lines or camps, except when specially ordered by the general commanding."

The general sentiment of the North was decidedly adverse to this order, as it deprived our soldiers of the aid of strong and willing hands, and excluded those from whom alone we could obtain, in many cases, valuable information respecting the movements of the enemy. Still the order met with the cordial approval of the Border States, and of all those who feared that slavery might get harm from the progress of the war. When, subsequently, the whole rebel army at Corinth escaped the outnumbering troops of Gen. Halleck, without the loss of a gun, a wagon, or a man, and our generals, who were facing them, were all left as much bewildered as if the rebels had vanished into air, no one knowing where they had gone, or where they would strike the next blow,-it was said, that had not our faithful allies, the colored men, been excluded from our lines, we should have been thoroughly informed of all their movements. The fidelity and sagacity of these, contrabands in communicating intelligence, is quite too firmly established to be questioned.

To meet the vast expenses now accruing, the President was authorized by Congress to issue a National currency of notes, of the denomination of five dollars and upward, to the amount of one hundred and fifty millions of dollars, and also to effect a loan of $500,000,000. Measures were also adopted for a direct tax, and other means of raising a revenue, to pay the interest on this sum.

Early in November, the City Council of Philadelphia presented Gen. McClellan with a sword, in testimony of their confidence in his ability, and their admiration of his conduct of the war. In a beautiful response,

he said,

"I ask you to give my warmest and deep thanks to the honorable body you represent, for this entirely unmerited compliment. I could thank you better if I thought I deserved it, but I do not feel that I do. "Nothing that I have yet accomplished would warrant this high compliment. It is for the future to determine, whether I shall realize the expectations and hopes that have been centred in me. The war can not last long. It may be desperate. I ask, in the future, forbearance, patience, and confidence. again thank you, and ask you to convey to the Council my most sincere thanks for the sword. Say to them that it will be my ambition to deserve it hereafter. I know I do not now."

I

The contrabands at Beaufort County, S. C., were a remarkably simple, confiding, docile people, in the most childish state of ignorance, as a body, imaginable. Their condition created great sympathy at the North. A society was organized for their benefit, called the "National Freedman's Relief Association." Under the auspices of this society, early in March, 1862, sixty persons were sent to aid in their material, intellectual, and spiritual elevation. Fifteen of this party were ladies, and some from families of the highest rank. There were farmers, mechanics of several kinds, teachers, several physicians, and one or two clergymen. It was a noble enterprise, and one upon which God smiled. The success which attended. these labors was wonderful. The testimony is uncontradicted, that the

freedmen were all ready to work, and that their eagerness to learn letters was insatiable.

On the 14th of March, Gen. McClellan, who had secured to a wonderful degree the confidence and affection of his soldiers, issued a very spirited address to the army of the Potomac, announcing his reasons for retaining them so long unemployed. The battle of Bull Run was fought in July, 1861. It was now March, 1862. During all this time the army of the Potomac, numbering not less than 250,000 men, had been kept inactive, save their daily drills behind their intrenchments. From their ramparts the flags of the rebels, in inferior numbers, could be seen. Washington was in a state of siege, and not a transport could ascend the river without running the gauntlet of the rebel batteries. The popular but very unsatisfactory reason which had been assigned for this long slumber was, that Virginia mud forbade the army to advance. In the following brief and spirited address, Gen. McClellan announced his reasons for thus holding the army in repose. The uneasiness of the country, daily growing more intense in view of this long slumber of eight months, rendered it necessary that some explanation should break the silence.

"Soldiers of the Army of the Potomac: For a long time I have kept you inactive, but not without a purpose. You were to be disciplined, armed and instructed. The formidable artillery you now have, had to be created. Other armies were to move and accomplish certain results. I have held you back that you might give the death-blow to the rebellion that has distracted our once happy country. The patience you have shown, and your confidence in your general are worth a dozen victories. These preliminary results are now accomplished. I feel that the patient labors of many months have produced their fruit. The army of the Potomac is now a real army, magnificent in material, admirable in discipline and instruction, excellently equipped and armed: your commanders are all that I could wish. The moment for action has arrived, and I know that I can trust in you to save our country. As I ride through your ranks I see, in your faces, the sure presage of victory. I feel that you will do whatever I ask of you. The period of inaction has passed. I will bring you now face to face with the rebels, and only pray that God may defend the right."

On the 2d of December Congress met. The President, in his message, said that he did not deem the slavery question of "vital military importance," and accordingly left it "to the more deliberate action of the Legislature." In speaking of the war, he said that he "had in every case thought it proper to keep the integrity of the Union prominent as the primary object of the contest." The Secretary of the Treasury estimated that the public debt, which, on the 1st of July, 1861, was $91,000,000, would, on the 1st of July, 1862, amount to $517,000,000. It was esti mated that the current receipts for the year would amount to $329,500,000, and the expenditure $543,000,000, leaving $200,000,000 to be provided for by loans. The Secretary of War reported that the army consisted of 660,971 men. In four months from the rebel assault upon Sumter, this number of volunteers had been raised. Such a prompt uprising of a great