PROCLAMATIONS BY THE PRESIDENT.

FIRST PROCLAMATION, APRIL 15, 1861. WHEREAS the laws of the United States have

been, for some time past, and now are opposed and the execution 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 vested by the Constitution and the laws, have thought fit to call forth, and hereby do 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 executed.

The details for this object will be immediately communicated to the State authorities through the War Department.

I 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 service assigned to the forces hereby called forth will probably be to repossess the forts, places, and property which have been seized from the Union; and in every event, the utmost care will be observed, consistently with the objects aforesaid, 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 summoned to assemble at their respective chambers, at 12 o'clock, noon, on Thursday, the 4th day of July next, then and there to consider and determine such measures as, in their wisdom, the public safety and interest may seem to demand.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States

to be affixed.

WHEREAS, on the 15th day of April, 1861, the insurrection against the Laws, Constitution, and President of the United States, in view of an Government of the United States, which had broken out within the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, and in pursuance of the provicalling forth the militia to execute the laws of sions of the act entitled "An act to provide for the Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions, and to repeal the act now in force for that purpose," approved February 28, 1795, did call forth the militia to suppress said insurrection, and to cause the laws of the Union to be duly executed, and the insurgents have failed to disperse by the time directed by the President; and, whereas, such insurrection has since broken out, and yet exists, within the States of Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas; and, whereas, the insurgents in all the said States claim to act under the authority thereof, and such claim is not disclaimed or repudiated by the persons exercising the functions of government in such State or States, or in the part or parts thereof in which such combinations exist, nor has such insurrection been suppressed by said States:

President of the United States, in pursuance of Now, therefore, I, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, an act of Congress, approved July 18, 1861, do hereby declare that the inhabitants of the said States of Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisíana, Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Florida, (except the inhabitants of that part of the State of Virginia lying west of the Alleghany mountains, and of such other parts of that State and the other States hereinbefore named as may maintain a loyal adhesion to the Union and the Constitution, or may be from time to time occupied and controlled by forces of the United States engaged in the dispersion of said insurgents) are 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 is unlawful, and will remain unlawful until such insurrection shall cease or has been suppressed; that all goods

execution of said act, and in the enforcement
of the penalties and forfeitures imposed or de-
clared by it; leaving any party who may think
himself aggrieved thereby to his application to
the Secretary of the Treasury for the remission
of any penalty or forfeiture, which the said
Secretary is authorized by law to grant if, in his
judgment, the special circumstances of any
case shall require such remission.

and chattels, wares and merchandise, coming
from any of said States, with the exceptions
aforesaid, into other parts of the United States,
without the special 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, or conveying persons to or from said
States, with said exceptions, will be forfeited to
the United States; and that from and after 15
days from the issuing of this proclamation, all
ships and vessels belonging in whole or in part
to any citizen or inhabitant of any of said States,
with said exceptions, found at sea, or in any [L. S.] 1861, and of the Independence of the
port of the United States, will be forfeited to
the United States; and I hereby enjoin upon
all district attorneys, marshals, and officers of
the revenue and of the military and naval
forces of the United States, to be vigilant in the

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 16th
day of August, in the year of our Lord

United States of America, the 86th.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:

WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.

THE SLAVEHOLDERS' REBELLION.

THE great Rebellion of the Slaveholders, fore- | shadowed and threatened by the South, came into active existence immediately upon the announcement that Abraham Lincoln had been elected Presi

dent of the United States.

Nov. 10, 1860.-Bill introduced in South Carolina Legislature to raise and equip 10,000 volunteers. .... James Chestnut, Senator from South Carolina, resigned. .... South Carolina Legislature ordered the election of a convention to consider the question of Secession.

Nov. 11.-Senator Hammond, of S. C., resigned. Nov. 14.-Alex. H. Stephens spoke at Milledgeville, Geo., in opposition to Secession, but favored a State Convention.

Nov. 15.-Senator Toombs spoke for Secession at Milledgeville, Geo..... Gov. Letcher, of Virginia, called an extra session of the Legislature. Senator Toombs spoke in opposition to Mr. Stephens, and Mr. Stephens in a few days after gave in his adhesion to rebellion.....Great public meeting at Mobile, and adoption of the famous Declaration of Causes for Secession.

Nov. 17.-Great Secession meeting in Charleston. Nov. 18.-Georgia Legislature voted $1,000,000 to arm the State, and ordered the election of a convention..... Major Anderson ordered to Fort Moul trie, to relieve Col. Gardiner, ordered to Texas.

Nov. 19.-Gov. Moore ordered an extra session of the Louisiana Legislature.

Nov. 20, 22, 23.-General bank suspensions in Richmond, Baltimore, Washington, Philadelphia, Trenton, and the Southern States.

Nov. 24.-Vigilance Associations organized by citizens of Lexington district, S. C. [This movement extended all over the South, and thousands of northern men and women were driven out of the country with threats, and often with personal violence.] Nov. 29.-Vermont Legislature refuse, 125 to 58, to repeal the Personal Liberty bill..... Mississippi Legislature voted to send commissioners to confer with the authorities of the other slaveholding States. Dec. 1.-Florida Legislature voted to elect a convention..... Great Secession meeting at Memphis. Dec. 3.-A John Brown anniversary meeting in Boston broken up. Meeting of Congress; President Buchanan's message denied the right of Secession; it was fiercely attacked by Senator Clingman, of N. C., and defended by Crittenden, of Ky. Dec. 4.-The President sent Mr. Trescott to South Carolina to ask a postponement of action until Congress could decide upon remedies..... Mr. Iverson,

of Geo., made a disunion speech in the Senate, pre-
dicting the Secession of five if not eight States before
the 4th of March. Senator Sanlsbury, of Delaware,
spoke for the Union, and reproved Iverson.

Dec. 5.-Election for Delegates in South Carolina.
All the candidates were immediate secessionists.
Dec. 6.-John Bell, of Tenn., published a letter
in favor of the Union..... Democratic State Conven-
tion in Maryland. Resolutions passed deploring
the hasty action of South Carolina..... The com-
mittee of 33 announced by the Speaker; it was 16
Republicans, 17 opposition.

Dec. 10.-Howell Cobb, Secretary of the Treasury, resigned. Senator Clay, of Alabama, also resigned.....Louisiana Legislature met in extra session, voted to elect a convention, and appropriated $500,000 to arm the State..... General debate begun in Congress on the state of the nation. It very soon became apparent, from speeches by Iverson, Wigfall and other Southerners, that the Secessionists did not want and would not have any compromise..... Senator Clay, of Alabama, tendered his resignation.

Dec. 13.-Great Union demonstration in Philadelphia..... Extra session of the Cabinet on the question of reinforcing Fort Moultrie; the President opposed it, and carried his point.

Dec. 14.-Lewis Cass, Secretary of State, resigned
because the President would not send reinforce-
ments South.

Dec. 17.-South Carolina convention assembled.
Gov. Pickens took ground for immediate Secession.
Speech of Senator Wade, foreshadowing the
policy of the new administration.

Dec. 18.-The famous Crittenden Compromise in-
troduced. It was this: To renew the Missouri line
of 36° 30'; prohibit slavery North and permit it
south of that line; admit new States with or with-
out slavery, as their constitutions provide; prohibit
Congress from abolishing slavery in States, and in
the District of Columbia so long as it exists in Vir-
ginia or Maryland; permit free transmission of
slaves by land or water in any State; pay for fugi-
tive slaves rescued after arrest; repeal the ine-
quality of commissioner's fees in Fugitive Slave
act, and to ask the repeal of Personal Liberty bills
in the Northern States. These concessions to be
submitted to the people as amendments to the Con-
stitution, and If adopted never to be changed.
Jacob Thompson, Secretary of the Interior, went
to Raleigh to persuade the North Carolina Legisla
ture to vote for Secession.

Dec. 19.-Senator Johnson of Tenn., made a strong Union speech on Crittenden's bill..... Gov. Hicks, of Md., refused to receive the Mississippi commissioner; the commissioner addressed a Secession meeting in Baltimore.

Dec. 20.-South Carolina Convention unanimously adopted a Secession ordinance [for which see TRIBUNE ALMANAC of 1861, p. 35], the news of which was hailed with enthusiasm throughout the Southern States..... The committee of 13 appointed in the Senate.....Caleb Cushing reached Charleston with a message from President Buchanan, guaranteeing that Maj. Anderson should not be reinforced, and asking the Convention to respect the Federal laws. The Convention refused to make any promises, and Mr. C. returned after a stay of 5 hours. Dec. 22.-North Carolina Legislature adjourned. A bill to arm the State failed to pass the House..... The Crittenden propositions voted down in the committee of 13.

Dec. 23.-The robbery of the Indian Trust Fund discovered at Washington.

Dec. 24.-The people of Pittsburgh refused to permit the shipment of ordnance from the arsenal to southern forts. .... South Carolina Convention adopted a " Declaration of Causes" for Secession, and formally perfected the withdrawal of the State. An address to the slaveholding States was adopted. Gov. Moore ordered a session of the Alabama Legislature. Convention election in Alabama. Majority for Secession over 50,000..... South Carolina members of Congress present their resignation. The Speaker would not recognize it, and their names were called through the session.

Dec. 25.-South Carolina Convention adopted resolutions to form a Confederate Government of slaveholding States.

Dec. 26.-South Carolina Commissioners arrived in Washington..... Major Anderson left Fort Moultrie, and with his band of about 80 men, established himself in Fort Sumter.

Dec. 27.-Gov. Magoffin called an extra session of the Kentucky Legislature. ....Major Anderson's movement created intense excitement; troops were ordered out in Charleston, and aid was tendered from Georgia and other States..... Revenue cutter Aiken treacherously surrendered by Capt. M. L. Coste to the South Carolina authorities.

Dec. 28.-South Carolina seized the Custom House, Postoffice, and Arsenal at Charleston, and occupied Castle Pinckney and Fort Moultrie.

Jan. 7.-Meeting of the Alabama State Convention..... Meeting of the Mississippi State Convention..... Meeting of the Tennessee Legislature..... Meeting of the Virginia Legislature..... Senator Toombs, of Geo., made a violent Secession speech in the Senate.

Jan. 8.-Jacob Thompson, Secretary of the Interior, resigned, after treacherously betraying the sailing of the Star of the West to reinforce Sumter. Jan. 9.-Star of the West arrived off Charleston, and was fired upon and driven back to sea by rebel batteries..... Mississippi Convention passed a Secession ordinance, 84 to 15.

Jan. 10.-Florida Secession ordinance passed, 62 to 7.

....

Jan. 11.-Alabama Secession ordinance passed, 61 to 39. .... Philip F. Thomas, Secretary of the Treasury, resigned, and John A. Dix, of N. Y., appointed in his place. U. S. Arsenal at Baton Rouge, Forts Philip and Jackson, below New Or leans, and Fort Pickens, on Lake Ponchartrain, seized by order of the Governor of Louisiana. Legislature of New York voted to tender the whole military power of the State to the President for the support of the Constitution.

....

Jan. 13.-Virginia State Legislature adopted the bill calling a State Convention. .....Commodore Armstrong surrendered the Pensacola Navy Yard, and Fort Barrancas, to the Florida troops. Lieut. Slemmer, in command of Fort Pickens, refused to obey Armstrong's order, and saved that important fortress to the Union.

Jan. 14.-South Carolina Legislature declared that any attempt to reinforce Fort Sumter would be an act of war.

Jan. 16.-The Crittenden Compromise practically voted down in the United States Senate, by the adoption of Mr. Clark's substitute, that the Constitution is good enough, and Secession ought to be put down..... Arkansas Legislature voted to have a Convention.....Missouri Legislature voted to hold a Convention:....Maj. Gen.Sandford, of N.Y.City, tendered to the President the services of the First Division of 7,000 men for any service which may be required. ....Col. Hayne, in the name of Gov. Pickens, demanded of the President the surrender of Fort Sumter. The President refused to receive him in any official capacity.

Jan. 18.-Massachusetts Legislature tendered to the President all the power of the State to support the Federal government. .... Virginia Legislature re-appropriated $1,000,000 for the defense of the State. Jan. 19.-Georgia Secession ordinance adopted, 208 to 89. Alex. H. Stephens and Herschel V. Johnson voted in the negative. .... Tennessee Legislature called a State Convention.

Dec. 29-John B. Floyd, Secretary of War, signed, charging the President with trying to provoke civil war, by refusing to withdraw Major Anderson..... The South Carolina Commissioners formally sought an audience of the President. He replied next day, refusing to receive them.

Dec. 31.-South Carolina adopted an oath of abjuration and allegiance, and sent Commissioners to the other Slave States, with a view to the formation of a Southern Confederacy.

Jan. 2, 1861.-Gov. Ellis, of N. C., took possession of Fort Macon, at Beaufort, the works at Wilmington, and the United States Arsenal at Fayetteville. Georgia troops in possession of Forts Pulaski and Jackson, and the U. S. Arsenal at Savannah. Jan. 3.-Florida State Convention met at Tallahassee.....South Carolina Commissioners wrote an insulting letter to the President, and went home.

Jan. 4. Fast-day, by proclamation of the President: it was generally observed in the Free and the Border Slave States, but disregarded in the South..... Fort Morgan, at the mouth of Mobile Bay, and the U. S. Arsenal in Mobile, seized by order of Gov. Moore, of Ala..... South Carolina Convention appointed 7 delegates to "the General Congress of the Seceding States."

Jan. 5.-Steamer Star of the West sailed from New York with supplies and reinforcements for Fort Sumter..... Gov. Hicks, of Maryland, published a strong Union address to the people." South Carolina Convention adjourned, subject to a call by the Governor.

Jan. 21.-Alabama members of Congress resigned..... Jefferson Davis took leave of the Senate, in consequence of the secession of his State.

Jan. 22.-Sherrard Clemens, of Va., made a strong Union speech in Congress.

Jan. 23.-Georgia members of Congress resigned. .... Mr. Etheridge, of Tenn., in a speech in Congress, declared Secession to be rebellion, and to be put down at any cost.

Jan. 24.-Arsenal at Augusta, Geo., seized by the State.

Jan. 25.-Correspondence between Gov. Brown, of Geo., and Mayor Wood, of N. Y., about seizure of arms by the New York Police..... Rhode Island Legislature repealed the Personal Liberty Bill.

Jan. 26.-Louisiana Convention adopted a Secession ordinance, 113 to 17.

Jan. 28.-Texas State Convention met at Austin. Jan. 30.-North Carolina Legislature submitted the Convention question to a vote of the peoplethe first recognition in all the South that the people had any right to a voice in the matter..... Ex-Secretary Floyd indicted by a Grand Jury for malfeasance and conspiracy..... Revenue cutters Cass, Capt. J. J. Morrison, and McClelland, Capt. Breshwood, surrendered to the Louisiana authorities by their commanders.

Feb. 19.-Enthusiastic reception of President Lincoln in New York City. Fort Kearney, Kansas, taken by Secessionists; soon after retaken. Feb. 21.-Jeff. Davis appointed his Cabinet-made. About 1 P.M. the flagstaff was shot away, Toombs, Sec. State; Memminger, Treasury, and L. P. Walker, War..... Governor of Georgia made another seizure of New York vessels.

through Baltimore without fighting their way. .......... out the militia to defend Virginia from the NorthNew York Seventh left for Washington. [From erners..... President Lincoln called for 42,000 three this date for many days troops were rapidly pour-years' volunteers. ing in for Washington, Annapolis, and Fortress Monroe.]

April 26.-Gov. Brown, of Geo., prohibited the payment of debts due to Northern men, diverting the amount to the State Treasury. .... Governor of May 15.-Gov. Hicks, of Md., called for volunNorth Carolina called an extra session of the Legis-teers under the President's proclamation..... Maslature..... More bridges burned near Baltimore | sachusetts Legislature offered to loan the Governon the Philadelphia road. .... Gov. Burton, of Del., called for Union volunteers.