bay in search of a field, instead of fighting at or near Manassas, was only shifting, and not surmounting a difficulty; that we would find the same enemy, and the same or equal intrenchments, at either place. The country will not fail to note, is now noting, that the present hesitation to move upon an intrenched enemy is but the story of Manassas repeated. I beg to assure you that I have never written to you or spoken to you in greater kindness of feeling than now, nor with a fuller purpose to sustain you, so far as, in my most anxious judgment, I consistently can. But you must act. Major-General MCCLELLAN. Yours, very truly, A. LINCOLN. But it was only in the movement upon Richmond that there was delay and defeat, if not disaster, in the field. In all other quarters, and under all other generals, the National armies achieved victory, and attained substantial success. Grant had captured Fort Donelson and the army by which it was defended, Missouri had been cleared of rebels, Fort Pulaski had fallen. Island No. 10, Memphis and Nashville had been taken, and the signal victory of Pittsburg Landing had been won. Upon occasion of the latter success, Mr. Lincoln issued the following (his first) almost meek and humble PROCLAMATION OF THANKSGIVING. 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 the 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 those 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. Done at the city of Washington, this tenth day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty[L. s.] two, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-sixth. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. By the President: WM. H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. ABOLITION OF SLAVERY IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. The first step toward the abolition of slavery elicited from Mr. Lincoln the following: MESSAGE. 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 this 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, femmes 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. GENERAL HUNTER'S DECLARATION OF FREEDOM. On the 9th of May, 1862, General Hunter, in command of the Department of the South, issued another of those precipitate and unauthorized orders upon the subject of slavery, which embarrassed Mr. Lincoln so much in the early part of his administration. He boldly declared that order null, thereby provoking the censure of the extreme abolitionists, in the following PROCLAMATION. Whereas, There appears in the public prints what purports to be a proclamation of Major-General Hunter, in the words and figures following: General Order, No. 11. HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH, } The three States of Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina, comprising the Military Department of the South, having deliberately declared themselves no longer under the United States of America, and having taken up arms against the 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 States-Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina-heretofore held as slaves, are therefore declared forever free. [OFFICIAL.] Signed, DAVID HUNTER, Major-General Commanding. 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 or belief of an intention on the part of General Hunter to issue such 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 proclamation 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, or 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 cannot feel justified in leaving to the decision of commanders in the field. These are totally different questions from those of police regulations in armies or in camps. On the sixth 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 co-operate with any State which may adopt a gradual abolishment of slavery, giving to such State earnest expression to compensate for its 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 solem proposal of the Nation to the States and people most interested in the subject matter. Το the people of these States now, I mostly appeal. I do not argue -I beseech you to make the arguments for yourselves. You cannot, 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 partisan and personal politics. This proposal makes common cause for a common object, casting no reproaches upon any. It acts not the Pharisee. The changes 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 hereunto affixed. Done at the city of Washington, this 19th day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixtytwo, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-sixth. By the President: Signed, WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. THE M'CLELLAN AFFAIR. Chief among the President's sources of personal annoyance, as well as of grave concern, were the difficulties constantly occurring between General McClellan and the War Department, and between the Commander-in-Chief and his Generals of Corps and Division; all occurring, too, while the failure of General McClellan to make any effective movement made the country sick at heart. The following letters on this subject, like most of Mr. Lincoln's writings, fully explain themselves. The first refers to General McClellan's complaints as to the re-organization of the army into corps, and to his favoritism, which excited much ill-feeling. FORTRESS MONROE, May 9, 1865. MY DEAR SIR:-I have just assisted the Secretary of War in forming the part of a dispatch to you, relating to army corps, |