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k« Krlnii»«‘ rower* ol thr f'cafrdtnie and mnlr «in*Trninrnl> in the t'oodnel of lit* ur. Speech of Wm. L. Yancey, Esq., pan the amendment oj the Exemption Bid, proponed by Mr. Dortch, that Jus > e$ <J thfgfPcacc should be liable to Con- senption, made, in the Senate, Sept. 10th, lbf>2. Mr. President: The Senator from North Carolina proposes that Justices of the Peace, in the several States, shall be en rolled as conscripts in the army of the Confederate States, at the same time g : v- iitg notice that he will offer other amend- r meats, making other State officers liable jSiro enrollment under the Conscript act. {The Senators from Georgia [Mr. Hill.J and from Mississippi [Mr. Phelan,] anti from Kentucky [Mr. Sims], have support ed that amendment, and have each assert ed the power of Congress to enroll as con script soldiers in the army, every officer of a State, whether judicial, legislative or executive, and. also, every officer under rhe Qpufcderate Government, whether ju- riicRT, legislative or executive, with but a single exception, and that exception the !’resident of the Confederate States. The enrollment or exemption of a few thous ands, filling the humble but useful office bf a Justice of tbe Peace, can be of but ittlc moment compared with tbe vast fun- iamental change in the character of this iovernment, which practical legislation > ipon such principle must bring about. Legislation upon the principles which lave been thus distinctly avowed and elab- •rately argued, would, in my opinion, ut- oriy subvert tbe limited Constitutional iovernment, which the people of the States lave, been at so much pains to establish, md have exhibited so much patriotic sac- ilices and cnp’.py to defend ; and would 11 actually erect upon its ruins a purely nilitary Government. So thinking, 1 liouid be unjust to all the principles upon which 1 have acted in the past, and dere lict to the duty I owe to the State which I in part represent here, and to the oath 1 Lave taken to preserve and defend the Con stitution, if I were to permit the avowal of such doctrines to pass unchallenged. If this amendment had been proposed and passed upon without debate, Mr. President, it might have thus become one of the facts in legislative history of comparatively small moment; and not justly held to be a precedent. 13ut its introduction lias been supported by grave and apparently mature ly considered opinions of Senators from three of thirteen States of the Confedera cy—and Las led to a more lengthened and (dignified debate than any other that has occurred in this body since my connection with it. Such a debate, upon such an is sue, in my opinion, will mark the action of tthe Senate upon it as one of the great {landmarks in legislative construction of {the Constitution; and as the question passes into history its footprints will lie -Travel v scrutinized and considered here of tiie tribunals upon which it would be J ence so indefinite, he had declared, was of forth the militia to repel invasion supposed the civil power could safely re- no more force in proviug the constitution-' pose, Senators from several sovereign •; ality of a special measure than a similar States are to be found who deliberately i reference, by its title, to any other writing assert that Congress can suspend and su- Every power, claimed under the Constitu- percede all civil governments, both Con- tion, must be established by special federate and State; for they assert that | clauses; and in bis argument to show that under the clauses giving Congress the pow- j Congress had power to exact military' ser- er to declare and conduct the war, it can coerce every officer as well as citizen of State governments, and every officer of the Confederate government, save the President, to serve in the regular army of the Confederate States as a soldier, so long as it may see tit to carry on the war. Mr. P resident, if there are any within vice of a State officer, he had referred to and in such case the States would be bound to send their militia in obedience to that clearly delegated power. There is another class of provisions in the first article which the assumption of such powers hy r Congress as are contended for would reuder, null and destroy. '1 hese Senators say distinctly that Oougress has our land so misled as to desire to over-1 eral reference to the war power. I men throw our present form of government j tion these coincidences between statesmen and to establish upon its ruins a central ! of different and antagonistic governments despotism, led by a dictator, they could j not. with a view of showing any common not desire to have more effective aid in ac- j design to destroy public liberty, but to complishing their unhallowed designs, i warn Senators lest, in their patriotic zeal the special clauses, by which, he thought, j power to enroll every member of Congress it was granted. ' i as privates in the army for three yeais or Mr. Yancey—I have not, tben, misap- more. Let us see the effect. Tiie 1st ar- prehended the Senator. lie reasserts un- tide provides that all legislative power limited right of Congress to coerce every i shall be vested in Congress; that it shall citizen. He only explains that he derives t meet once a year; that the House alone it from special clauses, and not from gen- I shall impeach an officer, that the Senate shall try impeachments; that members than these Senators no doubt unremitting ly lend to them. It is a most startling fact, and history will record it as one of the most strange in its annals, that in the first Senate assembled under a Constitu tion, which declares that it was formed by- each State, “acting in its sovereign and independent character,” to “establish jus tice, insure domestic tranquility, and se cure the blessings of liberty” to them selves and the posterity of their people, and in the first session of that Senate, Senators could he found, in the name of Liberty, to advocate the erection of the military power into such a supremacy that it would absorb and destroy all the State j Governments, and all the legislative powei \ of the Confederate Government—thus se- ! curing to the sword an unchecked domin- I to strengthen their Government in the prosecution of the war, they lay the foun dation for an eventual destruction of the Government itself, and of all that vast mass of personal and State rights which it is the sole object of the war to secure and to perpetuate. If the lessons of history, teaching by example, are too weak to he heard amidst the din of the conflict, sure ly the more recent and striking examples, punished by our enemies because of tlieir effect upon the struggle, should cause Sen ators to pause in any course which would seem to justify those usurpations and to stultify ourselves in pursuing the like line of conduct. If there is anything in our form of gov ernment which checks the unlimited ex pansion of the war power and receives ion over a people who had seceded from | from its seizure the either State or Con- the Lincoln usurpation, for the sole pur- federate civil rights—and Senators will pose of preserving their liberties under their several State GMWPrmnents. Strange, too, that while thus severing their connec tion with that Lincoln usurpation, on ac count of the encroachments upou the rights of the States, that in the early pro gress of the contest for the sovereignty of the States, and the rights of tlieir cit izens, any intelligent man should be persist in considering such checks and re servations absurdities or weaknesses—let them consider that thus it has been ma turely ami considerately determined by the States. Sufficient to every legislator should it be that over the whole funda mental policy' of our complex government it is thus written. Enough for them should be the wisest and most potent of all rea- shall be free from civil or military arrests —save for treason, felony or breach of the peace; and that all hills for raising reve- nho shall originate in the House. In ad dition to all this there are nineteen distinct powers specially' delegated to Congress in that article, six of which relate to the war power* To enroll members of Congress in the army would destroy the legislative branch of the government, and would render Congress unable to exercise all those powers and perform all those duties, and would take from the people of the States their voice in managing the Gen eral Government, and would take from the States the representation of their sover eignty in this government, and would place the revenue in the hands of the Ex ecutive—would give the purse as well as the sword. Further the suppression of Congress, by enrolling it in the army r , right retained and reserved by the States. 1 read them: “The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people of the several States. “The powers not delegated to the Con federate States by' the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States are reserv ed to the States respectively, or to the people tboanotf.” Now 1 put it to the Senate “Have not a few specified rights as to the conduct of the war power been so construed by the Senators who have advocated this amend ment as‘to deny or disparage’ the right of State governments which was ‘retained by the people of the several States/’ ”— Lan those Senators deny that they have done so? Have they not so construed the few war powers as effectually to suppress the judiciary, the Legislative and Execu tive Departments of State governments, if tlieir principles should he fnlly acted upon by this Congress? Has any Senator pretended that the power of legislation upon domestic relations among citizens of a State lias been delegated to Congress, or has been prohibited to the States? Not one. Then it is a reserved power to the States respectively. And if a reserved power, then, say s the Constitution, “You shall not construe certain delegated rights sons to deny or disparage that reserved right.” Yet Senators here have, without due reflection, I must suppose, done that very prohibited thing. 1 have thus, Mr. President, performed found, comprehending and approving the soiling—i/a est sc.ripta le.r—thus is the law nature of the contest, who should follow, written, and thus we are sworn to observe would destroy'the only' power which could j my task. 1 have shown that tbe construc- impeach and try the Executive for usur- j tion'put by some Senators upon the war paiiou. t power is utterly’ at variance with six of the Let us now examine the 2d article. It seven articles of the Constitution, and if provids that the President shall be elected j adopted and acted upon by Congress, will by electors every' six years, chosen as the crush all civil power, destroy two out of State Legislature may direct. It gives to the three great departments of the Gov- hiin the power of appointment of officers eminent, namely: the legislative and judi- suhject to confirmation or rejection by the , cial departments—will also destroy all the Senate. He can make treaties by and State Governments and will erect the with the advice and consent of the Sen- limited Constitutional Executive into an ate. He shall give information of the absolute despotism—i pure military dic- state of the Confederacy to Congress. He tatorship. As I have so often alluded to shall be removed from office oil iinpeacli- , the Executive, I here take one occasion ment. But these Senators say that Con- ‘to say that, though differing on some mat- gress has the power to destroy the State i ters with the President, I have no fears From the Petersburg [Va ] Expres*. of Sept. 27 Conrfnct of tk« War—af the _ . „ .. >oith-Writer i. State*. i>te from the North. _ . , , ... c r ■ 1 The House Committee on Foreign af- Through the kindness ot a friend, we p a j ra j iave made a majority and minority are in possession of New York and j re p f , rt U p 0n (he resolutions lately intro- Philadelphla papers of Tuesday last,! dneed iuto Congress touching.the conduct September 23. We make the follow- j of the war and the tender of conciliatory inc extracts: his zeal to prosecute the war, tbe very it. But we are earnestlvadfured not to let! Legislatures, which, prescribes Use ap- of assuming unconstitutional power. Ed- footsteps of that Lincoln despotism. Lin- the Constitution stand in our way', when coin and Seward proclaimed that the war it is necessary to put every man in the power, the same in the Federal as in the field in order to resist subjugation by’ the Confederate Constitution, justified, the j Lincoln despotism, and that when the war suppression of the municipal authorities of Baltimore, and tlieir imprisonment in Fort Lafayette. ’They thought the press was too free in its criticisms upon their acts, and they crushed its freedom, and impris oned its editors. They thought that the Judiciary should be subordinate to the voluntarily to yield tlieir liberties and tlieir Constitutional safeguards to the war power, and they placed sentinels at j stealthy progress of legislative and execu- the door of the residences of the Judges j tive usurpation towards the establishment and disregarded their writs. They thought [ of a military dictatorship. When a peo- tliat independent {State Governments were j pie have lost faith in the power of free pointment of electors —has the power to destroy the Senate, which ean reject Iiis appointees, and which can reject his treat ies and which can remove him from office by impeachment; and when all this has been done, the,re will be an executive, without the check of the legislative pow- •better fora free people to bo vanquished j ® r ’ without the fear ot the High Court of in open combat with the invader, than ! impeachment an Executive to raise mon- is over we can return to constitutional government. Mr. President, I here sol emnly state my conviction that it is far ey at will—to put up ami pul down at will—to make alliances with foreign pow ers to maintain him in his one man power, without consultation or drawback from any quarter, and to keep his control of government, as there will be no power in stumbling blocks in their progress to mil- , government to defend tlieir liberties ami 1 e^i^ri'uce to elect his successor ana uispute itary absolutism, and they imprisoned the ! lost that high courage and tried virtues members of the Legislature of a sover eign State. . .. , , n , And what were his special pleas for this ,r as indicating the progess of this Gov- | effectual and rapid transformation of a con stitutional government into a practical des potism which did not allow its decrees to fie questioned? One plea was that so ardently advanced by the Senator from Kentucky. (Mr. Simms,) in defence of proposition to seize and coerce an officer of the civil govern- .uncut either in the march of a well un- ie r rtood Constitutional policy, leading us | on to an assured political and commercial j greatness as a free people—or in that broad and well-beaten path, from which the wrecks of governments that for centuries have stj-ewn it could not deter us, and which leail£ to absolutism in (lie person of some mighty and unscrupulous military genius. This being the case, our decision of this question is of the gravest impor which can wrestle with danger and meet with disasters with fortitude, and in cow ardly’ search of case they discard the oner- erous and trying duties of self govern ment, and throw themselves and their all into the arms of a vigorous despotism of tlieir own choosing, in nine cases out of ten that people are lost—lost forever* The recuperative energy and virtue which would he required to throw' off the shack les which they had placed upon tlieir own ment ot a State into the army of the Con-1 limbs, would be wanting, and they would federacy—that it would he absurd to sup- i have to undergo ages of suffering before a pose that the Constitution conferred upon 1 new race of men could be born, equal to a ot tins question is or tne gravest impor- OoDgress the power to wage war, and yet task of such magnitude. No sir. Far tarn.e—not only for to-da} but : prohibited it from forcing a State officer to j better, in every particular, if they are to -and our action should be clearly defined , duty as soldier. j he governed by a despotism—if free con- aiid leave no room for doubt as to our views cf the relative dignity' and extent of the civil and the war pow,er in this Gov ernment. Mr. President the question is not an ab stract one, which can he postponed without detriment. It presses upon yon as a practical question, requiring legislative solution. Signs are not lacking that the war power is quietly usurping the powers j gaged, and the armies we are now raisin ot both State and Confederate Govern- j and governed by a despotism Mr. Simms, of Kentucky.—The Consti- stitutional government is to he overthrown tution no where gives Congress power to | —that it he overthrown by an open enemy; raise ana support armies for the overthrow and if they’ are to be governed by a des- of the State Governments, hut it does give i potism, that it be after being vanquished this power to Congress “to protect each j in the conflict of arms. Virtues grow'by’ State against invasion.” The language j trial; tbe virtues of courage, of patriotism of the C onstitution is, “Congress shall pro-1 of love of liberty, are not uprooted by the tcct each of them (the States) against J triumph of an enemy, by defeat at the invasion.” The war in which we aie en- his term of office. Let us examine the 3d article. It pro vides that the judicial power shall be vest ed in supreme and other courts, and that the judges shall hold office during good behavior—that they' shall preside over civil and criminal trials of prescribed char acter. But these Senators declare that Con gress has power to blot out that article— to render it of no effect—to take the J edg es from the bench and enroll them as sol- ucated and living a strict constructionist, I believe his heart sympathizes with liis head, and that no more determined oppo nent of military usurpation will he found in the Confederacy. And what is the reason urged lor this assumption of unlim ited power? Necessity’—blood-covered, liberty despoiling “necessity”—stained with the crimes of ages, and yet dripping with the fresher blood of a neighboring re public, which, rflthough we may be at war with, it may he no treason to wish it had received a happier fate. But, Mr. President, “necessity” can hardly be urged at this time for the perpe tration a heinous crime against our own liberties—none more uupropitious for such an excuse at this bright period in the his tory* of the war. T hough hard pressed in the spring, when surprised and unpre pared, the wonderful recuperative energy and ready* resources of tiie Southern peo pie have raised and equipped an army in the very* presence of three quarters of a million ot armed and disciplined enemies; and those armies have driven back theenp.- niy from all tiie fortified holds on our bor- Bii the President of the United States—a Proclamation. Washington, Sept. *22. 1SG2.—I, Abraham Lincoln, President, of the United States of America, and Com- mander-in-Chief of the army and navy thereof, do hereby proclaim and de clare that hereafter as here the war wilt prosecuted tor the object of practi- be eally restoring the constitutional re lation between the United States and the people thereof in which States that relation is, or may be, suspended or disturbed; that it is my purpose, upon the next meeting of Congress, to again recommend the adoption ot a practical measure tendering pecuniary aid to the free acceptance or rejection of all the slave States, so called, the people whereof may not then be in rebellion against the United States, and which States may then have vol untarily adopted or thereafter may volunteerly adopt the immediate or gradual abolishment of slavery within their respective limits; and that the effort? to colonize persons of African descent, with their consent, upon the previously obtained cousent ot the governments existing there, will be continued ; that on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State, or any designated part ot a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be thenceforward and forever free ; and the executive gov ernment of the United States, inclu ding the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such per sons, or any of them, in any ellorts they may make for their actual free- measures to the inhabitants of the North western States. W’e copy the report of the majority, as its matter is both curious and interesting—Examiner 26th. The Committee on Foreign Affairs, to whom was referred certain resolutions re lating to the true policy ot the war, and recommending to the President the issu ance ot a proclamation touching the free navigation of the Mississippi and its tribu taries, and the opening of the market of the South to the inhabitants of the North western States, upon certain terms and conditions, have had the same under con sideration, and now report back said reso lutions, with one or two slight amend ment sand recommend that they he adopt ed. The expediency of conducting the war in which we are engaged with all possible activity, and of carrying that war into the enemy’s country, so soon as the same shall be found practicable, is believed to be now universally admitted by all enlightened men who have given tlieir attention to the subject. It is evident that we must rely alone upon our own energies for success iu the struggle of arms which is now in pro gress. In the present condition of affairs it is quite manifest that in order to bring the sanguinary struggle in which we are engaged to an early termination, it will be necessary that every portion of our ar my should be kept in a state of constant readiness for active exertion, and that no opportunity should be neglected of stri king the forces of the enemy, wherever to he found upon Southern soil, with that boldness and heroic energy which are so certain to secure to our arms the most sig nal success. It is equally manifest that the enemy will never be willing to desist from tbe unjust and ferocious war which they are now waging, until the evils and inconveniences thereof shall have been brought home fully to themselves. When our valiant and disciplined armies (enhanc ed in numbers and in strength, as if is hoped they will shortly he,) shall have once found their way to the heart of the enemy’s country, and have inflicted a just retaliation upon those who have so ruthlessly ravaged our territories, pillaged our towns, and desolated our homes, it is O lilies ; aim UJC HILT tu.to III iy uuuvi iuui cuuimuu or the. people thereof, shall on that \ the issuing of son day be in good faith represented in the die President, a Pnn,rr P « nf the United States bv i resolutions referrt ,. , ... , ... ders, ami have routed him on several well diers, under military rule—to deprive them contested fields, and now ban- threatnin- of the dignities and privileges of tlieir high ] y ovcr bis cai , ital and a]on | his und ®_ fended frontier. Y'et this is the hour chosen for an onslaught upon the dearest principles of the Southern people—upon the chief principle for which they separa ted from the government of the United ments. AH history teaches us that, in times of war, the more modest and less showy civil powers of government yield and shrink from the fierier hearing and more pretentious and swelling demeanor of the war power. And in our own case, so great is the patriotic fervor of the peo ple—so ardent tlieir devotion to the cause —so unselfish their sacrifices of property, of ease, aye, and of life itself in promo tion of the common weal, that they are loth to question any act that is designed to advance the common interest, no matter Low strange or startling to them as a mere question ot power. And so far lias this generous support of our armies gone, that it requires some, moral courage to sustain any who thinks it his duty to say, “vigi lance is the price of liberty.” Hence this generous confidence, while it may dc- supporting are for that very purpose. It the whole physical power of the Con- fedeiacy he required fn the military ser vice to successfully '‘protect the States against invasion,” I hold that Congress not only lias the power, hut that it is made its highest duty by the Constitution it self, to exercise that power to the full extent demanded by the exigencies of the occasion. I am therefore, for conscribing magistrates into the military service, not for the purpose of overthrowing the State Goverument, hut for the purpose of pre venting tlieir enslavement and overthrow by a foreign invader. For the Constitution to ’P , - hand of a foe. The world’s history is full of the noble truth—the stein, bloody, practical truth which poetry has seized and almost consecrated as its own, by rea son of the amber of sweet numbers iu which it has embalmed it— “Freedom's battle once begnn, Be<|ueatlied by bleeding sire to son, Though baffled off, is ever won.” There is hope for a people who are crushed by superior power, in their brave struggle for the right. There is no hope fora people so destitute of courage and virtue and wisdom as to flee to a despotism to render their conflict with an invader the easier. I, therefore, repudiate all idea that we can safely abandon any of the order more declare that j safeguards of our liberties “Congress shall protect each State against ! successfully to contend with our invaders, invasion.” and then declare that it shall | Mb. Prksidk.xt : I have said that this not have power to raise a sufficient mili tary force to do it, is to say that the same Constitution which declares that “Con- ter many a watchtul patriot from doing I gress shall protect the States against in- his whole duty, has actually been seized upon as a defence by some who have vio lated civil liberty in the exeicise of mil itary power, and their acts justified be cause tiie people are quiet. But, Mr. President, this should not in fluence Senators in their action here. Here we act upon our solemn oaths to see to it that the Republic suffers no detriment. Here wc are. as watchmen to tell our con stituents “what of the night.” Here we vasion,” also, denies to Congress the pow er to do the very thing it declares Con gress shall do. Such a construction, I hold, would he enough to stamp the in strument an absurdity, and more than enough to stamp its authors with a stupid ity incapable of understanding’theif own purpose. Mr. Yancey continued. It seems, Mr. President, that I did not misapprehend the Senator. He repeats that such a limita- are put upon our consciences, without fear j tion on the war power as will prevent the or favor of the people, to do our duty— ■ the Government forcing an officer of a our whole duty—not according to the “general welfare.” nor to that other dan gerous plea of all usurpers, “necessity” hut according to the written law of the Constitution, which lias been placed in our hands as our only power of attorney to act at all. Under such influences, as one of tho'C watchmen, I say that there are al ready signs that a change from a civil government, with constitutionsl checks and balances, to a military absolutism, is in progress. 11 hat are the facts to sustain go startling an assertion? I repeat a few of them : A military commander of a de partment had declared martial law in his district and lias muzzled the free press within it. The first step towards despotism is in variably to suppress that watchful friend of civil libertv—a free press; and the next is to suppiess the civil law, which would rc«ctie a victim from lawless arrest, and check all encroachments upon the people’s rights. Another military commander is solemn ly charged, and it is a matter of enquiry now, itfthis body, with having executed a citizen without a trial, either under civil or martial law. The 3ame commander has superceded the municipal law of one of our large cities, and substituted the law of liis own military edict; has displaced the authorities elected by the people, un der the sovereign law of their State, and has placed over them an officer of his own choosing. And, as if these startling usur pations wpre not sufficient to satisfy this craving of the military to drive all civil power into obscurity—in fact, to banish it from the land—here in tbe Senate, tbe chosen temple of State aovereignty, one State government to serve in the army, is an absurdity and a weakness of which the framers of the Constitution could not be guilty. Precisely the same reasoning, if it can be called such, was used by Lin coin, as to our right to secede from his gov ernment—and in support of his assump tion of power to suppress what lie called disloyal municipalities and State Govern ments, and to imprison judges and editors of a free press. Another plea which Lin coln used to support his numerous usurpa tions and acts of tyranny, was that used here, by* the Senator from Georgia—the necessity of preserving the National Life —as if there could he, in a free constitu tional government, a National life that was antagonistic to the sovereign l ights or life of a free State or of a citizen of such a State. Another plea used by the authorities of the Uuited States, in their internal war upon the personal rights of their own cit izens and upon the sovereign rights of tlieir own States, was that so vehemently urged here by the Senator from Mississip pi (Mr. Phelan) in behalf of'his view that this Congress can coerce into its armies all the officers of the several States, and even the members of this body, the supremacy —the unlimited extent of the power ot Congress over all others delegated by the States or reserved by them in the conduct of a war. Mr. Phelan here disclaimed that he was one of those who made a mere general re ference to “the war power” in showing the constitutionality of .any special meas ure. On the contrary, he had disclaimed any such general reference as dangerous in principle and pointless as proof. A refer- amendmeut and the principles upon which it lias been supported, if carried into prac tical legislation, will destroy both the State and Confederate Governments, and will erect the Executive into a military dictatorship. I now proceed to sustain that proposi tion. In considering this question, it must be home in mind that this is not a consolida ted Government; hut that the powers of the Confederacy are limited because dele gated, and that all the powers of gov ernment are distributed hetweeen this and the several State governments. There are seven articles in the Confed erate Constitution. 1 assert tlmt the ex ercise of such a power by Congress will destroy the provisions of six of these ar ticles, and will thus destroy the various powers delegated to Congress, and which are necessary to make this a constitutional civil government, and will leave the Ex ecutive and war power without the checks and balances so wisely provided to keep these subordinate to the civil and leg islative power. In the first articles are provisions that the Legislature of a State has power to prescribe who shall be voters for members of the House of representatives; and shall choose members of the Senate, and pre scribe the times, places and manner of tlieir election; and that the State execu tives shall issue writs of election to fill va cancies in House of Representatives; and which reserve to a State the right to keep troops to resist invasion’ in time of war. Every one of these provisions can, and would he destroyed by Congress assuming the powers contended for by the Senators from Georgia (Mr. Hill) and from Missis- ippi, (Mr. Fbelan) the power to place in the army for three years the members of the State Legislature and the Executive, through whose action alone can Represen tatives and Senators be elected, and the power to enroll as conscripts the mil itia officers of a State; and the militia, when called out by a State to resist its in vasion. Texas has a regiment of rangers now in her service to protect her borders; Vir ginia lias a large body of her militia to pro tect her insulted territory. In my opin ion, Congress cannot touch a man of either under the conscript law. although I be lieve that Congress can provide for calling office, no matter how irreproachable tlieir life! The Chief Justice is required to preside in the Senate, if the I’resident is tried by impeachment. But, although the President may have bribed members to destroy the civil functions of government, and may have unconstitutionally arrested and forced State authorities and all Cou- gress and the Judiciary into the army, and, therefore, had assumed all the pow ers of government, and he liable to be tried for treason, there will he found no 11 use to impeach—no Senate to try him —no Chief Justice to preside—ail be forced, under the principles so recklessly avowed here by the Senators from Geor gia, [Mr. HiliJ from Mississippi, [Air. Phe lan] and from Kentucky. |Mr. Simmes,] to he under the mailed hand of a military Dictator—that has grown under the plea of “necessity,” and of the “unlimited na ture of the war power.” But to resume my review of the Consti tution. Uudertbe 4th article, the Con federate States guarantee to every State a republican form of government, and upon application of the Executive against domestic violence. Under the principle of these Senators, what becomes of this valuable provision? The government of the Confederate States so far from afford ing that guarantee, has destroyed every vestige of republicanism in both State and General Government. It will have destroyed the Legislature, the Executive, and the Judiciary of each State—it will have left a prey to anarchy, or .what Is more probable, a province of a military and counteracted by such severe retalia- iuler, governed by one of bis satraps, j tory measures as in the judgment of the The spirit, the vitality, the essence of President may he the best calculated to our republican system will, in every par-j secure its withdrawal or arrest its execu- ticular have been effectually crushed. 1 tion. And when in such an event, the citizen— j A resolution from the House, extending not then, hut ouce the citizen of a free the session uutil Monday next, was con- government—shall seek the sacred places j curred in. where his State sovereignty was enshrin- : T he Senate bill to authorize the Presi- ed, and shall find the Executive chair va- dent to accept and place in service certain Regiments, etc., heretofore raised, though composed ill part, of persons liable to con scription. was passed. In the House, the exemption hill was further considered and amended so as to exempt all persons employed on newspa- States and upon which they have built up this Southern Confederacy—the right to preserve in fact the reserved rights of the States—the right to resist tisuspatiou of those rights by the federal government. Mr. President, I have full faith in this complicated and limited government to carry us safely through this war. Its strength however, lies in the most careful ! observance of the rights of each depart- inent ^of the government, and of each State. Its greatest weakness is in a dis position to assume powers from a mischiev ous and falacious idea that they are neces sary to our safety. Such assumption is more to be feared, more dangerous, in my opinion, than are a million of 1'ankce bayonets. Let there he mutual respect tor the rights of each, and all—and there will result a harmony and an energy and a power that will reseue to us all the val ue in constitutional government. COXfiRESSSOXAL. Richmond, 29th.—In the Senate, Mr. Semm<*s ot Louisiana, submitted a resolu tion declaring Lincoln’s emancipation proclamation a gross outrage on the rights of private property and an invitation to attrocions, servile war, theiefore it should be held up to the execration of mankind cant, and the inace of the Executiv e au thority broken—when lie shall stray still farther into the temple of State justice, and find the bench of Justice no longer occupied, and the sacred ermine torn and trampled under the feet ot Confederate soldiery—the very alters of his liberties purs who are indi pensable to tlieir piib- desecrated and cast down—pray tell mo lication according to the oath of the ed- sir, what will it he to him to tell him that itor. you did it from “necessity,” to preserve j Several bills passed. “the National life,” from a fear of Lincoln _ hordes, from an opinion that you had the _ . . . right to do it—what to Lina will lie your humous * tate ot Ajjans ni flashing- desire to be successful in war, when sue- j l° 7lm —Among the exchanged prisoners cess in war is based on a destruction of the • who arrived yesterday, was Lieut. M. very rights alone for which he was willing Newman, Adjutant of the 49th Geor- to war. ! gia regiment. AVe are indebted to I pass over the 6tb article, as of com- j |,j s courtesy for late Northern papers, paratively little importance to the 6th. jLieut . N . states that it was rumored I he two last provisions are tiie* most un- .. , portaut in the whole constitution—they ,M . 11 l' 11 '" 011 1,1 gte.it excitement were not yet devised by the wise men been ^ caused by the 1 resident’s who framed the instrument in Convention, j emancipation proclamation, and if After they had sent it to the States for j was further said that several Federal their consideration, a citizen of this an- officers [iad been, sent to the Old Capi- cicnt Dominion, far-sighted and with a tol prison for treasonable remarks thorough knowledge of the government ■ about not intending to’ fight for the and its workings as taught in history, had u nisr er .» Xlie night be *° re OIJr ex _ them, amongst others, proposed as amend- , " , . , a ,. , . ments-and they were adopted. They Ranged prisoners leftthe prison doors constitute the grand beacon lights to every locked, something that had not been done before, and which betoken ed some unusual commotion out side. [Richmond Dispatch.'] dom ; that the Execntive will, on the 1 to be reasonably expected that even they first day of Jenuary aforesaid, bv proc- j "'*!• at l ast f }e a,J J e t0 discard the rank in- lamation, designate the States and |J^tice ancl brutal cruelty winch they have , ~ * .. . ... | compelled us to experience, ana tor the parts of states, it any, in \\ [ perpetration of wliicli they have not been the people thereof respectively^shall I heretofore subjected to any thiug like ad- then be in rebellion against the United i equate punishment. States; and the fact that any State, j ;* Your committee are well satisfied that of some such proclamation by that described in the Congress of the United States bv j resolutions reterred to them, at such time as he shall deem expedient, could not but members chosen thereto at elections | , , . . . 1 . . - . i-c i I “ e attended with the most saiutory effects, wherein a majority of the qualified It ig an lindoubted fact tl)at the govern- votes of suchState shall have partict- { meIlt at Washington, aided by uusernpu- pated, shall, in the absence of strong i | ous local demagogues in the North-west- countervailing testimony, be deemed j ern States, has succeeded to a considera- conelusive evidence that such State { hie extent in deluding the people of that and the people thereof have not been region into a general belief that, should we in rebellion against the United States. And I do hereby enjoin upon and order all persons engaged in the mili tary and naval-service of the United States to observe, obey and enforce within their respective spheres of ser vice the act and sections above reci- r *l. * And the Executive will in dut time recommend that all citizens of the United States who shall have re mained loyal thereto throughout the rebellion shall (upon the constitution al relation between the Unitec States and their respective States and people, if the relation shall have been suspen ded or disturbed,) be compenwted for all losses by acts of the Unitec States, including the loss of slaves. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Abraham Lincoln. succeed in our struggle for independence, it is the intention of the Government and people of the Confederate States to shut them out from the free navigation of the Mississippi river, and its great tributaries; and though the provisional Congress of these States long ago emphatically nega- tiv-ed this idea, by well known acts of for- * mal legislation, yet your committee is as sured that the delusion on this subject still continues to exht among the people of the North-west, and that the gross misappre hension in regard to the intentions and policy of the Confederate States of Amer ica, thus engendered and kept in existence by wicked and designing men, has opera ted most effectively in prompting the people of. the North-western States (so closely connected with the South hereto fore, both by geographical and political ties, to contribute ireeiy, both in men and money to the prosecution of a war, which, if successful on the part of those with whom it has originated, would be eventu ally as disastrous iu its effects to the peo- ; pie of the North-western States themselves Done at the Citv of Washington, j as to those of the Confederate States of this twenty-second day of September, j America. It is gratifying to discover that in the year of our Lord oih thousand j high-spirited and intelligent public men eight hundred and sixty-tv*, and of the i 8everal ot tho ^th-western States grand beacon lights to every benighted and puzzled statesman by which to guide the bark of State. By their light there can be no excuse even for a blind man toe not correctly reading this Consti tution. They speak a language of warn ing, of instiuction, and reproof to the Sen ator from Misiissippi. (Mr. Phelan,) who, from certain special clauses, deduces tbe power of Congress to destroy or render null and of no effect nearly every other delegated power in that instrument, and to disparage, if'not destroy, nearly eveiv [Special to the Telegraph.] Savannah, 29th.-^—A letter received from P. W. A. this afternoon, says that Maj. Phil. Tracy, died of bis wound re ceived at Sharpsburg* Gen. Toombs is severely wounded in the hand. Snukd. independence of the Unite! States the •eighty seventh. By thePresident: William II Seward. Secretary of State, Old Abe's Proclamation. Commenting upon thii proclamation, the New York Herald siys: The President lias ssued a procla mation to the people ofthe rebel States. It will be found in mother column of this morning’s papr. It is one of the most important documents that has emanated from the Executive Department of the ’epublie since the adoption of the federal Constitu tion. On the 25th of Jily last, the Presi dent, in accordance with the act of Congress approved on the 17th ol that month, gave sixty fay’s notice to those ill rebellion that tie property of all rebels would be lonfiscated and tlieir slaves made free, if they presisted in their suicidal course. The notice expires to-day, tie 23d instant, and the proclamation low issued presents the case in iti new and significant aspect. The gravity of its proclamation will strike eVbry one. It has been forced upon tie nation by the alioli- tionists ofthe North and secessionists of the South. It inaugurates an over whelming resolution in the system of labor in a vist and important agricul tural sectiai of the country, which will, if the /ebels persist in4heir course suddenly emancipate three or four millions of human beings, and throw them in tie fulness of their helpless ness and ignorance, upon their own resoureesand the wisdom of the white race to jroperiy regulate and care for them in heir new condition of life.— But tli* importance of this great social re oliition will not be confined to the lection where the black race now foims the chief laboring element. It wiljfhave an influence on the labor of the,North and West. It will, to a certaii degree, bring the black labor of the aouth in competition with the whit# labor on the extensive grain farm! of the West, unless the existing stringent laws of some ofthe Western Stains, confining the negro to h|s pres ent geographical position, are adopted in ill the other free States. have of late become exceedingly active in their endeavors to discourage and suppress the ferocious war spirit heretofore raging among their fellow citizens, and patriotic efforts have been already attended with the most marked success. Such a procla mation as that recommended in the reso- tions referred to this committee, it is con fidently believed, would have a tendency greatly to strengthen the efforts of the ad vocates of peace in the North-western States, be calculated to bring those States, quickly into amicable relations with the States of the South, withdraw them ulti mately altogether from their present injuri ous political connection with the States of the North and East, with which they have really so little in common, and thus enable us to dictate the terms of a just and hon orable peace from the great commercial emporiums of that region through whose influence mainly has this wicked and un natural war beon thus far kept in pro- gresss.” 1 he views of the minority of the com mittee, represented hv Messrs. Barksdale. McLean, and Smith, objected to the poli cy of tendering to a portion of the citizens of the government with whom we are at war, any exclusive commercial privilege on the ground that the legislation of Con gress should not anticipate events, and that the proclamation of such a policy at the present time, coupled with offers of inac tive trade, in the manner suggested by the majority of the committee, would be do rogatory to the dignity of this government. The members of the committee referred to express tbe opinion in the report to Congress that the signs of returning rea son, indicating a desire for peace among the inhabitants of the North western States, uf.011 which the majority of the committee congratulate the country are delusive. They conclude with the propo sition that iu the event of the actual ex istence of these alleged pacific indications it is clear that they are the result, not of temporizing expedients on the part of the government of the Confederate States, hut of its manifestations of purpose to prosecute the war with vigor and effect. The Huntsville Advocate says, but for the destruction of Paint Rook Bridge, the cars on the Memphis and Charleston Railroad could run between Huntsville and Stevenson, thus being^ in easy communication with Chatta nooga. The market for wheat was quite brisk in Lynchburg, Va., on Saturday, and a prime article was sold $2 50 per bushel.