committee believe that any other troops exposed to the same influences, under the same circumstances, and for the same length of time, would have been similarly affected. No one, upon a careful consideration of all the circumstances, can be surprised that those influences should have produced the effects they did upon them.

In conclusion they, your committee, must say that, in their opinion, the cause of the disastrous result of the assault of the 30th of July last is mainly attributable to the fact that the plans and suggestions of the general who had devoted his attention for so long a time to the subject, who had carried out to a successful completion the project of mining the enemy's works, and who had carefully selected and drilled his troops for the purpose of securing whatever advantages might be attainable from the explosion of the mine, should have been so entirely disregarded by a general who had evinced no faith in the successful prosecution of that work, had aided it by no countenance or open approval, and had assumed the entire direction and control only when it was completed, and the time had come for reaping any advantages that might be derived.

Respectfully submitted,

B. F. WADE, Chairman.

While the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War was pursuing its investigations, General Burnside, at their request, remained in Washington. He was anxious to have his own conduct criticised, but he did not seek to disparage other generals, or endeavor to detract from their merits. President Lincoln sought his society and his counsel, but again refused to accept his resignation, saying that he might want to entrust him with an important command in the fall. But the war was virtually at an end, and on the 9th of April, 1865, General Lee surrendered to .General Grant, at Appomattox Court House, the survivors of his brave army, which had struggled gallantly against the inevitable and the irrepressible. After peace had been declared, General Burnside once more tendered his resignation, which was accepted by President Johnson on the 15th of April, 1865.

The record of General Burnside's military career shows

that he believed that "the post of honor was the post of duty." As General Browne, of Indiana, remarked in his eulogy, "From the day on which he accepted the command of the Rhode Island regiment until he resigned, he gave his services to the Nation that had educated him, and his name was a part of its history. He was a man of intrepid courage-a courage unmixed with insolence or brutality.

His was not the brutal force
Of vulgar heroes,

for in no sense of the word was he a braggart or a bully. He feared no man but himself. If there was one infirmity in his nature, it was the lack of self-confidence. He did a great injustice to his own powers, for he was an infinitely greater and stronger man than he thought himself to be. He weakened himself by his self-distrust, and sometimes failed to win-not because he feared for his personal safety, but because he was afraid he might put in jeopardy his country and its cause. Future generations will learn from General Burnside's example the lesson of devotion to duty and loyalty to human liberty.”

While the loyal North claimed General Burnside as one of the heroes of the war for the suppression of the Rebellion, he was especially dear to the people of his adopted state, who had with peculiar interest and affection followed the brilliant career of "the colonel of the famous old Rhode Island First Regiment." The Providence Fournal, in an editorial article announcing the acceptance of General Burnside's resignation, said:

Everywhere, and at all times, he has done his whole duty. In the darkest hours of the war, when many hearts desponded, he never wavered or doubted. Full of confidence in our superior power, and full of the most implicit faith in the principle that God must give us the victory,

.

because our cause was just, he had the happy faculty of inspiring all those around him, his friends, the audiences he addressed, and his army with the same hope which lighted up his own heart. One of the first of the regular army officers to approve heartily of Mr. Lincoln's emancipation policy, he was also one of the first to favor the arming of black troops, and one of the most successful in training them for action. Utterly free from that jealousy of the fame of others which has detracted from the merits and impaired the efficiency of so many officers, he was quick to recognize the talent of all his comrades, and magnanimous almost to a fault in judging the motives of those who attempted by unworthy means to injure him. It is not strange that with these noble and generous traits he has been so beloved by all the officers and soldiers under him, and by the Nation at large. We doubt if any one of our prominent officers has more endeared himself to all who knew him than our warm-hearted, large-hearted, self-sacrificing, patriotic Burnside. We trust that wherever his business may call him, he will still regard Rhode Island as his home. She certainly will always claim him as her adopted

son.

Resuming the pursuits of civil life, General Burnside became identified with the construction of railroads, for which he was qualified by his West Point education. The stockholders of the Illinois Central Railroad Company, which he had served as treasurer before the war, elected him a director. In 1865 he was elected president of the Cincinnati and Martinsville Railroad, from Fairland to Martinsville, Indiana, a distance of forty miles. To complete the construction of this railroad, $400,000 of seven per cent. first mortgage bonds were issued, guaranteed by the Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Lafayette Railroad Company, to which the road was leased in advance of its completion. It required no small financial ability to negotiate a sufficient amount of these bonds to pay the contractors, but it was done, and the road was placed in working order.

NOMINATED AND ELECTED GOVERNOR OF RHODE ISLAND RAILROAD OPERATIONS AT THE WEST - SOLDIERS' MONUMENT AT PROVIDENCE PRESENTATION RE-ELECTION-A WEST POINT COMRADE AIDED-THE KINGSBURY WILL-VINCENNES AND CAIRO RAILROAD.

T

HE announcement, in the spring of 1866, that the name of General Burnside would be presented to the convention called to nominate a Republican candidate for governor of Rhode Island, was received with great enthusiasm. His pure patriotism, his large heart, his noble bearing, his genial kindness, his willingness to suffer unduly rather than blame others, his love of duty rather than position, constituted the amplest claim to the regards of his adopted state. The people of Rhode Island, whose battle-flags bore the names of his victories, were delighted to inscribe his name upon their state banner. When the convention met, General Burnside was enthusiastically nominated by acclamation, and it was felt that Rhode Island, by inviting him to the chair of her chief magistrate, honored herself by calling him. At the election, which was held on the 4th of April, 1866, General Burnside received 7,725 votes; Lyman Pierce, his Demo

cratic opponent, received 2,776 votes, and there were 160 scattering votes.

On Tuesday, the 29th of May, 1866, General Burnside was inaugurated into his office, at Newport, amid a greater amount of enthusiasm than had ever before stirred the hearts of the people. On Election day the entire volunteer militia of the State came to Newport to participate in the pageant, and in their ranks were hundreds of veterans who had served under the general. The city sergeant proclaimed from the balcony of the State House, in accordance with the time-honored programme, "Hear ye! Hear ye! Hear ye! His Excellency Ambrose E. Burnside has been duly elected Captain-General and Commander-inChief of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations!" Then the cannon roared, the bands played, the assembled multitude cheered, and the governor was escorted through the streets by the military, receiving, all along the route, bouquets and the waving of handkerchiefs from the ladies, with cheers from the men.

As chief magistrate of Rhode Island, General Burnside exhibited in the strongest light those distinctive traits of character for which he was so remarkable. He had obeyed the commands of authority as a soldier, and he expected from every subordinate official, civil or military, that allegiance that alone can insure success. Independent in his disposition, with original ideas and fearless. in expressing them, and jealous of the honor of his adopted state, he made a useful chief magistrate. He heard what was to be said on every disputed question which came before him, holding his judgment in abeyance until nothing more was said on either side, and then formed his opinion with inflexible firmness. The only exception was when petitioners appeared before him, asking pardon for