ral Pope were in the room, and that "I was engaged at the time (he was Pope's Assistant Adjutant General, and chief of staff,) writing orders for the positions of troops." "While I was writing these orders, General Porter and General Pope had a conversation lasting about 20 minutes." "Whilst this time, studiously avoiding overhearing the conversation, I heard scraps enough of it to know they were talking about the incidents of a few days previous. At the conclusion of the interview, General Pope and Porter got up, and I heard General Pope say to General Porter, that his explanations were satisfactory with the exception of the matter of the one brigade. I think he said, ENTIRELY SATISFACTORY," though as to the word entirely, I can not swear positively." "I think General Porter replied, "that (the brigade) can be easily explaned," though I am not positive about his answer. He also stated that his recollection was, that he reminded Pope of this "conversation on the 5th or 6th of September, 1862." The Judge Advocate, in order to destroy the force of this evidence, succeeded only in getting the witness to repeat what he had said before, that he was not positive in his recollection of the latter fact, stated by him, but that with regard to the other, Pope's telling Porter that he was satisfied, he was positive and certain. (Pp. 155, 156.) Nor did Pope, who was examined before in regard to it, deny it, on the contrary, he virtually admitted it. He said that he remembered that upon the occasion referred to, "I told General Porter that I had not reported him to the Department in Washington, and as matters stood, I thought I should not take any action in reference to his case, though I felt bound to do so in the case of Griffin. And when asked upon cross-examination whether he remembered the conversation between himself and Ruggles, testified to by the latter, he only said he had "no rememberance of it," but was "not certain that he had not," but was very certain that Colonel Ruggles never stated a thing of that kind to him, although he was "not prepared to swear that he did not." The bearing of Ruggles' evidence upon the accuracy, if nothing else, of General Pope's testimony, and its conclusiveness of the fact, that Pope, when he was made acquainted by Porter with all the circumstances connected with his conduct under Pope's several orders, expressed himself satisfied, cannot fail to be apparent to the reader, and fatal in any fair judgment, to the finding of the Court. The ensuing work has been prepared on the spur of the occasion. The topics touched demand a fuller development, which, if circumstances hereafter permit and require, may be attempted. BOSTON, 27th OCTOBER, 1856. WHIG POLICY ANALYZED AND ILLUSTRATED. No MAN, who regards with fear, or with shame, the long and uninterrupted ascendency of slaveholders, in this Union, can observe the proceedings of the "Whig State Convention," on the 3d of September last, without sorrow at the spirit evinced, nor without melancholy at the acknowledgment, which had the aspect of lamentations. "An old flag," it was said, "which has floated in triumph over this Commonwealth for a quarter of a century past, and once gathered under its folds an army of seventy thousand voters, can now rally, hardly more than a respectable color guard!" What could induce a body of wise men, to muster for display under such circumstances, and close up their broken and deserted ranks for service, might seem mysterious; but parties, like individuals, have an instinctive horror of dissolution. They have been characterized as "the madness of many, for the gain of a few." The few, therefore, naturally keep the hallucination alive, until every hope of gain is extinct. In the pending crisis of our country, neither names, nor virtues, nor personal esteem, nor private friendship, ought to have any weight in the scale against plain and incumbent duties. These whig acknowledgments are melancholy, because they are true, but they have omitted to acknowledge what is equally true, and more melancholy. From the time "whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contrary," the political influence of Boston, with scarcely an exception, has controlled that of Massachusetts. The whigs have, by their own showing, been the leading power of the State, at least a quarter of a century. How much of the old hereditary influence of Boston over the other towns of the State, they now possess, it would be difficult to calculate. That for years it has been gradually diminishing, and for more than two, absolutely lost, is beyond question. Whether the ancient influence of Boston is ever regained, so long as the whig party insist upon being a political existence, is doubtful. But certainly never, so long as the same spirit and principles are their guides, which, during the last eight or ten years, have inspired their policy. The whig party has possessed, and yet continues to possess, in full proportion, according to its numbers, all the principal elements which, in a republic, might be expected to retain influence and command power;-talents, wealth, exemplary private virtue, accompanied by many evidences of an inherent disposition to acts of charity and public munificence. Under such circumstances, the continuance, and even extension of their power, might have been anticipated. Their loss, therefore, of both positive and relative power, demands an earnest and solicitous inquiry into its cause. There is a tendency, in all parties, to think well of their own course, and to cast the blame of loss of influence elsewhere. Selfexamination and self-knowledge are quite as important to parties as to individuals. In the judgment of "a looker on " upon events and results, during the whole existence of the whig party, this loss of influence is chiefly, if not wholly attributable to the fact, that at almost every stage of their existence, their policy has not been in unison with the moral principle and moral feeling of the great body of the people of Massachusetts. And notwithstanding many of the most worthy and talented members of the whig party were dissatisfied with its course, yet, through the influence of local interests, their voices were powerless, and the opinion became generally prevalent, that the whig sympathies favored the extension of slavery and the perpetuation of the slaveholders' ascendency. It may be proper and useful here, to state what were the moral principles and moral feelings, which the political course of the whigs have so long and generally offended. Daniel Webster, in his speech of March, 1850, "for the Constitution and the Union," so called, states, that "at the time of the adoption of the Federal Constitution, in both the South and the North, slavery was equally held an evil, but that the great ground of objection to it was POLITICAL." As it respects Massachusetts, both recollection and history justify me in asserting that this was |