Fleeing from service.
--The impending action of Congress relative to substitutes and principals, have caused orce and hundreds of speculators and extentioners to flee the country, taking with them such portions of their fortune as they could turn into gold, and leaving their
real estate here in charge of parts of their families, till after the close of the war. Many of these men have grown suddenly rich, have invested largely in farms and houses, and now, after having been given three years in which to gather wealth, while others were fighting to protect them, are deserting the country because they are called upon to endure a small portion of the hardships so long borne by the gallant soldiers in the field.
Many that have left since the meeting of Congress were furnished with passes, and others are trying to escape in the same way; but, whether they get passes or not, they will make an effort to reach the
Federal lines before the Confederate Senate can perfect and pass the bill now before that body.
Let them go if they will; but in the name of justice let Congress at once prepare and pass a bill for the immediate confiscation of all the property they may leave behind.
If those who own the land are not prepared to defend it against the common enemy, but prefer to flee to that enemy for the protection of their precious persons, let the land and all other effects be thrown into the treasury of the common cause, and the families of the refugees be sent to their protectors.
It men are needed to strengthen our armies, property holders within the conscript age ought to be made to face the music now, and if they runaway and leave their fortunes to be protected by those less bountifully blessed in worldly goods, then the property so left ought to be thrown into a general fund for the good of the cause.
