Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1862-05-22

The Proclamation OF Gen. Hunter is va
riousy commented upon by the press. The
prevailing tone is in depreciation Of the Proc
lamation. Gen. Hunters military district
contains over one million of slaves, If inn
mediate emancipation be the policy in that
Department, and enforced and carried out
by our army, we know of no reason why the
same policy should not be adopted in all the
seeded States, This would result, if We
have the power to enforce Proclamation of
universal and unqualified emancipation, in
the immediate Liberation of four millions of
Africans. We think it is well to hesitate and
ponder upon what may be the consequences
to the country Of such an extraordinary step.
Is is practicable Is it best, on the whole
The Presidents emancipation message was a
timely and judicious document, and met W tn
the general and hearty approval of loyal
men. In that message the States were invi
ted to inaugurate a system of emancipation,
and to the end they might have some induce
ment to do so, he recommended to Congress
to hold out to them the promise of pecuniary
aid, and a resolution to that effect was passed.
But if Hunters proclamation is to be the
basis of Executive action, it is quite appar-
ent that the gradual emancipation policy in
connection with colonization must be aban-
doned. We wait with some solicitude to
know whether the President will endorse or
repudiate the proclamation of Gen. Hunter.
If he endorses it we trust he will be able to
give such cogent reasons for so doing as will
be convincing to our loyal people. If he
should endorse it we fear it would produce
much division in the north, in which event
its effects, to that extent certainly, nd be
pernicious, for above all things and before all
things else we need united north to put
down the rebellion. 1t does seem to us that
while the sword is doing so much to extermi-
nate slavery, and while the sword is the only
weapon that can Immediately exterminate it,
we may well forego mere pronunciamentos
which, of their own force, can have no effect
to liberate single slave, while they are cal
cula,ed to produce dlssensions among loyal
men, and to exasperate the insurgents and
blunt their returning sense of loyalty.
We extract few Of the many comments
made upon the proclamation Of Gen. Hunter
by our contemporaries. The following is
from the Washington correspondence of the
N. Y Evening Post, radical Republican
journal: .. ...
Special Dispatch to the Evening Post.
Washington, May 1.-THE National In
teligencer this morning contains an article,
three columns in length, denouncing Gen.
Hunters proclamation, and asserting that
the President will revoke IT.
Special Dispatch to the Evening Post.
Washington. May 1.-THE President de.
cided this morning to modify Gen. Hunters
proclamation emancpating the slaves.
Frsm the Philadelphia Inquirer.
What could have impelled so
good a general to make proclamation so
wild in its statement of facts, and so impolitic
as to its probable effects, and so violently op-
posed to the officially declared policy of
both the National Executive and the Nation
al Legislature, surpasses comprehension.
From walton's Journal
The asserton--and it is nothing more than
an assertion-that F" slavery and martial law
in a tree country are altogether incompati-
BILE" is completely refuted by the practice of
the administration in other military depart
ments. The State of Maryland is under
martial law, and yet slavery exists there
The District of Columbia has been, and still
is, under martial law, and yet slavery existed
there until an act was passed by Congress
abolishing it, and providing compensation for
the slaves liberated The foundation on
which Gen. Hunter bases the wholesale and
indlscriminate emancipation in his depart.
ment is, therefore, fallacious; and his procla-
nation, based on such a false presumption, is
simply nullity. 1t extends over territory
where the Union army has not yet set foot,
and he has no definite knowledge as to the
loyalty or disloyalty of the people.
- Since writing the above we learn from
the New York Tribune that the President
has determined to modify if not to annul
Gen. Hunters order, while the New York
Herald correspondent says that it will not
only be annulled but that the General will be
recalled, and that the President will make
the subject an occasion for a special message
n