renewed by the United States in 1861 and 1862, under circumstances and with features of aggravated wrong without precedent in history."

He complained also that the neutrality of Europe had in other respects been rather nominal than real. With respect to the Emancipation measure of President Lincoln, he said:

"We may well leave it to the instincts of that common humanity which a beneficent Creator has implanted in the breasts of our fellow-men of all countries to pass judgment on a measure by which several millions of human beings of an inferior racepeaceful and contented labourers in their sphere-are doomed to extermination, while at the same time they are encouraged to a general assassination of their masters by the insidious recommendation to abstain from violence unless in necessary selfdefence.' Our own detestation of those who have attempted the most execrable measure recorded in the history of guilty man is tempered by profound contempt for the impotent rage which it discloses. So far as regards the action of this Government on such criminals as may attempt its execution, I confine myself to informing you that I shall-unless in your wisdom deem some other course more expedient-deliver to the several States' authorities all commissioned officers of the United States that may hereafter be captured by our forces in any of the States embraced in the proclamation, that they may be dealt with in accordance with the laws of those States providing for the punishment of criminals engaged in exciting servile insurrection. The enlisted soldiers I shall continue to treat as unwilling instruments in the commission of these crimes, and shall direct their discharge and return to their homes on the proper and usual parole.

you

"In its political aspect this measure possesses great significance, and to it in this light I invite your attention. It affords to our whole people the complete and crowning proof of the true nature of the designs of the party which elevated to power the present occupant of the presidential chair at Washington, and which sought to conceal its purposes by every variety of artful device, and by the perfidious use of the most solemn and repeated pledges on every possible occasion. I extract, in this connexion, as a single example, the following declaration, made by President Lincoln under the solemnity of his oath as chief magistrate of the United States, on the 4th of March, 1861:-'Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the Southern States that by the accession of a Republican Administration their property and their peace and personal security are to be endangered. There has never been any reasonable cause for such apprehensions. Indeed, the most ample evidence to the contrary has all the while existed and been open to their inspection. It is found in nearly all the public speeches of him who now addresses you. I do but quote from one of those speeches when I declare that I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery

in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so. Those who nominated and elected me did so with full knowledge that I had made this and many similar declarations, and had never recanted them."

The message concluded thus:

"The fate of the Confederacy, under the blessing of Divine Providence, depends upon the harmony, energy, and unity of the States. It especially devolves on you, their representatives, as far as practicable, to reform abuses, to correct errors, to cultivate fraternity, and to sustain in the people a just confidence in the Government of their choice. To that confidence and to the unity and self-sacrificing patriotism hitherto displayed is due the success which has marked the unequal contest, and has brought our country into a condition at the present time such as the most sanguine would not have ventured to predict at the commencement of our struggle. Our armies are larger, better disciplined, and more thoroughly armed and equipped than at any previous period of the war; the energies of a whole nation, devoted to the single object of success in this war, have accomplished marvels, and many of those trials have by a beneficent Providence been converted into blessings. The magnitude of perils which we encountered have developed the true qualities and illustrated the heroic character of our people, thus gaining for the Confederacy from its birth a just appreciation from the other nations of the earth. The injuries resulting from the interruption of foreign commerce have received compensation by the developments of our internal resources. Cannon crown our fortresses that were cast from the proceeds of mines opened and furnaces built during the war. Our mountain caves yield much of the nitre for the manufacture of powder, and promise increase of product. From our own foundries and laboratories, from our own armouries and workshops, we derive, in a great measure, the warlike material, the ordnance and ordnance stores, which are expended so profusely in the numerous and desperate engagements that rapidly succeed each other. Cotton and woollen fabrics, shoes and harness, waggons and gun carriages, are produced in daily increasing quantities by the factories springing into existence. Our fields, no longer whitened by cotton that cannot be exported, are devoted to the production of cereals and the growth of stock formerly purchased with the proceeds of cotton. In the homes of our noble and devoted women-without whose sublime sacrifices our success would have been impossible-the noise of the loom and the spinning-wheel may be heard throughout the land.

"With hearts swollen with gratitude, let us, then, join in returning thanks to God, and in beseeching the continuance of His protecting care over our cause, and the restoration of peace, with the manifold blessings to our beloved country."

An unsuccessful attempt was made by the French Government,

in January, to bring about a negotiation between the belligerents. M. Drouyn de Lhuys addressed a letter to M. Mercier, the French Minister at Washington, in which he said:

"Assuredly, sir, recourse to the good offices of one or several Powers contains nothing incompatible with the pride so legitimate to a great nation, and means purely international are not those alone which furnish examples of the useful character of mediation. We flatter ourselves, besides, that in proffering to place ourselves at the disposal of the belligerent parties to facilitate between them negotiations, the basis of which we abstain from prejudging, we have manifested to the patriotism of the United States all the consideration to which it is entitled, now perhaps still more than ever, after such new proof of moral force and energy. We are none the less ready, amid the wishes which we form in favour of peace, to take into account all the susceptibilities of national feeling, and we do not at all question the right of the Federal Government to decline the co-operation (concours) of the great maritime Powers of Europe. But this co-operation, is it not the only means which offers itself to the Cabinet of Washington to hasten the close of the war? and if it believes that it ought to repel any foreign intervention, could it not honourably accept the idea of direct (pourparlers) informal conferences with the authority which may represent the States of the South? .... Nothing, therefore, would hinder the Government of the United States, without renouncing the advantage which it believes it can attain by the continuation of the war, from entering upon informal conferences with the Confederates of the South, in case they should show themselves disposed thereto. Representatives or commissioners of the two parties could assemble at such point as it should be deemed proper to designate, and which could for this purpose be declared neutral. Reciprocal complaints would be examined into at this meeting. In place of the accusations which North and South mutually cast upon each other at this time would be submitted an argumentative discussion of the interests which divide them. . . . Persuaded on our part that it is in conformity with their true interests, we do not hesitate to recommend it to their attention, and not having sought in the project of a mediation of the maritime Powers of Europe any vain display of influence, we would applaud, with entire freedom from all susceptibilities of self-esteem, the opening of a negotiation which would invite the two populations to discuss, without the co-operation of Europe, the solution of their differences."

Mr. Seward, however, declined the proposal, and said: "If it were possible for the Government of the United States to compromise the national authority so far as to enter into such debates, it is not easy to perceive what good results could be obtained by them. The commissioners must agree in recommending either that the Union shall stand or that it shall be voluntarily dissolved, or else they must leave the vital question unsettled to

abide at least the fortunes of the war. The Government has not shut out knowledge of the present temper of, any more than of the past purposes of, the insurgents. There is not the least ground to suppose that the controlling actors would be persuaded at this moment, by any arguments which a National Commissioner could offer, to forego the ambition that has impelled them to the disloyal position they are occupying. . . . It is true, indeed, that peace must come some time, and that conferences must attend, if they are not allowed to precede, the pacification. There is, however, a better form for such conferences than the one which M. Drouyn de Lhuys suggests. The latter would be palpably in derogation of the Constitution of the United States, and would carry no weight, because destitute of the sanction necessary to bind either the loyal or disloyal portions of the people. On the other hand, the Congress of the United States furnishes a constitutional forum for debates between the alienated parties: Senators and representatives of the discontented party who may be continually sent there from the States involved in the insurrection. Moreover, the conferences which can thus be held in Congress have this great advantage over any other that could be organized on the plan of M. Drouyn de Lhuys-viz.: that Congress, if it thought wise, could call a National Convention to adopt its recommendations, and give them all the solemnity and binding force of organic law."

In the course of an investigation by a Court of Inquiry, which was assembled at Washington for the purpose of determining on whose shoulders the blame of the repeated failures of the grand army of the Potomac ought to rest, a curious letter from President Lincoln to General McClellan was brought to light and read to the Court. It was dated April 9, 1862, and in it the President said:

"And now allow me to ask you, if you really think I could permit the line from Richmond via Manassas Junction to this city to be entirely open, except what resistance could be presented by less than 20,000 unorganized troops? This is a question which the country will not allow me to evade. There is a curious mystery about the number of troops now with you. I telegraphed you on the 6th, saying that you had over 100,000 with you. I had just obtained from the Secretary of War a statement taken, as he said, from your own returns, making 108,000 then with you and en route to you. You now say you will have but 85,000 when all en route to you shall have reached you. How can this discrepancy of 35,000 be accounted for? As to General Wool's command, I understand that it is doing precisely what a like number of your own would have to do if that command was away. I suppose the whole force which has gone forward to you is with you by this time; and, if so, I think it is the precise time for you to strike a blow. By delay, the enemy will readily gain on you; that is, he will gain faster by fortifications and reinforcements

than you can by reinforcements alone. And once more let me tell you, it is indispensable to you that you strike a blow. I am powerless to help.'

The financial position of the Federal States at the beginning of the year was thus described by Mr. Robert J. Walker, who formerly filled the post of Secretary of the Treasury under President Polk:

"Our national finances are involved in extreme peril. Our public debt exceeds $720,000,000, and is estimated by the Secretary of the Treasury, on the 1st of July next, at $1,122,297,403, and on the 1st of July, 1864, at $1,744,685,586. When we reflect that this is nearly one-half the debt of England, and bearing almost double the rate of interest, it is clear that we are approaching a fatal catastrophe. Nor is this the most alarming symptom. Gold now commands a premium of 32 per cent., as compared with legal-tender Treasury notes, and with largely augmented issues must rise much higher, with a corresponding increase of our debt and expenditure. Indeed, should the war continue, and there be no other alternative than additional Treasury notes, they will, before the close of the next fiscal year, fail to command 40 cents on the dollar in gold, and our debt exceed several billions of dollars. This would result from an immense redundancy and depreciation of currency, and from the alarm created here and in Europe as to the maintenance of the Union and the ultimate solvency of the Government. Indeed, our enemies, at home and abroad, the rebels, and their allies in the North and in Europe, already announce impending national bankruptcy and repudiation, and there are many devoted patriots who fear such a catastrophe. That the danger is imminent is a truth which must not be disguised. Here lies the great peril of the Government. It is not the rebel armies that can ever overthrow the Union. It is the alarming increase of the public debt and expenditure, and the still more appalling depreciation of the national currency, that most imperil the great Republic. . . We are upon the verge of ruin. We are hanging over the gulf of an irredeemable paper system, and its spectral shade, repudiation, is seen dimly in the dark abyss. The present Congress may save us; but what of the next? Would they, if they could? Who can answer? Can they, if they would? No! no! It will then be too late '."

The following are the particulars of the Public Debt outstanding January 2, 1863