Duke university Libraries 
 
 Memorial. To th 
 Conf Pam #622 
 
MEMORIAL. 
 
 2\) (he Honorable the Congress of the Confnlerafe States of America: 
 
 The bill bcforo you to amend the Conscription Act, by repealiDo- all 
 cxemptiijDS except of such persons as the President and Secretary of 
 War may think proper to release, will, if adopted, bo seriously detri- 
 mental to the press of the Confederacy, if not destructive of its exist- 
 
 ence. 
 
 In b-'half of tlio Press Association, comprising every daily paper 
 issued within the limits of the Confederate States-, I respectfully ask 
 that no chanire be made in the present exemption law, so far as relates 
 to them. It is scarcely neces.sary to call your attention to the unques- 
 tionable fact that the vitality of our present revolution has been in the 
 spirit of our free press— at once the expression and the conductor of 
 the sentiment and feeling of the people, fostering, conveying, and ex- 
 tending their influence with a mighty power — based upon the most 
 extraordinary unanimity that has ever characterised any people. As 
 the chief and potent means of diffusing knowledge aniono- the masses 
 and of concentrating the convictions of the public mind in relation to 
 groat principles embodying the rights and ititerests of man, politically, 
 iMorilly, and socially, the press has been engaged must successfully in 
 proclaiminir and inculcating them. 
 
 It has ever been the pride of our Southern sovereignties that our 
 people were educated in the great truths that are the proper basis of 
 self-government — those principles that were adopted and established by 
 our fathers of 76 — cherished, illustrated, and enforced by means of an 
 independent press. 
 
 What would be the condition of the South now had it, a few years 
 since, been deprived by despotic power of this great bulwark of inde- 
 pendence, characterised in the noble Areopagetica of Milton, as " the 
 
palladium of liberty?" How cjuld public opinion have bceu concen- 
 trated upon the single question of the policy, value, and interests of 
 our special institution, but through a free press? I might extend the 
 ar"ument on its importance, but it is a work of supererogation, and 
 would be an insult to your under.standiogs, I will simply confine 
 myself to the utilitarian vi-^w of its immediate value to the Govern- 
 ment, consiu'ered as an essential vehicle of communication between the 
 Government and the people, at an insignificant cost considering the 
 magnitude of results compared with the small number of conscripts 
 entraged in its service. Apart from its importance to the Ordnance 
 Department to procure materials, to the Quartermaster for contracts and 
 transportation, to the Commissary for supplies, could the Adjutant 
 General communicate his orders to even the counties of a single State 
 with five times the number of officers that are now detailed for the 
 whole press of the Confederacy'.' There is no bureau of the Govern- 
 ment that is not indebted to the daily press for the transmission of its 
 orders and wants, and in no other way could this be effected with the 
 rapidity, extent, and certainty, that the press effects it. 
 
 Where under peculiar circumstances attending the Government, 
 its bureaus have been unable fully to clothe and feed our armies in the 
 field, through the daily press a thousand local relief societies have been 
 called into existence by our noble women, and the public sympathies 
 concentrated into an active form, to the eminent advantage of the 
 public service, and relief of the Government. 
 
 How could the '^'allant deeds of our heroic soldiery be spread through 
 tho length and breadth of the land, to stimulate and encourage to 
 crreater achievements, but by the press? With an anxiety seldom, if 
 ever, equalled, has every lumsehold watched our armies from day to 
 day, through the public prints. With the avidity of deepest personal 
 concern are they eagerly sought to satisfy tho craving for information 
 of the progress of our arms. 
 
 With unexampled unanimity have the people of the Confederate 
 States sprung forward with spirit, energy, and will, to achieve their in- 
 dependence — with patriotism, characteristic of their ancestry, they 
 have united in the great offt»rt to work out the salvation of their coun- 
 try, and illustrate its true character, and in this njighty struggle the 
 power of the daily and weekly press has been the great lever of rcvo- 
 
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 lutiou. Their zeal and untiriti<ij exertion hiive been exhibited with 
 unparalleled uiiani;iiity. This power of the press rests entirely upon 
 the fact, that its freedom has been unsullied even by the taint of sus- 
 picion. Let its liberty be but suspected — let it go forth that the press 
 is dependent upon the individual will of Government officials for the 
 personal freedom of even a portion of its necessary workmen — and the 
 strongest support of a Government professing to act in compliance with 
 the will of the people will be destroyed. 
 
 Public discussion of principles and powers of Government, of men 
 and measures, have been so clearly esteemed a right and duty of free- 
 men that the idea of trammeling it has ever been properly considered 
 subversive of the prerogative of the sovereign people. If there be a 
 right more important than others, next to freedom of conscience and 
 thought, it is that which an independent freeman claims in being heard 
 through the medium of the press. 
 
 "This is true Liberty, when free-born men. 
 Having to advise the public, may spealt free. 
 Which he who can, and will, deserves high praise ; 
 Who neither can, nor will, may hold his peace ; 
 What can be juster in a State than this ?" 
 
 Although the Constitution prohibits the making of laws " abridging 
 the freedom of speech or of the press," and it is not to be expected, in 
 this enlightened age, that direct legislation will ever be attempted for 
 the purpose, still the first step indirectly to stifle its existence is to 
 place it under censorship. Once allow the Government the power of 
 deciding on exemptions for the press, and the liberty of the latter is 
 not onl; abridged, but its independence is gone. Implicit confidence 
 may exist in the integrity, honesty, and patriotism of the individuals 
 who exercise that power, but the motto of the press is, Prirtipia, non 
 homines. 
 
 The principal necessity for the exemption of men liable to conscrip- 
 tion for the service of the pre>s, results from the limited number of 
 expert compusitors and pressmen in the South. The patriotism of our 
 young men has largely depleted the newspaper offices, so that scarcely 
 one exists that is net half-handed. The work of composition and 
 working the press is what needs details — the other duties, such as 
 clerkships, are usually performed by persons who are not conscripts. 
 
In tho report of the Chief vf ;he Bureau of rons^cnption. the num- 
 ber (»f printers reported as exoiupt under tho law, inel'ides all who are 
 enjr:iired in job printing for the various governuicnfal departnients, and 
 embraces :ilso lithographic printers. These constitute a uiuoh larger 
 proportion than those engaged on the daily press In Colutnb.a, S C , 
 for itjstance, there are two daily papers, on which a;c employed twelve 
 conscripts, while in two establishments where Government w(»rk 
 is done for the treasury, quartermasters, commissaries, surgeon general's 
 department, &c., there are thirty-eight 
 
 There are now published in the Confederacy forty-one daily papers, 
 on which are employed, by returns recently made to me, an aveiage of 
 tifteen personf- each, of which number fully one half are non-conscripts. 
 
 If the question of value to the Government of communicating the 
 crders of the departments be alone considered, I hesitate not to say 
 tl at the number of men recjuired to communicate hem, and then im- 
 perfectly, slowly, and often with extreme difficulty, would outnumber 
 ten times those required for the daily press. 
 
 I ask leave respectfully on the part of the dnily press to indulge the 
 hope that your honorable body will enact no law which by indireutioti 
 may abridge, intellectually or mechanically, the freedom of the press, 
 or in any way tend to check its um|uestionable mission, which is to 
 promote and diffuse knowledge and protect the liberties of the peof le. 
 The hope of advancing civilization is in the protection of vital consti- 
 tutional provisions, freedom i f speech, and freedom < f the press, and 
 I trust tha' such protection will be eminently characteristic of our 
 Southern Confederacy. 
 
 K. W. GIIJBES, M. D., 
 J 'resident Press Association C. JS- A. 
 
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