dress in
January, '61, Governor Andrew advised that a portion of the militia
should be placed on a footing of activity, in order that, "in the
possible contingencies of the future the State might be ready without
inconvenient delay to contribute her share of force in any exigency of
public danger," and immediately despatched a confidential messenger to
the Governors of Maine and New Hampshire to inform them of his
determination to prepare for instant service the militia of
Massachusetts, and to invite their cooeperation.

This is not the place nor the time to give even a _resume_ of
Governor Andrew's administration. He retired from office at the close of
1865, after a service of unexampled interest and importance in the
history of the Commonwealth. He retired with honor to himself and to the
regret of all who had known him best. We have already alluded to
Governor Andrew's interest in the question of Anti-Slavery, and it
should be stated that in regard to the emancipation of the slaves he was
among the first, as he was the most persistent advocate of a measure
which he considered the greatest blow that could be struck at the enemy,
fully justified as a measure of war and demanded by every consideration
of justice and humanity.

Apropos of his impatience on this subject the following incident related
by one of the Governor's friends is worth recalling:--

"It was the summer of 1862, when emancipation was being talked a great
deal. We had not had any great successes, and everybody had a notion
that emancipation ought to come. One day the Governor sent for me to
come up to the State-House. I went up to his room, and I never shall
forget how I met him. He was signing some kind of bonds, standing at
a tall desk in the Council Chamber, in his shirt-sleeves, his fingers
all covered with ink. He said, 'How do you do? I want you to go to
Washington.'--'Why, Governor,' said I, 'I can't go to Washington
on any such notice as this; I am busy, and it is impossible for me
to go.'--'All my folks are serving their country,' said he; and he
mentioned the various services the members of his staff were engaged
in, and said with emphasis, 'Somebody must go to Washington.'--'Well,
Governor, I don't see how I can.' Said he, 'I command you to
go!'--'Well,' said I, 'Governor, put it in that way and I shall go,
of course.'--'There is something going on,' he remarked. 'This is a
momentous time.' He turned suddenly towards me and said, 'You be