The Papers And Writings Of Abraham Lincoln
Chapter 254 : MAJOR-GENERAL STEELE: I understand that Congress declines to admit to seats the person

MAJOR-GENERAL STEELE:

I understand that Congress declines to admit to seats the persons sent as Senators and Representatives from Arkansas. These persons apprehend that, in consequence, you may not support the new State government there as you otherwise would. My wish is that you give that government and the people there the same support and protection that you would if the members had been admitted, because in no event, nor in any view of the case, can this do any harm, while it will be the best you can do toward suppressing the rebellion.

Yours truly,

A. LINCOLN.

TELEGRAM TO GENERAL GRANT. EXECUTIVE MANSION, WAs.h.i.+NGTON, June 29, 1864.

LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT, City Point:

Dr. Worster wishes to visit you with a view of getting your permission to introduce into the army "Harmon's Sandal Sock." Shall I give him a pa.s.s for that object?

A. LINCOLN.

TELEGRAM TO DAVID TOD.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WAs.h.i.+NGTON, D. C., June 30, 1864.

HON. DAVID TOD, Youngstown, Ohio: I have nominated you to be Secretary of the Treasury, in place of Governor Chase, who has resigned. Please come without a moment's delay.

A. LINCOLN.

TO J. L. SCRIPPS.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WAs.h.i.+NGTON, July 4, 1864.

To JOHN L. SCRIPPS, ESQ.

DEAR SIR:--Complaint is made to me that you are using your official power to defeat Mr. Arnold's nomination to Congress. I am well satisfied with Mr. Arnold as a member of Congress, and I do not know that the man who might supplant him would be as satisfactory; but the correct principle, I think, is that all our friends should have absolute freedom of choice among our friends. My wish, therefore, is that you will do just as you think fit with your own suffrage in the case, and not constrain any of your subordinates to [do] other than [as] he thinks fit with his. This is precisely the rule I inculcated and adhered to on my part, when a certain other nomination, now recently made, was being canva.s.sed for.

Yours very truly,

A. LINCOLN.

TELEGRAM TO J. W. GARRETT. WAs.h.i.+NGTON, July 5, 1864.

J. W. GARRETT, President [B. & 0. R. R.], Camden Station:

You say telegraphic communication is re-established with Sandy Hook. Well, what does Sandy Hook say about operations of enemy and of Sigel during to-day?

A. LINCOLN.

FROM SECRETARY STANTON TO GOVERNOR SEYMOUR.

WAR DEPARTMENT, WAs.h.i.+NGTON, July 5, 1864.

HIS EXCELLENCY HORATIO SEYMOUR, Governor of New York, Albany:

The President directs me to inform you that a rebel force, variously estimated at from fifteen to twenty thousand men, have invaded the State of Maryland, and have taken Martinsburg and Harper's Ferry, and are threatening other points; that the public safety requires him to call upon the State executives for a militia force to repel this invasion. He therefore directs me to call on you for a militia force of twelve thousand men from your State to serve not more than one hundred days, and to request that you will with the utmost despatch forward the troops to Was.h.i.+ngton by rail or steamboat as may be most expeditious.

Please favor me with an answer at your earliest convenience.

EDWIN M. STANTON,

Secretary of War.

PROCLAMATION SUSPENDING THE WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS,

JULY 5, 1864.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES:

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 power 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 insurrections and rebellion; and

Whereas, the Congress of the United States, by an act approved on the third 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 any part thereof; and

Whereas, the said insurrection and rebellion still continue, endangering the existence of the Const.i.tution 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 fifteenth 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 Cases whereby the authority of the President of the United States, the 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 and regulations prescribed for the military and naval service by authority of the President of the United States, or for resisting a draft, or for any other offence against the military or naval service; and