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Title: A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents. Volume 6, part 1: Abraham Lincoln

Editor: James D. Richardson

Release date: May 1, 2004 [eBook #12462]
                Most recently updated: December 14, 2020

Language: English

Credits: Produced by Juliet Sutherland, David Garcia and the Online Distributed
        Proofreading Team.


*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A COMPILATION OF THE MESSAGES AND PAPERS OF THE PRESIDENTS. VOLUME 6, PART 1: ABRAHAM LINCOLN ***




Produced by Juliet Sutherland, David Garcia and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team.





A COMPILATION OF THE MESSAGES AND PAPERS OF THE PRESIDENTS

BY JAMES D. RICHARDSON

A REPRESENTATIVE FROM THE STATE OF TENNESSEE


VOLUME VI


PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY OF CONGRESS

1902




Prefatory Note


The Presidential papers during the period from March 4, 1861, to March
4, 1869, are contained in this volume. No other period of American
history since the Revolution comprises so many events of surpassing
importance. The Administrations of Presidents Lincoln, and Johnson
represent two distinct epochs. That of Abraham Lincoln was dedicated to
the successful prosecution of the most stupendous war of modern times,
while that of Andrew Johnson was dedicated to the reestablishment
of peace and the restoration of the Union as it had existed prior
to the war. Strange to say, it fell to the lot of the kind-hearted
humanitarian, who loved peace and his fellow-man, to wage the bloody
conflict of civil war, and the more aggressive, combative character
directed the affairs of the Government while the land took upon itself
the conditions of peace. Yet who can say that each was not best suited
for his particular sphere of action? A greater lover of his kind has not
filled the office of President since Thomas Jefferson, and no public
servant ever left with the people a gentler memory than Abraham Lincoln.
A more self-willed and determined Chief Executive has not held that
office since Andrew Jackson, and no public servant ever left with the
people a higher character for honesty, integrity, and sincerity of
purpose and action than Andrew Johnson. The life of each of these two
great men had been a series of obscure but heroic struggles; each had
experienced a varied and checkered career; each reached the highest
political station of earth. Their official state papers are of supreme
interest, and comprise the utterances of President Lincoln while he in
four years placed in the field nearly three millions of soldiers; what
he said when victories were won or when his armies went down in defeat;
what treasures of blood and money it cost to triumph; also, the
utterances of President Johnson as he through his eventful term waged
the fiercest political battle of our country's history in his efforts,
along his own lines, for the restoration of peace and the reunion of the
States.

Interesting papers relating to the death and funeral obsequies of
President Lincoln have been inserted, as also the more important papers
and proceedings connected with the impeachment of President Johnson.

Much time and labor have been expended in the compilation of this
volume--more than on any one of the preceding--to the end that all
papers of importance that could be found should be published; and I feel
sure that no other collection of Presidential papers is so thorough and
complete.

The perusal of these papers should kindle within the heart of every
citizen of the American Republic, whether he fought on the one side or
the other in that unparalleled struggle, or whether he has come upon the
scene since its closing, a greater love of country, a greater devotion
to the cause of true liberty, and an undying resolve that all the
blessings of a free government and the fullest liberty of the individual
shall be perpetuated.

JAMES D. RICHARDSON.

NOVEMBER 25, 1897.

       *       *       *       *       *


Abraham Lincoln

March 4, 1861, to April 15, 1865


       *       *       *       *       *




Abraham Lincoln


ABRAHAM LINCOLN was born in Hardin County, Ky., February 12, 1809. His
earliest ancestor in America was Samuel Lincoln, of Norwich, England,
who settled in Hingham, Mass., where he died, leaving a son, Mordecai,
whose son of the same name removed to Monmouth, N.J., and thence to
Berks County, Pa., where he died in 1735. One of his sons, John, removed
to Buckingham County, Va., and died there, leaving five sons, one of
whom, named Abraham, emigrated to Kentucky about 1780. About 1784 he was
killed by Indians, leaving three sons, Mordecai, Josiah, and Thomas, and
two daughters. Their mother then located in Washington County, Ky., and
there brought up her family. The youngest son, Thomas, learned the trade
of a carpenter, and in 1806 married Nancy Hanks, a niece of the man with
whom he learned his trade. They had three children, the second being
Abraham, the future President of the United States. In 1816 Thomas
Lincoln removed to Indiana, and settled on Little Pigeon Creek, not far
distant from the Ohio River, where Abraham grew to manhood. He made the
best use of his limited opportunities to acquire an education and at the
same time prepare himself for business. At the age of 19 years he was
intrusted with a cargo of farm products, which he took to New Orleans
and sold. In 1830 his father again emigrated, and located in Macon
County, Ill. Abraham by this time had attained the unusual stature of
6 feet 4 inches, and was of great muscular strength; joined with his
father in building his cabin, clearing the field, and splitting the
rails for fencing the farm. It was not long, however, before his father
again changed his home, locating this time in Coles County, where he
died in 1851 at the age of 73 years. Abraham left his father as soon as
his farm was fenced and cleared and hired himself to a man named Denton
Offutt, in Sangamon County, whom he assisted to build a flatboat;
accompanied him to New Orleans on a trading voyage and returned with him
to New Salem, Menard County, where Offutt opened a store for the sale of
general merchandise. Mr. Lincoln remained with him for a time, during
which he employed his leisure in constant reading and study. Learned
the elements of English grammar and made a beginning in the study of
surveying and the principles of law. But the next year an Indian war
began, and Lincoln volunteered in a company raised in Sangamon County
and was immediately elected captain. His company was organized at
Richland April 21, 1832; but his service in command of it was brief, for
it was mustered out on May 27. Mr. Lincoln immediately reenlisted as a
private and served for several weeks, being finally mustered out on June
16, 1832, by Lieutenant Robert Anderson, who afterwards commanded Fort
Sumter at the beginning of the civil war. He returned to his home and
made a brief but active canvass for the legislature, but was defeated.
At this time he thought seriously of learning the blacksmith's trade,
but an opportunity was offered him to buy a store, which he did, giving
his notes for the purchase money. He was unfortunate in his selection of
a partner, and the business soon went to wreck, leaving him burdened
with a heavy debt, which he finally paid in full. He then applied
himself earnestly to the study of the law. Was appointed postmaster of
New Salem in 1833, and filled the office for three years. At the same
time was appointed deputy county surveyor. In 1834 was elected to the
legislature, and was reelected in 1836, 1838, and 1840, after which he
declined further election. In his last two terms he was the candidate of
his party for the speakership of the house of representatives. In 1837
removed to Springfield, where he entered into partnership with John
T. Stuart and began the practice of the law. November 4, 1842, married
Miss Mary Todd, daughter of Robert S. Todd, of Kentucky. In 1846 was
elected to Congress over Rev. Peter Cartwright. Served only one term,
and was not a candidate for reelection. While a member he advocated the
abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. Was an unsuccessful
applicant for Commissioner of the General Land Office under President
Taylor; was tendered the office of governor of Oregon Territory, which
he declined. Was an able and influential exponent of the principles of
the Whig party in Illinois, and did active campaign work. Was voted for
by the Whig minority in the State legislature for United States Senator
in 1855. As soon as the Republican party was fully organized throughout
the country he became its leader in Illinois. In 1858 he was chosen by
his party to oppose Stephen A. Douglas for the Senate, and challenged
him to a joint debate. The challenge was accepted, and a most exciting
debate followed, which attracted national attention. The legislature
chosen was favorable to Mr. Douglas, and he was elected. In May, 1860,
when the Republican convention met in Chicago, Mr. Lincoln was nominated
for the Presidency, on the third ballot, over William H. Seward, who was
his principal competitor. Was elected on November 6, receiving 180
electoral votes to 72 for John C. Breckinridge, 39 for John Bell, and
12 for Stephen A. Douglas. Was inaugurated March 4, 1861. On June 8,
1864, was unanimously renominated for the Presidency by the Republican
convention at Baltimore, and at the election in November received 212
electoral votes to 21 for General McClellan. Was inaugurated for his
second term March 4, 1865. Was shot by an assassin at Ford's Theater, in
Washington, April 14, 1865, and died the next day. Was buried at Oak
Ridge, near Springfield, Ill.




FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS.


_Fellow-Citizens of the United States_:

In compliance with a custom as old as the Government itself, I appear
before you to address you briefly and to take in your presence the oath
prescribed by the Constitution of the United States to be taken by the
President "before he enters on the execution of his office."

I do not consider it necessary at present for me to discuss those
matters of administration about which there is no special anxiety or
excitement.

Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the Southern States that
by the accession of a Republican Administration their property and their
peace and personal security are to be endangered. There has never been
any reasonable cause for such apprehension. Indeed, the most ample
evidence to the contrary has all the while existed and been open to
their inspection. It is found in nearly all the published speeches of
him who now addresses you. I do but quote from one of those speeches
when I declare that--

  I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the
  institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe
  I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so.


Those who nominated and elected me did so with full knowledge that I had
made this and many similar declarations and had never recanted them; and
more than this, they placed in the platform for my acceptance, and as a
law to themselves and to me, the clear and emphatic resolution which I
now read:

  _Resolved_, That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the
  States, and especially the right of each State to order and control its
  own domestic institutions according to its own judgment exclusively, is
  essential to that balance of power on which the perfection and endurance
  of our political fabric depend; and we denounce the lawless invasion by
  armed force of the soil of any State or Territory, no matter under what
  pretext, as among the gravest of crimes.


I now reiterate these sentiments, and in doing so I only press upon
the public attention the most conclusive evidence of which the case is
susceptible that the property, peace, and security of no section are
to be in any wise endangered by the now incoming Administration. I add,
too, that all the protection which, consistently with the Constitution
and the laws, can be given will be cheerfully given to all the States
when lawfully demanded, for whatever cause--as cheerfully to one section
as to another.

There is much controversy about the delivering up of fugitives from
service or labor. The clause I now read is as plainly written in the
Constitution as any other of its provisions:

  No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws thereof,
  escaping into another, shall in consequence of any law or regulation
  therein be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered
  up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due.


It is scarcely questioned that this provision was intended by those who
made it for the reclaiming of what we call fugitive slaves; and the
intention of the lawgiver is the law. All members of Congress swear
their support to the whole Constitution--to this provision as much as
to any other. To the proposition, then, that slaves whose cases come
within the terms of this clause "shall be delivered up" their oaths are
unanimous. Now, if they would make the effort in good temper, could they
not with nearly equal unanimity frame and pass a law by means of which
to keep good that unanimous oath?

There is some difference of opinion whether this clause should be
enforced by national or by State authority, but surely that difference
is not a very material one. If the slave is to be surrendered, it can be
of but little consequence to him or to others by which authority it is
done. And should anyone in any case be content that his oath shall go
unkept on a merely unsubstantial controversy as to _how_ it shall be
kept?

Again: In any law upon this subject ought not all the safeguards of
liberty known in civilized and humane jurisprudence to be introduced, so
that a free man be not in any case surrendered as a slave? And might it
not be well at the same time to provide by law for the enforcement of
that clause in the Constitution which guarantees that "the citizens of
each State shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of
citizens in the several States"?

I take the official oath to-day with no mental reservations and with no
purpose to construe the Constitution or laws by any hypercritical rules;
and while I do not choose now to specify particular acts of Congress as
proper to be enforced, I do suggest that it will be much safer for all,
both in official and private stations, to conform to and abide by all
those acts which stand unrepealed than to violate any of them trusting
to find impunity in having them held to be unconstitutional.

It is seventy-two years since the first inauguration of a President
under our National Constitution. During that period fifteen different
and greatly distinguished citizens have in succession administered the
executive branch of the Government. They have conducted it through many
perils, and generally with great success. Yet, with all this scope of
precedent, I now enter upon the same task for the brief constitutional
term of four years under great and peculiar difficulty. A disruption of
the Federal Union, heretofore only menaced, is now formidably attempted.

I hold that in contemplation of universal law and of the Constitution
the Union of these States is perpetual. Perpetuity is implied, if not
expressed, in the fundamental law of all national governments. It is
safe to assert that no government proper ever had a provision in its
organic law for its own termination. Continue to execute all the express
provisions of our National Constitution, and the Union will endure
forever, it being impossible to destroy it except by some action not
provided for in the instrument itself.

Again: If the United States be not a government proper, but an
association of States in the nature of contract merely, can it, as a
contract, be peaceably unmade by less than all the parties who made it?
One party to a contract may violate it--break it, so to speak--but does
it not require all to lawfully rescind it?

Descending from these general principles, we find the proposition that
in legal contemplation the Union is perpetual confirmed by the history
of the Union itself. The Union is much older than the Constitution.
It was formed, in fact, by the Articles of Association in 1774. It was
matured and continued by the Declaration of Independence in 1776. It was
further matured, and the faith of all the then thirteen States expressly
plighted and engaged that it should be perpetual, by the Articles of
Confederation in 1778. And finally, in 1787, one of the declared objects
for ordaining and establishing the Constitution was "_to form a more
perfect Union_."

But if destruction of the Union by one or by a part only of the States
be lawfully possible, the Union is _less_ perfect than before the
Constitution, having lost the vital element of perpetuity.

It follows from these views that no State upon its own mere motion can
lawfully get out of the Union; that _resolves_ and _ordinances_ to that
effect are legally void, and that acts of violence within any State or
States against the authority of the United States are insurrectionary or
revolutionary, according to circumstances.

I therefore consider that in view of the Constitution and the laws the
Union is unbroken, and to the extent of my ability I shall take care, as
the Constitution itself expressly enjoins upon me, that the laws of the
Union be faithfully executed in all the States. Doing this I deem to
be only a simple duty on my part, and I shall perform it so far as
practicable unless my rightful masters, the American people, shall
withhold the requisite means or in some authoritative manner direct the
contrary. I trust this will not be regarded as a menace, but only as the
declared purpose of the Union that it _will_ constitutionally defend and
maintain itself.

In doing this there needs to be no bloodshed or violence, and there
shall be none unless it be forced upon the national authority. The power
confided to me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess the property
and places belonging to the Government and to collect the duties and
imposts; but beyond what may be necessary for these objects, there will
be no invasion, no using of force against or among the people anywhere.
Where hostility to the United States in any interior locality shall be
so great and universal as to prevent competent resident citizens from
holding the Federal offices, there will be no attempt to force obnoxious
strangers among the people for that object. While the strict legal right
may exist in the Government to enforce the exercise of these offices,
the attempt to do so would be so irritating and so nearly impracticable
withal that I deem it better to forego for the time the uses of such
offices.

The mails, unless repelled, will continue to be furnished in all parts
of the Union. So far as possible the people everywhere shall have that
sense of perfect security which is most favorable to calm thought and
reflection. The course here indicated will be followed unless current
events and experience shall show a modification or change to be proper,
and in every case and exigency my best discretion will be exercised,
according to circumstances actually existing and with a view and a hope
of a peaceful solution of the national troubles and the restoration of
fraternal sympathies and affections.

That there are persons in one section or another who seek to destroy the
Union at all events and are glad of any pretext to do it I will neither
affirm nor deny; but if there be such, I need address no word to them.
To those, however, who really love the Union may I not speak?

Before entering upon so grave a matter as the destruction of our
national fabric, with all its benefits, its memories, and its hopes,
would it not be wise to ascertain precisely why we do it? Will you
hazard so desperate a step while there is any possibility that any
portion of the ills you fly from have no real existence? Will you, while
the certain ills you fly to are greater than all the real ones you fly
from, will you risk the commission of so fearful a mistake?

All profess to be content in the Union if all constitutional rights can
be maintained. Is it true, then, that any right plainly written in the
Constitution has been denied? I think not. Happily, the human mind is
so constituted that no party can reach to the audacity of doing this.
Think, if you can, of a single instance in which a plainly written
provision of the Constitution has ever been denied. If by the mere force
of numbers a majority should deprive a minority of any clearly written
constitutional right, it might in a moral point of view justify
revolution; certainly would if such right were a vital one. But such is
not our case. All the vital rights of minorities and of individuals are
so plainly assured to them by affirmations and negations, guaranties
and prohibitions, in the Constitution that controversies never arise
concerning them. But no organic law can ever be framed with a provision
specifically applicable to every question which may occur in practical
administration. No foresight can anticipate nor any document of
reasonable length contain express provisions for all possible questions.
Shall fugitives from labor be surrendered by national or by State
authority? The Constitution does not expressly say. _May_ Congress
prohibit slavery in the Territories? The Constitution does not expressly
say. _Must_ Congress protect slavery in the Territories? The
Constitution does not expressly say.

From questions of this class spring all our constitutional
controversies, and we divide upon them into majorities and minorities.
If the minority will not acquiesce, the majority must, or the Government
must cease. There is no other alternative, for continuing the Government
is acquiescence on one side or the other. If a minority in such case
will secede rather than acquiesce, they make a precedent which in turn
will divide and ruin them, for a minority of their own will secede from
them whenever a majority refuses to be controlled by such minority. For
instance, why may not any portion of a new confederacy a year or two
hence arbitrarily secede again, precisely as portions of the present
Union now claim to secede from it? All who cherish disunion sentiments
are now being educated to the exact temper of doing this.

Is there such perfect identity of interests among the States to compose
a new union as to produce harmony only and prevent renewed secession?

Plainly the central idea of secession is the essence of anarchy.
A majority held in restraint by constitutional checks and limitations,
and always changing easily with deliberate changes of popular opinions
and sentiments, is the only true sovereign of a free people. Whoever
rejects it does of necessity fly to anarchy or to despotism. Unanimity
is impossible. The rule of a minority, as a permanent arrangement, is
wholly inadmissible; so that, rejecting the majority principle, anarchy
or despotism in some form is all that is left.

I do not forget the position assumed by some that constitutional
questions are to be decided by the Supreme Court, nor do I deny that
such decisions must be binding in any case upon the parties to a suit as
to the object of that suit, while they are also entitled to very high
respect and consideration in all parallel cases by all other departments
of the Government. And while it is obviously possible that such decision
may be erroneous in any given case, still the evil effect following it,
being limited to that particular case, with the chance that it may be
overruled and never become a precedent for other cases, can better be
borne than could the evils of a different practice. At the same time,
the candid citizen must confess that if the policy of the Government
upon vital questions affecting the whole people is to be irrevocably
fixed by decisions of the Supreme Court, the instant they are made in
ordinary litigation between parties in personal actions the people will
have ceased to be their own rulers, having to that extent practically
resigned their Government into the hands of that eminent tribunal. Nor
is there in this view any assault upon the court or the judges. It is
a duty from which they may not shrink to decide cases properly brought
before them, and it is no fault of theirs if others seek to turn their
decisions to political purposes.

One section of our country believes slavery is _right_ and ought to be
extended, while the other believes it is _wrong_ and ought not to be
extended. This is the only substantial dispute. The fugitive-slave
clause of the Constitution and the law for the suppression of the
foreign slave trade are each as well enforced, perhaps, as any law can
ever be in a community where the moral sense of the people imperfectly
supports the law itself. The great body of the people abide by the dry
legal obligation in both cases, and a few break over in each. This, I
think, can not be perfectly cured, and it would be worse in both cases
_after_ the separation of the sections than before. The foreign slave
trade, now imperfectly suppressed, would be ultimately revived without
restriction in one section, while fugitive slaves, now only partially
surrendered, would not be surrendered at all by the other.

Physically speaking, we can not separate. We can not remove our
respective sections from each other nor build an impassable wall between
them. A husband and wife may be divorced and go out of the presence and
beyond the reach of each other, but the different parts of our country
can not do this. They can not but remain face to face, and intercourse,
either amicable or hostile, must continue between them. Is it possible,
then, to make that intercourse more advantageous or more satisfactory
_after_ separation than _before_? Can aliens make treaties easier than
friends can make laws? Can treaties be more faithfully enforced between
aliens than laws can among friends? Suppose you go to war, you can not
fight always; and when, after much loss on both sides and no gain on
either, you cease fighting, the identical old questions, as to terms of
intercourse, are again upon you.

This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit
it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing Government, they
can exercise their _constitutional_ right of amending it or their
_revolutionary_ right to dismember or overthrow it. I can not be
ignorant of the fact that many worthy and patriotic citizens are
desirous of having the National Constitution amended. While I make no
recommendation of amendments, I fully recognize the rightful authority
of the people over the whole subject, to be exercised in either of the
modes prescribed in the instrument itself; and I should, under existing
circumstances, favor rather than oppose a fair opportunity being
afforded the people to act upon it. I will venture to add that to me
the convention mode seems preferable, in that it allows amendments to
originate with the people themselves, instead of only permitting them to
take or reject propositions originated by others, not especially chosen
for the purpose, and which might not be precisely such as they would
wish to either accept or refuse. I understand a proposed amendment to
the Constitution--which amendment, however, I have not seen--has passed
Congress, to the effect that the Federal Government shall never
interfere with the domestic institutions of the States, including that
of persons held to service. To avoid misconstruction of what I have
said, I depart from my purpose not to speak of particular amendments
so far as to say that, holding such a provision to now be implied
constitutional law, I have no objection to its being made express and
irrevocable.

The Chief Magistrate derives all his authority from the people, and they
have conferred none upon him to fix terms for the separation of the
States. The people themselves can do this also if they choose, but the
Executive as such has nothing to do with it. His duty is to administer
the present Government as it came to his hands and to transmit it
unimpaired by him to his successor.

Why should there not be a patient confidence in the ultimate justice
of the people? Is there any better or equal hope in the world? In our
present differences, is either party without faith of being in the
right? If the Almighty Ruler of Nations, with His eternal truth and
justice, be on your side of the North, or on yours of the South, that
truth and that justice will surely prevail by the judgment of this great
tribunal of the American people.

By the frame of the Government under which we live this same people have
wisely given their public servants but little power for mischief, and
have with equal wisdom provided for the return of that little to their
own hands at very short intervals. While the people retain their virtue
and vigilance no Administration by any extreme of wickedness or folly
can very seriously injure the Government in the short space of four
years.

My countrymen, one and all, think calmly and _well_ upon this whole
subject. Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time. If there be an
object to _hurry_ any of you in hot haste to a step which you would
never take _deliberately_, that object will be frustrated by taking
time; but no good object can be frustrated by it. Such of you as are now
dissatisfied still have the old Constitution unimpaired, and, on the
sensitive point, the laws of your own framing under it; while the new
Administration will have no immediate power, if it would, to change
either. If it were admitted that you who are dissatisfied hold the
right side in the dispute, there still is no single good reason for
precipitate action. Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm
reliance on Him who has never yet forsaken this favored land are still
competent to adjust in the best way all our present difficulty.

In _your_ hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in _mine_,
is the momentous issue of civil war. The Government will not assail
_you_. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors.
_You_ have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the Government, while
_I_ shall have the most solemn one to "preserve, protect, and defend
it."

I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be
enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds
of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every
battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all
over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again
touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.

MARCH 4, 1861.




SPECIAL MESSAGES.


WASHINGTON, _March 16, 1861_.

_To the Senate_:

The Senate has transmitted to me a copy of the message sent by my
predecessor to that body on the 21st day of February last, proposing to
take its advice on the subject of a proposition made by the British
Government through its minister here to refer the matter in controversy
between that Government and the Government of the United States to the
arbitrament of the King of Sweden and Norway, the King of the
Netherlands, or the Republic of the Swiss Confederation.

In that message my predecessor stated that he wished to submit to the
Senate the precise questions following, namely:

  Will the Senate approve a treaty referring to either of the sovereign
  powers above named the dispute now existing between the Governments of
  the United States and Great Britain concerning the boundary line between
  Vancouvers Island and the American continent? In case the referee shall
  find himself unable to decide where the line is by the description of it
  in the treaty of 15th June, 1846, shall he be authorized to establish a
  line according to the treaty as nearly as possible? Which of the three
  powers named by Great Britain as an arbiter shall be chosen by the
  United States?


I find no reason to disapprove of the course of my predecessor in this
important matter, but, on the contrary, I not only shall receive the
advice of the Senate therein cheerfully, but I respectfully ask the
Senate for their advice on the three questions before recited.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _March 26, 1861_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I have received a copy of a resolution of the Senate passed on the
25th instant, requesting me, if in my opinion not incompatible with the
public interest, to communicate to the Senate the dispatches of Major
Robert Anderson to the War Department during the time he has been in
command of Fort Sumter.

On examining the correspondence thus called for I have, with the highest
respect for the Senate, come to the conclusion that at the present
moment the publication of it would be inexpedient.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.




PROCLAMATIONS.


BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas the laws of the United States have been for some time past and
now are opposed and the execution thereof obstructed in the States of
South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and
Texas by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary
course of judicial proceedings or by the powers vested in the marshals
by law:

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, in
virtue of the power in me vested by the Constitution and the laws, have
thought fit to call forth, and hereby do call forth, the militia of the
several States of the Union to the aggregate number of 75,000, in order
to suppress said combinations and to cause the laws to be duly executed.

The details for this object will be immediately communicated to the
State authorities through the War Department.

I appeal to all loyal citizens to favor, facilitate, and aid this effort
to maintain the honor, the integrity, and the existence of our National
Union and the perpetuity of popular government and to redress wrongs
already long enough endured.

I deem it proper to say that the first service assigned to the forces
hereby called forth will probably be to repossess the forts, places, and
property which have been seized from the Union; and in every event the
utmost care will be observed, consistently with the objects aforesaid,
to avoid any devastation, any destruction of or interference with
property, or any disturbance of peaceful citizens in any part of the
country.

And I hereby command the persons composing the combinations aforesaid to
disperse and retire peaceably to their respective abodes within twenty
days from this date.

Deeming that the present condition of public affairs presents an
extraordinary occasion, I do hereby, in virtue of the power in me vested
by the Constitution, convene both Houses of Congress. Senators and
Representatives are therefore summoned to assemble at their respective
chambers at 12 o'clock noon on Thursday, the 4th day of July next, then
and there to consider and determine such measures as, in their wisdom,
the public safety and interest may seem to demand.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 15th day of April, A.D. 1861, and
of the Independence of the United States the eighty-fifth.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas an insurrection against the Government of the United States has
broken out in the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida,
Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, and the laws of the United States for
the collection of the revenue can not be effectually executed therein
conformably to that provision of the Constitution which requires duties
to be uniform throughout the United States; and

Whereas a combination of persons engaged in such insurrection have
threatened to grant pretended letters of marque to authorize the bearers
thereof to commit assaults on the lives, vessels, and property of good
citizens of the country lawfully engaged in commerce on the high seas
and in waters of the United States; and

Whereas an Executive proclamation has been already issued requiring the
persons engaged in these disorderly proceedings to desist therefrom,
calling out a militia force for the purpose of repressing the same, and
convening Congress in extraordinary session to deliberate and determine
thereon:

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States,
with a view to the same purposes before mentioned and to the protection
of the public peace and the lives and property of quiet and orderly
citizens pursuing their lawful occupations, until Congress shall have
assembled and deliberated on the said unlawful proceedings or until the
same shall have ceased, have further deemed it advisable to set on foot
a blockade of the ports within the States aforesaid, in pursuance of
the laws of the United States and of the law of nations in such case
provided. For this purpose a competent force will be posted so as to
prevent entrance and exit of vessels from the ports aforesaid. If,
therefore, with a view to violate such blockade, a vessel shall approach
or shall attempt to leave either of the said ports, she will be duly
warned by the commander of one of the blockading vessels, who will
indorse on her register the fact and date of such warning, and if the
same vessel shall again attempt to enter or leave the blockaded port
she will be captured and sent to the nearest convenient port for such
proceedings against her and her cargo as prize as may be deemed
advisable.

And I hereby proclaim and declare that if any person, under the
pretended authority of the said States or under any other pretense,
shall molest a vessel of the United States or the persons or cargo on
board of her, such person will be held amenable to the laws of the
United States for the prevention and punishment of piracy.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 19th day of April, A.D. 1861, and
of the Independence of the United States the eighty-fifth.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas, for the reasons assigned in my proclamation of the 19th
instant, a blockade of the ports of the States of South Carolina,
Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas was ordered
to be established; and

Whereas since that date public property of the United States has been
seized, the collection of the revenue obstructed, and duly commissioned
officers of the United States, while engaged in executing the orders of
their superiors, have been arrested and held in custody as prisoners or
have been impeded in the discharge of their official duties, without due
legal process, by persons claiming to act under authorities of the
States of Virginia and North Carolina, an efficient blockade of the
ports of those States will also be established.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 27th day of April, A.D. 1861, and
of the Independence of the United States the eighty-fifth.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas existing exigencies demand immediate and adequate measures for
the protection of the National Constitution and the preservation of the
National Union by the suppression of the insurrectionary combinations
now existing in several States for opposing the laws of the Union and
obstructing the execution thereof, to which end a military force in
addition to that called forth by my proclamation of the 15th day of
April in the present year appears to be indispensably necessary:

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States and
Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy thereof and of the militia of
the several States when called into actual service, do hereby call into
the service of the United States 42,034 volunteers to serve for the
period of three years, unless sooner discharged, and to be mustered into
service as infantry and cavalry. The proportions of each arm and the
details of enrollment and organization will be made known through the
Department of War.

And I also direct that the Regular Army of the United States be
increased by the addition of eight regiments of infantry, one regiment
of cavalry, and one regiment of artillery, making altogether a maximum
aggregate increase of 22,714 officers and enlisted men, the details of
which increase will also be made known through the Department of War.

And I further direct the enlistment for not less than one or more than
three years of 18,000 seamen, in addition to the present force, for the
naval service of the United States. The details of the enlistment and
organization will be made known through the Department of the Navy.

The call for volunteers hereby made and the direction for the increase
of the Regular Army and for the enlistment of seamen hereby given,
together with the plan of organization adopted for the volunteer and for
the regular forces hereby authorized, will be submitted to Congress as
soon as assembled.

In the meantime I earnestly invoke the cooperation of all good citizens
in the measures hereby adopted for the effectual suppression of unlawful
violence, for the impartial enforcement of constitutional laws, and for
the speediest possible restoration of peace and order, and with these of
happiness and prosperity, throughout our country.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 3d day of May, A.D. 1861, and of
the Independence of the United States the eighty-fifth.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas an insurrection exists in the State of Florida by which the
lives, liberty, and property of loyal citizens of the United States are
endangered; and

Whereas it is deemed proper that all needful measures should be taken
for the protection of such citizens and all officers of the United
States in the discharge of their public duties in the State aforesaid:

Now, therefore, be it known that I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the
United States, do hereby direct the commander of the forces of the
United States on the Florida coast to permit no person to exercise any
office or authority upon the islands of Key West, the Tortugas, and
Santa Rosa which may be inconsistent with the laws and Constitution of
the United States, authorizing him at the same time, if he shall find it
necessary, to suspend there the writ of _habeas corpus_ and to remove
from the vicinity of the United States fortresses all dangerous or
suspected persons.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 10th day of May, A.D. 1861, and of
the Independence of the United States the eighty-fifth.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.




EXECUTIVE ORDERS.


WASHINGTON, _April 25, 1861_.

Lieutenant-General SCOTT.

MY DEAR SIR: The Maryland legislature assembles to-morrow at Annapolis,
and not improbably will take action to arm the people of that State
against the United States. The question has been submitted to and
considered by me whether it would not be justifiable, upon the ground of
necessary defense, for you, as General in Chief of the United States
Army, to arrest or disperse the members of that body. I think it would
not be justifiable nor efficient for the desired object.

First. They have a clearly legal right to assemble, and we can not know
in advance that their action will not be lawful and peaceful, and if we
wait until they shall have acted their arrest or dispersion will not
lessen the effect of their action.

Secondly. We can not permanently prevent their action. If we arrest
them, we can not long hold them as prisoners, and when liberated they
will immediately reassemble and take their action; and precisely the
same if we simply disperse them--they will immediately reassemble in
some other place.

I therefore conclude that it is only left to the Commanding General to
watch and await their action, which, if it shall be to arm their people
against the United States, he is to adopt the most prompt and efficient
means to counteract, even, if necessary, to the bombardment of their
cities and, in the extremest necessity, the suspension of the writ of
_habeas corpus_.

Your obedient servant,

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



The COMMANDING GENERAL OF THE ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES:

You are engaged in suppressing an insurrection against the laws of the
United States. If at any point on or in the vicinity of any military
line which is now or which shall be used between the city of
Philadelphia and the city of Washington you find resistance which
renders it necessary to suspend the writ of _habeas corpus_ for the
public safety, you personally, or through the officer in command at the
point where resistance occurs, are authorized to suspend that writ.

Given under my hand and the seal of the United States, at the city of
Washington, this 27th day of April, 1861, and of the Independence of the
United States the eighty-fifth.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President of the United States:
  WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



GENERAL ORDERS, No. 13.


WAR DEPARTMENT,

ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

_Washington, April 30, 1861_.

The President directs that all officers of the Army, except those who
have entered the service since the 1st instant, take and subscribe anew
the oath of allegiance to the United States of America, as set forth in
the tenth article of war.

Commanding officers will see to the prompt execution of this order, and
report accordingly.

By order:

L. THOMAS,

_Adjutant-General_.



_To all who shall see these presents, greeting_:

Know ye that, reposing special trust and confidence in the patriotism,
valor, fidelity, and ability of Colonel Robert Anderson, United States
Army, I have empowered him, and do hereby empower him, to receive into
the Army of the United States as many regiments of volunteer troops from
the State of Kentucky and from the western part of the State of Virginia
as shall be willing to engage in the service of the United States for
the term of three years upon the terms and according to the plan
proposed by the proclamation of May 3, 1861, and General Orders, No. 15,
from the War Department, of May 4, 1861.

The troops whom he receives shall be on the same footing in every
respect as those of the like kind called for in the proclamation above
cited, except that the officers shall be commissioned by the United
States. He is therefore carefully and diligently to discharge the duty
hereby devolved upon him by doing and performing all manner of things
thereunto belonging.

Given under my hand, at the city of Washington, this 7th day of May,
A.D. 1861, and in the eighty-fifth year of the Independence of the
United States.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  SIMON CAMERON,
    _Secretary of War_.



STATE DEPARTMENT, _June 20, 1861_.

The LIEUTENANT-GENERAL COMMANDING THE ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATES:

You or any officer you may designate will, in your discretion, suspend
the writ of _habeas corpus_ so far as may relate to Major Chase, lately
of the Engineer Corps of the Army of the United States, now alleged to
be guilty of treasonable practices against this Government.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  WILLIAM H. SEWARD.



The COMMANDING GENERAL, ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES:

You are engaged in suppressing an insurrection against the laws of the
United States. If at any point on or in the vicinity of any military
line which is now or which shall be used between the city of New York
and the city of Washington you find resistance which renders it
necessary to suspend the writ of _habeas corpus_ for the public safety,
you personally, or through the officer in command at the point where
resistance occurs, are authorized to suspend that writ.

[SEAL.]

Given under my hand and the seal of the United States, at the city of
Washington, this 2d day of July, A.D. 1861, and of the Independence of
the United States the eighty-fifth.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.




SPECIAL SESSION MESSAGE.


JULY 4, 1861.

_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives_:

Having been convened on an extraordinary occasion, as authorized by the
Constitution, your attention is not called to any ordinary subject of
legislation.

At the beginning of the present Presidential term, four months ago, the
functions of the Federal Government were found to be generally suspended
within the several States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama,
Mississippi, Louisiana, and Florida, excepting only those of the
Post-Office Department.

Within these States all the forts, arsenals, dockyards, custom-houses,
and the like, including the movable and stationary property in and
about them, had been seized and were held in open hostility to this
Government, excepting only Forts Pickens, Taylor, and Jefferson, on and
near the Florida coast, and Fort Sumter, in Charleston Harbor, South
Carolina. The forts thus seized had been put in improved condition,
new ones had been built, and armed forces had been organized and were
organizing, all avowedly with the same hostile purpose.

The forts remaining in the possession of the Federal Government in
and near these States were either besieged or menaced by warlike
preparations, and especially Fort Sumter was nearly surrounded by
well-protected hostile batteries, with guns equal in quality to the
best of its own and outnumbering the latter as perhaps ten to one. A
disproportionate share of the Federal muskets and rifles had somehow
found their way into these States, and had been seized to be used
against the Government. Accumulations of the public revenue lying within
them had been seized for the same object. The Navy was scattered in
distant seas, leaving but a very small part of it within the immediate
reach of the Government. Officers of the Federal Army and Navy had
resigned in great numbers, and of those resigning a large proportion had
taken up arms against the Government. Simultaneously and in connection
with all this the purpose to sever the Federal Union was openly avowed.
In accordance with this purpose, an ordinance had been adopted in each
of these States declaring the States respectively to be separated from
the National Union. A formula for instituting a combined government of
these States had been promulgated, and this illegal organization, in the
character of Confederate States, was already invoking recognition, aid,
and intervention from foreign powers.

Finding this condition of things and believing it to be an imperative
duty upon the incoming Executive to prevent, if possible, the
consummation of such attempt to destroy the Federal Union, a choice of
means to that end became indispensable. This choice was made, and was
declared in the inaugural address. The policy chosen looked to the
exhaustion of all peaceful measures before a resort to any stronger
ones. It sought only to hold the public places and property not already
wrested from the Government and to collect the revenue, relying for the
rest on time, discussion, and the ballot box. It promised a continuance
of the mails at Government expense to the very people who were resisting
the Government, and it gave repeated pledges against any disturbance to
any of the people or any of their rights. Of all that which a President
might constitutionally and justifiably do in such a case, everything was
forborne without which it was believed possible to keep the Government
on foot.

On the 5th of March, the present incumbent's first full day in office,
a letter of Major Anderson, commanding at Fort Sumter, written on the
28th of February and received at the War Department on the 4th of March,
was by that Department placed in his hands. This letter expressed the
professional opinion of the writer that reenforcements could not be
thrown into that fort within the time for his relief rendered necessary
by the limited supply of provisions, and with a view of holding
possession of the same, with a force of less than 20,000 good and
well-disciplined men. This opinion was concurred in by all the officers
of his command, and their memoranda on the subject were made inclosures
of Major Anderson's letter. The whole was immediately laid before
Lieutenant-General Scott, who at once concurred with Major Anderson in
opinion. On reflection, however, he took full time, consulting with
other officers, both of the Army and the Navy, and at the end of four
days came reluctantly, but decidedly, to the same conclusion as before.
He also stated at the same time that no such sufficient force was then
at the control of the Government or could be raised and brought to
the ground within the time when the provisions in the fort would be
exhausted. In a purely military point of view this reduced the duty
of the Administration in the case to the mere matter of getting the
garrison safely out of the fort.

It was believed, however, that to so abandon that position under the
circumstances would be utterly ruinous; that the _necessity_ under which
it was to be done would not be fully understood; that by many it would
be construed as a part of a _voluntary_ policy; that at home it would
discourage the friends of the Union, embolden its adversaries, and go
far to insure to the latter a recognition abroad; that, in fact, it
would be our national destruction consummated. This could not be
allowed. Starvation was not yet upon the garrison, and ere it would be
reached _Fort Pickens_ might be reenforced. This last would be a clear
indication of _policy_, and would better enable the country to accept
the evacuation of Fort Sumter as a military _necessity_. An order was
at once directed to be sent for the landing of the troops from the
steamship _Brooklyn_ into Fort Pickens. This order could not go by land,
but must take the longer and slower route by sea. The first return news
from the order was received just one week before the fall of Fort
Sumter. The news itself was that the officer commanding the _Sabine_,
to which vessel the troops had been transferred from the _Brooklyn_,
acting upon some _quasi_ armistice of the late Administration (and of
the existence of which the present Administration, up to the time the
order was dispatched, had only too vague and uncertain rumors to fix
attention), had refused to land the troops. To now reenforce Fort
Pickens before a crisis would be reached at Fort Sumter was impossible,
rendered so by the near exhaustion of provisions in the latter-named
fort. In precaution against such a conjuncture the Government had a
few days before commenced preparing an expedition, as well adapted as
might be, to relieve Fort Sumter, which expedition was intended to
be ultimately used or not, according to circumstances. The strongest
anticipated case for using it was now presented, and it was resolved to
send it forward. As had been intended in this contingency, it was also
resolved to notify the governor of South Carolina that he might expect
an attempt would be made to provision the fort, and that if the attempt
should not be resisted there would be no effort to throw in men, arms,
or ammunition without further notice, or in case of an attack upon the
fort. This notice was accordingly given, whereupon the fort was attacked
and bombarded to its fall, without even awaiting the arrival of the
provisioning expedition.

It is thus seen that the assault upon and reduction of Fort Sumter was
in no sense a matter of self-defense on the part of the assailants. They
well knew that the garrison in the fort could by no possibility commit
aggression upon them. They knew--they were expressly notified--that the
giving of bread to the few brave and hungry men of the garrison was
all which would on that occasion be attempted, unless themselves, by
resisting so much, should provoke more. They knew that this Government
desired to keep the garrison in the fort, not to assail them, but merely
to maintain visible possession, and thus to preserve the Union from
actual and immediate dissolution, trusting, as hereinbefore stated, to
time, discussion, and the ballot box for final adjustment; and they
assailed and reduced the fort for precisely the reverse object--to drive
out the visible authority of the Federal Union, and thus force it to
immediate dissolution. That this was their object the Executive well
understood; and having said to them in the inaugural address, "You can
have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors," he took pains
not only to keep this declaration good, but also to keep the case so
free from the power of ingenious sophistry as that the world should not
be able to misunderstand it. By the affair at Fort Sumter, with its
surrounding circumstances, that point was reached. Then and thereby the
assailants of the Government began the conflict of arms, without a gun
in sight or in expectancy to return their fire, save only the few in the
fort, sent to that harbor years before for their own protection, and
still ready to give that protection in whatever was lawful. In this act,
discarding all else, they have forced upon the country the distinct
issue, "Immediate dissolution or blood."

And this issue embraces more than the fate of these United States.
It presents to the whole family of man the question whether a
constitutional republic, or democracy--a government of the people by the
same people--can or can not maintain its territorial integrity against
its own domestic foes. It presents the question whether discontented
individuals, too few in numbers to control administration according to
organic law in any case, can always, upon the pretenses made in this
case, or on any other pretenses, or arbitrarily without any pretense,
break up their government, and thus practically put an end to free
government upon the earth. It forces us to ask, Is there in all
republics this inherent and fatal weakness? Must a government of
necessity be too _strong_ for the liberties of its own people, or
too _weak_ to maintain its own existence?

So viewing the issue, no choice was left but to call out the war power
of the Government and so to resist force employed for its destruction
by force for its preservation.

The call was made, and the response of the country was most gratifying,
surpassing in unanimity and spirit the most sanguine expectation. Yet
none of the States commonly called slave States, except Delaware, gave a
regiment through regular State organization. A few regiments have been
organized within some others of those States by individual enterprise
and received into the Government service. Of course the seceded States,
so called (and to which Texas had been joined about the time of the
inauguration), gave no troops to the cause of the Union. The border
States, so called, were not uniform in their action, some of them being
almost _for_ the Union, while in others, as Virginia, North Carolina,
Tennessee, and Arkansas, the Union sentiment was nearly repressed and
silenced. The course taken in Virginia was the most remarkable, perhaps
the most important. A convention elected by the people of that State
to consider this very question of disrupting the Federal Union was in
session at the capital of Virginia when Fort Sumter fell. To this body
the people had chosen a large majority of _professed_ Union men. Almost
immediately after the fall of Sumter many members of that majority went
over to the original disunion minority, and with them adopted an
ordinance for withdrawing the State from the Union. Whether this change
was wrought by their great approval of the assault upon Sumter or their
great resentment at the Government's resistance to that assault is not
definitely known. Although they submitted the ordinance for ratification
to a vote of the people, to be taken on a day then somewhat more than
a month distant, the convention and the legislature (which was also in
session at the same time and place), with leading men of the State not
members of either, immediately commenced acting as if the State were
already out of the Union. They pushed military preparations vigorously
forward all over the State. They seized the United States armory
at Harpers Ferry and the navy-yard at Gosport, near Norfolk. They
received--perhaps invited--into their State large bodies of troops,
with their warlike appointments, from the so-called seceded States.
They formally entered into a treaty of temporary alliance and
cooperation with the so-called "Confederate States," and sent members
to their congress at Montgomery; and, finally, they permitted the
insurrectionary government to be transferred to their capital at Richmond.

The people of Virginia have thus allowed this giant insurrection to make
its nest within her borders, and this Government has no choice left but
to deal with it _where_ it finds it; and it has the less regret, as the
loyal citizens have in due form claimed its protection. Those loyal
citizens this Government is bound to recognize and protect, as being
Virginia.

In the border States, so called--in fact, the Middle States--there are
those who favor a policy which they call "armed neutrality;" that is,
an arming of those States to prevent the Union forces passing one way
or the disunion the other over their soil. This would be disunion
completed. Figuratively speaking, it would be the building of an
impassable wall along the line of separation, and yet not quite an
impassable one, for, under the guise of neutrality, it would tie the
hands of the Union men and freely pass supplies from among them to the
insurrectionists, which it could not do as an open enemy. At a stroke it
would take all the trouble off the hands of secession, except only what
proceeds from the external blockade. It would do for the disunionists
that which of all things they most desire--feed them well and give them
disunion without a struggle of their own. It recognizes no fidelity to
the Constitution, no obligation to maintain the Union; and while very
many who have favored it are doubtless loyal citizens, it is,
nevertheless, very injurious in effect.

Recurring to the action of the Government, it may be stated that at
first a call was made for 75,000 militia, and rapidly following this a
proclamation was issued for closing the ports of the insurrectionary
districts by proceedings in the nature of blockade. So far all was
believed to be strictly legal. At this point the insurrectionists
announced their purpose to enter upon the practice of privateering.

Other calls were made for volunteers to serve three years unless sooner
discharged, and also for large additions to the Regular Army and Navy.
These measures, whether strictly legal or not, were ventured upon under
what appeared to be a popular demand and a public necessity, trusting
then, as now, that Congress would readily ratify them. It is believed
that nothing has been done beyond the constitutional competency of
Congress.

Soon after the first call for militia it was considered a duty to
authorize the Commanding General in proper cases, according to his
discretion, to suspend the privilege of the writ of _habeas corpus_,
or, in other words, to arrest and detain without resort to the ordinary
processes and forms of law such individuals as he might deem dangerous
to the public safety. This authority has purposely been exercised but
very sparingly. Nevertheless, the legality and propriety of what has
been done under it are questioned, and the attention of the country has
been called to the proposition that one who is sworn to "take care that
the laws be faithfully executed" should not himself violate them. Of
course some consideration was given to the questions of power and
propriety before this matter was acted upon. The whole of the laws which
were required to be faithfully executed were being resisted and failing
of execution in nearly one-third of the States. Must they be allowed to
finally fail of execution, even had it been perfectly clear that by the
use of the means necessary to their execution some single law, made in
such extreme tenderness of the citizen's liberty that practically it
relieves more of the guilty than of the innocent, should to a very
limited extent be violated? To state the question more directly, Are
all the laws _but one_ to go unexecuted, and the Government itself go
to pieces lest that one be violated? Even in such a case, would not the
official oath be broken if the Government should be overthrown when it
was believed that disregarding the single law would tend to preserve it?
But it was not believed that this question was presented. It was not
believed that any law was violated. The provision of the Constitution
that "the privilege of the writ of _habeas corpus_ shall not be
suspended unless when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public
safety may require it" is equivalent to a provision--is a
provision--that such privilege may be suspended when, in cases of
rebellion or invasion, the public safety _does_ require it. It was
decided that we have a case of rebellion and that the public safety does
require the qualified suspension of the privilege of the writ which was
authorized to be made. Now it is insisted that Congress, and not the
Executive, is vested with this power; but the Constitution itself is
silent as to which or who is to exercise the power; and as the provision
was plainly made for a dangerous emergency, it can not be believed the
framers of the instrument intended that in every case the danger should
run its course until Congress could be called together, the very
assembling of which might be prevented, as was intended in this case,
by the rebellion.

No more extended argument is now offered, as an opinion at some length
will probably be presented by the Attorney-General. Whether there shall
be any legislation upon the subject, and, if any, what, is submitted
entirely to the better judgment of Congress.

The forbearance of this Government had been so extraordinary and so long
continued as to lead some foreign nations to shape their action as if
they supposed the early destruction of our National Union was probable.
While this on discovery gave the Executive some concern, he is now happy
to say that the sovereignty and rights of the United States are now
everywhere practically respected by foreign powers, and a general
sympathy with the country is manifested throughout the world.

The reports of the Secretaries of the Treasury, War, and the Navy will
give the information in detail deemed necessary and convenient for your
deliberation and action, while the Executive and all the Departments
will stand ready to supply omissions or to communicate new facts
considered important for you to know.

It is now recommended that you give the legal means for making this
contest a short and a decisive one; that you place at the control of the
Government for the work at least 400,000 men and $400,000,000. That
number of men is about one-tenth of those of proper ages within the
regions where apparently _all_ are willing to engage, and the sum is
less than a twenty-third part of the money value owned by the men who
seem ready to devote the whole. A debt of $600,000,000 _now_ is a less
sum per head than was the debt of our Revolution when we came out of
that struggle, and the money value in the country now bears even a
greater proportion to what it was _then_ than does the population.
Surely each man has as strong a motive _now_ to _preserve_ our liberties
as each had _then_ to _establish_ them.

A right result at this time will be worth more to the world than ten
times the men and ten times the money. The evidence reaching us from the
country leaves no doubt that the material for the work is abundant, and
that it needs only the hand of legislation to give it legal sanction and
the hand of the Executive to give it practical shape and efficiency. One
of the greatest perplexities of the Government is to avoid receiving
troops faster than it can provide for them. In a word, the people will
save their Government if the Government itself will do its part only
indifferently well.

It might seem at first thought to be of little difference whether the
present movement at the South be called "secession" or "rebellion." The
movers, however, well understand the difference. At the beginning they
knew they could never raise their treason to any respectable magnitude
by any name which implies _violation_ of law. They knew their people
possessed as much of moral sense, as much of devotion to law and order,
and as much pride in and reverence for the history and Government of
their common country as any other civilized and patriotic people. They
knew they could make no advancement directly in the teeth of these
strong and noble sentiments. Accordingly, they commenced by an insidious
debauching of the public mind. They invented an ingenious sophism,
which, if conceded, was followed by perfectly logical steps through all
the incidents to the complete destruction of the Union. The sophism
itself is that any State of the Union may _consistently_ with the
National Constitution, and therefore _lawfully_ and _peacefully_,
withdraw from the Union without the consent of the Union or of any other
State. The little disguise that the supposed right is to be exercised
only for just cause, themselves to be the sole judge of its justice,
is too thin to merit any notice.

With rebellion thus sugar coated they have been drugging the public mind
of their section for more than thirty years, and until at length they
have brought many good men to a willingness to take up arms against the
Government the day _after_ some assemblage of men have enacted the
farcical pretense of taking their State out of the Union who could have
been brought to no such thing the day _before_.

This sophism derives much, perhaps the whole, of its currency from the
assumption that there is some omnipotent and sacred supremacy pertaining
to a _State_--to each State of our Federal Union. Our States have
neither more nor less power than that reserved to them in the Union by
the Constitution, no one of them ever having been a State _out_ of the
Union. The original ones passed into the Union even _before_ they cast
off their British colonial dependence, and the new ones each came into
the Union directly from a condition of dependence, excepting Texas; and
even Texas, in its temporary independence, was never designated a State.
The new ones only took the designation of States on coming into the
Union, while that name was first adopted for the old ones in and by the
Declaration of Independence. Therein the "United Colonies" were declared
to be "free and independent States;" but even then the object plainly
was not to declare their independence of _one another_ or of the
_Union_, but directly the contrary, as their mutual pledge and their
mutual action before, at the time, and afterwards abundantly show. The
express plighting of faith by each and all of the original thirteen in
the Articles of Confederation, two years later, that the Union shall be
perpetual is most conclusive. Having never been States, either in
substance or in name, _outside_ of the Union, whence this magical
omnipotence of "State rights," asserting a claim of power to lawfully
destroy the Union itself? Much is said about the "sovereignty" of the
States, but the word even is not in the National Constitution, nor, as
is believed, in any of the State constitutions. What is a "sovereignty"
in the political sense of the term? Would it be far wrong to define it
"a political community without a political superior"? Tested by this,
no one of our States, except Texas, ever was a sovereignty; and even
Texas gave up the character on coming into the Union, by which act she
acknowledged the Constitution of the United States and the laws and
treaties of the United States made in pursuance of the Constitution to
be for her the supreme law of the land. The States have their status in
the Union, and they have no other legal status. If they break from this,
they can only do so against law and by revolution. The Union, and not
themselves separately, procured their independence and their liberty.
By conquest or purchase the Union gave each of them whatever of
independence and liberty it has. The Union is older than any of the
States, and, in fact, it created them as States. Originally some
dependent colonies made the Union, and in turn the Union threw off their
old dependence for them and made them States, such as they are. Not
one of them ever had a State constitution independent of the Union.
Of course it is not forgotten that all the new States framed their
constitutions before they entered the Union, nevertheless dependent
upon and preparatory to coming into the Union.

Unquestionably the States have the powers and rights reserved to them
in and by the National Constitution; but among these surely are not
included all conceivable powers, however mischievous or destructive, but
at most such only as were known in the world at the time as governmental
powers; and certainly a power to destroy the Government itself had never
been known as a governmental--as a merely administrative power. This
relative matter of national power and State rights, as a principle, is
no other than the principle of _generality_ and _locality_. Whatever
concerns the whole should be confided to the whole--to the General
Government--while whatever concerns _only_ the State should be left
exclusively to the State. This is all there is of original principle
about it. Whether the National Constitution in defining boundaries
between the two has applied the principle with exact accuracy is not
to be questioned. We are all bound by that defining without question.

What is now combated is the position that secession is _consistent_ with
the Constitution--is _lawful_ and _peaceful_. It is not contended that
there is any express law for it, and nothing should ever be implied as
law which leads to unjust or absurd consequences. The nation purchased
with money the countries out of which several of these States were
formed. Is it just that they shall go off without leave and without
refunding? The nation paid very large sums (in the aggregate, I believe,
nearly a hundred millions) to relieve Florida of the aboriginal tribes.
Is it just that she shall now be off without consent or without making
any return? The nation is now in debt for money applied to the benefit
of these so-called seceding States in common with the rest. Is it just
either that creditors shall go unpaid or the remaining States pay the
whole? A part of the present national debt was contracted to pay the old
debts of Texas. Is it just that she shall leave and pay no part of this
herself?

Again: If one State may secede, so may another; and when all shall have
seceded none is left to pay the debts. Is this quite just to creditors?
Did we notify them of this sage view of ours when we borrowed their
money? If we now recognize this doctrine by allowing the seceders to go
in peace, it is difficult to see what we can do if others choose to go
or to extort terms upon which they will promise to remain.

The seceders insist that our Constitution admits of secession. They
have assumed to make a national constitution of their own, in which
of necessity they have either _discarded_ or _retained_ the right of
secession, as they insist it exists in ours. If they have discarded it,
they thereby admit that on principle it ought not to be in ours. If they
have retained it, by their own construction of ours they show that to be
consistent they must secede from one another whenever they shall find it
the easiest way of settling their debts or effecting any other selfish
or unjust object. The principle itself is one of disintegration, and
upon which no government can possibly endure.

If all the States save one should assert the power to _drive_ that one
out of the Union, it is presumed the whole class of seceder politicians
would at once deny the power and denounce the act as the greatest
outrage upon State rights. But suppose that precisely the same act,
instead of being called "driving the one out," should be called "the
seceding of the others from that one," it would be exactly what the
seceders claim to do, unless, indeed, they make the point that the one,
because it is a minority, may rightfully do what the others, because
they are a majority, may not rightfully do. These politicians are subtle
and profound on the rights of minorities. They are not partial to that
power which made the Constitution and speaks from the preamble, calling
itself "we, the people."

It may well be questioned whether there is to-day a majority of the
legally qualified voters of any State, except, perhaps, South Carolina,
in favor of disunion. There is much reason to believe that the Union men
are the majority in many, if not in every other one, of the so-called
seceded States. The contrary has not been demonstrated in any one of
them. It is ventured to affirm this even of Virginia and Tennessee; for
the result of an election held in military camps, where the bayonets are
all on one side of the question voted upon, can scarcely be considered
as demonstrating popular sentiment. At such an election all that large
class who are at once, _for_ the Union and _against_ coercion would be
coerced to vote against the Union.

It may be affirmed without extravagance that the free institutions we
enjoy have developed the powers and improved the condition of our whole
people beyond any example in the world. Of this we now have a striking
and an impressive illustration. So large an army as the Government has
now on foot was never before known without a soldier in it but who had
taken his place there of his own free choice. But more than this, there
are many single regiments whose members, one and another, possess full
practical knowledge of all the arts, sciences, professions, and whatever
else, whether useful or elegant, is known in the world; and there is
scarcely one from which there could not be selected a President, a
Cabinet, a Congress, and perhaps a court, abundantly competent to
administer the Government itself. Nor do I say this is not true also in
the army of our late friends, now adversaries in this contest; but if
it is, so much better the reason why the Government which has conferred
such benefits on both them and us should not be broken up. Whoever in
any section proposes to abandon such a government would do well to
consider in deference to what principle it is that he does it; what
better he is likely to get in its stead; whether the substitute will
give, or be intended to give, so much of good to the people. There are
some foreshadowings on this subject. Our adversaries have adopted some
declarations of independence in which, unlike the good old one penned by
Jefferson, they omit the words "all men are created equal." Why? They
have adopted a temporary national constitution, in the preamble of
which, unlike our good old one signed by Washington, they omit "We,
the people," and substitute "We, the deputies of the sovereign and
independent States." Why? Why this deliberate pressing out of view
the rights of men and the authority of the people?

This is essentially a people's contest. On the side of the Union it
is a struggle for maintaining in the world that form and substance of
government whose leading object is to elevate the condition of men;
to lift artificial weights from all shoulders; to clear the paths of
laudable pursuit for all; to afford all an unfettered start and a
fair chance in the race of life. Yielding to partial and temporary
departures, from necessity, this is the leading object of the Government
for whose existence we contend.

I am most happy to believe that the plain people understand and
appreciate this. It is worthy of note that while in this the
Government's hour of trial large numbers of those in the Army and Navy
who have been favored with the offices have resigned and proved false
to the hand which had pampered them, not one common soldier or common
sailor is known to have deserted his flag.

Great honor is due to those officers who remained true despite the
example of their treacherous associates; but the greatest honor and
most important fact of all is the unanimous firmness of the common
soldiers and common sailors. To the last man, so far as known, they
have successfully resisted the traitorous efforts of those whose
commands but an hour before they obeyed as absolute law. This is the
patriotic instinct of plain people. They understand without an argument
that the destroying the Government which was made by Washington means
no good to them.

Our popular Government has often been called an experiment. Two points
in it our people have already settled--the successful _establishing_ and
the successful _administering_ of it. One still remains--its successful
_maintenance_ against a formidable internal attempt to overthrow it. It
is now for them to demonstrate to the world that those who can fairly
carry an election can also suppress a rebellion; that ballots are the
rightful and peaceful successors of bullets, and that when ballots have
fairly and constitutionally decided there can be no successful appeal
back to bullets; that there can be no successful appeal except to
ballots themselves at succeeding elections. Such will be a great lesson
of peace, teaching men that what they can not take by an election
neither can they take it by a war; teaching all the folly of being the
beginners of a war.

Lest there be some uneasiness in the minds of candid men as to what is
to be the course of the Government toward the Southern States _after_
the rebellion shall have been suppressed, the Executive deems it proper
to say it will be his purpose then, as ever, to be guided by the
Constitution and the laws, and that he probably will have no different
understanding of the powers and duties of the Federal Government
relatively to the rights of the States and the people under the
Constitution than that expressed in the inaugural address.

He desires to preserve the Government, that it may be administered
for all as it was administered by the men who made it. Loyal citizens
everywhere have the right to claim this of their government, and the
government has no right to withhold or neglect it. It is not perceived
that in giving it there is any coercion, any conquest, or any
subjugation in any just sense of those terms.

The Constitution provides, and all the States have accepted the
provision, that "the United States shall guarantee to every State in
this Union a republican form of government." But if a State may lawfully
go out of the Union, having done so it may also discard the republican
form of government; so that to prevent its going out is an indispensable
_means_ to the _end_ of maintaining the guaranty mentioned; and when an
end is lawful and obligatory the indispensable means to it are also
lawful and obligatory.

It was with the deepest regret that the Executive found the duty of
employing the war power in defense of the Government forced upon him.
He could but perform this duty or surrender the existence of the
Government. No compromise by public servants could in this case be a
cure; not that compromises are not often proper, but that no popular
government can long survive a marked precedent that those who carry an
election can only save the government from immediate destruction by
giving up the main point upon which the people gave the election. The
people themselves, and not their servants, can safely reverse their own
deliberate decisions.

As a private citizen the Executive could not have consented that these
institutions shall perish; much less could he in betrayal of so vast and
so sacred a trust as these free people had confided to him. He felt that
he had no moral right to shrink, nor even to count the chances of his
own life, in what might follow. In full view of his great responsibility
he has so far done what he has deemed his duty. You will now, according
to your own judgment, perform yours. He sincerely hopes that your views
and your action may so accord with his as to assure all faithful
citizens who have been disturbed in their rights of a certain and speedy
restoration to them under the Constitution and the laws.

And having thus chosen our course, without guile and with pure purpose,
let us renew our trust in God and go forward without fear and with manly
hearts.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.




SPECIAL MESSAGES.


WASHINGTON, _July 11, 1861_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

In answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 9th
instant, requesting a copy of correspondence upon the subject of the
incorporation of the Dominican Republic with the Spanish Monarchy, I
transmit a report from the Secretary of State, to whom the resolution
was referred.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _July 19, 1861_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit to Congress a copy of correspondence between the Secretary
of State and Her Britannic Majesty's envoy extraordinary and minister
plenipotentiary accredited to this Government, relative to an exhibition
of the products of industry of all nations which is to take place at
London in the course of next year. As citizens of the United States may
justly pride themselves upon their proficiency in industrial arts, it is
desirable that they should have proper facilities toward taking part in
the exhibition. With this view I recommend such legislation by Congress
at this session as may be necessary for that purpose.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _July 19, 1861_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, for its advice with a view to a formal
execution of the instrument, the draft of a treaty informally agreed
upon between the United States and the Delaware tribe of Indians,
relative to certain lands of that tribe.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _July 19, 1861_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

As the United States have, in common with Great Britain and France,
a deep interest in the preservation and development of the fisheries
adjacent to the northeastern coast and islands of this continent, it
seems proper that we should concert with the Governments of those
countries such measures as may be conducive to those important objects.
With this view I transmit to Congress a copy of a correspondence between
the Secretary of State and the British minister here, in which the
latter proposes on behalf of his Government the appointment of a joint
commission to inquire into the matter, in order that such ulterior
measures may be adopted as may be advisable for the objects proposed.
Such legislation is recommended as may be necessary to enable the
Executive to provide for a commissioner on behalf of the United States.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _July 25, 1861_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

In answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 22d
instant, requesting a copy of the correspondence between this Government
and foreign powers with reference to maritime rights, I transmit a
report from the Secretary of State.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _July 25, 1861_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

In answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 15th
instant, requesting a copy of the correspondence between this Government
and foreign powers on the subject of the existing insurrection in the
United States, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _July 27, 1861_.

_To the Senate_:

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 25th instant, relative
to the instructions to the ministers of the United States abroad in
reference to the rebellion now existing in the southern portion of the
Union, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _July 27, 1861_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

In answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 24th
instant, asking the grounds, reasons, and evidence upon which the police
commissioners of Baltimore were arrested and are now detained as
prisoners at Fort McHenry, I have to state that it is judged to be
incompatible with the public interest at this time to furnish the
information called for by the resolution.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE OFFICE, _July 29, 1861_.

Hon. H. HAMLIN,

_President of the Senate_.

SIR: I transmit herewith, to be laid before the Senate for its
constitutional action thereon, articles of agreement and convention,[1]
with accompanying papers.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

[Footnote 1: With confederated tribes of Arapahoe and Cheyenne Indiana
of the Upper Arkansas River.]



JULY 30, 1861.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 19th instant, requesting
information concerning the _quasi_ armistice alluded to in my message
of the 4th instant,[2] I transmit a report from the Secretary of the Navy.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

[Footnote 2: See p. 22.]



JULY 30, 1861.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 23d instant, requesting
information concerning the imprisonment of Lieutenant John J. Worden
[John L. Worden], of the United States Navy, I transmit a report from
the Secretary of the Navy.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.


WASHINGTON, _August 1, 1861_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I submit herewith, for consideration with a view to ratification, a
postal treaty between the United States of America and the United
Mexican States, concluded by their respective plenipotentiaries on the
31st ultimo.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _August 2, 1861_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

In answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives of yesterday,
requesting information regarding the imprisonment of loyal citizens
of the United States by the forces now in rebellion against this
Government, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State and the copy
of a telegraphic dispatch by which it was accompanied.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



AUGUST 2, 1861

_To the Senate of the United States_:

The resolution of your honorable body which is herewith returned has
been submitted to the Secretary of the Navy, who has made the report
upon it which I have the honor to inclose herewith.

I have the honor to add that the same rule stated by the Secretary of
the Navy is found in section 5 of the Army Regulations published in
1861. It certainly is competent for Congress to change this rule by law,
but it is respectfully suggested that a rule of so long standing and of so
extensive application should not be hastily changed, nor by any authority
less than the full lawmaking power.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.




NAVY DEPARTMENT, _August 2, 1861_.

The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the resolution of
the Senate of the 31st ultimo, in relation to the recent nominations of
lieutenants of marines, which nominations were directed to "be returned
to the President and he be informed that the Senate adhere to the
opinion expressed in the resolution passed by them on the 19th of July
instant, and that the Senate are of opinion that rank and position in
the Army, Navy, or Marine Corps should not be decided by lot, but that,
all other things being equal, preference should be given to age."

If I understand correctly the resolution of the Senate, it is an
expression of opinion on the part of that body against the Army
Regulations, which are made applicable to the Marine Corps--regulations
that have been in existence almost from the commencement of the
Government.

In the published edition of Army Regulations when Mr. Calhoun was
Secretary of War, section 1, article 3, it is expressly stated that the
questions respecting the rank of officers arising from the sameness of
dates in commissions of the same grade shall be decided, first, by a
reference to the relative rank of the parties in the regular forces
(including the United States Marine Corps) at the time the present
appointments or promotions were made; second, by reference to former
rank therein taken away by derangement or disbandment; third, by
reference to former rank therein given up by resignation; fourth, by
lottery.

And in the last edition of Army Regulations, before me, published in
1857, it is specified in article 2, section 5, that "when commissions
are of the same date the rank is to be decided between officers of the
same regiment or corps by the order of appointment; between officers of
different regiments or corps, first, by rank in actual service when
appointed; second, by former rank and service in the Army or Marine
Corps; third, by lottery among such as have not been in the military
service of the United States."

The rule here laid down governed in the appointment of the lieutenants
of marines who have been nominated the present session to the Senate.
Their order of rank was determined by lottery, agreeably to the
published Army Regulations, and applied by those regulations
specifically to the Marine Corps.

The gentlemen thus appointed in conformity to regulations have been
mustered into service and done duty under fire. One of the number has
fallen in the rank and place assigned him according to those
regulations, and to set them aside and make a new order in conflict with
the regulations will, I apprehend, be deemed, if not _ex post facto_,
almost invidious.

In this matter the Department has no feeling, but it is desirable that
it should be distinctly settled whether hereafter the Army Regulations
are to govern in the question of rank in the Marine Corps or whether
they are to be set aside by resolution of the Senate.

I have the honor to return the papers and subscribe myself, very
respectfully, your obedient servant,

GIDEON WELLES.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 5, 1861_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In answer to the resolution of your honorable body of date July 31,
1861, requesting the President to inform the Senate whether the Hon.
James H. Lane, a member of that body from Kansas, has been appointed a
brigadier-general in the Army of the United States, and, if so, whether
he has accepted such appointment, I have the honor to transmit herewith
certain papers, numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, which taken together
explain themselves, and which contain all the information I possess upon
the questions propounded.

It was my intention, as shown by my letter of June 20, 1861, to appoint
Hon. James H. Lane, of Kansas, a brigadier-general of United States
Volunteers, in anticipation of the act of Congress since passed for
raising such volunteers; and I have no further knowledge upon the
subject except as derived from the papers herewith inclosed.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.




PROCLAMATIONS.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas a joint committee of both Houses of Congress has waited on the
President of the United States and requested him to "recommend a day of
public humiliation, prayer, and fasting to be observed by the people of
the United States with religious solemnities and the offering of fervent
supplications to Almighty God for the safety and welfare of these
States, His blessings on their arms, and a speedy restoration of peace;"
and

Whereas it is fit and becoming in all people at all times to acknowledge
and revere the supreme government of God, to bow in humble submission to
His chastisements, to confess and deplore their sins and transgressions
in the full conviction that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of
wisdom, and to pray with all fervency and contrition for the pardon of
their past offenses and for a blessing upon their present and
prospective action; and

Whereas when our own beloved country, once, by the blessing of God,
united, prosperous, and happy, is now afflicted with faction and civil
war, it is peculiarly fit for us to recognize the hand of God in this
terrible visitation, and in sorrowful remembrance of our own faults and
crimes as a nation and as individuals to humble ourselves before Him and
to pray for His mercy--to pray that we may be spared further punishment,
though most justly deserved; that our arms may be blessed and made
effectual for the reestablishment of law, order, and peace throughout
the wide extent of our country; and that the inestimable boon of civil
and religious liberty, earned under His guidance and blessing by the
labors and sufferings of our fathers, may be restored in all its
original excellence:

Therefore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do appoint
the last Thursday in September next as a day of humiliation, prayer, and
fasting for all the people of the nation. And I do earnestly recommend
to all the people, and especially to all ministers and teachers of
religion of all denominations and to all heads of families, to observe
and keep that day according to their several creeds and modes of worship
in all humility and with all religious solemnity, to the end that the
united prayer of the nation may ascend to the Throne of Grace and bring
down plentiful blessings upon our country.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed, this 12th day of August, A.D. 1861, and
of the Independence of the United States of America the eighty-sixth.

[SEAL.]

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas on the 15th day of April, 1861, the President of the United
States, in view of an insurrection against the laws, Constitution, and
Government of the United States which had broken out within the States
of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana,
and Texas, and in pursuance of the provisions of the act entitled "An
act to provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the
Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions, and to repeal the
act now in force for that purpose," approved February 28, 1795, did call
forth the militia to suppress said insurrection and to cause the laws'
of the Union to be duly executed, and the insurgents have failed to
disperse by the time directed by the President; and

Whereas such insurrection has since broken out, and yet exists, within
the States of Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas; and

Whereas the insurgents in all the said States claim to act under the
authority thereof, and such claim is not disclaimed or repudiated by the
persons exercising the functions of government in such State or States
or in the part or parts thereof in which such combinations exist, nor
has such insurrection been suppressed by said States:

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, in
pursuance of an act of Congress approved July 13, 1861, do hereby
declare that the inhabitants of the said States of Georgia, South
Carolina, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana,
Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Florida (except the inhabitants of
that part of the State of Virginia lying west of the Alleghany Mountains
and of such other parts of that State and the other States hereinbefore
named as may maintain a loyal adhesion to the Union and the Constitution
or may be from time to time occupied and controlled by forces of the
United States engaged in the dispersion of said insurgents) are in a
state of insurrection against the United States, and that all commercial
intercourse between the same and the inhabitants thereof, with the
exceptions aforesaid, and the citizens of other States and other parts
of the United States is unlawful, and will remain unlawful until such
insurrection shall cease or has been suppressed; that all goods and
chattels, wares and merchandise, coming from any of said States, with
the exceptions aforesaid, into other parts of the United States without
the special license and permission of the President, through the
Secretary of the Treasury, or proceeding to any of said States, with the
exceptions aforesaid, by land or water, together with the vessel or
vehicle conveying the same or conveying persons to or from said States,
with said exceptions, will be forfeited to the United States; and that
from and after fifteen days from the issuing of this proclamation all
ships and vessels belonging in whole or in part to any citizen or
inhabitant of any of said States, with said exceptions, found at sea or
in any port of the United States will be forfeited to the United States;
and I hereby enjoin upon all district attorneys, marshals, and officers
of the revenue and of the military and naval forces of the United States
to be vigilant in the execution of said act and in the enforcement of
the penalties and forfeitures imposed or declared by it, leaving any
party who may think himself aggrieved thereby to his application to the
Secretary of the Treasury for the remission of any penalty or
forfeiture, which the said Secretary is authorized by law to grant if in
his judgment the special circumstances of any case shall require such
remission.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 16th day of August, A.D. 1861, and
of the Independence of the United States the eighty-sixth.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.




EXECUTIVE ORDERS.

JULY 31, 1861.

The marshal of the United States in the vicinity of forts where
political prisoners are held will supply decent lodging and subsistence
for such prisoners, unless they shall prefer to provide in those
respects for themselves, in which cases they will be allowed to do so by
the commanding officers in charge.

Approved, and the Secretary of State will transmit the order to
marshals, the Lieutenant-General, and Secretary of the Interior.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



AUGUST 7, 1861.

By the fifty-seventh article of the act of Congress entitled "An act for
establishing rules and articles for the government of the armies of the
United States," approved April 10, 1806, holding correspondence with or
giving intelligence to the enemy, either directly or indirectly, is made
punishable by death, or such other punishment as shall be ordered by the
sentence of a court-martial. Public safety requires strict enforcement
of this article.

_It is therefore ordered_, That all correspondence and communication,
verbally or by writing, printing, or telegraphing, respecting operations
of the Army or military movements on land or water, or respecting the
troops, camps, arsenals, intrenchments, or military affairs within the
several military districts, by which intelligence shall be, directly or
indirectly, given to the enemy, without the authority and sanction of
the major-general in command, be, and the same are, absolutely
prohibited, and from and after the date of this order persons violating
the same will be proceeded against under the fifty-seventh article of
war.

SIMON CAMERON.

Approved:

A. LINCOLN.




GENERAL ORDER.

EXECUTIVE OF THE UNITED STATES, _October 4, 1861_

Flag-officers of the United States Navy authorized to wear a square flag
at the mizzenmast head will take rank with major-generals of the United
States Army.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _October 14, 1861_.

Lieutenant-General WINFIELD SCOTT:

The military line of the United States for the suppression of the
insurrection may be extended so far as Bangor, in Maine. You and any
officer acting under your authority are hereby authorized to suspend the
writ of _habeas corpus_ in any place between that place and the city of
Washington.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



GENERAL ORDERS, NO. 94.

WAR DEPARTMENT,

ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

_Washington, November 1, 1861_.

The following order from the President of the United States, announcing
the retirement from active command of the honored veteran
Lieutenant-General Winfield Scott, will be read by the Army with
profound regret:


EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, November 1, 1861_.

On the 1st day of November, A.D. 1861, upon his own application to the
President of the United States, Brevet Lieutenant-General Winfield Scott
is ordered to be placed, and hereby is placed, upon the list of retired
officers of the Army of the United States, without reduction in his
current pay, subsistence, or allowances.

The American people will hear with sadness and deep emotion that General
Scott has withdrawn from the active control of the Army, while the
President and a unanimous Cabinet express their own and the nation's
sympathy in his personal affliction and their profound sense of the
important public services rendered by him to his country during his long
and brilliant career, among which will ever be gratefully distinguished
his faithful devotion to the Constitution, the Union, and the flag when
assailed by parricidal rebellion.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

The President is pleased to direct that Major-General George B.
McClellan assume the command of the Army of the United States. The
headquarters of the Army will be established in the city of Washington.
All communications intended for the Commanding General will hereafter be
addressed direct to the Adjutant-General. The duplicate returns, orders,
and other papers heretofore sent to the Assistant Adjutant-General,
Headquarters of the Army, will be discontinued.

By order of the Secretary of War:

L. THOMAS,

_Adjutant-General_.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, November 5, 1861_.

The governor of the State of Missouri, acting under the direction of the
convention of that State, proposes to the Government of the United
States that he will raise a military force, to serve within the State as
State militia during the war there, to cooperate with the troops in the
service of the United States in repelling the invasion of the State and
suppressing rebellion therein; the said State militia to be embodied and
to be held in the camp and in the field, drilled, disciplined, and
governed according to the Army Regulations and subject to the Articles
of War; the said State militia not to be ordered out of the State except
for the immediate defense of the State of Missouri, but to cooperate
with the troops in the service of the United States in military
operations within the State or necessary to its defense, and when
officers of the State militia act with officers in the service of the
United States of the same grade the officers of the United States
service shall command the combined force; the State militia to be armed,
equipped, clothed, subsisted, transported, and paid by the United States
during such time as they shall be actually engaged as an embodied
military force in service in accordance with Regulations of the United
States Army or general orders as issued from time to time.

In order that the Treasury of the United States may not be burdened
with the pay of unnecessary officers, the governor proposes that,
although the State law requires him to appoint upon the general staff
an adjutant-general, a commissary-general, an inspector-general,
a quartermaster-general, a paymaster-general, and a surgeon-general,
each with the rank of colonel of cavalry, yet he proposes that the
Government of the United States pay only the adjutant-general, the
quartermaster-general, and inspect or-general, their services being
necessary in the relations which would exist between the State militia
and the United States. The governor further proposes that, while he is
allowed by the State law to appoint aids-de-camp to the governor at his
discretion, with the rank of colonel, three only shall be reported to
the United States for payment. He also proposes that the State militia
shall be commanded by a single major-general and by such number of
brigadier-generals as shall allow one for a brigade of not less than
four regiments, and that no greater number of staff officers shall be
appointed for regimental, brigade, and division duties than as provided
for in the act of Congress of the 22d July, 1861; and that, whatever
be the rank of such officers as fixed by the law of the State, the
compensation that they shall receive from the United States shall only
be that which belongs to the rank given by said act of Congress to
officers in the United States service performing the same duties.

The field officers of a regiment in the State militia are one colonel,
one lieutenant-colonel, and one major, and the company officers are a
captain, a first lieutenant, and a second lieutenant.

The governor proposes that, as the money to be disbursed is the money of
the United States, such staff officers in the service of the United
States as may be necessary to act as disbursing officers for the State
militia shall be assigned by the War Department for that duty; or, if
such can not be spared from their present duty, he will appoint such
persons disbursing officers for the State militia as the President of
the United States may designate. Such regulations as may be required, in
the judgment of the President, to insure regularity of returns and to
protect the United States from any fraudulent practices shall be
observed and obeyed by all in office in the State militia.

The above propositions are accepted on the part of the United States,
and the Secretary of War is directed to make the necessary orders upon
the Ordnance, Quartermaster's, Commissary, Pay, and Medical departments
to carry this agreement into effect. He will cause the necessary staff
officers in the United States service to be detailed for duty in
connection with the Missouri State militia, and will order them to make
the necessary provision in their respective offices for fulfilling this
agreement. All requisitions upon the different officers of the United
States under this agreement to be made in substance in the same mode for
the Missouri State militia as similar requisitions are made for troops
in the service of the United States; and the Secretary of War will cause
any additional regulations that may be necessary to insure regularity
and economy in carrying this agreement into effect to be adopted and
communicated to the governor of Missouri for the government of the
Missouri State militia.

[Indorsement.]

NOVEMBER 6, 1861.

This plan approved, with the modification that the governor stipulates
that when he commissions a major-general of militia it shall be the same
person at the time in command of the United States Department of the
West; and in case the United States shall change such commander of the
department, he (the governor) will revoke the State commission given to
the person relieved and give one to the person substituted to the United
States command of said department.

A. LINCOLN.



GENERAL ORDERS, No. 96.

WAR DEPARTMENT,

ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

_Washington, November 7, 1861_.

Authority to raise a force of State militia, to serve during the war, is
granted, by direction of the President, to the governor of Missouri.
This force is to cooperate with the troops in the service of the United
States in repelling the invasion of the State of Missouri and in
suppressing rebellion therein. It is to be held, in camp and in the
field, drilled, disciplined, and governed according to the Regulations
of the United States Army and subject to the Articles of War; but it is
not to be ordered out of the State of Missouri except for the immediate
defense of the said State.

The State forces thus authorized will be, during such time as they shall
be actually engaged as an embodied military force in active service,
armed, equipped, clothed, subsisted, transported, and paid by the United
States in accordance with the Regulations of the United States Army and
such orders as may from time to time be issued from the War Department,
and in no other manner; and they shall be considered as disbanded from
the service of the United States whenever the President may so direct.

In connection with this force the governor is authorized to appoint the
following officers, who will be recognized and paid by the United
States, to wit: One major-general, to command the whole of the State
forces brought into service, who shall be the same person appointed by
the President to command the United States Military Department of the
West, and shall retain his commission as major-general of the State
forces only during his command of the said department; one
adjutant-general, one inspector-general, and one quartermaster-general,
each with the rank and pay of a colonel of cavalry; three aids-de-camp
to the governor, each with the rank and pay of a colonel of infantry;
brigadier-generals at the rate of one to a brigade of not less than four
regiments; and division, brigade, and regimental staff officers not to
exceed in numbers those provided for in the organization prescribed by
the act approved July 22, 1861, "for the employment of volunteers," nor
to be more highly compensated by the United States, whatever their
nominal rank in the State service, than officers performing the same
duties under that act.

The field officers of a regiment to be one colonel, one
lieutenant-colonel, and one major, and the officers of a company to be
one captain, one first and one second lieutenant.

When officers of the said State forces shall act in conjunction with
officers of the United States Army of the same grade, the latter shall
command the combined force.

All disbursements of money made to these troops or in consequence of
their employment by the United States shall be made by disbursing
officers of the United States Army, assigned by the War Department, or
specially appointed by the President for that purpose, who will make
their requisitions upon the different supply departments in the same
manner for the Missouri State forces as similar requisitions are made
for other volunteer troops in the service of the United States.

The Secretary of War will cause any additional regulations that may be
necessary for the purpose of promoting economy, insuring regularity of
returns, and protecting the United States from fraudulent practices to
be adopted and published for the government of the said State forces,
and the same will be obeyed and observed by all in office under the
authority of the State of Missouri.

By order:

JULIUS P. GARESCHE,

_Assistant Adjutant-General_.



GENERAL ORDERS, No. 100.

HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY,

ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

_Washington, November 16, 1861_.

Complaint has been made to the President of the United States that
certain persons within the State of Virginia, in places occupied by the
forces of the United States, claim to be incumbents of civil
offices--State, county, and municipal--by alleged authority from the
Commonwealth of Virginia, in disregard and violation of the "declaration
of the people of Virginia represented in convention at the city of
Wheeling, Thursday, June 13, 1861," and of the ordinances of said
convention, and of the acts of the general assembly held by authority of
said convention.

It is therefore ordered, by direction of the President, that if any
person shall hereafter attempt within the State of Virginia, under the
alleged authority of said Commonwealth, to exercise any official powers
of a civil nature within the limits of any of the commands of the
occupying forces of the United States, unless in pursuance of the
declaration and ordinances of the convention assembled at Wheeling on
the 13th day of June, 1861, and the acts of the general assembly held by
authority of said convention, such attempt shall be treated as an act of
hostility against the United States, and such person shall be taken into
military custody.

Commanding officers are directed to enforce this order within their
respective commands.

       *       *       *       *       *

By command of Major-General McClellan:

L. THOMAS,

_Adjutant-General_



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, November 27, 1861_.

The municipal authorities of Washington and Georgetown, in this
District, having appointed to-morrow, the 28th instant, as a day of
thanksgiving, the several Departments will on that occasion be closed,
in order that the officers of the Government may partake in the
ceremonies.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.




FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE.

WASHINGTON, _December 3, 1861_.

_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives_:

In the midst of unprecedented political troubles we have cause of great
gratitude to God for unusual good health and most abundant harvests.

You will not be surprised to learn that in the peculiar exigencies of
the times our intercourse with foreign nations has been attended with
profound solicitude, chiefly turning upon our own domestic affairs.

A disloyal portion of the American people have during the whole year
been engaged in an attempt to divide and destroy the Union. A nation
which endures factious domestic division is exposed to disrespect
abroad, and one party, if not both, is sure sooner or later to invoke
foreign intervention.

Nations thus tempted to interfere are not always able to resist the
counsels of seeming expediency and ungenerous ambition, although
measures adopted under such influences seldom fail to be unfortunate and
injurious to those adopting them.

The disloyal citizens of the United States who have offered the ruin of
our country in return for the aid and comfort which they have invoked
abroad have received less patronage and encouragement than they probably
expected. If it were just to suppose, as the insurgents have seemed to
assume, that foreign nations in this case, discarding all moral, social,
and treaty obligations, would act solely and selfishly for the most
speedy restoration of commerce, including especially the acquisition of
cotton, those nations appear as yet not to have seen their way to their
object more directly or clearly through the destruction than through the
preservation of the Union. If we could dare to believe that foreign
nations are actuated by no higher principle than this, I am quite sure a
sound argument could be made to show them that they can reach their aim
more readily and easily by aiding to crush this rebellion than by giving
encouragement to it.

The principal lever relied on by the insurgents for exciting foreign
nations to hostility against us, as already intimated, is the
embarrassment of commerce. Those nations, however, not improbably saw
from the first that it was the Union which made as well our foreign as
our domestic commerce. They can scarcely have failed to perceive that
the effort for disunion produces the existing difficulty, and that one
strong nation promises more durable peace and a more extensive,
valuable, and reliable commerce than can the same nation broken into
hostile fragments.

It is not my purpose to review our discussions with foreign states,
because, whatever might be their wishes or dispositions, the integrity
of our country and the stability of our Government mainly depend not
upon them, but on the loyalty, virtue, patriotism, and intelligence of
the American people. The correspondence itself, with the usual
reservations, is herewith submitted.

I venture to hope it will appear that we have practiced prudence and
liberality toward foreign powers, averting causes of irritation and with
firmness maintaining our own rights and honor.

Since, however, it is apparent that here, as in every other state,
foreign dangers necessarily attend domestic difficulties, I recommend
that adequate and ample measures be adopted for maintaining the public
defenses on every side. While under this general recommendation
provision for defending our seacoast line readily occurs to the mind, I
also in the same connection ask the attention of Congress to our great
lakes and rivers. It is believed that some fortifications and depots of
arms and munitions, with harbor and navigation improvements, all at
well-selected points upon these, would be of great importance to the
national defense and preservation. I ask attention to the views of the
Secretary of War, expressed in his report, upon the same general
subject.

I deem it of importance that the loyal regions of east Tennessee and
western North Carolina should be connected with Kentucky and other
faithful parts of the Union by railroad. I therefore recommend, as a
military measure, that Congress provide for the construction of such
road as speedily as possible. Kentucky no doubt will cooperate, and
through her legislature make the most judicious selection of a line. The
northern terminus must connect with some existing railroad, and whether
the route shall be from Lexington or Nicholasville to the Cumberland
Gap, or from Lebanon to the Tennessee line, in the direction of
Knoxville, or on some still different line, can easily be determined.
Kentucky and the General Government cooperating, the work can be
completed in a very short time, and when done it will be not only of
vast present usefulness, but also a valuable permanent improvement,
worth its cost in all the future.

Some treaties, designed chiefly for the interests of commerce, and
having no grave political importance, have been negotiated, and will be
submitted to the Senate for their consideration.

Although we have failed to induce some of the commercial powers to adopt
a desirable melioration of the rigor of maritime war, we have removed
all obstructions from the way of this humane reform except such as are
merely of temporary and accidental occurrence.

I invite your attention to the correspondence between Her Britannic
Majesty's minister accredited to this Government and the Secretary of
State relative to the detention of the British ship _Perthshire_ in June
last by the United States steamer _Massachusetts_ for a supposed breach
of the blockade. As this detention was occasioned by an obvious
misapprehension of the facts, and as justice requires that we should
commit no belligerent act not founded in strict right as sanctioned by
public law, I recommend that an appropriation be made to satisfy the
reasonable demand of the owners of the vessel for her detention.

I repeat the recommendation of my predecessor in his annual message to
Congress in December last in regard to the disposition of the surplus
which will probably remain after satisfying the claims of American
citizens against China, pursuant to the awards of the commissioners
under the act of the 3d of March, 1859. If, however, it should not be
deemed advisable to carry that recommendation into effect, I would
suggest that authority be given for investing the principal, over the
proceeds of the surplus referred to, in good securities, with a view to
the satisfaction of such other just claims of our citizens against China
as are not unlikely to arise hereafter in the course of our extensive
trade with that Empire.

By the act of the 5th of August last Congress authorized the President
to instruct the commanders of suitable vessels to defend themselves
against and to capture pirates. This authority has been exercised in a
single instance only. For the more effectual protection of our extensive
and valuable commerce in the Eastern seas especially, it seems to me
that it would also be advisable to authorize the commanders of sailing
vessels to recapture any prizes which pirates may make of United States
vessels and their cargoes, and the consular courts now established by
law in Eastern countries to adjudicate the cases in the event that this
should not be objected to by the local authorities.

If any good reason exists why we should persevere longer in withholding
our recognition of the independence and sovereignty of Hayti and
Liberia, I am unable to discern it. Unwilling, however, to inaugurate a
novel policy in regard to them without the approbation of Congress, I
submit for your consideration the expediency of an appropriation for
maintaining a chargé d'affaires near each of those new States. It does
not admit of doubt that important commercial advantages might be secured
by favorable treaties with them.

The operations of the Treasury during the period which has elapsed since
your adjournment have been conducted with signal success. The patriotism
of the people has placed at the disposal of the Government the large
means demanded by the public exigencies; Much of the national loan has
been taken by citizens of the industrial classes, whose confidence in
their country's faith and zeal for their country's deliverance from
present peril have induced them to contribute to the support of the
Government the whole of their limited acquisitions. This fact imposes
peculiar obligations to economy in disbursement and energy in action.

The revenue from all sources, including loans, for the financial year
ending on the 30th of June, 1861, was $86,835,900.27, and the
expenditures for the same period, including payments on account of the
public debt, were $84,578,834.47, leaving a balance in the Treasury on
the 1st of July of $2,257,065.80. For the first quarter of the financial
year ending on the 30th of September, 1861, the receipts from all
sources, including the balance of the 1st of July, were $102,532,509.27,
and the expenses $98,239,733.09, leaving a balance on the 1st of
October, 1861, of $4,292,776.18.

Estimates for the remaining three quarters of the year and for the
financial year 1863, together with his views of ways and means for
meeting the demands contemplated by them, will be submitted to Congress
by the Secretary of the Treasury. It is gratifying to know that the
expenditures made necessary by the rebellion are not beyond the
resources of the loyal people, and to believe that the same patriotism
which has thus far sustained the Government will continue to sustain it
till peace and union shall again bless the land.

I respectfully refer to the report of the Secretary of War for
information respecting the numerical strength of the Army and for
recommendations having in view an increase of its efficiency and the
well-being of the various branches of the service intrusted to his care.
It is gratifying to know that the patriotism of the people has proved
equal to the occasion, and that the number of troops tendered greatly
exceeds the force which Congress authorized me to call into the field.

I refer with pleasure to those portions of his report which make
allusion to the creditable degree of discipline already attained by our
troops and to the excellent sanitary condition of the entire Army.

The recommendation of the Secretary for an organization of the militia
upon a uniform basis is a subject of vital importance to the future
safety of the country, arid is commended to the serious attention of
Congress.

The large addition to the Regular Army, in connection with the defection
that has so considerably diminished the number of its officers, gives
peculiar importance to his recommendation for increasing the corps of
cadets to the greatest capacity of the Military Academy.

By mere omission, I presume, Congress has failed to provide chaplains
for hospitals occupied by volunteers. This subject was brought to my
notice, and I was induced to draw up the form of a letter, one copy of
which, properly addressed, has been delivered to each of the persons,
and at the dates respectively named and stated in a schedule, containing
also the form of the letter marked A, and herewith transmitted.

These gentlemen, I understand, entered upon the duties designated at the
times respectively stated in the schedule, and have labored faithfully
therein ever since. I therefore recommend that they be compensated at
the same rate as chaplains in the Army. I further suggest that general
provision be made for chaplains to serve at hospitals, as well as with
regiments.

The report of the Secretary of the Navy presents in detail the
operations of that branch of the service, the activity and energy which
have characterized its administration, and the results of measures to
increase its efficiency and power. Such have been the additions, by
construction and purchase, that it may almost be said a navy has been
created and brought into service since our difficulties commenced.

Besides blockading our extensive coast, squadrons larger than ever
before assembled under our flag have been put afloat and performed deeds
which have increased our naval renown.

I would invite special attention to the recommendation of the Secretary
for a more perfect organization of the Navy by introducing additional
grades in the service.

The present organization is defective and unsatisfactory, and the
suggestions submitted by the Department will, it is believed, if
adopted, obviate the difficulties alluded to, promote harmony, and
increase the efficiency of the Navy.

There are three vacancies on the bench of the Supreme Court--two by the
decease of Justices Daniel and McLean and one by the resignation of
Justice Campbell. I have so far forborne making nominations to fill
these vacancies for reasons which I will now state. Two of the out-going
judges resided within the States now overrun by revolt, so that if
successors were appointed in the same localities they could not now
serve upon their circuits; and many of the most competent men there
probably would not take the personal hazard of accepting to serve, even
here, upon the Supreme bench. I have been unwilling to throw all the
appointments northward, thus disabling myself from doing justice to the
South on the return of peace; although I may remark that to transfer to
the North one which has heretofore been in the South would not, with
reference to territory and population, be unjust.

During the long and brilliant judicial career of Judge McLean his
circuit grew into an empire--altogether too large for any one judge to
give the courts therein more than a nominal attendance--rising in
population from 1,470,018 in 1830 to 6,151,405 in 1860.

Besides this, the country generally has outgrown our present judicial
system. If uniformity was at all intended, the system requires that all
the States shall be accommodated with circuit courts, attended by
Supreme judges, while, in fact, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas,
Florida, Texas, California, and Oregon have never had any such courts.
Nor can this well be remedied without a change in the system, because
the adding of judges to the Supreme Court, enough for the accommodation
of all parts of the country with circuit courts, would create a court
altogether too numerous for a judicial body of any sort. And the evil,
if it be one, will increase as new States come into the Union. Circuit
courts are useful or they are not useful. If useful, no State should be
denied them; if not useful, no State should have them. Let them be
provided for all or abolished as to all.

Three modifications occur to me, either of which, I think, would be an
improvement upon our present system. Let the Supreme Court be of
convenient number in every event; then, first, let the whole country be
divided into circuits of convenient size, the Supreme judges to serve in
a number of them corresponding to their own number, and independent
circuit judges be provided for all the rest; or, secondly, let the
Supreme judges be relieved from circuit duties and circuit judges
provided for all the circuits; or, thirdly, dispense with circuit courts
altogether, leaving the judicial functions wholly to the district courts
and an independent Supreme Court.

I respectfully recommend to the consideration of Congress the present
condition of the statute laws, with the hope that Congress will be able
to find an easy remedy for many of the inconveniences and evils which
constantly embarrass those engaged in the practical administration of
them. Since the organization of the Government Congress has enacted some
5,000 acts and joint resolutions, which fill more than 6,000 closely
printed pages and are scattered through many volumes. Many of these acts
have been drawn in haste and without sufficient caution, so that their
provisions are often obscure in themselves or in conflict with each
other, or at least so doubtful as to render it very difficult for even
the best-informed persons to ascertain precisely what the statute law
really is.

It seems to me very important that the statute laws should be made as
plain and intelligible as possible, and be reduced to as small a compass
as may consist with the fullness and precision of the will of the
Legislature and the perspicuity of its language. This well done would, I
think, greatly facilitate the labors of those whose duty it is to assist
in the administration of the laws, and would be a lasting benefit to the
people, by placing before them in a more accessible and intelligible
form the laws which so deeply concern their interests and their duties.

I am informed by some whose opinions I respect that all the acts of
Congress now in force and of a permanent and general nature might be
revised and rewritten so as to be embraced in one volume (or at most two
volumes) of ordinary and convenient size; and I respectfully recommend
to Congress to consider of the subject, and if my suggestion be approved
to devise such plan as to their wisdom shall seem most proper for the
attainment of the end proposed.

One of the unavoidable consequences of the present insurrection is the
entire suppression in many places of all the ordinary means of
administering civil justice by the officers and in the forms of existing
law. This is the case, in whole or in part, in all the insurgent States;
and as our armies advance upon and take possession of parts of those
States the practical evil becomes more apparent. There are no courts nor
officers to whom the citizens of other States may apply for the
enforcement of their lawful claims against citizens of the insurgent
States, and there is a vast amount of debt constituting such claims.
Some have estimated it as high as $200,000,000, due in large part from
insurgents in open rebellion to loyal citizens who are even now making
great sacrifices in the discharge of their patriotic duty to support the
Government.

Under these circumstances I have been urgently solicited to establish by
military power courts to administer summary justice in such cases. I
have thus far declined to do it, not because I had any doubt that the
end proposed--the collection of the debts--was just and right in itself,
but because I have been unwilling to go beyond the pressure of necessity
in the unusual exercise of power. But the powers of Congress, I suppose,
are equal to the anomalous occasion, and therefore I refer the whole
matter to Congress, with the hope that a plan may be devised for the
administration of justice in all such parts of the insurgent States and
Territories as may be under the control of this Government, whether by a
voluntary return to allegiance and order or by the power of our arms;
this, however, not to be a permanent institution, but a temporary
substitute, and to cease as soon as the ordinary courts can be
reestablished in peace.

It is important that some more convenient means should be provided, if
possible, for the adjustment of claims against the Government,
especially in view of their increased number by reason of the war. It is
as much the duty of Government to render prompt justice against itself
in favor of citizens as it is to administer the same between private
individuals. The investigation and adjudication of claims in their
nature belong to the judicial department. Besides, it is apparent that
the attention of Congress will be more than usually engaged for some
time to come with great national questions. It was intended by the
organization of the Court of Claims mainly to remove this branch of
business from the halls of Congress; but while the court has proved to
be an effective and valuable means of investigation, it in great degree
fails to effect the object of its creation for want of power to make its
judgments final.

Fully aware of the delicacy, not to say the danger, of the subject, I
commend to your careful consideration whether this power of making
judgments final may not properly be given to the court, reserving the
right of appeal on questions of law to the Supreme Court, with such
other provisions as experience may have shown to be necessary.

I ask attention to the report of the Postmaster-General, the following
being a summary statement of the condition of the Department:

The revenue from all sources during the fiscal year ending June 30,
1861, including the annual permanent appropriation of $700,000 for the
transportation of "free mail matter," was $9,049,296.40, being about 2
per cent less than the revenue for 1860.

The expenditures were $13,606,759.11, showing a decrease of more than 8
per cent as compared with those of the previous year and leaving an
excess of expenditure over the revenue for the last fiscal year of
$4,557,462.71.

The gross revenue for the year ending June 30, 1863, is estimated at an
increase of 4 per cent on that of 1861, making $8,683,000, to which
should be added the earnings of the Department in carrying free matter,
viz, $700,000, making $9,383,000.

The total expenditures for 1863 are estimated at $12,528,000, leaving an
estimated deficiency of $3,145,000 to be supplied from the Treasury in
addition to the permanent appropriation.

The present insurrection shows, I think, that the extension of this
District across the Potomac River at the time of establishing the
capital here was eminently wise, and consequently that the
relinquishment of that portion of it which lies within the State of
Virginia was unwise and dangerous. I submit for your consideration the
expediency of regaining that part of the District and the restoration of
the original boundaries thereof through negotiations with the State of
Virginia.

The report of the Secretary of the Interior, with the accompanying
documents, exhibits the condition of the several branches of the public
business pertaining to that Department. The depressing influences of the
insurrection have been specially felt in the operations of the Patent
and General Land Offices. The cash receipts from the sales of public
lands during the past year have exceeded the expenses of our land system
only about $200,000. The sales have been entirely suspended in the
Southern States, while the interruptions to the business of the country
and the diversion of large numbers of men from labor to military service
have obstructed settlements in the new States and Territories of the
Northwest.

The receipts of the Patent Office have declined in nine months about
$100,000, rendering a large reduction of the force employed necessary to
make it self-sustaining.

The demands upon the Pension Office will be largely increased by the
insurrection. Numerous applications for pensions, based upon the
casualties of the existing war, have already been made. There is reason
to believe that many who are now upon the pension rolls and in receipt
of the bounty of the Government are in the ranks of the insurgent army
or giving them aid and comfort. The Secretary of the Interior has
directed a suspension of the payment of the pensions of such persons
upon proof of their disloyalty. I recommend that Congress authorize that
officer to cause the names of such persons to be stricken from the
pension rolls.

The relations of the Government with the Indian tribes have been greatly
disturbed by the insurrection, especially in the southern
superintendency and in that of New Mexico. The Indian country south of
Kansas is in the possession of insurgents from Texas and Arkansas. The
agents of the United States appointed since the 4th of March for this
superintendency have been unable to reach their posts, while the most of
those who were in office before that time have espoused the
insurrectionary cause, and assume to exercise the powers of agents by
virtue of commissions from the insurrectionists. It has been stated in
the public press that a portion of those Indians have been organized as
a military force and are attached to the army of the insurgents.
Although the Government has no official information upon this subject,
letters have been written to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs by
several prominent chiefs giving assurance of their loyalty to the United
States and expressing a wish for the presence of Federal troops to
protect them. It is believed that upon the repossession of the country
by the Federal forces the Indians will readily cease all hostile
demonstrations and resume their former relations to the Government.

Agriculture, confessedly the largest interest of the nation, has not a
department nor a bureau, but a clerkship only, assigned to it in the
Government. While it is fortunate that this great interest is so
independent in its nature as to not have demanded and extorted more from
the Government, I respectfully ask Congress to consider whether
something more can not be given voluntarily with general advantage.

Annual reports exhibiting the condition of our agriculture, commerce,
and manufactures would present a fund of information of great practical
value to the country. While I make no suggestion as to details, I
venture the opinion that an agricultural and statistical bureau might
profitably be organized.

The execution of the laws for the suppression of the African slave trade
has been confided to the Department of the Interior. It is a subject of
gratulation that the efforts which have been made for the suppression of
this inhuman traffic have been recently attended with unusual success.
Five vessels being fitted out for the slave trade have been seized and
condemned. Two mates of vessels engaged in the trade and one person in
equipping a vessel as a slaver have been convicted and subjected to the
penalty of fine and imprisonment, and one captain, taken with a cargo of
Africans on board his vessel, has been convicted of the highest grade of
offense under our laws, the punishment of which is death.

The Territories of Colorado, Dakota, and Nevada, created by the last
Congress, have been organized, and civil administration has been
inaugurated therein under auspices especially gratifying when it is
considered that the leaven of treason was found existing in some of
these new countries when the Federal officers arrived there.

The abundant natural resources of these Territories, with the security
and protection afforded by organized government, will doubtless invite
to them a large immigration when peace shall restore the business of the
country to its accustomed channels. I submit the resolutions of the
legislature of Colorado, which evidence the patriotic spirit of the
people of the Territory. So far the authority of the United States has
been upheld in all the Territories, as it is hoped it will be in the
future. I commend their interests and defense to the enlightened and
generous care of Congress.

I recommend to the favorable consideration of Congress the interests of
the District of Columbia. The insurrection has been the cause of much
suffering and sacrifice to its inhabitants, and as they have no
representative in Congress that body should not overlook their just
claims upon the Government.

At your late session a joint resolution was adopted authorizing the
President to take measures for facilitating a proper representation of
the industrial interests of the United States at the exhibition of the
industry of all nations to be holden at London in the year 1862. I
regret to say I have been unable to give personal attention to this
subject--a subject at once so interesting in itself and so extensively
and intimately connected with the material prosperity of the world.
Through the Secretaries of State and of the Interior a plan or system
has been devised and partly matured, and which will be laid before you.

Under and by virtue of the act of Congress entitled "An act to
confiscate property used for insurrectionary purposes," approved August
6, 1861, the legal claims of certain persons to the labor and service of
certain other persons have become forfeited, and numbers of the latter
thus liberated are already dependent on the United States and must be
provided for in some way. Besides this, it is not impossible that some
of the States will pass similar enactments for their own benefit
respectively, and by operation of which persons of the same class will
be thrown upon them for disposal. In such case I recommend that Congress
provide for accepting such persons from such States, according to some
mode of valuation, in lieu, _pro tanto_, of direct taxes, or upon some
other plan to be agreed on with such States respectively; that such
persons, on such acceptance by the General Government, be at once deemed
free, and that in any event steps be taken for colonizing both classes
(or the one first mentioned if the other shall not be brought into
existence) at some place or places in a climate congenial to them. It
might be well to consider, too, whether the free colored people already
in the United States could not, so far as individuals may desire, be
included in such colonization.

To carry out the plan of colonization may involve the acquiring of
territory, and also the appropriation of money beyond that to be
expended in the territorial acquisition. Having practiced the
acquisition of territory for nearly sixty years, the question of
constitutional power to do so is no longer an open one with us. The
power was questioned at first by Mr. Jefferson, who, however, in the
purchase of Louisiana, yielded his scruples on the plea of great
expediency. If it be said that the only legitimate object of acquiring
territory is to furnish homes for white men, this measure effects that
object, for the emigration of colored men leaves additional room for
white men remaining or coming here. Mr. Jefferson, however, placed the
importance of procuring Louisiana more on political and commercial
grounds than on providing room for population.

On this whole proposition, including the appropriation of money with the
acquisition of territory, does not the expediency amount to absolute
necessity--that without which the Government itself can not be
perpetuated?

The war continues. In considering the policy to be adopted for
suppressing the insurrection I have been anxious and careful that the
inevitable conflict for this purpose shall not degenerate into a
violent and remorseless revolutionary struggle. I have therefore in
every case thought it proper to keep the integrity of the Union
prominent as the primary object of the contest on our part, leaving all
questions which are not of vital military importance to the more
deliberate action of the Legislature.

In the exercise of my best discretion I have adhered to the blockade of
the ports held by the insurgents, instead of putting in force by
proclamation the law of Congress enacted at the late session for closing
those ports.

So also, obeying the dictates of prudence, as well as the obligations of
law, instead of transcending I have adhered to the act of Congress to
confiscate property used for insurrectionary purposes. If a new law
upon the same subject shall be proposed, its propriety will be duly
considered The Union must be preserved, and hence all indispensable
means must be employed. We should not be in haste to determine that
radical and extreme measures, which may reach the loyal as well as the
disloyal, are indispensable.

The inaugural address at the beginning of the Administration and the
message to Congress at the late special session were both mainly devoted
to the domestic controversy out of which the insurrection and consequent
war have sprung. Nothing now occurs to add or subtract to or from the
principles or general purposes stated and expressed in those documents.

The last ray of hope for preserving the Union peaceably expired at the
assault upon Fort Sumter, and a general review of what has occurred
since may not be unprofitable. What was painfully uncertain then is much
better defined and more distinct now, and the progress of events is
plainly in the right direction. The insurgents confidently claimed a
strong support from north of Mason and Dixon's line, and the friends of
the Union were not free from apprehension on the point. This, however,
was soon settled definitely, and on the right side. South of the line
noble little Delaware led off right from the first. Maryland was made to
_seem_ against the Union. Our soldiers were assaulted, bridges were
burned, and railroads torn up within her limits, and we were many days
at one time without the ability to bring a single regiment over her soil
to the capital. Now her bridges and railroads are repaired and open to
the Government; she already gives seven regiments to the cause of the
Union, and none to the enemy; and her people, at a regular election,
have sustained the Union by a larger majority and a larger aggregate
vote than they ever before gave to any candidate or any question.
Kentucky, too, for some time in doubt, is now decidedly and, I think,
unchangeably ranged on the side of the Union, Missouri is comparatively
quiet, and, I believe, can not again be overrun by the insurrectionists.
These three States of Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri, neither of which
would promise a single soldier at first, have now an aggregate of not
less than 40,000 in the field for the Union, while of their citizens
certainly not more than a third of that number, and they of doubtful
whereabouts and doubtful existence, are in arms against us. After a
somewhat bloody struggle of months, winter closes on the Union people of
western Virginia, leaving them masters of their own country.

An insurgent force of about 1,500, for months dominating the narrow
peninsular region constituting the counties of Accomac and Northampton,
and known as Eastern Shore of Virginia, together with some contiguous
parts of Maryland, have laid down their arms, and the people there have
renewed their allegiance to and accepted the protection of the old flag.
This leaves no armed insurrectionist north of the Potomac or east of the
Chesapeake.

Also we have obtained a footing at each of the isolated points on the
southern coast of Hatteras, Port Royal, Tybee Island (near Savannah),
and Ship Island; and we likewise have some general accounts of popular
movements in behalf of the Union in North Carolina and Tennessee.

These things demonstrate that the cause of the Union is advancing
steadily and certainly southward.

Since your last adjournment Lieutenant-General Scott has retired from
the head of the Army. During his long life the nation has not been
unmindful of his merit; yet on calling to mind how faithfully, ably, and
brilliantly he has served the country, from a time far back in our
history, when few of the now living had been born, and thenceforward
continually, I can not but think we are still his debtors. I submit,
therefore, for your consideration what further mark of recognition is
due to him, and to ourselves as a grateful people.

With the retirement of General Scott came the Executive duty of
appointing in his stead a General in Chief of the Army. It is a
fortunate circumstance that neither in council nor country was there, so
far as I know, any difference of opinion as to the proper person to be
selected. The retiring chief repeatedly expressed his judgment in favor
of General McClellan for the position, and in this the nation seemed to
give a unanimous concurrence. The designation of General McClellan is
therefore in considerable degree the selection of the country as well as
of the Executive, and hence there is better reason to hope there will be
given him the confidence and cordial support thus by fair implication
promised, and without which he can not with so full efficiency serve the
country.

It has been said that one bad general is better than two good ones, and
the saying is true if taken to mean no more than that an army is better
directed by a single mind, though inferior, than by two superior ones at
variance and cross-purposes with each other.

And the same is true in all joint operations wherein those engaged _can_
have none but a common end in view and _can_ differ only as to the
choice of means. In a storm at sea no one on board _can_ wish the ship
to sink, and yet not unfrequently all go down together because too many
will direct and no single mind can be allowed to control.

It continues to develop that the insurrection is largely, if not
exclusively, a war upon the first principle of popular government--the
rights of the people. Conclusive evidence of this is found in the most
grave and maturely considered public documents, as well as in the
general tone of the insurgents. In those documents we find the
abridgment of the existing right of suffrage and the denial to the
people of all right to participate in the selection of public officers
except the legislative boldly advocated, with labored arguments to prove
that large control of the people in government is the source of all
political evil. Monarchy itself is sometimes hinted at as a possible
refuge from the power of the people.

In my present position I could scarcely be justified were I to omit
raising a warning voice against this approach of returning despotism.

It is not needed nor fitting here that a general argument should be made
in favor of popular institutions, but there is one point, with its
connections, not so hackneyed as most others, to which I ask a brief
attention. It is the effort to place _capital_ on an equal footing with,
if not above, _labor_ in the structure of government. It is assumed that
labor is available only in connection with capital; that nobody labors
unless some-body else, owning capital, somehow by the use of it induces
him to labor. This assumed, it is next considered whether it is best
that capital shall _hire_ laborers, and thus induce them to work by
their own consent, or _buy_ them and drive them to it without their
consent. Having proceeded so far, it is naturally concluded that all
laborers are either _hired_ laborers or what we call slaves. And
further, it is assumed that whoever is once a hired laborer is fixed in
that condition for life.

Now there is no such relation between capital and labor as assumed, nor
is there any such thing as a free man being fixed for life in the
condition of a hired laborer. Both these assumptions are false, and all
inferences from them are groundless.

Labor is prior to and independent of capital. Capital is only the fruit
of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed.
Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher
consideration. Capital has its rights, which are as worthy of protection
as any other rights. Nor is it denied that there is, and probably always
will be, a relation between labor and capital producing mutual benefits.
The error is in assuming that the whole labor of community exists within
that; relation. A few men own capital, and that few avoid labor
themselves, and with their capital hire or buy another few to labor for
them. A large majority belong to neither class--neither work for others
nor have others working for them. In most of the Southern States a
majority of the whole people of all colors are neither slaves nor
masters, while in the Northern a large majority are neither hirers nor
hired. Men, with their families-wives, sons, and daughters--work for
themselves on their farms, in their houses, and in their shops, taking
the whole product to themselves, and asking no favors of capital on the
one hand nor of hired laborers or slaves on the other. It is not
forgotten that a considerable number of persons mingle their own labor
with capital; that is, they labor with their own hands and also buy or
hire others to labor for them; but this is only a mixed and not a
distinct class. No principle stated is disturbed by the existence of
this mixed class.

Again, as has already been said, there is not of necessity any such
thing as the free hired laborer being fixed to that condition for life.
Many independent men everywhere in these States a few years back in
their lives were hired laborers. The prudent, penniless beginner in the
world labors for wages awhile, saves a surplus with which to buy tools
or land for himself, then labors on his own account another while, and
at length hires another new beginner to help him. This is the just and
generous and prosperous system which opens the way to all, gives hope to
all, and consequent energy and progress and improvement of condition to
all. No men living are more worthy to be trusted than those who toil up
from poverty; none less inclined to take or touch aught which they have
not honestly earned. Let them beware of surrendering a political power
which they already possess, and which if surrendered will surely be used
to close the door of advancement against such as they and to fix new
disabilities and burdens upon them till all of liberty shall be lost.

From the first taking of our national census to the last are seventy
years, and we find our population at the end of the period eight times
as great as it was at the beginning. The increase of those other things
which men deem desirable has been even greater. We thus have at one view
what the popular principle, applied to Government through the machinery
of the States and the Union, has produced in a given time, and also what
if firmly maintained it promises for the future. There are already among
us those who if the Union be preserved will live to see it contain
250,000,000. The struggle _of_ to-day is not altogether _for_ to-day; it
is for a vast future also. With a reliance on Providence all the more
firm and earnest, let us proceed in the great task which events have
devolved upon us.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.




SPECIAL MESSAGES.

WASHINGTON, _December 4, 1861_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, in reply to
the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 31st July last,
upon the subject of increasing and extending trade and commerce of the
United States with foreign countries.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _December 4, 1861_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, in reply to
the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 13th July last, in
relation to the correspondence between this Government and foreign
nations respecting the rights of blockade, privateering, and the
recognition of the so-called Confederate States.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _December 5, 1861_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to
ratification, a treaty between the United States of America and His
Majesty the King of Hanover, concerning the abolition of the Stade or
Brunshausen dues, signed at Berlin on the 6th November, 1861.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _December 9, 1861_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, in reply to
the resolution of the House of the 4th instant, relative to the
intervention of certain European powers in the affairs of Mexico.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, December 14, 1861_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with the resolution of your honorable body "that the
President be requested to furnish to the Senate copies of the charges,
testimony, and finding of the recent court of inquiry in the case of
Colonel Dixon S. Miles, of the United States Army," I have the honor to
transmit herewith the copies desired, which have been procured from the
War Department.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _December 16, 1861_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I submit to the Senate, for consideration with a view to ratification,
the amendments introduced by the Constituent National Assembly of
Bolivia in its decree of ratification into the treaty of peace,
friendship, commerce, and navigation concluded with that Republic on the
13th of May, 1858, an official translation of which decree accompanies
this message, with the original treaty. As the time within which the
exchange of ratifications should be effected is limited, I recommend, in
view of the delay which must necessarily occur and the difficulty of
reaching the seat of Government of that Republic, that the time within
which such exchange shall take place be extended in the following terms:
"Within such period as may be mutually convenient to both Governments."

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _December 17, 1861_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit to the Senate and House of Representatives copies of the
correspondence between the Secretary of State, Secretary of War, and the
governor of the State of Maine on the subject of the fortification of
the seacoast and Lakes.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _December 17, 1861_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, for its advice, a copy of a draft for a
convention with the Republic of Mexico, proposed to the Government of
that Republic by Mr. Corwin, the minister of the United States
accredited to that Government, together with the correspondence relating
to it.

As the subject is of momentous interest to the two Governments at this
juncture, the early consideration of it by the Senate is very desirable.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _December 20, 1861_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit to Congress a letter from the secretary of the executive
committee of the commission appointed to represent the interests of
those American citizens who may desire to become exhibitors at the
industrial exhibition to be held in London in 1862, and a memorial of
that commission, with a report of the executive committee thereof and
copies of circulars announcing the decisions of Her Majesty's
commissioners in London, giving directions to be observed in regard to
articles intended for exhibition, and also of circular forms of
application, demands for space, approvals, etc., according to the rules
prescribed by the British commissioners.

As these papers fully set forth the requirements necessary to enable
those citizens of the United States who may wish to become exhibitors to
avail themselves of the privileges of the exhibition, I commend them to
your early consideration, especially in view of the near approach of the
time when the exhibition will begin.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _December 23, 1861_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

In compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the
13th July last, requesting information respecting the Asiatic cooly
trade, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State, with the
documents which accompanied it.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _December 30, 1861_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit to Congress a correspondence which has taken place between
the Secretary of State and authorities of Great Britain and France on
the subject of the recent removal of certain citizens[3] of the United
States from the British mail steamer _Trent_ by order of Captain Wilkes,
in command of the United States war steamer _San Jacinto_.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

[Footnote 3: James M. Mason and John Slidell, Confederate envoys to
England and France, respectively, and two others.]



WASHINGTON, _January 2, 1862_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit to Congress a copy of a letter to the Secretary of State from
James R. Partridge, secretary to the executive committee to the
industrial exhibition to be held in London in the course of the present
year, and a copy of the correspondence to which it refers, relative to a
vessel for the purpose of taking such articles as persons in this
country may wish to exhibit on that occasion. As it appears that no
naval vessel can be spared for the purpose, I recommend that authority
be given to charter a suitable merchant vessel, in order that facilities
similar to those afforded by the Government for the exhibition of 1851
may also be extended to those citizens of the United States who may
desire to contribute to the exhibition of this year.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, D.C., _January 2, 1862_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, for its constitutional action thereon, a
treaty concluded on the 15th November, 1861, between William W. Ross,
agent on the part of the United States, and the chiefs and headmen of
the tribe of Pottawatomie Indians, with accompanying communications from
the Secretary of the Interior and Commissioner of Indian Affairs, the
latter of which proposes certain modifications of said treaty, which are
also referred for the consideration of the Senate.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _January 10, 1862_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit to Congress a translation of an instruction to the minister
of His Majesty the Emperor of Austria accredited to this Government, and
a copy of a note to that minister from the Secretary of State, relative
to the questions involved in the taking from the British steamer _Trent_
of certain citizens of the United States by order of Captain Wilkes,
of the United States Navy. This correspondence may be considered as a
sequel to that previously communicated to Congress relating to the same
subject.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _January 17, 1862_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit to Congress a translation of an instruction to the minister
of His Majesty the King of Prussia accredited to this Government, and a
copy of a note to that minister from the Secretary of State, relating to
the capture and detention of certain citizens of the United States,
passengers on board the British steamer _Trent_ by order of Captain
Wilkes, of the United States Navy.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, D.C., _January 17, 1862_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith, for the consideration of the Senate, a petition of
certain members of the Pottawatomie tribe of Indians, complaining of the
treaty made by W. W. Ross on the 15th November last with that tribe,
which treaty was laid before the Senate for its constitutional action in
my communication to that body dated the 6th [3d] instant.

A letter of the 16th instant from the Secretary of the Interior,
inclosing a report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs dated the 15th
instant, in relation to the subject, is also herewith transmitted.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, D.C., _January, 1862_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith, for the constitutional action of the Senate,
articles of agreement and convention concluded at Niobrara, Nebraska
Territory, on the 14th day of November, 1860, between J. Shaw Gregory,
agent on the part of the United States, and the chiefs and headmen of
the Poncas tribe of Indians, being supplementary to the treaty with said
tribe made on the 12th day of March, 1858.

I also transmit a letter, dated the 4th instant, from the Secretary of
the Interior, inclosing a copy of a report of the Commissioner of Indian
Affairs of the 20th September, 1861, in relation to the subject.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _January 24, 1862_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I submit to Congress the accompanying copy of a correspondence between
the Secretary of State, the Spanish minister, and the Secretary of the
Navy, concerning the case of the bark _Providencia_, a Spanish vessel
seized on her voyage from Havana to New York by a steamer of the United
States Blockading Squadron and subsequently released. I recommend the
appropriation of the amount of the award of the referee.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _January 24, 1862_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I lay before the Senate a dispatch which has just been received from Mr.
Corwin, our minister to Mexico. It communicates important information
concerning the war which is waged against Mexico by the combined powers
of Spain, France, and Great Britain.

Mr. Corwin asks instructions by which to regulate his proceedings so as
to save our national interests in the case of an adjustment of the
difficulties between the belligerents. I have heretofore submitted to
the Senate a request for its advice upon the question pending by treaty
for making a loan to Mexico, which Mr. Corwin thinks will in any case be
expedient. It seems to be my duty now to solicit an early action of the
Senate upon the subject, to the end that I may cause such instructions
to be given to Mr. Corwin as will enable him to act in the manner which,
while it will most carefully guard the interests of our country, will at
the same time be most beneficial to Mexico.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _January 28, 1862_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I submit to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to
ratification, a treaty of extradition concluded by Mr. Corwin with the
Mexican Government on the 11th of December last.

I also submit a postal convention concluded by that gentleman at the
same time, and a copy of his dispatch of the 24th of the same month
explanatory of the provisions of both these instruments, and the reasons
for the nonratification by Mexico of the postal convention concluded in
this city on the 31st of July last and approved by the Senate on the 6th
of August.

A copy of a letter from the Postmaster-General to the Secretary of State
in relation to Mr. Corwin's postal convention is also herewith
communicated. The advice of the Senate as to the expediency of accepting
that convention as a substitute for the one of the 31st of July last is
requested.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _January 31, 1862_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

As a sequel to the correspondence on the subject previously
communicated, I transmit to Congress extracts from a dispatch of the
20th ultimo from Mr. Adams, United States minister at London, to the
Secretary of State, and a copy of an instruction from Earl Russell to
Lord Lyons of the 10th instant, relative to the removal of certain
citizens of the United States from the British mail steamer _Trent_ by
order of the commander of the United States war steamer _San Jacinto_.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON CITY, _February 4, 1862_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

The third section of the "Act further to promote the efficiency of the
Navy," approved December 21, 1861, provides--

  That the President of the United States, by and with the advice and
  consent of the Senate, shall have the authority to detail from the
  retired list of the Navy for the command of squadrons and single ships
  such officers as he may believe that the good of the service requires
  to be thus placed in command; and such officers may, if upon the
  recommendation of the President of the United States they shall receive
  a vote of thanks of Congress for their services and gallantry in action
  against an enemy, be restored to the active list, and not otherwise.

In conformity with this law, Captain Samuel F. Du Pont, of the Navy, was
nominated to the Senate for continuance as the flag-officer in command
of the squadron which recently rendered such important service to the
Union in the expedition to the coast of South Carolina.

Believing that no occasion could arise which would more fully correspond
with the intention of the law or be more pregnant with happy influence
as an example, I cordially recommend that Captain Samuel F. Du Pont
receive a vote of thanks of Congress for his services and gallantry
displayed in the capture of Forts Walker and Beauregard, commanding the
entrance of Port Royal Harbor, on the 7th of November, 1861.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _February 7, 1862_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 5th instant, requesting
a communication of any recent correspondence relating to the
presentation of American citizens to the Court of France, I transmit a
copy of a dispatch of the 14th ultimo from the United States minister at
Paris to the Secretary of State and of an instruction of Mr. Seward to
Mr. Dayton of the 3d instant.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _February 12, 1862_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit to Congress a copy of a special treaty between the United
States and His Majesty the King of Hanover for the abolition of the
Stade dues, which was signed at Berlin on the 6th of November last. In
this treaty, already approved by the Senate and ratified on the part of
the United States, it is stipulated that the sums specified in Articles
III and IV to be paid to the Hanoverian Government shall be paid at
Berlin on the day of the exchange of ratifications. I therefore
recommend that seasonable provision be made to enable the Executive to
carry this stipulation into effect.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON CITY, _February 15, 1862_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

The third section of the "Act further to promote the efficiency of the
Navy," approved December 21, 1861, provides--

  That the President of the United States, by and with the advice and
  consent of the Senate, shall have the authority to detail from the
  retired list of the Navy for the command of squadrons and single ships
  such officers as he may believe that the good of the service requires to
  be thus placed in command; and such officers may, if upon the
  recommendation of the President of the United States they shall receive
  a vote of thanks of Congress for their services and gallantry in action
  against an enemy, be restored to the active list, and not otherwise.

In conformity with this law, Captain Louis M. Goldsborough, of the Navy,
was nominated to the Senate for continuance as the flag-officer in
command of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, which recently
rendered such important service to the Union in the expedition to the
coast of North Carolina.

Believing that no occasion could arise which would more fully correspond
with the intention of the law or be more pregnant with happy influence
as an example, I cordially recommend that Captain Louis M. Goldsborough
receive a vote of thanks of Congress for his services and gallantry
displayed in the combined attack of the forces commanded by him and
Brigadier-General Burnside in the capture of Roanoke Island and the
destruction of rebel gunboats on the 7th, 8th, and 10th of February,
1862.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _February 21, 1862_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

The President of the United States was last evening plunged into
affliction by the death of a beloved child. The heads of the
Departments, in consideration of this distressing event, have thought it
would be agreeable to Congress and to the American people that the
official and private buildings occupied by them should not be
illuminated in the evening of the 22d instant.

  WILLIAM H. SEWARD.
  S.P. CHASE.
  EDWIN M. STANTON.
  GIDEON WELLES.
  CALEB B. SMITH.
  M. BLAIR.
  EDWARD BATES.



WASHINGTON, _February 25, 1862_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit to Congress a copy of an instruction from Prince Gortchakoff
to Mr. De Stoeckl, the minister of His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of
Russia accredited to this Government, and of a note of the Secretary of
State to the latter, relative to the adjustment of the question between
the United States and Great Britain growing out of the removal of
certain of our citizens from the British mail steamer _Trent_ by order
of the commander of the United States war steamer _San Jacinto_.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _February 26, 1862_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

In transmitting to Congress the accompanying copy of two letters,
bearing date the 14th of February, 1861, from His Majesty the Major King
of Siam to the President of the United States, and of the President's
answer thereto, I submit for their consideration the question as to the
proper place of deposit of the gifts received with the royal letters
referred to.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _February 27, 1862_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

Lieutenant-General Scott has advised me that while he would cheerfully
accept a commission as additional minister to Mexico, with a view to
promote the interests of the United States and of peace, yet his
infirmities are such that he could not be able to reach the capital of
that country by any existing mode of travel, and he therefore deems it
his duty to decline the important mission I had proposed for him. For
this reason I withdraw the nomination in this respect heretofore
submitted to the Senate. It is hardly necessary to add that the
nomination was made without any knowledge of it on his part.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _March 3, 1862_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit to Congress a copy of a dispatch to the Secretary of State
from the minister resident of the United States at Lisbon, concerning
recent measures which have been adopted by the Government of Portugal
intended to encourage the growth and to enlarge the area of the culture
of cotton in its African possessions.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _March 3, 1862_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit to Congress a translation of an instruction to the minister
of His Majesty the King of Italy accredited to this Government, and a
copy of a note to that minister from the Secretary of State, relating to
the settlement of the question arising out of the capture and detention
of certain citizens of the United States, passengers on board the
British steamer _Trent_, by order of Captain Wilkes, of the United
States Navy.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _March 3, 1862_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate a translation of a note addressed to the
Secretary of State on the 1st instant by General P. A. Herran, envoy
extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the Granadian
Confederation, with a translation of the communication accompanying that
note from the special commissioner of that Republic, together with a
copy of a letter from the special commissioner of the United States of
the 26th ultimo, under the convention of the 10th September, 1857,
setting forth the impracticability of disposing of the cases submitted
to the joint commission now in session under the convention within the
period prescribed therein.

I recommend, therefore, that the Senate consent to the extension of time
for ---- days from and after the expiration of the time limited by the
convention.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _March 3, 1862_.

_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

I transmit herewith a communication[4] of the Secretary of War,
inclosing a report of the Adjutant-General, in answer to a resolution of
the House of Representatives of the 22d of January, 1862.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

[Footnote 4: Relating to assignment of officers of the Army to duty.]



WASHINGTON, _March 5, 1862_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I submit to the Senate, for its consideration, a copy of a message
addressed to that body by my immediate predecessor on the 12th February,
1861, relating to the award made by the joint commission under the
convention between the United States and Paraguay of the 4th February,
1859, together with the original "journal of the proceedings" of the
commission and a printed copy of the "statements and arguments--and for
the Republic," and request the advice of the Senate as to the final
acquiescence in or rejection of the award of the commissioner by the
Government of the United States. As the "journal" is an original
document, pertaining to the archives of the Department of State, it
is proper, when the Senate shall have arrived at a conclusion on the
subject, that the volume be returned to the custody of the Secretary
of State.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



MARCH 6, 1862.

_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I recommend the adoption of a joint resolution by your honorable bodies,
which shall be substantially as follows:


  _Resolved_, That the United States ought to cooperate with any State
  which may adopt gradual abolishment of slavery, giving to such State
  pecuniary aid, to be used by such State, in its discretion, to
  compensate for the inconveniences, public and private, produced by such
  change of system.


If the proposition contained in the resolution does not meet the
approval of Congress and the country, there is the end; but if it does
command such approval, I deem it of importance that the States and
people immediately interested should be at once distinctly notified of
the fact, so that they may begin to consider whether to accept or reject
it. The Federal Government would find its highest interest in such a
measure, as one of the most efficient means of self-preservation. The
leaders of the existing insurrection entertain the hope that this
Government will ultimately be forced to acknowledge the independence of
some part of the disaffected region, and that all the slave States north
of such part will then say, "The Union for which we have struggled being
already gone, we now choose to go with the Southern section." To deprive
them of this hope substantially ends the rebellion, and the initiation
of emancipation completely deprives them of it as to all the States
initiating it. The point is not that _all_ the States tolerating slavery
would very soon, if at all, initiate emancipation; but that while the
offer is equally made to all, the more northern shall by such initiation
make it certain to the more southern that in no event will the former
ever join the latter in their proposed confederacy. I say "initiation"
because, in my judgment, gradual and not sudden emancipation is better
for all. In the mere financial or pecuniary view any member of Congress
with the census tables and Treasury reports before him can readily see
for himself how very soon the current expenditures of this war would
purchase, at fair valuation, all the slaves in any named State. Such a
proposition on the part of the General Government sets up no claim of a
right by Federal authority to interfere with slavery within State
limits, referring, as it does, the absolute control of the subject in
each case to the State and its people immediately interested. It is
proposed as a matter of perfectly free choice with them.

In the annual message last December I thought fit to say "the Union must
be preserved, and hence all indispensable means must be employed." I
said this not hastily, but deliberately. War has been made and continues
to be an indispensable means to this end. A practical reacknowledgment
of the national authority would render the war unnecessary, and it would
at once cease. If, however, resistance continues, the war must also
continue; and it is impossible to foresee all the incidents which may
attend and all the ruin which may follow it. Such as may seem
indispensable or may obviously promise great efficiency toward ending
the struggle must and will come.

The proposition now made (though an offer only), I hope it may be
esteemed no offense to ask whether the pecuniary consideration tendered
would not be of more value to the States and private persons concerned
than are the institution and property in it in the present aspect of
affairs.

While it is true that the adoption of the proposed resolution would be
merely initiatory, and not within itself a practical measure, it is
recommended in the hope that it would soon lead to important practical
results. In full view of my great responsibility to my God and to my
country, I earnestly beg the attention of Congress and the people to the
subject.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, D.C., _March 7, 1862_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith, for the constitutional action of the Senate
thereon, a treaty concluded at Paola, Kans., on the 18th day of August,
between Seth Clover, commissioner on the part of the United States, and
the delegates of the united tribes of Kaskaskia and Peoria, Piankeshaw,
and Wea Indians.

I also transmit a communication of the Secretary of the Interior of the
6th instant and accompanying papers from the Acting Commissioner of
Indian Affairs, in relation to the subject.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _March 12, 1862_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 11th instant,
requesting "a copy of any correspondence on the records or files of the
Department of State in regard to railway systems in Europe," I transmit
a report from the Secretary of State and the papers by which it was
accompanied.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _March 14, 1862_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

With reference to my recent message on the subject of claims of citizens
of the United States on the Government of Paraguay, I transmit a copy of
three memorials of the claimants and of their closing arguments in the
case, together with extracts from a dispatch from Mr. Bowlin, the late
commissioner of the United States to that country. These extracts show
that President Lopez offered and expected to pay a large sum of money as
a compromise of the claims.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _March 14, 1862_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I submit to Congress the accompanying copy of a correspondence between
the Secretary of State, the Danish chargé d'affaires, and the Secretary
of the Navy, concerning the case of the bark _Jorgen Lorentzen_, a
Danish vessel seized on her voyage from Rio Janeiro to Havana by the
United States ship _Morning Light_ and subsequently released. I recommend
the appropriation of the amount of the award of the referees.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON CITY, _March 20, 1862_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

The third section of the "Act further to promote the efficiency of the
Navy," approved December 21, 1861, provides--

  That the President of the United States, by and with the advice and
  consent of the Senate, shall have the authority to detail from the
  retired list of the Navy for the command of squadrons and single ships
  such officers as he may believe that the good of the service requires to
  be thus placed in command; and such officers may, if upon the
  recommendation of the President of the United States they shall receive
  a vote of thanks of Congress for their services and gallantry in action
  against an enemy, be restored to the active list, and not otherwise.

In conformity with this law, Captain Samuel F. Du Pont, of the Navy, was
nominated to the Senate for continuance as the flag-officer in command
of the squadron which recently rendered such important service to the
Union in the expedition to the coasts of South Carolina, Georgia, and
Florida.

Believing that no occasion could arise which would more fully correspond
with the intention of the law or be more pregnant with happy influence
as an example, I cordially recommend that Captain Samuel F. Du Pont
receive a vote of thanks of Congress for his service and gallantry
displayed in the capture since the 21st December, 1861, of various
points on the coasts of Georgia and Florida, particularly Brunswick,
Cumberland Island and Sound, Amelia Island, the towns of St. Marys, St.
Augustine, and Jacksonville and Fernandina.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _March 26, 1862_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit a copy of a communication[5] of the 21st of December last
addressed to the Secretary of State by the governor of the Territory of
Nevada, and commend to the particular attention of Congress those parts
of it which show that further legislation is desirable for the public
welfare in that quarter.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

[Footnote 5: Containing a narrative of incidents pertaining to the
government of the Territory of Nevada.]



WASHINGTON, _March 31, 1862_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to
ratification, a treaty of commerce and navigation between the United
States and the Ottoman Empire, signed at Constantinople on the 25th of
last month. Extracts from a dispatch of the same date, upon the subject
of the treaty, from Mr. Morris, the United States minister at
Constantinople, to the Secretary of State, are also herewith
communicated.

It will be noticed that the exchange of ratifications is to take place
within three months from the date of the instrument. This renders it
desirable that the Senate should decide in regard to it as soon as this
may be convenient, for if that decision be favorable the ratifications
of this Government must reach Constantinople prior to the expiration of
the three months adverted to.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _April 5, 1862_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

In compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of
yesterday, requesting any information which may have been received at
the Department of State showing the system of revenue and finance now
existing in any foreign country, I transmit a copy of a recent dispatch
from Mr. Pike, the United States minister at The Hague. This is
understood to be the only information on the subject of the resolution
recently received which has not been made public.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _April 10, 1862_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to
ratification, a treaty between the United States and Her Britannic
Majesty for the suppression of the slave trade. A copy of the
correspondence between the Secretary of State and Lord Lyons on the
subject of the treaty is also herewith transmitted.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _April 14, 1862_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

In compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the
3d ultimo, requesting information in regard to the present condition of
Mexico, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State and the
documents by which it was accompanied.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _April 15, 1862_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

On the 26th of June, 1860, the Senate approved of the treaty of
friendship and commerce between the United States and Nicaragua, signed
on the 16th of March, 1859, with certain amendments.

On the next day, namely, June 27, 1860, the Senate adopted a resolution
extending the period for the exchange of the ratifications of the treaty
for six months from that date; that is, until the 27th of December,
1860.

Although the amendments of the Senate were immediately transmitted to
our minister in Nicaragua for submission to the Government of that
Republic, he failed, notwithstanding earnest efforts, to induce that
Government to call an extra session of Congress to take into
consideration the amendments of the Senate of the United States within
the supplementary time named in the resolution of June 27, 1860, for the
exchange of ratifications.

It was not until the 25th of March, 1861, nearly three months after the
expiration of the six months extended by the Senate resolution, that the
Congress of Nicaragua acted favorably upon the amendments of the Senate
of the United States.

A translation of the decree of the Nicaraguan Government approving the
treaty as amended, with an additional amendment, is herewith inclosed.

It will be perceived that while the ratification of Nicaragua recites
literally the second amendment of the Senate and accepts it with an
additional clause, it does not in explicit terms accept the first
amendment of the Senate, striking out the last clause of the sixteenth
article.

That amendment is of so much importance that the adoption or rejection
of it by the Government of Nicaragua should not be left to construction
or inference.

The final amendment of that Government properly extended the time of
exchanging ratifications for an additional twelve months. That time has
expired. For obvious reasons connected with our internal affairs, the
subject has not sooner been submitted to the Senate, but the treaty is
now laid before that body, with this brief historical sketch and the
decree of the Nicaraguan Government, for such further advice as may be
deemed necessary and proper in regard to the acceptance or rejection of
the amendments of Nicaragua.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _April 15, 1862_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In consequence of the delay attending the approval by the Senate of the
extradition treaty with Mexico signed on the 11th December last, it is
impossible to effect the exchange of ratifications of that and the
postal convention of the same date within the period assigned by those
instruments.

I recommend, therefore, the passage of a resolution at the earliest
practicable moment extending the time specified in the eighth article of
the extradition treaty and in the twelfth article of the postal
convention for the exchange of ratifications for sixty days from and
after the 11th June next, the date of the expiration of the period named
for that purpose in both instruments.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, D.C., _April 15, 1862_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith, for the consideration and such constitutional
action as the Senate may deem proper to take, a treaty negotiated on the
6th March, 1861, between late Agent Vanderslice, on the part of the
United States, and certain delegates of the Sac and Fox of the Missouri
and the Iowa tribes of Indians; also certain petitions of said tribes,
praying that the treaty may be ratified with an amendment as set forth
in said petitions. A letter of the Secretary of the Interior, with a
report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs and letter of the present
agent of the Indians, accompany the treaty and petitions.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



APRIL 16, 1862.

_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives_:

The act entitled "An act for the release of certain persons held to
service or labor in the District of Columbia" has this day been approved
and signed.

I have never doubted the constitutional authority of Congress to abolish
slavery in this District, and I have ever desired to see the national
capital freed from the institution in some satisfactory way. Hence there
has never been in my mind any question upon the subject except the one
of expediency, arising in view of all the circumstances. If there be
matters within and about this act which might have taken a course or
shape more satisfactory to my judgment, I do not attempt to specify
them. I am gratified that the two principles of compensation and
colonization are both recognized and practically applied in the act.

In the matter of compensation, it is provided that claims may be
presented within ninety days from the passage of the act, "but not
thereafter;" and there is no saving for minors, femes covert, insane or
absent persons. I presume this is an omission by mere oversight, and I
recommend that it be supplied by an amendatory or supplemental act.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _April 18, 1862_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit to Congress a copy of a correspondence between the Secretary
of State and Benjamin E. Brewster, of Philadelphia, relative to the
arrest in that city of Simon Cameron, late Secretary of War, at the suit
of Pierce Butler, for trespass _vi et armis_, assault and battery, and
false imprisonment.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, April 24, 1862_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In obedience to your resolution of the 17th instant, I herewith
communicate the testimony and judgment of the recent naval court of
inquiry in the case of Lieutenant Charles E. Fleming, of the United
States Navy; also the testimony and finding of the naval retiring board
in the case of the said Lieutenant Fleming.

I have the honor to state that the judgment and finding aforesaid have
not been approved by me.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _April 26, 1862_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

In compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the
24th of February last, requesting information in regard to insurgent
privateers in foreign ports, I transmit a report from the Secretary of
State and the documents by which it was accompanied.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, May 1, 1862_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In answer to the resolution of the Senate in relation to
Brigadier-General Stone, I have the honor to state that he was arrested
and imprisoned under my general authority, and upon evidence which,
whether he be guilty or innocent, required, as appears to me, such
proceedings to be had against him for the public safety. I deem it
incompatible with the public interest, as also, perhaps, unjust to
General Stone, to make a more particular statement of the evidence.

He has not been tried because in the state of military operations at the
time of his arrest and since the officers to constitute a court-martial
and for witnesses could not be withdrawn from duty without serious
injury to the service. He will be allowed a trial without any
unnecessary delay, the charges and specifications will be furnished him
in due season, and every facility for his defense will be afforded him
by the War Department.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, May 1, 1862_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In accordance with the suggestion of the Secretary of the Treasury
contained in the accompanying letter, I have the honor to transmit the
inclosed petition and report thereon of the Third Auditor for the
consideration of Congress.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, D.C., _May 14, 1862_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

The third section of the "Act further to promote the efficiency of the
Navy," approved 21st of December, 1861, provides--


  That the President of the United States, by and with the advice and
  consent of the Senate, shall have the authority to detail from the
  retired list of the Navy for the command of squadrons and single ships
  such officers as he may believe that the good of the service requires
  to be thus placed in command; and such officers may, if upon the
  recommendation of the President of the United States they shall receive
  a vote of thanks of Congress for their services and gallantry in action
  against an enemy, be restored to the active list, and not otherwise.


In conformity with this law, Captain David G. Farragut was nominated to
the Senate for continuance as the flag-officer in command of the
squadron which recently rendered such important service to the Union by
his successful operations on the Lower Mississippi and capture of New
Orleans.

Believing that no occasion could arise which would more fully correspond
with the intention of the law or be more pregnant with happy influence
as an example, I cordially recommend that Captain D.G. Farragut receive
a vote of thanks of Congress for his services and gallantry displayed in
the capture since 21st December, 1861, of Forts Jackson and St. Philip,
city of New Orleans, and the destruction of various rebel gunboats,
rams, etc.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, D.C., _May 14, 1862_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I submit herewith a list of naval officers who commanded vessels engaged
in the recent brilliant operations of the squadron commanded by
Flag-Officer Farragut, which led to the capture of Forts Jackson and St.
Philip, city of New Orleans, and the destruction of rebel gunboats,
rams, etc., in April, 1862. For their services and gallantry on those
occasions I cordially recommend that they should by name receive a vote
of thanks of Congress.

LIST.

  Captain Theodorus Bailey.
  Captain Henry W. Morris.
  Captain Thomas T. Craven.
  Commander Henry H. Bell.
  Commander Samuel Phillips Lee.
  Commander Samuel Swartwout.
  Commander Melancton Smith.
  Commander Charles Stewart Boggs.
  Commander John De Camp.
  Commander James Alden.
  Commander David D. Porter.
  Commander Richard Wainwright.
  Commander William B. Renshaw.
  Lieutenant Commanding Abram D. Harrell.
  Lieutenant Commanding Edward Donaldson.
  Lieutenant Commanding George H. Preble.
  Lieutenant Commanding Edward T. Nichols.
  Lieutenant Commanding Jonathan M. Wainwright.
  Lieutenant Commanding John Guest.
  Lieutenant Commanding Charles H.B. Caldwell.
  Lieutenant Commanding Napoleon B. Harrison.
  Lieutenant Commanding Albert N. Smith.
  Lieutenant Commanding Pierce Crosby.
  Lieutenant Commanding George M. Ransom.
  Lieutenant Commanding Watson Smith.
  Lieutenant Commanding John H. Russell.
  Lieutenant Commanding Walter W. Queen.
  Lieutenant Commanding K. Randolph Breese.
  Acting Lieutenant Commanding Selim E. Woodworth.
  Acting Lieutenant Commanding Charles H. Baldwin.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE OFFICE, _May, 1862_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith, for the constitutional action of the Senate, a
treaty negotiated on the 13th of March, 1862, between H.W. Farnsworth,
a commissioner on the part of the United States, and the authorized
representatives of the Kansas tribe of Indians.

A communication from the Secretary of the Interior, together with
a letter of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, suggesting certain
amendments to the treaty and inclosing papers relating thereto, are
also transmitted.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _May 21, 1862_.

_To the Senate_:

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 14th instant,
requesting information in regard to arrests in the State of Kentucky, I
transmit a report from the Secretary of War, to whom the resolution was
referred.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _May 22, 1862_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

In compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the
20th instant, requesting information in regard to the indemnity obtained
by the consul-general of the United States at Alexandria, Egypt, for the
maltreatment of Faris-El-Hakim, an agent in the employ of the American
missionaries in that country, I transmit a report from the Secretary of
State and the documents by which it was accompanied.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _May 23, 1862_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I transmit a report from the Secretary of State, in answer to the
resolution of the House of Representatives of the 22d instant, calling
for further correspondence relative to Mexican affairs.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

[The same message was sent to the Senate, in answer to a resolution
of that body.]



WASHINGTON, _May 26, 1862_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

The insurrection which is yet existing in the United States and
aims at the overthrow of the Federal Constitution and the Union was
clandestinely prepared during the winter of 1860 and 1861, and assumed
an open organization in the form of a treasonable provisional government
at Montgomery, in Alabama, on the 18th day of February, 1861. On the
12th day of April, 1861, the insurgents committed the flagrant act of
civil war by the bombardment and capture of Fort Sumter, which cut off
the hope of immediate conciliation. Immediately afterwards all the roads
and avenues to this city were obstructed, and the capital was put into
the condition of a siege. The mails in every direction were stopped, and
the lines of telegraph cut off by the insurgents, and military and naval
forces which had been called out by the Government for the defense of
Washington were prevented from reaching the city by organized and
combined treasonable resistance in the State of Maryland. There was no
adequate and effective organization for the public defense. Congress had
indefinitely adjourned. There was no time to convene them. It became
necessary for me to choose whether, using only the existing means,
agencies, and processes which Congress had provided, I should let the
Government fall at once into ruin or whether, availing myself of the
broader powers conferred by the Constitution in cases of insurrection,
I would make an effort to save it, with all its blessings, for the
present age and for posterity.

I thereupon summoned my constitutional advisers, the heads of all the
Departments, to meet on Sunday, the 20th day of April, 1861, at the
office of the Navy Department, and then and there, with their unanimous
concurrence, I directed that an armed revenue cutter should proceed to
sea to afford protection to the commercial marine, and especially the
California treasure ships then on their way to this coast. I also
directed the commandant of the navy-yard at Boston to purchase or
charter and arm as quickly as possible five steamships for purposes
of public defense. I directed the commandant of the navy-yard at
Philadelphia to purchase or charter and arm an equal number for the same
purpose. I directed the commandant at New York to purchase or charter
and arm an equal number. I directed Commander Gillis to purchase or
charter and arm and put to sea two other vessels. Similar directions
were given to Commodore Du Pont, with a view to the opening of passages
by water to and from the capital. I directed the several officers to
take the advice and obtain the aid and efficient services in the matter
of His Excellency Edwin D. Morgan, the governor of New York, or in his
absence George D. Morgan, William M. Evarts, R.M. Blatchford, and Moses
H. Grinnell, who were by my directions especially empowered by the
Secretary of the Navy to act for his Department in that crisis in
matters pertaining to the forwarding of troops and supplies for the
public defense.

On the same occasion I directed that Governor Morgan and Alexander
Cummings, of the city of New York, should be authorized by the Secretary
of War, Simon Cameron, to make all necessary arrangements for the
transportation of troops and munitions of war, in aid and assistance of
the officers of the Army of the United States, until communication by
mails and telegraph should be completely reestablished between the
cities of Washington and New York. No security was required to be given
by them, and either of them was authorized to act in case of inability
to consult with the other.

On the same occasion I authorized and directed the Secretary of the
Treasury to advance, without requiring security, $2,000,000 of public
money to John A. Dix, George Opdyke, and Richard M. Blatchford, of New
York, to be used by them in meeting such requisitions as should be
directly consequent upon the military and naval measures necessary for
the defense and support of the Government, requiring them only to act
without compensation and to report their transactions when duly called
upon. The several Departments of the Government at that time contained
so large a number of disloyal persons that it would have been impossible
to provide safely through official agents only for the performance of
the duties thus confided to citizens favorably known for their ability,
loyalty, and patriotism.

The several orders issued upon these occurrences were transmitted by
private messengers, who pursued a circuitous way to the seaboard cities,
inland across the States of Pennsylvania and Ohio and the northern
lakes. I believe that by these and other similar measures taken in that
crisis, some of which were without any authority of law, the Government
was saved from overthrow. I am not aware that a dollar of the public
funds thus confided without authority of law to unofficial persons was
either lost or wasted, although apprehensions of such misdirection
occurred to me as objections to those extraordinary proceedings, and
were necessarily overruled.

I recall these transactions now because my attention has been directed
to a resolution which was passed by the House of Representatives on the
30th day of last month, which is in these words:

  _Resolved_, That Simon Cameron, late Secretary of War, by investing
  Alexander Cummings with the control of large sums of the public money
  and authority to purchase military supplies without restriction, without
  requiring from him any guaranty for the faithful performance of his
  duties, when the services of competent public officers were available,
  and by involving the Government in a vast number of contracts with
  persons not legitimately engaged in the business pertaining to the
  subject-matter of such contracts, especially in the purchase of arms
  for future delivery, has adopted a policy highly injurious to the
  public service, and deserves the censure of the House.


Congress will see that I should be wanting equally in candor and in
justice if I should leave the censure expressed in this resolution to
rest exclusively or chiefly upon Mr. Cameron. The same sentiment is
unanimously entertained by the heads of Departments who participated
in the proceedings which the House of Representatives has censured.
It is due to Mr. Cameron to say that although he fully approved the
proceedings they were not moved nor suggested by himself, and that not
only the President, but all the other heads of Departments, were at
least equally responsible with him for whatever error, wrong, or fault
was committed in the premises.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _May 30, 1862_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to
ratification, a treaty of amity, commerce, consular privileges, and
extradition between the United States and the Republic of Salvador,
signed in this city on the 29th instant. It is believed that though
this instrument contains no stipulation which may not be found in some
subsisting treaty between the United States and foreign powers, it will
prove to be mutually advantageous. Several of the Republics of this
hemisphere, among which is Salvador, are alarmed at a supposed sentiment
tending to reactionary movements against republican institutions on this
continent. It seems, therefore, to be proper that we should show to
any of them who may apply for that purpose that, compatibly with our
cardinal policy and with an enlightened view of our own interests, we
are willing to encourage them by strengthening our ties of good will
and good neighborhood with them.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _June 4, 1862_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 29th ultimo,
adopted in executive session, requesting information in regard to
the claims of citizens of the United States on Paraguay and the
correspondence relating thereto, I transmit a report from the Secretary
of State and the documents by which it was accompanied.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _June 4, 1862_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a report of the Secretary of War, in answer to
the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 2d of June, in
relation to the authority and action of the Hon. Edward Stanly, military
governor of North Carolina.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _June 10, 1862_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit to Congress a copy of a treaty for the suppression of the
African slave trade, between the United States and Her Britannic
Majesty, signed in this city on the 7th of April last, and the
ratifications of which were exchanged at London on the 20th ultimo.

A copy of the correspondence which preceded the conclusion of the
instrument between the Secretary of State and Lord Lyons, Her Britannic
Majesty's envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, is also
herewith transmitted.

It is desirable that such legislation as may be necessary to carry the
treaty into effect should be enacted as soon as may comport with the
convenience of Congress.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, June 12, 1862_.

_To the Honorable House of Representatives_:

In obedience to the resolution of your honorable body of the 9th
instant, requesting certain information in regard to the circuit court
of the United States for the State of California, and the judge of said
court, I have the honor to transmit a letter of the Attorney-General,
with copies of two other letters and of an indorsement of my own upon
one of them; all which, taken together, contain all the information
within my power to give upon the subject.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, June 13, 1862_.

_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I herewith transmit a memorial addressed and presented to me in behalf
of the State of New York in favor of enlarging the locks of the Erie and
Oswego Canal. While I have not given nor have leisure to give the
subject a careful examination, its great importance is obvious and
unquestionable. The large amount of valuable statistical information
which is collated and presented in the memorial will greatly facilitate
the mature consideration of the subject, which I respectfully ask for it
at your hands.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington City, June 17, 1862_.

_The Speaker of the House of Representatives_:

The resolution of the House of Representatives of the 9th instant,
asking whether any legislation is necessary in order to give effect to
the provisions of the act of April 16, 1862, providing for the
reorganization of the Medical Department of the Army, was referred to
the Secretary of War, whose report thereon is herewith communicated.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _June 23, 1862_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

On the 7th day of December, 1861, I submitted to the Senate the project
of a treaty between the United States and Mexico which had been proposed
to me by Mr. Corwin, our minister to Mexico, and respectfully requested
the advice of the Senate thereupon.

On the 25th day of February last a resolution was adopted by the Senate
to the effect "that it is not advisable to negotiate a treaty that will
require the United States to assume any portion of the principal or
interest of the debt of Mexico, or that will require the concurrence of
European powers."

This resolution having been duly communicated to me, notice thereof was
immediately given by the Secretary of State to Mr. Corwin, and he was
informed that he was to consider his instructions upon the subject
referred to modified by this resolution and would govern his course
accordingly. That dispatch failed to reach Mr. Corwin, by reason of the
disturbed condition of Mexico, until a very recent date, Mr. Corwin
being without instructions, or thus practically left without
instructions, to negotiate further with Mexico.

In view of the very important events occurring there, he has thought
that the interests of the United States would be promoted by the
conclusion of two treaties which should provide for a loan to that
Republic. He has therefore signed such treaties, and they having been
duly ratified by the Government of Mexico he has transmitted them to me
for my consideration. The action of the Senate is of course conclusive
against an acceptance of the treaties on my part. I have, nevertheless,
thought it just to our excellent minister in Mexico and respectful to
the Government of that Republic to lay the treaties before the Senate,
together with the correspondence which has occurred in relation to them.
In performing this duty I have only to add that the importance of the
subject thus submitted to the Senate can not be overestimated, and I
shall cheerfully receive and consider with the highest respect any
further advice the Senate may think proper to give upon the subject.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, June 26, 1862_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

The accompanying treaty, made and concluded at the city of Washington on
the 24th day of June, 1862, between the United States and the united
bands of the Ottawa Indians of Blanchards Fork and of Roche de Boeuf, in
Kansas, is transmitted for the consideration and constitutional action
of the Senate, agreeably to recommendation of inclosed letter from the
Secretary of the Interior of this date.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _July 1, 1862_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I most cordially recommend that Captain Andrew H. Foote, of the United
States Navy, receive a vote of thanks of Congress for his eminent
services in organizing the flotilla on the Western waters, and for his
gallantry at Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, Island No. 10, and at various
other places, whilst in command of the naval forces, embracing a period
of nearly ten months.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, D.C., _July 5, 1862_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith, for the constitutional action of the Senate
thereon, a treaty negotiated in this city on the 3d instant with the Sac
and Fox Indians of the Mississippi.

Letters from the Secretary of the Interior and Commissioner of Indian
Affairs accompany the treaty.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _July 9, 1862_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, for consideration with a view to ratification,
a postal convention with Costa Rica, concluded at San Jose on the 9th
June last.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, D.C., _July 11, 1862_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, for its constitutional action thereon, a
treaty negotiated at the Kickapoo Agency on the 28th of June, 1862,
between Charles B. Keith, commissioner on the part of the United States,
and the chiefs, headmen, and delegates of the Kickapoo Indians of
Kansas.

A letter of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs of the 10th instant is
also transmitted, suggesting amendments to the treaty for the
consideration of the Senate.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, D.C., _July 11, 1862_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I recommend that the thanks of Congress be given to the following
officers of the United States Navy:

Captain James L. Lardner, for meritorious conduct at the battle of Port
Royal and distinguished services on the coast of the United States
against the enemy.

Captain Charles Henry Davis, for distinguished services in conflict with
the enemy at Fort Pillow, at Memphis, and for successful operations at
other points in the waters of the Mississippi River.

Commander John A. Dahlgren, for distinguished services in the line of
his profession, improvements in ordnance, and zealous and efficient
labors in the ordnance branch of the service.

Commander Stephen C. Rowan, for distinguished services in the waters of
North Carolina, and particularly in the capture of Newbern, being in
chief command of the naval forces.

Commander David D. Porter, for distinguished services in the conception
and preparation of the means used for the capture of the forts below New
Orleans, and for highly meritorious conduct in the management of the
mortar flotilla during the bombardment of Forts Jackson and St. Philip.

Captain Silas H. Stringham, now on the retired list, for distinguished
services in the capture of Forts Hatteras and Clark.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _July 12, 1862_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I transmit a report of the Secretary of State upon the subject of the
resolution of the House of Representatives of the 9th ultimo, requesting
information in regard to the relations between the United States and
foreign powers.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, D.C., _July 14, 1862_.

_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives_:

Herewith is a draft of a bill to compensate any State which may abolish
slavery within its limits, the passage of which substantially as
presented I respectfully and earnestly recommend.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

  _Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
  States of America in Congress assembled_, That whenever the President of
  the United States shall be satisfied that any State shall have lawfully
  abolished slavery within and throughout such State, either immediately
  or gradually, it shall be the duty of the President, assisted by the
  Secretary of the Treasury, to prepare and deliver to such State an
  amount of 6 per cent interest-bearing bonds of the United States equal
  to the aggregate value at $---- per head of all the slaves within such
  State as reported by the census of the year 1860; the whole amount for
  any one State to be delivered at once if the abolishment be immediate,
  or in equal annual installments if it be gradual, interest to begin
  running on each bond at the time of its delivery, and not before.

  _And be it further enacted_, That if any State, having so received any
  such bonds, shall at any time afterwards by law reintroduce or tolerate
  slavery within its limits contrary to the act of abolishment upon which
  such bonds shall have been received, said bonds so received by said
  State shall at once be null and void, in whosesoever hands they may be,
  and such State shall refund to the United States all interest which may
  have been paid on such bonds.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, July 15, 1862_.

Hon. SOLOMON FOOT,
  _President pro tempore of the Senate_.

SIR: Please inform the Senate that I shall be obliged if they will
postpone the adjournment at least one day beyond the time which I
understand to be now fixed for it.

Your obedient servant,

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

[The same message was addressed to Hon. Calusha A. Crow, Speaker of the
House of Representatives.]



JULY 17, 1862.

_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives_:

Considering the bill for "An act to suppress insurrection, to punish
treason and rebellion, to seize and confiscate the property of rebels,
and for other purposes," and the joint resolution explanatory of said
act as being substantially one, I have approved and signed both.

Before I was informed of the passage of the resolution I had prepared
the draft of a message stating objections to the bill becoming a law,
a copy of which draft is herewith transmitted.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.


  _Fellow-Citizens of the House of Representatives_:

  I herewith return to your honorable body, in which it originated, the
  bill for an act entitled "An act to suppress treason and rebellion, to
  seize and confiscate the property of rebels, and for other purposes,"
  together with my objections to its becoming a law.

  There is much in the bill to which I perceive no objection. It is wholly
  prospective, and touches neither person nor property of any loyal
  citizen, in which particulars it is just and proper. The first and
  second sections provide for the conviction and punishment of persons who
  shall be guilty of treason and persons who shall "incite, set on foot,
  assist, or engage in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority
  of the United States or the laws thereof, or shall give aid and comfort
  thereto, or shall engage in or give aid and comfort to any such existing
  rebellion or insurrection." By fair construction persons within these
  sections are not to be punished without regular trials in duly
  constituted courts, under the forms and all the substantial provisions
  of law and of the Constitution applicable to their several cases. To
  this I perceive no objection, especially as such persons would be within
  the general pardoning power and also the special provision for pardon
  and amnesty contained in this act.

  It is also provided that the slaves of persons convicted under these
  sections shall be free. I think there is an unfortunate form of
  expression rather than a substantial objection in this. It is startling
  to say that Congress can free a slave within a State, and yet if it were
  said the ownership of the slave had first been transferred to the nation
  and that Congress had then liberated him the difficulty would at once
  vanish. And this is the real case. The traitor against the General
  Government forfeits his slave at least as justly as he does any other
  property, and he forfeits both to the Government against which he
  offends. The Government, so far as there can be ownership, thus owns the
  forfeited slaves, and the question for Congress in regard to them is,
  "Shall they be made free or be sold to new masters?" I perceive no
  objection to Congress deciding in advance that they shall be free. To
  the high honor of Kentucky, as I am informed, she has been the owner of
  some slaves by escheat and has sold none, but liberated all. I hope the
  same is true of some other States. Indeed I do not believe it would be
  physically possible for the General Government to return persons so
  circumstanced to actual slavery. I believe there would be physical
  resistance to it which could neither be turned aside by argument nor
  driven away by force. In this view I have no objection to this feature
  of the bill. Another matter involved in these two sections, and running
  through other parts of the act, will be noticed hereafter.

  I perceive no objection to the third and fourth sections.

  So far as I wish to notice the fifth and sixth sections, they may be
  considered together. That the enforcement of these sections would do no
  injustice to the persons embraced within them is clear. That those who
  make a causeless war should be compelled to pay the cost of it is too
  obviously just to be called in question. To give governmental protection
  to the property of persons who have abandoned it and gone on a crusade
  to overthrow that same government is absurd if considered in the mere
  light of justice. The severest justice may not always be the best
  policy. The principle of seizing and appropriating the property of the
  persons embraced within these sections is certainly not very
  objectionable, but a justly discriminating application of it would be
  very difficult, and to a great extent impossible. And would it not be
  wise to place a power of remission somewhere, so that these persons may
  know they have something to lose by persisting and something to save by
  desisting? I am not sure whether such power of remission is or is not
  within section 13.

  Without any special act of Congress, I think our military commanders,
  when, in military phrase, "they are within the enemy's country," should
  in an orderly manner seize and use whatever of real or personal property
  may be necessary or convenient for their commands, at the same time
  preserving in some way the evidence of what they do.

  What I have said in regard to slaves while commenting on the first and
  second sections is applicable to the ninth, with the difference that no
  provision is made in the whole act for determining whether a particular
  individual slave does or does not fall within the classes defined in
  that section. He is to be free upon certain conditions, but whether
  those conditions do or do not pertain to him no mode of ascertaining is
  provided. This could be easily supplied.

  To the tenth section I make no objection. The oath therein required
  seems to be proper, and the remainder of the section is substantially
  identical with a law already existing.

  The eleventh section simply assumes to confer discretionary powers upon
  the Executive. Without the law I have no hesitation to go as far in the
  direction indicated as I may at any time deem expedient. And I am ready
  to say now, I think it is proper for our military commanders to employ
  as laborers as many persons of African descent as can be used to
  advantage.

  The twelfth and thirteenth sections are somewhat better than
  objectionable, and the fourteenth is entirely proper if all other parts
  of the act shall stand.

  That to which I chiefly object pervades most parts of the act, but more
  distinctly appears in the first, second, seventh, and eighth sections.
  It is the sum of those provisions which results in the divesting of
  title forever. For the causes of treason and the ingredients of treason
  not amounting to the full crime it declares forfeiture extending beyond
  the lives of the guilty parties, whereas the Constitution of the United
  States declares that "no attainder of treason shall work corruption of
  blood, or forfeiture except during the life of the person attainted."
  True, there seems to be no formal attainder in this case; still, I think
  the greater punishment can not be constitutionally inflicted in a
  different form for the same offense. With great respect I am constrained
  to say I think this feature of the act is unconstitutional. It would not
  be difficult to modify it.

  I may remark that this provision of the Constitution, put in language
  borrowed from Great Britain, applies only in this country to real or
  landed estate.

  Again, this act, by proceedings _in rem_, forfeits property for the
  ingredients of treason without a conviction of the supposed criminal or
  a personal hearing given him in any proceeding. That we may not touch
  property lying within our reach because we can not give personal notice
  to an owner who is absent endeavoring to destroy the Government is
  certainly not very satisfactory. Still, the owner may not be thus
  engaged; and I think a reasonable time should be provided for such
  parties to appear and have personal hearings. Similar provisions are not
  uncommon in connection with proceedings _in rem_.

  For the reasons stated, I return the bill to the House, in which it
  originated.



JULY 17, 1862.

_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I have inadvertently omitted so long to inform you that in March last
Mr. Cornelius Vanderbilt, of New York, gratuitously presented to the
United States the ocean steamer _Vanderbilt_, by many esteemed the
finest merchant ship in the world. She has ever since been and still is
doing valuable service to the Government. For the patriotic act in
making this magnificent and valuable present to the country, I recommend
that some suitable acknowledgment be made.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.




VETO MESSAGES.


JUNE 23, 1862.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

The bill which has passed the House of Representatives and the Senate
entitled "An act to repeal that part of an act of Congress which prohibits
the circulation of bank notes of a less denomination than $5 in the
District of Columbia" has received my attentive consideration, and I
now return it to the Senate, in which it originated, with the following
objections:

1. The bill proposes to repeal the existing legislation prohibiting the
circulation of bank notes of a less denomination than $5 within the
District of Columbia without permitting the issuing of such bills by
banks not now legally authorized to issue them. In my judgment it will
be found impracticable in the present condition of the currency to make
such a discrimination. The banks have generally suspended specie
payments, and a legal sanction given to the circulation of the
irredeemable notes of one class of them will almost certainly be so
extended in practical operation as to include those of all classes,
whether authorized or unauthorized. If this view be correct, the
currency of the District, should this act become a law, will certainly
and greatly deteriorate, to the serious injury of honest trade and
honest labor.

2. This bill seems to contemplate no end which can not be otherwise more
certainly and beneficially attained. During the existing war it is
peculiarly the duty of the National Government to secure to the people a
sound circulating medium. This duty has been under existing
circumstances satisfactorily performed, in part at least, by authorizing
the issue of United States notes, receivable for all Government dues
except customs, and made a legal tender for all debts, public and
private, except interest on public debt. The object of the bill
submitted to me, namely, that of providing a small-note currency during
the present suspension, can be fully accomplished by authorizing the
issue, as part of any new emission of United States notes made necessary
by the circumstances of the country, of notes of a similar character but
of less denomination than $5. Such an issue would answer all the
beneficial purposes of the bill, would save a considerable amount to the
Treasury in interest, would greatly facilitate payments to soldiers and
other creditors of small sums, and would furnish to the people a
currency as safe as their own Government.

Entertaining these objections to the bill, I feel myself constrained to
withhold from it my approval and return it for the further consideration
and action of Congress.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_July 2, 1862_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I herewith return to your honorable body, in which it originated, an act
entitled "An act to provide for additional medical officers of the
volunteer service," without my approval.

My reason for so doing is that I have approved an act of the same title
passed by Congress after the passage of the one first mentioned for the
express purpose of correcting errors in and superseding the same, as I
am informed.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.




PROCLAMATIONS.


BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

It is recommended to the people of the United States that they assemble
in their customary places of meeting for public solemnities on the 22d
day of February instant and celebrate the anniversary of the birth of
the Father of his Country by causing to be read to them his immortal
Farewell Address.

Given under my hand and the seal of the United States, at Washington,
the 19th day of February, A.D. 1862, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the eighty-sixth.

[SEAL.]

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

It has pleased Almighty God to vouchsafe signal victories to the land
and naval forces engaged in suppressing an internal rebellion, and at
the same time to avert from our country the dangers of foreign
intervention and invasion.

It is therefore recommended to the people of the United States that at
their next weekly assemblages in their accustomed places of public
worship which shall occur after notice of this proclamation shall have
been received they especially acknowledge and render thanks to our
Heavenly Father for these inestimable blessings, that they then and
there implore spiritual consolation in behalf of all who have been
brought into affliction by the casualties and calamities of sedition and
civil war, and that they reverently invoke the divine guidance for our
national counsels, to the end that they may speedily result in the
restoration of peace, harmony, and unity throughout our borders and
hasten the establishment of fraternal relations among all the countries
of the earth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 10th day of April, A.D. 1862, and
of the Independence of the United States the eighty sixth.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas by my proclamation of the 19th of April, 1861, it was declared
that the ports of certain States, including those of Beaufort, in the
State of North Carolina; Port Royal, in the State of South Carolina; and
New Orleans, in the State of Louisiana, were, for reasons therein set
forth, intended to be placed under blockade; and

Whereas the said ports of Beaufort, Port Royal, and New Orleans have
since been blockaded; but as the blockade of the same ports may now be
safely relaxed with advantage to the interests of commerce:

Now, therefore, be it known that I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the
United States, pursuant to the authority in me vested by the fifth
section of the act of Congress approved on the 13th of July last,
entitled "An act further to provide for the collection of duties on
imports, and for other purposes," do hereby declare that the blockade of
the said ports of Beaufort, Port Royal, and New Orleans shall so far
cease and determine, from and after the 1st day of June next, that
commercial intercourse with those ports, except as to persons, things,
and information contraband of war, may from that time be carried on
subject to the laws of the United States and to the limitations and in
pursuance of the regulations which are prescribed by the Secretary of
the Treasury in his order of this date, which is appended to this
proclamation.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 12th day of May, A.D. 1862, and of
the Independence of the United States the eighty-sixth.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



REGULATIONS RELATING TO TRADE WITH PORTS OPENED BY PROCLAMATION.

Treasury Department, _May 12, 1862_.

1. To vessels clearing from foreign ports and destined to ports opened
by the proclamation of the President of the United States of this date,
namely, Beaufort, in North Carolina; Port Royal, in South Carolina, and
New Orleans, in Louisiana, licenses will be granted by consuls of the
United States upon satisfactory evidence that the vessels so licensed
will convey no persons, property, or information contraband of war
either to or from the said ports, which licenses shall be exhibited to
the collector of the port to which said vessels may be respectively
bound immediately on arrival, and, if required, to any officer in charge
of the blockade; and on leaving either of said ports every vessel will
be required to have a clearance from the collector of the customs,
according to law, showing no violation of the conditions of the license.
Any violation of said conditions will involve the forfeiture and
condemnation of the vessel and cargo and the exclusion of all parties
concerned from any further privilege of entering the United States
during the war for any purpose whatever.

2. To vessels of the United States clearing coastwise for the ports
aforesaid licenses can only be obtained from the Treasury Department.

3. In all other respects the existing blockade remains in full force and
effect as hitherto established and maintained, nor is it relaxed by the
proclamation except in regard to the ports to which the relaxation is by
that instrument expressly applied.

S.P. CHASE,

_Secretary of the Treasury_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas there appears in the public prints what purports to be a
proclamation of Major-General Hunter, in the words and figures
following, to wit:

  HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH,
    _Hilton Head, S.C., May 9, 1862_.

  _General Orders, No. 11_.--The three States of Georgia, Florida, and
  South Carolina, comprising the Military Department of the South, having
  deliberately declared themselves no longer under the protection of the
  United States of America, and having taken up arms against the said
  United States, it becomes a military necessity to declare them under
  martial law. This was accordingly done on the 25th day of April, 1862.
  Slavery and martial law in a free country are altogether incompatible;
  the persons in these three States--Georgia, Florida, and South
  Carolina--heretofore held as slaves are therefore declared forever free.

  DAVID HUNTER,
  _Major-General Commanding_.

  Official:

  ED. W. SMITH,
  _Acting Assistant Adjutant-General_.


And whereas the same is producing some excitement and misunderstanding:

Therefore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, proclaim
and declare that the Government of the United States had no knowledge,
information, or belief of an intention on the part of General Hunter to
issue such a proclamation, nor has it yet any authentic information that
the document is genuine; and, further, that neither General Hunter nor
any other commander or person has been authorized by the Government of
the United States to make proclamations declaring the slaves of any
State free, and that the supposed proclamation now in question, whether
genuine or false, is altogether void so far as respects such
declaration.

I further make known that whether it be competent for me, as Commander
in Chief of the Army and Navy, to declare the slaves of any State or
States free, and whether at any time, in any case, it shall have become
a necessity indispensable to the maintenance of the Government to
exercise such supposed power, are questions which, under my
responsibility, I reserve to myself, and which I can not feel justified
in leaving to the decision of commanders in the field. These are totally
different questions from those of police regulations in armies and
camps.

On the 6th day of March last, by a special message, I recommended to
Congress the adoption of a joint resolution to be substantially as
follows:

_Resolved_, That the United States ought to cooperate with any State
which may adopt a gradual abolishment of slavery, giving to such State
pecuniary aid, to be used by such State, in its discretion, to
compensate for the inconveniences, public and private, produced by such
change of system.

The resolution, in the language above quoted, was adopted by large
majorities in both branches of Congress, and now stands an authentic,
definite, and solemn proposal of the nation to the States and people
most immediately interested in the subject-matter. To the people of
those States I now earnestly appeal--I do not argue; I beseech you to
make the arguments for yourselves; you can not, if you would, be blind
to the signs of the times. I beg of you a calm and enlarged
consideration of them, ranging, if it may be, far above personal and
partisan politics. This proposal makes common cause for a common object,
casting no reproaches upon any. It acts not the Pharisee. The change it
contemplates would come gently as the dews of heaven, not rending or
wrecking anything. Will you not embrace it? So much good has not been
done by one effort in all past time as, in the providence of God, it is
now your high privilege to do. May the vast future not have to lament
that you have neglected it.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal
of the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 19th day of May, A.D. 1862, and of
the Independence of the United States the eighty-sixth.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas in and by the second section of an act of Congress passed on the
7th day of June, A.D. 1862, entitled "An act for the collection of
direct taxes in insurrectionary districts within the United States, and
for other purposes," it is made the duty of the President to declare, on
or before the 1st day of July then next following, by his proclamation,
in what States and parts of States insurrection exists:

Now, therefore, be it known that I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the
United States of America, do hereby declare and proclaim that the States
of South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas,
Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina, and the State of
Virginia except the following counties--Hancock, Brooke, Ohio, Marshall,
Wetzel, Marion, Monongalia, Preston, Taylor, Pleasants, Tyler, Ritchie,
Doddridge, Harrison, Wood, Jackson, Wirt, Roane, Calhoun, Gilmer,
Barbour, Tucker, Lewis, Braxton, Upshur, Randolph, Mason, Putnam,
Kanawha, Clay, Nicholas, Cabell, Wayne, Boone, Logan, Wyoming, Webster,
Fayette, and Raleigh--are now in insurrection and rebellion, and by
reason thereof the civil authority of the United States is obstructed so
that the provisions of the "Act to provide increased revenue from
imports, to pay the interest on the public debt, and for other
purposes," approved August 5, 1861, can not be peaceably executed; and
that the taxes legally chargeable upon real estate under the act last
aforesaid lying within the States and parts of States as aforesaid,
together with a penalty of 50 _per centum_ of said taxes, shall be a
lien upon the tracts or lots of the same, severally charged, till paid.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 1st day of July, A.D. 1862, and of
the Independence of the United States of America the eighty-sixth.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  F.W. SEWARD,
    _Acting Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

In pursuance of the sixth section of the act of Congress entitled "An
act to suppress insurrection and to punish treason and rebellion, to
seize and confiscate property of rebels, and for other purposes,"
approved July 17, 1862, and which act and the joint resolution
explanatory thereof are herewith published, I, Abraham Lincoln,
President of the United States, do hereby proclaim to and warn all
persons within the contemplation of said sixth section to cease
participating in, aiding, countenancing, or abetting the existing
rebellion or any rebellion against the Government of the United States
and to return to their proper allegiance to the United States on pain of
the forfeitures and seizures as within and by said sixth section
provided.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 25th day of July, A.D. 1862, and of
the Independence of the United States the eighty-seventh.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



[From Statutes at Large (Little, Brown & Co.), Vol. XII, p. 589.]

AN ACT to suppress insurrection, to punish treason and rebellion, to
seize and confiscate the property of rebels, and for other purposes.

_Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled_, That every person who shall
hereafter commit the crime of treason against the United States, and
shall be adjudged guilty thereof, shall suffer death, and all his
slaves, if any, shall be declared and made free; or, at the discretion
of the court, he shall be imprisoned for not less than five years and
fined not less than $10,000, and all his slaves, if any, shall be
declared and made free; said fine shall be levied and collected on any
or all of the property, real and personal, excluding slaves, of which
the said person so convicted was the owner at the time of committing the
said crime, any sale or conveyance to the contrary notwithstanding.

SEC. 2. _And be it further enacted_, That if any person shall hereafter
incite, set on foot, assist, or engage in any rebellion or insurrection
against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof, or shall
give aid or comfort thereto, or shall engage in or give aid and comfort
to any such existing rebellion or insurrection, and be convicted
thereof, such person shall be punished by imprisonment for a period not
exceeding ten years, or by a fine not exceeding $10,000, and by the
liberation of all his slaves, if any he have; or by both of said
punishments, at the discretion of the court.

SEC. 3. _And be it further enacted_, That every person guilty of either
of the offenses described in this act shall be forever incapable and
disqualified to hold any office under the United States.

SEC. 4. _And be it further enacted_, That this act shall not be
construed in any way to affect or alter the prosecution, conviction, or
punishment of any person or persons guilty of treason against the United
States before the passage of this act, unless such person is convicted
under this act.

SEC. 5. _And be it further enacted_, That to insure the speedy
termination of the present rebellion it shall be the duty of the
President of the United States to cause the seizure of all the estate
and property, money, stocks, credits, and effects of the persons
hereinafter named in this section, and to apply and use the same and the
proceeds thereof for the support of the Army of the United States; that
is to say:

First. Of any person hereafter acting as an officer of the army or navy
of the rebels in arms against the Government of the United States.

Secondly. Of any person hereafter acting as president, vice-president,
member of congress, judge of any court, cabinet officer, foreign
minister, commissioner, or consul of the so-called Confederate States of
America.

Thirdly. Of any person acting as governor of a State, member of a
convention or legislature, or judge of any court of any of the so-called
Confederate States of America.

Fourthly. Of any person who, having held an office of honor, trust, or
profit in the United States, shall hereafter hold an office in the
so-called Confederate States of America.

Fifthly. Of any person hereafter holding any office or agency under the
government of the so-called Confederate States of America, or under any
of the several States of the said Confederacy, or the laws thereof,
whether such office or agency be national, State, or municipal in its
name or character: _Provided_, That the persons thirdly, fourthly, and
fifthly above described shall have accepted their appointment or
election since the date of the pretended ordinance of secession of the
State, or shall have taken an oath of allegiance to or to support the
constitution of the so-called Confederate States.

Sixthly. Of any person who, owning property in any loyal State or
Territory of the United States, or in the District of Columbia, shall
hereafter assist and give aid and comfort to such rebellion; and all
sales, transfers, or conveyances of any such property shall be null and
void; and it shall be a sufficient bar to any suit brought by such
person for the possession or the use of such property, or any of it, to
allege and prove that he is one of the persons described in this
section.

SEC. 6. _And be it further enacted_, That if any person within any State
or Territory of the United States, other than those named as aforesaid,
after the passage of this act, being engaged in armed rebellion against
the Government of the United States, or aiding or abetting such
rebellion, shall not, within sixty days after public warning and
proclamation duly given and made by the President of the United States,
cease to aid, countenance, and abet such rebellion, and return to his
allegiance to the United States, all the estate and property, moneys,
stocks, and credits of such person shall be liable to seizure as
aforesaid, and it shall be the duty of the President to seize and use
them as aforesaid, or the proceeds thereof. And all sales, transfers, or
conveyances of any such property after the expiration of the said sixty
days from the date of such warning and proclamation shall be null and
void; and it shall be a sufficient bar to any suit brought by such
person for the possession or the use of such property, or any of it, to
allege and prove that he is one of the persons described in this
section.

SEC. 7. _And be it further enacted_, That to secure the condemnation and
sale of any of such property, after the same shall have been seized, so
that it may be made available for the purpose aforesaid, proceedings _in
rem_ shall be instituted in the name of the United States in any
district court thereof, or in any Territorial court, or in the United
States district court for the District of Columbia, within which the
property above described, or any part thereof, may be found, or into
which the same, if movable, may first be brought, which proceedings
shall conform as nearly as may be to proceedings in admiralty or revenue
cases; and if said property, whether real or personal, shall be found to
have belonged to a person engaged in rebellion, or who has given aid or
comfort thereto, the same shall be condemned as enemies' property and
become the property of the United States, and may be disposed of as the
court shall decree and the proceeds thereof paid into the Treasury of
the United States for the purposes aforesaid.

SEC. 8. _And be it further enacted_, That the several courts aforesaid
shall have power to make such orders, establish such forms of decree and
sale, and direct such deeds and conveyances to be executed and delivered
by the marshals thereof where real estate shall be the subject of sale
as shall fitly and efficiently effect the purposes of this act, and vest
in the purchasers of such property good and valid titles thereto. And
the said courts shall have power to allow such fees and charges of their
officers as shall be reasonable and proper in the premises.

SEC. 9. _And be it further enacted_, That all slaves of persons who
shall hereafter be engaged in rebellion against the Government of the
United States, or who shall in any way give aid or comfort thereto,
escaping from such persons and taking refuge within the lines of the
army, and all slaves captured from such persons or deserted by them and
coming under the control of the Government of the United States, and all
slaves of such persons found on [or] being within any place occupied by
rebel forces and afterwards occupied by the forces of the United States,
shall be deemed captives of war, and shall be forever free of their
servitude, and not again held as slaves.

SEC. 10. _And be it further enacted_, That no slave escaping into any
State, Territory, or the District of Columbia from any other State shall
be delivered up or in any way impeded or hindered of his liberty except
for crime or some offense against the laws, unless the person claiming
said fugitive shall first make oath that the person to whom the labor or
service of such fugitive is alleged to be due is his lawful owner and
has not borne arms against the United States in the present rebellion
nor in any way given aid and comfort thereto; and no person engaged in
the military or naval service of the United States shall, under any
pretense whatever, assume to decide on the validity of the claim of any
person to the service or labor of any other person, or surrender up any
such person to the claimant, on pain of being dismissed from the
service.

SEC. 11. _And be it further enacted_, That the President of the United
States is authorized to employ as many persons of African descent as he
may deem necessary and proper for the suppression of this rebellion, and
for this purpose he may organize and use them in such manner as he may
judge best for the public welfare.

SEC. 12. _And be it further enacted_, That the President of the United
States is hereby authorized to make provision for the transportation,
colonization, and settlement, in some tropical country beyond the limits
of the United States, of such persons of the African race, made free by
the provisions of this act, as may be willing to emigrate, having first
obtained the consent of the Government of said country to their
protection and settlement within the same, with all the rights and
privileges of freemen.

SEC. 13. _And be it further enacted_, That the President is hereby
authorized, at any time hereafter, by proclamation, to extend to persons
who may have participated in the existing rebellion in any State or part
thereof pardon and amnesty, with such exceptions and at such time and on
such conditions as he may deem expedient for the public welfare.

SEC. 14. _And be it further enacted_, That the courts of the United
States shall have full power to institute proceedings, make orders and
decrees, issue process, and do all other things necessary to carry this
act into effect.

Approved, July 17, 1862.



[From Statutes at Large (Little, Brown & Co.), Vol. XII, p. 627.]

JOINT RESOLUTION explanatory of "An act to suppress insurrection, to
punish treason and rebellion, to seize and confiscate the property of
rebels, and for other purposes."

_Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled_, That the provisions of the
third clause of the fifth section of "An act to suppress insurrection,
to punish treason and rebellion, to seize and confiscate the property of
rebels, and for other purposes" shall be so construed as not to apply to
any act or acts done prior to the passage thereof, nor to include any
member of a State legislature or judge of any State court who has not in
accepting or entering upon his office taken an oath to support the
constitution of the so-called "Confederate States of America;" nor shall
any punishment or proceedings under said act be so construed as to work
a forfeiture of the real estate of the offender beyond his natural life.

Approved, July 17, 1862.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America and
Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy thereof, do hereby proclaim and
declare that hereafter, as heretofore, the war will be prosecuted for
the object of practically restoring the constitutional relation between
the United States and each of the States and the people thereof in which
States that relation is or may be suspended or disturbed.

That it is my purpose, upon the next meeting of Congress, to again
recommend the adoption of a practical measure tendering pecuniary aid to
the free acceptance or rejection of all slave States, so called, the
people whereof may not then be in rebellion against the United States,
and which States may then have voluntarily adopted, or thereafter may
voluntarily adopt, immediate or gradual abolishment of slavery within
their respective limits; and that the effort to colonize persons of
African descent with their consent upon this continent or elsewhere,
with the previously obtained consent of the governments existing there,
will be continued.

That on the 1st day of January, A.D. 1863, all persons held as slaves
within any State or designated part of a State the people whereof shall
then be in rebellion against the United States shall be then,
thenceforward, and forever free; and the executive government of the
United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will
recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons and will do no act or
acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may
make for their actual freedom.

That the Executive will on the 1st day of January aforesaid, by
proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which
the people thereof, respectively, shall then be in rebellion against the
United States; and the fact that any State or the people thereof shall
on that day be in good faith represented in the Congress of the United
States by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the
qualified voters of such State shall have participated shall, in the
absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive
evidence that such State and the people thereof are not then in
rebellion against the United States.

That attention is hereby called to an act of Congress entitled "An act
to make an additional article of war," approved March 13, 1862, and
which act is in the words and figure following:

  _Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
  States of America in Congress assembled_, That hereafter the following
  shall be promulgated as an additional article of war for the government
  of the Army of the United States, and shall be obeyed and observed as
  such:

  ART.--. All officers or persons in the military or naval service of the
  United States are prohibited from employing any of the forces under
  their respective commands for the purpose of returning fugitives from
  service or labor who may have escaped from any persons to whom such
  service or labor is claimed to be due, and any officer who shall be
  found guilty by a court-martial of violating this article shall be
  dismissed from the service.

  SEC. 2. _And be it further enacted_, That this act shall take effect
  from and after its passage.


Also to the ninth and tenth sections of an act entitled "An act to
suppress insurrection, to punish treason and rebellion, to seize and
confiscate the property of rebels, and for other purposes," approved
July 17, 1862, and which sections are in the words and figures
following:


  SEC. 9. _And be it further enacted_, That all slaves of persons who
  shall hereafter be engaged in rebellion against the Government of the
  United States, or who shall in any way give aid or comfort thereto,
  escaping from such persons and taking refuge within the lines of the
  army, and all slaves captured from such persons or deserted by them and
  coming under the control of the Government of the United States, and all
  slaves of such persons found on [or] being within any place occupied by
  rebel forces and afterwards occupied by the forces of the United States,
  shall be deemed captives of war and shall be forever free of their
  servitude and not again held as slaves.

  SEC. 10. _And be it further enacted_, That no slave escaping into any
  State, Territory, or the District of Columbia from any other State shall
  be delivered up or in any way impeded or hindered of his liberty except
  for crime or some offense against the laws, unless the person claiming
  said fugitive shall first make oath that the person to whom the labor or
  service of such fugitive is alleged to be due is his lawful owner and
  has not borne arms against the United States in the present rebellion
  nor in any way given aid and comfort thereto; and no person engaged in
  the military or naval service of the United States shall, under any
  pretense whatever, assume to decide on the validity of the claim of any
  person to the service or labor of any other person or surrender up any
  such person to the claimant on pain of being dismissed from the service.


And I do hereby enjoin upon and order all persons engaged in the
military and naval service of the United States to observe, obey, and
enforce within their respective spheres of service the act and sections
above recited.

And the Executive will in due time recommend that all citizens of the
United States who shall have remained loyal thereto throughout the
rebellion shall, upon the restoration of the constitutional relation
between the United States and their respective States and people, if
that relation shall have been suspended or disturbed, be compensated for
all losses by acts of the United States; including the loss of slaves.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 22d day of September, A.D. 1862,
and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-seventh.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas it has become necessary to call into service not only
volunteers, but also portions of the militia of the States by draft in
order to suppress the insurrection existing in the United States, and
disloyal persons are not adequately restrained by the ordinary processes
of law from hindering this measure and from giving aid and comfort in
various ways to the insurrection:

Now, therefore, be it ordered, first, that during the existing
insurrection, and as a necessary measure for suppressing the same, all
rebels and insurgents, their aiders and abettors, within the United
States, and all persons discouraging volunteer enlistments, resisting
militia drafts, or guilty of any disloyal practice affording aid and
comfort to rebels against the authority of the United States, shall be
subject to martial law and liable to trial and punishment by
courts-martial or military commissions; second, that the writ of _habeas
corpus_ is suspended in respect to all persons arrested, or who are now
or hereafter during the rebellion shall be imprisoned in any fort, camp,
arsenal, military prison, or other place of confinement by any military
authority or by the sentence of any court-martial or military
commission.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 24th day of September, A.D. 1862,
and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-seventh.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.




EXECUTIVE ORDERS.


Major-General H.W. HALLECK

_Commanding in the Department of Missouri_.

GENERAL: As an insurrection exists in the United States and is in arms
in the State of Missouri, you are hereby authorized and empowered to
suspend the writ of _habeas corpus_ within the limits of the military
division under your command and to exercise martial law as you find it
necessary, in your discretion, to secure the public safety and the
authority of the United States.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed, at Washington, this 2d day of December,
A.D. 1861.

[SEAL.]

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



GENERAL ORDERS, NO. III.

HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY,

ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

_Washington, December 30, 1861_.

       *       *       *       *       *

Joint Resolution expressive of the recognition by Congress of the
gallant and patriotic services of the late Brigadier-General Nathaniel
Lyon and the officers and soldiers under his command at the battle of
Springfield, Mo.

  _Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
  States of America in Congress assembled_, 1. That Congress deems it just
  and proper to enter upon its records a recognition of the eminent and
  patriotic services of the late Brigadier-General Nathaniel Lyon. The
  country to whose service he devoted his life will guard and preserve his
  fame as a part of its own glory.

  2. That the thanks of Congress are hereby given to the brave officers
  and soldiers who, under the command of the late General Lyon, sustained
  the honor of the flag and achieved victory against overwhelming numbers
  at the battle of Springfield, in Missouri; and that, in order to
  commemorate an event so honorable to the country and to themselves, it
  is ordered that each regiment engaged shall be authorized to bear upon
  its colors the word "Springfield," embroidered in letters of gold. And
  the President of the United States is hereby requested to cause these
  resolutions to be read at the head of every regiment in the Army of the
  United States.


The President of the United States directs that the foregoing joint
resolution be read at the head of every regiment in the Army of the
United States.

By command of Major General McClellan:

L. THOMAS,

_Adjutant-General_.



WAR DEPARTMENT, _January 22, 1862_.

The President, Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy, has received
information of a brilliant victory by the United States forces over a
large body of armed traitors and rebels at Mill Springs, in the State of
Kentucky. He returns thanks to the gallant officers and soldiers who won
that victory, and when the official reports shall be received the
military and personal valor displayed in battle will be acknowledged and
rewarded in a fitting manner.

The courage that encountered and vanquished the greatly superior numbers
of the rebel force, pursued and attacked them in their intrenchments,
and paused not until the enemy was completely routed merits and receives
commendation.

The purpose of this war is to attack, pursue, and destroy a rebellious
enemy and to deliver the country from danger menaced by traitors.
Alacrity, daring, courageous spirit, and patriotic zeal on all occasions
and under every circumstance are expected from the Army of the United
States. In the prompt and spirited movements and daring battle of Mill
Springs the nation will realize its hopes, and the people of the United
States will rejoice to honor every soldier and officer who proves his
courage by charging with the bayonet and storming intrenchments or in
the blaze of the enemy's fire.

By order of the President:

EDWIN M. STANTON,

_Secretary of War_.



PRESIDENT'S GENERAL WAR ORDER NO. 1


EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, January 27, 1862_.

_Ordered_, That the 22d day of February, 1862, be the day for a general
movement of the land and naval forces of the United States against the
insurgent forces; that especially the army at and about Fortress Monroe,
the Army of the Potomac, the Army of Western Virginia, the army near
Munfordville, Ky., the army and flotilla at Cairo, and a naval force in
the Gulf of Mexico be ready to move on that day.

That all other forces, both land and naval, with their respective
commanders, obey existing orders for the time and be ready to obey
additional orders when duly given.

That the heads of Departments, and especially the Secretaries of War and
of the Navy, with all their subordinates, and the General in Chief, with
all other commanders and subordinates of land and naval forces, will
severally be held to their strict and full responsibilities for prompt
execution of this order.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



PRESIDENT'S SPECIAL WAR ORDER NO. 1.


EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, January 31, 1862_.

_Ordered_, that all the disposable force of the Army of the Potomac,
after providing safely for the defense of Washington, be formed into an
expedition for the immediate object of seizing and occupying a point
upon the railroad southwest ward of what is known as Manassas Junction;
all details to be in the discretion of the General in Chief, and the
expedition to move before or on the 22d day of February next.

A. LINCOLN.



WAR DEPARTMENT,

_Washington City, February 11, 1862_.

_Ordered_, That D.C. McCallum be, and he is hereby, appointed military
director and superintendent of railroads in the United States, with
authority to enter upon, take possession of, hold, and use all
railroads, engines, cars, locomotives, equipments, appendages, and
appurtenances that may be required for the transport of troops, arms,
ammunition, and military supplies of the United States, and to do and
perform all acts and things that may be necessary or proper to be done
for the safe and speedy transport aforesaid.

By order of the President, Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of
the United States:

EDWIN M. STANTON,

_Secretary of War_.



WAR DEPARTMENT, _February 13, 1862_.

_Ordered_, 1. That all applications to go south across the military lines
of the United States be made to Major-General John A. Dix, commanding
at Baltimore, who will grant or refuse the same at his discretion.

2. That all prisoners of war and other persons imprisoned by authority
of any department of the Government who shall be released on parole or
exchange shall report themselves immediately on their arrival at Baltimore
to Major-General Dix and be subject to his direction while remaining
in that city. Any failure to observe this order will be taken as a
forfeiture of the parole or exchange.

The regulation heretofore existing which required passes across the
military lines of the United States to be signed by the Secretary of
State and countersigned by the General Commanding is rescinded.

By order of the President:

EDWIN M. STANTON,

_Secretary of War_.



EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 1, RELATING TO POLITICAL PRISONERS.

WAR DEPARTMENT,

_Washington, February 14, 1862_.

The breaking out of a formidable insurrection based on a conflict of
political ideas, being an event without precedent in the United States,
was necessarily attended by great confusion and perplexity of the public
mind. Disloyalty before unsuspected suddenly became bold, and treason
astonished the world by bringing at once into the field military forces
superior in number to the standing Army of the United States.

Every department of the Government was paralyzed by treason. Defection
appeared in the Senate, in the House of Representatives, in the Cabinet,
in the Federal courts; ministers and consuls returned from foreign
countries to enter the insurrectionary councils or land or naval forces;
commanding and other officers of the Army and in the Navy betrayed our
councils or deserted their posts for commands in the insurgent forces.
Treason was flagrant in the revenue and in the post-office service, as
well as in the Territorial governments and in the Indian reserves.

Not only governors, judges, legislators, and ministerial officers in the
States, but even whole States rushed one after another with apparent
unanimity into rebellion. The capital was besieged and its connection
with all the States cut off.

Even in the portions of the country which were most loyal political
combinations and secret societies were formed furthering the work of
disunion, while, from motives of disloyalty or cupidity or from excited
passions or perverted sympathies, individuals were found furnishing men,
money, and materials of war and supplies to the insurgents' military and
naval forces. Armies, ships, fortifications, navy-yards, arsenals,
military posts, and garrisons one after another were betrayed or
abandoned to the insurgents.

Congress had not anticipated, and so had not provided for, the
emergency. The municipal authorities were powerless and inactive. The
judicial machinery seemed as if it had been designed, not to sustain the
Government, but to embarrass and betray it.

Foreign intervention, openly invited and industriously instigated by the
abettors of the insurrection, became imminent, and has only been
prevented by the practice of strict and impartial justice, with the most
perfect moderation, in our intercourse with nations.

The public mind was alarmed and apprehensive, though fortunately not
distracted or disheartened. It seemed to be doubtful whether the Federal
Government, which one year before had been thought a model worthy of
universal acceptance, had indeed the ability to defend and maintain
itself.

Some reverses, which, perhaps, were unavoidable, suffered by newly
levied and inefficient forces, discouraged the loyal and gave new hopes
to the insurgents. Voluntary enlistments seemed about to cease and
desertions commenced. Parties speculated upon the question whether
conscription had not become necessary to fill up the armies of the
United States.

In this emergency the President felt it his duty to employ with energy
the extraordinary powers which the Constitution confides to him in cases
of insurrection. He called into the field such military and naval
forces, unauthorized by the existing laws, as seemed necessary. He
directed measures to prevent the use of the post-office for treasonable
correspondence. He subjected passengers to and from foreign countries to
new passport regulations, and he instituted a blockade, suspended the
writ of _habeas corpus_ in various places, and caused persons who were
represented to him as being or about to engage in disloyal and
treasonable practices to be arrested by special civil as well as
military agencies and detained in military custody when necessary to
prevent them and deter others from such practices. Examinations of such
cases were instituted, and some of the persons so arrested have been
discharged from time to time under circumstances or upon conditions
compatible, as was thought, with the public safety.

Meantime a favorable change of public opinion has occurred. The line
between loyalty and disloyalty is plainly defined. The whole structure
of the Government is firm and stable. Apprehension of public danger and
facilities for treasonable practices have diminished with the passions
which prompted heedless persons to adopt them. The insurrection is
believed to have culminated and to be declining.

The President, in view of these facts, and anxious to favor a return to
the normal course of the Administration as far as regard for the public
welfare will allow, directs that all political prisoners or state
prisoners now held in military custody be released on their subscribing
to a parole engaging them to render no aid or comfort to the enemies in
hostility to the United States.

The Secretary of War will, however, in his discretion, except from the
effect of this order any persons detained as spies in the service of the
insurgents, or others whose release at the present moment may be deemed
incompatible with the public safety.

To all persons who shall be so released and who shall keep their parole
the President grants an amnesty for any past offenses of treason or
disloyalty which they may have committed.

Extraordinary arrests will hereafter be made under the direction of the
military authorities alone.

By order of the President:

EDWIN M. STANTON,

_Secretary of War_.



The President's Thanks to the Forces That Captured Fort Henry and
Roanoke Island.

WASHINGTON CITY, D.C., _February 15, 1862_.

The President, Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy, returns thanks
to Brigadier-General Burnside and Flag-Officer Goldsborough, and to
Brigadier-General Grant and Flag-Officer Foote, and the land and naval
forces under their respective commands, for their gallant achievements
in the capture of Fort Henry and at Roanoke Island. While it will be no
ordinary pleasure for him to acknowledge and reward in a becoming manner
the valor of the living, he also recognizes his duty to pay fitting
honor to the memory of the gallant dead. The charge at Roanoke Island,
like the bayonet charge at Mill Springs, proves that the close grapple
and sharp steel of loyal and patriotic soldiers must always put rebels
and traitors to flight.

The late achievements of the Navy show that the flag of the Union, once
borne in proud glory around the world by naval heroes, will soon again
float over every rebel city and stronghold, and that it shall forever be
honored and respected as the emblem of liberty and union in every land
and upon every sea.

By order of the President:

EDWIN M. STANTON,

_Secretary of War_.

GIDEON WELLES,

_Secretary of the Navy_.



WAR DEPARTMENT,

_Washington City, D.C., February 17, 1862_.

Brigadier-General F.W. LANDER:

The President directs me to say that he has observed with pleasure the
activity and enterprise manifested by yourself and the officers and
soldiers of your command. You have shown how much may be done in the
worst weather and worst roads by a spirited officer at the head of a
small force of brave men, unwilling to waste life in camp when the
enemies of their country are within reach. Your brilliant success is a
happy presage of what may be expected when the Army of the Potomac shall
be led to the field by their gallant general.

EDWIN M. STANTON,

_Secretary of War_.



GENERAL ORDERS, No. 16.

HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY,

ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

_Washington, February 18, 1862_.

I. The following concurrent resolutions of the two Houses of the
Congress of the United States are published for the information of the
Army:

_Resolved_, That the two Houses will assemble in the Chamber of the
House of Representatives on Saturday, the 22d day of February instant,
at 12 o'clock meridian, and that in the presence of the two Houses of
Congress thus assembled the Farewell Address of George Washington to the
people of the United States shall be read; and that the President of the
Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives be requested to
invite the President of the United States, the heads of the several
Departments, the judges of the Supreme Court, the representatives from
all foreign governments near this Government, and such officers of the
Army and Navy and distinguished citizens as may then be at the seat of
Government to be present on that occasion.

_Resolved_, That the President of the United States, Commander in Chief
of the Army and Navy, be requested to direct that orders be issued for
the reading to the Army and Navy of the United States of the Farewell
Address of George Washington, or such parts thereof as he may select, on
the 22d day of February instant.

II. In compliance with the foregoing resolutions, the President of the
United States, Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy, orders that the
following extracts from the Farewell Address of George Washington be
read to the troops at every military post and at the head of the several
regiments and corps of the Army:

Interwoven as is the love of liberty with every ligament of your hearts,
no recommendation of mine is necessary to fortify or confirm the
attachment.

The unity of government which constitutes you one people is also now
dear to you. It is justly so, for it is a main pillar in the edifice of
your real independence, the support of your tranquillity at home, your
peace abroad, of your safety, of your prosperity, of that very liberty
which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to foresee that from
different causes and from different quarters much pains will be taken,
many artifices employed, to weaken in your minds the conviction of this
truth, as this is the point in your political fortress against which the
batteries of internal and external enemies will be most constantly and
actively (though often covertly and insidiously) directed, it is of
infinite moment that you should properly estimate the immense value of
your national union to your collective and individual happiness; that
you should cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment to it;
accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it as of the palladium of
your political safety and prosperity; watching for its preservation with
jealous anxiety; discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion
that it can in any event be abandoned, and indignantly frowning upon the
first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country
from the rest or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the
various parts.

For this you have every inducement of sympathy and interest. Citizens by
birth or choice of a common country, that country has a right to
concentrate your affections. The name of American, which belongs to you
in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of
patriotism more than any appellation derived from local discriminations.
With slight shades of difference, you have the same religion, manners,
habits, and political principles. You have in a common cause fought and
triumphed together. The independence and liberty you possess are the
work of joint councils and joint efforts, of common dangers, sufferings,
and successes.

       *       *       *       *       *

While, then, every part of our country thus feels an immediate and
particular interest in union, all the parts combined can not fail to
find in the united mass of means and efforts greater strength, greater
resource, proportionably greater security from external danger, a less
frequent interruption of their peace by foreign nations, and, what is of
inestimable value, they must derive from union an exemption from those
broils and wars between themselves which so frequently afflict
neighboring countries not tied together by the same governments, which
their own rivalships alone would be sufficient to produce, but which
opposite foreign alliances, attachments, and intrigues would stimulate
and imbitter. Hence, likewise, they will avoid the necessity of those
overgrown military establishments which, under any form of government,
are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as
particularly hostile to republican liberty. In this sense it is that
your union ought to be considered as a main prop of your liberty, and
that the love of the one ought to endear to you the preservation of the
other.

       *       *       *       *       *

To the efficacy and permanency of your union a government for the whole
is indispensable. No alliances, however strict, between the parts can be
an adequate substitute. They must inevitably experience the infractions
and interruptions which all alliances in all times have experienced.
Sensible of this momentous truth, you have improved upon your first
essay by the adoption of a Constitution of Government better calculated
than your former for an intimate union and for the efficacious
management of your common concerns. This Government, the offspring of
our own choice, uninfluenced and unawed, adopted upon full investigation
and mature deliberation, completely free in its principles, in the
distribution of its powers, uniting security with energy, and containing
within itself a provision for its own amendment, has a just claim to
your confidence and your support. Respect for its authority, compliance
with its laws, acquiescence in its measures, are duties enjoined by the
fundamental maxims of true liberty. The basis of our political systems
is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of
government. But the constitution which at any time exists till changed
by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people is sacredly
obligatory upon all. The very idea of the power and the right of the
people to establish government presupposes the duty of every individual
to obey the established government.

All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all combinations and
associations, under whatever plausible character, with the real design
to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and
action of the constituted authorities, are destructive of this
fundamental principle and of fatal tendency. They serve to organize
faction; to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put in the
place of the delegated will of the nation the will of a party, often a
small but artful and enterprising minority of the community, and,
according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the
public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous
projects of faction rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome
plans, digested by common counsels and modified by mutual interests.

       *       *       *       *       *

Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity,
religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that
man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these
great pillars of human happiness--these firmest props of the duties
of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man,
ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all
their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be
asked, Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life,
if the sense of religious obligation _desert_ the oaths which are the
instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us with
caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without
religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education
on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to
expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious
principle.

It is substantially true that virtue or morality is a necessary spring
of popular government. The rule indeed extends with more or less force
to every species of free government. Who that is a sincere friend to it
can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the
fabric? Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, institutions
for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure
of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that
public opinion should be enlightened.

       *       *       *       *       *

Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and
harmony with all. Religion and morality enjoin this conduct. And can it
be that good policy does not equally enjoin it? It will be worthy of a
free, enlightened, and at no distant period a great nation to give to
mankind the magnanimous and too novel example of a people always guided
by an exalted justice and benevolence. Who can doubt that in the course
of time and things the fruits of such a plan would richly repay any
temporary advantages which might be lost by a steady adherence to it?
Can it be that Providence has not connected the permanent felicity of
a nation with its virtue? The experiment, at least, is recommended by
every sentiment which ennobles human nature. Alas! is it rendered
impossible by its vices?

       *       *       *       *       *

Harmony, liberal intercourse with all nations, are recommended by
policy, humanity, and interest. But even our commercial policy should
hold an equal and impartial hand, neither seeking nor granting exclusive
favors or preferences; consulting the natural course of things;
diffusing and diversifying by gentle means the streams of commerce, but
forcing nothing; establishing with powers so disposed, in order to give
trade a stable course, to define the rights of our merchants, and to
enable the Government to support them, conventional rules of
intercourse, the best that present circumstances and mutual opinion will
permit, but temporary and liable to be from time to time abandoned or
varied as experience and circumstances shall dictate; constantly keeping
in view that it is folly in one nation to look for disinterested favors
from another; that it must pay with a portion of its independence for
whatever it may accept under that character; that by such acceptance it
may place itself in the condition of having given equivalents for
nominal favors, and yet of being reproached with ingratitude for not
giving more. There can be no greater error than to expect or calculate
upon real favors from nation to nation. It is an illusion which
experience must cure, which a just pride ought to discard.

In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of an old and
affectionate friend I dare not hope they will make the strong and
lasting impression I could wish--that they will control the usual
current of the passions or prevent our nation from running the course
which has hitherto marked the destiny of nations. But if I may even
flatter myself that they may be productive of some partial benefit, some
occasional good--that they may now and then recur to moderate the fury
of party spirit, to warn against the mischiefs of foreign intrigue, to
guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism--this hope will be
a full recompense for the solicitude for your welfare by which they have
been dictated.

       *       *       *       *       *

Though in reviewing the incidents of my Administration I am unconscious
of intentional error, I am nevertheless too sensible of my defects not
to think it probable that I may have committed many errors. Whatever
they may be, I fervently beseech the Almighty to avert or mitigate the
evils to which they may tend. I shall also carry with me the hope that
my country will never cease to view them with indulgence, and that,
after forty-five years of my life dedicated to its service with an
upright zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned to
oblivion, as myself must soon be to the mansions of rest.

Relying on its kindness in this as in other things, and actuated by that
fervent love toward it which is so natural to a man who views in it the
native soil of himself and his progenitors for several generations, I
anticipate with pleasing expectation that retreat in which I promise
myself to realize without alloy the sweet enjoyment of partaking in the
midst of my fellow-citizens the benign influence of good laws under a
free government--the ever-favorite object of my heart, and the happy
reward, as I trust, of our mutual cares, labors, and dangers.

By command of Major-General McClellan:

L. THOMAS,

_Adjutant-General_.



WAR DEPARTMENT,

_Washington City, D.C., February 18, 1862_.

_Ordered by the President, Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of
the United States_, That on the 22d day of February, in the Hall of the
House of Representatives, immediately after the Farewell Address of
George Washington shall have been read, the rebel flags lately captured
by the United States forces shall be presented to Congress by the
Adjutant-General, to be disposed of as Congress may direct.

By order of the President,

EDWIN M. STANTON,

_Secretary of War_.



WAR DEPARTMENT,

_Washington City, February 25, 1862_.

_Ordered_, first. On and after the 26th day of February instant the
President, by virtue of the act of Congress, takes military possession
of all the telegraph lines in the United States.

Second. All telegraphic communications in regard to military operations
not expressly authorized by the War Department, the General Commanding,
or the generals commanding armies in the field, in the several
departments, are absolutely forbidden.

Third. All newspapers publishing military news, however obtained and by
whatever medium received, not authorized by the official authority
mentioned in the preceding paragraph will be excluded thereafter from
receiving information by telegraph or from transmitting their papers by
railroad.

Fourth. Edward S. Sanford is made military supervisor of telegraphic
messages throughout the United States. Anson Stager is made military
superintendent of all telegraph lines and offices in the United States.

Fifth. This possession and control of the telegraph lines is not
intended to interfere in any respect with the ordinary affairs of the
companies or with private business.

By order of the President:

EDWIN M. STANTON,

_Secretary of War_.



WAR DEPARTMENT,

_Washington, February 27, 1862_.

_It is ordered_, first. That a special commission of two persons, one of
military rank and the other in civil life, be appointed to examine the
cases of the state prisoners remaining in the military custody of the
United States, and to determine whether, in view of the public safety
and the existing rebellion, they should be discharged or remain in
military custody or be remitted to the civil tribunals for trial.

Second. That Major-General John A. Dix, commanding in Baltimore, and the
Hon. Edwards Pierrepont, of New York, be, and they are hereby, appointed
commissioners for the purposes above mentioned, and they are authorized
to examine, hear, and determine the cases aforesaid, _ex parte_ and in a
summary manner, at such times and places as in their discretion they may
appoint, and make full report to the War Department.

By order of the President:

EDWIN M. STANTON,

_Secretary of War_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

WASHINGTON, _February 28, 1862_.

Considering that the existing circumstances of the country allow a
partial restoration of commercial intercourse between the inhabitants of
those parts of the United States heretofore declared to be in
insurrection and the citizens of the loyal States of the Union, and
exercising the authority and discretion confided to me by the act of
Congress approved July 13, 1861, entitled "An act further to provide for
the collection of duties on imports, and for other purposes," I hereby
license and permit such commercial intercourse in all cases within the
rules and regulations which have been or may be prescribed by the
Secretary of the Treasury for the conducting and carrying on of the same
on the inland waters and ways of the United States.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



PRESIDENT'S GENERAL WAR ORDER No. 2.

EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, March 8, 1862_.

_Ordered_, 1. That the major-general commanding the Army of the Potomac
proceed forthwith to organize that part of the said army destined to
enter upon active operations (including the reserve, but excluding the
troops to be left in the fortifications about Washington) into four army
corps, to be commanded according to seniority of rank, as follows:

First Corps to consist of four divisions, and to be commanded by
Major-General I. McDowell.

Second Corps to consist of three divisions, and to be commanded by
Brigadier-General E.V. Sumner.

Third Corps to consist of three divisions, and to be commanded by
Brigadier-General S.P. Heintzelman.

Fourth Corps to consist of three divisions, and to be commanded by
Brigadier-General E.D. Keyes.

2. That the divisions now commanded by the officers above assigned to
the commands of army corps shall be embraced in and form part of their
respective corps.

3. The forces left for the defense of Washington will be placed in
command of Brigadier-General James S. Wadsworth, who shall also be
military governor of the District of Columbia.

4. That this order be executed with such promptness and dispatch as not
to delay the commencement of the operations already directed to be
undertaken by the Army of the Potomac.

5. A fifth army corps, to be commanded by Major-General N.P. Banks, will
be formed from his own and General Shields's (late General Lander's)
divisions.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



PRESIDENT'S GENERAL WAR ORDER No. 3.

EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, March 8, 1862_.

_Ordered_, That no change of the base of operations of the Army of the
Potomac shall be made without leaving in and about Washington such a
force as in the opinion of the General in Chief and the commanders of
all the army corps shall leave said city entirely secure.

That no more than two army corps (about 50,000 troops) of said Army of
the Potomac shall be moved _en route_ for a new base of operations until
the navigation of the Potomac from Washington to the Chesapeake Bay
shall be freed from enemy's batteries and other obstructions, or until
the President shall hereafter give express permission.

That any movements as aforesaid _en route_ for a new base of operations
which may be ordered by the General in Chief, and which may be intended
to move upon the Chesapeake Bay, shall begin to move upon the bay as
early as the 18th day of March instant, and the General in Chief shall
be responsible that it so move as early as that day.

_Ordered_, That the Army and Navy cooperate in an immediate effort to
capture the enemy's batteries upon the Potomac between Washington and
the Chesapeake Bay.

A. LINCOLN.



PRESIDENT'S SPECIAL WAR ORDER No. 3

EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, March 11, 1862_.

Major-General McClellan having personally taken the field at the head of
the Army of the Potomac, until otherwise ordered he is relieved from the
command of the other military departments, he retaining command of the
Department of the Potomac.

_Ordered further_, That the departments now under the respective
commands of Generals Halleck and Hunter, together with so much of that
under General Buell as lies west of a north and south line indefinitely
drawn through Knoxville, Tenn., be consolidated and designated the
Department of the Mississippi, and that until otherwise ordered
Major-General Halleck have command of said department.

_Ordered also_, That the country west of the Department of the Potomac
and east of the Department of the Mississippi be a military department,
to be called the Mountain Department, and that the same be commanded by
Major-General Frémont.

That all the commanders of departments, after the receipt of this order
by them, respectively report severally and directly to the Secretary of
War, and that prompt, full, and frequent reports will be expected of all
and each of them.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WAR DEPARTMENT, _March 13, 1862_.

Major-General GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN:

The President, having considered the plan of operations agreed upon by
yourself and the commanders of army corps, makes no objection to the
same, but gives the following directions as to its execution:

1. Leave such force at Manassas Junction as shall make it entirely
certain that the enemy shall not repossess himself of that position and
line of communication.

2. Leave Washington entirely secure.

3. Move the remainder of the force down the Potomac, choosing a new base
at Fortress Monroe, or anywhere between here and there, or, at all
events, move such remainder of the army at once in pursuit of the enemy
by some route.

EDWIN M. STANTON,

_Secretary of War_.



[From the Daily National Intelligencer, March 28, 1862.]

NAVY DEPARTMENT, _March 15, 1862_.

Lieutenant JOHN L. WORDEN, United States Navy,

_Commanding United States Steamer Monitor, Washington_.

SIR: The naval action which took place on the 10th instant between the
_Monitor_ and _Merrimac_ at Hampton Roads, when your vessel, with two
guns, engaged a powerful armored steamer of at least eight guns, and
after a few hours' conflict repelled her formidable antagonist, has
excited general admiration and received the applause of the whole
country.

The President directs me, while earnestly and deeply sympathizing with
you in the injuries which you have sustained, but which it is believed
are but temporary, to thank you and your command for the heroism you
have displayed and the great service you have rendered.

The action of the 10th and the performance, power, and capabilities of
the _Monitor_ must effect a radical change in naval warfare.

Flag-Officer Goldsborough, in your absence, will be furnished by the
Department with a copy of this letter of thanks and instructed to cause
it to be read to the officers and crew of the _Monitor_.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

GIDEON WELLES.



WAR DEPARTMENT,

_Washington, D.C., April 5, 1862_.

Major-General JOHN A. DIX:

_Ordered_, That Major-General John A. Dix, commanding at Baltimore, be,
and he is, authorized and empowered at his discretion--

First. To assume and exercise control over the police of the city of
Baltimore; to supersede and remove the civil police or any part thereof
and establish a military police in said city.

Second. To arrest and imprison disloyal persons, declare martial law,
and suspend the writ of _habeas corpus_ in the city of Baltimore or any
part of his command, and to exercise and perform all military power,
function, and authority that he may deem proper for the safety of his
command or to secure obedience and respect to the authority and
Government of the United States.

By order of the President:

EDWIN M. STANTON,

_Secretary of War_.



[From the Daily National Intelligencer, May 17, 1862.]

The skillful and gallant movements of Major-General John E. Wool and the
forces under his command, which resulted in the surrender of Norfolk and
the evacuation of strong batteries erected by the rebels on Sewells
Point and Craney Island and the destruction of the rebel ironclad
steamer _Merrimac_, are regarded by the President as among the most
important successes of the present war. He therefore orders that his
thanks as Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy be communicated by the
War Department to Major-General John E. Wool and the officers and
soldiers of his command for their gallantry and good conduct in the
brilliant operations mentioned.

By order of the President, made at the city of Norfolk on the 11th day
of May, 1862:

EDWIN M. STANTON,

_Secretary of War_.



WAR DEPARTMENT, _May 25, 1862_.

_Ordered_: By virtue of the authority vested by act of Congress, the
President takes military possession of all the railroads in the United
States from and after this date until further order, and directs that
the respective railroad companies, their officers and servants, shall
hold themselves in readiness for the transportation of such troops and
munitions of war as may be ordered by the military authorities, to the
exclusion of all other business.

By order of the Secretary of War:

M.C. MEIGS,

_Quartermaster-General_.



WAR DEPARTMENT,

_Washington, D.C., May 28, 1862_.

Colonel HAUPT:

SIR: You are hereby appointed chief of construction and transportation
in the Department of the Rappahannock, with the rank of colonel, and
attached to the staff of Major-General McDowell.

You are authorized to do whatever you may deem expedient to open for use
in the shortest possible time all military railroads now or hereafter
required in said department; to use the same for transportation under
such rules and regulations as you may prescribe; to appoint such
assistants and employees as you may deem necessary, define their duties
and fix their compensation; to make requisitions upon any of the
military authorities, with the approval of the Commanding General, for
such temporary or permanent details of men as may be required for the
construction or protection of lines of communication; to use such
Government steamers and transports as you may deem necessary; to pass
free of charge in such steamers and transports and on other military
roads all persons whose services may be required in construction or
transportation; to purchase all such machinery, rolling stock, and
supplies as the proper use and operation of the said railroads may
require, and certify the same to the Quartermaster-General, who shall
make payment therefor. You are also authorized to form a permanent corps
of artificers, organized, officered, and equipped in such manner as you
may prescribe; to supply said corps with rations, transportation, tools,
and implements by requisitions upon the proper departments; to employ
civilians as foremen and assistants, under such rules and rates of
compensation as you may deem expedient; to make such additions to
ordinary rations when actually at work as you may deem necessary.

You are also authorized to take possession of and use all railroads,
engines, cars, buildings, machinery, and appurtenances within the
geographical limits of the Department of the Rappahannock, and all
authority heretofore given to other parties which may in any way
conflict with the instructions herein contained are and will be without
force and effect in the said Department of the Rappahannock from and
after this date.

By order of the President, Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of
the United States:

EDWIN M. STANTON,

_Secretary of War_.



WAR DEPARTMENT,

_Washington City, D.C., May 30, 1862_.

All regiments of militia or of three-months' volunteers who have offered
their services under the recent call of the War Department, and who have
so far perfected their organization as to be able to report for orders
at St. Louis, at Columbus, or at Washington City by the 10th of June,
will be mustered into the service of the United States for three months
from that date, the pay of each volunteer or militiaman commencing from
the date of his enlistment.

Under the call for three-years volunteers 50,000 men will be accepted as
raised and reported by the respective State governors.

By order of the President:

EDWIN M. STANTON,

_Secretary of War_.



NEW YORK, _June 30, 1862_.

_To the Governors of the several States_:

The capture of New Orleans, Norfolk, and Corinth by the national forces
has enabled the insurgents to concentrate a large force at and about
Richmond, which place we must take with the least possible delay; in
fact, there will soon be no formidable insurgent force except at
Richmond. With so large an army there, the enemy can threaten us on the
Potomac and elsewhere. Until we have reestablished the national
authority, all these places must be held, and we must keep a respectable
force in front of Washington. But this, from the diminished strength of
our Army by sickness and casualties, renders an addition to it necessary
in order to close the struggle which has been prosecuted for the last
three months with energy and success. Rather than hazard the
misapprehension of our military condition and of groundless alarm by a
call for troops by proclamation, I have deemed it best to address you in
this form. To accomplish the object stated we require without delay
150,000 men, including those recently called for by the Secretary of
War. Thus reenforced our gallant Army will be enabled to realize the
hopes and expectations of the Government and the people.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



JUNE 28, 1862.

The PRESIDENT:

The undersigned, governors of States of the Union, impressed with the
belief that the citizens of the States which they respectively represent
are of one accord in the hearty desire that the recent successes of the
Federal arms may be followed up by measures which must insure the speedy
restoration of the Union, and believing that, in view of the present
state of the important military movements now in progress and the
reduced condition of our effective forces in the field, resulting from
the usual and unavoidable casualties in the service, the time has
arrived for prompt and vigorous measures to be adopted by the people in
support of the great interests committed to your charge, respectfully
request, if it meets with your entire approval, that you at once call
upon the several States for such number of men as may be required to
fill up all military organizations now in the field, and add to the
armies heretofore organized such additional number of men as may, in
your judgment, be necessary to garrison and hold all the numerous cities
and military positions that have been captured by our armies, and to
speedily crush the rebellion that still exists in several of the
Southern States, thus practically restoring to the civilized world our
great and good Government. All believe that the decisive moment is near
at hand, and to that end the people of the United States are desirous to
aid promptly in furnishing all reenforcements that you may deem needful
to sustain our Government.

  ISRAEL WASHBURN, Jr., Governor of Maine; H.S. BERRY, Governor of
  New Hampshire; FREDERICK HOLBROOK, Governor of Vermont; WILLIAM A.
  BUCKINGHAM, Governor of Connecticut; E.D. MORGAN, Governor of New
  York; CHARLES S. OLDEN, Governor of New Jersey; A.G. CURTIN, Governor
  of Pennsylvania; A.W. BRADFORD, Governor of Maryland, F.H. PEIRPOINT,
  Governor of Virginia; AUSTIN BLAIR, Governor of Michigan; J.B. TEMPLE,
  President Military Board of Kentucky; ANDREW JOHNSON, Governor of
  Tennessee; H.R. GAMBLE, Governor of Missouri; O.P. MORTON, Governor
  of Indiana; DAVID TODD, Governor of Ohio; ALEXANDER RAMSEY, Governor
  of Minnesota; RICHARD YATES, Governor of Illinois; EDWARD SALOMON,
  Governor of Wisconsin.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, July 1, 1862_.

Gentlemen: Fully concurring in the wisdom of the views expressed to me
in so patriotic a manner by you in the communication of the 28th day of
June, I have decided to call into the service an additional force of
300,000 men. I suggest and recommend that the troops should be chiefly
of infantry. The quota of your State would be ------. I trust that they
may be enrolled without delay, so as to bring this unnecessary and
injurious civil war to a speedy and satisfactory conclusion. An order
fixing the quotas of the respective States will be issued by the War
Department to-morrow.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, July 11, 1862_.

_Ordered_, That Major-General Henry W. Halleck be assigned to command
the whole land forces of the United States as General in Chief, and that
he repair to this capital as soon as he can with safety to the positions
and operations within the department under his charge.

A. LINCOLN.


Whereas, in the judgment of the President, the public safety does
require that the railroad line called and known as the Southwest Branch
of the Pacific Railroad in the State of Missouri be repaired, extended,
and completed from Rolla to Lebanon, in the direction to Springfield, in
the said State, the same being necessary to the successful and
economical conduct of the war and to the maintenance of the authority of
the Government in the Southwest:

Therefore, under and in virtue of the act of Congress entitled "An act
to authorize the President of the United States in certain cases to take
possession of railroad and telegraph lines, and for other purposes,"
approved January 31, 1862, it is--

_Ordered_, That the portion of the said railroad line which reaches from
Rolla to Lebanon be repaired, extended, and completed, so as to be made
available for the military uses of the Government, as speedily as may
be. And inasmuch as, upon the part of the said line from Rolla to the
stream called Little Piney a considerable portion of the necessary work
has already been done by the railroad company, and the road to this
extent may be completed at comparatively small cost, it is ordered that
the said line from Rolla to and across Little Piney be first completed,
and as soon as possible.

The Secretary of War is charged with the execution of this order. And to
facilitate the speedy execution of the work, he is directed, at his
discretion, to take possession and control of the whole or such part of
the said railroad line, and the whole or such part of the rolling stock,
offices, shops, buildings, and all their appendages and appurtenances,
as he may judge necessary or convenient for the early completion of the
road from Rolla to Lebanon.

Done at the city of Washington, July 11, 1862.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



GENERAL ORDERS, No. 82.

WAR DEPARTMENT,

ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

_Washington, July 21, 1862_.

The following order has been received from the President of the United
States:

Representations have been made to the President by the ministers of
various foreign powers in amity with the United States that subjects of
such powers have during the present insurrection been obliged or
required by military authorities to take an oath of general or qualified
allegiance to this Government. It is the duty of all aliens residing in
the United States to submit to and obey the laws and respect the
authority of the Government. For any proceeding or conduct inconsistent
with this obligation and subversive of that authority they may
rightfully be subjected to military restraints when this may be
necessary. But they can not be required to take an oath of allegiance to
this Government, because it conflicts with the duty they owe to their
own sovereigns. All such obligations heretofore taken are therefore
remitted and annulled. Military commanders will abstain from imposing
similar obligations in future, and will in lieu thereof adopt such other
restraints of the character indicated as they shall find necessary,
convenient, and effectual for the public safety. It is further directed
that whenever any order shall be made affecting the personal liberty of
an alien reports of the same and of the causes thereof shall be made to
the War Department for the consideration of the Department of State.

By order of the Secretary of War:

L. THOMAS,

_Adjutant-General_.



WAR DEPARTMENT, _July 22, 1862_.

1. _Ordered_, That military commanders within the States of Virginia,
South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana,
Texas, and Arkansas in an orderly manner seize and use any property,
real or personal, which may be necessary or convenient for their several
commands as supplies or for other military purposes; and that while
property may be destroyed for proper military objects, none shall be
destroyed in wantonness or malice.

2. That military and naval commanders shall employ as laborers within
and from said States so many persons of African descent as can be
advantageously used for military or naval purposes, giving them
reasonable wages for their labor.

3. That as to both property and persons of African descent accounts
shall be kept sufficiently accurate and in detail to show quantities and
amounts and from whom both property and such persons shall have come, as
a basis upon which compensation can be made in proper cases; and the
several Departments of this Government shall attend to and perform their
appropriate parts toward the execution of these orders.

By order of the President:

EDWIN M. STANTON,

_Secretary of War_.



GENERAL ORDERS, No. 89.


WAR DEPARTMENT,

ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

_Washington, July 25, 1862_.

I. The following order of the President of the United States
communicates information of the death of ex-President Martin Van Buren:

WASHINGTON, _July 25, 1862_.

The President with deep regret announces to the people of the United
States the decease, at Kinderhook, N.Y., on the 24th instant, of his
honored predecessor Martin Van Buren.

This event will occasion mourning in the nation for the loss of a
citizen and a public servant whose memory will be gratefully cherished.
Although it has occurred at a time when his country is afflicted with
division and civil war, the grief of his patriotic friends will
measurably be assuaged by the consciousness that while suffering with
disease and seeing his end approaching his prayers were for the
restoration of the authority of the Government of which he had been the
head and for peace and good will among his fellow-citizens.

As a mark of respect for his memory, it is ordered that the Executive
Mansion and the several Executive Departments, except those of War and
the Navy, be immediately placed in mourning and all business be
suspended during to-morrow.

It is further ordered that the War and Navy Departments cause suitable
military and naval honors to be paid on this occasion to the memory of
the illustrious dead.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.


II. On the day after the receipt of this order the troops will be
paraded at 10 o'clock a.m. and the order read to them. The national flag
will be displayed at half-staff. At dawn of day thirteen guns will be
fired, and afterwards at intervals of thirty minutes between rising and
setting sun a single gun, and at the close of the day a national salute
of thirty-four guns. The officers of the Army will wear crape on the
left arm and on their swords and the colors of the several regiments
will be put in mourning for the period of six months.

By order of the Secretary of War:

L. THOMAS,

_Adjutant-General_.



GENERAL ORDER.

NAVY DEPARTMENT, _July 25, 1862_.

The death of ex-President Martin Van Buren is announced in the following
order of the President of the United States:

[For order see preceding page.]

In pursuance of the foregoing order, it is hereby directed that thirty
minute guns, commencing at noon, be fired on the day after the receipt
of this general order at the navy-yards, naval stations, and on board
the vessels of the Navy in commission; that their flags be displayed at
half-mast for one week, and that crape be worn on the left arm by all
officers of the Navy for a period of six months.

GIDEON WELLES,

_Secretary of the Navy_.



WAR DEPARTMENT,

_Washington City, D.C., July 31, 1862_.

The absence of officers and privates from their duty under various
pretexts while receiving pay, at great expense and burden to the
Government, makes it necessary that efficient measures be taken to
enforce their return to duty or that their places be supplied by those
who will not take pay while rendering no service. This evil, moreover,
tends greatly to discourage the patriotic impulses of those who would
contribute to support the families of faithful soldiers.

It is therefore ordered by the President--

I. That on Monday, the 11th day of August, all leaves of absence and
furloughs, by whomsoever given, unless by the War Department, are
revoked and absolutely annulled, and all officers capable of service are
required forthwith to join their respective commands and all privates
capable of service to join their regiments, under penalty of a dismissal
from the service, or such penalty as a court-martial may award, unless
the absence be occasioned by lawful cause.

II. The only excuses allowed for the absence of officers or privates
after the 11th day of August are:

First. The order or leave of the War Department.

Second. Disability from wounds received in service.

Third. Disability from disease that renders the party unfit for military
duty. But any officer or private whose health permits him to visit
watering places or places of amusement, or to make social visits or walk
about the town, city, or neighborhood in which he may be, will be
considered fit for military duty and as evading duty by absence from his
command or ranks.

III. On Monday, the 18th day of August, at 10 o'clock a.m., each
regiment and corps shall be mustered. The absentees will be marked,
three lists of the same made out, and within forty-eight hours after the
muster one copy shall be sent to the Adjutant-General of the Army, one
to the commander of the corps, the third to be retained; and all
officers and privates fit for duty absent at that time will be regarded
as absent without cause, their pay will be stopped, and they dismissed
from the service or treated as deserters unless restored; and no officer
shall be restored to his rank unless by the judgment of a court of
inquiry, to be approved by the President, he shall establish that his
absence was with good cause.

IV. Commanders of corps, divisions, brigades, regiments, and detached
posts are strictly enjoined to enforce the muster and return aforesaid.
Any officer failing in his duty herein will be deemed guilty of gross
neglect of duty and be dismissed from the service.

V. A commissioner shall be appointed by the Secretary of War to
superintend the execution of this order in the respective States.

The United States marshals in the respective districts, the mayor and
chief of police of any town or city, the sheriff of the respective
counties in each State, all postmasters and justices of the peace, are
authorized to act as special provost-marshals to arrest any officer or
private soldier fit for duty who may be found absent from his command
without just cause and convey him to the nearest military post or depot.
The transportation, reasonable expenses of this duty, and $5 will be
paid for each officer or private so arrested and delivered.

By order of the President:

E.M. STANTON,

_Secretary of War_.



WAR DEPARTMENT,

_Washington City, D.C., August 4, 1862_.

_Ordered_, I. That a draft of 300,000 militia be immediately called into
the service of the United States, to serve for nine months unless sooner
discharged. The Secretary of War will assign the quotas to the States
and establish regulations for the draft.

II. That if any State shall not by the 15th of August furnish its quota
of the additional 300,000 volunteers authorized by law the deficiency of
volunteers in that State will also be made up by special draft from the
militia. The Secretary of War will establish regulations for this
purpose.

III. Regulations will be prepared by the War Department and presented to
the President with the object of securing the promotion of officers of
the Army and Volunteers for meritorious and distinguished services and
of preventing the nomination or appointment in the military service of
incompetent or unworthy officers. The regulations will also provide for
ridding the service of such incompetent persons as now hold commissions
in it.

By order of the President:

EDWIN M. STANTON,

_Secretary of War_.



WAR DEPARTMENT,

_Washington, D.C., August 8, 1862_.

By direction of the President of the United States, it is hereby ordered
that until further order no citizen liable to be drafted into the
militia shall be allowed to go to a foreign country. And all marshals,
deputy marshals, and military officers of the United States are
directed, and all police authorities, especially at the ports of the
United States on the seaboard and on the frontier, are requested, to see
that this order is faithfully carried into effect. And they are hereby
authorized and directed to arrest and detain any person or persons about
to depart from the United States in violation of this order, and report
to Major L.C. Turner, judge-advocate at Washington City, for further
instructions respecting the person or persons so arrested or detained.

II. Any person liable to draft who shall absent himself from his county
or State before such draft is made will be arrested by any
provost-marshal or other United States or State officer, wherever he may
be found within the jurisdiction of the United States, and be conveyed
to the nearest military post or depot and placed on military duty for
the term of the draft; and the expenses of his own arrest and conveyance
to such post or depot, and also the sum of $5, as a reward to the
officer who shall make such arrest, shall be deducted from his pay.

III. The writ of _habeas corpus_ is hereby suspended in respect to all
persons so arrested and detained, and in respect to all persons arrested
for disloyal practices.

EDWIN M. STANTON,

_Secretary of War_.



WAR DEPARTMENT,

_Washington City, D.C., August 14, 1862_.

ORDER RESPECTING VOLUNTEERS AND MILITIA.

_Ordered_, first. That after the 15th of this month bounty and advanced
pay shall not be paid to volunteers for any new regiments, but only to
volunteers for regiments now in the field and volunteers to fill up new
regiments now organizing, but not yet full.

Second. Volunteers to fill up new regiments now organizing will be
received and paid the bounty and advanced pay until the 22d day of this
month, and if not completed by that time the incomplete regiments will
be consolidated and superfluous officers mustered out.

Third. Volunteers to fill up the old regiments will be received and paid
the bounty and advanced pay until the 1st day of September.

Fourth. The draft for 300,000 militia called for by the President will
be made on Wednesday, the 3d day of September, between the hours of 9
a.m. and 5 p.m., and continue from day to day between the same hours
until completed.

Fifth. If the old regiments should not be filled up by volunteers before
the 1st day of September, a special draft will be ordered for the
deficiency.

Sixth. The exigencies of the service require that officers now in the
field should remain with their commands, and no officer now in the field
in the regular or volunteer service will under any circumstances be
detailed to accept a new command.

By order of the President:

EDWIN M. STANTON,

_Secretary of War_.



SPECIAL ORDERS, No. 218.

HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY,

ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

_Washington, September 2, 1862_.

       *       *       *       *       *

By direction of the President, all the clerks and employees of the civil
Departments and all the employees on the public buildings in Washington
will be immediately organized into companies, under the direction of
Brigadier-General Wadsworth, and will be armed and supplied with
ammunition, for the defense of the capital.

By command of Major-General Halleck:

F.D. TOWNSEND,

_Assistant Adjutant-General_.




EXECUTIVE ORDER ESTABLISHING A PROVISIONAL COURT IN LOUISIANA.

EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington City, October 20, 1862_.

The insurrection which has for some time prevailed in several of the
States of this Union, including Louisiana, having temporarily subverted
and swept away the civil institutions of that State, including the
judiciary and the judicial authorities of the Union, so that it has
become necessary to hold the State in military occupation, and it being
indispensably necessary that there shall be some judicial tribunal
existing there capable of administering justice, I have therefore
thought it proper to appoint, and I do hereby constitute, a provisional
court, which shall be a court of record, for the State of Louisiana; and
I do hereby appoint Charles A. Peabody, of New York, to be a provisional
judge to hold said court, with authority to hear, try, and determine all
causes, civil and criminal, including causes in law, equity, revenue,
and admiralty, and particularly all such powers and jurisdiction as
belong to the district and circuit courts of the United States,
conforming his proceedings so far as possible to the course of
proceedings and practice which has been customary in the courts of the
United States and Louisiana, his judgment to be final and conclusive.
And I do hereby authorize and empower the said judge to make and
establish such rules and regulations as may be necessary for the
exercise of his jurisdiction, and empower the said judge to appoint a
prosecuting attorney, marshal, and clerk of the said court, who shall
perform the functions of attorney, marshal, and clerk according to such
proceedings and practice as before mentioned and such rules and
regulations as may be made and established by said judge. These
appointments are to continue during the pleasure of the President, not
extending beyond the military occupation of the city of New Orleans or
the restoration of the civil authority in that city and in the State of
Louisiana. These officers shall be paid, out of the contingent fund of
the War Department, compensation as follows: The judge at the rate of
$3,500 per annum; the prosecuting attorney, including the fees, at the
rate of $3,000 per annum; the marshal, including the fees, at the rate
of $3,000 per annum; and the clerk, including the fees, at the rate of
$2,500 per annum; such compensations to be certified by the Secretary of
War. A copy of this order, certified by the Secretary of War and
delivered to such judge, shall be deemed and held to be a sufficient
commission.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN,

_President of the United States_.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, October 29, 1862_.

Two associate justices of the Supreme Court of the United States having
been appointed since the last adjournment of said court, and
consequently no allotment of the members of said court to the several
circuits having been made by them, according to the fifth section of the
act of Congress entitled "An act to amend the judicial system of the
United States," approved April 29, 1802, I, Abraham Lincoln, President
of the United States, in virtue of said section, do make an allotment of
the justices of said court to the circuits now existing by law, as
follows:

For the first circuit: Nathan Clifford, associate justice.

For the second circuit: Samuel Nelson, associate justice.

For the third circuit: Robert C. Grier, associate justice.

For the fourth circuit: Roger B. Taney, Chief Justice.

For the fifth circuit: James M. Wayne, associate justice.

For the sixth circuit: John Catron, associate justice.

For the seventh circuit: Noah H. Swayne, associate justice.

For the eighth circuit: David Davis, associate justice.

For the ninth circuit: Samuel F. Miller, associate justice.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, November 5, 1862_.

By direction of the President, it is ordered that Major-General
McClellan be relieved from the command of the Army of the Potomac, and
that Major-General Burnside take the command of that army; also that
Major-General Hunter take command of the corps in said army which is now
commanded by General Burnside; that Major-General Fitz John Porter be
relieved from the command of the corps he now commands in said army, and
that Major-General Hooker take command of said corps.

The General in Chief is authorized, in [his] discretion, to issue an
order substantially as the above forthwith, or so soon as he may deem
proper.

A. LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _November 7, 1862_.

_Ordered_, That Brigadier-General Ellet report to Rear-Admiral Porter
for instructions, and act under his direction until otherwise ordered by
the War Department.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, November 12, 1862_.

_Ordered_, first. That clearances issued by the Treasury Department for
vessels or merchandise bound for the port of Norfolk for the military
necessities of the department, certified by the military commandant at
Fort Monroe, shall be allowed to enter said port.

Second. That vessels and domestic produce from Norfolk, permitted by the
military commandant at Fort Monroe for the military purposes of his
command, shall on his permit be allowed to pass from said port to their
destination in any port not blockaded by the United States.

A. LINCOLN.



[From the Daily National Intelligencer, November 25, 1862.]

EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_November 13, 1862_.

_Ordered by the President of the United States_, That the
Attorney-General be charged with the superintendence and direction of
all proceedings to be had under the act of Congress of the 17th of July,
1862, entitled "An act to suppress insurrection, to punish treason and
rebellion, to seize and confiscate the property of rebels, and for other
purposes," in so far as may concern the seizure, prosecution, and
condemnation of the estate, property, and effects of rebels and
traitors, as mentioned and provided for in the fifth, sixth, and seventh
sections of the said act of Congress. And the Attorney-General is
authorized and required to give to the attorneys and marshals of the
United States such instructions and directions as he may find needful
and convenient touching all such seizures, prosecutions, and
condemnations, and, moreover, to authorize all such attorneys and
marshals, whenever there may be reasonable ground to fear any forcible
resistance to them in the discharge of their respective duties in this
behalf, to call upon any military officer in command of the forces of
the United States to give to them such aid, protection, and support as
may be necessary to enable them safely and efficiently to discharge
their respective duties; and all such commanding officers are required
promptly to obey such call, and to render the necessary service as far
as may be in their power consistently with their other duties.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  EDWARD BATES,
    _Attorney-General_.



GENERAL ORDER RESPECTING THE OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH DAY IN THE ARMY
AND NAVY.

EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, November 15, 1862_.

The President, Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy, desires and
enjoins the orderly observance of the Sabbath by the officers and men in
the military and naval service. The importance for man and beast of the
prescribed weekly rest, the sacred rights of Christian soldiers and
sailors, a becoming deference to the best sentiment of a Christian
people, and a due regard for the divine will demand that Sunday labor in
the Army and Navy be reduced to the measure of strict necessity.

The discipline and character of the national forces should not suffer
nor the cause they defend be imperiled by the profanation of the day or
name of the Most High. "At this time of public distress," adopting the
words of Washington in 1776, "men may find enough to do in the service
of God and their country without abandoning themselves to vice and
immorality." The first general order issued by the Father of his Country
after the Declaration of Independence indicates the spirit in which our
institutions were founded and should ever be defended:

_The General hopes and trusts that every officer and man will endeavor
to live and act as becomes a Christian soldier defending the dearest
rights and liberties of his country_.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington City, November 21, 1862_.

_Ordered_, That no arms, ammunition, or munitions of war be cleared or
allowed to be exported from the United States until further order; that
any clearances for arms, ammunition, or munitions of war issued
heretofore by the Treasury Department be vacated if the articles have
not passed without the United States, and the articles stopped; that the
Secretary of War hold possession of the arms, etc., recently seized by
his order at Rouses Point, bound for Canada.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.




SECOND ANNUAL MESSAGE.

DECEMBER 1, 1862.

_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives_:

Since your last annual assembling another year of health and bountiful
harvests has passed, and while it has not pleased the Almighty to bless
us with a return of peace, we can but press on, guided by the best light
He gives us, trusting that in His own good time and wise way all will
yet be well.

The correspondence touching foreign affairs which has taken place during
the last year is herewith submitted, in virtual compliance with a
request to that effect made by the House of Representatives near the
close of the last session of Congress.

If the condition of our relations with other nations is less gratifying
than it has usually been at former periods, it is certainly more
satisfactory than a nation so unhappily distracted as we are might
reasonably have apprehended. In the month of June last there were some
grounds to expect that the maritime powers which at the beginning of our
domestic difficulties so unwisely and unnecessarily, as we think,
recognized the insurgents as a belligerent would soon recede from that
position, which has proved only less injurious to themselves than to our
own country. But the temporary reverses which afterwards befell the
national arms, and which were exaggerated by our own disloyal citizens
abroad, have hitherto delayed that act of simple justice.

The civil war, which has so radically changed for the moment the
occupations and habits of the American people, has necessarily disturbed
the social condition and affected very deeply the prosperity of the
nations with which we have carried on a commerce that has been steadily
increasing throughout a period of half a century. It has at the same
time excited political ambitions and apprehensions which have produced a
profound agitation throughout the civilized world. In this unusual
agitation we have forborne from taking part in any controversy between
foreign states and between parties or factions in such states. We have
attempted no propagandism and acknowledged no revolution. But we have
left to every nation the exclusive conduct and management of its own
affairs. Our struggle has been, of course, contemplated by foreign
nations with reference less to its own merits than to its supposed and
often exaggerated effects and consequences resulting to those nations
themselves. Nevertheless, complaint on the part of this Government, even
if it were just, would certainly be unwise.

The treaty with Great Britain for the suppression of the slave trade has
been put into operation with a good prospect of complete success. It is
an occasion of special pleasure to acknowledge that the execution of it
on the part of Her Majesty's Government has been marked with a jealous
respect for the authority of the United States and the rights of their
moral and loyal citizens.

The convention with Hanover for the abolition of the Stade dues has been
carried into full effect under the act of Congress for that purpose.

A blockade of 3,000 miles of seacoast could not be established and
vigorously enforced in a season of great commercial activity like the
present without committing occasional mistakes and inflicting
unintentional injuries upon foreign nations and their subjects.

A civil war occurring in a country where foreigners reside and carry on
trade under treaty stipulations is necessarily fruitful of complaints of
the violation of neutral rights. All such collisions tend to excite
misapprehensions, and possibly to produce mutual reclamations between
nations which have a common interest in preserving peace and friendship.
In clear cases of these kinds I have so far as possible heard and
redressed complaints which have been presented by friendly powers. There
is still, however, a large and an augmenting number of doubtful cases
upon which the Government is unable to agree with the governments whose
protection is demanded by the claimants. There are, moreover, many cases
in which the United States or their citizens suffer wrongs from the
naval or military authorities of foreign nations which the governments
of those states are not at once prepared to redress. I have proposed to
some of the foreign states thus interested mutual conventions to examine
and adjust such complaints. This proposition has been made especially to
Great Britain, to France, to Spain, and to Prussia. In each case it has
been kindly received, but has not yet been formally adopted.

I deem it my duty to recommend an appropriation in behalf of the owners
of the Norwegian bark _Admiral P. Tordenskiold_, which vessel was in
May, 1861, prevented by the commander of the blockading force off
Charleston from leaving that port with cargo, notwithstanding a similar
privilege had shortly before been granted to an English vessel. I have
directed the Secretary of State to cause the papers in the case to be
communicated to the proper committees.

Applications have been made to me by many free Americans of African
descent to favor their emigration, with a view to such colonization as
was contemplated in recent acts of Congress. Other parties, at home and
abroad--some from interested motives, others upon patriotic
considerations, and still others influenced by philanthropic
sentiments--have suggested similar measures, while, on the other hand,
several of the Spanish American Republics have protested against the
sending of such colonies to their respective territories. Under these
circumstances I have declined to move any such colony to any state
without first obtaining the consent of its government, with an agreement
on its part to receive and protect such emigrants in all the rights of
freemen; and I have at the same time offered to the several States
situated within the Tropics, or having colonies there, to negotiate with
them, subject to the advice and consent of the Senate, to favor the
voluntary emigration of persons of that class to their respective
territories, upon conditions which shall be equal, just, and humane.
Liberia and Hayti are as yet the only countries to which colonists of
African descent from here could go with certainty of being received and
adopted as citizens; and I regret to say such persons contemplating
colonization do not seem so willing to migrate to those countries as to
some others, nor so willing as I think their interest demands. I
believe, however, opinion among them in this respect is improving, and
that ere long there will be an augmented and considerable migration to
both these countries from the United States.

The new commercial treaty between the United States and the Sultan of
Turkey has been carried into execution.

A commercial and consular treaty has been negotiated, subject to the
Senate's consent, with Liberia, and a similar negotiation is now pending
with the Republic of Hayti. A considerable improvement of the national
commerce is expected to result from these measures.

Our relations with Great Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, Russia,
Prussia, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, the Netherlands, Italy, Rome, and the
other European States remain undisturbed. Very favorable relations also
continue to be maintained with Turkey, Morocco, China, and Japan.

During the last year there has not only been no change of our previous
relations with the independent States of our own continent, but more
friendly sentiments than have heretofore existed are believed to be
entertained by these neighbors, whose safety and progress are so
intimately connected with our own. This statement especially applies to
Mexico, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Honduras, Peru, and Chile.

The commission under the convention with the Republic of New Granada
closed its session without having audited and passed upon all the claims
which were submitted to it. A proposition is pending to revive the
convention, that it may be able to do more complete justice. The joint
commission between the United States and the Republic of Costa Rica has
completed its labors and submitted its report.

I have favored the project for connecting the United States with Europe
by an Atlantic telegraph, and a similar project to extend the telegraph
from San Francisco to connect by a Pacific telegraph with the line which
is being extended across the Russian Empire.

The Territories of the United States, with unimportant exceptions, have
remained undisturbed by the civil war; and they are exhibiting such
evidence of prosperity as justifies an expectation that some of them
will soon be in a condition to be organized as States and be
constitutionally admitted into the Federal Union.

The immense mineral resources of some of those Territories ought to be
developed as rapidly as possible. Every step in that direction would
have a tendency to improve the revenues of the Government and diminish
the burdens of the people. It is worthy of your serious consideration
whether some extraordinary measures to promote that end can not be
adopted. The means which suggests itself as most likely to be effective
is a scientific exploration of the mineral regions in those Territories
with a view to the publication of its results at home and in foreign
countries--results which can not fail to be auspicious.

The condition of the finances will claim your most diligent
consideration. The vast expenditures incident to the military and naval
operations required for the suppression of the rebellion have hitherto
been met with a promptitude and certainty unusual in similar
circumstances, and the public credit has been fully maintained. The
continuance of the war, however, and the increased disbursements made
necessary by the augmented forces now in the field demand your best
reflections as to the best modes of providing the necessary revenue
without injury to business and with the least possible burdens upon
labor.

The suspension of specie payments by the banks soon after the
commencement of your last session made large issues of United States
notes unavoidable. In no other way could the payment of the troops and
the satisfaction of other just demands be so economically or so well
provided for. The judicious legislation of Congress, securing the
receivability of these notes for loans and internal duties and making
them a legal tender for other debts, has made them an universal
currency, and has satisfied, partially at least, and for the time, the
long-felt want of an uniform circulating medium, saving thereby to the
people immense sums in discounts and exchanges.

A return to specie payments, however, at the earliest period compatible
with due regard to all interests concerned should ever be kept in view.
Fluctuations in the value of currency are always injurious, and to
reduce these fluctuations to the lowest possible point will always be a
leading purpose in wise legislation. Convertibility, prompt and certain
convertibility, into coin is generally acknowledged to be the best and
surest safeguard against them; and it is extremely doubtful whether a
circulation of United States notes payable in coin and sufficiently
large for the wants of the people can be permanently, usefully, and
safely maintained.

Is there, then, any other mode in which the necessary provision for the
public wants can be made and the great advantages of a safe and uniform
currency secured?

I know of none which promises so certain results and is at the same time
so unobjectionable as the organization of banking associations, under a
general act of Congress, well guarded in its provisions. To such
associations the Government might furnish circulating notes, on the
security of United States bonds deposited in the Treasury. These notes,
prepared under the supervision of proper officers, being uniform in
appearance and security and convertible always into coin, would at once
protect labor against the evils of a vicious currency and facilitate
commerce by cheap and safe exchanges.

A moderate reservation from the interest on the bonds would compensate
the United States for the preparation and distribution of the notes and
a general supervision of the system, and would lighten the burden of
that part of the public debt employed as securities. The public credit,
moreover, would be greatly improved and the negotiation of new loans
greatly facilitated by the steady market demand for Government bonds
which the adoption of the proposed system would create.

It is an additional recommendation of the measure, of considerable
weight, in my judgment, that it would reconcile as far as possible all
existing interests by the opportunity offered to existing institutions
to reorganize under the act, substituting only the secured uniform
national circulation for the local and various circulation, secured and
unsecured, now issued by them.

The receipts into the Treasury from all sources, including loans and
balance from the preceding year, for the fiscal year ending on the 30th
June, 1862, were $583,885,247.06, of which sum $49,056,397.62 were
derived from customs; $1,795,331.73 from the direct tax; from public
lands, $152,203.77; from miscellaneous sources, $931,787.64; from loans
in all forms, $529,692,460.50. The remainder, $2,257,065.80, was the
balance from last year.

The disbursements during the same period were: For Congressional,
executive, and judicial purposes, $5,939,009.29; for foreign
intercourse, $1,339,710.35; for miscellaneous expenses, including the
mints, loans, Post-Office deficiencies, collection of revenue, and other
like charges, $14,129,771.50; for expenses under the Interior
Department, $3,102,985.52; under the War Department, $394,368,407.36;
under the Navy Department, $42,674,569.69; for interest on public debt,
$13,190,324.45; and for payment of public debt, including reimbursement
of temporary loan and redemptions, $96,096,922.09; making an aggregate
of $570,841,700.25, and leaving a balance in the Treasury on the 1st day
of July, 1862, of $13,043,546.81.

It should be observed that the sum of $96,096,922.09, expended for
reimbursements and redemption of public debt, being included also in the
loans made, may be properly deducted both from receipts and
expenditures, leaving the actual receipts for the year $487,788,324.97,
and the expenditures $474,744,778.16.

Other information on the subject of the finances will be found in the
report of the Secretary of the Treasury, to whose statements and views I
invite your most candid and considerate attention.

The reports of the Secretaries of War and of the Navy are herewith
transmitted. These reports, though lengthy, are scarcely more than brief
abstracts of the very numerous and extensive transactions and operations
conducted through those Departments. Nor could I give a summary of them
here upon any principle which would admit of its being much shorter than
the reports themselves. I therefore content myself with laying the
reports before you and asking your attention to them.

It gives me pleasure to report a decided improvement in the financial
condition of the Post-Office Department as compared with several
preceding years. The receipts for the fiscal year 1861 amounted to
$8,349,296.40, which embraced the revenue from all the States of the
Union for three quarters of that year. Notwithstanding the cessation of
revenue from the so-called seceded States during the last fiscal year,
the increase of the correspondence of the loyal States has been
sufficient to produce a revenue during the same year of $8,299,820.90,
being only $50,000 less than was derived from all the States of the
Union during the previous year. The expenditures show a still more
favorable result. The amount expended in 1861 was $13,606,759.11. For
the last year the amount has been reduced to $11,125,364.13, showing a
decrease of about $2,481,000 in the expenditures as compared with the
preceding year, and about $3,750,000 as compared with the fiscal year
1860. The deficiency in the Department for the previous year was
$4,551,966.98. For the last fiscal year it was reduced to $2,112,814.57.
These favorable results are in part owing to the cessation of mail
service in the insurrectionary States and in part to a careful review of
all expenditures in that Department in the interest of economy. The
efficiency of the postal service, it is believed, has also been much
improved. The Postmaster-General has also opened a correspondence
through the Department of State with foreign governments proposing a
convention of postal representatives for the purpose of simplifying the
rates of foreign postage and to expedite the foreign mails. This
proposition, equally important to our adopted citizens and to the
commercial interests of this country, has been favorably entertained and
agreed to by all the governments from whom replies have been received.

I ask the attention of Congress to the suggestions of the
Postmaster-General in his report respecting the further legislation
required, in his opinion, for the benefit of the postal service.

The Secretary of the Interior reports as follows in regard to the public
lands:

  The public lands have ceased to be a source of revenue. From the 1st
  July, 1861, to the 30th September, 1862, the entire cash receipts from
  the sale of lands were $137,476.26--a sum much less than the expenses of
  our land system during the same period. The homestead law, which will
  take effect on the 1st of January next, offers such inducements to
  settlers that sales for cash can not be expected to an extent sufficient
  to meet the expenses of the General Land Office and the cost of
  surveying and bringing the land into market.


The discrepancy between the sum here stated as arising from the sales of
the public lands and the sum derived from the same source as reported
from the Treasury Department arises, as I understand, from the fact that
the periods of time, though apparently, were not really coincident at
the beginning point, the Treasury report including a considerable sum
now which had previously been reported from the Interior, sufficiently
large to greatly overreach the sum derived from the three months now
reported upon by the Interior and not by the Treasury.

The Indian tribes upon our frontiers have during the past year
manifested a spirit of insubordination, and at several points have
engaged in open hostilities against the white settlements in their
vicinity. The tribes occupying the Indian country south of Kansas
renounced their allegiance to the United States and entered into
treaties with the insurgents. Those who remained loyal to the United
States were driven from the country. The chief of the Cherokees has
visited this city for the purpose of restoring the former relations of
the tribe with the United States. He alleges that they were constrained
by superior force to enter into treaties with the insurgents, and that
the United States neglected to furnish the protection which their treaty
stipulations required.

In the month of August last the Sioux Indians in Minnesota attacked the
settlements in their vicinity with extreme ferocity, killing
indiscriminately men, women, and children. This attack was wholly
unexpected, and therefore no means of defense had been provided. It is
estimated that not less than 800 persons were killed by the Indians, and
a large amount of property was destroyed. How this outbreak was induced
is not definitely known, and suspicions, which may be unjust, need not
to be stated. Information was received by the Indian Bureau from
different sources about the time hostilities were commenced that a
simultaneous attack was to be made upon the white settlements by all the
tribes between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains. The State
of Minnesota has suffered great injury from this Indian war. A large
portion of her territory has been depopulated, and a severe loss has
been sustained by the destruction of property. The people of that State
manifest much anxiety for the removal of the tribes beyond the limits of
the State as a guaranty against future hostilities. The Commissioner of
Indian Affairs wall furnish full details. I submit for your especial
consideration whether our Indian system shall not be remodeled. Many
wise and good men have impressed me with the belief that this can be
profitably done.

I submit a statement of the proceedings of commissioners, which shows
the progress that has been made in the enterprise of constructing the
Pacific Railroad. And this suggests the earliest completion of this
road, and also the favorable action of Congress upon the projects now
pending before them for enlarging the capacities of the great canals in
New York and Illinois, as being of vital and rapidly increasing
importance to the whole nation, and especially to the vast interior
region hereinafter to be noticed at some greater length. I purpose
having prepared and laid before you at an early day some interesting and
valuable statistical information upon this subject. The military and
commercial importance of enlarging the Illinois and Michigan Canal and
improving the Illinois River is presented in the report of Colonel
Webster to the Secretary of War, and now transmitted to Congress. I
respectfully ask attention to it.

To carry out the provisions of the act of Congress of the 15th of May
last, I have caused the Department of Agriculture of the United States
to be organized.

The Commissioner informs me that within the period of a few months this
Department has established an extensive system of correspondence and
exchanges, both at home and abroad, which promises to effect highly
beneficial results in the development of a correct knowledge of recent
improvements in agriculture, in the introduction of new products, and in
the collection of the agricultural statistics of the different States.

Also, that it will soon be prepared to distribute largely seeds,
cereals, plants, and cuttings, and has already published and liberally
diffused much valuable information in anticipation of a more elaborate
report, which will in due time be furnished, embracing some valuable
tests in chemical science now in progress in the laboratory.

The creation of this Department was for the more immediate benefit of a
large class of our most valuable citizens, and I trust that the liberal
basis upon which it has been organized will not only meet your
approbation, but that it will realize at no distant day all the fondest
anticipations of its most sanguine friends and become the fruitful
source of advantage to all our people.

On the 22d day of September last a proclamation was issued by the
Executive, a copy of which is herewith submitted.

In accordance with the purpose expressed in the second paragraph of that
paper, I now respectfully recall your attention to what may be called
"compensated emancipation."

A nation may be said to consist of its territory, its people, and its
laws. The territory is the only part which is of certain durability.
"One generation passeth away and another generation cometh, but the
earth abideth forever." It is of the first importance to duly consider
and estimate this ever-enduring part. That portion of the earth's
surface which is owned and inhabited by the people of the United States
is well adapted to be the home of one national family, and it is not
well adapted for two or more. Its vast extent and its variety of climate
and productions are of advantage in this age for one people, whatever
they might have been in former ages. Steam, telegraphs, and intelligence
have brought these to be an advantageous combination for one united
people.

In the inaugural address I briefly pointed out the total inadequacy of
disunion as a remedy for the differences between the people of the two
sections. I did so in language which I can not improve, and which,
therefore, I beg to repeat:

  One section of our country believes slavery is _right_ and ought to be
  extended, while the other believes it is _wrong_ and ought not to be
  extended. This is the only substantial dispute. The fugitive-slave
  clause of the Constitution and the law for the suppression of the
  foreign slave trade are each as well enforced, perhaps, as any law can
  ever be in a community where the moral sense of the people imperfectly
  supports the law itself. The great body of the people abide by the dry
  legal obligation in both cases, and a few break over in each. This, I
  think, can not be perfectly cured, and it would be worse in both cases
  _after_ the separation of the sections than before. The foreign slave
  trade, now imperfectly suppressed, would be ultimately revived without
  restriction in one section, while fugitive slaves, now only partially
  surrendered, would not be surrendered at all by the other.

  Physically speaking, we can not separate. We can not remove our
  respective sections from each other nor build an impassable wall between
  them. A husband and wife may be divorced and go out of the presence and
  beyond the reach of each other, but the different parts of our country
  can not do this. They can not but remain face to face, and intercourse,
  either amicable or hostile, must continue between them. Is it possible,
  then, to make that intercourse more advantageous or more satisfactory
  _after_ separation than _before_? Can aliens make treaties easier than
  friends can make laws? Can treaties be more faithfully enforced between
  aliens than laws can among friends? Suppose you go to war, you can not
  fight always; and when, after much loss on both sides and no gain on
  either, you cease fighting, the identical old questions, as to terms of
  intercourse, are again upon you.


There is no line, straight or crooked, suitable for a national boundary
upon which to divide. Trace through, from east to west, upon the line
between the free and slave country, and we shall find a little more than
one-third of its length are rivers, easy to be crossed, and populated,
or soon to be populated, thickly upon both sides; while nearly all its
remaining length are merely surveyors' lines, over which people may walk
back and forth without any consciousness of their presence. No part of
this line can be made any more difficult to pass by writing it down on
paper or parchment as a national boundary. The fact of separation, if it
comes, gives up on the part of the seceding section the fugitive-slave
clause, along with all other constitutional obligations upon the section
seceded from, while I should expect no treaty stipulation would ever be
made to take its place.

But there is another difficulty. The great interior region bounded east
by the Alleghanies, north by the British dominions, west by the Rocky
Mountains, and south by the line along which the culture of corn and
cotton meets, and which includes part of Virginia, part of Tennessee,
all of Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri,
Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota, and the Territories of Dakota, Nebraska, and
part of Colorado, already has above 10,000,000 people, and will have
50,000,000 within fifty years if not prevented by any political folly or
mistake. It contains more than one-third of the country owned by the
United States--certainly more than 1,000,000 square miles. Once half as
populous as Massachusetts already is, it would have more than 75,000,000
people. A glance at the map shows that, territorially speaking, it is
the great body of the Republic. The other parts are but marginal borders
to it, the magnificent region sloping west from the Rocky Mountains to
the Pacific being the deepest and also the richest in undeveloped
resources. In the production of provisions, grains, grasses, and all
which proceed from them this great interior region is naturally one of
the most important in the world. Ascertain from the statistics the small
proportion of the region which has as yet been brought into cultivation,
and also the large and rapidly increasing amount of its products, and we
shall be overwhelmed with the magnitude of the prospect presented. And
yet this region has no seacoast--touches no ocean anywhere. As part of
one nation, its people now find, and may forever find, their way to
Europe by New York, to South America and Africa by New Orleans, and to
Asia by San Francisco; but separate our common country into two nations,
as designed by the present rebellion, and every man of this great
interior region is thereby cut off from some one or more of these
outlets, not perhaps by a physical barrier, but by embarrassing and
onerous trade regulations.

And this is true, _wherever_ a dividing or boundary line may be fixed.
Place it between the now free and slave country, or place it south of
Kentucky or north of Ohio, and still the truth remains that none south
of it can trade to any port or place north of it, and none north of it
can trade to any port or place south of it, except upon terms dictated
by a government foreign to them. These outlets, east, west, and south,
are indispensable to the well-being of the people inhabiting and to
inhabit this vast interior region. _Which_ of the three may be the best
is no proper question. All are better than either, and all of right
belong to that people and to their successors forever. True to
themselves, they will not ask _where_ a line of separation shall be, but
will vow rather that there shall be no such line. Nor are the marginal
regions less interested in these communications to and through them to
the great outside world. They, too, and each of them, must have access
to this Egypt of the West without paying toll at the crossing of any
national boundary.

Our national strife springs not from our permanent part; not from the
land we inhabit; not from our national homestead. There is no possible
severing of this but would multiply and not mitigate evils among us. In
all its adaptations and aptitudes it demands union and abhors
separation. In fact, it would ere long force reunion, however much of
blood and treasure the separation might have cost.

Our strife pertains to ourselves--to the passing generations of men--and
it can without convulsion be hushed forever with the passing of one
generation.

In this view I recommend the adoption of the following resolution and
articles amendatory to the Constitution of the United States:

_Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of both Houses
concurring)_, That the following articles be proposed to the
legislatures (or conventions) of the several States as amendments to
the Constitution of the United States, all or any of which articles,
when ratified by three-fourths of the said legislatures (or conventions),
to be valid as part or parts of the said Constitution, viz:

  ART. --. Every State wherein slavery now exists which shall abolish
  the same therein at any time or times before the 1st day of January,
  A.D. 1900, shall receive compensation from the United States as
  follows, to wit:

  The President of the United States shall deliver to every such State
  bonds of the United States bearing interest at the rate of ---- per cent
  per annum to an amount equal to the aggregate sum of ---- for each slave
  shown to have been therein by the Eighth Census of the United States,
  said bonds to be delivered to such State by installments or in one
  parcel at the completion of the abolishment, accordingly as the same
  shall have been gradual or at one time within such State; and interest
  shall begin to run upon any such bond only from the proper time of its
  delivery as aforesaid. Any State having received bonds as aforesaid and
  afterwards reintroducing or tolerating slavery therein shall refund to
  the United States the bonds so received, or the value thereof, and all
  interest paid thereon.

  ART. --. All slaves who shall have enjoyed actual freedom by the chances
  of the war at any time before the end of the rebellion shall be forever
  free; but all owners of such who shall not have been disloyal shall
  be compensated for them at the same rates as is provided for States
  adopting abolishment of slavery, but in such way that no slave shall
  be twice accounted for.

  ART. --. Congress may appropriate money and otherwise provide for
  colonizing free colored persons with their own consent at any place
  or places without the United States.


I beg indulgence to discuss these proposed articles at some length.
Without slavery the rebellion could never have existed; without slavery
it could not continue.

Among the friends of the Union there is great diversity of sentiment and
of policy in regard to slavery and the African race amongst us. Some
would perpetuate slavery; some would abolish it suddenly and without
compensation; some would abolish it gradually and with compensation;
some would remove the freed people from us, and some would retain them
with us; and there are yet other minor diversities. Because of these
diversities we waste much strength in struggles among ourselves. By
mutual concession we should harmonize and act together. This would be
compromise, but it would be compromise among the friends and not with
the enemies of the Union. These articles are intended to embody a plan
of such mutual concessions. If the plan shall be adopted, it is assumed
that emancipation will follow, at least in several of the States.

As to the first article, the main points are, first, the emancipation;
secondly, the length of time for consummating it (thirty-seven years);
and, thirdly, the compensation.

The emancipation will be unsatisfactory to the advocates of perpetual
slavery, but the length of time should greatly mitigate their
dissatisfaction. The time spares both races from the evils of sudden
derangement-- in fact, from the necessity of any derangement--while most
of those whose habitual course of thought will be disturbed by the
measure will have passed away before its consummation. They will never
see it. Another class will hail the prospect of emancipation, but will
deprecate the length of time. They will feel that it gives too little to
the now living slaves. But it really gives them much. It saves them from
the vagrant destitution which must largely attend immediate emancipation
in localities where their numbers are very great, and it gives the
inspiring assurance that their posterity shall be free forever. The plan
leaves to each State choosing to act under it to abolish slavery now or
at the end of the century, or at any intermediate time, or by degrees
extending over the whole or any part of the period, and it obliges no
two States to proceed alike. It also provides for compensation, and
generally the mode of making it. This, it would seem, must further
mitigate the dissatisfaction of those who favor perpetual slavery, and
especially of those who are to receive the compensation. Doubtless some
of those who are to pay and not to receive will object. Yet the measure
is both just and economical. In a certain sense the liberation of slaves
is the destruction of property--property acquired by descent or by
purchase, the same as any other property. It is no less true for having
been often said that the people of the South are not more responsible
for the original introduction of this property than are the people of
the North; and when it is remembered how unhesitatingly we all use
cotton and sugar and share the profits of dealing in them, it may not be
quite safe to say that the South has been more responsible than the
North for its continuance. If, then, for a common object this property
is to be sacrificed, is it not just that it be done at a common charge?

And if with less money, or money more easily paid, we can preserve the
benefits of the Union by this means than we can by the war alone, is it
not also economical to do it? Let us consider it, then. Let us ascertain
the sum we have expended in the war since compensated emancipation was
proposed last March, and consider whether if that measure had been
promptly accepted by even some of the slave States the same sum would
not have done more to close the war than has been otherwise done. If so,
the measure would save money, and in that view would be a prudent and
economical measure. Certainly it is not so easy to pay _something_ as it
is to pay _nothing_, but it is easier to pay a _large_ sum than it is to
pay a _larger_ one. And it is easier to pay any sum _when_ we are able
than it is to pay it _before_ we are able. The war requires large sums,
and requires them at once. The aggregate sum necessary for compensated
emancipation of course would be large. But it would require no ready
cash, nor the bonds even any faster than the emancipation progresses.
This might not, and probably would not, close before the end of the
thirty-seven years. At that time we shall probably have a hundred
millions of people to share the burden, instead of thirty-one millions
as now. And not only so, but the increase of our population may be
expected to continue for a long time after that period as rapidly as
before, because our territory will not have become full. I do not state
this inconsiderately. At the same ratio of increase which we have
maintained, on an average, from our first national census, in 1790,
until that of 1860, we should in 1900 have a population of 103,208,415.
And why may we not continue that ratio far beyond that period? Our
abundant room, our broad national homestead, is our ample resource. Were
our territory as limited as are the British Isles, very certainly our
population could not expand as stated. Instead of receiving the foreign
born as now, we should be compelled to send part of the native born
away. But such is not our condition. We have 2,963,000 square miles.
Europe has 3,800,000, with a population averaging 73-1/3 persons to the
square mile. Why may not our country at some time average as many? Is it
less fertile? Has it more waste surface by mountains, rivers, lakes,
deserts, or other causes? Is it inferior to Europe in any natural
advantage? If, then, we are at some time to be as populous as Europe,
how soon? As to when this _may_ be, we can judge by the past and the
present; as to when it _will_ be, if ever, depends much on whether we
maintain the Union. Several of our States are already above the average
of Europe--73-1/3 to the square mile. Massachusetts has 157; Rhode
Island, 133; Connecticut, 99; New York and New Jersey, each 80. Also two
other great States, Pennsylvania and Ohio, are not far below, the former
having 63 and the latter 59. The States already above the European
average, except New York, have increased in as rapid a ratio since
passing that point as ever before, while no one of them is equal to some
other parts of our country in natural capacity for sustaining a dense
population.

Taking the nation in the aggregate, and we find its population and ratio
of increase for the several decennial periods to be as follows:

  Year.                       Population.  Ratio of increase.
                                           _Per cent._
  1790                         3,929,827   .....
  1800                         5,305,937   35.02
  1810                         7,239,814   36.45
  1820                         9,638,131   33.13
  1830                        12,866,020   33.49
  1840                        17,069,453   32.67
  1850                        23,191,876   35.87
  1860                        31,443,790   35.58


This shows an average decennial increase of 34.60 per cent in population
through the seventy years from our first to our last census yet taken.
It is seen that the ratio of increase at no one of these seven periods
is either 2 per cent below or 2 per cent above the average, thus showing
how inflexible, and consequently how reliable, the law of increase in
our case is. Assuming that it will continue, it gives the following
results:

  Year.                      Population.

  1870                        42,323,341
  1880                        56,967,216
  1890                        76,677,872
  1900                       103,208,415
  1910                       138,918,526
  1920                       186,984,335
  1930                       251,680,914


These figures show that our country _may_ be as populous as Europe now
is at some point between 1920 and 1930--say about 1925--our territory,
at 73-1/3 persons to the square mile, being of capacity to contain
217,186,000.

And we _will_ reach this, too, if we do not ourselves relinquish the
chance by the folly and evils of disunion or by long and exhausting war
springing from the only great element of national discord among us.
While it can not be foreseen exactly how much one huge example of
secession, breeding lesser ones indefinitely, would retard population,
civilization, and prosperity, no one can doubt that the extent of it
would be very great and injurious.

The proposed emancipation would shorten the war, perpetuate peace,
insure this increase of population, and proportionately the wealth of
the country. With these we should pay all the emancipation would cost,
together with our other debt, easier than we should pay our other debt
without it. If we had allowed our old national debt to run at 6 per cent
per annum, simple interest, from the end of our revolutionary struggle
until to-day, without paying anything on either principal or interest,
each man of us would owe less upon that debt now than each man owed upon
it then; and this because our increase of men through the whole period
has been greater than 6 per cent--has run faster than the interest upon
the debt. Thus time alone relieves a debtor nation, so long as its
population increases faster than unpaid interest accumulates on its
debt.

This fact would be no excuse for delaying payment of what is justly due,
but it shows the great importance of time in this connection--the great
advantage of a policy by which we shall not have to pay until we number
100,000,000 what by a different policy we would have to pay now, when we
number but 31,000,000. In a word, it shows that a dollar will be much
harder to pay for the war than will be a dollar for emancipation on the
proposed plan. And then the latter will cost no blood, no precious life.
It will be a saving of both.

As to the second article, I think it would be impracticable to return to
bondage the class of persons therein contemplated. Some of them
doubtless, in the property sense belong to loyal owners, and hence
provision is made in this article for compensating such.

The third article relates to the future of the freed people. It does not
oblige, but merely authorizes Congress to aid in colonizing such as may
consent. This ought not to be regarded as objectionable on the one hand
or on the other, insomuch as it comes to nothing unless by the mutual
consent of the people to be deported and the American voters, through
their representatives in Congress.

I can not make it better known than it already is that I strongly favor
colonization; and yet I wish to say there is an objection urged against
free colored persons remaining in the country which is largely
imaginary, if not sometimes malicious.

It is insisted that their presence would injure and displace white labor
and white laborers. If there ever could be a proper time for mere catch
arguments, that time surely is not now. In times like the present men
should utter nothing for which they would not willingly be responsible
through time and in eternity. Is it true, then, that colored people can
displace any more white labor by being free than by remaining slaves? If
they stay in their old places, they jostle no white laborers; if they
leave their old places, they leave them open to white laborers.
Logically, there is neither more nor less of it. Emancipation, even
without deportation, would probably enhance the wages of white labor,
and very surely would not reduce them. Thus the customary amount of
labor would still have to be performed--the freed people would surely
not do more than their old proportion of it, and very probably for a
time would do less, leaving an increased part to white laborers,
bringing their labor into greater demand, and consequently enhancing the
wages of it. With deportation, even to a limited extent, enhanced wages
to white labor is mathematically certain. Labor is like any other
commodity in the market--increase the demand for it and you increase the
price of it. Reduce the supply of black labor by colonizing the black
laborer out of the country, and by precisely so much you increase the
demand for and wages of white labor.

But it is dreaded that the freed people will swarm forth and cover the
whole land. Are they not already in the land? Will liberation make them
any more numerous? Equally distributed among the whites of the whole
country; and there would be but one colored to seven whites. Could the
one in any way greatly disturb the seven? There are many communities now
having more than one free colored person to seven whites and this
without any apparent consciousness of evil from it. The District of
Columbia and the States of Maryland and Delaware are all in this
condition. The District has more than one free colored to six whites,
and yet in its frequent petitions to Congress I believe it has never
presented the presence of free colored persons as one of its grievances.
But why should emancipation South send the free people North? People of
any color seldom run unless there be something to run from. _Heretofore_
colored people to some extent have fled North from bondage, and _now_,
perhaps, from both bondage and destitution. But if gradual emancipation
and deportation be adopted, they will have neither to flee from. Their
old masters will give them wages at least until new laborers can be
procured, and the freedmen in turn will gladly give their labor for the
wages till new homes can be found for them in congenial climes and with
people of their own blood and race. This proposition can be trusted on
the mutual interests involved. And in any event, can not the North
decide for itself whether to receive them?

Again, as practice proves more than theory in any case, has there been
any irruption of colored people northward because of the abolishment of
slavery in this District last spring?

What I have said of the proportion of free colored persons to the whites
in the District is from the census of 1860, having no reference to
persons called contrabands nor to those made free by the act of Congress
abolishing slavery here.

The plan consisting of these articles is recommended, not but that a
restoration of the national authority would be accepted without its
adoption.

Nor will the war nor proceedings under the proclamation of September 22,
1862, be stayed because of the _recommendation_ of this plan. Its timely
_adoption_, I doubt not, would bring restoration, and thereby stay both.

And notwithstanding this plan, the recommendation that Congress provide
by law for compensating any State which may adopt emancipation before
this plan shall have been acted upon is hereby earnestly renewed. Such
would be only an advance part of the plan, and the same arguments apply
to both.

This plan is recommended as a means, not in exclusion of, but additional
to, all others for restoring and preserving the national authority
throughout the Union. The subject is presented exclusively in its
economical aspect. The plan would, I am confident, secure peace more
speedily and maintain it more permanently than can be done by force
alone, while all it would cost, considering amounts and manner of
payment and times of payment, would be easier paid than will be the
additional cost of the war if we rely solely upon force. It is much,
very much, that it would cost no blood at all.

The plan is proposed as permanent constitutional law. It can not become
such without the concurrence of, first, two-thirds of Congress, and
afterwards three-fourths of the States. The requisite three-fourths of
the States will necessarily include seven of the slave States. Their
concurrence, if obtained, will give assurance of their severally
adopting emancipation at no very distant day upon the new constitutional
terms. This assurance would end the struggle now and save the Union
forever.

I do not forget the gravity which should characterize a paper addressed
to the Congress of the nation by the Chief Magistrate of the nation, nor
do I forget that some of you are my seniors, nor that many of you have
more experience than I in the conduct of public affairs. Yet I trust
that in view of the great responsibility resting upon me you will
perceive no want of respect to yourselves in any undue earnestness I may
seem to display.

Is it doubted, then, that the plan I propose, if adopted, would shorten
the war, and thus lessen its expenditure of money and of blood? Is it
doubted that it would restore the national authority and national
prosperity and perpetuate both indefinitely? Is it doubted that we
here--Congress and Executive--can secure its adoption? Will not the good
people respond to a united and earnest appeal from us? Can we, can they,
by any other means so certainly or so speedily assure these vital
objects? We can succeed only by concert. It is not "Can _any_ of us
_imagine_ better?" but "Can we _all_ do better?" Object whatsoever is
possible, still the question recurs, "Can we do better?" The dogmas of
the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is
piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our
case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall
ourselves, and then we shall save our country.

Fellow-citizens, _we_ can not escape history. We of this Congress and
this Administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No
personal significance or insignificance can spare one or another of us.
The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or
dishonor to the latest generation. We _say_ we are for the Union. The
world will not forget that we say this. We know how to save the Union.
The world knows we do know how to save it. We, even _we here_, hold the
power and bear the responsibility. In _giving_ freedom to the _slave_ we
_assure_ freedom to the _free_--honorable alike in what we give and what
we preserve. We shall nobly save or meanly lose the last best hope of
earth. Other means may succeed; this could not fail. The way is plain,
peaceful, generous, just--a way which if followed the world will forever
applaud and God must forever bless.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.





SPECIAL MESSAGES.


WASHINGTON, _December 3, 1862_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

On the 3d of November, 1861, a collision took place off the coast of
Cuba between the United States war steamer _San Jacinto_ and the French
brig _Jules et Marie_, resulting in serious damage to the latter. The
obligation of this Government to make amends therefor could not be
questioned if the injury resulted from any fault on the part of the
_San Jacinto_.

With a view to ascertain this, the subject was referred to a commission
of the United States and French naval officers at New York, with a naval
officer of Italy as an arbiter. The conclusion arrived at was that the
collision was occasioned by the failure of the _San Jacinto_ seasonably
to reverse her engine. It then became necessary to ascertain the amount
of indemnification due to the injured party. The United States
consul-general at Havana was consequently instructed to confer with the
consul of France on this point, and they have determined that the sum of
$9,500 is an equitable allowance under the circumstances.

I recommend an appropriation of this sum for the benefit of the owners
of the _Jules et Marie_.

A copy of the letter of Mr. Shufeldt, the consul-general of the United
States at Havana, to the Secretary of State on the subject is herewith
transmitted.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, D.C., _December 8, 1862_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

In conformity to the law of July 16, 1862, I most cordially recommend
that Commander John L. Worden, United States Navy, receive a vote of
thanks of Congress for the eminent skill and gallantry exhibited by him
in the late remarkable battle between the United States ironclad steamer
_Monitor_, under his command, and the rebel ironclad steamer _Merrimac_,
in March last.

The thanks of Congress for his services on the occasion referred to were
tendered by a resolution approved July 11, 1862, but the recommendation
is now specially made in order to comply with the requirements of the
ninth section of the act of July 16, 1862, which is in the following
words, viz:

That any line officer of the Navy or Marine Corps may be advanced one
grade if upon recommendation of the President by name he receives the
thanks of Congress for highly distinguished conduct in conflict with the
enemy or for extraordinary heroism in the line of his profession.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, D.C., _December 9, 1862_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the United States of
the 13th of March last, requesting a copy of the correspondence relative
to the attempted seizure of Mr. Fauchet by the commander of the _Africa_
within the waters of the United States, I transmit a report from the
Secretary of State and the documents by which it was accompanied.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, D.C., _December 10, 1862_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

In conformity to the law of July 16, 1862, I most cordially recommend
that Lieutenant-Commander George U. Morris, United States Navy, receive
a vote of thanks of Congress for the determined valor and heroism
displayed in his defense of the United States ship of war _Cumberland_,
temporarily under his command, in the naval engagement at Hampton Roads
on the 8th March, 1862, with the rebel ironclad steam frigate
_Merrimac_.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _December 10, 1862_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

In answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 17th
of July last, requesting the communication of correspondence relating to
the arrest of a part of the crew of the brig _Sumter_ at Tangier,
Morocco, I herewith transmit a report from the Secretary of State.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with your resolution of December 5, 1862, requesting the
President "to furnish the Senate with all information in his possession
touching the late Indian barbarities in the State of Minnesota, and also
the evidence in his possession upon which some of the principal actors
and headmen were tried and condemned to death," I have the honor to
state that on receipt of said resolution I transmitted the same to the
Secretary of the Interior, accompanied by a note a copy of which is
herewith inclosed, marked A, and in response to which I received through
that Department a letter of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, a copy
of which is herewith inclosed, marked B.

I further state that on the 8th day of November last I received a
long telegraphic dispatch from Major-General Pope, at St. Paul, Minn.,
simply announcing the names of the persons sentenced to be hanged. I
immediately telegraphed to have transcripts of the records in all the
cases forwarded to me, which transcripts, however, did not reach me
until two or three days before the present meeting of Congress. Meantime
I received, through telegraphic dispatches and otherwise, appeals in
behalf of the condemned, appeals for their execution, and expressions
of opinion as to proper policy in regard to them and to the Indians
generally in that vicinity, none of which, as I understand, falls within
the scope of your inquiry. After the arrival of the transcripts of
records, but before I had sufficient opportunity to examine them,
I received a joint letter from one of the Senators and two of the
Representatives from Minnesota, which contains some statements of fact
not found in the records of the trials, and for which reason I herewith
transmit a copy, marked C. I also, for the same reason, inclose a
printed memorial of the citizens of St. Paul addressed to me and
forwarded with the letter aforesaid.

Anxious to not act with so much clemency as to encourage another
outbreak on the one hand, nor with so much severity as to be real
cruelty on the other, I caused a careful examination of the records
of trials to be made, in view of first ordering the execution of
such as had been proved guilty of violating females. Contrary to my
expectations, only two of this class were found. I then directed a
further examination, and a classification of all who were proven to have
participated in _massacres_, as distinguished from participation in
_battles_. This class numbered forty, and included the two convicted
of female violation. One of the number is strongly recommended by the
commission which tried them for commutation to ten years' imprisonment.
I have ordered the other thirty-nine to be executed on Friday, the 19th
instant. The order was dispatched from here on Monday, the 8th instant,
by a messenger to General Sibley, and a copy of which order is herewith
transmitted, marked D.

An abstract of the evidence as to the forty is herewith inclosed,
marked E.

To avoid the immense amount of copying, I lay before the Senate the
original transcripts of the records of trials as received by me.

This is as full and complete a response to the resolution as it is in my
power to make.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

DECEMBER 11, 1862.



WASHINGTON, _December 11, 1862_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to
ratification, a treaty between the United States and the Republic of
Liberia, signed at London by the plenipotentiaries of the parties on the
21st of October last.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



DECEMBER 12, 1862.

_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I have in my possession three valuable swords, formerly the property of
General David E. Twiggs, which I now place at the disposal of Congress.
They are forwarded to me from New Orleans by Major-General Benjamin F.
Butler. If they or any of them shall be by Congress disposed of in
reward or compliment of military service, I think General Butler is
entitled to the first consideration. A copy of the General's letter to
me accompanying the swords is herewith transmitted.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, D.C., _December 13, 1862_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In the list of nominations transmitted to the Senate under date of the
1st instant Captain William M. Glendy, United States Navy, was included
therein for promotion to the grade of commodore.

Since submitting this nomination it appears that this officer was
ineligible for the advancement to which he had been nominated in
consequence of his age, being 62 on the 23d of May, 1862, and under the
law of 21st December, 1861, should, had this fact been known to the Navy
Department, have been transferred to the retired list on the day when he
completed sixty-two years.

The nomination of Captain Glendy is accordingly withdrawn.

It is due to this officer to state that at the period of the passage of
the law of December, 1861, he was and still is absent on duty on a
foreign station, and the certificate of his age required by the Navy
Department was only received a few days since.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _December 18, 1862_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit a copy of a dispatch to the Secretary of State from Mr.
Adams, United States minister at London, and of the correspondence to
which it refers between that gentleman and Mr. Panizzi, the principal
librarian of the British Museum, relative to certain valuable
publications presented to the Library of Congress.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _December 22, 1862_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 15th instant,
requesting a copy of the report of the Hon. Reverdy Johnson,[6] I
transmit a communication from the Secretary of State and the documents
by which it was accompanied.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

[Footnote 6: United States commissioner at New Orleans.]



WASHINGTON, _December 24, 1862_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit, for the consideration of Congress, a report from the
Secretary of State on the subject of consular pupils.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _January 2, 1863_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I submit to Congress the expediency of extending to other Departments of
the Government the authority conferred on the President by the eighth
section of the act of the 8th of May, 1792, to appoint a person to
temporarily discharge the duties of Secretary of State, Secretary of the
Treasury, and Secretary of War in case of the death, absence from the
seat of Government, or sickness of either of those officers.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _January 3, 1863_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, for consideration with a view to ratification,
a convention for the mutual adjustment of claims between the United
States and Ecuador, signed by the respective plenipotentiaries of the
two Governments in Guayaquil on the 25th November ultimo.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _January 5, 1863_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

In compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the
22d ultimo, in relation to the alleged interference of our minister to
Mexico in favor of the French, I transmit a report from the Secretary of
State and the papers with which it is accompanied.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _January 6, 1863_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit for the consideration of Congress, and with a view to the
adoption of such measures in relation to the subject of it as may be
deemed expedient, a copy of a note of the 8th instant addressed to the
Secretary of State by the minister resident of the Hanseatic Republics
accredited to this Government, concerning an international agricultural
exhibition to be held next summer in the city of Hamburg.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _January 14, 1863_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

The Secretary of State has submitted to me a resolution of the House of
Representatives of the 5th instant, which has been delivered to him, and
which is in the following words:

  _Resolved_, That the Secretary of State be requested to communicate
  to this House, if not in his judgment incompatible with the public
  interest, why our minister in New Granada has not presented his
  credentials to the actual Government of that country; also the reasons
  for which Señor Murillo is not recognized by the United States as the
  diplomatic representative of the Mosquera Government of that country;
  also what negotiations have been had, if any, with General Herran, as
  the representative of Ospina's Government in New Granada, since it
  went into existence.


On the 12th day of December, 1846, a treaty of amity, peace, and concord
was concluded between the United States of America and the Republic of
New Granada, which is still in force. On the 7th day of December, 1847,
General Pedro Alcántara Herran, who had been duly accredited, was
received here as the envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of
that Republic. On the 30th day of August, 1849, Señor Don Rafael Rivas
was received by this Government as chargé d'affaires of the same
Republic. On the 5th day of December, 1851, a consular convention was
concluded between that Republic and the United States, which treaty was
signed on behalf of the Republic of Granada by the same Señor Rivas.
This treaty is still in force. On the 27th of April, 1852, Señor Don
Victoriano de Diego Paredes was received as chargé d'affaires of the
Republic of New Granada. On the 20th of June, 1855, General Pedro
Alcántara Herran was again received as envoy extraordinary and minister
plenipotentiary, duly accredited by the Republic of New Granada, and he
has ever since remained, under the same credentials, as the
representative of that Republic near the Government of the United
States. On the 10th of September, 1857, a claims convention was
concluded between the United States and the Republic of Granada. This
convention is still in force, and has in part been executed. In May,
1858, the constitution of the Republic was remodeled, and the nation
assumed the political title of "The Granadian Confederacy." This fact
was formally announced to this Government, but without any change in
their representative here. Previously to the 4th day of March, 1861, a
revolutionary war against the Republic of New Granada, which had thus
been recognized and treated with by the United States, broke out in New
Granada, assuming to set up a new government under the name of "The
United States of Colombia." This war has had various vicissitudes,
sometimes favorable, sometimes adverse, to the revolutionary movements.
The revolutionary organization has hitherto been simply a military
provisionary power, and no definitive constitution of government has yet
been established in New Granada in place of that organized by the
constitution of 1858. The minister of the United States to the Granadian
Confederacy, who was appointed on the 29th day of May, 1861, was
directed, in view of the occupation of the capital by the revolutionary
party and of the uncertainty of the civil war, not to present his
credentials to either the Government of the Granadian Confederacy or to
the provisional military Government, but to conduct his affairs
informally, as is customary in such cases, and to report the progress of
events and await the instructions of this Government. The advices which
have been received from him have not hitherto been sufficiently
conclusive to determine me to recognize the revolutionary Government.
General Herran being here, with full authority from the Government of
New Granada, which had been so long recognized by the United States, I
have not received any representative from the revolutionary Government,
which has not yet been recognized, because such a proceeding would in
itself be an act of recognition.

Official communications have been had on various incidental and
occasional questions with General Herran as the minister plenipotentiary
and envoy extraordinary of the Granadian Confederacy, but in no other
character. No definitive measure or proceeding has resulted from these
communications, and a communication of them at present would not, in my
judgment, be compatible with the public interest.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



JANUARY 17, 1863.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I have signed the joint resolution to provide for the immediate payment
of the Army and Navy of the United States, passed by the House of
Representatives on the 14th and by the Senate on the 15th instant.

The joint resolution is a simple authority, amounting, however, under
existing circumstances, to a direction, to the Secretary of the Treasury
to make an additional issue of $100,000,000 in United States notes, if
so much money is needed, for the payment of the Army and Navy.

My approval is given in order that every possible facility may be
afforded for the prompt discharge of all arrears of pay due to our
soldiers and our sailors.

While giving this approval, however, I think it my duty to express my
sincere regret that it has been found necessary to authorize so large an
additional issue of United States notes, when this circulation and that
of the suspended banks together have become already so redundant as to
increase prices beyond real values, thereby augmenting the cost of
living to the injury of labor, and the cost of supplies to the injury of
the whole country.

It seems very plain that continued issues of United States notes without
any check to the issues of suspended banks and without adequate
provision for the raising of money by loans and for funding the issues
so as to keep them within due limits must soon produce disastrous
consequences; and this matter appears to me so important that I feel
bound to avail myself of this occasion to ask the special attention of
Congress to it.

That Congress has power to regulate the currency of the country can
hardly admit of doubt, and that a judicious measure to prevent the
deterioration of this currency, by a seasonable taxation of bank
circulation or otherwise, is needed seems equally clear. Independently
of this general consideration, it would be unjust to the people at large
to exempt banks enjoying the special privilege of circulation from their
just proportion of the public burdens.

In order to raise money by way of loans most easily and cheaply, it is
clearly necessary to give every possible support to the public credit.
To that end a uniform currency, in which taxes, subscriptions to loans,
and all other ordinary public dues, as well as all private dues, may be
paid, is almost, if not quite, indispensable. Such a currency can be
furnished by banking associations, organized under a general act of
Congress, as suggested in my message at the beginning of the present
session. The securing of this circulation by the pledge of United States
bonds, as therein suggested, would still further facilitate loans by
increasing the present and causing a future demand for such bonds.

In view of the actual financial embarrassments of the Government and of
the greater embarrassments sure to come if the necessary means of relief
be not afforded, I feel that I should not perform my duty by a simple
announcement of my approval of the joint resolution, which proposes
relief only by increasing circulation, without expressing my earnest
desire that measures such in substance as those I have just referred to
may receive the early sanction of Congress.

By such measures, in my opinion, will payment be most certainly secured,
not only to the Army and Navy, but to all honest creditors of the
Government, and satisfactory provision made for future demands on the
Treasury.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _January 20, 1863_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, in answer to
the resolution of the Senate relative to the correspondence between this
Government and the Mexican minister in relation to the exportation of
articles contraband of war for the use of the French army in Mexico.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, January 21, 1863_.

_Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I submit herewith, for your consideration, the joint resolutions of the
corporate authorities of the city of Washington adopted September 27,
1862, and a memorial of the same under date of October 28, 1862, both
relating to and urging the construction of certain railroads
concentrating upon the city of Washington.

In presenting this memorial and the joint resolutions to you I am not
prepared to say more than that the subject is one of great practical
importance and that I hope it will receive the attention of Congress.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _January 23, 1863_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit, for the consideration of Congress, a report from the
Secretary of State, transmitting the regulations, decrees, and orders
for the government of the United States consular courts in Turkey.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _January 26, 1863_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 13th instant,
requesting a copy of certain correspondence respecting the capture of
British vessels sailing from one British port to another having on board
contraband of war intended for the use of the insurgents, I have the
honor to transmit a report from the Secretary of State and the documents
by which it was accompanied.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON CITY, _January 28, 1863_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

In conformity to the law of July 16, 1862, I most cordially recommend
that Commander David D. Porter, United States Navy, acting rear-admiral,
commanding the Mississippi Squadron, receive a vote of thanks of
Congress for the bravery and skill displayed in the attack on the post
of Arkansas, which surrendered to the combined military and naval forces
on the 10th instant.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _February 4, 1863_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

In compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the
5th December last, requesting information upon the present condition of
Mexico, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State and the papers
by which it was accompanied.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, D.C., _February 4, 1863_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In pursuance of the joint resolution of Congress approved 3d February,
1863, tendering its thanks to Commander John L. Worden, United States
Navy, I nominate that officer to be a captain in the Navy on the active
list from the 3d February, 1863.

It may be proper to state that the number of captains authorized by the
second section of the act of 16th July, 1862, is now full, but presuming
that the meaning of the ninth section of the same act is that the
officer receiving the vote of thanks shall immediately be advanced one
grade I have made the nomination.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _February 5, 1863_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I submit to the Senate, for consideration with a view to ratification, a
"convention between the United States of America and the Republic of
Peru for the settlement of the pending claims of the citizens of either
country against the other," signed at Lima on the 12th January ultimo,
with the following amendment:

Article 1, strike out the words "the claims of the American citizens Dr.
Charles Easton, Edmund Sartori, and the owners of the whale ship
_William Lee_ against the Government of Peru, and the Peruvian citizen
Stephen Montano against the Government of the United States," and
insert: _all claims of citizens of the United States against the
Government of Peru and of citizens of Peru against the Government of the
United States which have not been embraced in conventional or diplomatic
agreement between the two Governments or their plenipotentiaries, and
statements of which soliciting the interposition of either Government
may previously to the exchange of the ratifications of this convention
have been filed in the Department of State at Washington or the
department for foreign affairs at Lima_, etc.

This amendment is considered desirable, as there are believed to be
other claims proper for the consideration of the commission which are
not among those specified in the original article, and because it is at
least questionable whether either Government would be justified in
incurring the expense of a commission for the sole purpose of disposing
of the claims mentioned in that article.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _February 5, 1863_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I submit to the Senate, for consideration with a view to ratification,
a "convention between the United States of America and the Republic of
Peru, providing for the reference to the King of Belgium of the claims
arising out of the capture and confiscation of the ships _Lizzie
Thompson_ and _Georgiana_," signed at Lima on the 20th December, 1862.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _February 6, 1863_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the United States of
yesterday, requesting information in regard to the death of General
Ward, a citizen of the United States in the military service of the
Chinese Government, I transmit a copy of a dispatch of the 27th of
October last, its accompaniment, from the minister of the United States
in China.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _February 6, 1863_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith a report[7] from the Secretary of State, with
accompanying documents, in answer to the resolution of the Senate of the
30th ultimo.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

[Footnote 7: Relating to the building of ships of war for the Japanese
Government.]



WASHINGTON, _February 10, 1863_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of yesterday, requesting
information touching the visit of Mr. Mercier to Richmond in April last,
I transmit a report from the Secretary of State, to whom the resolution
was referred.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, D.C., _February 12, 1863_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

On the 4th of September, 1862, Commander George Henry Preble, United
States Navy, then senior officer in command of the naval force off the
harbor of Mobile, was guilty of inexcusable neglect in permitting the
armed steamer _Oreto_ in open daylight to run the blockade. For his
omission to perform his whole duty on that occasion and the injury
thereby inflicted on the service and the country, his name was stricken
from the list of naval officers and he was dismissed the service.

Since his dismissal earnest application has been made for his
restoration to his former position by Senators and naval officers, on
the ground that his fault was an error of judgment, and that the example
in his case has already had its effect in preventing a repetition of
similar neglect.

I therefore, on this application and representation, and in
consideration of his previous fair record, do hereby nominate George
Henry Preble to be a commander in the Navy from the 16th July, 1862, to
take rank on the active list next after Commander Edward Donaldson, and
to fill a vacancy occasioned by the death of Commander J.M. Wainwright.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, D.C., _February 12, 1863_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

On the 24th August, 1861, Commander Roger Perry, United States Navy,
was dismissed from the service under a misapprehension in regard to his
loyalty to the Government, from the circumstance that several oaths
were transmitted to him and the Navy Department failed to receive any
recognition of them. After his dismissal, and upon his assurance that
the oath failed to reach him and his readiness to execute it, he was
recommissioned to his original position on the 4th September following.
On the same day, 4th September, he was ordered to command the sloop of
war _Vandalia_; on the 22d this order was revoked and he was ordered to
duty in the Mississippi Squadron, and on the 23d January, 1862, was
detached sick, and has since remained unemployed. The advisory board
under the act of 16th July, 1862, did not recommend him for further
promotion.

This last commission, having been issued during the recess of the
Senate, expired at the end of the succeeding session, 17th July, 1862,
from which date, not having been nominated to the Senate, he ceased to
be a commander in the Navy.

To correct the omission to nominate this officer to the Senate at its
last session, I now nominate Commander Roger Perry to be a commander in
the Navy from the 14th September, 1855, to take his relative position on
the list of commanders not recommended for further promotion.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _February 12, 1863_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 10th instant,
requesting information on the subjects of mediation, arbitration,
or other measures looking to the termination of the existing civil
war, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State and the documents
by which it was accompanied.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _February 13, 1863_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, in answer to their resolution of the 12th
instant, the accompanying report[8] from the Secretary of State.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

[Footnote 8: Relating to the use of negroes by the French army in Mexico.]



WASHINGTON, _February 13, 1863_.

Hon. GALUSHA A. GROW,

_Speaker of the House of Representatives_.

SIR: I herewith communicate to the House of Representatives, in answer
to their resolution of the 18th of December last, a report from the
Secretary of the Interior, containing all the information in the
possession of the Department respecting the causes of the recent
outbreaks of the Indian tribes in the Northwest which has not
heretofore been transmitted to Congress.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE OFFICE, _February 17, 1863_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith, for the constitutional action of the Senate
thereon, a treaty made and concluded on the 3d day of February, 1863,
between W.W. Ross, commissioner on the part of the United States, and
the chiefs and headmen of the Pottawatomie Nation of Indians of Kansas,
which, it appears from the accompanying letter from the Secretary of the
Interior of the 17th instant, is intended to be amendatory of the treaty
concluded with said Indians on the 15th November, 1862.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _February 18, 1863_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, for consideration with a view to its
ratification, an additional article to the treaty between the United
States and Great Britain of the 7th of April, 1862, for the suppression
of the African slave trade, which was concluded and signed at Washington
on the 17th instant by the Secretary of State and Her Britannic
Majesty's minister accredited to this Government.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, D.C., _February 19, 1863_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

Congress on my recommendation passed a resolution, approved 7th
February, 1863, tendering its thanks to Commodore Charles Henry Davis
for "distinguished service in conflict with the enemy at Fort Pillow, at
Memphis, and for successful operations at other points in the waters of
the Mississippi River."

I therefore, in conformity with the seventh section of the act approved
16th July, 1862, nominate Commodore Charles Henry Davis to be a
rear-admiral in the Navy on the active list from the 7th February, 1863.

Captain John A. Dahlgren having in said resolution of the 7th February
in like manner received the thanks of Congress "for distinguished
service in the line of his profession, improvements in ordnance, and
zealous and efficient labors in the ordnance branch of the service," I
therefore, in conformity with the seventh section of the act of 16th
July, 1862, nominate Captain John A. Dahlgren to be a rear-admiral in
the Navy on the active list from the 7th February, 1863.

The ninth section of the act of July, 1862, authorizes "any line officer
of the Navy or Marine Corps to be advanced one grade if upon
recommendation of the President by name he receives the thanks of
Congress for highly distinguished conduct in conflict with the enemy or
for extraordinary heroism in the line of his profession," and Captain
Stephen C. Rowan and Commander David D. Porter having each on my
recommendation received the thanks of Congress for distinguished
service, by resolution or the 7th February, 1863, I do therefore
nominate Captain Stephen C. Rowan to be a commodore in the Navy on the
active list from the 7th February, 1863. Commander David D. Porter to be
a captain in the Navy on the active list from the 7th February, 1863.

If this nomination should be confirmed, there will be vacancies in the
several grades to which these officers are nominated for promotion.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WAR DEPARTMENT,

_Washington City, February 25, 1863_.

THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE.

SIR: In answer to the Senate resolution of the 21st instant, I have
the honor to inclose herewith a letter of the 24th instant from the
Secretary of War, by which it appears that there are 438 assistant
quartermasters, 387 commissaries of subsistence, and 343 additional
paymasters now in the volunteer service, including those before the
Senate for confirmation.

I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, D.C., _February 25, 1863_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I nominate Passed Midshipmen Samuel Pearce and Nathaniel T. West, now on
the retired list, to be ensigns in the Navy on the retired list.

These nominations are made in conformity with the fourth section of the
act to amend an act entitled "An act to promote the efficiency of the
Navy," approved 16th January, 1857, and are induced by the following
considerations:

The pay of a passed midshipman on the retired list as fixed by the "Act
for the better organization of the military establishment," approved 3d
August, 1861, amounted, including rations, to $788 per annum. By the
"Act to establish and equalize the grade of line officers of the United
States Navy," approved 16th July, 1862, the grade or rank of passed
midshipman, which was the next below that of master, was discontinued
and that of ensign was established, being now the next grade below that
of master and the only grade in the line list between those of master
and midshipman. The same act fixes the pay of officers on the retired
list, omitting the grade of passed midshipman, and prohibits the
allowance of rations to retired officers. The effect of this was to
reduce the pay of a passed midshipman on the retired list from $788 to
$350 per annum, or less than half of previous rate.

This was no doubt an unintended result of the law, operating exclusively
on the two passed midshipmen then on the retired list, and their
promotion or transfer to the equivalent grade of ensign would not
completely indemnify them, the pay of an ensign on the retired list
being only $500 per annum. It is the only relief, however, which is
deemed within the intention of the existing laws, and it is the more
willingly recommended in this case, as there is nothing in the character
of the officers to be relieved which would make it objectionable. These
are the only cases of the kind.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _February 28, 1863_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 26th instant,
requesting a copy of any correspondence which may have taken place
between me and workingmen in England, I transmit the papers mentioned in
the subjoined list.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _February 28, 1863_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit, for the consideration of Congress, a dispatch to the
Secretary of State from the United States consul at Liverpool, and the
address to which it refers, of the distressed operatives of Blackburn,
in England, to the New York relief committee and to the inhabitants of
the United States generally.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _March 2, 1863_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit to Congress a copy of a preamble and joint resolution of the
legislative assembly of the Territory of New Mexico, accepting the
benefits of the act of Congress approved the 2d of July last, entitled
"An act donating public lands to the several States and Territories
which may provide colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the
mechanic arts."

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.




PROCLAMATION.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas on the 22d day of September, A.D. 1862, a proclamation was
issued by the President of the United States, containing, among other
things, the following, to wit:

  That on the 1st day of January, A.D. 1863, all persons held as slaves
  within any State or designated part of a State the people whereof
  shall then be in rebellion against the United States shall be then,
  thenceforward, and forever free; and the executive government of the
  United States, including the military and naval authority thereof,
  will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons and will do
  no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts
  they may make for their actual freedom.

  That the Executive will on the 1st day of January aforesaid, by
  proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in
  which the people thereof, respectively, shall then be in rebellion
  against the United States; and the fact that any State or the people
  thereof shall on that day be in good faith represented in the Congress
  of the United States by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a
  majority of the qualified voters of such States shall have participated
  shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed
  conclusive evidence that such State and the people thereof are not then
  in rebellion against the United States.


Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by
virtue of the power in me vested as Commander in Chief of the Army and
Navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebellion against the
authority and Government of the United States, and as a fit and
necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion, do, on this 1st
day of January, A.D. 1863, and in accordance with my purpose so to do,
publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days from the day
first above mentioned, order and designate as the States and parts of
States wherein the people thereof, respectively, are this day in
rebellion against the United States the following, to wit:

Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana (except the parishes of St. Bernard,
Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James, Ascension,
Assumption, Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans,
including the city of New Orleans), Mississippi, Alabama, Florida,
Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia (except the
forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties
of Berkeley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Anne,
and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth), and which
excepted parts are for the present left precisely as if this
proclamation were not issued.

And by virtue of the power and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and
declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States
and parts of States are and henceforward shall be free, and that the
executive government of the United States, including the military and
naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of
said persons.

And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to abstain
from all violence, unless in necessary self-defense; and I recommend to
them that in all cases when allowed they labor faithfully for reasonable
wages.

And I further declare and make known that such persons of suitable
condition will be received into the armed service of the United States
to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places and to man
vessels of all sorts in said service.

And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted
by the Constitution upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate
judgment of mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty God.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 1st day of January, A.D. 1863, and
of the Independence of the United States of America the eighty-seventh.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.




EXECUTIVE ORDERS.

EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, December 22, 1862_.

_To the Army of the Potomac_:

I have just read your commanding general's preliminary report of the
battle of Fredericksburg. Although you were not successful, the attempt
was not an error nor the failure other than an accident. The courage
with which you in an open field maintained the contest against an
intrenched foe and the consummate skill and success with which you
crossed and recrossed the river in face of the enemy show that you
possess all the qualities of a great army, which will yet give victory
to the cause of the country and of popular government. Condoling with
the mourners for the dead and sympathizing with the severely wounded, I
congratulate you that the number of both is comparatively so small.

I tender to you, officers and soldiers, the thanks of the nation.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, January 4, 1863_.

Hon. GIDEON WELLES,

_Secretary of the Navy_.

DEAR SIR: As many persons who come well recommended for loyalty and
service to the Union cause, and who are refugees from rebel oppression
in the State of Virginia, make application to me for authority and
permission to remove their families and property to protection within
the Union lines by means of our armed gunboats on the Potomac River and
Chesapeake Bay, you are hereby requested to hear and consider all such
applications and to grant such assistance to this class of persons as in
your judgment their merits may render proper and as may in each case be
consistent with the perfect and complete efficiency of the naval service
and with military expediency.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 8, 1863_.

_Ordered by the President_:

Whereas on the 13th day of November, 1862, it was ordered that the
Attorney-General be charged with the superintendence and direction of
all proceedings to be had under the act of Congress of the 17th of July,
entitled "An act to suppress insurrection, to punish treason and
rebellion, and to seize and confiscate the property of rebels, and for
other purposes," in so far as may concern the seizure, prosecution,
and condemnation of the estate, property, and effects of rebels and
traitors, as mentioned and provided for in the fifth, sixth, and
seventh sections of the said act of Congress; and

Whereas since that time it has been ascertained that divers prosecutions
have been instituted in the courts of the United States for the
condemnation of property of rebels and traitors under the act of
Congress of August 6, 1861, entitled "An act to confiscate property used
for insurrectionary purposes," which equally require the superintending
care of the Government: Therefore

_It is now further ordered by the President_, That the Attorney-General
be charged with superintendence and direction of all proceedings to be
had under the said last-mentioned act (the act of 1861) as fully in all
respects as under the first-mentioned act (the act of 1862).

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  EDW. BATES,
    _Attorney-General_.


Whereas by the twelfth section of an act of Congress entitled "An act
to aid in the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the
Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean, and to secure to the Government the
use of the same for postal, military, and other purposes," approved July
1, 1862, it is made the duty of the President of the United States to
determine the uniform width of the track of the entire line of the said
railroad and the branches of the same; and

Whereas application has been made to me by the Leavenworth, Pawnee and
Western Railroad Company, a company authorized by the act of Congress
above mentioned to construct a branch of said railroad, to fix the gauge
thereof:

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of
America, do determine that the uniform width of the track of said
railroad and all its branches which are provided for in the aforesaid
act of Congress shall be 5 feet, and that this order be filed in the
office of the Secretary of the Interior for the information and guidance
of all concerned.

Done at the city of Washington, this 21st day of January, A.D. 1863.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.




PROCLAMATION.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas objects of interest to the United States require that the Senate
should be convened at 12 o'clock on the 4th of March next to receive and
act upon such communications as may be made to it on the part of the
Executive:

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, have
considered it to be my duty to issue this my proclamation, declaring
that an extraordinary occasion requires the Senate of the United States
to convene for the transaction of business at the Capitol, in the city
of Washington, on the 4th day of March next, at 12 o'clock at noon on
that day, of which all who shall at that time be entitled to act as
members of that body are hereby required to take notice.

Given under my hand and the seal of the United States, at Washington,
the 28th day of February, A.D. 1863, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the eighty-seventh.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.




SPECIAL MESSAGES.


WASHINGTON, _March 5, 1863_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

For the reasons stated by the Secretary of War, I present the nomination
of the persons named in the accompanying communication for confirmation
of the rank which they held at the time they fell in the service of
their country.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WAR DEPARTMENT,

_Washington, March 5, 1863_.

The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

SIR: The following-named persons having fallen in battle after having
received appointments to the grades for which they are herein nominated,
I have the honor to propose that their names be submitted to the Senate
for confirmation of their rank, as a token of this Government's
approbation of their distinguished merit. This has been the practice of
the Department in similar cases, brevet nominations and confirmations
having been made after the decease of gallant officers.

_To be major-generals_.

Brigadier-General Philip Kearny, of the United States Volunteers, July
14, 1862. (Killed in the battle of Chantilly.)

Brigadier-General Israel B. Richardson, of the United States Volunteers,
July 4, 1862. (Died of wounds received at the battle of Antietam.)

Brigadier-General Jesse L. Reno, of the United States Volunteers, July
18, 1862. (Killed in the battle of South Mountain.)

_To be brigadier-general_.

Captain William R. Terrill, of the Fifth United States Artillery,
September 9, 1862. (Killed in the battle of Perryville.)

I am, sir, with great respect, your obedient servant,

EDWIN M. STANTON,

_Secretary of War_.



WASHINGTON, _March 5, 1863_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

For the reasons stated by the Secretary of War, I present the nomination
of the persons named in the accompanying communication for confirmation
of the rank of major-general, in which capacity they were acting at the
time they fell in battle.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WAR DEPARTMENT,

_Washington, March 5, 1863_.

The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

SIR: The following-named persons having fallen in battle while
performing the duty and exercising command as major-generals, a rank
which they had earned in the service of their country, I have the honor
to propose that their names be submitted to the Senate for confirmation,
as a token of the Government's appreciation of their distinguished
merit. This is in accordance with the practice in similar cases, brevet
nominations and confirmations having been made after the decease of
gallant officers.

_To be major-generals of volunteers_.

Brigadier-General Joseph K.F. Mansfield, of the United States Army, July
18, 1862. (Died of wounds received in the battle of Antietam, Md.)

Brigadier-General Isaac I. Stevens, of the United States Volunteers,
July 18, 1862. (Killed in the battle of Chantilly, Va.)

I am, sir, with great respect, your obedient servant,

EDWIN M. STANTON,
  _Secretary of War_.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 12, 1863_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I herewith transmit to the Senate, for its consideration and
ratification, a treaty with the chiefs and headmen of the Chippewas of
the Mississippi and the Pillagers and Lake Winnibigoshish bands of
Chippewa Indians.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.




PROCLAMATIONS.


[From Final Report of the Provost-Marshal-General (March 17, 1866),
p. 218.]

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

A PROCLAMATION.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 10 1863_.

In pursuance of the twenty-sixth section of the act of Congress entitled
"An act for enrolling and calling out the national forces, and for other
purposes," approved on the 3d day of March, 1863, I, Abraham Lincoln,
President and Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United
States, do hereby order and command that all soldiers enlisted or
drafted in the service of the United States now absent from their
regiments without leave shall forthwith return to their respective
regiments.

And I do hereby declare and proclaim that all soldiers now absent from
their respective regiments without leave who shall, on or before the 1st
day of April, 1863, report themselves at any rendezvous designated by
the general orders of the War Department No. 58, hereto annexed, may be
restored to their respective regiments without punishment, except the
forfeiture of pay and allowances during their absence; and all who do
not return within the time above specified shall be arrested as
deserters and punished as the law provides; and

Whereas evil-disposed and disloyal persons at sundry places have enticed
and procured soldiers to desert and absent themselves from their
regiments, thereby weakening the strength of the armies and prolonging
the war, giving aid and comfort to the enemy, and cruelly exposing the
gallant and faithful soldiers remaining in the ranks to increased
hardships and danger:

I do therefore call upon all patriotic and faithful citizens to oppose
and resist the aforementioned dangerous and treasonable crimes, and to
aid in restoring to their regiments all soldiers absent without leave,
and to assist in the execution of the act of Congress "for enrolling and
calling out the national forces, and for other purposes," and to support
the proper authorities in the prosecution and punishment of offenders
against said act and in suppressing the insurrection and rebellion.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

Done at the city of Washington, this 10th day of March, A.D. 1863,
and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-seventh.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  EDWIN M. STANTON,
    _Secretary of War_.



GENERAL ORDERS, No. 58.

WAR DEPARTMENT,

ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

_Washington, March 10, 1863_.

I. The following is the twenty-sixth section of the act "for enrolling
and calling out the national forces, and for other purposes," approved
March 3, 1863:

"SEC. 26. _And be it further enacted_, That immediately after the
passage of this act the President shall issue his proclamation declaring
that all soldiers now absent from their regiments without leave may
return, within a time specified, to such place or places as he may
indicate in his proclamation, and be restored to their respective
regiments without punishment, except the forfeiture of their pay and
allowances during their absence; and all deserters who shall not return
within the time so specified by the President shall, upon being
arrested, be punished as the law provides."

II. The following places[9] are designated as rendezvous to which
soldiers absent without leave may report themselves to the officers
named on or before the 1st day of April next under the proclamation of
the President of this date.

III. Commanding officers at the above-named places of rendezvous, or, in
the absence of commanding officers, superintendents of recruiting
service, recruiting officers, and mustering and disbursing officers,
will take charge of all soldiers presenting themselves as above directed
and cause their names to be enrolled, and copy of said roll will, on or
before the 10th day of April, be sent to the Adjutant-General of the
Army.

The soldiers so reporting themselves will be sent without delay to their
several regiments, a list of those sent being furnished to the
commanding officer of the regiment and a duplicate to the
Adjutant-General of the Army. The commanding officer of the regiment
will immediately report to the Adjutant-General of the Army the receipt
of any soldiers so sent to him.

By order of the Secretary of War:

L. THOMAS,

_Adjutant-General_.

[Footnote 9: Omitted.]



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas the Senate of the United States, devoutly recognizing the
supreme authority and just government of Almighty God in all the affairs
of men and of nations, has by a resolution requested the President to
designate and set apart a day for national prayer and humiliation; and

Whereas it is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their
dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and
transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine
repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime
truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that
those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord;

And, insomuch as we know that by His divine law nations, like
individuals, are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this
world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war which
now desolates the land may be but a punishment inflicted upon us for our
presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a
whole people? We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of
Heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity;
we have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever
grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand
which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened
us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts,
that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and
virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too
self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace,
too proud to pray to the God that made us.

It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to
confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.

Now, therefore, in compliance with the request, and fully concurring in
the views of the Senate, I do by this my proclamation designate and set
apart Thursday, the 30th day of April, 1863, as a day of national
humiliation, fasting, and prayer. And I do hereby request all the people
to abstain on that day from their ordinary secular pursuits, and to
unite at their several places of public worship and their respective
homes in keeping the day holy to the Lord and devoted to the humble
discharge of the religious duties proper to that solemn occasion.

All this being done in sincerity and truth, let us then rest humbly in
the hope authorized by the divine teachings that the united cry of the
nation will be heard on high and answered with blessings no less than
the pardon of our national sins and the restoration of our now divided
and suffering country to its former happy condition of unity and peace.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 30th day of March, A.D. 1863,
and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-seventh.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas, in pursuance of the act of Congress approved July 13, 1861, I
did, by proclamation dated August 16, 1861, declare that the inhabitants
of the States of Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, North Carolina,
Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Florida
(except the inhabitants of that part of Virginia lying west of the
Alleghany Mountains and of such other parts of that State and the other
States hereinbefore named as might maintain a legal adhesion to the
Union and the Constitution or might be from time to time occupied and
controlled by forces of the United States engaged in the dispersion of
said insurgents) were in a state of insurrection against the United
States, and that all commercial intercourse between the same and the
inhabitants thereof, with the exceptions aforesaid, and the citizens of
other States and other parts of the United States was unlawful and would
remain unlawful until such insurrection should cease or be suppressed,
and that all goods and chattels, wares and merchandise, coming from any
of said States, with the exceptions aforesaid, into other parts of the
United States without the license and permission of the President,
through the Secretary of the Treasury, or proceeding to any of said
States, with the exceptions aforesaid, by land or water, together with
the vessel or vehicle conveying the same to or from said States, with
the exceptions aforesaid, would be forfeited to the United States; and

Whereas experience has shown that the exceptions made in and by said
proclamation embarrass the due enforcement of said act of July 13, 1861,
and the proper regulation of the commercial intercourse authorized by
said act with the loyal citizens of said States:

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do
hereby revoke the said exceptions, and declare that the inhabitants of
the States of Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee,
Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Florida, and Virginia
(except the forty-eight counties of Virginia designated as West
Virginia, and except also the ports of New Orleans, Key West, Port
Royal, and Beaufort, in North Carolina) are in a state of insurrection
against the United States, and that all commercial intercourse not
licensed and conducted as provided in said act between the said States
and the inhabitants thereof, with the exceptions aforesaid, and the
citizens of other States and other parts of the United States is
unlawful and will remain unlawful until such insurrection shall cease or
has been suppressed and notice thereof has been duly given by
proclamation; and all cotton, tobacco, and other products, and all other
goods and chattels, wares and merchandise, coming from any of said
States, with the exceptions aforesaid, into other parts of the United
States, or proceeding to any of said States, with the exceptions
aforesaid, without the license and permission of the President, through
the Secretary of the Treasury, will, together with the vessel or vehicle
conveying the same, be forfeited to the United States.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 2d day of April, A.D. 1863, and
of the Independence of the United States of America the eighty-seventh.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



ABRAHAM LINCOLN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

_To all to whom these presents shall come, greeting_:

Know ye that, whereas a paper bearing date the 31st day of December
last, purporting to be an agreement between the United States and one
Bernard Kock for immigration of persons of African extraction to a
dependency of the Republic of Hayti, was signed by me on behalf of the
party of the first part; but whereas the said instrument was and has
since remained incomplete in consequence of the seal of the United
States not having been thereunto affixed; and whereas I have been moved
by considerations by me deemed sufficient to withhold my authority for
affixing the said seal:

Now, therefore, be it known that I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the
United States, do hereby authorize the Secretary of State to cancel my
signature to the instrument aforesaid.

Done at Washington, this 16th day of April, A.D. 1863.

[SEAL.]

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas by the act of Congress approved the 31st day of December last
the State of West Virginia was declared to be one of the United States
of America, and was admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the
original States in all respects whatever, upon the condition that
certain changes should be duly made in the proposed constitution for
that State; and

Whereas proof of a compliance with that condition, as required by the
second section of the act aforesaid has been submitted to me:

Now, therefore, be it known that I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the
United States, do hereby, in pursuance of the act of Congress aforesaid,
declare and proclaim that the said act shall take effect and be in force
from and after sixty days from the date hereof.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 20th day of April, A.D. 1863,
and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-seventh.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.


Whereas the Congress of the United States at its last session enacted a
law entitled "An act for enrolling and calling out the national forces
and for other purposes," which was approved on the 3d day of March last;
and

Whereas it is recited in the said act that there now exists in the
United States an insurrection and rebellion against the authority
thereof, and it is, under the Constitution of the United States, the
duty of the Government to suppress insurrection and rebellion, to
guarantee to each State a republican form of government, and to preserve
the public tranquillity; and

Whereas for these high purposes a military force is indispensable, to
raise and support which all persons ought willingly to contribute; and

Whereas no service can be more praiseworthy and honorable than that
which is rendered for the maintenance of the Constitution and Union and
the consequent preservation of free government; and

Whereas, for the reasons thus recited, it was enacted by the said
statute that all able-bodied male citizens of the United States and
persons of foreign birth who shall have declared on oath their intention
to become citizens under and in pursuance of the laws thereof, between
the ages of 20 and 45 years (with certain exceptions not necessary to be
here mentioned), are declared to constitute the national forces, and
shall be liable to perform military duty in the service of the United
States when called out by the President for that purpose; and

Whereas it is claimed by and in behalf of persons of foreign birth
within the ages specified in said act who have heretofore declared on
oath their intentions to become citizens under and in pursuance of the
laws of the United States, and who have not exercised the right of
suffrage or any other political franchise under the laws of the United
States or of any of the States thereof, that they are not absolutely
concluded by their aforesaid declaration of intention from renouncing
their purpose to become citizens, and that, on the contrary, such
persons, under treaties or the law of nations, retain a right to
renounce that purpose and to forego the privileges of citizenship and
residence within the United States under the obligations imposed by the
aforesaid act of Congress:

Now, therefore, to avoid all misapprehensions concerning the liability
of persons concerned to perform the service required by such enactment,
and to give it full effect, I do hereby order and proclaim that no plea
of alienage will be received or allowed to exempt from the obligations
imposed by the aforesaid act of Congress any person of foreign birth who
shall have declared on oath his intention to become a citizen of the
United States under the laws thereof, and who shall be found within the
United States at any time during the continuance of the present
insurrection and rebellion or after the expiration of the period of
sixty-five days from the date of this proclamation, nor shall any such
plea of alienage be allowed in favor of any such person who has so as
aforesaid declared his intention to become a citizen of the United
States and shall have exercised at any time the right of suffrage or
any other political franchise within the United States under the laws
thereof or under the laws of any of the several States.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 8th day of May, A.D. 1863, and
of the Independence of the United States the eighty-seventh.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas the armed insurrectionary combinations now existing in several
of the States are threatening to make inroads into the States of
Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, requiring immediately
an additional military force for the service of the United States:

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States and
Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy thereof and of the militia of
the several States when called into actual service, do hereby call into
the service of the United States 100,000 militia from the States
following, namely: From the State of Maryland, 10,000; from the State of
Pennsylvania, 50,000; from the State of Ohio, 30,000; from the State of
West Virginia, 10,000--to be mustered into the service of the United
States forthwith and to serve for the period of six months from the date
of such muster into said service, unless sooner discharged; to be
mustered in as infantry, artillery, and cavalry, in proportions which
will be made known through the War Department, which Department will
also designate the several places of rendezvous. These militia to be
organized according to the rules and regulations of the volunteer
service and such orders as may hereafter be issued, The States aforesaid
will be respectively credited under the enrollment act for the militia
services rendered under this proclamation.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 15th day of June, A.D. 1863, and
of the Independence of the United States the eighty-seventh.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

It has pleased Almighty God to hearken to the supplications and prayers
of an afflicted people and to vouchsafe to the Army and the Navy of the
United States victories on land and on the sea so signal and so
effective as to furnish reasonable grounds for augmented confidence that
the Union of these States will be maintained, their Constitution
preserved, and their peace and prosperity permanently restored. But
these victories have been accorded not without sacrifices of life, limb,
health, and liberty, incurred by brave, loyal, and patriotic citizens.
Domestic affliction in every part of the country follows in the train of
these fearful bereavements. It is meet and right to recognize and
confess the presence of the Almighty Father and the power of His hand
equally in these triumphs and in these sorrows:

Now, therefore, be it known that I do set apart Thursday, the 6th day of
August next, to be observed as a day for national thanksgiving, praise,
and prayer, and I invite the people of the United States to assemble on
that occasion in their customary places of worship and in the forms
approved by their own consciences render the homage due to the Divine
Majesty for the wonderful things He has done in the nation's behalf and
invoke the influence of His Holy Spirit to subdue the anger which has
produced and so long sustained a needless and cruel rebellion, to change
the hearts of the insurgents, to guide the counsels of the Government
with wisdom adequate to so great a national emergency, and to visit with
tender care and consolation throughout the length and breadth of our
land all those who, through the vicissitudes of marches, voyages,
battles, and sieges, have been brought to suffer in mind, body, or
estate, and finally to lead the whole nation through the paths of
repentance and submission to the divine will back to the perfect
enjoyment of union and fraternal peace.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 15th day of July, A.D. 1863, and
of the Independence of the United States of America the eighty-eighth.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas the Constitution of the United States has ordained that the
privilege of the writ of _habeas corpus_ shall not be suspended unless
when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require
it; and

Whereas a rebellion was existing on the 3d day of March, 1863, which
rebellion is still existing; and

Whereas by a statute which was approved on that day it was enacted by
the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in Congress
assembled that during the present insurrection the President of the
United States, whenever in his judgment the public safety may require,
is authorized to suspend the privilege of the writ of _habeas corpus_ in
any case throughout the United States or any part thereof; and

Whereas, in the judgment of the President, the public safety does
require that the privilege of the said writ shall now be suspended
throughout the United States in the cases where, by the authority of the
President of the United States, military, naval, and civil officers of
the United States, or any of them, hold persons under their command or
in their custody, either as prisoners of war, spies, or aiders or
abettors of the enemy, or officers, soldiers, or seamen enrolled or
drafted or mustered or enlisted in or belonging to the land or naval
forces of the United States, or as deserters therefrom, or otherwise
amenable to military law or the rules and articles of war or the rules
or regulations prescribed for the military or naval services by
authority of the President of the United States, or for resisting a
draft, or for any other offense against the military or naval service:

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do
hereby proclaim and make known to all whom it may concern that the
privilege of the writ of _habeas corpus_ is suspended throughout the
United States in the several cases before mentioned, and that this
suspension will continue throughout the duration of the said rebellion
or until this proclamation shall, by a subsequent one to be issued by
the President of the United States, be modified or revoked. And I do
hereby require all magistrates, attorneys, and other civil officers
within the United States and all officers and others in the military and
naval services of the United States to take distinct notice of this
suspension and to give it full effect, and all citizens of the United
States to conduct and govern themselves accordingly and in conformity
with the Constitution of the United States and the laws of Congress in
such case made and provided.

[SEAL.]

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed this 15th day of September, A.D. 1863,
and of the Independence of the United States of America the
eighty-eighth.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas in my proclamation of the 27th of April, 1861, the ports of the
States of Virginia and North Carolina were, for reasons therein set
forth, placed under blockade; and

Whereas the port of Alexandria, Va., has since been blockaded, but as
the blockade of said port may now be safely relaxed with advantage to
the interests of commerce:

Now, therefore, be it known that I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the
United States, pursuant to the authority in me vested by the fifth
section of the act of Congress approved on the 13th of July, 1861,
entitled "An act further to provide for the collection of duties on
imports and for other purposes," do hereby declare that the blockade of
the said port of Alexandria shall so far cease and determine from and
after this date that commercial intercourse with said port, except as to
persons, things, and information contraband of war, may from this date
be carried on, subject to the laws of the United States and to the
limitations and in pursuance of the regulations which are prescribed by
the Secretary of the Treasury in his order which is appended to my
proclamation of the 12th of May, 1862.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 24th day of September, A.D. 1863,
and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the
blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties,
which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the
source from which they come, others have been added which are of so
extraordinary a nature that they can not fail to penetrate and soften
even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful
providence of Almighty God.

In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which
has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and to provoke their
aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been
maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has
prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict, while
that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and
navies of the Union.

Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of
peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow,
the shuttle, or the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our
settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious
metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population
has steadily increased notwithstanding the waste that has been made in
the camp, the siege, and the battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in
the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to
expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these
great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who,
while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless
remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly,
reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one
voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my
fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who
are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart
and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving
and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And
I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due
to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings they do also, with
humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend
to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners,
or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably
engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand
to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it, as soon as may be
consistent with the divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace,
harmony, tranquillity, and union.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 3d day of October, A.D. 1863, and
of the Independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas the term of service of a part of the volunteer forces of the
United States will expire during the coming year; and

Whereas, in addition to the men raised by the present draft, it is
deemed expedient to call out 300,000 volunteers to serve for three years
or the war, not, however, exceeding three years:

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States and
Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy thereof and of the militia of
the several States when called into actual service, do issue this my
proclamation, calling upon the governors of the different States to
raise and have enlisted into the United States service for the various
companies and regiments in the field from their respective States their
quotas of 300,000 men.

I further proclaim that all volunteers thus called out and duly enlisted
shall receive advance pay, premium, and bounty, as heretofore
communicated to the governors of States by the War Department through
the Provost-Marshal-General's Office by special letters.

I further proclaim that all volunteers received under this call, as well
as all others not heretofore credited, shall be duly credited on and
deducted from the quotas established for the next draft.

I further proclaim that if any State shall fail to raise the quota
assigned to it by the War Department under this call, then a draft for
the deficiency in said quota shall be made on said State, or on the
districts of said State, for their due proportion of said quota; and the
said draft shall commence on the 5th day of January, 1864.

And I further proclaim that nothing in this proclamation shall interfere
with existing orders, or those which may be issued, for the present
draft in the States where it is now in progress or where it has not yet
commenced.

The quotas of the States and districts will be assigned by the War
Department, through the Provost-Marshal-General's Office, due regard
being had for the men heretofore furnished, whether by volunteering or
drafting, and the recruiting will be conducted in accordance with such
instructions as have been or may be issued by that Department.

In issuing this proclamation I address myself not only to the governors
of the several States, but also to the good and loyal people thereof,
invoking them to lend their willing, cheerful, and effective aid to the
measures thus adopted, with a view to reenforce our victorious armies
now in the field and bring our needful military operations to a
prosperous end, thus closing forever the fountains of sedition and civil
war.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 17th day of October, A.D. 1863, and
of the Independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.




EXECUTIVE ORDERS.

EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, March 31, 1863_.

Whereas by the act of Congress approved July 13, 1861, entitled "An
act to provide for the collection of duties on imports, and for other
purposes," all commercial intercourse between the inhabitants of such
States as should by proclamation be declared in insurrection against the
United States and the citizens of the rest of the United States was
prohibited so long as such condition of hostility should continue,
except as the same shall be licensed and permitted by the President to
be conducted and carried on only in pursuance of rules and regulations
prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury; and

Whereas it appears that a partial restoration of such intercourse
between the inhabitants of sundry places and sections heretofore
declared in insurrection in pursuance of said act and the citizens of
the rest of the United States will favorably affect the public
interests:

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States,
exercising the authority and discretion confided to me by the said act
of Congress, do hereby license and permit such commercial intercourse
between the citizens of loyal States and the inhabitants of such
insurrectionary States in the cases and under the restrictions described
and expressed in the regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the
Treasury bearing even date with these presents, or in such other
regulations as he may hereafter, with my approval, prescribe.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, June 22, 1863_.

Whereas the act of Congress approved the 3d day of March, A.D. 1863,
entitled "An act to provide circuit courts for the districts of
California and Oregon, and for other purposes," authorized the
appointment of one additional associate justice of the Supreme Court of
the United States, and provided that the districts of California and
Oregon should constitute the tenth circuit and that the other circuits
should remain as then constituted by law; and

Whereas Stephen J. Field was appointed the said additional associate
justice of the Supreme Court since the last adjournment of said court,
and consequently he was not allotted to the said circuit according to
the fifth section of the act of Congress entitled "An act to amend the
judicial system of the United States," approved the 29th day of April,
1802:

Now I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, under the
authority of said section, do allot the said associate justice, Stephen
J. Field, to the said tenth circuit.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

Attest:

TITIAN J. COFFEY,

_Attorney-General ad interim_.



WAR DEPARTMENT,

_Washington, July 4, 1863--10 a.m._

The President announces to the country that news from the Army of the
Potomac up to 10 o'clock p.m. of the 3d is such as to cover that army
with the highest honor, to promise a great success to the cause of the
Union, and to claim the condolence of all for the many gallant fallen;
and that for this he especially desires that on this day He whose will,
not ours, should ever be done be everywhere remembered and ever
reverenced with profoundest gratitude.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



GENERAL ORDERS, No. 211.

WAR DEPARTMENT,

ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

_Washington, July 9, 1863_.


ORDER ABOLISHING MILITARY GOVERNORSHIP OF ARKANSAS.

_Ordered_, That the appointment of John S. Phelps as military governor
of the State of Arkansas and of Amos F. Eno as secretary be revoked, and
the office of military governor in said State is abolished, and that all
authority, appointments, and power heretofore granted to and exercised
by them, or either of them, as military governor or secretary, or by any
person or persons appointed by or acting under them, is hereby revoked
and annulled.

By order of the President:

E.D. TOWNSEND,

_Assistant Adjutant-General_.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, July 25, 1863_.

Hon. SECRETARY OF THE NAVY.

SIR: Certain matters have come to my notice, and considered by me, which
induce me to believe that it will conduce to the public interest for you
to add to the general instructions given to our naval commanders in
relation to contraband trade propositions substantially as follows, to
wit:

First. You will avoid the reality, and as far as possible the
appearance, of using any neutral port to watch neutral vessels, and then
to dart out and seize them on their departure.

NOTE.--Complaint is made that this has been practiced at the port of St.
Thomas, which practice, if it exists, is disapproved and must cease.

Second. You will not in any case detain the crew of a captured neutral
vessel or any other subject of a neutral power on board such vessel, as
prisoners of war or otherwise, except the small number necessary as
witnesses in the prize court.

NOTE.--The practice here forbidden is also charged to exist, which, if
true, is disapproved and must cease.

My dear sir, it is not intended to be insinuated that you have, been
remiss in the performance of the arduous and responsible duties of your
Department, which, I take pleasure in affirming, has in your hands been
conducted with admirable success. Yet, while your subordinates are
almost of necessity brought into angry collision with the subjects of
foreign states, the representatives of those states and yourself do not
come into immediate contact for the purpose of keeping the peace, in
spite of such collisions. At that point there is an ultimate and heavy
responsibility upon me.

What I propose is in strict accordance with international law, and is
therefore unobjectionable; whilst, if it does no other good, it will
contribute to sustain a considerable portion of the present British
ministry in their places, who, if displaced, are sure to be replaced by
others more unfavorable to us.

Your obedient servant,

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, July 30, 1863_.

It is the duty of every government to give protection to its citizens,
of whatever class, color, or condition, and especially to those who are
duly organized as soldiers in the public service. The law of nations and
the usages and customs of war, as carried on by civilized powers, permit
no distinction as to color in the treatment of prisoners of war as
public enemies. To sell or enslave any captured person on account of his
color, and for no offense against the laws of war, is a relapse into
barbarism and a crime against the civilization of the age.

The Government of the United States will give the same protection to all
its soldiers, and if the enemy shall sell or enslave anyone because of
his color the offense shall be punished by retaliation upon the enemy's
prisoners in our possession.

_It is therefore ordered_, That for every soldier of the United States
killed in violation of the laws of war a rebel soldier shall be
executed, and for every one enslaved by the enemy or sold into slavery
a rebel soldier shall be placed at hard labor on the public works and
continued at such labor until the other shall be released and receive
the treatment due to a prisoner of war.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington City, August 25, 1863_.

_Ordered_, first. That clearances issued by the Treasury Department for
vessels or merchandise bound for the port of New Orleans for the
military necessities of the department, certified by Brigadier-General
Shepley, the military governor of Louisiana, shall be allowed to enter
said port.

Second. That vessels and domestic produce from New Orleans permitted by
the military governor of Louisiana at New Orleans for the military
purpose of his department shall on his permit be allowed to pass from
said port to its destination to any port not blockaded by the United
States.

A. LINCOLN.



WAR DEPARTMENT,

_Washington City, August 31, 1863_.

_Ordered_, That the Executive order of November 21, 1862, prohibiting
the exportation of arms, ammunition, or munitions of war from the United
States, be, and the same hereby is, modified so far as to permit the
exportation of imported arms, ammunition, and munitions of war to the
ports whence they were shipped for the United States.

By order of the President:

[EDWIN M. STANTON.]



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, September 4, 1863_.

_Ordered_, That the Executive order dated November 21, 1862, prohibiting
the exportation from the United States of arms, ammunition, or munitions
of war, under which the commandants of departments were, by order of the
Secretary of War dated May 13, 1863, directed to prohibit the purchase
and sale for exportation from the United States of all horses and mules
within their respective commands, and to take and appropriate to the use
of the United States any horses, mules, and live stock designed for
exportation, be so far modified that any arms heretofore imported into
the United States may be reexported to the place of original shipment,
and that any live stock raised in any State or Territory bounded by the
Pacific Ocean may be exported from any port of such State or Territory.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WAR DEPARTMENT,

_Washington City, September 24, 1863_.

_Ordered by the President of the United States_, That Major-General
Hooker be, and he is hereby, authorized to take military possession of
all railroads, with their cars, locomotives, plants, and equipments,
that may be necessary for the execution of the military operation
committed to his charge; and all officers, agents, and employees of said
roads are directed to render their aid and assistance therein and to
respect and obey his commands, pursuant to the act of Congress in such
case made and provided.

EDWIN M. STANTON,

_Secretary of War_.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, November 10, 1863_.

In consideration of the peculiar circumstances and pursuant to the
comity deemed to be due to friendly powers, any tobacco in the United
States belonging to the government either of France, Austria, or any
other state with which this country is at peace, and which tobacco was
purchased and paid for by such government prior to the 4th day of March,
1861, may be exported from any port of the United States under the
supervision and upon the responsibility of naval officers of such
governments and in conformity to such regulations as may be presented
by the Secretary of State of the United States, and not otherwise.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.




THIRD ANNUAL MESSAGE.

DECEMBER 8, 1863.

_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives_:

Another year of health and of sufficiently abundant harvests has passed.
For these, and especially for the improved condition of our national
affairs, our renewed and profoundest gratitude to God is due.

We remain in peace and friendship with foreign powers.

The efforts of disloyal citizens of the United States to involve us in
foreign wars to aid an inexcusable insurrection have been unavailing.
Her Britannic Majesty's Government, as was justly expected, have
exercised their authority to prevent the departure of new hostile
expeditions from British ports. The Emperor of France has by a like
proceeding promptly vindicated the neutrality which he proclaimed at the
beginning of the contest. Questions of great intricacy and importance
have arisen out of the blockade and other belligerent operations between
the Government and several of the maritime powers, but they have been
discussed and, as far as was possible, accommodated in a spirit of
frankness, justice, and mutual good will. It is especially gratifying
that our prize courts, by the impartiality of their adjudications, have
commanded the respect and confidence of maritime powers.

The supplemental treaty between the United States and Great Britain for
the suppression of the African slave trade, made on the 17th day of
February last, has been duly ratified and carried into execution. It is
believed that so far as American ports and American citizens are
concerned that inhuman and odious traffic has been brought to an end.

I shall submit for the consideration of the Senate a convention for the
adjustment of possessory claims in Washington Territory arising out of
the treaty of the 15th June, 1846, between the United States and Great
Britain, and which have been the source of some disquiet among the
citizens of that now rapidly improving part of the country.

A novel and important question, involving the extent of the maritime
jurisdiction of Spain in the waters which surround the island of Cuba,
has been debated without reaching an agreement, and it is proposed in an
amicable spirit to refer it to the arbitrament of a friendly power. A
convention for that purpose will be submitted to the Senate.

I have thought it proper, subject to the approval of the Senate, to
concur with the interested commercial powers in an arrangement for the
liquidation of the Scheldt dues, upon the principles which have been
heretofore adopted in regard to the imposts upon navigation in the
waters of Denmark.

The long-pending controversy between this Government and that of Chile
touching the seizure at Sitana, in Peru, by Chilean officers, of a large
amount in treasure belonging to citizens of the United States has been
brought to a close by the award of His Majesty the King of the Belgians,
to whose arbitration the question was referred by the parties. The
subject was thoroughly and patiently examined by that justly respected
magistrate, and although the sum awarded to the claimants may not have
been as large as they expected there is no reason to distrust the wisdom
of His Majesty's decision. That decision was promptly complied with by
Chile when intelligence in regard to it reached that country.

The joint commission under the act of the last session for carrying into
effect the convention with Peru on the subject of claims has been
organized at Lima, and is engaged in the business intrusted to it.

Difficulties concerning interoceanic transit through Nicaragua are in
course of amicable adjustment.

In conformity with principles set forth in my last annual message, I
have received a representative from the United States of Colombia, and
have accredited a minister to that Republic.

Incidents occurring in the progress of our civil war have forced upon my
attention the uncertain state of international questions touching the
rights of foreigners in this country and of United States citizens
abroad. In regard to some governments these rights are at least
partially defined by treaties. In no instance, however, is it expressly
stipulated that in the event of civil war a foreigner residing in this
country within the lines of the insurgents is to be exempted from the
rule which classes him as a belligerent, in whose behalf the Government
of his country can not expect any privileges or immunities distinct from
that character. I regret to say, however, that such claims have been put
forward, and in some instances in behalf of foreigners who have lived in
the United States the greater part of their lives.

There is reason to believe that many persons born in foreign countries
who have declared their intention to become citizens, or who have been
fully naturalized, have evaded the military duty required of them by
denying the fact and thereby throwing upon the Government the burden of
proof. It has been found difficult or impracticable to obtain this
proof, from the want of guides to the proper sources of information.
These might be supplied by requiring clerks of courts where declarations
of intention may be made or naturalizations effected to send
periodically lists of the names of the persons naturalized or declaring
their intention to become citizens to the Secretary of the Interior, in
whose Department those names might be arranged and printed for general
information.

There is also reason to believe that foreigners frequently become
citizens of the United States for the sole purpose of evading duties
imposed by the laws of their native countries, to which on becoming
naturalized here they at once repair, and though never returning to the
United States they still claim the interposition of this Government as
citizens. Many altercations and great prejudices have heretofore arisen
out of this abuse. It is therefore submitted to your serious
consideration. It might be advisable to fix a limit beyond which no
citizen of the United States residing abroad may claim the interposition
of his Government.

The right of suffrage has often been assumed and exercised by aliens
under pretenses of naturalization, which they have disavowed when
drafted into the military service. I submit the expediency of such an
amendment of the law as will make the fact of voting an estoppel against
any plea of exemption from military service or other civil obligation on
the ground of alienage.

In common with other Western powers, our relations with Japan have been
brought into serious jeopardy through the perverse opposition of the
hereditary aristocracy of the Empire to the enlightened and liberal
policy of the Tycoon, designed to bring the country into the society of
nations. It is hoped, although not with entire confidence, that these
difficulties may be peacefully overcome. I ask your attention to the
claim of the minister residing there for the damages he sustained in the
destruction by fire of the residence of the legation at Yedo.

Satisfactory arrangements have been made with the Emperor of Russia,
which, it is believed, will result in effecting a continuous line of
telegraph through that Empire from our Pacific coast.

I recommend to your favorable consideration the subject of an
international telegraph across the Atlantic Ocean, and also of a
telegraph between this capital and the national forts along the Atlantic
seaboard and the Gulf of Mexico. Such communications, established with
any reasonable outlay, would be economical as well as effective aids to
the diplomatic, military, and naval service.

The consular system of the United States, under the enactments of the
last Congress, begins to be self-sustaining, and there is reason to hope
that it may become entirely so with the increase of trade which will
ensue whenever peace is restored. Our ministers abroad have been
faithful in defending American rights. In protecting commercial
interests our consuls have necessarily had to encounter increased labors
and responsibilities growing out of the war. These they have for the
most part met and discharged with zeal and efficiency. This
acknowledgment justly includes those consuls who, residing in Morocco,
Egypt, Turkey, Japan, China, and other Oriental countries, are charged
with complex functions and extraordinary powers.

The condition of the several organized Territories is generally
satisfactory, although Indian disturbances in New Mexico have not been
entirely suppressed. The mineral resources of Colorado, Nevada, Idaho,
New Mexico, and Arizona are proving far richer than has been heretofore
understood. I lay before you a communication on this subject from the
governor of New Mexico. I again submit to your consideration the
expediency of establishing a system for the encouragement of
immigration. Although this source of national wealth and strength is
again flowing with greater freedom than for several years before the
insurrection occurred, there is still a great deficiency of laborers in
every field of industry, especially in agriculture and in our mines, as
well of iron and coal as of the precious metals. While the demand for
labor is much increased here, tens of thousands of persons, destitute of
remunerative occupation, are thronging our foreign consulates and
offering to emigrate to the United States if essential, but very cheap,
assistance can be afforded them. It is easy to see that under the sharp
discipline of civil war the nation is beginning a new life. This noble
effort demands the aid and ought to receive the attention and support of
the Government.

Injuries unforeseen by the Government and unintended may in some cases
have been inflicted on the subjects or citizens of foreign countries,
both at sea and on land, by persons in the service of the United States.
As this Government expects redress from other powers when similar
injuries are inflicted by persons in their service upon citizens of the
United States, we must be prepared to do justice to foreigners. If the
existing judicial tribunals are inadequate to this purpose, a special
court may be authorized, with power to hear and decide such claims of
the character referred to as may have arisen under treaties and the
public law. Conventions for adjusting the claims by joint commission
have been proposed to some governments, but no definitive answer to the
proposition has yet been received from any.

In the course of the session I shall probably have occasion to request
you to provide indemnification to claimants where decrees of restitution
have been rendered and damages awarded by admiralty courts, and in other
cases where this Government may be acknowledged to be liable in
principle and where the amount of that liability has been ascertained by
an informal arbitration.

The proper officers of the Treasury have deemed themselves required by
the law of the United States upon the subject to demand a tax upon the
incomes of foreign consuls in this country. While such a demand may not
in strictness be in derogation of public law, or perhaps of any existing
treaty between the United States and a foreign country, the expediency
of so far modifying the act as to exempt from tax the income of such
consuls as are not citizens of the United States, derived from the
emoluments of their office or from property not situated in the United
States, is submitted to your serious consideration. I make this
suggestion upon the ground that a comity which ought to be reciprocated
exempts our consuls in all other countries from taxation to the extent
thus indicated. The United States, I think, ought not to be
exceptionally illiberal to international trade and commerce.

The operations of the Treasury during the last year have been
successfully conducted. The enactment by Congress of a national banking
law has proved a valuable support of the public credit, and the general
legislation in relation to loans has fully answered the expectations of
its favorers. Some amendments may be required to perfect existing laws,
but no change in their principles or general scope is believed to be
needed.

Since these measures have been in operation all demands on the Treasury,
including the pay of the Army and Navy, have been promptly met and fully
satisfied. No considerable body of troops, it is believed, were ever
more amply provided and more liberally and punctually paid, and it may
be added that by no people were the burdens incident to a great war ever
more cheerfully borne.

The receipts during the year from all sources, including loans and
balance in the Treasury at its commencement, were $901,125,674.86, and
the aggregate disbursements $895,796,630.65, leaving a balance on the
1st of July, 1863, of $5,329,044.21. Of the receipts there were derived
from customs $69,059,642.40, from internal revenue $37,640,787.95, from
direct tax $1,485,103.61, from lands $167,617.17, from miscellaneous
sources $3,046,615.35, and from loans $776,682,361.57, making the
aggregate $901,125,674.86. Of the disbursements there were for the civil
service $23,253,922.08, for pensions and Indians $4,216,520.79, for
interest on public debt $24,729,846.51, for the War Department
$599,298,600.83, for the Navy Department $63,211,105.27, for payment of
funded and temporary debt $181,086,635.07, making the aggregate
$895,796,630.65 and leaving the balance of $5,329,044.21. But the
payment of funded and temporary debt, having been made from moneys
borrowed during the year, must be regarded as merely nominal payments
and the moneys borrowed to make them as merely nominal receipts, and
their amount, $181,086,635.07, should therefore be deducted both from
receipts and disbursements. This being done there remains as actual
receipts $720,039,039.79 and the actual disbursements $714,709,995.58,
leaving the balance as already stated.

The actual receipts and disbursements for the first quarter and the
estimated receipts and disbursements for the remaining three quarters of
the current fiscal year (1864) will be shown in detail by the report of
the Secretary of the Treasury, to which I invite your attention. It is
sufficient to say here that it is not believed that actual results will
exhibit a state of the finances less favorable to the country than the
estimates of that officer heretofore submitted, while it is confidently
expected that at the close of the year both disbursements and debt will
be found very considerably less than has been anticipated.

The report of the Secretary of War is a document of great interest. It
consists of--

1. The military operations of the year, detailed in the report of the
General in Chief.

2. The organization of colored persons into the war service.

3. The exchange of prisoners, fully set forth in the letter of General
Hitchcock.

4. The operations under the act for enrolling and calling out the
national forces, detailed in the report of the Provost-Marshal-General.

5. The organization of the invalid corps, and

6. The operation of the several departments of the
Quartermaster-General, Commissary-General, Paymaster-General, Chief of
Engineers, Chief of Ordnance, and Surgeon-General.

It has appeared impossible to make a valuable summary of this report,
except such as would be too extended for this place, and hence I content
myself by asking your careful attention to the report itself.

The duties devolving on the naval branch of the service during the year
and throughout the whole of this unhappy contest have been discharged
with fidelity and eminent success. The extensive blockade has been
constantly increasing in efficiency as the Navy has expanded, yet on so
long a line it has so far been impossible to entirely suppress illicit
trade. From returns received at the Navy Department it appears that more
than 1,000 vessels have been captured since the blockade was instituted,
and that the value of prizes already sent in for adjudication amounts to
over $13,000,000.

The naval force of the United States consists at this time of 588
vessels completed and in the course of completion, and of these 75 are
ironclad or armored steamers. The events of the war give an increased
interest and importance to the Navy which will probably extend beyond
the war itself.

The armored vessels in our Navy completed and in service, or which are
under contract and approaching completion, are believed to exceed in
number those of any other power; but while these may be relied upon for
harbor defense and coast service, others of greater strength and
capacity will be necessary for cruising purposes and to maintain our
rightful position on the ocean.

The change that has taken place in naval vessels and naval warfare since
the introduction of steam as a motive power for ships of war demands
either a corresponding change in some of our existing navy-yards or the
establishment of new ones for the construction and necessary repair of
modern naval vessels. No inconsiderable embarrassment, delay, and public
injury have been experienced from the want of such governmental
establishments. The necessity of such a navy-yard, so furnished, at some
suitable place upon the Atlantic seaboard has on repeated occasions been
brought to the attention of Congress by the Navy Department, and is
again presented in the report of the Secretary which accompanies this
communication. I think it my duty to invite your special attention to
this subject, and also to that of establishing a yard and depot for
naval purposes upon one of the Western rivers. A naval force has been
created on those interior waters, and under many disadvantages, within
little more than two years, exceeding in numbers the whole naval force
of the country at the commencement of the present Administration.
Satisfactory and important as have been the performances of the heroic
men of the Navy at this interesting period, they are scarcely more
wonderful than the success of our mechanics and artisans in the
production of war vessels, which has created a new form of naval power.

Our country has advantages superior to any other nation in our resources
of iron and timber, with inexhaustible quantities of fuel in the
immediate vicinity of both, and all available and in close proximity to
navigable waters. Without the advantage of public works, the resources
of the nation have been developed and its power displayed in the
construction of a Navy of such magnitude, which has at the very period
of its creation rendered signal service to the Union.

The increase of the number of seamen in the public service from 7,500
men in the spring of 1861 to about 34,000 at the present time has been
accomplished without special legislation or extraordinary bounties to
promote that increase. It has been found, however, that the operation of
the draft, with the high bounties paid for army recruits, is beginning
to affect injuriously the naval service, and will, if not corrected, be
likely to impair its efficiency by detaching seamen from their proper
vocation and inducing them to enter the Army. I therefore respectfully
suggest that Congress might aid both the army and naval services by a
definite provision on this subject which would at the same time be
equitable to the communities more especially interested.

I commend to your consideration the suggestions of the Secretary of the
Navy in regard to the policy of fostering and training seamen and also
the education of officers and engineers for the naval service. The Naval
Academy is rendering signal service in preparing midshipmen for the
highly responsible duties which in after life they will be required to
perform. In order that the country should not be deprived of the proper
quota of educated officers, for which legal provision has been made at
the naval school, the vacancies caused by the neglect or omission to
make nominations from the States in insurrection have been filled by the
Secretary of the Navy. The school is now more full and complete than at
any former period, and in every respect entitled to the favorable
consideration of Congress.

During the past fiscal year the financial condition of the Post-Office
Department has been one of increasing prosperity, and I am gratified in
being able to state that the actual postal revenue has nearly equaled
the entire expenditures, the latter amounting to $11,314,206.84 and the
former to $11,163,789.59, leaving a deficiency of but $150,417.25. In
1860, the year immediately preceding the rebellion, the deficiency
amounted to $5,656,705.49, the postal receipts of that year being
$2,645,722.19 less than those of 1863. The decrease since 1860 in the
annual amount of transportation has been only about 25 per cent, but the
annual expenditure on account of the same has been reduced 35 per cent.
It is manifest, therefore, that the Post-Office Department may become
self-sustaining in a few years, even with the restoration of the whole
service.

The international conference of postal delegates from the principal
countries of Europe and America, which was called at the suggestion of
the Postmaster-General, met at Paris on the 11th of May last and
concluded its deliberations on the 8th of June. The principles
established by the conference as best adapted to facilitate postal
intercourse between nations and as the basis of future postal
conventions inaugurate a general system of uniform international charges
at reduced rates of postage, and can not fail to produce beneficial
results.

I refer you to the report of the Secretary of the Interior, which is
herewith laid before you, for useful and varied information in relation
to the public lands, Indian affairs, patents, pensions, and other
matters of public concern pertaining to his Department.

The quantity of land disposed of during the last and the first quarter
of the present fiscal years was 3,841,549 acres, of which 161,911 acres
were sold for cash, 1,456,514 acres were taken up under the homestead
law, and the residue disposed of under laws granting lands for military
bounties, for railroad and other purposes. It also appears that the sale
of the public lands is largely on the increase.

It has long been a cherished opinion of some of our wisest statesmen
that the people of the United States had a higher and more enduring
interest in the early settlement and substantial cultivation of the
public lands than in the amount of direct revenue to be derived from the
sale of them. This opinion has had a controlling influence in shaping
legislation upon the subject of our national domain. I may cite as
evidence of this the liberal measures adopted in reference to actual
settlers; the grant to the States of the overflowed lands within their
limits, in order to their being reclaimed and rendered fit for
cultivation; the grants to railway companies of alternate sections of
land upon the contemplated lines of their roads, which when completed
will so largely multiply the facilities for reaching our distant
possessions. This policy has received its most signal and beneficent
illustration in the recent enactment granting homesteads to actual
settlers. Since the 1st day of January last the before-mentioned
quantity of 1,456,514 acres of land have been taken up under its
provisions. This fact and the amount of sales furnish gratifying
evidence of increasing settlement upon the public lands, notwithstanding
the great struggle in which the energies of the nation have been
engaged, and which has required so large a withdrawal of our citizens
from their accustomed pursuits. I cordially concur in the recommendation
of the Secretary of the Interior suggesting a modification of the act in
favor of those engaged in the military and naval service of the United
States. I doubt not that Congress will cheerfully adopt such measures as
will, without essentially changing the general features of the system,
secure to the greatest practicable extent its benefits to those who have
left their homes in the defense of the country in this arduous crisis.

I invite your attention to the views of the Secretary as to the
propriety of raising by appropriate legislation a revenue from the
mineral lands of the United States.

The measures provided at your last session for the removal of certain
Indian tribes have been carried into effect. Sundry treaties have been
negotiated, which will in due time be submitted for the constitutional
action of the Senate. They contain stipulations for extinguishing the
possessory rights of the Indians to large and valuable tracts of lands.
It is hoped that the effect of these treaties will result in the
establishment of permanent friendly relations with such of these tribes
as have been brought into frequent and bloody collision with our
outlying settlements and emigrants. Sound policy and our imperative duty
to these wards of the Government demand our anxious and constant
attention to their material well-being, to their progress in the arts of
civilization, and, above all, to that moral training which under the
blessing of Divine Providence will confer upon them the elevated and
sanctifying influences, the hopes and consolations, of the Christian
faith.

I suggested in my last annual message the propriety of remodeling our
Indian system. Subsequent events have satisfied me of its necessity. The
details set forth in the report of the Secretary evince the urgent need
for immediate legislative action.

I commend the benevolent institutions established or patronized by the
Government in this District to your generous and fostering care.

The attention of Congress during the last session was engaged to some
extent with a proposition for enlarging the water communication between
the Mississippi River and the northeastern seaboard, which proposition,
however, failed for the time. Since then, upon a call of the greatest
respectability, a convention has been held at Chicago upon the same
subject, a summary of whose views is contained in a memorial addressed
to the President and Congress, and which I now have the honor to lay
before you. That this interest is one which ere long will force its own
way I do not entertain a doubt, while it is submitted entirely to your
wisdom as to what can be done now. Augmented interest is given to this
subject by the actual commencement of work upon the Pacific Railroad,
under auspices so favorable to rapid progress and completion. The
enlarged navigation becomes a palpable need to the great road.

I transmit the second annual report of the Commissioner of the
Department of Agriculture, asking your attention to the developments in
that vital interest of the nation.

When Congress assembled a year ago, the war had already lasted nearly
twenty months, and there had been many conflicts on both land and sea,
with varying results; the rebellion had been pressed back into reduced
limits; yet the tone of public feeling and opinion, at home and abroad,
was not satisfactory. With other signs, the popular elections then just
past indicated uneasiness among ourselves, while, amid much that was
cold and menacing, the kindest words coming from Europe were uttered in
accents of pity that we were too blind to surrender a hopeless cause.
Our commerce was suffering greatly by a few armed vessels built upon and
furnished from foreign shores, and we were threatened with such
additions from the same quarter as would sweep our trade from the sea
and raise our blockade. We had failed to elicit from European
Governments anything hopeful upon this subject. The preliminary
emancipation proclamation, issued in September, was running its assigned
period to the beginning of the new year. A month later the final
proclamation came, including the announcement that colored men of
suitable condition would be received into the war service. The policy of
emancipation and of employing black soldiers gave to the future a new
aspect, about which hope and fear and doubt contended in uncertain
conflict. According to our political system, as a matter of civil
administration, the General Government had no lawful power to effect
emancipation in any State, and for a long time it had been hoped that
the rebellion could be suppressed without resorting to it as a military
measure. It was all the while deemed possible that the necessity for it
might come, and that if it should the crisis of the contest would then
be presented. It came, and, as was anticipated, it was followed by dark
and doubtful days. Eleven months having now passed, we are permitted to
take another review. The rebel borders are pressed still farther back,
and by the complete opening of the Mississippi the country dominated by
the rebellion is divided into distinct parts, with no practical
communication between them. Tennessee and Arkansas have been
substantially cleared of insurgent control, and influential citizens in
each, owners of slaves and advocates of slavery at the beginning of the
rebellion, now declare openly for emancipation in their respective
States. Of those States not included in the emancipation proclamation,
Maryland and Missouri, neither of which three years ago would tolerate
any restraint upon the extension of slavery into new Territories, only
dispute now as to the best mode of removing it within their own limits.

Of those who were slaves at the beginning of the rebellion full 100,000
are now in the United States military service, about one-half of which
number actually bear arms in the ranks, thus giving the double advantage
of taking so much labor from the insurgent cause and supplying the
places which otherwise must be filled with so many white men. So far as
tested, it is difficult to say they are not as good soldiers as any. No
servile insurrection or tendency to violence or cruelty has marked the
measures of emancipation and arming the blacks. These measures have been
much discussed in foreign countries, and, contemporary with such
discussion, the tone of public sentiment there is much improved. At home
the same measures have been fully discussed, supported, criticised, and
denounced, and the annual elections following are highly encouraging to
those whose official duty it is to bear the country through this great
trial. Thus we have the new reckoning. The crisis which threatened to
divide the friends of the Union is past.

Looking now to the present and future, and with reference to a
resumption of the national authority within the States wherein that
authority has been suspended, I have thought fit to issue a
proclamation, a copy of which is herewith transmitted.[10] On examination
of this proclamation it will appear, as is believed, that nothing will
be attempted beyond what is amply justified by the Constitution. True,
the form of an oath is given, but no man is coerced to take it. The man
is only promised a pardon in case he voluntarily takes the oath. The
Constitution authorizes the Executive to grant or withhold the pardon at
his own absolute discretion, and this includes the power to grant on
terms, as is fully established by judicial and other authorities.

[Footnote 10: See proclamation dated December 8, 1863, pp. 213-215.]

It is also proffered that if in any of the States named a State
government shall be in the mode prescribed set up, such government shall
be recognized and guaranteed by the United States, and that under it the
State shall, on the constitutional conditions, be protected against
invasion and domestic violence. The constitutional obligation of the
United States to guarantee to every State in the Union a republican form
of government and to protect the State in the cases stated is explicit
and full. But why tender the benefits of this provision only to
a State government set up in this particular way? This section of the
Constitution contemplates a case wherein the element within a State
favorable to republican government in the Union may be too feeble for
an opposite and hostile element external to or even within the State,
and such are precisely the cases with which we are now dealing.

An attempt to guarantee and protect a revived State government,
constructed in whole or in preponderating part from the very element
against whose hostility and violence it is to be protected, is simply
absurd. There must be a test by which to separate the opposing elements,
so as to build only from the sound; and that test is a sufficiently
liberal one which accepts as sound whoever will make a sworn recantation
of his former unsoundness.

But if it be proper to require as a test of admission to the political
body an oath of allegiance to the Constitution of the United States and
to the Union under it, why also to the laws and proclamations in regard
to slavery? Those laws and proclamations were enacted and put forth for
the purpose of aiding in the suppression of the rebellion. To give them
their fullest effect there had to be a pledge for their maintenance. In
my judgment, they have aided and will further aid the cause for which
they were intended. To now abandon them would be not only to relinquish
a lever of power, but would also be a cruel and an astounding breach
of faith. I may add at this point that while I remain in my present
position I shall not attempt to retract or modify the emancipation
proclamation, nor shall I return to slavery any person who is free
by the terms of that proclamation or by any of the acts of Congress.
For these and other reasons it is thought best that support of these
measures shall be included in the oath, and it is believed the Executive
may lawfully claim it in return for pardon and restoration of forfeited
rights, which he has clear constitutional power to withhold altogether
or grant upon the terms which he shall deem wisest for the public
interest. It should be observed also that this part of the oath is
subject to the modifying and abrogating power of legislation and supreme
judicial decision.

The proposed acquiescence of the National Executive in any reasonable
temporary State arrangement for the freed people is made with the view
of possibly modifying the confusion and destitution which must at best
attend all classes by a total revolution of labor throughout whole
States. It is hoped that the already deeply afflicted people in those
States may be somewhat more ready to give up the cause of their
affliction if to this extent this vital matter be left to themselves,
while no power of the National Executive to prevent an abuse is abridged
by the proposition.

The suggestion in the proclamation as to maintaining the political
framework of the States on what is called reconstruction is made in the
hope that it may do good without danger of harm. It will save labor and
avoid great confusion.

But why any proclamation now upon this subject? This question is beset
with the conflicting views that the step might be delayed too long or be
taken too soon. In some States the elements for resumption seem ready
for action, but remain inactive apparently for want of a rallying
point--a plan of action. Why shall A adopt the plan of B rather than B
that of A? And if A and B should agree, how can they know but that the
General Government here will reject their plan? By the proclamation a
plan is presented which may be accepted by them as a rallying point, and
which they are assured in advance will not be rejected here. This may
bring them to act sooner than they otherwise would.

The objections to a premature presentation of a plan by the National
Executive consist in the danger of committals on points which could be
more safely left to further developments. Care has been taken to so
shape the document as to avoid embarrassments from this source. Saying
that on certain terms certain classes will be pardoned with rights
restored, it is not said that other classes or other terms will never be
included. Saying that reconstruction will be accepted if presented in
a specified way, it is not said it will never be accepted in any other
way.

The movements by State action for emancipation in several of the States
not included in the emancipation proclamation are matters of profound
gratulation. And while I do not repeat in detail what I have heretofore
so earnestly urged upon this subject, my general views and feelings
remain unchanged; and I trust that Congress will omit no fair
opportunity of aiding these important steps to a great consummation.

In the midst of other cares, however important, we must not lose sight
of the fact that the war power is still our main reliance. To that power
alone can we look yet for a time to give confidence to the people in the
contested regions that the insurgent power will not again overrun them.
Until that confidence shall be established little can be done anywhere
for what is called reconstruction. Hence our chiefest care must still be
directed to the Army and Navy, who have thus far borne their harder part
so nobly and well; and it may be esteemed fortunate that in giving the
greatest efficiency to these indispensable arms we do also honorably
recognize the gallant men, from commander to sentinel, who compose them,
and to whom more than to others the world must stand indebted for the
home of freedom disenthralled, regenerated, enlarged, and perpetuated.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.




SPECIAL MESSAGES.


WASHINGTON, D.C., _December 8, 1863_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

In conformity to the law of July 16, 1862, I most cordially recommend
that Captain John Rodgers, United States Navy, receive a vote of thanks
from Congress for the eminent skill and gallantry exhibited by him in
the engagement with the rebel armed ironclad steamer _Fingal_, alias
_Atlanta_, whilst in command of the United States ironclad steamer
_Weehawken_, which led to her capture on the 17th June, 1863, and also
for the zeal, bravery, and general good conduct shown by this officer on
many occasions.

This recommendation is specially made in order to comply with the
requirements of the ninth section of the aforesaid act, which is in the
following words, viz:

That any line officer of the Navy or Marine Corps may be advanced one
grade if upon recommendation of the President by name he receives the
thanks of Congress for highly distinguished conduct in conflict with the
enemy or for extraordinary heroism in the line of his profession.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, D.C., _December 8, 1863_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

Congress, on my recommendation, passed a resolution, approved 7th
February, 1863, tendering its thanks to Commander D.D. Porter "for the
bravery and skill displayed in the attack on the post of Arkansas on the
10th January, 1863," and in consideration of those services, together
with his efficient labors and vigilance subsequently displayed in
thwarting the efforts of the rebels to obstruct the Mississippi and its
tributaries and the important part rendered by the squadron under his
command, which led to the surrender of Vicksburg.

I do therefore, in conformity to the seventh section of the act approved
16th July, 1862, nominate Commander D.D. Porter to be a rear-admiral in
the Navy on the active list from the 4th July, 1863, to fill an existing
vacancy.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _December 10, 1863_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a report, dated the 9th instant, with the
accompanying papers, received from the Secretary of State in compliance
with the requirements of the sixteenth and eighteenth sections of the
act entitled "An act to regulate the diplomatic and consular systems of
the United States," approved August 18, 1856.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, December, 1863_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I lay before the Senate, for its constitutional action thereon, a treaty
concluded at Le Roy, Kans., on the 29th day of August, 1863, between
William P. Dole, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and William G. Coffin,
superintendent of Indian affairs of the southern superintendency,
commissioners on the part of the United States, and the chiefs and
headmen of the Great and Little Osage tribe of Indians of the State of
Kansas.

A communication from the Secretary of the Interior, dated the 12th
instant, accompanies the treaty.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, December, 1863_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I lay before the Senate, for its constitutional action thereon, a treaty
concluded on the 7th day of October, 1863, at Conejos, Colorado
Territory, between John Evans, governor and _ex officio_ superintendent
of Indian affairs of said Territory; Michael Steck, superintendent of
Indian affairs for the Territory of New Mexico; Simeon Whitely and
Lafayette Head, Indian agents, commissioners on the part of the United
States, and the chiefs and warriors of the Tabeguache band of Utah
Indians.

I also transmit a report of the Secretary of the Interior of the 12th
instant, submitting the treaty; an extract from the last annual report
of Governor Evans, of Colorado Territory, relating to its negotiation,
and a map upon which is delineated the boundaries of the country ceded
by the Indians and that retained for their own use.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, December, 1863_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I lay before the Senate, for its constitutional action thereon, a treaty
concluded at the city of Washington on the 6th day of April, 1863,
between John P. Usher, commissioner on the part of the United States,
and the chiefs and headmen of the Comanche, Kiowa, and Apache tribes of
Indians, duly authorized thereto.

A letter of the Secretary of the Interior of the 12th instant
accompanies the treaty.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, December, 1863_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I lay before the Senate, for its constitutional action thereon, a treaty
concluded at the Sac and Fox Agency, in Kansas, on the 2d day of
September, 1863, between William P. Dole, Commissioner of Indian
Affairs, commissioner on the part of the United States, and the New York
Indians, represented by duly authorized members of the bands of said
tribe.

A letter of the Secretary of the Interior of the 12th instant
accompanies the treaty.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, December, 1863_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I lay before the Senate, for its constitutional action thereon, a treaty
concluded at the Sac and Fox Agency, in Kansas, on the 3d day of
September, 1863, between William P. Dole, Commissioner of Indian
Affairs, and William G. Coffin, superintendent of Indian affairs for the
southern superintendency, on the part of the United States, and the
Creek Nation of Indians, represented by its chiefs.

A letter from the Secretary of the Interior, dated the 12th instant,
accompanies the treaty.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, December, 1863_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I lay before the Senate, for its constitutional action thereon, a treaty
concluded at the Sac and Fox Agency, in Kansas, on the 4th day of
September, 1863, between William P. Dole, Commissioner of Indian
Affairs, and Henry W. Martin, agent for the Sacs and Foxes,
commissioners on the part of the United States, and the united tribes of
Sac and Fox Indians of the Mississippi.

A letter from the Secretary of the Interior, dated the 12th instant,
accompanies the treaty.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _December 15, 1863_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 11th of March last,
requesting certain information touching persons in the service of this
Government, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State, to whom the
resolution was referred.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _December 17, 1863_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, for consideration with a view to its
ratification, a convention between the United States and Her Britannic
Majesty for the final adjustment of the claims of the Hudsons Bay and
Pugets Sound Agricultural Companies, signed in this city on the 1st day
of July last (1863).

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



DECEMBER 17, 1863.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

Herewith I lay before you a letter addressed to myself by a committee of
gentlemen representing the freedmen's aid societies in Boston, New York,
Philadelphia, and Cincinnati. The subject of the letter, as indicated
above, is one of great magnitude and importance, and one which these
gentlemen, of known ability and high character, seem to have considered
with great attention and care. Not having the time to form a mature
judgment of my own as to whether the plan they suggest is the best, I
submit the whole subject to Congress, deeming that their attention
thereto is almost imperatively demanded.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _December 22, 1863_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to
ratification, two conventions between the United States and His Belgian
Majesty, signed at Brussels on the 20th May and the 20th of July last,
respectively, and both relating to the extinguishment of the Scheldt
dues, etc. A copy of so much of the correspondence between the Secretary
of State and Mr. Sanford, the minister resident of the United States at
Brussels, on the subject of the conventions as is necessary to a full
understanding of it is also herewith transmitted.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _December 23, 1863_

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit to Congress a copy of the report to the Secretary of State of
the commissioners on the part of the United States under the convention
with Peru of the 12th of January last, on the subject of claims. It will
be noticed that two claims of Peruvian citizens on this Government have
been allowed. An appropriation for the discharge of the obligations of
the United States in these cases is requested.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



JANUARY 5, 1864.

_Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives_:

By a joint resolution of your honorable bodies approved December 23,
1863, the paying of bounties to veteran volunteers, as now practiced by
the War Department, is, to the extent of $300 in each case, prohibited
after this 5th day of the present month. I transmit for your
consideration a communication from the Secretary of War, accompanied by
one from the Provost-Marshal-General to him, both relating to the
subject above mentioned. I earnestly recommend that the law be so
modified as to allow bounties to be paid as they now are, at least until
the ensuing 1st day of February.

I am not without anxiety lest I appear to be importunate in thus
recalling your attention to a subject upon which you have so recently
acted, and nothing but a deep conviction that the public interest
demands it could induce me to incur the hazard of being misunderstood on
this point. The Executive approval was given by me to the resolution
mentioned, and it is now by a closer attention and a fuller knowledge of
facts that I feel constrained to recommend a reconsideration of the
subject.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _January 7_

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit to Congress a copy of the decree of the court of the United
States for the southern district of New York, awarding the sum of
$17,150.66 for the illegal capture of the British schooner _Glen_,
and request that an appropriation of that amount may be made as an
indemnification to the parties interested.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, January, 1864_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I herewith lay before the Senate, for its constitutional action thereon
the following-described treaties, viz:

A treaty made at Fort Bridger, Utah Territory, on the 2d day of July,
1863, between the United States and the chiefs, principal men, and
warriors of the eastern bands of the Shoshonee Nation of Indians.

A treaty made at Box Elder, Utah Territory, on the 30th day of July,
1863, between the United States and the chiefs and warriors of the
northwestern bands of the Shoshonee Nation of Indians.

A treaty made at Ruby Valley, Nevada Territory, on the 1st day of
October, 1863, between the United States and the chiefs, principal men,
and warriors of the Shoshonee Nation of Indians.

A treaty made at Tuilla Valley, Utah Territory, on the 12th day of
October, 1863, between the United States and the chiefs, principal men,
and warriors of the Goship bands of Shoshonee Indians.

A treaty made at Soda Springs, in Idaho Territory, on the 14th day of
October, 1863, between the United States and the chiefs of the mixed
bands of Bannacks and Shoshonees, occupying the valley of the Shoshonee
River.

A letter of the Secretary of the Interior of the 5th instant, a copy of
a report of the 30th ultimo, from the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, a
copy of a communication from Governor Doty, superintendent of Indian
Affairs, Utah Territory, dated November 10, 1863, relating to the
Indians parties to the several treaties herein named, and a map,
furnished by that gentleman, are herewith transmitted.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, January, 1864_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I herewith lay before the Senate, for its constitutional action thereon,
a treaty made at the Old Crossing of Red Lake River, in the State of
Minnesota, on the 2d day of October, 1863, between Alexander Ramsey and
Ashley C. Morrill, commissioners on the part of the United States, and
the chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the Red Lake and Pembina bands of
Chippewa Indians.

A letter of the Secretary of the Interior of the 8th instant, together
with a communication from the Commissioner of Indian Affairs of the 5th
instant and copies of Mr. Ramsey's report and journal, relating to the
treaty, and a map showing the territory ceded, are herewith transmitted.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_January 12, 1864_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In accordance with the request of the Senate conveyed in their
resolution of the 16th of December, 1863, desiring any information in my
possession relative to the alleged exceptional treatment of Kansas
troops when captured by those in rebellion, I have the honor to transmit
a communication from the Secretary of War, accompanied by reports from
the General in Chief of the Army and the Commissary-General of Prisoners
relative to the subject-matter of the resolution.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



JANUARY 20, 1864.

_Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives_:

In accordance with a letter addressed by the Secretary of State, with my
approval, to the Hon. Joseph A. Wright, of Indiana, that patriotic and
distinguished gentleman repaired to Europe and attended the
International Agricultural Exhibition, held at Hamburg last year, and
has since his return made a report to me, which, it is believed, can not
fail to be of general interest, and especially so to the agricultural
community. I transmit for your consideration copies of the letters and
report. While it appears by the letter that no reimbursement of expenses
or compensation was promised him, I submit whether reasonable allowance
should not be made him for them.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _January 21, 1864_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of yesterday, respecting
the recent destruction by fire of the Church of the Compañía at
Santiago, Chile, and the efforts of citizens of the United States to
rescue the victims of the conflagration, I transmit a report from the
Secretary of State, with the papers accompanying it.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _January 23, 1864_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate a copy of a dispatch of the 12th of April last,
addressed by Anson Burlingame, esq., the minister of the United States
to China, to the Secretary of State, relative to a modification of the
twenty-first article of a treaty between the United States and China of
the 18th of June, 1858, a printed copy of which is also herewith
transmitted.

These papers are submitted to the consideration of the Senate with a
view to their advice and consent being given to the modification of the
said twenty-first article, as explained in the said dispatch and its
accompaniments.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _January 29, 1864_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, in answer to
the resolution of the Senate respecting the correspondence with the
authorities of Great Britain in relation to the proposed pursuit of
hostile bands of the Sioux Indians into the Hudson Bay territories.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _February 4, 1864_.

_To the Senate_:

In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 26th ultimo,
requesting "a copy of all the correspondence between the authorities of
the United States and the rebel authorities on the exchange of
prisoners, and the different propositions connected with that subject,"
I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War and the papers
with which it is accompanied.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _February 5, 1864_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of yesterday on the subject of
a reciprocity treaty with the Sandwich Islands, I transmit a report from
the Secretary of State, to whom the resolution was referred.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _February 16, 1864_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit to Congress a report from the Secretary of State, with the
accompanying papers, relative to the claim on this Government of the
owners of the French ship _La Manche_, and recommend an appropriation
for the satisfaction of the claim, pursuant to the award of the
arbitrators.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _February 16, 1864_.

_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 8th
instant, requesting information touching the arrest of the United States
consul-general to the British North American Provinces, and certain
official communications respecting Canadian commerce, I transmit a
report from the Secretary of State and the documents by which it was
accompanied.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _February 22, 1864_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit to Congress the copy of a correspondence which has recently
taken place between Her Britannic Majesty's minister accredited to this
Government and the Secretary of State, in order that the expediency of
sanctioning the acceptance by the master of the American schooner
_Highlander_ of a present of a watch which the lords of the committee of
Her Majesty's privy council for trade propose to present to him in
recognition of services rendered by him to the crew of the British
vessel _Pearl_ may be taken into consideration.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February, 1864_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I communicate to the Senate herewith, for its constitutional action
thereon, the articles of agreement and convention made and concluded at
the city of Washington on the 25th day of the present month by and
between William P. Dole, as commissioner on the part of the United
States, and the duly authorized delegates of the Swan Creek and Black
River Chippewas and the Munsees or Christian Indians in Kansas.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _February 29, 1864_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

In answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 26th
instant, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War,
relative to the reenlistment of veteran volunteers.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, February 29, 1864_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I nominate Ulysses S. Grant, now a major-general in the military
service, to be lieutenant-general in the Army of the United States.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March, 1864_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith a report[11] of the Secretary of the Interior of the
11th instant, containing the information requested in Senate resolution
of the 29th ultimo.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

[Footnote 11: Relating to the amount of money received for the sale of
the Wea trust lands in Kansas, etc.]



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 9, 1864_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 1st instant,
respecting the points of commencement of the Union Pacific Railroad,
on the one hundredth degree of west longitude, and of the branch road,
from the western boundary of Iowa to the said one hundredth degree of
longitude, I transmit the accompanying report from the Secretary of
the Interior, containing the information called for.

I deem it proper to add that on the 17th day of November last an
Executive order was made upon this subject and delivered to the
vice-president of the Union Pacific Railroad Company, which fixed the
point on the western boundary of the State of Iowa from which the
company should construct their branch road to the one hundredth degree
of west longitude, and declared it to be within the limits of the
township in Iowa opposite the town of Omaha, in Nebraska. Since then
the company has represented to me that upon actual surveys made it has
determined upon the precise point of departure of their said branch
road from the Missouri River, and located the same as described in the
accompanying report of the Secretary of the Interior, which point is
within the limits designated in the order of November last; and inasmuch
as that order is not of record in any of the Executive Departments, and
the company having desired a more definite one, I have made the order
of which a copy is herewith, and caused the same to be filed in the
Department of the Interior.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE OFFICE, _March 12, 1864_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In obedience to the resolution of the Senate of the 28th of January
last, I communicate herewith a report, with accompanying papers, from
the Secretary of the Interior, showing what portion of the
appropriations for the colonization of persons of African descent has
been expended and the several steps which have been taken for the
execution of the acts of Congress on that subject.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _March 14, 1864_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit to Congress a copy of a treaty between the United States and
Great Britain for the final settlement of the claims of the Hudsons Bay
and Pugets Sound Agricultural Companies, concluded on the 1st of July
last, the ratifications of which were exchanged in this city on the 5th
instant, and recommend an appropriation to carry into effect the first,
second, and third articles thereof.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _March 14, 1864_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

On the 25th day of November, 1862, a convention for the mutual
adjustment of claims pending between the United States and Ecuador was
signed at Quito by the plenipotentiaries of the contracting parties.
A copy is herewith inclosed.

This convention, already ratified by this Government, has been sent
to Quito for the customary exchange of ratifications, which it is not
doubted will be promptly effected. As the stipulations of the instrument
require that the commissioners who are to be appointed pursuant to its
provisions shall meet at Guayaquil within ninety days after such
exchange, it is desirable that the legislation necessary to give effect
to the convention on the part of the United States should anticipate the
usual course of proceeding.

I therefore invite the early attention of Congress to the subject.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE OFFICE,

_Washington, March 22, 1864_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I herewith lay before the Senate, for its constitutional action thereon,
a treaty made and concluded in Washington City on the 18th instant by
and between William P. Dole, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and the
Shawnee Indians, represented by their duly authorized delegates.

A report of the Secretary of the Interior and a communication of the
Commissioner of Indian Affairs accompany the treaty.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _March 24, 1864_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In reply to the resolution of the Senate of the 15th instant, in
relation to the establishment of monarchical governments in Central and
South America, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State, to whom
the subject was referred.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



MARCH 29, 1864.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

Mr. Charles B. Stuart, consulting engineer, appointed such by me upon
invitation of the governor of New York, according to a law of that
State, has made a report upon the proposed improvements to pass gunboats
from tide water to the northern and northwestern lakes, which report is
herewith respectfully submitted for your consideration.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE OFFICE,

_Washington, April 4, 1864_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I herewith lay before the Senate, for its constitutional action thereon,
a treaty concluded June 9, 1863, between C.H. Hale, superintendent of
Indian affairs, Charles Hutchins and S.D. Howe, Indian agents, on the
part of the United States, and the chiefs, headmen, and delegates of the
Nez Percé tribe of Indians in Washington Territory.

A report of the Secretary of the Interior of the 1st instant, with
a letter from the Commissioner of Indian Affairs of the 2d ultimo,
proposing amendments to the treaty, together with a report of
Superintendent Hale on the subject and a synopsis of the proceedings of
the council held with the Nez Percé Indians, are herewith transmitted
for the consideration of the Senate.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _April 7, 1864_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War, in answer to
the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 4th instant, in
relation to Major N.H. McLean.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON CITY, _April 15, 1864_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I herewith lay before the Senate, for its constitutional action thereon,
a supplemental treaty negotiated on the 12th of April, 1864, with the
Red Lake and Pembina bands of Chippewa Indians.

A report of the Secretary of the Interior of this date and a
communication from the Acting Commissioner of Indian Affairs accompany
the treaty.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _April 23, 1864_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War, in answer to the
resolutions passed by the Senate in executive session on the 14th and
18th of April, 1864.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WAR DEPARTMENT,

_Washington City, April 22, 1864_.

The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

SIR: In answer to the Senate resolutions of April 14 and April 18, I
have the honor to state that the nominations of Colonel Hiram Burnham,
Colonel Edward M. McCook, Colonel Lewis A. Grant, and Colonel Edward
Hatch are not either of them made to fill any vacancy in the proper
sense of that term. They are not made to fill a command vacated by any
other general, but are independent nominations, and if confirmed the
officers will be assigned to such command as the General Commanding may
deem proper. But in consequence of the resignations of Generals Miller,
Boyle, and Beatty and the death of General Champlin, their confirmations
will be within the number of brigadiers allowed by law.

Your obedient servant,

EDWIN M. STANTON
  _Secretary of War_.



WASHINGTON, _April 23, 1864_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit to Congress a copy of a note of the 19th instant from Lord
Lyons to the Secretary of State, on the subject of two British naval
officers who recently received medical treatment at the naval hospital
at Norfolk. The expediency of authorizing Surgeon Solomon Sharp to
accept the piece of plate to which the note refers, as an acknowledgment
of his services, is submitted to your consideration.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



APRIL 28, 1864.

_To the House of Representatives_:

In obedience to the resolution of your honorable body a copy of which
is herewith returned, I have the honor to make the following brief
statement, which is believed to contain the information sought.

Prior to and at the meeting of the present Congress Robert C. Schenck,
of Ohio, and Frank P. Blair, jr., of Missouri, members elect thereto, by
and with the consent of the Senate held commissions from the Executive
as major-generals in the Volunteer Army. General Schenck tendered the
resignation of his said commission and took his seat in the House of
Representatives at the assembling thereof upon the distinct verbal
understanding with the Secretary of War and the Executive that he might
at any time during the session, at his own pleasure, withdraw said
resignation and return to the field. General Blair was, by temporary
assignment of General Sherman, in command of a corps through the battles
in front of Chattanooga and in the march to the relief of Knoxville,
which occurred in the latter days of November and early days of December
last, and of course was not present at the assembling of Congress. When
he subsequently arrived here, he sought and was allowed by the Secretary
of War and the Executive the same conditions and promise as allowed and
made to General Schenck. General Schenck has not applied to withdraw
his resignation, but when General Grant was made lieutenant-general,
producing some change of commanders, General Blair sought to be assigned
to the command of a corps. This was made known to Generals Grant and
Sherman and assented to by them, and the particular corps for him
designated. This was all arranged and understood, as now remembered,
so much as a month ago, but the formal withdrawal of General Blair's
resignation and making the order assigning him to the command of a corps
were not consummated at the War Department until last week, perhaps on
the 23d of April instant. As a summary of the whole, it may be stated
that General Blair holds no military commission or appointment other
than as herein stated, and that it is believed he is now acting as a
major-general upon the assumed validity of the commission herein stated,
in connection with the facts herein stated, and not otherwise. There
are some letters, notes, telegrams, orders, entries, and perhaps other
documents in connection with this subject, which it is believed would
throw no additional light upon it, but which will be cheerfully
furnished if desired.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



APRIL 28, 1864.

_To the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I have the honor to transmit herewith an address to the President of the
United States, and through him to both Houses of Congress, on the
condition and wants of the people of east Tennessee, and asking their
attention to the necessity of some action on the part of the Government
for their relief, and which address is presented by a committee of an
organization called "The East Tennessee Relief Association."

Deeply commiserating the condition of these most loyal and suffering
people, I am unprepared to make any specific recommendation for their
relief. The military is doing and will continue to do the best for them
within its power. Their address represents that the construction of
direct railroad communication between Knoxville and Cincinnati by way of
central Kentucky would be of great consequence in the present emergency.
It may be remembered that in the annual message of December, 1861, such
railroad construction was recommended. I now add that, with the hearty
concurrence of Congress, I would yet be pleased to construct a road,
both for the relief of these people and for its continuing military
importance.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _April 29, 1864_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 27th instant,
requesting information in regard to the condition of affairs in the
Territory of Nevada, I transmit a copy of a letter of the 25th of last
month addressed to the Secretary of State by James W. Nye, the governor
of that Territory.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



MAY 2, 1864.

_To the Honorable the House of Representatives_:

In compliance with the request contained in your resolution of the 29th
ultimo, a copy of which resolution is herewith returned, I have the
honor to transmit the following:


EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, November 2, 1863_.

Hon. MONTGOMERY BLAIR.

MY DEAR SIR: Some days ago I understood you to say that your brother,
General Frank Blair, desired to be guided by my wishes as to whether he
will occupy his seat in Congress or remain in the field. My wish, then,
is compounded of what I believe will be best for the country and best
for him, and it is that he will come here, put his military commission
in my hands, take his seat, go into caucus with our friends, abide the
nominations, help elect the nominees, and thus aid to organize a House
of Representatives which will really support the Government in the war.
If the result shall be the election of himself as Speaker, let him serve
in that position; if not, let him retake his commission and return to
the Army. For the country, this will heal a dangerous schism. For him,
it will relieve from a dangerous position. By a misunderstanding, as I
think, he is in danger of being permanently separated from those with
whom only he can ever have a real sympathy--the sincere opponents of
slavery. It will be a mistake if he shall allow the provocations offered
him by insincere timeservers to drive him from the house of his own
building. He is young yet. He has abundant talents, quite enough to
occupy all his time without devoting any to temper. He is rising in
military skill and usefulness. His recent appointment to the command of
a corps by one so competent to judge as General Sherman proves this. In
that line he can serve both the country and himself more profitably than
he could as a Member of Congress upon the floor. The foregoing is what
I would say if Frank Blair were my brother instead of yours.

Yours, truly,

A. LINCOLN.



HEADQUARTERS MIDDLE DEPARTMENT, EIGHTH ARMY CORPS,

_Baltimore, Md., November 13, 1863_.

Hon. E.M. STANTON,

_Secretary of War_.

SIR: Inclosed I forward to the President my resignation, to take effect
on the 5th of December.

I respectfully request, however, that I may be relieved from my command
at an earlier day, say by the 20th instant, or as soon thereafter as
some officer can be ordered to succeed me. While I desire to derange the
plans or hurry the action of the Department as little as possible, it
will be a great convenience to me to secure some little time before the
session of Congress for a necessary journey and for some preparations
for myself and family in view of my approaching change of residence
and occupation. I could also spend two or three days very profitably,
I think, to the service of my successor after his arrival here.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

ROBT. C. SCHENCK,

_Major-General_.



HEADQUARTERS MIDDLE DEPARTMENT, EIGHTH ARMY CORPS,

_Baltimore, Md., November 13, 1863_.

The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

SIR: Having concluded to accept the place of Member of Congress in
the House of Representatives, to which I was elected in October, 1862,
I hereby tender the resignation of my commission as a major-general of
United States Volunteers, to take effect on the 5th day of December
next.

I shall leave the military service with much reluctance and a sacrifice
of personal feelings and desires, and only consent to do so in the hope
that in another capacity I may be able to do some effective service in
the cause of my country and Government in this time of peculiar trial.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

ROBT. C. SCHENCK,

_Major-General_.


[Indorsement on the foregoing letter.]

The resignation of General Schenck is accepted, and he is authorized to
turn over his command to Brigadier-General Lockwood at any time.

EDWIN M. STANTON,

_Secretary of War_.



ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

_Washington, November 21, 1863_.

Major-General ROBERT C. SCHENCK,

_United States Volunteers, Commanding Middle Department, Baltimore, Md._

SIR: Your resignation has been accepted by the President of the United
States, to take effect the 5th day of December, 1863.

I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

E.D. TOWNSEND,

_Assistant Adjutant-General_.



WASHINGTON, _January 1, 1864_.

The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES,

_Washington City, D.C._:

I hereby tender my resignation as a major-general of the United States
Volunteers.

Respectfully,

FRANK P. BLAIR,

_Major-General, United States Volunteers_.



JANUARY 12, 1864.

Accepted, by order of the President.

EDWIN M. STANTON,

_Secretary of War_.



ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

_Washington, January 12, 1864_.

Major-General FRANCIS P. BLAIR,

_U.S. Volunteers_.

(Care of Hon. M. Blair, Washington, D.C.)

SIR: Your resignation has been accepted by the President of the United
States, to take effect this day.

I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

JAS. A. HARDIE,

_Assistant Adjutant-General_.



[Telegram.]

EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, D.C., March 15, 1864_.

Lieutenant-General GRANT,

_Nashville, Tenn._:

General McPherson having been assigned to the command of a department,
could not General Frank Blair, without difficulty or detriment to the
service, be assigned to command the corps he commanded a while last
autumn?

A. LINCOLN.



[Telegram.]

NASHVILLE, TENN., _March 16, 1864--10 a.m._

His Excellency the PRESIDENT:

General Logan commands the corps referred to in your dispatch. I will
see General Sherman in a few days and consult him about the transfer,
and answer.

U.S. GRANT,

_Lieutenant-General_.



[Telegram.]

NASHVILLE, TENN., _March 17, 1864_.

His Excellency A. LINCOLN,

_President of the United States_:

General Sherman is here. He consents to the transfer of General Logan to
the Seventeenth Corps and the appointment of General F.P. Blair to the
Fifteenth Corps.

U.S. GRANT,

_Lieutenant-General_.



[Telegram.]

HUNTSVILLE, ALA., _March 26, 1864_.

His Excellency A. LINCOLN,

_President of the United States_:

I understand by the papers that it is contemplated to make a change
of commanders of the Fifteenth and Seventeenth Army Corps, so as to
transfer me to the Seventeenth. I hope this will not be done. I fully
understand the organization of the Fifteenth Corps now, of which I have
labored to complete the organization this winter. Earnestly hope that
the change may not be made.

JOHN A. LOGAN,

_Major-General_.



[Telegram.]

OFFICE UNITED STATES MILITARY TELEGRAPH,

_War Department_.

The following telegram received at Washington 9 a.m. March 31, 1864,
from Culpeper Court-House, 11.30 p.m., dated March 30, 1864:

"Major-General W.T. SHERMAN,

"_Nashville_:

"General F.P. Blair will be assigned to the Seventeenth (17th) Corps,
and not the Fifteenth (15th). Assign General Joseph Hooker, subject to
the approval of the President, to any other corps command you may have,
and break up the anomaly of one general commanding two (2) corps.

"U.S. GRANT

"_Lieutenant-General, Commanding_."

From a long dispatch of April 2, 1864, from General Sherman to General
Grant, presenting his plan for disposing the forces under his command,
the following extracts, being the only parts pertinent to the subject
now under consideration, are taken:

After a full consultation with all my army commanders, I have settled
down to the following conclusions, to which I would like to have the
President's consent before I make the orders:

       *       *       *       *       *

Third. General McPherson. * * * His [three] corps to be commanded by
Major-Generals Logan, Blair, and Dodge. * * *



OFFICE UNITED STATES MILITARY TELEGRAPH,
  _War Department_.

The following telegram received at Washington 3 p.m. April 10, 1864,
from Culpeper Court-House, Va., 10 p.m., dated April 9, 1864:

"Major-General H.W. HALLECK,

"_Chief of Staff_:

"Will you please ascertain if General F.P. Blair is to be sent to
General Sherman. If not, an army-corps commander will have to be named
for the Fifteenth Corps.

"U.S. GRANT, _Lieutenant-General_."



WASHINGTON, _April 20, 1864_.

The PRESIDENT:

You will do me a great favor by giving the order assigning me to the
command of the Seventeenth Army Corps immediately, as I desire to leave
Washington the next Saturday to join the command. I also request the
assignment of Captain Andrew J. Alexander, of Third Regiment United
States Cavalry, as adjutant-general of the Seventeenth Corps, with the
rank of lieutenant-colonel. The present adjutant, or rather the former
adjutant, Colonel Clark, has, I understand, been retained by General
McPherson as adjutant-general of the department, and the place of
adjutant-general of the corps is necessarily vacant.

I also request the appointment of George A. Maguire, formerly captain
Thirty-first Missouri Volunteer Infantry, as major and aid-de-camp, and
Lieutenant Logan Tompkins, Twenty-first Missouri Volunteer Infantry, as
captain and aid-de-camp on my staff.

Respectfully,

FRANK P. BLAIR.


[Indorsements.]

APRIL 21, 1864.

HONORABLE SECRETARY OF WAR:

Please have General Halleck make the proper order in this case.

A. LINCOLN.

Referred to General Halleck, chief of staff.

EDWIN M. STANTON, _Secretary of War_.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, April 23, 1864_.

HONORABLE SECRETARY OF WAR.

MY DEAR SIR: According to our understanding with Major-General Frank P.
Blair at the time he took his seat in Congress last winter, he now asks
to withdraw his resignation as major-general, then tendered, and be sent
to the field. Let this be done. Let the order sending him be such as
shown me to-day by the Adjutant-General, only dropping from it the names
of Maguire and Tompkins.

Yours, truly,

A. LINCOLN.


[Indorsement.]

APRIL 23, 1864.

Referred to the Adjutant-General.

EDWIN M. STANTON, _Secretary of War_.



WASHINGTON CITY, D.C., _April 23, 1864_.

Hon. E.M. STANTON,

_Secretary of War_:

I respectfully request to withdraw my resignation as major-general of
the United States Volunteers, tendered on the 12th day of January, 1864.

Respectfully,

FRANK P. BLAIR.



GENERAL ORDERS, No. 178.

WAR DEPARTMENT,

ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

_Washington, April 23, 1864_.

I. Major-General F.P. Blair, jr., is assigned to the command of the
Seventeenth Army Corps.

II. Captain Andrew J. Alexander, Third Regiment United States Cavalry,
is assigned as assistant adjutant-general of the Seventeenth Army Corps,
with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, under the tenth section of the act
approved July 17, 1862.

By order of the President of the United States:

E.D. TOWNSEND,

_Assistant Adjutant-General_.

The foregoing constitutes all sought by the resolution so far as is
remembered or has been found upon diligent search.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



MAY 7, 1864.

_To the Senate of the United States:_

In compliance with the request contained in a resolution of the Senate
dated April 30, 1864, I herewith transmit to your honorable body a copy
of the opinion by the Attorney-General on the rights of colored persons
in the Army or volunteer service of the United States, together with the
accompanying papers.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _May 12, 1864_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 9th instant, requesting
a copy of correspondence relative to a controversy between the Republics
of Chile and Bolivia, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State,
to whom the resolution was referred.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, May 14, 1864_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith a report of the Secretary of the Interior of the
14th instant, and accompanying papers, in answer to a resolution of the
Senate of the 14th ultimo, in the following words, viz:

  _Resolved_, That the President of the United States be requested to
  communicate to the Senate the reasons, if any exist, why the refugee
  Indians in the State of Kansas are not returned to their homes.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, May 17, 1864_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I herewith lay before the Senate, for its constitutional action thereon,
a treaty concluded on the 7th instant in this city between William P.
Dole, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and Clark W. Thompson,
superintendent of Indian affairs, northern superintendency, on the part
of the United States, and the chief Hole-in-the-day and Mis-qua-dace for
and on behalf of the Chippewas of the Mississippi, and the Pillager and
Lake Winnibigoshish bands of Chippewa Indians in Minnesota.

A communication from the Secretary of the Interior of the 17th instant,
with a statement and copies of reports of the Commissioner of Indian
Affairs of the 12th and 17th instant, accompany the treaty.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, D.C., _May 24, 1864_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I recommend Lieutenant-Commander Francis A. Roe for advancement in his
grade five numbers, to take rank next after Lieutenant-Commander John H.
Upshur, for distinguished conduct in battle in command of the United
States steamer _Sassacus_ in her attack on and attempt to run down the
rebel ironclad ram _Albemarle_ on the 5th of May, 1864.

I also recommend that First Assistant Engineer James M. Hobby be
advanced thirty numbers in his grade for distinguished conduct in
battle and extraordinary heroism, as mentioned in the report of
Lieutenant-Commander Francis A. Roe, commanding the United States
steamer _Sassacus_ in her action with the rebel ram _Albemarle_ on
the 5th May, 1864.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _May 24, 1864_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

In answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives of yesterday
on the subject of the joint resolution of the 4th of last month relative
to Mexico, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State, to whom the
resolution was referred.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _May 28, 1864_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In reply to a resolution of the Senate of the 25th instant, relating to
Mexican affairs, I transmit a partial report from the Secretary of State
of this date, with the papers therein mentioned.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _May 31, 1864_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, in answer to their resolution of the 28th
instant, a report[12] from the Secretary of State, with accompanying
documents.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

[Footnote 12: Relating to the delivery of a person charged with crime
against Spain to the officers of that Government.]



WASHINGTON, D.C., _June 8, 1864_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I have the honor to submit, for the consideration of Congress, a letter
and inclosure[13] from the Secretary of War, with my concurrence in the
recommendation therein made.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

[Footnote 13: Report from the Provost-Marshal-General, showing the result
of the draft to fill a deficiency in the quotas of certain States, and
recommending a repeal of the clause in the enrollment act commonly known
as the three-hundred-dollar clause.]



WASHINGTON, _June 13, 1864_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 4th of March,
1864, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War in the case
of William Yokum, with accompanying papers.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _June 13, 1864_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith, for consideration with a view to ratification, a
convention between the United States of America and the United Colombian
States, signed by the plenipotentiaries of the contracting powers on the
10th February last, providing for a revival of the joint commission on
claims under the convention of 10th September, 1857, with New Granada.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _June 18, 1864_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In further answer to the Senate's resolution of the 28th ultimo,
requesting to be informed whether the President "has, and when,
authorized a person alleged to have committed a crime against Spain or
any of its dependencies to be delivered up to officers of that
Government, and whether such delivery was had, and, if so, under what
authority of law or of treaty it was done," I transmit a copy of a
dispatch of the 10th instant to the Secretary of State from the acting
consul of the United States at Havana.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 21, 1864_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I herewith communicate to the Senate, for its constitutional action
thereon, the articles of agreement and convention made and concluded at
the city of Washington on the 15th instant between the United States and
the Delaware Indians of Kansas, referred to in the accompanying
communication of the present date from the Secretary of the Interior.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, June 24, 1864_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I herewith lay before the Senate, for its constitutional action thereon,
a treaty made and concluded at the city of Washington on the 11th day of
June, 1864, by and between William P. Dole, Commissioner of Indian
Affairs, and Hiram W. Farnsworth, United States Indian agent,
commissioners on the part of the United States, and the chiefs and
headmen of the Kansas tribe of Indians.

A communication of the Secretary of the Interior of the 18th instant,
with a copy of report of Commissioner of Indian Affairs of the 13th
instant, accompany the treaty.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _June 28, 1864_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 24th instant,
requesting information in regard to the alleged enlistment in foreign
countries of recruits for the military and naval service of the United
States, I transmit reports from the Secretaries of State, of War, and of
the Navy, respectively.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _June 28, 1864_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 16th of last
month, requesting information in regard to the maltreatment of
passengers and seamen on board ships plying between New York and
Aspinwall, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State, to whom
the resolution was referred.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _July 2, 1864_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 6th ultimo, requesting
information upon the subject of the African slave trade, I transmit a
report from the Secretary of State and the papers by which it was
accompanied.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.




PROCLAMATIONS.


BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.


Whereas in and by the Constitution of the United States it is provided
that the President "shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for
offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment;" and

Whereas a rebellion now exists whereby the loyal State governments of
several States have for a long time been subverted, and many persons
have committed and are now guilty of treason against the United States;
and

Whereas, with reference to said rebellion and treason, laws have been
enacted by Congress declaring forfeitures and confiscation of property
and liberation of slaves, all upon terms and conditions therein stated,
and also declaring that the President was thereby authorized at any time
thereafter, by proclamation, to extend to persons who may have
participated in the existing rebellion in any State or part thereof
pardon and amnesty, with such exceptions and at such times and on such
conditions as he may deem expedient for the public welfare; and

Whereas the Congressional declaration for limited and conditional pardon
accords with well-established judicial exposition of the pardoning
power; and

Whereas, with reference to said rebellion, the President of the United
States has issued several proclamations with provisions in regard to the
liberation of slaves; and

Whereas it is now desired by some persons heretofore engaged in said
rebellion to resume their allegiance to the United States and to
reinaugurate loyal State governments within and for their respective
States:

Therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do
proclaim, declare, and make known to all persons who have, directly or
by implication, participated in the existing rebellion, except as
hereinafter excepted, that a full pardon is hereby granted to them and
each of them, with restoration of all rights of property, except as to
slaves and in property cases where rights of third parties shall have
intervened, and upon the condition that every such person shall take and
subscribe an oath and thenceforward keep and maintain said oath
inviolate, and which oath shall be registered for permanent preservation
and shall be of the tenor and effect following, to wit:

I, ---- ----, do solemnly swear, in presence of Almighty God, that I
will henceforth faithfully support, protect, and defend the Constitution
of the United States and the Union of the States thereunder; and that I
will in like manner abide by and faithfully support all acts of Congress
passed during the existing rebellion with reference to slaves, so long
and so far as not repealed, modified, or held void by Congress or by
decision of the Supreme Court; and that I will in like manner abide by
and faithfully support all proclamations of the President made during
the existing rebellion having reference to slaves, so long and so far as
not modified or declared void by decision of the Supreme Court. So help
me God.

The persons excepted from the benefits of the foregoing provisions are
all who are or shall have been civil or diplomatic officers or agents of
the so-called Confederate Government; all who have left judicial
stations under the United States to aid the rebellion; all who are or
shall have been military or naval officers of said so-called Confederate
Government above the rank of colonel in the army or of lieutenant in the
navy; all who left seats in the United States Congress to aid the
rebellion; all who resigned commissions in the Army or Navy of the
United States and afterwards aided the rebellion; and all who have
engaged in any way in treating colored persons, or white persons in
charge of such, otherwise than lawfully as prisoners of war, and which
persons may have been found in the United States service as soldiers,
seamen, or in any other capacity.

And I do further proclaim, declare, and make known that whenever, in any
of the States of Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee,
Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, and North Carolina, a number
of persons, not less than one-tenth in number of the votes cast in such
State at the Presidential election of the year A.D. 1860, each having
taken the oath aforesaid, and not having since violated it, and being a
qualified voter by the election law of the State existing immediately
before the so-called act of secession, and excluding all others, shall
reestablish a State government which shall be republican and in nowise
contravening said oath, such shall be recognized as the true government
of the State, and the State shall receive thereunder the benefits of the
constitutional provision which declares that "the United States shall
guarantee to every State in this Union a republican form of government
and shall protect each of them against invasion, and, on application of
the legislature, or the executive (when the legislature can not be
convened), against domestic violence."

And I do further proclaim, declare, and make known that any provision
which may be adopted by such State government in relation to the freed
people of such State which shall recognize and declare their permanent
freedom, provide for their education, and which may yet be consistent as
a temporary arrangement with their present condition as a laboring,
landless, and homeless class, will not be objected to by the National
Executive.

And it is suggested as not improper that in constructing a loyal State
government in any State the name of the State, the boundary, the
subdivisions, the constitution, and the general code of laws as before
the rebellion be maintained, subject only to the modifications made
necessary by the conditions hereinbefore stated, and such others, if
any, not contravening said conditions and which may be deemed expedient
by those framing the new State government.

To avoid misunderstanding, it may be proper to say that this
proclamation, so far as it relates to State governments, has no
reference to States wherein loyal State governments have all the while
been maintained. And for the same reason it may be proper to further say
that whether members sent to Congress from any State shall be admitted
to seats constitutionally rests exclusively with the respective Houses,
and not to any extent with the Executive. And, still further, that this
proclamation is intended to present the people of the States wherein the
national authority has been suspended and loyal State governments have
been subverted a mode in and by which the national authority and loyal
State governments may be reestablished within said States or in any of
them; and while the mode presented is the best the Executive can
suggest, with his present impressions, it must not be understood that no
other possible mode would be acceptable.

[SEAL.]

Given under my hand at the city of Washington, the 8th day of December,
A.D. 1863, and of the Independence of the United States of America the
eighty-eighth.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas by an act of the Congress of the United States of the 24th of
May, 1828, entitled "An act in addition to an act entitled 'An act
concerning discriminating duties of tonnage and impost' and to equalize
the duties on Prussian vessels and their cargoes,' 'it is provided that
upon satisfactory evidence being given to the President of the United
States by the government of any foreign nation that no discriminating
duties of tonnage or impost are imposed or levied in the ports of the
said nation upon vessels wholly belonging to citizens of the United
States or upon the produce, manufactures, or merchandise imported in the
same from the United States or from any foreign country, the President
is thereby authorized to issue his proclamation declaring that the
foreign discriminating duties of tonnage and impost within the United
States are and shall be suspended and discontinued so far as respects
the vessels of the said foreign nation and the produce, manufactures, or
merchandise imported into the United States in the same from the said
foreign nation or from any other foreign country, the said suspension to
take effect from the time of such notification being given to the
President of the United States and to continue so long as the reciprocal
exemption of vessels belonging to citizens of the United States and
their cargoes, as aforesaid, shall be continued, and no longer; and

Whereas satisfactory evidence has lately been received by me through an
official communication of Señor Don Luis Molina, envoy extraordinary and
minister plenipotentiary of the Republic of Nicaragua, under date of the
28th of November, 1863, that no other or higher duties of tonnage and
impost have been imposed or levied since the 2d day of August, 1838, in
the ports of Nicaragua upon vessels wholly belonging to citizens of the
United States and upon the produce, manufactures, or merchandise
imported in the same from the United States and from any foreign country
whatever than are levied on Nicaraguan ships and their cargoes in the
same ports under like circumstances:

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States
of America, do hereby declare and proclaim that so much of the several
acts imposing discriminating duties of tonnage and impost within the
United States are and shall be suspended and discontinued so far as
respects the vessels of Nicaragua and the produce, manufactures, and
merchandise imported into the United States in the same from the
dominions of Nicaragua and from any other foreign country whatever, the
said suspension to take effect from the day above mentioned and to
continue thenceforward so long as the reciprocal exemption of the vessels
of the United States and the produce, manufactures, and merchandise
imported into the dominions of Nicaragua in the same, as aforesaid, shall
be continued on the part of the Government of Nicaragua.

[SEAL.]

Given under my hand at the city of Washington, the 16th day of December,
A.D. 1863, and the eighty-eighth of the Independence of the United
States.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas by my proclamation of the 19th of April, 1861, the ports of the
States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi,
Louisiana, and Texas were, for reasons therein set forth, placed under
blockade; and

Whereas the port of Brownsville, in the district of Brazos Santiago, in
the State of Texas, has since been blockaded, but as the blockade of
said port may now be safely relaxed with advantage to the interests of
commerce:

Now, therefore, be it known that I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the
United States, pursuant to the authority in me vested by the fifth
section of the act of Congress approved on the 13th of July, 1861,
entitled "An act further to provide for the collection of duties on
imports and for other purposes," do hereby declare that the blockade of
the said port of Brownsville shall so far cease and determine from and
after this date that commercial intercourse with said port, except as to
persons, things, and information hereinafter specified, may from this
date be carried on subject to the laws of the United States, to the
regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury, and, until the
rebellion shall have been suppressed, to such orders as may be
promulgated by the general commanding the department or by an officer
duly authorized by him and commanding at said port. This proclamation
does not authorize or allow the shipment or conveyance of persons in or
intending to enter the service of the insurgents, or of things or
information intended for their use or for their aid or comfort, nor,
except upon the permission of the Secretary of War or of some officer
duly authorized by him, of the following prohibited articles, namely:
Cannon, mortars, firearms, pistols, bombs, grenades, powder, saltpeter,
sulphur, balls, bullets, pikes, swords, boarding caps (always excepting
the quantity of the said articles which may be necessary for the defense
of the ship and those who compose the crew), saddles, bridles,
cartridge-bag material, percussion and other caps, clothing adapted for
uniforms, sailcloth of all kinds, hemp and cordage, intoxicating drinks
other than beer and light native wines.

To vessels clearing from foreign ports and destined to the port of
Brownsville, opened by this proclamation, licenses will be granted by
consuls of the United States upon satisfactory evidence that the vessel
so licensed will convey no persons, property, or information excepted or
prohibited above either to or from the said port, which licenses shall
be exhibited to the collector of said port immediately on arrival, and,
if required, to any officer in charge of the blockade; and on leaving
said port every vessel will be required to have a clearance from the
collector of the customs, according to law, showing no violation of the
conditions of the license. Any violations of said conditions will
involve the forfeiture and condemnation of the vessel and cargo and the
exclusion of all parties concerned from any further privilege of
entering the United States during the war for any purpose whatever.

In all respects except as herein specified the existing blockade remains
in full force and effect as hitherto established and maintained, nor is
it relaxed by this proclamation except in regard to the port to which
relaxation is or has been expressly applied.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this 18th day of February,
A.D. 1864, and of the Independence of the United States the
eighty-eighth.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas it has become necessary to define the cases in which insurgent
enemies are entitled to the benefits of the proclamation of the
President of the United States which was made on the 8th day of
December, 1863, and the manner in which they shall proceed to avail
themselves of those benefits; and

Whereas the objects of that proclamation were to suppress the
insurrection and to restore the authority of the United States; and

Whereas the amnesty therein proposed by the President was offered with
reference to these objects alone:

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do
hereby proclaim and declare that the said proclamation does not apply to
the cases of persons who at the time when they seek to obtain the
benefits thereof by taking the oath thereby prescribed are in military,
naval, or civil confinement or custody, or under bonds, or on parole of
the civil, military, or naval authorities or agents of the United States
as prisoners of war, or persons detained for offenses of any kind,
either before or after conviction, and that, on the contrary, it does
apply only to those persons who, being yet at large and free from any
arrest, confinement, or duress, shall voluntarily come forward and take
the said oath with the purpose of restoring peace and establishing the
national authority. Prisoners excluded from the amnesty offered in the
said proclamation may apply to the President for clemency, like all
other offenders, and their applications will receive due consideration.

I do further declare and proclaim that the oath prescribed in the
aforesaid proclamation of the 8th of December, 1863, may be taken and
subscribed before any commissioned officer, civil, military, or naval,
in the service of the United States or any civil or military officer of
a State or Territory not in insurrection who by the laws thereof may be
qualified for administering oaths. All officers who receive such oaths
are hereby authorized to give certificates thereon to the persons
respectively by whom they are made, and such officers are hereby
required to transmit the original records of such oaths at as early a
day as may be convenient to the Department of State, where they will be
deposited and remain in the archives of the Government. The Secretary of
State will keep a register thereof, and will on application, in proper
cases, issue certificates of such records in the customary form of
official certificates.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, the 26th day of March,
A.D. 1864, and of the Independence of the United States the
eighty-eighth.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
     _Secretary of State_.



ABRAHAM LINCOLN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

_To all whom it may concern_:

An exequatur bearing date the 3d day of May, 1850, having been issued to
Charles Hunt, a citizen of the United States, recognizing him as consul
of Belgium for St. Louis, Mo., and declaring him free to exercise and
enjoy such functions, powers, and privileges as are allowed to the
consuls of the most favored nations in the United States, and the said
Hunt having sought to screen himself from his military duty to his
country in consequence of thus being invested with the consular
functions of a foreign power in the United States, it is deemed
advisable that the said Charles Hunt should no longer be permitted to
continue in the exercise of said functions, powers, and privileges:

These are, therefore, to declare that I no longer recognize the said
Charles Hunt as consul of Belgium for St. Louis, Mo., and will not permit
him to exercise or enjoy any of the functions, powers, or privileges
allowed to consuls of that nation, and that I do hereby wholly revoke
and annul the said exequatur heretofore given and do declare the same to
be absolutely null and void from this day forward.

In testimony whereof I have caused these letters to be made patent and
the seal of the United States of America to be hereunto affixed.

[SEAL.]

Given under my hand, at Washington, this 19th day of May, A.D. 1864, and
of the Independence of the United States of America the eighty-eighth.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas by a proclamation which was issued on the 15th day of April,
1861, the President of the United States announced and declared that the
laws of the United States had been for some time past, and then were,
opposed and the execution thereof obstructed in certain States therein
mentioned by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary
course of judicial proceedings or by the powers vested in the marshals
by law; and

Whereas immediately after the issuing of the said proclamation the land
and naval forces of the United States were put into activity to suppress
the said insurrection and rebellion; and

Whereas the Congress of the United States by an act approved on the 3d
day of March, 1863, did enact that during the said rebellion the
President of the United States, whenever in his judgment the public
safety may require it, is authorized to suspend the privilege of the
writ of _habeas corpus_ in any case throughout the United States or in
any part thereof; and

Whereas the said insurrection and rebellion still continue, endangering
the existence of the Constitution and Government of the United States;
and

Whereas the military forces of the United States are now actively
engaged in suppressing the said insurrection and rebellion in various
parts of the States where the said rebellion has been successful in
obstructing the laws and public authorities, especially in the States of
Virginia and Georgia; and

Whereas on the 15th day of September last the President of the United
States duly issued his proclamation, wherein he declared that the
privilege of the writ of _habeas corpus_ should be suspended throughout
the United States in the cases where, by the authority of the President
of the United States, military, naval, and civil officers of the United
States, or any of them, hold persons under their command or in their
custody, either as prisoners of war, spies, or aiders or abettors of the
enemy, or officers, soldiers, or seamen enrolled or drafted or mustered
or enlisted in or belonging to the land or naval forces of the United
States, or as deserters therefrom, or otherwise amenable to military law
or the rules and articles of war or the rules or regulations prescribed
for the military or naval services by authority of the President of the
United States, or for resisting a draft, or for any other offense
against the military or naval service; and

Whereas many citizens of the State of Kentucky have joined the forces of
the insurgents, and such insurgents have on several occasions entered
the said State of Kentucky in large force, and, not without aid and
comfort furnished by disaffected and disloyal citizens of the United
States residing therein, have not only greatly disturbed the public
peace, but have overborne the civil authorities and made flagrant civil
war, destroying property and life in various parts of that State; and

Whereas it has been made known to the President of the United States by
the officers commanding the national armies that combinations have been
formed in the said State of Kentucky with a purpose of inciting rebel
forces to renew the said operations of civil war within the said State
and thereby to embarrass the United States armies now operating in the
said States of Virginia and Georgia and even to endanger their safety:

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by
virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws, do
hereby declare that in my judgment the public safety especially requires
that the suspension of the privilege of the writ of _habeas corpus_, so
proclaimed in the said proclamation of the 15th of September, 1863, be
made effectual and be duly enforced in and throughout the said State of
Kentucky, and that martial law be for the present established therein. I
do therefore hereby require of the military officers in the said State
that the privileges of the writ of _habeas corpus_ be effectually
suspended within the said State, according to the aforesaid
proclamation, and that martial law be established therein, to take
effect from the date of this proclamation, the said suspension and
establishment of martial law to continue until this proclamation shall
be revoked or modified, but not beyond the period when the said
rebellion shall have been suppressed or come to an end. And I do hereby
require and command as well all military officers as all civil officers
and authorities existing or found within the said State of Kentucky to
take notice of this proclamation and to give full effect to the same.

The martial law herein proclaimed and the things in that respect herein
ordered will not be deemed or taken to interfere with the holding of
lawful elections, or with the proceedings of the constitutional
legislature of Kentucky, or with the administration of justice in the
courts of law existing therein between citizens of the United States in
suits or proceedings which do not affect the military operations or the
constituted authorities of the Government of the United States.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 5th day of July, A.D. 1864, and of
the Independence of the United States the eighty-ninth.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas the Senate and House of Representatives at their last session
adopted a concurrent resolution, which was approved on the 2d day of
July instant and which was in the words following, namely:

That the President of the United States be requested to appoint a day
for humiliation and prayer by the people of the United States; that he
request his constitutional advisers at the head of the Executive
Departments to unite with him as Chief Magistrate of the nation, at the
city of Washington, and the members of Congress, and all magistrates,
all civil, military, and naval officers, all soldiers, sailors, and
marines, with all loyal and law-abiding people, to convene at their
usual places of worship, or wherever they may be, to confess and to
repent of their manifold sins; to implore the compassion and forgiveness
of the Almighty, that, if consistent with His will, the existing
rebellion may be speedily suppressed and the supremacy of the
Constitution and laws of the United States may be established throughout
all the States; to implore Him, as the Supreme Ruler of the World, not
to destroy us as a people, nor suffer us to be destroyed by the
hostility or connivance of other nations or by obstinate adhesion to our
own counsels, which may be in conflict with His eternal purposes, and to
implore Him to enlighten the mind of the nation to know and do His will,
humbly believing that it is in accordance with His will that our place
should be maintained as a united people among the family of nations; to
implore Him to grant to our armed defenders and the masses of the people
that courage, power of resistance, and endurance necessary to secure
that result; to implore Him in His infinite goodness to soften the
hearts, enlighten the minds, and quicken the consciences of those in
rebellion, that they may lay down their arms and speedily return to
their allegiance to the United States, that they may not be utterly
destroyed, that the effusion of blood may be stayed, and that unity and
fraternity may be restored and peace established throughout all our
borders:

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States,
cordially concurring with the Congress of the United States in the
penitential and pious sentiments expressed in the aforesaid resolution
and heartily approving of the devotional design and purpose thereof, do
hereby appoint the first Thursday of August next to be observed by the
people of the United States as a day of national humiliation and prayer.

I do hereby further invite and request the heads of the Executive
Departments of this Government, together with all legislators, all
judges and magistrates, and all other persons exercising authority in
the land, whether civil, military, or naval, and all soldiers, seamen,
and marines in the national service, and all the other loyal and
law-abiding people of the United States, to assemble in their preferred
places of public worship on that day, and there and then to render to
the almighty and merciful Ruler of the Universe such homages and such
confessions and to offer to Him such supplications as the Congress of
the United States have in their aforesaid resolution so solemnly, so
earnestly, and so reverently recommended.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 7th day of July, A.D. 1864, and of
the Independence of the United States the eighty-ninth

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas at the late session Congress passed a bill "to guarantee to
certain States whose governments have been usurped or overthrown a
republican form of government," a copy of which is hereunto annexed;
and

Whereas the said bill was presented to the President of the United
States for his approval less than one hour before the _sine die
_adjournment of said session, and was not signed by him; and

Whereas the said bill contains, among other things, a plan for restoring
the States in rebellion to their proper practical relation in the Union,
which plan expresses the sense of Congress upon that subject, and which
plan it is now thought fit to lay before the people for their
consideration:

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do
proclaim, declare, and make known that while I am (as I was in December
last, when, by proclamation, I propounded a plan for restoration)
unprepared by a formal approval of this bill to be inflexibly committed
to any single plan of restoration, and while I am also unprepared to
declare that the free State constitutions and governments already
adopted and installed in Arkansas and Louisiana shall be set aside and
held for naught, thereby repelling and discouraging the loyal citizens
who have set up the same as to further effort, or to declare a
constitutional competency in Congress to abolish slavery in States, but
am at the same time sincerely hoping and expecting that a constitutional
amendment abolishing slavery throughout the nation may be adopted,
nevertheless I am fully satisfied with the system for restoration
contained in the bill as one very proper plan for the loyal people of
any State choosing to adopt it, and that I am and at all times shall be
prepared to give the Executive aid and assistance to any such people so
soon as the military resistance to the United States shall have been
suppressed in any such State and the people thereof shall have
sufficiently returned to their obedience to the Constitution and the
laws of the United States, in which cases military governors will be
appointed with directions to proceed according to the bill.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal
of the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 8th day of July, A.D. 1864, and of
the Independence of the United States the eighty-ninth.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



[H.R. 244, Thirty-eighth Congress, first session.]

AN ACT to guarantee to certain States whose governments have been
usurped or overthrown a republican form of government.


_Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled_, That in the States declared
in rebellion against the United States the President shall, by and with
the advice and consent of the Senate, appoint for each a provisional
governor, whose pay and emoluments shall not exceed that of a
brigadier-general of volunteers, who shall be charged with the civil
administration of such State until a State government therein shall be
recognized as hereinafter provided.

SEC. 2. _And be it further enacted_, That so soon as the military
resistance to the United States shall have been suppressed in any such
State and the people thereof shall have sufficiently returned to their
obedience to the Constitution and the laws of the United States the
provisional governor shall direct the marshal of the United States, as
speedily as may be, to name a sufficient number of deputies, and to
enroll all white male citizens of the United States resident in the
State in their respective counties, and to request each one to take the
oath to support the Constitution of the United States, and in his
enrollment to designate those who take and those who refuse to take that
oath, which rolls shall be forthwith returned to the provisional
governor; and if the persons taking that oath shall amount to a majority
of the persons enrolled in the State, he shall, by proclamation, invite
the loyal people of the State to elect delegates to a convention charged
to declare the will of the people of the State relative to the
reestablishment of a State government, subject to and in conformity with
the Constitution of the United States.

SEC. 3. _And be it further enacted_, That the convention shall consist
of as many members as both houses of the last constitutional State
legislature, apportioned by the provisional governor among the counties,
parishes, or districts of the State, in proportion to the white
population returned as electors by the marshal in compliance with the
provisions of this act. The provisional governor shall, by proclamation,
declare the number of delegates to be elected by each county, parish, or
election district; name a day of election not less than thirty days
thereafter; designate the places of voting in each county, parish, or
district, conforming as nearly as may be convenient to the places used
in the State elections next preceding the rebellion; appoint one or more
commissioners to hold the election at each place of voting, and provide
an adequate force to keep the peace during the election.

SEC. 4. _And be it further enacted_, That the delegates shall be elected
by the loyal white male citizens of the United States of the age of 21
years, and resident at the time in the county, parish, or district in
which they shall offer to vote, and enrolled as aforesaid, or absent
in the military service of the United States, and who shall take and
subscribe the oath of allegiance to the United States in the form
contained in the act of Congress of July 2, 1862; and all such citizens
of the United States who are in the military service of the United
States shall vote at the headquarters of their respective commands,
under such regulations as may be prescribed by the provisional governor
for the taking and return of their votes; but no person who has held or
exercised any office, civil or military, State or Confederate, under the
rebel usurpation, or who has voluntarily borne arms against the United
States, shall vote or be eligible to be elected as delegate at such
election.

SEC. 5. _And be it further enacted_, That the said commissioners, or
either of them, shall hold the election in conformity with this act,
and, so far as may be consistent therewith, shall proceed in the manner
used in the State prior to the rebellion. The oath of allegiance
shall be taken and subscribed on the poll book by every voter in the
form above prescribed, but every person known by or proved to the
commissioners to have held or exercised any office, civil or military,
State or Confederate, under the rebel usurpation, or to have voluntarily
borne arms against the United States, shall be excluded though he offer
to take the oath; and in case any person who shall have borne arms
against the United States shall offer to vote, he shall be deemed to
have borne arms voluntarily unless he shall prove the contrary by the
testimony of a qualified voter. The poll book, showing the name and oath
of each voter, shall be returned to the provisional governor by the
commissioners of election, or the one acting, and the provisional
governor shall canvass such returns and declare the person having the
highest number of votes elected.

SEC. 6. _And be it further enacted_, That the provisional governor
shall, by proclamation, convene the delegates elected as aforesaid at
the capital of the State on a day not more than three months after the
election, giving at least thirty days' notice of such day. In case
the said capital shall in his judgment be unfit, he shall in his
proclamation appoint another place. He shall preside over the
deliberations of the convention and administer to each delegate, before
taking his seat in the convention, the oath of allegiance to the United
States in the form above prescribed.

SEC. 7. _And be it further enacted_, That the convention shall
declare on behalf of the people of the State their submission to
the Constitution and laws of the United States, and shall adopt the
following provisions, hereby prescribed by the United States in the
execution of the constitutional duty to guarantee a republican form of
government to every State, and incorporate them in the constitution of
the State; that is to say:

First. No person who has held or exercised any office, civil or military
(except offices merely ministerial and military offices below the grade
of colonel), State or Confederate, under the usurping power, shall vote
for or be a member of the legislature or governor.

Second. Involuntary servitude is forever prohibited, and the freedom of
all persons is guaranteed in said State.

Third. No debt, State or Confederate, created by or under the sanction
of the usurping power shall be recognized or paid by the State.

SEC. 8. _And be it further enacted_, That when the convention shall have
adopted those provisions it shall proceed to reestablish a republican
form of government and ordain a constitution containing those
provisions, which, when adopted, the convention shall by ordinance
provide for submitting to the people of the State entitled to vote under
this law, at an election to be held in the manner prescribed by the act
for the election of delegates, but at a time and place named by the
convention, at which election the said electors, and none others, shall
vote directly for or against such constitution and form of State
government. And the returns of said election shall be made to the
provisional governor, who shall canvass the same in the presence of the
electors, and if a majority of the votes cast shall be for the
constitution and form of government, he shall certify the same, with a
copy thereof, to the President of the United States, who, after
obtaining the assent of Congress, shall, by proclamation, recognize the
government so established, and none other, as the constitutional
government of the State; and from the date of such recognition, and not
before, Senators and Representatives and electors for President and
Vice-President may be elected in such State, according to the laws of
the State and of the United States.

SEC. 9. _And be it further enacted_, That if the convention shall refuse
to reestablish the State government on the conditions aforesaid the
provisional governor shall declare it dissolved; but it shall be the
duty of the President, whenever he shall have reason to believe that a
sufficient number of the people of the State entitled to vote under this
act, in number not less than a majority of those enrolled as aforesaid,
are willing to reestablish a State government on the conditions
aforesaid, to direct the provisional governor to order another election
of delegates to a convention for the purpose and in the manner
prescribed in this act, and to proceed in all respects as hereinbefore
provided, either to dissolve the convention or to certify the State
government reestablished by it to the President.

SEC. 10. _And be it further enacted_, That until the United States shall
have recognized a republican form of State government the provisional
governor in each of said States shall see that this act and the laws of
the United States and the laws of the State in force when the State
government was overthrown by the rebellion are faithfully executed
within the State; but no law or usage whereby any person was heretofore
held in involuntary servitude shall be recognized or enforced by any
court or officer in such State; and the laws for the trial and
punishment of white persons shall extend to all persons, and jurors
shall have the qualifications of voters under this law for delegates to
the convention. The President shall appoint such officer provided for by
the laws of the State when its government was overthrown as he may find
necessary to the civil administration of the State, all which officers
shall be entitled to receive the fees and emoluments provided by the
State laws for such officers.

SEC. 11. _And be it further enacted_, That until the recognition of a
State government as aforesaid the provisional governor shall, under such
regulations as he may prescribe, cause to be assessed, levied, and
collected, for the year 1864 and every year thereafter, the taxes
provided by the laws of such State to be levied during the fiscal year
preceding the overthrow of the State government thereof, in the manner
prescribed by the laws of the State, as nearly as may be; and the
officers appointed as aforesaid are vested with all powers of levying
and collecting such taxes, by distress or sale, as were vested in any
officers or tribunal of the State government aforesaid for those
purposes. The proceeds of such taxes shall be accounted for to the
provisional governor and be by him applied to the expenses of the
administration of the laws in such State, subject to the direction of
the President, and the surplus shall be deposited in the Treasury of the
United States to the credit of such State, to be paid to the State upon
an appropriation therefor to be made when a republican form of
government shall be recognized therein by the United States.

SEC. 12. _And be it further enacted_, That all persons held to
involuntary servitude or labor in the States aforesaid are hereby
emancipated and discharged therefrom, and they and their posterity shall
be forever free. And if any such persons or their posterity shall be
restrained of liberty under pretense of any claim to such service or
labor, the courts of the United States shall, on _habeas corpus_,
discharge them.

SEC. 13. _And be it further enacted_, That if any person declared free
by this act, or any law of the United States or any proclamation of the
President, be restrained of liberty with intent to be held in or reduced
to involuntary servitude or labor, the person convicted before a court
of competent jurisdiction of such act shall be punished by fine of not
less than $1,500 and be imprisoned not less than five nor more than
twenty years.

SEC. 14. _And be it further enacted_, That every person who shall
hereafter hold or exercise any office, civil or military (except offices
merely ministerial and military offices below the grade of colonel), in
the rebel service, State or Confederate, is hereby declared not to be a
citizen of the United States.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas by the act approved July 4, 1864, entitled "An act further to
regulate and provide for the enrolling and calling out the national
forces and for other purposes," it is provided that the President of the
United States may, "at his discretion, at any time hereafter, call for
any number of men, as volunteers for the respective terms of one, two,
and three years for military service," and "that in case the quota or
any part thereof of any town, township, ward of a city, precinct, or
election district, or of a county not so subdivided, shall not be filled
within the space of fifty days after such call, then the President shall
immediately order a draft for one year to fill such quota or any part
thereof which may be unfilled;" and

Whereas the new enrollment heretofore ordered is so far completed as
that the aforementioned act of Congress may now be put in operation for
recruiting and keeping up the strength of the armies in the field, for
garrisons, and such military operations as may be required for the
purpose of suppressing the rebellion and restoring the authority of the
United States Government in the insurgent States:

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do
issue this my call for 500,000 volunteers for the military service:
_Provided, nevertheless_, That this call shall be reduced by all credits
which may be established under section 8 of the aforesaid act on account
of persons who have entered the naval service during the present
rebellion and by credits for men furnished to the military service in
excess of calls heretofore made. Volunteers will be accepted under this
call for one, two, or three years, as they may elect, and will be
entitled to the bounty provided by the law for the period of service for
which they enlist.

And I hereby proclaim, order, and direct that immediately after the 5th
day of September, 1864, being fifty days from the date of this call,
a draft for troops to serve for one year shall be had in every town,
township, ward of a city, precinct, or election district, or county not
so subdivided, to fill the quota which shall be assigned to it under
this call or any part thereof which may be unfilled by volunteers on the
said 5th day of September, 1864.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 18th day of July, A.D. 1864, and of
the Independence of the United States the eighty-ninth.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas the act of Congress of the 28th of September, 1850, entitled "An
act to create additional collection districts in the State of
California, and to change the existing districts therein, and to modify
the existing collection districts in the United States," extends to
merchandise warehoused under bond the privilege of being exported to the
British North American Provinces adjoining the United States in the
manner prescribed in the act of Congress of the 3d of March, 1845, which
designates certain frontier ports through which merchandise may be
exported, and further provides "that such other ports, situated on the
frontiers of the United States adjoining the British North American
Provinces, as may hereafter be found expedient may have extended to them
the like privileges on the recommendation of the Secretary of the
Treasury and proclamation duly made by the President of the United
States specially designating the ports to which the aforesaid privileges
are to be extended:"

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of
America, in accordance with the recommendation of the Secretary of the
Treasury, do hereby declare and proclaim that the port of Newport, in
the State of Vermont, is and shall be entitled to all the privileges in
regard to the exportation of merchandise in bond to the British North
American Provinces adjoining the United States which are extended to the
ports enumerated in the seventh section of the act of Congress of the 3d
of March, 1845, aforesaid, from and after the date of this proclamation.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 18th day of August, A.D. 1864, and
of the Independence of the United States of America the eighty-ninth.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

It has pleased Almighty God to prolong our national life another year,
defending us with His guardian care against unfriendly designs from
abroad and vouchsafing to us in His mercy many and signal victories over
the enemy, who is of our own household. It has also pleased our Heavenly
Father to favor as well our citizens in their homes as our soldiers in
their camps and our sailors on the rivers and seas with unusual health.
He has largely augmented our free population by emancipation and by
immigration, while He has opened to us new sources of wealth and has
crowned the labor of our workingmen in every department of industry with
abundant rewards. Moreover, He has been pleased to animate and inspire
our minds and hearts with fortitude, courage, and resolution sufficient
for the great trial of civil war into which we have been brought by our
adherence as a nation to the cause of freedom and humanity, and to
afford to us reasonable hopes of an ultimate and happy deliverance from
all our dangers and afflictions:

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do
hereby appoint and set apart the last Thursday in November next as a day
which I desire to be observed by all my fellow-citizens, wherever they
may then be, as a day of thanksgiving and praise to Almighty God, the
beneficent Creator and Ruler of the Universe. And I do further recommend
to my fellow-citizens aforesaid that on that occasion they do reverently
humble themselves in the dust and from thence offer up penitent and
fervent prayers and supplications to the Great Disposer of Events for
a return of the inestimable blessings of peace, union, and harmony
throughout the land which it has pleased Him to assign as a dwelling
place for ourselves and for our posterity throughout all generations.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 20th day of October, A.D. 1864, and
of the Independence of the United States the eighty-ninth.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas the Congress of the United States passed an act, which was
approved on the 21st day of March last, entitled "An act to enable the
people of Nevada to form a constitution and State government and for the
admission of such State into the Union on an equal footing with the
original States;" and

Whereas the said constitution and State government have been formed,
pursuant to the conditions prescribed by the fifth section of the act of
Congress aforesaid, and the certificate required by the said act and
also a copy of the constitution and ordinances have been submitted to
the President of the United States:

Now, therefore, be it known that I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the
United States, in accordance with the duty imposed upon me by the act of
Congress aforesaid, do hereby declare and proclaim that the said State
of Nevada is admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the
original States.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 31st day of October, A.D. 1864,
and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-ninth.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas by my proclamation of the 19th of April, 1861, it was declared
that the ports of certain States, including those of Norfolk, in the
State of Virginia, Fernandina and Pensacola, in the State of Florida,
were, for reasons therein set forth, intended to be placed under
blockade; and

Whereas the said ports were subsequently blockaded accordingly, but
having for some time past been in the military possession of the United
States, it is deemed advisable that they should be opened to domestic
and foreign commerce:

Now, therefore, be it known that I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the
United States, pursuant to the authority in me vested by the fifth
section of the act of Congress approved on the 13th of July, 1861,
entitled "An act further to provide for the collection of duties on
imports, and for other purposes," do hereby declare that the blockade of
the said ports of Norfolk, Fernandina, and Pensacola shall so far cease
and determine, from and after the 1st day of December next, that
commercial intercourse with those ports, except as to persons, things,
and information contraband of war, may from that time be carried on,
subject to the laws of the United States, to the limitations and in
pursuance of the regulations which may be prescribed by the Secretary of
the Treasury, and to such military and naval regulations as are now in
force or may hereafter be found necessary.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 19th day of November, A.D. 1864,
and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-ninth.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.




EXECUTIVE ORDERS.


EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, D.C., December 7, 1863_.

Reliable information being received that the insurgent force is
retreating from east Tennessee under circumstances rendering it probable
that the Union forces can not hereafter be dislodged from that important
position, and esteeming this to be of high national consequence, I
recommend that all loyal people do, on receipt of this information,
assemble at their places of worship and render special homage and
gratitude to Almighty God for this great advancement of the national
cause.

A. LINCOLN.



GENERAL ORDERS, No. 398.

WAR DEPARTMENT,

ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

_Washington, December 21, 1863_.

The following joint resolution by the Senate and House of
Representatives of the United States is published to the Army:

JOINT RESOLUTION of thanks to Major-General Ulysses S. Grant and the
officers and soldiers who have fought under his command during this
rebellion, and providing that the President of the United States shall
cause a medal to be struck, to be presented to Major-General Grant in
the name of the people of the United States of America.

_Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled_, That the thanks of Congress
be, and they hereby are, presented to Major-General Ulysses S. Grant,
and through him to the officers and soldiers who have fought under his
command during this rebellion, for their gallantry and good conduct in
the battles in which they have been engaged; and that the President of
the United States be requested to cause a gold medal to be struck, with
suitable emblems, devices, and inscriptions, to be presented to
Major-General Grant.

SEC. 2. _And be it further resolved_, That when the said medal shall
have been struck the President shall cause a copy of this joint
resolution to be engrossed on parchment, and shall transmit the same,
together with the said medal, to Major-General Grant, to be presented
to him in the name of the people of the United States of America.

SEC. 3. _And be it further resolved_, That a sufficient sum of money
to carry this resolution into effect is hereby appropriated out of any
money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated.

SCHUYLER COLFAX,

_Speaker of the House of Representatives_.

H. HAMLIN,

_Vice-president of the United States and President of the Senate_.

Approved, December 17, 1863.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By order of the Secretary of War:

E.D. TOWNSEND,

_Assistant Adjutant-General_.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 9, 1864_.

Information having been received that Caleb B. Smith, late Secretary of
the Interior, has departed this life at his residence in Indiana, it is
ordered that the executive buildings at the seat of the Government be
draped in mourning for the period of fourteen days in honor of his
memory as a prudent and loyal counselor and a faithful and effective
coadjutor of the Administration in a time of public difficulty and
peril.

The Secretary of State will communicate a copy of this order to the
family of the deceased, together with proper expressions of the profound
sympathy of the President and the heads of Departments in their
irreparable bereavement.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WAR DEPARTMENT,

_Washington City, January 12._

_It is hereby ordered_, That all orders and records relating to the
Missouri troops, designated, respectively, as Missouri State Militia
(M.S.M.) and as Enrolled Missouri Militia (E.M.M.), and which are or
have been on file in the offices of the adjutant-generals or their
assistants at the different headquarters located in the State of
Missouri, shall be open to the inspection of the general assembly of
Missouri or of persons commissioned by it, and that copies of such
records be furnished them when called for.

By order of the President:

EDWIN M. STANTON,

_Secretary of War_.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 1, 1864_.

_Ordered_, That a draft for 500,000 men, to serve for three years or
during the war, be made on the 10th day of March next for the military
service of the United States, crediting and deducting therefrom so many
as may have been enlisted or drafted into the service prior to the 1st
day of March and not heretofore credited.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 1, 1864_.

Hon. EDWIN M. STANTON,

_Secretary of War_.

SIR: You are directed to have a transport (either a steam or sailing
vessel, as may be deemed proper by the Quartermaster-General) sent to
the colored colony established by the United States at the island of
Vache, on the coast of San Domingo, to bring back to this country such
of the colonists there as desire to return. You will have the transport
furnished with suitable supplies for that purpose, and detail an officer
of the Quartermaster's Department, who, under special instructions to be
given, shall have charge of the business. The colonists will be brought
to Washington, unless otherwise hereafter directed, and be employed and
provided for at the camps for colored persons around that city. Those
only will be brought from the island who desire to return, and their
effects will be brought with them.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



GENERAL ORDERS, No. 76.

WAR DEPARTMENT,

ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

_Washington, February 26, 1864_.

SENTENCE OF DESERTERS.

The President directs that the sentences of all deserters who have been
condemned by court-martial to death, and that have not been otherwise
acted upon by him, be mitigated to imprisonment during the war at the
Dry Tortugas, Florida, where they will be sent under suitable guards by
orders from army commanders.

The commanding generals, who have power to act on proceedings of
courts-martial in such cases, are authorized in special cases to restore
to duty deserters under sentence, when in their judgment the service
will be thereby benefited.

Copies of all orders issued under the foregoing instructions will be
immediately forwarded to the Adjutant-General and to the
Judge-Advocate-General.

By order of the Secretary of War:

E.D. TOWNSEND,

_Assistant Adjutant-General_.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, March 7, 1864_.

Whereas by an Executive order of the 10th of November last permission
was given to export certain tobacco belonging to the French Government
from insurgent territory, which tobacco was supposed to have been
purchased and paid for prior to the 4th day of March, 1861; but whereas
it was subsequently ascertained that a part at least of the said tobacco
had been purchased subsequently to that date, which fact made it
necessary to suspend the carrying into effect of the said order; but
whereas, pursuant to mutual explanations, a satisfactory understanding
upon the subject has now been reached, it is directed that the order
aforesaid may be carried into effect, it being understood that the
quantity of French tobacco so to be exported shall not exceed 7,000
hogsheads, and that it is the same tobacco respecting the exportation of
which application was originally made by the French Government.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



In pursuance of the provisions of section 14 of the act of Congress
entitled "An act to aid in the construction of a railroad and telegraph
line from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean, and to secure to
the Government the use of the same for postal, military, and other
purposes," approved July 1, 1862, authorizing and directing the
President of the United States to fix the point on the western boundary
of the State of Iowa from which the Union Pacific Railroad Company is
by said section authorized and required to construct a single line of
railroad and telegraph upon the most direct and practicable route,
subject to the approval of the President of the United States, so as to
form a connection with the lines of said company at some point on the
one hundredth meridian of longitude in said section named, I, Abraham
Lincoln, President of the United States, do, upon the application of the
said company, designate and establish such first above-named point on
the western boundary of the State of Iowa east of and opposite to the
east line of section 10, in township 15 north, of range 13 east, of the
sixth principal meridian, in the Territory of Nebraska.

Done at the city of Washington, this 7th day of March, A.D. 1864.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, D.C., March 10, 1864_.

Under the authority of an act of Congress to revive the grade of
lieutenant-general in the United States Army, approved February 29,
1864, Lieutenant-General Ulysses S. Grant, United States Army, is
assigned to the command of the armies of the United States.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



GENERAL ORDERS, No. 98.

WAR DEPARTMENT,

ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

_Washington, March 12, 1864_.

The President of the United States orders as follows:

I. Major-General H.W. Halleck is, at his own request, relieved from duty
as General in Chief of the Army, and Lieutenant-General U.S. Grant is
assigned to the command of the armies of the United States. The
headquarters of the Army will be in Washington and also with
Lieutenant-General Grant in the field.

II. Major-General H.W. Halleck is assigned to duty in Washington as
chief of staff of the Army, under the direction of the Secretary of War
and the Lieutenant-General Commanding. His orders will be obeyed and
respected accordingly.

III. Major-General W.T. Sherman is assigned to the command of the
Military Division of the Mississippi, composed of the departments of the
Ohio, the Cumberland, the Tennessee and the Arkansas.

IV. Major-General J.B. McPherson is assigned to the command of the
Department and Army of the Tennessee.

V. In relieving Major-General Halleck from duty as General in Chief, the
President desires to express his approbation and thanks for the able and
zealous manner in which the arduous and responsible duties of that
position have been performed.

By order of the Secretary of War:

E.D. TOWNSEND,

_Assistant Adjutant-General_.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, March 14, 1864_.

In order to supply the force required to be drafted for the Navy and to
provide an adequate reserve force for all contingencies, in addition to
the 500,000 men called for February 1, 1864, a call is hereby made and a
draft ordered for 200,000 men for the military service (Army, Navy, and
Marine Corps) of the United States.

The proportional quotas for the different wards, towns, townships,
precincts, or election districts, or counties, will be made known
through the Provost-Marshal-General's Bureau, and account will be taken
of the credits and deficiencies on former quotas.

The 15th day of April, 1864, is designated as the time up to which the
numbers required from each ward of a city, town, etc., may be raised by
voluntary enlistment, and drafts will be made in each ward of a city,
town, etc., which shall not have filled the quota assigned to it within
the time designated for the number required to fill said quotas. The
drafts will be commenced as soon after the 15th of April as practicable.

The Government bounties as now paid continue until April 1, 1864, at
which time the additional bounties cease. On and after that date $100
bounty only will be paid, as provided by the act approved July 22, 1861,

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _April 2, 1864_.

_Ordered_, That the Executive order of September 4, 1863, in relation to
the exportation of live stock from the United States, be so extended as
to prohibit the exportation of all classes of salted provisions from any
part of the United States to any foreign port, except that meats cured,
salted, or packed in any State or Territory bordering on the Pacific
Ocean may be exported from any port of such State or Territory.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES:

I. The governors of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin offer
to the President infantry troops for the approaching campaign as
follows:

  Ohio               30,000
  Indiana            20,000
  Illinois           20,000
  Iowa               10,000
  Wisconsin           5,000


II. The term of service to be one hundred days, reckoning from the date
of muster into the service of the United States, unless sooner
discharged.

III. The troops to be mustered into the service of the United States by
regiments, when the regiments are rilled up, according to regulations,
to the minimum strength, the regiments to be organized according to the
regulations of the War Department. The whole number to be furnished
within twenty days from date of notice of the acceptance of this
proposition.

IV. The troops to be clothed, armed, equipped, subsisted, transported,
and paid as other United States infantry volunteers, and to serve in
fortifications, or wherever their services may be required, within or
without their respective States.

V. No bounty to be paid the troops, nor the service charged or credited
on any draft.

VI. The draft for three years' service to go on in any State or district
where the quota is not filled up; but if any officer or soldier in this
special service should be drafted he shall be credited for the service
rendered.

JOHN BROUGH,
  _Governor of Ohio_.

O.P. MORTON,
  _Governor of Indiana_.

RICHARD YATES,
  _Governor of Illinois_.

WM. M. STONE,
  _Governor of Iowa_.

JAMES T. LEWIS,
  _Governor of Wisconsin_.

APRIL 23, 1864.

The foregoing proposition of the governors is accepted, and the
Secretary of War is directed to carry it into execution.

A. LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, May 9, 1864_.

_To the Friends of the Union and Liberty_:

Enough is known of the army operations within the last five days to
claim our especial gratitude to God, while what remains undone demands
our most sincere prayers to and reliance upon Him, without whom all
human efforts are in vain. I recommend that all patriots, at their
homes, in their places of public worship, and wherever they may be,
unite in common thanksgiving and prayer to Almighty God.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, May 18, 1864_.

Major-General JOHN A. DIX,

_Commanding at New York_:

Whereas there has been wickedly and traitorously printed and published
this morning in the New York World and New York Journal of Commerce,
newspapers printed and published in the city of New York, a false and
spurious proclamation purporting to be signed by the President and to be
countersigned by the Secretary of State, which publication is of a
treasonable nature, designed to give aid and comfort to the enemies of
the United States and to the rebels now at war against the Government
and their aiders and abettors, you are therefore hereby commanded
forthwith to arrest and imprison in any fort or military prison in your
command the editors, proprietors, and publishers of the aforesaid
newspapers, and all such persons as, after public notice has been given
of the falsehood of said publication, print and publish the same with
intent to give aid and comfort to the enemy; and you will hold the
persons so arrested in close custody until they can be brought to trial
before a military commission for their offense. You will also take
possession by military force of the printing establishments of the New
York World and Journal of Commerce, and hold the same until further
orders, and prohibit any further publication therefrom.

A. LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, D.C._

The President of the United States directs that the four persons whose
names follow, to wit, Hon. Clement C. Clay, Hon. Jacob Thompson,
Professor James P. Holcombe, George N. Sanders, shall have safe conduct
to the city of Washington in company with the Hon. Horace Greeley, and
shall be exempt from arrest or annoyance of any kind from any officer of
the United States during their journey to the said city of Washington.

By order of the President:

JOHN HAY,

_Major and Assistant Adjutant-General_.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, July 18, 1864_.

_To whom it may concern_:

Any proposition which embraces the restoration of peace, the integrity
of the whole Union, and the abandonment of slavery, and which comes by
and with an authority that can control the armies now at war against the
United States, will be received and considered by the executive
government of the United States, and will be met by liberal terms on
other substantial and collateral points; and the bearer or bearers
thereof shall have safe conduct both ways.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, August 31, 1864_.

Any person or persons engaged in bringing out cotton, in strict
conformity with authority given by W. P. Fessenden, Secretary of the
United States Treasury, must not be hindered by the War, Navy, or any
other Department of the Government or any person engaged under any of
said Departments.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _September 3, 1864_.

The national thanks are tendered by the President to Major-General
William T. Sherman and the gallant officers and soldiers of his command
before Atlanta for the distinguished ability, courage, and perseverance
displayed in the campaign in Georgia, which, under divine favor, has
resulted in the capture of the city of Atlanta. The marches, battles,
sieges, and other military operations that have signalized this campaign
must render it famous in the annals of war, and have entitled those who
have participated therein to the applause and thanks of the nation.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington City, September 3, 1864_.

_Ordered_, first. That on Monday, the 5th day of September, commencing
at the hour of 12 o'clock noon, there shall be given a salute of 100
guns at the arsenal and navy-yard at Washington, and on Tuesday, the 6th
of September, or on the day after the receipt of this order, at each
arsenal and navy-yard in the United States, for the recent brilliant
achievements of the fleet and land forces of the United States in the
harbor of Mobile and in the reduction of Fort Powell, Fort Gaines, and
Fort Morgan. The Secretary of War and Secretary of the Navy will issue
the necessary directions in their respective Departments for the
execution of this order.

Second. That on Wednesday, the 7th day of September, commencing at the
hour of 12 o'clock noon, there shall be fired a salute of 100 guns at
the arsenal at Washington, and at New York, Boston, Philadelphia,
Baltimore, Pittsburg, Newport, Ky., and St. Louis, and at New Orleans,
Mobile, Pensacola, Hilton Head, and New Berne the day after the receipt
of this order, for the brilliant achievements of the army under command
of Major-General Sherman in the State of Georgia and the capture of
Atlanta. The Secretary of War will issue directions for the execution of
this order.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, September 3, 1864_.

The signal success that Divine Providence has recently vouchsafed to the
operations of the United States fleet and army in the harbor of Mobile,
and the reduction of Fort Powell, Fort Gaines, and Fort Morgan, and the
glorious achievements of the army under Major-General Sherman in the
State of Georgia, resulting in the capture of the city of Atlanta, call
for devout acknowledgment to the Supreme Being, in whose hands are the
destinies of nations. It is therefore requested that on next Sunday, in
all places of public worship in the United States, thanksgiving be
offered to Him for His mercy in preserving our national existence
against the insurgent rebels who so long have been waging a cruel war
against the Government of the United States for its overthrow; and also
that prayer be made for the divine protection to our brave soldiers and
their leaders in the field, who have so often and so gallantly periled
their lives in battling with the enemy, and for blessing and comfort
from the Father of Mercies to the sick, wounded, and prisoners, and to
the orphans and widows of those who have fallen in the service of their
country; and that He will continue to uphold the Government of the
United States against all the efforts of public enemies and secret foes.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _September 3, 1864_.

The national thanks are tendered by the President to Admiral Farragut
and Major-General Canby for the skill and harmony with which the recent
operations in Mobile Harbor and against Fort Powell, Fort Gaines, and
Fort Morgan were planned and carried into execution; also to Admiral
Farragut and Major-General Granger, under whose immediate command they
were conducted, and to the gallant commanders on sea and land, and to
the sailors and soldiers engaged in the operations, for their energy and
courage, which, under the blessing of Providence, have been crowned with
brilliant success and have won for them the applause and thanks of the
nation.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington City, September 10, 1864_.

The term of one hundred days for which the National Guard of Ohio
volunteered having expired, the President directs an official
acknowledgment to be made of their patriotic and valuable services
during the recent campaigns. The term of service of their enlistment was
short, but distinguished by memorable events. In the Valley of the
Shenandoah, on the Peninsula, in the operations on the James River,
around Petersburg and Richmond, in the battle of Monocacy, and in the
intrenchments of Washington, and in other important service, the
National Guard of Ohio performed with alacrity the duty of patriotic
volunteers, for which they are entitled to and are hereby tendered,
through the governor of their State, the national thanks.

The Secretary of War is directed to transmit a copy of this order to the
governor of Ohio and to cause a certificate of their honorable service
to be delivered to the officers and soldiers of the Ohio National Guard
who recently served in the military force of the United States as
volunteers for one hundred days.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _September 24, 1864_.

I. Congress having authorized the purchase for the United States of the
product of States declared in insurrection, and the Secretary of the
Treasury having designated New Orleans, Memphis, Nashville, Pensacola,
Port Royal, Beaufort, N.C., and Norfolk as places of purchase, and with
my approval appointed agents and made regulations under which said
products may be purchased: Therefore,

II. All persons, except such as may be in the civil, military, or naval
service of the Government, having in their possession any products of
States declared in insurrection which said agents are authorized to
purchase, and all persons owning or controlling such products therein,
are authorized to convey such products to either of the places which
have been hereby or may hereafter be designated as places of purchase,
and such products so destined shall not be liable to detention, seizure,
or forfeiture while _in transitu_ or in store awaiting transportation.

III. Any person having the certificate of a purchasing agent, as
prescribed by Treasury Regulations, VIII, is authorized to pass, with
the necessary means of transportation, to the points named in said
certificate, and to return therefrom with the products required for the
fulfillment of the stipulations set forth in said certificate.

IV. Any person having sold and delivered to a purchasing agent any
products of an insurrectionary State in accordance with the regulations
in relation thereto, and having in his possession a certificate setting
forth the fact of such purchase and sale, the character and quantity of
products, and the aggregate amount paid therefor, as prescribed by
Regulation IX, shall be permitted by the military authority commanding
at the place of sale to purchase from any authorized dealer at such
place, or any other place in a loyal State, merchandise and other
articles not contraband of war nor prohibited by the order of the War
Department, nor coin, bullion, or foreign exchange, to an amount not
exceeding in value one-third of the aggregate value of the products sold
by him, as certified by the agent purchasing; and the merchandise and
other articles so purchased may be transported by the same route and to
the same place from and by which the products sold and delivered reached
the purchasing agent, as set forth in the certificate; and such
merchandise and other articles shall have safe conduct, and shall not be
subject to detention, seizure, or forfeiture while being transported to
the places and by the route set forth in the said certificate.

V. Generals commanding military districts and commandants of military
posts and detachments, and officers commanding fleets, flotillas, and
gunboats, will give safe conduct to persons and products, merchandise,
and other articles duly authorized as aforesaid, and not contraband of
war or prohibited by order of the War Department, or the orders of such
generals commanding, or other duly authorized military or naval officer,
made in pursuance thereof; and all persons hindering or preventing such
safe conduct of persons or property will be deemed guilty of a military
offense and punished accordingly.

VI. Any person transporting or attempting to transport any merchandise
or other articles, except in pursuance of regulations of the Secretary
of the Treasury dated July 29, 1864, or in pursuance of this order, or
transporting or attempting to transport any merchandise or other
articles contraband of war or forbidden by any order of the War
Department, will be deemed guilty of a military offense and punished
accordingly; and all products of insurrectionary States found _in
transitu_ to any other person or place than a purchasing agent and a
designated place of purchase shall be seized and forfeited to the United
States, except such as may be moving to a loyal State under duly
authorized permits of a proper officer of the Treasury Department, as
prescribed by Regulation XXXVIII, concerning "commercial intercourse,"
dated July 29, 1864, or such as may have been found abandoned or have
been captured and are moving in pursuance of the act of March 12, 1863.

VII. No military or naval officer of the United States, or person in the
military or naval service, nor any civil officer, except such as are
appointed for that purpose, shall engage in trade or traffic in the
products of insurrectionary States, or furnish transportation therefor,
under pain of being deemed guilty of unlawful trading with the enemy and
punished accordingly.

VIII. The Secretary of War will make such general orders or regulations
as will insure the proper observance and execution of this order, and
the Secretary of the Navy will give instructions to officers commanding
fleets, flotillas, and gunboats in conformity therewith.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, October 1, 1864_.

SPECIAL EXECUTIVE ORDER RETURNING THANKS TO THE VOLUNTEERS FOR ONE
HUNDRED DAYS FROM THE STATES OF INDIANA, ILLINOIS, IOWA, AND WISCONSIN.

The term of one hundred days for which volunteers from the States of
Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin volunteered, under the call of
their respective governors, in the months of May and June, to aid in the
campaign of General Sherman, having expired, the President directs an
official acknowledgment to be made of their patriotic service. It was
their good fortune to render efficient service in the brilliant
operations in the Southwest and to contribute to the victories of the
national arms over the rebel forces in Georgia under command of Johnston
and Hood. On all occasions and in every service to which they were
assigned their duty as patriotic volunteers was performed with alacrity
and courage, for which they are entitled to and are hereby tendered the
national thanks through the governors of their respective States.

The Secretary of War is directed to transmit a copy of this order to the
governors of Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin and to cause a
certificate of their honorable service to be delivered to the officers
and soldiers of the States above named who recently served in the
military force of the United States as volunteers for one hundred days.

A. LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, October 12, 1864_.

The Japanese Government having caused the construction at New York of a
vessel of war called the _Fusigama_, and application having been made
for the clearance of the same, in order that it may proceed to Japan, it
is ordered, in view of the state of affairs in that country and of its
relation with the United States, that a compliance with the application
be for the present suspended.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



GENERAL ORDERS, No. 282.

WAR DEPARTMENT,

ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

_Washington, November 14, 1864_.

_Ordered by the President_, I. That the resignation of George B.
McClellan as major-general in the United States Army, dated November 8
and received by the Adjutant-General on the 10th instant, be accepted as
of the 8th of November.

II. That for the personal gallantry, military skill, and just confidence
in the courage and patriotism of his troops displayed by Philip H.
Sheridan on the 19th day of October at Cedar Run, whereby, under the
blessing of Providence, his routed army was reorganized, a great
national disaster averted, and a brilliant victory achieved over the
rebels for the third time in pitched battle within thirty days, Philip
H. Sheridan is appointed major-general in the United States Army, to
rank as such from the 8th day of November, 1864.

By order of the President of the United States:

E.D. TOWNSEND,

_Assistant Adjutant-General_



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, December 3, 1864_.

A war steamer, called the _Funayma Solace_, having been built in this
country for the Japanese Government and at the instance of that
Government, it is deemed to comport with the public interest, in view of
the unsettled condition of the relations of the United States with that
Empire, that the steamer should not be allowed to proceed to Japan. If,
however, the Secretary of the Navy should ascertain that the steamer is
adapted to our service, he is authorized to purchase her, but the
purchase money will be held in trust toward satisfying any valid claims
which may be presented by the Japanese on account of the construction of
the steamer and the failure to deliver the same, as above set forth.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.




FOURTH ANNUAL MESSAGE.

DECEMBER 6, 1864.


_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives_:

Again the blessings of health and abundant harvests claim our
profoundest gratitude to Almighty God.

The condition of our foreign affairs is reasonably satisfactory.

Mexico continues to be a theater of civil war. While our political
relations with that country have undergone no change, we have at the
same time strictly maintained neutrality between the belligerents.

At the request of the States of Costa Rica and Nicaragua, a competent
engineer has been authorized to make a survey of the river San Juan and
the port of San Juan. It is a source of much satisfaction that the
difficulties which for a moment excited some political apprehensions and
caused a closing of the interoceanic transit route have been amicably
adjusted, and that there is a good prospect that the route will soon be
reopened with an increase of capacity and adaptation. We could not
exaggerate either the commercial or the political importance of that
great improvement.

It would be doing injustice to an important South American State not to
acknowledge the directness, frankness, and cordiality with which the
United States of Colombia have entered into intimate relations with this
Government. A claims convention has been constituted to complete the
unfinished work of the one which closed its session in 1861.

The new liberal constitution of Venezuela having gone into effect with
the universal acquiescence of the people, the Government under it has
been recognized and diplomatic intercourse with it has opened in a
cordial and friendly spirit. The long-deferred Aves Island claim has
been satisfactorily paid and discharged.

Mutual payments have been made of the claims awarded by the late joint
commission for the settlement of claims between the United States and
Peru. An earnest and cordial friendship continues to exist between the
two countries, and such efforts as were in my power have been used to
remove misunderstanding and avert a threatened war between Peru and
Spain.

Our relations are of the most friendly nature with Chile, the Argentine
Republic, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Paraguay, San Salvador, and Hayti.

During the past year no differences of any kind have arisen with any of
those Republics, and, on the other hand, their sympathies with the
United States are constantly expressed with cordiality and earnestness.

The claim arising from the seizure of the cargo of the brig _Macedonian_
in 1821 has been paid in full by the Government of Chile.

Civil war continues in the Spanish part of San Domingo, apparently
without prospect of an early close.

Official correspondence has been freely opened with Liberia, and it
gives us a pleasing view of social and political progress in that
Republic. It may be expected to derive new vigor from American
influence, improved by the rapid disappearance of slavery in the United
States.

I solicit your authority to furnish to the Republic a gunboat at
moderate cost, to be reimbursed to the United States by installments.
Such a vessel is needed for the safety of that State against the native
African races, and in Liberian hands it would be more effective in
arresting the African slave trade than a squadron in our own hands. The
possession of the least organized naval force would stimulate a generous
ambition in the Republic, and the confidence which we should manifest by
furnishing it would win forbearance and favor toward the colony from all
civilized nations.

The proposed overland telegraph between America and Europe, by the way
of Behrings Straits and Asiatic Russia, which was sanctioned by Congress
at the last session, has been undertaken, under very favorable
circumstances, by an association of American citizens, with the cordial
good will and support as well of this Government as of those of Great
Britain and Russia. Assurances have been received from most of the South
American States of their high appreciation of the enterprise and their
readiness to cooperate in constructing lines tributary to that
world-encircling communication. I learn with much satisfaction that the
noble design of a telegraphic communication between the eastern coast of
America and Great Britain has been renewed, with full expectation of its
early accomplishment.

Thus it is hoped that with the return of domestic peace the country will
be able to resume with energy and advantage its former high career of
commerce and civilization.

Our very popular and estimable representative in Egypt died in April
last. An unpleasant altercation which arose between the temporary
incumbent of the office and the Government of the Pasha resulted in a
suspension of intercourse. The evil was promptly corrected on the
arrival of the successor in the consulate, and our relations with Egypt,
as well as our relations with the Barbary Powers, are entirely
satisfactory.

The rebellion which has so long been flagrant in China has at last been
suppressed, with the cooperating good offices of this Government and of
the other Western commercial States. The judicial consular establishment
there has become very difficult and onerous, and it will need
legislative revision to adapt it to the extension of our commerce and to
the more intimate intercourse which has been instituted with the
Government and people of that vast Empire. China seems to be accepting
with hearty good will the conventional laws which regulate commercial
and social intercourse among the Western nations.

Owing to the peculiar situation of Japan and the anomalous form of its
Government, the action of that Empire in performing treaty stipulations
is inconstant and capricious. Nevertheless, good progress has been
effected by the Western powers, moving with enlightened concert. Our own
pecuniary claims have been allowed or put in course of settlement, and
the inland sea has been reopened to commerce. There is reason also to
believe that these proceedings have increased rather than diminished the
friendship of Japan toward the United States.

The ports of Norfolk, Fernandina, and Pensacola have been opened by
proclamation. It is hoped that foreign merchants will now consider
whether it is not safer and more profitable to themselves, as well as
just to the United States, to resort to these and other open ports than
it is to pursue, through many hazards and at vast cost, a contraband
trade with other ports which are closed, if not by actual military
occupation, at least by a lawful and effective blockade.

For myself, I have no doubt of the power and duty of the Executive,
under the law of nations, to exclude enemies of the human race from an
asylum in the United States. If Congress should think that proceedings
in such cases lack the authority of law, or ought to be further
regulated by it, I recommend that provision be made for effectually
preventing foreign slave traders from acquiring domicile and facilities
for their criminal occupation in our country.

It is possible that if it were a new and open question the maritime
powers, with the lights they now enjoy, would not concede the privileges
of a naval belligerent to the insurgents of the United States,
destitute, as they are, and always have been, equally of ships of war
and of ports and harbors. Disloyal emissaries have been neither less
assiduous nor more successful during the last year than they were before
that time in their efforts, under favor of that privilege, to embroil
our country in foreign wars. The desire and determination of the
governments of the maritime states to defeat that design are believed to
be as sincere as and can not be more earnest than our own. Nevertheless,
unforeseen political difficulties have arisen, especially in Brazilian
and British ports and on the northern boundary of the United States,
which have required, and are likely to continue to require, the practice
of constant vigilance and a just and conciliatory spirit on the part of
the United States, as well as of the nations concerned and their
governments.

Commissioners have been appointed under the treaty with Great Britain on
the adjustment of the claims of the Hudsons Bay and Pugets Sound
Agricultural Companies, in Oregon, and are now proceeding to the
execution of the trust assigned to them.

In view of the insecurity of life and property in the region adjacent to
the Canadian border, by reason of recent assaults and depredations
committed by inimical and desperate persons who are harbored there, it
has been thought proper to give notice that after the expiration of six
months, the period conditionally stipulated in the existing arrangement
with Great Britain, the United States must hold themselves at liberty to
increase their naval armament upon the Lakes if they shall find that
proceeding necessary. The condition of the border will necessarily come
into consideration in connection with the question of continuing or
modifying the rights of transit from Canada through the United States,
as well as the regulation of imposts, which were temporarily established
by the reciprocity treaty of the 5th June, 1854.

I desire, however, to be understood while making this statement that the
colonial authorities of Canada are not deemed to be intentionally unjust
or unfriendly toward the United States, but, on the contrary, there is
every reason to expect that, with the approval of the Imperial
Government, they will take the necessary measures to prevent new
incursions across the border.

The act passed at the last session for the encouragement of immigration
has so far as was possible been put into operation. It seems to need
amendment which will enable the officers of the Government to prevent
the practice of frauds against the immigrants while on their way and on
their arrival in the ports, so as to secure them here a free choice of
avocations and places of settlement. A liberal disposition toward this
great national policy is manifested by most of the European States, and
ought to be reciprocated on our part by giving the immigrants effective
national protection. I regard our immigrants as one of the principal
replenishing streams which are appointed by Providence to repair the
ravages of internal war and its wastes of national strength and health.
All that is necessary is to secure the flow of that stream in its
present fullness, and to that end the Government must in every way make
it manifest that it neither needs nor designs to impose involuntary
military service upon those who come from other lands to cast their lot
in our country.

The financial affairs of the Government have been successfully
administered during the last year. The legislation of the last session
of Congress has beneficially affected the revenues, although sufficient
time has not yet elapsed to experience the full effect of several of the
provisions of the acts of Congress imposing increased taxation.

The receipts during the year from all sources, upon the basis of
warrants signed by the Secretary of the Treasury, including loans and
the balance in the Treasury on the 1st day of July, 1863, were
$1,394,796,007.62, and the aggregate disbursements, upon the same basis,
were $1,298,056,101.89, leaving a balance in the Treasury, as shown by
warrants, of $96,739,905.73.

Deduct from these amounts the amount of the principal of the public debt
redeemed and the amount of issues in substitution therefor, and the
actual cash operations of the Treasury were: Receipts, $884,076,646.57;
disbursements, $865,234,087.86; which leaves a cash balance in the
Treasury of $18,842,558,71.

Of the receipts there were derived from customs $102,316,152.99, from
lands $588,333.29, from direct taxes $475,648.96, from internal revenue
$109,741,134.10, from miscellaneous sources $47,511,448.10, and from
loans applied to actual expenditures, including former balance,
$623,443,929.13.

There were disbursed for the civil service $27,505,599.46, for pensions
and Indians $7,517,930.97, for the War Department $690,791,842.97, for
the Navy Department $85,733,292.77, for interest on the public debt
$53,685,421.69, making an aggregate of $865,234,087.86 and leaving a
balance in the Treasury of $18,842,558.71, as before stated.

For the actual receipts and disbursements for the first quarter and the
estimated receipts and disbursements for the three remaining quarters of
the current fiscal year, and the general operations of the Treasury in
detail, I refer you to the report of the Secretary of the Treasury. I
concur with him in the opinion that the proportion of moneys required to
meet the expenses consequent upon the war derived from taxation should
be still further increased; and I earnestly invite your attention to
this subject, to the end that there may be such additional legislation
as shall be required to meet the just expectations of the Secretary.

The public debt on the 1st day of July last, as appears by the books of
the Treasury, amounted to $1,740,690,489.49. Probably, should the war
continue for another year, that amount may be increased by not far from
five hundred millions. Held, as it is, for the most part by our own
people, it has become a substantial branch of national, though private,
property. For obvious reasons the more nearly this property can be
distributed among all the people the better. To favor such general
distribution, greater inducements to become owners might, perhaps, with
good effect and without injury be presented to persons of limited means.
With this view I suggest whether it might not be both competent and
expedient for Congress to provide that a limited amount of some future
issue of public securities might be held by any _bona fide_ purchaser
exempt from taxation and from seizure for debt, under such restrictions
and limitations as might be necessary to guard against abuse of so
important a privilege. This would enable every prudent person to set
aside a small annuity against a possible day of want.

Privileges like these would render the possession of such securities to
the amount limited most desirable to every person of small means who
might be able to save enough for the purpose. The great advantage of
citizens being creditors as well as debtors with relation to the public
debt is obvious. Men readily perceive that they can not be much
oppressed by a debt which they owe to themselves.

The public debt on the 1st day of July last, although somewhat exceeding
the estimate of the Secretary of the Treasury made to Congress at the
commencement of the last session, falls short of the estimate of that
officer made in the preceding December as to its probable amount at the
beginning of this year by the sum of $3,995,097.31. This fact exhibits a
satisfactory condition and conduct of the operations of the Treasury.

The national banking system is proving to be acceptable to capitalists
and to the people. On the 25th day of November 584 national banks had
been organized, a considerable number of which were conversions from
State banks. Changes from State systems to the national system are
rapidly taking place, and it is hoped that very soon there will be in
the United States no banks of issue not authorized by Congress and no
bank-note circulation not secured by the Government. That the Government
and the people will derive great benefit from this change in the banking
systems of the country can hardly be questioned. The national system
will create a reliable and permanent influence in support of the
national credit and protect the people against losses in the use of
paper money. Whether or not any further legislation is advisable for the
suppression of State-bank issues it will be for Congress to determine.
It seems quite clear that the Treasury can not be satisfactorily
conducted unless the Government can exercise a restraining power over
the bank-note circulation of the country.

The report of the Secretary of War and the accompanying documents will
detail the campaigns of the armies in the field since the date of the
last annual message, and also the operations of the several
administrative bureaus of the War Department during the last year. It
will also specify the measures deemed essential for the national defense
and to keep up and supply the requisite military force.

The report of the Secretary of the Navy presents a comprehensive and
satisfactory exhibit of the affairs of that Department and of the naval
service. It is a subject of congratulation and laudable pride to our
countrymen that a Navy of such vast proportions has been organized in so
brief a period and conducted with so much efficiency and success.

The general exhibit of the Navy, including vessels under construction on
the 1st of December, 1864, shows a total of 671 vessels, carrying 4,610
guns, and of 510,396 tons, being an actual increase during the year,
over and above all losses by shipwreck or in battle, of 83 vessels, 167
guns, and 42,427 tons.

The total number of men at this time in the naval service, including
officers, is about 51,000.

There have been captured by the Navy during the year 324 vessels, and
the whole number of naval captures since hostilities commenced is 1,379,
of which 267 are steamers.

The gross proceeds arising from the sale of condemned prize property
thus far reported amount to $14,396,250.51. A large amount of such
proceeds is still under adjudication and yet to be reported.

The total expenditure of the Navy Department of every description,
including the cost of the immense squadrons that have been called into
existence from the 4th of March, 1861, to the 1st of November, 1864, is
$238,647,262.35.

Your favorable consideration is invited to the various recommendations
of the Secretary of the Navy, especially in regard to a navy-yard and
suitable establishment for the construction and repair of iron vessels
and the machinery and armature for our ships, to which reference was
made in my last annual message.

Your attention is also invited to the views expressed in the report in
relation to the legislation of Congress at its last session in respect
to prize on our inland waters.

I cordially concur in the recommendation of the Secretary as to the
propriety of creating the new rank of vice-admiral in our naval service.

Your attention is invited to the report of the Postmaster-General for a
detailed account of the operations and financial condition of the
Post-Office Department.

The postal revenues for the year ending June 30, 1864, amounted to
$12,438,253.78 and the expenditures to $12,644,786.20, the excess of
expenditures over receipts being $206,652.42.

The views presented by the Postmaster-General on the subject of special
grants by the Government in aid of the establishment of new lines of
ocean mail steamships and the policy he recommends for the development
of increased commercial intercourse with adjacent and neighboring
countries should receive the careful consideration of Congress.

It is of noteworthy interest that the steady expansion of population,
improvement, and governmental institutions over the new and unoccupied
portions of our country have scarcely been checked, much less impeded or
destroyed, by our great civil war, which at first glance would seem to
have absorbed almost the entire energies of the nation.

The organization and admission of the State of Nevada has been completed
in conformity with law, and thus our excellent system is firmly
established in the mountains, which once seemed a barren and
uninhabitable waste between the Atlantic States and those which have
grown up on the coast of the Pacific Ocean.

The Territories of the Union are generally in a condition of prosperity
and rapid growth. Idaho and Montana, by reason of their great distance
and the interruption of communication with them by Indian hostilities,
have been only partially organized; but it is understood that these
difficulties are about to disappear, which will permit their
governments, like those of the others, to go into speedy and full
operation.

As intimately connected with and promotive of this material growth of
the nation, I ask the attention of Congress to the valuable information
and important recommendations relating to the public lands, Indian
affairs, the Pacific Railroad, and mineral discoveries contained in the
report of the Secretary of the Interior which is herewith transmitted,
and which report also embraces the subjects of patents, pensions, and
other topics of public interest pertaining to his Department.

The quantity of public land disposed of during the five quarters ending
on the 30th of September last was 4,221,342 acres, of which 1,538,614
acres were entered under the homestead law. The remainder was located
with military land warrants, agricultural scrip certified to States for
railroads, and sold for cash. The cash received from sales and location
fees was $1,019,446.

The income from sales during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1864, was
$678,007.21, against $136,077.95 received during the preceding year. The
aggregate number of acres surveyed during the year has been equal to the
quantity disposed of, and there is open to settlement about 133,000,000
acres of surveyed land.

The great enterprise of connecting the Atlantic with the Pacific States
by railways and telegraph lines has been entered upon with a vigor that
gives assurance of success, notwithstanding the embarrassments arising
from the prevailing high prices of materials and labor. The route of the
main line of the road has been definitely located for 100 miles westward
from the initial point at Omaha City, Nebr., and a preliminary location
of the Pacific Railroad of California has been made from Sacramento
eastward to the great bend of the Truckee River in Nevada.

Numerous discoveries of gold, silver, and cinnabar mines have been added
to the many heretofore known, and the country occupied by the Sierra
Nevada and Rocky mountains and the subordinate ranges now teems with
enterprising labor, which is richly remunerative. It is believed that
the product of the mines of precious metals in that region has during
the year reached, if not exceeded, one hundred millions in value.

It was recommended in my last annual message that our Indian system be
remodeled. Congress at its last session, acting upon the recommendation,
did provide for reorganizing the system in California, and it is
believed that under the present organization the management of the
Indians there will be attended with reasonable success. Much yet remains
to be done to provide for the proper government of the Indians in other
parts of the country, to render it secure for the advancing settler, and
to provide for the welfare of the Indian. The Secretary reiterates his
recommendations, and to them the attention of Congress is invited.

The liberal provisions made by Congress for paying pensions to invalid
soldiers and sailors of the Republic and to the widows, orphans, and
dependent mothers of those who have fallen in battle or died of disease
contracted or of wounds received in the service of their country have
been diligently administered. There have been added to the pension rolls
during the year ending the 30th day of June last the names of 16,770
invalid soldiers and of 271 disabled seamen, making the present number
of army invalid pensioners 22,767 and of navy invalid pensioners 712.

Of widows, orphans, and mothers 22,198 have been placed on the army
pension rolls and 248 on the navy rolls. The present number of army
pensioners of this class is 25,433 and of navy pensioners 793. At the
beginning of the year the number of Revolutionary pensioners was 1,430.
Only 12 of them were soldiers, of whom 7 have since died. The remainder
are those who under the law receive pensions because of relationship to
Revolutionary soldiers. During the year ending the 30th of June, 1864,
$4,504,616.92 have been paid to pensioners of all classes.

I cheerfully commend to your continued patronage the benevolent
institutions of the District of Columbia which have hitherto been
established or fostered by Congress, and respectfully refer for
information concerning them and in relation to the Washington Aqueduct,
the Capitol, and other matters of local interest to the report of the
Secretary.

The Agricultural Department, under the supervision of its present
energetic and faithful head, is rapidly commending itself to the great
and vital interest it was created to advance. It is peculiarly the
people's Department, in which they feel more directly concerned than in
any other. I commend it to the continued attention and fostering care of
Congress.

The war continues. Since the last annual message all the important lines
and positions then occupied by our forces have been maintained and our
arms have steadily advanced, thus liberating the regions left in rear,
so that Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, and parts of other States have
again produced reasonably fair crops.

The most remarkable feature in the military operations of the year is
General Sherman's attempted march of 300 miles directly through the
insurgent region. It tends to show a great increase of our relative
strength that our General in Chief should feel able to confront and hold
in check every active force of the enemy, and yet to detach a
well-appointed large army to move on such an expedition. The result not
yet being known, conjecture in regard to it is not here indulged.

Important movements have also occurred during the year to the effect of
molding society for durability in the Union. Although short of complete
success, it is much in the right direction that 12,000 citizens in each
of the States of Arkansas and Louisiana have organized loyal State
governments, with free constitutions, and are earnestly struggling to
maintain and administer them. The movements in the same direction, more
extensive though less definite, in Missouri, Kentucky, and Tennessee
should not be overlooked. But Maryland presents the example of complete
success. Maryland is secure to liberty and union for all the future.
The genius of rebellion will no more claim Maryland. Like another foul
spirit being driven out, it may seek to tear her, but it will woo her
no more.

At the last session of Congress a proposed amendment of the Constitution
abolishing slavery throughout the United States passed the Senate, but
failed for lack of the requisite two-thirds vote in the House of
Representatives. Although the present is the same Congress and nearly
the same members, and without questioning the wisdom or patriotism of
those who stood in opposition, I venture to recommend the
reconsideration and passage of the measure at the present session. Of
course the abstract question is not changed; but an intervening election
shows almost certainly that the next Congress will pass the measure if
this does not. Hence there is only a question of _time_ as to when the
proposed amendment will go to the States for their action. And as it is
to so go at all events, may we not agree that the sooner the better? It
is not claimed that the election has imposed a duty on members to change
their views or their votes any further than, as an additional element to
be considered, their judgment may be affected by it. It is the voice of
the people now for the first time heard upon the question. In a great
national crisis like ours unanimity of action among those seeking a
common end is very desirable--almost indispensable. And yet no approach
to such unanimity is attainable unless some deference shall be paid to
the will of the majority simply because it is the will of the majority.
In this case the common end is the maintenance of the Union, and among
the means to secure that end such will, through the election, is most
clearly declared in favor of such constitutional amendment.

The most reliable indication of public purpose in this country is
derived through our popular elections. Judging by the recent canvass
and its result, the purpose of the people within the loyal States to
maintain the integrity of the Union was never more firm nor more nearly
unanimous than now. The extraordinary calmness and good order with which
the millions of voters met and mingled at the polls give strong
assurance of this. Not only all those who supported the Union ticket, so
called, but a great majority of the opposing party also may be fairly
claimed to entertain and to be actuated by the same purpose. It is an
unanswerable argument to this effect that no candidate for any office
whatever, high or low, has ventured to seek votes on the avowal that he
was for giving up the Union. There have been much impugning of motives
and much heated controversy as to the proper means and best mode of
advancing the Union cause, but on the distinct issue of Union or no
Union the politicians have shown their instinctive knowledge that there
is no diversity among the people. In affording the people the fair
opportunity of showing one to another and to the world this firmness
and unanimity of purpose, the election has been of vast value to the
national cause.

The election has exhibited another fact not less valuable to be
known--the fact that we do not approach exhaustion in the most important
branch of national resources, that of living men. While it is melancholy
to reflect that the war has filled so many graves and carried mourning
to so many hearts, it is some relief to know that, compared with the
surviving, the fallen have been so few. While corps and divisions and
brigades and regiments have formed and fought and dwindled and gone out
of existence, a great majority of the men who composed them are still
living. The same is true of the naval service. The election returns
prove this. So many voters could not else be found. The States regularly
holding elections, both now and four years ago, to wit, California,
Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine,
Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire,
New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont,
West Virginia, and Wisconsin, cast 3,982,011 votes now, against
3,870,222 cast then, showing an aggregate now of 3,982,011. To this is
to be added 33,762 cast now in the new States of Kansas and Nevada,
which States did not vote in 1860, thus swelling the aggregate to
4,015,773 and the net increase during the three years and a half
of war to 145,551. A table is appended showing particulars. To this
again should be added the number of all soldiers in the field from
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Delaware, Indiana, Illinois,
and California, who by the laws of those States could not vote away from
their homes, and which number can not be less than 90,000. Nor yet is
this all. The number in organized Territories is triple now what it
was four years ago, while thousands, white and black, join us as
the national arms press back the insurgent lines. So much is shown,
affirmatively and negatively, by the election. It is not material to
inquire _how_ the increase has been produced or to show that it would
have been _greater_ but for the war, which is probably true. The
important fact remains demonstrated that we have _more_ men _now_ than
we had when the war _began_; that we are not exhausted nor in process of
exhaustion; that we are _gaining_ strength and may if need be maintain
the contest indefinitely. This as to men. Material resources are now
more complete and abundant than ever.

The national resources, then, are unexhausted, and, as we believe,
inexhaustible. The public purpose to reestablish and maintain the
national authority is unchanged, and, as we believe, unchangeable.
The manner of continuing the effort remains to choose. On careful
consideration of all the evidence accessible it seems to me that no
attempt at negotiation with the insurgent leader could result in any
good. He would accept nothing short of severance of the Union, precisely
what we will not and can not give. His declarations to this effect are
explicit and oft repeated. He does not attempt to deceive us. He affords
us no excuse to deceive ourselves. He can not voluntarily reaccept the
Union; we can not voluntarily yield it. Between him and us the issue is
distinct, simple, and inflexible. It is an issue which can only be tried
by war and decided by victory. If we yield, we are beaten; if the
Southern people fail him, he is beaten. Either way it would be the
victory and defeat following war. What is true, however, of him who
heads the insurgent cause is not necessarily true of those who follow.
Although he can not reaccept the Union, they can. Some of them, we know,
already desire peace and reunion. The number of such may increase. They
can at any moment have peace simply by laying down their arms and
submitting to the national authority under the Constitution. After so
much the Government could not, if it would, maintain war against them.
The loyal people would not sustain or allow it. If questions should
remain, we would adjust them by the peaceful means of legislation,
conference, courts, and votes, operating only in constitutional and
lawful channels. Some certain, and other possible, questions are and
would be beyond the Executive power to adjust; as, for instance, the
admission of members into Congress and whatever might require the
appropriation of money. The Executive power itself would be greatly
diminished by the cessation of actual war. Pardons and remissions of
forfeitures, however, would still be within Executive control. In what
spirit and temper this control would be exercised can be fairly judged
of by the past.

A year ago general pardon and amnesty, upon specified terms, were
offered to all except certain designated classes, and it was at
the same time made known that the excepted classes were still within
contemplation of special clemency. During the year many availed
themselves of the general provision, and many more would, only that
the signs of bad faith in some led to such precautionary measures as
rendered the practical process less easy and certain. During the same
time also special pardons have been granted to individuals of the
excepted classes, and no voluntary application has been denied. Thus
practically the door has been for a full year open to all except such
as were not in condition to make free choice; that is, such as were in
custody or under constraint. It is still so open to all. But the time
may come, probably will come, when public duty shall demand that it be
closed and that in lieu more rigorous measures than heretofore shall
be adopted.

In presenting the abandonment of armed resistance to the national
authority on the part of the insurgents as the only indispensable
condition to ending the war on the part of the Government, I retract
nothing heretofore said as to slavery. I repeat the declaration made
a year ago, that "while I remain in my present position I shall not
attempt to retract or modify the emancipation proclamation, nor shall
I return to slavery any person who is free by the terms of that
proclamation or by any of the acts of Congress." If the people should,
by whatever mode or means, make it an Executive duty to reenslave such
persons, another, and not I, must be their instrument to perform it.

In stating a single condition of peace I mean simply to say that the war
will cease on the part of the Government whenever it shall have ceased
on the part of those who began it.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



  _Table showing the aggregate votes in the States named at the
   Presidential elections respectively, in 1860 and 1864_.
  =============================================================
  State.                                 1860.        1864.

  California                           118,840      110,000 [A]
  Connecticut                           77,246       86,616
  Delaware                              16,039       16,924
  Illinois                             339,693      348,235
  Indiana                              272,143      280,645
  Iowa                                 128,331      143,331
  Kentucky                             146,216       91,300 [A]
  Maine                                 97,918      115,141
  Maryland                              92,502       72,703
  Massachusetts                        169,533      175,487
  Michigan                             154,747      162,413
  Minnesota                             34,799       42,534
  Missouri                             165,538       90,000 [A]
  New Hampshire                         65,953       69,111
  New Jersey                           121,125      128,680
  New York                             675,156      730,664
  Ohio                                 442,441      470,745
  Oregon                                14,410       14,410 [B]
  Pennsylvania                         476,442      572,697
  Rhode Island                          19,931       22,187
  Vermont                               42,844       55,811
  West Virginia                         46,195       33,874
  Wisconsin                            152,180      148,513
                                     ---------    ---------
                                     3,870,222    3,982,011

  Kansas                                             17,234
  Nevada                                             16,528
                                                     ------
                                                     33,762
                                                  3,982,011
                                                  ---------
            Total                                 4,015,773
                                                  3,870,222
                                                  ---------
            Net Increase                            145,551
  =============================================================
                                   [A: Nearly.] [B: Estimated.]





SPECIAL MESSAGES.

WASHINGTON CITY, _December 5, 1864_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

In conformity to the law of July 16, 1862, I most cordially recommend
that Captain John A. Winslow, United States Navy, receive a vote of
thanks from Congress for the skill and gallantry exhibited by him in the
brilliant action, while in command of the United States steamer
_Kearsarge_, which led to the total destruction of the piratical craft
_Alabama_ on the 19th of June, 1864--a vessel superior in tonnage,
superior in number of guns, and superior in number of crew.

This recommendation is specially made in order to comply with the
requirements of the ninth section of the aforesaid act, which is in the
following words, namely:

That any line officer of the Navy or Marine Corps may be advanced one
grade if upon recommendation of the President by name he receives the
thanks of Congress for highly distinguished conduct in conflict with the
enemy or for extraordinary heroism in the line of his profession.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON CITY, _December 5, 1864_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

In conformity to the law of July 16, 1862, I most cordially recommend
that Lieutenant William B. Cushing, United States Navy, receive a vote
of thanks from Congress for his important, gallant, and perilous
achievement in destroying the rebel ironclad steamer _Albemarle_ on the
night of the 27th of October, 1864, at Plymouth, N.C.

The destruction of so formidable a vessel, which had resisted the
continued attacks of a number of our vessels on former occasions, is an
important event touching our future naval and military operations, and
would reflect honor on any officer, and redounds to the credit of this
young officer and the few brave comrades who assisted in this successful
and daring undertaking.

This recommendation is specially made in order to comply with the
requirements of the ninth section of the aforesaid act, which is in the
following words, namely:

That any line officer of the Navy or Marine Corps may be advanced one
grade if upon recommendation of the President by name he receives the
thanks of Congress for highly distinguished conduct in conflict with the
enemy or for extraordinary heroism in the line of his profession.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON CITY, _December 5, 1864_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

By virtue of the authority contained in the sixth section of the act of
21st April, 1864, which enacts "that any officer in the naval service,
by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, may be advanced not
exceeding thirty numbers in his own grade for distinguished conduct in
battle or extraordinary heroism," I recommend Commander William H.
Macomb, United States Navy, for advancement in his grade ten numbers, to
take rank next after Commander William Ronckendorff, for distinguished
conduct in the capture of the town of Plymouth, N.C., with its
batteries, ordnance stores, etc., on the 31st October, 1864, by a
portion of the naval division under his command. The affair was executed
in a most creditable manner.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON CITY, _December 5, 1864_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

By virtue of the authority contained in the sixth section of the act of
21st April, 1864, which enacts "that any officer in the naval service,
by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, may be advanced not
exceeding thirty numbers in his own grade for distinguished conduct in
battle or extraordinary heroism," I recommend Lieutenant-Commander James
S. Thornton, United States Navy, the executive officer of the United
States steamer _Kearsarge_, for advancement in his grade ten numbers, to
take rank next after lieutenant-Commander William D. Whiting, for his
good conduct and faithful discharge of his duties in the brilliant
action with the rebel steamer _Alabama_, which led to the destruction of
that vessel on the 19th June, 1864.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _December 7, 1864_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In answer to the Senate's resolution of yesterday, requesting
information in regard to aid furnished to the rebellion by British
subjects, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State and the
documents by which it was accompanied.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _December 13, 1864_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, for consideration with a view to ratification,
"a treaty of friendship, commerce, and navigation between the United
States of America and the Republic of Honduras," signed by their
respective plenipotentiaries at Comayagua on the 4th of July (1864)
last.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _December 13, 1864_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, for consideration with a view to ratification,
"a treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation, and for the extradition of
fugitive criminals, between the United States of America and the
Republic of Hayti, signed by their respective plenipotentiaries at Port
an Prince on the 3d of November" last.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _January 7, 1865_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit to Congress a copy of two treaties between the United States
and Belgium, for the extinguishment of the Scheldt dues, etc., concluded
on the 20th of May, 1863, and 20th of July, 1863, respectively, the
ratifications of which were exchanged at Brussels on the 24th of June
last; and I recommend an appropriation to carry into effect the
provisions thereof relative to the payment of the proportion of the
United States toward the capitalization of the said dues.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, January 9, 1865_.

Hon. SCHUYLER COLFAX,

_Speaker House of Representatives_.

SIR: I transmit herewith the letter of the Secretary of War, with
accompanying report of the Adjutant-General, in reply to the resolution
of the House of Representatives dated December 7, 1864, requesting me
"to communicate to the House the report made by Colonel Thomas M. Key of
an interview between himself and General Howell Cobb on the 14th day of
June, 1862, on the bank of the Chickahominy, on the subject of the
exchange of prisoners of war."

I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _January 9, 1865_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:


In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 15th ultimo,
requesting information concerning an arrangement limiting the naval
armament on the Lakes, I transmit a report of this date from the
Secretary of State, to whom the resolution was referred.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, January 17, 1865_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I herewith lay before the Senate, for its constitutional action thereon,
a treaty concluded at the Isabella Indian Reservation, in the State of
Michigan, on the 18th day of October, 1864, between H.J. Alvord, special
commissioner, and D.C. Leach, United States Indian agent, acting as
commissioner on the part of the United States, and the chiefs and
headmen of the Chippewas of Saginaw, Swan Creek, and Black River, in the
State of Michigan, parties to the treaty of August 2, 1855, with
amendments.

A letter of the Secretary of the Interior of the 12th instant and a copy
of a communication of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs of the 22d
ultimo, with inclosure, accompany the treaty.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, D.C., _January 31, 1865_.

Hon. H. HAMLIN,

_President of the Senate_:

I transmit herewith a communication from the Secretary of War, covering
papers bearing on the arrest and imprisonment of Colonel Richard T.
Jacobs, lieutenant-governor of the State of Kentucky, and Colonel Frank
Wolford, one of the Presidential electors of that State, requested by
resolution of the Senate dated December 20, 1864.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _February 4, 1865_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 13th ultimo,
requesting information upon the present condition of Mexico and the case
of the French war transport steamer _Rhine_, I transmit a report from
the Secretary of State and the papers by which it was accompanied.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _February 8, 1865_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit to Congress a copy of a note of the 4th instant addressed by
J. Hume Burnley, esq., Her Britannic Majesty's chargé d'affaires, to the
Secretary of State, relative to a sword which it is proposed to present
to Captain Henry S. Stellwagen, commanding the United States frigate
_Constitution_, as a mark of gratitude for his services to the British
brigantine _Mersey_. The expediency of sanctioning the acceptance of the
gift is submitted to your consideration.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 8, 1865_.

_To the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives_:

The joint resolution entitled "Joint resolution declaring certain States
not entitled to representation in the electoral college" has been signed
by the Executive in deference to the view of Congress implied in its
passage and presentation to him. In his own view, however, the two
Houses of Congress, convened under the twelfth article of the
Constitution, have complete power to exclude from counting all electoral
votes deemed by them to be illegal, and it is not competent for the
Executive to defeat or obstruct that power by a veto, as would be the
case if his action were at all essential in the matter. He disclaims all
right of the Executive to interfere in any way in the matter of
canvassing or counting electoral votes, and he also disclaims that by
signing said resolution he has expressed any opinion on the recitals of
the preamble or any judgment of his own upon the subject of the
resolution.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _February 10, 1865_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 8th instant, requesting
information concerning recent conversations or communications with
insurgents under Executive sanction, I transmit a report from the
Secretary of State, to whom the resolution was referred.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 10, 1865_.

_To the Honorable the House of Representatives_:

In response to your resolution of the 8th instant, requesting
information in relation to a conference recently held in Hampton Roads,
I have the honor to state that on the day of the date I gave Francis P.
Blair, sr., a card, written on as follows, to wit:

  December 28, 1864.

  Allow the bearer, F.P. Blair, sr., to pass our lines, go South,
  and return.

  A. LINCOLN.

That at the time I was informed that Mr. Blair sought the card as a
means of getting to Richmond, Va., but he was given no authority to
speak or act for the Government, nor was I informed of anything he would
say or do on his own account or otherwise. Afterwards Mr. Blair told me
that he had been to Richmond and had seen Mr. Jefferson Davis; and he
(Mr. B.) at the same time left with me a manuscript letter, as follows,
to wit:

  Richmond, Va., _January 12, 1865_.

  F.P. BLAIR, Esq.

  SIR: I have deemed it proper, and probably desirable to you, to give
  you in this form the substance of remarks made by me, to be repeated
  by you to President Lincoln, etc., etc.

  I have no disposition to find obstacles in forms, and am willing, now
  as heretofore, to enter into negotiations for the restoration of peace,
  and am ready to send a commission whenever I have reason to suppose it
  will be received, or to receive a commission if the United States
  Government shall choose to send one. That notwithstanding the rejection
  of our former offers, I would, if you could promise that a commissioner,
  minister, or other agent would be received, appoint one immediately, and
  renew the effort to enter into conference with a view to secure peace to
  the two countries.

  Yours, etc.,
  JEFFERSON DAVIS.


Afterwards, and with the view that it should be shown to Mr. Davis, I
wrote and delivered to Mr. Blair a letter, as follows, to wit:

  WASHINGTON, _January 18, 1865_.

  F.P. BLAIR, Esq.

  SIR: Your having shown me Mr. Davis's letter to you of the 12th instant,
  you may say to him that I have constantly been, am now, and shall
  continue ready to receive any agent whom he or any other influential
  person now resisting the national authority may informally send to me
  with the view of securing peace to the people of our one common country.

  Yours, etc.,
  A. LINCOLN.


Afterwards Mr. Blair dictated for and authorized me to make an entry on
the back of my retained copy of the letter last above recited, which
entry is as follows:

  JANUARY 28, 1865.

  Today Mr. Blair tells me that on the 21st instant he delivered to Mr.
  Davis the original of which the within is a copy, and left it with him;
  that at the time of delivering it Mr. Davis read it over twice in Mr.
  Blair's presence, at the close of which he (Mr. Blair) remarked that the
  part about "our one common country" related to the part of Mr. Davis's
  letter about "the two countries," to which Mr. Davis replied that he so
  understood it.

  A. LINCOLN.


Afterwards the Secretary of War placed in my hands the following
telegram, indorsed by him, as appears:

  OFFICE UNITED STATES MILITARY TELEGRAPH,
    _War Department_.

  The following telegram received at Washington January 29, 1865, from
  headquarters Army of James, 6.30 p.m., January 29, 1865:

  "Hon. EDWIN M. STANTON,
    "_Secretary of War_:

  "The following dispatch just received from Major-General Parke, who
  refers it to me for my action. I refer it to you in Lieutenant-General
  Grant's absence.

  "E.O.C. ORD, _Major-General, Commanding."_



  'HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF POTOMAC,
     '_January 29, 1865-4 p.m._

  'Major-General E.O.C. ORD,
    _'Headquarters Army of James_:

  'The following dispatch is forwarded to you for your action. Since
  I have no knowledge of General Grant's having had any understanding of
  this kind, I refer the matter to you as the ranking officer present in
  the two armies.

  'JNO. G. PARKE, _Major-General, Commanding.'_


  'FROM HEADQUARTERS NINTH ARMY CORPS, _29th._

  'Major-General JNO. G. PARKE,
    '_Headquarters Army of Potomac_:

  'Alexander H. Stephens, R.M.T. Hunter, and J.A. Campbell desire to
  cross my lines, in accordance with an understanding claimed to exist
  with lieutenant-General Grant, on their way to Washington as peace
  commissioners. Shall they be admitted? They desire an early answer, to
  come through immediately. Would like to reach City Point tonight if they
  can. If they can not do this, they would like to come through at 10 a.m.
  tomorrow morning.

  'O.B. WILCOX,
  '_Major-General, Commanding Ninth Corps._'


  "January 29--8.30 p.m.

  "Respectfully referred to the President for such instructions as he
  may be pleased to give.

  "EDWIN M. STANTON,
    "_Secretary of War_."


It appears that about the time of placing the foregoing telegram in my
hands the Secretary of War dispatched General Ord as follows, to wit:

  WAR DEPARTMENT,
    _Washington City, January 29, 1865--10 p.m._
      (Sent at 2 a.m. 30th.)

  Major-General ORD.

  SIR: This Department has no knowledge of any understanding by General
  Grant to allow any person to come within his lines as commissioner of
  any sort. You will therefore allow no one to come into your lines under
  such character or profession until you receive the President's
  instructions, to whom your telegram will be submitted for his
  directions.

  EDWIN M. STANTON,
    _Secretary of War_.


Afterwards, by my direction, the Secretary of War telegraphed General
Ord as follows, to wit:

  WAR DEPARTMENT,
    _Washington, D.C., January 30, 1865--10.30 a.m._

  Major-General E.O.C. ORD,
    _Headquarters Army of the James_.

  SIR: By direction of the President, you are instructed to inform
  the three gentlemen, Messrs. Stephens, Hunter, and Campbell, that a
  messenger will be dispatched to them at or near where they now are
  without unnecessary delay.

  EDWIN M. STANTON,
    _Secretary of War_.


Afterwards I prepared and put into the hands of Major Thomas T. Eckert
the following instructions and message:

  EXECUTIVE MANSION,
    _Washington, January 30, 1865_.

  Major T.T. ECKERT.

  SIR: You will proceed with the documents placed in your hands, and on
  reaching General Ord will deliver him the letter addressed to him by
  the Secretary of War; then, by General Ord's assistance, procure an
  interview with Messrs. Stephens, Hunter, and Campbell, or any of them.
  Deliver to him or them the paper on which your own letter is written.
  Note on the copy which you retain the time of delivery and to whom
  delivered. Receive their answer in writing, waiting a reasonable time
  for it, and which, if it contain their decision to come through without
  further condition, will be your warrant to ask General Ord to pass them
  through, as directed in the letter of the Secretary of War to him. If by
  their answer they decline to come, or propose other terms, do not have
  them pass through. And this being your whole duty, return and report
  to me.

  A. LINCOLN.


  CITY POINT, VA., _February 1, 1865_.

  Messrs. ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS, J.A. CAMPBELL, and R.M.T. HUNTER.

  GENTLEMEN: I am instructed by the President of the United States to
  place this paper in your hands, with the information that if you pass
  through the United States military lines it will be understood that you
  do so for the purpose of an informal conference on the basis of the
  letter a copy of which is on the reverse side of this sheet, and that if
  you choose to pass on such understanding, and so notify me in writing, I
  will procure the commanding general to pass you through the lines and to
  Fortress Monroe under such military precautions as he may deem prudent,
  and at which place you will be met in due time by some person or persons
  for the purpose of such informal conference; and, further, that you
  shall have protection, safe conduct, and safe return in all events.

  THOMAS T. ECKERT,
    _Major and Aid-de-Camp_.


  WASHINGTON, _January 18, 1865_.

  F.P. BLAIR, Esq.

  SIR: Your having shown me Mr. Davis's letter to you of the 12th instant,
  you may say to him that I have constantly been, am now, and shall
  continue ready to receive any agent whom he or any other influential
  person now resisting the national authority may informally send to me
  with the view of securing peace to the people of our one common country.

  Yours, etc.,
  A. LINCOLN.


Afterwards, but before Major Eckert had departed, the following dispatch
was received from General Grant:

  OFFICE UNITED STATES MILITARY TELEGRAPH,
    _War Department_.

  The following telegram received at Washington January 31, 1865, from
  City Point, Va., 10.30 a.m., January 30, 1865:

  "His Excellency ABRAHAM LINCOLN,
    "_President of the United States_:

  "The following communication was received here last evening:

  'PETERSBURG, VA., _January 30, 1865_.

  'Lieutenant-General U.S. GRANT,
    '_Commanding Armies United States_.

  'SIR: We desire to pass your lines under safe conduct, and to proceed to
  Washington to hold a conference with President Lincoln upon the subject
  of the existing war, and with a view of ascertaining upon what terms it
  may be terminated, in pursuance of the course indicated by him in his
  letter to Mr. Blair of January 18, 1865, of which we presume you have a
  copy; and if not, we wish to see you in person, if convenient, and to
  confer with you upon the subject.

  'Very respectfully, yours,
  'ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS.
  'J.A. CAMPBELL.
  'R.M.T. HUNTER.'


  "I have sent directions to receive these gentlemen, and expect to have
  them at my quarters this evening, awaiting your instructions.

  "U.S. GRANT
    "_Lieutenant-General, Commanding Armies United States _"


This, it will be perceived, transferred General Ord's agency in the
matter to General Grant. I resolved, however, to send Major Eckert
forward with his message, and accordingly telegraphed General Grant as
follows, to wit:

  EXECUTIVE MANSION,
    _Washington, January 31, 1865_.
      (Sent at 1.30 p.m.)

  Lieutenant-General GRANT,
    _City Point, Va._:

  A messenger is coming to you on the business contained in your dispatch,
  Detain the gentlemen in comfortable quarters until he arrives, and then
  act upon the message he brings as far as applicable, it having been made
  up to pass through General Ord's hands, and when the gentlemen were
  supposed to be beyond our lines.

  A. LINCOLN.

When Major Eckert departed, he bore with him a letter of the Secretary
of War to General Grant, as follows, to wit:

  WAR DEPARTMENT,
    _Washington, D.C., January 30, 1865_.

  Lieutenant-General GRANT,
    _Commanding, etc._

  GENERAL: The President desires that you will please procure for the
  bearer, Major Thomas T. Eckert, an interview with Messrs. Stephens,
  Hunter, and Campbell, and if on his return to you he requests it pass
  them through our lines to Fortress Monroe by such route and under such
  military precautions as you may deem prudent, giving them protection and
  comfortable quarters while there, and that you let none of this have any
  effect upon your movements or plans.

  By order of the President:

  EDWIN M. STANTON,
    _Secretary of War_.


Supposing the proper point to be then reached, I dispatched the
Secretary of State with the following instructions, Major Eckert,
however, going ahead of him:

  EXECUTIVE MANSION,
    _Washington, January 31, 1865_.

  Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_:

  You will proceed to Fortress Monroe, Va., there to meet and informally
  confer with Messrs. Stephens, Hunter, and Campbell on the basis of my
  letter to F.P. Blair, esq., of January 18, 1865, a copy of which you
  have.

  You will make known to them that three things are indispensable, to wit:

  1. The restoration of the national authority throughout all the States.

  2. No receding by the Executive of the United States on the slavery
  question from the position assumed thereon in the late annual
  message to Congress and in preceding documents.

  3. No cessation of hostilities short of an end of the war and the
  disbanding of all forces hostile to the Government.

  You will inform them that all propositions of theirs not inconsistent
  with the above will be considered and passed upon in a spirit of
  sincere liberality. You will hear all they may choose to say and report
  it to me.

  You will not assume to definitely consummate anything.

  Yours, etc.,
  ABRAHAM LINCOLN.


On the day of its date the following telegram was sent to General Grant:

  WAR DEPARTMENT,
    _Washington, D.C., February 1, 1865_.
      (Sent at 9.30 a.m.)

  Lieutenant-General GRANT,
    _City Point, Va._:

  Let nothing which is transpiring change, hinder, or delay your military
  movements or Plans.

  A. LINCOLN.

Afterwards the following dispatch was received from General Grant:

  OFFICE UNITED STATES MILITARY TELEGRAPH,
    _War Department_.

  The following telegram received at Washington 2.30 p.m. February 1,
  1865, from City Point, Va., February 1, 12.30 p.m., 1865:

  "His Excellency A. LINCOLN,
    "_President United States_:

  "Your dispatch received. There will be no armistice in consequence of
  the presence of Mr. Stephens and others within our lines. The troops
  are   kept in readiness to move at the shortest notice if occasion
  should justify it.

  "U.S. GRANT, _Lieutenant-General."_


To notify Major Eckert that the Secretary of State would be at Fortress
Monroe, and to put them in communication, the following dispatch was
sent:

  WAR DEPARTMENT,
    _Washington, D.C., February 1, 1865_.

  Major T.T. ECKERT,
    _Care of General Grant, City Point, Va._:

  Call at Fortress Monroe and put yourself under direction of Mr. S.,
  whom you will find there.

  A. LINCOLN.


On the morning of the 2d instant the following telegrams were received
by me respectively from the Secretary of State and Major Eckert:

  FORT MONROE, VA., _February 1, 1865--11.30 p.m._

  The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES:

  Arrived at 10 this evening. Richmond party not here. I remain here.

  WILLIAM H. SEWARD.


  CITY POINT, VA., _February 1, 1865--10 p.m._

  His Excellency A. LINCOLN,
    _President of the United States_:

  I have the honor to report the delivery of your communication and my
  letter at 4.15 this afternoon, to which I received a reply at 6 p.m.,
  but not satisfactory.


At 8 p.m. the following note, addressed to General Grant, was received:

  "CITY POINT, VA., _February 1, 1865_.

  "Lieutenant-General GRANT.

  "SIR: We desire to go to Washington City to confer informally with the
  President personally in reference to the matters mentioned in his letter
  to Mr. Blair of the 18th January ultimo, without any personal compromise
  on any question in the letter. We have the permission to do so from the
  authorities in Richmond.

  "Very respectfully, yours,
  "ALEX. H. STEPHENS.
  "R.M.T. HUNTER.
  "J.A. CAMPBELL."


At 9.30 p.m. I notified them that they could not proceed further unless
they complied with the terms expressed in my letter. The point of
meeting designated in the above note would not, in my opinion, be
insisted upon. Think Fort Monroe would be acceptable. Having complied
with my instructions, I will return to Washington tomorrow unless
otherwise ordered.

THOS. T. ECKERT, _Major, etc._


On reading this dispatch of Major Eckert I was about to recall him and
the Secretary of State, when the following telegram of General Grant to
the Secretary of War was shown me:

  OFFICE UNITED STATES MILITARY TELEGRAPH,
    _War Department_.

  The following telegram received at Washington 4.35 a.m. February 2,
  1865, from City Point, Va., February 1, 10.30 p.m., 1865:

  "Hon. EDWIN M. STANTON,
    "_Secretary of War_:

  "Now that the interview between Major Eckert, under his written
  instructions, and Mr. Stephens and party has ended, I will state
  confidentially, but not officially to become a matter of record, that
  I am convinced upon conversation with Messrs. Stephens and Hunter that
  their intentions are good and their desire sincere to restore peace and
  union. I have not felt myself at liberty to express even views of my
  own or to account for my reticency. This has placed me in an awkward
  position, which I could have avoided by not seeing them in the first
  instance. I fear now their going back without any expression from anyone
  in authority will have a bad influence. At the same time, I recognize
  the difficulties in the way of receiving these informal commissioners
  at this time, and do not know what to recommend. I am sorry, however,
  that Mr. Lincoln can not have an interview with the two named in this
  dispatch, if not all three now within our lines. Their letter to me was
  all that the President's instructions contemplated to secure their safe
  conduct if they had used the same language to Major Eckert.

  "U.S. GRANT, _Lieutenant-General"_


This dispatch of General Grant changed my purpose, and accordingly I
telegraphed him and the Secretary of State, respectively, as follows:

  WAR DEPARTMENT,
    _Washington, D.C., February 2, 1865_.
      (Sent at 9 a.m.)

  Lieutenant-General GRANT,
    _City Point, Va._:

  Say to the gentlemen I will meet them personally at Fortress Monroe
  as soon as I can get there.

  A. LINCOLN.


  WAR DEPARTMENT,
    _Washington, D.C., February 2, 1865_.
      (Sent at 9 a.m.)

  Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    _Fortress Monroe, Va._:

  Induced by a dispatch from General Grant, I join you at Fort Monroe as
  soon as I can come.

  A. LINCOLN.

Before starting, the following dispatch was shown me. I proceeded,
nevertheless.

  OFFICE UNITED STATES MILITARY TELEGRAPH,
    _War Department_.

  The following telegram received at Washington February 2, 1865, from
  City Point, Va., 9 a.m., February 2, 1865:

  "Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    "_Secretary of State, Fort Monroe_:

  "The gentlemen here have accepted the proposed terms, and will leave
  for Fort Monroe at 9.30 a.m.

  "U.S. GRANT,
    "_Lieutenant-General."_

  (Copy to Hon. EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War, Washington.)


On the night of the 2d I reached Hampton Roads, found the Secretary of
State and Major Eckert on a steamer anchored offshore, and learned of
them that the Richmond gentlemen were on another steamer also anchored
offshore, in the Roads, and that the Secretary of State had not yet seen
or communicated with them. I ascertained that Major Eckert had literally
complied with his instructions, and I saw for the first time the answer
of the Richmond gentlemen to him, which in his dispatch to me of the 1st
he characterizes as "not satisfactory." That answer is as follows, to
wit:

  CITY POINT, VA., _February 1, 1865_.

  THOMAS T. ECKERT,
    _Major and Aid-de-Camp_.

  MAJOR: Your note, delivered by yourself this day, has been considered.
  In reply we have to say that we were furnished with a copy of the letter
  of President Lincoln to Francis P. Blair, esq., of the 18th of January
  ultimo, another copy of which is appended to your note.

  Our instructions are contained in a letter of which the following is
  a copy:

  "Richmond, _January 28, 1865_.

  "In conformity with the letter of Mr. Lincoln, of which the foregoing is
  a copy, you are to proceed to Washington City for informal conference
  with him upon the issues involved in the existing war, and for the
  purpose of securing peace to the two countries.

  'With great respect, your obedient servant,
  "JEFFERSON DAVIS."


The substantial object to be obtained by the informal conference is to
ascertain upon what terms the existing war can be terminated honorably.

Our instructions contemplate a personal interview between President
Lincoln and ourselves at Washington City, but with this explanation we
are ready to meet any person or persons that President Lincoln may
appoint at such place as he may designate.

Our earnest desire is that a just and honorable peace may be agreed
upon, and we are prepared to receive or to submit propositions which may
possibly lead to the attainment of that end.

Very respectfully, yours,

  ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS.
  R.M.T. HUNTER.
  JOHN A. CAMPBELL.


A note of these gentlemen, subsequently addressed to General Grant, has
already been given in Major Eckert's dispatch of the 1st instant.

I also here saw, for the first time, the following note addressed by the
Richmond gentlemen to Major Eckert:

  CITY POINT, VA., _February 2, 1865_.

  THOMAS T. ECKERT,
    _Major and Aid-de-Camp_.

  MAJOR: In reply to your verbal statement that your instructions did not
  allow you to alter the conditions upon which a passport could be given
  to us, we say that we are willing to proceed to Fortress Monroe and
  there to have an informal conference with any person or persons that
  President Lincoln may appoint on the basis of his letter to Francis P.
  Blair of the 18th of January ultimo, or upon any other terms or
  conditions that he may hereafter propose not inconsistent with the
  essential principles of self-government and popular rights, upon which
  our institutions are founded.

  It is our earnest wish to ascertain, after a free interchange of ideas
  and information, upon what principles and terms, if any, a just and
  honorable peace can be established without the further effusion of
  blood, and to contribute our utmost efforts to accomplish such a result.

  We think it better to add that in accepting your passport we are not to
  be understood as committing ourselves to anything but to carry to this
  informal conference the views and feelings above expressed.

  Very respectfully, yours, etc.,

  ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS.
  J.A. CAMPBELL.
  R.M.T. HUNTER.

Note.--The above communication was delivered to me at Fort Monroe at
4.30 p.m. February 2 by Lieutenant-Colonel Babcock, of General Grant's
staff.

THOMAS T. ECKERT,

_Major and Aid-de-Camp_.



On the morning of the 3d the three gentlemen, Messrs. Stephens, Hunter,
and Campbell, came aboard of our steamer and had an interview with the
Secretary of State and myself of several hours' duration. No question of
preliminaries to the meeting was then and there made or mentioned; no
other person was present; no papers were exchanged or produced; and it
was in advance agreed that the conversation was to be informal and
verbal merely. On our part the whole substance of the instructions to
the Secretary of State hereinbefore recited was stated and insisted
upon, and nothing was said inconsistent therewith; while by the other
party it was not said that in any event or on any condition they _ever_
would consent to reunion, and yet they equally omitted to declare that
they _never_ would so consent. They seemed to desire a postponement of
that question and the adoption of some other course first, which, as
some of them seemed to argue, might or might not lead to reunion, but
which course we thought would amount to an indefinite postponement. The
conference ended without result.

The foregoing, containing, as is believed, all the information sought,
is respectfully submitted.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _February 13, 1865_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit to Congress a copy of a dispatch of the 12th ultimo,
addressed to the Secretary of State by the minister resident of the
United States at Stockholm, relating to an international exhibition to
be held at Bergen, in Norway, during the coming summer. The expediency
of any legislation upon the subject is submitted for your consideration.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _February 13, 1865_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit to Congress a copy of a note of the 2d instant, addressed to
the Secretary of State by the Commander J.C. de Figaniere a Moraô, envoy
extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of His Most Faithful Majesty
the King of Portugal, calling attention to a proposed international
exhibition at the city of Oporto, to be opened in August next, and
inviting contributions thereto of the products of American manufactures
and industry. The expediency of any legislation on the subject is
submitted for your consideration.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _February 25, 1865_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 23d instant,
I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War, with the
accompanying General Orders, No. 23,[14] issued by Major-General Banks
at New Orleans, February 3, 1864.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

[Footnote 14: On the subject of compensated plantation labor, public or
private.]



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_WASHINGTON, February 27, 1865_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I herewith lay before the Senate, for its constitutional action thereon,
a treaty made and concluded with the Klamath and Modoc tribes of Indians
of Oregon, at Fort Klamath, on the 5th day of October, 1864.

A letter of the Secretary of the Interior of this date, a copy of the
report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs of the 24th instant, and
a communication of the superintendent of Indian affairs in Oregon
accompany the treaty.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, D.C., February 28, 1865_.

Hon. H. HAMLIN,

_President United States Senate_.

SIR: In reply to the resolution of the Senate dated February 14, 1865, I
transmit herewith a communication from the Secretary of War, forwarding
a copy of the report of the court of inquiry "in respect to the
explosion of the mine in front of Petersburg."

I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, D.C., _March 2, 1865_.

Hon. SCHUYLER COLFAX,

_Speaker of the House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith the report of the Secretary of War, which, with
my permission, has been delayed until the present time to enable the
Lieutenant-General to furnish his report.

A. LINCOLN.

[The same message was addressed to the President of the Senate.]



WASHINGTON, _March 3, 1865_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I herewith transmit to Congress a report, dated 1st instant, with the
accompanying papers, received from the Secretary of State in compliance
with the requirements of the eighteenth section of the act entitled "An
act to regulate the diplomatic and consular systems of the United
States," approved August 18, 1856.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.




VETO MESSAGE.[15]

[Footnote 15: Pocket veto.]

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 5, 1865_.

_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

I herewith return to your honorable body, in which it originated,
a "Joint resolution to correct certain clerical errors in the
internal-revenue act," without my approval.

My reason for so doing is that I am informed that this joint resolution
was prepared during the last moments of the last session of Congress
for the purpose of correcting certain errors of reference in the
internal-revenue act which were discovered on an examination of an
official copy procured from the State Department a few hours only before
the adjournment. It passed the House and went to the Senate, where a
vote was taken upon it, but by some accident it was not presented to the
President of the Senate for his signature.

Since the adjournment of the last session of Congress other errors of a
kind similar to those which this resolution was designed to correct have
been discovered in the law, and it is now thought most expedient to
include all the necessary corrections in one act or resolution.

The attention of the proper committee of the House has, I am informed,
been already directed to the preparation of a bill for this purpose.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.




PROCLAMATIONS.


BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas by the act approved July 4, 1864, entitled "An act further to
regulate and provide for the enrolling and calling out the national
forces, and for other purposes," it is provided that the President of
the United States may, "at his discretion, at any time hereafter, call
for any number of men, as volunteers for the respective terms of one,
two, and three years for military service," and "that in case the quota
or any part thereof of any town, township, ward of a city, precinct, or
election district, or of any county not so subdivided, shall not be
filled within the space of fifty days after such call, then the
President shall immediately order a draft for one year to fill such
quota or any part thereof which may be unfilled;" and

Whereas by the credits allowed in accordance with the act of Congress on
the call for 500,000 men, made July 18, 1864, the number of men to be
obtained under that call was reduced to 280,000; and

Whereas the operations of the enemy in certain States have rendered it
impracticable to procure from them their full quotas of troops under
said call; and

Whereas from the foregoing causes but 240,000 men have been put into
the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps under the said call of July 18, 1864,
leaving a deficiency on that call of two hundred and sixty thousand
(260,000):

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of
America, in order to supply the aforesaid deficiency and to provide for
casualties in the military and naval service of the United States, do
issue this my call for three hundred thousand (300,000) volunteers to
serve for one, two, or three years. The quotas of the States, districts,
and subdistricts under this call will be assigned by the War Department
through the bureau of the Provost-Marshal-General of the United States,
and "in case the quota or any part thereof of any town, township, ward
of a city, precinct, or election district, or of any county not so
subdivided, shall not be filled" before the 15th day of February, 1865,
then a draft shall be made to fill such quota or any part thereof under
this call which may be unfilled on said 15th day of February, 1865.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal
of the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 19th day of December, A.D. 1864,
and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-ninth.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas the act of Congress of the 28th of September, 1850, entitled "An
act to create additional collection districts in the State of
California, and to change the existing districts therein, and to modify
the existing collection districts in the United States," extends to
merchandise warehoused under bond the privilege of being exported to the
British North American Provinces adjoining the United States in the
manner prescribed in the act of Congress of the 3d of March, 1845, which
designates certain frontier ports through which merchandise may be
exported, and further provides "that such other ports situated on the
frontiers of the United States adjoining the British North American
Provinces as may hereafter be found expedient may have extended to them
the like privileges on the recommendation of the Secretary of the
Treasury and proclamation duly made by the President of the United
States specially designating the ports to which the aforesaid privileges
are to be extended:"

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of
America, in accordance with the recommendation of the Secretary of the
Treasury, do hereby declare and proclaim that the port of St. Albans, in
the State of Vermont, is and shall be entitled to all the privileges in
regard to the exportation of merchandise in bond to the British North
American Provinces adjoining the United States which are extended to the
ports enumerated in the seventh section of the act of Congress of the 3d
of March, 1845, aforesaid, from and after the date of this proclamation.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 10th day of January, A.D. 1865, and
of the Independence of the United States of America the eighty-ninth.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas objects of interest to the United States require that the Senate
should be convened at 12 o'clock on the 4th of March next to receive and
act upon such communications as may be made to it on the part of the
Executive:

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, have
considered it to be my duty to issue this my proclamation, declaring
that an extraordinary occasion requires the Senate of the United States
to convene for the transaction of business at the Capitol, in the city
of Washington, on the 4th day of March next, at 12 o'clock at noon on
that day, of which all who shall at that time be entitled to act as
members of that body are hereby required to take notice.

Given under my hand and the seal of the United States at Washington, the
17th day of February, A.D. 1865, and of the Independence of the United
States of America the eighty-ninth.

[SEAL.]

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.




EXECUTIVE ORDERS.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _December 10, 1864_.

_Ordered_, first. That Major-General William F. Smith and the Hon. Henry
Stanbery be, and they are hereby, appointed special commissioners to
investigate and report, for the information of the President, upon the
civil and military administration in the military division bordering
upon and west of the Mississippi, under such instructions as shall be
issued by authority of the President and the War Department.

Second. Said commissioners shall have power to examine witnesses upon
oath, and to take such proofs, orally or in writing, upon the
subject-matters of investigation as they may deem expedient, and return
the same together with their report.

Third. All officers and persons in the military, naval, and revenue
services, or in any branch of the public service under the authority of
the United States Government, are required, upon subpoena issued by
direction of the said commissioners, to appear before them at such time
and place as may be designated in said subpoena and to give testimony on
oath touching such matters as may be inquired of by the commissioners,
and to produce such books, papers, writings, and documents as they may
be notified or required to produce by the commissioners, and as may be
in their possession.

Fourth. Said special commissioners shall also investigate and report
upon any other matters that may hereafter be directed by the Secretary
of War, and shall with all convenient dispatch make report to him in
writing of their investigation, and shall also from time to time make
special reports to the Secretary of War upon such matters as they may
deem of importance to the public interests.

Fifth. The Secretary of War shall assign to the said commissioners such
aid and assistance as may be required for the performance of their
duties, and make such just and reasonable allowances and compensation
for the said commissioners and for the persons employed by them as he
may deem proper.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

_Washington, December 17, 1864_.

The President directs that, except immigrant passengers directly
entering an American port by sea, henceforth no traveler shall be
allowed to enter the United States from a foreign country without a
passport. If a citizen, the passport must be from this Department or
from some United States minister or consul abroad; and if an alien, from
the competent authority of his own country, the passport to be
countersigned by a diplomatic agent or consul of the United States. This
regulation is intended to apply especially to persons proposing to come
to the United States from the neighboring British Provinces. Its
observance will be strictly enforced by all officers, civil, military,
and naval, in the service of the United States, and the State and
municipal authorities are requested to aid in its execution. It is
expected, however, that no immigrant passenger coming in manner
aforesaid will be obstructed, or any other persons who may set out on
their way hither before intelligence of this regulation could reasonably
be expected to reach the country from which they may have started.

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.



WASHINGTON, D.C., _December 31, 1864_.

By the authority conferred upon the President of the United States by
the second section of the act of Congress approved July 2, 1864,
entitled "An act to amend an act to aid in the construction of a
railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri River to the Pacific
Ocean," etc., I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do
hereby designate the Merchants' National Bank, Boston; the Chicago and
Rock Island Railroad Company's office, Chicago; the First National Bank
at Philadelphia; the First National Bank at Baltimore; the First
National Bank at Cincinnati, and the Third National Bank at St. Louis,
in addition to the general office of the Union Pacific Railroad Company
in the city of New York, as the places at which the said Union Pacific
Railroad Company shall cause books to be kept open to receive
subscriptions to the capital stock of said company.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington City, January 20, 1865_.

_Ordered_, That no clearances for the exportation of hay from the United
States be granted until further orders, unless the same shall have been
placed on shipboard before the publication hereof.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington City, February 6, 1865_.

Whereas complaints are made in some localities respecting the
assignments of quotas and credits allowed for the pending call of troops
to fill up the armies:

Now, in order to determine all controversies in respect thereto and
to avoid any delay in filling up the armies, it is ordered that the
Attorney-General, Brigadier-General Richard Delafield, and Colonel C. W.
Foster be, and they are hereby, constituted a board to examine into the
proper quotas and credits of the respective States and districts under
the call of December 19, 1864, with directions, if any errors be found
therein, to make such corrections as the law and facts may require and
report their determination to the Provost-Marshal-General. The
determination of said board to be final and conclusive, and the draft to
be made in conformity therewith.

2. The Provost-Marshal-General is ordered to make the draft in the
respective districts as speedily as the same can be done after the 15th
of this month.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _February 13, 1865_.

_To the Military Officers Commanding in West Tennessee_:

While I can not order as within requested, allow me to say that it is
my wish for you to relieve the people from all burdens, harassments,
and oppressions so far as is possible consistently with your military
necessities; that the object of the war being to restore and maintain
the blessings of peace and good government, I desire you to help, and
not hinder, every advance in that direction.

Of your military necessities you must judge and execute, but please do
so in the spirit and with the purpose above indicated.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



[From the Daily National Intelligencer, February 22, 1865.]

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

_Washington, February 21, 1865_.

The Department buildings will be illuminated on the night of
Washington's birthday, in honor of the recent triumphs of the Union.

By order of the President:

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.




SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS.


Fellow-Countrymen: At this second appearing to take the oath of the
Presidential office there is less occasion for an extended address than
there was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course
to be pursued seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four
years, during which public declarations have been constantly called
forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs
the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is
new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all else
chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself, and it is,
I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope
for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.

On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago all thoughts were
anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it, all sought
to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this
place, devoted altogether to _saving_ the Union without war, insurgent
agents were in the city seeking to _destroy_ it without war--seeking to
dissolve the Union and divide effects by negotiation. Both parties
deprecated war, but one of them would _make_ war rather than let the
nation survive, and the other would _accept_ war rather than let it
perish, and the war came.

One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed
generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it.
These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew
that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen,
perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the
insurgents would rend the Union even by war, while the Government
claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement
of it. Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration
which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the _cause_ of
the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should
cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental
and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and
each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men
should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from
the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not
judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has
been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. "Woe unto the
world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but
woe to that man by whom the offense cometh." If we shall suppose that
American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of
God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed
time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South
this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came,
shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes
which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we
hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily
pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled
by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall
be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid
by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago,
so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and
righteous altogether."

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the
right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the
work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who
shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all
which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves
and with all nations.

MARCH 4, 1865.




SPECIAL MESSAGES.


WASHINGTON, D.C., _March 8, 1865_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

The fourth section of the law of 16th January, 1857, provides that
reserved officers may be promoted on the reserved list, by and with the
advice and consent of the Senate, and under this authority various
officers of the Navy have been promoted one grade from time to time.

I therefore nominate Commander John J. Young, now on the reserved list,
to be a captain in the Navy on the reserved list from the 12th August,
1854, the date when he was entitled to his regular promotion had he not
been overslaughed. It is due to this officer to state that he was passed
over in consequence of physical disability, this disability having
occurred in the discharge of his duties; and prior to his misfortune
he bore the reputation of an efficient and correct officer, and
subsequently has evinced a willingness to perform whatever duties were
assigned him.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.



WASHINGTON, _March 8, 1865_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In answer to the Senate's resolution of the 6th instant, requesting the
return of a certain joint resolution,[16] I transmit a report from the
Secretary of State.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

[Footnote 16: Entitled "Joint resolution in relation to certain
railroads."]




PROCLAMATIONS.


BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas the twenty-first section of the act of Congress approved on the
3d instant, entitled "An act to amend the several acts heretofore passed
to provide for the enrolling and calling out the national forces and
for other purposes," requires "that, in addition to the other lawful
penalties of the crime of desertion from the military or naval service,
all persons who have deserted the military or naval service of the
United States who shall not return to said service or report themselves
to a provost-marshal within sixty days after the proclamation
hereinafter mentioned shall be deemed and taken to have voluntarily
relinquished and forfeited their rights of citizenship and their rights
to become citizens, and such deserters shall be forever incapable of
holding any office of trust or profit under the United States or of
exercising any rights of citizens thereof; and all persons who shall
hereafter desert the military or naval service, and all persons who,
being duly enrolled, shall depart the jurisdiction of the district in
which he is enrolled or go beyond the limits of the United States with
intent to avoid any draft into the military or naval service duly
ordered, shall be liable to the penalties of this section. And the
President is hereby authorized and required, forthwith on the passage of
this act, to issue his proclamation setting forth the provisions of this
section, in which proclamation the President is requested to notify all
deserters returning within sixty days as aforesaid that they shall be
pardoned on condition of returning to their regiments and companies or
to such other organizations as they may be assigned to until they shall
have served for a period of time equal to their original term of
enlistment."

Now, therefore, be it known that I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the
United States, do issue this my proclamation, as required by said act,
ordering and requiring all deserters to return to their proper posts;
and I do hereby notify them that all deserters who shall, within sixty
days from the date of this proclamation, viz, on or before the 10th day
of May, 1865, return to service or report themselves to a
provost-marshal shall be pardoned, on condition that they return to
their regiments and companies or to such other organizations as they may
be assigned to and serve the remainder of their original terms of
enlistment and in addition thereto a period equal to the time lost by
desertion.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 11th day of March, A.D. 1865, and
of the Independence of the United States the eighty-ninth.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas reliable information has been received that hostile Indians
within the limits of the United States have been furnished with arms and
munitions of war by persons dwelling in conterminous foreign territory,
and are thereby enabled to prosecute their savage warfare upon the
exposed and sparse settlements of the frontier:

Now, therefore, be it known that I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the
United States of America, do hereby proclaim and direct that all persons
detected in that nefarious traffic shall be arrested and tried by
court-martial at the nearest military post, and if convicted shall
receive the punishment due to their deserts.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 17th day of March, A.D. 1865, and
of the Independence of the United States the eighty-ninth.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas by my proclamations of the 19th and 27th days of April, A.D.
1861, the ports of the United States in the States of Virginia, North
Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi,
Louisiana, and Texas were declared to be subject to blockade; but

Whereas the said blockade has, in consequence of actual military
occupation by this Government, since been conditionally set aside or
relaxed in respect to the ports of Norfolk and Alexandria, in the State
of Virginia; Beaufort, in the State of North Carolina; Port Royal, in
the State of South Carolina; Pensacola and Fernandina, in the State of
Florida; and New Orleans, in the State of Louisiana; and

Whereas by the fourth section of the act of Congress approved on the
13th of July, 1861, entitled "An act further to provide or the
collection of duties on imports, and for other purposes," the President,
for the reasons therein set forth, is authorized to close certain ports
of entry:

Now, therefore, be it known that I, Abraham Lincoln, President of
the United States, do hereby proclaim that the ports of Richmond,
Tappahannock, Cherrystone, Yorktown, and Petersburg, in Virginia;
of Camden (Elizabeth City), Edenton, Plymouth, Washington, Newbern,
Ocracoke, and Wilmington, in North Carolina; of Charleston, Georgetown,
and Beaufort, in South Carolina; of Savannah, St. Marys, and Brunswick
(Darien), in Georgia; of Mobile, in Alabama; of Pearl River
(Shields-boro), Natchez, and Vicksburg, in Mississippi; of St.
Augustine, Key West, St. Marks (Port Leon), St. Johns (Jacksonville),
and Apalachicola, in Florida; of Teche (Franklin), in Louisiana; of
Galveston, La Salle, Brazos de Santiago (Point Isabel), and Brownsville,
in Texas, are hereby closed, and all right of importation, warehousing,
and other privileges shall, in respect to the ports aforesaid, cease
until they shall have again been opened by order of the President; and
if while said ports are so closed any ship or vessel from beyond the
United States or having on board any articles subject to duties shall
attempt to enter any such port, the same, together with its tackle,
apparel, furniture, and cargo, shall be forfeited to the United States.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 11th day of April, A.D. 1865, and
of the Independence of the United States of America the eighty-ninth.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas by my proclamation of this date the port of Key West, in the
State of Florida, was inadvertently included among those which are not
open to commerce:

Now, therefore, be it known that I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the
United States, do hereby declare and make known that the said port of
Key West is and shall remain open to foreign and domestic commerce upon
the same conditions by which that commerce has there hitherto been
governed.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 11th day of April, A.D. 1865, and
of the Independence of the United States of America the eighty-ninth.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas for some time past vessels of war of the United States have been
refused in certain foreign ports privileges and immunities to which they
were entitled by treaty, public law, or the comity of nations, at the
same time that vessels of war of the country wherein the said privileges
and immunities have been withheld have enjoyed them fully and
uninterruptedly in ports of the United States, which condition of things
has not always been forcibly resisted by the United States, although, on
the other hand, they have not at any time failed to protest against and
declare their dissatisfaction with the same. In the view of the United
States, no condition any longer exists which can be claimed to justify
the denial to them by any one of such nations of customary naval rights
as has heretofore been so unnecessarily persisted in.

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do
hereby make known that if after a reasonable time shall have elapsed for
intelligence of this proclamation to have reached any foreign country in
whose ports the said privileges and immunities shall have been refused
as aforesaid they shall continue to be so refused, then and thenceforth
the same privileges and immunities shall be refused to the vessels of
war of that country in the ports of the United States; and this refusal
shall continue until war vessels of the United States shall have been
placed upon an entire equality in the foreign ports aforesaid with
similar vessels of other countries. The United States, whatever claim or
pretense may have existed heretofore, are now, at least, entitled to
claim and concede an entire and friendly equality of rights and
hospitalities with all maritime nations.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 11th day of April, A.D. 1865, and
of the Independence of the United States of America the eighty-ninth.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
  WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    _Secretary of State_.




EXECUTIVE ORDERS.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

_Washington, March 8_.

Whereas, pursuant to the order of the President of the United States,
directions were issued from this Department, under date of the 17th of
December, 1864, requiring passports from all travelers entering the
United States, except immigrant passengers directly entering an American
port from a foreign country; but whereas information has recently been
received which affords reasonable grounds to expect that Her Britannic
Majesty's Government and the executive and legislative branches of the
government of Canada have taken and will continue to take such steps as
may be looked for from a friendly neighbor and will be effectual toward
preventing hostile incursions from Canadian territory into the United
States, the President directs that from and after this date the order
above referred to requiring passports shall be modified, and so much
thereof as relates to persons entering this country from Canada shall be
rescinded, saving and reserving the order in all other respects in full
force.

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.



DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

_Washington, March 14, 1865_.

The President directs that all persons who now are or hereafter shall be
found within the United States who have been engaged in holding
intercourse or trade with the insurgents by sea, if they are citizens of
the United States or domiciled aliens, shall be arrested and held as
prisoners of war until the war shall close, subject, nevertheless, to
prosecution, trial, and conviction for any offense committed by them as
spies or otherwise against the laws of war. The President further
directs that all nonresident foreigners who now are or hereafter shall
be found in the United States, and who have been or shall have been
engaged in violating the blockade of the insurgent ports, shall leave
the United States within twelve days from the publication of this order,
or from their subsequent arrival in the United States, if on the
Atlantic side, and forty days if on the Pacific side, of the country;
and such persons shall not return to the United States during the
continuance of the war. Provost-marshals and marshals of the United
States will arrest and commit to military custody all such offenders as
shall disregard this order, whether they have passports or not, and they
will be detained in such custody until the end of the war, or until
discharged by subsequent orders of the President.

W.H. SEWARD,
  _Secretary of State_.



GENERAL ORDERS, No. 50.

WAR DEPARTMENT,

ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

_Washington, March 27, 1865_.

_Ordered_, first. That at the hour of noon on the 14th day of April,
1865, Brevet Major-General Anderson will raise and plant upon the ruins
of Fort Sumter, in Charleston Harbor, the same United States flag which
floated over the battlements of that fort during the rebel assault, and
which was lowered and saluted by him and the small force of his command
when the works were evacuated on the 14th day of April, 1861.

Second. That the flag, when raised, be saluted by one hundred guns from
Fort Sumter and by a national salute from every fort and rebel battery
that fired upon Fort Sumter.

Third. That suitable ceremonies be had upon the occasion, under the
direction of Major-General William T. Sherman, whose military operations
compelled the rebels to evacuate Charleston, or, in his absence, under
the charge of Major-General Q.A. Gillmore, commanding the department.
Among the ceremonies will be the delivery of a public address by the
Rev. Henry Ward Beecher.

Fourth. That the naval forces at Charleston and their commander on that
station be invited to participate in the ceremonies of the occasion.

By order of the President of the United States:

EDWIN M. STANTON,

_Secretary of War_.

_To all whom these presents may concern_:

Whereas for some time past evil-disposed persons have crossed the
borders of the United States or entered their ports by sea from
countries where they are tolerated, and have committed capital felonies
against the property and life of American citizens; as well in the
cities as in the rural districts of the country:

Now, therefore, in the name and by the authority of the President of the
United States, I do hereby make known that a reward of $1,000 will be
paid at this Department for the capture of each of such offenders, upon
his conviction by a civil or military tribunal, to whomsoever shall
arrest and deliver such offenders into the custody of the civil or
military authorities of the United States. And the like reward will be
paid upon the same terms for the capture of any such persons so entering
the United States whose offenses shall be committed subsequently to the
publication of this notice.

A reward of $500 will be paid upon conviction for the arrest of any
person who shall have aided and abetted offenders of the class before
named within the territory of the United States.

Given under my hand and the seal of the Department of State, at
Washington, this 4th day of April, A.D. 1865.

[SEAL.]

WILLIAM H. SEWARD,

_Secretary of State_.




DEATH OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN.


ANNOUNCEMENT TO THE VICE-PRESIDENT.

[From the original, Department of State.]

WASHINGTON CITY, D.C.,

_April 15, 1865_.

ANDREW JOHNSON,

_Vice-President of the United States_.

SIR: Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, was shot by an
assassin last evening at Ford's Theater, in this city, and died at the
hour of twenty-two minutes after 7 o'clock.

About the same time at which the President was shot an assassin entered
the sick chamber of the Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, and
stabbed him in several places--in the throat, neck, and face--severely
if not mortally wounding him. Other members of the Secretary's family
were dangerously wounded by the assassin while making his escape. By the
death of President Lincoln the office of President has devolved, under
the Constitution, upon you. The emergency of the Government demands that
you should immediately qualify, according to the requirements of the
Constitution, and enter upon the duties of President of the United
States. If you will please make known your pleasure, such arrangements
as you deem proper will be made.

Your obedient servants,

HUGH McCULLOCH,
  _Secretary of the Treasury_.

EDWIN M. STANTON,
  _Secretary of War_.

GIDEON WELLES,
  _Secretary of Navy_.

W. DENNISON,
  _Postmaster-General_.

J.P. USHER,
  _Secretary of the Interior_.

JAMES SPEED,
  _Attorney-General_.



[From the Daily National Intelligencer, April 17, 1865.]

The Vice-President responded that it would be agreeable to him to
qualify himself for the high office to which he had been so unexpectedly
called, under such melancholy circumstances, at his rooms at the
Kirkwood Hotel; and at 11 o'clock a.m. [15th] the oath of office was
administered to him by Chief Justice Chase, of the Supreme Court of the
United States, in the presence of nearly all the Cabinet officers; the
Hon. Solomon Foot, United States Senator from Vermont; the Hon.
Alexander Ramsey, United States Senator from Minnesota; the Hon. Richard
Yates, United States Senator from Illinois; the Hon. John. P. Hale, late
Senator from New Hampshire; General Farnsworth, of the House of
Representatives, from Illinois; F.P. Blair, sr.; Hon. Montgomery Blair,
late Post master-General, and some others.

[For Inaugural Address of President Johnson, see pp. 305-306.]



ANNOUNCEMENT TO REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES ABROAD.

[From official records, Department of State.]

CIRCULAR.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

_Washington, April 17, 1865_.

SIR: The melancholy duty devolves upon me officially to apprise you of
the assassination of the President at Ford's Theater, in this city, in
the evening of the 14th instant. He died the next morning from the
effects of the wound.

About the same time an attempt was made to assassinate the Secretary of
State in his own house, where he was in bed suffering from the effects
of the late accident. The attempt failed, but Mr. Seward was severely
cut, on the face especially, it is supposed with a bowie knife. Mr. F.W.
Seward was felled by a blow or blows on the head, and for some time
afterwards was apparently unconscious. Both the Secretary and Assistant
Secretary are better, especially the former.

Andrew Johnson has formally entered upon the duties of President. I have
been authorized temporarily to act as Secretary of State.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,

W. HUNTER,

_Acting Secretary_.



ANNOUNCEMENT TO REPRESENTATIVES OF FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS IN THE UNITED
STATES.

[From official records, Department of State.]

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

_Washington, April 15, 1865_.

SIR: It is my great misfortune to be obliged to inform you of events not
less afflicting to the people of the United States than distressing to
my own feelings and the feelings of all those connected with the
Government.

The President of the United States was shot with a pistol last night,
while attending a theater in this city, and expired this morning from
the effects of the wound. At about the same time an attempt was made to
assassinate the Secretary of State, which, though it fortunately failed,
left him severely, but it is hoped not dangerously, wounded with a knife
or dagger. Mr. F.W. Seward was also struck on the head with a heavy
weapon, and is in a critical condition from the effect of the blows.

Pursuant to the provision of the Constitution of the United States,
Andrew Johnson, the Vice-President, has formally assumed the functions
of President. I have by him been authorized to perform the duties of
Secretary of State until otherwise ordered.

I avail myself of the occasion to offer to you the assurance of my
distinguished consideration.

W. HUNTER,

_Acting Secretary_.



ANNOUNCEMENT TO THE ARMY.

[From official records, War Department.]

GENERAL ORDERS, No. 66.

WAR DEPARTMENT,

ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

_Washington, April 16, 1865_.

The following order of the Secretary of War announces to the armies of
the United States the untimely and lamentable death of the illustrious
Abraham Lincoln, late President of the United States:

WAR DEPARTMENT, _Washington City, April 16, 1865_.

The distressing duty has devolved upon the Secretary of War to announce
to the armies of the United States that at twenty-two minutes after
7 o'clock on the morning of Saturday, the 15th day of April, 1865,
Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, died of a mortal wound
inflicted upon him by an assassin.

The armies of the United States will share with their fellow-citizens
the feelings of grief and horror inspired by this most atrocious murder
of their great and beloved President and Commander in Chief, and with
profound sorrow will mourn his death as a national calamity.

The headquarters of every department, post, station, fort, and arsenal
will be draped in mourning for thirty days, and appropriate funeral
honors will be paid by every army, and in every department, and at every
military post, and at the Military Academy at West Point, to the memory
of the late illustrious Chief Magistrate of the nation and Commander in
Chief of its armies.

Lieutenant-General Grant will give the necessary instructions for
carrying this order into effect.

EDWIN M. STANTON,

_Secretary of War_.


On the day after the receipt of this order at the headquarters of each
military division, department, army, post, station, fort, and arsenal
and at the Military Academy at West Point the troops and cadets will be
paraded at 10 o'clock a. m. and the order read to them, after which all
labors and operations for the day will cease and be suspended as far as
practicable in a state of war.

The national flag will be displayed at half-staff.

At dawn of day thirteen guns will be fired, and afterwards at intervals
of thirty minutes between the rising and setting sun a single gun, and
at the close of the day a national salute of thirty-six guns.

The officers of the armies of the United States will wear the badge of
mourning on the left arm and on their swords and the colors of their
commands and regiments will be put in mourning for the period of six
months.

By command of Lieutenant-General Grant:

W.A. NICHOLS,

_Assistant Adjutant-General_.



ANNOUNCEMENT TO THE NAVY.

[From General Orders and Circulars, Navy Department, 1863 to 1887.]

GENERAL ORDER No. 51.

NAVY DEPARTMENT, _Washington, April 15, 1865_.

The Department announces with profound sorrow to the officers and men of
the Navy and Marine Corps the death of Abraham Lincoln, late President
of the United States. Stricken down by the hand of an assassin on the
evening of the 14th instant, when surrounded by his family and friends,
he lingered a few hours after receiving the fatal wound, and died at 7
o'clock 22 minutes this morning.

A grateful people had given their willing confidence to the patriot and
statesman under whose wise and successful administration the nation was
just emerging from the civil strife which for four years has afflicted
the land when this terrible calamity fell upon the country. To him our
gratitude was justly due, for to him, under God, more than to any other
person, are we indebted for the successful vindication of the integrity
of the Union and the maintenance of the power of the Republic.

The officers of the Navy and of the Marine Corps will, as a
manifestation of their respect for the exalted character, eminent
position, and inestimable public services of the late President, and as
an indication of their sense of the calamity which the country has
sustained, wear the usual badge of mourning for six months.

The Department further directs that upon the day following the receipt
of this order the commandants of squadrons, navy-yards, and stations
will cause the ensign of every vessel in their several commands to be
hoisted at half-mast, and a gun to be fired every half hour, beginning
at sunrise and ending at sunset. The flags of the several navy-yards and
marine barracks will also be hoisted at half-mast.

GIDEON WELLES,
  _Secretary of the Navy_.



ANNOUNCEMENT TO THE REVENUE MARINE.

[From the Daily National Intelligencer, April 18, 1865.]

GENERAL ORDER.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, _April 17, 1865_.

The Secretary of the Treasury with profound sorrow announces to the
Revenue Marine the death of Abraham Lincoln, late President of the
United States. He died in this city on the morning of the 15th instant,
at twenty-two minutes past 7 o'clock.

The officers of the Revenue Marine will, as a manifestation of their
respect for the exalted character and eminent public services of the
illustrious dead and of their sense of the calamity the country has
sustained by this afflicting dispensation of Providence, wear crape on
the left arm and upon the hilt of the sword for six months.

It is further directed that funeral honors be paid on board all revenue
vessels in commission by firing thirty-six minute guns, commencing at
meridian, on the day after the receipt of this order, and by wearing
their flags at half-mast.

HUGH McCULLOCH,

_Secretary of the Treasury_



ACTION OF SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES IN WASHINGTON.

[From Appendix to Memorial Address on the Life and Character of Abraham
Lincoln.]

The members of the Thirty-ninth Congress then in Washington met in the
Senate reception room, at the Capitol, on the 17th of April, 1865, at
noon. Hon. Lafayette S. Foster, of Connecticut, President _pro tempore_
of the Senate, was called to the chair, and the Hon. Schuyler Colfax, of
Indiana, Speaker of the House in the Thirty-eighth Congress, was chosen
secretary.

Senator Foot, of Vermont, who was visibly affected, stated that the
object of the meeting was to make arrangements relative to the funeral
of the deceased President of the United States.

On motion of Senator Sumner, of Massachusetts, a committee of five
members from each House was ordered to report at 4 p.m. what action
would be fitting for the meeting to take.

The chairman appointed Senators Sumner, of Massachusetts; Harris, of
New York; Johnson, of Maryland; Ramsey, of Minnesota, and Conness, of
California, and Representatives Washburne, of Illinois; Smith, of
Kentucky; Schenck, of Ohio; Pike, of Maine, and Coffroth, of
Pennsylvania; and on motion of Mr. Schenck the chairman and secretary of
the meeting were added to the committee, and then the meeting adjourned
until 4 p.m.

The meeting reassembled at 4 p.m., pursuant to adjournment.

Mr. Sumner, from the committee heretofore appointed, reported that they
had selected as pallbearers on the part of the Senate Mr. Foster, of
Connecticut; Mr. Morgan, of New York; Mr. Johnson, of Maryland; Mr.
Yates, of Illinois; Mr. Wade, of Ohio, and Mr. Conness, of California;
on the part of the House, Mr. Dawes, of Massachusetts; Mr. Coffroth,
of Pennsylvania; Mr. Smith, of Kentucky; Mr. Colfax, of Indiana;
Mr. Worthington, of Nevada, and Mr. Washburne, of Illinois.

They also recommended the appointment of one member of Congress from
each State and Territory to act as a Congressional committee to
accompany the remains of the late President to Illinois, and presented
the following names as such committee, the chairman of the meeting
to have the authority of appointing hereafter for the States and
Territories not represented to-day from which members may be present
at the Capitol by the day of the funeral.

Maine, Mr. Pike; New Hampshire, Mr. E.H. Rollins; Vermont, Mr. Foot;
Massachusetts, Mr. Sumner; Rhode Island, Mr. Anthony; Connecticut, Mr.
Dixon; New York, Mr. Harris; Pennsylvania, Mr. Cowan; Ohio, Mr. Schenck;
Kentucky, Mr. Smith; Indiana, Mr. Julian; Illinois, the delegation;
Michigan, Mr. Chandler; Iowa, Mr. Harlan; California, Mr. Shannon;
Minnesota, Mr. Ramsey; Oregon, Mr. Williams; Kansas, Mr. S. Clarke;
West Virginia, Mr. Whaley; Nevada, Mr. Nye; Nebraska, Mr. Hitchcock;
Colorado, Mr. Bradford; Dakota, Mr. Todd; Idaho, Mr. Wallace.

The committee also recommended the adoption of the following resolution:

  _Resolved_, That the Sergeants-at-Arms of the Senate and House, with
  their necessary assistants, be requested to attend the committee
  accompanying the remains of the late President, and to make all the
  necessary arrangements.

All of which was concurred in unanimously.

Mr. Sumner, from the same committee, also reported the following, which
was unanimously agreed to:

  The members of the Senate and House of Representatives now assembled in
  Washington, humbly confessing their dependence upon Almighty God, who
  rules all that is done for human good, make haste at this informal
  meeting to express the emotions with which they have been filled by the
  appalling tragedy which has deprived the nation of its head and covered
  the land with mourning; and in further declaration of their sentiments
  unanimously resolve:

  1. That in testimony of their veneration and affection for the
  illustrious dead, who has been permitted, under Providence, to do so
  much for his country and for liberty, they will unite in the funeral
  services and by an appropriate committee will accompany his remains to
  their place of burial in the State from which he was taken for the
  national service.

  2. That in the life of Abraham Lincoln, who by the benignant favor of
  republican institutions rose from humble beginnings to the heights of
  power and fame, they recognize an example of purity, simplicity, and
  virtue which should be a lesson to mankind, while in his death they
  recognize a martyr whose memory will become more precious as men
  learn to prize those principles of constitutional order and those
  rights--civil, political, and human--for which he was made a sacrifice.

  3. That they invite the President of the United States, by solemn
  proclamation, to recommend to the people of the United States to
  assemble on a day to be appointed by him, publicly to testify their
  grief and to dwell on the good which has been done on earth by him whom
  we now mourn.

  4. That a copy of these resolutions be communicated to the President of
  the United States, and also that a copy be communicated to the afflicted
  widow of the late President as an expression of sympathy in her great
  bereavement.


The meeting then adjourned.



ORDERS OF THE HEADS OF THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS.

[From official records, Department of State.]

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

_Washington, April 17, 1865_.

It is hereby ordered that, in honor to the memory of our late
illustrious Chief Magistrate, all officers and others subject to the
orders of the Secretary of State wear crape upon the left arm for the
period of six months.

W. HUNTER,

_Acting Secretary_.



[From official records, Treasury Department.]

TREASURY DEPARTMENT,

_Washington, April 17, 1865_.

It is hereby ordered that, in honor to the memory of our late
illustrious Chief Magistrate, all officers and others subject to the
orders of the Secretary of the Treasury wear crape upon the left arm for
the period of six months.

H. McCULLOCH,

_Secretary of the Treasury_.



[From official records, War Department.]

GENERAL ORDERS, No. 69.

WAR DEPARTMENT,

ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

_Washington, April 17, 1865_.

By direction of the President of the United States the War Department
will be closed on Wednesday next, the day of the funeral of the late
President of the United States.

Labor on that day will be suspended at all military posts and on all
public works under the direction of the War Department. The flags at all
military posts, stations, forts, and buildings will be kept at
half-staff during the day, and at 12 o'clock m. twenty-one minute guns
will be fired from all forts and at all military posts and at the
Military Academy.

By order of the Secretary of War:

W.A. NICHOLS,

_Assistant Adjutant-General_.



[From General Orders and Circulars, Navy Department, 1863 to 1887.]

SPECIAL ORDER.

APRIL 17, 1865.

By order of the President of the United States the Navy Department will
be closed on Wednesday next, the day of the funeral solemnities of the
late President of the United States. Labor will also be suspended on
that day at each of the navy-yards and naval stations and upon all the
vessels of the United States. The flags of all vessels and at all the
navy yards and stations and marine barracks will be kept at half-mast
during the day, and at 12 o'clock m. twenty-one minute guns will be
fired by the senior officer of each squadron and the commandants of the
navy yards and stations.

GIDEON WELLES,

_Secretary of the Navy_.



[From the Daily National Intelligencer, April 18, 1865.]

POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT,

_Washington, April 17, 1865_.

_To Deputy Postmasters_:

Business in all the post-offices of the United States will be suspended
and the offices closed from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Wednesday, the 19th
instant, during the funeral solemnities of Abraham Lincoln, late
President of the United States.

W. DENNISON,

_Postmaster-General_.



[From official records, Post-Office Department.]

SPECIAL ORDER.

POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT,

_Washington, April 18, 1865_.

It is hereby ordered that, in honor of the memory of Abraham Lincoln,
our lamented Chief Magistrate, the officers and employees of this
Department wear crape upon the left arm for the period of six months.

W. DENNISON,
  _Postmaster-General_.



[From official records, Department of the Interior.]

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,

_Washington, April 18, 1865_.

It is hereby ordered that, in honor of the memory of the late Chief
Magistrate of the nation, the officers and employees of this Department
wear crape upon the left arm for the period of six months.

J.P. USHER,

_Secretary_.



FUNERAL ANNOUNCEMENT TO THE PUBLIC.

[From the Daily National Intelligencer, April 17, 1865.]

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

_Washington, April 17, 1865_.

_To the People of the United States_:

The undersigned is directed to announce that the funeral ceremonies of
the late lamented Chief Magistrate will take place at the Executive
Mansion, in this city, at 12 o'clock m. on Wednesday, the 19th instant.

The various religious denominations throughout the country are invited
to meet in their respective places of worship at that hour for the
purpose of solemnizing the occasion with appropriate ceremonies.

W. HUNTER,

_Acting Secretary of State_.



OFFICIAL ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE FUNERAL.

[From official records, War Department.]

WAR DEPARTMENT,

ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

_Washington, April 17, 1865_.

The following order of arrangement is directed:


                         ORDER OF THE PROCESSION.

                            FUNERAL ESCORT.
                          (In column of march.)

                         One regiment of cavalry.
                       Two batteries of artillery.
                          Battalion of marines.
                        Two regiments of infantry.
                      Commander of escort and staff.
           Dismounted officers of Marine Corps, Navy, and Army,
                           in the order named.
  Mounted officers of Marine Corps, Navy, and Army, in the order named.
        (All military officers to be in uniform, with side arms.)

                            CIVIC PROCESSION.
                                 Marshal.
                          Clergy in attendance.
      The Surgeon-General of the United States Army and physicians
                             to the deceased.
                                 Hearse.

                              _Pallbearers_.

  On the part of the Senate: Mr. Foster, of Connecticut; Mr. Morgan, of
  New York; Mr. Johnson, of Maryland; Mr. Yates, of Illinois; Mr. Wade,
                   of Ohio; Mr. Conness, of California.

   On the part of the House: Mr. Dawes, of Massachusetts; Mr. Coffroth,
   of Pennsylvania; Mr. Smith, of Kentucky; Mr. Colfax, of Indiana; Mr.
           Worthington, of Nevada; Mr. Washburne, of Illinois.

     Army: Lieutenant-General U.S. Grant; Major-General H.W. Halleck;
                  Brevet Brigadier-General W.A. Nichols.

  Navy: Vice-Admiral D.G. Farragut; Rear-Admiral W.B. Shubrick; Colonel
                        Jacob Zelin, Marine Corps.

  Civilians: O.H. Browning, George Ashman, Thomas Corwin, Simon Cameron.

                                 Family.
                                Relatives.
   The delegations of the States of Illinois and Kentucky, as mourners.
                              The President.
                          The Cabinet ministers.
                          The diplomatic corps.
                              Ex-Presidents.
      The Chief Justice and Associate Justices of the Supreme Court.
                     The Senate of the United States.
                       Preceded by their officers.
      Members of the House of Representatives of the United States.
             Governors of the several States and Territories.
           Legislatures of the several States and Territories.
    The Federal judiciary and the judiciary of the several States and
                               Territories.
  The Assistant Secretaries of State, Treasury, War, Navy, Interior, and
  the Assistant Postmasters-General, and the Assistant Attorney-General.
                 Officers of the Smithsonian Institution.
   The members and officers of the Sanitary and Christian Commissions.
    Corporate authorities of Washington, Georgetown, and other cities.
                    Delegations of the several States.
          The reverend the clergy of the various denominations.
     The clerks and employees of the several Departments and bureaus,
     preceded by the heads of such bureaus and their respective chief
                                 clerks.
            Such societies as may wish to join the procession.
                         Citizens and strangers.


The troops designated to form the escort will assemble in the Avenue,
north of the President's house, and form line precisely at 11 o'clock
a.m. on Wednesday, the 19th instant, with the left resting on Fifteenth
street. The procession will move precisely at 2 o'clock p.m., on the
conclusion of the religious services at the Executive Mansion (appointed
to commence at 12 o'clock m.), when minute guns will be fired by
detachments of artillery stationed near St. John's Church, the City
Hall, and at the Capitol. At the same hour the bells of the several
churches in Washington, Georgetown, and Alexandria will be tolled.

At sunrise on Wednesday, the 19th instant, a Federal salute will be
fired from the military stations in the vicinity of Washington, minute
guns between the hours of 12 and 3 o'clock, and a national salute at the
setting of the sun.

The usual badge of mourning will be worn on the left arm and on the hilt
of the sword.

By order of the Secretary of War:

W.A. NICHOLS,

_Assistant Adjutant-General_.



The funeral ceremonies took place in the East Room of the Executive
Mansion at noon on the 19th of April, and the remains were then escorted
to the Capitol, where they lay in state in the Rotunda.

On the morning of April 21 the remains were taken from the Capitol and
placed in a funeral car, in which they were taken to Springfield, Ill.
Halting at the principal cities along the route, that appropriate honors
might be paid to the deceased, the funeral cortege arrived on the 3d of
May at Springfield, Ill., and the next day the remains were deposited in
Oak Ridge Cemetery, near that city.



GUARD OF HONOR.

[From official records, War Department.]

GENERAL ORDERS, No. 72.

WAR DEPARTMENT,

ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

_Washington, April 20, 1865_.

The following general officers and guard of honor will accompany the
remains of the late President from the city of Washington to Springfield,
the capital of the State of Illinois, and continue with them until they are
consigned to their final resting place:

Brevet Brigadier-General E.D. Townsend, Assistant Adjutant-General,
to represent the Secretary of War.

Brevet Brigadier-General Charles Thomas, Assistant
Quartermaster-General.[17]

[Footnote 17: Brevet Brigadier-General James A. Ekin, Quartermaster's
Department, United States Army, substituted.]

Brigadier-General A.B. Eaton, Commissary-General of Subsistence.

Brevet Major-General J.G. Barnard, Lieutenant-Colonel of Engineers.

Brigadier-General G.D. Ramsay, Ordnance Department.

Brigadier-General A.P. Howe, Chief of Artillery.

Brevet Brigadier-General D.C. McCallum, Superintendent Military
Railroads.

Major-General D. Hunter, United States Volunteers.

Brigadier-General J.C. Caldwell, United States Volunteers.

Twenty-five picked men, under a captain.

By order of the Secretary of War:

E.D. TOWNSEND,

_Assistant Adjutant-General_.



[From official records, Navy Department.]

SPECIAL ORDER.

APRIL 20, 1865.

The following officers of the Navy and Marine Corps will accompany the
remains of the late President from the city of Washington to
Springfield, the capital of the State of Illinois, and continue with
them until they are consigned to their final resting place:

Rear-Admiral Charles Henry Davis, Chief Bureau Navigation.

Captain William Rogers Taylor, United States Navy.

Major Thomas V. Field, United States Marine Corps.

GIDEON WELLES,
  _Secretary of the Navy_.



ACTION OF CONGRESS.

[From Appendix to Memorial Address on the Life and Character of Abraham
Lincoln.]

President Johnson, in his annual message to Congress at the commencement
of the session of 1865-66, thus announced the death of his predecessor:

  To express gratitude to God in the name of the people for the
  preservation of the United States is my first duty in addressing you.
  Our thoughts next revert to the death of the late President by an act of
  parricidal treason. The grief of the nation is still fresh. It finds
  some solace in the consideration that he lived to enjoy the highest
  proof of its confidence by entering on the renewed term of the Chief
  Magistracy to which he had been elected; that he brought the civil war
  substantially to a close; that his loss was deplored in all parts of the
  Union, and that foreign nations have rendered justice to his memory.

Hon. E.B. Washburne, of Illinois, immediately after the President's
message had been read in the House of Representatives, offered the
following joint resolution, which was unanimously adopted:

  _Resolved_, That a committee of one member from each State represented
  in this House be appointed on the part of this House, to join such
  committee as may be appointed on the part of the Senate, to consider and
  report by what token of respect and affection it may be proper for the
  Congress of the United States to express the deep sensibility of the
  nation to the event of the decease of their late President, Abraham
  Lincoln, and that so much of the message of the President as refers to
  that melancholy event be referred to said committee.

On motion of Hon. Solomon Foot, the Senate unanimously concurred in the
passage of the resolution, and the following joint committee was
appointed, thirteen on the part of the Senate and one for every State
represented (twenty-four) on the part of the House of Representatives:

Senate: Hon. Solomon Foot, Vermont; Hon. Richard Yates, Illinois; Hon.
Benjamin F. Wade, Ohio; Hon. William Pitt Fessenden, Maine; Hon. Henry
Wilson, Massachusetts; Hon. James R. Doolittle, Wisconsin; Hon. James H.
Lane, Kansas; Hon. Ira Harris, New York; Hon. James W. Nesmith, Oregon;
Hon. Henry S. Lane, Indiana; Hon. Waitman T. Willey, West Virginia; Hon.
Charles R. Buckalew, Pennsylvania; Hon. John B. Henderson, Missouri.

House of Representatives: Hon. Elihu B. Washburne, Illinois; Hon. James
G. Blaine, Maine; Hon. James W. Patterson, New Hampshire; Hon. Justin S.
Morrill, Vermont; Hon. Nathaniel P. Banks, Massachusetts; Hon. Thomas A.
Jenckes, Rhode Island; Hon. Henry C. Deming, Connecticut; Hon. John A.
Griswold, New York; Hon. Edwin R.V. Wright, New Jersey; Hon. Thaddeus
Stevens, Pennsylvania; Hon. John A. Nicholson, Delaware; Hon. Francis
Thomas, Maryland; Hon. Robert C. Schenck, Ohio; Hon. George S. Shanklin,
Kentucky; Hon. Godlove S. Orth, Indiana; Hon. Joseph W. McClurg,
Missouri; Hon. Fernando C. Beaman, Michigan; Hon. John A. Kasson, Iowa;
Hon. Ithamar C. Sloan, Wisconsin; Hon. William Higby, California; Hon.
William Windom, Minnesota; Hon. J.H.D. Henderson, Oregon; Hon. Sidney
Clarke, Kansas; Hon. Kellian V. Whaley, West Virginia.

The joint committee, made the following report, which was concurred in
by both Houses _nem. con._:

  Whereas the melancholy event of the violent and tragic death of Abraham
  Lincoln, late President of the United States, having occurred during the
  recess of Congress, and the two Houses sharing in the general grief and
  desiring to manifest their sensibility upon the occasion of the public
  bereavement: Therefore,

  _Be it resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives
  concurring)_, That the two Houses of Congress will assemble in the Hall
  of the House of Representatives on Monday, the 12th day of February
  next, that being his anniversary birthday, at the hour of 12 m., and
  that, in the presence of the two Houses there assembled, an address upon
  the life and character of Abraham Lincoln, late President of the United
  States, be pronounced by Hon. Edwin M. Stanton,[18] and that the
  President of the Senate _pro tempore_ and the Speaker of the House of
  Representatives be requested to invite the President of the United
  States, the heads of the several Departments, the judges of the Supreme
  Court, the representatives of the foreign governments near this
  Government, and such officers of the Army and Navy as have received the
  thanks of Congress who may then be at the seat of Government to be
  present on the occasion.

  _And be it further resolved_, That the President of the United States be
  requested to transmit a copy of these resolutions to Mrs. Lincoln, and
  to assure her of the profound sympathy of the two Houses of Congress for
  her deep personal affliction and of their sincere condolence for the
  late national bereavement.

[Footnote 18: Mr. Stanton having declined, Hon. George Bancroft, of New
York, in response to an invitation from the joint committee, consented
to deliver the address.]


[For proclamations of President Johnson recommending, in consequence
of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, late President of the United
States, a day for special humiliation and prayer, see pp, 306-307, and
for Executive order in connection therewith see p. 339. For Executive
order closing the Executive Office and the Departments on the day of
the funeral of the late President, at Springfield, Ill., see p. 335.
For Executive order closing the public offices April 14, 1866, in
commemoration of the assassination of the late President, see p. 440.]







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