pretence, break up their government, and thus practically put an end to free government upon the earth. It forces us to ask, 'Is there in all republics this inherent and fatal weakness?' 'Must a government, of necessity, be too strong for the liberties of its own. people, or too weak to maintain its own existence?'"'

Lincoln was only enforcing here just such ideas of self-government as, during all his life, he had been so clearly expounding to the people; and here, too, will be seen the germ of the famous speech that he later pronounced on the field of Gettysburg. He further said, in the message from which we have been quoting, that it was a sophism, false reasoning, to say that a State may peaceably get out of the Union of the States. "The sophism," he said, "is that any State of the Union may, consistently with the national Constitution, and therefore lawfully and peacefully, withdraw from the Union without consent of the Union, or any other State. The little disguise, that the supposed right is to be exercised only for just cause, themselves to be the judges of its justice, is too thin to merit any notice. With rebellion thus sugar-coated they have. been drugging the public mind of their section for more than thirty years, and until at length they have brought many good men to a willingness to take up arms against the government the day after some assemblage of men has enacted the farcical pretence of taking their State out of the Union, who would have, could have, been brought to no such thing the day before."

Early in the struggle the rebel government sent to Europe, as envoys, James M. Mason and John Slidell. These men had been members of the United States Senate, and had left Washington at the beginning of

the war to take sides with their States. Sailing first for Cuba, the two envoys there took passage on the British packet-ship Trent for St. Thomas, a British port, intending to sail thence for England. This was on the 7th of November, 1861. On the following day, the Trent was overhauled by the United States man-ofwar San Jacinto, Captain Wilkes. He, having fired a shot across the bows of the Trent to bring her to, sent a boat alongside, and took off the two envoys and their secretaries, and carried them to Boston, where they were lodged in Fort Warren.

The demand of the British government that the envoys should be surrendered caused great delight to the rebels. There would now be war between England and the United States, and, in the commotion, their Confederacy would secure independence. In England, very few men, apparently, sympathized with the United States in its struggle to preserve the Union, and the seizure of Mason and Slidell was regarded as an insult. The London newspapers declared that the war would now be terrible; the power of England would be with the South, and the result would be the eternal division of the States.

The British demand only inflamed the indignation already aroused by the attitude of the English people. The people of the loyal States were determined that the envoys should never be surrendered. Congress passed a vote of thanks to Captain Wilkes. The Secretary of the Navy, Mr. Gideon Welles, wrote him a letter congratulating him on "the great public service" he had rendered to the country, and Mr. Stanton, who afterwards replaced Mr. Cameron as Secretary of War, cordially approved of the capture of the rebel emissaries. Secretary Seward was also opposed to

making any concession to the demands of the British government.

In the midst of all this excitement and debate, Lincoln remained thoughtful, anxious, determined. From the first he was doubtful of the lawfulness of the seizure; and, as he examined the case and studied its bearings, he became convinced that the emissaries must be given up. He was firm in the face of popular clamor and popular rage. It is difficult for those who did not feel the influence of those exciting times to realize how easy it would have been to swim with the tide and rush into a war with England, as our people were then bent on doing. Said Lincoln: "Once we fought Great Britain for doing just what Captain Wilkes has done. If Great Britain protests against this act and demands their release, we must adhere to our principles of 1812. We must give up these prisoners. Besides, one war at a time.”

Now that the world has seen and acknowledged the justice as well as the wisdom of Lincoln's position, we may well admire the courage and the sagacity with which he stood out for what was then regarded as a cowardly and ill-advised action. Give up the rebel emissaries? The thought was madness. If the proposal had come from any man but Abraham Lincoln, it would have been laughed down, no matter what was the official function of the man who made it. As it was, not a few of the more radical and violent politicians were greatly incensed against the President. Nevertheless, Secretary Seward was won over to Lincoln's view of the case, and, in a paper of singular ingenuity and skill, he gave answer to the demand of the British government. The envoys were surrendered. Great was the derision of the rebels over this act.

Great also was the wrath and humiliation of the loyal people of the North; for men were slow in arriving at the rational conclusion that Lincoln had done the Republic a service invaluable. His enemies and critics were clamorous and bitter. But, serene, confident of the strength of the position he had taken in this weighty affair, Lincoln remained silent; he waited for time to vindicate the wisdom of his course.

NEW

CHAPTER XVIII

THE SLAVERY QUESTION ARISES

EW trials of patience and sagacity now arose. The irrepressible slavery question came to the surface and would not be long disregarded. Missouri by the summer of 1861 was plunged in a state of wild disorder. Murders, neighborhood feuds, assassinations of every sort were common. The State was classed as doubtful for the Union, being overrun with Secessionists, although the local government had not declared for separation.

On the 31st of August, General Fremont, recently assigned to that region, issued a proclamation declaring Missouri to be under martial law, and that the property of all persons in a state of rebellion against the authority of the United States would be seized and confiscated, and that the slaves of such persons would be free.

These declarations fell on the people of the United States with astounding effect. In the loyal States, the people were thrilled with the thought that a heavy blow had been struck at slavery. The rebels, on the other hand, were infuriated. Up to this time, no sacrilegious hand had been laid on the time-honored right of property in slaves.

Lincoln himself was greatly distressed by this act of insubordination (for such it was) on the part of Fre