CONGRESS, U. S. 



279 



port if such censorship has not been used to restrain a 

 wholesome political criticism and discussion, while its 

 professed and laudable object has been to withhold 

 from the enemy important information in reference to 

 the movements of the army. 



He also, on the same day, introduced a bill 

 " to confiscate the property of rebels, to lib- 

 erate their slaves and employ or colonize the 

 same, and for other purposes," which was re- 

 ferred to the Committee on Military Affairs. 



On the same day Mr. Lpvejoy, of Illinois, 

 offered the following resolution : 



Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives, 

 in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of War be, 

 and he is hereby, required to revoke the first section 

 of General Order" No. 3, bearing date of November 20, 

 1361, of Major-General Halleck, commanding the 

 Western Department. 



[The section of Gen. Halleck's order referred 

 to in the resolution was as follows : 



HEADO.UA.BTEKS, DEPAKTMEXT OP MISSOURI, I 

 ST. Louis, November 20, 1861. f 



GEKERAL ORDERS, NO. 3. 



I. It has been represented that important informa- 

 tion, respecting the number and condition of pur forces, 

 is conveyed to the enemy by means of fugitive slaves, 

 who are'admitted within our lines. In order to reme- 

 dy this evil, it is directed that no such persons be 

 hereafter permitted to enter the lines of any camp, or 

 of any forces on the march ; and that any now within 

 such lines be immediately excluded therefrom.] 



Mr. Lansing, of New York, offered the fol- 

 lowing substitute, which was accepted, and its 

 consideration postponed : 



Whereas, Major-General Halleck, of the Western 

 Department, has issued an order prohibiting negroes 

 from coming within the lines of our army, and exclud- 

 ing those already under the protection of our troops; 

 and whereas a different policy and practice prevails in 

 other departments, by the d'irect sanction of the Ad- 

 ministration ; and whereas said order is cruel and in- 

 human, and, in the judgment of this House, based 

 upon no military necessity : therefore, 



Resolved, That the President be respectfully request- 

 ed to direct General Halleck to recall said order, or 

 cause it to conform with the practice of the other de- 

 partments of the army. 



On the same day Mr. Bingham, of Ohio, 

 offered the following, which was referred to 

 the Judiciary Committee : 



Be, it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 

 tives of the United States of America in Congress as- 

 sembled, That all acts and parts of acts in force in the 

 District of Columbia, which authorizes the commit- 

 ment to the jails of said District, of persons as run- 

 aways, or suspected or charged with being runaways, 

 and of free negroes, mulattoes, and other persons 

 found living idle and without visible means of main- 

 tenance ; and all acts and part of acts which authorize 

 the sale of persons so committed, for charges of com- 

 mitment or jail fees, be, and the same are hereby, re- 

 pealed; and to so commit, or imprison, or sell any 

 person for the causes aforesaid, within said District, 

 is hereby declared a misdemeanor, and any person or 

 persons so offending after the passage of this resolu- 

 tion shall, upon indictment and conviction, be subject 

 to a fine not exceeding $500, and imprisonment not 

 exceeding one year, nor less than three months, at the 

 discretion of the court. 



Mr. Eiddle, of Ohio, offered the following, 

 which was agreed to : 



Resolved, That the Secretary of the Interior be re- 

 quested to furnish to this House information as to the 

 number of slaves now holden, or resident within the 



District of Columbia, and of their estimated value ; 

 and also such information as he may possess as to 

 their intellectual and moral condition. 



Mr. Fessenden, of Maine, offered the follow- 

 ing, which was agreed to : 



Resolved, That the Committee for the District of 

 Columbia be requested to report the number of fugi- 

 tive slaves that have been confined in the Government 

 jail in Washington within the last year and a half; by 

 whom claimed, whether any have been returned to the 

 claimants ; by what authority, and to whom, <fec. 



In the House, on the llth, the resolution rel- 

 ative to the order of Gen. Halleck abovemen- 

 tioned was considered. 



Mr. Stevens, of Pennsylvania, said : " "We all 

 know for we have seen it in the orders 

 that the successor of Gen. Fremont, more, I be- 

 lieve, for the purpose of hunting down Gen. 

 Fremont than from any general principle, has 

 ordered that all slaves that have been received 

 within our lines by order of Gen. FremonJ 

 should be excluded and returned to their mas 

 ters, and that, in future, none others shall be 

 permitted to come within those lines, upon a 

 pretence, which any man who reads must 

 know is a false pretence, that they are spies, 

 and carry intelligence to the enemy. That is 

 too bald a pretence to secure the belief of a 

 child even. That slaves who have run away 

 from their masters and sought protection from 

 us, should have any desire to return as spies, 

 and give information to the enemy, seems in- 

 credible. All our information from every 

 source, so far as I have heard, is that these per- 

 sons never desire to return, and that they are 

 faithful to those who protect them. I hope the 

 resolution will be passed, for the purpose of 

 affecting our generals everywhere else. 



" We know that this system of excluding 

 fugitives from labor from our lines, and return- 

 ing them to their masters, was inaugurated 

 by Gen. McClellan in "Western Virginia. After- 

 ward came the magnificent proclamation of 

 Gen. Dix-, when he sent down an army into 

 Eastern Virginia, amidst enemies and seces- 

 sionists for I venture to say that in those 

 counties of Virginia, as well as in the adjoining 

 counties of Maryland, there are not fifty loyal 

 men which ordered, in effect, the arrest of all 

 fugitive slaves which came to them, and their 

 delivery of them to their masters, and to exclude 

 them entirely from their lines, because special 

 care was to be taken that nobody's slaves should 

 be liberated. 



" In my judgment, all these cases which I 

 have recited are a disgrace to the profession of 

 arms ; and if done on the mere motion of the 

 commanding generals, they deserve to have the 

 epaulets stripped from their shoulders. If 

 done by the direction of higher authority, I 

 have only to say, God forgive them, for they 

 know not what they do." 



Mr. Lovejoy, of Illinois, followed, and said : 

 " But I desire to state, in reference to the last 

 remark of the gentleman from Pennsylvania, 

 that it is my honest conviction that these or- 

 ders are given by the promptings of the gener- 



