Judge Lyons has granted an injunction, arresting the
impressment of flour by the Secretary of War, and Congress is debating a bill
which, if passed, will be a marked rebuke to the government.
Notwithstanding the wishes of the Secretary of War, the
President, and Gen. Rains, Lt.-Col. Lay is still exempting Marylanders,
and even foreigners who have bought real estate, and resided for years in this
country, if they have “not taken the oath of domicile.”
In Eastern Tennessee, 25,500 conscripts were enrolled, and
yet only 6000 were added to the army. The rest were exempted, detailed, or
deserted. Such is the working of the Conscription Act, fettered as it is by the
Exemption Law, and still executed under Judge Campbell's decision. Gen. Rains
has the title, but does not execute the functions of Superintendent of the
Bureau of Conscription. The President has been informed of everything.
SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's
Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 279
