iniquitous rebellion against the Government, your committee have given to this resolution and the enterprise it contemplates careful consideration. To lay the foundations of a free and Christian state is at all times a work of honor, in which the statesman may take a patriotic pride; but to firmly plant such foundations upon the ruins of a malignant rebellion, and thus organize order out of chaos and transform treason into loyalty, in a time like this, to an American Congress becomes no less than an imperious duty.

"Florida, in territory, is one of the largest States in the Union, containing thirty-eight million acres of land, of which broad domain twenty-one million acres are still unsold Government lands, subject to entry under the liberal provisions of the Homestead Law. "Much of the other seventeen million acres is in the present possession of undisguised and active. rebels, and may at once be put upon the market under the righteous requirements of the Confiscation and Tax Laws.

"Her peninsular position, and the Gulf Stream running down her entire eastern coast, commands for Florida an equability of climate that makes residence within her borders desirable, and secures advantages to the agriculturist

not to be met with elsewhere through all the extent of our territory.

"For the growth and exportation of naval stores and the leading articles of commerce she offers unexcelled facilities: indeed, with her longer season and surer exemption from frost, she has a decided advantage over Louisiana even in the cultivation of the sugar-cane, and has probably a larger district than any other State fitted for the growth of longstaple cotton, and is, indeed, the only State where may be successfully grown the Cuba tobacco.

"While all the great staples of the southern temperate zone flourish throughout Florida, in her southern and eastern sections may be cultivated in their luxuriance the fruits and plants of the tropics.

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'Large tracts of live-oak and yellow pine, of almost priceless value to our navy, abound in Florida, and whose possession for such use would be warranted at almost any cost.

"By position Florida commands the Gulf. To economize time, and save to the rich and growing commerce of Mobile and New Orleans, Texas and our Pacific coast, the perils of the voyage around her sunken keys, the national Government, previous to the rebellion, by generous donation of public lands, secured the building of a railroad across her territory from the Atlantic to the Gulf.

"Considerations growing out of each and all of these facts, thus briefly alluded to in the investigation which the subject. has prompted, have pressed themselves upon your committee, and, we doubt not, will suggest themselves as of weighty importance to every member of the House.

"But your committee would beg leave to suggest other considerations connected with this proposition of even more present importance. Through the fears and threatenings of a reign of terror, Florida has been driven into open rebellion against the Government and Union, scores of her loyal citizens brutally murdered, and hundreds driven into exile or

at the point of the bayonet forced into the rebel ranks. Her loyal citizens in exile are importuning the Government for protection, that they may return to their desolated possessions and rebuild their once beautiful homes and throw the old flag again to the breeze. Twenty thousand resolute loyal men placed upon the soil with guns in their hands will be sufficient protection for these loyal men and themselves, and Florida. will at once return to her old allegiance and to the prompt and honorable discharge of all the duties of a loyal State. To erect the pillars of a free and loyal commonwealth upon such ruins is certainly a work that must command the homage of every patriotic heart; but more than this, even, is promised by this enterprise: it offers a refuge for the thousands of freed men pressing our lines,—a place at once ready, cheaply reached, and where they may find, with equitable remuneration, abundance of employment in labors with which they are familiar and in a climate admirably adapted to their wants, and, under the fostering care of friendly legislation and friendly institutions, rapidly progress into a higher and more useful individual and social position.

"And while so much of good is to be secured, and adapting its usefulness so happily to the special needs of this very time, your committee are glad to be able to remind the House that the enterprise has also an economic phase. The loyal armed occupation of Florida relieves the navy of thirteen hundred miles of blockade, at an expense of twelve thousand dollars per day,-not only relieves the national treasury of this large daily expenditure, but, what is by no means of less importance, gives these numerous vessels liberty for service elsewhere."

XVIII.

The Night of the Battle of Ball's Bluff.

One of the unex

It was a gloomy night in Washington. pected and heart-chilling disasters which befell our arms in the early history of the war had that day happened at Ball's Bluff (October 21, 1861). Our forces had been routed and slaughtered, and the gallant Colonel Baker, who had left the Senate-chamber to lead his splendid California Regiment to the war, had fallen, dying instantly, pierced at the same second by seven bullets. This was a national loss. His place in the army, in the Senate, in the hearts of the people of California and Oregon, in the admiration of his companions-inarms in Mexico, and in the realms of eloquence, would remain vacant. No man living was invested with all these rare and great attributes in so eminent a degree. The apparently wellfounded suspicion that he had fallen a victim to the foulest treason subsequently mingled the intensest indignation with inconsolable grief for his cruel and untimely death.

It was late in the evening when the news reached Willard's; but a large crowd was still there, among whom, as always, were many well-known public men. In those days secession was more popular in Washington than it has since been or is likely ever to become again. Not only was some slimy spy lurking within earshot of every man worth tracking, but there were scores of strong sympathizers with the rebellion, who caught with avidity the first rumor of disaster to the national

arms.

These abettors and agents of Davis wore the mask as closely

as they could; and, although the habitués of the capital could tell them at a glance, and, by an instinct of loyalty nearly infallible, know when one of them entered the room, yet on some occasions the sudden announcement of bad news for our cause threw them from their guard and the gleam of fiendish delight flashed from their faces.

"Baker was killed at Ball's Bluff this afternoon."

Never did news transform men's countenances quicker. One class received it with blank amazement and horror; the other, with demoniac exultation.

Words fell which neither party could restrain; and the blood of the coolest began to boil when they heard the murdered Baker's name insulted. A movement was made which bolder men than traitors would not have attempted to resist. The villains started, by a common impulse, for the two doorways, or that mosaic pavement would have worn another color within ten seconds. A minute later, the place was cleansed; the unclean spirits had gone out!-all but one, perhaps.

A very red-faced, stalwart man, who had stood by and seen all that had been going on without saying a word, finally remarked, with a pretty determined air, that "as for himself he didn't care much about the fight. He lived on the Lower Mississippi, and the people down his way could take care of themselves. As long as they owned the Mississippi, the d-d Abolitionists could make all the muss they pleased. We hold the Gulf of Mexico, and the Northwest, and the Yankees may be d-d."

A very tall, lean, awkward, bony-looking man sidled quietly up to the Mississippian, and, putting his nose, by a stoop, quite close to his face, said, in unmistakable far-Western trough,

"Look here, stranger," and gently emphasizing his remark by taking the stranger's left ear between his thumb and finger; "now, yu may not know it, but I live in Minnesoty, and we make that Mississippi water you call yourn, and we kalkilate to use it some."