was Mr. Stanton fitted for this duty. He was very
positively and in a high degree unfitted for it. With three Major-
Generals--McDowell, Banks, and Fremont--exercising independent
commands in the Potomac Valley, with their movements exerting a
direct and important influence upon the fortunes of the main army
under McClellan, there was especial need of a cool-headed, experienced,
able general at the Capital. Had one of the three great soldiers
who have been at the head of the army since the close of the war,
then been in chief command at Washington, there is little hazard
in saying that the brilliant and dashing tactics of Stonewall
Jackson would not have been successful, and that if General McClellan
had failed before Richmond, it would not have been for lack of
timely and adequate re-enforcement.

Before these military disasters occurred, Congress had made progress
in its legislation against the institution of Slavery. At the
beginning of the war there had been an ill-defined policy, or rather
an absence of all policy, in relation to the most important of
pending questions. The winter preceding the outbreak of the
rebellion had been so assiduously devoted by Congress to efforts
of compromise and conciliation, that it was difficult to turn the
public mind promptly to the other side, and to induce the people
to accept the logical consequences of the war. There was no uniform
policy among our generals. Each commander was treating the question
very much according to his own personal predilection, and that was
generally found to be in accordance with his previous political
relations. The most conspicuous exception to this rule was General
Benjamin F. Butler, who had been identified with the extreme pro-
slavery wing of the Democratic party. He was in command in May,
1861, at Fortress Monroe, and he found that when fugitive slaves
sought the protection of his camp they were pursued under flags of
truce, and their return was requested as a right under the Constitution
of the United States by men who were in arms against the Constitution.
The anomaly of this situation was seen by General Butler, and he
met it promptly by refusing to permit the slaves to be returned,
declaring them to be contraband of war. As they were useful to
the enemy in military operations, they were to be classed with arms
and ammunition. This opinion was at first received joyously by
the country, and the word "contraband" became the synony