In Missouri and Virginia slaves were flocking to the Union Army. No argument was needed to convince them the war was being waged on their account-that the Stars and Stripes was the banner of freedom. They were ready to act as guides, use the spade and shovel,

drive teams, cook for officers and soldiers. We shall see as this biography goes on the gradual growth of the idea that slavery had caused the war, that it was in a great degree the strength of the Rebellion, and must be annihilated.

Senator Trumbull, of Illinois, introduced a bill in Congress which gave freedom to all slaves used by the rebels in carrying on the war. Senator Breckinridge, of Kentucky, and other members from the border Slave States opposed it. Those who advocated its passage said slaves were constructing fortifications, driving teams, and doing the drudgery in the Confederate armies without pay. It was the expectation of their freedom that led them to steal away from their cabins at night and enter the Union lines. The bill became a law.

General Fremont, (") who had been Republican candidate for President in 1856, was military commander in Missouri, and proclaimed martial law, declaring slaves of rebels to be free men. The proclamation was hailed with joy by those who wanted to see slavery at once swept from the land, but it gave great offence to those who were prosecuting the war solely for the preservation of the Union. General Fremont had assumed an authority not conferred upon him by Congress, and the President was obliged to inform him and the public that the proclamation must be set aside. This act of President Lincoln was severely denounced by those who demanded the immediate abolition of slavery, and who saw only one phase of the struggle. There was another side which the President saw, and he made it very plain in a letter to one of his friends:

"The proclamation is simply dictatorship. It assumes that a general may do anything he pleases-confiscate the lands and free the slaves of loyal people, as well as disloyal ones. ... I cannot assume this reckless position, nor allow others to assume it on my responsibility.... What I object to is that as President I shall expressly or impliedly seize and exercise the legislative function of government. . . . No doubt the thing was popular in some quarters. The Kentucky Legislature would not budge till the proclamation was modified, and General Anderson telegraphed me that on the news of General Fremont having actually issued deeds of manumission, a whole company of our volunteers threw down their arms and disbanded. I was so amazed to think that the very arms we had furnished Kentucky would be turned against us. I think that to lose Kentucky is nearly to lose the whole game. Kentucky gone, we cannot hold Missouri, nor, as I think, Maryland. These all against us, and the job on our hands is too large for us. On the contrary, if you will give up your restlessness for new positions and back me up manfully on the grounds upon which you and other kind friends gave me the election, we shall go through triumphantly."

The man whom divine Providence had called to be ruler of the

nation knew that great ideas are of slow growth, and so, undisturbed by clamor of friend or foe, he chose the course which seemed to him best adapted for the ultimate welfare of the nation.

The setting aside of Fremont's proclamation marshalled Kentucky on the side of the Union, for which her sons were ready to lay down their lives. They had not advanced far enough to comprehend that slavery must be eradicated, root and branch, before there could be a restored Union. Only by the logic of events would they be able to understand it, and acquiesce in the edict which would give freedom to the slave.

A fleet of war-ships sailed from Fortress Monroe under the command of Admiral Dupont, also a large number of steamers carrying 12,000 soldiers under General W. T. Sherman. The captain of each vessel received a letter which he was not to open till after passing Capes Charles and Henry. None on board the fleet except Admiral Dupont and General Sherman knew their destination, but the morning after the fleet sailed, Mr. Benjamin, Confederate Secretary of War, was able to send a telegram to Governor Pickens, of South Carolina, informing him that it was bound for Port Royal. Confederate spies in Washington had furnished the information.

It was seen that the navy must have a harbor where the vessels blockading Charleston and Savannah could obtain coal and make repairs. The Confederates had erected two forts to defend itSept. 29. Fort Walker, on Hilton Head, and Fort Beauregard, on the opposite shore. Fifty-two heavy cannon had been mounted.

Admiral Dupont had thirteen vessels. The frigate Wabash led in the attack, followed by the Susquehanna and the gunboats. The forts opened fire, but with little effect, the guns not being well aimed. Round and round in an ellipse sailed the ships, sending such a storm of shells into the forts that the troops soon fled in consternation. The fleet steamed on to Beaufort, from which the white inhabitants precipitately fled. When the gunboats reached the town the slaves were having a saturnalia: drinking costly wines and helping themselves to whatever suited their fancy. They did not run from the Union soldiers, but welcomed them as friends. So once more the old flag was waving in South Carolina, to the great joy of President Lincoln and the loyal people of the country.

The sympathy of England was seen at the beginning of the war by the haste with which the British Government recognized the Confederacy as a belligerent power. Jefferson Davis appointed James M. Mason, of Virginia, Minister to England, and John Slidell, of Louisiana,

Minister to France. They sailed from Charleston to Cuba, and from thence took passage on the English steamer Trent for England. Commodore Wilkes in the war-ship San Jacinto overhauled the Trent, took Mason and Slidell on board his own vessel to Boston, where they were confined in Fort Warren.

"I considered them," said Commodore Wilkes, "as the embodiment of despatches. . . . The cargo was also liable, as all the shippers were knowing to the embarkation of these live despatches and their traitorous motives and actions to the Union." He did not seize the vessel under international law, because by so doing he would greatly inconvenience the passengers on board. Great the rejoicing through the country. Mason and Slidell had been among the chief conspirators to bring about the war. Their course while in the Senate had been that of traitors. The Secretary of the Navy wrote Wilkes a letter approving his "brave, adroit, and patriotic conduct." In Boston the citizens assembled in Faneuil Hall, applauded the action, and gave Wilkes a banquet. Congress passed without a dissenting voice a resolution of thanks. But there was one man in Washington who was looking at the other side of the case-how the transaction would seem to him if he were a member of the British Ministry. Before calling the Cabinet together, President Lincoln had a talk with the Secretary of the Navy and the Attorney-general.

"What shall we do with Mason and Slidell?" he asked. "Will they not be white elephants on our hands? The people are so incensed against them I fear it will be difficult to prevent an outbreak.(') I am not getting much sleep out of that exploit of Wilkes's, and I suppose we must look up the laws of the case. I am not much of a prize lawyer, but it seems to me pretty clear that if Wilkes saw fit to make the capture on the high seas he had no right to turn his quarter-deck into a prize court." (*)

Upon the arrival of the Trent at Southampton, all England flushed with anger at the audacity of the outrage, forgetting that the frigates of England before the War of 1812 had stopped hundreds of American vessels, and seized American seamen, compelling them to serve in the English Navy. That war was waged chiefly by the United States for the protection of the rights of sailors.

In all the English dockyards there was the utmost activity. Eight thousand soldiers were sent to Canada. An imperious demand was made for the liberation of Mason and Slidell and their secretaries.

It seems probable that Mr. Seward at the outset may have felt, in

common with the people of the North and with Congress, a momentary exultation; but he saw, as the President had seen, that the United States ought not to hold Mason and Slidell. Before having any communication with Lord Lyons, the President and the Secretary of State outlined the proper course to be pursued. No State paper written by Mr. Seward surpasses in ability that in relation to the Trent affair. These the closing words:

"If I decide this case in favor of my Government, I must disavow its most cherished principles, and reverse and forever abandon its essential policy. The country cannot afford the sacrifice. If I maintain those principles and adhere to that policy, I must surrender the law itself. . . . The four persons are now held in military custody at Fort Warren, in the State of Massachusetts. They will be cheerfully liberated."

In the annals of diplomacy there are few triumphs more illustrious. England could have no pretext for a quarrel with the United States.

The beautiful autumnal days were passing away. McClellan was holding frequent reviews, as if preparing for a movement, but other than this there were no indications of a campaign. The people were becoming impatient. Why did not the army move? they asked. Why was there not some attempt made to drive the Confederates from the batteries they had erected along the Potomac below Mount Vernon? Why not do something to enable the frigate Minnesota, lying at Washington Navy-yard, to reach Chesapeake Bay? Why allow a handful of Confederates, not more than 4000 in number, to throw up fortifications on Munson's Hill within cannon-shot of the Potomac? Members of Congress could see from the windows of the Capitol the Confederate flag waving defiantly above the intrenchments. Instead of any movement, the nightly telegram was sent to the newspapers of the country : "All quiet along the Potomac !"

It was not what loyal people wanted. Before September closed many expressions of discontent reached the President. By their secret agents and lines of communication the Confederates were cognizant of everything going on in Washington. The newspapers of New York were regularly received in Richmond the day after their publication.

The extravagance and inefficiency of General Fremont in Missouri was so manifest that the President felt it his duty to appoint another commander in that department. He selected General Halleck, who had received a military education. The removal of Fremont greatly offended those who wanted to see slavery immediately abolished, and they attributed his removal to the President's dissatisfaction

Nov. 18.