in great frauds. The expectation was, that the trial could be had and the accused convicted before the election. It was claimed on the part of the Government that the trial could be finished in two days, and the application of their counsel, for subpœnas to bring witnesses from New York to prove their good character, was vehemently resisted, but when granted, so that the trial could not be completed until after the election, then the Judge Advocate ceased to press the trial and the case was postponed at his instance, several times, amounting, in all, to between thirty and forty days. He went to New York City, and had men brought there from various parts of the State, and some other places, who were secretly examined, to try and find out something to the disadvantage of the accused, but he failed. When Jones was first arrested, the Judge Advocate put on citizen's dress, took a stenographer with him, and called on him and pretended to believe Jones was innocent, and got him to talk over things which Jones had said were true, and he would swear to them. The Judge Advocate pretended to believe Jones had been badly treated, merely to draw him out. He and his stenographer departed. The latter drew out a statement, garbled and false, which the former published on the day the trial commenced as the sworn confession of Jones. It was so in form, although he had never seen, read, signed, or sworn to it. This false statement-for the stenographer was put under oath, produced his notes, and proved it to be so-went through the land as a startling confession of crime. This stenographer is said to be employed frequently in the State Department to take down conversations, and has figured as a witness on the President's impeachment, to prove what he said in public on certain occasions. This pretended confession was offered and received in evidence against all the accused, notwithstanding the proof by the party preparing it was clear and complete that it was in several respects untrue and deceptive. If a conviction had taken place before the election, there is good reason to believe that it was expected to lay the foundation for arresting Governor Seymour, who had appointed Colonel North as State Agent, and also sundry Democratic leaders, before the election, charging that they were implicated in the affair, and thereby produce a whirlwind of ex

citement which could not be resisted. This would have rendered the election of the Republican tickets everywhere a matter of certainty. Bold and unyielding efforts of the counsel of the accused defeated these purposes.

Since this trial, a case came before the Supreme Court of the United States from Indiana-Ex parte Milligan, 4 Wallace, 2--involving the authority to establish these military tribunals for trying persons not in or connected with the military service. That court held that they were unauthorized by the Constitution, and had no jurisdiction whatever over such persons. This military tyranny tended to spur up the secessionists to fight on, and thus prolonged the war. They were told that if the Union was restored, they would be thus dealt with, regardless of the Constitution and laws, which was believed.

108. THE EARLY AVOWED OBJECTS OF THE WAR.

When Sumter was taken, the whole North and West felt and promptly resented the blow. The South avowed their object to be, as it really was, to secure a separate and independent sovereignty, where her peculiar institutions should not be the subject of condemnation and continuous controversy. They mistakenly thought they could have a republic without perpetual political contests, and where rival interests would cease to produce vexatious conflicts. Even during the short life of their Confederacy, painful contests sprang into existence, and sometimes weakened its efficiency. At the North, there was a seeming common object and purpose in view, but which did not really exist. Mr. Lincoln sometimes acted with one branch of his party, and at others with the other branch, whose purposes were wholly distinct and conflicting. This acting first with one branch, and then conforming to the other, has occasioned so much question as to his truth and sincerity, that it has been damaging to his reputation, and justly so. For a long period after the commencement of the war, both he and Congress distinctly avowed that their sole object was to put down the rebellion, and restore peace and harmony to the Union. In his proclamation of April 15, 1861, Mr. Lincoln said:

"I appeal to all loyal citizens to favor, facilitate, and aid this effort to maintain the honor, integrity, and the existence of our national Union, and the perpetuity of popular government, and to redress wrongs long enough endured."

In that of May 3, 1861, he said:

"Whereas existing exigencies demand immediate and adequate measures for the protection of the national Constitution, and the preservation of the national Union, by the suppression of the insurrectionary combinations now existing in several States for opposing the laws of the Union and obstructing the execution thereof, to which end a military force, in addition to that called forth by my proclamation of the 15th of April, in the present year, appears to be indispensably necessary."

On the 9th of May, 1862, General Hunter issued a proclamation, in which he said: "Slavery and martial law in a free country are altogether incompatible; the persons in these three States, Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina, heretofore held as slaves, are therefore declared forever free."

Mr. Lincoln, by his proclamation of May 19, 1862, thus annuls General Hunter's proclamation:

"I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, proclaim and declare, that the Government of the United States had no knowledge, information, or belief, of an intention on the part of General Hunter to issue such a proclamation, nor has it yet any authentic information that the document is genuine. And further, that neither General Hunter, nor any other commander or person, had been authorized by the United States to make proclamations declaring slaves in any State free; and the supposed proclamation, now in question, whether genuine or false, is altogether void so far as it respects such declaration."

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It will be remembered, when Fremont in Missouri granted freepapers to slaves, Mr. Lincoln disavowed the act, and forbade its repetition. The retirement of Mr. Cameron from the War Department was understood to have been occasioned by his making very strong recommendations in favor of compulsory abolition in one of his reports. He went beyond what Mr. Lincoln thought right and politic, and in conflict with his own oft-expressed views

Mr. Stanton was appointed on the ground that his views more nearly conformed to those of Mr. Lincoln and the resolution of Congress.

In his proclamation declaring General Hunter's to be void, Mr. Lincoln quotes the following resolution, which he had previously recommended Congress to pass:

"Resolved, That the United States ought to coöperate with any State which may adopt a gradual abolition of slavery, giving to such State pecuniary aid, to be used by such State in its discretion, to compensate for the inconveniences, public and private, produced by such change of system."

He said, "The change it contemplates would come gently, as the dews of heaven, not rending or wrecking any thing."

In his proclamation of the 22d of September, 1862, he says, "I do hereby proclaim and declare, that hereafter, as heretofore, the war will be prosecuted for the object of practically restoring the constitutional relation between the United States and each of the States and the people thereof, in which States that relation is, or may be, suspended, or be disturbed."

Congress, in July, 1861, passed the following resolution, with two dissenting votes in the House, and five in the Senate:

"Resolved, That the present deplorable civil war has been forced upon the country by the disunionists of the Southern States, now in arms against the constitutional Government, and in arms around the capitol; that in this national emergency, Congress, banishing all feelings of mere passion or resentment, will recollect only its duty to the whole country; that this war is not waged on their part in any spirit of oppression, or for any purpose of conquest or subjugation, or purpose of overthrowing, or interfering with the rights or established institutions of those States, but to defend and maintain the supremacy of the Constitution, and to preserve the Union with all the dignity, equality, and rights of the several States unimpaired; and that, as soon as these objects are accomplished, the war ought to cease."

Here we have the legislative and executive branches pledging themselves and the country, that the object of the war was to restore the Union, and not conquest or interference with the in

stitutions of the States. The secessionists had declared that the object on our part was to abolish slavery and subjugate the States, and these various declarations were made to refute such statements, and to support and encourage the Southern Union men, and, as far as possible, weaken the rebellion. The country and the world confided in these declarations of the President and Congress. But, whether sincere or not, both the President and Congress soon acted inconsistently with these avowals. Other and different purposes soon manifested themselves, demonstrating either a change of purpose, or that their earlier avowals were insincere when made.

109.-LATER AVOWED OBJECTS OF THE WAR.

From the beginning, the abolition branch of the Republican party wished so to conduct the war as to secure the abolition of slavery. They expected and claimed the aid of Mr. Lincoln for that purpose. This branch was both numerous and active, and no one could be elected President whom they did not support. They demanded a proclamation abolishing slavery, and Mr. Lincoln, without professing to have changed his mind as to the object of the war, issued one, and pledged the Government to protect the slaves in their freedom. It purports to have been issued under his power as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, as a means of putting down the rebellion, while its natural consequences were to unite the South in defence of their property, and to continue the war as long as possible. Southern Union men had no longer any ground to stand upon. They could not longer deny the charge that the object of the war was to interfere with their local affairs and abolish slavery. Mr. Lincoln knew that the measure could have no legal effect within the lines of the enemy. As far as our arms went, slaves could be released and turned free, and all property be taken that we needed. Beyond that, he truly said it would be an idle matter, having no more effect than a bull by the Pope against a comet. When the war ended, the proclamation would be without effect beyond where the army had actually freed the slaves. And so all parties understood it, when Congress submitted to the several States the thirteenth amend