Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 13.djvu/764

 736 APPENDIX. except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancin armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the Eelds of peaceful industry to the national defence have not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the shi ; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefdeld, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand worked out these reat thinos. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing wiih us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American people. I do, therefore, invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a Day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that, while offering up the ascriptions justly)due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with hum le penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sulferers, in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation, and torestore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity, and union. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be aflixed. Done at the city of Washington, this third day of October, in the year [L. s.] of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-eighth. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. By the President : VVILLIAM H. Snwaiw, Secretary of State. No. 10. Oct. 17, 1863. BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A PROCLAMATION. Preamble. WHEREAS, the term of service of a part of the volunteer forces of the United States will expire during the coming year; and whereas, in addition to the men raised by the present draft, it is deemed expedient to call out three hundred thousand volunteers to serve for three years or the war, not however exceeding three years: thThreedhundred New, therefore, I, Amzsnam Lmcomr, President of the United States and “%‘;§”·?0r “‘°° Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy thereof, and of the militia of the ' several states when called into actual service, do issue this my proclamation, calling upon the governors of the diiferent states to raise and have enlisted into the United States service, for the various companies and regiments in the field from their respective states, their quotas of three hundred thousand men. Vplunteerg fg I further proclaim that all volunteers thus called out and duly enlisted shall receive advance receive advance pay, premium, and bounty, as heretofore communicated to the P“Y· b°“"t5’» &°· governors of states by the War Department, through the provost—marshal gen eral’s office, by special letters. to be credited I further proc aim that all volunteers received under this call, as well as all to state. others not heretofore credited, shall be duly credited on, and deducted from, the quotas established for the next draft.