SIMON CAMERON. "Secretary of War." The language of this modification is given to show that the President, at the close of the year 1861, had already reached a further step forward toward Emancipation--and the sound reasoning upon which he made that advance. He was satisfying his own mind and conscience as he proceeded, and thus, while justifying himself to himself, was also simultaneously carrying conviction to the minds and consciences of the People, whose servant and agent he was. That these abandoned Slaves would "constitute a Military resource" and "should not be turned over to the Enemy" and that "their labor may be useful to us" were propositions which could not be gainsaid. But to quiet uncalled-for apprehensions, and to encourage Southern loyalty, he added, in substance, that at the close of this War--waged solely for the preservation of the Union--Congress would decide the doubtful status of the Slaves of Rebels, while the rights of Union Slave-holders would be secured. The Contraband-Slave question, however, continued to agitate the public mind for many months--owing to the various ways in which it was treated by the various Military commanders, to whose discretion its treatment, in their several commands, was left--a discretion which almost invariably leaned toward the political bias of the commander. Thus, in a proclamation, dated St. Louis, February 23, 1862, Halleck, commanding the Department of Missouri, said: "Soldiers! let no excess on your part tarnish the glory of our arms! "The order heretofore issued in this department, in regard to pillaging and marauding, the destruction of private property, and the stealing or concealment of Slaves, must be strictly enforced. It does not belong to the Military to decide upon the relation of Master and Slave. Such questions must be settled by the civil Courts. No Fugitive Slaves will therefore be admitted within our lines or camps, except when especially ordered by the General Commanding. * * * " And Buell, commanding the Department of the Ohio, in response to a communication on the subject from the Chairman of the Military Committee of the Kentucky Legislature, wrote, March 6, 1862: "It has come to my knowledge that Slaves sometimes make their way improperly into our lines, and in some instances they may be enticed there, but I think the number has been magnified by report. Several applications have been made to me by persons whose servants have been found in our camps, and in every instance that I know of the master has recovered his servant and taken him away." Thus, while some of our Commanders, like Dix and Halleck, repelled or even expelled the Fugitive Slave from their lines; and others, like Buell and Hooker, facilitated the search for, and restoration to his master, of the black Fugitive found within our lines; on the other hand, Fremont, as we have seen, and Doubleday and Hunter, as we shall yet see, took totally different ground on this question.