. . . the President’s proclamation, it has a significance and importance that are quite apparent. He does not hesitate to have it understood that circumstances may arise, under which he will feel it his duty to exercise his authority as Commander-in-Chief of the army and navy, to put an end to slavery. If this shall be necessary to the suppression of the rebellion, reluctant as the President has shown himself to be, to interfere with the domestic institutions of the seceded States, it is very clear, that he will take the responsibility. If, therefore, the rebels desire to save Slavery, they must cease their rebellion against the Government. Twice he has warned them on this point, and they may rely upon it that he means what he intimated in his first proclamation; and what he fully declares in his second. Let it further be understood that the country will fully sustain the President in carrying out the policy he has announced. This policy is, that there will be no general emancipation unless it becomes necessary to sustain the Union. If this shall become necessary, the President says slavery must go to the wall, and the people say amen.
– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, May 24, 1862, p. 2
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