TO POSTMASTER-GENERAL BLAIR.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, September 23, 1864.
HON. MONTGOMERY BLAIR.
MY DEAR SIR:--You have generously said to me, more than once, that whenever your resignation could be a relief to me, it was at my disposal. The time has come. You very well know that this proceeds from no dissatisfaction of mine with you personally or officially.
Your uniform kindness has been unsurpassed by that of any other friend, and while it is true that the war does not so greatly add to the difficulties of your department as to those of some others, it is yet much to say, as I most truly can, that in the three years and a half during which you have administered the General Post-Office, I remember no single complaint against you in connection therewith.
Yours, as ever, A. LINCOLN.
ORDER CONCERNING THE PURCHASE OF PRODUCTS IN INSURRECTIONARY STATES.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, September 24, 1864.
I. Congress having authorized the purchase for the United States of the products of States declared in insurrection, and the Secretary of the Treasury having designated New Orleans, Memphis, Nashville, Pensacola, Port Royal, Beaufort (North Carolina), and Norfolk, as places of purchase, and, with my approval, appointed agents and made regulations under which said products may be purchased, therefore:
II. All persons except such as may be in the civil, military, or naval service of the government, having in their possession any products of States or parts of States declared in insurrection, which said agents are authorized to purchase; and all persons owning or controlling such products therein are authorized to convey such products to either of the places which have been hereby or may hereafter be designated as places of purchase, and such products so destined shall not be liable to detention, seizure, or forfeiture while in transitu, or in store waiting transportation.
III. Any person having the certificate of a purchasing agent, as prescribed by Treasury Regulation VIII, is authorized to pass with the necessary means of transportation to the points named in said certificate, and to return therefrom with the products required for the fulfilment of the stipulations set forth in said certificate.
IV. Any person having sold and delivered to a purchasing agent any products of an insurrectionary State in accordance with the regulations in relation thereto, and having in his possession a certificate setting forth the fact of such purchase and sale; the character and quantity of products, and the aggregate amount paid therefor, as prescribed by Regulation I, shall be permitted by the military authority commanding at the place of sale to purchase from any authorized dealer at such place merchandise and other articles not contraband of war nor prohibited by order of the War Department, nor coin, bullion, or foreign exchange, to an amount not exceeding in value one-third of the aggregate value of the products sold by him as certified by the agents purchasing, and the merchandise and other articles so purchased may be transported by the same route, and to the same place, from and by which the products sold and delivered reached the purchasing agent, as set forth in the certificate, and such merchandise and other articles shall have safe conduct, and shall not be subject to detention, seizure, or forfeiture while being transported to the places and by the routes set forth in the said certificate.
V. Generals commanding military districts, and commandants of military posts and detachments, and officers commanding fleets, flotillas, and gunboats, will give safe conduct to persons and products, merchandise, and other articles duly authorized as aforesaid, and not contraband of war, or prohibited by order of the War Department, or of the order of such generals commanding, or other duly authorized military or naval officer, made in pursuance hereof, and all persons hindering or preventing such safe conduct of persons or property will, be deemed guilty of a military offense and punished accordingly.
VI. Any person transporting or attempting to transport any merchandise or other articles except in pursuance of regulations of the Secretary of the Treasury, dated July 29, 1864, or in pursuance of this order, or transporting or attempting to transport any merchandise or other articles contraband of war or forbidden by any order of the War Department, will be deemed guilty of a military offense and punished accordingly; and all products of insurrectionary States found in transitu to any other person or than a purchasing agent and a designated of purchase shall be seized and forfeited to the States, except such as may be moving to a loyal state under duly authorized permits of a proper officer of the Treasury Department, as prescribed by Regulation XXXVIII, concerning commercial intercourse, dated July 29, 1864, or such as may have been found abandoned, or have been captured and are moving in pursuance of the act of March 12, 1864.
VII. No military or naval officer of the United States, or person in the military or naval service, nor any civil officer, except such as are appointed for that purpose, shall engage in trade or traffic in the products of the insurrectionary States, or furnish transportation therefor under pain of being deemed guilty of unlawful trading with the enemy and punished accordingly.
VIII. The Secretary of War will make such general orders or regulations as will insure the proper observance and execution of,, this order, and the Secretary of the Navy will give instructions to officers commanding fleets, flotillas, and gunboats in conformity therewith.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL W. T. SHERMAN.
WASHINGTON, D. C., September 27, 1864.
MAJOR-GENERAL SHERMAN, Atlanta, Georgia:
You say Jefferson Davis is on a visit to Hood. I judge that Brown and Stephens are the objects of his visit.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL U. S. GRANT.
