Almost simultaneously with the detention of the train, the house of Colonel Lewis W. Washington was visited by Brown's men, under Captain Stevens, who seized his arms and horses, and liberated his slaves. Every male citizen who ventured into the street during the rest of the night, was captured and confined in the armory, until the number of prisoners was between 40 and 50. One of the workmen asked by what authority the arsenal had been seized, and was told: "By the authority of Almighty God." Every workman who approached the armory, as day dawned, was seized and imprisoned. By 8 o'clock the number of prisoners exceeded 60. Soon after daybreak the fight began, and a grocer, named Boerly, was killed by the return fire from the army of occupation. Soon afterward one of Brown's sons, Walter, was mortally wounded by a shot fired by some Virginians, who had obtained possession of a room overlooking the armory gates. The alarm was spread over the surrounding country, and at noon a militia force, consisting of 100 men, arrived from Charlestown, the County Seat, and were so disposed as to command every available exit from the armory. The attacking force was rapidly augmented and the fight was continued, another of Brown's sons, Oliver, meeting the fate of his brother earlier in the day. The assailants being in overwhelming force, Brown retreated to the engine house, where he succeeded in repulsing them, with a loss to the Virginians of two killed and six wounded. Night found in Brown's force only three unwounded whites besides himself. Eight of his men were already dead, another was dying, two were captives, mortally wounded, and one was a prisoner unhurt. A party, sent out to capture slave-holders and liberate slaves early in the day, was absent. They fled during the night through Maryland, into Pennsylvania, but most of them were ultimately taken. It was not till the next morning that the engine house was captured by a force of United States Marines, two of the Marines being wounded. Brown was struck in the face by a saber, and knocked down. After he fell the old man received two bayonet thrusts at the hands of an infuriated soldier. Brown and the rest of his little band, who fell into the hands of the Virginians, were tried and executed at the Town of Charlestown, all of them dying with calm and unflinching courage. The invasion was a mad scheme, with a tragic ending, but it has been immortalized in song and story, in every land where the spirit of liberty is cherished.

The event took on some political importance on account of attempts in both Houses of Congress to fasten the responsibility

upon the Republican party, and to make out that it was one of many such movements planned. But the charge was so manifestly absurd, that it made little impression either on Congress or the people.

During this Administration a more peaceful event, but one of the greatest political importance, occurred. This was the series of joint debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas. The ability and fame of the speakers, their eloquence in oratory, and their skill in argument, made the debates subjects of interest in advance, and they were fully reported.

STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS.

The joint debates were seven

in number, all at towns in the interior of Illinois, though the men had previously been matched against each other a number of times in Chicago. They served to clear up the issues as between the parties. They also had wide-reaching personal effects, for they showed that Douglas was not extreme enough to suit the South, placed Lincoln side by side with William H. Seward as an exponent of advanced Anti-Slavery sentiment, and made him at once an available Presidential candi

date. In one of his noted speeches, Seward spoke of the slavery question as an "irrepressible conflict," an expression which was widely quoted. In his first speech during the campaign, Lincoln had already given broader expression to the same idea, in the following phrases, which became familiar the country over: "I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved, I do not expect the house to fall, but I do expect that it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will

arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction, or its advocates will push it forward till it shall become alike lawful in all the states, old as well as new, North as well as South."

In the election which followed the Republicans carried the State on the general ticket, but owing to the manner in which it had been districted the Democrats had a majority in the Legislature and Douglas was re-elected to the Senate. When the result was known, one of the Republican leaders in Illinois remarked: "We have lost a Senator, but we have made a President." Plans to bring Mr. Lincoln forward as a candidate for the Presidency began to develop very soon afterwards.

There was one contest in the Congresses of Mr. Buchanan's Administration which possessed more significance than has ordinarily been given it, and which was of special interest to Michigan. This was the contest, extending through three sessions, over an appropriation for deepening the artificial channel at St. Clair Flats. The existing channel was 150 feet wide and 9 feet deep, and was entirely inadequate to the needs of navigation. Senator Chandler introduced a bill for an appropriation of $55,000, to enlarge and deepen the canal, and fought for it with great persistency. It passed once, but was vetoed by President Buchanan, and was defeated, in one House or the other, several times. In closing his remarks on one of these occasions Mr. Chandler demanded the yeas and nays and added: "I want to see who is friendly to the great Northwest, and who is not, for we are about making our last prayer here. The time is not far distant when, instead of coming here and begging for our rights, we shall extend our hands and take the blessing. After 1860 we shall not be here as beggars.” This proved to be prophetic, for when the Senate was reorganized in 1861, Mr. Chandler was made Chairman of the Committee on Commerce, and one of the first bills he reported called for an appropriation for this improvement. Under this the first work was done for enlarging that magnificent water-way, which carries a larger tonnage than that entering the port either of Liverpool or New York. The real significance of the contest over this measure is that it was the last attempt of the Democrats to maintain their traditional doctrine of hostility to internal improvements. They could no longer resist the spirit of modern progress; and from that day to this, river and harbor appropriation bills have been a feature of nearly every Congress.

The House at the opening of the XXXVIth Congress, witnessed a contest, petty in itself, but significant as showing the sensitiveness of the Southerners on the slavery question. Hinton Rowan Helper had written a book on "The Impending Crisis. How to Meet It." The book was largely statistical, and was intended to show that slavery was detrimental to the best interests of the South itself, but it gave great offence to that section. Galusha A. Grow and John Sherman had endorsed the book, the latter without reading it. Both were candidates for the Speakership, and on the first day of the session John B. Clark, of Missouri, introduced a preamble and resolution, declaring that the book was "insurrectionary and hostile to the domestic peace and tranquillity of the country; and that no Member of the House, who has endorsed and recommended it, or the compend from it, is fit to be Speaker of this House." By obtaining the floor and talking and reading documents in support of his resolution, Mr. Clark managed to defer the second ballot for Speaker till the third day of the session. This sort of trifling over the John Brown raid and Helper's book continued for eight weeks, with occasional ballotings for Speaker. Sherman, on all the latest ballots came within three or four votes of an election, but at last peremptorily withdrew, and Mr. Pennington, a new member, was elected. The result of this eight weeks of boys' play was the gratuitous advertisement of a book which the Southerners detested, and the election of a poor Speaker.

The Michigan election that occurred during the Buchanan Administration did not furnish as large Republican majorities as in 1856, but were still satisfactory. At the election in 1858, Moses Wisner was chosen Governor by a vote of 65,202, against 56,067 for Stuart, Democrat. The Congressmen elected were: William A. Howard, Francis W. Kellogg, Dewitt C. Leach and Henry Waldron, all Repub licans. The Legislature chosen at this election elected Kinsley S. Bingham United States Senator, thus making the Michigan delegation in both Houses unanimously Republican for the first time.

VII.

THE SECOND NATIONAL CONVENTION.

The Douglas Democrats and the Seceders From the Charleston Convention-The Republicans Meet at Chicago in High Hopes— Immense Gathering at the Wigwam-All the Free States and Six Slave States Represented--Some of the Distinguished Men Present-Joshua R. Giddings and the Declaration of Independ ence A Ringing Platform Adopted-Seward First Choice of a Majority of the Delegates-Influences that Operated Against Him-Necessity of Carrying the Middle States-Dramatic Scene When Lincoln Was Nominated-Disappointment of Michigan Republicans-Strong Nomination for Vice-President.

It became evident early in 1860 that Stephen A. Douglas was the choice for President of a majority of the Democrats, but that the men of extreme Southern views were prepared to resist his nomination by every means in their power. The Convention met in Charleston, S. C., April 23, 1860, and had a stormy session of ten days. Heated discussions were had over the platform, during which the delegates, either in whole or in part, from several of the Southern states retired from the Convention. Fifty-seven ballots were had for President, in all of which Mr. Douglas had a majority, but in none of which did he have the requisite two-thirds. The Convention then adjourned to meet at Baltimore on the 18th of June. Meantime the seceders had held a four days' session, adopted a platform, and adjourned to meet at Richmond, Va., June 11.

It was under these circumstances that the Republican Convention met at Chicago, May 16. The party was full of high hopes, was stronger than ever before in the Northern states, and there was every prospect that the Democrats would continue to be divided, both North and South. The Republicans in the election of 1856, had