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the people tacitly expected of him that he should do so. He did it, but did it so strictly in accordance with the plain logic of the situation that neither he nor the popular masses who obeyed him perceived that he had done so. This, too, although the portentous fact of his dictatorship was urged upon them both, from that time forward, by a host of busy tongues and pens, in the press, in legislative bodies, in courts of law, and in the halls of the national Congress.

CHAPTER XXIX.

THE GREAT AWAKENING.

A Steady Hand-The Rebellion extending-The Loyal North-The Baltimore Mob-Rebellion in Maryland-Confederate Hopes and Failures -Peril of Washington-Arrival of Troops from the North-The Gateway to the North-Arrival of the New York Seventh-Capture of Baltimore-Case of Col. Robert E. Lee-Secession of VirginiaCall for Three Years' Volunteers-Crushing of Secession in Maryland. On the 6th of March, 1861, the Confederate Congress had passed a law for the establishment of "The Army of the Confederate States of America." From that time forward the armed forces of the Rebellion ceased to be "State troops," defending State rights or the boundary lines or the territorial integrities of States.

The proclamation of Mr. Lincoln, therefore, did not at all refer to or deal with commonwealths or communities, or even the doctrine of secession, but with unlawful combinations of individuals banded for an assault upon the national life and the plunder of national property.

While the States of the North, as such, were called upon to furnish their quotas of militia, the same summons was addressed in set terms to such of the border and Southern States as could be reached, and to all "loyal citizens," for it was to the people as a mass that the President looked for support. A feeble cry arose in some quarters that the judiciary should in some manner have been appealed to, but the cumbrous machinery of the courts was set aside by the obvious fact of its insufficiency, and the cries died into silence. There were many who, with greater appearance of sound reason, were eager for an immediate assembling of Congress; but, in Mr. Lincoln's knowledge and perception, a large part of the membership of that body had need of special education through the sure course

of coming events before they could safely be trusted to help or hinder. The wisest heads in either House were probably the least in haste to meet these others in council. The day for their gathering was judiciously and firmly postponed accordingly.

The Executive would certainly require eighty days to cut out for Congress such work as it would need to do when it should assemble.

The proclamation contains but one breath of the suppressed indignation to which Mr. Lincoln had given no utterance during those long and patient days, weeks, months of waiting and endurance. The forces were to be used for purposes set forth "and to redress wrongs already long enough endured."

He could not wisely have then said more; but the words meant a great deal coming from him.

The call for State militia was nominally based upon the Act of 1795, and was promptly responded to by the governors of all the free States. Virginia answered by "seceding" on the 17th of April, in secret session of her State Convention, and in open session on the 22d, adding an empty and yet to Mr. Lincoln's military plans a very useful provision for submitting the question to a popular vote on the 23d of May. North Carolina, Arkansas, and Tennessee rapidly sent back similar replies and cast their fortunes with the Rebellion. The governor of Kentucky returned only a contemptuous refusal to furnish the quota of troops called for by the President, and Maryland almost immediately blazed out into open and dangerous revolt.

All this was hardly more than had been expected, and caused no pang of disappointment; but the dark and threatening picture had its brighter side. The people of the North had heard the Sumter gun, and its full meaning was interpreted to them by the President's proclamation. Long months of refusal to believe that the Secessionists were in earnest,-months of anxious suspense and benumbing doubt-were terminated fitly

by a few short hours of bewilderment. Sunday passed under that cloud, but on Monday morning, April 15th, the Nation awoke, and accepted the war for the Union with a burst of enthusiastic patriotism which astonished the world. Party lines seemed to melt away in the fierce heat of the sudden excitement. In every nook and corner of the loyal areas, as well as in the larger towns and cities, men flocked together by a common impulse, eagerly offering themselves to defend their country in what to them was its suddenly discovered peril. Mothers gave their sons; wives hastened the steps of their husbands. The recruiting offices were thronged as if by mobs. The very pulpits and prayer-meetings were all on fire with devotion to a cause which at once took upon itself sacredness, as the cause of the whole human race for all time to come, sure to have the blessing of Almighty God. If armed men could have telegraphed themselves to Washington, the city would have been garrisoned instantaneously.

The first visible help arrived on the 18th, in the shape of one hastily gathered regiment of Pennsylvania militia, unarmed and half equipped. They had been hurried off on the spur of the moment, and passed through Baltimore so unexpectedly as to meet no open opposition. The passions whose expression their unarmed ranks barely escaped rose hotly behind them and were only too well prepared for the next-comers.

These were very near. On the morning of the 16th of April the Massachusetts Sixth Regiment mustered upon Boston Common, perfectly equipped for action. It was on the cars for Washington by Wednesday evening, the 17th. It passed through New York on the 18th, marching down Broadway between excited thousands on either hand, and singing as it swung along that strange refrain which had arisen, no one knew whence,

"John Brown's body lies a-mould'ring in the grave,
His soul goes marching on!"

Their passage through the great commercial center of the country gave a sort of rallying-point for the city's loyalty, which was to be intensified the day following by the starting of the New York Seventh Regiment for the beleaguered national capital. Meantime the Massachusetts regiment passed on, and on the morning of the 19th, the anniversary of the battle of Lexington, it entered the city of Baltimore, Maryland. A misunderstanding between the railway officials and the regimental commander resulted in an attempt to convey the troops through the city in the cars they occupied, so dividing their strength and caging them instead of giving them fair play as a solid body. The Baltimore mob was braver against imprisoned and separated squads than it would have been against a strong column of marching men. A murderous assault was made upon these citizens of Massachusetts, whose only offense, even against a proslavery mob, was the obvious fact of their ready patriotism. No resistance was made by the troops until self-preservation rendered the use of arms compulsory. There was some firing done; a few were killed and more were wounded on both sides; the city police came to the rescue and did their duty admirably, headed by the mayor and the city marshal. The self-control and disciplined good conduct of the troops is emphasized by the fact that the mayor himself, marching at their head, took a rifle from a soldier and shot down one of the rioters whose intemperate zeal was prematurely endangering the deep-laid plot of the conspirators for the secession of Maryland. The subsequent course of both mayor and marshal threw much light upon the disaster sustained that day by the Confederacy at the hands of the over-hasty Baltimore mob.

The regiment made its way through and reached Washington; and the Baltimore gateway to the North was shut behind them but this was before the men who closed it were at all prepared to keep it so.

Still, they did their very best to repair their error. There had been many public secession-meetings already in Balti

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