PROCLAMATION.

By the President of the United States.

WHEREAS, the Senate and House of Representatives at their last session adopted a concurrent resolution, which was approved on the second day of July instant, and which was in the words following, namely:

That the President of the United States be requested to appoint a day of humiliation and prayer by the people of the United States, that he request his constitutional advisers at the head of the Executive Departments to unite with him, as Chief Magistrate of the nation, at the City of Washington, and the members of Congress, and all magistrates, all civil, military, and naval officers, all soldiers, sailors, and marines, with all loyal and law-abiding people, to convene at their usual places of worship, or wherever they may be, to confess and to repent of their manifold sins, to implore the compassion and forgiveness of the Almighty, that if consistent with His will, the existing rebellion may be speedily suppressed, and the supremacy of the Constitution and laws of the United States may be established throughout all the States; to implore Him, as the Supreme Ruler of the world, not to destroy us as a people, nor suffer us to be destroyed by the hostility or connivance of other nations, or by obstinate adhesion to our own counsels which may be in conflict with His eternal purposes, and to implore Him to enlighten the mind of the nation to know and do His will, humbly believing that it is in accordance with His will that our place should be maintained as a united people among the family of nations; to implore Him to grant to our armed defenders, and the masses of the people, that courage, power of resistance, and endurance necessary to secure that result; to implore Him in His infinite goodness to soften the hearts, enlighten the minds, and quicken the conscience of those in rebellion, that they may lay down their arms, and speedily return to their allegiance to the United States, that they may not be utterly destroyed, that the effusion of blood may be stayed, and that unity and fraternity may be restored, and peace established throughout all our borders. Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, cordially concurring with the Congress of the United States, in the peni tential and pious sentiments expressed in the aforesaid resolutions, and heartily approving of the devotional design and purpose thereof, do hereby appoint the first Thursday of August next to be observed by the people of the United States as a day of national humiliation and prayer.

I do hereby further invite and request the heads of the Executive Departinents of this Government, together with all legislators, all judges and magistrates, and all other persons exercising authority in the land, whether civil, military, or naval, and all soldiers, seamen, and marines in the national service, and all the other loyal and law-abiding people of the United States, to assemble in their preferred places of public worship on that day, and there to render to the Almighty and merciful Ruler of the

Universe, such homage and such confessions, and to offer to Him such supplications as the Congress of the United States have, in their aforesaid resolution, so solemnly, so earnestly, and so reverently recommended.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

(L. 8.]

Done at the City of Washington this seventh day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-ninth. By the President:

WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

The depressing effect of the apparent check in the onward movement of the work of suppressing the rebellion was, however, much alleviated by the news which arrived on the 6th of July, of the sinking of the rebel cruiser Alabama, on the 19th of June, off Cherbourg, by the Kearsarge, under the command of Captain Winslow. Opportunities for our navy to distinguish itself in battle, except with forts, had been rare, and great rejoicing was felt that Semmes, the commander of the Alabama, had at last given to the Kearsarge an opportunity to prove, in sight of France and England, that Yankee ships and guns and men were, as of old, dangerous enemies in an encounter. The Shenandoah Valley had been laid open by Hunter's movement into West Virginia, and the rebels took advantage of it to make a push northward. They crossed the Potomac in considerable force, commanded by General Early, and on the 9th of July defeated our troops under General Wallace, at Monocacy. The President called for twelve thousand militia from each of the States of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New York, to meet this invasion, from which both Baltimore and Washington were felt to be in some danger. A bold company of raiders even burned the house of Governor Bradford, only four miles from Baltimore, and, passing north of Baltimore, cut the Philadelphia and Baltimore Railroad, capturing two trains of cars. One of the passengers on the cars was Major-General Franklin, who was taken prisoner, but afterwards succeeded in making his escape near Reisterstown. The raiders met little opposition through the coun

try, one striking exception being the conduct of old Ishmael Day, a man of eighty-three years, who, when a couple of rebels undertook to pull down a flag which was flying over his gate, shot one of them and forced the other to retreat. A larger company of them, however, came and burned the old man's house, but did not succeed in finding him. Extensive preparations were made at Baltimore to resist an attack, and the general loyalty of the city was in marked contrast with its attitude at the outset of the rebellion. The militia gathered fast from the loyal States. General Grant had also sent up the Sixth Corps of the Army of the Potomac to aid in the defence of Washington. The Nineteenth Corps, which had just arrived from New Orleans, was also sent thither; and on the 13th of July, the rebel forces, which had for the two days previous skirmished smartly in front of Fort Stevens, near Washington, determined to retreat; and by the end of that week they were all south of the Potomac, having carried off great quantities of plunder and spread great consternation through Maryland and the lower part of Pennsylvania, but not having succeeded at all in compelling General Grant to loosen his hold upon Petersburg.

Nor was this the only raid which the rebels undertook. In Kentucky they had made great disturbances under John Morgan, which, though checked by his rout by General Burbridge, at Cynthiana, continued, and were receiving so much countenance from rebel sympathizers in the State, that the President deemed it wise to declare martial law throughout the State, which was done by the following proclamation :

By the President of the United States of America.

PROCLAMATION.

WASHINGTON, Tuesday, July 5. WHEREAS, by a proclamation which was issued on the 15th day of April, 1861, the President of the United States announced and declared that the laws of the United States had been for some time past, and then were opposed, and the execution thereof obstructed in certain States therein mentioned, by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings or by the power vested in the marshals by law; and

Whereas, immediately after the issuing of the said proclamation the land and naval forces of the United States were put into activity to suppress the said insurrections and rebellion; and

Whereas, the Congress of the United States, by an act approved on the third day of March, 1863, did enact that during the said rebellion the President of the United States, whenever in his judgment the public safety may require it, is authorized to suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in any case throughout the United States, or any part thereof; and

Whereas, the said insurrection and rebellion still continue, endangering the existence of the Constitution and Government of the United States; and Whereas, the military forces of the United States are now actively engaged in suppressing the said insurrection and rebellion in various parts of the States where the said rebellion has been successful in obstructing the laws and public authorities, especially in the States of Virginia and Georgia; and

Whereas, on the fifteenth day of September last, the President of the United States duly issued his proclamation, wherein he declared that the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus should be suspended throughout the United States, in cases where by the authority of the President of the United States, the military, naval, and civil officers of the United States, or any of them, hold persons under their command or in their custody, either as prisoners of war, spies, or aiders or abettors of the enemy, or officers, soldiers, or seamen enrolled or drafted, or mustered, or enlisted in, or belonging to the land or naval forces of the United States, or as deserters therefrom, or otherwise amenable to military law, or the rules and articles of war, or the rules and regulations prescribed for the military and naval service by authority of the President of the United States, or for resisting a draft, or for any other offence against the military or naval service; and

Whereas, many citizens of the State of Kentucky have joined the forces of the insurgents, who have on several occasions entered the said State of Kentucky in large force and not without aid and comfort furnished by disaffected and disloyal citizens of the United States residing therein, have not only greatly disturbed the public peace but have overborne the civil authorities and made flagrant civil war, destroying property and life in various parts of the State; and

Whereas, it has been made known to the President of the United States, by the officers commanding the National armies, that combinations have been formed in the said State of Kentucky, with a purpose of inciting tho rebel forces to renew the said operations of civil war within the said State, and thereby to embarrass the United States armies now operating in the said States of Virginia and Georgia, and even to endanger their safety.

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws, do hereby declare that in my judgment the public safety especially requires

that the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus so proclaimed in the said proclamation of the 15th of September, 1863, be made effectual and be duly enforced in and throughout the said State of Kentucky, and that martial law be for the present declared therein. I do therefore hereby require of the military officers in the said State that the privilege of the habeas corpus be effectually suspended within the said State, according to the aforesaid proclamation, and that martial law be established therein to take effect from the date of this proclamation, the said suspension and establishment of martial law to continue until this proclamation shall be revoked or modified, but not beyond the period. when the said rebellion shall have been suppressed or come to an end. And I do hereby require and command, as well as military officers, all civil officers and authorities existing or found within the said State of Kentucky, to take notice of this proclamation and to give full effect to the same. The martial laws herein proclaimed and the things in that respect herein ordered will not be deemed or taken to interfere with the holding of lawful elections, or with the proceedings of the constitutional Legislature of Kentucky, or with the administration of justice in the courts of law existing therein between citizens of the United States in suits or proceedings which do not affect the military operations or the constituted authorities of the Government of the United States.

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 5th day of July, in the year [L. 8.] of our Lord 1864, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-eighth. ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:

WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.

While the loyal States were thus engaged in repelling rebel raids and strengthening the armies, General Sherman continued his victorious campaign. His assault upon Kenesaw was a failure, because of the strength of the rebel works; but a repetition of the flanking system drove Johnston out of them across the Chattahoochee, which our army crossed on the 11th of July. By a movement of his left wing, General Sherman at once seized Decatur, only six miles from Atlanta, and severed the railroad between Atlanta and Augusta, by which time the dissatisfaction, which had been felt in rebeldom with Johnston's continued falling back, culminated in his removal on the 17th of July, and the appointment of General Hood in his