Chattanooga such a force as had never before been engaged in a single sortée. Up the hill-sides they rushed in masses, and, notwithstanding the utmost efforts of Bragg and Hood, drove the Confederates from their position, scattering the troops like a flock of sheep. Thus ended the year of 1863, the critical year of the war. Fortune, fickle jade, which had hitherto smiled on the South, seemed to abandon its armies. The successive losses sustained told deeply, morally and politically, against the Secessionists, whilst they could not but elate the spirits of the Unionists, and encourage them, notwithstanding the enormous sacrifices they had made, to indomitable action.

Looking back upon the last year of this sanguinary war, the reverses which the Federals sustained at first appear now but as a light cloud in a bright sky, though at the time they were regarded as important movements, and calculated to change the issue of the struggle. Sherman was driven back in an attempt to reach Alabama; Rosser flashed down on some luckless trains of Union wagons in Virginia; Hoke dashed at the Federal stations in North Carolina; an expedition into Florida was almost cut to pieces; Forest, a magnificent guerilla, kept Tennessee in check; whilst, to crown the Federal disasters, Kirby Smith totally routed a splendid army under Banks, which was proceeding up the Red River into Louisiana. These reverses, serious as they were, attracted little attention, comparatively speaking, in the North; the hopes of the entire nation being centred on Grant, who had assumed the command of the Army of the Potomac, obedient to the cry, raised for the fifth time, "On to Richmond!" Every thing was expected from Grant. The hero of Fort Henry, Donaldson, Pittsburg Landing, Fort Hudson, and Vicksburg, must be the man to reduce the "rebel" capital. His wonderful tenacity of purpose was well known, and amidst all his triumphs he alone had been heard to speak of his exploits with the modesty of a great man. He was not a boaster but a doer, it was argued; not a braggadocio, but a man of action. In May he moved his main force across the Rapidan against Lee, who awaited him on the right bank; a coöperating column under Sigel advanced down the Shenandoah; whilst Butler, with a large force, moved up the James River towards Richmond. The brunt of the war, however, fell upon Grant and Lee; and "never," says a spirited chronicler of the war, "since men were arrayed for mutual slaughter" has there been such appalling butchery. On the 6th of May, at the Wilderness, the fighting began: "Five times the sun upon their conflict set,

And rose again, and found them grappling yet."

The fighting continued throughout the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th; Grant all the time displaying marvellous tenacity and fertility of resource; Lee exhibiting his surpassing skill by baffling every attempt of his redoubtable antagonist. It was the combat between Roderick Dhu and Fitz-James enacted on the grandest scale,-Grant, like the doughty Gael, wielding superior strength, "showered his blows like

wintry rain;" Lee, fitly representing the expert Southron, "foiled his foe's rage with steady skill." Unable after all this bloodshed to worst the Confederates, Grant endeavoured, by a flank move, to cut them off from Richmond. Lee anticipated the attempt, and shouldered his antagonist off. Grant withdrew for a space, moved a little to the south, and made another cut-in to get between Richmond and Lee; but the wary Confederate, moving in inner lines, quickly interposed and frustrated the Federal attempt. The indefatigable Grant wheeled southward again to renew his manoeuvre; and Lee, again intervening, appeared before him on the banks of the Chickahominy-the stream so fatal to the Federals in 1862. Grant, now too near Richmond to execute another flank movement, made a bold dash at the Confederate lines; in ten minutes, so deadly was the Southern fire, the Unionists were totally repulsed. Baffled in every attempt to advance on Richmond from the north, Grant, by a circuit, crossed the James, effected a junction with Butler, and attacked Petersburg. The Federals were repulsed, and began a regular siege.

Lee, feeling himself secure at Richmond, despatched a force under Ewell through the Shenandoah Valley into Maryland. Ewell crossed the Potomac, defeated the Federals on the Monocacy, marched up to the very fortifications of Washington, and retired leisurely with an enormous booty. In Georgia Sherman, pushing Johnston steadily before him, captured Rome, drove his enemy successively from his position on the Alatoona Mountains, Marietta, and the Kenesaw; and finally entered Atalanta, the grand object of the campaign. Immense efforts were made to force him to evacuate the town, Hood being sent to supersede Johnston; but in vain. At length it was attempted to cut off his communications with the North; but Sherman shunted his enemies into Alabama; and then, making a sudden dive into the heart of Georgia, disappeared altogether from sight. For weeks his position was unknown. On the 14th of December, however, the cloud that had concealed him cleared off, and he was found approaching the sea-coast near Savannah, his army in excellent health and spirits, having made a triumphal progress, as it were, through Georgia and South Carolina. Savannah was surrendered on the sight of the Federals; the garrison of Charleston also discreetly withdrew on the apparition of Sherman; and Wilmington about the same time fell before a united attack of the fleet under Admiral Porter, and a land force under Schofield. Every one was amazed at the easy successes of the Federals, and marvelled how it was that Lee despatched no efficient corps from Richmond, where Grant lay supine, to crush these parading forces. But the story has since been told-the secret revealed. On the 1st of April, Lee, finding his communications likely to be cut off by the gradual advance of Sherman from the south and Sheridan from the west, resolved at length to take the offensive, and endeavoured to break through Grant's lines at Five-Forks Station. Nobly did his men fight that day,

desperately did they struggle against odds; the numbers were too overwhelming, the Confederates were repulsed with immense loss. There was no help for it now; Richmond must be evacuated-Richmond, which had been the object of so much bloodshed-Richmond, that had been so frequently threatened, and that had each time hurled back the assailant, Richmond succumbed to the tenacious genius of Grant. Petersburg, its sister-city and fortress, fell likewise. Grant was not slow to avail himself of his successes, and despatched Sheridan after Lee, to prevent his escape. One more battle, and all is over. Lee, seeing further resistance hopeless, and nobly anxious to stop the useless effusion of blood, offered to capitulate. The terms were honourable; and the splendid Confederate general, who had against the most tremendous difficulties, for four years, manfully and gallantly upheld the Southern cause in the field, submitted to his fate.

It is impossible to describe the wild excitement, the delirium of delight, with which the intelligence of the fall of Richmond, and the surrender of Lee, was welcomed throughout the North. The thundercloud that had hung for so long like a pall over the country had vanished, and every heart was full of the hope that peace had once more returned. National rejoicings and demonstrations were every where organised; brilliant gala-days were anticipated; flowers and garlands, rosettes and banners, music and sunshine, crowded the imaginations of the people. There was but one sense, that of unutterable gratification -when a thunderbolt fell across this blue bright sky of exultation, and converted their rejoicings into mourning. President Lincoln was assassinated while sitting in his box at the theatre; and his chief secretary, Mr. Seward, stabbed as he lay ill and helpless in his bed.

As soon as the first shock of horror had passed away, every one felt that a fearful calamity had befallen the nation. North and South recognised alike the immensity of the catastrophe. He in whose administration the war had been begun and carried out,he who of all men would have been most calculated, by feeling, knowledge, habit, and experience, to act the part of pacificator, and to bring the two antagonistic sections of the vast Republic together again, had been suddenly and violently hurried from them by the hand of a dastard maniac. In the midst of the greatest public excitement, during the whole of the time he held the high post of chief magistrate, Abraham Lincoln had never been unduly elated; his clear common-sense and singular shrewdness keeping the balance of his judg ment wondrously even. There was a sober sadness about him; and if he rejoiced at the fall of Richmond, it was not that the Federals had triumphed, but that war would now cease. He held out at once the hand of conciliation, and in his last public speech indicated his desire to win back the Southerns by moderation, rather than coerce them by harsh measures. "He spoke kindly of Lee," we are told, at the council held on the morning of his death. Would he not feel equally kind to

wards the fellow-countrymen of that chivalrous soldier, when treating with them for the purpose of gaining their allegiance for the old flag back again?

It is perhaps too soon to estimate the policy of the successor of Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson. His antecedents and his declarations, however, are not calculated to inspire the brightest expectations; and if he be, as some say, swayed by personal more than national motives, the heart of the government may turn against the submissive South. The responsibilities devolving upon him may indeed temper his bitterness; at all events, unless he proceed very tenderly and with great circumspection, he may raise up fresh dangers and difficulties in the work of reconstruction. The causes which led to separation, and which we fully went into at the beginning of this article, may have been trampled under foot, but they have not been trampled out: the problems of Slavery and State rights still remain to be solved. If the three millions of Blacks be emancipated, how are they to be provided for? If a new and more stringent interpretation be given to the doctrine of State rights, what will New York and Pennsylvania say, who have before now chafed under the judgments of the Supreme Court?

But these are not the only difficulties, though the difficulties are more of the President's own raising than springing out of the natural course of things. It is evident that the temper of Andrew Johnson is of so peculiar a cast, that the slightest inadvertency may give offence, and thus entangle nations and individuals alike in a fatal mesh. His latest acts towards the leaders of the "rebellion," as it is now the fashion to call the Southern struggle for independence, prove how implacable and unsparing he may become; whilst the tone he adopts in his dealings with foreign countries indicates an irritable disposition that loves contention. The unblushing manner in which the monstrous Monroe doctrine is proclaimed by him, and the unscrupulous encouragement given to the recruitment for a filibustering expedition into Mexico, speak volumes not only as to the warlike tendencies of the new President, but as to the restless spirit which four years of campaigning has conjured up, and which will not be readily exorcised. It is indeed to be hoped that men of more moderate views will have some influence in the councils of the government; and that Mr. Seward, who has returned to his post, will be able to control the excesses of his master. The old Democratic party are not asleep or idle; and already their voice has been heard pleading for a lenient policy towards the South. Wendell Philips has ventured to plead in their behalf, and no doubt his example will be followed by numerous others. Unless some such men interpose, new and unforeseen dangers are likely to arise for the not yet reunited Union.

THE next morning was gone towards noon when the Major and his host awoke. Not a fog, not a cobweb, had the dissipation of yesterday's dinner left upon David. Youth rose, like the Sun against the Python, and dispelled the vapour of the wine. Happy time it was for us old wassailers when wine warmed the blood but never fevered it, when suppers sat as light on us as childhood's sins! David cooked the breakfast, and the Major awoke at the hissing and coarse incense of bacon and eggs; he awoke, calling upon his servant by name.

"Gad, I forgot where I was-thought I was at the hotel, and was calling Aubrey to swear at him."

He was quickly up and seated at the homely breakfast with much satisfaction. At his hotel he might have had a spatchcock served on silver, but he evidently relished his bacon and eggs. He looked so cadaverous, indeed, in the raw daylight; his eyes were so sunken and watery, that as David gazed at him, he compassionated him.

When they had finished their meal, and the Major had lighted a cigar, he made a plain and straightforward proposal.

"What do you say to a walk to your friends at Highgate?"

"If you wish it," said David with sudden coldness.

"My dear fellow, you mistook me. I quite feel with you that I must break new ground, and escape from under this tombstone; unless you have thought over your offer," added the Major, "and repented of it."

"No; if you wish it, that is enough."

"That's a good fellow. You don't know, Chantrey, but that I'm doomed to do you good service."

"In what line?"

"I've had a deal of experience of the sex-don't take me in a conceited sense—but my lot has been cast among them, and I've known them to my sorrow."

"Oh, well, you'll have better luck next time," said David; "think no more of that."

"But I may be able to give a fillip to your little business, my boy. There's many a seasonable thing a friend might say, that a man cannot say himself."

"Thank you, Major; say nothing of me, or for me."