Chapter L: Thomas, (2)

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: