July 17, a Bill passed the Senate at Washington, decreeing the infliction of additional penalties to those already in force, against persons either in arms against the United States, or in any way engaged in assisting (what was termed in the Bill) the so-called Confederate States in the prosecution of the war. Among other penalties attached to those guilty of the crime of treason, it was decreed that all the slaves possessed by such criminal should be free. To this President Lincoln objected, on the ground that it was beyond the power of Congress to free a slave within a slave state; but, at the same time, he suggested that the difficulty might be overruled by an alteration in the wording of the Act, so as first to transfer to the nation the ownership of the slave, and thereby bring it into the power of Congress to declare him free. No change was however made in the wording of this section of the Act; and on a second objection urged by the President being allowed, and a clause inserted that no punishment or proceeding under said Act be so construed as to work a forfeiture of the real estate of the offender beyond his natural life,' President Lincoln approved and signed the Act. The plan for arming the blacks was for the time put aside, and the ordinary method continued, of recruiting the army by the offer of a bounty for enlistment, with the threat of conscription* unless the quota of men allotted to the several states should be supplied. The Government set the example of bounties by the offer of $40 per man; and the several states and cities increased this offer by additional sums, in order to make up the number of men demanded from them.+

*Termed a draft in America.

† On the 4th August, 1862, an order was issued by the President for a draft of 300,000 to serve in the militia for nine months, unless

of specie was regarded the The Financial new issue of

Another difficulty, besides the want of soldiers, also beset the Administration. The absence becoming severely felt, especially as smaller coins necessary for daily use. Minister, Mr. Chase, in proposing his $150,000,000 of Treasury Notes, asked permission of Congress to print off a few millions for sums under five dollars. After some discussion, this application was granted, and $25,000,000 were permitted to be issued in bills of one, two, and three dollars each. Even this concession did not afford sufficient assistance to the requirements of trade, and all sorts of expedients were tried to remedy the great deficiency of small-change. IO U's, in the form of notes, were issued by many of the hotels and drinking-saloons. Orders on shops were given in exchange for larger sums tendered in purchases of small value. Omnibus tickets, theatre tickets, tickets for ferries, postage stamps, all came into circulation as small-change, and passed current in the localities in which they were issued.* Various plans for the remedy of this evil were proposed, but it continued to increase; and the ever-changing value of the precious metals had the effect of augmenting the

sooner discharged. The same order directed that, should any state not furnish its quota of the 300,000 volunteers, the deficiency should be made up by a special draft from the militia. The volunteer force to serve against the South must not be confounded with the militia forces of each separate state, organised for the defence of the state, and under the control of the state governor.

* In Chicago, barber-shop tickets for the amount of a dollar were in circulation; the ticket depreciating 10 cents each time the holder was shaved, when the barber would punch a hole in the ticket to mark its depreciation of value. The plates held in the churches presented curious specimens of circulating mediums, filled as they were with every description of IO U.

spirit of speculation, only too much developed in the great trading cities of America.

6

If we turn to the Confederate States, and watch the line of conduct advocated by President Davis, as set forth in his Message to Congress on the 16th August, we shall see success borne with equanimity, and the passions fiercely excited in the breasts of the Southern people, by such acts as the Confiscation Act, and by proclamations issued about this time by the Northern Generals, calmed down and guided into proper channels by the head of the Government. President Davis, in his message, alluded to the gallantry of the army: he showed that it had not faltered in any of the various trials to which it had been subjected; and that the great body of the people had continued to manifest a zeal and unanimity which not only cheered the battlestained soldier, but gave assurance to the friends of constitutional liberty of the final triumph of the South in the pending struggle against despotic usurpation.' He pointed out how the malignity of the North against the South had been augmented by defeat, and instanced, as proofs, the passing of the Confiscation Act, and the open forgery and sale in the Northern cities of the Confederate paper-money. He spoke of Butler's proclamation at New Orleans, and the orders of other military commanders; and although he deprecated retaliatory measures, yet he considered that stern justice should be meted out to those whom he termed 'murderers and felons,' in the event of their coming within the power of the Confederate laws. President Davis then drew attention to the internal condition of the States. He begged Congress to endeavour, as far as was possible, to give complete efficiency to the Conscription Act, and to

devise the best means for securing the entire cooperation of the State and Confederate Governments. He also congratulated the country, that at length an arrangement had been effected with regard to the exchange of prisoners, which would, it was hoped, speedily restore many brave and unfortunate men to the ranks of the army. He concluded as follows:We have never-ceasing cause to be grateful for the favour with which God has protected our infant Confederacy, and it becomes us reverently to return our thanks, and humbly to ask of His bounteousness that wisdom which is needful for the performance of the high trusts with which we are charged.'

The Congress commenced its sittings, and confined itself generally to the consideration of questions bearing more immediately on the conduct of the war. It gave additional powers to the President in matters relating to the promotion of deserving officers and men, providing at the same time against undue jobbing and the effects of political interest, by decreeing that the advancement of all officers, unless in special exceptional cases, should be by seniority. With reference to the blockade of the ports of the Confederacy, it passed a Bill permitting vessels to unload their cargoes on any part of the coast of the Confederate States. The blockade of the coast had not been very effectual, and even at the ports at which the Federal shipsof-war had been stationed, the swift steamships, built for the purpose of running the blockade at some of the shipyards of England and Scotland, succeeded frequently in effecting an entrance.

At Mobile, a port more easily watched than many of the others, the steamer Oreto, subsequently named the Florida, having run the gauntlet in broad daylight of

the whole blockading squadron, lay at anchor, awaiting her armament and stores to issue forth to prey on the Federal commerce. Trusting to her speed to escape destruction from the Federal artillery, she had boldly steamed through the fleet, passing within easy range of grape and shrapnel, of which her sides showed the marks, but unhurt in any vital point by the heavier shot. Captain Maffitt and many of the crew were at the time ill with fever, but, undermanned as she was, and totally devoid of weapons, offensive or defensive, she had boldly faced the Federal fleet, and was now reaping the reward of her enterprise in the admiration which her bold exploit had excited among the Southern people.