CASE OF GENERAL TOCHMAN. 
 
 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, December 10, 1863.— 
 Referred to the Comiuitree on Foreign Affairs and ordered to be 
 printed. 
 
 GENERAL TOCHMAN TO MR. FOOTE. 
 
 Richmond, Va., December 5, 1863. 
 
 Hon. H. S. FooTE, Chairman of thi Committee on Foreign Affairs^ 
 House of Representatives^ C. S. Congress : 
 
 Dear Sir : Preparing to leave this country to take part in the 
 struggle of my native land, Poland, for her independence, I have ad- 
 dressed a letter to the President, on the I9^;h of September last,' 
 soliciting his Excellency to adopt, or to recommend to Congress, some 
 measure that my pecuniary claim arising from raising a brigade of 
 foreign troops at the commencement of this war, could be settled 
 with me before my departure for Europe — either by the payment to 
 me of the stipends and emoluments of Brigadier General for 
 three ycnrs. it being the period for which I raised my brigade, and 
 its troops being in the actual service of the Confederate States. Or, 
 
 by refunding to me my actual expenses of raising those troops 
 
 amounting to $5,925 in gold and >) 1,600 in the Confederate States 
 currency, exclusive of all other lo;-3es, for which, and for my personal 
 servict'S, I claim nothing. [Exhibit A.] No answer coming to this, 
 my request, I wrote, on the 6th of November last, to the Secretary of 
 State, begging him to bring to tlio notice of the President, that my 
 speedy departure for Europe, whi h ranch depends upon settling 
 that account, would greatly henofit the cause of the Confederate 
 States, as to maintain there that position and confidence which I pos- 
 sessed before taking part with tlic South in this war, it will bo abso- 
 lutely necessary that I should elucidate, develop, and defend the 
 principles which determined me to unite with them. [Exhibit B.] 
 The Secretary of State having declined to comply with that re- 
 quest, I came to Richmond to urge this subject, ajid hero I 
 
found out that the President referred it to the Secretary of War, 
 with certain instructions addressed to him ; and that the Secretary 
 decided, that the War Department '"had not been invested with the 
 power, or means of paying for official services in cases where no 
 commission had been issued." As this decision does not meet the 
 case, I Jiave filed in his department a paper praying for its review. 
 The enclosed copy of that paper, [Exhibit C] contains, at full length, 
 the President's instructions given to the Secretary and the decision 
 of the latter. Upon the perusal of the foregoing exhibits, you will 
 find that, though my demand of settling this claim before departing 
 for Europe, and in the manner set forth in the letter addressed to the 
 President, is based upon the simple principles of perfect right, justice, 
 :ind equity, which give its cognizance to the Committee on Claims; it 
 IS at the same time supported and interwoven throughout by those 
 r)rinciples of State policy of the Confederate States, and emanating 
 from it their own interest, which necessarily give it, too, and with 
 preference, to the Committee on Foreign Affairs. I, therefore, re- 
 spectfully beg* you, as the Chairman of that Committee, to submit this 
 case to their cognizance, mediation, or recommendation. For either 
 of these actions, I beg them, in the name and for the benefit of bleed- 
 ing Poland, as well as of the Confederate States, with whose cause I 
 became identified, by raising my brigade for their defence. 
 I have the honor, sir, to be, 
 
 With the utmost respect. 
 
 Your most obedient servant, 
 
 G. TOCHMAN. 
 
 [EXHIBIT A.\ 
 GEN. TOCHMAN'S LETTER TO PRESIDENT DAVIS. 
 
 Max-MeaeIows, Wythe County, Va., 
 September 19, 1863 
 
 J 
 
 To His Excellency f Jefferson Davis, 
 
 President of the Confederate States ; 
 
 Mr. President : The resolutions adopted and recommended by Con- 
 gress by an unanimous vote of the Committee on Military Affairs of 
 the House of Representatives, which are on the Calendar of that 
 House, for its action at the next session, [Exhibit A,] would place me 
 right as to my position, both here and in Europe; for no caviller 
 would be able to infer, and set forth against me, charges of imputa- 
 tion derogatory to my character, when they prove and show plainly 
 that your Excellency refused me the regular commission to command 
 the troops I raised, from no other motives but because the Secretary 
 of War, Hon. L. P. Walker, in stipulating with me for raising those 
 
troops, exceeded the power you invested him with. But I subwit, 
 most respectfully, thai the Court of Claims, to which that committee 
 leaves the seitlement of my "pecuniary grievances," not beinjr cre- 
 ated yet, it would take at least a year or two to recover, through its 
 agency, what is due to me. At this juncture, Mr. President, my na- 
 tive country, Poland, calls for my services. Ami, as the recovery of 
 my pecuniary claim, before my departure for Eui ope, might enable 
 me to render her some signal services, may I not hope that you will 
 be pleased to take proper measures that this claim might be settled 
 with me, \#thout referring it to the Couft of Claims, which does not 
 yet exist. 1 have suffered very heavy losses in the property left at 
 the North, in the abandoment of the northern clientel, and by the sep- 
 aration from my family for more than two years and a half already 
 closing. " The loss of the fees, in a siiigle case of the heirs of General 
 Kosciusko, for the recovery of land in Ohio, in which case Senator 
 Pugh, of that State, is associated with me as counsel, amounts to sev- 
 eral thousand dollars. 1 lay no claim for the compensation of all 
 these losses. I consider them as losses resulting from the ordinary 
 course of the war, such as you, and other loyal citizens, have suffered, 
 and may suffer, by its incidents. I claim only to have the right to re- 
 cover, either the stipends and emoluments of brigadier, for three 
 years, it being the period for which I raised my troops^ which are in the 
 actmJ service of the Confederate States ; or, should you object to this 
 mode of settling with me this account, I beg you to recommend to Con- 
 gress, that my actual expenses of raising those troops, and of living 
 here since the 27th of April, 1861, which is the date of my leaving 
 Washington, D. C, to tender you my services, be refunded to me, with- 
 out referring them, for settlement, to the court, not being in existence. 
 Congress would not refuse such recemmendation, for there are many 
 precedents on the congressional record to show that this was done in 
 eases less urgent, less meritorious, and less equitable. The gross 
 amount of these expenses is $5,925, in gold, and partly in Virginia 
 and Louisiana currency, when it was at par with the gold coin, besides 
 $1,61)0 in currency of the Confederate States, which 1 borrowed, re- 
 cently, for my support here. But it is submitted that the act of the 
 Provisional Congress, No. 1(I9, approved May 8, 1861, under the 
 authority of which your Secretary of War stipulated for my services, 
 making no provision for refunding such expenses for raising troops 
 thereby authorized to be raised, 1 construed its intention to be : the 
 usage practiced by all other nations and their governments in similar 
 emergencies, which is, that those military men (natives or foreigners.) 
 who, in case of war, undertake to raise troops for their own com- 
 mands, in lieu of their expenses, and as a recompense for their ser- 
 vices, receive commissions in ranks corresponding to the number of 
 troops raised, and the stipends and emoluments attached, by law, to 
 their commissions. So construing the act of Congress under which I 
 accepted the authority to raise troops for my own command, and rely- 
 ing, bona fide, upon the express agreement with your Secretary of 
 War, that I would command all the troops I might raise under that 
 authority, I did not expect to have ever any liquidation with the Gov- 
 
emment for my disbursments. I did not keep, therefore, any ac- 
 count of those disbursements, and it is now impossible for me to make 
 any specification of their items, or to support them by the vouchers. 
 I can only prove, by my oaths, that their gross amount, above stated, 
 is true and correct, which oath 1 am prepared to take whenever re- 
 quired. And, if required, I submit to proving the loan contracted 
 for my support, by the testimony of the creditors. 
 
 "Whichever mode of settling with me this account your Excellency 
 may be pleased to adopt, the sum of $1,10.5 S3 in the Confederate 
 States currency should be deTlucted, which was paid to me i^ October, 
 1861, under the orders of the Hon, J. P. Benjamin, then acting Sec- 
 retary of War, as coloneFs stipends, due for three months and thirteen 
 days' services — including some expenses of the postage and telegraphic 
 dispatches. It is hoped, however, that should you prefer to refund 
 aie the expenses, they will be refunded in the same currency I bore 
 and paid them, 
 
 Mr. President, allow me yet to submit, that but for the unfortunate 
 misunderstanding which arose, as it appears now, from the Secretary 
 of War having exceeded his authority, my services might have become 
 very valuable to the cause of the Confederate States. The fact that, 
 in less than six weeks, vpo7i my proclamation, 1,415 foreigners, exclu- 
 sive of the natives, enlisted into my brigade, certainly authorizes an 
 inference that I could raise a great number of foreign troops — had 1 
 been left in command of that brigade, which, moreover, by the mere 
 power of influence, might have checked, considerably, the enlistment 
 of foreigners into the Federal army, and might have gained the Con- 
 federate States this public opinion abroad, thay so need, to obtain 
 ocognition of their independence. But whatever would have been 
 the result of the expectations which my first success, herein alluded 
 to, authorizes me to infer, the enclosed, [Exhibit B,] which is the orig- 
 inal charter incorporating, in the State of New York, a " Polish- 
 Sclavonian Literary Association," composed, as the charter shows, of 
 the most prominent and powerful leaders of all political parties of the 
 Northern section of the old Union, of which association I am the 
 founder, and was one of the vice presidents, since its organization, 
 will disclose to your Excellency at what sacrifices, of the material in-. 
 terests of Poland, I have separated myself from the North to take part, 
 in this war, with the South, may I not then hope, that at least, in 
 consideration of this great sacrifice of the material interests of Poland, 
 for the exclvsive benefit of the Confederate States, the simple justice 
 of settling with me this claim, would be granted to enable me to serve, 
 at this crisis, the sacred cause of ray native land ? 
 
 Begging for the preservafion of the charter, until, I call for it, at 
 the Private Secretary's office, 
 
 I have the honor to be, 
 
 Your Excellency's most obedient servant, 
 
 G. TOCHMAN. 
 
[A.J 
 
 Extract from the Report of tlic Committee on Military Affairs of thf 
 Home of Representatives of the Confederate States Congress. 
 
 " Your committee, to whom was referred the memorial of Major 
 Gaspar Tpchman, late of the Polish army, &c., &c., have had the 
 same under consideration, and beg respectfully to report: " 
 
 Here follows the report, Avhich concludes : 
 
 •' Your committee, fully appreciating the patriotic zeal and self- 
 sacriticiug devotion to our holy cause, manifest through the whole 
 conduct of memorialist, whilst considering the court of claims, pro- 
 vided for by the Constitution, as the appropriate tribunal for the 
 investigation and adjustment of pecuniar}' grievances, recommend tho 
 adoption of the following resolutions, as a just tribute and vindicii- 
 tion of the character, and integrity of the intention of memorialist. 
 
 " Whereas, the Secretary of War, on the 2l)th day of May, 1861, 
 authorized Major Gaspar Tochman, late of the Polish army, &c,, 
 &c., to raise ten companies, to be composed of persons of foreign 
 birth, and to enlist for the war, with the privilege on the part of the 
 privates to withdraw at the end of three years. Or, should he find it 
 practicable, to raise twenty companies, which would be organized into 
 a br.gade ; or, to raise two regiments for the war, to be received with 
 the officers, as far as should be acceptable, to the Confederate Gov- 
 ernment ; and, 
 
 " Whereas, said Major Gaspar Tochman, acting under said authority, 
 did actually raise for the war one thousand seven hundred men, 
 exclusive of officers ; and, 
 
 *' Whereas, it appears from the letter of the President, addressed to 
 said Major Gaspar Tochman, on the 25th of October, 1861, that the 
 Secretary of W^ar was not authorized by the President to promise him 
 the commission of a Brigadier General, but to tender him the 
 appointment of a Colonelcy to one of the regiments to I 
 raised, it is, nevertheless, due to the honor and character of sai 
 Major Ga-spar Tochman, which it is believed the President has n.- 
 design to impeach, to admit his assertion that the intention of the 
 President was not known to him when he accepted the authority to 
 raise, and did raise troops under it ; and it is therefore, 
 
 '' Resolved, That in the history of Major Gaspar Tochman's eftbrts to 
 raise troops under said authority, and identify himself with the Con- 
 federate States army of these Confederate States, Congress finds the 
 most praiseworthy devotion to :sound principles and free government, 
 and nothing in the least prejudicial to his honor and character as a 
 soldier and gentleman." 
 
 I By Mr. Harris, of Missouri. — April 23, 1863. — Placed on the 
 calendar and ordered to bo printed.] 
 
LB.] 
 
 **An Act to incorporate th" Polish Sclavonian Literary Association, in the 
 State of New York. Passed March 26, 1846, by a two-third vote. 
 
 **The people of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- 
 bly, do enact a<! follows : 
 
 "Sec. I. Major Gaspar Tochmau, now counsellor at law of the bar 
 of this State, and of the Supreme Court of the United States, &nd 
 associated with him Hon. William H. Seward, also counsellor at law, for- 
 merly Governor, George Folsome, Senator, Samuel J. Tilden, member 
 of the Assembly of this State, John Davis, of .Massachusetts, William 
 Upham and Samuel S. Phelps, of Vermont, John McPherson Berrien, 
 of Georgia, William S. Archer, of Virginia. Albert C. Greene and 
 James F. Simmons, of Rhode Island, Jacob W. Miller and William 'X. 
 Dayton, of New Jersey, George Evans, of Maine, WHlie P. Mangum, 
 of North Carolina, Reverdy Johnson and James A. Pearce, of Mary- 
 land, Thomas Corwin, of Ohio, John J. Crittenden, of Kentucky, 
 Spencer Jarnagin of Tennesssee, Senators of the United States in 
 Congress ; John DeMott, Albert Smith, Elias B, Hanes, Erastus D. 
 Culver, Washington Hunt, Hugh White, Abner Lewi.s, R P. Herrick, 
 Horace Wheaton, of this State, Andrew Trumbo, John McHenry, 
 William P. Thomasson, of Kentucky, Julius Brockwell, Daniel G. 
 King, Charles Hudson and George Ashmun, of Massachusetts, Co- 
 lumbus Dolano, Samuel S. Venton, Jesup M. Root, Daniel R. Tilden, 
 and Joshua R. Giddings, of Ohio, Jchn Runk, George Syles and Jo- 
 siah Edsal of New Jersey, Alfred Dockery, of North Carolina, George 
 P. Marsh, and Jacob Collamer, of Vermont, John R. Rockwell and 
 Samuel D. Hubbard, of Connecticut, Robert Toombs, of Georgia, 
 Alexander Ramsay, Richard Broadhead and James Pollock, of Penn- 
 sylvania, Bennou G, Thibaux, of Louisiana, John S. Pendleton, of 
 Virginia, Luther Severa^me and Robert F. Dunlap, of Maine, Henry 
 W. Y. Cranston and L. H. Arnold, of Rhode Island, Edward Long, 
 of Maryland, all members of the House of Representatives of the 
 United States Congress ; John McLean, Levi Woodbury, James M. 
 Wayne, Samuel Nelson and ,John McKinley, Judges of the Supreme 
 Court of the United States ; Albert Gallatin, late Envoy Extraordinary 
 and Plenipotentiary Minister of the United States to France ; Theo- 
 dore Frelinghuysen, L, L. D., chancellor, and James Tallemage, pre- 
 sident of the University of New York ; Josiah Quincy, L. L. D., late 
 president, and Jared Sparks, L. L. D., professor of Harvard Univer- 
 sity ; Nathaniel F. Moor, L. L. D., president of Columbia College, 
 P'Oiessor Joseph G. Cogswell, of New York, Samuel A. McCoskry, 
 j-iohop of Michigan; Rfv. G. S. Bedell, of the Episcopal church of 
 New York ; John McCloskey, bishop coadjutor and Charles Constan- 
 tino Pise, D. D., of the Roman Catholic church, of New York ; Thomas 
 H. Skinner, D. D., of New York, and W. B. Sprague, D. D., of Al- 
 ' my, of the Presbyterian church; Rev. Henry W. Bellows, of the 
 ivftitarian church ; Rev. Edwin Holt and William R. Williams, D. D., 
 
of the Baptist church ; William F. Havemeyer, mayor of the city of 
 New York ; Josiah Quincy, Jr., mayor of the city of Boston, in the 
 State of Massachusetts; Green C. Bronson, chief justice, and W. P. 
 Hallett, clerk of the Supreme Court of this State; John Van Buren, 
 attorney general of this State; Benjamin F. Butler, district attorn< y 
 of the United States ; W. P. McCoun, vice chancellor, and Lewis H. 
 Sanford, assistant vice chancellor of this State ; Daniel Lord, Daniel 
 
 D. Lord, James Sanford. J. Prescott Hall, W. B. Lawrence, David P. 
 Hall, Jontithan Miller, Thomas W. Tucker. Samuel A. Craps, W. M. 
 Evarts, John .lay, Charles E. Butler, C. H. Piatt, Morris Franklin, 
 
 E. P, Hurlburt, John Bigelow, Edward Sanford, M. K. Zabriskie, D. 
 L. Wite, Mortimer Porter, Stephen P. Nash, D. W. Walker, Franci? 
 H. Upton, Ralph Lockwood, Edwin Stoughton, Edwin Burr, D. E. 
 Wheeler, Alexander J. Johnson, H. S. Dodge, C. Van Swartwood. 
 Richard II. Bowne, John C. Crosby, John H. Magher, Augustus 
 Shell, John Slosson, Stephen Cambreling, John H. Lee, William Van 
 Wyck, of city and State of New York, T. Parkin Scott, of Baltimore, 
 in the State of Maryland, James Page and George W. Page, of Phila- 
 delphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, John Pickering, Richard Rob- 
 ins and George Snelling, of Boston, in the State of Massachusetts, 
 all counsellors at law; J. J. Astir, Edward Treadwell, G, H. Stry- 
 ker, Alfred G. James, W. Woodbridge Hudson, aad Livingston 
 H. Miller, all attorneys at law in the city and State of New York; 
 Richard H. Smith, president of the Union Insurance Company of 
 Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, and Henry Bohlen 
 of the city and State aforesaid ; Dr. Samuel G. Howe, Amos Law- 
 rence, and Charles Lyman, of Boston, in the State of Massachusetts; 
 
 F. C. Tucker, president of the Leather Mnnufacturers Bank, James 
 Gallatin, president of the National Bank, Shepl^d Knapp, president 
 of the Merchants' Bank, Reuben Withers, cashier of the Bank of the 
 State of New York, Preserve Fish, president of the Tra'csmans' 
 Bank, George Newbold, president of the Bank of America, J. 
 Oothout, president of the Bank of New Y'^ork, John S. StevenF. 
 president of the Bank of Commerce, and George Curtis, cashier ( f 
 the same Bank, D. Leavitt, president of the Bank of Exchange, an* 
 John S. Fish, cashier of the samft Bank, Robert S. Patterson, nresi 
 dent of the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company, James G. King 
 and Samuel Ware, Bankers, Philip R. Kearney, Secretary of the New 
 Y'ork Life Insurance Company, all of the city and State of New York : 
 Joseph R. Chandler, proprietor and editor of the Philadelphia United 
 States Gazette, James W. Webb and Charles King, proprietors and 
 editors of the Courier and En^iuirer, of New Y'ork, John H. Guion, 
 publisher of the Morning Views, of New York, Theodore D wight, 
 proprietor, and W. B. Townseud, editor of the New Y'^ork Express, 
 Francis Hall, proprietor and editor of the New Y'^ork Commercial 
 Advertiser, W. C. Bryant, proprietor and editor of the New York 
 Evening Post, Nathan Hall, proprietor and editor of the Boston 
 Daily Advertiser, John L, O'Sullivan, proprietor and editor, and 
 Thomas P. Kettal, and C. C. Gardiner, editors of the Democratic 
 Review, John Allen, proprietor, and S. Gaylord Ciark, editor of 
 
the Knickerbocker, Horace Greeley, editor and proprietor of the 
 New York Tribune ; General John Wilson, of Missouri, Colonel Jas. 
 Monroe, R. Watts, Jr., M. D , J. II. Raymond, Fitz Green Ilallock, the 
 Poet, E. F. Forestry, William Douglass. Vanbri<^h Livingston, Camp- 
 bell P. White, Isaac T. Smith, Elijah F. Purdj, James Conner, J. 
 p. Fowler, Jacob A. Westervell, Amos Livingston, John Cotton 
 Smith, W. E. Whiting, J. W. Bogare, all of the city and State of 
 New York; and all such persons as they shall at any time hereafter 
 associate with themselves, arie hereby created a body corporate, by the 
 name of the " Polish Sclavonian Literary Association in the State of 
 New York," for the. purpose of collecting a library, and promoting 
 the diffusion of knowledge of the history, science, and literature of 
 the nations of the Sclavonian race, giving lectures and publishing 
 tracts, and a journal in English, and such foreign languages as the 
 corporation shall deem proper. 
 
 *' § 2. To meet the exigencies of the purposes for which this corpora- 
 tion is created, it shall have the power of holding real and personal 
 property to the amount of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, 
 which is to be acquired by subscriptions, gifts, donations, assignments, 
 devises, and purchases. 
 
 *' § 3. The Executive Department of the corporation shall consist of 
 a President, «two Vice-Presidents, a Corresponding, Secretary, one 
 Librarian, one Treasurer, and a Board of Directors, whose number 
 shall not exceed eleven menjbers, including the President and the 
 Vice-President, who shall be ex officio members of the Board of 
 Directors. 
 
 *' § 4. The officers enumerated in the preceding section shall be chosen 
 annually on the 29th of November, by a plurality of votes of the 
 members who shall ^ present at such annual meeting. And if such 
 meeting shall not be holden on that day, then on such other day as 
 the President, or in his absence, the acting Vice-President shall appoint. 
 
 "' § 5. The vacancies which may take place between the annual elec- 
 tions, shall be filled by commissions to be issued by the President, and 
 in his absence, by the acting Vice-President, with the advice of the 
 Board of Directors, and the officers thus appointed shall continue in 
 office until others in their stead be elected at the next annual meeting 
 of the corporation. 
 
 *'§6. The corporation shall have the power of making such by-laws 
 and regulations as they shall judge proper for regulating further their 
 annual and other periodical meeting; for prescribing the duties of the 
 respective officers, and the mode of discharging them; for admission 
 of the new members, and the mode of suspending or expelling such 
 officers and members as the safety arid honor of the corporation may 
 n-^uire, and for other business calculated to promote the object and 
 l^urposes of the corporation. But it is expressly provided that no by- 
 laws shall pass, or be changed unless the meeting shall be attended by 
 a majority of the members of the association residing in the city of 
 New York. The members residing in the other States may send their 
 \otes in writing, if they choose to do so, which shall be counted 
 with the votes of the members present at the meeting. 
 
**§7. Right Rev. Bishop McCoskry, George Folsome, Senator, 
 William G. Havemeyer, mayor of the city of New York, Major G. 
 Tochman, or either two of them, are authorised to invite seven 
 members of the corporation to f. rm with them a committee, whose 
 duty shall be to draw the first by-laws, and to submit them to the 
 decisioa of the corporation at a meeting which the said committee 
 shall call as soon as they prepare the by-laws. This meeting shall 
 also elect the officers of the corporation for the current year. 
 
 *' ^^ 8. No debts shall be contracted by the said corporation except 
 for the purchase of books, for printing and rent of rooms, and the 
 whole amount of its debt shall at no time exceed two thousand dollars. 
 
 " § 9. The said corporation shall further possess all general powers 
 and be subject to all restrictions and liabilities prescribed by the Third 
 title of the 18th Chapter of the first part of the Revised Statutes of 
 this State. 
 
 *' §. 10. This Act shall take effect immediately. 
 
 " State of New York : In Assembly^ March 17, 1846. This Bill 
 having been read the third time — two thirds of all members elected 
 to the Assembly voting in favor thereof, 
 
 " Resolved, That the Bill pass. By order of the Assembly. 
 
 " Wm. C. Grain, Speaker:' 
 
 " State of New York : In Senate, March 24, 1846. This Bill hav- 
 ing been read the third time — two thirds of all member selected to the 
 Senate voting in favor thereof, 
 " Resolved, That the Bill pass. 
 
 "A. Gardiner, President .'' 
 *♦ Approved this 36th day of March, 1846. 
 
 "Silas Wright." 
 
 '' State of New York, 
 
 Secretary's Office. 
 
 "I have compared the preceding with original act of the Legisla 
 ture of this State, deposited in this office, and do certify that the same 
 is a correct transcript or exemplification thereof and of the whole of 
 said original. 
 
 '*In testimony whereof, I have hereunto affixed my seal 
 z-^^-^^-N of office, at the City of Albany, this 26th day of 
 
 \ SEAL. / March, in the \ ear of our Lord one thousand eight 
 
 >-^^-^ ^ hundred and fifty-six. 
 
 "N. S. Benton, 
 '♦ Secretary of State:' 
 
10 
 
 -UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
 "By Silas Wright, Govrnor of the State of New York: It is hereby 
 certified that Nathaniel S. Benton is Secretary of State of the State 
 of New York, that the signature of * N. S. Benton,' to the annexed 
 exemplification is his proper hand writing, and that the said exempli- 
 fication is authenticated in due form and by proper officer. 
 
 *' In testimony whereof, the great seal of the State is 
 --*^-^^-s hereunto affixed. Witness my hand, in the City of 
 
 < SEAL. > Albany, the 26th of March, in the year of Our 
 
 v-^-v^x^ ^ Lord, one thousand eight hundred and forty-six. 
 
 ** Silas Wright." " 
 "Passed the Secretary s Office, the 26th of March, 1846. 
 
 ** Arch. Campbell, 
 
 " Dept. Sec. of State:' 
 
 [EXHIBIT B.] 
 GENERAL TOCHMAN TO MR. BENJAMIN. 
 
 Petersburg, Va., November 6, 1863. 
 
 Hon. J. P. Benjamin, Secretary of State of the C. S. : 
 
 Dear Sir : By raising a brigade of troops for the Confederate 
 States, I became identified with their cause. The refusal of the 
 President to give me a regular commission to command that brigade, 
 because, as it appears, the Secretary of War, Mr. Walker, in stipu- 
 lating with me for raising it, exceeded his authority, has not, in the 
 least degree, lessened my identification with that cause. It has, 
 necessarily, deprived the Confederate States of my military expe- 
 rience and services, and myself of the privilege of serving them by 
 the side of those foreigners and natives who had enlisted and intended 
 to enlist under my command. But, as I conscientiously believe, that 
 I have not misapprehended those great principles which induced me 
 to tender my services to the Confederate States, I have kept for two 
 years and a half just closing, uhere consistency and honor dictated : 
 in a private retirement, faithful to the cause The passing events in 
 Poland, which is my native country, and the attitude, wliich the rest 
 of Europe is assuming in relation to the Polish question, require now 
 my services there. And, to sustain there this confidence and position 
 which I occupied before the separation of the South from the United 
 States, it will be absolutely necessary that I should elucidate, develope, 
 and defend the principles which have induced me to take part in this 
 
11 ■ 
 
 war with the Confederate States. As this undertaking, eventually, 
 can but benefit the cause of the Confederate States, and may probably 
 lead to happy consequences, I beg leave respectfully to submit for 
 your consideration, whether it would not be within the province of 
 your high office and its policy, to facilitate my departure. I wrote 
 to the President a letter on the 19th of September last, of which the 
 enclosed is a copy. Its perusal will, I have uo doubt, convince you 
 at once that my demand is just. It is based upon the principles of 
 perfect right, and self-sustaining it, evidence. I hope that it requires 
 only to be brought to an unbiased notice of the President to obtain 
 his accord. As this result would accelerate my departure for Europe, 
 could you not consistently, with the official propriety, lay this subject 
 before his Excellency. I beg you most respectfully to do it for the 
 benefit of the Confederate States, as well as of Poland. Should you 
 desire an interview on this subject, I beg you to notify me of it by 
 addressing me a note to Columbia, S. C, care of Mrs. Sosnowski, 
 where I am going to-morrow, and propose to remain there until the 
 Ist of December. 
 
 I have the honor to be, 
 
 With the highest regard, 
 
 Your most obedient servant, 
 
 G. TOCHMAN. 
 
 MR. BENJAMIN TO GENERAL TOCHMAN. 
 
 Richmond, 11th November, 1863. 
 Major (r. Tochman, care of Mrs. Sosnowski, Columbia, S. C. : 
 
 Dear Sir : I have your letter of the Gth instant, and regret that 
 I cannot serve you in the matter to which you refer, as it is one en- 
 tirely out of the sphere of my official duties, and in which it would 
 not be proper for me to interfere. 
 
 I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 J. P. BENJAMIN. 
 
 [EXHIBIT C] 
 
 SpoTSWOOD Hotel, No. 107, f 
 Eickmond, Va., Dec. 4 1863. j 
 
 Hon. Jas. a. Seudon, Secretary of War : 
 
 Sir : My papers, (marked T, W, D, 246,) being on file in your de- 
 partment show that the President referred to your decision the sub- 
 ject set forth in the letter I addressed to him on the 19th of September 
 last, by endorsing on the wrapper of the bundle the following direc- 
 tions : 
 
12 
 
 '* The within letter from Major Tochuiau contains statements which 
 your record will test. 
 
 " 1st. That the Secretary of AVar promised him the appointment of 
 Brigadier General. 
 
 ** 2d. That he raised a brigade. * 
 
 " 3d. That I refused to give him the commission he had a right to 
 expect. 
 
 " No notice is taken of the fact that the authority was to raise 
 troops abroad, and that they were raised at home. 
 
 " The claim for money you will notice as it shall be found to relate 
 to any object for which the funds of your department are applica- 
 ble." 
 
 On the same wrapper below the President's directions, is endorsed 
 your decision as follows : 
 
 *' Secretary of War : The papers in the matter of Greneral Tochman 
 were examined last winter, and he was informed that the department 
 ' had not been invested with the power or means of paying for official 
 services in cases when no commission had been issued.' He subse- 
 quently applied to Congress, and a committee reported a complimen- 
 tary resolution which is enclosed," 
 
 I beg you respectfully to review this, your decision, upon the fol- 
 lowing grounds : 
 
 1st. In the bundle of the papers, my letter of the of 9th September 
 last, refered to you by the President, is missing, I infer from this, 
 that it was not before you when that decision was made. I enclose 
 herein a copy of the missing letter, which will show you that that 
 decision does not cover the case, 
 
 2d. It does not cover even the requirements pointed out by the 
 President, in his directions numbered 1st, 2d and od, and as it does 
 not appear that they have been specially, or even generally, tested by 
 the record as the President directs. It is true that you say in the de- 
 cision that " the papers in the matter of Gen. Tochman were exam- 
 ined last winter." But that examination was confined only to finding 
 out whether a regular commission was issued and given to me or not. 
 The object of finding it out was to enable you then to decide, whether 
 you had authority to pay any pecuniary grievances. The points now 
 raised by the President, and specified in his directions to you under 
 the numbers 1st, 2d and 3d, are of a different character, and if fully 
 established by the evidence of record in your department, may secure 
 to me the attainment of that right and justice which I claim, and 
 which is due to me. 
 
 od. It is erroneously stated in your decision, that I applied to Con- 
 gress " subsequently " to your informing me that the department 
 "had not been invested with the power or means of paying for official 
 services in cases where no commission had been issued. "My memorial 
 was presented to Cougress in January, and your letter, furnishing me 
 that information (without my request,) bears the date of Febuary 17, 
 1863. The complimentary resolutions, reported by the comn#ittee to 
 which you refer at the end of your decision, do not close this subject 
 with a compliment alone. They show on their face that the adjust- 
 
IS 
 
 merit of my *' pecuniary grievances " is left to the court of claims. 
 But as this court has not been yet created, and I am preparing to go 
 to Europe to assist my native land, Poland, in her present struggle, I 
 therefore brought this matter before his Excellency by the letter here- 
 tofore refered to, which is missing from the bundle of papers being on 
 file 'in you department, begging his Excellency to settle with me this 
 claim in the manner stated in that letter. Your decision does not 
 meet this point of the case, 
 
 4th. The President says in his directions, addressed to you, " No 
 notice is taken (meaning in my letter to him) of the fact that the au- 
 thority wasto raise troops abroad, and that they were raised at home." 
 The President evidently labored under great mistake. The authority 
 under which I raised my troops reads as follows: 
 
 " Confederate States of America, War Department, ) 
 " Mmifpomcry, Maj 20, \S6\. ) 
 "To Major Gaspar T'>ciima\ : 
 
 " giR : You are authorized to raise ten companies, to be composed of persons of foreign 
 birtli, and to enlist for the war, with the privilege, on the part of the privates, to with- 
 draw at the euti ofjjtee years. Or, should i/o>i find it practicable, you are authorized to 
 raise twenty compfWws. which \r,,nld be orf/onized into a hrigcule. Such officers of the 
 army as niaj' be necessary will be detailed at such points ivithin the Confederacy as you 
 may indicate, to enlist the men. Or, you are authorized to raise two regiments for the 
 war, to be received with the officer^ as far as may be acceptable to the Confederate Govern- 
 meiit. 
 
 " Verv respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 "L. P. WALKER, Secretary of War." 
 
 Besides this evidence refuting the statement that I had to raise my 
 troops abroad, I respectfully submit, that the enlistment of troops 
 abroad is so unfavorably looked upon by the international law, that no 
 man of honor would undertake it. nor would the President be war- 
 ranted in accepting such sort of services. Vattel, in his Law of 
 Nations, book iii, chap, ii, sec, 15, says ;««*** The man who 
 undertakes to enlist soldiers in a foreign country, without the sove- 
 reign's permission, * * * * violates one of the most sacred 
 rights of the prince and the nation. This crime is designated by the 
 name of kidnapping or man- stealing, and is punished with the utmost 
 severity in every well-regulated State, Foreign recruiters are hanged 
 withottt rMTcy and wi:h great justice. It is not presumed that their 
 sovereign has ordered them to commit a trime ; and, supposing even 
 that they had received such an order, they ought not to have obeyed 
 it — their sovereign havhig no right to command what is contrary to the 
 law of nature. ***** \\^x^ if jt appears that they acted by 
 order, such a proceeding, in a foreign sovereign, is justly considered 
 as an injury, and as a sufficient causp. for declaring war against him, 
 unless he makes suitable reparation." 
 
 The object of my requesting you to review your decision is, the 
 expectation, that when you " test, by the record," the points specified 
 in the President's directions addressed to you, which are numbered 
 first, second and third, and when you disabuse his Excellency from 
 the error that my authority required of me raising my troops abroad, 
 he may yet do me that justice, which, when due to me, as the whole 
 history of the case proves itis never too late to administer. 
 
14 
 
 To facilitate your search, I have the honor to communicate to you 
 a cfopy of the memorial pre-^ented to Congress last winter, which led 
 the Committee on Military Affairs to adopt and report these compli- 
 mentary resolutions to which you refer at the close of your decision. 
 The exhibits numbered 3. 4. ii, 7, 9, 1-3, lo, 18, 19, 20 and 31, con- 
 stitute the record by which you will have to test the points *is 
 Excellency desires in his directions addressed to you, 
 I have the honor, sir, to be, 
 
 Your most obedient servant, 
 
 G. TOCHMAN. 
 
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