The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1862-06-27
Confsdsrate Scrip NJ Memphis.

C0nfederate Scrip at Memphis.
While Colonel Fitch was commandant OF
the post Of Memphis, Confederate shinplas-
tiers circulated freely among those who had
not Invested themselves Of treason, or amid
the reverses which has attended the career
of the Confederacy, yet preserved faith IN
their validity and ultimate redemption.
Colonel Fitch has heen superseded by the
arrival of an officer whose commission bears
date some time prior to that of his own
One of the first official acts of Colonel Slack
was the PRONUNCIATION of an order forbiddlng
once and for all the circulation Of Coincide
rate notes or other evidences of indebted
ness of the rebelious government, as curren'
cy in the city Of Memphis.
Colonel Slack was made the recipient OF
respectful remonstrances and petitions, set
ting forth the grievances Of the people, the
losses they would sustain by the enforce
ment OF such an order and praying for its
abrogation or modification. The reply
from Colonel Slack is explicit in the deter
mination to recognize nothing mathematical
of the pseudo. government, and to permit no
currency of any description to be used as a
circulating medium, having its basis in the
future success of the rebel arms ::
HEADQUARTERS U. s, FORCEs,l
Memphis June IA, 1862.
Hon. John Parks, Mayor
SIR--The communication received from
YOU in behalf of the board of mayor and
aldermen of the city of Memphis, has been
most respectfully considered and due right
given to all the arguments you have made.
The desertion and distress of which You
speak it strikes me will be much more like
" to effect very different class than those
to whom you reierit. 1t is fact, the truth
of which 1 presume will not be questioned,
that the so called Confederate States is
sued nearly all of their notes in bills of the
denomination of $50 and $40, and from
other facts I conclude the labOring class of
your city, those who are dependent on their
daily toll for subsistence, are not found
With any considerable amount in their p0ss
session, and the various efforts to which you
allude will strike different cl ass altogether
in the community, of having to contend
with deprecated currency and to which
you refer will come upon all the people
sooner or later, and really see no reason
why it may not as we'll come now as sixty
days hence. Those who have been most
active in getting up this wickdd rebellion
are the very individuals whose pockets are
loaded with Confederate notes, and if 60
days. time should be given them, it is
only giving that much time for those
WHO are responsible for its issue to get
rid of it without loss, and the worth.
less trash will be found in the hands
of the unsophisticated ard credulous; who
have always been the dupes of designing
Sbylocks by inducing them to accept of
circulating medium which was issued to aid
in the destruction of the finest and best govd
eminent ever known to civilizations: new.
er will by any act of mine fail to discharge
any duty imposed upon me. and do that
which directly or remotely will constitute
to the downfall of the government of my
country. Nor will I permit to be done
that which would tend to such an unholy
purpose. Should Confederate notes be per-
mitted to be used as circulating medium
where the flag of the United States floats,
so far as an act of that kind could give
character to such reasonable currency it
would do so, and thus the very basis OF this
rebellion be made respectable by contact
with the government it seeks to destroy; an
act which l shall in no instance be bound
aid or abettipg, with the ardent hope that
you have mistaken the legitimate results of
the effect to be produced upon the citizens,
whom you hold arguments which / can see
that will induce no change nor modify the
terms of general order No. 3, but shall in
sist upon its rigid enforcement.
have the honor to be sir, very respectfully
your 0bedient servant,
JAS. B. SLACK. Col. Cong Post.
CONGRESSIONAL.