extent. The patriot was going down, and the mere politician was again coming to the lead. And great care would be required in deciding upon the truth or justice of a principle or a plan from the number or character of the men supporting it.

While suspicion would evidently rest upon those who had fought for the wrong, and those who had been aiders and abettors, if no more than morally. the policy of Congress was by no means proven to be right and the best possible, by the name and character of its supporters. Conquerors, in many a good cause, have tarnished their history by subsequent excesses. While the evidence, from a moral aspect, as well as from some other points of view, is certainly on the side of Congress and in favor of its policy, we must seek in other directions more unerring means of judgment.

CHAPTER XVI.

THE FENIANS-THIRD ANNUAL MESSAGE - JEFFERSON DAVIS-HORACE GREELEY-GENERAL AMNESTY.

N the summer of 1866 the "Fenians" of this

IN

country made a foolish warlike demonstration on the Canadian border, which gave the Administration some anxiety. On the 6th of June the President issued a proclamation warning these "evil-disposed" persons to make no military or other unfriendly movements from the United States against the peaceable dominions of Great Britain; and General George G. Meade, commanding the Atlantic Military Division, was authorized to "arrest all prominent, leading, or conspicuous persons called Fenians," whom he believed to be guilty of violating the neutrality laws of this Nation. Poor, miserable, ignorant, downtrodden, but liberty-loving Ireland! it could never be politic in America to lend her a helping hand in the struggle for freedom.

The beaten, rebeliious South' was now divided into military districts, according to the Congressional plan of reconstruction, and under the general direction of the President the work of reorganization went slowly and unsatisfactorily forward. Riot and bloodshed were uppermost, and the military arm became the only safeguard of the oppressed.

The Fortieth Congress, as it was called, began its first session at noon on the 4th of March, 1867; that is, after adjourning the short session of the winter of 1866, Congress continued to sit. Of this session there were two short adjourned sessions in July and November, but the whole sitting was of short duration and of little consequence, the time being spent mainly in providing ways and means to push forward the experiment of reconstruction, and sustain the vast monetary responsibilities of the Gov

ernment.

Benjamin F. Wade, of Ohio, was now President of the Senate and Acting Vice-President of the Nation. Otherwise there was no change in the officers, and the vast Republican majority in both Houses remained materially unaltered. In the meantime, late in 1866, and early in 1867, the States had ' voted on the proposed Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, twenty-one of them ratifying it, and Delaware, Maryland, and Kentucky, with the ten unreconstructed rebel States, voting against it. Florida and Mississippi voted unanimously against the amendment, and in the Legislatures of the other insurrectionary States there were but few voices in its support.

On the first Monday of December, 1867, Congress again convened in regular session, and adjourned in July, 1868, after a most exciting and memorable session, the ten unreconstructed States, with their twenty Senators and fifty members of the Lower House, not being represented.

THIRD ANNUAL MESSAGE.

FELLOW-CITIZENS OF THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:

The continued disorganization of the Union, to which the President has so often called the attention of Congress, is yet a subject of profound and patriotic concern. We may, however, find some relief from that anxiety in the reflection that the painful political situation, although before untried by ourselves, is not new in the experience of nations. Political science, perhaps as highly perfected in our own time and country as in any other, has not yet disclosed any means by which civil wars can be absolutely prevented. An enlightened nation, however, with a wise and beneficent constitution of free government, may diminish their frequency and mitigate their severity by directing all its proceedings in accordance with its fundamental law.

When a civil war has been brought to a close, it is manifestly the first interest and duty of the State to repair the injuries which the war has inflicted, and to secure the benefit of the lessons it teaches as fully and as speedily as possible. This duty was, upon the termination of the Rebellion, promptly accepted, not only by the Executive Department, but by the insurrectionary States themselves, and restoration, in the first moment of peace, was believed to be as easy and certain as it was indispensable. The expectations, however, then so reasonably and confidently entertained, were disappointed by legislation from which I felt constrained, by my obligations to the Constitution, to withhold my assent.

It is therefore a source of profound regret that, in complying with the obligation imposed upon the President by the Constitution, to give to Congress from time to time information of the state of the Union, I am unable to communicate any definitive adjustment, satisfactory to the American people, of the questions which, since the close of the Rebellion, have agitated the public mind. On the contrary, candor compels me to declare that at this time there is no Union as our fathers understood the term, and as they meant it to be understood by us. The Union which they established can exist only where all the

States are represented in both Houses of Congress; where one State is as free as another to regulate its internal concerns according to its own will; and where the laws of the central government, strictly confined to matters of national jurisdiction, apply with equal force to all the people of every section. That such is not the present "state of the Union" is a melancholy fact; and we must all acknowledge that the restoration of the States to their proper legal relations with the Federal Government and with one another, according to the terms of the original compact, would be the greatest temporal blessing which God, in his kindest providence, could bestow upon this Nation. It becomes our imperative duty to consider whether or not it is impossible to effect this most desirable consummation.

The Union and the Constitution are inseparable. As long as one is obeyed by all parties, the other will be preserved; and if one is destroyed, both must perish together. The destruction of the Constitution will be followed by other and still greater calamities. It was ordained not only to form a more perfect union between the States, but to "establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity." Nothing but implicit obedience to its requirements in all parts of the country will accomplish these great ends. Without that obedience, we can look forward only to continual outrages upon individual rights, incessant breaches of the public peace, national weakness, financial dishonor, the total loss of our prosperity, the general corruption of morals, and the final extinction of popular freedom. To save our country from evils so appalling as these, we should renew our efforts again and again.

To me the process of restoration seems perfectly plain and simple. It consists merely in a faithful application of the Constitution and laws. The execution of the laws is not now obstructed or opposed by physical force. There is no military or other necessity, real or pretended, which can prevent obedience to the Constitution, either North or South. All the rights and all the obligations of States and individuals can be protected and enforced by means perfectly consistent with the fundamental law. The courts may be everywhere open; and if open,