he bombardment of their
cities and, in the extremist necessity, the suspension of the writ of
habeas corpus.

Your obedient servant,

A. LINCOLN.

PROCLAMATION OF BLOCKADE, APRIL 27, 1861

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:

A Proclamation.

Whereas, for the reasons assigned in my proclamation of the nineteenth
instant, a blockade of the ports of the States of South Carolina, Georgia,
Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas was ordered to be
established:

And whereas, since that date, public property of the United States
has been seized, the collection of the revenue obstructed, and duly
commissioned officers of the United States, while engaged in executing
the orders of their superiors, have been arrested and held in custody as
prisoners, or have been impeded in the discharge of their official duties,
without due legal process, by persons claiming to act under authorities of
the States of Virginia and North Carolina:

An efficient blockade of the ports of those States will also be
established.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the
United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this twenty seventh day of April, in the
year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, and of the
independence of the United States the eighty-fifth.

A. LINCOLN.

REMARKS TO A MILITARY COMPANY, WASHINGTON, APRIL 27, 1861

I have desired as sincerely as any man, and I sometimes think more than
any other man, that our present difficulties might be settled without the
shedding of blood. I will not say that all hope has yet gone; but if the
alternative is presented whether the Union is to be broken in fragments
and the liberties of the people lost, or blood be shed, you will probably
make the choice with which I shall not be dissatisfied.

LOCALIZED REPEAL OF WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS

TO GENERAL SCOTT.

TO THE COMMANDING GENERAL, ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES.

You are engaged in suppressing an insurrection against the laws of the
United States. If at any point on or in the vicinity of any military line
which is now or which shall be used between the City of Philadelphia and
the city of Washington you find resistance which renders it necessary to
suspend the writ of habeas corpus for the public safety, you personally,
or through the officer in command at the point at which resistance occurs,
are authorized to suspend that