it known, that I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the
United States of America, have granted and do hereby grant unto him, the
said Nathaniel Gordon, a respite of the above recited sentence, until
Friday the twenty-first day of February, A.D. 1862, between the hours of
twelve o'clock at noon and three o'clock in the afternoon of the said day,
when the said sentence shall be executed.

In granting this respite, it becomes my painful duty to admonish the
prisoner that, relinquishing all expectation of pardon by human authority,
he refer himself alone to the mercy of the common God and Father of all
men.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this fourth day of February, A.D. 1862,
and of the independence of the United States the eighty-sixth.

A. LINCOLN.

By the President: WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.

MESSAGE TO THE SENATE.

WASHINGTON CITY, February 4. 1862

To THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES:

The third section of the "Act further to promote the efficiency of the
Navy," approved December 21, 1862, provides:

"That the President of the United States, by and with the advice and
consent of the Senate, shall have the authority to detail from the retired
list of the navy for the command of squadrons and single ships such
officers as he may believe that the good of the service requires to be
thus placed in command; and such officers may, if upon the recommendation
of the President of the United States they shall receive a vote of thanks
of Congress for their services and gallantry in action against an enemy,
be restored to the active list, and not otherwise."

In conformity with this law, Captain Samuel F. Du Pont, of the navy, was
nominated to the Senate for continuance as the flag-officer in command of
the squadron which recently rendered such important service to the Union
in the expedition to the coast of South Carolina.

Believing that no occasion could arise which would more fully correspond
with the intention of the law, or be more pregnant with happy influence as
an example, I cordially recommend that Captain Samuel F. Du Pont receive a
vote of thanks of Congress for his services and gallantry displayed in the
capture of Forts Walker and Beauregard, commanding the entrance of Port
Royal Harbor, on the 7th of November, 1861.

A. LINCOLN.

TO GENERALS D. HUNTER AND J. H. LANE.