reared under its wide and gracious protection, will turn, like the viper in the fable, and poison the breast which has given him the most generous nourishment. But while we were lulled into fatal repose, the conspirators against our peace were assembled under the dome of the National Capitol. In the Congress, in the executive council, in many civil, military and maritime trusts, were the accomplices of this foul conspiracy concealed; and while enjoying the bounty of national patronage, were devising the annihilation of the common benefactor of all. The election of Abraham Lincoln as President was the signal for the opening act of the monster scheme - monstrous in its magnitude, in its motive, in its arrangement, in the defiance of every dictum of absolute or relative right. One section was aroused by menace, by casuistical argument, by appeals to local pride, and by every subtle art which bad men know so well how to use, and from which supreme wickedness does not shrink.

Their unprincipled leaders assumed with more audacity the true consequences of their theories, and began to engage earnestly in the accomplishment of their long-contemplated scheme. The President of the United States became the ready dupe of their specious deceptions. The Secretaries of the Treasury, of War, and the Interior became zealous coädjutors of the plot. The finances of the government were employed with a view to promote their secret schemes. The Secretary of War, a man of inferior ability, but of refined villainy, imported arms and munitions into the arsenals of the South, and appointed his own myrmidons to the most eminent posts of the army corps. The Secretary of the Navy, either culpable as being indifferent, or as being an accessory, disposed the maritime power, so that it should at all events be powerless to aid the government. And but for the admirable devotion of one master-mind, whose noble zeal for the salvation of his country has called forth the veneration and love of all patriot hearts but for Joseph Holt, the whole machinery of the executive would have assisted in the destruction of the nation which they governed. Yes, let us yield all honor to him who, standing alone against all that foul corruption which clustered around the White House, and in the midst of a reckless body of men who hated him, and would have exulted in his ruin, by the masterly energy of his own great mind, and the inspiration of patriotism, fearlessly contested every movement against the Union and the laws!

In the Senate of the United States, the champions of the conspiracy began to avow and defend the revolutionary maxims which they had already begun to put in practise. The doctrines of secession were audaciously advanced and secretly practised. State after State followed in startling succession the bold lead of South-Carolina; and their representatives began to retire from both Houses of Congress, not omitting the opportunity to denounce the government in malignant and treacherous anathemas. The writer was present in the Senate when the farewell speeches of the seceding members were delivered. The coarse fury of Iverson and Toombs, the passionate tirade of Clay, the drunken and ghastly jests of Wigfall, the cold, remorseless satire of Benjamin, the insidious and hypocritical appeals of Hunter and Mason, and the more calm and subtle eloquence of Jefferson Davis, celebrated the dawn of an insurrection second only in its magnitude to that of Cromwell, and more causeless and

hateful than that of Catiline against Rome. The loyal Senators were constrained to sit in silence hour after hour, under the traitorous insinuations of the enemies of the Republic. But they were not betrayed, even by so enormous a provocation, into any rash experiment or lawless act. Those who had before hoped against hope for a settlement of the great evil, now abandoned such ideas as futile, and for the first time the eyes of patriots were fairly opened to the desperate earnestness of the disaffected States. The loyalists in Congress, however, could only wait for the accession of the new executive, for the remedies which alone could heal the gigantic distemper. This was the state of our national affairs, then, when the day of inauguration approached.

Meanwhile, the personal safety of the President-elect was threatened; the malcontent politicians about the bar-rooms of Washington and Baltimore began to cast out significant hints, and plots were discovered which placed the danger of the President beyond a suspicion. Troops were ordered to the Federal city to quell any disturbance which might arise on the fourth of March. Mr. Lincoln, prudently advised, stole a march on his enemies at Baltimore, and came through the hostile city protected by the shades of night.

The great day in which Abraham Lincoln was to assume the trust, now terribly great, imposed upon him by the suffrage of the people, came at last; and many arose on that memorable morning, with many forebodings and fears, lest night-fall should close upon some stupendous calamity. In the metropolis, thousands were astir at an early hour. Troops and officers were seen passing from one point to another, and messengers galloping in all directions. Toward noon, great masses of human beings thronged the side-walks, roofs, balconies, and the vast area beneath the eastern portico of the Capitol. In the Senatechamber were gathered the most illustrious of the land. The spectacle which that scene presented must have struck every cultivated and imaginative mind which beheld it. All the interest which commonly belongs to the occasion was superadded to the special interest which was contributed by the condition of the country and the danger of the hour. The new hall of the Senate, decorated with more taste and modesty than that of the Lower House, presented its best appearance. The Senators, headed by the stately and handsome Vice-President, entered two by two in dignified procession. The judges of the Supreme Court attended, robed in their garb of office. The ambassadors of great kings and commonwealths, decorated with their orders, and brilliant with gold lace and jewels, were there to witness a ceremony surpassing in solemnity and dignity the vain pomp of their own countries.

The long and spacious galleries were crowded with an audience such as is seldom the lot of man to witness. There were gathered from all corners of ‘a great, enlightened, and prosperous empire, grace and female loveliness, wit and beauty,' the fair-haired daughters of the North, and the dark-eyed daughters of the South.

Seldom is assembled so illustrious an array of talent as the Senate presented. There were Douglas and Wade, the American Demosthenes and the American Hypérides. There was Sumner, unskilled, indeed, in the narrow subtleties of statesmanship, and negligent of the art of extempore debate, but in

richness of thought, elegance of expression, dignity of manner, and profundity of classic lore, unsurpassed by any senator around him. There was the dignified, the ironical, the deliberate Fessenden of Maine. There you might have seen the round, jovial face of Hale, the wit of the Senate. There, too, was the elegant and accomplished Chase, risen, while yet in the prime of manhood, to one of the first seats in the councils of the nation.

After the delay of administering the oath of office to the new Vice-President, the stately procession, slowly wound from the Senate-chamber to the eastern portico. The swarthy form and dark features of the President-elect were presently visible, and beside him, in strong contrast with his own person, the rotund figure and snowy-white hair of his retiring predecessor. Then followed the long train of illustrious persons, the venerable and feeble Chief-Justice, the incoming and out-going Vice-Presidents, the large-bodied Speaker, the short form of the lamented Douglas, and a multitude of others of whose fame all have heard, and whom it would take longer for us to enumerate than is afforded now. Those who enjoyed the rare felicity of being present at that memorable scene will never forget the impressive moment when the incoming Executive advanced to address the assembled multitude. In an instant the buzz which the appearance of the procession had called forth was hushed; all eyes were fixed and all ears intent upon the illustrious speaker. The President, after calmly surveying the exciting scene around him, preduced his manuscript, and in a clear, firm voice, and in a simple yet powerfully eloquent cadence, proceeded to announce the views which were to actuate the policy of the new government. Throughout he was listened to with breathless attention, interrupted only by the spontaneous applause with which the more forcible points of the oration called forth. Those who heard him will never forget the impressive earnestness and pathos with which he uttered the closing passage of his peroration:

'The mystic call of memory, stretching from every battle-field and patriot grave to every living heart and hearth-stone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chords of the Union when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.'

After he had finished, the venerable Chief-Justice arose, and holding forth the Bible, on which the President placed his right hand, pronounced, the President repeating after him, the oath appropriate to the occasion. Then the procession re-formed, and the new Executive hastened to the White House, where the doors were thrown open to the citizens, who hastened to pay their congratulations on the successful event of the day.

We will not detain the reader with a recital of the startling events which passed in rapid sequence after the accession of the present administration. They are well known to all; and the memory of the atrocities which began to be enacted from that time by the leaders of the disaffected States, cannot be easily effaced from the minds of the people who have suffered such grievous insults. We revert at once to the proclamation of the President, calling for seventy-five thousand volunteers, and apportioning to each State its appropriate quota, which was the remote cause of the five days' reign of terror of which we

may presently get some idea. The response to this proclamation throughout the North was spontaneous and patriotic; and all men now for the first time in the history of the country summoned to defend a direct attempt at the destruction of the Union, began to bestir themselves with zeal and activity to fulfil the terrible exigency. Pennsylvania, being near at hand, threw the first troops into the Federal city; and Massachusetts, possessing neither the advantage of proximity nor of easy transportation, to her glory be it said, was the second State whose flag was unfurled on the scene of danger. But that noble band were doomed to experience the first encounter of the campaign before they came to their destination. The first martyrs fell at Baltimore. The insurrectionary character of that city now displayed itself, and the loyal soldiery of Massachusetts were assaulted by a desperate and lawless rabble as they were passing through the city. Till the last necessity, the officers, with a magnanimity in strange contrast with the acts of their assailants, refused to open fire; and it was not till some of the noble spirits who had obeyed the first summons of their country had fallen before the rocks and bludgeons of the ruffian mob, that a repulse was ordered. The demon of anarchy now revelled in the streets of Baltimore and throughout the country between Washington and the Susquehanna. The citizens were held in terror by a multitude of ignorant and savage men who thronged the streets, armed with every destructive weapon which art or nature had put within their reach. The ware-houses of merchants were pillaged; private residences were attacked, and the municipal and State authorities were forced, for personal safety, to bend to the tempest which had demolished every trace of law and order. Nor were the ravages of the mob confined to the city limits. Bands of malcontents ranged over the country, keeping loyalists in awe, burning bridges, tearing up rail-roads, and spreading dismay every where. At this time Washington was almost defenceless. On the one side lay the hostile shore of Virginia, on the other a malcontent city, ruled by a mob, holding back supplies, communication and troops, who alone could protect the capital from the rebels. It was supposed that already an organized force was in readiness to march upon us from the south-west. Of the troops in the city, a large majority were the district militia, and of these fully one half were regarded as sympathizers with the rebellion, which subsequent events proved a well-grounded suspicion. No men of war lay in the Navy-yard to convey intelligence of our situation by water. The streets were crowded with men conjecturing and discussing, and business yielded entirely to this novel and startling dilemma. Those of our citizens who were inclined to secession alone were exultant. Their triumphant air on this occasion was arrogant and malignant. Many who had before held their opinions secretly, now openly avowed their hostility to the Union.

Such of these malcontents as found their position and the safety of their families precarious in the metropolis, removed, with such of their effects as could be transferred, into Virginia. Many secret bands of traitors who had been drilling and exercising in the martial art, hastened to join the more powerful military posts in Eastern Virginia. All the while these incidents were occurring, we were entirely destitute of mails, troops, or even parol communication

5

with the North. Saturday was spent in vain conjectures, in startling rumors, and in gloomy forebodings. Even those who were known to be in the intimate confidence of the highest officials could hold out no encouragement against the fear of irresistible invasion, and the destruction which would not fail to ensue. The suspense may well be imagined. To be in hourly fear of the appearance of an exasperated and malignant. foe; to be shut up in a city utterly defenceless, shut out as much as if we were in the midst of Sahara, from all access to friendly succor; to go to bed at night half expecting to be awakened by the booming of cannon and the clash of deadly conflict in our very streets; to know that if the enemy did come, they would bring with them the torch and the fircbrand with which to devastate our dwellings; to be subjected to the repeated threats and exultations of open-mouthed miscreants, who looked forward with savage impatience to the consummation of the impending calamities: to be thus swayed between every dread and every misgiving for five days, was a trial which might well elicit the efforts of the stoutest hearts to undergo with calmness.

On Sunday the clergy prayed to be delivered from battle and murder, and preached forbearance under trials, fortitude in danger, and resignation under calamity. The day of rest was noticed with peculiar solemnity and quiet, but was not passed without its proportion of harassing rumors and false alarms. On Monday the President declared, in a private interview, that he had not heard from the troops North of Baltimore since the riot; that he found it impossible to convey intelligence of the condition of the city to the friends of the Government; and that, in his opinion, if we were not relieved in three days, the city would fall into the hands of the conspirators. Such an opinion from such a quarter could not but confirm in the highest degree the fears already entertained, and shake the confidence of those who had before made light of the danger. The Commandant of the Navy-yard, and other military officers holding positions of the first importance, resigned, and departed in peace to the hostile State adjacent to us. The secessionist citizens grew more and more impatient for the crisis, and every one looked forward to an almost certain invasion. So we continued in miserable suspense two days longer, wondering all the while more and more why some great event did not interpose either to relieve or ruin us. And now we began to hear vague reports of troops coming to our deliverance; and several times the rumor ran like wild-fire through the city that they had actually arrived.

Finally, on Wednesday afternoon, a little before sun-down, when we were about to give over every shadow of hope, and when destruction seemed inevitable, our weary eyes were rejoiced by the cheerful sight of bayonets and the flag of our Union. The Seventh Regiment of New-York, after a distressing and most wearisome march in heat, rain and mud, through a meagre and difficult country, now marched into the city and up the broad avenue, their band discoursing beautiful music, the United States flag and that of New-York waving side by side, bayonets glistening in the bright reflection of the declining sun-light, and the uniform and stately tramp of the companies eliciting a responsive echo in the hearts of the grateful multitude which greeted them.