Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1860-1862, 1861-10-12

sion the message OF president Davis, on 29th
April, called the attention of Congress, when
met in special session at Montgomery. On.
motion OF The lamented Barlow, then Mem
Der from Georgia, provision was made for
this essential branch of the military service.
and the psy of chaplains was Fixed at SIS
per month, without further eraolumerlt. We
had acknowledged God in the Constitution:
had invoked bis blessings on our cause: and
have since recognized his hand in our victo-
ries: it was meet and right that He should be
recognized in the organization af the army
the moral sense of the nation demanded II.
Never was there, in the history of time
greater proportion of Christians in an army
Moral aud pious volunteers called for their
spiritual advisers to go with them. Parents
sent forth their sons, and wives bore separa-
ton from their husbands the more cheerfully,
because they knew that amid the temptations
of camp, the sickness of hospital, and the
casualties of the battlefield, faithful pastors
were with them. 50 - l7ss- ~
Ii is, therefore, with surprise and regret
that we have witnessed a disposition that
cannot be mistaken, on the part of our law
makers. to underrate If not to cripple this
arm of the service. As religious journalists
we cannot let the subject drift longer in this
direction without calling the attention of the
people to 1.-THE people, to whom the law-ma-
kers are amenable. 1t is evident that unless
the Church, as representing moral and Chris
tisn people, looks to this matter, it will be
overlooked. Politicians have no taste for lie.
and are willing tom make entrenchment-capital
out of it. Let the world alone, and it will
legisiate religion out of the world.
Beginning right here: The last Legislature
OF Tennessee very properly provided for
chaplains in the State army; and, to secure
the man most acceptable to the volunteers
| and therefore likely to do them most good,
each regiment was allowed to elect its own
| chaplain. Now came the question of the
rank and pay Of this regime1taL officer. Was
| 1t equal 10 that of other regimental officers
colonel, lieutenant-colonel, major, or adju-
taniY This is a brief history of the matter:
The Senate passed an act giving him the
| rank and pay of the captain of q company,
| (Sl20 per monthly This was too much for
the popular element in the House-whieh
| proposed to amend the act by reducing the
| chaplain to the rank and pay of I'd lieuten-
| ant, ESQ per monthly At first the Senate
| refused to recede; committee of conference
| was appointed, and the House amendment
| prevailed.
| The chaplain and the colonel, lieutenant
/ colonel, and the major, are all elected by the
| entire regiment. (say 1000 men;) whereas, a
| captain, and all commissioned officers below
him, are elected by the company. (say 100
| men; yet the rank of a captain is two grades
| above chaplain, and in regiment there are
/ about forty commissioned officers above
him. In the United States army the pay of
| q chaplain is $3.50 per month, and he ranks
| accordingly. a.
Even the Confederate Congress, before adj
journing from Montgomery. caught the idea
of retrenchment-in the religious depart
ment; and an act was passed in May, which
did not become generally known till Septem-
Der, reducing the pay of chaplain TO $50
| per month. Among the last acts of the
| Richmond Congress, it was thoughtfully
/ amended, so as to allow him the ration of a
| private soldier-an allowance which every
| cook in the army is also entitled to-. a1g
| Now we submit, whatever might have
been the patriotic intentions of such legisla-
| ton, that its whole moral effect is to degrade
| the Office from it's proper position, and there
| by to depreciate the entire subject of reli-
| gion in the army. Such legislation is invid-
| ious and harmful; ii is Insulting to the Chris
| tian sentiment of the land, to the last de-
gree. The people of the Confederate States
are Christian people. They are not ready
| to rule religion out, directly or indirectly.
They will soon be called upon to vote for
| the members of the next Congress; and it is
| no less right as citizens, than duty they
/ owe themselves as Christians, to know the
/ sentiments of the can didates on this subject.
| And if any member of the Congress, whose
| acts We are commenting on, should come
before them again for their votes, we trust
| they will demand an explanation.
! The manner in which the subject has been
4 dealt with is not only open to objection on ac-
| count of its moral force and public interpre-
| tatiOn, but ia unjust to individuals. Minis
| ters, with families dependent on them for
| support, have gone forth as ehaplains, at the
solicitation of our soldiers, and of the friends
| and relatives of our soldiers-many of them
| relinquishing good salaries and prominent
positions. They relied on the Government
| in full faith to fulfil its contract; and now,
| that they are in the field, they learn that the
Congress of the Confederate States has cut
dozen the pay of chaplains below that of sec
| ond lieutenants; which is not enough, at the
| high prices of every article of consumption,
1 to support their families. The chaplains in
| the active volunteer forces of Virginia had,
| by act of Convention, been commissioned by
| the Governor, with the pay and emoluments
| of captain of cavalry. Other States may have
done as well, before transferring their yOlun-
| teer armies to the Confederacy.
The following private letter we take the
| liberty of publishing here-from Rev. w. F.
Camp, MD. Our friend, in sending an obit-
uary OF one of his comrades Rev. Mr.. Wells,
Chaplain of the 9th Mississippi Regiment,
who had nobly devoted himself to the same
service-adds these few briefwords DR.. Camp
was educated at Randolph Macon College
We have known him long and well. He quit
lucrative practice for the work of the min
istry-a work in which he does not receive a
third the pay annually that his profession
brought him. He is a man of family. He
can make, and has made. pecuniary sacrifices
for the sake of the gospels above mercena-
ry motives IL the purpose indicated. 1t is
with him question of principle. Even the
chaplaincy, at S85 per month, would net pay
him half as much as he was making as prac-
titioner of medicine, with less labor and dis
comfort. few years ago, against all the
circumstances of worldly economy, he joined
the Conference, and was stationed at Canton.
Miss, when the 10th Regiment went to the
defence of the Florida coast. The practical
protest of such man must therefore be re-
ceived without any of the low insinuations
SO rapidly suggested from certain quarters
Pensacola, Fla, General Hospital, Sept 81, 1861.
& DEAR Bro. MCTYERE:-. -. / pre-
sumo that you have heard that / was Chap
lain of 10Th Mississippi Regiment. 1 came
out with the army last March, and have been
trying to labor for their spiritual interest
Put the best phase upon it you can, and the
army is a bad place to keep or grow in grace.
1 trust, however, some go ID has been DONE,
which eternity will reveal. The Government
certainly has placed low estimate on our
services, and l think virtually prescribed the
office of chaplain. In my judgment, self-re-
spect dictates that every chaplain in the
Southern army should resign. If the pay of
all the commissioned officers had been re-
duced in the same ratio, there would have
been no ground of complaint, aud no insult
given; but such is not the case. I, for one
cannot consent to hold the Office under the
circumstances; and if my Conference will give
me work next year. will gladly accept it,
and return to the pastorate. In addition to
serving my regiment as chaplain, I am at
present Acti@ g-Assistant Surgeon in General
Hospital at this place. | am glad to be able
to state that sickness is on the decrease, and
under the judicious management of the hos
pital, under DR. A. j. Foard, the wants of the
sick are well provided for, and the comforts
OF home in a measure supplied
Retrenchment is well enough, but let us
have il all round. Why make it on one regi-
mental nfficer nnIr7 Ta ,,,inistar " ho ,,r.,a