nd they did their duty grandly!--Oh, Mr. President, we owe so
much to them! I should so much like, when I go back, to take them their
promotions.' 'It shall be done!' was Lincoln's hearty response, and on
the instant the promotions were ordered, and General Burnside had the
pleasure of taking back with him to Foster, Reno, and Parke their
commissions as Major-Generals."

Our brightening prospects impelled the President to issue, on the 10th
of April, the following proclamation, breathing his deeply religious
spirit:

It has pleased Almighty God to vouchsafe signal victories to the
land and naval forces engaged in suppressing an internal rebellion,
and at the same time to avert from our country the dangers of
foreign intervention and invasion. It is therefore recommended to
the people of the United States that at their next weekly
assemblages in their accustomed places of public worship which
shall occur after the notice of this Proclamation shall have been
received, they especially acknowledge and render thanks to our
Heavenly Father for these inestimable blessings; that they then and
there implore spiritual consolation in behalf of all those who have
been brought into affliction by the casualties and calamities of
sedition and civil war; and that they reverently invoke the Divine
guidance for our national counsels, to the end that they may
speedily result in the restoration of peace, harmony, and unity
throughout our borders, and hasten the establishment of fraternal
relations among all the countries of the earth.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

Early in May the President determined on a personal visit to Fortress
Monroe, in order to learn what he could from his own observation of
affairs in that region. The trip was a welcome respite from the cares
and burdens of official life, and he gave himself up, as far as he
could, to its enjoyment. The Secretary of War (Stanton) and the
Secretary of the Treasury (Chase) accompanied the President. A most
interesting account of the expedition is given by General Viele, who was
a member of the party and thus had an opportunity to observe Lincoln
closely. "When on the afternoon of May 4," says General Viele, "I was
requested by the Secretary of War to meet him within an hour at the
navy-yard, with the somewhat mysterious caution to speak to no one of my
movements, I had no conception whatever of the purpose