not to any extent
with the Executive."

The Union men in Louisiana had been so encouraged by the admission of
Flanders and Hahn to seats in Congress, that they were active in the
year 1863 in maturing schemes for re-establishing a loyal State
government. But the decisive step was not taken until the opening of
the ensuing hear. On the 8th of January, 1864, a large Free-State
Convention was held in New Orleans, which proved to be in harmony with
the National Administration at all points, accepting the emancipation
policy of the President as the basis of all their action. General
Banks, then in command of the military district, at once issued a
proclamation as requested by the convention, appointing an election for
State officers on the 22d of February--the officers chosen, to be
installed on the 4th of March. Michael Hahn was elected governor as
the especial representative of the President's firm yet cautious and
moderate policy. B. F. Flanders and C. Roselius were the opposing
candidates, the former representing a more radical the latter a more
conservative policy than the President was willing to accept.

Mr. Hahn was duly installed in office on the 4th of March, and on the
15th the President issued an order declaring the new governor to be
"invested until further orders with the powers exercised hitherto by
the military governor of Louisiana." In a personal note to Governor
Hahn at the same time the President said, "I congratulate you on having
fixed your name in history as the first Free-State Governor of
Louisiana. Now you are about to have a convention which among other
things will probably define the elective franchise. I barely suggest
for your private consideration whether some of the colored people may
not be let in, as for instance the very intelligent and especially
those who have fought gallantly in our ranks. They would probably help
in some trying time in the future to keep the jewel of Liberty in the
family of Freedom." The form of the closing expression, quite unusual
in Mr. Lincoln's compact style, may have been pleonastic, but his
meaning was one of deep and almost prophetic significance. It was
perhaps the earliest proposition from any authentic source to endow
the negro with the right of suffrage, and was an indirect but most
effective answer to those who subsequently attempted to use Mr.
Lincoln's name in support of policies which his intimate friends
instinctively knew would be abhorre