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arb the action of our disloyal citizens, the rangmen of Er pe have been subjected to sewere trail for the purpose of forcing their sanction to that arengs. Unler these circumstances, I can nt but regard your decisive utterances upon the gestion as an instance of sublime Christian heroism, #103 Bas not been surpassed in any age or in any

antry. It is reel an energetic and re-inspiring assurance of the inherent power of truth, and of the ultimate and universal triumph of justice, humanity, and freedoma. And I do not doubt that the sentiments you have expressed will be sustained by your great nation. Al, on the other hand, I have no hesitation in assuring you that they will incite admiration, esteem, and the other reciprocal feelings of friendship among the American people. I hail this interchange of sentiment, therefore, as an augury that whatever else may happen, whatever misfortune may befall your country or my own, the peace and friendship which now exist between the two nations will be, as it shall be my desire to make them, perpetual. ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

TO REV. ALEXANDER REED.

Executive Mansion, February 22, 1863. My Dear Sir:-Your note, by which you, as general superintendent of the U. S. Christian Commission, invite me to preside at a meeting to be held this day, at the hall of the House of Representatives in the city, is received.

While, for reasons which I deem sufficient, I must

decline to preside, I can not withhold my approval of the meeting and its worthy objects.

Whatever shall be, sincerely and in God's name, devised for the good of the soldiers and seamen in their hard spheres of duty, can scarcely fail to be blessed; and whatever shall tend to turn our thoughts from the unreasoning and uncharitable passions, prejudices, and jealousies incident to a great national trouble such as ours, and to fix them on the vast and long enduring consequences, for weal or for woe, which are to result from the struggle, and especially to strengthen our reliance on the Supreme Being for the final triumph of the right, can not but be well for us all.

The birthday of Washington and the Christian Sabbath coinciding this year, and suggesting together the highest interests of this life and of that to come, is most propitious for the meeting proposed.

Yours obedient servant,

A. LINCOLN.

REPLY REGARDING THOMAS W. KNOX, CORRESPONDENT N. Y. HERALD.

Executive Mansion, Washington, May 20, 1863. To whom it may concern:-Whereas, it appears to my satisfaction that Thomas W. Knox, a correspondent of the New York Herald, has been, by the sentence of a court-martial, excluded from the military department under command of Major-General Grant, and also that General Thayer, president of the courtmartial which rendered the sentence, and MajorGeneral McClernand, in command of a corps of that department, and many other respectable persons, are

of opinion that Mr. Knox's offense was technical rather than willfully wrong, and that the sentence should be revoked; now therefore said sentence is hereby so far revoked as to allow Mr. Knox to return to General Grant's head-quarters, and to remain if General Grant shall not refuse such assent.

A. LINCOLN.

INTERNAL AND COASTWISE INTERCOURSE, BY THE PRESI-
DENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

Proclamation, March 31, 1863.

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 herein before named, as might maintain a loyal 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 chat

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tels, 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

Buy given brano lanation: and all cotton, tobacco, ther produite, and all other goods and chattels, ase coming from said states,

with the empties aforesaid, into other parts of the Tolted States, or proceeding to any of said states, with the exeptions aforesaid, without the license or pembela of the President, through the Secretary of Treasury, wgether with the vessel or vehicle eeping the same, be forfeited to the United States.

It witless whereof. I have hereunto set my 2&3 and carsed the seal of the United States to be afie. Dize at the City of Washington, this 31st Cay of Maril. A. 1. 1863, and of the independence of The Talted States of America the eighty-seventh.

A. LINCOLN.

To GENERAL HUNTER AND ADMIRAL DUPONT.

Entestine Mansion, Washington, April 14, 1863. This is intended to clear up an apparent inconsistency between the recent order to continue operations before Charleston and the former one to remove to another point in a certain emergency. No censure upon you or either of you is intended.

We still hope that by cordial and judicious cooperation you can take the batteries on Morris Island and Sallivan's Island and Fort Sumter. But whether you can or not, we wish the demonstration kept up for a time for a collateral and very important object. We wish the attempt to be a real one (though not a desperate one, if it affords any considerable chance of success. Bat if prosecuted as a demonstration only this must not become public, or the whole effect

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