Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 1.djvu/496

458 to the usages of enlightened nations when at war with each other, and to require the Confederate Congress to declare counterfeiting and passing counterfeit money by the armies of the United States a felony. This counterfeit money was styled by the counterfeiters "facsimiles of Confederate money, and was sold by them under that pretense, but the counterfeiting was so close as to be capable of ready use as money and was in fact so employed. Senator Clay, of Alabama, declared that "the enemy by counterfeiting our currency had aimed one of the deadliest blows at our cause. They had boldly advertised these counterfeits for sale and among their dead who fell in battle it was rare to find one who had not on his person more or less of spurious Confederate treasury notes. Some law to repress this counterfeiting by providing a speedy punishment should be passed. &quot; The bill was passed October n, 1862.

The signal military successes of the Confederate armies occurring through 1862 encouraged the Confederate Congress to hope that a just and honorable peace might be concluded. There was always a general popular opinion that the Confederate government should seize every opportunity to bring the issue between the two governments to a peaceful solution. The government was constantly made aware of this disposition of the people, and was as constantly on the alert to find the occasion when the Confederate authorities could get access to the government at Washington. Such an occasion, in the opinion of Mr. Foote, had come in the result of the conflicts between the two armies during the summer. He therefore introduced a resolution to dispatch commissioners to Washing ton empowered to propose the terms of a just and honorable peace. Mr. Holt, of Georgia, also offered the following expressive substitute:

"The people of the Confederate States are and have been from the beginning anxious that this war with the United States should be conducted according to the rules