Slavery to that of Universal Freedom. Though he held his office and discharged its functions to the last, it was notorious that he did not and (with his views) could not sympathize with the Republic in her struggle against red-handed Treason. Originally an ultra-Federalist, Slavery had transformed him into a practical disciple of Calhoun. -were Total...... .... 2,213,665 1,802,237 Lincoln's popular majority, 411,428. Fourteen of the States had authorized their soldiers in the field to vote; those of New York sending home their ballots (sealed) to be cast The choice of Presidential Electors was made simultaneously" in every State; and the result was such as all intelligent observers had for weeks anticipated. Gen. McClellan secured the Electoral votes of New Jersey, Delaware, and Kentucky-by their next friends. Of course, no 21 in all: the residue-212 36— one can say how her soldiers voted. cast for Lincoln and Johnson. The The vote of the Minnesota soldiers only States wherein the voters were did not reach her State canvassers in divided with a near approach to season to be counted, and were proequality were New York, Pennsylva-bably destroyed unopened. So with nia, Connecticut, Delaware, and most of the Vermont soldiers' vote. haps New Hampshire, New Jersey, Of the States whose soldiers voted so and Oregon. that their ballots can be distinguished, the Army vote was returned as follows: Maine.. New Hampshire. Pennsylvania. Maryland.. Kentucky. per No election was held in the ten States which were or had been most completely under the sway of the Rebellion; and, though Lincoln and Johnson electors were chosen in Tennessee, their vote was not accepted and counted by Congress. gregate poll in each loyal State was 95 Tuesday, Nov. 8. The ag Vermont... LINCOLN. MCCLELLAN. 741 2,066 690 243 49 Iowa... 47,736 Kansas 33,034 California. 13,325 361,986 68,014 Great changes in the composition a right to do; but one of them failed to appear, 36 Nevada chose three electors, as she had and his colleagues did not fill his place. ! 111 3 10 5 2 1 4 1 1 5 11 4 8 6 1 4 5 3 He discouraged further attempts at negotiation with "the insurgent leader," as precluded by the fixed 1 resolve on our side not to concede Disunion and on his to accept nothing less; and added: "In presenting the abandonment of armed resistance to the National authority, on the 9 part of the insurgents, as the only indispensable condition to ending the war on the part of the Government, I retract nothing heretofore said as to Slavery. I repeat the declaration made a year ago, that, while I remain in my present position, I shall not attempt to retract or modify the Emancipation Proclamation, nor shall I return to 1 41 NOTE.-Some members ultimately became alienated Slavery any person who is free by the terms from the party by which they were respectively elected; some were unseated as improperly returned; and several were elected from States formerly in revolt who were not admitted to seats; the above table conforms to the original returns. 37 The XXXVIIIth Congress rëassembled soon after the Presidential Election; and Mr. Lincoln addressed to it his last Annual Message. With reference to the recent election, he said: "Judging by the recent canvass and its result, the purpose of the people, within the loyal States, to maintain the integrity of the Union, was never more firm, nor more nearly unanimous, than now. The extraordinary calmness and good order with which the millions of voters met and mingled at the polls give strong assurance of this. Not only all those who supported the Union ticket, so called, but a great majority of the opposing party also, may be fairly claimed to entertain, and to be actuated by, the same purpose. It is an unanswerable argument to this effect, that no candidate for any office whatever, high or low, has ventured to seek votes on the avowal that he was for giving up the Union. There have been much impugning of motives, and much 37 Dec. 6, 1864. VOL. II.—43. of that Proclamation, or by any of the acts of Congress.' If the people should, by whatever mode or means, make it an Executive duty to rëenslave such persons, another, and not I, must be their instrument to perform it. "In stating a single condition of peace, I mean simply to say that the war will cease on the part of the Government whenever it shall have ceased on the part of those who began it." The event of this session was the passage, by the required two-thirds vote, of the Constitutional Amendment abolishing and forever prohibiting Slavery throughout the United States. This measure had been first submitted " to the Senate by Mr. Henderson of Mo., and adopted " in that branch by the strong vote of 38 that branch by the strong vote of 38 to 6; as follows: PENNSYLVANIA-Cowan. MARYLAND-Reverdy Johnson. MISSOURI-Brown, Henderson. CALIFORNIA-Conness.-Total, 38. CALIFORNIA-McDougall.-Total, 6. Not Voting.-Buckalew, Pa.; Wright, N. J.; Hicks, Md.; Bowden and Carlile, Va.; Richardson, Ill.—all Democrats. But it failed" in the House: Yeas 95; Nays 66—substantially, though not absolutely, a party division. Mr. Ashley, of Ohio-changing his vote to enable him to do so-now moved a rëconsideration; and the subject went over to await the issues of the War and of the pending election of President. Mr. Lincoln, in his Message already quoted, now urged the House to concur with the Senate in adopting the Amendment-saying: "Without questioning the wisdom or patriotism of those who stood in opposition, I venture to recommend the reconsideration and passage of the measure at the present session. Of course, the abstract question is not changed; but an intervening election shows, almost certainly, that the next Congress will pass the measure if this does not. Hence, there is only a question of time as to when the proposed Amendment will go to the States for their action. And, as it is to so go at all events, may we not agree that the sooner the better? It is not claimed that the election has imposed a duty on members to change their views or their votes, any further than, as an additional element to be considered, their judg-| ment may be affected by it. It is the voice of the people now, for the first time, heard upon the question. In a great National crisis, like ours, unanimity of action among 40 June 15. those seeking a common end is very desirable-almost indispensable. And yet, no approach to such unanimity is attainable, unless some deference shall be paid to the will of the majority, simply because it is the will of the majority. In this case, the common end is the maintenance of the Union; and, among the means to secure that end, such will, through the election, is most clearly declared in favor of such Constitutional Amendment." 41 Mr. Ashley accordingly called up11 in the House his motion to reconsider the vote above given; and the question was at length brought" to issue a motion to lay it on the table having been defeated by 111 to 57 when the reconsideration was ordered: Yeas 112; Nays 57. The vote was then taken on concurring with the Senate in passing the Amendment, in the shape reported by Mr. Trumbull from the Judiciary Committee of the Senate-as follows: "Be it resolved, &c., That the following the several States as an amendment to the article be proposed to the Legislatures of Constitution of the United States, which, when ratified by three-fourths of said Legislatures, shall be valid, to all intents and purposes, as a part of the said Constitution, namely: "ARTICLE XIII. "SECTION 1. Neither Slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. "SEC. 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation." The House now concurred with the Senate, by the following vote : YEAS-[Democrats in Italics.] MAINE-Blaine, Perham, Pike, Rice. NEW HAMPSHIRE-Patterson, Rollins. MASSACHUSETTS-Alley, Ames, Baldwin, Boutwell, Dawes, Eliot, Gooch, Hooper, Rice, W. D. Washburn. RHODE ISLAND-Dixon, Jenckes. CONNECTICUT-Brandagee, Deming, English, J. H. Hubbard. THE LINCOLN-STEPHENS NEGOTIATION. VERMONT-Baxter, Morrill, Woodbridge. NEW YORK-A. W. Clark, Freeman Clark, Davis, Frank, Ganson, Griswold, Herrick, Hotchkiss, Hulburd, Kellogg, Littlejohn, Marvin, Miller, Morris, Nelson, Odell, Pomeroy, Radford, Steele, Van Valkenburg. NEW JERSEY-Starr. PENNSYLVANIA-Baily, Broomall, Cof- MARYLAND-Cresswell, Henry Winter Yeaman. ins, Schenck, Spaulding. Norton, E. B. Washburne. MISSOURI-Blow, Boyd, King, Knox, MICHIGAN A. C. Baldwin, Beaman, Cobb, McIndoe, Sloan, MINNESOTA-Donnelly, Windom, NAYS-[All Democrats.] MAINE-Sweat. NEW YORK-Brooks, Chanler, Kalbfleisch, Kernan, Pruyn, Townsend, Ward, Winfield, Ben. Wood, Fernando Wood. NEW JERSEY-Perry, W. G. Steele. H. 675 [By the subsequent ratification of more than two-thirds of the States, this Amendment has become a part of the Federal Constitution.] upon Several informal attempts at opening negotiations for the termination of hostilities were made in the course of this Winter Hon. Francis P. Blair, of Maryland, visiting Richmond twice on the subject, with the consent, though not by the request, of President Lincoln. At length, their direct application, Messrs. Alex. H. Stephens, John A. Campbell, and Robert M. T. Hunter, were permitted to pass Gen. Grant's lines before Petersburg, and proceed to Fortress Monroe; where they were met by Gov. Seward, followed by President Lincoln;" and a free, full conference was had: but it resulted in nothing. The Confederate Commissioners were not authorized to concede the reunion of the States; President Lincoln would treat on no other basis; so the parties separated as they met: and a great meeting was held“ at Richmond on the return of those Commissioners, which was addressed by Gov. William Smith, of Virginia, nison, P. Johnson, W. II. Miller, S. J. and by Jefferson Davis, who said: Randall, Stiles, Strouse. MARYLAND-B. G. Harris. KENTUCKY-Clay, Grider, Harding, Mallory, Wadsworth. ÕHIO-Bliss, Cox, Finck, Wm. Johnson, Long, J. R. Morris, Noble, J. O'Neill, Pendleton, C. A. White, J. W. White. INDIANA-Cravens, Edgerton, Harrington, Holman, Law. ILLINOIS―J. C. Allen, W. J. Allen, Eden, C. M. Harris, Knapp, Morrison, Robinson, Ross, Stuart. WISCONSIN-J. S. Brown, Eldridge. MISSOURI-Hall, Scott.-Total, 56. Not Voting-Lazear, Pa.; Marcy, N. H.; McDowell and Voorhees, Ind.; Le Blond and McKinney, Ohio; Middleton and Rogers, N. J.-all Democrats. ** Feb. 3, 1865. "In my correspondence with Mr. Linof the United States and the Confederacy as coln, that functionary has always spoken I have never failed to refer to them as our afflicted country;' but, in my replies, separate and distinct governments; and, I would be willing to yield up every thing sooner than we should ever be united again, would sacrifice my life a thousand times beI have on earth, and, if it were possible, fore I would succumb." He concluded by exhorting those at home, who were able to bear arms "to unite with those already in the army in repelling the foe; believing that thereby we would compel the Yankees, in less than 44 Feb. 6. twelve months, to petition us for peace upon statement somewhat in detail of a course to our own terms." The meeting unanimously Resolved, That we, the citizens here assembled, do spurn, with the indignation due to so gross an insult, the terins on which the President of the United States has offered peace to the people of the Confederate States. "Resolved, That the circumstances under which that proffer has been made add to the outrage, and stamp it as a designed and premeditated indignity to our people." A "War Meeting" was held there three days afterward; whereat R. M. T. Hunter presided, and addresses were made by Secretary J. P. Benjamin and others. This meeting likewise 'Resolved, 1. That the events which have occurred during the progress of the war have but confirmed our original determination to strike for our independence; and that, with the blessing of God, we will never lay down our arms until it shall have been won. [Wild and long-continued cheering followed the reading of this resolution.] Resolved, 2. That, as we believe our resources to be sufficient for the purpose, we do not doubt that we shall conduct the war successfully to that issue; and we hereby invoke the people, in the name of the holiest of all causes, to spare neither their blood nor their treasure in its maintenance and support." 66 Mr. Lincoln's Address, on his second inauguration" as President, may fitly close this final chapter of our political history. In its profoundly religious spirit, its tenderness, its undesigned solemnity, in view of the triumphs already achieved and the still more conclusive triumphs rationally anticipated and now just at hand, the reader will discern the then unperceived but awful shadow of impending death: be pursued seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energy of the nation, little that is new could be presented. "The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself; and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured. anx "On the occasion corresponding to this, let the nation survive; and the other would triumph and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just from the sweat of other men's faces. God's assistance in wringing their bread But let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayer of both could not be answered; that of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. "Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh.' If we shall suppose that American Slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs 45 March 4, 1865. "FELLOW-COUNTRYMEN-At this second appearing to take the oath of the Presidential office, there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then, a |