therefore had the start in actual preparation for the war which they anticipated. They had accumulated arms, ammunition, etc., through the treachery of John Floyd, Secretary of War under Buchanan, Howall Cobb, Secretary of the Treasury, Jefferson Davis, who was in the Senate, and many other officeholders in Washington. Many owned large estates and were accustomed to outdoor sports; they were attended by slaves, and were better drilled and prepared for war than those of the North, who were called into service under the President's Proclamation. So at first, the southerners succeeded in defeating the undisciplined northerners at the battle of Bull Run and in other engagements. General Robert E. Lee, a West Point graduate, had been in the Mexican War, and afterwards in command of the Military Academy at West Point. He was an accomplished military officer and soon organized and drilled his forces, so that he had under his control a fine, well-disciplined army of over a hundred thousand men, which became a continual menace to the City of Washington.

In the case of Oliver Cromwell, he trained his army himself, controlled it absolutely, and was not afraid to lead it personally with unrelenting energy. There was no dilatory general like McClellan to hesitate and disregard his orders. His will was absolute throughout the length and breadth of England and his army.

As Lincoln was elected by a majority of the votes cast in the presidential election of 1860, and his views on the question of union and slavery were generally known, it was for him as president and commander-in-chief of the army and navy, to issue his commands to his generals on the conduct of the war, and to dictate the policy of the administration. It was not the duty or privilege of Horace Greeley, Horatio Seymore, Vallandigham, or any one holding an official position, or a private citizen, to interfere or to undertake to influence the people against the method of procedure, as if he were incompetent or had not full authority to rule.

Although Lincoln, may at times have appeared to consider the advice of unauthorized citizens or officials under him, he finally demonstrated that he fully understood the perilous condition of the country, and that his will, like Cromwell's, was supreme in carrying out the policy which he thought right. Had these men left Mr. Lincoln alone to conduct the government and war with the assistance of his cabinet, it is probable that the war would have been terminated much sooner than it was, and with less cost of life and treasure. The newspapers kept General Lee posted as to the plans of the government, and also as to the hostility of those in the North who were opposed to the administration. The people had not chosen

these men who undertook to tell Lincoln what to do, nor was the war to be carried on under the direction of newspapers.

It was very evident by what we know of Oliver Cromwell that had he been the chief magistrate of this nation, with the powers delegated to him that were vested in Abraham Lincoln, he would not have tolerated such interference, and that he would have taken measures to control military reports so that they would not have been prematurely published. He not only would have set aside, for the time being the habeas corpus act, but would have stopped much of the secession talk in the North and would have declared martial law throughout the land. He would have collected and organized a powerful army of the best elements of American valor and patriotism, and reserved his final attack on the enemy until this army was strong enough to overpower the army of the conspirators which had been collected by the rebel leaders under the most stringent demands. "The whole military resources of the Confederates at that time were under control by three men: President Jefferson Davis, Commander-in-chief General Robert E. Lee, and General Joseph E. Johnson, all of them trained soldiers and one of them a trained statesman. There was entire confidence and perfect harmony of action between them. They acted together for one object and that was success." (Life of McClelland by G. S. Hillerd.) In the South the people were not permitted to interfere with the movements of the army and administration as they were in the North.

IN MASONIC REGALIA.

A GLIMPSE AT AN UNUSUAL SIDE OF HIS LIFE.
How Our First President Was Honored By His Masonic Brethren.

When Washington offered himself as a candidate for the mysteries of Masonry to Fredericksburg Lodge in 1752 warranted lodges had not been in existence in America twenty years. The Fredericksburg Lodge had been organized under authority from Thomas Oxnard, provincial grand master at Boston, and when Washington sought admission in the lodge its officers were Daniel Campbell, master; John Neilson, senior warden, and Dr. Robert Halkerson, junior warden. Washington was initiated an entered apprentice in this lodge on Nov. 4, 1752; passed a fellowcraft March 3, 1753, and raised to the sublime degree of master Mason Aug. 4, 1753. The old record book of this lodge is still preserved, also the Bible on which

he was obligated and the seal of the lodge. The Bible is a small quarto volume, and bears date, "Cambridge, Printed by John Field, Printer to the University, 1688."

Washington's initiation took place a few months before he was 21 years of age. The lawful age at which a candidate may receive the mysteries is strictly conventional, while the principle upon which the requirement was founded is a landmark in Masonry. In Washington's admission to the fraternity a few months before he became 21 years of age, if the conventional rule in this country and in other English lodges as then existing was not fully complied with, no Masonic principle was thereby violated. For five years after becoming a member of the craft Washington was engaged in military campaigns, and his attendance at the meetings of his own lodge during this period could not have been frequent. It has been claimed that Washington was made a Mason during the old French war in "The Lodge of Social and Military Virtues," on the registry of the Grand Lodge of Ireland, but this has proven to be erroneous. Traditions, which no Masonic records of that period now existing either verify or contradict, state that Washington and his Masonic brethren held military lodges during the old French war; and there is a cave near Charlestown, in Virginia, a few miles from Winchester, where his headquarters for two years were held, which to this day is called "Washington's Masonic Cave." It is divided into several apartments, one of which is called "The Lodge Room." In the spring of 1844 the Masons of that vicinity held a celebration there to commemorate the event.

On Dec. 27, 1779, American Union Lodge met to celebrate the festival of St. John the Evangelist at Morristown. Washington was one of the sixty-eight visiting brethren. About this time the question of making Washington general grand master over all the lodges in the United States was discussed, but the agitation was ended by the declaration of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts that no determination upon the subject could, with propriety and justice due to the craft, be made until a general peace should take place throughout the continent. The mere proposition to select Washington general grand master caused the widespread appellation of the title to Washington, and the illusion was perpetuated by various methods, one of which was by the striking in 1797 of a Masonic medal bearing Washington's effigy, with the emblems of Masonry and the initials “G. W., G. G. M."-The Mail and Express Souvenir of the Centennial Celebration of Washington's Inauguration, April 29 and 30, 1889.