the river so that I might cast it in favor of allowing the negro to fight.  But they cannot fight and work both.  We must now see the bottom of the enemy’s resources.  They will stand out as long as they can, and if the negro will fight for them they must allow him to fight.  They have drawn upon their last branch of resources, and we can now see the bottom.  I am glad to see the end so near at hand.  I have said now more than I intended, and will therefore bid you good-by.

PROCLAMATION CONCERNING INDIANS,

March 17, 1865.

By the president of the united states of America: 

A Proclamation.

Whereas reliable information has been received that hostile Indians, within the limits of the United States, have been furnished with arms and munitions of war by persons dwelling in conterminous foreign territory, and are thereby enabled to prosecute their savage warfare upon the exposed and sparse settlements of the frontier;

Now, therefore, be it known that I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim and direct that all persons detected in that nefarious traffic shall be arrested and tried by court-martial at the nearest military post, and if convicted, shall receive the punishment due to their deserts.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal
of the United States to be affixed...................

Abraham Lincoln.

By the President: 
William H. Seward, Secretary of State.

ORDER ANNULLING THE SENTENCE AGAINST BENJAMIN G. SMITH AND FRANKLIN W. SMITH,

March 18, 1865.

I am unwilling for the sentence to stand, and be executed, to any extent in this case.  In the absence of a more adequate motive than the evidence discloses, I am wholly unable to believe in the existence of criminal or fraudulent intent on the part of men of such well established good character.  If the evidence went as far to establish a guilty profit of one or two hundred thousand dollars, as it does of one or two hundred dollars, the case would, on the question of guilt, bear a far different aspect.  That on this contract, involving some twelve hundred thousand dollars, the contractors would plan, and attempt to execute a fraud which, at the most, could profit them only one or two hundred, or even one thousand dollars, is to my mind beyond the power of rational belief.  That they did not, in such a case, make far greater gains, proves that they did not, with guilty or fraudulent intent, make at all.  The judgment and sentence are disapproved, and declared null, and the defendants are fully discharged.

A. Lincoln
March 18, 1865.

TELEGRAM TO GENERAL J. POPE.