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Rh days both the House of Representatives and the Senate passed an appropriation of $50,000,000 to be placed at the disposal of the President, to be used at his discretion, "for National defence."

Fifty million dollars! It was certainly a large sum to place in the absolute charge of any one man, and it showed the whole country's unbounded confidence in the President; for the appropriation was made unanimously, not a single representative or senator voting against it. Politics, party lines, the fading line between North and South, were all cast aside as the Nation arose, and men stood shoulder to shoulder in a common cause, the defence of the oppressed, and the advancement of liberty.