The life and public services of Abraham Lincoln ... together with his state papers, including his speeches, addresses, messages, letters, and proclamations, and the closing scenes connected with his life and death. By Henry J. Raymond. To which are added anecdotes and personal reminiscences of President Lincoln, by Frank B. Carpenter.

STATE PAPERS OF ABRAHIAM LINCOLN.

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to firlit between Wrest Point and Richmond. On the 31st
of March, the President, out of deference to the importunities of General Fremont and his friends, and from a belief that this officer could make good use of a larger force
than he then had at his command in the Mountain Department, ordered General Blenker's division to le1avc the
Army of the Potomac and join him; a decision which he
announced to General McClellan in the following letter:EXECUTITE MANSION, WASITrNGTON, March 81, 1862.
MY DEAR SIR:-This morning I felt constrained to order Blenker's
division to Fremont, and I write this to assure you that I did so with}
great pain, understanding that you would wishl it otherwise. If you could
know the full pressure of the ease, I am confident that you would justify
it, even beyond a mere acknowledgment that the Commander-in-Ctlief
may order what he pleases.
Yours, very truly, A LINCOLN.
Major-General MCCLELLAN.
General Banks, who had at first been ordered by General McClellan to occupy Manassas, and thus cover
Washington, was directed by him, on thie 1lst of April, to
throw the rebel General Jackson well back from Winchester, and then move on Staunton at a time "nearly
coincident with his own move on Richmond;" thouglh
General McClellan expressed the fear that General Banks
"could not be ready in time" for that movement. The
four corps of the Army of the Potomac, destined for active
operations by way of the Peninsula, were ordered to embark, and forwarded as rapidly as possible to Fortress
Monroe. On the 1st of April, General McClellan wrote
to the Secretary of war, giving a report of the dispositions
he had made for the defence of Washington; and on the
2d, General Wadsworth submitted a statement of the forces
under his command, which he regarded as entirely inadequate to the service required of them. The President referred the matter to Adjutant-General Thomas and General
E. A. Hitchcock, who made a report on the same day, in
which they decided that the force left by General McClllan was not sufficient to make WNashington " entirely