ace by the side of the
Declaration of Independence, with a bald statement that the freedmen
would be received "into the armed service of the United States to
garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man
vessels of all sorts in said service."

In the month of October, 1863, the ladies of Chicago made a request of
Mr. Lincoln for "the original" of his "proclamation of freedom," the
same to be disposed of "for the benefit of the soldiers." The letter
in their behalf was written by Mr. Arnold, who was then a member of
Congress. Improvidently, I think we may say, Mr. Lincoln yielded to
their request for the original draft of the Proclamation to be sold
for the benefit of the fair. Its transmission was accompanied by a
letter, written by Mr. Lincoln.

"EXECUTIVE MANSION,
"WASHINGTON,
"_October_ 26, 1863.

_"Ladies having in charge The North Western Fair for the Sanitary
Commission, Chicago, Ill._

"According to the request made in your behalf, the original draft of
the Emancipation Proclamation is herewith enclosed. The formal words
at the top and at the conclusion, except the signature, you perceive,
are not in my handwriting. They were written at the State Department,
by whom I know not. The printed part was cut from a copy of the
preliminary Proclamation and pasted on merely to save writing.

"I have some desire to retain the paper, but if it shall contribute
to the relief of the soldiers, that would be better.

"Your obt. servt.,
"A. LINCOLN."

In technical strictness the original Proclamation was of the archives
of the Department of State when the signature of the President and
Secretary of State had been affixed thereto, and its transfer by Mr.
Lincoln was an act not within his competency as President, or as the
author of the Proclamation.

This point, however, is wholly speculative, but the country and
posterity will be interested in the fate of the original of a document
which is as immortal as the Declaration of Independence. The
Proclamation was sold to the Honorable Thomas B. Bryan of Chicago for
the sum of three thousand dollars and it was then presented by him to
the Soldiers' Home of Chicago, of which he was then President. That
position he still retains. The document was deposited in the rooms of
the Chicago Historical Society, where it was destroyed in the great
fire of 1871.

Fortunately the managers of the fair had secured the preparation of
_fac simile_ copies