\ 
 
 
 [Houst:, No. 34.] 
 
 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.— iauaary 13, 186;]. Read 
 first and second times, laid on the table, and ordered to be printed. 
 
 [By Mr. A'est.] 
 
 Endorsing the recent proclamatiou*and order of the Presidenc on the 
 subject of retaliation. 
 
 1 AVhere.\s, The President of the Confederate States did, upon 
 
 2 December 23d, 1802, issue his proclamation, declaring Benjamin 
 
 3 F. Butler to be a felon, deserving of capital punishment, and 
 
 4 ordering that he be no longer considered or treated simply as an 
 
 5 enemy of the Confederate States, but .-is an outlaw and common 
 
 6 enemy of mankind ; that in the event of his capture, the officers 
 
 7 in command of the capturing force do cause him to be inime- 
 
 8 diately executed by hanging, and that no commissioned officer of 
 
 9 the United States taken captive, shall be released on parole before 
 
 10 exchange, until the said Butler shall have met ^Yith due punish- 
 
 11 mcnt for his crimes, and further ordering that all commissioned 
 
12 officers in the command of said Benjamin F. Butler be declared 
 
 13 not entitled*to be considered as soldiers engaged in honorable 
 
 14 warfare, but as robbers and criminals deserving death, and that 
 
 15 they and each of them be, whenever captured, reserved for execu- 
 IG tion ; that all negro slaves captured in arms, be at once delivered 
 
 17 over to the Executive authorities of the respective States to which 
 
 18 they belong, to be dealt with according to the laws of said States, 
 
 19 and that the like orders be executed in all cases with respect to 
 
 20 all commissioned officers of tli^ United States when found serving 
 
 21 in company with armed slaves in insurrection against the author- 
 
 22 • ities of the different States of this Confederacy. 
 
 2^ A7}d v'/irrco.<;. the President did on the day of December, 
 
 •2 1 1862, issue an order to Lieutenant General T. H. Holmes, dircct- 
 
 25 ing him to demand by flag of truce from the authorities of the 
 
 20 T'nited States, the body of one John McNeil, a Brigadier Gene- 
 
 27 ral in the service of the enemy, who had ordered the murder of 
 
 28 ton unarmed citizens of tlio State of Missouri, prisoners in his 
 2!) possession, and that, in the event of said demand not being 
 
 30 complied with, within twenty days after the same being made, the 
 
 31 said Lieutenant General should cause the first ten commissioned 
 
 32 officers belonging to the Federal forces, who might fall into his 
 
3 
 
 33 hands, to be immediately executed without regard to rank ; There- . 
 
 34 fore, 
 
 1 Resolved by the Senate arid House of Reprcseritatives, That the 
 
 2 foregoing proclamation and order of the President have our full 
 
 3 approbation, and that Congress will at all times co-operate with 
 
 4 the Executive, when requested, in any retaliatory measures which 
 
 5 may be deemed necessary to prevent the atrocities of the enemy, 
 
 6 and force them to conduct hostilities in accordance with the rules 
 
 7 and usages of civilized warfare.