35 years, I saw that it was impossible for me longer to retain in the field the Georgia State troops, without probable collision and conflict with the Confederate authorities, in the face of the enemy. I, therefore, acquiesced in the necessity which compelled me to transfer the State forces to the command of the Confederate general at Savannah, and tendered to General Lawton, who commands the Military District of Georgia, not only the conscripts in the State army, but also those not conscripts, for the unexpired term of their enlistment. General Lawton accepted the command with the assurance that he would interfere as little as possible with the company and regimental organizations of the troops. This assurance, I trust, the Government will permit him to carry out in the same spirit of liberality in which it was given. If the State regiments are broken up and the conscripts belonging to them forced into other organizations against their consent it will have a very discouraging effect. If the regiments and companies were preserved, and permission given to the officers to fill up their ranks by recruits, there would be no doubt of their ability to do so; and I think they have a just right to expect this privilege.

"Georgia has promptly responded to every call made upon her by you for troops, and has always given more than you asked; she now has about 60,000 in the field. Had you called upon her Executive for 20,000 more, (if her just quota,) they would have been furnished without delay. The plea of necessity, so far, at least, as this State is concerned, cannot be set up in defence of the Conscription Act.

"When the Government of the United States disregarded and attempted to trample upon the rights of the States, Georgia set its power at defiance and seceded from the Union, rather than submit to the consolidation of all power in the hands of the central or Federal government.

"The Conscription Act not only puts it in the power of the Executive of the Confederacy to disorganize her troops, which she was compelled to call into the field, for her own defence, in addition to her just quota, because of the neglect of the Confederacy to place sufficient troops upon her coast for her defence-which would have required less than half the number she has sent to the field-but also places it in his power to destroy her State government by disbanding her law-making power.

"The Constitution of this State makes every male citizen who has attained the age of 21 years eligible to a seat in the House of Representatives of the General Assembly, and every one who has attained the age of 25 eligible to a seat in the Senate. There are a large number of the members of the General Assembly between the ages of 18 and 35. They are white citizens of the Confederate States, and there is no statute in the State, and I ain aware of none in the Confederate States code, which exempts them from military duty. They, therefore, fall within the provisions of the Conscription Act. It may become necessary for me to convene the General Assembly in extra session; or, if not, the regular session will commence the first Wednes

day in November. When the members meet at the Capitol, if not sooner, they might be claimed as conscripts by a Confederate officer, and arrested with a view to carry them to some remote part of the Confederacy, as recruits, to fill up some company now in service. They have no military power, and could only look to the Executive of the State for military protection; and I cannot hesitate to say that, in such case, I should use all the remaining military force of the State in defence of a co-ordinate constitutional branch of the government. I can, therefore, permit no enrolment of the members of the General Assembly under the Conscription Act. The same is true of the judges of the supreme and superior courts, should any of them fall within the ages above mentioned; and of the secretaries of the Executive departments; the heads and necessary clerks of the other departments of the State government; and the tax collectors and receivers of the different counties, who are now in the midst of their duties, and are not permitted by law to supply substitutes, and whose duties must be performed, or the revenues of the State cannot be collected. The same remark applies to the staff of the Commander-in-Chief. There is no statute exempting them from military duty, for the reason that they are at all times subject to the command of the Governor, and are not expected to go into the ranks.

"The State's quartermaster, commissary, ordnance and engineers' departments fall within the same rule. The major-generals, brigadier-generals, and other officers of the militia, would seem to be entitled to like consideration.

"Again, the Western & Atlantic Railroad is the property of the State, and is under the control and management of the Governor. It is a source of revenue to the State and its successful management is a matter of great military importance, both to the State and the Confederacy. I now have an efficient force of officers and workmen upon the road, and must suspend operations if all between 18 and 35 are taken away from the road.

"I would also invite your attention to the further fact that the State owns and controls the Georgia Military Institute at Marietta, and now has in the Institute over 125 cadets, a large proportion of whom are within the age of conscripts. If they are not exempted, this most important institution is broken up. I must not omit, in this connection, the students of the State University, and of the other colleges of the State. These valuable institutions of learning must also be suspended if the law is enforced against the students.

"I would, also, respectfully call your attention to the further fact that in portions of our State where the slave population is heavy, almost the entire white male population capable of bearing arms except the overseers on the plantations are now in the military service of the Confederacy. Most of these overseers are over 18 and under 35. If they are carried to the field thousands of slaves must be left without overseers, and their labor not only

lost at a time when there is great need of it in the production of provisions and supplies for our armies, but the peace and safety of helpless women and children must be imperilled for want of protection against bands of idle slaves, who must be left to roam over the country without restraint.

"It is also worthy of remark, that a large proportion of our best mechanics, and of the persons engaged in the various branches of manufacturing now of vital importance to the success of our cause, are within the ages which subject them to the provisions of the Conscription Act.

"My remark that I cannot permit the enrolment of such State officers as are necessary to the existence of the State government, and the working of the State road, does not, of course, apply to persons engaged in the other useful branches of industry considered of paramount importance, but I must ask, in justice to the people of this State, that such exemptions among these classes be made as the public necessities may require.

"As you are well aware, the military operations of the Government cannot be carried on without the use of all our railroads, and the same necessity exists for the exemption of all other railroad officers and workmen which exists in the case of the State road.

"There are doubtless other important interests not herein enumerated which will readily occur to you, which must be kept alive or the most serious consequences must ensue.

"The Constitution gives to Congress the power to provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the Confederate States, reserving to the States, respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress. The Conscription Act gives the President the power to enroll the entire militia of the States between 18 and 35, and takes from the States their constitutional right to appoint the officers and to train the militia.

"While this Act does not leave to the States the appointment of a single officer to command the militia employed in service of the Confederate States under its provisions, it places it in the power of the President to take a major-general of the militia of a State, if he is not 35 years of age, and place him in the ranks of the Confederate States army, under the command of a 3d lieutenant appointed by the President, and to treat him as a deserter if he refuses to obey the call and submit to the command of the subaltern placed over him.

"I do not wish to be understood, in any portion of this letter, to refer to the intentions of the President, but only to the extraordinary powers given him by the Act.

"This Act not only disorganizes the military system of all the States, but consolidates almost the entire military power of the States in the Confederate Executive with the appointment of the officers of the militia, and enables him at his pleasure to cripple or destroy the civil government of each State, by

arresting and carrying into the Confederate service the officers charged by the State Constitution with the administration of the State government.

"I notice by a perusal of the Conscription Act that the President may, with the consent of the Governors of the respective States, employ State officers in the enrolment of the conscripts. While I shall throw no obstacle in the way of the general enrolment of persons embraced within the Act, except as above stated, I do not feel that it is the duty of the Executive of a State to employ actively the officers of the State in the execution of a law which virtually strips the State of her constitutional military powers, and, if fully executed, destroys the legislative department of her government, making even the sessions of her General Assembly dependent upon the will of the Confederate Executive. I therefore respectfully decline all connection with the proposed enrolment, and propose to reserve the question of the constitutionality of the Act, and its binding force upon the people of this State, for their consideration at a time when it may less seriously embarrass the Confederacy in the prosecution of the war.

"You will much oblige by informing me of the extent to which you propose making exemptions, if any, in favor of the interests above mentioned, and such others as you may consider of vital importance. The question is one of great interest to our people, and they are anxious to know your pleasure in the premises.

"Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

"JOSEPH E. BROWN."

"RICHMOND, April 28, 1862.

"TO HIS EXCELLENCY JOSEPH E. BROWN,

"GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF GEORGIA :

"Dear Sir:-I have received your letter of the 22d inst., informing me of your transfer of the Georgia State troops to General Lawton, commanding Confederate forces at Savannah-suggesting that there be as little interference as possible on the part of the Confederate authorities with the present organization of those troops-and mentioning various persons and classes as proper subjects for exemption from military service under the provisions of an Act to further provide for the public defence,' approved on the 16th inst.

"I enclose copies of the Act for receiving State troops tendered, as organized, and of the Exemption Act. By the first, interference with the present organization of companies, squadrons, battalions, or regiments, tendered by Governors of States, is specially disclaimed. By the other, exemptions are made which explain (satisfactorily, I trust,) the policy of Congress with regard to the persons and interests you specify.

"The constitutionality of the Act you refer to as the 'Conscription Bill' is clearly not derivable from the power to call out the militia, but from that

to raise armies. With regard to the mode of officering the troops now called into the service of the Confederacy, the intention of Congress is to me, as to you, to be learned from its Acts; and from the terms employed, it would seem that the policy of election by the troops themselves is adopted by Congress.

"With great regard, very respectfully,

"Your obedient servant,

"JEFFERSON DAVIS."

"EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, } MILLEDGEVILLE, GA., May 9, 1862.

"HIS EXCELLENCY JEFFERSON DAVIS:

"Dear Sir:--I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your favor of the 28th ult., in reply to my letter to you upon the subject of the Conscription Act. I should not trouble you with a reply were it not that principles are involved of the most vital character, upon the maintenance of which, in my opinion, depend not only the rights and the sovereignty of the States, but the very existence of State government.

"While I am always happy as an individual to render you any assistance in my power in the discharge of the laborious and responsible duties assigned you, and while I am satisfied you will bear testimony that I have never, as the Executive of this State, failed in a single instance to furnish all the men and more than you have called for and to assist you with all the other means at my command, I cannot consent to commit the State to a policy which is in my judgment subversive of her sovereignty and at war with all the principles for the support of which Georgia entered into this revolution.

"It may be said that it is no time to discuss constitutional questions in the midst of revolution, and that State rights and State sovereignty must yield for a time to the higher law of necessity. If this be a safe principle of action it cannot certainly apply till the necessity is shown to exist; and I apprehend it would be a dangerous policy to adopt were we to admit that those who are to exercise the power of setting aside the Constitution are to be the judges of the necessity for so doing. But did the necessity exist in this case? The Conscription Act cannot aid the Government in increasing its supply of arms or provisions, but can only enable it to call a larger number of men into the field. The difficulty has never been to get men. The States have already furnished the Government more than it can arm, and have from their own means armed and equipped very large numbers for it. Georgia has not only furnished more than you have asked, and armed and equipped from her own treasury a large proportion of those she has sent to the field, but she stood ready to furnish promptly her quota (organized as the Constitution provides) of any additional number called for by the President.

"I beg leave again to invite your attention to the constitutional question involved. You say in your letter that the constitutionality of the Act is