times as great as it was at the beginning. The increase of those other things which men deem desirable has been even greater. We thus have, at one view, what the popular principle, applied to government through the machinery of the States and the Union, has produced in a given time; and also what, if firmly maintained, it promises for the future. There are already among us those who, if the Union be preserved, will live to see it contain two hundred and fifty millions. The struggle of to-day is not altogether for to-day-it is for a vast future also. With a reliance on Providence all the more firm and earnest, let us proceed in the great task which events have devolved upon us.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

WASHINGTON, December 3, 1861.

SCHEDULE A.

EXECUTIVE MANSION,

Washington, D. C.,--, 1861.

Rev.-:

SIR: Having been solicited by Christian ministers and other pious people to appoint suitable persons to act as chaplains at the hospitals for our sick and wounded soldiers, and feeling the intrinsic propriety of having such persons to so act, and yet believing there is no law conferring the power upon me to appoint them, I think fit to say that if you will voluntarily enter upon and perform the appropriate duties of such position I will recommend that Congress make compensation therefor at the same rate as chaplains in the Army are compensated.

(The following are the names and dates, respectively, of the persons and times to whom and when such letters were delivered: Rev. G. G. Goss, September 25, 1861; Rev. John G. Butler, September 25, 1861; Rev. Henry Hopkins, September 25, 1861; Rev. F. M. Magrath, October 30, 1861; Rev. F. E. Boyle, October 30, 1861; Rev. John C. Smith. November 7, 1861; Rev. William Y. Brown, November 7, 1861.)

GENERAL ORDERS,
HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE, Numbers 104.
Washington, December 3, 1861.

The attention of officers of the Army is invited to the following, in addition to the orders of the Secretary of War embraced in the regulations for the recruiting service:

I. The large number of enlisted men discharged on "certificates of disability" has attracted the notice of the General-in-Chief, and as it is an especial duty to render the rank and file of the Army as effective as possible, the attention of superintendents and other officers concerned either with the enlistment of men or their discharge on account of disability is directed to the judicious discharge of their respective duties.

Evidence is abundant, as attested by the records of the Adjutant- General's Office, that many men have been enlisted who were "unfit for service" prior to or at date of enlistment. It should be born in mind that the law provides for the enlistment of "effective able-bodied"

46 R R-SERIES III, VOL I