he Knights of the Golden Circle.

Positive proofs were finally laid before the President that these
Societies had planned an uprising on the night of the election and the
establishment of a Western Confederacy.

Edmunds, the President of the Union League, handed him the names of the
leaders.

"Now, sir, you can strike!" he urged.

The tall, sorrowful man slowly shook his head.

"You doubt the truth of these statements?" Edmunds asked.

"No. They are too true. Let sleeping dogs lie. One revolution at a time.
We have all we can manage at present. If we win the election they won't
dare rise. If we lose, it's all over anyhow--and it makes no difference
what they do."

With patient wisdom he refused to stir the dangerous hornet's nest.

And to cap the climax of darkness, Jubal Early's army suddenly withdrew
from Lee's lines, swept through the Shenandoah Valley and invaded
Maryland and Pennsylvania.

With three-quarters of a million blue soldiers under arms, the daring
men in grey were once more threatening the Capital. They seized and cut
the Northern railroads, burning their bridges and capturing trains; they
threatened Baltimore, captured Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, burned it,
spread terror throughout the State and surrounding territory, and
brushing past Lew Wallace's six thousand men at Monocacy, were bearing
down on Washington with swift ominous tread.

It was incredible! It was unthinkable, and yet the reveille of Early's
drums could be heard from the White House window.

John Bigelow, our _Charge d'Affaires_ at Paris, had sent warning of a
conversation with the Emperor of France, at which the President had only
smiled.

"Lee will take Washington," the Emperor had declared, "and then I shall
recognize the Confederacy. I have just received news that Lee is
certain to take the Capital."

The message was flashed to Grant for help. The city was practically at
Early's mercy if he should strike. He couldn't hold the Capital, of
course, but if he took it even for twenty-four hours the Government
would lose all prestige and standing in the Courts of Europe.

For twenty-four hours the panic in Washington was complete. The
Government clerks were rushed into the trenches and hastily armed.

Early threw one shell into the city, which crashed through a house, his
cavalry dashed into the corporate limits and took a prisoner and later
burned the house of Blair, a member of the Cabinet.

The Sixth Corps arrived fro