act of Congress providing for a temporary government for | the Territory of Idaho approved March 3, 1863.*

The report was concurred in-yeas 26, nays 13, as follows:

YEAS-Messrs. Buckalew, Carlile, Collamer, Cowan, Davis, Doolittle, Foot, Foster, Harding, Harris, Henderson, Hendricks, Howard, Johnson, Lane of Indiana, Morrill, Nesmith, Porcell, Ramsey, Saulsbury, Ten Eyck, Trumbull, Van Winkle, Wade, Wilkinson, Willey-26.

NAYS-Messrs. Anthony, Chandler, Clark, Dixon, Grimes, Hale, Harlan, Lane of Kansas, Morgan, Pomeroy, Sprague, Sumner, Wilson-13.

May 27-Mr. HARLAN moved to amend the May 20-The above report was made by Mr. amendment by making the word "person" read WEBSTER in the House, and agreed to-yeas 102,"persons," and adding the wordsnays 26, as follows:

1864, February 10-Mr. SUMNER offered the Smithers, Stevens, Thayer, Upson, Ellihu B. Washburne, following:

COLORED PERSONS AS WITNESSES.

Second Session, Thirty-Seventh Congress.
IN SENATE.

Pending the confiscation bill, June 28, 1862, Mr. SUMNER moved these words as an addition to the 14th section:

And in all proceedings under this act there shall be no exclusion of any witness on account of color.

Which was rejected—yeas 14, nays 25, as follows:

YEAS-Messrs. Chandler, Grimes, Harlan, Howard, King,
Lane of Kansas, Morrill, Pomeroy, Sumner, Trumbull, Wade,
Wilkinson, Wilmot-14.
60,mer, Cowan, Davis, Dixon, Doolittle. Fessenden, Foot, Fes-

The bill passed the Senate-yeas 32, nays 4, mith, Powell, Snudsbury, Trumbull, Van Winkle, Willey (Messrs. Carlile, Hendricks, Powell, Saulsbury.)

T. W. HIGGINSON'S PARTICIPATION IN THE BURNS | Government cannot close its ears to the demand you have made for assistance. I have ordered troops to cross the river. They come as your friends and brothers-as enemies

CASE.

1864, March 14-Mr. Davis offered this res- only to armed rebels, who are preying upon you; your olution:

Whereas in the history of the attempt to rescue Anthony Burns, a fugitive slave from the State of Virginia, from the custody of the United States officers in Boston, in 1854, it is represented, and it is also generally reported, that T. W. Higginson, now the colonel of a regiment of negro troops in the service of the United States, led, or was engaged in, an assault made by a body of men, with force and arms, upon the court-house in Boston, where the said Anthony Burns was held in the custody of the law and officers of the United States, with the intent and purpose of forcibly rescuing him from such custody; and whereas it is represented and generally reported that a citizen of the United States, then having the custody of said Burns, was killed and murdered by said assailants: Therefore, be it

homes, your families, and your property are safe under our
protection. All your rights shall be religiously respected,
notwithstanding all that has been said by the traitors to
induce you to believe our advent among you will be signal-
ized by an interference with your slaves. Understand one
thing clearly: not only will we abstain from all such inter-
ference, but we will, on the contrary, with an iron hand
crush any attempt at insurrection on their part. Now that
we are in your midst, I call upon you to fly to arms and sup
port the General Government; sever the connection that
binds you to traitors; proclaim to the world that the
faith and loyalty so long boasted by the Old Dominion are
still preserved in Western Virginia, and that you remain
true to the stars and stripes.
G. B. MCCLELLAN,
Major General Commanding.

TION.

Resolved, That the president of the Senate appoint a committee of three members of the Senate to investigate whether MAJOR GENERAL ROBERT PATTERSON'S PROCLAMAthe said T. W. Higginson had any connection, and if any, what, with the said attempt to rescue the said Burns, and with the killing and murdering of any person having his custody, and that said committee have power to send for persons and papers.

March 17-Mr. TRUMBULL moved to table it; which was agreed to-yeas 29, nays 10, as follows:

YEAS-Messrs. Anthony, Brown, Chandler, Collamer, Dixon, Doolittle, Fessenden, Foot, Foster, Grimes, Harding, Harlan, Howard, Howe, Lane of Indiana, Lane of Kansas, Morgan, Morrill, Pomeroy, Ramsey, Sherman, Sprague, Sumner, Ten Eyck, Trumbull, Van Winkle, Wilkinson, Willey, Wilson-29. NAYS-Messrs. Buckalew, Carlile, Conness, Davis, Hen. dricks, Johnson, McDougall, Powell, Riddle, Saulsbury-10.

COLORED SCHOOLS.

June 8-The House passed a bill to provide for the public instruction of youth in Washington city, with an amendment providing for separate schools for the colored children, by setting apart such a proportion of the entire school fund as the number of colored children between the ages of six and seventeen bear to the whole number of children in the District. The bill, with amendments, passed both Houses without a division.

Military Reports, Orders, and Proclamations.

MAJOR GENERAL M'CLELLAN'S PROCLAMATION IN

WESTERN VIRGINIA.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF OHIO,
CINCINNATI, May 26, 1861.

To the Union men of Western Virginia:
VIRGINIANS: The General Government has long enough
endured the machinations of a few factious rebels in your
midst. Armed traitors have in vain endeavored to deter
you from expressing your loyalty at the polls. Having
failed in this infamous attempt to deprive you of the exer-
cise of your dearest rights, they now seek to inaugurate a
reign of terror, and thus force you to yield to their schemes
and submit to the yoke of the traitorous conspiracy digni-
fied by the name of the Southern Confederacy. They are
destroying the property of citizens of your State and ruin-
ing your magnificent railways.

The General Government has heretofore carefully abstained from sending troops across the Ohio, or even from posting them along its banks, although frequently urged by many of your prominent citizens to do so. It determined to wait the result of the State election, desirous that no one might be able to say that the slightest effort had been made from this side to influence the free expression of your opinions, although the many agencies brought to bear upon you by the rebels were well known. You have now shown, under the most adverse circumstances, that the great mass of the people of Western Virginia are true and loyal to that beneficent Government under which we and our fathers lived so long.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA.
CHAMBERSBURG, PA., June 3, 1861.

To the United States Troops of this Department:

The restraint which has necessarily been imposed upon you, impatient to overcome those who have raised their parricidal hands against our country, is about to be removed. You will soon meet the insurgents.

You are not the aggressors. A turbulent faction, misled by ambitious rulers, in times of profound peace and national prosperity, have occupied your forts and turned the guns against you; have seized your arsenals and armories, and appropriated to themselves Government supplies; have arrested and held as prisoners your companions marching to their homes under State pledge of security, and have captured vessels and provisions voluntarily assured by State legislation from molestation, and now seek to perpetuate s reign of terror over loyal citizens.

They have invaded a loyal State, and entrenched them

selves within its boundaries in defiance of its constituted

authorities.

You are going on American soil to sustain the civil power, to relieve the oppressed, and to retake that which is unlawfully held.

You must bear in mind you are going for the good of the whole country, and that, while it is your duty to punish sedition, you must protect the loyal, and, should the occa sion offer, at once suppress servile insurrection. a happy people will reward you. Success will crown your efforts; a grateful country and

By order of MAJOR GENERAL PATTERSON:

F. J. PORTER, Asst. Adj. General. SECRETARY CAMERON'S LETTER TO GEN. BUTLER. WASHINGTON, May 30, 1861. SIR: Your action in respect to the negroes who came within your lines from the service of the rebels is approved. The Department is sensible of the embarrassments which must surround officers conducting military operations in a State by the laws of which slavery is sanctioned. The Gov ernment cannot recognize the rejection by any State of the Federal obligations, nor can it refuse the performance of the Federal obligations resting upon itself. Among these than that of suppressing and dispersing armed combinsFederal obligations, however, none can be more important constitutional authority. While, therefore, you will pertions formed for the purpose of overthrowing its whole mit no interference by the persons under your command with the relations of persons held to service under the laws of any State, you will, on the other hand, so long as any State the control of such armed combinations, refrain from surwithin which your military operations are conducted is under rendering to alleged masters any persons who may come within your lines. You will employ such persons in the services to which they may be bost adapted, keeping an ac count of the labor by them performed, of the value of it, their final disposition will be reserved for future deler and the expenses of their maintenance. The question of

mination.

To Major General BUTLER.

SIMON CAMERON,
Secretary of War.

MAJOR GENERAL BUTLER TO LIEUTENANT GENERAL SCOTT.
HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF VIRGINIA,
May 27, 1861.
Since I wrote my last despatch the question in

As soon as the result of the election was known the trai-regard to slave property is becoming one of very serions tors commenced their work of destruction. The General magnitude. The inhabitants of Virginia are using their

negroes in the batteries, and are preparing to send the wo- Under these circumstances it seems quite clear that the men and children south. The escapes from them are very substantial rights of loyal masters will be best protected by numerous, and a squad has come in this morning to my receiving such fugitives, as well as fugitives from disloyal pickets bringing their women and children. Of course masters, into the service of the United States, and employthese cannot be dealt with upon the theory on which I de-ing them under such organizations and in such occupations signed to treat the services of able-bodied men and women as circumstances may suggest or require. Of course a recwho might come within my lines, and of which I gave you ord should be kept showing the name and description of a detailed account in my last despatch. I am in the ut- the fugitives, the name and the character, as loyal or dismost doubt what to do with this species of property. Up loyal, of the master, and such facts as may be necessary to to this time I have had come within my lines men and wo- a correct understanding of the circumstances of each case men with their children, entire families, each family be- after tranquillity shall have been restored. Upon the relonging to the same owner. I have, therefore, determined turn of peace, Congress will, doubtless, properly provide for to employ, as I can do very profitably, the able-bodied per- all the persons thus received into the service of the Union, sons in the party, issuing proper food for the support of and for just compensation to loyal masters. In this way all, and charging against their services the expense of care only, it would seem, can the duty and safety of the Governand sustenance of the non-laborers, keeping a strict and ac- ment and the just rights of all be fully reconciled and harcurate account as well of the services as of the expendi-monized. ture, having the worth of the services and the cost of the expenditure determined by a board of survey, to be hereafter detailed. I know of no other manner in which to dispose of this subject and the questions connected therewith. As a matter of property to the insurgents, it will be of very great moment, the number that I now have amounting, as I am informed, to what, in good times, would be of the value of sixty thousand dollars. Twelve of these negroes, I am informed, have escaped from the batteries on Sewall's Point, which, this morning, fired upon my expedition as it passed by out of range. As a means of offence therefore in the enemy's hands, these negroes, when able-bodied, are of the last importance. Without them the batteries could not have been erected, at least for many weeks. As a military question, it would seem to be a measure of necessity to deprive their masters of their services. How can this be done? As a political question and a question of humanity, can I receive the services of a father and mother, and not take the children? Of the humanitarian aspect I have no doubt. Of the political one I have no right to judge. I therefore submit all this to your better judgment, and as the questions have a political aspect, I have ventured, and I trust I am not wrong in so doing, to duplicate the parts of my despatch relating to this subject, and forward them to the Secretary of War.

*

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
B. F. BUTLER.
Lieutenant General SCOTT.

SECRETARY CAMERON'S REPLY TO GEN. BUTLER.
WASHINGTON, August 8, 1861.

You will therefore consider yourself as instructed to govern your future action, in respect to fugitives from service, by the principles herein stated, and will report from time to time, and at least twice in each month, your action in the premises to this Department. You will, however, neither authorize nor permit any interference, by the troops under your command, with the servants of peaceful citizens in house or field; nor will you, in any way, encourage such servants to leave the lawful service of their masters; nor will you, except in cases where the public safety may seem to require, prevent the voluntary return of any fugitive, to the service from which he may have escaped.

I am, General, very respectfully, your obedient servant, SIMON CAMERON, Secretary of War. Maj. Gen. B. F. BUTLER, Commanding. Department of Virginia, Fortress Monroe.

CONCERNING FUGITIVE SLAVES.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF WASHINGTON,
WASHINGTON, July 17, 1861.

[General Orders No 33.]

Fugitive slaves will, under no pretext whatever, be permitted to reside or be in any way harbored in the quarters and camps of the troops serving in this Department. Neither will such slaves be allowed to accompany troops on the march.

Commanders of troops will be held responsible for a strict observance of this order.

By command of Brigadier General Mansfield:

THEO. TALBOT, Assistant Adjutant General. GENERAL: The important question of the proper disposiComplaint having been made that slaves were tion to be made of fugitives from service in States in insur-abducted by soldiers going North on the cars, rection against the Federal Government, to which you have the following order was issued: again directed my attention in your letter of July 30, has received my most attentive consideration.

It is the desire of the President that all existing rights, in all the States, be fully respected and maintained. The war now prosecuted on the part of the Federal Government is a war for the Union, and for the preservation of all constitutional rights of States, and the citizens of the States, in the Union. Hence no question can arise as to fugitives from service within the States and Territories in which the authority of the Union is fully acknowledged. The ordinary forms of judicial proceeding, which must be respected by military and civil authorities alike, will suffice for the enforcement of all legal claims. But in States wholly or partially under insurrectionary control, where the laws of the United States are so far opposed and resisted that they cannot be effectually enforced, it is obvious that rights dependent on the execution of those laws must, temporarily, fail; and it is equally obvious that rights dependent on the laws of the States within which military operations are conducted must be necessarily subordinated to the military exigencies created by the insurrection, if not wholly forfeited by the treasonable conduct of parties claiming them. To this general rule rights to services can form no exception.

The act of Congress approved August 6, 1861, declares that if persons held to service shall be employed in hostility to the United States, the right to their services shall be forfeited, and such persons shall be discharged therefrom. It follows of necessity that no claim can be recognized by the military authorities of the Union to the services of such persons when fugitives.

HEADQUARTERS CITY GUARD,
WASHINGTON, August 10, 1861.

To Captain H. DAVIDSON,

Commanding Guard at Railroad Depot: SIR: It is directed by the Provost Marshal that you permit no soldiers to leave this city by the railroad who are unable to show that they have been properly discharged from the service of the United States; also, that no negroes, without sufficient evidence of their being free or of their right to travel, are permitted to leave the city upon the I am, Captain, very respectfully, your obedient servant, W. W. AVERELL, A. A. A. G.

cars.

officer:

EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION OF GEN. FREMONT.* HEADQUARTERS OF THE WESTERN DEPARTMENT, ST. LOUIS, August 31, 1861. Circumstances in my judgment, of sufficient urgency, render it necessary that the commanding general of this *This Retaliatory Proclamation was issued by a rebel HEADQUARTERS FIRST MILITARY DISTRICT M. S. G. CAMP HUNTER, September 2, 1861. To all whom it may concern: Whereas Major General John C. Fremont, commanding the minions of Abraham Lincoln in the State of Missouri, has seen fit to declare martial law throughout the whole State, and has threatened to shoot any citizen soldier found in arms within certain limits; also, to confiscate the propA more difficult question is presented in respect to per-erty and free the negroes belonging to the members of the sons escaping from the service of loyal masters. It is quite Missouri State Guard: apparent that the laws of the State, under which only the services of such fugitiues can be claimed, must needs be wholly, or almost wholly, suspended, as to remedies, by the insurrection and the military measures necessitated by it. And it is equally apparent that the substitution of military for judicial measures for the enforcement of such claims must be attended by great inconveniences, embarrassments, and injuries.

Therefore, know ye that I, M. Jeff. Thompson, Brigadier General of the first military district of Missouri, having not only the military authority of Brigadier General, but certain police powers granted by Acting Governor Thomas C. Reynolds, and confirmed afterwards by Governor Jackson, do most solemnly promise that for every member of the Missouri State Guard or soldier of our allies, the armies of the Confederate States, who shall be put to death in pursu