On the 27th of April the President issued a proclamation by which the blockade of Southern ports was extended to the ports of North Carolina and Virginia.  And on the 16th of May, by another proclamation, the President directed the commander of the United States forces in Florida to “permit no person to exercise any office or authority upon the islands of Key West, Tortugas, and Santa Rosa, which may be inconsistent with the laws and Constitution of the United States; authorizing him, at the same time, if he shall find it necessary, to suspend the writ of habeas corpus, and to remove from the vicinity of the United States fortresses all dangerous and suspected persons.”

The Virginia Convention which passed the ordinance of secession (April 17) having appointed a committee to wait upon the President and “respectfully ask him to communicate to this Convention the policy which the Federal Executive intends to pursue in regard to the Confederate States,” Lincoln in reply thus clearly outlined the policy and purposes of the Government: 

In answer I have to say, that having at the beginning of my official term expressed my intended policy as plainly as I was able, it is with deep regret and mortification I now learn there is great and injurious uncertainty in the public mind as to what that policy is and what course I intend to pursue.  Not having as yet seen occasion to change, it is now my purpose to pursue the course marked out in the Inaugural Address.  I commend a careful consideration of the whole document as the best expression I can give to my purposes.  As I then and therein said, I now repeat:  “The power confided in me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess property and places belonging to the Government, and to collect the duties and imposts; but beyond what is necessary for these objects there will be no invasion, no using of force against or among the people anywhere.”  By the words “property and places belonging to the Government,” I chiefly allude to the military posts and property which were in possession of the Government when it came into my hands.  But if, as now appears to be true, in pursuit of a purpose to drive the United States authority from these places, an unprovoked assault has been made upon Fort Sumter, I shall hold myself at liberty to repossess, if I can, like places which had been seized before the Government was devolved upon me; and in any event I shall, to the best of my ability, repel force by force.  In case it proves true that Fort Sumter has been assaulted, as is reported, I shall, perhaps, cause the United States mails to be withdrawn from all the States which claim to have seceded, believing that the commencement of actual war against the Government justifies and possibly demands it.  I scarcely need to say that I consider the military posts and property situated within the States which claim to have seceded, as yet belonging to the Government of the United States as much as they did before the supposed