Chapter XIII: Introduction (4)

And the great masses of the South have been and are learning how the present leaders have duped them upon all these points. They have discovered we are not cowards. Every prisoner, from the chivalric Corcoran to the urchin drummer-boy at Richmond who spat on the sentinel, has afforded proof of courage and fortitude, whilst thousands and thousands of people have secretly admired it. The very death vacancies at family boards throughout the plantations perpetually remind the Southrons that _we are not_ cowards in fight. They have learned, too, that we are neither mean nor avaricious, when the millionaire merchant, whom they knew two years ago, cheerfully accepts the poor man's lot of to-day; or when they behold all classes without one murmur hear of a million dollars per day being spent on the war, and then _clamor to be taxed_! If they perceive the negroes leaving them, they at once also perceive that in loyal Maryland, loyal Virginia, loyal Kentucky and loyal Missouri,--in Baltimore, St. Louis, and Louisville,--the slaves under local laws are protected to their owners. Thus the most stupid will reason, It is our own act which has placed in jeopardy this our property. With a restored Union, Georgia and Louisiana must be as Maryland and Kentucky continued even in the midst of camps. Who, during the acme of the French revolution, could have believed that the people of Paris would so soon and so readily accept even despotism as the panacea of turmoil? Show a real grievance, and I grant you that rebellion achieves the dignity of revolution. Provide an imaginary or a colored evil as the basis of insurrection, and even pride and obstinacy will eventually comprehend the sophistry of the leaders.

_Mr. Lincoln._ Seward's secret correspondence with Southern loyalists proves these things. Mr. Stanton must read that last letter from....

_Mr. Stanton._ Indeed! You surprise me. Pray how could you receive intelligence from him?

_Mr. Lincoln (opening a drawer)._ Do you see this button? I unscrew this eye. The two discs now separate. Between them you can put a sheet of French letter paper. When the troops advanced to Bull Run, certain of the soldiers were provided with such buttons. Various deserters have had them.

_Mr. Seward (laughing.)_ Who knows but General Scott's coachman had one or two?[M]

_Mr. Stanton._ This practically corroborates my theories. If we in Washington find it so difficult to repress communication and spies, is it not fair to presume that in Richmond, Savannah, New Orleans and Memphis (where there is _real_ incentive from suffering and persecution), it is equally impossible to stop information? It was impossible to procure it when the three rifled cannon at the Richmond foundry were found spiked. It would prove serviceable to the patience of the nation, could it only step behind the scenes and learn much--known to us--which it must ere long understand.

* * * * *

_Mr. Lincoln._ I have just received by our secret mail a very affecting letter from Col. Corcoran. I will read an extract. [_Reads._]

'Of my physical suffering I will not speak. If restored to friends and home I shall, however, be a memorable example of the victory of mind over body. I determined to lay down my life for my country when I left that home; and if it will serve the cause, as I have repeatedly told the people here, to hang, or draw, or quarter me, I am ready for the sacrifice. But there are hundreds among the prisoners whose minds are not so buoyant as mine, who do suffer terribly. Can not some means be devised to clothe and feed _them_, or to exchange for them?'

_Mr. Blair._ A patriot soul. The clerkship left in the New York post-office when the Colonel departed for the war has been retained for him.

_Mr. Lincoln (quickly)._ Ah! _that_ heroic sufferer shall have something better than a clerkship if he ever returns.

_Mr. Stanton._ I have thought much of this exchange of prisoners and captivity amelioration. When the insurrection was inchoate, we could afford to be punctilious. But its present gigantic proportions surely affect the question (so to term it) of ransom. When our countrymen were in the Algerine prisons we took means to treat for them. What say you, gentlemen, against sending commissioners to Richmond for the purpose of supervising the medicines, clothing, food and exchange of our prisoners?

_Mr. Seward._ That may only be conceded by accepting commissioners for a similar purpose from the rebel government.

_Mr. Chase._ Our plans are now so perfectly matured that even the danger of spies recedes. I am in favor of Mr. Stanton's proposition.

_Mr. Lincoln._ I think you can try it. There are so many prisoners, from all parts of the country, that public sentiment must uphold the measure.

_Mr. Smith._ Mr. Secretary of State, you were taking notes whilst Mr. Stanton was giving his views upon the restoration question. Were they on that subject?

_Mr. Seward._ Yes. Some fleeting thoughts occurred to me which I was desirous of preserving for to-morrow. _I_ have a great deal of faith in establishing Southern 'doughfacery.'

_Mr. Welles._ Doughfacery?

_Mr. Seward._ Yes: that supremacy of pocket over pride which so long afflicted the North. Above and beyond the slave-owners must rise the great class of manufacturers and merchants,--almost every third man of Northern origin, too,--whose pocket is the great sufferer, and without whose property, hereafter, plantations can not prosper. Given a decent pretext for adjustment, when pride will go to the wall. Once allow the masses to grasp the reins, and the slave-owners will be driven to the wall-side of the political highway also. This I call Southern doughfacery for the sake of a phrase well understood.

_Mr. Blair._ Then your old plan of the great national convention comes in vogue?

_Mr. Lincoln._ _My_ plan! (_Good humoredly._) You must not _all_ steal my thunder. By the way, Seward, your pleasant friend Judge D----, who came from New York about Col. Corcoran, told me the meaning of that phrase. It seems a Dublin stage manager got up a scenic play with thunder in it perfectly imitated by a diapason of bass drums. A rival got up another scenic play, to which, out of jealous _pique_, the inventor repaired as a spectator. To his surprise he heard his own invention from behind the scenes. He instantly exclaimed aloud, 'The rascal, he's stolen my thunder!'

_Mr. Seward (jocularly)._ The President finds a parallel between a national convention and thunder. Well, well, the clearest atmosphere is breathed after the clouds culminate in thunder and lightning. I accept the application.

_Mr. Chase._ But if the South is to surrender pride, what are _we_ to surrender?

_Mr. Seward (quickly)._ _Political_ pride. The battle of freedom was fought and won when the Inaugural was pronounced. The South can not recover from the present stagnation in a quarter-century, by which time it will again have accepted contentedly the original belief that slavery, like one of the lotteries of Georgia, or one of the red-dog banks of Arkansas, is a purely local institution.

_Mr. Stanton._ I heartily accept the project of a national convention. But I am against any agitation or committal to leading ideas which are to control it. One convention ruined France, and another saved it. We can better obtain consent of North and South to holding a convention by forbearance from discussing its probable platform. Let it meet. No fear but it will elucidate _some_ satisfactory result.

_Mr. Welles._ You have just discussed this question of war. I wish something could be done to settle this affair of privateering. To my reflection it appears to embrace a very important consideration of 'policy' as well as of law. A man does not always punish his embezzling clerk because the law gives him authority to do so. The ocean rebel who to-day captures our transports laden with soldiers, may to-morrow put off twenty boats in the Potomac, and capture our men on the river schooner. The Attorney General's opinion and the law of Judge Kelson in New York hang the former; but military law will exchange the latter whenever a satisfactory opportunity presents itself.

_Mr. Lincoln._ The policy question has become a grave one. I have been much struck by the letter of Judge Daly, of New York, to Senator Harris--a most opportune, learned, and temperate paper.

[_Enter an attendant._]

_Mr. Lincoln._ Gen. McClellan is at the door. Invite him in.

_Mr. Stanton._ By all means. He is 'the very head and front of our offending.'

[_Enter Gen. McClellan._]

_Gen. McC._ Good evening, Mr. President and Cabinet. (_Speaking rapidly and brusquely._) The bridge equipages are now entirely complete. Here is a dispatch acknowledging the receipt of the last supply. With February is ushered in the Southern spring, which, as you all know, _must_ end 'this winter of our discontent.' The Western V now is perfect from Cairo and Harper's Ferry at the top to Cumberland Gap at the bottom. It is the first letter in Victory.

_Mr. Lincoln._ When the General becomes oratorical, then indeed has he good news.

_Gen. McC._ I have, sir; but, with great respect to all these our friends, it must be for your own ears, to-night at least.

_Mr. Lincoln (rising)._ We will withdraw to the library. Gentlemen, pray come to some understanding during our absence respecting the reply to be sent to M. Thouvenel's extraordinary secret dispatch. I will rejoin you in--

_Gen, McC._ Seven minutes, Mr. President--those are all I can spare. Good evening, gentlemen.

* * * * *

LITERARY NOTICES.

BORDER LINES OF KNOWLEDGE IN SOME PROVINCES OF MEDICAL SCIENCE. An Introductory Lecture delivered before the Medical Class of Harvard University, Nov. 6, 1861. By Oliver Wendell Holmes, M.D., Parkman Professor of Anatomy and Physiology. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. 1861.

It is a pleasant thing to realize, in reading a work like this, how perfectly GENIUS is capable of rendering deeply interesting to the most general reader topics which in the hands of mere _talent_ become intolerably 'professional' and dry. The mind which has once flowed through the golden land of poetry becomes, indeed, like the brook of Scottish story, more or less alchemizing,--communicating an aureate hue even to the wool of the sheep which it washes, and turning all its fish into 'John Dorées.' And in doing this, far from injuring the practical and market value of either, it positively improves them. For genius is always general and human, and rises intuitively above conventional poetry and conventional science, to that higher region where fact and fancy become identified in truth. And such is the characteristic of the lecture before us, in which solid, nutritive learning loses none of its alimentary value for being cooked with all the skill of a _Ude_ or of a _Francatelli_. Many passages in the work illustrate this power of æsthetic illustration in a truly striking manner.

In certain points of view, human anatomy may be considered an
almost exhausted science. From time to time some small organ,
which had escaped earlier observers, has been pointed out,--such
parts as the _tensor tarsi_, the otic ganglion, or the Pacinian
bodies; but some of the best anatomical works are those which have
been classic for many generations. The plates of the bones of
Vesalius, three centuries old, are still masterpieces of accuracy,
as of art. The magnificent work of Albinus on the muscles,
published in 1747, is still supreme in its department, as the
constant references of the most thorough recent treatise on the
subject--that of Theile--sufficiently show. More has been done in
unravelling the mysteries of the faciæ, but there has been a
tendency to overdo this kind of material analysis. Alexander
Thompson split them up into cobwebs, as you may see in the plates
to Velpeau's Surgical Anatomy. I well remember how he used to
shake his head over the coarse work of Scarpa and Astley
Cooper;--_as if Denner, who painted the separate hairs of the head
and pores of the skin, in his portraits, had spoken lightly of the
pictures of Rubens and Vandyck_.

Laymen can not decide, where doctors disagree; but there are few who will not at least read this lecture with pleasure.

JOHN BRENT. By Major Theodore Winthrop. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. 1862.

It is strange that so soon after the appearance of _Tom Tiddler's Ground_, with its one good story of a wild gallop over the Plains, a novel should have appeared in which the same scenes are reproduced,--the whole full of wild-fire and gallop.--American life-fever and prairie-dust,--uneasy contrasts of the feelings of gentlemen and memories of _salons_ with pork-frying, hickory shirts, and whisky. The excitement and movement of _John Brent_ are wonderful. Had the author been an artist, we should have had in him an American Correggio,--with strong lights and shadows, bright colors, figures of desperadoes inspired with the air of gentlemen, and gentlemen, real or false, who play their parts in no mild scenes. It is the first good novel which has given us a picture of the West since California and Mormondom added to it such vivid and extraordinary coloring, and since the 'ungodly Pike'--that 'rough' of the wilderness--has taken the place of the well-nigh traditional frontiersman. It is entertaining and exciting, and will attain a very great popularity, having in it all the elements to secure such success. Those who recognized in _Cecil Dreeme_ the vividly-photographed scenes and characters of New York, will be pleased to find the same talent employed on a wider field, among more vigorous natures, and assuming a far more active development. Never have we felt more keenly regret at the untimely decease of an author than for WINTHROP, while perusing the pages of _John Brent_. There went out a light which _might_ have shown, in Rembrandt shadows and gleams, the most striking scenes of this country and this age.

MEMOIR, LETTERS AND REMAINS OF ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE. Translated from the French, by the Translator of Napoleon's Correspondence with King Joseph. In two volumes. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. 1862.

No French writer enjoys a more truly enviable popularity in America than M. DE TOCQUEVILLE. That he should have discussed the vital principles of our political and social life, in a manner which not only made him no enemies among us, but established his 'Democracy' as a classic reference, is as wonderful as it was well deserved. The present work is, however, a delightful one by itself, and will be read with a relish. We sympathize with the translator (a most capable one by the way) when he declares that he leaves his task with regret, fearing lest he never again may have an opportunity of associating so long and so intimately with such a mind. The typography and paper are of superior quality.

POEMS BY WILLIAM ALLINGHAM. ('Blue and gold.') First American Edition. Boston: Ticknor & Fields.

'Fresh, beautiful, and winsome.'--Among the living poets of England there may be many who are popularly regarded as 'greater,' but certainly there is none more unaffectedly natural or simply delightful than WILLIAM ALLINGHAM. We are pleased at his probably unconscious Irish-isms in his humbler lyrics, which have deservedly attained the proud eminence of veritable 'Folk-songs' in the mouths of the people, and are touched by the exquisite music, the tender feeling, and the beautiful picturing which we find inspiring his lays. It requires but little knowledge of them to be impressed with the evident love of his art with which our Irish bard is filled. It would be difficult to find in the same number of songs by any contemporary so little evident effort allied to such success.

THE CHURCH MONTHLY. Edited by Rev. George M. Randall, D.D., and Rev. F.D. Huntington, D.D. Vol. II. No. 6. Boston: E.P. Dutton & Co. 1861.

This beautiful and scholarly magazine, which abounds in 'the elegant expression of sound learning,' contains, in the present number, a noble article on _Loyalty in the United States_, by Rev. B.B. BABBITT, which we would gladly have read by every one. Almost amusing, and yet really beautiful, is the following Latin version of 'Now I lay me down to sleep,' by Rev. EDWARD BALLARD.

_In Canabulis_.

'Nunc recline ut dormirem,
Precor te, O Domine,
Ut defendas animam;
Ante diem si obirem,
Precor te, O Domine,
Us servares animam.
Hoc que precor pro Iesu!'

WORKS OF BAYARD TAYLOR. Vols. I. & II. New York: G.P. Putnam.

BAYARD TAYLOR has the pleasant art of communicating personal experiences in a personal way. It is not an unknown X, an invisible essence of criticism, which travels for us in his sketches, but a veritable traveler, speaking, Irving-like, of what he sees, so that we see and feel with him. In these volumes, the ups and downs, the poverties and even the ignorances of the young traveler are set forth--not paraded--with great vividness, and we come to the end of each chapter as if it were the scene of a good old-fashioned comedy. CORYATT without his crudities, if we can imagine such a thing, suggests himself, with alternations of 'HERODOTUS his gossip' without his craving credulity. Perhaps these volumes explain more than any of their predecessors the causes of TAYLOR'S popularity, and like them will do good work in stimulating that love of travel which with many becomes the absorbing passion sung by MULLER,--'_Wandern! ach! Wandern!_'

THOMAS HOOD'S WORKS. Edited by Epes Sargent. New York: G.P. Putnam. 1862.

A beautifully printed and bound volume, on the best paper, with two fine illustrations,--one by HOPPIN, setting forth Miss Kilmansegg and her golden leg with truly Teutonic grotesquerie. It contains Hood's Poems, never made more attractively readable than in this edition. As a gift it would be difficult to find a work which would be more generally acceptable to either old or young.

NATIONAL MILITARY SERIES. Part First. By Captain W.W. Van Ness. New York: Carleton, 413 Broadway.

A neat little work on military tactics, conforming to the army regulations adopted and approved by the War Department of the United States. It is thoroughly practical, 'being arranged on the plainest possible principle of question and answer,' and being within the reach of the dullest capacity, and thoroughly comprehensive of all required of the soldier, will probably become, as its author trusts, 'a standard military work.'

FORT LAFAYETTE; OR, LOVE AND SECESSION. By Benjamin Wood. New York: Carleton, 413 Broadway. 1862.

Even while a tree is being blown down by the hurricane, small fungi or other minute vegetation spring up in its rifts; every social shock of the day is promptly scened and 'tagged' at the minor theatres; and shall this war escape its novels? Mr. WOOD votes in the negative, and supplies us with a somewhat sensational yet not badly manufactured article, which, like the melo-dramas referred to, will be received with delight by a certain line of patrons, and, we presume, be also relished. It is a first-rate specimen of a second-rate romance.

HEROES AND MARTYRS: Notable Men of the Time. With Portraits on Steel. New York: G.P. Putnam, 532 Broadway. C.T. Evans, General Agent. 1862. Price 25 cents.

The first number of a large quarto, exquisitely printed, biographical series of sketches of the military and naval heroes, statesmen, and orators, distinguished in the American crisis of 1861-62, and edited by FRANK MOORE. The portraits of Commodore S.F. DUPONT and Major THEODORE WINTHROP, in this first number, are excellent; while the literary portion, devoted to WINFIELD SCOTT, deserves praise. The cheapness of the publication is truly remarkable.

TRANSACTIONS of THE MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, FOR THE YEAR 1861. Boston: Henry W. Dutton & Son, Printers, Transcript Building. 1862.

A work testifying to the great extent and efficacy of the labors of the society, and one which, among a mass of merely business detail, contains much interesting information. An article on the first discovery of the heather in America, by EDWARD S. RAND, is well worth reading. Can any of our wise men re-discover the lost Pictish art of making good beer from that plant?

* * * * *

BOOKS RECEIVED.

DINAH. New York: Charles Scribner, 124 Grand Street. Boston: Brown & Taggard. 1861.

THE REBELLION RECORD. A Diary of American Events, with Documents, Narratives, Illustrative Incidents, and Poetry. Edited by Frank Moore. New York: G.P. Putnam.

THE BROKEN ENGAGEMENT; OR, SPEAKING THE TRUTH FOR A DAY. By Mrs. Emma D.E.N. Southworth. Philadelphia: T.B. Peterson. Price 25 cents. 1861.

THE AMERICAN CRISIS: Its Cause, Significance, and Solution. By Americus. Chicago, Illinois: Joshua R. Walsh, 1861.

* * * * *

EDITOR'S TABLE.

Step by step the vast net is closing in on the enemy,--little by little the vice is tightening,--and if no incalculable calamity overtake the armies of the Union, it is but fair to assume that at no distant day the rebel South will find itself in the last extremity, overwhelmed by masses from without and demoralized by want of means within. Government at present holds the winning cards,--if they are only skillfully played the game is its own. It is impossible to study the map and the present position of our forces with our resources, and not realize this. 'Hemmed in!' is the despairing cry from Southern journals, which but the other day insolently threatened to transfer the war to Northern soil, and to sack New York and Philadelphia; and, with their proverbial fickleness and fire, we find many of them half rebelling against the management of Mr. JEFFERSON DAVIS and his coadjutors.

This is all encouraging. On the other hand, we are beginning to feel more acutely the miseries of war, and its enormous cost. The time is at hand when the whole country will be called on to show its heroism by patient endurance of many trials, and by _living_ as well as dying for the great cause of liberty and Union. Let it all be done patiently and without a murmur. Every suffering will be repaid tenfold in the hour of triumph. Let it be remembered that as we suffer our chances of victory increase, and that every pain felt by us is a death-pang to the foe. Now, if ever, the Northern quality of stubborn endurance must show itself. We, too, can suffer as heroically as the South boasts of doing. It is this which in the course of events must inevitably give us the victory, for no spirit of chivalry, no enthusiasm, can ultimately resist sturdy Saxon pluck. The South, foolishly enough, has vaunted that it is inspired by the blood and temper of the Latin races of Southern Europe, and it can not be denied that their climate has given them the impulsiveness of their ideal heroes. In this fiery impatience lies the element which renders them incapable of sustaining defeat, and which, after any disaster, must stimulate dissension among them.

It should also be borne in mind that the most direct causes of our sufferings all involve very practical benefits. The Southern press taunts our soldiers with enlisting for pay. Let us admit that vast numbers have truly been partially induced by the want of employment at home to enter the army. It is a peculiar characteristic of all Northern blood that it can and does combine intelligence and interest with the strongest enthusiasm. No man was ever made a worse soldier by being prudent, any more than by being a religious Christian. Taunts and jeers can not affect the truth. The Protestant mechanic soldiery of Germany during the wars of the Reformation, the men of Holland, and the Puritans of England, were all reviled for the same cause--but they conquered. God never punishes men for common-sense, nor did it ever yet blind zeal, though it may prevent zeal from degenerating into sheer madness. The war, while it has crippled industry, has also kept it alive,--it has become a great industrial central force, giving work to millions. Again, in the creation of a debt we shall find such a stimulus to industry as we never before knew. Taxation, which kills a weak country crippled by feudal laws and nightmared by an extravagant court and nobility, simply induces fresh and vigorous effort to make additional profits in a land of endless resources and of vast territory, where every man is free to work at what he chooses. Taxation may come before us like a raging lion, but, in the words of BEECHER, we shall find honey in the carcass. Let us only cheerfully make the best of everything, and uphold the administration and the war with a right good will, and we shall learn as we never did before the extent of the incredible elasticity and recuperative power of the American.

It is evident that the present war will have a beneficial result in making us acquainted with the real nature of this arrogant and peculiar South-land. It was said that the Crimean struggle did much good by dispelling the cloudy hobgoblin mystery which hung over Russia, and, while it destroyed its prestige as a bugbear, more than compensated for this, by giving it a proper place abreast of civilized nations in the great march of industry and progress. Just so we are learning that the South is perfectly capable of receiving white labor, that it is not strangely and peculiarly different from the rest of the cis-tropical regions, that the negro is no more its necessity than he is to Spain or Italy, and that, in short, white labor may march in, undisturbed, so soon as industry ceases to be regarded as disgraceful in it. We have learned the vital necessity of union and identity of feeling between all the States, and found out the folly of suffering petty local state attachments to blind us to the glory of citizenship in a nation, which should cover a continent. We have learned what the boasted philanthropy of England is worth when put to the test of sacrifice, and also how the British lion can put forth the sharpest and most venomous of feline claws when an opportunity presents itself of ruining a possible rival. More than this, we have learned to be self-reliant, to take greater and more elevated views of political duty, and to be heroic without being extravagant. Since we were a republic no one year has witnessed such national and social progress among us as the past. We have had severe struggles, and we have surmounted them; we have had hard lessons, and we have learned them; we have had trials of pride, and we have profited by them. And as we contend for principles based in reason and humanity and confirmed by history, it follows that we must inevitably come forth gloriously triumphant, if we but bravely persevere in enforcing those principles.

The large amount of political information regarding the South and its resources which has been of late widely disseminated in the North, is a striking proof that, disguise the question as we will, the extension of free labor is, from a politico-economical point of view (which is, in fact, the only sound one), the real, or at least ultimate basis of this struggle. The matter in hand is the restitution of the Union, laying everything else aside; but the great fact, which will not step aside, is the consideration whether ten white men or one negro are to occupy a certain amount of soil. There is no evading this finality, there is no impropriety in its discussion, and it SHALL be discussed, so long as free speech or a free pen is left in the North. So far from interfering with the war, it is a stimulus to the thousands of soldiers who hope eventually to settle in the South in districts where their labor will not be compared with that of 'slaves,' and it is right and fit that they should anticipate the great and inevitable truth in all its relations to their own welfare and that of the country.

We cheerfully agree with those who try with so much energy that Emancipation is not the matter in hand, and quite as cheerfully assent when they insist that the enemy, and not the negro, demands all our present energy. But this has nothing to do with the great question, whether slavery is or is not to ultimately remain as a great barrier to free labor in regions where free labor is clamoring for admission. That is all we ask, nothing more. The instant the North and West are assured that at some time, though remote, and by any means or encouragements whatever, which expediency may dictate, the great cause of secession and sedition--will be removed from our land, then there will be witnessed an enthusiasm compared to which that of the South will be but lukewarm. That this will be done, no rational person now doubts, or that government will cheerfully act on it so soon as the fortunes of war or the united voice of the people strengthen it in the good work. And until it _is_ done, let every intelligent freeman bear it in mind, thinking intelligently and acting earnestly, so that the great work may be advanced rapidly and carried out profitably and triumphantly.

The leading minds of the South, shrewder than our Northern anti-emancipation half traitors and whole dough-faces, foreseeing the inevitable success of ultimate emancipation, have given many signs of willingness to employ even it, if needs must be, as a means of effectually achieving their 'independence.' They have baited their hooks with it to fish for European aid--they have threatened it armed, as a last resort of desperation, if conquered by the North. Knowing as well as we that the days of slavery are numbered, they have used it as a pretense for separation, they would just as willingly destroy it to maintain that separation. Since the war began, projects of home manufactures, and other schemes involving the encouragement of free labor, have been largely discussed in the South,--and yet in spite of this, thousands among us violently oppose Emancipation. In plain, truthful words they uphold the ostensible platform of the enemy, and yet avow themselves friends of the Union.

We have said it before, we repeat it: we ask for no undue haste, no unwise measures, nothing calculated to irritate or disorganize or impede the measures which government may now have in hand. But we hold firmly that Emancipation be calmly regarded as a measure which _must_ at some time be fully carried out. Be it limited for the time, or for years, to the Border States, be it assumed partially or entirely under the modified form of apprenticeship, be it proclaimed only in Texas or South Carolina, it has in some way a claim to recognition, and _must_ be recognized. Its friends are too many to be ignored in the day of settlement.

* * * * *

It is proper that every detail of contract corruption should be brought fully to light, and the country owes a debt of gratitude to Mr. DAWES for his manly attack on the wretches who have crippled the war, robbed the soldier, swindled the tax-payers, and aided the enemy by their wicked rapacity. Let it be remembered that whatever his sentiments may have been, every man who has been instrumental, directly or indirectly, in cheating the treasury and the my during this period of distress, has been one of its enemies, and far more deadly than if he had been openly enlisted under the banners of JEFFERSON DAVIS. Were we anything but the best-natured and most enduring public in the world, such revelations as have by the been made would long since have driven these rapacious traitors beyond sea or into the congenial Dixie for which they have indirectly labored.

We have been accustomed to read much since infancy of the sufferings of our army during the Revolution,--how they were hatless, ragged, starved, and badly armed. We have shuddered at the pictures of the snow at Valley Forge, tracked by the blood from the feet of shoeless soldiers. Yet, in the year 1861, with abundant means and with all the sympathy and aid of a wealthy country, there has been more suffering in the army than the Revolution witnessed, and it was due in a great measure to men who hastened to the spoil like vultures to their prey. If the army has not in advanced, if proper weapons are not even yet ready, let the reader reflect how much the army is still crippled owing to imperfect supplies, and have patience.

It is not the soldier alone who has been robbed by the contractor. The manufacturer who sees only a government order between himself and failure, and who is willing to do anything to keep his operatives employed, is asked to supply inferior goods at a low price. He may take the order or leave it,--if he will not, another will,--and with it is expected to take the risk of a return. When a man sees ruin before him, he will often yield to such temptations. The contractor takes the goods, sells them if he can, and pockets the profits, sometimes ten times over what the manufacturer gains. He thereby robs outright, not only the soldier, but also the operatives who make the goods, since the manufacturer must reduce their wages to the lowest living point, in order to save himself.

It will all come to light. There is a discovery of all evil, and there is a grace which money cannot remove, neither from the thief nor from his children. And we rejoice to see that so much is being made known, and that in all probability the public will be fully informed as to who were principally guilty in these enormous and treasonable corruptions.

* * * * *

It is stated, on good authority, that the only objection urged by the President to adopting the policy of Emancipation, is the danger which would be thereby incurred of effectually losing the allegiance of the loyal slave-holders in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Missouri.

The obvious answer to this is, that by paying these loyal slave-holders for their chattels they could not fail to become firmer friends than ever. When we reflect on the extremely precarious tenure of all such property on the Border it becomes apparent that the man must be a lunatic indeed to hope for the permanency of the institution in the tobacco States. Since the war began nearly the two-thirds of the slaves in Missouri have changed their _habitat_,--about one-half of the number having been 'sold South,' while the other moiety have traveled North, without reference to ownership.

The administration need be under no apprehension as to the popularity of this measure. It would be hailed with joy by millions. The capitalists of our Northern cities, who now await with impatience some indications of A REGULAR POLICY, will welcome with enthusiasm a proposition which would at once render the debatable land no longer debatable, and which would effectually disorganize the entire South, by rendering numbers desirous of selling their slaves in order to secure what must sooner or later be irrecoverably lost. If government has a policy in this matter, it is time that the public were informed of it. The public is ready to be taxed to any extent, it is making tremendous sacrifices; all that it asks in return is some nucleus around which it may gather,--a settled principle by which its victories in war may be made to form the basis of a permanent peace.

* * * * *

The English press, statesmen and orators have been pleased to regard our democratic government as a failure.

But we have at least one advantage. When an enormous wrong is perpetrated on the people by a secretary, _he can be hustled out of the way_, and the accomplices be punished.

In England we have seen of late the most enormous political and social outrage of the century coolly committed, without the slightest regard to consequences, and without the slightest fear of any punishment whatever.

The truth has come to light, and every investigation, in the opinion of the ablest and most sagacious men, confirms the assertion that the late MASON and SLIDELL difficulty was simply an immense stock-jobbing swindle, played in the most heartless manner on this country and on England, without heed as to the terrible consequences.

The London _Times_, as is well known, is the organ of the ROTHSCHILDS. During the late iniquitous war-flurry it acted perfectly in concert with Lord PALMERSTON. While that gentleman kept back _for three weeks_ dispatches, which, if published, would have had the immediate effect of establishing a peaceful feeling, his Hebrew accomplices bought literally right and left of securities of every kind. Grand pickings they had; everything had tumbled down. England was roused by the _Times_ to a fury; a feeling of fierce injury was excited in this country, which an age will not now allay; and right in the midst of this, when one word might have changed the whole, the official ministerial organ _explicitly denied the existence of those 'peace' dispatches_ which have since come to light!

Let us anticipate some of the results of this precious Palmerston-Hebrew-_Times_ swindle.

It has cost England twenty millions of dollars.

It has aroused such a feeling in this country against England as no one can remember.

It has effectually killed the American market for English goods, and put the tariff up to prohibition _en permanence_.

It has, by doing this, struck the most deadly blow at English prosperity which history has ever witnessed; for all that was needed to stimulate American industry up to the pitch of competing with England in foreign markets was such a prohibitory tariff as would compel us to manufacture for ourselves what we formerly bought.

Who will say now that a republic does not work as well as a monarchy?

* * * * *

We have read with pleasure a recently written and extensively republished article by SINCLAIR TOUSEY, of New York, condemnatory of the proposed stamp tax, and in which we most cordially concur; not because it is a tax materially affecting the interests of publishers, but because, as Mr. TOUSEY asserts, the diffusion of knowledge among the people is a powerful element of strength _in government itself_. In these times, it is essential, far more than during peace, that the newspaper should circulate very freely, stimulating the public, aiding government and the war, and keeping the mind of the country in living union. Nothing would more rapidly produce a torpor--and there is too much torpor now--than a measure which would have the effect of killing off perhaps one half of the country press, the great mass of which is barely able to live as it is. 'Let the press be as free as possible. Let it be free from onerous taxation, and left unfettered by special duties to do its just work.' This is a war for freedom, and the test of freedom is a free press.

* * * * *

We are indebted to a valued correspondent in Illinois for the following communication, setting forth the state of affairs in Southern Missouri during the past summer. Few of our readers are ignorant that since that time the region in question has been 'harried and shorn' even to desolation by the brigands of Secessia.

In conversing lately with Dr. R., who fled for his life, last
July, from Ripley County, Southern Missouri, I collected some
information which may not be unacceptable to your readers.

Dr. R. states that early last summer the citizens of Southern
Missouri began gathering into companies of armed men opposed to
the general government, and that it was a fear that the general
government would not protect their lives and property which
induced great numbers of really Union men to take sides with the
rebels. They saw their country thronging with secession soldiers;
were told it was the will of the State government that they enlist
for the protection of the State: if they did not do this
voluntarily, they would be drafted; and all drafted ones would in
camp take a subordinate position, have to perform the cooking and
washing, in short, all the drudgery for those who volunteered.
This falsehood drove hundreds of the ignorant Missourians into the
rebel ranks. Captain LOWE, afterwards Col. LOWE, who was killed at
the battle of Fredericktown, was the recruiting officer in Ripley
and its adjoining counties. He arrested Dr. R. on the 4th of July,
on a charge of expressing sentiments 'dangerous to the welfare of
the community.' Dr. R. was tried by a court-martial, in presence
of the three hundred soldiers then assembled. Witnesses against
the Doctor were produced, but he was not allowed time to summon
witnesses in his behalf, nor to procure counsel. One novel
circumstance in the trial was occasioned by the absence of any
justice of the peace to administer the usual oath to the
witnesses. None were procurable, from the fact that all had
resigned, refusing to act officially under a government they had
repudiated. In this dilemma the prisoner came to their relief.
'Gentlemen, I am a justice of the peace, as most of you already
know, and, as I have not yet resigned, I will swear in the
witnesses for you.' 'Wall, I reckon he kin act as justice afore
he's convicted,' suggested one of the crowd. So the Doctor
administered the oath in the usual solemn manner. This
self-possession and fearlessness seemed to have an effect on his
judges, for, after the testimony, he was permitted to
cross-question the witnesses and plead his own cause. He was able
to neutralize some of the charges against him. The jury, after an
absence of fifteen minutes, returned verdict that 'as there was
nothing proved against the prisoner which would make him dangerous
to the community, he was permitted to be discharged. But,' added
the foreman, 'I am instructed by the committee to say they believe
Dr. R. to be a Black Republican, and to tell him that if he wants
to utter Black Republican sentiments, he has got to go somewhere
else to do it.' It was well known the Doctor had voted for
DOUGLAS. But here followed an animated conversation between the
prisoner and LOWE'S men as to what constituted Black
Republicanism; the result of which was, as the Doctor turned to
depart, Captain LOWE informed him he was re-arrested!

By the influence of some of the soldiers, the prisoner succeeded
next day in effecting his escape. Traveling by night and
concealing himself by day, he finally reached the federal lines in
safety. His family were not permitted to follow him, and did not
succeed in eluding the vigilance of their enemies and joining him
until the middle of January. When a Union man escapes them, the
rebels are always opposed to the removal of his wife and children,
as, by retaining them, they hope to get the husband and father
again into their hands. And, as all communication by letter is cut
off, many a man, during the last six months, has stolen back to
see his family at the risk of his life, and lost it.

Dr. R. was the first man arrested in Ripley County; but LOWE
immediately began a lively persecution of suspected Unionists.
Some escaped with life, their enemies being satisfied with
scourging and plundering them, but scores were hung. LOWE'S
soldiers furnished and equipped themselves by robbing Union houses
and the country stores.

Many suspected Union men shielded themselves by denouncing others,
giving information of the property of others, and being forward in
insulting and quartering lawless soldiers upon defenceless
families. So that, Dr. R. states, there are created between
neighbors, all through that section, feuds which will never cease
to exist. Many a man has suffered family wrongs from his neighbor
which he thirsts to go back to revenge, which he swears yet to
revenge, and which he feels nothing but the blood of the offender
can revenge! And should peace be declared to-morrow, a social war
would still exist in Missouri!

People dwelling in the free States, where the schoolhouse is not
abolished, where the laws still live and restrain, can have no
conception of the state of society where the whole community has
returned suddenly to savage life; a life wherein the reaction from
a former restraint renders the viciously disposed far more
intensely barbarous than his red brother of the plain.

LOWE'S men, and all similarly recruited by order of ex-Governor
JACKSON, remained in service six months, and were to be paid in
State scrip. But as that was worthless, they never received
anything in rations, clothing, or money, but what they plundered
from their fellow-citizens. Many of these state rights soldiers
have since enlisted in the Confederate army; but Confederate paper
being fifty per cent. below par, and not rising, the legitimate
pay of the Southern soldier is likely to be small.

In Northern Arkansas, all males between fifteen and forty-five
years of age have been ordered to be ready for the Confederate
service when called upon. This has caused a fear of failure in
next year's crops from scarcity of men in that section. There is
great suffering among them now. Salt rose to $25 a sack. The
authorities prohibited the holders from charging more than $12,
the present price. Pins are $1.50 per paper; jeans $5 per yard;
and everything else in proportion.

One word in comment. Every additional fact of the deplorable
condition of things in the slave States is an additional reason
why the North should firmly meet the cause of this misery. If the
North should have the manhood to strike a blow at slavery _now_,
still a generation must pass before harmony would ensue; but if
the North _evades and dallies_, scores of generations must live
and die before America sees unbroken peace again.

* * * * *

While the war goes on, the contrabands go off. A writer in the Norfolk _Day Book_ complains that slaves are escaping from that city in great numbers, asserting that they get away through the instrumentality of _secret societies_ in Norfolk, which hold their meetings weekly, and in open day. No one can doubt that this war is clearing the Border of its black chattels in double-quick time. Why not strike boldly, and secure it by offering to pay all its loyal slave-holders for their property? Of one thing, let the country rest assured--the friends of Emancipation will not brook much longer delay. It MUST and SHALL be carried through,--_and we are strong enough to do it_.

* * * * *

Thurlow Weed grows apace, and occasionally writes a good thing from London--as, for instance, in the following:--

At breakfast, a few days since, a distinguished member of
Parliament, who has been much in America, remarked, with emphasis,
that he had formerly entertained a high opinion of 'JUDGE LYNCH,'
looking with much favor upon that species of impromptu
jurisprudence known as 'Lynch law,' but since it failed to hang
FLOYD, COBB and THOMPSON, of BUCHANAN'S cabinet, he had ignored
and was disgusted with the system.

What would the distinguished member have said had he been familiar with the Catiline steamer case, the mysteries of shoddy contracts, the outfitting of the Burnside expedition, and innumerable other rascalities? The gentleman was right,--Lynch law has proved a failure; and, if we err not, another kind of law has of late months been not very far behind it in inefficiency. Our Southern foes have at least one noble trait--they hang their rascals.

* * * * *

'_Non dum_,' 'not yet,' was the motto of a great king, who, when the time came, shook Europe with his victories. 'Not yet,' says the Christian, struggling through trial and temptation towards the peace which passeth understanding and a heavenly crown. 'Not yet,' says the brave reformer, fighting through lies and petty malice, and all the meanness of foes lying in wait, ere he can convince the world that he is in the right. 'Not yet,' says the soldier, as he marches his weary round, waiting to be relieved, and musing on the battle and the war for which he has pledged his life and his honor--and they are a world to _him_. 'Not yet,' says every great man and woman, laying hands to every noble task in time, which is to roll onward in result into eternity. Wait, wait, thou active soul,--even in thy most vigorous activity let thy work be one of waiting, and of great patience in thy fiercest toil. There will come a day of triumph, when the fresh wind will banish the heat, and fan the laurel on thy brow. Such is the true moral of the following lyric:--

FALLEN.

BY EDWARD S. RAND.

Blow gently, Oh ye winter winds,
Along the ferny reaches,
Nor whirl the yellow leaves which cling
Upon the saddened beeches;
And gently breathe upon the hills
Where spring's first violets perished,--
Died like the budding summer hopes
Our hearts too fondly cherished.

Oh memory, bring not back the past,
To brim our cup of sorrow;
The drear to-day creeps on to bring
A drearier to-morrow.
Can streaming eyes and aching hearts
Glow at the battle's story,
Or they who stake their all and lose
Exult in fame and glory?

Oh, lay them tenderly to rest,
Those for their country dying,--
Let breaking hearts and trembling lips
Pour the sad dirge of sighing.
Yet louder than the requiem raise
The song of exultation,
That the great heritage is ours
_To die to save the nation_.

In patience wait, nor think that yet
Shall Right and Freedom perish,
Nor yet Oppression trample down
The heritage we cherish!
For still remember, precious things
Are won by stern endeavor,--
Though in the strife our heart-strings break,
The Right lives on forever.

* * * * *

When you write let your chirography be legible. Strive not overmuch after beauty of finish, make not your _a_'s like unto _u_'s or your _o_'s like _v_'s; let not your heart be seduced by the loveliness of flourishes, and be not tempted of long-tailed letters. Above all, write your own name distinctly,--which is more than many do, and much more than was done by the gentleman described in the following letter from a kindly correspondent:--

MADISON, WIS.

DEAR CONTINENTAL:

The holder of any considerable quantity of Wisconsin currency is
liable not only to the occasional loss consequent upon the
absquatulation of a tricksy wild-cat, but also to great perplexity
as to the name of the gentleman who countersigns the bills. These
inscrutable counter-signatures are accomplished by ROBERT MENZIES,
our excellent Deputy Bank Comptroller. His cabalistic 'R. Menzies'
does not greatly resemble a well-executed specimen of copperplate
engraving. The initial 'R' is always plain enough, but the
'Menzies' is sometimes read Moses, and sometimes Muggins, and is
always liable to be translated Meazles.

Mr. MENZIES is a Scotchman, brimful of Caledonian lore and
enthusiasm. His penmanship is not always so sublimely obscure as
his performances on bank-paper would indicate; but in its best
estate it is capable of sometimes more than one reading. Witness
the following instance: In the winter of 1858 and '9, Mr. MENZIES
delivered a very interesting lecture, before a literary society,
in Prairie du Chien; subject, THE SONG-WRITERS OF SCOTLAND. Mr. M.
not residing at Prairie du Chien, the lecture was, of course, the
subject of a preliminary correspondence. At the meeting of the
society next previous to the one when the lecture was delivered,
Elder BRUNSON, the president, announced that he had received a
letter from Mr. MENZIES, accepting the invitation to lecture
before the society, and naming as the subject of his lecture 'THE
LONG WINTERS or SCOTLAND.'

* * * * *

Readers who are afflicted with the isothermal doctrine may experience some benefit from the perusal of a letter for which we are indebted to a friend not very far 'out West:'--

SPRINGFIELD, MASS.

DEAR CONTINENTAL:

I have a friend who would be sound on the goose, as I verily
believe, and a patriotic anti-Jeff Davis platform Emancipator, if
he hadn't unfortunately picked up a fine learned word. That word
is

ISOTHERMAL.

And that word he carries about as a hen carries a boiled
potato--something too big to swallow but nice to peck at. And he
pecks at it continually.

'I could admit that the slaves should be free,' he says, 'but then
nature, you know, has fixed an isothermal line. She has
isothermally deemed that south of that line the black is
isothermally fitted to isothermalize or labor according to the
climate as a slave.'

'Good,' I replied. 'So you admit that all anthropological
characteristics as developed by climate are quite right?'

[He liked that word 'anthropological,' and assented.]

'Good again. Well, then, you must admit that to judge by
statistics there is an isothermal line of unchastity, or "what
gods call gallantry," and further north, one of drunkenness? How
much morality is there in a tropical climate? How many temperate
men to the dozen in Scandinavia or Russia?'

My isothermalist attempted a weak parry, but failed. When he
recovers I will inform you.

YOURS TRULY.

P.S. I am preparing a series of tables by which I hope to prove
the existence of the following isothermalities:

A Lager-beer line.
A Tobacco-chewing line.
A reading of TUPPER and COVENTRY PATMORE line.
A CREAM CHEESE line.
A Doughface line.
And a Clothes line.

* * * * *

We are indebted to R. WOLCOTT for the following sketch of War Life:--

'TAKEN PRISONER.'