ber of enlistments and the incoming of new levies. Ohio furnished the largest number of" hundred-days' men," who served mainly in the Eastern Departments. Many of these last were reviewed by the President at the close of their service, and were thanked and complimented by him in person. The following order, relating to the other Western militia thus serving, in another quarter, shows the feeling entertained toward all:

Special Executive Order, returning thanks to the volunteers for one hundred days from the States of Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin.-The term of one hundred days, for which volunteers from the States of Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin volunteered, under the call of their respective Governors, in the months of May and June, to aid in the recent campaign of General Sherman, having expired, the President directs an official acknowledgment to be made of their patriotic service. It was their good fortune to render effective service in the brilliant operations in the South-west, and to contribute to the victories of the national arms over the Rebel forces in Georgia, under the command of Johnston and Hood. On all occasions, and in every service to which they were assigned, their duty, as patriotic volunteers, was performed with alacrity and courage, for which they are entitled, and are hereby tendered, the national thanks, through the Governors of their respective States.

The Secretary of War is directed to transmit a copy of this order to the Governors of Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin, and to cause a certificate of this honorable service to be delivered to the officers and soldiers of the States above named, who recently served in the military forces of the United States, as volunteers for one hundred days.

A. LINCOLN.

On the 12th of October, the day following the elections, a vote was taken by the people of Maryland on the New State Constitution adopted by their convention, in regard to which the main issue was the section providing for immediate and unconditional emancipation. The result made Maryland forever a free State. The contest had been an earnest one. In the strongly Secession counties, the pro-slavery vote was

unexpectedly large, many disregarding the prescribed oath intended to exclude those who had actually participated in the Rebellion, or taking that oath under the advice of an eminent counsellor, that no "moral injunction" was violated in so doing, because the convention had no right to require such a qualification for voting. When it is recollected that this oath related to the past record of the party taking it, not to his present sentiments of loyalty, it may be inferred that the casuistry on which such advice was based had regard rather to legal technicality than to the moral sentiments or to religious sanctions. Despite all efforts of the friends of the old order, however, the Constitution was adopted, and became the organic law of the State.

In honor of this great event, when the result was finally ascertained, a party of loyal Marylanders, with accessions to their number from other residents in Washington, serenaded President Lincoln at the Executive Mansion, on the evening of October 19th. In reply to this call, Mr. Lincoln said:

Friends and Fellow Citizens: I am notified that this is a compliment paid me by the loyal Marylanders resident in this District. I infer that the adoption of the new Constitution for that State furnishes the occasion, and that in your view the extirpation of slavery constitutes the chief merit of the new Constitution. Most heartily do I congratulate you and Maryland and the nation, and the world upon the event. I regret that it did not occur two years sooner, which I am sure would have saved to the nation more money than would have met all the private loss incident to the measure. But it has come at last, and I sincerely hope its friends may fully realize all their anticipations of good from it, and that its opponents may by its effect be agreeably and profitably disappointed.

A word upon another subject. Something was said by the Secretary of State, in his recent speech at Auburn, which has been construed by some into a threat that if I should be beaten at the election, I will, between then and the end of my constitutional term, do what I may be able to ruin the Government. Others regard the fact that the Chicago Convention adjourned, not sine die, but to meet again if called to do so by a particular individual, as the intimation of a purpose that if their nominee shall be elected he will at once seize control of the Government.

I hope the good people will permit themselves to suffer no uneasiness on either point. I am struggling to maintain the Government; not to overthrow it. I am struggling especially to prevent others from overthrowing it, and I therefore say, that if I shall live, I shall remain President until the 4th of next March, and that whoever shall be constitutionally elected thereto in November, shall be duly installed as President on the 4th of March, and that in the meantime I shall do my utmost, that whoever is to hold the helm for the next voyage shall start with the best possible chance to save the ship. This is due to the people, both on principle and under the Constitution. Their will, constitutionally expressed, is the ultimate

law for all.

If they should deliberately resolve to have immediate peace, even at the loss of their country and their liberties, I know not the power or the right to resist them. It is their own

business, and they must do as they please with their own. I believe, however, they are still resolved to preserve their country and their liberty, and in this, in office or out of it, I am resolved to stand by them.

I may add that in this purpose, to save the country and its liberties, no classes of people seem so nearly unanimous as the soldiers in the field and the seamen afloat. Do they not have the hardest of it? Who should quail while they do not? God bless the soldiers and seamen, with all their brave commanders.

It is now known that communication was kept up between the Rebel cabal in Canada and the men at Richmond, in whose "confidential employment" they were, by means of special messengers passing through the States. Directly after the October elections, a dispatch in cipher, which has since come into the possession of the Government, was sent from Canada to headquarters, found to contain the following language, under date of October 13th, 1864:

We again urge our gaining immediate advantages. Strain every nerve for victory. We now look upon the reëlection of Lincoln as certain, and we need to whip the hirelings to prevent it. Besides, with Lincoln reëlected, and his armies victorious, we need not hope even for recognition, much less the help mentioned in our last. Holcombe will explain this. Our friend shall be immediately set to work as you direct.

Perhaps Professor Holcombe alone can now fully explain the exact "work" referred to, or who was the "friend" that was to take it in hand. The enterprise may have been the piratical seizure of steamers on the lakes; the descent upon St. Albans, or the contemplated, but never executed, attack on Ogdensburgh and Buffalo. Possibly, as the feeling of desperation increased, the plots had already reached a more fiendish stage, and the "friend" may have been Beall or Kennedy, about to undertake the conflagration of New York, with an indiscriminate destruction of the lives of men, women and children. These schemes, and more infernal ones than these, were already beginning to be discussed, during the months of October and November. "Secretary" Benjamin returned a reply to this missive, on the 19th of October, which being decyphered, reads on this wise:

"Your letter of the 13th inst., is at hand. There is yet time enough to colonize many voters before November. A blow will shortly be stricken here. It is not quite time. Gen. Longstreet is to attack Sheridan without delay, and then move north, as far as practicable, toward unprotected points. This will be made instead of the movements before mentioned. He will endeavor to assist the Republicans in the collection of their ballots. Be watchful, and assist him.”

"Plaquemine" days hopefully revive in the memory of trusty Benjamin. Votes for McClellan must be "colonized." May we not at least carry New York, and save Governor Seymour to the cause? Grant is shortly to be attacked (as it has already been seen he was, a little after this datc-with poor results to the attacking party). Longstreet is to attack Gen. Sheridan at once-as he or Early did this very day, at Cedar Creek with what result we know. It was not to be the fortune of Longstreet-near as the object seemed to be, for a few hours on that memorable 19th of October-to collect Republican ballots. Sheridan the rather, before night closed upon them, was busy in collecting his enemy's standards, his small arms, his two or three score of cannon, his scattering host. But Longstreet had at least gallantly done his best for McClellan and Pendleton. Benjamin must rely solely, now,

but upon the process of "colonizing voters," while Purser Thompson, dispenses his funds with a liberal hand.

The Baltimore Convention, which expressed the will of the people, but without the power conferred upon their earlier elected Representatives in Congress, had recognized Tennessee as a loyal State, not only by admitting her delegation with full powers, but also by nominating one of her heroic sons to the office of Vice President. It was not strange that the people of this State should consequently desire to vote. To guard this sacred privilege from desecration by traitors, Governor Johnson, at the request of a State Convention, had prescribed certain regulations to govern the election, such as his own experience, and his knowledge of the people led him to adopt. A McClellan electoral ticket had already been nominated, and the gentlemen whose names appeared thereon felt aggrieved that Rebels, sympathizing with their candidates and platform, should find any obstacles in the way of their voting. These candidates for electors consequently waited upon President Lincoln, with a memorial on the supject. Fully appreciating, as he did, the real frivolousness of their complaints, and that their zeal to make political capital for their friends in other States, by this very paper, was quite equal to their concern about carrying the vote of Tennessee, the validity of which was at least doubtful, and which in fact was not ultimately received, Mr. Lincoln bestowed no great amount of time on the petitioners. Their interruption of his more important business with such a paper, no doubt seemed to him a little impertinent. Soon after, however, he addressed to this delegation, and furnished to the public press, a reply containing their memorial at length, the proclamation of Governor Johnson complained of, and a few characteristic words of his own, disposing of the whole matter. This document, omitting certain unimportant portions as indicated, is in the following words:

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EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, October 22, 1864. Messrs. Wm. B. Campbell, Thos. A. R. Nelson, James T. B. Carter, John Williams, A. Blizzard, Henry Cooper, Bailie Peyton, John Lellyett, Em. Etheridge. John D. Perryman: