A. Lincoln.

FROM SECRETARY STANTON TO GOVERNOR SEYMOUR.

War department,
Washington, July 5, 1864.

His excellency Horatio Seymour,
Governor of New York, Albany: 

The President directs me to inform you that a rebel force, variously estimated at from fifteen to twenty thousand men, have invaded the State of Maryland, and have taken Martinsburg and Harper’s Ferry, and are threatening other points; that the public safety requires him to call upon the State executives for a militia force to repel this invasion.  He therefore directs me to call on you for a militia force of twelve thousand men from your State to serve not more than one hundred days, and to request that you will with the utmost despatch forward the troops to Washington by rail or steamboat as may be most expeditious.

Please favor me with an answer at your earliest convenience.

Edwin M. Stanton,

Secretary of War.

PROCLAMATION SUSPENDING THE WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS,

July 5, 1864.

By the president of the united states: 

A Proclamation.

Whereas, by a proclamation which was issued on the 15th day of April, 1861, the President of the United States announced and declared that the laws of the United States had been for some time past, and then were, opposed and the execution thereof obstructed in certain States therein mentioned, by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings or by the power vested in the marshals by law; and

Whereas, immediately after the issuing of the said proclamation the land and naval forces of the United States were put into activity to suppress the said insurrections and rebellion; and

Whereas, the Congress of the United States, by an act approved on the third day of March, 1863, did enact that during the said rebellion the President of the United States, whenever in his judgment the public safety may require it, is authorized to suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in any case throughout the United States, or any part thereof; and

Whereas, the said insurrection and rebellion still continue, endangering the existence of the Constitution and Government of the United States; and

Whereas, the military forces of the United States are now actively engaged in suppressing the said insurrection and rebellion in various parts of the States where the said rebellion has been successful in obstructing the laws and public authorities, especially in the States of Virginia and Georgia; and