factories were in the hands of a few speculators, who sold nails at exorbitant prices. There was also a monopoly of salt, which was sold at fifty cents per pound.-Lost cause, 427-8. Indeed one of the principal causes of the failure of the southern confederacy was speculation, both by monopolists and even the authorities, who sold cotton for greenbacks; thus depreciating and breaking down their own currency; as the people saw that the leaders had lost faith in their own money and that the cause of the Confederates was failing!

On the 4th of July, 1863, was fought the great battle of Gettysburg. Lee was compelled to fall back and retreated from Pennsylvania. He saved his artillery, with the exception of two or three guns, though he left twenty-five thousand small arms in the fields and woods. He crossed the Cumberland Mountains towards the Potomac, followed by Gen. Sedgwick. General French destroyed his pontoon train, at Falling Waters.-Headley vol. 2, page 207.

General Meade allowed Lee to escape and gave him time to cut timber and construct bridges to cross his army over the Potomac; when he could have captured his whole army. Yet the Republicans denounced McClellan the year before for not capturing Lee at about the same point, after Lee's retreat from the battle field of Antietam!—Headley vol. 2, pp. 208–9. This is Republican honesty!

The Republicans employed the colored troops although it gave great offence to the north. For many of the northern soldiers did not want Negro equality. They knew that if the Negroes were made soldiers they would be made citizens. The Republicans told the country that the Negro soldiers were superior to the white soldiers, their object being to prepare the country for Negro equality. July 30, 1863, the President issued an order that no distinction should be made, in the exchange of prisoners on account of color.

Although the Republicans professed great love for the Negroes during the war, yet they were ill treated by the government agents. The Negroes complained that they were treated worse by the Northern authorities than they were by their masters. Many of them returned to their masters rather than endure the sufferings and hardships of the government camps! About Natchez they were reduced from 4000 to 2000, by exposure, filth, and disease brought on from various causes. In 1864, the report of Yoeman, President of the Western Sanitary Commission, as given in the New York Tribune shows the frightful condition of the great number of Africans scattered along the Mississippi from Cairo to Natchez. More than the barracoons of the African coast or the horrors of the middle passage, this shows an awful inhuman record of hunger and death.

The kidnapping of Negroes by members of the Loyal League, who made large fortunes by this inhuman practice of selling Negroes for cotton. Many northern officers went into raising cotton along the Mississippi and cheated the poor Negroes out of the fruits of their labor; yet, they were loyal. The Republicans had no more love for Africans than to merely use them for party purposes. They sacrificed the welfare of the Negro and the liberty of the country, honesty, honor and principles for office and power! The American people had from time to time denounced the despotism of the monarchs of Europe; now, strange to say, the administration had courted the despotic power of Russia, the oppressor of down-trodden Poland! The Russians were banqueted in New York, in 1863. The Republicans had stooped so low as to make an ally of Russia!

The great flood of "greenbacks," government paper currency, drove gold and silver out of circulation. The government issued postage currency as

low as five cents. Every one in 1862, issued his own money. Barbers and saloon keepers issued scrip "good for one shave," or "good at this bar for one glass of beer." The government violated the constitution by making paper currency a legal tender. It was unjust to those, who lent money before the passage of this law, to make greenbacks a legal tender. This paper became so depreciated that one dollar in gold would buy $2.90 in greenbacks. This was a palpable swindle. This was robbing the creditor who lent his money in gold and now had to take depreciated currency; it also robbed the soldiers. One great cause of depreciation of the currency was occasioned by the blunders of northern Generals; and the intermeddling of the abolitionists, who drove the south to desperation for it was feared that the war would be prolonged until the public debt would be equal to that of Great Britain. Men of capital feared that the debt would not be paid. In 1863, the administration and Congress proposed to abolish the state banks and to establish United States Banks. For this purpose they legislated the state banks out of existence, by means of taxation.

All who spoke of the rights of the states, were denounced by the Radicals as traitors and copperheads. They held that the general government could swallow up the state governments. We give Jefferson's opinion on the rights of the States: "We should marshal the government into, 1st, the. general Federal Republic for all concerns foreign and Federal; 2d, that of the state, for what relates to our own citizens exclusively."--Jefferson's Works vol. 7, p. 13.

But, what cared the Radicals for the opinions of either Jefferson or Washington? they followed the example of British statesmen and the bluelight Federalists! The old Federal and Whig party passed high protective tariff; by this means the farmers were taxed to support the looms of New England. The Democratic party complained of this unjust measure. But the Radicals had the army and navy, the purse and the sword at their backs, and by means of arbitrary arrests drowned all opposition. In vain did the western papers complain that the east had oppressed the south and west. The Radicals claimed that it was for the benefit of the whole country that the people should be taxed to sustain New England and Pennsylvania. Those they could not intimidate were bought up and Congressmen were bought and sold like oxen in the shambles. Corruption and bribery were the order of the day. The Democrats were denounced for their opposition to the tariff. They were called traitors, rebels, and copperheads! We give Jefferson's opinion on the tariff:

"An equilibrium of agriculture, manufactures and commerce, is certainly becoming essential to our independence."-Jefferson's Works, vol. 5, p. 448. Thus we see that Thomas Jefferson considered agriculture as the most essential branch of industry. For all branches of industry depend on the prosperity of the farmers. But the Radicals who have followed the footprints of the Federalists, want to sacrifice the farmers to the interests of the manufacturers. Jefferson spoke of the policy of the Federalists in trying "to convert this great agricultural country into a city of Amsterdam. The expense of the war had now assumed vast proportions. The people were alarmed at the expense of the war; but the Radicals reiterated Pitt's false doctrine that a "Public debt is a public blessing;" thus following in the wake of British Statesmen and American Federalists. They followed Hamilton's plan to make the public debt eternal. They issued bonds bearing interest in gold and some bearing compound interest. The ultimate design of the disciples of Hamilton has been to fund the public debt, the same as in England; so as to create a money king and afterwards a monarchy. We give Jefferson's opinion of a public debt:

"I consider the fortunes of our Republic as depending, in an eminent degree on the extinguishment of the public debt.-Jefferson's Works vol. 5, p. 478. "We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election between economy and liberty or profusion and servitude." Jefferson's Works, vol. 7, p. 14.

Again he speaks of "emancipation of our posterity from that moral canker, it is an encouragement, fellow-citizens, of the highest order to proceed as we have begun in establishing economy for taxation." Jefferson's Works, vol. 8, p. 19.

CHAPTER XVII.

In the political campaign of 1863, the peace Democracy denounced the administration for employing Negro soldiers and suppressing the freedom of speech and of the free press, for suspending the Writ of Habeas Corpus and trial by jury. The unconstitutional acts of the administration were boldly denounced by the peace Democrats, through the press and at public meetings-for the people were, even now, tired of the war, in consequence of draft, military blunders, and the corruption of the government. The reign of terror inaugurated by Loyal Leaguers who were nothing less than the old " Wide-Awakes, who were Know-Nothings in disguise. The Loyal Leaguers became the nucleus of the "Grand Army of the Republic." The people called public meetings for the purpose of adopting some peace measures. The army was tired of the war and the corruption of army contractors and speculators. But the Republican party, who were adverse to peace, introduced a resolution in Congress, to the effect that no compromise should be made with rebels in arms. That the Republicans would not accept of any proposition short of an unconditional surrender of the Confederate Army and its leaders to the Federal authorities. This they well knew would never be accepted by the Confederate authorities, while they had a large army in the field and many strongholds in their possession. The truth of the matter is the Republicans did not want peace with the South until they had crushed out slavery and had put the Negro on terms of equality with the white man, until they had weakened the power of the South and the Democratic party, and had perpetuated the power of the Radicals. The administration and Congress having now the war power, the purse, and the sword, the loyal governors and the State Legislatures, threw off the mask and avowed their policy. The Republicans carried the election by force, fraud, and corruption even at the point of the bayonet, when necessary! Indeed, they were apt scholars. They followed Napoleon's plan of carrying the election by military force. They applied all the means used in England to corrupt or intimidate voters. Schenck carried the election in Maryland and Delaware, this year, at the point of the bayonet. Headley, vol. 2, p. 283.

By corruption, bribery, force, frauds, and military power, the Lincoln party carried the elections, this year, from Maine to Minnesota. After the result of this election was known, Lincoln wrote that "the crisis was past. The authorities at Washington now openly laid the constitution aside. They looked for precedents to the monarchs of Europe and imperial Rome. Although Vallandigham, of Ohio, the leader of the peace Democrats was arrested and banished beyond the Rebel lines, he was now allowed to get back and run for governor. For Lincoln and the Republican party wanted some pretext to connect the Democrats with the rebellion. Indeed they

wanted to make the Democrats responsible for the war. They wanted to confound the Vallandigham Democrats with the rebels. This trick succeeded and helped to defeat the Democracy!-Headley vol. 2, 465. In 1862, while Cameron was secretary of war, he used the machinery of his office to make a fortune. He engaged in various speculations.

There were, at the commencement of the war, two railroad lines from New York to Washington; one direct through Philadelphia and the other by way of Harrisburg, which is the longer route by 80 miles. The bridges

were burnt within the limits of Maryland at the breaking out of the rebellion. Cameron expended 14,000 dollars in repairing his own road, the other railroad company repaired its own bridges. This put 14,000 dollars into the pockets of Cameron's friends. He had the troops and supplies shipped over the road from Philadelphia, Harrisburg and Baltimore, a distance of one hundred miles longer than the other road. He amassed, while secretary of war, ten millions of dollars and for his pains and devotion to his country was made minister to Russia. With this vast fortune he was able to control the Pennsylvania Legislature!

Cameron placed in the hands of his pet, $2,000,000, to be used as this man might deem fit. A few days after this transaction, this pet drew a quarter of a million of dollars, and put 160,000 dollars of it in his own name, in a New York Bank, in the city of New York, and 90,000 dollars was put into the hands of another pet to meet such expenses as he should make. These were the competent and reliable agents of the secretary of war, Simon Cameron. Not even was the oath of office taken or any security given, by these Cameronian agents, to the government for the faithful performance of their official duties. This shows a gross, reckless and fraudulent expenditure of the public money; which helped to build monuments of debt. Cameron by shipping troops and supplies over his own road gained fifty per cent. profit in one year, which came out of the government. But, he was loyal.-App. Cong. Globe, 1861-2, pp. 131-2-3-4-5.

The secretary of the Navy gave his pet a commission for the purchase of vessels. To illustrate how the sales were conducted the Daylight and the Dawn, two vessels bought from the Secretary's "eminent merchants," one of them originally cost $45,000 and the other $55,000. They were chartered by the government till one of them realized $40,000, and the other $30,000. The government paying the expense of repairs and insuring them against perils. Then the secretary's pet purchased the two vessels; for the one he had paid what the vessel cost four years before, and for the other within $10,000 of what it originally cost. So the owner of the vessels gained $80,000 and the full cost of his vessels. The government agent received 24 per cent on all sales. The more he gave for the vessels the greater the percentage. Thousands of cases of this description might be cited but this will suffice to show how the national debt was piled up. Besides the percentage, the agent had a salary of $70,000 per annum from the government. Such wholesale plunder of the treasury is unknown in the annals of history!!-App. Cong. Globe 1861-2, pp. 135-6.

A New York Broker made the sum of $10,000, in the sale of a vessel, under this worthy agent. There was no question asked as to the quality of the vessel, but was the broker loyal—a Republican. In this fraudulent and corrupt manner the secretary of the navy gave a member of his own household the enormous sum of $95,000, in five months !!

Any Democrat who was bold enough to denounce this corruption of the government was pronounced disloyal and a traitor.-App. Cong. Globe, 1861-2, p. 136. Gen. Fremont got a grab from the treasury: in the purchase of arms. He gained in one transaction $51,225. He bought a lot of

old Hall Carabines for $3,50 each and sold them to the government for the sum of $22,00 each. This scheme of plunder gave him in all Fifty-onethousand dollars. But, he was loyal!-App. Cong. Globe, 1861-2, p. 136. The same General Fremont was the Republican Candidate for President, in 1856, and the Radical Candidate for President in 1864. He, also, while in command at St. Louis made money in building worthless fortifications. This is Republican honesty-a premium for corruption. What wonder that the Republicans wished to conceal from the people the true amount of the public debt. For the people now found that a public debt was not a public blessing.

"We don't feel the war!" was the cry of Contractors and Speculators, in our large cities, while the country suffered from misery and the fearful havoc of war. Such was the cry among those who made fortunes with marvelous rapidity and spent it in pleasure and extravagance. They cared but little for the tears of the widow or the orphan. While the wealth of the country was poured out, fortunes were made by the money-seekers. While brave fellows rushed in multitudes to defend the dear old flag, speculators had a rich field to make vast and rapid fortunes out of army clothing and subsistence contracts for provisions, mules, horses, railway conveyance, steamers, ships, coals, surgical instruments, drugs, and every thing to sustain or destroy life. The government did not care much about quality or price but gave the whole thing up to some favorite individuals who made vast fortunes in a day. Political and social friends and relatives were favored with information where there could be made a good "grab." Partisans, brothers, cousins, and brothers-in-law came in first for the biggest prizes. Some of them made a hundred thousand dollars in one transaction! by merely signing their names! They even made snug fortunes by the mere transfer of their contracts. They cared nothing for the quality of the thing, so long as it bore the name. Thus came this villainous shoddy -the refuse and sweepings of the shops, pounded, rolled, and glued, and hastily got up as clothing for the soldiers. The shoddyites in a few months erected palatial residences, had splendid coaches, perfumed clothes and glistening silks. Others made fortunes in old spavined horses and mules, and all this was accomplished by collusion and favoritism!

Now came the time for clearing out the refuse of the armories—even where some of the arms were returned by the ordnance department, yet, by bribery they would be accepted. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent on worthless arms. One merchant gained two millions of dollars in this speculation in one year. Some coal-miners made such fortunes out of the government, that in a single year dividends amounted to two-thirds of its capital. Men who were bankrupts a few months before suddenly could count their fortunes by millions. This caused a mania for speculation, pervading the whole community. The cry was, What is the price of gold to-day?

The sudden flow of wealth on contractors and speculators, brought on profusion never before seen in the country. Stables were built of marble, costly furniture, clothes, and silks were imported in abundance. Foreign luxury was the order of the day, men buttoned their waistcoats with diamonds, and women powdered their hair with gold and silver dust. This .had an injurious effect on the morals of the people. This rage for wealth is fast taking hold of all classes-many, very many care little about the means of getting riches to spend in luxury. This class certainly did not feel the war so long as there was a prospect of making money out of it—no one seemed to care for the country or for its welfare. Any one who should speak against this waste of the people's money, was called a copperhead,