“Now, therefore, I, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States, do hereby make known that if after a reasonable time shall have elapsed for intelligence of this proclamation to have reached any foreign country in whose ports the said privileges and immunities shall have been refused as aforesaid, they shall continue to be so refused, then and thenceforth the same privileges and immunities shall be refused to the vessels-of-war of that country in the ports of the United States; and this refusal shall continue until war-vessels of the United States shall have been placed upon an entire equality in the foreign ports aforesaid with vessels of other countries. _The United States, whatever claim or pretence may have existed heretofore, are now at least entitled to claim and concede an entire and friendly equality of rights and hospitalities with all maritime nations._ “In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. “Done at the city of Washington this eleventh day of April, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-ninth. “By the President: ABRAHAM LINCOLN. “WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.” And, on the twelfth April, the following supplementary proclamation: “WHEREAS, By my proclamation of this date the port of Key West, in the State of Florida, was inadvertently included among those which are not open to commerce: “Now, therefore, be it known that I, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States, do hereby declare and make known that the said port of Key West is and shall remain open to foreign and domestic commerce, upon the same conditions by which that commerce has hitherto been governed. “In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. “Done at the City of Washington this eleventh day of April, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, and of the Independence of the United States of America, the eighty-ninth. “By the President: ABRAHAM LINCOLN. “WM. H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.” The light in which the administration regarded the position of affairs can best be judged from the following official bulletin from the War Department, bearing date April thirteenth, 1865: “This Department, after mature consideration and consultation with the Lieutenant-General upon the results of the recent campaigns, has come to the following determination, which will be carried into effect by appropriate orders, to be immediately issued: “_First._ To stop all drafting and recruiting in the loyal States. “_Second._ To curtail purchases for arms, ammunition, quartermaster’s and commissary supplies, and reduce the expenses of the military establishment and its several branches.