CONGRESS, CONFEDERATE. 



227 



Resolved, That the Committee on Judiciary be in- 

 structed to inquire into and report whether an officer 

 of the army of the United States, acting under the au- 

 thority of thai Government, can be made liable and 

 punished as a criminal for the violation of the criminal 

 laws of a State, by a State tribunal, when turned over 

 to.State authorities by order of the President. 



Mr. Yancey said he was in favor of retalia- 

 tion, but inasmuch as that involved " counter 

 retaliation," and jeoparded the lives of officers, 

 it was well to consider whether, on the whole, 

 the retaliatory measures recommended had bet- 

 ter be adopted. Mr. Yancey said that this 

 counter retaliation had already commenced, 

 and that Confederate officers are already " suf- 

 fering inconvenience " from it. He was sure, 

 however, that even though the proposition of 

 President Davis was adopted, there would be 

 no retaliation, for, he added : 



When these officers shall be turned over to State 

 tribunals, under the judgment of these State tribunals 

 they will be declared as not liable, as criminals, to the 

 State laws. We recognize the United States as a public 

 enemy, and public enemies are not liable, in my opin- 

 ion, to the criminal laws of the country with which 

 they are at war. * * * If amenable to one State 

 law, he is amenable to all State laws ; and surely it 

 would not be held for a single moment that an officer 

 of the United States would be held liable to the law of 

 trespass. In my opinion, no one law is more sacred 

 than another law, and the very same principle of con- 

 struction, which would make him liable for exciting an 

 insurrection, would make him amenable to all other 

 laws of the State which would be violated by him in 

 the conduct of war. 



Mr. Yancey then proceeded to meet the ar- 

 gument that the United States were violating 

 the law of nations, and very distinctly took the 

 ground that the public enemy might stir up an 

 insurrection or do any act to weaken the pow- 

 er of his foe without violating the law of na- 

 tions or military law. Mr. Yancey was willing 

 to have the policy established that every officer 

 of the enemy shall be killed in the field of 

 battle, but he thought it was the duty of the 

 Confederate Government to take the matter in 

 hand, and not to shift the responsibility upon 

 the local laws of the separate States. 



The following are the joint resolutions as 

 adopted : 



Resolved, by the Congress of the Confederate States 

 of America, in response to the message of the Presi- 

 dent, transmitted to Congress at the commencement 

 of the present session, That, in the opinion of Con- 

 gress, the commissioned officers of the enemy ought 

 not to be delivered to the authorities of the respective 

 States, as suggested in the said message : but all cap- 

 tives taken by the Confederate forces ought to be 

 dealt with and disposed of by the Confederate Govern- 

 ment. 



Sec. 2. That, in the judgment of Congress, the 

 proclamations of the President of the United States, 

 dated respectively September twenty-second, eighteen 

 hundred sixty-two, and January first, eighteen hun- 

 dred and sixty-three, and the other measures of the 

 Government of the United States and of its authori- 

 ties, commanders, and forces, designed or tending to 

 emancipate slaves in the Confederate States or to ab- 

 duct such slaves, or to incite them to insurrection, or 

 to employ negroes in war against the Confederate 

 States, or to overthrow the institution of African 

 slavery and bring on a servile war in these States, 

 would, if successful, produce atrocious consequences, 



and they are inconsistent with the spirit of those 

 usages which in modern warfare prevail among civil- 

 ized nations ; they may, therefore, be properly and 

 lawfully repressed by retaliation. 



Sec. 3. That in every case wherein, during the pres- 

 ent war, any violation of the laws and usages of war 

 among civilized nations shall be, or has been, done 

 and perpetrated by those acting under the authority 

 of the Government of the United States, on the per- 

 sons or property of the citizens of the Confederate 

 States, or of those under the protection or in the land 

 or naval service of the Confederate States, or of any 

 State of the Confederacy, the President of the Confed- 

 erate-States is hereby authorized to cause full and com- 

 plete retaliation to be made for every such violation, 

 in such manner and to such extent as he may think 

 proper. 



Sec. 4. That every white person, being' a commis- 

 sioned officer, or acting as such, who, during the pres- 

 ent war, shall command negroes or mulattoes in arms 

 against the Confederate States, or who shall arm, train, 

 organize, or prepare negroes or mulattoes for military 

 service against the Confederate States, or who shall 

 voluntarily aid negroes or mulattoes in any military 

 enterprise, attack, or conflict in such service, shall be 

 deemed as inciting servile insurrection, and shall, if 

 captured, be put to death, or be otherwise punished at 

 the discretion of the court. 



Sec. 5. Every person, being a commissioned officer, 

 or acting as such in the service of the enemy, who 

 shall, during the present war, excite, attempt to excite, 

 or cause to be excited servile insurrection, or who shall 

 incite 'or cause to be incited a slave to rebel, shall, if 

 captured, be put to death, or be otherwise punished, 

 at the discretion of the court. 



Sec. 6. Every person charged with an offence pun- 

 ishable under the preceding resolutions shall, during 

 the present war, be tried before the military court at- 

 tached to the army or corps by the troops of which he 

 shall have been captured, or by such other military 

 court as the President may direct, and in such manner, 

 and under such regulations as the President shall pre- 

 scribe, and, after conviction, the President may com- 

 mute the punishment in such manner and on such 

 terms as he may deem proper. 



Sec. 1. All negroes or mulattoes who shall be en- 

 gaged in war or be taken in arms against the Confed- 

 erate States, or shall give aid or comfort to the enemies 

 of the Confederate States, shall, when captured in the 

 Confederate States, be delivered to the authorities of 

 the State or States in which they shall be captured, to 

 be dealt with according to the present or future laws 

 of such State or States. 



The section of the conscription law which 

 exempted one person as owner or overseer of 

 each twenty negroes was repealed. A resolution 

 was adopted in favor of free navigation of the 

 Mississippi river, as follows : 



Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of 

 America, That the Confederate States again repeat the 

 principles above set forth, and declare the free naviga- 

 tion of the Mississippi river to be the natural right of 

 the people of all the States upon its banks, or upon the 

 banks of its navigable tributaries. 



In the House, on the 3d of March, a resolu- 

 tion was adopted to inquire into the expediency 

 of repealing the resolutions declaring that a 

 neutral flag covers an enemy's goods, with the 

 exception of contraband goods. 



A bill, introduced into the Senate, placed all 

 telegraph lines under the control of the Post- 

 master-General. 



A tax bill was also passed at this session, which 

 levied a tax of eight per cent, on the value of 

 all naval stores, salt, wines, spirituous liquors, 

 tobacco, manufactured or unmanufactured, cot- 



