Page:The woman in battle .djvu/543

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THE ROGUES PROTECTED.
485


with regard to them, however, these men were able to secure the support of those whose duty it was to have brought them to punishment, and they were retained in office in spite of Baker, and in defiance of public opinion.

What might have Happened.

Now, suppose that Mr. Chase, and Mr. Jordan, and Mr. Garfield, and the others who shielded the guilty parties, and who endeavored to represent Baker as a conspirator, had, by any means, found out who I was, and what I had been doing in connection with the treasury? What a perfect godsend a discovery of my transactions would have been! The whole party would have turned upon the rebel secret-service agent with a ferocity that would have been intensified by the fact of her being a woman; and any amount of patriotic indignation would have been poured upon my head. Hanging, in the opinion of these honorable gentlemen, would have been too good for me; and there is no knowing how many votes they would have gained by denouncing me as a fiend in human shape. The fact that I was a Confederate secret-service agent, and was doing what I did to advance the interests of the cause to which my allegiance was given, would only have made matters ten times worse for me had my performances been found out.

Luckily, however, I was smart enough to take proper precautions before putting myself in danger, and when I clearly saw trouble ahead quietly got out of the way. It was not the woman who was working for the Confederacy, and who was under obligations to do those whom she regarded as her enemies and the enemies of her cause all the injury in her power, who fell into Baker's hands, but certain high Federal officials, who were under oath, and who were intrusted with some of the most responsible duties that could possibly be intrusted to any men. These people were under obligations of fidelity to the trusts confided to them, which they could not thrust aside without making themselves morally and legally liable to the severest condemnation. In spite of this, how ever, and in spite of the facts that they were guilty of trans actions which deserved punishment, and that ample proofs of their unfitness for the positions they held were produced, they found ardent and efficient supporters in men of the high est stations, who, day after day were denouncing the rebel-