* * * tioned, the power attempted to be exercised here was neither of these. It was the power to remove an officer and destroy a regimental organization, the officer and the regiment being in the national service. If the Governor can do these or either of these things, he can remove all the officers and disband all the regiments from his State. And if one Governor can do so, all the Governors of the States possess the same power. Neither is there any limit of time or place to its exercise. So that if the Governor of Kansas can sustain his assumption in this case, a combination of Governors might utterly disorganize an army in the face of the enemy it was called out to meet, or disband it entirely. If the power to do this or anything like it exists, it must be found in the Constitution, for the whole scope of the legislation of Congress is at war with it, being all founded on the assumption that the troops furnished from the States to the National Government are, when in its service, under the exclusive control of the President as Commander-in-Chief, subject to the rules for their organization, arming, discipline, and government which Congress may establish. Giving to the constitutional reservations in favor of the States the most liberal construction which can be claimed for them, they confer no right on the State authorities to disturb the organization of militia or volunteer regiments in the national service, or to interfere in any way with the control which the President, under the national Constitution and laws, shall exercise over them. Recognizing the constitutional reservation of the appointment of officers referred to, Congress, in the act of July 22, 1861, has provided that when vacancies occur in any of the companies of volunteers, the officers as high as captain shall be elected to fill them by the men of such companies, and when vacancies in the regiments occur above the rank of captain, they shall be filled by the votes of the commissioned officers of such regiment, and all officers so elected shall be commissioned by the respective Governors of the States, or by the President of the United States. But this does not by the remotest implication give to the Governor who may commission an officer the right to depose him when he is once elected, commissioned, and received into the service of the United States. By the section just quoted, the right to take away the commission is, in a certain case, given to the commander of a separate department, or a detached army, with the approval of the President, but it is nowhere given to the Governor of a State, and, in my opinion, it does not exist. That the Governors of the loyal States have, both personally and officially, rendered most valuable and effective service to the National Government in its efforts to suppress the present insurrection is well known, and this service, with many of them, has not ended when the troops of their States entered into the employment of the United States. For the devoted and patriotic labors of some of these Chief Magistrates in ministering to the wants of their soldiers in the field will shine among the brightest incidents of the war. But these labors are in aid of the Government and with its approbation. They are performed, not because it is a legal duty imposed by Congress, or, in many instances, even by their respective States, but under the impulse of a generous humanity and patriotism. Of course, such assistance to the Government can afford no good pretext for any interference with the organization or control of regiments mustered into the national service. It seems hardly necessary to add that if the Fourth Regiment of Kansas Volunteers have been accepted and mustered into service under the act of July 25, 1861, Chapter XVII, or the second section of the act of July 31, 1861, Chapter XXXV, the foregoing remarks apply to them with as much force as if they had been accepted and mustered in under the act of July 22, 1861, since the two acts first named are supplementary to that act, and all its provisions are extended to those acts. I am, therefore, clearly of opinion, if the facts above assumed be true, that you had full authority in law to issue the order in question. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, EDW. BATES, Major-General HUNTER, WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington City, D. C., June 16, 1862. Commanding Department of the South: GENERAL: By direction of the President, Brigadier-General Saxton has been assigned to special duty in your department for the purpose of occupying, cultivating, and taking care of the plantations under your command, and protecting, employing, and instructing the inhabitants who have not hitherto been accustomed to self-protection. He will, of course, continue to be subordinate to your authority as commander of the department. It is the desire of the President that you should afford him the aid of that authority for the performance of his special duties, and that so far as may be possible he be left free to act therein according to his instructions and circumstances that may exist. You will please place in the command of General Saxton such military guard as will enable him to protect the plantations and inhabitants thereof that may be in his charge from trespass, invasion, or intrusion, and to preserve order and enforce discipline and maintain police and sanitary regulations within his special command. You will afford him the quartermaster's, commissary, and medical stores authorized in his instructions, a copy whereof is appended. If active military operations should be prosecuted by you for the capture of Charleston, the special duty assigned General Saxton is not designed to deprive you of his military service, but he may be assigned a command in such operations according to his rank. Under all other circumstances he will be permitted to continue in the uninterrupted performance of the special duties before mentioned. Your obedient servant, EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War. WAR DEPARTMENT, Brig. Gen. R. SAXTON: Washington, D. C., June 16, 1862. SIR: You are hereby assigned to duty in the Department of the South, to act under the orders of the Secretary of War. You are directed to take possession of all the plantations heretofore occupied by the rebels, and take charge of the inhabitants remaining thereon within the department or which the fortunes of the war may hereafter bring into it, with authority to take such measures, make such rules and regulations for the cultivation of the land and for the protection, employment, and government of the inhabitants as circum stances may seem to require. You are authorized to exercise all sanitary and police powers that may be necessary for the health and security of the persons under your charge, and may imprison or exclude all disorderly, disobedient, or dangerous [persons] from the limits of your operations. The major-general commanding the Department of the South will be instructed to give you all the military aid and protection necessary to enable you to carry out the views of the Government. You will have power to act upon the decisions of courts-martial which are called for the trial of persons not in the military service to the same extent that a commander of a department has over courts-martial called for the trial of soldiers in his department, and so far as the persons above described are concerned, you will also have a general control over the action of the provost-marshals. It is expressly understood that, so far as the persons and purposes herein specified are concerned, your action will be independent of that of the other military authorities of the department and in all other cases subordinate only to the major-general commanding. In cases of need or destitution of the inhabitants, you are directed to issue such portions of the army ration and such articles of clothing as may be suitable to the habits and wants of the persons supplied, which articles will be furnished by the quartermaster and commissary of the Department of the South upon requisitions approved by yourself. It is expected that, encouraging industry, skill in the cultivation of the necessaries of life, and general self-improvement, you will, as far as possible, promote the real well-being of all people under your supervision. Medical and ordnance supplies will be furnished by the proper officers, which you will distribute and use according to your instructions. You will account regularly with the proper bureaus of this Department and report frequently, once a week at least. Yours, truly, EDWIN M. STANTON, HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF, Hon. E. M. STANTON, Secretary of War:* * * I inclose herewith some correspondence with the supposed consul of Great Britain upon the subject of my General Orders, No. 41, which I also submit herewith, and also a protest received from the several consuls whose names are attached, with my reply. The truth is, as a rule, all the consuls, with perhaps the exception of the French consul, have aided the rebellion by every means, and specially by giving means of transferring the Confederate funds to Europe and buying arms and ammunition. I inclose also copies of correspondence in regard to certain sugars of Mr. Covas which relate to this subject, which will be sufficiently explicit in itself.* BENJ. F. BUTLER, *For portions omitted, see Series I, Vol. XV, p. 478. [Inclosure No. 1.] BRITISH CONSULATE, New Orleans, La., June 14, 1862. Maj. Gen. BENJAMIN F. BUTLER, U. S. Army, Commanding Department of the Gulf, New Orleans: SIR: I beg to inform you that great doubt exists in the minds of British subjects who, under the provisions of your Order No. 41, are called upon to subscribe the oath therein set forth, as to the consequence of compliance with the behests of that order. I would therefore respectfully request that you will inform me whether the oath prescribed in the first instance is intended, or in your understanding can be construed, to affect the natural allegiance they owe to the Government of their nativity. Objections have also been very generally urged against the oath prescribed to duly registered aliens on the ground that it imposes on them (in words at least) the office of spy, and forces them to acts inconsistent with the ordinary obligations of probity, honor, and neutrality. Hoping that I may receive such explanations as may obviate the difficulties suggested, I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, GEORGE COPPELL, [Inclosure No. 2.] HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF, GEORGE COPPELL, Esq., New Orleans, La., June 14, 1862. Acting Consul of Her Britannic Majesty, New Orleans: SIR: I am directed by the major-general commanding to inform you that no answer is to be given to the note of George Coppell, esq., of this date, until his credentials and pretensions are recognized by his own Government and the Government of the United States. attempts at official action on Mr. Coppell's part must cease. credentials have been sought for, but not exhibited. I have the honor to be, your obedient servant, Maj. Gen. B. F. BUTLER, P. HAGGERTY, All His Commanding Department of the Gulf: GENERAL: The undersigned foreign consuls accredited to the Government of the United States have the honor to represent that General Orders, No. 41, under date of 10th instant, contain certain clauses against which they deem it their duty to protest, not only in order to comply with their obligations as representatives of their respective Governments, now at peace and in friendly relations with the United States, but also to protect, by all possible means, such of their fellow-citizens as may be morally or materially injured by the execution of an order which they consider as contrary both to that justice which they have a right to expect at the hands of the Government of the United States and to the laws of nations. The order contains two oaths, one applicable both to the native born and to such foreigners as have not claimed and received protection from their Government, &c.; the second applicable, it would seem, to such foreigners as may have claimed and received the above protection; thus, unnaturalized foreigners are divided into two categories, a distinction which the undersigned cannot admit. The order says that the required "oath will not be, as it has never been, forced upon any;" that "it is too sacred an obligation, too exalted in its tenure, and brings with it too many benefits and privileges to be profaned by unwilling lip service;" and that "all persons shall be deemed to have been citizens of the United States who shall have been resident therein for the space of five years and upward, and if foreign born shall not have claimed and received a protection of their Government, duly signed and registered by the proper officer, more than sixty days previous to the publication of this order." Whence it follows that foreigners are placed on the same footing with the native-born and naturalized citizens, and in the alternative, either of being deprived of their means of existence or forced implicitly to take the required oath, if they wish to ask and do receive "any favor, protection, privilege, passport, or to have money paid them, property or other valuable thing whatever delivered to them, or any benefit of the power of the United States extended to them, except protection from personal violence." Now, of course, when a foreigner does not wish to submit to the laws of the country of which he is a resident, he is invariably and everywhere at liberty to leave that country; but here he does not even enjoy that privilege, for to leave he must procure a passport, to obtain which he must take an oath that he is unwilling to take, and yet that oath "is so sacred and so exalted in its tenure that it must not be profaned by unwilling lip service." It is true that the order excepts those foreigners who claimed and received the protection of their Government more than sixty days previous to its publication; but this exception is merely nominal, because the very great majority of foreigners never had any cause hitherto in this country to ask, and therefore to receive, "a protection of their Government." Besides, this exception implies an interference with the interior administration of foreign Governments-an act contrary to the laws of nations. Whether the foreign residents have or have not complied with the laws and edicts of their own Governments is a matter between them and their consuls, and the undersigned deny the right of any foreign power to meddle with, and still less to enforce, the laws of their respective countries, as far as their fellow-citizens are concerned. When a consul extends the high protection of his Government to such of his countrymen as are neither naturalized nor charged with any breach of the laws of the country in which they reside, he is to be supported by a friendly Government; for it is a law in all civilized countries that if foreigners must submit to the laws of the country in which they reside, they, and, a fortiori, their consuls must, in exchange of that respect for those laws, receive due protection-that protection, in fact, which the foreigners have invariably enjoyed in this country up to the present time. Now foreigners are deprived of that protection unless they become citizens of the United States, and this is done without a warning and in opposition to the laws of the United States concerning the mode in which foreigners may become citizens of this country. The undersigned must remark that a just law can have no retroactive action and can be enforced |