  Ordered to seize all copies of the New York "World," bringing in one of the great war episodes, the Bogus Presidential Proclamation—Governor Seymour's queer vigor appears. Headquarters, Middle Department, Provost Guards, Seize all copies of the New York World of this date, that may arrive from New York, or that you can find in the city. By command, Major General Wallace. John Woolley, This order is innocent enough in its appearance, but it is really the executive action upon a subject almost as vital in its effects as any of the great battles of the war. Under date of May 17th a proclamation, calling for four hundred thousand more troops, purporting to be from President Lincoln, was issued, and Executive Mansion, May 17, 1864. Fellow Citizens of the United States: In all seasons of exigency it becomes a nation carefully to scrutinize its line of conduct, humbly to approach the throne of Grace, and meekly to implore forgiveness, wisdom, and guidance. For reasons known only to Him, it has been decreed that this country should be the scene of unparalleled outrage, and this nation the monumental sufferer of the nineteenth century. With a heavy heart, but an undiminished confidence in our cause, I approach the performance of a duty rendered imperative by my sense of weakness before Almighty God and of justice to the people. It is not necessary that I should tell you that the first Virginia campaign, under Lieut. General Grant, in whom I have every confidence, and whose courage and fidelity the people do well to honor, is virtually closed. He has conducted his great enterprise with discreet ability. He has crippled their strength and defeated their plans. In view, however, of the situation in Virginia, the disaster at Red river, the delay at Charleston, and the general state of the country, I, Abraham Lincoln, do hereby recommend that Deeming, furthermore, that the present condition of public affairs presents an extraordinary occasion, and in view of the pending expiration of the service of (100,000) one hundred thousand of our troops, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power vested in me by the Constitution and the laws, have thought fit to call forth, and hereby do call forth the citizens of the United States between the ages of (18) eighteen and (45) forty-five years, to the aggregate number of (400,000) four hundred thousand, in order to suppress the existing rebellious combinations, and to cause the due execution of the laws. And, furthermore, in case any State or number of States shall fail to furnish by the fifteenth day of June next their assigned quotas, it is hereby ordered that the same be raised by immediate and peremptory draft. The details for this object will be 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 the National Union, and the perpetuity of popular 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 17th day of May, one thousand, eight hundred and sixty-four, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-eighth. Abraham Lincoln. By the President: This was immediately contradicted by the Government, as follows: To the Public. A paper purporting to be a proclamation of the President, countersigned by the Secretary of State, and bearing date of the 17th inst. is reported to this Department as having appeared in the New York "World" of this date. This paper is an absolute forgery. No proclamation of this kind has been made, or proposed to be made, by the President, or issued, or proposed to be issued, by the State Department, or any other Department of the Government. Wm. H. Seward, Under the head "Freedom of Press" Appleton's Encyclopedia for 1864 gives twelve columns of space to this matter. The excitement resulted in the greatest distress. Gold advanced four or five per cent., a panic prevailed, and great calamity, of course, followed. Soon thereafter we seized every telegraph instrument and office record in the Department, and arrested the officers and clerks. I became so tired with the extraordinary labor and loss of sleep, that I actually fell asleep while standing at a desk in one of the offices. I had heard of such experiences, but had believed it impossible. The object of seizing the newspapers, telegraphic instruments and records, was to prevent the disaster that must follow the further spreading of the impression created by the bogus message, that our Government was in dire distress. Copperhead conspirators and Confederate agents here and in Canada, had been and were at work to undermine us by every means. Distress to us, however brought about, was their purpose. They sought to create in the minds of the masses the idea that the war was a failure. These conspirators had tried to use the conscription, in 1863, to disrupt us, and they were again trying to scare the people with a prospective draft, in 1864, to unsettle the public mind before the Governor Seymour relentlessly pursued General Dix, seeking to have him indicted for arresting (he claimed) illegally, persons party to the fraud. But the grand jury refused to indict him. Seymour claimed that he (Seymour) was trying to preserve personal liberty, from the general government's encroachments, which was also his attitude in Vallandigham's case in 1863. The New York "World" and "The Journal of Commerce" were the newspapers involved in the affair, but the odium should not attach to the present papers. The bogus proclamation spread faster and further than the denial of it possibly could. |
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