Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1864-01-08
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 6, 1864.
SENATE.


SENATE.
TIE Senate was called TO order by Mr.. Hun.
TER, of Virginia, ard opened with prayer by
the Rev. DR.. Minnc&crode.
On motion or Mr.. JOHNSON. Of Arkausas,
the Military Committee we're directed t. in
quire into tho cxp2iiency IF az acs to rer
.orm the system OF enrolment, and par
ticularly Of M as: 70 liz some limitation
upon the class 0f 7ers1l;s or c!icers, villa
may be Gp?oiatal or assigned TO posi-
tions Of enrolling eff GERS, and to pirsc7ic
by whom TO bc selected or assigned; and %
limit the length Of time during which every
such officer shall be allowed TO serve over car
and the same district, county CT bCa!, aud IL
establish some rule Or regulation by ,9hiciI Gn
inspector OF enrolling districts may be ar-
pointed fnr separate States or sections. and
regulations by which such enrolling officer
SHALL be restricted in the number Of i,,"n
placed Oh th";r provost guard. Adopted.
MIR. CLARK, Of Missouri, called the attention.
Of the Military Committee to the fact that {,
communication in this mornings "EnIlirer"
asserted that number Of citizcns Of Missouri
had claimed exemption es citizens Gi Nlnry-
land, Which had heen allowed. He desired
the framing of o. bill to prevent such frauds
in future-Ona that would reach the puTpctra
toys OF the frauds spoken oi.
Mr.. SPARROW said that the bill now bci0rc
the Military Committee lthe si'eciul order OF
the day. would remndy the OWLS sought 10 be
redressod by Mr.. JouNsoN's resolution Of in
curry relat:vcto provost guards. II was un-
der;toOd that the bill alluded 70 gould b."
transferred to the secret Calendar
Mr.. PHELAH, Of mississippi, Introduced q
bill to suspend the writ of Mljeas corpus in
a,l cases invoicing the right Of tho govern
Inent to requ re military service from all per-
sons who have furnished substitutes in |! c
army Of the Confederate States.
On motion of Mr.. BURNETT thc b:ll was
transferred to tho secret Calendar.
The Senate, OF ulotioD, tncn went into Sc
crot session, and continued so till near 4
o'clock.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
The House met at IL o'clock. nnt was
opened with prayer By the Rev. Dr.. Read, Of
the Presbyterian Church.
The Dll in relation to exemptions, reported
from tho Committee on Military A;iairs on
Monday, being the fret business in c!dcr, It
was taken up.
Mr.. MtlEs, Of g. G., moved 10 make q vcr-
bal amendment so as 70 cause tie LII to Gp-
ply, without ambiguity, to persons liable To
military service He then explained the par
y ses ard scape Of tie bill. His position
upon the sui ,ject bad, j. was due 70 kim-cf ~
state, been misunderstood. lis set'!iuants
expressed here, Gnrrns the lsst sass'nn - vel!
ns ino pr1scus. wrud certainly sh1w that he
was not of rhat cxir ams I'D radical "pn;.',.
watch would ,iae:. eTarytsid; il The s@rY;ee
He he'd aiwaIs esid that nothing VS. more
wild than the IDEA Of. putting "Tery man into
the army who could s'aggar under musket,
ar;, especially when it was admitted that we
couli scarceiy feed, ci0tha and arm those wr
now had in ;he tield and ne thought it was
misunderstanding Of the aanpc nr the bill to
assume that its effect would be the levy en-
masse. It vested the head Q: the War Depart
ment-who, it was to be supposed haing con
s:antly and thoroughly informed ot the0 e0ncra
tiona, the necessities. and the condition Of the
army and the country, could hcst dctcrn nc
granting details for all purpt seq ncccrsar" 3"
the good Of the common cause. Tho object
was not IL PUT All end to mining, and ;illins
aud making cannon, and NIL the Y&;itus en,
ploymen!s recognized as essential to ti.c;nter
cpts Of the country. In var Of Ihia charaa-
ter. when we did not know ta what length il
would be protracted, |e saGaIi not suddenly
hurl men into the field withou5 being able to
cothc and feed them, or put muskcs aud ball
into their hands; and nothing in this bill
looked forward TO such IN event. The oijcct
of. the bill was to correct errors, so al.
Ing that the suhiect Of exemptions was
Brought before Congress at every session irr
revision. This bill was not the schcne Of n
committee, nor Of an iniividual, nor of this
House; but ii was produced by the overwtelm-
ing sentiment of the army ard the country,
which continually brought TO our attention the
grnsscst abuecs TO the existing exemption law,
and wrich we could not disregard There
vas rot member of this Congress who did
not know now of many drunes and ab'e bodied
men q. hcme who h:si escaped by creep
ing through lrop-holes furnished h7 the pres.
INT exemption bill This la;S the existing
law) provides for exemptions by catalognc-
There were tanners and nillers aud 80 forth.
ANA The result was that brond Of egch clnsa
was produced, the growth of their respective
caliirga was stimulated, the wants Of tn
country were not met; but ner were induced,
by the soecial privilege CT an exemption, to
create these avocaiOns, a"d thus swell their
numbers and escape the army. There were
actually more millers now in existence than
would ne necessary to gupply ;la next gene.
ration. Every man who could Gig Il hole AM
put in couple Of hidcs Gallo! himself tan
lcr; and men who had auppiicd themselves
with 4 little hani-turning rSird,.oue claimed
exemptions as millcrs; and while many cf our
men in the army were shoslsss to-day, there
were o great many who called themselves
shoemakers, comfortably clothed anil at home,
who did no. make. two pair Of shoes a month.
But there were as great abuses in other things.
This thing of exemptions has been tried again
and again, and each tims Is had proven sig
nal failure. No member could deny that, at
every session of Congress-. the exemption
Jaws of the preceding one was failure.
Mr. DusRx, of La, inquired if the best