The President journeyed by coach to a position just outside the Capitol today to inspect the city's defenses and to assure a panicked public that recent movements by Confederate forces do not pose any threat to the city, and that our forces are being capably managed. The soldiers, who were the object of Mr. Lincoln's visit, appeared genuinely pleased by his kind attentions. The President was accompanied by General S.P. Heintzelman and members of his staff, who bear the heavy burden of assuring the safety of the Capitol. Official Washington has been rife with rumors of late that Confederate forces may have been diverted from their exertions in the Peninsula in order to make some kind of raid upon the seat of government here. The general public has not displayed the confidence in either General Pope or General McClellan to competently manage affairs that was apparent earlier. One continues to hear all sorts of wild stories bandied about in taverns, on the street, and even in the finest homes, that the disappointments of the past several weeks presage total defeat and disaster.

Reports have also surfaced that the President, in conjunction with his cabinet, may have discussed emancipation. When pressed upon this point by your correspondent, the President tactfully and simply replied "no." The President encountered a group of school children shortly after leaving the lines and delighted them with stories of his youth in Indiana and Illinois and upon the importance of telling the truth. Sensing an opportunity, I once again put before the President reports that emancipation was in fact discussed and that those reports had come from quarters known for their veracity. The President replied, "that all this talk of the Union as it was," might soon no longer correspond to the situation at hand. Mr. Lincoln acknowledged that he had written to Mr. Greely of the Tribune to the effect that this paper "had pressed the point" in its campaign for emancipation but that preserving the Union was still uppermost in the President's mind.

The President may have tipped his hand when he finished his remarks. Referring to the southern slave holding class, he remarked and we quote: "they must understand that they cannot experiment for ten years trying to destroy the government, and if they fail still come back into the Union unhurt", and adding proverbially, "broken eggs cannot be mended."