ds of Mr. Lincoln's reply to the deputation aforesaid:--"I
can assure you that the subject is on my mind, by day and night, more
than any other. Whatever shall appear to be God's will, I will do,"
--have a new meaning.

The Emancipation Proclamation, when issued, was a great surprise, but
was none the less generally well-received by the Union Armies, and
throughout the Loyal States of the Union, while, in some of them, its
reception was most enthusiastic.

It happened, too, as we have seen, that the Convention of the Governors
of the Loyal States met at Altoona, Penn., on the very day of its
promulgation, and in an address to the President adopted by these loyal
Governors, they publicly hailed it "with heartfelt gratitude and
encouraged hope," and declared that "the decision of the President to
strike at the root of the Rebellion will lend new vigor to efforts, and
new life and hope to the hearts, of the People."

On the other hand, the loyal Border-States men were dreadfully exercised
on the subject; and those of them in the House of Representatives
emphasized their disapproval by their votes, when, on the 11th and 15th
of the following December, Resolutions, respectively denouncing, and
endorsing, "the policy of Emancipation, as indicated in that
Proclamation," of September 22, 1862, were offered and voted on.

In spite of the loyal Border-States men's bitter opposition, however,
the Resolution endorsing that policy as a War Measure, and declaring the
Proclamation to be "an exercise of power with proper regard for the
rights of the States and the perpetuity of Free Government," as we have
seen, passed the House.

Of course the Rebels themselves, against whom it was aimed, gnashed
their teeth in impotent rage over the Proclamation. But they lost no
time in declaring that it was only a proof of what they had always
announced: that the War was not for the preservation of the American
Union, but for the destruction of African Slavery, and the spoilation of
the Southern States.

Through their friends and emissaries, in the Border and other Loyal
States of the Union,--the "Knights of the Golden Circle,"--

[The "Knights of the Golden Circle" was the most extensive of these
Rebel organizations. It was "an auxiliary force to the Rebel
Army." Its members took an obligation of the most binding
character, the violation of which was punishable by death, which
obligation, in the language of ano