It might not be safe to confine the commissioner's authority to action under laws "concerning persons of African descent," as there will be trouble in practical application of the laws of genealogy when we get into courts, especially if they are inclined to restrict the powers and jurisdiction of the commissioner; it is therefore proposed to include not only persons of African descent, but "all who are or shall become free," &c. As the law is retrospective in one sense, and as, before it shall have been approved, persons and States, perhaps the United States government, may have taken further steps forward, it is suggested that all its provisions should embrace not only those who now are free, but those also who may hereafter become free. The phraseology of the above is in accordance with that idea. On the fourth page, ninth line, it is proposed to insert the following amendment, viz.: after the words, "and the said," insert the following: “commissioner, and by his direction the said assistant commissioners shall have power to permit persons of African descent and persons who are or shall have become free as aforesaid under such rules and regulations as may be from time to time prescribed by said commissioner, and approved by the Secretary of War, to occupy, cultivate, and improve all lands lying within those districts now or heretofore in rebellion, which lands may have been or may hereafter be abandoned by their former owners, and all real estate to which the United States shall have acquired title, and which shall not have been previously appropriated by the government to other uses." With the foregoing amendments and additions, it seems to me that the bill will give ample power to accomplish the object desired, as I suppose, by the honorable committee. hope, however, that it will not be deemed an impropriety for me to make another suggestion. The work laid out for the Bureau of Emancipation is of immense magnitude. Two and a half millions of wards, driven from their accustomed shelters by the sharp catastrophes of war, landless, houseless, homeless, appeal to the government to guard and save them. From their earliest years deprived of the light of knowledge, they are children, able as yet to see only the star of freedom. They feel with hope and confidence that the flag which brings to them liberty will spread over them the mantle of its protection. In the heart of this great people every pulsation throbs for freedom. The instincts of national honor will allow no faltering and no failure in our duty to the oppressed freedmen, who stand shoulder to shoulder in this struggle for our country's safety and renown. I therefore honor you, gentlemen, who see your high duty, and mean to perform it. The plan proposed in this bill is for the organization of a bureau in the War Department. Perhaps this is the best means of commencing the great work; but I think the time will soon come, if it has not already arrived, when the duties of this bureau will require the powers and merit the dignity of a separate executive department. There are several subjects which might be advantageously grouped together, and ought to be placed under the management of one controlling mind. Among them are the following 1. Taking possession, on behalf of the United States, of all real estate abandoned by its owners who have joined the rebels. 2. Taking possession of all real estate forfeited to the United States, to be sold for taxes, whether bought in by order of the President of the United States, or sold to settlers and others. 3. Taking possession of all lands confiscated by the United States. 4. Taking possession of all personal property of the enemy derelict, abandoned, or captured, except prizes at sea. 5. Taking care of and making provision for all persons now freed or hereafter to be freed under any laws of the United States or proclamations of the President, or acts of manumission. 6. Taking care of all colored men in the rebellious districts who were free before the war, and of all fugitives thereto from loyal States. 7. Regulating all legal proceedings for the confiscation of rebel property in all the courts. The United States attorney or special attorney to act under orders of the new department, so far as respects these proceedings. 8. The administration of all laws, rules, and regulations relating to the MIGRATION of colored persons to and from the rebel States. 9. And of all laws relating to the compensation, if any, which the government may hereafter give to aid loyal States in emancipating slaves. 10. Controlling all other matters relating to the emancipation, its processes, its rules and regulations, &c., and the protection of the interests of the colored men on one hand, and the United States on the other. These subjects are intimately connected together; they would require genius, active energy, and powerful executive talent. The Secretaries of War and of the Treasury are already so overwhelmed with labor and responsibility, that it is ungenerous to demand of either of them to assume the herculean task. The labors of this Emancipation Department will be unsurpassed by those of any member of the Cabinet. Its importance to the ultimate issue of the war, to the reputation of our country abroad, to the moral character of our people in the Southern States, to the treasury, to the soldiers, and to the industrial interests of this great nation, can hardly be over-estimated. Whoever is competent to fill the office of Secretary of Emancipation should have a seat in the Cabinet, and should also enjoy the confidence and co-operation of that great and good man, whose proclamation of freedom has re-created a nation, and will cause his name to be venerated wherever the flag of the Union shall cast its shadow. Very truly yours, WILLIAM WHITING, Solicitor of the War Department. WAR DEPARTMENT, Jan. 7, 1864. [No. 10.] LETTER RELATING TO CLAIMS AGAINST THE WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON CITY, January 15, 1864. HON. ELIHU B. WASHBURN, U. S. House of Representatives. SIR: Your letter of the 13th instant has been received, in which you have requested me to "state, if consistent with my views of public duty, the nature, extent, and character of the various claims which have come to my notice against the government, growing out of the loss and destruction of property during the present rebellion; and also to make any general suggestions on the subject that may seem proper." In reply, I have the honor to state that a great variety of claims have been made against the United States, growing out of the loss or destruction of property in the Southern States. Damages have been claimed by loyal citizens, who have always resided in the Northern States, for real estate situated in the rebellious districts, and taken into possession of the Union troops for military purposes, as for quarters, or for storage, or hospitals, barracks, &c. Damages have also been asked, by the same class of persons, for personal property, as cotton, sugar, flour, horses, mules, wagons, agricultural implements, money of the United States, money of the Confederates, hay, grain, corn, and all kinds of forage; wood for burning, and wood cut down, but not removed from the spot when cut, and damages for crops trampled or eaten up by our cavalry, &c. But by far the larger proportion of claims is made by persons residing in the disloyal districts, for every species of real and personal property, alleged to have been used, injured, seized, or destroyed by our troops; for fences burned, crops trampled down or consumed by the army, horses, mules, beef cattle captured, seized and taken away; money, furniture, and household articles lost or stolen; cotton captured, burned, used, lost, or damaged by dirt or otherwise in the use of it for military or naval purposes. Every variety of personal property, lawfully captured by our forces, has been claimed, or damages have been demanded, for its use, detention, or destruction. Rents are continually requested for the use of real estate seized by our troops; property which has been condemned as lawful prize in our courts has been claimed, or its value in damages. And, what is singular, every claimant purports on affidavits to be a loyal citizen, even when, in some cases, it is well known to the department that the party really interested in the claim is actively engaged in rebellion at the time the claim is presented. Respectable gentlemen, on many occasions, act as claim agents on behalf of the parties interested. Often it happens that shift is made in the title, or apparent title, of property, in order that the party making the application may be deemed loyal. And were we to regard the evidence presented to this department as conclusive on the question of loyalty, it would be doubtful whether there is, or ever was, a disloyal person in the seceded States. Many claims have been made for property seized in attempts to violate the laws regulating commerce with the inhabitants of the rebellious States. Few if any instances have occurred of claims for the restoration of property seized in transitu on its course from Maryland, New York, or other States, to Virginia, without being accompanied by testimony of the loyalty, honesty, and high character of the criminal, even where he has been arrested and caught in the act of violating the law. Rebel printing offices have been gutted out; secession houses have been burned; arms and munitions of war have been seized; vessels have been used, seized, or captured by our forces; railroads have been taken for military use; their rolling stock has been worn out; tracks have been destroyed, bridges burned, or blown up, and every form of devastation and destruction has been inflicted on the enemy's property by our armies. For all these injuries, the inevitable result of warlike operations, indemnity is demanded of the government by persons claiming to be loyal, even though residing in the districts at war with us. Wherever the armies move, they scatter broadcast the prolific seed which will ripen into raids. As to the character of these demands upon the Treasury, so far as known to me, some of them have but a slight foundation in fact, many are purely fictitious, and a large proportion of them has been exorbitant and unreasonable. Sometimes the amount of annual rent demanded for a piece of real estate is equal to half or the whole of its value. The valuation placed upon many articles has been more than ten times their real worth; and as a general statement, these claims are of so gross and outrageous a character as to stamp them as fraudulent. Although some claims of this class are fairly stated, yet it would seem as though it were thought fair game by some claimants to rob the Treasury to any practicable extent. In answer to the inquiry as to the amount of these claims which have been or will be brought against the government, I can only say that it is impossible to ascertain the aggregate. I believe that hundreds of millions of dollars will be required to satisfy these demands. If it were now understood that they were allowed and promptly settled in the War Department, and paid by the Treasury, I do not believe that we could carry on the war three months for want of money or credit. I look upon the army of claimants as really quite as formidable to the government as the army of rebels; and if this great and impending danger is not looked in the face, and promptly and decisively met by Congress, I shall feel a diminished confidence in the ultimate preservation of our national honor. In regard to all claims arising in the rebellious districts, of the character above described, I have uniformly refused to acknowledge their legal validity, whether the claimant is loyal or otherwise. I have not felt at liberty to waive the legal right of the government to act according to its own will and pleasure in recognizing these obligations. The question as to what shall and what shall not be conceded to persons, whether loyal or disloyal, friendly or hostile, who reside in those parts of the country now in rebellion, is a question of public policy to be settled by Congress. Congress may or may not assume such obligations. If they should amount to hundreds of millions of dollars, Congress may refuse, by recognizing them, to add such an amount to our national debt; but if they should be of comparatively trifling amount, a different policy might be justified. Perhaps the time has not yet arrived when we can tell what is best to be done; for we do not know when the war will end, what will be the amount of our debt, nor what the extent of the demands upon our national resources. It therefore seems to me that we ought not to allow any court or tribunal to pass upon this class of claims in anticipation of the action of Congress, however small the amount involved may be; and the government ought not to commit itself, through any of its legislative or executive departments, or through the Court of Claims, or by any commissioners or other functionaries, to an acknowledgment of the validity of claims of persons residing or having property in rebellious districts while the war is going on. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, WILLIAM WHITING. [No. 11. Extract from the Records of the War Department.] CORRESPONDENCE WITH HON. G. W. JULIAN, M. C., RELATING TO CONFISCATED LANDS. HON. WILLIAM WHITING. WASHINGTON, Feb 4, 1874. DEAR SIR: The committee on public lands of the House of Representatives would be much obliged for your views as to the best policy to be pursued by the government in dealing with confiscated lands in the rebel States, and lands sold for non-payment of taxes. Without some adequate legislation, these lands must fall into the hands of speculators, and constitute a land monopoly scarcely less to be deplored than slavery itself. The particular question upon which your views are sought is the propriety of such legislation as shall vest these lands at once in the United States, subject them to our land system as other public lands, and parcel them out in suitable homesteads to actual settlers, and particularly to those, whether white or black, who have served the United States in crushing the rebellion. The committee would be glad to have your opinion or any suggestions you may have to offer upon any other question connected with the subject. Hoping the favor of a reply, I am, sir, very respectfully, GEORGE W. JULIAN, Chairman of Committee. |