Fh Hatch to G. A. Trenholm, September 28, 1864

Hon. G. A. TRENHOLM, Secretary of the Treasury, Richmond, Va.: Str: I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your letter of instruction of the 12th ultimo, together with the letter of A. G.

*In this connection see Special Orders, No. 228 (ppregraph IV), Adjutant and Inpector General’s Office, Series I, Vol. ai Part II, p.

Semmes, to which my special attention was directed. Although the Government appears to be indebted for the information contained in the letter of Mr. S. to his failure in procuring one of the lucrative contracts to which he refers, and though the forces cited were imperfectly understood and stated, the latter expresses the general complaint and dissatisfaction of those who from loyalty or inability have not participated in this contraband traffic. This population may be divided into three classes: Those who have been directly or indirectly concerned in this trade; those who desire to do so, but are unable, and those who abstain from considerations of loyalty and respect for law, the latter being an honored but almost invisible minority. In my correspondence with the Department for nearly two years past I have repeatedly and more explicitly stated all these facts. In the note referring the letter of Mr. Semmes to you, Mr. Seddon remarks:

Probably the best mode of preventing the trade would be to establish along the

military frontier collecting districts, and to instruct the collectors to exert all their powers to prohibit the trade and to call upon the military for assistance.

The first suggestion is impracticable, because it implies the establishment of a line of pickets by this department on the whole frontier. The second is precisely what I have been aiming to do—that is, making the military pickets auxiliary to this department, but which it will require an order from the Secretary of War direct to put in practice. Ihave from the beginning called upon the military to do this without effect.

In regard to the disposal of the cotton belonging to the Government I know of none in this locality, and being ignorant of its wants or policy I do not feel warranted in expressing any opinion entitled to weight or consideration. Should, however, further reflection or an interview with General Hodge give me any strong convictions on the subject I will venture to submit them.

In regard to the exchange of sugar produced near the Mississippi for the commissary east of Pearl River, it seems to me it will be a difficult matter and can only be done by seizure and impressment, as the sugar, if left to the laws of trade, would find its natural market in New Orleans, unless the Government could prevent the greater attraction of offering its cotton in exchange. I think, too, the amount within our reach must be very small, as a sort of retributive fatality seems to have followed the cultivation of plantations by peonage, or hired freedmen, within or near the lines of the enemy. Last year those who hired plantations to cultivate sugar met with heavy losses, and this year, with the tempting prospects of high prices, they rushed madly into cotton, which the army worm, particularly on the alluvial lands, has literally swept from the face of the earth, in some instances hundreds of acres scarce making a bale.

In relation to trade with the enemy, I have not only endeavored to enforce the law of February 6, 1864, but the law of May 19, 1862, by incessant remonstrance and notification to the military authorities, and I can truly say that my organization, however much it has failed to cover the whole ground, has been the principal barrier to this trade, in proof of which I beg leave to refer to my letters of the 13th and 27th of November, 1863, and accompanying report.

Though at that time I could, by the mere moral force of my office, stop a whole train of wagons, to such an extent has the demoralization increased that the same attempt now would probably endanger my

life. No law or regulation ean be enforced except by the exhibition of military power.

_On hearing that General Hodge had assumed the command of the district I addressed a letter to him, copy of which is inclosed, marked A, at the same time inclosing to him copy of your letter to me of August 2, 1864, and yet under date of the 13th instant a permit was issued, as per copy inclosed, marked B, in which no objection to procure a clearance from this office or to pay the export duty is expressed, nor has any import duty been paid on any goods furnished by these contractors. It is also to be noted in relation to this permit that if wagons carrying cotton under it do not meet a picket, or the picket fails to indorse it, an unlimited amount may-be carried out under a permit to export a few bales, and I am credibly informed that cotton is now being hauled in every direction to the lines of the enemy.

I do not refer to these facts to complain of General Hodge, but to exculpate myself from any want of vigilance or remissness in the discharge of my duty. I am bound to presume that General Hodge is acting according to his instructions, or that he is doing all he can to enforce the law on this subject, and that if he is unable to do so it is because the accumulated tendency to traffic on an extended border, restrained, as it were, only by a long and leaky levee, has at length culminated in a crevasse which it is impossible to check or control until the cotton has all flowed out, which is perhaps the best thing that could happen, if happen it must.

It is extremely difficult in the exercise of a ”benevolent discretion” to bend the right lines of the law to individual cases. The frontier or border classes are here considered rather the favored ones, for though alternately protected and raided on by both parties, they are said to be repaid an hundredfold as the intermediaries in the exaggerated profits of this border traffic; and as it is not the really worthy and needy who are the first to partake of these beneficent provisions of the Government, if I may be permitted a homely illustration, it is like attempting to feed a weakly pig at the common trough, who is likely to perish before his lusty fellows become sufficiently gorged to give him room. If I was invested to-day with the authority to give permits to ship a few bales of cotton to all who should prove themselves in want, there is hardly a man, woman,:or child in this district who would not prove, by moral and legal evidence, that they required it—the poor to satisfy absolute wants, the affluent to supply the vacuum created by impressments and voluntary or compulsory hospitality.

I duly appreciate your kind offer to approve my nomination of a deputy collector should the business of my department require it, but I think all that it is possible or practicable to do may be done by inspectors of the revenue, whom I have appointed and suspended from time to time as occasion required.

I have endeavored to administer my office without unnecessary parade or expense. All the additional service I may need would be mostly itinerary, when the party would be subjected to great privations and hard fare, to which I could not with propriety invite the gentlemen you have suggested.

It is, moreover, very difficult fora stranger out of-the Army to subsist here, and I have only been able to do so by a small farming interest I had near here before the war and the services of a few servants.

Since writing the foregoing a party who had a load of cotton seized by my orders placed in my hands Special Orders, No. 11, of September

11, 1864, of General Hodge, a copy of which is herewith inclosed, marked ©, under which the authority for moving is claimed.

This order may be in accordance with a policy of the War Department which it is not my province to question, but I respectfully submit that if ”no restrictions are to be placed on the transit or removal of property of any kind within the military lines of this command, and no citizen is to be molested in any disposition as to locality he desires to make of his property,” this department ought not to be held responsible for any infractions of the law prohibiting the transportation of cotton toward the lines of the enemy, though I shall continue to exert all the efforts in my power to enforce the laws and regulations as enjoined upon me.

I have the honor to remain, very respectfully, your obedient