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My Imprisonment
and the First Year of Abolition Rule
at Washington:
Electronic Edition

Mrs. Greenhow, Rose O'Neal, 1814-1864

Funding from the Library of Congress/Ameritech National Digital Library Competition
supported the electronic publication of this title.

Text scanned (OCR) by Heather Bumbalough
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Text encoded by Kathleen Feeney and Natalia Smith
First edition, 1998
ca. 550K
Academic Affairs Library, UNC-CH
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
1998.
        © This work is the property of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It may be used freely by individuals for research, teaching and personal use as long as this statement of availability is included in the text.


Call number E608.G8 1863 (Davis Library, UNC-CH)

        The electronic edition is a part of the UNC-CH digitization project, Documenting the American South, or, The Southern Experience in 19th-century America.
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Library of Congress Subject Headings, 19th edition, 1996



MY IMPRISONMENT
AND THE
FIRST YEAR OF ABOLITION RULE
AT WASHINGTON.

BY

MRS. GREENHOW.

LONDON:
RICHARD BENTLEY, PUBLISHER IN ORDINARY TO HER MAJESTY.
1863.

LONDON
Printed BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO.
NEW-STREET SQUARE

Page iii


Dedication.

I RESPECTFULLY DEDICATE THESE PAGES
TO THE
BRAVE SOLDIERS
WHO HAVE FOUGHT AND BLED
IN
THIS OUR GLORIOUS STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM.

ROSE GREENHOW.

London: Nov. 6, 1863.

Page v


CONTENTS.

Page 1


MY IMPRISONMENT
AND THE
FIRST YEAR OF ABOLITION RULE
AT WASHINGTON.

CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION.

        WHETHER a faithful record of my long and humiliating imprisonment at Washington, in the hands of the enemies of my country, will prove as interesting to the public as my friends assure me it is to them, I know not. It is natural for those who have suffered captivity to exaggerate the importance and interest of their own experiences; yet I should not venture upon publishing these notes and sketches merely as a narrative of indignities heaped upon myself personally. It is hoped that the story may excite more than a simple feeling of indignation or commiseration, by exhibiting somewhat of the intolerant spirit in which the present crusade against the liberties of sovereign States was undertaken, and somewhat of the true character of that race of people who insist on
Page 2

compelling us by force to live with them in bonds of fellowship and union.

        I had been long a resident of Washington before the secession of the Confederate States, and, from my intimate acquaintance with public men and public measures under the old government, had peculiar and exceptional means of watching the progressive development of the designs of these Leaders of opinion in the Federal States, which, as I had long foreseen, would necessarily end in forcing on a separation.

        Much of my information upon this subject had been derived from the intercourse of society in the Federal capital; and would therefore have been unsuitable to be made public, if the relations of the North and the South had continued as they used to be - subjects of political discussion and party contest. But the Federal leaders have now carried the matter far beyond this point. After repeated and intolerable aggression upon the rights of these States - accompanied and aggravated by an insulting tone of moral superiority, until a union with such communities was no longer to be endured by any high-spirited people - they at length stirred up a furious and desolating war. For two years a torrent of blood has flowed between their people

Page 3

and my people. The noble State of Virginia, with which I am most nearly connected, has been devastated by hosts of barbarous invaders - always overthrown indeed in the field before Southern valour, but always destroying and plundering where they found the country unprotected; whilst my own dear native State of Maryland has been subject to a still more stinging and maddening oppression, in the utter destruction of all her liberties, and in the establishment of a brutal and vulgar military despotism, which has reduced the gallant old State to the debased condition of Poland or Venetia; and such 'order reigns in Baltimore,' as that moral death which tyrants call 'order' in Warsaw or in the beautiful City of the Sea.

        To me, therefore, the days of my former abode in Washington seem to belong almost to another state of being. That time - when I, in common with all our people, looked up with pride and veneration to the banner of the stars and stripes - appears to be now with the years before the Flood. I look back to the scenes of that period through a haze of blood and horror. Those men whom I once called friends - who have broken bread at my table - have since then stirred up and hounded on host after host of greedy invaders, and precipitated them upon the beloved

Page 4

valleys where my kindred had their peaceful homes. Many who were dear to me have been slain, or maimed for life, fighting in defence of all that makes life of value. Instead of friends, I see in those statesmen of Washington only mortal enemies. Instead of loving and worshipping the old flag of the stars and stripes, I see in it only the symbol of murder, plunder, oppression, and shame! and, like every other faithful Confederate, I dwell with delight on the many glorious fields where this dishonoured standard has gone down before the stainless battle-flag of the Confederacy.

        In short, two years of terrible war, equivalent, an age of quiet life, have passed through the existence of us all, leaving a deep and ineffaceable track. Between us and those former friends there is a gulf deep and wide as eternity; and under these circumstances I have felt myself at liberty to be much more unreserved in the narrative of my personal recollections: suppressing, in fact, nothing which I thought would be either interesting or useful to my Confederate countrymen - except only when reserve was dictated by self-respect, or by the duty of avoiding disclosures which might compromise the safety of certain Federal officers, whom I induced without scruple as will be more fully seen in the

Page 5

following pages, to furnish me with information, even in my captivity, which information I at once communicated with pride and pleasure to General Beauregard, then commanding the Confederate forces near Washington. Whatever may be thought of the conduct of these Federal officers in betraying to an avowed enemy secrets material to their own Government, it will readily be admitted that after having made this use of them I should not have been justified in naming them, or affording a clue by which they could be discovered.

        If, in detailing conversations which passed either with me or in my presence, before or after my arrest, I may be thought to have exhibited too great bitterness, it is hoped that the circumstances under which I found myself may plead my excuse. It will be seen that I was well aware from an early period of the dark designs of the Abolition leaders at Washington, and that while they were holding publicly the language of patriotic zeal for the constitution and the law, they were already meditating, and preparing, all the dreadful scenes of lawless outrage and spoliation which have since that time rendered their names odious to the whole world It was well known to me what fate they were reserving for my own native State, and what diabolical

Page 6

agencies they were setting to work over all the country, both to destroy the Confederate States and to crush out the liberties of the North. The chief projectors of all these horrors, too, were well aware that I knew their plans and machinations intimately; and that, weak woman as I was, I possessed both the means and the spirit to throw serious obstacle in their way. Hence the keen and jealous surveillance by which my every motion was observed and noted, even long before my arrest. Hence, also, the useless series of torments and provocations to which I was subjected - the changes in my place of imprisonment, and the many attempts to entrap me into a betrayal of myself or the Confederate cause. Hence the long and wearisome captivity, to break my spirit, or goad me into undignified bursts of indignation - in all of which I trust I may flatter myself that they signally failed. Satisfied thoroughly of the justice and sacredness of our great cause, thinking only of the gallant struggle into which my kindred had thrown themselves, I was enabled, not only to 'possess my own soul' and keep my own counsel, but also to establish and maintain a continuous correspondence with Virginia, and reveal certain contemplated military movements of enemy in time to have them thwarted by our

Page 7

generals. For this I do not desire to take any special credit in the eyes of the public. I only performed my duty, and have already been gratified by the thanks of those who best can judge of the services which I endeavoured to render; and the matter is mentioned here merely as one of the reasons why it has been thought that a narrative furnished by one who enjoyed such opportunities of observation may be found not uninteresting.

        It may be that the language which was sometimes extorted from me in conversation, or some of the remarks now found in my book, are more bitterly vituperative and sarcastic, than in ordinary times, and upon ordinary subjects, would be becoming in the personal narrative of a woman. Those who may think so are only entreated, before they judge, to endeavour to imagine themselves in my position - subject to the stinging indignities of a Washington prison, having to encounter sometimes the vicious taunts of vulgar guards, sometimes the treacherous warnings or counsels of politicians pretending to be my friends; a little daughter, too, always before my eyes, torn from the peaceful delights of home, and the flowery path of girlhood, and forced to witness the hard realities of prison-life, and hear the keys grating in dungeon locks. No wonder if my

Page 8

nature grew harsh and more vindictive, and if the scorn and wrath that was in my heart sometimes found vent by tongue or pen.

        It was, above all things, when I thought of my own State of Maryland - where sleep the manes of my ancestors - that I burned with indignation in my prison. While the great State of Virginia, with her strong river frontier of the Potomac, was enabled to bid defiance to the utmost efforts of her enemies, it soon became evident that Maryland, penetrated by great bays and rivers, and with her very heart opened up to the naval forces of the enemy, would be, for the present at least, overpowered, and prevented from casting her lot openly and decisively with her sister States. I knew also that every genuine child of Maryland cherished in their souls but one feeling - one burning desire to share the destiny of their section, and to perish, if need be, in the glorious struggle; and could well imagine how so proud and refined a people would suffer and chafe to see themselves treated as vassals and serfs by a race they have always despised.

        Yet the men were not so deeply to be pitied. They had always at least the resource of flinging themselves across the border, joining the Confederate service, and thus either opening a way to the redemption

Page 9

of their country, or at any rate meeting her oppressors on many a battle-field, and wreaking a righteous vengeance upon their heads. But the women of Maryland - the far-famed, delicately-nurtured, and universally-courted ladies of that fair State - they, whose slightest notice in days gone by was so dearly prized by Northern men - they, so essentially Southern in taste, and style, and association - to see their country ruled by hordes of the despised Yankees, and their haughty city tamed and cowering under the insolent sway of the coarsest of all human creatures! - to know that 'the tinkling of that little bell' at the State Department could tear the maiden from her mother's arms, to be dragged to the pollution of a Yankee prison! The thought was often almost maddening; and it may well be that my profound sympathy with my people has coloured with a deeper tinge of gloom my views of the whole field of action.

        At all events, I have endeavoured in this sketch of my captivity to discharge a great duty. That duty was to contribute what I myself have seen and known of the history of the time. If the exposure therein made of the Yankee character, in the first year of its luxuriant and rampant development (after long compression in a condition of inferiority),

Page 10

shall add to the feeling of execration for such a race of people, and deepen the universal gratitude at the happy change which has severed us from them, and made it still more and more impossible that we can ever submit to any kind of political association with them again, then my poor narrative will not have been written in vain.

Page 11

CHAPTER II.
ON TO RICHMOND!

        MY ARREST - LINCOLN'S ARRIVAL - SCOTCH CAP AND CLOAK - HIS ELECTION AN INVASION OF SOUTHERN RIGHTS - ORDER FOR THE ADVANCE OF THE GRAND ARMY INTO VIRGINIA - ITS DEPARTURE - BATTLE OF MANASSAS - DEFEAT AND ROUT - ITS RETURN TO WASHINGTON - DEMORALISATION - QUARRELS BETWEEN EXECUTIVE, LEGISLATIVE AND MILITARY - PANIC.

        ON FRIDAY, August 23rd, in Washington City - the metropolis of this once free and happy land, the proud boast of which was that life, liberty, and property were protected by the law - I was made a prisoner in my own house, and subjected to an ordeal which must have been copied from the days of the Directory in France.

        My blood boils when I think of it. But, for the benefit of all who may feel an interest in the subject, I will give a circumstantial account of an act which should shed renown upon the distinguished authors of it.

        It is necessary for my purpose to make a brief

Page 12

résumé of the incidents of the few months preceding. I might even go back to the advent of the Scotch cap and cloak, but will content myself with an event quite as remarkable in the reign of the Abolition 'Irrepressible conflict chief,' whose shadow now darkens the chair of Washington.

        As the allusion to the 'Scotch cap and cloak' may not be generally understood, I deem it advisable to furnish information on that head, as a means of explaining the modus operandi by which the Abolition leader entered the national Capitol.

        He had been elected President by a strictly sectional majority, not having received one vote in the States south of Mason and Dixon's line - the great geographical line dividing North and South - arriving thereby at the very point in our political destiny which Washington, in his 'farewell address,' had foreshadowed as a cause for the dissolution of the Union.

        During the heated sectional contest which resulted in the election of Mr. Lincoln by the Abolition party, they openly proclaimed 'the higher law doctrine,' and announced their determination, regardless of constitutional guarantees, to deprive the South of her sovereign equal rights, and to reduce her to a state of vassalage; for a feeling of bitter jealousy

Page 13

had been festering and strengthening in the Northern mind against her, on account of the superior statesmanship and intellect, which had always given her preeminence in the councils of the nation, and in the legislative assemblies.

        In order to carry into effect this hostile determination to destroy the political importance of the South, they had seized upon what they conceived to be the vulnerable point in our domestic institution - well knowing that they could enlist the fanatical aid and sympathy of those who were ignorant, save theoretically, of that institution, and of the benign and paternal manner in which it was conducted in the South; having in view no object themselves of ameliorating the condition of the servile class, but to exterminate or drive them out, in order that their own pauper population might secure to themselves the superior advantages which were everywhere in the South monopolised by the slave population.

        Denunciations were levelled against us by the poorer classes of the North as 'a pampered aristocracy,' for the reason they gave 'that a poor white man at the South was not as good as a negro.' And the negroes, I must confess, always arrogated to themselves this social superiority, for the bitterest

Page 14

insult they could offer each other was, 'You are no better than a poor white Yankee!'

        The Abolition party were not, however, prepared for the firm and dignified bearing of the South, at the result of an election strictly sectional and avowedly subversive of the Constitution; and they believed, according to their own established precedent, that mob law would take the matter in hand, and summarily dispose of the candidate elect, or prevent his inauguration.

        Excited and absurd discussions and plans were made at Washington and other places as to the means by which he should reach the capital. Lincoln had, however, formed a plan of his own, and, having far more reticence than had been ascribed to him by his partisans, executed it whilst these discussion were going on, and suddenly appeared at Washington, at six o'clock in the morning, under the disguise of a 'Scotch cap and cloak,' announcing himself with characteristic phraseology in the apartments of his sleeping Committee of Safety at Willard's Hotel with - 'Hillo! Just look at me! By jingo, my own dad wouldn't know me!'

        On the morning of the 16th of July, the Government papers at Washington announced that the 'grand army' was in motion, and I learned from a

Page 15

reliable source (having received a copy of the order to M'Dowell) that the order for a forward movement had gone forth. If earth did not tremble surely there was great commotion amongst that class of the genus homo yclept military men. Officers and orderlies on horse were seen flying from place to place; the tramp of armed men was heard on every side - martial music filled the air; in short, a mighty host was marshalling, with all the 'pomp and circumstance of glorious war.' 'On to Richmond!' was the war-cry. The heroes girded on their armour with the enthusiasm of the Crusaders of old, and vowed to flesh their maiden swords in the blood of Beauregard or Lee. And many a knight, inspired by beauty's smiles, swore to lay at the feet of her he loved best the head of Jeff. Davis at least.

        Nothing, nothing was wanting to render the gorgeous pageant imposing. So, with drums beating and flying colours, and amidst the shower of flowers thrown by the hands of Yankee maidens, the grand army moved on to the land of Washington, of Jefferson, of Madison, and Monroe; whilst the heartstricken Southerners who remained, did not tear their hair and rend their garments, but prayed on their knees that the God of Battles would award the victory to the just cause.

Page 16

        In fear and trembling they awaited the result - hoping, yet fearing to hope. Time seemed to move on leaden wings. Imagination sounded in their ears the booming cannon, and many a time their hearts died within them at the sickening delay. Few had the hope which filled my own soul, or shared in its exultant certainty of the result. At twelve o'clock on the morning of the 16th of July, I despatched a messenger to Manassas, who arrived there at eight o'clock that night. The answer received by me at mid-day on the 17th will tell the purport of my communication - 'Yours was received at eight o'clock at night. Let them come: we are ready for them. We rely upon you for precise information. Be particular as to description and destination of forces, quantity of artillery, &c. (Signed) THOS. JORDON, Adjt.-Gen.' On the 17th I despatched another missive to Manassas, for I had learned of the intention of the enemy to cut the Winchester railroad, so as to intercept Johnson, and prevent his reinforcing Beauregard, who had comparatively but a small force under his command at Manassas.

        On the night of the 18th, news of a great victory by the Federal troops at Bull Run reached Washington. Throughout the length and breadth of the city it was cried. I heard it in New York on Saturday,

Page 17

20th, where I had gone for the purpose of embarking a member of my family for California, on the steamer of the 22nd. The accounts were received with frantic rejoicings, and bets were freely taken in support of Mr. Seward's wise saws - that the rebellion would be crushed out in thirty days. My heart told me that the triumph was premature. Yet, O my God! how miserable I was for the fate of my beloved country, which hung trembling in the balance!

        My presentiments were more than justified by the result. On Sunday (21st) the great battle of Manassas was fought, memorable in history as that of Culloden or Waterloo, which ended in the total defeat and rout of the entire 'Grand Army.'

        In the world's history such a sight was never witnessed: statesmen, senators, Congress-men, generals, and officers of every grade, soldiers, teamsters - all rushing in frantic flight, as if pursued by countless demons. For miles the country was thick with ambulances, accoutrements of war, &c. The actual scene beggars all description; so I must in despair relinquish the effort to portray it.

        The news of the disastrous rout of the Yankee army was cried through the streets of New York on the 22nd. The whole city seemed paralysed by fear, and I verily believe that a thousand men could have

Page 18

marched from the Central Park to the Battery without resistance, for their depression now was commensurate with the wild exultation of a few days before.

        On the afternoon of that day I left New York for Washington, where I arrived at six o'clock in the morning of the 23rd, in a most impatient mood. Even at that early hour friends were awaiting my arrival, anxious to recount the particulars of the glorious victory. A despatch was also received from Manassas by me - 'Our President and our General direct me to thank you. We rely upon you for further information. The Confederacy owes you a debt. (Signed) JORDON, Adjutant-General.' My first impulse was to throw myself upon my knees and offer up my tearful thanks to the Father of Mercy for his signal protection in our hour of peril.

        During my journey from New York the craven fear of the Yankees was manifested everywhere. At Philadelphia most of the women got off. I was advised to do so by Lieutenant Wise, of U. S. A. (son-in-law of Edward Everitt), as he said, 'It was believed that the rebels of Baltimore would rise, in consequence of the rout of the Federal army.' I laughingly replied, 'I have no fears; these rebels are of my faith. Besides, I fear, even now, I shall not be in time to welcome our President, Mr. Davis, and the

Page 19

glorious Beauregard.' He sneeringly replied, 'that I should probably see those gentlemen there in irons.' I received a scowl also from Mr. Winter Davis, who was a passenger from New York, and had been loud- mouthed and denunciatory against the South during the journey. I observed, however, that he and Lieutenant Wise got off at Philadelphia, deeming 'discretion the better part of valour.'

        A large force was distributed throughout Baltimore, and it was even difficult to thread one's way to the train on account of the military, who crowded the streets and the depôt. Thence to Washington seemed as one vast camp, and on reaching the Capitol, the very carriage-way was blocked up by its panic-stricken defenders, who started at the clank of their own muskets. After a hurried toilette and breakfast I went up to the U. S. Senate, where I saw the crest-fallen leaders who, but a few days before, had vowed 'death and damnation' to our race. Several crowded round me, and I could not help saying that, if they had not 'good blood,' they had certainly 'good bottom,' for they ran remarkably well.

        For days after the wildest disorder reigned in the Capitol. The streets were filled with straggling soldiers, each telling the doleful tale, and each indulging in imaginary feats of valour, which would

Page 20

throw into the shade the achievements of Coeur de Lion, Amadis de Gaul, or Jack the Giant-killer.

        Even senators entered into this scramble for stray laurels, for several assured me (Wilson and Chandler) that it was their individual exertions alone which had prevented the entire 'Grand Army' from precipitating itself pell-mell into the Potomac; and they were really indebted to the discretion of a subordinate officer, that the alternative had not been forced upon them. A telegraphic order had been sent to Washington by General M'Dowell, to cut the draw of the Long Bridge, 'as Beauregard and Johnson were hotly pursuing him with fresh troops.' This bridge spanned the Potomac just opposite Washington, and was the only means of crossing the river at that point.

        Crimination, and recrimination, now became the order of the day, and everybody shrank from the responsibility of the forward movement. The commanding General, Scott, said, 'I did n't do it, for I was not ready.' The Political Directory said, 'We did n't do it - it was that old dotard Scott, whom we will remove.' President Lincoln said, 'I did n't do it - by jingo, I did n't!' And so, in the end, the world was about as well informed as to who

Page 21

ordered the advance of the Grand Army as 'who killed Cock Robin.'

        About this time I met Mr. Seward, who assured me That 'there was nothing serious the matter;' that I might assure my friends, upon his authority, that all would be over in sixty days. I answered him, 'Well, sir, you have enjoyed the first-fruits of the "irrepressible conflict."'

        Seward had, a short time prior to his visit to England, in a speech delivered by him at Rochester, New York, as a bid for the nomination as President by the Republican party, made use of that remarkable expression of the irrepressible conflict between the white and black races, indicating, even at that early day, the policy to which he would commit himself in order to attain the object of his ambition - the Executive chair. At a later period, he endeavoured to explain this away, and in conversation with me said, 'If heaven would forgive him for stringing together two high-sounding words, he would never do it again.'

        By-and-by things began to quiet down. The hirelings of the Government press exercised their ingenuity in mystifying the people. The countless hosts of the enemy were described (these, be it known, at no time exceeded twelve thousand

Page 22

actually engaged against the more than quadruple force of the invading army); their masked batteries and military defences threw into the shade the plains of Abraham, or even the fortifications of Sebastopol.

        It would be idle to recount the gasconade of those who fled from imaginary foes, or to describe the forlorn condition of the returning heroes, who had gone forth to battle flushed with anticipated triumph and crowned in advance with the laurel of victory. Alas! their plight was pitiable enough. Some were described as being minus hat or shoes. Amongst this latter class was Colonel Burnside, who, on the morning that he sallied forth for The 'sacred soil,' is said to have required two orderlies to carry the flowers showered upon him by the women of Northern proclivities.

        Meanwhile the muttered sound of the people's voice was heard from far and near asking meaning questions of the why and wherefore of the disasters. It was like the rumbling of the distant thunder presaging the coming storm; and well the Abolition Government knew that, if this discontent was allowed to gather strength, it would hurl them from their present lawless eminence to the ignominy they merited.

        The invaders had been taught to believe that a

Page 23

bloodless victory awaited them - that the 'All hail!' of the witches of Macbeth would greet them: and so possessed were they with the idea of their philanthropic mission as liberators of an oppressed people, 'bowed under the yoke of a haughty aristocracy,' that many of their officers, particularly the famous New York 7th regiment, took far more pains to prepare white gloves and embroidered vests for 'the balls' to be given in their honour at Richmond than in securing cartridges for their muskets. When consulted on the subject I said, 'No doubt they would receive a great many balls, but I did not think that a very recherché toilet would be expected.'

        The fanatical feeling was now at its height. Maddened by defeat, they sought a safe means of venting their pent-up wrath. The streets were filled with armed and unarmed ruffians; women were afraid to go singly into the streets for fear of insult; curses and blasphemy rent the air, and no one would have been surprised at any hour at a general massacre of the peaceful inhabitants. This apprehension was shared even by the better class of U. S. officers. I was urged to leave the city by more than one, and an escort offered to be furnished me if I desired; but, at whatever peril, I resolved to remain, conscious of the great service I could

Page 24

render my country, my position giving me remarkable facilities for obtaining information.

        In anticipation of more fearful scenes, the inhabitants were leaving the city as rapidly as the means of transportation or conveyance could be obtained, and many even of the Federal officers sent their families to the North or other places of fancied security.

Page 25

CHAPTER III.
PANIC AT WASHINGTON.

        ATTACK UPON THE PRISONERS - UNITED STATES TROOPS OBLIGED TO PROTECT THEM - MY VISIT TO THE PRISON - MR. COMMISSIONER WOOD - CHARLES SUMNER - DISMEMBERMENT OF VIRGINIA - ADMISSION OF SENATORS - REIGN OF TERROR - DETERMINATION TO REMOVE SCOTT - ELEVATION OF M'CLELLAN.

        At this time a number of Confederate prisoners, who had been taken in the first day's fight when our army fell back from Bull Run, were brought to Washington, and on passing Willard's Hotel were set upon by the crowd who usually congregated there, and pelted with stones and other missiles, which seriously wounded a number. In order to prevent the prisoners from being actually torn to pieces, a company of U. S. regulars had to be called out to protect them to their quarters, the old Capitol prison; and during the march to that point the soldiers had repeatedly to threaten to fire upon the mob, who pressed upon them with shouts and obscene revilings.

Page 26

        As soon as I heard of the circumstance, I went up to the prison to minister to the wants of our sufferers, and found many with severe cuts and bruises. I was accompanied by my friend Miss Mackall, and had the satisfaction of not only being the first friendly face seen by them, but to know that I had arrived at the right time; for I found there an emissary of Lincoln - I had like to have said Satan - dressed in black, with a white neckcloth, who I afterwards learned was Mr. Commissioner Wood, one of the subscribers for Mrs. Lincoln's carriage and horses, and who received his appointment in consequence thereof.

        He was with great earnestness haranguing the prisoners, and trying to persuade them that they would all be hanged unless they took the oath of allegiance to the Abolition Government. I listened attentively to the man, who did not seem to relish the addition to his audience; and afterwards, as rapidly as I could, assured each group of prisoners that man's threat was idle, and only for the purpose of intimidation, and for some false announcement to the world; that the Yankees were obliged to treat them as belligerents, and hold them as prisoners of war for exchange; that our Government would fearfully retaliate any violence against them, as we held an excess of prisoners of a hundred to one. This

Page 27

satisfied them, especially the younger portion, who each refused the Yankee pardon on the terms proposed. I afterwards took the list of their various wants, and, in conjunction with high parties, whom it would be imprudent to name, supplied them with clothing and other needful things, food and beds and bedding inclusive, as the Yankees had made no provision of any kind, save the naked walls of a prison. There was an ample Confederate fund in Washington for this purpose. Mrs. Philips and family also exerted themselves in this holy work.

        This lady was arrested in Washington at the same time that I was, and after a short detention was sent South. She then became a resident of New Orleans. During the reign of terror of Butler in that city a Yankee funeral passed her house, and she was seen to smile upon her balcony during the procession. For this grave offence she was dragged before him, and questioned as to her motive for doing so, to which she dauntlessly replied, 'Because I was in a good humour.' She was condemned to three months' imprisonment, upon a barren island, under a tropical sun, with soldiers' rations, and subjected to other gross and brutal indignities, until the poor lady's health gave way, and her life became imperilled. The representations and remonstrances of the medical

Page 28

attendant, who was more humane than his master, failed to procure any mitigation of the harsh sentence until the period had expired, when she was banished, an invalid for life. In the course of her examination before Butler, he said: 'I expect to be killed before I leave the South, by either you or Mrs. Greenhow;' to which she answered, 'We usually order our negroes to kill our swine!'

        Mr. Charles Sumner was said to have been a complacent looker-on if not an actual participator in that chivalrous demonstration against unarmed prisoners. Mayhap his wrath was appeased by the sight of the bleeding victims, who could hold no correcting rod over his own coward shoulders.

        A few days after an order was given to exclude all visitors, in which I was specially named. In spite, however, of the prohibition, I had no difficulty in communicating when I desired.

        Soon after I passed into other hands my share in this good work; for more important employment occupied my time.

        The Yankee Government and Yankee Congress were now exercised upon the subject of reorganising their shattered hosts. The military committee was specially charged with the task, and certainly grave efforts were being made to this end, the primary

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object being to mystify the people as to the past, in order to make them blind instruments in the future; for it was now truly a nation of subterfuges and humbugs.

        At this time the solemn farce was enacted of admitting as U. S. senators the bogus members from Western Virginia. I was in the gallery of the Senate at the time, and happened to remark upon the proceedings to my own party, when a man sitting before me in the uniform of lieutenant-colonel of Yankee volunteers, in company with a number of other officers, turned and said, 'That is treason; we will show you that it must be put a stop to; we have a government to maintain,' &c. This was the first effort of the kind to repress freedom of opinion which had come under my observation, and the beginning of that reign of terror for which we should be obliged to seek precedents in the age of a Nero or Caligula. Yet I confess that it did not surprise me. I leaned forward and said deliberately, 'My remarks were addressed to my companions, and not to you; and if I did not discover by your language that you must be ignorant of all the laws of good-breeding, I should take the number of your company and report you to your commanding officer to be punished for your impertinence!' Seeing me

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addressed by him, several gentlemen came forward, as also the door-keeper, who said, 'Madam, if he insults you I will put him out.' To which I replied, 'Oh, never mind: he is too ignorant to know what he has done.' This defender of the faithful, meanwhile, played most vehemently with his sword, and I expected momentarily to have it drawn against me. His brother officers one by one withdrew, and left him alone in his glory.

        A few moments after this scene a republican senator came up to the gallery to speak with me, and I related the circumstance, and advised him to go down to the Senate and move a revival of the alien and sedition law, as I supposed it would come to that, since armed ruffians were placed in the galleries to awe the crowd. This 'brave' bore it as long as possible, and finally got up and went out. I this man once more, upon the occasion of my being summoned before the U. S. commission, after I had been some eight months a prisoner. He was standing in the doorway of the building in which the commission was held, as if he expected to see me; a look of triumph lighted up his face as his eye encountered mine. I could not resist the temptation of significantly passing my finger across my throat, and saying, 'Beware!' - as Balzac's story of

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the poor Marie Antoinette and Joseph Balsamo came to my mind.

        This was destined to be a day of adventure. Quite an excitement was caused by a rumour that a battle was going on across the river. The Confederate forces were at that time in possession of Arlington Heights, the former residence of the venerable Park Custus, the grandson of Washington: from him it had come by inheritance to our own great General Lee. I went with my party to the portico of the Congressional Library, whence the best view could be obtained, and saw the smoke from the camp-fires gracefully curling up, and remarked, 'That is no battle. The rebels are cooking their dinners.' A number of persons had crowded around and joined in the conversation. Some one proposed to send back to the Senate for Chandler, Wilson, and Foster, the heroic trio who had fled so valorously from the field at Manassas, spreading the news of the defeat. I objected on the score of humanity, as it was not right to give such a shock to their nervous systems, since neither of those senators had been able to stand the fire in their own pipes since that hapless Gilpin race.

        Finally I fell into conversation with a lank lean man, with a big nose and a pair of green spectacles,

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who asked me if I had ever witnessed a battle. I replied that I had experienced a pronunciamento in the city of Mexico. In the course of his remarks he said that he would rather give up Washington than that it should be held by means of fortifications, but that Lincoln, Seward, and the whole set were cowards, and a great deal more which I considered useful information. I knew that this man was a senator, and fancied that it might be 'Jim Lane' of Kansas, he whom I have denominated as 'Balaam's Ass.' He said that he had seen me in the gallery of the Senate, and asked what I thought of the proceedings.

        I related the attack on my liberty of speech, and wondered what sort of performance we should be treated to next, whether a tragedy or another farce; and, I confess, gave a most grotesque account of the speeches during the solemn mockery of the morning, expressing my surprise that more ingenuity had not been displayed to disguise the unconstitutionality of the act, to dismember and defraud a sovereign state of her territorial rights, individualising Trumbull's effort as one for which a schoolboy should have won a 'dunce cap.' I saw a suppressed laugh all around, and that the person to whom I spoke seemed embarrassed,

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and finally fell back and spoke with a gentleman of my party. This person came to me and said, 'Do you know that you have been talking to Senator Trumbull all this while?' I was quite as much amused at the contretemps as any of my hearers. But I should have considered it a reflection upon my good taste to have been previously cognisant of the fact, so assured Senator Trumbull that I had no idea that the subject of my criticism was the patient listener who stood before me - 'But for once in your life you have heard an honest opinion fearlessly expressed.' Abolitionist as he was, I must do him the justice to say that he behaved very well.

        Humbug still continued the order of the day at Washington. Another cry was raised that the Capitol was again in danger. This time the programme was changed. The hero of Lundy's Lane and of Mexico was to be laid on the shelf, to all purposes superseded. But he still stood a mighty ruin in their way, propped by the lingering confidence of a nation, and no man was bold enough to say, 'This is not the right man for the place.' Cunning and craft were the characteristic qualities called into requisition here. Seward, with jesuitical skill, affected to support the weak old man, wishing to enact the fable of 'the monkey and the chestnuts.'

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But even his selfish policy had to yield to the tempest he had aided to raise.

        As a preparation for what was to follow, Congress passed an 'act regulating the pay of the Lieutenant- General in case of his resignation' or 'voluntary retirement.'

        Young America now became the theme of every tongue. The great battles of the world, both in ancient and modern times, were proved to have been fought by generals who were adolescent. Cæsar, Hannibal, and Napoleon were cited as examples, and even our own immortal Washington had many years deducted from his actual age when he fought the battles of the revolution.

        The ears of the rabble were tickled by all this; justice was lost sight of; - and so a young chieftain was summoned to the field of intrigue. Nothing remarkable thus far had distinguished him above his compeers; but, touched by the magic wand of political expediency, he came forth full-fledged, with honours thick upon him. In a single day, from a subordinate position he became Major-General M'Clellan, the virtual head of the dictator's armies - whose policy of bestowing honours in advance differed widely from that of the greatest man of the present times, in the European world - Louis-Napoleon, - by whom grades were always conferred

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after the battle won, as witness Magenta, Solferino, &c. Subsequent to the rout at Manassas, President Lincoln promoted all the officers, many of whom were proved to have fled from the field in advance of their regiments.

        Again comes into bold relief the sycophancy of President Lincoln's protégés. All the military qualities of any age were unscrupulously purloined, to deck the hero of the hour. By degrees they fixed upon the great Napoleon as his prototype - I suppose from the fact that he is short, and rather inclined to corpulency, as was latterly the 'Little Corporal;' and, besides, sycophants are ever ready to discern what pleases best.

        Under the auspices of the 'Young General,' the military are put in motion; hither and thither they are marched, and counter-marched; mysterious movement being his forte. He, however, set himself energetically to the task of reorganising and disciplining the demoralised rabble he was called upon to command.

        General Scott, who at this time was still the nominal commander-in-chief, wrote a letter to the Honourable Henry Wilson, lauding his patriotic exertion, and urging him to accept military command, and commending his capacity for such position in very high terms. By a singular coincidence, M'Clellan

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urged the same gentleman, 'to do him the honour to accept the position of chief of his staff!' This proposition was made by M'Clellan in the reception- room of President Lincoln. I mention these incidents, to show the political bias of all parties at the time; that the Abolition star was in the ascendant, and that everybody fawned upon its chosen apostles.

        M'Clellan also invited the Count de Paris and Duke d'Aumale to become members of his staff. Their acceptance was heralded with great circumstance, as this infusion of the aristocratic element into the Abolition ranks was regarded as a national triumph. Edifying accounts were given of their introduction to President Lincoln, and especially to Master Bob, the Abolition scion of royalty. They were amiable ladylike-looking young Frenchmen, better fitted from their appearance to assist in Mrs. Lincoln's educational scheme (thus treading in the footsteps of their royal ancestor Louis- Philippe, who taught French in Philadelphia) than to win laurels enough to disturb the equanimity of that wise and sagacious Prince whom Providence has appointed to rule over France.

        A commission of Brigadier-General was also tendered to Garibaldi.

        Meanwhile the panic at Washington, instead of subsiding,

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received new impulse each day, from some extravagant rumours. A strong guard was stationed around all the public buildings. The redoubtable Jim Lane, of Kansas notoriety, and his band of ruffians, were quartered in the east room of the White House, for the protection of President Lincoln and his family. Sentinels paced to and fro in front of the house, and at six o'clock in the evening the gates were closed, and no one could enter without the countersign.

        Everything about the national Capitol betokened the panic of the Administration. Preparations were made for the expected attack, and signals arranged to give the alarm. The signal was three guns from the Provost- Marshal's office, followed by the tolling of the church bells at intervals of fifteen minutes.

        By a singular providence (for it would be wrong to ascribe these things to chance), I went round with the principal officer in charge of this duty, and took advantage of the situation. The alarm-guns of the Yankees were the rallying cry of a devoted band whose hearts beat high with hope. The task before them was worthy of all hazard, and our gallant Beauregard would have found himself right ably seconded by the rebels of Washington had he deemed it expedient to advance on that city.

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A part of the plan was, to have cut the telegraph wires connecting the various military positions with the War Department, to take prisoners M'Clellan and several others, thereby creating still greater confusion in the first moments of panic. Measures had also been taken to spike the guns in Fort Corcoran, Fort Ellsworth, and other important points, accurate drawings of which had been furnished to our commanding officer at Manassas by me.

        Quite an ingenious plan was adopted at this time to discover if the 'rebel' communication was uninterrupted. Young Doolittle, the son of the senator of that name, and clerk of the military committee, who was an occasional and useful visitor at my house, brought me a letter for Colonel Corcoran at Richmond, with the modest request that I would send it. I told him that M'Clellan's excessive vigilance had rendered communication almost impossible, but that he might leave it and trust to the chance. He called repeatedly to ascertain whether the letter had been sent; but I understood the motive, and was always very sorry that no opportunity had occurred. I need hardly say that during this period I was in almost daily correspondence with Manassas.

        The Capitol, by this, had been made one of the

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strongest fortified cities of the world - every avenue to it being guarded by works believed to be impregnable. Thirty-three fortifications surrounded it. But this alone was not deemed sufficient. Extraordinary vigilance was exercised; market-carts and news boys were overhauled, to look for treasonable correspondence - every box was either a masked battery, or infernal machine - but, alas! without success, until a sudden inspiration seized them. The Southern women of Washington are the cause of the defeat of the grand army! They are entitled to the laurels won by the brave defenders of our soil and institutions! They have told Beauregard when to strike! They, with their siren arts, have possessed themselves of the plans and schemes of the Lincoln Cabinet, and warned Jeff. Davis of them.

        The most skillful detectives were summoned from far and near, to trace the steps of maids and matrons. For several weeks I had been followed, and my house watched, by those emissaries of the State Department, the detective police. This was often a subject of amusement to me; and several times, when accompanied by my young friend Miss Mackall, we would turn and follow those who we fancied were giving us an undue share of attention. Still I believed it private enterprise, originating with some philanthropist

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who had my well-being at heart; for I was slow to credit that even the fragment of a once glorious Government could give to the world such a proof of craven fear and weakness as to turn the arms, which the blind confidence of a deluded people had placed in their hands, for the achievement of other ends, against the breasts of helpless defenceless women and children. Nevertheless it is a fact, significant of events to follow. Lawless acts of violence seldom stand alone; and the careful readers of the history of the last two hundred years will find numerous parallel cases.

        No nation on the face of the globe has made such rapid strides to despotism as the Federal Government. The first acts of the Republican President were to violate the express provisions of the Constitution: those safeguards provided by the wisdom of our fathers for the protection of the rights of the citizen have been suspended, under the plea of military necessity. The law of the land has given place to the law of the despot.

        The first act of the Republican Congress assembled in this city of Washington on the 4th day July, 1861, was to legalise the acts of their President, thereby admitting that he, the chief magistrate the nation, had been guilty of perjury and treason

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before God and man; for his oath of office had been, to support the Constitution of the United States, and to administer the laws in accordance with its provisions. But instead of being impeached for his crimes, he was eulogised, and unlimited powers were conferred upon him.

        A few voices were raised in protest in both houses of Congress. Breckenridge made a speech on the occasion which must transmit his name with undying honour to posterity; for it was the last cry of freedom ever to be heard in those walls, until they shall have been purged by fire and blood.

        No voice of inspiration is needed to point where this nation is drifting. The crimes which have disgraced other lands, from the contemplation of which humanity shrinks appalled, will yet be enacted here. A people do not sink at once from the height of prosperity, and power, and civilisation, to the lowest abyss of lawless despotism, without some spasmodic attempts at counteraction. But the systematic efforts at demoralisation will soon be apparent: the public taste will become vitiated; the voice of conscience will be smothered by the craving for excitement; fanaticism will assume the guise of patriotism, and under that sacred name the rights of civilisation will be trampled under foot.

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        The guillotine was a most humane invention; but in the hands of a lawless mob became a fearful instrument of vengeance, and has damned to immortality its harmless inventor, who also perished by it. Mr. Lincoln and his Minister of State, Mr. Seward, have set at work the social guillotine; and I am but a poor prophet unless, in its evolutions, they also become the victims; for they have inaugurated a mighty revolution, the bitter fruits of which will be brought home to them.

        It was the intention of the Abolitionists to arrest Breckenridge for treason immediately on the conclusion of his speech, had he afforded the slightest pretext for doing so. Several of the prominent leaders had told me, 'that they had committed a blunder in ever having allowed him to take his seat.' I warned Mr. Breckenridge of his danger, and gave him the names of the parties who had spoken thus to me. He at once recognised his peril, and re-worded his speech as to avoid the threatened danger, at which the Abolitionists were greatly chagrined.

        Charles Sumner was anxious that a test-oath should be applied to those senators who were considered of doubtful loyalty to the Lincolnites, as had be already done to officers of the army; Colonel John

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Lee having the unenviable notoriety of being the first Southern-born officer who subscribed to this oath of allegiance to the tyrant.

        It must not be supposed that the social element was neglected in these times of stern alarm. Mr. Seward was too new in his character of diplomatist to disregard so important a concomitant of success. He had recently returned from Europe - had basked in the smiles of Lord John Russell and the Exeter Hall clique - and had been taught by a charming diplomatic lady that a white neck-cloth was alone comme il faut at a dinner or evening party. So he took the Club House, made memorable in Washington on account of its proximity to the scene of that fearful Sickels tragedy, and commenced a series of entertainments, which were attended by a vast crowd of men in uniforms, and a sparse sprinkling of women, who, with few exceptions, were not of a class to shed much lustre on the Republican Court; for the refinement and grace which had once constituted the charm of Washington life had long since departed, and, like its former freedom, was now, alas! a tradition only.

        We find, by historical observation, that nations as they begin to decline in morality and civilisation have always a morbid passion for pastimes and amusements

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which address themselves to the physical senses. France, in her days of revolution, had her saturnalia to the Goddess of Liberty - Mexico her bull-fights - the Yankee nation her colossal reviews and mimic battles, at which President Lincoln, surrounded by his satellites, complacently assisted, as if the salvoes of artillery which rent the air in his honour could shut out from the ears of Heaven, as well as from his own, the wail of the widow and the orphan.

        It is difficult to reconcile the frivolity of these people from the beginning with a sense of the perils which environed them. Mr. Seward, even after the direful rout at Manassas - when hecatombs of their dead lay manuring the sacred soil - persisted in saying, 'There is nothing the matter!' President Lincoln still said, 'There is nobody hurt!' even though he had reached the Capitol like an escaped convict, under the disguise of a 'Scotch cap and cloak,' and continued for days to edify his visitors with an account of his ingenuity in eluding the supposed murderous snare which had been set for him - leaving his wife and children, however, with true Yankee chivalry, to encounter the dreadful fate from which he so exultantly described himself as having escaped.

        'Nobody hurt!' and yet this same unconstitutional

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President pursues his evening drive under escort of an armed guard, which quite takes us back to the feudal ages. The sight pleased me, I confess, as a foreshadowing of the gathering tempest.

        I wish I could present to the mind's eye a picture of Washington as it really appeared under the desecration of the Black Republican rule. Those of its former population who remained from necessity or other causes had disappeared entirely from the surface of society. A new people had taken their places, as distinct and marked in their characteristics as any barbarian race that ever overran Christendom, and who, in their insolent pride of conquest, speedily effaced every landmark of civilisation.

        The city was filled to overflowing with greedy adventurers seeking office. Day after day, and month after month, the resistless tide, with black glazed carpet-bag in hand, came rolling in. I sometimes thought them the lost tribes of Israel, who, sniffing from afar the golden harvest, had pierced the confines of eternity and found their way over. Every thoroughfare - every public building - doorway, and corridor, and steps - were blocked up by these sturdy beggars, who came to demand the spoils of victory; and who, disdaining the accommodation of hotel or lodging-house, ate their meals out of those same black

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glazed carpet-bags, on the highways or byways, and slept like dogs in a kennel.

        Add to all this the thousands of drunken demoralised soldiers who filled the streets, crowding women into the gutters, with ribald and obscene observations, and sometimes with more personal insult. It was even difficult to look from the windows without the sense of decency being shocked; and the public squares, which were once such favourite resorts, had now become the chosen places of debauchery and crime. The schools throughout the city had been closed, as it was no longer safe for children to go into the street.

        Upon no class of the community did this total abnegation of all the laws, both human and divine, tell with such saddening effect as upon the free coloured population, especially the women, whose sober industrious habits of former days had given place, under the influence of the new order of things, to the most unbridled licentiousness, and who were to be seen at all public places bedecked in gorgeous attire, sharing the smiles of the volunteer officers and soldiers with the republican dames and demoiselles.

        I have frequently received the answer, when I have sent to demand the services of a negro serving-woman, 'that she would not come, for the reason

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that she had an engagement to drive or walk with a Yankee officer.'

        I will gladly turn from the contemplation of this heart-sickening picture to the comedy of 'High Life below Stairs' being enacted at the White House. Mrs. Lincoln, disregarding, or more probably being ignorant of, the conventional usages which have from time immemorial regulated the etiquette at the Presidential mansion, created much amusement and ridiculous comment upon the first public occasion after the assumption of her new dignity in the reception of the ladies of the diplomatic corps.

        The custom at Washington is precisely similar to that practiced at all other courts, that, as soon after the installation of a new chief as is practicable, the representatives of foreign nations accredited to the Government should be formally introduced by the Secretary of State, and a complimentary address delivered in their behalf by the doyen, or oldest member of the diplomatic body, which is answered by the President - all being arranged beforehand, even to the exchange of the addresses.

        In like manner the ladies of the diplomatic corps, after due notification, are presented to the feminine representative of the White House.

        This ceremony is always regarded as one of

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importance, second only to a presentation at St James's or St. Cloud. The ladies in question, after due notification, presented themselves en grande tenue at the White House, where they were ushered very unceremoniously into one of the reception-rooms, and left in a most uncomfortable state of uncertainty as to the next step in the programme. After some time, and when speculation had well nigh exhausted itself, a young woman, dressed in a pink wrapper and tucked petticoat, came bounding in, not making, however, the slightest recognition of the presence of the distinguished visitors assembled, but stood balancing herself first on one foot and then the other, surveying them meanwhile with a most nonchalant air, and after having gratified her curiosity withdrew with as little ceremony as she had entered.

        The surprised enquiry of the stranger ladies, 'Is this Mrs. Lincoln?' had scarcely subsided, when a small dowdy-looking woman, with artificial flowers in her hair, appeared. The first idea was that she was a servant sent to make excuses for the singular delay of Mrs. Lincoln. But she approached and addressed herself in conversation to the wife of a secretary of legation, and it gradually dawned upon the part that this was the feminine representative of the Black Republican Royalty, and they made the best of the

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awkward situation. Mrs. Lincoln herself, however, not seeming to be aware that everything was not conducted in the most orthodox fashion, had instructed a little lady to inform Mme. Mercier that she was studying French, and would by winter be able to converse with her in that language. By this she has probably discovered that there is no 'royal road to learning.'

        I had a most graphic description of this scene from more than one of the victims of this first Republican Court ceremony, and only wish that I could give the picture with all its nicer touches. The young lady in the tucked petticoat was a niece of Mrs. Lincoln.

        Owing to the fact of Mr. Seward being master of the ceremonies, Mr. Lincoln was a little less bizarre in his ministerial reception. But at the dinner given in honour of the occasion, when the different wines were served, and he was asked which he would take, he turned to the servant with most touching simplicity and said: 'I don't know: which would you?'

        This anecdote is as well authenticated as the spilling of the cup of tea on Mrs. Masham's gown.

        A distinguished diplomatist, in discussing the merits of the illustrious pair, said: 'He is better than

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she, for he seems by his manner to apologise for being there.'

        President Harrison is said on his death-bed to have instructed the barber who shaved him, to carry out the provisions of the Constitution; and President Lincoln, much to the chagrin of his constitutional advisers, was in the habit of discussing matters of equal importance with his servants, or 'helps,' as he termed them.

        Mrs. Lincoln asserted with great energy her right to a share of the distribution of the Executive patronage. She had received as a present, from a man named Lammon, a magnificent carriage and horses, promising him in return the marshalship of the district of Columbia, one of the most lucrative offices in the gift of the Executive.

        Mr. Lincoln had, however, determined to bestow the office upon another applicant, who had also paid his douceur, and who was in attendance, waiting to receive the commission which was being made out. Mrs. Lincoln came into the President's office, asked what commission it was that he was signing; and on being told, seized it from his hands, tore it in pieces, saying that she had promised it to 'Lammon,' and he should have it, else her name was not 'Mary Lincoln.'

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        Lammon of course received the commission, and the discomfited applicant reported this conjugal scene; and from that hour commenced the system of votive offerings at the shrine of Mrs. Lincoln.

        It had been a custom at Washington to distribute the hay and grass, cut from the public grounds, to the poor and meritorious population of the city. It was a cheap and graceful charity on the part of the Government, duly appreciated by the recipients; for, thus aided, many a poor widow was enabled to buy bread for her children, from the proceeds of milk from her cow. Mrs. Lincoln put a stop to this praiseworthy custom, and claimed it as one of her perquisites.

        Commonplace and vulgar as these incidents may seem, they are, however, useful illustrations of the practical application of William M. Marcy's famous aphorism, 'To the victors belong the spoils.' The anecdotes of Queen Christina of Sweden present more clearly the character and degree of civilisation of the people over whom she reigned than any laboured historical effort could have done; and no one would dream of describing a royal banquet amongst the Fejee islanders and omit the cold bishop on the side-table.

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CHAPTER IV.
DAYS OF TRIAL.

        MY ARREST - SEARCH AND OCCUPATION OF MY HOUSE - EXAMINATION OF MY PAPERS - MISS MACKALL - MR. CALHOUN - DESTRUCTION OF MY CIPHER - FEMALE DETECTIVE - SEARCH OF MY PERSON - RESOLUTION TO FIRE THE HOUSE - ARREST OF CASUAL VISITORS - INEBRIATION OF THE GUARD - OUTRAGE - TACTICS OF MY GAOLERS - ANDREW J. PORTER.

        THE digression in the last chapter has drawn me from my purpose of telling how I became a prisoner of State.

        September the 6th was the first time since that eventful period that I had had access to pen and paper - all writing-materials having been hitherto withheld from me by order of the heads of the War and State Departments; and, as I knew not at what hour the act of grace might be rescinded, I felt inclined to make the most of it.

        As I have said, on Friday, August 23, 1861, as I was entering my own door, on returning from a promenade, I was arrested by two men, one in citizen's dress, and the other in the fatigue dress of an officer

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of the United States Army. This latter was called Major Allen, and was the chief of the detective police of the city. They followed close upon my footsteps.

        I had stopped to enquire after the sick children of one of my neighbours, on the opposite side of the street. From several persons on the side-walk at the time, en passant, I derived some valuable information; amongst other things, it was told me that a guard had been stationed around my house throughout the night, and that I had been followed during my promenade, and had probably been allowed to pursue it unmolested, from the fact that a distinguished member of the diplomatic corps had joined me, and accompanied me to that point. This caused me to observe more closely the two men who had followed, and who walked with an air of conscious authority past my house to the end of the pavement, where they stood surveying me.

        I continued my conversation apparently without noticing them, remarking rapidly to one of our humble agents who passed, 'Those men will probably arrest me. Wait at Corcoran's Corner, and see. If I raise my handkerchief to my face, give information of it.' The person to whom this order was given went whistling along. I then put a very important

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note into my mouth, which I destroyed; and turned, and walked leisurely across the street, and ascended my own steps.

        A few moments after, and before I could open the door, the two men above described rapidly ascended also, and asked, with some confusion of manner, 'Is this Mrs. Greenhow?' I answered, 'Yes.' They still hesitated; whereupon I said, 'Who are you, and what do you want?' 'I come to arrest you.' 'By what authority?' The man Allen, or Pinkerton (for he had several aliases), said, 'By sufficient authority.' 'Let me see your warrant.' He mumbled something about verbal authority from the War and State Departments, and then both stationed themselves upon either side of me, and followed into the house. I rapidly glanced my eye to see that my signal had keen understood, and remarked quietly, 'I have no power to resist you; but, had I been inside of my house, I would have killed one of you before I had submitted to this illegal process.' They replied, with evident trepidation, 'That would have been wrong, as we only obey orders, and both have families.'

        This scene occurred in much less time than is requisite to describe it. I took a rapid survey of the two men, and in that instant decided upon my own line of conduct; for I knew that the fate of some

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of the best and bravest belonging to our cause hung upon my own coolness and courage.

        By this the house had become filled with men; who also surrounded it outside, like bees from a hive. The calmness of desperation was upon me, for I recognised this as the first step in that system of infamy which was yet to hold up this nation of isms to the scorn of the civilised world. This was the first act of the new copartnership of Seward, M'Clellan,& Co., - the strategic step, on coming into power, of the young general so lauded - an attack upon women and children, and a brilliant earnest of the laurels to be won on his march to Richmond.

        I asked, after a few moments' survey of the scene, 'What are you going to do?' 'To search,' Allen replied. 'I will facilitate your labours;' and, going to the mantel, I took from a vase a paper, dated Manassas, July 23, containing these words - 'Lt.-Col. Jordon's compliments to Mrs. R. Greenhow. Well, but hardworked' - the rest of the letter being torn off before it reached me, some ten days before, through the city post-office. I suspected its delicate mission, so kept it, from an instinct of caution, and had shown it to Major Bache, of U. S. A., Captain Richard Cutts, Wilson, of Massachusetts, and several others. I threw it to Allen, saying, 'You would like to finish

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this job, I suppose?' He took it, discarding, however, the city envelope in which I had received it.

        My cool and indifferent evidently disconcerted the whole party. They had expected that, under the influence of the agitation and excitement of the trying position, I should have been guilty of some womanly indiscretion by which they could profit.

        An indiscriminate search now commenced throughout my house. Men rushed with frantic haste into my chamber, into every sanctuary. My beds, drawers, and wardrobes were all upturned; soiled clothes were pounced upon with avidity, and mercilessly exposed; papers that had not seen the light for years were dragged forth. My library was taken possession of, and every scrap of paper, every idle line was seized; even the torn fragments in the grates or other receptacles were carefully gathered together by these latter-day Lincoln resurrectionists.

        My library, be it remembered, was my sanctum; it was there also that I gave lessons to my children, many of whose unlettered scribblings were tortured into dangerous correspondence with the enemy.

        I was a keen observer of their clumsy activity, and resolved to test the truth of the old saying that 'the devil is no match for a clever woman!' I was

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fully advised that this extraordinary proceeding might take place, and was not to be caught at a disadvantage.

        I had received a note a few days before, stating that one of M'Clellan's aides had informed a lady in George Town that I was to be arrested, also that the name of the Honourable William Preston, U. S. Minister Plenipotentiary to Spain, who was at that time in Washington, stood in the proscribed list. He was warned by me in time to effect his escape.

        Meanwhile I was a prisoner in one of my own parlours, not allowed to move, with stern eyes fixed upon my face, to read certainly what they did not find; for, although agonising anxieties filled my soul, I was apparently careless and sarcastic, and, I know, tantalising in the extreme. My servants were subjected to the same surveillance, and were not allowed to approach me.

        Every effort was made to keep my arrest a secret. My house externally was quiet as usual; three sides of it, being surrounded by a high wall, screened the guard from observation. It was considered the headquarters of the Secessionists, and I being regarded as the head of the conspirators at Washington, a rich haul was anticipated. They reckoned without their host this time.

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        In despite of all their wisely taken precautions, the news of my arrest rapidly spread. At eleven o'clock I was taken prisoner - at about three o'clock my young friend Miss Mackall, and her sister, came to make enquiries; she had heard it in the city. As she entered she was rudely seized by the detective, who stood concealed behind the door, and pushed forward, as was also her sister. They were terrified at the sight of the rude lawless men who were in possession of my once peaceful quiet home. The dear, brave-hearted girl put her head on my shoulder and wept, for she said, 'I did not know what they had done with you.' I whispered, 'Oh, be courageous, for we must outwit these fiends.'

        But before I had succeeded in completely reassuring her, the detective called Captain Dennis approached, and in a loud authoritative voice demanded her name and residence, as well as that of her sister. We were all, after this, ordered to return to the back parlour, under escort of this Captain Dennis, whose duty for the time was to watch me.

        The work of examining my papers had already commenced. It was indeed a hard struggle to remain a quiet spectator of this proceeding, but I nevertheless nerved myself to the task, as my object was to throw the detectives off their guard. I had

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no fear of consequences from the papers which had as yet fallen into their hands. I had a right to my own political opinions, and to discuss the question at issue, and never shrank from the avowal of my sentiments. I am a Southern woman, born with revolutionary blood in my veins, and my first crude ideas on State and Federal matters received consistency and shape from the best and wisest man of this century, John C. Calhoun. These ideas have been strengthened and matured by reading and observation. Freedom of speech and of thought were my birthrights, guaranteed by our charter of liberty, the Constitution of the United States, and signed and sealed by the blood of our fathers.

        Mr. Calhoun had been the intimate friend of my husband, and often our guest, having remained several months at a time with us during his senatorial sojourn at Washington.

        For many years, I had been honoured by a correspondence with him, and it was my privilege to sit by his bedside and minister to his wants during his last illness, and to treasure in my heart his words of wisdom; and when he died, I followed his remains, as one of his children, to his last resting-place - the Senatorial Committee of Arrangements, of which our honoured Commissioner to England, Mr. Mason,

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was one, having assigned me that position in the solemn pageant. Mr. Webster walked by my side as we turned from the tomb, and, with tears trickling down his face, made use of these words: 'One of earth's princes hath departed - the purest, best, and greatest man I ever knew! He was a Roman senator when Rome was.' The same expression he had used in his eloquent oration of the morning. Mr. Clay, in his eulogy upon him in the Senate at the same time, said, 'He was my senior in everything but years.'

        After the examination of my papers by Seymour, the most respectable and the only educated man amongst those detectives, he said, 'Well, madam, you have no reason to feel anything but pride and satisfaction at the ordeal you have gone through, for there is not a line amongst your papers that does not do you honour. It is the most extensive private correspondence that has ever fallen under my examination, and the most interesting and important; there is not a distinguished name in America that is not found here. There is nothing that can come under the charge of treason, but enough to make the Government dread and hold you as a most dangerous adversary.'

        But to return to the sad relation of my wrongs.

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The search still went on. I desired to go to my chamber, and was told that a woman was sent for to accompany me. It did not even then flash upon my mind that my person was to be searched. I was, however, all the more anxious to be free from the sight of my captors for a few moments; so, feigning the pretext of change of dress, &c., as the day was intensely hot, after great difficulty, and thanks to the slow movements of these agents of evil, I was allowed to go to my chamber, and then resolved to accomplish the destruction of some important papers which I had in my pocket, even at the expense of life. (The papers were my cipher, with which I corresponded with my friends at Manassas, and others of equal importance.) Happily I succeeded without such a fearful sacrifice.

        The detective Dennis little dreamed that a few paces only stood between him and eternity. He rapped at my door, calling 'Madam! madam!' and afterwards opened it, but seeing me apparently legitimately employed, he withdrew. Had he advanced one step, I should have killed him, as I raised my revolver with that intent; and so steady were my nerves, that I could have balanced a glass of water on my finger without spilling a drop.

        Shortly after the female detective arrived. I blush

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that the name and character of woman should be so prostituted. But she was certainly not above her honourable calling. Her image is daguerreotyped on my mind, and as it is an ugly picture, I would willingly obliterate it. As is usual with females employed in this way, she was decently arrayed, as if to impress me with her respectability. Her face reminded me of one of those india-rubber dolls, whose expression is made by squeezing it, with weak grey eyes which had a faculty of weeping. Like all the detectives, she had only a Christian name, Ellen. I began to think that the whole foundling hospital had been let loose for my benefit.

        Well, I was ushered into my chamber, a detective standing on guard outside of the door to receive the important documents believed to be secreted on my person - nothing less, I suppose, than a commission of Brigadier-General from President Davis, upon the principle that, whereas President Lincoln had conferred that distinguished grade upon many who deserved to be old women, President Davis had, with characteristic acuteness, discovered qualities in a woman equally entitled to reward.

        I was allowed the poor privilege of unfastening my own garments, which, one by one, were received

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by this pseudo-woman and carefully examined, until I stood in my linen. After this, I was permitted to resume them, with the detectress as my tire-woman.

        During all this time, I was cool and self-possessed. I had resolved to go through the trying ordeal with as little triumph to my persecutors as possible. I had already taken the resolution to fire the house from garret to cellar, if I did not succeed in destroying certain papers in the course of the approaching night; for I had no hope that they would escape a second day's search. My manner was therefore assumed to cover my intentions. I was also sustained by the conscious rectitude of my purpose, and the high and holy cause to which I had devoted my life. I felt that a people struggling to maintain their rights and to transmit unimpaired to their children the glorious heritage of revolutionary fathers, was under the protection of that Divine overruling Providence, which could carry me unscathed across the burning plough-shares spread for my destruction. With this conviction in my soul, I resigned myself to the law of the strongest, for I knew not what further trials were in store for me.

        The orders were to entrap everybody who called at my house. Miss Mackall and her sister were

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already in durance. Mrs. Mackall, who came in pursuit of her children, was seized and detained, as also several other casual visitors. I know not, in fact, how many were taken into custody, for, as the evening advanced, I was ordered upstairs, accompanied by my friends, a heavy guard of detectives being stationed in the rooms with us.

        A little later I had reason to regard it as a signal act of Divine mercy that those friends were sent me. As I have said, it was believed that all the Secessionists in the city were in communication with me, so everyone who called, black or white, was viewed as an emissary; a former man-servant of mine, and his sister, in passing the house, were made prisoners. The man was confined below stairs, and the young girl taken into the parlour, with only those brutal men as her companions. I was not aware of her being in the house until startled by a smothered scream. My first idea was that some insult had been offered to my maid, but, being satisfied on that point, I tried to believe that my sense of hearing had deceived me. Still, I could not divest myself of the horrible fear, and after a while succeeded in sending some one down. The girl was found in a state of great alarm, from the rudeness to which she had been exposed, and was sent below to her brother; and I now began

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fully to realise the dark and gloomy perils which environed me.

        The chiefs of the detectives having gone out, several of the subordinates left in charge now possessed themselves of rum and brandy, which aided in developing their brutal instincts; and they even boasted, in my hearing, of the 'nice times' they expected to have with the female prisoners.

        As every evil is said to be checkmated by some corresponding good, I was enabled by this means to destroy every paper of consequence. I had placed them where they could be found by me at any hour of the day or night, and was not slow to avail myself of the state of inebriation in which the guards were plunged. Stealing noiselessly to the library in the dark, I mounted up to the topmost shelf, took from the leaves of a dusty folio papers of immense value to me at that moment, concealing them in the folds of my dress, and returned to my position on the bed without my gaolers having missed me. The papers were much more numerous than I imagined and the difficulty was how to dispose of them. The chance of my friends being searched on going out (as they were assured they should do) at three o'clock, made me hesitate as to that method. I remembered, however, that, in the search of my

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person in the morning, my boots and stockings had not been removed; so Miss Mackall concealed the papers in her stockings and boots. This proceeding of course occupied some time, but it was noiselessly accomplished in the presence of the guard. It was agreed between Miss Mackall and myself, that if, after leaving my room, she learned that her person would be searched, she should be seized with compunction at leaving me, and return to share the honours of the conflagration.

        It is proper here to state that the mother of Miss Mackall was not cognisant of this, or any other circumstance calculated to have involved her in the difficulties surrounding me.

        The guard, meanwhile, all unconsciously continued their conversation, which, under the influence of the ardent spirits they had imbibed, became heated and angry. I exerted myself to promote the discussion, and arrayed their different nationalities one against the other - they were English, German, Irish, and Yankee. *

        I reasoned that so unusual a circumstance as men

* Two of the most insolent of these men - an Englishman named Lewis, and an Irishman named Scully - were, some time after, apprehended in Richmond as spies, and condemned to death. On my arrival there they wrote to me to petition my intervention in their behalf.

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wrangling in my house would warn my friends of the existence of an extraordinary state of things. It was a clear moonlight night, and fear, like death, had hushed every sound in that section of the city. It was a judicious conclusion, as I subsequently learned.

        I must here record a circumstance which will go far to prove that a certain gentleman in black does not always take care of his own. The chief detective, Allen, having gone out on some other errand of mischief, on returning about nine o'clock encountered a gentleman who was at that time Provost-Marshal of the city, and who was about to call to make a visit at my house. Allen, being ignorant of or disregarding his official position, attempted to arrest him. He ran, pursued by Allen, until he reached the Provost's quarters, when, ordering out his guard, he arrested Allen, and held him in close confinement until the next morning, regardless of his oaths, or his prayers to be allowed to send a message to Lincoln, or Seward, or M'Clellan. By these indirect means Providence seems to have watched over and averted destruction from me.

        Between the hours of three and four, on the morning of the 24th, my friends were permitted to depart, under escort of a detective guard, who were

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stationed around their houses for the following day.

        After this I was allowed to snatch a few hours of repose, much needed after the mental and bodily fatigue of that most trying day. But I must also state that the two doors leading into my chamber were kept open, with a guard stationed inside of each.

        On the morning of the 24th, at about eleven o'clock, my friend Miss Mackall, much to the surprise of the Yankee detective police, returned, and for several weeks shared my imprisonment.

        For seven days my house remained in charge of the detective police, the search continuing throughout all that time, as also the examination of my papers and correspondence. The books in the library were all taken down and examined leaf by leaf. There would have been some wisdom in this the first day. Several large boxes, containing books, china, and glass, which had been packed for several months, were subjected to the like ordeal. Finally, portions of the furniture were taken apart, and even the pictures on the walls received their share of attention also. My beds even were upturned many times, as some new idea would seize them.

        I now watched their clumsy proceedings free

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from anxiety, as I had, under their own eyes, sent off or destroyed all my papers of value.

        The search still went on. My powers of observation became quickened to a degree which would have made me a valuable auxiliary to the honourable body, to whose care the Abolition Government had confided the lives and honour of helpless women and children.

        Seemingly I was treated with deference. Once only were violent hands put upon my person - the detective, Captain Dennis, having rudely seized me to prevent my giving warning to a lady and gentleman, on the first evening of my arrest (which I, however, succeeded in doing), and as the birds escaped his snare, his rage grew beyond bounds, and he seized me with the spring of a tiger, and crushed my poor arm, which long bore the marks of the brutal outrage. The story of the hapless Queen of Scots was most feelingly called to my recollection. A strong effort was afterwards made to drive this from my mind, as if aught but the life's blood of the dastard could efface it.

        My orders were asked for my meals, which I humoured as one of the necessities of my situation. But Lily and I were like the Siamese twins, inseparable. My pistol had been taken from me, and I

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had no means of defence, and for the first time in my life I was exposed to the dread of personal violence.

        I had, however, the satisfaction, after a few days, of perceiving that even my lawless captors were rebuked into more quiet and reserve before me, although they still presumed to seat themselves at table with me, with unwashed hands, and shirt-sleeves.

        The tactics of my gaolers changed many times. Occasionally, it seemed that my confinement was only nominal; all this, of course, was to throw me off my guard. The subordinates threw themselves in my way, as if disgusted with the task assigned them, and, with hearts overflowing with kindness, and hands ready to be bribed, discoursed most fluently upon the outrage committed in my arrest.

        Two deserve especial notice. One was a burly Irishman, with smooth tongue, professing the religion of my ancestors, that of the Holy Catholic faith. He marvelled that so noble a lady should have been treated as a common malefactor; and, by way of still further showing his sympathy, he set himself to the task of making love to my maid, hoping by this means to possess himself of the important State secrets of which he believed her to be the repository. Sentimental walks, and treats at confectioneries at Uncle Sam's expense, were a part of the programme.

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She, Lizzy Fitzgerald, a quick-witted Irish girl, warmly attached to me as a kind mistress, and knowing nothing which the severest scrutiny could elicit to my disadvantage, entered keenly into the sport, and, to use her own expressive words, 'led Pat a dance,' and, under these new auspices, performed some very important missions for me.

        The other, a canny Scotchman, whom they called Robert, expatiated, with tears in his eyes, upon 'the sublime fortitude' I had exhibited on this my moral gridiron; and, seeking still further to commemorate the meek and lowly grace with which I had borne myself, asked me to present him with M'Clellan's report on the Crimea, with my autograph, for, he said, 'Madam,' choked with emotion, 'there is no telling what may happen; and I would like to look at your name, and know that you had forgiven me.' His manner was touchingly pathetic, and very like what I should suppose Jack Ketch's to be, on asking for the black cap after all was over. These two men offered to take letters for me.

        I learned, incidentally, that the Provost-Marshal's office was kept on the qui vive by the daily report of these proceedings, from which important results were expected to be derived.

        During all this time I was never alone for a moment.

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Wherever I went a detective followed me. If I wished to lie down, he was seated a few paces from my bed. If I desired to change my dress, or anything else, it was obliged to be done with open doors, and a man peering in at me. That every sense of delicacy recoiled from this indecent exposure may well be imagined. But, alas! I had no alternative but to submit, for, when I remonstrated with the detective, Captain Dennis, I was met by the answer that it was the order of the Provost- Marshal, and that I was indebted to him that more disgusting severity had not been enforced.

        General Mansfield had been superseded in the position of Provost-Marshal of the district of Columbia by Brigadier Andrew J. Porter, who was far more congenial, in his character and acquirements, with the Satrap and his minions, and not likely to entertain any conscientious scruples in the performance of any duty which might be assigned to him; and who seemed to have been equally fortunate in the selection of his own principal police-officer, Captain Averil of the U.S.A., whose genius certainly lay in his new line of duty. He was ever on the alert to discover some new persecution for the unfortunates within his power, in order to testify his zeal and fidelity.

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CHAPTER V.
REIGN OF TERROR.

        ABOLITION EFFORT TO POISON PRESIDENT BUCHANAN - DESTRUCTION OF MY PAPERS - REWARD FOR MY CIPHER - INTERCEPTING DESPATCHES - MR. SEWARD - PERSONAL DANGER - MR. DAVIS - EFFORT TO BRIBE ME - GENERAL BUTLER - YANKEE PUBLICATIONS - OTHER PRISONERS - SPOILATION - DETECTIVE POLICE GIVE PLACE TO MILITARY GUARDS - MISS MACKALL - ILLNESS OF MY CHILD - DR. STEWART - PRISON LIFE - THE SPY APPLEGATE - MR. STANTON - JUDGE BLACK AND R. J. WALKER - FOUL OUTRAGE - YANKEE POLICY - PETTY ANNOYANCES.

        MEANWHILE, my private papers and letters were still under the process of examination, and were divided off into parcels, marked 'highly important,' 'political,' 'legal,' &c. according to the perceptive faculty of the examining parties, and borne off to the War Department.

        There was one paper amongst them which I venture to assert will never be brought to light. It was a full and detailed account, so far as could be collected, of the appalling attempt of the Abolition party to poison President Buchanan, and the chiefs

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of the Democratic party, in Washington, at the National Hotel, a few days prior to the inauguration of President Buchanan.

        This diabolical scheme was very near accomplishment, so far as regarded the life of President Buchanan, who was for a long time in a very critical condition, and it was only by the use of powerful stimulants that his constitution rallied from the effects of the poison. He told me that often during the day at this time he was obliged to drink several tumblers of unadulterated brandy, to keep himself from entire physical exhaustion.

        This created great commotion in Washington, and various efforts were made to account for it in a natural way. One story was, that the rats, which were very troublesome, had been poisoned, and that they had fallen into the tanks which supplied the hotel with water. But the corporate authorities took the matter in hand, and instituted a very thorough examination; the tanks were all emptied of water, and no rats could be found; the sewers under and leading through the town were also opened, to see if any poisonous exhalations could come from them; and the corporation reported that there was no local cause for the epidemic. Everybody fled from the plague-stricken spot; and the

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hotel, which was one of the largest in the city, was closed.

        At the same time, information of a very important character came to the knowledge of the authorities. A druggist of Philadelphia wrote to the Attorney-General (Caleb Cushing), at Washington, that, in his absence, an order had been received and filled by one of his subordinates for thirty pounds of arsenic, to be sent to Washington; that so unusual a quantity had excited his alarm; that, upon further enquiry, he learned that the express charge had been prepaid at Philadelphia for its transportation, which was likewise unusual. It was also found that the package had reached Washington by Adams& Co.'s Express, and had been called for and received by some unknown party. To show the pertinacity with which the plot was followed up, Congress had made an appropriation for a Major-Domo of the White House, with a salary of $1,200. The person who had charge of Mr. Buchanan's rooms at the National was the applicant for the post, and was on the eve of receiving the appointment, when a gentleman from New York, arrived in post haste, in the night, roused up the private secretary of the President, and gave him information of importance. The applicant for the place of Major-Domo of the White House,

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after this, did not again present himself, but disappeared from the city.

        Judge Black, the Attorney-General of the United States, under Mr. Buchanan, whose statements corroborated the above information, told me also that he had obtained a clue to the whole plot, but that Mr. Buchanan would not allow the affair to be pursued, because of the startling facts it would lay open to the world, and that he shrank from the terrible exposure.

        I considered it a great weakness on his part to have forbidden the investigation, as it might have averted the John Brown raid, and many other acts of the 'Irrepressible Conflict' party. Between fifty and sixty persons fell victims to this wholesale poisoning experiment.

        A very large sum had been offered for my cipher. This extraordinary sum had stimulated the zeal of the employés of the Government to a very remarkable degree. I had, of course, too much control over myself to afford any indication of my knowledge of what they were seeking, but affected ignorance and unconcern.

        The tables were filled with fragments of old letters, and scraps in cipher, in several languages, from early morn till late at night. For seven days

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they puzzled over them. I had no fear. One by one they had allowed the clue to escape them, and for what remained Champollion himself would have required a key. Only once was I frightened. Miss Mackall, who, like myself, was always on the alert, abstracted from a heap of papers a sheet of blotting- paper, upon which was the whole of my despatch to Manassas on July 16 - another evidence that Providence watched over me as an humble instrument in a glorious cause.

        I was at this time kept perfectly well posted with regard to matters outside, and sometimes received valuable information through the inadvertent conversation of my gaolers. I had been already notified that several of my despatches had been betrayed into Seward's hands by a spy of the name of Applegate; that a Cabinet Council had been convened, assisted by Scott and M'Clellan; and that several Republican officials had been summoned, amongst the number Wilson of Massachusetts, as being implicated by my information. The despatches created consternation. The whole Abolition Government were at this time shaking with fear of the advance of our glorious army, and their children were even hushed to sleep with the cry, 'Jeff. Davis is coming.'

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        I had deemed it important that the political intrigues then going on at Washington should be clearly understood by the Confederate Government; and as I might almost be said to have assisted at Lincoln's Cabinet Councils, from the facilities I enjoyed, having verbatim reports of them as well as of the Republican caucus, I was thoroughly competent to the task of giving a faithful synopsis of their deliberations.

        One of the despatches referred to was a long letter to President Davis, describing in detail the intrigues to get rid of Scott by the temporary elevation of M'Clellan, in which was repeated a conversation I had held with several members of the New York press, as an indication of the temper of the times, upon a proposition they had under discussion, of uniting to dethrone Seward and Cameron, and the reasons pro and con. for leaving Seward where he was; that his time-serving policy was less conducive to unity and strength; that he would never inaugurate any net measures; that if the faction which seemed strongest cried for the abolition of slavery, or renewed guarantees for its protection, he would lend himself to it, or to anything else which could tend to his advancement; that his genius lay in his faculty of

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drawing to himself all the advantages of any successful measure, and of shuffling out of the way of an unpopular one; that Bennett, of the 'New York Herald,' had understood him perfectly, and had said of him, in reply to my remark that 'Seward was the only statesman amongst the Black Republican party,' 'He has not the first principle of a statesman: he is a miserable political charlatan, and has been the advocate of every unconstitutional measure in this State from Anti-rentism down to Abolitionism. He has not blood enough in him to entertain an honest opinion on any subject, but wishes to be a great man, and will buckle to anything for power;' that the Chevalier Wikoff had gone to Seward and repeated to him some portion of this conversation, and that he (Seward) had reddened to the roots of his hair, but had appointed an hour to receive him, for the discussing certain propositions he had to make on the part of the New York press, on the peace question: that the Chevalier, after this conversation, came to me and proposed that I should give him a safe-conduct to General Beauregard, with a recommendation that he would forward him to Richmond, from which city he could write a peace letter: that Mr. Seward favoured the idea. He then said, 'Suppose you go to Manassas, and let

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me go under your protection.' I said, 'That would be impossible.' He replied quickly, 'Oh! I have arranged all that with Seward.' I said, 'You misunderstand me: your reputation is so bad, that no lady would travel in your company.' That, unabashed by this, he then said, 'But will you give me a letter which will take me through to Richmond? I will be willing to go blindfold, and be put in a cage after I get there, so that I may write the letter.' To which I replied, 'I have no authority to grant your request, and, so far from giving you facilities for carrying out your wishes, I should consider President Davis derelict in his duty if he did not cause any man to be hanged who would do what you propose;' that peace now, upon any other basis than separate independence, was out of the question; and that, if he had any desire to aid in the accomplishment of that desirable end, he had better, through the New York papers, endeavour to enlighten the minds of the people on the subject; that we of the South had been driven to draw the sword in self- defence, &c. I told of Cameron's peculations, which were not then generally known - of M'Clellan's plans for reorganising the army - in short, of all that was proposed, or being done by the Yankees.

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        The second despatch was entirely in cipher, but contained duplicate drawings of some fortifications and weak points, which they complimented as being equal to those of their best engineers - as well they might; besides information of importance, in case our army advanced on Washington. My letter was pronounced 'a very able production.' I had at least the satisfaction of knowing that Lincoln and the assembled wisdom of Abolitionism did justice to the zeal with which a Southern woman executed her patriotic duty.

        Their fears elevated me to a most dangerous eminence, and they deliberated whether I should not be publicly tried for treason, and made an example of. The effort to obtain my cipher was with the hope of establishing direct evidence against me, such as would be available in court upon a public trial, and as a justification to the world for their extraordinary proceedings, for which there had been no precedent, in a civilised age, save in France during the Revolution.

        My social position was such, that they did not dare follow the suggestions of their first excited consultations in disposing of me; for in their own ranks I had many devoted friends, who openly expressed their admiration of the position I took under the

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circumstances of danger and difficulty which environed me.

        Mr. Davis directed me, in a despatch received at this time, to give up the cipher, if I could thereby obtain any advantage. This discretionary instruction of the President left me free to follow my own judgment, and destroy it, for reasons vital to me, and fraught with hazard to others, actually engaged and still unsuspected.

        My despatches were all written and received at this time under a nom de plume, and Yankee cunning and ingenuity had, even at this early day, exhausted itself in efforts to enveigle me into an admission or recognition which would compromise me or my friends. They had had the infamy to circulate a report that, for a large sum, I had engaged to desert my cause and betray my party. But I thank God that they did not succeed in shaking the confidence of my friends, which was an important object.

        That I could have made my own terms with them can easily be seen from the importance they attached to my capture. They had the effrontery to insinuate to me, through their subordinates, that a 'graceful concession' on my part would be most cheerfully responded to by the Government. And when I replied that if this was in furtherance of the report

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they had set in circulation - an attempt to bribe me - my only response would be that, for weal or woe, I had cast my lot as God and nature directed, and that their whole bankrupt treasury could not tempt me to betray the meanest agent of our cause. I was asked if I knew that my life was in danger, and that probably, to save my neck, I might answer differently, to which I replied that the life of any one is in danger when in the power of lawless scoundrels. Beyond that I had no fears, for their own cowardice protected me, as they knew ample retaliation would follow an attempt on my life.

        On Thursday, the 29th, the Yankee Government went through the farce of offering to hire my house and furniture. I asked to be allowed to see a lawyer for consultation, and was told that they would not grant me that right. I then answered that, as a prisoner, I was not competent to any legal act, and that I declined all negotiations with them; that they had already ruined, and destroyed, and stolen all that I valued in the house, and that they might continue to hold it by the same lawless tenure - that of brute force - as I would not become a party to my own robbery. This I said to Quartermaster Howard, who came on the part of the Government, and, to

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do him justice, he appeared heartily ashamed of his mission.

        General Butler was with Cameron and other officials, in the Provost-Marshal's Office, when Captain Howard went to report the result of his mission, which he did in terms complimentary to me, coupled with the remark 'that he felt like tearing the straps from his shoulders, from a sense of mortification at the part he was forced to play as he stood before the noble woman.' Butler said, 'If the Government will take my advice, and consign that haughty dame to my care at Fortress Monroe, I warrant to put her through an ordeal which will no longer endanger the loyalty of our officers,' &c. &c.

        Verily, a Roman tyrant made a consul of his horse, but Lincoln has exceeded him in enormity by making of Butler the beast a military governor.

        My object in seeing a lawyer was of course not with the idle hope of protecting my property. But up to this time the habeas corpus had not been suspended, and I wished to force the issue between the civil and military authorities, as a means possibly of arresting the coming evils. I was informed by the man Allen that I knew my rights too well, and that the Government did not intend to afford me the means of asserting them.

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        I did, however, in spite of their vigilance, succeed in sending a message and note to Judge Black (late Attorney-General of the United States) and to the Honourable R. J. Walker, requesting them to call upon me. But those grave legal gentlemen, influenced by prudential considerations, or sympathy with the inquisitorial hierarchy, gave no heed to my request, and I was thus left in the hands of an unscrupulous cunning enemy, with only my own judgment to guide me.

        To show the utter recklessness of the Abolition Government, and the extraordinary means they temporarily resorted to, to infuse velour into their demoralised ranks, it was now authoritatively published that our great and good President had died in Richm