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 ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

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Prominent among the measures passed by Congress during the remainder of the session was the bill establishing
a Freedmen's Bureau.
A resolution offered by Mr. Sumner, and passed, excited
a good deal of interest in England. It declared that the
rebel debt or loan was " simply an agency of the rebellion, which the United States can never under any circumstances recognize in any part, or in any way." To
the parties who had taken the rebel loan thinking that
the South -was sure to succeed, or at least to secure some
terms of peace which would provide for the assumption
of the rebel debt, this resolution, coming as it did after
such great military successes on our part, was the re
verse of cheering.
Two messages were sent to Congress by the President
in reference to approaching International Exhibitions in
Norway and in Portugal, and a resolution was passed requesting the President to call upon the citizens to join in
them.
The House passed a bill repealing so much of the Confiscation Act passed July 17, 1862, 244, as prohibited the
forfeiture of the real estate of rebels beyond their natural
lives. But the Senate failed to take similar action, and
the law, therefore, remained unchanged.
Resolutions were reported to the Senate by the Committee on Military Affairs, that soldiers discharged for
sickness or wounds should be preferred for appointment
to civil offices, and recommending citizens generally to
give them a similar preference in their private business.
The President was in full sympathy with the feeling which
led to this action, as appears by the following order,
which he made for the appointment of a Mrs. Bushnell
as postmistress at Sterling, Illinois:Mr. Washburne has presented to me all the papers in this case, and
finding Mrs. Bushnell as well recommended as any other, and she being
the widow of a soldier who fell in battle for the Union, let her be appointed. A. LINCOLN.
The question of the recognition of the State Governments in, and the admission of Senators and Representa