but, with admirable clearness, expresses the feelings of a great portion of the Northern people at that moment. The President had asked of General MacClellan a statement of his opinion on the conduct of the war, and, on the 7th of July, amid those disastrous scenes at Harrison's Landing, the General wrote these truly remarkable words :

"This rebellion has assumed the character of a war; as such it would be regarded, and it should be conducted upon the highest principles known to Christian civilization. It should not be a war looking to the subjection of any state in any event. It should not be at all a war upon population, but against armed forces and political organization. Neither confiscation of property, political executions, territorial organizations of states, nor forcible abolition. of slavery, should be contemplated for a moment. In prosecuting the war, all private property and unarmed persons should be strictly protected, subject only to the necessity of military operations. All private property taken for military uses should be paid or receipted for; pillage and waste should be treated as high crimes; all unnecessary trespass sternly prohibited; and offensive demeanour by the military towards citizens promptly rebuked. Military arrests should not be tolerated, except in places where active hostilities exist; and oaths, not required by enactments constitutionally made, should be neither demanded nor received. Military government should be confined to the preservation of public order and the protection of political right. Military power should not be allowed to interfere with the relations of servitude, either by supporting or impairing the authority of the master, except for repressing disorder. . . Slaves, contraband under the act of Congress, seeking military protection should receive it. The right of government to appropriate permanently to its own service claims to slave labour should be asserted, and the right of the owner to compensation, therefore, should be recognised. . . .

A system of policy thus constituted, and pervaded by the

I

influences of Christianity and freedom, would receive the support of almost all truly loyal men, would deeply impress the rebel masses and all foreign nations, and it might be humbly hoped that it would commend itself to the favour of the Almighty.

"Unless the principles governing the future conduct of our struggle shall be made known and approved, the effort to obtain requisite forces will be almost hopeless. A declaration of radical views, especially on slavery, will rapidly disintegrate our present armies.

"The policy of the government must be supported by concentrations of military power. The national forces should not be dispersed in expeditions, posts of occupation, and numerous armies; but should be mainly collected into masses, and brought to bear upon the armies of the Confederate States. These armies thoroughly defeated, the political structure which they support would soon cease to exist.

"In carrying out any system of policy which you may form, you will require a commander-in-chief of the army,-one who possesses your confidence, understands your views, and who is competent to execute your orders, by directing the military forces of the nation to the accomplishment of the objects by you proposed. I do not ask that place for myself. I am willing to serve you in such positions as you may assign me, and I will do so as faithfully as ever subordinate served superior. I may be on the brink of eternity, and, as I hope forgiveness from my Maker, I have written this letter with sincerity towards you, and from love for my country."

This noble and warm statement of his views does the greatest honour to General MacClellan, especially when it is remembered that he wrote it on July 7th, smarting under the blow of the sanguinary check he had just experienced. His self-esteem had been wounded by it, his spirit exasperated; but in this report no traces of such feeling are allowed to be seen, and yet, it must be said, it seems that the man who could be sincere in writing these

lines ought never to have consented to take part in a war evidently so contrary to his inward convictions.

This fine epistle was doomed to have no effect at Washington, as is proved to conviction by the fashion in which this inauspicious war was carried on afterwards.

In consequence, it is said, of the opinions expressed above by MacClellan, altogether contrary to those of the party then in power, it was thought necessary to dismiss him from his duties. He had an especially determined enemy in General Halleck, the Federal War Minister. MacClellan wished to cross the James, attack Petersburg, and so cut off all communications between Richmond and the rest of the South. This plan, which succeeded later, in 1865, with General Grant, was not approved by General Halleck and the President, in 1862, probably because they had decided on dismissing MacClellan.

General Lee, on this matter, shared the view of General MacClellan. To those in his confidence he explained how much more vulnerable Richmond was on the southern side. The course of events proved it.

CHAPTER VIII.

AUGUST 1862.-POPE ADVANCES INTO VIRGINIA.—JACKSON STOPS HIM AT CEDAR RUN.-SECOND BATTLE OF MANASSAS.-POPE TAKES REFUGE UNDER WASHINGTON.

ALTHOUGH the presence of Jackson's corps at the battle of Cold Harbour might have been ascertained, so great was the fright which his unforeseen movements had caused in the councils of President Lincoln, that it was decided a Federal army should remain between Washington and the Rappahannock to cover the capital. Fremont and Banks received orders to cross the mountains and join MacDowell's corps, and thus to constitute an army of 60,000 men. The whole were put under the orders of MajorGeneral Pope, who had signalised himself in the West by some successes more imaginary than real-so said slander. This army was called the .army of Virginia. Pope was full of energy, and might probably have distinguished himself as a division-general under a skilful leader, but he was entirely unfit for the commandin-chief. Although the principal mission of the new general-inchief was to cover Washington, it was well understood that his ultimate object was Richmond.

The defeat of the army of the Potomac spread consternation in the North. MacClellan's enemies, at whose head were General Halleck, who had succeeded General Scott as generalissimo, and the War Minister, Staunton, profited by it to ruin him. Without taking account of the skill and energy he had shown, and which, indeed, had saved the army of the Potomac, Mr. Lincoln,

on the 5th of August, transmitted MacClellan an order to retire from the Peninsula, and join his forces with those of General Pope in the neighbourhood of Acquia Creek, on the Potomac. If Mr. Lincoln could have known that in recalling MacClellan he was doing precisely what Lee most desired, perhaps he would have altered his mind.

Otherwise, the Federal Government acted with vigour, and military operations, except in Virginia, were conducted with success. In the west and south, the entire course of the Mississippi, except at Vicksburg, was in its hands. New Orleans and Memphis belonged to it, and the Confederate army of the west had retired from Corinth to Tupelo. But MacClellan's defeat paled all these triumphs. Without losing heart, President Lincoln made another appeal for 300,000 soldiers. Congress enacted several important laws; one confiscating the slaves of all who supported the Southern cause; another authorizing the levy of negro troops; a third enjoining on Federal officers to seize and make use of, for their convenience, all property belonging to the Southerners, landed or moveable, without at all indemnifying the persons so despoiled. Thus, the Southern States were thrust beyond the pale of the law, and the Draconian programme of the radicals had it all its own way.

The arrival of General Pope's army in Northern Virginia was signalised by several orders of the day remarkable for their brutality, and for the iniquitous system so inaugurated of making war contrary to the usages of civilized nations.

Every time damage was done to a railway, high-road, or telegraph, all the inhabitants for two miles round were obliged to repair it at their own expense. If a shot were fired from a house on a Federal soldier or other servant, that house was rased to the ground, and those who lived in it sent to prison. Everybody taken in the act was shot on the spot.

One of Pope's subordinates, Brigadier-General Steinwehr, hastened to put these orders into execution. He arrested five