ilies. After he had been serving in this way for several months, at the tearful appeal of the poor mother, I made a direction that he be allowed to enlist a new term, on the same condition as others. She now comes and says she cannot get it acted upon. Please do it."

A. LINCOLN.

NOTE TO SECRETARY STANTON; WASHINGTON, NOVEMBER II,

"DEAR SIR:

1863.

I personally wish Jacob Freese of New Jersey, to be appointed colonel of a colored regiment, and this regardless of whether he can or cannot tell the exact shade of Julius Caesar's hair.”

A. L.

LETTER TO THE MOTHER OF FIVE HERO SONS.

A remarkable letter written by the President to a mother who lost five sons in Civil War.

Executive Mansion, Washington, November 21, 1864.

To Mrs. Bixby, Boston Mass.

Dear Madam: I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons, who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the republic they died to save. I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.

Yours very sincerely and respectfully,

A. LINCOLN.

A LINCOLN STORY.

It appears that during Mr. Lincoln's term at the White House, Mr. Cross was painting his portrait, calling at the Executive Mansion several times a week for this purpose. Mr. Cross had secured the friendship and notice of Mr. Lincoln, owing to having rescued the President a number of years before while crossing a river, the row-boat having capsized.

On this particular morning, when Mr. Cross was hurrying across the City of Washington to keep his appointment, he ran across an elderly lady who stopped the painter and asked him if he could direct her to the Executive Mansion. Mr. Cross said that he, himself, was going there, and would be glad to direct her, and asked "What takes you there, Mother?" She said “I want to see the President about my boy, who is going to be shot as a deserter tomorrow morning." Having reached the White House, Mr. Cross was greeted by the President, who met him at the door in a sort of a lounging robe, which had a big rent in it. Mr. Cross told the President the mission of the old lady, and Lincoln, out of the goodness of his heart, asked her to repeat her story. He said "Tell me, Mother, all about it." She replied "My boy is a good boy, there is nothing bad about him; I guess he had gotten homesick and wanted to see his mother again, and so he came up North; he is a good boy, Mr. President, and I don't want him shot." Mr. Lincoln said "Just a minute," and looking off into space he thought for some time, and then said "Mother, you may have your boy," and thereupon he dispatched a message ordering the release of the young man. The President put off his sitting for his portrait for Mr. Cross that morning, and said "Mr. Cross, take this dear old lady and put her up,-see that she is housed and fed, and when her son gets back to her I want to hear further of his case."

A letter written by the president Sept. 28, 1862 and recently published. It was given to the Press by Mr. John Maynard Harmon on Feb. 3, 1916.

"Strictly private."

Hon. Hanibal Hamlin,

MY DEAR SIR:

Executive Mansion,
Washington, Sept. 28, 1862.

Your kind letter of the 25th is just received. It is known to some that while I hope something from the proclamation, my expectations are not so sanguine as are those of some friends.

The time for its effect Southward has not come; but Northward-the effect should be instantaneous. It is six days old, and while commendation in newspapers and by distinguished individuals, is all that a vain man could wish, the stocks have declined, and troops come forward more slowly than ever. This, looked soberly in the face, is not very satisfactory. We have fewer troops in the field at the end of the six days than we had at the beginning the attrition among the old, outnumbering the addition by the new. The North responds to the proclamation sufficiently IN BREATH; but breath alone kills no rebels. I wish I could write more cheerfully; nor do I thank you the less for the kindness of your letter. Yours very truly,

A. LINCOLN.

CHAPTER IX.

SETTLEMENT OF TRENT EPISODE.

"The Trent affair also shows the control Lincoln maintained over events that were suddenly flung upon him to be met; its early settlement showed the wisdom of the president and his cabinet. Through their deliberations and foresight, the cordial relations were maintained as far as possible which had heretofore existed between England and the United States." Henry C. Whitney, in his "Life on the Circuit with Lincoln," (Estes & Lauriat, Boston, gives a clear and truthful description of Lincoln in his earlier efforts while on the circuit in Illinois.

D. MacNeill Fairfax, Rear-Admiral U. S. N., executive officer of the San Jacinto, of which Captain John Wilkes was commander, made the following statement in "Battles and Leaders of the Civil War," Vol. II.

"At Cienfugos, he, Captain Wilkes, learned that Messrs. Mason and Slidell, Confederate Commissioners to Europe, had reached that port, en route to England. We ascertained that their plan was to leave on the 7th of November in the English steamer Trent, for St. Thomas, on their way to England, and readily calculated when and where in the Bahama Channel we might intercept them. After boarding the Trent, I asked Captain Moir, if I might see the passenger list, saying I had information that Messrs. Mason and Slidell were on board."

* * *

"The mention of Mr. Slidell's name caused that gentleman to come up and say, 'I am Mr. Slidell; do you want to see me?' Mr. Mason, whom I knew well, also came up at the same time. * * * I informed Captain Moir that I had been sent by my Commander to arrest Mr. Mason and Mr. Slidell." A full account of this affair is given in the second volume of "The Annals of the War." Mr. John Mason and Mr. James M. Slidell, Confederate Commissioners to Great Britain and France, were taken on board the United States screw sloop of war San Jacinto, to Fort Monroe, and afterwards to New York and Boston. A preemptory demand was made by England for their release. The Commissioners were subsequently released without unnecessary delay by the order of the president after conference with Wm. H. Seward, Secretary of State.