642 



SLAVES. 



ters any persons who may come within your 

 lines. You will employ such persons in the 

 services to which they may be best adapted, 

 keeping an account of the labor by them per- 

 formed, of the value of it, and the expenses of 

 their maintenance. The question of their final 

 disposition will be reserved for future deter- 

 mination." 



On the llth of July, the United States Mar- 

 shal of Kansas writes to the Attorney-General, 

 asking whether he should give his official ser- 

 vices in the execution of the Fugitive Slave 

 Law. 



In reply, the Attorney-General says : 



" It is the President's constitutional duty to 

 ' take care that the laws be faithfully executed.' 

 That means all the laws. He has no right to 

 discriminate no right to execute the laws he 

 likes, and leave unexecuted those he dislikes. 

 And of course you and I, his subordinates, can 

 have no wider latitude of discretion than he 

 .has. Missouri is a State in the Union. The 

 insurrectionary disorders in Missouri are but 

 individual crimes, and do not change the legal 

 ttatus of the State, nor change its rights and 

 obligations as a member of the Union. 



" A refusal, by a ministerial officer, to exe- 

 cute any law which properly belongs to his 

 office, is an official misdemeanor, of which I do 

 not doubt the President would take notice." 



At the extra session of Congress, a bill known 

 as the Confiscation Act was passed, containing 

 the following section : 



And be it further enacted, That whenever hereafter, 

 during the present insurrection against the Government 

 of the United States, any person claimed to be held to 

 labor or service under the raw of any State shall be re- 

 quired or permitted by the person to whom such labor 

 or service is claimed to be due, or by the lawful agent 

 of such person, to take up arms against the United 

 States, or shall be required or permitted by the per- 

 son to whom such labor or service is claimed to be due, 

 or his lawful agent, to work or to be employed in or 

 upon any fort, navy yard, dock, armory, ship, "intrench- 

 ment, or in any military or naval service whatsoever, 

 against the Government and lawful authority of the 

 United States, then, and in every such case, the person 

 to whom such labor or service is claimed to be due 

 shall forfeit his claim to such labor, any law of the 

 State or of the United States to the contrary notwith- 

 standing. And whenever thereafter the person claim- 

 ing such labor or service shall seek to enforce his claim, 

 it shall be a full and sufficient answer to such claim that 

 the person whose service or labor is claimed had been 

 employed in hostile service against the Government of 

 the United States, contrary to the provisions of this act. 



This was finally approved by the President 

 on the 6th of August. On the 8th, the Secre- 

 tary of "War again writes to General Butler, 

 giving very fully the views of the Government. 

 The conclusion adopted was such as to con- 

 vince citizens acknowledging the sovereignty 

 of the United States Government that the 

 principle laid down in the Constitution, that 

 " private property shall not be taken for public 

 uses without just compensation," was to be 

 strictly observed, and the command to the 

 troops against interference with the servants 

 of peaceful citizens, " in house or field," was all 



that could be claimed of a just Government 

 called to cope with a great enemy. 



The Secretary thus proceeds : " It is the 

 desire of the President that all existing rights, 

 in all the States, be fully respected and main- 

 tained. The war now prosecuted on the part 

 of the Federal Government is a war for the 

 Union, and for the preservation of all constitu- 

 tional rights of States and the citizens of the 

 States in the Union. Hence no question can 

 arise as to fugitives from service within the 

 States and Territories in which the authority of 

 the Union is fully acknowledged. The ordinary 

 forms of judicial proceeding, which must be re~- 

 spected by military and civil authorities alike, 

 will suffice for the enforcement of all legal 

 claims. But in States wholly or partially un- 

 der insurrectionary control, where the laws of 

 the United States are so far opposed and resist- 

 ed that they cannot be effectually enforced, it 

 is obvious that rights dependent on the execu- 

 tion of those laws must temporarily fail ; and it 

 is equally obvious that rights dependent on the 

 laws of the States within which military opera- 

 tions are conducted, must be necessarily sub- 

 ordinated to the military exigencies created by 

 the insurrection, if not wholly forfeited by the 

 treasonable conduct of parties claiming them. 

 To this general rule rights to services can form 

 no exception. 



" The act of Congress approved August 6th, 

 1861, declares that if persons held to service 

 shall be employed in hostility to the United 

 States, the right to their services shall be for- 

 feited, and such persons shall be discharged 

 therefrom. It follows of necessity that no 

 claim can be recognized by the military author- 

 ities of the Union to the services of such per- 

 sons when fugitives. 



"A more difficult question is presented in 

 respect to persons escaping from the service of 

 loyal masters. It is quite apparent that the 

 laws of the State, under which only the ser- 

 vices of such fugitives can be claimed, must 

 needs be wholly, or almost wholly suspended, 

 as to remedies, by the insurrection and the 

 military measures necessitated by it, and it is 

 equally apparent that the substitution of mili- 

 tary for judicial measures, for the enforcement 

 of such claims, must be attended by great in- 

 conveniences, embarrassments, and injuries. 



" Under these circumstances it seems quite 

 clear that the substantial rights of loyal masters 

 will be best protected by receiving such fugi- 

 tives, as well as fugitives from disloyal masters, 

 into the service of the United States, and em- 

 ploying them under such organizations and in 

 such occupations as circumstances may suggest 

 or require. Of course a record should be kept, 

 showing the name and description of the fugi- 

 tives, the name and the character, as loyal or dis- 

 loyal, of the master, and such facts as may be 

 necessary to a correct understanding of the cir- 

 cumstances of each case after tranquillity shall 

 have been restored. Upon the return of peace, 

 Congress will doubtless properly provide for all 



