Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1862-04-16
MILITARY CONSUMPTION.


The following able article we clip from the Macon
(Ga.) Telegraph, furnished by o correspondent pf
that paper. It is worthy of perusal:
-"As the President has recommended to Congress
the repeal of the military laws now exis ing, and
the substitution therefor of transcription laws,
it is proper that the subject should be thoroughly
ventilated before the people, that they may under
stand what "Conscription" is, and its effects upon
themselves Individually, and upon the character OF
the government they have adopted for themselves.
It will also be in place to examine the necessity tor
such laws
: CONSUMPTION, as the term implies, is an enroll
ment or registering of persons, and is the plan
adopted by France, and by some other nations Tor
recruiting their armies 1t is compulsory military
service and one of tho most tremendous engines of
military despotism. It was known to the Romans;
but its revival in modern days may be dated from
the year 1898, when it was made general law IN
France By law of the Directory all Frenchmen
are pronounced soldiers, and liable to be sum-
moned to the defence of the country; but in ordi-
nary circumstances recruiting for the army Is sup
-plied by CONSUMPTION. The age within which con-
scripts are drawn is from twenty to twenty-five, and
the period of service seven years. The country Is
divided INTO departments, and when recruits are
wanted, the Legislature, at the suggestion OF the
Executive determines the number OF conscr'pts re-
CURED and each department has to furnish us quo
ia according to its population. Recruiting omcers
are sent into the departments; the enrolled are SUD-
iect to draft by lot and the unfortunate victims are
dragged to the camp. The laws Of France are Sc
we're in the matter, enforcing the conscription with
rgor; treating the drawn as deserters and liable to
the penalty of death if absent over certain num-
Der of days after the drawing; holding parents re-
sponsble for their children, and denouncing every
one who nte,fercs with the operation OF the law,
Furnishing all such with fines, Imprisonment, anu IN
some cases death.
As has been remarked of it, 1.-THE system OF
CONSUMPTION is no Goubt, simple and ready means
for obtaining the requisite number of soldiers and
so would system of confscation be ready means
for obtaining funds for carrying on war; In tact.
the CONSUMPTION is system OF confiscation; 1t tails
with peculiar hardship upon the poor and upon
those Of slender fortunes who cannot afford readily
to furnish substitutes.) When dragged from their
peaceful pursuits their prospects IN life are often
ruined and whether they sacrifice their domestic
happiness and join the ranks, or ransom themselves
at the expense Of their small property, they are
equally despoilcd of their most valued possessions
+ And what adds to the malignity Of the
system is the fact that the conscrpts are taken at
time Of life when, they are beginning to settle
down into those habits of industry and enterprise
which form the useful and respectable citizen; hab-
its which can scarcely be acquired after years Of
rowing restless excitement in camp and warfare"
Such is CONSUMPTION, and well termed tremen
dous engine Of military despotism. Ii is in truth,
the devils own invention for the subsection of lib
erty |, was used for that purpose in ancient Rome,
and WAS introduced into France and has been re-
tanned there to the present day with the same OBJ
ject Shall such system be introduced among us
under mistaken notion of its necessity, to be
welded sooner OF later inevitably, to the destruc-
ton of our liberties?
Circumstanccd rs we now are itjs imperative for
all those who Can beauAprms to rally around their
country's standard when called to do SO; and are
not the present laws adequate to the emergency ?
Or is it necessary to substitute an organized system
| of cOmpusion to force men into the ranks? AT
present the President can call upon the Governors
Of the States for the quota from each State to make
! up the whole number Of the troops required; and
| he may call Tor either volunteers or militia The
Governors, acting in their sovereign capacities as
| Commanders in Chief Of the military forces of their
! respective S,ates-the rock upon which the sover
eighty and the rights Ct the States depend-desl
with their people themselves. and while complying
with the acquisitions OF the President to enable hun
; to do what the States in common have entrusted
him. as their agent to do for ihem at the same time
can hold him. their agent in check within the Inn.
its of his authorized powers This is the theory Of
| tho old United States Constitution, which we
brought away with us from that connection. On
this theory Georgia has, in this revolution, been
| called upon by tho President to furnish some thirty
odd regiments, and appeal to the State at large to
say is there has been the least delay hesitation
in responding promptly to the calls Indeed may
not say that our regiments sprang into the field,
Ike Minerva from the brain of Jupiter, and fully
! armed? Has this system failed, then, in theory or
practice? In this State it most assurcdly has not;
and We have the right to assume the same of all the
! other States.
To this provision for troops we must add another,
, giving the President further facilities; and herein
| lies his complaint of embarrassment from conflict
between State and Confederate legislation" Here
| is the cause of this appeal now made for change,
| and hence our apprehens!OnS from CONSUMPTION.
On the 18th Of May, 1861, that Irish Parlia-
ment" the Provisional Congress, like its prototype
that voted away the independence Of Ireland, pass
ed an act that the President be authorized receive
into service such forces "as may tender themselves,
ana as he may require, without the delay of a for
NAL call upon the respective States, to serve for
such time as he may prescribe" and this too in the
face of the Constitution and Of the debates upon
the Constitution BY its trainers, in which this very
! mower was discussed and decided against
Was this act due to ignorance or to criminal per-
sonal ambition, whose elevation was sought at the
expense of constitutional restrictions? Hardly to
ignorance, for facts do not justify the plausible be
cause untruthuD use of words "delay of formal
call upon the Respective States" Who is there in
this State who does not know that within two weeks
after the call upon the Governor, his Regiments
were always ON the field, equipped and armed :;
while those termed "independsnt" and rendered
under this act Of May llth 1861, were in no case
ready under six weekS-in some cases not under
three months-and in some never grew into Reg-
ments but dumped down to Battalions All! my
country men, facts are STUBBORN truths, and every
man should hold to strict accountability each repre-
sentative from Georgia who sustained that first sub
tie step towards military despotsn, the destruction
of State rights and consolidation of power in the
Confederate Government. Taught by history,
measure the future of States by those that have
been; and knowing, the Unsuitable ambitions and
s.6shness of human nature, | mark the insidious
step to power, crumoing away rights and liberties
peaceneal, under the plea of necessity until at last
only the shadow of freedom is left to the deluded
masses. "Confict of lesisation!' By what right
does the Confederate Government speak of con-
fict of legislation? Where the Constitution has
given it GIFTS the States must be silent; where it
J has no rights, it must not complain Of conflict.
Embarrassnents from legslatonl'. By whom
were these embarTassments made, but by the Con-
tederate Government itself in tho usurpation of an