CONFEDERATE STATES. 



149 



In the first week of each month you will exhibit to 

 the judge a statement showing the" whole amount of 

 money in vour hands as receiver, and deposit the 

 same 'for safe keeping; in such bank or other depository 

 as may be selected for that purpose by the judge, re- 

 serving only such amount as may be required tor im- 

 mediate necessary expenditure in the discharge of your 

 duties as receivers. 



Whenever, in the discharge of your duties, you dis- 

 cover that any attorney, agent, former partner, trustee, 

 or other person holding or controlling any property, 

 rights, or credits of an alien enemy, has wilfully failed 

 to give you information of the same, you will imme- 

 diately report the fact to the district attorney for your 

 district, to the end that the guilty party may be sub- 

 jected to the pains and penalties prescribed by the 

 third section or the law. 



J. P. BENJAMIN, 



Attorney-General. 



The following interrogatories to garnishees have 

 been prepared for your use, together with a note an- 

 nexed for the information of the garnishee : 



1. Have you now, or have you had, in your posses- 

 sion or und'er your control, since the twenty-first day 

 of May last, (1861,) and if yea, at what time, any land 

 or lan'ds, tenement or tenements, hereditament or here- 

 ditaments, chattel or chattels, right or rights, credit or 

 credits, within the Confederate States of America, 

 held, owned, possessed, or enjoyed for or by an alien 

 enemy, or in or to which any alien enemy had, and 

 when, since that time, any right, title, or interest, 

 either directly or indirectly? 



2. If you answer any part of the foregoing interrog- 

 atory in'the affirmative, then set forth, specifically and 

 particularly, a description of such property, right, 

 title, credit, or interest, and if you have disposed of it 

 in whole or in part, or of the profit, or rent, or inter- 

 est accruing therefrom, then state when you made 

 such disposition, and to whom, and where such prop- 

 erty now is, and by whom held? 



3. Were you, since the twenty-first day of May, 

 1S61, and if yea, at what time, indebted, either directly 

 or indirectly, to any alien enemy or alien enemies ? If 

 yea, state the amount of such indebtedness, if one, and 

 of each indebtedness if more than one ; give the name 

 or names of the creditor or creditors, and the place or 

 places of residence, and state whether and to what ex- 

 tent such debt or debts have been discharged, and also 

 the time and manner of the discharge. 



i. Do you know of any land or lands, tenement or 

 tenements, hereditament or hereditaments, chattel or 

 chattels, right or rights, credit or credits, within the 

 Confederate States of America, or any right or interest 

 held, owned, possessed, or enjoyed, directly or indi- 

 rectly, by or for one or more alien enemies, since the 

 twenty-first day of May, IrJl, or in or to which any 

 one or more alien enemies had since that time any 

 claim, title, or interest, direct or indirect? If yea, set 

 forth specially and particularly what and where the 

 property is, and the name and residence of the holder, 

 debtor, trustee, or agent. 



5. State all else that you know which may aid in 

 carrying into full effect the sequestration act of the 

 30th of August, 1361, and state the same as fully and 

 particularly as if thereunto specially interrogated. 



A. B., Receiver. 



NOTE. The garnishee in the foregoing interrogato- 

 ries is specially warned that the sequestration act 

 makes it the duty of each and every citizen to give the 

 information asked in said interrogatories. [Act 30th 

 August, 1S61, sec. 2.] And if any attorney, agent, 

 former partner, trustee, or other person holding or 

 controlling any property or interest therein of or for 

 any alien enemy shall fail speedily to inform the re- 

 ceiver of the same, and to render him an account of 

 such property or interest, he shall be guilty of a high 

 misdemeanor, and, upon conviction, shall be fined in a 

 sum not exceeding five thousand dollars, and impris- 

 oned not longer than six mouths, and be liable to pay 



besides to the Confederate States double the value of 

 the property or interest of the alien enemies so held or 

 subject to h'is control. [dec. 3.] 



The constitutionality of this act was called in 

 question in the Confederate Court for the Dis- 

 trict of South Carolina, Judge Magrath presid- 

 ing. J. S. Pettigru, a citizen of Charleston, 

 was served with the writ of garnishment, and, 

 being a memher of the bar, he appeared in 

 open court to oppose it. The arguments which 

 he boldly advanced show the conflict of the act 

 with the principles of civil and constitutional 

 liberty. In this connection, the following sen- 

 tence from the speech of President Davis at 

 Richmond, on June 1st, is worthy of notice : 

 " Upon us is devolved the high and holy re- 

 sponsibility of preserving the constitutional 

 liberty of a free government." The objections 

 to this confiscation act were of the following 

 nature : 



" Where is the authority given ? "Where is the 

 power to call upon the citizen, in a new and 

 unheard-of manner, to answer questions upon 

 oath for the purpose of enforcing the confisca- 

 tion law ? Shall it be said that it is to furnish 

 the means for carrying on the war ? How can 

 that be said to be necessary which is absolutely 

 never known to have been done before ? Was 

 there anybody that ever fought before General 

 Beauregard ? War unfortunately is not a new 

 tiling. Its history is found on every page. Was 

 there ever a law like this endured, practised, or 

 heard of? It certainly is not found among the 

 people from whom we derive the common law. 

 No English monarch or Parliament has ever 

 sanctioned or undertaken such a thing. It is 

 utterly inconsistent with the common law to 

 require an inquisitorial examination of the sub- 

 jects of the laws of war. It is no more a part 

 of the law of war than it is a part of the law 

 of peace. * * * 



" All that can be said in favor of the end and 

 object proposed, can be said in favor of the Star 

 Chamber and the Spanish Inquisition. Tor- 

 quemada set on the latter institution with the 

 best of motives. It was to save men's souls. 

 He labored most earnestly, in season and out of 

 season ; and when high necessity commanded, 

 he burnt their bodies to save their souls. * * 



" We do not consider that the end justifies 

 the means in these days, but Torquernada might 

 have burnt Jews and Protestants, without call- 

 ing upon their best friends to inform against 

 them, and making it penal not to do so. * 



"The war power includes as an incident 

 every thing which is necessary or usual. It 

 cannot be pretended that this is necessary or 

 usual, since it never was done before. This is 

 not the first war that ever was waged ; and the 

 laws of war are not the subject of wild specula- 

 tion. Now, the means granted to attain this 

 end are based upon the supposition that the 

 end deserves all commendation ; that nothing 

 in the world is more calculated to advance the 

 repute of the country than to be keen in search- 

 ing out the property of enemies, and proceeding 



