CHAPTER XXIV.

THE events of 1863, legislative, military, and personal as they relate to Mr. Lincoln, must receive only a brief and condensed review. It will have been noticed, by several incidents that have been recorded in this narrative, and by sundry papers of Mr. Lincoln, that, during the whole of his presidency thus far, he had indulged in projects of colonization the freed blacks. Congress had so far regarded his suggestions as to place at his disposal a sum of money for experiments in colonization. In August, 1862, he called to the Executive Mansion a representative company of negroes whom he familiarly addressed on the subject, freely telling them of the disadvantages under which they labored, expressing his convictions that they suffered much by living in association with the whites, and uttering his conviction that the whites suffered by living with them, even when they were free. His wish was to have them colonized at some point in Central America; and he promised to spend some of the money intrusted to him, if they would join in sufficient numbers to make an experiment.

In his message delivered to Congress on the opening of the session of 1862-63, he called up the subject again; and communicated information of the measures he had taken, for effecting his wishes, and securing to the blacks the benefits of the congressional provision. He had had correspondence with some of the Spanish-American republics, and they had protested against the reception of black colonies. He had declined to move any colonists forward, under the circumstances, and

should still desist, unless they could be protected. Liberia and Hayti were the only countries to which they could go, with the certainty of immediate adoption as citizens; and the blacks manifested a strange indisposition to emigrate to those

countries.

This dream of colonization, in which Mr. Lincoln so benevolently indulged, was destined to fail of even partial realization. He loved the negro too well to wish him to remain where the prejudices of race would shut him out from the full recognition of his manhood. He not only wanted him free, but he wanted him located where he might receive all the rights of citizenship, and where he could live-self-respectful and independent-in the society of his equals and his race. It was a matter of pitying wonder with him that the negro should love to live with a race that abused him, and held him at so low a value in the scale of humanity.

All the closing portion of this message was devoted to an earnest discussion of the scheme of compensated emancipation. Notwithstanding he had issued his preliminary proclamation of freedom to the slaves of rebels, and expected soon to complete that work; and notwithstanding his conviction that slavery could not long survive this proclamation, even in the loyal slave states, he never forgot that neither over slavery in these states, the Constitution nor the necessities of war gave him any control. One thing he did forget, viz: that these states had uniformly turned their backs upon all his earnest and kindly efforts to save them from a loss which he was certain must ultimately fall upon them.

With the exposition of his views upon this subject, Mr. Lincoln submitted the draft of a resolution embodying his policy. This resolution proposed certain articles as amendments to the Constitution of the United States, to be acted upon by the legislatures or conventions of the several states. These articles, by being adopted by the legislatures of three-fourths of the states, should become valid, and be held as parts of the Constitution. They provided that every slave state which should voluntarily abolish the slave system at any date previous to

the year 1900, should receive a specified compensation. Slaves who should be freed by the chances of war should remain free, though loyal masters should receive compensation for them. The closing article provided that Congress might "appropriate money, and otherwise provide for colonizing free colored persons, with their own consent, at any place or places without the United States."

Sudden emancipation was never in accordance with Mr. Lincoln's judgment. Nothing but the necessities of war would have induced him to decree it with relation to the slaves of any state. His thought was, that, by giving every state the opportunity to terminate slavery in its own way, within a period of thirty-seven years, the institution could be removed without a shock to the prosperity and the social institutions of the whites, and without bringing to the blacks a freedom which many of them, at least, would not know how to use. The stress of feeling under which he urged this measure, is sufficiently exhibited by the closing paragraph of the message: "Fellow citizens,"-thus reads the passage-"We cannot escape history. We of this Congress, and this Administration, will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance or insignificance can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the latest generation. We say that we are for the Union. The world will not forget that we say this. We know how to save the Union. The world knows we know how to save it. * * In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free-honorable alike in what we give and what we preserve. We shall nobly save or meanly lose the last, best hope of earth. Other means may succeed; this could not, cannot, fail. The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just a way which, if followed, the world will forever applaud, and God must forever bless."

Allusion has been made, in the preceding chapter, to the action of this session, on the subject of arbitrary arrests; and the subject does not need to be recalled further than to say that the discussion which it excited fully illustrated the polit

ical antagonisms which, prevalent among the people, were brought into thorough exposition by their representatives. In the precise degree in which the members of both houses sympathized with treason, or were exercised by their party feelings against the general policy of the government toward 'the rebellion, did they oppose the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus. The same rule held good, with rare exceptions, with relation to the discussion of a project for arming the blacks. There were some friends of the government from the border states who were very timid and doubtful about the adoption of this measure: but the majority of the House. agreed to it; and the Senate would undoubtedly have done the same, had not the committee to which the matter was referred reported that the President already had the power to call persons of African descent into the military and naval service, by an act passed during the previous session.

The same antagonisms were exhibited concerning a measure for enrolling and drafting the militia of the different states, so that each state should be compelled to contribute its equitable quota, the troops when raised to be under the control of the President. The absolute necessity of this measure was attributable partly to the stage at which the war had arrived— when the surplus population was all in the army, and it was essential to draw upon the vital resources of the countryand partly to party feeling and party policy. Either through the failure of McClellan's campaign, or the effect of the emancipation proclamation, or the influence of both together, the administration had received a rebuke through the autumn elections of 1862. This had greatly encouraged the opposition, who, as opponents of the war, or as most unreliable friends of the President's war policy, so conducted their counsels that the government became fearful concerning its ability to raise men for the campaign of 1863. Just in proportion to the treasonable sympathies of the members of the Senate and the House, did they oppose the measure. The bill was finally passed and approved; and it became an efficient instrument in the hands of the government for prosecuting the war.

It contained provisions for procuring substitutes, for exemption by the payment of three hundred dollars, a clause defining the conditions of exemption, &c.

Much of the session was devoted to a discussion of measures of finance, which ended in giving the Secretary of the Treasury leave to borrow nine hundred millions of dollars, bearing six per cent interest, payable in not less than ten nor more than forty years. The Secretary was authorized to issue four hundred millions in treasury notes bearing interest, and a hundred and fifty millions without interest. To meet the immediate necessities of the army and navy, especially as they related to debts due the soldiers and sailors, authority was given for the issue of one hundred millions of treasury notes, before the leading measures of finance were perfected.

The latter measure was signed by the President at once, in order that the soldiers and marines might have their due; but he took occasion, in a special message, to express his regret that it had been found necessary to make so large an additional issue of United States notes, at a time when the combined circulation of those notes and the notes of the suspended banks had advanced the prices of everything beyond real values, augmenting the cost of living, to the injury of labor, and the cost of supplies, to the injury of the country. "It seems very plain," he said, "that continued issues of United States notes, without any check to the issues of suspended banks, and without adequate provision for the raising of money by loans, and for funding the issues, so as to keep them within due limits, must soon produce disastrous consequences." He had already, in his annual message, advocated the national bank system for the production of a uniform currency, secured by the pledge of United States bonds, thus increasing the demand for the bonds. A bill for the object desired was passed by small majorities, and approved. It was a doubtful measure, and touched a great many selfish and corporate interests, carrying more or less of disturbance into the various financial systems of the states; but the country has had no reason to find fault with its results.