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OUTHEEN C O N F E X> EBA O Y
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ATLANTA, GEORGIA:
FttIDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1862.
LARGEST DAILY lllHfiULATIOBf 1* THE STATE.
«rHEU FIRBT PAGE.'t*
Editorial Correspondence.
Milledokville Hotel, )
November 18th, 1862. /
Mokxiiki—Cloudy au*l drizzly but no rain
to do good; turnip crop shortened for want
of Reasons, and land too hard to sow wheat;
—«iher warm, almost sultry; men standing
about in anv- , —Karl discussing the mer
its of the great State Rights neu». u ;«,
progress. Some think Linton Stephana made
an’u nans werable speech, others sny “Just wait
till Judge Cabaniss makes his reply to-day.”
Some say this discussion will dissatisfy the
army and render the Conscript law nv>ro odi
ous to the people than it is, others think noth
ing else will satisfy the people and (he army
but for this matter to be decided, and Geor
gia in hor Legislation, to take a position on the
question. Home are wondering who will be
elected Senator to-day ; one favors Jenkins,
another Tombs, another Johnson, another
Dr. Miller, another Dr. Lewis, &c , &c., ad
Infinitum. “But see here,’ 1 says one, “if
you elect Jenkins it will be said thatyougave
him the office as a reward for that decision,
and some will even say he made the decision
to get the office.” “Yes,” says another;
“and if we elect Jenkins to the Senate, Joe
Brown will appoint Tom Thomas or Linton
Stephens to fill his place, and try to change
the present status of the Supreme Court on
this question, and get it composed of men
who will reverse the late decision.” Jnst
then a gentleman stepped up, and Mr. Jen
kins had written a letter positively declining
the use of his name, and that settled the case
so tar as he was concerned.
Evknisg—In the House this morning, Mr.
Zachary of Newton moved to suspend the rules
to take up the Senate resolution to investigate
the alleged shoe fraud in connection with the
Penitentiary, which was agreed to. Mr.
Zachary then offered an amendment that the
committee likewise be directed to investigate
any other improprieties which they might
have reason to believe to exist, or that were
alleged or come to their knowledge on the
part of any officer of the State, asvariouoru
mors to this effect were afloat affecting the
conduct of certain officials. The Senate res
olution as thus amended was adopted ; and
it was returned to that body for its concur
rence with this amendment. This the Senate
dissented from and refused to agree to, hold
ing that no charges should be made, even by
implication, against any person without spec
ifying the charge particularly; that in all
cases where there were rumors afloat injuri
ous to the character of an official, the person
implicated could demand an investigation i!
he saw fit; but that no one could be put upon
trial without having the charges against him
distinctly specified. So the investigation is
not yet ordered, save on the part of the Sen
ate. - V
Mr. Durmas^of Monroe, offered a resolution
for the Legislature to take up all the bills re
lating to small pox, pass such acts as were
necessary to prevent its further spread, and
then take a recess till the 3d Tuesday in Jan
uary next.
“Cousion John” moved an amendment, to
strike out the 3d Tuesday in January and in
sert sine die, so that the Legislature should
adjourn permanently instead of take a recess
This motion was lost, and the whole subject
was postponed indefinitely.
The Senate resolution authorizing the Gov
ernor to seize the factories, tanneries and
shoe shops, if necessary to secure clothing for
every soldier in the army from Geo-gia, was
taken up and reterred to a special committee
with instructions to report to morrow morn
ing at 10 o’clock.
Mr. Brown, of Coweta, from the Special
Committee to whom had been referred the
bill to regulate the price of all articles of ne
ceseity, reported it back to the House without
any recommendation.
a,, ..—iT*nsmrneu a message to the
House accompanied by the report and other
documents ot Hon. T. Butler King, Commis
sioner of the State of Georgia to Europe.
The hour of 11 o’cleck having arrived, the
Senate repaired to the Hottse and went into
an eleotion for Confederate States Senator.
Mr. C&udler, of DeKalb, nominated Hon.
James Jackson, and Mr. Washington, of Bibb,
nominated Hon. Herschel V. Johnson.
The first ballot resulted as follows : Jack-
son 59, Johnson 84, Toombs 24, Jenkins 9,
Iverson 3, Dr. Lewis 7, Wm. Dougherty 1,
Howell Cobb 6, Gov. Brown 1, T. R. R. Cobb
2, Gen. A. R. Wright 1, Dr. Miller 2, A. H.
Chappell 1.
No one having a majority, a new ballot was
ordered. Before taking the vote Mr. Whittle,
of Bibb, said he was in favor of sending a
man to the Confederate Senate who would
not be opposed to the Administration, and who
would support and sustain the Government
- in this trying hour. His first choice was ex-
Governor Johnson—a man of unsurpassed
abilities and patriotism ; but he had under
stood that he was not in favor of the Conscrip
tion Law, and he could net vote for any man
who vrss not in favor of that law. He refer
red to a letter from Gov. Johnson which he
understood the representative from Baldwin,
(Mr. Briscoe) had, and in which his views
were defined, lie called on the friends of
Jackson and Johuson to let the General As
sembly know how they stood on these impor
tant points.
Mr. \ ason, Senator from'Dougherty coun
ty, thought this a very unusual proceeding —
He did not think it was at all important
whether tho man elected Senator was in favor
or opposed In the Conscription Law, or of tho
Administration. We ought to elect a good
man, and trust some to his good sense and
patriotism on this and all other matters.
Mr. Whittle had learned that Gov. John
son was opposed to the conscription law, and
thought it unconstitutional, but acquiesced in
it, since the court had decided the question,
and was opposed to any opposition to its ex
ecution. That was as far as he could ask any
one opposed to his views to go; but when
Congrees meets, some one will introduce a
proposition to repeal the law ; and if Go^.
Johnson is in his heart and conscience op
posed to the law on constitutional grounds,
or on the score of policy, he will bring to
bear all his great intellect in having it re
pealed ; therefore 1 can’t vote for him, or
any one who does not believe the law to be
constitutional.
Mr. Seward, of Thomas, Senator, said he
-»m not known what were Gov. Johnson’s
views on conscriju,u.o, *...* he knew him to
be in favor of sustaining the administranoo
in the prosecution of the war.
Mr Whittle said he learned Judge Jackson
was in favor of the faithful execution of the
conscript law, and firmly believed iu its con
stitutionality. He therefore hoped the Gen
eral Assembly would elect him in preference
to Gov. Johnson.
Mr. Cochran of Glynn, thought that a most
extraordinary proceeding on the part of Mr.
Whittle. He knew that Gov. Johnson dep
recated any differences of opinion at this
time, and thought it was the duty of all per
sons to stand together upon the great ques
tion at issue. He thought the conscr ipt law
unconstitutional, but as the court had decided
that it was constitutional^no one now should
oppose its enforcement, but all should sup
port the great cause till the stars and bars
were triumphant over the last !oe.
Mr. Candler, of DeKalb, greatly regretted
this inquiry of Mr. Whittle, and thought it
most inappropriate. Ho did not rise to say
any thing in behalf of Judge Jackson. He
had had no communicaton with him what
ever. He had nominated him as one of Geor
gia’s purest and ablest men, and did not care
what his views were ; but he had heard some
say that he was in favor of sustaining the
administration on the conscript law.
Mr. Briscoe, of Baldwin, said the letter
from Gov. Johnson which had be*ea alluded
to was strictly private. He ha 1 showed it to
a very few persons, not having the least idea
that it ever would be alluded to publicly in
any manner, and he greatly regretted it. He
said he knew Gov. Johnson w oercker
after office ; that he was actuated by no per
sonal considerations of patriotism, which
burned as brightly in his breast as any man’s.
But yet with this knowledgehe (Mr. Briscoe)
would never have voted for him, unless he
had known him to be iu favor of sustaining
the adminis ration to the fullest extent in
the prosecution of the war ; and could not
havo voted for him or any other man who
would oppose the execution of the conscrip
tion law. Mr. B. therefore wrote to Gov J.
and had received a letter in reply, an ex
tract from which he read, the puiport of
which was that he believed the conscription
law to be unconstitutional, but since the Su
preme Court hud ot herwise decided, he coun
selled acquiescense in its execution, and
farther counselled a most earnest and undi
vided support to the Government and every
measure thereof in the support of the war,
till the stars and bars waved in triumph over
the Confederate States. Mr. Briscoe said he
read this extract from a strictly private let
ter with great reluctance. He had not shown
it to any one for the purpose of making votes,
but only to a very few who desired to know
Gov. Johnson’s views, never dreaming that
it would be alluded to in public, and that he.
would find himself forced to read any part of
it publicly.
Mr. Cabaniss, of Monroe, said this proceed
ing was very unusual. The gentlemen for
whom we are voting are not here so that we
can find out their views, and he considered it
highly creditable to them that they were not,
but now that these statements concerning the
position of some of them were made, he
thought it not improper for members to be
posted on the. opinions of the men for whom
they were voting ; and i*'— «*«u-e they to
ui mm matter unless they inquired?—
It had been asked what were Judge Jackson’s
views. He was not the Judge’s organ and
cannot answer; but had heard and believed
that he gave his hearty assent to the constitu
tionality of the conscript law.
Mr. Stephens, of Hancock, regarded the
whole matter as most extraordinary and out
of place. He did not rise to advoo*te any
man’s claims nor to assail any man, but to en
ter his solemn protest against converting this
Hall into a hustings, and against the standard
set up for the fitness ot a Senator. The gen
tleman from Bibb, (Mr. Whittle,) says a
man must not only acquiesce in the execution
of the law, bat he mast be ia its favor, he
must believe in its constitutionality. A man,
no matter what his qualifications ; no matter
how freoly and fully he may acquiesce in the
execution of the law, he must either believe
it is constitutional, or he must surrender his
opinion to get the gentleman’s vote. When
gentlemen set np this standard and require
men to subscribe to it, lot them not tell me
they are opposed to parties. It is erecting
the Procrustean bed; and I tell gentlemen
that if this standard is to be set up, I for one
will fight it. A man must not only conform
inaction with the laws Congress may pass,
but must think like Congress does. His mind
must be hampered and freedom of thought
must not be allowed him! If this is the
standard to bj erected,, and we are to be re
quired to subscribe to it, we ought to know it.
Lincoln has put men in jail for differing with
him, and I expect it will not be long before he
will hang ihem. It is but one step from the
Bastile to the cord. I don’t believe the Con-
federaie Government would thus exclude men
from its confidence, or require such a stand
ard to ho admitted into the counsels. This
standard is absurd and men who profess to
agree to it are hypocrites. The men who be
lieve in the constitutionality of the conscript
law, differ among themselves as to the way in
which it should be executed. Some think
Congress has the power to conscribe every
body, while others think the Governor and
Stale officers, the President and Congress
cannot be conscribed, while others think
there are certain “fundamental principles
outside of the constitution which puts a limit
on the power to conscribe. No two men on
earth ever thought exactly alike on all ques
tions, unless it was the Siamese twins, and I
believe it has not yet boen definitely settled
whether they are two individuals or one.
The next ballot was then taken which re
sulted as follows : Jackson 40 ; Johrson 111;
Toombs 14; Jenkins 2; IverBon 1; Dr. Lew
is 1; (Here Senator James R. Brown, an
nounced that Dr. Lewis was not a candidate
and would not accept the office if it were ten
dered him,) Dougherty 24 ; Howell Cobb 1 ;
Tu« Oohh 1; Dr Miller 2.
So Gov. Johnson was declared elected.
The Senate then retired, and Judge Steph
ens concluded the speech he commenced yes
terday on the conscript law and States Rights.
Judge Cabaniss will conclude the debate and
the vote will be taken in the Houbb to-mor
row. J. H. S
Judge Harris’ Decision ou the Conscript
Law.
In Chambers at Milledgevilie, 1
Nov. 8th, 1862. /
Asa 0. Jeffers—Conscript, 4
va. >■ Habeas Corpus
John Fair—Enrolling Agent. J
Asa 0. Jeffers, through his counsel, denies
that the recent act of the Confederate Con
gress providing “ further for the public de
fense,” commonly called the Conscript Act,
is constitutional, and seeks by bis petition to
be discharged from the custody of the En
rolling agent for the reason assigned.
Conscription ! What is it ? I understand it
to be the compulsory registry of individuals
of a certain age to be drafted or detached for
military service.
The mode of raising armies is as old as*the
Roman Republic, which existed more than
two thousand years ago. It was resorted to
in France at an early period of her Rovolu
tion, and by it she was enabled to brii g into
the field twelve hundred thousand men to re
pel the attacks of combined Europe; and to
suppress the revolt of La Vendee, the sup
porters of the Bourbou dynasty which had
just terminated by the scaffold. It is and
long lias been, the system of many of the
most powerful nations of Continental Eu
rope.
It existed in Great Britain during the vig
orous adminisiration of the elder Pitt—lifter
wards tin fam.ru.fl I.ard Ohatham.
It has existed in that kingdom time out of
mind, in the form of impressment for its ma
rine service.
It iB certainly, then, not a novel mode of
raising or levying troops, or military forces
for national defense.
Bat, because it has been employed by the
Confederate Government, it is denounced as
violative of the Constitution of the Confede
racy, because Congress could have resorted
to other modes of raising troops, viz: “Vol
untary enlistment,” or to “requisitions for
militia.”
It is asserted that “Conscription” violates
the personal liberty ot the citizen—is despot
ic, tyrannical, and that it will produce a mil
itary consolidation of the Confederate .States,
&c., &e., &c.
Are not thes» fears the mere phantoms oi
diseased imaginations, filled with
“ tiorgons, Hydras ami chimeras (lire ?”
I am, after carefully considering man}' of the
objections urged against tho constitutionality
of that law, compelled to differ with the great
dramatist who said—“’Twas the eye of
childhood only, that feared a painted devil,”
sit.ee every hour is exhibiting grown up men
darmed, or preteuumg to be alarmed, at the
bodiless creations of their own imaginations.
I shall not discuss the reasonableness or re
ality of their fears—nor the consequences
which may ensue from an acknowledgment
of tho power of the Confederate Government
to enact that law.
The simple question is, had Congress the
constitutional power to enact it ?
I apprehend that none will deny tbit the
highest duty of Congress is that of providing
for the common defense of all the States com
posing the Confederacy, No statesman will
deny but that the means for that purpose
should be adequate to the end proposed—and
that there would be a signal failure in. any
and every form of government which did not
provide them.
Let us see how far the States in forming
their Confederate Constitution did dilegaie
tAc common defense, their sovereign pow
ers :
The Confederate Congress shall have poioer
To declare war.
To raise and support armies.
To levy and collect taxes to pay the debts
and provide for the common defense and gen
eral welfare.
To provide and maintain a navy.
To make rules for the government and reg
ulation of the land and naval forces.
To provide for calling forth the militia to
execute the laws of the Confederate Gov
ernment, suppress insurrections and repel in
vasions.
To provide for organizing, arming and dis
ciplining the militia and for governing such
part of them as may be employed in the
service of the Confederate Government; re
serving to the States respectively the appoint
ment of the officers and the authority of train
ing the militia according to the discipline
prescribed by Congress.
To make all laws which shall be necessary
and proper for carrying into execution the
foregoing powers.
The prohibitions upon the States—still fur
ther illustrate the question discussed.
No State shall enter into any treaty or al
liance or confederation—or grant letters of
maTque or reprisal
Nor keep troops or ships of war in t.mes
of peace.
Or engage in war, unless actually invaded,
or in such imminent danger as will not admit
of delay.
Now, is it not apparent from these prohi
bitions that the States in the creation of the
Confederate Government, delegated all the
powers they severally possessed over these
subjects to be exclusively exercised by Con
gress, leaving enly a naked power in them
selves to engage in war when invaded or in
imminent danger admitting of no delay.
The defense then of each State and the com
mon defense of all the States was therefore
necessarily devolved on the Confederate Gov
ernment and not on the State Governments
The people of Georgia through their conven
tion conferred the groat duty 0..1 e c fi H
on the Confederate Government, confiding
wisely in the readiness and elh-.’iency 0
government to perform to the best ot H* »bil-
,ty That that government can more jgVem
do it than the State governments won Id we
to be a necessary consequent- iron) tl P
er “to raise and support armies.
At the first blush, and to one who does1 no
ml y comprehend our system of government,
thffi power to raise armies would seem to be
unlimiied-nnd that it might be used to force
every citizen with the exception of tLe i iee
ident of tho Confederacy into the military
service In my judgment it has a clear and
well defined limit, beyond which it cannot
20 without annihalating the btale govern
ment, and even the Confederate
itself To the extent to which some ot the
advocates of this power go I cMn°t go-tor
exercised as they contend it sbo.^d be, it
would produce the most perfect military iLs-
potism the world ever taw—uuiting in the
hands of the President all the powers ot gov
ernment now wisely distributed among the
three great departments both of the btateand
Confedrate governments.
In (he very structure and nature of the two
distinct systems of State and Coniederate
government is to be found that limit, ihe
creators of the Confederate government can
not be supposed ever to have conferred a
power on its agent which oould be used tor
their destruction. No conscription act there
fore could ever be made to reach any one be
longing to either of the Executive, Legisla
tive or Judicial departments of the State or
Confederate govermneuis. All other citizens
of the States are liable to conscription with
in the ages of 18 and 45. The militia is un
known to any constitution as a department of
government, and consequently all the privates
and its officers within the ages atoresaid are
liable to be conscribed.
Bui. it has been argued that if the Confede
rate government has the power of raising ar
mies, it can only constitutionally do so by
tho modes kuowu and practiced at the time
of the making of the United States Con
stitution in 1787, viz; “Voluntary enlist
ments, and requisitions on the Governors lor
militia.”
It strikes me as very strange that a strict
constructionist should seriously ask rue to in
terpolate conditions and restrictions into so
broad, unambiguous and unqualified a power
as that to raise and support armies, without
first demonstrating that from the very nature
and structure of our systems of government
such conditions and restrictions are esscu
tial to their preservation iu ail their depart
meats.
What right havo I to say sb*t Cengrcss may
raise armies only by voluntary enlistment—
or, failing in that by requisitions on the Gov
ernors for militia, and not in any other mode
whatever? In substance, 1 am urged to de
cide that to be the meaning of tho framers of
the Constitution of ’87, and that those two
modes exhaust tho full measure of the grant
of power to Congress. If the history t e not
entirely false the very reverse of conditions
or restrictions, on this grant of p iwer, was
the great and controlling design of the Con
vention that framed that Constitution. If
such had been the meaning of the people of
the uiaua when Dy tneir delegate
they were engaged in ’87 in revising the ol>
articles of confederation entered into iu 1778
why are not these limitations incorporated
into the frame of government in clear and
express terms?
In this connection let it be borne in min
that in the articles of confederation there was
no general power “ to raise armies.” The
Congress could raise armies by agreeing up
on the number of land forces and by making
requisitions from each State for its quota in
proportion to its white population Thus the
power was a limited one.
The illustrious men of the Revolution and
all the historians of those times unite in the
condemnation of the whole system of requi
sitions for militia, and in saying that as a
military force it was more expensive auuiess
efficiei t than troops raised by other modes.—
They further say that by adhering to that sys
tem we came very near losing our indepen
dence.
Are we never to profit by the experience of
our Revolutionary fathers without paying the
high price for it they paid ?
The framers of the Constitution of 1787
were well acquainted with our whole revolu
tionary history—many of them had partici
pated both in council and in the field in con
ducting that revolution to a successful close,
and whilst the memory of their embarrass
ments growing out of the employment of the
militia and requisitions for them uneomplied
with, was fresh and keen, they promptly and
unanimously blotted out the words requisitions
and quotas, and substituted in lieu of what
they had repudiated as patriotic statesmen,
the clear, distinct and ample power “ to raise
and support armies.”
The Confederate Constitution contains the
grant thus given to Congress in 1787, and in
the identical words.
To seek as has been done to restrict a pow
er unlimited by its words to only two modes
of raising armies—“voluntary enlistment”
and “requisitions for militia,” in the face of
all history and reason is the boldest attempt
to prevent clear, precise, unambiguous words
that it has been my lot to hear from any disci
ple of the school of Jefferson. That they be
Jeffersonian in profession I will not question
—but I must be permitted to say that I think
they will find it no easy task to make such
constructions accord with Jeffersonian prin
ciple or practice.
Can it be supposed that such men as Geo.
Washington, Benjamin Franklin, James Mad
ison, Alexander Hamilton, James Wilson,
Govemeur Morris, John Rutledge, the Pinck
neys of South Carolina, and Georgia’s distin
guished delegate, Abraham Baldwin, and
these persons were members of the conven
tion of ’87, did not know the full extent of
the power they conferred “to raise and sup
port armies.” r
That such a body of men of the highest
civil and military renown as those I have just
named should within four years after the ter
mination of the Revolutionary War, painfully
and profoundly familiar with the deficiency of
adequate power in the Confederation of ’78 to
carry on war arising from the jealous restric
tions of the States on the mode of raising
armies by it, should in the new and more per
fect form of government they were framing
perpetuate the imbecility of the old govern
ment, and they only meant by the grant in the
constitution of ’87 “to raise and support ar
mies,” to give Congress the right to raise ar
mies only by voluntary enlistment or requi
sit 10ns ou the States for militia is incredible.
It that had been^the fact, it would stultify a
collection of the greatest men the world ever
saw m council.
“Credat J adeem 3pp lla.”
I might have closed with propriety this
opinion before thw-but as the subje£ is one
of J Ua t •K te r e9t ’ 1 WlU P rolon g it in the hope
of contributing something to expose the er-
E2? “ ,sl “ - •*«
Hi? f |T.**l’ alUC ’ ’f 1 “ e " k - k*™ been
“‘S'”' 1 '"»« and suppori
ones, bad it not been as extensive as it is ?
Who could foresee what might arise in the fu
ture ?
To meet any exigency which might occur,
wisdom demanded a power as ample and co
extensive with any emergency. To make as
surance doubly sure, the convention, to si
lence ali cavil, went further, and invested
Congress with full authority to pass all laws
which they might deem necessary and proper
to carry into effect this general, exclusive
and essential power.
But, it is urged that I must construe the
other grants of power iu this article of the
constitution in connexion. 1 have not only
considered them, but all other portions of the
Constitution, with a view to collect its true
meaning, and 1 am constrained to say that I
am unaL le to perceive in the clauses in ref
erence to the militia to which my attention
was particularly directed, anything which in
the slightest degree does or ought to affect my
judgment as to the extent of the power to
raise armies.
That Congress may provide for calling
forth the militia to repel invasion, and when
thus called forth, that the appointment of its
officers belongs to the State, admits ot no
doubt. • But how do these clauses elucidate
the question as to the extent of the power of
Congress to raise and support armies, or ot
the aptness of the means used to carry that
power into execution ? To call forth the mi
litia organized in divisions, brigade-i or regi
ments with their State officers, or not to call
them forth thus organized and officered is a
question solely within the discretion of Con
gress. To assert that it is bound to call forth
all liable to military service as militia, is to
beg the question which they are called on to
prove.
Is not. the argument that Congicss must
call forth as militia, officered by the State,
&c., virtually a denial of the right ol Con
gress to raise an army, through recruiting
officers, by the voluntary enlistment ot the
citizen ?
If so the Confederate government would be
reduced to rely on drafted men furnished by
the States, in obedience to a call, or on vol
unteer organizations by companies, battalions
and regiments with their iStato officers. Vol
untary enlistment means in its most usual
signification something else than volunteer
organizations—it is that system which has
been used for the purpose of filling up the
ranks of winu. is termed the Regular Army.
It is argued that the Confederate government
may enlist individuals to a limited extent,
but that it cannot through its recruiting of
ficers enlist all the men composing the mili
tia, for that, would be to annihilate the mili
tia. This reasoning appears to me to be
strange, making the constitutionality of the
exercise of an admitted right to depend on the
number enlisted aud source of supply From
what class of men in a State except these be
tween 18 and 45 yearB of age, can an efficient
military force be procured? It must of
necessity be from this class, or our young
government will be driven in making up ar
mies for defence, into European shambles to
purchase soldiers as did Great Britain in her
war against us in 177b
Can any one deny the right o the Confed
erate Congress to declare by law that it.
is the duty and honor of the citizen to serve
in the army of his country? Such an en
actment might be deemed compulsory. If
compulsion is necessary 10 raise an army to
defend our country, wh » will dare say that
the government charged with the common
defense may not use it. ? Compulsion is force.
Conscription by the Confederate Government
aud draft by the fc!ti*te Government are alike
compulsory measures of force—they are twins
of the same parentage, and so much alike
that it will require keen optics to distinguish
them apart.
1 think that every fair and candid observ
cr of the state of things in Georgia now will
concede unhesitatingly, the prompt, free,
willing, voluntary spirit which put, hitherto
so many of her sons in the military service,
has expired. In vain, utness under the threat
of an immediate draft, could any one hope u
collect enough men to form a regiment. The
Confederate Government cannot depend on
that spirit to fill up her army. Resort, then,
says the State rights man of the hour to draft
ing the militia. But drafting is compulsion
and force. Conscription is to drag the poor
citizen, who cannot buy a subrtitute, to Rieh-
mon 1, far away from wife and home, and
“in chains,” Does not the draft, when re
sorted to by the Gover.-or of a State do just
tho precise same thing, they sav conscription
wiil do ?
IVhat, then, is the value of the choice be
tween the two modes of putting a soldier in
to the army ?
The difference at most is that, when draft
ed with others, to make a regiment, he has
the right to elect his officers.
Does tho exercise of this State-right lcs
sen the ignominy or pressure of his “ chains?''
By Conscription, he may not have the right
to ballot for his officers, yet, practically, as
its design is to fill up Regiments thinned by
disease and battle, the Georgia eonscript is
permitted to join any regiment from Georgia,
not full, he prefers. His comrades are Geor
gians—his officers are Georgians who have
become skilled by discipline and long service
to command, and who have won imperisha
ble renown foi ttoir cons ancy and cool cour
age in the field.
As the force is the same by “Draft” as in
“Conscription,” it would seem that the whole
contest as to which government should exer
cise it, resolveB itself into a dispute rather for
patronage to be directly or indirectly exerted.
Reduced to this complexion, might not a look
er on whose mind was filled with deep anxiety
from the dissentions which are painfully ap
parent in this hour of gloom and peril, ask
with tremendous significance,
‘•Is tho game worth the candle”?
We are told by an eminent statesman “that
power controlled or abridged is almost always
the rival or enemy of that power by which it
is controlled or abridged.”
Georgia, by the unanimous vote of her del
egates in Convention ratified the Confederate
Constitution, containing the grants of power
herem.enumerated, among them the unquali
fied, unconditional, and exclusive power to
Congress “to raise and support armies”—to-
gether with the power to make all Jaws wnich
it shall deem necessary and proper to carry
into execution all of those powers.
Has Georgia with her power to raise armies
abridged and controlled by her own free act,
at tins early day, and in the midst of a tcr-
"tr/° r iife liherty and independence aa 1
a Mate, for our homes and hearthstones, be
come the rival and enemy of the Confederate
Govornment, because she is controlled by
that government in the manner and mode of
raising armies for her defense ? Tha’ Con-
sutution that thus abridges her power is -is
.^ rCon9titu,ion as her State Cmslitu-
or* 4K agents are as much her agents as
Whv th StHte Constitution —
clnL “ ld 6he by false and “funded
construction attempt to fritter down to
nothing, a power so broad and absolute, and
. c ,. “ as . no limit to its exercise, in my
humlde opinion, but the clear and well mark-
edjboundary which I have in this decision de
lineated If Georgia is dissatisfied with'the
grants of power she has made as too broad
and unlimited,.that they were unwisely
delegated—if she wishes to dwarf hor dimen
sions to a petty State, not wanting aid from
others—her pathway is plain—let her go into
State Convent on—recall her grants -disso
ciate herself from her sitter States, and bring
back all her sons to the defense of her soil*
This would bo to make Revolution in the
midst of a Revolution.
I cannot believe she will thus rashly act. I
think when she coolly examines this question
in the clear light <>f our past history, she will
not listen to that construction founded upon
the usage-) of tho Uni’cd States and Great
Britain, iu 1787 -and which is engrafted,
would emasculate the groat and essential
power to raise and support armies of nil its
virility.
After listening attentively to the arguments
presented by the counsel for the conscript, I
have been thrown back iu memory to the Con-
vention of Virginia and Maryland, to which
the Feder il Constitution was submitted for
i-atificatiou. The general power “to raise
and support armies” was under discussion.—
The opponents of that Constitution made the
same objections now made—they sought to
limit the power as it is now sought to be lim
ited. The argument to-day is but the repro
duction of old ideas and old objections, with
less tire, but more rhetorical embellishment.
All those arguments and objections tailed
happily f«r the country, and rhcC ustiturion
as it. came from the hands ot its framers waj
adopted and became the supreme law of the
land
1 have thus with the independence which
becomes a Jud*o, discussed a question brought
before me almost wit hout notice—without lull
argument supported by authority on the part
of the enrolling agent, been forced hastily,
within tho short space of twenty-tour bourn,
to reduce this opinion to writing, that it might
be presented at,cnee to the Supreme Court for
review, i offer no apology for the reasoning
My ideas h ive been well considered Mv re
gret, only is that I had not ample time to
clothe them ia language worthy of the nia;
nitude ot the question discussed.
[Here Judge Harris quotes from the speech
of George M. Troup, delivered in the United
States Congress iu 1814, so often alluded 10 of
late ]
l have quoted these extracts from the speech
of this great head of the States Rights family,
by which it will appear that he goes some
what beyond me. There is no higher au
thority in this land for right constitutional
interpretation than George M 'I'ttouv. 1 be
gan political life under his banner; limbibed
my earliest political opinions from hi> teach
ings ; I will stand by them. He never rc
traded or modified the opinions hero ex
pressed.
The decision of the Court, for the reasons
assigned, is, that Asa O. .Tellers, being a citi
zen, within the ages of 18 and 40 years of
age, and not belonging to any department of
either the Confederate or State Government,
nor being otherwise exemp' from military ser
vice, be not discharged as a conscript from
the custody of the enrolling officer.
IVERSON LOUIS BARKIS
One of the Judges of the Sup’r Courts of Ga.
OBITUARY.
C AX DEE—Died at Stone Mountain, Georgia, on tho
19tli instant, at the raideur e of >1 Winningluiu. (m-rmi-
ly brother) of consumption, M . NxP.vs M. I'.outE,of
Memphis, i'enn., in tho -full year of her a.;e.
Then ait gene to-tli« glare but we wit’- lieytoH thoe;
Though sorrow and darkness ennom; as the i ,ml>,
Thy Saviour lias ;a sed through the porta! Retire theo,
And tie .'-‘mp of his lov-t is thy gu de tIn• -ugh the
gloom.” U*
JNew Aflverli.seinorits.
o
V1KGIMIA SALT.
N consignment, here and to arrive, a fe» car Labuf
Virginia Salt.
novvl-lw McXAUGHT, OUMOXD * CO.
A BATTALION OF *:.% V AbilV WASTED.
1 1!AVE been aathm z t by (he War Departnifat, to
raise a Battalion of meant, d men tortile iVi iter# ter
vice Tho tlatta’ion is to c >usi«r of Sue t'KOp'iiiee, of
not to s than sixty men each; e.tcli man vt ill furnish his
own horse. (Iuna, sabres, and ell other c iufpmei ts wilt
be f< rnisbed by the Government. The usual Bonutyof
Fifty Dollars wilt be allowed each man Those desiria*
to raise ramp nit - or d( .ire any farther informatim, will
address H. N. By or-', at Jackson, Ga., or T. 1> Wi!ltw#’i
Jonesboro Oa. ' Lt J I. HALL,
nov'Jl wit* 45th Georgia.
200
sale bv
nova
WHEAT AND DATS.
BUisHHLS BEET) WHEAT-
200 bn “bets Feed Cats, on caDeignm: tit »#J ftr
ANDERSON, ADA IK A Cl*,
if Conimiaeia:.' Iferchaits.
AUCTION.
B EFORE my door, under the Post Office, o# S* 1 ®'
day morning, the 22d instant, at 10 o'clock, will U
sold—
Fifteen a< ros of Land lying outside the ci*y, Mb 1 ®' ’
N. K. Gardner, Dr Dorsey, and Mr. Med! ck. Sale
tive and for cash.
rovZOtd S, J. SHACKELFORD V M-
TOBACCO FOR SALK.
1 A O E lXSS VERY SUPERIOR TOKACCO tf r sale.
JLxrVr a barrels pure Lard Oil.
AL30,
White and Brown Sugar by the barret aud bogd
to suit customers. F. M FISK,
At the old staud of Abbott & Rro,
nov20-!;t iViritrii'dlsif 1 ' 1 ' 1
LIVERY STASLK FOR SALK.
I OFFER FOR SALS tny Livery Stable, HonM-
Hacks, Buggies and Wagons; nryhonse and ?
twenty seven acres of land attached. X will ab?f.' 11 “*,
hundred acres t f ia,-.d lying »J litn one suite °t I 1
There is some fine bottom on the place. P ' 1 lurtci'i P
ticu ars address the iber, or come and exmerer
property ‘ STERLING KCKt.E.S .
ih.v2o-1ui Social Circle, Ge. rg>
$35 REWARD-
L EU' a bouse near the junction of Marietta ^
Street, on tho night of the 17th, a dark UnW*" _
20 years old named PATIENCE; she
rid
aLout
THIRTY DOLLAR’- .ItKWARU*
L 'HE above reward will be paid f- r the appt
delivery of John C RichardrOir, ot coiupatrf ‘ ^
Georgia Regiment, who deserted Iris company on u
the 27th flay (yf June last. Bald Ji-hn C Htcbar . 3
l5i -ted by Capt.E'isba Blackburn at Atlanta, m * £
e 15th Uny o 4 M iy, lSo2« to serve it i* threo,) ^ .
' ’
- nliit-t
the
war; is live feet ten inches I iglr:
oa-k Complex km; born in the .. . t * n-.--
age LiZ years, and by occupation when enli*-''- ^
tear her Thirty Dollars will be l™ 1 11 -in|K*»
jar! »o that i.nray g ,t him. If delivered to
tta- reward anil alt expenses will D e P' 1 ^ ^ HILL
no»20 8t - «- nerkfl*^'
HARNESS.
o' SETS BOGGY HARNESS, on consignment and '’
sate t»y Anderson, adaih a co
uov21-tt Commie-ion Alt 'rhsnb-
SIIOKS.
p* CASE * MEN'S SHOES, on loneigninent and Dr Ji s
») hy ANDERSON, A ! ‘AlU * CO,
i o\21 If Oomrni-tsiou M»»clii*#b
WANTED
O LD Copper, Bra. s, lead and Pewter, wanted at tk
Pistol Factory, for which the bishost cash price*- 11 j ■
be pa d SPELLER & ii®. J
nov21 2w*
ll
Oapt Com Oo N, 38ih dU
LOsf- ,y P.0,:
•A. LARGE-BiZEL Kusgot Vdi»'. m ? r ;” , hu u*!#* *
containing notoa and papr' 1 ’ bi-uriug ?, K mi* ll "
M. P. Callaway ; also, WothiL^W'*
were taken from the Atlanta K ultl 0,1 tbc *
8th inat. ^ .-•'utenW
The person who rotnrna tire ' ali-re ajL * .
receive a large reward aud be ark®*! no ijinv '
octlltf