Cabinet meets. Sec. Seward reads proposed bill for law on emigration. Welles, Diary.

President and Mrs. Lincoln on invitation attend closing night of fair held in Patent Office for benefit of Christian Commission and District volunteers. Lincoln makes brief speech, ending: "God bless the women of America." Evening Star (Washington, DC), 19 March 1864, 2d ed., 3:1; Washington Chronicle, 19 March 1864; Sidney Kramer, "Lincoln at the Fair," Abraham Lincoln Quarterly, 3 (September 1945):341-42; Remarks at Closing of Sanitary Fair, Washington, D. C., 18 March 1864, CW, 7:253-54.

Writes recommendation for Benjamin A. Watson of Springfield, Ill., who wants commission of post sutler for Camp Butler, Ill.: he is "an intimate acquaintance and friend, and is of good character, and good qualification for the business he seeks. . . . I know nothing of the particular case." Endorsement Concerning Benjamin A. Watson, 18 March 1864, CW, 7:252-53.

Sends Sec. Stanton descriptions of several types of prisoners of war that might well be discharged. "I shall be glad therefore to have your cheerful assent to the discharge of those whose names I may send." Abraham Lincoln to Edwin M. Stanton, 18 March 1864, CW, 7:254-57.