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.

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TIE LIFE, PUBLIC SERVICES, AND

July 17, 1862, whicl authorized the President to employ,
in any military or naval service for which they might be
found competent, persons of African descent.
One of the most important acts of the session was that
which provided for the creation of a national force by
enrolling and drafting the militia of the whole countryeach State being required to contribute its quota in the
ratio of its population, and the whole force, when raised,
to be under the control of the President. Some measure
of the kind seemed to have been rendered absolutely necessary by the revival of party spirit throughout the loyal
States, and by the active and effective efforts made by
the Democratic party, emboldened by the results of the
fall elections of 1862, to discourage and prevent volunteering. So successful had they been in this work, that the
Government seemed likely to fail in its efforts to raise
men for another campaign; and it was to avert this threatening evil that the bill in question was brought forward
for the action of Congress. It encountered a violent resistance from the opposition party, and especially from those
menimbers whlose sympathies with the secessionists were
the most distinctly marked. But after the rejection of
numerous amendments, more or less affecting its character
and force, it was passed in the Senate, and taken up on
the 23d of February in the House, where it encountered
a similar ordeal. It contained various provisions for
exempting from service persons upon whom others were
most directly and entirely dependent for support-such as
the only son of a widow, the only son of aged and infirm
parents who relied upon him for a maintenance, &c. It
allowed drafted persons to procure substitutes; and, to
cover the cases in which the prices of substitutes might
become exorbitant, it also provided that upon payment
of three hundred dollars the Government itself would
procure a substitute, and release the person drafted from
service. The bill was passed in the House, with some
amendments, by a vote of 115 to 49; and the amendments
being concurred in by the Senate, the bill became a law.
One section of this act required the President to issue