ng the war for any purpose whatever.

2. To vessels of the United States clearing coastwise for the ports
aforesaid licenses can only be obtained from the Treasury Department.

3. In all other respects the existing blockade remains in full force and
effect as hitherto established and maintained, nor is it relaxed by the
proclamation except in regard to the ports to which the relaxation is by
that instrument expressly applied.

S.P. CHASE,

_Secretary of the Treasury_.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas there appears in the public prints what purports to be a
proclamation of Major-General Hunter, in the words and figures
following, to wit:

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH,
_Hilton Head, S.C., May 9, 1862_.

_General Orders, No. 11_.--The three States of Georgia, Florida, and
South Carolina, comprising the Military Department of the South, having
deliberately declared themselves no longer under the protection of the
United States of America, and having taken up arms against the said
United States, it becomes a military necessity to declare them under
martial law. This was accordingly done on the 25th day of April, 1862.
Slavery and martial law in a free country are altogether incompatible;
the persons in these three States--Georgia, Florida, and South
Carolina--heretofore held as slaves are therefore declared forever free.

DAVID HUNTER,
_Major-General Commanding_.

Official:

ED. W. SMITH,
_Acting Assistant Adjutant-General_.

And whereas the same is producing some excitement and misunderstanding:

Therefore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, proclaim
and declare that the Government of the United States had no knowledge,
information, or belief of an intention on the part of General Hunter to
issue such a proclamation, nor has it yet any authentic information that
the document is genuine; and, further, that neither General Hunter nor
any other commander or person has been authorized by the Government of
the United States to make proclamations declaring the slaves of any
State free, and that the supposed proclamation now in question, whether
genuine or false, is altogether void so far as respects such
declaration.

I further make known that whether it be competent for me, as Commander
in Chief of the Army and Navy, to declare the slaves of any State or
States free, and whether at any time, in any cas