person or persons that President Lincoln may appoint at such place as he may designate. Our earnest desire is that a just and honorable peace may be agreed upon, and we are prepared to receive or to submit propositions which may possibly lead to the attainment of that end. Very respectfully, yours, ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS. A note of these gentlemen, subsequently addressed to General Grant, has already been given in Major Eckert's dispatch of the 1st instant. I also here saw, for the first time, the following note, addressed by the Richmond gentlemen to Major Eckert: THOMAS T. ECKERT, Major and Aid-de-Camp. CITY POINT, VA., February 2, 1865. MAJOR: In reply to your verbal statement that your instructions did not allow you to alter the conditions upon which a passport could be given to us, we say that we are willing to proceed to Fortress Monroe and there to have an informal conference with any person or persons that President Lincoln may appoint on the basis of his letter to Francis P. Blair of the 18th of January ultimo, or upon any other terms or conditions that he may hereafter propose not inconsistent with the essential principles of self-government and popular rights, upon which our institutions are founded. It is our earnest wish to ascertain, after a free interchange of ideas and information, upon what principles and terms, if any, a just and honorable peace can be established without the further effusion of blood, and to contribute our utmost efforts to accomplish such a result. We think it better to add that in accepting your passport we are not to be understood as committing ourselves to anything but to carry to this informal conference the views and feelings above expressed.. Very respectfully, yours, etc., ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS. J. A. CAMPBELL. R. M. T. HUNTER. NOTE. The above communication was delivered to me at Fort Monroe at 4.30 p. m. February 2 by Lieutenant-Colonel Babcock, of General Grant's staff. THOMAS T. ECKERT, On the morning of the 3d the three gentlemen, Messrs. Stephens, Hunter, and Campbell, came aboard of our steamer and had an interview with the Secretary of State and myself of several hours' duration. No question of preliminaries to the meeting was then and there made or mentioned; no other person was present; no papers were exchanged or produced; and it was in advance agreed that the conversation was to be informal and verbal merely. On our part the whole substance of the instructions to the Secretary of State hereinbefore recited was stated and insisted upon, and nothing was said inconsistent therewith; while by the other party it was not said that in any event or on any condition they ever would consent to reunion, and yet they equally omitted to declare that they never would so consent. They seemed to desire a postponement of that question and the adoption of some other course first, which, as some of them seemed to argue, might or might not lead to reunion, but which course we thought would amount to an indefinite postponement. The conference ended without result. The foregoing, containing, as is believed, all the information sought, is respectfully submitted. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. WASHINGTON, February 13, 1865. To the Senate and House of Representatives: I transmit to Congress a copy of a dispatch of the 12th ultimo, addressed to the Secretary of State by the minister resident of the United States at Stockholm, relating to an international exhibition to be held at Bergen, in Norway, during the coming summer. The expediency of any legislation upon the subject is submitted for your consideration. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. WASHINGTON, February 13, 1865. To the Senate and House of Representatives: I transmit to Congress a copy of a note of the 2d instant, addressed to the Secretary of State by the Commander J. C. de Figaniere a Moraô, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of His Most Faithful Majesty the King of Portugal, calling attention to a proposed international exhibition at the city of Oporto, to be opened in August next, and inviting contributions thereto of the products of American manufactures and industry. The expediency of any legislation on the subject is submitted for your consideration. To the Senate of the United States: ABRAHAM LINCOLN. WASHINGTON, February 25, 1865. In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 23d instant, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War, with the accompanying General Orders, No. 23,* issued by Major-General Banks at New Orleans, February 3, 1864. To the Senate of the United States: ABRAHAM LINCOLN. EXECUTIVE MANSION, Washington, February 27, 1865. I herewith lay before the Senate, for its constitutional action thereon, a treaty made and concluded with the Klamath and Modoc tribes of Indians of Oregon, at Fort Klamath, on the 5th day of October, 1864. A letter of the Secretary of the Interior of this date, a copy of the * On the subject of compensated plantation labor, public or private. report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs of the 24th instant, and a communication of the superintendent of Indian affairs in Oregon accompany the treaty. Hon. H. HAMLIN, ABRAHAM LINCOLN. EXECUTIVE MANSION, Washington, D. C., February 28, 1865. President United States Senate. SIR: In reply to the resolution of the Senate dated February 14, 1865, I transmit herewith a communication from the Secretary of War, forwarding a copy of the report of the court of inquiry "in respect to the explosion of the mine in front of Petersburg." I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Hon. SCHUYLER COLFAX, ABRAHAM LINCOLN. WASHINGTON, D. C., March 2, 1865. Speaker of the House of Representatives: I transmit herewith the report of the Secretary of War, which, with my permission, has been delayed until the present time to enable the Lieutenant-General to furnish his report. A. LINCOLN. [The same message was addressed to the President of the Senate.] WASHINGTON, March 3, 1865. To the Senate and House of Representatives: I herewith transmit to Congress a report, dated 1st instant, with the accompanying papers, received from the Secretary of State in compliance with the requirements of the eighteenth section of the act entitled "An act to regulate the diplomatic and consular systems of the United States," approved August 18, 1856. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. VETO MESSAGE.* EXECUTIVE MANSION, January 5, 1865. To the House of Representatives of the United States: I herewith return to your honorable body, in which it originated, a "Joint resolution to correct certain clerical errors in the internal-revenue act," without my approval. My reason for so doing is that I am informed that this joint resolution *Pocket veto. was prepared during the last moments of the last session of Congress for the purpose of correcting certain errors of reference in the internal-revenue act which were discovered on an examination of an official copy procured from the State Department a few hours only before the adjournment. It passed the House and went to the Senate, where a vote was taken upon it, but by some accident it was not presented to the President of the Senate for his signature. Since the adjournment of the last session of Congress other errors of a kind similar to those which this resolution was designed to correct have been discovered in the law, and it is now thought most expedient to include all the necessary corrections in one act or resolution. The attention of the proper committee of the House has, I am informed, been already directed to the preparation of a bill for this purpose. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. PROCLAMATIONS. BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. A PROCLAMATION. Whereas by the act approved July 4, 1864, entitled "An act further to regulate and provide for the enrolling and calling out the national forces, and for other purposes," it is provided that the President of the United States may, "at his discretion, at any time hereafter, call for any number of men, as volunteers for the respective terms of one, two, and three years for military service," and "that in case the quota or any part thereof of any town, township, ward of a city, precinct, or election district, or of any county not so subdivided, shall not be filled within the space of fifty days after such call, then the President shall immediately order a draft for one year to fill such quota or any part thereof which may be unfilled;" and Whereas by the credits allowed in accordance with the act of Congress on the call for 500,000 men, made July 18, 1864, the number of men to be obtained under that call was reduced to 280,000; and Whereas the operations of the enemy in certain States have rendered it impracticable to procure from them their full quotas of troops under said call; and Whereas from the foregoing causes but 240,000 men have been put into the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps under the said call of July 18, 1864, leaving a deficiency on that call of two hundred and sixty thousand (260,000): Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America, in order to supply the aforesaid deficiency and to provide for casualties in the military and naval service of the United States, do issue this my call for three hundred thousand (300,000) volunteers to serve for one, two, or three years. The quotas of the States, districts, and subdistricts under this call will be assigned by the War Department through the bureau of the Provost-Marshal-General of the United States, and "in case the quota or any part thereof of any town, township, ward of a city, precinct, or election district, or of any county not so subdivided, shall not be filled" before the 15th day of February, 1865, then a draft shall be made to fill such quota or any part thereof under this call which may be unfilled on said 15th day of February, 1865. In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. [SEAL.] Done at the city of Washington, this 19th day of December, By the President: WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. A PROCLAMATION. Whereas the act of Congress of the 28th of September, 1850, entitled "An act to create additional collection districts in the State of California, and to change the existing districts therein, and to modify the existing collection districts in the United States," extends to merchandise warehoused under bond the privilege of being exported to the British North American Provinces adjoining the United States in the manner prescribed in the act of Congress of the 3d of March, 1845, which designates certain frontier ports through which merchandise may be exported, and further provides "that such other ports situated on the frontiers of the United States adjoining the British North American Provinces as may hereafter be found expedient may have extended to them the like privileges on the recommendation of the Secretary of the Treasury and proclamation duly made by the President of the United States specially designating the ports to which the aforesaid privileges are to be extended: " Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America, in accordance with the recommendation of the Secretary of the Treasury, do hereby declare and proclaim that the port of St. Albans, in the State of Vermont, is and shall be entitled to all the privileges in regard to the exportation of merchandise in bond to the British North American Provinces adjoining the United States which are extended to |