PROROGATION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

683

vote of 14 to 7. The resolution was sent to the house and there amended by inserting June 22, as the day for final adjournment, and being returned to the senate that body refused to concur in the amendment by a vote of 12 to 11. There followed an ominous pause. The house adjourned over to the 10th. The senate met as usual the next day but transacted little business. There was a marked feeling of uneasiness and a latent suspicion that something was going to happen, although no one could tell what. Rumors of threatened executive interference filled the air. The democratic members of the house went into caucus to consider the situation.

The morning of the 10th came, and republicans and democrats alike were in their seats in the house at nine o'clock. The democrats were grouped in little knots with anxious faces, discussing in low tones the grave conjuncture of circumstances by which they were confronted; while the few republicans present-only sixteen-were serious and watchful.

A conference committee was appointed to meet with a like committee from the senate on the bill for the relief of Illinois soldiers.

Mr. Lawrence of Boone moved to dispense with the regular order and take up the bill providing for the ordinary and contingent expenses of the state government, which, on motion of Mr. Fuller of Cook, was laid on the table. There was apparently no immediate prospect of the passage of this or the relief bill. At noon, the governor's private secretary was announced by the door-keeper, and without recognition from the chairoccupied temporarily by Mr. Burr-proceeded to read, somewhat hurriedly, but in a clear, loud voice, a proclamation from the governor* adjourning the twenty-third general assembly to

Message To the General Assembly of the State of Illinois:-Whereas on the 8th day of June, 1863, the senate adopted a joint-resolution to adjourn sine die, on said day at 6 o'clock, p.m., which resolution, on being submitted to the house of representatives, was by them amended, by substituting the 22nd day of June, at 12 o'clock, in which amendment the senate thereupon refused to concur; and whereas the constitution of this State contains the following provision, to wit:

"Sec. 13, Art. 4. In case of a disagreement between the two houses with respect to the time of adjournment, the governor shall have power to adjourn the general assembly to such time as he thinks proper, provided it be not to a period beyond the next constitutional meeting of the same."

And whereas I believe that the interests of the people of the State will be best

the Saturday next preceeding the first Monday in January, 1865. Before the opposition, looking up from their desks and papers, fairly comprehended what had occurred, they found themselves functus officio.

The utmost confusion followed. The republican members at once retired. An informal recess was taken, but upon calling the roll subsequently 47 members failed to respond to their

names.

In the senate, Lieut.-Gov. Hoffman read the governor's message proroguing the general assembly, and immediately thereafter declared the senate adjourned and left the chamber. Mr. Underwood was called to the chair, but only eight senators answered to their names. The governor's fiat had been as effectually executed as was Cromwell's order dissolving the long parliament, two hundred years before; and it was urged by many of his friends that he would have been justified in adding to the statement of his reasons for his action the well-known address of the great protector on a like occasion, as follows: "But now, I say, your time hath come. The Lord hath disowned you. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob hath done with you. He hath no need of you any more; so He hath judged you and cast you forth, and chosen fitter instruments to execute that work in which you have dishonored Him."

The majority at once took the ground that the action of the governor was illegal, and after preparing a long protest, which was entered upon the house-journal, although the governor's message was not permitted so to appear, continued to meet for several days. A joint-resolution was adopted inviting the republicans to return and make a quorum and aid in passing the soldiers'-relief bill, but to this invitation no attention was paid. On June 24, the governor was waited upon by a jointsubserved by a speedy adjournment, the past history of the assembly holding out no reasonable hope of beneficial results to the citizens of the State, or any in the field, from its further continuance;

Now, therefore, in consideration of the existing disagreement between the two houses, with respect to the time of adjournment, and by virtue of the power vested in me by the constitution as aforesaid, I, Richard Yates, governor of the State of Illinois, do hereby adjourn the general assembly now in session, to the Saturday next preceding the first Monday in January, A.D. 1865.

Given at Springfield, this 10th day of June, A.D. 1863.

RICHARD YATES, Governor.

PEACE-ADVOCATES' FORTUNES.

685

committee, and asked if he had any further communications to lay before the legislature, to which he replied that he did not recognize their legal existence. Both houses then adjourned to the Tuesday after the first Monday in January, 1864. But before that time, the question having been raised in the supreme court, the legality and validity of the governor's action in the premises was fully sustained.

Although the course of the leaders of this general assembly was at the time, and has since been, so severely criticised, they did not after all misjudge the temper and feelings of their local constituencies, nor were they altogether mistaken in their estimate of the political changes which the "whirligig of time" might bring about in their favor. Albert G. Burr was thereafter twice elected to congress and twice to a seat on the circuitcourt bench. Scott Wike was returned as a member of the twenty-fourth general assembly, was elected to congress in 1874, and is now (1889) a member of that body. James M. Epler represented his district in the twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh senates. Simeon P. Shope was twice elected judge of his circuit and is now one of the justices of the supreme court. Melville W. Fuller, after twenty years of official inactivity, other than that involved in attendance as a delegate upon democratic national conventions, now occupies the seat once filled by John Marshall, as chief-justice of the supreme court of the United States.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

State of Parties-The Northwestern Conspiracy-Threatened Attacks upon Camp Douglas and ChicagoThe Political Campaigns of 1864-Party PlatformsResults-Progress of the War-Internal ProgressState-Debt.

POLITICAL parties had been affected by the events of the

war and the action of the legislature to such an extent that their lines had been materially readjusted. Neither did all the republicans heartily support the administration of Lincoln, nor were all the democrats opposed to it. While the former were unitedly in favor of the war, a respectable minority were of opinion that the failure to bring it to a successful termination had been owing to mismanagement, in not selecting the best means, men, and measures.

The war-democrats, who supported the administration, were but few in number but strong in influence. The great body of the party was composed of those who adhered to its organization principally for the purpose of accomplishing political results. While they negatively disapproved of the methods and measures of the administration, they were opposed to the doctrine of secession and the attempt to sever the Union by the sword. They were in favor of sustaining the soldiers in the field, of suppressing the rebellion, and of restoring the Union as it was. They would neither encourage desertions nor countenance resistance to the draft. Their friends and relatives formed a part of the Union army, whose defeat would not only prolong the struggle but at the same time increase the chances of dismembering the Union, a result which they would have heartily deplored.

But the democratic party embraced also another element, which sympathized with the Southern States in their efforts to establish a separate government. This faction not only opposed the policy of emancipation, but would rather have seen the success of the South than the restoration of the Union

without slavery. In the event of the triumph of the secessionists, they would have preferred a still farther division of the Union and the separate organization of the Northwestern States, rather than remain in a federation which included New England. This element, during the first year of the war, contented itself with passive opposition to the government, but as time wore on, it became more outspoken and even demonstrative in its efforts until finally, as will be seen, it took a bold and resolute stand against the war and in favor of compromise and peace. It was stronger in the personnel of its influential leaders than at the polls, and succeeded in drawing to its quasisupport many of those who were not at heart in sympathy with the extreme views of its master spirits.

The leaders of the democratic party in this State, with the exception of a few in the northern portion, had been born and raised in the slave-states and had a strong bias in favor of the "peculiar institution," and a detestation of abolitionists still stronger; and it must be admitted that nine-tenths of these leaders, who remained at home from the war and to whom the rank and file of the party looked for advice and guidance, were at this time endeavoring to shape the policy of their party in favor of peace at almost any price.

Before the final dispersion of the legislature, and while the opposition members were endeavoring to prolong its questionable existence, there was held at Springfield, June 17, 1863, in pursuance of a call issued by the democratic state central committee, a mass convention of those opposed to the administration, which in numbers-estimated at 40,000, respectability, enthusiasm, and unanimity of views and purpose, was perhaps the most remarkable gathering of its kind ever held in the State. Senator William A. Richardson presided, supported by the following vice-presidents: Charles A. Constable, Peter Sweat, Aaron Shaw, Orlando B. Ficklin, William F. Thornton, J. W. Merritt, H. M. Vandeveer, B. F. Prettyman, Charles D. Hodges, Virgil Hickox, James E. Ewing, Edmund Dick Taylor, J. P. Rogers, David A. Gage, John Cunningham, Benjamin S. Edwards, S. S. Taylor, C. L. Higbee, R.T.. Merrick, Samuel S. Hayes, Cyrus Epler, John D. Wood, Saml. A. Buckmaster, J. M. Epler, W. A. J. Sparks, James L. D. Morrison, James C.