Mr. CLARK. I hope this amendment will not be agreed to by the Senate. the scope of it, I understand, is to limit the effect of the bill to those States in which martial law has been declared, or rather where the habeascorpus has been suspended and to leave these men who were commanded to do certain things in States where the habeascorpus has not been suspended, by their military superiors, to take their chances with a suit at law. The bill is in amendment of an act passed March 3, “ 1863, relating to habeascorpus and regulatin judicial proceedings in certain cases, ” an the 4td section of that set provided: "That any order of the President or under his authority. madeat any time during the existenceof the present rebellion, shall be a defensein all courts to any action or prosecution civil or criminal, pending or to be commenced, or any search, seizure, arrest, or imprisonment, made.done, or committed or acts omitted to be done, under by virtuo of such order, or under color of any law of Congress: and such defense maybe made by special plea, or under the generalissue." Yon will bear in mind, Mr. President, that this section provides that any order of the President or under his authority shall be a defense. In the course of this rebellion a great many things have been done by other olhcers than the POTUS, and where on cannot trace the act directly back to the authority of the Presidentas, for instance, a general in command would order a certain thing to be done, and the officer under him, the inferior officer or the soldier, would go and do it; and so the act of March 3, 1863, was no rotcction either to the officer or the man under imwho did the act, because he could not trace his authority back to the President. This bill goes on to provide further, that if these acts were done “ by any officer or person under and by virtue of any order written or verbal” it happens sometimes that the order was verbal, there was no written order, and it was didienlt to be proved in this respect “general or special, issued by the President or SecyWar, or by any military officer of the U.S. holdin the command of the Dept, district, or place within which such seizure, search, arrest, or imprisonment was made, done, or committed;” that order shall be a defense. Now, it so happens, as the rebellionis passing away, as the rebel soldiers and officers are returnin to their homes, that I may say 1,000s o suits are springing up all through the land, especially where the rebellion prevailed, against the loyal men of the country who endeavored to put the rebellion down. In onesin le State, and that a State which never se ed, I am told there are 3000 of these suits against the loyal men who attempted to o put the rebellion down, and, strange to say, in that State some of the courts have ifeclared that an order given by a Union officer to hisSubor diuate was no defense, but if given by a rebel it was a defense, and the man set free. That is so.