, if they
would consent to come on being shown my letter to you of the 9th instant.
Show that and this to them, and if they will come on the terms stated in
the former, bring them. I not only intend a sincere effort for peace, but
I intend that you shall be a personal witness that it is made.

Yours truly,

A. LINCOLN.

SAFE CONDUCT FOR CLEMENT C. CLAY AND OTHERS,

JULY 16, 1864.

The President of the United States directs that the four persons whose
names follow, to wit, HON. Clement C. Clay, HON. Jacob Thompson, Professor
James P. Holcombe, George N. Sanders, shall have safe conduct to the city
of Washington in company with the HON. HORACE GREELEY, and shall be exempt
from arrest or annoyance of any kind from any officer of the United States
during their journey to the said city of Washington.

By order of the President: JOHN HAY, Major and Assistant Adjutant-General

TELEGRAM TO GENERAL U. S. GRANT. [WASHINGTON] July 17. 1864. 11.25 A.M.

LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT, City Point, Va.:

In your dispatch of yesterday to General Sherman, I find the following, to
wit:

"I shall make a desperate effort to get a position here, which will hold
the enemy without the necessity of so many men."

Pressed as we are by lapse of time I am glad to hear you say this; and yet
I do hope you may find a way that the effort shall not be desperate in the
sense of great loss of life.

A. LINCOLN, President.

TELEGRAM TO GENERAL D. HUNTER WASHINGTON JULY 17, 1864.

MAJOR-GENERAL HUNTER, Harper's Ferry, West Va.

Yours of this morning received. You misconceive. The order you complain of
was only nominally mine, and was framed by those who really made it with
no thought of making you a scapegoat. It seemed to be General Grant's wish
that the forces under General Wright and those under you should join and
drive at the enemy under General Wright. Wright had the larger part of the
force, but you had the rank. It was thought that you would prefer Crook's
commanding your part to your serving in person under Wright. That is all
of it. General Grant wishes you to remain in command of the department,
and I do not wish to order otherwise.

A. LINCOLN.

TELEGRAM TO GENERAL W. T. SHERMAN.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, July 18, 1864. 11.25 A.M.

MAJOR-GENERAL SHERMAN, Chattahoochee River, Georgia:

I have seen your despatches objecting to agents of Northern States opening
recruiting stations near your