pture of Newbern, being in
chief command of the naval forces.

Commander David D. Porter, for distinguished services in the conception
and preparation of the means used for the capture of the forts below New
Orleans, and for highly meritorious conduct in the management of the
mortar flotilla during the bombardment of Forts Jackson and St. Philip.

Captain Silas H. Stringham, now on the retired list, for distinguished
services in the capture of Forts Hatteras and Clark.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

WASHINGTON, _July 12, 1862_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I transmit a report of the Secretary of State upon the subject of the
resolution of the House of Representatives of the 9th ultimo, requesting
information in regard to the relations between the United States and
foreign powers.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

WASHINGTON, D.C., _July 14, 1862_.

_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives_:

Herewith is a draft of a bill to compensate any State which may abolish
slavery within its limits, the passage of which substantially as
presented I respectfully and earnestly recommend.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

_Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled_, That whenever the President of
the United States shall be satisfied that any State shall have lawfully
abolished slavery within and throughout such State, either immediately
or gradually, it shall be the duty of the President, assisted by the
Secretary of the Treasury, to prepare and deliver to such State an
amount of 6 per cent interest-bearing bonds of the United States equal
to the aggregate value at $---- per head of all the slaves within such
State as reported by the census of the year 1860; the whole amount for
any one State to be delivered at once if the abolishment be immediate,
or in equal annual installments if it be gradual, interest to begin
running on each bond at the time of its delivery, and not before.

_And be it further enacted_, That if any State, having so received any
such bonds, shall at any time afterwards by law reintroduce or tolerate
slavery within its limits contrary to the act of abolishment upon which
such bonds shall have been received, said bonds so received by said
State shall at once be null and void, in whosesoever hands they may be,
and such State shall refund to the United States all interest which may
have been paid on su