ck on
Slavery, or the slave-holder. He was striking the blow against the
wealth and power of the South for the sole purpose of crippling her
resources and weakening her power to continue the struggle to divide the
Union. There was in it not one word concerning the rights of man or the
equal rights of black and white men. His mind was absolutely clear on
that point. The negro when freed would be an alien race so low in the
scale of being, so utterly different in temperament and character from
the white man that their remaining in physical contact with each other
in our Republic was unthinkable. In the Emancipation Proclamation
itself, therefore, he had written the principles of the colonization of
the negro race. The two things were inseparable. He could conceive of no
greater calamity befalling the Nation than to leave the freed black man
within its borders as an eternal menace to its future happiness and
progress.

He called his Secretary and ordered a Cabinet meeting to fix the date on
which to issue this momentous document to the world--a challenge to
mortal combat to his foes in all sections.

CHAPTER XVII

THE DAY'S WORK

Betty Winter held John Vaughan's note in her hand staring at its message
with increasing amazement:

"DEAR LITTLE SWEETHEART:

"The President has just called General McClellan again to the chief
command. His act vindicates my loyalty. Our quarrel is too absurd.
Life is too short, dear, for this--it's only long enough for love.
May I see you at once?

"JOHN."

Could it be true? For a moment she refused to believe it. The President
had expressed to her his deep conviction of McClellan's guilt. How could
he reverse his position on so vital and tremendous a matter over night?
And yet John Vaughan was incapable of the cheap trick of lying to make
an engagement.

A newsboy passed yelling an extra.

"Extra--Extra! General McClellan again in the saddle! Extra!"

It was true--he had made the appointment. What was its meaning? Had they
forced the President into this humiliating act? If the General were
really guilty of destroying Pope and overwhelming the army in defeat,
his treachery had created the crisis which forced his return to power.
The return under such conditions would not be a vindication. It would be
a conviction of crime.

She would see the President at once and know the truth. The question cut
the centre of John Vaughan