Sumter, I shall hold myself at liberty to repossess, if I
can, like places which had been seized before the Government was devolved
upon me. And in every event I shall, to the extent of my ability,
repel force by force. In case it proves true that Fort Sumter has been
assaulted, as is reported, I shall perhaps cause the United States mails
to be withdrawn from all the States which claim to have seceded, believing
that the commencement of actual war against the Government justifies and
possibly demands this.

I scarcely need to say that I consider the military posts and property
situated within the States which claim to have seceded as yet belonging
to the Government of the United States as much as they did before the
supposed secession.

Whatever else I may do for the purpose, I shall not attempt to collect the
duties and imposts by any armed invasion of any part of the country; not
meaning by this, however, that I may not land a force deemed necessary to
relieve a fort upon a border of the country.

From the fact that I have quoted a part of the inaugural address, it must
not be inferred that I repudiate any other part, the whole of which I
reaffirm, except so far as what I now say of the mails may be regarded as
a modification.

PROCLAMATION CALLING FOR 75,000 MILITIA,

AND CONVENING CONGRESS IN EXTRA SESSION, APRIL 15, 1861.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:

A Proclamation.

Whereas the laws of the United States have been for some time past and now
are opposed, and the execution thereof obstructed, in the States of South
Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas,
by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of
judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in the marshals bylaw:

Now, therefore, I, A. LINCOLN, President of the United States, in virtue
of the power in me vested by the Constitution and the laws, have thought
fit to call forth, and hereby do call forth, the militia of the several
States of the Union, to the aggregate number of seventy-five thousand,
in order to suppress said combinations, and to cause the laws to be duly
executed.

The details for this object will be immediately communicated to the State
authorities through the War Department.

I appeal to all loyal citizens to favor, facilitate, and aid this effort
to maintain the honor, the integrity, and the existence of our National
Union, and the perpetuity of