conciliate the Southern States by further concessions in regard to slavery. They were mostly men of former prominence in their respective States, and had appropriately chosen ExPresident Tyler as their chairman. Strongly prejudiced as many of them were against the President-elect, a single interview was sufficient to compel them to acknowledge the sincerity of his devotion to the Union and the Constitution. His inauguration took place on the 4th of March, 1861, without the slightest disturbance, although there had previously been threats of preventing his entrance upon the office. His inaugural address was an able argument for the perpetuity of the Union, exposed the futility of secession, and expressed his determination to see that the laws should be faithfully executed in all the States. It closed with an impressive appeal to all citizens to preserve their allegiance and a fervent deprecation of the impending evils.

President Lincoln gave the foremost place in his cabinet to W. H. Seward, who had been his chief rival at Chicago. He appointed Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury, and Simon Cameron, Secretary of War. Four of the seven members of the cabinet had been originally Democrats and three Whigs. Two (Montgomery Blair, of Maryland, and Edward Bates, of Missouri) were from border slave States. By this selection, as in other ways, Lincoln indicated an intention to combine in the first Republican administration the representatives of the former parties who had contributed to its success, and also his strong desire to conciliate the Southern States. But the drift toward war could not be checked by appeals to patriotic sentiment nor by appointments to office. Major Robert Anderson, in command at Charleston harbor, had, in December, taken refuge in Fort Sumter. Here he was surrounded by Confederate troops, and on the 12th of April their batteries opened fire on the fort. From want of provisions he was soon compelled to surrender. Civil war being thus commenced, President Lincoln summoned 75,000 State militia, for three months' service, and ordered the enlargement of the regular army to 65,000 men. The first troops from the North found their way obstructed at Baltimore, but enough reached Washington by way of Annap

olis to provide for its defence. Fortress Monroe, near the mouth of the James river, was also secured. The President also proclaimed a blockade of Southern ports and sought by all means at his disposal to render it effective.

During this critical state of affairs Secretary Seward, distrustful of Lincoln's ability to direct the course of the government, undertook to draft a general policy for his guidance. Lincoln replied by a private letter which showed such selfreliance and determination to perform his full duty, that there was thenceforth no question that he would be and must be the master-spirit of his cabinet. Each secretary was fully occupied with his own department, but the general course was decided by the President, usually after full consultation with the cabinet.

A special meeting of Congress was called for July 4th; but before it assembled the Southern Confederacy comprised eleven States, and had put in the field 100,000 men. The first important battle was fought at Bull Run, Virginia, on the 21st of July, and resulted in a disgraceful rout of the Federal forces. General George B. McClellan, who had been successful in West Virginia, was then summoned to take charge of the defence of Washington. He spent the rest of the year in organizing and drilling the Army of the Potomac, and after the retirement of General Winfield Scott, in November, he was made commander-in-chief.

While internal affairs were sufficiently embarrassing, foreign affairs were not less so. The sentiment of England was so antagonistic, that before the arrival of Charles Francis Adams, who was sent as the United States minister, Lord John Russell had granted an unofficial audience to the Southern Commissioners, and the British government, on May 13th, issued a proclamation of neutrality, recognizing the Confederate States as belligerents. The dignified protest, drafted by Seward, carefully revised by Lincoln, and presented by Adams as soon as he arrived, prevented, at least, further hostile steps. But in November Captain Wilkes, of the U. S. sloop-of-war "San Jacinto," stopped on the high seas the English mail steamship "Trent," and took from on board Messrs. Mason and Slidell, who were on their way to Europe

as emissaries of the Confederate States. These envoys were brought to Boston and committed to Fort Warren. Public opinion throughout the North approved the act; most of the cabinet took the same view; but Lincoln at once perceived that it was in contravention of the principle for which the United States had always contended-that the friendly or neutral flag protects all beneath its folds. When the English demand came, although Prince Albert, as the last official act of his life, had mitigated the offensive tone adopted by Earl Russell, it was still peremptory. But the President had already pointed out the true course to be pursued—to surrender the envoys, and at the same time to remind Great Britain that the United States had in 1812 declared war because she had insisted on the right of search, and to express satisfaction that England now renounced her former policy. The envoys were delivered to a British officer on January 1st, 1862. The people of the North quickly and cordially acquiesced in the peaceful and honorable solution of the difficulty.

The first change in Lincoln's cabinet was the retirement of Cameron from the War Department, on account of complaints about extravagance in the contracts for war-supplies. In his place was substituted Edwin M. Stanton, a war-Democrat, who had been in Buchanan's last cabinet and had openly abused President Lincoln. But the latter, recognizing his strength of character and devoted loyalty to the Union, did not hesitate to call him to the department needing his services. Stanton had been a strong admirer of McClellan; but, when the latter carefully refrained from fighting in the autumn of 1861, he became greatly dissatisfied. During the winter the President began to urge upon McClellan the necessity of aggressive movements; but the general resented all interference with his plans, which, however, he kept to himself. At last the President ordered a forward movement along the whole Union line, to take place on February 22d, 1862. Before this date Forts Donelson and Henry were captured by General U. S. Grant, who was just fairly entering upon his work in the West. McClellan having determined to advance upon Richmond by way of the York river, Lincoln insisted upon sufficient troops being left to defend Washing-.

ton. The general wasted time in complaining of the efforts of the administration to hinder and embarrass him; but the President steadfastly supported him until his Peninsula campaign, after much hard fighting, resulted in a retreat to the James river. In July McClellan was relieved of his command, which was turned over to General John Pope, who was summoned from the West. His campaign in northern Virginia, inaugurated by a boastful proclamation, ended in a disastrous defeat, known as the second Bull Run. Pope charged that result on McClellan's generals being derelict in supporting him; and a long controversy ensued with reference to the loyalty of General Fitz-John Porter, who was court-martialed and dismissed from the army, though finally restored twentyfive years later.

Great pressure had from the commencement of the war been brought to bear upon the President to abolish slavery, as the primary cause of the conflict. This course was more strongly urged when the year 1862, which had opened with the recovery of New Orleans and the capture of Fort Donelson, became fruitful of disasters. To justify himself Lincoln declared to Horace Greeley the line which he had laid down for his own guidance: "My paramount object is to save the Union, and not either to save or destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it; if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it; and if I could do it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that." Yet at that very time he had prepared the draft of his first emancipation proclamation, and had read it to his cabinet, and was only waiting until a Union victory should give him an opportune time to issue it.

Lincoln, against the judgment of Stanton and others of his cabinet, recalled McClellan to the command of the Army of the Potomac, when Lee's army was about to advance into Maryland. McClellan won a decisive victory at Antietam ; which, however, not being sufficiently followed up, did not produce as important results as were expected. But the President, taking advantage of the turn of affairs, proclaimed, on September 22d, that on and after the 1st of the following January, 1863, all slaves in States or parts of States then in

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rebellion should be free. The intervening period was allowed for the submission of the States in rebellion; but this offer was only derided by those in control of them. Therefore, on the following New Year's day, the final Proclamation of Emancipation was made. This greatest achievement of his administration was of course beyond his constitutional power in time of peace, and was only wrung from him by the exigencies of civil war. But the predestined abolition of slavery was completed by the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment of the Constitution, which Lincoln planned and urged, though it was not fully ratified until December, 1865.

The year 1863, though full of severe struggle, was crowned with victory for the Union armies. General Burnside, who had succeeded to the command of the Army of the Potomac, had been repulsed with great loss at Fredericksburg, in December, 1862, and General Hooker had unaccountably been defeated at Chancellorsville in the following May; but when General Lee followed up this success of his army by an invasion of Pennsylvania, he suffered a decisive defeat by General Meade, at Gettysburg, on July 3d, though he was again able to escape across the Potomac. Vicksburg, the only remaining Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi, was surrendered to General Grant on July 4th, restoring to the Union the full control of that river. These victories portended the downfall of the Confederacy and raised the hopes of the lovers of the Union. In November of that year the first National Cemetery was dedicated at Gettysburg; and, after an oration by Edward Everett, President Lincoln delivered a brief address, which has become immortal. He closed with these impressive words: "We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

In March, 1864, President Lincoln called General Grant to the chief command of the Union army. When the campaign opened General Grant decided to accompany the Army of the Potomac, still under the command of General Meade, in its march towards Richmond. General Grant expressed his determination to fight the army to its full capacity; but