Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1864-05-19
THURSDAY, MAY 10, 1864.
n A CHRONOLOGICAL INQUIRY.


canvassing the late letter Of President LINCOLN to
Col. HoDsEs, profess to find some.dificulty in ex-
planning to theif fown minds the grounds ON which
the President should have selected the 22d day of
September, 1862 as the date of tae preliminary
proclamation of emancipation. 1t will be rernem-
bercd that in that letter the President states that
he did not depart from the policy which had in.
duced him to countermand the emancipation in
itiatives Of Gen. Fremont Secretary Cameron, and
Gen. Hunter until he was, in his " best Judgment,
driven to the alternative of either surrendering the
Union, and with it the Constitution, or Of laying
strong hand upon the colored element" He adds
that he chose the latter, and in choosing it hoped
for greater gain than loss; but of this he was not
entirely confident, Atfaans
What, it has been asked, were the conside-
rations which induced him to select the par
ticuar day Of the 22d Of September, 1862, as
the precise date on which measure, acknew
lodged by the President to be "otherwise uncon-
stitutional," became "lawful" by reason of its
apparent indispensable necessity As relating to
this inquiry the following extract from letter ad
dressed by the late Hon. Owen Lovejoy to William
Lloyd Garrison in February last has been repro
duced Mr.. Lovejoy wrote:
Recurring to the President there great many
norris concerning him which seem TO be reliable aud nu-
thentc which after ALL are not 1t currently
ported among the anti slavery OF Illinois that the
emancipation proclamation extored from him by the
outward PRESSURE and particularly by the delegation from
the Christian Convention that met at Chicago Now the
iact this had 1t from his own hps de had written
the proclamation in the early June think.
but will not be certain to tho precise time and called
his Cabinet together AID informed them he had written
it, aud he meant to make it, but wanted to read to
them any criticism remarks Ms to ts features or de-
tails After having done Mr. Seward suggested whether
it would not be we'll for him to withhold its publication
until after had gained substantial advantage in
the field that time had met with many reverses
and it might be considered cry OF despair de told me
he thought suggestion and held ON to the
proclamation until alter the battle Of Antietam."
1t will thus be seen that while general conside-
rations of indispensable necessity may have
constrained the judgment of the President in issu-
ing the preliminary proclamation of emancipation,
he was careful to avoid the appearal &C of seeming
in the eyes of the world to issue it under the pres
sure Of such necessity. And such being the case,
what were the probable motives which induced
the President to fix upon the 22d Of September as
the appropriate day for laying, prospeotvely at
least, ga strong hand on the colored clement"
We think simple reference to the recent politi-
cal chronology of the country will afford an answer
to the inquiry.
It will be remembered that on the 25th Of July,
1862, the President, in pursuance of the sixth
section of the act of Congress entitled An act to
suppress nsurrection, to punish treason and rebel
lion to seize and confscate the property of rebels
and for other purposes" approved July IL, 1862,
- bo ol1v
sons within the contemplation of the sixth section
of that act to "cease participating in aiding, coun-
tenancipg, or abetting the existing rebellion, or
any rebellion, against tho Government of the United
States, and to return to their proper allegiance to
the United States, on pain of the forfciturcs and
seizures as within and by said sixth section pro-
vided." That section reads as follows;
asec G. md be ii further Enacted, Thatif any person
,bin any State or Territory the United States other
than those named Aforesaid after the passage Of This
Act being engaged 10 armed rebellion against the Govern
ment Of The United States, aiding OF abetng such
beion shall not ,ohin sizty days after public oarning
and proclamation du giren and made by ne President
the United States, TO aid, ennenance and abet such
y.beion and return his allegiance TO the United States,
all the estate property moneys stocks and credits OF
such person shall be- liable to seizure as aforesaid aud u
shall be the duty Of the President to seize and use them as
aforesaid proceeds thereof And all sales transfers
or Of any such property after the expiration
Of the said sixty days from the Of such warning and
proclamation shall be null and void and it shall be sui-
cent bar suit brought by such person for the pos
session the OF such property any Of it, to aege
and prove that he Of the persons decrbed in this
section" Ha 8ut
Counting from and including the 25th day of
July, 1862, the sixty days conteu plated by the
foregoing sixth section of the act OF July IL 1862,
expired on the 22d Of September following And
from the 22d of September, 1862, to the LIST of
January, 1868, on which latter date the President
issued his final edct of emancipation, there was
an interval of precisely hundred days, within
which the "strong hand" of the President was
suspended over the colorcd element in threat
and warning. The edict might have been avcrted
at any time during that interval by return Of the
seeded States to their allegiance. t
It is known that the President has frequently
made certain Of his great declarations coincidcnt in
point of date with particular days that are famous
in our national chronology 1t was thus that he
summoned the last Congress in extraordinary
session on the 4th day Of July, the anniversary
of our national birthday, to take measures for
the suppression Of the insurrection which had oul-
minated in war on the preceding 18th of April.
And it was thus that he ordered general move
ont of tho armies and nayies Of tho United States