lishment with slavery. . . . . The Republican candidate, on the contrary, is pledged to the re-establishment of the Union without slavery." "Between these issues," he added, "I think no man of the liberal party can remain in doubt."

Mr. Sumner, too, who had not hesitated to differ from Mr. Lincoln in regard to many points of his policy, and to express that difference in strong language, joined earnestly in the canvass, and spoke with great force in advocacy of his election. After saying that a vote for the Democratic candidate would be a vote "for anarchy and chaos at home; for national degradation abroad; against civilization itself; for the kingdom of Satan on earth," he added: "on the other hand, a vote for Abraham Lincoln will be, first and foremost, a vote for Freedom, Union, and Peace, that political trinity under whose guardianship we place the Republic. It will be a vote also to fix the influence and good name of our country, so that it shall become the pride of history. It will be a vote also for civiliza tion itself. At home it will secure tranquillity throughout the whole land, with freedom of travel and of speech, so that the designation of Border States,' now exclusively applicable to interior States, will be removed, and our only Border States' will be on Canada at the North and Mexico at the South. Doing all this at home, it will do more abroad, for it will secure the triumph of American institutions everywhere.

"Surely, all this is something to vote for. And you will not hesitate. Forward, then, in the name of Freedom, Union, and Peace! Crush the enemy everywhere! Crush him at the ballot-box! And may the November election be the final peal of thunder which shall clear the sky and fill the heavens with glory!"

Though the results of success have hardly come up to his confident and glowing anticipations, his words reveal very clearly the sentiments that entered into that canvass, and the feelings that actuated the leaders of the Republican party. On the other hand, as if other evidence was wanted of the complete subserviency of the Democratic party to Rebel interests, the Democrats of Ohio nominated Vallandigham as their candidate for governor; but he failed of his election by hundred thousand votes.

Nor did the Confederate press or speakers leave it doubtful where their sympathies were. Said Alexander H. Stephens, three weeks after the holding of the convention: "So far as its platform of principles goes, it presents a ray of light which, under Providence, may prove the dawn of the day to this long and cheerless night, the first ray of light I have seen for the North since the war began." The Charleston "Courier " said: "All of us perceive the intimate connection existing between the armies of the Confederacy and the peace men in the United States. These constitute two immense forces that are working together for the procurement of peace. The party whose nomination and platform we are considering are altogether dependent for success on the courage and resolution of our fighting men. Our success in battle insures the success of McClellan. Our failure will inevitably lead to his defeat." The contest thus inaugurated was prosecuted with great vigor and earnestness. Never has there been a political struggle of greater solemnity, or one that enlisted more thoroughly the moral and religious convictions of the people. The momentous issues at stake seemed to be in some degree appreciated, and the significance of a vote in some degree realized. If never before or since, Christians then carried their religion into politics, and not only voted as they prayed, but they prayed as they voted. For once the prayer-meeting and the polls were deemed alike sacred, and the same motives that drew them to the one sent them to the other. The result of the canvass was the triumphant re-election of Mr. Lincoln by a popular majority of four hundred and eleven thousand four hundred and twenty-eight. General McClellan secured the electoral votes - twenty-one in all-of only three States, New Jersey, Delaware, and Kentucky.

CHAPTER XL.

CLOSING SESSION OF XXXVIIITH CONGRESS. MESSAGE.
TEMPTED NEGOTIATIONS.

Prelude. Auspicious events.

Republican victory. - Previous suspense.. Great rejoicing. President indorsed. - New York "Times." — New revolution. Message of Davis. — Impressment of slaves. - Proposed change of policy. Confederate Congress. Miles, Gholson, Foote. Opposition. Resolutions. Governor Smith.

Lincoln's antislavery policy.

Richmond "Whig." - South Carolina. How viewed by the Federal government. Recommends constitutional amendment. Hopeful views. Negotiations unavailable. — Condition precedent. — F. P. Blair, Sr. - Deputed, he visits Richmond. - Letter of Davis. - The Confederate commissioners. - President sends Mr. Seward. Goes himself. Rebel propositions. — Rejected. — Rebel

account. Presidential wit. - Failure. Coincidence. defiant words. - Rebel surrender.

THE meeting of the XXXVIIIth Congress for its second and closing session had been preluded by three events, if not simultaneous in their occurrence, of the greatest importance, and of the most unquestioned significance and bearing upon the fortunes and issues of the war. Though they could not be accurately weighed and fully estimated, thoughtful and farseeing friends of the Union could not fail to see that they were auspicious and betokened the final triumph of the Federal

arms.

The first of these events was the success of the Republican ticket and the triumphant re-election of Mr. Lincoln. That dangers felt to be so serious and imminent, and all the more to be dreaded because so uncertain and undefined, had been averted; that success had crowned so severe a struggle; that the sunshine of victory had followed so dark a night; and that the loud huzzas of the patriotic hosts had taken the place of the harsh dissonance of the Rebel yell, constituted an augury

of good to the Union cause that thrilled the loyal heart of the people as no victories of the field had done or should have done. For, in fact, it meant more, far more, and was really more important and helpful than anything, save the surrender of the Rebel armies, that could have taken place. In that conflict the issue had been so squarely made, the lines so sharply drawn between union and disunion, between a vigorous prosecution of the war and an ignominious peace, so much had depended on the result, so evenly balanced had seemed the chances of success and failure, that the eyes of both continents were fixed upon the struggle, while trade, manufactures, and the monetary interests of the country were held in suspense awaiting the popular verdict. And when that verdict came, it was so decisive and pronounced, so indicative of the popular determination that there should be neither compromise nor retreat, a thrill of joy pervaded the free States and lifted the heavy load of dread and apprehension from the loyal heart everywhere. And more noticeable still was the soldiers' vote, cast, more than three to one, for a continuance of the struggle, though every soldier knew that it meant for him war in all its bitterness, with all its hardships and hazards, its fearful sacrifices of personal ease and safety. By this verdict, too, the President and his administration had received the popular indorsement, notwithstanding the fierce denunciations of the opposition, and the sharp, if honest, criticisms and half-hearted support of many within the Republican ranks.

The second event is thus referred to in a leading editorial in the New York "Times" of November 10, 1864, under the heading, "The New Revolution threatened." This was its opening paragraph: "We, in common with the civilized world, are regarding with deep interest the grand experiment which the Southern Confederacy is about making with the arming of the slaves. The skilful and desperate oligarchy which control it, having lost all their own property in the struggle, are about casting that for which the struggle was made into the burning caldron of civil war. They have exhausted the white population, forced into the ranks State officials, detailed producers, and even those over forty-five

years and under eighteen who could bear arms. Davis, with that clear, cold glance of his, sees that his ambition has buried under the soil of the battle-fields the flower of the Southern youth, and that he must now turn to his last resource, — the most desperate of all expedients, the arming of the slaves." These words, though not quite accurately representing the exact proposition of the Confederate chief, refer to a very important message of Mr. Davis, just sent to the Southern Congress. The real proposition made by the Confederate President with contemporaneous utterances made thereon in the Confederate Congress, and in the legislatures and by the public men of Virginia and South Carolina, fill an important and instructive page in the history of the great Rebellion. They reveal both the drift and logic of events as the seceding States approached the culmination of the great strife, and show how much more potent are natural than human laws, and how summarily prejudices and principles begotten of false reasoning and based on injustice can be swept away by the strong arm of necessity. There is no lesson taught by the Rebellion that deserves more careful study, or that should be

more faithfully remembered.

The Confederate President began his message by reference to a law passed a few months before for the "impressment of slaves as laborers in the Rebel army, and to the "less result than was anticipated" from that source, adding his purpose to invite attention to "the propriety of a radical modification in the theory of the law." Saying that while the slave, viewed as "property," may be rightly impressed into the service, like any other property, he added: "The slave, however, bears another relation to the State, that of a person." He then mentioned several kinds of employment, in which, he said, "length of service adds greatly to the value of the negro's labor. Hazard is also encountered in all the positions to which negroes can be assigned for service with the army, and the duties required of them demand loyalty and zeal. In this aspect the relation of person predominates so far as to render it doubtful whether the private right of property can consistently and beneficially be continued." Arguing that it could