to ask to be relieved; if he shall understand he will be generously treated; and, on this latter point, Grant Brown will help his nomination as a major-general through the Senate. In no other way can he be confirmed; and upon his rejection alone it would be difficult for me to sustain him as commander of the department. Besides, his being relieved from command of the department, and at the same time confirmed as a majorgeneral will be the means of Henderson and Brown leading off together as friends, and will go far to heal the Missouri difficulty. Another point. I find it is scarcely less than indispensable for me to do something for General Rosecrans; and I find Henderson and Brown will agree to him for the commander of their department.

25th. (To Bayard Taylor.) I think a good lecture or two on Serfs, Serfdom, and Emancipation in Russia would be both interesting and valuable. Could not you get up such a thing?

1864

January 7th. The case of Andrews (a deserter) is really a very bad one, as appears by the record already before me. Yet before receiving this I had ordered his punishment commuted to imprisonment for during the war at hard labor, and had so telegraphed. I did this, not on any merit in the case, but because I am trying to evade the butchering business lately.

16th. (To Crosby and Nichols.) The number of this month and year of the North American Review was duly received, and for which please accept my thanks. Of course, I am not the most impartial judge; yet, with due allowance for this, I venture to hope that the article entitled "The President's Policy" will be of value to the country. I fear I am not quite worthy of all which is therein kindly said of me personally.

The sentence of twelve lines, commencing at the top of pages 252, I could wish to be not exactly as it is. In what is there expressed, the writer has not correctly understood me. I have never had a theory that secession could absolve States or people from their obligations. Precisely the contrary is asserted in the inaugural address; and it was because of my belief in the continuation of these obligations that I was puzzled, for a time, as to denying the legal rights of those citizens who remained individually innocent of treason or rebellion. But I mean no more now than to merely call attention to this point.

20th. (To General J. J. Reynolds.) It would appear by the accompanying papers that Mrs. Mary E. Morton is the

owner, independently of her husband, of a certain building, premises, and furniture which she, with her children, has been occupying and using peaceably during the war until recently, when the Provost-Marshal has, in the name of the United States Government, seized the whole of said property, and ejected her from it. It also appears by her statement to me that her husband went off in the rebellion at the beginning, wherein he still remains.

It would seem that this seizure has not been made for any military object, as for a place of storage, a hospital, or the like, because this would not have required the seizure of the furniture, and especially not the return of furniture previously taken away.

The seizure must have been on some claim of confiscation, a matter of which the courts, and not the provost-marshals or other military officers, are to judge. In this very case would probably be the questions, "Is either the husband or wife a traitor?" "Does the property belong to the husband or to the wife?" "Is the property of the wife confiscable for the treason of the husband?" and other similar questions, all which it is ridiculous for a provost-marshal to assume to decide.

The true rule for the military is to seize such property as is needed for military uses and reasons, and let the rest alone. Cotton and other staple articles of commerce are seizable for military reasons. Dwelling houses and furniture seldom are. If Mrs. Morton is playing traitor to the extent of practical injury, seize her, but leave her house to the courts. Please revise and adjust this case upon these principles.

23rd. (To Alpheus Lewis.) You have inquired how the government would regard and treat cases wherein the owners of plantations, in Arkansas, for instance, might fully recognize the freedom of those formerly slaves, and by fair contracts of hire with them, recommence the cultivation of their plantations. I answer, I should regard such cases with great favor, and

should as a principle treat them precisely as I would treat the same number of free white people in the same relation and condition. Whether white or black, reasonable effort should be made to give government protection.

February 1st. (To Secretary Stanton.) You are directed to have a transport (either a steam or sailing vessel, as may be deemed proper by the Quartermaster-General) sent to the colored colony established by the United States at the island of Vache, on the coast of San Domingo, to bring back to this country such of the colonists there as desire to return. You will have the transport furnished with suitable supplies for that purpose, and detail an officer of the Quartermaster's Department who, under special instructions to be given, shall have charge of the business. The colonists will be brought to Washington, unless otherwise hereafter directed, and be employed and provided for at the camps for colored persons around that city. Those only will be brought from the island who desire to return, and their effects will be brought with them.

Ordered, That a draft for 500,000 men, to serve for three years or during the war, be made on the 10th day of March next, for the military service of the United States, crediting and deducting there from so many as may have been enlisted or drafted into the service prior to the 1st day of March, and not before credited.

5th. On principle I dislike an oath which requires a man. to swear he has not done wrong. It rejects the Christian principle of forgiveness on terms of repentance. I think it is enough if the man does no wrong hereafter.

17th. (To W. M. Fishback.) When I fixed a plan for an election in Arkansas I did it in ignorance that your convention was doing the same work. Since I learned the latter fact I have been constantly trying to yield my plan to theirs. I have sent two letters to General Steele, and three or four despatches