William L, Yancey Rrta O] J 3 7* 1? S737I3?) ■ *s B Si ■^i^v ^mA ■-•STRif _*M Sii ■^■BtTe^Sp^l '. 'iiJs :1 :«.r matte J^^HL, ; - \ ,* THE Weldon N. Edwards and Marmaduke J. Hawkins Libraries t Purchased by TRINITY COLLEGE LIBRARY May. 1921 W*f»TTTTTVrTTT< SPEECHES OF WILLIAM L YANCEY, ESQ., | SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF ALABAMA; Made in the Senate of the Confederate States, IMirinsr the Session Commencing on the 18th clay of August, A. r>. 18G:>. MONTGOMERY, ALA.: HOXTGOMERY ADVERTISER BOOK AND JOK OFFICE. 1862. "^"■^■■■■■■■■MiBna bi jGH OF WILLIAM L. YANCEY, ESQ., H7'' SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF ALABAMA; 1 Made in the Senate of the Confederate States, During the Session Commencing on the ISth day of AuKust, Al. I>. 1863. to ? a$ MONTGOMERY, ALA.: MONTGOMERY A.DVKRTISEB BOOK AND JOB OFFICE. 1862. yz.n- l^\ ;/ the Senate of the Confederate States of rica. Thai the war which is now being waged by the United States, for the avowed purpose of subjugating the people of the several States of this Government to the dominion of the Government of the United States, is, in the opinion of the Senate, a war as well upon the people as upon the Government of the Confederate States of America; and that the principles upon which t,his Government and the governments of the several States which compose it, are founded, justify each citizen thereof, when the invading enemy enters upon the soil of his State, in taking up arms to defend his homestead and liberties, and in attacking the invader, either by individual ac- tion or in organized bands. II. Resolved, That when any of our citizens shall exercise this sacred right, and shall by the fortune of war fall into the hands of the enemy, they are entitled to be treated as pris- oners of war; and if they shall be treated otherwise, it is the duty of this Government to extend to them all the protec- tion which may be within its power, or to retaliate for injuries (lone to them. III. Resolved, That in the event the enemy shall, in revenue for Mich patriotic defene| of tluir State by any of its citizens, seize upon and imprison, or otherwise' injure. other of its citizens not implicated in the particular acts for which such rev< may be taken, or shall pilhige or destroy the property of any of our citizens, it will be the duty of this Government to take prompt notice of Buch acts of cowardly barbarity, and a as ii ay be within its power, to punish the perpetrators Ihereb or to retaliate. in such manner as maj be most likely to deu-c »ra the repetiti b deeds. 7o-fe$ IV. Resolved, That the Senate has learned with lively satis- faction that the President of the Confederate States has already given serious attention and grave consideration to the subject of several gross violations of the laws and usages of civilized war by the military authorities of the Government of the Uni- ted States, and has already iniated measures tending to pre- vent their recurrence ; and while the Senate responds with sym- pathy to the regret expressed by the President at the stern ne- cessity which the enemy seems ruthlessly to force upon this Government of protecting its citizens by the bloody law of re- taliation, it will give to the President its unfaltering support in the prompt execution of measures devised for the complete protection of our citizens in the exercise of the inalienable rights of self-defense. V. Resolved, That the Committee on Military Affairs are in- structed to enquire and to report whether any further, and if so, what legislation may be necessary to clothe the Excutive with the amplest authority to act upon and carry out the intent aud principles enumerated in these resolutions. The resolutions having been read, Mr. Yancey spoke as fol- lows : Mr. President — I am fully impressed with the belief that the circumstances surrounding us call lor the development of all our military power, and a resort to the sternest measures to deter the enemy from a cowardly and barbarous treatment of our people. I am not fully informed as to the opinions of the Executive as to the right of our citizens to wage individual hostilities against the invader for the protection of their State, their homes, and their liberties, but judging from the letter of the Secretary of War to the Hon. Senator from Missouri, [Mr. Clarke,] I incline to the opinion that the Executive is disposed either to deny that right or to suppress its exercise as impolitic. The country is in painful uncertainty upon the question, and I wish the matter to be settled by gome solemn decision of Congress. * The first resolution announces as a fact that the war is waged by the United States against the citizens of the Confed- 8 * *M erate States as individual-:, and states also, as a principle, that by the fundamental law of this Government, sovereignty rests in the people of each State alone, and that the Government is but their agent. Upon this fact and this principle I build up the conclusion that when one of the States is invaded for the pur- pose of .destroying that sovereignty, and of confiscating the property and taking away the liberties of its people, each citizen is justified in attacking and slaying the invader wherever he may meet him, and by all the means the God of nature has put into his hands and which are known to civilized warfare. The Secretary of War has said that by the customs of modern Warfare war is to be considered as waged between govern- ments— thereby implying, if not directly stating, that the people are not considered as parties to it. This might be very truly stated as to the wars of Europe between sovereign dynasties — ■where sovereignty is claimed to rest in the government only, and where the people are held as subjects. But it cannot, in my opinion, be correctly held as to a war of conquest waged against a government of the character of this, in which our peoples constitute the sovereignty, and government is nothing but the agent of these several sovereignties. In Europe it generally matters but little to the people which sovereign family rules over them, for their taxes are not lessened, nor their priv- ileges increased as a general thing, by any result of war. They remain subjects under any event. But how different with us. In the event of our failure to maintain ourselves, not only is our property to be confiscated, but imprisonment and death, on a scale hitherto unknown, is threatened, and the right of self- government even is to be wrested from us. It should also be borne in mind, that our enemy does not admit that we have a rightful government, either State or Confederate, >} cming and treating our system of governments but as BO rebellious organizations, and their war, therefore, is both in theory and in practice waged against each loyal citizen of the Confederacy as a rebel. In confirmation of this, look to their military occupation of Kentucky, against the remonstrances of that State — to their course in Missouri, towards both its government and people — to their displacement of the authorities of Tennessee and Louisiana and of North Carolina, and to their governing of those States, as far as they can do so, as military provinces. Read their acts of confiscation and of threatened punishment of all our people by fine and imprisonment, and then look to their acts of murder, rape and robbery, wherever their armies occupy our soil. In my opinion there can be no doubt that when a State is invaded, each of its citizens, as one of the sovereignty thus put in danger and thus directly assailed, has as much right to slay the invading foe as a sovereign Prince in Europe has to put on armor and war upon an invader of his principality. The doc- trines of European warfare no more restrict him in the exercise of this right, than the doctrine of European sovereignty restricts him in the right of self-government — the right of secession — the right of revolution, all of which are alone recognized in our government. The exercise ot such a right will also be of the greatest disadvantage to the enemy, who have their armies far from the residences of their people, and can therefore bring to t lieii- aid no counteracting policy of the kind, while it will be to us a strength as great, perhaps greater even, than that of our organized armies. History furnishes a noted example of the tremendous strength of a people entirely in arms for the defense of their homes. One of its most significant pages tells us that when Spain was invaded by the invincible legions of Napoleon, (invincible in regular combat) and had no organized forces to resist their occupancy of that country, the people of Spain, scorning submission and determining to resist subjugation to the dominion of France, took up arms, and in self-constituted bands, sallying forth from the forest, from the plain, from the valley, and from the mountain-tops, literally destroyed the armies of France in piece-meal operations. Whnt though the gibbet and the halter, the dungeon and the musket-shot were threatened, and did, in fact, destroy thousands upon thousands of those patriots ! Life to them "was of no value without national liberty. Death had no terrors to those brave hearts, in defense of their firesides. I have, sir, sometimes been forced to contemplate the day when our organized efforts might be crushed by overwhelming numbers and for want of the material element of war. But should that day ever come, it will bring no despair of the cause to my mind as long as there exists a brave, united and patriotic people, to make of each hill-top a fort, of each pass an ambuscade, and of each plain a battle-field. Pass the resolutions, and you will at once give greater enthusiasm to each brave heart — increased strength to the determined will of our people. The other resolutions provide for the protection of our citi- izens, who may thus act in defense of their State, and make it the duty of the Government to take such measures as will de- ter the enemy from acts of revenge on account of such action. It is well known that the enemy has treated our citizens, not enmlled in the armies of the country, as outlaws and rebels. We do not come to this conclusion from such isolated facts as might be considered as but the outbreak of lawless soldiery tra- de! circumstances of peculiar temptation. The facts to sustain the charge arc as numerous as the raids of the enemy, tattng place over the entire region covered by their lines, from the seaboard to the far west, raids as brutal, tad cowardly, ami beastly as might be expected from the well established character of the Yank'c j.(,.|ilc. They have been enacted for so long a time, that the enemy has become encouraged in the indulgence of his cowardly revenge against non-combat an ts for the dfagraeef inflicted upon him in the open field of war by our brave troops; and, in addition to his cruelties and beastly conduct to men, women aud children, he has openly- proclaimed, as one of the elements of hostility to us, the plunder of inoffensive people. Well authenticated history will show that whole villages of unresisting people have been given up to the unbridled lust of a brutal and c> wardly soldierly by order of one of their commanders; while in numerous instances in the State of Virginia, daughters have been foully dishonored in the presence of their aged parents by commissioned officers of the enemy's army, and the broken hearted father shot down on his own hearth-stone for his brave but ineffectual efforts to defend the honor of his family. Sir, it is time that this Governn ent should no longer repress the yearning of our people to take up arms to defend their homes, in such manner as may yet be consistent with their attempts to maintain their families by the ordinary pursuits in life. The rights they have at stake — the character of their Government — the object and the manner of the war waged upon them, all demand of this Senate and of every De- partment of this Government, the fullest approval of their right to do so, and the amplest guarantee for their protection in its exercise. Painful as may be the alternative, we have no choice left us. Humanity itself — weeping humanity — demands a prompt and an unfaltering exercise of every right of the law of self-defense, both by our people and our Government. It may bring the enemy with which we contend to be con- tent with the exercise of the laws of civilized war ; but if m his blind rage and maddened furor at being foiled by an inferi- or, braver and more skillful army than his own, he shall choose to retaliate for a just retaliation; if he has nerve enough to tread that terrible and bloody path, and to brave the powers and maledictions of the civilized world, he may be assured, should be assured by this Congress, that having counted the cost of this great movement for self-government, we shall not turn 9 back, nor be deterred by any terrors from prosecuting it to a successful though it may be a most bloody conclusion. Mr. Yancet said that he had been betrayed into a more lengthy expression of his views than he had anticipated, and concluded by asking the Senate to act directly upon the propo- sitions he had submitted. 250 copies of the resolutions were ordered to be printed, and they were made the order of the day for 25th August ; and finally were placed upon the calendar of the secret session. SECRET SESSIONS. In the Senate, on the 21st August, 1862, Mr. Yancey gave notice of a motion to amend the rules of the Senate, so as to require a vote of two thirds of the Senators to go into secret legislative session. On the 22d August he addressed the Senate in favor of his motion, as follows : Mr. President: The rules of the Senate, which I have moved to amend, make secrecy in legislation the rule, and open session the exception. The 43d rule which I have pro- posed should be stricken out, requires the Senate to go into se- cret session upon motion of a Senator, seconded by another. The 4 5th rule makes it the duty of the Senate to consider all questions relating to the public defense in secret session, un- less determined otherwise by a secret vote. The effect of my amendments, if adopted, will he that all legislative sessions will be open to the public, except In such cases, as, in the opin- ion of two thirds of the Senate voting in open session by yeas and nays, the interests of the country shall require to be con- sidered with closed doors. On first taking my seat in the Senate, I called the attention of members to this subject, as an anomaly in republican gov- ernment, but was disposed to yield and did yield my own views to the generally expressed opinion of Senators, that it was a wise policy under the circumstances, and had workad well. The subject, however, has engaged much of my atten- tion and reflection during the recess, and I am now fully convinced that we have too much secrecy in our legislation, and that, as a matter of republican principle, it is clearly wrong 11 to make secrecy the general rule of the Senate. I do not know, Mr. President, that the opinions of Senators have under- gone any change on this subject, but I conceive it to be my duty to make an effort to bring back the Government to a more clearly defined republican traek, and to place myself fairly on record before the public. I do not doubt that, in times like these, there are matters winch a wise prudence required us to consider in secret. My proposed amendment leaves it in the discretion of the Senate — to be exercised, however, in open session — under its responsi- bility to tin' people, to consider such matters in secret. But, in my opinion, there are far fewer calls for the exercise of such discretion, than is generally supposed by Senators. The reasons urged in support of secret sessions resolve them- selves into two propositions : 1st. It is unwise to let the enemy know of our discussions. 2d. It is unwise to let our constituency know of our discus- sions. I do not think, giving the fullest foice to both propositions, that the doubtful benefit accruing from them, at all equals the injury done to public sentiment, by depriving the people of a knowledge of your proceedings. It must be borne in mind that no military plans are devised here, no contemplated army movements are known to Senators. Financial questions with us would seem to need no secrecy. The whole world knows that we operate alone upon our credit with our own people. "What is there then that requires secre- cy as a general rule, in the wide range of legislation ? You publish all your laws, military and financial. The chief results of your deliberation are made known. But you conceal from your constituents your individual action, your individual views. You conceal from them propositions which are rejected, and the names of those who propose and who reject them. You conceal from them the projectors of laws which are adopted, 12 and of those who sustained or opposed them. You conceal from thern the fact that plans were not proposed which, in their opinion, might have been wisely proposed and adopted. You conceal from them also that class of legislative action of the two houses which may have been vetoed by the Executive ; and you leave them entirely ignorant as to the relative wisdom or independence of their Executive and their Representatives in such cases. These, in my opinion, constitute the great mass of matter kept from the public by secrecy ; and these I w^'uld un- veil to the scrutiny of our constituency. In doing so, I can see but little public evil which would result, on the contrary, much public good. It is said, however, that sentiments sometimes expressed by Senators have a bad influence on the public mind. I do not think so. I have a far different view of the firmness and wisdom of the public mind. It has not been depressed by mis- fortune to our arms nor by loss of territory, but on the contra- ry has been influenced by such misfortune to renewed exhibi- tion of courage, energy and patriotism. There was a time doubtless in which the public heart might have been discour- aged by indiscreet speakers — the period immediately folllovving the acts of secession, when large minorities existed in nearly every State opposed to this movement, when public sentiment had not been consolidated it its favor — a time when the enlight. ened and patriotic leaders of the old Union party were over- whelmed with anxiety, lest ltssons of conservative regard for the Union and hope in ultimate jnstice from the North had been too deeply engraved upon the hearts of that party — a time before we had learned to have confidence in each other, and to mutually understand the baseness and tyranny of the enemy. But that time and its distrusts have passed away. I say it, .fully weighing each word I use, that to-day we present to the world a greater unity in numbers, in confidence in each other, and in adherence to our cause, than our forefathers presented 13 in the revolution— than the Yankees present to-day -than is to be found even in the well poised Government of G it lirit.un, or in any of the great powers of Europe. I fur her say it, with the fullest sense of its entire truth, and in no carping spirit, of course, for any department of the Government, that the great public sentiment of our people to-day is of a higher east of revolutionary energy, wisdom and devotion than that of their Government agents. And the only fear Senators need entertain of the effect of giving publicity to their proceedings, is that there will be a stern demand that they eschew all reliance for success other than upon their constituency— and that they shall call more freely for men and means to carry this war into the enemyls country. Sir, on a memorable occasion in the histo- ry of this war, it did transpire that there had been, somewhere, in some Department of the Government— Legislative or Execu- tive, an astoundingwaut of comprehension of the magnitude of the crisis, and a consequent failure to provide for a proper defense of the country. I allude to the fall of Forts Henry and Donelson, and of Roanoke Island— to the rapid loss of Southern Kentucky, of Middle Tennessee, and of North Alabama. The public had been at ease since the battle of Manassas. Lured to repose and contidence by the quiet engendered by secrecf in their own Gov- ernment—and by the apparent inertness of the foe, it deemed that all was well, and that the Government agents were as watchful, wise and energetic as the foe. But when, in Febru- ary last, near half a million of the enemy rushed upon our bor- ders and took possession of large sections of some of our most valuable territory and of the key to an immense extent of At- lantic coast, the people were aroused from their ease and sha- ken in their contidence, by finding that the country had neither men nor arms in the field at all adequate to its defense. What facts on your secret journal— what discussion in your secret session, if given publicly to the world, were so well cal- culated to encourage the enemy as this publicly demonstated 14 weakness in a most critical hour, and were so well calculated to depress and to demoralize our people.? And yet so far from demoralizing — from depressing — or discouraging our people, to the sudden call of the President '• To arms !" the Southwest arose in the might of a giant, and coming forth from hill top, valley and plain, the people with their rude weapons of war, immediately formed an army, and the enemy has been unable to advance one mile beyond the lines obtained by surprise, in unequal conflict, and is now retreating to his fortresses; Now, sir, who is there will dare assert that, had the people knowm the true state of things from August '61 to February '62, this baneful repose of the Government would have been allowed such long continuance? Was their legislative repre- sentative at fault ? He would have been aroused by the patriot- ic and enlightened energy of his constituents to the necessity of some attempt to put the country on a proper war footing. "Was their executive representative at fault ? Acted upon, both by the people's own expressed will and that of their Congress, he too, it may be supposed, would have been aroused to the necessity of lopping off the weak branches of his administra- tion, and of exerting more energy to obtain both men and arms. If men had been needed, they were in the country and ready to volunteer when fully apprised of the necessity. For in- stance, after these disasters, at the call of the President my own gallant State furnished eight regiments of volunteers in excess of her assigned quota. Were arms needed ? In addi- tion "to a very large number of private arms, with which a large proportirn of the late volunteers armed themselve, there were the vast storehouses of Europe, from which the Yankees drew, in six months, over half a million of good weapons,' and which were equally accessible to us. Instead of being appalled by your expenditures for the war, the people, who pay that expen- diture, are amazed at the parsimony of Cabinet calls for appro- 15 rial ions. They have the all that is at stake — liberty, life, prop- erty ; and their chief demand, in which, in ray opinion, they are wiser than the Government, is that you spend more of their property and risk more of their lives for the safety of their liberties. Such a spirit is not to be depressed or demoralized by a full knowledge of your discussions. But it is urged that public discussions will give rise to parties and to factions. Parties are incident to institutions based on elective franchise ; and it has been a republican argument, that parties keep up a healthy public sentiment, and aid to check improper assumption of pow- er by those in office. As to factions, I have but little tear of them, if you will let in the healthful sunlight of an enlightened public opinion upon your body. Far more likely to have factions gcuerated in the unhealthy shade of secret sessions — under the more poisonous mias'nia which is generated in darkness, and which is dispelled by the morning sun. In the years 1778, 1779 and 1790, before the Constitution was formed, when our forefathers had no Pres- ident, and governed the country by a single provisional body, that body held secret sessions. In the Convention which framed the Constitution. Col. Mason said: "The people will not give their confidence to a secret journal — to the intrigues and factions naturally incident to secrecy. If any one doubts the existence of such a state of things in Congress, let him re- fer to its journals of 1778, 1779 and 1790." I have been considering this question, Mr. President, as a policy. I come now to view it in its higher aspect, as related to the fundamental principle upon which this Government is founded — the elective franchise. The Executive and each branch of Congress is elected. The right to elect involves ap- proval or condemnation — involves a supposed know'edge of the opinions and actions of the candidate upon public questions And yet wliai —what a humbug — whai perfection offac- 16 tion will elections become indeed, when the constituency have no record upon the most momentous period of their Govern- ment action, by which to approve or to condemn a public ser- vant, who is a candidate for re-election ! By your own act you deprive your constituency of the means of an intelligent and patriotic exercise of the highest function of citizenship, and under such circumstances elections will become but a struggle of factions for the advancement of wicked, personal aspirations. I move the adoption of my motion. CONSCRIPTION. In the Senate, on the 3d of September, Mr. Yancey off- ered the following amendment to the bill, reported by the Sen- ate Committee on Military Affairs, to amend an Act eutitled "An Act to provide for the public defense," approved 16th of April, 1862. Strike out all after the enacting clause, and insert : That the President be, and is hereby authorized, and it shall be his duty to make requisition upon the Executive au- thorities of the several States of the Confederacy for their proper proportion or quota of ! troops, to be raised from citizens between the ages of 35 and 45, and to be received in companies of not less than 100, nor more than 120 men, offi- cered under the laws of the State furnishing them. Said troops to be received into the service of the Confederate States for the term of three years or during the war, to be organized in such manner as the President may deem most conducive to the public iuterest, and in all respects to be considered as part of the army of the Confederate States. Sec. 2. In the event any of the Governors of the several States shall fail or refuse to comply with said requisition, with- in thirty days after it shall have been made, the President in that event is hereby authorized, and it shall be his duty, to cause to be enrolled in the military service of the Confederate States all able bodied white men in the several States, not le- gally exempt from such service, who may be between the ages of 35 and 45 years, in addition to those subject to enrollment under the "Act further to provide for the public defense," ap- proved 16th April, 1862, who shall be organized under the pro- visions of that Act : — Provided, that no officers, civil or milita- ry, of the governments of the States shall be enrolled, either under this Act or the Act to further provide for the public de- fense, approved 16th April, 1862 : and Provided further, that all men now in the army over 45 years, of age shall be entitled to an immediate discharge within sixty days after the passage of this act. 18 On the 4th September, Mr. Yancey said : Mr. President — At the last session I voted for the Act, com- monly called the Conscript Act, reported by the Committee on Military Affairs in conformity with the recommendation of the President, chiefly because of the necessity of keeping in the army, then menaced by superior numbers of the enemy, some seventy-five or eighty thousand experienced and brave soldiers, whose terms of service were expiring even while we were en- acting the law. Had it not been for that controlling necessity, I believe another mode of raising men for our armies would have been adopted. That reason— that hard necessity does not exist now. Our armies are driving the enemy before them, and we can deliberate upon and adopt the best means of re- cruiting them, without doing violence to the feelings or preju- dices of any. The attempt to put that law in force has called forth solemn protests, from at least two of the Governors of the States, against its constitutionality, and has in some other quarters pro- duced irritation on account of its hardship and aupposed viola- tion of State's rights. In one instance an actual collision be- tween the authorities of a sovereign State and of the Confede- cy, was alone prevented by the prudence and moderation of the President, for which he deserves well of the country. I have not had, and do not now have, a particle of doubt as to the constitutionality of that law. I have not read or heard of any argument against it, which I conceived tenable; and in proposing now to raise troops for our army in some other mode, if practicable, it is not that conscription is unconstitution- al, but that it is wise, in my opinion, to act, as far as possible, in harmony with the authorities of the several Slates, so long as we can do so consistently with our duty to the common cause. If one or more of the sovereign States conceive that conscrip- tion is wrong, and yet are unwilling to furnish all the troops required through.. State agency, the main object being to obtain 19 the troops, it seems to me to be both wise and dignified to ac- cept them at the hands of the States, and to forego our right to go into a State and to enroll the men " individually." "We should remember that State sovereignty, which in some respects is the strongest, may yet become the weakest point in our organic system. We should remember that, no matter what may be the logic of our position, the States, in our acknowledged view of their relation to this government and each other, have the right to judge for themselves, in the last resort; and on a ques- tion of the invasion of their rights by this government, are likely to decide that question from their own stand-point, and in favor of their own interests. It seems to me that no states- man would, without the sternest necessity, force such an issue upon them. In war an agrieved State may yield its judgment simply because of external pressure, and the danger of intes- tine division. Such was the action on the Conscript act of the Governor of this State. But the matter does not and cannot pass away, with a mere protest. When the war ceases — when this exter- nal pressure is removed and peace gives occasion for the full development of State sovereignty and resources — such collis- ions, such temporary submission, favored by circumstances, are remembered ;is humiliations; they are like old wounds, and oc- casion a jealous and watchiul conduct towards the Confederate Government which inflicted them, and tend to breed parties, which, in the end, may disrupt the Government. I desire, in all my action as a Senator, to give as little occa- sion for remembrances of this kind as possible. Senators speak of prosecuting the war with energy. Energy which arises from the smooth ami harmonious action of all the parts of our complex Government, in favor of a common cause, is one thing — and, in my opinion, the ona thing to be desired ; but that energy of one Department, which produces discord between the State Governments ami that of the Coufede- 20 i rate States, is another thing, which, in my opinion, is most deeply to be deplored and to he avoided. The former I desire to produce by the substitute I offer. It is a peace offering. The occasion is propitious for offering it. Our armies are victorious aud the people and authorities of the several States, filled with patriotic fervor and hope, will promptly respond to whatever call for aid their common agent — the Confederate Government may make. ' The first section of the substitute authorizes a call upon the States to furnish each their proportion of such number of men as you may designate, between ;'o and 45 years old, to be fur- 'nished in companies within 30 days, and to be officered accord- ing to the laws of the State. The second section provides, in the event of the failure of a State to respond, that the President shall proceed to enroll all between 35 and 45. The substitute gives to each State the op- portunity and privilege of furnishing its quota, officered by itself. ' Who can doubt that the opportunity will be seized upon with alacrity by each State to exhibit its energy and patriotism. Why, sir, when the last call was made upon my State for twelve regiments, she furnished-over twenty full regiments. The sub- stitute leaves the conscript, act in full force; and by means of that act, properly administered, after you have duly amended it and the exempt law, you will be able to raise men enough be- tween IS and 35 to fill up the old regiments to at least TOO or SOOjuen each. •■ . There is another difference between the substitute and the bill of the committee. The latter only authorizes the President to enroll the men. If he sees proper, under that bill he may delay doing so, or not do so at all. . Now I call attention to the message of the President- He says events, may happen which will render it necessary to have tlie men, &c. ■ He seems to intimate that at present there is no need of more men. If that is the opinion of the President, 31 then, as a Senator, I differ from him, ai mion th:!' I the men now. >' to work at on raise and*equi|> and sjibsisl them, It, is true,' our armies ate everywhere victorious, from the Mississippi to the P hut we need to keen them in the pith i y — we need bo to sUvn-then them that th ■■; shall rush through th capital, blow up every vestige i ;>li«' buildings, niul on into the heart of th I in the of his 1 1- . and in the eit-. lels of hi I have ever been of the opini a that it wag uuwiso to permit the war to have its seat ami | i our ineti- tutions; and that while we the liberties and i enee of do Other people, we should defend our own wh< sailed on the very hearthsl mti. We want no protracted war; we want peace — the dearest, most vadued pri- vilege of a Christian people. Ci . we want a numer- ous army that can force it- Therefore, Mr. President, in the substitute i have oil', red, I hav* not only authorized the I dent to call for, i t 1 have made it "his duty" to do In another particular titute differs from the bi ■ committee. The latter doe* uot' touch th made by the Governor of < and lea\ o 1 before* Eu my op be construed, taken ru • -. lion with the exempt ii s. 1 think, indeed, tha liable to conscription by. virtu* • . atitution. I look upon the i Governors', .) tory of Constitutional i , officers per 8< . I • m- et it and not leave it in doubt Mj declares that no civil or military rolled by the President. 1 bold that w 22 so — that it is a reserved right of a State to keep perfect its owb State organization. That organization is executive, legislative and judicial. You have as much power to trench upon and cur- tail all of these departments of State government as you have to take a Justice of the Peace, or a Constable and put him in your army. It has been proposed in the Senate to-day, in con- sidering the exemption bill, to enroll Justices of the Peace as soldiers in your army; and the Senator from Georgia has advo- cated the power to do so in an ingenious and elaborate speech. He declares that your power to raise armies is only limited by your necessity, and that you can enroll every member of this body and every member of a State government, if you see pro-' per to do so. With such sentiments declared in the Senate, it is time that by some solemn vote this principle should be passed upon, and in my opinion should be repudiated by this body. This Government I hold to he an agent of the States compos- ing it — restablished to secure to each State and the people thereof the blessings of constitutional liberty — and that the great mass of the personal rights and liberties of the citizen are derived from the State constitutions. The States are the creators of this governmental agency, and under our system, as now organised, can each separate itself from it, when, in its judgment, it may think it best to do so; and there is no power in the Confederate Government to say nay. The State governments, then, are an essential part of the com- plex system of government known as the Confederate States. They are essentially necessary to its existence and its practical working. Without them there can be no Senate. I sit here to-day as a citizen of Alabama [not as a citizen of the Confede- rate States] chosen by the government of my State. Without State Governments there can be no House of Rep- resentatives, because there can be no electors of that House — they being such as the State Governments designate. 23 Yet, although these things be so, the Senator from Georgia [Mr. Hill,] says that he boldly meets my proposition fend avers that under the war-making power Congress can enroll every judicial officer of a State, from Justice of the Peace to the Chief Justice upon the supreme bench— can enroll every mein- ber of Congress — and as one reason therefor has brought into the Senate Lincoln's great reason for all his usurpations — that the 'National life is in danger.' [Mr. ITir.L declined saying anything that would just ity Lin- coln's usurpations.] Far be it from me to make such an assertion of the distin- guished Senator; bnthe has urged that "the National Life" was in danger, and that our war power was unlim therefore we could conscripl Stale officers. Mr. President, I here enter my solemn protest against the introduction into our political vocabulary of such a phrase as "the National Life." Sir, we have no national life. u National Life" is but. another term for Sovereignty. A nation is a Sovereign State; the Con- federacy is not a Sovereign State. This Government, as to foreign nations, is a Confederacy, and may be termed by national. As between itself and its creators, the 3l . it is but an agent and in no sense national. It has no national life to defend. Its province — its soje province, is todefend O tutional Liberty— -the Constitutional liberties of the State- and of the people, of the States. Its agency is to guard, ] and perpetuate those liberties; To that end it has given to it the power to make war — 1" raise armies; hul how absurd tO const v\u t hat power into a power to crush, to destroy, or in any way to curtail any of those rights of its creators— th< or of the liberties of a single citizen of the States. If the prin- eiple ia yielded thai < Jongress an, under the war power, di VBScript the civil or military officers of a BOV< r< then that Stat. G rnment, during a time of w only by the will of Coi, that to be suspended altogethi 24 to exist in a maimed and inefficient manner. If such a princi- ple is correct, then it follows that the Confederate Government is of greater value and more sacred than the States and the lib erties of citizens of the States. Mr. President, I meet this assumption of power on the thres- hold. I deny in toto that the Confederate Government is su- perior to and of more value than the reserved rights of the States and of the people thereof. I deny in toto that the war power is paramount to the civil power, either of the Confede- rate or State Governments. All history teaches us, it is true, that in. time of war the civil shrinks in the back ground before the fiercer bearing and more energetic action of the war power. Such, in fact, is the state of things in the Confederacy today. Even in the very citadel of the civil power its chosen guardians clioose to yield to the usurpations of the leaders of armies and to palliate if not justify them. I am not one of those. I here assert that the war power is but one of the means belonging to the civil power, to be used to maintain and defend and preserve the great elements of civil governments; that the raising of armies, the conduct of the war, the duration of the war, are all within the scope and control of the legislative power — the only power which is 'supreme in this government. We are the mas- ters of that power of war, and it is to be made subservient to our will. Practically,- 1 admit that in parts of the country it has been the reverse. We have a General who, by military or- ders, assumes a military censorship over the press. We have a General who declares martial law over whole States, and has even carried his usurpation so far as to abrogate the municipal government of one of our large towns and to appoint a military governor over its inhabitants. More monstrous usurpations never were practised by any of the Stuarts. This is that West Point despotism, which, in its arrogance, deems the people in- capable of furnishing a good officer to command their volun- teers, or even of governing themselves in time of war. It is 25 the result of an exclusive military education, which cultivates the idea that the glory of anus is the great glory of life. It is time that Congress was gravely considering this state of things. It is time that West Point despotism was crushed in the conduct of the army, as well as driven out of this hall, where it seeks to obtain a footing. It is on account of the responsibility which I conceive these facts have thrown upon us, tltat I have introduced a proviso into the substitute that no civil or military officer of a Slate shall be conscripted. I believe, as a matter of fact, that there is but little use, during thesc^troublesome times, for many ma- gistrates and constahles and clerks in the States. But it is not within our province to reach the evil. It is the privilege of each State to regulate its own government. It is in their juris- diction to dispense with them. If they do, they then fall within our power to conscript. But I will be the last one to tear them from the protection of State sovereignty. Neither are we so hard pressed, Mr. President, that we should he driven to exercise this power, even if we possessed it. Oar armies are now victorious everywhere. They have he' for months. It is the result of superior generalship and the superior fighting qualities of our armies. It is true, it is wise now to commence recruiting, for we 1 hundreds of thousands of our people to spare; hut it is equally true that we can oftljtTjarm and subsist a certain number, -add we can easily rais-almt number and yet not encroach upon the officers of any of the State (iovernments. I hope that my amend- ment will be adopted. EXEMPION OF STATE OFFICERS. The Exemption bill being under consideration, Mr. Dortch, of North Carolina, moved to amend the bill so that Justices of the Peace should be liable to conscription. On the 10th Sep- tember, 1862, Mr. Yancey addressed the Senate, upon that motion, as follows : Mr. President : The Senator from North Carolina proposes that Justices of the Peace in the several States shall be enrolled as conscripts in the army of the Confederate States— at the same time giving notice that he will offer other amendments, making other State officers liable to enrollment under the con- script act. The Senators from Georgia, [Mr. Hill,] froni Mis- sissippi, [Mr. Phelan] and from Kentucky, [Mr. Simms] have supported that amendment, and have asserted the power of Con- gress to enroll as conscript soldiers in the army every officer of a State, whether Judicial Legislative or Executive, and also every officer under the Confederate Government, whether Ju- dicial Legislative or Executive, with but a single exception — and that exception the President of the Conf^ferate States. The enrollment or exemption of a few thousands, tilling the humble but useful office of Justice of the Peace, can be of but little moment compared with the vast fundamental change in the character of this Government which practical legislation upon such principles must bring about. Legislation upon the princi- ples which have been thus distinctly avowed and elaborately argued would, in my opinion, utterly subvert the limited Con- stitutional Government, which the people have been at so much pains to establish and harve exhibited so much patriotic sacri- 27 fice and energy to defend, and would effectually erect upon its ruins a purely military Government. So thinking, \ should be unjust to all the principles upon which I have acted in the past, and dirilect to the duty I owe to the State which I in part rep- resent here, and to the oath 1 have taken to preserve and de- fend the constitution, if I were to permit the avowal of such doctrines to pass unchallenged. If this amendment hud been proposed and passed upon without debate, Mr. President, it might have thus become one of the facts in legislative history of eomparitively small moment, and not justly held to be a precedent. But its introduction has been supported by grave and apparently maturely considered opinions of Senators from three of the thirteen States of the Confederacy, and has led to a more lengthened and dignified debate than any other that has occurred in this body since my connection with it. Such a de- bate, upon such an issue, in my opinion, will mark the action of the 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 be gr&vely scrutiniz d and consi hereafter as indicating the progress of this government either in the march of a well understood constitutional policy, leading us on to an assured political and commercial greatness as a free people — or in thai broad and well beaten path, from which the wrecks of government thai fbi centurii trewn it could not deter us — a path which lea^B to absolutism in the person of lome mighty and unscrupulous military genii Thi ing the our decision is of the mportance, no< only for to- day, but for all time. Our action then'should be cl< and leave no room for doubi r views of the compar dignity and extent of the civil and of tb Go\ eminent. Mr. President, the question is uot an a) ae, which be postponed without detriment. It p ipon you icaJ question, requiring legislati not 28 lacking that the war power is quietly usurping the powers of both State and Confederate Governments. All history teaches us that, in times of war, the more modest and less showy civil powers of government yield and shrink before the fiercer bear- ing and more pretensions and swelling demeanor of the war power. In our own case, so great is the patriotic fervor of the people — so^ ardent their devotion to the cause — so unselfish their sac- rifices of property, of ease, aye ! of life itself, in promotion of the common weal — that they are loth to question any act that is designed to advance the common interest, no matter how strange or startling to them as a mere question of power. -So far has this generous support of our generals gone, that it requires some moral conrage to sustain any one who thinks it his duty to say "eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." Hence, this gener- ous confidence, while it deters many a watchful patriot from doing his whole duty, has actually been seized upon as a de- fense by some who have violated civil liberty in the exercise of military power, and their acts have been justified because the people are quiet. But, Mr. President, this should not influence Senators in their action here. Here we. act upon our solemn oaths to see to it that the Republic suffers no detriment. Here we are as watchmen to tell our constituents "what of the night." Here we are put upon our consciences, without fear or favor of the people, to do our duty — our whole duty — not according to the "general welfare," nor to that other dangerous plea of all usurpers, "necessity" — but according to the written law of the Constitution, which has been placed in our hands as our only power of attorney to act at all. Under such influences, as one of these watchmen, I say there are already signs that a change from a civil government, with constitutional checks and bal- ances, to a military absolutism, is in progress. What are the facts to sustain so startling an assertion? I repeat a few ol them : 29 A military commander of a department has declared martia 1 law in his district, and has muzzled the free press within' it. The first step towards despotism is invariably to suppress that watchful friend of civil liberty — the free press; and the next is to suppress the civil law which would rescue a victim from lawless arrest and check all encroachments upon the peo- ple's rights. Another military commander is solemnly charged — and it is a matter of inquiry in this body — with having executed a citi- zen without a trial, either under civil or military law. The same commander has superceded the municipal law by his own military edict; has displaced the authorities elected by the peo- ple, under the sovereign law of their State, and lias placed them an officer of faiSiOwn choosing. And, as if these startling userpations were not sufficient to satisfy this craving of the mil- itary to drive all civil power into obscurity — in fact, to banish it from the land — here in the Senate, the chosen temple of State "eignty, one of the tribunals upon which it would Ik; sup- posed the civil power could safely repose, Senator- iron: several spyereign States are to be found wdio deliberately assert that Congress can suspend and supercede all civil governments, both Confederate and State; for they assert that, under the cli giving Congress the power to declare and conduct the war, it can coerce every officer as well a- citizen of the Stati ments, and every officer of th^ Confederate government, the President, to serve in the regular army of the Confederate States a- a soldier, so long as it uia_> I i carry on the war. Air. President, if there are any within our land so nil.-!' to desire to overthrow our present form of government, fl establish upon its ruins a central despotism, led bj a dictator, they could not desire to ha\ e n ing their unhallowed designs than thes< Senators no doubt un- wittingly lend to them. I will record it a- one of tie most strange in iis annals, that in so the first Senate assembled under a constitution which declares that it was formed by each State "acting in its sovereign and independent character," to " establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, and secure the blessings of liberty " to themselves and the posterity of their people — and in the first Session of that Senate, Senators could be found, in the name of Liberty, to ad- vocate the erection of the military power into such a suprema- cy that it would absorb and destroy all the State governments, and all the legislative power of the Confederate government — thus securing to the sword an unchecked dominion over a peo- ple who had seceded from the Lincoln usurpation for the sole purpose of preserving their liberties under their several State governments. Strange, too, that while thus severing their con- nection with that Lincoln usurpation on account of en- croachments upon the rights of their citizens, any intelligent man should be found comprehending and approving the nature of the contest, who should follow, in his zeal to prosecute this war, the very footsteps of that Lincoln despotism. Lincoln and Seward proclaimed that the war power, the same in the Federal as in the Confederate constitution, justified the suppres- sion of the municipal authorities of Baltimore and their im- prisonment in Fort Lafayette. They thought that the press was too free in its criticism upon their acts, and they crushed its freedom and imprisoned its editors. They thought that the Judiciary should be subordinate to the war power, and they placed sentinels at the doors of the Judges, and disregarded their writs. They thought that independent State governments were stumbling blocks in their progress to military absolutism —were "absurdities"— and they imprisoned the members of the Legislature of a sovereign State. And what were their special pleas for this effectual and rapid transformation of a constitutional government into a practical despotism which did not allow its decrees to be questioned ? One plea was that so ardently advanced by the Senator from 81 Kentucky, jMr. Sllftts] iu defense of the proposition to seizo and coerce nil officer of the civil government of a State into the army of the Confederacy — that it would be "absurd" to suppose that the constitution conferred upon Congress the power to Wage war, and yet prohibited it from forcing a State ofiicer to do duty as a private? [Mr. Sim ms, of Ivy. — The constitution nowhere gives Con- gress power to raise and support armies for the overthrow of the State government, but it does give this power to Congress, » " to protect each State against invasion." The language of the constitution is, "Congress shall protect each of them (the States) against invasion." The war in which we are now en- !, and the armies we are now raising and supporting are for that very purpose. If the whole physical power <»f the ' Confederacy be required in the military service to successfully "protect the State against invasion," I hold that Congress not only has power, but that it is made its highesl duty by the con- stitution itself, to exercise that power to the full extent de- manded by the exigencies of the occasion. I am, therefore, for conscripting magistrates into the military service, riot for the purpose of overthrowing the State government, but for the pur- pose of presenting their enslavement and overthrow by a for- eign invader. For the constitution to declare "Congress snail protect each State ag: inst invation," and then declare thai it shall not have power to raise a sufficient force to do it, is to say that the - constitution which declares that*' Congress shall protect the State against invasion," also d< power to do the very thing it declares Congress shtitt and i do. Such a construction, I hold, would be enough to stamp the in- strument an absurdity, and more than e thors wi:h a stupidity [neap ibfe of ui purpose.] i continued i It seems, Mr. President, that I did not misapprehend the Sen- ator. He repeats that such a limitation on the war power as will prevent the government from forcing an officer of a State government to serve in the army is an absurdity and a weak- ness of which the framers of the constitution could not be guilty. Precisely the same reasoning, if it can be called such, was used by Lincoln as to our right to secede from his govern- ment— and to his right to suppress what he called disloyal mu- nicipalities and State governments, and to imprison judges and editors of a free press. Another plea which Lincoln used to support his numerous usurpations and acts of tyranny, was that used here, by the Senator from Georgia — the necessity of pre- serving the National Life — as if there could be, in a free con- stitutional government, a national life that was antagonistic to the sovereign rights or. life of a free State, or of a free citizen of such a State. Another plea used by the authorities of the United States, in their internal war upon the personal rights of their own citizens and upon the sovereign rights of their own States, was that so vehemently urged here by the Senator from Mississippi, [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 unlimited extent of the power of Congress over all other powers delegated by the States or reserved by them, in the conduct of the war. [Mr. Piiellan here disclaimed that he was one of those who made a mere general reference to the " war power " in showing the canstitutionality of any special measure. On the contrary he had disclaimed any such general reference • as dangerous in principle and pointless as proof. A reference so indefinite, he had declared', was of no more force in proving the constitution- ality of a special measure than a similar reference by its title to any other writing. Every power, claimed under the constitu- tion, must be established by special clauses ; and in his argu- 33 mcnt to show that Congress had power to exact military ser- vice of a State officer, he had referred to the special clauses hy which, he thought, it was granted.] Mr. Yanvicv — T have not, then, misapprehended the Senator. He reasserts an unlimited right of Congressto i very citi- zen. He only explains that he derives it from special clan and not from a general reference to the war power. I mention these coincidences between statesmen of different and antago- nistic governments., not with a view of showing any common design to destroy public liberty, but to warn Senators lesi in their patriotic zeal to strengthen their Government in the pros- ecution of the war, they lay the foundation for an eventual de- struction of the Government itself, and of all that vast ma.-s of- personal and State rights which it is the sole object of the war t<5 secure and perpetuate. If the lessons of history, teaching by example, are not too weak to be heard amidst the din of the conflict, surely the more recent and striking example furnished by our enemies because of their effect upon the struggle, should • Senators to pause in any course which would seem to en- dorse and justify those usurpations and stultify ourselves by pur- suing the like line of conduct. If there is anything in, our form of government which checks the uulimi:- 1 expansion of the war power, and reserves from seizure either State or Con- federate civil rights — and Senators will persist in considering such checks and reservations absurdities pr weaknesses, let them consider that thus it has been maturely nnd considerately determined by the States. Sufficient to every legislator should it be that over the whole fundamental power of u:ir complex government it is thus written. Enough for you should be the wisest and most potent of all reasoning — if" est scripta lex. Thus is the law written, and thus we are sworn to observe t. But we are earnestly adjured not to let the c 'and in OUT way. when it is i | Bo put ever;. ,),.• field in order to resist Bubjugationjjy* the Lincoln i; and 84 that when the war is over we can return to the constitutional government. Mr. President, I here solemnly state my convic- tion, that it is far better for a- free .people to he vanquished in- open combat with the invader than voluntarily to yield their liberties raid their constitutional safeguards to the stealthy pro- gress of legislative and executive usurpations towards" the es- tablishment of a military dictatorship. When a, people have lost faith in the power of free government to defend their lib- erties, and lost that high courage and tried virtue which can wrestle with danger and meet disasters with fortitude — -when in cowardly search of ease they discard the onerous and trying duties of self government, and throw themselves and their all into the arms of a vigorous despotism of their own choosing, in uiue cases out of ten that people are lost— lost forever. 'The recuperative energy and virtue which would be required to throw'ofFthc shackles which they had thus placed upon their own limbs would be wanting, and they would undergo ages of suf- fering, before a new race of men could be born equal to a task ■ of such magnitude. ~No, sir. Far better, in every particular, if they are to be governed by a despotism — if free constitutional government is to be overthrown, that it be overthrown by an open enemy, and. if they arc to be governed by a despotism, that it shall be after being vanquished in the conflict of arms; Vir- grow by trial; the virtues of courage, of patriotism, of love of liberty, are not uprooted by the triumph of an enemy, or by defeat at the hand of a foe. The world's history is full : e noble truth — the stern, bloody, practical truth which poetry has seized and almost consecrated as its "Own by reason of the amber of sweet numbers in which it has embalmed it — ■ '' Freedom's battle once begun, Bequeathed by bleeding sire to eon, Though baffled oft, is ever won !" There is hope for a people who are crushed by superior pow- er, in their brave struggle for the right. There is ho hope for 35 a people, so destitute of courage and virtue and flee to a despotism to render their cdrmiet with an invader the easier. I therefore repudiate all Idea that -.. -.bun- don any of the safeguards of our liberties in order cessfully to contend with our invaders. Mr. President, I have said that this amendment and the prin- ciples upon which it lias been supported, if carried into pi cal legislation, will destroy both the State and Confederate •Governments, and will erect the Executive into a Military Dic- tatorship. I now proceed to sustain that proposition. lii considering this question, it must be borne in mind this is not a consolidated Gov< rnment ; but thai the powers of this Confederacy are limited and delegated, and that all the powers oi' government are distributed between tins and Che several State Governments. There are seven articles in tl, institution. I assert that the exercise of such powers by Congress will des the provisions of six of these articles, will thus destro; various powers delegated to Com': i make this a stitutional civil government, and will leave the executive and war power without the checks Mid balai ■ . i; Senate. I To cap make treaties bj and with trie advice a)fid con- sent) o£ the; Senate. Hi- slia',1 gfwe information of. the' state of the Confederacy to Cougr< ss. lit- shall be removed from ■ by impeachment. But these Senators say that Congress has tiic power to destroy the State Legislatures, which prescribe the appointment of electors — lias power to destroy the Senate, which can reject his appointees, and can reject his treaties, and which can remove him from office by impeachment. \\ hen all this has been done, there will be an Executive Without the check of the legislative power, without the fear of the high court of impeachment — an Executive to raise money at will — to put up and put down at will — to make alliances with foreign powers, to maintain him in his one man power without consultation or draw hark from any quarter, and to keep the control of Govern- ment, as there will he no power in existence. to elect his 'suc- cessor and dispute his term of office. Let us examine the 8d article! it provides that tin- judicial power shall be vested in suprejnfe and other COUrl J, and that judges shall hold office during good behavior — that they shall preside over civil and criminal trials of prescribed charact Dqt tnese Senators, d thai Cong power to pend that article— to render it of no effect — to take tiie j.. from the bench and enroll them as soldiers under military rule — to deprive them of the d nd privil ,'n< Jr high office, no matter how irreproachable their life! The < pured to preside iu the I by impeachment. But althougl members to destroy the civil fun ient, and 38 have constitutionally arrested and forced State authorities and all Congress and the Judiciary into his army, and therefore had .assumed all the powers of government and be liable to be tried for treason, there will be found no House to impeach — no Sen- ate to try him — no Chief Justice to preside — all will be forced under- the principles so recklessly avowed here by the Senators from Georgia [Mr. Hill], from Mississippi [Mr. Phelan], and from Kentucky [Mr. Sjmms], into subserviency under the mailed hand of a military Dictator, that has grown into being under the pleas of " necessity," and of the " unlimited " nature of the war power. Under the 4th article the Confederate States guarantee to every Slate a republican form of government, and upon appli- cation of the Executive they protect it against domestic vio- lence. Under the principles of these Senators, what becomes of this valuable provision? The Government of the Confede- rate Slates, so far from affording that guarantee, will have de- i d every vestige of republicanism in both State and Gen- eral Government. It .will have destroyed the Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary of each State — it will have left it a prey to aunivhy, or^ what is more probable, each will have become a province of a military ruler, governed by one of his traps. The spirit, the vitality, the essence of our republican system, will in every particular have b $ en effectually crushed. And when, in sueh an event the citizen—not then, but once the cit- izen of a free government — shall seek the sacred places where ;.:ite sovereignty was enshrined, and shall find the Execu- tive chair vacant, and the mace of Executive authority broken — when he shall stray still further into the temple of State sov- ereignty and find the bench of justice no longer occupied, and the sacred ermine torn and trampled under the.feet of military des- potism— the very altars of his liberties desecrated and cast down — pray tell us, sir, what it will be to him that you did this 39 from "necesssity" — to preserve the National life — from a fear of Lincoln hordes — from an opinion that yon had a right to do it — what to him. will be yonr desire to be successful in war, when success in war is based on a destruction of the very rights for which alone he was willing to incur its horrors and its dan- gers ? I pass over the 5th Article as of comparatively little impor- tance to the 6th. The last two provisions are the most impor- tant in the whole Constitution— yet they were not devised by the wise men who framed thai instrument in Convention. After they had sent it to the States tor their consideration, a citizen of this ancient Dominion, far sighted and with a thorough knowledge of government and its workings as taught in histo- ry, had them, among*! others, proposed as amendments to the Constitution, and they were adopted. They constitute the grand beacon lights to every benighted or puzzled statesman by which to guide the bark '•>- their light there can be no extfuse even for a blind mail for not correctly reading this Constitution. They speak a ! u T warning, of instruc- tion and reproof to the Senator from Mississippi (Mr. Phelan) who iron: special clau iced the power of Con- ■oy or render nul ' no effect nearly every other delegated power in tl :it, and to disparage, if not destroy, nearly every vig led and reserved by "the Stat' i d them : "The enumeration in the Cottitutitfn of ccrtaii -hall not be construed to d s others retail .! l>y the ■ '•The powers not d lei al e 'Constitution, nor prohibit* ed to pectivelj . bet ■ w 1 pal it to the Sen: le. a few sp as to the oonduqt of i y the Senators who have a l\o. ivlmcnt a oy-OB 40 disparage the right of State Government which was ' retained ' by the people of the several States?" Can those Senators de- ny that they have done so ? Have they not so construed the few war powers as effectually to suppress the judiciary, the legislative and the Executive departments of the State Govern- ments, if their principles should be fully acted upon by this Congress ? Does any Senator pretend that the power of legis- lation upon domestic relations among citizens of a State has been delegated to Congress, or has been prohibited by the States? Not one. Then it is a reserved power of the States respectively. And if a reserve power, then, says the Constitu- tion, " You shall not construe certain delegated rights," &c. Yet Senators have, without due reflection, I must suppose, done that very prohibited thing. I have thus, Mr. President, performed my task. I have shown that the construction put by some Senators upon this war power is utterly at variance with six of the seven articles of the Constitution, and, if adopted and acted upon by Con- gress, will crush all civil power, destroy tAVO out of the three great departments of the Government — namely : the legisla- tive and judicial departments — will also destroy all the State Governments and will erect the limited Constitutional Execu- tive into an absolute despotism — a pure military dictatorship. As I have so often alluded to the Executive, I here take occa- sion to say that, though differing on some matters with the President, I have no fears of his assuming unconstitutional power. Educated and living a strict constructionist, I believe his heart sympathises with his head, and that no more deter- mined opponent of usurpation will be found in the Confederacy. What is the reason urged for this assumption by Congress of unlimited war power ? Necessity — blood-covered, liberty- despoiling, "necessity" — stained with the crimes of ages, and yet dripping with the fresher blood of a republic which, it may be no treason to wish, had received a happier fate. 41 But, Mr. President, "necessity" cannot justly be urged at this time for the perpetration of so heinous a crime against our own liberties — none more unpropitious for such an excuse as this bright period in the history of the war. Though hard pressed in the spring, when surprised and unprepared', the won- derful recuperative energy and ready resources of the Southern people have raised and equipped in army in the very presence of the three quarters of a million of armed and disciplined en- emies ; and those armies have, driven back the enemy from all his fortified holds on our borders, and have routed him on sev- eral well contested tields, and now hang threatening over his capitol, and along his undefended frontier. Yet, strange to say, this is the hour chosen for an onslaught upon the dearest prin- ciples of the Southern people — upon the chief principle for which they separated from the Government of the United States, and upon which they have built up this Confederacy — the right to preserve intact the reserved rights of the States — the right to resist usurpation of those rights by the Federal Government. Mr. President, I do not believe we are weakened for Avar by too much constitutional liberty. I have full faith in this com- plicated and limited Government to carry us safely through this -war. Its strength, however, lies in the most careful obser- vance of the rights of each department of the Government and of each State. Its greatest, weakness is in a disposition I sume powers from a mischievous and fallacious idea that they are necessary to our safety. Such assumption is more to be feared, more dangerous, in my opinion, than are a million of Yankee bayonets. Let there be mutual respect fur the rights of each and all— and there will result a harmony and an energy and a power that will secure to u> all we*value in constitutional government. APPOINTMENT OF BRIGADIER GENERALS. In the Senate, September 8th, Mr. Yancey introduced a bill to regulate the nomination and appointment of Brigadier Generals, so as to apportion them among the several Statas ac- cording to the number of troops furnished by each. The bill was referred to the Judiciary Committee, who reported it back with the following report: The Committee on the Judiciary, to whom was referred " A Bill to regulate the nomination and appointment of Brigadier Generals," have had the sama under consideration and ask leave to report : The Constitution provides that the President " shall nomi- nate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the Con- federate States, whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law." By this clause of the Constitution, the right of nomination, in the opinion of the committee, is given exclusively to the President. The power of appointment is given to the Presi- dent, controlled by the advice and consent of the Senate only. In the matter of appointments, therefore, the Senate is an advi- sory Executive body, and in that capacity may exercise a regu- lating and restraining influence, power and discretion ; and may appropriately take into consideration the relation of the officer proposed to the troops to be commanded, and to the citizens for whose immediate benefit his functions are to be employed. But the Congress, as a legislative body, consisting of the Sen- ate and House of Representatives, have no constitutional au- thority, in the opinion of the committee, to regulate or interfere with executive discretion in making nominations or appoint- ments. The control of the Congress over appointments is con- fined to the authority of vesting, by law, "the appointment of such inferior officers, as they may think proper, in the President alone, hi the courts of law, or in the heads of departments." For these reasons the committee respectfully report back the bill mentioned, with a recommendation that it do not pass. BENJ. H. HILL, s Chairman. 43 On the 22d September, the question being on concurring in the report ot the committee, Mr. Yancey spoke as follows ; Mr. President: The appointment of Brigadier-Generals from a particular class, as a general rule, and the disregard shown to the claims of the States to a proper distribution of those officers among them, has induced me to offer this bill. The Judiciary committee has reported it to be unconstitutional, because it restricts the right of the President to appoint. I am informed that there are live members of that committee and that but three met, and but two fv/oted the report. (It was here explained that while this was true, yet the two absent members endorsed the report). I have alluded to this for one purpose only, that if the' report is eoncurred in, and it should ifter be (inott'd as a precedent, it shall be nnderstood that it received the deliberate idvestigation of but two of the five members of the committee. I am satisfied that the report is not sound in argument ; and ig up cfan important power by the I iative body, I would be untrue to that conviction if ' I did net attempt to sustain my convictions by sueh argument as T can bring to bear upon tlfe subject. Before I sit down, how I shall off statute, proposing the bill as an amendment to the act creating the otiieeof Brigadier-General ; for in that form it will obviate some objections made" against it — and I am in- debted to tlie Senator from Louisiana [Mr. Semmes] for the •n. The Judiciary Committee offer no argument in their report. . simply assert thai Congress has no legislative auth sutive discretion in inakh g nominations. I j< ' with that committee. "What i- the pt)W< :• military officei r Ii is t>> be found in the pow< ics — and in the power to make rule for th< ilatioa of the land forces, Thai power fuyo organization, the arming, fhe discipline, and the ] 44 the army. In these is the power to create offices necessary to the proper government and conduct of the army. In these alone lies the power to declare there shall be Generals, major and brigadier, Colonels, Majors, Captains and Lieutenants. The power is a legislative, not an executive power, and it is delega- ted in the article in the Constitution declaring the powers of Congress. The power to create an office involves the power to define it — to declare the condition and terms iipon which it shall exist — and without which it shall not be an office. It is a power anterior to and underlying the executive power to nomi- nate a person to fill it. Unless the office is created, the Presi- dent has no power to nominate. That power has in fact no ac- tive existence until Congress has created the office— and when the office is created, the only power of the President to nomi- nate, its scope and extent, is to be determined by the law of Congress creating the office. It has to be exercised according to the legislative will. It is limited and defined in fact by the terms of the law, declaring what the office is, and within what scope the nominating power is to be exercised. The nominating power is contained in but one clause in the Constitution, and that reads thus : "He shall nominate by and with .the advice and consent of the Senate, * * * Judges of the Supreme Court and all other officers of the Confederate States, whose appoint- ments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law." His power of nomination then can only exist by virtue of law. It is limited by the terms of the law. The office to which he nominates only exists in and by the terms of the law. Pray tell me what limit exists upon the legislative will to define and declare the office? Will any Senator rise in his place and declare it to be incompetent in creating an office to fix as a qualification to holding it that the person nominated shall be a citizen of the Confederate States ? I pause for a re- ply. There is none. If, then, it is within our legislative pro- 45 vince to say that the President shrill, in making nominations, confine them to citizens of the Confederate States, why can Ave not confine him in nominating brigadiers to command brigades to the citizens of the State that furnishes the troops of that brigade? The Senator from Georgia [Mr. Hill] says— and the Senator from South Carolina [Mr. Orr] repeats it, thai if Con- gress can confine the nomination to a Slate, what prevents il from confining it to a comity — to a toWn —ami in fact to a house in that town. There are very few things, Mr. President, that the wit of a Philadelphia or Georgia lawyer may not ridicule, by running it into extreme illustrations. The Cross itself has been its subject. It is no fair mode of dealing with a question in such a place, at least, as the Senate. The fact with which the Senate deals is that it is proposed to fix citizenship of a State as a qualification to command a brigade of troops raised in that State, h that unconstitutional? This Con nfress con- stitutionally knows nothing of counties, or towns, or houses in a State, but it does know a State. Tt is Imilt up by and rests upon States — and it can as well fix: qualification for an office to be citizenship in a State — as to be citizenship in the Confederate States. It rests upon those who hold the eonlr ry position to bring forward some clause in the Constitution which denies it, or some sound argument againM it. The Senator from Mississippi [Mr. Piikt.an], who always meets an argument with fairness and gravity, says thai if, under the clause to govern the army, Congress can prescribes qualifi- cation for a nominee, what will prevent Congress, under the* 16th clause of section 8, Art. I. of the Constitution, from pre- scribing qualifications for offices in the militia, hiasmnch as the clause gis es tq ( longress the power to go> ern the militia ? The question is fair and pertinent. The answer is clear, and, to toy mind, satisfactory. It i this: The I6th clause, while it gives Congress power t<> provide for governing the militia when 46 called m to the service of the Confederate States, contains a re striction upon that power in the reservation to the States cf the appointment of the officers. Without this reservation, the power to govern would be the same under both clauses. [I believe, however, that Congress, under the power to or- ganize the militia, has the power to prescribe the qualifications for officers.] The spirit of the Constitution also calls for this legislation. By it when the militia of the States are called into our service, their brigades, as well as their regiments, are bo be officered from the State in which the brigades are raised. Now, the Sen- ators from Virginia have both declared that they find the only constitutional power to pass the conscript act in the power to. call for the militia, and one of those Senators [Mr. Hunter] declared that act to be a substantial, though not literal, compli- ance with that provision in the Constitution. To these Sena- tors, then, this bill addresses itself with peculiar force. If that law rests on the militia clause, then it is imperative with them, and all who think with them, to vote for the bill, because it so far complies with that provision as to require State troops to be officered from the State from which they come. Although it is true that the States do not make the appointment under this bill, yet the Senator from Virginia [Mr. Hunter] cannot make that an objection, inasmuch as he voted for the conscript act, which, in cases of vacancies, gives to the President the power to nominate, but restricts his nomination to the corps in Which the vacancy occurs. Thus much, Mr. President, for the constitutional argument. There is another view of the case, derived from precedent, Which, is persuasively in favor of the bill and against the posi- tions of the committee. The constitutional power of Congress to restrict nominations by law has never before been questioned. Under the late Federal Union a law was passed creating near three hundred .offices, to be filled by the appointment of cadets 47 rit West Point. The law, while creating the offrc& atfd fhftng the salary, made it uieumbent upon the President to appoltil many from each State as thai State had representatives. The office of commandant was created. The law creating it declared that he should be nominated from one of four persons— cither thc instructor of infantry, or of cavalry, or of artillery, or ..t' engineers. The office of annual visitors to the academy was created*. The law declared that the President should - ihemf-o,,; om-fialf of the States alternately. So rrfdeh for the late tJnion. These laws were never questioned- upon the I of unconstitutionality. Even in our brief ca.ieer wo have simi- lar precadentB. At the last session, after an elaborate debate In this body, the conscript act was passed. One Of i1 ions was, that wh.cn vacancies in regimental ofh ■ rrcd, they should be tilled by nomination of the President, bf and with the advice and consent of the Senate.— but he has rj In; tMlaw to the rce a failure. Baft as long as the campaign in Mexico and this war shall be known in history that assertion will never be made. Sir, the history o£ the world furnishes no higher instances of skill, valor and endurance than have been almost daily furnished by the volunteers who com- pose our armies. If the war lingered apace at one time, the fault was in our commanders, not in our men. Hrcd in military 50 schools, accustomed to command regulars, they had no confi- dence in volunteers. Partaking of the prejudices of their class the world over, they had not studied the great changes pro- duced in the character of the American agriculturist by free in- stitutions— and they had but little confidence in the ability of volunteers to stand fatigue and tremendous and prolonged fire of artillery and small arms. They, therefore, were over cau- tious, and more disposed to retreat and entrench than to ad- vance and fight. It is said that during the most dreadful of the days on which the battles around this capital were raging, Gen. Lee was walking, with grave cast of .countenance, back and forth at his position on the field ; and when the murderous vol- leys were thundering most heavily on the ear, turned to a vete- ran General near him, and asked significantly, " Can 'ihey stand this?" "I think so," was the pithy and dry reply. And they did stand it as bravely and heroically as men ever stood in bat- tle, and magnificently drove a superior and better disciplined foe before them. From that time to this, that great General, whom the country had thought too cautious, not sufficiently enterprising, has been the most enterprising and successful Gen- eral on the continent, and I believe is so of the age. He doubts no longer. He knows the material he commands and they know him, and the consequence has been that he has led them beyond our borders, and, in two pitched battles, has severely chastised a greatly superior army on the soil of Maryland. The time has passed for the existence of doubts as to the great military apti- tude and genius of the Southern people, and if there is truth in the constitutional presumption that the militia of the States can be efficiently commanded by State officers, there is equal truth in the presumption, upon which this bill is embraced, that troops raised by the Confederate Government from any one State can be efficiently commanded by generals chosen from that State. The policy, if adopted, will also beget State emulation to ex- cel each other. When Virginia troops are commanded alone 51 by Virginians, and Alabama troops alone by Alabamians, it seems to me clear that State pride, that esprit-du corps which has at all times been denned an invaluable sentiment m an army, will exeite each to vie with the other in the noble and patriotic effort to see who can carry the barred banner deepest into the ranks of the foe. There being no constitutional objection in the way, I cannot perceive a reason why this bill should not become a law. Note. — Number of Brigadier Generals in the Confederate army as distributed aiming the several States on the 23d Sep- tember, 1862: — [Official]. In Alabama, (i ; Arkansas, 0 ; Flo- rida, 5; Georgia, II ; Kentucky, 8; Louisiana, 10 ; Mississippi', 8; Tennessee. 11 ; Texas, 9; North Carolina, 10; South Caro- lina, 11; Maryland, <> ; Missouri, 5; Virginia, 24. From Alabama, L. P. Walker- has resigned. Gen. Rodes, appointed as from Alabama, is a Virginian, leaving to Alabama but four Brigadier Generals. Thos. J. Jackson, nominated from Virginia, is not included in* the above list. Twenty-six Briga- dier Generals, then, have been nominated from Virginia. Three Alabama brigades in Virginia are commanded by Virginians. Kentucky bad but eight regiments in the field, previous to Kir- by Smith's march. THE PA\ OF SOLDIERS. Ix the Senate, October 6th,- the bill to increase the pay of Privates in the army, and the substitute reported by the Mili- tary Committee to give five millions of dollars to the indigent families of the privates, being under consideration, Mr. Yancey said : Mr. President: In my opinion the substitute, if enacted into a law, would operate very ueequally. It is designed as aid to the sold'er; but to be applied to the support of his family. Its operation would be unequal in this — that a very large number probably a majority of privates in the army are single men, having no family in a legal sense. The substitute, then, would be increased compensation to one class of soldiers only — dis- criminating against another class — and is, therefore, unjust. Again, the substitute discriminates between the poor and those who have a competency in the array. It is a proposition to furnish gratuitous aid from the Treasury to the poor families on account of services rendered by the heads of those families, while there is an equally large class rendering services in the army of equal value, whose families will receive no such aid from the Treasury. The operation, therefore, of such a law would be partial, unequal, unjust, and of an agrarian tendency If we ever plant the seeds in our legislative policy of a legal discrimination in favor of the poor against the rich, the time cannot be far distant in which the scenes of ancient history will be acted over again in our midst, and the wealth of the coun- try will be seized upon and divided out amongst the improvi- dent. 53 We have no right to discriminate bet \veencmr citizens — either for or against rich or poor. In the view of the Constitution. all are equal who are citizens. But there is a stronger reason still for my opposition to the substitute. It is unconstitutional— a direct ami palpable viola- tion of the Constitution. The Constitution, part 1st, section 6, Article I, says that "Congress shall have power to lay and lect taxes, duties, imposts and excises for revenue necessary to pay the debts, provide for the common defense, and carry on the Government of the Confederate States, but no bounty shall be -ranted from the Treasury.'' What is the grant of live mil- lions of dollars from the Treasury to the families of indigent soldiers but a bounty ? A bounty is a free gift, or liberality in bestowing favors. This, then, is a bounty. It is not pay for services— if it was, it would be given to the soldier direct, and to every soldier— whereas the substitute proposes to give the live millions to the "indigent families"— not for services ren- dered—but because they are "indigent" — not to a family of every soldier, but only to those of them that are ''indigent." It is clearly then a bounty, and as clearly unconstitutional. Again, the substitute oners no adequate provision for the sup- port of the families of poor soldiers. If we have four hundred thousand soldiers, and half have poor families, it will give to each but twenty-five dollars. For these reasons I shall vote against the substitute. The original bill proposes to increase the pay of the privates and non-commissioned officers to fifteen dollars. Ought we to do this? I think that we should. When the law was passed fixing the pay of the private at eleven dollars a month, the cur- rency was sound and prices at the usual rates as in times of peace. Now our currency, in which the soldier is paid, is great- ly depreciated, and prices are inflated from two to ten fold. Considering the depreciation of the currency and the inflation of prices, the soldier receives now, in reality, not one-half the 54 sum which the hiw designed he should reeeive. In fact, he can not now buy with eleven dollars one-fourth of the articles that he could buy with that sum one year ago. For this reason I think it to be but bare justice to increase the soldier's pay at least 40 per cent. — say four dollars a month. I am actuated also by another consideration. Without pre- tending to have come to a matured opinion, I am inclined to think, that under our Constitution, Congress can pass no pen- sion law. If it be true, then, that we cannot pension the sol- dier wounded, maimed and broken down in the service of his country, it becomes a high duty to pay him well while he is in service. It is said that this law will add twenty millions of dollars a year to our debt. Let it be so. Curtail the leaks and corrup- tions in other branches of the Government, but pay the brave and toil-worn soldier. I shall vote against the substitute, nd for the bill to increase the pay of the privates. . Is- Ms WM< ITtlldu.. -i\l, d