. Was this all
wrong? Should the enrolled militia then have been broken up and General
Herron kept from Grant to police Missouri? So far from finding cause to
object, I confess to a sympathy for whatever relieves our general force
in Missouri and allows it to serve elsewhere. I therefore, as at present
advised, cannot attempt the destruction of the enrolled militia of
Missouri. I may add that, the force being under the national military
control, it is also within the proclamation in regard to the habeas
corpus.

I concur in the propriety of your request in regard to elections, and
have, as you see, directed General Schofield accordingly. I do not feel
justified to enter upon the broad field you present in regard to the
political differences between Radicals and Conservatives. From time to
time I have done and said what appeared to me proper to do and say.
The public knows it all. It obliges nobody to follow me, and I trust it
obliges me to follow nobody. The Radicals and Conservatives each agree
with me in some things and disagree in others. I could wish both to agree
with me in all things, for then they would agree with each other, and
would be too strong for any foe from any quarter. They, however, choose to
do otherwise; and I do not question their right. I too shall do what
seems to be my duty. I hold whoever commands in Missouri or elsewhere
responsible to me and not to either Radicals or Conservatives. It is my
duty to hear all, but at last I must, within my sphere, judge what to do
and what to forbear.

Your obedient servant,

A. LINCOLN.

THE CASE OF DR. DAVID M. WRIGHT

APPROVAL OF THE DECISION OF THE COURT

WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERALS OFFICE,

WASHINGTON, October 8, 1863.

MAJOR-GENERAL J. G. FOSTER, Commanding Department of Virginia and North
Carolina, Fort Monroe, Va.

SIR:--The proceedings of the military commission instituted for the trial
of David Wright, of Norfolk, in Special Orders Nos. 195, 196, and 197, of
1863, from headquarters Department of Virginia, have been submitted to the
President of the United States. The following are his remarks on the case:

Upon the presentation of the record in this case and the examination
thereof, aided by the report thereon of the Judge-Advocate-General, and
on full hearing of counsel for the accused, being specified that no proper
question remained open except as to the sanity of the accused, I caused a
very full examination to be made