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The oath in the proclamation of Dec. 8th. is intended for those who may voluntarily take it, and not for those who may be constrained
to take it, in order to escape actual imprisonment or punishment. It is intended that the latter class shall abide the granting or withholding of the pardoning power in the ordinary way.
A. LINCOLN.
[1] ALS, RPB. No prior communication from Judge Hoffman has been located, but on December 15 Hoffman replied to Lincoln's telegram: ``Your Excellency's dispatch is received. I most respectfully suggest inasmuch as the Proclamation does not in terms except the persons referred to by you in your dispatch & as it is a public official document which a court is compelled to construe according to its terms whether it be not expedient to declare by our equally formal document the intention of the Executive in making it.'' (DLC-RTL).