SPECIAL MESSAGE 
 
 OF 
 
 HIS EXCELLENCY JOSEPH E. BROWN, 
 
 TO THE LEGISLATURE, 
 
 UPON THE SUBJECTS OF 
 
 CONSCRIPTION, MARTIAL LAW, HABEAS CORPIS I 
 
 AND THE 
 
 IMPRESSMENT OF PRIVATE PROPERTY 
 
 BY CONFEDERATE OFFICERS, 
 
 NOVEMBER 6th, 18G2 
 
 BOUQHTON, NISBET & BARNES. State Printkr* 
 
 MILLEDOEVILLE, QA. 
 1862. 
 
 I 
 
f 
 
 George Washington Flowers 
 Memorial Collection 
 
 DUKE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 
 ESTABLISHED BY THE 
 FAMILY OF 
 
 COLONEL FLOWERS 
 
SPECIAL MESSAGE 
 
 OF 
 
 HIS EXCELLENCY JOSEPH E. BROWN, 
 
 TO THE LEGISLATURE, 
 
 UPON TOE SUBJECTS OF 
 
 CONSCRIPTION, MARTIAL LAW, HABEAS CORPUS 
 
 AND THE 
 
 IMPRESSMENT OF PRIVATE PROPERTY 
 
 BY CONFEDERATE OFFICERS, 
 
 NOVEMBER 6th, 18 62. 
 
 iiK' 
 
 <6^'^g^a'=i>rox 
 
 BOUGHTON, NISBET & BARNES, State Printkrs ^ 
 
 MILLEDOEVILLE, GA. 
 
 , 1862. 
 
Digitized by tine Internet Archive 
 in 2010 witii funding from 
 Duke University Libraries 
 
 
 li 
 
 • 
 
 littp://www.archive.org/details/specialmessageofOOgeor 
 
TOE FLOWERS CCLLlCTlOJi 
 
 SPECIAL MESSAGE. 
 
 Executive Department, i 
 
 MiLLEDGEViLLE, November 6th, 1862. ) 
 
 To the Senate and 
 
 House of Representatives : 
 
 The great struggle for liberty and independence in which 
 we have been engaged during the past year, against a pow- 
 erful and relentless enemy, has called not only for the exer- 
 cise of the united energies of our whole people, but for the 
 most costly sacrifices of blood and treasure. When we 
 look at the material of which the armies of the contending 
 parties are composed, we can but exclaim, how unequal 
 the contest ! In the armies of the South are found tier no- 
 blest and best sons, whose valor upon the battle field has 
 been unsurpassed, and w'hosc blood in abundant profusion 
 has been poured out, a rich sacrifice upon the altar of lib- 
 erty. The Northern armies, on the conti'ary, have been 
 .composed, in a great degree, of imported foreigners and 
 paupers, and of the worst classes of Northern society, who 
 have served as mercenaries, and whose destruction, in many 
 instances, has been rather a relief than a misfortune to so- 
 ciety. Kilt the contrast does not stop here. The motives 
 which prompt the people of the two sections to protract the 
 war, are as difTercnt as tlie material of which the two ar- 
 mies are composed, is unlike. The people of the North are 
 fighting for power and plunder, the people of the South for 
 the liberty and independence of themselves and their posteri- 
 ty. Our enemies have it in their power to stop the war when- 
 ever they arQ content to do justice and let us alone. We 
 can never stop fighting while they continue to attempt our 
 subjugation, but must prosecute the war with vigor, if 
 necessary, to the expenditure of the last dollar and the dt^ 
 struction of the last man. If we are subjugated, let it be 
 only when we are exterminated. We were born free ; and 
 though it be upon the battle field, we should die free. 
 
This I believe to be the unanimous sentiment of the peo- 
 ple of Georgia who have, on this question, laid aside all 
 party divisions and differences ; and have, from the com- 
 mencement of the struggle, promptly discharged their 
 whole duty to the cause, and to their brethren of the other 
 Confederate States. Not a requisition has been made upon 
 Georgia by the President of the Confederacy ior assistance 
 which has not been met without delay ; and in every case 
 of requisition on the State for troops,, more men have been 
 tendered than were required. 
 
 In the face of this proud record, no plea of necessity could 
 be set up, so far as Georgia was concerned, (and I believe 
 the remark will apply generally to all the States,) for the 
 passage of any act by Congress to raise troops, whigh either 
 infringed her constitutional rights or disregarded her sover- 
 eignty. The Act of Congress of IGth April last, usually 
 known as the Conscription Act, in my opinion, does both ; 
 and is not only a palpable violation of the Constitution of 
 the Confederacy, but a dangerous assault upon both the 
 rights and the sovereignty of the States. Who supposed, 
 w^hen we entered into this revolution for the defense of 
 State Rights against Federal aggression, that, in a little over 
 one year, the persons of the free-born citizens of the re- 
 spective States would be regarded and claimed, while at 
 home in pursuit of their ordinary avocations, as the vassals 
 of the central power, to be like chattels, ordered and dis- 
 posed of at pleasure, without the consent, and even over 
 the protest of the States to which they belong; and that 
 be who raised his voice against such usurpation would be 
 denounced by the minions of power as [untrue to the cause 
 so dear to every patriotic Southern heaitV And who that 
 has noticed the workings of the conscription policy, will 
 say that this picture is overdrawn? Not only the rights 
 and the sovereignty of the States have* been disregarded, 
 but the individual rights of the citizen have been trampled 
 under foot, and we have by this policy been reduced, for a 
 time at least, to a state bordering upon n;ilitary despotism. 
 
 This extraordinary act has been defended, huwj^ver, by two 
 classes of individuals, upon two distinct ground's. The first 
 class admit its unconstitutionality, but justify its passage 
 upon the plea of necessity, and say tliat without it the 
 twelve months volunteers could not have been kept in the 
 field in a time of great (Emergency ; and further, that the 
 Constitution is a rae-re rope of sand in the midst of nivolu- 
 tion. The second class justifies it on the ground that Con- 
 gress had the right under the Constitution to pass it. Is^ 
 either correct? 
 
 To the first, it may be replied that the plea of necessity 
 cannot be set up, till it can be shown tjiat the States when 
 called on had neglected or refused to fill the requisitions 
 
made iijwn them for troops by the President. Again, in 
 reference to the twelve months troops, it should be remem- 
 bered that the Government only called on. them to volun- 
 teer for that period before they left their homes, and that 
 the contract clearly implied between them and the Govern- 
 ment, was that they should faithfully serve it, and do all 
 their duty as soldiers for that period, and that they siiould 
 have all the rights of soldiers, with the legal pay and al- 
 lowances, and should in good faith be discharged and per- 
 mitted to return home at the end of that time. The Gov- 
 ernment Cannot, therefore, be justifiable in violating its 
 contract, and acting in bad faith towards, them, no matter 
 hovvr great the emergency niay,havc been, ilfiess it can be 
 shewn that the Government, by thej|f'xercise of due fore- 
 sight and energy, could not have supplied their places in 
 time to meet the emergency. The tact that they were 
 twelve months men was well knotea' to the Government 
 from the time they entered the service. Why then were 
 n«t requisitions made upon the States for eno(ifl;fi of troops 
 to fdl their places a sufficient time before the'^piration of 
 their term, to have men in sufficient nuui^jers ready for ser- 
 vice? But admit that the GovernmcnMi*d nejjlectcd this 
 plain duty till it was now too late to get the men from the 
 States in time to meet th^* crisis, and that it had on that ac- 
 count become necessary for it to violate its contract with 
 the twelve months men, to save thecouse from rnin; was it 
 then necessary to pass a general Con«cription Act to ac- 
 complish this purpose? Could it not have been done by 
 simply passing an act compelling all twelve months men, 
 of every age, to remain in service for ninety days, fws all un- 
 der 18 and over 35, though not conscripts, were compelled 
 to do? This would have g^ren the Government three 
 months more of time to provide against the consequences 
 of its former nej*<<ect, and raise the necessary force, and 
 would have left the troops, in the meantime, under the com- 
 mand of the officers appointed by the States, as provided by 
 the Constitution. The emergency would thus have been 
 met, more of justice be^n done even to the twelve months 
 volunteers, and no dangerous precedent at War with the 
 constitutional rights of the citizen and the sovereignty of 
 the States would have been established. It must also be 
 recollected while upon this part of the subject, that the 
 act, by its plain letter, deprived the troops who had volun- 
 teered for the war, in response to calls made by the States 
 to fill requisitions made upon them, of the right to elect 
 their officers, when so authorized by the laws of their re- 
 spective States, and have them commissioned by their State 
 authorities ; and that it established a system of promotion 
 of officers in violation of this right of the troops, and au- 
 thorized the President to issue the commissions. What 
 
 Pu''^A^^>r 
 
pressing necessity existed to justify this act of palpable in- 
 justice to tlie State volunteers, who had entered the Con- 
 federate service at the calls of their respective States for 
 the war, with the constitutional guaranty that their officers 
 should be appointed by the States, and with the further 
 guaranty from the States, as in this State, that they should 
 have the right to elect those who were to command them ? 
 But it is said by the first class of advocates of conscription, 
 tha,t the Constitution must yield to the exigencies of the 
 times, and that those in authority may violate it when nec- 
 essary during the revohition ; if so it of course follows that 
 those in authority must be the judges of the necessity for 
 its violation, which makes their will the supreme law of the 
 land. If this were t|^e intention of the people, why did 
 they form a Constitution at the beginning of the revolu- 
 tion, and why did they require all our Senators and Repre- 
 sentatives in Congress, all the members of the Legislatures 
 of the several States, and all executive and judicial officers 
 of the Confederate States, and of the several States, to take 
 an oath to support this Constitution ? 
 
 When the Governor of this State and each member of the 
 General Assembly took a solemn oath to support the Con- 
 stitution of the Confederate States, no exception was made 
 which relieved them from the obligations of the oath during 
 the revolution. This fact should be remembered by those 
 who admit the violation of the Constitution, but severely 
 censure the public officer who, true to his obligation, throws 
 himself in the breach for the support of the Constitution 
 against the usurpation. 
 
 I here dismiss the first class of advocates, and turn to the 
 justification set up by the second, which from its nature, 
 however unfounded, is entitled to more respectful consider- 
 ation. Does the Constitution authorize Congress to pass an 
 act such as the one now under consideration? 
 
 The advocates of this power in Congress rest the case 
 upon the 12th paragraph of the Sth section of the first ar- 
 ticle of the Constitution of the Confederate States, which 
 is an exact copy of a similar paragraph of the^me article 
 and section ii^ the Constitution of the United j^tes. This 
 paragraph gives Congress the f«)vver " to raise and support 
 armies." The advocates of conscription take this single 
 clause of the Constitution alone, and contend that it does 
 not define any particular mode of raising armies, and that 
 Congress has the ^vver, therefore, to raise them either by 
 voluntary enlistment, or by conscription or coercion, as it 
 may judge best. 
 
 The Convention which framed the Constitution of the 
 United States, of which ours is a copy so far as relates to 
 this point, must be supposed toTiave used terms in the sense 
 in which they were usually understood at the time, in the 
 
 *•• 
 
government which had lately been their own, and from 
 which as descendants they had derived not only the terms 
 used, but their whole system of language and laws, civil 
 and military. In placing a just construction upon the 
 phrase to " raise armies," as used by the Convention, we 
 are, therefore, naturally led to inquire how armi«^s had b^en, 
 and were at that time, raised by the British Government, 
 from which the members of the Convention " had derived 
 most of their ideas upon this subject " By reference to the 
 legislation and history of the British Government, it will be 
 found that armies were not then raised in that Government 
 by covscripdon, but only by voluntanj enlistment. This was 
 not only the case at the time of the adoption of the Federal 
 Constitution, but had l)ecome the settled and esta]:)lished 
 practice of that Government, after deliberate consideration 
 of the question ; which fact cannot be presumed to have 
 been unknown to the Convention when they used the phrase 
 now imder consideration. 
 
 The terms used by the Convention having ^a<cquired a 
 definite meaning well understood and recognized by all, we 
 cannot justly presume that the members of the Convention 
 intended that these terms when used by them, should be 
 understood in a different sense. Had this been their d<'- 
 sign, they would certainly have used such qualifying lan- 
 guage as would have left no doubt of their intention to're- 
 ject the ordinary acceptation of the terms, and use them in 
 a different sense. 
 
 By reference to the constitutional history of Gr eat B rit- 
 ain, it will be seen that a bill was attempted in llW" to 
 " rccrmt the. army by a forced conscription nf men from each 
 " parisft, hut mis laid aside as iwcONSTlTlfllONAL." It was 
 tried again in 1707 with, like success; but it was resolved 
 instead to bring in a biUifor raising a sufficient numliM' of 
 troops out of such person^ as have no lawful calling or em- 
 ployment. A distinguished author says : " The parish offi- 
 " cers were thus enabled to press men for the lanfl service, 
 " a method h'ardly more constitutional than the former, and 
 " liable to enormous abuses." The act was temporary, and 
 was temporarily revived in 17o7, but never upon any later 
 occasion. The Convention of 17S7 sat thirty years after 
 the British Government had abandoned the policy of evii- 
 srript/ov, even of persons having no lawful employment, as 
 unronstitvtionnL The Convention was composed mostly of 
 intelligent lawyers, who were well acqthainted with this 
 fact, which leaves no room to doubt that when they gave 
 Congress the power to •' raise armies," they intended that 
 the phrase to " raise armies " should be understood in the 
 sense then attached to it, and that the armies should be 
 raised by volunteer enlistment ; which was the only constitu- 
 tional mode then known in Great Britain or this country. 
 
8 
 
 It had not only been solemnly determined by the proper 
 authorities in the kingly government of Great Britain long 
 before the commencement of the American revolution, that 
 it was uncuiistltutional to raise armies by conscrijHion, but 
 even the monarchical government of France, had not yet 
 ventured so far to disregard the rights of the subject of that 
 Government, as to adopt this practice, which places each 
 man subject to it, like a chattel, at the will of him who, un- 
 der whatever name, exercises monarchical power. The 
 practice of the Government of the United States was also 
 uniformly against conscription from its creation to its dis- 
 solution. 
 
 In view of these facts of history, can it now be just to 
 charge the great and good men who framed our republican 
 government with the grave mistake of having conferred 
 upon the General Government of a Confederation of States 
 powers over the. persons ot the citizens of the respective 
 States, which were at the time, regarded too dangerous to 
 be exercised by the most absolute European monarchs over 
 their subjects"? 
 
 When we construe all that is contained in the Constitu- 
 tion upon this subject together, the meaning is clear be- 
 yond doubt. The powers delegated by the States to Con- 
 gress, are all it has. These are chiefly enumerated in the 
 8th section of the 1st article of the Constitution. 
 
 Paragraph 11, gives Congress power, 
 
 " To declare war; grant letters of marque and reprisal, 
 and make rules concerning captures on land and water ;" 
 
 Paragraph 12, 
 
 "To raise and support armies ; but no appropriation of 
 "money to that use shall be for a longer term than two 
 "years;" ,^.^^ 
 
 Paragraph 13, 'ri^"*^ i^ 
 
 " To provide and maintain a Navy ;" 
 
 Paragraph 14, 
 
 " To make rules for the government and regulation of 
 "the land and naval forces." 
 
 If it were the intention of the Convention to give Con- 
 gress the power to " raise armies" by conscription, these four 
 consecutive paragraphs gave plenary powers over the 
 whole question of war and peace, armies and navies ; and 
 it could not have been necessary to add any other para- 
 graph to enlarge a power which was already absolute and 
 complete. 
 
 If Congress possessed the power under the 12th para- 
 graph above quoted, to compel every officer and every cit- 
 izen of every State to enter its armies at its pleasure, its 
 power was as unlimited over the 'persojts of the officers and 
 citizens of the States, as the povi^er of the most absolute 
 monarch in Europe ever was over his subjects ; and it was 
 
extreme folly ou the part of the Couveutiou to attempt to 
 increase this absolute power by giving to Congress a qualified 
 power over the militia of the States, when its power over 
 every man composing the militia, was unqualified and 
 unlimited. That the Convention was not guilty of the 
 strange absurdity of Laving given Congress the absolute, 
 unlimited power now claimed for it, will be seen by refer- 
 ence to the two next paragraphs, which give only limUed 
 powers over the militia of the States. 
 
 Paragraph 15 gives Congress the power, 
 
 " To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the 
 "laws of the Confederate States; suppress insurrectious, 
 " and repel invasions ;" 
 
 Paragraph IG, 
 
 " To provide for organizing, arming and disciplining the 
 " militia ; and for governing suph part of th^m as may be 
 " employed in the service of the Confederate States, re- 
 " serving to the States respectively, the appoiivtment of 
 *' the otiicers, and the authority of training the militia 
 *' according to the discipline prescribed by Congress." 
 
 Now it must be admitted that Congress bad no need of 
 the liiruud power over the militia of the Sts^^ee, wUich is 
 given by the two last paragraphs, if it possessed under the 
 12th paragraph, the uidim'ital. power to compel every man 
 of whom th(^ militia is composed, to enter the military 
 service of the Confederacy at any moment designated by 
 Congress. 
 
 When the six paiagraphs above quoted, arc construed 
 together, each has its proper place and its proper meaning ; 
 and each delegates a power not delegated by either of the 
 others. The power to declare war, is the first given to 
 Congress ; then the power to raise and support armies ; 
 then the power to provide a Navy; then the power to 
 make rules for the government and regulation of the land 
 and naval forces. Congress ma}', therefore, make war ; 
 and as long as it can do so by the use of its armies raised 
 by voluntary enlistments, (which was the meaning of the 
 term "to raise armies," when inserted in the Constitution,) 
 and by the use of the navy, it may prosecute the war 
 without calling upon the States for assistance, or in any 
 way interfering wuth the militia. But if it should become 
 necessajy for Congress to employ more force than the army 
 and the navy at its command, in the execution of the laws 
 of the Confederacy, the suppression of insurrectiou, or the 
 repulsion of invasion. Congress may then, under the au- 
 thority delegated by paragraph 15, provide for calling forth 
 the militia of the States, for these purposes. When this 
 is done, however, paragraph IG guards the rights of the 
 States, by reserving, in plain terms, to the States respect- 
 ively, the appointment of the officers to command the 
 
10 
 
 militia when employed in the service of the Confederate 
 Slates. This authority was regarded by the Convention of 
 1787, as of such vital importance, that they, with almost 
 entire unanimity, voted down a proposition to permit the 
 general government to appoint even the geneml officers; 
 while the most ultra federalist in the Convention, never 
 seriously contended that the States should be deprived of 
 the appointment of the field and company oficers. The 
 Convention doubtless saw the great value of this reserva- 
 tion to the States, as the officers who were to command 
 the militia when in the service of the Confederacy, would 
 not be dependent upon the President for their commissions, 
 and would be supposed to be ready to maintain with their 
 respective commands, if necessary, the rights of the States 
 against the encroachments of the Confederacy, in case an 
 attempt should be made by the latter to usurp powers 
 destructive of thd sovereignty of the former. On the con- 
 trary, should the officers to command the militia of the 
 States in the service of the Confederacy, be appointed by 
 the Confederate Executive and be dependent upon hfm for 
 their commissions, they might be supposed to be more 
 willing instruments in his hands, to execute bis ambitious 
 designs, in case of attempted encroachment. 
 
 When, therefore, the different delegations of power are 
 construed together, the whole system is harmonious. 
 When Congress has declared war, and has used all the 
 power it possesses in raising armies by voluntary enlist- 
 ment, and providing a Navy, and still needs more forces for 
 the purposes already mentioned, it may then provide for 
 calling forth the militia of the several States, as contradis- 
 tinguished from its nnnies and Navij; and here, for the first 
 time, the States as such, have a voice in the mattef ; as 
 Consrress cannot call forth the militia w^ithout civinar the 
 states the appointment of the officers, which gives them a 
 qualified power over the troops in the service of the' Con- 
 federacy, and an opportunity to be heard, as States', if the 
 delegated powers have been abused by Congress, or the 
 military force is likely to be used for the subversion of 
 their sovereignty. 
 
 As the residuum of powers not delegated, is reserved by 
 the States, they may, when requisitions are made upon 
 them for troops ^by the Confederacy, or when necessary fot 
 their own protection or the execution of their own laws, 
 call forth the militia by draft or by accepting volunteers. 
 
 The advocates of conscription by Congress, have at- 
 tempted to sustain the doctrine by drawing technical dis- 
 tinctions between the militia of the States, and all the arms- 
 bearing people of the States, of whom the militia is com- 
 posed. In other words, they attempt to draw a distinction 
 between a company of militia of one hundred men in a 
 
11 
 
 district, and the one hundred men of whom the company 
 is composed. And while it is admitted that Congress can- 
 not call forth the company by conscription but must take 
 the company with its officers, it is contended that Congress 
 may call forth, not the company, but the one hundred men 
 who compose the company, by conscription ; and by this 
 evasion, get rid of the State officers and appoint its own 
 officers. This mode of enlarging the powers of Congress 
 and evading the constitutional rights of the States, by 
 unsubstantial technicalities, would seem to be entitled to 
 respect, only, on account of the distinction of the names 
 of its authors, and not on account of its logical truth, or 
 the soundness of the reasoning by which it is attempted to 
 be maintained. 
 
 If Congress may get rid of the militia organizations of 
 the States, at any time, by disbanding them, and compell- 
 ing all the officers and men of whom they are composed, 
 to enter its armies as conscripts, under officers appointed 
 by the President, the provision in the Constitution which 
 reserves to the States the appointment of the officers, to 
 command their militia, when employed in the service of 
 the Confederacy, is a mere nullity whenever Congi^ss 
 chooses to enact that it shall be a nullity. 
 
 Again, if Congress has power to raise its armies by con- 
 scription, it has the power to discriminate and say whom it 
 will first call. If it may compel all between IS and 35 
 years of age, by conscription to enter its armies, it has the 
 same right to extend the act, as it has lately done, from 
 35 to 45 ; and if it has this power, it has the power to 
 take all between 16 and GO. The same power of discrimi- 
 nation authorizes it to limit its operations, and take only 
 those between 25 and 30, or to take any particular class of 
 individuals it may designate. And it must be borne in 
 mind that the power to raise armies, is as unli^nited in 
 Congress, in times of the most profound peace, as it is in 
 the midst of the most devnstating war. If Congress pos- 
 sesses the power to raise armies by conscriptioa, it toll«w8 
 that it may disband the State Governments whenever it 
 chooses to consider them an evil, as it may compel every 
 Executive in every State in the Confederacy, every mem- 
 ber of the Legislature of every State, every Judge of every 
 court in every State, every militia office^', and every other 
 State officer, to enter the .-irmies of the Confederacy in 
 times of peace or war, as privates under officers appointed 
 by the President ; and may provide that the armies shall 
 be recruited by other State officers as fast as they are ap- 
 pointed by the States. Admit the power of conscription 
 claimed ibr Congress by its advocates, and there is no 
 escape from the position that Congress possesses this power 
 over the States. 
 
12 
 
 It may be said, however, that the case supposed is an 
 extreme one, and that while Congress may possess the 
 power to destroy the State governments, it would never 
 exercise it. If it possesses the ppwer, its exercise depends 
 upon the will of Congress, which might be influenced by 
 ambition, interest or caprice. Admit the power, and I 
 exercise the functions of the Executive office of this State, 
 you hold your scats as members of the General Assembly, 
 and our Judges perform their judicial duties, by the gra^e 
 and .special fator of Congress, and not as matter of right by 
 virtue of the inherent sovereignty of a great State, whose 
 people, in the manner provided by the Constitution, have 
 invested us for the constitutional period, with the right to 
 exercise these functions. 
 
 For my views upon this question somewhat more in de- 
 tail, and for the strongest reasons which can be given on 
 the other side to sustain this extraordinary pretension of 
 power in Congress, I beg leave to refer you to the corre- 
 spondence between President Davis and myself, upon this 
 question ; a copy of which is herewith transmitted to each 
 branch of the General Assembly. 
 
 In my letters to the President, will also be found the 
 reasons which induced me to resist the execution of the 
 conscription Act of 16th April last, so far as it related to 
 the officers necessary to the maintenance of the govern- 
 ment of this State. It may be proper that I remark, that 
 my first letter to the President upon this question, in 
 which I notify him that I will resist interference with the 
 legislative, executive or judicial departments of the govern- 
 ment of the State, though dated the 22d of April, as it 
 was expected to go by the mail of that day, was prepared 
 on the previous day, which was the day the exemption Act 
 was passed by Congress in secret session ; of the passage of 
 which I had no knowledge, nor had I ever heard that such a 
 bill was pending when the letter was prepared. 
 
 The question has frequently been asked, why I did not 
 resist the operation of the Act upon the privates as well as 
 the ofhcers of the militia of the State. But for the ex- 
 treme emergency in which the country was at the time- 
 placed, by the neglect of the Confederate Government to 
 make requisition upon the State for troops, to fill the 
 places of the twelve months men at an earlier day, and the 
 fact that the conscription Act b}^ the repeal of all other 
 acts under which the President had been authorized to 
 raise troops, placed it out of his power, for the time, to 
 accept them under the constitutional mode, I should have 
 had no hesitation in taking this course. But having enter- 
 ed ray protest against the constitutionality of the Act, and 
 Congress having repealed all other acts for raising troops, 
 I thought it best on account of the great public peril, to 
 
13 
 
 throw the least possible obstructions, consistent with the 
 maintenance of the government of the State, in the way of 
 the Confederate Government in its preparations for our 
 defense. I, therefore, at the expense of public censure 
 which I saw I must incur by making the distinction be- 
 tween officers and privates, determined to content myself 
 till the meeting of the General Assembly, with resistance 
 to the execution of the act, only to the extent necessary to 
 protect the State government against dissolution, and her 
 people against the massacre and hoiTors, which might have 
 attended negro insurrections in particular localities, had 
 the militia been disbanded, by compelling the militia offi- 
 cers to leave the State, which would have left no legal 
 vacancies that could have been tilled by the Executive. 
 
 While the first consciiption act made a heavv draft upon 
 the militia of the State, it left all between thirtv-live and 
 forty-iive, subject to the command of her constituted au- 
 thorities, in case of emergency; and with these and her 
 officers, she still retained a military onronizntion. I did not, 
 at that time, anticipate an extension of the act, which 
 would embrace the wliole militia of the State, before your 
 meeting. The late act of Congress extends the conscrip- 
 tion act to embrace all between thirty-five and forty-five ; 
 and, if executed, disbands and dadroys all military organiza- 
 tion in the State. Not onl}^ so, but it denies to those be- 
 tween thirty-five and forty-iive, the right guaranteed by 
 the Constitution of the Confederacy and laws of this State, 
 to every Georgian to elect the officers by whom he is to be 
 commanded while in Confederate service, and have them 
 commissioned by the proper authority in his own State. 
 This privilege has been allowed to other troops when 
 called to the field. Even those embraced iu the first con- 
 sctiption act, were allowed thirty day^ to volunteer and 
 select their own officers from among those who, at the time 
 the act was passed, had commissions from the Secretary of 
 War to raise Ivegiments. But even this limited privilege, 
 which fell far short of the full measure of their constitu- 
 tional rights, is denied those now called for ; and they are 
 to be compelled to enter organizations in the choice of 
 whose officers they have had no part, till all the old organ- 
 izations, with most of their officers appointed by the Pres- 
 ident, arc filled to their maximum number. This act, there- 
 fore, not only does gross injustice to the class of our fellow- 
 citizens now called to the field, and denies them the exer- 
 cise of sacred constitutional rights which other citizens 
 when they entered the service were permitted to enjoy, 
 but, if executed, it takes the Major Generals and all otlier 
 militia officers of the State, by force, and puts them under 
 the command of third Lieutenants appointed by the Presi- 
 dent, and leaves the State without a military otganization 
 
14 
 
 to execute her laws, repel invasion, protect her public 
 property, or suppress servile insurrection which the enemy 
 now threatens to incite for the indiscriminate massacre of 
 our wives and our children. 
 
 We entered into this revolution in defense of the rights 
 and sovereignty of the States, and sundered our connection 
 with the old Government, because tState rights were inva- 
 ded and State sovereignty denied. The conscription act, 
 at one fell swoop, strii^es down the sovereignty of the 
 States, tramples upon the constitutional rights and personal 
 liberty of the citizen, and arms the President with imperial 
 powers under which his subaltern in this State has already 
 published his orders to drag citizens of Georgia, who are 
 not in militar}'' service, from their homes, "in chains," for 
 disobedience to his behests ; while invalids unlit for duty 
 have too often been forced into camp and victimized by 
 exposure which they were unable to endure. This action 
 of the Government not only violates the most sacred con- 
 stitutional rights of the citizen, but tends to crush out the 
 spirit of freedom and resistance to tyranny which was 
 bequeathed to us by our ancestors of the Revolution of 
 1776. When the first conscription act was passed we had 
 just gone through a series of reverses which saddened the 
 hearts of our people, and the public mind acquiesced in the 
 usurpation on account of the supposed necessity. The 
 Government, presuming upon the advantage gained by the 
 precedent with the acquiescence, fastens upon the country 
 a second conscription act which not only detaches part 
 from the State militia, but disbands the whole. No plea 
 of necessity can be set up for this last act. Instead of 
 reverses, all was success at the time of its passage. Our 
 glorious armies had driven the enemy, at the point of the 
 bayonet, from every battle field, during the most brilliant 
 summer and fallcarapaigns to be found upon the pages 
 of history. These successes had been achieved by men 
 who entered the service as volunteers, and were not dragged 
 from their homes as conscripts. The term of service of 
 the troops was not about to expire at the time of the pass- 
 age of the last conscription act, for they were then, every 
 one, in for three years or the war. The additional number 
 needed to reinforce the armies, if we may judge from the 
 past, could be furnished by the States under requisitions, 
 in half the time, and with much less than half the expense 
 which it will cost the President to get them into service ae 
 conscripts. 
 
 Under these circumstances, solemnly impressed with a 
 sense of the injustice about to be done to a large class of 
 our fellow citizens, under an act which, in my opinion, 
 plainly violates the Constitution of the Confederacy, and 
 strikes down the sovereignty of the States, I felt that I 
 
15 
 
 should justly forfeit tlie confidence reposed in me by a 
 people who, ever jealous of their rights, had opposed stern 
 resistance to Federal encroachments, under my predeces- 
 sors, Jackson, Troup and Gilmer, were I to permit the 
 injustice, and allow the Government of the State to be vir- 
 tually disbanded, and the right arm of her power severed 
 from her, without first submitting the question of the sur- 
 render to the representatives of the people. 1 therefore 
 informed the President of the Confederate states, in a letter 
 dated the ISth ot last month — a cojiy of which is here- 
 to appended — that I would fill promptly with volun- 
 teers legally organized, a requisition, (which I invited,) for 
 her quota of the new levy of troops needed by the Govern- 
 ment, but that I would not permit the enrollment of con- 
 scripts under the late conscription act, till you should have 
 time to meet, deliberate and act. You have the power to 
 adopt the proper measures, and give proper direction to this 
 question. 
 
 During the approaching winter, the enemy will make 
 every efibrt in his power with large fleets and armies, to 
 take our seaport city, over-run a large portion of our State, 
 plunder our people and carry oft' our slaves, or induce them 
 to murder the innocent and helpless portion of our popu- 
 lation. At so critical a moment, the portion of our mili- 
 tia, who remain in the State, should be encouraged to vol- 
 unteer and form themselves into efficient organizations, and 
 should be kept within the limits of the State to strike for 
 their wives and their children, their homes and their alturs. 
 If all our population able to bear arms are to be forced by 
 Conscription to leave the State in the greatest crisis of the 
 war, to protect more favored points, and our own cities are 
 to be left an easy prey to the en^my, and our homes to bo 
 plundered by his marauding bands without resistance, 1 
 will not be privy to the deed. You are the representatives 
 of the people, and must make the decision. I therefore 
 conjure you to stand by the rights and the honor of the 
 State, and proVide for the protection of the property, tho 
 liberties and the lives of -fifel; people. 
 
 Hon. Thomas W. Thomas, a judicial officer of the State 
 of great ability and integrity, in a case brought regularly 
 before home in his judicial capacity, has pronounced the 
 Conscription Act unconstitutional, in an argument which 
 has not been, and will not be answered. Since the decis- 
 ion was made, Congress, as the newspapers report, has 
 passed an additional act, authorizing the President 
 to suspend the privileges of the writ of Jiaheas corpus^ 
 in all cases of arrest made under the authority of the 
 Government, which was doubtless intended to deny 
 to the Judiciary the exercise of its Constitutionab func- 
 tions, in this very case, and which places the liberty of 
 
16 
 
 every citizen of the Confederacy at the mercy of the 
 President, who may imprison any citizen under his order 
 without legal warrant or authority, and no court dare in- 
 terfere to liberate the captive when the imprisonment is il- 
 legal. I now submit the question for the consideration and 
 decision of the Representatives of the people of the State, 
 whether the Constitutional rights of her citizens shall be 
 respected, and her , sovereignty maintained, or whether the 
 citizen shall be told that he has no rights, and his State no 
 sovereignty. 
 
 The (piestion is not whether Georgia shall furnish her 
 just quota of men and means for the common defence. 
 This she has more than done to the present time, and this 
 she is even ready to do, so long as she has a man or a dol- 
 lar at her command. But it is, shall she be permitted to 
 furnish troops as volunteers, organized m accordance with 
 her reserved rights, or shall her volunteers be rejected and 
 her citizens be dragged to the field as Conscripts in viola- 
 tion of their rights and her sovereignty? Shall the pom- 
 pous pretensions of imperial power, made by a government" 
 constituted by the States as their common agent, be acqui- 
 esced in, or shall the government be compelled to return to 
 the exercise of the powers delegated to it by the Constitu- 
 tion ? 
 
 I am aware that it has been said by the advocates of con- 
 scription, that it is no time now to correct errors. If so, it 
 follows that there is no responsibility for, and no restraint 
 upon their commission. Again, it is said we should first 
 decide whether we are to "have States," before we under- 
 take to define the rights of the States. We had States 
 when we entered into this revolution. We had States be- 
 fore the passage of the Conscription Acts. We still have 
 States, but if Conscription is to be executed to the extent of 
 the power claimed for Congress by its advocates, we cease 
 to have States, or to have constitutional liberty or personal 
 rights. The solemn question now presented for your con- 
 sideration is, shall we continue to hare Slates, or shall we in 
 lieu thereof have a consolidated military despotism ? 
 
 MARTIAL LAW AND HABEAS CORPUS. 
 
 We were recently informed by the newspapers, that a 
 military commander holding a commission under the gov- 
 ernment of the Confederate States, had issued an order de- 
 claring the city of Atlanta in this State, to be'under martial law, 
 and had appointed a Governor and his aids to assume the gov- 
 ernment of the city. At the time this order was published, 
 the head quarters of th^ General by whom it was passed 
 and most of his command, were, I believe, in another State, 
 over 130 miles from the city of Atlanta. The order was 
 issued without any conference with the Executive of this 
 State upon the subject, and the Governor appointed by the 
 
17 
 
 General, assumed the government and control of the city. 
 As you were soon to assemble, I thought it best to avoid 
 all conflict upon this question till the facts should be placed 
 before you, and your pleasure, as tlie representatives of the 
 sovereign people of this State, should be known in the 
 premises. I consider this and all like proceedings, on the 
 part of Confederate officers not only high handed usurpa- 
 tions, dejiending for their authority upon militar}'' power 
 without the shadow of constitutional right, but dangerous 
 precedents, which if acquiesced in by the people of this 
 State, tend to the subversion of the government and sover- 
 eignty of the State, and of the individual rights of the citi- 
 zen. This order of the commanding General was, after 
 some delay, annulled by the War Department. 
 
 The 5th and 6th .paragraphs of the -ith Article of the 
 Constitution of the Confederate States, are in these words : 
 
 5 "The enumeration in thei Constitution of certain rights, 
 "shall not be construed f o deny or disparage others retained 
 "by the people of the several iStates. 
 
 G "The powers not delegated to the Confederate States 
 "by the Constitution nor prohibited by it to the States, 
 "are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people 
 thereof." 
 
 Under these provisions of the Constitution, no Depart- 
 ment nor officer of the Confederate government, has the 
 right to assume or exercise any power not delegated by the 
 States, "each State acting in its sovereign and independent 
 character."' It follows, therefore, that no Department nor 
 officer of the Confederate Government, has the right to sus- 
 pend the writ of hahcfis corpus, which is the highest safe- 
 guard of personal liberty, nor to exercise the high preroga- 
 tive of sovereignty, by the representative of which alone, 
 martial lair may be declared, unless the grant of power from 
 the States to do so ca\\ be found in the Constitution. That 
 instrument declares ; 
 
 "The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shal! not be 
 "suspended, unless when, in eases of rebellion or invasion, 
 "the public safety may require it." 
 
 This clause contains a grant, by plain implication, of the 
 I power to suspend the writ of hnbms cor^m when the public 
 safety requires it, in the two cases of rebcJflon or invasion^ 
 btit in no other case ; and no further in these cases than may 
 be required by the public safety. But we look to the Con- 
 stitution in vain for any grant of power by the States to the 
 Confederate government or any Department or officer there- 
 of, to declare martial lav and suspend the laws and civil 
 process of the States, (other than the writ of habeas corpus,) 
 in any case or nnder any emergency whatever. If a Cen- 
 federate officer may, by a declaration of martial law, set 
 aside the laws and civil process of a State in a particular 
 
18 
 
 city or other locality, at his pleasure, h6 may extend his 
 order to embrace the whole territory of the State, and set 
 aside the government of the State, and may himself enact 
 the laws and appoint the Governors by which the people of 
 the State shall in future be controlled. Not only so, but if the 
 precedent in this case is to be tolerated, this may be done 
 by any military commander in any part of the Confederacy, 
 who chooses to send his edict to this State, and appoint his 
 Executive officers to carry it into eff'ect. 
 
 IMPRESSMENT OF PRIVATE PROPERTY. 
 
 It is also my duty to call your attention to another matter 
 considered by the people of this State a subject of grievance. 
 The power is now claimed by almost every military com- 
 mander, to impress the private property of the citizen at 
 his pleasure, without any express order from the Secretary 
 of War for that purpose ; and in many cases, without the 
 payment of any compensation — the officer, who is in some 
 cases, only a Captain or Lieutenant, giving a certificate that 
 the property has been taken for public use ; which seizure, 
 after long delay, may, or may not, be recognized by the gov- 
 ernment ; as it may determine that the officer had, or had 
 not, competent authority to make it. 
 
 I am aware that the Constitution confers the power upon 
 the Confederate Government, to take private property for 
 public use, paying therefor just compensation ; and I have 
 no doubt, that every true and loyal citizen, would cheerfully 
 acquiesce in the exercise of this power, by the properly au- 
 thorized and responsible agents of the government, at all 
 times when the public necessities might require it. But I 
 deny that every subaltern in uniform who passes through 
 the country, has the right to appropriate what he pleases of 
 the property of the citizen without being able to show the 
 authority of the Government for the exercise of this high 
 prerogative. As our people are not aware of their 
 proper remedies for the redress of the grievances hereinbe- 
 fore mentioned, I respectfully suggest, that the General 
 Assembly, after consideration of these questions, declare by 
 Resolution or otherwise, their opinion as to the power of 
 the Confederate Government and its officers, in these particu- 
 lars. I also respectfully request that the General Assembly 
 declare the extent to which the Executive of this State will 
 be sustained by the representatives of the people, in pro- 
 tecting their rights, and the integrity of the Government, 
 and sovereignty of the State, against the usurpations and 
 abuses to which I have invited your attention. 
 
 JOSEPH E. BROWN. 
 
 
19 
 
 Copy of a Letter to President Davis, to which no reply has 
 been received. 
 
 Canton, Geo., Oct. 18th, 1862. 
 His Excellency, Jefferson Davis: 
 
 Dear Sir : — Tlie act of Congress passed at its late session 
 extending the Conscription act, unlike its predecessor, of 
 which it is amendatory, gives you power, in certain contin- 
 gencies, of the happening of which you must be the judge, 
 to suspend its operation, and accept troops from the States 
 under any of the former acts upon that subject. By former 
 acts you weVe autliorized to accept troops from the States 
 organized into companies, battalions and regiments. The 
 Conscription act of 10th April last repealed these acts, but 
 the late act revives them when you suspend it. 
 
 For the reasons then given, I entered my protest against 
 the first Conscri[)tion act on account O'f its unconstitution- 
 ality, and refused to permit the enrollment of any State offi- 
 cer, civil or militiiry, who was necessary 1o the integrity of 
 the State government. But on account of the emergencies 
 of the country, growing out of the neglect of tiie Confede- 
 rate autliorities to call upon the States for a sufficient 
 amount of additional force tosnpply the places of the twelve 
 months troops, and on account of the repeal of the former 
 laws upon that subject, having, for the time, placed it out 
 of your power to accept troops organized by the States in 
 the constitutional mode, I interposed no active resistance to 
 the enrollment of persons in this State between IS and ■^5, 
 who were not oflicers necessary to the maintenance of the 
 government of the State. 
 
 The first conscription act took from the State only part 
 of her military force. Slie retained her officers and all her 
 militia between -{-5 and 4o. Iler military organization was 
 neither disbanded nor destroyed. She had permitted a heavy 
 draft to be made upon it,,>\'rthout constitutional authority, 
 rather than her fidelity to onr cause should be questioned, 
 or the enemy should gain any advantage growing out ot 
 what her authorities might consider unwise councils. But 
 she still retained an organization, subject to the command of 
 her constituted authorities, which she could use for the pro- 
 tection of her public property, the execution of her laws, 
 the repulsion of invasion, or the suppression of servile in- 
 surrection which our insidious foe now proclaims to the 
 world that it is his intention to incite, which if done, may 
 result in an indiscriminate massacre of helpless women and 
 children. 
 
 At this critical period in our public aflairs, wheu it is 
 absolutely necessary that each State keep an organization for 
 home protection, Congress, with your sanction, has exten- 
 
20 
 
 ded the conscription act to embrace all between 35 and 46 
 subject to military dj.ity, giving you the power to suspend 
 the act as above stated. If you refuse to exercise this power 
 and are permittedtotake all between 35 and 45 as conscripts, 
 you disband and destroy all military organization in this State, 
 and leave her people utterly powerless to protect their own 
 families, even against their own slaves. Not only so, but 
 you deny to those between 35 and 45 a privilege of electing 
 the officers to command them, to which, under the Consti- 
 tution of the Confederacy and the laws of this State, they 
 are clearly entitled, which has been allowed to other troops 
 from the State, and was to a limited extent allowed even to 
 those betv^-een IS and 35 under the act of 16th April, as 
 that act did allow them thirty days within which to volun- 
 teer, under such officers as they might select, who chanced 
 at the time to have commissions from the War Department 
 to raise regiments. 
 
 If you deny this rightful privilege to those between 35 
 and 45, and refuse to accept them as vohmieers with officers 
 selected by them in accordance with the laws of their State, 
 and attempt to compel them to enter the service as co7iscript&i 
 my opinion is, your orders will only be obeyed by many 
 of them when backed by an armed force which they have 
 no powder to resist. 
 
 The late act, if I construe it correctly, does not give those 
 between 35 and 45 the privilege under any circumstances 
 of volunteering and forming themselves into regimental or- 
 ganizations, but compels them to enter the present organ- 
 izations as privates under officers heretofore selected by 
 others, until all the present organizations are filled to their 
 maximum number. 
 
 This injustice can only be avoided by the exercise of the 
 power given you to suspend the act, and calj upon the States 
 for organized companies, battalions and regiments. I think 
 the history of the past justifies me in saying, that the public 
 interest cannot suffer by the adoption of this course. When 
 you made a requisition upon rae 'in the early part of Feb- 
 ruary last, for twelve regiments, I had them all, witli a large 
 additional number, in tlie field subject to your command 
 and ready for service, in about one month. , It has now been 
 over six months since the passage of the first conscription act, 
 and your officers during that time have not probably enrolled 
 and carried into service from this State conscripts, exceeding 
 one-fourth of the number furnished by me as volunteers in 
 one month, while the expense of getting the conscripts in- 
 to service has probably been four times as much as it cost 
 to get four times the number of volunteers into the field. 
 
 in consideration of these facts, I trust you will not hesi- 
 tate to exercise the power given you by the act of Congress, 
 and make an early requisition (which I earnestly invite) upon 
 
SI 
 
 the Executive of this State, for her just, quota of the addi- 
 tional number of troops necessary to be called out, to meet 
 the hosts of the invader — the troops to be organized into 
 companies, battalions and regiments, in accordance with the 
 laws of this State. 
 
 The prompt and patriotic response made by the people 
 of Georgia to every call for volunteers, justifies the reason- 
 able expectation that I shall be able to fill your requisition 
 in a short time after it is made, and authorizes me in advance 
 to pledge prompt compliance. This can be done, too, when 
 left to the State authorities, in such way as not to disband 
 nor destroy her military organization at home, which must 
 be kept in existence to be used in case of servile insurrec- 
 tion or other pressing necessity. 
 
 If you should object to other new arganizations on the 
 ground that they are not efficient, I beg to invite your at- 
 tention to the conduct of tlie newly organized regiments of 
 Georgians, and indeed of troops from all the States, upon the 
 plains of Manassas, in the battles before Richmond, upon 
 James' Island near Charleston, at Shiloh, at Ricliraond, 
 Kentucky, and upon every battle field, whenever and wher- 
 ever they have met the invading forces. If it is said that 
 some of our old regiments are almost decimated, not having 
 more than enough men in a regiment to form a single com- 
 pany ; that it is too expensive to keep these small bands in 
 the field as regin)ents, and that justice to the officers re- 
 quires that they be filled up by conscripts, I reply, that 
 injustice should never be done to the troops, for the pur- 
 pose of saving a few dollars of expense ; and tliat justice to 
 the men now called into the field, as imperatively requires, 
 that they shall have the privilege allowed to other troops, 
 to exercise the constitutional right of entering tiie service 
 under officers selected and appointed as directed bv the laws 
 of their own State, as it does, that officers in service shall 
 not be deprived of their connnands when their regiments 
 are worn out or destroyed. , 
 
 Our officers have usually exposed themselves in the van 
 of the fight, and shared the fate of their men. Hence but 
 few of the original experienced oftlcers who went to the 
 field with our old regiments, which have won so bright a 
 name in history, now survive, but their places have been 
 filled by others appointed in mo«t cases by the f'resident. 
 They have, theretore, no just cause to claim that the riglit 
 of election which belongs to every Georgian, shall be de- 
 nied to all who are hereafter to enter the service, for the 
 purpose of sustaining tiiem in the offices which they now fill. 
 
 If it becomes necessary to disband any regiment on ac- 
 count of its small numbers, let every officer and private be 
 left perfectly free to unite with such new volunteer associ- 
 ation as he thinks proper, and in the organization and selec- 
 
22 
 
 tion of officers, it is but reasonable to suppose that modest 
 merit and experience will not be overlooked. 
 
 The late act, of Congress, if executed in this State, not 
 only does gross injustice to a large class of her citizens, ut- 
 terly destroys all State military organization, and en- 
 croaches upon the reserved rights of the State, but strikes 
 dovv^n her sovereignty at a single blow, and tears from her the 
 right arm of strength, by which she alone can maintain her 
 existence, and protect those most dear to her, and most de- 
 pendent upon her. The representatives of the people will 
 meet in General Assembly on the 6th day of next month, 
 and I feel that I should be recreant to the high trust reposed 
 in me, were I to permit the virtual destruction of the Gov- 
 ernment of the State, before they shall have had time to 
 convene, deliberate and act. 
 
 Referring, in connection with the considerations above 
 mentioned, to our former correspondence, for the reasons 
 which satisfy my mind be3'^ond doubt, of the unconstitution- 
 ality of the conscription acts ; and to the fact that a Judge 
 in this State, of great ability, in a case regularly brought 
 before him in his judicial capacity, has pronounced the law 
 unconstitutional ; and to the further fact that Congress has 
 lately passed an additional act authorizing you to suspend 
 the privilege of the writ of Habeas Corpus, doubtless with 
 a view of denying to the judiciary in this very case, the 
 exercise of its constitutional functions, for the protection 
 of personal liberty, I can no longer avoid the responsibility 
 of discharging a duty which I owe to theppople of this 
 State, by informing you, that I cannot permit the enroll- 
 ment of conscripts, under the late act of Congress entitled 
 "An act to amend the act further to provide for the com- 
 mon defense," until the General Assembly of this State 
 shall have convened and taken action in the premises. 
 
 The plea of necessity set up for conscription last Spring, 
 when 1 withheld active resistance to a heavy draft upon 
 the military organization of the State under the hrst con- 
 scription act, cannot be pleaded, after the brilliant suc- 
 cesses of our gallant armies during the summer and fall 
 campaign, whicli have been achieved by troops who en- 
 tered the service, not as conscripts but as volunteers. If 
 more troops are needed to nioet coming emergencies, call 
 upon the State, and you shall have them as volunteers, much 
 more rapidly than ydur enrolling officers can drag con- 
 scripts, like slavee: "in chains," to camps of instruction. 
 And who that is not blinded by prejudice or ambition, 
 can doubt, that thev will be much more effisctive as volun- 
 teers than as conscripts 7 The volunteer enters the service 
 of his own free will. He regards the war as much his own 
 as the Government's war ; a;nd Is Teady, if need be, to offer 
 his life a willing sacrifice upon his country's altar. Hence 
 
23 
 
 it is that our vohirdccr armies have been invincible, when 
 contending against vastly superior numbers with every 
 advantage which the best equipments and supplies can 
 afford. Not so with the conscript. He may be as ready 
 as any citizen of the State to volunteer, if permitted to 
 enjoy the constitutional rights which have been allowed to 
 others, in the choice of his officers and associates. But if 
 these are denied him, and he is seized like a serf, and hur- 
 ried into an association repulsive to his feelings, and placed 
 under officers in whom he has no confidence, he then leels 
 that this is the Government's war, not his; that he is the 
 mere instrument of arbitrary power, and that he is no 
 longer laboring to establish constitutional liberty, but to 
 build up a military despotism for its ultimate but certain 
 overthrow. Georgians will never rekise to volunteer, as 
 long as there is an enemy upon our soil, and a call for their 
 services. But if I mistake not the signs of the times, they 
 will require the Government to respect their plain consti- 
 tutional rights. 4< 
 
 Surely no just reasoti exists why yoli should refuse to 
 accept volunttjers when tendered, and insist on replenishing 
 your armies by conscription and coercion of freemen. 
 
 The question, then, is not whether you shall have Geor- 
 gia's quota of troops, for they are freely offered — tendered 
 in advance — but it is whether you shall accept them when 
 tendered as volunteers, organized as the Constitution and 
 laws direct, or shall, when the decision is left with you, 
 insist on rejecting volunteers, and dragging the free citizens 
 of this State into your armies as conscripts. No act of the 
 Government of the United States, prior to the secession of 
 Georgia, struck a blow at constitutional liberty, so fell, as 
 has been stricken by the conscription acts. The people of 
 this State had ample cause, however, to justify their sepa- 
 ration from the old Government. Itiey acted c«olly and 
 deliberately, in view of all the responsibilities ; and thev 
 stand ready to-day to sustain their action, at all hazards ; 
 and to resist submission to the Lincoln Government, and 
 the reconstruction of the old Union, to the expenditure of 
 their last dollar, and the sacrifice ^of their last life. Having 
 entered into the revolution freemen, they intend to emerge 
 from it freemen. And if I mistake not the character of the 
 sons, judged by the action of their fathers against Federal 
 encroachments, under Jackson, Troup and Oihiier, respect- 
 ively, as executive officers, they will refuse to yield their 
 sovereignty to usurpation, and will require the Govern- 
 ment, which is the common agent of all the States, to 
 move within the sphere assigned it by the Constitution. 
 Verv respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 JOSEPH E. BROWN.