shed in certain papers; among them the New York "World". The
following is a copy:

Executive Mansion, May 17, 1864.

Fellow Citizens of the United States:

In all seasons of exigency it becomes a nation carefully to
scrutinize its line of conduct, humbly to approach the throne
of Grace, and meekly to implore forgiveness, wisdom, and
guidance.

For reasons known only to Him, it has been decreed that this
country should be the scene of unparalleled outrage, and this
nation the monumental sufferer of the nineteenth century. With
a heavy heart, but an undiminished confidence in our cause, I
approach the performance of a duty rendered imperative by my
sense of weakness before Almighty God and of justice to the
people.

It is not necessary that I should tell you that the first
Virginia campaign, under Lieut. General Grant, in whom I have
every confidence, and whose courage and fidelity the people do
well to honor, is virtually closed. He has conducted his great
enterprise with discreet ability. He has crippled their
strength and defeated their plans.

In view, however, of the situation in Virginia, the disaster
at Red river, the delay at Charleston, and the general state
of the country, I, Abraham Lincoln, do hereby recommend that
Thursday, the 26th day of May, A.D., 1864, be solemnly set
apart throughout these United States as a day of fasting,
humiliation and prayer.

Deeming, furthermore, that the present condition of public
affairs presents an extraordinary occasion, and in view of the
pending expiration of the service of (100,000) one hundred
thousand of our troops, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the
United States, by virtue of the power vested in me by the
Constitution and the laws, have thought fit to call forth, and
hereby do call forth the citizens of the United States between
the ages of (18) eighteen and (45) forty-five years, to the
aggregate number of (400,000) four hundred thousand, in order
to suppress the existing rebellious combinations, and to cause
the due execution of the laws.

And, furthermore, in case any State or number of States shall
fail to furnish by the fifteenth day of June next their
assigned quotas, it is hereby ordered that the same be raised
by immediate and peremptory draft. The