CONFEDERATE STATES. 



207 



Jgesolved, That in impressing articles of food and 

 forage for the army, the agents of the Government 

 should exercise a discretion, and impress in those sec- 

 tions of the different States where food and forage are 

 most abundant. 



llesolved, That in those parts of the country where 

 the provision crop is short, and will not more than 

 supply the wants of the country, the tithes due the 

 Government should be commuted for in money, and 

 left for the supply of soldiers' families and other desti- 

 tute persons at Government prices. 



Resolved, That upon the true construction of the act 

 of Congress regulating the matter, the price of no ar- 

 ticle manufactured for the use of the Government un- 

 der the said act can be more than seventy-five per cent, 

 on the cost of production, excluding the cost of the raw 

 material, which, should only be reimbursed without a 

 profit thereon. 



The effect of these measures was to create a 

 difficulty in procuring food for both array and 

 people. Both suffered. Innumerable methods 

 were resorted to for the purpose of saving 

 property from impressment. Hundreds of pro- 

 ducers were driven to sell clandestinely or 

 openly their stores to non-producers out of the 

 army, who were willing and anxious to pay 

 fifty or a hundred per cent, more than the Gov- 

 ernment paid. The effect upon the spirit of the 

 people was shown in the declarations of the 

 press, the speeches of public men, and those 

 made in the House of Congress. 



" These arbitrary impressments of Govern- 

 ment," said the press, " touch the people's 

 pride and sense of justice ; and they effect a 

 great and natural change in their sentiments 

 toward the cause. Men who, in a romantic and 

 pious enthusiasm for their country, have cheer- 

 fully given up their sons to the battle, and have 

 assisted with a sort of mournful pride in the 

 burial of their offspring slain on the field, have 

 had their feelings and temper toward the Gov- 

 ernment suddenly changed by the rude and 

 rapacious action of the Government press- 

 gangs. They make this natural reflection, 

 whether a good cause, administered in wrong 

 and rapacity, can succeed ; and these impress- 

 ments have done more to shake the confidence 

 of the country in the capacity of its public men 

 in civil office for administering affairs than any 

 other cause and all causes combined." 



While numerous commissioners, post quarter- 

 masters, and other Government agents practised 

 gross abuses, oppressed the people, and caused 

 starvation to threaten whole villages and towns, 

 and thus brought odium upon the Government, 

 the Government itself was guilty of many abuses. 

 The impressment law was enforced at the same 

 time that the tithe or produce tax was in pro- 

 cess of collection. The tithes were often wait- 

 ing for the tithe gatherer, and, even rotting for 

 lack of his approach. Great delay often oc- 

 curred in collecting or transporting Government 

 supplies after they had been purchased, and 

 waste and destruction were the consequence. 



The following remarks by ex-Senator Toombs, 

 of Georgia, in the Hall of the Assembly of that 

 State, on November 13th, present a very com- 

 plete view of the operation of the impressment : 

 " I have heard it frequently stated, and it has 



been maintained in some of the newspapers in 

 Richmond, that we should not sacrifice liberty 

 to independence ; but I tell you, my countrymen, 

 the two are inseparable. If we lose our liberty 

 we shall also lose our independence ; and when 

 our Congress determined to support our armies 

 by impressment, gathering supplies wherever 

 they found them most convenient, and forcing 

 them from those from whom their agents might 

 choose to take them, in violation of the funda- 

 mental principles of our Constitution, which 

 requires all burdens to be uniform and just, and 

 paying for them such prices as they choose, 

 they made a fatal blunder, which cannot be per- 

 sisted in without endangering our cause, and 

 probably working ruin to our Government. The 

 moment they departed from the plain rule laid 

 down in the Constitution that impressment of 

 private property should only be made in cases 

 where absolute necessity required them they 

 laid the foundation for discontent among the 

 people, they discouraged labor, and incorporat- 

 ed a principle which is not only in violation of 

 the Constitution, but fatal to the rights of prop- 

 erty. The Constitution cannot be dispensed 

 with in time of war any more than in time of 

 peace. If it is overthrown we are already con- 

 quered. Liberty is lost when a man holds his 

 life, liberty, and property, not under the law, 

 but at the mere pleasure of another. Stand, 

 therefore, by the Constitution of your country, 

 which you have sworn to support, and which 

 all the public officers have sworn to support, 

 from the President down to the lowest officer 

 in the country. There is duty, safety, and honor 

 in that course. I hope to stand by it, in peace 

 or in war, through evil as well as through good 

 report. 



" Then when you come to levy burdens, it 

 matters not how heavy they be, if they are ne- 

 cessary, so they be just. If five per cent, of the 

 wealth of the country will answer, take only 

 that ; but if ten, or twenty, or fifty per cent, are 

 necessary, if the last dollar of the country, and 

 the last drop of blood are necessary, take that ; 

 for I would rather see this whole country the 

 cemetery of freemen than the inhabitation of 

 slaves. Therefore it is not a question how much 

 shall be levied for the support of our Govern- 

 ment, but only that your levies be just and uni- 

 form. The citizens of this country demand that 

 they shall be permitted to bear their just pro- 

 portion of the burdens that may be necessary 

 in the achievement of our independence. They 

 demand that if provisions are necessary for the 

 support of our armies in the field ; if horses are 

 necessary ; if clothing, if property of any kind is 

 needed they demand that the burden of sup- 

 plying it shall not fall on a few individuals, but 

 on society at large, and in just and uniform 

 proportion on all. It is the right, the privilege, 

 as well as the duty of all, to bear a just and 

 equal portion of the demands of the Govern- 

 ment. 



" When, therefore, the Government seeks to 

 levy its supplies through commissaries, or other 



