Washington telegraph., 1863-01-28


our pride of Judgment. We are only anxious
that our views should be fairly before our read
ers, to be by them weighed; and adopted or
| rejected. We are satisfied if free inquiry may
be stimulated, and all improper influences re-
moved which might bias the judgment. 1t
must be something of more than common i'm
portance, which would call us back to the Sc
rious discussion, by way of controversy or 9th
erwise, of any topic which we have once seri-
ously considered.
The subject of the Consumption and Ex-
emp ton Acts taken together, is one of that ma
| ture Much evil has already arisen from pub
| lie misapprehension of their spirit and de-
sign, and this evil is alarmingly on the increase
The practical working of these acts, too, have
disappointed the hopes and just expectations
of their authors, and whilst the justice of their
abstract policy i. the same the temper of the
times seems to demand their abolition or
| amendment. We there fore return to it again
with deep and solemn feeling of its impor
tance-and, in the name of our country, ask
an earnest and fair consideration of what we
have further to say
Every one owes this much as an act Of ms
tee 20 the President and Congress which pas.
ed these acts If We doubt their patriotism
and devotion to the common cause. we have
nothing left to trust. If, in the very crisis
OF our fate, we fall to depouncing our rulers
whom we ourselves have chosen, we commit
double error. We not only commit inius
tee by impugning their motives, but we en-
danger our cause, for the purpose of gratifying
the nltural propensity o railing at, and Gov
ering with bitter reproac hes those whose hest
directed efforts haved failed to produce all the
good results which each man hoped for himself.
Who is there that can say that had he stood
IN the position of the President, or either of
the Senators or Representatives. he would not
have supported these acts? 1t is easy. bv the
hight OF subsequent events, to see how this or
that popular miseonception might have been
voided, or how this or that odium might have
been escaped We must confess, however, that
we have but little respect for the class of law
makers whose minds are intent upon sucb
things. Neither the oath of office, nor the
high responsibility of our rulers, justify them
in looking beyond their convictions of the ne
cessities of the country and the measures best
calculated to meet them, be the same popular
or odiOus.
The COuscript law is admitted to have been
necessity. But for the original Conscript
Act our armies would have been dissolved
away, at time when the enemy was strongest.
and they would have acquired foothold in
the South which would have required decade
Of years on our part to recover. They were
again oubling their efforts, and collecting
all their energies for an overwhelming effort
Lincoln had called out his six hundred thons
and 1t was thought the call would be filled
Subsequent developments have shown that their
strength was not so terrible, but at that time,
no one doubted the necessity of the extension
Of the law to a larger class.
1t became necessary to consider Exemptions
All could not 90 10 the field What the
most pressing considerations in determining
upon those who should be left? Let it not be
forgotten that the last exemption law was pass
ed Just at the time when the infamous procla-
IN alton of Lincoln, openly avowed to the world
that in order to subjugate the South, he meant
to adopt as military necessity, the measure
of exciting on 7 slaves to Instruction, by hopes
his armies. 1t was the gran consideration to
counterfeit this. How? By the most obvious,
aEd indeed the only possible means. By keel
ing home police to preserve order amongst
arises from the plantation discipline. They
are easily controlled by their owners their
accu stoned overs GERS. There is no other pos
sible way. Any amount of patrol would be
wholly ineffective for the service.
If We reason soberly. we will be convinced
that it was wise to detail, Tor what is the same
thing.) leave at home for the purpose, the
most efficient police for the slaves. That was
done by regarding in the first place, the regu-
lations made by each State, pposing 1t best
acquainted with its own domestic necessities,
and for those States which had not felt the
necessity of such regulations, 10 require or
permit one person to remain either as owner,
agent, or Overseer IN each plantation OF twenty
negroes The wisdom of thi will stand every
test of reason. That it does not meet with
hearty response in public sentiment arises, we
are certain, from want of reflection on the
part of the conscripts not exempted, and from
in fuences brought to bear, which tie members
of Congress and the Pres ident, could not have
contemplated, without doing injustice before
hand to the patriotic temper of the Southern
people
For they could not foresee that the natural
reluctance Of a portion of the Community to
leave their homes; and the disposition Of some
others to evade their share of dangers and
hardships, would tempt them to compare their
lot with those who were required to remain at
home for the public good, and to fall out with
their rulers on that account. Still less had
they the right to anticipate that this discomfort
would, IN some quarters, be fomented and ag-
gravated to open rebellion against the South,
and cooperation with our enemy; by the fatal
lnfatuatlon that the exemption law meant, or
was calculated 10 ere lte distinctions batwaer
the poor and rich.