be determined by written ballot, for the choice of persons to fill the offices of Captain, Lieutenant, Ensign, four Sergeants and four Corporals. Upon the return of such inspection and election, the Adjutant-General will transmit to the officers so elected their commissions and warrants, with a notification that the company has been accepted into the service of the State, pursuant to the above mentioned act, and will also direct the commandant of the company to report himself and his command to such Brigadier-General as he may designate in charge of a depot of volunteers. VI. Upon the assembling, at any designated depot, of six or more companies, thus organized, who shall have indicated the same persons as their choice for the field officers of the regiment to which they desire to be attached, the Brigadier-General in charge, will direct the assembling of their commissioned officers for an election, at which he shall preside, to determine, by written ballot, the choice of persons to fill such field offices. Should it so happen that companies assembled at any depot, without having indicated a preference for their field officers, on the reporting of at least six of such companies, the Brigadier-General in charge will, in like manner, direct the assembling of their commissioned officers for an election to fill the field offices of such regiment, and make return of these elections to the Adjutant-General, for the commissions of the officers elected, who will at once be assigned to their respective regiments. VII. Should any additional companies or men be necessary to complete the organization of a regiment, it shall be recruited to its full complement and be mustered by the Inspector-General, and turned over by him to the authorities of the United States. VIII. The pay and rations of the general officers, staff officers of the divisions and brigades, and of the field and staff officers and non-commissioned officers of regiments, shall commence from the date of their commissions or warrants. That of the company officers, non-commissioned officers, musicians and privates, will commence from the date of the notification of the acceptance of the company by the Commander-in-Chief. The pay and rations will be the same as those of the officers and men of the same grade in the army of the United States, which will be discontinued on the part of the State when the force shall be mustered into the service of the General Government, and be resumed again by the State, on the return of the force to the State authorities. During the time the force is in the service of the United States the pay and rations will be furnished by the General Government. IX. The requisite clothing, arms and accoutrements will be furnished at the expense of the State or the United States, to the non-commissioned officers, musicians and privates. By order of the Commander-in-chief. J. MEREDITH READ, JR., The moment the above order was disseminated innumerable offers of service rolled in from all parts of the State; and it is no exaggeration to say that the mails were burdened with matter, and hundreds of telegrams were received in a single day. As early as the 9th of January, by the governor's direction, the adjutant-general had commenced to stir up a patriotic, military spirit, and if the legislature had been equally wise, in answer to our urgent appeals, it would have immediately appropriated a sum sufficient to place the State upon a war footing. Had this been done everything would have been ready to meet the gigantic emergency which found us without arms, ammunition, accoutrements, clothing. Instead of the half of one million of dollars which we had asked for three months earlier, we found ourselves suddenly in possession of three millions and a half. But a large sum in such a moment is of little consequence when supplies are scarce, and when time is of such vital importance. The situation was aggravated by the fact that a Board of State Officers had been created, by the laws of April 15th and 16th, who claimed the right to exercise, and did exercise functions which had hitherto belonged to the governor and commander-in-chief. The Board was unyielding, and the governor could not move without its consent. The struggle began upon the General Order No. 13, just cited, to which the Board was strenuously opposed. To add to the excitement, messages of the most urgent character came from all quarters urging the governor to assume the whole responsibility and to act independently of the Military Boardinsisting with entire unanimity that he would be fully sustained by the people. But the governor was a law-abiding citizen who was unwilling to antagonize a body which had been formally constituted by the Senate and Assembly, especially as the attorney-general, the legal adviser of the Executive, was a prominent member and argued in season and out of season that the chief magistrate had no right to stir without the approval of those to whom the legislature had confided the fund for arming the the troops. In consequence of this absurd state of things the military authorities, instead of being enabled to attend to their legitimate duties, were obliged also to follow the whims of seven governors instead of one. The amount of strength and power which were subtracted by this process, from those engaged day and night in organizing, equipping and dispatching troops to uphold the Union, was simply incalculable. It is to be hoped that such an experiment will never be tried again. When the General Order No. 13, just quoted, was read in the Military Board objections were immediately raised to the acceptance of companies by the governor. His Excellency replied that it was the form, so far as the same was possible; otherwise it would be necessary to have the State officers present all the while; that if they were absent he should feel it his duty to accept the companies as they presented themselves under the provisions of the above order. This position was dissented from by members of the Board who held that as the law of April 16 conferred joint authority, it could not be exercised by a single member. The comptroller offered the following: Resolved, that as soon as a sufficient number of companies of volunteers have their full complement of seventy-eight men each, including officers, this Board will proceed to pass upon the acceptance of such companies; and that when a sufficient number of companies, fully organized, are accepted, this Board will proceed to divide them into regiments and designate the companies to compose each regiment; and that the companies accepted by the governor since the last meeting of the Board, will, when filled, be distributed into regiments by resolution of this Board. The secretary of State, comptroller, attorneygeneral, and State engineer and surveyor voted in the affirmative, and the governor in the negative, and it was consequently adopted by a majority of four. This clearly indicated the intentions of the Board to exercise executive functions, and the latter proceeded to emphasize their position by passing another resolution, viz.: That with a view to greater efficiency and dispatch in mustering volunteers into the service of the State under the late act of the legislature providing for that purpose, the governor is hereby authorized and empowered by this Board, in any case of emergency that may hereafter arise, when a meeting of a majority of this Board cannot speedily be obtained, to accept into the service of the State such companies as when completed in conformity with the terms of the resolution yesterday adopted by this Board shall apply therefor. The italics are mine, and indicate the sting in the tail of this measure. The governor of course voted against this resolution, because it was a direct reprimand, and if complied with would require the abrogation of General Order 13, which was already bearing admirable fruit. In a future article we shall show how the matter resulted in a compromise the issue of another order. In the mean time the most stirring news was arriving at each instant. and the public mind was filled with increasing alarm, which found voice in excited appeals to the governor and adjutant-general. Enthusiastic men, ignorant of the real situation and impelled by patriotic feeling, telegraphed advice, even in peremptory terms. The following messages illustrate this point: NEW YORK, Citizens of all parties demand that you should instantly order all available troops to Washington. Great complaint here. ISAAC SHERMAN. The secretary of War telegraphed, however, at the very same moment in an exactly opposite sense: Wait for further directions. WASHINGTON, April 19, 1861. SIMON CAMERON. The governor had early in the morning of the 19th of April, before the reception of the foregoing, telegraphed to Mr. Cameron : The Seventh Regiment leave for Washington to-day. Washington additional regiments of our present militia force. volunteer regiments? I can send immediately to Hearing nothing, he then directed me to order the Sixth, Twelfth and Seventy-first Regiments of New York, and the Twenty-fifth Regiment of Albany to Washington. Within half an hour after giving the above orders the telegram from Mr. Cameron arrived telling us "TO WAIT." THE CLOSING DAYS OF LOUIS XIV During the year 1715, the great ruler, who for a period of upwards of fifty years had, by his ambitious and restless spirit, kept Europe in a state of agitation and alarm, and whose influence had been that of a master mind for good or evil, advanced in years and bowed down by mental affliction and grave maladies, became, from day to day, more incompetent to wield the extensive powers intrusted to him. When the great King became failing in his bodily health and despondent in spirit, everything was done about the Court to divert his mind and overcome the grief, lassitude, and ennui which oppressed him. Concerts, theatrical exhibitions, and other entertainments were arranged, in his private rooms, to give amusement to one who had exhausted life and its pleasures. Actors, dancers, and singers-the charms of beauty and the luxuries of the banquet, however, now gave no relief to his jaded mind, nor turned it from its sad contemplations. Madame de Maintenon, who had the task of entertaining him, exclaimed in despair: "What a punishment to have to amuse a man who is no longer to be amused!" The diversions of Courts, the dreams of ambition, the incense of flattery no longer beguiled him from reflections on the vanity of life, nor from an appreciation of its mournful realities. He had been chastened in his pride and humbled in his power. The Past had chronicled disappointments and humiliations, as well as triumphs, and was reviewed with regret or self-condemnation. The Future opened visions of terror, which no reflection on his own grandeur could shut out; and Conscience-sternest of judges—began to unfold her pages, and to point to the records of a life of vice, and to deeds of selfishness and crime. A prey to superstitious influences, and always prone to sectarian bigotry rather than to sincere devotion, the King had taken refuge in a new war against freedom of thought, under the influence of De Maintenon, and of his confessor, the Jesuit Le Tellier. Jansenism was now the object of attack; and the famous Bull, “Unigenitus," of September, 1713, concocted by Le Tellier and his confrères, condemning, as heretical, many theretofore orthodox doctrines of the Roman Church, was the result; and divided the French Church into two bitterly contending parties. One hundred and one propositions upheld by Quesnel and other followers of Jansenius, Bishop of Ypres, were the subjects of this new crusade by the Pope, the King, and |