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THE WEEKLY CHRONICLE Ac SENTINEL
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A« I VDEPKYDK.NCE WITHOUT RAILROADS
tow of our readers, we apprehend, have
considered how essential to the success of our
cause are the railroads of tlie Confederacy. A
people contending as we are with an enemy
whose means of transporting troops equal any
thing known in modern times, mi st labor un
der a great disadvantage if they enn command
only those facilitiet for the movement of troops
which were employed before the era of rail*
roads. Without railroads we could not have
won one important victory in this war, and
without these the hope of prosecuting this war
to a successful termination would he chimerical
indeed. By means of the railroad Gen Jolrn
et< n was able to effect that juue'ure with Gen.
Beauregard which resulted in (lie first victory
at Manassas. By means of the iron track,
Gen. Long-drect made that union of his troops
with Gen. Bragg which enabled our armies to
triumph at Cliickamauga. Jt was the rapid
concentration of our forces at Savannah ini
mudiately after the Port Itoyal disaster which
doterred the enemy from striking impor
tant city at a time when the assault might have
been successful. But it is unnecessary to
specify particulars. Every page of the his
tory of this war shows tho connexion of rail
roads with our triumphs.
If these tilings be so, it is surely the dictate
of sound policy to guard most carefully against
any legislation which may impair the efficiency
of this right arm of our power. AVhcn the
late Congress passed a bill levying a tax upon
railroads five times as onerous as tho tax on
real estate, negroes and othor substantial in- j
(crests of the country, they committed them- j
selves to a policy most suicidal as well as arbi
trary. If the measure is insisted upon by their
successors, who are now convened iu Rich
mood, it will simply bo impossible to preserve
for many months longer even the present effi
ciency of this means of transportation. The
stockholders will not only lose, under the
law of February 17th, every dollar of their
income from their investments, but they must
make a serious infringement upon the capital
to meet the levy. How they are, iu addition,
to And funds for repairing at the present ex
orbitant prices, the constant waste, to which !
these roads are subjected, is a question which
must bo solved by the solons who made tho
law. They will And it a moro economical ar
rangement to surrender the roads for the time
being to the Confederate Government. When ;
this is done they will soon cease to be of any ■
beneAt to the country.
Our railroads, » nco the war, have labored
under great and constantly increasing unbar-!
rassments. Iron, the great staple of their sup- i
port, has been very scarce and high--indeed it j
has been simply impossible to procure it in j
such quantities as tho exigencies of the roads
demanded. They are alt sutlering a, ihe pre
sent time, severely, for the want of this>article.
Then again there are portions of locomotive
tnnchioeiy which canuot be obtained in the
Confederacy, and which have not been supplied j
from abroad in quantities at all equal to the
demand. Besides, this labor has been so scarce I
that even when the material has not been whol- j
ly wanting,’the skill to use it effectively has not
a) ways been within reach. But notwithstaiul- i
iug these and other embarrassments which
might he mentioned, our railroads have per- j
formed their duty well. They have transport- j
ed troops for the government at a cost largely
reduced, have rarely, If in any case, more than j
doubled their charges for transportation, though
they have had to pay for everything which j
they have consumed prices varying from five
hundred to five thousand por cent, above the
yates of peace.
after such behaviour these institutions
deserve better treatment than they liavereceiv- :
ed at the ffi.’nds of the They may
well remonstrate at the oppressive and unwise
discrimination which has been made against
them. They may with all propriety warn those
who are charged with the guardianship ot ah
the interests of the country, that the legisla
tion which undermines their efficiency will re
coil with terrible effect upon that treasury
which they are proposing to supply with their
life blood.
Election, ok Militia Officers. —The election
of Militia Regimental officers took place on Sat
unlay. We are now enabled to give full re
turns, as follows :
FOB COLONEL.
Augusta. 121st dist. 124thilist. Total
R J Wilson, 24 39 52 115
•\VB Griffin. 74 1 00 75
Harris, 00 1 00 1
FOR I.IEI'T. COLONEL.
C V Walker, 72
' FOR MAJOR.
WT Timmerman, 10 40 41 97
J A Dortic, OS 00 00 OS
Recapitulation. —Colonel, R'J Wilson; Lt
Colonel, C V Walker ; Major, W T Timmer
man. No polls were opened in the 119th and
123d districts.
Save Your Tags. —l)o net forget to save i
j'our rags. All the paper mills and newspaper j
publishers are in a strait for the want of ma
terial. it costs nollli,1 S to save rags and high
prices are paM f° r them. If the money the rags
bring in is not an inducement to take care of
them, then do it for the purpose of keeping the
newspapers from suspending. White rags of
course are preferable, but colored ones will do j
to make paper of some soft- Cotton or liueu
tags of any description will make good paper.
Therefore we say again save your rags and 1
bring or send them to this office. The highest
price will be paid for them.
Tub Distances in Virginia..— The following
distances may be acceptible in assisting to un
derstand the operations near the Rapidan :
From Orange C. H. to Fredericksburg is forty
one miles. The road crosses no river. Pro
osediog from Orange C. H. we come, it ten
miles, to Veroiersville; ten mile-* [nrther
brings us to Parker's 6tore ; six miles further
to Wilderness : five miles turther to Cbaueel
lorsvillo ; ten miles mow to Fredericksburg.
A ILK PRESIDENT STEPHENS
f'r c Lynchburg Virginian publishes a very
able and incontrovertible defence of Vice Pres
ident Stephens and flic course pursued by him.
j Tbe slanderers of this distinguished statesman,
i wil! tin ' l in if - au answer for all their uncalled
! lor vituperation and abuse. We do not sup
pose however, that the journals which have
attacked the high and patriotic course of tbe
| \ ice President, wish to he convinced of their
! °rror. They have long since departed from
(ho paths of rectitude and moral patriotic hon
esty. They have hitched tbeir non-paying
presses to the party who holds the public purse
strings. If they cannot conduct their journals
in such a way that Use people will support
them direclly. they are determined the people
shall support them indirectly. The admin
istration shovels out its promises to pay
to therefrom the Confederate Treasury, and
the tax pavers foot the bills. Rich way of
doing things.
But we started to give our readers the opin
i ' oa °f the Lynchburg Virginian on the
i course of Vice President Stephens. Here it is :
Some of the Administration journals, ip
(heir supem-rvicealde zeal, if not from excess
of patriotism, are indulging very fierce philiip
ics against the above named functionary, the
j second officer in the government. Some of
tl; "in have gone so far as to intimate that the
Vice President cannot be Ousted ; which, ic
ing interpreted, means, we presume, that lie
is a traitor. This is a grave insinuation to
make against a man who has always enjoyed
the reputation of singular purity in private
and public life ; a patriot beyond question and
above reproach.
It seems 10 us too, that the crimes whereof
Mr. Stephens stands charged do not partake
of the nature of those that ate usually com
mitted against the public liberties, involving
that of treason. Quite the reverse. If to dif
fer with the President, and to disapprove an
act of Congress which transfers the liberties of
the citizen to the keeping of the Bxecutive be
j treason, then the Vice President has been guil
!ty of ilds high crime. But we do not so tmder-
J stand the case. Them are millions of people
I in the South who think, with Mr. Stephens, that
i the President should never have asked for the
i suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, and
feat Congress did wrong to grant his request.
But these people are not traitors unless it be
povible for a majority to be guilty of treason
lo their country. And the case of Mr. Stephens
does not stand alone in American, histoiy.-
Timm is another not altogether unlike it.
When Gen. Jackson was President of the
; Dirited Stales, and Mr. Calhoun the Vice I’res
j ident, I hose two functionaries disagreed and
i quarrelled outright. The I’res’dent afterwards
I issued h Proclamation and Congress passed a
| lore" Bill, that Mr Calhoun denounced; and
j such documents would be denounced by more
| man nine-tenths of the people of the South
- now. The men who were in favor of vvhip
! ping South Carolina in the Union, in accord
ance with the programme of Old Hickory and
ids Congress, called tbe great Carolina patriot,
j John Cala'ine Calhoun, and accused Him of
| treason to the country.
They abused him quite as much, if not more
lhan rue Administration journals now abuse
Mr. Stephens. But, cau any body, at this and iy,
lxdieve that Mr. I’alhoun was not as pure a
patriot as Gen. Jackson wa«, though he differed
with the latter, ami with his Congress, and
openly proclaimed his opposition by the des
potic measures which they respectively recom
memfi-d alidsut on fool, We leave those gen
tlemen. who iisfiri-.to proclaim their adherence,
to the Calhoun school of politics, but who
seem to have suddenly become converts to the
consolidation theories of Gen. Jackson, to traco
the agalogy in the (uses cited and make the
application for themselves
But further re.-pcsting Mr. Stephens. He
1 commenced his political crater as a Whig In
that capacity he repr anted iiis District in
I Congress lor years ; yet his party feelings were
not so ttroug then iui to render hiim unwilling
to abandon party for the sake of country.
Seeing what, perhaps, many other Whigs did
nut see, that the nomination of Winfield Scott
in 1852, was a dangerous in concession to the Se
wai\l wing of the Whig party, he opeu'y pro
claim ”1 his determination to support his op
ponent. Frank tin Fierce, the candidate of the
Deei'icratio party. He united in a card with
Hove, vi other Whig Congressmen warning the
Souiti against Scott, and the Northern party
which forced his nomination. Since that time
he has acted wdh the Democratic party. And
do the men who now abuse the Vice-President
censure him for preferring Fierce to Scott?
for dissolving his party relations rather than
support a recreant son of the South, who has
since proven himself to have been unworthy
of our support! He was a better Southern man
then than those who supported Van Baron,
('ass, and Buchanan, but who now abuse biin ;
and he is as true and loyal to his native South
at this time as they can he.
But, suppose Mr. Stephens did. iff the exer
cise of his undoubted right, declare his op
position to the repeal of the habeas corpus ?
That could not make him a traitor to his State,
if his allegiance is to that, for iis legislature had
jut before avowed its opposition to themeasure
and recommended the restoration of the
great charter ot liberty. Ami now Mississippi,
the President's own State, has by a unanimous
vote of her Legislature, declared that the act
iu question is ‘-dangerous to the liberty' of the
ciUa< ns, unconstiutional in some ot its features,
tends to make the civil power subordinate to
the military, aud establishes a precedent of a
doubtful and dangerous character, and should
j bo repealed.”
Mississippi endorses, not tho comseof the
i President, but that of the Vice President, —
i The precise view taker by Mr. Stephens is that
j enter mined by the Legislature ot Mississippi.
I Has the President's State then joined itself to
| the traitors and repudiated its honored son? No!
No ! but as sovereign States these have given
their calm utterances against the expediency of
the late experiment upon the temper of a free
people. If States have the undoubted right
thus to - speak, then it follows that citizens
thereof can with impunity, express their opinion
respecting the policy of a law of which they
disapprove, and the remarks of the Vice Pres
ident on this subject should nut have provoked
the comments that have been made upon his
conduct and character.
We opposed the suspension of the habeas cor
pus, and we think no better ot the act of repeal
now than we did at the time it was passed. It
was an ill judged unnecessary measure, lt put
a stigma upon the loyalty of our people that
was undeserved, and it gave aid aud comfort
to the enemy, in that it induced the belief that
their sympathisers were so numerous in the
Confederacy that there was no other means left
to overrule' and keep them in subjugation
Nor have wo been disappointed or sorry that
the measure lias provoked the criticism of the
Press and of State Legislatures. Had it been
otherwise, the world might have supposed that
there was some show of reason for the charge
which onr foes make, to the effect that we are
submissive to the most arrant despotism. The
opposition that has been manifested to this
measure— -which wo are free to admit, does not
so iu as yet to have been abused by the Prcsi
! dent—shows a healthy slate of public senti
\ meat, ami proves iiieoutestibiy that we are not
j disposed'to submit to domestic or foreign ty
rants. We should reinstate the great charter
Sos treedom.
Mr. W. A. McDonald, of Mclntosh county,
was killed ea April 27. Between nine and ten
o'clock. Mr. McDonald's attention was call to
one of bis negro houses, about fifty yards from
his dwelling hoi.se. by au unusual noise in the
negro house, and en arriving at the spot, found
j a white man dressed in soldier’s clothes, and
j ordered him oft his premises. ?dr. McD. walked
out of the negro house iu the direction of his
own dwelling, and when about ten yards from
the negro house the man shot him down, the
ball entering his right side. He lived about
two hours, and sail he was siiot by a soldier, !
but did not know him. Mr McDonald was one
of the m .st benevolent meain the couutv, aged
about sixty-five years.
file Selina Dispatch lean s from gentlemen
from Demopons. who arriv'd in that city that
a courier arrived at Gen Polk’s headquarters
| \\ ednesday morning, b aring a dispatch from
I Col. tteotl. aunounciu.' ti e capture of Banks
land his entire aruty by Gen. Smith's forces.
JjgCoL-iderable hail foil in sandersville, Ga.
aud viciuuy, on Saturday, April 30,
AUGUSTA, GA., WEDNESDAY MORNING, MAY 18, 1864.
AN IMPORTANT LETTER FROM GOA.
DROWN.
[From Mi'dedgeville Union.]
Heap Q’ns. Anderson's Brigade, )
Near Zollieoffer, Teen., j-
April 14th, 1864. j
To his Excellency J. E. Brown, Governor.
fsii —ln accordance with resolution to that
elh-ct. I have the honor to forward to you a
copy ot the proceedings of a meeting held in
tliis Brigade yesterday, for purposes set forth
therein.
I am sir, very respectfully.
Your obedient serv't,
Geo. T. A ndeeson',
Brig. General.
Executive Department, )
Milledgeville, Ga., May 2d, 1864. j
Brig. Gen'i. Geo. T. Anderson :
fJ,: —1 hereby acknowledge the receipt of
your lettev of the 14th uit., accompanied by
the resolutions which purport to have been
. almost unanimously adopted” by the men
composing your Brigade, condemning my ac
tion in convening tiie legislature in extra scs
-ion in March last, and denouncing my
message aud action of the legislature as
‘unwise and unpatriotic’’ and intended to
“subserve partisan interests.” The preamble
also speaks of the willingness of those whom
you denounce to sacrifi.se everything to “self
aggrandizement and personal ambition’’ and of
“prostituting tbe dignity of high office to the
accomplishment of unholy ends.”
those who deal thus with the actions and
motives of others should be prompted only by
the mostlofty patriotism, and the purest mo
tives, and should themselves bo above suspi
cion of “personal ambition for self-aggrandize
ment, or of a desire to “subserve partisan
interests.
How will the motives and acts of those who
were the originators and managers of this
meeting and who covered the President with
laudation so fulsome as to be offensive to mod
est merit, while (hey denounced the acts aud
impugned the motives of the Governor and
legislature of their own State, stand the test of
the just rule above-mentioned? Iff mistake
not, the name of the chairman of the meet
ing, who Is a Brigadier General, has been men
tioned by his friends for promotion to the po
sition of a Major General.
Neither the Governor nor Legislature of his
btate has any power, under the acts of Con
gtess to grant the promotion. It can come
Irom the President alone. The Secretary of the
meeting, himself a Lieutenant Colonel, can be
mane Colonel only at the will of the President'
ike orator ot the occasion, now a Captain,
cannot expect promotion lroin the State au
thorities. The ?ame may probably be said of
most of the others who were prominent in this
meeting. White Ido not charge upon them a
desire to “accomplish unholy ends’ ’ tbr “seif
•'ggrandizement - I must leave it to others
to say whether the judgment of condemnation
pronounced by them was entirely unbiased by
“personal ambition’’ and a desire for self-pro
motion, 1 apprehend the way-worn private
soldier upon his weary march by day and his
lonely watch at night, who serves his country
only tor his country’s good, and while be meets
the enemy in deadly conflict at the hazard of
his lile, can look for no peisoual promotion
trom the President which will give him high
command or historic fame, has taken a more
just and less excited view of this subject.
liie helpless families so dear to many of the
gallant men whom you command, as well as
of thousands of other Inave sous of Geoigia
no y v in military service, were dependent upon
the action of the Governor and legislature of
>oiir St .te tor bread. The act of Congress
wfiieb.von so. hi.'ffiiv anm/.y*? h-* ;■ ■■■' ■-
the Confederate currency iu thb Treasury of
the State, till it would uo lunger purchase the
bread which they must have or they must die
of hunger. In this condition of things the
extra session which you denounce was called —
a currency with which bread cau be purchased
was provided, and provision wastnado which
it is hoped will secure its transportation to
them aud sare their lives. Was this an “un-
hallowed purpose” and did ii; accomplish ail
“unholy e,d ? ” lam willing for the hardy
sons of toil who obey year orders, and whose
wives and little ones at home are dear to them,
to judge, aud lam content to abide their de
cision.
The Governor and legislature of your State
whom you denouuce have appropriated for this
year nearly ten millions of dollars to feed and
ciothe the sntleriog wives aud widows and or
phans of soldiers, and to put shoes ttpon the
feet and clothes upon Lie backs of soldiers
themselves, who are often destitute and cannot
get supplies from the Confederate Government.
Is this an “unholy end” for which they deserve
your denunciation ?
But you and those who act with you, com
plain of the resolutions passed by the legisla
ture in response to my message, on the subject
of the suspension of the habeas corpus, and
those relative to the terms upon which peace
should be sought.
Whatever may be the opinions of those offi
cers who managed the meeting over which
you prt sided, 1 venture to say, that not one
private soldier iu every ten in your Brigade,
believes it is right for Congress to suspend the
writ of habeas corpus, aud authorize the Presi
dent to arrest the people, and send them in
irons to the Islands or dungeons of other States;
anil confine them at his pleasure, and deny to
the Courts the right to inquire into the cause
of the imprisonment, or to place the case upon
the docket, and give the accused the benefit of
the speedy and impartial trial guaranteed to
him. by the Constitution of his country. This
is not the Constitutional liberty which so many
Georgians have died to defend. He who pos
sesses this control over the people, has in his
hands the powers of a, monarch, call him what
you may.
Again I apprehend the private soldiers un
der your command, whose official promotion
and self importance, do not depend upon the
continuance of the war, will be unable to dis
cover any dishonor in the resolutions of the
General Assembly of their State upon the sub
ject of peace. The Legislature has declared
negotiation as well as the sword, has its prop
er part to perform in terminating this bloody
struggle. The terms of adjustment proposed
by the Legislature, are the identical terms by
which South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, and
the other States of the Confederacy stood the
day that each seceded from the Union. If they
were right then, why are they wrong now ?
What soldier who wears no stars, and has no
office would not be glad to see the struggle
transferred upon these principles, from the bat
tle field to the ballot box, as proposed by the
Resolutions of the Legislature of your State,
which seem to meet your hearty condemnation?
In conclusion, permit me to' remark tint I
have the most reliable information from your
Brigade since the meeting, that what purports
to be the almost unanimous action of -those
who compose it meets the sanction of but a
very small fraction of it. The Resolutions
were, as 1 am informed, prepared by some of the
officers before the men were convened. When
called for to ratify what the officers, without
consulting them, had concocted, a compara
tively small part of the Brigade attended 1 , and
of those present, a smaller part voted, anti of
that s nail number, part voted against the Res- I
olutions, and the meeting adjourned amid i
cheers which resounded through your camp lor
him whom it was uie purpose of the managers
of the meeting to condemn.
All know the great advantage which the
Officers have over the men in the management
o! an affair of this character. The officers are
accustomed to command, the men to obey.
They can not meet t-seir officers upon an equal
ity and condemn their action, but it seems they
can. by spontaneous acclamation in the camp,
when they feel that injustice has been done, tes
tify their disapprobation without being indi
vidually marked by those who have the po-.ver
| over them.
Begging you to assure the men under you j
command, t’hat i shall continue to do every j
thins: in my power to protect and defend the
great principles of Constitutional and personal
| liberty for which they are fighting and to*clothe :
and feed their helpless wives and little tiles in
their absence and to relieve their own wants
when they are suffering for clothing which
they can not get from the Confederacy.
I am very respectfully,
Joseph E. Rp.own.
\ The number of Yankee prisoners at Camp
I Sumter. Ga.. is 9,306; in Riciucond, 1,943; in
[ Danville, 1,619.
| AN ANTI-ABOLITION MEETING. IN NEW
YORK
The birthday of Thor? Jefferson was cele
brated in New York las' week by a snppe r
among the admirer? of t.‘ - deceasid, who have
banded themselves in a -ociety known as the
••Anti-Abolitionist Socle-/.” The ol ject of the
association, as its name indicates, is direct hos
tility andjopposition to tl „• present A.im'nistra
tiou, accompanied by a resolve to do every
thing in its power to elect a Democratic Presi
dent for the next term,
Alter the usual display of fine dishes, deli
cate and savory to the palates of epicures.
The Chairman annou ced thu- the Hon
John McKeon could ne‘ attend atl a let
ter explaining the ready,, .uw-ahterbs'.
The following is a list o the regular toasts
of theevening in the order in which the v came ;
1. The memtfry of 1 homes Jefferson-
Standing in silence.
2. The Coastitutipn of the United States—
Interpreted by the resolutions of 1798 and '99;
sustained by the State rights Democracy for
sixty years : overthrown b> Abolitionism since
3. The supremacy of the civil power over
the military. Let us hope that the repeated
violation of this principle with impunity by
Abraham Liueolu and his minions has been
but a temporary ascendancy ot brute force over
freedom of opinion among a people who were
born free.
4. Tiie Dred Scott decision-The enunciation
'or the great tru:h that this is a white man's
government. Palsied be the arm that tries to
destroy it.
The Nominee of the Chicago Convention
—May he be a . Democrat—.» inan who will
faithfully represent and sustain the groat
American prineiale of sell government in
opposition to the European coercive principle
of despotism.
6. The Presidential -contest of 1864—A fair
vote or a free fight.
7. New Jersey—The star that never sets.
She never broke the bargains of tbe Constitu
tion which broken on one side, were said by
Webster to be broken on all sides.
. 8 - New York—Overrun, conquered and sub
jugated by New Eng! and ism. Let us redeem
her.
J. Gur Government as it should be—Not a
Government such as we now have, making the
rich richer, and the poor poorer ; but one which
would extend equal protection, equal rights
aud equal laws to both rich aud poor.
iO Forts LuEayette, Warren and McHenrv—
The shame of America.
11. The Peace Clergy.
jgl2. The Peace Press.
13. The Peace Ladies.
VOLUNTEER TOASTS,
Freedom of Speech in Congress—May it be
Long before it is again fettered.
The Slates—May they remain as distinct as
the planets in the Heavens, aud again become
us liavmoriiuus in their orbits.
Hon. Clement L. Yadandigham—The Cham
pion of Liberty, the victim of Despotism.
Ex-Governor Seymour, of Connecticut, on
being presented, said that he was unequal to
t he occasion —not from the want of will or abil
ity, but from fear that he should not be able to
fulfill the expectations entertained of him. He
wished that Mr. McKeon had been present, so
that he might follow rather than precede him.
In the darkest days of the country they were
hoping and would hop 5 for better times ; they
would, as he believed, soon redeem the coun
try trom the arbitrary rule that now oppresses
everything in it. He hid always honored his
flag, but he would be excused for (faying that
it was to him uo longer the same it vg until it
shall Jvicome. the. symbol i ■«. ". •'•;*gb..»-
uear t-je American name, lie called attention
to tlie tlißt month of tho present administra
tion, when men first began to talk of war
They then opposed the idea of going to war
with those whose blood ran in our own vein-.
The fathers of the Constitution established the
fact that the rights of States can never be put
down by armed force.
Until the present desolating war was stopped
be said there can be nothing like constitutional
freedom. In the face of such important cir
cumstances, it was proper that tho memory
of Thomas Jefferson should he remembered
and consecrated. He spoke ot Mayor Gunther
as a peace man, and recited the most promin
ent complaints of the American revolutionists
against George 111, drawing a parallel between
the revolutionary war and our civi'. contest. —
He went into American history at great length,
to elucidate and explain the intellect, the
power, and the patriotism of Jefferson, lie
expressed himself more in favor of peaceful
‘counsels than in (he flaming sword. An hon
orable peace, by believed, was far butter than
a desolating war. England lost, ihe colonies
because the King denied to the people the
rights guaranteed to them by the great British
constituion, aud so the North are losiug ,-nd
destroying the unity of the country by neg
lecting to observe the compact which the la
thers of the Republic had bequeahted unto us
If ever we hope to re-tstabiish lire Union, we
must lay aside the sword and take up the olive
branch. There was no other hope for the
country : no other way in which we can from
This nettle danger
Pluck the flower safety.
He regarded the peace proposition as the on
ly one that can restore harmony, and he was
glad that this kVa was the prominent oue per
vading the minds of the majority of the Amer
ican people. The war now be g waged has
not become general because of the long suffer
ing of the American people. Every day of the
continuance of this wav brings us nearer to a
despotism. The training of the American peo
ple requiics freedom of speecn, of religion,
and of the press, and by the blessing of God
they shall have it.
Mr. Van Leon was the next speaker. lie
was called upon and at great length responded
to the toast referring to the Dred Bcott decision.
His speech was a verry effective one to judge
from tiie loud applause with which it was re
ceived.
Alter sotue other toasts were disposed of, Mr.
Chauncey C. Burr made some eloquent remarks
in response to the fifth toast. Alluding to a
rental 1: of Cicero, he said that meu should not
only speak the truth, but tlm whole truth.
The country, according to all human eyes, is
now in the throes of death, and the fitting in
scription on its tomb must be, "Died by the
cowardice of the Democratic party.- The Re
publican party had been as true to its revolu-
tionary principles as the Democratic party had
been false to its principles. During the last
three abominable years they have every day
been abandoning the doctrines on which that
party was founded. He then spoke oi the
coming Chicago Convention, and expressed
a doubt whether it would he a Democratic as
semblage or something else. What is the mean
ing of the woid conservative ? Merely miti
gated abolitionist, or a whole coward, there
are but two forces in the contest —absolutism.
and the right of the people to rule.
There was no difference between peaceful
self-government and coercion ; no alternative
between Lincolnism and distinct Government.
Though the Democratic party may change,
democracy itself can no more change than the
principles of motility cm be altered. 1*J C
leaders may be frightened off, but the principle
I itself remains immutable as at. the moment
j when the country was plunged into a vortex
of fratricidal blood. He would undertake to
say that the present Administration was a total
depravity. Mr. Lincoln had no right to use
the army and navy to compel or force any un
willing State into the Union, any more than to
force an unwilling State out of it. Mr. Burr 3
remarks were very sharp and caustic, and iro
qttently elicited rounds of applause.
The Richmond Whig corrects the impression
that prevails that the full sum required for the
Jackson Statue has been furnished in England,
produced by the statement of Commissioner
Mason to the governor of Virginia. The
am- unt referred to by Mr. Mason, relates to a
i marble figure of heroic size, intended as a present
I by Great Britain to Virginia, and not to the co
lossal bronze equestrian stame, proposed under
i the ausrtiees of the executive committee, of
i which President Davis is chairman. It is not
the intention of the committee to procure sub
scription from any foreign land, but- tha 1 the
statue snail be provided by the free will offerings
i ot our own people. Thus f. r the army has oou
• tributed four fifths of what La,- been'received.
A terrible tornado, accompanied with rain
and bail, passed over a portion of Jackson
l county, above Jefferson, May 1 Houses, fences
and trees were blown down, and the hail seri
i ously damaged the growing crops.
j Lincoln on the Negroes and the War.—
j The following letter from Lincoln appears in
j a correspondence, published in the Franklin,
K y.> Commonwealth :
Executive Mansion, [
, , Washington, April 4th. j
A- G. Hodge3, Esq., Frankfort, Ky.:
Mj Dear Sir : Touaskmeto put in wri
ting the substance of what I verbally said the
other day, in your presence, to Gov. Bram-
I Ue tud Senator Dixon. It was about as fol-
"I am naturally anti slavery. If slavery is
not wrong, nothing is wrong. I cannot re
member when I did not so think and feel.
And yet I have never understood that the
presidency conferred upon mean unrestricted
t'gbf to act officially upon this judgment and
teeiing. It.was in the oath I took, that 1
would, to the best of my ability, preserve, pro
tect, and defend the Constitution of the Uni
ted States. 1 could not take the office without
taking the oath. Nor was it my view that I
might take an oath to get power, and break
the orth in using that power. I understood,
too, that in ordinary civil administration, this
oath even forbade me to practically indulge
my primary, abstract judgment on the moral
question of slavery, I had publicly declared
this many times and in many ways. And I
aver that, to this day, I have done no official
act in mere deference to my abstract judg
ment aud feeling on slavery.
“I did understand, however, that my oath
to preserve tbe constitution to the best of my
ability, imposed upon me the duty of preserv
ing, by every indispensable means, that gov
ernment, that nation, of which that constitu
tion was the organic law. Was it possible so
lose the nation and yet preserve the constitu
tion ?
“By general law, life and limb must be pro
tected ; yet often a limb must, be amputated
to save a life ; but a life is never wisely given
to save a limb. I leel that measures, other
wise unconstitutional might become lawful by
becoming indispensable to the preservation of
the nation. Right or wrong, 1 assumed this
ground, and now avow it. I could not feel,
that to the best of my ability, I had even tried
to preserve the constitution, if to save slavery
or any minor matter, I should permit the wreck
of government, country aud constitution all
together. When early in the wav Gen. Fre
mont attempted military emancipation, I for
bade it because I did not then think it an in
dispensable necessity. When a little later,
General Cameron, then Secretary of War, sug
gested the arming of the blacks, I objected, bo
cause I did not yet think it an indispensable
necessity. Wheu, still later, General Hunter
attempted military emancipation, I again for
bade it, because I did not yet think the in
dispensable necessity had come.
“When, in March, and May, and July, 1862,
1 made earnest and successive appeals to the
Border States to favor compensated emancipa
tion, 1 believe the indispensable necessity for
military emancipation, and arming the blacks
would come, unless averted by that measure.
They declined the proposition, and I was, in
my best judgment, driven to the*alternative of
either surrendering the Union, aud. with it, the
constitution,’or of laying strong hand upon the
colored element; I chose the latter. In choos
ing it, I hoped for greater gain than loss ; but
of this I was not entirely confident. More
than a year of trial now shows no loss by it, in
our foreign relations ; none in our home popu
lar sentiment; none in our white military
force; no loss by it anyhow or anywhere. On
the contrary, it shows a gain of quite a hundred
and thirty thousand soldiers, seamen and la
borers. These are palpable facts, about which.
as facts tbauA- - • *»•“«• .. u } uki
—»u.t we could not have had them with
out the measure.
“And now, let any Un'on man, who com
plains of the measure, test himself, by writing
down in one line that he is for subduing the
rebellion by force of arms, and in the next
that he is tor taking three hundred and thirty
thousand men from the Union side and pla.c
ing them where they would be, but for the
mens ire he condemns. If he cannot face his
cause as stated, it is only because he cannot
face the truth.
“I add a word which was net in the verbal
conversation. In telling this tale I attempt no
compliment to my own sagacity. I claim not
to have controlled events, but oontess plainly
that events have controlled me. Now, at the
end of three years’ struggle, tbe nation’s con
dition is not what either party or any man de
vised or expected. God alone can claim it.—
Whither it is tending seems plain. If God
now wills the removal of a great wrong, and
wills also that we of the North, as well as you
of the South, shall pay fairly for our complici
ty in that wrong, impartial history will find
therein new cause to attest, and revere the
justice and goodness of God.
“Yours truly, A. Lincoln.”
A Yankee Estimate of the Neoro. —Federal
military authorities at Natchez, in their efforts
■to preserve the health of the city, have devel
oped the hypocrisy of their philanthropic dec
laration for the unfortunate negroes they have
enticed away from their masters. In a late
number of the Courier the followiug order is
published, l>y which, it will be seen—after
characterizing the negro as “idle,” “lazy,”
“profligate,” “thriftless for the present, reck
lessly improvident of the future,” —regulations
are prescribed for the government of the con
traband, much more stringent than the negro
was ever before subjected to. It is a curious
document, worthy of being placed upon re
cord :
To preserve the general health of the troops
stationed in the city of Natchez, and of the in
habitants, and to guard against the origination
here, and the introduction of pestilential dis
eases the ensuing summer and autumn, it im
peratively requires the prompt, vigorous and
steady enforcement of the sanitary regulations
heretofore prescribed in this city.
It is ot the first and greatest importance and
necessity that all causes tending to the engen
dering and dissemination of pestilential disea
ses here, so soon as their existence is known,
shall be at once abated or removed so far as
practicable. It is to be apprehended that se
rious danger to the health of the city will re
sult from the congregation within its limits of
the largo numbeis of idle negroes which now
throng the streets, lanes and alleys, and over
crowd every hovel. Lazy and profligate, un
used to caring for themselves, thriftless for the
present, and recklessly improvident of the
future, the most of them loaf idly about the
streets and alleys, prowling in secret places,
and lounge lazily in crowded hovels which soon
become dens of noisome filth, the hot-bods, fit
to engender and rapidly disseminate the most
loathsome and malignant diseases.
To prevent these evil effects it is hereby or
dered that after the first day of April, 1864, no
contraband shall be allowed to remain in the
city of Natchez, who is not employed by some
responsible white person in some legitimate
business, and who does not reside at the domi
cil of hts or her employer ; and no contraband
will be allowed to hire any premises in this
city for any purpose whatever, and no other
person will be allowed to hire such premises
j for the purpose of evading this order, nor al
| lowed to hire or harbor any contraband who
cannot satisfy the health officer that he or she
needs the services of said contraband in some
legitimate employment. All contrabands re
maining in the city in contravention of this or
der after April Ist, will be removed to the con
traband encampment.
The word “contraband'' is hereby defined to
mean p.R persons formerly slaves who aro not
uow in the employ of their former owners.
Any evasion of this order will be punished
more severely than the direct infraction of it,
and all persons renting buildings to contra
bands, will be held responsible.
Persons drawing rations from the United
States Government are not supposed to need
many hired servants. The number allowed to
each family will be determined by the under
sgned.
We have reliable information of the safe ar
rival at a Confederate port recently opened to
blockade runners, of four vessels heavily laden
with stores, doming, arms, ammunition, &c.,
;of immense value to the Government. Among
the provisions brought in was three million
l pounds of bacon and five hundred bags of cof
lee.
VOL. LXXVIII. —NEW SERIES VOL. XXV ill. NO. 20.
Frbnch View op Yankee Finances. —The
Courrier des Eials Unis, in au article on the
American war. makes the following comments
upon the financial affairs of tbe North :
The spectacle presented at Ibis day by the
United States is a perfect illustration of that
exhibited by England at the commencement of
this century, during the reign of paper money
issued to defray the expenses of the war against
France. There was the same exuberant pros
perity, the same superabundance of capital,
the same-excess of wild speculation, and the
same foolish extravagance. The following par
agraph from Alison, the historian, will show
tbe result of that dazzling experiment:
The employment of paper money by Great
Britain, permitted, no doubt, only in order 1,,
carry on a continuous war aud to maintain for
several years the largest armies ever be/ore
raised by a nation. But to this system must
also be attributed the final results which are as
disastrous as the first effects were beneficial and
glorious, the augmentation of prices, the di
minished value ot money, the increase of ex
penses, the propagation of ambitious ideas and
extravagant habits amongst all classes of soci
ety, reckless speculation, prodigal living and
frequent financial reverses, immense wages, a
general appearance of prosperity aud demoral
ization among the laboring classes, a fluctu
ation o( prices without parallel at any period
of the world, the creation of certain fortunes
and tbe destruction of certain others, in fact a
universal disorder which in its consequences
are almost equal to the disaster of revolution.
If a more forcible sketclr is desired, here is
what was written by the illustrious Cobbett in
an official letter, wherein he reviews the causes
of the distress, without precedent aud without
remedy, by which England expiated its ephe
meral opulence of the preceding years :
The progress of our ruin has not been as ra
pid as was expected by some ; still yet the
number of. our poor has been increasing since
the year 1793. The farmers and merchants had
the appearance of prosperity, but it was a de-
lusive appearance, produced by the bloated
paper money. The increased taxes and pau
perism it entailed carried destruction to the
very heart of the community. The small far
mers have become day laborers; the day la
borers have gone, one after the other, to the
poorhouses.
The little farms, formerly the witnesses to so
many scenes of frugality, industry, morality
and happiness, have seen, one after the other,
the misery of their occupants; the lafid of
which they were formed have gone to swell the
domains of the large proprietors or the parks
of the lately enriched. The cottages of the la
borers have become sheds for cattle, or have
fallen to ruins; meanwhile the roofs of the
bouses of charity are to be seen throughout the
country. During the reign of Pitt and of his
successors there was an immense increase in
the mansions and villas around the metropolis,
but during the same period how many thou
sands of peaceful hamlets have been abandon
ed 1 All this has come from the pernicious
system of taxes and paper money.
Tup Crisis at tuk North. —The loading Re
publican presses of the North are becoming
alarmed at (he existing state of monetary mat
ters, and at the rapidity the Yankee govern
ment -is rushing towards bankruptcy. The
Springfield Republican, the leading Abolition
paper in New England after asking “Have we
a Congress?’’ remarks thus ;
1 hings begin to look squally. A govern
ment dollar is worth but fifty-five and ~ a half
cents ; speculation is running up the prices of
eminent paper runs down ; ltic*"»vealtix Th tl#
country is passing from the many to the few,
and tho laboring classes arc becoming- dis
pirited and sullen ; and Congress has neither
the wisdom nor the courage to adopt the mea
sures that are essential to avert the crisis to
which all theje things tend.
Congress has been more than four months
in session; what has it done? What solilaiy
practical measure of any importance has it
perfected? It devotes oco day e\cry week
wholly to bunkum speeches, aud uses up near
ly every other day tho same way. It is ready
enough to pass fine resolutions against rebel
lion and slavery, and to pledge the resources
ot tho country to put them down, but when it
comes to practical measures, without which
there can be no success, it halts and stumbles
and postpones, and acts as if it did not know
what must be done, or knowing hal not the
pluck to do it.
Let a tax be levied sufficient to save us from
impending national bankruptcy, and then Con
gress may eithef adjourn or amuse itself with
President making at the expense of the peo
ple. But let the i ssential thing be done, and
at once, or the people will soon lie praying for
a Cromwell to drive the national legislators
from their seats and take in hand the work
they persistently neglect.
The New York Tribune uses still stronger
language in regard to the same matter :
“The Nation is drifting steadily toward
bankruptcy. Wc arc now in the grandest crisis
of our national history ; and wc choose dwarfs
to do the work which might well employ an
gels. Something must be done to stop the ten
dency to ruin, or the country is lost beyond
redemption.”
This is strong language to come from party
organs. But who is to blame for allowing “the
nation to drift into bankruptcy.” The admin
istration have had things all their own way,
not an obstacle has been interposed by the
people of the North. After conducting a war
for three years under such circumstances, the
Tribune now admits that there is danger that
the “country will be lost beyond redemption!”
There may be one hope left. 'The time for
a change is coming, and the people can, if they
will, place men at the head of the Government,
and in Congress, who are not dwarfs—men who
understand the principles upon which the Gov
ernment was founded, and who will endeavor
to restore the Union.
Another Opinion of Hon. A. H. Stephens’ (
Speech. —The Conservative, anew paper just
started in Raleigh, N. C., which supports the '
cause of Gov. Yance, publishes the speech ot
our worthy Vice-President in full with the
annexed remarks:
At the earliest practicable moment we has
ten to re-publish the speech of the Hon. A. 11.
Stephens, of Georgia, on the subject of habeas
corpus.
It will be found an able and patriotic pro
duction, breathing the most unwavering de
votion to the cause of Southern independence
and replete with true conservative sentiments.
While all loyal men deplore the slightest
variance between those in authority, and deep
ly regret the circumstances which have placed
the Vice-President in a position of open an
tagonism to the government; but few in this
State will deny that the principles enunciated
by him, accord with the true spirit of our in
stitutions, and constitute, in fact, the very
“foundation stone’’ of all real liberty.
The bought up Richmond Presses, and their
cotemporaries in other sections of the Confede
racy, have been claiming that the \ ice-Presi
denfs speech gave comfort and aid to Ilolden
and his friends. The press of North Carolina
which supports Gov. Vance think otherwise.
They are not paid for expressing their opinions.
We therefore think what they say is entitled
to more credit, and should have more weight
than the remarks of the subsidized press.
A party of men from the Eleventh South
Carolina took after some Yankee fishermen in
Broad river, S. C. a few days ago and compel
led them to leave their boats and take to the
rnarsh. Our men got three shots and reported J
two killed and one wounded.
The Richmond Enquirer announces that the
engineer corps of the Confedei ate army is to
undergo an important modification in its organ
ization. All telegraphic operators in the ser
vice of the Government will be attached to the
engineer corps and be required to study and
learn engineering: andal. engineers will be re
quired to study and learn telegraphing. Tele
graph operators willthen rank as captains and
lieutenant-, and be under the control of the
chief of the engineer bureau.
Layayette, Ala., was visited by a frost suffi
cient to kill Irish potatoes on May 3.
The Yankee Senate are afraid to pass the res
olution passed by the House protesting against
the course of the French iu Mexico.
[From Montgomery Advertiser.]
COUACIL OF TIIK METHODIST EPISCOPAL
CHURCH.
The Council of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, which is in stead of the General Con
ference. that cannot l>o convened from all pints
of the Church on account of the state of (he
country, convened in Montgomery, May 3.
There wore present Bishops Andrew, Paine, j
l.arh and Pierce. Bishops Soule and Kava
naugh, being within the enemy's lines, cannot
be present.
Rev. Dr. Summers was appointed Secretary.
There have arrived since, Rev Dr M vers. Ed
itor of Christian Advocate, of Augusta, Ga.,
who is also one of the Treasurers of the Mis
sions.v Society; l’.ev IV I. M Lee, of Virginia,
a member of the Book Committee; Rev Dr A
D Green, of Nashville, Teun ; Rev Dr Me Per
rin, the General Book Agent ; Rev J)r Shipp.
President ot Wofford College, S C ; Rev 0 K
Marshall, DP. of Mir .issippi. well known in
connection with hospital benevolence since the
war began ; also Rev A M Mitchell, 1)1) ; Rev
Jos Hutchinson, Rev Mr Rose, Rev 0 R Blue,
Rev Dr Camp, Rev C D Oliver, Rev E C Wex
ler, of Western Virginia; Rev Dr Cross, Army
Missionary; Ilev Dr Sassnett, President Au
burn College ; Rev J S Scobee, of Kentucky ;
Rev RJ Harp, of Louisiana; Cols Bransfoid,
and Litton, of Tenn, and other of the clergy
and laily. J
The venerable Dr. L Pierce lias also arrived.
Rev. L. W. Sehon, D D., Sec of the Missionary
Society, who has seen the inside of a Lincoln
penitentiary for his devotion to the South, is in
his place. Rev. Dr. McTyeire, pastor of the
Methodist Church iu Montgomery, is a mem
ber of the Missionary Board, as one of its Vice
Presidents. Rev. Mr. Wilson is the only mem
ber from Florida. Rev. W. C. Johnson comes
from tbe moving cavalry camps of Celt. S. I).
Lee. Others are expected.
Bishop Andrew, (the senior iu the absence of
Bishop Soule) took the chair and called the
meeting to order. Most of the b life ness of the
day consisted in raising"committees and refer
ing various subjects of interest to them—the
principal of which are on missions *o the army,
the state of the Church, publication of tracts
mid religious books, and the building and en
dowing oi Soldiers orphans’ asylum in every
Conference in the Confederacy. Dr. McFerrier,
who lias been operating as missionary in the
army of Tennessee, made an interesting report
of his labors.
FOREMAN STEMS.
A privy council was held in London, at
Downing street, on the 6th of April.
Queen Victoria came to London on the 10th
ult., tor the purpose of holding a court at
Buckingham Palace.
Lord Ashburton has retired from the firm of
Baring Brothers, London.
The Right Hon. E. Cardwell was re-elected
without any opposition for Oxford on the 10th
instant, lie succeeds Mr. Stansfehl as Secre
tary, of tiie English Admiralty. Mr. Cardwell,
in his speech at Oxford, said that he thought
tbe conference on the Danish affairs would lead
to a satisfactory result, and strongly urged
neutrality in the American war.
Placards were issued iu London, on the 10th
of April, by the city police, offering three
thousand pounds reward for informal ion res
pecting certain cases of gold supposed to have
arrived in Loudon lroin San Francises forming
part of the twenty-live thousand pounds, por
tion of the treasure iu the wreck ot tho Golden
Age supposed to have been stolen.
The Conference of the European Powers had
not yet assembled.
The Archduke Maximilian received a Mexi-
HP sa,?i\tiut as tiie resolution
of tho uotabies of the country, as. well as the
Government of Fi ance, guarani ies the inde
pendence of Mexico, and tic had received the
aid of Austria, he solemnly declared this accep
lance of the proffered crown, and pledged him
self to govern constitutionally, and for the
benefit of the people. He claimed the united
support and good will of the people, and ex
pressed his gratitude to the Emperor of the
French, who has brought about a solution of
this difficulty.
Maximilian was confined to bis bed, on the
11th, by a slight fever. His departure fur
Mexico, was therefore, considered uncertain.
The Emperor of Austria permits the forma
tion of six thousand volunteers, and a naval
corps of three, hundred sailors, for the aid of
tiie new empire in Mexico.
Anew Mexican loan of eight jnllions ster
ling at fid will be opened on the loth.
The bombardment of Duppel and Sander
burg continues but feeble. The allies have ex
tended their trenches and traced another par
allel.
The Danish representatives to the Confer
ence have arrived in London, but there was
no other indications of the meeting.
A committee of ihe German Diet had recom
mended the Diet to send a representative to
the Conference.
There was renewed activity among the Pol
ish insurgents.
The Confederate steamer Florida was well
received by English authorities at Bermuda.
The Portuguese officials will not allow her to
coal at their ports. The Spanish officials allow
her to remain in their ports.
The Viceroy of Egypt did, it is now said, or
der the Alexandra to be built.
The loss at the capture of Duppel was very
great,
It is said Prussia lias determined to occupy
all Jutland.
‘ The Persian Gulf cablehas been laid through
out nine hundred miles and works well.
The demand for Yankee securities is greatly
limited.
There is no political news of importance.
The London Times thinks the use of the Con
federate securities was caused by tho action of
the Yankee Congress on the Mexican question.
Cotton has advanced in Liverpool.
Provisions quiet. Consols !)i |aOl jj.
An Aiteal io tub Friends 0* the Soldier. —At
the late meeting of the Bible Society of the
Confederate States, the following was passed :
Whereas, we have heard and would heed the
calls made from the Army for Bibles and Tes
taments with which to supply those soldiers,
whose homes are within the lines of the enemy,
and others who ate destitute; but finding gieat
difficulty in meeting this demand by either pub
lishing or importing the Scriptures, therefore.
Resolved That the Board of Managers be in
structed to issue a Circular Address to ministers
of all denomiußticus re piesting them.to collect
from their congregations such Bibles and Testa
ments a3 may be spared, and to send taer to
the Bible Depositor.' for distribution in the
Army.
In conformity with this resolution, the Board
of Managers would now appeal to all ministers
to u3e such means as are most likely to be suc
cessful, to obtain from the members of their
respective congregations whatever copies of the
Scriptures, they can spare ; and to forward
them to the Depository that they may be sent
to tiro Army.
Indivdiuil3 are also soli Hod to observe thus
call for the Eoripturc.;, and to give what a ,! >
they can by sending single copies (even uy
mail,) or by collecting and forwarding as many
as they can obtain.
Boxes and packages may be sent by Express
at the expense of the Board. Direct to.
Geo. M. Tiiew, Augusta, Ca,
The Confederate Senate. —The following
is a list of the members of the Confederate
Senate now in session :
ALABAMA.
It. W. Walker, Robert Jemison, Jr.
ARKANSAS.
R. W. Johnson, Chas. B. Mitchel.
FLORIDA.
James M. Baker, A. E. Maxwell.
GEORGrA.
Benj. 11. Hill, H. V. Johnson.
KENTUCKT.
11. C. Burnett. Wm. E. Simms.
LOUISIANA.
T. J, Semmes, Edward Sparrow.
MISSISSIPPI.
A. G. Brown, ' J. O. C. Watson.
MISSOURI.
Waldo. P. .Johnson, One vacancy.
NORTH CAROLINA.
Wm. T. Dortch, William A. Graham.
SOUTH CAROLINA.
Robert W. Barnwell. James L. Orr.
TENNESSEE.
Landon C. Haynes, G. A- Henry.
TEXAS
W. S. Oldham, Louis T ’ Wlgfal *
VIRGINIA. TT .
A, T< Caperton, R. M. T. Hunter,
CONFEDERATE STATES CONGRESS.
SENATE —MAY 3.
The following standing committees woro ap
pointed :
Foreign Affairs—Messrs Orr of SC. Wig fall
of Texas, Caper ton of Va, Johnson of Mo.Siuuns
of Ky.
i Finance—Messrs Barnwell of S, Hunter of
Va, Semrncs of La, Graham of N C, and Jemi
son of Ala.
Commerce—-Messrs Oldham of Texas, Dortch
of N C, Maxwell of Fla, Haynes of Teun, Wal-
ker of Ala.
Military Affairs—Messrs Sparrow of La, Wlg
f.vli of Texas, Burnett of Ky, Henry of Tenn,
Johnson ot Arkansas.
Naval Affairs- -Messrs Brown of Miss, Baker
of Fla, Simms of Ky, Graham of N C. Johns m
of Ga.
Judiciary—Messrs Hill of Ga, Haynes of
j Tenn, Walker of Ala, Watson of Miss, Semin >a
of La.
Indian Affairs —Messrs Johnson of Ark,
Johnson of Mo, Oldham of Texas, Caperton of
Va.
Post Offices and Post Roads—Messrs Mitchell
of Ark, Jemison of Ala, Il iyues of Teun, Old
ham of Texas.
Public Lands—Messrs Baker of Fla, Henry
of Teun, and Johnson of Ark.
Patents—Messrs Maxwell of Fla, Hill of Ga,
and Haynes of Tenn.
Claims—Messrs Barnett of Ky, Baker of Fla,
and Johnson of Mo.
Territories—Messrs Wigfall of Texas, Mitch
ell of Ark, and Barnwell of S G.
Accounts —Messrs Caperton of Va, Dortch of
N C, and Simms of Ivy.
Printing—Messrs Watson of Miss, Orr of SC,
and Haynes of Tenn.
Enrollment and Engrossment—Messrs Dortch
of N C, Maxwell of F,a. and Caperton of Va.
On motion, two hundred extra copies ot the
President’s Message were ordered to bo printed.
Oil motion, various parts of the Message
wore referred to the appropriate committees.
HOUSE.
The following resolutions, bills, &c., were
introduced: Resolution calling for the appoint
ment of a special committee to investigate
charges of disloyalty against W. R, W. Cobb,
member of 3d Cong. Di.-t., Ala., adopted; bill
providing for the repeal of the act passed at
the last session for the suspension of the writ
of habeas corpus; resolution directing the
Committee on Ways and Means to inquire into
the expediency ot amending the act passed at
the last session, so that the agricultural pro
duce of the year 1864, aud not that of 4803, is
to be credited on tiie five per cent, tax levied on
property employed in agriculture; also, that
the five per cent, tax levied on property em
ployed in agriculture is not to be collected un
til the value of the tithe to be deducted there
from is first assessed —referred; resolution di
recting Committee on Military Affairs to in
quire into the expediency of allowing officers
of the army to draw one ration and purchase
another from the Government; bill for the re
demption of the old issue of Treasury notes
held by certain Indian tribes; letter from Maj.
Gen. Wilcox in relation to the rations of sol
diers—referred; bill to amend the act passed
at tbe last session, levying additional taxes for
the support of the Government and for the
common defence; resolution to iuquiro into the
power of the Secretary of tbe Treasury to pre
vent the sailing from C infederate ports vessels
owned or chartered by any of the States of the
Confederacy, because said vessels have not
complied wirii the regulations established by
virtue of tue act passed at last session, for the
T««&caH»rt iuTvffiniglbr "oTtE pay
of soldiers of the army; providing for the in
crease of the pay of certain civil officers of the
C. 8. Government and members and officers of
Congress; to amend tiie act providing for the
levying of luxes lor the support of the Govern
ment; lesoiulion in regard to the paying of
claims belonging to persons iu the Traus-Mis.-is
sippi Department without first forwarding them
to Richmond; to allow officers in the army to
draw rations and t uichase clothing from the
Government; to organize a corps of scouts for
the Trails-Mississippi Department; to provide
for the enrollment and conscription of certain
commissioned officers and privates: lor mak
ing additional appropriation for the Depart
ment ol Justice; resolution to so amend exist
ing laws as to provide more effectually for the
relief of persons whose property has been injur
ed or destroyed by the enemy; resolution di
recting the Committee on Ways and Means to
reporta bill to pi event 'rauds hi the Treasury
about to be made by persons engaged in the
purchase of Confederate Treasury notes of old
issue east of the Mississippi and sending them
west to be funded; thanks of'Congrdss to 34th,
and 38th North Carolina troops for re-enlisting
for the war; authorizing the Committee on
Ways and Means to inquire into the propriety
of amending the currency act so as to put five
dollar notes on the same footing as new issue;
to amend the law passed at last session for the
support of the Government; to provide rations
for officers of the army, referred; resolution
of thanks to Gen. Forrest, referred; to amend
the currency act passed at last session; to
amend the act to levy additional taxes and aid
in carrying into effect the laws passed on the
17th of February, 1864; and also to amend
tbe act providing for the common defence, and
the act authorising anew issue of notes and
bonds; resolution directing Committee on Mili
tary Affairs to report a bill authorizing Briga
dier Generals to appoint courts martial to try
privates and all officers below the rank of field
officers; to exempt from taxation all property
held by religious or benevolent corporations,
referred; as to the propriety of amending tho
law regarding foreigners woo have not taken
part in our struggle for independence, referred;
authorizing Special Committee appointed at
last session to investigate certain charges oi
malfeasance in office, to resume their labors
and make report; authorizing- Judges of Dis
trict Court for the North District of Georgia to
change the place of holding said Court.
The following resolutions were adopted :
Ist. That the Committee on ways and Means
inquire into the expediency of amending tha
law imposing taxation on wool.
2d. Authorizing the door-keeper to appoint
an additional assistant.
3d. Authorizing the Committee on Military
Affairs to inquire into the expediency of allow
ing the appointment in the Invalid Corps of
officers who have resigned their position in the
army in consequence of permanent disability
incurred in the service ; and also of allowing
the enlistment into said corps of non commis
sioned officers and privates who have been
discharged from the service for the same rea
sons.
4th. Directing the Committee on Ways and
Means to inquire into the expediency—■
First.—Of impressing by law an additional
tenth of all products taxed in kind, to be paid
for at assessment prices, aud to be collected by
the agencies provided for the law impressing
tax in kind.
Second—Of prohibiting all impressments ex
cept through tire officers charged with the col
lection of the taxation in kind, and of equaliz
ing, as far as practicable the operations of im
pressment for the supply of the army.
Resolved, That the President be requested
to inform this House whether any instructions
have been issued impressing officers and agents
in addition tb or different from tbosc contained
iu General Orders No. 80, from the Adjutant
and Inspector General’s Office, bearing date
on the 7th day of March, 1804; and, if so,
that he be respectfully requested to communi
cate the game to this House.
The following jointresolutions passed by the
Legisture of Louisiana, were ordered to be
srnead upon the journal :
Whereas, The United States continues to
wage war againt tire Confederate States with
ruthless barbarity and in utter disregard of the
rules of civibzed warfare ; and whereas, the
despot who wields with absolute power the des
tinies of that Government has manifested in all
i,j s messages and proclamations a malignant ha
tied ot the people of the South, and a disposi
tion to heap insult upon injury and outrage ;
an ,i whereas, this course of conduct lias
strengthened us in our determination to main
tain our separation from the Government and
people of the North ; therefore,
. l. Beit Resolved, by the Senate and House
of Bepresentatiues of the State of Louisiana,
That t.ie barbarous manner in which our ene
mies have waged war against us deser> es tho
execiation of all men, and has confirmed and
strengthened us in the determination to oppose,
to the last extremity. Jape-union with them, and
mat the spirit of our people is unabated in the.