drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, "The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.' With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations. TELEGRAM TO GENERAL JOHN POPE. EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, March 7, 1865. MAJOR-GENERAL POPE, St. Louis, Missouri: Please state briefly, by telegraph, what you concluded about the assessments in St. Louis County. Early in the war one Samuel B. Churchill was sent from St. Louis to Louisville, where I have quite satisfactory evidence that he has not misbehaved. Still I am told his property at St. Louis is subjected to the assessment, which I think it ought not to be. Still I wish to know what you think. A. LINCOLN. TO GENERAL U. S. GRANT. WASHINGTON, D. C., March 8, 1865. LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT, City Point, Va: Your two despatches to the Secretary of War, one relating to supplies for the enemy going by the Blackwater, and the other to General Singleton and Judge Hughes, have been laid before me by him. As to Singleton and Hughes, I think they are not in Richmond by any authority, unless it be from you. I remember nothing from me which could aid them in getting there, except a letter to you, as follows, to wit: EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON CITY, February 7, 1865. LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT, City Point, Va.: General Singleton, who bears you this, claims that he already has arrangements made, if you consent, to bring a large amount of Southern produce through your lines. For its bearing on our finances, I would be glad for this to be done, if it can be, without injuriously disturbing your military operations, or supplying the enemy. I wish you to be judge and master on these points. Please see and hear him fully, and decide whether anything, and, if anything, what, can be done in the premises. Yours truly, A. LINCOLN. I believe I gave Hughes a card putting him with Singleton on the same letter. However this may be, I now authorize you to get Singleton and Hughes away from Richmond, if you choose, and can. I also authorize you, by an order, or in what form you choose, to suspend all operations on the Treasurytrade permits, in all places southeastward of the Alleghanies. If you make such order, notify me of it, giving a copy, so that I can give corresponding direction to the Navy. A. LINCOLN. PROCLAMATION OFFERING PARDON TO DESERTERS, MARCH 11, 1865. BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES A Proclamation. Whereas, the twenty-first section of the act of Congress, approved on the 3d instant, entitled "An Act to amend the several acts heretofore passed to provide for the enrolling and calling out the national forces and for other purposes, requires that in addition to the other lawful penalties of the crime of desertion from the military or naval service, all persons who have deserted the military or naval service of the United States who shall not return to said service or report themselves to a provost-marshal within sixty days after the proclamation hereinafter mentioned, shall be deemed and taken to have voluntarily relinquished and forfeited their citizenship and their right to become citizens, and such deserters shall be forever incapable of holding any office of trust or profit under the United States, or of exercising any rights of citizens thereof; and all persons who shall hereafter desert the military or naval service, and all persons who, being duly enrolled, shall depart the jurisdiction of the district in which they are enrolled, or go beyond the limits of the United States with intent to avoid any draft into the military or naval service duly ordered, shall be liable to the penalties of this section; and the President is hereby authorized and required forthwith, on the passage of this act, to issue his proclamation setting forth the provisions of this section, in which proclamation the President is requested to notify all deserters returning within sixty days as aforesaid that they shall be pardoned on condition of returning to their regiments and companies, or to such other organizations as they may be assigned to, until they shall have served for a period of time equal to their original term of enlistment: Now, therefore, be it known that I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do issue this my proclamation as required by said act, ordering and requiring all deserters to return to their proper posts; and I do hereby notify them that all deserters who shall within sixty days from the date of this proclamation, viz., on or before the 10th day of May, 1865, return to service or report themselves to a provost-marshal, shall be pardoned on condition that they return to their regiments or companies or to such other organization as they may be assigned to, and serve the remainder of their original terms of enlistment, and in addition thereto a period equal to the time lost by desertion. In testimony 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 eleventh day of March, in the year of our [SEAL] Lord eighteen hundred and sixty-five, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-ninth. By the President: ABRAHAM LINCOLN. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. TELEGRAM TO H. T. BLOW. WASHINGTON, March 13, 1865. HON. HENRY T. BLOW, Saint Louis, Mo.: A Miss E. Snodgrass, who was banished from Saint Louis in May, 1863, wishes to take the oath and return home. What say you? A. LINCOLN. LETTER TO THURLOW WEED, MARCH 15, 1865. DEAR MR. WEED: EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, D. C., March 15, 1865. Every one likes a compliment. Thank you for yours on my little notification speech and on the recent inaugural address. I expect the latter to wear as well as - perhaps better than - anything I have produced; but I believe it is not immediately popular. Men are not flattered by being shown that |