E

DWIN M. STANTON was born at Steubenville, Ohio, about the year 1817. After graduating at Kenyon College, he applied himself diligently to the study of law in Steubenville, and rapidly rose to distinction in his profession, which he practised for several years in Ohio. In 1848 he removed to Pittsburgh, Pa., where his energy and excellence as a lawyer soon won for him an exalted position. He here conducted, with signal success, the case involving the Wheeling Bridge controversy, wherein, for the first time, the brilliancy of his talents received a national recognition.

With the instinct of a lawyer and the zeal of an American, he had early turned his attention to politics. Though educated as a Whig, he began his career as an ultra Democrat; and there were few of the leading issues of the day wherein the weight of his opinion did not leave a legible impress. At the commencement of President Buchanan's administration, he was selected to represent the Government in an important land case in California. Here again he was successful. He then commenced to practise law at the national capital, and shortly afterward received the appointment of Attorney-General.

At the close of Mr. Buchanan's term of office, Mr. Stanton withdrew to private life and the practice of his profession in the State of Pennsylvania; whence, however, at the opening of the battle-year of 1862, he was appointed by Mr. Lipcoln to supersede Mr. Cameron as Secretary of War.

His nomination to this important office was unanimously hailed as a presage of vigor and success by the war-favoring Democratic press. The old partisan lines had remained salient until now, when the new appointment was received as an indication that at last the blatant rebellion was to become acquainted with that desideratum of freedom-lovers, a united North. So soon as his appointment was confirmed by the Senate, Mr. Stanton grasped the reins of his difficult trust with characteristic vigor.

But one of his primary measures was inspired by humanity, evinced in the issue of the following:

"This Department recognizes as the first of its duties to take measures for the relief of the brave men who, having imperilled their lives in the military service of the Government, are now prisoners and captives. It is, therefore,

ordered, that two Commissioners be appointed to visit the city of Richmond, in Virginia, and wherever else prisoners belonging to the army of the United States may be held, and there take such measures as may be needful to provide for the wants and contribute to the comfort of such prisoners, at the expense of the United States, and to such extent as may be permitted by the authorities under whom such prisoners are held."

Under this Order, the Rev. Bishop Ames and the Hon. Hamilton Fish were appointed as Commissioners.

The splendid success of Fort Donelson closed the winter which had so gloomily set in, and the victorious carnage of Shiloh opened the spring, while the annual swallows were winging northward like harbingers of peace. And in April, 1862, the Secretary of War ordered that the chaplains of every regiment in the armies of the United States should, on "the first Sunday after receipt of the Order, give thanks to the Almighty for the great victories achieved by our armies, and invoking the continuance of his aid."

He also tendered the thanks and congratulations of the Department to MajorGeneral Halleck, and other generals, and to the armies under their command, for their gallant and meritorious services.

The acts of Secretary Stanton are matters of history which must be freshly and indelibly fixed in the minds of his fellow-countrymen. And yet they will appear more vividly when the scroll whereon they are inscribed is further removed from our inspection; for if the hues of the colorist are brightest when fresh, the yellowing hand of time alone can accord to them that golden tone which bespeaks the impress of the master-hand. But some of the more important measures of our subject may be fittingly introduced or sketched, as bearing strongly upon the progress of events.

Toward the close of the autumn of 1863, we seemed threatened with hostilities in a quarter unexpectedly remote from that to which we had bent our ears for the boom of rebel guns. A large number of rebel prisoners were then, as now, confined on Johnson's Island, Lake Erie. A conspiracy, or supposed conspiracy, among them, came to light, in which it appeared that schemes were in operation, in British America, having for their object the forcible release of these prisoners, and the destruction of Ogdensburgh and Buffalo. The information was derived from the Governor-General of Canada, through Lord Lyons, the British Minister at Washington. Secretary Stanton promptly advised the threatened cities and the other lake ports of the information received. While expressing the intention of the Government to use every exertion in case of an attack from Canada, he did not neglect to recommend and urge the utmost activity and vigilance on the part of the local authorities, at the same time suggesting a course of rigid inspection with regard to the character of all departing and incoming vessels.