UNITED STATES. 



715 



with instructions to ask him to communicate to 

 the Convention the policy which he intcndod 

 to pursue in regard to the Confederate States. 



In reply he made the following explicit state- 

 ment : 



"In answer, I have to say, that having, at 

 the beginning of my official term, expressed my 

 intended policy as plainly as I was able, it is 

 with deep regret and mortification I now learn 

 there is great and injurious uncertainty in the 

 public mind as to what that policy is, and what 

 course I intend to pursue. Not having as yet 

 seen occasion to change, it is now my purpose 

 to pursue the course marked out in the inau- 

 gural address. I commend a careful considera- 

 tion of the whole document as the best ex- 

 pression I can give to my purposes. As I then 

 and therein said, I now repeat, 'The power 

 confided in me will be used to hold, occupy, 

 and possess property and places belonging to the 

 Government, and to collect the duties and im- 

 posts ; but beyond what is necessary for these 

 objects there will be no invasion, no using of 

 force against cr among the people anywhere.' 

 By the words 'property and places belonging 

 to the Government,' I chiefly allude to the mili- 

 tary posts and property which were in posses- 

 sion of the Government when it came into my 

 hands. But if, as now appears to be true, in 

 pursuit of a purpose to drive the United States 

 authority from these places, an unprovoked as- 

 sault has been made upon Fort Sumter, I shall 

 hold myself at liberty to repossess it, if I can, 

 like places which had been seized before the 

 Government was devolved upon me; and in 

 any event I shall, to the best of my ability, re- 

 pel force by force. In case it proves true that 

 Fort Sumter has been assaulted, as is reported, 

 I shall, perhaps, cause the United States mails 

 to be withdrawn from all the States which 

 claim to have seceded, believing that the com- 

 mencement of actual Avar against the Govern- 

 ment justifies and possibly demands it. I 

 scarcely need to say that I consider the military 

 posts and property situated within the States 

 which claim to have seceded, as yet belonging 

 to the Government of the United States as 

 much as they did before the supposed secession. 

 "Whatever else I may do for the purpose, I shall 

 not attempt to collect the duties and imposts 

 by any armed invasion of any part of the 

 country; not meaning by this, however, that I 

 may not laud a force deemed necessary to re- 

 lieve a fort upon the border of the country. 

 From the fact that I have quoted a part of the 

 inaugural address, it must not be inferred that 

 I repudiate any other part, the whole of which 

 I reaffirm, except so far as what I now say of 

 the mails may be regarded as a modification." 



The attack on Fort Sumter began on the 

 12th. The fort surrendered on the afternoon 

 of the 13th, and was evacuated on Sunday, the 

 14th. As the news flashed over the country 

 by the telegraph it was instantly followed by 

 the summons of the President, "to arms; to 

 arms." His proclamation, ordering seventy-five 



thousand men into the field, was issued on the 

 night of the 14tli, as iblln\\-: 



P,ij the President of I/,- ite. 



A PROCLAMATION'. 



Whereat the laws of the Uniti-'l States have been for 

 some time past and now are opposed, uml (lie execu- 

 tion 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 Tested 

 by the Constitution and the laws, have thought fit to 

 call forth, and hereby dp call forth, the militia of the 

 several States of the Union, to the aggregate number 

 of seventy-five thousand, in order to suppress said 

 combinations, and to cause the laws to be duly exe- 

 cuted. 



The details for this object will be immediately com- 

 municated to the State authorities through the War 

 Department. 



1 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 serrice assigned 

 to the forces called forth" will probably be to re-possess 

 the forts, places, and property which have been seized 

 from the Union ; and in every event tbe utmost care 

 will be observed, consistently with the objects afore- 

 said, 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 gam- 

 moned to assemble at their respective Chambers, at 

 12 o'clock, noon, on Thursday, the fourth day of July 

 next, then and there to consider and determine such 

 measures as. in their wisdom, the public safety and in- 

 terest may seem to demand. 



In witness whereof, I have hereunto set mj hand and 

 caused the seal of the United States to be af- 

 fixed. 



Done at the city of Washington, this fifteenth day 

 of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand 

 [L. s.] eight hundred and sixty-one, and of the inde- 

 pendence of the United "States the eighty -fifth. 

 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

 By the President : 



WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. 



A call for troops was issued by the Secretary 

 of War, Cameron, in accordance with this proc- 

 lamation, and sent to the Governors of the re- 

 spective States, giving the quotas allotted to 

 each, as follows : 



DEPARTMENT or "WAR, ) 

 "WASHINGTON, April 15, 1S6L J 



To His Excellency the Governor of .' 



SIR : Under the act of Congress for calling for the 

 " Militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress 

 insurrections, repel invasions," &c., approved February 

 28, 1795, I have the honor to request your Excellency 

 to cause to be immediately detached from the militia 

 of your State the quota designated in the table below, 

 to serve as infantry or riflemen, for the period of 

 three months, unless sooner discharged. 



Your Excellency will please communicate to me the 

 time at or about which your quota will be expected at 



