The American Annual Cyclopaedia and Register of Important Events of the Year, 1861-1865, vols. 1-5. New York: Appleton & Co., 1868.

Union States in 1865, Part 1: California through Kentucky

NORTHERN STATES - UNION – 1865

PREFACE. The present volume of the Annual Cyclopedia for the year 1865 embraces the final military operations of the war in the United States, the disbandment of the armies, the reduction of the fleets, and the peaceful occupation of the Southern States. The change in the administration of the Federal Government by the shocking death of President Lincoln, and the accession of vice-President Johnson, are described in its pages, together with the various measures to reestablish the State governments and to restore the authority of the Federal Government in all parts of the Union. The debates in Congress during the year on the relations of the Southern States to the Union, the recognition of the Louisiana government, the admission of a Senator from Virginia, etc., present the preliminary views of that body on one of the most important questions of the time. The views of Presidents Lincoln and Johnson, as expressed in their public addresses, have been included, as also their messages to Congress, the report of the Lieutenant-General, and the public documents of the Government. The achievement of emancipation by the almost universal assent of the country; the measures taken by the Federal Government relative to the freedmen; those adopted by the Conventions and Legislatures of the Southern States to raise them to a position of civil rights; and the successful adaptation of the former master and servant to the new mode of life—forming one of the most interesting chapters of human history—are presented in this volume. No less interesting was the sudden change in the aspect of the country on the disappearance of military lines; the unobstructed passage back and forth to the North and South; the reunion of belligerents as "one people, one country, one destiny." This has not been overlooked in these pages. The details of the internal affairs of the country embrace the disappearance of the armies among the citizens; the resumption of commercial intercourse; the commerce of the country; the finances of the Federal Government and its banking system; the acts of State Legislatures; the results of elections; the progress of educational and charitable institutions under the care of the State governments; the debts and resources of the States; and all those political movements, the results of which are to transfer the public power from one to another portion of its citizens. The relations of the United States to foreign nations, as developed in its Diplomatic Intercourse, are fully presented; and also the civil, military, and commercial history of all the States of Europe and South America, and the more important kingdoms of Asia, with some countries of Africa, is fully brought up. The progress and peculiar features and mode of treatment of those scourges known as the Asiatic Cholera, the Cattle Disease, and the disease of Swine, with the latest investigations, have been carefully described. The advance in Astronomy, Chemistry, and many other branches of science, with the new applications to useful purposes which have been developed, have not been overlooked. Geographical explorations have been earnestly continued in all quarters of the globe, and the discoveries' which have followed have been fully presented. The record of Literature is not less interesting than that of any previous year. The titles of all important works of the various classes to which they belong, are stated in detail. A notice of the principal religious denominations of the country 6tates their branches, membership, views on civil affairs, and the progress of their distinctive opinions. The number of distinguished men who closed their career has been large. A brief tribute is paid to their memory. All important documents, messages, orders, despatches, and letters from official persons, have been inserted entire.

CALIFORNIA, one of the Pacific States of the Union, extending from Lower California on the south to Oregon on the north, and from the Pacific on the west to Arizona and Nevada on the east. It is nearly ten degrees of latitude in length, extending from 32° 20' to 42°, and about ten degrees of longitude in its extreme breadth, lying between the meridians of 37° 18' and 47° 23' W. from "Washington. Its area is 158,687 square miles, 101,689,688 acres. Its present population is estimated at 500,000. Its capital is Sacramento City. It was admitted into the Union September 9, 1850. The number of organized counties in the State is 49.

In previous volumes of the Annual Cyclopedia, there have been given statistics of the climate, soil, and productions of this State. Its climate in the south is semi-tropical, while in the north, or the mountainous districts of the interior, it belongs to the colder zone of the temperate regions. On the coast, however, the range of the thermometer is far less than on the Atlantic slope. It is, in the main, a very dry climate, though the wintry rains are often copious and destructive. In most sections, during the long, dry, and warm season, the soil becomes so hard that it cannot be broken up easily with the plough until the first rains have softened it. The soil, where it is tillable, is a deep rich loam, and almost everywhere needs only irrigation to make it abundantly productive. The principal farming crops are wheat, barley, hay, and the root crops. The wheat of California is of excellent quality, containing a larger quantity of gluten than that of any other portion of the globe. There is no distinction of spring and winter wheat in the State, the time of sowing being in December and January, after the November rains have moistened the earth. The counties in the immediate vicinity of San Francisco bay are those most largely engaged in the production of wheat. Barley is an important crop in California, yielding largely, and the volunteer crop, self sown, of the second year, is often almost an average crop. The common oats do not succeed well, on account of the dryness of the climate, but a wild variety grows abundantly and furnishes the hay crop of California, except in a few of the northern counties where timothy is grown. The grasses generally do not succeed well. Corn is not ordinarily a successful crop, and can be raised with profit only in the southernmost of the coast counties. In the valleys of the Sacramento and the San Joaquin the nights are too cool for its rapid or successful growth. In root crops California stands preeminent. Nowhere else do they attain such a size, or such, excellent qualities. The country is admirably adapted for stock-raising, large portions of its territory being unfit for the plough, but nowhere surpassed for grazing. The grasses, or rather the wild oats, and mast, furnish abundant pasturage for the winter months, and the stock-grower can dispense almost entirely with winter feeding. The forest trees of California are for the most part evergreens, and of great size and height. There is some cottonwood and oak along the streams, but the cedar, of several new species, the redwood, a tree of the cedar family, numerous species of pine, including the gigantic Sequoia, spruce, etc., are the principal trees of the forest.

Agriculturally, however, the State is best adapted to the growth of fruit of almost every variety. The apricot, quince, cherry, plum, pear, peach, apple, nectarine, prune, pineapple, pomegranate, gooseberry, the olive, aloe (agave), orange, lemon, and citron are also raised in great perfection. The strawberry, raspberry, and grape are among its most abundant creeping plants. In former volumes of the Annual Cyclopaedia, and in the article Agriculture, in the present volume, the extent of the grape culture in California is noticed. The rapidity of the increase of vineyards, and the great variety of their product (every European grape being grown in the open air successfully), seem to justify the belief confidently entertained by the citizens of the State, that ere many years California will be the vineyard of the world. The grape crop never fails here as it does in Europe, or in the East often, and its yield is fully twice that of any other country, while the rich and aromatic character of the soil gives to the grape a richer flavor than it attains elsewhere. Two hundred pounds of grapes, per vine, is about the average yield; and in particular instances, vines but five years old have yielded over 800 pounds. In 1864 there were 12,592,688 vines growing in California, and nearly four millions more were set in 1865. The California wines and brandy already enjoy a high and increasing reputation in the Eastern markets.

Fruits of almost all kinds are sold by the pound, and bring highly remunerative prices. At the close of 1865, apples were sold at four to eight cents per pound, pears from four to ten cents according to the variety, strawberries fifty cents per pound, Lawton blackberries twenty to twenty-five cents, apricots four to ten cents, figs eight to fifteen cents, peaches four to ten cents, limes thirty-seven and a half cents a dozen, oranges $6 to $7 per hundred, lemons $6 to $S per hundred, pineapples, each fifty cents to $1, bananas, the bunch or hand, $2.50 to $5, grapes, common, three to eight cents per pound, foreign varieties from ten to twenty-five cents per pound, plums eight to fifteen cents, prunes twelve to fifteen cents, watermelons twenty to thirty cents each.

During the past two years efforts have been Page 135 made, with considerable success, to cultivate tobacco, and to utilize the wet bottom lands which are, or can be annually overflowed, in the production of rice. In his message of December, 1865, Governor Low urges the importance of extending this crop. The climate of California has proved to be well adapted to the rearing of silkworms, and in San Jose and its vicinity the production of silk has become a business of considerable magnitude.

The development of agriculture in California is seriously impeded by two causes, viz.: the great number of large estates, held under Mexican grants, and which, while comprising much of the best land in the State, are of necessity but very imperfectly cultivated by their owners; and the great uncertainty of titles in lands, which leads to slovenly and wasteful tillage, where the tenure is not fully settled. Time will eventually partially remedy these evils, but they now exert a very unfavorable influence upon agricultural enterprise.

The State Board of Agriculture, a very efficient organization, is exerting itself for the promotion of agricultural interests. It has, the past year, been urging the necessity of irrigation in many parts of the State. The mining interest has received a marked impetus during the year 1865. In gold mining vast numbers of rich and productive quartz ledges have been opened, and placer digging has been almost entirely abandoned. The product of gold in 1864 was forty-two millions of dollars; in 1865 it exceeded fifty millions—not all, however, from California mines. There has been also a considerable enlargement of the quicksilver mines, and new mines have been opened. The quicksilver mines are almost uniformly profitable, and their yield is very uniform. Copper is also mined with great success at several points in the State, and the development of this metal in 1865 has received a decided impulse. The copper ore of the State is very rich, and occurs mainly at Copperopolis and other points near the coast, where it can rapidly be shipped. Like the South American ore, it is mostly sent to Europe for reduction. The existence of petroleum in the State had been suspected for some years, and the geological survey of the State had demonstrated the presence of oil-bearing strata of rock in several localities. In the summer and autumn of 1864 explorations were made, and asphaltum and some other oil products discovered in Santa Barbara and other counties along the coast. Companies were formed, and in 1865 oil was discovered, not only in these counties, but in Humboldt and Los Angeles Counties. That in the latter county, while possessing, according to chemical analysis, the highest qualities for illuminating and lubricating purposes, possessed the remarkable property of emitting a pleasant and fragrant odor instead of the pungent and disagreeable one usually in petroleum oils.

On the 23d of September, 1865, Mt. Hood, which had not previously, since the settlement of California, been in a state of eruption, commenced giving signs of activity, and continued, for a month or more, to belch forth smoke and flame. On the 8th and 9th of October several shocks of an earthquake of considerable severity were felt along nearly the whole coast region, from Petaluma to Santa Cruz. It was most severely felt at San Francisco, whore it injured buildings, etc, to the amount of more than $250,000. The shocks were as follows: First, very heavy oscillating at fifteen minutes to one, p. m., Sunday, October 8th; second, five seconds later, much heavier undulations, and accompanied with a loud rambling noise in the earth, and the music of falling walls, ringing of bells, barking of dogs, screams of fainting women, and the general stampede of frightened men and horses in every direction; third, a mere tremor at four, p. m.; fourth, do. do. at seven p. m. ; fifth, a little heavier at ten, p. m.; sixth and last, up to this time—at thirty-five minutes past ten, a. m.—which, though "compared with those of the previous day, was very light, was still heavy enough to send everybody into the streets, and create a terrific panic (fortunately unaccompanied by fatal results) in some of the public schools.

In education the State is making commendable progress. The statistics of its public school system for 1865 were: Number of children between the ages of four and eighteen, 95,067: of these 41,376 attended public schools; 12,478 attended private schools, and 20,441 did not attend school. The total amount received for school purposes in 1865 was $876,406.69, an increase over the receipts of 1863 of $286,350.92. There were in the State a total of 947 schools, taught by 1,155 teachers, but there were only 885 school houses, of which sixty-nine were rented. There were eight schools for colored children, with an attendance of 278. There are school funds in each county arising from the sale of the school sections, and the State has also a school fund derived from the sale of swamp and other lands, amounting in 1865 to $696,020, and yielding an income of $48,721.40. The State school tax is half a mill on the dollar, and there is also a county tax for schools, the minimum of which is $3.00 per scholar. The normal school is in a flourishing condition, and has proved of great advantage in raising the standard of teaching in the State. There are numerous chartered colleges in the State, and some of the number, after a severe struggle from insufficiency of present resources, have attained to a respectable rank among the educational institutions of the country, and have able faculties and the necessary appliances for imparting a good collegiate education. Among these the College of California occupies the first position. Several of the Roman Catholic colleges of the State also give a very full course of instruction.

Of the correctional institutions of the State, the State Reform School had forty-seven children under training, and was meeting with a Page 136 commendable degree of success in their reformation. There was also an industrial school of the reformatory class at San Francisco, which receives aid from the State. The management of the State Prison, which for some years was discreditable to the State, had greatly improved. The prisoners no longer manifested the spirit of insubordination, which, in several instances previously, had developed itself in a mutiny, put down only at a fearful cost of life; but under the provision for diminishing their term of imprisonment as a reward for uniform good conduct and faithful labor, the greater portion were exerting themselves to earn this reduction of their term of service.

Politically, California is now Republican by a large majority. Its State officers, one of its Senators, and its Representatives in Congress are Republicans, and the other Senator elect, who takes the place of Mr. McDougal, in March, 1867, is also a Republican. Its Legislature elected in September, 1865, stands: Senate, thirty-three Republican members and seven Democrats; House, fifty-five Republican members and twenty-five Democrats. The amendment to the Constitution abolishing slavery was ratified by California on the 18th of December, 1865.

When the intelligence of the assassination of President Lincoln reached San Francisco, the belief that it had been induced by the influence and teaching of disloyal newspapers was very general, and the determination was at once formed by citizens of San Francisco to put them down by force. Their proceedings are thus reported: "About three p. m. of the day of the President's death, a party of one hundred and fifty well-dressed men started for the office of the' Democratic Press' and formed a semicircle around it. The leaders then went up stairs and threw the type, stands, and all the material of the office into the street, where what was not already destroyed was broken up, amid the cheers of an immense throng. The police of the city, about fifty in number, drilled as an infantry corps, arrived upon the spot with loaded muskets and fixed bayonets, when the party retired, having completed their work. The office at the time of being destroyed was draped in mourning, and the American flag was suspended in front at half-mast. The next office visited was that of the 'News Letter,' published by Mr. Marriott, an Englishman, which was also destroyed, the police arriving too late to prevent it. The office of the 'Catholic Monitor,' a disunion paper, was partially sacked before the arrival of the police. A demonstration was made upon the office of the 'Echo du Pacifique,' which was only saved by great efforts, and the representations that its destruction would involve that of the 'Alta,' a loyal paper in the same building. The 'Echo' was a French paper and had been very abusive toward our Government. The office of the 'Occidental,' of similar political sympathies, was also completely destroyed. At the office of the 'Echo da Pacifique' General McDowell made a speech, in which he intimated that he should have suppressed these papers, and that the 'Echo' should not be issued again. The offices of the 'Franco Americain' and the 'Voz de Mejico' were also partly destroyed, the latter by mistake. The inflammable population were so furious that there seemed no bounds to their rage, and several regiments of infantry and cavalry and the batteries were ordered out. The troops patrolled the streets all night. Those who led the rioters are named in the papers, but no arrests have been made."

COLORADO. A territory of the United States, lying between the thirty-seventh and forty-first parallels of north latitude, and the hundred and second and hundred and ninth degrees of longitude, west from Greenwich, and embracing an area of one hundred and five thousand eight hundred and eighteen square miles. It is at present divided into seventeen counties, viz.: Arapahoe, Boulder, Clear Creek, Conejos, Costilla, Douglas, El Paso, Fremont, Gilpin, Huerfano, Jefferson, Lake, Laramie, Park, Pueblo, Summit, and Weld. The capital and the chief town of the territory is Denver, in Arapahoe County. It was organized as a territory by act of Congress of March 2, 1861, which vested the legislative power in a Governor and Legislative Assembly, to consist of a Council and House of Representatives. The legislature, treasurer, auditor, and superintendent of schools were authorized to be elected by the people; all other officers, including the judiciary, were to be appointed by the President of the United States.

In consequence of the great influx of population into Colorado subsequent to the discoveries of gold in the Rocky Mountain ranges, measures were taken in 1864 to form a State Government, and an enabling act was passed for that purpose at the first session of the thirty-eighth Congress. A convention was called in the territory in the same year, by which a constitution was adopted. The project for obtaining admission into the Union failed, however, by a considerable vote, mainly in consequence of the unpopularity of prominent men connected with it, and no further action was taken in the matter until the succeeding year, when a convention assembled in Denver, August 8, to consider the propriety of forming a State Government and of framing a constitution, to bo subsequently submitted to the people for ratification. On August 12, the convention adopted a constitution, which was voted upon on September 5, with the following result:

For the Constitution……………… 8,025

Against the Constitution…………. 2,870

Majority in favor…………………… 155

This instrument gives the right of suffrage to "every white male citizen of the age of twenty-one years and upward, who is by birth, or has become by naturalization or by treaty, or shall have declared his intention to become a citizen of the United States, according to the laws thereof, and who shall have resided in the State of Colorado for six months next preceding the election, and shall have been a resident ten days of the precinct or election district in which he offers to vote, shall be deemed a qualified elector, and entitled to a vote at the same." Exceptions are made in the case of insane persons, felons, soldiers or sailors in the United States service, and persons refusing to take the oath of allegiance to the United States. Among the miscellaneous provisions of the Constitution was one, submitting to popular vote the question whether the word "white " in the above clause should be stricken out, which was decided in the negative by a majority of three thousand seven hundred and sixteen in a total vote of four thousand six hundred and sixty-eight.

The Constitution further provides that the legislative power of the State shall be vested in a Senate and House of Representatives, to be called the Legislative Assembly; the former to consist of thirteen members, to be elected for two years, and the latter of twenty-six, to be elected annually. The Senate may, ultimately, be increased to thirty-nine, and the house to seventy-eight members. The sessions are to be annual. Members of the Legislative Assembly must be above the age of twenty-one, citizens of the United States, and residents and qualified voters of the districts they are elected to represent. Bills may originate in either House, but may be rejected or amended by the other. The Legislature is required at its first session to provide for a census, to be taken between January and July, 1866, and every six years thereafter, and which shall form the basis of a new apportionment of senators and representatives. Page 179 The executive and administrative department is to consist of a Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, who must be each thirty years of age or upwards, Secretary of State, Treasurer, Attorney-General, and superintendent of Public Instruction, who are to be elected every second year, and are to hold office for two years. The Lieutenant-Governor is made the presiding officer of the Senate. The judicial office is made elective, and its duration is limited, in the higher courts, to three years, and, in the lower courts, to two years. The compensation provided for different public officers is as follows:

Governor, $2,000 per annum.

Lieutenant-Governor, $8 per diem, during the session of the Legislature, and mileage.

Secretary of State, $1,600 per annum.

Treasurer, $1,000 per annum.

Superintendent of Public Instruction, $1,000.

Attorney-General, $1,000.

Member's of Legislature, $5 per diem, during the session of the Legislature, and mileage.

The judges of the Supreme Court are authorized to receive a salary to be fixed by the Legislature, and which shall not exceed $6,000, nor be less than $4,000. By a special provision, the pay of members of the Legislature ceases if the session exceeds forty days in duration. Other clauses prohibit the establishment of banks of issue, or the circulation of any species of bank bills except those authorized by act of Congress; vest the title of property owned by religious, educational, or charitable corporations in trustees; and provide for a State University. Amendments to the Constitution are to be adopted by a two-thirds vote in each branch of the Legislature, and subsequently ratified by popular vote. The following was also passed by the Convention:

An Irrevocable Ordinance, adopting the Constitution of the United States, and for other purposes.

Whereas, The People of Colorado, by their delegates duly elected, in convention assembled, have deemed it expedient to make application to Congress fur the admission of Colorado into the Union as a State, on an equal footing with other States, and have framed a constitution for said State; and whereas it is deemed right and proper for this convention to declare on the behalf of the people of said Territory, that they adopt the Constitution of the United States. * * * * *

Now, therefore, this convention, duly elected by the people of Colorado, pursuant to a call of the same, being duly organized, do hereby, on behalf of, and by the authority of the people of said Territory of Colorado, adopt the Constitution of the United States, and accept all of the following propositions, to wit:

We do declare by authority of, and in behalf of the people of the Territory of Colorado, and ordain by this ordinance irrevocable, except upon the above conditions, that there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the State of Colorado, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted; that perfect toleration of religions sentiment shall be secured, and to inhabitant of said State shall ever be molested in person or property on account of his or her mode of religions worship: and that the people inhabiting said Territory of Colorado, do agree and declare that they forever disclaim all right and title to the unappropriated lands lying within said Territory, and that the same shall be and remain at the sole and entire disposal of the United States; and that lands belonging to citizens of the United States residing without the State, shall never be taxed higher than the lands belonging to residents thereof; and that no taxes shall be imposed by said State on lands or property therein belonging to, or which may hereafter be purchased by the United States.

It is further ordained, That all treaties of whatever name or nature made between the Government of the United States and any foreign power, are hereby fully ratified and confirmed by this Constitution.

The Constitution having been adopted, an election for State officers took place in the succeeding November, which resulted in the return, with one exception, of the Republican candidates by large majorities. For Governor, William Gilpin, the regular Republican candidate, received three thousand one hundred and twenty-three votes, to one thousand eight hundred and thirty-five for Scudder, independent Republican, and two thousand five hundred and ninety-nine for Craig, the democratic candidate. The Republican candidate for Secretary of State was elected by four thousand five hundred and twenty-two votes against two thousand six hundred and forty-four, given to his democratic competitor. The Legislature elected was largely Republican in both branches. At the same time George M. Chilcott, Republican, was elected representative in Congress by three thousand one hundred and four votes against one thousand six hundred and ninety-six for Belden, independent Republican, and two thousand one hundred and nineteen for Cavanaugh, Democrat. The following represents the present State Government of Colorado:

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT.

Governor—William Gilpin, Republican.

Lieutenant-Governor—George A. Hinsdale, Democrat.

Secretary of State—Josiah H. Gest, Republican.

Treasurer—Alexander W. Atkins, Republican.

Superintendent Public Instruction—Rufus K. Frisbee, Republican. Attorney-General—U. B. Holloway, Republican. [All elected for two years from the first Monday in January, 1866.]

SUPREME COURT.

William H. Gorsline, Republican, on all tickets.

Allen A. Bradford, Republican, also on democratic ticket.

J. Bright Smith, Republican, on straight ticket. [To draw for terms of one, two, and three years; successors to be elected for three years.]

In compliance with an ordinance adopted by the Constitutional Convention, the Legislature, elected in November, 1865, convened at Golden City, fifteen miles west of Denver, on the second Tuesday of the succeeding December and was organized by the choice of the Republican candidates for presiding officers in both branches. John Evans, the former territorial governor, and Jerome B. Chaffee, recently speaker of the House in the territorial legislature, both Republicans, were elected United States Senators and early in January, 1866, in compliance with a joint resolution of the legislative assembly, presented the papers relating to the State Page 180 organization to the President of the United States, asking his influence in favor of the early admission of the State into the Union. This the President declined to do, but submitted the whole matter to Congress, as will appear by the following communication:

I transmit herewith a communication addressed to me by Messrs. John Evans and J. B. Chaffee as United States Senators elect from the Stale of Colorado, together with the accompanying documents. Under the authority of the act of Congress, approved the 21st day of March, 1864, the people of Colorado through a convention formed a constitution making provision for a State Government, which, when submitted to the qualified voters of the Territory, was rejected. In the Summer of 1865, a second convention was called by the Executive Committees of the several political parties in the Territory, which assembled at Denver on the 8th day of August. On the 12th of that month, this convention adopted a State Constitution, which was submitted to the people on the 5th of September, 1865, and ratified by a majority of 155 of the qualified voters. The proceedings in the second instance having differed in time and mode from those specified in the Act of Much, 1864, I have declined to issue the proclamation for which provision is made in the fifth section of the law, and therefore submit the question for the consultation and further action of Congress.

(Signed)                                ANDREW JOHNSON.

WASHINGTON, D. C, January 12, 1866.

This document was referred to the Senate Committee on Territories, which, on January 18th, reported a bill for the admission of Colorado into the Union, under the Constitution adopted by her people.

The population of Colorado, according to the census of 1860, was thirty-four thousand two hundred and seventy-seven, besides from six to eight thousand tribal Indians, principally Arapahoes and Utes. During 1860 and 1861 the influx of emigrants, led thither by reports of the abundance and richness of the gold and silver mines among the mountains, was such as to increase the population to upward of sixty thousand. The operations of this class of miners being for the most part individual and confined to surface working, the superficial deposits of the precious metals were soon exhausted, or at least did not prove sufficiently remunerative to the restless adventurers who worked them. At the same time came reports of discoveries of rich deposits of gold in the new Territories of Montana and Idaho, under the influence of which nearly the whole of the floating population, which had built up Colorado so rapidly, moved northward to the new diggings. The result has been that the population in 1865 was estimated at several thousand less than in 1860. Other causes have, however, contributed to this result, among which may be mentioned the obstacles to emigration, created by the recent hostilities and depredations of the neighboring Indian tribes, and the high prices of labor and the necessities of life, and also the necessity of a large capital for the profitable working of the mines.

The mineral wealth of the country is nevertheless almost incalculable; and, even under favorable circumstances, it is probable that many years will elapse before the veins of gold, silver, copper, iron, and coal, with which the mountain regions abound, can be properly worked. The surface working, or "gulch mining," as it is called, has for some time ceased to be profitable, and the chief attention is now given to solid mining, which, for the reasons above enumerated, and also on account of the expensive machinery required, and the difficulty of separating a fair percentage of the precious metals from the ore, has for the last two years been prosecuted with comparatively little activity. Probably not more than twenty-five of the hundred stamp mills in the Territory were in operation during 1865. When expenses return to the currency standard, and travel to Colorado becomes safe, and when the experiments now making to give increased productiveness to smelting the ores are completed, the business will undoubtedly become profitable and be actively resumed. Meanwhile the population now resident in the territory is a permanent and industrious one, and forms a nucleus well adapted for building up a prosperous commonwealth. The principal centre of the mining business at present is situated a little to the north and west of Denver, along and up Clear Creek, and around the towns of Blackhawk, Central City, and Nevada. The second centre, which, however, is now very imperfectly developed, is near what is called the South Park, a beautiful table land of prairie and wood, about fifty miles south of Denver. For actual production of the precious metals, Colorado ranks second only to California. No accurate statistics exist as to the value of the amount produced by her mines, but the most trustworthy data show that it is not far from twenty-five millions.

The year 1865 was a disastrous one to the agricultural interests of Colorado. In consequence of the difficulty of obtaining food, and particularly grain and vegetables from the East, a larger breadth of land was planted than during any preceding year. The uplands were found to be even more fertile than the bottom lands, and for the purpose of obviating the ill effects of the long dry seasons to which the region is liable, preparations were made at great expense to irrigate thousands of acres. The rains proved unusually abundant, and every thing indicated a season of plenty, when the country was visited by immense swarms of grasshoppers, which devoured almost every growing thing. Only a few fields of grain and potatoes escaped their ravages, but not enough of any species of crops was raised to affect the price of imported grain or vegetables. This visitation is, however, regarded as only an exceptional occurrence, and with proper irrigation, which is about to be widely introduced, it is anticipated that the profits of farming will hereafter be large. As a sheep-raising country, the mountain region is known to offer great advantages.

Two important undertakings were commenced Page 181 in 1865, the successful completion of which will considerably lessen the distance between Colorado and the East and the West. The one is a new road from Denver to Leavenworth, known as the Smoky Hill route, one hundred miles shorter than that previously used, and much better; and the other, a short and expeditious route from Denver to Salt Lake City, over Boulder Pass and the Middle and North Parks, on which, in August, large forces of laborers were employed, commencing at each terminus.

CONNECTICUT. The Democratic Convention of Connecticut assembled at Middletown on February 8th, and renominated Origen S. Seymour for Governor, and the same candidates for other State offices selected in the previous year. A series of resolutions on national questions was adopted, including the following in favor of State sovereignty and against the antislavery amendment to the Constitution of the United States:

Resolved, By the Democracy of Connecticut in convention assembled, that the corner-stone of our liberties is to be found in the great principle of State sovereignty, and therefore we solemnly reaffirm the resolves of the Democracy of this State enunciated by its several State conventions held during the present terrible civil war, and hereby assert with renewed fervor our devotion thereto, believing as we do that the Union constructed by our fathers, now menaced and endangered by the fell spirit of discord, can never be restored except by a strict and rigid adherence to the letter and spirit thereof.

Resolved, That the recent so-called amendment to the Constitution of the United States, passed by Congress and submitted to the Legislatures of the several States, is a covert attempt to overthrow and destroy the great Democratic idea of "State Rights," and was, in our judgment, designed as another step to consolidated power, an insuperable obstacle to any propositions for a peaceful adjustment of the difficulties now existing between the North and South, and as an eternal barrier to the Union.

The Republican Convention assembled at New Haven on February 15th, and renominated the following State officers, elected in the previous year: Governor, William A. Buckingham; Lieutenant-Governor, Roger Averill; Secretary of State, J. Hammond Trumbull; Treasurer, Gabriel W. Coite; Comptroller, Leman W. Cutler. Their resolutions expressed undiminished confidence in the ability, integrity, and patriotism of President Lincoln; opposed the settlement of national difficulties except upon the basis of unconditional submission by the seceded States; congratulated the people on the passage of the Constitutional amendment abolishing slavery; denounced the "doctrine of State Rights, as asserted and upheld by the rebel leaders, and adopted by the self-styled Democratic party of the State of Connecticut in its recent convention," and expressed gratitude to the soldiers and sailors engaged in the defence of the country. The election took Page 302 place on April 2d, and resulted in the choice of the Republican candidates by majorities of ten thousand and upwards. The following is the vote for Governor: 1865. 1864.

William A. Buckingham……. 42,874    89,820

Origen S. Seymour………….. 81,889    84,163

Majority for Buckingham. 11,085 5,653

The following was the result of the election for members of the Legislature:

                               Senate. House. Joint Ballot.

Republicans…………….. 21 161 182

Democrats……………….. 0  76    76

Republican majority……..21   85  106

At the same election Henry C. Doming, S. L. Warner, Augustus Brandagee, and John H. Hubbard, Republicans, were elected by large majorities, to represent the four districts of Connecticut in the Thirty-ninth Congress.

The Legislature convened at Hartford on May 3d, and was organized by the election of O. J. Hodge as President pro tern, of the Senate, and E. K. Foster as Speaker of the House of Representatives, both being members of the Republican party. Governor Buckingham and the other State officers elect then took the oath of office, and the annual message of the Governor was delivered.

The funded debt of Connecticut in May, 1865, was $8,000,000, and the unfunded debt $2,523,113.74, while the amount to the credit of the sinking fund was $1,128,394.79. The following exhibits the disbursements of the State treasury up to the time of the meeting of the Legislature in May:

The payments daring the year for ordinary expenses, as reported by the Comptroller, were. $417,818 80

For soldiers' families 689,516 78

Advances to the Paymaster-General for State bounties, and payments for other purposes connected with volunteers and militia. 3,566,350 00

Total. $4,705,685 08

The valuation of real and personal property for the year was $254,627,407, an increase of $17,477,243 over that of the preceding year; and as an evidence of the resources of the State it may be noted that her total indebtedness is less than four and one-quarter per cent, of her last valuation, and less than two-thirds of the excess of that valuation over the previous one. The claims of Connecticut against the General Government for moneys expended in arming, raising, and equipping troops, appear in the following table, prepared in August, 1865:

Her entire claim thus far, Is $1,872,882 84

She has received, being an advance before the first settlement was made $606,000 00

Balance on first settlement... 612,785 71

Balance on last settlement... 171,496 70 $1,890,281 41

Leaving a difference of $482,601 48

being little more than twenty-five per cent, of the amount claimed to have been expended. So much of this sum as has been suspended on account of property not properly accounted for or not issued to troops, will be allowed on presentation of receipts of army officers showing that the property has been turned over to the General Government, or upon evidence that it has been issued to troops mustered into the United States service.

The School Fund, amounting to more than $2,000,000, was unimpaired during the year, and yielded an income of full seven per cent, of which $132,048.75 was expended in the education of one hundred and fourteen thousand eight hundred and Twenty-four children between the ages of four and sixteen years. The scrip for one hundred and eighty thousand acres of land received from the United States, was sold for $135,000, and that sum invested in Government bonds, bearing five per cent, interest in gold. The avails of the interest in currency were $13,233.05, which has been paid to the Treasurer of Yale College, to be used in accordance with the provisions of the act of Congress making the grant. The average attendance during the year at the public schools was seventy per cent, of the enumeration, and a larger amount was raised by districts for school purposes than ever before. One hundred and thirty-nine pupils from sixty-eight towns attended the Normal School, and more than one hundred from that institution engaged in teaching.

The railroad interests of the State during 1864-'65 were unusually prosperous. A million more passengers were carried than during the previous year, and the gross earnings and net earnings were both largely increased. Notwithstanding almost every railroad was reported in good condition and safely managed, one hundred and nineteen accidents were reported, of which fifty-two proved fatal. the following statistics are compiled from the report of the Railroad Commissioners:

The chartered capital of the several railroads lying in the State, in whole or in part, is....$23,552,048 00

Of which there has been paid in 17,208,581 00

Total length of road constructed under charters granted. In whole or In part, by the State, is 789, miles.

Of which Is constructed in the State 697 ½  

The aggregate length of double track is 125 

Making the entire length of track in use 914 1/4

The total expenditure for working the road, as reported by the different companies, amounted to $4,638,769 51

For fuel, oil, and waste 685,788 87

For salaries, wages, etc., chargeable to passenger, freight, and miscellaneous expenses.. . 688.909 57

There has been expended during the year for maintenance of way 741,194 22

For maintenance of motive power and cars... 620,492 01 Making, for repairs and renewal, a total cost of 1,361,6S6 23

The total Income of the railroads in the State during the past year has been 6.547,885 00

Their net earnings have been 2,162,888 52

Passenger and other trains have run in all 8,086,959 miles, carrying 4,812,518 passengers.

By the report of the Bank Commissioners it appears that during the year ending April 1, 1865, twenty-three banks, with an aggregate capital of $7,850,800, changed from State to national institutions. The following table shows the amount of capital invested in banking business:

Page 303 303 On the first day of April, 1864, the banking capital or too State amounted to $20.606,962 Increase of capital the past year 817,688 $20,924,000

Decrease of capital by the change of twenty-three banks 7,850,800 Present capital is $18,078,850

This capital is distributed among forty-nine banks, which hold deposits amounting to $5,297,802.49, specie amounting to $852,792.96, or about eleven and five-eighths per cent, of their circulation, and United States securities to the amount of $0,881,417.63. Their circulation is $7,305,024, and bills discounted during the year ending April 1, 1865, amounted to $15,273,001.21. The tax paid to the State by the banks during the year was $32,257.69; licenses and tax paid to the United States for three quarters ending April 1, 18G5, $174,125.10; proportioned tax for the quarter ending July 1, 1865, $58,041.70; making the whole amount of taxes $264,424.49. The aggregate amount of deposits in savings banks January 1, 1865, was $29,142,288.58; an increase of $2,160,060.74. The market value of their assets was $31,087,145.85, leaving a margin on the amount due depositors of $1,944,857.27, a fraction over six per cent. The number of depositors January 1st was 121,682, being an increase during the year of 5,001. Total taxes paid during the year amounted to $244,045.14, of which $178,310.77 were paid to the State, and $65,734.37 to the United States.

From the Adjutant-General's report it appears that on April 1, 1865, the State had a surplus of 6,089 in three years' men, without reference to its quota on the call of December, 1804, for 300,000 men. There were enlisted during the year, for organizations in the field, 2,898 men, and 3,849 substitutes for enrolled men were furnished.' Of the whole number of substitutes, but 1,552 had reached the regiments in the field up to the date of last reports, at least one-half of those mustered into service having deserted before reaching the front. During the year ending April, 1865, 926 men enlisted into the United States army and Veteran Reserve Corps, and were credited to the State. The quotas assigned to Connecticut under all calls except the last, amounted to 47,622. The State having a largo surplus when the call of December, 1864, was made, was never called upon to furnish a quota under that call. The number of men actually furnished by her during the war amounted to 54,468. Reducing these credits to the standard of three years, the State account stands as follows, not including the three months' men, who numbered 2,340:

                                             Three year men.

5,602 nine months1 men, equal to 1,400

529 one year ""…………………… 176

25 two years'"……………………….16

44,142 three years' " ……………44,142

26 four years' ………………………..34

1,804 not known""……………… 1,804

Total equivalent of three years' men... 47,572

The enrolled militia of the State at the date of the last report numbered 41,565, of whom 1,485 were active militia.

The following table exhibits the vital statistics of the State for the year ending December 31, 1864:

Number of births 9,784

Loss from previous year 151 Marriages 4,171

Gain over previous year 1,869

Deaths 9,109

Gain on previous year 568

Excess of births over deaths 657

Notwithstanding the increase in the number of deaths, there was no epidemic generally .prevalent, the percentage from zymotics being less than for two years preceding. The following have been the ten most fatal causes, in their order: consumption, 1,171; pneumonia, 592; diphtheria, 499; typhus and typhoid fevers, 442; old age, 405; scarlet fever, 322; dysentery, 283; cholera infantum, 234; croup, 225.

The Legislature adjourned on July 21st, after the longest regular session ever held in the State. Among the prominent bills passed were those imposing a tax of four mills on the dollar, reorganizing the militia, raising the salaries of members of the Legislature, from $1.50 to $3.00 per diem, forbidding railroad companies to raise the price of commutation tickets, and authorizing the treasurer to issue two millions of dollars more of State bonds at six per cent., which should be free of taxation. The following resolutions on national affairs were adopted at the close of the session:

                       General Assembly, May Session, A. D. 1865.

Grateful to Almighty God who has brought the American people safely through the perils of civil war, and has opened before them a prospect of peace, prosperity, and power, the General Assembly of Connecticut, considering the present condition of public affairs, thinks fit to declare as follows: The American people are a nation, and not a confederacy of nations.

The States have certain constitutional rights which ought to be preserved inviolable; but, as between the Nation and the States, the Nation is sovereign and the States are not.

All men within the limits of the United States ought to be absolutely free; and no permanent discrimination in rights and privileges ought to exist between different classes of free men.

Treason against a Republican government is the greatest of crimes, and ought to be treated as such. Nevertheless a humane and generous policy ought to be exercised by the national Government toward the misguided masses of the Southern people who wore not primarily responsible for the late rebellion.

The public opinion of Europe, in reference to the domestic affairs of this country, must henceforth be of little value to the American people.

The Government of the United States, in settling upon its domestic policy, and especially in deciding what course it will pursue toward the leaders of the rebellion, ought not to be influenced by the wishes, the advice, the warnings, the entreaties, or the public opinion of foreign nations, but ought, on the contrary, to look with jealousy and suspicion upon all attempts from such quarters to affect its action.

The Government of the United States ought never to recognize any government which has been imposed upon any nation on this continent by the arms of any European power.

In its diplomacy, the Government of the United States ought, while courteous, to be frank. It ought Page 304 not to make pretences of friendship toward nations that have manifested hatred of this country in its late distress. But peace, with friendship toward our friends, and peace without friendship toward those who are not our friends, ought to be maintained at all times, if possible, as the true and permanent policy of the United States.

Andrew Johnson; President of the United States, by his great abilities, his undoubted patriotism, and his eminent public services, has entitled himself to the confidence of the nation; and since he is manifestly surrounded by many and great difficulties, and is compelled to adopt experimental policies without assurance of their success, he ought to be sustained in the exercise of great freedom of action, and in all his efforts to tranquillize the country, to maintain its peace and dignity, and to promote its welfare, he ought to receive a frank and generous support from the people.

His Excellency, the Governor, is hereby requested to cause a copy of these declarations to be transmitted to the President of the United States, and a like copy to each of the Senators and Representatives of this State in Congress.

At the same session an act was passed, in the Senate unanimously, and in the House by a two-thirds vote, submitting to popular ratification the following amendment to the State Constitution: "Every male citizen of the United States who shall have attained the age of twenty-one years, who shall have resided in this State for a term of one year next preceding, and in the town in which he may offer himself to be admitted to the privileges of an elector, at least six months next preceding the time at which he may so offer himself, and shall be able to read any article of the Constitution, or any section of the statutes of this State, and shall sustain a, good moral character, shall, on taking such oath as may bo prescribed by law, become an elector." This was intended to nullify that clause of the Constitution which denied the right of suffrage to colored persons, except those who were citizens of the State at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, in 1811. The election took place on October 2d, with the following result:

For the Amendment…………… 27,217

Against the Amendment………. 88,490

Majority against Amendment….. 6,272

DELAWARE. Area, 2,120 square miles; population in 1860, 112,216. Until the commencement of the recent war a State debt was unknown in Delaware. The resources of the State had been amply sufficient to meet the ordinary expenses, and the policy to guard against indebtedness had become settled. Upon the issue of the orders of the Federal Government to draft the citizens into the military service, the Legislature determined to extend the credit of the State to aid them in relieving themselves from the operation of the draft by obtaining substitutes. For this purpose the State Treasurer was authorized to prepare and issue bonds to the amount of $1,000,000. This amount was increased during 1865 by the addition of $110,000, making the total $1,110,000. A loan of bonds to the amount of $170,000 was made to the Delaware Railroad Company by the State in 1865. As a security for this loan the State holds a mortgage of the railroad guaranteed by the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railroad Company—a part of the line from Philadelphia to Baltimore and Washington—and also a sinking fund by the operation of which the entire loan will be paid before the maturity of the bonds. The payment of the principal and interest of the general bonded debt was provided for by the appropriation of certain sums from time to time paid to the Treasurer for the use of the State. The amount thus paid by a tax on the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railroad during the eleven months ending October 31, 1865, was $94,782, to which adding the taxes from other sources, and the aggregate was $95,208. This sum, if the tax justly due upon carriers by steam had been paid by all, and the tax upon the railroad had yielded in the same proportion for November, would have been increased to upwards of $160,000 for the year ending December 1, 1865—a sum sufficient to pay the annual interest on all the bonds and leave forty thousand dollars to be applied to the principal.

The annual current expenditures have hitherto been met by the income from the investments Page 307 of the State, together with certain taxes, fees, fines, forfeitures, &c.

Under the act of Congress of July 80, 1864, imposing a tax of ten per cent, on the circulation of State banks, the alternative was presented to them to adopt the national system authorized by act of Congress, or to go into liquidation. The State of Delaware owned $365,700 of the capital of the Farmers' Bank. An act was therefore passed authorizing the change to the national system.

The subject of internal improvements has for years received much attention from the people of this State. The construction and operation of the Delaware Railroad has added greatly to the wealth and convenience of the people, and especially those residing in close proximity to it. It is now being rapidly extended, by its connection with a Maryland road, through the Eastern shore of Maryland to the waters of the Chesapeake, and promises, when completed, still further to enhance the wealth and prosperity of the whole section of country through which it passes. The Delaware and Maryland Railroad is now in process of rapid construction, and the expectation of those having charge of this improvement is that it will be completed within the present year. This road will be of immense advantage to a very productive section of Kent County, greatly in need of facilities for transporting produce to market. The completion of the Junction and Breakwater Railroad from Milford, by way of Georgetown to Lewes, is greatly desired by all the citizens.

The amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which had been ratified at the close of the year, abolished slavery in the State of Delaware. The number of slaves in the State in 1860 was 1,798. During the excitement of the war this number had been greatly reduced, and but few remained to receive any benefit from the measure. The free colored population in 1860 was 19,829. In the Legislature of the State this amendment was rejected.

ILLINOIS. From the State census taken June 30, 1865, it appears that the population amounted to 2,151,007, a gain of 439,056 since the census of 1860. No returns were received from seven counties, and their population has been given as it was in 1860. The estimated gain in these counties is 19,113, making a total gain of 458,169. The increase in Sangamon County is 15,999, or forty-nine per cent. The population of Chicago was 178,539, a gain of 68,000 since the last census.

The assessed valuation of the real and personal property in the State for 1865 was $391,683,284—$34,894,231 more than for the preceding year, and $8,000,000 less than the exceedingly high valuation of 1857.

The Legislature met on the 31st of December, 1864, the day to which it had been prorogued by Governor Yates. Both Houses were Republican. Governor Yates, in his message, which was a lengthy one, gave the following statement of the financial condition of the State:

Purchased and paid off by the State, with the Central Railroad fund, from December 1, 1962, to December 18, 1864, State Indebtedness— Principal $875,988 41

Interest, arrears of interest, etc. 80,153 93 $906,147 89

Ten per cent, paid on registered canal bonds by Canal Trustees, Instalments July, 1868, and July, 1861, five per cent each 289,188 88 $1,193,280

Permanent debt funded and unfunded—amount of different classes of State Indebtedness outstanding December 16, 1364—

Illinois Bank and Internal Improvement Stock, $31,000 00

Illinois Internal Improvement Stock 42,000 00

Internal Improvement Scrip 19,570 88

Liquidation Bonds £14,650 21

New Internal Improvement Stock 1.848,407 35

Interest Bonds, 1847 1,200,836 96 Interest stock, 1857 704,404 75

Two certificates for arrears of Interest 1,002 58

Refunded Stock 1,837,000 00

Normal University Bonds 65,000 00

Thornton Loan Bonds (act approved February 21,1861) 182,000 00 Balance Canal Claims under Thornton Loon Act 8,624 53

War Bonds 1,679,100 00 Illinois and Michigan Canal Bonds, payable in New York 1,618,000 00

Illinois and Michigan Canal Bonds, payable in London: 1,631,688 89 Interest Certificates, Canal Stock not registered 17,661 38

Canal Scrip signed by Governor 2,616 97

One hundred and twenty-one Macallister and Stebbins Bonds, which, according to statement of C. Macalister, would amount, January 1,1865, to about 27,000 00

Total $11,178,664 45

The amount derived from the two mill tax on the assessment of the year 1863, applicable to the dividend on State indebtedness, presented to the Auditor January 1, 1865, was $600,000, which, added to the amount extinguished with the Central Railroad fund, made an aggregate of $1,795,000 since December 1, 1862. The seven per cent, of the gross earnings of the Central Railroad for the years 1863 and 1864, paid to the State, amounted to $705,908.62. On the 1st of January, 1866, the State debt was $10,651,714.31, showing a reduction during the year 1865 of $526,850.14.

In his message the Governor recommended the creation of a Bureau of Agricultural, Mechanical, and Commercial Statistics.

Richard Oglesby was inaugurated Governor for four years. The Legislature adjourned at the close of the month of January, not having transacted business of any general interest. Richard Yates was elected Senator for six years, receiving sixty-four votes to forty-three for James C. Robinson. At the election held for county officers in November, 1865, Union tickets were elected in twenty-two counties hitherto Democratic, while none were gained by the opposition.

The manufacturing establishments in the State are in a prosperous condition, and new ones are being added to their numbers. Prominent among them are the American Watch Factory, and the Milk and Beef Condensing Establishment at Elgin, and the Pottery Works at Peoria. Owing to the high and fluctuating taxes on spirits, most of the distilleries were closed, and the enormous corn crop of 1865 remained unused. Corn sold for ten cents a bushel, and it was used to some extent for fuel, being found to be cheaper than wood.

The cotton crop of the State for the year is estimated at 5,000,000 pounds, or 10,000 bales, being an enormous increase over the crop of 1864. This cotton is produced principally by negro labor. On an average, one thousand pounds of unginned cotton were raised to the acre, amounting, at ten cents per pound, to $100 an acre. The seed sells at retail for twenty-five cents per bushel—a quantity was sent to St. Louis for manufacture into oil. It is now regarded by the fanners as the surest and most profitable crop in the southern part of the State.

On the first of November the drill in the new Artesian well at Chicago penetrated a vein of pure water, which flowed steadily, at the rate of 600,000 gallons a day. The water is clear, sparkling, and pure; and though but nine feet from the other well, has no trace of sulphur, and has a temperature of about fifty-eight Page 433 degrees Fahrenheit. The exact depth of the well at the time water was struck was 694 feet 5 inches. The diameter of the bore from the surface to the bottom is five inches. Fragments of the rock last penetrated were brought to the surface, and closely resemble Athens marble. Traces of iron are discernible immediately above this rock. The surface of the ground on which the well is located is two or three hundred feet below the level of the surrounding prairie. While in the first well the stratum of Joliet marble passed through was over one hundred feet thick, in the second well, only nine feet distant, it was over two hundred feet in thickness. The water has a head of about one hundred feet above the level of the city. It is proposed to enlarge the new well to eight inches in diameter, for the purpose of power, and also to enlarge the old well to twenty inches. During the months of November and December the water from the new well was permitted to flow into ponds covering an area of twenty-five acres, in order to obtain a supply of ice, and 12,000 tons have already been stored. The well was bored in accordance with directions given by Spiritualists, on whose charts it was marked down that water would be struck at a depth of seven hundred feet.

On the 17th of April Crosby's Opera-House and Art building was inaugurated. It has a front of one hundred and forty feet, and four stories high, is of Athens marble, and in the modern Italian style. The theatre has an auditorium 86 by 95 feet, and 65 feet high, finished in the composite style. Three thousand persons can make their' exit in from three to five minutes. The building cost $400,000, and occupied a year in erection.

On the 30th of August the Chamber of Commerce building was dedicated. This fine edifice, constructed by the enterprise of the Board of Trade of Chicago, cost $400,000. The main building is 93 feet wide, 181 feet deep, and 100 feet high. The main hall used by the Board of Trade is 143 feet by 89, and 44 feet from floor to ceiling. It receives light through eighteen colored windows, and is adorned with paintings, frescoes, etc.

Attention having been called to the evils to be apprehended from the discharge of the sewers into the Chicago River, an act was passed by the Legislature on the 16th of February, providing for the completion of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, upon the plan adopted by the State in 1836, which was to make a cut through the ridge dividing the waters of the Mississippi and its tributaries from those of the lakes deep enough to cause the waters of Lake Michigan, to permanently flow into the Desplaines, and finally into the Illinois River. The effect of this would be that twenty-four thousand cubic feet per minute of Lake Michigan water would flow through the city, carrying away all impurities, and absorbing all noxious gases. The length of the work to be done is twenty-six miles. The present level of water in the canal is eight feet above low water in the lake, and the canal is to be cut down to nine and a half or ten feet below ordinary water in the lake. The work commences at Bridgeport, five miles from the city, and terminates at Lock No. 2 on the summit. The work was let on the 2fith of September, for $997,641.45. The earthwork contains 2,425,865 cubic yards, and the rockwork 864,649 cubic yards. The work is to be finished by the 1st of September, 1868, or the contractors are to forfeit twenty per cent, of the work already completed, to the city of Chicago.

The work on the Lake Tunnel has been steadily continued, and its completion is expected in October, 1866. During the year the seven cylinders at the crib were forced down to their places. They are nine feet in diameter, and wore forced down by screws, a pressure of sixty tons being required to drive them through the hard clay. This work was completed on the 31st of November, and operations were at once commenced on the shaft. At each end nearly twelve feet per day are being excavated. The tunnel has been carried out from the shore end 4,280 feet. The soil passed through is a hard blue clay, interspersed with pebbles. It is necessary, however, for the masons to keep close up, or the clay would begin to flake off, and in a short time the water would be admitted. A shaft is to be extended sixty feet eastward from the crib, with the view at some future time, as the harbor fills up, of carrying it a mile further out, to renew the supply of fresh water.

The total cost of the buildings erected in the city of Chicago during the year was $7,510,000. The valuation of property, real and personal, is $64,709,177.

The following table exhibits the total amount of flour, and fine and coarse grains, shipped from Chicago during the year:

Floor, barrels. 957,559

Wheat, bushels 6,928,658

Corn, “ 24,277,221

Oats,"     8,778,408

Rye,"         717,795

Barley,"     460,210

From the first of April to the close of the year there were received 262.874 head of beef cattle, against 279,383 for the same period for the previous year, and 459,871 live hogs.

The losses by fires during the year amounted to $1,205,006; insurance, $942,142.

The election held in the State during the year was for the choice of local officers. In the various counties the Republicans retained the control of all which they held during the previous year, and gained twenty in which the opposition had at the previous election chosen the local officers.

The division in the Legislature of the State according to political associations was as follows:

                                             Senate. House. Joint ballot.

Republicans………………………. 14   51   68

Democrats………………………… 11  34   46

Republican majority,......................... 3  17   20

INDIANA. The regular session of the Legislature of Indiana convened at Indianapolis on January 5th, 1865. The House of Representatives, in which the Republicans had a small majority, was organized by the election of John N. Pettit as Speaker; but the Senate, being composed of an equal number of Republicans and Democrats, remained unorganized until the 9th, when the Lieutenant-Governor assumed his seat as presiding officer. On that day, also, Oliver P. Morton was inaugurated Governor. The regular sessions of the Indiana Legislature are biennial, and limited by the Constitution to sixty-one days, which proved in 1865 too short a period for the perfecting and passage of a number of important bills. That the time spent on these unperfected measures might not be lost to the public, an act was passed, providing that the unfinished business of any regular or special session might be transferred to the next special session of the same Legislature, to be there disposed of in the same manner in which it would have been in the session in which it originated. In accordance with this act, Governor Morton, by proclamation, summoned the Legislature to meet in special session on November 13th, 1865, that being the only method of pushing to completion the unperfected measures of the regular session. The Governor's message was delivered on the Page 437 14th. It entered elaborately into the subject of providing for the payment or renewal of the State debt; recommended the establishment of a home for disabled Indiana soldiers and seamen, a bureau of emigration, separate schools for colored children, and the repeal of the statute excluding negro testimony. He also urged an amendment of the Constitution, basing representation on the number of voters, and sustained the reconstruction policy of President Johnson.

The amount of the public debt of the State at this time, consisting of two and a half and five per cent, registered stocks, was $7,418,960.50, divided as follows:

Five per cent. 8tock $5,842,500.00

Two and a half per cent. Stock $2,076,460.50

Total $7,418,960.50

In the hands of the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund, and in the State Debt Sinking Fund, the State held $1,882,880.17 of this amount, leaving outstanding in the hands of the creditors of the State the amount of $6,086,080.33, of which $4,107,792.83 were five per cents, and $1,928,288 two and a half per cents. The face of the stock or the certificates of indebtedness provide that "this stock is redeemable at any time after twenty years from the 19th day of January, 1846, at the pleasure of the State, and until redeemed is transferable upon surrender in the city of New York, in books provided for that purpose by the agent of the State there resident, by endorsement thereon, and according to such other rules and forms as are and may be prescribed for that purpose. And for the payment of the interest and redemption of the principal aforesaid the faith of the State of Indiana is irrevocably pledged." As the twenty years referred to would expire on January 19th, 1866, the question arose as to the interpretation of the words "at the pleasure of the State." The Governor was of the opinion that while the State is not bound to pay the principal of this debt on the 19th day of January, 1866, or be considered in default, yet that she is not at liberty to postpone the payment of it indefinitely, but is bound to make provision to pay the debt within such reasonable time after the twenty years as may comport with the original understanding of the parties, the ability and condition of the State, as left by the war, the faithful performance of her contracts, and the preservation of her good name.

The Governor also showed that by the 1st of May, 1866, enough money could be accumulated in the hands of the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund, and in the State Debt Sinking Fund, to purchase State stocks of the value of $2,650,000, which would reduce the amount in the hands of the State creditors to $8,886,080.38. The public debt of Indiana would then stand as follows:

Two and a half and five per cent stock $8,880,090.88 War Loan Bonds. 488.000.00

Vincennes University Bonds 66,685.00

Floating Debt, estimated at 100,000.00

Total Debt $3,990,765.83

The Legislature passed an act issuing in place of the public stocks then in existence, four millions of six per cent. State bonds, and absorbing the balance by means of the funds in the hands of the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund, and in the State Debt Sinking Fund. The board of Sinking Fund Commissioners was abolished, and its business transferred to the Auditor and Treasurer of State, and the State Debt Sinking Fund was established with authority to pay the principal and interest of the two and a half and five per cent, bonds. Another act provided for the distribution of the interest of the Sinking Fund for the support of the common schools, which would add from two hundred and fifty to three hundred thousand dollars annually to the funds previously provided for maintaining the public schools.

Although the Constitution prescribes that an enumeration of the white inhabitants of the State over twenty-one years of age, shall be made every six years, no such enumeration has been made since 1853; and, consequently, no new apportionment, which is also required to be made periodically, has been possible. The result is that many counties which have increased rapidly in population during the last ten or twelve years, are now very inadequately represented. To provide a remedy for this, an act was passed requiring such enumeration to be made in the year 1866, and thereafter at each recurring period prescribed by the Constitution. The law enacted at the last regular session, by which a State tax of thirty cents on each $100 of taxable property was levied for the support of soldiers' families, for the years 1865 and 1866, was repealed as to the latter year. The proceeds of the tax of 1865, less five per cent, thereof, are to be retained in the treasuries of the counties where collected, and after the first day of Marsh, 1866, become a part of the general county funds. The law under which the tax was levied, set apart $100,000, to be expended, under the direction of the Governor, for the relief of sick and wounded Indiana soldiers in hospitals. This would amount to about seven per cent of the amount likely to be realized from the three-mill tax; and in anticipation of its collection, the Governor borrowed considerable sums for that purpose. These loans are to be refunded out of the five per cent, reserve fund, and the residue is authorized to be expended by the Governor, in his discretion, for the relief of destitute, disabled, wounded, or sick Indiana soldiers who may need such relief, and he is required to report the amount and manner of such expenditure to the next General Assembly.

Although no attempt was made at this session of the Legislature to repeal that clause of the organic law of Indiana which prevents negroes from entering or residing in the State, an important modification was made in the law disqualifying them from testifying as witnesses on account of their color. The House of Representatives passed a bill utterly repealing all Page 438 such disqualifications; but the Senate baring passed a bill, originating with itself, making all colored persons competent witnesses, except such as have come or may hereafter come into the State, in contravention of the Constitution, the House was induced to accept the latter rather than run the risk of no bill whatever passing.

From the report of the State Auditor, dated August 10,1865, it appears that the net amount apportioned to the several counties of the State, under the act creating a fund for the relief of soldiers' families, was $1,648,017.99, and the actual amount apportioned to 203,724 beneficiaries was $8.08 each, making the total sum of $1,640,089.92. This apportionment is made on the following basis:

The total valuation of the real and personal property In the State, as returned in 1864, was $016,503,999.00

Which, at 80 cents on each $100 valuation, will yield 1.550,417.99

Polls, at $1 each 197,600.00

Total receipts, should the tax be collected, $1,743,017.99

Deduct Governor's Military Contingent Fund 100,000.00

Net amount to bo apportioned 1,643,017.99

Actual amount apportioned to 203,7*24 beneficiaries, at $8.08 each. 1,646,089.92

Remainder $1,923.07

In making the apportionment each mother, wife, or widow, is counted as four; each motherless child as two, and all other children as one, and the number in each county is the aggregate of those thus estimated. Each child, therefore, if none of the enumerated had "otherwise sufficient means for their comfortable support," would be entitled to receive 07 cents per month; each motherless child, $1.34 per month; and each mother, wife, or widow, $2.70 per month.

The number of troops furnished by Indiana during the war amounted to 195,147; reduced to a three years' standard the aggregate would reach 152,283. Governor Morton places the total number at over two hundred thousand, although he gives no figures. In November, there were still in the service twenty-one regiments of Indiana troops, viz.: eighteen of infantry and three of cavalry.

By the laws of Indiana, the common school revenue is required to bo apportioned semiannually among the several counties of the State. The apportionment for April, 1865, showed that $071,794.07 were divided among 560,333 children between the ages of 5 and 21, making the distributive share to each $1.18. The report of the succeeding August showed a total sum of $171,245.43 distributed among 552,233 children. The special session of 1865 passed an act providing for a State normal school, the location of which has not yet been determined; and also for the establishment of an agricultural college at Bloomington. An attempt to provide for schools for colored children by general taxation proved unsuccessful, the Senate, by a vote of 34 to 5, declaring that it was opposed to taxing white men's property for the benefit of negroes' children.

In August, a Harbor Convention was held at Michigan City, with reference to the enlargement and improvement of the harbor at that place. The estimated cost of the improvement is $300,000, about half of which has been pledged by private subscription. Measures were adopted to apply to Congress for aid in completing the work, on the score that it was a national undertaking.

In May, 1865, sentence of death, in accordance with the finding of a general court-martial, was pronounced against William A. Bowles, Stephen Horsey, and Lambden P. Mulligan, citizens of Indiana, who had been found guilty of treasonable designs against the Government during the war. A respite was obtained for them, but before it was granted an application for a writ . of habeas corpus had been made in the United States Circuit Court sitting in Indianapolis. In consequence of a division of opinion, the matter was certified to the Supreme Court at Washington, where it now awaits a decision. They were subsequently pardoned by the President.

The elections in Indiana, in 1865, were for local officers only, and resulted generally in favor of the Republicans. In the latter part of the year, Governor Morton left the country for the benefit of his health, turning over the government to Lieut.-Governor Conrad Baker.

IOWA. The election of a Governor and Legislature in Iowa in 1865 gave rise to an animated political canvass during the summer and autumn, the main question involved in which was the extension of the elective franchise to the colored population of the State. In August a soldiers' convention, which was largely attended, met at Des Moines, and nominated a State ticket, composed of officers recently in the national service, and headed by the name of General Thomas H. Benton for Governor. As the convention was ostensibly called and controlled by opponents of colored suffrage, it passed strong resolutions against the adoption of such a measure, and issued an address to the "soldiers of Iowa who are opposed to negro suffrage," urging them to support the candidates nominated by it. The Democratic convention, which assembled at the same time and place as the above, made no nomination, but endorsed the candidates and resolutions of the soldiers' convention. In a letter accepting the nomination, General Benton avowed himself a Republican, and an opponent of negro suffrage, on the ground that the period had not arrived for so .radical a change in the political organization of the State, and that such a change would prove, under existing circumstances, detrimental rather than beneficial to the colored race.

The Republican Convention renominated Governor Stone for office, and among other resolutions adopted one in favor of making the elective franchise conditional only upon loyalty to the Constitution and the Union, and recognizing the equality of all men before the law. An additional resolution, recommending an amendment to the Constitution of the State, so as to give the elective franchise to colored men, was adopted by a large majority.

The election took place on the second Monday of October, and resulted in the return of William M. Stone by a majority of about 16,500 over General Benton. The remaining candidates on the Republican ticket received majorities of 20,000 and upwards. Governor Stone received a smaller majority than his associates on the Republican ticket, from the fact that he was more strongly committed than they in favor of negro suffrage. The Legislature elected "Stood as follows:

                          Senate.  House. Joint ballot

Republicans……………. 48  83  128

Democrats……………… 6   15    20

Republican majority,…… 88 68 106

The total amount received into the treasury during the fiscal year ending November 4th, 1865, was $977,825.10, and the amount expended for all purposes during the same period was $952,789.42, leaving a balance in the treasury of $25,085.68. During the war a tax of but two mills on the dollar was levied for State purposes, and a total indebtedness of only $300,000 was incurred, which was for military expenditures soon after the outbreak of hostilities. The total amount of State revenue derivable from a general levy of two mills, and from other sources for the ensuing biennial period, is estimated at $1,311,005.87, and the disbursements at $794,923.65, leaving a probable balance of $516,079.22 to the credit of the State. The debt of the State is exhibited in the following table:

Borrowed from permanent School Fund $122,295.73

Loan payable January, 1868……………. 200,000.00

War and Defence Bonds, payable in 1861 800,000.00

Total State debt. $622,285.75

In respect to the number of troops raised by her during the war, the record of Iowa is a highly honorable one. Not only were all her quotas promptly filled by volunteers, but on January 25, 1865, she was credited by the provost marshal general with an excess of 12,080 men over all calls. At the convention of State Adjutant-generals held in Boston in July, 1865, the representative of Iowa reported the whole number of men furnished for different terms of service, of all arms, at 72,348, leaving five regiments and one battalion uncredited. According to the returns of the provost marshal general the aggregate of men furnished by the State was 75,860, which is equivalent to 68,182 men reduced to a three years' standard. By an official statement rendered in October last it appears that the total amount of claims of the State against the United States for expenses incurred in raising and equipping troops, which are properly chargeable against the General Government, is about $616,739.07, of which $20,825 had been allowed, $430,326.70 suspended, and $165,589.23 disallowed. Against these claims the United States are entitled to a credit of $484,274.80 on account of direct Federal taxes and money advanced in settlement of military disbursements. A final settlement between the State and General Government has yet to be made.

The population of Iowa, according to the census of 1863, was as follows:

Total number of whites 700,842

Total number of blacks 1,820

Total population. 702,162

According to the census of 1865, the population is as follows:

Total number of whites. 751,125

Total number of blacks 8,607

Total population 754,783

This report does not include returns from the county of Winneshiek. The census having been taken in the early part of the year, the emigration which set in largely after the termination of the war is necessarily excluded. The total population at the commencement of 1866 was estimated by Governor Stone at 775,000, an increase of 100,000, or about 14 per cent, over the United States census of 1860. From the returns of the census taken the following statistics are derived: The blind number 259, deaf and dumb 876, insane 613. The total number of dwelling-houses in the State is 114,851 Page 442

The number of acres of land enclosed is 5,827,053. Number of miles of railroads finished, 793. Value of agricultural implements and machinery, $7,707,027; value of manufactures, $7,100,405. The principal agricultural products are: of spring wheat, 7,175,784 bushels; winter wheat, 116,965; oats, 15,928,777; corn, 48,471,133; potatoes, 2,730,811; rye, 062,388; and barley, 950,696 bushels. The number of tons of hay from tame grasses is 225,349 tons; from wild grasses 713,119 tons. The tobacco crop yielded 753,626 pounds. The women of Iowa in the year 1865 made 14,538,216 pounds of butter, and 1,000,738 pounds of cheese, the yield of 310,137 milch cows.

The schools of the State are in a flourishing condition, and out of 324,338 enumerated school children in 1865, there was an average attendance of 119,593 against 117,378 in the previous year. The University of Iowa, established at Iowa City, opened in 1866, with a largely increased attendance in its several departments. Connected with it is a medical school at Keokuk, and it is proposed by the Governor to add to it a law school, to be located in Des Moines, the capital of the State. During 1865 a Normal department, for the education of teachers, was added to the University. The permanent school fund, of which the Constitution of Iowa makes the State the perpetual and responsible guardian, was originally distributed among the counties and loaned to individuals. The evils of this practice were soon apparent, in a material diminution of the fund. Through the incompetency and mismanagement of county officers a large amount remains unaccounted for, notwithstanding strenuous efforts on the part of the State Auditor to adjust the differences between the sums charged to counties, and the amounts accounted for in their returns. The Legislature of 1864 endeavored to provide for the gradual return of the school money to the State treasury; but by leaving it discretionary with the County Supervisors to return or reloan their part of the fund, failed of accomplishing its object. It is now recommended by the Governor to provide that the county treasurers shall pay over this fund to the State treasurer for safe investment in United States securities; and he further suggests that the outstanding State bonds shall be redeemed with this fund, and that in lieu thereof bonds bearing the same rate of interest and payable to the school fund shall bo executed, the principal to be redeemable at the pleasure of the Legislature. "By adopting the plan here suggested," he says, "we could, within reasonable time, liquidate our entire indebtedness by transferring it to ourselves, paying the schools of the State, instead of strangers, the interest accruing thereon, and at the same time make a safe and permanent investment of this sacred fund." The crops of Iowa in 1865 were generally abundant, and that of corn was so much beyond the demand for home consumption, that in those parts of the State where timber is scarce, and the facilities for conveying crops to market infrequent, it was employed as fuel. Seventy bushels of corn in the ear, which are the equivalent of a cord of wood, cost but $7, while wood, cut and sawed, is worth $9.50 a cord. Not only is the corn, therefore, cheaper, but it gives, it is said, considerably more heat than the same bulk of wood, or even of coal. This, however, can only be considered an anomalous and temporary employment of this great staple of food, which will cease whenever the country is opened to commerce. In the latter part of the year the members of the bar of Lee County, Iowa, sent to President Johnson a series of resolutions adopted by them, endorsing his position on the reconstruction question, to which the following answer was returned:

EXECUTIVE MANSION,

Washington, D. C.,  December 26,1865.

GENTLEMEN: The resolutions unanimously adopted at a meeting of the members of the Bar of the District Court of Leo County, Iowa, held at the December term, have been received by the hands of the Honorable Secretary of the Interior, and have afforded me much gratification. Carefully framed, and the formal expression of men whose profession has made them familiar with the laws and political institutions of the land, the resolutions cannot fail to have a salutary influence in upholding the great principles of our Government, bo essential to our success as a nation.

Encouragement and approbation from such a source, at this peculiar time, inspire me with confidence and a determination to pursue the policy indicated in my annual message to the Thirty-ninth Congress.

Deeply sensible of the kind wishes of the legal profession of Lee County, Iowa,

I am, gentlemen, very respectfully yours,

                                         ANDREW JOHNSON.

To Philip Viele, Chairman, and J. H. Craig, Secretary, etc., Fort Madison, Iowa.

KANSAS. The Legislature of Kansas met on January 12, 1865, and was organized by the choice of Republican officers in both branches by large majorities. Samuel J. Crawford was at the same time inaugurated Governor for the term ending in January, 1868, succeeding Thomas Carney, the previous incumbent of the office. The only elections held during the year were for members of the Legislature, which resulted largely in favor of the Republicans. More than half of the successful candidates, it is said, were persons who had served in the late war. In January the Legislature reelected James 11. Lane U. S. Senator for six years from March 4, 1865.

The liabilities of Kansas for the year ending November 30, 1865, were as follows:

Amount of 7 per cent, bonds $204,000 00 

6 per cent, funding 54.400 00 

7 per cent, military 88,000 00

6 per cent bonds, refunding taxes... 89,678 00

State warrants outstanding 59,455 92

Territorial warrants 10,962 11

Military 5,920 69

Penitentiary bonds 60,000 00

Total ……….$517,41815

The resources of the State at the same date were—

Liabilities for the year ending November 80,1865, $817,418 79

Amount of uncollected State tax $101,586 74 Territorial (uncertain) 71,050 88

State military expenditures. General Government 100,000 00

Taxes levied for 1865 816,756 "9

Due from General Government 12,852 00

Funds in the treasury 26,079 21

Territorial funds 85 527,776 42

Balance of resources $10,862 70

The State Auditor's estimate of current expenses for the year 1866 was $93,738.10. The interest on the public debt and sinking fund, amounting to $43,351.36, added to this, would make an aggregate of $137,089.46 to be provided for.

In May, 1865, a census of the State was taken as a basis for a new apportionment. In all the counties but three, from which complete reports had not been received at the close of the year, the population was 185,807 against 100,749 in

Page 457 1860, showing a gain of 35,058 in five years. In four counties there was a slight decrease of population; all the others showed an increase, varying from nearly a hundred per cent, in Leavenworth and Douglas Counties to two or three per cent, in Davis and Marshall. The above figures, however, do not adequately represent the population of Kansas at the present time. Since the census was taken the greater part of the volunteer soldiers from the State nave returned to their homes, and the annual immigration, larger than for several years, is also to be taken into account. From these sources and from the natural increase, it is fair to suppose that the population has received sufficient accessions to bring it up to 150,000, a gain of fifty per cent, over the census of 1860.

Kansas furnished to the war seven regiments of infantry and nine of cavalry, and three batteries, all composed of white troops; also two colored regiments of infantry and one colored battery, making an aggregate of 19,584 men, classified as follows:

Original enlistments 13,881

Recruits……………. 4,854

Veterans……………… 717

Veteran recruits……….. 40

Recruits In veteran organizations 172

Drafted men…………. 109

Substitutes…………… 258

Total…………… 19,584

In addition to these, 228 men were enlisted in organizations not belonging to the State in 1865, bringing the aggregate of enlistments up to 19,812; and there were 8,190 men belonging to other States enlisted in Kansas organizations, which makes the grand total 23,002 men, equivalent to nearly a fourth part of the entire population at the commencement of the war. The entire vote of Kansas in 1861, as shown by the returns, was 11,971, and the entire vote by the returns of 1864 was 20,835, whence it appears that the State furnished nearly double as many soldiers for the war as the entire voting population in 1861, and almost as many as shown by the returns of 1864. On this subject Governor Crawford remarks: "The State has furnished the Federal army more troops in proportion to her population than any other State in the Union; and the entire militia was always in readiness for immediate action in the field, and was all engaged in rendering efficient service in repelling the rebel army under Price from our border; and upon several occasions regiments and independent companies were in actual service, defending the border and frontier." A partial report of a Board of Commissioners appointed "to audit claims arising out of the Price raid in 1864," gives the following . amounts:

Services rendered by regular and Irregular militia $177,817 04

Materiel furnished 80,818 94

Transportation 14,846 46

Damage sustained 91,770 88

Miscellaneous 32,687 77

Total $896,941 04

The geological survey of Kansas by Professor Swallow had not at the close of 1865 extended far beyond the southern and eastern portions of the State, but the results of his partial examinations indicate resources which can scarcely fail within a few years to build up a prosperous commonwealth. The soil is of a richness unsurpassed in any part of the territory of the United States, and capable of many years' culture before being exhausted; and the climate is healthy, and well calculated to cure many of the diseases prevalent in the Eastern States. The popular impression that a sufficient quantity of rain for agricultural purposes does not fall in Kansas is asserted to be entirely erroneous. From records kept at the military posts it appears that during the last forty years there has been a sufficiency of rain except in 1860; and the drought of that season would have been less severely felt had Kansas been provided, like the older States, with a surplus of food from former years. The coal formation of the State is of great extent and richness. One vein alone, having an average thickness of six feet, extends over an area of 17,000 square miles, and it is estimated will yield a hundred thousand million tons. There are besides this a number of others ranging from one to five feet in thickness. The central and western portions of the State contain apparently inexhaustible beds of gypsum, varying from fifteen to one hundred feet in thickness, and the value of which is incalculable. Of not less importance than the coal veins are the beds of iron ore which underlie a large portion of Kansas, and which are capable of producing a fine quality of metal. In several rivers in the southern part of the State which were explored by Professor Swallow, the crude ore had washed out from the banks and was scattered in their beds in enormous quantities. Kansas has also rich deposits of lead, and in several counties traces of petroleum have been discovered.

With a view of developing these great agricultural and mineral resources, the people of the State are now actively employed in establishing railroad communications with the Eastern and Pacific States. By the close of the year nearly fifty miles of the eastern division of the Union Pacific Railroad, which commences at Wyandotte, at the mouth of the Kansas River, and is destined to connect with the main line in western Nebraska, were completed. Surveys have been extended to the one-hundredth meridian, a distance of about three hundred and eighty-one miles, and there is now a party in the field making surveys of the Smoky Hill route, who are to extend their labors to Denver City, about five hundred and eighty-one miles from the eastern terminus of the road. The Atchison branch of the Union Pacifio road is also well under way, and the first forty miles, it is supposed, will be completed by May 1, 1866. In addition to these enterprises, projects are already advanced for lines terminating at Galveston, on the Gulf of Page 458 Mexico, and Santa F£. The troubles incidental to the first settlement of Kansas, the exigencies of the late civil war, and more recently the disturbances caused by the neighboring Indian tribes, have hitherto prevented the execution of any of these projects; but it is supposed that they will now be prosecuted with a degree of vigor which will insure their completion at no distant day. In aid of these enterprises a bill proposing to divide five hundred thousand acres of land, given to the State by Congress, among three railroad companies, has recently been introduced into the Kansas Legislature.

An important branch of industry in Kansas promises to be the production and manufacture of wool. A large portion of the State is well adapted to sheep-raising, and so profitable has this already proved that woollen mills are now in process of erection in Atchison. In addition to the stock now in the State, it is estimated that during 186G from 75,000 to 100,000 sheep will be imported from various parts of the Eastern and Middle States.

Besides the great capabilities of Kansas for agricultural purposes, stock-raising, and wool growing, she has another source of wealth, in relation to which but little is known, in the salt springs, which exist above Fort Riley, in the valleys of the Republican, Solomon, and Saline Forks. So abundant are these surface brines, and of such uncommon strength, as sensibly to affect the quality of the large streams of water which run through those valleys and empty into the Smoky Hill. These salines, which are of great benefit to the stock-raiser, whose flocks mid herds require no salting, as in the Eastern States, have their centre, probably, near the confluence of the Solomon and Smoky Hill. This fact, however, can be determined only by sufficient borings. While the strength of the brines in this section has not as yet been tested from the wells beyond the influence of fresh water, there is little doubt as to their great strength and purity at a limited depth below the surface. This is evident not only from the geological features of the country, but from the great strength of the surface brines, and also from the incrustations of pure salt on the top of the ground, covering hundreds of acres, from three-eighths to half an inch in thickness. These remarkable formations come from brine oozing up from below, and not from surface Sowings. The whole subsoil seems thoroughly impregnated with a constant upward tendency, so that crystallization succeeds crystallization on the removal of the salt already formed. Ordinary wells in this region, sunk from 25 to 30 feet below the surface, produce a brine more than three times the strength of sea-water, and from which a salt of remarkable purity is obtained. Chemical analysis proves that the brines of Kansas contain less than four per cent, of impure matter, showing in this particular a marked superiority over those of New York, Michigan, and other States. The dryness of the climate is also a favorable circumstance in aid of the successful manufacture of salt by what is now considered the cheapest and best method, evaporation. From these facts the conclusion is evident that Kansas is destined to become one of the greatest salt-producing States of the Union.

Early in October a convention of colored men met in Leavenworth for the purpose of memorializing the Legislature to submit to the people the question of striking the word "white " from the suffrage clause of the constitution. A resolution was framed to that effect, and the Convention adjourned to meet at Topeka in January, 1866. The Reverend Mr. Twine, a member of the Convention from Atchison, was in favor of asking the Legislature to submit the question in such form as to make intelligence the standard of qualification of suffrage among the colored people. He said he was satisfied that the loyal people of the country were ready to do justice to the colored people, but he did not want to admit to the ballot-box men of color who were wholly uneducated, and who were so ignorant as to be unable to comprehend the duties of citizens. He believed it to be not only the duty of the colored people to modify their action on the suffrage question in this form, but it was policy for them to do so; they would reach the object aimed at far sooner than by asking that all colored men should be admitted to suffrage without reference to their fitness to exercise that high privilege.

KENTUCKY. The effect of the war upon the population of the State of Kentucky is shown by a decrease. Official returns from the various counties previous to the war, made the number of the white males above twenty-one years to be 191,891. The number of white males between eighteen and forty-five years, called the " Enrolled Militia," numbered 137,211. The returns of the population at the beginning of the year 1865 showed the number of males over twenty-one years to be 169,749, and those between the ages of eighteen and forty-five 103,401; being a diminution in the former case of 21,642, and in the latter, representing the military strength, 33,810. This increased diminution of the latter is accounted for in part by the absence of the soldiers in the Federal armies at the time when the returns were prepared, and by the number who joined the Southern armies, which was estimated between fifteen and twenty thousand.

The enrolment of 1863 by the United States authorities of white males between the ages of 20 and 45 years numbered 112,742; and in 1864 numbered 113,410. The enrolment of "colored " males between the ages of 20 and 45 for 1804 numbered 20,083. Making an aggregate within the military age, of white and "colored " males, of 133.493.

The muster-rolls of the Adjutant-General's office make the number of men furnished by the State to the Federal armies, most of whom were three years' men, to be 63,975 white soldiers, on an enrolment of 113,410. The rolls Page 459 in the same office further show that 20,438 colored troops were mustered into the Federal service from the State. In addition, about 5,000 were enlisted preparatory to being mastered in; making the aggregate of colored troops 25,438. The increase in the colored troops above the enrolment was attributed to the disregard of age in their enlistment. Color was considered a sufficient qualification.

Thus, with a white and black population, between eighteen and forty-five years of age, amounting to 133,742, the State contributed to the Federal armies 89,413. Apart from this force, there were employed in the service of the State for various periods 13,526 militia, or State troops.

During the progress of the war, Kentucky expended in aid of the Federal Government, $3,268,224. Of this sum there had been refunded to the State by the close of 1865, the amount of $1,109,230. Leaving a balance in favor of the State of $2,159,994. From this amount there is to be. deducted the sum of $713,695, being the State's proportion of the direct tax laid by act of Congress in 1861. Thus making the final balance against the United States $1,553,353. In addition to these sums, the State expended nearly one million of dollars in maintaining home troops for local and State defence.

Notwithstanding these extraordinary expenditures, the public debt of the State on October 10, 1865, was smaller than on the same date in 1859, as appears by the following statement:

Amount, October 18th, 1859, of original State debt $5,698,856 80 Amount of military debt 2.212,000 00 Making $7,910,356 80

Amount of original State debt redeemed 1861,010 00

Amount of military debt redeemed 1,T95,000 00

Making "2,656,010 00

Leaving State debt outstanding and unpaid 10th October, 1 SOS, $5,254,846 80

Of this there is military debt... $417,000 00

Original State debt 4,837,346 80 5,254,346 80

Military debt as above $417,000 00

Military loan from Sinking Fund. 200,000 00

Military loan from Enrolled Militia 20.000 00

Military loan from Farmers' and Bank of Kentucky. 140,000 00 Total military debt, 23d

November, 1865 $777,000 00

To meet this indebtedness, the resources of the Sinking Fund are estimated by the Auditor at $7,510,487.

The assessment of taxable property in the State has steadily declined from 1861 to 1866, until the aggregate depreciation reaches $109,046,401. This decline has been ascribed to the destruction of slave property, to the reduced rates at which property was held at the date of assessment, owing to the insecurity of person and property, and to the immense amount swept away by the movement of armies in the State. This steady decline in the value of taxable property is strikingly shown by the following statement from the Tax Commissioners' books: […].

A system of measures for the reorganization of the militia was commenced during the year. It was intended that each county shall organize a company of good men who would be ever ready to support the civil authorities when any occasion might require their services. Page 460

At the commencement of the year many circumstances existed which produced an unsettled condition of affairs in the State. The guerrilla bands were active, notwithstanding the efforts of the Federal authorities to expel them. The question of emancipation was still undecided, and the tendency of the military operations in the State was to demoralize the slave and render him worthless to his master; thus, from interest, bringing him to the side of emancipation. The railroads, especially of the State, were at this time all in the hands of Government agents, and every negro was allowed to pass over them to the borders of the State. The political parties were without organization or a system of policy to he pursued. The Union Convention, which assembled at Frankfort on June 4th, requested the representatives of the State in Congress to vote in favor of the Constitutional amendment abolishing slavery, and expressed its opinion that the slave code of the State should be revised, repealed, or modified so as to be in accordance with the state of affairs in Kentucky. In February Major-General S. G. Burbridge, who had been in command of the Federal forces in the State, was relieved, and Major-General John M. Palmer appointed to succeed him. The former was in sympathy with the extreme radical men, who were very much displeased at the change. But it was made on other than political considerations, and in compliance with an application from the Governor and Legislature. The State troops had proved most efficient and successful in hunting down guerrilla bands, and met with success where the Federal troops had failed. This success was explained by saying that in fighting guerrillas it would not answer to adhere to the regulations which governed an army. A different school of tactics was required. The outlaws must be fought on their own principles. The soldier educated in his profession feels perfectly lost while engaged in "bushwhacking," which requires a thorough knowledge of the country and great despatch in movements. The retiring General opposed these State organizations, and was not sustained by the Government in his opposition.

The great evils resulting from guerrillas and internal disorders is more clearly manifested by the action of the State Legislature, which appointed a committee to proceed to Washington, to confer with the President and Secretary of War on the defence of the State. Their report was made on February 14th, in which they relate their conference with the Federal authorities. The President and Secretary of War manifested every reasonable desire to extend to Kentucky the protection which the committee desired, and requested plans to be submitted. The committee proposed to raise State troops for the destruction of guerrillas and the pacification of the State, on the ground that the citizens generally were unarmed, and the victims daily of rapine and murder. Discharged soldiers could not go home through fear of being robbed and murdered. If the militia of the State were called out for the purpose, it was proposed that the Federal Government should arm, equip, supply, and pay them, and a Federal commander should be appointed over them. Again it was proposed that the troops already raised under the sanction of the Secretary of War, should be retained in the service and not disbanded, and General Burbridge had ordered that in future the commander of the district should "be inhibited from interfering with, or controlling any portion of the militia of the State, when in the service of the State, at the expense of the State, and under the provisions of its constitution and sanction of the State Laws." The reply of the Secretary was that a plan for the military administration of the State and for the necessary protection of the people, was a subject to which the attention of the department was earnestly devoted, and no effort would be spared to accomplish the desired object. He further added: "It is obvious that without a concurrence of the Federal and State authorities, little can be done by the Federal Government to relieve the troubles in Kentucky, which, if they do not originate in, appear to bs greatly aggravated by, domestic disputes and controversies. While no efforts will be spared, on the part of the Federal Government, to conform its views and action to the pressing exigencies presented by the state of affairs in Kentucky, it is hoped that there will be a cordial disposition to aid those efforts by the State authorities and the people."

The Legislature of the State, however, in March, adopted an act for reorganizing the militia, which it divided into three classes: 1. The active militia; 2. The enrolled militia; and 3. The militia of the reserve. The latter was composed of all white males less than eighteen and over forty-five years of age, and such persons as were otherwise exempt from service in the enrolled militia, and were liable to be called into service only in case of extreme danger.

The active militia was styled the "Kentucky National Legion," and was composed of all companies organized under the act. It was organized into companies, battalions, regiments, and brigades, and could be called into active service by the Governor at any time during the continuance of the war, in case of actual or threatened invasion, or apprehended insurrection and obstruction of the execution of the laws.

The enrolled militia consists of all able-bodied white male residents or citizens between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, except members of the active militia and such persons as are exempt from military service by the laws of the United States or of the State, to be enrolled by the assessor in each county, and recorded by the county clerk, who should, prior to the 1st day of September in each year, make return to the adjutant-general, stating the number of the enrolled militia in the county, and a list of such of them as were members of the active militia. On every enrolled militia-man who does not Page 461 become, within ten days after the passage of the act, a member of the active militia, there should be assessed in lieu of military service the sum of live hundred dollars annually, to be collected as the county levy, and to be paid into the State treasury, to be kept as a distinct militia fund. This act was repealed at the extra session in May. Subsequently, on April 29th, General Palmer issued the following order:

Headquarters of the Department or Kentucky,

                                 April 29.

The functions of the civil courts in this Department being, to a certain extent, suspended by martial law, makes it the duty of every officer to be scrupulously observant of public and individual safety, and to afford, as far as possible, complete protection to the people.

The power of arrests will hereafter be sparingly exercised, and directed against the real offenders. There is no justice in pursuing foolish people for a foolish word. There is no longer in this Department, hostile to the Government, an organization which deserves to be characterized as a military band. Those patrolling through the country are simply guerrillas and robbers, and are to be treated as such. They will be allowed to surrender for trial.

The people of this Department are to be protected without regard to color or birthplace. Complaints reach these headquarters of the beating of women for claiming the benefit of the amnesty oath, and the act of Congress freeing the slaves of all persons who have been in rebellion against the Government of the United States; and who have aided the rebellion against the Government of the United States; and who have aided or given any comfort to those in rebellion; and the joint resolution freeing the wives and children of enlisted men, and others who have acquired the right under the laws, the executive proclamation, and military orders.

All such persons are under the protection of the Government. Colored people within the laws, resolutions, proclamations, and orders referred to, are free; and, whether free or not, are to be protected from cruelty and oppression in all cases.

When the state of the country and the organization and rules of civil tribunals will permit them to enforce justice, offenders against the local laws will be handed over to them for trial.

In no case, however, will any person or court be allowed to deprive any one of his or her liberty under the acts, resolutions, proclamations, and orders above referred to, or to harass, by persecution or otherwise, those who may desert the enemy, in earning a support or maintaining their rights.

By command of Major-General JOHN H. PALMER.

J. Bates Dickson, Captain, A. A. G.

The disturbance from guerrillas, however, continued until the surrender of the Confederate armies; and on May 1st the old command of General John Morgan surrendered to Brigadier-General E. H. Hobson, at Mount Sterling.

The force consisted of about one thousand men and one hundred and five officers, and was commanded by Colonel Giltner. For some days they held out against General Hobson's terms, demanding to be received and treated as prisoners of war, to retain all private property, horses, side-arms, etc., to take no oath to support the Government, but return to their allegiance to the United States Government whenever the Confederate Government should no longer claim an existence, or the right to remove to some other country, claiming a safe transit thereto.

These terms General Hobson declined to grant, and they not being exactly in a position to dictate terms, finally surrendered unconditionally. The officers, however, were allowed to retain their side-arms. The men appeared as if they had seen hard service, scarcely one having a complete uniform. An order was also issued by Major-General Thomas, offering the same terms as those upon which General Lee surrendered. It produced the desired effect. The leaders, Patterson and Norwood, surrendered at Decatur, Ala., on May 3d, and General Roddy accepted the same terms. Colonel Malone, at the head of a considerable command near Clarksville, Kentucky, and afterwards at Springfield, also Harper, in the vicinity of Gallatin, took advantage of the same order. In a short time the invaders entirely disappeared.

On the return of disbanded Southern soldiers to their homes in Kentucky and other States which had resisted the South, the question was at once raised, "whether the Confederate officers and soldiers surrendered under the terms agreed upon by Generals Grant and Lee had a right to return to their homes in loyal States." The terms of surrender provided for the surrender of arms, the paroles to be given by the officers, etc., and said, "This done, each officer and man will be allowed to return to their homes, not to be disturbed by the United States authorities so long as they observe their parole and the laws in force where they may reside." Nothing is said in this agreement about the locality of the homes of the officers or men. But the Secretary of "War soon submitted to the Attorney-General (Speed) this question for his opinion. In reply, he says:

The rebels were dealt with by General Grant as belligerents. As belligerents their homes were, of necessity, in the territory belligerent to the Government of the United States. The officers and soldiers of General Lee's army, then, who had homes prior to the rebellion in the Northern States, took up their residences within the rebel States and abandoned their homes in the loyal States; and when General Grant gave permission to them, by the stipulation, to return to their homes, it cannot be understood as a permission to return to any part of the loyal States.

This was followed by the following order from the War Department:  

General Order No. 68.

         War Department, Adjutant-General's Office, 

                                          Washington, April 24,1865.

The attention of all commanders of military divisions, departments, districts, detachments, and posts, is drawn to the annexed opinion of the Attorney-General, which they will observe, and regulate their action in accordance therewith.

            By order of the Secretary of War.

                                       W. A. NICHOLS, A. A. G.

By taking the oath of allegiance the force of the order was set aside, and finally caused no practical restraint.

But the disorganization of labor continued. The inevitable tendency of events was steadily toward emancipation . The negroes were practically Page 462 free, although this freedom was unsanctioned by the State. The master could no longer hold his slaves or depend upon their labor for a single day, hence producers could not estimate their crops or pursue agriculture with any certainty. Becoming restless and dissatisfied the slaves would forsake their homes and direct their steps toward the Federal headquarters at Louisville, as the Mecca where freedom might be found. Thus they became outcasts and wanderers. The cities and towns throughout the State were, in the spring, crowded with these refugees from labor, and the numbers still continued to increase. The inhabitants found themselves unable to feed the large surplus population suddenly thrown upon them, and want and suffering soon began to appear, and to be followed by demoralization and crime. By enlistment over 22,000 of the most valuable slaves in the State had gone into the Federal service, and recruiting officers were actually at work to gather up the few thousands of this class still remaining. Even old men and boys were found to be fit for duty in invalid regiments, and were taken, in March from seventy to one hundred men enlisting daily. At this time General Palmer issued the following order:

General Order No. 10.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF KENTUCKY,

Louisville, Kentucky, March 12,1865.

The General commanding announces to the colored men of Kentucky that by an act of Congress passed on the 3d day of March, 1865, the wives and children of all colored men who have heretofore enlisted or who may hereafter enlist in the military service of the Government arc made free.

This act of Justice to the soldiers claims from them renewed efforts, by courage, fortitude, and discipline, to win a good name to be shared by a free wife and free children. To colored men not in the army it offers an opportunity to join freedom for themselves and their posterity.

The rights secured to colored soldiers under this law will, if necessary be enforced by the military authorities of this Department, and it is expected that the loyal men and women of Kentucky will encourage colored men to enlist in the army, and, after they have done so, recognize them as upholders of their Government and defenders of their homos, and exercise toward the helpless women and children made free by this law that benevolence and charity which has always characterized the people of the State.

   By command of Major-General PALMER.

   J. P. Watson, Captain and A. A. A. G.

At the same time camps of rendezvous for the reception of colored recruits were established at Bowling Green, Covington, Henderson, Maysville, Smithland, Columbus. At an average of five persons, wife and children, per man, there were from three to five hundred made free daily through the instrumentality of the army.

This state of facts was presented as an argument for the adoption by the State Legislature of the amendment to the Federal Constitution abolishing slavery. It was said that the adoption of this measure would quiet the minds of the negroes. Those who 1 ad forsaken their homes would return, and those still at home would remain to till the soil. While in a state of transition, the present disturbed relations of capital and labor must continue, but by freeing the slaves at one blow and getting at the bottom of the question, it would end. A reorganization of labor could then bo made on a new basis. It was further urged that it was clearly the intention and policy of the Federal Government to make every black person in the country free, and to secure to every one his own body and his own labor; and the sooner Kentucky made up her mind to accept the new order of things and to establish labor upon a free and paid basis, the better it would be for her.

In reply, it was admitted as one of the facts wrought out by the war, that slavery must end, and that the proposed amendment to the Constitution was the most direct, practical, and legitimate mode by which to escape the existing and impending evils of an interregnum in labor, a dearth in industry, and a suspension of production. But by thus acting, the people of Kentucky would have to give up what they valued at many millions of dollars, and to overcome the educated habits and prejudices fostered by the country. Kentucky had contributed her proportion with all the Northern States to the war. The emancipation of slaves cost those States no sacrifice of interest, no immolation of habits, no conquest of prejudices, no disturbance of social relations, no breaking up of economical arrangements, no inconvenience or loss whatever. Besides the direct loss to Kentucky, she also incurred the perils, inconveniences, and additional losses which ever result from the sudden breaking up of long and peacefully established social and economical relations and interests.

Notwithstanding all considerations of a military, civil, social, or economical nature that had been raised up, the Legislature of the State, on February 23d, refused by resolution to adopt the amendment. The resolution was sent to Governor Bramlette for his approval, which he declined to give, as he considered the action of the Legislature complete without his assent, and that the question would only be remitted to their successors. lie believed that the amendment would continue an open question until it was finally ratified, and added:

The destruction of $108,000,000 of slave property by the direct and indirect action of our Government, our unyielding fidelity to our Government, and loyal submission of our people to such action, though we could see do real necessity for or benefit to be derived from such destruction to our national cause, would constitute Buch strong claim upon the justice and magnanimity of the Congress of the United States as to justify the reasonable expectation that an appropriation would be made to free Kentucky immediately and forever from this disturbing question.

The act of Congress of February 24, 1864, entitled every Union master whose slave enlisted, a compensation of three hundred dollars. This sum was to be awarded by a commission Page 463 which "the Secretary of War shall appoint." In pursuance of this law, commissions were appointed for Delaware and Maryland, but none for Kentucky. In January, 1865, the Senate of the United States adopted a resolution making inquiry respecting the appointment of these commissioners as provided; and in response to that resolution, Secretary Stanton said, that, while appointments had been made for Maryland and Delaware, "in the other slave States, by the President's direction, no appointments have yet been made."

The act further provided that the compensation should be paid out of the commutation fund, which in December, 1865, amounted to more than twelve millions of dollars.

The emancipation question continued to be the most exciting topic of discussion in the State, until it was finally settled by the ratification of the constitutional amendment by the number of States required to make it valid. The effect of the agitation, together with the military measures of the Government, upon the value of slave property, caused a decline from $34,179,246 in July, 1864, to about $8,850,000 in July, 1865. This was the result of the returns on the books of the tax assessors. On the other hand the friends of emancipation urged as follows:

As to the effect of emancipation in Kentucky, no argument can be convincing as the rapid increase in the value of real estate in the State of Maryland and the District of Columbia since the abolition of slavery there.

The value of the land in Maryland has enhanced already to an extent that more than compensates for the pecuniary value of the slaves emancipated; and in the city of Washington the increase in the value of real estate and taxable property since the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, has been unparalleled and unprecedented. Nor is this prosperity merely apparent and attributable to the inflated condition of the national currency, as some are ready to charge. The gold valuation of real property in the city of Washington is now more than fifty per cent.— perhaps a hundred—greater than it was four years ago. Such also will be the effect in Kentucky. Nor is anything to be feared from the temporary disturbance to the labor system of our State which the extinction of slavery will effect. The laws of labor, like the laws of trade, will regulate themselves. The freed slave must have bread, and to get it he must work. He will work where his labor is most in demand and best requited, and the cost of his labor to his employer will be much less than it ever has been to his owner. The examples of the States of Indiana, Ohio, and Illinois, where negroes have long performed a large part of the unskilled labor of the city and the country, may be cited in proof of this. Negroes have never been drones upon society there, and they never will be here.

The State election was held on August 7th. The issue was between those who advocated the amendment of the Federal Constitution abolishing slavery, who were termed Unionists, and those opposing the amendment, who were termed Conservatives. The latter, at one of their conventions to nominate a candidate for Congress, thus expressed their views:

That no power has been delegated by the Constitution to the Government of the United States to emancipate the slaves of any State; that such power is, therefore, reserved to the States respectively, or the people; and that we, as Kentuckians, claim the same right on this subject which has been heretofore exercised by the non-slaveholding States, constituting a part of the United States, and a part of our National Government and Union, and that we are now unwilling to delegate any such power to the Government or Congress of the United: States, or in any manner to place it in the power of that body to prescribe the terms upon which the slaves of Kentucky shall be emancipated, and determine the social and political rights they shall enjoy. We are, therefore, decidedly opposed to the adoption and ratification of the amendment recently proposed by Congress to the Constitution of the United States, granting powers to the National Government on the subject of slaves and slavery in the United States.

That the enlistment of slaves to serve in the armies of the United States, and compelling them to serve, is the taking of private property for public use, and for which the Constitution requires that a just compensation shall be made, and we cannot perceive the justice of that policy on the part of the Government which continues the enlistment of slaves when vast armies of white men are about to be discharged; nor can we perceive the justice or the humanity of the policy which congregates thousands of negro women and children, at different posts and camps in Kentucky, to be supported at public expense, when the wives and children of white soldiers actively engaged in putting down the rebellion have not been in any manner provided for.

At the Union Convention at the capital for the nomination of a State treasurer, General Palmer, the Federal military commander, was present, and made an address as follows:

You will receive the assistance of the General Government in the proper use of the Government patronage. I am authorized to say, that I know it is true, that the Administration desires that its powers will be employed for the support of the true Union party of this State. But that patronage must be directed and controlled by you.

The next point is, you will be protected all over the State of Kentucky. To secure this, there must bo an active political organization, to the support of which these forces can be directed. It must be active in all parts of the State; and I take it upon myself to say, and I say what I know to be true, that wherever in this State of Kentucky, during the coming canvass, the true, earnest Union men wish to appear and to speak, they shall be protected in speaking. The time has passed, in this country, when free speech is to be understood as the liberty of mouthing treason. If I desired an inscription upon my monument, after I have passed from this earth, it should be, "Here lies the champion of free speech." But that free speech does not imply that the traducer of the Government, and the defamer of the principles upon which it is founded, shall be protected in his lying utterances.

There are a certain class of questions that men may discuss, but there are questions that do not admit of discussion. You have the right to discuss the principles of the Government, and you have the right to freely criticise the actions of every public man, but you have no right, either with the bayonet or with a lying, slanderous tongue, to stab the vitals of the Government; and when the recording angel shall, at the last day, inquire into the conduct of men with respect to the deeds done in the body, the darkest and blackest recorded there will be the lying villainies embodied in words uttered by the friends of the traitors who have brought this war upon the country. I would not judge a man very closely by what he said. I would give him the benefit of a literal construction in the matter of words, but my idea is Page 464 that a man has no right to utter treason, not believing it, nor to utter treason, believing it. In one case he is simply a liar, and in the other he is a traitor. In either case those in power owe it to the loyal people of this State that his mouth shall be closed.

The freedom of elections will be maintained in this State. I am for the right of free suffrage to every man who has the right to exercise it. But there are some men who have forfeited that right. I understand that a gentleman from down the river, whose first name is that of the man who sat at the rich man's table, says that he has got the law bo passed that shoulder-straps cannot interfere in the elections. Well, the shoulder-straps that would interfere illegally, ought to be taken off. It is true that once in a while the public safety is the law, and it may be necessary to lay the military hands gently upon traitors, that they may not get the advantage of the Union men; but that is an exception, just as the exercise of the right of self-defence is an exception in the case of individuals. The rule is, that the freedom of elections must be maintained and the laws of elections must be enforced. By the laws of your State certain classes of men are not entitled to vote. They are bound to keep the peace; and I am in favor of their continuing in bonds. I would propose that these bonds shall operate in the nature of naturalization laws.

The following order was also issued by the same commanding officer:

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF KENTUCKY,

Louisville, Kentucky, July 26,1865

GENERAL ORDERS No 51.—The near approach of an important election, to be held in all the counties of the State and Military Department of Kentucky, renders it proper in the judgment of the General commanding to require all officers commanding troops to give to the officers of the State, charged by law with the duty of conducting elections, and to the legal voters of the State, the most complete protection.

Martial law prevails in the Department of Kentucky, and certain classes of persons are especially under military surveillance and control. These are:

1. All rebel soldiers, whether paroled or not, and without regard to the fact that they have or have not taken any of the oaths prescribed by law, or executive or military orders, or have registered under orders from the headquarters of the Department of Kentucky.

2. All guerrillas and others who, without belonging to regular rebel military organizations, have taken up arms against the Government, or have in any way operated against the Government or people of Kentucky, or any other State or Territory.

3. All persons who, by act or word, directly or indirectly, gave aid, comfort, or encouragement to persons in rebellion. This applies to all persons who have voluntarily acted as scouts or spies for rebel or guerrilla forces; who have voluntarily furnished any rebel force or person with information, food, clothing, horses, arms or money, or have harbored, concealed, or otherwise aided or encouraged them.

4. All deserters from the military or naval service of the United States who did not return to said service or report themselves to some provost marshal within the sixty days limited in the proclamation of the President of the United States, dated the 11th day of March, 1865; and all persons who deserted from the military or naval service of the United States after the 3d day of March, 1865, and all persons duly enrolled who departed the jurisdiction of the district in which they were enrolled; or went beyond the limits of the United States to avoid any draft. All persons who were, or have been, directly or indirectly engaged in the civil service of the late so-called Confederate Government, or of the so-called Provisional Government of Kentucky, or who have in any Way voluntarily submitted to either of said pretended governments—all agents or contractors with or for either of the said pretended governments —all such persons are disqualified from voting by the laws of the State of Kentucky and the act of Congress of March 3, 1865. All persons of the classes aforesaid are required to abstain from all interference with elections, and will, if they shall in any manner interfere therein, by voting or attempting to vote, or by persuading any other person to vote, or by appealing at the polls, be at once arrested and held for military trial.

It will be given to the civil authorities to enforce the laws and to preserve the peace. Any person who shall counsel, advise, or encourage any judge of any election, or any other person, to disregard or disobey the law, as declared in the proclamation of the Governor of the State, will be at once arrested. The peace of the country can be secured only by obedience to the law.

By command of Major-General JOHN M. PALMER.

E. B. Harlan, Cant, and A. A. G. Official: Ben. W. Sullivan, Lt. and Act. A. A. G. Governor Bramlette also issued the following proclamation:

COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY. Executive Department,

Frankfort, Kentucky, July 19th, 1865.

To the Officer of Elections:

The purity of the elective franchise can only be preserved by a faithful enforcement of the laws governing the same. For their enforcement the officer will be held responsible. Every free white male citizen, twenty-one years of age, who has resided in Kentucky two years, and whose residence has been in the district where he offers to vote for sixty days preceding the election; and each male white citizen who, not having two years' residence in the State, but has resided one year in the county and sixty days in the precinct where he offers to vote, next preceding the election, is entitled to vote; provided he has not expatriated himself and lost the elective franchise by coming within the provisions of the following act:

Chap. 509.—An Act to amend Chapter 15 of the Revised Statutes, entitled "Citizens, Expatriation, and Aliens."

Section I. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky That any citizen of this State who shall enter into the service of the so-called Confederate States, In either a civil or military capacity, or Into the service of the so-called Provisional Government of Kentucky, in either a civil or military capacity or having heretofore entered such service of either the Confederate States or Provisional Government, shrill continue in such service after this act takes effect, or shall take up or continue in arms against the military forces of the United States or the State of Kentucky, or shall give voluntary aid and assistance to those in arms against said forces, shall be deemed to have expatriated himself, and shall no longer be a citizen of Kentucky; nor shall he again he a citizen, except by permission of the Legislature, by a general or special statute.

Sec. 2. That whenever a person attempts, or is called on, to exercise any of the constitutional or legal rights and privileges belonging only to citizens of Kentucky, he may be required to negative, on oath, the expatriation provided in the first section of this act; and upon his failure or refusal to do so. shall not be permitted to exercise any such right or privilege.

Sec. 3. This act to be of force in thirty days from and after its passage.

All persons challenged as coming within the provisions of this law should be required to take the following oath, prescribed by my predecessor, and which is in conformity with the law:

Oath. You do solemnly swear that you have not, since the 10th day of April, 1862, been in the service of the so-called "Confederate States," or In the " Provisional Government of Kentucky," In either a civil or military capacity, and that you have not given, directly or indirectly, voluntary aid and assistance to those in arms against the Government of the United States, or the State of Kentucky, or those who were intending to join the armed forces of the so-called "Confederate States," and that you will bear true and faithful allegiance to said Governments of the United States and State of Kentucky; so help you God.

Page 465 Absence from the place of residence in the service of the country, or from any other cause where no intention existed to change the residence, will not exclude from voting if present at the election precinct where his residence is on the day of election.

Absence without any purpose of changing the residence, keeps the residence of such person in his voting precinct.

Loyal men throughout the State are requested to report to the Governor any disregard of the expatriation law, either upon the part of officers or citizens, giving the names of the offenders, that they may be proceeded against for such violation. The officer who shall fail to discharge bis duty, as prescribed by law, or the citizen who, not being entitled to vote, shall do so in violation of law, should be promptly reported, that the proper steps may be taken for his punishment. These plain words are spoken, that none may act upon the supposition that they will be permitted with impunity to disregard the laws made "to guard and protect the purity of the elective franchise, or override the lawfully established sovereignty of the people.

The military authorities will assist the civil officers in the enforcement of these instructions, if any attempt be made to violate them, upon application to the officer nearest in command.

                                     THOS. E. BRAMLETTE, Governor.

The result of the election was, that in the Legislature parties formed a tie in the Senate, while in the House the Conservatives had a majority of sixteen. Of nine members of Congress elected, five were Conservatives and four Unionists. The popular vote for these members was divided as follows: Conservative, 57,562; Unionist, 54,008. The Conservative, candidate, James H. Garrard, was elected State Treasurer.

There were many complaints of the interference of the military with the election, of which a Union paper in Cincinnati, the "Commercial," thus remarked:

It is not becoming that a file of soldiers shall stand before the polls, and that officers of the army of the United States shall hold lists of those who are proscribed, made out by irresponsible persons, and prevent them from approaching the ballot-box. That this was done in Kentucky, there is ample and conclusive evidence; and the flavor of this business is too nearly that of the border ruffian outrages in Kansas, to permit it to be passed in silence by any honest journalist. * * * * *

Persons competent to testify—those familiar with the people—conversant with all the facts and in full sympathy with the Union cause—assure us that in Kenton and Campbell Counties there were many of the best Union men who did not go near the polls, scorning to cost a vote under military surveillance.

The acts of interference with the election were subsequently investigated by the grand juries in several counties in compliance with the laws of the State. Indictments against military officers and others were found in several counties, and in one the number of indictments exceeded a hundred.

Other difficulties arose between the military and civil authorities. In order to relieve some of the towns of the crowds of blacks, General Palmer ordered all common carriers to transport all colored applicants upon the presentation of a pass from the military and a tender of the fare. The laws of the State meanwhile prohibited, under heavy penalties, the transportation of slaves: This order opened a passage across the Ohio River for large numbers of slaves. In another case the Judge of the City Court of Louisville ordered a slave to be sent to the workhouse, under a law of the State, "until his master should give bail that he would not be suffered to go at large and hire himself out as a free man." Whereupon an order was issued by General Palmer to the keeper of the workhouse, requiring him to release the slave, upon the ground that in the then existing unsettled condition of slavery in Kentucky, the master was practically relieved from his obligation to the law, inasmuch as the penalties of the law were not then ordinarily enforced against the master himself; and further, that as the master had lost his interest in the slave, the confinement of the latter would be perpetual. On another occasion, where the Mayor of Lexington had issued, on October 17th, an order threatening legal proceedings against the owners or claimants of the slaves who had congregated in that city, the General instructed his subordinate in command at Lexington, as follows: "You will inform the Mayor of the city of Lexington that you are instructed to protect the people of his city from the violence he invites; that no portion of them can be seized and removed from that city at the mere will of persons who may choose to call themselves 'owners and claimants;' that, without discussing the question whether there is in point of law any person in the State who can truthfully bo called the owner of any other person, that the discharged soldiers and wives and children of soldiers now in the service of the country, are under the special protection of the military authorities, and all the people of the State are presumed to be free, and will bo protected as free until orders are received to the contrary.

"It is not our business to suggest the proper policy to be pursued toward these often imaginary congregations of colored persons claimed to bo slaves, but I venture to say that if the skill and energy which is employed in devising safe methods of harassing them, was directed to their protection, and finding employment for them, 'the evil' would become of far less magnitude.'"

These facts, with many others which are unimportant here, except as they serve to illustrate the condition of affairs in the State, led to an application by the Governor to the President for the removal of Palmer, but without success. A suit was also commenced against the latter in the name of the State, for aiding slaves to escape. This suit, however, was dismissed by the Judge, Johnston, on the ground that the requisite number of States had adopted the Constitutional amendment before the indictment was found, therefore all criminal and penal acts of the Legislature of Kentucky relating to slavery were of no effect.

The following order was also issued by Gen, Palmer on the adoption of the amendment:

Page 466

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF KENTUCKY,

Louisville, Kentucky, December 7,1865,

The General commanding announces that, though the fact has not been officially announced, enough is known to warrant the statement that the amendment to the Constitution of the United States prohibiting slavery has been ratified by the Legislatures of three-fourths of the States, and is, to all intents and purposes, a part of said Constitution.

Whatever doubts may have heretofore existed on the subject, slavery has now ceased to exist in Kentucky; and with it fall all the laws of the State heretofore in force intended for its support.

General Orders Number thirty-two (32) and Forty-nine (49), and all other orders from these headquarters relating to the issuing of passes to colored people, having become unnecessary, are therefore rescinded. From henceforth colored people will be under the protection of the general laws of the land, and if the owners or operators of boats or railroads shall disregard their undoubted right to travel at pleasure, upon conforming to reasonable regulations, they are advised to apply promptly to the courts for redress. By command of

                                      Major-General J. M. PALMER.

E. B. Harlan, Captain and A. A. G.

Wu. W. Leverett, A D. C.

Martial law had been in force in the State by the proclamation of President Lincoln, of July 5th, 1864. On October 12th, 1865, President Johnson revoked that proclamation and restored the civil authority by the following proclamation:

Whereas, by a proclamation of the 6th day of July, 1864, the President of the United States, when the civil war was flagrant, and when combinations were in progress in Kentucky for the purpose of inciting insurgent raids into that State, directed the proclamation suspending the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus should be made effectual in Kentucky, and that martial law should be established there and continued until said proclamation should be revoked or modified:

And whereas, since then the danger from insurgent raids into Kentucky has substantially passed away:

Now, therefore, be it known that I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution, do hereby declare that the said proclamation of the 5th day of July, 1864, shall be, and is hereby modified, in so far that martial law shall be no longer in force in Kentucky from and after the date hereof.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my band and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this twelfth day of October, in the year of our Lord 1865, and of [l. s.] the Independence of the United States of America the ninetieth.

By the President.                          ANDREW JOHNSON.

Wm. Hunter, Acting Secretary of War.

The removal of martial law led to the following correspondence:

                             LOUISVILLE, KY., October 15,1865.

Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War, Washington, D. C.:

Since the abrogation of martial law, no colored persons are allowed to cross on the ferry-boats on the Ohio River unless known to the ferry-man to be free. Not more than one in a hundred can cross.

What shall I do ?

                                          JOHN M. PALMER, Major-General.

Official—E. B. Harlan, Captain and A. A. G.

                              LOUISVILLE, KY., October 16,1865.

Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War:

On yesterday ferry-boats across the Ohio refused to carry colored persons on passes issued under Department Orders No. 32.

I have ordered the post commandant hero to compel them to do so. The alarm amongst the negroes upon the report of the withdrawal of martial law, of which I have no official information, renders this course necessary. Am I right? Immediate.

(Signed)                    JOHN M. PALMER,

                            Major-General Commanding.

Official—E. B. HARLAN, Captain and A. A. G.

                                  WASHINGTON, October 20,1565.

Major-General Palmer;

Your despatches in respect to ferry passes have been very maturely considered, and it is not perceived that the Department can properly interfere.

(Signed) E. M. STANTON, Secretary of War.

                              WASHINGTON, October 20,1665.

Major-General Palmer:

Major-General Thomas having reported in favor of your retaining the command in Kentucky, and approving your administration of the department, the President has approved his report and overruled the application made for your removal. By order of the President.

(Signed)                           E. D. TOWNSEND, A. A. General.

On November 4th, a session of the newly elected Legislature convened. The Governor urged the adoption of the Constitutional amendment, but it was again rejected. The act of expatriation was repealed, and all persons affected by it were restored to their original rights. The condition of the freedmen and their rights became a subject of consideration at a later period of the session in 1866. The authority of the Freedman's Bureau in Nashville, was immediately extended over this class of persons.

The charitable institutions of the State, such as the Eastern and Western Lunatic Asylums, the Feeble-minded Institute, the Deaf and Dumb, and Blind Asylums, continued in operation through the war, but with their means crippled and benefits impaired. The Eastern Lunatic Asylum, whose report is before us, treated during 1865 three hundred persons, being an increase of twenty-four over the previous year. In their experience, the most effectual means of limiting the number of the insane, is to provide ample room for their treatment, which should be commenced without delay. Almost all recover who are submitted to treatment within the first six months. In the experience of the Feeble-minded Asylum, it is found that all of this class are capable, with judicious treatment, of some improvement, however slow it may be, while many can be taught useful trades, and thus enabled at length to support themselves.


Source: The American Annual Cyclopaedia and Register of Important Events of the Year, 1861-1865, vols. 1-5. New York: Appleton & Co., 1868.