The Hegira. courteously; but it was ascertained that some of the most vicious elements of that turbulent city had been incited by unprincipled men to raise a mob on the occasion of his appearance—at once endangering life and the city's honor. To avoid this, and frustrate whatever plans for mischief might have been matured, were the secret of that precipitate movement. There was neither courage nor a want of it shown in the step. It was one of prudence merely; and, though a large portion of the public, at the time, thought the President should have gone through the Baltimore reception because of the threatened danger, it soon was felt that his course had been one of wisdom. The violent tone of the Baltimore papers of "Southern proclivities gave the friends of the President good reason to feel that he had escaped humiliation, if not injury, at the hands of his implacable political enemies.* Mr. Lincoln's unexpected advent at the Capitol took all by surprise. Preparations on a large scale had been made for his reception; the Mayor had written an address of congratulation and welcome; the military had prepared new uniforms and reburnished their arms; the two Houses of Congress were in for an early adjournment, and the "coming man" was the theme of general remark. All preconcerted arrangements were frustrated, for he came in their midst an unheralded and unexpected guest. When it became known that he was in the city, his hotel was *The Albany Evening Journal published a detailed account of the existence of a conspiracy for the President's assassination, of which a well-known detective had been apprised. Its plan embraced a riot at Baltimore, on the arrival of the Presidential train, during which Mr. Lincoln was to be stabbed or shot. This account was understood to have been furnished by Frederick A. Seward, who was the special messenger sent from Washington to arrange for the night flight. The New York Times repeated this story, only adding to its exciting detail by asserting that eminent statesmen, bankers, and others, were in the secret of the conspiracy for the assassination. Without presuming to pronounce upon the credibility of this reputed conspiracy, we think a sufficient apology--if such were needed-for the incognito entrance to the Capital will be found in the fact that Mr. Lincoln acted by advice of General Scott. The Hegira. But he remained thronged-all anxious for a word with him who was to direct the destiny of the Republic, for good or for evil. in private to all visitors. At eleven o'clock, in company with Mr. Seward, he called upon Mr. Buchanan. The surprise of the occupant of the White House was great; but he gave his successor a very cordial greeting. The Cabinet being in session, Mr. Lincoln passed into its chamber, to the surprise and the delight of its members. A call was made upon General Scott, but the veteran was not on duty. Thus, dispensing with all formality, the Republican President set a good example of Republican simplicity of manners and kindness. Only the ex During the day he received visitors freely. All partisan feeling seemed to be forgotten, and Democrats vied with Republicans in their really genial welcome. treme Southern men stood aloof; they had no word of welcome for a man who, it was felt, would rule without fear, and prove faithful to his oath to sustain the Constitution and the laws. In the evening, by appointment, Mr. Lincoln received the "Peace Congress" members. The entire body was presented to him, and a cordial hour passed in an informal greeting. After the interview, the President was called upon to confront the ladies of Washington, who had congregated in the parlors of the hotel to be introduced to a man of whose ugliness of feature and ungainliness of form they had heard so much. Mr. Lincoln received them in a manner at once graceful and possessed. This closed his first day at the Capital. Thereafter he was to enter upon the thorny field of Administration. A Cabinet was to be chosen, Ministers to be selected, a settled policy to be drawn out of that fearful distraction. The brief interval of ten days, prior to his inauguration, was to be among the most trying of his experience; for the claims of persons to posts of honor-the rights of sections-the harmonization of conflicting interests--the disposition of places demanding a peculiar fitness-all were among those minor annoyances of administration which rendered the yoke anything but easy to bear. i The Twenty-five dollars to meet the wants of Government up to June. February 1st, Mr. S. introduced, in the House, his Loan bill, calling for twentyfive millions. The representations made, and the good management used, crowded the bill through without delay. February 2d it went to the Senate, which returned it to the House slightly modified. A conference soon consummated its final passage, but it did not receive the President's signature until Feb. 9th. THE financial condition January 18th he sent to Financial Condition of of the National Treasury, in Mr. Sherman, Chairman of the Treasury. the early part of February, the Committee of Ways and was such as to excite no little uneasiness in Means, an exhibit of the state of the Treasthe mind of the Secretary. Of the twenty-ury, and asked for twenty-five millions of million loan authorized the previous June, but a little more than seven millions had been taken. Mr. Cobb's financiering had shaken the credit of Government so far, that its paper not only no longer commanded a premium, nor even touched par, but was only disposed of at ruinous rates. The act authorizing the loan restricted its sales at par, and capitalists refused to take it. This refusal left the department nearly bankrupt, at the moment of Mr. Cobb's withdrawal, "to lend the force of his great financial genius to the construction of a new Government." He assumed the keys of a plethoric chest-he left the keys of an empty one. Pending its passage, Mr. Dix had addressed the Governors of the loyal States, advising that the Legislatures should endorse the loan to the extent of the special deposits held by them of the surplus fund. To this propoMr. Dix, upon assuming charge of the sition several States answered promptly-the Treasury Department, set about recuperating loyal-hearted Ohio being first. She, holding its exhausted finances. He was chosen for $2,097,000 of that fund, would guarantee the his fitness. In that hour of calamity, it be- | Government loan to that amount, Pennsylhooved the President to call to his side men vania next voted to endorse for her quota of reputation for integrity, who would, in -$2,800,000. These endorsements were not, some degree, restore the confidence of an out- however, accepted by the terms of the act— raged people. Devotion to "Southern inter- hence the loan went forth offering only the ests" had ruined his Administration, and he Government's faith as security. This so far could only save his memory from being writ-weakened the prospect for favorable bids, that ten Odious by rising above a partisan's ambi- Mr. Dix sought to obtain a special act authortion at the last hour. Mr. Dix, as the repre-izing the acceptance of the proffered State sentative of Northern sentiment, and having guarantees, to the extent of the eight millions the confidence of the magnates of Wall first to be put on the market. In possession street, was a wise choice; and if the brief pe- of these, he felt that the offers would be of a riod of Mr. Buchanan's term would not allow very satisfactory character. IIe communiof a full restoration of public credit, it would, cated his wishes in the matter to Mr. Sherat least, permit him to stay the decline which man, under date of February 12th, in the threatened a fatal issue. following exhibit: The Secretary's Exhibit. "SIR-I deem it my duty to "I have discharged my duty to them and to the call your attention to the press-country, by making this exhibit of the public wants, ing demands on the Treasury, and in pointing out the only mode by which, in my and to suggest the only mode of meeting them with- judgment, they can be met without the most serious out seriously impairing the public credit. The lia- consequences to the interest of the Government, and bilities due and to fall due before the 4th of March individuals to whom it is indebted. The short time next, are as follows: to elapse before the close of the present session of Congress renders it indispensable that I should advertise for a loan on the 13th or 14th inst., at the farthest. For the State Department... For the Interior Department.. For the War Department.. $101,868 1,302,327 1,521.131 For the Navy Departmeut.... 1,560,000 For the Post-Office Department..... 700,000 For Requisitions on War and Navy Depart .1,853,000 Treasury Notes falling due before 4th March....... For Treasury Department For Light-House Board........ For Fishing Bounties... ments, not complied with... "I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, "JOHN A. DIX, "Secretary of the Treasury." Mr. Sherman immediately introduced a bill covering the acceptance of the guarantees, when Garnett, (Dem.,) of Virginia, refused, by his objection, to allow the intro NOTE.—These are the round numbers, making a total of duction of the resolution of enactment. His $9,901,118. "The accruing revenue will, it is estimated, net about $1,900,000 of the amount, leaving but eight millions to be borrowed. words and demeanor were violent. He said: "After the recent declaration of war by the President-elect of the United States, "There is in the Treasury, subject to draft of the [referring to Mr. Lincoln's Indianapolis Treasurer of the United States, but little more than half a million, and there are requisitions in the Treasury Department amounting to nearly ten millions of dollars unanswered. In the present condition of the country it would be impossible to borrow the money needed to meet the wants of the Treasury, unless at a discount which would seriously impair the public debt, without some pledge in addition to that of the faith of the Government. Several of the States, in accordance with a suggestion contained in my letter to the Committee of Ways and Means, of the 18th January last, have offered to superadd the pledge of their faith to that of the United States, for the redemption of any bonds it may issue, to the amount of the public moneys deposited with them, respectively, for safe keeping, under the act of 23d June, 1836. "If Congress will authorize these offers to be accepted, the money required to meet the liabilities due and to fall due before the 4th of March can be obtained at par. If the authority is not granted, I am satisfied it can only be procured on terms which would be exceedingly disadvantageous to the Government, and in the highest degree detrimental to its credit. I should not venture to ask for a loan exceeding $2,000,000, and nearly the whole of this amount would be required to meet the redemption of Treasury notes to fall due before the 4th of March. There would be due on that day about $6,000,000 to public creditors, whose demands could not remain unsatisfied without subjecting them to most serious inconveniences, and in some cases to serious losses. "SIR-It is indispensable that I should give to-day notice of a loan of $8,000,000, in order that the Government may be in funds to meet indispensable payments on the 1st proximo. "The obstacles unexpectedly thrown in the way of the passage of the bill reported by your Committee yesterday, authorizing the acceptance of the guarantee proffered by several of the States, compel me reluctantly to ask for the loan on the usual terms; for, in the present distracted state of the country, should it continue, 1 fear there must be a loss of $800,000. Under all the circumstances, however, instead of calling for $2,000,000, as I suggested in my letter to you of the 11th inst., I have thought it advisable to ask for $8,000,000, reserving the right of declining to accept bids which may be deemed disadvantageous to the United States, and taking the chance of a favorable change in the political condition of the country within the next ten days, at the end of which proposals for the loan will be received. Allow me to remind you that the Loan bill, under which I ask for proposals, was not presented for the approval of the President until the 8th inst.; and that, on the 9th inst. Saturday, there EVIDENCE OF MR. COBB'S CRIMINALTY. The Secretary's Second Letter. guarantee of the States. "I advert to these circumstances to exonerate my self in the judgment of those who have an interest in the discharge of the liabilities pressing upon the Treasury from any want of diligence on my part. 391 Evidence of Mr. Cobb's Criminality. was not a quorum of your Com- | award is a luminous illus- Your Committee, I believe, all understand that more The Bids obtained for the Loan. "JOHN A. DIX." The advertisement, proposing for the loan, appeared in the New York papers of February 18th. It was taken, with unexpected avidity -the amount bid for being $14,355,000, and the bids ranging from 75 to 96 10 per cent. The allotment was: $4.915.000 at 90.15 per cent., and the remainder, (up to the eight millions offered) at figures ranging up to 96.10 per cent. Had the State guarantees been accepted, the average would have been, in all probability, about 96. As it was, it fell below 92-for which the "gentleman from Virginia" had to assume the responsibility. Considering the aspect of political affairs, and the state of the country, that the loan should have been taken at such rates is an incontrovertible evidence of the faith which capitalists reposed in the incoming Administration. Something may have been due to a patriotic desire to sustain the Government, in its hour of need; but, confidence was the secret of the terms obtained. The last loan negotiated by Mr. Cobb was for ten millions of five per cents, awarded on the 22d of October, 1860. The history of that "That on the 22d of October of that year their offers were accepted for a portion of such loan, of which on that day they were notified. "That your petitioners had previously, upon entering their bids, made their deposit of one per cent. and after notice of such acceptance, made a deposit of their premium thereon, and ordered coupon bonds simultaneously therewith, when, to their great surprise and astonishment, they were informed by the then Secretary of the Treasury that his Department had no coupon bonds ready for delivery. "That although your petitioners received notice of the acceptance of their offers on the 22d of October last, no orders reached the engravers in New York to prepare such coupon bonds until the 26th of the same month, being four days after such notice of acceptance, and the first blank coupon bonds did not leave this city for Washington until the 3d day of November, eleven days after the notice of the award. these bonds were withdrawn from your petitioners, "That in consequence of the delay, orders for and even sales made by them, in various instances, canceled by the purchasers, owing to the failure of delivery and in other instances, to retain their customers, your petitioners were obliged to purchase for them United States bonds of 1874 as a substitute for these coupon bonds." Thus much in exposition of Mr. Cobb's way of doing business with Northern men. The petitioners further stated that they were bidders chiefly for other parties—that, in consideration of the non-compliance of the Secretary with his duty in the delivery of the bonds and coupons, the parties for whom they bid refused to take the amount awarded, urging as a justification the following specific reasons, to which the reader's attention is directed: Evidence of Mr. Cobb's Criminalty. and the complicity of Mr. Floyd in the further frauds charged-was made February 12th. It covered the entire ground of the facts of the abstraction, and the incidental transactions by which the fraud was accompanied. It was a sad revelation for the American peo "First: In consequence of the delay above referred to. "Second: That directly after the application for such bonds, and the failure of the Government to furnish them, the then Secretary of the Treasury announced publicly in murket, that in the event of the success of the Republican party in the ensuing election, the Southern States would with-ple to read, and tended to strengthen the draw from the Union, and the Government be broken growing sentiment of indignation against up; whereby the credit of the United States was impaired, and the market value of the bonds depressed; or, in other words, as they contended, the bonds were rendered a damaged article, without fault of the buyers.' As the Presidential election was to be affected by such a representation, we here have the evidence of the Secretary's attempt to influence that election by the strong leverage which ten millions of dollars would give. His representations, it will be seen, were made after the bids had been put in, but be fore the bonds were delivered; and, as the bidders were not served until after the day of election, the retention of the bonds was to cause a panic among the bankers, and compel them to lend all the power of their vast resources to throw the elections in New York and New Jersey against the Republican nomince. When Mr. Toombs said, in the Montgomery Congress, in proposing Howell Cobb for President, [see page 335,] that "he had been illustrious in the arena of the General Government"-that "his name was coextensive with the length and breadth of the whole country" he could not have spoken in irony; and yet, such was Mr. Cobb's reputation in those circles where he was best known, that the great agitator's words were only true in an ironical sense. He, evidently, was valued at Montgomery in proportion to the wrong he had done the General Government and to Northern interests. The report of the House Select Committee appointed December 24th-to investigate the great robbery of bonds, [see pages 113-114,] The Record of the Administration. The credit of Govern- word. We can give but a reference to the lengthy report made by the Committee, of which Morris, (Dem.,) of Illinois, was Chairman. The summary of the investigations was given in the following paragraphs: "In relation to the accept Default. ances issued unconditionally Report on Mr. Floyd's ditional acceptances which have already been War Department. It appears, therefrom, that acceptances to the amount of $840,000 were returned to the Department for cancellation. Mr. Russell, however, claims to have returned only $200,000 or $250,000. He further states that the acceptances which he did return were those which had matured |