Message to Congress : autograph letter signed : [Washington, D.C.] to the Senate and House of Representatives, [1863 Dec. 17].

Lincoln's letter transmits a letter [not present] from a committee of the Freedman's Aid Society of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Cincinnati, dated Washington, D.C., 1 December, 1863, addressed to Lincoln, recommending the establishment of a Central Government Bureau of Emancipation in Washington, and signed by Stephen Colwell and others.