courts pronounced the
act constitutional and in most of the States the constitutional issue
was gradually allowed to lapse.

Nevertheless, Davis had opened Pandora's box. The clash between State
and Confederate authority had begun. An opposition party began to form.
In this first stage of its definite existence, the opposition made an
interesting attempt to control the Cabinet. Secretary Benjamin, though
greatly trusted by the President, seems never to have been a popular
minister. Congress attempted to load upon Benjamin the blame for Roanoke
Island and Fort Donelson. In the House a motion was introduced to
the effect that Benjamin had "not the confidence of the people of the
Confederate States nor of the army... and that we most respectfully
request his retirement" from the office of Secretary of War. Friends
of the Administration tabled the motion. Davis extricated his friend by
taking advantage of Hunter's retirement and promoting Benjamin to the
State Department. A month later a congressional committee appointed
to investigate the affair of Roanoke Island exonerated the officer
in command and laid the blame on his superiors, including "the late
Secretary of War."

With Benjamin safe in the Department of State, with the majority in the
Confederate Congress still fairly manageable, with the Conscription
Act in force, Davis seemed to be strong enough in the spring of 1862
to ignore the gathering opposition. And yet there was another measure,
second only in the President's eyes to the Conscription Act, that was to
breed trouble. This was the first of the series of acts empowering him
to suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus. Under this act
he was permitted to set up martial law in any district threatened with
invasion. The cause of this drastic measure was the confusion and the
general demoralization that existed wherever the close approach of
the enemy created a situation too complex for the ordinary civil
authorities. Davis made use of the power thus given to him and
proclaimed martial law in Richmond, in Norfolk, in parts of South
Carolina, and elsewhere. It was on Richmond that the hand of the
Administration fell heaviest. The capital was the center of a great
camp; its sudden and vast increase in population bad been the signal for
all the criminal class near and far to hurry thither in the hope of a
new field of spoliation; to deal with this immense human congestion, the
local police were powerless