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A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875
Journal of the Confederate Congress --FIFTY-FIRST DAY--THURSDAY, January 23, 1862.
OPEN SESSION.
Congress met pursuant to adjournment, and was opened with prayer by the Rev. Dr. Seeley.
Congress then resolved itself into secret session.
SECRET SESSION.
Congress being in secret session,
Mr. Monroe introduced
A bill to provide for the appointment of the ministerial officers of the board of commissioners, etc.;
which was read first and second times, ordered to be printed, and referred to Committee on Judiciary.
Mr. Conrad introduced
A bill to amend an act supplementary to an act to establish the judicial courts of the Confederate States of America, approved May 21, 1861;
which was read first and second times and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Mr. T. R. R. Cobb introduced the following resolution; which was read and agreed to, to wit:
Resolved, That the Committee on Printing prepare and report to Congress a proper bill providing for the immediate publication of the laws passed by the Provisional Congress, the Journal of the Convention, and the Journal of the secret proceedings of this Congress.
Mr. Atkins introduced
A bill in relation to Volunteer Corps of the Provisional Army, to be raised in the border States, to serve during the war;
which was read first and second times, placed on the Calendar, and ordered to be printed.
Mr. Crawford, from the Committee on Commerce, to whom was referred
A resolution of inquiry as to a change in the weights and measures of the Confederacy,
reported the same back, with the recommendation that it lie on the table; which was agreed to.
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Mr. Hale, from the Committee on Military Affairs, to whom was referred
A bill to provide for recruiting companies in the service of the Confederate States for twelve months,
reported the same back, with the recommendation that it do pass.
On motion, the bill was placed on the Calendar and ordered to be printed.
Mr. Hale, from the Committee on Military Affairs, to whom was referred a resolution with instructions to report a bill to amend an act of March 6, 1861, in reference to horses lost in the service, have had the same under consideration and instruct me to report the accompanying bill, but that it is inexpedient to pass the same.
The bill having received its first and second readings,
Mr. Thomason moved that the bill be placed on the Calendar and printed.
Mr. Atkins moved to recommit the bill to the committee.
Mr. Rust moved to postpone the consideration of the same indefinitely; upon which motion Mr. T. R. R. Cobb, at the instance of the State of Georgia, demanded that the yeas and nays of the whole body be recorded; which are as follows, to wit:
Yea: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas, 10.
Nay: Florida, Kentucky, and Virginia, 3.
Mr. Orr, from the Committee on Engrossment, reported as correctly engrossed and enrolled
An act to authorize the President to call upon the several States for troops to serve for three years or during the war.
Executive Department,
Richmond, January 23, 1862.
Mr. President: The President, on yesterday, approved and signed
An act to amend an act entitled "An act to raise an additional military force to serve during the war,"approved May 8, 1861, and for other purposes.
The President has this day approved and signed
An act for the relief of A. B. Noyes, collector of the port of St. Marks, Fla.;
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An act for the relief of Dillon Jordan and F. Glackmeyer; also
An act to amend an act entitled "An act to collect for distribution the money remaining in the several post-offices of the Confederate States at the time the postal service was taken in charge by said Government," approved August 30, 1861.
ROBERT JOSSELYN,
Private Secretary.
The Chair presented a message from the President; which was read, and is as follow, to wit:
Executive Office, January 22, 1862.
To the Congress of the Confederate States:
After mature consideration of the bill to encourage the manufacture of small arms, saltpeter, and of gunpowder within the Confederate States, I felt constrained to return it with the following statement of objections:
By its provisions the bill deprives the Executive of the discretionary power to protect the Government against unnecessary or improvident contracts, and confers upon individuals who may propose to furnish to the Government any of the supplies enumerated the right to demand that their proposition shall be accepted and that 50 per cent of the amount proposed to be invested shall be paid from the public Treasury, without any other condition than that the person making such proposition shall have actually expended in the prosecution of the proposed work one-fourth of the capital to be invested in it, and that his undertaking shall not be, in the opinion of the Secretary of War, visionary or impracticable, or at points too remote for the advantage of the Confederacy. As an example of the disadvantageous operation of the bill herewith returned, the attention of Congress is called to the contemplated case of the manufacture of gunpowder. Our present necessity is not for an increase of powder mills, but for a supply of the material for the manufacture of gunpowder. The mills now in existence and which could be readily put to work far exceed in their capacity to manufacture our ability to supply the requisite material. Yet under the operation of this bill it would follow that anyone who should propose to establish a powder mill upon unobjectionable locality and that he had invested one-fourth the capital to be employed would be entitled to claim an advance equal to 50 per cent of that amount for a work which the Government did not require, and which, as there is no limitation of time for the fulfillment of his contract, could not be pronounced visionary or impracticable. The power already exists to make advances equal to thirty-three and a third per cent on contracts for arms or munitions of war, and experience has not shown that any larger advance is necessary to stimulate the undertaking of such contracts; on the contrary, it has not yet been found necessary in a single instance to make advances to the full amount now permitted by law. The requirement of the bill that liberal profits shall be granted and an extraordinary advance be made, coupled with the absence of any Executive discretion to refuse any contract proposed for the supplies mentioned in the bill, would inevitably expose the Treasury to heavy drafts from the class of speculating contractors.
I regret that these features of the bill compel its return, as some of its provisions would be valuable adjuncts to existing legislation in enabling the Government to aid in the establishment of manufactures of arms and the creation of artificial saltpeter beds.
JEFFERSON DAVIS.
On motion of Mr. Smith, the further consideration of the bill was postponed for the present.
The Chair presented a message from the President; which was read, and is as follows, to wit:
Executive Office,
Richmond, January 22, 1862.
To the Congress of the Confederate States:
I have considered a bill to authorize the Secretary of War to receive into the service of the Confederate States a regiment of volunteers for the protection of the frontier of Texas and herewith return it to the Congress with a statement of my objections, which are respectfully submitted to consideration.
The bill provides that a regiment of volunteers is to be raised by the State of Texas, under the provisions of an act of the legislature of said State, and directs that the Secretary of War shall receive the regiment to be so raised and incorporate it into the Provisional Army of the Confederate States.
By reference to the act of the legislature of Texas, a copy of which accompanied
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the bill, it appears that all that discretion and control which of necessity is vested in the Executive of the Confederate States over all troops employed in their service are withheld by the act, the provisions of which are adopted in your bill, the posting and movement of the troops being therein confided to the governor of the State under the plan of the legislature.
There are other objections, which are mainly important because they disturb the uniformity and complicate the system of military administration prescribed by the laws of the Confederate States.
Unity and cooperation by the troops of all the States are indispensable to success, and I must view with regret this as all other indications of a purpose to divide the power of the States by dividing the means to be employed in efforts to carry on separate operations; but if in any case it be advisable that such separate action should be taken, it seems to me palpably clear that it should be a charge against the individual State rather than upon the common Treasury of the Confederate States.
JEFFERSON DAVIS.
On motion of Mr. Ochiltree, the consideration of the bill was postponed for the present.
The Chair presented a message from the President; which was read, and is as follow, to wit:
Executive Office, January 22, 1862.
To the Congress of the Confederate States:
After mature deliberation I have not been able to approve the bill, herewith returned, entitled "An act to provide for raising and organizing, in the State of Missouri, additional forces for the Provisional Army of the Confederate States."
In a message just submitted to the Congress in relation to certain forces to be raised in the State of Texas, I have stated the objections entertained to any legislative discrimination for or against a particular State, thereby disturbing the harmony of the system adopted for the common defense. In a bill very recently passed by the Congress a new plan has been established for raising and organizing troops for the Confederate service. By the provisions of this last-mentioned law you have given me authority to raise and organize troops in all the States, by granting commissions, in advance of the actual enlistment of the troops, to officers below the grade of general officers and above that of subalterns. To the officers thus commissioned you do not give any pay or allowances until the actual organization of the companies, battalions, or regiments that the officers so commissioned were empowered to raise; and you do not allow pay, but have even prohibited the allowance of subsistence or transportation to the men enrolled in order to enable them to reach the rendezvous of their companies. By the terms of the bill now returned an exception is made in favor of the State of Missouri alone. By the provisions of the bill it is contemplated that advance commissions shall be granted to officers of all grades, from the highest general officer of the Provisional Army to the lowest subaltern of a company, and that the officers, whether of the staff or the line, thus appointed shall receive pay from the date of their respective appointments, without any condition rendering this pay dependent on their success in raising the troops.
The general bill which has now become a law, applicable to Missouri as to all the other States, fixes a reasonable term within which officers commissioned in advance must succeed in raising troops, under penalty of forfeiting their commissions. The present bill removes this salutary restriction, and vests in the Executive the dangerous power, not only of appointing, at his discretion, an unlimited number of military officers, irrespective of any troops to be commanded by them, but allows him to retain the officers so appointed in the public service, at the public expense, during the Executive pleasure. I am not able to perceive, in the present condition of public affairs in the State of Missouri, the necessity, which would form the only possible excuse, for a grant of such power to a constitutional executive. I receive assurances from those whose sources of information are entirely reliable that the raising and organization of troops in Missouri for service in the Confederate Army are successfully progressing, and that within a very few days the muster rolls will be received, thus placing it in my power to organize the army in that State on precisely the same footing as in all the others, and thus avoid any need for exceptional legislation.
In addition to these objections, founded in principle, there would be a practical difficulty in the operation of the bill, which appears insurmountable. All the troops now in service in the State of Missouri are State troops, commanded by State officers, which have never been tendered or received in the Confederate service.
In exercising the power of appointment proposed to be vested in me by the bill, the best hope for success in its purpose would be founded on selecting those officers who had distinguished themselves in command and had become endeared to the troops. But this would be to deprive the State troops of their commanding officers
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during the whole period necessary for the enrollment and organization of the troops under Confederate laws. Missouri would thus be left comparatively defenseless whilst the reorganization was progressing. Therefore, regarding this bill as impolitic and unnecessary, it is submitted for your reconsideration.
JEFFERSON DAVIS.
On motion of Mr. Clark, the consideration of the bill was postponed for the present.
On motion of Mr. Barnwell, the messages of the President and the accompanying bill were ordered to be printed for the use of the House.
Congress then proceeded to the consideration of the unfinished business of yesterday; which was the motion of Mr. Toombs to strike out the first section of a bill to amend the sequestration act.
Mr. McRae, from the Committee on Engrossment, reported as correctly, engrossed and enrolled
An act to increase the clerical force of the Post-Office Department.
Executive Department,
Richmond, January 23, 1862.
Mr. President: The President has this day approved and signed
An act to amend an act entitled "An act to establish a patent office, and to provide for the granting and issue of patents for new and useful discoveries, inventions, improvements, and designs," approved on the 21st day of May, 1861; also
An act to authorize the President to call upon the several States for troops to serve for three years or during the war.
ROBERT JOSSELYN,
Private Secretary.
Executive Department,
Richmond, January 23, 1862.
Mr. President: The President has this day signed and approved
An act to increase the clerical force of the Post-Office Department.
ROBERT JOSSELYN,
Private Secretary.
Mr. Atkins moved to postpone the further consideration of the unfinished business.
The motion did not prevail.
Mr. Orr moved to postpone the further consideration of the unfinished business until 7 o'clock p. m.;
When,
On motion of Mr. Curry,
Congress adjourned until 12 o'clock m. to-morrow.
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