The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1862-08-11

e THE PETITION OF CERTAIN NoN-CQN-
SCRIPTS RESPECTFULLY PRESUMED 10 TIKI CON
FEDERATE STATES CONGRESS.
TO The Speaker AID Mrmbersof Congress Of the Coa-
fede-Gse States OF .iagsricd;
Your petitioners respectfully represent that they
are ali over the age of thirty five years. undei
the age Of eighteen years. They We're all enrolled
in the military service of the Confederate States
SrerioHs to the 10Th day OF April ls62 the date Of
the CoIscript Act. Some OF your petitioners t,y
long 20 companies mustered and received into ser
vice for twelve months, some Of whom enlisted
for the wax preyou, TO the 10th day of April 1862
and others who have not re enlisted; some who
have received the bounty money, and Others " ho
have not received it. Most of your petitioners had
under the call of their respective States and the
President of the Confedera' Stats, enlisted for
three wears or the war" previous TO the 10Th Of
April, 1862.
Your petitioners are from the different States OF
the Confederacy-some of them fifty years
cid, others under seventeen years oil age. At the
different periods 0: their enlistment the prospects
of the army of the Confeieiacy Were darkered and
being oyershaduwef by series of lnisbaps. blum
ders and military misadyentures. The
dear to every true and brave Southron was, all
outward appearances, waning, and needed renewed
energies and unmistakable popular manifest atoms
of personal bravery and individual sacrifices
The call for fires troops, increased energies, and
redoubled exerIions was promptly responded TO
by your petitioners, as volunteers in the army of
the Confederate States. AT that critical juncture
of the affairs of the country, Neither your petition
CTS nor the public had any idea of the passage OF
the Conscript Act 1t then believed that il was
the settled policy of the Confederate Government
To rest its sustaining reliance on the uItramnltei
free will and high spirit of the Southern people to
be called forth, organized, and put uts action un.
der their respective State organizations. Your
petitioners could not have anticipated the passage
Of the COnscrpt Act, or the adoption and sanction
of any system of military organization by the Con
fedsrate States Government, which would claim to
rest As basis on the abnegaton of the cherished
principle OF State sovereignty and individual free
dom of will. They, did their States regarded
the cardinal principle of ndiv iual personal liber
~ and unquestioned State sovereignty as the key
note TO the existing revolution.
Unde. impulses of no ordinary character, your
petitioners, in the hour OF their countrys danger
LETT home family, all, 10 fight freemen IN the
my Of reemsR. To preserve sacred their birth
right-indivdGal, personal liberty, under their
spective State Governments-they Were, and are
Low, prepared to sacrifice everything but their
honor and manhood. They believed as they had
every right to believe that the agi eed stdts of the
army would remain on the basis which had been
adopted and sanctioned by the responsive legsia
tion OF the Confederate Government Had that a.
certaned policy and accredited system OF military
organization been sustained aud Carried out, not
che Of your petitioners would have conpiained
Under the conviction that no such charge would
or could be made, your petitioners volunteered
freely and reenlistea willingly. They thus enter
ed into contract with the Confederate States
which they had no right TO suspect would ever be
they were overconfdent. On the 10th day OF
April, 1867, the Conscript Act became a law. The
will of your honorable body, made known in
that Law, BIZ terms too plain to be mistaken. and
TOO imperous to be lightly disregarded annulied
all previous contracts made by volunteers; and by
explicit terms of cofrciUe iesisiGttOn made men
under the age of 50 years and over il years, sold
iers for the until they attained the age of 81
ysars-thus wing as with hooks of STEEL
every male citizen within the prescribed ages with
= few excepted cases) immediately and entirely
from the control Of State action, and placed them
at the disposal Of the President during tie aoar
This law, had it been unqualified and unaceom-
panied by a recprocating return to the body OF
ciety and under the control Of the different States
(thht class then IN the army, represented by your
petitionersD could never have been sanctioned by
the States As a bonus to society, and a concur
rent guarantee to the States, your honorable body
inserted certain qualifications, restrictions and con
ditOns precedent to the main body of the act
They were in the following words
"Prorided, further, That all persons under the
age OF IL years or over the age of 80 years. who
now enrolled in the military service of the Confed
crate States, in the regiments, squadrons battal-
t0ns and companies hereafter to be organized,
shall be required to remain in their respective
p&niss, squadrons, battaiions, and regiments for
ninety days. unless their places shall be sooner sup
Piled ny other recruits, not now In the service who
are between the ages OF IL and IS years. Aud all
laws and parts Of laws providing for the reorgan-
1zaaon OF volunteers aud the organization thereo,
Into companies, squadrons, batta!ions, and regi-
1nsnts, shall be, and the hereby repealed
On the PRONUNCIATION Of the law, with this aualitic-
Eon (witLout which your petitioners aver the law
could never have been passed,) there was but
one construction placed on it in the army and
throughout tie country, 20 far your petitioners
are advised and believe, aud that was that all per
sons over the age of IS years or under Ia wears
who WERE on the date Of the law, "enroIed In the
military service of the Confederate States" shonId
Dc discharged on the lGh day IF July, 1862; and
This without restriction, qualification or paradyen.
tMe. Ihsse sotye the terms ot the lao. They were
plain unoquivOcal and mandatory. Common sense-
universal public opinion, concurring military Don.
nlar and official sentiment, thus understood. ac
cepted and adopted the law. Nor W az it any here
BY any one or under any circumstances otherwise
spoken Of considered or regarded, 20 far AZ your
pefuoneers are advised in out Of the arny until
GENERAL Order. No. 46, resembling General Order No
-, was issued by the Adutant General, under and
~ authority Of the Secretary ut War.
That order took the country and the army by
snrprise 1t foil ~ death knsll upon the assured
expectations OF your petitioners 1t struck the
popular eur with no less ast0nishment 1t disclosed
new, secret, and dangerous spring Of Executive
ana ministerial power, unlocked for AZ it was
novel and periious TO the spirit and genius Of the
Sevoiuti0n inangursted Oh the declared principle OF
stesnA opposition and unyieldng resistance TO TX.
ecutivs Or quasi legislative encroachments on the
chartered rights and constitutional privileges of
~ people. II manifested will to assume power
WHARF n0ne YVES bestowed, or intended to BE- be.
neoWed, and to exercise high retrOsctlng and an
nMlJfue prerOgatiyss where I'LL exercise Of Rxecu.
I'VE will or ministerial discretion was positively
~ dlsttnctly Inhibited II presented q painful
!.efnnee Of plain, palpsbls and dangerous inffac.
10 q ~ constitutional guarantees and vested