north of Duck river; so much of Hamilton as lies north and west of Tennessee river; Sequatchie, Knox, DeKalb, Bay, Meigs, McMinn, Rome, Blunt, Sevier, Jefferson, Cocke, Greer, Washington, Carter, Johnson, Sullivan, Hawkins, Hancock, Claiborne, Union, Campbell, Anderson, Morgan, Fentress, Van Buren, Wynn and Hardin counties.

XXV. After the first fee of fifty cents shall be paid by a boat for a trip clearance, no more than twentyfive cents shall be charged under section XXIX. of the Regulations, for any renewal thereof upon the same trip.

XXVI. Of the two months' supplies to be permitted to sutlers under Regulation XIV., only one month of such supplies shall be on account of arrearages; and no Post, Division, or Battery Sutler shall be recog nized by any surveyor of Customs or other officer of the Treasury Department.

XXVII. Officers will in all cases attach to permits issued by them either the original invoices of the merchandise, or certified copies thereof (except the item extension), each one of which shall be officially stamped or countersigned by them.

XXVIII. These rules shall take effect immediately; but every authority to purchase products issued prior to January 5th, 1864, shall be conditioned that no pur

chase be made under it until after that date, and no boat shall be cleared below Helena under Rule XXIII., before that time.

XXIX. Blank applications, affidavits, and bonds for Trade Stores, and authority to purchase the property of insurrectionary districts, will be furnished to any Surveyor applying for them at the office of the Agency in Cincinnati, which blanks will be prepared by such Surveyor for applicants thereof, and the certificate of the Surveyor as to the sufficiency of the sureties upon the bond shall be satisfactory to any Assistant Special Agent, to whom the same shall be presented for the desired authority.

In May a decision was given by Chief Justice Taney on a case which arose in Baltimore under regulations previously prescribed for trade in Maryland. One Carpenter neglected or refused to obtain the permit required, and his goods were seized. The case was carried to the United States Court, and Chief Justice Taney decided as follows:

and of the citizens as they are written in the Constitution, which every judge is sworn to support. Upon the whole, the Court is of opinion that the regulations in question are illegal and void, and that the seizure of the goods of Carpenter, because he refused to comply with them, cannot be sustained. The judgment of the District Court must, therefore, be reversed and the goods delivered to the claimant, his agent or proctor.

COMONFORT, YGNACIO, a Mexican statesman, born in the city of Puebla, March 12th, 1812, was murdered, Nov. 13th, 1863. He entered the Jesuit College in his native city in 1826, became a captain of cavalry in 1832, and soon after began to take an active part in polities, attaching himself to the liberal party, of which, from that time, he continued a leader. In 1834 he was made prefect and military gov ernor of the district of Tlapa, and in 1842 he was elected member of the National Congress, which was soon dissolved by Santa Anna. In 1846 he was reelected to Congress, but this Congress was again dissolved, and a revolu

tion followed in which Comonfort took a conspicuous part. On the return of Santa Anna to power, in 1853, Comonfort was at once di-missed from office. In conjunction with Alvarez he raised the standard of revolution; proclaimed the peace of Ayutla, on the 11th of March; and compelled Santa Anna to retreat from Ayutla; and, having obtained from his friends in New York, where he made a flying visit, the necessary funds to carry on the war. he returned, and drove the Dictator from MexAlvarez assumed the supreme ico, in 1855. government on Santa Anna's abdication, but soon wearying of political cares, delegated his authority to Comonfort, who became provisional president of Mexico, Dec. 11th, 1855. He soon, however, found himself strongly opposed by the conservative party, which comprised in its ranks the clergy, a part of the ariny, and the citizens who were under the influence of the

ple.

A civil war, or any other, does not enlarge the powers of the Federal Government over the States or the people, beyond what the compact has given to it in time of war. A state of war does not annul the 10th article of the amendment to the Constitution, which declares that "the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." Nor does a civil war, or any other war, absolve the judicial department from the duty of maintaining, with an even and firm hand, the rights and powers of the Federal Government and of the States

Comonfort promptly marched against them with a force of 12,000, consisting of the Nation al Guard and that portion of the army which had remained faithful to him, and, on the 20th of March, compelled them to surrender. On the 31st of March he issued a decree ordering the confiscation of the church property, and followed it on the 28th of June by another, forbidding the clergy to hold landed estate. The church party were at once arrayed against him, and a conflict of great bitterness ensued. Revolts, inspired by this party, broke out in different portions of the republic, but were soon suppressed by his vigorous movements. In March, 1857, the Congress of the Republic at Mexico promulgated a new constitution, vesting the legislative power and the control over religious and military affairs solely in Congress. The president, finding it impossible to govern the country, agitated as it was by

factions, under such restrictions was eventually constrained, in October, 1857, to apply for extraordinary powers. These were granted, Nov. 4th, 1857, and, on the 1st of December, he was proclaimed constitutional president. Troubles were, however, multiplying around him. The army, with the exception of a single brigade, had been alienated from him; and on the 17th of December this brigade declared arainst the new constitution, but named him as chief of a new Government. On the 11th of January, 1858, however, they discarded him altogether, and a bloody insurrection broke out that day in the capital, which lasted for ten days. Gen. Comonfort appointed Juarez, then president of the Supreme Court, provisional president, and attempted, by taking the field in person, to retrieve his fortunes, but in vain. On the 21st of January, his capital was in the hands of the insurgents, and he fled with Juarez to Guanajuato, where the latter convened a Congress to take measures to reinstate Comonfort. Meantime, the insurgents and church party had appointed Gen. Zuloaga provisional president, and Comonfort, finding that he could do nothing more for his country, escaped from Mexico, in Feb. 1858, and sailed for the United States, and thence repaired to France. Soon after the success of his friend Juarez, who, in 1859, triumphed over Miramon and the church party, and upon the first movement of the French for the invasion of his country, Comonfort returned thither, and offered his services to Juarez, who at once appointed him chief commander of the troops. In this position, his skill, bravery, and loyalty won him the respect of the French forces, as well as of his own troops. He was murdered by a gang of bandits while on his way to San Luis Potosi.

CONFEDERATE STATES. Most terrible trials befell the Confederacy in 1863, the like

*

OFFICERS OF THE CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT.

EXECUTIVE:-Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, President; A. H. Stephens, of Georgia, Vice-President.

Aids to President-Col. Wm. M. Browne, of Georgia; Col James Chestnut, of South Carolina; Col. Wm. P. Johnston, of Kentucky: Col. Joseph C. Ives, of Mississippi; Col. G. W. C. Lee, of Virginia; Col. John T. Wood.

Private Secretary to President-Burton N. Harrison, of Mississippi.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE:-J. P. Benjamin, of Louisiana, Secretary of State; L. Q. Washington, Chief Clerk. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE:-George Davis, of North Caroi Attorney General; Wade Keyes, of Alabama, Assist ent Attorney General; Rufus R. Rhodes, of Mississippi, Commissioner of Patents; G. E. Nelson, of Georgia, Superintendent of Public Printing; R. M. Smith, of Vir

gaia, Public Printer.

TEPASTRY DEPARTMENT-C. G. Memminger, of South Carolina, Secretary of Treasury: Robert Tyler, Register; C. Elmore, Treasurer; J. M. Strother, of Virginia, Chief k; Lewis Cruger, of South Carolina, Comptroller; B. Bxer, of Florida, First Auditor; W. II. S. Taylor, of LouSara, &cond Auditor.

WAR DEPARTMENT:-James A. Seddon, of Virginia, Sectury of War; Judge J. A. Campbell, of Alabama, AssistSecretary of War; R. G. H. Kean, Chief Bureau of War; Gen. S. Cooper, Adjutant and Inspector-General; Lent-Col J. Withers, Lieut-Col. H. L. Clay, Major E. A. Palfrey, Major Charles H. Lee, Major S. W. Melton, CapReilly, Assistant Adjutants and Inspector-Generals; B-Gen. A. R. Lawton, of Georgia, Quartermaster-Gengral: Col. L. B. Northrop, of South Carolina, CommissaryGeneral; Col. J. Gorgas, Chief of Ordnance; S. P. Moore,

of which have not happened to any such people in modern days. With a currency which had become nearly worthless, a Government that seized upon supplies for the army with a ruthless hand, a railway system so worn as to be incapable of transporting troops and supplies of food for the army and people promptly, its most fertile regions desolated and a scarcity in the entire crops, a blockade so stringent as to cut off the outer world, a conscription that took every man between eighteen and fortyfive into the army, a formidable power claiming their allegiance, invading their towns and States, offering liberty to their slaves, enrolling them in its armies, and defying their retaliation; their strongholds captured, their territory divided, their armies defeated in the field with thousands slain, and the prisoners captured-being large in numbers-held without exchange, the territory growing less and less, themselves unrecognized among nations; any other people than those reared under American institutions would have succumbed--would have proposed terms of peace.

The currency of the Confederate States has, during the year, exerted a most unfavorable influence on their internal affairs, and very seriously diminished their hopes of ultimate success in the war.

At the commencement of hostilities, the impression was universal that the war would be short. The most distinguished politicians, the wisest commercial men and capitalists of all classes, indeed every household, acted upon this view. Hence, every one was soon embarrassed for the want of hundreds of small articles, which might have been procured at cheap rates if the parties had been able to look only a few months into the future. This same short-sightedness controlled the financial affairs of the Confederacy. Its loans were to be in bonds, and its currency was to be paper. The capital invested in the bonds was drawn principally from banks, from merchants who had been driven out of business, and from trust estates and charitable institutions. Such sources were soon exhausted, and it became impossible to make further progress in bonding by appeals to the patriotism of the people, in consequence of their peculiar habits. There were no great money capitalists in the community. The capital of the people consisted mainly in lands and negroes, and the habits of the wealthy for generations had kept them in one channel-that of producing cotton, tobacco, and

caused much discussion among the public men as to the cause and the remedies. Mr. Toombs, of Georgia, in a published letter, presented the following views:

The first great error was in attempting to carry on a great and expensive war solely on credit-without taxation. This is the first attempt of the kind ever made by a civilized people. The result of the experiment will hardly invite its repetition. During the first year of its existence, the present Congress neither levied nor collected a single cent of taxes, and postponed the collection of those levied for the second year to a period fatally too late to support our currency.

The second error naturally resulted from the first, and consummated the destruction of public credit. This error was the use of the public credit almost exclusively in the form of currency. The natural result of this policy was plain, inevitable, overwhelming. It. is a well-settled and sound principle in currency that a nation which has a sufficient quantity of circulating medium properly to answer the wants of its trade and commerce, cannot add to the value of that currency by any further addition to its quantity. In the ordinary state of trade, any excess of the proper quantity exhibits itself in the form of the exportation of bullion-any deficiency, in importation. When, from any cause whatever, the operation of this law is prevented, any redundancy of currency must necessarily depreciate the whole mass, and this depreciation will exhibit itself in the rise in price of all commodities which it

circulates. It is also true that if this redundant currency exists in the form of paper money not convertible into coin at the will of the holder, the measure of this depreciation is the difference between the standard or mint price of bullion and the market price when paid in this currency.

Tested by these plain and sound principles, the solution of the causes of our present financial troubles is easy. When this revolution commenced, our currency was in excess of the wants of society. The proof is that nearly all of the banks within the Confederate States had suspended cash payments, and their notes were depreciated; therefore, the first Treasury note which was put into circulation added its nominal valne to this excess; each succeeding issue enlarged it, and increased the depreciation of the whole mass. Tois depreciation soon began to manifest itself in the rise of commodities; yet the Government has unwiseI continued daily by a forced circulation to add to this excess, increase the depreciation, and enhance the price of all the commodities which it is compelled to purchase, and is thus exhausting the national reSuarces in the ratio of geometrical progression.

This ruinous policy would have long since run its coarse but for the fact that law, intimidation, and, above all, the ardent, sincere, honest but mistaken patriotism of the people have been invoked to uphold it. But the principle being radically wrong, no human power could uphold it long, and in spite of all these powerful proofs, our national currency is depreciated more than one thousand per cent. below gold and silver, four hundred per cent. below suspended bank notes, and prices and payments are rapidly adjusting

themselves to the inexorable facts.

Others denounced the Government for the existing state of affairs, but all agreed that the evil consisted in the excess of paper money. The problem to be solved was to sustain the operations of the Government, and at the same tne reduce the volume of the currency. Mr. Toombs suggested the following measures:

This depreciation of currency having been shown to bare resulted chiefly from the excessive issue of Treasury notes, we can only correct this evil by stoppicg instantly any further issue under any pretence Whatever, and by reducing as rapidly as possible our present outstanding issues. It requires large, compre

hensive, and efficient measures for their continual de duction, until they shall rise in value, and approximate ard value of gold and silver.

as nearly as our circumstances will allow to the stand

Taxation and loans are the only means of attaining this result-taxation, comprehensive, simple, rigid, and equal. The present tax law does not possess these qualities-it is partial, unequal, and coniplex; it fosters vulgar prejudices, and will gather an abundant harvest of frauds and perjuries. The tax in kind and principle is subject to many grave objections. This mode of taxation should never be resorted to when the currency is redundant, but with all its faults may be a necessary evil whenever there is a great deficiency in the circulating medium. The execution of such a law is necessarily difficult, irritating, wasteful, and productive of much fraud.

But certainly, in our present condition, the war cannot be carried on and the currency sustained by taxation alone; we must resort to loans. I am not in the least discouraged by the ill success of the Government lately in funding its Treasury notes. Treasury notes are in great excess; the holders are anxiously hunting for a safe and profitable investment for them. The Government is perfectly able to supply that want; We must issue new heretofore it has not done so. bonds with principal and interest payable in gold and silver, or their equivalent, and adopt measures to make such payment certain. This can be doue by mortgaging a specific portion of the revenue to the new bondholders, adequate to the payment of both principal and interest as each may respectively fall due, coupled with clear provisions that their taxes shall be irrepealable until the mortgages are paid, and that these taxes shall only be paid in gold or the coupons of the bonds for which they are pledged.

By making the provision for our bonds ample at the beginning, so that no future legislation shall be necessary to preserve the public faith, we give the public creditor the best possible security for his money which we are able to offer. The overthrow of Govern ment will be his only danger; that cannot be provided against.

Mr. Oldham, of Texas, later in the year, proposed a plan in Congress, the main feature of which was the levy of such a tax as would extinguish a large portion of the debt. The feature of it was a tax on all outstanding Treasury notes and other securities of the Governinent. This is similar to the plan suggested in his message to Congress by Mr. Davis. (See PUBLIC DOCUMENTS.)

Another scheme proposed was the following: First, a continued money tax should be levied to pay the interest of our debt; and second, the levy of a tax or forced loan of twenty-five per cent., or as much more as may be needed, upon the property of the country, the taxpayers to receive either seven or eight per cent. bonds for such forced loan. I would suggest that the bonds bear not a less rate of interest than seven per cent, this being less than the average rate of interest

in the different States. This tax should be distributed equally upon the wealth of every individual in the Confederacy, to be collected in sums sufficient first to absorb the present currency, and next to provide for the future wants of Government up to fifteen hundred millions.

I believe there are few men of property who could not raise the money to pay this tax, having bonds to hypothecate. But it would not be necessary to require cash from individuals. A tax note would be taken. This tax note, having a prior lien over all other debts, and in addition having the bonds collaterals attached, would command money anywhere, and be at a premium, until our currency became equal to gold and silver. They would be negotiable here and in every other country. Such an assumption of our national debt by the wealth of our country would silence the

If this tax or forced loan be levied equally on all the wealth of our country, its necessity, justice, and propriety will commend it to everybody, for all would see that it is better to give up even half of our estates than to become a conquered people and lose all.

The following is another view that was presented:

When the first excitement of war stirred the patriotism of the people, it was believed that every man able to bear arnis would volunteer, and it was equally believed that every dollar of property would be willingly held subject to the call of the Government. But disappointment has attended both expectations; and as the conscription act was necessary for the army, so a property conscription act has become equally necessary for the Treasury. Funding and volunteering both "played out" about the same time, and as the Government found it necessary to abandon volunteering, and to resort to compulsory conscription, to make all men bear their proper part of the burdens of the army, so now it has become necessary for the money arm of the Government to abandon voluntary funding, and to resort to compulsory loans upon the property of the people.

Two expedients only remain to the Governmentthe forced loan and the public sale of Confederate bonds for what they will bring, both to be accompa nied with a cessation of the issue of Confederate Treasury notes.

It

The most serious consequence which resulted from the depreciation of the currency, was the refusal of the agriculturists to sell their produce for the Government notes, or to sell only at the highest price. This determination, if adhered to, would result in the destruction of the army from a lack of supplies, and the starvation of the people who were engaged in other industrial pursuits in towns and cities. In anticipation of this danger, an act was passed by Congress in the beginning of the year, which authorized the Government to seize or impress all the produce necessary for the army. provided that a board of commissioners should be appointed in each State, who should determine, every sixty days, the prices which the Government should pay for each article of produce impressed within the State. A central board of commissioners was also appointed for all the States. The act authorized the agents of the Government to seize all the produce of the farmer, except so much as was necessary to maintain himself and family. For this produce the agent paid at the rate fixed by the State commissioners. The operation of the act created an unparalleled excitement among the people. A farmer in Louisa county, Virginia, thus wrote, on October 23d, to the papers at Richmond:

You speak of the tardiness with which the farmers are sending forward their crop of wheat. I do not know how it may be in other counties, but so far as Louisa is concerned, there is none to send, as the Government has taken the entire crop. As far as I have heard from, it has all been sent to Richmond on Gov. ernment account, at the fixed price of five dollars per bushel, barely leaving sufficient for seed and family use. All the hay and oats have long since been hauled off to our army in Orange and Culpepper.

Another farmer, on James river, at the same time, wrote as follows:

I see that you and other papers state that there is no wheat in the city mills, and none arriving; and you blame the farmers. You write in ignorance of the facts. The farmers are not blamable. The Government agents have impressed all the wheat, and flour and beef in this region, which was destined for Richmond. I suppose the same is the case all over the State. This will explain to you why no wheat arrives-the farmers have none Look to them. to send-it has been seized by Government agents. JAMES RIVER.

Soon after the act authorizing impressment took effect, instructions were issued from the War Department regulating this proceeding, The details upon which difficulty arose became the subject of further instructions. The following explains some of these details, and shows the severity with which the law might be enforced :

General Orders, No. 19.

ADJUTANT AND INSPECTOR-GENERAL'S OFFICE,
RICHMOND, VA., March 19th, 1863.

In consequence of numerous applications made by various persons to the War Department, it is obvious that some misconception in regard to the instructions of the Secretary of War, in relation to the impressment of supplies, must exist on the part of the people, or that the agents of the Government have violated their instructions. Now, therefore, for the purpose of removing such misconception, and to prevent any violation of these instructions, it is hereby ordered:

I. That no officer of the Government shall, under any circumstances whatever, impress the supplies which a party has for his own consumption, or that of his family, employés, or slaves.

II. That no officer shall at any time, unless specially ordered so to do by a general commanding, in a case of exigency, impress supplies which are on their way to market for sale on arrival.

III. These orders were included in the instructions originally issued in relation to impressment by the Secretary of War; and the officers exercising such authority are again notified that any one acting without will be held strictly responsible. or beyond" the authority given in those instructions,

In conformity with the foregoing, to prevent any inconsiderate action on the part of officers or agents charged with the duty of impressment, they are enjoined, until further orders (which will not be given the army), not to impress any necessaries of subsist unless under imperative exigencies for the supply of ence to man, owned by producers, in transitu to market, or after arriving at market, unless retained an unreasonable time from sale to consumers. By order,

(Signed)

S. COOPER,

Adj't and Insp.-Gen.

At a meeting of the board of commissioners for impressment in the Confederate States, held at Augusta, Georgia, near the close of the year, the following regulations, among others, were adopted:

That the practice of the Confederate Government's agents in making contracts for the purchase of mann factures and other articles for the army, at higher prices than those adopted by the several boards of commissioners in the different States, is highly repre hensible, injurious to the Government, and should be stopped at once by the Secretary of War.

Resolved, That the habit which prevails in many sec tions of the Confederacy, with the quartermasters and commissaries and their agents, in impressing articles for private consumption in families, is contrary to the acts of Congress regulating impressments, and should be prohibited by the War Department.