Year: 1861

important presented to this body since the passage of the ordinance of secesSion.. It will secure to the State treasury near d million of legitimate means for the purpose of prosecuting the War, and will at the same time be abstracting from the resour- ces of the enemy.

 Mir Adams, of Phillips, regretted the motion of the gentleman from Hampstead, (AIr. Carrigan, and cntreated him to with draw it. This bill proposes to put ill the hands of Arkansas Sl 600, ,000 for pur- poses of self-dcfence. h it is involved more of direct interest to the people of Ar kansas than any measure which has yet en- gagged the attention of this convention. 1t is practical means of obtaining the sinewS of war, without which we are utterly i'm potent for self-defence. We need not stand upon any question of etiquette Northern authorities are already engaged in the con Gscation of our property and northerN men are taking advantage of the existence of war to repudate their debts to southern citi zenS.

 AIr Carrigan withdrew his motion.

 Mir. Mayo favored the rightfulness and policy of contiscation. It is objected that we ought not to inaugurate system of re- taliation War itself is but retaliation and contest as to how much the beligerants can njure each other. The character of the retaliation depends upon the character of the war and as to whether the interest of the belligerant requires it. We did not resort to 1t in the Mexican war, simply be- cause 1t was not our interest to do sO The war of 1872 was a war of commercial su- premacy on the ocean and our business in tercOurse and interest with Great Britain had not become so intimate as to render confiscation upon the land the most efficient means of crippling the enemy. But in the ''~" "f the -H,'"l"finn there was that same commercial vaSSalage to Great Britain which now makes us the commercial de- pendents of the north In the revolution, as in the present war; the commercial re- latlons of the two countries, made conlsca- ton the most efficient weapon of Injury Hence sur revolutionary ancestors, in a contest similar in its aims and objects to that in which we are now involved inangu- rated and pursued . system of conliscation. The only question for us as practical leglS- atros is as to whether conliscation will aid Us in the maintenance of our independence. The legitimacy of it as mode of civilized warfare is settled by the public law of the world and by the example of our country l ill its purest and most heroic age Con | tracts between bclligerants are dissolved or at least suspended during the war stat@s, ant we only propose to avail ourselves Of this dissolution or suspension in cripplns the resources of the enemy. He combattad the legal argument of the gentleman from Clark, (AIr. FIanagan.( Arkansas by the terms of her declaration was sovereign, and competent to do all things which sovereign may Her connection with the Confederate States had not destroyed her nationality and sovereignty

 The motion to lay on the table the mo- ton for recommitment was then taken with this result-ayes l3-noes 40,

 Mir. Cypert proposed as an amendment the suspension of northern indebtedness in stead of their confscation. So far as the power of confiscation is concerned, he de- sired to say that it is incident to and com mcnsurate with the making power. The extent of the power of Arkansas upon the subject is the suspension of payment T." whatever extent confScation is proper or Is recognized, 1t is an attribute and power of the Confederate States and not of Arkan- sas.

 Mr. Smith, while he did not commit himself to the plan of legislation cnuncated in this bi and would reserve to himself the right to express an opinion upon its merits at different stage of the discussion, yet could not see the force of the legal objection raised to it by the gentleman from Clark, { Mr. Flanagan That gentleman $ argument is based upon the assumption that we are member of the Confederate Statcc ".l 4tst ly onr connection with .'.--. 1s,-rrnnent, we have parura me war-making power and all it's incidents.- Both of hi. premises are wrong. We are not vet q member of the confederate gov ernment. We have had no official notice of this fact, if 1t exists. In the next place

 it Is not truc that we have parted absolutely with the warmaking power. The constitu- ton of the old union and of the C Confederate States, both, allow each State to "make war; in case of invasion and in case Of great emergency for self-defence. And even if 1t be true that we are a member of the Confederate States, we have alright to engage in war and are perfectly competent to do all things incident to it. We have already engaged in war even before any declaration of ho ,tities by the government at Montgomery.

 Mr. Johnson. So far as the right of con fiscation is concerned, the debates here have disclosed no material difference of opinion It is conceded to be national right, and a legitimate mode of self defence Nor Is there any nsuperable objection to its policy and expediency. The difference is as to the power which is competent to do this thing; whether it is to be effected by state or federal authority. Gentlemen who advocate the incompetency of this body to confscate the property of alien enemies, assume that Arkansas is an integral part of the south ern confederacy and that she is limited in her action by the conditions of the confed- crate constitution. This Is incorrect and is utterly unfounded, either in fact or in req son. The admission of our delegates into 1 the provisional Congress will not make us 6 1 part of thet 'onfederate States. The cOnstitu- | tion of the Confederate States provides that when 1t has been ratified by five States, it shall become the fundamental law between the States so ratifying It has been rati- fled by the requisite number and is now the organic law of the Confederate States. That instrument further provides how other States may become members of the con- federacy. It declares that new States may be admitted into the union by the consent of two-thirds of both branches of Congress. The very body which is to determine our admission into the confederacy is not yet elected, and will not be for months, He entertained no doubt as to the entire com potency of this body to pass tHis bill The objection founded upon want of power is indelensibe. So far as 1t is practical question for statesmen, it is simply this shall we, as means of self-defence and to meet the monied necessities of our position,