G96 



PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



for legislative action with a view to add to the num- 

 bers and efficiency of the army, all of which will re- 

 ceive your consideration, there are some prominent 

 topics which merit special notice. 



The exemption from military duty now accorded 

 by la\y to all persons engaged in certain specified 

 pursuits ir professions, is shown by experience to be 

 unwise, r.jr is it believed to be def'enci'ole in theory. 

 The defence of home, family, and country, is univer- 

 sally recognized as the paramount political duty of 

 every member of society ; and in a form of govern- 

 ment like ours, where each citizen enjoys an equality 

 of rights and privileges, nothing can be more invid- 

 ious than an unequal distribution of duties and obli- 

 gations. IS'o pursuit nor position should relieve any 

 one, who is able to do active duty, from enrolment 

 in the army, unless his functions or services are more 

 useful to the defence of his country in another sphere. 

 But it is manifest that this cannot be the case with 

 the entire classes. All telegraph operators, work- 

 men in mines, professors, teachers, engineers, edi- 

 tors and employ6s of newspapers, journeymen 

 printers, shoemakers, tanners, blacksmiths, millers, 

 physicians, and the numerous other classes men- 

 tioned in the laws, cannot in the nature of things be 

 either equally necessary in their several professions, 

 nor distributed throughout the country in such pro- 

 portions that only the exact numbers required are 

 found in each locality; nor can it be everywhere im- 

 possible to replace those within the conscript age by 

 men older and less capable of active field services. 

 A discretion should be vested in the military author- 

 ities, so that a sufficient number of those essential to 

 the public service might be detailed to continue the 

 exercise of their pursuits or professions, but the ex- 

 emption from service of the entire classes should be 

 wholly abandoned. It affords great facility for abuses, 

 offers the temptation, as well as the ready means, of 

 escaping service by fraudulent devices, and is one of 

 the principal obstructions to the efficient operation 

 of the conscript laws. 



A general militia law is needful in the interest of 

 the public defence. The Constitution, by vesting 

 the power in Congress, imposes on it the duty of pro- 

 viding "for organizing, arming, and disciplining the 

 militia, and for governing such part of them as may 

 be employed in the service of the Confederate States." 

 The great diversity in the legislation of the several 

 States on this subject, and the absence of any pro- 

 vision establishing an exact method for calling the 

 militia into Confederate service, are sources of em- 

 barrassment which ought no longer to be suffered to 

 impede defensive measures. 



The legislation in relation to the cavalry demands 

 change. The policy of requiring the men to furnish 

 their own horses, has proven pernicious in many re- 

 spects. It interferes with discipline, impairs effi- 

 ciency, and is the cause of frequent and prolonged 

 absence from appropriate duty. This subject is fully 

 treated in the Secretary's report, with suggestions 

 as to the proper measures for reforming that branch 

 of the service. 



The recommendation hitherto often made is again 

 renewed, that some measure be adopted for the re- 

 organization and consolidation of companies and 

 regiments when so far reduced in numbers as to se- 

 riously impair their efficiency. It is the more neces- 

 sary that this should be done, as the absence of the 

 legislation on the subject has forced generals in the 

 field to resort to various expedients for approximat- 

 ing the desired end. It is surely an evil that a com- 

 manding officer should be placed in a position which 

 forces upon him the choice of allowing the efficiency 

 of Ks command to be seriously impaired, or of at- 

 tempting to supply by the exercise of doubtful au- 

 thority the want of proper legal provision. The re- 

 gard for the sensibility of officers who have heretofore 

 served with credit, and which is believed to be the 

 controlling motive that has hitherto obstructed leg- 

 islation on this subject, however honorable and prop- 



er, may be carried to a point which seriously injures 

 the public good; and, if this be the case, it can 

 scarcely be questioned which of the two considera- 

 tions should be deemed paramount. 



The Secretary's recommendations on the subject 

 of facilitating the acquisition of the iron required 

 for maintaining the efficiency of railroad communi- 

 cation on the important military lines, are commend- 

 ed to your favor. The necessity for the operation it 

 full vigor of such lines is too apparent to need com- 

 ment. 



The question in dispute between the two Govern- 

 ments relative to the exchange of prisoners of war, 

 has been frequently presented in former messages 

 and reports, and is fully treated by the Secretary. 

 The solicitude for the relief of our fellow-citizens has 

 known no abatement ; but has, on the contrary, been, 

 still more deeply evoked by the additional sufferings 

 to which they have been wantonly subjected, by de- 

 privation of adequate food, clothing, and fuel, which 

 they were not even permitted to purchase from the 

 prison sutlers. Finding that the enemy attempted 

 to excuse their barbarous treatment by the unfound- 

 ed allegation that it was retaliatory for like conduct 

 on our part, an offer was made by us, with a view of 

 ending all pretext for such recriminations or pre- 

 tended retaliation. 



The offer has been accepted, and each Government 

 is hereafter to be allowed to provide necessary com- 

 forts to its own citizens held captive by the other. 

 Active efforts are in progress for the immediate exe- 

 cution of this agreement, and it is hoped that but 

 few days will elapse before we shall be relieved from 

 the distressing thought that painful physical suffer- 

 ing is endured by so many of our fellow-citizens, 

 whose fortitude in captivity illustrates the national 

 character as fully as did their valor in actual conflict. 



The employment of slaves for service with the 

 army as teamsters, or cooks, or in the way of work 

 upon fortifications, or in the Government workshops, 

 or in hospitals, and other similar duties, was author- 

 ized by the act of 17th February last, and provision 

 was made for their ifnpressment to a number not ex- 

 ceeding twenty thousand, if it should be found im- 

 practicable to obtain them by contract with the 

 owners. The law contemplated the hiring onl? of 

 the labors of those slaves, and imposed on the Gov- 

 ernment the liability to pay for the value of such as 

 might be lost to the owners from casualties resulting 

 from their employment in the service. 



The act has produced less result than was antici- 

 pated, and further provision is required to retider it 

 efficacious. But my present purpose is to invite 

 your consideration to the propriety of a radical mod- 

 ification in the theory of the law. 



Viewed merely as property, and therefore as the 

 subject of imprisonment, the service or labor of the 

 slave has been frequently claimed for short periods, 

 in the construction of defensive works. The slave, 

 however, bears another relation to the State that of 

 a person. The law of last February contemplates 

 the relation of the slave to the master, and limits the 

 impressment to. a certain term of service. But for 

 the purposes enumerated in the act, instruction in 

 the manner of encamping, marching, and parking 

 trains is needful, so that even in this limited employ- 

 ment, length of service adds greatly to the value of 

 the negro s labor. Hazard is also encountered in all 

 the positions to which negroes can be assigned with 

 the army, and the duties required of them demand 

 loyalty and zeal. 



In tliis aspect the relation of person predominates 

 so far as to render it doubtful whether the private 

 right of property can consistently and beneficially be 

 continued, and it would seem proper to acquire for 

 the public service the entire property in the labor of 

 the slave, and to pay therefor due compensation, 

 rather than to impress his labor for short terms ; and 

 this the more especially as the effect of the present 

 law would vest this entire property in all cases "vheif 



