to avoid any devastation, any destruction of or interference with
property, or any disturbance of peaceful citizens in any part of the
country.

And I hereby command the persons composing the combinations aforesaid to
disperse and retire peaceably to their respective abodes within twenty
days from this date.

Deeming that the present condition of public affairs presents an
extraordinary occasion, I do hereby, in virtue of the power in me vested
by the Constitution, convene both Houses of Congress. Senators and
Representatives are therefore summoned to assemble at their respective
chambers at 12 o'clock noon on Thursday, the 4th day of July next, then
and there to consider and determine such measures as, in their wisdom,
the public safety and interest may seem to demand.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 15th day of April, A.D. 1861, and
of the Independence of the United States the eighty-fifth.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
_Secretary of State_.