Davis, through the blundering and malignity of the Peace Democracy, by the heroism and steadfastness of the great army of the republic the nation was to be saved.

There were others than William Cornell Jewett and Horace Greeley who thought themselves called upon to bring about peace. Mr. John R. Gilmore, of New York, and Rev. Mr. Jacques, of Illinois, desired to visit Richmond on an errand of peace, and were allowed by General Grant to pass his lines. They reached the Confederate Capitol and held a conference with Jefferson Davis. They expressed a desire to have the war ended. The Northern people longed for peace, they said.

"I desire,” Mr. Davis replied, “peace as much as you do; but I feel that not one drop of blood is on my hands. I can look up to God and say this: I tried all in my power to avert this war. I saw it coming, and for twelve years I worked night and day to prevent it; but I could not. The North was mad and blind; but it would not let us govern ourselves, and so the war came; and now it must go on till the last man of this generation falls in his tracks, and his children seize his musket and fight our battle, unless you acknowledge our right to selfgovernment. We are not fighting for slavery. We are fighting for independence; and that or extermination we will have. . . . Say to Mr. Lincoln, from me, that I shall at any time be proud to receive proposals for peace on the basis of our independence. It will be useless to approach us with any other."

The Peace Democrats maintained that the President was waging war solely to abolish slavery. Jefferson Davis by this declaration informed them that the South was not fighting to maintain slavery, but for independence.

"We may lose much," wrote the editor of a Southern newspaper, "by presenting a hostile movement to the Peace Democracy. Live with them under the same government we never will; but if they will use the ballot-box against Mr. Lincoln while we use the cartridge-box, each side will help the other, and both co-operate to accomplish the grandest work which this country has ever witnessed."

NOTES TO CHAPTER XXII.

(1) Robert J. Breckinridge was born in Kentucky, March 8, 1800. He attended Princeton, Yale, and Union colleges, graduating at the latter, 1819. He studied law, was elected to the Legislature four successive years, but in 1832, in obedience to religious convictions, studied theology, and became pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church,

Baltimore, where he remained till elected to the presidency of Jefferson College, 1845. He took great interest in promoting the public schools of Kentucky. In 1853 he accepted an appointment as Professor of Polemics in Danville Theological Seminary. He published several volumes upon theological subjects, and edited the Danville "Review." He was intensely loyal to the Union. Although his son and nephew, John C. Breckinridge, joined the Confederacy, he denounced secession as an unpardonable crime.—Author. (2) F. B. Carpenter, "Six Months in the White House," p. 166.

(3) Ibid.

(*) Theodore Tilton, in New York "Independent," June 14, 1864.

(3) Clement L. Vallandigham was of Huguenot descent. He was born in New Lisbon, O., 1822. He taught an academy at Snow Hill, Md., studied law, and was admitted to the bar, 1842. He was elected to the Legislature of Ohio, and edited a newspaper at Dayton. He was an intense Democrat, and secured an election to Congress, 1857. His sympathies were with the Secessionists to an extent which led him to oppose the prosecution of the war. On the floor of Congress, at political gatherings, and through the Press he wielded his influence against the Government, and was arrested for treasonable utterances by General Burnside. He was tried by court-martial, sentenced to imprisonment in one of the forts in Boston Harbor; but President Lincoln overruled the decision and transferred him to the Confederate lines. He received scant courtesy in Richmond, where he remained but a short time. He ran the blockade to Bermuda, went from there to Canada, was nominated by the Democratic Party as candidate for Governor, 1863. He was defeated by John Brough by an overwhelming majority. He returned to Ohio, was elected delegate to the Democratic National Convention at Chicago, and wrote its platform. While engaged in a suit at court, and explaining the construction of a pistol, he was mortally wounded by its accidental discharge. He was a man of great earnestness and force-an intense partisan.-Author.

(6) The Secretary of the Treasury, William P. Fessenden, appointed to succeed Mr. Chase, was born in Boscawen, N. H., October 16, 1806. He received his education at Bowdoin College, studied law, began practice in Bridgeton, and subsequently in Portland. He was elected to the Legislature, 1832, but refused a nomination as member of Congress. He gave his attention wholly to his profession, attaining a high position as member of the bar. He was elected Senator, 1854, and took conspicuous part in the debates upon the Kansas troubles. He was re-elected, 1859. Upon the assembling of the Peace Congress, 1861, he was appointed a member of that body by the Governor of Maine. Upon the accession of the Republican Party to power he was made chairman of the Committee on Finance. His ability in that position elicited a glowing eulogy from Senator Sumner, who said, "In the financial field he is what the best generals are on the battle-field.” Mr. Lincoln placed Senator Fessenden in charge of the finances at the darkest period of the war, when viewed from the financial stand-point. Mr. Chase had advertised a loan, but there was no response from the public, and it had been withdrawn. In the month of February, 1864, gold was at a premium of 225. Secretary Fessenden resolved that no more treasury notes should be issued. He devised a loan bearing 7 per cent. interest. He believed that the people, if appealed to, would subscribe to such a loan. They had shown their patriotism in raising men, they would be equally patriotic in furnishing money. He determined to appeal to the small investor and issue $50 bonds. He judged rightly; and the people, having confidence in the stability of the Government, accepted the bonds, and gave the Government the needed funds to carry on the war. Mr. Fessenden was re-elected to the Senate in 1865, and was made chairman of the Joint Committee on Reconstruction. He opposed the impeachment of Andrew Johnson. He died in 1869.-Author.

(*) Zachariah Chandler was born in Bedford, N. H., 1813. He attended the public

schools of his native town, and taught one term. At the age of twenty he became clerk in a dry-goods store; removed to Detroit, Mich., and engaged in business. He was elected mayor of that city, 1851. He was a Whig, but took an active part in the formation of the Republican Party. In 1857 he succeeded Lewis Cass as Senator from Michigan. He was ever outspoken in his denunciation of slavery. He vehemently opposed the admission of Kansas under the Lecompton Constitution. He had the courage of his convictions. In a letter to Governor Blair, written February 11, 1861, he said that "without a little blood-letting the Union was not worth a rush." When the President called for 75,000 troops to put down the Rebellion, Senator Chandler regretted that he had not called for 500,000. He reported in 1861 a bill for the confiscation of the property of those in rebellion. In July, 1862, he informed several Senators that he intended to assail McClellan in a speech on the floor of the Senate. He was informed that it would be fatal to his reelection to the Senate, then pending. He replied that the good of the country demanded an exposure of the inefficiency of the commander of the army, and delivered the speech as contemplated. It did not imperil his re-election. He was plain, straightforward, and intensely loyal to the Union.-Author.

(8) "Century Magazine," September, 1889.

(9) Ibid.

(10) "Century Magazine," August, 1889. (") Ibid.

JUST

CHAPTER XXIII.

PEACE DEMOCRACY.

UST out from Chicago, at "Camp Douglas," were 5000 Confederate prisoners. The officer in command allowed some of the captives to visit acquaintances and friends in the city on their parole. He organized them in companies to keep the camp clean and distribute provisions. The Confederates were ready to do all that was required. The guards were few in number, and belonged largely to the invalid corps. They had seen service, but were not sufficiently hardy to enter upon a campaign.

The War Department appointed Colonel J. B. Sweet to command the post. In view of the sufferings of Union soldiers at Andersonville, he thought it wise to curtail the privileges that had been enjoyed by the prisoners. No longer were they allowed to visit the city. They were permitted to write letters to their friends, which were left unsealed, that Colonel Sweet might see they contained nothing contraband. It occurred to him it would be well to hold one of the letters over the flame of a lamp, when lo! and behold, writing between the lines appeared. He read about a "celebration" that was to be held in Chicago. (') He determined to keep his own counsel, and make further discoveries about any society or organization planning a celebration.

Detectives, disguised as Confederate prisoners, soon learned that something was to be done in connection with the assembling of the Democratic Convention. It was known that the "Sons of Liberty" were making preparations to resist the Government in enforcing the draft ordered by the President. The leaders were in communication with Thompson and Clay in Canada. It was discovered that a large number of "Sons of Liberty" were preparing to attend the convention, and that an attempt was to be made to release the prisoners. (')

The railroad trains from Canada, Ohio, Southern Indiana, and IlliAug. 28, nois, entering Chicago, were filled with passengers. Some were 1864. delegates to the Democratic Convention, but the great majority were on their way to the city for a far different purpose-to act in

concert with the Confederate prisoners for their release. The movement was well understood in Richmond. Among the passengers from Canada were men holding commissions signed by Jefferson Davis as officers in the Confederate service, who were to take command of the prisoners. Their fare and the expenses of the motley crowds of "Sons of Liberty” were paid by Thompson and Clay with money from the Confederate treasury. "Men commanded by Mr. Vallandigham," says a Confederate writer, "had been intrusted with the necessary funds for perfecting county organizations. Arms had been purchased in the North by the aid of professed friends in New York. (') Alliances, offensive and defensive, had been made with peace organizations, and though we were not misled by the sanguine promises of our friends, we were confident that with any sort of co-operation on their part success was possible. During the excitement that always attends a great political convention, increased, as we supposed it would be, by the spirit of opposition to the Administration, we felt that we would be free to act unobserved, and that we could move with promptness and effect upon Camp Douglas. With 5000 prisoners there, and over 7000 at Springfield, joined by the dissatisfied elements in Chicago and through Illinois, we believed that we would have a formidable force, which might be the nucleus of more important movements. . . . Arms were ready, and information had been conveyed to the prisoners of our intention. Chicago was thronged with people from all sections of the country, and among the vast crowd were many officers of the secret organizations on whom we relied for assistance."(^)

Had we been guests at the Richmond House, in Chicago, we should have seen one room carefully guarded. All who asked to be admitted were closely scrutinized. The Confederate officers and the "Sons, of Liberty" were holding a conference. A large number of the "Sons" had arrived, but they were not organized for action.

"As day after day passed," wrote an editor of one of the Chicago newspapers, "the crowd increased till the whole city seemed alive with a motley crew of blear-eyed, whiskey-blotched vagabonds, the very excrescence and sweepings of the slums and sinks of all the cities of the nation. I sat at my window and saw the filthy stream of degraded humanity swagger along to the wigwam on the lake shore, and wondered how our city could be saved from burning and plunder, and our wives and daughters from a far more dreadful fate. They talked loudly about the convention, cursed Abraham Lincoln, and praised Vallandigham. They swaggered through the streets, lounged at the corners, drank a