The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1865-06-30

W. have obtained for publication,
says she Philadelphia Inquirer, the fol-
ng highly interesting documents,
coming an important chapter in the
UNIV dtten history o. the war. The let
ter from General Hunter to jeff Davis
was written some time ago, but retains
all its interest. Hunter and Davis were
long officers of the same regiment and
intimate friends.
GENERAL HUNTER TO PRESIDENT
DAVIS.
WAsIIINToS, Goth September. 1862
To Jefferson Davis, Iitulur President of
the so-called Confederate States.-Sir {:
While recently in command of the
Department of the South, in accordance
with the-laws, of war and the dictates of
common sense, I organized and caused
to be drilled, armed and equipped a
regiment of enfranchised bondmen,
known us the First South Carolina Vol
unteers.
For this action, as have ascertained
the pretended Government, of which you
are chief officer, has issued against me
and all of my officers who We're engag-
! ell III organizing the regiment i'll uueS-
/ ton, General Order of Outlawry,
which announces that, if captured, we
shall not even he allowed the usual
miserable treatment extended to such
! captives as fall into your hands, but
that we are TO be regarded as telons,
and to receive the death by hanging due
/ to such, irrespective of the laws of war;
| MIR. Davis, we have been acquainted
( intimately in the past. We have cam
paigned together, and our social rela-
tons have been such to make each un-
derStand the other thoroughly. That
you mean, if ever 1t be in your power,
to execute tho full rigor of your threat,
l Rn well assured aid you will be-
( having RAISED in connestfon With me
and my acts this sharp md decisive
issue. ] shall proudly accept, if such
be the chance of war, the martyrdom
you menace; and hereby give you no.
itice that unless your General Order
against me and, ,my officers be formally
revoked within thirty days from the
date of the transmission of this letter,
sent under flag of truce, l shall take
! your action in the matter us final, and
will reciprocate it by hanging every
! Rebel officer who now is, or may here
after be taken prisoner by the troops of
the command to which ! am about re-
! turning.
Believe me that l rejoice ut the aspect
now being given to the war by the
course you have adopted. III my judg-
mcnt, if the undoubted felony of treH-
SON had been treated from the outset as
1t deserves to be, as the sum of all 1elo-
nies and crimes, this rebellion. would
never have attained its present mcna-
cling proportions, The war you and
your fcllow-conspirutors have been
waging against the United.States must
be regarded either as war of fiustifiablc
defense, carried on for the integrity of
the boundaries of II sovereign ConfeCle-
ration of States against foreign aggres-
sion, or as the most wicked, enormous
and Acknowledgements conspiracy
against human liberty and for the tri-
umph of treason and slavery, of which
the records of the worlds history con-
tain any note.
If our government should adopt the
first view of the case, you and your
Iellow-rebcls may Justly claim to be
considered unost uniUstly treated body
OF dlsintcrosted patriots, although, per-
haps, little mistaken in your conni-
vance with the thefts by which your
agent, John b. Floyd, succeeded i'll
arlning the south and partially disarm-
ing the north, as a preParative to the
commencement of the struggle.
But If on the other hand, as is the
theory OF our government, the war you
hnve levied against the United States
be rebellion, the most causeless,
crafty, cruel and bloody ever known, a
conspiracy, having the rule or ruin pol
~ ~ no httsAoI IAAS E4ulAuSE VI L41G
black race and the re-Opening of the
African slave trade for It's object, the
continued and further degradation Of
80 per cent. of the white population oi
the south in favor of slave driving
ten per cent. aristocrGcy, and the eXclli:
sion of all foreign born immigrants
from participation in the generous and
equal hospitality foreshadOwed to them
IN the Declaration of Independence
which three of my direct ancestors
signed; if this, as / believe, be n fail
statement of the origin and motives O,
the rebellion of which you are the titu.
lar head, then it would have been bet.
ter mad our government adhered to the
constitutional view of treason from tht
= start, and hung every man taken il
arms against the United States, from
ne first butchery in the streets of Bal.
lmore, down to the lastresultless battle
lo4ght in the vicinity of Sharpsburg.
II treason, in other words, be any
}. CRIME, Is the essence of all crimes: I
s ENst machinery of guilt, multiplying
l. assttsslnatlons into wholesale siangli;
y fteEs, ana organizing plunder as the
y y t! Gttsls tof supporting Il system of ma
Ional olgandage. Your action. nnC
: nut nut ol those with whom YOU are il
n 1eusue, has ITS best comment in the
II ~ Fsa!hy extended to your cause By
I Ine oespotS and aristocracies of Eurons
3 You have succeeded i'm tbroTyi6eE SocI
z CIVILIZATION for many wears. and EnT-,
mace OF the country that was the freeist
nlPpleStl proudest, richest, and mos
progressive but two short years AGO. ,
vast temple of mourning, doubt, snxi
= ety ana pr1Tation, our manufactures O
al put war material nearly parnlyZed
tne inventive spirit which was foreye