h seek one end, which is the saving of our
country. Now, Governor, this is a longer letter than I have written in
a month,--longer than I would have written for any other man than Horace
Greeley.

Your friend, truly,

A. LINCOLN.

P. S.--The sooner Gilmore sees Greeley the better, as you may before long
think it wise to ventilate our policy on the Trent affair.

ORDER AUTHORIZING GENERAL HALLECK TO SUSPEND THE WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS,

DECEMBER 2, 1861.

MAJOR-GENERAL H. W. HALLECK, Commanding in the Department of Missouri.

GENERAL:--As an insurrection exists in the United States, and is in arms
in the State of Missouri, you are hereby authorized and empowered to
suspend the writ of habeas corpus within the limits of the military
division under your command, and to exercise martial law as you find it
necessary in your discretion to secure the public safety and the authority
of the United States.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the
United States to be affixed at Washington, this second day of December,
A.D. 1861.

A. LINCOLN.

By the President: WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.

ANNUAL MESSAGE TO CONGRESS.

WASHINGTON, December 3, 1861

FELLOW-CITIZENS OF THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:--In the midst
of unprecedented political troubles we have cause of great gratitude to
God for unusual good health and most abundant harvests.

You will not be surprised to learn that in the peculiar exigencies of the
times our intercourse with foreign nations has been attended with profound
solicitude, chiefly turning upon our own domestic affairs.

A disloyal portion of the American people have during the whole year been
engaged in an attempt to divide and destroy the Union. A nation which
endures factious domestic division is exposed to disrespect abroad,
and one party, if not both, is sure sooner or later to invoke foreign
intervention.

Nations thus tempted to interfere are not always able to resist the
counsels of seeming expediency and ungenerous ambition, although measures
adopted under such influences seldom fail to be unfortunate and injurious
to those adopting them.

The disloyal citizens of the United States who have offered the ruin of
our country in return for the aid and comfort which they have invoked
abroad have received less patronage and encouragement than they probably
expected. If it were just to suppose, as the insurgents have s