OR. Jr7?B4 
 
 Duke University Libraries 
 
 (t-ommunication 
 Conf Pam #414 
 
\ ncOw^ fir: f- 
 
 MESSAGE OF THE PRESIDENT. 
 
 Richmond, Va., Dec, 16, 1863. 
 
 To the House of Representatives : 
 
 In response to your resolution of the 1 0th instant, I herewith 
 transmit, for your information, a communication from the Secretary 
 of War relative to the exempti(Ui of mail contractors " under the Act 
 of April 14, 1863," and to the action of the Department upon the 
 subject. 
 
 JEFFERSON DAVIS. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2010 with funding from 
 Duke University Libraries 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/communicationfro28conf 
 
COMMUNICATION FROM SECRETARY OF WAR. 
 
 Confederate States of America, ^ 
 
 War Department. \ 
 
 Richmond, Va., Dec.^14; lt63. ) 
 
 To the President of the Confederate Statea : ' 
 
 TiR : The resolution of the House of Representatives of the Con- 
 gress of the Confederate Sta'e?, inquiring whether contractors for 
 carrying the mails of the Confederate States exempt from the per- 
 formance of military duty in the armies of the Confederate Stato.'* 
 under the act of April 14, 18G3, have been retained in the army and 
 held subject to the performance of military duty since the passage of 
 said act, and if so, upon what ground the same is done, has been 
 referred by you to this Department for reply. 
 
 , In reply 1 have to say, that the consciiption act of April 16, 18^2, 
 is the foundation of the legislation ot Congress on the subject of 
 providing for the further defence of the Confederate States. Jt de- 
 clares as its cause or moliv'e, '■^ the exigencies if the cuxin ry, and the 
 ABSOLUTE necessity o^ keeping i^ the strvice our G.ALEA^T armv, and of 
 placing in the field a huge adiitional force to jieet the advancing 
 columns of the enemy novf invading t.ursoil''^ It enacted "that all 
 persons between the'ages of eighteen and thirty-five who are now in 
 the armies of the Confederacy, whose term of service will expire be- 
 fore the end of the war, ehall be cnntinwA in the service for three 
 years from the date of their original eidistment, unless the war shall 
 have sooner ended." It furtlier enacted *' that the President might 
 call out and place in the service for three y<-ars, unless the war bhoU 
 have sooner ended, all persons between the ages of eighteen and 
 thirty-five years at the tiuao the call or calls may be made, who are 
 not legally exempted from military eervice." The only pers('ns vho 
 were exempted from military sorvice were those designated in the aco 
 of Congress of the 21st of April, 1 802, and comprised such persons 
 as are usually exempt from militia duty, with a few additions. 
 
 The " exigencies of the service," and '-the necessity for keeping 
 our gallant army in the field," and for the addition of reinforcements, 
 were greatly increased by the events of the campaign in the spring, 
 summer, and early part of the autumn of 1862. 
 
 The battles before and around Richmond, on the Potomac, and in 
 Maryland, had diminished the strength of the artny of Virginia; 
 New Orleans and Memphis had caf)itulated ; western Tennessee, 
 northern Mississippi, and northern Alabama were possessed by the 
 
enemy, an*! the United Stales ha<l called for an increase to their army 
 mort* than half a million of mon, and the preliminary proclamation 
 of a pfneral emancipation of the slave population of the Confederacy 
 by tl»e IVe-idcnt of the United Stntes had heen made, at the time when 
 the Coiiffdi-rntc Congress were re«jiiircd to make farther provision for 
 th«' ' e. On the 27th Soptemher, I8G2. under the <lictate 
 
 of I .. the l're}«idcnt was authorized hy Congretis to call 
 
 out and place in the nulitary service persons between thirty-five and 
 forty-five years of ape, who at the date of his call were not legally 
 exempted from military service; and the President, "durinc; the present 
 tcvir," was then vested wuh tlu* same authority "as to all persons who 
 then were or who might attain the age «>f eighteen years;" and "when 
 enrolled all jMr,ons hetween the a;;efl of eiglitpon and forty five were 
 requir<Ml to hcrAe their full term;'* and ( ongress fiuther piovidf^rl that 
 nothing contained in their enactment ** shall he under:Uood as r •peal- 
 ing or uiodifving any part of the act of the Kith April. 1SG2 '' The 
 act of the l.'.ilt nct«»l»er, I.SG2, v>!is passed to designate the persons 
 who wt! 'xcmpted from military service tinder the presidential 
 
 calls. J :s have heen construed by this Department as parts 
 
 of the eamo system, and with tlio oV»ject to give full effect to every 
 portion, according to the intention of Congress. It is clear that this 
 oxemption act was not intended to discharge from any part of tho 
 array tho nieiubcrs beK)n;jing to it at its date. That portion of the 
 army which had enlisted for the war remained in the service under 
 their contract, to answer the exigencies cf tho service, and that whoso 
 terra of service was about to expire w.is continual in the service by the 
 coni«cription act of April, 1802, umler an inexorable " absolute ne- 
 cessity.*' It is also clear that it did not apply to such as had been 
 legally enrolleil for service, "for they Avere rc(juircd by tho conscrip- 
 tion act of ^September, I8G2, to servo their full term." The persons 
 who were to bo exempted were those who at the»date of the call, or 
 who were claimed for enrollment, wero not in the army, and who be- 
 longe<l to the class of exempts as designated by the act of exouiption. 
 This construction was adoptetl by the Department, after mnturo con- 
 sideration of the various enactments, and has been applied in its 
 ordinary administration, and in the opinion of the Department this 
 coni-iructiou is demanded by their language and the motives which 
 induced Congress to adopt them to provide for tho puldic defence. 
 
 The actof Congress of .\pril II, I8G3, relative to mail contractors, 
 is an exemption act. The title of the act is similar to that of Octo- 
 ber 13, I8G2. the one being "an act to exempt certain persons from 
 military duty ;" tho other being " an act to exempt contractors for 
 carrying the mails of the Confederate States, and the drivers of post 
 coaclijs and hacks, from military service." This Dcpariment has not 
 i^«ipi<osed thai the act last meiitionetl was designed to draw any portion 
 of the gallant army from the field, in tho face ol tiie declaration that 
 ti ero was "an absolute necessity for its continued employment to 
 resl^t the invader," in order to carry the mail on routes of ton miles 
 in length, on horse, or to firive post coaches or hacks. 
 
 The act of April 14, before mentioned, has been regarded as form- 
 
ing a part of the act of October relative to exemptions, and to be 
 applied to all sucli persons as were not enlisted or enrolled in the mili- 
 tary service previously to its adoption. The Bureau of Conscription, 
 under instructions from the Department, has determined •' that the 
 cause of excnif^ion should exist at the time that military service is 
 claimed. If a person otiiorwise subject to consciiption before or at 
 the time of enrollment, claims exemption by reason of being such a 
 mail contractor as is mentioned in the act, exemf)tion must not bo 
 refused, even though th<'> cor.tract was obtained since the p:issage of 
 the act. If the contract is obtained subsequent to the enrollment, the 
 party virtually bee- mes a member of the army, and a release from 
 service is of the nature of a discharge from the army, which is not 
 contemplated in the act of Congress." 
 
 It is proper to state that one or more of the judges of the district 
 courts of the Confederate States, and one or more of the judges of 
 state circuit courts, have decided that the acts of excn-'ption of Oc- 
 tober and April authorized discharges from the army ; and under the 
 act of April, one of these Judges gi anted ilischarges to three members 
 of the same company who had taken mail contracts for one mill, one 
 cent, and ten cents, respectively. The advertisements of the Post 
 Office Department have represented the exemption from military ser- 
 vice (including a discharge from the army, if enlisted.) as a part of 
 the benefit to be obtained by a contract for carrying the mail. The 
 result has been that a competition among officers and men has, to 
 some extent, been produced, to obtain such contracts, at nominal 
 prices, by which they might abandon the flag of the Confederacy in 
 the hour of its extreme peril, to carry the mail in obscure districts 
 and upon unimportant routes. 
 
 Such consecjuences seem to be too serious to permit the Department 
 to hesitate in the performance of its duty. 
 
 It could not regard the opinion of one or of more of the judges of 
 these inferior tribunals as final and authoritative expositions of the 
 statute. 
 
 These statutes are especially of an administrative character, and are 
 particularly addressed to ihe Executive Department for its guidance. 
 The Department has constantly to determine upon the signification of 
 the terms, and to ascertain the intention of Congress. Its opinion on 
 the act of October was fully known, and has been generally acquiesced 
 in, and particularly so by Congress itself. 
 
 While, therefore, the Department respects the decisions of the courts 
 as final in the case before it, it does not look to the opinions of the 
 judges of the inferior courts as furnishing the rule of interpretation 
 they must bear in the action of the Department, 
 
 The Department has not int^^rfered with any of the soldiers who 
 have been fairly discharged by judicial authority under the construe 
 tion that the act is applicable to the aimy, and has not discharged 
 any other soldier from the army who may have obtained mail contracts, 
 in deference to the judicial opinion contained in such judgments. The 
 Department is confirmed in the accuracy of its opinion, by consider- 
 ing the terms of the only act of Congress which has authorized it to 
 
give diBchnrges from the anny. This act i" entitled •* An Act to 
 authorize tlje discharge of certain civil ofhcers from the military ser- 
 vice of the Confcderat'* States," passed 2d Ap:il, ..SG3. It provides 
 that if any officer or soiilier hJiall he elected or appointed to certain 
 offices name<l, upon furnishiii^r the Secretary of War jkiih evidence of 
 such election or appointment, if an officer, his resignation shall be 
 accepted, and if a non-coinmipsioned officer or private ho shall be 
 honorably discharged by the Secretary of War. The lilstinction made 
 between acts of exetn|)tion aiid acts for the discharge of officers and 
 soldiers from the army, is pl.iinly inunitested by loujparing the statutes 
 before referred to, and seems to have been fully appreciated by Con- 
 gress. 
 
 Reppcctfullv submitted. 
 
 JAMES A. SEDDON. 
 
 Secretary of If'cr. 
 
pH 8.5