WASHINGTON, May 26,
1862.
To the SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:
The insurrection which is yet existing in the United States,
and aims at the overthrow of the Federal Constitution and the Union, was
clandestinely prepared during the winter of 1860 and 1861, and assumed an open
organization in the form of a treasonable Provisional Government at Montgomery,
in Alabama, on the 18th day of February, 1861. On the 12th day of April, 1861,
the insurgents committed the flagrant act of civil war by the bombardment and
capture of Fort Sumter, which cut off the hope of immediate conciliation.
Immediately afterward all the roads and avenues to this city were obstructed,
and the capital was put into the condition of a siege. The mails in every
direction were stopped, and the lines of telegraph cut off by the insurgents,
and military and naval forces, which had been called out by the Government for
the defense of Washington, were prevented from reaching the city by organized
and combined treasonable resistance in the State of Maryland. There was no
adequate and effective organization for the public defense. Congress had
indefinitely adjourned. There was no time to convene them. It became necessary
for me to choose whether, using only the existing means, agencies, and
processes which Congress had provided, I should let the Government fall at once
into ruin, or whether, availing myself of the broader powers conferred by the
Constitution in cases of insurrection, I would make an effort to save it with
all its blessings for the present age and for posterity. I thereupon summoned
my constitutional advisers — the heads of all the Departments — to meet on
Sunday, the 20th [21st] day of April, 1861, at the office of the Navy
Department, and then and there, with their unanimous concurrence, I directed
that an armed revenue cutter should proceed to sea, to afford protection to the
commercial marine, and especially the California treasure ships, then on their
way to this coast. I also directed the commandant of the navy-yard at Boston to
purchase or charter, and arm as quickly as possible, five steam-ships, for
purposes of public defense. I directed the commandant of the navy-yard at
Philadelphia to purchase, or charter and arm, an equal number for the same
purpose. I directed the commandant at New York to purchase, or charter and arm,
an equal number. I directed Commander Gillis to purchase, or charter and arm,
and put to sea two other vessels. Similar directions were given to Commodore Du
Pont with a view to the opening of passages by water to and from the capital. I
directed the several officers to take the advice and obtain the aid and
efficient services in the matter of His Excellency Edwin D. Morgan, Governor of
New York, or in his absence, George D. Morgan, William M. Evarts, R. M.
Blatchford, and Moses H. Grinnell, who were by my direction especially
empowered by the Secretary of the Navy to act for his Department in that crisis
in matters pertaining to the forwarding of troops and supplies for the public
defense. On the same occasion I directed that Governor Morgan and Alexander
Cummings, of the city of New York, should be authorized by the Secretary of
War, Simon Cameron, to make all necessary arrangements for the transportation
of troops and munitions of war in aid and assistance of the officers of the
Army of the United States until communication by mails and telegraph should be
completely re-established between the cities of Washington and New York. No
security was required to be given by them, and either of them was authorized to
act in case of inability to consult with the other. On the same occasion I
authorized and directed the Secretary of the Treasury to advance, without
requiring security, $2,000,000 of public money to John A. Dix, George Opdyke,
and Richard M. Blatchford, of New York, to be used by them in meeting such
requisitions as should be directly consequent upon military and naval measures
necessary for the defense and support of the Government, requiring them only to
act without compensation, and to report their transactions when duly called
upon.
The several departments of the Government at that time
contained so large a number of disloyal persons that it would have been
impossible to provide safely, through official agents only, for the performance
of the duties thus confided to citizens favorably known for their ability,
loyalty, and patriotism. The several orders issued upon these occurrences were
transmitted by private messengers, who pursued a circuitous way to the
sea-board cities, inland, across the States of Pennsylvania and Ohio and the
Northern Lakes. I believe that by these and other similar measures taken in
that crisis, some of which were without any authority of law, the Government
was saved from overthrow. I am not aware that a dollar of the public funds thus
confided without authority of law to unofficial persons was either lost or
wasted, although apprehensions of such misdirection occurred to me as
objections to those extraordinary proceedings, and were necessarily overruled.
I recall these transactions now because my attention has been directed to a
resolution which was passed by the House of Representatives on the 30th day of
last month, which is in these words:
Resolved, That Simon Cameron,
late Secretary of War, by investing Alexander Cummings with the control of
large sums of the public money, and authority to purchase military supplies
without restriction, without requiring from him any guarantee for the faithful
performance of his duties, when the services of competent public officers were
available, and by involving the Government in a vast number of contracts with
persons not legitimately engaged in the business pertaining to the
subject-matter of such contracts, especially in the purchase of arms for future
delivery, has adopted a policy highly injurious to the public service, and deserves
the censure of the House.
Congress will see that I should be wanting equally in candor
and in justice if I should leave the censure expressed in this resolution to
rest exclusively or chiefly upon Mr. Cameron. The same sentiment is unanimously
entertained by the heads of Departments, who participated in the proceedings
which the House of Representatives has censured. It is due Mr. Cameron to say
that, although he fully approved the proceedings, they were not moved nor
suggested by himself, and that not only the President but all the other heads
of Departments were at least equally responsible with him for whatever error,
wrong, or fault was committed in the premises.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
SOURCES: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of
the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series III, Volume
2 (Serial No. 123), p. 73-5
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