ence, but rather from his own experience and observation of life. "It continues to develop," said he, "that the insurrection is largely, if not exclusively, a war upon the first principles of popular government-the rights of the people. Conclusive evidence of this is found in the most grave and maturely considered public documents, as well as in the general tone of the insurgents. In these documents we find the abridgment of the existing right of suffrage and the denial to the people of all right to participate in the selection of public officers, except the legislative body, advocated with labored arguments to prove that large control of the government in the people is the source of all political evil. Monarchy itself is sometimes hinted at as a possible refuge from the power of the people. In my present position I could scarcely be justified were I to omit raising a warning voice against this approach of returning despotism.

"It is not needed nor fitting here that a general argument should be made in favor of popular institutions, but there is one point with its connections not so hackneyed as most others, to which I ask a brief attention. It is the effort to place capital on an equal footing with, if not above, labor in the structure of government. It is assumed that labor is available only in connection with capital, that nobody labors unless somebody else owning capital somehow by the use of it induces him to labor. This assumed, it is next considered whether it is best that capital shall hire laborers, and thus induce them to work by their own consent, or buy them and drive them to it without their consent. Having proceeded so far, it is naturally concluded that all laborers are either hired laborers or what we call slaves; and further, it is assumed that whoever is once a hired laborer is fixed in that condition for life. Now, there is no such relation between capital and labor as assumed, nor is there any such thing as a free man being fixed for

life in the condition of a hired laborer. Both of these assumptions are false, and all inferences from them are groundless. Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital and deserves much the higher consideration. Capital has its rights, which are as worthy of protection as any other rights. Nor is it denied that there is, and probably always will be, a relation between labor and capital producing mutual benefits. The error is in assuming that the whole labor of a community exists within that relation. A few men own capital, and that few avoid labor themselves, and with their capital hire or buy another few to labor for them. A large majority belong to neither class-neither work for others, nor have others work for them. In most of the Southern States a majority of the whole people of all colors are neither slaves nor masters, while in the Northern a large majority are neither hirers nor hired. Men with their fami lies, wives, sons, and daughters work for themselves on their own farms, in their houses, and in their shops, taking the whole product to themselves, and asking no favors of capital on the one hand nor of hired laborers or slaves on the other. It is not forgotten that a considerable number of persons mingle their own labor with capital; that is, they labor with their own hands and also buy or hire others to labor for them; but this is only a mixed and not a distinct class. No principle stated is disturbed by the existence of this mixed class. Again, as has already been said, there is not of necessity any such thing as the free hired laborer being fixed to that condition for life. Many independent men everywhere in these states, a few years back in their lives, were hired laborers. The prudent, penniless beginner in the world labors for wages awhile, saves a surplus with which to buy tools or land for himself,

troops actually raised, had in fact exceeded the liberal authority of Congress, and it was for that body to decide if the force should be reduced to the contemplated standard.

"It is said of Napoleon by Jomini," continues the report of the Secretary, "that in the campaign of 1815, that great General on the 1st of April had a regular army of 200,000 men. On the 1st of June he had increased this force to 414,000. The proportion, adds Jomini, 'had he thought proper to inaugurate a vast system of defense, would have raised it to 700,000 men by the 1st of September.' At the commencement of this rebellion, inaugurated by the attack upon Fort Sumter, the entire military force at the disposal of this Government was 16,000 regulars, principally employed in the west to hold in check marauding Indians; 75,000 volunteers were called upon to enlist for three months' service, and responded with such alacrity that 77,875 were immediately obtained. Under the authority of the act of Congress of July 22, 1861, the States were asked to furnish 500,000 volunteers to serve for three years, or during the war; and by the act approved the 29th day of the same month, the addition of 25,000 men to the regular army of the United States was authorized. The result is that we have now an army of upwards of 600,000 men. If we add to this the number of the discharged three months' volunteers, the aggregate force furnished to the Government since April last exceeds 700,000 men. We have here an evidence of the wonderful strength of our institutions. Without conscriptions, levies, drafts, or other extraordinary expedients, we have raised a greater force than that which, gathered by Napoleon with the aid of all these appliances, was considered an evidence of his wonderful genius and energy, and of the military spirit of the French nation. Here every man has an interest in the Government, and rushes

to its defense when dangers beset it. By reference to the records of the Revolution it will be seen that Massachusetts, with a population of 350,000, had at one time 56,000 troops in the field, or over onesixth of her entire people-a force greatly exceeding the whole number of troops furnished by all the Southern States during that war. Should the present loyal States furnish troops in like proportion, which undoubtedly would be the case should any emergency demand it, the government could promptly put into the field an army of over three millions. It gives me great satisfaction to refer to the creditable degree of discipline of our troops, most of whom were, but a short time since, engaged in the pursuits of peace. They are rapidly attaining an efficiency which cannot fail to bring success to our arms. Officers and men alike evince an earnest desire to accomplish themselves in every duty of the camp and field, and the various corps are animated by an emulation to excel each other in soldierly qualities."

In speaking of the actual progress of the war thus far, the Secretary characterized the interval of seven months which had passed as a season of preparation, reminding the people of the vast undertaking before them. "The conspiracy against the Government extended over an area of 736,144 square miles, possessing a coast line of 3,523 miles, and a shore line of 25,414 miles, with an interior boundary line of 7,031 miles in length. This conspiracy stripped us of arms and munitions, and scattered our navy to the most distant quarters of the globe. The effort to restore the Union, which the Government entered on in April last, was the most gigantic endeavor in the history of civil war." For obvious causes, he added, "the history of this rebellion in common with all others records the first successes in favor of the insurgents. The disaster of Bull Run was but the natural consequence of the premature advance of our brave but

undisciplined troops, which the impatience of the country demanded. The betrayal also of our movements by traitors in our midst enabled the rebels to choose and intrench their position, and by a reënforcement in great strength, at the moment of victory, to snatch it from our grasp. The other successes of the rebels, though dearly won, were mere affairs, with no important or permanent advantages. The possession of Western Virginia and the occupation of Hatteras and Beaufort have nobly redeemed our transient reverses."

Passing over various matters of detail in reference to the conduct of the war, respecting organization, military communications, equipments and the like, we come to a remarkable speculation in Secretary Cameron's report, in regard to the territory of Virginia. The suggestion is of interest as an effort to relieve the great state problem of the security of the Capital of some of its pressing difficulties. "The geographical position of the metropolis of the nation, menaced by the rebels. and required to be defended by thousands of our troops, induces me to suggest for consideration the propriety and expediency of a reconstruction of the boundaries of the states of Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. Wisdom and true statesmanship would dictate that the seat of the National Government, for all time to come, should be placed beyond reasonable danger of seizure by enemies within, as well as from capture by foes from without. By agreement between the States named, such as was effected, for similar purposes, by Michigan and Ohio, and by Missouri and Iowa, their boundaries could be so changed as to render the Capital more remote than at present from the influence of State governments which have arrayed themselves in rebellion against the federal authority. To this end, the limits of Virginia might be so altered as to make her boundaries consist of the Blue Ridge on the east and Pennsylvania on the north, leaving

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those on the south and west as at present. By this arrangement, two counties of Maryland (Alleghany and Washington) would be transferred to the jurisdiction of Virginia. All that portion of Virginia which lies between the Blue Ridge and Chesapeake Bay could then be added to Maryland, while that portion of the peninsula between the waters of the Chesapeake and the Atlantic, now jointly held by Maryland and Virginia, could be incorporated into the State of Delaware. A reference to the map will show that these are great natural boundaries, which, for all time to come, would serve to mark the limits of these States. To make the protection of the Capital complete, in consideration of the large accession of territory which Maryland would receive under the arrangement proposed, it would be necessary that that State should consent so to modify her constitution as to limit the basis of her representation to her white population. In this connection it would be the part of wisdom to re-annex to the District of Columbia that portion of its original limits which by act of Congress was retroceded to the State of Virginia."

There was another novel passage of the report, however, which perhaps being of a more practical, and as it was thought, dangerous character than this parceling of an old State, met with decided opposition at the start. It was the concluding portion in regard to the disposition of the slaves of rebels thrown by the fortune of war within the national lines. As As originally written in the Report and forwarded to the northern newspapers in advance of the presentation of the document to Congress, the passage thus stood:-" It has become a grave question for determination, what shall be done with the slaves abandoned by their owners on the advance of our troops into Southern territory, as in the Beaufort district of South Carolina. The whole white population therein is 6,000, while the number of negroes exceeds