any office of trust or profit under the Government of the United States. ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

TO MAJOR-GENERAL HOOKER.

Executive Mansion, Washington, D. C., Jan. 26, 1863. General:-I have placed you at the head of the Army of the Potomac. Of course I have done this upon what appears to me to be sufficient reasons; and yet I think it best for you to know that there are some things in regard to which I am not quite satisfied with you. I believe you to be a brave and skillful soldier-which, of course, I like. I also believe you do not mix politics with your profession-in which you are right. You have confidence in yourself-which is a valuable, if not an indispensable quality. You are ambitious-which, within reasonable bounds, does good rather than harm; but I think that, during General Burnside's command of the army, you have taken counsel of your ambition and thwarted him as much as you could, in which you did a great wrong to the country, and to a most meritorious and honorable brother officer. I have heard, in such way as to believe it, of your recently saying that both the army and the government needed a dictator. Of course, it was not for this, but in spite of it, that I have given you the command. Only those generals who gain successes can set up dictators. What I now ask of you is military success, and I will risk the dictatorship. The government will support you to the utmost of its abilitywhich is neither more nor less than it has done and will do for all commanders. I much fear that the

spirit which you have aided to infuse into the army, of criticising their commander and withholding confidence from him, will now turn upon you.

I shall assist you as far as I can to put it down. Neither you nor Napoleon, if he were alive again, could get any good out of an army while such a spirit prevails in it. And now, beware of rashness. Beware of rashness, but, with energy and sleepless viligance, go forward and give us victories. Yours, very truly. A. LINCOLN.

LETTER TO THE WORKINGMEN OF MANCHESTER, ENG., FEB. 9, 1863.

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the address and resolutions which you sent me on the eve of the New Year. When I came, on the 4th of March, 1861, through a free and constitutional election, to preside in the Government of the United States, the country was found at the verge of civil war. Whatever might have been the cause, or whosoever at fault, one duty, paramount to all others, was before me, namely, to maintain and preserve at once the Constitution and the integrity of the Federal Republic. A conscientious purpose to perform this duty is the key to all the measures of administration which have been and to all which will hereafter be pursued. Under our form of government, and my official oath, I could not depart from the purpose if I would. It is not always in the power of governments to enlarge or restrict the scope of moral results which follow the politics that they may deem it

necessary for the public safety from time to time to adopt.

I have understood well that the duty of selfpreservation rests solely with the American people. But I have at the same time been aware that favor or disfavor of foreign nations might have a material influence in enlarging and prolonging the struggle with disloyal men in which the country is engaged. A fair examination of history has seemed to authorize a belief that the past action and influence of the United States were generally regarded as having been beneficial toward mankind. I have therefore reckoned upon the forbearance of nations.

Circumstances-to some of which you kindly allude-induced me especially to expect that, if justice and good faith should be practiced by the United States, they would encounter no hostile influences on the part of Great Britain. It is now a pleasant duty to acknowledge the demonstration you have given to your desire that a spirit of peace and amity toward this country may prevail in the councils of your queen, who is respected and esteemed in your own country no more than she is by the kindred nation which has its home on this side of the Atlantic. I know and deeply deplore the sufferings which the workmen at Manchester and in all Europe are called to endure in this crisis. It has been often and studiously represented that the attempt to overthrow this government, which was built upon the foundation of human rights, and to substitute for it one which should rest exclusively on the basis of human slavery, was likely to obtain the favor of Europe.

Through the action of our disloyal citizens, the workingmen of Europe have been subjected to severe trial, for the purpose of forcing their sanction to that attempt. Under these circumstances, I can not but regard your decisive utterances upon the question as an instance of sublime Christian heroism, which has not been surpassed in any age or in any country. It is indeed an energetic and re-inspiring assurance of the inherent power of truth, and of the ultimate and universal triumph of justice, humanity, and freedom. And I do not doubt that the sentiments you have expressed will be sustained by your great nation. And, 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