me by the said act of
Congress, do hereby license and permit such commercial intercourse between
the citizens of loyal States and the inhabitants of such insurrectionary
States in the cases and under the restrictions described and expressed in
the regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury bearing
even date with these presents, or in such other regulations as he may
hereafter, with my approval, prescribe.

A. LINCOLN.

TO GENERAL D. HUNTER.

(Private.) EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, D. C April 1, 1863.

MAJOR-GENERAL HUNTER.

MY DEAR SIR:--I am glad to see the accounts of your colored force at
Jacksonville, Florida. I see the enemy are driving at them fiercely, as is
to be expected. It is important to the enemy that such a force shall not
take shape and grow and thrive in the South, and in precisely the same
proportion it is important to us that it shall. Hence the utmost caution
and vigilance is necessary on our part. The enemy will make extra efforts
to destroy them, and we should do the same to preserve and increase them.

Yours truly,

A. LINCOLN.

PROCLAMATION ABOUT COMMERCIAL INTERCOURSE, APRIL 2, 1863

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:

A Proclamation.

Whereas, in pursuance of the act of Congress approved July 13, 1861, I
did, by proclamation dated August 16, 1861, declare that the inhabitants
of the States of Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, North Carolina,
Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Florida
(except the inhabitants of that part of Virginia lying west of the
Alleghany Mountains, and of such other parts of that State and the other
States hereinbefore named as might maintain a legal adhesion to the Union
and the Constitution or might be from time to time occupied and controlled
by forces of the United States engaged in the dispersion of said
insurgents) were in a state of insurrection against the United States,
and that all commercial intercourse between the same and the inhabitants
thereof, with the exceptions aforesaid, and the citizens of other States
and other parts of the United States was unlawful and would remain
unlawful until such insurrection should cease or be suppressed, and that
all goods and chattels, wares and merchandise, coming from any of said
States, with the exceptions aforesaid, into other parts of the United
States without the license and permission of the President, through the
Secretary of th