scene upon the stage. In all the experi- | through a most exposed position, returned ence which I have had of war, I never saw the most experienced and veteran soldier exhibit more tranquil fortitude and unshaken valor than was exhibited by that young man. I was concerned at the needless risk which he invited, and told one of my aids to order him in our rear. Presently, all my aids had left me, on one service and another; whereupon, turning to give an order, I found no one but this young stranger at my side. I then asked him if he would oblige me by bearing a dispatch to General McClellan, and by acting as my aid, until some of my staff should come up. He rode off with alacrity, with the answer, and served me as an aid through the remainder of the fight, till I was carried from the ground." "His name, General?" asked Mr. Wilkes. "He was a young man, recently from college, named George W. Smalley, and I am writing to him now." No one will regard General Hooker's opinion of Mr. Smalley as any too high. Similar, too, in descriptive ability and power, was the war correspondence of such men as Knox, Richardson, Conyingham, Coffin, Browne, Taylor, Bickham, Crounse, Colburn, Davis, Reid, and some others. LXV. PROCLAMATION OF EMANCIPATION, AS A WAR MEASURE, BY PRESIDENT LINCOLN.-1863. More than Three Millions, in Bondage at the South, Declared Forever Free.-Most Important American State Paper Since July 4th, 1776.-Pronounced, by the President, "the Great Event of the Nineteenth Century."-The Whole System of Slavery Finally Swept from the Republic, by Victories in the Field and by Constitutional Amendments.-Mr. Lincoln's Views on Slavery.-Opposed to all Unconstitutional Acts.-His Orders to Union Generals.-Prohibits the Arming of Negroes.— Alarming Progress of Events.-The Great Exigency at Last -Slavery versus the Union.-Solemn and Urgent Alternative-Emancipation Under the War Power.-Preparation of the Great Document. -Its Submission to the Cabinet.-Opinions and Discussions-Singular Reason for Delay.-Mr. Lincoln's Vow to God.-Waiting for a Union Triumph.-Decided by the Battle of Antietam.-Final Adoption of the Measure.-Mr. Carpenter's Admirable Narrative.-Public Reception of the Proclamation.-Promulgation at the South.-Scenes of Joy Among the Freedmen.-Enfranchisement Added to Freedom. "And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution, upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God."-THE PROCLAMATION. EALOUSLY cherishing the humane personal wish, "that all men everywhere might be free,"-as expressed by himself in one of his most memorable political letters,-and inflexibly objecting to the introduction of slavery into the new national territories, President Lincoln, nevertheless, on every occasion avowed his opposition to all unconstitutional measures of interference with that system, as it existed in the States of the South. Only under the stupendous exigency precipitated upon him and upon the country, by the war inaugurated at Fort Sumter, and now carried on with such direful loss of blood and treasure for two long years, for the destruction of the Union, did he avail himself of the high and solemn prerogative of his position, as the sworn protector and defender of the nation, to decree, substantially, the utter extinction of slavery throughout all the borders of the land. It was a war measure, done "upon military necessity," and in the grave performance of which President Lincoln said: "I could not feel that, to the best of my ability, I had even tried to preserve the Constitution, if, to preserve slavery, or any minor matter, I should permit the wreck of government, country, and constitution altogether. When, early in the war, General Fremont attempted military emancipation, I forbade it, because I did not then think it an indispensable necessity. When, a little later, General Cameron, then secretary of war, suggested the arming of the blacks, I objected, because I did not yet think it an indispensable necessity. When, still later, General Hunter attempted military emancipation, I again forbade it, because I did not yet think the indispensable necessity had come. When, in March and May and July, 1862, I made earnest and successive appeals to the border states to favor compensated emancipation, I believed the indispensable necessity for military emancipation and arming the blacks would come, unless averted by that measure. They declined the proposition; and I was, in my best judgment, driven to the alternative of either surrendering the Union, and with it the Constitution, or of laying strong hand upon the colored element. I chose the latter." It will thus be seen that, so far from being rash or aggressive in his anti-slavery policy, he favored no step in that direction, until driven to it as a last and remediless alternative, from which there seemed no possible escape. Millia 18 Sewn Singularly enough, this great measure -involving as mighty a moral, social, and political revolution as was ever accomplished in any age or in any country-was distinctly expounded and foreshadowed by John Quincy Adams, in a remarkable debate which took place in the lower house of congress, in 1842, and in the course of which he said: "I believe that, so long as the slave states are able to sustain their institutions, without going abroad or calling upon other parts of the Union to aid them or act on the subject, so long I will consent never to interfere. I have said this; and I repeat it; but, if they come to the free states and say to them, 'You must help us to keep down our slaves, you must aid us in an insurrection and a civil war,' then I say that, with that call, comes a full and plenary power to this house, and to the senate, over the whole subject. It is a war power; I say it is a war power; and when your country is actually in war, whether it be a war of invasion or a war of insurrection, congress has power to carry on the war, and must carry it on according to the laws of war; and, by the laws of war, an invaded country has all its laws and municipal institutions swept by the board, and martial law takes the place of them. This power in congress has, perhaps, never been called into exercise under the present constitution of the United States. when the laws of war are in force, what, I ask, is one of those laws? It is this: that when a country is invaded, and two hostile armies are set in martial array, the commanders of both armies have power to emancipate all the slaves in the invaded territory." In proof of the correctness of his assertion, Mr. Adams cited the wellknown historical case of the abolition of slavery in Colombia, first by Murillo, the Spanish general, and subsequently by Bolivar, the American general, in each case as a military act, and observed and maintained to this day. But, Though the great American Proclamation of Emancipation did not appear until January 1, 1863, President Lincoln's mind had for some months previously been drifting in the direction of some such act. As he himself expressed it, everything was going wrong-the nation seemed to have put forth about its utmost efforts, and he really didn't know what more to do, unless he did this. Accordingly, he prepared a preliminary proclamation, nearly in the form in which it subsequently appeared, called the cabinet together, and read it to them, with the following result, as reported: Mr. Montgomery Blair was startled. "If you issue that proclamation, Mr. President," he exclaimed, "you will lose every one of the fall elections." Mr. Seward, on the other hand, said, "I approve of it, Mr. President, just as it stands. I approve of it in principle, and I approve the policy of issuing it. I only object to the time. Send it out now, on the heels of our late disasters, and it will be construed as the convulsive struggle of a drowning man. To give it proper weight, you should reserve it until after some victory." The president assented to Mr. Seward's view, and held the document in reserve. It appeared to the president, that Mr. Seward's opinion was of great wisdom and force. Perhaps no account of this most memorable event can be said to equal, in reliability and graphic interest, that which is furnished by Mr. F. B. Carpenter, in his reminiscences of "Six Months at the White House," while employed there in Edurmm Stanton executing that unrivaled masterpiece of American historical painting-the Proclamation of Emancipation - which, by universal consent, has placed Mr. Carpenter's name second to none on the roll of eminent modern artists. Enjoying, too, as he did, the most intimate personal relations with the author of that proclamation, the information which he thus obtained from the president's own lips, as to its origin, discussion, and final adoption, must forever be the source from which, on this subject, all historians must draw. secretary of state in regard to the effect of issuing such a proclamation at such a time, impressed Mr. Lincoln very strongly. "It was an aspect of the case that"-said President Lincoln to Mr. Carpenter,-" in all my thought upon the subject, I had entirely overlooked. The result was that I put the draft of the proclamation aside, as you do your sketch for a picture, waiting for a victory. From time to time I added or changed a line, touching it up here and there, anxiously watching the progress of events. Well, the next news we had was of Pope's disaster at Bull Run. Things looked darker than ever. Finally, came the week of the battle of Antietam. I determined to wait no longer. The news came, I think, on Wednesday, that the advantage was on our side. I was then staying at the Soldiers' Home (three miles out of Washington). Here I finished writing the second draft of the preliminary proclamation; came up on Saturday; called the cabinet together to hear it, and it was published the following Monday." At the final meeting of September 20th, another incident occurred in connection with Secretary Seward. The president had written the important part of the proclamation in these words: "That, on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever FREE; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom." "When I finished reading this paragraph," resumed Mr. Lincoln, "Mr. Seward stopped me, and said, 'I think, Mr. President, that you should insert after the word "recognize," in that sentence, the words "and maintain."' I replied that I had As already stated, the opinion of the already considered the import of that ex pression in this connection, but I had not | bany, N. Y., in 1864; it is in the proper to improve a man's chirography." Then changing his tone, he added: "The south had fair warning, that if they did not return to their duty, I should strike at this piliar of their strength. The promise must now be kept, and I shall never recall one word." The original draft of the proclamation | three hours' hand-shaking is not calculated was written upon one side of four halfsheets or official foolscap. "He flung down upon the table one day for me," continues Mr. Carpenter, "several sheets of the same, saying, 'There, I believe, is some of the very paper which was used-if not, it was, at any rate just like it.'" The original draft is dated September 22, 1862, and was presented to the Army Relief Bazaar, at Al In answer to a question from Mr. Carpenter, as to whether the policy of eman |