Property from
THE COLLECTION OF COLONEL HENRY H. ROGERS
LINCOLN, ABRAHAM, President. Autograph letter signed ("A.Lincoln") as President, to MAJOR GENERAL HENRY WAGER HALLECK, Washington, D.C., 16 September 1863. 1 page, 4to, on lined Executive Mansion stationery, mat burn from old frame, three clean tears at right margin, one bisecting the signature, a small piece to right of signature detached but present, top edge tipped to a mount, the paper brittle.
細節
LINCOLN, ABRAHAM, President. Autograph letter signed ("A.Lincoln") as President, to MAJOR GENERAL HENRY WAGER HALLECK, Washington, D.C., 16 September 1863. 1 page, 4to, on lined Executive Mansion stationery, mat burn from old frame, three clean tears at right margin, one bisecting the signature, a small piece to right of signature detached but present, top edge tipped to a mount, the paper brittle.
THE DAY AFTER HE PROCLAIMS THE SUSPENSION OF THE WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS, LINCOLN PROTESTS THE "ENTIRELY ARBITRARY" ARREST OF A NEW MEXICO JUDGE
President Lincoln brusquely directs General Halleck to look into the legality of a military arrest in the New Mexican territory. "I am informed that a Captain Bennett, acting Adjutant General of General West of California volunteers, has, at Messilla, New Mexico, arrested Judge Knapp...and holds him in custody. I strongly suspect, from what I learn, that this is an entirely arbitrary proceeding. At all events I will thank you to call the officer to account for it, at the earliest practicable moment..." Not in Collected Works, including Supplements, and apparently unpublished.
Ironically, the letter was written the day after Lincoln issued the important and controversial Proclamation Suspending the Writ of Habeas Corpus, under the justification that the Constitution permitted it "in cases of rebellion or invasion" when required by "the public safety" (see Collected Works, 6:451-452). And while "arbitrary arrests were a tough and deliberate war policy of the Lincoln Administration," letters like the present help to demonstrate that Lincoln was extremely careful in his application of this sweeping power to suspend the writ (Neely, Lincoln Encyclopedia, p. 135).
THE DAY AFTER HE PROCLAIMS THE SUSPENSION OF THE WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS, LINCOLN PROTESTS THE "ENTIRELY ARBITRARY" ARREST OF A NEW MEXICO JUDGE
President Lincoln brusquely directs General Halleck to look into the legality of a military arrest in the New Mexican territory. "I am informed that a Captain Bennett, acting Adjutant General of General West of California volunteers, has, at Messilla, New Mexico, arrested Judge Knapp...and holds him in custody. I strongly suspect, from what I learn, that this is an entirely arbitrary proceeding. At all events I will thank you to call the officer to account for it, at the earliest practicable moment..." Not in Collected Works, including Supplements, and apparently unpublished.
Ironically, the letter was written the day after Lincoln issued the important and controversial Proclamation Suspending the Writ of Habeas Corpus, under the justification that the Constitution permitted it "in cases of rebellion or invasion" when required by "the public safety" (see Collected Works, 6:451-452). And while "arbitrary arrests were a tough and deliberate war policy of the Lincoln Administration," letters like the present help to demonstrate that Lincoln was extremely careful in his application of this sweeping power to suspend the writ (Neely, Lincoln Encyclopedia, p. 135).