But, O heart! heart! heart!

Leave you not the little spot

Whereon the deck my Captain lies,

Fallen cold and dead.

"O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells !

Rise up! for you the flag is flung, for you the bugle trills: For you bouquets and ribboned wreaths, for you the shores a-crowding:

For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning. O Captain! dear father!

This arm I push beneath you.

It is some dream that on the deck

You've fallen cold and dead!

"My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still: My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will. But the ship, the ship is anchored safe, its voyage closed and done :

From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won! Exult, O shores! and ring, O bells!

But I, with silent tread,

Walk the spot my Captain lies,

Fallen cold and dead."

CHAPTER XX.

WAR AND CREDIT.—A FINANCIAL RETROSPECT.

T is a popular custom to exaggerate the influence of national credit in warfare. No less a man than Richard Cobden prognosticated that, in the event of war, England could "crumple" Russia like a piece of paper. Kinglake's account of the Crimean War makes a false prophet of the great Free Trader. Whilst the relations between England and Russia were strained to the utmost limits during the occupation of San Stefano by the Czar's army, a probable war between the two Powers was the most common topic of conversation. During that exciting period, when so many people lost their heads, well-informed Englishmen maintained, with but few exceptions, that Russia was already on the verge of bankruptcy, and could not stand another campaign. It is remarkable that these people were oblivious to the following facts:

Ist. That Turkey was bankrupt in fact, though not in form, before it accepted war with Russia; 2nd. That it made a gallant and vigorous defence against a higher-class Power; and 3rd. That it was not conquered at last for want of money, but through the superior force and skill of the enemy. To assume that Russia, or any other Power, would decline battle through fear of bankruptcy, whilst its securities were quoted at 81 to the 100 at Lombard Street, in the capital of its prospective enemy, is the wildest of dreams-the greatest of delusions. Let us suppose that Russia would be required to pay 50 per cent. more for Gatling guns, Spencer rifles, clothing, coffee, hard bread, and pork, than their value in American or English currency, during the first year of the war; 100 per cent. more during the second year, and so go on, paying more in its currency and securities, as their value declined in the international market, as they gravitated downward from the gold standard-What difference would it make, from a military point of view, provided the arms and ammunition, the commissary and quartermaster stores, were supplied regularly and abundantly to the military forces? While marching through Fredericksburg, towards St. Marye's Heights, I picked up a piece of paper. It contained a statement of the expense of an entertainment given by some Confederate officers. I remember that the eggs consumed on that festive occasion had cost ninety dollars (about £18) per

dozen. But the eggs were procured and paid for in Confederate notes; and so far as the banquet was. concerned, it was of comparatively little consequence what the eggs had cost. That somebody must ultimately suffer, because of lost credit and cheap money, is a fact beyond controversy.

The Southern Confederacy commenced the war for secession without coin at home or credit abroad worth

talking about. But the Government of Jefferson Davis established, equipped, and rationed immense armies; and prosecuted campaigns upon a grand scale. Certainly the Confederacy was neither supported nor inspired by its national credit; and yet, for upwards of four years, it carried on the struggle for separation with an ability, a determination, and a courage that astonished the world. Nor did it fail at last for want of money or credit: it fell before the superior armed force of the Union, wielded by such an incomparable combination of military genius as Grant and Sheridan. The history of the fiscal policy of the defunct Confederacy reads more like an extravagant romance than a chapter in finance. The system adopted by the Richmond Government was certainly simple enough. Confederate notes, redeemable after the ratification of a treaty of peace between the Confederate States and the United States, were printed in sufficient numbers to meet all demands upon the treasury. To what extent this stuff was struck off no one ever knew. As the value of the currency

depreciated, and prices went up, wages were advanced in all directions. It was a fast and fairly even race until the premium upon gold reached the incredible height of TWELVE THOUSAND PER CENT! But it seems that some Government clerks at Richmond resigned their Post Office appointments and entered the army because they found it difficult to maintain life on nine thousand dollars (£1,800) a year! The "easy" state of the money market is well illustrated by an incident related by Mr. Eggleston, a gallant soldier of the "lost cause," in his interesting volume, entitled " A Rebel's Recollections." He says: "A cavalry officer entering a little country store, found there one pair of boots which fitted him. He inquired the price. 'Two hundred dollars,' said the merchant. A five hundred dollar bill was offered, but the merchant having no smaller bills could not change it. 'Never mind,' said the cavalier, 'I'll take the boots anyhow. Keep the change; I never let a little matter of three hundred dollars stand in the way of trade.'"

During the last two years of the war the finances of the Confederacy were in a hopelessly demoralised condition. There was no fixed value upon anything; and the relative prices of things were out of harmony with past experience-controlled by rule of thumb. For instance, the authority just quoted paid forty dollars (8) per pound for coffee, and only thirty dollars (£6) for tea, on the same day: twenty dollars (£4) for a dinner at a hotel, but only five dollars (£1)