d the American continent? In case the referee shall
find himself unable to decide where the line is by the description of it
in the treaty of 15th June, 1846, shall he be authorized to establish a
line according to the treaty as nearly as possible? Which of the three
powers named by Great Britain as an arbiter shall be chosen by the
United States?

I find no reason to disapprove of the course of my predecessor in this
important matter, but, on the contrary, I not only shall receive the
advice of the Senate therein cheerfully, but I respectfully ask the
Senate for their advice on the three questions before recited.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

WASHINGTON, _March 26, 1861_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I have received a copy of a resolution of the Senate passed on the
25th instant, requesting me, if in my opinion not incompatible with the
public interest, to communicate to the Senate the dispatches of Major
Robert Anderson to the War Department during the time he has been in
command of Fort Sumter.

On examining the correspondence thus called for I have, with the highest
respect for the Senate, come to the conclusion that at the present
moment the publication of it would be inexpedient.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

PROCLAMATIONS.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

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
by law:

Now, therefore, I, Abraham 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 75,000, 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 popular government and to redress wrongs
already long enough endured.

I deem it proper to say that the first ser