"EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, D. C., December 7, 1863.

"Reliable information being received that the insurgent force is retreating from East Tennessee, under circumstances rendering it probable that the Union forces cannot hereafter be dislodged from that important position; and esteeming this to be of high national consequence, I recommend that all loyal people do, on receipt of this information, assemble at their places of worship, and render special homage and gratitude to Almighty God for this great advancement of the National cause. A. LINCOLN."*

About this time the rebel spirit in Tennessee began more perceptibly to wain, and the Union element, which had except in a few honorable instances, remained dormant, began to awaken into active life. Public meetings were held in various parts of the State, at which Governor Johnson was usually present, urging the people to return to their allegiance. Similar meetings, as we have seen, had been gotten up, whenever practicable, by the Unionists some months previous, and the expression of public sentiment on the leading issues, to some extent, inaugurated; but this desirable means of reaching and expressing popular opinion was not so generally participated in as after the retreat of Bragg's army from the State.

Among the necessary features of his Administration was that announced in Governor Johnson's proclamation of February 20, 1863, warning all persons holding, renting, occupying or using any real or personal estate belonging to traitors or their agents, not to pay the rents, issues or profits thereof, but to retain the same until some suitable person shall have been appointed in the name and in behalf of the United States to receive it.

In a speech at Columbus, O., on the 3d of March following, feeling it incumbent, doubtless, to make some allusion to the effect of President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclama

"History of the Administration of President Lincoln." By H. J. Raymond. Derby & Miller, New York.

tion, he reiterated the spirit of his former declarations on the relations of slavery to a rebellious South, and said there were great laws and elements at work that would settle it. He did not believe the proclamation would effect the question one hair's breadth or hasten its downfall. The shortest way to destroy slavery was to let the South continue the war. The South being responsible for the war, would also be responsible for the destruction of slavery. We were carrying on this war for the preservation of the Union and the restoration of the Constitution. If negro slavery was in the way, Government must go over it. He was for the Government with slavery, and for the Government without slavery. Slavery was only an incident, and, if necessary, must give way. Slavery had always agitated the Government, and it could not be objected to if the Government should agitate it. The objection to the President's proclamation was only an excuse for those who want to build up party. There were but two parties, one for and the other against the Government. The one was composed of patriots, and the other of traitors. He predicted that the time would come when the latter will join the enemy; and he desired the prediction would be remembered.

In addition to the Governor's unremitting efforts to restore Tennessee to its former allegiance, the internal peace of Nashville, and the perplexing cares and responsi bilities of providing for the thousands of destitute refugees that daily came within the Federal lines, were all thrown upon him. His time was wholly employed, and the amount of labor performed by him in the various departments of his office was, perhaps, equal to that performed by any other one man in the United States. His whole soul was in the work; and no labor was too arduous to be undertaken, no difficulties too complicated to be surmounted. Revenues were collected and disbursed, rules and regulations for the government of the people adopted and enforced, contro

versies settled and law suits decided and adjusted, armies raised, equipped and put into the field, works of defence and internal improvements projected and carried into execution-all these, with many other matters of deep interest, for two whole years engrossed his attention and demanded his individual exertion. The wonder is that he performed so many and ever-varying engagements at all, much more, to the intense satisfaction of the loyal people of the State, and, at the same time, in a manner that gradually mellowed down the rebellious sentiment of the people, and brought back thousands to their former allegiance.

On the 26th of January, 1864, Governor Johnson issued a proclamation ordering an election, on the first Saturday in March following, for Justices of the Peace, Sheriffs, Constables, Circuit and County Court Clerks, Registers and Tax Collectors.

In obedience to this proclamation, elections were held in many of the counties and districts of the State, and the various officers designated chosen by the people. Afterwards Judges, Chancellors, Attorney-Generals, etc., were appointed, and the whole machinery of the State government again set in motion. This advanced step in the restoration of law and order to the people was partially, and in localities not infested by bands of guerrillas, quite successful.

The National Union Convention that assembled in Baltimore on the 6th June, 1864, found Governor Johnson at Nashville, in the quiet but active discharge of his duties as Brigadier General and Military Governor.

CHAPTER XVIII.

MEETING of the National Union Convention at Baltimore- The Vice Presidency Mr. Stevens, of Pennsylvania, opposes the Admission of Tennessee and Louisiana - Nomination to Vice-Presidency conceded to New York' -Ballot in the New York Delegation D. S. Dickinson in great favorHis Claims urged by Lyman Tremain - H. J. Raymond in favor of a Border State War Democrat, nominates Andrew Johnson-Remarks of Preston King, C. B. Cochrane, G. W. Curtis - Would Dickinson's Nomination eject Seward from the Cabinet? - Raymond Protests - The Purpose disavowed A Ballot in favor of Johnson - Discontent of Dickinson's Friends They determine to exclude the Border States - Preston King presses their Admission - Nomination of Johnson - Mass Meeting in Nashville - Governor Johnson's Address Ratifying the Lincoln Policy - National Topics-Aristocracy the essential Spirit of the Rebellion - Dead Slavery - Invitation to Emigrants - Traitors not Citizens - Tells Truths to Shoulderstraps Mexico - Johnson's Official Letter of Acceptance.

WHEN the National Union Convention assembled, its work so far as the nomination of a candidate for the Presidency was concerned, was already done. The people had decided that question in advance, and Mr. Lincoln was the only name mentioned. With the exception of Missouri, every State, through its delegates, gave him its undivided vote. But in regard to the candidate for Vice-President, there was no such unity of sentiment. That subject had not been canvassed, and the convention assembled in entire ignorance of the candidates that would be named. Many judicious men believed that the wisest course would be to re-nominate Mr. Hamlin, but this it was perceived by others would be to ignore entirely the claims of that very large body of Democrats who had discarded their party obligations in the presence of a national peril and had sustained the Administration in the prosecution of the war. Others looked to the policy of conceding this nomination

to the army, and sought among its officers for a suitable candidate. The delegates from Tennessee and Louisiana thought the Border States ought to be considered, but as their first anxiety was to secure the admission of those States into the Convention, which had been most vehemently resisted by Mr. Stevens, of Pennsylvania, and others, at the very outset, they deemed it wise to postpone the presentation of any claims of this kind. By general consent it seemed after a little time to be conceded that the State of New York might nominate the candidate for Vice-President and that her choice would be the choice of the Convention: and this concession seemed to have been prompted, in a large degree, by the belief that New York would present her own son, Daniel S. Dickinson, whose devotion to the country during the war had wiped out all hostile memory of his previous political course, and who was regarded as unquestionably the strongest candidate for the Vice-Presidency by the members of the Convention at large.

At the first meeting of the New York delegation on the 6th of June, the subject was canvassed in a cursory manner and an informal ballot was taken merely to ascertain the preferences of individual members. This ballot gave 28 votes for Hamlin, 16 for Dickinson, 6 for Tremain and 8 for Andrew Johnson. Of these the six votes given to Tremain were actually Dickinson votes, as were also a part of those given for Johnson. The meeting then adjourned to the next morning, and the outside canvass became animated -the friends of Mr. Dickinson being especially zealous and resolute and none opposing him on any other grounds than those of expediency. It was generally understood by the members of the Convention that there was a sharp difference of opinion in the New York Delegation, and this knowledge strengthened their purpose to await the action. of that State.

The meeting in the morning was opened by a careful,