The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union And Confederate Armies. Series 4, Volume 3. Page: 67
viii, 1245 p. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this book.
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CONFEDERATE AUTHORITIES.
and will report to Col. John S. Preston, chief of the Bureau of Con-
scription, in this city.
By command of the Secretary of War:
JNO. WITHERS,
Assistant Adjutant- General.
FEBRUARY 3, 1864.
THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE CONFEDERATE
STATES:
The present state of the Confederacy, in my judgment, requires
that I should call your attention to a condition of things existing in the
country which has already been productive of serious evil, and which
threatens still graver consequences unless an adequate remedy shall
be speedily applied by the legislation of Congress. It has been our
cherished hope-and hitherto justified by the generous self-devotion
of our citizens-that when the great struggle in which we are engaged
was passed we might exhibit to the world the proud spectacle of a
people unanimous in the assertions and defense of their rights and
achieving their liberty and independence after the bloodiest war of
modern times without the necessity of a single sacrifice of civil right
to military necessity. But it can no longer be doubted that the zeal
with which the people sprung to arms at the beginning of the contest
has, in some parts of the Confederacy, been impaired by the long con-
tinuance and magnitude of the struggle.
While brigade after brigade of our brave soldiers who have endured
the trials of the camp and battle-field are testifying their spirit and
patriotism by voluntary re-enlistment for the war, discontent, disaf-
fection, and disloyalty are manifested among those who, through the
sacrifices of others, have enjoyed quiet and safety at home. Public
meetings have been held, in some of which treasonable designs are
masked by a pretended devotion to State sovereignty, and in others
is openly avowed. Conventions are advocated with the pretended
object of redressing grievances, which, if they existed, could as well
be remedied by ordinary legislative action, but with the real design
of accomplishing treason under the form of law. To this end a strong
suspicion is entertained that secret leagues and associations are being
formed. In certain localities men of no mean position do not hesitate
to avow their disloyalty and hostility to our cause, and their advocacy
of peace on the terms of submission to the abolition of slavery. In
districts overrun by the enemy or liable to their encroachments, citi-
zens of well-known disloyalty are holding frequent communication
with them, and furnishing valuable information to our injury, even to
the frustration of important military movements. And yet must they,
through too strict regard to the technicalities of the law, be permitted
to go at large till they have perfected their treason by the commission
of an overt act ? After the commission of the act the evidence is often
unattainable, because within the enemy's lines. Again and again
such persons have been arrested, and as often they have been dis-
charged by the civil authorities, because the Government could not
procure the testimony from within the lines of the enemy. On one
occasion, when a party of officers were laying a torpedo in James
River, persons on shore were detected communicating with the enemy,
and were known to pilot them to a convenient point for observing the
nature of the service in which the party were engaged. They were67
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The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union And Confederate Armies. Additions and Corrections to Series 4, Volume 3. (Pamphlet)
Errata sheets for the Records of the War of the Rebellion include additions and corrections to the text and the index for Series 4, Volume 3.
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United States. War Department. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union And Confederate Armies. Series 4, Volume 3., book, 1900; Washington D.C.. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth139262/m1/76/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.