THE letter quoted at the close of our last article passed into history as the "blood letting letter." Though purely personal, it was made public, published, and was, within a few days, in every hand at Washington.

Senator Powell of Kentucky brought the newspaper publication to Mr. Chandler and asked if he had written the letter, as reported. The latter anThe latter answered that, as the communication was a private one, he had kept no copy and could not vouch for its literal correctness, as published, but that the sentiments were his and he adopted it as his. Mr. Powell brought the letter before the senate, and Mr. Chandler made a vigorous speech, reaffirming the sentiment and dealing heavy blows at the enemies of the government. To the end of his career he was called upon to meet this letter. It was flaunted in the press, denounced upon the stump and quoted in the senate. Four times, in that body, it gave him opportunities to speak and excoriate his opponents, but never did he palliate it or withdraw one jot of its meaning.

Though there were many times when Mr. Chandler and Mr. Lincoln had different views as to matters of policy, they were both working honestly and devotedly for the same end, and the general confidence and esteem they had for each

other was never impaired. Lincoln was very anxious that the south should bear the whole onus of the war so clearly that all the world might know; he was anxious, too, to give time for preparation and was perhaps sometimes over-fearful of too severely taxing the public opinion of the north. Mr. Chandler was exceedingly radical and aggressive, caring as little for the fire in the rear as for the fire in the front. He was especially opposed to giving cabinet offices to men of whose loyalty there was the slightest doubt, and was one of those through whose influence the President was induced to forego his plan of tendering portfolios to James Guthrie of Kentucky and Alexander H. Stephens of Georgia. He urged the arrest of openly disloyal members of congress; was ready for confiscation, emancipation and the arming of the blacks, before Mr. Lincoln deemed the time ripe; looked with favor upon the strong policy of Fremont, while in command at St. Louis, and was, in general, more advanced in his view of the powers and the policy of the administration than was the President. With all this, Mr. Lincoln received no aid more warm and constant than that given by him.

When Fort Sumter was surrendered, on the thirteenth of April, Mr. Chandler was in Detroit. On the fifteenth the

President called for seventy-five thous and troops; on the same day Mr. Chandler wrote to Secretary Cameron that Michigan would send all the troops that could be used, and that two regiments would be ready in thirty days. The two regiments were enlisted in four days, with one hundred thousand dollars raised by subscription to equip them. Of this sum, General Cass, who had indignantly resigned from Buchanan's cabinet, gave thirty thousand dollars. Michigan sent but one three months regiment to the field, all the rest of her magnificent contribution being long

term men.

Thus at the outset, and throughout the war, Mr. Chandler's service at home was almost equal to that he performed in Washington. He gave his money freely to the cause, but did more and better, speaking and writing, exhorting the people to action and to confidence, until they caught the force of his enthusiasm, and, in the darkest days of the war, never wavered. Every Michigan soldier knew "old Zach." by name, thousands knew his face, and hundreds have him to thank for acts of kindness and words of cheer. The dustiest, raggedest blue coat applicant for his aid, had a claim to royal precedence, and they all knew that if they needed influence or money, they had but to ask him. Not the iron rule of Stanton himself could avail to delay him in such a service.

Mr. Chandler was in Washington when the First Michigan arrived, and remained there, or at the front, assisting in organization, supplying deficiencies in the

commissariat and giving other practical aid to the secretary of war. All this time he was urging a strong policy and vigorous war. He never lost confidence in the result, but he regretted that Mr. Lincoln had not called for five hundred thousand men instead of seventy-five thousand, and he knew that the short term enlistment was a mistake, as it was terribly proven to be at the battle of Bull Run.

The extra session of congress, called by the President, opened on the fourth day of July, and, on the following day, Mr. Chandler gave notice of his intention to present a bill providing for the confiscation of the property of all governors of states, members of the legislature, judges of courts and officers of the army

above the rank of lieutenant-who should take up arms against the United States, or aid or abet treason. He thought such a measure would restrain wavering persons, and aid in punishing traitors, and would reach an influential class in Washington and Baltimore, who promised and did much harm. This bill was emasculated and passed, but a year later, congress came to his views.

The extra session adjourned on the sixth of August, after having done an unprecedented amount of business, including the voting of five hundred thousand men and five hundred millions of dollars for the purposes of war.

Mr. Chandler was one of the members of Congress who joined the army of the Potomac the night before the battle of Bull Run, and the next day watched the progress of the fight. When the stampede of teamsters, sup

ernumeraries and stragglers, which "Bull Run" Russell took for a general rout, was at its height, he, with Senator Wade, and Representatives Blaxe, Riddle and Morris, sprang from their carriages and, armed with Maynard rifles and revolvers, arrested the fugitives, using actual force in some cases, and held them until a New Jersey regiment came up, hastening to the field, and turned them back. He from the first took the utmost interest in the operations of the troops in the field, and circumstances placed him, throughout the war, in a position of such intimacy with military matters, that few men in the United States knew more of the minute and inner history of the war.

Soon after the assembling of congress, in December, 1861, he offered a resolution for the appointment of a committee of three, to inquire into the disasters of Bull Run and Ball's Bluff. The resolution was so amended as to provide for a joint committee of both houses, and its scope enlarged to include the whole field of "the conduct of the war." This was the origin of the famous committee of that name. Mr. Chandler especially desired that he should not be made chairman of the committee and privately intimated to Vice-President Hamlin that Mr. Wade's appointment to that place would please him. The committee, as appointed, consisted of Senators Benjamin F. Wade, Zachariah Chandler and Andrew Johnson, and Representatives Daniel W. Gooch, John Covode, George W. Julian and Moses F. Odell. Senator Joseph A. Wright subsequently succeeded Mr. Johnson,

but retired from the senate a year later and, thenceforth, throughout the thirtyseventh congress Mr. Chandler and Mr. Wade constituted the senate branch of the committee, and both so served until the end.

When Mr. Lincoln and Secretary Cameron heard of the appointment of this committee, they were apprehensive lest it should embarrass rather than facilitate the conduct of the war. General Scott and General McClellan shared this fear. Learning of the anxiety of Mr. Lincoln, Senators Wade and Chandler called upon him and so expressed themselves as to completely relieve his mind. The committee, if composed of weak or unwise men, might have proved a ruinous agency, but it was, instead, of incalculable service. It stood between the President and war department, on the one hand, and congress on the other, preventing the interference of the latter and giving it confidence that would not else have existed. It made investigations and collected information which could not otherwise have been obtained, and placed these at the service of Mr. Lincoln and his secretary of war. It investigated the causes of disasters and means of preventing them, and contributed to the morale of the armies by hunting down cabals and disaffection, and fixing responsibility therefor. With no cumbersome machinery, it sustained the authority of the executive by the sanction of congress and promptly secured needed legislation.

The entente cordial between the committee, Mr. Lincoln, Mr. Cameron and later, Mr. Stanton, was never broken.

It is impracticable to say more of the minute work of the committee, but an important act of Mr. Chandler, to which his place as one of its members led him, cannot be passed.

When General McClellan was appointed to the command of the Army of the Potomac, the Michigan senator shared in the confidence and hope that led the President and secretary to assign him to the command. How that confidence was betrayed and that hope disappointed; how the precious months of a vast army were wasted, with a vastly inferior army within crushing distance; how thousands of valuable lives were sacrificed to the miasma of Virginia swamps, victories won and wasted by inaction-all the history of inglorious warfare with shovel and pickaxe, which, with superhuman ingenuity, denied victory to our splendid soldiers, is known, This knowledge came to the committee on the conduct of the war, sooner than to the people at large, for that committee was not deceived by the artful claque inspired by political managers and reënforced by sympathizers with secession. It became convinced that McClellan's failure was due not alone to incompetency, but to faint heartedness, and that the army was full of his

When this became evident, Mr. Chandler resolved to assail McClellan in the senate. He postponed his speech, at the request of Mr. Stanton-who entirely sympathized with the plan, until the conclusion of the current campaign, but after the battle of Malvern Hill his hands were free. He set himself deliberately to the task of collating the matter bearing upon McClellan's series of abortions, from the voluminous records of the committeee, which included immense masses of matter unknown to the people at large or to congress, and when he was prepared to support every proposition with original and credible evidence, deemed himself ready for the assault. When all was prepared, he submitted his points to a friend and then said:

"Knowing all these facts, what is my duty ?"